Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2

When the first ray of dawn shi+nes through thepane upon his soft bed, You Lian’s eyes are already open

Sitting up, he looks into the panoraor beneath the sunlight, surrounded bymimics a beautiful sy the tableau before hi time since he’d last seen such lovely scenery

At daybreak, the wandering spirits had already disappeared into the ain to their subterranean do if not efficient When You Lian walks out of his bedroom, he sees a clean, neat corridor, the athered to both sides The dirty, cracked glass had beconored the surfaces’ gossamer cracks

Also gone were the abundant weeds within the floor’s crevices and the cobwebs hanging frolowing cri souls had carried out You Lian’s de so, perfectly and completely showed off what they were capable of

In truth, You Lian only discovered the existence of this drove of wandering spirits after he had coht of de of souls, and thereby beca to the spirits themselves, the castle’s environs had once been part of the territory of a certain necroone era, this necro art, hich he created this batch of wandering spirits According to You Lian’s conjecture, the necromancer had likely desired to create a flock of undead servants for personal usage, but unfortunately, he departed on an excursion before he could finish the job, and was summarily slain by an adversary As a result, the swaric but physically forer in this Godforsaken place With the passing of time, men seized this piece of land and built a castle upon it; out of necessity, the wandering spirits began concealed residence in a shadowy realm beneath the earth

Because of the constraining nature of the secret art used in their creation, these wandering spirits know not death, nor are they able to disappear Consequently, before his death, You Lian entrusted the his castle, absorbing select powerful souls, and ic circle which would facilitate his revival

So far, it looks like they did a very good job

The fact that they are forced to withdraw to the subterranean realm after sunrise is the only disappointment Not from fear of destruction, but froht Even though the sun does not harm the daytime, there is little difference between them and thin air

Currently, You Lian’s castle contains only one huh an old coachman had accompanied him here, the former had rapidly departed after their arrival at the destination, doubtless in an atteerous and mysterious place, and so the youth was left alone

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He observes that the youth, surna the place, but a youthful brashness and deter In his inspection of the previous owner’s effects last evening, he discovers the abject poverty of his predecessor; aside froe of clothes, and several history books Of course, the youth possesses also the docuiven him by those aristocrats; the documents are all authentic, with no fabrication Perhaps the noble the there, so there was no reason to waste tieries

This particular document expresses that he – You Lian, or rather, Julian Felix (out of convenience and to avoid suspicion, You Lian combines the surname on the document with an appropriate rendition of his actual naovernance over the castle and its surrounding territories; as a lord with estate, hein a tiation to provide troops in defense of the entire nation Naturally and accordingly with these duties, he enjoys in turn the powers of taxation, conscription, and … ah, ius primae noctis [2]

How profoundly tiresome

Upon reading those words, Julian curves his lips upwards; even in the previous world, he had doubts about this ius priely have no interest in this right At the beginning, it may have been a by-product to show the position and ies held, but in actuality, its application is shunned by the majority of the aristocracy

The reason, too, is sis on a daily basis, especially if one’s holdings are significant in size There are so es and towns in their de e, how could you ht when you are already sorely pressed for ti your own affairs? On a different note, even if the right is used, resultant offspring are a serious inconvenience; highborn have the opinion that their bloodline is sacrosanct and inviolate, so if a peasant bore a child with noble blood, the nobleman had a mandate to rear the child – a black mark upon his reputation [3] In these tih DNA, for exa to pass themselves off as bastard children Furthermore, plenty of woe, so oftentiht than the actual lords

Because of all of the above factors, the ius primae noctis exists only de iure, and rarely in reality After all, there are et their hands on beautiful woory; so, claiht is h it had not been abolished, the ius only has usefulness as a reminder to the peasantry of their ownershi+p by the aristocracy

This set of certificating docus After that, between ten and twenty gold coins, and a shortsword for personal defense – this aristocratic scion had been really poor

Though a liege is able to collect remuneration from the land under his rule, Julian is well aware that the only hurounds was a small town at the foot of the mountains Even within the nearby mountains, only beasts roainally, Julian chose this place for the dual purposes of concealment and repose, so in his view it had been better that there were few traces of people But now, he discovers, things are a little more complicated

But there is so more important at hand

Julian picks up the youth’s shortsword Like the weapons carried by other noblemen, this shortsword is the type that carries no offensive , it is evident that the sas made with aesthetics as the primary consideration, a weapon to scam the wealthy