Life in Another World

Until one day, news of the caravan arriving in the village spread. Every year, a group of merchants would come to this village and not just this village but other villages as well for trade. Whenever they appear, it is like a festival, and there will be trade for 7 days and 7 nights. 

Every village's residents were happy because their main source of income is beast hunting and selling them. Arrival of the caravan means their business opportunity is coming, and clearance of their stock, as well as time to show their specialty. The meat, the bones, the skins, as well as live offspring of the beast to the merchants. Merchants not just buy things but also sell things that are in demand in the village. This village is on the outskirts of the country, and it's hard to get many things that are important to them. They sell and buy what's necessary for them. Every year, before the caravan arrived, they would send information regarding their arrival via letter with the help of messenger birds, as they are trained for the delivery of messages, they are fast, and they can move unhindered in the sky.

Villagers got this news from the hunter of another village. There are other villages as well on the outskirts, and due to the fact fact it is hard for many people from other regions to reach here, they would make connections with other villagers to ask for help when needed. People living on the outskirts have hunting as their main profession. The hunter profession also pays back a lot, but the risk is also high, and because of this profession, many people also die, as there is a lot of danger.

"Oiii Seshat, are you home? Did you hear that the caravan is coming?" Lacy shouted from outside Seshat's house. Lacy was one of the friends of Seshat. It was afternoon and Seshat was making a fur clothes, in the second floor in her working room, from the fur she had after butchering the dead beast that her husband brought last week and like that she had a lot of skins in the garden hanging up in the rope for drying and furs in the sack as well as bones in the garden for drying. She had another room besides her working room where her finished products were, and there was a ton of them. Seshat was originally from this village, as she grew up in this village, but in an accident, she lost her parents to the beasts, and that's why she had to learn to survive. She picked up a lot of handy work, and she has knowledge in most of the fields as she had worked in many areas like Tailoring, butchering, utensil making from beast bones, just to make a living before she met Sam, who was from outside and was a hunter who used to do hunting.

Rudra was sleeping as he never had any energy, but Rudra is always focused, and he heard Lucy's voice from outside the house. How did he know it was Lucy? He had seen her many times, and it wasn't just her whom he knew. He knew a lot of women in this village as he had met them again and again, and their kids as well. Many of Seshat's friends were married as well, and many weren't married, and those who had married had children almost of same age as Rudra, and he had to play with these kids, which made him a little awkward ass he was a grownup man stuck in child's body. 

Rudra still remembered the day when they had a gathering at his home where Seshat's friends were over and those who had children brought their, to compare their children. Rudra was surrounded by kids, and he was sitting still, looking at the kids crawling all over with an awkward expression as if he weren't one of them. All moms were looking at their kids, and those who didn't have kids looked at others' kids. They were checking whose child was the best, enjoying looking at the children. All fathers were at work, so they planned this gathering to enjoy and create relations among the children. Well, that gathering didn't go well, as the children were still children and they fought with each other, and they cried a lot, increasing the stress on the mothers. It was such a hectic day.

Rudra tried walking from the bedroom towards the window to look outside, as the windows weren't up high, so Rudra could look out the window. Rudra saw a woman standing outside the fence wearing a long tunic with full sleeves and an apron wrapped around the stomach, giving a proper medieval housewife vibe. She had long black hair, a slim and petite body, fair skin, and a common face that seemed to disappear among the crowd, but lively enough to think of her as a lovely neighbour aunt. 

Lucy also saw Rudra looking at her through the window, and when she saw Rudra looking at her with innocent yet cute eyes, her heart melted like ice in summertime. She still couldn't wrap her head around when she sees Rudra. But she wasn't here to see Rudra, so "Rudra, is your mom at home? Can you tell her that Aunt Lucy is here?"

Rudra was looking through the window from the bedroom, and when Lucy told him to call his mom, he ran outside the room, and just opposite the bedroom is his mother's workshop, Seshat's workshop. Rudra pushed the workshop door and entered. Rudra saw many balls of fur threads in the room, as well as many bones in the room. There were many tools, as well as handheld medieval machines. Rudra saw Seshat, sewing fur clothes using beasts' fur in a tailoring machine which is paddled by a leg. 

