Noah was sitting on top of Sheila feeling out of place because he was the only one on top! Everyone cheered and dragged him on her but no one dared to sit beside him. She was the size of a minivan so there was no question whether there was space or not.
Even Tang, the brash little girl was walking beside the beast along with Alastair and others like it was a game. He had essentially became a experiment to see whether Sheila would fling him around or not.
*growl* She would be vocal when passing by other villagers, it would always make him flinch not knowing what she was thinking but apparently it was common occurrence because they would either wave or comment why there was a stranger sitting on her back.
Few of them asked about it but Alastair just nudged them of by saying he is his guest. They didn't question him further and everyone walked inside the flat land at the top of the mountain. Only then Noah realized what Alastair meant that his hometown was protected.
He would tell stories about it during their journey but Noah thought it was too farfetch and took it as rumblings of an old man reminiscing about his past. But as soon as they left the small gate, he got to witness the town's full glory.
No matter which direction he looked there was mountain ranges surrounding the place. They were pretty high up these mountain acted as a natural barrier blocking the cold wind making the place ideal to settle down.
The whole plateau was about a kilometer long at least that's what he understood from Tang's description but the strange part was it was strangely squared piece of land with only two entrances that seemed to have formed naturally over time.
The one where they came from was narrow and unforgiving. It took them two days, granted Noah was hurt, it must take villagers at least a day to climb up to the top. Alastair did mention previously that the front entrance was wider but they had restricted a huge gate to block any incoming invaders.
With a measly population of hundred people, they couldn't possibly recruit enough people for fighting. The hunters that were following him seemed to be only line of defence in case the gate got breached. With how they were dressed, they doesn't seem to be anything like science in this world.
" Isn't it a natural fortress like I told you? No monster or army will be manage to breach this place quickly. Most people don't know about the back entrance so in case of emergency it's easier to evacuate the elderly and children out of this place." Alastair added.
" That's well and good but what about food and resources?"
" We grow some and other is bought from the merchants. Not everyone could afford their prices but we make do somehow." Alastair sounded a little annoyed talking about merchants.
" Let me guess, they jerk up the prices and state different excuses of why right?"
" Correct, those greedy bastards have nothing but money on their mind. This place is a little far from the nearest business town so they would impose transportation charges that almost as half of the value of goods." He got angry.
" Most of the villagers didn't know about it, they would simply exchange few of our specialities and especially our leather and sold it at sky high price in other towns. It was something I discovered when I ventured out to serve in the army."
Noah nodded in understanding, at least the greed aspect of the world was same as his. If there was money involved people will come up things to amass as much as possible. It was same for those merchants, they saw an opportunity to scam the village and happily jumped on it.
" Wait! Isn't there war going on? How could they still be operational?"
" Oh, I know! It's because of their union!" Tang jumped happily to just being added into the conversation. Most of things they were talking about would go over her head but if she knew something, she wanted to participate because she was not a kid!
Noah looked at the little girl stretching her arms in the air, he involuntarily smiled looking at her cuteness but his smile immediately froze when he remembered the past.
" No, you don't deserve to be happy." He heard the same familiar sentence inside his mind. He turned away looking coldly at the distance. It was subtle change in his expression but it didn't escape Alastair's eyes.
" There are many unions scattered all around the world. It is said that they are on every island but no one knows because no one had visited every corner of the world. Anyway, Merchant Guild is one of the three major forces around these islands. They controlled the wealth flow in and out of the country, even the invading forces will never dare to lay their hands on them." he explained.
" Why? It's it a steal if they just sweep them under their thumb?"
" That's- because of their backer, I will tell you more about it later. We are almost reaching the vicinity of the village." Alastair fumbled his words for the first time Noah met him. He decided to ask about it later, for now, he focused his attention back toward the town.
They passed several large farmlands, Noah was keen on inspecting what type of tree they were but it was hard to make any move because he was on top of Sheila. He didn't even dare to grab her fur, just cowboyed it to their destination.
In the distance, he saw several houses. As expected, it resembled what he expected. Few of them were wooden houses like log houses only bigger and more intricate but most of them were mud houses with either wooden roof or just good old bushes for insulation.
Even then everything looked organized and quite old. Alastair told him that they didn't know how long their people had been living here but they had written documents dating back few hundred years. He was especially proud to talk about it because most of the countries in the vicinity wasn't even that old.
It was understandable because unlike these isolated villages, countries change rulers all the times due to either infightings or war with other nations. At least that's what Noah knew from the little history he was aware of.
" There seem to be few people gathered in the distance." Noah being on higher elevation was able to see the crowd in the distance.
" They must be here to welcome me! Everyone! I am home!" Alastair shouted as soon as he reached the entrance.
" You look quite happy. Did you enjoy your stay in the capital?" A crisp female voice reverberated right after old man proclaimed his arrival. Listening to the familiar voice, he immediately stopped talking and prepared himself because it's going to be a ordeal!!