Chapter 149: Journey 7

Aeternums perspective:

Watching the waitress disappear, I look forward to the meal. Having slept for a while, no snacks to be seen, I am positively famished. Jengal is once more lost in thought; he has been doing that a lot recently.

This whole village is neat. It reminds me of those medieval villages from movies; the people are even wearing rough wool clothes. The novelty of it will likely wear off quickly, but while I have it, I am going to enjoy myself.

Although, this whole place screams unsanitary. From the dusty floor to the dirty sides, it doesn’t look well maintained. The entire building is a stationary sin to all business owners. I say if you built the business, you owe it to at least keep up the upkeep.

Alas, I do not own this business. So my mental loathing will remain mental. Our food arrives quickly, a little too quick.

Watching as the grey-brown soup is set down in front. The waitress looks a little displeased as I hand her a silver. Walking away as if I offended her family. Jengal just chuckles, making sure to follow her with his eyes. His smile says all it needs to say.

“Even if she tried to scam us, we are rich enough not to care,” I say to Jengal, confused why he has such a mean streak for people like her.

“it’s the principle of it; if you cant earn money honestly, you don’t deserve it.” He says, shaking his head. “If instead of attempting to scam us just did her job well, we may very well have tipped her. Yet, shallow greed clouded her judgment.”

“I don’t think you understand how impactful being poor can have on your choices,” I say, remembering my childhood. Glad my parents didn’t have more than two kids; otherwise, Christmas would have been on rotation.

“You didn’t see her gold earrings, did you?”

“Point proven,” I say, giving Jengal his victory.

Taking a sip of the stew, I find it okay. A little bland, lacking in variety of vegetables; but it is still hearty. Might plant some vegetables on the way out; they could use them.

We both finish our meal silently, enjoying each other’s company. We have plenty of time to talk on the carriage.

Once we finish the food, we deposit the plates on the counter, disappearing out the door. “So, Jengal, what should we do now?

“Go back to the carriage?”

“We got another 20 minutes.”

Jengal rolls his eyes, “fine, let’s explore.”

Quickly grabbing my friend’s arm, we jog through the village. Quickly spotting a house of decent quality, “I wonder who lives there?” I say out loud.

“Likely whoever runs the rundown village.”

“I don’t understand how they can live in poor conditions with crafting tables and other magical things,” I say, pondering on how poverty is possible in Minecraft.

“If you were hypothetically born into a poor family, you might never even hear about crafting tables. They teach you how to live, not thrive.”

“We need a public school system.”

“Yeah, and who will pay for it?” Jengal says, laughing slightly.

A bright smile on my face, “Me, of course.”

Jengal just sighs, “finish what you are currently doing first.”

“Valid point. Phone distribution and airship business.” Saying it like a chant to stay on track.

He just laughs, looking away. We lightly jog around the small village, allowing me to enjoy a new type of scenery. Nonetheless, it’s a small village, and we have exhausted the enjoyment we can gather from it.

Returning to the carriage, we jump inside. “Did you boys have fun?” Jengals mother enquiries.

“Of course,” I reply with a beaming smile.

Jengal mumbles, “Iit was okay.”

Lightly pushing his arm, “Ccheer up, we had a break from the carriage after all.”

His mother nods, ”Hhe is right,. yYou were complaining of being bored earlier.”

Rolling his eyes, “Yeah, yeah.”

“How long was I asleep for?” I ask my traveling companions.

They both shrug, Jengal speaking. “Couple hours? Maybe?”

“At least I am not as tired.”

“Why were you so tired?” Jengal says, tilting his head slightly.

“Had a friend visit me, lost track of time.”

“In the middle of the night?” Jengals mother states.

“What can I say; he avoids people.”

Jengal doesn’t look like he believes me.

“Got it, how interesting.” His mother says, raising an eyebrow in thought.

“By the way, the next town on our stop; does it have a spa?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Well, I wanted to join you at the spa. As long as they mean what I recall, being pampered, getting massages; that stuff.”

“Sounds good, I wasn’t planning on going to this town, but I can make an exception. What brought it on? Feeling sore?”

“I have never had one, thought it a good a time as any to try it out.”

“You poor thing, don’t you worry. I know the spa in the next town; I will get Gurdy to treat you extra special.”

“That sounds terrifying and heartwarming at the same time.” Thinking of those giant muscle-bound women who will break you into pieces.

She just chuckles.

“I have been meaning to ask, what is your name?”

“Took you some time to ask.”

“Never really came up.”

“Valid point, my name is Hanna, Hanna Mor.”

“A beautiful name,” I state, having always liked the name.

Like a voice of bells, she chuckles. “Sweet talker, don’t make me tell your girlfriend.”

“I am allowed to compliment people,” I say with a slight laugh.

Jengal is just sat in the corner, looking like the world is his enemy.

“Jengal, you all good? You look like you’re in a bad mood.”

“I am fine. Just don’t feel too happy today.”

“Okay, anything I can do?” I ask him.

“Give me some peace and quiet.”

“I can do that,” nodding; before sticking my nose in my phone.

