Chương 430: 425. Departure - II

Levalas gave an exaggerated sigh.

"Here I was thinking I had made some good coin on this trip, so maybe I could help out a couple of nice guards who have worked so hard on their duty to buy a good meal for their families today. But if I have to wait here like the others, I might as well save my coin." The gate guards looked at each other. They walked to the side and a conversation passed between them in hushed voices. Levalas smirked. He had them. Soon, the guards returned.

The short one walked further up the street to look around, while the other came to talk to Levalas. The guard whispered, "Tell you what, it's bright enough already. I think six bells may already have rung and we just didn't hear them. How about we open the gates now and you carry out your promise of buying us a good meal. Of course, this is apart from the usual exit tax you have to pay." Levalas grinned.

"Of course. For men who work as hard as you, this is the least you deserve." The tall guard smiled greedily.

"We have a deal then. What do you have in those barrels anyway? More fish I guess? That's usually what merchants take to the east." Levalas nodded.

"Yeah, Kirnos is a coastal village, and your fish is the best." Noticing that the guard was eyeing the barrels, he realized that the guard might want to check them in detail anyway. So he thought of an idea, hoping Polly wouldn't make a sound.

"Why don't you come take a look?" He climbed down from the seat and walked with the guard to the wagon bed, then climbed up on it. He gently sat on one of the barrels which held Juhibi, and opened up a nearby barrel and showed the smoked fish inside. The guard looked at the fish with a hungry stare after climbing on the wagon bed as well, and Levalas got another idea.

"Let me show you something interesting." He closed up that barrel and called the guard closer and pointed at another unopened barrel and whispered, "Actually, most of the barrels have just the normal fish, but this one barrel has the highest quality fish, which we are taking directly for nobles' consumption." He opened the lid of the barrel just a little.

"I think I'll sell half of it to the Baron of Tiranat, and the other half to the Count of Cinran. It's that good." The guard's eyes went wide.

"This fish is for the nobles themselves?" He bent lower and sniffed the fish.

"You are right... It even smells so good!" Levalas grinned.

"How about I also give a fish worthy of nobles to each of you hard-working guards at the gate? And in return you open the gates for us now?" The guard nodded immediately.

"Of course I will, for a merchant as kind as you. If only the other traders were as generous as you..." Levalas laughed.

"Not everyone can recognize a hard worker when they see it. Here it is." He bent down and pulled out a pair of large fish and handed them to the guard. The guard looked at them reverently, and called up his partner on gate duty. He handed over the smoked fish to him, and told him to hide it safely before anyone saw it. The other guard jogged away with the fish to the bench where they were sitting near the gate, and stuffed them deep inside a satchel kept there.

Levalas counted out the coins for the exit duty, based on the value of the fish he was transporting, as well as a good bribe, and handed it over to the guard still standing on the wagon bed. The man grinned and pocketed the coins, and after helping to close the lid of the barrel, he smiled.

"I say everything is all fine here. You can leave now." Levalas smiled back and they both climbed down from the wagon bed. The guard immediately jogged to the gate and unbarred and opened it, while Levalas took his seat in the front and started driving his wagon, with the second one following behind. He saluted the guards on gate duty, before remembering that that gesture was only used in Tiranat. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The gate guards looked confused for a moment before they just copied the gesture with a grin as the wagons passed the gates. Before long, they had left the village of Kirnos, and Levalas grinned at a job well done.

"Nice idea there," Torig muttered from beside him with a grin.

"That barrel was just the same as the other ones, and a couple of fish barely cost us anything for smuggling two people out of the village." Levalas smirked.

"Yup. In my experience, I've seen that commoners love to be gifted with things which nobles use. It makes them feel special. It doesn't actually have to be something really used by nobles as long as they believe it is." He looked back at the wagon bed in the light of the reddish-orange sun rising ahead of them.

"Come on, let's hurry. We need to get as far away from the village as possible so we can let those poor girls out of the barrels." Torig nodded, and they continued moving east—towards safety, towards Tiranat, and towards home...

