The groom likes his current life very much.

The day of the Dronburg Battle seemed like a dream. Although it was thrilling at the time, when I think back on it now, I feel hazy.

If many parts of the city were not being rebuilt, there would be absolutely no trace of the war.

Of course, what was rebuilt were mainly the original military buildings, and the civilian areas did not suffer much damage.

As he walked down the street, he could see a construction site at a distance.

The houses that were accidentally destroyed during the street fighting have basically been rebuilt.

The brown brick walls, ochre-red pointed roof and bright large windows make it recognizable at a glance.

It was built new and well, a hundred times more beautiful than the old house.

And it’s free, paid for by the city hall.

To the extent that some people now even regret not burning down their own houses on the day of the war.

Speaking of the City Hall, that place was also completely replaced by the people from the North.

In the original city hall, although senior executives were elected, the entire city council was composed of wealthy people and had nothing to do with the common people.

Anyway, in his memory, most of the senior officials in the city hall had some relationship with the Medellin family.

As for lower-level officials and clerks, they were appointed by lords or senior officials.

So you don’t have to think about what it is made of.

But now, every few days, you can hear the news that a certain adult has been put in jail again.

The opportunity to become an administrative officer is also open to all citizens, and one only needs to pass an exam and an interview.

If he was illiterate and couldn’t even fill out the registration form, he would definitely try to sign up. The registration fee was only a few copper coins.

Even if I fail the exam in the end, well, it’s not “even if”, I will definitely fail.

Then I can say that I participated in the selection of affairs officers, which is very prestigious.

It sounds much better than being a groom.

In fact, he had the opportunity to no longer be a groom. Just a few days after the Northern Army entered the city, many cars also appeared in the city.

Then we started recruiting people who were willing to become drivers, with former coachmen being given priority.

Although he was a groom whose main responsibility was to take care of horses, he was also good at driving a carriage.

However, to be a driver one also needs to be literate.

It’s not just about being able to write your own name and recognize a few common words.

You need to have the level of literacy to be able to fully understand a book of traffic rules.

He could achieve the former if he tried hard, but for the latter, he thought he was no longer at the age to learn things quickly, especially cultural knowledge.

He also attended the free literacy classes held by the city hall twice.

That’s really unbearable.

From the moment the teacher started talking, it felt like a weight was hanging on my eyelids and I tried desperately to close them.

He even pretended to bring a pen and a notebook, but he didn’t take any notes. Every time he was woken up by the bell, he would find a page left in the notebook, with the strokes sometimes light and sometimes heavy, and the lines like a dog’s crawl.

He must have drawn the “pattern” on the blackboard by instinct when he was completely unconscious.

He probably has no hope in this life, but he really hopes that his children can study hard and at least learn to read.

Otherwise, every time a new notice came out, those who could read had already read it, and he could only wait for someone to read it, or shamelessly ask those who could read what was written, which was very embarrassing.

He is like this, but the child cannot be like this. Not only must he be able to read, but it would be best if he could also be the one to read the notices.

At that time, he was simply “the father of the City Hall clerk,” which sounded more prestigious.

The horseman’s life was truly “trapped” by face.

Unable to become a driver, he could only continue to be a groom.

The horses that originally belonged to the Count of Medellín continued to be looked after by him, and it could be said that there was no change from his previous job.

However, the official who assigned him the job said that horses would no longer be used as a means of transportation. How did they put it? They would “gradually withdraw from the stage of history.”

In the future, horse riding will become a hobby and a competitive sport.

But no matter what, it doesn’t affect how he raises horses.

He is one of the most famous grooms in the city, otherwise he would not work in the lord’s palace.

Finally, the groom arrived at the first destination of the day.

Gift shop.

He pushed open the door and entered.

“welcome.”

“I’m going to visit a patient. Do you have any recommended gifts? Flowers are not necessary. They are not practical.” said the groom.

In his simple value system, sending flowers is a waste of money. They can neither be eaten nor used, and are very expensive. Wouldn’t it be better to just pick a handful of them in the wild?

The clerk smiled and asked, “Can I ask what kind of patient you are visiting?”

“My cousin, a quarry worker in Harlan Town, had an accident and broke his leg a few days ago.” The groom replied.

Quarry workers are the most common job in this area. They basically do not live in the city, but in small towns near the quarries.

In that town, 80% of the people’s jobs are related to stone, either as quarry workers or stonemasons.

Although I don’t earn much, it’s stable.

