Ren Xiyang paused. The flames disappeared, but the residue heat melted the last of the ice.

Rian aborted the non-verbal spell he was going to cast. He shook his head, flicking off sweat and melted ice water and pushing his hair back. The droplets of water sparkled in the sun around him.

Ren Xiyang walked forward, and Rian met him in the middle. They shook hands.

Rian found that Ayden Rosewood’s hands were cooler than expected.

“Good game,” Ren Xiyang said with a nod.

“Good game,” Rian repeated in the same odd staccato cadence. Their hands parted. He glanced at the Count still stuck behind the protective shields and whispered. “Meeting in the afternoon?”

“Mm.”

“By the way, Earl Rosewood, you should come to the Imperial Palace and become my study companion.”

Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow. “Looking for a decoy from Count Aegean?”

Rian laughed. “Was it that obvious?”

Ren Xiyang gave him a deadpan look.

Rian grinned. “A shame I can’t trick you.”

At the moment the Royal Guards took down the protective shields around the duelling field, Count Aegean rushed over. “Your Highness!”

Rian turned to face the Count, pouting. “Count Aegean, you worry too much. I’m perfectly well. If you wanted a minute longer, I would’ve won!” He didn’t mind that the Count had aborted the duel, but he did have some regrets that neither he nor Ayden had shown the limit of their powers.

Count Aegean was not convinced. Young boys like the prince were always overconfident! He wanted to believe that the prince would win, but he didn’t believe he would come out unscathed! “If you had a single injury, Her Majesty the Queen will have my head!”

Rian’s eyes brightened mischievously. “Then should I convince the Earl to duel me again in the future at the Capital under my Imperial Mother’s supervision?”

Count Aegean: “…”

“I won’t answer such a bad-faith question,” Count Aegean gritted out. Prince Rian was now in his teenage rebellious stage, he grumpily despaired.

Rian turned back to Ayden Rosewood. “Well, Earl Rosewood?” His brows drew together, eyes wide and innocent.

Ren Xiyang stared deadpan at the puppy-dog eyes on the prince. It wasn’t like a kid cutely and innocently asking for something, it was like an adult trying to sell cute knowing full well what he was doing.

“Your Highness has invited me to try out Angio food in the future. What else happens during such a visit can be decided then.”

“If His Highness completes his studies,” Count Aegean said pointedly.

“Which I’ll be doing after lunch while you rest,” Rian said in a placating tone that only made Count Aegean even more disgruntled. “Earl Rosewood, I’ll see you in the future.”

Ren Xiyang inclined his head. “Have a good lunch, Your Highness, and Count Aegean.”

Rian and Count Aegean departed first along with the Royal Guards.

Seeing everyone’s reactions, Rian knew that the new Earl would no longer be underestimated. And maybe his little brother would even study harder after learning of Ayden Rosewood’s true strength…

Or maybe not. His little brother was only ten, after all.

 

---

 

After the prince left, Kel dared to come forward. “My Lord, you were amazing.”

Ren Xiyang inclined his head. “Thank you.” He had years of training during the zombie apocalypse combined with the abundant magic here.

“As per your instructions, we have found some people who could be suitable for your tasks. You said that you wanted ‘40% men and 40% women’ at least, meaning that in a group of 10 servants, at least 4 are men and 4 are women. We’ve been looking for ten people for each task. We haven’t found enough people yet, but many of them are already here, my Lord.”

Ren Xiyang: “…”

He needed people for many different tasks. When he had told Kel about percentages yesterday, she didn’t understand, hence the ‘in a group of 10 people…’ example.

However, interviewing ten people for each task was not exactly what he had in mind. It seemed that teaching his employees to read wasn’t enough. He needed to teach them maths, too.

“Have everyone line up outside the Rose Meeting Room. I’ll interview each person individually. Have Mrs. Cooks prepare lunch for everyone.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Maybe the world had a het romantic fantasy overhead, but his life was clearly an administration manual.

