"We will take our leave now, Uncle Argus," Joseph said at the tribe's exit. Argus and a few other folks had come to say goodbye to them.
"Take care of yourself, Joseph. As both of you know, we stay away from the city dwellers. They are corrupt people. You should always stay on your guard and do not let yourselves fooled by their nice nature," Argus gave them a piece of advice.
"We will keep it in mind, uncle," Joseph responded.
"You do realize there could be things operating so large that your vengeance might become insignificant," Argus mentioned.
Joseph nodded. "I am aware of it."
"Take care, Tyler."
"You too, Uncle," Tyler replied. Joseph's eyes searched for Liliya but she was nowhere to be found. Even Kyther did not come to see them off.
Finally, they both turned away and began to walk, but they had only covered a few meters when they heard a voice. "Wait, I am coming along too." They turned to see a surprising scene.
"Kyther?" Joseph mouthed in confusion. Kyther had not believed him the night before, yet he was there asking to take him with them now. He was perplexed, yet he was happy that there was one more person to accompany him.
"Kyther? What is happening? Do you want to come with us?" Tyler asked as he looked at Kyther up to down.
All the three wore a long black hood over their warrior clothing. They carried bags of food and water and hung it over their shoulders.
"Yes," Kyther answered with resolute eyes. "But do not get the wrong idea." He looked at Joseph. "I still do not believe you, but I do not want to sit around when my friends are putting themselves in danger."
"Fine." Joseph smiled. "Thank you, Kyther." At this, Kyther did not respond and strode ahead of them.
"Hey, wait for us." Joseph and Tyler followed him when he went too fast. They said their last goodbyes to the people and vanished in the horizon.
"May God protect you, my children," Argus said his last prayers and walked to his tent.
"What way would we go?" Kyther asked as they walked together.
"Joseph will tell us. He must have given it a thought." Tyler side-eyed Joseph. "Am I right?"
"Yeah," Joseph replied. "We will go the way that old man came running from. We have a better chance to find some information."
"You are right."
They entered the woods. They followed Joseph's directions to where they had encountered those masked men first. The chirping of birds and cicadas filled the place. The wolves' howling could be heard from a distance. They came across a brook that had divided the woods into two. It was the same one that flowed near their tribe.
"I found Mogu here," Joseph mentioned as they crossed the brook and reached the place where he had encountered the masked men. Tyler and Kyther looked around in search for some traces.
"Which way they ran off to when Master and others chased them?" Kyther asked.
Joseph pointed straight ahead. "That way."
"So, we head that way, right?" Tyler asked and stepped ahead when Joseph nodded.
Hours passed by. The woods never seemed to end. The humidity in the air was specially tiring for them. "Why don't we rest for a bit?" Kyther suggested while he breathed heavily. He did not have the kind of stamina like the other two, so he always got tired easily.
Joseph looked above at the sun and agreed. "We can rest for a bit. We still have time."
They sat down on the grass to have some rest. They drank some water and had some food to replenish their lost energy. Kyther was like a bear. He ate everything that came into his range. He even gobbled up some meat pieces from other's boxes. "Yummy." He seemed happy while chewing the food like a monster, so both of them did not try to stop him.
"By the way, Kyther, what made you change your mind?" Tyler asked at the moment, which made Kyther stopped chewing and swallowing the half chewed food.
"I gave it a thought, and I realized I too was interested in digging deeper. Besides, there is a fire of vengeance somewhere inside me as well."
"It is good that you came," Joseph mentioned. "I wanted one more ally as we could get into some great trouble. More numbers would mean greater chances of survival."
"Right, but we do not know what is awaiting us. So, stay on your guards always," Tyler suggested.
They suddenly heard someone screaming. "Aaa…"
"What is that noise?" They all jumped up and pulled out their weapons. Joseph pulled out a sword, Kyther pulled out a blade similar to a Dadao sword while Tyler took out a pair of daggers. They were on alert and had each other's backs covered. They were expecting some sort of danger to jump out among the dense trees, but what they found was completely different.
"Somebody save me!" There was a man in a strange attire who came running out of the woods as a wild boar chased him. He spotted Joseph and others holding weapons in their hands. He called for their help. "Hey, save me from that ugly-looking creature!" He came running and hid behind Joseph. "Do something. It is chasing me since an hour."
Kyther stepped up with his huge blade. "Do not worry. I will take care of it."
The wild boar exhaled fury when it approached Kyther at a tremendous speed. Kyther took a deep breath and raised the blade above his head. Just at the moment the boar entered his range of attack, he swung the blade down and struck its head.
