Chapter 604: A Commoner’s Perspective

"Pardon, M’Lady?" The driver, who hadn’t quiet caught what Tina said just now asked.

Shaking her head wryly, Christina waved the man off, "It’s nothing, just... remembering a certain someone."

"A special someone?" The driver asked, though he immediately regretted it as this was obviously a rather personal subject.

Before he could take his words back and apologize, however, Christina actually replied, "Yes, very special, though very silly as well."

Sounds like one lucky bastard if you ask me, the driver thought to himself as he drove forward.

The rest of the trip was filled with similarly light banter, with Christina asking a few questions about the local situation and the driver answering as best he could.

This served both to pass the time, and to give the princess a raw, unfiltered perspective of Amherst and the current Duke Roth’s rule from a commoner’s point of view.

It was... informative, though hardly comprehensive or unbiased given who she was asking and just how eager to flatter her subject was.

Still, Christina felt that understanding more about this place, which she had last visited more than 5 years ago, would be beneficial to both her current mission, and to future projects she and her fellow Disciples would be engaging in in the future.

With some prototype harvesters appearing here, it was clear that Lucas’ influence had already begun to spread to the Roth Dukedom, so Christina imagined it wouldn’t be long before hers would as well.

’Princess’ was already the most popular bakery in Misty City, with 5 locations opened and each one of them selling out every single day long before closing time. The factory Christina had opened to boost supplies of bread had helped a bit at first, but it was quickly becoming clear she would need to do another expansion on it fairly soon.

Christina didn’t plan on stopping there, either. She envisioned one day having Princess Bakeries in every city in the Rockwell Kingdom, providing delicious bread to all its citizens.

She also thought about opening a formal restaurant using some of the recipes she had learned and subsequently improved upon from her Senior Brother, but she hadn’t had time yet to follow through on that idea.

As for her Senior Sister, Eris’ Rising Phoenix Guild would probably be making an appearance here eventually as well; after all, there were already plans in the works to open branches of the guild in every major city in the Balfour March.

This would certainly be a huge up-front expense, but after several months of operation, everyone had been thoroughly impressed by the positive impact it had brought.

Now, the flagship Rising Phoenix Guild’s level of success probably wouldn’t be fully replicable outside of Misty City, but if even half the benefits could be realized, it would be well worth the initial investment. On that point, all the leaders of the Balfour Family were in complete agreement.

And so, the ride continued in this relaxed, almost lackadaisical manner, which was a welcome reprieve for Christina before she needed to deal with the stuffy court politics which was surely waiting for her.

.....

Hopping off the carriage at the base of the small hill, Christina tossed a Silver to the driver who promptly tried to refuse, "This is far too much for a simple ride, M’Lady!"

"It’s fine," Christina waved casually, "Think of it as a fee for all the information you provided me."

And with that, she walked off, not giving the stunned man a chance to refuse.

A few minutes later, Christina arrived at the front gates of Duke Roth’s mansion and was naturally stopped by the guards on duty, "Halt! Who goes there!?"

Sweeping her eyes over these 5 guards, all of whom were in the Core Formation Realm, Christina found their response to be... adequate for an unexpected encounter with an armed stranger like her who, at least outwardly, was giving off the aura of an Eighth Step Core Formation Practitioner.

They had spread themselves out so as not to make themselves too vulnerable should she suddenly launch an attack with her greatsword, and they had all placed their hands on their weapons but had yet to draw them.

None of them was slacking off or despising her just because she looked young, and their full attention was focused on ensuring she didn’t make any hostile movements they couldn’t immediately counter.

This level of vigilance actually surprised the princess slightly.

Amherst, and the Roth Family Manor by extension, were indeed situated on one of the Rockwell Kingdom’s national borders, similar to Misty City, but the state it shared a northern land border with was the Zilon Kingdom.

While the Darr Kingdom could be considered the Rockwell Kingdom’s least amicable neighbour, the Zilon Kingdom was definitely their closest ally in the South Central Region of the Blue Sky Continent.

In fact, ties between the two kingdoms were so close that the current Duke Roth’s First Wife was actually a member of the Zilon Kingdom’s royal family.

The point was, Amherst has basically not seen any kind of serious conflict since the last great war over 100 years ago, so the guards here being so alert and dedicated to their duties was slightly unexpected to Christina.

Of course, none of these guards’ vigilance was meaningful as she wasn’t an enemy.

All these thoughts flashed across Tina’s head in about a single second, after which she simply reached into her Space Bag, pulled out a token, and tossed it over to the guard who had spoken earlier as she assumed he was the one in charge.

Catching the token, the man examined it carefully for a moment before his eyes bulged.

Hurriedly straightening up, the man pounded his fist across his chest and shouted, "Forgive me for not recognizing you, Your Highness Christina!"

The other guards, hearing what their leader just said, also quickly saluted.

"No matter," Christina dismissed the apology before quickly getting down to business, "I have come here to pay my respects to the Duke as I will be staying in Amherst for the next few months. Please inform him or someone of appropriate status of my arrival."

"At once, Your Highness!" The head guard nodded before ordering one of his subordinates to run back to the Manor proper to explain the situation.

Once that was arranged, the man turned back and bowed politely, "Please allow me to accompany you inside, Your Highness."

"En, very well," Christina motioned for the man to lead the way.