Chapter 53 Fifty-three Gold Coin Waiter

In early April, the Baron formally established a new city defense, separating the sheriff's non-fiefdom knights and city defense battalion soldiers into the management of Knight Renault.

This change was in preparation for war. The sheriff had never been on the battlefield himself, nor had he received systematic military training. He was not a knight, but only managed miscellaneous affairs in peacetime.

The Sheriff is now only responsible for the guarding of the prison and the baron's house, as well as the corvée of the demesne.

Not only him, the seven barons on the border line also planned their troops in an unusually coordinated manner.

As soon as the news came out, civilians outside realized that a storm was about to come and began to enter the market to stockpile military supplies on a large scale. The prices of horses, iron ore, and mineral salt continued to rise.

However, the people in the manor did not feel anything about this and continued to work from sunrise to sunset.

It rained a little last night, but the weather was sunny this morning and the temperature rose. Many people took off their heavy felt coats, and the tenant farmers who needed to plow the land went to work in thin shirts.

Early in the morning, Olivia took out a few spring dresses from the box that had been washed long ago and were just waiting to be worn.

One is a handmade button-down shirt made of blended linen, which is breathable and soft. It is dyed apricot and inlaid with a row of wooden buttons. It has a round collar.

She wore a loose apricot-colored culottes made of thin tweed and an indigo cashmere robe on top.

The popular outer robes in this game world are quite unique in style. They are usually loose-fitting, double-breasted robes that drag on the ground, with wide sleeves and collars. Most of them have hats, somewhat similar to the bishop's red robe.

People without status wear pure linen, while people with status and money wear cashmere.

The spring outer robes worn by nobles were mostly made of single-layer velvet, not only in bright colors but also embroidered with decorations.

This kind of robe can also be added with a belt. Olivia was happy to add a leather-woven wheat-ear pattern belt to the indigo robe with no embroidery. It inexplicably had a bohemian feel and was simple and fitted.

This kind of attire suits one's status, does not look strange at all, and is suitable for riding a horse.

After she opened the window, she could see the lush green forest outside, filled with white mist, steaming in the sunlight. The weather was indeed good, suitable for visiting.

The orchard and grass in front of the door were glowing green, and the figures of Jagabu and the housekeeper could be seen.

They are marking the trees that need to be planted outside the fence in two days to make way for the house extension.

In the room, Fan Xi shoveled away the ashes from the fireplace. There was no need to light a fire during the day. He could just wait until the temperature dropped at night.

As the weather got warmer, Olivia stopped being lazy and ate breakfast in the dining room every day to make it easier for the servants to clean up.

The more servants she had, the more she had to restrain her behavior and not act too casually, which led to a loss of dignity.

Before breakfast, wash your hands and pray briefly. The dishes are similar to the past. The standard for each person is one dish, one soup and one staple food.

However, there are far more fresh vegetables to eat in spring than in winter, and there are also fresh fish to eat, and even small river shrimps today.

I don’t know which kitchen helper peeled the river shrimps, fried them in butter, added salted egg yolks and chopped porcini mushrooms, and finally wrapped them in dumplings as fillings.

It looks ordinary on the outside, but it is rich in flavor when you take a bite, and the sweetness goes straight to the top of your head.

What a damn cooking genius.

This amazing main course makes the other side dishes look nothing special.

Olivia sighed as she enjoyed it.

She looked up and saw Vansh coming to serve flower tea, so she asked her where the river shrimps came from.

"It should be sent by Mosta's mother Antona, right?"

The Antona that Vansh was talking about was an ordinary self-employed farmer living in the village. Her husband was the village stonemason and now worked in the monastery. Her son was a newly recruited soldier.

Antona herself is 45 years old and has two underage children.

In addition to farming her own land, she also weaves nets and goes to the river to catch fish.

It was allowed for self-employed farmers to fish in the big river, and whenever traveling merchants came, she would always use her catch to barter with them.

This way, it was the traveling merchants who had to pay taxes to the estate, not her.

However, Antona has been expanding her business recently.

