Chapter 25: One sheath, two swords
If Aric had heard those words, he would have been surprised. The guard was quite attentive for his job, and maybe in modern times, he would have been a good detective. The first thing to strike him was the atmosphere of bustling activity that enveloped the narrow cobblestone streets.
The air was filled with sporadic sounds of hagglers at their open-air shops, a few horses clip-clopping, and the chatter of townsfolk. The city seemed like a maze of tightly packed buildings, their timber frames and thatched roofs leaning precariously over the streets below.
Few houses had colorful banners hung from the windows and balconies with sigils that Aric had never seen before. Above them, laundry flapped in the breeze.
Aric could see a couple of bakeries, a blacksmith shop, an extravagant cloth shop, an armor shop, and various others which seemed to be in sync with the times. Aric didn’t expect the city to be so big, but it was a breath of fresh air for him. There was an odor around which Aric had never experienced before.
Though the odor wasn’t very pleasant, as there was a small portion of horse poop mixed in it, he could also smell the air being fresher than the ones he experienced in his previous life. After a bit of appreciation, he started walking around the city pointlessly. He wanted to understand from people what this place was all about. As Aric walked through the bustling streets of the medieval city, snippets of conversation floated to his ears.
"I swear, the price of grain keeps rising every week. Soon, we’ll be eating nothing but scraps," spoke a man who seemed to be more ragged than the others around in general.
"It’s because of the barbarians. The soldiers of the empire are dealing with them. Hopefully, in a week or so, the borders will return to peace."
"The church has issued a memorial for the dead soldiers tomorrow. I think we should go."
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