Assuming nothing worse came through in the coming winter, everyone in the village would be safe, including his siblings if they stayed here. But if one of those giant monsters came here and killed everyone, including himself, then Lira’s life—even if she stayed alive in Garitus—would be no better than a poor commoner with nothing to her name, with both her brothers and their father already dead. Since women never inherited land in this kingdom, the duke would probably grant the barony to someone else after that, with Lira’s future life being no better than that of a common maid’s in Garitus. After a few years, she would likely be married off to some low noble’s third or fourth son in some far-flung village, which would be no safer than Sarnok was.

  Perhaps… Perhaps his siblings really would be safer here with him.

  Alden looked at his brother and sister in turn. “I think you’re right. I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

  Lira’s eyes went wide.

  “Does that mean we don’t have to go?” Caelen asked excitedly.

  Alden nodded. “I think you both might be safer here. In fact, I'll make sure of it. It’s probably not the best decision, but perhaps it will be better in the long term.” He smiled. “So, yes. You both can stay here with me in the winter.”

  “Hurray!” Caelen gave a loud whoop of joy.

  Lira kept looking at him for a few moments before she broke into sobs again, clutching Alden tightly. Caelen saw them and joined the family group hug with a grin.

  Once Lira had calmed down, Alden smiled and patted her head. “You really are too smart…”

  Lira grinned, wiping her eyes with her sleeves. “I already knew that!"

  “What about me?” Caelen asked. “I’m smart too, right? Right?”

  Alden looked at him with a straight expression and shrugged. “Eh, I guess you're okay too…”

  “Hey!” Caelen crossed his arms. “That’s not fair!"

  Lira began giggling again, making Alden smile at both of them. He really had found a new family in this world. He had lost his father within a week of knowing him, but he would do his best to keep his siblings alive. No matter what.

  ***

  Alden was sitting at the head of the dining room table once again, while the majordomo had gone out to bring the craftsmen. The guard captain had asked him to delay the meeting for an hour until he finished the morning training with the guards, so Alden had used the time to give the final touches to the sketch—the blueprint—of the crossbow he had drawn. The scorpion’s design was still a work in progress, and he wasn’t sure if iron would be enough to handle the huge stresses in its design. If only they had steel available here…

  They had also sent a guard on horseback to the fortress city in the morning, with a sealed letter explaining that the previous baron had died and that Alden had taken over. Assuming that the duke didn’t have any objections, the rider should arrive with the duke’s official proclamation of Alden’s appointment as the next baron in around a week.

  That was when the door opened and Roderic walked inside, his arms glistening with sweat despite the early autumn chill. Another guard followed behind him. The majordomo entered next, two other men following behind him. The first one, looking to be around 40 years old, had cropped red hair and was short, with an average build. The other man was heavily muscular with bulging arms. He looked to be around 30, but he was completely bald.

  Vusato pointed at the redheaded man. “He is the senior carpenter of the village—Garrik.” Then he pointed at the bald man. “This is Coltan, the blacksmith. We have two other experienced carpenters in the village, as well as their apprentices, and another older blacksmith and his helpers as well. But these two are the most skilled and reliable ones. Coltan even worked as a guard here for a few years before he left to become the other blacksmith’s apprentice, and later opened his own workshop, which has been flourishing because of his excellent skills. You can trust both of them."

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  The blacksmith bowed his head. “I’m sorry for your loss, milord. Lord Edaroc was a good man. He always looked after all of us when I served him in the past.”

  Garrik, the carpenter, nodded as well. “It’s a loss for the whole village. But I’m sure you’ll fill his huge shoes well enough."

  “Thank you,” Alden said, smiling. “Take a seat, everyone."

  Vusato walked to the seat on his right, while the captain sat on his left. The blacksmith sat beyond the captain, making Alden wonder if the chairs would be able to support the weight of both bulky men. Garrik took the seat beyond the majordomo on the right. The other guard remained standing near the door after closing it.

  Coltan looked around the room curiously for a few moments. “So, what is it, milord? I never expected to be called inside the manor house."

