HTLCCBFT Chapter 24

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 24

The pig merchant—no, the pig merchant Piggs[mfn]皮格斯; I’ll include the raw names in case anyone is curious. I’ve also opted to try and not directly dictate their names so obviously.[/mfn], whom His Highness Oliver had been eagerly awaiting, did not arrive in Laina City until nightfall on that day, barely making it in time for the second day of the Summer Market.

Like the Nisse Merchant Caravan, Piggs hailed from Gregor City and, except for last year when the situation was most turbulent, he had come to Laina City almost every year.

In recent years, crop failures in the fields had driven up grain prices across the region while severely impacting the livestock industry.

If it were five years ago, two gold coins would have been enough to buy a mature sow, but now it took a full five gold coins—and even then, it was often a seller’s market with no actual goods available.

As a major pig merchant in the southern part of the kingdom, Piggs, with his servants driving the herd of pigs, was warmly welcomed wherever he went.

The reason Piggs didn’t mind taking the trouble to make this trip was, of course, because the new lord of Laina City was a duke—someone whom merchants like him might never have the chance to meet in their lifetime.

When setting out for Laina City, considering the poor purchasing power of Laina citizens, he had brought only twenty pigs. Among them, the five most robust ones were generously intended as gifts for that duke.

After a difficult journey, only eighteen pigs remained by the time their caravan reached Laina City.

Upon hearing this bad news, Piggs frowned and carefully inspected the condition of the surviving pigs.

Assured that they weren’t sick, he felt relieved and immediately ordered his servants to load the dead pigs onto the cart—even if they had just died or had already begun to rot, as long as he was willing to lower the price, they could definitely still be sold.

After hurrying along, the group finally entered the city under the hazy moonlight, just before the guards closed the gates.

Piggs breathed a sigh of relief: he had no desire to spend another night camping outdoors.

Guided by the earlier guard, they proceeded along the wide, smooth gravel road, at the end of which stood bright lights and a majestic castle.

Piggs lifted the carriage curtain slightly and squinted outside.

The faint light from the crescent moon in the sky wasn’t enough for him to see the surroundings clearly, but he could vaguely make out scattered, low huts dotting the nearby fields.

Those were the dwellings of the slaves.

Of course, they weren’t entitled to light lamps and had to strictly follow the tolling of the bells, living by the rule of working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

On nights when the moonlight was bright enough, they would even have to return to the fields for more work.

After a brief glance, Piggs lost interest and let the curtain fall.

“Even with the road built, it’s largely unchanged,” he muttered to himself.

To Piggs’s surprise once again, the end of the gravel road opened into a spacious square encircled by blooming flower beds, where several stalls laden with goods had already been set up.

Clearly, those belonged to merchants who had arrived in Laina City earlier than him.

Piggs wasn’t worried about anyone stealing his goods—pigs weren’t easy to steal or slaughter. The only one capable of seizing his goods would be the lord himself.

Lords, being mostly minor nobles, were far more concerned with appearances than merchants like them and were unlikely to do such a thing.

Leaving two servants in the square to arrange the stalls and watch over the pigs, Piggs got back into the carriage and continued on with two other servants.They continued driving towards the brightly lit castle.

Piggs certainly had no intention of barging into the castle uninvited.

It was just that, based on his knowledge of Laina City, the eastern district behind the castle was where the commoners lived—and where he could find lodging.

There were only two inns in the entire city of Laina, which of course couldn’t compare to the extravagant, gold-gilded luxury hotels in Gregor City.

“Damn it, did both of these inns just suffer a fire?”

After getting off the carriage, Piggs stared for a moment at the two inns’ oddly charred wooden doors, feeling conflicted, before steeling himself and stepping inside.

Perhaps because he had mentally prepared himself to enter a fire-ravaged mess, when he actually saw the bright, newly renovated interior, with its spacious wooden structure and faint fragrance lingering in the air, Piggs felt a pleasant surprise.

It was far better than he had imagined.

“Welcome, travelers from afar.”

The innkeeper came out from behind the counter, greeting them with a beaming smile.

“Are you planning to stay here?”

Piggs gave him a reserved glance and replied, “Yes. I need three of your best beds.”

The innkeeper readily agreed, “Absolutely no problem. My inn has just been renovated—every room is clean and comfortable. I’m sure our guests will be satisfied.”

Piggs curled his lips dismissively and added, “Also, prepare my dinner with the finest ingredients and bring it to my room.”

But as soon as he finished speaking, he changed his mind and corrected himself, “Never mind, leave the food in the main hall downstairs. I’ll come down later.”

Although he hadn’t had to do the dirty work of herding pigs himself for a long time, after days of travel, he was still covered in dust that he found unbearable.

After taking a comfortable bath and changing into fresh clothes, Piggs finally emerged from his room, followed by two servants, and slowly made his way back to the first floor.

