After picking the mushrooms, the girl resumed her cheerful steps. She always smiled. Once a chance, the girl saw a large butterfly with bright blue wings and on each side of the wings, it was bordered by black. Uniquely, on the other side of the butterfly's wings, it is light silvery brown.
The girl laughed while chasing the butterfly. It's just that, it looks like the beautiful butterfly doesn't want to be touched by a human. The butterfly flew towards the river.
The 16-year-old girl looked a little sullen, disappointed because the beautiful butterfly seemed to prefer to enter the Forbidden Forest area across the river instead of having to play with her.
And when the girl was about to turn her steps, the corner of her eyes fell on something floating on the surface of the shallow river water.
She was a little curious, something seemed to be stuck in a tree root and the girl's view was blocked by a tall clump of grass.
Because the bank was quite low, the girl left her basket on the bank, she descended into the shallow rocky river.
How shocked the girl was when she realized that something she saw was a human. She gasps. The figure was a man with several wounds on his body and covered in blood.
The man was none other than Leyman who was carried away by the slow current to the lower reaches of the river.
The girl approached the body without the slightest fear. Perhaps, the girl felt compelled to save the man. Of course, if he was still alive.
She bent down, trying to feel the breath from Leyman's mouth or nostrils by bringing her ear closer. Her eyeballs grew. Yes, the man is still alive.
The girl pulled the man to be able to rise to the shore. Although she had to struggle and muster all the strength she had, the girl finally managed to raise Leyman over the river bank.
The man's eyes opened slowly, his gaze still bleak and blurry, he didn't know at all who had pulled himself out of the water.
Leyman raised one hand towards the girl's face.
"Sa—save me…" and then, Leyman coughed.
After coughing, the commander of the Angholi army vomited thick black blood from his mouth.
Again, he tried to reach the girl's face before finally his hand drooped and crashed to the ground. The cowardly man fell unconscious again.
Although the girl did not know who the man she had pulled from the water was, however, from the clothes on the man's body she knew that the man was a soldier of the Angholi Kingdom.
The girl's guess wasn't wrong at all considering that she didn't know that Leyman was a level three commander.
"Hey," the girl knelt near Leyman's head, gently patting the man's cheek. "Hey…!"
Several times she called and patted Leyman's cheek, still, Leyman didn't wake up from his stupor.
The girl stood up, she looked around but all she could see was the lush wilderness.
***
Munra smiled broadly when it was near noon that he came to a meadow area. The meadow was adjacent to the dense forest that was under the dominion of the Maghariti Kingdom—the southwest side of the direction from the Vashara region.
Yes, Munra was so happy that he quickly got down from his cart, he released the female buffalo from the wooden supports on its shoulders. Then, Munra tied the buffalo to a low tree branch not far from the cart.
It had been weeks since Munra had never looked for grass in this area. And it seems this is a lucky day for Munra. As far as the eye can see, the grass that looks green and tall, looks so fresh, maybe because no other grass seeker has come to the area in recent weeks.
"Thank you, Great Gods," Munra murmured, so excitedly he began to mow the grass, handful after handful.
Of course, with the fresh grass that looked so good and so plentiful, Munra would be able to earn even more coins. And it could be that his wishes to buy a new scythe will come true.
Handful after handful eventually became one big pile, left just on the ground. Until it was almost two hours Munra was mowing the grass without rest at all.
He straightened his back, the crackling sound of his spine could be heard clearly. Munra smiled widely as he looked up at the sky. Take a deep breath to feel the freshness of the air. Then he let out a long breath of relief.
He looked at the pile after pile he had gathered, and it seemed quite a lot.
Then, the pile of grass is separated by one bundle. One bundle was about the size of a hug, Munra made the ropes of the grass from the vines, which he had found growing around the meadow.
After tying the grass into several bundles, Munra lifted and moved the grass into his pedati-cart. One by one, neatly stacked until the cart was full of fresh green grass.
Munra smiled happily, it only took a moment, and he was able to collect that much fresh grass. Eight bunches of fresh grass, he would get at least 16 copper coins, he thought. And of course, fresh grass of good quality will cost more than that.
Well, I hope so, he wishes.
The middle-aged man reached for his water pouch, a pouch made of cowhide. He was so happy after he was drinking and feel satisfied, he splashed the rest of the drinking water on his face.
There was still a lot of grass around the area, and maybe the next day Munra would come back here to get some fresh grass.
After that, Munra approached the female buffalo. And yes, it looks like the female buffalo itself looks full.
With a big smile and feeling happy, Munra left the meadow area to immediately return to his house with a cart that was already full of piles of fresh grass.
The female buffalo moo loudly, as a sign that she was very happy because she could enjoy good quality grass while continuing to pull the pedati-cart toward their home.
***
TO BE CONTINUED ...