Next morning…
I felt there was a hand pushing my right foot, and my right hand…I slowly opened my eyes and saw it was Aalis and Ame, Aalis pushed my hand and Ame pushed my foot…
After I opened my eyes, Aalis greeted me, "Good morning, Your highness…"
"Good Morning too…"
I got up and Ame greeted me too "Go..od..Morning, Your highness…"
"Where is your spirit, Ame?."
"GOOD MORNING, YOUR HIGHNESS.."
"GOOD MORNING TOO.."
Aalis said, "Your highness, Everyone has waited for your highness downstairs…"
"Really?? They are amazing… wake up early with less sleep…"
I stood up from the bed.
"Your highness, let me tidy up."
There was no dressing table in here, so I just sat on the chair in front of the desk.. Before Aalis tidied my hair, I asked her, "Can you tie my hair? So it will make it easy to move…"
"Of course, Your Highness..."
Meanwhile, Ame took a dress in my suitcase.
I saw her and asked Aalis about the dress "Is there no other type of clohtes than the dress in my suitcases?"
"I believe there are no clothes other than dresses."
I asked her, "Can I borrow your normal clothes, Aalis?"
Aalis was surprised. "Your highness wants to borrow my clothes??"
"Yes…I believe it will suit me…"
"But your highness…It will not be appropriate if you wear my normal clothes…It is a servant's clothes.."
"Well, appropriate or not…it depends on the one who wears it…If I say it's okay, sure, it will be okay…"
Aalis just sighed "If you insisted not to wear the dress and wanted to wear my normal clothes, sure, I will lend it to you, your highness.."
Aalis walked towards her suitcase and took the clothes from the suitcase…It was white clothes and brown pants…she gave it to me…
"This is your highness…Let me wear it to you…" Aalis said..
After Aalis finished tying my hair, she asked me to stand…She and Ame started to wear it to me, and I was just standing…She wore the clothes to me, and Ame wore the pants to me…And it was done…
There was no mirror in the room, so I could see myself…Aalis and Ame just said it was great on me…I saw the Aldea's boots that she lent to me yesterday still in here…So I wore it…I went downstairs with Aalis and Ame…
…
..
.
I saw the tavern was so empty; all the tables were empty except one table. It was everyone who was waiting for me at one table…The only one who was sitting was Zoe and Cail…I approached them…Everyone was just nodding to me…and I sat at the table..
I greeted them and said, "I heard everyone is waiting for me…It is amazing for everyone to wake up early with less sleep.."
"Because we are used to..." Louis said it beside me..
"I just hope everyone gets a good rest... So today, like I said yesterday…we will start to work on it…Zoe can start anytime and take your time to borrow the documents from the baron residence, I think the place will have some security so take your time…"
Zoe was so confident "Your highness, you just sit tight; no matter what security they have, it will be an easy job for me."
"I like your confidence, but I just want you to be careful and be safe. The next one is Cail…You will start today, and you can start to interview people at any location. Take your time to gather the information from the people; if the people don't want it, don't force them. Ask them about the current situation and last year's situation; we need the data to compare..I think this needs at least a few weeks, maybe a month, to gather all…take your time; don't be so hasty…"
Cail seemed to be nervous. "Ye…s Your…High…ness.."
"Don't be so nervous, Cail... How about today, I will be the one who interviews the people, so you can watch it, observe it, and learn it…"
Cail showed some more nervousness. "But…Your..highness, is that okay??"
"It's okay…I don't have anything to do today; it is cruel; the only one who works is just the subordinate, but the superior is just sitting around."
"It's alright, if your highness just sits and waits in here, let us work…" Louis said it
"No…for me, it is not right…Let me work too..so Cail and I will be working as the interviewer, and the escort will be Louis, and Aldea or Darryl…I want Aldea or Darryl to accompany Elpis…Yesterday I gave Elpis a task to research the soil and vegetarianism of this village, but I want to know more about the soil outside the village, if there is a chance, that we can plant something outside the village, so there is another task for you Elpis, what do you think, Elpis?"
Elpis answered, "Oh my…my…sure, I will give my best for you, your highness…"
"I'm glad to hear that, and for the escort, you freely pick between Aldea and Darryl.."
"I will pick Darryl to accompany me, your highness…I think Aldea wants to be with you…"
I looked at Aldea; she was blushing. I turned to Darryl and asked, "Do you have any objections to accompanying Elpis?"
Darryl just nodded his head; it meant there was no objection..
"So that is everyone working for today, and for my 2 maids... Can you buy me clothes like I wear today? And shoes or boots?"
Louis was concerned about me "Does your highness not like the clothes that the palace brought?"
"The dress, I like it, but I think it's too much for a baron to wear, especially since the clothes will bring unacceptance from the people in this village.."
"Unacceptance?"
"The condition of the village seems shabby and bad; if the noble wears a great dress in the middle of the village, where the people are trying hard to find something to serve at the table, it makes me feel ungrateful; the money I have received and the money that bought the dress all come from them.."
