Galdwin Arvo POV.

Had you asked me what my most prized possessions were a week ago, I would have answered that is was my sword, the 20 gold pieces and the lone medium grade healing potion which I had hidden between the floor boards under my bed.

But now, I had added the water-proof backpack to that list.

When I reached the point where the fisherman had dropped me when I went south, I couldn’t spot anyone. Normally at this time of the day, they would have swarmed this location where the Southern river joined the Trihorn River, as this was the location where the fishes are most abundant. Thus, I found myself swimming through the river for the 3^rd time this week.

When the wet mess, which was me, reached the village I could feel the tension in the air. I managed to find the Alderman of the village, whom I had trusted my horse to, in his house, with a couple of cursing villagers. From them, I managed to find out what had happened in the short 3 day since my visit.

Emir’s army had invaded Vitor. The young Baron had been executed, and the town looted by the unruly soldiers. Afterwards, the officers had visited the connected villages, extorting them of the “unpaid” taxes of the last 2 years, including this one. Of course, the villagers had always paid their taxes, but not to the Emir county, but to the then ruling county of Naevious. But this was only the beginning of the troubles for the village. With all of their money gone, the villagers were going to be forced to move to the town to find extra work to be able to pay the next taxes, which was going to be collected in 3 months, at the start of the winter. It was going to be bad. If the town had been looted as they claimed, it was going to be almost impossible to find work there.

Then the Alderman gave me another bad news. The soldiers had stolen my horse. It meant another 35 km to go on foot, and the loss of my deposit of 2 silvers.

I decided to spend the night in the village since I was going to be forced to camp outside the gates if I arrived after the sundown. It cost me only 15 coppers for a cramped room, dinner and breakfast. And another 40 for a companion for the night. In times like this, when you didn’t know what tomorrow might bring, everyone could use extra money. As she was not so young, I knew that she was either married or widowed. I didn’t ask, neither did she tell me. It was better like this for both of us.

It was no longer morning when I managed to reach the town on foot. There were half a dozen villagers at the town gates, shouting and cursing the guards. When I approached, I couldn’t recognize most of the guards, but the one I did also recognized me.

“Arvo! Come this way!”

“Hey man, what the hell is going on? I leave the town for 3 days, and everything went tits up.”

“Yeah, don’t talk about it. You could say that my employers suddenly changed. The new Baron doubled the taxes the very first day. People are at arms about it, but there is nothing to be done, yet. Emir’s army is camping only 3 kilometers north of here, settling in. The word on the street is that Naevius is also gathering army to march here. It’s going to be a shitshow when they arrive.”

“Perfect. Just what we needed. Why aren’t you letting the folks in? Is there a lockdown order in place?”

“Nah. It would be better if there was one. The new Baron put new taxes. Town residents need to pay 50 coppers to enter, and the outsiders have to pay an entire silver coin.”

“No wonder they are grumbling. A guardsman is paid about 5 or 6 silvers a month, right? A villager won’t even earn half of that. Its gona be rough.”

“Yeah, I have been here for almost 2 decades, and I still earn only 6 silvers per month. Now, I would love to let you in for free due to respect for late father, but I can’t. See those 2 fellows over there? They are the goons of the Baron. My head would be on a pike if they saw it.”

I had no choice but to pay. I could make almost 5 silvers with all the cores I had on me from the short trip, so it didn’t sting as much. But the poor folks at the door would go hungry if they did pay, if they could at all.

I had planned to go to my house for a rest, and to gather my thoughts about that man. I still didn’t know how to explain it to Henry. Would he even believe if I said a damn man fell out of sky? Yet, with all the chaos happening all around, I decided to go to him directly. As the best smith of the town, he surely would have an idea of what was to come. Folks around here respected him that much. Not even the late Baron would throw his weight around near him.

The town felt deserted. The market might as well been a ghost town, there was not even single merchant or artisan there. When I reached the smithy, Henry’s junior apprentice opened the door before I could even knock. He ushered me into a small room at the back, before taking his leave as he closed the door.

Then I noticed that there were 3 people in the room. Master Henry, of course, but I also knew the other 2. Everyone in the town did. One was the Master Larysa, who was a Class 2 alchemist, the best the town had to offer. The potion that I prized so much was made by her late teacher, whom had been conscripted for the invasion 2 years ago, along with my father. The other one was uncle Milan, an aging Tier 3 warrior. He had been saved from the conscription by his age, as he was already 135 years old. Rumors were that strength had left him, but he still commanded extreme amounts of respect, as he had been the guard captain for decades. Most of the current guards had been trained by him, and with the Baron dead, he was the one holding their loyalties.

With everyone else dead, these 3 were the big shots of the town, besides the new lord. I managed to see Master Larysa throwing around glances, only to be answered by nods from both men.

“So, I take it that you didn’t manage to find the skystone of mine?”

“It’s a long story. I don’t think you will believe me even if I told you. Never mind that, what the hell is going on with the town? I leave for less than a week and I return to this mess.”

It was uncle Milan who answered me.

“Hey, little brat, long time no see. Now that your daddy isn’t here to beat some sense into you, you ignore me? Dunno how much you know, but it ain’t good. Emir’s forces burned down 3 villages on the way here for treason. You younglings might not know, but 40 years ago when the Trihorn kingdom was still here, this town was still under the control of Emir Family. Now here they come, spouting some random crap, but the idiots of the Naevious won’t go down easily. They are gathering troops for a clash with the other county. If Emir's side wins, taxes will kill us all. If other side wins, either the looting will kill us, or the next Baron will.”

Not to be outdone, Larysa cut in to talk:

“The situation isn’t good. The counties are going to a head on war where there will be no victors. Whoever wins, the region will be decimated. So we are planning evacuations. I have bought 3 large boats from a trader to go to the Halberd duchy.”

“And as I was about to say before Galdwin interrupted us, it won’t work. For one, Naevius County is hunting down any ships going to the duchy. Second, even if we manage to get past them, forces of the duchy won’t welcome refugees, as they are still at civil war. Even then, I heard a rumor from a trader yesterday. He said that the duke was reinforcing the Riverpass fort. With the counties at war, there is only a single reason for them to do so. They will also join the war.”

This put a frown at their faces. Most likely on mine too. But I had something to add to the discussion.

“There is one more place which we can go.”

“Where can we? The duchy won’t accept us, and taking shelter in counties won’t cut it.”- Master Henry was the one reply.

“South. We can go down south.”

The ears of all three perked up into attention.

“Indeed, we can. With the boats, we won’t have to traverse the marshes. Autumn harvest is also about to start, so I think we can procure enough grain from the farmers, even though it will cost a bit more. Since it’s near the forest, we should be fine on timber. The war should stabilize by the next summer, so we have to only pass a bit more than half a year there. The only problem will be the attacks from the greens during the winter. But the guards and I can take care of it, if we stick to the northern half of drunken hills. Did I miss anything?”

As expected from the uncle Milan, even at this age, his analytical mind was still sharp.

“Erm, actually we might have another helper down there. I just came back from the south, on a request from Master Henry, you see.”

“Right, kiddo, you didn’t tell me why you didn’t bring the skystone. Also, another helper? As far as I know, there is no one there. At there, one would need to be at Tier 3 or 4 to pass the winter alone.”

“Seniors, I don't know if you will believe me, what came crashing down was no skystone, but a man. Something called a ‘hyuman’.”

Monk_Origins

I explored the idea of changing the calendar, but decided against it. With all the novels you lot are reading, it would not be a good idea for me to annoy my readers to remember how many days a month or a year had, or how many hours a day had in some random fantasy novel. 12 months, 30 days each is more than good enough for me. :)