Chapter 173 - Gifts To Gain Favor And A Surprise

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Finally, Clark and Magda also wanted to give something, as the dwarf couple had opened such a floodgate for this social interaction.

"We don't have countless valuable things on us, but this is a very popular amulet in my town, I thought I'd bring some to sell in the capital of the Kingdom of Dawn,"

Clark said, pulling out a fish-shaped amulet with beautiful floral engravings all over the wood, being held by a thin rope of golden threads.

Josephina almost snorted seeing the thin strings, it wasn't real gold, but it faked well for the uninitiated.

"What does it mean?" Josephina asked innocently, but she wanted to get such a man who offered fake metal in trouble.

There is no greater offense to the dwarf species than forgeries!

It was like mocking the original work of the creators who went to great lengths to get the material and create something different.

"Well, the legend says that you can summon the legendary Rainbow Fish who can grant a wish... Of course, it's just a legend, nowadays, we use this accessory to wish good luck and that everything goes well in life" Clark said timidly.

"Not only that, I have something here too. This was done by my beloved Clark!" Magda said proudly, shooting Josephina an enmity look.

It was a crocheted pin, and it had a weird, simple, clean, and pretty pattern in white color with a red stone in the middle.

"This is a fire brooch, its fabric is made with webs of Silkworm Zalion from the forests of the ancient god Tayron... Well, it's the equivalent of our hunting god... I don't know what you call it here... Anyway, it's a magic brooch that lends attunement to the fire element." Magda spoke so proudly and looked at it with such conviction that Emery couldn't refuse the gift.

What Magda either forgot to mention, or she didn't know, was that this red stone actually contained an imprisoned baby fairy.

In fact, fairies rejected for birth, being too weak and unable to free themselves from the stone from which they were born.

Well, Emery would eventually discover that fact.

What matters now is that he took some copper coins and gave them to old Dolores, even though she refused to accept them.

In the end, she can only effusively donate some clothes, so Emery can go back to church, it would be too embarrassing to come back in her pajamas and a little cold.

Besides, it wouldn't do for an elf in church clothes.

The church might find it offensive.

Even old Dolores knew that Bryan was undercover to look for his young master, in the old woman's eyes it was still offensive to the religious institution.

So, Bryan and Emery won a donation of changes of clothing, changing into something more ordinary and less flashy than pajamas and novice outfits.

The outfit…well, he felt a little peasant at the moment.

Even though the sun was rising over the city and Emery was wearing an old long coat in a dull brown color, short gray pants for his size, long socks of a questionable color, and shoes in soft leather, he felt like the city it was cold.

Emery pulled her coat closer to her body as the cool morning breeze greeted her on the empty street, luckily Dolores was hygienic enough for him to just smell a slight stink of mildew from her clothes and the case still fulfilled its role as to make it a little warmer.

Sneezing a few times and shuddering, just as he was trying to wipe his nose, but there was Naill solicitously offering him a handkerchief. He smiled as he saw Emery accepting his handkerchief, Naill's happy face clearly seemed to say "greet me".

"Thank you," Emery said, looking away from the younger man's glowing eyes.

"I just want to help," Naill said even more excitedly.

Well, for Naill this all seemed like a surprising adventure, whereas for Mattias, who had a future waiting for him out there, and Bryan who wanted to go back to the Empire of the Elves, it all felt like a long and big problem.

So, they are silently walking side by side, there was no excitement, just a hint of curiosity and some anxiety about the whole situation.

"You look a little fragile" James commented coolly, he didn't even use the "young master" to address Emery.

"I'm just a little weak, you know Mages don't have such a strong body"

Anael choked on saliva at Emery's bold words to say he didn't have a strong body... He still felt some pain in his back from being thrown into the wall hours ago.

Ah, his life has been going from bad to worse since he dared to be greedy.

He was swearing in his heart that he would never again have such greed.

Emery didn't mind James' cold and not-so-polite treatment, he preferred people to call him casually, but if he asked for it directly people would find him very strange.

