Chapter 14 - Onwards to the Rando Woods

Steward Menke's face hardened a little when he heard the captain speaking. It is true that Miss Julieth ordered to move towards the forest as quickly as possible, but going to the extent of going through a marketplace and even hurting a lot of innocent people would certainly not be part of the girl's intentions. While Julieth Dai Corena was rather haughty and proud, and certainly did whatever she pleased, she had never shown cruelty to others, after all, as spoiled as she was, she still received the best education in the Kingdom, having multiple home tutors. Besides, while hurting random citizens would not be a problem for them given the great power the family held, certainly, the family's reputation could be affected. And the reputation of one of the Big Five Families is something money can't buy.

"Is that the problem? Captain Roger, it's true I asked to get there quickly, but hurting the mob is beneath us. I hope a similar incident will not happen again" Julieth commented in the same haughty tone, as if this was little more than a minor problem. The truth was that she was little more than a child and understood little of the implications such acts could bring. "Yet it is inexcusable for you to call us degenerates. Yet I am a magnanimous person. Little boy, slap yourself in the face 10 times and I will forgive the insult you have done to us. Then you can leave," she said afterwards, addressing Nerun.

Nerun was quite mature for a five-year-old boy. Still, he had zero experience dealing with people as overbearing as this group of guards and nobility. He had never been so angry in his short life. He was about to explode again when Mayor Minas tapped him on the shoulder with his hand to calm him down. Then surveying the crowd he gave a bow as he saluted and said:

"Greetings dear guests. It is an honour for our humble town of Radem to welcome you, and we apologise if we have caused any inconvenience. My name is Minas Tarin and I am the Mayor of the town. Had we known that you would be visiting our village today, we would not have opened the market on the main street. I am afraid, however, that we have caused inconvenience to the Young Lady, and as a result, several people have been injured and many of the market goods have been spoiled. Perhaps that is the small price we have to pay for having disturbed you. Still, I cannot but plead for mercy for this little fellow. I'm afraid he doesn't understand much of the world yet and that sometimes things are best worked out in conversation. Please don't be too hard on him".

The mayor's tone was kind, yet there was a certain reproach in his words. Miss Julieth did not understand the mayor's message, but the guards and the steward certainly understood, that they were being blamed for the damage done and that he was not willing to see the boy who had been insulting them hurt either.

The captain was a tall, stocky man with a chiselled, hard face. He looked like a stubborn man, the kind of man who would carry out his mission to the full, no matter by whatever means he had to do it. He was the only one with leather and iron armour, blue in colour and 3 gold coins engraved on his breastplate. His impassive face began to darken as he listened to the Mayor. While no official in the kingdom is a fool, and many have contacts with people in the capital, to think that a mere mayor of a town on the outskirts of the kingdom would dare to request repairs from the House of the Minister of Revenue was clearly preposterous.

Perhaps they are too accustomed to the peace that soldiers guaranteed in the Kingdom that they are unaware that there are families who are far above all rules, the captain thought to himself, and again the situation became tense, as he was about to order his guards to apprehend the mayor. His mission was to obey the Young Lady's commands and make sure there were no mishaps, apart from the fact that it was his personality to attack first and ask questions later. In addition, the Chief of the Corena House Guard, one of the Lord of the House's confidants, assured him that he would take care of any situation that arose from what they might do during the travel.

The tense moment, however, was broken when the door of the orphanage opened and a drunken old man in rags emerged, hiccuping and wobbling. As if he hadn't seen the guards or the carriage, he walked past them and reached Maya and her party by patting the mayor's shoulders. The guards were flabbergasted, watching the old drunkard passing by them.

"Hiccup... Minas, you old fox, what are you doing here? Hey, do you still have any of that wine you brought back from the Golan Valley at that time? That day I think I enjoyed one of the best drinking binges of my life, hahahahahahahaha. Oh, old Cynthia what are you doing here? You've had better days, did you also fall out of bed like me this morning? As you get older it's easier to fall out when you get up to pee at night, wouldn't I know it," said Maikal incoherently, as if the pre-existing conflict had never occurred.

When Menke saw the old drunk, every hair on his body stood on end, and his pupils became the size of pins, while a cold sweat poured down his back. He had rarely felt so terrified in his life before. He thought he wasn't looking at a drunkard but a giant horrendous beast, watching them lazily while deciding how to best devour them. However, just as quickly, that image was gone from his mind and he was just watching the odd group from the town as if everything had just been an illusion. For one moment, he seriously thought he was hallucinating.

Julieth, seeing the drunk talking that way in her presence, became extremely angry and blurted out, trying to sound adult and mature: "Now a drunkard is coming out. It seems that citizen security on the outskirts of the Kingdom definitely leaves a lot to be desired. Can we please go to the Forest now? I don't want to be in the presence of this riff-raff any longer. What do they want? It was just some junk in the street. Menke, I want this situation resolved instantly."

"Understood Miss," however, said the captain, who, giving orders with his gaze to the guards, unsheathed his sword and prepared to attack all present.

