Waking up and going to the bathhouse near the inn, Chan and the other finally got to enjoy a hot bath instead of washing themselves in a river. With no toothbrush or toothpaste; to clean one's teeth, there was a special type of wood they would chew on and use to scrub their teeth.
When cleaning their teeth, Mo gave out tasks for the others to do. The tasks consist of going to get supplies or repairing and upgrade of their equipment.
With nothing to do, Chan tagged along with Ken, as he was most comfortable with him. Ken's task was to buy some provisions as they were gonna go on a path where it would not lead to any town for at least a week.
"Hey, stay close to me and don't get lost," Ken told Chan.
Making their way through town which felt exactly like Busin. The streets were lively and there were plenty of smells in the air, from different kinds of food to the smell of smoke and fire coming from different smithies.
Staying near Ken, they made their way to different stalls, buying smoked meats and dried fruits.
"Hey little man, would you like to try some dried mangoi," said the old lady running the dried fruits stall after Ken paid for the dried fruits he was tasked to get.
"Sorry I don't have any money," Chan told her.
"It's on the house, here," said the lady as she gave him a piece of dried mangoi.
Graciously taking the free piece of dried mangoi, Chan took a bite out of it. It tasted like a mango but the flavor had a little bit more sourness. Puckering his face, he was not ready for the sourness of the dried fruit.
The old lady and Ken both laughed as they saw Chan's reaction. Not wanting to feel too embarrassed, he toughed it out and ate all of it. Ken and Chan thanked the old lady and made their way back to the inn.
On their way, there were stopped to make way for the slave traders.
( Clop! Clop! )
The slave traders made their way through the streets in a horse-drawn carriage filled with many different slaves. 4 carriages passed by and it caught the interest of Chan, so he asked Ken, "Where are they taking those people?".
"They're probably taking them to the auction house," Ken answered.
"Why? What did they do?" curious as he had never seen slave traders in both of his lifetime.
Ken went on to explain how the world work, "That's right, you never got to know how this world works. We live in a time where the winners in war can do whatever to the losers as they are not originally his people. Being enslaved sometimes is better for those people as they would be either mistreated by those around them or died of starvation if they are too young to work." said Ken as the carriages were not only filled with adults but it was mostly filled with kids.
"Oh, I see," Chan replied.
Making it back to the inn, Chan and the Crimson Reapers went to the stable to get their horses and head off to Biyou.
"Biyou get ready to pay us!" said Mo as they set off.
Riding with Ken, Chan couldn't help but think about his experiences in Kito. He couldn't help but disagree with how the world was run. The thought of owning a person was insane to him as his former world banned slavery.
Running the scenes of a girl getting beat in front of everyone and no one doing a thing pissed him off, but the thing that pissed him off even more was seeing the faces of the people in the carriages; they were dark and glooming with no life left in their eyes.
Doing nothing but marching one day at a time, inching closer and closer to town. The Crimson Reapers would camp out in the middle of the forest, sometimes without even being able to wash themselves as there was no body of water near them.
( Whooo! Whooo! )
The owls could be heard dead in the middle of the night as they set up camp and relax around a campfire.
It was already their fourth night since they left Kito. The guys were already desperate to enjoy the benefits of being in a town.
"Ugggghh! Ken, why did you make us take this route as there is nothing but a dirt path and trees. We couldn't even enjoy a time with some ladies as Kito had nothing but old ladies and ugly a*s dudes. I want to sleep with a voluptuous lady already!" Mo complaining to Ken.
Chan couldn't help but laugh at what he was hearing.
"Careful with your words as –"
( Rustle! Pat! )
Chan heard something in the trees.
"We have a kid with us," Ken replied to Mo.
"He's man, he's going to figure out sooner or later. Probably even sooner than us as he might grow up to be a go– "
( Shinng! )
Chan interrupted Mo, "Take out your swords! There are others with us!".
Mo looked at Chan and said, "What are you talking about, it's proba–".
( Shulnk! )
"Ahhhh!" a voice shouted out from behind the trees.
Everyone drew their blades. Mo called out for one of the Crimson Reapers who went to pee behind the trees.
No one answered and Mo was starting to get more agitated.
"Stop hiding and show yourselves!" Mo yelled.
A stranger, that Chan had never seen before came out of the darkness holding a blade drenched in blood. Being in front of Chan, Chan could see every detail in the man's face. The man had a big pointy nose and a huge scar going across his forehead.
The man, sized up the Crimson Reaper before licking the blood off his sword and saying, "Their blood tastes good, kill everyone except the child as we can make more money from selling him,"
( Rustling! )
Chan could hear a lot of people making their way through the forest surrounding Chan and them.
"Surround Chan and protect him, kill anyone who moves," Instructed Mo.
Now Chan was surrounded by those wishing to protect him and wishing to sell him.
The others with the stranger came out of the bushes and trees charging at the Crimson Reapers.
All of the Crimson Reapers drew out their ki, but Ken and Mo were the only ones who were able to inject ki into their swords.
The enemy's numbers outnumbered them by 2 to 1 but it was no problem as the Crimson Reapers were a skilled mercenary group.
Gripping onto his knife just in case someone gets through, Chan witnesses the slaughter of the bandits trying to mess with the Crimson Reapers.
Every swing of the bandits was either blocked or parried meanwhile the swings of the Crimson Reapers sliced the bandits in two or engraved a deep wound.
Watching his allies be killed one by one the man with the huge scar on his forehead ran for his life.
"Ken!" said Mo as he's cutting down his enemies.
"I know!" said Ken as he sprinted toward the guy trying to run away.
( Boom! Boom! Boom! )
Each step Ken took cemented his footstep onto the ground as he was using ki to help him run faster.
One of the bandits tried to get in Ken's way and paid the price. The bandit was slashed into two. The slash entered their left ribs and exited out on the right side of their neck. Ken cutting through the bandit like butter, and when his sword came out, the blood of the bandit also came out. The blood shot out into the air like a geyser spraying a scarlet mist into the night sky creating the illusion of a bloody moon.
( Boom! Boom! )
Ken continuing his hunt, he charged forward.
( Shulk! )
Mo's blade entered the heart of the last bandit as they dropped lifeless onto the ground.
( Tap! Crunch! Tap! )
Chan could hear the sound of footsteps crushing some leaves as they came toward him.
It was Ken, holding the head of the man with the large scar on his forehead.
The Crimson Reaper set off in the middle of the night to make a new camp as they didn't want to sleep next to dead bodies. Before setting off, using their shovel to dig and bury poopholes they dug a hole for one of their lost members as they were the one who was killed while they were peeing.
Burying the dead member, they tried their best to hold in their tears.
( Pat! Pat! )
Ken compacted the dirt and said a prayer for the father of death and mother of life to bless the living members of the Crimson Reaper.
Unhitching their horses and not wanting to leave a horse behind. Mo asked Chan, "Do you want to learn how to ride a horse?".
"No, I don't want to slow us down." Chan refused.
"It should be ok with everyone if we teach Chan how to ride a horse right?" said Mo as he looked around.
Everyone agreed and Chan couldn't refuse as he was being peer pressured. In the dead of the night, they slowly progressed away from their old campsite as they were teaching Chan how to control and ride a horse. After a few mistakes, Chan eventually was able to control a horse and at least make it stop and go.
Setting up a new camp, some slept while some stayed up. Being too young, they never made Chan stay up to night watch so he quickly fell asleep.