At the end of October, following the end of the autumn harvest, the citizens of Icestone City welcomed the annual Harvest Festival.
Although the spring plowing was delayed once again due to the chaos of war in the Northern Frontier in the first half of this year, it was fortunate that the slave rebellion in Icestone City had been quelled early on by Count Angele, so the spring plowing wasn't affected too much.
Also, in the war against the Troll Empire, Count Angele won a great victory and forced the trolls to send over a large number of young and strong slaves. With the help of these troll slaves, Icestone City's spring plowing, autumn harvest, irrigation works, city defense construction, and so on were all progressing smoothly.
In addition to the preferential tax treatment for foreign trade, a large number of merchants chose to use Icestone City as a transit point for their trade with the Giant Demon Empire, causing this city to always be bustling with activity.
Therefore, unlike the other territories in the Northern Frontier, Angele's territory was already showing signs of prosperity this year.
The citizens took the opportunity of this Harvest Festival to flood into Icestone City one after another, expressing their gratitude to the Lord who had brought them such a wonderful life.
Although Count Angele wasn't in the territory, this still didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the citizens.
The taverns in the city had already prepared rich and cheap food and fine wine. Steward Eamon even specially invited more than ten singing and dancing troupes and circuses to conduct a free public tour of Icestone City.
The men lingered in the taverns drinking fine wine, the women flocked to the market to buy large amounts of goods, and the children chased after the circuses' tracks, watching all kinds of novel and interesting performances. They couldn't stop screaming and laughing, clapping their little hands until they turned red, but they didn't feel any pain.
However, the topic that the citizens of Icestone City talked about the most this year wasn't their increasingly wonderful lives, or how wonderful the performances of the troupes were, or even Count Angele who was far away in the Half-Elf Kingdom. Instead, it was something called the "welfare lottery".
"Did you hear? A lucky person appeared today! "
"Is it the welfare lottery?"
"Of course, other than this, what else could it be?"
"Who's the lucky person? How much did he get? "
"It's a guy called Tom, he won five thousand copper coins!"
"Five thousand! Is that true? "
"Of course it's true! I saw this kid go on stage to receive the prize with my own eyes. "
"Are you talking about Tom? I know that kid. He's my distant cousin. I was the one who told him about the welfare lottery … When he was receiving the prize, I was still shouting for him from below the stage, but he didn't hear me. There were probably too many people present, and it was even noisier than the theater … "
"Hahaha, even if he heard it, he would pretend not to hear it."
"Why?"
"Because he's afraid that you'll borrow money from him!"
"Why would I borrow money from him? If he can win the grand prize, why can't I? Today, I bought five lottery tickets and specially picked the lucky numbers. I'm sure I'll win the next lottery! "
…
The Earl Of Avon led his fiancée, Shalia, into the tavern and found that the customers were all discussing the welfare lottery.
During the harvest festival, business in the tavern was very good. The small space was divided into two floors. The lower floor was stuffed with more than 30 tables, and each table was full of people. There were also a circle of customers who couldn't find a seat.
The crowded and noisy atmosphere made Shalia frown. Fortunately, the Earl Of Avon quickly took her to the second floor.
In contrast, the second floor was much more spacious, but this was also because the admission fee was much more expensive.
The waiter of the tavern could tell at a glance that the Earl Of Avon and Shalia's clothes were not ordinary. He knew that the two of them must be nobles, so he quickly and respectfully led them to a table by the window on the second floor.
After the Earl Of Avon sat down, he skillfully threw out a few copper coins and said, "Give us two cups of purple cane wine."
"Okay, please wait a moment!"
After the waiter turned around, Shalia frowned and said, "Evan, why do you always like to come to places like this?"
The Earl Of Avon looked at the noisy crowd downstairs with interest and laughed. "Because I can drink good wine in these places!"
Shalia frowned even more and curled her lips. "Nonsense, what good wine can there be here?"
"Haha, you don't understand. If we're talking about brewing techniques, the wine here can't compare to nobles' wineries, but the wine here has a special taste that nobles' wineries don't have. "
"What taste?"
"The taste of the secular world."
"The secular world?"
The Earl Of Avon turned around and looked seriously into Shalia's big, bright eyes. He explained, "Nobles' wineries are full of deliberate hypocrisy. Only here can you taste the real taste of the secular world."
Shalia looked at the Earl Of Avon's face and suddenly felt that she didn't understand her fiancé anymore.
The Earl Of Avon laughed and said with a smile, "I'm just joking with you. Actually, it's more likely to find traces of His Highness the Prince in a place like this."
Shalia's face was full of disbelief as she shook her head. "Even if Father came to Icestone City, he wouldn't enter a place like this. Also, if an outsider entered Icestone City, the first to know would definitely be the Lord's Manor. "
"No, no, no. If this outsider wanted to hide his identity, he would be on guard against the Lord's Manor, but not these commoners. "
Shalia tilted her head in thought and found that it made sense, so she didn't say anything else.
At this time, the attendant had already brought over two cups of purple cane wine.
The Earl Of Avon took the opportunity to ask, "May I ask if you've seen a middle-aged man? He's about seven feet tall, has blonde hair, blue eyes, a cold face, and a purple scabbard knight's sword at his waist … "
After hearing the Earl Of Avon's description, the attendant thought carefully and shook his head. "My apologies, my lord, I've never seen the person you're talking about."
The Earl Of Avon nodded, not too disappointed. After all, Prince Rhy's trail wasn't that easy to find.
This time, they had only come to Icestone City with an attitude of giving it a try.
He then asked, "What is the welfare lottery that the people below are talking about? Can you introduce it to us? "
"Of course!" The attendant's face instantly flushed red, as if he was very interested in the welfare lottery. "That's the welfare lottery. It's designed by our honorable Lord, the great Protector of the Northern Frontier, Count Angele. It's said that it's to raise money to provide welfare to the poor commoners who can't take care of themselves.
However, the Lord Count claims that all those who are willing to pay for the lottery are good people who are contributing to the cause of salvation! They deserve to be rewarded!
Therefore, the lottery will be opened every month. As long as the number you buy is selected, you'll win the prize!
One lottery ticket only costs three copper coins, but if you win, you can win thousands of copper coins as a reward! I've even heard that some people have won gold coins … "
Listening to the attendant's long-winded explanation, the Earl Of Avon drank the purple cane wine and suddenly asked, "Then can an outsider like me buy it?"
"Of course you can. The Lord Count said that this is a benefit for all the people of the Northern Frontier. Anyone from the Northern Frontier can buy it. "
"Then what if I'm not from the Northern Frontier?"
"Well …" The attendant touched the back of his head and muttered, "It shouldn't be a problem. When I went to buy a lottery ticket previously, I saw a bard who also bought a lottery ticket, and that guy said that he came here from the distant south."
The Earl Of Avon took out a silver coin and threw it to the attendant. He ordered, "Buy me a hundred welfare lottery tickets, and the rest of the money will be your tip."
"Okay, please wait for a moment!" The attendant immediately took the silver coins and ran away like a wisp of smoke.
A silver coin could be exchanged for a thousand copper coins, and it would only cost three hundred copper coins to buy a hundred lottery tickets. The remaining seven hundred copper coins would belong to the attendant.
He naturally wouldn't hesitate to make such a cheap deal.
Shalia was puzzled. "You're interested in these lottery tickets?"
"Yes. It's a very interesting thing. "
The Earl Of Avon drank the wine, and his eyes flashed with a strange light.
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