Thomas left the study, his heart sinking. As he went downstairs, he stopped at the landing and reached for a cigarette, only to remember that he had hidden them under his pillow.
Mr. Carter, the steward, strictly forbade servants from smoking in the castle.
"Thomas, what are you hiding here for?" A maid came up the stairs. She looked to be around thirty and wore a black-and-white maid's dress, with a mop and bucket in her hands.
"Nothing."
"Is the master still not letting you attend him?"
Thomas slapped the wall in frustration. "Maisie, tell me, why doesn't the master like me? I may never have worked as a personal attendant before, but I served as Viscount Roosevelt's first footman. I'm capable of doing this job."
"How would I know? I'm not a maid at Tulip Castle. I'd never even met the master before."
"I'm just asking if there's something I'm not doing well enough."
"You should ask Mr. Carter or Mrs. Morson about that... And I don't think you have anything to worry about. The master only has three male servants. Jesse is an assistant, and Tom's so clumsy he can't properly attend to the master. Maybe the master's just like that. There's no one in this town better suited to be his personal attendant than you."
Thomas felt a little more encouraged. "That's true. I heard the master wasn't highly regarded by the earl at Tulip Castle. Maybe he'll spend his whole life as the Baron of Flower Town, living in this poor, rural backwater."
"Maybe."
"Maisie, do you regret following the master here?"
"I don't mind. Even the worst life in a castle is better than going back to the farm to starve. I've sold myself to the master, so there's no point wondering whether I regret it."
Thomas was about to speak when someone abruptly cut him off. "Do neither of you have work to do? Thomas, Maisie, mind your conduct. Don't whisper outside your own quarters and the kitchen!" The person coming up the stairs was none other than Carter, the steward of this humble little castle.
He held a ring of keys and a bottle of red wine as he made his rounds through the castle.
"Yes, Mr. Carter. I'll get back to work right away." Thomas and Maisie hurried off to their respective tasks.
If minor nobles were servants to great nobles, then male and female servants were servants to the steward. The noble system had always been rigidly hierarchical.
The castle was small, but there was plenty of work.
Even though Liszt was the only noble they had to attend to, the daily workload was enormous. Take cleaning, for example: the whole castle had to be cleaned inside and out every morning and evening. There were also clothes to wash, hot water to heat, meals to prepare, and chamber pots to empty. Most of this work fell to the male and female servants.
But that didn't mean Carter had no work to do. On the contrary, besides managing the servants, he was responsible for welcoming guests, pouring wine, supervising the serving of meals, handling the correspondence, looking after the fine tableware, managing the wine cellar, and caring for the most important guests.
Old Carter was already fifty. In an era when the average lifespan was less than fifty-five, he was already an old man.
Knock, knock, knock.
He knocked on the study door.
"Come in." Liszt's gentle voice came from inside, his speech marked by the fashionable upper-class "Steel Accent." In the Kingdom of Iron Ridge and its vassal states, countless nobles considered the Steel Accent a mark of distinction.
Old Carter took a deep breath.
He hadn't dealt much with Liszt at Tulip Castle, having mainly been in charge of one of the earl's villas. At Liszt's coming-of-age ceremony a while ago, the earl had assigned him to serve as Liszt's steward. It was a promotion; becoming a steward was the ultimate goal of every servant.
But the pay was sure to be lower.
Carter had no complaints, though. He had sold himself to the Tulip Family at fifteen, and thirty-five years had passed since then. He had never married and had no family of his own. He had long considered himself part of the Tulip Family.
If he could spend the last few years of his life serving Baron Liszt, a descendant of the Tulip Family, it would undoubtedly be a happy ending.
"Master, reading at night is hard on your eyes. You should take care. No matter how many candles you light, they can't compare to daylight."
Liszt smiled faintly, lifting his eyes from the parchment book on his desk to the aging steward. "Mr. Carter, have you finished checking all the rooms?"
"All but the rooms where the servants still need to work have been locked."
"Good. Then let's have a drink together." Liszt had already noticed the red wine in Carter's hand. Nobles loved wine so much that an unwritten custom had developed: the castle's master would share a few drinks with the steward before bed and discuss matters concerning the castle.
Liszt didn't like drinking, but his predecessor had loved it so much that his body had developed a taste for alcohol.
The alcohol here was weak, though. Unless he drank as much as he would beer, it would be hard to get drunk.
They each poured a glass of red wine.
Their glasses clinked softly.
Liszt swirled his wine and took a small sip. "Will the castle's supplies last until this year's tax revenue comes in?"
"I'm afraid it'll be difficult. You didn't bring much wine from Tulip Castle, and we're running low on wheat flour. Flower Town is very remote, and no merchant caravans are willing to come here. Even with gold coins, it's hard to buy wheat or wine. The good news is that Thorn Ridge has plenty of wild fruit, so we don't need to worry about having no fruit to eat."
Liszt wasn't favored by the earl, so when the family divided its property, he naturally didn't get much.
From what he remembered, when his older sister, Lvera, had received her share, it had filled thirty whole wagons. As for him... he hadn't even gotten a single wagon, only a few horses and a group of laborers carrying a little luggage.
The difference in treatment was like night and day.
His predecessor had been full of resentment, but to Liszt, it wasn't a big deal. After all, he wasn't really the earl's son. At most, he felt awkward whenever he met the earl and had to figure out how to act close to him.
"We can't do without wheat." Liszt set down his glass and spoke with unmistakable resolve. "Flower Town needs to develop as soon as possible. We have to open up a trade route!"
Bread was the staple food here.
Without wheat to make white bread, they would have to eat black bread made from rye and oats—coarse and hard to swallow. Liszt could no longer eat the dishes he'd loved back home. If he couldn't even have soft white bread, he'd starve to death.
"Opening a trade route won't be easy. Thorn Ridge is too dangerous."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of it. Poverty won't hold back Flower Town's future, and this castle won't stay so shabby, without even a name." Liszt spoke solemnly.
Only a grand, luxurious castle could have a name. Calling Liszt's humble castle a castle was already generous; giving it a name would make the other nobles laugh themselves silly.
"Is the Elf Bug being well cared for?"
"It's all taken care of, master."
"Good."
Once they had finished their wine, old Carter took his leave. "Master, get some rest. Good night."
"Good night to you too, Mr. Carter."
After Carter left, Liszt read for a while from a parchment book about the customs and traditions of the Sapphire Grand Duchy. The book was thick, about the size of a dictionary, but it didn't contain much. Parchment lived up to its name: a single sheet was almost as thick as pigskin.
"How was paper invented again?" Liszt thought back. His memory was pretty good; he could recall the papermaking process he'd seen online. "When I have time, I'll have to invent paper, too... An industrial revolution probably isn't possible, but there are still plenty of ways to get rich."
For a moment, his mind wandered.
Sure enough, the Snake Script formed from Smoke appeared before his eyes once more.
Quest: As a lord, you need to know everything about your territory. Take a tour of Flower Town, learn about the dangers facing your domain, and prepare for its future development. Reward: Sublimation of Battle Aura.