Raised in Dungeon



In the commotion in the queue, a woman slapped the man who created the commotion. When the woman removed her hairpin and let it loose, the soldier immediately realized she was Lady Barkaley, Theda Helme Barkaley.

"How stupid; if this food is really poisonous, how come the effects haven't been seen for a week," Lady Theda said, "if you don't want to buy them, just leave this place. No one will mind. Those who buy will be full, while those who don't will be hungry. It's that simple."

After asking the soldiers to confine the man to the city jail, Lady approached Allen, who bowed his head.

"Take it easy," Allen raised his head again. Meanwhile, Jack, Pascoe, and Peter were still bowing their heads in fear.

"Do you mind if you come to our residence after this? I'll invite you as a guest. There are many things I want to ask," hearing that made everyone wide-eyed in surprise. Let alone inviting as a guest, even entering the noble residence was the rarest thing a commoner could do. Commoners could only enter the noble residence once they had the status of a soldier, maid, or slave.

"I can't," Allen replied quickly.

"Oi! Allen! What are you doing?! You can't refuse a noble's request!" whispered Peter beside him.

"Depending on your reason, I can forgive you," Lady Theda said.

"Lady, look at these lines. Many people might need these potatoes right away. I can't leave them right away and let them starve tomorrow."

'This kid really thinks of others rather than himself, doesn't he? Or is he just a fool who has no respect for nobles?'

Understanding Allen's answer, Theda continued to ask.

"Then the person beside you..."

"I'm Peter, one of the groundskeepers here."

"Peter, I will ask Allen to come to my residence tomorrow. So the one who takes care of the sales for tomorrow is you, is that possible?" asked Theda with a hint of intimidation; plus, she set Allen's schedule as if Allen had agreed to come tomorrow.

"Of course I can!" replied Peter.

"Allen, I'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow," Theda said as she left.

"Wait Lady!" called Allen, stopping Theda's footsteps and making her turn around.

"I can come tomorrow, but can I bring my guardian with me?"

"Guardian? Oh you mean the master of that tavern?"

"Yes."

"That's fine; you can bring him with you."

'That master seems to know a lot of things too, after all this kid is probably still too young to understand complicated conversations.'

Receiving an invitation from a noble to visit their residence was a rare occurrence that had never happened before for me. It was customary for a noble to issue commands rather than invitations to commoners like myself. However, this invitation was not accompanied by any expectation of compulsion. While nobles did not have the authority to take a commoner's life, they were still subject to laws that regulated their actions towards us and future generations.

The commoner receiving an invitation from a noble to visit their residence was a rare occurrence that had never happened before. Because from the beginning, if a noble asked a commoner to come to his house, it would be an order that must be obeyed. However, a noble could not usurp a commoner's right to life; nobles did not have the authority to take a commoner's life or their future without their consent. They were still subject to laws that regulated their actions toward the commoners.

Rodion and Susan were half surprised when they heard this from Allen.

"I knew that lady was rich, but I didn't expect her to be a landowner's wife," Susan said.

"And you madly refused her request. If she thinks you're insubordinate, she could just kill you for rejecting the noble's command, you idiot," Rodion said as he held his aching head.

"No worries, if that happens, I won't retaliate; I'll run."

Rodion smacked Allen's head "That's not what I mean, stupid! It means you won't be able to work here anymore!"

"Master you don't need to dwell on the past; we were told to come anyway."

"Yes, you're dragging me into your problems! Now what should we do…"

"About what? We just need to come, right?!"

"'Just' you say," Susan shook her head, "there's no way we're going to come to the manor house in these shabby clothes."

Rodion then took out a small gold coin from his pocket and said, "Fortunately, we got extra money from that noble. Let's go to the market immediately. We should buy something a little cleaner and more decent."

...

The tavern had to close the next afternoon because Allen and Rodion had to leave for the Barkaley residence. On that occasion, Susan was asked to clean the tavern.

The Barkaley residence was a large house with an iron gate that allowed us to see inside. Unlike the Boldenville residence, there were not many flowers, only grass covered the ground.

"What's wrong? Are you surprised to see a big manor building?" asked Rodion to a stunned Allen,

"Yes, I was." Actually he kept staring at it because he felt uncomfortable because he had been inside that house before when he was tied up and whipped in its basement.

At the gate, two guards escorted them to the front door, and at the front door, two maids escorted them to Barkaley's workroom.

For some reason, Allen felt nostalgic when he walked into the big house, especially since Barkaley's study was on the second floor.

As soon as he opened the room door slowly, Allen felt as if he was back to when he first opened the door of Isabelle's workroom.

"Lady Theda, your guests, Allen and Rodion, have arrived," the two maids said in unison.

"Welcome; you may sit down," said Lady Theda, who was not sitting in her desk chair. In the chair was a short man with glasses who was writing, looking tired behind the stack of books in front of him.

As for Lady Theda, she was drinking tea while sitting with her legs crossed.

"Let's talk about potatoes."