These Side Characters Have More Important Things To DoCh129 - Breaking expectations, left, right, and centre~

Ren Xiyang set up a privacy spell on habit. He poured cup of teas for Hadrian and himself.

“So. Is there something you want to talk about?” JvlWmD

Hadrian looked at his tea cup but he didn’t pick it up. “I am curious about how you run your fief. May I stay and observe?”

“Sure, you can follow me and see what I do. There’s nothing particularly secretive. But if you stay for a while, I would like your help.”

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Hadrian had an unidentifiable feeling in his chest. “My help?”

“You’re an earth mage, correct? There are many things for an earth mage to help with around the Rosewood fief.” 5aLWjk

“I understand,” Hadrian said.

Ren Xiyang sipped his tea.

The silence extended, but Hadrian still didn’t speak about whatever it was that was really on his mind.

Ren Xiyang internally sighed. Why wasn’t Rian here when he needed him? Rian would be able to get Hadrian to speak within a minute.

“…Well, you’ve also come at a good time,” Ren Xiyang said. “We’ll be having our half-yearly Rosewood meeting in a week, organised by the Rosewood council. You’ll be able to see many of the people who work for the Rosewood group, and you’ll be able to hear about all the different projects we currently have going.”

“This Rosewood council, I heard that it comprises of commoners.”

“Yep. The different project teams and areas of focus have a leader, who come together to form the Rosewood council. They also have a deputy. Each year, the deputy becomes the new leader, and a new deputy is chosen. The original leader returns to being a normal staff member. This way, leaders know that they can’t act indiscriminately.” Ren Xiyang quirked his lips—he could see that Hadrian didn’t like the idea very much. “The aim of this is to share leadership experience around and to empower the Rosewood citizens to improve the fief using their ideas. Eventually, I want the Rosewood Council to run itself. Then, I’ll be able to retire as Earl Rosewood and work on my farm plots.”

Hadrian stiffened. “Did you say ‘retire’?” hs7MW4

“Yes,” Ren Xiyang said seriously. “Being Earl Rosewood is tiring. I don’t want to manage people, not to this extent. I want to be doing agricultural research and improving crop yields sustainably.” He shook his head. “I’ve asked Prince Rian to take over multiple times, but he has always declined, unfortunately.”

Hadrian looked shocked. “Your earlship is hereditary! What about the Rosewood family line?”

“Is that written in law that I have to maintain the Rosewood family line? Why can’t I choose someone else?” Ren Xiyang shrugged. “And even if it were law, I could just introduce new legislation to the Rosewood fief. The end goal is to have a democratically-run fief. The people of the fief will be able to choose who they want to lead the fief for the next few years, and we’ll run elections regularly. But first, my fief needs the infrastructure and other structures to run good elections.”

Hadrian’s lips turned into a frown. “Are you saying you want a  commoner to become the Earl of the Rosewood fief?” YVa3ZN

“Perhaps. Or the position could be more like a prime minister, or chair of the Rosewood Group,” Ren Xiyang mused. “We’ll have to workshop it. The important thing is that someone else takes over the role for me.”

“You don’t want to be the head of a fief.”

“That’s right.”

Hadrian smiled sardonically. “And yet, you’re doing such a great job. Your people love you.” Meanwhile, his people likely looked down on him at best, or hated him at worse. What kind of mage noble was he—he couldn’t even fight back a few bandits. He wouldn’t be surprised if the people of the Terra fief felt more appreciative of Earl Rosewood than himself. evdbn3

The more he thought about that, the more depressed Hadrian felt.

“Love is exaggerated,” Ren Xiyang said, dismissing the statement. “I just want to improve the lives of my people. But like I said, I can take you around with me, and let you see how I work.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Hadrian reigned back in his emotions. He couldn’t break down in front of a child like this. “I appreciate your time.”

“Is there anything you’ll like to talk about right now?” i1oePI

“…No.”

Ren Xiyang looked at Hadrian for a few moments, but Hadrian didn’t crack.

“I’m going to head to my greenhouses first. This isn’t part of my fief management, but rather part of my personal research. Do you want to come?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Hadrian perked up on the word ‘research’. “Yes.” tnsLSZ

“Yxjs.” Efc Wlsjcu rabbv eq. “Ktfc wffa wf ja atf ogbca bo atf wjcbg lc akfcas wlceafr. P cffv ab mtjcuf ab wbgf jqqgbqgljaf mibatfr, mibatfr atja P vbc’a wlcv ufaalcu vlgas.”

“Fcvfgrabbv.”

Coafg Efc Wlsjcu rjk Ljvgljc bea, tf ralii kjrc’a ktja Ljvgljc’r qgbyifw kjr.

