Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 10: Determination (1)

1007 AF

"Hurry, hurry! The soup is about to run out!" Arial's mother busied herself dishing out enormous dollops of food.

Arial look at his mother hurrying him to be faster, sweats filling her forehead, yet there is a smile on her face, holding a soup ladle on her left hand, ordering left and right.

He smiles looking at this and warmth filled his heart

The family were celebrating their acquisition of new land with a sumptuous feast.

The harvest and his mother's bakery were bringing in great profits, and they had every reason to be joyful.

Their life is good and the life in the village is good

The bakery had expanded.

High demand from the villagers and nobles alike had meant that his father had had to construct a bigger stall to sell their bread.

And not only that.

His mother had hired workers to help keep up with the demand, and many kinds of bread were distributed across the village and the noble houses.

With the profits, Arial had persuaded his father to open three new bakeries in other villages.

There are many menus in his mother bakery that is the reason for the popularity of the bread

There is the flatbread which is made with fenugreek seeds and maize; the dough first has to be allowed to ferment overnight, then flattened and baked.

There are workers now to made sure that the quality is always the same. The work is hard but the pay is good.

There is the yeast bread, a sweet, cornmeal and molasses based bread.

There is the sweet bun thanks to Arial father doing trade with the cities on white beans.

There is also the cornbread, fruit bread, rye bread, and many others. Arial thought of this ideas and recipes and give it to his mother.

The Vermont's had become well known for their bread, and in time became a supplier to the cities of Bleeding Rock, Bleeding Eye and Rodes, and with the money that came as a result his father bought more land in Danoba village.

Of course there is The Blood Anthem city in Dented Shield the walled castle city that is one of the largest city in the Dukedom but there is not many of the Vermont family business based there

Arial father had to go through a lot to get those lands. He had to fills the form for Acquisition of Land because the lands in the Law belongs to the House that rule in that land.

Land that is from other villagers does not need for his father to send or fill the form but for unclaimed land or unlanded land his father need to buy it from the Nobles that rule it.

In Danoba the ruler is House of Alan. The great house of the companion of Levitia, descended from a prestigious line of nobility.

After three weeks of waiting his father finally got the reply, one hundred acre of lands finally belong to the Vermont's family.

So right now the Vermont's have two hundred acre of lands.

Aries have use about 5000 gold to buy the land. Any month now Arial father might even get a title from the ruling House

His father is probably the largest landowner in Danoba, rivaling even the noble houses

People had begun to migrate from other villages, something which hadn't happened in Arial's past life, but then the village hadn't thrived so much before.

With the land that they have bought, Aries decided to use it to promote their fruits and grains.

They were renowned for their fruits and grains, and soon Arial's father would plant apple seeds and their gold would continue to multiply.

Houses and shops were built to accommodate the migrating villagers, and Danoba grew larger. With stalls could be seen in market place around the middle of the village.

Arial and his family had become rich unlike they had ever been before, the richest in the village.

Pennies, coppers, and gold, Arial smiled.

To think it had all started with the farming method he had glimpsed during his journey back.

He tried to remember what else he had seen, but when he had broken through the time barrier his memory had become hazy.

That is not all that changed. Now, that they have become wealthy, they even change their house

Kevan Mason, the village mason, had been working on Arial's old house; the floors, instead of being strewn with rushes and herbs, were paved and decorated with intricate tiles.

Tapestries were hung on the walls, lattice-framed windows were installed, allowing light to flow through; their humble old house had been transformed into a proud home.

It was like the houses of those high lords.

Arial remembered his father had once expressed to him his regret at not being able to give his mother the life she was accustomed to.

Arial's mother had been born into nobility, but had run from her family to marry her beloved farmer.

A father who is descended from a farmer and a daughter of a minor noble.

His mother always chose love above anything else, and that, according to his father, is what made her so radiantly beautiful and full of life.

She has a light in her face that can only be explained because of her acceptance towards people and the love she gives.

Arial thought back to a conversation he had once had with his mother, in another lifetime.

"I was a fool back then," she had said when he asked whether she regrets marrying his father.

"A fool in love."

"So, you mean you regret marrying father?" Arial had asked. She smiles and answered

"Regret? Why should I? My foolishness was the best kind of foolishness. Since the day I met your father, and to this day, I am still a fool." She had smiled at Arial's puzzled face and told him that one day he would understand.

He thought he would understand it later. But later never came.

He never did understand.

After the war there had been no time for love or marriage.

Perhaps that had only been true for Arial.

Even during the Great Invasion people still married, lovers still loved. Humans continued to hope.

Or maybe he thought. that he doesn't deserve love, so that is why he did not seek it, like an addict, he was addicted to his own pain. Absorbed in his own sadness and grief.

He thinks he doesn't deserve it. because Love is light and he is far from it. A bundle of darkness, that's what he is

After all, he is no saint. To survive the world at that time, for him it was very hard and the decisions he had to do was equally as hard

He was not strong. He was not rich. All he can lean on was his own resourcefulness and wit. He did some things.

No, he did a lot of things. Dirty things. Cruel things.

Betrayed the people that trust him and lie to those who he called his friends to save his own hide.

There is not one person that he calls his friend that he did not eventually betray. He disappoints those who put their trust on him, and he disappointed himself.

He sighed when he thinks of this matter.

People said it was men who made the times, but was it the other way around?

Perhaps it was the times that shaped men. The world was harsher back then. The times were darker and crueler.

He looks around him and he sees light, love, laughter and life all around. But he knows darkness is lurking around the corners. Always

Without strength he couldn't do anything to protect all of this things that he held dear and cherished.

A darker future. That would not happen this time.

Arial would put an end to it, even if it meant sacrificing all that he had. He was adamant humanity would not suffer a second time.

Even if he had to sacrifice everything that he has, everything that he holds dear, such fate must not befall humanity again.

He'll give everything. Every part of him. Every inch and last of him.

'Let me bear all the sins. Let me bear the mountain and seas. Let me bear the world.' He was reminded of this passage in the Scripture.

"What are you dreaming about, Arial?" His mother's voice broke him from his thoughts.

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Part one of the chapter. Enjoy. And please vote for the story if you like it

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