Chapter. 14. One Empire, Three Legends (24)
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City of Dragons. At first glance, it’s hard to guess what the place is doing just by hearing the name, but since it’s a city, there’s everything there.
market.
“Everything from here to there…?”
“sure. The official capital is All Amperia Castle City and the Yongin City. “In fact, it’s the same because the markets needed by people from 4 to 5 small cities are concentrated in one city.”
An incredibly large market that takes 6 hours to traverse.
smithy.
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“I have good eyesight. “That’s right, it says blacksmith shop.”
“I told you not to talk nonsense! That’s a jewelry store, but I guess it’s a blacksmith shop! “What is that pile of magic stones?”
“That’s right, blacksmith. Can you see the flag on the eaves? This means that their blacksmith shop is working on this family’s items, so don’t touch them. Since the rediscovery of the Gongma Stone, Gongma Stone accessories have become extremely popular as self-defense accessories against magical hints and minor curses. With orders coming in from all over the empire, it’s bound to be popular like that.”
A crazy blacksmith shop that just piles up piles of gold bars and magic stones next to a furnace the size of a house.
residence.
“It’s a great architectural style. “Small houses are harmoniously located among the orderly rows of large buildings.”
“Idrasil, that’s a carriage.”
“….sorry. Because I’m not yet familiar with the meaning of the word. A carriage was not a small horse-drawn box for transporting humanoid creatures.”
“It’s not that you’re wrong, it’s that this neighborhood is outside of common sense.”
“Huh… I can feel quite a bit of magical energy…” A
residential area with a carriage the size of a house with a lightweight magic on the body and a strength support magic on the harness, and buildings that look cheaper than the carriage are lined up in an orderly manner.
I thought about what this felt like, and that was exactly it. In the movies, millionaires have supercars on display in their garages. I wondered if a neighborhood like this would be created if the warehouses of those rich people were gathered together and a wall was built.
“Gentlemen’s tickets?”
“Hmm! Rice is nothing special! “Isn’t that right?”
“yes! “Compared to the vastness of the vast ocean – Cough!”
The Aedran family’s flag was already raised on our party’s carriage. Lucilla’s stinging words flew into Ottoman’s and I’s ears, which had forgotten the advice and opened our mouths.
“So I told you. We have to do maintenance here and then go up to the capital. Luxury is the basic characteristic of nobility. “It is not simply buying what you want, but an act of letting the world know how much your family is capable of investing in ‘non-utilitarian consumption.’”
“Oh, I guess I’ll pretend to look around the neighborhood. Is that why it’s so flashy? Even the neighborhood where the servants live?”
“If the master walks around wearing a dress made of gold thread and the maid who serves him is wearing rags, doesn’t it look like that? If there is a big difference between the level of luxury of an individual nobleman and that of his subordinates, you may think, ‘Ah, that nobleman used up his soul to look good! The dress is nice to look at, but that dress makes me want to boil potatoes at home!’ It’s easy to give the same impression. “We also need to pay attention to the level of users.”
For a moment, I thought of the explosion fanatic So-and-so who bought a lot of expensive heavy weapons and lived in a shabby underground bowling alley, but the professor quickly put it out of my mind.
“Will I look like an aristocrat who is obsessed with monastic life?”
“As expected, you understand quickly. That’s why they built such a nice house, hung the family flag, and lined up the family carriages. “Because all nobles entering the capital will pass through the Yongin City.”
“Don’t you think it’s just money? It’s not just money, it’s something that has been given meaning…”
Should I say that it is truly the capital of an empire? The scale of luxury was different. It’s not like I’m bragging about buying an expensive character skin. Comparing beyond personal luxury to the level of users.
“Incidentally, owning two family mansions in the castle city is the minimum requirement for entry into the capital’s society. Among them, if there is a rumor that the mansion’s standard is below average, they come to visit one by one and implicitly urge them to leave the capital. ‘If monastic life is too much for you, I will help you. ‘I have that much money.’ Or something. ‘I sympathize with those who climb up without even knowing their level. Oh, of course it’s about cloth.’ Or something like that.”
