Chapter 180 – Toast
Although Zhao Hai had shown some enthusiasm and had even given rewards to the couple today, the slaves were only a bit shocked about it and everything went back to normal. After all, this wasn’t the first time that Zhao Hai had shown this side of himself to them.
Zhao Hai helped the couple up, then took out the marriage certificate that he’d prepared. He gave it to the couple and said, “Today is your wedding day, and as the first couple to be wed in our Black Wastes, I have personally prepared this marriage certificate. Although this certificate won’t be recognized anywhere else but here in the Black Waste, so long as you have this certificate, you are a legally married couple. This is something on top of my congratulatory gift.”
This was the first time such a situation happened on the continent. No one had ever heard about it before, not even Green nevermind the slaves. Chee and Schee took the paper, albeit with some confusion.
Although they could identify the words, most of them weren’t legible to them. While there were some words that they didn’t know, they still looked stunned after receiving the sheet of paper.
Zhao Hai smiled, then looked back to the crowd. “The laws of our Black Waste will be different from those of other places. This piece of paper, although modest, represents that you are legally husband and wife. If there comes a time when the husband bullies the wife, the wife can come to me and I will help her deal with it. If there will also come a time when the husband leaves the wife, you may bring this piece of paper to me, and I will judge him for his crime. This goes the same against the wife as well.
“Since Chee and Schee are the first wedded couple here in our Black Waste, I wasn’t able to prepare much. As such, this piece of paper will be their marriage certificate. Please lead them here. Head Steward Green of the Black Waste will be the witness of the union between Chee and Schee. Please, Head Steward Green; read the marriage certificate.”
This kind of a wedding ritual was what the former Zhao Hai from Earth usually attended. Weddings on the continent were quite different. On the continent, slaves didn’t hold any wedding ceremonies. As long as two slaves were together, and they informed and got the approval from their steward, then they could be together.
The wedding between civilians would be a bit different. First, there would be a matchmaker who would introduce the man and woman. Then, they would meet each other, before the man offers gifts to the bride’s family as a bride price. The woman’s side would then send a dowry. Lastly would be the wedding. On the wedding day, the relatives and friends would come to congratulate them. Women held a high status on the continent. Thus, on their wedding day, out of respect for the couple, there would be a wine ceremony.
The wedding ceremonies between the aristocrats and the royal clan would be a lot more grandiose, along with a great deal more customs. This kind of wedding was what Zhao Hai liked, but had never experienced.
This was also the first time Green had seen this kind of thing, but he had also watched the big events from before, which were magnificent. As such, he took the marriage certificate from Chee’s hand and loudly said, “Today, civilians of the Aksu Empire join these two happy people who have fallen in love with one another, and watch as they are married and become husband and wife. This special citation is issued by the Lord of the Black Waste, the Aksu Empire’s Zhao Hai Buda. ”
Having this paper wasn’t too much of a big deal, but it allowed for the meaning to be expressed clearly. On the Ark Continent, there weren’t any marriage laws, so Zhao Hai hadn’t written anything conforming to the law or any words a.s.sociated with it. He just wrote that they’d fallen in love and were married; such a case.
Most importantly, this piece of paper had been written in the words of civilians. In a sense, this makes the piece of paper a proof of ident.i.ty for the slaves, proving that they were now civilians.
After Green finished reading, he handed the marriage certificate back to Chee and Schee. Chee excitedly took the piece of paper, and, as though the paper felt heavy, carefully handed it to Schee. Schee also carefully picked up the piece of paper and folded it carefully, placing it onto her arms.
Zhao Hai looked at how the couple acted and didn’t said anything about it. He smiled, then said, “Well, this ceremony has now ended. Chee, Schee, starting today, the two of you are now officially husband and wife. Don’t be in a hurry to toast with me. Instead, don’t forget to have a toast with your wedding witness, Grandpa Green.”
Chee and Schee were excited as they complied. Meirin smiled, then picked up two cups of wine that were then taken by Chee and Schee. The couple knelt down together and lifted the gla.s.s in front of Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai stared blankly at them. He tried to help them up while saying, “What is this? Get up.”
Chee and Schee didn’t stand but continued to kneel on the ground, sobbing loudly. “Master, you are too good. Although Master has restored our civilian status, in our hearts and mind, we will forever be Master’s slave. Master, please drink along with us with these two cups of wine.”
Zhao Hai looked at the couple and felt excited deep down in his heart. He stood up straight and said, “Good, good. I’ll drink these two cups of wine since this is a wedding banquet. Ha ha. People say weddings are not intoxicating. However, today, I will drink two cups ” He then drank a cup, then raised the other cup.
