Arriving at Harley's house, Harley, Nara, and Nolan entered inside quietly. Henry was asleep, so they didn't want to wake him up.
Nara brought Nolan a clean brown hanfu.
Nolan changed into the brown hanfu. Since it was late at night, after throwing the old, bloody, white-blue hanfu, they all headed to sleep.
...
Nolan slowly opened his eyes.
The sun was already up, the sunrays penetrating the room from the window above Nolan's head.
Nolan stood up from bed. He tied his long black hair with the white jade hairpin and headed to the living room.
The table in the living room was already set and rich in dishes. It had the restaurant's specialty dish, hot pot, steamed buns, and some more meat.
Around the table on three-legged chairs sat Harley, Nara, and Henry. They all waited for Nolan to wake up and eat together.
"Uncle Nolan!" Henry jumped from his chair and ran to Nolan, giving him a huge hug.
"Henry," Nolan hugged Henry happily with a wide smile.
"Uncle, I have not seen you for a long time. I heard Mother and Father talking. You come late at night and leave early in the morning." Henry spoke. "Do you not miss me? Do you not want to see me?"
Nolan patted Henry's' head. "I missed you. But I was too busy. Will you forgive me?"
Henry turned his head away.
"Henry, I think you should forgive your Uncle," Nara said.
Henry turned to Nolan. "I will forgive you, but only if you tell me a story after we eat."
"Henry, your Uncle has a lot of work. He doesn't have time to tell you stories," Harley said.
"It's alright. I can find some time for my cute little nephew." Nolan said, pinching Henry's cheeks.
"Aghhh." Henry broke away from Nolan. "It's a promise." He said with a wide smile.
He then ran to the table and sat on his three-legged chair.
Nolan walked to the table and sat on the only empty chair. "It's a promise." Nolan smiled widely at Henry.
"Alright, let's eat," Harley said and started eating.
Smelling the delicious dishes, Nolan's stomach turned upside down. He had not eaten since yesterday. The last time he ate was in the morning when Layla gave him two bowls of porridge.
Nolan dug in the food. Though he was starving, he still controlled himself to some extent, just as much as to not embarrass himself.
'I picked up a really bad habit.' Nolan thought as he ate. 'I should start eating regularly from now on. I could get sick if I continue skipping meals like I do since coming to this world.'
Eating in silence, they finished their meal in about ten minutes.
"Uncle Nolan, It's time to keep your promise." Henry reminded.
"Alright, alright." Nolan smiled. "Let me think what story to tell you."
Nara stood up and started clearing the table while Harley and Henry sat in silence, waiting for Nolan to start his story.
"Alright, I know which one to tell you," Nolan said after a few minutes.
Nolan was just about to start telling the story, but Nara, still clearing the table, said: " Wait, wait. I want to hear the story too."
She quickly finished clearing the table and sat on the three-legged chair.
"Okay, I'll start," Nolan said. "This is a story about a boy who died and woke up in another world. It begins like this..."
...
In fifteen minutes, Nolan finished the story.
"Whoaa! Uncle Nolan is the best at telling stories." Henry said, his eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky.
"Henry, didn't you say yesterday today you were going to meet with your friends and play?" Harley asked. "I think it's almost time."
"Ah. I forgot." Smiling widely, Henry rubbed the back of his head. "Mother, Father, I am heading out."
Henry ran out of the house and headed down the street to the meeting place of his friends.
"Harley, he is just seven years old. Is it alright to let him play on the street alone?" Nolan asked worriedly.
"Don't worry," Nara replied instead of Harley. "On this street, he is quite popular. Everyone loves him, so he will be fine."
"I see."
"What are we going to do?" Unable to hold it in anymore, Harley asked. "What do you plan to do?"
"Sighhh," Nolan let out a deep sigh. "As far as I can see, it will take some time to resolve the situation with Bonosus. But the construction of the village already started.
When I left the village, I didn't leave behind me much food. The food I left is at most going to last them till tomorrow.
So the first thing I plan to do is buy a horse and cart. Then transport a lot of food and other things they need."
"Looks like you have a lot of work to do," Harley commented.
"Do we have enough money to buy all that?" Nolan asked worriedly.
"Well, since we opened the restaurant a few days ago, our popularity skyrocketed. The restaurant is full all day, and with each day, more and more nobles are coming to our restaurant. Yesterday, almost half of the guests were nobles.
Also, the dishes we serve are expensive, and since they are nobles, they eat only our best dish, the hot pot, which costs three taels of silver." Nara explained. "So just from the restaurant alone, we make around thirty to forty taels of silver a day. If we add the money we make from the gambling facility and the chambers on the second floor, we make no less than sixty taels of silver a day."
"So much!" Nolan exclaimed in shock.
"Hahaha!" Seeing Nolan's shocked expression, Harley burst into laughter.
"Why are you laughing?" Nolan asked, ashamed.
"If you think carefully about it, it's not that much money."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, since we have many guests, naturally, we need more ingredients to make the dishes. So we spend about ten taels of silver daily to buy ingredients and another fifteen taels for alcohol.
That leaves us only thirty-five taels of silver. And since we pay our employees daily, after paying our employees, we are left with only thirty taels of silver.
And since we divide it fifty-fifty, you get fifteen taels, and I and Nara get fifteen taels." Harley explained.
Nolan clenched his fists. "Harley, I know it may sound shameless, but please lend me your money." Nolan stood up and bowed. "I know we agreed to split what we earn from the restaurant fifty-fifty, but though I don't know the prices of most of the things I need to buy, I think I will not have enough money to buy all the things I need."
Harley and Nara looked at each other.
