Chapter 266 Nouveau Riche
In the year 819 of the Holy Calendar, at the end of January (the month of the beginning), at noon.
The lead-colored sky revealed a clear blue glow, as if the blizzard that could cover the world had finally stopped.
The houses with the unique style of half-domes were covered with thick snow, some even half a person high, blocking the doors, so the residents of the Shahran Empire turned out of the windows, drinking spirits and shoveling the snow.
They mainly have golden, light yellow, and pure black hair colors, and most of them have large arms and round waists. Young girls are generally good-looking, but aunts are very blessed, many of them have their husbands two wide, and they often need a few middle-aged men to push snowballs, which they can do with one hand.
On the second floor of an elegantly decorated dark green hotel on the street, two young people were looking at the lively scene outside through the window, and the beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes rubbed her hands and smiled playfully: "I have never seen such heavy snow in the Urals, and it has been almost a month since the New Year."
The Urals belong to the Kenov Province of the Shahran Empire, located in the southwest of the empire, separated from the northern fortress of the Principality of Vaulite, and is famous for its blacksmiths, ores and weapons, providing logistical support for the Marinov Line.
Looking at the girl's soft and delicate face and the bumpy figure wrapped in a fire fox fur coat, the tough young man with pale yellow hair shaved to an inch opened his mouth hesitantly, and finally plucked up the courage to say: "Lena, don't ...... Are you still very close to that Mr. Peter?"
Lena turned her head suspiciously: "Igor, is there anything wrong? Mr. Peter is a very knowledgeable, well-informed and humorous gentleman, and it is a pleasure to talk to him."
When she said she was happy, the corners of Lena's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a faint smile.
This smile made Igor very uncomfortable, he took a few steps on the spot impatiently, ignoring his demeanor, and said in a hurried and slightly high-pitched voice: "Lena, he is a nobleman, and his wife will definitely be a descendant of a nobleman."
Lena's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she said a little unhappily: "What does this have to do with me? Mr. Peter and I are just friends. Igor, can you stop thinking about it, if Mr. Peter is here, he will definitely talk to me about snowstorms in other places, about good games related to heavy snow, and he won't make me angry at all."
"Mr. Peter, Mr. Peter, Lena, can you not mention him?! Nobles like them are very hypocritical! From the two ostentatious long swords he carried, from his politeness and politeness to all the beautiful girls in the caravan, it can be seen that he is actually a frivolous and flirtatious guy. And he hasn't stimulated the power of his bloodline yet, and sooner or later he will lose his noble status!"
Similar conversations had been held several times between the two young people, but seeing Lena still chatting and laughing with Mr. Peter, without moving away at all, Igor finally couldn't help but feel jealous and revealed all the sour feelings hidden in his heart.
Then Igor said sullenly: "Only when I care about you will I mention these things, and I will make you unhappy. His constant elegance and thoughtfulness can only show that he doesn't take you to heart, he just wants to lie to you and lie to you......" Although in order to stimulate the power of his bloodline, he gets along with mercenaries and adventurers all year round, and occasionally speaks rudely, but when facing Lena, he still subconsciously does not use swear words.
Lena's face collapsed, and there were crystal tears in her beautiful blue eyes: "Igor, Mr. Peter is not the kind of person you imagine, there are two beautiful single girls in the caravan who once tried to seduce him, but he refused. Moreover, am I in your eyes a person who is greedy for vanity and easy to deceive?"
After saying that, she sniffed and turned to leave, returned to the room, and closed the door heavily, leaving Igor outside to apologize in annoyance.
At the other end of the corridor, there are also people at the corner watching the lively scene of snow removal outside through the glass window.
"Mr. Peter, the manners of the Vladimir family are really outstanding, and you are the most decent nobleman I have ever seen in terms of women." The red-nosed old man in a gray coat smiled and said, he is Lena's father, Belf, a member of the caravan.
Lucian, who is currently Peter Joseph Vladimir, stretched out his right hand in a white glove, pressed it against the railing under the window, and replied with a gentle smile: "In fact, there are many single-minded nobles. Isn't that what happens in love stories?"
In order to match the characteristics of the Vladimir family, Lucian's hair was dyed golden with the sap extracted from a certain tree, and his eyes also turned dark blue through the spare invisible film, and the whole person looked a lot of sunshine.
"This is all written to please the nobles and deceive the little girls, so that they can be the lovers of the nobles willingly." Belf said with an exaggerated expression, and then laughed: "Mr. Peter, would you like to have lunch together? I also have a bottle of black mace."
Lucian withdrew his right hand and shook his head: "Mr. Belf, thank you for your kindness, I was injured during my trip to the north and cannot drink."
"Haha, Mr. Peter, this is what makes you the least attractive. Wine and fighting are the romance of men!" After more than a month of getting along, an old fox like Belf has almost figured out Lucian's temper and can joke more relaxedly.
