So that was why hed not received any letters from the baroness for the last two years. He kept sending letters, but she never wrote back. He had thought the army postal service had kept losing the letters, but it appeared shed simply never written to him. She might simply just not know how to reply to him, especially not since she didnt know if hed been told about what had happened.

She was not responsible for her sons actions, but it would never have happened had she not tried to push the two together. She didnt know how Claude would react to it, and what hed think of her as a result. Then there was the matter of Christie stealing of Claudes land.

Outsiders, and even Claudes younger siblings might think that the familys recovery after his fathers death was due to her benefaction, but she knew better. At best she and Claude were equals.

The relationship difficulties between her and Claudes sister was no doubt behind her silence since the events. She was not thick skinned enough to keep asking for help with the business from the brother of the woman whom her son had so wronged, and from the man whom her daughter had so wronged. She also knew that her children had destroyed any hope shed had of tying the young man to her household.

Claude felt nothing about his sisters beating up of his mistress son. He would not have stopped those few breaths early had he been the one doing the beating. With this, his familys ties to the baroness had been cut, and he had every excuse to cut his ties with them as well. Though he was in the military, he was still House Normanleys servant, and would have had to return to their service once he came out of the military. Now, however, he was justified in cutting ties with the family and ending his service to the baroness.

Maria was a good person, even a friend. Shed taken very good care of his family, and he bore no grudges toward her. But he was certain, now more than ever, that he could not be her familys servants. Her children were nothing like her, and he could not stomach the thought of being their lackey.

Are you listening? Claude Angelina asked, Claudes eyes glassed in thought.

Ah, yes, Im listening. Go on.

Whitestags promotion to a city hadnt affected it much, apart from the higher conscription requirements. What had changed the city, was the trade route to Nubissia, which Storm paved the way for. It had brought untold riches to the town, which was now ever-faster growing into a settlement worthy of the title city.

Investors from across the kingdom had flocked to the city, hoping to get seeds in the ground early so their investments could snap up more of the sunshine and produce greater harvests. The most businesses that had been started in a single month was thirteen. All thirteen were trade companies operating trade vessels along the trade route to the other continent.

Viscount Felidos had, on that basis, made the ambitious declaration that he would triple the citys size in just a couple years.

One of the large companies from the capital set up shop in the city at the end of the year, however. Fenixs arrival sent shockwaves through the city. Within three months theyd bought up sixty businesses and forced the remaining ten large companies to enter partnerships with them.

In just six months they established an effective monopoly on trade through the city, and started manipulating the prices of everything that came through the docks. They even bought most of the officials operating the customs offices by the docks, and made it so that any ship without a permit from them, couldnt do business in the city. Recently, theyd even started having such ships impounded for smuggling.

Even Uncle Rubliers company had to sell a third of their shares to Fenix, Angelina said.

Did the mayor not do anything? Claude asked.

Angelina clicked her tongue.

Why would he? I heard Fenix was founded by a number of the capitals most influential nobles. I wouldnt be surprised if he owned several shares in the company as well. The company even has the royal familys support. The second prince and third princess showed their support for the company. They personally announced that the companys permit system was perfectly legal and that no one was to ask any questions.

I dont know how anyone can be so shameless! Its obvious they came with the worst of intentions. They just want to control the market and suck it dry. Everyone knows the companies that originally refused their offers were forced to sell to them, or partner with them by blackmail, threats, and who knows what else. Uncle Rublier wouldnt have sold shares to them if they hadnt started confiscating his ships for smuggling.

Claude snickered. So those were the merchant nobles Duriaulo had mentioned. They werent much different from the old nobles. Their idea of free trade was that they were free to trade what- and however they liked, and free to make everyone else do what they wanted in that regard as well.

Fenix didnt initially make trouble for Claudes family since they werent involved in any businesses related to trade. They had, however, recently taken a liking to the apartment building Claude had built for his little sister. They wanted to make it their city headquarters.

Theyd approached Angelina and made an offer of three thousand crowns. Shed turned them down, of course. While she didnt have an issue with selling the place in principle, she was not going to sell it for just three thousand crowns when her brother had spent 4600 building it.

