Traveling 2

"Morning to you, young man! Interested in the snow fox furs for your lover?" The fat man who sat on driver's seat of odd looking circular shaped carriage greeted me joyfully.

Heck! I am just a ten year old brat, well at least on the surface, yet he is talking about my lover. I guess people of this world really does marry quite early in their life.

From the books alone, most of nobles engage their kids when they're twelve and marry them off at fifteen. Some even does it before their kids were born! Talk about freedom and love...

Commoners are worse, they usually engage their kids at about age of eight and boys has to work at their in laws place for three years as some sort of engagement present. After that young girl will have to follow her man.

By doing this the couple will have enough time to interact and accept each other before they get married, as well as extra workforce for bridal family in this age where every bit of workforce counts.

I wonder how Ethelon and Diana met each other? I'm their first and only child and I'm already ten, which means they got me when they were in their mid twenties. By the standards of this world, isn't that little too late?

"Young man, you should answer someone if they're talking with you, Tsu, tsu! Kids these days have little to offer when it comes to manners" The fat man complained in an exaggerated manner while shaking his head.

Oops, I got lost in my thoughts again. Bad habit, bad habit. He has got some point, it's rude to ignore someone like that after all.

"Sorry old man! There's just too many things that were on my mind, If only I had someone to give it, I'd be interested in buying those fox furs of yours" I replied as I steered Pumo, to give more space to the merchant's carriage.

"Young man like you shouldn't be speaking such sad things! Just go and grab the nearest flower! Isn't it simple? Why complicate simple matters like these?" fat merchant said with chiding tone and slowed down his speed so that we could speak each other.

This guy sure knows how to talk huh? The nearest flower? If people chose their partners like that, there would be hardly any wars in the world!

Beautiful women's tragic love and lust of men who has endless greed for what he can't have are probably the main reasons why countries fight and blood flows like a river! Seriously, the existence of 'love' is why people suffer and die in tragedy!

Haven't you watched the famous 'Red Cliff'?, 'Romeo and Juliette'? and 'Titanic'? You can't just grab the nearest flower and be done with it! Feelings of men doesn't work like that old man!

"I didn't complicate it! The one who did it is up there" I said and pointed at the MunkhSar, a moon which stays visible both day and night. A holy place where gods live.

"Oh, you know about them? This old man has quite a few stories about them. Wanna hear about them, young man?" the fat old man suggested, already forgotten about flower stuff he mentioned.

Well, love stuff is kind of my Achilles heel because I have never had a girlfriend or even had a crush before! It's kind of embarrassing since my mental age is supposed to be around mid thirty... even extracting ten years I spent here off, I was single for twenty five years!

That's why I, for obvious reasons, want to get in a relationship! It's not wrong to say that I crave for it! Yet this old man just says grab that flower or say its sad thing in my age to be single etc, spreading salt on my wounded heart and mentality over and over again then forgot about it in a matter of few seconds!

Calm down me! The fat old man has offered stories about gods, since its a precious chance to hear about them let's bear with him for now...

"Y..yes I want to hear about them! Tell me as much as you can, please" I asked nicely though I stuttered at the start. Stories about gods are mostly passed by mouth, and since the churches are built in a more populated towns or cities, I had no way of knowing more about gods of this world.

"Ahem!" the fatty cleared his throat before starting to iterate in a pleasant tone "Let's talk about God of Light, Shudraga! Like all other gods Shudraga was created from the fragments of Chaos's body. From the start, Shudraga had immense amount of sense of justice within him and hated those who are unfair and unjust"

"One day, while traveling through the mortal realm, Shudraga saw a little slave boy who became so thin that you could see his bones under his skin and his master, a very fat merchant with full of jewelry on him walking together"

"Shudraga got enraged by the plight of the slave boy and questened the fat merchant 'How could you treat a person like this? Look at him, he is but a bone and skin!'

The merchant didn't know that he was talking with a deity so he got angered, thinking Shudraga has come to snatch his slave.

He replied 'So what? It's my slave, I do whatever I want with my property!'

Shudraga thought for a bit and agreed with the merchant. If he punished the merchant it would be an injustice, yet its also truth that the boy has suffered lot at the hands of the cruel merchant!

Troubled with it, Shudraga paid many yembu to the merchant and bought the boy's freedom. But Shudraga had to return to MunkhSar and the boy was too weak to be left alone, yet he couldn't bring him since only the deities are allowed to live on the MunkhSar.

So he gave the boy part of his flesh before he left for the MunkhSar"

Old man paused his story here as he saw riders coming from the front, raising dust trail behind them. We hurriedly freed the road for the riders since they might get angry if our carriage get in their way.

As the riders got closer, I saw they wore uniformed leather armors and one in the middle carried a flag with red colored three headed bear roaring imposingly on white background.

Most of the soldiers carried great swords on their backs and two short ones in their sides. Their faces were full of scars and their armor worn-out from use. Proving they're veterans to observers.

The riders stopped when they were about five meters from us and one who seemed to be leader of this twenty men team led his horse forward.

