Start with Island Lord

Chapter 36 Times have changed~

Six o'clock in the evening.

Maple Leaf Castle.

The housekeeper Abru appeared again and invited politely: "Your Highness, Baron, the Earl invites you two to dinner."

Rosen took Selena's arm and followed Abru.

Bright magic lights were lit on both sides of the corridor, but because of the extremely spacious space, the corridor still seemed a little dim.

After walking for a while, Rosen asked casually: "Mr. Abru, has the Earl been busy recently?"

Abru nodded: "Yes, Baron."

"Are the problems you encountered very troublesome?"

"Not particularly troublesome, but a little difficult to decide."

Mr. Abru said a little vaguely, he didn't want Rosen to continue asking, because he couldn't reveal the host's secrets, and refusing guests was a very rude act.

"Baron, when you get to the restaurant, you can ask the Earl yourself."

"That's what I meant."

On the way, Abru remained silent.

He led Rosen and the other two along the corridor in the atrium, and finally turned into the inner court.

This is the most private living area of ​​the Earl's family, and outsiders are never invited.

Although Rosen is an apprentice of Lady Agnet, he is an apprentice who is generally recognized as useless. Look at Selena, although she is a princess, she is also an exiled princess.

Her princess status can make common people bow down, but it has little deterrent power for a feudal minister like the Earl.

According to common sense, in order to save the Duke's face, the Earl should avoid letting the princess enter the inner court to attend private family dinners.

Now she is invited to enter, and the meaning is very interesting.

Selena felt it, and whispered to Rosen in her heart: "The Earl really still has feelings for me. After all, this is his territory, we have to be careful."

The private life of the nobles is quite chaotic.

It is common for the great nobles to enjoy the wives of the small nobles. In many cases, some small nobles will take the initiative to offer their wives in order to get the care of the great nobles.

Although she knew that Rosen liked her very much and was very talented, he was still a small noble lord after all. If the earl borrowed soldiers in exchange, Selena was really a little worried that he would waver.

Rosen observed Selena's expression and roughly guessed Selena's thoughts. He patted the magic sword on his waist and said in a gentle but firm tone: "Madam, have you forgotten that I am still your guardian knight. As long as I am here, no one dares to force you to do anything."

Selena's mind was immediately settled, and she chuckled: "It is obviously you, the guardian knight, who bullies me the most."

Rosen also laughed: "Is that bullying? It is obviously serving the princess."

"Go to hell~"

While talking and laughing, the two entered the inner courtyard of the castle, walked along the maze-like corridor for about five or six minutes, and finally arrived at a spacious hall.

The hall is rectangular, with a flying buttress structure to support a very tall and very exquisite glass dome. Through this exquisite glass roof, you can vaguely see the bright moon and stars in the night sky.

A row of crystal magic lamps like stars hang under the dome, illuminating the entire hall.

Below is a long dragon-patterned wooden dining table. The walls around the table are painted with constant temperature seals to ensure that the hall is warm like spring all year round.

When Rosen and Selena arrived, many people were already sitting at this luxurious long dining table.

At the head was naturally Earl Robert, and opposite him was his wife, Lady Adelina, the sister of the Earl of Gaoshan County.

On the right side of the dining table sat five boys and girls, the oldest was fifteen or sixteen, and the youngest was eight or nine years old. They were all very beautiful, and they should be the children of the Earl.

When Selena entered the hall, Earl Robert looked over expectantly.

But when he saw Princess Selena clearly, the light in his eyes dimmed obviously.

He said, "Oh~ Your Highness, you look so haggard."

As he spoke, Rosen and Selena sat in the guest seats under the guidance of Abru.

In fact, there were only two guests, so after they sat down, the servants began to serve the dishes one by one.

Selena sighed, looking sad: "My only relative is my brother. I respect him and love him, but he treated me as a pawn in a deal."

"I am very sad, and I have been traveling in the wilderness for nearly two weeks. I don't get enough rest every day, so I am indeed a little haggard."

Earl Robert didn't want to criticize the Duke, because he understood the Duke, and he also felt that the princess was too willful.

Seeing her so haggard again, the dazzling brilliance in the past almost completely disappeared, and the dark thoughts in his heart suddenly faded.

So, he spread his hands and perfunctorily replied: "The Duke is indeed a little too much."

His wife, Lady Adelina, who sat opposite him, knew her husband's character best. Seeing her husband being defeated, she felt very happy.

She comforted him softly: "Your Highness, all men are like this. They only care about power and wealth, but always ignore their families."

