A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

"Mm. Does seem like he knows ya. Why'd you not bring this deer to him then, if he was buying your work yesterday?" The butcher asked.

"'Cos he said the same thing as you – he said he can't take anymore meat off me for fear of upsetting the other hunters that he's got agreements with. But let me ask you this, are you really getting enough meat off these hunters? You could process way more than this, couldn't you? I saw you standing around yesterday, waiting for customers – you didn't have anything to butcher," Nila said.

The butcher twitched his nose at that. "There's more factors to it than simple profit, little lass. I can see you're serious about this. Might even be that yer a halfway decent hunter. But just flooding the market with meat, out hunting everyone – that's not gonna get you anywhere. All yer gonna do is piss off the hunters at work.

They'll start complaining that you're cleaning up the forest, n' they'll make it so the other butcher's want nothing to do with ya."

"What!? Just because they're worse hunters?" She shot a pointed glance at the two hunters standing next to, as though accusing them both of the same thing. They both froze up under her glare. "How much do you two manage to catch each day?"

"Mm… Not really a daily thing, more of a weekly thing," one of them said, scratching the hair on his head. "We set up a few snares and that, a few traps. Maybe get a few squirrel, couple of rabbits, n' if we're lucky we'll catch something with an arrow too."

"That's it?!" Nila shouted in disbelief. The two men hung their heads, one of their eyebrows twitching in anger. "What about this then?" she said, turning to the butcher. "You go into an agreement with the three of us. We'll get you more meat, more cheaply, and it'll be more consistent. That'll be better, won't it?

Then people won't be able to blame it all on me, 'cos they'll think it's the three of us doing the hunting."

"Hang on," one of the hunter's said as he stood there. "What's in this for me?"

Nila sighed, exasperated. "The same thing that was in it for you today – I'll pay you to help me carry my kills, and, on top of that, I'll give you both a tenth of the profits I get from selling the meat. That on top of your own kills for the week – you'll be earning a fair bit more, won't you? And with hardly any extra effort."

Despite the insults to their pride, the two men more than interested in the deal. One of them scratched his beard as he thought about it. "But how much money do you have, girlie? If you ain't as good a hunter as you claim to be, this'll all fall through in a week or two, and you'll have gotten our hopes up for nothing."

"Do you lose anything if that happens? You'll have two weeks of extra coin, and you'll be able to judge for yourself whether it'll work out or not by watching me hunt, won't you?" Nila pointed out.

"…True," the man said, and his friend nodded along with him.

"Mm… yer beginning to sell me a bit on this, lass," the butcher said, as he put his hand atop his bald head in thought. "Tell you what, you give me this deer for 4 silver, n' if you can get me two more deer in the next two weeks, I'll keep you on. In the meantime, bring me as much meat as yer can, an' we'll see what you're made of," the butcher said.

"Yes!" Nila shouted, pumping her fist. "Alright, you two, you're meeting me outside the forest at dawn tomorrow – if you're late, I won't pay you," she told them.

They nodded together with a slight wince, bothered about being bossed around by a girl half their age, but enticed by the money nonetheless.

As they talked, Beam made eye contact with Judas across the square. The big man noticed him and nodded respectfully.

Beam strolled over now that the negotiations were done. "Reckon you can trust them?" He asked.

Four pairs of eyes settled on him as he suddenly spoke. Nila saw him, and her face widened into a smile. "Ah! Beam!" She said, waving to him. "What are you doing over here? Is Greeves sending you on more monster hunting quests?"

The butcher and the two hunters widened their eyes at that line. Not a single person in the village willingly went out to hunt monsters – not as a profession, it was far too dangerous. Such a thing would only be found in the city, amongst populations of thousands, where strong people were more likely to appear.

They noted his appearance, with the fresh cuts and bruises on his face, complete with several scars on his neck. By his appearance, such a profession certainly checked out.

"Ah, no. Your mother asked me to bring you this, and to make sure you're doing alright," Beam said, handing her the box.

She took it, sighing in exasperation. "Hah… She didn't have to. I don't need you to look after me. Though, I guess I am hungry."

It was then that Judas chose to come striding over, forcing the two hunters apart as he stepped through them. They reeled back in fear, even the butcher looked intimidated. And yet, to Beam, this giant of a man spoke with the utmost of respect.

"Sorry for interrupting, lad. Didn't know whether you were calling me over with that look you gave me," Judas said, speaking far more timidly than Beam had ever heard him speak before.

The hunters and the butcher looked like their eyes might bulge out of their head as they saw that from Judas. A man notorious for his violence and his thuggishness, choosing to be polite to a boy that he towered over.

"Naw, I was just making sure that this lot weren't taking advantage of Nila," Beam said.

With those words, Judas' intimidating aura intensified, as he turned and towered over the hunters. "They better not be."