[ Chapter I (1): "TROUBLESOME HEIR LEARNS HOW TO... BAKE BREAD?" ]
The morning sun is shining brightly through the many-many windows of the old castle with hundreds of years of history all over it. Which prompted Callisa, servant of the castle and daughter of the old Bellinda, to start her designated work.
[ "Young Lord, it's morning. Please wake up, don't make it difficult for the both of us." ]
For thirteen and a half years she had worked for the Boggs Family as a servant, as a maid. She loved the work, as she was raised and taken care of by the said noble family. And also because she is assigned to the genius and eccentric Heir of the house, which would be Lloyd.
As the sole son of the Lord, direct descendant and someone who has blood with hundreds of years of history coursing through his veins, of First Men. He is already someone that not even the Common People could reach.
But plus the fact that he is social to the servants and to anyone no matter their standing, caused him to be more loved. The fact that he is someone who is thirsty for knowledge, always learning no matter what knowledge, made him beloved by the people even foreign ones.
Before his first name day, he was already able to communicate and socialize with anyone around him. Causing him to be approachable and cherished by the Lady and Lord of the House.
Before his second name day, he was already someone interested on adventure. To the point that he would escape the grasp of the maids to venture out to the gardens and talk to the Knights, subsequently learning basic swordplay when he was finally able.
He learnt and learnt, even the servants work he learnt which caused the mother of Callisa to sigh in disbelief. To everyone to be confused, as he learnt everything without a pause. Causing the young Lord's parents to wonder what's going on.
But the persistent nature of the young Lord wasn't at all stopped by them, no matter what they do. After years and years of back and forth, the Lord and Lady let the young Lord do his thing. Albeit under supervision of someone they trust— which falls in the hands of Callisa and some Squire.
When she was assigned to supervise the Lord, she was happy and excited to do so. As she had heard many wonderful things related to the Lord. Even listened to him talk about wonderful stories he wrote himself.
But who would have thought that a year in her work, that the novelty of such thing would fall and now... Now she is stressed 24/7 due to the young Lord having become even more eccentric in his ways. Sneaking out of his room, sneaking out to the town, brewing his own mead.
The child which is 5 name days her junior, she couldn't believe he is so-so much more knowledgeable to her even though he could only be seen lazing and running around the entire castle 24/7, or either running off the town in disguise.
Shaking her head in disbelief, she couldn't believe her luck as she tries to shake off the morning thoughts away from her head. The drowsiness disappearing when she approached the bed of the Lord.
[ "Young Lord...?" ]
[ "Oh dear..." ]
She dropped the basin of water that she was holding when she realized the problem, she didn't even need to throw open the covers to realize that the young Lord once again sneaked out into the town.
How he was able to do it, even though he was living on the third floor of the heavily guarded castle, she doesn't know? She stopped asking after the 15th try. When she was only replied with, "magic." by the young weird Lord that she is serving.
To confirm her suspicion, she then hurried and pulled the white covers to the side. And to her horror, the young Lord wasn't there. In his stead is pillows shaped to make an outline of an 8 name day child.
[ "Oh no..." ]
...
[ "I wonder... have Callisa now discovered the decoy? I hope they're panicking." ]
Contrary to the chaos that he caused in the castle, he is instead joyfully walking the streets of Frontera— the towned governed and protected by his Lord Father.
His destination? The run down bakery on the other side of the town, as he wants to both learn through first-hand experience and share the knowledge that he had learnt to the owner of the said bakery. And lastly because he wants to complete the Mission.
[ DAILY MISSION: ]
[ DESCRIPTION: LEARN HOW TO BAKE BREAD THROUGH A SEASONED BAKER, AS NO MAN KNOWS WHEN HE'LL NEED TO BAKE BREAD FOR A LIVING. PLUS CREDITS AND EXPERIENCE IF YOU YOURSELF BAKED ANY TYPE OF EDIBLE BREAD ]
The Ultimate System which had been making him it's slave for years, kept sending him missions daily since he was born. At the moment, this is the 3,000th something mission it has given. And all of it borderlines on useless, to basic, to confusing and even to useful.
The said System doesn't have any basic functions besides the Shop and Mission, the latter which commands him, the former of which he uses to buy books. It only do sell books, refresh each day, 1-3 items, about random topics that ranges from useful to not, to entertaining and boring.
He was reincarnated in a medieval world that has no entertainment in it. So he could only rely and play with the System to entertain him, and the books that it sells do in fact entertain him to some degree. Is the most useful thing for him, as varying books taught him things related but not limited to:
Horse riding, the way of the sword, gun, freedom of speech, quotes, war tactics, how to govern, manipulation, sex, blacksmithing, science, songs, planting, tea making, how to teach, about religions, pets and many more. But perhaps what is most important for today's lovely mission is, baking.
All of what he learnt is by the books, through the books and not first-hand experiences. So even if he study about calisthenics, or exercises. If he himself doesn't move his body, then what he leant is useless. So now, he wants to learn baking, which was pushed by the System's Mission.
Smiling to himself, Lloyd didn't even notice the fact that the people around him slowly decreased, before then it was only him. He didn't mind, even though he is but 8 years-old, name days as called in this world. What a weird quirk. Instead, he knocked on the abandoned bakery's door in front, thrice.
[ KNOCK ] x3
[ "Oh... shit." ]
He watches in dismay as the door creaks, not to open, but instead to fall inward with a loud thud. Alerting anyone who is sleeping, probably. Or one that'll probably make the owner of the bakery to be angry at him, ruining his rapport with the individual. Hopefully not.
