43 Heading to Dolores Part II.

However, this time around it was because of her curiosity in John and his companions that she decided to visit North-frontier town and see how things changed first hand in North-Frontier town.

This Time at Baron Francis Mendez's Manor,

Baron Mendez came along with Antonio's butler James and his second son Antonio, Baron Mendez had spent quite a sum to recuperate his son earlier so that he could become a better knight in the future and there are injuries which could affect him later on, while also for their meeting with John and Joseph which was going to take place today.

As soon as both Antonio and John met, their eyes only had cold looks for each other. Both Joseph and Baron Francis were watching the show from the sidelines, meanwhile, the butler James was keeping a watch on Joseph.

John greeted Antonio with a sarcastic tone and a smiling face, "Nice meeting you again, Lord Antonio, it seems you have recovered quite well from your injuries. I hope we can have a Blood pumping duel like the one we had in east sea city again in the future."

Antonio didn't reply but stared at him with an angry expression, to remove the awkwardness of the conversation, Joseph came forward and suggested that everyone relax a bit.

"Why don't we relax a bit and have a taste of some unique cuisines which were specially prepared by our chefs this time, they have also been praised by Marquis Ray and Marchioness Aine, so how about everyone grabs a bite of it?"

Joseph knew that such a type of situation would arise and he had already planned a lot to complete this deal, and he also had expected John to react in the same way. Additionally, he didn't want John to bend in front of Baron as this would totally mean that John was not cut off for handling a domain later on if he can't even handle such matters.

From this encounter, it could be seen that Baron had prepared quite a lot when it came to confronting them and handling their business matters.

After watching this encounter, Baron had decided to move towards the main business.

"That's quite true Joseph, okay, let's head towards the dining room first and discuss business while we have dinner."

James led everyone to the dining hall while Joseph ordered one of his men to bring the dishes which were already prepared.

While Eva and others were busy touring the city today and she also didn't want to interact more with Antonio, so they had decided to go to a hotel to avoid him and later watch the city at their own leisure.

Dolores was quite a beautiful city compared to North-frontier town in a sense that there were more merchants and this place was one of the transit hubs as it interconnected a lot of other cities in the northern domain. This was also one of the reasons why it was the main capital of Ancestors of Baron Mendez.

While they were traveling today, Eva and her group today saw George, who was conversing with one of the blacksmiths in Dolores, Today he had come to deliver one of the batches of his Weapons which were made recently, every time, he was the one who escorted the weapons and armor made by his shop to Baron Mendez as this would ensure that no one steals them and he would also get a chance to get acquainted with other nobles for bigger business if they visited Baron on any given day.

"Hey, isn't that George from our town? What's he doing here today" Josephine recognized him and asked others with a curious tone. Like most of the time, she was always ignorant when it came to nobility.

Jay then explained to her, "Well, from what I know, he always personally supplies Baron with his weapons and armors produced in his shop for their Knight order. You should know that the nobles always try to earn more merits in war and hence raise their social position by achieving merits in war. And the same is the case for other sons of nobles who at least try to get a chance to become important officials in the Imperial city. And so weapon makers are always important to nobles and so are nobles important to weapon makers. You might have known about the Lorr family who became aristocrats a long time ago and now they are personal weapon makers of The Royal Family. So most of the Blacksmiths try to emulate the achievements of the Lorr family."

Eva also added bits of her own information when the topic of blacksmiths and the Lorr Family came up, "That's true, also from what I heard from Grandma, they are said to be providing weapons for the spies of the Royal Family so they have earned quite an important position in the imperial palace. As far as rumors go by in the Imperial Palace, it is believed that the Royal Family gave the Lorr family two choices after they became famous and too strong because of their weapon making. 1: They become personal Weaponmakers of the Royal Family, or

2: The Royal family would forcefully extract their weapon making techniques and silence them if necessary. However 2nd option was not said but was only implied by many in their family after the Royal family tried to hire them.

After considering the pros and cons, their elders had decided to become personal Weaponmakers of the Royal Family as this would improve their social status but they could also avoid a disaster. For their family, it was a joyous occasion as most people didn't know the cost of declining the Royal Family's offer. Although the Lorr family was quite strong during those times as well however they may not have enough strength if it came to a rebellion and they already made quite a lot of enemies internally while their dominion wasn't close to any border. However, my grandma only heard it from the gossip of those old men in the court which usually took place. So this can't be confirmed yet. My grandma is one of those believers of this story while there is a group that says it is a rumor to malign to the royal family. However, this Gossip only takes place between those strong men privately in court and most of the time there is a gag order when it comes to this gossip. Additionally, Lorr family always said privately that they were never forced by the royal family so not many can confirm this gossip even if it is true."

All of the people here knew about Grandma Melanie being a court official in her day so they weren't shocked by this revelation However all of them got a new perspective on the royal family and understood one of the reasons why Grandma Melanie lived here away from the politics of the Imperial Palace and was spending her days in rest, experimentation and leisure here in North-frontier town. While guiding Eva in potion making but as she found her interest as a fire magician she started finding a capable disciple who can inherit her legacy in potion making and now she can see that exactly in John or maybe he would go even higher than her and make a bigger name than her in the future.