Oslo felt very melancholic all of a sudden, realizing how that 'spark' of growth flourished in a village built two months ago.
Not only did this spark lack in his personal life, it lacked in his atmosphere here.
Bleulle… had been stable for too long that it, too, became lax.
Of course, it wasn't that no one attacked Bleulle. The city also experienced the occasional Territorial War.
But very few dared to do so. After all, the rare resources allowed Bleulle to gather a lot of strongmen to work and reside in it.
The last most dangerous war was before he was born, when several territories partnered together and supported another top city to attack them, in exchange for a good piece of the pie.
Fortunately, the city's foundation was strong and it won. Gathering allied territories, and defeating those territories in the process. Since then, territories with brains opted to cooperate with Bluelle rather than attack it.
Of course, it wasn't an easy fight—the battle of giants never was. According to the stories, the lord back then—the current lord's grandfather—lost many of his allies, friends, and even family.
"You seem to have had a good time outside," the old man said, pulling him back to the present. He seemed to have gotten into a deep topic and he turned to the old man, responding with a smile.
"Well, I hope my change looks good."
The old man laughed in response. "The Master and Lady would be very happy," he said.
No one who knew the Golds didn't know how their youngest son was—a great talent but one who couldn't quite push himself to do greater things.
It was a pity for his friends and family, and a good show to their enemies.
As the young master grew older, the more worried his parents became. But now it seemed like their intervention finally bore fruit.
At the thought of his parents, Oslo felt a little excited.
"Hmn, I hope I make them proud, too."
___
Some minutes later, the carriage slowed down. Noticing where they were, Oslo opened the curtain to see the gates of their estate open, revealing the home he grew up in.
It was one of the largest properties in the city, with two stories and wide floors, located smack in the most sensitive area of the city.
It was a custom building like the villas in Altera. He assumed that their lord here used a Level 2 Custom Building to create a two-floor building, maximizing the large floor area into two floors, in contrast to Altera's two smaller floors and a basement.
To his knowledge, the lord only built 20 such houses, occupied by the top 20 families of the time. These top families also changed up, so this also meant that a family would not necessarily stay in their 'mansion'.
For instance, if a family lost favor, then they'd be kicked out. This was seen as an extreme humiliation if happened and often led to family conflicts and even deaths.
Of course, his family, the Golds, had since the territory's establishment never lost its place as the #1 family next to the lord's. This had always been a point of pride.
Anyway, the Golds' mansion was located near the mountains where the Blus were extracted. After extraction, the Blus were then brought to a specialized handling area where it was converted to ink.
The family was given charge of not only harvesting the resource, but also handling it.
It was an honor, and also signified a lot of their responsibility to this territory.
His family happened to be one of the families that was trusted by the Lord to handle this. This, along with the fact that his great-grandfather was one of the first Lord's supporters, earned them the title of nobility.
From when the territory was a village to what it was now, the Golds saw it all.
Next to the lord, the Golds also handled the most money and power in the territory. This was amazing, and some people think that the Gold family was even more prominent than lords of low-level cities.
Speaking of which, historically, Bleulle City was one of the fastest-growing territories in history because of its unique industry and good location.
It took less than fifteen years for it to be transformed into a town, and only five decades to become a city after that. Most cities took twice or thrice that amount of time. The especially slow ones even took a thousand years.
Bleulle was hailed as the paragon of fast development. It was just that looking at how Altera was growing, this seemed… slow?
"We're here, young master," Uncle Liu said even though he knew the young master had been looking outside for a while now. He obviously seemed in a daze. He didn't fall asleep with his eyes open, did he?
Oslo blinked, chuckling, before heading back down. "Thanks."
Oslo got off the carriage with his luggage. He politely refused uncle Liu's offer to help, and went through the specialized iron gates.
The moment he entered, lines of servants lined up, greeting him.
"Welcome back, fifth young master!"
___
"He's back?" Gaia looked at the butler with bright eyes. She arranged the headdress on her fiery red locks, lifted the side of her dress, and left the papyrus book she was holding.
Her husband, Zaol, was similarly excited and stood up and walked to her, rushing to the salon together.
Then the woman paused, looking at her husband worriedly. "Do you think he hates us? For sending him there?"
Oslo was used to the lavish lifestyle after all.
"I mean… did he suffer?" she paused, pale. "Oh, he must've lost a lot of weight!"
The blonde man smiled gently. "He wouldn't have come back here if he was…"
"Yes, yes, you are correct," she smiled. "I should control this tendency to bloviate." She sighed. "But our youngest makes me so worried."
Zaol smiled and gently held his wife's hands. "Well, let's believe he has some sort of growth."
The servants, who were already used to it, were still a bit taken aback by the doting.
After over sixty years of marriage, they were basically unchanged.
In Xeno, seeing a man being so humble in front of his wife—and not having a single mistress—was an unusual occurrence.
The dynamic was extremely rare, but it so happened that a strong woman handpicked by the former patriarch happened to truly fall in love with the meek only son.
Gaia was the only daughter of the richest merchant in Bleulle. It was a partnership that solidified their family's power—as the Lord's right hand—and wealth.
Not to mention, Gaia gave birth to many children. This was a rare genetic trait of her family, making them extremely attractive marriage partners. After all, the higher the level of an individual, the more difficult it was to procreate.
And yet Gaia gave him five children, which was unprecedented.
It wasn't that there were no third parties wanting to go between them. There were plenty of people vying for both of them.
Despite Zaol's meek personality, he was very handsome and very very rich. On the other hand, Gaia was a bit headstrong, but she was also wealthy and most importantly her fertility was one of the best.
In fact, their relationship with a lot of the top families had become strained because of this. At this time, the Golds were alone at the top, with their 'friends' comprised almost entirely of insincere sycophants.
As for why his mother chose his father, she said she saw loyalty and kindness in him absent in every other of her suitors. This was a value she taught to her children, and it was really a miracle that she didn't throw Oslo away after he showed the first signs of womanizerhood.
Anyway, the couple scurried down gracefully and went to meet their spoiled son with a mix of worry, anticipation, and glee.
And a lot of apprehension.
Did he really lose a lot of weight?
…
As soon as he arrived, Oslo stood and placed his items on the salon, instructing the servants not to move them.
Except for a few baskets of ingredients he took out, he kept the others mum and hidden for a surprise. He naturally didn't expect their cook to understand the use of novel ingredients, but he wanted it presented well to his family.
He had discovered treasure—Altera—and he naturally wanted to share it well with his family.
Due to the length of travel, the food he brought were ones with very long shelf lives. For example, he brought a lot of jerkies, instant noodles, and ready-mixes that could go with anything.
He also brought various other items as a surprise, with each family member—and even the in-laws—to be getting a little of Altera for themselves.
Anyway, after securing his stuff, he gestured to go greet his parents, but they were already downstairs when he did so.
The handsome middle-aged couple looked at him with relief. His mother went to him to hold his hand, while his father patted his other shoulder.
Oslo smiled at his father while patting his mother's hand.
"I'm back."