Night had fallen when the Feggs and the five reached back home. Herm and Robin went to the barn unbuckle the horses from the cart, while Alex helped the girls carry all the provisions and materials they'd bought from Lemara inside the house.
Soon, everyone was sitting in the small living room, while Lis served them some grape juice. "That was way more excitement than I needed from a trip into town." she sighed, sinking into one of the armchairs. Herm laughed and patted her hand. "It all ended well though, that's what matters."
"All because of you." said Liana, admiringly. "You were amazing!"
Herm raised his glass to her. "Anyway, what're you folk planning on doing? I asked about the sorcerer in town, and unfortunately, as I predicted, there's little chance of him coming back before a few weeks." he said.
Alex sighed. "It can't be helped, I guess. As for me, I'll have to start looking for a job."
There were exclamations from everyone. "A job?" asked Robin.
"We can't sit here and freeload for a month, now can we?" asked Alex.
"Then we'll all find jobs. There's no reason you alone should carry that responsibility." said Felicia, indignantly.
"What'll you all do? Are any of you skilled at some craft?"asked Lis.
"I was thinking of finding work as a manual labor. I saw that stall in Lemara which had that huge line. I realized they were workers lined up to get hired for the day." said Alex. "If you'll allow us to stay one more night, I'll start working on repaying you." he said to Herm.
The blacksmith burst out laughing. "Repay me?" he asked, incredulously. "If not for you, I'd have a foot long iron bolt in my head and would probably be six feet underground by now."
"No, no. That was nothing, it -"
"That was something." said Herm firmly. "I didn't do much for you folks. Just gave you a roof over you head for a night. You literally saved my life. There's no comparison. You folk are free to stay here for a year, and that still wouldn't have repaid my debt to you."
"You know we can't. We can't just sit here and take you two's food and money like this." said Alex.
"I agree." said Robin. "No offence, but...you don't seem like you'll be able to feed five hungry mouths without sacrifices."
"Yes. You two have been immeasurably kind to us, but we can't just take advantage of you." said Eve.
Herm sighed deeply. "I understand. Your pride won't let you become a burden on anyone else... you folk wanna carry your own weight. So...if you really want a job, instead of getting one that pays next to horseshit, why not work for me?"
There was silence for a few moments in the room. "Work for you?" asked Alex, in a low voice.
"Yes. With more men working for me, I'll be able to take on extra and bigger orders."
"But I have no clue on how to forge stuff."
"Don't worry. I'll take you two boys on as apprentices then." said Herm. "Of course, as apprentices, you'll get paid less. However, as apprentices, it would mean I am responsible for feeding you and giving you a roof." he said with a wink.
Alex raised his eyebrows a little. "I...thi-"
"And" cut Herm. "You two can also help with the farm. It's not really a big piece of land, but I do raise my fair share of agriculture. I can teach you two how to do that too."
Alex opened his mouth to speak, but again, Herm cut him off. "Don't think so much, son. You won't have to find a piss poor job or find some shanty shelter for your folk. You'll have a roof over your head. And us two will profit too with the increased manpower. It's a fair deal, if any existed."
Alex gave in and grinned. "There's nothing that'll ever repay the kindness you two have shown us."
Lis lightly patted his cheek. "Ah, save it, darling. You saved my husband. If you don't wanna accept we're indebted to you, at least accept that we're equal." Alex nodded.
"And what will we do?" asked Felicia. Lis turned around, her eyes twinkling. "Well, for a long time, I've wanted to start a bakery. You know, sell some cakes and such. But with the amount of work at the farm, I've never had the energy or time to do it. If Alex and Robin are gonna take over, I'm gonna be free. So..."
"Well...we did do some baking back home..." said Liana, slowly.
Lis burst out laughing. "It's perfect then!" The amount of happiness she showed, Alex determined this wasn't some compensation to make the girls feel better, but rather something Lis had really wanted to do. He smiled.
"See? Life has a way of working things out." said Herm, putting his arm around Alex's shoulder. "Let's have dinner now!" he announced to the room.
They decided to have their dinner outside in the open, since the house dining room would've burst open if they tried to fit in. As they sat on the ground in the cool breeze, Alex breathed in deep. Things were looking up. In a month they'd be back home laughing about this. And Decimandria? Well, there were definitely worse places to be stuck in. This place just felt...right. As if he belonged here.
He came out of his reverie to hear Robin earnestly complimenting Herm's swordsmanship. "Yeah, where'd you learn to fight like that?" asked Alex, curiously.
"Fight like what?" asked Herm, laughing. "Who's to say any man in Decimandria can't swing a sword."
Robin narrowed his eyes slightly. "Not like you. You had proper skill."
"Like you'd know skill." said Eve, sarcastically.
"No, he's right. The bounty hunters knew how to 'swing a sword', but you knew how to use it." said Alex.
Herm exchanged a look with his wife and sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you the truth. You see, I was the captain of one of the legions of the Royal Guard." he said.
