Being a Life Player in the Middle Ages

Bayard came over after breakfast. It seemed that he had not gone home last night, because there was no movement in the house next door all day.

When he came, Mia had already tidied herself. She changed into air-dried underwear, feeling that this small piece of cloth gave her a strong sense of security. She also changed into a clean petticoat, but the robe she wore outside was still the same one as before. In fact, people in this era rarely wore clean robes, especially in cold seasons. They would wash them once a month. Therefore, in order to prevent the clothes from getting dirty, everyone needed to wear an inner lining, that is, a petticoat, to prevent skin oil from staining the outer robe. At the same time, they would wear an apron over the robe when working.

Mia braided her hair into two pigtails. What Mia envied most was that Mia had thick, naturally curly long hair. Even the braids were thick and long, unlike her own three years in high school, when her hair was frizzy and falling out in clumps every day, and she was almost becoming a bald girl.

"Good morning, Lord Bayard."

"Good morning." Bayard returned the greeting with his head held high, adding, "Just call me Bayard."

Bayard is not a person who likes to put on airs, and many residents of this street have watched him grow up. People used to call him Little Bayard, but now they just call him Bayard, and only add "adult" when joking. Bayard is not used to hearing people call him that on Oppetes Street.

Mia readily agreed: "Okay, Brother Bayard."

Hehe, although calling him brother is a bit shameless, Mia learned from Martha that Bayard is a few months older than her original age, so there is nothing wrong with calling him brother, and it makes them seem closer.

On the one hand, Mia was very grateful to Bayard for saving her life, so she had a great affection for him. On the other hand, she also knew that with her current status, it would be very beneficial for her to have a person of high status as a backer.

Bayard accepted Mia's name well, as many children on the street called him that, and Mia was indeed very young in his opinion, so there was nothing wrong with her calling him brother.

He acknowledged the title and asked if she was ready to go out.

"We're ready, we can go now."

Mia adjusted her cloak and said goodbye to Martha and her husband.

"Come back early, Bayard, you too, come over for dinner tonight."

Seeing her happy expression, Bayard nodded in agreement. After they left, he asked Mia, "Have you told Martha you want to stay?"

"Yes, I have already said that."

Mia fiddled with her pigtails sheepishly, "But I'm still considering adoption."

In fact, she was somewhat tempted by this proposal, mainly because people of her age must have a guardian, otherwise she might still be found by her relatives. Without a guardian, it would always be a hidden danger.

But what made her hesitate was that Martha and the others had not brought up this matter. Would it be inappropriate for her to bring it up rashly?

Bayard agreed: "It was my mistake."

Adoption is a very important matter. The status of a formally adopted child is no lower than that of a biological child, and they also enjoy the right of inheritance. Although this matter was proposed by Bayard, he had not actually asked Martha and the others. It was actually a bit hasty and presumptuous for him to ask Mia directly at the time.

Bayard decided to bring up this matter with Martha and the others in the evening, otherwise Mia would agree but Martha and the others would not agree, and things would become very awkward.

Bayard came on horseback, and his horse was right in front of the herbal medicine shop. It was not the first time Mia rode with him. Although she was still a little scared, she finally sat on it steadily.

Seeing her nervousness, Bayard slowed down and let his horse trot slowly on the street: "This is Bailey, a mare with a good temper. She won't throw you off."

Belle is a Central Asian steppe horse. This breed of horse is taller than the Mongolian horse and also has extraordinary endurance. It is a very good horse breed. Bayad's Belle was his trophy in a war. At that time, it was just a young mare that had just reached adulthood. After Bayad tamed it, it became his favorite mount.

Of course, a knight cannot have only one horse. They will prepare at least two horses for themselves to replace when needed, and they need to prepare these themselves. The army will not prepare horses and weapons for knights and soldiers.

Bailey is indeed a very docile horse. Compared to the last bad experience she had riding her, Mia felt much more comfortable this time. Although it was still a bit bumpy, it was within an acceptable range.

Bayard took her out of Oppetes Street, crossed several relatively flat secondary roads, walked into another main road, and stopped in front of a house.

The lawyer he introduced was named Komnenos, a mature man of about forty years old, but he seemed very gentle and good at talking.

After knowing Mia's purpose, the Komneno lawyer asked about her family situation in detail before accepting the commission. However, in addition to the commission fee based on the commission of Mia's final inheritance, he also charged a considerable amount of travel expenses.

