Deep in the dark night, when everyone was fast asleep and the street traffic had become almost none, Jacob's face was twisted into an uncomfortable expression.
He kept turning in his bed and his uncomfortable expression kept fluctuating in intensity. He was also muttering some unintelligible words. He was sweating so much that even the blanket that covered him became a little wet. His face was also pale as if he was suffering from fever.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Jacob screamed and woke up. He tried to get up while screaming but could not do so. A strong hand was already holding him down.
"Calm down, son. Sheeeesh. It was just a dream. It is gone now. Sheeeesh." The elder had appeared over his sleeping figure some time ago and was already holding him down before he woke up. He tried to calm him down with soft soothing voices.
Jacob was feeling extreme hate and anger. He was also feeling extreme sadness. His heart was beating like a drum and was about to come out of his chest.
His breathing rate was also over the roof. He had never felt such extreme negative feelings of hate and anger towards anyone before in his entire life, not even towards those two who had tried to kill him.
He hated them even now but the peak of his hatred and anger towards them was not even close to the feelings he was having right now.
He wanted to get up instantly and kill some unknown enemy in the worst ways he could think of. So with a face distorted with anger and hatred, he started struggling against his father's hand to get up. But he could not even budge his hand. It was as if an unshakeable iron pillar was placed on him.
"Sheeeesh, my son. It is ok. I am here." The elder tried to calm him down. He also started caressing his twisted face with a soft expression.
Jacob calmed down immediately after that and his twisted face eased. But instead of going back to normal, his expression became extremely sad after that.
By now, tears were already staining his little cheeks and more were on the way. He started sobbing. He had felt such levels of sadness only once. It was when his mother died. But there was something more with this sadness, something he could not put his finger on.
For the first time in his life, Jacob was sobbing about something he had no idea of. The level of sadness he was feeling right now was unprecedented. It was as if he had suffered from a great tragedy, something that was at the level of losing his mother or even greater than that.
He was feeling extreme pain on the left side of his chest. It was as if someone was tearing through his chest with a knife. He put his right hand on it hoping that the pain would go away. But nothing was happening, even after feeling it out and finding it intact.
He innately knew that this sadness was not for his mother but something else. Something that he could not put his finger on. He wasn't sure which sadness was greater, this one or the one he felt two years ago.
The elder removed his hand from his chest and sat down near him. He made his son sit up and hugged him.
"It's ok, son. Don't be sad. It was a dream. It is gone now. Don't be sad now." He also started patting his back as he tried to soothe his sobbing son.
They kept sitting on the bed for a few minutes and the elder kept patting his back. Jacob calmed down and stopped sobbing.
"I am alright now, father." He told his father in a calm after a few minutes. The pain was also gone by now. He kept hugging his father for a few minutes after calming down. He needed the warmth of his father's hug in this time of great sadness.
The elder stopped hugging him and made him lie back down on the bed.
"Sleep now. Morning is still a few hours away." The elder told his son to sleep in a soft voice.
"Ok. Father, I cannot remember my dream." Jacob tried hard to think about the dream but could not remember anything about it as usual. All he knew about it were just feelings.
"It is ok. It is better that way." After saying that, he stood up and picked up the blanket that was covering Jacob previously. He took it away and brought his blanket from the bed. He then covered Jacob with that blanket. It was winter now.
He then kissed his son on his forehead and went back to his back.
After his father went away, Jacob closed his eyes and tried hard to think about the dream. Even after a few minutes, he could not think about anything and came empty.
Did I lose my father in my dream? He made an educated guess about his dream. His father was his everything. He loved him so much. So he was sure that only the loss of his father could elicit such intense feelings inside of him.
No, this cannot be. I cannot lose my father. I cannot. He is my everything in this world. I have already lost my mother. I cannot lose him also. I will protect him with my life, with my everything. I will not let anything happen to him. His expression became that of extreme fear. It was too horrible for him. He didn't want to lose his father at any cost.
He opened his eyes immediately and turned his look towards his father. The elder was lying on his side while facing him. He was looking toward him. As Jacob made eye contact with him with a face full of fear, his father opened his mouth to speak.
"Sleep, son. Don't think about anything. It was a dream. It is gone now." The elder advised him to sleep for the second time.
"As you say, father." After saying that Jacob closed his eyes.
I will protect him from everything. I will become stronger and stronger. I will work hard. I will not let anything happen to him. Jacob made a vow in his heart. He did not want to lose his father at any cost.
...............................
Jacob woke up early in the morning the next day. He looked towards his father and found him sitting cross-legged on his bed with his eyes closed.
"Good morning, father." Jacob greeted his father.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" His father opened his eyes and looked at him.
"Yes. I am feeling very refreshed right now."
"Good." After saying that, the elder became silent and closed his eyes again.
