Virgil Church, Ep. 6 Downtime

Virgil penciled in the last few columns in his ledger and pushed it away from him, not bothering to look at the bottom line. He knew what it would say, anyway. Being a town hero in the aftermath of a bandit uprising buoyed his group along for a few months, but people were starting to get back to reality. There was no way another group of bandits was going to spontaneously rise up. Even the old camps that had little to do with Philo had been effectively disbanded by Newton's campaign and its aftermath. Caravans weren't being attacked at all, or only by very small numbers. In short, there was no reason to pay for a group of heavily armed, highly skilled escorts like Virgil's band.

For now, costs were being met, but each week brought fewer and fewer customers, and Virgil's expenses had increased. 15 men, rather than 12, each with the best equipment and horses he could find, were expensive to keep happy. Fact was, unless business improved measurably in the next month to a month and a half at most, he was going to have to cut back just as he was expanding. Virgil had never styled himself a soldier, but his days as an irregular were looking rosier than ever in afterthought.

Good thing he'd sprung Philo from the Fort.