Chapter 13 - Julieth Dai Corena can be a bit snobbish

The townsfolk were stunned as they watched the group of nobility driving through the town, especially when they saw the coat of arms painted on the carriage, the symbol of one of the Five Great Families of Ansem, the Corena family. At first, all the townspeople rejoiced. Many of the villagers came out to greet them and offer them local produce. But soon they realised, that they were vastly mistaken.

The noble group went through the streets at high speed, no matter who was in the way, without asking for directions or stopping anywhere. When they passed near the main street, where the market had been set up, they did not even stop or take another route. Nor did they ask people to move out of the way, but without any prompting, they drove through the middle of the road, destroying several market stalls. The people were immensely frightened, several were even injured by the indiscriminate passage of the horses and carriage. The village guards, who were watching the whole thing, could do nothing but keep quiet.

Many of them clutched their spears hard until their knuckles turned white. The truth was that if they stood in the way of the nobles, it was more than likely that they would suffer a greater retaliation later. Even if there were anyone strong enough to stand up to the group, it was doubtful that anyone would even dare to do so. The law of the strongest prevailed in most of the continent, and although the situation in Ansem was much better than in other territories, there were still several people who could get away with almost anything they did.

The Corena family was precisely one such group of people. The first ancestor of the Corena family had performed great merits in the establishment of the Kingdom, and many of his later descendants became numerous Generals and soldiers of the kingdom increasing said merits. Ergo, the family's pedigree was only slightly lesser than that of the Royal House. In fact, the current Minister of Revenue was the head of the Corena house, Giannino Dai Corena, an old fox, almost 80 years old, but still vigorous enough to bear children.

The person in the carriage was precisely the youngest and favourite daughter of the old man Corena, Julieth Anniana Dai Corena, only 8 years old. Her father had pampered her to the point of practically spoiling her. After all, she was the child of his late years, and he had indulged her every whim, so the girl was used to doing whatever she wanted, without anyone disciplining her even once.

It so happened that Maya was at the market with Nerun, buying fruit for the orphanage and some fresh supplies for Nerun to take to the Rando Woods with Elijah on their mission. They were, as was their custom, at Grandmother Cynthia's stall.

CLOP, CLOP, CLOP!

"What's that noise?" wondered Nerun. It sounded almost like a slight earthquake, coming from the other side of the avenue. Suddenly a dust rustling loomed, and many shouts could be heard in a vast cacophony that decorated the background. All the small shopkeepers began to scream in panic and to move quickly away from the street.

Grandma Cynthia, however, was an old woman and was petrified to see the carriage that was about to run her over. Nerun quickly jumped out and, taking the old woman in his arms, dragged her to the other side of the street.

The carriage and the other horses sped away towards the other end of the village, near the exit to the Rando Forest. The orphanage was close by as well.

"Grandma Cynthia are you all right?" Maya approached quickly. Grandma Cynthia had bruises on her legs and a bump on her head from the fall. As Nerun was very small, he was unable to cover the old woman well, so although he saved her life, she suffered from several scrapes and bruises.

"I'm fine Maya. Thanks for saving my life Nerun. What am I going to do? They destroyed all the fruit I had in the stand. And look at all this destruction. A lot of people in the village will be badly affected," said Grandma Cynthia as she struggled to her feet with Nerun's help. She looked markedly distressed. Nerun, meanwhile, saw the desolation that the carriage had left in its wake. He felt very angry and clenched his fists until they turned white while gnashing his teeth. He never thought anyone could be so overbearing as to lay waste to everything in their path with no regard for the rights of others.

"Come on Grandma Cynthia, come with us to the orphanage. For now, the most important thing is to heal your wounds. The rest can wait. I'm sure if we file a complaint with the Mayor we can find out whose carriage that is and ask for repairs."

Grandmother Cynthia leaned on Maya, and together with Nerun they headed towards the orphanage."

.…

At the orphanage, Elijah stood just outside its gates, with the children looking out of the door curiously. In front of him were the Corena family guards and the carriage. Elijah was greeting them humbly. None of the guards, however, had alighted from their horses. Many of them were proud and thought themselves superior, given that they served a noble family from Ansem's capital, Eonia. While they agreed to hire Elijah as a guide to go into the forest, they believed themselves to be far above him. Sadly, this was a common attitude among many of the noble families of Ansem, let alone the Five Great Families of the Kingdom. The butler accompanying the lady had stepped out of the carriage. He was a thin, grey-haired man with several wrinkles on his face. However, he was elegantly dressed, and had a stern look that still reflected vigour.

"Mr. Menke. It is a pleasure to welcome you to our humble abode. I was just finishing getting ready for our trip to the woods. I was under the impression that we would meet at the entrance to the village around noon, sorry if I have made you come all this way," Elijah said with a slight bow.

"Young man, I know we have surprised you a little earlier than expected. The lady was anxious to go quickly for the Green Crystal Flower, and if it wasn't for matters that delayed us in the village of Teres, we would have come much earlier even. The flower is very important to us, I hope you know where to find it. Otherwise, I fear we will be very disappointed, and I don't think you want to see us disappointed," Menke replied, with a smile that was not a smile on his face.

