Reborn As The Beggar Lord

005 The Well-Keeper

Mara lay in front of her own door with her cheek in the mud. Kingsley knelt, got his arms under her, and lifted the frail body. She weighed almost nothing.

Doors opened all along the lane. The villagers stepped out and stood in a loose ring, whispering among themselves. They had never seen a capital lord carry a dying peasant woman.

He laid her on the bed inside her house and put his coat over her legs.

"My lord." Her voice had gone thin overnight. "A baron carrying old women through the mud. What would the other nobles say?"

"They have nothing worse to say about me," Kingsley replied. "What happened to you?"

Mara smiled with grey lips. "The rot in my belly finally put me down. I held on this long because I didn't want to die while this land was still lordless."

"I still need you," he said. "You're the only one in this village who can guide me."

"No, my lord. Forget about me. A baron of Thornmere never ruled alone. There were old families sworn to him."

Her breath rattled as she spoke. "The Shields family formed the baron's guard and trained the village watch. The Mercers ran his trade and managed his treasury."

"Most of them are dead now, or they left when the fields turned white. And for the mages, there was one more family."

Her mouth twitched as she said, "The Finch family."

Kingsley already knew the well-keeper's full name, Mara Finch.

He used the Appraisal skill on her, and letters rose over her white hair.

[Mara Finch] [D-grade Mage]

"You have magic," he said.

The old woman lifted one hand off the blanket and flicked her weak fingers. The water in the cup by her cot swirled into a little whirlpool and then lay flat.

"I'm a water mage. How do you think a village on dry salt hills has anything to drink? Forty years I've been pulling it up out of the ground with spells."

"That is why the well water has turned bitter," he said. "Because you weren't strong enough."

Mara nodded. "The Capital tossed me out with the rest of the unwanted. But this village gave me a home."

Kingsley saw the real disaster. "And when you're gone? Where will the villagers get their water?"

"It's your land and your problem now, my lord." She said it kindly. "I trust you'll find a solution."

Mara's breathing was getting harder. She gathered herself and went on.

"You'll need to find talented subordinates. A lord without a sword behind him doesn't live long out here."

"The Shields family," Kingsley said. "Are they all gone?"

Mara chuckled, and then it turned into a cough that shook her whole chest. Kingsley held the water cup to her lips until it passed.

Mara did not answer. She doesn't know either.

"The Mist Wall touches our east and bends around the top of this valley. Every attack this village ever suffered came out of the east. Never the north. There's a reason for that, but I don't have the breath to tell it."

Her eyes drifted shut for a moment, then opened again.

Mara studied Kingsley without speaking, and when she went on, her voice grew quieter.

"You're a good man, just like your father. You'll be a great baron. But would you do an old woman one kindness? Fulfill my last wish."

"Name it."

"My children passed away a long time back. But I still have a granddaughter. Ginny Finch."

"Is she a mage like you?"

Mara's face tightened. "That is the problem, my lord. Ginny has known magic since she was a child, and no ritual ever gave it to her. The Dawn Temple calls such children the damned."

"The ones who wake without touching the sacred Stone get killed, or thrown into prison. My granddaughter has been in the village jail for a year already, waiting for a death sentence."

Kingsley's hands closed slowly. He had been thrown away for a low grade and a useless talent. This girl had been locked up a year for being a prodigy.

"What is your wish?"

"Release her from captivity, my lord," Mara said, grabbing his sleeve. "You're the baron. Send her away to a distant land where she can live safely."

Kingsley furrowed his brows. "She's your blood. You want her gone?"

Her voice shook. "When the Dawn Temple's priest came to condemn my girl, the villagers jailed her themselves. They will never accept her. If Ginny stays, she'll have to live in a cage."

Kingsley took her hand in both of his. "I'll free her. You have my word, Mara."

Her grip tightened on his sleeve. "My granddaughter is anything but evil. Tell her that I was never scared or ashamed of her..."

Mara's voice trailed off, and a peaceful look settled on her face. Her chest rose once and then fell still. Her hand went slack in his.

Kingsley did not let go yet. He had done this before in another world, in a house made of marble. He had held a dying old man's hand while the family counted his inheritance.

Grief overcame him for a few moments. In two lives, the people who fed him died before he could pay them back.

I can still repay this debt. I will give justice to Ginny.

Kingsley closed Mara's eyes and drew the blanket over her face.

[New Quest: Release Mara Finch's granddaughter]