~ Hyola ~

It was late afternoon of the second day of their journey, and Feroy, who was sitting next to her in the front wagon, had just told her that they should be able to see the palisade wall of Kirnos just after the next bend in the road. Initially, Yufim had wanted to sit next to her, so that he could challenge her to see who shot more bandits in case they were ambushed, but Feroy had immediately denied it, and said there should be one archer or crossbow-woman in each wagon. That meant Feroy and her were sitting on the seat of the first wagon, with two other guards sitting on the oil cloth which was covering their cargo kept on the wagon bed. In the second wagon Yufim, Tesyb and another two guards were sitting in a similar arrangement.

Looking around the road, it was easy to see that the snow had mostly melted this far west from the Arakin mountains. As they reached closer and closer to their destination, she saw many farmers working in the nearby fields on both sides of the road. The sun was also visible ahead of them, and while it didn't hold much warmth, she felt glad to see that the harsh winter was nearly over now. Just a couple months ago at the quarry, she was bracing herself to see a cold corpse of another stonecutter next to her when she woke up in the morning in one of those huts, knowing that at least some of them wouldn't be lucky enough to see the spring again. However, being in Tiranat, that possibility had become so remote, that she simply didn't have to worry about seeing her friends from the quarry dead from cold or hunger anymore.

Before they reached the bend in the road, Feroy ordered two guards from each wagon to get off and hide in the nearby forests, assuring them that he didn't plan to stay inside the walls for the night, and that he would return to pick them up tonight. It wasn't a good idea to enter this village with eight guards in tow, which would make the local guards feel threatened and they might be asked to turn over their weapons. Feroy also told her to give the crossbow and the quiver of bolts to one of the guards staying outside, so nobody would get a glimpse of it inside Kirnos. Once that was done, they started moving again.

Soon, their wagon reached the bend in the road, and she saw her first glimpse of Kirnos. After living in a shabby hut at the limestone quarry for most of her life, any place which was better than the poor conditions at the quarry should have looked great to her, and probably should have made her want to live here. However, after living in Tiranat for the past couple of months, and seeing how much their baron took care of everyone, she knew that no other place would ever feel like home to her other than Tiranat.

It did help that Tiranat had taller walls to protect the village compared to Kirnos, even though they were both made of logs. While she hadn't done anything to help in building the wall, for some reason, knowing that Tiranat had better and stronger walls made her proud of her home village.

Before long, they had reached the gates, and Feroy had to bribe the guards before they allowed them to enter. As the wooden gates opened, the small caravan of two wagons went rumbling inside the dirt roads of the coastal village. However, Feroy raised a hand to stop the wagon when he saw a location where there wasn't anyone nearby.

Calling Tesyb over, the ex-mercenary ordered, "Lead the wagons to the marketplace and park them where we had done it last time, and stay put right there. I'll join you all within an hour."

Hyola was confused. "Why are you leaving? Shouldn't we try to sell coal now?"

Feroy nodded. "I'll try to ask around but most likely, only the baron has enough gold these days to buy it in enough quantity for us to sell all our stock. I also need to take care of a side mission first, and I'll need to ask around about how it's going with the young master. He can't be pleased to see us here again, so it would be better to get a lay of the land first."

Now Hyola was confused about what was the side mission, but before she thought to ask about it, Feroy had already jogged into a side alley and was gone from her sight before long. Tesyb took the seat next to her in the front wagon this time, and touching the whip to the horses, he began moving their caravan ahead.

Soon, they had reached the marketplace of Kirnos, which had a cobblestone ground - just like in the dream where she had seen herself eating some freshly roasted meat sticks along with Calubo. Looking ahead towards the west, she also got her first glimpse of the largest expanse of water she had ever seen in her life. She really wanted to walk to the coast and touch that water, but Feroy had told them all to stay put where they were, so they kept waiting for a while.

******

It had been close to an hour since the ex-mercenary had gone away, and by now she was starting to get worried if something had happened to him. To distract her mind, she asked about that side mission from Tesyb, who explained that Lord Kivamus wanted to get more immigrants, so they would get more workers in Tiranat. That's why Feroy was spreading rumours about the good conditions there, while also helping out anyone who was sick with their unique medicine powder.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

As she thought about it, she suddenly saw a commotion near the southern entrance of the marketplace. Immediately, Tesyb looked at the guards. "That must be the bastard Lanidas, son of the Baron of Kirnos. Make sure to bow deeply to him when he reaches here."