"So, don't have too high expectations for them, and don't be discouraged. After all, you are still young."

After saying that, the Countess glanced at the Earl, with unconcealed resentment in her eyes. The latter felt it and spread his hands slightly, with a helpless expression of "you are making trouble for no reason".

"Thank you, Madam."

Selena nodded gratefully.

It's strange that no one has talked to Rosen since he sat down, as if he is a non-existent transparent person.

Rosen had long been accustomed to such disregard, so he followed the normal etiquette of the nobility, eating and drinking as he should.

Count Robert finally remembered him and looked at Rosen: "Young man, are you Ted's son?"

Ted was the name of the old baron of Sturgeon Island.

Rosen was cutting lamb chops, and immediately put down the knife upon hearing this, stood up and responded respectfully: "Yes, Lord Earl."

"I have heard my sister mention you many times, and she always said that you are a wooden head."

"But in this recent letter of introduction, she praised you greatly, saying that although you are a little dull in magic practice, you are proficient in magic and combat skills, and are extremely talented in victory chess, and even defeated Sir Humphrey."

Before he finished speaking, there was an exclamation from the side: "Oh~ You can actually beat my uncle in victory chess? This is incredible!"

Rosen looked in the direction of the voice and saw that Countess Adelina was full of surprise and began to look at himself seriously.

Count Robert smiled and said, "Madam, don't doubt it, this is indeed true, because not only did my sister say it in the letter, I also heard many people mention it."

The Countess was amazed: "My uncle is a real chess master. It's not easy for you to beat him at such a young age!"

He also said, "My eldest daughter Alice also likes victory chess and has good talent. Since she got the guidance of my uncle, she has never met an opponent among her peers and gradually began to become proud."

"I think this mentality is very bad. Baron, why don't you teach her a lesson?"

As soon as the voice fell, a purple-haired girl of fifteen or sixteen years old sitting opposite Rosen immediately shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Mom, I'm not proud, I really have no rivals!"

The Countess spread her hands: "Now there just happens to be a strong opponent, aren't you interested?"

"Of course I'm interested."

Alice looked at Rosen: "Baron, will you play a few games later?"

Rosen would naturally not refuse: "As you wish, Princess."

The Earl saw that Rosen had been standing and listening, so he pressed his hand down: "Young man, don't be so serious, sit down, and talk while eating."

"Thank you, Lord Earl."

Rosen sat down and replied: "I can achieve something in Victory Chess, in fact, I have to thank the many chess records bought by the tutor."

"My sister bought the chess records, hahaha~~ I always thought she was wasting money, now it seems that it is finally useful."

Count Robert laughed heartily, and the clouds of sorrow that had been covering his face also dissipated a lot.

But when he finished laughing, the clouds of sorrow that had just dissipated quickly gathered together again.

Rosen had already set up a detection seal on Abulu, and by this time he had learned a lot of information, so he naturally knew why the earl was worried.

He did not beat around the bush: "My Lord Earl, I feel like you seem to be in trouble."

"I wonder if you can share something with us. If it is a problem related to magic, my wife and I may be able to provide you with some advice."

The earl was stunned: "How did you know?"

Rosen answered seriously: "My Lord Earl, don't forget that my mentor is your sister, and I often hear information about you from her."

"The mentor said that you have always been a person who loves to laugh, but at such a relaxed family dinner tonight, you hardly laughed."

The earl looked at Rosen in surprise: "You have a good pair of eyes, young man."

He took a sip of the Fire Dragon Liquor and hissed softly: "Really The matter is about opening a new bread factory. "

"New bread factory?"

Rosen raised his eyebrows slightly: "Lord Earl means to use the food making magic to mass-produce a new factory for edible bread?"

Count Robert nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, that's right. It seems that you have really learned something from my sister."

"This is what happened."

"A great wizard from Kao came to me with his disciples and said that he had created a very powerful food making magic. As long as I am willing to invest money in him, he can help me build a factory that produces 100 tons of bread every day. "

Rosen knew that this matter was unreliable as soon as he heard it, but it was extremely confusing.

Because this is a very popular research topic in magic at present, its popularity is no less than the perpetual motion machine on Earth in modern times.

But unlike the perpetual motion machine, it is not difficult to realize the large-scale food making magic. The real difficulty is the manufacturing cost.

At present, the manufacturing cost of all methods is dozens or even hundreds of times higher than that of farmers farming.

Although countless wizards are working hard to solve this problem, Rosen knows that the solution to this problem is far away, or even impossible to solve forever.

