Page

"We're one of the most famous merchants in the world. and the world's second-best traveling agency. Most of the people here are honored passengers that were carrying and protecting. We travel a lot and through many dangerous places so I am always armed with my good ol' Beasty. The gold bow that you saw. We've traded with all sorts of people, from kings to priests to commoners and even the black market. Ah! Please don't tell anyone that we trade to the black market!" Tarud panicked.

'we're serious business, kid.'

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"Alright, thanks." Tarud breathed a sigh of relief.

He thought, 'My pocket watch didn't ring so he fully intends on keeping the secret, although I should still do something for him to ensure it. Well, I was gonna help him anyway since he doesn't seem to be a bad guy.'

"Well, what would you like then? Come on, I won't sleep well if I don't give you something in exchange. How about a ride to Jarlon? We were planning on passing by it tomorrow, but it wouldn't hurt to take a small detour and get you there."

"Oh, that's alright. You don't have to go out of your way to do that for me."

"Nonsense, it would be my pleasure. I heard Jarlon serves some pretty good potato cow dishes. They're a delicacy, they are cows that have been fed potatoes their entire lives and grow potatoes around their bodies. One cow would produce about 5 to 6 potatoes a year and they cut off the potatoes which have been slightly imbued with both the properties of a good, firm steak and a potato, so it is pretty rare and I really want to try them fresh."

"Well, alright then. As long as it's not a hassle for you guys."

"Of course it's not! Right, everybody!" All those around them had heard about the potato cows and had become very interested in going to Jarlon for the special treat and everyone cheered excitedly (quietly since it was in the middle of the night in a forest) at the prospect of a good potato from a cow.

"Here, we can hold onto the tentacon for you too. It must be inconvenient to hold onto something so large, we have a cage made for stuff like this. You can have it back when we get to the city. Think of it as a gift. We'll put it on one of our carts and protect it for you." This time the lady spoke up and assisted to help him.

"Yeah, you did capture it all on your own and we barely did anything. By the way, how were you able to pull that whole thing up, you're incredibly strong."

"Ah, thank you."

'He's a face I've never seen before, it's always good to build good connections. He could be a potential customer.'

The thieves looked at the tentacon with money signs in their eyes knowing how much they sold for, even an infant tentacon like this one would allow them to live richly for a month.

They were trying to come up with ways to steal the creature and run away, but once they heard about the cage, money flew away from their eyes and they slumped down crying. The chance was gone, they were all gonna protect it from them.

She knew the thieves were planning on stealing it, after all, it seemed to be easy money so she watched them the entire time and when she saw them cry, she felt great satisfaction and cackled at them in her mind.

The son of the fat man just walked back to a cart, shaking.

"By the way, I'm Tarud, a traveling merchant, this here is the esteemed Lady Eviry, the princess and soon to be the queen of the land of Emarl. And this here is my son, Page."

He looked back expecting to see his son and pat his back, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Hi, my name's Zeeth and I saw your son walk back to the big box. He seemed kinda shaken up."

"Oh, thank you. Shaken up? From the tentacon?"

He walked towards the cart while mumbling to himself, "Why would he be shaken up? We've gone through worse."

Zeeth asked, "those big boxes look cool."

Eviry scrutinized Zeeth in confusion, "Big box? Sir, those are famous magical carts of the Jacks. The design is one of a kind, how could you call them big boxes? I personally take offense from that."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"You don't know about the carts of the Jacks? How is that possible, they are practically as famous as King Kaiser."

"U-um… who?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Um…" They continued to talk as Tarud walked into the cart and saw Pages' back shaking. "Hey, Page, what's up? Why do you look so shaken up? That tentacon wasn't all that strong."

"No, it wasn't that. The guy we just met. Zeeth."

He turned around, with a really excited face and a big smile. "He's the one I've been looking for!"

His father looked at him, surprised, "What are you talking about?"

"Dad, I have something really serious I need to talk to you about. It's gonna sound crazy, but remember that time I told you to buy 10 crates of groks and we made a fortune?"

"Ah, yes. That was a great investment. Put a big foot into the fruit industry."

"Or that time I told you about the destruction of the Boogletooth building?"

"Yeah, that was crazy. Saved a lot of lives that day, you're like a town hero."

"Well, I have a pretty big secret. And it's about all of that. I actually…" He squeezed his hands tightly together and took a deep breath. "I came back from the future after I died. I lived until I was 152 and died in my sleep."

Tarud stared at him for a few seconds and asked, "So, do you know what will happen in the next hundred years or so? Do you know what happens to me? And can really big events be altered? Oh man, I have so many questions!"

"How come you just trusted me that easily? I would've expected a lot more doubt."

"Page, you're my son, of course, I trust you. And all these predictions you made were pretty accurate. I just thought you had awoken some kind of Insight skill or something and I didn't bother questioning it. Do you know what's going to be the next big hit?"

"Well, from my memory, I believe it would be Puli flowers. Someone discovers that the flowers can be used to treat wounds by simply rubbing the stems because there is so much antibacterial stuff in it."

"Oh! That's excellent! I better buy as much as I can when I get back! What else? This is fascinating! No wait, these little sales won't matter, are there any serious scientific advancements made in the future? Something that could possibly. Help your mother?" Tarud looked hopefully at his son, hoping that a hundred years of magic and scientific advancements could possibly bring back someone stuck as a zombie.

