"Wait, you're telling me that we built this all for nothing? We aren't even going to be attacked from here," Vance said in disbelief

We were sitting in the Lieutenant's office, and I had just finished explaining that while I was down in Kimton, we had discovered that the men coming against us were Rabiss raiders, and they were most likely coming from the North.

"Not necessarily. It is possible that they are going to use the beach that the chalk traders use. The problem is that they somehow found out that we know they are coming. That means they will probably bring more men, and it will be harder to ambush them."

"We have already removed the chalk ferry and obscured the path from the Plimgus side. If they come during the spring before the snow melts in the mountains, they may find a spot to cross, but it will be difficult. We do have regular patrols that roam the bank of the river.

"Good. But I am now a count, and I own Plimgus. We need to build a small lookout at the beach there. I doubt that they will use that tactic because we can easily defend the bridge and it won't be easy to cross. Just know that it will be Rabiss raiders, so I will leave it to you and yours to make the call on how to best defend the river," I said. "Now, I have given you all I know, and now I need a WTHIGO report."

"WTHIGO?"

"What the Heck Is Going On? I sent something like three hundred and fifty, but I heard the number was expanded."

"I apologize, but I was up in Fort Cove with General Draves when it occurred, so everything I have is secondhand. From what I was told, the mercenaries showed up here while the gate was still being built. We knew people were coming from your letter, but there was no specific number. You just said 'prepare for hundreds of more people'."

"I thought I was being smart by not specifying a number because I knew people would die along the way, and I wanted you to be more prepared, not less. That was a huge oversight on my part."

"In the end, it was helpful. If we had prepared for three hundred and fifty, we would have been in a lot more trouble. We were preparing for six hundred. Double what we thought you meant. All the children were scouring the whole barony, looking for usable material to make cloth with. We built more spinning wheels and looms."

"We cleared land south of the Cofi River and started putting up large shelters."

"Did you use concrete blocks or wood?"

This made Vance uncomfortable. "My lord, I am not an expert on such matters, but although your concrete is durable and easy to shape, it is hard to produce quickly. We have mainly been creating standard structures. However, a few have incorporated your new design."

"My new design? Wait, are you talking about the half-timber? Why are we wasting materials on decorative outsides?" I said. Had some of the wealthier people got it in their heads that now was the time to be extravagant?

I could tell Vance held back a laugh. "My lord, I am so glad I got to see your reaction first. The builders found a way to incorporate your design into the structure of the building. What you have as a pattern of logs on the outside is actually being used as the frame, and then the walls are built into it."

I visualized it for a moment, and then it clicked. I had to restrain myself from turning red. It makes so much sense now. Of course, the half-timber houses weren't just decorative. It was purposeful. "And how are these buildings?"

"They are very strong, and they keep the heat in them. With the two sawmills now up, we are putting up houses quite quickly."

"Two?"

"Yes, as soon as the first one was up, they used it to build the second one."

Well, that was cool, but we were off-topic.

"Ok, back to all the people. How many showed up?"

"Well, I think the last report I got was nine-hundred and thirty-something."

If I hadn't already been sitting, I might have fallen over. As it was, my jaw dropped. I looked at Benjamin. He had turned pale.

"How?" was all I managed to say.

Vance sighed and said. "So, as far as I understand, the mercenaries showed up here with all the people. They asked for a receipt for delivery for all the people so that they could collect their pay from Edward. The mercenary leader also said that there were a few stragglers that may show up, but he needed to hurry because he was escorting the caravan back. Hale was there at the time, and he sent two guards with their captain while the rest of his men went back across the bridge. We only had the work crew and about fifteen men here at the time to take care of all these people.

"From what I understand, it became a total mess. There was disease, a lot of fights, and robberies. There were also some murders. They quickly started trying to separate people into groups of no more than twenty and had the people working on building latrines and such. They had to kill some to restore order.

