After handing over the crossbow to the guards again, Alden started walking back towards the manor.

  “So this crossbow is what I’m getting the carpenters to make first. I plan to provide one of these to each of our guards, then if we can make more of them in time, I will give some more to trustworthy villagers who can help out in the winter. Using it hardly takes any skill—you being the exception—and even a woman can use it easily. That will allow the guards to go out with spears and shields to finish off the monsters, while the other villagers and women give them cover from the watchtowers.”

  Daelus nodded slowly. “It will help, for sure. But these crossbows can only take care of the smallest of monsters. They simply don’t have the punch to kill even the medium-sized ones.”

  “I know,” Alden agreed. “Which is why I am also working on the design of scorpions—which is like a smaller version of the ballistas kept on Garitus’s walls. I plan to mount at least one of those on each watchtower. That’ll take care of the medium-sized monsters.”

  “Hmm…” Daelus muttered. “Can’t say what it'll do without seeing it in action, but that sounds good. Wait, you said you were working on the designs? When did you become such an academic? I don’t remember you having any interest in studying.”

  Alden chuckled. “Well, it’s been more than a decade since you left, and we haven’t been in regular contact since then—apart from some occasional hellos while my family was in the fortress city. Still, there are more reasons behind that, but I’ll tell you about that later.”

  They reached the gates of the manor, and the group entered inside.

  Alden exhaled. “Well, the truth is that we can only make scorpions if we can get enough steel in time. The village’s finances are already not looking good, but even then it will take around two weeks for us to buy steel from Garitus and get it back here. That’s assuming those smiths are even selling steel right now—at least at a reasonable price. Winter is coming close, so they will be using up all their steel themselves to make weapons and armor for the city guards of Garitus.” He looked at the majordomo. “The sailboat will finish unloading by evening, right? Can we send it back tomorrow morning?”

  Vusato nodded. “That's the plan. I’ve already drafted the letter for buying the amount of steel you want, and the boat captain will take that and the gold when he comes here in the evening. Now it all depends on how the wind blows and how long it takes for the boat captain to come back.”

  Daelus suddenly stopped walking. “How about I bring you that steel?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Daelus pointed at Thuvara, his griffin, who was lazing in the courtyard. “I mean I can fly to Garitus. I don’t know how that scorpion will work or how it will be built, but it seems like you can’t make it without steel, and the village will be far more vulnerable without them. So if you give me the buying letter and the gold for it, I can fly to Garitus and be back here with the steel in three to four days. The monsters are also not going to be that numerous or dangerous in this season, so you don’t immediately need my mage powers to defend the village.”

  Alden’s mouth fell open in surprise, and he glanced at Vusato, who nodded with a smile. He looked back at his friend. “That would be great! I didn’t even think of it... But are you sure your griffin can carry much steel? She’s still a youngling, right? And steel is quite heavy.”

  Daelus shrugged. “Depends on how much you need us to carry. Thuvara can easily carry uh... 90 stones apart from me, I guess—that's the weight of at least one more adult person. I know that since I’ve flown with my master on her when he was teaching me how to fly on Thuvara. But that was around a year ago, when she was even younger. By now, I believe she can carry the weight of at least one more adult and a kid, apart from me. Of course, if she were an adult griffin, she could carry a total weight of at least 10 men, but that’ll take years.”

  “Oh…” Alden muttered. “It’s less than I thought…” He realized Thuvara could carry just around 150 to 200 kg of steel at most, which wasn’t much at all, knowing that steel was around eight times as dense as water, or even humans. That meant 200 kg of steel would be a pretty small amount in volume. He also had no idea what grade of steel it would be, but the simple fact was that at this point he couldn’t afford to be choosy.

  He nodded. “Assuming the scorpion works out well, and later the lathes too, we will need a lot of steel in the future, but even if you can just carry that much, it will be enough to make at least one scorpion, I think, or a lathe instead. Most of it is still going to be made from wood, and steel is needed for only a few components anyway. So even that amount of steel will give us a good start while we can also send that procurement letter with the boat captain to buy a larger amount of steel side-by-side.”

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  “Great then.” Daelus smiled. “I’ll let Thuvara rest for tonight, then we’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

  Alden looked at the majordomo. “Vusato, draft another letter, and give 30 gold to Daelus. It’s probably more than what he will need, but better to be on the safer side. The boat captain will leave with the original letter and the 100 gold we already planned to give him.”

  “You are dipping into the gold we had saved for paying taxes,” Vusato reminded. “You know that, right? It will be difficult for us to pay the tax if you keep spending the gold like this.”