Whilst Fenixs price wasnt bad for the building according to the old prices before the town had been made a city, and before the area had become such a hot place for construction and business, that had changed. The company wouldnt leave her be, however. Theyd even threatened her, never in as many words, of course, but the meaning behind their words were clear.

The company didnt know just how deep the familys roots ran in the town, however. No matter their machinations, they just couldnt make life hard for the family. Theyd attempted to have their thugs rob the family and rough them up, but their men had come scampering back, broken and bruised. They then turned to the local government, trying to turn them against the family and have them cause trouble for them, but Councillor Thomas stood up for the family alongside the mayor and half of the council. Felidos had recommended Claude to Bluefeather, after all, and had kept an eye on his progress since, though he didnt know what had happened to him since their initial deployment beyond the mountain range. That said, he knew the boy must have achieved much, and he was not going to let his family come into hard times on his watch. His honour rested on it.

The viscounts defence of the family prompted Fenix to look into the family thoroughly, which revealed Claude and Angelinas ties to the baroness. They didnt, however, learn of the fight between Angelina and the baroness, and their subsequent breaking of ties.

They finally sucked it up and made Angelina a proper offer. She would have turned them down again out of spite for their dirty dealings, but her mother couldnt handle the stress anymore and was on the brink of falling ill again. She also knew that it would only be a matter of time before they found out about her falling out with the baroness, at which time her leverage over them would vanish and theyd come at her with no reservations, so she relented.

The building was sold for 8000 crowns.

So the family only owns the mansion? Claude asked.

It was laughable. Hed worked so hard to set his family up as a well-rooted family before his departure. They were far from property moguls, and would have been ever further from it once the city had grown into its own, but they would have been amongst the richest in the city regardless. Most other entities that would have owned as much land would have been companies or businesses, not private households. Theyd yet again, however, been reduced to just the one red-brick building, though they were far wealthier than theyd been before.

Claude wasnt angry at anyone. His family hadnt lost anything per se, theyd been fairly compensated for both the lands in the Normanley estate, and his sisters apartment complex. But they had lost all their properties.

He was somewhat disappointed in himself, however. Hed built his sister the apartment complex so she would have a stable income and wouldnt be forced to marry some dimwit bastard out of desperation, but hed forgotten that the town was rapidly growing and that, while no one in the old town would dare mess with his family, a bigger town attracted bigger fish, who would have few qualms in messing with his family if they had something they wanted. If not for all the connections hed built up in the towns upper society before his departure, things would not have turned out as amicably and well for them as it had.

I bought some woodland, his sister added, stealing a glance at his expression.

Woodland? Claude asked.

Angelina explained that shed figured out that it was much easier to train magic in the woods. She didnt have to worry as much about being discovered, and she needed land to plant her herbs. Having woodland thus benefitted both her interests. Mainly, however, it saved her money since she didnt have to keep buying all the herbs she needed.

How much? Claude asked.

His sisters answer stupefied him.

Shed not wanted to just keep putting all her money in the bank. They didnt offer interest in this world, unlike back on Earth, so money sitting in a bank wasnt working. Angelina already had over ten thousand crowns in the bank, so she bought about 60 hectares of woodland just outside the city, around Normanley Wood.

Shed originally planned to buy 130, 60 from three different farmers, and the remaining 70 from the local government, but shed been denied purchase of the governments woodland because she was a peasant. She had to be a dignitarian to buy public land not specifically put up for sale.

That said, however, she still owned 60 hectares, now the only person besides the baroness to own any woodland near the city at all. Shed decided to name the three patches of wood Ferd Wood, a little spit at the baroness bitch of a daughter.

Shed gotten the land at a bargain, too. Shed paid just half market price for the woodland since theyd been stripped bare for building materials for the recent projects in the town. It would take decades for the woods to regrow, so the farmers were willing to sell it to her cheap.

Without the local governments pieces of woodland, however, the land she owned was not connected, and so she couldnt merge them.

Claude burst out laughing.

It was a non-issue now that he was back. He was a quasi-noble, so he could just buy the rest of the woodland in his name, buy the woodland his sister owned, merge the two under his name, then pass it all back to her. Or he could just buy the governments woodland, keep it in his name, and just let her manage his land for him with hers.