As he heard the rooster's cries in his sleep, Johann woke up at dawn in his brightening room. He got out of bed and washed his face in the water basin beside it before starting his day. He left his room on the ground floor of the Frontier Hügel Inn, owned by his parents, and went to the kitchen to have breakfast. His mom and dad were there, talking, as he approached.
"Jules, have you heard anything about the caravans? This all smells too fishy..." Johann's mother questioned.
"Not yet, Sofie. The Captain sent a scout team to look into the road on the county's side for clues, but there's no news so far." the father said.
"Do you think it's that serious?" she asked, worried.
"We won't be sure before the scouts' reports, but since Captain Sieghart is readying more defenses, I don't think it's very likely to be something simple." Jules pondered.
"Dear, wouldn't it be best to send Johann to live with your father in the county capital until this blows over? I have an awful feeling about this whole thing" Sofie suggested, pale-faced and with her voice quivering.
"I don't know, honey... Sending him on the road at this time might be even more dangerous... We should at least wait for some reliable escort there, if possible." his dad said.
At that moment, Johann entered the kitchen absent-mindedly, his head lowered. His parents glanced at each other, and Sofie hugged him tenderly.
"Johann, what's wrong?" she asked, not touching the previous subject.
"Huh? Nothing, why?" the boy got jerked out of his stupor, replying in a hurried tone.
"You had a serious and distant look on your face, is all. Worried about something?" his dad asked.
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking of some stuff. Chores, studies and all that." Johann said with a strained laugh, completely unconvincing.
"Well, let's eat then? Your father has to go to work, and we still have to clean the rooms." Sofie told Johann, pulling their focus back to the meal.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
*****
After breakfast, Jules left to work while Sofie and their son cared for the Frontier Hügel's routine. They first served breakfast to the outside customers, since there had been no guests in weeks. Next, they went through each of the Hügel's rooms, dusting the furniture and changing bedsheets. They used this as a mother-child bonding moment, talking about nothing in particular and exchanging jokes and puns. The heavy mood from breakfast slowly lifted, swept away by the playful banter.
"Bye, mom! I'm heading to the Tollhouse to study with dad!" Johann told his mother after washing up in his room and getting changed to a more presentable outfit.
Every day, after helping out at home, he went to his father's office to learn the basics for when he begins working as an apprentice. As he reached the Trade Tollhouse, he approached the reception counter.
"Good morning! Is my dad free?" Johann asked the receptioninst.
"Good morning, little Johann! Mr. Jules is out at the moment for an appointment with Lord Georg. But you can wait in his office if you want." the receptionist responded amiably.
"Okay, thanks!" the boy said before rushing to his father's office. Past the counter, he went to the end of the hall, up the stairs and followed the corridor to his dad's office. At the door, he stopped to read the room's paque, trying to glean more meaning from it than last time. The plaque read [Chief-Manager of the Ostland-Dwergaheim Trade Tollhouse, Mr. Jules], but he still only recognized his dad's name and the word Tollhouse, having only heard the rest in passing.
Excited to learn even more that day, he entered the office joyfully. Inside the room, there were two couches around a coffee table at one corner, many bookshelves, and a desk for paperwork. The walls had a contraption with 3 different sized circles spinning around the same axis, with a single line from the center to the edge pointing at the multiple markers around them, which he recognized as a clock, as well as a calendar he had yet to learn how to read. The desk had everything one would expect from a desk, as well as a small calendar for quick reference.
Along the walls, the room had many bookshelves, which were split among reference books for management of the Tollhouse, books on many fields of appraisal to deal with rarer merchandise, and the few educational books used to teach Johann. Behind the desk, there was a window that opened to the front entrance of the Tollhouse, offering ample view of the street below, and close to the desk and the coffee table there were strings connecting to bells outside the room to request the presence of the assistants.
Johann took the time to go around the room and try to learn anything new by reading the book names or looking at the calendar or clock, but he hadn't had success so far. As he was sinking deeper in concentration to try and find something from the limited information, the door to the office opened.