Chapter 14: Diplomatic Matter
[Author notes: From the next chapter on the chapters will be posted at 5:00 PM (+01:00 GTM) because the summer time will start in my country.]
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Austria, April 28th 1789
3:34 PM
Lukas laid on a couch while he stared at the ceiling above him. He had his mouth open and was poking his growing teeth with his finger. He was just doing that out of boredom because he had nothing else to do once again.
Lukas needed a while to get used to his teeth, but it was not that big of a deal for him, however, sometimes he would just unconsciously bite his own tongue, which annoyed Lukas very much.
'These new dudes in my mouth are pretty tough.' Lukas thought.
Recently, Lukas had gone to another celebration, however, it seemed a bit less important than Christmas, it was called "Easter". Lukas had simply gone to the church where he had been baptized and people there were apparently praying to some kind of god. One that Lukas had already heard of plenty of times.
Lukas still wasn't sure whether this god people were talking about was real or not. He still didn't have any evidence of its existence, however, on the other hand, he still didn't know why someone would create a god only to be completely submissive to him.
'Maybe that's a way for people not to feel so bad in case they screw up with something? I mean, they always say that God has planned every single thing that happens, so, in case they make some mistake, it wouldn't be their fault at all.'
Lukas sighed. That idea actually didn't please him, if God does exist and he does influence everything everyone does, so if someone does something very difficult and commendable, they wouldn't get any merit.
That was particularly unpleasant for Lukas, who liked to be flattered and admired by everyone, that's why he even shows off some of his skills sometimes. He likes to feel special.
'Anyway, it's not worth it to think about that. I don't care about what others believe in... unless it's something about me.'
Another thing that has been bugging Lukas was his reading skills. Reading was much more difficult than Lukas was expecting. Although Frida had given him some tips almost two months ago, Lukas was still struggling to make the connections with the symbols.
That was due to many factors, there were a lot of symbols that Lukas had to memorize and their respective sounds, which, in some cases it was even more than one sound each symbol had. Fortunately, the sounds were pretty intuitive in that case, so it was not that big of a problem.
Actually, the whole reading process was pretty intuitive, the only reason Lukas was struggling with it was because he was doing it fully self-taught and also because he didn't have a lot of time to study it.
If Lukas wasn't that ahead of the curve, he probably wouldn't have it that "easy" to learn to read because, despite intuitive, it was a pretty complex process.
Fortunately, Lukas was already getting the hang of it, and the tendency was that, the more he advances, the faster he would keep progressing.
Another skill that he had improved a lot was walking. He wasn't nearly as proactive at walking as an adult, but his skills were stupidly advanced for a baby his age.
He could walk along the alleys of the mansion without major problems. He would get tired, of course, but that wasn't a total exhaustion, he even felt good after doing that sort of exercise.
Of course, he wouldn't show it to anyone in the mansion. He would just do it when nobody was looking, which was a pretty rare occasion because the mansion had a lot of people inside.
One thing that Lukas had to improve was his posture as he walked. Due to the effort he exerts during his walking, he almost seemed like a soldier marching, which looked ridiculous, specially for a baby like him.
As Lukas made an overview of his skills, Olivia walked into the room where Lukas was with a smile. "Hello, young master. Mrs. Von Neumann told me that she wanted to take you for a walk, so let me dress you properly."
'Good to hear. I was starting to feel bored again.' Lukas thought as he gave no resistance to Olivia picking him up.
Although the amount of times Frida had taken Lukas for a walk decreased, she still took him quiet a few times for a stroll.
Lukas figured that the reason for which Frida had taken him for a walk each time less was due to the preparations of the recent celebration. Not just to make it happen, but also to take care of its aftermath, since a celebration where many nobles take part must not be cheap.
'Also, wasn't the Von Neumann house going through financial struggles? Are they already gone? Or are they just spending money without thinking?' Lukas questioned.
Another thing that Lukas didn't know was how the noble families earned money. He didn't know much about it even regarding the Von Neumann house, he only knew the Royal Family had recently stopped paying them some kind of allowances because of the polemics.
'Well, that's all I got. I wonder if the Royal Family pays allowances to all the noble families? I guess so, we are just a family of Counts after all. We are not very high up in the hierarchy to be paid allowances as some kind of special treatment.'
Lukas had recently read in a book about this noble hierarchy. Although it had very difficult words, there were some pictures that helped him out to understand.
