Chapter 1:New Day

The day was nothing special, within the region of Lecnce; an area with a population of about ninety-seven thousand, having spent its primary resource in education.

The sun had set, and the sound of crows was one of the main problems in the city called Rugia.

In the city called Rugia, was an area called Luris, which belonged to the third tier of society, there was just a single institution that provided education for the lowly kids of the area. It was the only building that would provide education to the children of the low class, so that they can become good butlers or at least servants.

...

There was a long shadow across the old rusty iron gate of the school, the school was nearly seventy years old, the gates were covered in rust, the walls and windows were covered in dust and mud, and the building was enough to make even a lowly petty nobility, puke, the air around it was polluted enough and the street and the part of the city, looked so dirty and the streets were filled with waste.

This was of the lower class, the third tiers of the society and this could be guessed by anyone.

As the gates of the school were opened, the sound of the school bells echoed down the narrow street, the students could be seen rushing out.

The sound was the signal informing that the school had ended for the day and the kids could go back to their respective places, to work for the remaining time, till going to bed or go back to their home instead of work if their parents could afford to not send their kids to work.

Homework was not common in schools for the poor as the kids had to spend most of their free time working in their homes or the homes of the upper class (middle-class) as maids or servants.

The Ministry of Student Education had made a rule that the schools of the third tier could not make a student attend the institution for a longer period or make the children learn their subjects in their respective homes, with the homework, etc.

However this rule only applied to the third tier, as the middle class could go to a real, good school.

Most of the kid's parents in the third tier could not afford to hire private tutors, nor did the good tutors have time for that, as most of the tutors of Lecnce and Rugia were busy tutoring the kids of the middle class, and the tutors residing in Luris were notorious for their bad behavior, including drinking during the daylight, being wasted and trying to leech off of parents of their students...

*

The rusty gates of the school creaked open, as I walked out with the many others pushing me aside to race to their workplace, hoping to get some sweets or snacks.

I could taste the dust in the air, and the sound of the crows fighting for food near the litter bin, this all showed that the day had ended.

For kids like me from the third tier, school was the only place for a better life, after graduating, if we got a scholarship our life was set, but even that came with a price.

Most of my classmates and friends would spend their evenings working as maids or servants for the upper class, trading their precious moments of childhood for a better life.

I tightened the straps of my worn-out brown backpack; it was a dull black one that had turned brown. I had been using the same one from the first grade to the current one.

I was using the same one not because I could not afford new ones, but because it was still in good condition, sure, the colours had became bland, looked bad and showed that it was old, but why buy a new one when the one I had worked fine?

Usually, most kids use a second-hand backpack as buying new would be a waste of money, for them as the backpacks would usually cost about two days worth of meals for a single person, and the backpacks had to be purchased from the Ministry of Student Education itself.

As I started to walk to my work, my stomach started to grumble, it was to remind me to eat some food, today we had no lunch which was the reason I was hungry.

The state was providing the school to make us lunch but, most of it would go to the pockets of the officials. 

I started to walk fast, the same old walkway, the old narrow street, the old bridge, the same dusty buildings with old and faded advertisements, and then the same gate to enter the rich-filled region of the middle class, the region was called Grastow.

Grastow was the name of an old man, who had contributed to the formation of steam machinery.

As soon as I came near the entry gate, a guard in heavy armor asked me for my work identification card.

I shook my right pocket and took out a boring brownish-yellow card, after verifying it carefully with the other guards, he left me, to continue my walk to my workplace.

My ID had two sides, one was with my address, name, my work address...

The other side was to confirm my death. Not the natural one, but if I get killed by a noble, or a middle class man, or a royal.

However this was not normal as most of the nobles did not kill the lower classes, like the second tier or the third tier, by themselves but would often hire mercenaries to kill.

This was because the nobles did not wish to dirty their hands by the blood of lower classes, and most of the nobles on the outside made it seem like they hated seeing murder, etc, as it was barbaric, even though on the inside all of those dirty crows would give up their estates to see this.

The death side had a single line and a small triangle shape, the line was for the title and the name, while the shape was the place where the noble needed to seal it with their stamp.

...

