"Well…Carl… he's looking for work." Tucker hesitantly answered as the frown on Carl's face grew more vibrant.

"And what do you suppose I can do for him?" Carl's brows furrowed once he heard this. He gazed out the window and said, "Take him out."

"Captain, come on. There has to be something we can have him do that the other guards won't." Tucker helplessly watched as Carl ignored him and said, "He could clean the halls, or we could have him sort the equipment."

"Having a kid sort the garrison's equipment? Are you stupid?" Carl sighed deeply and shook his head, refusing to hear anymore. "Get out of my office."

"If it's pay, you don't have to worry about it; he said he'll do it in exchange for food." Tucker walked towards Carl and, in a hushed voice, said. "Look, Carl, he just wants to feed his siblings. We can't just abandon them. They have no one else to go to. If we turn them away now, we'll probably be burying their bodies a few weeks later. Don't you have a heart? You already know how hard it is to survive these days."

Carl was deep in thought as he watched the soldiers train. Numerous people depended on him, and with the monster stampede developing in the north, it was most likely that more refugees would come to the city. Countless children were already starving, and they had turned away a handful of families already, so what difference would it make if there were a few more children?

To make matters worse, the number of active guards within the town was a fraction of what it was in the past. Public order was maintained by a thin margin where even the slightest change in management could cause chaos. It was nothing short of a miracle how the crime rates haven't soared with the reduction of daily patrols.

He looked over his shoulder at Tucker and Arthur, who were waiting for an answer. Soon, Carl let out a defeated sigh as he stared at Arthur. Instinctively, he felt that Arthur was an honest child, and turning him away would cause him to steal. They were also already in the town, so it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing to employ them.

In the end, Carl could feel how hypocritical he was, but turning away a kid with no one else to depend on felt wrong. Maybe he was trying to justify his actions because the other refugees had someone to depend on, but looking at Arthur, who was standing there alone, riddled him with a sense of guilt.

"Tucker." Carl held up his middle finger, then closed his fist with a thumb sticking out before pointing it towards the door.

"That's a rude way to tell someone to leave." Tucker frowned, walking towards the office door, and slowly exited the room while pulling the door shut.

"What does that mean?" Arthur curiously asked after seeing the disgruntled Tucker leave the office.

"It means please leave." Carl calmly replied, sipping his tea from the white porcelain cup. "So you want work?"

"Yeah, I can do manual labor or chores." Arthur quickly answered with a simple nod.

"You'll be cleaning the interior and top of the walls for now," Carl said, placing his cup on top of a wooden desk. "As for pay…well, a child like you probably doesn't know the value of money yet, so we'll give you food for you and your siblings. How many of them are there?"

"There are three of us, sir," Arthur replied with the utmost respect and stood as straight as possible, both arms to his side, staring at Carl without blinking.

Woah, he's pretty tense.

Carl wondered why Arthur was so uptight but chalked it up to his nervousness since it was their first meeting. As he lowered himself onto his chair, Carl asked, "Do you have a place to stay?"

Arthur hesitated to respond, rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants before honestly saying, "We… don't have a place to stay. We just sleep on the streets, but I promise I can show up on time."

"I see. It must be hard to provide for you and your siblings. I'm not worried about whether you are punctual as long as you properly do your job." Carl pulled out a folded piece of paper from his drawers and laid it out on top of the desk. "We have extra room in the barracks. You can have your siblings move there until a better option arrives. Most of the guards don't use it anyway because they all live in town."

Seeing Carl wave at Arthur to come closer, he slowly walked to Carl's desk and looked at the unfolded piece of paper. With a pitiful tone, Arthur spoke, "I don't know what these shapes mean."

"You've never seen a map before?" Carl couldn't help but think about when he was a child and how fascinated he was to learn about maps. At the time, they were fairly common, and many children the same age as Arthur played with them. "Have you ever tried treasure hunting before?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I haven't. What's it about?" Arthur grew slightly interested upon hearing about the activity. Even though he felt it was a bit too childish for him, it would be fun for Claire.

"You would have a map such as the one on my desk, though it'll be simpler. Then there would be a location marked with an 'X' on it, and you would try to follow the map to find it." Carl drew an X on the map with his fingertips to mimic where the treasure would be, then said, "The 'X' is where the buried treasure is."

"Is the treasure…food?" Arthur's eyes glistened with a sudden sharpness.

"No… it's usually money." The unexpected seriousness from Arthur caught Carl off guard, but the surprising question made him quietly chuckle. "I'll have to teach you the value of money sometime so you hold it in higher regard."

