Volume 2: The Manor in the Dark Night
Chapter 13: The Baron of Red Maple’s Invitation (Part 1)
At the Mage’s Hall in Giant Rock City, Donald had spent three full days in the library. During these days, he would hastily handle basic needs like eating, then use meditation in place of sleep to absorb as much knowledge as possible from the books. The content mainly focused on world history, the strengths of various professions, and introductions to the gods.
In just three days, Donald learned more about this world than he had in the seventeen years of memories he had inherited before. After all, the original Donald was merely a young man from a fallen noble family, not a professional at all—how could he have access to such precious books reserved for mages?
On the fourth morning, under the somewhat worried gaze of his teacher, Messehl, Donald finally moved his slightly sore shoulders and stepped out of the library, feeling satisfied yet somewhat regretful. He wished he could take all the books with him.
“It’s a shame time is limited. I need to go take over the two manors I bought today; otherwise, I really would like to stay here forever.”
Once he took over the manors, he would have many matters to handle personally, and he would likely have less time to return to the Mage’s Hall. That’s why he made the most of these three days, ignoring the spells and incantations that other apprentices studied, instead focusing on absorbing knowledge across various fields to lay a solid foundation for the future.
With the Book of Truth in his hands, he wouldn’t be defenseless in the face of danger like those apprentices.
After bidding farewell to his kind teacher, Messehl, and the two other mages, as well as greeting the servant William, Donald left the Mage’s Hall.
As expected, the butler, Kord, was worried about his young master. Since he had to handle affairs at home, he sent Clinton and the other two men along with the coachman to wait outside the hall every day. They rushed to greet Donald as soon as he appeared.
“To the Noble Council Office!”
Without saying much, Donald got into the carriage and instructed the coachman to set off.
When he saw Sir Jesse again, the latter immediately stepped forward warmly.
“Donald, you’ve come at just the right time! The survey is complete. Once we sign the contract, those two manors will officially belong to you! I’ll send someone to summon the priest of the Goddess right away!”
Hearing this, Donald couldn’t help but laugh happily, disregarding any sense of nobility. At that moment, he found Sir Jesse’s somewhat pretentious attitude and fancy attire much less annoying.
“Thank you so much, Jesse! Once the manors are built, you’ll be the first guest I invite!”
Such a title proves that the two have initially become friends; generally, nobles address each other by their titles or ranks when meeting. The granting of titles, oaths of loyalty, and the transfer of property such as manors are only legal when witnessed by high-ranking figures such as upper nobles, royal representatives, or servants of the gods. Purchasing a manor doesn’t require such formalities, but Sir Jesse, as the supervisor, lacks the authority to act as a witness. In such cases, local nobles usually invite respected local lords or church clergy to serve as witnesses.
Unlike other countries on the continent, the Kingdom of Celt is currently a monotheistic nation, with everyone from the monarch to the commoners worshipping only the Goddess of Agriculture as the true deity. Of course, there are also many who are polytheists or atheists. The Goddess of Agriculture is a kind and forgiving deity who won’t consider you an heretic just because you don’t worship her.
The Church of the Goddess of Agriculture, the state-approved institution for spreading her faith, has a relatively loose structure compared to the churches in the continent, where religious conflicts are intense. Moreover, the church has little ambition for secular power, which is the main reason why the Celt royal family accepts the Goddess of Agriculture.
It should be noted that the Celt royal family, once vassal nobles of the ancient Magic Empire of Bannay, holds a poor opinion of the various god churches that contributed to the collapse and fragmentation of their great empire.
After a meal, a young priest from the local temple of the Goddess of Agriculture was led over by a servant.
“Jesse, what do you need from me again? Hurry up and tell me—the archbishop has other duties for me to carry out!”
The cleric was a handsome young man, but his tone was extremely arrogant, clearly indicating his noble birth. Yet he indeed had reason to be proud—though young, he was already an assistant deacon under the temple archbishop, holding a position far higher than that of ordinary local nobles.
It was said that he had come to the capital to seek advancement, but he was faring better than Jesse, who was an illegitimate child. His ability to serve as a witness in this manor transaction was due to his good relationship with Sir Jesse.
“Don’t rush. Let me introduce you—this is the future Knight of Merlina. He is the one handling this manor purchase. Donald, this is my friend Martin from the capital. He is the only son of the Marquis of Shadi’s court and is now an assistant deacon under the archbishop of the Stone City Temple!”
“It’s an honor to meet you!”
Donald was the first to greet them. As the heir to a court marquis, he didn’t need to be overly humble, but since the other party was a member of the church, he had to show proper respect.
Priest Martin originally looked down on country nobles like Donald. The title of heir to a hereditary knight barely earned him any attention, especially since Donald hadn’t yet received his official title and it was uncertain whether he would succeed. But when he saw the blank badge worn by Donald, his expression changed, and he quickly put on a warm smile.
