Before dawn had fully broken, the sound of hoofbeats rang out on the dirt road at the village entrance.
Three horses, galloping hard.
Su Li was crouched in the yard washing his face. His hand had only just reached into the wooden basin when his ears twitched first.
Within the perception range of a second-tier knight, three presences were drawing nearer from afar, moving fast. The rhythm of the hoofbeats was steady—not the chaotic, mad dash of routed soldiers.
He flicked the water from his hand and stood.
Saina leaned half her body out from the kitchen.
"What is it?"
"Visitors."
At the village entrance.
The three gray horses came to a stop together. Leading them was a gray-clad man in his thirties, a shortsword hanging at his waist and a leather scroll case strapped to his back.
He swung down from his horse with crisp efficiency. One look told anyone he was a seasoned runner of errands.
The first to gather was the neighbor, standing dumbly in her doorway with a slop bucket in hand. A few men who had risen early to chop firewood soon came over as well.
The gray-clad messenger stared straight ahead and drew a parchment document from the scroll case.
A purple wax seal was pressed onto the document, bearing the image of a four-petaled iris.
Few people in Wading Village recognized noble heraldry, but that purple wax seal alone was intimidating enough.
The messenger swept his gaze over the villagers watching him and cleared his throat.
"By the order of Lord Ford of Red Leaf Manor—"
His voice was not loud, but every word was crisp.
"From this day forth, Wading Village falls under the Iris Family's temporary protection. No tax collectors, grain requisition teams, or local private soldiers may enter without the