"Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop."
The sound of horseshoes ring continuously.
At the forefront of the group is Carter and his son Fez.
"Lord father, how long do you think that kid can persist before he resells the territory and the city?" Fez asked with a cold smile.
Carter's eyes flashed with slyness, looking at the desolate mountains in the distance. "This kid is a bit capable, but he probably won't be able to stay there next spring."
"He he he..." Fez laughed coldly and turned his head and glanced behind him. "Lord father, as long as these kinds of idiots keep coming we'll quickly be able to gather enough money to leave this place and buy a high nobleman status.
Carter's eyes narrowed and his wrinkles furrowed. He said coldly, "Not everyone can be the city lord of this place. If they are hungry enough, those beasts can even swallow people."
"Ptui!¹ Those d*mn bast*rds! If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have to sell our territory and city." Fez's face had a savage expression, like he was an evil wolf that devours people.
"But..." Fez regained his calmness in the next second and smiled coldly. "But it's thanks those beasts that we have so much extra income. Otherwise, does he² really think that 30 gold coins can purchase everything?"
"Ha ha ha..." Carter burst into laughter. Carter clamped the horse's belly with his feet, raising the horse's speed and increasing the group's travelling speed.
………………
Two hours later, the group appeared in a place with man-made smoke.³
Liu Feng couldn't help but smile as he looked at the wheat fields around him. He was an orphan on Earth and had also planted fields⁴ before. Seeing field lands gave him a sense of closeness.⁵
"How is it? This territory is pretty nice, isn't it?" Without Liu Feng realizing, Carter had appeared beside him.
Liu Feng smiled. Compared to the situation on Earth, this place isn't actually that good.
"Let's go! Let's go into the city first. After today, this territory will be yours," Carter said, smiling.
"En!"⁶ Liu Feng nodded and followed behind, observing the situation around him from time to time. He found that this territory was governed poorly and the residents were very poor.
Liu Feng reached a conclusion in his mind. "This Carter doesn't seem like a good person."
After traveling for a dozen more minutes, they arrived at the city. There was a short dirt wall⁷ with a height of about 3 meters, which is about the size of a high school on Earth.
Above the city gate hang a wooden board with large words engraved on it: Xi Yang City!
Liu Feng now has an understanding⁸ of the size of this territory. It's about as large as a town on Earth.
The inside of Xi Yang city was so chaotic⁹ that Liu Feng thought he had entered a pigsty. But seeing how Carter and the others weren't acting unusually, Liu Feng realized that it was probably normal in this world.
In the middle was a street with a width of about five or six meters. On both sides of it are houses made of wood and stone. They were so crooked that it seemed like a stronger wind could blow them down.
Liu Feng could feel that people were looking at him inside the houses. The people on the sides of the road with expressionless eyes¹⁰ made his brows furrow.
Carter saw Liu Feng's expression and smile lightly. "My friend, they're just a bunch of lowly commoners¹¹. If you're unsatisfied, you can kick them out."
"It seems like life in this territory isn't that good." Liu Feng didn't give Carter an answer.
Carter smiled, drove his horse forward, came to a castle made of stone bricks, and said, "My friend, this is where you will live in: a tall, safe, and comfortable castle."
Indeed, this castle was the most satisfying place Liu Feng had seen the whole trip. Even the castle wall was higher than the city wall, standing at about 5 meters tall.
People can even stand on top of the wall, which means that the castle can actually be used as a war fortress.
Liu Feng glanced at Carter. Living in this type of castle indicated that the other party didn't have a sense of security. It seemed that this place wasn't very safe.
After entering the castle, which is also the city lord's mansion, they sat down in the living room. Carter made people get out two items.
"This is the baron nobility medal and the proof of the status of a noble."
Carter handed a delicate bronze medal with the size of a baby's palm to Liu Feng. The medal had 2 words engraved on it: Baron.
"This is a noble inheritance document. As long as you sign your name on it, you will be Baron Liu Feng from now on, a noble." Carter passed him a delicately made sheepskin.
Liu Feng couldn't help but frown when as he looked at the contents on the document. It represented a baron nobility's proof and history. The blank space at the bottom had 4 or 5 names signed, with the most being Carter's name.
Carter, who had been paying attention to Liu Feng's expression the whole time, said in distress, "This isn't my first time selling my territory, but the previous buyers all felt this place was too boring after they brought it and asked me to buy it back again. That's why there are so many signatures."
"Oh!" Liu Feng was surprised. He raised the corners of his mouth and revealed an intriguing smile.
The expression made Carter's heart tensed. He suspected that Liu Feng might have found out about something, and he quickly said, "Alright, my friend, quickly sign your name, and this territory will be yours."
Liu Feng took out a fountain pen from his pocket, signed his name on the sheepskin, and left his thumbprint on it.Carter then also put his own thumbprint on top of the name.
"Ha ha ha... Baron Liu Feng, congratulations, from now on you're a noble." Carter said, laughing.
¹ 呸. Spit sound.
² There wasn't a pronoun in the raws, and it would either be they, people, or he, and I put he because only Liu Feng has purchased the territory with 30 gold coins so far in the story.
³ 人烟. Literally, human smoke. Don't know if that's what it's actually supposed to mean in this context though. Here's the raw sentence. 他们出现在有人烟的地方。If you are aware of a different meaning then let me know, or tell me if you are sure that there isn't another meaning.
⁴ The raw sentence only said field, not the kind of field.
⁵ 亲切. Close or familiar. Don't really know a better word for this.
⁶ 嗯. A sound made to express agreement.
⁷ Also known as rammed earth wall, it's made by using wood as framework for the wall and dirt, soil, sand, gravel, and other "earth" as the main material for the wall.
⁸ 谱. Chart, list, spectrum.
⁹ 乱七八糟. Mess, messy. I did try messy but I felt that chaotic fits so much better.
¹⁰ 麻木. Numb. Numb eyes or numb eyesight didn't make sense, so I put expressionless.
¹¹ 贱民. Literally, lowly/cheap people.
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