The adventurer at the bottom is fantasizing again.

Chapter 119 Gathering Loot and the Poor Harpy (4k)

"Magic Feather?"

Lorraine looked in the direction he was pointing and saw that a few feathers seemed different, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was different about them.

Teacher Eileen sighed with a hint of disdain and explained to him, "Harpy's magical feathers can be used to make feather-drop potions, magic weathervanes, or enchanted arrows. One feather can sell for about 20-30 gold coins."

"Wow...it's that valuable!"

Lorraine gasped.

He felt that after returning home, he would have to go to the city library to buy some books to brush up on his basic knowledge of these monsters.

If he misses out because he doesn't recognize the rare loot, he'll regret it terribly if he finds out the truth someday.

"Let me take a look..."

"

Eileen rubbed her temples in exasperation. Instead of squatting down to painstakingly examine each feather, she raised her staff and whispered, "MāyāDarśana!"

An invisible ripple spread from the tip of the staff, and tiny specks of pale blue light lit up the edges of her pupils.

She bent down to look at the feathers on the harpy's corpse, quickly pointed to three of them, and said, "Three magical feathers are intact and the magical fluctuations they emit are very stable."

Lorraine asked curiously, "What kind of magic is that?"

Eileen looked up at him and gently raised the corners of her mouth: "Detection magic can sense all magical traces within a certain range, including magical creatures and magical equipment."

"Ms. Eileen! I want to..."

'

"But," Eileen ruthlessly shattered his illusions, "this is a first-circle spell. You don't have the necessary artifacts to cast it."

Lorraine had never really wanted a magical artifact.

He sighed, "Alright... then just pluck the feathers off?"

Eileen was delighted to see him so embarrassed, but she also knew how desperately poor Lorraine was, so she gently shook her head and said, "The roots of these feathers are very fragile; they can be easily broken without skillful hands. If there's even the slightest damage, the magic they contain will dissipate, rendering them worthless."

"Skilled hands? Yes, yes, yes!" The mercenary leader turned and shouted into the camp, "Yon! Come here and pluck a few feathers. With hands that can even repair arrow fletching, this must be..."

His voice abruptly stopped.

In the direction of the camp, two mercenaries who had just recovered were hurriedly lifting a young archer who was lying unconscious and looking very peaceful onto the cart.

A happy smile played on his lips, and he mumbled incoherently, "Don't go... beautiful..."

The mercenary leader turned around awkwardly, scratching his beard. "Uh... it seems like Yorn just passed out from the harpy's song."

"That's going to be difficult. It's quite a distance to the next town. By the time we get its body there, the magic in the feathers will probably have dissipated," Eileen said, frowning.

"It's okay, I'll give it a try," Lorraine said.

"You have this skill too?" Eileen looked at him in confusion.

"In order to have enough to eat, you have to learn some skills."

Lorraine squatted down without changing his expression, pulled out a dagger from his waist, and began to examine the feathers that Eileen had just pointed out.

His mind had been preoccupied with the harpies in mid-air, but upon closer inspection, he quickly noticed the magic.

The differences in feathers.

Their colors are exceptionally vibrant, and their surfaces have a glossy sheen that seems to flow.

It was only because it was already dark and it was hidden among those ordinary feathers that nothing unusual was noticed.

"Be careful..." Eileen was still somewhat suspicious.

Don't worry.

Lorraine answered confidently.

His previous lock-picking skills were much more refined than this, and I've never seen him break anyone's lock.

Perhaps he really does have a talent for being a thief.

Lorraine lowered his head and used his dagger to cut off the ordinary feathers around the magical feathers, making it easier for him to proceed with his next steps.

He gripped the tip of the dagger, calmed his breathing, and then carefully began to peel away the fascia around the base of the feather.

The three people around him unconsciously held their breath, watching his actions with tension.

Lorraine's hands moved slowly and steadily, almost exactly like when he copied scrolls.

The knife tip steadily peeled away the sticky membrane in his hand, revealing the translucent roots of the feathers underneath.

