"Wow!" (me)

Beth laughed. "All those soldiers. These walls...these cracks..."

"DADDY?? DADDY? What's that for???"

Ragul smiled, "These are loopholes., murder holes.. The archers take shelter here..."

"And there? what is that?"

"A walkway."

"Why is it made of wood and the rest of it of stone?"

Beth: "I know! It's when a tower is taken or a section. We burn or blow the pin and the attackers fall!"

"Great!" and all excited I flapped my wings... "

"GRRR, I'm the ugly dragon and I'm going to roast the city!"

Beth: "Hahaha... look at you... you look like a chicken.!"

"So... kot. kot kot! "

and the five of us go chicken around our dads..

Iolo: "Kids, be careful not to hit anyone, security is strict now..."

The remark was heard by one of the guards dressed in black. It was not an insult or a provocation but the chief crouched down towards me: "You... the kid who runs... Listen carefully to your daddy because children and adults are punished severely now. You wouldn't want your daddy to get a lashing because you did something stupid, would you?"

I didn't know what to say... I was afraid

"sorry sir..."

Guard: "I like that better!"

Then he looked up at Ragul. "Ah, Sire Ragul! Your son is obedient...That's good.."

Iolo and Ragul held hands with us. and we went further.

"Be careful, children...did you see?...any excuse is good for punishment."

I had learned the lesson well, and more importantly, I had seen the mini crossbow on his belt and the long sword and chain mail under his black clothes.

There was the symbol of Blackthorne, the chief advisor to Lord British, elected Regent pending the death of the former King.

Further on, there was the nobles' quarter and the stalls were immediately more beautiful.

Iolo: "come on, I invite you... we're going to the Troll's Hole, I have friends there"

And, seeing the terrace occupied with tables outside and inside, we saw another character like Iolo, but with brown hair.

Dupré: "EEhhh! Iolo!!!! Ragul!!. Come and sit down... "

And we invited ourselves to the table. Dad and Berth explained to me how to behave, how to recognize the nobles, who often wore clothes with gold or silver borders and the number of lilies sewn on their collars and sleeves.

Like the military, this was how they recognized their rank. From Baron on, one had to be wary. These greedy people for the most part sought by all means to attract the favors of the nobles higher in the hierarchy.

An accident happened quickly. I thus discovered other dangers, more subtle than the great predators, with even more devastating effects, with the panoply of punishments, ranging from fines to the pillory and from the dungeon to the galleys and the supreme punishment, the Great Widow, or guillotine.

Lord British had abolished these ignoble punishments, the galleys and the life sentences that made no sense, but replaced them with punishments whose purpose was to put the criminal back on the path of the eight virtues.

But the new Regent had brought back all these horrors because of horrible crimes, certainly under false flag with his clique

.And the nobles were sticking to Lord Blackthorne like flies on honey as opposed to Lord British who was more protective of the little people.

There was an obvious social divide now and every day it was getting worse. Hunger was reappearing and those who couldn't make it were joining bandit groups and even monsters like goblins and orcs.

This was unheard of. It was impossible, but it was.

And then there were the public executions after mass. I was interested in going to see while waiting for the order, but Beth and her friends talked me out of it.

"It's dangerous, Torin. Criminals try to save their lives by naming strangers or new figures, and sometimes they are taken to the galleys as accomplices instead of dying. But it's the same thing... they die more slowly... no one ever came back unless a terrible ransom was paid.."

I was discovering that the world was beautiful with the best but also there was the worst with human society. I liked Cove for that now. The city is beautiful but it is also dangerous!

A bunch of kids in rags wanted to take us with them and Iolo stood up and shouted

"Go play. No... steal somewhere else!"

I was ready to do something stupid.

"Torin, you see... You also discover poverty and orphans. But you must learn to recognize them! They are little thieves who work for bigger kids and for a guild."

Me: "Are they bad???

Ragul: "No. They are unfortunate people who have lost everything. They are hungry and have nothing to wear. They hide in the underground of the city with the rats, and sometimes monsters with tentacles... ropers...

Often in the sewers. They will rush people and another hidden behind will take a purse or a precious object. Some will run slowly to get chased and lure the victim into an alley or a gang will corner him and steal everything."

