Chapter 92
Joonbum thought about his impressions of Count Brant as he walked closer and felt sudden pressure. The count had blonde hair and handsome features. His blonde mustache and beard were striking with his thick lips.
‘People must’ve made fun of it like me,’ Joonbum thought as he saw the count’s lips but discarded them. The man was a count. No one would even dare to look directly at him. He had a muscular body and very thick arms and legs.
‘He’s really buff.’
He imagined the lord of the land to be more scrawny or fat, but Brant was more like a handsome bear.
“Hmmph! Second son of the Countess?”
Brant looked at Joonbum for a second and turned his eyes to the end of the carpeted road. There, his eyes opened wide in shock as he noticed who was behind Joonbum. The countess was dressed in a gold-embroidered traditional Korean dress and various jewelry all which made her shine brightly.
“I am Joonbum…”
The count ignored Joonbum and briskly walked on the carpeted road towards Sunsook. Joonbum frowned at his behavior as he looked back and realized his mother was outside.
“I, I am Count Brant Khalodian, the lord of this land. I welcome your visit, Countess Christos.”
Brant bowed gracefully. Sunsook, who was surprised by the sudden formality, answered, “You flatter me with your formality. Please, rise.”
Brant lifted his head and turned to Sunsook again.
“You are very beautiful. I have never thought I would meet such a beautiful woman in my life.”
Sunsook began blushing with embarrassment and turned to Joonbum for help.
‘What is he- Is he really?’
Joonbum began walking towards them, but he was stopped.
“We should talk in private.”
He turned to the voice and found an old man behind him.
“I am Baron Hernan Oto, Secretary to the Count. We should talk.”
At that moment, the Knight Billis Joel moved towards the count, but Hernan stopped him as well.
“Sir Billis, let the count have his time!”
“Y-yes? But!”
“Have you not heard my order?”
Billis seemed to be troubled at those words, but he backed away.
Hernan turned to Joonbum and asked again, “So, we’ve got much to discuss. Why don’t we have a chat?”
‘Ugh.’
Joonbum frowned and turned to his mother. She seemed like she was no longer surprised or embarrassed as she continued talking to the count with a smile.
‘Sure, let’s see how it goes. Mom won’t have any problems dealing with such a man.’
Sunsook was experienced in dealing with men from her long customer service experience. The count was surely no match for her.
‘But this man, he’s so obvious,’ Joonbum thought as he looked at the man offering to have a talk.
‘So he takes care of the things while the count gives him the power to do it.’
Joonbum figured out their relationship and spoke.
“Shall we go, then?”
Joonbum pointed to the tent next to the RV and they walked in. Hernan and Billis sat at the table where some simple snacks had been prepared. They both looked at the various snacks and fruit on the plates.
“Feel free to try these fruits and snacks. I brought it from the empire.”
Joonbum offered the food.
“Fruits?”
“Snacks?”
There were canned peaches. The sweet scent coming from the unknown fruit tempted both men to try it out. Joonbum first picked up his spoon and ate it, and the two others followed afterward.
“What?!”
“It’s so sweet!”
They were shocked. They began gorging down the snacks as they tasted the sweetness of the fruit. Sweets were not common in this world since sugar or honey was not abundant.
The next thing that drew their attention was the cake. Both men were shocked at the soft and sweet cake and finished eating it instantly. After that, they were offered cold green tea. They seemed eager to try it out.
“Hmm?”
Both men looked disappointed as the tea did not taste sweet.
“It’s called green tea. It will wash away the sweetness inside your mouth. The sweet taste can be unpleasant after you have finished eating, but the tea will help refresh your taste buds. I can prepare a different type of tea if you don’t like it.”
Hernan nodded.
“No, that won’t be necessary. This really is refreshing. But ice at such a time… I never imagined this before. All these snacks are amazing. Anyway, shall we cut to the chase?”
“Yes, of course.”
Hernan looked at Joonbum as he answered quickly.
“The count is very pleased with all that has happened. He is also worried that the countess was shocked by the ordeal and will consider our Toria Kingdom a bad example of a country.”
Hernan stopped for a moment to find his breath.
“So he wishes to provide every type of assistance possible. Tell me, what is it that you need?”
Hernan, unlike his offer, looked at Joonbum coldly.
‘So he doesn’t want me asking for anything absurd.’
It was obvious that Hernan was wary of Joonbum and did not want to provide any significant help or rewards.
‘Hah. Men can be so greedy.’
Joonbum thought as he spoke.
“I don’t need anything much. But…”
“Hmm?”
“It’ll be great if we could trade under the count’s name to make money for our travels.”
Hernan’s face brightened at the request.
“Is that all?”
“Oh, I assume you already know that the Donians and their ruffians tried to harm the countess and myself. So we need to be compensated for such trouble.”
“Compensated?”
“Yes, we want 1,000 gold coins from the Donians. We will send the entire amount to Count Khalodian as a token of gratitude.”
“Hmm?”
Billis was confused, but Hernan understood what he was up to.
‘So, this fox wants to use us to do his bidding.’
Hernan looked at the man. When he heard that the son of a count was traveling across the country, he thought of two possibilities. One was that the son was an outcast and was kicked off the land because of his inability. The second possibility was that the son was traveling away from home because he was too bright. The heir to the count would have kicked him out in fear of being overtaken by his brother.
‘So he is the latter.’
Joonbum showed no hesitation. He knew what he wanted and what was best for himself. He also made it look as if he was just giving something away when he had already got what he wanted.
‘The Donians will have to pay.’