  “Vusato says that you both are trustworthy,” Alden began, “but I would like to ask you again that whatever we discuss here will not leave this room. Not to anyone else in the village, and not to any visitors to your shops."

  Garrik gave him a confident smile. “Nothing to worry about, milord. Sarnok is my only home, and I’m here to serve."

  Coltan, the bald blacksmith, nodded. “Anything for the son of Lord Edaroc. If you need me to fight for the village, just say so. I have no idea how we are going to survive this winter without the safety of Garitus’ walls, but you’ll need more guards for sure.”

  “That we will,” Alden agreed, “but that’s not what this is about. We will hire more guards from amongst the rest of the villagers when needed, but you both are here for your own skills.” He paused. “Before I continue, I want to ask about your plans for the winter. Craftsmen like you both earn much better than the miners and laborers. I’m sure if you wanted, you both could pay the fee to stay in the fortress city for the winter.”

  “It hasn’t been even a full day since we heard about Lord Edaroc’s passing,” the carpenter said, “and the fact that we will need to pay for shelter in the city. The price for safety is also very steep. I have a wife, three kids, my father, and both of my wife’s parents to look after. Even if I wanted to take everyone to Garitus, I would only be able to pay for a month with my savings. A month and a half at most, then I’ll be broke.” He sighed. “I am not yet sure what to do, so perhaps I’ll just send my kids to safety. Only time will tell."

  Alden nodded. He had found out that in Sarnok, craftsmen earned two to three times of what a laborer or a miner earned every day. But having such a big family meant it would cost dozens of gold coins to buy shelter in the fortress city for the whole winter. It would be difficult to have that much saved, since most of Garrik’s earnings would go just to feeding his extended family, with his parents probably too old to work and children too young for that. His wife was probably taking care of the rest of them and would also be unable to work. That meant he could be fairly confident that Garrik would likely stay here for the winter.

  He looked at the blacksmith. “What about you, Coltan?”

  The bald man shrugged. “Don’t know yet.” He jerked his head toward the carpenter. “Like he said, it hasn’t even been a day since we found out, and there’s more than two months anyway before we would have to leave. But I'm an orphan and I never married, so I don’t have any family to look after, so I can afford to pay for shelter for the full winter. On the other hand, you said that you called us here for our skills, which means there’s money to be made for anyone who stays here. So I’ll think about what to do for the winter when the snowfall is imminent. I’m here to help until then."

  Alden nodded slowly. It wasn’t ideal, but if the majordomo had brought Coltan instead of the other blacksmith, even if he might leave for the winter, Alden had to trust that decision. Garrik couldn’t afford to leave anyway, so he was also stuck here, and would have no reason to betray them.

  “Good. Now the reason I brought you here is this,” Alden began. “There's around two and a half months before the snow starts. That’s how long we have to fortify the village and make it strong enough to defend against anything but the mightiest of monsters."

  “But that’s impossible…” Garrik interrupted. “Our palisade walls are nothing like the mighty stone walls of Garitus. There is no way these walls can resist even a medium-sized monster attacking it. Even a pack of small monsters could damage it, or chew a hole through it to come inside."

  “I know. That’s why you both are here.” Alden passed the blueprint of the crossbow to the redheaded carpenter. “Take a look at this. Both of you. This is a small handheld weapon which I want you both to make here. It’s called a crossbow. It’s like a smaller version of the arbalests used by the rangers.” Then he passed another two sheets—one each to the blacksmith and the carpenter—which contained sketches of each specific part.

  Garrik studied the design for a while before he passed the sheet with the full sketch to the blacksmith and began looking at the second sheet.

  “It’s quite intricate, for sure,” the carpenter said, “and it won’t be easy at all to craft it. But you have drawn the full design of each individual part in this other sheet along with their dimensions, which makes it much easier. I’m sure I can make a crossbow as long as I get all the iron parts, but it will still take time. I haven’t made something this complex until now."

  “This is only the first step,” Alden said. “I will need you both to make other, more complex things in the future, so this will serve as kind of a rehearsal for that."

  Garrik looked at the blacksmith. “So can you make the iron parts?"