When my father sees I'm grinning from the thought about they soybean, he immediately offers me to inspect the taxes collected from Lumon town with him.
"Henry…you look interested with taxes collected from Lumon town, do you want to see it?"
"Yes! Of course, I like to see it. I hope there will be new ingredients for my cooking later"
"Alright, come with me then, let's see together what they send this time"
I'm following my father leave his office and heading to the front yards. There are about a dozen carriages which carrying goods from tax collected in Lumon town parked in the front yard. About a dozen guards that escorting the carriage also seen near the carriage. A young man with better attire, look polite and educated, comes forward from the flock of carriage guards and gives the salute to my father and me
"Greetings, Sire, young master. I'm Gandolf, second son of Mayor Rudolph in Lumon town, delivers taxes that collected from our region for the first term of the year"
To not too burden Harvard territory citizen with taxes, my father implements two terms of taxation collection for his people. The tax will be paid every six months, with a smaller amount than taxes that must be paid annually at once.
"Hello Gandolf, so you're Rudolph's second son, you've grown up now. How's your father? Is he in good shape?"
"Thanks for your attention, Sire. My father in healthy condition and he send his regards for you, and this is the list for our taxes shipment this time.
This guy, Gandolf, pulls out a list from his pocket and handed it to my father, who accept it and read the list carefully. It seems my father has a good relation with Gandolf's father who held a position as mayor in Lumon town.
"Oh, this season taxes collection seems good, did the harvest also bountiful, Gandolf?"
"Yes, sire. The water supply, the sunlight, they are sufficient for our farmers to make the harvest for this season quite pleasing in result"
"Hahaha…Good! Are you going to stay for a night or directly return to your town, Gandolf?"
"After the taxes shipment finished to count and verified, I will return to my town, Sire"
"Alright, since it's almost lunchtime, how about you have lunch together while your taxes shipment being verified? You can tell me about how your region development during lunch"
"If not trouble you, sir, I will gladly accept your offer"
"What trouble? Your town is the first town which sends first term taxes. Consider it as my appreciation for your town loyalty. And let me tell you this, today's lunch menu is created by my son, Henry, here. You'll be surprised when feels the taste later"
Gandolf looks at me with me with eyes which like to say 'Really? This noble young man, who age like me, can cook?'
"It would be an honor to be able to taste young master Henry's personal creation dishes"
"Haha…it's only our daily simple dishes, we don't have luxurious to spend money on extravagant dishes every day. I hope the taste will not disappoint you, Mr. Gandolf"
I reply to Gandolf's polite answer with a humble reply as well.
"Hahaha…you both almost at the same age, I hope you can make good relation with my son too, Gandolf, since he will inherit my land later and you seem also inherit your father's position too, right?"
"Yes, sire. My older brother Randolf, more interested with military affairs so my father appoint me as his successor later"
"Your older brother also had developed into a good soldier, Gandolf. Under his leadership, the western region is safe and peaceful"
"Thanks for your compliment, sire. My brother will glad when hearing this praise"
"Hahaha… Come to my office, Gandolf. While waiting for the lunchtime we can spend some time together there. I have something that maybe you can bring back home as souvenirs. Henry, are you coming with us?"
"Ah, I want to see the goods from Lumon town first, father. if there're ingredients which I can use for a new dish I want to immediately put it into the menu"
"Alright, here's the list of the goods. You can also help your uncle Jake in counting the number too here"
My father handed the list that he received from Gandolf, while Gandolf told his guards to take rest in soldier's barrack while waiting for his matters finish and follow my father to his office.
After receiving the list, I with uncle Jake and servants who will bring the goods to the storage room, approaching the carriages to see the goods. I skip the checking about the goods number and amount and leave it to uncle Jake to verify, I only interesting with the content of each carriage because I see in the list of collected taxes, there are corn, red bean, and soybean and some spices between the taxes paid by Lumon town. This will give me an opportunity to broadening my menu option for the banquet.