Chương 218: 215. Nobility

"Great, you are here," the ex-mercenary said when Tesyb reached there.

"You find anything on that side?" Tesyb shook his head, making sure that no passersby were walking nearby.

"Mostly grain and pottery sellers on that side. There is some freshly caught fish, but that won't be of any use to us since it would probably rot before we reached Tiranat. There were some cart vendors selling roasted fish too, but that was only a small quantity for the visitors to the marketplace, not nearly enough to sell it wholesale. Also, nobody would be buying coal from us on that side."

"Hmm..." Feroy nodded, while tightening his fur coat.

"Well, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I've found a merchant who has enough smoked fish in stock that we can fill a single wagon bed with them." He pointed towards the pier where crates were still being loaded on that ship.

"He had a lot more in stock earlier, but most of it was loaded in that ship you see out there. Nobody in this village is going to buy smoked fish anyway. The bad news is that nobody is willing to buy coal on this side either."

"What about that merchant who smokes fish?" one of the other guards asked.

"Wouldn't he buy coal from us?"

"No, smoking meat or fish is done on wood fire only, never on coal," Feroy answered.

"That merchant has a special permission from the local baron - named the Baron Farodas - to cut trees from the forests to use for smoking the fish, in return for a hefty share of his profits, of course. The merchant was already grumbling about it, even to a stranger like me."

"That's still good for us, isn't it?" the other guard asked.

"If we somehow find a way to sell the coal, we can buy all the smoked fish he has remaining with him. We can even return again on another trip to buy more smoked fish from him!" Feroy exhaled.

"It's not that easy. Meat is always costlier than grain. Filling a single wagon with grain - which is selling for above five gold per sack here - will cost us more than fifty gold. But if we buy enough smoked fish just to fill a single wagon, it will cost us seventy eight gold, even before any taxes on it."

"That's..." Tesyb didn't know what to say. Even selling their full load of coal wouldn't get them anywhere near that amount. Was this trip already wasted then? Feroy looked around them carefully, and waited until a local woman had passed far away from them until there was nobody else to overhear.

"Sir Duvas has given me some extra gold, since he knew that we won't get enough coin to buy fish even if we sold the coal, but that still won't be enough for us to buy even a single wagon load of smoked fish."

"What should we do then?" one of the guards asked worriedly.

"We can't return empty-handed..."

"I have some ideas for tomorrow," Feroy commented.

"That merchant was complaining quite a lot about the baron's share in his profits. I think there might be some way for us to make a deal here. He also has a warehouse near the northern gate of the village, where he is willing to let us stay for the night for a small price. We have been out in the open under constant snowfall for nearly two days now, so spending a night indoors will do us good. Let's go there for now, and tomorrow we'll see what can be done about selling our coal and buying smoked fish."

Tesyb nodded, while another guard looked wistfully at a particular establishment near the eastern entrance of the marketplace from where they had come from, which was a lot busier than the other shops.

"Can't we have a single round in that alehouse there before we leave?" Feroy snorted.

"You aren't the only one to see that place. You have no idea how much I would like some ale too, but we are on duty until we return back to Tiranat, so there will be no ale for any of us. Because of the presence of so many pottery sellers here, we know by now that Torhan's bandits come regularly to this village. Maybe some of them are here right now. We just can't take a risk of any kind. Let's go." Tesyb and the other guards nodded, as he looked towards the path exiting the marketplace from the north.

Many people seemed to be huddling under the overhang of shacks in the cold, seemingly not having any place to live. Some street urchins were also running nearby, looking like they hadn't eaten in days. Suddenly, they stopped and looked at them without saying words, their hungry eyes doing all the pleading. Tesyb's heart ached to see those children like this. As much as he wanted to help them, he simply didn't have any coins in his pockets anyway.