"Greetings, We are from Ursad merchant guild and we are searching for a boy about age of ten, black hair, red eyes and big scar on his chest! Here's the drawing of him" the guy unfurled the scroll one of his men passed to him.

The drawing was a really well done pencil sketch of a boy with sharp features. He had piercing gaze similar to wild beasts and black hair which was short and messy. He seemed tall for his age and his muscles were developed quite good though he is bit thin.

Long scar run through his chest diagonally, and his neck had a tattoo of three headed bear. This is the mark of a slave and one that is almost impossible to remove.

Nobles, guilds, big families, tribes and clans etc all mark their slaves with their crest in two ways.

Some mark their slaves with hot iron on one of their cheeks while rich ones give them neck tattoo with unique techniques using mana and some other materials. Former could be removed as long as you use healing magic with suitable pharmakos while the latter won't.

Tattooed slaves are the slaves who almost have no hope of regaining their freedom back! Once the master dies they have to follow after them whether they like it or not because this is an unwritten law followed by the most of the countries.

Unless someone rich and influential interferes of course. Or if they belonged to an organization at least they get to live though their owners will change.

Slave, one of the few things I'm excited for in this world! Sure its inhuman and cruel thing to do something like that to another human being but I'm no hero and definitely not a god so I don't care!

Owning a slave in another world is one of the classics! Though lots of my perks of isekai life got frozen, I am sure this one will be fine! Muhahaha! I am too excited for it!

"Greetings, Mr...?" Fat merchant replied since I was in a bit of daze looking at the sketch thinking about how beautiful my future slaves will be.

"Doncaster Fahey" man stated his name simply but there was a bit of pride mixed in within his tone.

Doncaster? Kind of familiar name, now where did I hear it? Never mind, let's pay attention to their conversation! Who knows, some tips about the ultimate treasure might pop up!

"Mr Doncaster then, my name is Hughes Hopkins, a merchant from Silkroad merchant guild. I have traveled through this road for three days and unfortunately, I haven't caught sight of that young man" fatty said without much of a reaction to the man's name.

When the fat merchant mentioned Silkroad guild's name there were stirs and whispers in the crowd behind Doncaster. Should be big name in Rotrason!

"Thank you for your information Mr Hughes, I'm sorry if I took some of your valuable time!" Doncaster replied humbly, nodding his head to Hughes then turned his look to me.

My turn huh? Don't you see we are traveling on a same road? If he hadn't seen someone on this road how could I have? Forget it, let's get it over and done with.

"We didn't see him too" I replied shrugging my shoulders, too lazy to talk like them. Greeting each other then giving their names and organizations they belong to, apologizing when unnecessary... too much trouble.

"Kid, name yourself first when talking to adults! Someone go and inspect this carriage!" Doncaster ordered.

Damn you, who the hell do you think you are? Just because I didn't state my name you are going to inspect our carriage? I felt frustrated as one of his men unmounted and entered into our carriage with dirt filled boots.

The men inside searched thoroughly for full ten minutes and Doncaster asked questions after questions from Ethelon for another ten minutes. By the time Doncaster and his men went away whipping their horses, Hughes the fat merchant and his carriage was nowhere to be seen.

Goddammit! I couldn't hear the rest of the story because of that Ursad guild's men! And that fatty just leaving like that, couldn't he stay for few minutes? Ursad, Ursad... I'll remember this!

Deep breath, deep breath... everything is alright! Everything is alright! Everything is... not alright! Cough.. Cough.. Pumo just had to do his business during I was taking a deep breath, great so f*ing great!

Two days have passed by and we were about a week away from our destination, Town of trade, Rotrason. The area we are currently passing by is full of annoying insects because the path goes directly through the forest.

This forest is relatively safer when compared to 'usual' ones since the soldiers from Rotrason sweep it from time to time, but I am quite sure the Basil Lizards we encountered few days ago came out from here.

Forests of this world are far more dangerous than the forests of my old world. There are many wild beasts and even insects which has overpowering abilities, which humans fear though we have stunning prowess of Kardia combined with high intelligence.

No need to talk about numbers, humans suffer huge casualties each year just from dealing with escapee beasts that are chased out of the forest because they're too weak to survive inside it. So forest like this, where humans can go in and out are few and precious.

Woods, medicinal herbs, precious fruits, crystals, furs, bones, meat, delicacies, silk etc all come from the forest. Basically a treasure mountain, and this forest is probably one of the main reason why the big merchant guilds made Rotrason their headquarters.

Trees were lot taller than what I used to see, and the unique atmosphere of the nature made me fee as if I were really part of the world. Everything was so colorful and beautiful that I could hardly contain my excitement to prevent myself screaming like Tarzan.

How nice would it be if I could scream like that without worrying for anything? Run around like some lunatic not worrying what people would think about me! It would be one hell of a stress reliever!

"Kaelud, wanna come with me?" Ethelon asked with a smirk. His bow was on his back and a leather quiver with tens of arrows strapped to his left side.

"You bet I'll!" I excitedly jumped down from the driver's seat then grabbed my dulled iron sword and followed after Ethelon in a hurry.

