Chapter 82: Moving on, Odd Woman

Arden sprinted at someone. The man he’s chasing was afraid of him. The man ran up a dirt path that leads down to a branching path. The man thought he could escape but he felt someone pull his left shoulder. It was Arden, who was the man, he pulled him and used his left forearm and place it under the chin of the man.

He slammed the man to the dirt wall, pulled the dagger from his belt and pointed at the neck of the man. The man showed a grave expression as he feels the tip of the dagger on his exposed neck. The man stuttered, he tried to shake Arden off but the more he moves, the more the pressure Arden applies to his neck.

“Wait, wait!” said the man, scared. “I’ll change, please don’t kill me!”

“Did those villagers beg?”

“Please don’t kill me, I’ll change!”

“Do that when you are reborn.”

Arden said, plunging the dagger inside the viscera of the man. Blood spilled, the man’s face twisted, and he looked at Arden with a horrified stare.

“I-“

The man tried to speak something. But Arden pulled the dagger out of the man’s guts and drove it to his neck this time. Arden gazed at the man right in the eyes. He looked at him impassively without moving his eyes. He watched the man’s life get extinguished. The man fell lifeless, like a puppet that had its strings cut.

Arden moved away from the man, letting his body hit the ground with a thud. He stared at the corpse, and the blood pool forming around it. He started searching the man’s pocket. He looked for anything that would lead him to anything. But there was nothing but coin and some odd items in the man’s pocket.

There was nothing to see so he took the wine gourd hung on the man’s belt. He opened the cork and dropped the contents around the man’s body. He then converted his energy and turned it into a fire. A ball of fire appeared, it enveloped the man and the corpse started burning.

Arden then stood upright. He put his hand on his waist and looked around. He could see that he drifted away from the main road. He looked at the left and right path. The right path seems to lead down a forest. The left path was likely the place that would take him back to the man road so he followed it.

He hiked on the foothills and the rocky path. He found the main road and followed it. The dirt road was empty. He couldn’t see anything in the tree-lined path. He took his map out, looked at where he is and verified his location. He continued sauntering and went out of the tree-lined path and saw the open plains.

He squeezes his eyes, trying to see anything. There was nothing but the grassy hills and the grass swaying. He marched on the road while making sure there was nothing that could ambush him. His saw-blade was hung on the side of his waist, while his crossbow was behind his back, covered completely by his knee-length hooded cloak. The crossbow was a repeater that his foster father used to hunt when he was roaming around with his foster father

He could use better weapons but he preferred the repeater crossbow because of its silence. It was a lot better than the crossbows and comparing them would make the other look primitive. He has been using it and so far it worked well for him. He could construct a gun but that would cost him too much Mana.

His body was already healed. His mana veins and crests are working properly. He doesn’t test them to the limits though. He’s still afraid that there might be problems. It was better to be safe than sorry. He continued his path. He found interesting things on the road. He took a whiff of the air.

He found himself near a crossroad. He already destroyed the last bandit encampment he was after and the man he killed awhile ago was from that encampment of bandits. Precisely he was the leader of the bandits. He never showed mercy to the bandit because of that. There was no need to chase more of them in the south so he went to the way that would take him to the path that leads to the north.

His journey made him walked past many roads and villages. He didn’t wear his mask and walked with only his cloak on. He looked like a normal mercenary so when he enters a roadside Inn or Tavern he would blend in. Arden’s appearance was rather different than the way he looked before.

His skin was tanned, yet it was like rusted steel. His hair has the same auburn color but it has now streaks of white hair due to loss of pigmentation. This happened because of how injured he was when he fell at that cliff. He had to use his mana to restore the injuries on his head and overusing it made his hair looked like this. His face had stubble of a beard, and overall he was wolfish. He blended right in the tavern he is currently in.

Arden ate in the tavern but didn’t drink any wine or beer. After eating, he rented one of the beds up the tavern, slept on the enclosed bed pace that has a bed stuffed with hay. He rested for hours, regained his strength and left the tavern. He continued his journey and along the way, he would help on the road.

Along the way, he met up with a caravan. He had a few coins on him so he paid the caravan master. He joined with the caravan and was allowed to sit on the cart that was filled with hay. They seemed to be taking the hay to the next town. Most of the carriages that were with caravan were filled with others like him. But since the hay cart was comfortable enough, he rested his body and looked up at there in the sky before falling asleep.

...

He opened his eyes and saw the moving sky. It wasn’t the sky moving but the cart he was riding. He seemed to have fallen asleep. The cart rattled and he could see that his cloak was now draped with hay. It stuck to him all around. He was resting his body in the hay so he expected this.

The cart rumbled and rattled. Arden sat upright and leaned on the cart’s side. He then looked at the caravan, lined in one row, slowly moving down the dirt road. They are on grassy plains, all green as an eye could see. There are roads that branches and paths that intertwine.

He noticed that most of the paths had tracks from caravans. They seemed to be traveling in the long road like the others. It made him wonder. Where is this place? He took his map to check. Indeed, if he could believe it then the map told him that they on the grass road. The grass road is near the town of Garclasse and this caravan should be heading down there. Arden took a long look at the map and then closed it.

He pressed his back on the cart. His eyes drifted upward. He closed his eyes, felt the wind and the aroma of the air. It was better than all the smell he has smelled during the past few days. Usually, it was blood, entrails or rotten cadavers. There are times he would find a room filled with girls and the way they smell was pungent.

Right now he was enjoying the fresh air. He has done all he can on the southern road. He already confirmed that the rumors of the lunatic with a jester mask roaming around the southern road, killing any bandits that he spots. The lunatic would kill and disappear like a wraith seeking for revenge.

