Once everyone got up to walk to the dining room, Kirol asked, “Do you want me to leave now?"

  “No,” Alden said after a moment of thought. “You were there during the meeting with the duke. We might need to ask you some other details. But whatever you will hear there can never leave that room."

  Kirol put a fist to his heart. "I swear it."

  Alden nodded as they moved across the hall, and Kirol closed the door behind them, after telling the other guards in the main hall to not disturb them outside of an emergency.

  Inside the dining room, Alden hesitated for a moment, looking at the head of the table. Sitting there entailed a lot of responsibility. It wasn’t just a place at a table anymore. But he steeled himself. He was the baron of this village now. He had to accept the responsibility, whether he wanted it or not.

  So for the very first time, he sat at the head of the table, where his father used to sit, remembering the last time he had seen him there, talking and eating merrily. Vusato once again took a chair on his right, and Caelen sat beyond him. Roderic sat directly to his left, and Kirol took the next chair.

  Alden looked at the majordomo. "You can start now."

  Vusato spread the ledger he had brought with him. “We don’t earn anything in the winter months, obviously, but for the previous month, our gross revenue was 823 gold and a few silver coins. Nearly 750 gold was from selling iron ore, and the rest was from the sales taxes we charge from the merchants in the village, as well as the customs duty we charge to the traders who visit us from outside the village.” He sighed, “It wasn't this bad in the past. A few years ago, our monthly revenue used to be above 1,000 gold, but since the discovery of that new accursed iron mine in the south of the kingdom, our revenue has been falling continuously."

  “What’s our total monthly expense?” Alden asked, bracing himself for more bad news.

  Vusato referred to his ledger again. “It’s around 800 gold in most months, after accounting for the money we set aside for taxes, which are at 15% of our revenue. When our revenue was higher in the past, our usual profit was above 200 gold every month, but even now, when our iron ore sales have declined significantly, Lord Edaroc didn’t reduce the number of miners so everyone could continue to buy food for their families, even though we can’t even sell all the ore they mine. That meant our expenses remained the same while our revenue kept falling."

  “I see that, but why did you say earlier that we might need to take on debt soon? We should still have some good savings, right?” Alden asked. “We seem to have been in profit continuously. It's only a small amount now, but it would have been a much bigger profit before the discovery of that iron mine."

  “No, we don't have any savings left...” Vusato sighed again. “After keeping aside a small amount for his own family, Lord Edaroc gave the rest to any villager who needed it during our winterly stay in Garitus, so they could buy food for their own families without resorting to begging. It’s very hard to find work in Garitus in winters with so many refugees stuffed within the city, so most of them have to rely on their own savings or they try to beg. So the baron only saved a small amount to use in the spring for clearing the road to the mines and repairing the village. Whatever remained, he gave to the villagers."

  Alden now understood even more why the baron had been so loved by the people. But the fact remained that it wasn’t a good financial strategy in the long-term. “So do we have anything saved at all? How will we even pay the taxes to the Duke?" He added, "When are they due anyway?"

  Vusato explained, “They’re paid at the end of every autumn. When all the barons go to Garitus for the winter, they bring the taxes with them. Two more months remain in the current harvest year, but for this year my estimate is that the total tax will be around 950 gold. We have already saved above 700 gold for that, and we should be able to save the rest in the next two months. But that will leave nearly nothing in our coffers. That's why this year, even the usual money which the previous Baron gave to the villagers for food in winter wouldn't have been possible..."

  He added, "That’s why I said we simply cannot pay the 2,000 gold needed to get shelter for the whole village in the fortress city. If our revenue and expenses stay like this, we’ll still be able to pay the taxes and the miner's wages until the end of the current mining season till the snowfall starts, but from next spring, we'll either need to reduce the number of iron miners we hire, or reduce their wages. There’s no way we can continue paying the current amount and hire every miner we have, since our revenue will probably drop even lower next spring because of that other iron mine in the south."

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  “That is giving me a headache already...” Caelan muttered. "I can't imagine how father dealt with all this by himself..."

  Vusato gave a small smile to Caelen, who was looking anxious. “Don’t worry. The small amount we still have left will be more than enough to pay for you and your family to stay in Garitus for the winter."

  Alden shook his head. “No. I’m not abandoning my village. Not when everyone needs me. People depended on my father for safety and food in the winter months. I’m not going to leave them on their own now.” He looked at Roderic. “We'll send Caelen and Lira to Garitus City, as well as Hilda and a few guards to take care of them. The rest of us will stay here to defend the village."

  Before the captain could say anything, Caelen stood up in anger and glared at Alden. “I'm not going to Garitus if you're not coming with us!”

  “Calm down, Caelen," Alden sighed. "It’s for your own safety."

  Caelen glared at him. “I don’t give a shit! I will not hide behind walls while you’re here alone, fighting monsters and protecting the village. I won’t. I do not want to return in spring and find out the monsters have eaten you too. So either you come along with us, or I’m not going there."

  Alden took a deep breath. He knew Caelen and Lira had always loved their older brother and cared about him, but having his siblings here would only make it harder for him to focus on everything he needed to do. There was no guarantee how many people would survive the coming winter. He'd never had any family on Earth, and with both of their parents dead here, his siblings were all he had left in this world. In any world. He couldn’t lose them too.

  He looked at his brother. “It’s not up for discussion, Caelen. You both are going there."

  “The hell I am,” Caelen retorted. “You’ll have to drag me there then. There is no way I’m going there on my own two feet! It was different when Father was alive. Even then I kept telling him I had no interest in becoming a knight, but everything has changed now. If you have to lead this village, I will be right beside you to help you."

  Alden exhaled loudly, looking to the others for help, but it seemed none of the others wanted to get involved in a noble's internal family matter. “Sit down for now. We’ll talk about it later. There’s still more than two months anyway before you’d have to leave for Garitus."

  Caelen sat down with a huff and crossed his arms.

  Alden knew his brother would turn 16 in the spring, so he wasn’t a child anymore, and he couldn’t really be forced to do something he didn’t want to do. Although that was the age when Caelen was supposed to be sent to Garitus to work as a squire and start training to become a knight, which would take around a decade of hard work. That way he could help Alden when he finally became the baron around that time. A decade from now—which was when their father was supposed to retire peacefully, while still helping Alden adjust to life as a new baron from the background. But now…

  Alden blinked a few times, trying not to feel overwhelmed again. Perhaps Caelen was right, after all. The situation had indeed changed drastically from what their father had planned for both of them. At least he had a couple of months to think about it.

  He looked at the group sitting in front of him. “It’s approaching evening now, so let’s end this meeting here. Vusato, make the arrangements for a small service to honor Father."

  “Of course,” the majordomo said.

  “Roderic, ensure the security of the event. There'll be a big crowd outside the manor in the evening, so you have to make sure everything goes well.”

  The captain nodded. “I’ll make sure of it."

  Alden continued, looking at the dark circles around Kirol’s eyes. “Kirol, you have barely slept in the past few days. Go and get some rest."

  “I’m fine,” Kirol insisted, just before he let out a long yawn. “I can... I can still help out…"

  Alden snorted. “Just get some sleep for a few hours. Then you can help with the service.” After Kirol nodded, Alden looked at his brother. “Caelen, you…” He hesitated. He knew telling his brother to rest wouldn’t work. There was no way any of them would be able to sleep peacefully tonight.

  “Let’s go see Lira. She’s alone right now."

  Caelen stood up with a small smile, and everyone moved to their allotted tasks.