The afternoon sun hung low over the fields, casting long, rhythmic shadows across the tilled earth. We met with Elpis at the side of one of the villager's field, where the first few sprouts of green were beginning to peek tentatively through the soil. We walked towards her, the dry stalks of the previous harvest crunching beneath our boots, and I asked, "How is it going on here?"
Elpis looked up, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. She answered, "It's same last week; we are still trying to take care of it…"
"They need two months to be harvested, so take your time to take care of it…how about the other fields? Is there any villager who wants their field to be planted with peas??"
"Unfortunately, for today, there is none…" she sighed, gesturing to the vast, empty expanses of grey, exhausted earth nearby.
For a change, sometimes it took a long time and step by step. Hearing there was no one who willingly planted peas, it made me hurt a little—a dull ache of frustration that my efforts to save them were being met with such stone-faced suspicion.
I said to her, "Well, surely there will be a feeling of doubt about this stuff; we can't just force them to plant these peas...…So what is your thought about the condition of these people?"
"My thoughts, your highness??" Elpis asked, her eyes widening slightly at being consulted.
I looked at everyone gathered in the open air and said, "Everyone thought if you have a view or an opinion about the condition of these people, gladly share it with me."
Elpis, Cail, Louis, and Aldea were looking at each other, an uncertain silence falling over the group as the wind whistled through the dead grass.
I said, "Like the first time we arrived in here, all of you said the condition of these people are weird, especially with Rudyard condition…So I want to know your thoughts on why you can say the condition of these people is weird."
Louis was the first one who took a step to me, his posture straightening as he spoke from his years of observation. He said, "As years become Squire, I had gone to some locations with the knights as their boot boy...In my experience seeing some locations and places, this village is the worst among the worst, your highness."
"Thanks for your honesty, Louis…" I said to him, acknowledging the grim reality.
Next one was Cail, shifting his weight and looking at the dead horizon. He said, "Honestly, your highness, you actually don't deserve to receive this fief…"
I asked him with confusion, "Why??"
"All of the prince, your brothers, received better fiefs, not in rank but in fief condition…Yet, your highness received the worst fief among the kingdom…Where the lands already died, it was not ideal to plant a single crops, but the royal still instead gave you this fief…"
"All of my brothers' land is really that good and better than this?"
They nodded at me, their expressions somber.
I was surprised; a cold realization began to dawn on me. There must be something that they wanted to do with me. Father, or the king, had claimed this was a test of my competency in governing a land, but it felt more like a sentence. I began to think of the logistics. If I were a baron, did that mean I needed to pay tribute to the local count? So I asked Cail, "Do I need to pay tribute to the count of this county, Sir Regis?"
Cail answered, "Fortunately, you don't need to pay tribute to him; you just need to pay tribute to the king…Because you are a direct vassal of the king, not from Count Regis, and this land belongs to the royal."
I was relieved then; at least I would not be at the mercy of a local lord who might wish to see me fail. Yet, I recalled from my studies that tribute was rarely just a matter of coin. I looked at Louis and asked him, "Do I need to give some levies or armies to the king?"
"You don't need to do that, your highness…You just need to tribute gold."
Another relief from me. In there, amidst the dying fields, I was just looking at everyone working until dusk. After the sun was set, painting the sky in bruises of purple and orange, everyone came back to their homes. We came back to the inn, and we ended the day.
The next day, we did the same thing, overseeing the pea plantation under a relentless, grey sky. Because I still didn't have any access to the estate, where all the ledger and official paper was kept, surely I couldn't do my job aside from watching everyone do the work in the field. Sometimes I joined to help them because of boredom, my hands becoming stained with the dark, dry earth.
All of the people in this village still didn't know who was the real baron or the one in charge; they must be thinking that Rudyard ordered all of this. Unfortunately, that man was still hiding at the estate like a spider in a web. While I was in here, Rudyard never showed his face again in front of me.
By the second day, like yesterday, there was nothing that I needed to do, so I was watching and helping everyone. All the seeds had shown some growth, tiny specks of life pushing out of the ground. Even though it was still the second day after I told Aldea that I would order to search Zoe in the next three days if she didn't show up, Aldea showed some concern again about Zoe's whereabouts.
She eventually came to my room while I was sitting at my desk, checking all the report of Cail about Census; he had conducted it during the time I was paralysed. Aldea opened my room's door and walked towards me. I turned around to look at her; her expression showed some concern and a tense face, her usual bravado replaced by a visible tremor of anxiety.
