Chereads / The Dharma Riddle / Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: Talmia

Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: Talmia

"This perverted Bastard." Kathrin stood in her room kicking against her bed randomly. "Who goes around seducing some random women? I could understand at least understand if it was an outstanding beauty but it was just a dolled up slut."

"Would you have preferred if he seduced you instead?" Melissa slowly grew accustomed to her daughter's antics about Kael and teased.

"Why would I want that pervert to seduce me?" Kathrin blushed as her mother saw through her and argued back. Melissa shook her head and started talking, "You are assessing the situation wrongly. He didn't seduce that woman. That woman was a prostitute. She seduced him."

"What's a prostitute?" Kathrin asked.

"Prostitutes are women that sell their bodies to earn money. It's basically a trade. The man pays the woman for sex. Beautiful prostitutes are really expensive, and the one from previously was probably at the lower scale." Melissa braced herself to stop treating her daughter as a sheltered child when she explained her the act of sex previously, but she still blushed a bit when she talked about such a shameful occupation.

"Why would someone pay an unfamiliar woman to have sex with her? Isn't sex an act to conceive children and create a family?" Kathrin was confused. Based on her knowledge about sex she had so far, she just thought of it to be a way to create children.

"Sex isn't just about the act of getting pregnant. If both sides are willing it can be an extremely pleasant sensation and experience for both sides. Especially men tend to have a high desire to relieve their sexual interests regularly."

"So you had sex with dad more than once?" Her questioning went further.

Melissa went red this time but nodded.

...

Kael returned to the inn a bit later and went towards the public gathering area and satisfied his drinking habit before going to bed.

The caravan gathered up at the front of the city gates at sunrise and continued their journey. Two weeks passed quietly and they reached the border area to the state of Talmia. Talmia was situated south of Jara and consisted mainly of snowy mountain ranges. This state served as the border between the Perenia Dynasty and the Jakari Empire. As a border state, Talmia was highly militant and a lot of their citizens mainly consisted of soldiers in the allegiance to the crown. The main income of the state was through taxes of the passing merchants. The goal of their journey Taltamar, the capital of Talmia, was situated in a valley between 2 of their largest mountain ranges. The mountain ranges served as the perfect protection against enemy invasions as one could not pass through the mountains without special equipment and sufficient proviant. It would be nearly impossible for a large army to pass through the mountains, and the only other path to take would be the highly guarded paths through the valleys between both of the mountain ranges.

Because of the climatic circumstances, Talmia had no agriculture and because of the militant orientation, it held almost no temples. The only temple they held was the highly militant Norse temple. The Norse believed in a pantheon of gods who attained their godhood through battle and ascended to Asgard and entered the halls of Valhalla.

They continued their journey and after two days they came across a road junction. The caravan stopped and the mercenaries gathered up for a discussion. Kael joined the discussion and listened on.

"The path to the left continues on towards the capital, the path to the right heads towards a town called Glada. I recommend making a short stop at Glada to restock our supplies and rest for a night before continuing our way through the unhospitable habitat of Talmia." One of the knowledgeable mercenaries, who traversed the way to Taltamar before already, spoke up. The other mercenaries nodded. Kael himself was unsure, "I sense an eerie sensation from the right direction."

Although Kael's opinion was highly regarded, the mercenaries were tired and wanted some rest before entering the cold mountain paths.

They continued towards Gladia and the further they traversed, the stronger the eerie sensation Kael felt became.

After a day the previously green vegetation turned into dead gray lands. The path was surrounded by rotten trees and black earth.

"It seems like something happened at Gladia. During my last visit the surrounding, although sparse, vegetation radiated a strong vitality. I got a bad feeling about this." The experienced mercenary spoke up. The mercenaries gathered up and readied their weapons while they continued their journey.

Kael followed quietly while strengthening his sensations secretly. He accompanied Melissa's carriage again to provide against accidents.

"Dharma enchantment. Dharma Charm." He silently spoke the chants for his dharma techniques. He already used the first two dharma techniques in the fight against the bandit leader a while ago so Johann recognized them. Melissa and Kathrin saw it up-close for the first time though. The dharma enchantment had the ability to strengthen parts of armor and weapons, the dharma charm sharpened his mind and boosted the control one had over his body resulting in higher speed and more precise movements.

"Don't defend evil, don't fight justice, a sensible mind protecting a sensible heart, oh tactful soul, oh tactful heart, dharma sense." Kael spoke another chant and closed his eyes. A ripple spread out and a vague three-dimensional image appeared in his mind. The dharma sense was a sensory ability that allowed him to feel out his surroundings.

He opened his eyes and drew an array onto the carriage with his dharma enchantment. He turned towards Johann and spoke up, "Enter the carriage and don't leave it under any circumstances. If my guess is not wrong we entered the habitat of an evil spirit."