"Anyway, I think Edward didn't trust everything that was going on and refused to pay the full amount. The captain was unhappy when he returned, but it had been almost four days since the mercenaries left. Fortunately, Captain had brought fifty men back from the cove with him to help restore order. After everything was sorted out, it took a few days for people to start talking, but we soon uncovered what really happened.

"While they were at Vaspar, some of the people who were part of the original group went into town. They started to gossip in the different taverns that they were being fed two meals a day by a lord who needed people on his land. The news spread rapidly throughout the city. People started showing up asking for handouts or to come with them. At first, the mercenaries just told them that the food was only for those who were traveling to Bicman. But people started sneaking into the camp, claiming that they were part of the original group.

"The original people complained, but the mercenaries just turned a blind eye and said that if the people said they were part of the original group, then they weren't going to try to sort it out. They even punished those who complained. This gossip started to spread, and some of the stories were quite outrageous. People came from all over to join. Once they started off to Bicman, more joined along the way. It all snowballed into a crazy mess."

"What happened to the I sent along?" I asked

"The captain of the mercenaries said that a few days before they were about to leave, a few of his men and ours had shared out of the same stew pot, and they all came down with something. He had to leave two of his men behind with the five sick men in order to watch over them. He said that he thought they would have already caught up to him, but he was going back for his people, and he suggested we do the same if ours didn't show up in a couple of days.

"We sent a detachment down to Vaspar, and on the way down, they intercepted a messenger from the inn where they were staying. It said that the men had been grabbed by sailors and pressed into service. They would either be going to Carok or West Cove."

"This all sounds far-fetched to me," I said.

"That's what we thought, especially since more people were flooding into Bicman now, and they were just saying that they were told they could find work here. We tried to chase after the caravan and mercenaries, but we couldn't find them. We didn't know what to do with all the new people. We knew they wouldn't make it back to where they were from, so at first, we let them stay, but we decided to close the border when we realized we wouldn't last the winter with more people."

I sighed. "Well, Benjamin, what do you think?"

"With the money you raised in Kimton and what we are scribing from the publishing house, we could definitely feed them all. We will be gouged on the prices, but as we said before, we won't see a huge jump in our expenses until the end of next year. Right now, we have discretionary funds. It would be best to see if we have enough stock to last through the winter before we make decisions."

This was all a huge amount to take in. Fortunately, the cook arrived with some food so I had time to think about all this. We ate a meal of warm porridge and root vegetables. It was nothing fancy, but it was exactly what I needed. With the meal done, I washed myself down with a damp towel to rid myself of the travel dirt and found a bed to sleep in. I was so looking forward to my horsehair mattress with cotton sheets and goose-down pillow at the manor.

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The next morning, we were up early. I instructed both Plimgus and Malcomps guards on what to report to their masters and prepared to head out.

Vance had been looking nervous this morning. And just before we left, he couldn't contain himself anymore. "My lord, I have been wrestling with whether or not I should give you some news all night or if I should let Edward or a headman tell you. You see, well, your…friend, Emily, don't worry, she is fine." He rushed to assure me when he saw the look on my face.

"What happened," I demanded.

"The boy Marcus showed up. You remember the old steward's son. He accosted her in the papermaking building after everyone else went home. He was interrupted by one of her workers who had come to walk her home. The boy's name was Alfa. Marcus stabbed the boy, which caused his lamp to drop, and it started a fire. Marcus fled, and Emily received some minor burns while trying to pull the boy from the shop. I am sorry, my lord, but the shop went up in flames."

"Who cares about the shop? What about the boy!" I was upset about the shop, but it was secondary.

"I'm sorry, my lord. They stopped the bleeding, but the wound became infected, and they couldn't stop the spread. He died a week after."

I took a deep breath. This was not the first death, and it would not be the last. "What about Marcus? I had made plenty of copies of wanted posters when he first fled. Don't tell me he got away?"

