Chapter 6 - That's what family is for

Author: J. Arque

Editor: –

Proofreader: –

Hi, guys! Sorry for the late chapter.

I just got a new job a few days ago and that prevent me from writing a chapter every two days. Instead, I will try to write a chapter on the weekend so I can post it every Monday or Tuesday.

And thank you so much for the reviews

Exton, 29th Late Winter, Markadia Calendar

We left Wilmot's house, and with the destrier, in a solitary night fused with the chilling air, we stride along the edge of Exton River. The green moon shone and gave her blurry reflection on top of the yellowness of the river.

No sound and light aside the one from nature

In that quite of a night, Bob and I talked about his journey to Trakken, constant worry over outlaws, the commotion in the auction house, meeting with Antonei, shopping for ores, and so on.

"So you dressed as a mute magician while Pateyk dressed as your apprentice?" I said.

"Ye should see his face when he saw us Karl"

"It should be hilarious" I chuckled, "then?"

"And then when he asked the price I raised two of my fingers" Bob paused then grinned, "But he thought I meant two million so he begged me to reduce the price to half million"

"I wish I was there to see it"

"Yea, but then Pateyk smacked my head when I nodded to the man, I didn't know why he did that but he told me later I should let him handle the business from now on"

Of course you Idiot, the price could be raised at least to one million if you had better negotiation skill

"Yes Uncle, you should learn how to haggle"

"Yea, yea, whatever," He said, "so it turned out the sword was auctioned that afternoon and then… "

He went on to how the auction house named the sword as Starwood Sword because of the Star engraving and wood pattern on the blade. However, the surprise part was that the sword was bought by the Twentieth Prince Glathan, grandson of King Horath. I didn't know much about him but I knew that he only a few years older than Karl and because of his status as Horath's most beloved grandson, he was insanely rich. Glathan tale of a pampered prince was told by the bards and mummers throughout the entire state for some couple of years now.

Bob continued, "Next day, we went to the market"

"With your wizard costume?"

"Eh? No, of course not"

"So that was when you met Uncle Toni and Old man Ed, right?"

"Yea, I met Ol' man Ed first, but he fainted when Pateyk said we want to buy all his horses" Bob laughed, "He said he won't sell his horses if we don't hire him too, I still couldn't understand why he did that, he could live a good life in capital with that kind of coins"

"Sometimes life isn't about coins Uncle, maybe he loves his horse too much"

"Maybe ye right"

"So what happened after that?"

"We bought the youngsters, but then, I heard someone calling my name"

"Is it Uncle Toni?"

"No, it was brother Shoren, he always been the one who have good eyes," Bob said, "Heavens, I still couldn’t believe they spent days in that cage"

I nodded, "Then, how much they sold for?"

"6,000 Strung each not 1,500 like the youngsters"

"Because they were guild members?"

"I don't know," Bob said, "Pateyk was the one who talked, but probably yes"

"I understand about their wives and kids but what about their brothers? Why they followed you? They should know about those bandits, right?"

"They know, but Lando hates Trakken"

"Oh, do you know why?"

"Nay, he never talks about it," Bob said, "maybe because his girl and Kashia died there"

"What about Uncle Danzael?"

"I don't know, he didn't tell us why... he just said he want to follow us 'ere"

"Hmm"

"Do ye mind if they live 'ere? Because ye know… ye are the chief now" Bob asked.

"No, I'll be even happier if you brought more people here Uncle," I said, "Look at this place, she looked like a haunted village"

"But it would be difficult Karl, nobody wants to live 'ere" Bob said, "I lived 'ere because I was born and raised 'ere, and I love this village, but most people do not have that sorta thing"

"I agree, uncle, but people need food, and if we have lots of them, people would come here like ants to a mountain of sugar"

"Sugar? Ye mean that sweet thing from Exen? What is it have to do with ants?"

I was surprised that Bob recognized the word sugar since I unconsciously said the word in English pronunciation.

Karl never heard such thing that resembled sugar and it was natural that he didn't know the Rorhkish word for sugar was also 'Sugar'.

