"This used to have just the Ividaya family crest—the tulip flower. I slapped a wyvern claw on top of it as my new family emblem."
Thane looked at the twisted threads and shrugged: "The village women busted their butts making it overnight. The stitching's pretty rough, but you can tell what it is."
Noble kids who didn't inherit the family fortune could redesign their own family crests after getting their own territory.
If they had beef with the family, they could start completely from scratch.
But usually they'd just tweak the original family crest.
Thane didn't have strong feelings one way or the other about the Ividaya family, but he hadn't burned any bridges with Earl Ividaya, so he just added some new flair to the original design.
Mainly because it was easier that way.
"This is your first family crest?"
Maxim took the leather pouch with both hands, his fingers shaking a little.
"This is way too valuable!"
Whatever was stuffed in that pouch, this gift meant way more than its actual price tag.
The sentimental value of a family's first crest was off the charts—it really showed that Thane considered him a friend.
Maxim took a nervous breath, opened the pouch, and pulled out a small wyvern fang.
"I can't spare the big tusks—those are weapon material. This smaller fang is my gift to you."
Seeing how carefully Maxim was handling it, Thane added: "Luna already took care of it—no poison."
Maxim gave an awkward smile before he dared to actually touch the fang.
After checking it out, Maxim stepped back and gave Thane a serious bow:
"Thank you for your gift, Baron. This is the most special thing I've ever gotten."
"But I can't pay you back right now because I don't have anything that could match it."
Thane was kind of surprised by Maxim's reaction and said casually: "As long as you get what it's worth, bringing me more slaves like you promised will call us even."
Thane honestly didn't think a roughly stitched family crest could be worth that much.
Giving Maxim the gift was more about getting this well-connected merchant on his side.
"This is different." Maxim shook his head seriously.
"Then help me out with something."
Thane said generously: "When you leave Shadowpine Ridge, forget everything you've seen here and just remember me as a buddy."
"No sweat, I get why you're being careful."
Maxim agreed right away, then said with concern: "But word about you slaying that dragon's gonna get out sooner or later."
"As long as merchants keep their mouths shut, news travels pretty slow out in the sticks."
Thane wasn't worried about people knowing he'd taken down a wyvern—he just needed more time to build up his territory without anyone breathing down his neck.
Whether it was dragon eggs or wyvern hide, both were treasures that people would fight tooth and nail for. If others dug into how he'd killed the dragon, they'd figure out he had blades that could slice through dragon scales like butter.
He didn't want to be in the spotlight right now.
"Also, I'm hoping you can keep your ears open about what other lords in the wilderness are up to."
Maxim looked a bit stunned and sighed: "Baron, I gotta say, you really are one sharp and forward-thinking lord."
Thane chuckled and waved his hand: "I'll take that as a compliment."
"Absolutely, Baron."
Maxim nodded seriously: "Just sit tight for my slaves and intel reports."
With that, Maxim waved goodbye to Thane and his caravan hit the road.
Thane waved back, watching the caravan disappear before heading back to Fontdmer Town.
...
...
Evening, Fontdmer Town.
Up at the hilltop manor,
Kralfard puffed out his chest and hollered:
"Work your butts off! Anyone who slacks gets no grub tonight!"
"Lord Kralfard, the sun's about to go down—it's almost the rest time the lord set up," a nearby slave whispered.
"The brave Dragon Slayer doesn't even have a decent manor yet—how can you take a break?"
Kralfard's eyes went wide: "You're the Dragon Slayer's slaves—you should be working harder! Get back to it!
Nobody's gonna slack off on the Dragon Slayer's steward's watch. You gotta finish this manor in a week—no, three days!"
Kralfard grabbed a whip and cracked it against a nearby wooden post as a warning.
Originally Kralfard figured he'd never one-up his brother in this lifetime, especially when it came to how much gold he had—he'd always be the little brother.
But out of nowhere his lord had slayed a freaking dragon!
Being the Dragon Slayer's steward—no amount of gold his brother could rake in would compare to this title!
Kralfard was secretly patting himself on the back.
The slaves groaned while the nearby guards just grinned and kept their mouths shut.
