A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"Do you? Do you have a right to deprive Lombard of his loyal servants? You do speak highly of yourself," Beam said, again shamelessly threatening him with Lombard's name.

The man clearly grimaced at that. Though it was a rather shallow strategy on Beam's part, it was enough of a riposte to deal with most of the social smothering that the soldiers attempted. But the man wasn't too happy about that.

"Yeah, alright, and? You peasants got no manners? I'm chatting to my woman here. We're going to get married, we are," the soldier said, threading his arm over the woman's shoulders, as she stood there was an uncomfortable look on her face.

It was Nila's turn to get involved. "She's already married, and she clearly doesn't want you touching her," Nila said, forcing a smile, though it was quite clear she was furious.

"Huh? Is that right?" The soldier glanced at the woman. "Can't say I care too much about the promises peasants have made with each other. You'd much rather be married to me, wouldn't ya? Be a nice climb up the ladder for you, wouldn't it?"

The woman shook her head. "I have two children that need me… so…" she murmured quietly.

"Children? Hah! You just leave 'em'. That's the proper way to bring up a kid anyway, ain't it? If it can't survive on its own, then it doesn't have much use. C'mon, ya gotta put yourself first.

This is a prime opportunity," the soldier said.

"Actually, she's married to me," Judas said, taking a step forward with a clumsy line and a clenched fist.

It was clearly a lie, everyone could tell that. Judas was possibly one of the worst actors in existence. But there was something about a giant towering over you that seemed to lend things credibility.

The man gulped, but didn't seem quite willing to back off. "Is that right? You wouldn't want to cause a fight over this, would ya?"

"Actually," Beam said, "we're peasants – we're looking for any opportunity to start a fight."

His eyes began to sparkle, as his hand went to the hilt of his sword. He leaned in close to whisper to the man, allowing a little bit of menacing to seep out. "I said all that earlier, about Lombard… But truth be told, I'm itching for a fight. We peasants aren't that good at planning ahead, you see.

You said you could cut me down for my remarks… But I wonder how well you'd manage to defend yourself until that justice you're looking for came bearing down."

With his voice dropped low, resorting to pure direct threats, the soldier was stunned. If he had been less afraid, he might have noticed just how odd the situation was and just how clumsy Beam and the trio's attempts at getting him to back down were. But with the icy grip of fear clawing at his heart, all he felt was terror.

He forgot his rank for the briefest of moments. No one but he had heard what Beam had said as he leaned in close to talk to him.

They weren't the type of words that any peasant should ever say to a member of the serving class, for fear that they themselves be cut down. But that law relied on one thing in particular – it relied on the member of the serving lass being capable of cutting down the peasant.

Though he'd itched for it, and he'd reached for his sword, the soldier realized on an instinctual level that the gulf between Beam's abilities and his own were so vast, that he'd die before his sword even left his sheath.

All it took was the tiniest leaking of Ingolsol's dark aura to make him appreciate that.

Finally, the man relented. He clumsily stole a glance at the woman next to him. He worked his lips to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. Fighting to keep the last of his pride, he merely turned to walk away on shaky legs.

They watched him go until they were quite sure that he wasn't coming back.

Once more, a crowd of people had seen what they had done, chasing yet another soldier away as they troubled one of the citizens.

The woman broke down in tears as she thanked them, though most of her appreciation was directed towards Nila, since she clearly felt more comfortable talking to her. But that did not stop Judas from going red when she thanked him, nor Beam from giving her a light smile as he too received his thanks.

The boy nodded his understanding.

So far, things were indeed going to plan, though he couldn't help but feel clumsier the more he did it. He was not as adept as he would have liked to be in situations like this. All three of them could only resort to threats of some kind in the hopes that it would scare the soldiers away. And indeed it had worked so far, but he didn't see how they would be able to keep it up much longer.

More of the villagers came up to them to express their appreciation once the woman had said her thanks. They stated things like 'it was about time someone finally stood up to those city-dwelling bastards' and that 'it doesn't matter what class someone is in – they should still be capable of some basic politeness.'

These went to Nila more than anyone else. But one or two made their way to Beam and Judas – some of the gruffer-looking men, perhaps seeing something in the two that they could relate to more than the girl.

"Fine work there, lad," one old man had said, as he approached Beam. "You the one kicking all this together? I heard you've been causing a fuss all morning."

Beam shrugged. "I don't mean to. Though I do think it is necessary for the villagers to have each other's backs, now more than ever."

The old man nodded in agreement. "That's true, that is. Even just with winter, ya want more people in your corner than you can count. Just a slightly colder than usual blizzard, and that could start a rot that spreads through half your food. I've seen such bad luck, I have."