At noon, the Young Master seemed to have forgotten about lunch, so a group of servants were sent out to the farmlands. Some of them carried trays of food, while the others carried clean water and a towel, and yet others carried a chair and table for the young master.

The farmer-servants were dismissed to go eat their own lunch. They all breathed a big sigh of relief once they were out of the young master’s hearing range.

“This Rosewood doesn’t feel like a noble, don’t ya think too?”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t feel like one of us either, ya know what I mean?”

“He could be worse…”

They all fell silent. Yes, this particular Rosewood didn’t seem so bad. Some of them could still remember when the late Earl Roland Rosewood had some of them whipped during a low-yield year. In contrast, while the Young Master Ayden Rosewood hadn’t been happy about the fallowing fields, he also didn’t fear getting his own hands muddy.

After lunch, Ren Xiyang returned to work. It was the hot summer, but he simply used his fire ability to lessen the heat around him. He wasn’t rushing per-se, but summer was a good time to plant many vegetables and greens. Some of the servants sent to the markets had come back with the exact kind of fruits and vegetables and seeds that Ren Xiyang wanted.

Not only were there potatoes in this kingdom in this novel world, but there was also corn! And soy beans! And importantly, there were even chilli peppers!

Ren Xiyang could already imagine the future bountiful harvest of fresh, delicious food.

He prepared the corn and various potatoes to be planted in the new fields. The corn would also be intercropped with pole beans and pumpkins. The other vegetables and chilli peppers would go into the vegetable garden. He also wanted to germinate some of the seedlings in small pots separately before planting, such as the fruit seeds and the unfamiliar seeds.

By the end of the day, Ren Xiyang was exhausted. Not everything was done yet, but there was enough direction and work for the farmers for the time being.

Ren Xiyang returned to his rooms. He nodded in greeting to Kel who was outside the door to his suite.

Kel lowered her head. “Young Master Rosewood, I have acquired both black hair dye and black-hair colour changing charms.” She held up a tray. On the tray was a clay bottle and a few pieces of paper with ornate symbols on them.

Hair colour changing charms? Ren Xiyang looked again at the pieces of paper. It looked less messy than using hair dye.

Ren Xiyang unlocked the door to his suite first. He and Kel entered. Two servants walked in too, to prepare the bath and clean up by the way.

“How does the hair colour changing charm work?” Ren Xiyang asked.

Kel felt a bit of satisfaction. As expected, the Young Master was interested in the charms! “Young Master, the proprietress informed me, one holds the charm in hand and a mage casts the Release spell. The one holding the charm will have their hair colour changed.”

The ‘Release spell’ sounded like a very basic magic spell that Ren Xiyang absolutely never heard of.

“Put the items on my desk, thanks Kel.”

Kel shook her head, “It was my duty!”

The servants all left. Ren Xiyang heated up the bath water and soaked, thinking back on his day.

His body was unpleasantly sore, but his mind was pleasantly calm after farming. Seeing all the greenery and the potential for life instead of undeath was invigorating. During the apocalypse, even plants and animals could get infected by the zombie virus.

The farmers were hard working. They needed a pay rise and more hires.

The prince was a mystery. He could do whatever he wanted, as long as it didn’t negatively affect Ren Xiyang.

After washing up, Ren Xiyang dried off and re-dressed. He opened the door to let the servants in.

“Where does the bath water go?” he asked. Although the manor had some plumbing, there was no actual plumbing network like in modern times.

Maria answered, “Young Master, all the waste water in the manor is used to water the flowers after being diluted with fresh water.”

Ren Xiyang nodded. “Good.”

“It’s now dinner, would Young Master Rosewood like to eat in here?”

“Yes.”

“I have also prepared some of the documents you requested this morning.”

“Bring them in too.”

Not long after, Kel came over with a tray laden with dinner, and Maria returned with a tray laden with papers and books. Ren Xiyang had them place both on the desk.

Kel started first, “For dinner, the cooks have prepared leek soup, freshly baked bread, potato salad, steak and chicken pie, and a selection of fresh fruit and fresh milk.”

