District 42-Chapter 282: Too late part 1
Ari was running through District 42. More precisely, toward the midwest region.
At that time, he was just a common worker that lived in an average location. That place didn’t have too much criminalism, the houses were decent, people were nice, and everything was close by. It wasn’t exactly in the midwest region, but in a near part of the north region.
He was nineteen years old and was going to turn twenty in just some months. Ari got his first job right in the midwest region and was working there for more than five years to help with the bills and other expenses of his family.
Ari didn’t hate his life. He was just a commoner with nothing much to brag about, nor any other way to become extremely rich suddenly or get more prestige. He just lived each day at a time and never looked to the time passing.
It was easy for him to get a job in the midwest region. They always needed someone who knew how to deal with numbers and how to calculate quickly. That place was known because of the great number of stores and stalls, so a lot of merchants spent their days selling their goods there.
However, because of the flow of people in the midwest (which wasn’t as crowded as in the slugs of other regions but crowded enough to fill the streets), the merchants always needed someone to help them. And since most of the people living in District 42 were illiterate or didn’t know how to calculate, they were always needing someone to help them in their business.
These days, Ari was working with a sympathetic lady called Tani. That was her nickname, but she never said her real name to anyone. According to her, the only person that deserved to hear about her name was her ex-husband that was no longer alive.
It was pretty common to see widows in District 42. The woman had a longer life expectancy than the men. They were meant to live until their fifty years old, while most of the men had a greater chance to die after they reached thirty-five.
While running, Ari ended up bumping into passers-by, dropping the goods of some stalls in the way, and tripping on all sorts of things that were imposed in his way.
After a bunch of curse words were directed to him, and he nearly lost his neck a lot of times because of the angry people around, he could get in the store that he worked at.
To not involve himself nor Tani in greater problems, he entered into the store quickly and closed its door.
"You are always late, aren’t you, Ari?" A matured voice came from the corner balcony of the store. Behind it, a woman was standing, looking at the young man with sarcastic eyes.
"Y-yes I got late again. I am sorry for this. I think it is unbecoming to commit the same mistake over and over again, Tani."
"Oh! C’mon, Ari! Don’t be so polished with me. I know very well about the situation you have with your little brother, ok? It’s not easy to take care of someone who is ill, and I am sure that your father is always occupied because of different chores. You can count on me to hold things for a while."
She was a pretty energic lady. Sometimes, too harsh on him, but he knew that she liked to be as harsh as life was. Tani wasn’t just teaching him how to work properly, but how to deal with life properly.
"Well, today’s teenagers are just repeating the same mistakes over and over again, also as doing silly things that my generation surely wouldn’t do. But that’s part of a cycle. Just don’t let to learn how to be punctual just when you need it. The time will come when you will need not to lose even one second to get what you want. At this time, you need to be prepared and arrive at the right time."
"But... how can I always keep track in the hour? I am very good with numbers and all, but my mind gets distracted easily. When I realize it, I forgot the hour again. No matter how much I try to keep track of it, I always end up realizing that I am too late when I already messed with my schedule."
Tani thought a little bit about that matter. She had a calm expression behind the mask, which showed that the answer was in the tip of her tongue, but she needed a good way to put it.
"Well, you can just try to imagine a clock, then. If you are always lost in your thoughts, then imagine constantly a clock shouldn’t be such a troublesome thing, right?"
As the wise person that Tani surely was, she would always try to put some wisdom in his head. Often enough, it worked. That was one of the reasons why Ari liked so much work with her. Besides, of course, the good payment.
The advice she gave was something that seemed useful for Ari, so he kept that idea in mind.
"Ok, we need to start the day now. Remember to open this door again when the angry people go away, and get ready for a busy day. I feel that a huge wave of clients will appear around the afternoon.
After the morning ended, the widow showed to be right in her prediction. Indeed, most of the clients began to appear at that hour. Ari wondered why it was so busy like this. For him, it was just another normal weekday. Most of the commoners should be working, particularly the ones that worked in the Castle since they barely stopped to produce and operate.
Nevertheless, there was something that he wasn’t aware of.
"What? You didn’t know? Young man, you sure are lost on time, aren’t you?" Tani chuckled when he asked her what was going on in the District that day.
"Today is the day of Crusade. The Ridires will pass through the Midwest region today. Also, recently it was the birthday of the Princess. The king would like to show her a bit more grown-up than the last time we saw, I suppose, that’s why he sent her to give a stroll around the Castle as well."
Ari’s eyes got bright after he heard this. It was rare for soemeone to have the chance to see Princess Vick in person, particularly when being a commoner.
"Well, since the store is empty now and we sold a bunch of goods, you can go see the end of the crusade once you fill all the store’s shelves again."
"Y-yes! Thank you very much. I will try my best!" He ran towards the shelves and began to analyze what kind of thing he would need to get to fill the various empty spaces.
Actually, Tani was an opportunist as well. She knew very well that it was unlikely that the boy would be able to fill all those shelves in time to see the Crusade. But she decided to prove his worth by doing this type of challenge, so she would have her shelves organized before closing.
Surprisingly, Ari made everything in just some dozens of minutes, which left the merchant with her jaw dropped.
"Frankly, I can’t understand this admiration you have in the Royal Family, the Jarls, and everything else that is stuck on that stinky Castle. However, you are free to have your opinion. I am glad that you finished things quickly, at least."
She dismissed him while waving her hand to the boy.
He gave her a bright smile, which she couldn’t see, but felt. Hurriedly, he walked off the store and went to the streets.
He knew, at least, that the Crusade would happen in the main avenue. He didn’t have too much time to spent just walking, so he decided to run.
Get there wasn’t so quick when going on foot, even more at a slow pace. If he was lucky, he would get there before the sunset. Maybe some minutes late.
The Crusades usually ended at that time, so he would be able to see them going back to the Castle, at least.
After twenty minutes of running until he didn’t have more strength in his legs to do so, Ari finally arrived at the main avenue.
A crowd of people was gathered there. A strong march could be heard in the distance.
The boy wasn’t short. He was already 169 centimeters tall. It wouldn’t be a big deal to take a look over that crowd if there weren’t so many people there.
The boy tried to go through the commoners to have a better look at the Crusade. It wasn’t an easy task since nobody wanted to lose their place to observe that show.
Since Ari was getting nervous, he started to think in numbers like crazy. An old habit of his.
When he finally could get past the crowd, his skillful eyes and sharp perception could grasp something right off the bat.
Not in the main avenue, nor among the crowd, but appearing on a faraway window, someone was pointing a crossbow towards the carriage where the Princess was.
