And so, Kairo started his journey to the nearest kingdom in order to survive and hopefully get answers.
It was a fortunate thing that he once tagged along with a merchant heading to that certain kingdom a while back as per his late parents' suggestion.
It was in the guise of a fun, educational trip, but he was outfitted with thick leather clothing and a shortsword that he could comfortably wield, which betrayed the safety he was promised.
Thinking about it now, he realized that it was probably for him to experience the real world, but with the safety of the actual armed escorts guarding the merchant. The presence of the escorts was welcome since he couldn't really have fended off rouges and bandits all by himself. He was a mere kid after all.
These escorts were called adventurers or mercenaries. He was still confused about how to distinguish the difference between the two.
In any case, he knew which direction to head to in order to reach the kingdom and had an idea of how long the trip would be by foot. He guessed that by setting up camp every day before sunset and gathering more supplies around him—as he wanted to try and preserve what he found from the village as emergency supplies—he should be able to reach his destination in one to two months.
He planned to cook the meat he salvaged as soon as he could before it spoiled since his late neighbors told him that even preserved meat can only last for so long. It will be a good source of energy for him anyway as he acclimated to living outside and travelling.
"I can't save it..." he told himself as he marched forward while looking down at where he was stepping. "I can't save the meat. I can't save... them," he said as if in a daze. He realized what came out of his mouth and wondered if he had been subconsciously thinking about Kayal, Nayani, his parents, and the rest of the villagers.
There was a moment of silence before he stopped walking.
He then slapped himself in the face.
"STOP blaming yourself. You're just a kid. You couldn't have defeated those strange guys. Live and grow strong enough to kill them," he continued slapping himself until his face was red. "ALRIGHT! Onwards, Kairo!" with tightened lips and a determined look, he fastened his container on his back and continued his march forward.
His father taught him how to live outside of the village in isolation. Even if it was only for a week and a half, Kairo was able to grasp the logic behind the concept of camping.
It was all about scheduling and rationing. He realized then that maybe that was why people lived the way they do now. They slept at night when darkness came and did work when it was bright enough outside.
He was also taught that sight was an important asset when it came to survival. When the predators are stealthy and experienced, tracks and signs of marked territory are still apparent to those observant enough.
With this, he was able to avoid walking into the nests and hunting grounds of troublesome animals. Even though it was scarce, he was able to consistently secure some new meat in addition to his foraged fruits and berries.
He was even able to procure some medicinal herbs that he identified thanks to his mother's strict teaching. Any other fool would've either ignored these unassuming plants or unsuspectingly ground some random herbs up and hoped for the best.
His mother was very particular and thorough in showing his son the ropes to natural medicine, as the flip side to this great boon was that it was equally dangerous if one was unaware.
There were as many sweet-looking poisonous flowers that must not be touched as there were suspicious berries that didn't taste too neat until it was cooked but were good for one's health and growth in the long run.
He kept collecting what he could, and with the stone mortar and pestle he salvaged from his village, he ground them up and put them in a small pouch. These would come in handy when he grazes or scratches himself, preventing an infection and even reducing scar visibility after recovery.
He used some on his hands after he impulsively dug into them with his nails in his tantrum from days ago.
He had a limited stash of clean cloth, so he planned to gather more foraged materials along the way which he could sell in the kingdom's market to buy more supplies. He did grab as much money as he could from his village, albeit hesitatingly. Though, he might get robbed if he relied on it too much, so he considered it his emergency stash for now.
Roughly a month had passed, and with his persistent will and diligence in following his parents and other adult villagers' teachings, he was starting to see signs of civilization.
His makeshift container was heavier than when he started his journey involuntarily, but that in turn made his body stronger and more reliable in long treks.
Kairo thought that he must've been doing this surviving thing right, all thanks to those who taught him.
Though, he did get sick once.
He got cut and scraped a few times from recklessly powering through thickets and slipping after hopping from stone to stone on a murky pond. That night, he got a mild fever. It was enough to put him out of commission for the whole night. He tried to treat it as much as he could while trying to rest and not waste energy.
It was a cold and cruel night, the heat of his body competing with the nearby campfire which embraced him from a grim death to nature. But as someone who grew up beside nature, he already had somewhat of a resistance and was used to getting sick.
He didn't bother hoarding at this point and spoiled himself using the clean cloth, scarce meat, and ground-up medicine he had. It would've been a shame to save so much stuff but end up not using them due to catching a case of death.
The next morning, he checked his stash and saw that he used up half of his clean cloth. Considering that his village was utterly wrecked, there was only so much usable cloth that remained that didn't get burnt away, let alone clean ones. Though he didn't bother thinking about how much he wasted on his blunder, he was relieved that he got to wake up at all.
This served as a lesson to be less clumsy and more attentive to his surroundings.
More uneventful days passed and lately, he had been seeing fewer trees as a path in the dirt was becoming more and more apparent, albeit gradually.
He had yet to meet other people.
In the meantime, he couldn't help but feel that he was being sometimes watched...
