Cecil had arranged the most comfortable accommodation for the guests from the Captical. It was not in the lord's mansion, but in a separate building under the government office near the lord's mansion. It was said that this building was specially built to welcome important guests. It was called the "Autumn Palace" by the people of Cecil because it was completed in the autumn of this year.
This novel arrangement once again made the visitors feel the uniqueness of the Duchy of Cecil.
Duchess Victoria leaned a little lazily on the soft and comfortable sofa, relaxing her stiff limbs due to the tiredness of the journey and dinner. She carefully observed all the furnishings in the room. Frankly speaking, the furnishings here were not "luxurious." Although everything was exquisite, it was not in the same style as the guest rooms in the Silver Castle. But the things here were still impressive.
All the lighting here relied on magic stones as the core. This cheap and simple lighting device was difficult to popularize due to the constant injection of magic power. But it was something that could be seen everywhere in Cecil. The room was as warm as spring, but the fireplace on the west side was not lit. Obviously, the fireplace was not a heating device, but a decoration. The real heating here was provided by something called the "magic thermodynamic system." Large and bright curtains hung in front of the large floor-to-ceiling windows. The weaving technique of the cloth was very strange. The stitching was simple and even cheap, but the neatness was amazing. It was as if a skilled old weaver had weaved such a cheap and simple cloth without sleep.
The black-haired maid, Maggie, stood behind Victoria, gently massaging the tight muscles on her mistress' shoulders. Feeling the muscles under her fingers relax a little, the black-haired maid said softly, "You have been observing everything here."
"Really? Is it that obvious? " Victoria's tone was slightly higher, and her body stretched more lazily. She could maintain the perfect state in any non-official situation, but now was the time for her to relax. She sighed. "I am a little regretful that I did not bring a mediocre the Captical nobleman to be my 'escort.' He can ask questions about every novel thing for me. There are too many things here that I don't understand, but I've asked too many 'whys' along the way. "
"There are a lot of new things here, but they seem to be all kinds of magical devices. They are not more advanced than the magic gears you set up in Winter Fort Academy, are they?" Maggie shared her opinion. "Cecil's people use magic crystal lamps for illumination, and so does the inner court of Winter Fort Academy. Their doors can open automatically, and so does your mage tower. Ah, they also have an arcanotech car that can drive automatically, but it's not as fast as the dragon-blood horse, and certainly not as fast as your white-winged gryphon."
Apparently, in the eyes of the black-haired maid, her mistress was confused by Cecil's dazzling 'tricks', so much so that she was overly concerned about those novel and interesting magic devices. However, Victoria shook her head. "No, Maggie, you don't understand. I'm not surprised by any of Cecil's magic devices. What really surprises me is that they have thousands of each kind of magic device."
Maggie's fingers that were pressing on her mistress' shoulder paused for a moment.
"Grand Duke Gawain is pushing supernatural powers to everyone. He's breaking the boundary between Extraordinaires and ordinary people. The scary thing is that not only does he have the right to do so, but he's also done it." Victoria sat up, her expression turning serious. "I don't understand how he did it …"
The black-haired maid did not answer, and the duchess did not expect to hear an answer from the maid. She just shook her head. "Maggie, bring those 'newspapers' to me. I want to read them again."
"Yes."
A stack of newspapers was handed to Victoria. She could not help but sigh softly as she looked at this thing that was also unheard of elsewhere. "Starting with making the commoners literate …"
The Captical emissaries from the north had never come into contact with this thing called newspaper, but it had long been in the eyes of every ordinary person in the south. Everyone could read it, and it was incredibly cheap. A lot of information that was considered 'confidential' by the northern nobles was openly disseminated in the Duchy of Cecil, including the price of food, the appointment and dismissal of officials, and the construction of new towns. These things that should have been exclusive to the nobles were discussed by the commoners here, as long as they learned the basics of reading and writing in school.
The others in the delegation probably had not noticed this thing called newspaper, but Victoria had paid attention to it as early as when she left Rock Fortress and passed through Kant City. At that time, a 'newspaper boy' was hawking this kind of printed matter on the side of the road. On a whim, the duchess ordered someone to buy a copy. Then, she was deeply shocked by this thing.
Her eyes quickly swept through the content about prices, construction, and current news, but she thought of her experience before leaving Pompeii, when she wanted to have a statistical information about the merchants passing through the border.
But compared to this content, what the duchess cared more about was the commentary articles on current affairs in the newspaper.
"Maggie … Do you know? If we have this in our hands, we don't have to worry about whether the nobles and citizens will support Prince Wales' coronation. "Victoria waved the newspaper in her hand, her voice full of helplessness." We can even make the people in the east start to doubt their lord and prince. "
"You want to distribute something similar in Saint Sunil … or the Holy Spirit Plains?"