Apparently, his theory about nobles having a hierarchy was right, they did have it, and although the Von Neumann house wasn't very high up in the hierarchy, it wasn't very low either. It was more or less in the middle
The hierarchy is like this:
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Royal Family
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Duke/Duchess
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Marquis/Marquess
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Count/Countess
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Viscount/Viscountess
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Baron/Baroness
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Although Lukas was dying to know about the position of the Hügel house, he couldn't find it anywhere. He only knew the position of the Von Neumann house because he had overheard it, but he still wasn't lucky enough to overhear the position of the Hügel house.
Another thing that bugged Lukas was the reason for the marriages between members of the same house, it didn't benefit the Von Neumann house at all. It would just keep it in the middle of the hierarchy. Unless that's just the intention of the head of the Von Neumann house.
A possible reason for the marriage between the members of the same house was either because it was a very traditional custom in the house or because the Von Neumann house had an extreme prejudice towards the other houses even though they still kept a friendly relationship with most of them.
After Olivia dressed Lukas, she took him downstairs to meet Frida, who was ready to leave the mansion at any moment.
"Here he is, Mrs. Von Neumann" Olivia said as she handed Lukas to Frida.
Frida picked him and smiled "Thank you, Olivia. I shall be off now."
Olivia nodded her head as she watched Frida leaving the mansion. It apparently wasn't just another stroll, since there were some people who seemed to be bodyguards around the carriage.
'Who are these tough guys?' Lukas thought.
The bodyguards were all very tall and bulky, they held a sword pointing downwards and seemed to have a pistol in their pocket.
"There is no need to worry, Mrs. Von Neumann. We are going to protect you and young master at all costs!" A bodyguard said.
Lukas raised his brow. 'What's going on?"
Frida nodded her head. "Thank you very much, but I am sure the people will not try anything to harm me. If I weren't, I wouldn't be taking my son with me."
The bodyguards nodded and stepped aside for Frida to get in the carriage.
Lukas was very confused with all this situation. What was happening? What's going happen that may be so harmful?
'I'll find out when I get there, I guess.'
After a while of traveling, as the carriage stopped by a humble village, the bodyguards stood by its door and let Frida and Lukas leave.
As Frida left the carriage with her baby in her arms, more and more people clustered around the carriage.
"Calm down! Give space for Mrs. Von Neumann to walk!" A bodyguard said.
Frida showed a wide smile as she watched all the people there. Most of them seemed happy to see Frida, however, there were some who didn't seem to like it at all.
'Okay, these people seem to be peasants, why would mom be harm... oooh! I got it! They must be spiteful because of that polemics everyone talks about... or maybe they are just mad because whereas we live lavish lives, they live in this misery, which is perfectly reasonable and normal.'
As Lukas thought a bit more, he came up with another conclusion. 'Or maybe because we are nobles, and as such, we are always prone to get killed by someone.'
As Frida walked by the peasants, an adorable girl who seemed to be around six years-old showed up and walked towards Frida. The girl didn't say anything, but Frida smiled at her.
"Hello, little girl." Frida said as she crouched in front of her.
Soon, the girl's mother appeared with a concerned expression. "Gisela! I told you not to walk away! What's wrong?" the woman asked with a frown.
Frida chuckled. "Do not worry about her, Miss. She is fine. She probably just wanted to see my baby from a closer distance."
'I second this.'
The peasant woman showed a flustered smiled as she nodded and got away with her daughter.
'What are we here for anyways?! This is boring!' Lukas complained mentally.
Frida kept talking towards a pit in the center of the village. It seemed like she had done it a lot of times before.
Frida's bodyguards tried to stay by her side, but Frida raised her hand as if stopping them. "Please, no. I trust them." Frida said with a gentle gaze.
The bodyguards felt a little bewitched by Frida's beauty, but they soon nodded their heads and got away.
'Mom, that's very nice of you, but you are aware that this order can get the both of us killed, right?'
The peasants' gaze softened as they saw the bodyguards leaving. Even those who seemed mad at Frida's visit, now seemed at least open to listen to her speech, which was more than enough for the blonde woman.
As the peasants surrounded around the pit and waited for Frida's speech, Lukas watched all the people there. Most of them had dirty, ragged clothes and seemed pretty tired from working so much.
