Chapter 7

As I stares outside of the window, a new world of wonder had appeared in front of me. It really is a world of fantasy. Even the trees and plants around us look so unique. The view alone gave me the vibes of a mystical world that is full of mystery.

I also saw Michael riding on a horse-like creature while trailing behind my carriage and every time we passed by, people would just stare at him with fascinated looks on their faces and they only take one glance at me before focusing on Michael once again.

I knew it…. no matter the gender or age, anyone would be hooked by his looks. I mean like at those aunties and kids blushing at the mere sight of him.

He is really famous among our people. I bet that he can even survive on his looks alone, and being a knight can be considered as his advantage. I would not even be shocked, if one day a noblewoman just suddenly show up to propose a marriage to him.

This is too much. Others need to be a strong knight first before getting the attention of others, while he just needs to stand and do nothing to do it.

Oh, wait, I almost forgot that Sandra also came with us. She is one of the officials of the city who work under my father. She can also be considered as his assistant.

"Young Master, you've been staring at the window for a while now. Are you thinking of something or do you perhaps have any thoughts bothering your mind?" She ask while looking at me with amused expression.

"It's nothing. I just want to appreciate the scenery." I answered back with a little bit of annoyance.

The florentine city is small compared to others, but the entire territory itself is huge. The city is protected by a wall that covers a huge plot of land. There's even a lot of vacant land and farm land as well as some forestry alongside the road.

The Beaufort Mansion is located at the highest point of the city, which is in the northern part of the wall. That's why I'm able to see the entirety of the city.

As we reached the market place I took a stroll around together with Sandra and Michael.

My first impression of this place was a busy street, where everyone moves fast while minding their own business.

Loud voices and shouts of people can be heard booming among the crowd. Some people are selling their products while others are busy trying to attract the attention of potential buyers.

While I was looking around the place, some people in the crowd have suddenly started clamoring.

"Wait, look at that, isn't that Master Lucas?"

"What is he doing here?"

"Are you sure that's him? That sounds impossible."

"Master Lucas is the only child who has silver hair in this city and, besides, looks at those two, isn't that Michal and Sandra?"

"Whoa, indeed it's the young lord."

"He really looks the same as his father."

"This is my first time seeing him in this part of the city."

"Is he looking for something to buy?"

"Maybe, I could sell my products to him."

"Hey! Victor asks him if he needs anything."

"Why does it need to be me? You should go and ask him since you are the one who said it."

As a knight apprentice, even though I'm not an official knight yet, my 5 senses are still more powerful than normal people. That's why hearing some of their talks is easy. Not bothering about their antics, I proceeded to approach one of the vendors.

"Hey! You mister. I have a question" I said as I looked at the merchant straight in the eye.

"Y-Ye-Yes…Anything that I could help you with, Master Lucas?" He said with a stuttering voice and a look of fear was visible on his face.

Raising one of my brows, I asked him "What do you sell here?"

"I-I-I sell food, mostly vegetables like beans and some fish." He said as he guided me back to his stall.

"What's the most common food that people buy all the time?"

"The-They often buy fresh vegetables to preserve them by pic-pickling while fish is always salted, but most people buy beans since it's cheap and can make you full once you consume them."

"Beans? What kind of beans are you talking about?" I said as I looked at him with a bit of excitement.

He went to one of the barrels in his store and immediately grabbed a handful of beans and presented it to us.

"This kind of Beans Master Lucas." As he shows me the beans on his hands.

Is this soya beans? I thought off as I looked into the seeds on his hands. They do look the same.

It's just that these beans are three times bigger than usual. I can't believe how lucky I am all this time. One of the world's most important sources of protein is right here in our place, and yet I'm not even aware of it. I instantly realized that I had hit the jackpot as different dishes made out of soya beans flashed through my mind.

"How do people cook this?" I asked with agitation.

"Well, they often mix it into soup or just boil it in water and add a little bit of salt. It makes a great dish to fill someone's stomach."

"You mean that's the only way they prepare their food?"

"Ye-Yes that's right. Aside from that, there are a couple of unique dishes made from these beans but people don't like them. Why is there something wrong about it, Master Lucas?"

"No there isn't. I just think that I found a way how to make these beans everyone's favorite. If I got this correctly and what's your name again?"

"Vi-Victor Wood, sir," he said timidly.

"Well then, Victor, where did you get all of the supplies for your beans?"

