Rinsing his mouth , washing up and dressed in clean clothes , he walked into his bedroom.
Near the window were placed two chairs surrounding a small circular table made of white marble. On the table sat a black equisite box which almost covered the middle of the table.
That was the food box system gave him .
According to system , One food box will produce three servings and then will be unusable. Each day , he has to earn the food for himself . The food was completely served according to the energy his body needs than on his taste.
After a whole morning of excersise before dawn, although he was sleepy , he didn't felt his excitement diminishing. Now that he doesn't have any support , only things he could get by his own hands will be truly his own.
This system was giving him an oppurtunity to grow , Why should he waste it ?.
He was also amazed at the things that could be brought by this system.
The glass bottle lying in his warehouse filled with a light green fluid. According to system , it is known as repair fluid. This magical elixir could heal a person who was injured completely if the said person was injured within a natural day . Within the cycle of one sunrise to another.
He silently put it back and arranged the table for himself. The food was not only delicious but also exquisite. Drinking a glass of milk , he sent the empty box back into the warehouse.
He was only left with a month from his awakening ceremony.Not only he has to repair the castle , he also has to send invitations to various aristocratic families.
Previously in the state of lacking funds , he might have closed the duchy gates , but now it isn't neccessary.
Without socialising , he wouldn't be able to mix in the noble society.Although he's a child , He's still a duke.
More so , the reason for such decision is also the motivation given by system.
[ Mission 1: Wealth is a deterrent force . Just as is power. Please show off your wealth by hosting a banquet within 45 natural days.
Reward : Draw chance ×5 ]
[ Please work hard towards showing off your wealth host ]
Although he didn't know what the reward was, the previous 600 gold coins he recieved made him motivated to work hard.
He didn't have any official work to do , niether he wants to until he could absorb all the knowledge he should know about how to deal with his people. His bedroom door was going to stay shut for quite some days most of the time. Hans was responsible for any major event that would happen.
Clicking on the learning space , he entered to learn sword play .
He could only enter 3 times a day in this space ,and a total amount of time he could spend was described as 4 hours by the system of the real world. That means he has almost 40 hours , 2 natural days worth time to spend learning each day.
He wanted to improve himself as fast as he could.
.....
When he was ejected from the white mist , he gasped for breath. It's noon outside . His whole body was aching. He was never trained in such intensity before. Not with the swords and daggers. According to people around him , a lord just needs his subordinates to act.
He hates that incompetent look if his father and everyone from Asteria family. Azure Royal famiky was like a sword hanging on them.
He cleaned himself up again ,ate his food silently and went to the office.
Hans gave him the report on expenditure. The castle would usher in the repairing session soon.
" Hans , We need to prepare for my awakening ceremony banquet" , he said.
Hans wasn't surprised.A banquet may cost about a lot . He didn't know where the coins would come from.But he was confident in Kai. He won't ever make empty promises.
Kai indeed have confidence. He was learning business. Each time he would make a qualitative change while learning , system would reward him. He was going to absorb that knowledge frantically these days.
....
[ Host ! please prepare to move out in three hours ]
Looking at the system reminder, he corrected his frilled tie and frilly cuffs of his shirt.
Draping a grey-white beast fur cloak on himself , he was satisfied himself in the mirror.
Today he would be going to the marketplace in the town near the castle. It would take him 4 hours reaching the town plaza considering the speed of carriage.
When he walked out of the castle gate, few servants were seeing him off. Two knights stood near the carriage door. A coachman and two servants were also included. This pitifully small entourage for a Duke would become a laughingstock if it would be known to others , but he could care less.
Hans suddenly pushed a bulging velvet pouch in his hands. He was surprised. It was a pouch with 100 gold coins in it . He didn't say a word. There wasn't a need to .
Sitting in the carriage , the entourage departed from the castle.
.....
Dirty roads filled with mud and gravel , bushes growing wildly on the both sides of the road , he felt how incompetent his father was. He thought he was an exllent lord even if he wasn't a good father. Now reality tells him that he wasn't good at that either.