Clicking on youtube, I see the first few videos. A lot of hello is this working kind of videos. Clicking on one with a hammer, I see a blacksmith working at his forge. It's kind of enchanting, watching him crack the glass on top of a ceramic container, pouring out molten metal into bars.

He then takes other bars, heating them up. Hammering them into long rods, which he then thins and chops with an ax. Lightly tapping the top of the needle-like metal, he creates a nail.

I lost track of time, watching the hour-long video. I really needed my youtube fix, finally, it’s back.

My time was quickly burned away, watching the worst videos ever. Yet, I couldn’t stop. After my youtube binge, the reading app is opened. Hopeful for good books, my prayers were answered. Within the app, a massive page of books appears. So many, a tag system has automatically activated. Being able to search by type, genre, and even sentences, I love it.

Checking out a few spots, I see a similarity between several books. Right above the title of the first page of many books, I see a small card.

“Brought to you by Dev, the librarian.”

“Good on you, Dev, bringing us all books,” I say out loud by mistake.

Looking around quickly, my fellow traveling companions seem undisturbed. Sweating slightly in fear, having thought I would have worsened Jengals mood.

It is late afternoon; time is flying by today. Only another, what? A week? I don’t know how long until we reach the city. I’m not built for long periods doing nothing.

Itching for physical activities, “mind if I just head home quickly to check… my.”

“No, you stay.” Hanna says,Hanna, says; causing me to deflate like a balloon. “Taking a break won’t kill you,” she adds.

“Feels like it.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. It is just a long carriage ride, never been on one before?”

“Not a carriage specifically, an airship, yes.”

“How did you fight your boredom?”

“GCrew plants and materials on top of my ship, expanded said ship, played with my pets, slept, ate, stared at the ocean in boredom.”

“Sorry, our carriage isn’t that big.”

“I noticed,” chuckling.

She shares the humor, smiling as well.

“I wonder if there is a way to expand the interior size of the carriage.

“I am sure the driver would love you for the free upgrade.”

“No doubt about that.”

He affirms, peering through the sliding window. “That would be a valuable upgrade; I could charge 5 times the price.” He says with a smile.

“Shame I don’t know how to do it.” I’ll have to look into it. Putting it on my mental checklist for when I am out of ideas.

“A shame indeed,” he agrees. £No villages or towns for a while; we will set up camp soon.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Spending the remaining time idly flicking through my phone, waiting for the carriage to stop. It does in good time, just in time, in fact. Watching as the sun descends and the last vestiges of light peter out.

While everyone can still see, I erect my tower. Creating a small wooden log cabin for our golden carriage companions.

Entering inside and immediately flopping on the comfy sofa. “that carriage hurts my backside.”

“Aren'tArent you in cushy armor?” Jengal prods.

“Not like sitting in one position for long periods hurt too.” I sarcastically reply.

Once everyone is inside, Hanna begins to prepare dinner. Having fun playing with a large number of ingredients within my kitchen. Popping her head out occasionally to ask what ‘insert spice’ is. My many visits to the spice guy have resulted in a massive collection, which Hanna loves.

Just as we are settling down to a tomato soup, I hear, “knock, knock.”

Turning to my equally confused companions.

“Maybe it's the nobles?” Jengal adds his 2 cents.

“Most likely, let me open the door.” Walking to it and opening it, I see a surprising face.

“Green tea?” I say to my friend.

“Absolutely,” as he walks on in. Sitting down in an armchair.

Jengal and Hanna turn to me with curiosity in their eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that; I don’t know how he finds me either. He just appears out of thin air and orders green tea. Ain'tAint that right… mysterious stranger?”

“Absolutely,” the brown-haired fellow says.

Hanna walks up, “hello my name is Hanna.”

“Hello, nice to meet you.” They both shake hands, nodding in acknowledgment.

“So, what are you doing out here this time?” I enquired, wondering why he's halfway to the capital.

“Can’t a man sightsee?”

“We both know you want to be as far away from this empire as possible.”

Holding his hands up, “Hey, at least the war hasn’t broken yet.”

Rolling my eyes, “so, how's the earthen empire faring in all this political balancing?”

He shakes his head, “not well. An osmium shortage is pushing the empire hard, given it is a vital resource.”

“I thought the earthen empire was mineral-rich.”

“it is. Just some bad luck is all. All the osmium mines dried up at the same time. The earth takes timeake to regenerate, so they are hunting for new deposits.”

“Do you think the war will break out soon?”

“Yes.” He states simply, no doubt in his voice.

Hanna hands him a green tea she prepared while we were talking. “Thank you,” he quietly says.

“What’s with such a clear-cut answer?”

“They have been fighting an unspoken war for generations; they just need an excuse. They also both know they can't beat the other, so they won't have an all-out war, or at least I hope not. If they did, we can bid goodby to this continent,”

“If that is the case, I will see you at the eastern archipelago.”

He smiles; “we have the same idea.”

“Well, I hope a war doesn’t break out; it would suck.”

“Of course, I hope the same.” Looking at my guests, “so… What are you doing here?”