How to Create a Farm with the All-Known Fantasy Book - 27: Painting with the Duke

At the knowledge of knowing that when a man’s kindness is paid in full, the connection between the one giving the kindness and the one receiving the kindness is usual ended with either a goodbye or a new start of a connection that might lead to something bigger…something like friendship.

In the life of being a thief however, what usually is in return to kindness is not a knife to your back. That way we can see that we still know that we have their trust…in a way…

But when I came to pay the kindness of a simple average man on the other hand, we usually simply approach ourselves in a more peaceful process. No worries for cuts or bruises, in the end it might only come to a simple handshake if anything. I just wonder if this was the case for the Lady herself.

Now here as I stand at the gates of a house as big as small moderate mansion that stands near the shore, where in the distance where I could a lighthouse…there by the distance was the face of the man looking forward at a blank canvass with a paintbrush on his hands as well as a wooden pallete in his other hand; it was the duke himself, the Father of Serena, Duke Darnel Modelva, along with his wife who could only be described as a pearl within the stars…with her white hair and blue eyes, one could see that she was a beauty that reminded me of the Russian Descent.

“…Is this your territory in the Empire? Its not as big as I thought it would be compared to the Percival Family.” I asked.

“…This is our house inside the Empire’s walls…our actual territory is about three days far of travel down west of the Empire’s borders.”

“Is that so?” wondering how far it would take…it only made my butt cramp in the thought of it.

“…Yes, most of my Family’s work is done there. Here, we usually stay to rest from business related matters or if my father is in call from the Emperor himself. But usually, this place is visited by my mother since she loves the view of the ocean and my father since he loves to paint my mother.”

Hearing the ocean waves crash against the sand, the strong but calming feel of the wind and the bright and soothing light of the sun as it was covered by the clouds, this would really be no case to say that it was a majestic sight to see. It was the perfect place to put a beach house on.

“Lets go in, I told my father that I would introduce you personally…so I hope you don’t mind meeting my father as well as my mother.”

“Ah….yeah no, its not really a problem…I think.”

As the guards let us in their territory, I can see that their home really doesn’t have anything too show-off much compared to the Percival’s where they house was compared to that of a military training base…

As we got inside their property, I then noticed a certain quiet girl by the distance on top of the watch lighthouse. seeing as how she was looking our way meant that she noticed us and without any time wasted, I can see her making her way down without halt.

By the time we arrived at the front of the vacation house, the girl came and greeted Lady Serena.

“Welcome back Lady Serena.” said Shirley as she bowed in respect to the noble.

Serena smiled and ordered Shirley with a simple task the moment she got off the wagon.

“Shirley, Please tell the maid to prepare some tea and snacks for the guest, the usual should be good to prepare.”

“As you wish, lady Serena.” without a minute to waste, Shirley went inside the vacation house to pass the order to the maid.

Us on the other hand were lead by Serena to greet the Duke himself. And while he was preoccupied with his painting, Serena didn’t hesitate to bother her father in his activity.

“…Father, I’ve brought Mr. Shay.”

Although she did not act in a way that seems punctual in front of a duke, it was understandable seeing as how the person in front of her wasn’t being seen as a Duke but as a father, so she simply spoke out like what a daughter would to her father in a simple call-out.

“…” putting the paintbrush down at the edge of the canvas shelf, he turned to look at me with a cold and observant gaze.

“Its a pleasure to meet the Lord Duke…” I said as I bowed in respect to him.

“…” with his frilly and freeing apparel along with the calm expression, he seemed gallant in his actions as he stared at me from top to bottom. His brownish red hair, his brown eyes that compared to less of that of a typical brown eye and more of that of a brownish crystal in stars…the man in front of me was a human who could be a face model if he was back on earth…but his age was seen to be around in his thirties.

“…It’s a pleasure to meet you two Mr. Shay, I thank you for saving my only daughter. Please sit down and we’ll have a discussion with your reward.”

He offered me a chair by the patio of his house, and with a kind gesture, I accepted it.

As I sat down, I saw before me the work of the image that was placed in the canvas…what I saw was the scene of the shore and a lady…

The shore and the lady…

Two completely different existence in the canvas…but for some reason, in my sight, I could not separate the distinction between the two…it was as if these two were one and the same…

As the shore with its foamy white touch on the sand and its blue deep color by the end of the edge of its existence, the ocean was speaking to me in its own words of existence…

It was saying…

Here I am…I am deep…I am blue…I can devour you…

And the lady… the lady herself to who stood by the sand with her own two feet…touch to touch, the lady who simply had this expression of wanting to swim in that ocean and become one with it…

Her hair who mended together with the foam, her skin that was as tender as the color of the sand and her deep blue eyes that reflected the dark and gloomy reach of the sea’s end…the lady was simply the ocean itself.

It was as if she was telling the ocean to calm itself and never claim a life…and instead, let them be what they are for who they are is an exemption to the sea’s reach…the sea cannot claim and devour a life…Yet the lady is willing to accept the sea instead.

In that single scene of a moment, I saw the beauty that was on the canvass…

“…” and without control over my emotion, a single tear drop fell from my eye…

It may have seemed weird to some who would have seen me act this way…but I as a man who deemed to love art and to love drawings, paintings…I was always caught by the things that I knew had value…

It made me greedy sometimes to a point that I would steal a few art items myself from museums…it was my way of expressing my love for the work…

But sometimes, I would simply watch as the art of such masterpiece hang itself in a empty wall…condemned with a simple light source facing its way for all the people to see.

