Feroy began, "Before anything else, I asked a few things from that bandit while I was alone with him, and it confirmed everything Calubo had told us about the quarry. So it does seem like our previously lost guard is a trustworthy man."

"Didn't I..." Duvas took a tired yawn, before he quipped, "Didn't I already tell you that?"

"Sure you did, Sir Duvas," the ex-mercenary replied. "But it's always better to confirm a person's story from another source before believing him."

Duvas gave a slow nod. "I can't deny the usefulness of that, but you are still more paranoid than anyone else I've met."

Feroy shrugged. "Being paranoid has saved my life countless times." He looked back at Kivamus. "Anyway, once I had confirmed Calubo's story, I called him up as well so I could ask the bandit about those things which Calubo would know more about, since he's already been at that quarry, you know?"

Kivamus nodded and gestured to him to keep speaking.

Feroy continued, "So the bandit is called Sejkil and he is in his late twenties. He is a small guy and doesn't have any other family. Anyway, he used to be a work-hand for a shopkeeper in Yanzuri a few years ago, until one day he got too greedy and stole some gold from the merchant's strongbox in the night." He snorted. "Of course, Sejkil thought he'd never be caught, like every first time thief believes."

"Uh... in Yanzuri?" Kivamus asked, then remembered from the original Kivamus' memories that it was a logging town located a few days' journey away from Ulriga towards the northeast.

Feroy nodded. "Aye, milord, he's from that far." He gave a chuckle. "And of course, the merchant found out the very next day. So after booting him out from the job, he reported the guy to the Count of Yanzuri, but before the knights could seize him, Sejkil ran away from there and ended up in Cinran. Once he'd spent all that gold, he was drifting around, surviving on petty theft here and there, when Nokozal found him and recruited him to keep an eye on the stonecutters in that limestone quarry."

"Truthfully, he didn't seem to have any real experience in sword fighting," Feroy added, "apart from his time with the bandits."

Hudan observed, "It makes sense." He chuckled before adding, "That must be why he gave up so easily when he saw a huge guy starting to beat him up, even if it was with just a stick."

"Well, did you find out anything about Nokozal's arrangement at the quarry?" Kivamus asked the ex-mercenary. "I am still curious about that."

Feroy gave a quick laugh before he added, "Of course I did. Sejkil was singing like a canary so he wouldn't get executed by us." He continued, "From what I understand, in return of getting to manage that quarry, Nokozal had to pay a fixed quota of coins every month to a baron called Zoricus, up in Cinran - somewhere around thirty gold or so - even though that was most of the revenue that the bandits got from selling the limestone."

He added, "Zoricus does seem like a greedy bastard, from what I can tell. The land on which that quarry is located is also owned by him, and he still took most of what Nokozal earned from that quarry."

"Again that Baron Zoricus..." Gorsazo muttered. "He seems to have his fingers in every pie."

"It does seem so," Kivamus commented. He looked at Feroy. "And the demand for limestone must also have been bad in the past year, because of the high grain prices in the region, isn't it?"

"It's just like you said," Feroy replied with a nod, "so Nokozal had started turning to banditry and looting to meet up his monthly quota, otherwise the baron would have easily replaced him and found another man to run the quarry."

Kivamus looked at Duvas. "Didn't you once say that Baron Zoricus owns huge tracts of land in the west of Cinran?"

"He does, my Lord," Duvas replied, "which is why it's surprising that he is even using those bandits. I think he must already have enough coin that he didn't really need to hire bandits for cheap to run that quarry."

"He must be an ambitious man, that's for sure," Gorsazo remarked. "He doesn't seem to be satisfied with what he has, since he had already sent that farm kid Levalo to try to kill Lord Kivamus - most likely to try and capture the barony of Tiranat - and who knows what he'll do in the future to achieve that."

Kivamus took a deep breath remembering that night. "We'll simply have to be more careful in the future. He's just one of the many enemies I seem to have in the duchy." He asked Feroy, "Was there anything else the bandit told you?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Nothing else of importance," the ex-mercenary replied. "So what should we do with him? My suggestion is to execute him tonight itself."

Kivamus shook his head. The barbaric justice of this world...

"From what I understand," he said, "Sejkil didn't kill anyone in the raid, and peacefully surrendered later - even if only to save his own life from the blacksmith. So I don't think we should execute him. Keep him locked up in the barn for now, and we'll decide what to do with him later."

