Winter Eve

It has been a few days since I took a journey to the capital city where the Winter Eve party was celebrated. Even with all the games I had on my switch. It is still a boring journey. I cannot access my pocket dimension, and I cannot do anything inside this carriage other than sleep or play some game.

Right now, we are taking a camp on the side of the road. I wave my wand a little and make a shelter for the soldier. I can see the amazement in their eyes when they see the tool floating around to create a tent for them to sleep.

They are my personal soldiers trained by my father in the past. I know they are loyal to me, but just in case, I cast a permanent compulsion that will make them not saying anything about my magic.

Anyway, I'm inside my tent right now, waiting for the chef to finish cooking. I really want to cook my own food, but the chef doesn't allow me to do it because that is their only job on this journey. If I take their job, they will be jobless. I don't mean it like that, but they did not listen to me. Urgh.

I walk out of the tent and go to the forest.

"My lord?"

"Ah! I want to take some private matters. Don't worry. I will be back."

"I see. Please don't wander too far, my lord."

"I will."

What I say to him is that I want to take a dumb. Anyway, I walk toward the forest, and after a minute of walking, I create a privacy ward and use my Pale Gate Rune.

"Summon Nine Tail Fox"

My head shines a little before suddenly a hole appears in front of me, and coming from the hole is a massive Fox with golden fur and a nine tail behind its back.

"Hello Yuka"

"Master"

"Could you change your size?"

"Of course."

The 8-meter fox began to shrink into a half meter fox. After changing her size, Yuka then began to climb into my shoulder and rest her head there.

"So, what do you need?"

"Nothing. I want to have a company on my journey to the capital."

"Hmmmm~ Very well. I will be your company on your journey."

I walk out of the forest, and when I arrive at the camp, I see the chef has already finished cooking all the food.

"My Lord. The food is ready."

"Thank you."

I walk to the bonfire and sit down on the log with the other. I can see the others still uncomfortable with me sitting and eating with them, but after I sit with them from time to time, they begin to relax a little when I sit next to them.

"Do you want some?"

"Yip~."

|Of course|

I smile at Yuka's answer before giving her a piece of my steak. The others look at me with a surprised expression before they continue to do whatever they are doing. I guess my time training my blue magic on animals really helps in this situation.

After eating the food, I go to my tent and take out my switch and look at Yuka.

"Mario Kart?"

"Heh. I will not lose to you this time."

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

We arrived in the capital city just before the sun rose. Drallac, the Capital city of Vulux Kingdom. In the books, this city is called, city of dreams, the paradise, or the city of light but in reality….

|Master, it stinks!|

|I know, but please bear with it for a few minutes.|

Drallac is the shadow of its former self. In the past, this city can be called the City of Dream as this city is where many people get some work that changes their lives. However, in recent years, this city became what is known as the City of Lies.

Its nickname is coming from what we are currently looking at. In front of me is a massive building. Either it was a mansion of a noble or a rich merchant. This is the second district where all the nobles lived.

Drallac has four districts. The first district is where all the peasants lived. The first district has two sections, the outer and the inner section. The outer section is like the slum where the beggar or slaves lived. The inner section is where the free peasant, small merchant, or soldier lived.

The second district is where the lower class noble lived. This is where the like of Knights, the Palace Guard, and Baron lived. This district has a contrasting atmosphere than the first district, even though they are only separated by one wall. This district is clean and doesn't have any stink aroma.

The third district is the place where higher nobles build their house. This district is the place where the likes of Viscount, Count, and Marquiss lived. To build a house in this place, you need at least a million gold coins and permission to buy the land in this district from either the King or Duke.

Lastly, the fourth District. This district is where the palace is located. So this district is specifically used for the High Ranking noble and Royalty. The people who can live in this district are the King council members, a Duke, and his family, or the Royalty.

The bard and other merchants tend to tell the other about what it looks like inside the Second district and above while never telling anyone about the first district. That is why this city is called the City of Lies.

And right now, we are going to the third district. My grandfather has enough fortune and connection to the previous king to buy and build a mansion for the house of Lionheart. I don't know why he bought this mansion, but the north did not like it. They thought that it was a waste of money and I must agree with them.

The southern people did not like the northern people. I know that he wants to try to make the Lionheart family like the family in the south. Still, it is difficult to make the southern people change their opinions about us because of the different kinds of culture between the northern and southern regions.

But I'm grateful for this mansion. I don't need to sleep at the local inn. The only inn that can be considered for a noble is the one in the third district where the noble that didn't have land here can rest there.

There is an inn in the first district, but if the noble gets seen resting in that place, there will be gossip that can be fatal for that house.

"My lord, your bedroom is ready. Sorry for the wait, but the mansion has not been used for years, and there is no one here taking care of it."

"It is no problem. Please show me the way. It has been a long journey. I need to rest before the party begins."

"Of course, my lord. Please come this way."

I follow Richard to my room. As I arrive in my bedroom, Yuka jumps away from me and begins lying down on the bed.

