Chapter 64 Disappointment and hope
Chapter 64 – Disappointment and Hope
Hansel got up early the next day, carefully washed and dressed up, and after enjoying breakfast with his family, he rushed to the public office of the royal capital’s intelligence department, he showed his identification and entered to find the office of his immediate superior.
He gently knocked on the door and pushed in after a “please come in” came from inside, greeting the intelligence officer who had given him a warrant a few months ago, “Viscount Aiden, it’s been a long time.”
The official who was buried in a pile of documents raised his head and stared at Hansel for a long time, and finally asked, “Are you ……?” Apparently, he was a bit unable to recall the subordinate he had only met once.
Hansel was infuriated in his heart, but he didn’t show it at all and smiled as he introduced himself, “Baron Hansel Abbott, I received the warrant from you in the barracks in the Highlands a few months ago and went to Alda to take up the position of royal commissioner.”
Viscount Aiden stirred his brain vigorously, finally regaining a little impression.
“Ah! It is Hansel.” Mr. Viscount did not have the slightest intention of embarrassment, the ones that were allocated to him in the first place were basically people that Earl Merlin had picked out and had no place to put them, and anyway, there were special liaison officers responsible for delivering the incoming and outgoing communications, so what’s the use of these little people bothering to remember what they look like.
He remembers that the guy in front of him was casually sent off to that shithole of a place in the Northwest Gulf, “So, why have you returned to the kingdom?” Viscount Aiden put on a serious expression, this kid couldn’t have been unable to stand the hardships of the Northwest and went AWOL to come back to enjoy his happiness, right? Oops, the young people nowadays need to be educated properly.
“Uh-huh!” Hansel cleared his throat and pulled out a roll of paper, placing it on Viscount Aiden’s table, “Your honor, please take a look.”
Viscount Aiden curiously unfolded the roll of paper, surprisingly, it was a certificate of food handover, associating it with the instructions given to them by the royal family not long ago, he immediately understood.
“So? You’ve gotten the grain from the local lord?”
Hansel puffed out his chest and said, “Yes, my lord! It’s not a large amount, but it’s only the first batch, and Count Paul Greiman, the lord of Arda, has promised me that more grain will be sent over subsequently, and it’s free of charge, and doesn’t require us to spend a single coin.”
Viscount Aiden nodded with satisfaction, “Good, there aren’t many local lords who are so loyal to His Majesty in this day and age. I see, you go back first.” After saying that, he casually put the handover certificate aside and continued to bury his head in the official documents on the table.
After a while, he still didn’t hear the sound of the room door opening and closing, so he raised his head strangely and found Hansel still standing there, seemingly waiting for something.
“Hm? Baron Abbott, what are you still doing here?”
Hansel slightly disappointedly pulled out two letters and placed them on the table and said, “There’s one more thing that I need to trouble you with, here is a letter from the Lord of Alda, Earl Gleiman, to His Majesty the King, and one is a letter I wrote to His Majesty the King, which contains a few points of advice about the Northwest Region, please deliver it inside the Royal Palace for me.”
Viscount Aiden glanced at the letters on the table and said, “Alright, but His Majesty the King has a lot of work to do on a daily basis, so I’m not sure if his old man will be able to find the time to read your letters. Hansel, if there’s nothing important, you should hurry back to the Northwest Bay and continue to fulfill your duties as a royal commissioner, I’m very busy here. “
“At your service, Lord Viscount.”
Hansel turned to leave the office and closed the door, after a few steps in the corridor he stopped, debating whether or not to make another trip inside, but eventually left the building with a shake of his head.
……
After finishing his official business, Hansel hired a carriage to drive in the direction of Wang Li Jing Yao Academy, and about a quarter of an hour later, the carriage stopped in front of a tavern.
Hansel jumped off the carriage, gave the driver a few coins, straightened his clothes and walked into the tavern. He looked around and spotted a familiar figure in the corner, so he walked to the front of the bar and said, “A glass of rum.”
The tavern owner stared at him without moving, and just as Hansel was getting a little impatient, the owner spoke, “Guest, your identification and ticket please.”
“What do you mean? You need identification and a ticket for a drink?” Hansel was confused, could it be that after the warehouse was burned down, the Royal Capital’s level of alert was all this high?
A voice came from behind, “Boss, my friend just came back from out of town, he doesn’t know about the recently issued ban on alcohol, give him a glass of apple juice.”
Hansel turned around, it was the acquaintance sitting in the corner, he opened his arms and said enthusiastically, “Bernard, it’s really been a long time!”
Hansel’s old classmate, Baron Bernard Francis, also opened his arms and embraced him, “Yes, I didn’t know where you’ve been for the past few months, and I didn’t know until Tommen came by this morning with a message that you’d gone to the Northwest to become a royal commissioner.”
