Six o'clock at night.

Maple Leaf Castle.

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

Rosen took Selena's arm and followed Abru.

There were bright magic lamps 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 casually asked, "Mr. Abreu, has the Count been busy lately?"

Abreu nodded, "Yes, Baron."

“Is the problem you encountered very troublesome?”

"It's not particularly troublesome, but it's a little difficult to decide."

Mr. Abru's words were a little vague. He didn't want Rosen to continue asking questions because he couldn't reveal the host's secret, and refusing a guest was a very rude act.

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

"That's what I meant."

Abru remained silent for the rest of the journey.

He led Rosen and the other man along the atrium corridor and finally turned into the inner courtyard.

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

Although Rosen is an apprentice of Madam Agnet, he is a recognized incompetent apprentice. Let's look at Selena. Although she is a princess, she is also an exiled princess.

Her status as a princess could make common people bow down to her, but it did not have much deterrent effect on a feudal lord 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.

But now he is invited in, the meaning of which is very interesting.

Selena sensed it and whispered to Rosen in her mind, "The Earl really still has feelings for me. This is his territory after all. We have to be careful."

The private lives of the nobility were quite chaotic.

It was common for the great nobles to enjoy the wives of the lesser nobles. In fact, in many cases, some lesser nobles would offer their wives to the great nobles in order to be taken care of.

Although she knew that Rosen liked her very much and was very talented, he was ultimately a small noble lord. If the Earl offered to lend her troops in exchange, Selena was a little worried that he would waver.

Rosen observed Selena's expression and roughly guessed what she was thinking. He patted the magic sword at 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 immediately calmed down, and she chuckled: "It's obvious that you, the Guardian Knight, are the one who bullies me the most."

Rosen also laughed: "Is that bullying? I'm clearly serving the princess."

"Fuck you~"

Chatting 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 main hall is rectangular in shape, with a flying buttress structure supporting a very tall and exquisite glass dome. Through this exquisite glass dome, you can vaguely see the bright moon and stars in the night sky.

Below the dome hangs a row of crystal magic lamps that look like stars, illuminating the entire hall.

Below is a long wooden dining table with dragon patterns. The walls around the dining table are painted with constant temperature seals, ensuring that the hall is warm like spring all year round.

When Rosen and Selena arrived, there were already quite a few people sitting at the luxurious long dining table.

At the top was naturally Earl Robert, and opposite him was his wife, Lady Adelina, the Earl of Alpine County's sister.

Sitting on the right side of the dining table were five boys and girls, the oldest was fifteen or sixteen, the youngest was eight or nine, all of them were very pretty, and they must be the earl's children.

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

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

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

As they were talking, 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 waiters began to serve the dishes one by one.

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

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

Earl Robert did not want to criticize the Duke because he understood him, but he also felt that the princess was too willful.

Seeing her so haggard again, with her former dazzling brilliance almost completely gone, the dark thoughts in my heart suddenly faded away.

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

His wife, Lady Adelina, who was sitting opposite him, knew her husband's character best. Seeing her husband being humiliated, she felt quite pleased.

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

“So, don’t expect too much from them, and don’t get discouraged, after all, you are still young.”

After she finished speaking, the Countess glanced at the Earl with an unconcealable resentment in her eyes. The Earl sensed it and spread his hands slightly, with a helpless expression on his face, as if to say, "You are being unreasonable."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Serena nodded gratefully.

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

Rosen was already accustomed to such disregard, so he followed normal aristocratic etiquette and ate and drank as usual.

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

Ted is the name of an old baron from Sturgeon Island.

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

"I've heard my sister mention you many times. She always says you're a blockhead."

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

Before he finished speaking, someone exclaimed, "Oh~ You can actually beat my uncle in victory chess? This is incredible!"

Rosen looked in the direction of the voice and saw Countess Adelina's face full of surprise, and she began to look at him seriously.

Count Robert smiled and said, "Madam, there is no doubt that this is true, because not only did my sister say it in the letter, I have also heard many people mention it."

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

He added: "My eldest daughter Alice also likes Victory Chess very much and has a good talent. Since she received guidance from my uncle, she has never met an opponent among her peers and has gradually become proud of herself."

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

As soon as he finished speaking, a purple-haired girl about 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 and said, "Now a powerful opponent has arrived. Aren't you interested?"

"Of course I'm interested."

Alice looked at Rosen and said, "Baron, would you like to play a few games later?"

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

Seeing that Rosen was standing and listening, the Count lowered his hand and said, "Young man, there is no need to be so serious. Sit down and talk while eating."

"Thank you, Lord Earl."

