When Alicia entered the territory of the Solomon Viscounty, she could not help but marvel at the changes she saw in every village.
To begin with, what she liked a great deal was the so-called garbage collection system. In every village they encountered along the way there was at least a dozen large containers that served to collect the trash.
Every week large carriages would come to take away the garbage and thus avoid bad smells, which gave her a great sense of cleanliness, even better than in Green City.
According to the locals, the lord viscount had established a garbage collection law: all those who were seen throwing trash in a place other than the containers would be severely punished.
Those who were repeat offenders could even be executed, which seemed an exaggeration in her opinion. She would have to speak with André about that when she met him.
Apart from that, she had become fascinated with a mirror she bought from a merchant. She never would have imagined that mirrors could be so clear and cost only ten gold coins.
Another change she noticed was that the residents seemed happier. She asked the reason and the answer she received surprised her: it seemed there were large factories in Solomon City and they had recruited workers on a large scale. Many people had gone to Solomon City, which had led to an improvement in the lives of many peasants.
She also heard that the farmers were earning much more with the new system invented by the viscount. It consisted of a centralization of the cultivated lands starting from Solomon City. Alicia also realized the benefits this would bring to the people of the viscounty.
This measure would increase the efficiency of the lands and achieve a better distribution of resources, but it would also harm many nobles and landowners.
Now she was very worried about André. In Green City she had seen how cruel people could become when their interests were at stake.
"I hope he doesn't let himself be deceived or manipulated," she thought, while remembering that she was three days' travel away from arriving, and she calmed herself.
Alicia believed she could prevent them from taking advantage of him when she arrived. She had a great deal of experience dealing with those unscrupulous types in Green City. Many, believing she was a weak woman, had tried to deceive her. Thinking about it carefully, it had been like some kind of survival during her time in the Royal Capital.
"Ali, are you still worried?" Suddenly Sofía pulled her out of her internal thoughts. To avoid making them worry, she did not tell them what she believed; she only smiled and explained:
"No, I'm just anxious to arrive."
"We still have three days left to arrive. Looking at how these villages are, I can't imagine what Solomon City will be like," Grace, on the other hand, sighed while looking at the changes in the viscounty.
"I'm also looking forward to it," Sofía said with anticipation.
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Today André was preparing for another busy day. There were still many things to resolve now that the viscounty had entered a period of small accelerated development.
While he was having breakfast he received news that forced him to cancel all the plans he had for that day.
His sister Alicia, together with his cousins Sofía and Grace, were at the city entrance and were on their way to the mansion.
André was surprised: they were supposed to arrive tomorrow. According to intelligence, they should arrive in one more day. It should be known that in this world travel times are almost fixed. André thought for a moment and immediately realized that he had overlooked an important factor.
One of André's priorities since he had taken charge of the viscounty had been the roads throughout the territory. There was a famous saying in his previous world: "Build roads and you will have the world." André could not have agreed more with this.
He had approved a large project that consisted of the paving of all the roads in the viscounty, which was one of the major expenses the treasury had. Mario was distressed about it.
André had previously given Mario the method for manufacturing cement and told him to build five large factories, which were being used mostly for the concrete roads that were being built, since for the moment there was no possibility of using asphalt.
To slightly ease Mario's economic concerns on this matter, André invited all the local nobles of the viscounty, showed them the marvel of concrete, and made them promise half the budget for the roads in their territory.
Then André realized why his sister Alicia had arrived a day early: because the roads in half the viscounty were already paved thanks to the massive manpower used on this project.
On the paved road, the carriage naturally went much faster, so it arrived a day earlier than expected.
André adjusted his suit a little and went out to the entrance of the mansion, where his grandmother Lucrecia, his mother Amanda, and his aunts Carmen, Raquel, and Lucía were already waiting. The latter looked a little pale, as if she had not been eating well. André knew at once why she was in that state: it must be because of the sudden death of her son, his cousin, whom he did not want to name.
Accompanied by Rose, as always, André respectfully greeted everyone and stood between his mother and his grandmother while waiting. Rose wanted to stand behind, but André pulled her to his side, which did not escape his grandmother's eyes; she only smiled upon seeing that.
Soon a luxurious carriage came into everyone's view and stopped in front of the mansion.
A carriage guard stepped forward and respectfully opened the door. Soon a beautiful young woman with blonde hair and green eyes stepped out, a refined face with a noble temperament.
The young woman stepped out and the first thing she did was look toward André and say:
"It's a pleasure to meet you, André. I always wanted to go see you, but for some reasons I couldn't. I'm sorry."
Then she took a step forward and hugged André, who went blank for a moment.
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