Meeting Father In Law

After hearing his wife saying that she gave the responsibility to her own father as the treasurer, Arden decided to pay him a visit to discuss about the money at the treasury.

This is the reason he is in the street, walking with his guard beside him, Louis. Louis agreed to guide him the way to his house and both of them began making their way there.

…

It took them some minutes to get out of the city and went to Louis's house. Once they were there, Arden confusedly ask, "Why are we here?"

Louis didn't answer him and began walking to the west of his house, Arden has no choice other than follow him. Both of them walking at the narrow path and through the wheat field.

More minutes pass, and Arden now still confused about the direction. His suspicion began rising, but soon it disappeared.

Once they left the fields owned by farmers and such, there was a small plot and there it is. The only manor standing at the plot, the one he built for his father-in-law.

Arden smiled while looking at it and then turned to Louis, "Thank you, Louis, I raised my suspicion against you just now"

Louis raised one of his eyebrows in doubt but soon lower it back and just respond, "I don't know other way than the way we both use, it's not a problem"

Arden just smiled at him and began making his way toward the door. Suddenly, he turned back to face Louis and said to him, "You want to come inside?"

Louis looked at him and catch a glance behind him before answering with, "No, I need to return to my house… you know, the dinner, come visit us after your things are completed"

He then turned his back to Arden and began making his way through the fields and walked his way in the narrow path. Arden just stared at him for a few seconds before turned his face toward the door.

He looked at it, thinking about what he is going to say when meeting his father-in-law for a few seconds. Then, he takes a deep breath and raised his arm to knock on the door.

Before his hand even touches the door, the door suddenly opens. He was taken aback by this sudden event, but quickly calmed down.

He then proceeds to look who opened the door and didn't see any person. That's when someone in her soft kid voice said, "Sir, who are you?"

He looked down and saw a kid around 8-year-old standing in front of him. Her face showed that she is hungry and also scared of Arden.

He sighed and crouched down before saying something to her, "Have you met an old man that owns this place?"

She was nervous and scared seeing Arden being that close to her. She just trembled, gathered her courage and said, "H-He left a few minutes ago, ple-please don't do anything scary to us"

With a little stutter, he answered and Arden just smiled, that's when Arden caught a glance behind her. He saw almost 10 little kids peeking their head and hiding from his sight.

He was about to ask about all the little children behind her. But someone shouted from behind, "Hey! Don't harm those children!"

The voice was familiar to him, the soft and humble voice he heard when they first met. His Father in law have return back from doing whatever thing he is doing.

Arden just turned around and saw the old man startled seeing Arden himself. In his hand, Arden could see multiple bags that looked like it's filled with stuff.

Arden seeing this just rushed to him and said "Let me help you"

Sean passed the bag of things to him, and Arden began carrying it to his house. All the children cheer as Sean said "Thank you" To Arden.

That's when Arden realized what Sean is doing. He is bringing homeless and poor people to his house and fed them. He just smiled happily, seeing his father-in-law doing kind things to people.

Both of them placed the bags at the kitchen and began making meals for the children. The first thing that came up his mind when he started making his meal was, "Where is my mother-in-law?"

'It's not the best idea to focus on that, I need to make something, I'll ask Sean later" Arden let it pass his mind and tried to forget it.

…

The children, seeing Arden wasn't a threat, started talking to him. Asking him questions and even went as far as to help him to cook their meals. Arden just guided them and smiled seeing the children tried doing something to help him.

…

It took them some minutes to make the meals, and it was a simple meal. Soup, fish, fruits and a homemade bread Sean learnt to make at his time.

All of them were eating it happily, Arden and Sean didn't sit at the kitchen though. Both of them chose the living room as their place to discuss things the kids won't understand.

Arden started the conversation with a question regarding his mother-in-law, "Father, what happened to mom, I haven't seen her since I came here"

Sean's face became moody almost immediately. He then sighed before answering, "She is resting in her grave right now, I don't want to make both of you worrying about it so I simply decided to not tell you or Valen"

Arden was simply shocked hearing about this. He was not expecting his mother-in-law to die like that. He began asking more question to know more about it, "What really happened?"

Sean took a deep breath and then sighed before responding with, "A disease, I tried curing it with some doctors but no treatment was successful, she was bedridden for weeks before she died"

Arden just sighed and Sean did the same, there were some silent in the room before Arden started talking again, "Where is her grave if I may ask?"

It took Sean some time to remember the location, once he remembered it, he answered honestly, "I buried her at the nearest hill, visit her with Valen next time"

Once again, there was some silent in the room. It was the awkwardness type. Time passes as they did nothing and just drink their tea, that's when Sean asked a question to Arden.

"Your pet? That's a cute tiger there!" He stated as he said it excitedly.

Arden just smiled at him before answering, "Yes, and also, I came here to talk about the treasury, I heard you have the responsibility to it, I can promote you as my treasurer!"

Arden just smiled and waited for Sean's answer, "Yes, I have all the documents and the money is actually at the castle, at your bedroom, knock the wall of your wardrobe 3 times and one of the secret ways will open, there is one in my home, I discovered I before this place and even the castle was even built"

Arden was shocked hearing about this and just said, "Can I ask you some question?"

Sean gave a nod while saying "Sure, and also, I will be honoured to be your treasurer, I will be able to last like 20 more years though before I follow my wife"

Arden, seeing Sean's face turning moody, quickly tried to ask his question so Sean is focused on him rather than his wife, "First of all, the secret ways, did you make it? Second, how much money we have right now?"

Sean was quickly focused on his question and began rubbing his chin and contemplate about it, "As I said, I didn't make the secret way for your room, the wall broke after I touch it and I saw your wardrobe, I installed a door quietly and make some kind of mechanism that will open it when someone knocks the door 3 times"

He stopped his words after that and began contemplating, after some time of him thinking, he finally has the answer, "As far as I remember, there is close to 4000 Aurens, 3547 Aurens"

Arden almost choked on his tea after hearing that amount. He didn't know he has that much on his treasury. Then, a thought came up in his mind, 'Valen must have deposited it there once he got all the income'

…

The income of the noble is the taxes from the people, for example, if a people sold stuff he has like wheat and much more thing, 10% of the income will be making its way to the noble.

While Arden focused on prosperity more than wealth, he put his tax ratio at a low point, making it low enough so that the people prosper and he became rich too.

Arden was simply excited and happy to talk about the stuff he could build at the city for his people and also for all his lands.