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Hey, we got a new translator Ursa working with us. She’s quite new but she learns quickly. I’m her translation checker and editor so I can still follow the novel and pick it up again if she ever drops it 😀
Her release rate is 3-4 days per chapter. Cheers.
-Chapter 47, DGM-
A red coloured notebook. It wasn’t only Lucy that had looked through it; both Hank and Greedin had seen it before.
Hank remained silent, but Greedin burst into fits of laughter. “The writing is not bad. I didn’t know Witt was this type of person, but I like it.”
His words drew a pointed glare from Lucy.
However, Link shook his head. “It’s nothing that simple.”
His words made the three mercenaries unsettled. Hank asked, “Mr. Link, don’t tell me you found something?”
Link nodded curtly. “The book was found in Witt’s room, right?”
“Right, it looked like it was thrown onto his desk in a hurry.” Lucy nodded. However, she did not understand what Link was getting at.
Thrown onto his desk in a hurry? It looked like Witt had either forgot to take the notebook along with him or he had memorised the exact places of all the buried treasures clearly and had no more use for the notebook. This would also mean that he was exceptionally confident in his ciphered treasure map.
However, Link was positive that this notebook was the treasure map as it was identical to the one in the game. It also used the pretense of an erotic diary to encode the details of the treasure map. Of course, the erotic diary was much more toned down in the game, nothing so explicit as now.
Link continued, “Then let me ask everyone, does Witt seem like lustful person?”
The three mercenaries looked at each other, before shaking their heads.
The impression Witt had given them thus far was that while he was certainly a bad person, he was not someone to give in to lust. In the entire echo valley, they had not found a modicum of anything female staying inside. Rumors of Witt’s bad records were all homicide, extortion, et cetera. It seemed like Witt did not hold a big interest towards women.
However, why would someone like him keep an erotic diary in his study room?
“I trust everyone here has heard of the legend of Witt’s treasure?” Link continued.
There were no walls without cracks. Although Witt had hidden the majority of his fortunes, rumors somehow circulated. People who paid attention to the dark brotherhood had all heard these hearsay before.
The three mercenaries bobbed their heads up and down, their eyes flashing with eager anticipation. They had second-guessed what Link was about to say, but they kept quiet and awaited his answer.
Link decidedly opened the notebook and began reading aloud.
To tell the truth, this erotic diary was written pretty well, with exquisite although explicit descriptions down to the finest modicum. There were myriads of females, each with perfect figures. Each and every one of them was beautiful and passionate, brought to life on paper through vivid and lifelike portrayals from the author.1
Link finished the first chapter. Hank was blushing slightly, Greedin was licking his lips and Lucy was nervously touching her own slender but curvy hips.
Link ignored their expressions, calmly asking, “So, what do you guys think?”
Hank looked embarrassed, Lucy flushed without answer and Greedin let a small laugh out: “Well written, I really feel like going to the river valley village’s moulin rouge now.” (Moulin Rouge is located in River Valley Village)2
Link glanced at him with slight disdain. “Such an obvious clue. Didn’t you guys find it?”
“Clue? What clue?” Lucy couldn’t help but ask.
Link went into explanation. ”If I am not mistaken, this notebook should contain information about every location Witt had hidden his treasures. In the first chapter, Witt wrote about his vacation in Hot Springs capital country where he was looking for searching for romance. But all of these are just facades. The key lies in this part. Here, Witt wrote about the flowing stream between the woman’s legs, but he was actually talking about the stream in Gwinnett forest. He wrote that he spotted three sexy little beauty marks. I think these moles represent his surroundings, like a rock or a tree. Probably a tree, because trees grow naturally and wouldn’t be too suspicious. Finally, he said he gently kneaded and massaged the bulge on the valley. In other words, 3 trees near the stream and an island in the center of the stream probably has some buried treasure.”3
As he explained, Lucy’s eyes suddenly brightened: “Hold on! I think I’ve seen this place… Yes, it’s about a mile from here. We’ve been there before. I even mentioned how beautiful those three trees were! Hank, Greedin, you remember too, right?”
Hank and Greedin nodded in reply. This had happened only two weeks ago.
“If it is only a mile away, we might as well take a look.” Link chuckled.
Echo valley was very well hidden, and there was no worry about the pile of loot getting lost. Thus, the three mercenaries nodded in agreement.
Several minutes later, the four of them stood by a stream with three trees. After some digging they found a trunk with as much as 150 gold coins inside.
Three mercenaries felt their hearts pounding rapidly. This was only the first hidden spot and there were already 150 golden coins to be found. This erotic diary was still full of more clues. The three people flushed upon thinking this.
“Link, can you explain another chapter?” Hank requested. Although he had also read that diary, he hadn’t noticed anything at all. But in the eyes of magician, it had completely changed into a treasure map.
The magician’s wisdom was indeed worthy of admiration.
Lucy and Greedin bobbed their heads eagerly. This treasure hunt was exciting and fun.
Link turned the diary over. There were 18 chapters in it, which meant 18 different treasure maps hidden inside. This is reality, so loot doesn’t drop randomly. Any loot found would come in a full set.
Link laughed, “I’ll explain them to you later. However, I will not be present for the following treasure hunts. Let’s return to the echo valley.”
The first treasure was easy to find. It was close and all you needed was a bit of luck. But the rest of the treasures were certainly hidden somewhere high in distant mountains or in some deserted places. Link certainly did not want to crawl through the entire world searching for them.
The group returned to the echo valley. The three mercenaries begin to handle the loot, packing them up in bags and cleaning up the corpses of the robbers.
