Chapter 391 – Herson’s Uncle and Nephew

Chapter 391 – Herson’s Uncle and Nephew

The sun has already slanted in the west, under the afterglow of the setting sun, a gorgeous carriage slowly drove into the lake center town from the south, along the main street located in the city’s central axis all the way to the north, and then passed through the stone bridge to the island located in the northern lake.

To be precise, only the built-up area on this island in the lake is the real “Lake Town”. Three years ago, the large area on the southern shore of Lake Wes was still farmland or woods, but now it has been replaced by a large number of buildings and streets, and the constant influx of immigrants and new workshops are rapidly expanding the area of the town.

The Council of State had already proposed a new name for the new city, and the island town of Lakeland would continue to be the name of one of the new city’s districts, but Paul was hesitant to name it, and the city’s new name was up in the air.

Because this island on the lake is the Gladman family generations of residence where the castle, the Council of State and many departments of the army’s office buildings are also built around the castle, so the island has become the Alda, Bairdine, Emden three powerful territories where the center of power.

Three powerful territories – Emden is already a strong territory (in the Northwest Bay, of course), and the development of Alda and Baldin in recent years has also demonstrated to the people around the increasing strength.

With the ever-expanding “telegraph” lines, the town of Lakewood sends daily updates to and receives a constant stream of feedback from the various jurisdictions.

Because of the island’s special status, it became a place where dignitaries competed to move into, and who wouldn’t want to be closer to the center of power? In addition to high-ranking officials in the military and political departments, there were also those newly-emerged workshop owners and merchants who, even if they didn’t reside in Huxinzhen, had to look for a place to settle down in the area.

Of course, there are also those Emden nobles and lords who have already sworn allegiance to the Gleiman family, also rushed to this place to buy real estate.

Under the impetus of these people, the price of land on the island rose, although the aborigines were a group of commoners, and even many of them were technically serfs under the name of the Gleiman family, but everyone knew that Earl Gleiman had always prided himself on being the protector of the commoners, so no one dared to forcefully take over or forcefully buy it under his watch. The aborigines all took this opportunity to make a fortune, and happily moved to the new town on the south bank with their bags of money.

The carriage continued to move slowly, turning into a wide alley, and finally stopping in front of a not-so-small mansion.

There was already an old and a young man standing in front of the door waiting.

After the door of the carriage opened, the young man stepped forward and respectfully addressed, “Uncle.”

“Orlando.” The man inside the carriage responded and stepped down.

It was a slender middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed beard and well-maintained skin, and at a glance, he was either rich or noble.

Viscount Eugene Herson, the lord of one of Emden’s vassal lords, had arrived in Lakewood after more than two days of traveling.

The original bannerman of the Kent family had now become a bannerman of the Gladman family, at least in name.

The teenager standing at the door to greet him was his nephew, Orlando Helsen, and standing beside Orlando was the steward of the Lakewood mansion, who had been appointed by Helsen.

Eugene Herson’s wife had died after giving birth to three daughters, and the Viscount, who had never renewed his marriage to his late wife, had made his brother’s son the heir to the family.

He had high hopes for this nephew, and soon after swearing allegiance on behalf of the family to Paul Gladman, he sent him to Lakewood to pursue his education.

Sending the heir to the family to be educated at the side of the sovereign was also a common way for bannermen of this era to show their loyalty.

However, there were no knights in Lake Town to teach Orlando martial arts, nor were there any noblewomen to instruct him in etiquette, so there were only two ways to receive an education – the Weiss Academy, which taught cultural knowledge, and the Graiman Military Academy, which taught military knowledge.

Viscount Herson chose Wise Academy for his nephew, as a nobleman’s son who received excellent education since childhood, Orlando did not need to start from “elementary school”, he passed the entrance examination of “secondary school” without any effort, even if he lacked the novelty knowledge taught in elementary school, he could still pass the entrance examination of “secondary school”, even if he lacked the knowledge taught in elementary school, he could still pass the entrance examination of “middle school”. Even if he lacked the novel knowledge taught in primary school, he could easily master it through auditing or night school.

Uncle and nephew entered the mansion, where a sumptuous dinner had been prepared, and the two of them enjoyed it while talking.

“What is the purpose of your visit to Lakewood this time?”

“I’m coming to purchase a batch of agricultural instruments, and by the way, I’m going to see which of those technologies that Lord Earl is going to make public can be used for us.”

The Viscount held a glass of red wine and swayed it slightly, “Orlando, you’ve also been living in Lakeheart Town for a while now, how do you feel about it?”

“Well ……,” the teenager chewed the meat in his mouth and hastily swallowed it down before saying, “How can I say it, it’s a …… very lively place, isn’t it? ”

“Very angry?”

