The afternoon sun shines on every inch of Palermo, casting a rare veil of silence on the city.
Today is a holiday. If you are in the aristocratic area, you will find many aristocratic families happily enjoying the rare good weather in October.
I took my wife, children, and a dozen servants to have a picnic party on the garden lawn. The smoke from the cooking stoves added a bit of pastoral atmosphere to this urban garden.
Although Palermo is a seaside city, as time goes by, October of 1191 in the Valley Calendar will come to an end with the end of the Harvest Festival.
And in November, the winter awakening moon among the people in the North will soon be accompanied by a cold current that can freeze the inland sea all the way south, embracing all the harbors on the entire west coast into the embrace of the cold wind.
We will have to wait until next spring for another gathering.
By then, there will be many fewer ships on the Thousand Sail Sea, and the bustling ports and bustling docks in the past will usher in a brief period of calm.
Part of the reason is that the sea route between the south and the north has been cut off due to weather. The sea of floating ice in the north is impossible to navigate at all. Not only are the ship ports frozen, but even the huge sea surface is filled with floating ice from further north.
Another part of the reason is the arrival of the New Year.
Many businessmen and mercenaries who have been working hard for a year are ready to go home and rest. Even those who don't have a home will choose to spend a few days in a hotel or tavern that is warm and comfortable, where they don't have to think too much and just have fun.
This also promotes a sharp increase in consumption in various city-states with the arrival of the New Year, among which alcohol is a relatively popular commodity.
Therefore, other industries are already preparing to think about how to pass the new year this year.
Edith controls two-thirds of the mid- to low-end alcohol market in Palermo. He is not only a supplier to all bars and hotels, but also sells alcohol to several cities in the North. He has a double-digit number of alcohol agents.
family.
It's very busy at the moment.
The carriages waiting to be loaded outside the wine estate even formed a long queue of one kilometer away from the door. Many carriages were preparing to load the newly brewed wine to the dock, and then transport it to the Northland by ship. On the floating ice sea
The ice floes are sent to local agents before they are completely spread.
"The Edith family's liquor business is doing really well!"
People who pass by or see the winery will sincerely sigh. In the past few years, since the Edith family confirmed that they are engaged in the wine business, they can see the growth before their eyes, and the progress is getting faster year by year.
I even heard that the Edith family's wine market has been improved in recent years and is very close to the taste of the North.
The wine is rich in aroma and sweet in the mouth.
It is already well-known in the Northland and has opened up the market. The number of businessmen who have come all the way to wine estates to seek agents has reached double figures this year.
If nothing else happens, the scale of Edith Family Liquor will expand next year.
This is recognized by almost all nobles in the noble district.
It's just that the heavy taxes on alcohol can only put the Edith family in a position of neither top nor bottom.
The earl couldn't reach him, and the ordinary viscount couldn't compare with him.
This is also the reason why the Edith family spent huge sums of money in the past few years to send several of the family's heirs who are expected to become spellcasters to the noble and mysterious Mage Tower to study mysterious magic.
In the Kingdom of Bavialo, or the entire Southern Principality, five hundred years have passed since the era of great development.
The titles of Baron and Viscount only depend on the amount of money you give to the ruler, as long as you have enough wealth.
Today you can be a wanted criminal, but tomorrow you will be a honored guest in a neighboring country and be granted noble status.
But this is not the case for counts and dukes. With their fiefs and private soldiers, they are more like the real cornerstone of the kingdom. There can be hundreds or even thousands of viscounts and barons, but counts and dukes are extremely rare in a country.
Like Baviallo, there have been only about ten counts with real fiefdoms since the founding of the country, and there are only three dukes.
What they have in common, besides having made outstanding contributions to the kingdom, is that each family has powerful professionals, or there is support beyond ordinary people behind them.
Even among them, the Baviallo Kingdom is located in the Amber Territory of Dongshan Province, and the Stani family with the "Redbud Duke" has the support of an adult silver dragon.
In return, a large number of silver coins and silver jewelry will be sent to the dragon's nest every year, and the various wishes of the awakened adult silver dragon will be fulfilled.
Therefore, if you want to get promoted, a strong professional is essential.
Although the Edith family also recruits from outside, their main choice is to strengthen themselves and cultivate future generations.
If nothing unexpected happens and you are lucky, twenty or thirty years later, with the help of high-level professionals who have grown up, you may be able to successfully remove the title of Viscount and gain an additional fief or even a city that belongs to him, just like
It's the same as Palermo now.