"Father. I felt a suffocating pain in my left chest last night just after the dream. Is there some problem with me?"
"No. There is no problem with you. It is a normal thing. The reason you felt the pain was due to the emotion of extreme sadness. When a person's sadness crosses a certain threshold in intensity, he starts feeling intense pain in his chest. Don't worry about it. It is normal." The elder explained while keeping his eyes closed.
"Ok." After that, they both went silent. After a few minutes of silence, Jacob broke the silence with a question.
"Umm. Father, when are we going out to buy things?"
"We will wait a couple of hours. The shops are not open right now. By then, all the shops will be open." The elder replied again without opening his eyes. It was clear that he was waiting for two hours to pass by sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
Jacob kept sitting on his bed for a few minutes before he stood up. He still remembered the last night vividly. He would never forget those feelings ever in his life. They were too terrifying. He wished to never feel them ever again.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
He also remembered the vow he had made inside his heart the last night. He had to work harder from now on. He could not slack at all. So, he could not waste time at all. He could do some exercises right now if he wanted.
As a result, he stood up, went to a corner of the room and started doing pushups. The elder opened his eyes and looked toward his son.
He smiled after looking at how much hard work his son was putting in order to strengthen his body. After looking at him for a few seconds, he closed his eyes again with the same smiling expression.
Jacob stopped after half an hour. He still remembered the lesson engraved into him by both his parents and the instructors, which was to maintain a balance between rest and training. Otherwise, he would lose more instead of gaining anything.
He went back to his bed, laid down and started waiting for the rest of the time to pass. After half an hour, he was bored. He wanted to get up again in order to exercise but stopped himself.
They still had to go out shopping. (I would exercise more in the evenings from now on.) Jacob decided to increase his workout time in the evening.
One hour passed and the elder stood up from his bed and wore his backpack. Jacob also got up and wore his backpack.
"We are going out now." After saying that, he exited the room. Jacob also followed him. After Jacob's exit, the elder locked the door to their room.
They both came down to the ground floor. The inn hall was much more crowded than yesterday. Most of the tables were occupied with only a few empty. The place was very much noisy and rowdy.
The number of servants serving them was also greater than yesterday. There were even male servants this time.
They went to an empty table and sat down. They waited for a few minutes. Soon, a male servant came to them and said,
"What is your order, sir." He addressed the elder.
The elder looked towards his son, "What do you want to eat, son?"
At this, the servant turned his attention to the kid sitting near him.
"Do you have fried eggs here?" Jacob asked the servant with an innocent voice.
"Of course we have. In addition to that, we have wine, beer, milk, soups, bread, butter, cheese and bacon. We also have specials like deer meat but it will be expensive."
"Two fried eggs with a mug of beer." Jacob replied with anticipation. He wanted to taste alcohol today. He knew about some of them due to working in clan kitchens. But he could not even touch them, much less taste them. It was forbidden for servants' children to approach them.
"No alcohol. You are forbidden from drinking any kind of intoxicant from now on. For the rest of your life." The elder abruptly spoke and inflicted a life-long sentence on Jacob in a matter of seconds.
"But why, father?" This was the second time his father was forbidding him from doing something. The first time was about not asking forbidden questions.
This time, the rule was too strict. Jacob had seen many people drinking alcohol in his life. Even now, almost all the occupied tables had a mug or two of beer on them.
According to his friends, alcohol was a good thing. It made people intoxicated and forget about the sad things. The people around them were also testifying to the claims of his friends. They were happily drinking alcohol.
Jacob knew that his father never did things without any reason. He could not guess the reason behind his father's decision. That was the reason he had blurted out a seemingly rude question.
"The reason is very simple. I don't want my son to take intoxicants." The elder slightly smiled at him while replying.
"Ok. As you wish, father." Jacob gave a helpless smile after saying his piece. He was also thinking about the last night. He would never disobey his father in his life. He would rather die than do that.
The servant kept standing there silently for them to finish with their father-son discussion. He also sported a small smile on his face.
"Two fried eggs with a chicken soup." Jacob told the servant while raising two of his fingers.
The servant grunted in affirmation and looked toward the elder. He kept standing there looking at him expecting something. Half a minute passed and no one uttered a word. It turned awkward. Finally, the servant broke the strange silence.
"Is that all, sir?" The servant asked the elder with a strange expression. The elder nodded at that. The servant went away after seeing his nod.
The order was not that much. So they did not have to wait for long and the meal was served on the table. Jacob did not ask his father to eat first and started eating. He already knew that his father never ate anything.
He quickly finished his meat. He also burped unconsciously, causing his face to turn red with embarrassment. He started looking down in embarrassment.
"Have you eaten to your full, son? Do you want anything else?"
Fortunately, his father's question lessened his embarrassment and he looked up.
