喜淘淘

before the sun even fully rose, the blacksmith union had already started to tidy up their place. advance blacksmith jules, the manager of the blacksmith union, had gotten a message from the main headquarter yesterday, saying someone important will be visiting harvest city, and he should get everything ready.

so, early in the morning, he had organized the union members and servants to clean and tidy the union. they would not let go of any corner. not a single spec of dust could remain.

also early in the morning, viscount dickens led 4 elite knights to the courtyard of the blacksmith union, waiting to greet their new city ruler, their new earl.

of course, it was duke earnest who made this decision, but viscount dickens did not know which earl it was. still, he was sure this earl was not from the duchy of carmel.

there were not many earls in the duchy of carmel, and most of them were royals. on top of that. the duchy of carmel were known for their stinginess. it was not their style to give out domains since every piece of land was flesh and blood of the king.

this decision was passed down by duke earnest from the kingdom of st ellis, so viscount dickens speculated it must be some extremely prestigious person being punished and sent here.

today was the day the new earl would accept the land, and viscount dickens decided to leave the city with his family as soon as he handed over the deed.

if viscount dickens stayed in harvest city, he and his family would need to work under this new earl. he did not want to work under an earl from the kingdom of st ellis. in fact, no inherited nobles wanted to.

therefore as soon as this news had been spread, most inherited nobles had requested a change in city domain from the kingdom of st ellis.

the kingdom of st ellis had tried their best to minimize the inevitable damage caused by this, which pushed those inherited nobles even more.

there was nothing special about this city other than agriculture anyway, and most of the grains would be forcefully purchased by the duchy of carmel with minimum profit. therefore, most of them already wanted to leave this so-called prosperous but actually barren place.

there were still some stubborn nobles who held on to their dear domain and wouldn’t leave no matter what, but soon, the scary investigation department from the kingdom of st ellis began to work its magic.

they had dug up all the dirty deeds of those inherited nobles’ family and used it to threaten them. up to this point, all of them had got the message. if they stayed, their family would be wiped out.

the kingdom of st ellis was doing an unprofitable business. all the land in harvest city would belong to abel as soon as he accepted the deed, and during the next 10 days, while abel was still in linate city, all the inherited nobles had been kicked out of harvest city.

that’s right. this was abel’s decision. he wanted a domain free of inherited nobles: a place he had full control over and a place he could truly call home. although the nobles could pay him taxes and fight for him, he couldn’t care less.

their military was mostly made up of intermediate knights, and some elite knights at most. if abel really wanted true power, he would just have to ask.

therefore, the kingdom of st ellis had hidden abel’s identity and only addressed him as earl majesty, which made most of the noble believe it was an earl given up by the kingdom of st ellis.

still, the nobles just couldn’t understand why the earl would be sent off to the southernmost part of the holy continent. there was truly nothing special about this city. maybe this earl had lost in some major noble conflict, so he was sent off to someplace he wouldn’t be seen again.

although nobles who worked under an earl might live a decent life, their chances of standing out in the future were limited. also, if the kingdom of st ellis pushed down even further, there was no way those nobles from a little duchy like the duchy of carmel could withstand it.

most nobles didn’t want to get their family tied up with an earl who lost his power since the kingdom of st ellis was so humane.

the kingdom of st ellis agreed to help those nobles exchange their domain, and viscount dickens was the first one to accept it. he exchanged his domain to another quite profitable city. he just needed to leave his skilled knight brigade in harvest city.

the 4 elite knights he had brought alongside him were the deputy commander of his knight brigade. however, the moment he was about to welcome this new earl, his mind began to clear up.

there was no way the kingdom of st ellis would sacrifice so much for a banished earl.

did he make a mistake? this question arose in viscount dickens’ heart for the first time in his life, but immediately, his attention had been dragged towards the blinding light of the teleportation circle of the blacksmith union.

“i’m home!” although abel’s body was still glowing in white light, it did not distract him from taking a deep breath at all.

“master, is this your home?” bartoli stood beside abel. she was also trying to get a feel of the atmosphere. if everything had gone smoothly, this place would also be her home for the next tens of thousands of years.

“yeah, this is my home. i will turn this place into the most powerful domain in the entire holy continent. i will not let another person get on top of me ever again!” said abel with certainty. there was the fresh smell of grains in the air, blowing across abel’s nostalgic face.

both abel and bartoli excited the teleportation circle. black wind, chocobo, white cloud, and flying flame were inside his monster ring.

viscount dickens’ eyes were wide open. he didn’t expect abel to come out of the teleportation circle. abel was raised in harvest city, and his name was well known across every street.

the 3 badges in front of abel’s chest were shimmering in the sunlight. although viscount dickens had never seen a grandmaster blacksmith badge before, when he saw the fiery excitement on advance blacksmith jules’s face, he knew this must be the legendary grandmaster blacksmith badge.

next to the grandmaster blacksmith badge, there was a single magic staff wizard badge. it was the badge of an official wizard. to normal nobles, especially those who lived on the outskirts, they might not even know a wizard badge existed.

however, viscount dickens knew what it was as a rare high rank noble in the duchy of carmel. official wizards were the most powerful force of the duchy and its main guardians.

according to his understanding, there were only 3 official wizards in the duchy, and abel had already become one of them.

next to the wizard badge was an earl noble badge. it had the engraving of a dragon, which was abel’s design. however, this earl noble badge was the most dull-looking one out of the 3.

viscount dickens felt his head hurt. abel was the earl: the earl he had been waiting for all morning, the new ruler of this city.