Everyone in the room watched the backs of Licerio and López as they walked out. They wanted to call after them to keep the conversation going, but they had no words.
Outside, López reached back and took hold of the door cloth, ready to pull it closed. But before he did, he smiled, opened his mouth, and showed every tooth.
"I hope you appreciate these last moments. Your worth ends the moment my lord decides it does. Until then, enjoy the time you have left."
López closed the door slowly, letting everyone in the room take in his bearing at their leisure, driving his words firmly into their minds, where they would gnaw at them with every passing second.
Outside, López turned and moved quickly to catch up with Licerio, who had stopped when he felt the sound of López's footsteps behind him go quiet. Seeing his knight act that way, he smiled and let out a small sigh at the man's character.
Inside the room, a dead silence held for several more minutes, until Lucano let out a tired sigh and left, with Valente following.
The only words he said before going were, "We'll need to prepare if we want to survive."
They held a monopoly over the trades; if someone wanted to become a blacksmith, the only way was to join their guilds—and even that did not guarantee they would learn everything. Without money, they received no instruction. Moreover, the guild masters always kept the most valuable knowledge locked away; if they taught it freely, how would they hold on to their position?
But Lucano knew that fighting the baron openly would not be simple. Building a school capable of teaching any trade was the same as pulling the foundations out from under the guilds.
Without a fresh supply of new members, how would they keep their businesses standing? Those same young people would go and set up their own independent workshops, with no need to be affiliated with the guilds at all.
To hold their ground, they would have to bind the guilds tightly together—and if that was not enough, reach out to the guilds in other territories for support.
Licerio and López went to collect their belongings from the rooms they had been given and retrieved their horses from the stables; they were not going to stay the night under the roof of their enemies.
They made for a castle—the former residence of the previous Baron of Rosea. They could have gone there from the start, but Licerio had figured a room in the constable's house would be enough for one night before moving on.
Seeing how familiar Lucano and the constable were with each other, they must have had dealings going back to the previous baron's administration.
He had not purged or removed any of the constables or scribes in the lands of Rosea after the conquest because he had not thought it necessary. And he had been right—of all the villages he had visited across Rosea, this was the first to push back against him, having aligned itself with the guilds.
He put this down to the fact that in the surrounding villages, the guilds were neither as large nor as powerful, or perhaps because of the distance from them, those places had stayed untouched—remaining free and looking out for the other members of their community.
They entered the castle and were received by two servants, the only ones Licerio had left to maintain and clean the place. He had dismissed almost all the servants who had worked for the previous baron, keeping only these two, since they had worked for him for less than a year.
Licerio spent the night in the room that had belonged to the previous baron, and López took the room next to it.
In the morning, López rode out alone into the village while Licerio got ready and changed. He left the castle on horseback, heading toward the center of the village, where a large square stood.
It was packed with people, gathered and murmuring among themselves. That morning they had been preparing to start their work when a knight on horseback had ridden through every part of the village announcing a speech in the central square.
Things like this did not happen often, and it was the kind of event people felt they had to see with their own eyes—so they left their work and made their way to the square.
The square had no stage, since the previous baron had never built one, much less given a speech in front of his people. Almost always, it had been his secretaries or servants who addressed the crowd on his behalf.
In the center of the square, López had hired a few carpenters to quickly build a small platform—large enough for his lord to stand above the crowd and let his voice carry across the whole space.
Licerio arrived shortly after. The crowd parted for the young man when they noticed his dress and his horse, which bore the emblem of the Baron of Lisea—their new lord.
There were common people who died without ever seeing the face of the lord of the territory they lived in; they knew only his name and his emblem.
Licerio stepped up onto the makeshift stage and drew a long breath, readying himself to speak.
"Welcome, all of you, and thank you for setting down your work to come and listen. I am your lord, the Baron of Lisea and Rosea, Licerio Bareo. I have come today to open a new world for my people." Licerio swept his gaze across the crowd gathered in the square and continued. "I have traveled through every part of Lisea and Rosea to share great news: I will be building a pair of public schools—schools that every child will be able to attend and receive an education. These schools will be entirely free of charge and maintained by me, the baron."
The square fell into total silence, deep enough that the breathing of the people around could be heard. That silence broke when the first voice cried out in pure, stunned joy. Everyone else followed, and the square filled with noise.