Chapter 47: Forty-seven New Lands
...
Graya's expression was extremely frightened, even more so than when she heard about the invasion of bandits.
Olivia was puzzled. Wasn't it just a fire?
She comforted Graya with a few words, turned around and found a robe in the closet to put on, walked to the window, opened the curtains, pulled out the bolts, pushed open the window panel and looked towards the direction of Toxon Manor.
A cold wind blew by, and I could smell a faint smell of burnt carbon in the wind.
In Olivia's sight, the sky was a light and clear blue, and the dense forest nearby was white and sparkling, with ice and snow still clinging to the woods.
Black smoke drifted from the direction of Toksun Manor and condensed in a corner of the sky. It seemed that the fire was getting bigger and bigger, and it could be seen from such a distance.
It's icy and snowy, so even if a fire starts, it won't spread, so there's no need to worry about forest fires.
"Madam, could it be the refugees who did it?" Graya was uneasy. She knew that if the Baron brought in these refugees, something would definitely happen.
Olivia opened the map and zoomed in to Toksun Manor. Looking at the dense footprints and seeing who was responsible, she shook her head.
She ordered Graya to go to the village and tell everyone to be more vigilant and not to leave the manor at will.
The fire at Toxon Manor might have been blamed on the refugees, but it was the Baron who was responsible.
It seems that the Baron has already discovered the collusion between Knight Toxon and Baron Forres.
This fatal disaster came too suddenly. Could it be that Knight Toxon helped Baron Forres do other unknown things?
Olivia continued to hide.
After hearing the instructions, the residents of the manor began to patrol around the village with torches, fearing that someone would take advantage of the chaos to do something bad.
Caesar and his soldiers had only been patrolling near the manor for the past two days. At this moment, since they were not sure whether the Toksun Manor was just on fire or had encountered something else, they did not act rashly. They just gradually approached in that direction and sent soldiers to check nearby, still focusing on protecting their own territory.
The neighbors were gradually attracted to Toksun Manor.
Olivia watched quietly in the house. Half an hour later, a servant came to deliver a message, saying that the fire was said to have been set by refugees, who were fleeing everywhere. It seemed that some bandits had taken advantage of the chaos to sneak into Toxon Manor. Knights from all directions brought soldiers to control the situation and put out the fire.
Olivia waited by the restaurant fireplace for half the night before she received the news that the fire had been put out.
Adam had just returned from helping out at the fire scene. He was sweating profusely and stammered:
"Madam, the whereabouts of Knight Toxon and his family are nowhere to be found."
After he finished speaking, Graya beside him immediately covered her mouth and exclaimed, "God help me!"
Suddenly, the door opened, and Caesar walked in with his robe swirling in the wind, and even his expression looked a little solemn.
Fanon asked him, "How's it going? Have you found the Toksun family? Where are those bandits?"
Caesar shook his head. He mainly led people to protect his own home and did not go there immediately. When he went there, the fire had spread. No trace of either knights or bandits was seen.
However, the situation has been brought under control. The sheriff has brought his men to Toxon Manor to clean up the mess and interrogate the refugees caught in the woods.
Olivia rested peacefully until the next morning. She planned to get up early and symbolically go to the manor next door to take a look and express her condolences.
However, just as she and Caesar were about to go out, they met the sheriff who came to deliver a message on behalf of the Baron's Mansion.
The sheriff wore a blue robe and rode a bay horse, followed by three or four mounted attendants.
He dismounted and waved to Caesar and Olivia.
"The Baron sent me to deliver a message to you."
Olivia and Caesar looked at each other at the door for a moment before inviting the sheriff into the house.
Servants came and went in a hurry, busy lighting the fire in the fireplace and bringing hot tea and snacks.
The sheriff looked at the couple with a profound expression and asked them whether they had been to the vicinity of Toxon Manor or found anything suspicious in the middle of the night.
Caesar briefly recounted his whereabouts.
Olivia frowned.
"I'm a woman, I'm already hiding at home, how dare I go there?"
After saying this, she squeezed out some crocodile tears and wiped them with a handkerchief.
"But who knew the poor Toksons would be like this..."
Caesar turned his head and looked at her tears flowing smoothly, dumbfounded.
The sheriff didn't want to make his lovely wife so upset, so he nodded in a gentle tone.
"Okay, okay, I'm just asking."
The sheriff cleared his throat and said, "I came here on the orders of the Baron to find someone who can take over Toxon Manor."
Whether it is reconstruction after a fire, military service, or the management of refugees and tenants, people cannot be absent for a moment.
Originally, a territory like this, after losing its knight, would return to the Baron and be handed over to the sheriff for management.
Only when the Baron recommends his attendants to go to the Earl to undergo trials and obtain the title of knight can they come back to take over.
However, there is no suitable candidate at the moment, and the sheriff has a monastery project in the territory waiting for his attention, so he has no time to spare.
So, the sheriff proposed to the baron last night that the Toxon Manor be entrusted to the surrounding knights for management.
There were three candidates around Toxon Manor. The Baron and the Baroness discussed for a long time and finally chose Caesar and Olivia to take over the manor.