"So, what should we do?"

"Yuka… Can you do some spy work for me?"

"Oh?"

"Yes. I was hoping you could copy all the financial reports of the kingdom. I also want you to gather some information about the richest house right now and the house with the most grain that they cannot sell before the winter."

"Hmmmm~ You want to buy the grain from the people that cannot sell their harvest because of the competition between houses, huh? But you know they will try to take advantage of you, right? They will try to sell it at a higher price than what it deserves."

"It was not a problem. This is the third job I want you to do for me."

"Oh?"

"There are MANY corrupt officials here."

"Heh. Very well"

"Thank you."

When she receives her order, Yuka goes to the window and jumps away from the mansion. I don't want to steal some gold, but if there is a way to help my people survive this winter, I will do it.

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

I followed the butler that led me to the ballroom where the party will be held. When the butler opens up the door to the ballroom, I can see many people already inside. After looking around for a few seconds, my eyes see a familiar person.

I walk toward one of the corners of the room where more than ten people are gathering.

"Uncle Lomun"

My uncle looked toward me before widening his eyes.

"Ah! Isaac! I am glad to see you!"

"Hello, uncle."

"Come! Come! I bring Lucina with me."

Uncle Lomun takes me to the gathering of the northern noble lord, and among them is a familiar woman.

"Lucina."

The woman looked at me before smiling. This woman is Lucina, the daughter of Lomun. She is short but not too short because of her race. She is around 140 to 150 cm tall, rather tall for a dwarf.

"Isaac! How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine. How about you? Are you doing fine?"

"Of course! We Dalagull people are a tough bunch. How is little Ginerva?"

"She is doing great. She is an active child. She ran around the castle. She demanded many stories from me, and I couldn't reject her when she asked for a story while pouting."

"Really? I never thought a mere pout would beat the Lord of Lionheart house."

"Oh, let me tell you some secret. That pout of her is a spell that can make anyone comply with her request."

"You are the same as always, huh?"

We continue our conversation for a few more minutes before one of the lords comes to me, interrupting my conversation with Lucina.

"Lord Lionheart."

I look at the man in front of me. He is human. He is a rather tall man. He is around 180 cm or so. He has brown hair and a goatee on his chin. He has green eyes. This man is Lord Saunders, Alfie Saunders, he is a baron to our west. A day of the carriage ride.

"Lord Saunders. What can I do for you?"

"Let's get straight to business."

"Oh? No sweet talk first?"

"Heh. I'm not a southerner."

"Then, please tell me what you need."

"I want to buy a little bit of your grain."

"... I want to sell you some of my grain, but there is a problem."

"What is it?"

"I already promised the other I would sell them some grain."

"I see. So it was impossible, huh?"

"Not really…"

"Huh?"

I look him in the eyes and say.

"I want to buy some grain from the southern noble."

"You know they will charge you more, right? It was cheaper to buy it from the other country than the southern people."

"I know. However, there is something that lets me buy it a little bit cheaper. At least a little bit cheaper than buying some grain from the other country."

"How?"

"Do you know the news about many noble houses having difficulty selling all their grain?"

"You don't mean…"

"I will try to buy some of their food. I don't know why they didn't sell it to us, to begin with. Money is still money."

"Heh. It is their pride. They think that we don't have enough money to buy food from them. Well yeah, we can't buy it because their price is ridiculous."

"I know which houses have massive leftover food that they cannot sell. If I can get them to sell the food at a reasonable price, I will contact you immediately."

"About the price… I will be honest here. I cannot buy anything from you if you change your usual price."

"I will not change the price, I will promise you."

"Then you will lose money."

"Meh. I have some spare money."

"...."

Lord Saunders looks at me in the eyes for a few seconds before he nods at me and says.

"If you are willing to do that, I swear in my family name that I will always help you and the Lionheart family with all my strength."

"You know… You don't need to swear it on your family name."

"No. If you really do something like that, I will be forever in debt to your house."

"Haaaaaa. Very well."

After that conversation with Lord Saunders, I return to have a conversation with Lucina once again. From time to time, the other northern nobles also approach me with the same reason as Lord Saunders. I did not promise anything, but I will send some people to their territory if I do get the deal.

We spend our time within our own little group and ignore the whispering of the southern nobles. While the southern nobles celebrate winter's arrival, we, the northern, pray that this winter is not a long winter.

While we had a pleasant conversation with each other, I caught someone walking toward our little gathering with my eyes. It was a little girl with long golden blonde hair styled entirely in large coils. By the look of it, this girl is trouble.

I decide to ignore her, but the more she stares at me, the more uncomfortable I become. After a few seconds of staring, the little girl suddenly introduced herself.

"Excuse me. My name is Elizabeth Anworth von Vulux, but please call me Elizabeth or Eli."

I look at her with a surprised expression before introducing myself.

"Isaac Lionheart. It is a pleasure to meet you. What can I do for you?"