Galdwin Arvo POV

In the end, we decided to sail the ships north, to buy food and iron. Even if we hunted day and night, it was impossible to feed that many people. According to Lloyd, there was an iron mine down south-west; it was past the forest, on the hills of the mountains. Even if we could go there periodically, we didn’t have the manpower to mine it, make charcoal and refine it to a shape prorate to transport.

Thus, here I was, on my way to buy the necessities. They gave me all 3 bigger ships, all of the money the village had, and 2 of the cargo ships. I also had a crew of 5 sailors to help navigate the boats, 20 men to load the cargo, and an escort of 10 guards. The guards were Tier 2 warriors, just like me, and included the guard who had hailed me when I returned to Vitor last time, Geoff.

He was acting as my pseudo second officer. He knew the other guards better than me, and he was commanding respect from them. He was also the youngest of all, at the age of 42. He was still older than me by 5, though.

First day of the journey passed peacefully, but the next didn’t.

When we reached the southernmost village of the continent, where I had spent a night recently, we spotted an image from nightmares. The fields had burned, homes destroyed, and bodies left behind, rotting.

We found out what did this when we disembarked to investigate. Most monsters would use physical force, but only few could use fire. Besides fire spirits and dragons, there was only one that could use it. Elves. Sword slashes and spear punctures also proved that it was a massacre by elven hands. The village had also been looted, not leaving a single copper or valuables behind.

After we left the village, we traveled along the river, north, to try our luck with other villages. We met 2 more villages on the way. First one had also fallen to the same fate, completely destroyed. But the other one had managed to withstand the attacks, yet at a great price. In our short stay there, we saw burning fields, mothers holding dead or injured bodies, and guards bleed. It was horrible sight.

I had killed a lot in my short life so far, goblins, wolves, deers, orcs and more, yet, none had been this haunting. None had been this bloody.

. . . . .

We had decided to anchor the ship for the night, even though we were 2 hours away from a port town. We had to find some food there. I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, that crying woman’s image popped up from the darkness. She had been clutching a baby in her bosom, and crying on top of a dead body of a guard. It was either her husband, or her son, both terrible…

It didn’t take long for us to reach the town next day. Unlike the villages, it was full of people, but the atmosphere was just as depressing. We didn’t even had to disembark from the ships to see anger and sadness in them.

There were no guards at the port when we anchored down. Only a single bookie welcomed us, as he asked for 10 silver fee for the arriving trade ships. Usually, there would be men here to harass the merchants, asking for bribes under the guise of inspecting the goods.

The situation in the town was worse than I had thought. Multiple villages had been raided by bandits, forcing the survivors to the towns. Guards had been dispatched, but they were only able to protect some of the roads and the closest of the villages, without being spread too thin.

I managed to find the market after asking the few guards that I saw. The market was a mess. There were hundreds of beggars crying, dozens of new orphans still adapting to their new lives. If the orphans managed to survive long enough to reach Tier one warriors, they would be able to work as laborers, yet, if they didn’t, no-one would miss them much. Lucky ones would be buried by guards; rest would be either burned or dumped to a random ditch.

I wasn’t able to purchase anything. All of the iron not in the private stashes of smiths had been claimed for the war effort, and the grain situation was even worse. With the farms burnt down, no one knew what was going to happen. There was a price war going on, for the purchase of the grains. Every merchant and trader was claiming that they would buy wheat for 2 golds per ton, an increase of 30%, but no one was selling. The few sellers that had the food in large quantities asked for almost 3 golds per ton, but that was way outside my budget. I only had 100 or so golds on me. If necessary, we could do without iron, but not without food. I somehow needed to lower the price to 2 gold.

“Are you with the ship which came this morning?”- Someone drew me from my impending panic.

I lifted my head to look at them. There was a woman and man standing 3 meters away from me, looking towards, with their hands on their swords. It was unnecessary, as they were Tier 3 warriors. A single one of them was more than enough to kill 2 of me, let alone 2 on one.

“Yes, I am. Who is asking?”

They didn’t wear the uniforms of the guards. Nor did they have a insignia of a noble house. Yet their armor was top notch, with the distinct green shade of the low level adamantium alloy.

“Come with us. Our lady wants to have a word with you.”

It was not a request, but a demand. The man turned around to walk as soon as he said his words. So I followed. Here, there was only a single force in the town which could hire 2 Tier 3 warriors, the Viscount, lord of the area.

