I did not sleep that night because of the images of those I had caused to be put to death. The worst was when Nathans's face appeared among them. I kept reminding myself of the possible consequences of not passing the judgments, but those were only possible consequences. The reality was that a bunch of people were put to death last night, and families were destroyed. So, I spent the night attempting to use NLP to overcome the trauma. It wasn't a perfect fix, but I had rearranged a lot of the events in my mind to help reduce the intensity of the emotions.

I had to get up and get moving. Work was the best medicine. Although the sleepless night left me with almost no energy, I still called for a bath and did my tai chi. I wanted a bigger bathtub, but at least I was fitting in this one better.

I went to my chest and pulled out an outfit for the day. I was really looking forward to Mikel finishing my dresser. Not that I had a lot of clothes to put in it, but some semblance of modern life would be nice. I also wanted a filing cabinet for my study. That was going to blow Benjamin's mind.

I asked for breakfast to be brought to my study. Even thinking about the great hall brought back memories of yesterday. As I was sitting in my study writing down my thoughts, a knock came on the door.

"Come in."

Emily came in with a tray of food. And a cup of water.

"How are you doing, Lord Amos," She said hesitantly.

"I didn't sleep last night. Right now, I am recording the events of yesterday and writing down my feelings about everything."

"Why?"

"A few reasons. One, it is good to keep a record of your actions for posterity. My grandfather kept a record of his life. He called it a journal. I always enjoyed looking through it. I hope that those who read it will be able to understand why I chose to do the things I did. Two, it helps me work through my complicated feelings about things."

"Grandma said you don't feel good about the things you did yesterday."

"I don't. I feel awful."

"Why? They were murderers and stole from you." Emily said matter-of-factly.

"I believe bad people can become good people. I certainly did. I… It was my fault that my brother died. Several other people got hurt at the same time. But everyone forgave me. I changed; I became a better person. I know it isn't the same, Em. I didn't intentionally hurt anyone. A lot of the people I sentenced did. But not everyone who died or had their lives destroyed yesterday killed someone. What if I could have saved some? What if, with help, some could have walked away better people?

"After Marcus got away, I promised myself I would not allow something like that to happen again. Still, I wonder if there was another way." I said with a sigh.

"You care about everyone," she said with a gentle smile.

"Not everyone; I didn't feel bad about Jeffery dying. I feel bad for his family members, though. I intentionally did not ask how many he had just so I didn't know how many people were put to death."

"Everybody last night was talking about what a good thing you did. I- We are proud of you, A- Lord Amos." She said with a blush.

"Thanks, Em. That means a lot. I am glad I have friends like you. I don't think I could handle this without you guys."

Her blush deepened, and she stammered out, "I- I need to get back to work. I hope you feel better."

I called out a thank you as she rushed out of the room.

As soon as she left, John walked in with a big grin on his face. "Dang, Amos, that girl was as red as a beet. What did you do to her."

"I just thanked her for being a good friend. She doesn't handle compliments well."

"Are you sure that is all you did?" he said with a sly grin.

I laughed. "Shut up, John. She is just a kid and one of my best friends. Now, how was the hunt yesterday."

"It went well. We bagged a deer. Thanks for letting me go. Uncle Jeremiah was always a prick about letting me hunt."

"So where did you learn to hunt then?"

"What a noble doesn't know won't hurt them." He said with a wolfish grin.

I tried to pull off a Marsh eyebrow raise, but I think I failed because all it did was make John laugh.

"Seriously though, Amos, are you doing okay? You look terrible."

I sighed. "Having the blood of a bunch of people on your hands will do that to a person."

"I got back too late to witness the event, but from what I understand, you just rid the world of a bunch of murderers and rapists."

"Not just murderers and rapists. I had to kill the Headman's entire family. And for what? So I could make sure none of the teenage kids were going to kill me for revenge. It's stupid."

"It seems to me like you're in the wrong line of work," he said, shaking his head.

"I'm kind of stuck with it until Aaron's old enough to take over."

"You have got to be the weirdest noble I have ever met. Most people would kill to be a noble."

"You want a headman position. One just opened up."

He wrinkled his nose, "Ugh, seriously? You couldn't pay me enough to live in this backwater. Besides, I almost have my father warmed up to the idea of me being in charge of the shipping side of the business. I just have to not screw it up here."

"You mean like getting caught snooping around the barony to steal all my secrets."

"Nah, more like pissing off my ill-tempered cousin to the point where he kills me or imprisons me for life."

"Ill-tempered? I am not ill-tempered."

"Tell that to Elizabeth," He laughed.

