Trade Cavaran

Sun rose in the sky, and Zeph found himself walking towards the end of the forest. It had been two days since the incident of the Aries clan group. He found several more groups in the way but he avoided all of them.

This competition or whatever has caused many intelligent beasts to go into hiding than to face so many humans. Thus in a way has made traveling path easy for Zeph.

'Probably I will be able to reach the city by the dusk."

Thought Zeph as he monotonously jumped through a wet swamp in the way. He had gotten used to the diverse environment in the forest.

Marshes, swamps, tall grasses, and thick forest foliage He had traveled through all in the same manner without wasting much time.

Sometimes he found some animals or small beasts trying to attack him but he casually killed those who attacked first and for those who were near him but choose to remain hidden, He spared them.

Suddenly a blue-winged insect jumped from the leaves of the tree and tried to bite on the neck of Zeph. A sword flickered through and the insect got sliced in half.

It was probably one of the many animals which were killed by him in one stroke. Only a few tough ones required him to be serious about them.

" Strong beasts are into hiding, and as already told by Boss only beast having an acceptable range of strength are left in this forest by elders of the city. Then I don't think I should waste more time here. "

Zeph made his mind and began to increase his speed towards the destination. He didn't begin to sprint but just increased his casual sightseeing walking speed to jogging speed.

"Hey, you stop there?"

Zeph heard someone calling out to him. He stopped and turned towards the person who called out. He was a person with flaming red-colored hair and a band over his arm having a symbol of the red-flowered vine which probably the crest of their clan.

Soon three more young men joined him from the other side and were now squinting their eyes on Zeph, possibly trying to recognize him.

"Who are you? Never saw you before in the capital? Which clan are you from?" asked the red-haired boy, leader of the group.

Zeph shaped his head and replied," I'm a traveler, not from the capital. Just passing by through this forest."

"What? Traveling through the forest. Do you think we are fools" one with a mole on the left cheek became furious with his words.

Zeph found himself annoyed at their attitude but he didn't want to get further entangled with them.

"I lost my way thus ended in the forest, now going towards City as some kind warrior pointed the right direction."

"Oh….. Ok, we are now convinced. But do you know from which clan do we belong?"

Before Zeph could reply another man continued

"We are from Menjalar clan, the top clan of the capital. In the council of Elders, we have two members thus have the most right to make decisions in the city.

So you should be grateful to your lucky stars for having a meeting with us "

He stopped and peeked at Traveller to see his awestruck and flattering expression but what he found was an expressionless face gazing at him.

If he had any doubts regarding his explanation, now he was sure he was not from capital. As only someone from outside could maintain such calmness when told about the Menjalar clan. He suddenly found this man to be irritating to him.

"Are you understanding what we are talking about? You..."

Before he could finish his words, the traveler suddenly vanished from his place. A large hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

"Today I am in a bit of a hurry. Don't worry I will visit your clan if I had time to chat with you guys "

A voice was heard so close in his ear that the speaker was standing extremely near to him.

He looked towards his side and found no one there, even the hand on his shoulder was missing.

"Captain, are you alright?"

"Yes..yes…..wha.what happened just now?"

"He just appeared next to you and then went away. His speed was so fast we were unable to react in time. Thank God he didn't have any hostile intentions."

"But Captain you were kind of frozen…" Before he could finish his sentence another man slapped him on his head.

"Shut up…..don't speak nonsense here."

Zeph was already miles away at that time. He was moving fast to clear this last part of the jungle before meeting with the traveling route going towards the City gates.

It was around late afternoon when Zeph finally exited the forest. He soon found the trade route and followed it to city gates. After half an hour of stride, he found a trade cavaran heading towards the city.

They had already seen a lone traveler approaching their cavaran. Thus they decided to invite the fellow traveler to their troop for some rest.

One man approached Zeph who was walking behind troops and greeted him.

"Hello fellow traveler, you are welcomed to our cavaran by our head for rest and meal"

Zeph was already surprised by the greetings and was further shocked by the warm offer by them. He refused them politely by saying them they do not have to do such efforts for him.

"There are no efforts, we are a group of trade merchants which travel bi-annually through this route.

And as a sign of charity help all lone travelers we met in a way by providing some rest or much needed good food. We are serving humanity in our way so please do not reject our kind offers."

Zeph was once again amazed by their ideology. He agreed to his invitation and went to one large cart pulled by two burden beasts.

He was greeted by everyone whom he met in the troop to which he kindly responded. He felt a warm feeling of affection thinking that such people can be so warm-hearted to a stranger they have just met.

He sat down with the merchant who invited him and other workers in the troop provided him with food and water.

"It is a specialty of our local town called a sour and spicy casserole. It is one of the favorite dishes of the whole troop."

Zeph with many expectations tasted the dish. He felt various flavors exploding on his tongue. He felt extreme spiciness in one moment and then extreme sourness in another. It combined to give delightful taste to the dish. He was so thrilled by the food that he finished the whole serving in just a few minutes, unlike his previous slow eating habits.

He was offered space in one of the carts to rest which he politely refused and said he wanted to travel on horses with them.