"I am full, father."
After that, they paid two bronze coins to the servant and exited the inn.
The streets outside were already crowded and the crowd was increasing steadily. They were in one of the busy parts of the city. They were near the city gates. The market was also within a walking distance.
"Father. I forgot to ask yesterday. Isn't the inn ripping us off? We had to pay five bronze coins for a single time and the breakfast also cost us two bronze coins."
As they walked through the streets and moved towards the nearest market, Jacob could not help but ask his father about the thing bothering him.
"Not at all. No inn in Worlen cost this much for a single night. There is a reason for that. It is a large city and is serving as a trade hub. The people living here are richer and have more purchase power. The population is also large, so the things that are barely meeting the demand or cannot meet it all become very expensive, for example, the food products"
"So, why are inns more expensive than Worlen? There must be many of them in this large city."
"Yes. There are many. But the land prices in a walled city like Agoross are over the roof. They also have to pay taxes to the clans for maintenance, law and order and protecting the city. That's why the room prices are higher.
Always remember this rule of thumb, the things that cannot meet the demand become more expensive. And the higher the taxes, the greater the prices." The elder explained some city economy to little Jacob.
"Got it, father."
As they walked on the streets, Jacob noticed guards with the same emblem passing by them or standing here and there many times. The emblem was also very strange. It was like a spear piercing some large canine.
"Father. To which clan do those guards belong? They are so many." Jacob pointed at some of them and asked the question.
"They? They belong to the biggest clan in the city, the Aumrin clan." The elder lowered Jacob's raised hand while answering the question.
"The Aumrin clan?" Jacob repeated the clan name in a questioning manner.
"Yes, the Aumrin clan. It is ruling most of this city. There are also many other clans in this city. But they cannot compare to them."
"How can the other clans not compare to them?" Jacob asked with a curious expression.
"It is because they control most of the business in the city. They have soldier units consisting of almost eight thousand soldiers in total. They also have almost two thousand guards in their guard units."
"Woahh. Their clan is so big. The Rokas clan is nothing in front of them."
"Haha. Correct. And the most important thing about their strength is their six third-level cultivators. The other strong clans in the city only have two or one level three cultivators.
Even if all of them combined their strength in order to resist the Aumrin clan, the most they would be able to do would be getting four level three cultivators, still two short while comparing with the Aumrin clan."
"Really? But father, what are these levels you are talking about? I do not know much about them." Jacob had once heard about the cultivation levels from his mother.
He had asked his mother and the guards but all they knew was that the levels were divided into numbers and they were related to the strength of a cultivator somehow.
That was the most he could learn about the topic. Later, he heard about them when the news about Kai's breakthrough back then when he was in the clan.
During their conversation, the elder was always looking ahead as he explained things to his son. But this time, he looked towards him and said,
"Why don't I tell you about cultivation levels when we start our way back to the home?"
"As you say, father." Jacob agreed with his father.
The father-son duo became silent after that.
As they neared the market, the crowd kept increasing. Jacob had to hold his father's hand in order to not get separated from him. As they reached the entrance of the market, the streets became so crowded that they had to watch their steps.
After they entered the market, Jacob became surprised as he looked at the height of the shop buildings lining the streets. The shops in the markets of Worlen were at most two floors high with an exception here and there. But here, the shops were at least three floors high.
Worlen truly looked like a poor country bumpkin in front of this rich city. In addition to that, the size of this market must be many times greater than the markets in Worlen. Jacob thought inwardly and he was correct in his guesses.
The size of this market was indeed much more than the sizes of all the markets of Worlen combined. And this was not the only market in this city. There were two more markets of comparable sizes in other parts of the city.
Jacob could see that the businesses of those shops were booming. It was a sign of prosperity. They soon started searching for a shop that was selling clothes.
They soon found one. It was a four-floored building. A few statues made up of some unknown material were standing outside while wearing seemingly high-quality clothes.
A few people were also standing outside of it and calling out to the passersby, accompanied by a couple of armed guards.
One of them caught sight of the father-son duo headed towards them and ran towards them without caring about the passersby in between them. Many people almost fell due to him rushing by.
"Welcome, welcome, respected citizens. Welcome to the Ernol Garments. Please follow me."
The duo then followed that enthusiastic person as he pushed other passersby in front of them aside in order to make way for them. It seemed a bit rude but nobody could do anything to him in the crowded streets.
There were also his friends watching over him in case of any trouble. That was a common tactic used by shopkeepers in order to flatter their potential customers.
Many fights occurred on a daily basis due to such rude behaviour. It was a great headache for the ruling clan and they had to increase the guard count in the busy markets. The passersby also could not single out shops.
Almost every shop was doing that despite warnings from the clan. The passersby themselves would receive such special treatment if they became customers of such shops.