Woodhead, who stood at the side, also applauded and appeared to be very lively[1]. Zhao Hai placed the cups down and looked at the two. “From now on, the two of you should love each other. No matter what difficulties you have, you can come and tell me.”
The couple complied as Meg helped them by pouring some more wine. Next was Green. Green said a few auspicious words, then they turned to make a toast with Meirin.
At this time, it could be considered to be really lively. The slaves had eaten meals a few times before with Zhao Hai. At dinnertime, they were relaxed since during that time around, there were many meat dishes which was also their opportunity to eat a little more.
The banquet this time around wasn’t the same as it was in other places. They had a lot of vegetables dishes and could also eat a lot without limit. This made the slaves very happy.
Although these slaves hadn’t gotten their statuses restored to civilians, they were satisfied with their current lives. They ate everyday, weren’t too tired, and occasionally ate tons of meat. They’d even gotten the chance to drink wine like today, which in the past was unthinkable.
Seeing how Chee and Schee, after getting married, were restored their civilian status, and moreover they’d been given it just like that, these slaves had also thought about how to seize the opportunity and do the same thing.
This was naive, but quite lively. However, Zhao Hai didn’t drink any more of the wine and, followed by Green, returned to the s.p.a.ce. This was just in case the Eagle Virtuous Phantasms were being attacked.[2]
After they sat down in the s.p.a.ce, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but smile lightly. “Today, we had a very good start. I fear that there will be a lot of marriages soon, so Grandpa Green, you should go to Casa City in a few days and order a batch of a higher quality paper for marriage certificates so that we can use them later on.”
Green smiled and said, “Alright. I have to say, Master is really good at this. By the way, I think I won’t have to go to Casa City. I’ll just let the eagle messenger go to Miss Laura after several days. Then we can request our needs to Miss Laura. As long as we don’t have them know about our territory, it should be good. How do you see this Master?“
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Alright, we’ll do that this time. Also, although we’ve given Chee and Schee a piece of land, we should explain some things to them. For example, they should tell us what they want to plant. They we will have to keep a count of it. Once they obtain their harvest, we can even sell it for them. If they want to buy something, we can even buy it for them. Such are the current conditions.”
“This is very good,” Green said, smiling. “That the slaves can now have their own homes is a very good idea. Since Master is giving them a good place, they will work harder. However, if later all the slaves have restored their statuses to civilians, what should we do then?”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “It is actually very simple. They will still need farming tools, seeds, and even scaled wildebeests. These are things that they don’t have, so we can just rent it to them. If they want to use these things, they can help us by planting in an area. Or if they have the item themselves, we can still hire them to do work for us through farming, and we’ll pay them. Of course, the price wouldn’t be too high, but for them, that in itself is extra money. Thus, they will naturally agree.”[3]
Green nodded his head and said, “That’s good. It seems like we will need to buy more slaves. However, we can’t just buy any good slaves in Casa City. Instead, we should buy them from the Imperial Capital. On the outskirts of the Imperial Capital is where the continent’s largest slave market is, so we can certainly buy an appropriate kind of slaves[4].”
Zhao Hai frowned and said, “Is it alright with our present status? If we went to the Imperial Capital, won’t we be recognized there?”
Green nodded his head. “This wouldn’t be a problem in Casa City since there’s no one here that knows us, but there’s a lot of people who knew us in the Imperial Capital. So be it, let’s go somewhere else to buy slaves. Master, I heard that the beastfolk sell a lot of slave. Do you think we can go and visit the beastfolk?”
Meirin added, “I think this approach is good. There are a lot of slaves in the Beastfolk Prairies, and we can also establish a good relations.h.i.+p with the beastfolk. The beastfolk raise all kinds of magic beasts, but they lack food supplies. If we can develop the Black Wastes later on, we will have a lot of food on our hands. Since, on the continent, there are already big firms that handle the food supply, it will be difficult to intervene. I think it would be best if we can trade with the beastfolk.”
Zhao Hai replied, “This issue of the food scarcity of the beastfolk, though we know of it, isn’t this the same for the big firms? Why aren’t they selling food to the beastfolk?”
Meirin smiled and said, “They do sell, but they sell it expensively. The empire had stipulated that if they want to buy food, the empire will impose heavy taxes. Even if the aristocrats wished to smuggle, they wouldn’t dare do so. That’s is why the food being sold to the beastfolk is very expensive. Anyway, since we have the s.p.a.ce, we can avoid this tax.”
Zhao Hai nodded. He understood that this was the way the Aksu Empire restrained the beastfolk. This was tantamount to sucking the blood of the beastfolk so that they would never grow up, thus ensuring the safety of the northern part of the empire.