1 Chapter 1
Joseph was returning to the mansion after finishing his daily strolls.
Swoosh~
A sudden strong, icy gust hit him, causing his entire body to shiver from the cold.
He pulled his leather jacket closer to the body, hugging himself tightly by wrapping both of his arms around his body, and leaned his head a bit. This is just a simple attempt to somehow fend off the cold winds. Though it seemed like it didn't do the work, as his older body was still shivering from the cold.
The small houses nearby were completely covered in white snow. The roads were blocked due to heavy snowfall, making it highly difficult for a person to move around the streets. There are no signs of anyone being around except himself. Overall, it gives the idea that an ice age has fallen, masking the entire landscape in sheets of frozen snow.
The old man Joseph looked around, towards the empty houses and sighed in his heart.
Haaa~
Recently more and more people are abandoning this place and moving to other regions. Well, he actually can't blame them. This region has almost nothing to offer. So why should they stay here to pay taxes and suffer?
This region remains cold and dry almost the entire year. But during the late months, it gets especially hard for common folk to survive here. Although not many people live in this region.
Due to harsh weather and dry climate, food and grain production is almost minuscule.
Adding the fact that dry firewood is extremely difficult to find, people tend to face high difficulties living here.
Haaa~
Joseph sighed again. 'Looks like this year too, more and more people will leave. At this rate, the barony will cease to exist in the future.'
While contemplating the future, Joseph reached his destination.
In Front of his eyes stands a medium-sized mansion. Though not that impressive, that it can skip people's heartbeat, it sure is quite a decent place for high-profile people to live in.
But at this moment, it was fully covered in snow, reducing the charm it can have on people.
Joseph walks into the mansion, to find a plum middle-aged woman standing by the door, wearing a black and white victorian style maid uniform.
Upon closing the distance the woman bowed slightly and addressed Joseph in a respectful voice.
"Welcome back, head Butler."
Joseph was the head butler of the Gavril household. Gavril household is one of the independent baronies situated in the Northern Vetriez kingdom.
Independent baronies work directly under the crown. That means the barons of independent baronies don't need to be subservient to a higher-ranking noble lord.
Being 'independent' also frees the baronies of any taxes. That means there is no need for the baronies to pay any monthly or annual tax to the crown. At a glance, it sure seems like something incredible. But the thing is, independent baronies are the worst possible region for people to live in. They are normally located in places far away from any major city or trade centers, making them extremely isolated. Moreover, due to harsh living conditions, these places remain less developed than the rest of the nation. No higher nobility wants to undertake lordship of these places, hence leaving the crown to deal with it.
Though Independent Barons hold the title of 'baron' that can be passed down to the descendents. They have no actual influence over the kingdom at all. They hold much less power than a titled knight, whose title cannot be passed. Hence making them extremely unpopular in the society of nobles. It can be said that they are being looked down upon by the rest of the sphere of nobles.
The Gavril household rose to nobility two generations ago. Since then 62 years have passed. They were given the duty of governing the Sparta region in the far north of the kingdom as an independent barony. The Sparta region is an extremely cold place, with snow covering it throughout the year. The population of Gavril barony is very low, with only one small town under its jurisdiction.
Joseph was a butler in the house of Gavril since the time of the first lord. Later climbing to the rank of head butler during the time of the second lord. In his long years of service, he has been part of every major event that occurred in the barony. Say it the death of the first lord or second lord or other events, he has seen it all.
"Hello, Martha. Has the young lord woken up?" he asked the middle-aged maid, Martha.
"No, head butler. The young lord is still asleep," answered Martha.
Haaa~ Joseph sighed again.
"Alright then, I will go and wake him up."
Saying, he began to walk upstairs, while pondering the recent events which occurred, in his heart.
Last year, the lord and the lady of the household got involved in an accident, resulting in their tragic death. This shook the entire barony and the fate of the barony has been downhill since then.
After the death of both the lord and lady, the governance of the barony fell onto the hands of the young lord.
But…..the young lord is highly incompetent. He doesn't have any ambition to do anything. Overall he is the very embodiment of a lazy young man. So most of the duties of the barony are done by Joseph and a few other of his attendants.
While walking in the hallway of the second floor, Joseph reached the room at the very end.
Knock- knock-
The door was closed, so he knocked on it.
"Young lord, are you awake?" Joseph voiced out. But there was no answer from the inside.
"Young lord, it's me, Joseph, can I come in?" he asked again, only to get silence as an answer.
Haaa~ Joseph sighed. 'I am too old for this.'
"Pardon me, young lord, but I am entering." Saying so, Joseph pushed open the door and entered the room.
Upon entering, the almost pitch dark room came into his sight. The fireplace was ignited to keep the room warm, which in turn provided subtle light for people to walk around the room. The room was filled with furniture and items, which cannot be seen in houses of commoners. That signified that this room belongs to somebody who is quite opulent. Joseph ignored all the flashy items and furniture and headed towards the corner of the room, where a bed could be seen.
On the bed, a bulge was formed under the sheets.
"Young lord, it's time to wake up." Said, Joseph.
*Mmmhh-* A subtle groan was heard from the bulge.
"Young lord. You have duties to attend to, please wake up" he got near the bulge and shook it slightly.
Slowly the bulge began to rise. And the sheets covering it fell, to reveal an overweight drowsy figure, with messy hair.
{ MC POV }
What is happening….. Why does my head feel so dizzy? I don't think I ate something wrong last night.
"Young lord, it's time to wake up"
I heard a voice. Is it talking to me? I tried to talk but my head was feeling extremely heavy. So only a groan escaped my mouth.
"Young lord. You have duties to attend to, please wake up" the voice spoke again, this time I felt something shaking me.
I forcefully got up, still feeling dizzy. It felt like somebody tied a ton of weights to my body.
I opened my drowsy eyes to scan my surroundings. I saw a large and almost dark unfamiliar room. I was in bed and an old man wearing a butler suit was standing in front of me. Seemingly with a stoic expression on his face.
'Hmm? Who is this guy?' I thought. Looking around the room I saw it's decorated in a fancy way.
"Good Morning Young lord. It's good that you woke up." said the old man.
'Young wha-' I got cut off because of my dizziness.
"You may get off the bed. I will send somebody with water and a towel so that you can freshen up." Saying so, the old man turned around to leave. I just stared at his back.
After he left, I started pondering.
'What is this? Who was that guy? Calling me young lord and whatnot?'
"Damn… Why is my body so heavy?" I tried to move but then I noticed something.
"wh-what?!..." My well-toned athletic body which I gained working out day and night at the gym was gone. Instead, there is a fat and overweight figure.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?"
[ A/N. Hi, I am writing this story for a wish-fulfilling reason. It's a world I wanted to create. There may be many grammatical errors and other mistakes here now but I promise I will fix this in our journey. I hope that you will like my work and also suggest the changes which could make the story better. Regards koushik2002 :-) ]
