Mahon was standing next to Zac and two other First Red. One was a man named Gantar, the other a woman named Aurae, and they were some of the easiest First Red regarding their relation with Mahon and Zac. That means they ignored the duo and didn’t speak a word to them. That was quite refreshing not to have to deal with insults, attacks and all the other nasty stuff Tiarsus came with.

The group of four First Red was within a larger group of a dozen city guards and they were all together listening to Tulluin, the guard’s captain. The man finished giving his directives to his guards before he addressed the First Red.

“It’s your first time patrolling so for now you will be assigned to the main streets in this area.”

He looked at them while moving his hands along the city map that was hanging on the wall. The map had a large area colored in blue representing their “third of the city”, the sector they were supposed to defend and guard from the Fada cultists. They had been given true swords and a light chest armor along with a city guard insignia and a whistle. It was supposed to help them order guards around if needed. Most of the guards were First Blue and, since they were acting like First Red, they had the right to lead them if there was a problem.

“To conclude, you just need to walk along your designated area and watch for cultists. The other city problems are not your concern. City guards will be on duty for that, and the best you can do is warn them about something, but please don’t interfere. Your unique mission is the Fada cult. Any questions?”

“No, Sir.”

“Good. Go on then. You will be relayed when the time comes.”

They left the barracks and scattered to their respective sectors. Mahon and Zac followed Gantar and Aurae, who had not said anything since the beginning of their mission. But Mahon was fine with that. It means they could concentrate on their task without worrying about an internal struggle.

As they arrived at the first main street, they slowed their pace. They walked with calm, taking the time to observe what happened around them. They strolled along the main streets and scrutinized their surroundings. For the first few minutes. It soon appeared that their area, although bustling with activity, was relatively calm.

Other city guards wandered the streets and no dark alleys were connected to them. Ambushes and traps were not even a possibility there. The streets were simply too large, too clean, too bright. Clearly, Tulluin had sent them here because he didn’t expect any problem.

Less than an hour later, they had already patrolled their sector back and forth multiple times and nothing had happened. The tension and excitement had turned to boredom and monotony. The other First Red duo was walking a dozen meters in front of Mahon whereas Zac was walking leisurely beside him. They soon tried to pass the time another way.

“Don’t you think it’s paradoxical that Fada were a peaceful and protecting folk, but now we are tasked to protect citizens from Fada cultists?”

Mahon chuckled at his friend’s remark.

“From that perspective, it sure looks comical.”

“Because there is another perspective?”

“Into heavy topics we are?”

Zac shrugged as he glanced with disinterest at the passerby.

“Got something better to do?”

“Hmm… since you asked for it...” Mahon mused a bit before continuing. “I think there will always be abuse as too much or too little of something is almost always bad. Fada or not. That’s why there is Blue. It teaches you a certain sense of balance. Without it, you’re just lost, and it is inevitable that some end at an extreme or another.”

“Let me think about that...”

They walked a bit more and reached the end of their route upon where they turned back and started yet another lap.

“What about too many girls?”

Mahon snickered and answered immediately.

“All that time to think and that’s what you came up with? Clearly you’re not giving it your best. Too many girls means only girls, and then how could we even survive?”

“Ah, yeah, I see... Then what about too much time?”

“Interesting… But I think if you have too much time you get nothing accomplished because it can always be postponed.”

“I’ll take it. What about too few wars?”

“Now I recognize a worthy opponent!” Mahon smiled and took the time to organize his thoughts before answering. “If I try to generalize the concept of fighting, I think if we never fight or struggle, then we can’t evolve. If there is no challenge, you can’t progress.”

“Yeah, but what about wars specifically?”

“Uh… It’s a hard one… Maybe a world with no war can’t exist? But today our problem is quite the opposite. We are in constant war, the other extreme.”

“True. But if we follow your logic, that also means we should end this war and create another one sometime in the future.”

“Or maybe there is also a balance to the act of balancing and some things should not be perfectly balanced. Like you can have a peaceful world but only if there are no men.”

Zac laughed loudly and a few people eyed him strangely.

“Ah, it feels good… I didn’t think we would get that bored on our first mission.”

Mahon shrugged, and they continued their patrol in silence before they felt the urge to discuss again.

“Don’t you find it strange that there are so many people buying no-dream pills?” Mahon said as he pointed to the stalls full of pills and the people queuing in front of them.

“It’s mid-afternoon on the main street. It’s always crowded like that.” Zac answered without thinking too much.

“No, I mean, it has been more than four months since the end of Nightmare and yet it seems there are even more no-dream pills in the market than before.”

“Ah, that.”

“What do you mean, that?”

“Your point of view of Nightmare is screwed. You spent all your time there, so from your perspective, it’s a main portion of your life. But for these people, it’s just a little nuisance.”

Mahon stopped walking and faced Zac, annoyed.

“How can you say that? There were people dying in Nightmare every day!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that, since the no-dream pill it has become a habit and everyone ignores Nightmare nowadays. I don’t think I even remember a party or something for the end of the Nightmare’s war.”

“But the Council was informed and told the population.”

“Yeah, but they also said they weren’t sure Amentiae could come back to Nightmare. It’s empty for now, but can you say for sure they can’t come back to it?”

“If they could, they would have done it sooner.”