 

---

 

Once Ayden Rosewood entered the summer manor, the spectators started to disperse. Some of them followed Kel’s instructions to line up and head into the Rosewood manor, while others left the property.

Imperial Councillor Blewitt, Mage Munsell, Mage Alabaster, Manager Gregory, Manager Ashdown, and Solicitor Carmine all departed for the Capital. They had things to do…and things to think about. Today’s events had repercussions.

The servants who were technically on holiday also headed home, carrying their saved salaries, paper-wrapped blocks of tofu and a few chilli peppers.

They had so many stories on their lips.

The Earl was really small! He was twelve but he looked like an ten-year-old! (Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but still!)

The Earl was a mind-blowing strong fire mage! He was as strong as Prince Rian! (This wasn’t an exaggeration!)

The Earl was ‘forcing’ them to learn to read! (Are you complaining or showing off?!!)

The Earl told them about germs, they needed to go buy some soap! (Wait, why? What are ‘germs’?) (Oh, the Earl told us a lot about germs, let me tell you…) (Shit! Hurry up and go buy some soap!!!!!)

The Earl told them about this new dish called tofu, and oh, this is a chilli, wait, don’t just bite that! (#%^*%# why didn’t you say that first??!)

The Earl changed the Rosewood fields into a four-crop rotation system, but can you believe that the Earl dug some fertiliser pits himself and told us to use own poop?! (Earl Rosewood is a bit…*hushed voice* weird?)

Most of the time, the common people were apathetic about changes in leadership in their local fief. The ruling nobles were so far away from their everyday life, and they were all the same, anyway.

Except the new Earl Ayden Rosewood wasn’t the same—he bathed and dressed himself for Saintess’ sake! He seemed eccentric but generous…and he was hiring.

“Tell me more about what kind of people the Earl wants…”

 

---

 

Ren Xiyang felt a shiver down his spine and a sudden vision of dozens more interviews in the future.

With the first set of interviews done, he could finally return to his suite.

He hadn’t spent long per interview—five minutes was enough to ask basic details: name, job applying for, experience, commitment to equality, availability, expected income. But given the sheer number of people—more who arrived after—meant it took several hours.

At the very end, Ren Xiyang considered each task-group and picked out all the people that passed, regardless of whether it meant over-hiring. He’d need more people in the future anyway, so increasing capacity in preparation was good; it wasn’t a problem for them to start getting used to working around here. And most importantly: their income wasn’t particularly high.

Ren Xiyang assigned Kel the task of informing who could come back the next day for further instructions and who were unfortunately not hired. At least everyone had a free lunch.

The proportion of men and women were +40% each, even in the trades that had a much larger percentage of men than women, like in blacksmithing and carpentering. Ren Xiyang was impressed that Kel and the others had been able to even find such a selection of interviewees.

Maybe some of those people who were rejected complained. Ren Xiyang didn’t care. He was in charge, so he could hire whichever people he wanted.

Lunch had been served to the interviewees in such a way that half had a meal before their interview, and half had their meal afterwards. Ren Xiyang was the only one who hadn’t eaten anything aside from a small plate of fruit Kel brought in for him.

Maria carried lunch up to his suite. There were small dishes this time, as Ren Xiyang had requested. A small bread roll, rice that was cooked not-to-a-porridge consistency, cold tofu with sauce, butter and garlic fried tofu, steam vegetables, and slices of marinated cooked meat.

Not long after he finished eating, a certain person came to his door.

Ren Xiyang once again walked over and opened the door before the prince could knock.

“Have you been standing at the door waiting for me, Earl Rosewood?” Rian joked. He imagined the Earl standing by the door, listening for footsteps.

“No, your Highness. All humans produce heat. I can sense your distinct heat signature.”

Rian’s eyes widened. “Really? You’ll have to tell me more about it.”