"Wait, you know Elizabeth?" I said in surprise.

"Not really. I only met her once before she got engaged to you. But I did hear what you did to her. I can't believe you are the same person."

"That's not fair," I huffed. "I was like thirteen, and all of a sudden, my dad suddenly said, ' Hey kid, I'm marrying you off because I hate you.' You can cut me some slack."

"Well, I don't think she will ever forgive you, especially since Cousin Cat says she has been sleeping with the same guy for a couple of years now." He said this while carefully watching my reaction.

"Well, that's good. I hope they are happy together."

"Do you not remember the part where you two are engaged?"

"Not anymore," I said smugly.

"Wait, when did that happen? Every time Cat talked about it, she acted like there was no way Elizebeth's father would end the marriage." He said in surprise.

"I'm a baron," I said haughtily, " and I could never marry some lowly merchant's daughter."

He Laughed "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that part. Quite an impressive way to get out of a marriage, cousin."

"Actually, it is too bad I screwed things up with her. She might have been better than some stuck-up noble girl."

"I don't know. Some of the ladies in my social circles are pretty full of themselves."

"You should have met Aaron's mother. Her nose was so far up in the air I have no idea how she managed to see what was in front of her."

This got a guffaw from John. We would have probably continued trying to one-up each other with stories about stuck-up girls if we hadn't been interrupted by Draves.

"Alright, John, it looks like I got to get back to work. What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"Probably see if I can catch your guys before they leave for the hunt. I also heard you have some shipbuilders here. I would love to chat with them."

"Alright, have fun. Sometimes, we need to sit down and discuss why you are really here."

That produced a grin from John. "Yes, we do."

After he left, Draves said, "You did well."

"Thank you," I said, "but I need to do anything other than think about that. Let me actually eat my breakfast. People keep interrupting me this morning. Let's go practice the sword after I finish."

"As you wish."

After finishing breakfast, I changed into my training clothes and walked out to the yard. Something felt off. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the men were working on their usual routines. Nothing had changed—nothing except me. I was a different person than I was yesterday. I guess we all are different than we were yesterday, but for me, yesterday was one of those points of significance in my life. The world had not changed; I had. I just didn't know how yet.

The training helped. In group therapy, I learned that many people overcome their problems by finding other things to focus on. For me, acts of service helped me focus away from myself and my own issues. So, after burning off some energy, I decided to go down into the village and see if there was anything I could do to help out.

Stolen novel; please report.

The number of people in the village had jumped significantly. It was not as large an increase as Barim, but there were at least an additional twenty-five people. Draves was his usual quiet self on the way down. So, I was looking forward to the distraction the villagers would bring. The first thing I noticed was three people outside Mikels place working on various pieces of wood. One I recognized as one of the shipbuilders, while the other two were in their teens. Father and sons? After saying a quick greeting, I entered Mikels workshop.

"It seems like you have some extra hands," I said to Mikel, causing him to look up from his work.

Mikel nodded, "Greetings, My Lord. An excellent idea to grab shipbuilders. They know their way around a block of wood."

"What are they working on?"

"That new contraption the farmers are all excited about. I have to admit I am curious to see how it will work. Especially since it is probably going to take all your mules to pull."

"Really, It's that big?"

"It is, and it will be heavy. Jorb is trying to pound out iron as fast as he can. We even have Melvin and his assistants up in Melnon trying to churn it out. The blades and fasteners are going to take a lot of metal, and we don't want to waste the bronze or copper to make it lighter. Draves says he is glad for the coke because of how much harder it is to keep the forge hot enough with wood."

I really couldn't wait to get a blast furnace so we could make wrought iron in quantity.

After chatting for a while and asking Mikel if he needed anything, we left to walk around a bit more. We came across another interesting scene. Five women were in one garden, quickly weeding it. Up until now, I had only seen families working in their own gardens. In fact, I knew that the woman whose house this was, Beverly, was missing from the group. I wondered if she was ill.

Upon inquiring about this, I got a very different response than I expected.

A woman whom I didn't know said, "My Lord, since we had to send our spinning wheel down to Barim to keep it secret, we have decided to send two women down there every day, and the rest of us do their work for them. Since they can do the work of ten women on the spinner, it doesn't make sense for all of us to spend some of our time during the day spinning."

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Was this specialization? No, otherwise, it would be the same woman each day. Division of labor? I guess it didn't matter. They had found something that worked and saved everyone time.

"I am very pleased with all of you. You have shown your ingenuity in finding a solution to a problem. Keep up the good work."