"I am sorry, my lord. However, everyone was focused on containing the fire, and Emily collapsed as soon as she got out of the building. It wasn't until morning that anyone even knew Marcus had been the cause of this all. We scoured the countryside, but it was as if he had vanished. Emily now has a guard at her side wherever she goes. And any of the new people to Bicman have had their movements restricted. A reward of two silver crowns has been issued for any information leading to the capture of the criminal, as is standard per your laws."

"Spread the news. I am personally adding to that amount with my funds. A gold crown for the capture or death of the criminal Marcus."

Nobody touches my friends.

This raised Vance's eyebrows, but he said only, "I will spread the word."

We took off with my original seven guards. Now that we were all being drawn by a carriage or riding on horseback, the trip was shorter. Not by much, as we still needed to straighten this road and make it more even, but I knew it wasn't a priority now. In fact, as we got closer to Kerisi, I could see where the project had been interrupted. The last few kilometers to the village was one of the smoothest roads I had been on in months. Apparently, the people of Kerisi wanted quality roads.

About half a kilometer away from the village, I started to see kids waving and shouting along the road. Soon, it was not just kids but adults crowding the side of the road. Everyone began cheering. This happened the last time I came home, but then it was just a village full of people. Now, it was like a city's worth of people had come out for a parade. I felt like I should have a bag of saltwater taffy. Then I got an idea. I had the men stop the carriage and grab a small box from the cart. It was full of the copper pennies I had hoped to infuse our economy with. I didn't want to give them always, so I didn't toss out handfuls like you see in the movies, but I did toss a few out of each side of the carriage as we moved along. Maybe I could start a new trend if this reached the cities. Then again, some of those nobles were real tightwads.

Since I only threw one out at a time, people weren't scrambling to dive at money on the ground and fighting. The lucky person would just snatch it out of the air. It was actually a lot of fun.

I couldn't help but notice the large palisade around a huge chunk of the village. Also, some land that I knew was not part of the village before was now inside the walls. The cheering intensified, and we approached the palisade. When we entered, I was shocked to see that it was not the same village I remembered. They had moved homes away from the center and put them in orderly rows. Not that that would have been hard since the homes of my peasants were basically large tents made of sticks and mud. But seriously, this must have taken some work. I first wondered where they had gotten the idea, but then I realized that there were posts at each house with a number on them.

They had gone through my stuff! This was one of my ideas, and I had put it in a notebook and drawn some pictures of it. This was further confirmed when I saw street signs with some of the names I had doodled down on one page. South Main St was the first sign I saw. I even saw an Aaron Way. That one almost made me choke up. I had been suppressing the sad thought that I would not come home to find my nephew at my manor.

I was going to have a talk with Edward about implementing my cool ideas without me. If I weren't so impressed, I would be mad. Most of the homes were still the stick and mud type. They probably didn't have the time or resources to start building better homes. There was, however, a large building on the corner of South and East Main that was the half-timber style. I was guessing it was the town hall I wanted every village to have. A home was also built on that lot, and Paul's family was standing there waving. The headman, Barak of Cofi, was also there.

I would have to ask them why they had spent the time doing all this when there was so much to do. I got out of my carriage and walked right up to Paul as the crowd moved closer. Only stopped when the guards insisted. Paul bowed deeply, and afterward, I clasped his hands in a sign of friendship.

"I couldn't believe the news when the message came in this morning that you had been granted the title of count. This is wonderful news, and all the people from the surrounding villages have come to see their new count. That thing you did with the coins was very entertaining."

"I am glad you are well, my friend, and believe me, no one was more shocked by my elevation in status than I was," I said with a smile.

"I'm sure of that. Now, we are preparing a feast for you in the town hall, but all the headmen and Steward Edward have not arrived yet. If you have not been told, I regret to inform you that headman Tarrence of Alfer and his family passed away shortly after you left. The whole family became ill and never recovered. They have been waiting for you to return to select a new headman, but Gregor has been taking care of things while you were away. He will be at the meeting as well but will be coming by cart due to the fact that he is missing a leg. A logging accident, I believe."

