Chapter 101: The Strange Baron Title

Louis opened his eyes and saw Kate asleep soundly beside the bed. He rubbed his head, feeling somewhat the worse for drink.

Thinking back, he recalled that after dinner last night, Kate had come to his room to help him organize his luggage and tidy up the space. After that, he had allowed her to see the man in her heart.

(Some readers said they couldn't follow the previous chapter, so a few lines were added, but it got reported and overturned—truly embarrassing. I won't dwell on it here.)

He got out of bed. Louis drew back the heavy curtains.

Morning sunlight streamed in. Louis squinted, took a deep breath, and felt refreshed.

Last night's heavy rain had left the air exceptionally crisp and clean.

He flipped through the records in his storybook.

[Strength +5]
[You've grown half a centimeter taller...]
[Deed +1]
[Recommendation letter/report that gives Stuart a headache (pending dispatch) +1]
[Four of Hearts (2/3)]
[Warning: You have accumulated two major deeds in succession. If you can secure one more exceptional merit, then even though you are still young, the Belifs can find a way to maneuver you into a 'section chief' or 'division chief' position—perhaps you should ask 'Archie Belif' (President of the Stogron Colosseum, hidden boss of the Stogron mercenary company, friend of dragons, major smuggler...)]
[Kingdom of Solendo Reputation +200 (spreading)]
[Moon Court Reputation +500 (certain special people know of you now)]
[(Pending claim) Invitation from the Queen and King*1]

Seeing this, Louis rubbed his chin. He remembered that in the storybook's completion rewards, there had never been a Moon Court reputation item before.

Looking further down, Louis discovered there was something else that increased presence/influence:

[Strange Baronetcy*1 (1/2): Presence/Influence +300]
[Quest required: 'The Battle of True and False "Gundam"']
[Trigger location: Mages' Association]
[Objective: Defeat 'the Dragon Slayer Gundam' (dragon-class creature) in the 'King's Birthday Celebration Performance' at the 'London City Stigmor Dragon Colosseum'—so creatures like this really exist in this world!]

'A strange baronetcy...'

If an ordinary person managed to make a name for themselves across various nations, then in this Age of Sail, being ennobled as a noble was still a possibility.

But wizards were different.

Over the past three thousand years, wizard nobles had indeed come into existence, but the vast majority were ennobled by the wizard monarchs of the QK family. Human kings did not recognize them.

Only a few especially unique nobles had not been ennobled by the QK family, but rather jointly ennobled by both the human king and the Archwizard King during the era of Queen Isolda—Isolda being the last sovereign who ruled over both humans and wizards.

Such nobles were nobles among wizards, and also nobles within Solendo, recognized by all. Moreover, they stood independent of the QK family. They were not obliged to heed QK's commands.

Obtaining such a title was no easy matter. Because it meant forcing the Ministry of Magic to acknowledge a wizard who had stepped into the Muggle world, and to recognize his various deeds in both the wizard and Muggle realms.

At present, there were a few such nobles in the Ministry of Magic. Several conflicts between Muggles and wizards had ultimately been mediated by them. They were known as the bridge between humans and Muggles.

If he could obtain such a title while also holding a position in the Ministry of Magic, the significance would be immense.

'This must surely be related to the King's birthday... Could it be that wizards will also participate in this grand celebration? And hold a special ceremony at the colosseum?'

Shaking his head, Louis set the matter aside for the moment and continued reviewing his rewards.

One item was Count Crowley's payment: 8,000 pounds (pending claim).

But he wasn't particularly inclined to take this reward, because it felt somewhat awkward.

It wasn't about the whole "future father-in-law" thing.

Right now, the relationship between himself and Crowley was one of cooperation, and taking money would just be too low-class—just like with the Belif family. Their relationship was no longer about money.

When he needed to do things, when he truly required large sums, these people would be throwing investments at him with their eyes closed, begging him to accept, just so they could buy into his ventures.

His current spending money was two thousand pounds, plus over a thousand Galleons, which if exchanged on the black market would amount to roughly seven thousand pounds or more.

When handling serious matters, he wouldn't need this spending money. He could instead buy some gifts—for instance, something for the little foxes. Or perhaps get Helen and her sister an old-fashioned car to fool around with among the wizards.

