" wake up!~~~"
"wake up! young man!"
The voice of the cart driver snatched the beauty of sleep from my eyes.
I opened my eyes slowly and involuntarily yawned.
" Must've been a good sleep, aye?" the Old man teased.
" I haven't slept this well ever since I was born." I confessed.
"Ever since you were born?? where were you and your brother born?"
Well that is a reasonable question and thankfully I have already prepared an answer.
"In Protista, Sir. On the eastern side specifically."
"Eastern side...It must've been hard on you, I am sorry if I brought up any disturbing memories." he apologized after musing for a second.
"nah it isn't an issue, it is all in the past after all" I acted as if I was reminiscing about something painful.
"what brought you here to Arnshwald then?, I am not discriminating against you or anything but someone from Protista would normally head towards Redwich and take refuge there." the old man wondered.
"Well the further the better, and due to the enormous numbers of refugees there work became scarce, So I decided to head elsewhere where I can find a job and Arnshwald was the first on the list" I lied as if I was breathing.
"I hope you find work here, In fact in Ettor there is a dire need for manpower Mr ... eh it seems that I forgot to ask you for your name young man?" the old man chuckled softly and rubbed his cheek with his finger in embarrassment.
"Samuel."
"My name is Samuel, what about you, Sir?"
"you can call me Ronald."
"Anyways back to the point, I think you could find work in Ettor easily Mr. Samuel." he quickly dispelled the awkward mood.
"I hope so, anyways where are we currently?" I queried.
"We are 25 minutes short of Ettor, you can enjoy the scenery until we reach there."
"oh also wake up little Andre and get him ready." as he said that he looked back at us and noticed that Andre was injured.
"oh my god, why would that happen to a child like him." he gasped.
I held Andre's forearm as if I was hiding his injury and grimaced like an expert.
"the situation in Protista isn't that forgiving although they say that the conflict between the kingdom and our nation has subsided but those wretched soldiers from the kingdom are doing whatever they want." I said in a hateful tone.
"you don't need to say anything else we will fix the kid up when we reach Ettor, it is better to let him sleep now." he assured me.
After he said that I felt the slightest regret for lying to him, but that regret faded away just as quickly as it came.
To survive we have to use everything in our toolkit, Even if that means deceiving others.
We didn't speak any longer and I just gazed at the scenery all around me.
The scent of the wet mud, and the fragrance of the flowers violated my nostrils it was such a refreshing experience.
I felt that my mind was clear and ready for whatever is going to occur in Ettor.
******
The village was as big as the plantation we were in or at least what I could see at first glance was.
Ronald dropped us off in the town square or at least what I thought was.
He instructed us to head towards the nearest inn- which he gave us the direction towards- and then left us.
He also told us to ask about someone called madam Agatha.
I carried the sleeping Andre and followed the path he instructed us to take...
...And I quickly forgot the path...
Fuck.
I had no choice but to ask around here about where to find 'Agatha'.
But how can I do that?.
I mean stopping a man to him about something is different than stopping a cart in order to ride it.
the latter only needed me to shout at him while the former would need me to articulate my sentences.
speaking to the driver about something I already planned ahead was easy but speaking to a random person about such a random topic isn't as easy.
I scanned around and decided to ask a youngster that seemed more or less around my age.
"hey, can I ask for something?" starting with such a smooth line will result in a satisfying conversation no doubt!.
"for sure go ahead pal." the youngster replied in a cheery manner.
"should I suppose that you know where I can get Agatha" I failed at articulating the sentence miserably...
...fuck.
what can I do I don't have enough confidence, experience and skills in conversation.
I am illiterate and this is my first time conversing with a free man.
"get Agatha?" the youngster was confused by my horrendously shitty conversation skills.
note to self 1: improve your conversational skills.
"uhh I meant to say where can I find madam Agatha?" I quickly corrected myself and tried to act embarrassed by rubbing my cheek just the way the driver did before.
the youngster thought for a moment and then made a fist with his right hand and smacked it on his left.
