It was going to be his first time sightseeing. He could see the development and difference between the eras.
He needed to broaden his horizon for what was to come.
...
He leisurely descended down from the stairs to the ground floor, for the first time from the time of his arrival.
He laid his eyes on a large four wheeled carriage with a suspended body and two doors.
There were glass windows available to the adjacent side of the gates, with a logo of sword and shield in front.
The carriage had a team of four horses, they were connected to the carriage with attaching shafts. Instead of the coachmen, his butler Warner was sitting ready to guide the horses.
"We are ready to depart, mylord" seeing him looking at the horse carriage, the butler informed.
From the moment of his arrival in this world, he had not spoken more than a few sentences to his butler.
He felt worried if the butler would find it suspicious.
Also the fact that he was departing to an event of a higher ranking noble, an Earl whom he did not even recognize made him anxious.
...
Normally, from what he read and knew the nobles nitpicked very little things starting from etiquettes to the dressing sense and spoken words.
As far as he was concerned about the previous Viscount's political expertise, it did not seem any good.
He kept himself alone and made no efforts to establish connections and alliances, evident from the fact that he got ambushed.
He was not very worried about these, what concerned him was his lack of general knowledge and inability to respond to the political opinions.
...
It was given that the Earl would not just have them celebrate his child's birthday and ask to leave. There was a meeting to be held the very next day, at least this much was confirmed.
As for how much the meeting would be about politics? the Viscount had left no written details or any notes.
Although he had a book named History of Aeratia inside his notepad, which had knowledge of his kingdom's history. He could not instantly understand and read it all.
Perhaps his lack of connections and social life could help him evade his political inexperience, he hoped.
...
He entered the carriage as his butler elegantly held the door for him. Inside the carriage, he could see two plush seats with the gap of the door between the. it was big enough for four adults to sit comfortably.
The seat felt soft to touch, it had to be as the horse carriages were the only mode of transport available.
Even strong Ki warriors would not prefer sitting uncomfortably for a long distance travels, not to mention that most of the nobles were rich and willing to spend for comfort.
The carriage had a compartment below the seats, which stored the necessary ration and other auxiliaries.
'Do i have a gift for the kid's birthday?'upon seeing the storage compartment and ration inside the carriage Terias thought about the basic etiquettes of nobles.
Gifting was a common thing even back in his previous world and he did not remember his butler mentioning any gift for the kid.
The carriage was yet be started and he was seated, he tried to ask naturally from his butler and said " Have the gifts been prepared?"
"For the events, sir? The tier 3 emerald grass has been packed ready for the birthday boy's gift.
As for the exchange event, five precious medicinal herbs from treasury has been placed in the container under your seat." the butler naturally explained.
"We are departing, sir" the butler notified, his tone asking for acknowledgement or permission
"alright" Terias replied
...
The carriage started, he could see his manor slowly being left behind. The speed was sufficient for him to enjoy the surroundings.
The manor was surrounded by a big garden, how big? Well, it took a few minutes of passing through beautiful trees on each side of the road to finally reach the busy area.
The market looked fairly clean, the shops were made out of bricks and wood. The fruit and vegetables vendor were even selling their product by placing a makeshift ceiling of clothes supported by wood.
Few people were in the market at the moment, perhaps because it was beginning to get hot as the sun was already upon them.
The people hastily made way for the horse carriage to pass. They were mostly peasants wearing plain baggy clothes, devoid of any colour.
It could be easily assessed that the province was not doing good. The Viscount did not heed much attention to the governing as most of the work was handed to his brothers.
'Maybe it's just my perspective, comparing them with populas of another era does not seem fair.' was what he thought
...
There were some big merchant shops present in the market, built with bricks and furnished with aesthetic wood. The design looked pleasing to the eye compared to the rest.
The shop was actually a medicine shop, it bought herbs and other products with potential effects while selling medicine of different kind.
In the medical field, the common people were really fortunate here. Most of their diseases could be easily cured with the tier 1 and tier 2 herbs.
...
The herbs were categorised according to their potency, their affect on human body and the amount of energy it contained.
The potency was most important as the Ki or Life energy inside it would not matter much if it could not be actually utilised.
Though in cases where the energy was high in amount, it could be traded to the Ki warrior proficient in energy control.
Tier 1 were normally enough for most of the diseases, Tier 2 was actually the beginning where it met the Ki warrior's needs.
...
Tier 2 medicine were potent enough to leave the consumer suffering from excess energy if they could not even use the basic ki.
In most cases wtih the decrease in dosage, the medicine could be consumed by the normal populas almost freeing then from all the severe ailments.
The tier 3 emerald herb which the butler had packed for the youngest child of Earl Scheta was among the least potent ones in its tier.
When consumed raw without any catalyst the effects were barely sustainable by the level one ki warrior.
It could help in increasing the quality of physique as well as quickly increasing Ki in large amounts.
...
The market was slowly left behind, he did not see anything else which piqued his interest.
The distance was barely covered for half an hour and he began to feel irked by the constant jerking of the carriage.
The plush seat was comfortable but the constant jerks without any break made him unable to rest. He could only keep seated and wish that the road further would get better.
Although he already knew that it was very likely impossible.
...
He remained seated, the coachmen who was his butler did not utter a word and kept riding.
The road had become narrow and more hard to bear with, the area was currently the least populated he had seen in his almost two hours of travel.
The hustle and bustle of the market was left far behind, only the dense trees and eerie winds awaited.
To his luck or bad luck, the forest like place did not have any wild animals. The place felt too peaceful to be forest but was packed with trees and wild plants.
...
' I don't know, it is possible that a big predator marked his territory resulting in the lack of wildlife in the area.
Is that a blockage? A road blockade in the middle of the forest?' he felt surprised at the antics of whoever it was.
He and his butler were both had close to level three Ki warrior strength.
He had his strength decreased because of the limited ki while Warner was at peak of the level two Ki.
...
His suspicions came true, the blockade was actually done to harm him. The Viscount's horse carriage, as a noble vehicle has a logo of shield and sword painted on it.
The fearless men behind the blockade of road did not react even after the carriage came in their visibility range.
The meaning was loud and clear, they did not care if the victim was a noble. They had sufficient strength to handle them and consequence after the noble's death.
'Or there is a slight possibility that they have specifically come to target him.' he reached another conclusion.
...
Whatever the reason may be, it was difficult for him to engage in combat. He sadly had a body of an eighty years old, even though he could move around like a fit young man.
Not to mention, he did not have any real combat experience to fight for his life.
...
He also had the knowledge that even a level three Ki warrior could be ganged up by normal humans with weapons.
A warrior had natural increment in strength as the ki in the body increased, but only specifically training the body would result in a strong body.
A normal Ki warrior who worked on mastery of Ki energy rather than physical body, only had two to three times of normal person's strength and endurance.
Sadly, he could only leave it to his butler.
His eyes widened in shock and his heart palpitated, as a feet long metal arrow stuck in the carriage suddenly. The man behind the blockade aimed another arrow at him.
...