Rudra called, "Mom, Aunt Lucci, Outside." Rudra could only mutter these words, but Seshat understood them perfectly. Seshat first poked Rudra's cheek and pinched, "Ooh, my cute darling. Do you want to come with me to see Aunt Lucy?" For this question, Rudra nodded as an answer, as he also heard something interesting about the caravan.

Seshat picked up Rudra and walked out with Rudra in her embrace. Seshat came outside the house and saw Lucy standing outside the fence. "Lucy, you are here. Is there something you need?"

"Nah, I don't need anything. I am just here to inform you of the arrival of the caravan. The caravan is coming in a month. I wanted to share this great news with so I came here. So, have you prepared your items to sell this year?" Lucy asked Seshat while looking at Rudra. Lucy poked Rudra's cheek because it was chubby. Rudra may not have the charm, but he is cute and chubby, which makes him quite attractive. Rudra had been eating a lot of meat, and his growth is being stimulated, and that's also how he is putting on weight now. 

Seshat is one of the only people in the entire village who sells the most products to the merchants and earns the most. Well, she had a rough time when she lost her parents, and she doesn't want anything like that to happen to Rudra, and that's why she doesn't go out, and also doesn't let her son out. She also lacked money a lot and had to work many jobs to earn and as well as learn as many skills as she could to earn a living herself later on, and that's why she is at home working all day to create clothes, utensils to sell to earn extra money. She had never forgotten that time when she had almost nothing to wear, and nothing to eat. She works hard not to experience that time again, and that's why she saves a lot, but when it comes to her child, she would use that without any remorse, as she wants her child to live happily.

Seshat got overjoyed after hearing that news. She smiled, and her smile mesmerized both Lucy and Rudra. A caravan was coming, and it was great news as the caravan brings a lot of goods that are hard to find here in this village, as well as news outside of the village, which is important. "Is it really true? And where did you hear it from?" Seshat tried to verify it herself by asking Lucy a second time, and also found out the source from whom Lucy heard. As there are times when people would try to prank others by sending false information through other hunters in the forest and it had created a lot of troubles as people spent day and night preparing, but the caravans didn't show up, which made their hard work nothing more than a joke.

Lucy knew how Seshat was feeling, as she was a victim of false information as well, and also knew what Seshat was thinking. "Don't worry. This news is reliable as this news was announced by the village chief himself. And that news was sent from another village through the official representative hunter. That hunter himself delivered the letter, and also the caravan had sent that letter, and that hunter only delivered it." Lucy calmly replied with a genuine smile on her face. 

"Ooh, then it's okay. Thank you for that wonderful news. Come inside, have a cup of herbal tea." Seshat invited Lucy inside, to which Lucy declined, saying she also had to prepare for the upcoming trade week. And yes, the arrival of the caravan was no less than a festival, as there would be large amounts of goods and items that had never been seen in the village. People would bring out their specialty, and there would be food stalls as well. Food from outside the regions, unique recipes, unique clothing, craftsmanship, Unique beasts and plants, as well as spices. There will be many more, and that's why it's no less than a festival but there is a slight problem and that is no knows when the caravan would come as sometimes they would come as early as a month early and sometimes a month late and only through the letter that they send can they verify their arrival. 

"Then, Bye. Go and prepare your best, and tell others to prepare their best as well." As Seshat said, she also went inside to prepare her best for the upcoming trade week. She is happy because she can buy many things she wanted, and most of the herbs that are grown in her garden are brought from the caravan, it had helped a lot. And she wishes to buy more because their uses surpass the cost, and many of the herbs here are seasonings as well as medicine. She had a child, and she had to make him healthy, so she would buy as much as she could and as many different varieties as it could be. She started humming and went inside with Rudra still in her embrace, but Rudra was having different thoughts.