Jed and Peg left the shop at dusk. Both of the looked tired and dirty, especially Peg, who was trotting in fatigue. Jed, on the other hand, held a small test tube with a dark-greyish gravy like liquid. He looked queerly at it, without a regard to the fact that the weird smell the liquid gave off or the fact that this smell was attracting a whole lot of attention and disgust from passersby.
Jed turned to Peg and asked, "Hey dude, do you believe that this formula will work against those insects?"
Peg made a sarcastic face and replied, "Yes. Yes, of course it will work. I can guarantee you that this smell is as effective against insects as it is for humans."
Jed rolled his eyes. "C'mon, man. Why do you have to be so hard on that old man? Be friendly, like you're to all the other guys. There is no harm in being nice."
"Yea~ Hmph! Why should I, the Lord of all realms, let another senile old man call me pig each and every time. Is it really that hard for him to call me a dog? And does my glossy fur look like leather to you?"
Jed peeked at the thick folding skin of Peg and shook his head in dismay. "…. Nah. Anyway, it's getting late. Alright, you go back home and inform mom that we will not be coming home tonight and also go to my room and bring all the remaining flare shells and flare sticks you can find. We will be needing them, got it?"
Peg nodded his head and said, "'Kay. But you must bring that old man your promised dinner or else that old man will starve to death."
"See!!" cried Jed elatedly, "You do care about him.Hehe!!"
"Shut your trap!" barked Peg angrily. "Hmph! A*shole, let's meet at Larry's farm. Don't be late."
"Gotcha!"
Peg gave one last look at Jed and then dashed towards the opposite side, towards the He clan estate. Jed stared at the departing Peg with a small smile on his face. He truly loved this companion of his.
When Peg was out of his vision, he turned back to the grey-gravy like liquid and smiled darkly, "Old Yan is really something. He may not be an actual alchemist, but I'm sure that he is very close to one. I guess I need to upgrade some flare shells into insect-repelling shells tonight. Sigh… why does every quest need to be so hard? Can't they be easy like a game…."
…
Jed went to the Eastwood Restaurant and ordered four baskets of pork and one kettle amount of rice. After sending one whole basket of pork and all the rice to Old Yan's shop, Jed went straight to the East gate with the other three. He used one of the baskets as a bargaining chip to persuade the soldiers to allow them to skip curfew. The other two were for his young friend, Larry, who lived at stables. Larry was a young boy of seven and was an orphan. He lived with his three uncles and aunts at the stable outside the East gate, which was owned by his family.
Jed exited the East gate and headed straight to the stable house. The stable house was a two storied building with a shady and unhygienic shed right beside it, where tens of horses of different sizes were kept. It was spring and still quite cold, so there was a large blanket of hay and hide spread on the roof of the shed to keep the horses warm. He went to the front door and knocked with the heavy knocking ring.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
He stood silently for a while before the door was opened. The door was opened by a tall young blonde girl. She was Julie, Larry's one of thirteen cousins. Julie was a teenage girl with a freckled face and a long pony tail. She had a plump figure along with large perky breasts, which inadvertently attracted Jed's gaze. She had large brown eyes and a thin nose. Along with that, her face also seemed to be a little red and she continuously sniffed her nose.
He smiled at her and said, "Hello there, sister. How is your health?"
Julie smiled ruefully at him and replied, "Bad, dear. This fever is simply not going down. Are you here to meet with Larry?"
Jed nodded his head. He then took out the baskets and removed their thin paper coverings. A strong and spicy smell wafted out from the pork which almost seemed to lit up the surrounding. Julie, too, smelled the pork and was visibly shocked. She smiled brightly and said with a hoarse voice, "Let me guess. Steamed 'n Spicy Pork from Eastwood Restaurant. Jed, dear, this is too much, don't you think?" she said, pointing at the two baskets.
Jed shook his head and handed them to her. "No problem, sister. The entire family is going through cold and this will make them feel better. Eat this while hot and don't drink too much cold water after it, okay?"
She nodded her head gently, "Yes, yes, I know. C'mon in, now, Jed." She entered the house and headed upstairs with Jed. And Jed, who followed closely behind her, continuously stared at her plump a*s all the way.
…
'Hey, Larry!! Larry, Jed has come to visit you. Come down or else I will bring the entire attic down with you!!!!" shouted Julie at the attic. Jed stood beside her waiting silently for his little friend, who had apparently hidden himself in the attic of the house, but in reality, he was still peeking at her a*s and breasts.
