Chapter 97 – What One Sees and Hears (Start)
Three days after placing the eagle egg within the spatial region for nurturing, it was then the Holy Era’s 7488 year, 9th month and 25th day. This day was the bumper harvest occasion. In the blink of an eye, it was truly another year.
Icicle Kingdom. Paquette Region.1 Lucas Estate.
The coverage of Icicle Kingdom wasn’t big, it was situated near an ocean. The internal forest and mountains weren’t high. It was said that the highest Boozy peak2, was also just 550 metres. Within the Baron’s Lucas estate, was then what Rumont called “forest borderline”. The western side was Briar Forest, the Northern side was then a mountain range. This mountain range extended several kilometres into the distance, but the height was just 200 metres or so.
Reportedly, this mountain was nominally classified as the Baron of Carnlea’s, Lance Uren’s territory.
Carnlea was the name of the estate. It was also the name for the central town. It was reportedly said to possess 3 towns and 18 villages of direct subordinate estates. And the greater part of the territory was of quite fertile plains; it neighboured the former 5th richest Baron.
Rumont alone spurred his colt, galloping on the small road within the forest. His mind thought, thinking that this name was quite familiar. Carefully thinking back, he then remembered. Within Appleseed city, he had once encountered a Rank 1 Mage Jacobs, originally, he was the youngest son of Irby Uren, who had depended on the doting of the Lord and his own status as a Mage. Unexpectedly, he had wanted to compete with the eldest son. The end result was that he was driven out of the house and deprived of everything.
Currently, the Lord was his older brother Lance. Speaking of it, the mountain at the back of Rumont’s estate was the territory of the Baron of Carnlea eh. His estate existed at the gap between the two territories.
He galloped fast while he thought. As far as nobles were concerned, learning horsemanship was also a school of knowledge. Short distance, long distance, and dashing, they were all slowly learnt, and needed to be earnestly practiced as an example.
Previously, Rumont couldn’t even ride on a house. Even more was that he had never tried racing a long distance.
Yet, as far as Druids were concerned, being able to communicate thoughts with animals, even if it was only the most shallow of thoughts, was already sufficient enough to direct a team of horses.
Of course, Rumont was still unlikely to beseech after any kind of superior and pure lineaged horses. It was only just a simple team of horses. Currently, the estate was raising 4 horses, which was enough for completing some missions.
Travelling past several fields, Rumont felt some pain from the chafing of his thighs. This was a matter that a Druid couldn’t do anything about.
Compared to the relatively barren vicinity of Rumont’s estate, the more he rushed on the road, the more closer he got, the more numerous fields he discovered, and the forest could basically no longer be seen.
Seeing the structure of a bridge in front of him, Rumont, via a unique power of a Druid, instructed the horse to voluntarily slow down. This small bridge was made of stone and crossed over 2 metres of the river. If he didn’t remember incorrectly, the below would then flow into this Knight’s territory.
The horse answered the intentions, neither hurriedly nor slowly ran along the road. Sweeping his gaze about the top of the houses, these were a large expanse of fields that were separated by the river. It was roughly 2000 mu worth of farmlands. Not a small amount of land, and was planted with winter wheat; the tenant farmers were busy inside. A scene of bustling.
The trees planted by the road, in which the names were also unknown, were blown about in the following of the autumn winds. Several leaves drifted down. A wonderful and rustic autumn harvesting scene.
The Knight’s dwelling was easy to find, a villa shone underneath the afternoon sunshine. Even though it was said to be a dinner party, as a newly advanced Esquire, as well as it being the invitation of a nobility 1 Rank higher, coming earlier was a basic courtesy.
Gazing off into the distance, the villa did not have any gardens. In the end, it was a country villa of a Knight. The enclosure used bricks and it was neither high, the interior situation could be seen while riding on horseback———there were 3 storied buildings inside.
The horse gently went ahead and then arrived at the entrance. At this time, the people inside had already seen him and came outside.
“Are you Sir DeMarco? I’m honoured to have received your invitation!” Rumont said as he unmounted the horse. When he reached the ground, his figure was quite vigorous and strong.
