The matter of the Manticore had come to a temporary close.
The merchant Lawrence had provided a promissory note worth 500 gold coins, redeemable for actual gold and silver at banks in towns across the Northern Kingdom of Norsenia and the Western Kingdom of Westania.
Come on, this was a game world that prided itself on realism!
Gold coins themselves had weight. Those 500 coins weighed at least four or five pounds. Lawrence certainly didn’t have the strength to carry that much cash around while doing business.
Everything was done with registered promissory notes.
There was no need to worry about the note’s authenticity either—Count Briang Lind had been navigating the business world for so many years. The wool and flour trade was built on generations of connections and experience.
As for the town ravaged by the Manticore, the bank there was still perfectly fine.
When the time came, he would cash it in to rebuild the town and compensate the casualties… Perfect.
The count gladly accepted and ordered the steward to set off soon.
The money was received. Next came two other matters.
First, granting Rodrik the position of estate instructor. If he could train a grandson who could destroy a Manticore, then he could also train the militia the count needed.
Even if that meant harming the interests of the knights.
Previously, the work of training the militia and novice knights at the estate had been handled by the knight Kellos.
“That fellow isn’t qualified,” the count said with a wave of his hand. “I think Rodrik is perfect!”
Luo Yi benefited as well. After all, the main reason he wanted to become a Brave was that he had grown up listening to his grandfather’s legendary tales.
Now that his grandfather Rodrik had become the instructor, Luo Yi could train easily at the estate and grow into a capable warrior.
When Luo Yi turned sixteen, he would be able to participate in the Hero Selection in the Royal Capital and officially begin the Path of the Hero.
Xue La also thought this was a good deal.
Outside the estate, an excited Luo Yi gripped the hilt of a fine sword from the count’s armory (not a small wooden sword he had whittled himself), bidding farewell to his days of scratching a living from the soil. He could now focus on training…
“Give that sword back!”
Rodrik blocked Luo Yi and disarmed him in one motion.
“You can’t just take things from Lord Count’s estate.”
“Then what weapon should I use…” Luo Yi muttered.
“Use that heavy sword you picked up. I had the estate blacksmith repair it these past few days. It’s usable!”
From her windowsill, Xue La watched the red-haired boy, unable to hide the smile on her face.
She had also received a completely refurbished weapon yesterday.
The dagger she had picked up in the cave. It was also the new instructor Rodrik’s idea—a craftsman must sharpen his tools to do his work. He had someone repair the heavy sword, and Luo Yi had begged his grandfather to fix the dagger as well…
As a small repayment to Sister Xue La—without her insistence, Luo Yi could never have legitimately claimed the credit for killing the Manticore.
And Xue La had seen it all in her panel.
[Refurbished Dagger: Piercing Damage 10-14]
[Refurbished Heavy Sword: Slashing Damage 42-60 and Bludgeoning Damage 4-8]
Because the rusted weapons had been repaired, the damage had returned to its proper track… Instead of carrying the [Rusted] negative equipment trait, which halved the damage.
Now do you understand why Luo Yi’s critical hit with the heavy sword was more powerful than Xue La’s backstab critical hit by eight and a half times?
His basic attack damage was four times that of Xue La’s dagger? Heavy sword users are the real elite. Daggers? Not even dogs would play them!
Woof woof woof! But the good news was over. Next came the bad.
Servants humbly entered the young lady of House Linde’s boudoir to remind her that the countess had returned.
Indeed, the Manticore had been eliminated, and the daughter had been saved. So wouldn’t the countess, who had been quarreling with her husband, be returning from her family home?
That was the second matter. Count Briang Lind’s wife, Xue La’s mother, had finally returned from her family home.
Katarina Lyoncourt. The Lion’s Court… Xue La wasn’t very clear on these intricacies. In her previous life, she was just a speedrun player, so she had no time to bother remembering the surnames of an NPC family’s daughter.
But from the words and actions of the servants and her father, Xue La couldn’t help but start to worry.
It seemed… Count Briang was very afraid of his own mother?
‘Gah, my dad is actually henpecked. This is bad.’
The young lady of House Linde wasn’t stupid. Previous events had proven everything. Luo Yi’s grandfather was, after all, a tenant farmer of their own household. There was resistance to promoting them to estate instructors.
Kellos, and the other knights who dared not speak their minds.
If her own mother was also that kind of person… what should she do?
This worry had a high probability of coming true, and Xue La’s heart grew cold.
Because her father was frantically directing the servants to dress him up!
“Even though that little dress was torn, there must be something passable in the wardrobe,” Count Briang Lind said, holding his forehead in distress. “Xue La, I have failed you. Your maids… they were also your mother’s dowry servants. They… left too, so…”
During this time, Xue La’s attire had also been rather makeshift. She just followed her memory and put on clothes piece by piece—a comfortable, simple pale green dress with nothing but a few opal buttons for decoration, and a cute colorful rope belt… As for her hair, what a nightmare! In her memory, she always seemed to be chasing some fancy, complicated hairstyles.
Not anymore. She ordered the remaining female servants at the estate to simply tie her hair into common twin braids.
A peasant woman’s taste… but Xue La didn’t care much.
After all, she had transmigrated. She didn’t need to be a perfect noble lady.
Her ideal was to open a restaurant. Before that, she might just need to help the Brave Luo Yi defeat the Demon King appropriately.
Then let me ask you: is a complicated, exaggerated hairstyle conducive to cooking by the stove?
Is a fancy noble outfit conducive to adventuring and defeating the Demon King?
No! So she was already satisfied with her current self.
Next, it was time to welcome her mother.
Welcome… using that word probably already hinted at something.
The Lyoncourt family from which Lady Katarina came was a more noble existence than the Linde family…
How would such a person view the lowly Luo Yi?
Xue La stood at the entrance of the estate, beside her father Count Briang Lind, quietly watching the ornate carriage approaching from beyond the horizon.
The golden crowned lion flag far outshone House Linde’s white sheep flag.
A bit scary. Xue La couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
Lady Katarina held a folding fan, expressionless as she watched the servants busy themselves laying down a red carpet to welcome the lady of the house back.
“Mother…” Xue La spoke timidly.
A fragrant scent immediately surrounded her. Lady Katarina, almost running, then embraced her and her husband’s only daughter.
“Have you lost weight?”
Xue La’s heart relaxed a little—it seemed that her mother might not be as bad as she had imagined.
It was just that her father was a henpecked husband after all…
Unfortunately, this thought was far too simplistic.
Returning with the lady were waves of professional servants who retook control of the estate’s operations.
And so… a series of problems returned.
“You useless thing! Xue La is as delicate as a flower… You let her cook in the kitchen? Where is your heart?”
At what was supposed to be a family reunion dinner, under the orderly work of the servants, the seemingly peaceful estate quickly faced the lady’s reproach.
“Don’t tell me that Xue La likes cooking, that she wants to…” the lady gritted her teeth. “Our Xue La will go to the Royal Capital in the future, marry into a good family. How can she do the work of a servant?”
Katarina, like a shrewd lion, directly pointed out the wild dog she disliked the most.
“And that little thing named Luo Yi, I don’t like him. He saved our Xue La—that’s his duty. There’s no need to keep that grandfather and grandson around… they dirty my eyes…”
Xue La suddenly felt that the food didn’t taste good anymore.
It seemed…
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