Claude found himself suddenly busier than ever. He had to send his sister to school every day and pick her up in the afternoon.
When he returned to the wood, he had to take care of his mother and watch over his brother in case anything happened to him.
He also had to patrol the wood and prepare all three meals on time. He couldn't afford to fool around like he used to.
But he had to make three meals for his family and feed the snowhound, so he had to do more chores around the house.
Claude also had to personally decorate a new room for his mother. The drapes and curtains were all replaced with new ones. The furniture, bed and sofa were all designed by him and sent to the furniture store in town for customization before being sent to the wood to decorate. He wanted to give his mother a new home so that she could recover better.
He didn't want his mother to think of him, so he didn't bring any of the furniture from his parents' bedroom to the wood.
However, money was spent very quickly this way. The money he had robbed from the Blacksnake last time was used to buy materials for alchemy magic experiments, and the remaining money was pretty much spent.
But his mother's health was improving by the day. The wood's environment was really good for her health. Ten days later, she could already get out of bed and walk, but she still lacked the strength.
As the month of April drew near, his mother summoned Claude to her room and gave him an account in the National Bank, in which there were forty-four crowns and three thales.
She said that it was left behind by his father. He had planned to use the money to start a business again, but he didn't think he would get the chance to do so.
His mother grieved for a while and took out a sheepskin pouch from under her pillow. Inside were about ten contracts.
Claude saw that most of them were rental agreements.
His mother said that after his father converted the red brick house into an apartment, there were six large bedrooms and two small attics. There were two large shops and two small storefronts at the bottom. The monthly rent was eleven thales and two riyases, which amounted to around twenty-five crowns a year. After deducting the expenses for repairs and maintenance of the house, his father deposited fifteen to sixteen crowns into his bank account every year.
The rent was basically collected quarterly. Now that April was about to arrive, the tenants had to prepare their rent again.
His mother used to take care of it, but now that her health wasn't good, she left it all to Claude.
So, Claude went to the red brick house to collect the rent. He spent another three days cleaning up his own house before renting it out.
That way, the rent for the house reached about three crowns a month, which was about the annual income of a commoner.
Claude estimated that as long as the house was there, his mother, sister, and brother wouldn't have to worry about the cost of living and studying. They would be able to live quite well.
During that time, Kefnie would often drive the Mermaid Tavern's delivery carriage to the wood to look for Claude. She would stay by Claude's side and watch him work. Sometimes, she would even help with the household chores.
She didn't mind even if Claude wasn't around. Instead, she chatted happily with her mother and helped her out to bask in the sun or take a stroll in the wood. Even Booke had a good impression of the big sister who often brought him good food.
As a result, every time Kefnie left, his mother would always mention how good Kefnie was to Claude, hoping that he would find a girl to propose to and bring her in the next day.
Anyway, the kingdom set the age for marriage at eighteen, and Claude and Kefnie were already of that age.
Just as Claude was getting annoyed by his mother's constant nagging about the benefits of marrying early, Ludian rushed to the wood with a letter from Maria.
Maria wrote that she had heard about the tragedy of Morssen's suicide and was moved by his courage and sacrifice for his family. She also felt sorry for Claude's family.
However, she couldn't leave the royal capital and couldn't pay her respects in person, so she could only write a letter to express her condolences.
The butler was sent to Whitestag for two reasons. The first was for Maria to give him the wooden hut in the wood and the surrounding 300 hectares of forest as a gift for his coming of age.
In other words, if Claude agreed to it, the wooden hut and the surrounding forest would become his private property and would no longer belong to Normanley Wood.
It was a gift that Claude didn't expect. Maria had actually carved out a small wooden hut from the manor and gifted it to him along with the forest beside it. For a moment, Claude froze on the spot.
"Young Master Claude, the madam has already made all the necessary arrangements and brought all the necessary documents and documents.
As long as you sign it, I'll go to the town hall to complete the rest for you. "
Ludian didn't understand why Maria would value the youth so much. Even though he had learned herbalism from her and knew that he knew magic, he was still just a rogue magus.
However, that wouldn't stop him from completing the task Maria gave him.
"Oh." Claude nodded and put that matter aside before he continued reading the letter.
The second thing Maria mentioned was that she didn't send Ludian there just to give Claude the gift. Instead, she had gathered more than 300 crowns and asked Claude to help Ludian buy as many houses and land as he could in Whitestag.
She didn't hide it from Claude and told him that Stellin X had made the decision to transfer Whitestag from one of the three southwestern prefectures to the royal capital and upgrade it to a city to serve as the main base for the navy's new fleet, Storm.
That basically told Claude that Stellin X had fully accepted the prime minister's proposal and was prepared to develop Whitestag on a large scale, turning it into a naval base alongside Port Neru. It would be responsible for the safety and navigation of the new sea route to Nubissia.
