Returning back to the militia man who was waiting for the new recruits to gather their things, Howl noticed that he was the first person to arrive.
-Did you take everything ? You sure you didn’t miss something ? Remember once we leave, it will be too late to come back.
The militia man warned Howl, but howl just simply nodded, the feather on his head shaking with his bop. The militia man momentarily distracted by that feather soon acknowledged Howls response before not caring any longer, it didn’t look like the militia man was going to attempt making a conversation and it seemed as if the other 3 would take a bit more time then Howl which is why Howl wanted to ask a few things before they came back.
-Sir, do…do all Blood Baptisms go the way ours does ? Does everybody sign the waver ?
-Huh ?
Being suddenly asked a question by Howl, the militia man didn’t seem to expect such thing, nevertheless he quickly recovered his wits before looking at Howl in a sympathetic but bland manner, at first it didn’t look like he was going to answer, but after heaving a long sigh he did end up opening his mouth to Howl.
-Yes and No, Your are right to assume that everybody goes through the same test within the Blood Baptism, but not everybody signs or even gets a waver. As you have already seen no child is told of the contents of the Blood Baptism until they are of age and experience it, in our world where people die out like wisps of candle light, it is a necessity to weed out the mentally weak ones from the mentally strong ones, the Demons you have faced inside that forest were all extremely weak, collected by us militia man, the lowest of the low, even weaker then a puppy, any child could kill such Demon with ease if they tried, but what these Demons have that you as children don’t have is the intent to kill, for Demons this comes as naturally as existing, but for us humans that is not the case, we are not born killers like them which is why it is necessary to instill this intent to kill from young age to be even close to matching them.
The militia man paused for a moment as if allowing Howl to digest everything he just said, and Howl did exactly just that finding no problem in what the militia man just even if a bit mad about the fact that his close friend Biro died just to accomplish this weeding process, he still kept his head cool and absorbed the new information like a sponge, seeing Howl mostly looking like he understood the militia man continued with his eyes closed as if he was trying to remember something long ago.
-It is after all against the law to tell the children about the contents of the Blood Baptism, not only in our town but in most towns who follow the traditions of the Blood Baptism, telling a child about what occurs there can be as heavy as a capital punishment or hanging which is why nobody dares to talk to children too much until they have come to age and completed the Blood Baptism lest they risk giving out too much information which could get them into trouble, but it doesn’t mean other forms of helping the children to overcome the rite is forbidden, for example the parents could teach the child how to kill or train them how to fight before having them go to the Blood Baptism to increase their chances. And regarding the waver,no citizen is given a waver, only the orphans who became adults without adoptive parents are obligated to sign them if they want to continue living inside the town, the conditions may not seem very unfair but take it as you repaying your dept to the town which has kept you alive for all this time investing precious resources into you, which is to say, do you ever wonder why it is that the orphans are never allowed in the inner parts of the town and only in the outer parts ?
Howls eye twitched at that question, yes indeed he had wondered about that and not just once but almost his entire life since the caretakers always said that they could only enter the inner parts of the town when they came adults, seeing that the outer part was purely dedicated to food production, different orphanages and almost nothing else, he knew the inner part would have everything else inside of it like blacksmiths, general stores, taverns and other such places.
Hell from what he had learned about the town from his lessons, the outer part of the town only comprises 30% of the town which was encased by a tall and thick wall protecting them.
The other 70% was entirely the inner parts of the town which some of the orphans may never have seen before if they hadn’t lived there until they became a orphan, since it was also encased by a huge wall with many militia man patrolling the area hiding what was inside.
It is only when adults from the inner parts of the town would come visit every month to pick out children for adoption that the kids had any real chance to be able to move towards the inner parts of the town without immediately needing to become a adult.
Adoption itself was a rarity as well in this town, with the amount of militia man dying in action and leaving behind a family of 2 or in the rare cases 1 child, it isn’t surprising that there exist a lot of orphanages.
But back to the town matter, why was it that the orphans couldn’t enter the inner town, was there perhaps something inside of there that the children shouldn’t see ?
Howl shook his head.
No, it can’t be since there are children who live there and also children who became orphans that had lived inside the inner town before becoming orphans, if they had seen something incriminating or otherwise suspicious they would have likely pointed it out, which they hadn’t, so what was it ?
-Hmm..
Howl thought hard about it, getting increasingly confused why something strange as orphans not being being allowed into the inner town even existed if there already were children who lived inside the inner town, he started to chase his tail around this issue more and more inside a circle until he couldn’t take it anymore and just stopped letting his rattling eyes calm coming to the conclusion that he wouldn’t be able to answer no matter how many years it took.
Instead he pulled out a flask of fresh water from his sack offering it to the militia man before looking at him with a pleading look in his eyes and saying.
-I don’t know, sir, please teach me.
The militia man smiled at Howl finding him amusing before taking the flask and unscrewing the cap taking in large gulps of water, letting some of it spill from his mouth before giving it back to Howl returning a empty flask.
