A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 33: A Meeting With The Devil - Part 9

"Ah, are you in a hurry?" Greeves asked, noticing his eagerness to depart. "Then I'll let you go, for I don't exactly have the information we need to conclude this deal of ours. I'll gather up all the tasks that bastard Ferdinand has sent me and I'll make a list of what needs doing. And, as agreed, once they are all complete, the debt between you and I will be settled and you will have 5 silver coins for your trouble. We'll meet here again tomorrow, mm?"

Beam narrowed his eyes. Since he could see the end of the discussion, he dared to summon the last of his energy for one last remark. He pointed at the merchant. "I'm trusting you in this, merchant," he told him. "Make this worthwhile for both of us."

Greeves smiled, knowing that it was merely the bravado of a boy out of his depth, but the merchant liked the attempt anyway. "Yes, yes," he motioned with his hand, "go on now, go about your business before we get bored of each other."

Beam didn't need to be told twice. At those words, he turned on his heel and left. Only when he was at the other side of the square did he dare to look back. Greeves was still standing there, staring at him menacingly, with his bodyguards by his side. Beam shuddered.

"I really can't trust him," he muttered to himself.

But his exhaustion had already built up to the point where he couldn't be bothered to take that idea further, he didn't want to start imagining the numerous things that might go wrong, as was ordinarily his way, for he simply didn't have the energy.

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As he left the marketplace, feeling fully drained in mind and spirit, he caught sight of the bakery and sighed. "Well, I guess there's only one more task to do – get master's bread – and then we're done with this for the day."

That cheered him up slightly. The prospect of discussing the day's events with his master cheered him up even more. Surely Dominus would be able to share his wisdom and offer some suggestions on how Beam might ensure that the situation with Greeves continued along a peaceful and productive trajectory that would benefit them both.

"Wait… I'm going to get 5 silver for this…" Beam realized. In the heat of the moment, he'd forgotten half of what he said. But he certainly recalled that line. A line delivered by instinct, one to ensure that he was at least rewarded in some way for all the trouble that Greeves had caused him. "5 whole silver?" He repeated the number to himself, just in an attempt to believe it. Just having that as a hope made his whole body go numb. That was a ridiculous amount of money for someone like him. Nearly half a year's work – providing he didn't spend a single penny and saved for that half a year – and he would be presumably earning it over the course of a few weeks.

"That's providing he isn't lying through his teeth," Beam reminded himself.

Feeling a little re-energized by that hope, he stepped inside the bakery and caught sight of the old lady behind the counter again.

"Good afternoon," she said, with what looked like a strained smile.

"Good afternoon," Beam said back, a little awkwardly. He was still tense from his meeting with Greeves.

"Yes please," Beam said, pulling out the copper quarter that his master had given him and offering it up.

The old lady grabbed the plate with the hard round bread on and offered it to him. "All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be picking fights with people so much bigger than you, anyway. You're going to get seriously hurt one of these days."

With her motherly instinct kicking in, the old woman didn't seem inclined to let the issue rest, as she went out of her way to look after a boy that just the day prior she'd hardly been able to consider as human, with his lack of willingness to interact with anybody.

"I know," Beam said, taking up the bread, offering another awkward grin. He wasn't used to anyone worrying about him and didn't know quite what to say when showered in such concern. "I'll try to be more careful."

The old woman nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Good," she said. "I'll hope you do that – be more careful."

Beam nodded again with a forced smile and left the shop, sighing with relief once he was back on the road. The afternoon sun was blazing overhead, lighting the path to home. He looked up at that sun in the blue sky and dared to feel a little bit accomplished. After all, he'd made the first step in solving the kind of problem that he absolutely hated to deal with. Not only that, he seemed to be building up a somewhat friendly relationship with at least one person in the village, and that was a good start for his master's test.

Not only that, but the records he'd already set in his training that day came flooding back to him, reminding him that there were other areas that he'd shown potential in too. Bit by bit, things slowly seemed to be improving. And they were improving quicker than they ever had before – all thanks to a chance encounter with an old man in the woods. Beam couldn't help but feel a little bit lucky as he realized that, wondering if the Gods might have been watching over him after all.

With such thoughts on his mind, he once again entered the treeline into the forest, and with no one else around, his master called out to him.

"Looking a little worse for wear there, boy," Dominus said, noting the exhaustion about his eyes and face.

Beam shrugged with a smile. "I guess so. I hate dealing with things like that. I'd rather spend the day running or lifting rocks."