“Yes. Count Greiman seems to have instilled in everyone here the notion that if you’re willing to work hard, you’ll be rewarded. That said, you may not believe it, but in Lakewood, even the usual corvée labor used by the lords hasn’t been seen for quite some time, and has been replaced by hiring – Count Gleiman also calls his lords to work, but he pays a salary.”

“Oh?” Viscount Herson raised an eyebrow, “That’s new.”

He asked, “So what do you think of the Academy?”

Orlando thought for a moment and replied, “Unlike other places that favor literature, art, and etiquette, this place focuses more on practicality, mathematics is the top priority, quite a lot of the teaching content was organized by Lord Gleeman himself, I did learn quite a lot of novel but highly effective theories here, and I heard that the Earl is working on an esoteric textbook titled Higher Mathematics, I don’t know when it will be released . Ah …… there is also the discipline of Alchemy – we call it ‘Chemistry’ here – in the academy. It’s strange, alchemy has always been passed down from master to disciple on a small scale, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it taught on a large scale like in the Vis Academy.”

“Well, you have to learn and learn well.” Viscount Helsen squinted his eyes and kept nodding his head, it looked like his new sovereign wanted practical technical talents. “I’ve always wanted to ask you a question.” Orlando looked at his uncle.

“What is it?”

“I know you sent me to study to get the family on its feet in the new system ……”

“Well ……” The Viscount did not deny his nephew’s statement.

“So why don’t you just let me take the exams for political officer? Those mudbloods who just know a few words can pass the exam, I’ll have even less problem. It’s a bit of a shame to compete with these people as the Viscount’s heir, but I’m confident that I’ll be able to quickly occupy an important position with my own abilities.”

If it was any other territory, if a noble son like Orlando wanted to hold any official position, a letter of recommendation from home would be enough. But it was different in Arda, you had to take an exam.

“Orlando ……” explained the Viscount, “From my observation, the Earl should be forced to recruit these good and bad people into his own political system, you know, nowadays in this era, able to read through a text through How many people are there? Being in the academy, do you think that Lord Gleeman takes you students seriously?”

“Quite a lot of attention, he personally asks about every exam.”

“That’s just it, right now the Council of State’s exams are nothing more than a stopgap measure, and those who go in will sooner or later hit the ceiling of promotion. And the students of Vis Academy are what the Earl will rely on in the future, if you don’t have this status, even if you enter the Council of State, even if your performance is excellent, you will lose a lot of color.”

“I see,” Orlando nodded, “actually ……”

“Actually what?”

“I’m considering going over and transferring to that military academy.”

At that, a look of longing came into the teenager’s eyes; he’d seen the Aldar army drill from afar, and the neat formation, the uniformity of movement, and the burnt-bag goose-steps were just so stirring.

“Alas ……” the viscount smiled slightly and shook his head, he was also young, and knew that this young man was full of the idea of riding horses and fighting.

“If there is a war, the army is naturally the easiest place to get results. But the Earl is not a warlike person, the extermination of pirates, the Bairdin rebellion, and the war of the usurpers were all done as a last resort, do you want to slowly simmer your seniority in the army? Besides it wouldn’t be good for us to show up with a warlike lord, like Maltz Kent. And our status as returned men is a bit awkward, don’t just touch the hilt of the Count’s sword.”

“Uh …… okay!” The young man nodded dejectedly, “Actually, I’m just saying, you know? For me, it’s still difficult to enter the Gladman Academy?”

“What does that mean?” Viscount Helsen was surprised that with his nephew’s excellence, he would say such words.

“The enrollment of the Graiman Military Academy seems …… not to be necessarily biased towards those commoner children, although there is no hard and fast rule, but according to our private observation, it seems that the children of the upper class families who are able to enter the academy just don’t have more than a quarter of them, and this ‘upper class families ‘ is not just the proper nobles like us, but also includes those wealthy landowner families in the countryside.”

“Oh? There is such a thing?” Viscount Herson was very surprised.

“Yes, many of the children of the upper class families in our academy are quite uneven, often clashing with the next door academy, and there are not a few private fights …… uncle?”

Orlando saw his uncle across the street in deep thought.

Hearing his nephew’s call, the Viscount came back to his senses, “Orlando, you haven’t participated in it, have you?”

“I …… “The teenager hesitated for a while and stammered, “Just a few times la.”

If it was anywhere else, a fight between a commoner and a powerful noble with a territory at home would usually end badly, but Orlando was facing a student of his lord – Paul was the principal of both the Graiman Military Academy and the Wis Academy.

“Listen, in the future, don’t stand out when you encounter something like this, and hide away.”

The Viscount admonished his nephew very seriously.

“Uh …… yes!” Noticing the expression on his uncle’s face, Orlando was a bit surprised.

Eugene Helsen stared at him, “Although I don’t know what the Earl’s intentions are, but we shouldn’t ask what we shouldn’t ask. You are the heir of our family, I don’t want you to make any mistakes.”

“I take note of that, Uncle.”

Orlando nodded heavily.

(End of chapter)