After a long wait, the day had finally come. This morning, a carriage stopped by our house, and two men in full, familiar-looking, armors knocked on our doors, informing us that they were to escort me—Feyt—to the capital.
I was packing my stuff into a leather case in my ever-so-creaky bedroom. I was surprised we even had this case, I thought I would’ve shoved my stuff into a bag willy-nilly. Dad fished this thing out from the storage, saying it was his way back then.
I packed the essentials: shirts, pants, underwear, etc. Dad’s leather gloves fit snugly to the side, coupled with the wooden box containing the flute that Mom bought.
I hadn’t given the flute a shot to be honest, mostly because I was putting it off. Something told me that I could play it confidently, but I didn’t know if that was just my ego or what.
On the other side of the case, I kept my other presents. The pouch with aromatic herbs gifted by Aunt Diane, even when I had sealed it tight, I could still sniff hints of it. I made sure to store the shiny rock from Ricent safely inside a small leather pouch, Fray hinted that it was worth quite a lot; so I considered it a lucky charm, or emergency funds if need be.
Speaking of Fray, I also packed the necklaces she gave me. The ornate wooden box contained two necklaces and I still had no idea who I should gift the second one to. The necklaces looked simple enough to be stylish, but not extravagant.
I took the time to switch my focus to Carine and inspect my jewelry box, which I rarely opened.
Every single necklace there looked like something my grandma would wear. Of course, most of them were green emeralds, the result of a bad attempt at giving a thoughtful gift. Just because my eyes were green doesn’t mean I like green.
But yeah, compared to the necklaces I had as Carine, the necklace Fray gifted me looked more comfortable to wear. But should I really gift it to myself? It sounded almost sad, like celebrating a birthday on your own. If Fray ever caught wind of this, she would tease me to no end, no doubt.
At this point, I decided to just think about it later. The carriage outside our house was waiting for me. I heard the knights who were assigned to the carriage pacing around outside, clearly running out of patience.
After double-checking to see if I had everything in order, I closed the case and latched it tight. Wearing my finest shirt and pants, I stepped out of my room to say my goodbyes to Mom and Dad.
“Oh, Feyt, can you stay a little bit longer?” Mom asked, her voice trembling.
“Teffa, he’s gotta leave the nest sooner or later, right? You shouldn’t hold him back,” Dad said some surprisingly thoughtful words. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Train hard, you hear?! When you come home, I expect some muscles when I open the front door!”
Well, that painted an image. Would I really get that jacked just from sword training? Probably not.
“I’ll uh… try my best!”
Mom wiped a single tear from her eye with a handkerchief. “T-Then, at least send us some letters, alright?”
I gave Mom an energetic nod. “Of course! I’ll write as much as I can!”
Once I left this house, I was sure Mom and Dad would be lonely. I, too, don’t want to leave my childhood home, but for the sake of my own lives, and my families, I had to improve myself.
Leaving home was hard, but one close call with kidnappers was enough to know I needed to get stronger. With barely any Talents, I had no choice but to rely on training to keep up with the others.
A quiet life would have to wait, there was a long road ahead of us.
Mom and Dad walked with me to the front door, where the knights quickly straightened their posture. I walked down the porch and turned back with a smile.
“Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!”
“Bye Feyt…” Mom gave a weak wave, clearly trying her best to hold back her tears.
“Yeah! Have fun!” Dad crossed his arms and gave a curt nod.
I boarded the carriage and immediately took notice of the interior. I was so used to the Sareid family carriage that I was a bit surprised that the interior looked so simple this time around. Figured they wouldn’t send out their top-of-the-line carriage for a commoner.
The two knights entered after me, sitting on the opposite side. One of them gestured to the coachmen that they were ready to go, and with neighs of the horses, the carriage rattled to life. Thıs content belongs to 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝕟𝕖𝕥
I turned to look out the small window. There stood Mom, waving with both hands, her smile soft but wavering. Beside her, Dad wore the same proud expression he’d given me at the doorstep. I forced a smile, lifting my hand in a final wave.
This was it. The last look back at home, at least for a while.
As my parents faded into the distance, I slumped back down on my seat. I’d been preparing for this for so long, yet, suddenly, it didn’t feel real.
I tried to take my mind off things by sneaking glances at the people outside the carriage. As our village wasn’t that big, I recognized some of the people walking by, going through their lives as usual.
Eventually, we began going through the market, and as it was a rather quiet day, the market wasn’t packed at all, which gave us a straight road to the gate.
As the carriage passed by several empty stalls, I noticed one particular empty stall.
That’s weird, he never leaves his stall empty.
I figured he must be sick, taking a break, or something else entirely. Then I recalled a rather rumor I overheard when I was chilling in the house. Something about Rosfeld saying he’s being terrorized by someone?
Knowing him, he might’ve incurred some debt and now loan sharks were getting to him. That would be rough.
Not long after the carriage started running, we finally exited the village. The view of wooden houses and empty stalls was replaced with blue skies and green hills.
I’m gonna miss this view.
I wondered when I would be able to go back home. A month? A year? One thing was for sure though, I needed to learn how sending letters works in this world.
Do postage stamps exist here?