As we walked deeper into the forest, I spotted quite a lot of small animals. A golden furred squirrel munching on brown nuts, four winged sparrow like bird with beautiful red color, grey snake which hovered about an inch from the ground and pink spider about palms size building her web.

Ethelon pointed each of them and explained me about them in detail. I listened quietly trying to remember as much as I could since I always tried to learn more about this world.

After some time we have arrived in a pretty dark place. Though it was daytime, the trees around here were taller and bushy enough to almost completely block the sunlight. Thick vines crawled all over the place and beneath them there were dark green grasses with leafs sprouting from them.

Crouching, Ethelon started to search through the grasses and seemed to found what he was searching for. Then smiling he threw it to me.

I caught it and stared at the wild fruit which looked like strawberry. I brought it to my nose and it smelled really sweet. After gulping my saliva few times while I was trying to clean it as best as I could, I put it in my mouth.

Oh, dear lord! Uhmm, I groaned in pleasure as godly taste spread in my mouth. This thing tastes exactly like a shot from vodka but with extra sweetness! What is this treasure? How could something like this grow in the wilderness?

Coming out of stupor I saw Ethelon looking at me with a big smile in his face. Ruffling my hair to mess, he asked with teasing tone "How is it?, good stuff right?"

"Yeah, What is it? How could it taste so good?" I almost yelled my question loudly in my excitement. This fruit is really a gift from the gods!

"Haha, Arkhi fruit! There's a legend saying they're blood droplets of the God of Earth, Luvsan. It usually grows in a place where temperature is cold, with no sunlight and water source nearby" Ethelon explained and started to search for more.

I too joined him for search of these heavenly Arkhi fruits. Arkhi means Godly Wine in the common language. Well deserved name, I completely agree with whoever named it. It's not exaggerated at all!

"Search under these heart shaped leafs, let's collect as much as we could for a hour and continue our hunt" Ethelon said as he threw a fruit into his mouth.

I nodded in response, my eyes still glued on the ground. Shaking his head like saying 'He is hopeless case' , Ethelon went back to collecting the fruits.

After we collected about two little bags of Arkhi fruits, we went back to hunting. Ethelon has found a trail of forest yama, which is an animal very similar to wild goat. By trail, I meant their little ball shaped green shits!

The thing was like little beads with smell of rotten egg. And because they were excreted not long ago, they were slimy. Near them was a puddle of piss.

Too much details, I know. Anyway we followed every little 'tips' those yamas granted us and we found them drinking water from a little pond surrounded by trees. Truly well hidden place, if not for the guidance we couldn't have found them.

There were about five of them enjoying their water. If I remember right, rules of the forest is to not hunt when drinking but I guess Ethelon doesn't care. He has already nocked an arrow and was taking his aim by the time I was about to ask what to do.

Looking at my dumbfounded gaze, Ethelon lowered his bow and whispered quietly "Wanna give a shot?"

I had little confidence in pulling that bow of his with my meager strength so I hesitated to give my reply. If I fail and shoot off an arrow with no firepower nor an aim, the yamas we chased all the way here would escape. Then all our hardwork would be wasted.

When I was about to refuse his offer, Ethelon once again messed my hair with his hands and passed me his bow and arrow. He fixed my footing and posture quickly without making any noise.

"Take a deep breath, in and out. Right, hold your arms tight" Ethelon instructed.

I took few deep breaths to concentrate and nocked the arrow. Placing my target right under the arrow tip in my vision.

"Don't look at where your arrow is pointing, look at your target. Don't think about complicated stuff just let your instincts take control" Ethelon continued "You'll be surprised how much your instincts can do"

Following his advice, I stared at the neck of Yama on the left and let my body do the rest. Shun! I held my breath in excitement as I loosed my arrow.

Meeei! Awful cry of pain came from a yama as arrow hit it right on it's shoulder. Other two fled in panic, shooting off towards trees.

My target tried to escape as well, but it tripped after two jumps and fell down. Yama tried its best to stand again only to fall on its side helplessly.

"Hahaha, well done! Well done my son!" Ethelon laughed loudly and patted me on my shoulder before speeding towards our prey.

Drawing his dagger from its purple sheath, Ethelon skillfully slit the throat of yama ending it's pain. Then he found himself a branch and strapped yama to it with a rope.

Blood continued to spill from it's neck while we carried it back to our carriage. Ethelon was in high moods all the way and even sung a song similar to viking songs.

When we were about thirty minutes away from the carriage we saw a trail of blood on the trees and leaves.

Instantly I had some bad feelings about this. Diana is left alone inside the carriage and we are only thirty minutes away from it, yet there's blood here...

While I was panicking Ethelon inspected the area around us and even tasted the blood.

"Seems like someone who is heavily injured walked towards our carriage about an hour ago" Ethelon stated coldly and his gaze become sharper, bit of mana particles manifesting around him.

"Kaelud, we are speeding up!" he said and grabbed me up with his free hand and sped towards our carriage at speed that made me dizzy.