Due to policy changes within the manor, underage tenants under the age of fifteen were unable to join the labor force and had no source of income.

Antona began to employ these underage tenant farmers. In the morning they went to church to chant scriptures, and in the afternoon they followed Antona to fish, cast nets, and set traps.

Antona had to pay taxes if she wanted to sell the fish she caught at the manor, but she had discussed with the housekeeper to use supplies to offset the tax. Therefore, she would voluntarily send one-tenth of the fish and shrimp she caught every day to the manor.

After that, she could take her things to a stall outside the city of Lavosen and sell them normally.

Many city residents would go out of town to buy groceries in order to save money.

The river bank here in Lavosen is in the middle reaches, with abundant aquatic plants and fish and shrimp. Every day, Antona and her friends can catch a dozen fish and one or two pounds of shrimp on the river bank.

Most of them are pike, salmon, trout, bass, and river shrimp, of different sizes, and the profit fluctuates between two and five carlisles per day.

As for the underage tenant farmers who do odd jobs or part-time jobs here at Antona, they can also receive a salary of one suri each time.

Moreover, Antona would hire these children to pick various mountain products, and even started to sell mushrooms and wild vegetables.

Antona is considered to be one of the more ambitious and responsible people among ordinary people.

Olivia also encouraged it. Only if they all engaged in business could the manor get more benefits.

Of course, the "consciousness" of most of these residents is entirely due to the strict mutual supervision of the housekeeper, miller, and other self-cultivating farmers and tenants at all times.

The lords could promote the belief in truth, goodness and beauty because the people were divided into groups of different classes and functions.

The officials, soldiers, slaves and the charlatan class will never be able to unite and deceive the lord.

So, there is no need to worry that no one will break the rules.

After breakfast, she went to the church near her home as usual and began to participate in the weekly prayer service.

It was around seven or eight o'clock, and Olivia led most of the servants in the manor to sit in the first two rows.

After a while, residents began to take their seats behind me.

There were all the minors on the estate, and the tenants and yeomen who were ready to go to the fields.

Not every household and every person will come, it all depends on their own initiative.

Seeing that the seats were almost full and the time was up, Fanon began to read from the few books in the entire manor.

After reading a few chapters from the scriptures, he began to read the Kingdom Code to the outsiders present.

Following Olivia's instructions, Fanon required all underage children in the manor to attend the prayers every time and not to miss a single one.

After each prayer, he would keep the children in class to teach them basic scripture vocabulary, and at the same time give them a detailed explanation of the kingdom's code, and also secretly smuggle in some private information.

For example, these children are required to wash their hands before meals and after going to the toilet, before praying, and bathe at least once a week in spring and summer. They are not allowed to blaspheme the gods.

Not eating raw meat, eating raw meat and drinking blood is also disrespectful to God.

This wasn't the first time Fanon had observed parasites in feces.

Of course, everyone eats blood sausage, but it is not served on formal tables.

After the recitation today, the adults in the church dispersed and prepared to go home to do their own work.

Before leaving the church, Olivia chatted with several active villagers in the village for a while to show her concern in order to improve her favorability.

There are the old tenant farmer Hansen, the self-employed farmer Antona, and the refugee Lavinia.

Olivia chatted with these people, and the housekeeper and the miller did not dare to leave, but listened quietly beside them.

"...What kinds of freshwater and mountain products are generally priced well right now?"

She looked at Antona, a strong woman wearing a clean linen dress. She had a pleasant face and coarse brown-red hair.

"Madam, the price of salmon is very good now. I sold a live salmon weighing four pounds yesterday for two souris."

Live fish is more expensive than smoked products, and salmon is also the most popular fish.

Antona added that five pounds of pike and barracuda cost five or six souris each, and that the hard-to-catch river shrimp cost one kori per pound.

She also spoke appropriately and not in a vulgar way.

The housekeeper and the miller also nodded and discussed the price. Fresh fish and shrimp were more expensive than smoked ones because fresh fish were not in abundance for long.

