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In the year 819 of Saint Calendar, the end of the Month of Beginning.

In the afternoon, the gray sky started to reveal a touch of cheerful blue. The great storm had finally stopped.

Snow accumulated in front of the unique-looking buildings with domes, and the snow was so thick that the doors of the buildings had been blocked. Some Schachran Empire residents got out through the windows. They started pushing aside the snow with big shovels, drinking spirits at the same time.

Most people here had blond, light blond or black-colored hair and were well-built. While young ladies looked beautiful and elegant, those middle-aged ones tended to have put on extra weight. Many of them were double the size of their husbands, and they could easily roll the big snow balls, which were even very heavy for many young lads, with one single hand.

On the second floor of a hotel along the main street, through the window, two youngsters were looking at the joyful scene when people down there were busy with cleaning the snow. Grabbing her hands together, the blond, blue-eyed girl grinned. "I’ve never seen this big snow in Ural before. It’s already the end of the month, wow!"

The district of Ural was located in Kirov Province, southwest of Schachran Empire. Ural was two provinces away from the north fortress of the Duchy of Violet, and it was known for its ores and skills in making weapons. Therefore, Ural was also responsible for the logistics of Marinov’s line of defense.

The young lady was beautiful, and the long coat made of fox fur she was wearing showed her nice figure. The short-haired young man standing beside her was a bit hesitant but still said to her, "Yielena, you’ve been spending quite a bit time with... Mr. Peter?"

"Yes, Igor?" Yielena turned around, feeling a bit confused, "Mr. Peter is profound and humorous. I like spending time with him."

As she was saying that, there was a little smile on her face.

That smile irritated Igor. He stamped his foot and said to her in an eager tone, "Yielena, he’s a noble! And his wife must be a noble!"

Yielena’s beautiful eyebrows frowned together, and she felt a bit offended, "So what? We’re just friends. Come on Igor... There’s nothing between us. If Mr. Peter was here, he would never upset me like this. He would talk to me about the fun games we can play in the heavy snow..."

"Mr. Peter, Mr. Peter... Yielena can’t you just stop mentioning him for a second? Nobles are hypocritical!" Igor lost his temper a bit, "He looks elegant, uh? Who knows what he does for a living? Who knows what he has done before? Look at his showy swords. And he treats well every beautiful girl with us in the caravan! That means he doesn’t care about you! He’s a playboy! He hasn’t even activated his Blessing yet!"

This was not the first time that they had this conversation, however, Yielena never listened to Igor. Igor could not bear this anymore.

Seeing that Yielena lowered her head, Igor softened his tone, "I care about you, Yielena... This is why I upset you. He’s trying to get you to..." Igor stopped there. Although he talked dirty when he was with those mercenaries, he knew how to stop himself in front of Yielena.

Yielena now looked really upset. There were tears in her blue eyes. She said to him, in her trembling voice, "Igor, why do you always think Mr. Peter is a bad guy? He has refused two good-looking single ladies in our caravan. And I’m not an idiot as well!"

Then, she turned around and walked back to her room, slamming the door loudly. Igor started to apologize on the other side of the door.

On the other end of the corridor, two men were also looking outside of the window.

"Mr. Peter, I have to say that Vladimir family is really well-mannered. You’re the most upright noble I’ve ever seen in front of women." The elder man with a brandy nose smiled. He was Berdychiv, Yielena’s father, member of the caravan.

Lucien, or say, Peter Joseph Vladimir, put his hands in white gloves on the window rails and smiled. "In fact, there are many nobles who are loyal. Think about all those romantic stories."

In order to play the role better, Lucien dyed his hair blond using a special tree sap, and he also changed his eye color into blue. Now, he looked more lively.

"Both of us know that those stories are for those innocent young ladies, to get them to become the nobles’ lovers." Berdychiv laughed, "Mr. Peter, you wanna have lunch together? I still have a good bottle of wine."

Lucien withdrew his right hand and shook his head, "Thank you, Mr. Berdychiv, but I cannot drink. I injured myself slightly when I was traveling around."