“Take a seat, Your Highness,” Ren Xiyang said, gesturing to the sofas.

“Guards, stay outside, and not a word to the Count.”

“Yes, your Highness.”

Ren Xiyang closed the door behind the prince.

Rian leaned in. “Do you mind if I cast a sound-blocking spell?” he whispered.

“Go ahead,” Ren Xiyang replied.

Rian opened his mouth and spoke some words in fake-Latin, casting a spell that would stop sound from inside being heard outside, but still allowed outside sound in. “Now, no matter how much you shout, my guards won’t hear.”

“Your Highness means ‘no matter how loud you shout’,” Ren Xiyang deadpanned as he took a seat on one sofa.

Rian chuckled lightly. He sat on the other sofa, all straight backed and proper, unlike the automatic slouch that Ren Xiyang had taken.

Rian gazed silently at the other ‘boy’. He was almost fully certain that Ayden Rosewood was also an adult in a child’s body, with knowledge of the ‘future’.

But Ayden’s background and childhood was unclear, and Rian had absolutely no knowledge of what Ayden had done in the first life, whereas Rian himself, as a prince, had been fairly public.

“The Earl probably isn’t surprised that everyone is curious about where you grew up and your magic instructor,” Rian said.

Ren Xiyang replied calmly, “I didn’t grow up here. As for my magic instructor, there was no one. I have no formal training.” He lifted one shoulder. “For example, I’ve never heard the spell you just used. We trained by trial and error with a combination of intuition and ideas of what should be possible.”

Rian’s eyes narrowed slightly. “We?”

“Hm. You don’t have to worry about them. I travelled a long way.” Across worlds, in fact.

“Your father—”

“He didn’t know where I went.”

Rian put on a slight smile. “And the Earl is not going to tell me exactly where?”

Ren Xiyang couldn’t answer immediately. In normal circumstances he was very reticent about revealing his past. Now that he had transmigrated, he disliked the idea of talking about it even more.

If he told Rian, what was the worst that could happen? If Rian simply stopped conversing with him, then Ren Xiyang would just continue on his plans for the fief and in preventing the future plague-curse by himself—business as usual. If Rian told others and tried to block him, Ren Xiyang was confident in his ability to escape and take assassination as the solution to the preventing the plague-curse…

“Information has costs and conditions,” Ren Xiyang finally said. “How much does his Highness truly want to know?”

Rian felt a rush of alertness. “Does the Earl believe the information is priceless?”

“I am the only person in this world that knows my past. Yes.”

The only person in the world. Was that a hint that Ayden believed he was the only person who had lived the future and returned to the past? Or did it mean anyone who could know were now dead?

“What are the conditions?”

“That the information does not spread beyond the confines of this room. And that if you wish to deal with me afterwards, face me directly and leave the people of the Rosewood fief alone.”

Anticipation prickled at Rian’s fingertips, tightening his chest. “That can be done. And the costs?”

“Invite and welcome the magical medical researchers from Angio Kingdom to Sedaveria as I requested earlier. Invest in medical research in Sedaveria. Develop good diplomatic relations with Angio Kingdom.”

None of these tasks conflicted with Rian’s goals, and he had already planned to improve diplomatic relations with Angio. “I agree.”

“His Highness is willing to pay?”

“Yes.”

Ren Xiyang was still reluctant. “Let’s write a contract,” he said, standing up.

“Of course.”

Ren Xiyang went to his desk and wrote up a basic contract, mimicking the style of the duelling contract.

“Do you agree?”

“Allow me to sign first then,” Rian said. He smoothly signed.

Ren Xiyang signed too.

“Now let me ask the Earl again, where—and when—were you before?”

“When?” That was an odd point to add.

“When,” Rian confirmed.

Ren Xiyang leaned back on the sofa. “Alright. I grew up in a place we called Earth, a place that exists in a different world. When I left, it was the year 2033 CE.”

Rian stiffened as his mind went blank.