It has been almost two months since Ward’s baby brother was born. His father returned briefly at night while he was asleep, but he rushed to leave along with the other merchants. They took the reserves of wheat seeds in store and headed out in the morning before Ward woke up.
The merchants had an important mission, but before that, they were going to pay the tribute in the capital on behalf of the village, then continue on their journey. It was decided that Ward’s father will be the one to return and notify the villagers that the payment is complete, and then he could stay home for the next year since he has a newborn baby.
The villagers started feeling stressed. Ward’s father should have been back already, which means something went incredibly wrong.
When they first came to this kingdom as refugees, they lived in a town but having left behind their livelihoods, their homes and their religious temples, they were seen as a burden to the Kingdom. They also endured a hostile environment as the philosophies of the east had spread to the north. Even if the law protected them, the people were very displeased and did everything to try and drive them out.
At first, they became like nomads, going from one area to the next in search of a suitable environment - in the end, they started to understand that they would not be able to live in dignity for as long as they are not self-sufficient, and as long as the north is hell-bent on killing every last one of them. Hence they decided to seclude themselves.
They traded the secret of making paper which was taught to them by their country’s founder in return for permission to live under the kingdom’s protection. Which was decided to be a location ten days of walk away, in the middle of the forest.
They could be self-sufficient; They have food, all the people they want to interact with, and they only have a couple of travelers passing by them every month on their way to the port town. These travelers usually take a short rest, ask for directions and then continue on their way.
However, like every citizen in the kingdom, they still needed to pay tribute. Each town has a collection office, but villagers had to go to a designated town and pay it themselves. If they are late, an official will come with a group of soldiers in tow. Then they might demand something from every family that was akin to a worst case scenario for the close-knit community. Such as taking one child from each family and forcing them into slavery.
Every year, they have a group of adults, including Ward’s father, who travel to neighboring towns trading the wheat collected from the village then buying and reselling valuables from one town to the next. They would always return before the tribute term with enough money to pay on behalf of the entire village, or they would take from the reserves enough to cover the rest.
This year they were in a predicament, the merchants have taken all of the seed they stored. With only the new harvest left to be used to feed the village. The villagers themselves did not trade in Drei, the kingdom’s coin. In fact, the village’s philosophy was “out of sight, out of mind,” they tried their best to be as far away from the other towns, which included not traveling to them or trading with them. Only the merchants did that, and when they did, they hid their ethnicity and pretended to be traders from another area kingdom who simply returned to that area to trade once a year.
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The entire situation was a mess: the village of almost 300 people, 223 of which were adults were expected to pay the tribute, yet the finances left aside for that did not reach their destination but the tribute still needed to be paid.
The journey to the nearest town was ten days walk away, they still had 15 days to go to pay their tax, if they couldn’t get there on time, the soldiers will be at their door within three days, if they rode a horse.
Which means they have at most 18 days left to magically manifest money, with no capabilities of doing so. One option was to take all the new harvest they made so far, enough to fit 2 carts. And head straight to the capital and plead their case. The problem is that the merchants have all the horses and the carts, and there is not enough time to remake a new decent one.
When the merchants left, they did so with all the wheat seeds they could carry and all the coins they had. It was a hefty sum, but the money was of no use to the villagers, what they wanted instead was what the merchants brought back with them from their travels.
But because they received no words of what happened, the chief started worrying. He sent a man to check the situation and he returned with news that the tribute was not yet paid and the merchants were not seen.
As an intellectual but peaceful group - the chief knew he couldn’t fight off the soldiers, and he couldn't risk the wait until the last day to see if the merchants will appear.
Villagers were asked to share anything they had in their houses that was of any value. So he started evaluating everything he could sell in order to turn a profit. He was going to sell everything that wasn't vital that the merchants brought back with them in the past 30 or so year, some of which were valuable enough to be hidden in the underground rooms.
“If we work on making a makeshift cart today, and made the cows drive it - we might be able to carry some of the seed sacks. Once we arrive at the capital, we can ask some merchants to follow us to buy these things directly from here.”
“This will leave us extremely exposed to the capital. However, I don’t think we have another choice Chief.”
“All right, help me with picking enough escorts to help protect the carts in the journey.”
From behind the door, Ward was eavesdropping, and the more he heard from the Cheif and Elenor’s discussion, the more mischievous the smile grew on his face. At first, he was concerned, the way a child would be worried if he heard his parents arguing about the lack of money. But, he soon realized, that the only reason the chief was concerned was that his father did not return yet. Since he had faith in his father, he was no longer troubled, interested excited for the opportunity to see the outside world the way his father does.
He could remember his past life; it was bound to help him. However, because he was still very young, he didn’t comprehend everything yet. It is the same as jamming to a song at a very young age, and only understanding the words when you get older. Or, reading a story and interpreting it one way when you are five years old, but then seeing another meaning to it when you reread it at 25. He couldn’t wait to grow up and contribute to the village the way the great founder did, but until then he wanted to experience more than just the village.