Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

Chapter 191 Happy Birthday, Earl John

"Haha~ I'm finally done."

After reading and correcting the last document, John yawned and prepared to change clothes and go to bed.

However, when he inadvertently saw the date on the calendar and the cake drawn on it, he suddenly remembered that tomorrow seemed to be his birthday.

"I'm 20 years old so fast." Touching his beard, John was filled with emotion. He had actually passed another year inadvertently.

Perhaps it was due to the frequent wars caused by being on the border, or perhaps it was because he always found work for himself, but John found that as he grew older, he became unaware of the passage of time, as if an invisible hand was pushing the wheel of time.

Sometimes John felt that when he sat down at his desk, it was already noon when he got up again. After eating, he sat down again, and when he got up again, he realized it was already evening.

"I didn't expect to have been through so much." John recalled the past events from his birth to the present, and slowly a wave of emotion surged into his heart, perhaps it was nostalgia for the past, or perhaps it was the excitement about the foundation he had built now, as well as the expectations for the future.

However, after John finished reminiscing, sleepiness instantly filled his whole body. Tired, he changed his clothes and went to bed immediately. As the quilt became warm, John also fell asleep.

As soon as the sun rose the next day, John got up early. It was the busy farming season recently, so John had to get up early to eat and then deal with the more numerous paperwork that followed.

When he arrived at the restaurant, in addition to the servants who were preparing breakfast, the civil servants who were reporting the latest documents from various places to John had also been ready for a long time.

"Happy birthday, Lord Earl. Today you need to inspect the work of your private farm outside the Earl's Castle, as well as the new recruits who are being trained in the military camp..." While John was enjoying breakfast, the civil servant was also telling him about his itinerary for the day.

Although there has been no fighting on the border recently, John still carried out a new round of military expansion in order to enhance strength. After completing the training, some of these soldiers were directly sent to patrol the border, while the others were incorporated into Blackwatch as mercenaries.

"It's another busy day." John thought, and then he said:

"Remember to arrange a banquet tonight, just like before."

After enjoying breakfast, John boarded the carriage under the escort of the White Wolf Knight and drove towards the outside of the city.

Looking at the carriage gradually disappearing in the distance, Matilda put down the telescope on the wall of the inner castle and said to the servant she brought from Windham:

"Go call the person in charge of the banquet. I want to discuss the arrangements for the banquet with him."

After a while, the official in charge of the banquet ran towards Matilda and saluted her:

"What can I do for you?"

Ever since the lawsuit between John and Howes ended and with the announcement of the marriage treaty, everyone has roughly determined that Matilda will sooner or later become the leader's mistress, so when she has something to do, the officials will do it for her as long as it is within their ability.

"I want to discuss with you about Earl John's birthday party today."

"This party cannot be held in the same way as before. Turning 20 is of great significance to a person. I think this party should be held in a more grand manner."

"But 'do as before' is Lord John's order. If you change it, you may be punished by him." Although the official felt that Matilda's words made some sense, it was John's order. If he did not do it according to his order and was punished, he could not afford it.

Seeing that the official disagreed, Matilda continued to persuade:

"How about this? I'll ask the ministers for their opinions. If they agree, when Earl John asks about it, I can say that we did it together."

The official thought about it carefully and felt that this plan was okay. After all, those ministers had followed John all the way here, and with them as guarantees, there shouldn't be too much risk.

"Then let's talk about the issue of funding." The official then raised another difficult question. Preparing a banquet costs money, and if the level of the banquet is improved, the budget for funding will certainly increase.

"It's okay, I'm ready. We'll just move in when the time comes." However, as soon as the official finished speaking, Matilda responded immediately.

Seeing Matilda's confidence, the officials had no choice but to do as they were told and took Matilda to visit the ministers.

"Increase the scale of the banquet?" At Simon Chamber of Commerce, Simon said after listening to Matilda's idea:

"If possible, I think we should raise the level of the banquet."

Matilda then visited Wesker, Stephen and other ministers respectively, and after obtaining their consent and promise, she immediately took action.

Carriages were parked at the gate of the inner castle waiting for inspection by the guards. After the inspection, the soldiers and servants took the things off the carriages and began to set up the scene for the banquet.

"By the way, is the cake ready?" Matilda asked the official at this time.

"Of course we have to prepare this. Every year, Sir John has to eat cake on his birthday. Sir John especially likes cakes with diced yellow peaches in the middle. I guess they are still being made now."

As they were chatting, a servant suddenly came forward and asked:

"My Lords, regarding the decorations for the banquet, there are some items that need to be hung on the roof and beams that we simply cannot place because the height of the ladder is much lower than the height of the entire hall."

Hearing this, Wesker next to him said:

"I can handle this matter, so you don't have to take responsibility. We need to find professionals to do this."

Half an hour later...

"So that's why you sent me an urgent letter?" Cyril, who had hurried over with the assassins, asked Wesker after listening to Matilda's explanation. When he received the urgent letter from Wesker, he thought that John had been assassinated again, so he immediately took all the assassins who could participate in the battle back to the Earl's Castle, but he didn't expect that they were asked to help hang the decorations.

But since they were already here, the assassins could only help set the scene. With their help, the entire hall was set up when the sun set. Matilda ordered people to cover up all the light leaking from the hall, and now the hall was so dark that nothing could be seen without candles.

After checking the layout of the hall again, Matilda asked everyone to close the door and hide behind the small door next to the hall. Now everything was ready except John.

"Finally I can go back for dinner." In the carriage back to the Earl's Castle, John looked at the sunset outside and was thinking about what to say to everyone at the banquet. He was very busy today. He originally thought it was just an ordinary farm, but he didn't expect that there were so many things to inspect. In addition to the harvest of crops, there was also the breeding of livestock such as pigs, cattle and sheep, as well as the grinding work in the mill.

After the carriage entered the inner castle, John walked towards the hall to see how the banquet was prepared. However, when he opened the door, he found that it was pitch black inside.

Taking advantage of the afterglow of the setting sun outside the door, John walked into the hall to see what was going on inside. Just as he reached the hall, teams of servants holding candles walked out from the small door next to it. Then, the originally dark chandelier above the hall also emitted light, and the whole hall became bright in an instant.

Just when John was at a loss, a door at the back of the hall opened, and Matilda came out pushing a cart with a double-layer cake, followed by the ministers.

The cake was pushed in front of John, and only then did John realize that everyone had given him a surprise. John wanted to say something at this time, but he didn't know how to say it as a lord.

"Happy birthday, Earl John!" Matilda said to him with a smile, and all the ministers, even the most taciturn Cyril, said together:

"Happy birthday, sir."

Hearing everyone's answers, John felt like tears were about to flow. He held back his tears and said to everyone with a smile:

"thank you all."