NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66: Prince Rian’s dastardly rivals
Rian was delighted when he unexpectedly received a bouquet of roses from Ren Xiyang, along with various sweet and savoury treats.
Due to his travel and late-night lessons with the tutor that his mother assigned, his meetings with Ren Xiyang had drastically reduced in frequency (to almost zero). To think that Ren Xiyang had been thinking about him!
But then a few days later, two of his new staff bought him the first piece of information since the start of their employment: that Earl Rosewood had sent very similar packages to three other certain persons.
Rian: …
In less than two weeks, Rian would be in the Rosewood fief for their Harvest festival, whence Rian would have a word with Ren Xiyang…
Alexius didn’t care about who else received gifts from Earl Rosewood. The important fact was that he received some food! He gave the flowers to his Imperial Mother. Then he reluctantly asked if she or Imperial Father wanted to try some of the snacks.
Thankfully, his Imperial Mother refused!
There were four different types of food that Ayden had sent: two savoury and two sweet. Alexius planned to have one per day for afternoon tea. And he didn’t, absolutely did not, let Günter Blewitt have a single piece. Hah!
Queen Mira had complex feelings at seeing how excited Alexius was about receiving flowers and treats from Earl Rosewood.
Her information sources had informed her that Earl Rosewood had also sent flowers and treats to Prince Rian, Lady Florence Sage, and Lady Adrienne Obsidian.
It was as though Earl Rosewood wasn’t in Rian’s faction, but rather, Rian was in Earl Rosewood’s faction. As was Alexius, Florence Sage, and Adrienne Obsidian.
With both Rian and Alexis listening to Earl Rosewood, Earl Rosewood would have control over the future king of Sedaveria. Whether Rian or Alexius ultimately became king, they would be a puppet in Earl Rosewood’s hands.
She couldn’t have this trend continue. But it wasn’t a simple matter to prohibit Rian and Alexius from associating with Earl Rosewood.
Earl Rosewood could be removed. But then there would be a vacuum of power. Duke Schauss would likely want to take over the Rosewood fief and expand his power, threatening the throne.
Earl Rosewood had a use. His existence and activities challenged Duke Schauss and kept him busy. His existence also seemed to have prompted Rian to mature and take on responsibilities.
Provided that Earl Rosewood’s usefulness outweighed his disadvantages, Earl Rosewood would remain free.
Perhaps Queen Mira needed to give Rian and Alexius more resources so that they had much greater power than Earl Rosewood.
Queen Mira smiled wryly to herself. Oh, she knew that Rian had been hiring more people while on his trip—people who hadn’t been “screened” by herself or King Edric. Rian would love more resources. Maybe his ‘subordinate’ position to Earl Rosewood was engineered to make her and King Edric give him resources and duties…
Florence was back in her home fief when she received the roses and snacks. The roses were cool to the touch, having been kept in cold storage through the transport. They were fresh and vibrant and filled with scent. The snacks were small and delicate, suitable to show off and delicious for eating a few pieces during afternoon teas.
She felt a bit amused and bemused. What had prompted Ayden to send these? Had Prince Rian told Ayden to do this? Or had Ayden done it of his own volition?
If Ayden had done this on his own, Florence was afraid that when Ayden grew up, he’d be a heartthrob—the kind that was dark and brooding, yet occasionally unexpectedly romantic.
Florence had a servant put the flowers in a vase in her room, and she shared the snacks with her family at their next afternoon tea.
Her mother had been there too when the Rosewood messenger came.
If Viscountess Sage hadn’t known that Earl Rosewood was a twelve-year-old child, she’d think that he had designs on her daughter. As it were, she felt that Earl Rosewood wasn’t bad at making connections, despite first impressions.
A Rosewood messenger had gone to the Obsidians’ house in the Capital to deliver the gifts to Adrienne Obsidian.
Almost immediately after the messenger left, the other Obsidian children gathered around Adrienne with smirks on their faces.
“Roses, fresh roses!”
“Ohhhhh, does Earl Rosewood like you?”
—After all, Earl Rosewood and Adrienne were similar in age.