My suspicions were confirmed when they turned towards the castle in the distance, only to shatter when we reached the gates. A man, whom the guards identified as the chief butler bower deeply to the 2.

Chief butlers were the most trusted men of any noble family. The job entailed greeting guests, monitoring the food, ensuring the loyalty of the staff, and sometimes, evens the budget of the household. Thus, usually, they were the best confidant of their lords. A chief butler bowing meant that whoever these 2 served was higher in standing than the Viscount. But that should have been impossible, as viscount was the cousin of the Count, and marshal of the forces of the county.

I was ushered in to balcony of a room, where a young woman was drinking tea. She pointed towards a chair, ordering me to sit across her.

“Am I correct in presuming that you are Mr. Galdwin?”

“Indeed, that would be me, but may I ask how you know that?”

She let out a small laugh.

“Mr. Galdwin, you are more famous than you know. Your father, a Tier 4 warrior and a Tier 1 mage, was one of the strongest men in the county. Also, spies of all three sides already know of ships that went south, but didn’t return. From tomorrow on, they will also know that 2 of them returned. You have been most careless, Mr. Galdwin. I recommend you to leave the town soon, if you do not wish to be apprehended for questioning.”

Pressure she exerted was phenomenal. It wasn’t just the predatory eyes nor the mannerisms, but also mana. She was definitely a Tier 2 mage, maybe even higher.

“All three sides? My lady, I thought there were only 2 counties warring?”

“Ah, my apologies, I forgot to familiarize you with the details of the war. You are aware that both of the counties were part of a single kingdom, right? That makes it easier for me. Back in the day, before the invasion of Empire, Riverpass fort protected the northern border of the kingdom. But after the invasion, and the subsequent dissolution, the kingdom shattered into many parts, leading to Riverpass fort being usurped by the Halberd duchy. And now, both counties, that managed to unify the rest, think that they should be the one to succeed the kingdom, to resurrect the borders of the late kingdom. Thus they started to war. Naevious, in the end, managed to get the advantage a week ago, but failed to notice the bigger threat, the Duchy. For millennia, only thing stopping them was the fort, and the fact that their fleet in the lake was smaller. But now, they have the fort, and they have been building more ships in the last 2 years we wasted in the civil war.”

At this point, I managed to note that one of the guards had managed to sneak behind me without me noticing. The other one was standing besides the Lady.

“Bandits that are looting, raiding and pillaging the countryside are no bandits, but mercenaries and soldiers of the Duchy. Naevius is calling his army back, to reinforce the villages, but it’s already too late. He has lost 30% of his army, and Emer has lost more than 60%. Even combined, they won’t be able to resist the attacks from the 3^rd party.”

“It is very fascinating, my Lady, but why have you called for me? Surely, it’s not to open my eyes.”

“Mr. Galdwin, my spies tell me that you are looking for grains and metals. You won’t be able to get any. Unless you have my support, of course. I can even gift what you require, but my help will cost you.”

“And what will that cost be?”

The eyes of the female bodyguard standing next to her sharpened for a second. Even through the Lady sitting across me was still carrying her neutral face, her companion gave away that, whatever it was she wanted of me, it was vital for her.

I did not need to wait long for a response.

“I require of you to take us 3 with you.”

Monk_Origins

We have a regional map! Granted, its a little rough around the edges, but it will improve.

Spoiler

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Some may question the figures, so I decided to post how I came up with the numbers. Average human needs to eat around 1.5-2 kg of food, and assuming there is some amount of hunting and fishing, I took the figure of 1.5 kg per person per day.

1.5 X 180(amount of days they are planning to stay here, till mid spring) X 200(amount of people in the village) = 54 tons.

There are 168 people in the village, but I calculated it higher, as they are preparing for the worst.

Now, for the price.

Before, I had written that, even the worst job in towns, laborer, would earn 3-4 silver a month, which comes to 10-13 coppers a day. Assuming that a bit more than half of it goes to food, and they eat mainly gruel or bread, the cost of a kg of grain comes to 2.5 to 3.5 coppers. So 3 coppers per kilogram on average. And this was the price before looters burned down the farms.

At 3 coppers, a ton of grain comes to a gold and a half, or, 81 golds for 54 tons. (Don’t forget that 100 Coppers= 1 silver, 20 silvers=1 gold.)

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One last thing. The favorites are not increasing! Lets pump up those numbers, shall we?!

Please..?