"Royal Guard?" asked Felicia.
"Yeah, the force existing for the sole purpose of protecting the Royal family. These soldiers are the best of the best. They're taken in, and then trained even more before joining the ranks." said the blacksmith.
"And Herm was the Captain." said Lis, admiringly.
"One of the captains." grinned Herm.
"Damn! You were the best of the 'best of the best'. " said Robin, gleefully. "No wonder those dumbasses didn't stand a chance against you."
"And that's why the Lord's soldiers treated you with so much respect..." said Alex, slowly.
Herm grinned. "Nothing passes you by, huh? But no, they weren't the Lord's soldiers. Lemara is too small to have a lord. It's ruled over by the garrison, ergo, the Captain of the garrison, actually."
"So, why'd you retire? I mean, clearly, you still have it. Couldn't you have become like a Major or something?"
"Ah...that's a long story." said Herm.
"We've still got time." said Liana, settling in more comfortably.
Herm laughed. "I'll give you the short version: the Emperor didn't like me, so he had me removed."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. "Speaking of which, who is the Emperor by the way?" asked Alex. "I realize, we pretty much have no knowledge of Decimandria."
"We have an Empress." corrected Herm.
"But you just said-"
This time, Herm settled in more comfortably. He let out a sigh. "Let me give you a brief lesson of Decimandria, son." he said. "Right now, Decimandria is under the rule of the Tezeroff Empire. Before, however, Decimandria was split into many kingdoms of many different races who kept waging wars on each other. There used to be a war almost every year, and every year, there were heavy casualties. One man grew tired of this. He decided the only way to end this was to conquer all of Decimandria himself. And so... that's what he did. This man's name, was Darvadd Tezeroff. After he'd been crowned Emperor, Darvadd had a son, Reberyss. This was his only child, and Darvadd raised the child, since birth, to be an emperor, So, when he finally died, the throne passed on to one of the greatest men to have ever lived; Emperor Reberyss."
Herm paused for a second. When he spoke again, there was a hint of softness in his voice. "Emperor Reberyss was not only a great man of character but also a great ruler. Whatever his father had created, he sought to make it even better. And he did. He introduced reforms, he levied taxes, he gave concessions, he increased agriculture, the military might. He took steps against racism towards elves, dwarves, etcetera. He-"
"Wait! There are elves and dwarves in Decimandria!" exclaimed Robin. Even the remaining four looked surprised.
"Don't you have them where you're from?" asked Lis, curiously.
"Only in fairytales." said Eve.
"Well, they're very real here." said Herm. "Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. The fact is, Emperor Reberyss did a lot. He was the man who took pity on me in a market when I was running around with my sick sister. He took me in, he fed me, he clothed me, he trained me... Eventually, I had the honor of serving as his bodyguard. However, I couldn't save him from the biggest enemy of great men: Time. His old age caught up with him, and he peacefully passed."
Herm fell silent for a few minutes. He remembered seeing that white bearded face, so ornately dressed in the coffin. He remembered as he guarded the Emperor one final time in his funeral procession. He remembered the black roses that thousands of crying citizens dropped as a mark of respect.
He looked up, and continued, his tone betraying nothing. "His age would come to be known as The Time of Great Peace. However, after his death... Well, Emperor Reberyss's son, Savleck, inherited the throne. Savleck was the one place the Emperor had failed. Or perhaps Savleck was beyond help since the day he was born... Anyway, the new Emperor didn't care at all for the Empire. He introduced ridiculous taxes. He let the military fall apart. He let the nobles take power and raise their own forces. He squandered away the wealth of the Empire, its talent, its potential. He even gave rise to to the abuse of non-humans again. As for me, he had always been jealous of the attention I got from his father, so the first order he gave as an Emperor was to have me sacked. I had no intention of serving the little shit anyway, so I went my way, going through one town after another till I finally ended up here. And all the while, the love of my life still stuck by me." he added, looking adoringly at his wife. She squeezed his hand, and the blacksmith continued. "Emperor Savleck had three children from his first wife: Treynarr, Ulgraff, and Daruth Tezeroff. These children, especially the oldest, Treynarr, turned out to be even more twisted than their father. The Crown Prince started the unofficial witch hunts; secretly killing any sorcerers he could. He started publicly executing non-humans. He used military resources to fund his purge, weakening the Empire further. The nobles grew tired of this, and everyone knew a rebellion was just around the corner and would plunge Decimandria in ruin again."
"Then?" asked Liana, in almost a whisper. "What happened?"
"Well...then Emperor Savleck died." said Herm, simply. "More importantly, he died without naming his heir." he added.
"So, wouldn't that mean Treynarr would get the throne seeing as he was the Crown Prince?" asked Alex.
"Yes, that's how it would've come to be... if the Throne hadn't been Contested." said Herm.
"Contested?"
