Translator: SumTLMan
Grud Town, Jammec Province.
At the beginning of the Month of Frost, this corner town, far from the centre of the Canary Empire, suddenly ushered in a row of silver knights with large emblems and flags.
Old Pasha, an old pedant in Grud Town, glared first at the sight of the pattern on the flag and was frightened into a cold sweat.
The tiger treads the python, the python wraps the full moon.
Pasha’s neighbour was Tim, the only blacksmith in town. Tim, seeing the look on his old neighbour, while smoking hookah, wondered, “Hey, old man, what’s that look on your face? Do you know the origin of these knights?”
Pasha took a deep breath and whispered to Tim, “If I’m not mistaken, the pattern on the banners seems to be the emblem of the Monne family.”
The Monne family?! Tim listened and looked back at Old Pasha.
“Are you sure you aren’t mistaken?”
Without waiting for Pasha’s answer, Tim seemed to think of something, trembled all over, as he quickly turned his head and slipped into his narrow blacksmith’s shop, chained the door, and gave a trembling peek through his window.
Seeing him peek through the window of the blacksmith’s shop, Old Pasha shook his head when he saw Tim’s terror. In the past, these bad friends would have laughed at each other, but today, the Monne family came unannounced to Grud Town, and Tim’s set of actions explained what he thought about the reasons for why Monne family would go so far from the capital to this part of the Empire.
Old Pasha recalled the rumours he had recently heard at the hunter’s taverns in the city.
The Monne family, known as the backbone of the Canary Empire, has produced at least six generals over last several hundred years during times of war and has repeatedly performed outstanding meritorious military service while resisting the invasion of the enemy. Moreover, in each and every battle, each member of the Monne family wasn’t hiding in safe havens. Every single member of the family was all fiery soldiers headed to the front lines of each war, both with fearlessness and cunning resourcefulness. Such a hands-on and prominent family naturally mastered the military lifeline of the Empire.
Recently, the Canary Empire and the neighbouring country, Sea Blue, are in a state of total war, and the borders of Sea Blue State is not far from the town of Grud, at this time the knights of the Monne family had arrived… Perhaps it is for this reason.
Old Pasha guessed that there were either two purposes, conscription or defence, or perhaps both.
Either way, both were fatal for Tim, the blacksmith. Because the Canary Empire’s law regarding conscription clearly stipulates that towns included in the conscription area during the war, have to send a young man in a household or pay a hundred gold coins to obtain a conscription-free token for them. Tim was the only young man in his family, and his age happened to be in the range of the conscription requirements, and if he were recruited, there would be absolutely no guarantees for his wife and daughter in the future. As for paying gold coins? In the whole town of Grud, perhaps only the Pat family can deposit a hundred gold coins. You know, a gold coin is enough for a family’s living expenses for half a year.
After Pasha himself experienced an initial surprise, he quickly returned to normal, he is an old bachelor, now approaching his twilight years, and not within the scope of conscription, so he is not worried at all. There is even a desire to observe the movements of the Monne family. He had wondered for what reason they had for not contacted the mayor of Grud Town first. Isn’t this for conscription? Pasha continued observing the iron-hoofed cavalry heading towards another direction instead. Even so, during the Month of Frost, it is still warm at Viscount Pat’s mansion!
……
Pat Manor.
Two maids in beige linen headscarves were whispering as they worked.
The subject of their gossip were the two young masters of the Pat family. “His Lordship and his ladyship have been dead for two years. According to the Empire’s laws, during the Month of Frosts Descent, which comes after the Month of Frost, is when the eldest or young master inherits their title from the Empire.” Among them, the young maid with an apple-shaped face said with a little concern, “I don’t know if the situation with the second young master will change after the eldest master inherits the title.”
“Ollie, about the lord, it would be better for the two of us to gossip less. However, your struggle, I don’t think it’s necessary to worry, although you work in the second young master’s tea garden, after all, the tea garden is too far away from the lord’s manor, you may not know, but the relationship between the eldest and second young master is excellent! Don’t worry, those big families during conscription time are at odds with one another, so they won’t show up on our estate.” The middle-aged maid with a pockmarked face said with a smile.