'Damn, must be hard to live as peasant. If I at least could do som... what are you thinking, Lukas?! Don't turn out to be like your soft-hearted mother!'
When there was a good amount of people around the pit, Frida started her speech. "Hello, people from the village of Elixhausen! I am here to introduce to you the bliss that God has bestowed upon me!"
'Yes, yes, we all know that's me, right.'
Frida raised Lukas in the air with a radiant smile. "This is my child, Lukas, and the future heir of the Von Neumann house!"
Lukas widened his eyes when he heard that statement. 'Wait! What?! Heir?! I didn't know you were the first daughter of the Von Neumann house's head! You don't have any male brother or something?!'
As Lukas took in the new information that had been given to him all of sudden, a round applauses echoed all over the place.
Frida's smile got even wider as she beheld the people's approval of his son. "Thank you. Thank you very much. I am very glad you received my son so well!"
'Good, good, but I bet you didn't come here just to say "Hey, look, my son! He's so cute hahaha, goodbye!" cut to the chase now.' Lukas thought as he waited for Frida's speech to end.
As the round of applause decreased, Frida's face turned serious. "However, life is not just good news..." Frida stated.
'I knew it.'
"I am afraid that due to the recent polemics, the Von Neumann house will have to start charging higher taxes from all of you," Frida said.
Lukas was dumbfounded by listening to that. 'Wait, what?! Can noble families charge taxes?! I mean, I knew they were very wealthy and all, but I didn't know they had such power! Specially us! We are counts, god damnit!'
As soon as Frida finished that sentence, the population started booing Frida and complaining to her.
"Are you trying to get us killed by work?!"
"We can't take any more taxes! This is all we can pay!
However, Frida didn't let herself get scared by the people and she just raised her hand to make everyone be quiet. "I know this is hard, but the Von Neumann house will do anything possible to support you in this task," Frida said. "We are going to support you in all we can. Unfortunately, the Von Neumann house is going through financial struggles, but we will distribute food for all of you each week, so you can work exclusively to pay us taxes."
Lukas had a weirded out expression. 'Yeah, as if they will accept it!'
For Lukas's surprise, the population started celebrating again.
'What the...'
Frida smiled again as she watched the enthusiastic people clapping to her.
'Just what is happening? Is it that hard for people to get food for themselves? Are they even more expensive than the taxes themselves?' Lukas questioned.
"Wait!" A woman who seemed to be around Frida's age raised her hand and soon, the whole
celebration stopped. Frida nodded her head as if to allow the woman to speak.
"Can the Von Neumann house even afford to pay food for this village? Even if it can, I am sure it won't be able to afford giving food to all the peasants from all the villages the Von Neumann house has control over!"
Lukas looked curiously at the woman. She seemed more well-dressed and had a fiercer look than most peasants there. 'Maybe she is a bourgeois.'
Frida nodded her head with a smile. "Well, we will not raise the taxes right away, we will start that only within two months for all of you to be able to prepare yourselves,' she cleared her throat.
"Naturally, we don't eat all the food we have in our mansion, there is always plenty of food left. We usually let it rot, however, now, we will give it to all of you."
"And since this is the closest village to the castle, I'm afraid the other villages will not be as lucky as you, since the food will rot before it arrives to its final destiny."
Another peasant stepped up. "So will we be the only peasants who will not starve to death."
Frida shook her head. "No. This will be the only village to have its taxes decreased. Although it's just one, it's a great help for us already. And of course, if you don't pay the taxes properly, no food will be given to you."
Soon, all the peasants seemed content with it and started celebrating again.
'Wow, these people sure change their opinion quick, huh?' Lukas thought.
'But let me give you my kudos, mom, you handled the situation very well. I knew you were good at diplomatic stuff, but I didn't know you were THIS good.'
However, what Lukas was really impressed with, was the Von Neumann house's plan. He knew this wasn't Frida's plan because she didn't have the power to make such a change, so it had to come from the head of the Von Neumann house.
Since most peasants there have to give food to pay their taxes, they would eat very little every day. Now, however, they would eat a lavish amount of food, which will boost their confidence and resolve, so they will work harder.
Not to mention that she made them feel special by being the only village to have such privileges, which will make them even more confident.
'Whoever you are, Mr. head of the Von Neumann house, or shall I say, "gramps" I take my hat off to you! Great job!'
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone