Chương 419: 414. The Third Longhouse Block - III

"Uh..." Widel hesitated for a moment before she nodded, and reluctantly started walking back down to the courtyard. But then another older guard looked at her after hearing that and gestured for her to come over.

"Good, you're here too," the senior guard said to her.

"We need more people to guard the baron."

"What are ya talkin' about?" the earlier guard asked.

"Who's she anyway?"

"I'm also a guard..." Widel frowned.

"I'm just coming from duty from the northwestern watchtower."

"Don't recognize ya..." the guard muttered. The senior guard smacked the back of the younger guard's head.

"The least you can do is remember the faces of all the guards, male or female." The younger guard rubbed the back of his head.

"It's not my fault! There are like, a hundred guards now... and most of 'em haven't even been livin' in the village for long." The older guard shook his head and looked at her.

"Don't mind him, he's an idiot." He looked around for a moment, then pointed at the balcony opposite to where he was pointing earlier.

"You go and take a position there, on that staircase."

"Of course!" Widel grinned, feeling proud that the guards were trusting her with the baron's security.

"But... What will I even do from there? I don't even have a crossbow with me right now..." The senior guard snorted.

"I don't need you to start shooting villagers. You just need to stay up there and keep an eye on the crowd. People don't know yet that the baron will come inside the block, but once they realize it, it'll become a huge rush, so we're guarding all the staircases so nobody goes up there while Lord Kivamus is present." Widel looked at the three male guards apart from herself present here.

"I know we're short on guards right now, but will just four of us be enough to protect him?"

"Nah," the older guard said with a small smile.

"We were just sent here in advance to make the arrangements for his arrival, but more guards will be coming along with the baron. You just have to make sure nobody tries to go to the upper floor until he returns. The four of us will be guarding all the interior staircases for that. If something feels wrong, or anyone tries to force their way through, just raise a hand and give a holler, and the baron's protection detail will take him away through one of the rear staircases immediately.

The rest of us will stay back to keep order until he's out safely." He glanced at the small group of villagers talking nearby.

"We don't expect anything hostile today, but it's better to be prepared, just in case. So keep a proper lookout, will ya?" Widel nodded confidently.

"Of course, I'm good at that. You can count on me."

"Go on then," the guard said, and started discussing something with the other men. Widel immediately jogged toward the staircase where she had been given a new position, feeling proud again. The guards trusted her. That meant the captain trusted her too—maybe even the baron. Eh... perhaps not him. The baron probably didn't even know she existed. Either way, it felt good to be needed and relied on like that.

She reached her designated position and confirmed that her trusty broken dagger, as well as the newer one the captain had allotted the new female guards, were strapped in their places. Yup. All there. Now she just had to wait. It didn't take that long. Soon, she heard the hubbub of the crowd outside grow louder before it became completely quiet. She heard the guards announcing something—not clearly audible from here—and then she saw the group start to enter.

Two guards entered through the gates first and looked around, until the senior guard who was standing on the balcony opposite her gave them a hand signal she didn't understand. The two guards nodded, before they turned around and then the baron entered behind them while waving at the cheering crowd, with Sir Duvas walking beside him. They were followed by Kerel—the acting captain—as well as another guard.

They walked to the balcony opposite her, while two of those guards held the crowd at the gates for the baron to reach his position. Once he had climbed on the upper-floor balcony, the gate guards allowed the crowd to enter, and took positions at the bottom of the staircase closest to the baron. She still thought the guards were being too protective, but it didn't take long for her to change her mind. Soon, the courtyard was packed.

When she came here she hadn't thought the courtyard could even hold this many people, but now it felt like it would be impossible to go from one side to the other until the crowd thinned. At least this double-story block had two gates—the other on the opposite side of where the crowd had entered from—instead of the single one the first two blocks had. Widel realized the guards were right to prevent anyone from going to the upper floor, and to put guards on each staircase.

She had a lot to learn before she could undertake something as important as ensuring the security of the baron. From her lookout spot at the balcony encircling the upper floor on the inside of the building, she could see over the rail to the packed crowd below. Bodies shoulder to shoulder, heads tilted up, a few kids on tiptoe and craning their necks. Some toddlers were sitting on the shoulders of their parents, probably wondering what the ruckus was about.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Across from her, Lord Kivamus stood on the opposite balcony with Sir Duvas and Kerel a step behind him. He didn't look stiff or formal. He looked... awake. His mouth was already curling into a grin like he was enjoying the moment. He seemed to be waiting for the crowd to settle. Once it had become quiet enough, he raised a hand.

"Welcome, people of Tiranat!" he called out, his voice carrying cleanly in the open courtyard. Immediately there was a roar of approval from the crowd, and Lord Kivamus waved at them again. It took some time for the villagers to calm down enough that the baron could continue.