The person that stood at the front of the entrance, was a middle-aged man, simple yet elegant, and with a warm temperament. He did not go to the Shrine at all last time. Once Rumont made a comparison, he then felt that compared to the Internal Affairs Official, even compared to the Baron, his noble disposition was many times above.
“You then must be Mister Rumont. You are truly young ah. I welcome you!” this middle-aged man Baronet DeMarco smiled as he spoke: “come, come inside then. Please feel at ease.”
Entering the building and then turning into a lounge, he then discovered 3 to 4 household families. He seemed to have seened them during the conferment. They were all neighbouring dignitaries. They all gathered together and sat upon the sofas, chatting away and playing a card game; their bearings were all quite at ease.
“The only ones that came today are Turley3, Berland4, Bodil5. Introduce yourselves a bit.” said Baronet DeMarco.
These 3 houses were all middle-aged and had all brought their daughters. Only Bodil’s wife was around 20 years or so. Two of them responded with a nod when they met and was introduced, they did not have much more interactions, but neither did they intentionally alienate him; a sort of inattentive meaning.
“Ah, Mister Rumont, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.” yet Bodil called out relatively cordially: “come come, have a seat here.”
“Okay, currently it’s still early. You chaps play cards and have a chat then!” said Baronet DeMarco. The atmosphere here was quite carefree, letting Rumont think of those so-called saloons.
Saloon came from the interpreted French word Salon (large room). In fact, the original meaning was the current appearance. Taking some lounge within the house and treating it as a location for social interaction. The gatherers were mostly small, rural or urban nobiles, or perhaps an invited playwright, novelist, poet, musician, painter, critic and or so forth.
In fact, each clique would have their own saloon. Which was then the current relaxed situation of idly chatting, and not the saloon within movies, where it was splendid and majestic or as elegant and exquisite.
Rumont sat on over and watched as Bodil played cards, however, along with his arrival, the conversation subject was then lead to Rumont.
“Rumont, I’ve heard that you’re already cultivated your lands, done the autumn sowing yet?” Bodil played a card. Because they were almost of the same generation, he was still rather straightforward as he asked, while being a bit more mature.
Rumont sat there, this sofa was made from cashmere6. It was not at all costly. It was quickly approaching the 10th month now, it was still appropriate to sit on. Hearing it, he spoke: “it’s true, I’ve already completed the autumn sowings.”
“It’s great you’re able to carry out the autumn sowings, you’ll have a harvest next year and then you’ll be on your way.” Turley on the opposite side, played a card and casually commented. He was a middle-aged man of more than 30 odd years, his son was by his side and was about the same size as Rumont.
Though it was just the end of the 10th month, the fireplace in the wall was already lit, with ready chopped firewood by the side. Occasionally, a servant would then place one inside, but it wouldn’t burn correctly; it would be fine after expelling the moisture specific to a coastal region.
Rumont noticed that there weren’t many servants within the villa, at most, there were 5 or 6. Quite conforming to the status of a Knight. It was then at this stage, that all of a sudden, the sounds of footsteps arrived. Looking over, it was a staircase.
Several people came down from above. The first was Baronet DeMarco, the next was the dignified and beautiful Lady, and at the rear were the two Misses.
It was Rumont’s first time here, he immediately stood up and saluted: “you must be the Lady then, I am Rumont. I am quite honoured to make your acquaintance!”
“Oh, Mister Rumont, no need to be so polite. I am also quite honoured to have invited such an esteemed guest such as yourself, who is such a talented Druid.” the Lady sweep her gaze over while her speech was refined, courteous and warmly spoken.
It is said that this Lady was also born from a Knight household, and had brought along a large amount of books as a form of a dowry. She always treated other people kindly and amiably and was quite solicitous and considerate. Seeing her today, it was truly like this.
The Lady was quite polite and calmly said: “your past achievements have already been spread about, I’m quite honoured to introduce to your our family’s two daughters———Owenna and Ymisha!”