Maria then followed up. “We were only able to find some of the items you requested.” She lowered her head. “Young Master Rosewood, we deeply apologise that we were not able to obtain everything. We were able to procure all the names of the deceased, and some of their salaries and family locations. We also have the salaries of the servants working in the summer manor. However, the managers and lawyers contracted at the main house should know the rest.” She peeked up through her lashes, trying to see how angry Ayden Rosewood was. Except…he wasn’t?

Ren Xiyang understood Maria’s meaning. “This is fine. I’ll write to the main house. Pick up the letter after dinner.”

“Yes, Young Master Rosewood.”

Kel and Maria bowed and left.

Ren Xiyang ate and flipped through the papers and books at the same time.  The ones with unknown salaries were the personal servants that followed the Rosewoods everywhere and the higher ranking aides. There were even a few that were related to the lowest ranking of the peerage—sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters of barons.

After a quick draft, Ren Xiyang wrote the letter.

Dear Managers of the Rosewood estate,

My family members have died in an cruel assassination. The Capital Investigators are now finding the culprits so that we can have peace of mind. As far as I know, I am the only surviving Rosewood.

Unfortunately, many of the close aides and servants were also killed. I have enclosed the list of deceased employees, and any known salary information. Please complete this for me.

I am unfamiliar with the Rosewood Family’s rules of governance. However, the Rosewood estate should at least have a policy for bereavement entitlements for employee deaths on the job. If payment is not made, covering at least six months worth of salary, then I am afraid that the families of the deceased employees will cause an uproar, and that no one would dare be employed by the Rosewood estate.

Thus, these payments should be enacted by the estate.

I await your timely response and action.

Yours Sincerely,

Ayden Rosewood.

Ren Xiyang folded the letter up and sealed it with wax. When the servants returned an hour later, they took away the food tray and the letter, promising that it would be sent quickly.

It was very unlikely that the Rosewood estate had any kind of policy for employee deaths. There might only be something done on a case-by-case basis for any employees coming from rich or noble families.

But Ren Xiyang was in a good mood after today’s farming. He’d give the managers of the Rosewood estate the benefit of the doubt, and give them the opportunity to competently complete the first task he set for them.

After the servants all left, Ren Xiyang returned to the magic books. After searching, he was able to find the ‘Release Spell’ that Kel mentioned.

The spell was in some garbled Latin-like language. There was a pronunciation guide next to it…but it wasn’t that helpful.

Ren Xiyang practised, but he couldn’t tell if it was working or not. So he had to find a counterpart spell to cast first, such that the release spell could affect it in a tangible way.

It felt way more difficult than learning to manipulate fire for the first time. Without a teacher, Ren Xiyang had to try different variations of the pronunciation, different sounds, with different emphasis. He had no idea how and why the magic in the world reacted to such specific sound patterns, but eventually, the spells worked.

He gave a sigh of relief. He practised it a few more times, just to be confident.

Ren Xiyang picked up one of the hair-colour-changing charms, and went to stand in front of a mirror. If it didn’t work, or if something went astray, he could simply cut his hair short and use the black hair dye.

He spoke the release spell. “Resilvio.”

The paper charm in his hand began to glow. His bright red hair started to darken and darken. After half a minute, the hair on his head and even his eyebrows had turned black. The paper charm became dull and the intricate pattern faded as it was spent.

Ren Xiyang felt that his eyes weren’t smarting from the bright red anymore. He put down the paper charm and lifted his own hands. He easily called heat to his palms and fingers. By pressing his hair between his palms, the heat caused the hair to straighten. The wavy hair turned into straight black hair, becoming longer than it was before.

Ren Xiyang took a pair of scissors from the desk and cut the hair shorter.

Then, if he tied up part of his hair like this…

Ren Xiyang looked into the mirror, his eyes slightly curved, his body relaxed. He felt a lot more like himself like this, and that was very good.

 

 

 

 

 

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Now, Ren Xiyang looks a bit more like how he’s depicted on the cover. Except his body is still 10 years old 😂

((I actually imagine his ‘OG’ curly-ish red hair form to be like Diluc’s from Genshin Impact 😂))