"No, I will not.This is all a ruse! I know you! I will not fall for such tricks. Achoo!!!!"
Jed and Julie both shook their head in dismay. Julie then turned to Jed, nearly catching him by surprise, and said, "See! This guy is too much. It's getting harder and harder to deal with this little devil over here. Why does God give intelligent to stupid kids like him!!!"
Jed smiled gently at her and replied, "Well, who knows what he will become tomorrow. But I've my faith in him. He won't become a complete idiot, at least and I'm sure of it. Sis, you don't worry at all and rest. Oh! Don't forget to bring the pork!!"
"Geez!!" she cried and went down. After she was gone, Jed turned to attic and waited silently. The attic door opened automatically, followed by a ladder. A small figure peeked out of the darkness of the attic and looked cautiously at Jed.
That small figure looked timidly at Jed and asked, "Is she gone?"
Jed shrugged his shoulders and replied, "What does it look like?"
The figure looked around him carefully for a moment before sighing in relief. He then turned back to Jed and said, elatedly, "Thanks big bro. You've come at the most perfect time. I will come down immediately with your stuffs." The figure escaped back into the darkness of the attic, leaving Jed alone. Jed stared for a few moments amidst the rumbling noises but then decided to go inside the adjacent room and sit down.
After a few moments, the small figure came down with a large baggage. The small figure, who was Larry, was a boy of about seven and had dark, dirty and matted blonde hair. He had a small and considerably cute face, with large blue eyes, a thick mouth and large ears. Only his nose was thin and small and was very similar to his cousin sister, Julie. Larry had a pretty rounded body but in comparison to his face, his body was much worse. He had a very slim and skinny body with a very pale and dirty skin. All in all, he was a severe case of malnutrition. Unfortunately, there was no UNESCO in Audenia. But it was doubtless that for a skinny boy like Larry, his strength was astounding. Jed had befriended him when he was very young and when he started adventuring, he used Larry to help him store all of his extra stuffs and items as there was a tax on the total amount of goods being 'imported' into the City.
Larry placed the huge baggage down and smiled with his mud, dust and dirt covered face at Jed and said, "Thanks bro for saving me out there. It was seriously too cold back in the attic. And my goodness! Those insects are eating me alive. Goddamn it!"
Jed sighed and replied, "Then just stop—"
Sniff! Sniff!
Sniff!!!! Sniff!! Sniffff!!!!
SNIFFFFF!!
Jed was interrupted by Larry's terrible sniffing sounds and motion. Jed frowned deeply at the dog-turned Larry and said, darkly, "Food is coming, Larry. Now listen properly to me or else I'll punch you right in the guts. Hey—"
"Muuu!! Stop being so pushy, bro!!" replied Larry, completely disregarding what Jed was saying. Almost immediately a vein popped on his temple and like a lightning strike, a claw like hand clutched back of Larry's neck. With a powerful pull, Larry was pulled back with a jerk and a dark and cold voice erupted in his ears, "Now, listen well midget or else I will break all of your tendons and eat it with the same soup which is coming in a few seconds. And for your knowledge, I'm quite serious right now, you get it, Larry?"
"Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!" Larry nodded like a bird pecking on grains.
"Good!" cried Jed and threw Larry away. Larry tumbled onto the floor hard, but instead of crying like any other child, he stood up immediately and stood in attention-position.
"Sit down quickly and quietly, idiot!" snarled Jed, dangerously. "Yessir!!" replied Larry as he sat down as quickly as possible. His back was breaking cold sweat like a waterfall and the dark face of his big brother, Jed, disrupted all his thoughts about food or its alluring smell. He had a premonition on what Jed was going to say.
Jed looked angrily at Larry for a few moments but then automatically all of his anger turned into weakness. He drooped a little and asked in a tired voice, "You still didn't start practicing those Body Tempering Techniques, did you?"
"Um…" Larry bit his lips and turned silent in agreement.Jed sighed weakly and said, "When are you gonna take some responsibilities, you idiot…"
Larry pouted and then harrumphed angrily. "It's not like you're my dad, so, stop acting like one. And for your knowledge, I'm plenty responsible. Do you know that today I made a bargain of a whole 3 Coppers while scamming? Can you do that? Huh! Huh!"
Jed shook his head in dismay rather than disagreement. Larry didn't know what Jed was a master at scamming in his previous life and had scammed at least half a dozen trunks worth of gold from unsuspecting people. "Fine, fine… If only I was your dad, I would've skinned you alive and ate you with soup. But… what can I do? I'm not your dad. Anyway, pass my baggage to me."