It wasn't hard to imagine that once the proposal was announced, Whitestag would receive a huge opportunity to develop. Everything else aside, the price of land alone would rise severalfold.
That was why Maria made it very clear in her letter that she wasn't interested in getting a share of the dirty schemes. That was what the politicians and nobles cared about.
She wanted to earn some clean money to buy some precious materials for her experiments. That was why she made use of the fact that she was the first to get the news to have Luther buy some land in Whitestag. She would sell it after the kingdom announced the development plans for the town. That way, she would be able to earn enough money to spend.
Even though the development plan for Whitestag would be announced in the middle of the fifth month, some important departments in the royal capital were already secretly preparing to send people to Whitestag to scout out the public opinion.
According to what Maria knew, the special department of the kingdom, known as the Aueran Public Security Bureau, would soon send people to set up a branch in Whitestag.
Every military base and city would have people stationed there to prevent demonic magi from infiltrating them.
That was why Maria warned him not to expose his identity as a magus carelessly.
After all, he was a rogue mage and not a registered mage with the Special Department.
Once they were targeted by the special department, it would mean endless trouble. Many of the branch leaders of the special department liked to hunt down those wandering magicians because it was the best way for them to gain merit.
She gave Claude the wooden hut and the small piece of land behind it because she wanted him to know his place.
A mysterious magus had appeared in Whitestag and killed quite a few members of the underground society. While the special department in the capital didn't care about the deaths of a few hoodlums in a remote town, the underground magic market did put in a lot of effort to find the teacher Claude made up after they received a report from Hurian, the person in charge of Whitestag's purchase center.
As a frequent customer of the magic market, Maria naturally heard about it and knew who did it the moment she heard about it.
She warned him in her letter that he could let go of the fight with the underground societies in the past, but he had to behave himself after the kingdom's special department took over the town. He shouldn't act so arrogantly just because he had a bit of magical prowess.
If something were to happen, even if she could save Claude's life, he definitely wouldn't be willing to be imprisoned by the special department until his hair turned white.
Claude felt a little lost after putting down the letter. Even though he was grateful for Maria's warning, he was rather disappointed that he wouldn't be able to rob Blacksnake anymore, especially since he had been planning to get even with the boss of Blacksnake, Butcher Bill.
"Young Master Claude, Madam reminded me to burn the letter after reading it," Luan said respectfully.
Well, if the letter were to fall into someone else's hands, it would become something that Maria could use against him.
Claude lit a fire and put the letter on it.
Only when the letter was burnt to ashes did Luan open the briefcase he brought and take out the documents one by one.
"This is the title deed for the wooden hut, the hill behind it, and the pine forest beside it. Please sign it.
This is the right to use the path in the wood. Please sign it here.
This is the description of the gift from Madam. Your signature is required as well.
This is the power of attorney. Please sign it here and I can go to the town hall to take care of the paperwork.
Oh, and here, Madam has transferred another 20 crowns to your bank account. From now on, you'll be in charge of the Sioris' monthly salary as well. You'll have to sign your name on the payroll. "
After Claude signed his name on more than ten documents, Luan packed them into his briefcase. "Young Master Claude, I'll go to the town hall to take care of the paperwork. It should be done in two or three days.
I'll send the title deed to you when the time comes. "
Claude could be considered a man with his own assets now. Even though he was only 18 and had just come of age, he already owned 300 mu of forest and a small wooden hut worth no less than 700 to 800 crowns. He could be considered part of the middle class in Whitestag.
As for why Maria gave him a small piece of Normanley Wood, he knew very well.
Firstly, it was because she admired talent. Maria believed that he had a bright future ahead of him, so she spent a lot of money to win him over. Of course, that was only an excuse.
His goal was to let the people of Whitestag know that Claude had latched onto Normanley's thick thighs and that he was someone with a powerful background. That was to prevent House Ferd from being bullied after Morssen's death as a lowly family.
The real reason was simple. That was Maria's way of repaying his debt.
Last year, when she returned to the royal capital, Claude gave her Magus' Hands and the other three runic spell formations in an envelope.
Maria said that the five runic spells Claude learned were all forbidden spells and cost at least two hundred crowns each. Even if he was lucky, he'd only be able to buy them from the underground magic market.
She didn't have the money to learn those four spells from Claude at all.
The main reason Claude gave them to her was to thank her for her honesty and her careful teachings.
Honestly speaking, Claude was truly grateful to her. She was the first female magus he came into contact with. Even though she was only a registered magus, she opened the door to the true mysteries of magic for him.
From her, he learned a lot about magic and the current state of the kingdom. That knowledge was far better than building a cart behind closed doors.
He knew Maria's temperament well, so when he gave it to her, he made it clear that it was an advance payment for asking her to find suitable combat spells for him in the underground magic testing grounds in the royal capital. Only then did she accept it.