Me":What if he doesn't give? "

"Then it will be the beatings, sometimes a stabbing...and if there are big bads, it can be death."

"But...but...that's terrible!"

Beth laughed at my incredulous expressions..!

Iolo: "But don't let your hatred get the better of you... We too, when we were young, we were part of a gang. We stole to survive and then we were able to free ourselves by working odd jobs for the adventurers."

Me: "So we'll catch them and take them to the guild?"

Everyone: "HAHAHA. Brave Torin!"

Henry: "Torin!!! they are in the thieves guild...! Officially, the locksmiths' guild... specialists in doors and traps. You're too kind!"

Then a maid called the children: "To the table!"

And they ran to the table and on the enlarged wooden bowls, carved with comical grimacing figures, there was a kind of roti with a delicious sweet sauce. Apricots! A super rare and expensive fruit. We only had dried ones...and they came from an island to the south.

It was a dish appreciated by the nobles. It was very colorful and from a distance, the beggar or the peasant could recognize the dish and the nobleman marked the class difference. Visually and by the smell. Often, the nobles were magnanimous and gave a dried apricot, but the goal was to make the non-noble recognize the delicious fruit that he could probably never afford except at the cost of cruel sacrifices.

How good it was, the taste of apricots...

"Dad, can we grow apricots here?

Beth: "When I become a magician, we'll make them together, okay?"

"You want to be a magician? Not like the witch Minax, right?"

Beth: "Shh, are you crazy? Don't ever shout that name again... The guards but the others listen too!"

"Sorry daddy...!"

While daddy was talking to his two friends, telling them about their life since I was born, we went to the junk shop... There were toys and figurines of monsters, heroes, knights and even a miniature wooden castle, miniature sailboats, bells and bicones in the shape of an orc's or dragon's head. The one with the orc's head must have been dangerous. With the spikes, if you missed you would get the wood in your face and then hello the damage. There were also rattles and rattles, little drums and tambourines, blowing horns, goatskin gourds and... the top, wooden swords for practice.

The children came to us excitedly and we could drink more coffee and honey sweets, very hard cakes that were soaked in milk or coffee. It was delicious and the taste remained in the mouth for a long time.

We got up, remembering our manners and greeting dad's friends.

Then, in the afternoon, we went to a huge building.

"Torin, we are going to spend the night here in the adventurers' guild...I have a room for life at the exclusive disposal of the heroes' companions"

I was almost drooling with excitement.

I was literally jumping up and down.

Everything was new to me and all the stories, adventures I had been told at night to fall asleep came to life all at once.

There was a large room with lots of tables and a back room with paintings. Then there was a wooden counter and lots of people. All kinds of people were there. Everyone was listening to everyone else but also telling their exploits, their defeats and the advice was filling the apprentices' heads like a big day at school.

But there was a workshop next door, and there were carts coming and going, and butchers and restaurateurs lined up to stock up on everything. Like spices, herbs, mushrooms and rarer herbs to make potions.

Also there was hunting game and sometimes pieces of monsters sold to make potions, decorations or their fur.

Above the counter, there was a drake's head on a board. Obviously stuffed.

I felt like the average dragon was still looking at me and I was sick to my stomach to see an animal, even a monster, degraded like that for decoration.

But my excitement picked up when I saw the beautiful girl at the counter. And, naturally, I compared her breasts with Beth's..

Henri: "Ehhh. Aren't you ashamed to stare at Miss Colette?"

Caught in the act, I started to blush... "I'm sorry.."

But the boys had played a joke on me...no one had actually noticed me and...I was stupidly fooled by naivety.

Beth was red but not angry. She was actually happy that I was looking at her a little bit like a girl and not like a playmate.

I was a little red too.

Ragul : "Will you be alright Torin? Don't you want me to help you???"

I was embarrassed and hid my face in the fur of dad's coat.

Then he pulled me by the hand...

Henri, Beth: "Come and see the swords...Torin..."

And, taken by curiosity, I rushed with my comrades to explore the locker where the weapons had been deposited. We could look but not touch, especially since some of them might still have poison on them.