Linshui City

April 20th, Sunday. Clear skies. Today was Lassos Noble Vocational Academy's weekly day off, and the cadets could arrange their time freely, whether they chose to remain at the academy to rest or leave to have some fun.

Sean, Jim, and Ben had arranged to go into Linshui City together to take care of some business, and perhaps enjoy themselves a little to ease the tension of a whole week's study.

After getting up early that morning, Sean went jogging with his two best friends as usual. Following some simple exercise, the three of them had breakfast together before heading to the stables. Nobles naturally did not travel on foot; they either rode horses or traveled by carriage. For Sean and the others, riding was more convenient, and it could also serve as a way to train their horsemanship.

On the morning of the 19th, Sean attended the noble etiquette course arranged by the academy for the first time. Etiquette Class was one of the most important courses at the Noble Academy. Nearly all Noble Cadets had to attend it. Although mastering etiquette could not grant Sean and the others any tangible power, whether one was a well-bred noble could influence the course of their entire lives. After all, the higher one's status as a noble, the less one could tolerate rudeness. Likewise, etiquette was indispensable in both social interaction and building connections.

The instructor responsible for teaching etiquette to Sean's year was Tony Hudson. In this world, only nobles could possess distinguished surnames; commoners had only given names and no family names.

Instructor Tony Hudson was an old man nearing fifty. His graying hair was heavily slicked with pomade; short and thin, he stood less than 170 centimeters tall. He wore clean, neat noble attire without a single wrinkle, and beneath his nose sat a pair of distinctive little nobleman's mustaches that bobbed up and down as he spoke.

Etiquette courses generally recreated specific situations from noble social circles through role-playing. Yesterday's class had simulated the social dance usually held after a noble banquet. There generally were no young women at the academy, mainly because they did not want the cadets distracted from their studies by matters still too early for them. It also helped prevent certain extreme behaviors that could severely damage noble etiquette and image.

For this reason, the Noble Academy borrowed many young maids from the noble families of Linshui City and the Lord's Mansion to assist the instructors. This had become customary over the years. Both the noble families and the maids themselves were more than willing to accept the academy's invitations and cooperate with these young noble cadets.

Whether they came from noble families or the Lord's Mansion, these maids had extensive experience attending noble banquets and dances. These young and beautiful maids generally received professional training from their families so that they could play a crucial role when necessary.

Imagine a promising young officer invited to a noble banquet, only to find that he had no dance partner to invite. How discourteous and embarrassing would that be? The same applied if the officer were replaced by an official in the administrative system, or another guest of some status. When they had just arrived in a relatively unfamiliar place to take up a post, that was precisely when they needed to integrate into the local upper-class circle. The importance of these specially trained maids responsible for receiving guests was obvious.

In one of the academy's ballroom halls, Instructor Tony Hudson personally demonstrated to Sean and the other young cadets how to maintain an elegant noble bearing while adopting a nobleman's manner of speech, repeatedly using a humorous and witty tone to invite—and even flirt with—the maids playing noble young ladies opposite them.

Then, to the beautiful melody played by the musicians, he danced with one of the assisting maids, displaying his noble and elegant moves. His gentle motions were like caressing a lover's hair, while his light steps resembled an elf beneath the moon. Sean and the other cadets almost believed that Instructor Tony Hudson had suddenly returned to the prime of his youth at twenty, pledging his love beneath the night moon with a noble young lady he deeply adored.

Sean suddenly felt completely out of place. The noble manner of speaking in this world made goosebumps rise all over his body.

During the cadets' subsequent practice session, Sean barely managed to complete the whole process. When dancing with the maid, his palms sweated and his body went stiff. The pretty, charming maid paired with him was far more at ease, and she flirted with Sean several times throughout the etiquette course. While leaving him flustered, it also made him feel quite embarrassed.

Sean and the other two rode through the academy gates together. Sean wore a white noble knight training uniform that day, along with black leather ankle boots. His Knight sword hung at the left side of his waist, while his usual leather coin pouch was tied to the belt on his right.

Jim and Ben were dressed much like Sean, with only slight differences in the colors of their training uniforms. As nobles, they could carry weapons at any time and were almost never obstructed except on certain special occasions.

Linshui City was mainly divided into four directional districts. The western administrative district was where Lassos Noble Vocational Academy stood; next to it was the North District, known as the noble quarter. On the academy's other side stood Linshui City's Commoner Vocational Academy. The Commoner Vocational Academy had several times more cadets than the Noble Academy, and generally anyone who could afford the tuition could enroll.

Further south of the Commoner Vocational Academy stood Linshui City's Lord's Mansion, Local Court, and Local Prosecutor's Office. This was the administrative and judicial center of all Linshui City.

Continuing south along the street in front of the Lord's Mansion led to the Barracks of Linshui City's local Garrison Force. The Garrison was a local armed force mainly responsible for defending Linshui City and its surrounding areas, maintaining local order, and fighting bandits.