Owenna and Ymisha both pulled their skirts and bent their waist, giving a curtsy. This was the standard etiquette for a lady. But all of a sudden for Rumont, remembered an ancient and quite barbarous record———it was said that the original meaning for this kind of etiquette, was for when a woman encountered a noble, they would pull apart their skirts and expose the base of their thighs to signify a grand welcoming.
Arriving at the current period, it then transformed to a etiquette with a shallow pulling of the skirt, furthermore becoming the continent’s current etiquette among ladies. Rumont shortly pulled a frustrated (囧) smile for his own imagination and quickly returned the etiquette.
To recount, Owenna was actually older than him by a year, with golden locks down to the waist, with bright purple eyes, a high chest and a pair of long slender legs. As for Ymisha, she was younger by a few years and was roughly only 13 or 14 years of age, and had yet to grow up!
“Mister Rumont, I’m honoured to have you here.” Owenna composedly said, her gaze settling on Rumont’s body.
Afterwards, everyone then sat down on the sofas and were served with milk tea. The two Misses were not cold and though they did not speak much, they still spoke quite lightly. The atmosphere shortly livened up. As they continued to speak, the subject once again landed on Rumont’s new village.
“…….have about 1000 mu? Developing this much in a short time? Must have costed quite a bit right?” Bodil placed a card and asked.
“Yeah quite a bit, all up I’ve expended 3000 gold coins!” Rumont said quite modestly. This figure worth a value of 2,000,000 Yuan, causing all the dignitaries on site to jump in fright. It’s not that they couldn’t take out such a sum, but it would have also caused them heart wrenching pains, and even needing to sell off some things.
“With all due respect, where did you get this money?” Bodil asked in amazement. Everybody knew that a year prior, Rumont was only a kid without a cent to his name.
“It’s a long story to recount, but simply said, I inherited my uncle’s legacy, which was roughly 1000 gold coins. Next then uh, everybody all knows that I’m a Druid, a drugstore was opened by me. Each month I’ll get a revenue of about 60 gold coins. Additionally, Mister Banner loaned me some money; just enough to handle everything.” though Bodil’s words were taking the liberty, but towards this, Rumont did not mind at all. Truthfully, he precisely wanted to say these things for the on site dignitaries to hear, letting his reputation spread out.
There were some things, such as the Shennong Horn, that definitely couldn’t be divulged, but there were some things, that needed to be hyped and announced. This was the thing that Rumont recently came to comprehend———this could lessen many troubles and raise many allies.
Hearing this, even both Mister Turley and Mister Berland, displayed an amazed expression. Mister Berland was the first to get over it and say: “one month with a revenue of 60 gold coins, that’s 700 in a year. Adding on the revenue of the estate, ah, you can earn up to 800 gold coins in a year, which is about 8000 silver coins.”
An annual income of 8000 silver coins, this might only mean a 10 percent to the Baron and it wouldn’t be regarded as much, nor to the middle class Merchants within the city, but to the majority of Knights and Esquire households, this was still an income to praise and gasp about.
Baronet DeMarco’s household was but also this in a year, except this was already a Knighted one; the property of a 100 year old household.
Facing everyone’s expressions, Rumont laughed and said: “however, because the alchemy products are quite few, it’s only just at this level, I don’t have any ways of expanding. What’s more, this branch of skillset is quite difficult to pass on to the next generation. After all, in regards to a household, the more talented a Druid is, the more advantages would be obtained from the lands and from trading, which is the mainstay for the household.”
Everybody loved it when they heard these words, Mister Turley nodded and said: “indeed it’s like this!”
After a bout of talking, quite naturally, each person already treated Rumont differently within their eyes, especially Owenna whose pupils was increased with a higher a degree of concern.
But at this stage, it was just the opening act.
1. [帕克特郡 – Pa Ke Te ]↩
2. [布茲峰 – Bu Zi Feng]↩
3. [戴利 – Dai Li]↩
4. [布蘭特 – Bu Lan Te]↩
5. [鮑德裏 – Bao De Li]↩
6. [I find that hard to believe in another world <_<]↩
7. [伊米莎 – Yi Mi Sha]↩
Bo~ 
Thanks!
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