What things do David experience in the small town? What special qualities does David notice in the people? Are the people really a particularly fortunate group?

You have a lot of questions here. David goes down into the town and makes his way through its narrow, crowded streets. He listens to people talk, accepts an offer of food, and at one point finds himself entranced by the beauty of a church, which Johannes had told him could be identified by the cross on its steeple. He also finds a stray piece of paper with some writing on it, which he uses to remind himself how to read. The paper, David discovers, has a reference to a king. "From what he had learned in the camp," narration comments, "David had gathered that the countries that had kings were free and their people had no need to be frightened of THEM". For several nights in a row, he returns to the town, always receiving a gift of food from the same man and always, at some point, standing and staring at the church.