Chapter 48: Forty-eight Days of Unexpected Fortune
Priest Donald was also young, in his early twenties, short and fat, and had just taken office in this territory not long ago.
He was wearing an old black robe and prayed for the Tokson family in a perfunctory manner.
It seemed he had no good feelings towards this family. He turned his head and glanced at Olivia, who came over and introduced herself enthusiastically, saying:
"I used to live in the same dormitory with Fanon. Is he okay now?"
Fanon was a few years younger than him.
Olivia exchanged pleasantries politely. She could tell that the priest wasn't very good with words and was just pretending to be outgoing.
After a long period of pleasantries, Donald finally began to hint that there was a wall in his church that needed repairing.
Olivia thought it was really hard to live in a shoddy construction project, so she called the miller Mr. Rhine and the housekeeper.
Laing has been working on maintaining the mill in this village for many years.
Olivia's butler, Jock, was also there. The two knew each other. He had just been communicating with Rhine for a while.
The steward had a rough idea of the number of tenant farmers and self-employed farmers in the territory, the annual output of cultivated land, the approximate annual tax revenue and economic sources, so as to avoid the lady asking questions.
After asking, Olivia instructed the housekeeper to help Donald repair his church after his own church was built.
Donald was filled with gratitude, as if he had seen his savior.
Caesar also got acquainted with the soldiers here.
He arranged the work in a very strict manner, asking them to set out early every morning to meet up with them at the river bank, and then patrol together.
These soldiers, because they were about to face strict standard military management, all had gloomy faces, but they did not dare to say no and could only agree.
They thought positively, at least the new leader was not stingy at all, and the soldiers under him were treated very well. Perhaps, he would also replace their worn-out weapons with new ones, right?
Besides, people are made of flesh and blood. Who can persist in doing this kind of exercise every day?
These soldiers all felt that the reason why Lord Caesar was so strict was because he was still young. After a few years, perhaps he would adopt a more relaxed management style like other knights?
Not far away, the sheriff strolled back and forth around the manor for half a day.
Trapped by the crowds and the many eyes, he could only look around suspiciously, not missing any gaps.
However, he gave up the search after half an hour and began to doubt the accuracy of the news.
The Toxon family committed suicide out of fear of punishment, and the people sent by Baron Forrest did not take anything with them when they fled last night.
The sheriff felt that the informant planted next to Forrest must not have understood the situation clearly.
How could Toxon have dared to keep the correspondence between Baron Forres and the Earl's eldest son?
He must have burned it.
The sheriff thought regretfully.
Olivia kept asking the housekeeper, the miller, and Donald about the situation in the manor. It was not until the sheriff left that she began to assign tasks to get these people away.
Caesar was ordering his soldiers to clean up the burned cellar. Olivia thought that if she wanted to do something bad, she had to get someone to join her, so she called Caesar.
Pulled him into the main house.
Caesar asked in confusion:
"What's wrong?"
Olivia looked around and whispered:
"Have you noticed? The sheriff seems to be hanging around this house all the time. Is there something here?"
Caesar also noticed this. He thought about it and felt that if it was really as he guessed, the Tokson family must have died in a very difficult way.
He found strange knife marks on the remaining wooden products in the ruins. After the fire attracted the attention of the soldiers in the manor, two groups of people should have sneaked in.
Knight Toxon is in collusion with Baron Fores, and Baron Fores also has upper-class nobles behind him.
If there is really something hidden in this manor, it must be related to these people.
Caesar had been with the Count for so long that he could probably guess who it was.
He was pulled to the fireplace by Olivia.
"I just saw the sheriff looking around this place for a long time. Do you think there's something in there?"
Olivia pretended to be confused, tapping and rummaging around furtively.
Watching her search, Caesar knocked on the wall, then squatted down and touched the stone wall in the fireplace.
"Wait, this wall seems to be hollow."
Olivia waited for him to knock before speaking.
He reached out and pushed the wall, and it was indeed just a thin slab of stone that could be moved.