"No, I'm afraid not. And dad, you died a while back. That Boogletooth building? It had actually crushed you when you went in to renew our traveling and hunting license."

"No wonder you were acting so strange that day. Wait, so you were sent back at least a year ago?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I wasn't able to tell you because every time I tried I would be interrupted, so I only told you about what would happen. I feel like something supernatural was stopping me. But for some reason, once we met Zeeth, I felt like something was opened and I could tell you with no problem. And it seems that I can."

"I have so many questions. What did you do after I died for over a century? What happens later that I should know about?"

"Well, after you died a ton of people like aunty Kael and Uncle Juts came after your wealth, they saw me as a simple boy and tried to take advantage of me. They did take a lot and one day when I was in a bar drinking, I met Zeeth.

He helped me out of my predicament as long as I promised to show him around and stick by his side. I'm not sure what he did, although I have suspicions that he killed them, he got all the money back to me and I stuck by him for the rest of my life."

Page and his dad spend a bit more time talking about the future and Tarud asked, "why don't you go talk to him now? You have so much to say to him."

"No, I definitely can't do that. If I talk to him before he reaches Jarlon, I'm sure our entire future will fall into crumbles and everything will be ruined. You definitely cannot mention anything about me to him. You can tell him about my past, but not our future. I will seek him out when we get to Jarlon."

"Alright, I will go speak to him and see what he is all about. If he really is as powerful as you say he is, he will truly become an amazing customer to have. He is someone I must treat with the utmost respect." Tarud got up to leave and join the other cart where Zeeth and Lady Eviry sat.

he turned around and said to his son, "from what I heard about him from you just now, it seems you greatly respect and cherish him as a friend. I assume he is why you were so adamant about becoming an adventurer, especially lately."

He sadly looked to the ground and said, "I understand. Take this family heirloom. It brings luck." Tarud tossed him a thick green necklace with a dragon scale pattern on it and half of a small gold coin that connected the two ends of the necklace. Page started to tear up. The family heirloom was his way of saying that he knew he was going to leave. Page was having trouble trying to figure out a way to tell his dad that he wanted to leave, but it seems he already figured it out and was entrusting him to keep the heirloom safe and pass it on. He was wishing him good luck on his future journeys where his dad wouldn't be able to watch over him.

Tarud opened up the soundproof curtains and stepped out of the cart into the night where several of the travelers were still talking and gawking at the locked-up tentacon. The adrenaline rushing through their bodies kept them up.

He walked past them as he took a quick glance at the tied-up tentacon and the prisoners that they captured in the cage next to the tentacon and climbed into the cart with Zeeth, Lady Eviry, and her baby.

"Hey, what's up guys? I brought tea for us." He pulled out three bottles from behind him filled with steaming clear water and at the bottom were cut-up tea leaves.

Lady Eviry looked over with an enchanting smile and said, "Oh, thank you, Tarud. This trip was truly enjoyable." as she gracefully took the bottle from Tarud.

"Oooh, tea!" Zeeth exclaimed and grabbed the second bottle after Eviry.

Tarud almost froze in place upon seeing Lady Eviry's smile. 'Woah. Her smile was so beautiful. I've never seen her smile like that before. she always acted so formal, but that looked natural. What were they talking about to make Lady Eviry so happy?'

Tarud sat down in the chair in front of them so he could face both of them easily and asked,"You guys seem to be having fun, what were y'all talking about?"

"Oh, Zeeth was just asking me somethings. Did you know, he has never heard of Map Eagles before? Or ever even heard the legend of the Kaj and the Devil?"

"Oh? Really?" Tarud acted surprised at this, but he knew Zeeth had recently lost his memories from what Page had said but he went along in order to avoid talking about Page. He didn't want the secret to slip. "Well, the story about Kaj is that-"

Lady Eviry held out her hand and pouted, "Wait! I want to tell you that story! I was a little related to him, so don't I get to tell it?"

"Ah, yes, of course, Lady Eviry, please go ahead." Tarud was slightly surprised. She didn't seem to be the talkative type, why did she suddenly want to explain this? She seems so happy to do so though.

Zeeth spent most of the night asking Lady Eviry and Tarud questions and she was happy to answer his questions all the way up to the morning when they were making their way to Jarlon. Tarud simply sat by and corrected some of her stories and refilled their tea as he tried to get a few words into Zeeth.

For Lady Eviry, it was satisfying to help another person by simply teaching them something. As the daughter of a king, she didn't have a lot of casual interaction between peers. She had spent her entire life being catered to by servants and she never had a lot of time to talk to people like normal. In her twenty-two years of living, she had always been surrounded by people who were overly nice or too strict with her. As the only princess and heir to King Filas, he had always kept her securely restricted to the land of their castle that only 7 people ever had access to. Her parents, grandparents, tutor, and two maids.

Whenever she got to talk to someone it was always formal, whether it was to a fellow noble person or to her parents. She had to be presentable and perfect when she talked, having to think about every word and their impact before she spoke which tired her out a lot, but she had to keep it up as a noblewoman. The only person to have shown her compassion and his true side was her late grandfather, who had passed away five years ago in a strange accident.

So it felt gratifying to finally be able to talk to someone like this. Tarud just enjoyed talking about the world and all the things that he knows. He also wanted Zeeth to be his ally and customer since he heard what his son had said.