Chapter 42: The Generous Princess

After Yulia left, Su Na, having finished reviewing the accounts, pinched the bridge of her nose to relieve the faint aching sensation. This sort of work, which killed so many brain cells, was truly exhausting.

Entering the room and seeing this, Levi naturally walked behind Su Na and began massaging her temples. Su Na leaned back against her chest, closing her eyes to rest.

“Miss, the hot water is ready.”

“Mm…”

Smelling the very faint fragrance on Levi, Su Na felt somewhat drowsy: “Levi, why don’t you learn a bit of arithmetic from me? I can teach you.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, ‘huh’?”

Su Na sat up, turning her head in confusion. Seeing the highly obvious look of resistance on Levi’s usually expressionless face, she couldn’t help but laugh aloud: “Why that expression? This should be something you’re quite good at.”

The reaction, akin to a poor student encountering their natural enemy, formed a stark contrast with Levi’s usual iceberg temperament.

Wasn’t she supposed to be well-versed in both pen and sword? The things a qualified noble knight needed to learn were actually quite extensive; martial arts were only the most basic requirement. After all, without sufficient cultural literacy, how could one achieve logical consistency and use justice and honor to obliterate the enemy?

One had to know that the vast majority of Su Na’s noble etiquette had actually been taught by Levi through words and deeds. Otherwise, relying solely on her transmigrator self, even with memories, it would have been very difficult to digest what the original owner left behind so quickly.

Levi’s face turned slightly bitter, but she confessed honestly: “I truly have no talent for arithmetic…”

Her ability to become Su Na’s personal companion was definitely focused more on relationship than purely on capability. Of course, this didn’t mean she was lacking; rather, combined with her impeccable background, loyalty, and reliability, if her abilities were sufficient for the position, there naturally wouldn’t be an opportunity for anyone else.

People without connections who want to break into a circle must be the party whose abilities are downwardly compatible—meaning the stronger individual can only do work one or several levels below their actual capability.

Her martial arts prowess was two levels higher than her academic coursework. For a successor’s personal maid and head bodyguard, that was absolutely sufficient. Who could have known that Su Na would develop to this extent, requiring arithmetic mastery and the like?

Su Na was out of ideas regarding this. The number of people she could absolutely trust right now was truly insufficient. But this seemed normal; these kinds of logistics heavyweights, regardless of the era, were the core super-brains of any faction—something you could only encounter by chance, not seek out.

Why else did Su Na keep thinking about Yulia? Her smooth-talking, shrewd, and calculating personality was genuinely suited to be trained in this direction.

Unfortunately, Yulia’s current public title was far higher than Su Na’s. Under the influence of traditional noble mentalities, Yulia mostly interacted with her using the mindset of a superior being downwardly compatible with Su Na.

She even wanted to recruit Su Na as her subordinate; how could she possibly give Su Na the chance to flip the hierarchy?

Thinking of Yulia naturally reminded Su Na of Princess Caitlin, whom she had met today. She opened the gift box Caitlin had given her on the table, and a folded parchment deed was revealed within. On the outer layer, the name of the issuing authority and its seal were neatly written with a quill.

The parchment was warm and smooth to the touch, tanned from fine calfskin. The contract document itself possessed considerable value, but of course, the contract it bore was far more valuable: the ownership of a plot of land on the commercial street of the Magic Academy. Converted to area, it was roughly six hundred square meters.

Su Na’s eyes widened slightly. Wasn’t this Princess being a bit too generous?

The Royal Academy was located in the northern part of the royal capital and was an independent zone not under the jurisdiction of the capital’s administrative bodies, occupying an exceptionally vast area. And the Magic Academy’s commercial street was situated right on the boundary line between the royal capital and the academy—an absolutely prime location.

After all, there were very few poor people who could attend the Magic Academy, and nobles loved to indulge. It could be said that the most prosperous areas of the royal capital, aside from the central avenue in front of the royal palace where the powerful gathered, was the Magic Academy’s commercial street. It was a true place where an inch of land was worth an inch of gold.

And don’t think that the people of this world were stupid and didn’t know how to speculate on real estate. What kind of pipe dream were you having, hoping to pick up a bargain at the King’s feet? Su Na hadn’t even expected to be able to buy land there in the next two years.

Yet the Princess had gifted a large plot of land in such a place… One could only say her generosity was terrifying. This was a critical hit against a money-grubber! Damn it!

Beside her, Levi’s eyes also widened in astonishment, and she stuttered slightly: “This… the value of this is enough for Lady Adelaide to rebuild a full-strength heavy knight order…”

Touching the parchment, Su Na was highly surprised upon hearing this: “It’s worth that much?”

She knew the standard for a full-strength heavy knight order: one hundred fully heavy-armored knights and horses, each equipped with two extra horses to carry other weapons and loads.

Calculated at three to four squires per knight, there would be an additional three hundred to three hundred and fifty armored, bow-wielding squire knights with dual horses. A full complement was nearly five hundred men. With the blessing of this world’s magic, the speed of this group charging would truly rival a tank battalion assault.