Chapter 85 .
Chapter 85 .
Episode 85.
I opened my eyes wide and looked up at the Crown Prince, whose face was fiercely hardened.
“……cut my hair?”
“”Why are you cutting a clean head with a dangerously dagger?”
“I’m going to make a brush.”
“Bru…?”
I was dumbfounded at the sight of the Crown Prince, who rushed at every move.
“I said, I’ll take care of it, so I asked you to wait a moment, Your Highness.”
I forced my hand out of his grasp and gave him a nonchalant reply.
“I’m busy now, so don’t interrupt and wait by my side.”
“……ungracious. How dare you interrupt the Crown Prince of the Empire.”
When he pointed his finger at the place where he was supposed to retreat, he spoke with a blunt tongue, but he backed away.
I put the dagger back into my arms. Then I rolled up a handful of long-cut hair in his hand and grabbed it. The crimson hair curled greedily.
‘I wish I had straight hair..’
I glanced at the crown prince’s blond hair out of regret, but if I didn’t want to die, I had to be satisfied with my own.
I approached the skull again and gently swept the left finger bone with my hair. Removing foreign substances from a solo dig during a field recovery was a basic part of the basics.
My hair was so soft that it was closer to wiping out dirt than to dust it off, but it was much better than before.
After a while, though not perfect, the visible foreign substances were removed. But I couldn’t take the scroll out right away. Because of the body rotting and the damp cave humidity, bone and paper were almost stuck together.
‘…what should I do?’
There was a high possibility that the paper would rip if it was taken out by force.
First of all, we need to get rid of the moisture.
The tributary cultural properties were very fragile, so they had to be handled carefully.
Originally, it was supposed to be embalmed and dried after being moved to an aseptic chamber, but it was nonsense here.
Thinking about how to get rid of the scroll, I looked around to see if there was anything useful for removing moisture. Then I found the fallen torch that the Crown Prince had thrown away.
‘That’s it.’
I brushed the cut hair roughly on the floor and quickly approached it. Then, after picking up the pieces of wood, I will crush the ends on the rocks.
The charred part of the fire was easily crushed. When the water gathered to a certain extent, I crouched down and scraped together with my hands.
Then I went back to where the remains were and gently rubbed the charcoal on the surface of the scroll.
“What else are you doing now?”
The Crown Prince, who was watching me busily alone, came up again and asked, of course.
“we’ll removing moisture so that we can easily remove the part that sticks to the bone.”
The Crown Prince, with a vague face, stared at my actions for a long time before opening his mouth.
“I don’t know why we have to go through such a cumbersome process. Why don’t we just cut the bones?”
“This is the only way to make sure that no bones, no paper, don’t get damaged as much as possible. I wish I had a tweezers or a four-sep or something..”
I murmured to myself like I was talking to myself, listening to the grotesque sound of the Crown Prince. When I squatted and applied the charcoal powder with my bare hands to fit my deafness, I missed those common latex gloves.
“Have you learned archaeology?”
Suddenly Callisto asked. My hands stopped moving.
“Just…”
I soon moved my hands again casually.
“I’ve only read a few books at home.”
“The princess is so peculiar. I think you’re just picking things that no noblemen do.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
After gritting my teeth, I finally finished applying charcoal to both hands of the remains. Now all we have to do is wait a moment for charcoal to soak up the water.
The soot-covered hands were a mess. It was when he was looking down at my messy hands with a puzzled look on my face.
“This.”
Suddenly something was pushed in.
“Wipe it.”
The Crown Prince took out his handkerchief and was sticking it out to me. I looked down at it with a look of surprise and accepted it with a “thank you.”
“You carry all this stuff with you?”
It was a question that I asked without much thought, but The Crown Prince snorted as if he was stabbed.
“Huh. What the hell does the princess think of me?”
“That, of course…..”
‘Crazy idiot.’
A clear word came into my head.
“… …I think I should say the brave prince.”
But I managed to keep my reason and recite it like an excuse.
“… …you don’t usually carry hand towels in dynamic activities like hunting. My brothers also forget about it often.”
It was groundless whether the two men often blink their real handkerchiefs. The Crown Prince gave a suspicious look to my excuse and then spat it out.
“They’re probably didn’t get it as a gift.”
“……yes?”
“That’s what I got from a certain young lady before.”
I looked down at my hands, which he added with a big smile. The new handkerchief had already become black and dirty.
It was when he belatedly discovered daffodils embroidered at the end.
“Oh, no. The princess has put the handkerchief out of use now. I unintentionally ignored the sincerity of the lady. Isn’t that right?”
The crown prince held his breast in a exaggerated manner. It was obvious that it was to pick on me. I returned the handkerchief I was cleaning my hands straight back.
“Wash it and use it again.”
“You didn’t say you’ll give me a new handkerchief as a present.”
The crown prince frowned. After all, it sounded like you had lent mr a handkerchief to hear that from me.
I answered coolly without listening to him.
“Thank you for lending.”
“How can this girl so mean?”
The prince, holding a handkerchief with a disapproving face, spoke rudely again.
‘You’re the worst, you son of a bitch!’
It was only for a while to get angry. Because it was time to scroll down.
I took off my jacket one by one. It was because holding old paper with warm bare hands could damage it. It was a little uncomfortable, but I couldn’t help but carefully pulled it out by wrapping the scroll with thin parts of the jacket.
Fortunately, my idea of using charcoal to soak up moisture was not wrong. It was rather stiff, but I was finally able to pull the scroll between the knuckles of the remains.
“Phew…”
You don’t know how hard I was trying to hold my breath because I was afraid that the paper might break.
When I put down my jacket with two scrolls on the floor, a sigh of relief popped out.
“Is it over?”
“Yes.”
“What are you so fond of? You just need to check it out.”
At the sight of me carefully stretching out my crumpled jacket, the crown prince approached with his tongue kicked. Listening to the words in one ear, I carefully examined the state of the scroll.
The two scrolls were tied with a red and blue leather strap, respectively. The paper was in pretty good condition except for the rotting marks in the middle. No mold or worm marks were visible.
‘Is this some sort of magic preserved like a dead body?’
As you will know when you open it, the inside of the rotten part may also be intact, as the paper is firmly attached in layers.
Having succeeded in getting it out of harm’s way, I knew of course I’d move this to a safe place. Collected artifacts are used as research materials after preservation treatment.
“What are you doing, come on, open it.”
But the prince pulled the blue string in front of me.
“Hold, hold on… !”
As the knot was untied without stopping, the curled scrolls naturally spread out.
“So carelessly….!”
I vented my anger that I shouldn’t treat artifacts so ignorant. It was the moment. The light flashed before my eyes.
Hidden Quest [Suspicious Cave Search] succes
[An ancient magic map] was acquired as a reward
Will you take it?
[Yes. / No.]
‘Uh…’
It was when I was staring blankly at the system window that suddenly appeared.
“This is… …a map of the North Forest.”
The Crown Prince, who was scouring the map, muttered in a firm voice. I turned my eyes from the system window to look in the scroll at the speak. Surprisingly, a moving map was drawn inside the paper.