Although Schultz is already over fifty years old, he looks younger than Count Albert did before, proving the duke's remarkable strength. Unlike Villarld's arrogance, the Duke of Marinburg is actually more humble and approachable.
It's indeed the case. Even among nobles, there's a hierarchy. Contrary to what ordinary people might imagine, the higher the rank of the great nobles, the more humble, approachable, and polite they are. The truly arrogant and overbearing nobles are often the lesser nobles.
"Not at all~" Laine modestly said, "I simply did what I was supposed to do."
"As long as you eliminate the barbarians and deal with those damn pirates, you are excellent." The Grand Duke of Marinburg extended his hand towards Laine in the eyes of everyone, "Welcome to Marinburg."
"Thank you." Laine also extended his hand and shook hands with Schultz.
The moment their palms touched, both Laine and Schultz widened their eyes, the Grand Duke of Marinburg and the Genetic Primarch looking at each other in astonishment, both stunned.
The Grand Duke of Marinburg saw the red and white armor on Laine's shoulder, a sharp sword piercing through a book and a silver skull emblem.
Laine saw an uppercase letter 'I' on the duke's body, with a skull encased within a circle in the middle of the letter.
The atmosphere suddenly became one of loyalty.
The scene grew quite awkward for a moment, as the troops on the dock and the people disembarking from the passenger ship didn't understand what was happening. They could only watch as the two men shook hands without speaking.
It wasn't until His Grace the Duke laughed heartily, tears streaming from his eyes, "Hahaha! I knew it, Laine. From the moment I first saw you, I knew we would become friends!"
"Hahahaha~ Indeed, I am confident of that, Duke. I think we are already friends." Laine laughed heartily as well.
"Let's not say more. Laine, here is the key to Amber Avenue 53, please accept this gift. Tomorrow, I will arrange a grand banquet to welcome this brave soul from Nord!" The Grand Duke of Marinburg, Schultz, said loudly.
"Wow!" The people around were all amazed at the Grand Duke's generosity. Amber Avenue is the core area of Marinburg's wealthy district, where land is as precious as gold. Even a simple house is worth thousands of gold coins and there is no place to buy.
The wealthy and nobles on Amber Avenue also enjoy the one precious thing lacking in this city—tranquility.
"Then I won't be polite." Laine readily accepted the key from Schultz.
"After a long journey, our hero needs rest. Mueller? Please show my friend the way." Schultz didn't say much more. He motioned to the courtier standing beside him and then took out a small bag from his waist to give to Laine, "Here are two hundred Gold Marks, consider it my welcome gift to you. Mueller will take my friend to his new residence, and we will not disturb our hero's rest any longer."
After speaking, Schultz left with his guards, leaving his courtier to guide Laine, "Mr. Laine? This way, please."
Laine and Teresa followed Mueller. Lops had nothing to do with Laine; the wandering knight felt he wasn't qualified to associate with Laine, so he went directly into the city to find an inn. Alfred went to report to the Marinburg branch of the Justice Church, while Estelle also had a place to go. As a half-elf, he could find accommodations at Iphita—the only enclave of the high elf civilization in the Old World. The Elf Embassy was also located within this enclave.
High elves conduct trade almost exclusively with Marinburg and the Empire, mainly because only Marinburg can dock the high elves' ocean-going giant ships. As self-conceited as they are, since they can obtain all the resources they need in Marinburg, they are too lazy to open other trade routes.
Incidentally, high elves also indirectly trade with dwarves in Marinburg. Due to natural animosity and coldness, high elves and the Dwarf Kingdom do not establish diplomatic relations, thus trade between high elves and dwarves must involve humans as intermediaries.
On the way back, the Grand Duke of Marinburg asked the man in a black robe behind him, "Eliot? How is the strength of this young man?"
Eliot, a Member of the Wizard Alliance, a Legendary High-Tier Grandmaster Wizard, is one of the two Legendary Grand Mages the Wizard Alliance has specifically stationed in Marinburg.
"Very strong, extremely strong. I am not confident I could take him down. I can sense he has very strong magic resistance, and his eyes are filled with confidence and a sense of honor. I think this has to do with the countless battles he has experienced. I believe he is qualified to become another guardian of this city, my Duke." The man in the black robe said in a deep voice.
"Very well, and Eliot, you need to know, he is my friend, my closest friend." Schultz instructed very seriously.
Despite being mentally prepared, the splendor of Amber Avenue still surpassed Laine's expectations.
The decoration here is somewhat reminiscent of those residential areas Laine was familiar with in his previous life. The clean and tidy streets are paved with slabs of marble, with a magic street lamp every twenty to thirty steps. The streets are composed of standalone houses, almost every house has its own small yard and fence. Most of the houses are made of a combination of white, brown, and red bricks and wooden structures, with gabled roofs, high protruding eaves, wheel-shaped or fan-shaped brackets, fashionable turrets, and balconies with porch columns.
The only regret is that the fences of each household are built quite high, generally about two meters, making it difficult for Laine to see what is inside the yards.
"Mr. Laine, Amber Avenue 53 is right here." Mueller led Laine to a house. This is a three-story house with a steeply inclined roof, classical in style, with tall windows adorned with many patterns. The roof has a Gothic spire, and the entrance is a heavy wooden door, with its own garden yard.
"It looks really nice." Laine nodded. The fact that the Grand Duke of Marinburg would arrange such a residence for him was truly a pleasant surprise, as one might expect.
The pleasant surprise was that Laine really didn't expect to be treated so well.
The element of expectation was because when he saw the pattern on Schultz's body, they both realized a serious problem.
Friendly fire, do not shoot.
"It is nice, Mr. Laine. Amber Avenue 53 originally belonged to Count Eduardo of Brittania, but this noble from Brittania was unable to repay his debt to the Duke, so he surrendered this property." Mueller nodded, the courtier's expression neither haughty nor humble, "All the furniture in the house is fully furnished, and we will immediately send someone to clean it up, so you can move in tonight."
"Are there many people in Brittania who owe the Duke money?" Laine asked casually.
"I shouldn't be answering this question, but considering you are a friend of the Duke, I can tell you privately." Mueller whispered closely into Laine's ear, "Many, a lot, more than an entire year's tax revenue of the entire kingdom."
"Oh~" Laine responded with a meaningful oh.
To emphasize again, in this world, debts are often doubly verified by the Justice Church and the Wealth Church; no one can default. Follow current novels on novel★fire.net
Opening the door, the interior of the house was surprisingly clean, and all the furniture was exquisite sandalwood. The first floor comprised the living room, bathroom, dining room, and servant's quarters. The second floor had two bedrooms and a study, the top third floor had a balcony and a multi-functional large room, and there was also a basement, totaling about three hundred fifty square meters.
Teresa was quite enthusiastic, dragging Laine around to tour the entire house.
"Mr. Laine can take a stroll around the city first, handle any tasks if needed. Here is the city map, and around five in the afternoon, once we have cleaned up, you and the lady can move in." Mueller nodded, "Or you can also supervise our work here."
"What do you want to do, Teresa?" Laine himself didn't mind, and he decided to consult the female sorcerer for her opinion.
"Let's go to our Jialan stronghold in Marinburg." Teresa shook her head. Her face was full of anger and reluctance, as if she had just received some news.
"Veronica can't wait any longer."