"Ok, now that we have a plan and I know the two most important people to be aware of at these social parties, I also need to learn how to act like a noble so people don't get suspicious."
"Speaking of which, my father got back to me and said we can both come visit next week for the whole week if we want. I can help teach you about the standard important things that nobles need to know, but my father will be better at pointing out the unexpected differences between being a commoner and a noble that most people wouldn't realize."
"Next week already? That's only 3 days away. We have a lot of other things on our plate like you training for your Royal mage test and us getting the new laws ready to be implemented…"
Becca shook her head in disbelief, "Nick! How long do you think it takes to write up a law? James is going to need at least a week to get all the details figured out.
As for me, I can still train in the mornings at my family's training grounds. Now that I have your permission, they won't stop me. I wonder how surprised the knights that guarded me will be when they see how strong I really am."
Everything Becca said made sense. "Alright, I'll double check with James if he will have any problem with us being away for the week. How far is your family's territory from here?"
"It will take a full day on a carriage to get there."
I thought about constantly teleporting us until we reached Becca's home, but I could only take the things I was directly touching, so we would be missing our luggage. We weren't in too much of a rush, so I decided a day carriage ride wouldn't be too bad. I'd never ridden on a carriage before so I was excited.
"Ok, we can head out on Sunday so we can get there Monday."
It was currently Thursday, so we had a couple of days to prepare. We also were going on our market date to pick up the new book Becca was interested in on Saturday. Our schedule was pretty packed, but it was manageable.
"Awesome, I'll send a letter so my father knows we are coming."
"You will need to teach me some stuff so that I don't look like a fool. Like how to eat with proper etiquette."
"Ok next time we eat, I'll correct your mistakes. I think your conversation skills are good. Just make sure that my father greets you first. Then from there on, you can talk like how you talk to me and you should be fine."
"Ok, I need to make a good first impression. I want my wife's parents to like me!"
Becca started to laugh, "you need to remember it's not a first impression! My parents already probably hate you since the original Nicolas was always arrogant. They would always flatter you though, since you were of a much higher status than us."
The reality made me frown. "You are right. But I want them to at least know that from now on, their daughter is in good hands."
Becca rolled her eyes, "From my father's actions, it seems like he doesn't care if I am in good hands or not."
I patted her head to remind her that at least one person would always be on her side. "I'll get to the bottom of how your father truly feels about you. If he still wants the best for you or if he only cares about flattering me at the expense of you. Then I'll let you decide how we should deal with him as a united front.
Since the next thing we are going to do is go into the market to pick up a new book, tell me a little bit about the lives that commoners live. Is the Duchy a good place for them to live? Or do the commoners have to struggle to get enough food to survive?"
"The Duchy became really prosperous 20 years ago when the stamina potion was created. Ever since, the Duchy has put a lot of money into trying to recruit all the alchemists they can find. It is one of the few professions that will not discriminate against women since alchemists are so rare and valuable.
Sadly, even though the Duchy had a huge influx of money after the production of stamina potions, most of it went directly into the pockets of the nobles, while the wages of commoners stayed stagnant. We have a lot of immigrants coming here every year because there are an excess of jobs. However, in every town in the Duchy, you will still find an area that is set aside for the slums. Luckily, most commoners do not starve to death anymore, but they do have to work hard to just barely get by."
Hoarding all the wealth at the top was something I was very familiar with in my world. But now that I am the leader of my own territory, I want all of my people to have a good minimum standard of living. I wonder if James is also good enough with finances and economics to help me figure out the specifics.
"We should stop by the alchemist department some day, my knowledge from my futuristic world might help them make some new breakthroughs."
"If we were able to create another potion as good as the stamina potion, the Duchy would end up being as wealthy as an entire Kingdom!"
Becca's remarks had a hint of rebellion in them, but I don't think she is the type that would want a violent rebellion. She probably just wanted to represent the scale, so I chose to over look it.
"So, do commoner men also have multiple wives and concubines?"
Becca shook her head, "it is very rare for a commoner to have more than one wife because they can't afford to take care of that many people. The only ones that do are rich commoner merchants.
As for concubines, they only exist for women that are taken care for by men ranked higher than them, so commoners can't have a concubine since this Kingdom has not had slavery for over 200 years.
Instead, commoner men will go to brothels and spend a night with a prostitute if they want to be with someone other than their wife."
After getting this information on how commoner relationships worked, I thought of a potential bad consequence of one of our new laws.
"You know, I would feel pretty bad if men started stealing other people's wives by becoming their second husband and the commoner first husbands would be forced to stay with their wife because they can't divorce and can't afford to take a second wife.
So maybe we should add a clause in the law that says current couples can only do what their significant other has already done themselves and new couples must get approval from their significant other to get more spouses or concubines. That way they can make deals so both parties are happy.
I do want this new law to increase the number of couples that want divorce to be legalized, but I also don't want it to leave anyone in a situation where they are forced to stay in a loveless relationship without any chance to find love themselves."
Becca nodded in understanding, "it is going to be messy no matter what as long as divorce is not an option, but while our movement is in its infancy, this is probably the best that we can do."
"Alright, I'll let James know about it. Let's call it a day, I already learned too much for my brain to retain it all."
"Yeah, let's go eat dinner."
We cleaned up our mess and then headed out.