“Truly worthy of the Angel Duke! Ah, that noble lord! God, I’ve never seen such a magnificent being.”

The bright hall was filled with the pleasant aroma of wine, and the voice speaking belonged to someone Piggs knew well.

Squinting slightly, he was not at all surprised to spot his old rival.

“Nisse?” Piggs snorted disdainfully. “Since when did you start working as a waiter in a Laina City inn?”

“Piggs.” Normally, Nisse would never miss a chance to mock this pretentious fool who always dressed like a noble, but this time, he paid no attention to Piggs’s remark.

He shot Piggs an impatient glance before promptly ignoring him and continued gesturing animatedly to the dye merchant beside him: “Even the brightest star in the desert can’t compare to the beauty of those blue eyes. And he’s so gentle and kind, full of mercy even for the lowliest slaves…”

What was this shabby merchant, who sold cheap furs and always acted so miserly, going on about?

Piggs frowned in displeasure.

Unlike Nisse, who was already full from food and drink, Piggs was still hungry. So instead of immediately picking a fight, he leisurely began to eat his rather unremarkable dinner. The so-called ‘best’ dinner at this inn came at the steep price of five silver coins: it included a portion of mashed potatoes, a bowl of ‘meat soup’ with a few specks of oil, two soft white bread rolls, and a piece of smoked meat half the size of a palm, sliced as thin as a cicada’s wing.

While chewing, he distractedly listened to Nisse’s words.

Ever since meeting that angelically pure and beautiful lord, Nisse had been unable to calm his emotions.

When he finally recovered from his bewitched state, he fell into a strange mood of being torn between hope and fear.

Even the usually good-tempered Neil was driven to helplessness by his brother’s annoyance—after leaving the castle, the normally capable and efficient man had been sitting aside in a daze, constantly asking him, “Did I make a good impression on that noble Duke just now?”

No matter how many times Neil gave affirmative answers, Nisse remained deeply worried.

As he listened, Piggs pensively put down his spoon.

He didn’t pay much attention to Nisse’s exaggerated and laughable praises—in his view, as an insignificant small-time fur trader, the highest-ranking noble Nisse had probably ever met before was just a Baron.

Now that he had the incredible luck of being received by the kingdom’s only Duke, it was indeed something he could boast about for a lifetime.

What concerned Piggs most was the attitude of that honorable Duke toward merchants.

To even be willing to receive a small fur trader like Nisse, and to make that fool so overjoyed… it indeed sounded like a rare noble who was approachable and treated people kindly.

After slowly finishing his dinner, Piggs didn’t linger on the first floor any longer and returned to his room.

In such a poor place, there wasn’t much worth seeing anyway—even the women soliciting business on the streets were skinny and bony, with little flesh on them, probably feeling worse to the touch than the pigs he raised.

Naturally, Piggs had little interest in this.

He had rented the best room in this inn. The bed was a brand new wooden frame fixed together with iron ingots, much more reliable than the previous model tied with ropes. It was covered with a thick straw mattress sewn with linen cloth, followed by two layers of thin, washed-and-wrinkled cloth, at least enough to block the itchy straw prickles.

Probably because he was too tired from the day, Piggs actually fell asleep quickly on this mattress that wasn’t too bad but definitely couldn’t be called good.

He wasn’t awakened until the first bell rang the next morning.

He didn’t get up immediately but enjoyed breakfast in bed before changing clothes with the servant’s assistance and going out with his big belly sticking out.

The moment he stepped out of the inn’s door, Piggs was stunned by everything around him.

The scene shrouded in darkness last night now revealed its thriving true appearance under the bright sunlight.

The streets were lined with uniformly newly built houses, their exteriors still using that wood he had initially mistaken for burnt—but what truly shocked him speechless was the vast golden cornfields covering the hills and plains.

The land was no longer messy and disordered but crisscrossed with paths, appearing neat and organized.

At first glance, Piggs and his companions saw nothing but tall, healthy corn plants as far as the eye could see. Amidst the emerald-green long leaves flowed tender yellow soft tassels, with golden corn kernels faintly visible—plump grains showcasing their proud maturity.

Yet the slaves busily working in the fields, carrying water to irrigate the crops, though still appearing much thinner than people elsewhere, wore expressions of joyous smiles he had never witnessed in any other place.

“This… this is truly Laina City? How can this be possible!” Piggs was utterly stunned by these common-sense-defying scenes, rendered speechless for a long while.

Until the daily morning ritual spontaneously performed by Laina citizens echoed in his ears—singing hymns to the Cat God.

Compared to the original version taught by Oliver, these people who genuinely adored the Angel Duke had secretly made some modifications.

“O Laina City, benevolent God of Wealth—Cat God, please bless our beautiful lord… In these days under the benevolent Cat God’s protection, we sing praises to God’s greatness with heartfelt gratitude. We welcome the golden harvest, grateful for the great Cat God’s guardianship over our lord and all that has been done for us!”

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