At the end of October, with the end of the autumn harvest, the people of Ice Rock City ushered in the annual Harvest Festival.
Although the spring plowing in the northern border was delayed a lot due to the war in the first half of this year, fortunately, the slave riot in Ice Rock City was quelled by Earl Angelet early, and the spring plowing was not greatly affected.
Moreover, in the battle against the troll empire, Earl Angelet won a complete victory and forced the troll to send a large number of young and strong slaves. With the help of these troll slaves, the spring plowing and autumn harvest, water conservancy, Fortifications, city defense construction, etc. are all proceeding smoothly.
Coupled with the tax incentives for foreign trade, a large number of businessmen chose Ice Rock City as a transfer point for trade with the Troll Empire, which kept the city bustling with traffic.
Therefore, unlike the hardships faced by other territories in the northern border, this year's Angelet has shown signs of prosperity.
The citizens took advantage of this harvest festival to pour into Ice Rock City one after another, expressing their gratitude to the lord who brought them a better life.
Although Earl Angelet was not in the territory, this still could not dampen the enthusiasm of the citizens.
The taverns in the city have already prepared rich and cheap food and fine wines, and the butler Aemon specially invited more than a dozen singing and dancing troupes and circus troupes to conduct free public tours in Ice Rock City.
The men lingered in the tavern to drink fine wine, the women flocked to the market to make big purchases, the children chased the circus, watched all kinds of novel and interesting performances, kept screaming and laughing, and didn't feel the redness of their little hands. pain.
However, the most talked about topics by the people of Ice Rock City this year are not the increasingly better life today, or how wonderful the performances of the theater troupe are, or Earl Angelet who is far away in the half-elf kingdom, but a Something called a "welfare lottery ticket".
"Have you heard? A lucky guy broke out today!"
"Is it a welfare lottery?"
"Of course, what else can there be besides this?"
"Who is the lucky one? How much did he get?"
"It's a fellow named Tom who won five thousand coppers!"
"Five thousand! Is it true?"
"Of course it's true! I saw this kid accept the award with my own eyes."
"Are you talking about Tom? I know that kid. He is my distant cousin. I told the Welfare Lottery back then... When he received the award, I called him from the audience, but he didn't hear it. I guess It’s because there are too many people at the scene, it’s noisier than the theater scene…”
"Hahaha, even if he heard it, he would pretend not to hear it."
"Why?"
"Because I'm afraid you will ask him to borrow money!"
"I will ask him to borrow money? If he can win the big prize, why can't I! Today I bought five welfare lottery tickets, specially picked lucky numbers, I will definitely win the next draw!"
…
Earl Evan led his fiancée Sally into the tavern, and found that what the drinkers were discussing were all related to the welfare lottery.
During the Harvest Festival, the business of the tavern is very hot. The small space is divided into upper and lower floors. The lower floor is stuffed with more than 30 tables, and each table is full of people. There are still people standing around and can’t find a place. guests.
The crowded and noisy atmosphere made Shalia frowned. Fortunately, Earl Evan quickly led her up to the second floor.
In contrast, the space on the second floor is much empty, but this is also because the entrance fee here is much more expensive.
The tavern waiter saw at a glance that Earl Evan and the two were dressed unusually, knowing that the two must be nobles, he quickly and respectfully led them to a table by the window on the second floor.
Earl Evan skillfully tossed out a few copper coins after sitting down, and said, "Give us two glasses of purple cane wine."
"Okay, please wait a moment!"
After the attendant turned around, Shalia frowned and said, "Evan, why do you always like to come to this kind of place?"
Earl Evan looked at the noisy crowd downstairs with great interest, and said with a smile, "It's because of these places that you can drink good wine!"
Shalia frowned even tighter, curled her lips and said, "Nonsense, what good wine can there be?"
"Haha, you don't understand. In terms of brewing technology, the wine here is certainly not as good as that of noble wineries, but the wine here has a special taste that no noble wineries have."
"What is the taste?"
"The taste of the world."
"secular?"
Earl Evan turned his head, looked at Shalia's big bright eyes seriously, and explained: "The wineries of the nobles are full of hypocrisy after deliberate carving, and only here can you taste the true taste of the secular world. "
Shalia looked at Earl Evan's face, and suddenly felt that she was getting more and more confused about her fiancé.
Earl Evan laughed, and said with a smile: "I'm just kidding, in fact, it is more likely to find traces of His Royal Highness in this kind of place."
Shalia shook her head with a look of disbelief: "Even if father came to Ice Rock City, he would never enter such a place. Moreover, if a foreigner enters Ice Rock City, the first thing he would know would be the Lord's Mansion."
"No, no, no. If this foreigner wants to hide his identity, he will guard against the Lord's Mansion, but he will not guard against these civilians."
Shalia tilted her head and thought for a while, and found some truth, so she stopped talking.
At this time, the attendant had already brought two glasses of purple cane wine.
Earl Evan took the opportunity to ask: "Have you ever seen a middle-aged man? He is about seven feet tall, with blond hair and blue eyes, a stern face, and a knight sword with a purple scabbard on his waist..."
After listening to Earl Evan's description, the attendant thought about it carefully, shook his head and said, "Sorry, my lord, I have never seen the person you mentioned."
Earl Evan nodded, not too disappointed. After all, the trail of Prince Lehi is not so easy to find.
This time when they came to Ice Rock City, they only had the attitude of giving it a try.
He then asked again: "What is the welfare lottery that the people below are talking about? Can you tell us about it?"
"Of course!" The attendant's face suddenly glowed red, as if he was also very interested in the welfare lottery, "That is the welfare lottery, designed by our noble lord, the great guardian of the north, Earl Angelet , It is said that it is to raise money for the welfare of poor civilians who cannot take care of themselves.
However, the Earl claims that all those who are willing to pay for lottery tickets are good people who contribute to the cause of redemption! Deserves to be rewarded!
Therefore, the lottery will be drawn every month, as long as the lottery number you purchased is selected, you will win the prize!
A lottery ticket only costs three copper coins, but if you win the lottery, you can win a reward of thousands of copper coins! I even heard that there are people who have won gold coins... ”
Listening to the attendant's rambling explanation, Earl Evan drank the purple cane wine and suddenly asked, "Then can a foreigner like me buy it?"
"Of course. The earl said that this is a benefit for all northerners, and any northerner can buy it."
"Then what if I'm not from the North?"
"Well..." the attendant rubbed the back of his head and pondered, "It shouldn't be a problem. When I went to buy a lottery ticket, I saw a bard also bought a lottery ticket, and that guy is said to be Came here from the far south."
Earl Evan took out a silver coin, threw it to the attendant, and ordered: "Buy me a hundred welfare lottery tickets, and the rest of the money will be your tip."
"Okay, please wait a moment!" The attendant immediately took the silver coins and ran away.
One silver coin can be exchanged for one thousand copper coins, and it only costs three hundred copper coins to buy one hundred lottery tickets, and the remaining seven hundred copper coins belong to the servant himself.
Naturally, he would not hesitate to buy such a cheap deal.
Shalia asked suspiciously, "Are you interested in these lottery tickets?"
"Yeah. A very interesting thing."
Earl Evan drank the wine, a strange light flashed in his eyes.
(end of this chapter)