Other wizards couldn't use Muggle items at the Holy Icon Tree, but a special noble like himself, and Princess Osikris, had no such restrictions.

As for Kate...

Last night, talking in her sleep, she'd said she wanted to buy him a luxury car...

[Clearly, that line you said yesterday—'When this job's done, I'm getting myself one too'—the wealthy young lady hasn't forgotten it.]

Louis rubbed his face.

'I'm not even planning to take the Count's reward. How could I possibly accept a car from you?'

Louis stood by the window lost in thought. On the other side, Kate on the bed had already woken up. She gazed at the rugged, resolute lines of Louis's back, and her cheeks flushed slightly red.

What reserved little boy... it was all an act!

Yesterday, he'd tricked her into coming into his room—and the moment she was inside, he'd pulled her straight into his arms!

She had never been intimate with a man before, and he was far too bold...

He'd even lied to her, saying he'd just hold her close and nothing more...

At the thought, Kate couldn't help but want to cry. If not for her rather unique circumstances, a proper noble lady who had done such things before marriage might as well be dead...

But then Kate couldn't help recalling that kiss. In that moment, looking into Louis's burning eyes, she had cast everything else aside. After all, she had been longing for him for so long...

It was as if he knew her heart...

As if he had pierced straight into her soul...

This was the man in her heart... a brave knight. And even more unimaginable—he was also a mage...

In this world, there were probably few people like him. She was willing to clean his room for him...

Yes, last night she had simply cleaned the room. Nothing else had happened.

Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door, apparently a servant.

Kate scrambled up in a fluster. She pretended to look as though she had just woken up.

"Oh heavens, I fell asleep... What's going on? Goodness! Where is this? I—how did I sleep here? I must have drunk too much last night..."

Hearing Kate still putting on her act, Louis turned his head and looked at the pretty "lady" with a smile, sauntering over.

"What are you doing? Louis, stop it... stop... forget about yesterday... Goodness, put me down—I need to go back to my room..."

Hearing the strange sounds coming from behind the door, Kate's chief personal maid, standing at the threshold, fell into deep contemplation. In the end, she decided it was best not to disturb the master inside.

She shooed away the low-ranking servant who had come to clean the fireplace, then went over to her young lady's room to cover for her—Mistress Nanny must be furious right about now.

When an hour later the maid came by again, she saw the young lady inside, having just finished dressing and frantically smoothing her skirt—apparently she had been about to leave, and found herself face to face with the maid.

'Damn it all!' The moment their eyes met, both of them cursed inwardly.

"Oh, good heavens, miss, look at this—it's all my fault. I got up much too late. Fancy making you come all the way over here." The chief personal maid smiled, blocking the crack of the door with her body, while the several servants behind her lowered their heads and stepped back a distance.

"Ah? Ah, yes—right, Bessy, I—I came to borrow a book."

After exchanging a few words, Kate returned to her room. Then five or six servants knocked and entered Louis's room. They found the gentleman seated on the sofa, leafing through several books. He seemed to be reading something—the chief maid remembered that those books appeared to be Mr. Ron's books on the occult.

None of the servants dared to look too closely. They busied themselves about the room, pouring water, tidying up, changing the bedsheets, cleaning the fireplace...

Only the chief maid occasionally stole a glance at the young gentleman.

Unlike yesterday, he had changed clothes today. On his lower half were tailored suit trousers with suspenders; on his upper half, a dress shirt and a waistcoat that covered the suspenders. A black felt hat and suit coat hung over one corner of the sofa.

This outfit was a suit from the master's younger days, which Miss Kate had instructed the servants to bring over when arranging the guest room last night. The maid had initially worried the clothes might be too short—after all, although the master was 183 centimeters tall, he still seemed to be a bit shorter than this gentleman.

But unexpectedly, they fit him perfectly—as if the suit had grown to accommodate him (magic).

Wearing this outfit, he was even more handsome and dashing than the master had been in his youth. Through the slightly open collar of his shirt, she could glimpse lines that were not overly bulky, yet sharp and well-defined. Full of the beauty of strength.

When she saw the gentleman set down his book and smile warmly at her, the young, pretty chief personal maid felt herself dizzy at the sight of that sunlit smile, her face turning scarlet—no wonder the young miss was so infatuated...

