Chapter 10 What happened in Lake Town
Hansel sat in the carriage in a depressed mood. This state had lasted for two weeks.
More than half a month ago, he happily received the royal commission. When he opened it, he was dumbfounded. He was actually sent to a place he had never heard of as a permanent resident. Representative, the Earl of Grayman in the northwest bay, God knows where the birds don’t poop.
Later, in the military camp, I ran into an old man whom I had met on the way to escape. He had already finished his work and was about to return. Then he remembered that the Earl of Grayman was not the place where the old man came from? Now I have company on the road.
Hansel thought of his old classmate Matthew again. This guy had such bad luck that he stayed under the princess' command. He also said, "Although the positions are different, they are all the same as the king." Your Majesty is loyal!" Such sarcastic remarks.
Bah, bah, bah, Her Royal Highness the Princess needs you to make suggestions and give you notes to keep accounts. Even if she has used everything to the best of her ability, she will not show off her own virtues. When I think of Matthew's villainous appearance, Hansel Just want to vomit.
Consultant Ford, who was riding in the same carriage, was full of joy. The matter went smoothly. Her Royal Highness the Princess readily recognized Paul Graiman’s inheritance of the title. After hearing that the old earl died fighting pirates, Not only did he express his condolences, but in view of the fact that the territory was currently facing the pressure of pirate invasion, he did not need to send troops to serve the king. Finally, he also offered 50 pairs of leather armor and 50 spears.
Along the way, Hansel learned about the situation in the territory through chatting with Manager Ford.
If you look back carefully, the Graiman family can also be related to a certain large family in the ancient Bela Empire. After the collapse of the empire, the ancestors of this line established their own business. After several generations, the family followed Aldo The founding king of the dynasty went to war everywhere, and he could be regarded as a meritorious family that shed blood and sweat for the establishment of the kingdom.
It’s just that I bet on the wrong thing later in a political struggle over the succession of the throne. At that time, the royal family’s control over local lords was not as weak as it is now. The unlucky guy who was on the wrong team would inevitably be liquidated. Ichiban.
Although the earl title was retained after secret political operations, the originally relatively wealthy territory was taken back by the new king, and the entire family was kicked to the barren northwest bay. Since then, the family heads of successive generations have kept a low profile, and their connections with other families have become increasingly Reduced and slowly faded out of the center of the kingdom's political stage.
No wonder I haven’t heard of it often, Hansel thought to himself.
Ah...my life is so gloomy. I am an unknown country noble, an unknown backwater, and there is not even a decent town along the way. I am full of passion and talent. How can I be buried like this? Already?
The more Hansel thought about it, the more frustrated he became, and then he hated his own origin. If he was not a commoner, if his mother had a better background, if... forget it, there are so many ifs.
Some things cannot be changed after all. The most important thing is to complete the current task first and work hard to return to His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Princess. His efforts will one day be recognized, and he quickly adjusted his mentality.
The Ford manager next to him looked out the window and said excitedly: "Look, Sir Abbott, there is Lake Al in front of us. In fact, the official name of this land is called Alda Territory. The name comes from this lake. We will We’re about to reach Lake Town.”
As the trees on the roadside gradually decreased, a large lake appeared in front of them. The other side was almost invisible. There was a huge island on the water near them. There are many buildings, except for the castle standing in the center of the island. Judging from the scale, it is a relatively large town.
Hansel cursed: "This 'town' is the capital of an earldom? It's not as good as the countryside near the royal capital."
In fact, this can only be blamed on Hansel." "Too little knowledge". In this era, many lords built their castles like this, either on cliffs or on isolated islands surrounded by water. In short, they were places that were easy to defend and difficult to attack, to prevent bandits and It can prevent the people in the territory from rebelling, and it can also prevent the covetousness of the lord next door.
It’s just that young nobles of the royal capital like Hansel have generally not been out of the circles around Jingyao Castle at their age. Even if they travel far away, they always take the bustling trade routes along the way, so naturally they have never seen anything like this. Such a scene.
Walking into the lake, I found a huge pontoon bridge on the water. The pontoon bridge was spliced together with special boats as nodes. It seemed that if the enemy came to attack, they could immediately set up a boat to dismantle the pontoon bridge, making it impossible for the enemy to pass.
“Should we get off the car and walk to the island?” Hansel was very worried about whether the pontoon bridge could support the carriage. The Ford manager next to him heard his worries and laughed. He patted his chest and said, "Your Excellency Abbott, please be at ease. This pontoon bridge is very strong, and it won't take a mere carriage."
Seeing the local's assurance, Hansel paused for a moment. Feeling at ease, he still managed to sit on the carriage and cross the pontoon. After arriving on the island, he felt completely relieved.
"Well, Sir Abbott, I want to go to the lord to report the relevant matters first. Please follow my servant to the castle guest room to rest. I will arrange for you to meet with the lord immediately."
“Okay, Controller Ford.”
The carriage slowly drove into the gate of the castle wall and saw Butler Philip walking this way.
"Controller Ford, you are finally back."
"Butler Philip, just in time, take me to see the earl quickly."