Wow. Look how tight the sentence is.
“How can that be ‘implicitly encouraging’? “You grind the cotton with a plane.”
“Roughly speaking, this is the greeting etiquette of the capital’s social circles. “Just know.”
Lucilla must have realized that she was the one who knew the most about the aristocratic society and the capital among the group, and as she was passing through the city, she was constantly revealing what she knew.
“It’s just common sense! I’m speaking from the line of common sense! The basic of basics! Oh my, this is not something you can understand through words. “How do I do it?…”
Of course, the more I listened, the more I became distraught.
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“Thank you very much for visiting our Makera family villa. You must have worked hard on your long journey, so please leave your luggage here and eat in your room first. Warm bath water and a simple snack. “Three users are provided per person as standard.”
Lucilla led the group to where the inn was, saying what should be done with the dusty carriage. As I came this far, I learned that inns also have their own unique characteristics in each region. The Eastern Country Inn is good at fermented liquor, and the Imperial Inn is good at distilled liquor. From inns that only rent rooms to inns that provide customized services for wizards.
As I adapted to the wandering life and tried all kinds of inns, I was excited to see what kind of welcome we would have at this eye-wateringly expensive local inn.
“thank you. Um…what can I call you?”
“I am Gil, the butler of this mansion. They call me Deacon or Gil. “You can use whatever title is convenient for you.”
A handsome butler who welcomes the group with an accurate pronunciation characteristic of nobles.
Jingling jingling!
“I will serve you with all my heart, Professor. “This is Emily Olivia Isla, who will be assisting you during your stay here.”
“I will serve you with all my heart.”
“I will serve you with all my heart.”
“Uh uh… okay. Please take care of me-”
“If you need anything, please feel free to call me. I will not shy away from ‘any kind’ of work.”
“-cough!”
The maids are beautiful enough to make you believe they are noble ladies if you just change their clothes right away, and they seem to be skilled in many different areas.
Knock knock.
“excuse. Lucilla said the professor is expected to receive a rather large number of letters. If you are planning to stay here for more than 3 days, it would be a good idea to get introduced to a dedicated letter manager. He has graduated from a professional butler academy and has even signed a magic contract not to reveal the personal history of his guests. “If you are still anxious, we will prepare a separate contract for a short-term contract.”
“Uh… yes. please. Oh, not the contract. “Well… Anyway.”
An aristocratic life that could literally be seen in a painting. The attitude of not being too lacking or too much made even the skeptical me feel comfortable, and the meticulous service made me feel like I was properly resting from the moment I set foot here.
I expected a fancy inn fit for a capital city. But this is a different weight class. Even newborns will receive less care than we do now.
I was treated so well that it crossed the line of common sense understanding, so I went out and watched it just in case.
[INN]
It’s strange. It’s definitely attached properly. Like the local inns, it doesn’t have a name like [Donkey Hoof] or [Water Beak Inn], but as if it wasn’t interested in soliciting customers at all, it did have the three letters INN written in very small, stylish handwriting next to the large family flag. It’s an inn.
“Huh…”
I heard a familiar sigh from the corner of the inn and looked to see Otman looking around the inn with a similar expression as me.
“Why are you here?”
“Why did you come out?”
“Well… I wanted to check if this was an inn.”
“Umm…”
His slightly relieved face showed that he was glad that he wasn’t the only one who thought that way.
“The hospitality is as good as it is bizarre. “When I lived in the Baudelaire family, I was never cared for so kindly by our family’s servants.”
I felt warmth behind me and turned around to see two maids following me, carrying something to wear over their shoulders and a small brazier they were carrying. I didn’t even ask for it, but it was prepared just in time for the cold winter weather.
When I asked Ottman, he said it was more. As soon as he heard that he was a water magician, he cleaned up all the food he had prepared, set up a table full of all kinds of seafood, threw away all the bath water, and even showed us three types of water from different regions and asked us to choose.
“Even if I understand everything, what I cannot understand is that all of this is free.”
When they heard that there was even water from melting ice caps in the northern part of the country, which is currently the most dangerous area, they were so scared that they ran out. I wonder if this is a real inn or a strange place where people are sold out due to a lot of debt.
