From Londoner To Lord

Chapter 322 - 317. Reports

Ustaimo squinted at the baron as he took a seat. What was he talking about? Why would there be any major news at all from such a small village?

Sir Tuilas sprawled in his chair, looking at the Count and Zoricus in turn. "There was! And you won't believe it till you hear it! Dosol, one of the guards I had taken with me, turned out to be an assassin! I caught him trying to kill the baron red-handed!"

Lord Ebirtas glared at the young knight. "What? How is that possible! I can't believe we had such a traitor in our ranks!"

Zoricus interrupted him. "So is the Duke's son dead then?"

Sir Tuilas shook his head. "Thankfully, no."

"Praise the goddess!" The Count breathed. "Kivamus Ralokaar may be exiled, and I still have to make him follow the same rules as my other barons, but I don't want to think about what would have been the response from Ulriga if he was assassinated!"

"So what happened with that Dosol guy?" Zoricus asked carefully. "Did you find out who sent him?"

Sir Tuilas sighed. "He never admitted to anything till the time I beheaded him. He must have gotten a lotta gold for keeping his mouth shut."

Zoricus exhaled loudly, before he chuckled. "It's good that you executed him. We can't allow anyone to kill nobles..."

Ustaimo had been looking at the gluttonous baron carefully, and was starting to get some horrible suspicions about Zoricus, but this was no time for him to say anything about it, not without any proof at least. Was that why Lord Kivamus had sent him and the knight out for a stroll many times during their stay in Tiranat? Because he already feared something like this, and didn't know whom he could trust?

He had also noticed a few guards present inside the manor house this time, which he hadn't seen in any of his past visits there. Hmm... It had to be something like that... There was no other reason why Lord Kivamus would take so many precautions for a visiting delegation from the Count. Ustaimo knew that he wouldn't get to meet with him again until the autumn, but he would have to talk about it with the young baron.

He had no doubt that Zoricus had always resorted to underhanded tactics to get what he wanted, but he hadn't anticipated that the greedy baron might be willing to go as far as trying to assassinate a son of the Duke... He had no way to know for sure, but if his suspicions really were true, Ustaimo knew that his days might also be numbered in this world...

Trying to put the morbid thoughts out of his mind for now, he focused on the conversation around him.

Lord Ebirtas was looking at the young knight with a frown. "Is that all?"

Sir Tuilas shook his head. "Actually, there was another guard of ours who didn't survive. Levalo got so drunk on our last night there that he started a brawl with the local guards using a dagger, so the other guards had to forcefully take him down, but Levalo got badly injured in his chest and didn't survive..."

Ustaimo glanced at the pot-bellied baron, and noticed that he was frowning once again.

"Did this Levalo say anything when he was drunk?" Zoricus asked. "Anything weird?"

"I have no idea..." Tuilas shrugged. "I only found out about it later when I went to see him, but he was already dying by then. Although some other guards were saying that Levalo was trying to harass the local maids, so maybe that's why they got so enraged."

Zoricus took a deep breath, before he muttered something under his breath. He looked at the others sitting around the table. "Well, I guess Tiranat really is a dangerous place. It's good that idiots like that guard die sooner rather than later, instead of eating our precious food."

Sir Makanas, the knight commander, gave a nod. "I agree. It's also incredible that there was an assassin like Dosol working here... I'll make sure to test the loyalty of our other men immediately. Trust me, I won't let anything like this happen again."

The Count was rubbing his wrinkled forehead. "I don't need this kind of headache right now... Is that everything or do you have more bad news to give me?"

"No, uncle. There wasn't anything else like that." Sir Tuilas grinned. "I do have to say, one of the baron's personal maids was really something. It's a pity he didn't agree to sell the redhead to me."

"Shut up!" The Count scolded loudly. "You are way too old to fool around like that. You may not be my son but you still belong to the same bloodline. Learn to behave like it instead of being another embarrassment to me. I already have an idiot son doing enough of that."

The young knight gazed downwards in chagrin, but remained quiet.

The Count exhaled loudly. "I can't believe that two out of the four guards we sent are dead, but I'd say good riddance if they were like you said. We can't afford any traitors these days with Binpaaz getting bolder and bolder." He looked at Ustaimo. "So did you get the tax or not?"

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Ustaimo nodded. "I brought the full amount. It was a little under 1100 gold this time."

"At least that's something," Lord Ebirtas smirked, before glancing at Zoricus. "I guess I won't have to borrow anything from you this month after all."

The pot-bellied baron shrugged. "Well, if you need a loan next month, I'll be in your service to provide it to you on time. With the usual interest rates, of course."

The Count just shook his head at that.

Ustaimo looked back at the man he worked for. "I also bought an adzee pelt from there. It was a little costly, but..."