Rosen then sat down and answered, "I was able to achieve success in Victory Chess thanks to the many chess records my mentor bought for me."

"My sister bought this chess manual. Hahaha~~ I always thought she was wasting money, but now it seems that it is finally useful."

Earl Robert laughed heartily, and the cloud of sadness that had been covering his face dissipated a lot.

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

He didn't beat around the bush: "My Lord Earl, I feel like you are in trouble."

"I wonder if you could share something with us. If it's a question related to magic, my wife and I might be able to provide you with some advice."

The count was startled: "How did you know that?"

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

"The instructor said that you have always been a cheerful person, but at a relaxed family dinner like tonight, you hardly smiled at all."

The count looked at Rosen in surprise and said, "You have a good pair of eyes, young man."

He took a sip of the Fire Dragon Liquor and hissed softly, "There is indeed something about opening a new bakery factory."

"A new type of bread factory?"

Rosen raised his eyebrows slightly. "My Lord Earl, do you mean to use the food-making magic to build a new factory that can mass-produce edible bread?"

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

"Here's what happened."

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

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

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

But unlike the perpetual motion machine, large-scale food production is not difficult to achieve. The real difficulty lies in the manufacturing cost.

All current methods have manufacturing costs that are dozens or even hundreds of times higher than farmers’ farming.

Although countless wizards are working hard to solve this problem, Rosen knows that the solution to this problem is a long way off, or even impossible to solve forever.

Because there may very well be an alien version of the 'laws of thermodynamics'.

But because of this, the bubble is so big, providing scammers with a lot of room 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 every one of them."

"Could you tell me the name of this great wizard, Lord Earl?"

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

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

When Rosen heard the name, he shook his head and said, "My Lord Earl, allow me to say something. I know this Luwakado. His magic power has indeed been promoted to the level of a fourth-ring master, but his achievements in magic are not high, even not as good as many high-level magicians."

"In addition, his research area is not food making, but alchemy in the field of longevity potion."

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 wizard now?"

"Yes, my Lord."

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

Obviously, the count didn't believe in Rosen's ability at all.

Selena wanted to help Rosen persuade him, but magical knowledge is extremely vast and each wizard can only be proficient in a small part of the field.

Although she was a high-level wizard and had learned many spells, what she learned was existing knowledge and she had no idea about the latest developments in the magic world.

Naturally, I didn't have the confidence to speak at this time. In order to avoid appearing timid, I could only remain silent.

Rosen was not at all surprised by Count Robert's reaction, because "judging one's level by the level of magical power practiced" was the most common cognitive error made by laymen.

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

Therefore, this scam must be exposed.

So, he said, "My Lord, I happen to be specialized in food making, and I am always paying attention to the development of food making around the world."

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

The count was about to refuse without hesitation, for he was worried that Rosen would ask nonsense questions and thus annoy the great wizard Kao.

But before he could speak, Countess Adelina spoke.

"Grant, just take Rosen with you. He is Anna's apprentice and Ted's son. Even if his skills are limited, he won't hurt you, right?"

That's not wrong.

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

The Countess was suddenly speechless.

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

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

These words startled the count. After hesitating for a few seconds, he still shook his head to refuse.

"Your Highness, times have changed~"

"In this day and age, the most important thing is knowledge, not money, and certainly not just the force of fighting."

"I heard that your husband Rosen defeated Aaron's Sarath, which is indeed impressive, but you need to remain humble when it comes to academic matters."

"These khal wizards possess very precious, even unique knowledge, and there are many wealthy lords in this world."

“I have to respect them.”

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

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

This is already a very clear rejection, and if you continue, I'll get angry.

Rosen immediately winked at Serena and smiled, "My Lord Earl knows the situation best. Your judgment must be correct."

"Just so you know."

The Earl nodded, his attitude becoming noticeably colder.

It was obvious that the great earl did not really take the two of them seriously at all.

The princess's noble status only qualified the two of them to know the earl's core affairs, but it did not mean that they had the right to participate.

Rosen immediately changed his target. After silently eating a few bites of fried fish, he looked at the Earl's eldest daughter, Alice.

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

"Oh~ tell me about it?" Alice's girlish nature immediately piqued her interest.

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

“To put it simply, maple tree trunks and soybeans are used to create delicious fish.”

Alice was also learning magic. Although she was only 15 years old, she had already obtained the formal qualifications of a wizard. When she heard Rosen's words, her violet eyes, which were 80% similar to her aunt's, suddenly sparkled.

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

Rosen smiled softly: "Dare to try?"

Ellie agreed without hesitation: "Why not? Let's give it a try!"

(End of this chapter)