Caesar suddenly became alert.
"There must be something inside. You go and guard outside while I open it and take a look." Olivia said.
Caesar observed Olivia's expression.
He had an inexplicable feeling that she seemed to know something, but he also knew that his body was unable to disobey such an order.
He nodded obediently, allowing himself to stand up subconsciously and go to stand guard outside the door.
Caesar had an inexplicable feeling that he seemed to be doing something bad with his wife, which made him feel very fresh.
Olivia didn't actually need Caesar to guard the door.
She kept the map open at all times so she could see the footprints of anyone around her at any time.
I let Caesar guard the door because I was afraid that there might be something given by the system in this box.
She leaned half of her body into the fireplace, slowly moved the thin stone slab, and removed the stone from the slot. Inside, she could see a black hole with a holy relic box inside, which was not locked.
She reached out to push, but found the box was too heavy to move, so she could only open the lid.
Inside the box were yards of velvet bags.
Olivia opened the bag, and suddenly a reflection of metal flashed before her eyes.
The golden coins appeared before her eyes. There were about a hundred coins in each bag. She counted them and there were ten bags in total.
“…”
However, at the bottom of the box, there were some scraps of parchment letters.
Olivia still remembered that in her previous life, she had read marketing accounts and seen a joke about someone buying a foreclosed property only to have the ceiling fall down, revealing a wall of stolen money.
This time she actually ran into him.
It took Olivia a long time to recover.
Regardless of where the stolen money came from, if it was only a hundred gold coins, she would just hand it over to the sheriff and sell it to the baron.
But there are a thousand.
When the benefits of taking a risk were so much higher than the risks, Olivia made up her mind.
She wanted to test the waters and see just how dirty the money was.
Olivia restrained herself and took out one of the bags of gold coins and all the paper letters inside.
After putting the box and bricks away, she stuffed the things she had taken out into the pocket of her petticoat and hid them in her sleeve.
On the map, no one around seemed to be paying attention to this place. She got up and went out the door, patted Caesar, and mysteriously pulled him back to the carriage in the front yard.
There was no one around.
Olivia lifted her skirt and pulled out everything she had found.
Caesar raised his eyebrows, glanced at the bag of gold coins, then took out the letters and checked them one by one with Olivia.
Most of the correspondence was delivered by carrier pigeons. The papers were rolled up into a ball, and detailed accounts were recorded on them.
Olivia looked at the date and signature of each letter.
She pretended to be surprised: "Look, these should be secret letters, and gold coins. There are ten bags filled with gold coins in total."
Olivia lowered her voice, but couldn't help but get excited: "Could this money be stolen money?"
Caesar picked up the letter and read it, then whispered:
"The sender is the Earl's eldest son, and the recipient is Baron Forres. There are also records of other barons receiving letters."
Olivia snapped her fingers, pointed at the date, and covered her mouth again.
"Look! Is this date the time when we encountered bandits around here?"
The two looked at each other in silence for half a minute, and it was Caesar who reacted first and put the letters away.
In other words, in recent years, most of the bandits in the border baronies that are related to the Countess by marriage are mercenaries disguised as the Earl's eldest son?
Those caravans that were inexplicably lost, merchant ships that were robbed by bandits during navigation, and manors that were robbed...
The Lenians are bricks, and they can be moved wherever they are needed.
The two fell silent again.
Caesar looked as if he had eaten a fly. He thought for a moment and looked at Olivia tentatively.
"Tockson should be dead, and the sheriff is only suspicious. He hasn't received any definite information from the letter, otherwise he wouldn't leave so easily."
Caesar paused and continued:
"Since we discovered this box, we've already gotten into trouble and can't get away from it.
I think I should just stay and use it for my own benefit, what do you think?"
Caesar looked at Olivia and saw the unconcealable recognition in her eyes. He inexplicably felt that this was what Olivia wanted to hear.
This answer was indeed what Olivia wanted, and she agreed reluctantly.
She had searched the map of Lavosen last night, but there was no trace of the Tokson family, not anywhere, not within Lavosen at least.
