I Made This For You...

Chapter 209 I Made This For You...

"Hero... I made this, for your home." the boy's eyes sparkled as I reached out and received his gift. I removed the cloth and there it was, my first gift ever from a citizen...! It was an oval signboard made from clay. The edges were decorated with lumps of clay balls and in the middle was my family's name. It was embossed with clay and it stood out mighty and proud.

I was touched by this boy's gestures and act towards us and I set the gift aside and spoke gently to him, "Thank you, little man, I will hang this on front of the domain, yes?"

The boy looked at me and suddenly threw himself into my arms and embraced me saying, "No... I should thank you, instead. Now I can talk and hear all because of you. I can now read and write all because of you. I also have coins to spend, because of you too. Thank you... Hero...."

He let go of his embrace and looked on the ground and I saw drops of tears stained the ground under his feet. I swallowed hard, and have to clear my throat several times as emotions filled my heart and my eyes as I held his shoulders and said, "Be someone I could be proud of, little man. Study hard and work hard too."

The boy simply nodded his head, as I picked his gift and stood up and I patted his head and he smiled, wiped away his tears and ran off to meet his mother who was watching from a distance near her loom store. She bowed low to me when her son reached her and I bowed back too.

I carried the signboard back and showed to everyone while I highlighted, "Never do I expect any kind of gift from anyone, but this boy is remarkable. Here, take this sign and put it up on the front of this domain, and hang a red banner behind it as well."

The guests were intrigued and asked me about the boy and so I had old Jack and old Kayla to tell the tale of the family, how they came over one night when the Chadwell was bitten by a wolf, the sad demise of their infant daughter and how the boy got into an accident, which was, in fact, was trying to kill himself.

The tale also mentioned how the boy suffered a serious knock near the side of his head, was in a coma for nearly a week and when he finally came to, he somehow regained his hearing and speech. It was miraculous and Gracehaven really lived up to its name...!

The guests were really mesmerised by the tale of the Chadwell boy that even the Marchioness can't help but dabbed her eyes when she heard the demise of the innocent infant due to the father's selfishness.

However, well turned out for them after all as the family had turned over a new leaf and had started their new life here in Gracehaven. It was moral for everyone who hears about their plight and it was a blessing that the Chadwell man had been forgiven and turned his life about.

"Well, My Majesty, we would be taking our leave in a day or two. We had somewhat overstayed the hospitality you had greatly shown us."

"You also had shared with us that equality is also a form of happiness and progress for Gracehaven to advance forward. No two rulers can be the same, each one with their own plusses and minuses."

"But what I can say is this, My Majesty does have all the plusses and none of the minuses. Would you allow us to return back to our towns so we would be able to follow up on the rest of our proceedings?"

"Yes, Marchioness and Marquees, you may take your leave. Thank you once again for opening an opportunity for us to serve other towns. Would you have any business deals that need to be discussed, please come forth anytime here? You are very much welcomed." I replied as I clasped my hands to my chest as a sign of my sincerity.

The Marchioness was wide-eyed and she too clasped her own dainty hand over her chest and curtsied. She had never seen a royal bowing before the rest do, and it would take some time for her to adjust.

"Go on, mingle with the crowd over there. I am sure you would like to savour the flatbread too, am I right?" I reckoned to the guests and they bowed and left as they walked about the courtyard that was bustling with life even if it is already half-past nine in the evening.

The swaying of the lamppost string high in the air after being lit and maintained by the patrolmen brought a kind of sentiment feeling when we watched the crowd. The rest of the Ministers also bowed out and joined the rest in the merriment and we watched how Ben and Crystal danced along to the ensemble and was joined by Gwen and Frank, along with old Jack and Old Kayla.

Sir Blackie was jubilant as well as it chased its own tail and then hopped around on its hind legs, much to the surprise of the felines who were lazing around near the fireplace. Some children seeing Sir Blackie was prancing alone, went up and encircled it, held its paws and danced around too.

Hahaha. Even a dog has its own days and tonight was a day it truly enjoyed itself. Its thick, lustrous fur glistened in the night as it prances around and let out soft yelps as it balanced itself on its hind legs and used its massive tail as a support on its back.

The ensemble moved from a slow melodic start at first and began to kick up a few notches and this worked a fervour of dancing around the courtyard.

Dining tables and benches were cleared to the sides as the citizens joined in the merriment and danced around, with shreds of roasted venison in their hands.

