The Gold Card

Leo and Darion were on their way to Berela, the village that was very next to Beastatown.

However, when they arrived at the edge of the Beastatown, Darion asked, "Leo, could you wait for a minute or something, I will be right back."

"Eh?", Leo turned around only to find Darion rushing inside his hut.

Leo had no issues in waiting for a minute or two, at least, not now. But as he waited, he found two women exiting the hut.

"Huh?"

Right after that, Darion walked out after closing the door and ran towards Leo. Right now, he covered himself with a brown robe and a brown hat.

"What is this dressing for?"

"We will only be out for a day, you didn't have to change your dress.", Leo said as if he knew how long it would take to return from the next town.

"A day? That's true if we are just visiting the place…"

"If we have to sell the beast, it might take longer.", Darion said.

"Huh? Can't we just find a buyer and sell the beast to them?", Leo asked as he walked.

Darion shook his head and said, "You can't just give the beast's body to anyone before analysis…"

"Since this will be your first time selling, you need to register yourself as a seller and get a card."

"Only after that can you sell the beast bodies after hunting legally. Otherwise, it would be considered illegal.", Darion explained.

"I see…", Leo understood what Darion said.

Since the beasts were the only way for awakening and increasing the strength of the beast cultivator, and that they were quite valuable in different aspects, their hunting had been increased.

To prevent their complete massacre, and to prevent just any human going and killing them, the rule to make hunting without license illegal was made.

Although the hunting decreased, the change was a mere 1%. The reason was the black market and auction houses that bought the bodies or different parts of the beasts irrespective of legality.

"Hmm, then how long do you think it will take?", Leo asked.

"I think about one day.", Darion smiled when he said this.

Leo had a weird expression on his face. That was because Darion gave all those big explanations to reply to the same thing.

Leo didn't be hasty and asked, "You mean, it will take one day to register?"

"Nope. In total, it will take us one day to go and return from the village.", Darion answered.

Leo stopped asking or saying anything to Darion after hearing that.

'Must be drunk…'

'I wonder if it is safe to travel with him…', he said to himself.

In any case, his question wasn't answered nor did Darion explain anything further. They kept walking as they exited the village boundaries and arrived at the Besoret Forest. It was not a large forest but did have many trees.

It was present in between the two villages – Beastatown and Berela.

Although the forest was small, it still harbored many beasts. Of course, these beasts weren't as strong as the ones that lived in the Great Sun Forest.

Great Sun Forest was one of the second largest forests on the continent and the largest forest in the Sun Empire. This was the forest where Leko died.

Well, he was fortunate enough to just encounter a Night Cat. If he had gone even a bit deeper, then many ferocious beasts would have attacked him. Even his bones wouldn't have been left behind.

It was soon going to be noon therefore there was nothing much to worry about. Both of them could see everything clearly. There were no beasts nearby.

They safely crossed the forest and by the time they arrived at the next village, it was about 3-4 in the afternoon.

It took them more than four to five hours to get past the forest – and this forest wasn't even that large!

They entered the next village which was relatively different from their own.

Yes, Beastatown was poor whereas the city which they visited, seemed to be a little richer. There were many more shops here and there and some stalls too.

There were some knights standing at the entrance of the village. When they looked at Leo and Darion walking toward them, they walked forward to block them from moving forward.

"Stop. Identify yourselves!", said the knight with silver armor having an emblem of the sun engraved on the left side of the chest.

"What is there to identify? They are just some beggars, haha!", two other knights standing nearby started to laugh at this lame joke.

The one who stopped them wanted to laugh but didn't. He could laugh behind others' backs but not in front of them, especially, the beggars. It would simply make them unhappy which he didn't want to see as he too emerged from a poor family.

He turned back and looked at Darion and Leo, and asked, "May I see a permit or ID or something that can prove that you aren't criminals?"

This time, he was a bit more polite.

Leo panicked. He didn't bring any card or anything similar to identify himself. All he had was some beast tools and a dead beast on a trolly which was covered with black clothing. This was to ensure that no one would attack them or try to take it away from them as beasts' bodies were quite valuable.

Leo couldn't rely on Darion as he had already lost his hopes the first time he talked with him, however, seeing that he was an adult, he unconsciously looked at Darion as if he was asking for help.

Darion looked at Leo and winked.

'Ah, what am I doing? How could he be of any help?', and just when he had thought this Darion walked forward and displayed a golden card to the knight.

The moment the knight saw the card, his eyes widened and he knelt on the ground. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.