Accompanying maid (3)
It was past midnight when Mi returned to the Flower Fate Inn. Anna was sitting in a chair waiting for her. Now back to normal, Mi carefully observed the woman. Anna was strange; she possessed a kind of "saintly" radiance, yet she was also very humble—a contradictory combination. Anna dozed off, propping her head up. The night was deep. Mi raised her hand and gently lifted Anna, placing her on the bed. Her witch form had fully returned; Mi now possessed immense strength, feeling she could lift the entire world.
Anna lay down, instinctively reaching out to hug her. Mi nestled into Anna's arms, as if she had become that little girl who always depended on her again. She thought to herself, "I'll go to Anna's house tomorrow. Maybe she's encountered some trouble she can't solve." Before falling into a deep sleep, Mi thought this.
The next day was sunny, and the morning light streamed through the curtains, making Mi feel incredibly energetic. She looked at Anna, still fast asleep, and wondered how such a gentle woman could exist in the world.
"You're awake. Shall we get up?" Anna's voice remained gentle.
"You can sleep a little longer."
Anna sat up: "I'm not sleepy anymore."
Mi gently pressed Anna back onto the bed: "Sleep well, I'm going for a run today." Mi got dressed and waved goodbye to Anna on the bed. Mi left the Flower Fate Inn; the sky was gradually turning blue and white. There were no pedestrians in the alley. Mi breathed in the fresh morning air and started running along the alley. When Mi returned, Fried was having breakfast. Since Fried moved into the Flower Fate Inn, he had treated it like his canteen.
"Fried, thank you. Where did you find Anna?"
“Anna, she is a maid in the David household.”
“A maidservant?” Mi looked at Fried in astonishment. Anna didn’t look like a maidservant at all; she thought Anna was an elder in Fried’s family.
The Flower Kingdom is a magical country, where everything is beyond Mi's previous understanding. The lives of the nobles are both chaotic and governed by mysterious rules. To ensure the purity of their bloodlines, or rather, to guarantee the certainty and safety of their legitimate children, the illegitimate children of noble lords are never recognized. Noble ladies can only have maids as companions, unlike their lords who can have male partners. In this country, beautiful women can choose to serve either men or women, but in reality, more women prefer noble ladies. These ladies are not only generous but also pose no risk of pregnancy. Being a female companion is not only more lucrative but also offers longer and safer companionship. Some families, such as the Fis and David families in the city, even make a living by training female companions. It's common for aunts to bring their nieces and sisters to serve as companions to the same noble lady. Noble ladies even prefer this arrangement: older maids are more charming, understand them better, and are more considerate; younger maids are more youthful and can better please them. Most importantly, maids from the same family eliminate jealousy and backstabbing, allowing the noble lady to enjoy herself even more.
Having learned what a pageboy is, Mi gained a new understanding of Sun City. It truly was a magical land; how could such a profession exist? Fried told Mi that pageboys were paid in gold derry. Mi was currently penniless and needed to find work. She had been in Sun City for almost two months, hadn't earned a single penny, owed Sheila a large sum for lodging, and had almost lost her life. Anne was truly her savior; the marigold coins were the real reason she had survived this long.
“Fried, I want to find a job,” Mi said to the all-knowing young man. Fried’s abilities far exceeded those of an adult, and Mi admired his perseverance and self-reliance.
"Is Your Excellency going on an adventure?" Fried stood up, rubbing his trouser legs with his hands, his expression somewhat excited. "Perhaps Your Excellency needs an adventurer's attendant."
“Uh, I—” Mi thought of Bertram in the palace. She hadn’t seen Bertram since they parted ways. Bertram had suffered even more than she had, and she was still just a child. She hesitated for a moment before saying, “I want to find a job in Sun City. There are still some things I need to take care of here.”
"Oh," Fried replied listlessly, but he quickly perked up. "Yes, sir. It's springtime now, and there's plenty of work to be done."
Mi didn't know why Fried said that, but she quickly understood what he meant: he recommended that Mi go and collect protection money.
“My lord,” Fried said as he led Mi toward the east side of the city, “there are many foreign merchants here. Look—” Fried pointed to a lion-shaped flag hanging in front of a shop and said, “A large part of the income of the nobles of Sun City, besides their fiefdoms, comes from the contributions of these merchants. The nobles provide protection to the merchants, and the merchants share their profits with the nobles. This lion is the coat of arms of Earl Aldrich, and this merchant is under the protection of Earl Aldrich.”
"Isn't this just collusion between officials and businessmen?" Mi pondered, pointing at the flag and asking, "What's the benefit of this?"
"With this flag, other nobles won't cause trouble."
“Other nobles causing trouble?” Mi asked, somewhat puzzled. “Aren’t they supposed to be exempt from taxes?”
“How could that be? All the merchants on this street have to pay their taxes honestly. There are two tax officials in charge of this street.” Fried scratched his head. “If they don’t pay their taxes, the king won’t let them off the hook. But besides paying taxes, many nobles will take the goods and leave. If there are no nobles to protect them, these debts will not be recovered.”
So this is a system of rewarding the rich with the rich, Mi found it interesting: "The shops here—" There weren't many shops with such noble symbols along the way, "What about those without protection?"