There was fun and joy all around as though there's no one stopping them from having these occasion to celebrate our Coronation as well as being earmarked as one of the main producers for grain-based foodstuff for 15 towns.

Little did we know that our fame would reach another level when other towns and merchants had decided to join this conglomerate to be part of a big union of merchants.

In this way, they realised that the income was stable as long as they provide us with the necessary materials — grains, which was paid in full and then they could make orders of the bread of their choices and that includes the ad-hoc orders of biscuits, cakes, muffins, turnovers and other types of bread that they could turn them into profit.

Most of those traders come from towns that had no bakery or if they have, it was unscrupulous in their trades and were shunned by most commoners.

These commoners would prefer to bake their own bread in the local community itself rather than depend on these unscrupulous bakers.

The merriment carried on well into the night and it ended at about 2 o'clock in the morning, an hour after the patrolmen had started their rounds. The courtyard had been cleaned up, the tables and chairs had been arranged properly and there is leftover venison on the pits.

The patrolmen who were on rest earlier would have ample food at their disposal during their patrols so they won't get hungry. The sentries also took their turns to bring meals up to their watchtower to consume as they continued their watch over the sleeping Gracehaven.

Strongbow worked overtime and they cleared off their Gracehaven's Greasy Spoon and made another batch of ale before going off to bed. In fact, since they have 6 copper tuns, and be able to produce something like 130 pints of ale per tun, it was no wonder the income generated for that eatery alone was very high indeed.

That single night, they had managed to accumulate about 10 silvers after exchanging the coppers with Eagle which doubles up as Treasurer for the time being. The Gracehaven's First Tailor and Loom, Gracehaven's Finest Bakery and Gracehaven's General Store all handed in their daily takings and after Eagle had accumulated all, it came close to 15 silvers.

Not bad on the first day of the soft launch.

Eagle kept the coins and the record inside the chest of coins and then brought it back to his room where it would be safer than leaving it lying around.

He made a sweeping glance and saw that the situation around him had returned back to normal and left only the night shift bakers who were preparing the orders for the next following day.

Such peace, such tranquillity was this Gracehaven and for the last 5 months, close to being 6 months, there had not been a single incident happening around here except for the two mischiefs that the conniving rats had done in previous months.

As what I used to say, a calm river doesn't mean that there's no crocodile, right?

The merriment for the first night had ended and there's going to be more on the days to come till the end of June. The place was kind of desolate after the citizens had cleared up the mess earlier, as if the merriment had never existed.

Except for the smoked venison that was on the pits right now, and the night shift bakers who were baking for tomorrow's orders, the place was kind of peaceful, in fact too peaceful indeed.

The citizens had gone back to their respective homes to rest. The patrolmen were busy carving out some meat from the roasted venison earlier and were stuffing them inside the tortoiseshell buns and taking along with them as they patrolled along, accompanied by Sir Blackie as their night watchdog.

Tomorrow, the day would start as normal, with the watering of the farmlands right before breakfast was being prepared. As the work around was ceased except for the baking of bread and the deliveries to the respective towns, everything would be as per normal except that these few days there won't be morning meetings and nightly conference.

Everyone was left to their own devices and was allowed to do whatever they wished to since it was declared as a holiday to them. However, certain tasks need not be ignored especially the farmlands, livestock and the dray horses.

Everything worked accordingly to what Eagle had foreseen during his stay here and hoped to see more advancement in the future. He was delighted that this little village, even though it may seem to be protected by a single layer of bamboo spikes as a barricade, but the underlying fact, it was just a facade.

Little would any marauders expect a full barrage of defensive structures at the disposal of Gracehaven and once anyone tries to enter its boundary, they would be brought down by arrows from the Shadow members and even the hunter-gatherers.

Once Eagle had made his findings on the situation, he would normally be the last to rest in the domain. Elsewhere, the Shadow members were keeping a close eye on any suspicious movements and they were even more alert now since their Lord had just become their Majesty.

Inside the standby rooms of the Shadow members in the domain, nearly everyone who was there slept with one ear pricked up. This sense of alertness was instilled during their training.

Even though they may appear as sleeping but they were indeed light sleepers and one small creak would make them full alert. It's hard being a Shadow member but they had chosen their path in that manner, and there's no two way about it anymore.

Same goes to the Strongbow, who slept with a dagger always snuck behind his back and his wife had already gotten used to it as well.