The two walked over to the table in the corner and sat down, Hansel asked curiously, “What was that you were saying about prohibition?”
Bernard waved his hand, “Don’t mention it, wasn’t there a food shortage recently? His Majesty the King then issued an order to strictly limit the brewing of all types of wine, nobles can only drink half a liter of wine per day, commoners can only drink one liter of wine a week, and they are no longer allowed to drink it at banquets and public occasions. I’m warning you, don’t violate the prohibition, this is not a joke, there are already several unlucky people caught and heavily punished.”
“Fine!” Hansel helplessly results in the apple juice handed over by his boss, “Then I’ll quench my thirst with this first.”
Bernard took a sip of the juice in his own cup and asked, “Were you transferred back to the royal capital this time?” “No! I’m going back to the Northwest Bay in a few days.”
“Oh! How unfortunate!” Bernard raised his glass to Hansel in sympathy.
Hansel continued, “Actually, I asked you here this time to do something besides catching up on old times.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
Hansel organized his words and said, “Now there is a chance that can change your destiny, I don’t know if you are willing to grab it.”
“What opportunity?” The best friend in front of him asked merely casually before lifting his glass to drink his juice.
“Will you join me in the Northwest Gulf?”
“Ahem… ahem!” Bernard choked on a mouthful of juice and coughed violently.
Hansel rushed to help him pound his back, and it took a moment for it to calm down.
“Ahem – you’re not kidding, are you?” Bernard questioned Hansel suspiciously, isn’t going to that place the same as being dispatched, why are you dragging your good friend to jump into the fire pit?
Hansel put on a serious expression, “Bernard, I’m definitely not joking. I just came back from the Northwest Gulf, I know the land there, I know the people there, I know the lords there, and it’s definitely not the poor mountains that are rumored in the circles of the nobles of the royal capital.”
He stared into Bernard’s eyes and said in one word, “Rather, it is a rich, yet to be reclaimed, promised land that will be filled with gold in the future.”
Bernard blinked his eyes and said, “Hansel, you know that all this pompous, empty rhetoric won’t impress me.”
Hansel sat down on his butt, “Well, Bernard. To tell you the truth, there’s a place called Arda, and the local lord wants to develop his industry and increase the output of all kinds of goods, including grain and iron, but he lacks all kinds of people under his command, and the most urgent thing he needs is someone who can read and write and understand arithmetic. “
Bernard rubbed his chin and seemed to understand his friend’s intentions.
Hansel continued, “You do realize, don’t you, that grain and iron are the most important materials in war. Once their production is boosted up and provided to His Majesty in a steady stream, as the person involved in making this happen, the credit will definitely go to him.”
Bernard nodded, “You make a good point, but will this definitely work? Every lord wants his territory to become more and more prosperous, but I’ve never heard of any territory becoming rich in just a few years.”
“Any investment is risky, how will we know the result if we don’t go for it?”
He then introduced Arda’s agricultural development plan to Bernard, recounting the various measures Paul had taken within the territory, such as the elimination of pirates and the strict crackdown on decrees, emphasizing that the current Arda was already in order, rather than being pirate-ridden and banditry-ridden, as people used to describe the Northwest Gulf.
He concluded, “Think, Bernard, you are almost thirty years old, and you are still working as a book scribe at the college, how much do you get paid a month? The path is already getting narrower and narrower, if you don’t do something about it you’ll be like this for the rest of your life. Although the town there is a little smaller, but its cleanliness is not worse than the king’s capital, is very suitable for living. The lord has promised to pay those who defect to him even higher wages than before, and prices are extremely low there.”
Hansel’s words poked Bernard’s sore spot, and he began to consider them carefully.
Hansel struck the iron while it was hot: “In the royal capital there are low-ranking nobles like us all over the place, and what about when you go to the northwest? There are very few nobles there, and you walk down the street almost sun-like to the commoners around you. With our knowledge and talents, we can definitely take our place there. In the future, after you’ve made your mark, you can choose on your own whether to return to the royal capital or continue to live there, but the Northwest at that time will definitely be prosperous under our efforts.”
Bernard thought about it before finally saying, “I’ll have to go back and think about your suggestion before I give you an answer.”
Hansel took his hand, “Good friend, think it over carefully. Also, talk to people you know about this, especially those who are unhappy with the status quo, including civilians, and tell them to come to me if they have any intention of doing so.”
Bernard nodded, “Okay, Hansel! I’ll get back to you the day after tomorrow at the latest!”
Hansel raises his glass, “Cheers! My friend, I wish we had enough grain to make wine so we wouldn’t have to use the damn juice instead.”
The two cups clinked together, “Cheers! I hope what you say comes true.”
(End of chapter)