The next day, Fiona, Diana, and I have packed all of our necessary things, entered the carriage Diana rent to transport us to the house where their parents are living. And the zone they are staying in until they will die is in Maramures, a small village known for its shield crafting production because there are made almost 20 000 shields per. year. And this one is a big amount, even for the army of our Kingdom, and that is why the folks there are doing some trades with other kingdoms and this kind of trade is working.

Now, on our way to the Lunderberg Family house, Fiona and Diana told me some essential things about their parents.

"You see, our father it is not like us."

"Do you mean a figure who could kill everyone with his stare?" I thought to myself and then I ask them. "What do you mean by that?"

"He is a Shepard and lumberjack." responds Fiona.

"Actually. It doesn't sound that bad." I told them.

"Then do not try to ask him about his job or what he is doing there." says Diana who seemed low-key traumatized by doing that action. "You will want to regret ever met him and ask a critical question."

Judas thought to himself: "How bad can their father it can be? I mean, is it the type of person who is telling all of his adventures like a traveller he is doing his travelling story? Or like the guy who writes an autobiography of nobles who will not even be sold as paper to wipe someone's ass instead with leaves or a stick?!"

"And our mother." says Diana to me. "She is chill. She doesn't have a ridiculous job and she is somehow good at cooking."

"Yes. But she is no match for me." says Fiona in a proud way which makes my mind remembering the breakfast she made and made me eat the whole thing, and later throwing up in the fountain in the backyard.

I was about to vomit again, but I put my hand on the mouth and start swallowing the vomit, without making Diana, or worse, Fiona, notice that I was about to throw up those scrambled eggs who were massacred by nasty hands who were not washed since we have ended the first battle and that was in autumn and now were are in the middle of winter.

"Hey, Judah! Did you know that my mother used to work in an Orphanage?" asks Fiona.

"Huh?" I asked her. "Really? Where?"

"I think it was Saint Yui Orphanage. She worked for two months, and then she quit because the kids there were worse than she ever expected." response Fiona looking at me

"Sorry. But I was at another Orphanage."

"Oh. I see." says Fiona. "Anyway, what are you going to wish for the born of humans?"

"Born of humans?" I ask because this is the first time I have ever heard of this tradition and in the Orphanage, all the things we did when these holidays have come were making dinner, playing games, and sleeping, some normal activities I do almost every day when I was in the Orphanage. "What is this?"

"You haven't heard of this thing?" asked Diana feeling shocked. "This is one of the most important traditions out of those three holidays."

"Um... What do you mean by that?"

"On this day, you write on parchment the wish or something you want next year, and you put it on a balloon, and launch it in the air. If the balloon flew in the sky, the wish will most likely be happening in the next year, but if the balloon is coming back to Earth and it doesn't fly to the sky, the wish will never happen."

"Sounds cool and great. What did you two guys wished last year?" I asked these two girls because these holidays don't seem that boring.

"I wished for money." responds Diana feeling proud. "I have worked so much this year, and if I have to be honest, I got much more than I ever expected. "

"I wished to meet with my old master." says Fiona which made me quite surprised at her wish.

"Who was the master?"

"We were in the same war, but on different routes. We met one time though."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. He is one you know well." she replied to my question.

"He is Big Gus." says Diana and this one made me shocked at this information, and made Fiona feeling sad because she couldn't hide it anymore. "Your uncle has trained my sister her entire squire career and he did a great job."

"B-Big Gus? The guy who is the weight like an entire house? He was your trainer?!"

"Sounds crazy, but the guy is hella strong, though. One time, he had wrestled with a bear and he destroyed, who was weighing probably three times his weight."

"Wow. I have never known that. Sometimes life is really weird."

"It really is." responds those two girls at the same time.

"So. What other traditions are we going to do there?"

"There is Winter Dancing, a tradition where young females or unmarried women are going to a campfire and are doing a traditional dance around the big fire for an entire hour." responds Fiona feeling not in the terrifying mood she is always talking, but in a nostalgic mood like she was doing that one time when she was small and not a strong warrior who destroyed entire enemy army with a few swings of her giant sword.