Lavinia also said, "Dried porcini and morels, snowmelt mushrooms, can be sold for six or seven souri per pound."

Every day, Lavinia's family would pick wild vegetables and mushrooms in the mountains and dry them in the sun, waiting for traveling merchants to come and exchange them for salt or fat.

Most tenant farmers who had little food stored at home would not rely solely on the one or two sous they were given each day to eat, and most people would do so.

However, the butler said on the side: "The ones sold in Lavosen City are generally more expensive than this."

This may be because transactions within the city require tolls.

Olivia thought for a moment and said to the housekeeper and Antona:

"Why don't you sell the fresh river and mountain products you catch to the manor from now on? Let Adam be in charge of this and have him go to town to sell them every two days."

Selling for money is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that this method can provide additional income for these residents.

The fresh food could also go into her mouth and she could eat as much as she could. Maybe Adam wouldn't have to go to town.

It can also be used to improve the favorability of this group of people.

Olivia checked it out, and after she said that, the favorability of the people in front of her immediately increased a little.

Antona and Lavinia agreed after hearing this.

Antona thought that at least now she didn't have to worry about sales, nor did she have to go through the trouble of traveling such a long distance to sell it, nor did she have to pay a separate portion of the tribute to the manor.

Lavinia thought that as a tenant farmer, as long as she could exchange her supplies for money, sooner or later she would be able to redeem herself and become a free citizen.

The miller and the butler did not deny it. The butler could see that these seasonal foods were more popular with the lady than beef and mutton.

…

After leaving the church, Olivia rode on Lily and, followed by Adam, slowly walked towards Renault Manor.

She and Lily became familiar with each other's driving habits and gradually explored new areas.

Olivia planned to ride back and forth every day, visit neighbors, and practice her horsemanship.

Renault Manor, this morning old Renault packed two suitcases and went to take up his post alone.

From now on, his entourage would lead the soldiers on patrol, and old Renault would let Caesar take care of them.

Only Theresa, Lanie and Sansa were left at home.

Theresa had no objection to the transfer and was even in high spirits.

Old Renault snores and grinds his teeth every day, and she can finally have some peace and quiet for a while.

What's more, this is a promotion. Like the Knight Guards, he can also get a salary, a few silver coins every month. Although it is not much, it is better than nothing.

In addition, due to the convenience of his position, he can do many things, such as intervening in the use of weapons by the army.

Although things like taking salaries without working and embezzling supplies are easy to be discovered, they are difficult to do.

However, deciding on things like which bow and armor to use is still his job.

After a few rounds of training with the Knights of the Guards and the soldiers, Old Renault knew what equipment was needed in the arsenal.

Most of these knight guards are relatives of the baron, such as cousins.

They were sent to the Earl to be knighted with gold, and then returned to find a safe job as a guard with a salary.

Of course, he had never been to the battlefield, and he had never even fought against bandits. At most, he was responsible for dealing with dangers in the city, guarding the gate and patrolling.

The parents of these guards were all the baron's aunts and uncles. How could they be willing to let their children do dangerous work and be retaliated by bandits and have their entire family burned down at any time?

They considered the world outside the city walls to be wild and barbaric.

These knights without any background who guard the land outside the city may be dirty and penniless, but no one will question their practical experience, and the baron is more willing to listen to their opinions.

This means that the greater the responsibility and risk you take, the greater your say you have.

Old Renault provided the sheriff with a list and instructed him to go to a certain blacksmith shop to place an order, and the sheriff would not disobey him.

In this way, the two warehouses in Aries, east of Lavosen, were filled with crude iron ore worth one hundred gold coins, and there were horses kept with merchants, so there was no need to worry about sales.

In the small living room of Renault Manor, there were several plates of biscuits and preserved fruits on the table. Lani was embroidering beside her, and Sansa was learning how to weave fine thread with the help of a servant.

Olivia stood by and listened to Theresa's complaints.

She complained about how annoying her dad usually was, and now she finally left.

Olivia smiled and didn't take it seriously. Although the old couple had nightmares for several nights after kissing each other, as they talked, Theresa began to worry about whether she could live well in that damn place called the barracks.