Adrienne flushed but her expression hardened. “It’s not like that!”
“We know that Rosewood appreciates you.”
“Haha, oh, you’re jealous that he taught Adrienne how to fly!”
—As some of the Obsidian kids started to bicker and argue, Adrienne asked one of her nicer cousins to help distribute some of the roses to each person in their extended family.
When they later found out that Earl Rosewood had also sent gifts to Prince Rian, Prince Alexius, and Lady Florence Sage, the teasing about her and Earl Rosewood changed in nature and tone.
“Earl Rosewood sent roses to other people, it must be a cover!”
“Florence Sage, your biggest rival!”
“Hehe, Earl Rosewood really appreciates you a lot~”
Eventually, Adrienne became annoyed. At their next internal Obsidian group magical practice, she far surpassed their tutor’s expectations and thus had the tutor berate the other annoying siblings and cousins.
That made them shut up and practice instead.
While Ren Xiyang’s giftees received their gifts and reacted one way or another, the boy (man) himself was busy preparing for winter.
This year’s harvest was really good. The weather had been good, and the fertiliser had made it a bumper crop year. The plentiful food made local markets even more bustling than usual. Excitement about the upcoming harvest festival rose.
As the Earl of the Rosewood fief though, Ren Xiyang couldn’t rest on his laurels. Winter was coming in less than two months.
The Rosewood winter-preparedness task force had been brainstorming and gathering past experiences and opinions over the last month. After the harvest was over, the team met with Ren Xiyang to discuss what they had determined.
The task force set four main themes: food, clothing, heating, and defence.
Given the bountiful yields, there shouldn’t be any problems feeding the Rosewood estate. However, charity food consumption was expected to increase over winter and that made it a problem.
Mrs. Cooks said, “My Lord, I’m afraid that food would need to be rationed over the winter. We may have to impose limits on the number of charity recipients.”
Ren Xiyang looked at the farmers among the group. “And the winter crops?”
“My Lord, they won’t ripen in time,” said Janat, one of the lead farmers.
“If I magically ripen them, a couple of times through the winter, would that be enough?” Ren Xiyang said. “It would be more work for the farming team, as you would need to harvest and plant multiple times. Get those receiving charity to help out.”
“We can do so, my Lord,” Janat said.
Mrs. Cooks nodded. “Thank you for your generosity, my Lord.”
Next, was clothing.
The matter of clothing was much more of an expensive problem that Ren Xiyang couldn’t use magic to fix. The Rosewood fief typically snowed during the coldest time in winter, which was also a time when many people died due to hypothermia.
“…We have examined the price and available stocks of cloth and clothing. We liaised with Master Otto on the funds available and with some merchants on the stocks available. Unfortunately, even if the funds were available—which they aren’t—there simply isn’t enough wool that we can buy,” Aaron said.
“Do what we can. Start purchasing multiple different fabrics for now as well as some ready-made clothes. See whether these clothes would be distributed on a lending basis, either with a coin deposit or in exchange for labour.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Third was heating.
This was something that hadn’t occurred to Ren Xiyang at all. He forgot that others couldn’t simply control their local temperature.
In preparation for the winter, the estate could go and collect wood from the Rosewood forest, which Ren Xiyang could dry appropriately before use. But a lot of firewood would be needed to keep everyone warm which was an environmental issue. Fire itself was a safety hazard. And wood smoke was a health problem.
Was this a problem Ren Xiyang could fix with magic? He wasn’t powerful enough to heat the entire fief, but there might be a spell. Ren Xiyang had mostly skipped the fire spells because he had considered them useless, but he could be wrong sometimes.
For now though…
“Scope out the abandoned houses at the edges of Redmond town. See if we can knock any down and use the old wood as firewood. We can allow Rosewood residents to enter the Rosewood forest and collect a set amount of firewood each, for a certain payment.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“Ideally, we would build new houses or retrofit houses with some form of underfloor heating. Excess heat from the kitchen can be moved through the house, providing warmth while avoiding breathing in smoke.” Ren Xiyang was initially thinking about kangs, but the term ‘underfloor heating’ would make a lot more sense in this world. He turned to Kel, who was also in the meeting. “Kel, can you schedule a meeting with some house builders?”