Larry gulped nervously at Jed's curses and passed his bag quietly. Jed took his bag back with a jerk and started sorting various items. The animosity between them suddenly vanished as Larry neared Jed to get a better view of his items. As a matter of fact, Larry wasn't allowed to surf through Jed's stuffs and was only allowed to look or inquire about them when he was around. So, when Jed noticed Larry peeking closely, he didn't mind. He also treated Larry like a sibling, much like He Xiaolong.
From the baggage, Jed took out a lot of items like a pendant with a cross, a Bronze dagger, a lot of rocksalt, a pinkish powdery substance and a lot of white, five-petalled flower called Krenolia flowers. All of these were devil warding items.Jed's carefree look suddenly turned grim and he looked sternly at Larry. "Larry, where is the grinder a star-emblem, that I gave you to keep?"
"In the attic." He replied calmly. "Why do you ask?"
"In the attic…" Jed murmured to himself for a second but then turned alarmed back at Larry. "Help me get this stuffs up to the attic."
"What!! But why?" asked Larry confused but Jed didn't pay much attention to him. He packed all of his ingredients back into his baggage and replied, "Don't have time!"
Larry stared at Jed wide-mouthed for a few moments but then decided to help him pack.
"There are spiders, big spiders up in there" said Larry as he helped.
"No problem. Spiders and insects are the very things which I want to kill right now." Replied Jed, without turning his head back. "Instead of worrying about me, tell me where that grinder is?"
"It's in the box with a star mark. Very catchy."
"Gotcha!!"
Jed took out a few items from his bag, one of which was a 1940-Nazi helmet and the other was Winchester 1894 model shotgun and its shells. Jed wore the Nazi helmet and tightly clasped all of his buttons and collars. He loaded the Winchestershotgun, which he called Wendigo, with its shell and went to the staircase leading to the attic.
…
Wendigo or Winchester model'94 was called the ultimate shotgun back in Earth. It had a lever at the end of its 20/28 inches barrel, with which's help an opening can be created where the shell or shells can be placed. At once, 6 shells/bullets can be placed in a 20'' barrel Winchester model or 8 shells/bullets in 28'' barrel. It is a lever-action shotgun and therefore after each shot, the leftover shell must be manually ejected with the help of the same lever at the end of the barrel. (Please google Winchester model'94, If you don't understand the mechanism)
The second issue, shells or bullets. In Audenia, the hardness or toughness of materials vary differently than Earth's. A simple comparing example is, iron and leather. It is a common fact that iron is stronger and tougher than leather of same thickness but when iron of Earth and leather of world of Audenia is compared, the result is reversed. After several tests and experiment conducted by Jed, he found that the toughness of simple leather hide of a monster is far more than that of normal steel and iron. Infact, they are so strong and durable that sometimes, Common Graded steel and iron swords may not even scratch monsters. It is the same for bullets.
It is also common knowledge that bullets can easily pierce leather and other stuffs, even iron and steel sometimes, when they are of the right caliber. And this logic holds still in the world of Audenia too, but the incomparable toughness of simple leather and other stuffs, makes it impossible for bullets of any caliber to penetrate. Infact, the bullets that Jed make are only able to dent armors. That is why, instead of making bullets, Jed has turned these bullets into shells. Shells, unlike bullets aren't penetrative but they are handy and useful in dire situation. Up until now, Jed has been able to make three kinds of shells. Flare shells, shrapnel shells and aromatic shells.
Flare shells, as mentioned previously, are shells which on firing, lit a bright flare. And since monsters are most afraid of bright light, flare shells are their natural nemesis. Infact, monsters are so afraid of flares, that they will evade at the first sight of a flare. And this doesn't only hold in the cases of monsters. It is also very useful against humans. Seems OP in a certain way, doesn't it? But …. They are not without restrictions. These flares, which are usually stored in 3 inches shell, don't have long lifetime and can at most go for 3 minutes. Along with the expensiveness of making such shells, evens out the odds. The expensiveness of such shells is due to only one ingredient, salt.
Salt, just like back in medieval Earth, is a tightly regulated commodity and is mostly meant for the rich. Salt, in the market, is usually taxed and bookmarked. Currently, the salt market in Mie City is thriving and the salt price is 1 Silver for 1 kg of salt. It might seem insignificant, but 1 Silver is three months income of a middle-class family in Mie City. The need of salt is to craft saltpeter, an essential ingredient of making gunpowder. 1 kilo of salt can generate approximately 300 gm of saltpeter, which in turn is enough to create 15 shells. Now, you can see why these shells are so damn costly.