Elpis smiled at me "It's great that your highness knows common sense, but the dress is so heavy that not all the nobles could wear the dress from your highness."
"Why??"
"The people know the importance of wearing a beautiful dress; the beautiful dress has great consequences for the one who wears it. There are a lot of types of dresses, and to some degree, a lot of people can't wear them, even the nobles, because of the responsibility of the dress. Your highness only views the dress from the price of the dress, but your highness needs to know the importance of the dress."
"I will learn it..but I need clothes that suit the place and are great for moving.."
Elpis said, "It's great ... .Honestly, all of us here…want to see your highness in a beautiful dress."
Everyone was smiling at me.
"I love to hear that. I will show it to all of you if there is an event where you need to wear the dress." I turned my face to Aalis and Ame "Are you okay to buy me clothes and shoes?"
The two of them nodded..
After everything was clear, all of us stood up from the table and walked towards the entrance. In front of the inn, we separated. Elpis and Darryl went outside to research the soil; Aalis and Ame went to the market street to buy clothes; Zoe went wandering; Cail, Aldea, Louis, and I went to the south of the village. My plan for the census was from the south to the north..
…
On the way, I observed Cail; he was so nervous…We arrived at the edge of the village. We started to knock door by door…We got rejected by the first door, and we introduced ourselves as the baron representative to survey the people about their condition, income, and food..We kept getting rejected from door to door..I saw that their faces were not pleasant to us..
We have already been rejected by 10 houses so far..I saw Cail so anxious about this..I wondered what would happen if Cail did it by himself with Aldea behind him for this census..Maybe he would be so anxious and scared..
We kept moving, and we knocked on another door, introduced ourselves again, and expected to be rejected…but the lady in front of us accepted us to do an interview with her..
I was so pleased…the lady welcomed us and invited us to come to her house first..We entered her house..After we got in, I saw there was only one table and two chairs in this sort of guest room..The lady pleased us to sit in and offered us drinks..We refused the offer and just wanted to start the interview..
I sat in the chair; Cail, Louis, and Aldea kept standing behind me, and the lady just kept standing in front of us..
I asked her, "You can take a seat, my lady…"
The lady just answered, "It's okay for me to stand here."
"It's not okay for me if you keep standing there; it's better for you to sit, so we can have a nice conversation.."
The lady took a seat in the chair..
"If the lady is comfortable, I am comfortable too..Before we start, let me introduce myself. I am the representative of the baron. My name is Caroline." I pointed to Cail and said, "This is my assistant; his name is Cailean, or Cail." I pointed to Aldea and Louis and said, "And these are my escorts, Aldea and Louis." My face backed to the lady. "It's alright; please don't be nervous or stressed by us. We know it is so sudden to come here without any notice; our purpose for coming here is to know how the living conditions of my lady are."
"Living Conditions of me?"
"Yes…We will ask some questions, and please, my lady answer it honestly…the lady's answer will help us and provide us with great information about the living conditions here.."
"I will try to answer it honestly.."
"It's great…don't be nervous and stressed… just relax…" Cail immediately brought the paper and pen ... .When I saw the pen, It still amazed me that this world did not use quill pens, but fountain pens. Fountain pens were invented in 1884, but this world was in mediaeval times, where they used quill pens. This was a fantasy world; maybe there were some changes in invention.
After I saw Cail ready with a pen and paper, I started to ask the lady the question.
"The first question is how many people do live in the house?"
"2 people.."
"Who are they?"
"It's my daughter and me.."
"How about last year? How many people lived in the house last year?"
"3 people.."
"3 people?"
"Yes, it is my oldest daughter.."
"Where is she now?"
"She is working in the county capital."
"Perhaps, do you know what type of work your oldest daughter has been doing?"
"I don't know anything about it; it was just arranged by the count and the baron."
"And…where is the other one?"
"She is still sleeping in another room.."
"Where is your husband?"
"He has already passed away."
"I am sorry to bring it back to you…and sorry to hear that…"
After that, and some questions later, I gathered much information about the living condition of the lady.
"I think that's all the question we have..Thank you for taking your time for us…and we are sorry if we disturbed your time."
Cail brought back the paper and the inn to his backpack.
The lady asked me, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure.."
"What will you do with all of my answers?"
"To make a great living for you, of course.."
"But, my life seems not so important; why do you need to know about it?"
"To know your life is great for us, how you live, how you work, how much your earnings, all of that is important, For the answer, why I need all of that is to make a great living for all of us, From your answer, we have much information about the condition, and that information is crucial for us to build a better living…And for a little surprise, I am not the representative of Baron, but I am the new baron of this village…"
The lady's face was surprised.
"What I do right now is like a small interaction between me and my people, and to know better about my people..If there is no question anymore…we will excuse ourselves and try to interview another house about their condition.."
"Sure…"
We excused ourselves from the lady's house and moved on to another house.