Bab 9: Touring
"Young Master! Where are you heading off to this time?" Korik asked as Solen slowly entered his sight. This was the second time he had seen Solen enter the vicinity of the manor's entrance.
"I've grown tired of being cooped up in my room all day and want to breathe in some fresh air." Solen answered as he approached. His main goal of the day was to lightly explore the fief. He wanted to see what this land had to offer.
"Where would you like to go Young Master?" Korik asked his question again persistently. It was his job to make sure that the Lord's family remained safe.
"Since I've got nothing better to do, I would like to tour the fief." Solen responded straightforwardly. The two guards looked surprised at Solen's statement. It was rare for a lord to tour his territory, much less a member of the Lord's family.
There were various reasons why they didn't tour the fief. First of all, lords were cruel hearted and cared less for the people. Second of all, It would often take days to tour the entirety of the fief. The ruling class didn't like to waste their time with something so mundane.
"Young Master, are you sure that you would like to tour the fief? It could take as much as a full week..." Jacob looked at Solen with bright eyes. His loyalty unknowingly grew after hearing Solen suggest taking a look at the lands.
"Hmm, that sounds a bit long. Well, I can't take my words back, can I?" Solen asked jokingly, he was sure he wanted to tour these lands. "Anyways, are the both of you coming with me?"
"Hmm, Jacob can go with you, but I need to stay. The manor doesn't have enough guards as it is." Korik responded this time. The family manor had a sparse amount of warriors guarding it. This wasn't due to the low income of the fief, it had to do with a lack of warriors themselves.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask this for the longest time. Why is the manor so sparsely guarded?" Solen asked in curiosity. Throughout his time in the manor, he had only seen a few warriors on hand.
"For the past decade, there have been various famines. As you know, cultivation requires a great amount of food for just a single person, but the peasants haven't been able to get many successful harvests these ten years." Jacob responded, strategically telling Solen of the peasants suffering.
"So what you're saying is peasants are currently suffering starvation due to the various famines?" Solen asked Jacob, not minding his planting of information.
"Yes, Young Master! Although this land is near the fringe of the Outer City, it was previously more prosperous. Back then, there were three times as many warriors as there is now." Jacob reported to Solen with a bowed head.
"How interesting…" Solen thought aloud. It was indeed interesting to know that this land was once prospering and that it had fallen low due to the famines.
"Alright, Jacob lets first go to the nearest village and continue from there." Solen stated as he started walking out the door. Jacob quickly followed behind him. Just as they were about to leave the manor on foot, Jacob stopped him.
"Young Master, you should ride the carriage. It will be much safer for you." Jacob requested in a pleading manner. "It will be much easier for me to protect you if you stay inside the carriage."
"Fine, how long is it going to take for the carriage to be ready?" Solen readily acquiesced. He nearly forgot that the family had a carriage and almost started walking on the trail. Who knows how long it would have taken if they went by foot.
"It should take a few minutes if we are fast. I will need to get the horse groom since he is the only one here who knows how to set the carriage up correctly." Jacob responded quickly as he turned to look at the stables. The stables wide doors were open, signifying that the horse groom was currently inside.
"Wait, get a maid to take this beast skin to mother." Solen suddenly pulled a folded beast skin from his clothes. He hadn't told anyone about what he was doing and sure as heck wasn't going to take Aloysius along with him.
If he came along, he would be slowing Aloysius' cultivation on this adventure. Solen was also worried that Aloysius would become too sympathetic toward peasants. While they were living happily inside the manor, the peasants were suffering in the fields. While Solen, if he could, would try to improve their lives, he still knew he had to harden his heart.
"Yes, sir! I will be back with the carriage in a few minutes!" Jacob hurriedly left for the stables in order to get the carriage and five minutes later he returned with the carriage. The carriage was was rather small, only needing a single horse to move it around efficiently while it also looked run down. From what Solen knew, this carriage was over five years old and had various occurrences where the wheels and other parts broke.
"The family is going to need a new carriage soon. This one definitely wasn't well-maintained." Solen made a short mental note.