“Look over there—” Fried pointed to a banner embroidered with a bow and arrow and an axe, with a few stars below it, and said, “Anything with a bow and arrow and an axe is protected by the Adventurers’ Guild, and this one is even more untouchable. These shops are either owned by the Adventurers’ Guild or are distributors of the Adventurers’ Guild, and His Majesty the King cannot buy on credit here.”
"Is the Adventurers' Guild really that powerful?" For the first time, Mi felt a strong interest in the adventurer's life. According to Arlo, the lord of Acropolis 17, and the people from Lin City 17, the Adventurers' Guild was just a bunch of people recruiting others and sending them to border outposts or Acropolis to become lords. They all advised Mi to avoid the Adventurers' Guild. The Adventurers' Guild in Sun City had been a great help to Mi, and she thought that after seeing Bertris and the Long-lived One, she could also experience the adventurer's life.
“The Adventurers’ Guild,” Fried said nervously, “they really do kill.” Mi looked at Fried’s tense and fearful expression, thinking about how children in the Acropolis started learning to slash with bayonets and thrust with spears at the age of eight. These were truly two different worlds. Mi shook her head, trying to shake the image of the Acropolis from her mind. Mi had only been in Sun City for a little over a month; aside from being familiar with the Derek Palace, she knew very little about Sun City. A month of unconsciousness, life in the borderlands and among the Sands, the Acropolis and the neighboring city—it all felt like a past life.
Mi looked around at the shops. There weren't many shops belonging to the Adventurers' Guild; only two or three out of dozens on the street. Not many displayed noble insignia either; most of the shops were ordinary. Mi pointed to a shop without any signage and asked, "Where are these shops?"
“These,” Fried looked around and asked in a low voice, “Are you looking for a shop, sir? These are all small shops with little profit. They just pay their taxes and maybe a little protection money.” After saying this, Fried led Mi into another alley. The shops in this alley were significantly more luxurious, at least two stories high, with four wide doors. At the entrances, greeters in embroidered dresses and uniformed boys greeted customers with smiles. Fried led Mi into a shop filled with various exquisite gemstones. The boy at the door, seeing Fried, quietly stepped aside to let Mi, a seemingly plain-looking middle-aged woman, and the poor boy Fried in. Fried gestured to the boy at the door.
As soon as Mi entered the shop, a woman with a gentle smile and an ageless demeanor came out and said, "Sir, please come in."
A little bewildered by the woman's enthusiasm, Mi, seeing Fried's wink, simply followed her into the back room of the shop. As soon as they entered, a maid brought out refreshments and drinks. The gentle woman poured Mi a glass of wine, then turned and pushed a box towards him. Mi looked at Fried standing in the doorway and the box in front of him, raised an eyebrow, put down the glass, and opened the box. It was full of gems of various colors. Mi closed the lid and pushed it back: "I don't intend to buy any gems." The gentle woman looked at Fried with a questioning gaze, and Fried, noticing Mi's expression, shook his head.
“Alright then, besides raw stones, our shop also accepts custom orders. Please feel free to tell us what you need. If you don’t like these, we can still make them,” the gentle girl lowered her head and thought for a moment. She turned around, picked up another box, and handed it to Mi, opening the lid: “These are for you, sir. As for the work you put in, we will pay you on time.”
Mi was dazzled by the box of gold coins before her. She reached out and took out a coin—a King Derek—with King Derek's iconic face and aquiline nose. Mi looked at the box of coins; there must be at least a hundred. She put the King Derek back in the box, closed the lid, and pushed it back. She roughly understood what the girl meant; the gleaming gold was truly beautiful. Mi felt every movement was incredibly difficult; she didn't know what she was struggling with, stiffly pushing the box towards the girl.
“If you are worried, sir, I can ask my father to sign the contract with you,” the girl continued to persuade. “We can even increase the price.”
“No need, I’m not buying anything.” Mi swallowed hard, stood up abruptly, and walked out. Fried jogged after her, and only after they walked out of the store did Mi turn to the gentle girl who had been watching her leave and say, “Fried, I don’t do this kind of business.” Saying this, Mi felt a wave of relief; the mountain-like pressure that had been weighing on her receded like a receding tide.
Mi had already returned the Marigold coins to the Adventurers' Guild. Even though she still had Marigolds, the real tiger was Annie; she was just a little fox pretending to be powerful, and it would be easy for her true colors to show. Even if she wasn't forced to reveal her true colors, collecting protection money was completely beyond Mi's comprehension. Mi looked at Fried seriously and said again firmly, "I won't do this kind of business."
“My lord,” Fried quickly explained, “you don’t need to sit in the shop here. You just need to put the marigold coins in the shop. This shop is newly opened, and the nobles in the city haven’t had a chance to buy it yet. It’s just that I’m well-informed; shops like this, where everything is made of jewels, are something even dukes would fight over.” Fried thought that Mi was worried about having to stay in the shop like a regular shop assistant. Mi didn’t explain much to Fried and continued walking.
These shops, large and small, stretched for several streets. No wonder the tax office was located here; it was probably the largest source of tax revenue for Taiyang City. Beyond the commercial street was the East Gate, which was taller and wider than the West Gate. Large carriages frequently entered and exited. Even outside the city walls, goods were piled up everywhere, resembling a gigantic general store.
"What would you like to buy, sir?" Fried asked, watching as Mi stared at the various boxes.
"Where did these goods come from?"
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