top of magic

In early spring and April, an ordinary four-wheeled carriage drove into Sofia, a small town in the north of Yanila Province.A man and a woman dressed as servants sat in the driver's seat, while in the carriage were a flaxen-haired young nobleman and an even younger black-haired magician.

"It seems that it hasn't rained for a long time here." Looking at the dry and hard land outside the car window, Hill said with a frown.

"It seems to be like this all the way. This year will probably be dry." Kiki replied casually.

In February this year, Hill held his own coming-of-age ceremony in the imperial capital of Assia.Affected by the funeral of Prince Filian last year, since Prince Siris held his coming-of-age ceremony in a low-key manner, the coming-of-age ceremonies of other noble children have not been extravagant. Of course, the Balotelli family will not be the first special case. So he only invited a small number of relatives and friends to his mansion to watch the ceremony.

Hill's grandfather, Earl Balotelli, did not come in person, but only sent a congratulatory gift as a token of his appreciation.But the guests who came to watch the ceremony did not pay too much attention to the absence of this important person, because just before the ceremony, another more important figure-Emperor De Rossi suddenly came and served as the guest of honor for Xi Jinping. I send compliments and gifts.

And the second person who came forward to give Hill a compliment and gift was a young female magician. Her blue magic robe was already eye-catching enough. Representatives of the great magician Fernando and the great magician Freud" surprised the guests present.

But just when everyone thought that such a young man who received the attention of His Majesty the Emperor and the support of the Magic Association would definitely stay in the imperial capital and join the court, Hill, while completing the task of studying at the Imperial College, got the opportunity to go to other provinces in Asia. Appointment as clerk in a small town in Nila.

Thinking of his position and the various problems he will face next, Hill couldn't help but frown even tighter, "Last year's harvest was not good, if there is another drought this year..."

"What's going on?" Kitty asked incredulously.

"Obviously, hunger." Hill sighed helplessly, then turned to Kitsch and said, "Are you really the farmer's son?"

"At least I know that the crops are grown in the field." Keech replied innocently, "However, our family has always hired sharecroppers to do things, and even my father is not very familiar with the work in the field."

"...How did you get your family's farm?" Hill couldn't help asking.

"It is said that my grandfather bought it." Kiki shrugged, "However, I have never seen him. When I was sensible, there was only my grandmother at home."

"There's something I've always been curious about." Hill pondered for a moment before asking, "Who did you learn table manners from?"

"Table manners?" Keech was slightly taken aback.

"It's the etiquette when eating, including the placement and use of the knife and fork, the rules and order of eating..." Hill explained.

"Grandmother," Keech replied immediately, "she's always fussing over little things like this, and even making a noise while drinking soup can make her lose her temper."

—Your grandmother was clearly trained in aristocratic etiquette.

Hill thought to himself, and continued to test his mouth, "Tell me about her?"

"Nothing to say, just a weird old woman." Keech pouted, "I shut myself in the house all day and never said a word to the neighbors. However, she was very good to my mother and even more to Lizzie." Well, on the contrary, it is very bad for my father and Rocky, who is most similar to my father, and is completely different from other grandmothers."

"What about someone else's grandmother?" Hill asked with a smile.

"Grandmothers in other people's families don't treat their daughters-in-law so well, but often quarrel or even fight." Keech replied, "Besides, places like the countryside are patriarchal, no one likes grandmas only like granddaughters, Don't like grandchildren."

"How do you know that she only likes her granddaughter, not her grandson?"

"She always dresses Lizzy in the best clothes, and dresses her up like a noble lady in the town." Keech said, "When the harvest is bad, the family can only eat black bread, and grandma secretly takes out the money Let Xiu Qi go to the town to buy cheese and ham and so on, and then, only for Li Qi to enjoy - Rocky has seen it with his own eyes, and has quarreled with his mother many times because of it."

Just as she was talking, the carriage stopped suddenly, and the voice of the maid Lucy came out of the window, "Master Hill, the hotel is here."

"The turbulence can finally be over." Hill stopped talking about the previous topic, opened the car door, and walked down the stairs.

Kiki also got out of the car and stood on this strange land, looking at the surrounding scenery.

Sofia is a small town with a population of only a few hundred, smaller than the town where Kiki grew up, but because businessmen and adventurers often pass by here to go to the border, a pretty good hotel has been built. The outside is very clean and tidy, and the male waiter at the door of the store is also very winking. Seeing Hill and the others get off the car, he immediately greets them and asks them politely if they are staying in the store.

Hill followed the male waiter into the hotel, and generously booked the four best rooms, but when he asked if he could take a bath, Hill had no choice but to learn that even the best rooms did not have bathrooms. You can only use the hot water provided by the hotel to scrub yourself in the room.

"Be patient, we will move out soon anyway." Hill comforted Keech helplessly.

Although Hill came here to take up his post, he didn't know where he would live until he met the mayor.The clerk is not a position with real power. The clerk is only responsible for supervising and recording all local conditions, including local customs, population and housing, land income, etc., and has no power to intervene. It will be turned into words and presented in front of the emperor, so even the most powerful local mayor has to be in awe of the clerk, lest he take the opportunity to make trouble or make trouble out of nothing.

Clerk is by no means a profession that will be popular with the locals.He represents the emperor and imperial power, and is the eyes and ears of the emperor, but to the locals, he is more like a spy, a spy, who will only spy on their secrets and interfere with their lives.

After temporarily staying in the hotel, Hill cleaned up his appearance again, leaving Keech and Lucy in the hotel, and only took the coachman Kevin to report to the mayor's office at the town hall.

Keech stood by the window sill of the room, watching Hill's carriage driving towards the center of the town expressionlessly, but felt uneasy again.