"Thanks; I appreciate that." Arthur bowed once more in gratitude, causing Carl to smile.

"Do you have any goals or something you want to do besides taking care of your siblings?" Carl's asked.

"I don't really know…" In truth, there wasn't anything grand in Arthur's mind, and he had no aspirations or goals for himself. The only thing that mattered to him right now was surviving and taking care of Raphael and Claire, but besides that, maybe learning something new would be good. "I guess one of my goals is to learn more skills like map reading, but I feel like that's not really noteworthy enough."

"It's okay; you don't have to force yourself to think of one on the spot. This is just small talk I usually do with all of the new recruits." Carl lifted the teacup to his lips and took a small sip as the fragrance lingered in the air. "It's a way for me to get to know you better."

The swirls from the freshly brewed tea were familiar to Arthur as if he had seen them before with someone else. Its pleasant aroma was calming, and with the clear skies in the background, a refreshing atmosphere filled the room. He looked around the office and examined the characters on the books that rested on the bookshelves, then at the cloak that hung on the wall. There were many things he was curious about, like how to read and write and how many stories existed in the world.

"In that case, it's even more important…" Arthur quietly muttered.

The thought of having a goal for himself was something new, and a desire to see more of the world filled his mind. But even if he saw more of the world, what exactly was he looking for? Was there a certain place he wanted to be or scenery he wanted to see? Countless thoughts wandered in his head, and the difficult look on his face caused Carl to smirk.

"I've never seen someone that deep in thought for that question." Carl gently placed the teacup on his desk and stood up from his seat. Walking over to the side, he opened a glass cabinet and pulled out a small porcelain tea cup similar to his. With one hand reaching for the teapot, Carl held onto the handle and steadily poured a steaming orange liquid into the newly placed cup.

"Give it a try," he said.

Arthur carefully held the teacup with both hands and raised it to his lips, taking a small sip. The delicate and earthy flavor was familiar as Arthur took another sip of the drink, remembering a bittersweet memory that faintly appeared and disappeared with each gulp. With one final sip, the tea was finished.

"It seems the tea was to your liking." Carl moved the teapot closer to the empty cup but stopped once Arthur covered the top with his hand.

"No, it's okay. Thank you, but I'm full and don't want to impose too much." Arthur placed the cup back on Carl's desk.

"Hm…I see. How did it taste? Was it enjoyable?" Carl set the teapot back on his desk with a content smile.

"The taste was unique…very springlike if you can call it that," Arthur replied.

Arthur's response was satisfying because, typically, children didn't enjoy drinking tea, as it requires a more refined taste. Carl's opinion of Arthur was slowly increasing, and he would have wanted to chat more with him, but after looking at the time, Carl had to prepare for his next meeting.

Carl sat back in his chair and said, "You'll learn a lot here, kid, so just make sure you do a good job. If you do well I'll give you more work and with it more pay once you learn what money is. For now, I'll provide you and your siblings with shelter and food."

"Yes, thank you!" Arthur bowed in appreciation again to Carl, who simply waved it off.

"Just do what I told you and ask Tucker to show you around." As Carl said this, he noticed Arthur's eyes glisten with interest as he glanced at the map on his desk. Seeing no harm, Carl folded the map once more and pushed it across the wooden table top towards Arthur. "You can get one of these in town pretty easily, but I'll just give you this one. Tell Tucker I told him to teach you how to read it; even though he's lazy, he'll do his part…eventually."

"But won't he be busy?" Arthur took the map in his hands and folded it again so it could fit in his pocket. As he placed the map in his pocket, he pulled out an apple and placed it on Carl's desk. "Here, have this in exchange."

As Carl's eyes fell on the apple, a slight smirk appeared. He then waved his hand, gesturing for Arthur to leave as if dismissing him while looking towards the door. "Just tell him that he should see things through to the end. Well, you should also take it as a lesson."

"A lesson?" Arthur tilted his head in confusion, watching Carl resume his paperwork.

"Yeah, a lesson to finish what you've started." Carl focused on the stacks of papers on his desk and didn't bother seeing Arthur off.

Everything related to Arthur should have been taken care of, but Carl realized that he had spent too much time talking to Arthur and had fallen behind in his work. If he had spent more time, the other Captains would have given him an earful since their meeting would be delayed.

"Thank you, and I won't let you down!" Arthur quickly saluted Carl, mimicking the actions of the other guards in the city, before slowly opening the door and gently closing it as he left the room.

With a tired look, Carl leaned back in his chair once he was alone and sighed at the large stack of papers on his desk. "Come to think of it. Tucker didn't salute me when he left. I should probably hit him once or twice when I see him."