Chapter 486 Visiting nobles (2)
As we entered this town, I could see that there were a few things off about the citizens.
It was clear that unlike our town, these citizens were not here on their own will.
They had most likely been gathered by the soldiers of the viscount and were forced to take part in this welcome.
In fact, most of them even looked fearful…
However, that wasn't strange since offending a noble was an easy way to get the death sentence. That was just how it was in this world where nobles ruled over commoners.
It was our town that was strange where the commoners were able to talk to a count like me without having to care about proper courtesy.
It was just that I wasn't used to this.
So it could be considered a personal trait of our town.
But when the duke had come, they had made sure to be polite to him since they knew that he wouldn't act the same way as me.
In the end, it was just that I didn't have the demeanor of a noble that I couldn't act that way.
I had been a commoner in my past life and I had never been raised as a noble, so it wasn't as if I could just suddenly act as a noble.
But it was a good thing that I had someone to teach me that and to help me follow up.
Or else I might have embarrassed myself in front of other nobles.
Rose had been raised in a count's family, so she had been taught everything that a noble needed to know.
It really helped me when I met Viscount Teomold again.
Back in the capital, it had been a short encounter and we had only discussed business, so I was able to fool him.
But now that we were here to pay a social visit, I definitely wouldn't be able to fool him with the quick teachings that Rose gave me.
So I needed Rose to follow up for me.
Viscount Teomold came forward with his wife and children, giving a slight bow to me before introducing himself and them to me.
When he came to his children, he had the two of them come forward to present themselves to me.
With the way that he did this, it was clear what he was trying to do.
Unfortunately, his children…couldn't be considered beautiful.
Viscount Teomold wasn't the most handsome man and his wife was just average.
The children that came from the two of them…were also considered average.
They couldn't be considered ugly, but they definitely weren't considered beauties.
So it wasn't as if I felt anything when I saw the two of them.
I just calmly said, "Viscount Teomold, our party has been traveling for a while now. How about we go and rest somewhere?"
Viscount Teomold was surprised to hear this, but he quickly nodded in agreement.
He had actually prepared a few more things for the commoners to do to appease me, but he couldn't say no if I didn't want to go along with it. So we quickly went back in our carriages and headed to his manor.
When we left, I peeked back and saw that there were relieved looks on the faces of the commoners who had been dragged out to welcome us.
I was sure that this was a stressful situation for them, so it was only natural that they were relieved when we left.
All of this gave me a bad impression of Viscount Teomold.
It didn't take much thought to realize that he was nothing more than the typical noble who only cared about his own self gains and didn't care about his people.
As long as they were able to pay their taxes, he didn't care what happened to them.
Even the ore trade was most likely just to arm his own forces for his own gains.
This kind of person was without a doubt a bad person to work with, but it was already too late to change.
It was just a good thing that I never planned on giving him anything important.
The only plan that I had for him was as a puppet to control the others in the area.
So I would still work with him.
Once we arrived at the manor, Viscount Teomold didn't let us rest up and instead brought us to the living room.
He clearly hadn't given up on his idea of trying to use his daughters to appeal to me.
After all, they were sitting on both my sides so that they could reach me at any moment.
They definitely weren't shy about this, but Rose's glare was enough to scare them off.
I was very glad that I had brought Rose with me or else it might have been much worse.
After we had settled, I looked at Viscount Teomold and said, "Let's talk business."
Viscount Teomold was once again surprised to hear this, but he revealed a serious look and gave a nod.
I looked at Haley and she stood up to bring out a piece of paper that she placed on the table in front of us. She then slid it forward towards Viscount Teomold sitting on the other side.
Viscount Teomold looked down at this piece of paper with one brow raised before picking it up to read.
As he looked at this piece of paper, his expression couldn't help changing.
The further down he went, the more that his brows knit.
Finally, when he had finished reading it, he placed the piece of paper back down on the table. However, this time it was on the side with writing on it so that his wife and daughter could also see it.
It seemed to be some kind of list.
Viscount Teomold ignored Haley who had brought out the list and looked right at me with narrowed eyes before saying, "Count Zwein, are you serious? Is this really the only thing that you have for me?"
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