"From our farm, sir, we planted these beans and sell them in the market, and if we have extra beans we sell them to the merchant caravans."

"How much is it then?"

"We sell these beans for just 25 coppers per kg, but if we decided to sell it to the visiting merchants the price would go down to as low as 8 coppers."

On this continent, the only known currencies are copper, silver, and gold. It would take 100 coppers to have a silver and it would take 10 silver coins to have a gold coin.

"Since you can sell these beans for 25 coppers here on the market, why would you agree to sell it at such a low price of 8 coppers?" I ask in surprise.

"It-It's because we only sell them the surplus supply of our farms, and they also requested to buy it from us for a low price, since they still need to travel a long way and face danger to make money from it. And at the same time, the merchants also gives us discount every time we purchase something from them." Victor's face has become paler and paler with every second as he answered my question.

Merchants hmmm thinking about them they are also one of the factors and reason why certain things are expensive on some places.

They surely know how to manipulate the people who don't have any in-depth knowledge about the economy, and trick them to provide everything at such a low price while they earn most of the money.

While staring at him, I thought of something that might become useful and I immediately gave him an order.

"Victor, from now on you would need to report to me starting tomorrow." Which in turn made his whole body tremble and with a face full of horror he instantly asked.

"D-D-Did I-I do anything w-wrong I-I didn't commit any crimes, young master, I beg you please." He said while tears stream down his face.

"Shut up. I told you to report to me. It means that I'm hiring you to serve under me not to punishing you, and stop crying, it makes me look like a bad person. Besides, you only need to do this once a week so you can still take care of your own business." I said in an annoyed tone.

His cries immediately stopped and he looked at me with pure astonishment in his eyes.

"Does it mean that I would serve under the Beaufort Family? Then I would gladly accept it." He said with an excited voice.

For a middle-aged man, and to have this kind of personality is really inappropriate to look at. He is a businessman with a cowardly but greedy nature.

"But, Master Lucas, I'm just a mere businessman. I don't know anything about noble's life, so I can't imagine what kind of report I can give to help you out."

"It depends on what kind of information I need, since you're a vendor here at the market, obviously my question has something to do with it," I said while pointing my finger at him then at the marketplace.

"Alright, you could go now. I still need to inspect some details here in the city." As I walked away from the crowd, he immediately stood up and returned to his stall.

And as I was far enough from their place, I instantly heard the crowd asking a ton of questions on him.

"Young Master, your question about the beans. Do you really have a way on how to make them more delicious than making a soup out of it?" ask by Sandra while looking at me with an expectant gaze.

"Ah yeah I have some idea, but I still need to test it out, since I'm also fed up with the usual meal in the house, it's always the same dish," I answered, pretending that I had no idea on what I was talking about.

"By the way, Sandra, why don't we have beans for our meal? This is only the first time I've seen them." As I raised my hands in the air holding a piece of soya beans.

"It's because we grow most of our food. We don't entirely rely on the merchants to supply us with their product, and we don't plant soya beans on your father's land, since they only make a little amount of money and they don't taste good." Sandra answered as she looked at one of the soya beans in her hands.

"I'm looking forward to your idea Master Lucas, but how could you make soya beans as everyone's favorite. They don't even sell that much, and only has a little value for merchants." As Sandra ask me with a baffled expression on her face.

"I'm actually thinking of doing something unusual. I plan to start a small family business since I can tell that staying on the nobility's old way of living won't solve our problems regarding the lack of funds, instead it would just make our house bankrupt." I said with a serious face.

"That's is really uncommon as most of the nobility despise the status of merchants for how they spend their money to buy a noble position from the royal family." Said by Sandra.

"Do you honestly believe that reason of them? on why they hate the status of merchants? In the first place, the only reason I could think of, is jealousy. You must know that recently merchants have become more and more powerful and the nobles don't like that, because they don't have any control over them anymore." I said as I looked at her with a questioning expression on my face.

"Yes. Isn't it known by everyone?"

"You're wrong, that's the reason they want you to know. The truth is they are now afraid of the power and influence that a merchant holds in their hands, specifically for those big merchant names though it was only for those noble family from the lower position." I said while observing the crowds and the details of the city.

"This peaceful life that we have here on the far side of the kingdom might not last, because I fear that the trouble we might face is just the start of a much bigger problem," I said again as I gazed back at the direction of the capital.