Seventy-third Summer

The Jockey Club is the most important festival of the whole spring in the city of Brasian. The festival is like a node. Before the Jockey Club, the whole city was in a half-dead lifeless atmosphere. But after the Jockey Club, Brasian City is like a hibernating bear, gradually rejuvenating as the temperature warms up little by little. After all, it's just a small city, not as big as Walloonia, and the temperature rises slightly to rejuvenate it.

As everyone knows, business is linked to the climate. For the South, the biggest trouble for business is the rainy season. When the rainstorm comes, and the whole world is covered by torrential rain, everyone has to stay in their own homes and not go out. In the north, the biggest problem affecting business travel is winter. The cold of the winter wilderness is no joke, at least not as you can imagine for those who stay in a warm and cozy house enjoying a fire or a fireplace. Frostbite and freezing to death are common for both humans and animals, and the huge cost of commercial transportation has to come to a standstill.

For the local residents, with the arrival of spring, the most obvious thing is the increase in goods and the active trading in the market. For the local squire and aristocrats, it was a sharp increase in the number of things that went to each other's doors. Ashrufat did not waste this time, and under the guidance of the two sisters, he visited almost all the famous families in the area. Like all social circles in this world, it is always difficult for a good outsider to be stopped by those regional discrimination. Because of his previous victory in the Jockey Club, he made a big splash, coupled with his polite conversation and demeanor, so Ishrufat quickly entered the living rooms of various local celebrities.

It didn't take much time for him to succeed socially. Now, Ishrufat is considered to be one of the local celebrities, and has unknowingly been dubbed "Sir Ashrufat". And between him and the two sisters, although in fact they are still "engaged", he has been regarded as their husband. When people call the two sisters in front of Ashrufat, they are no longer "your fiancées" but "your wives."

In the spring, the long-absent governor finally arrived. As was heard, the governor was an old man of nearly seventy years of age, with all gray hair. And not only his body, but also his spirit is already decaying. As those rumors estimated, the old man intended to use the governor's position as his retirement home, so his policy was only a simple sentence - as long as there was nothing to do. As mentioned earlier, this was a very easy thing to do for the city of Brasian, because it was the kind of place where there was nothing to do: small and safe.

Shortly after the arrival of the Governor, a new sheriff was also in place. This is also an old man who is too old and doesn't want to toss anymore. With a governor and a sheriff like this, a fool can guess the future of Brassian—you don't want a big change, but you won't be in a worse situation than you are now.

Time passes slowly in peace. It must be said that although Ashrufat was cautiously prepared for the impending crisis, nothing actually happened. Even because of the castle, even the suspicious characters who were poking their heads outside the manor disappeared completely. After Io's death, the matter seemed to end there, there were no traps against the two sisters (or against him), and there was no other trouble, let alone someone digging through old accounts to find out the cause of Io's death.

Of course, the rumor that Eshurufat had killed Io continued. Now, though, even when the local rappers mention it, they don't believe it themselves. As it was evident, Io was followed by at least five retinues (whose bodies were dug up together), each carrying muskets. In this case, it is inconceivable that Ashrufat can kill everyone without a single person. Add to that the time and place of the accident to the point of disbelief.

As a result, the local government intervened to find a good place for Io and several other outsiders (with the exception of Sheriff Farod, who was a local official and had access to a cemetery for officials) in the local public cemetery. The church also generously provided beautiful stone tombstones for those who died in accidents, and found the best stonemasons in the city to engrave the relevant text descriptions. This is the treatment for all, not like the unlucky ones in such accidents, who can be coping with a few words on a piece of wood. It has been reported that the dead outsiders had left their luggage in the hotel, but unfortunately when they went to look for the luggage after the official identification of the bodies, they found that they were all gone. Even the innkeepers couldn't tell why.

Regardless, the Spring Jockey Club is behind us. It and the tragic accident were quickly relegated to the memory of the people and never mentioned again. The weather is getting hotter and the next event in Brasian, the so-called "Summer Dance", is about to begin. Much of the attention is focused on this.