Reaching to the town , they parked the carriage near the entrance and walked on foot withhis entourage.
Looking at the lively but scene, his heart hummed. He wanted his people to live a good life.
He first walked into a clothing store. Although his subordinates didn't know what the young duke wanted , they followed along. Buying clothes for everyone cost him merely 42 silver. It wasn't cheap , but it wasn't expensive either.
He also bought 20 pairs of clothings for both men and women and let his servant load them in carriage. Then he went to weapon shop and bought 10 swords . 10 set of leather armor. This alone cost him nearly 3 gold coins.
But the effect of such sweeping was indeed much better. The reverent gazes of shopkeepers as well as the servant and knights he brought with him was the effect he wanted. He needed to buy people's hearts first. There was nothing better than tying people with interest than blind loyality.
When he was in his shopping frenzy , he noticed a man sitting near the plaza with a bundle of clothes in front of him , but there wasn't anyone near him buying or even interested.
He turned and walked towards the man .
" What are you selling , Gentleman? " , he asked.
The man finally looked up at him. Looking at the child dressed in aristrocratic clothes, he didn't feel any joy . He was sad.
The things he was selling was something of no interest to aristocrats.
" I'm from Bovate town in the south My lord. This is a type of cloth people in our town wove together . The thread of this cloth was obtained from the Red spider beast found in the forest near Bovate township. This cloth cost us a lot my lord , I could not sell it cheaply " , he said with a sad voice.
Touching the soft cloth in plain white without any color , one might easily neglect is as common cloth. He could tell the toughness of this cloth by just touching. And people might not know , although red spider beasts do not attack indiscriminately , thier silk is an absolutely tough material. If it wasn't for his sword training with various beasts by the system where he was forced to learn about each of the beast he would go up against , he wouldn't know this either.
Nobles prefer to breed high quality silk beasts to make clothes than to go for spider beasts.
His mind flashed and an idea suddenly occured to him.
" How much is the price ?" , he asked.
" It would be 8 gold coins of all the cloth I have , My Lord" , he said hesitantly.
He laughed softly and then straightened up. Just when the man thought he wasn't going to buy , he was stunned by the next words.
" How much such cloth could be woven in Bovate town, ? Can you make enough to create enough cloth to make clothes for a 1000 men ?", Kai asked.
The man was stunned and then excitedly said," My lord, spider beasts sleep on thier nets in winter in large amount, the silk they spit out could make clothes for 3000 men easily ", then he said hesitantly , " It's just , the manpower and resources are necessary for such large scale production".
Kai understood . It really wasn't a small matter .
" 10 gold coins , This is the price I will give you. I want all this cloth and I wish to sign a formal contract with Bovate Town to become official cloth supplier in Asteria Duchy Castle " , he said and gave the man 10 gold coins.
Looking at the glittering coins in front of him , the man was stunned and then excitedly picked them up.
He was also surprised by the sudden invitation of young lord.
Also he doesn't know what contract is , It indeed made him happy that the noble didn't directly ask thinhs for freely. No matter what , he would have no choice but to agree . Not only he not do this , he even increased the price by directly one fourth of original price he stated.
"My name is Johan Bavate , Your excellency . I'm the son of town mayor Vaughn Bovate and could represent Bovate town in this parntership ",the man bowed deeply and said excitedly.
"Kaizel Emel Asteria , Duke of Asteria Duchy, I can represent myself as other party in this contract ", he smiled at Johan.
Johan was shocked. He was talking to his lord. He carefully checked if he behaved inappropriately anywhere in front of his excellency.
Kai laughed at the man's antics. Today's trip gave him too much of surprise.
The duchy was currently shrouded in the gloom that hit on south this summer, although it was regaining it's vitality , it was slow. There wasn't much available in market that could interest him. The granary at the castle was thankfully full. The money in treasury was gone but in the future would be placed with either hans or himself.
Getting back into carriage , it was already nightfall when he arrived back at castle. Everyone was busy unloading the carriage and he also went back to dine and sleep.