“It’s free… everything?”
“okay.”
“From lodging, service, carriage storage to food expenses?”
“They say you can hire a carriage, hire a servant if you want, and even be introduced to beauty, jewelry, clothing, and other experts who work at the Makera family’s home. “Does this make sense?”
“….indeed. “At that level, it has to be free.”
A treat beyond measure. They are also experienced users who provide the service so that the recipient does not feel the slightest burden.
That is not something that can be made by training for 1 or 2 years. Considering the age of the maids for at least 10 years, this is only possible if their life is to serve the same family for generations and follow their master like a shadow from a young age.
It’s a city where a piece of land is like a ticket to the capital’s society, and seeing such a large mansion built on such expensive land and running an inn business gave me a rough idea.
“They said there was only one inn in this big city. Rather than an inn trying to make money, operating this inn itself was a right. Lucilla said it before. It is said that only a few families take turns guarding the castle gate, and thanks to this, those families benefit a lot. It’s the same here. “This inn itself was the right of the Makera family.”
“This amazing free accommodation… is it a right?”
“yes. “Let’s think of this as the Makera family’s outbuilding rather than an inn.”
Ottman, who was considering my words carefully, suddenly slapped his knee and said.
“You see me as a guest of the family, not a paid guest!”
“yes. “It is the honor of a family to treat its guests well.”
A city filled with noble mansions, including All Amperia and its castle towns.
Of course, as it is the capital of the empire, there are many merchants who visit, and more than one or two people come to the capital for requests from nobles or for various other reasons.
Of course, if you came at the request of a noble, etc., you would be a guest of that noble and would stay at their mansion. There are more than 20 people in a small business right now, but isn’t it possible to accommodate all that many people in the mansion? There is no dignity.
So, the owner of the merchant is invited to the noble house, and the remaining 19 people stay at the Makera family’s inn, the only inn in the city.
“First of all, the perception of the Makera family among visitors to the capital will increase dramatically. “Right now, I think it would be okay to work with a family that can raise this level of employees.”
“Umm. yes. It is said that when you look at the butler of that family, you can see the entire family. “It certainly seems like the Makera family is not in trouble.”
“And wherever almost the entire non-aristocratic population of the capital passes through. Of course, valuable information such as why they came here and whose business they came here wouldn’t leak out?”
Food, drinks, and all kinds of services. People who are intoxicated by the best service that melts their hearts feel their mouths become lighter.
Even the head of their management was invited to the noble’s mansion and was not around, so there was not even a lock to fill his mouth.
“Hmm…”
While Otman nodded, warming his hands on the brazier the maid brought. His voice came out from the water droplets that secretly penetrated his ears.
[surely. That’s a great right.]
[It’s a lot of information, so of course you can’t get it. If you collect and combine a wide range of small pieces of information, the outline will be easily revealed. I think we need to remember the Makera family.]
[Yes. But… is it okay to say that in front of them? From that perspective, these maids are also the eyes and ears of the Makera family.]
[I’m asking you to listen.]
[Hmm?]
[It’s intentionally showing that we chose this place even though we know the purpose behind this service. . If they are the eyes and ears of the Makera family, the conversation we just had in person will spread to the Makera family and the aristocratic social circles.]
Otman, who was pretending to bask in the fire in silence, turned his eyes filled with questions towards me.
[Why?]
[Isn’t the political world in the capital city like a sheet of thin ice right now?]
It’s not just thin ice, it’s a sheet of thin ice with lots of land mines underneath. A battle field of aristocratic politics littered with terrifying landmines that will destroy three generations from head to toe the moment your feet sink into it. Isn’t this a battlefield for nobles who have to face the countless possibilities of falling into the abyss the moment they take a step?
[You have to make a choice to choose thick and strong ice to step on from such a precarious thin ice. Like the 1st prince, 1st princess, 3rd prince, etc. Even if they are a little anxious, they are other small royal families who still have a lot of space left to eat. Whatever it is, you have to make a choice so you don’t have to worry about losing ground right away.]
