A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 34: A Meeting With The Devil - Part 10

"Well, you're going to have to get used to it. There are people in this world far more difficult to deal with than Greeves. Namely, nobility. If you want to accomplish any kind of military feat, you're going to have to go through the nobles. That's where all the power and money lies, and, more importantly, only they have the king's permission to raise an army." Dominus said.

"And I'm going to need an army to fight the Pandora Goblin, right?" Beam asked.

"Well, that's undoubtedly true, but before you dare to challenge the Pandora Goblin, you're going to need a wealth of expeditions under your belt, and unless you plan to go on each one alone, you're going to be in trouble. Any gatherings of armed men above 10 generally need a noble's permission to happen," Dominus told him.

Beam smiled. It made him feel good to hear a warrior of Dominus' calibre talking as though Beam defeating the Pandora Goblin was a real possibility. But that didn't stop him from latching on to something strange about Dominus' statement. "Just 10 men? What about when hunters are going on expeditions after a big game or something? Or what if there's an invasion of some low-tier monsters and the villagers come together to defend against it? They'd get in trouble for that?"

Dominus shrugged. "Potentially. It depends on the noble, and it depends on whose land they've raised such an army on. With all the recent uprisings in the past century, some nobles are pretty insecure about it and enforce that law as harshly as they can. Gatherings of more than 10 armed men, regardless of intention, will result in them being treated like an invading force and immediately executed. Others don't really care, like Lord Blackwell who rules over Ernest province that we're standing in, I doubt he'd care even if 500 peasants armed themselves, unless they declared war against him or something."

"Aren't you a noble as well, master?" Beam asked.

"Barely," Dominus responded with a wave of his hand, apparently displeased by the change of question. "My great grandfather got knighted and was given a tiny bit of land to the east, by the Salt Sea, and the inheritance of that land and title barely qualifies me as nobility. I'm right at the bottom of the pack, though."

"So all nobles are landowners?" Beam asked.

"To a degree, mostly, yes. It comes with the title. But not all landowners are nobles." Dominus said, educating him. "Enough of that though, you'll have time to learn about nobility when you're forced to interact with them more. For now, let's discuss that little stunt you pulled in the market square."

Beam groaned. From the way Dominus said it, he was displeased. Just thinking about it now – mere hours later – was enough to make Beam go red. In the heat of the moment, he'd done things and said things he never would have dreamed of, merely reacting to the peculiar situation that he found himself in. "Did I mess it up?"

"Well, yes," Dominus said, smacking him on the head. "It was thoroughly embarrassing to watch. I don't know what you were thinking holding his hand in a lock for as long as you did – or even putting it in a lock in the first place – and from the looks of the villagers, neither did they."

"Mhm…" Beam had to agree with that, he didn't really know what he was thinking either. He just sort of did it, thinking in the moment that it was the right move.

"However… For you, I'd say that was probably a job well done," Dominus said, more quietly than before as they walked deeper into the mountains.

Beam perked up at that. "Really?"

And again, Dominus chopped his head. "Fool. Only because I have such a low opinion of your social skills does that barely qualify as an acceptable result. To be honest, I expected you to land yourself in more hot water than you did."

"I managed to secure 5 silvers for myself too," Beam said, grinning.

"Mhm, that just barely qualifies as acceptable, but for the amount of work that's coming your way, you could have asked for much more and he'd have given it, for he'd still be profiting," Dominus told him.

"Really!? More than 5 silver?" Beam asked.

"Maybe 1 or 2 gold at least. I imagine the compensation he's getting from Ferdinand for all those tasks well exceeds 5 gold, and he's going to be getting that with no effort on his part. It's just free money, from his point of view," Dominus told him.

"I knew I couldn't trust him…" Beam muttered, irritated. It seemed he'd been played twice by the merchant.

"Well, you only have yourself to blame there," Dominus said. "Better get that attitude sorted now. If you want to aim for the very pinnacle of martial achievement, you should do so with the belief that every misfortune that comes your way would be solvable if not for your own incompetence."

"Even getting struck by lightning?" Beam asked.

"But of course. Even events of dumb chance to the average man, such as being struck from your blindspot by a runaway horse, or getting hit by lightning – to someone well versed in martial skill they are all avoidable. In taking responsibility for everything that happens to you, even if it be by chance or by dumb luck, you take your first steps along the path to great power," Dominus said.

"…You really think I can go that far?" Beam asked, fighting to keep the desperation out of his voice.

Dominus answered immediately. "No. As you stand, absolutely not. It would be ridiculous to think that you could. Honestly, every instinct in my body is screaming out that you're going to fail and that I'm wasting my time with you."

Beam tutted and frowned.

"Focus on getting it through this test first, boy," Dominus told him, moving ahead of him along the path. "For now, everything beyond that is merely hypothetical.