From Londoner To Lord

Nobody made a sound in response.

Nokozal gave a satisfied nod. "Good! That's what I like to hear!"

He continued, "If we raid the village bravely instead of hiding in the quarry like cowards, we will still be able to get what we want from them, no matter how many guards are hiding in the manor! I am not going to leave empty-handed from here after spending this long away from my quarry in the cold!"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

For a while he looked towards the village and didn't say anything. Then he gazed at all the other bandits again and grinned. "Just keep following the plans of Lord Nokozal, and the goddess will ensure that we return with a great haul of grain and slaves! We attack at midnight!"

Some of the bandits gave predatory grins in anticipation, while others only gave grunts and nods in acceptance, with nobody daring to cheer or make any other loud sound this close to the village.

Nokozal continued, "For now, a few of you go nearby carefully and see if you can find any berries here for us to eat. After that, two of you will always stay awake in turns to keep an eye around us while the rest of us will take naps so that we are at full energy when we attack."

"As you say, Lord Nokozal!" the bandits replied collectively.

And with that, the plan for raiding the village had begun.

*******

~ Kivamus ~

~ Baron's Manor, Tiranat ~

Kivamus was walking in the manor with others, to see how the preparations for the feast were coming. It was starting to get dark now, with the last rays of the sunset giving the cloudy skies a golden hue. The weather kept getting colder continuously and snowfall was expected to start any day now.

Since his announcement that there would be a feast earlier in the day, all the servants and maids in the manor seemed to have a constant smile on their faces. It was such a rare occasion for everyone, that every person in the manor wanted to give his best to make the feast a roaring success.

As he walked towards the servant hall, Duvas reported, "We have bought some meat from the hunters in the village to use for tonight's feast. Well, actually we bought all of what was available in the village market, since the one hunter that the village still has cannot bring too much meat by himself. And it did cost a little more than I thought..."

"Don't worry about the cost for today," Kivamus reassured him. "It's not like we do this every day. We want everyone in the village to have a memorable dinner tonight."

Duvas nodded. "Of course, my lord." He added, "Earlier in the day, a few servants and guards had gone to the stream in the east to catch fish, so we will have some fish as well in tonight's feast. Apart from that, Madam Helga has brought all the remaining Toloraberries and Rizako mushrooms from where they were found outside the village, although we won't get any more of those for the winter."

He remarked, "By the way, Feroy should be happy to know that he will get to eat Madam Helga's famous Rizako stew tonight, but he seems to be a little off today."

Kivamus looked at Hudan who was walking next to him. "Why is that?" He asked with a frown.

Hudan shrugged. "I can't say. But I'll ask him when I see him."

Kivamus asked, "Is everything okay with the guards otherwise?"

"Of course," Hudan replied. "Now that we have all our guards back, I have even started putting a few of them to patrol around the village every hour of the day."

"Good. And what about asking for volunteers to accompany Pydaso back to Cinran?"

"That wasn't a problem at all," Hudan replied with a snort. "I got more than enough volunteers to accompany him when the guards found out that if chosen, they would earn real coin in the form of hazard pay. So I have selected two of them and they will go along with the merchant tomorrow." He continued, "That being said, the wagon driver of Pydaso had come to meet me earlier."

"Oh..." Kivamus muttered. "What did he want?"

Hudan replied, "He wants to stay back here in Tiranat, instead of returning back with Pydaso."

"That's... unexpected," Kivamus said with his eyebrows raised.

Hudan said with a grin, "Actually... it's not, my lord. Although he has been out with the caravan for the previous three weeks, apart from the single day breaks between trips, he said that he found out about everything you are doing for the villagers - including feeding the elderly and the children even if they can't pay for it. He told me that he was an orphan since he was young, and he had to scrounge around for food everyday before he became old enough to get some paying work. He doesn't want his children to go through the same situation in case something happens to him."

"This world isn't easy to live in, that's for sure," Kivamus remarked. "It's even more true for orphans. Then what will happen to his family if he stays back?"

Hudan continued, "Actually, he wants to bring his whole family here from where he lives in a small village west of Cinran. Of course, he would have to return back with Pydaso for now, but he said that when he comes back here in the spring, he wants to bring his children and his wife here as well."

"Hmm..." Kivamus muttered, thinking about it. "And what did you tell him?"

"What's there to say, milord?" Hudan asked. "Before you came here, people died regularly in Tiranat because of the cold in the winter, or because of sickness all year round. And from what I've heard, Tiranat has always accepted more workers here to keep the coal mines operational and fill the positions left empty by those who died."

Duvas interrupted, "That is true enough, my Lord, and we have never sent anyone back who wanted to move to Tiranat. But we had only planned to continue the free meals for the winter! To continue that in the future as well... that would take a lot of coin. Coin which we don't even earn right now."

Kivamus sighed. "I do understand that..." He gazed at the tall trees devoid of any leaves surrounding the village as he thought about it.

Could it be done though? Could he really afford to continuously feed everyone who couldn't work in his village without going bankrupt in the future? It was one thing to do it just for the current population of Tiranat - which was only a small village at best. But if people started to immigrate here in the future because of that, the costs for feeding those people could easily get out of hand.

However... that would also mean more available workers... Workers which he could use to start many kinds of factories and industries here. As of right now, the village population was so small that it would never be more than a coal mining village. But he wanted to make Tiranat a lot more prosperous and secure, for his own safety from his brothers and other nobles who wanted to grab his land, as well as for his people.

No, he didn't just want to do it - he needed to do it! And that would mean continuously letting more workers immigrate here to work in those factories, even though none of them existed yet.

While it was true that if he continued the free meal program for those who couldn't feed themselves, the cost of that program would keep increasing continuously. But on the other hand, if he utilized those workers well, it would also mean a constant increase in the income of the village as well. He thought more about it for a while, then nodded to himself.

"Let's do it then. We will continue the free meal program for the foreseeable future." Seeing that Duvas was going to say something in protest, he added, "I understand your concerns, Duvas. But it's not like the village population is going to double all of a sudden. Even if Pydaso's wagon driver brings his family, that's not even ten more people. And even if we assume that a few more people from his village might accompany him here because of the same reasons, it's still a very slow process, so we will have time to think about how to integrate them into the village and how to feed them."

Duvas seemed to be considering it, but Kivamus continued, "See it this way. More workers would mean more output of coal, which would mean more income for us. And that extra income would easily allow us to continue the free meal program for those who can't feed themselves, while filling our nearly empty coffers at the same time."

That seemed to do the trick for the penny-pinching majordomo, based on the way his expression changed after hearing that they would be making more money.

"That's true enough, my lord," Duvas said after a moment. He shrugged. "More income is always good."

"Can't deny that... milord," Hudan commented with a grin. "So I don't have to say that he can't bring his family here, do I?"

"Not at all." Kivamus added, "In fact, if you meet him again, you can hint to him that others from his village would be welcome here too. But don't say it directly, since we aren't ready to take in a surge of people at once."

Hudan nodded. "As you wish, my Lord."

Kivamus looked back at the majordomo as he continued walking towards the servants hall. "So, is that all we have for the feast tonight?"