"You lot have been staring at this block for weeks. I'm not going to keep you waiting anymore!" A few people laughed. Someone shouted his name. Kivamus glanced toward the sound and nodded once with a smile.

"You all remember last autumn," Kivamus said.

"You remember what it felt like to sleep with too many bodies packed into one room. Or even the time before that, where not even a single longhouse hadn't been built—where you woke up on the cold, hard ground with your back stiff, your clothes muddied, and your stomach empty. You remember putting your boots on and going to work anyway once dawn arrived." Widel's fingers tightened around the handrail. She wasn't here at the time, but she did remember sleeping on muddy ground and waking up exhausted and achy.

She could recall her life at the encampment pretty well without anyone reminding her of those dark days. Lord Kivamus pointed down at the courtyard and then toward the building surrounding them, like he meant the whole village.

"Look at where we are now."

"This is not the first or the second block, but the third one," he said, "with two floors this time—double the capacity. And we got it up in less than a month!" The courtyard burst into cheers and applause. She could hear the reaction—loud voices, excited noise, people talking over each other. It wasn't just polite clapping. It was real relief, real pride. She found herself smiling and clapping without meaning to. The baron let them have the moment.

Then he leaned his forearms on the railing like he was talking to his neighbors—his equals —not like a noble giving orders to commoners.

"You all know why it went up this fast," he continued.

"The new sawmills have been running all day. They've changed everything for us." He turned his head slightly, tracking the crowd's movement as people shifted and tried to get a better look at him.

"And now we've got something else," he added.

"A wainwright." That got another burst of noise below—sharp, surprised. Widel saw a couple of villagers point at each other and start talking fast. Kivamus nodded, pleased.

"Yeah. Now new wagons will be built right here—along with their axles—allowing us to bring more coal mined by your hard work. Log-movers will be built here too. No more begging, borrowing, and waiting. If we need timber moved, we move it ourselves. When we need the next block built, we build it ourselves!" He straightened and spread both hands.

"But this isn't where we stop. You've already seen the foundation work for the fourth block. Once those foundations are finished, we'll start building it within a week." He paused, then grinned wider.

"And by the time the fourth block is ready," he said, "every single person in this village will get their own bunk. No more sleeping on the floor for anyone." That one landed hard. The courtyard got loud enough that Widel couldn't make out individual words anymore, just the sound of people letting it out—cheers, shouting, the kind of noise that came from being tired of cramped living and seeing a real end to it. Lord Kivamus waited again. When it calmed enough for him to be heard, he went on.

"One last thing," he said.

"This block will also have a supervisor—someone responsible for keeping it livable. If something breaks, you report it. If you've got a problem with living space, bunks, food, anything like that, you report it to him. Don't let it turn into a brawl in the middle of the night." Widel nodded to herself. Even the idea of having someone who lived right here, someone they could ask for solutions themselves instead of trying to approach the manor and getting an audience, just felt… safer.

"Those who can't go out to work," the baron added, "are free to cultivate vegetable gardens here. Older folk. Women with small children. Those who've taken an off day. Anyone who's home—use the space. Plant what you can." He pointed down into the courtyard.

"And anything grown there belongs to the residents of this block. You grow it, you keep it. You can trade it among yourselves, or barter it in the market square. Or you can add it to your meals. It's yours to decide." He glanced at Sir Duvas, then back to the crowd.

"Alright," Kivamus said, grinning widely like he'd been holding this back all day.

"That's enough talking. From today, this longhouse block is open." The courtyard roared. Widel heard"All praise Lord Kivamus!" shouted from somewhere near the gate, and others took it up. Some people pushed toward the open doorways immediately, already eager to claim their preferred bunks. Widel's mind felt heavy, but in a good way—it felt relaxed even. She'd been sleeping on the lower floor while the bunks went in, and she'd still been grateful just for the wooden boards under her while it rained outside.

But a bunk—her own bunk—meant she could stop watching her small pile of things like a hawk every night, nor have to worry about someone stepping on her in the dark and crowded indoors. And still, a thought wouldn't leave her alone: she wanted a place in the manor someday, with the other female guards. Not because the longhouse was bad—because being inside the guard's circle meant something here. It meant you were trusted. It meant you were one of them.

Lord Kivamus lifted a hand again and gave a quick wave to the crowd. Then Kerel and the other guards stepped in close, and they turned and headed toward the rear staircase instead of coming down into the courtyard. Widel kept her eyes on the crowd below, doing what she'd been told. People were moving fast now, some trying to surge up toward the staircases. A guard's voice called from behind her position.

"Widel. You've done well for today. You can go and rest now." She turned her head and nodded once.

"Got it." She started down, then pushed into the crowd to find the women she'd come here with—the ones from the old encampment. She wanted to celebrate with them, loud and simple, before the night settled in. And when she finally lay down later tonight, it would be in a bunk that was her own.