A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"That'd be such a big help… Even just ten coppers would make a world of difference," Nila mused. "Mother has been struggling to get the work she needs done lately, so they've been paying her less. You should have seen her face when I gave her those 5 coppers – it's a huge deal to us, Beam."

"I get it," Beam said. "When I was digging, I was only getting 10 coppers a month. Since working with Greeves, it's been crazy to see the amount of options I have when it comes to money. Even though I kinda have to pay in other ways…"

"I can't believe you managed on just 10 coppers a month all by yourself. People only get through because they pool their money together – that's why basically no one lives alone. And what do you mean you have to pay in other ways?" Nila asked, her eyes full of interest.

"Ah… Just, y'know. It's a bit of a knife's edge dealing with Greeves. I'm enjoying getting the extra money and the like, but it feels like I'm trying to balance on a cloud or something. I feel like I'm going to pay for it in some way or another in the future," Beam said.

"Hm… I hope you can manage to get away from him soon, then. But with your skills, I'm sure you could make lots more money doing something like body guarding," Nila said. "But how do I repay you for letting me hunt with you? Is there anything you need?"

"I mean, just having someone there to stitch me up when I get injured is nice. My master says he isn't good at stitching other people and he'd probably make a mess of me," Beam said, almost laughing.

"No! Please don't make a habit of getting injured. The worry is way too much to deal with. I need something safer… What about meat? I can hunt a few deers for you and your master... But I guess if you do get injured again, I'm not going to turn you away."

"Sure, meat is good. It would probably be more straightforward for you to just hunt deers and sell it yourself, but if this is what you want to do, then it works for me," Beam said.

"Great – it's settled then," Nila beamed. "A pleasure doing business," she said, with a mock bow, and Beam laughed. "I'm going to go and hunt then – good luck with your chopping."

"Yeah, yeah. Get going. I won't be too long," Beam said, smiling as he dismissed her.

He watched her jog away and skid down the slope, the skirt of her dress flapping as she moved, leaping across the stream like a deer.

"Heh," Beam said, feeling a little warm as he watched her. "Well, I better get started," he said before hefting his axe up and leaving the trail himself, in search of any dead standing trees that he might fell.

Even swinging his axe today felt a little better than before. Slowly but surely he felt his strength coming back. His scab cracked again as he worked, leaving the slightest trickle of blood, but he paid it no mind and continued his shift.

With how good he was feeling that morning, he was half tempted to fill the sled to the top. It was three-quarters full at this point, and he eyed it in consideration. "I'm not far from the village today and I'm not far from the trail either… a whole sled full is probably worthwhile.

Besides, I pushed myself yesterday and I feel better today for it – maybe I just need to force the muscles to get moving again."

As he thought that aloud, he moved behind the handle of the sled to give it an experimental push, to see just how much of his strength had returned.

It moved, but not without a great bit of exertion. In fact, the difference between today and yesterday when it came to the sled seemed to be absolutely minimal. If he wasn't careful, he was sure he'd find himself stuck in the soft forest soil, unable to move it.

But now that he had it on his mind and now that he knew he was so much closer to the village, it felt like a waste to move without filling the whole thing up. Losing the battle of will against himself, he went back to chopping and filled it right to the brim.

Just as he was loading the last of the chopped bits of wood into the sled, Nila made her return.

With two rabbits in one hand and a grouse and a squirrel in the other and her bow slung over her shoulder, she was red faced and struggling as she carried them.

"Phewww," she said, putting them down to rest by Beam's sled.

"All done?" Beam asked.

"Mhm," Nila nodded. "I missed a fat squirrel though and broke an arrow… I could have had more."

"Ah, unfortunate. I didn't think you were capable of missing," Beam teased.

Nila frowned unhappily. "Of course I am – it took loads of missing to get anywhere near this good… And what the hell have you done to your leg now!?"

She caught sight of the small trail of blood leading from Beam's wound. He had forgotten to clean it. He merely glanced at it and shrugged. "Just growing pains – or healing pains, I guess. The scab cracked."

Nila groaned. "You just hate taking care of yourself, don't you? And what's this! You've filled the sled all the way up! You're pushing yourself even more! How are you going to be able to shift all that weight with just one leg?"

"I managed yesterday," Beam reminded her.

"I know you did – but that was three quarters full. I thought you were at least being sensible and limiting yourself since you were injured, but now, straight away, you just can't help yourself from filling it all the way to the top," Nila scolded him.

"It'll be fine, we're much closer to the village. Besides, I need to get my strength built back up, so this is helping. We're going to go hunting next week, after all," Beam said.

"Next week!? That early!? By hunting you mean Goblins and giant spiders, right? I mean, as I said earlier, I'm grateful that you're helping me by letting me come with you – but you're in no state to be fighting anything. Goblins really are dangerous, y'know?" Nila said.

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