Chapter 172 – The noble.

“A noble from the duke household?”

After getting back from the week-long expedition to the dungeon Roland wanted to relax and sleep it off. Before that could happen Elodia dropped a bombshell on his head. Apparently, a very important noble house had taken interest in their little growing city.

This entire island was somewhat a separate entity from the rest of the kingdom and was owned by a strong Duke. The house name was Valerian and they were the undisputed powerhouses of the south of this kingdom.

A duke household was second only to the royal families in this kingdom. Their noble name carried a lot of weight. Even if some just generally related to this family appeared anywhere they would kick up quite the storm.

“Yes, I was surprised too. Isn’t it great? This means that more people will be coming to the city.”

“Ah yeah sure…”

For Elodia this was a good thing as she knew what power nobles carried with them. Only cities that were governed by someone from a noble family could be called proper big cities. If Albrook managed to attract one of them, to the commoners it meant that the city was approved by the people in charge.

This could cause more merchants to arrive depending on how the new lord handled things. Sometimes it could go the oposite way, if the noble was incompetent they could ruin a city from reaching its full potential.

Roland knew of a few reasons why a noble would be sent to a yet developing city like this. The most obvious reason would be that their parents were giving them some kind of test to see if they can manage people. Another reason could be punishment or even banishment.

Albrook was somewhat far away from the main city of Isgard where the Valerian Duke had his main castle. From what Roland knew he had some of his sons tend to some of the larger cities that were more militaristic in nature. A town like Albrook didn’t seem like something that would be run by someone from the direct line.

“Do you know the name of the lord that is going to govern Albrook?”

“No, he arrived a few days ago but they didn’t give any announcement yet… Come to think of it…”

As Elodia was about to reveal something interesting she stopped and looked at the clock that he had constructed.

“Oh no, look at the time, I need to get back to the shop!”

Before he could get more information out of her she vanished through the door.

“Wait… what were you trying to tell me…”

Roland trailed off at the end there, when nobles were involved he was very interested in what was happening. He didn’t think that he was in any danger but with a new boss in town, things could be changing. The biggest danger would be to his own shop that a noble could find an eyesore.

After living in Edelgard for a few years he knew how some nobles operated. Even if they couldn’t legally go against the contract that he made with the city, there were other ways to make him capitulate. It would be best to get into the good graces of this new wild card that came into the city.

‘I bet all the other merchants and those dwarves are already sending him gifts… should I do the same?’

While in his old world bribing was frowned upon, here on the other hand it was part of the course. Sending the nobles ‘presents’ was something any respectable merchants with deep pockets would do. It was more a show of respect and would most of the time keep the noble happy.

‘What would I even make … a nice durasteel sword?’

With the new resources in hand, he could probably make something eye-catching. The problem there was that he didn’t even begin reworking his old tools that were ill-fit for the more exotic metals.

The forge needed to be remade to handle the higher melting temperatures of the other metals. He also needed to produce better tools for this job which would take him quite some time to finish.

‘It will probably take me at least a month to work out the kinks… probably longer, It would be better to go with something I already made…’

Roland thought some of his older prototypes would still be somewhat adequate to a noble’s tastes. Before he could make a decision he needed more information, was this noble a battle maniac or maybe more of a brainy type?

He at least expected it to be a man as women weren’t really ordered out to govern cities or large territories. There were a couple of families that utilized everyone, so it still could be the case here.

Without the proper information, he decided to rest for the time being. After spending so much time in the deep dungeon he needed a break. After he had recharged his batteries he would tackle this problem with a fresh mind. With that thought in mind, he headed to the bathroom to clean himself first…

…….

Two days ago.

“If it isn’t young master Arthur, on behalf of the citizens of Albrook I welcome you.”

A young man dressed in a militarized uniform stepped out of a lavish-looking carriage. His hair was pure white and it contrasted well with his deep green eyes. His height was slightly above average just like his frame.

“Ah yes, you were the old attendant, your name is?”

“It’s Ferdinand my liege.”

An old man was bowing towards this youth that didn’t look past twenty. Roland would recognize his face as this was the city mayor. To him this young man was someone that he needed to show his respect, even though on the inside he was feeling a bit adamant about it.

“You can raise your head.”

“Yes my lord, let me show you to your quarters, I’ll have someone carry your luggage inside. We have also prepared lodgings for the Valerian knights that have accompanied you but I’m not sure if we have enough space for all of them in the mansion…”

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As the mayor that was relegated to butler duties tried to have some of the servants carry the new lord’s belongings. He had arrived in a lush-looking carriage and was well protected. To this old man, it seemed that his life could be at stake if he was foolish enough to anger this young lad.

“Luggage? There won’t be much of it and the knights, they won’t be staying”

“My lord?”

Ferdinand was confused at what the new lord had said but soon he would realize the truth. The man in charge of the knights who was an older-looking fellow with a grand stature and a big gash on his forehead approached with heavy steps.

“Young lord, we have fulfilled our duties of bringing you here, as the Duke ordered we will now depart.”

“Is that so captain? I guess if it was a direct order from father, you should move along.”

Arthur Valerian smirked a bit as the knight captain did the kingdom salute and departed. The large force that consisted of fifty heavy armored knights on horseback slowly removed itself from the inside of this compound. What was left was the young lord, his personal maid, and two young-looking knights.

“T-this is?”

“As you can see Ferdinand, you don’t need to worry about me too much… now be so kind as to show me around the mansion.”

The old man was perplexed as he saw the large man in the shiny armor take his leave. It was kind of strange at the beginning as no one dismounted their horses beside the captain. Now it was clear that they intended to leave the moment they got here.

Ferdinand, who had spent a part of his life working as a butler for the Valerian estate quickly realized what this was about. The young lad that he was interacting with was clearly not someone favorably looked at by the Duke.