บท 7: Vanein City
Vanein city is located a few hundred meters from a very important river in the area. The city is the capital of the Vanein county, the last mountain territory on the border between the kingdom of Olmaria and the neighboring kingdom of Luberistan.
About two thousand people live in the small city. The houses begin along the stone road that leads from the castle to the capital of the kingdom. All other roads are only covered with gravel. The wooden houses are all predominantly low except some mansion of some rich merchant.
After an informal tour of houses grown without a precise logic, we arrive at a small wall surrounding a square where you can clearly distinguish the heart of the castle, the house of Count Uden Vanein and two villas of some noble relative.
Obtained in a second time by knocking down the houses you can see, a few steps from the door of the castle, a small square full of stalls. From the square there are small streets full of shops and businesses. On the two opposite points of the square, to the east and west, there are respectively the church of the deity of the order and that of the deity of fate. The church of the first state religion is lavish and well-kept, with dozens of practitioners mingling with the faithful. The other is bare and simple. As far as Simon knows, it is used only during some oracle or to try to read the wishes in the stars during special events.
For Simon it's the first time in a big city but he's pretty sure it's not normal that every street is crowded with dirty people dressed in rags. Many children flock near the stalls in the hope of some surplus or better still some alms.
The shopkeepers say that this year, due to the war with Luberistan, many villages have been evacuated and this has led to an exaggerated increase of people in the slums of the city.
Desmond, stopping the cart a few meters before the square, shows Simon the stall with sacks of wheat. The merchant is a woman in her thirties, with thick brown hair in curls and a healthy breast. Simon approached asking "Paul sent me! I would like to have the usual goods. A dozen bags of wheat and two of sunflower seeds." The woman, showing a winking smile, begins to prepare the goods.
Simon, completely hypnotized by the woman's armament, is shocked when examining the money in his hand, realizing that the rest does not match. "Missing two copper coins?" She immediately "But we checked it together right?" He mumbled "Well yes but then I realized that they are not right" she annoyed answers "Are you saying that I cheated you?"
Some curious people approach Simon and when the mutter begins to rise Simon stammering responds "I'll be wrong, Madame, forgive me, see you next!" Then to Desmond "He screwed me like a chicken and now I owe two coins of copper to Paul otherwise I forget I have a job!"
The other shopping goes much better, perhaps because the boy has learned the lesson or perhaps because the other merchants are all men.
The first information that Simon manages to recover is related to the noble Zacharias.
The salt seller confirms to the boy "Sir Zacharias is now a baronet but only twenty years ago he was one of us. Indeed perhaps it was even worse. I remember he was a robust but rather clumsy guy. His parents urged him to join the count's army to learn some discipline and improve himself."
Sitting on the stool the merchant continues to tell "The beginning was terrible, his friends urged him to give up but he resisted and finally managed to be drafted. He was immediately sent along the border. There he obviously did not distinguish himself but at least survived. When he got home he was moved to the militia and there, by chance, he was hit in the face by a miracle!"
Simon repeats "In the face of a miracle?"
"That's right, in the face. While he was guarding the gate, a stone detached itself from the wall, threatening to hit the Count on the head, but he intervened and took it straight to his face. The miracle was that despite everything, he was not seriously injured. The Count thought that his gesture was worthy of a noble, sacrificing his life for his lord is the highest gesture of loyalty. A few months later Zacharias was given the title of baronet and was entrusted with the management of the territories that did not belong to any nobleman like the post where you live."
"So he really did something good. But I was wondering how he is as a person?"
Weigh the bag of another customer "He is not the smartest, he is not the wisest and not the strongest but he still remembers where he comes from. Unlike the other nobles in the area, I have never seen him mistreat anyone or try to take advantage of his title."
Simon shrugging "So it makes my job really hard. And his family?"
"Well, the wife died a few years ago, then there is the eldest son, his heir, a knight all muscles and no brains and then there is the daughter Gemma. A good girl but do not think about doing business with her, she would take your underwear away too. "Then looking at the vendor of the stall next to her" by the way Rick! Has not we seen the girl around here for a while? Usually you spend at least once a week plucking us."
The other thoughtful winks in his direction confirming the question.
The subsequent questions to the merchants were all related to some news of the area. Simon hoped to find some reference in the stories of merchant travelers about some unsafe road near the two peaks of the saint because of the bandits.
Many merchants did not even mention the road in question since their usual route was to the capital and not to the border. Few others, however, specialized in more exotic and difficult to obtain goods, were often obliged to try to cross the border or at least approach to be able to grab some particular product. These merchants did not confirm Simon's assumptions but rather assured the boy that a safer route than that had long been seen in the area.
Sitting on the side of the road, the two boys stop to rest near the cart before heading home. Desmond crunches a bunch of freshly bought bread with a piece of cheese. Simon with his stomach grumbling "Damn merchant, because of him today I can't eat and maybe not even tomorrow! I have to recover the two copper coins quickly."
Desmond once finished the food in his mouth "Are you satisfied with the information you got?"
Simon responds while with his hidden hand recovers a couple of crumbs from the ground "In fact, I'm more confused than when I left home. Zacharias is probably a good person at the back, a stupid but not a delinquent. So what are you doing? Is he very good at pretending or anything? We do not talk about the history of bandits. I do not know whether to think that Michael has invented everything or that the bandits appear and disappear by magic."
Desmond is disgusted to see Simon picking up the crumbs a piece of bread and cheese stretches him "Listen Simon I can't help you in these things, but I have already loaded the cart so if you want we could be from Paul by late afternoon if we move now"
Simon thanking the gods for food "You're right, we have nothing left to do here, let's go home!"
After a few hundred meters towards the edge of the town, an unusual scene captures the gaze of the two friends. In front of them a crowd is arguing heatedly with two militiamen. The two soldiers are not in good condition.
Simon staying on the cart asks an elderly man. "Excuse me! What happen? We can leave?"
The man turns slowly and answers "Those scoundrels were taking advantage of a homeless girl who arrived the day before yesterday. They told her that without the written permission of the Count, if she wanted to stay, she had to do whatever they asked. Bounty pigs!"
"Crowds attacked them then?"
"Oh no, in fact the mother intervened immediately and when the two men slapped her, they were badly beaten by two hunters. You had to see a fist, a kick ... then a fist and down like ripe fruits on the ground ... ahahhaha"
"Hunters?"
"They looked like hunters, but I'm not who they are, they just ran out of town. Then the crowd gathered to prevent the militia from taking action with random people. Thank those two heroes!"
A woman of the same age joins the discussion "I have seen them, they are rebels."
Simon suddenly intrigued "Rebels?"
"Of course the rebels! Everyone knows that because of the Count who had all the villages closed to avoid having to defend them from the neighboring state, many people lost everything. Many of them have gathered somewhere in the mountains and are waiting for the right moment to take revenge! I am old, but if they should do anything, I will gladly join in at the cost of throwing my own walking stick against the count."
The man scolds "Do not let the guards hear you say certain things! Crazy!"
Simon leaving the two to their quarrels "We're going, good day!" And then to Desmond "All this is incredible! I did not understand anything."
Immediately Elza sitting on the sacks of wheat adds "No you did not understand anything as usual."
Simon looks up at the sky praying for gods that do not even exist.
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