Chapter 601: Mount Tranquility

"Hmm, if you’re planning on returning to the Royal Province, I assume you two were staying at Mount Tranquility, in one of the Low-Rank villas, yes?" Celestina asked.

Mount Tranquility was located a few hundred kilometres north of the capital among the many low-rolling mountains, and was the best-known publicly-accessible cultivation spot in the entire Rockwell Kingdom.

During the First King, Fredrick Rockwell’s reign, a survey team that was searching for valuable resources in the mountains came across Mount Tranquility and noticed it had a higher-than-average World Qi density compared to its surroundings.

After a thorough inspection, they theorized that there was a Spirit Crystal somewhere beneath the mountain, but they also calculated that it was too deep and too small to make it worth trying to mine.

Not wanting this location, which was quite picturesque no matter the season, to go to waste, the First King decided to take advantage of the higher-than-average World Qi density to establish a secluded retreat, a place where his subjects could visit to pursue their cultivation in peace.

For a fee, of course.

Technically, anyone could access Mount Tranquility, but nobles were given priority as well as discounts for the use of the various villas built on its slopes.

These villas also weren’t all equal, either, with the ones closer to the suspected mine being more luxurious and having higher World Qi density.

Like many things in the kingdom, these cultivation villas were divided into Low, Mid, High, and Peak-Rank, with people of Edward and Amalia’s status and wealth really only being able to afford staying in the cheapest of Low-Rank retreats.

To support this entire enterprise, a town, aptly named Tranquility, was established at the base of the mountain and served as a place to purchase supplies or to simply take a break from the monotony of cultivation or martial-arts training.

Overall, Mount Tranquility was a boon to both the cultivators of the Rockwell Kingdom, and to the Royal Family which raked in a huge profit from its operation year-after-year.

It was also because of the... enterprising commercial nature of this secluded retreat that Edward and Amalia exchanged a glance and blushed slightly, but they soon composed themselves and nodded, with the latter replying, "Actually, Edward and I have mostly been staying in Tranquility."

"Ah... I see," Celestina nodded, scratching her cheek a bit awkwardly, realizing she had embarrassed the couple with her question.

Celestina had been to Redwood Town, and even though it was in chaos when she arrived, it was still fairly easy for her to get a rough estimate of the Newton Barony’s financial situation.

The barony itself was quite peaceful, and it had no trouble supporting itself, but since it was a frontier territory, it obviously didn’t have much in the way of industry or trade.

At the time, besides grain, Lucas’ soap was actually Redwood Town’s biggest export, which said a lot about just how little wealth was being created in the Newton Family’s domain.

Give that reality, it should have been obvious to her that Edward and Amalia, the previous baron and baroness, wouldn’t be able to afford staying at even the cheapest of villas on Mount Tranquility year-round, not even with the 50% discount nobles were given.

The shortest period of time you could rent a villa on the mountain for was 1 month, so most likely, the couple would have to work in town and save up some money for 3 or 4 months before then could enter retreat.

Everyone else at the table knew how to read between the lines as well, causing a bit of an awkward atmosphere to develop.

Even Eris, who wasn’t always the best at understanding subtleties of conversation, realized that her paternal grandparents weren’t having an easy time.

Unlike the others, though, she wasn’t going to just sit there and stay silent.

"Since that’s the case, you should just stay here!" Eris declared forcefully before turning to her Master, "Since Big Sister Tina’s relatives can stay in Disciples House, there’s no reason mine can’t, right?"

Thankful for her Second Disciples straightforward and forthright personality which provided her this escape-route, Celestina nodded firmly, "Naturally. The two of you are more than welcome to stay here; there’s no reason to return to Mount Tranquility."

"But..." Edward tried to object, but was stopped when his arm was grabbed gently.

Turning to his left, Edward saw his daughter-in-law smiling and shaking her head, "Eris is right. You should just stay here, Father-in-Law, Mother-in-Law."

The others around the table, including Sasha’s parents, all strongly voiced their support for the idea as well.

Even so, Edward and Amalia felt reluctant.

They may have only been a former countryside baron and baroness, but they still had their own pride. It would be one thing to accept some assistance from the children they helped raise as that could be considered the latter being filial, but accepting it from their daughter-in-law’s family felt wrong to them.

Even if they knew that the cost of room, board, and cultivation resources for two Core Formation Realm Mortals wasn’t even a rounding error for the Balfour Family’s treasury, it still felt like they were taking advantage of Celestina’s kindness without any hope of ever being able to repay the favour.

The couple’s hesitance was, of course, noticed and understood by the others around the table, but no one really had a solution to this issue; after all, what could Edward and Amalia possibly have to offer to the Balfour Family that it didn’t already have?

Thinking along this line, though, Lucas suddenly hit upon an idea and immediately vocalized it, "Master, don’t we need some additional trustworthy assistants for that ’thing’ we’re working on? There’s no one more trustworthy than family, right?"

"An excellent idea, Lucas!" Celestina swiftly understood her First Disciple’s intentions and concurred, "We’ve already selected a handful of people to help out part-time, but we were having some trouble filling the critical full-time spots. If the two of you stay, it would be perfect!"

Celestina and Lucas both turned eager looks to Edward and Amalia, who were both now smiling wryly.

If they stilled tried to refuse even after the ’show’ that was just put on, it would only serve as an insult to Marquess Balfour who was clearly going out of her way to incentivise them. As such, the old couple nodded, "We’ll be in your care then."

"Excellent!" Celestina smiled happily, as did everyone else around the table, especially Sasha and Eris.