"Uh, don't mind it. It's because it's snowing pretty hard, right?"

"Yes, Young Lord. But thanks to these tools, we can get rid of the snow somehow."

Aunt Claire also mentioned it, but he wondered what kind of tools they meant. When he checked them, they turned out to be just ordinary tools like shovels and such.

At that moment a strange noise reached his ears.

—Hoongggg!

Eh? What was that?

When he glanced at where the noise originated, he saw one of the workers holding something that resembles a Grass Cutter. It looks like it but is not really the real thing. That thing has a sharp steel disc, spinning furiously to cut the hardened ice on the riverbank.

"That tool, what is that?" His curiosity dominates him.

At his question, the worker who was holding the tool answered him respectfully.

"This thing is called Furious Cutter, Young Lord," replied the worker.

Eman slightly frowned. He noticed everyone was calling him 'Young Lord', and it sounded weird for some reason. Maybe he was just not used to being called that. Or, perhaps because he felt something was lacking.

Mulling over the issue at that moment, Eman immediately realized what it was that he felt was so lacking.

A name. A surname to be exact.

That's right. Since he was originally a peasant, he didn't have a surname. And now that he became a noble as an Honorary Knight and a lord of a tiny land, he could apply to have a surname, no? That's what he learned from the empire's law.

Once he had a surname, they could call him by it. For example... Lord XXX or Mister YYY.

That would sound better I guess.

In any case, he needed to think first about what surname to choose. In fact, there were some ways to get a surname.

One of the most common ways to get a surname was to establish your own brand or name. You can establish your own surname as long as you're recognized by the empire as a noble.

And how do they recognize you as a noble?

Of course, with the blessing of the emperor who is the father of the empire.

Next question is, how will the emperor bless you with such a title?

It was through achievements. An achievement that was worthy enough to warrant you a title of a noble.

Based on how he understood each family faction here in this empire, it seemed like not all those families were truly related by blood at first.

In the history book in the academy library, it mentioned that some of those families were originally from a small group till their numbers grew to such an extent.

According to history, the first emperor didn't become emperor through throne descendency.

He became the emperor after his faction absorbed all the other factions. Following that, the strongest faction was formed. Thus, the Whitestone Empire was established and the ruling family became the highest noble family, the Imperial Family.

Going onward, many of those factions married their faction members, then as time went by, their descendants became blood-related.

That was how the empire was formed. It might also be the reason why there was a system known as the 13 families.

No wonder this empire and even the academy like to establish clans and guilds or some kind of group. It's because their history is like that.

Anyway, aside from establishing your own faction, you could also join an already established faction, which was the better choice according to most.

Joining an already-established faction comes with many benefits. The most common benefits you'll get from joining an already established faction are 'protection' and 'sponsorship'. In this clause, you'll become another branch of the faction. That said, the patriarch or the highest leader of the faction will have the highest authority.

Now, it's up to him to decide which to choose for his faction. Whether Eman chose to join a stronger family or establish his own faction.

Now that he thought about, a surname could also be a faction name like the Skyblaze Family.

Eman decided to think about it later. For now, he has other things he needs to do first. Sometimes later, he excused himself.

The waterwheel was almost done. They already finished assembling the waterwheel and now they were in the process of placing it.

Thinking that he was just a hindrance to their work, he excused himself first. It wasn't good if he stayed there. He was only distracting their work.

That Furious Cutter tool was for sure modeled after the Grass Cutter. It was supposedly very surprising seeing it, but after seeing a gun, Eman couldn't be surprised anymore if one or two tools identical to the tools from Earth appeared here.

Before leaving, Eman said his thanks and asked them to stay for the night because there would be a celebration coming.

They were hesitant to agree at first, but after Eman told them that he brought an expensive liquor from the capital, the three workers agreed to stay.

Eman then headed to the mining site. It was located in the northeast of the village, near the mountain.

It was a few miles away from the river. Arriving at the foot of the mountain, he discovered that the whole area was covered by snow. Well, he already expected it.

He saw the entrance to the tunnel attached to the mountain wall. Eman slowly approached it. It was dark inside and it was apparent from what he saw that the place was abandoned a long time ago.

In the castle library, he learned a little about the history of this mining site. It was also one of the reasons why Eman decided to read books in the castle library, to figure out the history of this mining site. It was whether they stopped mining this area because the minerals they could get in this area had been exhausted, or they stopped mining because of the attack of bandits.

After rummaging through the books there, he found the record of this village. In that record, he learned that the village was attacked by bandits while mining was still active in this area.

Maybe you were wondering what his intention was for coming here. It was obvious, wasn't it? To check whether there were still minerals left that could be mined in this place.

Anyway, those bandits might have been mining this place after they took over this place. If that was the case, then there was a bigger chance that they had exhausted the minerals in this mine.

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