"Y-Young master. Oh—right. This morning, a special visitor arrived at the castle. He said he came to see you." The chief maid hastily found a topic.

"Oh?" Louis asked.

"He said his name is Stuart—an elderly gentleman, quite advanced in years, wearing a tall hat, carrying a walking cane, fair-faced with no beard... He should, should be an old noble, or perhaps from the royal court..." The chief maid looked somewhat awkward, unsure how to phrase it.

"He's served at court." Louis nodded, understanding that Osikris must have quietly arranged this. Stuart had seemed to mention something last night, but he hadn't paid attention.

Stuart had been the previous Archwizard Queen's magic mirror. He had served for three hundred years. After the Archwizard Queen married the King of the Solendo United Kingdom, Stuart had served another decade or so as a eunuch in the royal palace (magic mirror nightmares reproduce differently from normal creatures—they are energy beings).

Thus, Stuart had some connections in the Muggle world.

No doubt Osikris hoped Stuart could help her make contact with some of the old ministers in the court.

It was fine to let Stuart connect with these old ministers, though those who could stand on the princess's side would likely be the kind of old scholars and traditional nobles who had long lost real power. They couldn't help much with his 'baron' title, nor provide much support on Osikris's path to the throne.

That matter would have to depend on himself—namely, the birthday celebration.

But when he made his appearance at that 'birthday celebration' in a few days, someone had to be there to cheer him on, right?

So Osikris was essentially helping him find a cheering squad.

Louis didn't intend to waste time with those old ministers. Today he needed to go to the Mages' Association—mages had considerable influence. They were the true bigwigs who could speak in the royal court. With their backing, ordinary nobles wouldn't dare offend Osikris. And in the future, it would make his own dealings in the Muggle world much more convenient.

Louis planned to take these subordinates under his wing.

And if he could elevate the Mysterious Affairs Office (a section-level unit) into a liaison office established in London City, becoming a joint division-level unit between the Kingdom of Solendo and the wizards, that would be extraordinary.

It was a "chicken feather," but in his hands, it could become a "command arrow"!

By then, when he, Baron Louis, Division Chief, handled affairs across Muggle nations and wizard principalities, resolving mystical incidents and gathering connections, it would be entirely legitimate. He would have the authority not only to command agents, but also to command mages and Solendo's military!

Leading a fleet to conduct business in the wizard realm would also be entirely legitimate! The wizard nobles of every nation would have to open their gates for him!

After washing up, Louis headed toward the dining hall.

At the dining hall entrance, he saw Count Crowley seated at the table chatting with Stuart, while Helen had already risen early and was sitting there waiting for breakfast. Seeing that Louis had just gotten up, she pouted and shot him a dirty look—nerd, all he did was sleep. He must have stayed up late reading again last night.

It seemed the Count and Stuart were old acquaintances. They hadn't seen each other in years, and both seemed somewhat moved.

And only now, quite by accident, had the Count learned from Stuart that Helen was a relative of Queen Francisca—a princess of the 'Frankish' Duchy of Erylinda. That duchy was truly mysterious. Had his own warships not once been caught in a storm and run aground on the duchy's beaches, he would never have known the place was so vast!

Incredibly, it had a population of millions, predominantly of foreign peoples. Yet for all his travels to the far corners of the world, he had never been there.

At the time, when his major had returned, he had passionately described how dragons truly existed in this world, and the Count hadn't believed him—after all, when he sent men back later, they couldn't find the place at all.

The mysterious Duchy of Erylinda had long been forgotten by him, dismissed as a strange tale. But recalling it now, the Count felt a pang of emotion—after his wife's misfortune, and meeting the mage, Louis, and the others, Crowley had begun to believe in many things.

After all, the magic he had witnessed last night was utterly breathtaking.

If magic existed in this world, why couldn't dragons exist as well?

[Magic, Wizards, Dragons presence +100]

This young Mr. Louis seemed to have a background even more mysterious than he had imagined—and Miss Helen appeared to be extremely close to him as well.

'The Holy Icon Tree Divinity Academy...' Count Crowley frowned, sinking into thought. He had some peculiar impression of this academy, though he couldn't quite recall it. But he guessed it wasn't actually a divinity school—it might well be a wizarding academy...

[Holy Icon Tree Academy presence +100]

......

Please spare a few recommendation tickets.