At least this work can continue until those hills are hollowed out.

However, my cousin had bad luck a few days ago as he was hit on the leg by a large cracked rock. He will probably not be able to walk for a long time.

“In that case, I recommend this Johnson Brothers Bone Strengthening Powder to you…”

The clerk introduced in detail the various functions of this bone-strengthening powder, such as that a famous alchemist participated in its research and development, it originated from a tribal secret recipe, and it was certified by a research institute.

The groom didn’t quite understand either.

I roughly understood it and it should mean expensive and good quality, so I paid for it without saying a word.

When visiting a patient, especially his cousin, you cannot neglect his reputation.

“By the way, my cousin has been saying that he wants something. What did he want? Oh, now I remember, he wants a telescope. Can you get me another telescope?”

“What price range would you like?”

“Price?”

Soon, a row of telescopes appeared on the counter.

The groom never expected that the difference in this thing would be so huge, from the lowest three copper coins to the highest sixty silver coins.

A full two thousand times difference.

“That sixty silver coin, is it made of gold or silver? Why is it so expensive?”

“Oh, because this telescope is made by elves, it is drop-proof, shake-proof and waterproof…”

The clerk introduced it and made it sound as if selling it at this price would be a loss, and he didn’t forget to add one more sentence at the end.

“It’s for our child, and it’s also a gift. Don’t you think we should pick one of better quality? I see you’re a generous person. When the child takes it out and tells others that it’s a gift from his cousin, it sounds nice. You’ll be happy, right?”

I don’t know how they talked about “our child”.

The groom touched his nose and thought, “Oh no, I’m being manipulated.”

Although he knew that this was all rhetoric, he just happened to fall for it.

After struggling for a while, he made up his mind and gritted his teeth.

“Give me the one with seventy-five copper coins.”

Sixty silver coins are still too expensive and I really can’t afford it.

As for the one with seventy-five, it has the highest multiple here, which can be magnified fifty times. There are so many messy indicators that are difficult to understand, only the multiple is the most intuitive.

Fifty times, it sounds impressive and worth showing off.

If he hadn’t made some extra money recently, he wouldn’t have been willing to buy the one that cost even 75 copper coins.

That extra money was the strangest money he had ever made in his life.

A group of young people came to his horse farm to interview him. They were said to be from a game studio. They wanted to make a game with horses as the theme, and they wanted to anthropomorphize the horses and make them into beautiful girls…

I totally don’t understand it. Young people nowadays are so weird.

But he still answered all their questions well and received a consulting fee afterwards. After buying the gifts, he went to the outskirts of the city without stopping. The bus to and from Harlan Town only runs several times a day, so he couldn’t miss it.

We got on a large vehicle called a coach and drove slowly towards the town of Harlan.

On the way, we also met a team of Northern Legion soldiers on training, and several children in the car greeted them excitedly.

This was a sight that was previously unimaginable.

In the past, if the lord’s legion forgot to salute, let alone say hello, they would be whipped.

The groom now recalled that he was so frightened that night that he even made plans to fight to the death, but in the end, nothing happened.

It was indeed my own malicious speculation about the Northern Legion.

But who could have imagined that there would be such an army?

Northern soldiers patrolling the city are also common, and are the very opposite of the old-style army.

The queue was so neat that it looked like a machine, causing people who saw it to wonder if it was some kind of cold-blooded replicant monster lurking among humans.

But the reality is just the opposite. They are not ruthless at all, and are even a little “overly” enthusiastic.

In fact, they were a group of guys who would not let go of anyone who needed help.

An old lady who can’t carry a basket, a lost child, help whoever you see.

What excites them most is encountering a thief.

The groom had seen with his own eyes what it was like when a Northern patrol encountered a thief, and when a lady shouted “Catch the thief!”

The group of good guys rushed out like wolfhounds.

He looked so excited. To be honest, he wasn’t that excited even when he received his wages.

The car drove for three or four hours and arrived at the town of Haran.

It is much faster than taking a horse carriage. A horse carriage sets out in the morning and arrives at least in the evening.

But the driver said it was not fast enough, and once the road was repaired, it would be much faster than this.

The horseman was quite satisfied with the speed and understood why people said that horses as a means of transportation would be phased out from history.

It’s really not as useful as a car.

The town of Harlan is a very distinctive town. The buildings themselves are common houses here, but in front of almost every house, you can see stone carvings, finished, unfinished, of various sizes, and various themes, which are directly placed outside.

