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Chapter 7 – ‘Not my rules
The sky slowly went dark. In the entire castle, except for Zhao Hai’s bedroom which had magic lights, torches were used for other spots instead.
This type of magic light was made of a type of magic crystal from Ark Continent, and there were two sources for these magic crystals. One was from underground magic crystal mines. These crystals were either good or bad, which were measured from the energies contained within. Ones with more energy could be used to power magic items. Ones with less energy could only be used for illumination. These underground produced magic crystals were all ‘one-off’ in use. They would expire after using up.
Another type of them was from magic beasts themselves. These crystals were very hard to get. 10 of the beasts wouldn’t necessarily contain 1 magic crystal. Although the energy of these magic crystals produced from the bodies of magic beasts wasn’t very high, they were stable. They’re supporting tools for mages to cast their magics. Most importantly, these magic crystals could be used repeatedly. When the energy was depleted, just wait for a period of time. It would then absorb same element energies from nature on its own, slowly filling itself up. It could be reused this way.
No matter which type, they were very expensive. Magic crystals produced from mines were a little cheaper compared to ones from magic beasts, but the price was not what common people could afford as well.
Buda family was now in desperate times. Greene bought a few magic crystals, but every single one of them was precious. They must not be misused, so when at night, places other than Zhao Hai’s room had to be lit with torches.
Now the slaves had eaten and slept, while Maylin just finished making dinner and was letting Meg call Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai slept very soundly this time. He arrived in another world, but he now had a spatial farm. At the very least he wouldn’t need to worry about the upkeep. Because he was in a coma in these days, Maylin kept on treating him with magic. His body still had a large amount of water element as a result. Water element has soothing effects to begin with, plus he put down the burden on his mind, so his sound sleep was justified.
Meg listened for the sounds inside Zhao Hai’s room when she arrived outside of it. The room was very quiet and there wasn’t a sound. Meg immediately knocked on the door and said, “Young master, wake up. It’s time for dinner.”
There was still no sound. Meg shouted twice, and the room still had no sounds. Meg was forced to push the door open to enter the room.
When Meg entered Zhao Hai’s room, she heard evened breathing sounds. She walked softly over to the bed to take a look. Zhao Hai was sleeping soundly, and he didn’t even hear her shouting.
Meg sighed. She didn’t know if Zhao Hai was defenseless or being silly. To think that he could still sleep so soundly at this point.
Meg stood next to the bed and nudged him lightly, “Young master, wake up. It’s dinner time.”
Zhao Hai woke up in a blur and mumbled, “What time is it?”
Meg replied immediately, “It’s 7 at night, young master. Time for dinner.”
Zhao Hai then widened his eyes and turned to look at Meg next to the bed. He then turned to look out the window to discover that the sky was already getting dark. He sat up slowly and shook his somewhat dizzy head to be more awake. He turned to Meg and asked, “Meg, what’s today’s date?”
Meg lowered her head, “Young master, today is 6th of April.”
Zhao Hai nodded and counted with his mind. Adam fell into a coma at Year 1637 Neo Domini, 17th of February. Now it’s already 6th of April, which means he was unconscious for more than a month. The fact that he could freely walk on his own two feet after more than a month of coma was a miracle on Earth.
But Zhao Hai didn’t ask Meg what was going on, because he knew from Adam’s memories that mages on the continent and their healing magics were very amazing. Forget about 1 month. Even if you went into a coma for a year, they would also be able to make it so that when you woke up, you would feel like you slept for a night. You would walk naturally without muscle atrophy.
Zhao Hai was just sitting on the edge of his bed when Meg immediately brought his boots for him to wear. Zhao Hai immediately said, “Put it down, Meg. I can do it myself.”
Meg went blank-faced but managed to say, “Allow me, young master. It’s what I should be doing.”
Yet Zhao Hai could not get used to that. He blocked Meg hurriedly and said, “Forget it. I’ll handle this kind of measly stuff myself from now on.” As he finished, he took the boots from Meg and put them on himself.
Meg looked blankly at Zhao Hai from the side. She felt that Adam today was very foreign to her. Before now, forget about putting on his shoes. Adam would not even take them off himself. Today he actually put them on himself.
Zhao Hai stood up after wearing his boots, then turned his head to Meg, “Let’s go and have dinner. I have some matters to discuss with grandpa Greene.”
Meg felt that Zhao Hai was very weird today, but she still responded with a sound and led the way for Zhao Hai towards the dining hall, because she knew that ever since he arrived, he never left his room, so he would not be able to reach anywhere in the castle. If he were to walk on his own, he would never know where the dining hall was located.
