The last light of the setting sun struck the cloudy sky, turning it into dusky hue as I arrived at a bushy stretch of wild berries at the river banks. I took one and taste it. Not quite ripe but still edible, so I collect more of them. I've run out of food after all.
The sky still retains some light and I notes some vehicles moves slowly at the other side. Seems like a caravan heading for the Beginner city as well. I hesitated for a moment and decided not to join them and collecting the berries instead. I don't think I'll be able to catch up with them even if the bridge was near and I did run out of food. Damn those D-Shians.
I collected some more berries until the sky darkened completely. The clouds were so thick that I can't see stars. It might be raining tonight.
I headed to the south along the river until I find a bridge. It took my breath away when I did. It was an ancient bridge, from before the Fallout and it has stand for a millenium.
I crossed it leisurely as I admire it. Some robust construction from the Global Age do withstood the millenium as we rebuild civilisation on earth, but I heard most of them are militaristic in nature, and this bridge is obviously made for the civilian purposes.
I reached the end of the bridge and saw the roadsign. 20 kilometers to the Beginner City and I frowned. It's about four hours walking and I'll arrive late at night. Hopefully it won't be raining and there may be some food stalls that caters to night customers. Most restaurants closed their stores at around 9 PM, so no gourmet food tonight. Not that I can pay it anyway.
I shake my head. There's no point thinking with my belly right now. It's trekking time.
4 hours later.
I stares at the bonfire at the distance
. It seems like the caravan I saw earlier decided not to stay in town and camped outside the citywall instead. Well, it's their own business there's nothing of interest for me. Anyway, I'm nearly there and I'm tired and the damn sky is rolling thunder right now. I walked faster to get to the wall, ignoring the curious looks the caravaneers gave me...
Only to get the locked city gate in front of me.
Damn.
One of the caravaneers that was holding a bowl in front of the bonfire laughed in schadenfraude and yelled, "Not making it in time, are you kid?"
I grimaced and yelled back, "Yeah, and you didn't either, did you?"
He laughed raucously as an answer that for a moment I thought he was drunk. But there was no bottle around him so I dismissed the idea.
He yelled again, "Hey, we cooked too much and we don't want to waste it. Will you help us finish them?" pointing at the cauldron in front of him.
I didn't expect this but there's no reason to reject his generousity.
"Okay, thanks"
I sit in front of the bonfire and took my own bowl from the backpack.
We share a moment of silence before he predictably open his big mouth again.
"So where were you from, kid?"
"If you were asking where I was before leaving for this city, it's a den of thieves called Crooked City"
"Oho, I smelled a story here. Will you care to share it?"
"Sure, I wanted to tell it for days, anyway. To make the story short, there was a robber baron who can only associate the word "Antique" with the word "Valueable", unaware of the word "Old" and consequitevely "Fragile". Said robber baron took a fancy at my antique and managed to rob me in front of a lot of witnesses but his lack of education in the nature of old things proved to be the undoing of my antiques as he grabbed it in front of a lot of witnesses and shows them the robber baron's lack of manner and his lack of understanding of the nature of the antiques. He lost a lot of face, so he tried to washed it away with blood. Mine, and the blood of his rival family and in the pursue, he washed it the blood of his family as well"
This got many head turning.
A bearded guy who was caring for his horse yelled at me. "Wait, I heard the Brights and the D-Shians started their generational feud a few days ago, are you talking about them?"
I smiled at him. "Yes, I do"
The big mouth in front of me has turned serious and said, "I don't which one you're talking about, but if it's house Bright and house D-Shia of Crooked City, they're old houses with history for a couple hundred years of history. I wouldn't call them uneducated in the matter of antiques" He stared at me quisitevely.
I stared back. "Old the D-Shias might be, but their young master certainly aren't aware of the fragillity of my antiques. I was haggling the price with the shop owner of an antique shop when that young master heard the prices and he decided to bid a quarter of the shop owner's price. As I refused, he yelled and made a ruckus, calling me a thief and took my antique away, calling it "saving stolen goods from filthy thief's hand""
Now I got all of their attention.
"Unfortunately, my antique can't handle a rough treatment, and as he walked away, it crumbled in his hand in front of the people attracted of the ruckus he made. I was naturally furious at the moment and I called him and his ancestors names concerning "Five Finger Discount" and questioning whether his ancestor got his nobility from the same "Heroic Saving" the young master did that day."
