Found close to one of the more central parts of the kingdom, the village where Raynard used to live back in the day, when he was 14, with his family. Mom, Dad, and older sister, Maya. They were a simple peasant family without much of their name.
Raynard was expected to become a butcher like his father was, following his footsteps and learn from him. He was already helping a bit, preparing the carcasses of the animals hunters brought, selling the parts and meat for a profit. In a village like that, the job was important, but they were small and not much money was made from this.
"We should move to the city," Raynard said once more to Marcel, his father, who always heard the stories of the adventurers that came from different parts of the world to tell about their travels.
"It is not that easy, Raynard," his father pointed out while managing to pull up the carcass of a boar onto the table with just a hand. The old man was bulky, strong, something that Raynard was not. "Yes, there is more money there, but it's not like we can just go in and start a business there, and all our problems are fixed. And here we have peace!"
They were in the butchering house. He was helping his father with the ready-to-cut carcasses of a few animals that they managed to get from the hunters. Like the one in the table, they were removed of their fur, ready to be cut into something edible.
"Yeah, peace, but when the business is bad, we have no food for a couple of days because we only make enough for a little while..." Raynard pointed out.
"I do what I can, Raynard. You will miss the simple life if you go. Cities are messy, dirty, loud." Marcel landed the knife into the carcass with precision to cut into the body of the animal, removing the limbs. "You should be more thankful."
"Is it bad that I want something else?"
"No, not at all. I just want you to be realistic about what you want." Marcel threw the body parts into a basket made for that. Then his sight went, without apparent prompt, towards the back door. His expression went sour and then returned towards Raynard. "Hey, go see what your sister is doing, make sure she is helping your mother."
Raynard rolled his eyes, but he did not complain. He left his tools hanging by the door and left the small room. Walked out of the house and towards the front, where they usually sold the parts that were left, in case anyone wanted them. With hunger, anything was delicious, after all.
"Mom! Where is Maya?" He asked when he saw his mom in his storefront with the small pieces of bone and other parts on the counter, sitting while looking to the front.
Marcia, his mother, was a beautiful woman with long purple hair and blue eyes, features he and his sister inherited. It was not a normal color of hair, but it wasn't unseen either. Sees that the majority of people with said characteristics came from the west plains, far away from the lands of the kingdom.
"Huh?" his mother reacted, like she was just pulled out of deep thought. "W-who knows, your sister darted to do something without telling me. I swear, she will cause the elder to yell at us again," finally, he managed to say.
"Dad asked me to go look that she is helping you," Raynard explained.
"Like she would. She is always down to something, you know her" Maria rolled her eyes, "Look at you two, the elder sister doing whatever while you, the younger one, sets the example."
Raynard shook his head, blushing at his mom's comment. His sister always tried to skip work and do anything else instead of her responsibilities. He, on the other hand, preferred to be more obedient.
Life in the village was, as his father said, peaceful. It was an idyllic lifestyle, a small patch of land where nothing happened. Wars were a thing they would hear from far away, and never confronted directly. Sometimes they had troubles with animals, some monsters, and the occasional bandit group. But they did not last too long and never attacked the village directly, for some reason.
He went towards the village center. She most likely was at the inn, trying to get stories from the adventuring groups or stuff like that.
"Hey, is the wimp!" he heard a voice nearby, someone he knew, and was mad he had to deal with them almost every day.
Segarl and his followers, who were usually looking for r new way to bully him, were approaching. He was a red-haired, green-eyed, shit-eating grin. He was about the same age as Raynard, but was completely capable of handling himself in a social situation that was not his family. Since Raynard nd his family moved to the city, the red-headed child has been a thorn in the side of the young boy, like he needed to make sure he understood his place.
"I am busy now, Segarl," Raynard answered, and attempted to move away towards the tavern, where hopefully his sister would be.
"Hey, don't leave when someone is talking to you," Segarl said and grabbed him by his shoulder.
Raynard had no option but to acknowledge him, and it was annoying. He turned towards him and looked him in the eyes. "What do you want?" he asked.
"The meat your dad gave us was so bad we gave it to my dog. And guess what, he died right after eating it," he claimed with a strong grip on Raynard's shoulder. "You have to pay for what your family did to my dog."
"I don't know what you are talking about, your dog was malnourished, probably was kicking the bucket already with something it caught," Raynard answered, not wanting to show him he was scared.
But he was. Afraid. More than once, he has received a hit from Segarl for any stupid reason he could invent. And the situation was about to repeat itself when the redhead grabbed him by the collar and managed to keep him in place, holding him tight by the shirt.
"You keep talking shit against me!" Segarl said.
"Punch him already, Segarl!" said one of his followers.
"Yeah! Show him where he belongs!" said another.
Adults were watching, but none did anything. Even when they lived in peace, this was expected. Is a world where everything was prone to be cruel, all said, and believed it would be better to save yourself by force than to receive any help. Cruel, but precise. Outside, anyone could hurt you, and no one would know,w so it was better to be ready for anything.
Segarl raised his fist, aiming at Raynard's face. The young man closed his eyes, ready for the hit, when...
"Oi! Dragon shit eater!" said a female voice.
They both looked to the side where the voice came from, but something hit Segarl's face, causing him to release Raynard and flinch. Raynard took the opportunity to get away. "Agh!" Segarl yelled and took a step back.
Maya, his sister, a girl who looked like their mother, just younger, and had a polar opposite personality to Raynard. She was a bit taller than he, besides being 2 years older, and was always messing around and often protecting him.
She threw a small stone at his face.
"If you want to mess with him, get in line! Is my turn!" she said, placing her hand on her waist, smiling towards them.
Segarl's nose was bleeding, and he was fuming in anger.
"You bitch!" he yelled, trying to stop the bleeding with his hand. "This is the third time!"
"Then maybe next time I will get through that skull of yours!" she answered. "I have business with my brother, so all of you better leave!"
The group gave her a mean look, but they still went away. "I will have your heads for this!" Segarl said, still bleeding, but retreating.
"He surely can bleed," Raynard said.
"Why don't you defend yourself? I bet you could be making him eat shit if you just tried, he is just all talk" Maya said while approaching her brother, and checking on him, glad that he did not get any scratch.
"You have not been hit by him," Raynard said.
"He is hitting you because you don't defend yourself. Try to attack him once and see how it goes," she mentioned, and then flicked him in the forehead with a finger. "Anyway, what do you want? I imagine you came looking for me."
"Yeah, Dad asked me to check on you if you are helping Mom," Raynard answered.
"Ugh, like she would need help selling animal bones and hooves to these people. Not like they sell constantly, anyway," Maya answered, "You know what? I have something to show you!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the tavern.
"H-hey! Dad will want me back!" he complained.
"Don't worry! It will be worth it!" she said, pulling him faster.
Right outside of the tavern, he could see a group of people, probably travelers, gathered to hear something inside. "Someone is singing the Ode to the Hero that defeated the Demon King!" she added, smiling.