"After the fire, no one would think there was anything else in here," she said.
These letters are the amulets left by Baron Forres to save his life.
When the outcome of the future succession battle is determined, it can be handed over to the Countess as a token of allegiance, so that she can turn against the Earl's eldest son and seek a way to survive.
“Whoever gives this letter to the Countess will benefit his future greatly.
Knight Toxon kept this thing, perhaps because he was unwilling to pick up the leftovers of Baron Forrest and Baron Bergru, right?
But the Toksun Knight got it wrong.
It seems that she and Caesar are also unwilling to pick up the leftovers of their superiors.
Olivia dropped a little of her disguise.
“I’ll find a way to hide this thing.
No one else will know except us. The remaining gold coins will be left where they are. We will check back after a while to see if anyone still knows about this thing."
"If someone comes here and takes the remaining gold coins, then this disaster can be diverted away."
Caesar kept his breathing calm and nodded.
The two reached a simple agreement. After discussion, Olivia pretended to be tired and asked the housekeeper to send her home first.
Compared to this important letter, the remaining gold coins are not that valuable. Olivia plans to leave them there as bait to see how many people know about this and also to create a deception.
Normally, no one would take only the letters from this box and leave the gold coins behind.
Except Olivia.
She knew that it would be easier to launder one hundred gold coins.
No one would find it strange if she spent a few dozen more gold coins than usual, after all, she had some big projects coming up recently.
Moreover, this reasoning also applies to old accountant Jock who lives in the manor.
When she gave the project payment to Letilen and her aunt, although she announced the budget in public, she gave the money to them individually behind their backs, and only the two of them knew the exact amount.
Anyway, even if the housekeeper found out that the expenses didn't match the income, he wouldn't spread the word. He would just silently suspect that she had embezzled the project funds.
For the upright butler, he could not cause any waves except keeping his mouth shut and reducing his favorability.
Olivia returned to the manor with the things hidden close to her body.
In the manor, as usual, she first asked Graya to prepare her toiletries.
After returning to the bedroom, Olivia opened the small safe in the wall and put all the things in it and locked it up.
When the servant brought hot water, Olivia was already waiting in the bathroom, clean.
While taking a bath, she put aside the matter of the treasure chest.
After acquiring a new territory, the first thing to do is to win over the people's hearts from several aspects.
First of all, the self-cultivating farmers and tenant farmers. The housekeeper has started to take inventory of the household registration according to the old rules to see if there is any underreporting of the population.
After the household registration is taken, there is no need to rush into any reforms. Instead, the head tax can be reduced or exempted for three months as a consolation to win over the grassroots people.
All the refugees from Toxon Manor were taken away by the sheriff last night on charges of being fugitive slaves, and only the ones left were natives.
The next thing is the soldiers. Here, we also follow the existing old rules.
After the household registration is completed, self-employed farmers of appropriate age will be selected and recruited to serve. After one or two weeks of training, they will be given supplies and equipment.
In general, the two manors could gather more than 20 soldiers, and these were only young and middle-aged men. The older ones were in poor health and had too much work to do, so they stayed at home to farm.
As for farming, let them follow the original rules first, and then open up wasteland in the surrounding areas during the slack season. Once the land reform experiment here is successful this year, it will be gradually extended to other places next year, which will be easier for people to accept.
Finally, there are the priests and millers there. The priests are easy to win over, but the millers need to be examined. If they don't cheat in their daily lives, they can be won over.
After washing up and changing her clothes, Olivia asked the housekeeper to be by her side during lunch and gave instructions one by one.
The butler now has to take care of two estates by himself, and he is a little overwhelmed. He specifically asked Ethan and Adam to sit in and help him remember what needs to be done, and then assign them to do it.
Fortunately, Olivia thought things through clearly and gave instructions in a very organized manner.
After listening to this, the butler nodded.
"Also, the manor is only ours thanks to the Baroness's request. Tomorrow I will go to La Vossen to choose a gift for the Baroness and then personally deliver it to her house."