“But can you be six Colors sure?”

Mahon didn’t answer as he knew they had no way to prove it and Zac continued.

“So, from a population that can afford no-dream pills, they are used to it, they sleep better with it and they aren’t even sure they wouldn’t meet Amentiae if they stopped taking it. The choice is pretty straightforward.”

“That’s just a small part of the population. Most people can’t afford a no-dream pill a day.”

“A long time ago, maybe. But now that the process is well known and mastered, they’re cheap to produce. Some Yellow followers even distribute some for free in the poorest areas.”

“I thought the nobles were controlling the amount of no-dream pills in the market so that we can’t do without them? Aren’t they purposefully restricting the number of pills so that not everyone can have them? You explained it to me.”

“No, not exactly. In the past, they were preventing people from accessing it and thus artificially raising its price, but now they produce enough for everyone but limit the number you can buy so that no one can stockpile a big amount. But everyone has access to it.”

Mahon stayed silent as he digested the new information. He had known Nightmare wasn’t the concern of everyone, but he had thought it would still impact many more.

“Did we fight for nothing, then?”

Zac grimaced at the question.

“I wouldn’t say so. At first, it was a war as important as the others. Maybe even more, since anyone could be dragged in. But then the no-dream pill countered it perfectly. With its rise, the need to fight in Nightmare became less and less. Protecting people from Nightmare had already been accomplished. These last years it was more a fight to kill Amentiae than a fight to defend Ratho. Welcome, but not world-changing.”

Mahon was frowning and he looked so miserable that Zac quickly added.

“It’s the point of view of the nobles, though. I think common citizens are much happier since the end of the Nightmare war. They can afford to miss a no-dream pill once and not loose everything. They are safer. But they still use no-dream pills as often as they can. Nowadays, most serious jobs require you can take a no-dream pill a day or you can’t have the job. Even with the end of the Nightmare war it’s still effective.”

They both immersed in their thoughts and patrolled in silence for long minutes before Mahon continued on the subject.

“There is only one noble family producing the no-dream pill, right?”

“Yeah, the Eilhice.”

“So, it’s only them that benefit from the situation? If the nobles are so power hungry, why didn’t they try to attack the Eilhice and stop the production? I mean, now that it is not absolutely useful, just that people are more comfortable taking them, why not remove the Eilhice and take down one powerful family?”

“You mean stopping the no-dream pill manufacturing so the Eilhice family would be useless and the high families have one less opponent?”

“Yes, something like that.”

“Well, I already explained to you how the top families are seeing each other. Each family controls one asset that the others need, so although they hate each other, they can’t attack because of that monopoly. Since each one has a monopoly, they have to be respected, but at the same time they have to respect the other families for their monopoly as well.”

“Ok, but they could all ally together to bring down the monopoly of the no-dream pill, no?”

“It’s way harder than that. It’s a kind of balance that you don’t want to break, otherwise you’ll be the one getting crushed instead. I don’t think the families could ever all agree to something.”

They continued their patrol while talking about Nightmare, no-dream pills and nobility. Nothing of note happened as the day advanced. The job was boring, but Mahon and Zac spent their time discussing, and turned it into another lesson about Ratho. Mahon would see something he didn’t know or wasn’t sure about and Zac would explain.

“What are these children doing?” Mahon asked while gesturing to a group of children running around the streets with colorful hats.

“Ah, that’s for Faday.”

“Faday?”

“You don’t know about it? It’s a festival about Fada and the Colors. Though now it’s mostly about partying.”

“Faday?” Mahon chuckled. “Seriously?”

Zac raised his hands innocently. “I didn’t come up with the name.”

“Whatever. So today is Faday?”

“No, no, it’s in… three weeks or so. The children are simply learning the Colors. See how they each have a hat from one of the Colors?”

Mahon looked again at the running kids and he noticed that what had first appeared to be a patchwork of colored hats were indeed only made from Blue, White, Red, Yellow, Black and Green.

“They wander in the streets with the hats and are successively in charge of the group. Depending on the hat of the one in charge at the time, they all have to behave like the Color. So if it’s Blue, you would see them walk in an organized group like patrolling guards. If it’s Yellow, they would go and say nice things to everyone or help people and so on.”

“Isn’t that a bit far-fetched? Yellow doesn’t mean doing only nice things.”

Zac rolled his eyes at him.

“They are children, Mahon. They’re just playing. The goal is to have a feel for what the Color means.”

Mahon tried to hide himself in his coat at the rebuttal. He had never interacted with children before and he muttered his ignorance behind the collar of his uniform.

“It’s true that they look like they are having a fun time.”

Zac chuckled at his friend’s childish reaction.

“Hey, since you didn’t know about the Faday, you never did one?”

“Not that I remember of. But I know where you’re going and there is no way you’ll get me running around with a bunch of kids. And a hat.”

“Ah, you’re no fun. Although, the festival is not for children only. Generally, there are music, dance, food and much more. Wanna come with me and spend the festival with my family?”

Mahon turned his head and looked at his friend, surprised.

“Your family? I’m just a commoner though...”

“Ah, don’t worry, they don’t care! If I say you can come, then you can come. So what do you say?”

Mahon glanced at his friend and his genuine smile easily convinced him.

“I guess I can tag along.”