Elijah pretended not to understand the threatening undertone in the butler's voice and immediately replied in a tone that was neither pretentious nor overly humble, "You have nothing to worry about, Mr Menke. I am confident that I can find the flower and that our enterprise will come to great success. At the moment I am only awaiting the return of my little brother, who has gone to buy some supplies and should not be long in arriving. He will accompany us on the journey, being a local, he knows everything there is to know about the forest as well as I do."

"Is anyone else coming with us? That was not in our arrangement, young Elijah, or do you have some other plan to execute in the forest? This change seems to me somewhat inexcusable. I suppose you expect us to pay you more for this new companion as well," suddenly said one of the three guards at the head of the convoy. He was a young man with a somewhat sinister look, a pale complexion and a thin face. He was wearing light red leather armour, with two gold coins embroidered on the breastplate. He was one of the 2 deputy captains of the guards. It seems that if the captain or steward gave the order to do so, he would immediately draw his sword and cut Elijah in two.

"Please gentlemen do not misunderstand. My younger brother is a child, but don't take him as such. He can help with some of the menial tasks in the forest and is well-trained with all the plants and beasts we can find. His help you will see will make the mission much easier. There is no need to add any other extra payment either" Elijah said again, disregarding the threatening tone once more. Yet he did not lower his gaze or grovel or panic in front of all the guards, a sign of the confidence he had in his abilities.

The captain of the guards was examining Elijah intently. He knew little of this guide they had hired, after all, it was the steward Menke who had made the arrangement directly with him, through a recommendation made by one of the border captains. When he saw Elijah's non-servile attitude, he frowned slightly. He was about to speak when he suddenly heard several people approaching, among them a very beautiful young woman in plain clothes, helping a badly wounded-looking old woman to walk. Beside her was a little boy dressed in patched and dusty clothes. He was, however, a bright, clean-eyed youngster, although he was in a bad mood and clearly grumbling. They were accompanied by another person, a man of about 65, but who still looked active and strong. He was dressed simply but neatly, with combed hair and a small moustache on his face. Who could these be but Maya, Nerun and Grandma Cynthia who were on their way to the orphanage. On the road, they met the mayor of the city, Minas, who was on his way to the same place as them.

When Nerun saw the carriage and the guards mounted on their horses, his eyes suddenly filled with anger and he couldn't help but shout as he pointed his finger at them, furious.

"DEGENERATES! Who do you think you are? Do you know how many people in the village were injured by your carriage?"

"Are you tired of living, you little runt, pointing your finger at us? Francis, cut off the idiot's hand so that he learns that there are some people he should not even look up at," said the sinister-looking sub-captain. Immediately the soldier right behind him got off his horse and was unsheathing his sword as he walked towards Nerun. Elijah and Maya seeing this suddenly changed their gaze to a very dangerous one.

It seemed that a fight was about to break out when suddenly the carriage door opened and a girl dressed elegantly stepped out of the carriage. She was a young girl, barely 8 years old, yet immensely beautiful, with blonde hair and emerald eyes. Although she was still a child, it was clear that in the future she would become a beautiful lady capable of toppling cities with her beauty alone. Everyone stopped when they saw the young woman, who had a haughty look on her face. She turned her gaze to Nerun, and seeing how dirty he looked she couldn't help but frown a little and said:

"Who are you calling a degenerate? You're nothing but a little bum. Menke, may I know why are we still waiting in this village? We should be in the forest by now looking for the flower. I don't want us to be wasting our time. Get rid of the riff-raff and let's be on our way quickly."

Her voice was as lovely as a lark, yet her words were rude and distinctly proud. Nerun grew angrier if possible, and replied:

"You ugly girl. I call you and your guards degenerates because that's what you are. How could you gallop through the centre of the market, without swerving, asking permission or caring how many people you hurt? Look at Grandma Cynthia, she's all beat up and you guys almost killed her without any care at all."

The soldier who had dismounted from his horse, upon hearing what Nerun had said, darkened his face and immediately thought of moving towards the boy to cut off his arm as the sub-captain had ordered. However, he suddenly felt an icy coldness in his body that he did not know where it came from and he stopped without moving. He had a feeling that if he took another step, he would lose his life instantly. No one else seemed to have noticed what happened. At that moment, the girl again spoke,

"What are you talking about, you beggar? Do I need to ask permission to ride on any street I want to ride? Can someone explain to me what happened and why there is a filthy child shouting at me in the middle of the street? Captain Roger..."

"Reporting to Miss Julieth, there is no problem whatsoever. We were carrying out the orders you gave us to head for the forest with the utmost speed and without detours, so when we entered the village, we galloped all the way here to meet the guide, this young Elijah. It seems that there were market stalls in the middle of the street, which is implausible in Eonia, since, as you said, the streets are for carriages. Not wanting to miss the mission given to me to get to the forest as quickly as possible, we did not take a detour but walked through the middle of the market. It seems that some people were not cautious enough to avoid the carriage, as they should have done in the first place," said the captain in a flat tone.