Ustaimo looked at them with reluctance, "I understand your situation..."

"No, you don't understand it!" the majordomo interrupted angrily. "We simply don't have any way to raise that much gold by tomorrow! I told you earlier in the morning that we have been raided three times in the past few months, where the first raid burnt half the village. What little savings the villagers had gathered have already been taken away by bandits in those raids. Even if that hadn't happened, you already know that Tiranat is a dirt poor village, so we can't even raise any emergency tax from the people, when they barely even have enough food to eat every day! How are we supposed to find that much gold by next morning?"

The tax collector just shook his head in resignation. "I feel your pain, more than you can imagine, but I simply don't see any way to help you... The Count simply won't agree to accept any lower than what he's owed." He looked at Kivamus. "Can't you just give us a couple dozen slaves of yourself so we can sell them in Cinran's market to get the remaining gold? That should satisfy the Count and Sir Tuilas."

Kivamus took a deep breath to calm his mind instead of growing angry at Ustaimo or the Count. That wasn't going to help them here. "I'm not going to sell my people as slaves at any cost!"

Ustaimo stared at him for a moment. "You really don't want to sell your people, do you?" He tilted his head. "For some reason, I don't think it's because you want to keep them as your own slaves..."

Kivamus shrugged, not willing to give an answer to that which might lead to unwanted disclosures.

Ustaimo stayed quiet for a while. "It's difficult to understand you, milord. When I arrived at this village yesterday, I saw young kids talking about having regular work hours like adults and carpenters working on that watchtower so close to sunset, which made me think that you were a tyrant, using your status as a son of the Duke to force the people to work for you."

Ustaimo gave a deep sigh. "I know very well how it feels for a commoner to live under the boots of a noble, so I could understand their suffering, and I'd accepted that I was going to deal with another oppressive noble who didn't give a damn about his people. I was even worried that if I said something which offended you, you might take out your anger on me and have me lashed, like the previous Baron of Tiranat did a few times."

Duvas opened his mouth to say something but the tax collector raised his hand. "Let me speak first." He continued while looking at Kivamus, "That is what I thought yesterday. However, you already know that I went for a walk to the village in the morning, where I overheard a lot of the villagers talking about you and the changes you have brought in this village since arriving here - like giving three meals a day to every single person living here, even if by using your own gold! That has to be the reason for hardly any person in the village looking malnourished right now, even though it's so common after the end of winter, whether in Cinran or any other barony I've seen in this part of the kingdom. I even talked to Father Edric, and he only had praises to sing of you, saying this was the very first time in the whole two decades of Tiranat's existence when nobody died of cold or hunger in the winter. I wouldn't even have believed such an outrageous claim if it was someone else saying that, but I can't think of any reason for the village priest to lie in your favor. But it was just so hard to believe..."

Ustaimo continued, "After returning to the manor, I talked with some of those people who live here - including servants, maids and even a few guards - but to my utter surprise, none of those people seemed to hate you, or even disliked you, like it was common when the previous baron ruled here." He snorted. "If anything, most of the manor residents looked ready to worship the ground you walk on, which didn't make sense after what I had seen yesterday about you overworking the villagers. But after talking more with you today, I think I understand you better now - as hard as it is to believe that there is a noble who behaves like you. In fact, this is probably the first time I am seeing a noble - particularly one of very high birth like you - who cares so much for his people."

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The tax collector added with a smile, "I won't claim that I understand the reasons behind your behaviour, and I realize that you don't know me well enough for you to share any more than what I've already seen here, but I am glad that Tiranat got you as the new baron." He paused for a moment, while looking at Kivamus carefully. "Although I still don't like kids being forced to work or villagers working even after nightfall on your orders."

Kivamus hadn't expected the tax collector to be so observant, but it seemed like the old man was a lot more perceptive than he seemed at first glance. "None of the kids are being forced to work. I have assigned my former teacher Gorsazo to give all the villagers some basic education, and the kids do that work to learn better counting and get some treats in return, while still being able to contribute to the village in a small way. But none of them are being forced to work in any way."

"You are educating the villagers?" Ustaimo's eyes grew wide. "All the villagers? I've never heard of such a thing before! What will so many people even do after learning to read or write? There would hardly be two or three jobs in a small village like this which require educated people, usually a couple of merchants and maybe a mining foreman. That's all! Wouldn't it be a waste to teach the rest of them?"

"I have my reasons for trying to educate every villager here," Kivamus shrugged, not willing to explain more at this point. "As for the carpenters you saw working so late, you already know that this is a very dangerous region, and Tiranat has been raided many times in the winter and has to regularly deal with wild beasts attacking the villagers - including even adzees. Having said that, we recently got some information that another big bandit group is going to raid us soon. That's why every villager wants to contribute to protect the village however they can, even if they have to work longer hours. Nobody wants to see their homes burning and children running in fear again like it happened last autumn. So trust me, nobody is being forced to do anything in this village. I'll never stand for such a thing here."

"Astonishing... Just astonishing! Housing the homeless, making sure everyone is well fed, building a wall and watch towers to protect the village and even educating everyone..." Ustaimo shook his head in wonder. "I've never met a noble like you, that's for sure. But why are you even doing all this? I thought you were exiled here by your father... Shouldn't you be just passing your time easily until he changes his mind, like basically any other young noble would do in your place?"

Being reminded of his so-called father, as his brothers who had forced the Duke to exile him here left a bad taste in Kivamus' mouth. "I'm not interested in talking about my past right now, but let me just say that I know for sure that the Duke is not going to change his mind for reasons I can't disclose here. Either way, Tiranat is my home now and I'm not going to leave this village for Ulriga or any other place in the future." He shrugged after a moment. "As for sitting lazily like other nobles, I've never been interested in taking it easy, no matter what other nobles like to do. I am just doing what is necessary to protect my people now and in the future."

Ustaimo stared at him in bewilderment, like words had failed him completely, before he shook his head and smiled. "Most commoners in this kingdom have never seen any reason to believe that their Lord would actually consider them as humans and not just work-animals walking on two legs from whom to extract more profits, but somehow, you really do treat them as humans and care about them..." He sighed. "I wish all the nobles were like you..."

The tax collector took a deep breath and muttered, "I guess this is the moment where the goddess is giving me a chance to take a stand for commoners for the first time in my life." He looked at Kivamus. "Fine. If you and Tiranat don't deserve an extension, then nobody does."

"What? An extension?" Duvas asked with hope. "Can you really give us another month to pay the taxes?"

Ustaimo sighed, before glancing at the inner door which was still closed. "I wasn't lying earlier when I said I couldn't extend your tax payment deadline. That's simply not in my hands, like I told you earlier, but I can still give you another day or two to find a way to raise the required gold. That's all I can do."

The tax collector whispered, "I'm risking my job and probably even my life by doing even this much for you if this is found out by the knight, but meeting a noble like you who cares for his people this much is something which will probably never happen again in my life, and the people of Tiranat need you as their lord. That's the only reason I'm willing to risk my own neck to give you an extension. "

"But how?" Kivamus asked impatiently. "You just said it's not in your hands to extend the deadline!"