Efc Wlsjcu wfcajiis rtgeuufv. Yt kfii, rlcmf Ljvgljc kjrc’a j Ebrfkbbv mlalhfc, atfgf kjr cb cffv obg Efc Wlsjcu ab kbggs rb wemt. Ljvgljc kjr j ylu ybs, ktfc tf kjr gfjvs, tf’ii ajix. F498QD

Until then, his greenhouses!

That afternoon, Hadrian got to see Earl Rosewood’s private greenhouses. He had expected exotic plants, flowers and trees, and perhaps special herbs used for magic. Instead, there were dozens and dozens of ordinary staple crops and vegetables.

He had expected at least one gardener managing the greenhouses. Instead, Earl Rosewood did everything himself, from watering and weeding, to repotting, fertilising, and taking notes.

And for some reason, Earl Rosewood liked this. Hp1Y3d

Hadrian knew of the staple crop seeds that Earl Rosewood sold to his father and knew that some of the varieties were indeed better. He hadn’t realised that Earl Rosewood had personally bred those varieties himself.

“Is that why the fields in the Rosewood fief are so much more productive?”

“New seed varieties, fertilisation and watering practices all contribute, as well as some improved farming tools,” Earl Rosewood said modestly. “Prince Rian wants to expand this across the kingdom and eliminate hunger.”

Earl Rosewood offered to teach him about gardening, but Hadrian declined. qoEIf9

Hadrian had the vague idea of doing research, but farming and agricultural research was not it.

They had time to freshen up before dinner.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Hadrian had expected another small dinner like the one Aaron had organised for him yesterday. But instead, it was at the main hall of the Rosewood manor, packed full with boisterous servants. And the servants who served food also sat down after they finished serving and ate with them!

Hadrian glanced at Lady Sage who sat on the other side of Earl Rosewood. She didn’t seem surprised at all. She was even talking to the servant Kel! Kel wasn’t even Lady Sage’s servant, so what could they be talking about? vFkSxU

At least Hadrian wasn’t seated directly next to commoners: Earl Rosewood and Master Silvercharm sat next to him. Earl Rosewood personally introduced the dishes on the table, while Master Silvercharm gave him advice on what he should try first.

Hadrian didn’t know it, but he was experiencing what many Sedaverian nobles had experienced.

Earl Rosewood glanced at the traditions of nobles on the occasions that Count Aegean had the opportunity to teach him…but then he made the executive decision to do what he wanted.

That night, Hadrian had a lot to think about. He wrote what had transpired and slowly digested what Earl Rosewood did and said. 0NxdhE

Personally, he disapproved of many of Earl Rosewood’s actions and stances. But it was clear that his method worked: the Rosewood people were very loyal (albeit, they showed their loyalty by disrespect) and the fief’s wealth had sky-rocketed.

Hadrian tried to imagine himself acting like Earl Rosewood and receiving the same sort of loyalty from the Terra commoners.

The idea of acting like Earl Rosewood was so counter to his fundamental beliefs that he couldn’t imagine it.

However, Earl Rosewood had given him an idea— WOap1G

Why couldn’t he choose someone else?

If his parents didn’t want to transfer the inheritance from him, then he could wait until he inherited the title before immediately transferring it to Julia himself!

He should also tell Julia of his intentions. Admittedly, he hadn’t made that step yet. And he wasn’t ready for that step either.

However, he started writing a long letter to Julia documenting his travels so far, along with the different styles of leadership management he had encountered. He hoped Julia would be able to learn from them. NDRIfp

With the start of summer now here, Ren Xiyang woke up very early, energised by the sun and the fields around him. He went for an early morning run and did some sneaky field inspections before meeting with Hadrian for morning magical practice.

Hadrian questioned his life when he saw how Earl Rosewood was better at earth magic than him.

After breakfast, Ren Xiyang went to his office to deal with some administration. He gave Hadrian some old administration papers to occupy himself.

Hadrian felt dizzy with all the complex numbers. Even his father didn’t keep such detailed notes for trade. And what were these pictures that Earl Rosewood called ‘bar charts and line graphs’? Mj0goQ

Later in the morning, Ren Xiyang went to meet with Florence. The entire rest of the day was blocked out with Florence, to go through all of Ren Xiyang’s different projects and their progress.

Hadrian was completely lost on all the technical terms they used. Farmers just farmed and plants grew according to their cycles. How could it become this complicated? Granted, Earl Rosewood and Lady Sage attempted to explain some of the terms to him and gave him a draft copy of their agricultural textbook, but Hadrian couldn’t stuff all that information into his brain in such a short amount of time.

