"Good morning, Mr. Credos!"
"Good morning!"
Carrying breakfast he had bought from a Snack Stall, with today's newspaper tucked under his arm, Arthur skirted Aivor's Mobile Snack Stall from the West Merck Avenue side and turned onto Kirk Street. He ran into quite a few neighbors taking their children to school early that morning. Every child standing at the public carriage stop greeted him enthusiastically, and Arthur answered each with a smile and a nod.
A Medium with a cat, a dog, and a bird, plus his performance at the Swordsmanship Tournament-Arthur's appeal to these children was practically maxed out.
In other words, whenever these children saw Arthur, they would cry out inwardly, So cool!
The adults, however, were different.
They had heard about Arthur's performance at the Swordsmanship Tournament, or even witnessed it themselves, and had praised his character.
But when they actually encountered Arthur, what came to mind most readily were the rumors about his bad luck.
So after their children greeted him, the parents would put on awkward but polite smiles, pull their children several steps back, and keep their distance from Arthur.
Once Arthur had gone farther away, they would repeatedly warn their children-
"Stay away from him!"
"Why? Is Mr. Credos a bad person?"
"He isn't a bad person, but you still have to stay away from him!"
"Why?"
"Enough with all the questions. You'll understand when you're older!"
By the time the parents began wielding their authority to order their children around, Arthur had already reached the door of 2 Kirk Street. He paid conversations like that no mind at all.
The innocence unique to childhood would eventually give way to calculating circumstances.
People called that maturity.
Arthur had no objection.
Because that was how the world worked. The real world taught those innocent