I woke up early again today. My usual schedule played out. Put on clothes, always pants first, shirts come second. I then make my bed. I fluff the pillows, and tuck the covers, then I go clean my teeth, put on a straw hat, and go fix myself breakfast. I usually make a jam sandwich. Two slices of bread and homemade strawberry jam. I then clean up and go out to work. But today was slightly different. I didn't have any work to do. I had already harvested my crops. I had delivered and sold them to the vendors a couple weeks ago. But today I had to go to the city anyway.
My brother lives in the city. I forget what job he has, he's usually very vague when I ask him about it, only giving little bits and pieces of what he does.
It might be a job where he can't speak of what he does. Those are actually quite common, more common than you'd think. Their most common in contracted jobs, where someone temporarily hires you to do a job for them. They agree to not speak of the job to anyone except those who are in on it. I've never really trusted contractors. They're all scheming bastards, and not to mention nosey.
My brother asked me to lend him some supplies. Hammers, wrenches, stuff of that nature. I found some old tools in a box in my attic a few weeks earlier. I'd just give those to him, not the ones he had in my shack, those were too precious.
I packed my carriage. I don't take too much. Only the tools, a knife, and some money, in case I see something that I want. I brought my horse from the field. She is my main horse, the one I take everywhere. Every time I have business elsewhere, I bring her. She's strong, and reliable. She's the only one that can make the journey to the city, in just a few hours.
I should probably pack a bow and arrows, but I'm going there formally, not as a farmer. I don't plan on bagging deer today, so I'll leave it behind. The journey is dangerous though. There are bandits ravaging the land. Royalty doesn't do anything about it though, so I have to be careful on my way there.
I take a particular path there. I pass through several villages, but these villages aren't very nice. The people at these villages tend to be on the violent side, and are often poor. They don't like people passing by, but that route is the fastest way to the City, so despite the people, I pass through there anyway.
I had an encounter with someone not too long ago actually. It was the first time I've personally been attacked, but I hear about stuff like this all the time. Some guy tried selling me something, not sure what it was, but I didn't want to buy nothing, and I told him so. He got all mad, spouting some incoherent nonsense. He pulled a knife out, it was dull and scratched up, clearly not professionally made. So I naturally laughed at him, as anyone would! He looked ridiculous tryna rob me with such a pathetic knife. I took off still laughing at him. He ran after me for a couple meters, but gave up eventually.
Anyway, I only have so much time to get to the city. It takes about 6 hours to get there and back, if there's no distractions. I take off on my horse. There are tall trees surrounding my house. Outside the trees are my fields, where I grow crops and where I keep my livestock. I carved my own dirt path into the ground. I don't have the time, nor people to decorate it, with pebbles, or rocks, but I guess it's fine the way it is.
I was about to leave my house when I saw something bright in my peripheral vision. For a moment, just a moment, I saw a fire on my fence. I couldn't see it very well, but it was orange and red. I turned my head to see nothing, but a conspicuous pile of ash on my fence. I tried to get a closer look at it, but it happened to be a windy day today, so it all blew away before I could get a good look at it. In my 10 years of living here, this has never happened.
I got goosebumps when getting back onto my carriage. It was very strange. Just a random fire appearing and disappearing in a blink of an eye? Impossible. There was no source of the fire, and no sign of what caused it. Only what was left behind by it, which was then swept away in the wind.
Despite this strange occurrence, I had no time to investigate. I'd just have to do it tomorrow. I got moving. It was around mid-day, so I had plenty of time to get back here for supper. Even if I didn't, I could get something at the City.
As the hours passed, I got further and further. I eventually passed the first village. This one isn't that bad. In fact my mom lives here. She lives on the outskirts of the village, in a small house. It's like a wood cabin, definitely not something you'd see in the City, but this also used to be my home. It isn't as nice as I remember it as a kid though. It's dirty, unkept. They don't have people who regularly clean the streets, so it's up to the people living here to deal with that, but often time, they just don't want to clean up.
The second village is probably the most dangerous of the 4 I have to pass through. It's a bit bigger than the rest. It's a bit more clean than the first, but that's only because they residents know that if they leave anything out, it WILL get stolen, thats not even a question, and that's pretty well understood by everyone who lives here. This village is actually where that guy tried to pathetically rob me with the beat-up knife.
The third village is the smallest of the 4. It's made up of only a couple houses. It's more like a landmark than an actual village. You'll never see anyone walking around outside, I'm pretty sure this village is abandoned, but it's well-kept, clean, so there must be people who live here and are actively cleaning it, but you just never see them. I've never actually tried to see if anyone lives inside the houses, but I don't plan on trying to find out.
The fourth one is like the first. It's a bit smaller than the second, and cleaner than the first. The people there are nice, but in a passive-aggressive way. They are never mean, but they are rather rude. They don't like outsiders, they keep all the community secrets to their community. I've never heard a single story from anyone there involving something about the village. They are a peculiar community, but no one there has been outwardly violent. They seem civilized for the most part.
Finally, the next stop is the City. It's built on the side of a mountain. There is a castle on the peak, however it is surprisingly not for Royalty. Well, actually it used to be. Now it's a relic of the past, and is not being used, but it's more for decoration. No one is allowed inside, except for high ranking officials, and of course Royalty, but no one resides there, at least not to our knowledge.
Surrounding the castle are all the businesses, houses, vendors, you get the point. Anything can be found here. It's quite the sight from outside the city, and even better when it's night. Everything glows. The collective lamps and candles light up the city so perfectly. The sun sets in the west, and when viewing the city from the front, you face the west, so at sunset, that's when the city truly shines.
As I approach the gates inside, I can see people outside, vendors, outside of city limits trying to sell stuff to people coming into the City. These are the desperate ones. The guys that can't sell anything to anyone, so they try to get people waiting to get admitted into the City to buy something, because they can't walk away like you can at a traditional vendor stand on the street.
One came up to me, but I ignore them. I sort of have a reputation for that among the vendors on the outside. Only the newer ones come up to me to get me to buy something, but they learn quickly, at least most of them. There is one that I can't get to leave me alone, every time I wait to go inside. I don't even know what he's trying to sell, he's so unclear and vague about it, which is probably why he can't get anyone to buy from him.
I remember being something like this, but I was a lot better at it. Being vague isn't always bad. You can get people to buy stuff without even telling them what they are buying if you're clever. Reveal parts about it, the good things, positives. Don't dare talk about the negatives. You can always lie about your product too, but that would fall under the category of scamming, which is a criminal offence here. But he's clearly new to the business, he doesn't have any basic skills in salesmanship.
Y'know this reminds me of a funny thing I'd do a long time ago. I'd sell feathers to people. I'd present them with an offer for something "amazing." I told them that it could float for a small period of time, and that it helped some creatures fly, but I'd never show them what I was selling. Of course, this would drive away some, but others are more gullible, they fall for it, and they pay me to get it. The best part about it, they can't call anyone over here to refund it. Buying an item from others is seen as contractual. Once you give your money to the other person, that means you consent to buying their product, which means you can't just get it back, unless it was a scam. However the only way to classify a scam is if someone deliberately lied about what they were selling in order to get you to buy it. I never told a lie, I only left out parts of the truth. I earned a lot of money doing that, but I'm proud to say I don't do that any longer.
As you get to the front of the gates, Guards ask you to pay the entrance tax, and sign a piece of paper. This paper keeps track of your movements. When you enter and leave the city is all recorded in there. Once that is all done, they open the gates and let you in. The gates are made of real gold, even though the insides of the individual bars are hollow. I assume that's to reduce weight. The gates close behind you as you go in, and from then on, you are free to do as you like.