Of course they didn’t dig graves for them, instead cremating them with fire. However, Witt’s broken body did not burn well as it was demonised so the three mercenaries were somewhat nervous.
As for the reward mission, they already forgotten about it. Only fools would deliver the information of the completion of this task. They had destroyed the whole dark brotherhood, so if rumors spread everywhere, everyone would know that they had Witt’s treasure. Money could drive men crazy. It would be certain that people would find trouble with them for the gold they had.
Everyone had already decided to keep this matter under wraps.
During this time, Link had already begun decoding the diary. Although the clues were somewhat obscure, locating them was child’s play to Link. After reading a few chapters, understanding Witt’s mind was really easy.
He wrote down his findings and passed it to Hank. ”If every location contains 150 gold coins, then you should have no less than 2,700 gold coins after going through every one.”
2,700 gold coins coupled with the previous 1,400 gold coins would be 4,100 gold coins — an enormous sum of money. Link knew that even his cheap viscount father could not come up with this amount of money. Even if his father scrambled together his savings, he could only come up with 1,000 golden coins and nothing more.
It seems that the rumors of Witt’s riches were indeed true!
Three mercenaries’ eyes popped out. They did not dare think of a wealth on this figure.
After a long silence Hank was first to return to his senses. “Link, how are you going to divide it?”
Lucy and Greedin looked at Link expectantly, their eyes full of restlessness. They knew of Link’s magic powers and only hoped for nothing but a bigger share of the loot.
Link already had a plan in his heart. He laughed, “I don’t have time to go finding treasure so the searching will be done by you. If you can give me 1,500 gold coins. I can craft a custom-made magic equipment of excellent quality for each of you after I make progress in my magic. Of course, not giving me any money is also an option. I will charge you with 200 golden coins each for this deal.”
As an aristocrat, 1,500 golden coins would be enough to cover the tuition fees.
Link was unperturbed, as if this exorbitant sum of gold coins was nothing for him and this deal was something he did every day.
In truth, Link was just too lazy to go hunting for treasure. His current mind was on nothing else but his thesis and magic, and he had no spare minute to waste. How could he squander time hunting for gold?
If it were not for the studying fees for the academy, he would not even bother with this task.
Well, now that his task was completed, he obviously could not give up his benefits. Hence his little play with ‘excellent quality equipment’ to tempt them.
In the real world, moral is very important. However, in business where it’s either success or failure, if you think about the other party’s feelings too much, you would be an absolutely fool betrayed 9 times out of 10! This went especially true for businesses concerning huge amounts of money.
A little humanity is good, but it can backfire violently, too risky to try!
What sealed the deal was to use the other party’s honest intentions along with common interests to achieve beneficial cooperation.
Only 1,500 golden coins for three custom-made excellent quality magic equipment. The three mercenaries heartbeat quickened.
Custom-made magic equipment of excellent level would definitely enhance their strength greatly. This opportunity was too rare to lose!
Hank and others did not have a slightest doubt about Link’s ability. He was the youngest yet the strongest. In another few years, what level would his power reach?
After fighting together, they also believed that with Link’s personality that if they were too greedy, he may just slaughter them and clinch all the money instead.
The three mercenaries watched each other. After a moment, Hank stepped forward handing over a pouch with 300 gold coins (100 gold coins added with the treasure they dug up) and promised, “Mr. Link, we will get 1,500 golden coins as soon as possible and send it to you!”
“In these days, I can be found in the river valley village inn reading books.” Link didn’t bother picking up the pouch as it was too heavy. He casted the spell ‘master’s hand’ to pick it up instead.
“Well, I have to go. Good luck, mercenaries.” Link turned around and made his way out of echo valley, his pouch following him in the air.
Watching him leave quietly, the three mercenaries felt as if the entire day was just one big hell of a dream.
“Hank, we have to give him gold, but 1,500 gold coins!?” Greedin wailed.
Lucu immediately glared at him scornfully. “Watch yourself! This youngster will certainly become a very powerful magician in the future. It’s just that he’s a little short of money. This is the best chance we will ever have to have a relationship with him. Do you want to be an average mercenary your entire life?”
Hank agreed, “Lucy is right. We can’t always be just the flamingo mercenary squad. I hope to become a mercenary guild one day, a glorious mercenary guild of the north!”
“Fine, let’s send it.” Greedin spread his hands. He did not know why, but he felt a sense of burning passion in his hearts when Hank said his words.
—
As Link left echo valley, he placed the pouch in the storage pendant leaving only 5-6 golden coins to spare. He whistled as he walked to the river valley village in a great mood.
He believed in his own judgement and was certain that three mercenaries would get him his gold coins. Even if they couldn’t find enough money in the treasure, they would pool together their own money to send him.
Because he saw burning flame in their eyes. Those were the eyes of people who would never be content with the lives of ordinary people!
And just like that, his tuition fee would be covered. Haha.
-Chapter 47, end-
Tler’s notes:
Well, I think her translation was generally alright after I edited it. Unedited chapters will be posted in advance and the chapters will be edited shortly after (~1-2 days unless I’m busy)
Also, for those reading on aggregator sites such as novelplanets or readlightnovel, I’d suggest reading it on the original site isohungrytls.com for a better reading experience. The aggregator sites are missing footnotes and edits, so yeah, ur missing out on a good half of the story because it’ll only be readable on isohungry.
And wtf Link, I think he’s receiving less than half of the profit? Idk
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Is it possible to donate a little bit to a patron or something to help ensure that the series doesn’t randomly die??? This series us good asf imo
Nice, Ursa!
i liked the TL/ED. (well, of course i did not read the original)
I’m happy that this is being worked on! Looking forward to the next chapters!