"Nolan, please don't bow," Harley said. "At the beginning, we did agree to split the money we earn fifty-fifty. But that was then. Now, I think of you as a part of our family. Our money is yours too."
"I agree," Nara said. "Besides, we don't need so much money. Just eating delicious food every day is enough for us. We don't have ambitions like buying houses or building a village."
"Thank you," Nolan bowed even lower.
"Eihhh!" Harley jumped from the chair and grabbed Nolan by the shoulders, forcing him to raise, "I told you, don't bow."
"Thank you," Nolan thanked again.
"Sigh!" Harley sighed helplessly. "Nara," He turned to Nara. "Bring the money box here."
Nara stood up and entered the door opposite the door of Nolan's room.
A few moments later, she brought out a long and wide wooden box.
Nara passed the box to Nolan. "Here are thirty taels of silver."
"Thank you," Nolan thanked again as he accepted the box.
Swosh!
The wooden box disappeared in thin air.
"W-What happened? Where did the wooden box go?" Nara asked, shocked.
However, contrary to her, Harley didn't have much of a reaction. This was not his first time seeing Nolan's so-called sorcery, and he also expected Nolan to make the box vanish.
"You could refer to it as a sorcery. Using sorcery, I store the items in different place. And, of course, I can make those items appear anytime I need them." Nolan answered Nara's question.
"I-I see."
"Ohhhh. Nara, If you allow, can Harley come to the village with me?" Nolan asked. "We would return in a day."
Harley glanced at Nolan. Why would Nolan want him to go as well? Just as he started puzzling over Nolan's actions, the thing he unconsciously neglected finally hit him. "Wait, why are you asking her?!"
Nolan turned to Harley. "Well, it's not like your opinion matters much. Even If you agree to go with me, If Nara doesn't let you go, even if you insist, she will beat you up, and you will still not come with me."
"Why do you want him to come with you?" Nara asked.
"I might need some help in the future. Or maybe a situation similar to this will arise, and I will not be able to go to the village. I need someone to know the village's location, so they can transport something there if needed.
"I understand. Then, he can go."
"Alright!" Nolan smiled. "Harley, let's go. Let's buy the things needed for the construction of the village and head there." Nolan ran to the door leading outside.
"Harley, I'll wait outside." He said. "Nara, see you tomorrow." Biding goodbye to Nara, Nolan opened the door and left the house. "
Harley made a few steps forward and got closer to Nara. He tightly hugged her, placing her head on his chest.
Harley kissed her forehead. "Tell Henry I love him, and I will return soon." Harley whispered to Nara."
"Alright, alright. Don't act like you are not going to return for a hundred days. You are leaving only for a day."
"See you soon," Harley said and left the house.
...
Leaving the house, he saw Nolan waiting for him.
They then started moving forward.
"What do we need to buy first?" Harley asked.
"We need to buy a horse and a cart. And also some hay to feed it." Nolan said. "Do you know where we can buy them?"
"I know. But it's going to take a long time to arrive there."
"Well, it's not like we have a choice, right?"
Harley just nodded and led the way.
...
After walking for almost half-hour and taking a lot of shortcuts, Nolan and Harley arrived on a street full of carriages pulled by horses. The road on this street was much wider than on any other street Nolan had seen so far, and the carriages were parked in long lines on both sides of the street.
This street was also unusually busy with people. Especially unusual because there were not any stalls on this street. And Nolan couldn't help but notice that most people were nicely dressed.
"What is this street?" Nolan asked, looking around in amazement.
"This is a street, and at the same, it's not. This whole street is actually a business. You see those carriages." Harley pointed at the carriages.
"They are used to bring people from one place to another. If you want to travel a long distance and you have money, the best thing you can do is come here and hire a carriage with a coachman. This saves a lot of time, and most importantly, you don't need to walk."
"Ohhhh! This is great! I never thought there would be a taxi in this world!" Nolan got even more amazed.
"What is a taxi?" Harley asked, confused and surprised at the same time by the unknown word. Since he was a noble before, he naturally had a higher education than the rest of the people, so he didn't have a lot of unknown words.
"It doesn't matter. Just something randomly came out of my mouth." Nolan quickly found an excuse. "Harley, this is a very large business. How do they manage it? And who is in charge of this business?" Nolan asked curiously.
"In terms of size, this street here is just the tip of an iceberg. In just this city, there are at least three more streets like this. And that's not all. There are streets like this in every city through our Bergon Empire." Harley explained.
"Of course, this large business cannot be left in the hands of someone other than the Emperor and the Government Officials." Harley continued. "The person in charge of this large business is the Supreme General. But since he is the Supreme General and is mostly on the battlefield, the business is managed by his son. But he has only one son and a daughter, so his son has many trusted assistants helping him manage this business in every city."
"Supreme General? Is there also a Prime Minister?" Nolan asked. "Can you tell me more about the Government Officials?"
"Sure. But can we talk along the way? We still need a lot of time before we arrive at our destination." Harley said as he walked over to a carriage.
On the coachman's seat on the carriage, the coachman's box sat the coachman of the carriage.
A/N: Coachman Box - The driver of the carriage has a raised seat in front of the carriage to allow better vision. It is often called a box, box seat, or coach box.
"Is it free?" Harley asked.
"Get in." The coachman said.
Harley opened the door of the carriage, and stepping on the folding step, he entered the carriage. Of course, Nolan followed behind him.
They sat on the comfortable passenger seat.
"Where to?" The coachman asked.
"Golden Horse Hut."
"Understood." The coachman prepared himself.
"Hiaaaa!" He started the horses, and the carriage started moving forward.