After I died, my personal maid rebelled.

Luna was so happy she was jumping for joy, but her face fell the moment she pushed open the door to leave her brother's office and bumped into Elene.

That wicked woman, if it weren't for my loyalty and the fact that I'm afraid of disturbing my brother, I would have...

Alene calmly handed over a gold coin, and Luna, who had just been baring her teeth, became obedient in a second.

Oh, they're all good sisters, this is what I should do.

With a blurry, swift hand snatched the gold coins. Seeing Elena raise a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture, Luna nodded knowingly.

She was truly poor. Her brother was frugal, and although he wouldn't skimp on her food, clothing, or other necessities, and her clothes and jewelry were always top-of-the-line, her allowance was really meager...

Otherwise, she wouldn't have volunteered to run errands for Elena and do the work of a messenger.

One gold coin is worth seventy silver coins, which is seven hundred copper coins! That's a year's allowance!

Patting her chest confidently, Luna gave Elena a cute heart gesture before leaving. "If you ever need anything like this again, come to me! I, Luna, am a paragon of loyalty!"

Watching Luna leave the corridor happily, Elena took a deep breath and knocked on the door of the Duke's office.

"Enter."

Elena entered in response to the call and saw the Duke frowning as he dealt with state affairs. She did not disturb him too much and quietly walked to the side to brew him some soothing black tea.

"How are the preparations for the blessing ceremony going?"

As soon as Oswald looked up, he saw Eleanor bring him a teacup, and he reached out to take it.

Elena bowed and replied, "Everything is ready and within budget. The Duke's gift has also been arranged."

"Thank you for your hard work." Oswald took a sip of tea, his brow relaxing considerably. "Preparing for this festival is the most demanding part, but everyone has been working hard for many days and needs a day to relax. Of course, the same goes for you; you don't need to worry about work tomorrow, just enjoy the celebration."

In the past, almost every country had festivals and celebrations for all its citizens, either representing family reunions or the establishment of the nation. Studies have shown that the stronger the traditional festival atmosphere and the more attractive a country is to its citizens, the stronger its national power tends to be among the world's leading nations.

However, in this world... it seems there isn't a unified holiday. Not to mention other places, even the various towns in the Northern Territory have their own Victory Day.

Today, some cities celebrate defeating the demons in a battle fifty years ago; tomorrow, another city reminisces about the glorious deeds of a certain city lord. And for those cities whose historical battle records cannot be found, they go even further, using all sorts of bizarre legends to hold festivals.

It feels somewhat absurd that today marks the 36,000th anniversary of Kuafu chasing the sun and passing through our area.

Praying for the goddess is one of the few celebrations that can be attended by everyone. Although Oswald doesn't believe in these things, he still maintains respect, after all, there really is a goddess here, or rather, a creator.

If humans really create robots capable of independent thought, and humans grant these robots freedom, will the robots also create a festival to pray for humanity?

What is that, a man-made carnival?

Oswald, who tends to let his mind wander when he relaxes, almost made himself laugh. He quickly snapped back to reality and said to Elena.

"By the way, is the nun feeling better? I'd like to meet with her to discuss the arrangements for tomorrow's celebration."

Elena immediately replied, "I've already explained the process to the nun, and everything is arranged. The nun is probably taking a nap right now."

"yes."

Oswald nodded without saying anything more.

Sister Janet was an old friend in my previous life. She was a noble person who was determined to achieve equality and whose skill in healing magic was no less than that of the saint.

The prayer meeting was a minor matter; Oswald sought her out primarily to address the plague that occurred in September of this year.

Unlike the Vatican faction, which pursued miracles, Sister Jane believed that if magic didn't work, then the solution lay in nature; if nature had no cure, then humanity needed to help each other and overcome the difficulties together.

In fact, after the outbreak of the plague, Sister Janet traveled alone to the place of origin, where she not only consulted a large number of ancient books, but also visited several reclusive witches.

Persistence pays off. Guided by a witch, Sister Jane found a cure for the plague in the records of the Elven Kingdom.

In this world, the immortal beings are as abstract as the male characters. Elves, as an immortal species, are so bored that they're willing to do anything, including recording the history of plagues...

Legend has it that before the goddess left this world, she gathered the four races she created, and each race received both the goddess's blessing and curse before their departure.

When it was the elves' turn, they hoped the goddess would bless them with longevity.

The goddess agreed, but did not place a curse on the elf.

Other races, including humans, were unhappy. Why? Why didn't the elves have a curse?