[The right to succeed to the throne… for sure. There is no part of the capital’s political world that can be thought of other than that.]
Umm – this strange feeling of discomfort. The tingling sensation of a spinning head.
The professor grinned as he felt his ‘political brain’, which had been dormant since it had not been used for the past few months, start working.
On the surface, the Makera family’s inn is the only inn in the empire, and anyone who thinks a little can see that this free lodging is the Makera family’s information channel.
However, no matter how much it is said to be an outbuilding for guests of the Makera family and an information counter, on the surface this is an ‘inn’.
I turned down all kinds of invitations and even chose to stay at the ‘inn’ even though I knew that the Makera family’s eyes and ears were on me. And the meaning of saying it for all the maids to hear.
[….We haven’t chosen any royal family yet. Therefore, it was just announced through the maids’ ears that they were waiting for someone to visit. Is it suffice to say that he threw his vote in the battle for the imperial throne in the social world of the imperial capital? I haven’t decided where to go yet, so come quickly and appeal.]
Nothing will happen today. If you come on the same day you visit the capital, ‘We have been waiting for you anxiously!’ They may look the same and that is not behavior befitting noble dignity. Probably around noon the next day, the carriages of servants sent by each family would come rushing by. A Miracle Saint of Light and a Teldrat suitor are people who can be of great help to a faction.
[….I feel embarrassed just thinking about it. That Lucilla guy. I’m sure he knew this but didn’t tell me. Complex circumstances such as the Makera family and others.]
[Now that I think about it, it’s strange. They know the situation in the capital well, so why didn’t they tell us anything?]
[It probably means to just warm up. From now on, I’m going to walk into the mud of the capital’s political world. You can’t just rush around like scared chicks. Since you will be fighting individually to some extent, even at the party, it probably meant that you could feel the spicy taste of capital politics with your own skin. This is different from someone teaching you something and feeling it yourself. I wonder if the tingling in the back of my head awakened my brain. Well, it was just the right amount to clear my head.]
A strange headache and feeling of exhilaration, like when you solve a difficult riddle.
The professor felt a strange sense of longing for his days as a wilderness individual survivor. Well, back in those days, every day was an emergency survival plan meeting. I’ve become very relaxed these days.
“Ugh, it’s cold. Let’s go inside. “Ah, thank you for the cloak and brazier.”
“thank you. “Do you have anything else to say?”
The maid carefully blurted out her words as if to prove that the suspicion was true.
The professor thought for a moment and then clicked his finger! It bounced.
“First of all, if there are centrists left, I want to see them first. Is that okay?”
“…I haven’t received enough teachings to share my personal opinion like that. “I will tell you what I mean.”
“Oh, please prepare a meal for us to eat separately.”
“I am ready. “What is set out in the room is just a main dish that is easy to store.”
The maids quickly disappear after entering the inn.
The professor suddenly realized that the footsteps were at a level that even he with sensitive senses had to concentrate to notice, and he burst out laughing at the physiology of this place, where the more he digs, the more things come out. oh my god. What on earth does Deacon Academy teach?
‘I guess I’m in really good shape. ‘It’s unfamiliar to me to use my head.’
[Originally, in persuasion, it is said that 10 hours with the tongue and 1 second with the fist. Looking at your recent actions, your brain is hardened.]
‘Okay… let’s go back to the beginning. From the beginning. Let’s finish this work in the capital without defeating anyone.’
[Really?]
‘Yes, really. They’re all high-ranking nobles, so there’s no need to antagonize them, right?’
[Hmm…. Try to do something well. I’m really bad at that.]
After a short conversation with Hyde, the professor soaked his head in the warm water that the maids had brought him. It’s full of all sorts of intrigues, but anyway, for the sake of ‘nobility’s sake’, it’s free time until tomorrow.
It was going to get complicated anyway, so I decided to enjoy my free time for now.
Grime was peeling off his body, which had an active metabolism, like peeling off skin, and thanks to his refusal to be ‘served’, the maids who were quietly sitting behind him were constantly thinking of negative opinions about the saint’s level of cleanliness.
Anyway, it was comfortable for now.
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