As witnesses to the wyvern slaying, everyone felt pretty proud.
But only Kralfard was this over the top.
Kralfard's voice was so loud that even the folks down in town could hear him crystal clear.
"What's gotten into him? Has he lost his marbles?"
Thane frowned, barely able to watch.
Pamin next to him smiled sheepishly: "After I brought back the wyvern carcass the day before yesterday, Kralfard got curious and asked me about it.
I just gave him the short version of what went down and mentioned that you personally killed the wyvern.
Then this started happening."
"The guy needs professional help."
Thane pressed his lips together and sighed.
The wyvern slaying definitely couldn't stay under wraps in town, but Kralfard's behavior was way out of line.
"Welcome back, brave Dragon Slayer, master of Shadowpine Ridge, Baron Thane."
Kralfard ran up to Thane and bowed ninety degrees, all serious and perfect.
Yikes—
Thane winced. Hearing Kralfard call him Dragon Slayer with every breath was like nails on a chalkboard.
"Enough already, you don't need to keep saying it."
"My lord, everyone should know how brave you are!"
Kralfard added silently in his head: Especially those money-grubbing merchants who only care about gold coins!
"Chill out, stop obsessing over that stuff."
Thane put on his serious face.
Thane's expression made Kralfard's heart skip a beat as he quickly dropped his head: "Yes, brave lord."
Thane didn't push it further. Just as he started walking toward the manor, he heard someone yelling:
"My lord, wheat cakes!"
Thane turned to see a militiaman jogging toward him with a wooden basin full of cakes, with a slightly chubby woman following behind.
"These are the wheat cakes my mom made—what I promised you."
The militiaman brought the cakes over to Thane.
The woman behind him bowed:
"Thank you for saving my boy and bringing him home safe."
She snuck a peek at Thane then quickly looked down.
"And thank you for making wheat cakes for me."
Thane was kind of surprised—he hadn't expected the militiaman to actually follow through on his offhand comment.
Thane had Pamin take the basin, then grabbed a wheat cake and took a big bite.
Thin wheat cakes made from rough rye flour mixed with a little wheat, rolled up with some meat scraps, veggie leaves, or steamed dried fruit.
Of course they could also be eaten plain without any filling.
These wheat cakes were already rolled up. Thane's first bite hit the dried meat inside.
This mother had probably stuffed all her family's meat into these cakes.
"Tastes great, thank you."
Thane gave them props.
Actually it wasn't anything special, but after a day of traveling Thane was starving.
Plus, this was a mother showing her appreciation.
"Making such a huge basin of cakes, your family probably doesn't have much grain left?"
After polishing off the wheat cakes, Thane told Kralfard: "Give them 110 pounds of rye and 44 pounds of meat later."
"Yes, my lord."
Kralfard responded, thinking this woman's family had scored a sweet deal.
Just the 44 pounds of meat alone was pure profit for them.
"Thank you for the reward—you're really a generous lord!"
The militiaman and his mother were thrilled and immediately bowed their thanks.
"Come on, everyone dig in."
Thane didn't mind, having Pamin hold the basin and pass out wheat cakes to everyone.
A mother's love couldn't be measured like that.
Of course, if anyone deliberately brought him a basin of wheat cakes trying to make a trade, Thane would definitely smack them upside the head.
So the group stood in the open area in front of the manor, watching the sunset and munching on wheat cakes.
A little dry.
But Thane still chowed down happily.
"How about we eat wheat cakes every year on this day—all different kinds of wheat cakes."
Thane suddenly said: "To celebrate taking down a nasty wyvern, and spring planting season also needs us to stock up on portable food."
Many fields were over ten miles from Fontdmer Town. Farmers who couldn't make it home for lunch would pack their own food and water.
During busy farming seasons women worked the fields too. Coming home in the evening with no time or energy to cook, they'd eat wheat cakes made several days ahead of time.
"Awesome!" Kralfard was the first to throw his hand up in agreement.
Everyone else caught on and said it was a great idea.
"Wheat cakes sounds kinda boring—we should change the name."
"What should we call them?" Everyone looked at Thane curiously.
Thane thought for a second: "Let's call them spring cakes."
...
...