The goddess said, "Immortality is a curse."

At first, no one understood its meaning, until later the suicide rate in the Elf Kingdom skyrocketed, forcing the Elf leadership to create a bloodline magic.

This magic is limited to the entire elven race and can only be dispelled if a bloodline remains. In other words, only elves who leave offspring can commit suicide.

Fortunately, magic was invented quickly, otherwise elves would have become a rare species long ago, and they would not have been able to preserve their country.

However, most of the elves that have survived to this day are the kind who can endure and take things in stride; they have become living history of this world.

Returning to Sister Jane, after bringing back the treatment method, she found it ineffective and personally improved the prescription to achieve excellent results.

Then, the Saintess's Star of Prayer was activated...

It's a pity she missed an opportunity to make a name for herself in history. However, she herself didn't care about that; after handing the prescription to Oswald, she left alone.

Even more unfortunately, Oswald can't remember what the prescription was!

Oswald has no choice but to take the blame.

He wasn't shameless enough to make Sister Jane make another trip; he could just buy the documents and records about the plague from the elves.

However, those incredibly bored guys seem more interested in stories than money. They might just copy a story themselves and try to exchange it for...

Elves seem to have rather unusual tastes.

"Elena, how much do you know about elves?"

When Elena was suddenly called, she was startled like a cat with its fur standing on end. After regaining her composure, she let out a heavy sigh.

The Duke pondered for a long time, wondering what he was thinking about that had caused her unnecessary worry...

Time flew by and it was already the next day.

All members of the Duke's mansion were given a holiday, and they went out to play in twos and threes early in the morning.

Praying for blessings? What blessings? This is clearly a festival!

The tightly closed city gates reopened, and the entire city seemed brighter. Residents from all directions flocked to the city, making it bustling with activity.

The circus owner kept wiping away tears the whole way. He was so happy, his family! This was what the capital city should be like! He was completely unfamiliar with military fortresses and such!

Flags fluttered and ribbons danced in the city, and restaurants were booming. Besides the dramatic increase in foot traffic, the biggest reason was that the Duke's Mansion had developed a high-quality, affordable beverage.

Where there is demand, there is a market.

After the workers started getting drunk on their homemade liquor every few days, Elena, unable to bear it any longer, wrote a letter to the Duke.

That's right, this is the gift Oswald prepared for his people: a new kind of beer.

In his previous life, Oswald had brewed alcohol, doing everything from fermentation and distillation to making both red and white wines. Everything went smoothly until he unexpectedly got stuck on beer.

Beer has always existed in this world, but it's still in its early stages. Even the Vatican is selling their exclusive recipe: a whole bunch of miscellaneous spices and stuff.

All I can say is that it's expensive and has strange flavors.

Oswald immediately understood: you guys couldn't find hops... well, surely there must be hops in this world.

Later, Oswald, who found a similar hop substitute, also developed his own unique recipe, which tasted far superior to those spiced beers. As a result, it became a bestseller in the country, and even the dwarves sent caravans to buy it.

Besides entertaining the residents, Oswald mainly brought out the beer ahead of schedule to quell Eleanor's anger.

From now on, please stop brewing your own beer. This beer is already cheap enough; it's cheaper than buying the raw materials yourself!

If anyone brews wine recklessly again, I'll fight them to the death.

"Phew, that felt great!"

In the noisy pub, Oswald downed his beer in one gulp, then slammed the glass on the table. In high spirits, he pulled out a cigarette and offered some to the old men around him.

"What conference are you having over there? Don't you need to keep an eye on it?" Old George took the cigarette, snatched Oswald's matchbox, and took a satisfying puff.

"Who has time to watch that? He's been a duke for so long, can't he enjoy himself?"

Oswald rolled his eyes at him, then chuckled.

"What kind of enjoyment is this? I know you dogs of nobility. You must have good wine at home. Go and bring it out so this old man can help you taste it."

After saying that, old George grabbed him and tried to leave, but Oswald pulled him back.

"Oh, that's for entertaining guests. Do you think I'm some rich nouveau riche? The finest wines come from the warm south. If I could produce them, you wouldn't be shortchanged."

"Alright, you're lucky to have any drinks at all. Come on, let me treat you to a few more."

Oswald had just pulled two copper coins out of his pocket when old George sprayed smoke all over his face.

"Be generous, you're a duke, why don't you order two more snacks to go with your drinks?"

"Alright, alright, you old geezer has too many demands. I'll splurge this time. Order the most expensive dishes."