"Young Master, please enter the carriage and we can leave immediately!" Jacob shouted in order to receive Solen's attention. Solen looked to be a little focused when looking at the carriage.
"Ah, yes. Let's leave." Solen agilely entered the carriage and slammed the door behind him. Hearing the door close, Jacob responded by ushering the horse forward. The carriage trembled slightly as the horse began its journey.
"Jacob, can you tell me about the nearby village?" Solen suddenly asked.
"Well Young Master, the village we are going to first is called Bearfoot Village. When the village was first established, it was said that the land was inhabited by bears, giving its name 'Bearfoot Village.' This village mainly grows wheat and produces bitter bread. Sadly, the recent poor crop yields has caused the villagers to suffer." Jacob spoke in a sympathetic voice. He was a peasant too and cared very much for his people.
"Also, the village used to raise rabbits before the poor yields and damn were they good." Jacob seemed to be temporarily lost inside his memories.
"Are you a native of Bearfoot Village?" Solen asked in curiosity after noticing the sympathy and remembrance in his voice.
"Ah, yes. My father was a hunter while my mother was in charge of her own rabbit hutch. At the end of each month, we would each have our own rabbit haunch! Life was great back then. I was even able to cultivate once a week back then!" Jacob happily spoke, forgetting he was talking to the son of an aristocrat.
"Then, I hope I can bring those great days back in the future." Solen responded with a smile.
"Ah! Young Master, I didn't mean any disrespect!" Jacob suddenly realized he misspoke a moment ago. One could infer that he believed the days got worse with the appearance of the newly landed aristocrat Garth.
"Don't worry about it. It is true that my father has possibly mismanaged the situation. Don't forget he was risen by a peasant family as well. He never had enough time to properly manage the fief." Solen replied in a soft voice.
He loved his father just as much as his past life's father and didn't blame him for his inadequacies. He was born and raised as a peasant. In this world, peasants were ignorant due to a lack of education and so, Garth couldn't be blamed too much.
"Young Master, we're here!" Jacob's voice shouted from outside. In response, Solen moved the curtain and looked through the window of the carriage. The curtain was efficient in blocking out the scent of urine and crap since just after he moved the curtain, the scent immediately blasted his face.
"Aw! Gross!" Solen nearly shouted out loud as he got a good whiff of the smell. He nearly found himself retching inside the carriage. For the next minute, the cabin was silent as Solen attempted to stop the retching. Thankfully, it didn't take much effort for him to stop.
Raising his head, Solen looked out the opened window to see a large village with houses closely built together. The road and a large area inside the village territory was completely devoid of grass. In the distance, villagers were slaving away inside the wheat fields to ensure a good harvest.
"Young Master, would you like to explore the village on foot or would you like to stay inside the carriage?" Jacob asked. His favor was obviously leaning toward exploring on foot.
"I think I'll stay in the carriage. Second Mother just bought these shoes for me." Solen responded after taking a look at the ground. The ground was littered with human feces which resulted in Solen's negative answer.
"Yes, Young Master." Jacob sighed in slight disappointment.
For the next few hours, a decrepit carriage dragged by a horse traveled across the villages territory. The entire time, Solen only observed the village and didn't interact with the people. By the time he was done, it was reaching night time.
"Young Master, would you like to go back to the manor for the night?" Jacob questioned after seeing the sky slowly darken.
"No, I think I will stay here and wait a week to be scolded by mother." Solen smiled wryly. He knew that he would be scolded after this adventure was over and so he wanted to make the most out of it.
"Then, where should we go? I can't just let you stay out here for the night." Jacob asked worriedly. He would get more than a scolding from the Lord and his two Ladies.
"Why don't we stay with your family for the night?" Solen suggested.
"Young Master! Are you sure about this?!" Jacob was completely astonished. No aristocrat would risk their reputation to sleep in a peasants shack.
"Yes, I'm absolutely sure. Now, let's go!" Solen spoke hurriedly. Jacob could easily change his mind at anytime and bring him back home, hence, Solen decided to hurry him.
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