Chương 418: 413. The Third Longhouse Block - II

When Widel went to the manor yesterday morning to find out when her shift was, she realized the manor looked nearly empty, and a lot of guards were nowhere to be seen. Even the captain, as well as Feroy—the sneaky guard who came to talk with all of them at the encampment—had disappeared. That meant the guards were already out to attack the bastards! She had no idea when they had left, but it was probably done in the cover of darkness so nobody would know about it.

She wished she knew more details, but perhaps that would only happen after the others trusted her more. Her being selected as a guard was surely a good start for that. She glanced back towards the inside of the village where the new block was being made—the crowd was still growing there—then returned to look outside the village from her perch at the watchtower.

She had heard the promise made by the young silver-haired baron when she had arrived at the village for the first time, that there would be a new double-story living block built in the village for them and the others. She had heard that claim with her heart full of hope but she knew all the nobles liked to tell tall tales, and their promises were often just hot air meant to keep the commoners in line.

Still, the fact that the people from the encampment had been given enough empty space, spare branches and old clothing to make temporary shelters was already good, because they were still far safer here within the tall palisade walls of Tiranat, compared to when they lived in the middle of the forest.

She had been very curious about what the new longhouse block was going to look like, so she had visited one of the two such blocks which had already been completed—both single-story only—along with Savomi who was another guard at the manor as well as a new friend she had made here. The longhouse block had been... unexpected. It was huge even from the inside, and she had seen the bunks built within the block, which looked like a noble's opulent living space compared to life at the encampment.

However, it had also been so, so crowded. She had visited it some time after her shift had ended in the evening, and had found that there was barely any space in the corridors to walk through, with the returning villagers sitting and lying everywhere on the wooden floor. Yeah, it had wooden floors. She couldn't remember even stepping on a wooden floor before that day, so she had been happy to see that one day she would get to live in such a place too.

But making such a huge longhouse block would surely take months, if not a full year... So she had come back to her shelter, hoping the new block would be completed before the winter. Living this close to the soaring mountains visible in the east would surely get so damn cold! She didn't want to freeze to death after having been through so much to run away from her past life as a slave and to reach this new home.

But she had been pleasantly surprised to see dozens and dozens of construction workers building the new block from sunrise to sunset. They were using carts, wagons, log-movers, groma's, ropes hanging across branches to lift heavy logs, wheelbarrows, and who knew what else.

When she had arrived here, she had noticed the huge square shaped foundation being dug where the new double-story block was going to be built, and she had thought that even if there were enough men working on it, it would still take months to cut that many logs and shape that many planks to build it. And yet, Tiranat had surprised her once again. The reason for that was something called a sawmill, which was used to somehow cut wood much faster.

It had recently been built somewhere in the eastern hills, near another weird thing called a dam, which had somehow created a new artificial lake or something. But how could a lake be artificial? She didn't understand anything about it, and she hadn't even seen it so far, although she had heard that the people who worked there often went to sit near that lake when they had lunch, and saw the birds swooping down to catch the small fish in that lake.

Fishing wasn't allowed there yet, but they could still fish in the stream which continued southwards. She had immediately made a plan to visit the dam soon on an off day with Savomi, her older sister Isomi and some other friends. It was going to be so much fun! The same sawmill had been creating planks and beams and posts and all kinds of construction material rapidly, and that's why the building of the new block had been so fast.

Within a couple of weeks of her arriving here, she had seen that the first floor had been completed, which was right when the rain had started. She knew the temporary shelter she had been living at wouldn't stop rain, but at least it was safe there. But once again, she had been surprised by Sir Duvas, who was the majordomo of the baron's manor and basically the supervisor of the whole village. He had allowed people to live in that lower floor, including those who had been living in the shelters.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. So she had picked up what little she had, which was just a small satchel of grain she had hidden for any emergency and a little bar of soap, and had marched to the longhouse block along with the others living in the shelters. The interior and the bunks hadn't been finished at the time, but the floor was already wooden, and it had made her glad that she wouldn't have to sleep in the mud after the rains.

