Chapter 7

As I stare out of the window, a new world appeared in front of me. This really is a different world.

Even the trees and plants around us look so unique. The view alone is giving me the vibes of a mystical world full of mystery.

I also saw Michael riding on a horse with two horns on its head trailing behind my carriage. And every time we passed by people would just stare at him with fascinated looks on their faces and they would only take one glance at me before going back to Michael once again.

They even dismissed my presence on my own turf. This man is even more popular than me. I knew it….

No matter the gender or age, anyone would be hooked by his looks. I mean look 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 junior knight can be considered a bonus for him.

I wouldn't be shocked if one day a noblewoman just suddenly showed up to propose marriage to him. But this is too much.

Others need to be a strong knight first before getting the attention of their beloved, 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 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 that are bothering you?" She ask while looking at me with an amused expression.

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

Florentine city is small compared to others, but the entire territory itself is huge. It is protected by a wall that covers a huge plot of land.

There's even a lot of vacant land and farmland as well as some forestry alongside the road inside the city.

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 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 decided to approach one of the vendors.

"Hey, you! 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 with a look of fear 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 in his hands.

Is these soya beans? I thought as I looked into the seeds in 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 it 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 known currencies are copper, silver, and gold.

It would take 100 copper 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 give us discounts 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 reasons why certain things are expensive in some places.

They surely know how to manipulate 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. Well given that they need to face a lot of danger in their job I think it's reasonable.

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 punish 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 loudly with 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." This time he said with an excited voice.

For a middle-aged man like him, to have this kind of personality is really inappropriate to look at.

He is a pure 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 and 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 when I was far enough from their place, I faintly heard the crowd asking him a ton of questions.

"Young Master, your question about the beans. Do you really have a way on how to make them more delicious than making soup out of them?" 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 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 everyone's favorite. They don't even sell that much and only has a little value for merchants." Sandra ask with a baffled expression on her face.

"I'm actually thinking of doing something unusual. I'm planning 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 poorer." 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 those low ranking nobles don't like that because they are loosing their control over them." 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. Although 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.