He calculated the position, gently inserted the tip of the knife into the flesh, and then pressed it down.

With another finger, I pinched the base of the feather and pulled it out smoothly and forcefully in the opposite direction of the shaft.

Lorraine exhaled, and a magical feather was peeled off intact.

"Beautiful!" the mercenary leader exclaimed, raising his arm. "Sir, your craftsmanship is far superior to any of the vagrants I've ever seen!"

"Not bad, not bad..."

Lorraine chuckled awkwardly; he didn't want Eileen to know about his glorious past.

He then processed the remaining two magic feathers, and after a while, he removed all three and arranged them neatly side by side in his palm.

"How is it? Does it work?" Lorraine stood up and handed her hand to Eileen.

"Do warehouse workers still need this skill?"

Eileen looked at him suspiciously, picked up a feather and examined it over and over, finding that the feather root and magic membrane were perfectly intact.

"It's pretty good." She nodded. "Where's your scroll box? Separate them with cloth and fold them under the scrolls."

That way it won't get damaged easily.

"Okay."

Lorraine carefully stored the magic feathers as instructed, then looked at the corpse on the ground.

"Is there anything else valuable? Should I pluck all these feathers off?" he asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Are you an idiot...? Are you planning to fight a winter wolf with these feathers? Besides, these ordinary feathers aren't worth many silver coins even if you pluck them all."

"We still have to pass through a town on the way, I was thinking of selling the stuff there. They really don't understand how hard it is to earn gold coins... Silver coins? Forget it."

Lorraine kicked the corpse in disgust.

"Sigh..." Eileen said with some disdain, "Don't worry about the money for processing the winter wolf's fur. If it's just to be made into a cloak, the materials from its body plus the bounty will be more than enough."

"What!" Lorraine had completely forgotten about this.

He was still fantasizing that he might be able to raise enough money for the infusion, completely forgetting that processing the fur and making the cloak would also incur a considerable expense.

"How come I'm so poor?!"

He felt that he had been busy for so long and had earned a lot of money, so why was his wallet getting emptier and emptier?

"You're still poor? All those weapons and equipment you have, those magical accessories... they're probably more expensive than my staff and spellbook combined."

"Okay, okay, I was greedy."

Lorraine felt like something was missing from his ears, so he turned and looked around.

Eileen was looking at herself with disdain. The mercenary leader had already gone to check on the mercenaries. Several men were busy calming the frightened horses and taking care of the old steward, Barto, who had just woken up.

Where's the short guy? Wasn't he just standing there a moment ago?

Lorraine glanced in the direction of the camp.

Piper had somehow returned to his iron pot, happily stewing vegetables in one hand and drinking ale in the other.

The fight just now seemed too boring for him, not even tempting him to put down his food.

Sitting next to him was the young archer, Jon, who had just been knocked unconscious by the singing. He was now awake and staring blankly at the bowl of stew that Pape had given him.

His expression seemed to still be savoring the wonderful encounter in his dream, yet also somewhat embarrassed that his efforts had been completely wasted.

The short man patted his leg as he drank, mumbling something comforting, as if it were a minor injury.

In a short time, we became friends.

"This guy..." Lorraine chuckled helplessly, "That's how I met him before, I didn't expect so much time to have passed... uh... maybe not that long?"

So much has happened in the past few months that he feels incredibly fulfilled, and time seems to have slowed down.

"Pip is indeed very likable; perhaps that's a halfling's talent," Eileen smiled gently.

"I think Piper's mother's genes are obviously stronger... Oh... I mean, his physique is more like his mother's, but his personality is more like his father's."

Although Lorraine never met his father, Piper's friendly and easygoing personality clearly indicated that he was not a dwarf.

It took Eileen a moment to grasp the meaning of his words. She stared in disbelief and exclaimed, "What?! His mother is a dwarf?"

"Otherwise what?" Lorraine looked at her strangely. "Do you really think halflings would go to the Frozen Wastes? Their tiny bodies would probably freeze into ice sculptures on the way."

"But...dwarves...that...isn't it..."

