As they travelled, before them was another traveller, this one showing clearly his trade as his donkey was loaded to the fullest capacity so that he couldn't even ride on it. The man himself dressed in similar fashion to Lon Gear with the only difference being the cloth's design and colour and the fact that his shirt wasn't tucked in.
When he noticed those coming from behind him, he stopped momentarily so that they caught up to him.
"Fellow travellers, it's good that we met during this journey. I am known as Shima Russi, why don't we travel together?"
The rest introduced themselves, and Lon Gear allowed Valera to make the decision as she was the eldest amongst them. Valera agreed, and they continued the journey onward. With the way Shima Russi looked, Kazi could guess that their pace would be slowed down greatly.
'I don't believe this donkey can even run lightly with that weight on its back.' The poor donkey could really collapse under the weight because it was great. It was as though Shima Russi had actually parked his entire household unto the poor animal's back.
Lon Gear and Shima Russi soon began talking and discussing various topics. Even though Kazi had tried to listen in, the discussions were nothing useful to him, but he continued regardless.
'Why did they stop like that?' Kazi's interest was piqued. After all, the men had suddenly stopped talking in a way that signalled that their attention was drawn elsewhere. Seeing their sudden halt, Valera did the same.
"What is the matter?"She asked, but received no reply.
Kazi looked around, but he couldn't find anything or anyone. Surely, it couldn't have been a beast, he thought. Kazi did not need to think so far by himself however, since the answer appeared before him. Valera had tried to walk up to the two men, since they walked some steps before Valera and Kazi, but then...
Lon Gear who was on his donkey jumped down and signalled for Valera to stop by speaking to her in a low tone, his normal smiling face that they were used to also gone. He looked serious and Kazi quickly noticed that his fists were almost balled into a punch, moreover, his body gave off a battle ready aura that Kazi could slightly feel.
'I knew this guy wasn't normal from the start, I was right. But then...'
No matter how hard Kazi looked, he couldn't find anyone around.
"Don't bother kid, you won't find them. That is because they are using a technique to hide themselves."
Kazi was taken aback a bit when he heard Shima Russi speak, but then it wasn't completely unexpected. Both men seemed to be sutori after all. The problem now was; 'Even though they stand by us now, can we trust them?' Kazi did not know the situation with other provinces, so if these two were from an enemy side, it was bad for them either way.
Lon Gear looked ahead like staring at nothing, but Kazi knew this wasn't the case.
From the forest ground and the nearby trees, men appeared as they came out from the bodies of the trees and ground itself. Kazi was astounded by the sight and immediately got an idea to learn this technique, whatever it was. Also, he was excited to see the fight to come.
'This would be my first time experiencing how a real fight goes. I have to pay attention.'
Where they were along the road was a bit narrow, as the forest came together on both sides so that the road the travellers use that was in the middle resembled a forest path instead of a proper road. Grass had even grown into and on the road itself. The shade provided by the trees and branches hide the environment away from the sun and in a nice shade.
Kazi who was still on the donkey counted the men who had come out of hiding, 12 of them in total. '12 against 2...' Though he was anticipating the fight so that he would witness the real thing, the odds were not favourable. Kazi also looked around to see if there was a way for him to escape if the two men couldn't win.
'It's impossible.' Not only was the only path to escape to run into the forest, he was sure to be caught easily as well. He really needed Russi and Gear to perform wonders.
While an expression of fear appeared on Valera's face and her body shook lightly, Kazi took note of the gang before them. They all had on clothes of similar colours and design. Their clothes were a kind of light brown, both the shirt and trousers, and most of them tied a red scarf around their heads or thighs.
"Rogues from Ugad."
"Hmph, it could only be them."
Hearing the word 'rogue' was a definite problem. Kazi remembered that Ugad was a province under the Land of Earth also. Gear pulled out two short swords and took a stance, while Russi pulled out two daggers from his sleeves. Kazi did not see where the short swords on Gear's hands came out of, all he saw was that he was already holding them; it was as if they came out of thin air.
Seeing that both sides had readied to attack, Kazi focused so he wouldn't miss any action. He wasn't sure why they both just took out their weapons and were about to fight without even some form of dialogue, but he didn't care for now.
Picking up on the sudden twitch from Gear's foot, he ran towards the opponents. He was quite fast as Kazi couldn't follow his movements at first but soon began catching some glimpse every now and then. Russi also attacked, and so did the opponents.
In as much as Kazi tried, he could barely keep up with the flow of the fight. It was easier for him to follow Russi than it was to follow Gear, so he focused on Russi's fights more. His mother, Valera, was too scared to move, so she still stood in the same spot.