  Alden shook his head. “We have no other choice. Paying taxes only comes after we’ve done everything we can to save the villagers’ lives. Otherwise it will all be for nothing. Anyway, it's not like the Duke wants his people to die... Sarnok won't be able to pay a single copper in taxes in the coming years if the village doesn't survive, and surely the Duke doesn't want that. He's only doing this because the king wants more gold from him for his next pointless war."

  "Father always had good relations with the Duke," he added, "because that man is indeed a good person and wants the best for his people. We both have met the Duke and can confirm it from our own experiences. But his hands are tied now, I guess. The king is the king, and his capital in the south is easily the safest place in the kingdom, for multiple reasons. He doesn't have to worry about monsters as much as the Duke does, which is why the king is even considering another war with the neighbouring kingdom. The Duke is just following orders.”

  The majordomo nodded. “You are not wrong, but I just…” He exhaled. “Anyway, I’ll draft the letter and bring the gold. I’ll also ask Hilda to pack up some food for Daelus.”

  “Good,” Alden said.

  Daelus looked at Alden and smiled. “You are quite a lot like your father, you know? It’s a good thing. I wasn’t sure about what kind of a person the next baron of Sarnok would turn out to be, but it seems I didn’t need to worry. With you at the helm, my home village will be in safe hands.”

  Alden shrugged. “I’m only doing what’s right.”

  They crossed the courtyard and reached the door of the main hall.

  “I have to go and meet with the other guards,” Roderic said. “I need to rotate the watch duties again, so we can send different guards with the sailboat this time. Kirol has been helping in everything, but it’s better to double check it.”

  “Go on,” Alden said, before he looked at the mage. “Well, dinner will be ready soon. Let’s go and see what Hilda has cooked up for tonight. I’m sure Lira and Caelen must also be waiting to talk more to you.”

  ***

  The next morning, Alden was waiting in the courtyard for Hilda to arrive with food for Daelus. The mage and the majordomo were standing nearby, along with his siblings, while a small crowd had also gathered near them. Daelus had already received the gold and the letter from the majordomo and put it in a satchel on his side. It was just after sunrise, and the mild chill in the air was making Alden wish he had worn something thicker today.

  That was when he saw Roderic jogging towards them from the gates of the manor. The captain reached him and handed over a small satchel, which sounded like it had coins in it.

  “What is this?”

  Roderic grinned. “This is everything the thieves had stolen the day before. Your announcement that if caught, the thieves will be put outside the village walls in the night unless they return everything has borne fruit. The guards who were returning from the night patrol saw this satchel kept right outside the manor walls in a small nook.”

  Vusato smiled. “That’s really good to know. I’m sure the village merchants will be happy to hear it. I’ll distribute it after confirming how much was stolen from each person.”

  Alden nodded. “Yeah, I’m glad it worked out this time. I know the people of Sarnok are not thieves. It was just an act of desperation. The fact that they returned the coin proves it. But we have to make sure the villagers never feel that desperate again."

  "You are already doing a lot for that," Vusato said. "Our dwindling savings are proof of it."

  Alden snorted, while his siblings and Daelus also began to laugh at that.

  “As a side benefit, at least it should temporarily stop those who wanted to abandon the village immediately,” Roderic said. "We can't afford any craftsmen or merchants to leave right now."

  The door of the main hall opened, and the head maid, Hilda, walked towards them. She handed over a package covered in rolled-up oilcloth. “Here it is, young Daelus. This will tide you over till you reach the city.”

  “Thank you, Hilda,” Daelus said with a smile. He looked at Alden. “Well, I should leave now.”

  “Good luck, Daelus,” Alden said. “I’ll wait for you to be back in four days.”

  “You can count on me,” Daelus said, then he climbed on Thuvara, who lifted her head and gave a loud hoot.

  “Take care, Brother Daelus,” Lira said as she leaned on a maid.

  “Wait,” Caelan called out just as Daelus was going to fly. “Can you show us another fireball before you leave? Just to, uh... make sure that you can indeed make a bigger one...”

  Daelus snorted. “Oh, you little brat..."

  "I'm not a brat," Caelan retorted. "Nor little!"

  Lira giggled, while Alden just ruffled the hairs of his brother with a grin, who got even more annoyed at that.

  Daelus looked at everyone gathered there. "I’ll show you all what a fire mage can do before I leave. Move back, all of you."

  ***

  I really hope you’ve enjoyed the story so far, and I’m genuinely grateful for all the support. Big thanks to everyone who’s joined my patreon—you’re keeping this going. If you’re not a patron but want more, check it out: is up to chapter 40! And don’t forget to rate and review!