piratefiction Chapter 7 Coins
Chapter 7 Coins
Victor leaned back in his chair to make himself more comfortable: "Don't worry, there's not much going on at the grammar school."
Take mopping the floor, for example. The school isn't as big as Lorraine Castle, and there's no need to mop it every day; the laundry room has very few clothes, and most students wash their own clothes; the work in the kitchen isn't heavy either.
"I believe in you guys, keep it up!"
Fafnir and Martha nodded seriously to Victor, and Allen looked up, his face finally less tense.
The sunlight outside the window grew brighter and brighter, and the sun gradually rose higher in the sky, with the sparse woods being replaced by scattered houses in the suburbs.
Fafnir felt tired and slowly leaned back on the cushions to rest.
The carriage ride was quite pleasant.
……
The carriage entered Ryan before noon, passing first the city walls and gates. Fafnir even saw a towering clock tower behind the walls—much taller than the one at Lorraine Manor.
Once inside the city, the carriage was filled with a cacophony of sounds—mostly the noisy conversations of pedestrians, the hawking of goods, and the haggling of prices.
There seemed to be the neighing of livestock, perhaps horses or donkeys carrying goods?
Through the car window, Fafnir saw rows of brick buildings lining both sides of the wide road, their spires and domes stretching towards the sky.
The streets were bustling with people, and a quick glance revealed elves, humans, and dwarves—the three main races in the Holy Kingdom of Elves.
Fafner seemed intrigued by the scene before him, pressing his face against the car window.
Most of the buildings along the street were two-story houses, with various shops on the ground floor. The sounds of blacksmiths' hammers, women's calls and haggling, and the sweet aroma of bread mingled together.
The second floor must be an apartment building, Fafnir thought; the windows on the second floor of the two buildings were almost touching.
Clotheslines stretched out at both ends of the window, and Fafnir saw sheets and robes, densely packed together.
Fafnir watched quietly, glancing occasionally at the shops on the street, his gaze sweeping over the faces—a small number with pointed or round ears, but most somewhere in between.
After entering Ryan City, the carriage bearing the emblem of the Church of the God of Death slowed down considerably.
The street was wide enough to accommodate several horse-drawn carriages traveling in the same direction.
Every now and then other carriages would overtake them, and Fafnir saw one carriage speed across a puddle, splashing dirty water.
"We're almost there. The school is in the western part of Ryan City, near the city center," Victor suddenly said.
However, Fafnir's thoughts were not drawn to this sentence; he felt a throbbing sensation, a sensation originating from his body, from his blood.
Fafnir looked into the distance.
At the corner of the alley, a little girl, half a head shorter than him, was squatting. She wore a drab gray robe, was barefoot, and had ears that were larger than normal, with rounded ends, standing out conspicuously against her messy hair—one standing upright, the other drooping.
She was looking down, and it was unclear what she was doing.
Fafner stared at her ear, somewhat dazed, when it twitched slightly, turning toward the carriage.
She raised her head, her eyes dull and lifeless, as lifeless and empty as an abandoned rag doll.
The carriage came right up to her.
She saw Fafnir, paused for a moment, and instinctively raised the broken bowl in her hand. As if sensing something, her eyes cleared, and her pupils shimmered with a faint amber hue in the light.
Fafnir saw that the bowl was empty, and in her other hand she was holding a piece of very unappetizing black bread.
The carriage passed quickly, and inside, Fafnir turned his head to see the small gray figure disappear at the alleyway's end.
Fafnir slowly turned his head, his hand instinctively reaching into his inner pocket, clutching a few coins.
"Oh, poor little fellow." Victor had already noticed the gray figure following Fafnir's gaze.
"Little Fafnir, I don't know if you've noticed, but this is one of your kind, a rat-person, though she's not as lucky as you."
"Come, little Fafnir, give me your hand," Victor said, extending a hand to Fafnir. "Let's help that little one and give her a few good meals."
Fafnir looked a little confused and extended a hand, which Victor gently grasped.
Suddenly, Fafnir's vision blurred; everything before him was disappearing, and his perspective was shifting upwards, away from himself.
He saw the carriage he was riding in, the bustling streets, and his gaze even reached the towering clock tower.
He transformed into a raven, a raven that soared into the sky and then swooped down.
The scene in Fafnir's eyes was changing rapidly, getting closer and closer to the ground, and also closer and closer to the alleyway they had just passed...
……
With a soft thud, a copper coin with the denomination "5" fell into the broken bowl, bounced once, spun twice, and then lay quietly at the bottom of the bowl.
She was stunned; the coin seemed to have appeared out of thin air in the bowl.
Who gave it to you?
She raised her head and looked around. The street was still bustling with pedestrians, and no one noticed her.
On the clothesline above her head, a raven, completely invisible to pedestrians, flapped its wings and vanished instantly.
She clutched the coin, her palm burning.
Then she remembered the face of the boy who had seemed so familiar to her, seen through the window of the last carriage in the procession she had just passed.
Although he was about the same age as her, he was neatly dressed and his face was clean.
She raised the bowl—she did this to everyone, it had become a habit. But most people simply ignored her, and some even cursed at her.
But the boy who felt a connection with her didn't turn his face away. Even after the carriage had passed, she could still vaguely see him turning his head to look back.
Until she was blocked by the corner of the wall.
"Is it him?"
She looked down at the coin, then at the direction the carriage had disappeared, and asked herself softly.
No one answered her.
She examined the coin more closely and noticed a feather on the reverse side. She didn't know what kind of bird's feather it was.
However, this coin was different from the usual ones. She remembered that all the previous coins had a portrait on the back, so why did this coin have a feather on the back?
She didn't understand, nor could she read, and couldn't recognize the small characters on the coin, but she knew that "5" could bring her several full meals.
She smiled, her lips parted to reveal two slightly larger front teeth, and her amber eyes curved into crescent moons.
After thinking for a moment, she stuffed the black bread into her clothes and ran barefoot into the alley.
After running for a while, she stopped, switched the coin she was holding from her right hand to her left hand, and then back to her right hand.
Finally, she carefully tucked the coin into the small pocket inside her robe, patted it twice to make sure it wouldn't fall out.
Then she kept running.
She wants to tell her dad and mom.