Rilven.
That's what the town they reside in has been named.
Situated in the west of the continent of Tessara, it's under the jurisdiction of the city of Braywick.
The town itself is not very big, housing around 4000 to 6000 people, making it on the smaller side compared to some other towns.
There was not much one could do in this place since the town only held houses placed in a circular pattern with a big plaza in the middle where the shops were situated.
The orphanage at the northern outskirts of the town, giving both Marc and Alex a nice view of the town landscape.
Walking on the dirt path, the boys were chattering and laughing about some random talk.
"Seriously, why do the girls in the orphanage always manage to get adopted first?" Asked Mark, suddenly turning the mood to serious.
"Probably because they are easier to manage, or simply because they are cute." Replied Alex before continuing.
"It doesn't matter anyway, it's not like anyone will want a bear-like adult-sized kid like you." Teased Alex to Marc, trying to return the mood to funny.
"Screw you, no one wants a twigman like you either!" replied Marc, annoyed.
"Yeh, we both are pretty much fucked, alright." Commented Alex, earning a laugh from his friend.
"Hahahaha, you are god-damn right." Said Marc as he slapped his hand on his tight, and laughing out loud.
Having returned Marc's mood to joyful again, Alex smiled and looked ahead at the approaching town, gazing at the houses in the distance. He couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to have a family.
As Mark said before, the ratio at which the girls in the orphanage were adopted was staggering compared to the boys. Of the forty-something kids at the place, the number of girls could be counted with the fingers of a hand, and you will have fingers left over.
In comparison, the boys struggled to find a home willing to take them in, and when they did, normally only the smaller boys, ranging from 1 to 6, were taken.
This made boys who outgrew that age range to be left unadopted normally until they turned 16, when they reached adulthood, and were thereby kicked from the orphanage.
He feared the future where they were kicked to the streets, but couldn't help but think: what would he do to survive? After all, in the orphanage their needs were satisfied by the workers there, and the food was bought by the orphanage organization.
Still, the truth is cold, and he knew that the chances of them actually being adopted were basically null, since they were already grown.
So he was forced to think of a way to survive, but there were still 2 years until said moment, so burying his thought deep, he turned and asked Marc:
"Okay, bud, where do we start first?"
"We should start with the meat, it's the furthest away, and work our way closer to the orphanage." Replied Mark with a surprising answer.
"Oki-doki." Alex agreed without questioning the why.
He already knew that Marc had a surprising intellect when it came to managing tasks and energy.
As they reached the town and stepped on the brick floor, they continued walking towards the meat shop. Since it was in the other part of the town, it took them 20 minutes of walking until they reached the place.
After reaching the shop and entering, a loud voice resounded from the back of the store.
"Coming!"
Not long after, a man with a white apron with some bloodstains stepped out and greeted the kids.
"Hi fellas, long time no see." Said the butcher.
"Hi, Mr.Felip."
"Sup."
Answered Alex and Marc respectively.
Of course, the butcher knew them; after all, this was not the first time both of them had come to pick up something commissioned by the orphanage.
"Coming for the orphanage stuff, I suppose, I'll bring it out in a moment, hold on a bit," Eric the butcher continued, a thin smile on his lips.
"Sure," Replied Marc, wanting to get done with this as soon as possible.
Not long after, the butcher came back out with 2 massive bags carrying a variety of meat parts.
"Make sure to rest from time to time on your way back; these are quite heavy." The butcher kindly suggested. He liked straightforward and hardworking kids.
"Sure, Mr.Eric." "Okay, old man." Answered the duo.
After bidding their farewell, Alex and Marc started the journey back to the orphanage, as the butcher said they had to make a couple of pit stops to catch their breath since the bags were plenty heavy.
"For one *huff* I envy the mages, they could *huff, huff*carry this with magic and not get tired." Said Marc, breathing heavily and stretching his back.
"I agree." Replied Alex, also breathing heavily, fortunately, they started with this, otherwise only god knows when they would have returned. And so they continued on their way.
A while later...
Alex looked up at the sun and smiled. It looked like they finished earlier than he thought.
"It seems we have some time to kill, do you want to go explore the forest a bit before heading back?" asked Alex to Marc.
"Abso-fucking-lutly" Replied Marc, exited.
And so they both ran toward the forest to the north of the town.
They liked being in the forest, watching the animals and whatnot, also, on the outskirts of the forest, no dangerous animal resided, since those were hunted either by the knights, or more usually by the hunters in the town.
As the sun started to disappear and the day started turning into night, the boys were still on the outskirts of the forest, moving around.
"We should start heading back," said Alex, "the sun is setting, if we take too long, Mary will get mad, like, real mad." He continued, a shiver crawling down his spine.
Certainly, the usually gentle Mary had quite the temper with misbehaving children.
"Y-yeah." Marc said, also remembering the last time they were late and she caught them.
As both started to move on their way back, some noise caught their attention.
*rustle, rustle* "Shh, quiet down." Said Alex to Marc while signaling him to crouch on the ground.
They both approached the sound quietly, expecting to see a creature of sorts, excitement rushing in them since they had been having no luck at all.
As they reached the place the sound came from, and still crouching on the ground, again the sound came.
*Rustle, rustle rustle* came the sound, stronger now and closer.
Both Marc and Alex hid between bushes quickly and stealthily, like many times before, and waited.
After some seconds, a shadow seemed to creep out of some bushes, and unexpectedly, an overweight man wearing what looked like expensive clothing appeared.
The kids were surprised, after all, normally no civilian was in the forest at noon, much less a noble, those didn't even leave their houses unless necessary.
Watching the man leave with a smile on his face, the boys crept closer to the place he left, and after peeking over the bushes to see clearly, they were left mortified.
"F-fuck me…"