The three continued riding south. After passing the Garrison Barracks, they soon reached a residential area. Most of the families living there had members working in the West City District—clerks at the Lord's Mansion, Garrison soldiers and officers, prison guards at the prison near the southern district, and so on. This residential area was also the largest commercial district in the West City District. Because it was close to the Garrison Barracks, most of Linshui City's blacksmith shops were located there. Sean and the others had come precisely to have several new types of training equipment made.

Most streets in Linshui City's West City District were paved with stone and only wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side. Most of the city's buildings were constructed from gray stone and dark gray wood, giving Sean the immediate impression that the entire city was quite run-down.

People crowded the streets as Sean and the other two trotted along on horseback. Most commoners wore rough cloth or linen clothing. Upon seeing the three tall horses, they would consciously step aside, walking along the narrow edges of the street with their heads lowered to show respect toward Sean and the others. In this world, commoners who provoked nobles faced extremely harsh punishment. In serious cases, they could even be executed in the street by nobles.

Before long, Sean and the others arrived at a blacksmith shop that appeared to be quite large. When the shop assistants saw them dismount on the street in front of the store, they immediately hurried over, bowed to Sean and the others, and deftly took the horses' reins.

Most buildings in Linshui City were two-story brick-and-wood structures, and the blacksmith shop before them was likewise a small two-story building facing the street. The ground floor was used as the shop itself, while the rear courtyard was presumably where metal was smelted and forged.

"Welcome, three honored young masters. I am Fick, a shop assistant, and I am at your service..." Another young assistant inside the shop immediately bowed and greeted Sean and the others as they entered. After a pause, he introduced nervously, "The goods of our shop are displayed on the shelves. Please feel free to browse..." After speaking, he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Sean said nothing, merely looking around at the shelves in the blacksmith shop. He found that most of the displayed samples were pots, bowls, ladles, and similar items. There were also some parts that might be used on carriages, as well as farmers' tools.

There were no swords or knives on display in the blacksmith shop, which surprised Sean somewhat. But after thinking about it, he understood. The novels and television dramas from his previous life really were nonsense. In a society with strict social ranks and political stability, how bold and reckless would a blacksmith shop owner have to be to hang swords and knives out in the open? Wasn't he afraid the Garrison's thuggish soldiers would slaughter his whole family?

Seeing that Sean had no intention of responding, Jim instructed the assistant, "Go call your boss. This young master has business to discuss with him." The assistant immediately lowered his head in acknowledgment, asked Sean and the others to wait, and turned to find the owner.

Soon, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded. A burly, middle-aged man with a full beard approached quickly, followed by the young assistant from before. Before he even arrived, he eagerly bowed and said, "Good morning, three honored young masters. I have been terribly neglectful. I am Kane, the owner of this shop. It is a great honor to have the opportunity to serve you gentlemen."

Looking at Boss Kane, who stood before them with a bow, Sean spoke in a mild tone. "Mr. Kane, there is no need to be so formal. We are cadets of Lassos Noble Vocational Academy. We have come today to commission you to make several pieces of equipment." As he spoke, he took out several sketches of exercise equipment he had drawn earlier and handed them to Boss Kane.

Boss Kane immediately bent over and received the sheets of Parchment Sean handed over with both hands. He also discreetly glanced at the academy and Noble Emblem badges worn on Sean and the others' chests.

Sean understood at once that Boss Kane was merely being cautious.

"I am Sean Winchester of the Viscount Winchester family. These two are my friends, Jim Horton of the Baron Horton family and Ben Tels of Sir Tells family." After introducing himself, Sean also introduced Jim and Ben.

Sure enough, after hearing Sean's introduction, Boss Kane's expression became even more respectful. The faint concern he had shown immediately vanished, especially after he saw that the items in the sketches were clearly not weapons.

Few people in this world dared to impersonate nobles, but there were always exceptions. He had no choice but to be careful. If he forged weapons for people pretending to be nobles, he would have a hard time escaping a terrible fate once the matter came to light.

Sean had other considerations in revealing their identities. If he rapidly improved his strength within a very short time, it would inevitably attract the attention of those with ulterior motives. Sean estimated that this short period would be roughly six months to a year.

He could then attribute the reason to the assistance provided by these training tools, at least on the surface. The other cadets at the academy would surely follow suit, and by then these training devices he designed could be sold at high prices.

Although this world had no patent rights, Sean was a noble, and he could demand his rightful compensation. The manufacturing cost of these devices was very low. Even if the price of the finished products was raised several times over, it would still be completely acceptable. The cadets would not care about such a small amount of money; they only cared whether the equipment was fast and effective.

Simply put, those of higher status than him would not care about this little bit of money, while those who did care could not afford to provoke Sean and the others.

Sean then carefully described the various specifications and requirements of the equipment to Boss Kane, leaving the appropriate deposit. He also requested that whenever Boss Kane made the same equipment for others in the future, he raise the selling price, with part of the increase serving as compensation for Sean and the others. At the same time, he promised that at an appropriate moment, he would announce that the equipment had been made at Kane's blacksmith shop so that other cadets would come there to commission their own.

As noon approached, Sean and the others mounted their respective horses and left the blacksmith shop under Boss Kane's respectful send-off.