It's been a while since the two brothers have been living at the Royal Duke's house. Their mission is getting close to their objective in rescuing their parents. On the very next day, the brother went out for a stroll in the capital to find out more information about their parents.
…
After asking permission from Jake, Elijah and I went out for a walk in the capital.
"Brother, where are we going?" Elijah asked his brother while he was holding his hand gently.
"I'm going to make some money, Eli." I answered him to stop him from repetitively asked the question and becoming annoying to me.
"Money? Are you going to work?" Elijah tries to guess.
"Not quite right. But let me tell you something." I got close to Elijah and whispered to him about last night.
"What? You have gold?!" Elijah was shocked.
As soon as he raised his voice, I quickly closed his mouth and was surprised. I do not want someone to hear him. I look around and cannot see if anyone is minding us. It is a busy street and everyone is doing their own business. It is so crowded that I don't think
"Eli~ I told you to keep it a secret." I put my finger on his mouth.
"Chuckles. I'm sorry. I'm just so excited!" Elijah looked happy.
I understand his feelings. I promise him to buy anything he wants later.
In the street, I tried to find an Auric Trader to exchange my gold bar. But it is kinda hard for me to be in this new environment. I still need time to adapt to this place.
I take a look at Elijah to make sure he is alright. As long as I'm with him, he will be fine. Gratefully, he is not a fussy one.
He is so cute that he doesn't even know that gold is not valuable as there are much more valuable coins than gold.
Suddenly, when I was searching for the shop, I could sense someone was following us. I have a plan and decided to go back behind the building with Elijah.
…
As we arrived at the hidden places, I stood in front of Elijah to protect him. I called out for the person that has been following us from the marketplace.
"Come out. I know you are watching us!"
That person has realised that we have known about it and it is no use to hide anymore.
Surprisingly, when the person comes out, it is so unexpected for me to think someone like that would do anything harm to us.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do anything bad to you." A young female toddler comes out from her hiding and reveals itself as I call out for her. A cute face and looking shy in front of me is just an act. She looks like she is around the same age as me. If I'm not mistaken, she must be an underdog in this place.
"You can stop it now. I know what you are after" I smirk and reveal my thoughts.
Elijah was shocked and pointed out to her. "Brother, look. Is she your friend?" He is curious to see someone my age here.
"He is not a friend, Eli. I don't know her." I told Elijah. "Then, what does she want from us?" Elijah worried.
"Don't worry. Just stay behind me." I hold him firmly. That girl looked at us with a smirk and took out her toy stuff; a fake knife.
Elijah was shocked with that knife and scared if she would do something to me. But he did not know it was a fake knife.
"Chuckles. So you are a quick-witted one right? Then, give me what I want and let's settle this fast." The girl looked at me with confidence that she could rob me.
"What if I don't want to give it to you?" I guess she wants my gold.
"Then, you give me no choice." She clapped her hand. Suddenly, a group of young kids approach behind me and there are 3 more of them.
I already notice they are hiding around the corner as I expect this.
"Who the heck are you guys?" I want to get their identity.
With a proud face, the kids introduce themselves to me with style.
The fat one is Elias Farrowsby, the coward is Jasper Thistledown, and the other girl is Ava Bramblecroft. While the leader of the three of them is Mara Wheatley.
They called themselves the "Apprentots". "Apprentots" is a play on words, combining "apprentice" (a person who is learning a trade or skill) with "tots" (a term often used to refer to small children). It's meant to create a whimsical and childlike name for young and inexperienced individuals who are apprentices in the magical world.
"Pft. Whatever. I can give this if that is what you guys want, but do you know what to do with this?" They all are just 6 year old kids and I bet they do not know what this is.
They look into each other and shake their heads. While Mara tried to look better out of the three of them.
"Well, it must be useful, right?" Mara tries to guess it right.
"Chuckles. You follow me just because you think this is useful? This is only a toy. Here, look at it for yourself."
I approach Mara and she slowly moves because afraid of me. She is forgetting her place even though she is being serious in her roles as the underdog of the capital.
As Mara and her friends look onto it, the gold did not pick their interest and think it is just a colorful stone because it is hard.
"But we will never know if it is valuable. I will take this and ask Owen by myself." She mentioned to someone that she might know about this. Owen Willowbrook, an expert thief who lives in the capital. He must be a father figure to them and they look up to him.
"There is no need. You will just get another scolded if you bring useless stuff to him again." They all looked down when I told them that. As a kid, they must have tried to get his attention to steal and bring their loot to him.
"What a bad guy to teach a kid to steal" I monologue to myself.
But I don't blame them for doing this bad job as they are only doing this thing to live. I fully understand how this world works as there also exists a different class of society within this Kingdom of Altyzurian. Despite it looking harmonious and peaceful, some of the people were neglected for their faith that is not useful. Some of the people are living in poverty. The rich live in fortune while using a man to do the hard labor. The rich become richer and peasant, will forever be one. As they are living in a world with magic, the magic is a factor that determines who sits at the top and one at the bottom. But they are still a non-magic user who is capable of living for their own and making a living by doing hard labor such as a shopkeeper, farmer, woodcutter, fisherman, merchant and et cetera. A group of lesser or non-magician is not allowed to join the royal guard, military, or become adventurers because of their inability to possess strong magic.