Keech didn't tell Hill that neither Tina nor Amir knew that he had left the imperial capital with Hill.Tina thought that Amir was going to take him out to practice again, but Amir thought that he would take an airship to help Tina.

Keech knew that lying like this might bring troubles to Tina and Amir, but when he learned that Hill was going to leave the imperial capital and travel long distances to work in a small town, he couldn't help but want to accompany Hill. The obstinate thought of coming over.

Not only because he wanted to be with Hill, but also because he was worried that something unexpected would happen to Hill during the journey.

The time spent with Amir abroad made him deeply realize that this land is not as peaceful and stable as he thought. In recent years, natural disasters have continued, livestock have died in many places, crops have failed, and many people have suffered from poverty and hunger. People took risks and took robbery as their sideline or even their main job.

Even an adventure team that gathers magicians and powerful warriors will encounter bandits, let alone an ordinary noble like Hill?The encounters along the way also verified Keech's concerns. Although Hill and the others had chosen the well-known trunk route to Yanila Province as much as possible, they would rather spend more time to ensure safety, but from the imperial capital to Yani On the way to pull, they encountered robbers three times, one of which was a large-scale gang.

Keech couldn't imagine how Hill would have dealt with these gangsters and what would have happened if he hadn't followed.

——Even being scolded by Tina and Amir is better than never seeing Hill again.

Kiki covered his heart and thought silently.

Hill didn't go out for too long, and within an hour, he returned to the hotel in a carriage.

"I have already talked with the mayor. I can take up my post in the town office at any time. I live on West Street, where a clerk lived." Hill confessed to Keech, "The mayor invited me to go to the town hall at night. Dinner at his house, but before that, I want to go to the residence to see-will you come with me?"

"Of course." Kitsch nodded without thinking.

"Then let's go." Hill smiled and pulled Kiki's finger, kissed it on the lips, then let go of his hand, turned and opened the door.

This time, Hill didn't take a carriage, didn't let Lucy or Kevin follow, and only walked to the west street with Keech.

Not long after, a two-story house with an attic appeared on the side of the gravel road.The house occupies a large area, but it is a bit old, the walls are very mottled, and the flower beds and lawns in front of the building seem to have not been taken care of for a long time.

"This town is too small." Hill couldn't help but sigh.That's why he didn't use a carriage any more after one visit to the town hall—never needed.

Hill took out the key he got from the mayor and opened the courtyard door. Before he and Keech could enter, a fat woman across the street came towards them while yelling loudly.

"This is a house in the town, you can't enter casually!" The woman walked up to the two of them quickly, and shouted with her hands on her hips.

She was obviously a commoner, and no well-bred lady would be so rude, let alone take the risk of talking to a stranger.

"Thank you for your advice, ma'am." Hill replied with a smile, "It is indeed the property of the town, but starting today, I will have the right to use it."

"Are you...the new clerk?" The woman's eyes widened in surprise, and then she noticed that Kiki was wearing an unusual robe, and she exclaimed in an even more surprised tone, " Magician?!"

"As you can see." Hill replied politely, "I am Hill Balotelli, the new clerk of Sofia Town, and this one is my magician friend—now, we can go in ?"

"Of course!" The woman took a few steps back in panic, not daring to say anything more.

Hill smiled at her, pushed open the courtyard door, and walked in with Keech, complaining in a low voice while walking, "She is obviously scared by you, dear Keech."

"But I didn't say a word." Kitchi suddenly felt innocent.

"Yeah!" Hill sighed helplessly, "Obviously, the reputation of nobility here is far less deterrent than a magician's robe-I don't think she has any idea that the name Balotelli means What."

"I don't know now." Keech replied with a curled lip.

"Oh, Keech, you're breaking my heart!" Hill moaned half-jokingly, and unlocked the front door of the house with another key.

The inside of the house looks more shabby than it looks outside, the wallpaper is slightly yellow, and the furniture is getting older and older. The whole room exudes a musty smell, and the dust is even more full. every corner of the room.

"Lucy and Kevin are going to have a hard time." Hill sighed from the bottom of his heart.

"Let me clean up briefly first." Keech said.While he was speaking, a window opened automatically, and several fist-sized whirlwinds appeared in the room. They continued to rotate, and all the dust from everywhere was rolled in, and then passed through the open window and scattered outside the room .

"Lucy will thank you." Hill said sincerely.Although he always wanted to change to a maid who was more loyal to him, but in view of the danger and difficulty of this trip, he still accepted his father's suggestion and took Lucy with him.

"Who cares." Keech said with a curled lip.He really couldn't have a good impression of Hill's beautiful maid, especially when he found that she always seemed to be spying on him with a strange look.

Hill understood Keech's feelings, smiled, and led him to find the stairs without saying a word, and walked to the upstairs room.

The two walked around the house they were about to move into, looking at all the rooms including the attic and the basement.Keech quickly chose a room with a northerly window as his bedroom, on the grounds that he would not be disturbed by the sunlight no matter what time he slept, and took the basement space as his own.

Hill readily agreed to all Kitch's requests, and sought his opinion on the decoration of the room, then left the house, locked the courtyard door, and returned to the hotel where he was temporarily staying.

But after a while, it seemed that everyone in the town knew that Hill was the newly appointed clerk, who came from a noble family and had a magician "bodyguard" by his side.When Hill went back, the owner of the inn brought his wife to greet him in person, nodding and bowing to greet him. Their children also hid behind the counter, peeping at this young and handsome nobleman and his even younger magician. bodyguard.

Hill didn't bother to explain, thanked the innkeeper for taking care of him with a smile, and then took Kiki back to his room.

"Move out quickly." After closing the door, Kiki could no longer hold back his complaints.

"Of order, Wizard Kiki." Hill replied with a smile.