"Haha, Mr. Peter... This is the only thing in you that it’s not that pleasant!" Berdychiv had been acquainted with Lucien for a month. He could now joke with Mr. Peter in a more relaxed way.

Schachran Empire was also known as the Empire of Knights, because they had way more knights than Violet and Holm, and this was also why the empire had been standing for hundreds of years against the South Church.

This made lots of adventures believe that harsh environment was good for fostering one’s strong willpower, so that they could awaken Blessing sooner.

In the dinning hall, Lucien found a table in the corner. Leo, who was right now his butler, stood next to him.

After a while, when Lucien was having his Borsch, a middle-aged man wearing black jacket and marten waistcoat came in his direction, followed by his servant. His blond hair was shaped in slicked-back style, and a thick cigar was in his mouth. On his ten fingers, there were at least seven or eight dazzling rings.

"Hey, Mr. Peter. Can I sit here?" asked the bulky, middle-aged man passionately.

Lucien looked around and saw there was no spare seat left, so he nodded, "Sure, Mr. Sergey." The heavy snow trapped many tourists here, so the restaurant was busier than usual.

Sergey joined the caravan around five or six days ago, and he was heading for Ural city. He was straightforward, generous and talkative, so he had got familiar with most people in the caravan already.

After ordering some Bulin, which was a kind of naan bread, caviar, roasted veal and lamb, Sergey grinned, "Mr. Peter, I gotta say that you’ve really reminded me of Count Kutuzov also from Vladimir family. Both of you are very graceful and well-mannered. I mean... when I was doing my business in Volck, I met him a couple of times..."

Lucien cut his chicken into pieces, and he smiled, "Uncle Kutuzov? Is he still suffering from arthritis in rainy days?"

Kutuzov was important in the family, therefore, Valentin did mention some details about him, such as his diseases from his failure of breaking through the level of grand knight.

"Still the same, the same..." Sergey put on a smile and switched the topic. He started talking about other nobles he knew.

After sharing his stories with all the nobles, Sergey had built up the picture of himself—mysterious and superrich. Then, he released a slight sigh, "It’s such a pity that I have to say goodbye to you soon, as we’re already very close to Ural. I got to know Count Witte through Baroness Carleena’s personal connection and I bought a recent discovered gem mine in Ural. Although the project will be tough, the value of the mine is beyond imagination. Lots of people are craving for it. So I’m afraid I’m gonna stay in Ural for a long time."

Count Witte’s land was half the size of Ural District, and he was the actual ruler.

Lucien chewed his chicken well. After a while, he asked the question that Sergey was expecting, "Beyond imagination?"

"For sure! Experts have proved that the value of the mine’s equal to a whole county! Thanks to the fact that Count Witte just doesn’t want to bother and he’d rather make money from tax, or I’d definitely have zero chance to get it!" Sergey took all the documents out from his suitcase and showed off in front of Lucien.

Many spells needed gems as casting material and many magic items were made of natural gems.

"Congratulations." Lucien smiled politely.

"Thank you, Mr. Peter. But you know this isn’t an easy trade. I almost went bankrupt just to please the count. Now I have no money for hiring people and buying all those equipments. I’ve been running around recently trying to collect money from my friends, and I’ll pay them back double! But I’m still expecting a bit more..." Sergey looked worried. "I really hope the empire has banks that give out loans like those in Sturk and Holm... Now I’m even considering selling some of my share..."

After finishing his words, Sergey stopped and waited for Lucien’s answer patiently.

However, Lucien did not say anything for quite a while.

"Well... Mr. Peter, you don’t want to say anything?" Sergey raised his wine glass.

"Sure." Lucien wiped his mouth with napkin, "I’ve finished my lunch. Mr. Sergey, take your time and enjoy."

Then, Lucien elegantly stood up. After adjusting his two fancy swords a bit, he left the dining hall with Leo.

For a second, Sergey’s smile froze on his face. Then he smiled, and took a sip of his wine.

...

In the afternoon, when the snow had just been cleaned a bit. An invitation arrived at the hotel. The invitee was Lucien, and the invitation was sent by Baroness Carleena.