Hyola and the other guards nodded, while she wished Feroy would arrive soon, since none of the others would be able to deal with a noble, nor they had any experience in it. Just as she was thinking about it, she saw the man quickly jogging towards them, making her sigh in relief.

Reaching there, Feroy whispered, "The news is both good and bad. I've heard many rumours of some slaves leaving Kirnos to do some work in the fields, but never to be seen again. Most likely they must have started travelling east towards Tiranat. It will take time for them to arrive there on foot, but it means our tactic is working. These slaves were people living inside the walls, but as that news travels around, many people who must be living in nearby farms in the winter - likely very cold and starving by now - would also start moving east soon, including slaves and free people."

Hyola wasn't sure if it was a good idea to bring more people to Tiranat. What would that many people even do in that village? Did they even have enough food to feed all of them, or enough jobs so they can earn that food without begging? She had no idea, but she trusted Lord Kivamus, and he must know what he was doing. That meant she would do her best to support his orders.

She looked at the ex-mercenary. "Lord Kivamus wants both men and women to move to Tiranat, right?" Getting a nod in reply, she added, "Then I'll help you with this. You are a man, so however well you talk to the locals, many local women here simply wouldn't trust anything you say - especially those who are living alone. So when you are going to spread the news again, tell me what to say, and I'll try to talk to them. This way we should be able to get some women to move to Tiranat as well."

Feroy looked at her for a moment, before he nodded. "That's a good idea." Jerking his head towards the commotion in the marketplace, he added, "The bad news is that the young master doesn't seem to be happy these days, as you can guess. His thugs - I mean his guards - are doing their best to extort as much coin as they can from the locals and the merchants these days, and nobody is happy about that."

Soon, they saw a group of five men slowly riding on horses taking a look in the marketplace. Along with four guards wearing fur coats, the portly Lanidas was sitting on the leading horse in luxurious looking clothes with an ornately decorated sword on his side. As the group turned towards them, Lanidas raised a hand to stop his guards, before looking down at them.

Immediately, Feroy, Hyola and the other guards gave a deep bow to him, while Yufim needed to be bopped on the head once before he bowed as well.

"You..." the young master glared at Feroy. "So you are back again! Don't think you can fool me again!" Then he looked at their group and his eyes got stuck at Hyola. "Oh, what is this I am seeing... a woman in a guard's armor! Hah! None of you can be stupid enough to think that she can fight equally against a swordsman..."

Lanidas squinted at the ex-mercenary for a moment before his eyes went wide. "Oh, you must have brought her to keep you warm at night!" Then he nodded while grinning. "It was smart giving her a leather armour like you all, so nobody would suspect anything. Makes others think that she is a guard, while only you all know the truth."

Hyola was only seeing red by now. How dare he say that she was only here to warm the bed of guards! Let this bastard meet her in single combat if he dared, and she would put him in his place easily enough! She had barely taken a step towards that bastard in her anger, before Tesyb held her arm in an iron grip and pulled her back. She gritted her teeth in frustration, but Tesyb looked her in the eyes and just shook his head.

That moment was enough to make her remember what she had been thinking of doing... This was a highborn noble, not just another bandit of Nokozal. Even her trying to threaten this bastard - no matter how much he deserved it - would make his guards kill her on the spot. She took a deep breath to calm her mind and bring her anger under control, instead of just throwing her dagger at this bastard's neck.

This was how a commoner's life was. Especially that of a woman. It wasn't like she didn't know it already. She had heard more than enough stories from others in Tiranat about how their previous baron treated everyone, including beating young maids and what not. She had to keep in mind that not every noble was kind and benevolent like Lord Kivamus. This world was full of bastards like this, who thought they were better than others just because they were born in a noble's house. She exhaled again, although her fists were still clenched.

Thankfully, her reaction seemed to have gone unnoticed by the young master, who had been looking at Feroy until now, before he turned to leer at her, staring at her from her head to her toes, making her blood boil again.

Lanidas licked his lips. "Perhaps I should sample the goods as well..."

Hyola had never wanted to kill anyone more than she did right now. Her hand slowly inched towards the dagger hidden on her side, and as her fingers touched the cold metal, she took a deep breath and glared at the young bastard.