"Pluga... I think this one will suit you, Judah." says Diana looking at me.

"Why though?"

"Because this is a child tradition. Where kids are taking their whips and are whipping the houses in the hope this one will make the families who got houses whipped and not be attacked the next year."

"Cool, I guess." I respond to this question because this tradition seems bizarre and also weird.

"There is Battlerod, but in this, we cannot participate, neither you, due to your age and also you are a mage... The stars of the future, you could probably go, if you want. And Pig hunting, this one competition we cannot go, but you will most likely go and try to capture at least one."

"What are the traditions you cannot join about?" I ask those two girls.

"They require fighting and-"

"Alright. I understand." I quickly respond to this question because these two women are demons when it comes to fighting and hunting.

"That quickly?" asks Fiona but slowly.

The carriage takes a turn on the left at an intersection. I am looking at the window and I see on the streets a few men who are carrying to their houses a big amount of logs on their backs. Fiona looked at the window, and she told me about another tradition that just butlers of nobles are obligated to do.

"They are doing the big fire. Whoever creates the highest torch in the Kingdom, will win a free week with paying. and this reward seems quite attractive for butlers because noble families are treating them like junk, using them in some assassinations and they also use them as target practice in mortal spells or as archery."

"These nobles doesn't have a soul?" I asked Fiona because her last phase about butlers made me feel sad that one of my oldest friends from the Orphanage has become an assistance of a butler and he is probably going to sacrifice one day.

"Not all of them are bad." says Diana which made me and Fiona turned to her. "Some are good, but most of them are bad. We, peasants, are just seeing the worst types, while the good ones are trying to make the kingdom much safer, clean, and honest, and these types are destroying everything with their mini-wars between them."

"Yes. We feel much safer that now we got a King who was born as a peasant instead of a rich filthy and also corrupt noble family who will even sell their own child just to buy a pack of rare cigarettes."

"So. Our king is not bad like those nobles?"

"Yes. He is the good type, though, his actions can be questionable sometimes." says Fiona to me and she is wondering about something at the same time.

"Aha. And, when are we going to meet your parents?"

"In a few hours." says Diana.

"Cool. could I sleep for a while until we will arrive there?"

"Sure." says Fiona who is going on the other bench where Diana is sitting because I need the whole bench to sleep this long road.

---

"Father." says an unknown voice from the dark. "I am sorry. But I cannot give you the thing you wanted."

"Why you cannot do?" asks someone with an old voice, who is hitting a stick something hard, it is too dark to explain what is going on. "It is my own child not brave enough to kill his own Butler and sell his organs to his dying future wife from his arranged wedding."

"Father. That woman wanted to see me dead. She wants my money and the inheritance, she doesn't want love."

"Love? Son, do you love?"

"What do you mean father? Aren't you my own father? You do not love me?"

I could hear some steps who are coming closer, and then I could see the figure of the man there, and he immediately takes his dagger out and cut the neck of his "son", who is quickly putting his both hands on the wound his own father has done to his own throat, but this thing will not stop or slow the bleeding. I could hear the sun falling, but I cannot see him, due to the darkness of the atmosphere.

"A son of mine would not be that weak to kill a butler who is doing exceptional work."

Then, everything becomes black again and I could feel anything shaking around me.

---

After a few minutes, I woke up, thanks to Fiona, who shakes me because we have arrived in the village, right in front of her parent's house. So this was one of these types of dreams I had recently, in the army, and even one time when I was freed from the army and continued my adventures as a squire.

"We have arrived." says Diana while she takes her baggage and leaves the cart.

"You should take yours and go inside. to present yourself to my parents." says Fiona who is taking her luggage who was located under the bench I was sleeping. "Your baggage is outside, and remember, do not be nervous."

"Quite a hard request for someone who is half awake." I thought to myself while I was trying to get up on my feet after the dream I got of a son's execution.