Sure enough, distance creates beauty.

"Don't worry, the barracks are in the city. How bad can life in the city be?"

Olivia watched the sun rise outside and the fog in the woods dissipate, so she took her two sisters for a walk near the ranch of Reno Manor.

The terrain here is flat and open, with edible wild vegetables and mushrooms everywhere.

Sansa and Lainie rarely went out to play, so they followed Olivia and two servants and picked a lot of mushrooms.

At lunchtime, Olivia ate lunch while talking about Antona and the others' business in her estate.

The lunch menu was very rich, with the picked wild vegetables and porcini mushrooms only used as side dishes in the partridge soup.

As expected, the sister who had three stars in "Business" talent after getting two items was very sensitive to the prices she mentioned.

Lainie counted on her fingers, and Sansa also began to evaluate. These fresh products had no cost and were still profitable, if Olivia didn't eat them all.

Theresa also noticed the changes in her two daughters in the past two days, including their sudden sensitivity to money and other things.

However, she thought that since her eldest daughter was smart, it was normal for the two younger ones to become smart as they grew older. They could also help her with accounting and household management, which would be great.

Neither Lainie nor Sansa seemed to be aware of the recent changes in themselves.

However, they all felt that their minds seemed to be much clearer than before. Just by taking a look at a product and asking about the market conditions, they could probably estimate the exact cost and profit.

Lainie is a little older now, and now she can estimate the weight of a handful of millet and calculate its price.

Because of this, she always likes to go to the kitchen cellar these two days to check the amount of grain and then find the housekeeper to reconcile the accounts.

Since this was also the area that Lainie needed to learn, no one thought there was anything wrong with it.

However, old Renault was smart and capable, and no servant dared to do anything under his nose, as he would be discovered by the miser in minutes.

Therefore, Lainie checked and found that nothing happened at Renault Manor.

In the next few days, old Renault was not at home. Olivia was afraid that they would be lonely, and also to practice equestrianism, she always insisted on visiting Renault Manor during these two days.

I chatted with my two sisters and increased my favorability on a daily basis. Finally, after four or five days, on the tenth day of April, I maxed out Lainie's favorability.

Lainie really does have some skills.

"Coin Waiter"

The explanation of the skill is very simple. In simple terms, all the "gold coins" that Lainie carries with her, or directly manages, or indirectly manages have a zero chance of being stolen.

Not only gold coins can be used.

The protection weight of "silver coins" is 50%, and the protection weight of other currencies is reduced by half accordingly. The less valuable the coin, the worse the protection effect.

The notes say that other NPCs automatically ignore the gold coins held by Lainie.

Olivia was thoughtful. This Lainie was simply the holy body of bankers in troubled times. Mom no longer had to worry about her money being looted by bandits.

However, Lainie's current social status is that she is still a child, and no one is really going to give her a large sum of money to help her save it.

This skill can only be used in critical moments in the future.

Olivia returned home leisurely.

However, Letilen's caravan finally returned to the vicinity of Anko City.

They planned to dump some of the southern goods in Anko City and then bring the rest back to Lavosen.

This time, Olivia was concentrating on observing the Letilen caravan from a God's perspective.

They stayed in Anko City for three days, dumped half of the goods, and only left half before leaving Anko City.

However, this time, as they headed towards Lavosen, three or five unfamiliar footprints silently followed them, hiding not far behind.

Olivia perked up and turned over the character cards of the footprints.

It turns out that these people are really members of the Delova faction, but they are not there to kill or rob, but to provide secret protection.

Olivia continued to dig deeper into the driving force behind the incident and searched through the character cards throughout the city of Anko before she discovered the story.

Ever since De Luohua learned that the news had leaked out, he was afraid that his stepmother would make a fuss about these bad things and stop his men from making money.

However, how could the Countess let go of the opportunity so easily, so she began to continue "helping" her stepson make money.

In order to prevent his stepmother from confirming the evidence and finding out anything else, De Luohua changed his target and started to protect the caravan.

…