The similarities between this world and Earth always baffles me

"Have you seen it?" I asked, "The Sugar"

"Nay, but I heard it from some sailor in Trakken, they said it taste sweeter than honey and it came from some plants they had in Gova"

Well. It made sense considering that Gova was known for its vast territory. I could only guess Gova size was about the Persian Empire territory during Cyrus or Xerces reign. In fact, I could find some similarities between those two, like their obsession towards the sun and the moon, their chariots, even their religion were both based on their reverence towards the fire.

With that large amount of conquered territory, Gova probably had invaded or at least had access to the tropical area of this planet which was the place where sugar cane could be cultivated. But I couldn’t be sure about that.

In the future, maybe I could explore this world and see it myself

I felt a hand touching my shoulder, "Karl? Hey, Karl? Why are ye daydreaming?"

"Oh sorry, what I meant is that ant…" But then I realized we already near the house, "Sigh* Never mind"

When we arrived, the house already illuminated, probably from the hearth fire.

I entered the house first while Bob busied himself with the two sacks full of foodstuffs on the Destrier's back into the house, but I only saw both blondes -Yolanda and Natasha- already entered their dormant state in Bob's hay bed.

So I went outside to Bob and said, "They are sleeping"

"Let's not bother them then"

I nodded.

That night, I shared my hay bed with Bob. It was weird since I never share a bed with a man before, even in the college and the army. But the worst thing was that I had to keep up with Bob sleep-talking habit. Especially when He strangled me and whispered countless "Kashia" into my delicate earlobe.

Shut up! I am a chief goddamit!

I wanted to shout but afraid to wake the two beautiful things at the other side of the room.

I will never share a bed with a man again, I pledged.

Exton, 30th Late Winter, Markadia Calendar

Despite the lack of sleep, I was the one who woke up first.

I opened the small window and realized that it was still dark

I guessed it was probably an hour before dawn, so I went to check out the two large sacks that Bob brought into our house.

I found wheat grains, oat grains, broad beans, smoked Rohr fish, smoked goat meat, venison, Xnethar's rock salt, ginger, and some wild vegetables. I was satisfied with Bob's shopping selections since they were Protein, mineral, vitamin, calcium and carbs sources for us. However, this amount only capable of supporting us for a month. Thankfully, we still have 10 other food sacks at Xander's house so at least we could live a relatively luxury life until the next harvest.

This 2 sacks should cost 3,500... almost a year pay for Bob

Even someone from Tarog caste (Soldier Caste -3rd Caste-) could only afford to buy this much after four months of work. This really showed me how severe the food crisis that also happened outside Exton.

I could make my mom's porridge specialty with all these ingredients, I thought.

So I did, it took about three-quarter of an hour before Bob and Yolanda woke up when they smelt the ginger and venison fat evaporated from the bronze cauldron.

"Good morning Uncle Bob, Good morning Yolanda"

"Good morning Karl," Yolanda said as she yawned, "Eh… Bob? Welcome home, how was your trip?"

"It was great and yea, thank ye for taking care of Karl"

"You could ask me anytime Bob"

"Ehem… I've cooked some porridge for us" I said.

"Eh? Ye can cook?" Bob said and then paused, "Because the ol' man god?"

I nodded.

"What old man god?" Yolanda asked,

"Don't worry about it" I said then I glanced toward Natasha, "Is she still sick?"

"No," Yolanda said, "she was healthy again after her nap yesterday. Thanks to gods"

"What happened?" Bob asked.

"We played in the river too long and she got sick because of it"

"Ye mean she got dizzy and chilly?" Bob asked, "I remember I got sick like that too back then when Tatia and I played there"

"You and mother used to swim on that disgu… I mean on that river?"

"Of course, like everybody in the village," Bob said, "Ol' man Wilmot said it make us stronger and protect us from sickness"

No wonder lots of people here had stronger immune system, I thought, they got a lot of training

"Anyway, let's eat before it gets cold," I said, "and we should wake Natasha too"

When Natasha woke up, I could see her big blue eyes stared at the cauldron with an intention to devour all its contents.

"Kal, is that meat?" Natasha asked.

"Yup, deer meat," I said as I poured the porridge into the bowl and showed it to her.

