Decree
1502 Words
"Our leader, Aidi would only be available after midday since he would then be making his rounds in this village. Besides, he founded this village after he had created a settlement and had a few of his followers with him."
"Don't worry, Aidi is not a bad person, he is eccentric, that's all and wanted everything to be on perfect. Err... Some of his earlier followers called him a perfectionist or something?"
The middle-aged man explained to the party of four as they made their way to the centre of the village and it seemed that there were some crop fields that lined the perimeter in a circular manner.
Thus this village was surrounded by thatched houses and around the area and smacked right in the centre was a small cosy tavern which also served as a communal cooking area.
When Guy first reached Gracehaven many seasons ago, the Town was still in its infancy stages and there were only about 15 or more crop fields.
Back then, there's not even a few hundred inhabitants back in town and it seemed that he had stepped back in time when he entered Aidi Village.
"Which town did you say you come from, young lad? In sorry but this village has little to offer to travellers and we also need to be wary of visitors as we do not wish to be outrun by bandits and rebels."
The middle-aged man spoke up and Guy simply replied curtly, "Oh, we also came from a small town called Gracehaven. Of course, no one wants to have their livelihood being disrupted or destroyed by bandits and rebels, right?"
The middle-aged man scrutinised the party of four and saw that despite their blankets over their uniforms, he also noticed a hunting bow, a quiver and a short sword all by their sides. On his mind, bandits and rebels do not wear a complete matching pair of uniforms which was quite colourful in his eyes.
"Say... You do have such a nice hunting bow with you. As you were saying, all four of you come from a town called Gracehaven, right? So what's the purpose of an adventurer, young lad?"
The middle-aged man queried since normally serfs and peasants do not own their weapons and such and the uniform that the adventures were wearing was kind of eye-catching. The colours were, in fact, the colours of our flag and town.
"Let's have a meal together, shall we, old man? We can chat once we are midway through our meals." Guy reckoned to the middle-aged man as they entered the cosy tavern and chose a seating area near the window just in case of any incidences.
After finding out the price of two bowls of gruel, which was priced at 1 copper each (which was considered as expensive due to the currency exchange rate) the adventurers broke up their bread and shared among each other.
It was close to midday and there in Aidi Village, dinner was taken at midday while supper was taken after dusk.
The middle-aged man, whose name was Abel, drank a small table ale since he told them that his wife was preparing dinner and he would be heading back home after letting the Adventurers meet with the village leader.
"Thank you so much, Abel for showing us around. We hope to get to ask Aidi somethings and present him a decree from Our Majesty."
"Besides, our aim here is to pool more residents over to our town as our town has more jobs to offer and also coins to remunerate the workers."
Guy explained as the party of four enjoyed their thick gruel with their slices of bread. As the bread was made to last longer than the normal ones with some leavening, the bread was rather hard on the crusts but soft in the middle.
The Guinness offered a slice of bread to Abel and was surprised to find that even though the crusts were hard, it was quite Crispy and the middle part of the bread was soft as if it was just recently baked.
Aidi Village does not have its own bakery but they have this tavern that serves both as a dining area for the locals and visitors. After having some hot food inside them, they chatted idly with Abel when the latter explained that Aidi would be out for his rounds soon.
"That's good to hear that, Old Abel. We could talk to him if he is interested in relocating to our town since we have full amenities over there as well. Besides, which town is nearest to this village?"
Guy asked as he prepared to listen to some new named towns and villages around Aidi Village. Although he does not pen too much hope in getting the leader to allow his residents to relocate, it is worth a try.
At the very least, the most important part was that the message from His Majesty had been properly passed down. After Guy had finished speaking, a young man about 20 years old entered the cosy tavern and was wearing some articles of clothing that would fit for a king, literally.
Seeing a person entered the small tavern on such a regally manner, the four adventures can't help but stop spooning the shared bowls of gruel between them and stared hard at the man before them.
"Heh. I heard there's a group of Adventurers coming in from other towns and what I heard was really true. So tell me, Adventurers, where do you hail from and what is your purpose of being here?"
Aidi stated in a quite imposing and eloquent manner and the Adventurers found that the person before them was the total opposite from His Majesty that they had known for some seasons now.
Guy and the rest stood up and gave a salute to the man before them before the former cleared his throat and began to speak, "Ahem, we are the Adventurers that hail from a town called Gracehaven and we have brought news from the words of Our Majesty."
"Here is the decree that was assigned to us to have the Lords of the towns to read and have it returned back to us once doing so."
Guy removed a scroll of the decree and held in his hands while waiting for the other party to reply. From the looks of it, Guy simply wished that the so-called snobbish person before them does not exist.
"We are the ambassadors from the Majesty's Court and hereby passes this decree to you to be read and fully understood." Guy had made up the Court part to make it more majestic since ambassadors of some sort would represent them as knights in other domains.
Guy handed the decree to Aidi as he immediately went down on one knee when he heard about the Majesty's Court and held up his hands as he received the decree before him.
The scene was quite comical but the party F four managed to keep a straight face after all. Whatever means they had taken, are all considered as the words from Their Majesty as well and they daren't make a fool of themselves, especially in the eyes of others.
Aidi received the decree with both hands before he sat down on one of the stool and unformed it after he had untied the ribbon that secured it. After giving it a glance through, he returned it back to Guy.
Aidi then sheepishly remarked, "I'm sorry, dear ambassadors from the Majesty's Court. I am an illiterate and would prefer someone to read the decree for me." After he had said that, he lowered his head to show his humbleness despite putting on such an air before the party of four much earlier after making his entrance.
Fortunately, both Guy and Gillian had gone through some classes before and had learnt how to read and write proficiently. Looking at the leader of the village before them, they can't help but swallow their laughter as Guy unfurled the decree and read it to Aidi.
How dare such a person show attitude towards Our Majesty even though the land was not governed or controlled in any way by Gracehaven.
When Guy was about to read the decree Aidi went down on one knee as if he was asking to be beheaded by Our Majesty for his earlier insolence before the ambassadors of Gracehaven. Hahaha.
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