flstandardbreds Chapter 251: Rich Nightlife in Mont-de-Marsan
Chapter 251: Rich Nightlife in Mont-de-Marsan
"A house that can accommodate ten people costs twenty gold coins? Not including the cost of materials?"
Looking at the setting sun outside the window, John threw the list in his hand aside and turned to ask the White Wolf Knight who was in charge of this matter.
"This is the list that the manager of the local construction guild gave me. It includes the construction lists for other towers, city walls, etc. I also got a list of material costs. After you've made up your mind, take this to the Andrew Chamber of Commerce to buy it. Take a look..."
After saying that, the White Wolf Knight handed John another list, which made John frown even more, because the expenses on this list were still far beyond John's expectations.
Although John dispersed part of his troops to towns and villages everywhere, he roughly estimated that if he wanted to build a fortress near Mont-de-Marsan that could accommodate 5,000 people, the construction cost alone would be tens of thousands of gold coins. Adding the cost of materials, the entire project would cost at least 50,000 gold coins, which was already beyond the taxation of John's territory.
Although the soldiers are now able to live in tents in the regular army barracks, many of them will definitely get sick when the frequent rainy season and the hot and humid climate arrive next year.
"I don't believe it. This is the price for all construction guilds in the entire southwest region. Pass my order to make a hundred copies of this engineering drawing and have the troops stationed in various places hand them over to the local construction guilds. Then give me the quotes from each guild."
After the White Wolf Knight received the order to leave, John looked at the empty desk and felt bored. He originally wanted to open the system to see if there were any special troops in the local area, but the sight of all town militia and conscripted spearmen made John give up the idea of recruiting soldiers, not to mention that his finances were very tight now.
"Since we're here, why not go out for a walk and see what the nightlife here is like." Thinking of this, John immediately ordered his men to prepare three carriages and two horses. He took three White Wolf Knights and more than twenty sergeants and crossbowmen, and drove around the city of Mondemarsan in the carriages.
John opened the curtains on the carriage. There were many shops outside. Gorgeous carriages were driving on the stone-paved streets. They finally stopped at the doors of those luxuriously decorated buildings. Some well-dressed gentlemen and ladies walked out of the carriages and entered the buildings accompanied by servants. As for what these buildings were used for, John guessed that they were probably some high-end restaurants or other social places.
After walking around for a while, John gradually felt a little bored, so he said to the White Wolf Knight on horseback guarding the carriage:
"Let the coachman in front drive to the civilian area, and be careful to only take the main roads and stay away from the slums." John also knew that places like slums were unstable at ordinary times, and even more dangerous at night, so he ordered the carriage to take the main road. If something happened, at least there would be support from the local city defense forces.
After leaving the city gate of the aristocratic district, John's convoy came to the civilian area. Compared with the aristocratic district, most of the buildings here are relatively low and there are not many decorations. But compared with the aristocratic district, except for the main road which is slabbed with stone, other places are dirt roads. There are also a lot more people than in the aristocratic district, which caused the speed of the entire convoy to slow down.
"Hurry up, hurry up! Get out of my way!"
Hearing the noise outside, John stuck his head out and looked back, only to see a carriage coming from behind John's team. Unlike other carriages, this carriage was open-top, so John knew clearly that the four people in the carriage, except for the driver, each of them took a whip and whipped the people around them. With the sharp sound of the whip, the screams of the people being whipped, and the arrogant laughter of the three people in the carriage, the carriage quickly came to the back of John's team.
"Whoa!" The coachman tightened the reins to stop the carriage, and the three people in the carriage were almost thrown out by the inertia caused by the stop.
"Ouch, my butt!"
"What's going on? How are you driving? If you hurt me, you'll have to sell your whole family and still not be able to make up for it!" One of the men in gorgeous clothes immediately stood up and yelled at the carriage, raising his whip as if to hit him.
"Master, there is a carriage ahead. If they don't move, I have no choice but to stop."
"Come on! Let me see who dares to block my way."
The man called Young Master quickly got off the carriage, brought his accomplices, and rushed towards John's convoy angrily. Then, under John's gaze, they chose the carriage at the rear of the convoy that was carrying more than a dozen soldiers and crossbowmen.
John's convoy was configured with two carriages carrying soldiers in front and behind, with John's carriage in the middle. Besides John, there was only one White Wolf Knight in it, and the remaining two White Wolf Knights rode on horseback on both sides of the carriage to escort him. This would not only give John enough space to move around in the carriage, but also protect John's safety.
As expected, before the young master's lackeys could break down the door, the soldiers and crossbowmen who were ready to go quickly got off the carriage. The two lackeys were knocked to the ground by the soldiers, and the remaining young master was pointed at by several crossbows loaded with arrows. The whole process took less than a minute.
"Hey, who are you from?"
Just as the young master collapsed to the ground trembling, John asked casually. He wanted to know the specific information about the nobles of Mondemarsan.
"I, I, I am the future heir of the Carlin family. You, you, you must not hurt me. If you do, you will not be able to pay the compensation!" The young master Carlin pointed at John with a trembling finger and answered in a nervous voice like a girl's scream.
"I can't afford to pay. You can ask your father to come to me and you will know whether to pay or not. Come, take him to the front carriage! Tell his men that Southwest John said that Master Carlin's father should go to the embassy to pick him up at 8:30 tomorrow morning."
