The next morning Doreen, Edward, Haley, and Rufus left to the region of Wallach. It was a large region, said to be the breadbasket of the kingdom, located in the south of the kingdom. They rode a carriage to get there and It would take three days to reach Wallach.

After two days of riding in the carriage, they started to get closer to their destination. They started to see an endless sea of grain being grown by hard-working farmers. People looked happy and full of hope. Very different from the capital. Diligent farmers worked on the field while their wives brought water to them from full wells.

On the third day, they arrived at the center of the sea of grain. A small village was in the middle with a large stone castle located a little bit to the west. They arrived at the village that was full of food.

"Feels like we arrived onto a different world," Edward said.

"Look at this. They have plenty of food and they still are exporting it," said Haley and pointed to a large carriage being filled with different vegetables and grain.

They rented two rooms in an inn with a window overlooking the castle. They saw the castle was covered in red rose vines with spiky thorns. The castle itself looked impressive having eight towers and a large keep in the middle.

The four of them decided to go to the village to scout for anything unusual. The only thing they could find was more happy people. In a way, it was unusual for them.

The food was delicious in the village. Way better than what old man Haufen made. The famous Wallach cuisine was known in the entire kingdom as the most delicious food ever.

"Has it always been like this here?" asked Doreen from a waitress at a tavern they were eating at.

"Huh? Like what?" asked the waitress.

"Like happy. Blissful. When was your last famine?" asked Doreen.

"Hahahaha. You must not be from here," laughed the waitress,

"We haven't experienced a famine or drought since lord Hunyadi took over. He has been taking care of us all his life. Food has never been an issue and we make sure to provide for the rest of the kingdom to the best of our abilities," a villager explained

"So, the count has been taking care of his people all this time?" asked Haley in disbelief.

"He is truly a great lord. Always working hard. Not rare to see him working on the field himself. We have a painting of him on top of the fireplace."

The painting depicted lord Hunyadi. In the painting was pictured a man with grey hair with a grey beard. The lord had glasses on. He looked a bit grim in the picture.

"Hooh. Doesn't look like the caring type," said Rufus.

"Well, I guess looks and especially from a painting can't depict a person so well," said Haley.

They still had a hard time trying to trust that there would be a good noble. Rufus remembered what Emilia said that there are good people like her.

The next morning they decided to take lookout duties to watch over the castle.

At the crack of dawn, they found that Rufus was missing. They all went to look for him. They eventually found Rufus working on the field near the castle.

"Oooh, guys. I am here!" yelled a happy Rufus.

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"He was unmistakably asked to help and couldn't refuse..." the three of them thought.

Rufus was happily working in the field. It felt like honest work. Lunch was provided by the farmers to all who worked in the fields. They treated Rufus well, and the food was extremely delicious. The water from the wells tasted delicious also.

"Eat well young man," said a man with grey hair and beard who was eating lunch with Rufus," Working on the fields is tough work."

"Yes!" answered a happy Rufus.

Rufus thought he had seen that man somewhere before.

The grey-haired man accompanied Rufus back to the field. They had to cut the hay with a scythe which the women gathered and tied together into bundles behind them as they slashed through the hay. The old man worked fast and was cutting the hay at a fast pace.

"Use your hips when you cut the hay. You will only tire your back," said the grey-haired man.

"Yes!"

"Remember to drink a lot of water!"

"Yes!"

"Try some of our quiches. It is a specialty here."

"Yes!"

The grey-haired man had taken quite a liking to the young and polite Rufus.

"Bahahaha. Youth really is a terrifying thing," laughed the grey-haired man," You work and learn fast."

"Thank you!"

"You are not from here, are you?"

"E…. No, I am from the capital."

"The capital? You must be a special case. Rarely seen any honest person come from that city of sin commoner or noble." said the man while stroking his beard, "Heard that gangsters run freely and control almost everything that happens in the city."

Rufus felt uncomfortable. Seemed his reputation had reached even to the region of Wallach.

"Yeah. Those gangsters are the worst," said Rufus disconcertingly.

"Come to my place one day. I will cook you some famous Wallach-style pork. It is fried in its own fat. I will even slaughter the pig the day you come. It tastes better that way," said the man and winked.

"Ah yeah, Sure. Where is your house by the way?" asked Rufus.

The man pointed at count Hunyadi's castle. It took a couple of seconds to realize who the grey-haired man was. He then connected the dots in his head remembering the portrait of the count in the tavern.

"Eeeeeeeeeh! You are lord Vlad Hunyadi!"

"You just now realized it?" asked the count.

~~

Rufus got used to working in the fields with the count. It was also a great moment to get close to the count to prevent any possible assassination attempt. The count also got very friendly with Rufus treating him well and teaching him all about farming. He was a very kind person who the Wallach people adored. Some addressed him as count, some as Hunyadi and some even by his first name.

Meanwhile, Haley and Doreen were enjoying their time in the village as they would be on a vacation. Doreen spent time in the village library that was filled with the count's own book collection. He had built the library to promote education. The count had said supposedly that books and education should not be only for the wealthy, but for every person.

Edward on the other hand was practicing his swordsmanship until dusk. He would strike with his sword and fight an imaginary opponent in his head. His movements started to become so believable that you could almost see the imaginary opponent.

The last days of the week were almost here and no assassination attempt had happened. The lord eventually dragged Rufus to his castle so he could serve him some Wallach food he was so proud of.

The count himself had decided to cook for Rufus. Count himself was cooking in the kitchen and didn't allow Rufus to help only letting some of the household staff aid him. After he had cooked, the table in the dining hall was full of Wallach's traditional foods.

"Now, please. Let us all dig in," said lord Hunyadi.

"YES!" screamed an excited Rufus.

They both stuffed in food like there was no tomorrow.

"Eat up young man. We earned this working the entire day in the field!"

"Yes!"

After all the food had been eaten, they went to the study room for a glass of famous Wallach wine by the fireplace. Rufus was having a time of his life and with a noble nonetheless. He was very curious about the count. What made him be such a virtuous person.

"I have to ask since I am from the capital. How come you act so differently compared to the rest of the nobles of this country?"

"Well, I guess I am different to the typical noble, but by no means am I the only one. There are also some other nobles who care for their people and have had enough of the people who are running this country."

"There are more nobles like you?"

"Some. Yes. But we still are outnumbered by the not so virtues nobles."

The room was very quiet, but by no means awkward. Rufus felt at ease with such a man.

"Your parents did a really good job of raising you like that," said Rufus and smiled.

"Haha. No. My parents were very close-off people. They hardly ever let me out of this castle. Saying the people outside were dangerous. My parents rarely left this castle either. My only friends were my books. I was very shy to strangers as a kid. My family refused to take care of this region or anything outside for that matter. That is why those vines grew so long. I was a lonely kid until I met someone."