Once he stepped out of the door, Zhao Hai looked blankly and then curiously at the surroundings. This castle was obviously old and appeared to be of age, but it was very sturdy. However, the style was very old and the interior design was not at the level of Adam’s original home. It had a spooky feeling.
But Zhao Hai didn’t mind all this. He liked the castle even more this way. In his impression, castles were supposed to be like this, as this was an old fort’s style. Perhaps he would even get discover hidden rooms in the castle.
Zhao Hai soon noticed the torches on the walls. When he saw them and related them to the price of magic crystals, he immediately understood why.
Although Adam didn’t know the prices of things before, he still knew about the prices of things like magic crystals, because they were high-end consumables, which were only affordable for people of Adam’s level. Hence he knew about the price.
Zhao Hai also recalled the magic light in his room at the same time. It appeared to be the only magic light out of the entire castle. When he thought of it, Zhao Hai felt a warmth entering his heart.
The dining hall wasn’t far from Zhao Hai’s bedroom, and soon the two entered the dining hall. Greene, Maylin, Rockhead and Blockhead were standing in there while waiting for Zhao Hai. Once they saw him entering, they all bowed down and said, “Good evening, young master. Please enjoy your meal.”
Zhao Hai nodded and looked at the table of the dining hall. He noticed that there was only his own set of cutlery. He knew from Adam’s memories that when nobles eat, servants are not allowed to be at the same seating and can only stand at the side in servitude.
Zhao Hai sat down and measured the dining hall. It wasn’t large. Only more than 20 square metres and a rectangle table put in the middle. A snow white tablecloth was draped on it. 2 candle stands were put on the table and each of them had 3 candles.
There were 8 chairs around the dining table, and they were intricately made. One could tell they were high-class goods. Every corner of the dining hall walls had a torch which lit the entire place well. But other than all this, there was nothing else.
After Zhao Hai measured the dining hall, he turned to Greene and others and said, “Grandpa Greene, you should all sit down and eat. I have something to ask you after eating.”
Greene immediately bowed down and spoke to Zhao Hai, “Young master, this can’t do. When you eat, we cannot share the same table with you. It’s ordained by the empire.”
Zhao Hai humphed and said “It’s the empire’s rules, but not my rules. Since the empire abandoned us, why are we still following its rules? Don’t speak about it and go get some cutleries. Let’s sit down and eat. I will speak as we eat. If you’re not doing it then I won’t eat as well.”
Greene looked at Zhao Hai and felt that he had no other option. He just turned to look at Maylin and Maylin stared at him to say, “What are you looking at me for? Young master hasn’t eaten properly for more than a month. You want to let him starve?”
Indeed, for Greene, Zhao Hai’s condition was more important than anything. When he heard Maylin’s words, he turned and spoke, “Then you and Meg bring the things out. I will attend to young master here.”
Maylin didn’t say anything this time and led Meg away. Greene then sat down with Blockhead and Rockhead. The twins were obviously not used to this as they seemed to be sitting there like there were thorns under their asses. It could be seen that the two were somewhat dumb and also not keen on talking. Since they saw Zhao Hai, they just followed Greene and others in saying ‘Good evening, young master. Please enjoy your meal.’ and that was it.
Zhao Hai knew from Adam’s memories that Blockhead and Rockhead were kids adopted by his father. They weren’t smart, and one could even say they’re stupid, but they had exceptional natural talent when it came to brute strength. Plus, having learned Mad Dragon Battle Aura, the two of them now had more or less the strength of Level 6 fighters and were deeply loyal to Buda family. They would never betray the family.
When Maylin was bringing out the dishes, Zhao Hai spoke to Greene, “Grandpa Greene, how many gold coins do we have right now?”
Greene went still for an instant. He didn’t know the meaning behind Zhao Hai’s question, but he still stood up and replied, “Young master, we still have 180 gold coins right now, but we’re not lacking supplies, so the gold coins can still be utilized.”
Zhao Hai let Greene sit down hurriedly and then said, “Then when we came from the empire, did we transport the things using horse wagons? What about the horses that pulled them?”
Greene replied, “Young master, our place here is small and there are no products, so in order to conserve our grains, we only have 5 horses. The wagons which we came here in were all hired.”
Zhao Hai looked still for an instant, but he immediately understood what Greene meant. Greene was conserving as much as he could. One should note that a good horse cannot be fed with just grass alone. There must also be some grains, and they had no way of producing grains right here, so of course they saved as much as they could. Keeping horses was even further out of the question.
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