Chapter 93 — After the Victory

"That's old Gordon the stonemason!" "Is that Hunter beside him? The one who hunts?" "Who's that skinny little fellow?" "Seems he's a serf from the domain, name of Holm, fires the 'slag' over at the furnace..." "I know that soldier, name's Klim. They say he took down two monsters by himself yesterday—and none of his brothers or sisters ever made it out of the domain alive..."

Then Gao Yang's voice rang out, cutting off the murmuring below:

"These people have all made tremendous contributions to the defense of this camp, the finest among us at their work. They are our most diligent craftsmen and our bravest settlers, and to them I will fulfill my promises ahead of time.

"Holm, Terry, Walker—you were serfs and bond-laborers; now you are free folk. From this day you may own property of your own, and with your own two hands earn your own land and house. But remember: the freedom to work and to live is also the freedom to starve and to fall. Your lives from now on are in your own hands—do not betray that freedom.

"Gordon the stonemason, Hunter, Klim the soldier—you are already free folk, and so you shall receive a plot of newly broken land ahead of the rest, and be the first to receive your dwellings once the houses are built. And Klim, for your exceptional valor, Sir Byron intends to take you under his wing; if you agree, you may begin as a knight's squire."

One by one those whose names had been called straightened their backs, and Gao Yang took from Heddy's hand several bronze badges already prepared and pinned them to the men's clothing.

The badges were crude indeed—nothing more than flattened copper discs stamped with the Cecil domain's crest, and on the reverse the words "In Commemoration of the First Defense of New Cecil"—turned out overnight in a rush. Everyone, Heddy and Rebecca included, had failed to see what the point of making such things was, for these "copper discs" were not currency, and Gao Yang had said plainly that they could not be used in trade. In other words, they were worth not a single coin, unless melted down and sold as scrap copper.

But Gao Yang had insisted on making them all the same.

He pinned them to the men's clothing and said quietly to them, "This is a symbol of honor."

The symbol was indeed a little crude, and in the haste he had had no time to devise such varied distinctions as "Award for Valorous Combat," "Award for Promotion of Production," or "Award for Outstanding Contribution" (and the people of the domain might not have understood them in any case), but one way or another, a system of honors like this had to be established.

It was encouragement to those concerned, and even more a symbol to everyone else.

Though the people standing below the platform could not make out what the medals looked like, they could feel plainly enough that they had conceived a longing and envy for this kind of honor, standing up there on the platform.

Then Gao Yang announced the third matter: "Third, it concerns the army of the domain."

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