A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 54: The Village Elder - Part 4

"Will you be moving onto the rest of the monster-slaying jobs straight away, then?" Greeves asked. "Since you seemingly have a talent for them. Or are you going to take a break? You got that last one done in a matter of hours, after all, it seems. I only gave it to you yesterday. Quite the eager thing, aren't ya?"

Beam shrugged. "I want to get them done as quick as I can. But I guess I'll probably go with the firewood or food jobs next… Just to get them out the way."

Greeves nodded in agreement. "A wise choice, very wise indeed. Those jobs will be taking far longer. Maybe a week each for both, if you're lucky. But of course, they're the type of jobs you can get done whilst you're doing other things, can't you, mm? Well, I suppose if you're up for that, I can introduce you to the village Elder and have him show you what you need to be doing."

"The village Elder?" Beam muttered. He didn't like the sound of that. He was hoping for something relatively straightforward.

Greeves laughed at the expression on his face. "Hah! You're about the only person in this town that would sooner deal with Goblins than people. Can't say I understand that feeling." Judas appeared behind him with three blades as he laughed. Greeves noticed him and motioned with his head for him to go forward. "Go on then, show the boy his knives."

With a grunt, Judas marched down the front doorstep of Greeves' houses and stood towering next to Beam, dangling three daggers in front of him. "Was all I could find. None of em' are razor sharp, but it's nothin' that can't be fixed with a little bit of attention. Well, which one do you want?"

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Beam looked at them with a frown. There wasn't really much choice, not for his purposes. There were all roughly the same length, but that was where their similarities ended. One was a chunky-looking hunter's knife that looked far too heavy for Beam's purposes – better suited for hacking meat off the bone than anything else.

The other was a straight and thin dagger. Beam guessed it could probably deal a devastating thrust, but with how thin it was, it looked far too weak. Beam didn't want to buy one only for it to break again.

The third was a little better. It had a leather sheath whereas the one his master had lent him had a wooden one, and the blade was nicked in more places than one, but apart from that, it had about everything Beam could ask for. It was thicker than the thin one – but not as heavy as the hunting knife – and there was a slight curve to it too that made it look like it'd be good for slashing, which would complement his reverse grip use of it perfectly.

He thought his master would probably like it too, because despite the blade being a bit worn, the handle and sheath appeared well taken care of, and it somehow reminded Beam of the sword that he'd seen him wield.

"I'll take the third one," he decided, offering up his sack of Goblin heads to Greeves in exchange.

"Thank you kindly," Greeves said, and Judas handed Beam his new dagger. He peeked inside the bag to see if everything was there, then nodded twice in approval. "Good, good. So you want to get started on the firewood then, do ya? Judas, take the lad to see the old man."

"The Elder?" Judas asked.

"Yeah, that fuck. Try not to be too polite with him – that old man has been torturing me almost as much as Ferdinand lately… Well, come and see me when you next want to do a quest," Greeves said to Beam, before disappearing back inside the house.

A sigh came from Judas once he was gone. "Fuck… The Elder is a real pain in the arse. Thanks for getting me dragged into this, you prick."

There was just a shrug from Beam in response. "Well, since you hate him so much, I'll make sure to keep you stuck around there a while."

"Woah, woah, I'm not joking y'know, lad? Don't fuckin' rope me into shit with the Elder. I'm serious. I know we ain't exactly pals, but you don't fuck around with the Elder, trust me. That's just common decency," Judas said, surprising Beam with his seriousness.

Beam looked at him carefully to check whether he was being made fun of, as the two of them crossed the square together and began walking back down the road, as if to leave the town for the forest. "Is he really that bad?"

"You'll find out," Judas assured him. "Tell you what though, I wouldn't do the job you're doing – not even for 5 gold. The Elder's just that much of a pain in the arse. Gods. Every winter I pray the cold takes the fucker, but somehow, even at eighty, he's still kicking. There's no justice, I tell ya."

Whilst finding it odd to be in a nearly friendly conversation with Judas, Beam found himself growing increasingly more wary of this Elder character. What exactly was wrong with him that he had both Judas and Greeves so repulsed?

And so continued their wandering, until they were just a little ways out of the village. And then, along a dirt path, they went eastwards, towards a lone single-story long house with a thatched roof and white-washed walls – fittingly high status for the village Elder, or so Beam thought.

Outside of it, Beam noted Judas' hesitation before he knocked. The big man seemed almost scared. But finally, he summoned the courage and bashed on the dark wooden door with its black iron hinges.

It opened almost creepily fast. It was practically instantaneous. Whereas there had been a clear pause when Judas had opened the door for Beam earlier – despite it being quick – this here was something different entirely. It was less a reaction to the knock, and more a prediction, as though they'd been waiting exactly for that moment.