That's where she had been living for the past week, although apart from the nighttime when everyone slept there, they all were ordered to empty the block in the morning when they went for work, so the workers could continue the construction and installation of the bunks. It had barely taken any time before she had seen the second floor being covered up with a roof, and the planks had been fixed up one after another.

And this morning she had heard that everything would be completed by evening, and the baron was expected to come and inaugurate it. She glanced to the back once again to look at the new longhouse block, to see if the young baron had arrived, but so far only a small but continuously growing crowd of villagers was there. She turned around to keep a lookout on the outside of the village once again, but soon, she craned her neck again towards the village to see if the announcement was going to happen anytime soon.

The elderly man on duty sitting beside her looked at her and snorted.

"You know what? I think you should go and hear the announcement. I've been to many such events led by the baron in the past, but it's the first one for you. You should go."

"But..." Widel hesitated.

"Four bells still haven't rung. That's when my shift ends." The elderly man chuckled.

"Barely half an hour remains, I'd say. I'm still young enough that I can keep a lookout by myself for that long." Widel laughed. The man had wrinkles on his face, and all his hair—the ones which still remained—was grey. He was as old as they came. She grinned.

"Of course, you are indeed a young man!" She tilted her head.

"Then should I? You sure you'll be fine by yourself?"

"Just go..." The old man shooed her away with a smile.

"Someone will come to relieve me at four bells anyway. I promise I won't drop dead by then." Widel laughed again and gave a grateful nod, as she started climbing down the ladder. This was something she had missed in her life before coming to Tiranat, especially when she lived as a slave in that accursed farmhouse near Krukzil. It was like everyone really cared for each other in Tiranat and tried to help each other as much as they could.

Of course, it was similar to when she lived in that camp in the forest, but that was mostly by necessity. Then again, she had heard the stories of how difficult it had been for Tiranat to survive the previous winter. They didn't even have enough food remaining before the northern road was blocked, and without any wall protecting the village—the palisade hadn't been built yet—the villagers were at the mercy of bandits and beasts every night.

Perhaps going through that hardship together and surviving through it all had made their bonds stronger than it was in other villages. She had also made some good friends here by now, mostly the other female guards and some maids in the manor, but she didn't have someone that close to her right now. But perhaps in the future she would really become a real part of this incredible village. Soon, she had reached the ground, and she started jogging toward the third block.

She passed the carpenter's workshop on the way, and wondered what secret project he worked on all day. From what she had heard in rumors, Darora had also been a slave just a few months ago, but now he was as confident as anyone else here. She often saw his apprentices working on something and crafting some parts all the time on the workbenches in the shade of the workshop, but the master carpenter himself often worked in secret inside the shop.

Perhaps it had something to do with the rumors of a new weapons test which had happened here recently, but sadly, she hadn't been present for that, and nobody spoke a word about it even if she asked, saying it was the baron's orders to keep it a secret for now. She felt glad at the guards' loyalty to the baron, and to be fair, she agreed with them.

With how much Lord Kivamus had done for the village already, and what he kept doing everyday, Tiranat was already a far better place to live than any other village or town she had heard of. She couldn't even imagine how the future of Tiranat would look just a few years later, but it would surely be awesome. That was for certain. Before long, she joined the growing crowd on the wide gravel road running between the blocks, and craned her neck to see if the baron had arrived.

So far, she only heard the usual din of excited people. She looked around and saw a few guards walking towards the gate of the third block, and got an idea. What if the baron wasn't going to speak out here where the crowd had gathered, but on the inside? It only took a moment of thought before Widel realized it surely had to be like that, so she started making her way through the crowd toward the gates. Soon, she had entered the courtyard of the block, where a large tree stood in the middle.

A few kids had already put long ropes around a branch and were playing on the swings, while only a few other people were present here. She looked around for those guards and saw a couple of them pointing to the balcony encircling the courtyard on the upper floor. Another guard was already up there, and she guessed that was probably where the baron was going to speak from. She decided to go to a good place to watch him, and walked toward the closest staircase going to the upper floor.

One of the guards in the courtyard noticed her and frowned.

"Hey!" he called out loudly.

"Nobody is allowed to go up there right now."