The group was packing up a bunch of equipment, huge sacks of leather were bulging with their standard carry, plus their personal affects.
Eddy noticed that the serious attitude had dropped and it relieved him that some level of normalcy was about to take place.
Sofia was speaking with an older man who appeared to be more than accommodating, "We will require a carriage train for our one way trip, what day might the Crown be able to assist with the return?"
Eddy was droning them out, too much logistic stuff for the moment.
'I need a nap. I am 12, no, 13? Of course I need a nap.' He shook his head, too much, too quickly.
'That poor king must be exhausted, he does this every single day.'
Eddy was more than content behind a cash register for 10+ hours at a time, but speedrunning nobility Any% Glitchless was a fucking nightmare.
After around 45 minutes, Sofia looked for her new Lord.
He was slumped like a sack of potatoes...using a sack for potatoes as a blanket. She nearly giggled at the sight.
She approached and gently nudged him, "Milord? We are departing soon, are you feeling well?"
He woke up, 'Not now mom.' and he rolled over.
"Five more minutes." Thaddeus reached his hand out and swatted the ground awkwardly before realizing something.
'That was stone.' He opened his eyes and noticed that he was circled by the group. "Ah..haha.." He shoved the makeshift blanket off of him and stood up drearily.
"I guess nap time is over then..." He smirked and the soldiers' faces brightened up.
Eddy realized he shouldn't sandbag the professionals, they probably want to get back home.
Eddy walked over and grabbed the only sack left, it was rugged and had some holes in it, but it was definitely his by the size of the shirts.
He hoisted it up onto his back and turned to the carriage and said, "ADVENTURE AWAITS!" then he marched off.
He did struggle getting up the stairs, again.
The men were loading up and a few were doing rounds, double checking the knots used.
Sofia had curious eyes and noted something down in a little booklet while she thought nobody was looking.
Eddy furrowed his brows and asked, "What's going on in that big brain of yours?"
She seemed startled for a moment, probably assuming he went back to sleep.
She blushed, "Ah, I was...noting the use of the Dunlap Imperial Knot. It is worse by around 7% for multi-directional loads." She smiled meekly, "I planned to bring it up with the Captain of the squads. It is standard to use the reworked Magistrate's Knot because the double oval loops lead to pinching of the individual threads after multiple cycles of load and unload."
Eddy stared at the woman, "Amazing."
She smiled, "I enjoy research. It isn't of import, but if we reduce the rope's wear, they will last longer and reduce maintenance costs by around 4% when you take into account the loss in value of the damaged goods being dropped onto the ground and trampled by a caravan." She closed her eyes, "Yes, 4% was my estimate of a regular merchant caravan...the number goes up with barrels and specialty items, but drops in cost when referring to raw or refined metals or materials."
Eddy's mouth was hanging open, "Wicked."
She seemed confused and performed a small bow.
The 4 carriages slowly trotted down the road, the horses' clopping was actually really nice because of how rhythmic it was. It reminded Eddy of a car with a nice stereo system with all the thudding.
Eddy laid back on the carriage bench, it was covered in a weird velvet with deep buttons or something all over it. It was comfy but you could definitely lose popcorn in the giant holes.
He yawned.
Sofia did a rough calculation for him, they only had around 5 hours, 43 minutes, and 27 seconds...roughly.
He didn't even know if she was just showing off, or genuinely that out of touch with reality.
She said they would arrive at nearly "third bell", which was probably around 3 if he had to guess.
He slowly drifted into a half asleep state, he'd just napped so it wasn't like he was getting back to sleep.
After 30 minutes he tapped out and opened his eyes, 'Uhhh, stupid kid body.'
'Why can't kids go back to bed?' It reminded him of nap time, he would lay down on the blue daycare cot, fall asleep, wake up, go pee, come back, and then lose PlayStation privileges for "not napping during nap time!"
He huffed and sat up.
Sofia was quickly skimming various tomes, "What are you reading?" he leaned over to her and noticed a brand on her chest, then he saw her jerk backwards.
She looked up and was startled, "Sorry, Lord Blackstone, I was memorizing the ledgers on the way to the Fortress."
She moved a pile of books and gestured for him to sit, "See here? These are the income reports for the Lord's Holdings. They are the raw Tax data collected at each harvest." He noted a few figures, "How much is that?" She blinked, "This is denoted units, so here would be the Imperial Bushel of wheat, here would be the I.B of corn."
She placed her finger along two long columns describing the actual life size land holdings used by the serfs, and then their reported yield %.
Eddy nodded, "What unit of value are they being assigned?" He was confused at the size of the number, 10,337 C.
She blushed, "That is the symbol for the Imperial Crown, milord."
He seemed distant for a moment, "And how much is handed to the Empire?"
She did the math, "The Imperial Tax for a Viscount of your size would be...well, the largest, but..." She was writing down the numbers on her piece of paper.
"You are subject to a 54% tax on all agricultural collections. This depends on the type of goods you would like to prioritize, milord's is much higher due to "common foodstuffs" being produced poorly in the environment."
She continued, "From agriculture, milord has collected...56,455.34 Imperial Crowns."
Eddy knew something was wrong, "Why does the Fortress produce agricultural goods?"
She flipped through her notes and frowned, "It appears to be sourced from the surrounding baronies that your father held, but also the historical standard. The Royal family has always required the surrounding villages and towns to provide the food goods in case of a siege."
She gasped, "The Blackstone Fortress once held for over 6 years. It was 316 years ago, but it was the reason the Empire won the war."
Eddy was confused, "How did you find that out?"
He looked over, "They have a note in here, it dictates the decree from the First High King." She was running her fingers over the deep gold lettering.
Eddy frowned, "Food in the mountains doesn't seem to be very intelligent. Gather the general Income & Expenses for me while we ride, please, I will review it when we arrive."
She looked confused, this was HER job. Most Lords would never look at the damage they do by spending obscene amounts of money. At most, they would hire a second or third steward to review the work of their main steward.
This was what she had been taught. A good Statesman, a good Marshall, a good Steward, and even a good Spymaster are all second to the Ego of the Lord.
It was incredibly prevalent through her schooling.
She winced when she thought about the amount of money she had to pay back for the extra courses. 3,000 Crowns was the total lifetime earnings of 50 commoners.
Hopefully she would have it paid back by the time she entered her 40's but she would have to live extremely conservatively.