He knew that if these children didn't manage to steal something from one of the vendors, they would go hungry once again. Then he steeled his heart. He had to focus on his current task, and looked at Feroy for permission to send them away. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. However, the ex-mercenary seemed to be gazing at the kids for a moment, before he ordered one of the guards to give a few baked biscuits and some dried meat jerky to them.

As soon as the urchins saw food, their eyes lit up.

"Thank ya, mister!" Once the guard had given the food in their hands, the kids immediately gave another thanks and ran a little distance away, probably fearful that their food would be taken back from them. It didn't take long for the kids to finish what they had been given, and they began looking at them once again.

"Alright, let's go now," Feroy ordered. Just as they were going to climb on the seats of their wagons, they saw some commotion at the western entrance of the marketplace.

"Wait!" Feroy instructed, while putting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"We are already standing out in this place in our fur coats, so let's wait for a moment to see what it is before we exit, instead of making others give the wrong idea that we are running away from something." Tesyb got ready to draw his sword at a moment's notice as well, while looking towards the southern entrance with his muscles tensed. It didn't take long before they saw a small group of people riding on horses slowly as they entered the marketplace from that side.

Craning his neck upwards, Tesyb saw that the man leading the small group was very, very well dressed, just like a noble would be. His fur coat was quite unlike the ones they were wearing themselves, and even had some golden trimmings decorating the coat. He looked young, likely in his early twenties, and had flowing blonde hair as well as an ornately decorated scabbard on his side. His round face and large girth easily proved that unlike the commoners of Kirnos who looked underfed, this guy had no shortage of food.

Behind the man, there were four other men riding slowly on horses, but they were dressed normally, although they still had fur coats and a sword each. These must be the personal guards of that young man. Not wanting to make a scene of leaving at the same time this noble had entered, they kept standing near their wagon, while Tesyb noticed that all of the locals had stopped where they were with their heads bowed low.

There was a hush over the marketplace as the noble and his retinue circled the marketplace while passing next to the shops. Each of the nearby locals, including any shopkeepers and vendors immediately bowed deeply to the man, while offering a sample of their wares to him. The young noble gave a satisfied smile to each, as he took a roasted fish from a vendor without paying anything for it, and chewed on it while leering at any young woman he saw near him.

"Who is this bastard?" Tesyb muttered under his breath. Was he the Baron of Kirnos? No, he couldn't be. From what Feroy had heard from that grumbling merchant, the baron was supposed to be much older.

"He's young master Lanidas, the only son of the baron Farodas. Better stay clear of him, ya'll."

"What...?" Surprised at the childish voice coming from right next to him, Tesyb looked to his side and saw the same two street urchins standing nearby while trying to hide behind their wagons. When did they come here?

"You kids know about the guy?" Feroy asked in a low voice. The boy who must not even be ten years old, gave a frown.

"Everyone knows about him here. He comes here every evening and takes free food from everyone." The girl who seemed to be only a few years older than the boy added with a shiver, "He always asks any lone woman he sees in the marketplace to come with him to his manor. I hide under a wagon with my friends when he comes here." Tesyb immediately realized that he already hated the guy, even though he hadn't even known about him a few moments ago.

They kept watching the young master as he made his round and turned in their direction. It must not have taken long for that bastard to realise that they were new here, and he immediately turned his horse towards them.

"You guys better bow to him, since you can't hide under the wagon like us." Once again Tesyb had heard the voice of the boy from nearby, although he couldn't see the kids anymore. Were they already hiding under the wagons? Soon, the young noble reached in front of them and stopped, not caring to get off from his horse as he stared down at them for a while. Feroy gave a deep bow to the man, and following his lead Tesyb and the other two guards did the same.

"You people seem new here..." the young man grinned, "but good to see that you know your places." Spitting out the fish bone he had been chewing on earlier to his side, the man continued, "Consider yourself lucky. You have the pleasure of meeting nobility on your first day here."

"It's an honour to meet you, milord," Feroy replied with a straight face as he stood up. Lanidas tilted his head while still sitting on his horse.

"Where are you all coming from?"