There was such a rigid hierarchy between nobles and commoners, society consciousness was very backward, and citizens still carried the feeling of being submissive peasants.

What the nobles did not insist on changing such behaviors, which were pleasurable to them.

There were few countries on the Central Continent that had more hierarchical freedom and the citizens recognized their own strength and ability, you could see that despite the Aurore Empire being an empire, the citizens were not weak and did not consider themselves inferior, just observing Josephina's casual behavior in gossiping about the royal family and political issues that were 150 years ago from the time Emery first entered.

One hundred and fifty years later, there was the prime minister of the right and the prime minister of the left, a parliament, a more consolidated justice system, the voting power of mayors, county administrators, and the public and financial administration took over a twist of evolution that hasn't been seen in the last 500 years.

Of course, the highlight was the industrial revolution, the fall of some nobles, the rise of others as nobles, some nobles who supported the revolution gained more power, the consolidation of trade and investment in education, consequently prosperity and quality of life, improving the lives of people who were once considered peasants and commoners... Ah, they didn't want such status anymore.

They became citizens, the social revolution gained strength, or the nobles gave in or would be overthrown by merchants who became too powerful and by the people who with access to technology and education could not put up with being treated with less respect just for not having noble births.

Did having access to education mean they had access to magic and became powerful, even if the emperor's army was large, could he defeat a nation?

Not to mention the nobles who supported behind the scenes, which were usually the nobles who were involved in commerce and industry. For them, it was more beneficial that there were more people with magical powers for them to have more consumers for their items and products.

The nobility of the Aurore Empire was in a very delicate state, the royalty felt pressured, only the Darcy Family seemed to navigate calmly. The lands of the archduchy were well managed, with education, health, and investment management. Industries, businesses, and great benefits for citizens.

As if the Darcy Family had prepared for such changes with great foresight, the minor nobles and subordinates of the Darcy Family followed suit, so they were feeling less pressured.

Then unions started to emerge and demand more rights, if it had been elsewhere, they would have been beaten and armed conflicts would have started.

However, unlike the other nobles, the Darcy Family embraced the changes and created a department for labor rights, which caused chaos throughout the country as unions began to explode everywhere and demanded the same attitude from all.

Labor rights, civil rights, criminal rights, political rights... many rights were emerging in the archduchy, some would think that the nobles of that region were losing power, but the power of money and the armies of Archduke Darcy was getting bigger and stronger.

More and more immigrants were arriving at the Archduchy, but tensions among the nobles outside the Darcy Family circle were mounting, they felt it would be better not to relinquish power, and conflicts were breaking out in various parts of the Aurore Empire.1

Ah, but the social revolution was still in full swing and just beginning, but Emery wouldn't know that until he reached the Aurore Empire.

The walk was peaceful in the neighborhood, as if the sunlight had driven away all the evil that permeated that neighborhood, which had a strong smell of urine and sewage.

"Bishop... Young Master Darcy, where are we staying?" Naill asked in a low voice, thinking James couldn't hear him.

"Let's search for a place to rent for now, so let's go to an Information Guild"

Of course, James could eavesdrop on their conversation, he sighed looking at those younger than him acting with such carelessness.

"There are no information guilds in Belcato City, just one guild that takes care of the five small towns and a bigger information guild near the borders," James said, interrupting their conversation.

"Where is the guild?"

"In the neighboring town"

Emery was speechless at the inconvenience, so he took a breath to regain his composure.

"If you want to know something about the city, you can ask me"

"But we're going to split up soon, I can't ask you to compile the information into a book for reference, right?"

"I'll stay with you guys," James said, looking nonchalantly at Emery's group.

"That..." Emery didn't know what to say, he wanted to fend off the person in front of him, but he also didn't want to appear rude and cause unnecessary enmity.

"No need to try to make excuses to dump me... How can I say, I'm just like you... I was brought here all of a sudden"