NOVEL NEXT Chapter 34: Busy little Earl Rosewood
On the next day, Ren Xiyang, Kel, and Maria left the Rosewood summer manor on a work trip. Along with a small bag with some clothes and belongings, Ren Xiyang also took his crystal ball—they were going to be away from the manor for a number of days, depending on how long everything took.
This time, they weren’t travelling to hand out bereavement entitlements, but to talk to numerous people, including the village chiefs and town mayors in the Rosewood fief.
The very small village of Grassy Hill on the opposite direction of Redmond town was their first destination.
“Damn, isn’t that the Earl’s carriage?!” someone out in the fields noticed.
“It is!”
Curious villagers all followed the carriage until it really did stop in their small village!
Kel and Maria disembarked first, followed by Ren Xiyang.
“We are here to talk to your village chief,” Kel said.
The village chief, Chief Beasley, stepped forward. “My Lord, my name is Joan Beasley. How can I help you?”
Ren Xiyang had a stack of papers with a wooden board to provide a flat writing surface in his hands. “There’s nothing specifically private, if Chief Beasley doesn’t mind.”
Even if Joan Beasley minded, what could she say? She was a tiny village chief and this was the Earl of the entire fief. “Please go ahead, my Lord.”
“Firstly, I plan to conduct a census of the Rosewood fief. This will involve collecting information about the total number of all people in the fief, their genders, ages, family size, housing, occupations and so forth. The aim is to understand the current state of the Rosewood fief. We’ll conduct the census every few years to see how things have changed. Ideally, you or someone else will help our representative to visit every person in your village.”
Beasley hesitated. “Yes, of course I will help.”
Ren Xiyang made that note down: Grassy Hill Village - tick. “You have a concern?”
“Feel free to state any concerns,” Kel added.
Beasley glanced at her villagers. “When does the Earl plan to do this? We’ll be busy in the fields until after the harvest…”
Ren Xiyang had forgotten that harvesting wasn’t as easy as one person in a big machine. “Then we’ll hold it afterwards, thanks for telling me.” Note: hold after harvest.
Seeing that her concern was taken seriously, Joan Beasley relaxed a little. Now that she was getting used to the Earl, the Earl didn’t seem that bad. His small stature and cute serious face reminded her of her own children.
“Are there any questions you think we should include in the census?” Ren Xiyang continued asking.
Joan Beasley shook her head. “Earl Rosewood knows best.”
“Hm. Now, let’s move onto the second part. How much were the crop yields in the last few years? And how much tax was collected?”
Joan Beasley froze. T-taxes?! Did this mean the Earl wanted to raise them? She looked at her fellow villagers—who were looking back at her. In the end, she answered truthfully.
Ren Xiyang recorded it. The purpose of the question wasn’t to see whether he should raise taxes: it was to catch corruption among the tax collectors. But since Joan Beasley didn’t ask, Ren Xiyang didn’t realise that he should have explained.
“Thirdly. Which roads would you liked fixed or upgraded? What roads would you like expanded or established? Would you like a new direct road to Redmond or another village or town? Or perhaps a new road connected to the main road leading to the Capital?"
Joan Beasley inwardly sweated. “My Lord, we frequently visit Lilpuddle village?”
Ren Xiyang hummed and wrote that down.
“Is there a food shortage? Do you know if any particular families go hungry?”
“There hasn’t been a famine in the last few years,” Beasley answered, confused by the sudden change of topic. “We all work together, no one in Grassy Hill goes hungry.”
Ren Xiyang nodded. “Good. Farmers can come to the Rosewood farms to learn the new four-crop rotation system and other methods to improve crop yield, provided they help at the Rosewood farms for one day’s worth of work. Meals will be provided.”
“Thank you, my Lord,” Beasley said.
“What are your sources of drinking and cooking water?”
“There’s a well in the village, and a small river nearby…”
“Are there any people who are homeless?”
“No, no, we’re like a big family here.”
“Would you and the people in your village appreciate the opportunity to learn to read, write, and calculate?”
“I—ah—yes, we would,” Beasley said, even more confused. “However, my Lord, we do not have the money…”
“Hmm. Finally, there must be many things about the Rosewood fief that you would like to change. Please tell me those things and I’ll note them all down.”
Beasley looked back at him in bafflement.
“Chief Beasley, discuss with your village, I’ll look around briefly,” Ren Xiyang said. “Kel and Maria will answer any questions you have.”
“Yes, my Lord…”
Eyes widened when Earl Rosewood’s ‘look around briefly’ meant flying up into the air! They watched as the earl flew higher and higher!!
“Ma’am, is that normal?” a young boy asked hesitantly.
Kel and Maria glanced at each other.
“Quite normal,” Kel said with a reassuring smile.
“Chief Beasley, be at ease,” Maria said. “Earl Rosewood is very serious. Earl Rosewood also asked us what we would like to change about Rosewood fief.”
