Chương 451: 446. A New Beginning - II

Kigeir shrugged.

"I don't know how it works. But then, do we really understand how anything the baron says ends up working? Just a year ago most of what he's done since he arrived would have sounded impossible to any of us. So making leaves stay fresh longer is just another strange thing he has somehow managed." His wife smiled at that despite doubt still visible on her face.

"Maybe you're right... Anyway, close the shop and come eat. Leif should be back any moment." Kigeir nodded and started closing the shutters, when Elsie ran back outside to him, while Maisy peaked from behind the doorway.

"Pa, when will we get pocket money again?" she asked excitedly. Kigeir glanced at the girls, noticing that the boys had also found their way back to their sisters. Until last autumn, he used to give a few coppers to Elsie so she could go to the market square and buy anything she liked. His youngest was too young to be entrusted with coins but he tagged along with his sister, and they both often returned with a fresh bun in their hands.

But that had stopped last winter since the baron had stopped paying the villagers in coin, but now that it was happening again, he had mentioned that he would give them pocket money again. Elsie had been excited about it as expected, while Masie had looked unsure, this likely being the very first time in her life when she would get coins in her hands. That had made him resolve to do his best to earn more so all of his kids could enjoy their childhoods. He smiled at all of them.

"Soon, kiddoes. Very soon. Just give me a few days to get things running and both of you will start getting some pocket money. You'll have to share it with your brothers though."

"Yay!" Elsie squealed and immediately ran to him and hugged him, barely reaching his chest, while Maisy also smiled. The boys whooped and gave each other a high-five, before they ran back inside. The girls took each other's hands and also started whispering something to each other while they followed the boys. Kigeir smiled, knowing how happy it would make them, and how lucky they were to get some pocket money in this village, even if they didn't realize it.

Hardly anyone in Tiranat could afford giving spare coins to their children, but being a merchant who easily made more money than a laborer—at least when times were good—he wanted to give them a better life than other village kids if at all possible. While his wife would be fine with it, he knew she would not like the idea of him going to the alehouse after dinner, or spending coins there. That was an avoidable expense, as she liked to say. But tonight she would have to accept it—he had a proper reason this time.

If deals were to be made with visiting merchants, the alehouse was where it would occur. And if he happened to drink a couple of mugs while making those deals, then what could anyone say against that? He was securing the last shutter with a grin when he spotted Leif approaching the house. Kigeir waved him over. The boy was tired and dusty, but his face was bright in a way that made Kigeir pause.

"Pa!" Leif said as soon as he came up to him, "I just found out I'll be paid in coins from tomorrow. For most, it'll only be four coppers a day, but I'll get eight since I don't live in the blocks." He grinned.

"Others who work with me were jealous when they found out." Kigeir chuckled.

"That's fine. You work just as hard as them, if not more, so you deserve the full wages. Though I hope you can help out in the shop soon." Leif laughed and rolled one shoulder.

"Yeah, so do I. Labor work is backbreaking. I can't wait to come back here."

"That bad?"

"The worst part is hauling," Leif said.

"And the digging. And the foremen yelling when someone slows down." Kigeir snorted.

"So all of it, then." Leif grinned.

"Almost." They went inside together after the last shutter was closed. As he stepped through the doorway, Kigeir could already smell the evening meal, and beyond that, he could almost taste the ale waiting for him later at the alehouse. It had been a long time since he had enjoyed it properly. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. More than that, though, tonight felt like a beginning.

He hadn't made a single proper coin yet from that new payment of the villagers, but unlike Dalaar, he believed in the baron, and knew that it was only a start of all the good things to come in the future. It meant the village was starting to return to normal. Better than normal, perhaps. At some point in the coming days, he would have to make sure to visit Father Edric and pray to the goddess at the temple for the turn of good fortune.

But for now, he would eat with his family, head to the alehouse, and start making plans.

~ Tesyb ~ After the last of the manor residents had been paid, the crowd slowly began to loosen. Servants and maids drifted back toward the kitchens and halls. Some of the guards stayed where they were, still talking and laughing in clusters, weighing their coins in their hands like they still couldn't quite believe it. Sir Duvas announced that from now on the wages would be paid every week, though not with such a gathering each time. The superiors would handle that.