“…Mr. Shay? What’s wrong?” asked Serena as she could not help but wonder why I was simply looking at nothing else but the painting.

“…I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but admire the work…its beautiful.”

“…Is that so? Thank you for the compliment. A lot of people have praised my work at times but only a few have only ever understood what my works expressed…tell me, what did you see in this canvass?” he asked.

“…A lady who is willing to devour an ocean so that the ocean can understand her wishes.”

“…”

There, his eyes that opened wider in shock, his smile that came from ear to ear, it was clear to him that he had found a man who understood his painting of his wife…

“…hehe, you have a good eye, a very good and expressive eye indeed…I can’t express how glad I am to hear such an honest description from a stranger…”

“…Ah, your welcome. But I want to thank you as well, its not everyday that I meet some artwork that could actually make me feel something.”

“Hmm, do you paint as well?” he asked.

“Why is that?”

“Well, for a man who knows a bit of value within the world of arts, he must know how to at least express his feelings down into a medium correct?” he asked, intrigued by how a man had to express his love for art.

“haha, you got me there…and yes, I do know how to paint…only a little bit though.”

“Hmm, why don’t you grab a canvass then and paint with me.”

“…But-”

“It doesn’t have to take long or it doesn’t have to be great as well…paint what you see and let me see what you find before you. I’d like to see what it is that made you tear up in the image of my wife.” he said.

“Ah, I guess I can try.”

With this type of conversation and request, both of us…two complete strangers who had an interest in a single thing had made a connection. To deepen it however may need a few works. But I had the interest and intrigued to actually make a bond with someone with the same interest…one can say that I wanted to be a friend to him in this type of field. He seemed civilized to the world of arts… and his talent was strong enough that it made me realize that he showed me a story from a single frame with great colors and great detail.

Who wouldn’t want a friend like that?

“We can talk while we work…if that is okay with you?”

“…Its fine with me.” I answered.

With how Josy was intrigued to find me about to paint, as well as how Serena was shocked to see me comply in her father’s request, I can understand why…

But either way, Josy helped me set up the stand and I made sure to ready myself by staring at the front and looking for a set of inspiration. What the duke did to paint his paintings was his expression for his wife’s love for the ocean and his own love for his wife. I can’t understand how that is, but I can at least interpret the scene before me in a strangers perspective.

Out in the distance, a woman who continues to watch with such a solemn look… only one feeling of emotion came to speak within me.

“…Ah.”

And there, I began to work and express the very emotion of my heart.

It felt weird working while simply on seeing the image before me, yet however, I was inspired all but immediately…was the scene of a lady that powerful in my eyes? I could not tell…not until I finish with my work.

“…So I heard the details of how you saved my daughter in Flat Bioma, but I still find it hard to believe that someone actually roams the Bioma. It made me think that my daughter must have been seeing things…but when she said that you had an artifact in your hands, an artifact that can create a barrier that last all night, I was intrigued even more so.”

“.…”

“I was there when you presented your artifact in front of the emperor, and I was ecstatic to see that my daughter was right. It made me wonder…where did you find such an item?”

“…I can’t say.”

“hoh?…You said the same thing to the emperor. Is that you can’t say or your not suppose to say?”

“…”

“I know a fair amount of people that handles artifacts…and I can understand why you want to keep their names a secret. They handle in the most devious crimes and works that no one else can ever imagine. Going into a ruin is one of the most dangerous places a man can walk into but those people who search for artifacts are braver than anything else…respect is what I have for people like those who come and try to dig artifacts from ruins… so I’ll respect you silence as well if that is what is the case with your artifact.”

“…thank you.”

“So, what would you like for a reward?”

“…Your daughter promised me that she would help me buy off a few things from my wagon.”

“Hmm? Are you selling something?”

“Well, I guess I am.”

“What is it?”

“Its a plant, lady Serena already knows what it is.”

“Serena? What is it?” having looked back to see his daughter, he asked her the question.

“Um…it’s a hail mary plant?” she said in her shaking voice as she was nervous by how he would react.

“A hail mary plant? How long has it been since it was pulled from the ground?”

“…a few days now. It was there when he picked me up from the bioma.”

“…Hmm, Serena you do know what the basic reaction is for this plant to do when its plucked from the ground right?”

“I do, but this is different.” she said.

“Different how?”

“…The plant is still alive.”

“…what?”

Hearing her say that, he could not help but drop his paintbrush down to the floor in shock of what he just heard.

But as he was shocked, by his side, an uncontrollable action of a moving brush continued to scatter in the canvass…

With the color of the sun…the clouds…the fairing sea…and the wonders of a lady who had her hair go against the blowing winds…

I was in the mode to continuously paint even when my hand was starting to cramp.

Each of my actions were starting to get wilder and wilder to a point that my canvass was shaking…but my body had to react to my very own emotion…my emotion to finish the painting…

Like a wild animal in front of a prey, it could not escape its sight.

The Duke saw this and was taken aback by the very style of my work…

Because the moment I dropped my brush down, the painting fell overto the ground.

“…!?”

Under him was the scene of the image of what I saw in front of me…

A lady under the sun…a lady that looks beyond the seas…a lady that yearns for her dream…a lady in white hair.

A lady…his wife.