Chương 457: 451. A New Beginning - VII

But another part of her was already getting impatient with herself. So she just nodded. That was enough to break the growing tension on Calubo's face into a wide grin. Tesyb and Savomi whooped first, loud enough to make half the room jump and surprising Hyola as well, and then the rest of the guards broke into a loud cheer and claps. She couldn't help but grin at them, her tears still having not stopped.

By the time Hyola turned her head back to Calubo, even the villagers who had only just figured out what was happening had joined in and were whooping and cheering loudly. Hyola's eyes were still blurry even after she wiped them with her sleeve. Calubo reached out carefully, took her hand, and slid the ring onto her finger. Finally... Hyola stared at the ring for a moment. It really was pretty. Then she looked back at him, grinned through the last of her tears, and punched him in the chest.

Calubo looked honestly startled. Before he could recover, she grabbed him and threw herself into him, hugging him as hard as she could. Finally...! Thank the Goddess she had escaped that quarry. Thank Lord Kivamus for building a village where something like this could even happen to a former slave like her. Just a year ago she had been a slave working in a limestone pit. Now she was here, in a crowded alehouse in Tiranat, with a ring on her finger and the whole hall cheering around her.

She did not know how long she held him before she pulled back enough to glare at him again.

"Why did you wait so long?" she demanded. Calubo didn't seem to know what to say.

"Idiot..." she whispered, as she hugged him again. Before he could say anything, the noise in the alehouse shifted. The cheering had not died down. It had just changed. Now people were chanting one word over and over.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" As Hyola pulled back again, Calubo looked at her with a grin and raised his eyebrows. Hyola felt heat rush into her face, but only for a second. Then she caught him by the neck and pulled him down to her again, this time forgetting that the rest of the world even existed around them.

~ Kivamus ~ Four days had passed since the wages had started being paid and when he had given the rewards for the medals to the guards. It was late morning, and Kivamus was sitting on a chair in the shade of a roof overhang. Summer had just started, but it was already getting too hot to sit directly in the sun after the morning hours.

He had spent the past few hours working on the blueprint of the tenement block, and he was glad to let his eyes rest for a while sitting outside and waiting for the majordomo and the blacksmith to arrive. By now all the villagers had received their first week of wages. Duvas had paid the foremen and the supervisors of each work site, and they had paid their own workers. That part had gone well enough, except for some teething problems.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Kivamus had taken a walk through the market square yesterday evening, and it had been much more crowded than before. That had made him feel better about his decision to leave empty space near the new longhouse blocks to make a new and larger marketplace in the north. The old market square simply had not been built to serve this many people, and the village population had nearly doubled compared to last year.

The congestion in the old space showed it now. He had also seen proud grins and happy smiles on the faces of the villagers, with coins clinking in their hands. For those who had lived in the village before he arrived, it was the first coin they had received in more than six months. For those who had once lived as slaves before coming to Tiranat, it was often the first time they had held coins in years, if not ever.

The merchants in the market square had started doing decent business, but from what he had heard, most people were still saving whatever coin they received. He understood that. For someone who had spent ten years or more as a slave, the first coin earned honestly by them would feel too important to spend carelessly. So it made sense that many of them wanted to stash it away for a bad day instead of spending it immediately.

On the other hand, he had heard that a lot of people had already started visiting the alehouse in the evenings after work, and that place was probably doing the most business in the village right now. Duvas had been pleased to report that this meant the sales taxes they used to gather from the merchants would start coming in properly this month. He had also heard from the captain about Calubo finally proposing to Hyola at the alehouse, so he had congratulated them after they announced it inside the manor.

If anything, some of the other guards seemed happier about it than Calubo and Hyola themselves. Several had been joking that it meant she now had one less reason to be angry all the time. Kivamus smiled a little at that. Seeing Hyola walking around beaming instead of glaring at people was still strange enough to amuse half the manor. Apart from that, the last few days had been busy as usual.

He had been teaching Syrene for a few hours every day about modern ideas in science, mathematics, biology, and other subjects, this time without hiding anything about Earth. Gorsazo had also been present whenever he had the time, so he could continue adding more information to the book he was writing.

Since that book was too sensitive to be taken out of the manor, Syrene had started writing short notes for herself instead, just enough to help her remember the important ideas later while still keeping them vague enough that anyone who happened to read them would understand little. That way she could take those papers to the encampment later and continue studying there on her own.

Hudan had carried on the recruitment of guards and had now finished selecting another 20 of them, bringing the total to 120 guards, including 45 women and 75 men. It felt a little weird to think that this was ten times the number of guards working here compared to the time he had arrived in Tiranat last autumn. It was a good thing though, that the village could now afford the coin and the manpower needed for that.

Nesser had started training the new recruits immediately, while the more experienced guards had also begun helping as trainers where needed. It would still take time before all of the recruits were ready for battle, but the work had begun, and that mattered the most. Yesterday Taniok had completed the third triphammer.

It would be used alternatively by the blacksmiths or the paper makers depending on who needed it, while each group already had one dedicated trip hammer of their own working off the second waterwheel. So this morning a caravan of construction workers and supplies had left for the encampment construction site in the eastern hills, led by Torig, one of the more experienced guards who had been working for the manor for years.

Deciding who would lead that group had been a more difficult decision than Kivamus had expected. Hudan, Feroy, and Kerel were all needed here in the village. Calubo had also requested to stay here for now, and Kivamus had agreed because of the recent engagement. In a few weeks he would send Calubo to Ulriga again along with Pydaso after the merchant arrived next time, but until then it was fine to let him enjoy this time with Hyola.

Tesyb had to remain here as well, because he would be leading the caravan to Cinran along with the young merchant Trevalo when he arrived within a day or two. Apart from keeping the wheat cargo safe on the return journey, that would also give Tesyb repeated chances to try convincing Isuha to move here. That had left the responsibility to Torig. He was 27 and had been working as a guard here for six years, so he had enough experience even if he had never led a group before.

He had also gone with Levalas to Kirnos earlier, so he also had some experience of traveling outside the village without the full strength of Tiranat behind him. In the end, that had been enough. Torig I had been chosen to lead the expedition to establish the losuvil processing encampment. A total of 18 guards had been sent to the eastern hills, including six women, along with Taniok and another dozen workers to build the encampment.

The guards had been provided six crossbows, so that every guard on each of the three shifts there could have one, apart from their usual shields, swords, spears, and machetes. They had also taken three wagons carrying supplies—logging, digging, and cutting tools; food, iron nails, hammers, a groma, and other small construction materials. The posts and beams had not been sent this time, since the site had to be cleared and a foundation dug before proper construction could begin.

The plan was for all three wagons to return in a few days after dropping off the first round of supplies. Then they would be sent again with the construction materials—beams, posts, and planks—being gathered at the dam site for the encampment.

Once all of that had been transported over three or four trips—which should take around 10 days in total—the long-term plan was that all but one of those wagons would be kept here in the village for other tasks, while one wagon would be sent every week with fresh supplies and a few guards and workers to replace those already stationed there.