Carnival

Ethel was doing a run through on all the villagers' vaults. She was keeping track and graphing down any major fluctuations in Treats. Normally, villagers had a decrease in Treats since they made less than what they could earn.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Ethel continued.

When she got to recording down a certain vault, she grinned. There were fluctuations for this person's vault. However unlike usual vaults, this one had a big increase in Treats.

"If I remember he signed up to be a harvester." Ethel noted.

Then she giggled.

"'My, only 4 weeks and he's earned this much?"

"Doan always tends to have a good eye for possible knights." She smiled as she continued to work away.

** ** **

Art was at the bottom level and in the commoner's side of the village. He always smiled at the people and helped whoever he could when he had time.

He was tapping his chin, thoughtfully. He looked at the array of fruits spread in front of him. There were gapples, and a few new fruits. Ones Art did not recognize.

"Linnie I want one of each please!" He requested.

The kind middle aged woman, smiled.

"I had a feeling you were going to say that."

"Well I gotta try them all right?" Art smiled back.

Linnie, gathered up the fruits into a bag, and handed the bag to Art.

"That'll be 6 Treats please" Linnie said, as always. Art had made it a habit to buy fruits from Linnie's fruit stand every time he was paid.

Art pulled out a small black pouch, and dug out a small handful of bright red shiny coins.

He placed the coins in Linnie's hand, making sure to add an extra for her.

After working for Ryker for almost a month, Art had accumulated a very good amount of money for a boy his age.

"You're a very sweet boy Art." Linnie smiled warmly.

Art thanked Linnie and waved to her, running off towards Doan's house, to put his bag of fruits away.

He took a different route instead of the usual. He went past the dock, and around the foot wear shop, past the bakery and through a small alley. There were a few crates stacked upon each other and Art used them to climb the great village wall.

He ran across the village wall, smiling as he looked at everything below him. He really enjoyed the village in Sweeten.

The wall got higher, at every level of the village. Once he reached King Dulcee's level, he climbed down the wall slowly and carefully, placing the tip of his foot on the ground for balance.

He gripped the wall tightly before jumping off into the small pond that was behind the king's castle.

He hurried to get out, due to the pond being slightly cold. He got closer to the bottom floor wall of the castle. He peeked through a red tinted window, seeing a shelf filled with hard cover books. He slid open the window and stepped inside.

He looked around for a moment before turning around and closing the window behind him. There were 2 big shelves stocked with hard cover books. They were all bare and dark green in color.

The walls were the same purple bricks as the front gates. The floor was similar to the pavement in the village. Only difference was there were only certain colors on it instead of a whole assortment of colors.

This was because King Dulcee's favorite colors were purple, red, and green.

Art approached the shelves and pulled one of the bare books. He turned it forward, and saw no title on it.

He opened to the front page and he felt his brain was going to explode, as there were many weird symbols and diagrams.

However one thing in black letters he could read.

"Is candy energy fuse-able with other energies?" Art read out loud, mispronouncing the word.

His voice wasn't quiet and soon attracted the attention of Poq, the Sugar Knight.

"Oh, Art right? What brings you to our majesty's home?" Poq questioned in a lax manner.

Art closed the book quickly and put it away. He looked towards the door. Poq stood there with a smile, waiting for an answer.

Art wondered why there was no aggression from the young knight.

"I dunno I was bored of taking the same path to Doan's house." Art replied honestly.

Poq laughed and flicked Art's forehead.

"Don't cause trouble for Sir Hilbert."

"I'm not, I just wanted to say hi to the king." Art said, changing his reasoning. It may have sounded like a lie, but Art thought he would use the time to tell King Dulcee 

"Oh! And I wanna tell him something amazing that happened." Art added remembering his close call with the Black Licorice Basilisk.

** ** **

Everywhere in the village, the sound of hammers at work could be heard. The villagers were doing some last minute construction, finishing up the carnival.

The Carnival was built on the third level of the Sweeten kingdom. The third level had the least amount of buildings due to this.

There were large square buildings everywhere, covered by purple and white tarps. There were pink hand built light posts that connected in a chain of Bumble Glows in between the buildings.

There was a gold brick pathway that led to a big building that had multiple tables, and to the left of the tables there was a long counter.

There were a few plushies and a small bowl of candy places on top of the counter. Behind the counter, there was a row of shelves, all with different items.

At the very top stood an object in a pouch tied with a golden lace.

It had a small sign hanging by the lace that read "2,700 Treats or 50 villager points."

2 men entered the building carrying a massive box with ingredients, and walked to the right of the building, where the kitchen was located. They placed it down, and jumped towards each other simultaneously giving each other a chest bump.

These 2 men were known as Tin and Lid. They were competitive knuckleheads who loved to build for their village. They were the boss's favorite employees due to how ridiculous they were.

"Let's go tell the boss the carnival is finished bro." Tin spoke, in a loud voice.

Lid laughed "Yeah! That was easy work!"

** ** **

King Dulcee was staring at the back of the young boy who had just left his home. He was curious about what he told him. He was unsure whether to believe it or if it was just the words of a child's broad imagination.

"Hmmm" King Dulcee rubbed his chin pensively.

"If what the young boy said was true, then perhaps he shall inherit it in the future. Not even Doan had a feat like that at the boy's age." The king nodded to himself.

Art went down the stairway that connected to the king's level, noticing the sky was getting darker, and saw bright lights on at the third level.

A different set of orange, cyan, and magenta lights shone all over the said level. He could see a few buildings covered in purple tapes with white stripes.

"Woah what is that?" Art asked himself.

He decided it was better if he checked it out in person.