Braydon decided that he would travel lightly, bringing only enough provisions for one day and Gerald at his side sans Steven and Gerald’s squire. Their journey would take them to the three villages in his lands, the largest of which was fairly central to his lands and the only named village, Midbury. The first thing Braydon noticed about his land was that the roads were terrible. He didn’t expect paved roads, but at least dirt paths wide enough for a cart to be pulled along. Instead he was greeted by a small trail just wide enough for one horse to walk along.

“It really has been neglected for two generations hasn’t it.”

“Not much trade comes through here, there are no important towns and most of the past decades have seen bans on trade between the Grand Duchy and Fiveria.” Gerald’s response only exasperated Braydon further.

“And how much time will these roads add to our travel?

“Probably double, Sire” Not what he wanted to hear. ‘There goes visiting all three villages in one trip.’ With the provisions they had brought there would only be enough time to visit Midbury.

“Remind me to talk to the chamberlain about the roads. No wonder no merchant wants to come here, they are unusable.” He could almost hear the coins falling out of his coffers, nothing much would be done this month on the side of territory development.

As they made their way towards Midbury, Braydon got increasingly irate at the lack of progress being made. Before he said any choice words, however, the village appeared in the distance.

“Finally, how long did that take?”

“2 hours, Sire.” Another one of Gerald’s quips to questions they both knew he didn’t want answering.

“Lets go speak to the village elder, see how things are going.” Braydon decided, trying not to notice the smile on Gerald’s face or think about why he was smiling.

Making their way into the village, they noticed several disgruntled faces, something Braydon would ask the village elder about. For the most part the place looked to have not seen the worst that war could offer, though some parts still looked a mess. ‘Raiders.’ Braydon hoped that the war had not taken too much food from the peasants, it would do him no good if he tried to hire a garrison only to find the men all half-starved.

Upon finding the village elder, Braydon dismounted signalling for Gerald to do the same and hold his reins. The village elder had long noticed two well dressed and armed men riding into his village and had come to greet them.

“Greetings, sir. I am the new lord of this land Braydon Fiton” Braydon greeted the man, whose eyes shone with recognition. The elder bowed, giving him a clear view of his bald spot amidst his grey hair.

“Greetings, my liege, you can call me Wilf, elder of this village. I had heard the previous Lord had died on the battlefield from the troops marching home from the battle.”

“It is true, speaking of battle, how did the war treat these lands?” This was what Braydon was truly interested in, pleasantries be damned. He cared little for his father anyway.

“As you can see, the bastards left a right mess. Took most the food with ‘em.” In his agitation the elder’s speech became less formal, not that Braydon cared. He never knew why people wanted to be spoken to in such a stiff manner.

“Is that why the people look so upset? Do you still have enough to last until harvest is collected?”

“Upset? No, that was for the coin they had stolen, there's not enough money for any festivities this harvest, and any coin they do make will be going to replace stolen foodstuffs. As for Midbury, we are large enough that we can get through the month unscathed, if we need to tighten our belts so be it.” ‘That much is good’.’ Braydon was relieved until he realised the implications of the elder’s words.

“What about the other villages?” He felt as though a stone had sank into the pit of his stomach. Although most of the peasantry of Cliforge lived in or around Midbury, about a third lived in the other two villages. That was at least 100 people.

“To the north they are in about the same position as us, the problem is in the south. After the battle, some troops deserted and decided to set up in the village. I hear they killed quite a number and have monopolised what little food is left there, whomever wasn’t killed might well have been. They’ll be starved before the month is through.”

‘Shit.’

The news hit like a ton of bricks. Not only did he have to deal with money woes, a pitiful garrison and half-starved subjects; now he had a bandit problem. Braydon turned to Gerald, who now looked much more alert.

“It appears our tour of the area will have to be cut short, Gerald, we head back to Cliforge at once. I need to talk to Rhydian.” Braydon mounted on his horse, taking the reins from Gerald, who was quick to do the same.

“I thank you for the information, Elder Wilf, it was most useful. Now, I must take my leave, I have some problems to deal with.”

On the path back to Cliforge, the painful progress let Braydon calm down enough to start talking the issue through with Gerald. Heaven knew he needed to think of a way to deal with the bandit problem, especially with his lack of men.

“Gerald, tell me, how would you deal with a bandit problem when your total forces number half a garrison and two knights?” Braydon could not for the life of him think of what to do short of taking the entire garrison and marching them to the bandits. It would take a madman to try that, who knew if one of the barons had a spy nearby and he came back to his castle in someone else’s hands. At least he was sane enough not to, Braydon would rather leave such risks to his enemies.

“Normally, I would suggest a levy, but it is harvest season and I don't think the peasantry would take kindly to that, especially after already having their food taken by one lot of men with swords. I doubt that they would want to take up arms for another lot, and we don’t have the men on hand to force it.”

“Thought as much. Hopefully Rhydian will be able to come up with something better than we have been, I do not want to sit on this festering problem for another day, let alone a whole month.” Just when he thought that his problems weren’t as bad as they first appeared.

“I should have known things would never be this easy.” Braydon started muttering curses under his breath. Noting that his lord was truly annoyed, Gerald decided that keeping silent for once would be better than his usual retorts. He did not want to duel Braydon, not after his sound defeat the last time. The rest of the Fiton knights had not let him live that one down.