“Yes, my Lord!” Kel said promptly, writing this note down for herself.
The final matter was defence.
Herry, one of the Rosewood guards, now stepped up. “We expect that outsiders would come to the Rosewood fief for refuge as the winter deepens. We don’t know what kind of people they’ll be. This poses a security risk. Winter is also a prime time for bandit raids which disproportionately affect small villages and isolated settlements. Last year, we had three known raids that hit places away from the Rosewood manor.”
“Prepare a camp area for outsiders, with temporary housing and food distribution. Rosewood residents in need can use the area too. The camp would need to be segregated. Some of the Rosewood guards will need to be stationed there. As for bandits…if they prefer violence to quietly lining up for food…”
If he could meet any bandits straight on, it was almost guaranteed that he would win. But Ren Xiyang’s ability wasn’t so great that he could sense the entire Rosewood fief. And time period had slow communication (crystal balls for every small village and settlement was prohibitively expensive) and he had a limited flying speed.
Herry’s face turned grave. “If Earl Rosewood’s goal is to avoid losses from bandit attacks within the Rosewood fief, then perhaps the smaller villagers need to have a guard or militia like Redmond town.”
“Or we could make watch towers that can alert other towers,” another person said.
“Are there any particular locations that get hit by bandits more than once?” Ren Xiyang asked.
“No, my Lord. Those places…die afterwards.”
Ren Xiyang frowned. Some people (bandits) just made it worse for everyone. Watch towers cost money to make and maintain. Training and arming the people or a militia cost money. All of this time and money could be used to feed and clothe people in need instead!
“Do we have enough people to set up a random patrol through the fief?” Ren Xiyang asked.
“My Lord, we don’t have enough people,” Herry said.
“I’ll think about it some more,” Ren Xiyang finally said.
“Yes, my Lord.”
Afterwards, Ren Xiyang brooded on the various topics that the winter-preparedness team had bought up.
The clothing issue could be reduced a lot if Ren Xiyang could solve the housing-heating issue.
Ren Xiyang flipped through various magic spell books. Indeed, there were heating spells available. But the majority of people weren’t mages, and they wouldn’t be able to afford to hire a mage. And even if the heating spells could be distributed, they would eventually lose power over time.
Firewood would be necessarily used. Which meant Ren Xiyang needed to check if various towns and villages had a fire-fighting plan set up.
But right now, in autumn, there was still a fair amount of sunshine that Ren Xiyang used to control his local temperature.
Was there any way for him to convert that into stored magic, which then could be transformed back into heat in people’s homes? He could personally use magic to manipulate the surrounding heat from sunlight, but how could he make something inanimate do that?
As for the bandit problem…
Did magical distress flares exist? Or even better, non-magical distress flares? Did a basic communication spell that could transmit either “all is well” or “things are Not Well” exist? Could he install local village-wide magical shields that could be activated?
Some nobles seemed to think that Ren Xiyang wanted more land, but in reality, he didn’t. More land meant more responsibility and more work.
The Rosewood fief wasn’t particularly big. It used to be larger but had since shrunk for various reasons. The total population was much less than a single modern city. And yet, there were so many troubles to worry about.
—Look at how much work Rian had to do as a prince of the kingdom! He was travelling across the kingdom and visiting the fiefs to talk to all the nobles, all the while studying at night!
Ren Xiyang would give the Rosewood fief to Prince Rian in a heartbeat if he could, and devote his time to magical research and agricultural research instead…
He sighed. His one-day-a-week for himself wasn’t enough. But how could he give up his Earlship duties?
Rian: Just wait, Earl Rosewood! Just you wait! I’ll appear in the next chapter and then you’ll regret!
Ren Xiyang: (I’m…looking forward to it? Weird…)
Thank you to ratasaursrex, im Tired, Elsa, lilbabydino, Cyanin, and Turducken for the extra support!
This story is getting quite long ah…… Also, I hope everyone is looking forward to the time skip in a couple dozen chapters
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Also. Woops. I think I’m overworking Ren Xiyang (°▽°)