For the guards, it seemed Kerel would be the one doing it. Tesyb did not mind that. Lord Kivamus could not possibly spend hours every week handing out wages one by one. He stood beside Savomi while people around them began returning to their work or their own business. Both of them had stayed together after getting their own pay so they could listen to the rest of the announcements, and now that the excitement of the speech was fading, Tesyb could feel his heart starting to race again for a different reason.

This was the perfect time. Neither of them was on watch duty right now. The light was fading. The market square would be lively. This was exactly the sort of moment he had hoped for, and yet he still had no idea how to ask her to walk with him without making himself sound like a fool. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, trying to gather the courage. Savomi looked at him with a smile.

"Wanna go for a walk?" For a moment Tesyb could only stare. He had been about to ask her the very same thing. The fact that she had said it first made him so giddy he did not know what to do with his face. He nodded immediately, then forced himself to answer like a normal person.

"Actually, I was thinking of asking you the same. Come on, let's go!" They walked out through the manor gates, turned left, and followed the road toward the old market square. The sun had just gone down, but the sky still held enough light that the village had not slipped fully into darkness yet. The gravel Lord Kivamus had ordered spread over the road gave a steady crunch under their boots. Tesyb noticed each sound far more at the moment since he was walking beside Savomi.

In the past this path was just packed dirt, and after rain it often turned into sludge. Now it was firm underfoot, and in the evening light the pale gravel stood out enough to make the road easier to follow. As they reached the square, the noise hit them first. Not loud enough to feel wild, but much livelier than usual.

It reminded Tesyb of the harvest gatherings he had seen as a child before his family had moved to Tiranat—only this was not a festival and there were no minstrels singing or decorations hanging overhead. Still, the candles and the voices and the steady movement of people gave the place a different feeling than the market had ever had before. It felt as if the whole square had suddenly remembered what it was meant to be.

Merchants had lit candles wherever they could, setting them on counters and shelves and window ledges to make their shops easier to see. The little flames gave off uneven patches of warm light. People moved through them and cast shifting shadows over the square as they went. To one side, down an alley, the smithy was still open. Tesyb could hear the sound of hammering from there, metal being worked even at this hour.

In another lane he saw the grain merchant Kigeir's shop lit by a couple of candles near the counter. The alehouse stood on one corner of the square and was easily the busiest place there. Men and women kept going in and coming out, and the light from inside spilled onto the road in a wide stripe. In the opposite corner stood the butcher's shop, the last of the day's cuts hanging where they could still be seen. Dalaar's shop was open too. He still sold grain, but he had clearly added other things now.

Tesyb saw small tools, odds and ends, and a few cheap trinkets laid out where people could see them. Along another side of the square, several fresh vegetable vendors had lined up their stalls, each with small heaps of produce arranged in baskets or on cloth. Then there was the fletcher's place, and a cobbler who had set out leather boots and sandals for anyone with enough coin to care about such things. A refugee from the north had opened a baked goods stall just the day before.

Tesyb had heard about that one already. The man had built a small clay oven, with the majordomo's permission, near the place where the new market square would eventually be laid out in the north. For now his wife was baking there while the man carried the fresh goods over to sell here. Even from several paces away, Tesyb could smell it—warm bread, sweet dough, and something a little richer than the coarse food most people were used to.

The potter had also laid out his wares on display—earthenware plates, cups, bowls and pots of all sizes. There were a few other small sellers too. One man had laid out bundles of candles and lamp wicks. Another sold soap bars cut to small sizes, as well as wooden combs, needles, thread, and bits of cord. A woman farther along had a board full of wooden spoons, bowls, plates, and simple carved toys for children. None of it was costly, but that was exactly why people were stopping to look.

Tesyb remembered the woman working as an apprentice of Darora in the past. It seemed she had either left that job and had decided to work as a trader or perhaps she was just crafting these items in her free time to make some extra coin.