St Chaos Healer

Ch 16 - The long queue

We rushed back into the inn to fetch our luggage.
My mom carried one bag, meanwhile, dad and I carried two luggage bags each. I have no clue what these guys were thinking packing so many things. No point in complaining now.

The bell was an alarm, warning people that the train will be arriving shortly and the ticket holders should be ready to board anytime soon.

After getting out of the inn we saw a long queue of people hurrying in one direction, the place where the railway track was located.

This town was actually built at the edge of the railway line and there was also a tall wooden stairway structure leading up to the track above. I had seen the tall stairway from afar even before I came to this town and right now we are heading there.

Like a flock of sheep, my mom and dad grabbed my hands and joined along with the queue towards the train stop platform. There were other people but they stood sideways in a distance while waving their arms at us bidding us goodbyes. There was also a lot of cheering and wishing all the kids good luck and giving their blessings.

After a few minutes of walking along with the queue, I saw a few people dressed in black long coats followed by black caps. They were all armed with swords hanging by their hip as they stood beside the queue. Some were standing with their arms crossed while others standing up straight and looking vigilantly at the crowd.

All the people were avoiding their gaze from those guys dressed in black.
I asked my mom and she just hushed me and told me to keep quiet and keep on walking.

If my guess is right, they must be guards overseeing this event. But why were my parents so paranoid about these guards? Aren't they here to protect people?

It wasn't soon I saw the wooden stairway leading up to the railway platform above came into view.

The stairways were quite wide and there were two different queues climbing up the stairs side by side. More guards were standing at the entrance and few guards were standing on the sidelines of the stairs overseeing the queue.

I also noticed that each and every one of the guards looked at us with a cold gaze. It's like they didn't see us as humans but like mere bugs.

People in the queue were quiet and even the noisy kids were hushed by their parents. There were some muffled noises of kids whose parents shut their mouths forcefully.
What's with this atmosphere turning so serious all of a sudden?

Just when I was looking around I saw another queue of people coming from the other side heading in the same direction as us.

But these guys were quite different from us. They were dressed very poorly with just rags as clothes. Hair was disheveled, the face was all dirty, and walking barefoot. They all had lowered their heads not daring to raise their eyebrows. But in the arms of those people were kids. They were holding these kids as if they were some precious treasure that anyone might try to steal.

The kids seemed to be the same age as I, but they were all wearing tattered clothes. Their bones seemed to be visible and cheeks were caved in. But each kid's eyelids were quite lively and shining as they curiously looked around their surroundings.

These must be the people who are at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
Each of those people was either slaves, servants, beggars, or homeless people who had nothing to lose.

The kingdom even wants kids of such people to participate in the ceremony?
If any of those kids become a mage, their life will turn around. Their family would get a new life. Now after seeing this I believe the kingdom was really serious about the ceremony.