Six months ago upon arriving at the Leceiviester city, a small but beautiful city, it had an extra luxurious look to it, the city had tall buildings built with beautiful and rare stones, and the wooden buildings was well furnished and designed, the first time Rein entered the city, it gave off a cool fresh air, that made him close his eyes and smile, he had decided since then that he was going to settle down here.
After Rein had gotten to Leceiviester city, the merchant had invited him to his mansion to talk over a cup of sweet tea which Rein could now take any time he wanted. The Mansion of the merchant was on another level, it wouldn't be too much to call it a castle even though it's inferior, the walls of the building was made with ash-colored bricks that were placed in beautiful patterns and the windows instead of those in the city which were furnished woods, was glass... With a touch of art on it.
Rein admired the view, from the gate of the mansion which was a strong metal that had no spacing, till the doors to the hallway which eventually led to the stairs that led to the upper floors, the stairs were large and intertwined.
The pathway to the doorstep from the gate was paved with beautiful stones while gardens with beautiful species of flowers laid on the left and right of the pathway, upfront stood a small fountain that had the statue of a dolphin and water gushed out from the mouth, one had to go round the fountain to continue his journey to the doorstep.
With the fountain in between the paved pathways went left and right, left which led to the stables, and right which led to the farmland and a huge storage room, the carriage had been collected by one of the servants and was rode through the right pathway.
Rein had told the merchant everything that happened to him, he was very respectful and constantly reminded himself that this was not a game, he was very nice to the man and would pay attention to every detail of the man's story. The fat man seemed to like Rein a lot, within hours of discussion the man had already told Rein about his family.
He boastfully told Rein of how his family was labeled Traitors by the Great Empire of Azure, the stories of how he had to earn food working as an errand boy, and how he became the second richest Merchant of the Forgan Empire which gave him a duke title, making him become a noble even higher in status than his father who was a baron.
Dukes had the right to govern a town/city under the kingdom. They were the second-highest nobility status of course. The highest nobility status of a kingdom could only be obtained by one person, however, there could be at least 7 dukes, 9 marquis, 14 counts, 28 viscounts, 56 barons, so the nobles in a kingdom were much, and their status differed according to their family heritage, for example, a member of the royal family with no title is still a noble and would be respected by even the Dukes, a noble family, that had built achievements of war from time past, will still be respected and hold its legacy.
It was getting dark after they talked all the way and Rein was busy exploring the big mansion while dinner was being prepaid by the maids who would blush every time his eyes met theirs, he was not the type to be concerned about his looks, nor did he understand the reaction the maids made, he just thought they were probably uncomfortable with him here and dismissed his thoughts.
Rein heard a large noise as if someone was shocked as he admired paintings in the hallways that led to many rooms.
He hurriedly followed the noise and ran down the stairs the fat not-too-old Duke Falcon Erin that was lively a moment ago was now all grim, seated on the red cushion, rested his hand on the chair arm, and covered his face with his hand... It was obvious he had just received bad news.
Rein who did not know how to sympathize with him asked the man that stood opposite end of the table that stood firm in front of the cushion the merchant was seated, enclosed by two three-seat cushions on both the left and the right.
"if I may ask what news did he receive?"
"I'm sorry, stranger, I have no obligation to tell you"
From the moment Rein saw him, Rein did not like him a bit, Rein had thought he had the face of a thief, not everyone could think like this, it was an effect of Rein's high insight. The man's reply had confirmed that Rein was never going to like him.
The merchant gestured his hand telling the man to tell him.
"But sir...?"
The merchant removed his hand from his face and stared at the man who was in a neat deep purple-colored robe.
He bowed...
"I'm sorry"
Then raises his head and starts to explain the news. Duke Erin had received to be so shocked... He explained thinking Rein would probably not understand anyway.
It wasn't his fault for thinking that Rein whose pant was looking all tattered, had taken off his shirt earlier and wore a round-necked top that was available for visitors.
"The lord has a large city which he dedicated to trading, the city did not have any houses or residents, it was just mainly for the trading purpose...
".... Market "
Rein interrupted
" uh yeah you could say that"
The man who had thought that Rein would not understand the explanations he gave and tried to use simpler words was shocked... Only scholars were knowledgeable to call a large trading post a market.
"Why didn't you just say it did you think I'm an illiterate, you should not judge people by how they look"
Illliiiterate...
The word kept ringing in the head of the man who had downgraded Rein to the core, only noble kids had access to go to school learn varieties of weird things, and become scholars, even him who was a peasant and had risen to the status of a baronet thanks to Duke Erin, did not have a chance to go to school and had just learned a few words from books and friends.
(Perhaps I was wrong, is he a noble and an important guest of the lord. Have I trespassed...)
His head was in turmoil as different thoughts ran through his mind.
"well aren't you going to continue your explanation?"
"Forgive me"
(Uhh he became polite all of a sudden)
Rein was surprised at the man's polite gesture.
"Uhm there was a wide fire earlier today which seemed to has been caused by the current weather, however, we lost half of our goods
However, the goods that were affected is the reason why the lord is like this, the goods were just processed and was being preserved and would be transported to their various delivery locations in six months these good were very hard to process and required time.
So we can only process these good for three months and preserve them for about 5 months before they can serve their purpose"
"What kind of good is it?"
The man was hesitant but after he had looked at Duke Erin's face who didn't seem to bother if he told him. He continued...
"meat"
"meat?"
"yes sir meat, however, the meat are from Deb Oxes, they are not common in the area and are nomadic. Also, we have to kill them far away on plain lands because they require a lot of strength to be submissive, and finally be killed, in the killing process they fight for their lives and may destroy buildings if we kill them close to buildings. So we kill them one per week, and we've killed a total of ten after they've killed their meet needs to be left alone for months which will eventually become alcohol over time this alcohol is then processed and left alone to also purify itself and are finally delivered to many kingdoms."
It made sense now to Rein why the Store was too affected, but it just didn't sit right with Rein, it was looking to him like someone knew how important these things were to the duke and did it intentionally to get back at the duke.
Then suddenly...
" did you do it?"
"sir... do what?"
The man politely paid attention to Rein to get what questions he was asking
"no, I'll ask my question very well again...
..... Why did you do it
why did you burn the storage house the alcohols were stored in?"