~ Kivamus ~ It had been nearly 10 days since the guards had left for the west, and everyone was getting worried now. It was late afternoon, and he was pacing on the roof of the manor house, glancing to the west again and again, hoping he would see a glimpse of the returning guards. But so far, just the distant treeline was visible in the west. At least the weather had cleared now, and only sparse clouds were remaining in the sky.

That had made him a little sweaty at the moment, standing out here in the sun, but he just couldn't stop coming up to the roof for an hour every day to look for the guards. He reached the handrails at the edge of the roof on the west side and leaned over it, looking down at the manor below. Maids were moving between the servants' hall and the kitchens, carrying baskets and wooden bowls.

A couple of servants were drawing water from the well and pouring it into barrels, while others pushed wheelbarrows loaded with crushed grain and flour toward the kitchens. Near the sheds, grooms were brushing down a nodor and checking the straps on a horse's harness, while another groom carried a bucket full of water toward the cows and pigs penned further in. Lucem and Clarisa were running across the yard, chasing each other around a stack of barrels, their morning classes with Gorsazo clearly over.

Madam Nerida was standing near the servants' hall, speaking sharply to a pair of maids, her hands moving energetically as she pointed them back toward their work. Leah was sitting in the shade under the overhang of a barn with her head tilted down, sewing something with a needle and thread, her hands moving steadily. The servants' hall had a steady stream of people entering and exiting, and the chimney of the clay oven next to it was already belching smoke, probably for a fresh batch of bread in the evening.

He glanced at the vegetable patches planted all around the manor, which were helping a lot to supplement the diet and make it more balanced. The maids had learned how to take care of the plants by themselves, so Madam Nerida could focus on other tasks. There was a good amount of wheat stored in the grain barn right now, so there was no shortage of food at the moment, but no hunting groups had left the village for the past two weeks because of the counter raid, which meant there was no fresh meat coming now.

The cured meat kept in the smokehouse had helped, but even that had nearly emptied by now. Further ahead to his right, the rabbits, sheep, and chickens had been increasing in number and their enclosures and pens were getting full now. He would have to get a new enclosure made in the south of the village soon. The horses and nodors were also brought back to the sheds in the evening, and along with the extra wagons, carts and wheelbarrows kept nearby, there was hardly any empty place left in the manor now.

The merchants had also been bringing more cows and pigs, which added to the congestion within the manor. At the moment, the gravel path connecting the buildings, barns, the well, and sheds was the only empty space. The rest of it was occupied by either vegetable patches, or extra wagons and carts parked everywhere. There was also the matter of increasing population.

Even though more than 38 guards were out of the village in the west or accompanying Pydaso right now, it still meant there were 62 other guards in the manor, including women. That was apart from the servants, maids, grooms, and other helpers living in the manor. Of course most of those new guards didn't sleep in the manor because there was simply no space for that, but compared to the time he had arrived in this village last autumn, when everything looked desolate, this congestion still felt good. It was progress.

It did mean that he would soon have to get a new barracks built in the east, and with the sawmills running every day, it was feasible now. During the time the guards had been out, Taniok had finished the second triphammer, and was working on the third one currently. The first triphammer was being used by Cedoron to forge iron, with the help of a new forge he had made on the eastern bank of the stream. The second one had now been put to use smashing paper pulp.

It had increased productivity by a lot, and the wood press machine had been shifted to the western bank of the stream near the sawmills to make it easier for the paper makers. That was accompanied by the crafting of new moulds and deckles, as well as more felt and lye to help in the paper production. The third triphammer would take a few more days, and that could be used by whoever needed it more at the moment.

To help in making more paper, two more wood press machines had been made and placed on the western bank to increase the production. It was easy enough, since the stump of a tree was used as the base, and the rest of it was just a strong plank and a large screw which had been crafted by Taniok's apprentice within a day. The sawmills were already producing more than enough sawdust and wood shavings to provide the raw material for making paper.