After stammering for a while, Eileen finally managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Love is truly great."

"yes..

'

Lorraine twitched the corner of his mouth; he wasn't much better off than Eileen when he learned the truth.

"What should we do with this body? Just leave it here? What a waste! Isn't there a reward for its removal?" he said.

"I don't think I've ever seen a bounty on a harpy, probably because they rarely attack humans."

Eileen explained, then pointed her staff at the corpse: "The harpy's claws can be used to make daggers. You could try cutting them off and selling them in the next town, but I don't know if anyone there will buy them."

Its vocal cords could also be used to make a very special kind of harp, but it requires special techniques to remove and must be preserved in a specific solution, so forget about it.

"That's good too, I'll go chop off its claws..." Lorraine suddenly became interested and was about to draw her sword to continue collecting spoils when the steward Barto, who had just recovered, jogged over.

"Sir, thank you so much just now. Jason told me that if it weren't for you all here today, we would probably all be dead."

Barto wiped the sweat from his face, still somewhat shaken. He bowed deeply to the two men, then sighed and said, "Those monsters used to only roam the cliff region further east. I don't know how they got onto this road. Sigh... We merchants can fight off bandits and wild beasts, but we're completely helpless against these monsters."

have."

"It's alright. Since you're willing to give us a ride, we certainly won't stand idly by and do anything within our power." Lorraine waved his hand. "What do you mean by saying they only used to operate in the cliff area further east? Don't they usually appear in this area?"

Barto glanced in the direction the harpies had come from and said with lingering fear, "I've been running this trade route for at least three or four years and I've never seen a harpy. I've only heard other merchants say that they're active in the cliff region."

Is the cliff area close to here?

"The cliff area is at least two or three days away from here, which is not close at all. And although they are fierce, they don't like to go near crowded places, let alone come to such an open trade route to attack the caravan."

Barto paused for a moment, then said hesitantly, "I suspect that something more powerful drove them out of their lair. I once heard an old hunter say that a few years ago, a green dragon passed through the cliff area, and all the monsters in the mountains came out, even the harpies migrated south for an entire winter."

Fortunately, the green dragon was just passing by and never appeared again. However, if the two of you turn back east, please remember to avoid that area.

"Thank you, this information is very important to us."

Lorraine nodded, keeping this information in mind. The town of Frozen Lake they were going to this time was closer to the north, so they didn't need to...

I'm afraid of encountering that thing that can drive away a whole harpy.

These harpies were truly pitiful; one moment they were so frightened by the green dragon that they dared not return to their nests all winter, and the next they were driven away by some unknown thing.

This world is truly full of hidden dangers. Luckily, he hadn't planned to run around farming exploration points, otherwise he probably would have died on the road long ago.

"Sir...we are very grateful to you all for what happened just now, but I am just a steward who runs errands for my master, and I really don't have much spare money on me..."

Barto felt that he had only given a few explanations, which was really not enough to repay Lorraine for saving them, but he really couldn't come up with any decent gift to thank her for.

"How about this, when we get to the next stop, I'll take you to the warehouse and pack you two bags of dry rations and smoked ham..." His face was full of shame, as if he felt that such a gift was too embarrassing to express in light of the help they had received.

"Mr. Barto," Lorraine interrupted him with a smile, "we're all just trying to make a living. I used to worry about a few pieces of dark bread too. There's really no need for this."

"Now that you mention it, I'm even more embarrassed," Barto said with a wry smile. He frowned and pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up. "Jason just told me that you went to Frozen Lake Town to deal with that Winter Wolf?"

"Um."

Lorraine nodded, making no attempt to hide anything.

Anyway, these people wouldn't run off to steal the wolf's head from them, let alone follow them and launch a sneak attack.

Given their fighting prowess—being wiped out by a single shout from a harpy—they'd probably be locked in a life-or-death struggle against a gnoll with hyenas.

"That's great! Please wait a moment..."

Barto ran quickly to the camp, took out paper and pen from a cart, and scribbled for a moment.