There’s no need to worry about theft. It’s just the weight of a stone sculpture. If someone has the ability to steal it intact without making any noise, there are many things he can do with this ability.

The changes in the town didn’t seem to be as great as in the city. Based on his memory, the groom quickly found his cousin’s house.

A plain little one-story house.

Quarry workers can’t afford to live in big houses.

The groom straightened his hair, smoothed his clothes, and knocked on the door. “Cousin, I’m here to see you.”

A few seconds later, the door opened and it was my cousin’s wife who opened it.

“Hey, sister-in-law,” the groom had just finished greeting when he realized that something was wrong with the atmosphere. Why did the sister-in-law look so upset? “What’s wrong with you?”

“My cousin is here, come in quickly.”

The cabin was a bit crowded, with only two rooms. My cousin was lying on the bed in the inner room with a splint on his leg, which was quite swollen. It must have been a fracture.

Apparently, the family couldn’t hire a senior pastor, so they could only use the most basic treatment methods.

One part depends on treatment, and nine parts depends on care.

The child is sitting on the floor playing with building blocks.

The groom greeted the child first, “Come, see what uncle brought you, Dangdang!”

“Wow! Uncle, I love you the most!” The cousin hugged his thighs, then rushed out of the house excitedly with a telescope.

“Don’t run so fast, where are you going?”

“I’ll go to the mountains and come back in the evening!”

As for telescopes, naturally the view is better when you are on the mountain.

“Brother, just come if you want to. Why are you wasting money?” said my cousin.

“Hey, this little money is for you.” He took out the bone strengthening powder and said, “Drink this, I guarantee you will get better a month earlier.”

My cousin forced a smile.

The groom then confirmed that something was wrong. Something was wrong. The atmosphere in the house was not right.

“What’s wrong? Did you have a fight with your wife?”

“No.”

“What happened? Is it because of the injury? It’s not a terminal illness. It will be fine after three months of rest at most.”

“No, I haven’t had any income in the past three months, and our family doesn’t have much savings…” said my cousin with a frown.

“Why didn’t you have any income for three months?”

“Ah?” The cousin was confused, “My, leg…”

“You can’t work anymore, but shouldn’t the stone factory give you a subsidy? What’s it called? Work injury subsidy.”

“Ah?” My cousin was confused for the second time.

“You do not know?”

My cousin shook his head.

“The new rules state that anyone who gets injured while working will also receive money while recovering from the injury.”

“How is that possible? Who will give me the money?”

“Whoever runs the stone factory should pay for it.”

“Baron, it’s impossible. You’d be worse off relying on a dog than on him.”

The groom finally realized the problem, “You don’t read the newspaper?”

“Nonsense, can you read?” my cousin asked back.

“No, don’t you know that the nobles in our area have been taken over by the people from the North?”

“Did you?”

“It means canceling a lot of their privileges. Many things that originally belonged to them have become public. The newspapers were all about this a few days ago.”

“I’ve been lying at home since a few days ago.”

“Hiss—that makes sense.”

Seeing that my cousin still looked incredulous, the groom said, “How about this, wait a minute, I’ll go to your factory and ask how you handle work-related injuries.”

With that, he left his cousin’s house.

“What is your brother going to do?” asked the wife puzzledly.

“They said I was injured in the factory and the factory should give me subsidies.” My cousin said dazedly.

“Is that so?” The wife obviously couldn’t believe it.

However, not long after, the groom led a man in uniform to the house.

“Who are you?” asked my cousin.

“Oh, I’m here to confirm your injuries and the specific circumstances of your injury. If confirmed to be correct, we will bear the medical expenses and loss of work time during your recovery period.” The officer said in a kind tone.

My cousin and his wife looked at each other, as if what they had just heard was not the common language.

After he came to his senses, he struggled to get up from the bed and pretended to salute the “master”.

“No, no, no, don’t do this. Don’t do this.” The other party immediately came over to stop him. He was obviously very familiar with this kind of reaction, and his movements were very smooth.

“this is what we are supposed to do.”

“We should” is also a word that will never appear in the mouths of “masters”.

“Thank you, thank you so much.”

At this moment, the child who had run away earlier came back and said breathlessly: “I, I was on the mountain, using a telescope, and saw a large camp. There were many, many tents, and also military flags.”

He gestured to show the military flag.

The other people present didn’t understand, but the officer recognized it. “Is this… the flag of the Sutton royal family?” (End of this chapter)