Victoria's voice was full of fatigue. "It's useless. Our people can't read, and the nobles of the Holy Spirit Plains and the Captical will not allow the farmers to put down their hoes and go to school to learn how to read. After they understand the truth, they will question them."
She only said half of it, but she did not say the rest. If she had not seen a lot of information about Louan City with her own eyes, her own thoughts were actually similar to those of the Captical and the Plains nobles …
No, it was more accurate to say that once the nobles of the Captical and the Plains knew what happened in Louan City, they would not dare to let the people learn how to read.
A breeze blew from the side, and Victoria stopped talking with Maggie. She looked at the corner of the room and nodded slightly. "Crow, you're back."
A figure in black soft leather armor emerged from the air. The Royal Shadow Guard 'Crow', who once belonged to Francis II and now obeyed the Duke Regent, bowed to Victoria and said, "Duchess, there is nothing strange around this building."
"It seems that our founding hero is open and aboveboard." Victoria nodded, but her eyes could not help but glance at the 'newspaper' in her hand. Then she looked at the Royal Shadow Guard not far away. "Did you find out anything?"
"In addition to us, there seems to be another group of visitors in this city. I heard that they are a group of merchants, but they live some distance away from the 'castle' and have to pass by the outpost. We were worried about being discovered, so we did not investigate."
"A group of merchants …" Victoria said faintly, as if talking to herself. "It is said that the founding hero really likes' business. 'He relied on the power of merchants to rise quickly."
Crow lowered his head and asked, "Do you want to track down the merchants?"
"No, it is not wise to disturb the master's other guests." Victoria shook her head. Then her eyes suddenly fell on Crow's shoulder, and her voice turned slightly cold. "Besides, you have been discovered."
"… Ah?!" Crow was startled and then noticed the gaze of his mistress. The Royal Shadow Guard immediately turned his head and finally noticed something strange at the back of his shoulder. He reached out to grab it and found a small note in the gap of the leather armor.
Seeing the content of the note, the Royal Shadow Guard's face suddenly changed.
"Oh, taking a walk? — From the daughter of the Shadow Goddess. "
"Duchess —" Crow immediately prostrated himself on the ground, his voice trembling with shame. "I … I was careless …"
A blood-curdling icicle seemed to have formed behind his neck. The Royal Shadow Guard felt his nerves and blood turn cold little by little, but the next second, the bone-chilling feeling receded like the tide. He heard the voice of the Duchess coming from the front. "Get up."
Crow broke out in a cold sweat and stood up as if he had been reborn. Victoria, who was opposite him, sighed. "Gwen? Duke Cecil once trained the first batch of Royal Shadow Guards in Ansu. He must have the strongest Shadow Master by his side. It is normal that you are not a match for him. Cancel all the secret operations. The Shadow Master who did not show up only gave us a warning this time, but when Duke Cecil speaks, I am afraid it will not be just a warning. "
Crow was relieved. He wanted to say that he should know the "daughter of the Shadow Goddess" who left the note on him. She was not a Shadow Master at all, and in a head-on fight, she was only a little stronger than Goose. But as an adult with normal intelligence, he would rather his mistress overestimate the strength of the half-elf as much as possible at this moment …
"Since you have been discovered, then do something else," Victoria continued. "Leave the city first. The day after tomorrow, you will officially enter the city with the second batch of carriages. After that, you will move around in Cecil City. Go to the places that you are allowed to visit. I want you to focus on three things."
"Yes, please."
"Observe how Cecil manages the 'people' and find out why they are so efficient. Observe what the people here talk about most often and find out what the Duchy of Cecil looks like in their eyes. Lastly, observe their market. I want you and the other Shadow Guards to record everything that is sold in the market, including the approximate price changes. Also, inquire about the place of origin of those things, the daily sales situation, and how they manage the market."
"Yes."
Crow disappeared into the air. A moment later, Maggie looked at her mistress. "You mentioned the market of Cecil at the end … Do you want to understand how Duke Cecil's business operates?"
"That's one of the purposes." Victoria nodded. "But more importantly, I want to understand how powerful Duke Cecil is after conquering this land. Our route from Rock Fortress to Cecil City has been planned. What we can see is also planned. The market is the only way we can understand the other areas of the Southern Territory."
How many chariots and ships did Duke Gawain have? How many cities were completely under his control? How many regions were directly connected to Cecil City? How many gold coins flowed through this land every day, and how many armies could be raised with these gold coins … These things could all be estimated from the market.
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