I really needed to learn everyone's name, at least in Bicman village. Some guy once said that the most important word to any person was their own name.

I tried to forget yesterday by focusing on what needed to happen in the near future, the near future being a relative term. This society was so dependent on agriculture that things progressed slowly. The latest estimates I got were that we would get anywhere from eight to ten bushels from the acres plowed with the Bicman plow. That was over double what these fields averaged last year. Over the winter, we would have to build silos in preparation for next year.

If my paintings sold well, we wouldn't be paying taxes in grain but in gold. That meant that even if we produced no more than ten acres per field, we could support three times the people we currently had if we kept things tight. I was not planning to do that, and even though it may have seemed excessive, I was planning on trying to build up a three to four year supply of extra foodstuff. Also, we could plant more things to feed livestock.

So, let's say we double the population. The amount of infrastructure and other things we could work on would be incredible. People could stop wrapping their feet in cloth. Shoes would be on every kid. None of my people would have their ribs showing. Women could stop worrying about having more than a couple of children before they ran out of food. Not that I cared how many children someone had, but I wanted my people to have choices.

I would have to spread these inventions across the kingdom. I could sell them, but if people noticed we were getting wealthy, they would try to take what we had. Until we could hold our own, we couldn't be greedy.

I was glad the harvest would start soon because we were running low on stores. Nobody would starve this winter, but we wouldn't be living in luxury either. Next year, however…

Just then, I noticed a man on a horse traveling into the town from the direction of Kerisi. A messenger? He was a man in his thirties. He was travel-stained and weary. He carried a short spear at his side. Every time someone entered my town, I felt like the wheel of fate began to spin.

Examining my scarf, he let out a sigh. My scarf was as good as a name badge around here, so I assume he was just glad his journey had come to an end. He hopped off his horse and bowed respectfully. "My Lord, I bear a message for Lord Amos Bicman."

"I am Lord Amos. You look weary, good man. We are a poor barony at the edge of nowhere, so we have no inn. But you are welcome to stay at the manor house and eat while you recuperate."

"I am honored, My Lord, and if you don't mind me saying so, middle of nowhere is an apt phrase. I could not get anyone to travel closer than the new Plimgus village. Well, not unless I wanted to pay an outrageous price. Fortunately, I was not attacked by bandits or wild beasts."

"Well, if you don't mind waiting a few days, I have business to discuss with Lord Plimgus and will be heading in that direction. You are welcome to join us."

"That is most generous of you, and I will, of course, accept."

"Good. Please speak with my steward, Benjamin, at the manor, and he will get you taken care of."

"Thank you, My Lord. If you will allow me to excuse myself, I will accept your offer of rest."

As soon as the messenger left, I opened the letter. I was not looking forward to its contents. Recently, letters have not brought good news. This one, however, brought mixed feelings. It was from Aaron's grandparents. They had accepted my invitation for a visit. On the one hand, the fact that they were coming was a good sign, but on the other hand, they had not bothered to wait for an appropriate time to visit. Instead, the letter gave the approximate time they would arrive, which was about a month from now.

I had planned to build a guest house for visiting nobles. I simply didn't have room for more people in the manor, and I wasn't impressed with its construction in the first place. Any visiting noble would be of higher standing in society than me, so I had to have suitable housing for them. If you considered people's standing to be based on connections and the influence those connections provided, then even the two gentlemen visiting my estate may have better standing than me. That was only a possibility, though. I doubted noble society would let them get so full of themselves that they would think themselves above a baron.

Fortunately, I had already created a design for the guest house. I was planning on using hollow concrete blocks and mortar and then covering it in plaster. This would allow us to put it up quickly and still look nice. Each room would also have a closet with a small set of shelves and a rod for hanging clothes.

The problem I now faced was that I wanted to start this project after the engineers had left, and I hadn't expected John to be here. The engineers should only be here for a few more days. Now that I had Sanders on board and they were almost done with their projects, I could send them home. Sanders could grab his family and be back here to help.

As far as John went, we hadn't even discussed his plans. I doubt his family sent him here just to say hi. That meant he had an objective, and if he could meet it, then he would leave. I just needed to figure out what that was.

"Okay, Draves. It looks like it is time to head back to the manor," I said as I handed him the letter. “We need to get with Benjamin and figure out what to do about this."

After reading the letter, Draves nodded, and we began to walk back up the hill. As we were walking up the hill, I saw John riding his horse down towards us. "And if you speak the devil's name, he shall appear," I muttered.

"So Amos, I just got wind a messenger arrived. Is there any news worth hearing?"

"You are as bad as the gossiping laundry women, John. Weren't you supposed to go hunting?"