He isn't a vampire, but he does share the characteristics of theirs in not entering a person's personal space, a house, or a bakery in this case without first asking a person. So he did;
[ "Uhh- hello, is anyone there?" ]
In not receiving a reply, he waited. But after some time of not receiving a response, he instead broke his rule of thumb and entered. That is of course with him saying that he'll enter, he might be a troublemaker but he isn't rude at least.
[ "Yeah- well. I'm coming in." ]
He stepped inside the small-time bakery, on the door to be more precise. And instantly his nostrils was filled with ash, dust, and even a foul smell of something rotten. He glanced on one corner and could see a rat decaying, being teared apart by ants.
[ "Oh wow, that's cute." ] Instead of fearing it, he instead thought that it is cool. As ants here— in Westeros, if he isn't wrong, are completely different species compared to the ants that they have back in Earth.
That, or the second option which. He doesn't know everything about ants, as there is more or less about 20,000 species of ants out there on Earth alone. He just speculates that, with the world being different and medieval, it might have unique species of ants.
Covering his nose, he entered deeper inside the bakery. And he could see wooden chairs and tables, decaying, cracks, some even broken on the corner; all of which is filled with dust, or even termites destroying it.
[ "Is anyone in here?" ]
[ "I want to learn how to bake bread, edible at the very least." ]
[ "I'll compensate you appropriately, I have, uhh- money. Shing-shing." ]
He shaked the small pouch besides his waist, and tried to alert the person living in it that he is in fact. Loaded, as his pocket money is his alone due to ventures relating to fountain pens and paper; which is being handled by his Father.
To his Lord Father's dismay that is, as he gets swarmed in paper work and business trips. But at the very least his family's cuffers are filled due to his invention, and are being invested back to the common people to his request— while giving him more than enough pocket money to spend the way he likes it to be.
But to his dismay, the act of shaking his bronze, silver, gold coins filled pouch didn't warrant any attention from any part of the building. Except for the rats running though that is. Causing him to be confused.
[ "Huh... And here I thought someone was living in here." ]
[ "Wasn't there?" ]
Sitting on one of the chairs which is about to give up, Lloyd which is not pronounced as L-loyd could be seen glancing down at the trail of ants nearby. As he tries to remember if there is in fact, a person living in this bakery. Perhaps there isn't.
Which is shame, because alike the other stores he entered and learnt from. He would have made it rich through recipes he jotted down in his books, or make it famous enough through unique selling strategies.
Things of which he learnt through the hundreds of thousands of books he bought, digitalized books that he bought through the System. But it seems that it wouldn't be needed in this said store, making him sigh in dismay that is.
He loves underdog stories, and also because the more worse the reputation of a said store. The more he'll be able to con a percentage of the sell from them, like for example a near bankrupt blacksmith selling more sturdier and deadly swords.
He'll take a 10% cut of every sale that said blacksmith sells. Which would be written in a paper, signed and approved by both parties, and viola. That said shop days later would then be the best in town to the point that other foreign Knights and Sellswords would venture out just to buy a quality sword for an expensive price.
He isn't an asshole-ish son, so he gives about 5% of every passive earnings of his to his Father, then 5% of it to his Mother. Then 15-40% back to the people, orphanages and other institutions which is being governed by his Father— hah, more work for him.
At the moment, the small rundown town of Frontera is a hotspot to unique items and merchandise due to the things he and his Lord Father works on. That is of course, to the dismay of the latter as he'll be the one to do all the work in the end.
Aside from the nine Noble Houses which are either influential, or rules a large area. House Boggs of the Crownlands is somewhere in the influential and rich houses of all the Houses in the Kingdom of Westeros— and is the uncrowned King of the Crownlands, that small smudge in the map that serves the King directly.
Due to the spot where the Boggs territory is located, it is surrounded by more or less 33 other Houses. Which is a bad thing in times of war, as you wouldn't know which one would backstab you or not. But at the time of peace, that's a great thing.
As more direction and pathway would lead to his House, making it a commercial, influential, and rich House. Haha, how lucky. After waiting for a about minute or two, staring at the ground and reminiscing, Lloyd had enough and was about to leave.
[ "Catch the thief!" ]
[ "Quick, he's running away and entering that bakery!" ]
[ "Fuck you, bastards!" ]
[ "Huh, the what now?" ]
But paused in hearing multiple voice of shouting outside, as he couldn't help but be curious. Tilting his neck to the side, looking out the door. He could see a bearded, unkempt man running inside the building.
At the same time, Lloyd was ready for the worse case scenario and is holding the small flintlock besides his waist; ready to shoot on sight like what police officers do.
He watches as the said man widens his eyes in confusion. But in being pressed and chased by some men holding swords, hatchet and a... pitchfork? He had no choice but to pull up the wooden door and use it to cover the doorway, as it gets pounded.
[ "Who the fuck are you?!" ]
[ "Kid, shouldn't I be asking that?!" ]
[ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ]
[ 07/05/2025 ]
[ 07/06/2025 ]
[ AN: I named my protagonist Lloyd because of Lloyd Frontera, not Lloyd the Green Ninjago. Anyways, he owns the digital copy of Bolton's Catalogue of Ants of the World: 1758-2005 and Georg Lauber:
How to Build Your Own Flintlock Rifle or Pistol, amongst many of course. ]