One was responsible for military service, and the other was responsible for managing the estate's agriculture, animal husbandry, or taxation.
"It seems that the Baron thinks highly of you."
The sheriff smiled. He also knew that Caesar was young and more hardworking than other old-timers who didn't like to work. He was also a dignified and sensible person.
As for Olivia, her advantage was that she was a good person and could coax the Baroness very well, so the Baroness thought of her first.
Olivia's sadness disappeared immediately and she smiled modestly.
"Please tell the Baron that we will do our best."
After the sheriff had said this, he stood up and continued to walk towards Tokson Manor with the two of them, intending to take them to understand the situation of Tokson Manor.
Toxon Manor is a good few dozen minutes' walk from Olivia's lair, but it only takes a dozen minutes by carriage.
The situation of this land is similar to that of Olivia's own home, with little arable land and many mountains. It is close to the river bank, the manor is on the hillside, and the village is in the valley.
Therefore, the carriage had to slowly climb the hillside for a while before reaching a semi-enclosed manor building.
In fact, it looks like just a stone house, about two stories, with three or four rooms on each floor, and a watchtower in the corner.
There is a circle of wooden houses around, with kitchens, sheep pens and other things. They were originally covered with ice and snow, but now they have been burned by the fire.
Whether it was livestock or the main house, the wooden beams had collapsed and there were broken walls and ruins everywhere. It was said that bandits came to cause trouble last night and no one knew how much they had looted.
The sheriff brought the two men to the interior of the manor. Soldiers, tenant farmers, and servants of the manor were slowly digging things out of the ruins.
Caesar handed over his work to the few soldiers who were still alive in the manor.
Olivia briefly learned about the losses in the manor. Dick, the butler, said that the butler was also missing in the fire.
Dick was the son of a yeoman in the village, and he was the groom of the estate.
He temporarily reported the situation in the manor to Olivia.
"Madam, there are a total of 150 villagers in our manor, not counting those who have escaped. The sheriff counted them last night, and the number of people is still complete."
"What about the food, cattle and sheep stored in the manor?"
Olivia is more concerned about this.
Dick added, “The livestock and everything else were killed in the fire. Bandits sneaked in here last night, and several soldiers and I were busy trying to put out the fire in the livestock pen. By the time we realized what was happening, the knight and his family were gone.
The bandits stole the property in the manor, and the refugees looted the cellar, and finally fled in all directions."
Dick's face was covered in dust, and he complained to Olivia with a depressed look on his face.
Olivia nodded and asked him how long he had worked at the estate.
Dick said, "I have been feeding horses for Master Toksun for a month. I didn't expect something like this to happen."
After learning about the situation, Olivia wandered around the manor, watching the soldiers take out the remaining food that had not been burned from the cellar of the tower.
She stood for a moment before entering the main house, which the soldiers had cleared.
The internal layout is similar to that of my own home. Generally speaking, most knight families with little money have the same configuration.
On the first floor is the hall, side hall, dining room, a stairwell leading to the second floor, and an aisle leading to the kitchen at the back.
However, except for the stone floor tiles and walls, the wooden floor, furniture, and beams on the second floor were all burned.
Now, this place is just an empty, roofless warehouse with charred tiles scattered everywhere.
Olivia walked near the restaurant and found the sheriff walking around the fireplace for a long time, as if looking for something but couldn't find it.
She lowered her throat, walked forward and asked tentatively:
"Sir, do you think we should renovate this place? It will be a good place for the next knight to live when he arrives."
If we restore this house to its original state, we will need some money.
"If Caesar can lead his troops to defend this place, the Baron will no longer arrange for knights to serve here."
"Use it however you want."
The sheriff said.
What this means is that if they can manage this place, it will be equivalent to their new fiefdom, except that there is no written document.
"Okay then."
Olivia narrowed her eyes and smiled, waiting for the sheriff to walk away as if nothing had happened before she began to observe by the fireplace.
Is there something hidden in here?
She looked around, reached out and knocked, then withdrew her hand, walked a few steps away, and opened the map.
When the map is enlarged, you can see that there is a half-square-meter hollow in the wall behind the fireplace.
The back side of the hollow is the stairwell, which just hides this place and cannot be easily discovered.
Olivia expanded the map to its maximum, and in the half-meter hollow space, she saw a locked box. The box was not small at all.
Obviously, this is a treasure chest.
She blinked, walked away without a word, and continued to stroll around the livestock area as if nothing had happened.
This sheriff must know the existence of this treasure chest, so he is looking for it everywhere, right?
She walked out the door, and the soldiers carried out the two burnt cows, three sheep, and two horses, as well as the stored grain from the cellar, and sold them all at a low price to merchants found from the town in exchange for some money, which Olivia accepted.
She planned to use the money to buy dry food for the soldiers in the manor. In the future, she would have to support the five extra soldiers.
Soon, she met Donald, the priest in the manor. Donald was an acquaintance of Fanon and was praying and performing rituals in the manor.
Olivia looked around and found that except for one villager with a one-star talent in farming, no one else in the village had any talent.
…
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