The Shahran Empire is known as the country of knights, because the proportion of people who inspire their blood to become knights is nearly 50% higher than that of the Principality of Vaorit and the Kingdom of Holm, which allows them to persist in fighting for hundreds of years when the clergy are much weaker than the Southern Church.
This also makes many adventurers believe that the difficult environment helps hone the will to fight and stimulate the strength of the bloodline.
After returning to the restaurant with Belf, Lucian found a table in a secluded corner to eat, while Leo, dressed as an old housekeeper, stood by meticulously.
After a while, when Lucian lowered his head to drink the sweet and sour soup of beetroot with a soup spoon, a middle-aged man in a black coat and sable skin shoulders came over with his entourage. His pale yellow hair was combed back with thick oil, he held a thick cigar in his mouth, and wore seven or eight gold rings inlaid with different gemstones on his fingers, dazzling, as if he could blind other people's eyes.
"Mr. Peter, is there anyone here? If not, do you mind if I sit here?" The burly middle-aged man asked enthusiastically and politely.
Lucian raised his head and glanced around the restaurant, seeing that there were no empty seats, so he nodded: "No, Mr. Sergey, you can sit here." Heavy snow closed the road, and many travelers did not leave, causing the restaurant to be crowded.
Sergei joined the caravan in the previous city five or six days ago, and the destination was Ural City, the capital of the Ural Region.
After ordering bullings, frozen sea caviar, veal steak and shish kebabs, Sergei smiled without a hint of rustiness: "Mr. Peter, after these few days of travel, I found you a true nobleman with an elegant demeanor, like Count Kutuzov of the Vladimir family. I met him a few times when I was doing business in Falk City, Northwest Province." He seems to be showing off the big guys he knows.
Lucian cut a piece of fried chicken and smiled: "Uncle Kutuzov? Does his joints still hurt when he encounters humid weather?"
This is a big man in the Vladimir family, Valenjin naturally did not forget to mention it, and revealed a lot of his privacy, such as because of the failure to impact the rank of the Sky Knight, leaving behind incurable physical dangers, whenever the weather is humid, it will be very uncomfortable, just like ordinary people have arthritis.
"Lord Count, he is still the same." Sergei laughed, then changed the subject without a trace and began to mention other nobles he knew.
After the names of the nobles set off the image of a mysterious rich man with an amazing background and a wide range of friends, Sergei sighed softly: "It's a pity that I have arrived in the Ural City, and I am about to say goodbye to you, Mr. Peter, a talented aristocratic friend. Here I met Count Witt through a personal relationship with Baroness Carolina, who was the first to buy a newly explored gem mine. Although it is difficult to mine, it is of amazing value and makes many people jealous, so I will have to stay in the Ural City for a long time to come."
Count Witte occupied almost half of the Ural region and was the de facto controller of this state.
Lucian chewed the chicken slowly, and waited for a few minutes before cooperatingly asking, "Amazing value?"
"Yes, according to the testimony of several clergy and prospectors, that mine contains enough gems to buy a count. If Count Witt didn't like trouble and preferred to get rich easily through mining taxes and gemstone taxes, I wouldn't have gotten it at all!" Sergei ostentatically took out the gem mine exploration certificate, the mining certificate, the real estate deed with the count's seal, and the church's low-priced booking contract from the black leather box carried by the attendant.
Many magics, magic casting, and crafting transcendent items require natural gems.
Lucian smiled politely: "Then congratulations to you, Mr. Sergei."
"Thank you, Mr. Peter. But how could this kind of gem mine be so easy to obtain, just pleasing Count Witt's gift almost bankrupted me, and I had no money to recruit manpower or buy equipment to mine. Alas, during this time I have been running around, borrowing money from my friends, and preparing to repay them double when the time comes. It's a pity that they can't withdraw that much money for the time being, it's still a little bit short, so anxious that I have the intention of selling some gemstone mine shares." Sergei sighed and said with a sad face, "Why doesn't the Empire have banks that can lend money like Sturk and Holm?"
After saying that, he quietly waited for Lucian's answer, but after a long time, Lucian didn't speak.
"Mr. Peter, you don't want to say something?" Sergei picked up his glass and greeted with a smile.
Lucian wiped his mouth with a napkin: "Yes. I'm done with lunch, Mr. Sergey, take your time."
Then Lucian got up calmly, sorted out the two "gorgeous" long swords, and went back to the room with Leo.
Sergey's smile briefly froze on his face, then he shook his head, smiled and took a sip of wine.
…………
In the afternoon, as soon as the snow was cleared on the road, an invitation was sent to the hotel, the invitation was Lucian, and the invitee was Baroness Carolina.
(End of this chapter)