"I need to go to your hometown to get your inheritance. Besides, as you said, your father has properties in other cities and countries, and I'll need to collect those as well. This will take a long time, and the travel expenses are not cheap."

This was actually a very troublesome commission. Komnenos had to leave Constantiburg for several months and go to other cities or even countries. During this period, he had to give up other work in Constantiburg. It can be said that if Mia had not been brought by Bayard, he would not have accepted such a commission.

Of course, most of the work abroad can be handed over to other people, which is also an important reason why he is willing to accept the commission. If he really has to travel to all places alone, it will probably take him one or two years.

Mia agreed to the travel expenses proposed by the other party without bargaining, but she did not have the money to pay lawyer Komnenos at the moment, so they agreed that these expenses could be paid after Komnenos went to Mia's hometown to obtain the largest inheritance.

"Then let me confirm again. After you receive the inheritance, you will sell all the properties under your father's name and cash them out, right?"

"Yes." Mia was not planning to go back. Not to mention that the journey was long and she couldn't stand the bumps in between, but she might be detained by other relatives after returning, which was very troublesome because she was only thirteen years old and a minor who needed a guardian. After her father passed away, the priority candidate for her guardian would naturally be her father's relatives. If she went back, even if she successfully got the inheritance, those people could detain her in the capacity of her guardian, and then take away her things under various names, and finally choose a "suitable" marriage partner for her and sell her off.

This is not the future Mia wants.

So even if Mia would lose a lot of money by selling her property, she would never regret it.

Naturally, this matter was entrusted to lawyer Komnin.

In fact, she was not afraid that the other party would embezzle her property. Most of Mia's father's money was in the bank - yes, there were banks as early as the ancient Roman period - so he did not keep much cash at home. As long as Mia got the inheritance documents, she would go to the bank to withdraw money, so the possibility of this part being embezzled was very low. The only things that could be tampered with were various real estate, such as houses and shops.

But since Bayard said Komnin was a trustworthy lawyer, Mia was willing to believe in his professional ethics.

They spent a long time discussing the details. Bayard was prepared to help Mia and Komnenos negotiate. After all, he had asked them for the same thing before and knew the specific process and what to pay attention to.

But Mia's performance surprised him greatly. She and Komnenos had a very close exchange of ideas. She asked in detail about many things that Bayad himself had not noticed before, and she even asked about and analyzed every clause in the contract word for word. She would find out any doubts and discuss revisions with Komnenos. As a result, the lawyer, who had originally had a somewhat frivolous attitude, had to adjust his attitude and adopt a professional attitude to talk to her in detail. As a result, he had a much better impression of this young guest and even admired her a little.

Mia: Thank you for the invitation. I have also dealt with lawyers before regarding inheritance issues and have read all the inheritance-related clauses in the Civil Code.

After signing the contract and sending them away, Bayard could see that Komnin was getting impatient. He seemed to be overwhelmed by Mia's (in his opinion) tricky questions. He was very unwelcome for them to stay any longer, so he didn't even offer them lunch as a courtesy.

So Bayard had to take Mia out for lunch, but Mia insisted on treating herself.

"Today's itinerary is all because of me. I've delayed so much of your time. How can I still let you treat me?"

Mia deliberately brought some coins with her when she went out. Although it was only a few foleys (silver-plated copper coins, called silver coins here), it was enough for them to have a good meal.

At this time, the Dongbai Empire did not have only two meals a day like in the later period. They still had three meals a day, but they ate less in the morning and at noon, and dinner was the most abundant meal of the day.

Before leaving, Martha had already invited Bayard to have dinner together in the evening, so they only needed to have a simple meal at noon.

Many streets in Constantiburg have colonnades on both sides - but unfortunately, the section of Operts Street where Martha and her friends live does not have any - these colonnades are mostly used for commercial activities, so there are many shops and stalls in the colonnades, and naturally there are people coming and going.

This corridor supported by tall pillars can not only shelter from wind and rain, but also looks beautiful and elegant. In Mia's eyes, it is full of historical atmosphere. Moreover, horseback riders are allowed to pass through the colonnade, so they found a restaurant that looked good along a colonnade and enjoyed a lunch with local characteristics, which cost Mia three pounds.

If they go to buy bread, one pound of bread can be bought for about two kilograms, and three pounds of bread can be eaten by a family of three for several days. It can be seen that eating out is still quite expensive.