"ohh you must mean Agatha sterling! I assume you need her for the child in your hands?" he looked enlightened.
" y-yes madam Agatha sterling and yes I need her for poor Andre, I mean just look at him." I raised Andre up so that the youngster could get a better view of his injuries and acted as helpless as I could.
"oh damn are you sure he is still breathing?" the youngster gasped.
I covered my face with a shocked look, I know he is alive but I must continue acting in the normal-person-character.
"ahahaha don't worry I was kidding he isn't dead or anything in fact I believe he still has a great chance at survival since you are heading towards my sister."
"your sister?" I asked.
"oh it seems as if I forgot to introduce myself!" the youngster was surprised by himself.
"yes you did" I ensured his statement.
" I am sorry for that, you can call me Mordecai, Mordecai Sterling."
"uhh ok Mr Mordecai can you take me to madam Agatha now please."
" we can't waste much more time I am afraid Andre won't hold out much longer." I asked hopelessly with a scared look in my face.
"oh uh of course just follow me I will lead you to her." he felt a little bad for wasting that much time.
and then I followed after him.
*******
After following Mordecai Sterling we arrived at a house in the village.
"And here we are!" he exclaimed.
"Can you wait here for a moment I gotta notify my sister and ask if she has a problem with letting you guys in." he requested.
"No problem, take your time."
After saying that he hurried into the house and closed the door behind him.
looking at the house it appeared quite new and comfy but I couldn't resist thinking that it was older than what it appeared I have to ask Mordecai whether they renovated the house or not.
I had to take another look at the village.
the people here seemed quite unhappy, it was strange.
what made them that gloomy?.
I should ask madam Agatha about this as it really is confusing.
I looked at the villagers' physiques and they were all in better shape than me.
the poorest had some meat on his bones at least, while I was a bag of bones made of skin.
I should really start gaining some strength.
Just as I was thinking Mordecai came out from the new-looking yet old-looking house.
"she said that there is no problem you can come in." he invited me to get inside.
"ahem, well if you excuse me."
the moment I stepped inside I felt calmer and more comfortable.
the interior of the house wasn't as fancy as I expected it to be.
Well, I myself have never anything that could be described as fancy so there was no basis I had for judging the quality of her house.
the only interiors I saw before were the interior of the guards dorms, our slave huts, and the main management building when I was disciplined once before.
based on that, I could say that this interior was far better than any guard dorm I was in before but inferior to the management building.
the interior was wooden and I could see armchairs and a couch to the left and an open kitchen along with a pair of stairs to the right.
"what a nice house!" I tried complimenting in order to lighten the mood.
"oh thank you." he seemed startled by such a compliment.
Maybe I thought that the house was nicer than what it really was.
well who am I to know when a house is nice or not.
"It is nicer than our house back at the eastern side of the Protista Republic before it was decimated by one of the damn kingdom's brigades." I acted rueful of the past I never had.
"I am sorry to hear that." Mordecai seemed to turn a little sad.
he even patted my shoulder.
"don't worry man, where there is life there is hope." he suddenly turned wise.
I shrugged his pat off my shoulder.
"it is ok, what is important is that I want Andre to be healed." I said with confidence and a little voice crack when I said *important*.
"don't worry my sister will come out any minu--"
his words were cut short by the opening of a door in the far side of the room.
the door was painted with the same painting as the walls and due to that I couldn't see it earlier.
out of the door a woman in her thirties came forth.
"madam Agatha?" I queried.
"yes that is me. could you give me the child please?" the words that came out of her mouth were as silent as silence itself but still I could hear them clearly.
I handed her Andre and she laid him on the couch and began examining his wounds.
me and Mordecai sat on the armchairs facing the couch and watched her work.
she started examining.
she firstly touched his bruised eye and split lip and her hands moved gently on his sliced cheeks.
she left his face unharmed and then moved her hands down his arms.
wait unharmed??
I looked at his face once more and found it clean of bruises, slices, cuts and even blood.
what the fuck happened???
" what the hell did you do?!?!?" I could only say that in a loud and croaky voice.