"Hey," Daisy said as she took off her apron to Aira, who was washing dishes. "When you're done, come to the front, I'll teach you a thing or two about doing profitable business."
Aira smiled again and nodded.
Daisy left the little girl alone there while she headed straight to the front, to her small shop.
Meanwhile, Vir had just found a crossbow in a warehouse to the left of Daisy's small shop, a little further back, after a row of carts.
"Not bad," Vir muttered as he examined the crossbow.
From its dusty and slightly rusty condition, Vir further believed that the crossbow had not been used by Daisy for a long time.
But he was lucky enough to find some well-stored lubricating oil in a drawer in one of the cabinets. It looked like Daisy had kept it all in good order, despite, yeah... a lot of dust.
He also found a dozen arrows in a special leather bag. That's good, he thought. That way, he wouldn't have to make new arrows that he would use along with the crossbow.
After cleaning and rechecking the condition of the crossbow, the leather bag, and all the arrows, Vir finally left Daisy's residence by heading towards the back. From there, he headed straight to the southeast.
At least, this is a faster and less traveled path, Vir thought. After all, the back of Daisy's house was just a wilderness to the far end.
As he walked towards the forest in the southeast, Vir kept thinking about the woman named Elena whom he had overheard from Daisy's conversation with her two customers a moment ago.
What would the kingdom do about this? Or would the people just let such injustice continue?
About the Central Empire, Vir was no longer surprised by their attitude of not caring at all about the little people like Vir or Elena. But it shouldn't be with the Eastern Kingdom itself. After all, Elena was a citizen of the Eastern Kingdom, the Eastern King should not be afraid to speak up to the Central Empire.
Vir could only shake his head. I don't know how long it will take, injustice like that or in any other form would always exist as long as the rulers in each region closed their eyes, ears, and mouths. Just bowing down and submitting to the power of the Central Empire without having the courage to say a word of criticism.
You cowardly bastards, all you know is how to benefit yourselves!
Either way, this corrupt power must one day be eliminated, or at the very least, someone must start shouting for change.
"Poor woman," Vir muttered to himself. "She was raped by three riders, her husband was killed and turned into dragon food, and then she went home to her parents in a very, very shaken state of mind."
Vir stopped walking because he heard something moving behind the bushes to his left. Quickly, he cocked his crossbow, placed an arrow in it, and aimed at the bushes.
Something quickly flew away from behind the thicket.
"What an asshole!" Vir grinned and let out a long sigh. It turned out to be a bird no bigger than a chicken. "Next time, don't startle me, damn bird!"
Vir lowered his crossbow and resumed walking.
Along the way before reaching the Southeast Forest, Vir met some locals at several points. From these people, Vir learned that the condition of the large river that separated the residential area from the Southeast Forest was no longer the same as before.
Vir was quite confused by this fact. The thing was, he felt like he hadn't visited the Eastern Lands in about a year, and the conditions here had changed so drastically in that time.
"Yeah..." Vir stood with his hands on his waist as he arrived at a cliff while looking at the bottom of the large canyon below. "Looks like it's going to be hard to find those fish."
The river at the bottom of the valley was exactly what Vir had been aiming for earlier in order to find the rare fish called Capculosus. However, just looking up from that height, Vir could already see the desolation below.
And when he had descended into the valley, he was further convinced by the condition of the river whose water had become murky and very shallow. Even though it was not the dry season.
The wild river that was once so big and swift was now nothing more than a small ditch as if it could no longer sustain life. There were no more boats going back and forth delivering things, nor fishing canoes.
Vir took a deep breath, then took a closer look at his surroundings.
"That's right," he muttered with a sad look on his face. "Eventually, this land will also die, following the other four lands that have become barren lands."
The man sighed heavily, looking at the slow, murky flow of the river with his hands on his waist.
He was sure that this change was not solely due to the carelessness or greed of the locals, but also due to the influence of the Central Empire.
Although Vir was not a pious man and even more likely to ignore every religion in the world, he had the belief that one action would affect you, the people around you, and eventually the environment around you.
The evil after evil done by the people of the Central Empire must have affected nature itself, he thought.
"Now, where else can I find those fish?" Vir smiled widely then shook his head. "Oh my! Looks like I'll be a virgin for the rest of my life."
Now his attention was drawn to the edge of the forest on the other side of the river, the Southeast Forest.
Vir let out a long sigh with a faint smile at the corner of his lips. At least, the forest still looks the same.
Although, the trees along the riverbank were withered, and some had even dried up.
But Vir still found greenery behind the brownish leaves. Well, the center of the forest must still be beautifully green, he thought.
He examined the murky, shallow river once more with a long branch, poking the branch in several points.
Vir was just being cautious. The river might look dead, but who could guarantee that there were no wild creatures lurking? Crocodiles, for example?
Feeling that there would be no danger, Vir finally crossed the river. The depth of the river was only up to his knees.
The man smiled and swallowed his bitterness. Whereas a year ago, Vir could still swim and bathe in this river with its clean and clear water.
It's sad, it's very sad, he thought.
Vir's guess turned out to be correct, the part in the middle of the forest was still green and shady, he immediately alerted his crossbow to get something to increase the food stock for Daisy. Of course, for himself and Aira as well.
***
Vir had been hunting for quite some time in the vast forest. He had gotten several animals that he hung around his waist. There was a rabbit and two partridges.
The Southeast Forest was still very lush, unfortunately, the creatures that inhabited this forest seemed to have been greatly reduced. Especially, the large animals that could be used as food.
He looked up, trying to watch the sun from behind the forest canopy. Looks like it's exactly noon now, he thought.
Vir resumed his steps with his crossbow at the ready. The man wanted to stay in the forest a little longer to get better meat than the three at his waist.
From behind a large tree, Vir saw the movement of a fairly large creature - slightly smaller than a horse.
The man smiled. It looks like a deer, he thought. And he stepped slowly to shorten his distance from the creature.
Once he felt close enough, Vir took aim at the creature behind the trees.
"White-backed deer, huh?" he muttered. "Don't run, cutie!"
And just as his index finger was about to press the trigger of his crossbow, a machete stuck to his neck.
"Don't you dare!"
Vir was taken aback.
"If you insist, then don't blame my blade for slashing your neck!"
He immediately raised his hands, indicating that he would not make any threats.
Vir turned around slowly and found that there were three people standing behind him in their tattered clothes. One was a twenty-year-old girl, and the other two were adult men, one of whom was threatening Vir with a machete in his hand.
"All right," Vir said calmly. "I'm not going to mess with you. But, why can't I have the deer? And, who are you?"
Vir felt strange about the three people in front of him now. After all, their clothes did not indicate that they were Easterners at all.