Chapter 722: t.i.tle of a Duke
“A king! My son Abel became the king of the duchy of Carmel!”
This was what both Lord Marshall and the Bennett Knight were thinking. They had a different bond with Abel, but the feeling was mutual.
Abel turned to ask the Bennett Knight, “So how’s Zach doing with his training, Father?”
The Bennett Knight said proudly, “Ever since he restarted his path into becoming an official knight. He’s been doing very well. It’s all thanks to the dark knight scroll you gave him.”
While Zach was nowhere as brilliant as Abel, he did have talents of his own. With his former experience, his diligence, a huge amount of knight’s potion Abel gave him, and most importantly, a perfect training system, it didn’t take him much time to become an official knight once more. Also, unlike what he learned from the Holy Continent system, he didn’t have to risk his life once he reached the rank of a knight’s commander.
That was just how good the dark knight’s training system was. Even now, Zach was able to feel the subtle mana wave was surrounding his own body. It wasn’t enough for him to use his special skill, but it was enough to show that he was on the right track.
“Father,” Abel said softly to the Bennett Knight, “I think you should move to Bakong City with Zach and Mother. There are too many things from the George Family that have been pa.s.sed down to me. I need someone to take care of them for me.”
Abel wasn’t joking about the “too many” part. Right now, he had an entire list of industries that the George Family had control of. It was an impressive total sum, but the most the George Family had was properties. Almost all of the land in the duchy of Carmel belonged to them. Of course, it meant that they would be receiving all the taxes.
Now that Abel’s the one to handle all of this wealth, he decided to let Burbridge handle most of it. Still, it was never a good idea to have a single person handling too much on his own. It’s one thing to place your trust in someone, but it was also very important to not tempt them by giving them an excessive amount of power.
The Bennett Knight couldn’t give a quick answer, “I’ll have to ask your mother first. I don’t know if she’ll want to move to Bakong City. If you’re asking just me, though, I’ll be delighted to do it.”
“And you, Uncle Marshall?” Abel turned to Lord Marshall.
Lord Marshall just kind of smiled in response, “That’s a bit of a silly question there. Come on now! You know I’m not leaving Harry Castle!”
“I thought so,” Abel nodded before continuing, “So as of now, with the leave of the George Family, I’m free to make any two people earls for the duchy of Carmel. I can’t grant any land yet, but what I can give is a few vacant fruit groves, and on top of that, I’ll be handing over enough gold coins to provide for all necessary daily expenses.”
Both the Bennett Knight and Lord Marshall knew what Abel meant. By letting the two of them become earls, their status would soar. The wealth was meant more for the Bennett Knight, really. As the new king’s foster father, it’d be perfectly natural for Lord Marshall to receive a sufficient amount of wealth, but for the Bennett Knight, he needed some reasons to receive the wealth that he could be giving to his descendants.
Lord Marshall was shaking his head, “You’re wasting these t.i.tles, Abel. Don’t give it to me! Give it to someone that’s not on your side yet.”
Abel gave a bit of a c.o.c.ky reply, “Are you implying that I need to make friends by giving out things, Uncle? They’ll all be pleased enough to just get to know me.”
Lord Marshall understood what he meant, “Well, sure, fine. I’ll become an earl, then. I Didn’t think I’d get to be one, but I’ll take it.”
“But wait,” Lord Marshall continued with a sly smile, “Isn’t there something more important than all of this? Abel, I think we need to find someone for you to marry.”
Abel was a bit taken by surprise by that question. He never really had the time to think about marrying someone. After Loraine went to receive her shutdown training, he’d been busy with all kinds of things. He was being chased by people. He was chasing after people. He was doing all sorts of quests. If there was one thing that he’d like to blame, he’d like to blame his age.
Right now, Abel had a physical age of sixteen, but his mind was the same as that of an old warrior that had been fighting for the majority of his life. Even from a n.o.bleman’s perspective, it was simply too early for him to consider marrying someone.
The Bennett Knight couldn’t contain his laughter, “Hahaha! I think you’ve forgotten something, Marshall! Abel is a wizard! He can marry at age one hundred if he wants!”
Lord Marshall sighed, “That’s not what I’m really talking about. I’m trying to say that the duchy of Carmel is too big, Bennett. Our two families aren’t enough to help him rule the state.”
Taking the t.i.tle of an earl was one thing, but ruling a duchy was much bigger in scale. The easiest way was to get it done through marriage. As long as Abel could marry into a giant n.o.bleman’s family, it’d be easy to find enough people to run the duchy of Carmel.
Abel interrupted the two, “Uh, no, I don’t think marriage is necessary for this. I just told Grandfather Brook to take care of all official affairs. He’ll be taking the lead from here.”
“Well,” Lord Marshall tried to be gentle about it, “You could do it the other way.”
Abel said in a more serious tone, “Now, I’m very thankful to you two, but I only have one wish for the duchy of Carmel, and it’s that it becomes a duchy that’s truly shared by the future generations of both families.”
“Yes, Abel!” the Bennett Knight quickly gave Abel a bow, “Yes! The Bennett Family swears its eternal loyalty to the duchy of Carmel.”
From Bennett Knight’s perspective, he was more than happy to see the way things were running. The Bennett family was now a family of an earl. He was allowed to live in Bakong City with the real n.o.blemen that lived in the city. He wouldn’t be looked down on by others anymore. It was something that he had been fighting hard for since youth, but despite his war efforts at Miracle City, he was still very far from that goal on his own.
And now, with the rise of his second son, the Bennett Knight managed to achieve his dreams in his early forties. Everything seemed like a dream to him. To keep this dream going, he swore that for the next several centuries, a long-living king would be looking after that fate of the Bennett Family. That way, there would be a solid guarantee that his family would continue to prosper for a very long time.
From then on, after Harry Castle, the Abel Castle, the Bennett Castle, and Harvest City knew about their king. They all began to celebrate at once. Abel became the pride of Harvest City, especially. He started his career off in Harvest, and as one who had partaken in the legendary war against the orcs, he became a local symbol that everyone praised upon.