Work Prophet
Chapter 70 - 31 Beacon Fire

Chapter 70: Chapter 31 Beacon Fire

Ireya also felt that the invitations from Purple Sparrow Flower and Gold Snake couldn’t have come at a better time.

The reason Miss Rabbit had been delaying holding a banquet was because of the worry that internal collaborators lurking in the castle might emerge and wreak havoc.

The major families of the West would probably send representatives to attend the banquet that day, and any small incident could turn into big news.

The young girl just wanted to live a peaceful life, so she preferred to postpone the banquet until Li Yu could help her identify the insider.

However, while it wasn’t possible to hold the banquet inside the castle, inspecting the territory outside the castle walls was not a problem.

Having been dealing with various thorny political matters in her room all this time, Ireya felt like her head had grown bigger, but since she had only just become a lord, she was embarrassed to take time off so blatantly.

Sometimes, looking at the pile of political affairs on her desk, Ireya would suddenly fantasize that Saturday seemed quite nice. Not to mention Li Yu’s magical methods, just the guarantee of working five days and resting for two was very pleasant.

Yet, when Miss Rabbit thought of all her subjects becoming adherents of Saturday, all coming to ask her, their lord, for weekends off, which would reduce her future income by nearly thirty percent, she couldn’t help but shiver and quickly dismiss the frightening idea.

It seemed that Saturday was out of the question, but fortunately, the young girl still had a group of loyal and reliable knights, especially Purple Sparrow Flower and Gold Snake, who were among the best.

On the day of the siege, they were the first to surrender, and later, they even captured Dias, earning great merit and once again proving their loyalty.

While other knights took their men back to their feuds, these two voluntarily stayed to help defend the castle and run errands for Miss Rabbit, transporting traded pepper all over the place.

Most importantly, they did all this without any compensation, and their standing in Ireya’s heart rose steadily. Now they were second only to Alfred and Li Yu.

Their suggestion this time struck a chord with the young girl, blooming joy in her heart. Was there a better excuse to idle than to inspect one’s territory?

As Yago had said, this action would also help her win the hearts of her people and strengthen her legitimate position in the minds of her subjects, serving both public and private interests.

Therefore, Miss Rabbit no longer hesitated and immediately ordered the preparation of carriages and horses.

When Alfred heard that Ireya planned to inspect the territory, he insisted on accompanying her, and he also brought two squads, a guard detail of more than thirty people.

This nearly depleted the castle’s armed forces.

Miss Rabbit felt that there were too many people accompanying her, which was not conducive to creating an image of being close to the people. Secondly, she was somewhat worried that Teacup Castle would be too exposed in her absence.

The castle was the foundation of the Arias family; it was filled with all sorts of military supplies and food reserves, and also contained Miss Rabbit’s favorite glittering gold coins.

If something were to go wrong, not to mention falling into the hands of the enemy, even if someone took advantage of the chaos to start a fire and burn all the food and equipment inside, Ireya was in for a significant hardship this winter.

Therefore, Miss Rabbit said to her Guardian Knight, "I have Jude, he alone can fight five men, plus Black Beauty, bringing ten guards with us should be enough.

Don’t forget this is Green Field, the territory of the Arias family, where our people are everywhere. Once we meet those knights from the feuds, along with their manpower, who could threaten my safety?"

The old knight remained unmoved, "A crisis never announces its arrival beforehand, so what we can do is to prepare as much as possible before it even appears."

"But we can’t just ignore the castle," the young girl said, spreading her hands.

"I’ll leave my attendant, Thomas, behind, and then recruit an additional fifty militia to enter the castle. They may not be good in the field, but they can still serve well in defense. Once we leave, I’ll have Thomas close the castle gates, barring anyone from entering or leaving until we return."

"......"

Ireya thought Alfred was overreacting a bit, as this was just a regular territory inspection, when she was a child, her father often set out with just three or five people and never encountered any accidents.

But the young lady also knew that the old knight was very stubborn and would hardly change his mind once he made a decision, so she didn’t say anything more and agreed to this approach by default.

Since it was a trip to win the hearts of the people, Miss Rabbit had taken quite a lot of bread, sausages, and honey wine to distribute to the villagers along the way. Naturally, someone had to carry these items, and with cooking, tending to animals, and the attendants responsible for daily needs, the miscellaneous group eventually grew to over fifty people.

Looking at the impressive procession, Ireya felt a bit overwhelmed.

This was nothing like the light-hearted journey she had imagined, where they could travel easily, fully appreciate the local customs, and blend in joyfully with the local people.

It had turned into a muscle-flexing armed parade.

Many of the peasants along the way were scared off by this show of force from a distance, thinking a war was about to start, and they hurried back home to lock their doors and windows.

Fortunately, when the troop reached the feud of a few knights, they encountered some organized villagers who welcomed them, and heard the scattered cheers.

And when Miss Rabbit had her men take out the bread, sausages, and wine that had been prepared earlier, those sparse cheers immediately turned enthusiastic and genuine.

The young lady also felt a bit of vainglory from being supported.

She stepped off the carriage and onto the muddy country road, surrounded by guards, looked around at her dear people, and pondered how she would deliver an inspiring speech later, but at that moment, those people were busy scrambling for bread and paid no heed to honoring their lord any further.

Miss Rabbit hastily said, "Don’t fight, don’t fight, there’s enough for everyone."

She tried to make her voice sound as gentle as possible and her smile as warm as possible, but because she was too cordial, no one paid attention to her, and the group was quite merry in scrambling for food.

In the end, due to concern about causing a disturbance, it was Alfred who led the men to disperse the serfs and freemen, and afterward, two people even fought over a barrel of honey wine, resulting in one man’s leg getting broken.

What started as a welcome and consolation ended up as a farce, turning Miss Rabbit’s good mood sour and even somewhat depressed.

However, the young lady did not shrink back, and when Alfred asked if she wanted to continue the inspection, she still nodded firmly.

By the time they reached the next place, Ireya had learned from the previous lesson. She had the guards maintain order, divided the welcoming villagers into several groups lined up in order, and she herself joined the people distributing the bread.

Handing out the bread brought from the castle to those in line, this time there were no incidents, and the farmers who received the bread all thanked her profusely and left.

The old knight looked at the young lady with a touch of satisfaction in his eyes, thinking to himself, Yolanda, can you see this? Those who underestimate Ireya are fools. How could your daughter not inherit any of your intelligence and wisdom? Even if she appears naive now, with time, she will surely become an excellent lord.

In the following days, Ireya and her retinue repeated the cycle of arriving at a place, receiving a welcome, distributing food, and then receiving an even warmer welcome, without any further mishaps.

They were only a few more remote places away from completing the inspection of the entire territory and returning to Teacup Castle.

As it was getting late, under the gracious invitation of the Purple Bird Flower Knight, Miss Rabbit and the others decided to stay at his feud for a while. To ensure Ireya had a comfortable sleep, the Purple Bird Flower Knight even gave up his own residence for her.

However, no one expected that soon after nightfall, the western sky suddenly lit up again!