City Life

The brothers are on the road towards the great city Crozeb.

"How long?" said the kid.

"We are nearly there, in an hour or two we should get there, by walking."

"Run?"

"It would take a few minutes with a quick jog."

"Run!"

"It's not about the destination, it's about the jour..."

The boy dashes away on the road, leaving the knight in the dust.

"Of course." said the knight while rubbing his eyes.

"Wait for me!"

The knight dashes away reaching the boy in no time.

They stop running when they see the city. A huge city, made on a small mountain, huge walls with various types of ranged weapons on connection towers. All around it were farms going on as far as you could see. In the middle, a huge building, a castle resembling a church of great beauty.

"Here we are, the great city Crozeb."

"It, big."

"Yeah, it's one of the biggest cities in the world. Let's go in!"

They reach the entrance, getting to the gate guards.

"Identification!" said one of the guards.

"Here."

The knight gives the guard a piece of wood with words on it.

"What about the boy?" said the guard while tightening his grip on the spear.

The boy prepares for attack. The knight pushing him behind.

"He is my brother, we lost his and the closest city was Crozeb, so we came here to remake it."

"Fine, you can enter, but make sure to go to the city hall or guild as soon as possible."

"That's what we planed, have a nice day"

They pass the gate entering the city, searching for the city hall.

"Why?" said the boy

"We would have got into trouble."

"No, weak."

"Yeah they were weak, but killing them would have been dangerous."

"No understand."

They reach the city hall.

"I will explain later. Wait here, I will need to take care of some things here."

The boy sits on the ground watching the people passing, many were laughing and talking with no worries.

"Weak."

"You said something?" said the knight.

"No."

"Ok, here, we will not have problems at gates from now on." said the while throwing a piece of wood at the boy.

"Make sure to keep it on you at all times."

"Ok."

The boy starts sniffing the air.

"Smell, what?"

"It's probably from an inn, I saw one a few buildings away."

The boy keeps sniffing the air.

"Let's go get some food."

The knight starts walking, the boy following behind. They reach an inn and get a table. The inn was almost empty, with just a few customers. A waitress gets to them.

"What would you like?"

"Two bowls of stew please."

"Just a moment."

In a few minutes the waitress brings the stews. The looks at the stew and then at the knight.

"You eat with a spoon, like this!"

The knight starts eating, the boy taking his example. After the first spoon, the boy starts gobbling it up.

"Is is good, no one will take it from you, you can take your time."

"No understand."

"What don't you understand?"

"Strong eat, weak die, here, weak eat, no understand."

"That's how humans are. We made it so that even the weak can eat."

"Why?"

"It's hard to say, that's how some strong humans decided."

"Why?"

"Because they are good and they wanted to protect their family."

They stopped talking and after a few more minutes of eating they walked out. On the road people gathered. A carriage with a man in plate armor, was on the road, dozens of knights on horseback following behind. Everyone was cheering as they were passing by.

"Why, happy?"

"They are happy to see them get back safely."

"Why?"

"Because he is like family to them. He is one of the legendary heroes and the king of this city, Aaron of Crozeb."

"I understand."

"What?"

"Strong." said the boy while pointing at the passing carriage "Father, feeds children, protects children, he is father."

"You are not wrong, he is like a father to them."

After a few moments of silence the knight said.

"Can you promise me something?"

"What?"

"If I die, please take him as an example and protect the weak as if they are your family."

"You die, I kill."

"Just give it a though, maybe you will find a family that can protect and love you, but you will need to do the same to them. Let's go, it's getting late."

The brothers started walking in the town searching for their next adventure.