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Then, when Hadrian least expected it, Earl Rosewood stopped work at 4 pm and told him he had free time for the rest of the day.

“And what are you going to do?” Hadrian asked. m9aLqu

“Lounge in the sun and absorb some energy,” Ren Xiyang told him.

Hadrian: “…” Was Earl Rosewood a plant? Was that why he liked researching plants so much?

“As a fire mage, I can extract magical energy from sunlight. You could too.”

Hadrian wasn’t fully convinced. CdHUqp

“You sounded interested in research. You could lounge in the sun with me and chat about your research interests.”

“…Okay.”

Hadrian didn’t expect Earl Rosewood to take him up to the roof of the Rosewood summer manor, set down some thick padded blankets, and lie down. Earl Rosewood also fixed a dark cloth to float over to the side to block out the direct sun.

“Don’t worry, if you fall, I’ll catch you,” Ren Xiyang reassured him. mJdRiP

Hadrian was not reassured. He laid down, looked at the blue sky overhead, and tried to move as little as possible. He glanced at Earl Rosewood. It looked like he had fallen asleep.

Hadrian: “…”

Hadrian looked back at the sky. Here, on the rooftop, he could hear the faint voices and sounds of the Rosewood servants—‘staff’, as Earl Rosewood called them—going about with their work/not-work. As the wind blew, the trees around the manor rustled their leaves.

Without realising it, Hadrian relaxed. He even shifted to a more comfortable position on the roof without realising it. 0xsCPH

Then, Earl Rosewood yawned and stretched, which strengthen Hadrian’s suspicion that he had been sleeping.

“Let’s talk about research. Do you have any ideas yet?”

“I have some ideas, but I want to hear about your research.”

Ren Xiyang glanced at Hadrian. He suddenly had the strong impression of Hadrian being a little undergraduate student who wanted to do research but didn’t know what they wanted to do. He also felt a spark of responsibility, to guide Hadrian to become a good researcher. pJ1scq

“Well then, aside from agricultural research that you saw earlier today, I engage in a lot of magical product research with Crown Prince Rian…”

Ren Xiyang covered a range of research, from spell development of the floating carriages to spell development for combat to defeat Prince Rian and King Augustus. He talked about the spell development to detect germs (which Hadrian knew about), to water purification methods, both magical and non-magical. There was research into different road materials and construction methods, and even research into mathematics and statistics.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“…Anything around you, whether you can see it or not, can be a topic of research,” Ren Xiyang said. “You could research the sky, about why it appears to be blue during the day, or how certain weather patterns form. You could research roof tiling materials, improving its durability and strength. You could research different clothing construction methods, or develop devices to speed up the weaving of cloth. You could develop mathematics to describe the entire world.”

He looked at Hadrian. At this point, they had both sat up. 37ax0d

“You don’t have to worry about food, water, or money. So you can take your time. That said, you will need to simply try out doing some research on a topic. You may grow to like it unexpectedly, or you will know yourself better and understand what you don’t like.” Ren Xiyang quirked his lips. “Like how you know you don’t like plant research.”

Hadrian blushed. “I don’t mean to offend you—”

“I’m not offended,” Ren Xiyang said with a shake of his head. “You can follow me for the next few days, but I want you to think about some more precise areas of research that you’re interested in. It could be something that recently caught your eye, or it could be something that you had thought about as a child. Either way, make a list, tell me, and I’ll see what I can arrange for you. And if I can’t arrange anything suitable, Prince Rian would be happy to help.”

Sometimes, like now, Hadrian had the feeling that Earl Rosewood was much older than he looked. Which was a bit unsettling but fine if he didn’t dwell on it. H6LEVA

Hadrian breathed in and then exhaled. “Your aid is appreciated.”

He had even more to think about that night. He was energised, though. Earl Rosewood’s words had inspired him, cleared his regrets for coming to the Rosewood fief, and reminded him about his new purpose.

Yes, he wanted to be a researcher!

  BnSaqc

Rian’s agent: Earl Rosewood laid down with Lord Hadrian Terra on the Rosewood manor’s rooftop today. bhajdi

Rian: >:(

Rian’s agent: Lord Terra appeared to blush once.

Rian: !!!!!!!

Later that night on mirror-call: xp6nCN

Rian: Xiyang—

Ren Xiyang: Are you jealous of Hadrian?

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Rian: … No! I’m not!

  hCMEze

Important question: Should I ship Florence with someone in-story, or should I leave it to readers’ imaginations?

A. In-story with Kel!

B. In-story with someone else, in the comments below. cMjNhD

C. Leave it to us readers ;P