"Waah, Deer"

"Have you taste it?" I said, "Deer meat?"

She shook her head. "But, I've seen them in Norwood, they are beautiful"

Then she looked at her mother "Mom, Is it okay to eat deer?"

"What do you think?" Yolanda said with a smile.

"I don't know"

"Then you won't get one" I took the bowl and gestured it towards Bob.

I could see tears started to form at those two blue orbs of her.

"I'm just kidding Nat, don't cry, here," I said, "Eat as much as you want"

"I hate you Kal," she said.

As soon as they took the first spoon-full of the porridge, all three of them took their second bowl in almost no time until there was no porridge left in the cauldron.

"Umm, yummy" Natasha said as she licked the wooden spoon.

Yolanda nodded, "Thank you, Karl, this is really delicious, I forgot a food could also be tasty after all these years"

"Karl, ye should be the one who cook from now on," Bob said

"Sure, but you need to get a wife soon, I can't cook for you forever" I teased.

Bob raised his eyebrow and glance toward Yolanda. I could saw both of them stare at each other for some time before ended it with a blush on their face.

"Nay, I am rather old and a failure, no woman would want to be with me anymore," Bob said.

I saw Yolanda wanted to protest but she decided to keep her mouth shut.

I only smirked at that.

It seems like I really do know more about woman than you Bob

"Oh, I need to go to Ellen’s house now," Yolanda said then pat her daughter's pale blond hair, "Tasha, we go home"

Natasha frowned but nodded nonetheless.

"Do you really have to leave? You could stay, you know? Live here with us" I said.

After all, I could just ask Pateyk or Shoren to build us new rooms and a proper wooden bed for each of us.

"I…" Yolanda looked at her daughter who smiled then looked at Bob who blushed.

"I… We can't Karl," She said, "it would be bad if villagers saw unmarried man and woman lived in the same house for a long time"

She was right, even if I was the chief, I still couldn't protect her from villager's scrutiny since people here still had a conservative idea about the sacrality of marriage.

When I thought about Natasha, as 75-year-old, I couldn't help but feel that she was one of my granddaughters, as much as I felt Yolanda as one of my daughters. Even if they were quite eccentric, they were, after all, good people. They were like another family members to Karl who lost almost all of his. Yet, like I said a few days ago they were the poorest family in Exton.

After Yolanda's husband died, she had to raise Natasha alone and survived without sufficient amount of coins. I didn't know whether she was deliberately spreading lie or she just basically clueless about her shitty diagnosis. But I understand why she did that.

Sigh* maybe I could find a better job for Yolanda later, I thought.

Just before they left, my uncle gave me a large hide bag and pushed my back towards the mother and daughter.

What?

I raised my eyebrow towards him, but he kept staring at me, so I looked at the content of the bag.

Oh...

"Umm… Yolanda," I said "as you probably already guessed, my uncle and I made quite a fortune in Trakken"

Yolanda only stared at us with a confused expression.

"So we decide to give you this" I gave Yolanda a large hide bag full of wheat grains, smoked fish and meats, broad beans and rock salt. "It's not much but we really hope both of you would accept it"

"This… Bob, Karl… I can't…" Yolanda raised both of her hand and waved it.

I pushed the bag into her hand "It's okay, just take it, please"

Bob nodded "Yea, ye also had taken care of Karl and even me all this time, but we never gave anything to you"

"I don't... I..."

"Please" I said, "Just take it"

She closed her mouth with her hand and tears started to flow from her dazzling eyes. She hugged the bag then suddenly dropped to her knees and continued to cry.

Natasha who saw her mother cried, understand what just happened. She also had tears flowed into her cheeks but she just stood there without a sound and didn't bother to wipe her tears.

"Thank you… Thank you"

"It's fine Yolanda, please stand up" Bob walked to Yolanda and put both of his hand on her shoulders.

"But…"

"Yolanda, I always thought you and Nat as my family and this is what family is for," I said.

Yolanda nodded and stood up. She put her right palm on top of Natasha's head. "Tasha, hurry up say thanks to Boban and Karl"

"Sob… Sob… Thank you, Uncle Bob… Thank you, Kal"