... from the very start.
Maybe it was just him being paranoid with his instincts, they weren't perfect anyway. It might simply be him still being on guard about the tragedy that happened last month. He never knows when peaceful days will suddenly burst into flames after all.
He shrugged it off and continued his advance. If there was such a person following him, they would've made themselves known already. They had numerous openings to exploit. If this hypothetical person didn't appear before him, then so be it. No use looking for them now and slowing himself down for nothing.
"I know this clearing. There should be a wooden road signage if I keep going straight till night, but I think I'll make camp early before sunset. I'll get there eventually... to the kingdom."
Thinking about interacting with people again had him smiling. It had been a while since he had seen or spoken to another living being.
His first order of business would be to sell off his haul.
He had forgotten much about the market since the last time he was in the kingdom. He didn't personally know much about buying or selling anyway, he just watched the merchant he was with do his business.
Kairo planned to try and copy what he remembered from that merchant to the best of his abilities, it was the only way he knew how to proceed if he was to actually preserve the money he had from the village.
Although he remembered not feeling right with the merchant's methods since it wasn't as peaceful nor honest as the transactions that occurred in his village. But he just chalked it off as the kingdom and his village having different ways of doing things. He wasn't entirely sure.
He hoped that in time, he would be able to get the hang of it on his own.
After he secures his first personal capital money separate from his emergency money, he planned to spend it on renting a good room in an inn. A hot bath and a soft bed would do wonders for his fatigued body.
He may have gotten used to camping outside, but it wasn't like he did it because he wanted to, nor was he very willing to continue it.
Kairo imagined scenarios of the encounters he would have inside the kingdom walls.
A warm welcome from the guards that monitored the walls, having a pleasant chat with a shop owner, or just listening to a sweet old man rant alone in a bar. Anything was good, he would be happy to even be rudely scrutinized by the guards at the entrance, as long as he got to interact with another person. He had been bored out of his mind for the past week or so ever since he got the hang of surviving and got less and less busy the more efficient he became.
Also, being alone with his thoughts was sometimes... unnerving.
He just wanted to be distracted without having to worry about his back once in a while. Funnily enough, all this thinking and fantasizing actually got him distracted. He had been walking for a good while and the sun was already nearly setting.
"The horizon, huh," he stopped to look at the falling sun.
In a few hours, the sky will be painted pink and orange, while the ground will darken into charcoal.
He saw some birds fly over him.
He thought that they looked so free flying to their heart's content. Or were they simply prisoners of a different cell, chained to their migratory behaviors?
A cold wind blew past him, gently tugging his dark hair and dirty cloak in a wave as he stared off into the sky in front of him, where the birds were headed.
"Chilly... welp, camp time!"
Winter was definitely nearing. It might start to snow before he sets foot into the kingdom.
After Kairo had set up camp and slept for the night, he started packing up his stuff first thing in the morning, just like he had done daily for the past month.
He knew he would be at the wooden sign landmark this morning. He had enough food to not need to hunt for a while.
And so, he resumed his journey until he came upon a tiny structure housing a shady-looking man beside the sign he was expecting.
He was gestured to stop from within the exceptionally small booth the man was clumsily sitting in.
Kairo studied the booth and thought it was barely small enough to be carried by a single man. It was dirty and poorly made, with not even a proper window to look out from. Rather, it was more like there weren't enough wooden planks supplied to the building to complete its construction. The missing parts were ingeniously made into a window and a doorway.
"Oi, kid! Ye need two silver coins to pass through 'ere, see?" the plump, old man loudly mumbled to Kairo. The man was sporting a hat and was only slightly taller than Kairo. His arms and torso were big but his legs were lacking. The man was built like an urn.
He twirled his moustache as he raised an eyebrow, waiting for Kairo's response.
"I... don't have money. I'm a traveller—" before Kairo could finish his sentence, the man yelled at him, intimidating him with incomprehensible babbling about toll fees, money, and his hungry kids.
"Ye oughta 'ave sum! Cough it up! Or ye won't be passing through 'ere, see?"
"Hey kid, need some help?" Kairo's eyes widened as a gruff voice introduced itself. Its source sounded very close to Kairo's back, as if the owner of the voice had been standing behind him the whole time.
Kairo turned around to face the source and saw a tall man with his neck wrapped in tattered cloth.
The man's discolored, dark gray cloak swayed as a tense breeze flew past the both of them. His unkempt and long, red hair was messily ruffled, revealing a stony, square face lazily staring at the shady man. His unshaven features and dead fish eyes gave off a blunt, unruly look, but his piercing, yellow eyes were remarkably sharp that it was almost glowing.
Kairo didn't know this man. He didn't know where he came from nor how he slipped past his area of awareness, but all of his cells and the instincts he honed from his journey were screaming to not mess with this man.
Kairo was frozen, he didn't know how to react. If this was one of the people who attacked his village, he would've already been done for.
But while Kairo was panicking with his mouth wide open, the stranger uttered,
"Let me show you something."