"Captain Roger, don't overstep your duties. The lady asked me to resolve the situation, not aggravate it. Everyone stay where you are, that's an order," said the butler a little frustrated at how it was all unfolding, his back still feeling the cold sweat. He had a gut feeling that if this wasn't sorted out satisfactorily soon, a massacre would occur.

Then turning to the mayor and the rest of the people, he bowed and said politely "Mr. Mayor, what a pleasure it is that you were able to visit us before we left town. I'm afraid it was all just a misunderstanding. The captain was simply overzealous in carrying out the young lady's orders. The flower we are looking for is a very special gift that we are seeking especially for our master. It will soon be Lord Corena's birthday, and when the lady heard that her father was in need of this flower, she decided to go out and get it herself to surprise him. I apologise for the problems that our passing through the town may have caused and please, Mr. Mayor, extend these apologies to the citizens. Ms Cynthia, likewise, we are very sorry that you had to suffer injuries. We will cover the cost of any necessary repairs. Please accept this black card from the International Mint. With it, you can withdraw up to 150 gold coins from any Mint branch on the continent."

The International Mint was the most prestigious and largest bank in the world, present in the 6 Major Territories. They were custodians of vast amounts of money, treasure and property and issued multiple cards that were impossible to counterfeit, with a unique material owned by them. These cards could be equivalent to 50, 150, 300, 500 and up to 1000 gold coins. There were rumours of cards with much higher values, but the vast majority of the population would be lucky to earn more than 20 gold coins in a year. While requesting money with a card had a small transaction fee of 5%, most merchants and noble houses on the continent favoured this method, as the security and reliability of the bank had been proven for several centuries since its emergence and its business and relationship with the various royal houses made it an essential part of the fabric and workings of the various territories.

Menke intended to end it all in a clean way that would not affect the family's reputation, while warning them that the great minister Corena was aware of this operation and thus exerting pressure on the group. Besides, for the Corena family, 150 coins were the equivalent of a drop of water in a lake. While the captain disagreed with Menke's method and would have preferred to resolve it in a less passive way, Steward Menke was in charge of the operation and the Young Miss's safety and was above him in the chain of command.

"In the end all they wanted was money. What can you expect from such a poor village then? You are right Menke that we must show magnanimity. Forget the little brat, then" said Julieth.

"Magnani-what," asked Nerun, cocking his head to the side trying to figure out the meaning of the word. "Well it looks like they apologised, didn't they? That's good. I guess we should forgive them. That's what you always taught me, sister Maya, when people apologise, you should forgive. I was about to tell big brother Elijah that I wasn't going to help them get the flower," Nerun said smiling cheerfully. After all, he had little understanding of the darkness that circulated in the adults' thoughts and was quick to forgive others.

Julieth immediately turned incredulously to Nerun, saying " You are forgiving us? You smelly brat. No matter who you were, even if you were the king's son himself, I would not apologise to you. And besides, with your abysmal ignorance of vocabulary, what's a five-year-old boy going to do with us in the forest? You'll be nothing but a burden".

"Who asked your opinion, ugly girl? My brother told me to help you as a guide and if he hadn't asked me and the old penguin next to you hadn't apologised, I'd want to see you get that flower you want without my help in the forest," replied Nerun.

"You keep calling me ugly girl this, ugly girl that. Don't you know any other insult? Besides, I dare you to find a more beautiful girl than me in the whole kingdom," Julieth commented, on the verge of losing her temper. It seems that little by little, her age was beginning to show as she was seeking confrontation with Nerun.

Menke again defused the situation by smiling, "So you are the younger brother that young Elijah has been waiting for. What an active and passionate boy you are, I'm sure you will be useful to us in the forest. You are the perfect picture of the young calf not being afraid of the tiger. I would still like to ask you to be a little more polite to the Young Lady. Now, if everything has been settled, I would like us to please leave for the Woods. We have wasted enough time already. Captain, please, everybody mount up. Give young Elijah a horse so we can get to the Forest quickly. I'd like to get us in before evening comes."

"Understood, Mr. Menke. All hands move out. Give the guide a horse," ordered the captain.

"You see Minas. It's all sorted out and now you have enough money. You'd better buy the drinks today, hahahaha," said Maikal cheerfully as he put an arm around the Mayor and headed towards the town centre. Maya accompanied Grandma Cynthia into the orphanage to heal her wounds and then they would go to the mayor to retrieve what they had lost.

Nerun excitedly mounted the horse with Elijah and they set off with the entourage of the nobility towards the Forest. One of the borders of the forest was only a few kilometres from the town, however, as they were such a large group they had to go to the official entrance, where they could leave the horses under cover and enter the outskirts of the forest. On the way, Julieth looked out of the window to see the brat who was excited to be riding alongside his brother, smiling happily. She thought in her head that he was nothing more than a country bumpkin, when Nerun turned to look at her and when he spotted her he started making faces at her and sticking his tongue out. Julieth again turned red with anger and closed the window, telling herself in her head that she had to think of some way to get back at this boy who was getting on her nerves.