"I see…" Spencer said.
He didn't want to rub salt in the kid's open wounds, so he ended that conversation there, moving onto another topic.
"You mentioned the fact that you were found in the Shagar Jungle… So, you're the kid with the abnormal Spiritual Pressure?"
Mikhail nodded, noticing the very abrupt change in topic. He chose to play along anyway, though.
"Yes. Yes I am. I'm taking Spiritual Suppression Pills to ward off the intense pain it causes me."
Spencer's eyes went wide. "Grand Elder Maya is feeding you poison?! We only use that stuff for criminals!"
Mikhail shrugged.
"If it works, it works. I'm certainly not complaining."
Spencer looked at him strangely before chuckling.
"You're one hell of an odd-ball… But like you said, if it works, it works!"
He patted the young looking lad on the shoulder. "I'm going to explain the situation to the others… You plan on setting up a tent towards the edge of the tribe, right?"
Mikhail nodded.
"I'll help you out with that soon. Go on ahead without me and I'll catch up with you."
Mikhail nodded again. And then, he walked off, leaving the murmuring crowd behind and walking through the street, running into some more crowds on his way through. Yet none of them were as surprised as the first crowd.
It seemed news of his presence had spread along the road, and was likely spreading throughout the whole tribe now.
'Guess I'll be famous… How weird. I always wondered what it'd be like to have people I don't know, know me…'
"Yo!"
Spencer suddenly appeared at his side, and moments later a gust of wind smacked into Mikhail's back, nearly throwing him off balance.
"Hey there…" Mikhail said after catching his balance.
"So, I imagine you don't really care where your tent is?"
"Not particularly… I've just been trying to reach the so-called edge of the tribe."
Spencer snorted.
"It'll be another thirty minutes if you keep following the North Path like this. Follow me, I'll bring you to the western edge."
Mikhail followed Spencer as he turned right into a random alleyway between two houses. He eyed the various crates sitting here and there with a bit of intrigue. Spencer noticed that and explained why they were sitting out here like that.
"They're junk crates, filled with miscellaneous things. We usually keep things like that in the alleyways to avoid clutter in our houses."
"I see… Kids must have fun jumping all over them."
"Oh yeah, they love running around."
The two travelled silently after that, but neither felt as if anything was amiss. And ten minutes later, they reached the western edge, emerging from the array of buildings and out onto a large savannah.
It was the first time Mikhail's vision was unobstructed by trees or buildings in that world… And he was flabbergasted by what he saw. Namely, that his range of sight just… Kept going. Farther and farther out until something obstructed his distance.
Like the mountains in the north, with the ever present black tower rising high above them. Or the large sand dunes far into the west and to the south.
'...Either this world is much, much bigger than the one I came from, or this world is flat…'
He furrowed his brows. He was in a new, fantastical world… But surely, a flat world wasn't possible. Right? Probably not. He went with his first assumption before turning his attention to Spencer.
"So uh, how far away should I make the tent?"
Spencer shrugged.
"Not more than five minutes of walking away."
"...Uh, okay. Should I just walk for five minutes then?"
Spencer nodded. "I'll keep count, just keep walking forward and I'll let you know when to stop."
Mikhail looked to the path ahead and then began walking at his usual pace without saying anything. And, just like Spencer said, when five minutes went by, he would stop him.
A gust of wind nearly smacked him over again as Spencer basically shot over to him.
"Spencer. Can you please be a little more careful?"
"I can."
"Tch. You're just fucking with me, then?"
A smirk spread on Spencer's face, yet he didn't respond to that question, opting to get down to business instead.
"Take out the tent Grand Elder Maya gave you, if you'd be so kind."
Mikhail put his crate down and then slung the backpack off his shoulders, setting it on top of the crate as he took the leather straps out of the loop keeping it closed.
He took out the book on Manakel first, placing it towards the edge of the crate. And then he took out the rations, contained in a big leather pouch. It smelled like some kind of jerky, and he put that pouch on top of the book.
After that he took out the rolled up sleeping mat, noting how it was the same shade of red as the carpet in Maya's room.
Which only left the tent behind, which had taken up the majority of his backpack's space.
However, before he could reach back into the backpack, the tent left the bag of its own accord. He turned his attention to Spencer, who furrowed his brows as the folded up tent began unfolding in the air.
"Been ages since I've set one of these up…" he said to himself under his breath.
After a few seconds, the tent completely unfolded, casting a shadow over both him and Mikhail as the thick square cloth floated over their heads. And then, Spencer seemed to contemplate for a bit before asking him a question.
"Do you want a circular tent or a square tent?"
"Square."
Spencer nodded, and then stomped his foot.
Four poles of pale-yellow rock shot out of the ground, each connected at their tops to form a square ring of pale-yellow stone. Before Spencer lowered the tent, he eyed the top of the square ring, seeing the dirt and grass still clinging to the top of the pole.
"Damn things…"
A sudden, visible gust of wind blew the detritus away, and after that, the tent was dropped onto the scaffolding.