Olivia planned to fill up the last five bars of favorability and at the same time find out how much the Baron's Mansion knew about the letter.
The butler nodded and said, "Yes, Madam. Tomorrow morning, I will have the carriage prepared. Who will you take with you?"
Olivia thought for a moment and said, "I won't bring the servant with me when I go to see the Baroness. I'll let Vansh accompany me."
"By the way, remember to tell Renault Manor about what's going on here."
Olivia had a strange feeling that her aunt must also know something about this.
The next day, early in the morning, the carriage bumped along the way from the manor all the way to the city.
Olivia went directly to Silver Street.
The smallest of the six metal shops in Lavossen is Silver Street, where the Baronial Court holds a stake in four of them.
Olivia took her maid into the largest silver shop.
The store had a very wide frontage, with three master silversmiths and ten apprentices working there. Each customer had a dedicated shopping guide near the counter, and a manager in a blue robe recognized Olivia.
"Are there any finished gold and silver jewelry to choose from?"
Olivia was led into the VIP room on the second floor by the sharp-eyed steward.
The steward knew most of the wives of the wealthy merchants and knights in Lavoisin, about twenty or thirty of them in all, and he remembered them clearly.
Especially recently, many knight ladies have received engineering projects and after making a lot of money, they will come to him to spend money.
The steward inquired about the price and learned that the budget was about ten to twenty gold coins, so he started to look around and went to the safe to take out the better-quality goods.
Looking at Olivia's style, he knew that she would most likely not buy it for herself, but to give it to the Baroness.
Therefore, the manager found some styles of jewelry, including gold, silver, gemstones, pearls, mica and so on.
"Madam, I assume you are giving gifts to the Baroness. These are all the styles that the Baroness likes. Every year, the Baroness comes to our store to order similar items."
The butler was carrying several exquisite red leather gift boxes.
Olivia didn't care about the style at all, she only asked about the price and chose the most expensive pearl and silver teardrop necklace.
The pearls are round and white, and they are only produced on the southern coast of the mainland.
She paid without blinking, and pretended to be cautious, telling the manager not to talk about it outside, and it would be best if no one knew what she bought here.
The manager also looked sensible and quickly made an assurance.
"Don't worry, Madam. If my mouth wasn't tight, would I still be alive today?"
He had long known that knights' ladies never relied on their small fiefdoms to purchase luxury goods.
Olivia knew this was the case, so she cooperated with the request, said a few words, gave some tips, and went to knock on the door of the Baron's mansion.
Today is not a day for prayer, and the maids are out on business.
The Baroness was resting in her mansion and was applying honey to her face in an attempt to maintain her appearance when she learned that a guest wanted to see her.
Olivia waited in the living room for a long time before the Baroness came out after washing her face and wearing a dressing gown, and asked her kindly why she was there.
"Of course I have to come. The Baron and his wife entrusted Toxon Manor to my family. Caesar is out on patrol, so I have to report on the situation there."
Vansh, who was beside Olivia, had never thought that she would meet the Baroness again one day. She was a little restrained and took out a gift from her sleeve and handed it to the maid beside the Baroness.
The maid opened the box at the Baroness's instruction.
Olivia said, "If it weren't for you, Madam, I'm afraid this wouldn't have happened to us. This is just a small token of my appreciation."
She didn't really want to argue with the Baroness about how much grain that shabby place could produce in a year.
The Baroness glanced at the contents of the box, pursed her lips, and said to the maid:
"Take it."
Olivia opened the favorability meter and saw that the blank space was filled.
It seems that the Baroness does not mind her subordinates making money. The most important thing is that they should be grateful after making money.
This also indirectly confirms that the Baroness really didn't know about the money. She always maintained a "happy" mood and didn't seem to think about it for a moment.
The Baroness chatted with Olivia for a while in the living room and then invited her to have lunch at the mansion.
"The Baron and the Sheriff are also at the manor. You can tell them about what's going on at the manor later."
…
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