"Phil Uncle, does he want a son?" Jesse was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "It seems so. I have heard him complain that he has no son, and no one will take care of him when he is sick."
Liszt looked at Jesse.
Suddenly asked, "Jesse, if I remember correctly, you seem to be an orphan?"
"Yes, sir, I grew up in the Coral City welfare home. Thanks to the Tulip Family's generosity for keeping our orphans alive." Jesse said piously.
Welfare homes are institutions where nobles collect orphans. Accidents always happen to common people, leaving several children without anyone to take care of them. In order to show their kindness, some wealthy nobles will establish welfare homes on their family fiefdoms to collect orphans. When they grow up, they will work directly for the castle.
Jesse is such an orphan.
"Is the old cobbler in the cobbler's shop now?"
"Yes, sir, I wanted to invite Uncle Phil to go shopping with me before, but he didn't want to."
"Then Jesse, come with me and go see the old cobbler. I have something to ask him about."
"Okay, I'll go prepare the horse for you, sir."
On the racecourse outside the castle, there is a crudely built rest room. Philip and Xavier have been staying here. As Retainer Knight, they do not enjoy the benefits of vacation.
Seeing Liszt riding on Fire Dragon Horse, they each mounted a horse and followed Liszt.
Let's go to the cobbler's shop together.
There are basically cobbler shops in every small town. Cobblers are craftsmen who make leather, sew furs, and repair leather shoes. Broken down, there are leather helmet makers, leather armor makers, vest makers, drum makers, leather bag makers, leather goods makers, leather shoemakers, etc. Generally speaking, leather shoemakers are the majority.
Flower Town's old cobbler Phil is a leather shoemaker.
In big cities, shoemakers are often wealthy free people, because the craftsmanship of a pair of leather shoes requires a lot of money. But in small towns, the salary of shoemakers is not good, and few people can afford to wear leather shoes, so the cobbler shop can only make a living - most serfs and free people wear wooden shoes and straw sandals.
Of course, more people don't wear shoes.
"Is it Jesse?" The old cobbler's hoarse voice came from the table. He was groping to mend a pair of leather shoes. Even though he was blind, his hands were still dexterous.
Jesse said hurriedly, "Uncle Phil, the lord is here. The lord has something to do with you."
"Ah, your lord, old Phil says hello to your lord." The old cobbler hurriedly stood up from his chair and bowed, his hands trembling nervously just like ordinary people when they see a lord.
Liszt looked at the narrow, dark cobbler's shop. It can be seen that the shop has been in disrepair for many years, and the sun can be seen from the roof.
Like an old cobbler, it shows signs of age and decline.
"Old Phil, don't be nervous, I just came here to chat with you."
The old cobbler's cloudy eyes showed no emotional changes.
But Liszt felt that the opponent's hands had quickly stopped shaking - this was not that the tension had been calmed down, it looked more like the performance had stopped. The previous nervousness might have been just an act. This is easy to understand. After all, nobles like to see civilians trembling in front of them.
The elderly man has already learned to deal with life. "Lord, it is an honor for Old Phil to chat with the noble you."
"You begged and settled in Flower Town ten years ago. So, where are you originally from?"
"I was born in Dodo Island, Lord."
"Dodo Island?"
"It is a desert island without a lord to govern it, further north of Coral Island. There is a kind of dodo bird living on the island, which cannot fly. It sounds like it is shouting 'Dodo'. There is also a very tall tree with a very scary name, called Human Skull Tree, and the fruit it bears is called Human Skull Fruit."
"Human Skull Tree?"
"Yes, Lord, the fruit is white and looks like a human skull from a distance. But it tastes very delicious. The natives on the island eat Human Skull Fruit to satisfy their hunger. Dodos also eat Human Skull Fruit, but the dodo meat is particularly unpalatable and life on the island is very difficult."
It sounds like a dodo bird.
Reminds Liszt of the extinct dodo bird on Earth.
I wonder if the dodos here are the same species as the dodos on Earth.
"So, how did you come to Coral Island from the Dodo? You were born in Dodo Island, so you should be a local aboriginal, so where did the aboriginal residents of Dodo Island come from?" Liszt asked.
There are still many undeveloped desert islands outside Sapphire Grand Duchy, and Dodo Island should be one of them.
"I am a native of Dodo Island. I don't know where we come from. We have been living on Dodo Island for as long as I can remember. Later, Dodo Bird Volcano erupted and Human Skull Tree was largely destroyed. Without food, we had to cut down trees to make canoes and drift along the sea... At that time, I drifted to Hot Spring Island and became an apprentice in a tanner's shop."
In the subsequent story, Hot Spring Island encountered war, and he was sold as a slave to Coral Island. He was bought by a Baron on the island at that time. Later, Baron followed the count to the battlefield and never came back. All the Elf Bug in the territory died. The serfs were afraid of punishment and began to flee.
The old cobbler also fled.
After wandering all the way, I came to Flower Town.
"At that time, all the serfs were rumoring that Baron died in the battle because Retainer Knight, who was a serf next to him, betrayed him. The followers were very angry and decided to massacre all the serfs in the territory to avenge Baron..." When the old cobbler talked about this past event, he sighed endlessly, perhaps lamenting his original ignorance.
This is a low-level rumor. The nobles attach great importance to their serfs.
The correct opening posture should be - Baron died in battle and had no heir. The lord he followed, the Earl Coral Island, took back the ownership of the territory, including the serfs.
All in all, the old cobbler's life was not full of ups and downs, nor was he a person with a "story". Even his blindness occurred naturally at Flower Town.
What can barely be considered a story is the identity of Dodo Island, an indigenous person.
Liszt carefully inquired about the situation of Dodo Island and found that it was just a small island with no more than 300 indigenous people. It was eventually destroyed by the volcanic eruption. Except for the few remaining Human Skull Tree trees, it probably had no development value.
He was a little disappointed.
I thought that the person Smoke Mission specifically mentioned must be somewhat mysterious, but I didn't expect that he was just an ordinary native.
He still planned to continue completing the task and get the book as a reward - bringing Jesse with him, just to give Jesse to the old cobbler to be his son - an orphan without a father and a mother, a widower without a son or daughter. The two of them are very similar, so it should be easy for them to form a father-son contract.
But suddenly, he had a bold idea.
"Why should I follow in the footsteps of Smoke Mission? I am not its puppet. I can directly ask the old cobbler for the book instead of relying on completing tasks to get the book!"
How many books can an old cobbler have? Liszt doesn't think it would be many.
So.
He said directly, "Old Phil, I heard that you have collected some books, right? I hope you can sell them to me."
When the lord spoke, the old cobbler did not dare to disobey, and immediately agreed, "Yes, lord, I have a collection of books, but there is only one, and I will dedicate it to the lord." After saying that, with his back bent, and with the support of Jesse, he took out a wooden box from the cabinet full of leather shoes.
"Jesse, the book is in the box, take it to the lord quickly."
Jesse opened the box, took out a thick book, and handed it to Liszt. Liszt glanced at it and found that the book was not printed, but a handwritten note, with Snake Script and another foreign language written on the cover.
He doesn't know any foreign language characters.
But we know Snake Script--<Philip·Descendants of the Sun's diary>.