At this time, the sound of hoofs sounded from the path outside the tea garden.
After a while, a knight in flashy metal armour appeared in front of them.
The horse slowed its hooves to a halt after the knight arrived at the entrance of the tea garden, he took off his helmet.
This young man has a face full of masculine brilliance, the suns rays shining on his visage made his outline appear more profound, his original handsome features, at this moment, seemed even more extraordinary.
The young man’s grey-green eyes scanned the two maids. Skipping Ollie, he focused on the middle-aged maid.
“Good afternoon, maid Mana.”
Mana put down her woven basket and greeted the blessed young knight, “Good afternoon, Master Leon.”
Leon looked at the newly picked tea leaves in Mana’s woven basket and said with a trace of helplessness: “My brother went to see the old man again?”
Mana bowed her head and said respectfully, “Master Angel is studying at Mr Jon’s.”
Leon curled his mouth and whispered to himself, “Study? The nerve of that old man, every day he speaks of some fallacies, my brother goes to him to study and also stops by every day to drink tea with him, that charlatan. I don’t know what kind of tricks he shows my brother for my brother to study under him.”
Leon pulled his reins impatiently. “All right, I see. You guys continue working. I’ll go look for him now. “
When he finished talking, Leon clipped his legs and rode off.
After a while, Leon came to the southeast corner of the manor, and on a small slope near the woods, there was a rather exquisite looking wooden building. The architectural style is bizarre, flying eaves warped angles, one room and four more stood side by side, except one side is connected to the main hall on the ground level while the other three places are suspended, entirely supported by columns.
The Pendulum Tower, in terms of architecture and shape, is entirely different from the architectural features of the Canary Empire, and even from the several other countries Leon has visited, there is no building with a similar style.
“What a magical building! Supported on three sides, and still standing.” Although Leon complained in his heart that old Jon had taken his brother’s attention, Leon was impressed by Jon’s amazing architectural craftsmanship, even if he had never said it to his face. Besides, apart from the Pendulum Tower in front of him, Leon no longer held any admiration for Jon. Perhaps the method of making the Pendulum Tower is very popular in Jon’s “country”. Even though Jon had lived in the Pat Home for nearly twenty years, Leon still had no idea where Jon’s country was.
Pushing away from the fence, the courtyard of Pendulum Tower carried some vegetables and fruits, and the shelves were covered with wilted vines, which produced a lot of “hanging strings” during the Month of Harvest, which Jon called grapes. Leon has tried them before, they taste quite sweet, but in the present month, it is far past the grape growing season.
As soon as he opened the wooden door to Pendulum Tower, what he saw in the small room was a young man with exquisite features, on one side he had his head buried in a parchment roll, and on another side, he dipped a quill in ink, quickly recording something.
Leon approached, even though he had deliberately reined in his presence, the metal boot armour still made a loud sound after touching the wooden floor.
“Hey, are you back?” The teenager drew a period on the leather roll and looked up at the comer. The voice was clear and became more evident, holding a strong sense of intimacy.
“My dear brother, Angel. Listening to your tone, did you know I was coming today?” Leon laughed.
Angel shrugged and curled up against the corners of his mouth. “I don’t know. It just seems like I had this little feeling.”
“Did that old man teach you that?”
Angel shook his head: “Does this still need to be taught? Dad liked to talk the same way before he died.”
“So if people misunderstand that you know why they’re here, and you don’t talk when they come in, would you open your mouth to speak?” Leon picked his eyebrows.
“I would be silent, waiting for them to speak first.”
“What if they don’t talk the whole time?”
Angel curled his mouth. “That would be awkward. If it were me, I would turn around and leave, lest the atmosphere becomes even more uncomfortable. If the other side yells at me, there will be a follow-up. “
Leon smiled and nodded, not judging, but looking around the room.
“Where’s Jon, what happened to the old man?”
As soon as Leon spoke of Jon, Angel frowned gently, with a little worry in his eyes: “You know, my mentor’s body is getting worse and worse, every part of his body is gradually shrinking, just the day before yesterday. Mentor’s legs were completely motionless. He just took some medicine, and now he’s resting upstairs.”
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