Mage's Secret

That day, his father returned home soberly, and suddenly gave Traphael a set of clean clothes, and fetched several buckets of water for him. When he was confused, his father said, "Go take a bath, and put the Change your clothes."

He didn't understand his father's intentions, but he didn't dare to resist, and he didn't want to refuse. After all, taking a bath is a luxury for the poor. There is only one well in the entire slum, and the water in the well is turbid and rare. It doesn't rain for a few days The well will dry up.Therefore, most of the residents in the slums are dirty, and his mother also does laundry for others in the middle area.

He scrubbed himself carefully with a coarse cloth dampened with water, and then changed into the clean suit.

The clothes were made of cotton, not a particularly fine material, but decent enough.Traphael had never worn such clean, well-made, unpatched clothes, and he hardly dared to move.

But his father looked at him from the side, but frowned and said: "It's not enough, you go to wash it again, don't worry about the water, the cleaner the wash, the better."

Then, Trafalle took his first shower in his life.Even if he took a cold shower in early spring, he felt comfortable all over.

Behind him, his father wiped his hair with a coarse cloth. Although his rough actions pulled his long hair several times, he still felt very happy-he never felt his father's concern.

After that, his father took him to a small restaurant in the middle area for a meal. He had wandered around the back door of such a restaurant countless times, waiting for the leftovers from the restaurant.This was the first time he walked into such a place through the gate, and he didn't even dare to take a step, for fear of stepping on the clean and bright floor.

It was the fullest and best meal he had eaten in 15 years.

There were so many happy first times that Traphael almost felt that he was dreaming. He held his father's hand and walked on the street in the middle area, his heart beating non-stop.He thought of his first ride last year, and although he never got a chance to see Jeffrey again, it was still a precious memory that he could not stop thinking about.

Maybe his father finally quit gambling, and then felt that he owed the family, Traphael thought so, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.

Until his father took him into a noisy and smoky basement and led him through the crowded crowd. He saw girls with hot bodies and scantily clad clothes, and men who were sweating profusely and speaking obscenities.People looked crazy, some with surprise and some with despair.Even if he has never been here, Trafael understands that this is a casino.

He followed closely behind his father and came to the end of the road, in front of a red gate.Father whispered a few words to the man with a fierce face standing at the door, and the man opened the door, revealing a dark staircase.

Traphael's intuition began to sound the alarm. This door was like a huge mouth opened by a monster, and the dark passage was the esophagus leading to hell.He wanted to retreat, but was pulled in by his father.

At the end of the steps was another door. His father pulled him to the door and knocked carefully three times.An old and muddy voice came from the door: "Come in."

Father pushed open the door and dragged Traphael into the door.This is a rather luxuriously furnished room, every corner is filled with gold, silver and precious stones, and the floor is covered with a carpet made of the fur of an unknown animal.There was only a thin old man in the room, sitting in front of that big and gorgeous desk.

It wasn't until his father pulled him to the middle of the room that the old man raised his drooping eyelids and moved his eyes from the document in his hand to Traphael and his father.

The old man's scrutinizing gaze fell on Traphael. Traphael didn't understand the meaning behind this seemingly substantial, evil and malicious gaze, but he still felt uncomfortable instinctively.He looked at his father in fear, but his father said to the old man with a flattering and expectant smile, "Mr. Angus, this is the kid. What do you think?"

The old man groaned and did not speak. Traphael was so stared at that he couldn't help but lower his head. He wanted to hide behind his father, but his father held his arms firmly and stood there, unable to move. He could only completely expose himself In the eyes of people with numb scalp.

He heard the old man say in a muddy voice, "Lift up your head."

He shuddered, didn't move, and then felt his father's hand that was holding his arm squeeze him hard.

Pain is the most likely to evoke the memory of fear. Traphael did not dare to disobey his father, so he could only squeeze his lips tightly to prevent his teeth from colliding too far, then timidly raised his head, lowered his eyes to let the old man's eyes stick to him to clean clean face.

Traphael is the best-looking one among the three siblings. He is a pretty boy, but he is usually dirty and no one can tell.At this time, he cleaned all the dust and stains on his body, wore neat clothes, had a fair and handsome face, and slightly long and somewhat messy black hair hung down from his cheeks and fell on his shoulders.Terrible malnutrition made the 15-year-old look like he was only eleven or twelve years old, with a timid expression on his face, tears in his big eyes, and slightly trembling legs. He looked like a newborn deer. pity.

After a while, the old man nodded and said slowly: "This kid is not bad, but he is not worth 800 copper coins."

These words made Trafel look at his father with wide eyes. It wasn't until then that he realized that his father wanted to pay off his gambling debts!

There are three kinds of currency in circulation on the mainland: gold, silver and copper, and the conversion ratio of the three currencies is 1:1000.Those with higher status or rich people live a life of spending money in the true sense, but most of the common people living in the middle-level area can only live on a few silver coins.And Trafael and his family, like most of the residents in the slums, have an annual income of less than 500 copper coins.

800 copper coins is undoubtedly a huge sum of money for Trafael and his father.

Hearing what the old man called Angus said, his father's face became depressed, and he said in a crying voice: "Mr. Angus, please do me a favor, this is my last son!"

Angus sneered: "The last son? You just send him to me? Up to 500 copper coins."

Now my father was really crying. He wiped his tears and snot with his sleeve and said loudly, "Please! Mr. Angus, I really can't get 300 copper coins."

"Then you can use something else." Angus still said in his slow tone: "My place is not a charity, this is just a paradise for the fallen, and you know the rules of the fallen."

After speaking, he seemed impatient to say more to his father, so he knocked on the table.Immediately, the door was pushed open, and the bodyguard who didn't know where to hide at first came in. Angus waved his hand, and they dragged the crying father out.One of the bodyguards was left in the room by Angus. Watching his father being dragged out and not knowing what would happen, Traphael stood in the center of the room trembling.

"What's your name?" Angus asked.

"T... Trafal..." The teeth chattered too far away, and even the voice was stuttering.

Seeing him like this, Angus suddenly laughed twice, and then coughed surprisingly.The bodyguard who was left in the room went up to pour him a glass of water, and then let him go.

After a while, Angus stopped coughing slowly. He waved his hand to indicate that he was fine, and took a sip of the water poured by the bodyguard.Then he pointed to Traphael and said to the bodyguard: "You take him back first, and let Casey help him get ready."