21st Century Necromancer

Chapter 575 571 Human Skin Book (Please subscribe, request for monthly tickets)

After visiting the Palace of Versailles and the Eiffel Tower, Yu Chen and Hiromi Jounouchi's trip in France had come to an end.

After a night's rest, the two of them took an early morning train to the United Kingdom.

Some might wonder, with the English Channel lying between the UK and France, how is it possible to take a train from France to the UK without a cross-sea bridge between them?

Indeed, due to historical reasons and construction difficulties, there is no bridge constructed over the sea between them. However, in the 1990s, a submarine tunnel was built, along with a high-speed railway line connecting the capitals of London, Paris, and Brussels, the capital of Belgium.

This rail line is known as the Eurostar.

If you've seen the first part of the "Mission: Impossible" series starring Tom Cruise, and remember the final fight scene on the train, then you should be familiar with this railway, as that train is the Eurostar that runs between London and Paris.

Since money was not a concern, Yu Chen and Hiromi Jounouchi bought first-class tickets, which allowed them to enjoy meals served at their seats during meal times.

"Even though it's a train meal, this bread really tastes awful," Gilles de Rais said as he nibbled on a roll from the meal, his expression ill-matching his noble status.

Yu Chen glanced at the vampire who had thick-facedly followed them and spoke while eating his own breakfast, "If you despise it so much, Mr. Gilles, why do you keep following us? And however bad this bread may taste, it must be better than the black bread you ate in the Middle Ages, right?"

"As a noble, I never had to eat such lowly food, even though France was in decline at the time, we still had a reliable supply of goods," Gilles de Rais replied, raising an eyebrow and wiping his lips with a silk handkerchief from his pocket before continuing.

Yu Chen did not doubt the words of Gilles de Rais; after all, the historical records show that Marshal Gilles was known for his extravagant lifestyle. After the defeat of Joan of Arc and his retirement, he sold off his family's assets to maintain his indulgent lifestyle, to the extent that the King ordered a ban on the sale of his properties. There were rumors that he spent 10,000 francs each year just to sustain his lavish living, so it really wasn't strange that he had never tasted black bread.

The conversation between Yu Chen and Gilles de Rais naturally aroused Hiromi Jounouchi's curiosity, and she took the initiative to ask him, "Mr. Gilles, why haven't you ever eaten black bread? Wasn't it the staple food in Europe at that time? And I've read some articles saying that black bread is more nutritious and satisfying than white bread."

"Madam, what you're referring to is the modern black bread, which besides both being baked with flour and bran, differs entirely from the black bread in the Middle Ages," Gilles de Rais explained in detail the differences between the two types of bread in response to Hiromi Jounouchi's question.

"...so in the Middle Ages, the so-called black bread consisted of unleavened, baked cakes mixed with sawdust and sand, which were so hard they could even be used as weapons. In my former domain, I've heard more than once about people getting their heads cracked open by a loaf of bread," Gilles de Rais shrugged his shoulders, blatantly finding the irony in the use of bread as a weapon.

After listening to Gilles de Rais's explanation, Hiromi Jounouchi seemed intrigued and asked him more questions about the Middle Ages as if she wanted to pass the time with conversation on the two-hour journey from France to the UK.

Yu Chen could guess why Gilles de Rais was following them; it was no doubt for the resurrection of Joan of Arc.

Although he did not want to get involved, Yu Chen didn't mind Gilles de Rais's company because the vampire knew how to ingratiate himself with both him and Hiromi Jounouchi. Previously in Paris, he not only arranged all their itinerary and provided them with noble-like pleasures but also accompanied them throughout, offering detailed explanations that greatly enhanced their enjoyment of the tour.

Admittedly, a honeymoon is supposed to be a sweet time for just the couple, but having a guide who knows when to step back and not intrude on their privacy is quite pleasant.

As for whatever schemes Gilles de Rais might have in mind, Yu Chen wasn't keen on provoking the church, but he didn't see a vampire who hadn't reached the Legendary Peak as a threat.

"Mr. Gilles, could you show me that book?" Perhaps having a favorable impression of Gilles de Rais or out of curiosity about the spellbook he possessed, Yu Chen felt he might offer some guidance.

Upon hearing Yu Chen's request, Gilles de Rais didn't hesitate to pull out the spellbook, which he saw as the sole hope for reviving Joan of Arc, and placed it in front of Yu Chen.

It was an ancient-looking book, similar to Yu Chen's "Multiverse Universal Necromancy Spell Compendium" with a leather cover, but the leather of this book was noticeably inferior, tattered, and stained, making it look even more worn.

The pages inside were also made of leather, and the text was written in a dark red ink. Although there were water marks and signs of soaking, the writing on the pages was still very clear and unaffected.

As a necromancer and surgeon who dealt with human anatomy daily, even without having seen one before, Yu Chen immediately recognized this as a book made from human skin, with both the cover and pages crafted from the skin of a female.

"A human skin book... it's definitely in the style of the Mysticism School," Yu Chen sighed, shaking his head. If possible, he preferred not to deal with anything related to the Mysticism School, not because it couldn't be resolved, but because the solutions were often intricate and troublesome.

However, since he had already touched it, Yu Chen didn't just return the book to Gilles de Rais. He gathered a bit of necromantic power at his fingertips, touched it to the cover of the human skin spellbook, and with a flash of purple light, the stains and tears on the book vanished, and the cover transformed into a thick book inlaid with a full set of hand bones.

"Darling, what happened?" Hiromi Jounouchi asked curiously, watching the change in the spellbook in Yu Chen's hands. She was interested in the spellbook as well.