"Oh, I was about to Tell you about the Earl."
"What happened?" Manager Ford's heart tightened. Could it be that Graiman's old injury relapsed?
"Your Majesty, the Earl, has led the newly recruited soldiers out for some training. It will probably take a few days before he can return to Lake Town."
"What, you just let him lead a bunch of new recruits out like this? Don’t you know how arrogant the pirates are outside now?”
“I tried everything, but we still had no choice but to let Lord Claude lead the castle soldiers to accompany him for protection.”
Butler Ford felt at ease now, and he immediately said: "Send someone to find the Earl quickly. Just say that the royal commissioner is here and is waiting for his interview."
"Yes, I will send someone there right away. Find.”
Butler Philip saluted Hansel and left in a hurry. Butler Ford turned around and said to Hansel: "I'm very sorry, Mr. Abbott, I can only keep you waiting for a while." "It doesn't matter. Since Lord Earl can't come back for the time being, if you don't mind, can you hang around here?"
"Of course you can, but you are traveling far away?" Dear guest, please treat this place as your own home. But I also need to go home, so I won’t accompany you.” Then Director Ford sent his servant to be Hansel’s guide, and took his leave first. Home.
Hansel planned to have something to drink, so he asked the guide to take him and Tommen to the tavern in the town.
There were quite a lot of people in the tavern, and the guests were talking loudly. Suddenly, a well-dressed young man walked in. Some well-informed people had already judged from the clothes that he must be There is no doubt that he is an aristocrat. The person following him is the servant of Butler Ford. The way he bows his head and bends further proves that this person is not a simple person. The conversation in the tavern suddenly became quieter.
"Boss, bring me three glasses of beer. I hope no one has used the glasses."
"Yes, yes, sir, please wait a moment. The younger one will prepare it right away."
< br>The forty-year-old tavern owner had never had such close contact with nobles from other places in his life, so he went to prepare beer in a panic.
“People in small places have little knowledge!” Hansel felt funny in his heart. He found a seat by the window and asked Tommen to spread a cloth on the seat and the table before sitting down.
The pub is a good place to inquire about information. Now that he is here, he does not intend to just sit and drink, but how should he ask?
At this time, the boss brought three glasses of beer, he took one for himself, and then asked Tommen and the flattered guide to share the remaining two glasses.
He looked at the customers around him, and saw that most of them were avoiding his gaze, for fear that some impolite move would make the noble master unhappy. Only one person was sneaky, turning his head secretly from time to time. he.
"You, come here! Yes, it's you, the one wearing the leather hat."
"Me?" The young man pointed out by Hansel quickly turned from shock to fear. Did your peeking behavior make the noble master angry? What should I do? Will I be beheaded?
The people sitting around the young man distanced themselves from him, fearing that it would affect them.
He came to Hansel's side tremblingly, and knelt down as soon as he stopped, kowtowing desperately with tears streaming down his face, "Master, I was just curious for a moment, I really don't mean any harm, please take care of me..." "
"Okay, okay, I'm scaring you, I don't want to do anything to you! I'm just asking a few questions, get up!"
The young man stood up as if he had been granted amnesty.
"Sit there!" Hansel pointed to the empty seat next to him.
“How dare you do this?”
"Sit down when the Baron asks you to!" The servant Tommen acted as a lackey at the right time.
The young man had no choice but to thank him and sit down.
“Let me ask you, is the situation about pirates really serious now?”
“Yes, although they haven’t appeared around here yet, everyone is getting more and more scared, and now even You have to be accompanied by a large group of people when you move between villages and towns.”
“Your lord just leaves them alone?”
"That's not true. I guess you've also heard that the old lord died while conquering pirates. As soon as the new lord took over, he announced the recruitment of soldiers. He wants to settle accounts with them both publicly and privately."
< br>"I heard that your new lord is just a child who hasn't grown up?"
"Yes, I don't know if he can take on heavy responsibilities. To be honest, Master Paul...ah, he is our little one now. Earl, I was spoiled by the old Earl when I was a child. The naughty things..." The young man suddenly fell silent. There was also a noble in front of him. He said this in front of him. Another noble was still his own. Lord, aren't you causing trouble for yourself?
Hansel smiled. He asked the boss to give the young man a glass of beer and comforted him. After continuing to inquire for a while, he suddenly felt that the little lord here was quite an interesting person.
For example, when he took over the throne, he issued an order prohibiting open defecation. In addition to encouraging every household to build their own toilets, he also spent his own money to build several public toilets in the town.
For example, people are prohibited from dumping filth and garbage into the lake. Instead, large boxes called "trash cans" are placed at regular intervals on the streets. Pedestrians and residents must empty garbage into the garbage cans. The Lord's Mansion has They will organize manpower to clean up the garbage uniformly.
Hansel had a high opinion of this little lord: "That's not bad. I didn't expect that a mere country lord would be more sophisticated than the nobles of the royal capital. I hope he doesn't have all the problems of those country bumpkin nobles."< br>
He stood up, rewarded the young man with a few coins, and asked Tommen and the guide to continue visiting other places.
(End of this chapter)