@Quickshot76
Some kids are rebellious. Especially at puberty. And since the kingdom participated in throwing rocks at them in the first chapter, I'd say they're complicit.
It's bad parenting then. The parent is as guilty as the child for not bringing up their kids in an upstanding way. For example, the bully's parents are just as guilty for letting this bad behavior go on, whether they knew it or not.
Also, in this precise scenario, the 5 year old child sees the older one lording over the other and telling it to bully him. Which is rather similar to our current situation, with the clergyman urging the bystanders to agress the hero and the sage.
Not to mention rebelling against authority in this case would probably cost them their lives as well. Note also that 10 years have passed. So the kids of those people back then have probably become as rotten as them.