The Fight to Protect 3

"Jack, I was very worried about you, you could have died because of these lions."

"I'm fine, Dad, I was safe on top of the tree and I had to save the women in our village and the others who were in danger."

"Okay, I'm not going to fight you this time because luckily Mark and Ron arrived in time to save you, and also because thanks to you many lives were saved, but don't think about doing that anymore."

Jack knew he was wrong and even though he knew he did it right, he knew that what he did was really very dangerous and a mistake could have killed him, yet Jack was very proud to have saved the women in the river and also for killing the lion even though that lion had already been hurt by Mark and Ron.

"Thanks for saving my son, Mark, and Ron, I know this was dangerous for you, did someone from another village go to help? I had said to bring in the hunters who came to help my son that I would reward them personally."

"There was no one else there, Tim, I think the hunters in the other villages didn't want to help, tomorrow Ron and I will go to the other villages to question these women that Jack saved and also the hunters to find out what happened."

"That's right, we have to know what really happened, Tim, we have to return the armaments you loaned us, the shield, the bows, and the arrows were really good."

"No, it's a thank you gift from you for saving my son, he could have died with these three lions attacking him."

"We will accept it then because it will help a lot for our hunts to be safer, and I have to say that your son was very smart and courageous, he killed one of the lions alone and was also tied to the tree so there was no risk of getting hurt."

Jack was proud to have been praised in front of his father, but Tim was not happy to know that Jack took a chance to fight a lion, but he said nothing and just said goodbye to the hunters and Sam who was the village leader.

After they returned home Tim fought Jack because he risked fighting a lion, he just calmed down when Jack overreacted and said that the hunters had almost killed the lion and that he only gave the final blow.

Jack slept early and rested a lot from the most stressful and exciting day he has ever had, the other day when Jack woke up his father had already gone to the workshop to start preparing the forge to start work.

Jack helped his father every day in the workshop because his father was the only blacksmith in the village and one of the only blacksmiths who were out of town, so hunters and villagers from all villages came to Tim's workshop to buy weapons, and armor.

Tim, who was the only blacksmith in this village and in the nearest villages, did only small jobs, which were fast and did not pay well, but he always had many of these jobs, every day he would make tools for daily use and agricultural tools too.

Tim also benefited from the maintenance of these tools, which made his and his son's life much more comfortable, sometimes some small traders came from the capital city to buy and sell some things.

They had a small village of just over 100 people and had many villages like that, these villages were like that despite the kings deciding to allow these villages to exist for a long time because when wars were going on the people in the villages were the first to die.

So even if the young people found the villages at a standstill, the older ones liked this peace because they knew it never lasted long, the young people who had more talent sometimes went to the capital or became hunters when they didn't have their parents' business to inherit.

Unlike the city of the capital in this village, there were no fights or robberies, and everyone knew each other, whether in this or in the nearby villages, this trust made people closer.

As these villages were far from mountains and forests, there were no wild animals to worry about, and in the northern part where they could see for hundreds of kilometers, there was no kingdom.

Just further south after the capital city, which had kingdoms close enough to have the possibility of conflict, but always after a war as it did 30 years ago, it took time for new conflicts to happen.

That is why hunters did not expect three lions to suddenly appear near the river and attack the women who went to that river to wash their clothes every day for tens of years without any of this happening.

Tim and Jack continued to work and at that time in the morning many residents brought some tools to repair or just sharpen, this was because their father charged cheap, as food outside the capital city was much cheaper and the residents only had to pay taxes one once a year.

So the living expenses were very low and Tim had no ambition to get rich, so he was also very dear to the people of the village, of course when the merchant came he sold his works with prices just a little lower than that of the city the capital.

They worked all day until the afternoon, now Jack was learning more from his father and could help Tim make some tools for daily use and also agricultural tools, but Tim wouldn't let Jack start making weapons even though Jack already knew how to do it something.

"Dad, I think today's job is ready, let's close the smithy."

"You can keep things out and wait at home, I'm still going to stay to finish some things."

"You always have your secrets, dad, I'm already 16 years old, tell me what you do after the closing time."

"It is not a secret nor a matter of age, just my thing, when you get older you will learn that sometimes men have things they want to do alone, and your father is getting old there are many things."

"So I'm just going to know what you do when I'm your age? Until then it will take a long time, Hahaha."

"Okay, go away instead of being cute, it's already starting to bother me."

As Jack had said his father started 5 years ago to be left alone in the smithy to do something he didn't tell his son what it was, no matter how much he asked.

But Jack accepted that it was his father's thing that was getting old, his father Tim was already 50 years old and when Jack was born his mother Mary died so he didn't know what his father was like before, he just knew that his father should love very much his mother.