“Hey, Val! I want to try some too!”
“Me too! Me too, please! Let’s all eat it together!”
On the day of the annual Precognition Festival, I returned to Freesia for a delivery. Sefekh and Khemet were tugging at my clothes, begging like crazy. I sighed in irritation. I’d grown to hate the Precognition Festival after Sefekh and Khemet started pleading with me to go back to Freesia for it each year. On top of that, we always had huge shipments of gifts and letters from foreign countries that we had to bring to the royal family for the occasion.
Fortunately, we’d finished our deliveries, so I only had the mailbag on my shoulder at the moment—though I knew Pride would saddle us with another big batch of letters tomorrow.
“Go eat somethin’ if you’re starvin’, damn it. I already gave you money.”
“Come look for that food stall with us!”
“Sefekh, I think it’s this way! That’s the direction the kids came from!”
Children passed with baked goods bundled in paper. Sefekh tugged on my arm, whining that she wanted some too, while Khemet pointed in the direction of the food stall. I truly couldn’t have cared less about any of it.
“Shut up,” I growled, but in the end, I found the stall for them in no time at all.
Reluctantly getting in line, I scanned our surroundings for someone selling booze. I left the line to purchase three bottles when I found one, having just polished off the last of my stash, then returned to the kids.
Years ago, I’d focused solely on the free food and drinks on offer during this festival, but now that I had money from my delivery work, the idea of wading into those crowds just to eat held no appeal. These days, I could buy whatever I wanted at the marketplace. I still had Stale’s reward for my work during the war in Hanazuo. Considering my delivery job would be picking up soon, I figured I’d spend a little money while I had the chance.
The line moved forward until Sefekh could buy some kind of pastry wrapped in paper. She and Khemet lit up at first bite, yelping about how delicious they were. They tried to force the treats into my mouth too, since I was busy carrying bottles instead of holding their hands. Sefekh grabbed my arm—since Khemet couldn’t reach my mouth—and yanked me down toward her. After they each stuck a pastry in my mouth, I chewed them up in a flash before washing them down with more liquor.
“Hey! You should savor them! They’re really good!” Sefekh said.
“You’re the one who shoved the damn things in my mouth,” I said.
“They said these are called échaudés!” Khemet said. “Did they taste nice with your drink? Why don’t we buy some meat too?!”
Khemet clutched my arm while Sefekh scolded me. The damn brats were just going to keep dragging me from stall to stall, and I really didn’t feel like tasting every single thing they bought. I just wanted to drink in peace at one of my regular taverns, not in the loud, bustling streets or marketplaces. But the kids were eager to savor the festival and would never agree to a change of plans, so I gave up without even mentioning it.
“Look, Val! Meat! They’re selling meat over there!” Sefekh cried.
“I want more sweets! And fruit!” Khemet said.
I heaved another weary sigh as the kids searched for their next stop before even finishing the treats in their hands. Instead of yanking my arms away, however, I let them tow me along through the center of the marketplace.
Just ahead, someone shouted, “Thief!”
Some guy pretending to examine a shop’s wares had made off with their money. We watched the culprit flee but didn’t do anything about the crime. If this was a delivery job, sure, we might have intervened as per usual. We often apprehended the bandits and criminals we met on the road and dragged them back to the royal order. But we had no interest in resolving issues that didn’t involve us. I tossed my empty bottle on the side of the road and continued toward the stand selling meat.
A commotion rose up as a knight caught the thief around the corner, but that didn’t interest me in the slightest.
✦ ✦ ✦
ALAN
“THANK YOU SO MUCH, Mr. Knight!”
I watched as Harrison accepted the shopkeeper’s gratitude and left the thief with a guard who’d rushed over to help him. Looking satisfied that he’d done his part, he sprang up and darted off. A gust of wind blew past startled townsfolk and guards as he disappeared to find his next errand.
He jumped from rooftop to rooftop, not even using his special power to head toward the main street. The guy must’ve thought it would be easier to spot criminals from up there, where he could get a better view.
“Look at Harrison go!” I said. “If he’s coming from the marketplace, I bet he caught himself a thief.”
I chuckled at the distant sight of Harrison running across the rooftops. In my role as a captain of the royal order, I’d been using my shift change to patrol the area, something I’d done many times during Precognition Festivals. This was my first time spotting Harrison out in the wild, though, and it was kind of like catching a glimpse of an endangered bird or something.
In truth, I was moved. Harrison was always relegated to backup duties when the rest of the royal order went out on urgent business, even years later, when I became a captain, but it seemed he’d finally gotten his first assignment to patrol the town.
After Harrison became the captain of the Eighth Squadron and could assign his men to whatever positions he pleased, he still took on those modest assignments, thinking he was more suited for them. All that time, he seemed to accept the lookout jobs he did during his many years as a rookie as the most reasonable option, but now that he was a vice captain, he’d finally taken on patrol assignments when the orders came down.
“Guess it’s not all that surprising, since the order came from Arthur.”
Arthur, Harrison’s current captain, was the one who’d ordered him to patrol the town. As Harrison’s superior, Arthur had asked him to hand over any criminals he apprehended to the guards. Harrison was finally free to use his agility and quick wit to patrol the festival.
I chuckled, relieved by this development. I’d finished my own patrol and started back to the castle before Harrison’s shift ended. Once I made it through the royal district, I took the road up to the castle, crowded by my fellow Freesians. I greeted groups of rookies and other knights as they passed on their patrols, then cut in front of the townsfolk so the gatekeepers could let me into the castle. Groups of knights and guards still surrounded the castle, and one knight in particular happened to pass by: the vice captain of my very own squadron.
“Hey there! Nice work today, Eric.” I stopped to say hello as he headed out to make his rounds. “You’re patrolling the castle next, right?”
“Thank you, Captain Alan. Yes, that’s right. Did you just get back from town?”
Our schedules lined up, so I wasn’t shocked to find him here. We’d both planned to be at the castle for the afternoon shift change.
As we chatted, I felt the eyes of patrolling rookies on us. We were the captain and vice captain of the First Squadron—the unit that specialized in fighting at the front lines—so the rookies watched us with blatant envy and admiration, standing up straight and greeting us formally. We greeted them the same way we would any other day.
“I wish our shifts swapped a lot earlier,” I griped.
“Yes, that afternoon shift change is still a long ways off.”
We glanced in the same direction in tandem, both of us knowing that the main event loomed before us. The banquet with the royal family was later this afternoon. Our eyes naturally gravitated toward the royal residence, where we could already picture the preparations taking place.