Bonus Chapter [6] - 960 - Power Stones
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(Cletos' POV)
Cletos hadn't been having a good life lately, in fact, he hadn't been having a good life for a long time.
Two years earlier, Cletos had considered himself lucky when he became the butler of a newly ascended nobleman, even if he was only a baron.
Lord Vincent Winters, a commodore who achieved great feats in the fight against piracy, along with the support of his sister who was married to a viscount, was promoted to baron. Cletos was a loyal subordinate of Vincent and therefore became steward after the king granted him the title.
Cletos felt that his life was about to improve, but in fact, commoners dream of nobility, but only when he ascend to nobility that he realized something that seems obvious, but which is unfortunately difficult to notice.
The magnificent Commodore Winters, acclaimed by the masses, now lay in the lowest position of the nobility, he didn't even have a seat in the House of Lords!
Baron Vincent caught the worst possible time to become a nobleman, by then, noble positions were more political than anything else, and without a seat in the House of Lords, his power and his voice were even less.
Vincent Winters was also despised by the rest of the nobility as uncultured, as a sailor, whether it was theater, arts, or literature, Vincent knew little about it.
In the end, the title of baron only made him realize that nobles prefer to mock lower-ranking nobles rather than commoners.
That was ironic.
Therefore, while Baron Winters was angry, he took it out on Cletos, giving him ridiculous tasks that he didn't even know how to complete or asking for advice on matters he knew nothing about. Although his lifestyle and salary had indeed improved, Cletos lived in constant stress.
Sometimes he thought that Baron Winters only kept him around to vent his frustration.
The baron's last request was that he obtain works of art and antiques to decorate his mansion, not ordinary pieces, but genuine works of art and antiques, 100% authentic, not cheap forgeries.
Baron Winter had a brother besides his sister, a merchant, and during his time as commodore of the royal navy, he greatly facilitated his brother's life, including with cargo coming from both pirate ships and merchant ships.
This made Baron Winter particularly wealthy, but money could only take you so far in this nepotistic society. He could spend an absurd sum securing a seat in the House of Lords, but that would leave him so poor that he would only have his trousers left.
In the world of nobility, having money won't always help you, but not having money will always hurt you.
Nevertheless, Vincent Winters was not entirely without political support, his brother-in-law is still a viscount.
The baron's sister married a viscount, also with his help, offering a good sum of money at the time for a viscount to marry his sister. In the end, Baron Winters' network of relationships was small, but not nonexistent, so he could still achieve some good things, but hardly to the point of impressing the other nobles.
The baron wanted to throw a banquet to celebrate the birth of his nephew, it was merely a pretext to improve his political standing with high society, but the decorations were still far from meeting the baron's standards.
Cletos became unfortunate once again.
He had been searching for days, but either he brought counterfeit goods or they didn't meet the baron's standards.
Tired, he returned to the place where he was born, a bar where he used to drink with brothers who had already passed away. He drank until he passed out, he just wanted to forget for a moment the complications of his life, not even wanting to waste time thinking of excuses to give the baron.
He did exactly that, he drank so much that he passed out, but unfortunately Cletos' life was never easy.
//-//
Cletos groaned in pain, coughing violently as he struggled to his feet.
Rigel took a step back, the stench of that man was evident.
"Damn it! W-who was the bastard..." He groaned in pain, his eyes still clearly confused.
Rigel knew the man wouldn't be able to converse in that way.
Sighing, he was frustrated because he had to meet this guy while he was drunk as a skunk. Now he either waited for him to get better or gave him a detox potion. He had brought several of these because they weren't very expensive, they were mainly used to get rid of hangovers, but they also worked to get rid of various debilitating, but not fatal, effects.
This stuff basically turns your liver into a dragon's liver for a few minutes, it was very useful.
Rigel thought he'd need it for something other than detoxifying a drunkard, but at this point, he didn't care that much, he just hoped it would be worth the price.
Rigel took the potion out of his pocket and handed it to Will. "Give it to him."
Will looked at the potion and then at the disgusting drunkard, sighing, he approached, speaking to the pair of boys. "Hold him."
No one in the tavern intervened, instead, they were more curious about what would happen.
Rigel didn't even bother to explain anything.
The man fought them, covering them in vomit in the process, Will almost vomited himself. The others held up well, but grew increasingly brutal, their irritation evident.
Rigel, on the other hand, took another step back, his disgust evident on his face.
When Will finally got the drunkard to drink the potion, the effect was almost immediate.
The man's eyes went from confused to clear in a flash, he blinked, confused, but soon regained his composure.
"Who are you? Why are you holding me?! I'm warning you, I don't have much money with me!" Cletos said quickly, nervous about the situation.
Rigel sighed and spoke. "I heard you buy paintings and handicrafts."
It was a test, he just wanted to see if the man would take the bait, after all, the compass pointed to him.
The man's eyes widened as he stood up quickly and appeared in front of Rigel. "I'll buy it! What do you have?! You'd better not fool me with fakes! I'm telling you, if you fool me, you'll surely end up on the gallows!"
Rigel stepped away from the man, pointing his pistol directly at him, afraid he would touch him.
Rigel shuddered, staring at the still-dirty man with wide, terrified eyes. Rigel swore he'd rather shoot him than be touched!
The man stared at the gun in shock, quickly raising his hands. He swallowed hard. What kind of kid walks around armed?! Are the guards useless?!