Arden made that rumor known. He traveled from taverns to taverns and spread the news about how the lunatic is an undying ghost that haunts those that killed them. He added spice to the rumors to make people feel fear. Sometimes he would leave broken bandits and tied them up. He would scare the bandit and act like an impassive murderer. Making sure that he won’t forget about his mask and tattered cloak, while to the villagers he would act like a cold yet kind wraith that just wants to save them.

It was hectic but it worked. At least, for the time being, he could make the southern roads filled with a dreadful rumor. They all know that he exists with all the work he has done. But even so, the rumors won’t last long and sooner or later the bandits will flock again in the southern roads. He understands that there is a limit he can do. He cannot fight forever in the southern roads. Indeed he has saved many and help numerous, but he could not chain himself down there. The road was filled with danger and Arden knew that he wasn’t an omnipotent guardian.

He couldn’t stay there even if he wants to.

He just can’t save everyone.

He learned that.

...

Arden sat in a tavern in the town of Garclasse, eating his meal. It was at that time when a woman with a rough appearance started crying all over the place. He watched the woman came about to everyone. Some pushed the woman away, thinking she’s crazy. Some entertained her for a bit, before making her flee. Arden who was drinking and eating met eyes with this woman.

“Help me.” said the woman, walking and thumping her hands at the table. “Can you help me?”

‘Help you how?”Arden sips on his mug “What’s troubling you?”

“There is a beast.”

“What kind of beast?”

“Yes!” the woman nodded furiously, “a beast, ten times the height of a tower, and ten times larger than cities walking about in the sea! It walks upon the sea and tramples upon any ship!”

“Where did you see this colossus?”

“In my dreams, I saw this beast! It’s made of stones and it looked like a reptile! It has a giant shell on its back and it made the beast towering. It’s like an island yet at the same it is not!” said the woman frantically. “It is a home to many other small beasts that have rocks on their backs! They swim up to the Pacific sea and then return once they feel like autumn is here!”

Arden could see that the woman was speaking crazily. The others in the taverns seem to think so. Arden felt like this was useless information but he let the lady talked.

“There the beast moves, carrying the little ones on its back. They move from west to east, and then back to the south. They care for the sun, and they like lingering in the beaches of the Pacific seas. One could say that the place is lingering with treasures, gems and all sort of things!”

Arden kept silent, drinking his beer.

“The beast is made of stone, it’s scaly, yet it was truly like a man or it is an animal?”

“I think it’s a colossus turtle.”

Arden said.

“A turtle, no, a turtle is small, the beast is much larger than it! How can it be a turtle when a turtle is small and tasty?”

“You have eaten a turtle?|

“Yes! A turtle’s meat is supple and delicious. It’s soft, squishy and felt watery! It is a delicacy that will surely make one crave for it. I had tasted such delicacy in the island of hando once!”

“You did?”

Arden looked over the shoulder of the odd woman. The barmaid was staring at him with her eyes, asking if the odd woman was bothering him. He shook his head and gestured for a mug of beer for the odd woman. The barmaid nodded her head and ambled to the bar

“Yes, the island of hando is rather beautiful Palm trees, and they had this odd kind of fruits that look like a man’s private parts. It is tasty, sweet and certainly, there were a lot of fruits in there!”

Arden listened. He remembered that in the eastern tall lands such fruits exist. He never tasted those kinds of fruits and was curious about it. He crossed his arms and then saw the barmaid trotting with the beer mug. She put the beer in front of the odd woman and walked away. Arden could feel odd stares in the tavern but ignored them and listened to the odd woman.

“You see, the island of hando is divided into three parts, although it is an island, it is situated on a lake connected adrift to the ocean, and some say that the lake itself is connected to a tunnel leading to the elven lands. A fairy was seen there, and the fairy once sang enough to attract twenty good men to dance for her!”

“Is this still connected to the turtle?” said Arden, curious.”

“Not really,” the odd woman sipped on her beer, wiping it with her sleeves. “The matter between the turtle and the island is different and it is just that you think silly that a turtle and that giant beast made of stone is similar. No way would a turtle, which is so small, delectable and eatable, filling to the stomach, be like that.”

“Pardon me then,” Arden said as his lips curl into a smile. “Please continue with this beast of yours.”

“Ah, yes, yes. The Beast!” she sips on her mug. “The beast still roams the lands, and one day turned old and dies, and when it gets old, they say that the old beast will birth upon new thing!”

“New things, what kind of things are you speaking?”

“I don’t know!” the odd said with a smile reaching up her ears. “I only hear this while I was serving a young master from an old clan, they burned my breast, and made me smoke this odd hemp that while telling me all sorts of thing. Ah. I never really saw my daughter after that. They told me that she will be climbing the back of that stone beast.”

Arden folded his arms. He looked at the woman and said.

“Is your daughter in the stone island?”

“Maybe?” she nodded. “I don’t know. But maybe she is? I want to save her, but I am poor, and many don’t think I am sane. Am I sane?”

“You are not,” said Arden, scratching his forearm. “Is this the only way you can have any attention? You look rough, yet I could smell perfume on you, and the way you carry yourself, and the way you act, change your tone and telling odd stories makes you really suspicious. Are you a femme fatale? Why ask for a help to strangers, while acting like that miss?”

“Oh.” The odd woman made a coy smile. “Was my acting too much?”

“It was, try making the daughter part a bit less confusing. You look rough and no woman like you would ever carry a dagger skillfully, have tone muscles ever had laid birth before, or am I wrong and you just trained yourself?”

“You are right, it seems that I went too far. I just want a drink and you’re a good lad.”

“So you are older,” said Arden, sipping on his beer. “So let me ask this, how much of it was true?”

The odd woman touches her lips and said.

“Half of it, or is it?”

“I see.”

Arden nodded his head. He then turned his attention to drinking and eating. It seemed like there are odd people on the road. Not that it surprises him anymore.