Volume 3 Chapter 32 Immigration
As the king and princess of the Lampuri Kingdom, all their decisions were naturally important matters for the Lampuri Kingdom.
But for the father and son pair of Afaylia and Archie, these important matters didn’t matter to them. The problem they cared about now was the life of their little family.
Actually in all fairness, Afaylia’s family were living better lives compared to before.
Although Afaylia still went hunting in the mountains, he was no longer using the prey hunted to exchange for money and was just doing it to provide them with a sumptuous meal.
That was because the current Afaylia family no longer needed to rely on his income from hunting.
Afaylia had three sons and two daughters, they were all working in factories in Banta City. Every one of them had salaries of over ten gold coins a month and they brought in a total monthly salary of over seventy gold coins.
This much money was something that their family couldn’t earn in a single year before.
With this increase in income, Afaylia’s family’s lives naturally became much better.
Not only did the prey Afaylia hunted become a good meal, their small shack had been dismantled and learning from the other families of the village, they had the Amrit Chamber of Commerce build a two story house out of brick that everyone approved of.
At the same time, their house was filled with household magic machines that improved their lives by several times over.
However, this good life had disappeared with the changing of Banta City’s City Lord.
Although they didn’t go back to the same situation from several years ago where they couldn’t feed themselves, with the agricultural promotion policies of the new City Lord, it mande many factories in Banta City move out or close down. In the end, of the five children that Afaylia had, three of them had lost their jobs and the remaining two had to go to the Falling Rain Valley that was several dozen kilometers away to find new jobs.
Now their family’s monthly income had turned from over seventy gold coins to a trivial twenty gold coins. It had greatly decreased and made their lives much harder.
Of course, that was still much higher compared to before, but now that everyone had a higher standard of living, going from seventy gold coins a month to twenty gold coins a month was without a doubt difficult.
The important thing was that Afaylia’s family’s income had increased in these two years, so he quickly took care of his second son’s marriage and married out his two daughters, turning one household into several households and increasing their burdens.
The even more important problem was that his youngest son Archie was turning eighteen this year. According to the traditions of the village, if he wasn’t married by the age of twenty, others would gossip behind his back.
This kid Archie had actually found a good girl in the village and their relationship wasn’t bad.
After Afaylia saw that girl, he was very satisfied and was planning to take care of their wedding this year or next year.
But the parents of the girl had given their condition. They wanted Archie to prepare a new house for them when they got married and they wanted the house to be filled with household magic machines, which had to be from the Frestech Brand.
This request couldn’t be considered excessive because as living conditions became better, the girls in Banta City had similar requests when they got married.
But the Newiqa Chamber of Commerce that Archie used to work for moved to Canberra City that was over a hundred kilometers away and Archie wasn’t willing to go, so he lost his job. How could he take out all the money to fulfill this condition?
Afaylia and Archie had calculated it, if they wanted to satisfy the request of the girl’s parents, they had to take out at least two hundred gold coins.
Although Afaylia’s family’s income in these two years were very good, they had spent quite a bit in improving their lives and didn’t save much.
So the wedding matter could only be delayed for now and Archie’s mood was getting worse with each day.
Seeing the silent Archie sitting in front of him, Afaylia remembered how his son used to be full of energy and always laughing. He gave a sigh in his heart before looking to the southwest, silently coming to a decision in his heart before saying, “Archie, staying like this isn’t a way, you should think of a way to solve this, right?”
Archie gave a bitter laugh as he helplessly said, “How do we solve it? Our family doesn’t have that much money.” He paused after saying this before a trace of pain appeared on his face and he continued, “How about we forget it? Leia’s parents insist on this high condition, so I might as well not marry her. There are many girls in this world, I can just find another one in the future.”
“Stop speaking nonsense!” Afaylia immediately reprimanded him, “Leia is a good girl and her parents’ condition can’t be considered high, since they want Leia to live a good life. How about this, Archie, don’t stay in this village anymore. Go out to another place and find a good job. Get some money and then come back to marry Leia.”
Archie was stunned, “How can I do that? Big brother and second brother all moved out, I have to stay here to take care of you and mom.”