The big mouth broke a grin. "You challenged their honour"
I grinned back. "Does HE have any honour to begin with? Anyway, there was a Bright amongst the spectator that day. She graciously took over the baton in the honour challenging. Ashamed, the young master quickly decided that I was an agent of the Brights and everything was a setup of the Brights to humiliate the D-Shians. That was when he ordered his henchmen to start killing, starting from the poor shop owner."
"The shop owner?" It was the big mouth again who asked the question.
"Yes, the shop owner of the antique shop. I didn't mentioned it before, but he tried to ride the calamity by took the side of the young master and called me a thief, too. Sadly, he made a poor choice and the young master thought he was also an agent of the Brights and as the old bastard was being too close when he tried to ingratiate the young master, it was taken as an attempt at assasination, so he ordered his dumb bodyguards to kill the shop owner. Which they did."
"That was... a really poor choice."
I sighed. "Yes, I didn't like the greedy bastard, but I can somehow understand why he did what he did. I wouldn't want to be on the young master's bad side either. He's a plague who bring destruction around him and his family is no better. It's just that he shouldn't take the young master's side. If he didn't get unnaturally chummy with the young master, he wouldn't get close to him and wouldn't taken as an assassin, either."
"You called D-Shia young master a... human plague?"
"Is he not? The impression I got from him was that he'll bring destruction for friend or foe alike. Trying to get close to him is similar to a sheep asking a wolf to be allowed to graze in its den only to be eaten later. And that, was what the shop owner did."
"Hmm... you've got a point there, but I'd like to reiterate my question concerning how the D-Shia and their old history can't handle a simple if fragile antique. What kind of antique do you have?"
I sighed again, "It's an ancient book from before the Fallout."
"Pre-Fallout Age book? Is it an Inheritance!?"
"No, very much unlikely. But there're premium prices for Pre-Fallout Antiques. Unfortunately what I have is a fragile bundle of papers, not some robust artifact."
"It still count as Pre-Fallout Artifact, isn't it?"
"It does, but there are some matters concerning Pre-Fallout books before you can sell it for a nifty price. First of all, papers are fragile, especially a thousand years old ones. If you don't want them to crumble as you touch it, it have to be treated so that it can retain its shape longer. It's kind of how you cure a leather to make that fancy leather armor of yours." I smiled at the man who looked like a bard, wearing a feather hat. "How good you treated the books affect the quality of the books, and how much you can sell it for. And you can guess what I have." I sighed again.
The big mouth nodded. "Uncured leather." There's some sort of finality in his words.
I smiled again, sadly. "Yes, you just can't have the tools and the chemicals to treat ancient books here in the frontier, and even if I managed to get them, I won't treat the books myself, either. Better leave fragile things to the expert, lest you destroy it yourself."
There was a silence for a moment before he opened his big mouth again. "So, if it's so fragile, shouldn't you people in the antique business handle with some more care?"
"We do. But apparently that robber baron simply heard the prices when we were haggling when he decided to be involved in the antique business. He also seems quite adept at accusing his business partner of theft when the negotiation doesn't go to his favor.
"I just can't help thinking about the shop owner. There was a flash of fear in his eyes when he saw the robber baron before he resort to flatttery. I do believe he'll still be alive if stay away from the matter when negotiation went sour instead of being readily sided with him when the robber baron took five finger discount stance. That was unnatural, and when a simple antique trade turns into disgracing a noble family, all it took was a noble deciding the wash the dishonor with the blood of everybody involved"
By this time my bowl was empty and I scoop some more soup from the cauldron. This is the first warm food I have for a week, I'll have my belly full tonight!
They're talking amongst themselves now, with some of them questioning my story. Well, everything I told was true, although I didn't mention that the bastard apparently dislike the elves, and his quarter price negotiation was an attempt to humiliate me as much as to rob me. I shake my head. I don't want to think about him much further. He wanted to humiliate me and I disgrace his whole house in retaliation, and while he didn't want to pay with gold, he pays with blood. That's all what he is, a stupid robber baron. I did good to escape the brawl and taking my other books from the inn before escaping that damn city.
As I scoop for another soup, drop of rains beginning to pour. The big mouth and I looked at each other dismally.
"Sorry, kid, we'll have to cut our conversation short. What will you do now?"
"I think I'll climb one of the trees over there. Thanks for the meal."
I quickly finished my bowl and headed for a large tree. This'll do to shelter the rain. I climb to a stout and comfortable branch and tighten my cloak to ward off the chill. I close my eyes. It's been an exhausting day.