Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks-Chapter 559 - 334: The Legend of Urding

Why do you want to be friends with me?

Because from the first moment I saw you, the system alerted me: You have encountered a new Six-star Attendant, Lavinia. If you gain her recognition, you may choose to take her away from the battle-record world. (Only one allowed)

But such matters can’t be spoken out loud.

Losa just smiled: "With a beautiful lady like you, hoping to befriend you should be considered a very normal thing, right?"

"Perhaps."

Lavinia frowned. Losa was right. She always had many suitors, but she felt that Losa’s intentions were different from those people.

She suddenly said: "Someone’s coming."

On the open space of the rooftop, a girl in a silver-gray robe slowly appeared. Her gaze swept over the female gunner, Lavinia, and Losa in turn, and then she came before Losa.

Valentina frowned: "Are you okay?"

"No problems."

Losa shook his head.

Lavinia spoke: "Anyway, for what happened today, I’m in your debt. I’ll be leaving now."

Valentina frowned: "Wait, you can leave, but the assassin must stay."

Lavinia turned back, her expression solemn: "Valentine of the Saluzzo Family, she fired on the streets, attempting to attack innocent passersby before I... apprehended her. By both emotion and reason, I should take her away."

Valentina was silent for a moment, then waved her hand: "Alright, what you said makes sense. Did you also save Losa?"

Lavinia shook her head: "No, his strength is considerable. Even if I hadn’t appeared, the assassin might not have been his match."

She said she subdued the gunman alone just to skip mentioning Losa acting on his own to hand over the assassin to her, not to take credit.

Now, it was Valentina’s turn to view Losa differently.

"You may leave."

"Farewell."

After Lavinia left, Valentina’s expression relaxed a bit: "Tell me, what do you think of this attack?"

"Miss, it’s evident that someone is trying to incite a war between us and the Bologna Wolf Race."

"Who do you think it is?"

Losa shook his head: "It could be anyone, Bologna, Yakxi, or even radical factions within Saluzzo looking to use this opportunity to justly annex Bologna Family’s territory..."

An organization is always composed of various sorts of people with different thoughts.

Even the wolves of Texas might not all be willing to see the wandering wolves achieve the same status as themselves.

Valentina’s expression subtly changed. She pondered for a moment, seemingly having a guess, then she said: "You’ve done well. Honestly, when Elmer first found me and said you were attacked by a suspected Centurion-level gunman, I was prepared to collect your body."

Losa smiled but remained silent.

Valentina was a bit puzzled: "With your skill level, how come you only ended up as a mere corner leader? I heard you don’t even have your own domain."

Losa showed an embarrassed smile: "Sorry, Miss, I’m quite afraid of death, so I hide my strength."

"You’re rather candid."

Valentina laughed: "Alright, since you’ve been exposed, don’t think about slacking off from now on. I’ll promote you to be my Personal Guard. The benefits... are to be determined. I have to gauge your strength first. If you can withstand a minute under me, I’ll give you Centurion-level benefits."

Losa looked a bit helpless: "Thank you, Miss."

"Your and Elmer’s task is complete. This afternoon, I’ll give you a break to go explore. It’s rare to visit Bologna. I suggest you two can go have a drink at a tavern near Sea God Square. They have good wine there, and the women too."

Then, Valentina disappeared without a trace.

"Didn’t leave me any funding..."

Losa muttered a couple of sentences, not even knowing what a Centurion’s monthly salary was, concerned that coming to a battle-record world would cost him out of his own pocket.

Losa returned to the alley where he parted with Elmer. After waiting for a while, Elmer hurriedly arrived, panting.

"You’re okay?"

He looked surprised.

Losa gave a brief explanation, and Elmer’s expression instantly became more complicated: "You really were hiding your strength. On the road, I was worrying about your safety."

"Alright then, you’re fine, I’m fine, everyone’s happy."

He shrugged and said: "Let’s go. Let’s take this opportunity to go shopping since we rarely get a break."

To be honest, he really wanted to wander around Turin and experience the Italian flavor of this era.

...

After the two finished touring, they arrived at Sea God Square by dusk.

"Let’s go. I’ll treat you to dinner."

Elmer suddenly suggested.

Losa readily agreed: "Alright, I was just feeling my wallet was thin."

The two casually picked a tavern, only to see Elmer order a large amount of food and drink all at once, filling the table to the brim.

"Is it this lavish?"

Losa was a bit surprised. Elmer wasn’t exactly poor, but certainly not wealthy. A worker at the paper box factory, after working hard for a whole day—fourteen hours, would typically earn just four liras.

So, this meal equaled a day’s salary for five paper box factory workers.

"You saved my life, after all!"

Elmer’s face showed some embarrassment: "Honestly, at that time, I was scared that the next time I saw you, there’d be only a corpse left since I knew at my level, I couldn’t possibly avenge you."

Losa patted Elmer on the shoulder.

"Why are you patting me?"

Losa looked at the puzzled Elmer, awkwardly withdrew his hand, thinking, this is the recognition of Duke Losa, something countless people dream of in my world.

"Have you heard of Bishop Urding?"

"Which Urding?"

"Urdin Canosa." "The one who was once the Archbishop of Milan."

"Of course, I’ve heard of him. In Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria, and Romagna, people never tire..."

"He had an annual income of fifteen thousand francs at that time, which is three hundred thousand liras. He only kept less than one-tenth for himself, donating the rest to the poor."

In this era, precious metal currencies in all countries are equivalent in value.

A five-franc coin and a one US dollar coin weigh the same, only differing in face value numbers, but both are equivalent to about twenty-five grams of Silver Coins.

Similarly, a hundred-lira coin in Losa’s hand can be exchanged for a five-franc coin of the same weight. As for a one-lira coin, it can only be exchanged with a "sou."

Of course, while the face value of currency looks stable, it actually fluctuates frequently. For example, when the price of Gold is high, people are more willing to melt Gold Coins for more Silver Coins, which is why major powers have abandoned the gold-silver bimetallic standard in favor of the Gold Standard.

However, the Apennine States lack this gold reserve, so they are forced to continue with the silver standard or, more precisely, the gold-silver bimetallic standard.