-At least you know how to be polite kid. Hahh, I really needed that, haven’t drank anything since morning, now where were we ? Ah Yes, why can’t the orphans enter the inner town ? Well, simply said its all about social status really.
The militia man spoke with a shrug looking refreshed as he wiped his lips with delight.
Howl didn’t completely understand what the militia man meant by “social status”, Howl understood what a social hierarchy was, but not what the status in that meant since he never heard about anyone with a higher authority then the mayor who ruled this town and the militia captain who was responsible for the military.
To Howl it was honestly quite convoluted especially since he was only now hearing about all of this which is proof of how well the people kept these secrets in this town.
Watching How,l the militia man seemed to notice his confusion but not understanding why he was confused in the first place, but soon enough it hit him like a truck as realization dawned upon him, Howl was after all new to all of this, it was only today that he had undergone his vicious right of passage in becoming a adult, the Blood Baptism, but here he was calmly standing next to him asking the relevant questions that anybody would ask after calming down some more even though he had just experienced what most kids his age would consider pure hell and very traumatizing which was not easy to recover from.
On top of that he signed up to the militia instead of becoming a slave to the town for the next 20 years which shows that Howl was extremely daring and not easily scared since he understood what he would face from his earlier experience.
Honestly the militia man started to like Howl more and more especially since he gave him that water which is why he didn’t mind to say a bit more.
-Kid, if you don’t understand the “social status” I just mentioned then let me tell you, do you know what the people who official live in this town are called ?
Howl blinked for a second not sure where this question was leading but answering anyways since he truly wanted to know.
-I think the citizens or townsfolk ?
The militia man nodded before looking out of the door into the open farm field, it was still midday, harvest season was already here and the farmers outside were at full throttle working their arms and legs off carrying the produce back into the warehouse to be then shipped somewhere else.
Howl followed the gaze of the militia man, but he couldn’t find anything strange since it was something he was used to seeing, if it wasn’t for today being the day he became a adult and experienced the Blood Baptism he would probably doing the same thing as those farmers and working alongside them hauling the produce and helping out like he always does enjoying his hard work.
But that was the past, if the past Howl wanted to be a farmer the present Howl wanted to be strong, these questions he was asking all were relevant to his future path and he needed the answers to progress forward.
The militia man turned back at him.
-You see kid, you are both right and wrong, you are indeed right in the fact that the people who live here are considered citizens, but not everybody is truly considered a “official” citizen in the eyes of the public, only those who live in the inner town are official citizens, those farmers for example or anybody who lives in this part of town are not a “official” citizen.
-They aren’t “official” citizens ?
Howl whispered to himself, still not entirely understanding what the militia man was driving at, he felt a bit pathetic about the fact he couldn’t put his brain into order, but it couldn’t be helped Howl was never good at using his head which is why he always stuck doing manual labor like farming since it was easier and more enjoyable for him.
Luckily he didn’t have to really think hard it anymore, because as soon as he thought about it some more the puzzle pieces fell into place as a answer showed itself to him which made him feel quite bitter when he understood.
-So, we the orphans aren’t even considered citizens ? Is that why we can’t enter the city ? But now that we are adults aren’t things different ?
Howl asked in a hopeful manner, but the militia man merely looked at him with a placid look before telling him off.
-If things were different would you have been forced to sign that waver ? Don’t be stupid, remember what I said kid, no citizen is given a waver, but since you were given the waver you should know the answer by now.
The militia man finished, raising his head away from Howl as he had noticed 3 kids, 2 boys and 1 girl approach him.
They were George, Fang and Ashley.
They had finished with packing their things and were quickly approaching nervous about the things that will occur next while also showing a bit of excitement for the things that were about to come.
The militia man merely nodded at them before asking if everybody was here and whether or not they packing all the things they needed, since there were only 4 people in this orphanage who would go to the militia the question wasn’t really necessary but since protocol demanded it, the militia man did it anyways before soon asking the 4 to follow him back to the carriage outside where he would bring them away.
George, Fang and Ashley moved along quite quickly following the militia man.
Only Howl seemed to transfixed in place as he looked out of the window towards the farmers who were working tirelessly, staring at them he started to realize how little he truly knew about these people even though he worked with them for so many years ever since he was 6 basically 4 years which was still a lot of time for him who had only lived for 10 years.
But there was even a longer time that Howl couldn’t even imagine which was 20 years, in 20 years would Howl have become like those farmers he wondered.
He touched his head, feeling the feather underneath his fingers he felt a cool prickly sensation that startled him awake from his daydreaming.
Once again if it was the past Howl maybe he would have wanted that, but the present Howl was different, he wanted strength, to truly gain happiness he needed strength no matter what.
-Howl ! Howl ! What are you doing standing over there we need to go !
Ashley suddenly called for him standing outside the door with the others, having been reminded of what to do, Howl stopped his dawdling and erased the thoughts he just had before quickly dashing towards them.
A Place Of Legends 