"Whoa!" The strange man expressed in awe when he saw the skull of the wild boar splitting from the middle. Blood gushed out its head after it dropped lifeless. "You are awesome!" The man exclaimed while jumping like a little kid.
Joseph and others scanned his attire as they had never seen the likes of it. A mud green hat that covered one-third of his face, a long mud green overcoat, brown baggy pants, and black leather boots. The man too looked entirely from a different race. He was white, had a long nose, trimmed facial hair, and a sharp jawline. He had big dark circles around his eyes.
"Thank you very much!" The man jumped to hug Kyther but Joseph placed his sword at his neck at the very moment.
"I would not get too close to a stranger if I were you, specially if they carried a weapon."
"Hey, guys, I am a harmless fellow." The man gulped as he felt the blade touch his skin. Joseph signaled Tyler to check if he carried something to harm them and Tyler did the same.
"He is not carrying a weapon. Just two of these books with these strange drawings," Tyler said as he turned the pages of the book.
"That's a map, I guess," Joseph said and looked at the man to confirm. "Am I right?"
"You are right," The man said. "But give those to me, they are important."
"Hey, Joseph, what is a map?" Kyther asked as he inspected the other book. He could understand nothing no matter how hard he tried.
"It is used to reach your desired destinations, or something like that." Joseph was not sure when he said that.
"Wait, you guys seriously do not know what a map is?" The man inquired as he found it strange. "From where do you belong? But before you tell me…" He signaled Joseph to remove his blade now as they had found he was not someone suspicious.
Joseph sheathed his sword, letting the man take a deep breath in relief.
Joseph then introduced himself and others. "I am Joseph. He is Tyler, and this bushy bear is Kyther."
"Oye!" Kyther frowned as did not like that nickname.
"Sorry. This strong and dependable man is Kyther," Joseph corrected. "We belong to Rakhtar tribe."
At this, the man's interest piqued. "Did you say Rakhtar tribe?"
"Yeah?"
"So, you guys belong to one of the most vicious tribes of the world?"
"What did you say?" Kyther did not like the way he put it, but Tyler stopped him.
"We would not have saved you if we were vicious," Tyler mentioned.
"Oh, do not get me wrong." The man maintained a distance awkwardly. Maybe he feared they might harm him. "This is what the books say. I, of course, do not believe in something until I see it for myself. And by the way, you belonging to one of those tribes which hardly comes in contact with the city dwellers. That explains why you know little about the maps."
"My grandfather had a few friends among the city-dwellers," Joseph said. "He had brought some books and even taught me how to read. He was the one who told me about the maps as well. But tell me, why do you carry these books?"
"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself." The man cleared his throat. "I am Niko Portokalis. I travel around the world. I like to research on stuffs. These books are source for my research."
"What stuffs?" Tyler questioned, ignoring his weird name.
"Ah, stuff like history, archeology, mythology, etc. These fields intrigue me. What do you guys like?"
"I only like eating, sleeping, and beating people up," Kyther replied. "I do not even know what those words you mentioned even mean."
"You are not much of an enlightened being, are you?" Niko teased him, but Kyther paid no heed to him. "What about you guys?" He turned to Joseph and Tyler.
"I don't know. Maybe fighting and hunting," Joseph responded after thinking for a while.
"Just as I have read, you are warriors," Niko mentioned. "I would have loved to look at your tribe inside out if I had to not reach Karma town urgently."
"Karma town?" Tyler pointed out.
"Yeah, it is the closest town from here." He looked up at the sun and scratched his cheek. "It must be…" He pointed to the way Joseph and others were heading off to. "… that way."
"We are heading that way too," Tyler mentioned.
"Are you heading to Karma town as well?"
Joseph and Tyler looked at each other before they nodded together. "Wait, we are heading to Karma town?" Kyther said in between in confusion.
Tyler covered his mouth and said, "Yeah, we are heading there."
"Well, if are heading to the same destination, we can go together. What do you guys say?" Niko suggested, and this is what Joseph wanted in the first place.
"We have no issues," Tyler said while still covering Kyther's mouth. "Right, Joseph?"
"Right." Joseph nodded in agreement.
Niko then pointed to the dead boar. "Umm… guys, what should we do with this thing?"
Joseph and his fellows knew only one thing to do with it.
They roasted the boar's meat and filled their bellies. "It is actually good," Niko said as he tore a piece of meat from his teeth.
They got full and rested there for a while before heading to their way.