"Yes. You see, if the Emperor publicly names his heir before his death, that means it was the Emperor's last order, and it has to be followed. If he never named anyone, then the throne would fall to the oldest son of the Emperor. However, since the Emperor never actually named him the designated heir, the other siblings of the oldest son can Contest for the throne."
"Oh..."
"The Contest basically means whichever sibling can have the most nobles back him up and vote for him as their Emperor instead of the oldest. Usually, no royal child prefers to do that, because then they're forever indebted to the houses that put them on the throne. Treynarr's two brothers, Ulgraff and Daruth, heartily backed him up and wouldn't dream of contesting. However, Treynarr also had a half-sister from his father's second marriage. Savleck had married again, long after his first wife's death, when the pressure from the nobles was mounting, as a political move to ensure support from one of the most powerful noble families. His second wife was quite a lot younger than him, but that meant one thing: another child. This child, Adlea, who had grown up into quite a young lady, Contested for the throne against Treynarr."
"So, she got the most nobles to back her up?" asked Robin.
"The Contest isn't about having the most nobles back you up, really. It's rather having the most powerful ones. Normally, it means, having the most number of nobles, but sometimes it doesn't. Adlea Tezeroff had the most powerful man in the Empire behind her. The other nobles gave in quite quickly, and so she became the new Empress."
Silence fell over the group for a few moments. "Adlia, huh?" said Felicia, wonderingly.
Herm shook his head. "No, more like Ad-ley-ah."
"And?" asked Alex, finally. "Is she doing alright?"
Herm laughed out loud. "Alright?" he repeated. "Hahaha! There's already talks of naming her reign as the 'Golden Age'."
"What? Really?" asked Robin.
"Yes. She takes after her grandfather, I suppose. In the short time she's been Empress, she's already undone most of the damage her father and brothers caused. She ended the witch hunts with force. Sorcerers stopped being treated worse than dogs. They got their respect back in society again. She established entire towns for non-humans. Abusing or exploiting them became punishable by law. She waived taxes and introduced reforms. The military strength got reinstated. The nobles lost their unnatural power over the Empire. She...actually started looking after the Empire."
Liana grinned. "In a world full of men, it took a women to bring it back."
"Indeed it did." said Herm, laughing. "She may be young, but she's wise beyond her years. Just look at all the people in the Empire. They've got a glint in their eyes that only the people who believe in a better tomorrow have. And it's all because of Empress Adlea."
"I'm assuming you're a follower too." said Robin, laughing.
"She stopped the downfall of the entire Tezeroffian Empire. You bet your ass I'm a follower." laughed Herm. "Anyway, that's Decimandria's story...and mine too."
The five leaned back a bit and let the words of the blacksmith sink in. This place and the people in it had a much more deeper story than they could've ever imagined.
"You said Empress Adlea had the backing of the 'most powerful man in the Empire'. Who is he?" asked Eve, looking at the stars.
"Enough politics." said Liana. "What about you Mrs. Fegg, what's your story?"
Mrs. Fegg sighed and Herm shifted a bit. Perhaps this was an uncomfortable topic, Liana wondered too late. "My story isn't a very interesting one or a very happy one, I'm afriad." said Lis. Liana realized trying to stop her now would do more damage. "I...was born in a small village to a couple of farmers. I was happy there. We didn't always have enough to eat because the Lord took most of our yield, but we had enough and a fulfilling life. One day, the Lord of our village quarreled with the neighboring Lord. To this day I have no idea what the fight was about, but as revenge, the neighboring Lord attacked our village. It was a massacre. My...both my father and mother were killed...I....somehow managed to escape the clutches of those merciless soldiers. And I...ran."
Everyone felt silent and uncomfortably shifted in their places, their eyes down.
Lis, staring intensely at a blade of grass, continued: "After that, well, I fell through every hellhole that existed. I did whatever jobs that came my way and managed to survive...somehow. Eventually, I found myself in the Capital. There...there I met Herm." Her husband gripped her hand in his. "We started talking...and we were still talking well after the sun had set. We decided to meet the next day. After we did, we decided to meet again. And then again. And again. Till finally, one day Herm proposed and we got married that very week. That was the turning point in my life. I found the best man in the empire. I...am very lucky. If I hadn't been there that day when I first saw him, if I had missed him by a single moment, I would not be here. I doubt I'd even be alive." she said, looking up at her husband.
He smiled a bit. "It's me who's lucking, darling."
The couple turned around to look at the five staring at them. "I'm sorry, I...didn't mean to ruin the mood." said Lis.
"No, no, Mrs. Fegg, it's-"
"It's totally fine, Mrs. Fegg. I asked you about it. I shouldn't have." said, Liana, apologetically.
Lis smiled. "It's fine, lass. You didn't know. Plus, it was a long time ago now. It's okay."
Liana smiled. Herm looked around and saw Alex deep in thought staring at nothing. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I was just thinking about what Mrs. Fegg said...somehow the universe has a way of pushing you exactly where you have to be at exactly the right second...perhaps we're here for a reason too. Perhaps it' wasn't a freak accident...."