At this time, the owner of the wine estate, Susan Edith, was not as resolute as she was in the outside world. Instead, she had a gloomy look on her eyebrows, and she had not read any of the wine-related reports and contracts in her hand.
Logically speaking, she should be at the desk under the exquisite square window, bathing in the afternoon sunshine, leisurely handling business matters, but since when did her mood become chaotic.
Perhaps it was after learning from the servant in the morning that her taciturn nephew Woody Aleister had disappeared.
It wasn't until there was a respectful knock on the door that she changed from standing by the window to sitting upright, picking up the cold black tea and taking a sip.
Before the visitor came in, the question had already been sent to Cromwell's ears who had just entered.
"found it?"
"Back to Madam, I did not find the whereabouts of Master Woody, but another matter. In the Sublime Forest you asked me to investigate last time, someone came back from the city-state in the east."
"Well, from the Earl of Rees? What news did he spread?"
Although she was a little anxious, Susan still held back and forced herself into working mode.
Although Woody had already told her once, and she believed it in her heart, she was still eager to know whether it was true or not - from her channel.
"Yes, that's right. It's the young Master Filius of Earl Rees who is studying in the White Tower. He came down from the high tower in the academy area last night and came back through the portal. It is said that he was in time for his sister's wedding."
Cromwell felt the gaze cast by Susan in front of him, and told her the news he had just received and the causes and consequences in an orderly manner.
"After returning home, Filius invited his friends from the former academy the next morning. It is said that he brought a dimensional bag of elf products as a gift and gave it away."
"……."
"So is it really possible to open up trade?"
After a long silence, Susan returned to her usual shrewd and courageous side, issuing orders one by one, until finally she handed over Woody's matter to Cromwell.
"If you still haven't found it after a while, bring a thousand gold coins with you and ask the priests from the Temple of Dawn or the Temple of Life to help you find them using magic. People will never disappear out of thin air. They are the best at it."
"I understand, madam, where is the Narutov family? Today he sent another invitation letter. He wants to invite you, madam, to attend the banquet at the manor and discuss the price of the transfer of the winery. If it is not suitable, they seem to have
We can talk again."
Cromwell asked while responding.
"Push it away, just say that the learning fees required by the Ebola Academy for mage apprentices have increased again, and they do not have the ability to purchase a winery in the short term. Let him ask other companies."
"By the way, Cromwell, please be careful in your tone of voice."
The aristocratic woman, who had closed her eyes and was lying on her back on the chair, wondering what she was thinking, said without looking up.
"Got it, ma'am."
As the door closed and the footsteps faded away, the room became quiet again, and a faint sigh came out again.
…
Soon after, in a European-style manor that was more luxurious than a wine manor.
Angry curses came from the completely enclosed and magically soundproofed study.
"Damn! This bicth, did she really say that?"
"Yes, Master, she asked Cromwell, the butler, to tell me."
"Logan, don't worry. It seems that our wine queen has noticed something. She has a very sensitive sense of smell. I underestimated her."
There were only three people in the room, one was a middle-aged man in steward's clothing, and the other two were middle-aged aristocrats in gorgeous clothing, either sitting or standing.
They are the managers who have controlled the Rutov family over the years, the Rutov brothers.
Among them stood a middle-aged aristocratic man with an angry look on his face, his mustache slightly raised when he spoke. He was none other than Logan Rutov.
Sitting there, with a still calm expression, was his brother, Marko Rutov.
"Then brother, what should we do?"
Logan was still very angry, but he was quite convinced of his brother. After all, without him, he would not have been able to bring the Rutov family to this point.
"She should already know."
"Then use the secret weapon that was supposed to be used to deal with the Quinn family to deal with her."
"Just in time to see the effect."
After saying that, Marco smiled, uncrossed his hands on the table, and stood up.
He patted his brother on the shoulder and said sincerely.
"Logan, you have to remember that sometimes, just knowing without power will not make any difference."
When talking about strength, both brothers' eyes flashed with an inexplicable light.
Moreover, in a few days, the rainy season, which lasts throughout November, will begin.
…
At the same time, in the underground mines of Old Street.
Woody followed the corridor all the way down, and then he saw a touch of blue lake color and the sound of rushing water wherever he could see.
I saw a ten-meter-wide river at the very bottom of the corridor. The water was so clear that you could see the pebbles at the bottom.
The most strange thing is that this section of the river seems to be inserted into the rocks. It is blocked by rocks on the front, back, left and right, but it still flows continuously.
At this time, Woody realized that it turned out that the fairy passage was not the lair of the bully monster, but here.
