The Grenswick street was crowded, dirty, and noisy. Duncan walked behind the knight who had "requisitioned" him on behalf of the king, carefully observing every detail.
Wooden houses blackened by time, makeshift shops, poor markets where people tried to sell what little they had. Skinny children ran between the legs of adults, begging for a piece of bread. The smell of rotting fish and smoke filled the air.
Duncan clenched his fists. This was not a thriving kingdom. It was a kingdom that was collapsing.
"Hey, you!" A hoarse voice pulled him from his thoughts.
An old man with a hunched back stared at him from a stool, his eyes milky but still full of cunning. "I've never seen you around here. You're new, eh? Be careful, stranger. Those who don't know their place here end up badly."
Before Duncan could answer, two boys approached him. One, blond and lanky, pointed to the hammer still at his belt.
"Are you a blacksmith? Can you fix this for me?" He handed him a rusty knife, little more than a bent iron.
Duncan took it, looked at it, and with a half-smile handed it back. "I'll fix it. But not now."
The boy's eyes lit up, as if he didn't even expect an adult to take him seriously.
The knight snorted. "We don't have time to play with the scum of the city."
"They're not scum," Duncan replied, calm but firm. "They're people."
The silence that followed was heavier than the noise of the market.
A moment later, as they continued on, a young woman ran up to him. She was in ragged clothes and holding a frightened little girl by the hand.
"Please… you are a craftsman, aren't you? They say the king's blacksmiths can earn gold by the bucketful. Take my daughter with you as an apprentice. She will starve here."
Duncan was speechless. He saw in the girl's eyes the same look he had seen a thousand times in his world: the desire to learn, to have a future.
But this wasn't the time. Not yet.
"I can't promise anything," he finally replied. "But if I succeed… I'll return."
The knight tugged him forward, toward the castle that dominated the city from its gray walls.
"Enough wasting time. The king awaits you."
Duncan turned one last time. The faces of the old man, the children, and the young woman remained imprinted in his mind.
This kingdom needed weapons. But, above all, it needed hope.