Once you're in, there aren't a lot of places to put your carriage. The only places you have are designated lots where they keep your carriage protected by guards, but that costs an hourly fee, so I'd rather not do that. I usually go straight to my brother's house and park it there. But I got to go there anyway, so it all works out.
This city is probably the safest, and most dangerous. It has the most deaths of civilians out of the 4 villages I pass through combined, but the City is also the most guarded. It just depends where you are.
There are two sides, the wealthy side, and the poor side. The wealthy side is the most guarded side. They have all the businesses and vendors on that side, and if you want anything nice, you go there. The poor side is where the beggars on the outside reside. They don't have enough money to buy a vendor's plot fee, so they find other ways to sell items.
Now surprisingly, there is an equal amount of crime on the wealthy side. From stealing to occasional murder, there is an equal amount of crime on the wealthy side.
Of course though, the wealthy side, despite high crime, it's more civilized than the poor side. Walk into the wrong alley in the poor area and you are guaranteed to die. Actually, the only reason why there is equal crime on the poor side is because over there, they learned how to defend themselves. It was a necessity for them, so unlike their wealthy counterparts, they are tougher, and more experienced. However, some have just learned to only stay inside their houses.
Crime isn't dealt with like it is in places like Serratura di Guerra, a neighboring country to the one I live in. In Serratura di Guerra, there are guards that protect the citizens, but in my country, guards are hired, not provided by Royalty. This is quite unfortunate for the poor folk, because they have no one to protect them.
My brother lives on the poor side of town, not because he can't afford a plot in the wealthy side, but because he doesn't want to pay that money. There is an annual tax on the wealthy plots, even if your house is payed off, but they don't even bother to do that to the poor side, so he lives there.
As I was riding my carriage up to my brothers plot, the people who were outside just stared at my nicely painted red carriage, with golden yellow outlining for design. I tried to ignore their gaze, but not because I was nervous. I rather enjoy attention, but not from the likes of these people. But hey, attention is attention.
I finally made it to my brothers house, and he was on his rocking chair outside his house. I strapped my horse to the fence surrounding the perimeter of his plot, and I walked up to him. As I approached the sound of the chair creaking became louder and louder, but eventually halted as he got up to greet me.
"August!" I said, raising my hands in the air, signaling a hug. His name isn't really August, it's actually Augustine, but I call him August because it's shorter, and he was actually born in August.
"Lance!" He said, putting his arms up like me. We hugged and went over to my carriage.
My brother is quite the character. He is quite a bit younger than me. I'm 46, and he's 39. He was born with this sort of defect. It doesn't affect his bone structure or anything like that, but it affects something about his hair, because he naturally had a white streak running through his hair, but the rest is black, like mine. He doesn't have much fine clothing, so he wears black pants with his blue shirt tucked into them.
I hopped into the back of my carriage, and grabbed the tools that were neatly wrapped in a thin leather blanket. I got back out and handed them to August.
"So what do you need these for?" I asked him.
"I'm doing a little renovation on my house, that's all." He replied.
"Is that even legal?"
"I'm pretty sure it is."
We talked for another minute before I untied the rope on the fence connected to my horse.
August looked up at me and said, "So, wanna grab some dinner?"
I hesitated. The sun was setting, it was probably about half passed 6, and I wanted to be home in time for bed, but I said yes anyway. I didn't want my brother to think I didn't want to have dinner with him.
He put the tools away in his house as I got onto the carriage. He finally came out and hopped up onto the seat next to me. We then started downhill towards the wealthy side, where all the restaurants are. They were more like pubs, but they also served food, which wasn't bad.
We left the poor area and went downtown to the busiest part of the whole city. It was bright, unlike the dimly lit slums. All kinds of people were here. People on carriages are riding down the rocky road, and many are walking on the rough stone pavement, looking at what vendors have to sell.
There's always some sort of trouble stirring downtown, but right now, as busy as it is, it's calm. No one was getting stabbed, and no one was harassing anyone. It was peaceful. I wish it was always like this. If it was, I'd be living here, and not at that house out in the country.
We put my carriage in a lot and rented a guard to protect it until we get back. We went into a pub. It was big, and it was packed, but it's always busy. People were everywhere, talking and laughing.
Me and my brother got situated onto a table. It was a small round table, wooden. It was very polished, and it shined in the light.
"So, what you've been up to?" My brother asked, to which I shrugged my shoulders.
"Same things as usual." I replied. "I killed a couple wolves about a month ago.
"You sold the pelts?"
"Of course!"
"How much you got for em'?"
"I got a couple shiny phalis."
"Phalis?!" August exclaimed. "That's worth one-hundred phila! And you got a couple?!"
"Mhmm." I said, grinning proudly.
"It was a nice pelt I guess, or a very charitable consumer." August said, chuckling.
"It was a pretty big pelt." I said. "Just imagine how much I could get for a bear pelt.
We eventually ate and got out of there. I dropped him off at his plot. He waved good bye as I rode away, and he disappeared behind his door into his house.