15 – On the Horizon

It was a sunny day when the Iudex came to visit me, but that didn’t exactly make me feel any happier about the unwanted visit. It wasn’t that I disliked the man, indeed he seemed a nobler fellow than some of the nobles and local lords I’d had the displeasure of knowing back home, but really I just didn’t want visitors at all if I could help it.

I could also tell that old Ryuga was not the biggest fan of me either. I couldn’t blame him, or anyone else, for disliking me. But he didn’t even know the depth of my sins.

I’d been alerted by the sound of his cassowary’s approach, talons clicking and clacking along the dirt track. His two guards followed behind, mounted on much less majestic looking birds. But at least theirs wore armour of some sort.

I made my way to the gate and leaned upon it, watching the trio with narrowed eyes. “Iudex,” I greeted. “I don’t have much to offer you by way of refreshments. Maybe a touch of milk?”

The old man arched a silver brow at me. “No thank you,” he replied calmly. He moved from the saddle with practised skill, and slipped his riding gloves into the sash of his tunic. “I see you’ve done much with the land. I must admit, I am impressed. Forgive me for saying so but I expected you to have given up and moved on by now.”

Yes, I’m sure he had.

“I’m no amateur. I came prepared.” I’d still need to buy more of that soil-rejuvenating solution from Brazio, there were stretches of land that still lacked in vitality and I wanted to have access to it all. Though that alchemical solution was hardly cheap, even if Brazio wasn’t a shyster.

“I was… hoping to speak to you on an important matter,” Ryuga said, stopping a few paces from the gate. “About an incident that may or may not have happened in the village.”

I grunted, meeting his gaze. “Nothing happened. Nothing that I’m aware of, at least.”

“Of course, of course. You strike me as a… reasonable man, Master Amon.” I was impressed that he managed to say that with a straight face. “And I like to keep Tiode as a quiet, peaceful place. It would be unfortunate if you, or anyone else here, were to disrupt that peace.”

I turned, glancing in the direction of Mount Gruai. “And people outside of Tiode causing trouble in the village? What do you reckon about people like that?”

Tiode’s defences really were a joke. A handful of bumpkins in hand-me-down armour that served as the Iudex’s guards, along with peasants who would arm themselves with whatever they had to hand if it came down to an invasion. Novos would have taken the place as an afterthought.

“I realise that you are new to our land, and some of our ways may seem strange to you. But it is generally easier to deal with one troublemaker, than a fortified mountain packed with potential troublemakers. Why, if I had to get help to remove one bad seed, I would need to petition Low Moon and the lord there would be happy to send a gathering of soldiers to deal with them, cultivators included in their ranks. But, hypothetically, nobody would want to risk the war that would spark from attempting to suppress or uproot an entire sect.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Understandable.” The little brats from the other week hadn’t been anything special, but I was willing to bet that the seniors of the Snake Flower were on a different level entirely. Possibly on par with great wizards like Lanten Basque and his ilk.

Not that I had any intention of finding out, of course. But, such was my luck, the answer would be foisted upon me anyway at some point.

“Look,” I said, folding my arms across my chest, “I have no desire to pick fights or cause trouble. If, hypothetically, something were to happen… it would likely be only me defending myself.” I wouldn’t exactly rush to the aid of most people in Tiode, but… Mikan was different.

You had to protect the people who were decent to you. In my experience, they were almost always in short supply.

“Hypothetically, of course,” said Ryuga.

“Of course.”