"They left too early, and come on, you live in a backwater barony where nobody comes to, and all of a sudden, you have a messenger come. Of course, I am going to be curious." He said with a gleam in his eye as he got down off his horse to walk beside me.

"As it happens, Aaron's grandparents will be arriving shortly, and I am trying to figure out how to shuffle things around so that they will be comfortable. Speaking of which, how long are you planning on staying?"

"Ready to get rid of me already," he chuckled.

I thought of the quote by Benjamin Franklin, ‘Guests, like fish, stink after three days.’

I did not say that out loud, though. Instead, I voiced my opinion bluntly, "I am sure that you are here for something other than a social call. I expected a letter in response to mine, but instead, I find my dear cousin on my doorstep. The trip does not come without cost, so what is the real reason for your visit? Other than spying on my weaver women."

"You are not going to let that go, are you?"

"Not until I get the chance to meet your wife and tell her."

John shook his head, "See, this is why I despise nobility. You are all so devious."

There was a pause where neither of us spoke, and then, finally, John sighed dramatically. "Fine, my parents were interested in the paper you sent. He wanted me to find out how much it cost to produce and then if we could make it ourselves."

"You came to steal the paper-making process."

"Seriously, Amos, Do you think I came here to rob you? I came here as a merchant's son. I came here to buy it at the lowest price possible. However, I would much rather purchase the cloth-making method."

"I am sure you would," I said with a smile. "However, either one of those processes would make a man fabulously rich within a few years. If you expect me to give it to you for less than a few thousand gold, you would be out of your mind."

"No, you are out of your mind. Where would I get a few thousand gold?"

"I'm sure you could get a loan. You would have it paid off in a few years with how close you are to the capital."

"I was planning on selling the idea to several cloth-producing merchants so that I didn't ruffle any feathers. I don't know if I could get enough to buy into the idea before others started selling the ideas themselves."

"Well, there are a few things we could do. What if you made me a partner, and we developed a system of franchises?"

"What is a franchise?"

"It is an idea I have been developing, but I haven't got all the kinks worked out yet."

And I really didn't. I knew the general principles of franchises, but I didn't have a complete understanding of all the intricacies. I had looked into a few franchises when I was taking my online business courses but decided It was too much of an upfront cost for me. Also, my doctors had started to become concerned about my heart again.

"Let me explain how it works."

For the rest of the walk up the hill, we discussed the concept of turning the cloth producers near the capitol into franchises.

"So we get a Writ of Exclusivity on the process. Then, we go to the cloth producers and cut a deal to provide the raw materials at a slightly lower cost and lease the machines. We guarantee the machine's functionality and fix them as needed. I don't know if it is the best approach." He said skeptically. "My father might be able to make it work, though."

"Well, I am sure it will need adjusting. I don't know how the economy works in the cities, but I could give you all the numbers relating to how much can be produced and how many labor hours are needed. I am sure your father can create a plan. How about, instead of a flat payout, we partner for ten years? Let's say 25% of the profits come to me.”

"Amos, I thought you weren't like other nobles. I can't believe you would try to rob your own cousin."

"Rob! You would be making money hand over fist with this process. I am sure your father would agree."

"I need to introduce you to my father. Look, this is a much bigger deal than I expected to be making, so I think it will be best if we do as you say. You give me the numbers along with a cart full of cloth, and I can let him decide. He will probably have to meet you to finalize everything."

"Sounds like a plan. If things go well, we might even come to another agreement on a faster way to produce cotton."

This caused John's eyes to light up. “If we could produce and manufacture cotton cloth from start to finish at a cheaper rate, we would be… "

"Very rich," I grinned. “Now, I am leaving in two days to discuss a chalk deal with Lord Plimgus. If you want, we can escort you down there. And if you need to, I can send a few men on further."

"Ready to get rid of me, huh? Well, actually, that works well for me. Sorry to say it, but your barony is not very exciting."

"Hey, I'm the one that lives here. I know exactly how exciting this place is."

Things were looking up. I would soon be able to get rid of all my guests and really get down to work.

We were coming up on the front gates when I heard footsteps approaching rapidly from behind. Turning around, I saw a man running up the hill. I recognized his face as that of a man from Melnon.

As soon as he caught his breath, he said, "My Lord, I was sent by Headman Richard to inform you that there was a case of attempted rape in Melnon."

I was shocked. I knew this sort of thing happened, but Melnon was such a small, tight-knit community that I did not expect something like this. "Who?”

"It was the Gentleman Harry."

Crap. Crap. Double Crap.