Summer dance parties and spring horse races are not the same thing. Spring horse racing is entirely a festive event, with a fixed time and a fixed venue. The summer dance party does not refer to a certain ball, but refers to the whole summer, the gentry and nobles in the city of Brassian will hold a continuous dance party. These balls range in size from small to a party of a dozen friends, accompanied by two or three musicians. The big ones are dozens, hundreds, and a whole band.

As happens every year. In late spring and early summer, musicians, cabarets and bards from all walks of life begin to flock to this area. Today, these professional musicians can often be seen in the taverns and inns in the streets and alleys of Brassian.

All in all, everything seems to fit the character of this remote town – calm and uneventful. Even if there is a sinister storm lurking beneath this calm, there is no sign of it, at least for now.

......

Ashrufat stood on the platform of the tower, overlooking the small lake in front of him. Across the lake, you can see the pastures in the distance. Herds of horses and sheep are scattered over the pastures, grazing and running freely. Spring is the best time for horses to mate, and there are often fights for mares in the herd, leaving them in a state of instability.

"What are you looking at?" a voice came from behind him. Ashrufat didn't need to look back to know that it was a star view.

"Look at the horses. Ashruphat stared. "When I look at them, I get a feeling. It seems like a long time ago, I used to be like this, condescending, looking at the herd in the distance. He whispered.

"Really, what kind of herd?"

"I don't know how to do it, but it should be cows, horses, sheep and something like that. But it looks really good that way...... It gives me the illusion that these horses belong to me. Ashrufat smiled, "In that case, I'll think I'm a great rich." ”

The horses, of course, are not his, but belong to those who rent his ranch. The pasture on which the castle belongs is very fertile, and it is considered a good land in the local area. However, Ashrufat had made a gentleman's agreement with the Dale Knight before, so he couldn't raise the price of those leases.

"I love the tower and the platform. Ashrufat said suddenly. "Maybe I've lived in a similar castle before, and I've stood on a high platform more than once with a bird's-eye view of the world. Higher than here. He looked up at the white clouds in the sky. "It's like trampling the entire world under your feet. ”

"Me too. Hoshimi replied.

"How's the dismantling of the magic array over there?" Eshuruphat asked casually.

"I'm working on it. But it takes a lot of time to completely erase the traces. Hoshimi replied. Don't look at the two sisters who are petite and look like they are unharmed, but they are actually black magicians who study black magic skills. However, the dark magic they had researched was very different from the dark magic that Eshurufat remembered. The dark magic technique that Eshurufat remembered was based on himself, trying to resonate with the dark magic energy in his surroundings, and thus using this power. But the two sisters went the other way, trying to use this energy without themselves. In order to carry out their research, the two sisters set up a magic circle in the basement of a small cottage on the hill to gather the energy of black magic.

However, after moving to this castle, the magic array in the villa on the hill seemed out of place. Not only is that place far away, but because you can't stay there all day, there's a high risk of being bumped into by someone. There is a large and vacant basement underneath the castle, which is the perfect place for the two sisters to conduct research. The castle is an area where the living area of the master and servant is clearly separated, and as long as the door is closed inside, there is no need to worry about the servants outside discovering the two sisters' secrets.

The only trouble at the moment was that they had to let the servants live in the master's living quarters for the sake of cleaning and living. If they want absolute security, the only way to do that is to take care of everything themselves. Doing so will be suspicious of wanting to cover up. In short, there is no good way to deal with this at present.

Suddenly, there was the sound of heavy horses' hooves ahead. It wasn't a herd of horses running in a distant pasture, but a horse rushing to the foot of the castle, or the entrance.

"Is Lady Katyua at home?" shouted the strange rider outside the castle gates. Ashrufat noticed that the visitor was wearing a uniform, and by his attire, the man was supposed to be an employee of some Chamber of Commerce. There are many chambers of commerce in the city of Brasian, and Ashrufat has not yet figured them out.

Ashruphat stared at the messenger-dressed stranger, and Hoshimi tugged at his sleeve.

"Don't be nervous, it's just someone from the Orok Chamber of Commerce. Hoshimi said. "We have a little bit of a stake in this chamber of commerce, so at this time of year, they give dividends...... I'm talking about why they haven't come this year. ”