Two strange people

"What's going on?" I asked politely.

With a broken dialect, he replied, "Why did you get in before me? You should queue up like everyone else."

"We were just waiting for the papers," I replied.

He looked at me critically and asked, "Did you bribe to skip the line?"

I sighed and glanced at the gatekeeper, who continued to let people into the city without paying attention.

They passed us, giggling.

Suddenly, the boy started laughing. "You brought this upon yourself! I am the Prince of Valorium and I command you to report yourself for the violations of the law."

I was bewildered and looked at Mia, who shrugged with clear amusement.

Sighing, I asked, "What laws have I violated?"

"You're asking which laws you've broken? You deny bribing officials and engaging in unauthorized slavery?" He pointed at Mia, drew his sword, and aimed it at me. "I, Prince Victoris Valor of Valorium, descendant of the Hero Kings, demand you lay down your weapons or die by my sword!"

For the second time that day, I was utterly confused. I looked down at him, about to ask what he means about slavery, because it's forbidden since I knew, when I saw Mia stepping forward.

"You think I'm a slave?" she asked angrily. "I am his wife! And you, little brat, have nothing to say in it!"

"Mind manipulation?" he asked her, while looking angrily at me and then looked at my wife with, a determined look, again. "I can clear it up for you. If you want, you can become my queen!"

Mia's patience snapped, and she showered him with unfriendly words, asserting that such a brat could never be a prince, let alone a king, and that if he is really one that they were the only kingdom with slavery.

I listened silently and was once again impressed by how much she knew about the world.

However, he was undeterred and only said, "I will set you free!" Then, he glared at me and was about to attack when armored men arrived and apprehended him, squirming.

Victoris was being taken away relentlessly. With an angry voice, he shouted to me, "You are courting death to slave away a citizen of Valorium!"

I could hardly suppress my laughter, and Mia also had an amused expression.

A soldier remained behind and bowed, "We apologize for the behavior of our prince."

Then, he ran off too.

"Hahah!" I started laughing. "He was really a prince!"

"If that's a prince, Valorium is doomed!" Mia said, arms crossed, wearing a smile.

It seemed to have done her good to let off some steam.

"You really scared him," I laughed.

"He deserved it!" Mia laughed now too. "How dare he pick a fight with a true queen!"

I took Mia's hand again, and we strolled along the new streets of the village. I watched with relief as Mia's mood improved again, and she now examined everything with enthusiasm and anticipation.

Since I knew where Elias was, we followed the now cobblestone path toward his house. The streets were full of life, and many stalls conducted business along the roadside.

The guild house had been expanded, new houses were built, old houses renovated, and street cleaners tidied up the streets.

"Fortunately, all this happens automatically for us," I remarked thoughtfully.

We wandered through the streets, and a middle-aged woman approached us; we didn't pay her much attention.

"Big Sir!" I heard from her, turned surprised to the woman and pointed at myself questioning.

"Yes, you!" she said hoarsely, "are you dissatisfied with the current king? Do you believe me when I say the kings are not human? Do you…?"

I looked at her skeptically.

She simply said, "Sorry for the disturbance!" pulled the hood over her head and disappeared into an alley.

On the back of her cloak was a small symbol. There was a kind of slaughtered, imperfect chimera depicted. With a human part desperately reaching for a small crown.

"Come!" Mia said, "That was just another crazy person!"

Hmm, does I know this symbol? It looked a little familiar…

I thought briefly, scratched my head, shrugged, and followed my wife.

...

The city had grown much larger, so after about an hour, we arrived at my wife's parents' house.

Without waiting, Mia quietly opened the front door with the key, rushed into the house, and I scanned the house again to make sure they were really here.

I saw something I didn't want to see.

In the living room, an attempt was being made to conceive a sibling for Mia.

Shocked, I exclaimed, "Mia! Wait, your parents..."

But I was too late, and she stormed into the living room. "SURPRISE!"

A last moan was heard until everyone froze like statues.

Uncomfortable!

I stepped out behind Mia and said somewhat uncomfortably, "Hello! Here we are again! Come, Mia, I should show you something."

In a trance, she nodded, and I led her gently by the hand out of the living room so that the naked statue on the sofa could dissolve.

I closed the door behind us, and we went into the garden, where we sat on the bench.

"I... didn't expect that," Mia said astounded.

"Hahah!" I burst into laughter. "It's really funny to catch your in-laws having sex."

With an uncertain smile, she said a little shaky, "Actually, it's quite normal; we do it too." probably that she dosn't look at it so uncomfortably.

"I'm really curious whether they've been trying to bring new life into the house since our departure or just doing it for fun." I thought.

"We won't bring it up! Got it?" Mia replied somewhat panicky.

"Really?" Too bad! Maybe you could have asked your mother how things stand with you."

"I could do that," she considered nevertheless.

We talked a bit more about it, and shortly after, Elias and Sylvia came somewhat embarrassed to the garden, especially Sylvia, who had always acted prim and avoided now any eye contact during the greeting.

"How are you guys?" Elias asked, visibly the least embarrassed.

"Haha, we're doing well!" I smiled. "And it seems you are too."

Mia pinched me in the side, moving her mouth silently to remind me of our agreement.

I just grinned at her.

"Haha, there's something to that!" Elias replied. "The house felt empty without Mia, and we had been thinking about it for a while."

Sylvia looked down with a red face, and Mia listened in astonishment.

Elias continued, "And now that I don't have so much to do, it just happened. I came home from work and couldn't resist, so..."

"It's okay!" Mia and Sylvia exclaimed simultaneously.

Elias looked at my wife. "Sorry, my child, but aren't you two slowly also in the phase, where you put a roast in the oven..." He couldn't finish the last part of the sentence.

My mother-in-law silenced him with a soft embarrassed slap.

I couldn't help but laugh because occasionally his old adventurer behaviors resurfaced, resulting in something like this.

"Not well-phrased, but you're right!" I replied to Elias laughing. "We're trying for a child too. We wanted to ask for advice."

"From the way it sounded when you stayed overnight here in the past, it seems you don't need advice!" Elias laughed deeply, putting his hands on his hips.

"Dad!" Mia exclaimed indignantly, her face turning bright red.

"That's enough!" Sylvia also noticed.

We gave in and went into the living room to sit down.

However, Mia added that we really needed advice to know when she is pregnant or not.

Sylvia seemed visibly pleased about the possible child, so she quickly led Mia to the room to talk.

Elias and I followed suit and chatted about what had happened in the last few months and so on.

It seems the Baron family Eriksen made a deal with Elias for him to step down from the mayoral office, handing over the village to their eldest daughter. In return, Eriksen allows all residents to live here without eviction.

Since then, there has been a considerable boom here; adventurers have boosted the economy through advertising, expansion, and more.

Furthermore is Elias no longer the guild master; he resigned to focus on other things. He explained that it wasn't easy, as no one liked losing such a strong man.

For instance, he now sells his own vegetables and fruits and his mother unfortunately passed away last week.

"My condolences!" I expressed to him.

"Oh, not a big deal. That old flesh deserved to rest peacefully," he replied calmly.

She apparently just didn't wake up one morning. She was 86.

Mia took it hard, which led her to cry like a castle dog.