Maria and Kel both told Beasley and the other villagers how they had responded to the earl.
The villagers were a lot more at ease now that they had example answers.
“Hey, Chief Joan, we always talk about how it’ll be nice if we could have one of those metal grain silos to store wheat without it going bad,” someone remembered.
“Right, it would be nice if a healer could come and visit our village at least once a month or something…”
“I want a big house! Five storeys tall!” someone said, before they were whacked on their head by a friend. That sparked laughter.
While the villagers started discussing in earnest, Ren Xiyang had flown over to the village fields. He critically analysed the soil and the crop properties and health. Then, he quietly wandered back into the village. Finding the well at the centre of the village, he cast a water-purification spell on the bucket. He wasn’t clear on how long the spell would last, but it was better than nothing. Then, he returned to the group of villagers.
By this time, Joan Beasley had gathered a few requests from her fellow villagers.
Ren Xiyang wrote them down. “Thank you for your time. One last thing, I encourage you to wash your hands with soap before handling food. It will improve your health.”
Joan Beasley bowed, prompting the others to bow too. “Thank you for visiting Grassy Hill Village!"
“There’s no need for formalities. Have a good day.”
The villagers watched as the little earl and his two servants left. The carriage headed off towards Lilpuddle village. Once they couldn’t see the carriage anymore, the villagers looked at each other.
“I can’t believe the earl visited us!”
“Do you think he was telling the truth?”
“Hey, he was even smaller than you!”
“What are you implying, huh?!”
Deep sigh. “Go back to work, everyone! We can gossip over lunch.”
“Yes, chief!”
Although the Rosewood fief was not particularly big, it was impossible for Ren Xiyang to visit every village and town in Rosewood fief in one day. Ren Xiyang also took the opportunity to interview the various people that current employees had recommended to him at the various villages and towns.
In addition, Ren Xiyang also visited and stayed the other Rosewood properties in the fief along the way. These mostly unoccupied properties all had a small group of staff who were tasked with upkeep while the Rosewood family weren’t in residence, which meant Ren Xiyang also took the opportunity to interview the staff as well and instructed them to take turns to regularly visit the main house—if not, they would be out of touch with everyone else.
Dealing with these properties was another item added to Ren Xiyang’s to do list.
After doing approximately half of the necessary visits, the group returned to the Rosewood summer manor, in time for the next charity lunch at Redmond. After that, Kel and Maria had their break while Aaron accompanied Ren Xiyang for the rest of the visits.
Rumours spread quickly. On the later days, whenever the Rosewood carriage appeared at the outskirts of a village or town in the Rosewood fief, the people knew. By the time the carriage arrived at the centre of the aforementioned settlement, their chief or mayor along with a group of free/nosy/interested civilians awaited.
It took almost two weeks. By the end of all the visits, Earl Rosewood had visited every town and village and settlement, no matter how small. Now, the new Earl wasn’t just some gossip from the main Redmond town. Many people had the opportunity to see the earl in person: the new Earl Rosewood was a very, very real.
Interest in being hired by the Earl spiked. Sales of soap, chilli and soybeans increased across the fief. Many residents also felt that their water tasted nicer after Earl Rosewood came by…or maybe that was just their imaginations about what Earl Rosewood was planning for the future.
After all, the questions the Earl had asked had just been a bit too specific. He was surely too busy to come around asking them those questions only to ignore the answers, right?
Earl Rosewood’s actions reached Rian’s ears as rumours (and from Ayden Rosewood himself via the crystal ball), making Rian a little envious. Hearing about what Ayden was doing made Rian all the more aware of his own restrictions as a young prince. He’d like to be travelling around a fief too, instead of being stuck in the Imperial Palace.
After Rian had returned to the Capital, he had a huge list of outstanding matters and obligations to deal with, such as visiting and proving to all his other tutors that he hadn’t been slacking, and attending the long breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that were partly meals and mostly meetings with other nobles who were able to grace the King and Queen’s table.
Rian’s frequent crystal-ball calls with Ayden Rosewood were a breath of fresh air. He would make the Royal Guards stay outside and guard his door; he would cast multiple sound-blocking spells; and then he would call Ayden Rosewood on his crystal ball, just like he was doing now.
“—So, you haven’t made any new dishes, right?” Rian always had to ask.
“Hm,” Ayden said through the crystal ball. “I’m out travelling. I’m too busy.”
“Free enough to call me,” Rian said roguishly.
“Free enough to call you, Your Highness,” Ayden replied, unfazed. Rian could imagine Ayden’s deadpan face.
Rian grinned to himself as he remembered something. “Oh, by the way, I finally tricked Count Aegean into trying the chilli sauce that you gave me. Let me just say his face was priceless, almost as good as when I told him about germs. If you have any new food items that you think are suitable, you must give me some to give to Count Aegean…”
Count Aegean: *sneeze*
Count Aegean: By the Saintess, what is Prince Rian plotting now?!