Finally Home

Arden placed his knee at the man's back to restrain him and his hand pinned the guy's arm to the ground. With a loud and assertive voice, Arden asked while intimidate the guy, "Who are you? Why are you following me?!"

The guy responded with the thickest accent Arden ever heard and a little bit of stutter, "Si-sir! I-I'm a nin-ninj-ninja! Se-sent by th-the sho-shogun!"

Arden looked at the guy's face facing to the right and stared at him suspiciously. At last, he decided to let that guy from his grip.

It doesn't take long for the guy to stand up and began stretching. After a few seconds of him regaining his muscle power and other stuff, he talked to Arden with his native language, "The shogun sent me here to monitor his friend and see if he is fine"

'This guy must be a real ninja, his clothes are all black, like what a real ninja, or at least that's what I got from a random visit to a samurai' his suspiciousness is gone in a matter of second and it's replaced by curiousness.

He asked the ninja with the language he learnt at his visit to the shogunate, "So, mister ninja, I have something to do right now, you can monitor me and sent letters to Mitsuo, say hi from me too. If possible, look for anything that dangers me and report to me at least once a week!"

The ninja bowed to him and Arden just make his way to exit the dark alley. He looked behind him once again before he left the alley and saw the ninja is missing from his sight.

He just smiled before leaving the dark alley and make his next plan, 'It'll be too late to search for Daulitos's carriage, I don't even know where he is. The only option is to get a horse from the stable!'

He began making his way toward the stable where they kept all the horses. In a matter of minutes wandering in the city, he made it to the stable and was greeted by a familiar face, perhaps could be called a horse.

He approached the horse and knew it was the same horse he has ridden on to come to the capital. That's when the stableman suddenly come to him and asked, "Sir? You are sir Arden, right? This is your horse right here"

Arden was about to respond to him but the stableman suddenly said something to him first, "Sir, I have been alerted that there is some diseases happening around the kingdom that only affect the horse, you may want to buy the medicine I have made?"

Arden looked at the stableman while his mind said something to him 'He is the stableman and knew what he was talking about, I will get some for Cisco and the other horses. Also, what a fox-like businessman'

Arden believed in the stableman and decided some of those medicines, hoping it would work, "Yea, I'll buy 30 of them"

The stableman smiled at Arden before telling him the price of one medicine, "One medicine is 1 Ren, I'll get the medicine for you and calculate the price after your horse has stayed here for a month"

Arden answered with a short "okay" and began rubbing his horse while waiting for the stableman to come back. It took him a minute to come back and gave Arden the bag full of the "medicine"

Arden gave the stableman 1 Auren and told him "keep the rest, I will go now, these medicines better works or I will come back here and kick your butt!"

The stableman looked like a firm and confidence man, he smiled at Arden not even scared of him and just shouted at him, "Good luck on your journey, sir! See you later!"

Arden just smiled hearing this and began making his way out of the city and to the direction of his home he goes!

In the middle of the road, he met many carriages and horse rider but just ride past them. At this moment, there is an old fashion but with a nobility design like a carriage with some horse's rider surrounding it.

'It must be a noble or something, I need to rush to find Daulitos and his group!' After thinking about this, he sped up his horse and ride past them.

He was going further and further away from the carriage and could hear the sound of horses behind him trampling the ground. He was suspicious at first and decided to take a peek at them.

The one following him is using the same armour and uniform as his guard, Mark. Almost immediately upon seeing this, he slowed down the horse and let the carriage to come to him.

Then, he thought about something that is 100% correct, 'The one in the carriage must be Daulitos!'

A few seconds passed, and the carriage is right beside him now. The group there stopped and no one really advances forward with their horses.

Arden got down from his horse and began approaching the carriage and was about to knock on the door of it. Even before his hand could reach the wood of the carriage, the door was opened from inside.

As he suspected, it was Daulitos smirking beside in front of him and shaking his head as a gesture to let Arden in. He quickly got into the carriage and sat at the opposite side of Daulitos. It was only both of them inside there.

The situation became awkward quickly and Arden just nervously sweating in front of Daulitos. Suddenly, Daulitos opened his mouth and tried to break the ice, "The armour you made is very nice, the size is perfect for me!"

Apparently, Daulitos's technique to break the ice worked and Arden responded to him, "Actually, it can fit any size if the size difference is not much! I learnt it from a 6th rank blacksmith I met!"

Daulitos looked impressed upon seeing Arden managed making that kind of item. He soon talked to him once again, "Haha! Good! I'm impressed with your work, I can use it to battle too!"

Arden smiled and crossed his arm before saying, "Of course! I made it for battle and looks too! You would look like a king if you use that in a battle!"

As he put down his arm from the crossed position, Arden's mind began to ask him a question, 'How old is he? He has so much facial hair'

From a thought to a question, "Daulitos, how old are you if I may ask?"

Daulitos tilted his head a little in confusion and responded, "I'm almost 30 now, I'm a hairy type, haha"

Daulitos giggled while Arden followed soon. But the truth is, Daulitos is having a thought right now, "I can't tell him I'm a half-dwarf, I can live until 190 years old and this year, I'm already 60, well, I can't let him know"

Arden sat at his place and patiently wait for them to arrive at their destination since the situation is becoming awkward again. It was boring for all creatures to stay at the same place for hours without doing anything.

Well, they just sleep to pass time and this is exactly Arden did, he slept at his place. Trying to not make any voice and just cross his arm while sleeping.

Daulitos soon did the same, and both of them slept at the carriage with exactly the same position. They slept while the one outside the carriage continues their journey, Mark and Aric are one of them.

A few hours have passed, and the sky was already dark. The group decided to make a camp since they are only halfway at their journey. Nothing excellent and abnormal really happens and they continue their journey when the sunrise.

…

They have been on the road for entire days and the group has reached the part of the road where it divides each other. One road led to the headquarter and the main building of the Blacksmith society, and the other led to Arden's land.

'A hard choice to make, but I still think my people are more important than seeing something not related to the life of my people' He made his mind and told Daulitos about that.

"I'm afraid this is where I go, we will see each other once again in a couple of day from now. See ya," He waved at Daulitos and began getting off from the carriage.

In a matter of seconds, he found himself straying away from the carriage while he rides his horse and his 2 guards following closely behind.

Just a few minutes on horseback and the 3 of them finally reached Arden's land. All of them sighed as they enter the city of Ailreh, knowing they could get a good rest from all the travelling.

They visited the local pubs with their dirty clothes and began ordering good drinks and food to fill their stomach. Well, there is no good without bad, a big muscly man came to their table and his wicked smile explains it all.