…
Jed took the huge bag in one hand and Wendigo in other and walked rapidly to the attic stairs.
"Are you going to craft shells up there?" Larry asked curiously.
Jed nodded. "Ye, but not normal ones. Specials. Look, Larry." He turned to him, handed him 2 Silvers and said seriously, "Look, Larry, I want you to go to the nearest market and buy 1 kilo of salt. With the other Silver, I want you to go to the pharmacy and buy three ingredients in large quantities, quinine powder, anchovy leaves and Krenolia petals. Got that?"
"… but what are they for, brother?" he asked quizzically.
"Umm… you see, I've got a quest tonight where there is a probability of encountering a high number of insects and bugs. Quinine powder is for that. It acts like an insect-repellent when added with honey, castor oil and Cresol powder. Krenolia petals are a symbol of purity and is a great item to ward of spirits and evil weaklings."
"And what are these anchovy leaves for?"
Jed smiled and replied "Those are for your family. Getting sick in this season is no good and taking anchovy leaves with a bit of honey can cure sore throat and protect them from further diseases. Oh! Thinking of honey, if there is a bit money left, bring some for your family, got it?"
Saying that, Jed patted his head and climbed the stairs to the attic. Larry stared at Jed silently for a moment but then suddenly, tears started dropping from his eyes.
"Wuuwuwuwu…."
Jed looked down in surprise and found Larry crying softly.
"Hey, kid, what's the matter?!" asked Jed alarmed. He climbed down and stood near Larry. He spoke softly, "Hey, Larry. What's the matter, dude?"
"Wuuwu…. B-big brother… I-I dreamt yesterday… t-that you were leaving …. Mie City…I-I—wuuwuu… What will I do if you leave me??! How can I protect my family?"
Jed smiled at him and patted his shoulders gently, "C'mon, little guy. Don't cry like that. Every lion has to leave his homeground once, don't they? And it's only a dream, isn't it? Don't believe in such things…"
He patted his shoulders again and turned back. Larry pursued his lips and was mum for a few minutes. He looked a bit dissatisfied with the answer but then he spoke again with a rate emphasis and determination, "B-big bro, please teach me!!!!"
"Teach you what?" asked Jed, confused.
"Teach me to fight!!!!" cried Larry.
"Awwww … so cute." Jed whispered softly to himself. He knew exactly what Larry was upto. He sneered inwardly and replied, "I will after you learn the body tempering techniques."
"Whaaat!!!" Larry cried angrily. "B-but… I-I … this … this is unfair. T-those techniques are human torture!! You can't do this to me."
"Then no deal for you. I'll teach you my technique only if you reach Rank 3 in elementary body stage."
"No!!!!" Larry cried in pure shock. "Give me back my tears!!!!" he gnashed his teeth when he noticed the sneer on Jed's face.
"It was yours from the very beginning. I didn't take any of it, so knock it off!!"
"But-but-but… Waa!!!" This time Larry really broke into real tears.
"Sigh…." Jed sighed but didn't turn back, until Larry's crying became unbearable. He turned back and said, "Fine. Fine. Stop crying!! Look, Larry, this technique of mine, I can't teach it to you with that … hellish body of yours, but …" Jed's voice trailed off in an uncertain note which attracted Larry's attention. His crying stopped in a jiffy and he looked brightly at Jed as if he was giving him a gift.
Jed sighed continuously but, in his mind, he was laughing evilly. "But I will teach you things which will help you and your family live for the decades to come."
"Hell ya'!!!!!" cried Larry in a victorious leap. He immediately dashed downstairs shouting, "Big bro's gonna teach me his Martial Arts!!!!!"
The moment Larry was gone, a devilish sneer appeared on his lips. He muttered to himself, "Man, he sure is an actor. Hiding the fact that he had broken another of mine's hatchets by bringing this kind of stupid subject… I've gotta say he is getting intelligent. Hmm… maybe training him a bit won't be futile at all. Hmph! Won't train the body but still want to fight like Lu Tian, hmph! I will surely train him into a magnificent cultivator but first, I will make him go through hell for breaking my hatchet. Nobody sneaks away after breaking my stuffs, especially my weapons. Hmph! Hmph!!!"
Lu Tian was the prodigy of the Eastwood Temple and also the winner of previous year's Mie City Spring Tournament. Larry looked upto him because he had each and every quality of a genius. Arrogant, haughty and cold. Qualities which makes Jed especially jittery.
The name of his Martial Arts was Sistema Arts.
….