Supply Check

They had no pots, fire, or anything. Lacking cooking utensils and other things, Sirks had to resort to picking up a bunch of plants for the group to eat. The two princesses looked very displeased about it but are it anyway. When Kies was offered some of the food, he turned it down, telling them that he was used to going multiple days without eating. But in reality, he went the last couple of years without eating. He learned that even though he didn't need to eat, it didn't mean that he couldn't eat. His sense of taste and smell is still fine and he can taste delicious food just like any other person. He just didn't want to since it was tedious and costly. Unless he was really in the mood to eat something for fun, he didn't.

Speaking of which, it made him wonder where the food even went. Did it get converted into magic or something after it goes through his body? All he knows is that nothing ever comes out of his body. That was definitely something he needed to test out. If he could convert food into magic then it was a pretty significant thing.

By the time the group finished eating, the sun had set enough for them to continue traveling the road without having to worry about a heatstroke or anything else like that. Iris was hesitant to return the sword to Kies so he just made it disappear back into his glove, surprising the three of them again.

"How did you do that? Where did it go?"

"Remember what you said," Kies reminded Iris of her promise she made to him about not bothering him if he showed her the sword. In addition, he even let her mess around with it for a bit when all she requested was to look at it.

"Ugh, fine." Iris made a pouty face and was not happy about it, but she kept quiet for the rest of the trip like she promised.

As the sun was about to set, they saw lights in the distance. After walking for a bit more, they made it to a medium-sized village in the middle of the plains. They had cattle and crops and were kind enough to give some of it to the travelers when they asked since they had a surplus of it. The only thing that they didn't give was shelter since all the houses were full. This was a village so you couldn't expect something like an inn to be here.

Instead, they set up some tents on the outskirts of the village for Kies and the others so that they can sleep safely for the night. Kies really thought that Sirks would be against the idea of having Kies sleep in the same tent as them because they didn't know him and he could attack them in their sleep, but he didn't seem to care anymore. They hadn't talked much throughout the trip but it looked like he was so impressed by his sword that he just treated him like a fellow warrior from Otane. Kies didn't get the logic behind this but he didn't question it and accepted it.

They were still nowhere close to Otane. That was the only thing that Kies could think about while the rest were sleeping. While he lied on the soft hay floor the villagers made for the floor of the tent, he tried to calculate how far they were from Otane.

Since they were in a place that had a bunch of grass, rivers, and even animals, they were very far from Otane.

Otane had none of those things. The land there is infertile and dry. There is barely any wildlife as the entire place is practically a desert. It is also blazing hot during the mornings and freezing cold during the nights. The people there had to endure and adapt to these harsh conditions to survive.

Kies imagines every Otanian as a stone-hearted warrior but after seeing Iris, he had his doubts. She is strong just like what is said about all Otanians but she didn't look like a warrior at all. Her sister is the same. Kies could've sworn that he heard somewhere that the royalty of Otane were the best fighters out there. With the exception of Sirks who was a decent fighter based on what he has seen so far of him, the other two didn't look like fighters at all.

Has Otane changed in the past years? Ever since the survivors of Silverfield fled there, Otane has undergone drastic changes. At first, a good percentage of the population refused to have the Silvians live there for obvious reasons regarding the war. But after some time, they grew to accept them and now Otane has both cultures from Silverfield and itself. It is entirely possible that Otane may have changed during this time.

Before he knew it, morning came and they were woken up by the glare of the sun. Kies spent the entire night staring at the roof of the tent as he couldn't fall asleep. When Iris asked him out he slept, he lied, saying that he slept just fine.

"That's great. We have a lot of ground to cover today so you better be prepared." Iris sounded like she was filled with energy and wanted to head off right away but the other two didn't agree with her.

"We have to restock with supplies first," Sirks tells her.

"What are we missing?" The villagers gave them almost everything they needed and it was rude to ask for any more than that.

"Weapons."

"Weapons?" Kies looked around. They had one sword with them and it was on Sirks. They could've taken two or three more from the soldiers from before but for whatever reason, they didn't.

Kies asked about this and Sirks explained to him that, "Iris uses her fists and Wompa uses daggers. I'm the only one here who knows how to use a sword."

"Really? I thought that you all used swords." Weren't all Otanians trained to know how to use swords?

"Huh, what makes you think that?"

"Don't all people from Otane learn how to use a sword from a young age?"

"Most," Iris corrected him. "What you're probably thinking of is that we all learn how to use a weapon at a young age. It doesn't have to be the sword but most choose the sword because it's versatile," she explained to him.

"Fists count as a weapon?"

"Yes. Anything is a weapon if used properly." To show what she meant, Iris showed off a few of her moves. He punched the air in rapid succession before doing a spinning kick to the imaginary target's head.

"Wait... If you can do that then why did you tackle me back there instead?" Kies got that these moves probably wouldn't work against a bunch of armored targets but it definitely would've worked on him. He wouldn't have had a fighting chance if she and Sirks teamed up on him. He would need to use his magic in order to win the fight.

"Hm? I don't know. I just had a feeling that it wouldn't hurt you. I don't why but my guts just told me that, and my gut feelings have never been wrong."

Well, she wasn't wrong. Kies wouldn't have been hurt by any of her hurts but he would be surprised by them, rendering him unable to fight back. "Interesting..." For her to know that the attacks wouldn't have any effect on him... Otanians really are natural-born fighters.

"Speaking of which, can you explain to me why I had that gut feeling?" Iris suddenly asks Kies. "Could it be that you have armor under your cloak?"

"I have nothing like that under my cloak." To prove his point, Kies knocked on his chest a couple of times and showed that there was nothing hard underneath.

"What? Then why is it that I feel that my punches will hurt you less than those armored soldiers?"

"Because it will."

"What? That's not an answer."

"I rather not explain it."

"What? Don't tell me your cloak is also a magic tool."

"You can say that." It was a lot easier than telling them his identity which he also wants to keep a secret.

"You already have one, how did you get your hands on another one?" Magic tools and weapons were not something that could easily be found or made. It required a bunch of rare materials, someone who knows how to weave the materials together, and lastly, someone who can infuse the items with magic. That kind of magic is very rare and is something that only the elves have.

"I found them lying around." It was the truth. He did just find them lying in a box in the middle of nowhere.

"That's some luck you have. Do you want to spill the location? I want to find a few as well," Iris said with jealousy.

"Same here," Sirks also joins in. He also wanted a magic tool or two.

"Well, good luck. I'm not sharing."

"Heh, thought so."

After getting sidetracked from what they were originally talking about, the group checked to see if the village had any spare weapons to which the answer was no. According to them, the village never experienced any attacks from demons or monsters so they didn't need to own weapons.

Unable to find any weapons for Wompa or spare gloves for Iris, the group moved on from the village, remembering to thank the villagers for their hospitality. They then left and continued on their journey.

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