As I walked the street, I took my pocket watch from my bag and checked the time. The time was seventeen past 5 (5:17), and I was expected to be at work by ten past five, as soon as I reached the house of my employer the minute hand reached twenty-one, therefore it was twenty-one past five, and I was late by eleven minutes.

As soon as I entered by the back door connecting to the kitchen, I heard a stern voice calling for me, it was the owner of the house, Mr. George M Wall, he called me by my given name, "Leon".

Then continued "Why are you late today?. Did something happen on the way?".

Mr. George approached me with his cane in his right hand, he had his thumb resting on the handle of the cane and his fingers gripped the top of the cane. As he came near me, with each step, he made a loud stud with the cane he was holding.

Mr.George was wearing a tall top hat which was black, a black coat, he was also wearing a high waist pant along with his black boots made with wood and leather, in his hand was the cane, it was made with cherry wood.

As he came near me and stopped walking, he continued saying

"My wife and I will be away from the house for two days, so you need not come to work this Saturday and Sunday".

As he was explaining the situation, my mind wandered off to something else, it was about a little red mark on his cheek, it had the shape of a handprint, and it looked quite fresh.

As I was staring at his left cheek, I felt a sudden pressure on my right shoulder, causing me to flinch for a second.

I came to my senses.

I realized it was his cane pressing against my shoulder, I quickly focused my attention back to his words, and he continued, his expression unchanged. The pressure of the cane remained, to make me not lose focus.

"What are you doing to the poor boy dear?", suddenly a loud voice came, it was his wife.

His face frozen and pale said, "Oh, nothing, absolutely nothing dear".

* *

From the old red building, by the front door, a boy came running out holding a little red box, it was red indicating danger, the boy was showing a small moment while running, it was of changing the small box from one hand to another, it looked like the little box was quite heavy.

The boy glanced over his shoulder at the group of men in pursuit, numbering no less than six. His eyes darted towards the bustling market, where many people were shopping, before settling on an old-looking, abandoned store.

He bolted towards the market and towards the shop, which he had set his eyes on. With all his strength he ran and then threw the box on the floor before slamming the door shut behind him.

 He then locked the store with the old lock which was hanging in the door. Scared, he locked the door, hoping it would stop the persuaders. Luckily for him, it worked. He then started to open the small red box; it contained just a single page of a letter. It read

Xx/xx/xxxx

Leorg Fryndo,

I oop et d cleter fins u whel, Mai Leorg Fryndo, butt me M iting D cleter, D un ooks Beutyfal, Meas, Mai oop at u ell.

Ien mai palce, thner a er, Mai ops u shaf, cep fuyl, oops mai ink, ai oop het dhda ell b a gud God

The boy struggled to understand the words on the page. They were written in Old Lorphen, a language he couldn't comprehend, despite being familiar with Modern Lorphen. The letter was also old and looked like it had been damaged by water and sunlight, and was also covered in dust, The letter had also been torn in half, it looked fragile as if it would tear the moment the boy used some force.

 The only words the boy could understand in the whole letter were 'Ink' and the remaining last words, the words which he understood 'be a good god'

*

The cathedral was the white building, near the center of the Grastow, close to a bustling horse cab stand on a large, open ground, where there were numerous hackney carriages lined in the area waiting for passengers.

I approached a well-kept cab, as I went near the driver of the cab, a group of men wearing brown suits and pants occupied the seats on the cab, the old-looking man among them showed a pendulum with the imprint of the kingdom to the cab driver, as the stand was owned by the kingdom.

The pendulum acted as a badge, it was the proof of the Patrolling guards. It had many perks, with it a person could get free food from any kingdom-operated restaurant, the person could ride any government-operated cab for free...

I then looked around to find another cab.

I was searching for a cab because Ms.Wall, the wife of my employer along with her husband had to go to a party hosted by her older sister this Saturday and Sunday.

Ms Wall's elder sister was Margret Huffily, she was a woman in her forties, as I had not seen her I only knew this much as my employer did not like her and was always making crude and ungentlemanly jokes about her, but this was only when his wife was not near him.

Marget Huffily was living near the flourishing Garten region, she was living in the city of Strrufle.

Strrufle was the old capital of the kingdom, nowadays it is not as important as Her Majesty who was not living there.

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