25. Life in a Seaside Land

It was a windy afternoon, and we roamed the country, strolling through the crowded streets.

The sound of daily life and trading echoes from the busy market.

The buskers sitting on the side of the road also contribute their voices to this "elegant" fun.

"Why elegant? I don't get it, is there anything interesting here for nobles to shop around? And things to buy here don't have much value either, like those nobles would like. Are they bored with being so rich that they desire to be poor now?"

She asked jokingly, but she didn't realize how many truths that joke had unconsciously told about the Kingdom's authorities.

The scene of people fishing on boats, floating rafts is nothing new in a land bordering the sea like Reitina, they pull their nets up in full or half, and the harvest is successful or poor, all are unpredictable.

In the land where people flock to for busy trading, people from poor neighborhoods, poor villages also come, look forward and hope for the opportunity to change their lives.

Strong arms, seasoned with experience, their bodies imbued with the hardships of life, bold and decisive. They carried each bag of harvested crops to the inner city, to the bustling trading markets.

The business life of the people here is just that simple, hard working, and sometimes full of risks.

Holding the bread sticks that the two of us bought at the entrance to the market, we enjoyed it slowly.

It's been a week since she met me in that village, and just over three days since we visited Nicht.

I had more to tell her than I thought, Lair had always been a good listener, and the way she pretended to be uninterested in asking me questions, but her eyes and how focus she was told the exact opposite, it made me chuckle quite a bit.

"Their life is indeed really hard… My mother is also from a poor village, going to town to look for business opportunities. But maybe she wasn't in that lucky group. That's why I had to enlist in the army."

Lair whispered as if she wanted to keep it a secret.

Suddenly someone jostled me on the shoulder, looking as if in a hurry. The piece of bread fell from my hand, and I awkwardly trying to grab it.

The girl helped the other man up, but was pushed back by him. I grabbed his wrist while he tried to pick up her stuff.

"It's not that easy, buddy. We're all soldiers, not the kind some thieves like you can fool."

I raise my voice to the thief caught in the net, at the same time Lair kicks his stomach, knocking him to his knees.

"Stealing again?" - "I guess so. There is a case every day these days."

The sound of people in the market talking.

I took her by the hand, walking through the murmuring crowd. Maybe they'll deal with the thief on their own, so I didn't care much and left.

There are poor and needy people anywhere in this world, but when it is too needy, they only left with the choice to steal. But the strange thing here, is that there should have been no thieves.

Churches and Congregations across all lands are also assigned to take care of public safety, meaning that such phenomena should not have occurred, under strict control, it is hard to believe there are thieves lurking around here.

Lair nudged me lightly.

"That is quick, people from the Congregation have already come to escort him. Speaking of the Congregation, don't we need to go to the Reitina Cathedral? You need to see someone named Eliane, don't you?"

"May it be convenient. We'll be there soon, it is not too far away. For the moment, I think we should get some rest tonight."