I opened my eyes with the first light of morning but didn't let my curiosity wander, patiently waiting for the human kid to wake up and do something. I was sure he wouldn't spend another day crying but still sent a silent prayer to the Almighty Father to bless my luck. With the warmth from the sun chasing away the chill of the night, he started to stir and wake up.
He looked no different from a beggar. His tear-stained face smeared with dust on the left, which quickly spread to other parts while he groggily rubbed his face.
'He must be feeling like a beggar too ', I thought. Which was proven true by his growling stomach against the quiet of the morn.
Then a lot of time was spent, me sitting on the tree and watching the kid and he, struggling between the fear of unknown and pangs of hunger. I was distraught to notice that he was about to cry another round due to his own indecisiveness. I kept cursing my luck while he fought hard to suppress his sobs.
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Chiyo kept reminding himself that, he is strong; he is all grown up and it will disappoint father to see a young man like him cry due to hunger. He eventually convinced himself to move, which he did slowly. Inching out of the old gates of the castle, peering around to check for any presence. When he was assured there was no one around, he ran up to the nearest tree and began peeking inside the forest from behind it. Looking all around, he spotted a tree which had red berries hanging from its branches.
Gathering his courage for a moment, he went up to the berry tree only to find that he couldn't reach the berries or the branches. For an instance it reminded him of his mother, who would help him gather strawberries whenever they visited his grandfather's farm.
He spent another moment struggling against the sadness and fear before Chiyo went deeper into the jungle in search of shorter trees and bushes.
His progress was difficult, piled high with obstacles and enemies. Spider webs so strong that he had to use both his hands to clear a path. Insects so scary that the poor boy was huffing and puffing from running around all morning.
Suddenly Chiyo was caught off guard by a burst of booming boisterous laughter, " Haha, we will teach those Rock Bears a lesson this time, I bet we could even take down the bear king today."
Which was followed by other people speaking, but much more softly. Though Chiyo couldn't understand what they said, he was certain it was a big man speaking. He was thrilled to find signs of people in this forest. Forgetting all about his mother's teachings about being cautious of strangers, he began sprinting towards the voices.
Almost reaching his destination, he had to stop because he couldn't hear the voices speaking anymore. It was as if his ears were abruptly covered, Chiyo was confused, should he go straight or to the right where there were still some faint noises barely audible. While he was thinking about it something very shocking happened. Horrible enough that the little boy wasn't even able to shout and directly fell on his butt and lost control of his bladder.
An enormous grey monster, a hulking giant which looked similar to the wolves Chiyo has seen on TV, but many times bigger and scarier. Standing above the fallen Chiyo, it looked down upon him and growled loudly. Everything faded from Chiyo's senses and what remained was those devil-like red eyes and large yellowish teeth.
"Hey Bowser, what happened, why d'you stop?", shouted someone with the same loud voice.
"Boss, let's check it out, there are no beasts in this area anyway.", spoke another man.
After a bunch of 'yeah', 'let us go' and 'ok' footsteps was heard until a dozen men and women appeared. All of them were astonished to find a naked child so deep in the forest.
"Boss, is he a lost child?", asked one.
"Look he pissed himself after seeing Bowser, where will he have the courage to come in the forest? forget about getting lost after." retorted another.
"Shut up, I know stupid. He's a kid, he won't come here alone, someone must have brought him along.", snapped back the first man.
The big burly man looked at Chiyo closely, upon making sure he's just a kid, he waved and called back the wolf.
"What's your name?", the sizeable man asked Chiyo, who was too stunned to notice his inquisitive look. "Looks like he can't speak, anyway leave him alone. Can't waste time here, we have a bear king to hunt, let's go. ", the big man turned around after saying that. The wolf and people followed after him.
The initial delight was gone. The shock he received from Bowser was still etched on his face. Shaken to the core, he could only keep sitting on his own piss and stare at the retreating figure of the scary animal.
One man stood unmoving, looking at Chiyo with an interested gaze and a slight smile. He walked up to Chiyo and crouched down to look him right in the eyes. Then he followed by waving a multitude of hand signs in front of Chiyo. As illiterate as Chiyo was in the common language of this place, he was also ignorant of the meanings of the hand signs.
An awkward moment slowly passed with Chiyo and the distancing group who had turned back, staring blankly at the guy who wanted to show off his hand sign proficiency.
Eventually, the sizeable man called, "Weiss, what are you doing wasting time with the kid, let's move."
"cough. I am trying to speak with him.", replied Weiss seriously.
The big man looked annoyed but stopped himself from cursing at Weiss, who loved to waste time doing pointless stuff.
"Say, you guys, do you think this little brat is cute?", asked Weiss.
"Don't tell me you want to sell him to the slave market?", asked the boss with a confused expression, "It's useless, they don't buy kids, it's too much trouble for them."
"Yeah, it's pointless trying to convince them man.", followed another person from the back.
"Tell me something, if I take this little brat to nurse Sandra and brag that I saved him from rampaging drakes. Will she perhaps kiss me?", asked Weiss again, with a crafty smile on his face.
"There's a chance...", began one woman but was soon cut off by the boss.
"We don't have time to waste on your skirt-chasing plans Weiss, we have prey to kill.", came the annoyed voice of the big man.
"Brutus, you can continue doing what you need to do. I want to go visit nurse Sandra and try my luck.", replied Weiss nonchalantly.
Brutus was not happy with Weiss's reply, "You promised to accompany me to hunt the bear king, Weiss."
"I only said, I'll go with you to hunt if I'm free. Now I have important things to attend to, so I won't be able to escort you any longer." Weiss turned back towards Chiyo, ending the conversation. Brutus could do nothing but glare at Weiss with fire in his eyes.
Throughout the dialogue, Chiyo understood nothing of what was being said, but he instinctively felt that he was part of the topic. Hence when the handsome looking man beckoned to him and started walking into the forest, he climbed to his feet and ran after him. Even though the man was a stranger, between him and the big glaring man, little Chiyo thought he made a smart decision.
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Thus a noble-looking man, wearing expensive hunting attire, leisurely walked through the forest. Followed by a naked kid hiding his little brother with a hand and his butt with the other. A scene that becomes more and more absurd as I try to describe it in different ways, finally giving up and quietly following behind them.
That hunter appeared strong enough to not be a country bumpkin, so he might research the strange language and provide me with valuable data.