The Count interrupted him with a grin. "That's just fine, I am a count. I can afford to buy a damned pelt! Where is it? It's been a while since I had a new adzee fur coat made."

"The servants must be bringing it here from the wagon," Ustaimo replied. "If you want, I can give it to the furriers immediately to make a fur coat."

Lord Ebirtas scratched his medium length white beard. "It's spring, so I won't get to wear a fur coat for months... Maybe I should have a rug made this time... Tell you what, just have it put in a storeroom for now. I'll decide what to do with it later."

"As you wish, milord." Ustaimo added, "The Baron of Tiranat also sent a personal gift for you." He picked up the wrapped package from the floor and opened it to show the exquisitely carved warbow to the count.

The Count took it in his hands, and looked at it from all sides, before he handed it over to the knight commander. "I've seen better ones, but this is still quite good. I guess having a Duke's son serving under me as a baron would be helpful after all. At least he knows how to treat his superiors properly!"

Ustaimo noticed that Zoricus was frowning after hearing that, but remained quiet at the moment. Huh... maybe his suspicions were on point, after all.

"Anything else you need to report?" Ebirtas asked.

"Well, I don't know if this is important," Sir Tuilas reported while rubbing his neck, "but when I'd asked around about Tiranat before leaving, I had heard that it was a dirt poor village and didn't even have a wall around the village." He snorted. "The dirt poor part is still true, but it looks hell of a lot different than what I'd expected. They now have tall walls around the village, and are building one watchtower after another. It's like they are preparing for a war or something."

"You mean stone walls?" The count asked with a frown. "Like the ones we have?"

"This doesn't sound good, my lord!" Zoricus interrupted. "I think you should order them to tear down their walls..."

Sir Tuilas snorted. "No, no... How can a copperless village like that ever afford to build mighty stone walls like ours? They don't even have a proper tavern there, for goddess-sake!" He shrugged. "It was just a wooden palisade wall. Hardly half the height of our walls."

Lord Ebirtas laughed hearing that. "Then let them be. With Binpaazi knights growing more audacious these days, I don't mind my barons improving their villages' defenses. As long as they never gain the power to challenge me, or to resist a punitive raid from me in case they don't pay their taxes or something, it's all good."

The count shrugged. "Tiranat is already located in a dangerous region of the kingdom, like you saw. Those walls will help them defend against the wild beasts and bandits which are scattered there like insects in late summer. Forget about the walls. I'm just glad that you brought the full tax. We have bigger things to worry about right now. While you both were out, Binpaaz sent another group of horsemen to harass our farmers in the east. They trampled over some of the farms, and burned a few huts again."

Ustaimo sighed as the knight commander began listing the farms which had been hit. His journey to Tiranat had ended well, and he was more than glad to be back in Cinran, which was his only home. However, he still couldn't wait to visit Tiranat again. Who knew just how many changes would have come there by autumn? Lord Kivamus didn't seem like a man who ever sat idle, and he was excited to see what else he would do in that village to help the commoners. Wishing that autumn would come sooner, he focused on the conversation around him.

***

~ Kivamus ~

Kivamus was sitting in the manor hall in the evening as usual, working on the latest blueprint, when the outer door opened and Duvas walked inside with a grin. Kivamus stopped what he was doing and looked at the majordomo curiously.

Duvas, who had been holding a small satchel on his shoulder, opened it and removed a few sheets of paper from it. "It worked, milord! That experiment worked!"

Kivamus took one of the sheets of paper in his hand, and looked at it in the light of the evening sunlight coming through the window. Turning it around this way and that, he touched the texture of the paper and found it to be much smoother. Finally, he held a corner of the paper, and tore a thin strip from it, to see how crumbly it was. Of course, it tore easily enough, paper being just paper, but it felt much better than what they were making till now.

It was still far from the quality found on modern earth, but the new sheet of paper was at least a grade above that which was being made earlier. He could see some fibers visible on the paper, which could only be removed when the pulp was beaten up even more forcefully than what was possible to do manually, while he still needed to find a way to bleach it to make it whiter in color. However, he had been thinking of making something like a rolling stone wheel, which would be simple enough and could crush wood chunks and sawdust properly, even without the triphammer - which would already be used for many other things. It would still have to wait until the village craftsmen had some more free time, however there was no doubt Pydaso would be surprised to see even this quality of paper.

He grinned, and handed back the paper. "This is wonderful, Duvas! From tomorrow, tell the workers to mix that root's starch in every batch of paper they make."

Duvas chuckled. "I already gave the order knowing you would say that."

Kivamus laughed. "I'm glad to hear that. Wait, is there even enough of this root available here? We aren't going to run out of it if we start using it regularly, are we?"