"Very good," I turned to Barak, and he bowed as well. After shaking his hand, I asked him how Cofi was.

"Well, we have been trying to help the new villages get up and running," he laughed. "If I had known that the area was going to grow so large overnight, I might have stayed in Plimgus. Your new people are somewhat rowdy."

"Any major problems?" I said, becoming serious.

"Nothing we can't handle, but I suggest we head inside to have some tea before the meeting. It will be good for you after the long journey."

"You are always looking for an excuse to have tea," Paul scoffed.

"What can I say?" He shrugged. "Suzy makes excellent tea." He gave Paul's wife a wink.

She looked at him sternly. "No more sugar. The rest is for our lord."

"But it's a special occasion. Don't you agree, my lord," he said, giving me an almost pleading look.

Great, he was addicted to sugar in his tea.

"Speaking of sugar, how goes the seed collection?"

"It is going well. We have had the children running everywhere, bringing back pootba that were left growing wild. A lot were no longer usable as they had turned bad, but the seeds were good. We have about ten kilograms worth of seeds now, and that should give us two acres. It is actually way too much. Everything will go bad before we can even process a quarter of what we make."

Well, it's a good thing we have more hands now. The only thing is that we need to keep their mouths shut and not run off and tell anyone about our process. I could move more of my original people to the secret projects and have the new people plowing the field. I don't even know if we could get our original people to do that.

I went back to the conversation. "I know that pootba is not delicious, but we have a lot of mouths to feed, and we can use anything not processed into sugar as a supplement to people's diets."

"Not delicious is an understatement, my lord. I suggest feeding it to the prisoners. That will straighten them up," Paul said.

He and Barak continued to come up with ways to use the gross-tasting vegetables to torture people as we walked into the home.

The tea really was good. With the sugar in it, it reminded me of a sweet raspberry tea.

We were avoiding heavy topics as we spoke. We talked about their families and my adventures and misadventures down in Kimton. Barak was he-hawing like a mule as I told the story of how Carter had sent me a coded message and had me running around the outer city. Just then, Edward walked through the door. I stood up at the same time as he bowed.

"My lord, welcome home," he said.

"Thank you, Edward. It is good to be home. I told you that I had absolute confidence in you before I left, and I am glad that confidence was not misplaced. From what I hear, you have done an incredible job," I said with a smile.

"Thank you, my lord, but I believe I am ready to step down from the responsibility."

"That is fine. I have another one I am sure you will enjoy."

He looked dubious as he stepped to the side. The room was already crowded by this time. But we still had one more guest. Emily walked into the room with her head down. She looked like she was about to cry.

She bowed and then tried to speak, "I, I…"

She collapsed to he knees and began to weep.

"It's all my fault. He came for me. I'm sorry. He burnt it all down. Alfa, he…"

I heard Edwards sigh of exasperation. Apparently, he had tried to convince the girl that this was not her fault.

I walked over to Emily and grabbed her arm. "Please stand up, Emily," I said gently.

With my assistance, she got to her feet. Her eyes were puffy as she looked up at me.

I smiled sadly and said, "You are not to blame for Marcus's actions. If you were, then I would be just as guilty, if not more. I let that criminal slip through my fingers all because I refused to do my duty. I should never have broken the law by letting his mother get off with a light sentence. I let my compassion get in the way of justice. I gave her the perfect opportunity to free her son.

"In the end, though, he decided to abuse my mercy, he decided to beat and later kill his mother, he decided to try and kidnap you, and he decided to kill Alfa. You are not responsible for anyone's actions but your own. It is not your fault you are a beautiful young woman who attracted the attention of a despicable individual. Would you blame the flame for attracting moths? You are a beautiful flame, and you shine so very bright."

With that, she wrapped her arms around me and began to sob. I could only imagine the look on the people's faces behind me. A count hugging a commoner. It was ok, though. They just didn't realize that now, she had the highest title in the room besides me. That was going to be a fun announcement.