Herald of Steel

"Come brothers! Let's go inside. It's already getting late and veryone is waiting for you!"

With the initial pleasantries done, the two sisters, Layla and Nayla then quickly invited their father and brother upstairs, while leading the way.

And weary from their entire day of revelry, everyone was quick to accept.

So they quickly made their way up the spiraling staircase, hastily crossing each floor that they found to be illuminated by large hanging braizers burning chopped wood or coal, with the produced smoke escaping though a few large holes made in parts of the nearby wall.

It was an adequate solution to the irritating problem of inadequate lighting under dark, and really went to show just how much of a blessing modern lightning was.

And seeing this, one of the brothers could not help mutteirng to himself,

"How much does it cost to stay here? These braizers can't be cheap to run! Does the pasha pay them himself?"

The fact that the man's very first query was the cost of the place really went to show he was Jamiz's son, the son a merchant.

"Hah hah." And fully understanding this, the old man could not help but let out a pleased chuckle, happy to see that his son's nature had not changed.

While once again it was thier oldest brother that present them with the actual answer,

"It cost 20 ropals a month per… what did they call it… a flat!" Niloy traced his chins a bit before recalling the exact term, and then let them know, "Also these braizers do not run for the whole night. Only for about an hour or two after sunset."

"After that, you are on your own. Most people use thier own lamps or borrow a candle from the guard below."

"Hmmm…. I see. That makes sense." And this arrangement of making the most with what the current technology offered made sense of the man, who nodded and reasoned, "Most people never leave their homes after dark anyway. So it would be a waste to keep the braizers for so long anyway."

Yes.

Due to the lack of sufficient light after dark, and the prohibitively expensive nature of producing artificial light like candles and lamps, nightlife as a concept did not really existed.

Perhaps the people would once in a blue moon stay up late to go see a travelling circus or theatre.

But those were the very rare exception.

"How high we have to go?" While one of the brothers were concerned by the cost, another one was concerned by height of the building, finding his already weary legs getting even more tired.

"Just one more floor. Brother! We are almost there." The reassuring reply came in the form of his sister Layla's voice.

Who was then quickly joined by a bit more tired voice of her elder sister, as she opined with a few groans and grunts, "Our flat is indeed a bit too high. You really feel that every time carrying the water up. I can see why only poor people got the higher floors. Arghhh! It is such a pain!"

Naatually, the two young girls were still carrying the full bucket of water by themselves, which was quite heavy to say the least, weighing close to 15 kilograms each.

While none of the much stronger, bigger men offered it off them.

And this was not because these men did not love thier sisters.

But that this was the norm of the times.

The men simply did not think this was anything to concern themselves with, as this act of drawing and transporting water was seen as a woman's job.

Thus the men did not interfer.

Although Nayla's comment did get a sharp scolding from her father, who venemously snapped,

"Ungrateful girl. Who taught you to bad mouth your father like this! Is this why I let you stay under my roof? To curse behind me? Without me, you would not even be allowed to enter this building. Poor, my ass!"

For the old merchant, the word 'poor' was an immensely sensitive reverse scale.

Now, Jamiz's fuming and bellicose attitude towards his daughters at such a small complaint might seem shocking to a modern audience, and label him as a waste of a father.

But the old merchant could actually be regarded as a decent father for the current times.

This was indeed how the regular people of this time period treated their daughters, because Adhanian society as a large saw daughters as burdens, as properties of their fathers, brothers and then their husbands.

And by that standard, Jamiz might even be seen as quite a good father by some.

Although that standard was quite low to begin with, as evidenced by how the youngest sister Layla had to quickly jump in to save her sibling from her father's fiery temper, crying out in a sweet, pleading voice,

"Father come down! Sister did not mean anything by it! I quite like the high floors. The scenery from there is no nice! I cannot get enough of it."

And Nayla too apologised with a rapidly nodding head

"Yes, yes, me too. I did not mean anything by it."

"Hmmp!" This sincere apology as well as the good mood the man was currently in sought to finally placate the father this time.

And they at last reached thier destination, the top, fourth floor.

"The entire floor is ours!" And as soon as Jamiz stepped off the stairway, the old man said so in a voice tinged with unmistakable pride, while gesturing with his both his hand.

"All eight!" And the revealed number naturlly surprised the brothers.

They had already seen each floor consist of eight apartments occupying two wings.

So to have the entire thing to themselves, was a fact that surprised all of them."

"Hah hah, it looks like business is really going well. We are reassured. We are reassured."

Thus one of the brothers could not help but burst out in pleasure,while another joked in a fake, rueful tone,

"And here I was thinking I would be finally able to put a roof over my old man's head with loot from the battles. What a pity, what a pity."

"Hah hah." That one got a good chuckle from the others.

"Mom! Guess whose back! Come and see!" While the two sisters quickly called to the rest of the family.

And

"Sons! You are back!"

"Husband!"

"Father!"

Almost the very next instant they said so, the returning soldiers found themselves swaremd from all sides by the rest of thier family members.

Thus for the third time, the four brothers received a hero's welcome, where they exahcnge pleasantries with thier mothers, wives and children, with many of the women hugging and even breaking out into tears of joy upon seeing them.

It was almost two hours later that the men finally could detach themselves from their loved ones who had missed them oh so much, and was then allowed to wash and refresh them.

Using, might I add, the water their sisters had pulled up from the well below.

And then at last got to sit around the large, ornate, dining table, under the bright illumaton of many, many candles, where awaited for them a large feast.

The table was currently filled with many delicacies, which, though hd nothing worth looking at twice when compared to Alxx's lavish banquets, was still quite respectable when compared on its own merit.

Large loaves of pure white bread, beef, chicken and mutton, all cooked in different ways, succent cuts of fish, and vegetable basted in butter.

All paired with Camius's famous wine.

Even for someone as well off as Jamiz, this was a grand feast.

And the men there felt like they were eating like royalty.

And by men, I do mean only men.

There were the six brothers, thier father, three of their brother in laws and three adult nephews.

The women and girls would eat later, and as cruel as it might sound, their choices would be limited.

For example, they would not have the white bread, since it was so expensive.

But good quality brown bread.

They would also not have access to all three type of the meat, and not in the size of the proportion available to the men.

Instead they would be restricted to only one type of meat.

So while eating, many times, the mother, the sisters, and wives would share parts of their meat to get a taste of all the meats.

The reason for this was again because it was the norm.

Women were discriminate against and seen as less important than the men.

Thus it made no sense to spend so much money on them.

And the thought was so ingrained that even such an obviously malicious practice that one no batted an eyes, as everyone instead fooucse on the tales the four brothers had to say.

While the four brothers took in thier new surrounding, commenitng with a dazed voice,

"The rooms look so well built. There is even a balcony. The

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