The sound of the front door opening rang out.
I knew Master had returned.
Perfect. I still had no idea what this iron pestle in my hand was.
Now that Master was back, I could show it to him.
I took the thing and walked straight out of my room.
The iron pestle, small enough to grip in one hand, was incredibly heavy.
A solid thirty pounds...
An ordinary person would struggle just to hold it.
When I came downstairs, I found that Master was still wearing a long face.
I could guess with my toes that he had once again come back empty-handed. He had been fishing for a whole month now, yet he had not even caught a single whitebait.
"Master!"
Hearing me call out to him, Master shot me a glare.
"Why aren't you asleep this late at night? Don't you have work tomorrow? What if you treat the wrong patient tomorrow? It's not that I want to nag you, but you stay up late every day. Don't you know to go to bed earlier?"
I was suffering inside!
Master had failed to catch any fish, so he was taking it out on me again. That was why whenever Master came back empty-handed, I usually did not dare say much.
At that moment, I stepped forward.
"Master, this time it's important. Take a look at this first."
As I spoke, I handed him the palm-sized iron pestle.
Master looked puzzled.
"What the hell is this?"
I shook my head.
"I don't know. While you were out, Aisin Gioro Fuwang from the Dragon Guardian Clan—the one who came to our shop before—came by. He passed this thing on to me and said it was given by some important person.
He said we would understand once we got it.