The next morning, Henryk and Irin left the inn. They wore gloomy and tired expressions, but they didn't look as pathetic as Philip.
After spending the entire night in the carriage, Philip looked as if he'd been forced into hard labor and hadn't rested for at least a month.
When the man saw Irin and Henryk leaving the inn, he smiled like a fool. He jumped down from the carriage to greet them. When he did, he immediately began planning what they had to do today.
"Okay, listen carefully. We'll go to the town hall to arrange a place to sell our goods in the market. You, Henryk, will go with me, and you, Irin, will watch the carriage and horses."
"Yes, Uncle," the girl said, nodding.
"And what do you need me for?" Henryk asked Philip.
"You're going with me because you need to gain experience in such matters. It's not like we can sell goods wherever we please; we have to arrange paperwork and so on. I want you to learn how to handle these matters, to handle these matters without me... Do you understand now?"
"Yes," the boy said, and they all got into the carriage and headed towards the town hall.
...
In the abbreviation, a shorthand for a paid parking lot for merchant carriages. A small boy, who was a helper, approached Philip's carriage to make payment.
"How long will you stay here?"
"If you can hold out for two hours," Philip replied.
"Fine. That will cost you fifteen bronze plaques."
"Here," the man said, tossing a silver plaque. "The rest is yours, thank you for your meticulous service."
"No, it's me." The helper's eyes flashed gold as the silver plaque was snatched. "By the way, I recommend myself for the future."
"Very well, as I said." The merchant approached Irin. "You guard the carriage, and Henryk went with me."
After the red-eyed girl bumped into Henryk I's head, Philip left the parking lot near the white town hall, which, from Henryk's perspective, was depicted with additional lines from Count Korin's house.
On the way, the boy understood why Philip had told Irin to stay in the carriage to collect the goods. They briefly realized how unattended carriages were being robbed by boys like the ones who collected parking fees. As for the other insidious snakes surrounding them, they had someone on guard, so they pretended not to fight their attack.
The two entered the town hall through the large green doors.
"Good morning, madam! I'm here about the queue for the meeting with the mayor, which I booked yesterday."
The woman at the reception desk looked at Philip in surprise.
"Are you talking about the reservation?"
"Well, I was here yesterday to reserve a ride," the man replied, leaning his hands on the receptionist's desk.
The receptionist thought for a moment, trying to remember if Philip's reservation had actually been made. Henryk wasn't concerned that the woman didn't remember Philip. With his hands in his pockets, behind Philip's back, he waited for the situation to clear up.
"I'm sorry, but the paperwork doesn't mention a reservation in the queue," the woman finally replied, looking at the paperwork in front of her.
"What do you mean, no reservations?!" The man blurted out, making a confused face.
"I'm sorry, but no one reserved anything yesterday. If you want to meet the mayor, I advise you to get in line on the second floor as soon as possible," the woman advised, pointing upward.
"How many merchants are there already?" Philip asked, his face defeated.
"There are approximately 64 merchants there."
The man's face was obscured by shadow, and a mournful, gloomy aura enveloped him. Henryk, on the other hand, covered his face with his hand.
"If you have to wait in line, then so be it," Philip said, then headed for the stairs, with Henryk following suit.
On the second floor, they saw a long line at the large door that probably led to the mayor's office.
When they joined the line, they didn't expect to be out of town hall so quickly. They were right. Every merchant who was next to enter the office spent at least ten minutes there. Most of the merchants left with looks of relief on their faces.
"*Sigh* Phew! What a day... I hope I can at least sell this oil now without further trouble in this place..." One of the merchants sighed in relief after leaving the office and walked towards the exit of town hall.
An hour passed like that.
"Geez..." Henryk said, his forehead pressed against the wall, unable to believe they weren't even halfway to their turn.
"Don't complain, kid," Philip said, impatiently bouncing his leg in place.
"Did you really come here yesterday to get a spot at the front of the line?"
"Yeah, what, you don't believe me?" The man looked offended.
"Honestly, I don't believe you," the boy replied without a moment's hesitation.
The man exhaled loudly, feeling defeated.
"Gods, I'm starting to feel suffocated in here." Philip also began to complain. "Irin is lucky she's outside, with a pleasant breeze blowing in her face."
"If this line doesn't speed up, the pleasant breeze will turn into a cold night breeze."
"You're exaggerating, kid."
"How am I exaggerating? Jesus Christ, why is the mayor taking so long talking to some random merchant?"
Philip merely shrugged, leaving Henryk's question unanswered. Another person left the office, satisfied. Everyone, including Philip and Henryk, stepped forward simultaneously as another person entered.
Out of boredom, the boy pulled a wooden Kendama from his sweatshirt pocket and began playing with it as if nothing had happened. The only sound in the waiting room was Henryk playing with the Kendama. It irritated the other merchants, Henryk knew, but he kept going, hoping that one of the merchants would get so annoyed by the noise that he'd skip the queue and thus speed up their walk to the office. Unfortunately, none of the merchants were going anywhere.
Apparently, the meeting with the mayor was so important that they had to grit their teeth and get to the meeting.
"For heaven's sake, kid, stop playing with that." Philip finally couldn't take it anymore and glared at Henryk with his blue eyes.
"Okay, I'll stop now." The boy had no choice but to put the Kendama back in his pocket and endure this boring queue.