20demayo Chapter 16 Professor Devont
Chapter 16 Professor Devont
"What a pretentious guy," Suren thought to herself as she looked at Cole's deliberately affected posture.
Carl reached out and rang the doorbell. The crisp sound of the doorbell echoed behind the door, and soon, footsteps approached from afar.
A short while later, a man dressed in a simple butler's uniform opened the door, his gray hair neatly combed.
His gaze swept over the three men's attire, he nodded slightly, and stepped aside to make way for them: "Please follow me."
The three followed the butler through the foyer. The floor beneath their feet was polished to a shine, and several oil paintings hung in a staggered arrangement on both sides of the corridor.
Although the professor's home was not luxurious, it exuded a restrained style. Although Su Lun did not understand the art of this era, he could still see the extraordinary nature of these paintings.
The butler stopped in front of a door and gently pushed it open: "Please wait a moment, everyone. Rest in the reception room for a while. The professor will be here shortly."
Suren sat on the soft sofa, the velvety touch making him feel as if he had returned to his past life.
He looked up, his gaze sweeping across the room, taking in the decor of the reception room.
The fireplace directly opposite was made of creamy white marble, and in front of it sat an exquisite coffee table with a silver tray and ceramic teaware. A gilded pendulum clock sat on a small table in the distance, its hands ticking with an extremely soft sound.
Suren silently estimated in her mind that the items in just this one room would be more than an average worker could afford even if he worked for three years without eating or drinking.
Suren couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Professor Derwent is much richer than I imagined; he's practically as wealthy as the nobles of 'Libraton.'"
The three waited in the reception room for a short while before a middle-aged man pushed open the door and walked in, carrying a canvas bag in his hand.
The man looked to be in his early forties, but his dark brown hair was already covered with large patches of gray. He wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses with very thick lenses on his high, aquiline nose.
He was wearing a white shirt under a fine wool tuxedo coat, meticulously tailored.
However, a closer look reveals some light gray marks on the cuffs of the coat, and some speckled stains on the front of the garment, revealing the owner's daily life—a scholar who is unconcerned with details and devoted to the laboratory.
Perhaps because he often needed to conduct research, Professor De Went did not grow a beard like most nobles, but he did not shave very cleanly, with a few short stubbles remaining on his chin.
Carl stood up and greeted him warmly, but Professor Derwent simply nodded without saying much.
The professor didn't sit down; he just stood there, adjusting his glasses.
"Since you've all read the bounty details, it proves that the three of you are quite confident in your abilities, so I won't waste any more time," Professor Derwent said quickly, without any formalities, as if he were in a hurry. "I need you to escort me to the wilderness area. I'll need to stay there for at least four hours. One of my experiments requires recording the ecology there. You don't need to know the details; you wouldn't understand anyway with your limited knowledge."
Suren frowned, because his "Source of Knowledge" had started to tremble again; this was the effect of [Revelation].
Based on previous experience, Suren roughly knew the passive trigger conditions for [Revelation], which most likely required the other party's hidden secret to be important enough to trigger it.
Unfortunately, this ability cannot directly help Suren uncover the truth behind it, and it is highly likely to be affected by "information barriers".
According to Suren's speculation, any ability to spy or similar should be affected by "information barriers".
"Whether it's Cole or Professor De Winter, neither of them is honest. Fortunately, I also have quite a few trump cards up my sleeve." Suren sneered inwardly. Fortunately, these two didn't know much about him, and he would give them a little shock later.
The professor glanced at everyone and, seeing that no one raised any objections, nodded and tossed the canvas bag onto the table: "We'll depart at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, meeting at the wilderness exit east of town."
I've prepared the carriage and rations in advance. The bag contains three low-level alchemical bombs and three vials of minor injury treatment potions, as a bonus for this mission. All you need to do is protect me. If the research goes smoothly, I'll increase the bounty.
Karl opened the canvas bag, inside which lay three alchemical bombs and three vials of potion. Suren picked up one of the bombs and weighed it in her hand; compared to Karl's rather crude alchemical bombs, the ones in the bag were more refined.
"However, this bomb looks like it was just made..." Suren thought to himself.
After placing the bomb in the bag, Suren looked at Cole with a slight smile: "My marksmanship is pretty good, and Cole, you're quite the seasoned 'hound' now. I think we should leave the bomb and the medicine to Karl for safekeeping; after all, he's the weakest. What do you think?"
Upon hearing the word "weakest," Karl instinctively wanted to object. He moved his lips but said nothing, only straightening his back instinctively.
Cole raised an eyebrow, straightened his collar, and said somewhat pretentiously, "Your arrangements are spot on. I have no objections."
Hearing Cole's words, Carl, despite being very dissatisfied, had no choice but to take the bag to himself.
The professor seemed oblivious to the little incident, and only continued speaking after the topic of the bag had come to an end:
"I'll take care of the passes to leave town. What I hate most is people who aren't punctual. I hope to see you guys at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning."
Over the next few hours, the group discussed some details, and Suren discovered that although Professor De Winter was rather old-fashioned, he was generally very kind. He answered all of Karl's questions without showing any impatience.
But the more this was the case, the more Sulen suspected the professor's hidden motives.
After finalizing their plans, the group didn't linger. They said goodbye to the professor and the three of them got up and left.
The butler escorted the three to the door, and Cole, still sporting that formulaic smile, said, "See you tomorrow."
Without waiting for their response, he turned and left.
"A 'hound,' and he's putting on airs, ugh." Carl made a face at Cole's back.
Suren patted him on the shoulder and didn't linger; he had to make some preparations.
Night fell quickly, and Suren was already in bed, mentally reviewing the day's events and making plans for tomorrow.
It wasn't until late at night, after confirming that nothing had been overlooked, that he finally fell into a deep sleep, his mind still sharp with worry.