Chapter 63: Origins
TL: Etude
After a long journey of nearly ten days, Hansel and the grain transport team led by Alda finally arrived at the Crystal Shine, the royal capital.
Upon arrival, Hansel first led the team to the still-repairing warehouse district to hand over the food supplies to the management staff. After arranging food and accommodation for his team members, he bid them farewell. The grain transport team planned to tour the royal capital before returning to the Northwest Bay on their own, while Hansel hurriedly made his way home with his servant, Tom, having been away for so long.
Despite being reassured by letters that his family was safe and had returned to the capital from a relatives home, the long separation made him miss them dearly.
As evening approached, upon entering the Abbott familys estate, the servants, seeing the return of their young master, greeted him respectfully. Inside the hall, three people were waiting for him two middle-aged women and a young girl.
All three women showed expressions of joy, with the young girl happily exclaiming, Brother is back.
His gaze immediately fell on his mother among the three.
His mother, with crows feet at the corners of her eyes sparkling with tears, had been extremely worried about her sons safety since hearing the news of the city guards rebellion at her relatives house. She had been sleepless and anxious, losing weight in her fretfulness, until finally receiving a reassuring letter, which, however, mentioned his assignment to the Northwest Bay as a royal commissioner.
In the tales among the ladies of Crystal Shine, the Northwest of the kingdom was a poor area filled with unruly citizens, barely more civilized than the barbarian tribes in the eastern highlands. Oh merciful Father in Heaven, why send little Hansel there?
Unable to hide his excitement, Hansel longed to greet his mother immediately, but first, he had to attend to another matter. He turned to the other woman, greeting her, Mother Mary, its been a long time. I hope you are well. She was his stepmother, his fathers legitimate wife.
Lady Abbott elegantly nodded slightly towards Hansel, smiling, Hansel, its wonderful that you are back safe and sound. Your mother has lost much weight worrying over you.
Only then did Hansel turn to his biological mother, Miranda, saying, Mother, Im back. He was then embraced tightly by his emotional mother. Its good youre back, its good Miranda held her son, unable to stop her tears.
After being released by his mother, Hansel also hugged his sister Julie, the lovely girl equally thrilled by her brothers return.
Before dinner, his father, Count Abbott, a government official in the kingdom, returned home. His brother, born to his stepmother and serving in the royal guard, couldnt make it home.
The family happily dined together, listening to Hansels tales of the Northwest, enjoying their familial bliss.
After dinner, Count Abbott took his son to his study to talk more about his experiences in the Northwest, particularly focusing on his new role as the royal commissioner. Hansel shared his experiences, omitting the incident where he was scared off by pirates.
When he spoke of his plans to collaborate with the local lords to produce more war supplies for the royalist efforts to quell the rebellion, Count Abbott shook his head, Difficult. The Northwest is impoverished, with little to scrape together. The lords there managing to feed their own people is an achievement in itself.
Hansel was determined to try nonetheless, How will we know if we dont try?
After some thought, Count Abbott suggested, How about I speak to the royal court, see if we can get you transferred back to Crystal Shine. There are more opportunities in the capital. He understood his sons ambitions, yet also knew how his other halfs lineage restricted him.
Just a month, even ten days ago, as Hansel had just led the grain transport team from Lakeheart Town, he would have seized the chance to return to the capital without hesitation. But during his return to Crystal Shine, he reflected on many things. Rather than jostling among the nobles in the capital, he preferred to make a mark in the vast frontiers of the kingdom.
He expressed his thoughts to his father, who seeing his sons resolve, said no more. After discussing the current political situation, Hansel excused himself to join his mother and sister, who also had much to share with him.
Count Abbott watched his son leave with a face filled with guilt.
Twenty-eight years ago, after a night of heavy drinking with his friends, he ended up spending the night in a brothel. A year later, a woman, whose face he couldnt even recall, showed up at his doorstep with a child, claiming it was his. Just as he was about to dismiss her as a scammer, she accurately described some of his private physical features.
Following the usual practice among nobility, he could have either continued to deny her claims and sent her away or just paid her off to leave, but Count Abbott did something that shocked the noble circles of the capital he took a prostitute as his concubine.
This caused quite a stir and became the butt of jokes; it was one thing to consort with a prostitute, but to bring her into his household for a child whose paternity was uncertain was scandalous.
When the news reached King Rodney XVI, he summoned Count Abbott and harshly reprimanded him for disgracing the kingdoms nobility, urging him to consider the gravity of his actions.
After the kings unsuccessful persuasion, a young nobleman with a promising future was relegated to a minor position in the Heraldry Office.
Fortunately, his legitimate wife, born to a distinguished family, did not react as wildly as others had speculated. After initial anger, confusion, and a long cold war with her husband, this kind-hearted lady eventually accepted the mother and child.
Unquestionably, Hansel often faced prejudiced views during his upbringing, especially from peers of higher noble birth and purer lineage. Nicknames like son of a whore and brothel-bred always haunted him.
Leveraging his familys influence and wealth, Count Abbott managed to secure a baronetcy for his son. However, Hansels mixed lineage continued to hinder his career. After completing his education, as the son of a count, he held only minor tax officer positions, responsible for areas like the farms in the outskirts of the capital.
But it was precisely because of this that Hansel was well-received among the lower nobility and civil servants of common birth.
That was all Count Abbott could do for his illegitimate son. As a count, while enjoying the privileges, honors, and wealth of the nobility, he was also tightly bound by its system. Taking a prostitute as a concubine had already made him a target of criticism. Continuing to break norms would only jeopardize the entire Abbott family.
After bidding his mother and sister goodnight, Hansel returned to his room and pondered the task given to him by Paul. He took out a paper filled with the types of individuals Paul wanted to recruit.
Literate and numerate people are one thing, but teachers, mechanical engineers, alchemists Count Paul really has high expectations.
He spread another paper on the desk, planning to start by searching among people he knew. Who should be the first person he approaches? After some thought, he picked up a quill from the ink bottle and wrote down the first name on the paper
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