Because there is probably an alien version of the "law of thermodynamics".

But because of this, the bubble is very large, providing a lot of room for scammers to play.

After thinking for a while, Rosen asked again: "The great wizard from Kao. Kao is a great country of magic, with more than 200 masters, but I know the name of each one."

"Can the Earl tell me the name of this great wizard?"

The Earl looked at Rosen in surprise again: "Young man, you have a good memory."

"His name is Luwakado. I asked someone to check it out. He is indeed a famous great wizard. He was promoted ten years ago. There must be no problem with his level."

Rosen shook his head when he heard the name: "My Lord Earl, let me say something, I know this Luwakado, his magic power has indeed been promoted to the level of a four-ring master, but his magic achievement is not high, even not as good as many senior mages."

"In addition, the field he specializes in is not food making, but the longevity potion in alchemy."

At this point, it is actually very clear.

But Earl Robert felt that Rosen was unreliable. He frowned and said: "Young man, are you a low-level mage now?"

"Yes, my Lord Earl."

"Since it is only a low-level mage, it is better not to evaluate the master's knowledge."

Obviously, the Earl did not believe in Rosen's ability at all.

Selena on the side wanted to help Rosen persuade him, but the knowledge of magic is extremely broad, and each mage can only be proficient in a small part of the field.

Although she is a senior mage and has learned many spells, she has learned existing knowledge and does not know the latest developments in the current magic world.

At this time, he naturally had no confidence to speak, and in order to avoid speaking out of fear, he could only remain silent.

Rosen was not surprised at Count Robert's reaction, because 'judging the level by the practice of magic power' is the most common cognitive error made by laymen.

If the other party was just the mentor's brother, he would not bother to say more, but he was still the Earl of Shire County who controlled huge resources.

Therefore, this scam must be exposed.

So, he said: "My Lord Earl, I happen to specialize in food making, and I always pay attention to the development of food making around the world."

"How about, next time you negotiate with Master Luwakado, give me a chance to listen in and let me ask them a few professional questions?"

The Earl was about to refuse without hesitation, because he was worried that Rosen would ask nonsense questions and annoy the great wizard Cao.

But before he spoke, Countess Adelina spoke.

"Grant, just take Rosen with you. He is Anna's apprentice and Ted's son. Even if his level is limited, he will never hurt you, right?"

This is true.

But Count Robert spread his hands: "But this will make the master feel that I am disrespectful to him. You know that mages have strong self-esteem."

The Countess was speechless.

Princess Selena added: "Count, I think you have misunderstood a basic fact."

"The fact is that they need your investment now. It is you who take out the gold coins. It is them who should be cautious, not you, Count."

This made the Count startled. After hesitating for a few seconds, he still shook his head and refused.

"Your Highness, the times have changed~"

"In this era, the most important thing is knowledge, not money, and not just fighting force."

"I heard that your husband Rosen defeated Sarath of Aaron. This is indeed amazing, but you need to be humble about academic matters."

"These khal mages have very precious and even unique knowledge, and there are many rich lords in this world."

"I must respect them."

Seeing that Selena was still trying to persuade him, he waved his hand impatiently.

"Okay, Your Highness, you have a lot of troubles of your own, so don't bother with my business!"

This is a very clear rejection. If you continue, you will be angry.

Rosen immediately winked at Serena and smiled, "The Earl knows the situation best, and your judgment must be correct."

"It's good that you know."

The Earl nodded, and his attitude was obviously much colder.

It is obvious that the Earl did not really take the two of them seriously at all.

The noble status of the princess only gave the two people the qualification to understand the core affairs of the Earl, but it did not mean that they had the right to participate.

Rosen immediately changed his target, ate a few bites of fried fish silently, and looked at Alice, the eldest daughter of the Earl.

"Princess Alice, I have a suggestion about the victory chess."

"Oh~ Tell me?" Alice's girlish heart was immediately aroused.

"I'll let you make the first ten moves. If you can beat me, I'll teach you a wonderful recipe for making food."

"In short, use maple trunks and soybeans to make delicious fish."

Alice is also learning magic. Although she is only 15 years old, she has already obtained the qualification of a formal mage. When she heard Rosen's words, her violet eyes, which are 80% similar to her aunt's, suddenly sparkled.

"First of all, no one can beat me with a ten-move hand. Second, no one can make fresh fish with the food-making technique!"

Rosen smiled lightly: "Do you dare to try?"

Alice agreed without hesitation: "What's there to be afraid of? Let's try!"