After the soldiers dragged Master Karin into the carriage, the convoy left amid the fear and admiration of the surrounding citizens.
Soon the carriage arrived at the most prosperous area in the civilian area. Although it was slightly inferior to the aristocratic area in terms of scale and decoration, it had restaurants and theaters inside.
"Take a look, take a look! The new play "Gone with the Wind" starring Miss Lilith from a dramatic family is about to begin!"
"Gone with the Wind?"
Hearing this word, John drew aside the curtain and looked at the ticket boy who was selling tickets in the distance. Just now, he almost thought that Midland had fought in the Civil War.
"Let the carriage stop somewhere. I'll go to the theater and take that Master Karin with me." John said to the White Wolf Knight beside the carriage.
After getting off the carriage, John came to the ticket office under the escort of the soldiers. Looking at the huge crowds of people in front of him, John, who didn't want to queue, was about to return to the carriage when he saw a ticket office a few meters away with only a few scattered people in front of it. However, the people in the queue were dressed like those John had seen in the aristocratic district.
John took the soldier straight to the ticket office and lined up. After a while, it was his turn to buy a ticket.
"Sir, what kind of room do you want?"
Although this was John's first time at a theater in this world, he had watched many plays in his previous life, so he asked:
“Is there a private room in the center with a good view?”
"Yes, yes. Moreover, this is the best private room in our theater, no doubt about it..." Upon seeing this, the ticket seller immediately introduced it to John. As for whether John could afford it, he could tell by looking at the several fully armed soldiers behind him. Although he didn't know John, he also knew that only the stewards of Mont-de-Marsan could afford such an arrangement, and the theater was eager to invite such people to support them.
"This private room not only has a wide view, but more importantly, after the play is over, you can go backstage to meet the actors. Tonight's play is starred by Miss Lilith, the niece of our theater and a member of a theatrical family..."
"Okay, okay, I want this private room." John interrupted the ticket seller's introduction. He came to see a play, not to fall in love. What's more, he already had a virtuous and beautiful wife and two lovely children.
Thinking of this, John couldn't help but start to miss Matilda, Karl and Catherine who were far away in Franche-Comté. He didn't expect that he would start to feel homesick just one month after leaving home.
After getting the ticket, John was led to the door of the private room by the theater attendant. After the soldiers checked that everything was correct, John entered the private room. At this time, there was still half an hour before the play started. John ordered a glass of local juice from the attendant guarding the door. After finishing, he asked Master Karin beside him:
"What do you want?"
I'll just have a glass of water, a glass of water."
Although Master Karin was not as nervous as before, he understood who the person next to him was, so after he finished speaking, he found a chair and sat down, leaving the sofa in the middle for John.
However, just a few minutes after John lay on the sofa, there was a sudden noise outside the theater.
"I'm telling you, no matter who's in there, even if it's King Midland, you have to get out within a minute! I want to take a good look at Miss Lilith's stunning beauty."
"I'll go out and take a look." Seeing the obvious unhappiness on John's face, a White Wolf Knight immediately led several soldiers out to check. Accompanied by a few crisp slaps and unknown male shouts, the White Wolf Knight came back, holding a young man in his hand, who was about the same age as Master Karin next to him.
At this moment, the man on the ground was like a stranded fish, waving his limbs at random and cursing:
"Sweetly let me go! Do you know who I am? I am the eldest son of the Matt family, the future viscount and the heir to the most sacred and noble noble court judge of Mont de Marsan!"
"Well, no need to ask now." John thought to himself. He had naturally never heard of the Matt family, or to be more precise, except for the earl, he only knew the surnames of his own family and the surnames of the nobles around his father's territory. But he had heard of the noble court, which was generally a court in the region that specialized in hearing noble cases, and usually one or more nobles with the highest local titles served as judges.
"Do you know this person?" John asked Master Carlin beside him, and Master Carlin nodded.
"So is his family very strong in the southwest?"
"Not bad. His family's land is much larger than that of the average viscount. He should be the noble with the most land in our area."
"That's great. I was just thinking about how to talk to his father, and now the opportunity has come." John thought of this and continued to ask.
"Is it as big as a normal earl's territory?"
"No, at most two standard baron's territories, with a dozen soldiers and two hundred conscripted freemen and serfs."
"That's all right. Block his mouth and don't let him get up. Wait until the drama is over. Tell the people outside to let his father go to the embassy to pick him up at 8:30."
An hour and a half later, the play officially began, and John began to concentrate on appreciating what the Midland version of "Gone with the Wind" was like. However, as he watched, John suddenly felt a little familiar.
The main background of this drama is during the Hundred Years War between Midlan and Yoda. The heroine is a noble daughter of Yoda. When she was staying at a relative's house on the Yoda border, she was besieged by the Midlan people and was captured as expected. Then she met a young earl on the Midlan border...
"No, this is so similar to my experience of meeting Matilda."
Two hours later, after the actors came on stage to thank the cast at the end of the play, John finally realized that this play was not a coincidence, but was directly copied from his experience.
Except for the deleted part about the lawsuit with Count Hoth, the rest is basically the same as the real experience. The only difference is that this drama highlights that the hero and heroine overcame numerous obstacles and finally won love during the war between the two countries, as well as Midlan's killing spree in Yoda's territory.