Chapter 84: A Collaboration

The next day, Lucius quickly finished up his daily lessons with Kain. Usually, he would delay it intentionally, making it seem like he had to put a little effort into learning. But after yesterday he realized the people were much more accepting of his sudden increase in intelligence.

They just attributed it all to the 'Grace of Etara'. 

'It's funny how the 'godly' excuse is working for me in this world.' Lucius chuckled to himself 

Kain also didn't show any different reaction to Lucius upon seeing him finish up so quickly this time. It was evident that the man had gotten habituated to it as well. Lucius hurriedly sent him off before going to his lab to prepare for today's work.

Today was an important day and Lucius was going to finally start one of his long term plans. He checked the brewery and took out two more bottle's worth of Humble Blaze from the vats before filtering it one last time and then filling it in bottles.

John and his wife had been invited today for a special occasion, and these would serve as the perfect accompaniment. After all, Alessa as the 'owner' of the establishment, should know about her product.

Lucius and his parents had decided that today was the day that they were going to pull in John and his wife into the fold. Lita had already sent out an invitation to them formally and John would be arriving here later anyway, for Lucius's daily swordsmanship lessons.

Lucius never got the opportunity to fight the bandits two days ago and thus John never got to witness the increase in his skill. This was something Lucius was a bit disappointed about as he wanted to test out the Wind scar Sword on some real humans.

"I'll get plenty of opportunities to test it in the future…" Lucius muttered to himself.

He went to the main hall to wait for the guests that would soon be arriving. There he saw that Kiana was already setting up the things for their visit. The servants were also doing their duty in cleaning up while Lita was having some tea while reading some documents.

"I reckon everything is going fine, mother?" Lucius asked. 

"It is indeed. The invitation was sent out perfectly and they will be arriving any minute now." Lita replied.

"What about father, where is he?" Lucius questioned.

"He is writing out the directives for the steward so that they can start to draft the transfer of the ownership of land. Once we take the Signature of Alessa the final proceedings will be able to be done." Lita answered.

"I see…" Lucius replied and sat down in the chair.

They waited there in silence for about twenty minutes before a servant arrived in the hall.

"Lieutenant John and Lady Alessa have arrived!" The servant announced.

"Ah, they're here." Kiana said. "I'll go inform the count as well." She added.

~tak~tak~tak~

The sounds of steps could be heard as John and Alessa soon appeared in the archway. And in Alessa's hand was the baby Cia, silently sleeping. Lita smiled seeing the happy family and gestured them to approach.

"Greetings Countess Lita, Young Lord Asher." John and Alessa greeted with a light bow.

"Come on, sit. We have a lot to talk about." Lita said.

The husband and wife took seats, still unsure of why they were called here. Their lives had become a lot better ever since their daughter had awakened the epic ranked gift and the Count had offered them a better place to live.

Not only that, but Lieutenant John was also slated for promotion and had already gotten a raise in his salary. The only thing that was remaining was for his rank to be officially raised in the army.

They truly felt like they were indebted to the Inanis family and thus were anxious about why they were called here. They wondered if something bad had happened or if they had offended them somehow.

"What did you call us here for Countess Lita?" John asked respectfully.

"We'll speak as soon as the Count is here," Lita replied before looking at the hall way, impatiently.

No less than a minute later, the sound of metal boots could be heard as the Count appeared, along with Kiana in tow.

"Welcome John, Alessa." Gabriel greeted them with a smile, which did nothing to reduce the anxiety that the couple was feeling.

He then quickly sat down before lightly clearing his throat.

"So I believe you two must be wondering why you were called here?" Gabriel said.

It was Lucius who had suggested that Gabriel be the one to speak mostly here, as it would be better to use his authority and reputation to tie the man and his wife to them. While Asher would also be able to do it, it would simply not be the same as a Count speaking.

"Yes we do indeed. Is there any problem Count? I hope it was nothing we did…" John spoke cautiously.

"HAHAHA!" Gabriel suddenly laughed out loud while Lita also chuckled a little bit.

"No, no, no. It's nothing like that. Rather, I asked you here for something important." Gabriel replied and took a pause to observe the two.

"I would like to make you two nobles officially," Gabriel revealed.

The two didn't react at first as it took them time to register this fact. But once they did, their eyes went wide. They knew that they would become nobles eventually due to their daughter, but that would take at least ten years.

"W-why… why out of the blue, Count Gabriel?" John asked, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"Well, more accurately it will be your wife who will become a noble while you will get it due to being her spouse," Lita said with a chuckle.

"-Wha" John uttered in a confused tone.

Alessa thought managed to control herself much quicker, and looked at the Count and countess calmly.

"Pardon me Count, but becoming even an unranked noble needs a certain level of fortune and influence, right? We have nothing of that sort. Even with John being promoted, it won't be enough to warrant that." Alessa stated.

"You won't need to worry about that. With what we are planning, you two will become wealthy quite soon." Gabriel replied.

Alessa and John narrowed, raised their brows but did not speak, wanting to know more.

"I think you should fully explain to them now father, this is enough teasing." Lucius urged.

"Alright then. Listen…" Gabriel said before explaining the entire situation.

It took them over two hours to explain the plan and how it would be working. Alessa would be made the owner of the brewery on paper, while the profits would be taken by the Inanis family. John and Alessa would of course be getting a part of it, and it was decided it would be five percent.

Even this was hard for them to decided upon, as Gabriel had stated ten percent at first. But then John insisted it be less, as it was the Asher's work by which the wine came into existence and it was the Count's money with which the entire thing was being built by.

The husband and wife would just be benefiting without doing much and thus were staunch about this. They even swore their loyalty to the Inanis family formally and stated that they would do their best to fulfill their duty.

Alessa was properly educated and thus could handle the daily workings of the brewery with no problem, so that was one less position they needed to worry about. As for John, he would be taking care of the security of the brewery as it would be a big secret and also train Lucius in the meantime.

"We will be eternally grateful to you, Count Gabriel, Countess Lita, young Lord Asher." John and Alessa said with a bow.

"Hahaha!" Gabriel laughed before grabbing a bottle of Humble Blaze.

"Well then, I believe it is time to introduce you two to the current best wine in the Grantz Kingdom." Gabriel boasted.

John and Alessa were a bit surprised about the big claims but wanted to wait before judging it. Kiana poured out five glasses and served them to each person, with one for herself. She had come to like the wine too and was not going to miss out on it.

The count held out the glass of wine and spoke, "To Asher and his brew. May we prosper together because of it and may our foes perish!" 

"To Young lord Asher!" John and Alessa said with vigor.

Lita and Kiana chimed in as well and sipped the wine. 

"Mmm!" John and Alessa had audible reactions to the wine's kick and taste.

"GREAT WINE!" John praised openly.

"Indeed, young Lord Asher has made a miracle." Alessa joined in.

Laughter and joy could be seen in the hall as the two families mixed and mingled. 

Nobody knew that today would be the day one of the richest nobles of the Grantz Kingdom would come into existence.