Chương 454: 449. A New Beginning - V

Tesyb's next shift was from eight bells tomorrow morning, so after getting a meal here, he would have to head back to the manor soon. He had been selected in the very first round of guard recruitment, so he still had a space on the ground floor of the servants' hall. But most of the other guards—both men and women—had to sleep in one of the longhouse blocks because there was no more room inside the manor for them.

Savomi had a place in the manor too, on the upper floor of the servants' hall, since she and her older sister Isomi had been among the first women to join up as manor guards. That had been the arrangement for the last six or seven months since they had been selected as guards, and until now Tesyb hadn't thought too much about it. Before today, he and Savomi had mostly spoken only about work.

But now, sitting beside her with their hands brushing now and then and sharing the same mug of ale, that short distance between the ground floor and the upper floor suddenly felt much larger than it used to. He knew it was still early. Way too early, in fact. The two of them had only really started looking at each other like this in the past few weeks. Still, his mind had already moved ahead.

Lord Kivamus had spoken about some new kind of housing called a tenement block, where people could rent a room to live with their families. Tesyb had already decided that when those were ready, he would do his best to get a place there. As a foreman, his father Pinoto earned much more than he did, at 20 coppers a day, and his parents would surely want a more comfortable place too once such housing was ready. Maybe he could rent a separate room in the same tenement block, just on a different floor.

Close enough to help them if needed. Far enough to have his own privacy. That would do nicely. He could not wait for those tenement blocks to be built. He looked around for any sight of Calubo, and saw that many ordinary villagers were drinking and eating too. Since they hadn't actually been paid yet, it had to be on credit. But the barkeep clearly trusted that coins would begin moving from tomorrow, and he seemed willing to let people drink now and settle it later. More profit for him.

His thoughts were distracted by two men sitting on the stools to Tesyb's right, who were already deep in an argument.

"I thought we'd get eight coppers here," the first man said, sounding annoyed.

"But the guards told me we'll get only four a day after the cuts. What are we working so hard for if we only get half the wages?" The other man snorted into his mug.

"Oh yeah? And what were you getting on that farmhouse, then?" The first man looked away and took a long swig from his own mug.

"That's different."

"Yes," the other man agreed.

"It is different. We were slaves there. We're free here. I say, that's already worth the cuts in our wages. But don't forget, we're still getting food and shelter in exchange for the other four coppers. The remaining four we get after the cut is on top of that. Those bunks are hardly a noble's palace, but it's far better and cleaner than what we had at that farm—sleeping in the barn under the same roof with the cows and the horses and smelling their manure all the time.

And if you still want the full wages, just move out of the longhouse. You know that's an option too. The supervisor of the block already told us about that." The first man shrugged.

"And where would I live then? I'm still not sure I believe any of that talk about us really having that option."

"You'd better believe it," the other man said with a grin as he took a sip." Tiranat never lets its people down, haven't you already seen that? But you're right about one thing though. I can't wait for new housing to be built either. Now that I'm not a slave anymore, I don't want to live packed in that huge block with so many others. I still don't know if laborers like us can afford one of those separate houses, though, like the one the blacksmith and the merchants live in.

Or even in that tenement block the guards were talking about earlier...

The baron's never going to let us stay in them for free like he does in the longhouse blocks." This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The first man nodded slowly. Then his face changed." Wait... What if we find a few others to share it with?" The second man frowned.

"What would be the point of that? I still have to crowd in with others and also pay for it...?"

"No, not like that," the first man said quickly.

"I mean with friends. There have to be other people who want to move out but who can't afford the rent alone. But if we share, it gets easier. And it would still be better to live with people you know and can trust, than in a longhouse with hundreds you don't." The second man drank again and seemed to be thinking about it.

"Maybe... But it's not for me." He grinned.

"Me and a girl have been talking. When those rooms get built, I'll share one with her. I still haven't asked her about it, but I think we might have a future as a family together. She works at the farms, so she earns a wage too—nearly the same as me, in fact. With her income and mine pooled together, I think we can make it work." The first man gave him a long look.

"Moving in with a girl? But you aren't even married yet..." The second man just smirked.

"The old rules don't apply in Tiranat! Have you heard of any other place in the kingdom where keeping slaves is a crime? Where former slaves are living their lives freely without worrying when the next whipping would come?" He laughed.

"Tiranat is a unique place! The rules are different here. I've only been here for a couple of months, but I've already heard that more than half of the people here are not locals. Some have escaped from their owners in the west near Kirnos, some used to work at a limestone quarry, others worked for some mighty bandit at a clay mine, while even more are coming from the north every other day. In this kind of a melting pot of different ideas and traditions, we don't need to be bound by the previous rules, do we?

We can live our lives freely here, however we want. Because this is Tiranat! So unless the baron makes a rule prohibiting it, I'm gonna live with the girl I love, and to hell with those who don't like it!"

"Because this is Tiranat, huh?" The first man snorted.

"I agree with you on that much, at least. It's true enough that we can live freely here and enjoy our lives however we want. But aren't you getting ahead of yourself? We don't even know the rent of those rooms or if laborers like us would be able to afford it... The place hasn't been built yet, for Goddess' sake! But I suppose if you're living with a girl you like and want to marry, it would be worth it." The second man grinned." See? I knew you'd get it!"

They both laughed, and gestured to the barkeep for a refill. Tesyb turned back to his own mug. He knew miners and farm workers would only get eight coppers a day even without the deduction if they lived outside the blocks, so renting a room would not be easy for them. But he was a guard in the baron's manor. He now got twelve coppers a day after the raise. And on top of that, he had a large reward from the medal as savings for the future. For him, it could actually work.

He glanced at Savomi from the corner of his eye and grinned to himself. Yes, it would be worth it. After a moment he looked toward the door again. Hyola was still pacing outside. Savomi noticed his gaze and muttered, "What are these two thinking? Hyola is still outside and hasn't come in to look for Calubo, and I still don't know where he is. They should have met by now to make up for whatever reason they fought today." Tesyb nodded.

"I asked a few of the guards. They said Calubo was here earlier, and we haven't seen him leaving yet. I think he's hiding inside somewhere." Then he stopped. Why would Calubo be hiding inside? The answer came to him almost immediately. He remembered the ring Calubo had bought not long ago, and suddenly everything made sense. He turned to Savomi and told her about his guess. She listened, then her face changed too.

"He's planning to propose tonight!" Tesyb frowned.

"But how will that work? He's still hiding inside and waiting for Hyola to come in so he can surprise her..." Savomi snorted.

"And she is standing outside, waiting for Calubo to come out so she can scold him. They're both idiots! They're never going to meet at this rate." She stood up at once.

"Come on! We have to do something about it. We will also include the rest of the guards for this." Tesyb hesitated, and looked down at his mug.

"But there's still some ale left." Savomi grinned, took the mug straight from his hand, and finished what was left in a few large gulps. Then she set it down and looked at him." Happy now? Come on!" Tesyb shook his head. If she wanted to drink that badly, she could have bought her own mug... Still, he could not help smiling a little. He waved over one of the maids and told her they would come back for their meals.

He stepped down from the stool and bent his head lower as Savomi started telling him what she planned to do next.