A noble daughter under 7 years old requesting a Knight to assist her with mercantile activities. How could Sir Dirk answer within such a short moment? Sol watched as his face reflected his inner thoughts.
She knew it was looked down upon for a noble lady to be involved in business, but she was only 6 years old. Surely they would allow her to play around a bit?
It was lost even upon Sol herself that her thoughts had turned most scheming. Utilizing her young age to slide under the radar of ‘participating in business’, Sol found the opportunity interesting.
She didn’t have any solid reason to start a business nor dabble in one, but since she kept having ideas pop up in her mind, why not act upon them?
Sir Dirk remained quiet while in thought. Sol could tell the Knight was weighing the risks and interrupted his thoughts.
“Sir Dirk need not worry about my reputation. Though I’ve been asleep for the most part, it’d be impossible for me to not hear of my shortened future. As this Lady has little chance of living past my youth, would the good Sir not indulge this pitiful child a little? Worry not about my father, I will discuss this with him after we return.”
“If the Lady is able to obtain the Duke’s permission, then this servant will gladly assist you to the best of my ability.”
“Good. Good. In that case…”
Sol halted the carriage and pulled out a paper before writing down a list of items. Her actions were so fluid that no one was surprised by her fluent control over the pen, nor her abnormally large vocabulary for a 6 year old.
She passed the paper to Sir Dirk along with a coin purse. A vibrant smile stretched across her face as she wiped the beading sweat from her forehead.
“Purchase these materials and search for a shop on the paths near any farms. If possible, try to find at least 4 different shop locations. Don’t worry about buying the shop for now, just see if the owners are willing to sell and record their price for me.”
Sir Dirk glanced down at the coin purse and list. He scoured the listing once before dividing it up amongst 3 other escorts and sending them on their way. Noticing Sol’s gaze, Sir Dirk explained.
“The Lady need not worry. The men I sent off are familiar with the items you need and understand the market better than I. They will surely obtain the items at market value. As for the shops, this servant will tackle the job after ensuring the Lady’s safety. There is no one else qualified to negotiate shop prices or location that can go in this Knight’s place.”
“I see… Then this Lady will entrust the task to Sir Dirk.”
Sol’s eyes glittered at how efficiently Sir Dirk handled the task. She couldn’t help but think her father had a rather valuable human asset. The group continued their trip and nearly 3 hours later, they had circled the town twice over.
Sol grasped the general situation of the town and after some probing questions into the rest of the region, she gained a bit of an understanding about the current state of the territory.
Despite that knowledge, Sol didn’t have any particular plan to improve it. Something drove her to do something, anything. She felt restless sitting around and sleeping all day.
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If her life was going to end, she should have the freedom to do as she pleased up to that point. No one would fault a dying person for trying to live, right?
Her thoughts remained active during the return trip to the manor. Despite her efforts though, she failed to remain awake for the entire journey.
Duke Reviarra met the group at the front of the estate. Originally, he wanted to welcome his daughter back from her first mini journey alone, however upon seeing her exhausted figure, he couldn’t help but put away his smile.
The Duke’s eyes glanced over Sir Dirk and signaled him to meet later. Reaching into the carriage, Duek Reviarra lifted Sol from the seat and carried her to her room. He left orders for the servants to clean Sol and put her to bed before heading down to meet Sir Dirk.
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“She wants to do business?”
“Yes. The Lady asked me to look into storefronts to purchase near the larger farm routes and requested this servant to purchase some basic materials. For the time being, this servant sent away men to handle the task for show.”
After saying so, Sir Dirk retrieved a coin purse and list from his side. Nothing appeared different from when it was originally handed to him.
Duke Reviarra glanced over the list while in thought. The list itself wasn’t too unusual, however…
“You’re positive Sol wrote this?”
“Yes. This servant watched the Lady write it herself.”
Duke Reviarra’s brows tightened. Although the servants might not have noticed the abnormality as they were caught up in Sol’s atmosphere, how could her father not notice?
Was this really something a 6 year old could write? The Duke remained calm, however he passed the list and coin purse back to the Knight while in thought. He knew his daughter’s future was already cut off.
He didn’t want to limit her when she wasn’t expected to survive past 16 years old and so with a sigh of resignation, he issued orders to the Knight while preparing the speech to convince his wife.
“Purchase the items. If she comes to you for help, do what you can. If something goes beyond your ability, let me know.”
“This servant understands… If this one may, the Lady asked quite a few questions about the territory from passing merchants and peasants. None of the questions were problematic by themselves, however taken together, the Lady might have shown interest in territory management.”
“Are you suggesting that this Duke allow a noble lady of the Reviarra household to participate in politics?”
A fiery gaze locked onto Sir Dirk, however the young Knight remained steadfast.
“This servant doesn’t dare suggest so. This servant only felt the need to bring the Lady’s actions to the Duke’s attention.”
“Understood, you can leave.”
“Yes.”
Duke Reviarra remained at his desk, his thoughts on Sol’s actions. He was struggling to align what one would expect of a 6 year old to her actions today. The list he viewed moments ago was written with complex characters and words he was sure she was never taught before were included.
Ever since the old Doctor described her situation to him, Duke Reviarra had servants reporting to him about her daily. The Doctor already said her mental state would deteriorate near the end, but if that’s the case, what was with this sudden maturing?
It had only been a few months since her last checkup with the miracle doctor, however Duke Reviarra felt there were questions that needed to be asked. It was clear his daughter's physical health was decreasing and yet her mental health appeared to be soaring.
The last thing Duke Reviarra wanted was for those around his daughter to start fearing her. Although the world was known to hold mysterious things and even the general populace understood that the Generals of the Blonsall Kingdom were unique due to their martial paths, he didn’t want to take any risks of isolating Sol.
He knocked with strength against the desk top to signal the servant outside the door.
“Bring the stationary… Also, notify the Duchess to come see me.”
“Yes.”