Afaylia glared at him, “Your mother and I both have hands and feet, why do we need you to take care of us? Listen to me, leave this place and find a good job. When you have money, Leia’s parents will be assured in marrying Leia to you.”
Archie looked at the expression on Afaylia’s face and knew that his dad had already made his decision. He knew that refuting would only make him angry, but he still revealed a bitter smile after thinking about it, “But dad, where should I find a job? The Falling Rain Valley is filled with people, how can I find a good job if I go there? Then again, a wage of over ten gold coins a month isn’t enough, it would take at least two years to save up two hundred gold coins.”
“You can go further if the Falling Rain Valley doesn’t work.” Afaylia shook his head.
Archie was stunned, “Dad, you wouldn’t be wanting me to work at the Black Rice Wasteland, right? Although the wages there are quite high, that is the beastmen’s territory and it’s very dangerous.”
“Of course I’m not willing to have you go to that dangerous place. I’m saying go a bit further, which is the Stantine Duchy.” Afaylia said.
Archie was completely startled and only after a while did he say with a look of disbelief, “Dad, you’re actually agreeing to me going to the Stantine Duchy? That place takes at least a week to travel to by horse carriage. If I go, it’ll be hard to come back. If something happens to you and mom, I wouldn’t be able to come back in time.”
Afaylia laughed, “Who said you’re going alone? Let me tell you, me and your mom will be going as well this time. Didn’t you see the joint job posting the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Cantona Chamber of Commerce put in the «Banta Times»? As long we old farmers with experience are willing to migrate to the land the Frestech Chamber of Commerce rented from the Stantine Duchy, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce will directly pay us a hundred gold coins. Then we can work for the Cantona Chamber of Commerce and become contract farmers, which not only leaves us with enough grains each year, we’ll also receive a yearly salary of a hundred gold coins from the Cantona Chamber of Commerce. Just with me and your mom, that is two hundred gold coins a year.”
“What about me?” Archie asked back, “What will I do?”
“You don’t listen when I say read the «Banta Times» more.” Afaylia looked at his youngest son with disdain, “The Frestech Chamber of Commerce is opening a mine and a canned fruit factory in the Stantine Duchy, so as long as you’re willing to go, how can you not find work?”
Archie thought for a bit before he asked with a bit of difficulty, “But dad…..Like this, aren’t we moving away from here? Running to the Stantine Duchy to start a new life?”
“What are you worried about? Our house is still here, would anyone dare tear it down?” Afaylia looked in Banta City’s direction before giving a cold snort, “If it wasn’t that new damn City Lord, we wouldn’t need to move. But that damn fellow won’t let us live, so what are we staying here for?”
Archie looked at Afaylia like he was seeing him for the first time.
This was his first time noticing that even though his dad was over fifty years old, he still had more of a sense of adventure compared to a twenty year old.
Leaving Banta City he had lived in for decades and running to another country that was over a thousand kilometers away to start a new life, what kind of courage and will did that require?
If it wasn’t for worrying about his and Leia’s wedding, would his dad make this kind of decision?
Thinking of this, Archie couldn’t help being filled with deep guilt before remembering an important issue.
“But dad, if our family moves to the Stantine Duchy, what about Leia? We won’t be here, so Leia’s family might marry her to someone else.”
Afaylia laughed, “What? Kid, you talk about Leia all day and you didn’t hear about this important issue? Let me tell you, I talked to Leia’s dad yesterday and her dad told me that he has already decided to go to the Stantine Duchy to farm for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Cantona Chamber of Commerce. He even asked if I wanted to go together.”
Archie’s eyes lit up, “Could it be that their entire family is moving?”
“Leia’s dad wasn’t certain if their entire family was moving because Leia told her dad that she wants to stay with you. Hei, kid, a girl that is this unreasonably in love with you and you say you don’t want to go, you really don’t know good from bad.”
“Ah?” Archie was stunned. Seeing the mischievous look on his dad’s face, other than the sweet feeling in his heart, there was a shy anger.
After all this time, his dad had been playing with him!