"Did you find it?" Lucille excitedly took the notebook from Sean and examined it closely.
"Didn't I just say I didn't find what you were looking for? But I did find some things similar to magic—take a look and see if they're related," he said. Since he had little knowledge of magical items, he brought them all over for her to check.
Standing before him, Lucille's stats displayed above her head remained unchanged.
Still 8000 HP and 4000 MP reserves, but her affinity had shifted to friendly. He hadn't expected affinity to be so easy to raise—jumping from cold to friendly in one go.
He recalled that when they first met yesterday, her affinity had been cold... and now, just a day later, it had changed.
Still, this felt somewhat realistic. People's attitudes could shift with a single word or gesture. If it required a bunch of numbers like in a game, then this world would truly be a game world.
He watched as Lucille remained absorbed in the notes on the record.
It was strange, too. When he saw her during the day yesterday, she was just an ordinary woman wrapped in black animal hide clothing. But at night, she transformed into a fashionable lady—and in winter, no less, dressed like that.
Before him now was a black animal hide coat, underneath which was a simple yet exquisite leather mini-dress, leaving a large expanse of snow-white skin below her neck. The most striking feature was still that teardrop-shaped necklace bead. As for her looks, she was quite beautiful—at least, in the half-month since Sean had arrived in this world, none of his maids or the young women in town could compare to her.
She was so focused that even when he said he hadn't found the disc she wanted, she showed no disappointment, remaining in a state of excitement.
"What are all these things?"
"Magical items, and rare ones at that... Just as I thought, this place must have once been a hiding spot for some witch," Lucille said.
A hiding spot?
Meaning this place had once harbored a witch too, Sean thought to himself.
"You're saying a witch once appeared on my territory? This record should be from over sixty years ago. If one had appeared back then, there should be records of it," Sean said.
"Some witches look like ordinary people in daily life but only reveal their abilities at special times. They tend to hold gatherings in secret places," she said, pausing her page-turning to fix her captivating eyes on Sean.
"Are you like that too? You're certainly good at disguising yourself."
Sean chuckled inwardly.
She didn't deny it, but of course, she didn't confirm it either.
"This has nothing to do with who I am. We have our own troubles too," she said, closing the book and tossing it onto the table.
"Do you know why these archaeological records can't figure out the tomb's owner? It's because this place was once a gathering spot for witches, and over centuries, many witches entered it, making the artifacts found here so complex."
Just then, the book was blown open a few pages by the cold wind, revealing dense text.
"Look at this bell—it was used as a protective magical item. Based on the description of its design, it should be from a hundred years ago. They don't use this style anymore."
Lucille struck Sean as a magic expert, able to deduce its origin and timeline just from the description of its appearance.
But Sean closed the book and looked up at her.
"This is your witches' business, not mine. Our deal is that I help you find things, and you teach me spells."
Compared to these complicated common-sense facts and habits that took years to develop, Sean felt learning the magic before him was more important.
"Of course, Lucille the witch never breaks her word!"
Today, her raven wasn't with her; she came alone. This was their agreed time—every night, Lucille would come here to teach him magic, and how much he learned was up to Sean.
She took off her tall witch's hat, revealing her silver hair. Her blue pupils glowed with a strange, eerie quality in the candlelight.
"Take this..."
"What is it?"
He looked at the long rod she handed him.
"A wand. Since I'm carrying these things, I can only give you this for now. It'll boost your efficiency in using magic—a very useful magical item."
It was slightly longer and thicker than a chopstick, feeling like a short weapon.
"You gave it to me. What about you?"
She smiled and blinked at him...
"Lucille the witch is much stronger than you think."
Then she began to instill basic magical knowledge into Sean—how to acquire it, how to use it, and so on.
Sean found this to be an entirely different field of knowledge, one that even overturned his common sense... No, it was more accurate to say that the common sense of this world was different from what he imagined, and in many ways.
For instance, the simple fact that red and green mix to make yellow was wrong in this world.
There were many similar cases, almost all contradicting the common sense he knew...
He had originally thought learning magic might rely on talent or something like natural energy, like in novels where a bit of meditation and imagination would let you grasp it instantly. He never expected even basic common sense to be off.
From night until dawn, Lucille went over most of the common-sense basics with Sean, and he diligently took notes.
"I didn't expect you to be so serious. I really don't get why a noble like you wants to learn magic. With your status, you could easily hire a low-level witch and buy some simple magical items or guns to use. Why bother with this?" Lucille watched as Sean spent nearly the whole night taking notes.
"Heh, a man's got to have some pursuits."
This mindset was hard to explain. Since he wasn't originally from this world, he naturally wouldn't live by ordinary people's standards.
"That's it for now. I'll come back tomorrow to teach you the rest."
With that, Lucille stood up to leave. It had been a whole night, and the two of them had just sat there the entire time.
"I heard your group is still in the mountains. How come you're back alone?" Sean suddenly asked. According to Luke's intel, the archaeological team hadn't come out of the mountains yet.
"That's them, not me. I'm different... Also, the people you sent are really foolish. Did they think we wouldn't notice them spying on us?"
She suddenly leaned in close.
"You'd better not do anything so dangerous in the future. If you run into someone stronger, this kind of behavior will make people very uncomfortable... little baron."
With that, she vanished from sight.
The days that followed became much simpler.
Sean started his mornings by leading the baron's household on a morning run. As long as it wasn't snowing, they'd jog a full lap around the entire town.