"There is still an option to send him to the Count," Duvas suggested, "like we used to do in the past."

"That may be true," Kivamus spoke after thinking about it for a moment, "but I am in no mood to do Count Ebirtas any favors if he can't even keep a check on the barons under him. Giving the bandit to him would be like rewarding him for that - since Sejkil would be a free slave whom he can sell for profit after the... punishment."

He continued, "Baron Zoricus - who's also under the Count's rule - has already sent an assassin to kill me, and these bandits were also under his control, even if indirectly, so sending the captured bandit there might just be the same as setting him free, since that baron seems to have a lot of influence in Cinran."

"You may be right, milord," Hudan commented. "And there's another reason not to hand him over. While two of the bandits have escaped for sure, they still might not go back to Cinran any time soon, if only for a fear of punishment by that baron. Most likely they'd go back to that quarry. But if we give Sejkil to the Count, it might be the same as giving that Baron all the information about our defenses. Who knows what he'll try the next time if he knows how unprepared we really are to defend against any serious attack - with our walls still incomplete and half of our guards with barely any training."

Feroy added with a shrug, "That's why I still think that executing him is the best idea. One less problem to worry about."

"Perhaps," Kivamus said, "but I don't want to set the precedent of executing even those men who have surrendered to us. If he hadn't laid down his sword then it would be a completely different matter, and you would be justified in killing him - just like with the other bandits. But if someone surrenders to us, it is with the hope of mercy. And he didn't kill anyone either. So I don't believe that executing him would be fair." He commented, "While I certainly don't believe in giving a third chance to anyone, I think that most people deserve a second chance in their lives."

He continued after a moment of thought, "Actually, there is a lot of construction work to finish in the village and we already have a shortage of labour for that, even though the coal mines are still closed. And once those are opened again, we will need as many workers as we can get." He looked at the ex-mercenary. "You are a good judge of character. What do you think about that... Sejkil? If we keep him here, is he going to try to steal things from other villagers? Or do something even worse?"

Feroy took a moment before replying. "You can never be sure about a person, but I don't think he has it in him - and Calubo told me the same as well, based on his experience with the bandits there. It seems to me that Sejkil and the other bandits did a lot of things under the pressure of Nokozal - their chief."

The ex-mercenary continued, "He used to be a decent worker in the past, but lost his way after a single moment of greed. And I know from personal experience that drifting around from here to there teaches a man a lot about the importance of having a regular wage and a place to call home. So, I don't think there would be any such risk - at least in the short term, since he is already quite scared because of the beat down from the blacksmith." He added with a shrug, "But after a while, nobody knows."

Kivamus thought about it and nodded. "That will have to be good enough for now. Let him stay locked up inside a barn for a week. That will give him enough time to contemplate on his life, then go and make him an offer to work as a laborer here in exchange of food and lodging - but no coin. He'll have to work without any wages for at least a few years. We will reconsider what to do with him after that based on his conduct during this time."

He added, "Even if he accepts, although I believe he will - since his only other option is for him to be maimed by the Count and being sold into slavery - there is always a possibility of him trying to steal something before escaping. But he won't be able to go far in the winter, especially with his tracks visible in the snow which will start falling soon enough, and in that case you can show him what punishment really means."

Feroy gave a nod. "I'll do as you say. I still don't like it, but I'll keep an eye on him."

"Good." Kivamus continued, "That reminds me that we still need a jail in Tiranat. It seems to be a basic requirement here with the rate we regularly need to lock people up."

Feroy snorted but didn't say anything.

Hudan suggested, "Once the carpenter is free, we can tell him to make a small isolated room - with very strong walls - within the manor grounds to act as a jail. That will allow us to keep an eye on anyone we need to lock up in the future without worrying about them escaping, since our barns certainly weren't designed with that purpose in mind."

Kivamus nodded. "I'll add that to the ever-growing list of things I need to get built here."

His gaze fell at the scratches on the leather armor of Hudan. "Before I forget, let me say that you and the other guards have done their jobs very well in defending the village. Tiranat came out nearly unscathed, and we didn't lose anything from our precious grain stores. Well done!"

Hudan smiled at the praise. "I am only doing my duty, my lord."

"And you are doing it excellently," Kivamus commended him.

He asked after a moment, "What about the bodies of the bandits who have died? What are you going to do with them?"