In front of me, she said, "Your highness…May…you start the order to search for Zoe?"
I answered, "There is still tomorrow, Aldea…if Zoe don't sho–"
Suddenly she intervened in my talk, her voice rising in desperation. She said, "What happens if it's too late?"
"Too late??"
"The rumour of that residence caught a rat…What happened if it was really her, and we are just standing here watching people plant peas, not rescuing Zoe."
"What will happen if I order you to search Zoe?" I challenged her.
"Of course, I will start to search her…"
"Where? In that residence? What would happen if they caught you?"
Suddenly the door was opened again, the heavy wood thudding against the stone wall. I looked at the door, and it was Louis. While walking towards me, Louis said, "Your highness, you still have authority of that residence; surely you can go there…"
Aldea looked at me, her eyes pleading. She said, "See! Even Louis know it…"
"sigh Fine then, bring everyone to downstairs, and I will come there in any seconds…"
Aldea immediately left the room along with Louis, her footsteps light and hurried.
At the tavern, everyone was already there; there was no one beside us, the regular patrons having already retired.
"Great, everyone is already here…" I said, taking my place at the head of the long table.
Cail asked, "Why does your highness want us to be here?"
Aldea immediately said with loud tone, her hand resting on the hilt of her blade, "WE WILL RAID THAT BARON RESIDENCE…"
Everyone at once looked at her, stunned into silence. Aalis turned to me, her voice trembling as she asked about the truth, "Is that true, my lady?"
I said, "We will not raid the residence—"
Aldea again said, "We won't."
"Of course, we will not raid the residence, but we will be going there to check the truth of Rudyard's words."
Elpis asked, "What do you mean the truth of his words?'
"He said that the residence is under construction or under maintenance, whatever he wants to believe…So we will go there; if there is no construction or maintenance, I want that residence back."
Why did I not do this the first time we were here? Instead, I had allowed myself to be sidelined by Alva and the ordeal of being paralysed.
I asked everybody, "Everything's clear…"
Louis raised his hand and asked, his voice low and cautious, "What happens if there is a…blood…bath??"
"A blood bath??" I asked him.
"Yes, every fief should have levies or armies, but in here I didn't see anything like that around here; my feeling is that levies pulled out to be around in that residence, not in the village."
"How many people are we talking about in those levies?"
"It will be around 40-60 people…"
I felt a cold prickle of worry. I only had three people who were great with swords; there was no way we could win against that many people. But then, a thought occurred to me. Do levies obey the landlord? And the landlord of this fief was me.
I asked Louis, "Should they obey me as their landlord? Not Rudyard? They should obey me…"
"The rule is yes; they should obey you, your highness…"
"We have the paper, right, Louis? We just need to show them who the landlord is in this village…They should know who the real landlord is…Bring the paper!!"
Louis left the tavern to take the paper from the royal about my inherited title of baron. While we were waiting for Louis, Darryl asked me, "For this matter, I think Aalis, Ame, and Cail should wait here and don't come with us…"
I looked at them and said, "Surely, like you said…they will wait here, and…" I pointed at Elpis and said, "What about Elpis? Will she be alright?"
Elpis said with confident tone, giving a small, elegant flourish of her hand, "~my~ I will be alright, your highness, I know one or two move and swings swords... So I can take care of myself…"
"Hearing that, relieving me…"
Louis still not coming, and I saw Aldea become more concerned; she kept tapping her finger on the table, the rhythm fast and erratic. I saw Elpis try to lower her concern, whispering that Zoe was alright and that there was no way she had been captured.
We heard some footsteps from the stairs, and Louis came back to the tavern, bringing a roll of heavy vellum tied with a golden cord and bearing the royal's seal in crimson wax. That was the paper from which I inherited this fief. He brought it to me, and I checked the seal and the formal content of it. It was the real deal, an undeniable mandate that should make the levies of this fief kneel.
Before we went to there, I said to everyone, "First of all, I don't want any fight or commotion for this, so I hope everyone is calm; don't get provoked or anything…" I lifted the roll of paper and said, "with this surely, they know who they are messing with…and hope they know about the rule…Now…let's go to there…"
Everyone stood up from their seats, the chairs scraping against the floor in unison. We walked to the entrance of the tavern—Louis, Darryl, Aldea, Elpis and I left the tavern while the others remained in the safety of the inn, their eyes following us until we vanished into the night.