Interlude

|3rd POV|

Karou looks around the 'new' kingdom of Lorian with awe from inside his store. It has been seven months since the civil war of the Vulux Kingdom finished and the newly established Lorian kingdom took over the previous kingdom. Karou can see the difference between the old and new kingdoms.

It was like comparing a turd to a diamond. It was that different. Drallac changed into its former self and deserved to be called the city of dreams, just like in the past. The street is clean, and there is no foul odor in the city.

The people here are happy and content.

Karou is a merchant from the Holy Light Empire that tries his fortune in the new kingdom. The reason why he went to this new kingdom is that the Holy Light Empire is a mess. After the war of succession is finished, the empire plunges into another civil war.

This time it was between the second and the first prince.

In the first war, the first prince successfully ascended the throne and took the crown. He even began a reformation. However, among those reforms is to take a huge amount of power from the church.

As you can imagine, the church did not take that news kindly and decided to switch their support from the first prince to the second one. With the support of the church, the second prince now has a considerable amount of power. Be it from a political view or martial power.

The situation did not please the first prince, and he decided to declare war against his own brother.

Just like the empire plunged into another civil war.

Sure, a merchant can profit from the war that was happening, but he is not that kind of merchant. And war is no place for a merchant like him. Karou prefers a safer method than that kind of trade.

And it looks like coming to this kingdom is the right decision for him. Isaac 'Silver Lion' Lionheart is a well-known individual. Even in the Holy Light Empire, his name is known by the people. A gallant man who fights his tyrannical master to free his people.

He is the savior that brings a bright future to his people. Out of all the kingdoms in the world, the only kingdom that did not have a short supply of food. From grain to fish, this kingdom has it all.

What makes a merchant like him salivate is the price of the food they sold. It was cheap. It was rather expensive in the past, but right now, food is gold.

However, there is one unwritten rule dealing with the people in the Lorian Kingdom. Honest Trade Only. Every merchant that tries to swindle the people in the Lorian Kingdom will be banned from their market and cannot do any trading. Even the most powerful merchant in the world needs to follow this rule because Karou knows about the incident where the merchant from Golden Dragon got banned from their market.

And the Golden Dragon company has been dethroned from their number one merchant group in the world, replaced by a company that decided to have an honest trade with the Lorian Kingdom.

Karou snaps from his thoughts when a customer gets inside his store.

"Welcome! What can I do for you?"

His customer is a middle-aged man around his forties.

"Good morning. I want to buy a large batch of wine."

"Of course. How large are we talking about?"

"I need at least seventy barrels of wine."

"Of course. That would be seven hundred gold coins."

"Five hundred."

"No, can't do, sir. I need to get some profit, after all. Six hundred and seventy."

"You only need some of it. Five and fifty."

"And I still did not get a profit from that price. Six and sixty."

"Six and twenty."

"Deal."

Karou led the man into his warehouse, where he stored his goods and ordered the worker to move the wine barrels into the carriage the man brought with him.

"Can I ask the reason why you bought this much wine?"

This middle-aged man is really not his loyal customer, but he knows this middle-aged man is the owner of the inn on the east side of the city. He is not a merchant, and Karou wants to know why he buys this much wine.

"Oh? You did not hear the news?"

"I just came back from my trip. So I did not know any recent news."

"Ah… The royal family announced that the Queen is pregnant. There will be a festival a week from now on. I prepare a large amount of alcohol to serve the guests that will arrive in this city."

"Really? The queen is pregnant?"

"Yup. I think your stock will be depleted soon. Anyway, it is nice to have business with you, but I need to prepare for the festival."

Karou nods his head and sees the middle-aged man walk away from his store. It looks like his store will be busy sooner than he thought it would be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Currently, Lucina and I are walking around the city. I can see the people busy preparing something. They are preparing for a festival celebrating my wife getting pregnant. I smile and wave at the people that greet me.

I cannot get used to people celebrating when my wife is pregnant. I know it was a rather common practice in this era, but it did not mean I can get used to it. At first, I was confused about why my mother told me I needed to announce that Lucina is pregnant, but after some explanation, I can understand the reasoning.

A Queen pregnant is a symbol of blessing and fortune that is soon to come. It was like saying to the world that my dynasty will last long.

I smile a little when I see Lucina smile brightly at the flower a child gives to her. Just like all fathers feel seeing their wife pregnant for the first time, I want to keep her in the palace like a fragile vase because I'm afraid her, our, child will get affected when she walks around the city.

However, I know Lucina did not like that, and I know that a casual stroll will not affect our child.

"Dear, try this."

I snap from my thoughts when Lucina gives me a piece of salmon she bought from the vendor and eats it.

"How is it?"

"It is delicious."

"I know, right? I will take another serving, please!"

I smile once again when I see her smile get bigger. I want to protect that smile, and I will do anything to protect it.