“Knight Donald is truly young and promising. I didn’t know you were a apprentice mage. I’ve seen many mages in Castle Stone when I was with the archbishop!”
“What? Donald, you’re an apprentice mage?”
Jessie, who didn’t know much about the mage system, hadn’t noticed the additional badge on Donald since his second visit. Donald hadn’t explained it either.
Priest Martin said with a smile, “Jessie, you’re as careless as ever! Can’t you see that Knight Donald already wears the badge of an official apprentice mage?”
Ordinary people couldn’t forge such items. Those who could imitate them would already be able to pass the tests to obtain a real badge, so there was no need to fake one.
Donald replied, “Jessie, there’s no need for you to be surprised. I only became an official apprentice a few days ago. My teacher is Master Mesel!”
Martin was shocked. “Is it Master Mesel, the only silver mage and alchemy master in the North County?”
“Yes. It’s my fortune to be able to learn under Master Mesel!”
Both Martin and Jessie took a deep breath, looking at Donald with great envy. Martin was somewhat okay—he followed an archbishop who oversaw religious affairs in a county and was also a silver-tier powerhouse, so he only regarded Donald’s status with respect. But Jessie was extremely envious of Donald’s good luck. Fortunately, he knew his limits and didn’t let this envy turn into jealousy. Instead, he resolved to make an effort to get along well with Donald in the future.
The process of signing the contract ended quickly. Under the witnesship of Priest Martin, the young priest of the Agricultural Goddess, Donald and Sir Jesse signed the contract on behalf of the royal family and the Merlin family respectively. Martin also signed his name as a witness. In this world, magic and divine arts could verify authenticity, so there was no concern that someone might forge documents or contracts.
During this time, Donald was also worried that his Book of Truth might be discovered by the goddess’s priests. But soon, he felt a thought transmitted from the spirit of the Book of Truth, which completely reassured him. It turned out that unless a true deity descended in person or through the body and mind of a believer, not even the most powerful professionals could detect the existence of the Book of Truth, a high-tier divine artifact—including professionals like priests and servants of the gods.
From then on, the lands of these two manors officially became Donald’s property. As long as he did not violate the kingdom’s laws or defy the gods, not even the king himself had the right to take them away.
After Donald symbolically offered fifty gold sols as an offering to the goddess, Martin left happily satisfied. Before departing, he even extended an invitation to Donald. Naturally, Donald agreed, promising to invite him to a banquet once the manor was built. After saying goodbye to Sir Jesse, Donald also left Castle Stonecarver with his share of the contract and headed back toward Redmaple Town.
As they passed by Redmaple Town, Donald suddenly ordered the coachman, “Go back to town to pick up the steward, then take a detour here—let’s go check out the manor!”
“Sure, my lord!” The coachman replied, cracking his whip to urge the carriage back to the old house of the Merlinas. After picking up the steward, they followed the main road outside Redmaple Town toward the northwest.
Donald’s two manors were located to the northwest of Redmaple Town, bordering the edge of the Green Cloak Forest. They used to be large tracts of wasteland belonging to a lord.
It took less than ten minutes for the carriage to reach the nearest manor from outside the town, as it did not enter the town itself. Seeing the scene before him, Donald nodded in satisfaction.
Steward Kord grabbed a handful of soil and excitedly said to his young master, “Young master, although this small manor is overgrown with weeds and hasn’t been tended to for years, the soil quality is still quite good—almost as good as the farmlands near Redmaple Town. As long as we plant crops and take good care of them, we’ll surely have a good harvest next year!”
“Yes! My lord, my family also planted an acre of barley for the lord in town, and this year’s harvest was quite good. Looking at this land, it seems even better than the lord’s farmlands!”
The coachman also got off the carriage to inspect the land of the small manor, arriving at a conclusion that made the steward even happier.
Donald wasn’t too worried about the quality of the land; he had his own ways to improve it. The only concern now was safety. According to Sir Jesse, previous owners had eventually given up on this fertile small estate and sold it to the royal family at a low price because magical beasts from the nearby forest often came to destroy the crops and scare away the employees.
“It seems this place needs to be properly developed!”
With the Truth Book as a powerful cheat tool, Donald wasn’t worried about building defenses against magical beasts.
Unfortunately, the original buildings on the estate had been demolished by previous owners in an attempt to cut costs. All that remained for Donald was an old wooden house with a large hole in the roof. Thankfully, the boundary markers and fences that defined the estate hadn’t been removed, which saved Sir Jesse’s men a lot of trouble during their inspection. Otherwise, the estate wouldn’t have fallen into Donald’s hands yet!
But this was actually convenient for him, as it allowed him to rebuild everything from scratch, making the place impregnable, like an iron barrel.