When they got to the cart, they noticed that it belonged to a merchant who sold many other goods besides apples. The man was just sitting on the side of the carriage. A carrier pigeon was waiting by him, bringing a piece of paper that the merchant was reading.
"Luck with you," Rue greeted and walked towards him contentedly.
The man looked up at him and blinked a few times: "Luck with you, do you need anything?" he caught sight of Ylre coming out of the forest behind him.
"We were wondering if you'd give us a ride," Rue smiled, "and sell a few apples."
The man looked at him confused for a moment, before looking at his goods and shaking his head: "I got ripped off by a couple like you last time, so I'm not offering any rides," he said.
"Not for free," Ylre clarified, holding a bag of coins in his hand.
He's prodding clearly caught the man's interest, as his unapproachable expression changed to a more permissive one.
He looked at Rue who asked, "Where are you headed?"
"The original plan was Benil, but there was a change of order, so," he nodded at the piece of paper, "I have to stop in Alycante." he said.
"Nice name, is that a town or a village?" Rue asked, happily biting into one of the apples.
The guy looked at him incomprehensibly: "Where do you live? A town, the largest in Rinsel." he stated.
"Isn't the capital the biggest?" Rue didn't understand.
The guy sighed, as if he couldn't believe that someone didn't even know the basics of their country's geography: "Lacrisans..." he remarked, writing the answer on a piece of paper and attaching it to the pigeon's leg. He then grabbed the reins of the horses.
Ylre got on the cart and after Rue had followed him, he declared:
"Alycante was originally the largest city in the western part of the world... two hundred years ago it was one of the four main ecclesiastical cities under the name of Cante before the countries were divided and the church didn't want to leave the cities to the government," he clarified, "a similar thing happened in the remaining countries. Only Equil kept the capital connected to the nearest ecclesiastical one. However, the government and the church are no longer connected." he explained.
"Ah, so Cante is now called Alycante," Rue said, who didn't find it strange that anyone but Ylre saw his ignorance as strange, "so the government doesn't follow the instructions of the church anymore."
"They don't, the government and the church influence each other, accept and behave usually equally, it depends where you go. People mainly listen to the king, but sometimes the creed weighs more. Some are more religious than others, some don't believe at all," he explained, "but the majority profess some faith...most often."
"Some? The only church is the Church of Luck, isn't it?" Rue remarked confusedly.
"In the past it was...and it's still the strongest...but in recent years another one has been established," said Ylre.
"I don't understand...what could people believe in other than Luck?" he didn'tknow.
Ylre laughed softly, "In bad luck," he clarified, "not everyone is blessed with Luck, some are even angry with Luck for being unfair, they believe that transferring bad luck to others and crystals will bring better results than drawing Luck." he clarified.
"I don't understand," Rue said in confusion, "when you worship Luck, you worship it because it exists...how do people worship bad luck? After all, bad luck is just a lack of Luck." he declared.
"For them, Luck is just the lack of bad luck...when you worship bad luck, according to their ideology, it doesn't affect you as seriously as those who don't worship it, so nothing unmanageable happens to you. On the one hand, you can transfer it to others, thereby reducing their luck and improving your own," he explained.
"To others? Bad luck?" Rue didn't believe anyone would do that.
"Of course, it's not proven...it's just the assumptions of their faith," Ylre clarified.
"Do people really believe in such nonsense now? Why? They see Luck every day, there are writings, books, and clear knowledge about it?" he didn't understand.
"There is no one who can really confirm that these are not just fabrications," Ylre clarified.
"They aren't." Rue said disgruntled.
"I believe you. I'm just saying that people born with a lack of Luck will not believe that worshiping Luck is the right way. It is more advantageous for them to get rid of bad luck," he explained.
"Do all countries believe in the second church" Rue wanted to know.
"No, Lacris only believes in Luck, Rinsel and Equil, it's pretty balanced," he explained.
"So, in Alycante...we will only see the Church of Luck?" Rue asked.
"I don't know about you, but I'm not very interested in church places, and I'd prefer to avoid them," Ylre admitted.
,,Why? Don't you believe in Luck?" Rue wondered, not realizing until now that something like that was even possible.
"I believe," Ylre smiled, "I just don't have the best relationship with the members of the church." He clarified.
"No?" he thought for a moment before realizing the crucial thing, "Actually...neither do I." he smiled as he remembered that the Infeys were at the head of the church. They weren't easy to find in a bunch of regular members, but he didn't want to risk meeting any. He clearly wasn't going to get locked up in a cell again. Even though he knew that he deserved it.
"So, it will be best if we avoid Alycante," Ylre explained, "fortunately there is another nicer and smaller town nearby that we can walk to in a few hours."
"Which one?" Rue enthused at the thought.
Ylre smiled: "Dycae, It's really close, the church has no power over it, since it's mainly under the influence of the other church, which, however, finances the city generously," he laughed, "it's very nice to look at." he said.
"When will we be there?" he asked.
"About a day's travel…at the slow pace this guy is going," Ylre laughed.
"I don't mind that he goes slowly, at least we will see nature and other things," he said.
"Me neither, I'm not in a hurry...but you could be there in half a day on horseback," he said.
Rue smiled softly and looked at Ylre, "You really know everything."
"Not everything, I'm just smart. But I'll tell you anything you want to know," Ylre smiled and looked at him contentedly.
"For example," Rue looked at the trees, "what are those brown marks on the trunks?" he asked.
Ylre looked at the trees by the side of the road and blinked in surprise. He didn't answer for a while. He then stood up, walked back to the goods, through which he leaned towards the merchant: "You're going the wrong way," he informed.
"What?" he didn't understand what Ylre was talking about.
"There are bandits' marks on the trees, if you go further, they will ambush us, I doubt it is a normal traffic route," he said.
"Boy, I've been taking this road all my life, and nothing has ever happened to me, sit back and don't disturb me," he said disgruntled.
"As you wish," Ylre said and sat back, "he doesn't listen, his fault."
"Ambush?" Rue asked in disbelief, "How do you know?"
"I've seen them many times, all the groups have different signs, but the brown rings on the trunks are signs that bandits use to mark busy roads without military control," he explained.
"Shouldn't we try to talk him out of it? If someone ambushes us, will he be in danger? What goods does he have to deliver? People are waiting for it, why isn't he listening?" he didn't understand.
"People usually don't listen, we can't make them...when something happens, I will just call on him. Let him take us as far as possible," he said.
"Ylre," Rue said in a deep voice that made Ylre fall silent for a moment, "People in the world need to help each other, not use each other for their own needs and then leave them without help." He said.
Ylre hesitated for a moment before asking, "When he's not listening?"
"Not everyone sees the right path, so when you're lucky enough to see it, don't resent those who don't," he said.
Ylre nodded softly as a strange feeling filled him and he slowly lay down on the soft bag with something comfortable, "I'll try" he added.
At his rather kind words, Rue responded with a soft smile, not realizing that the whole conversation with Ylre was unrealistically positive. Not only did he not realize that his own words about the world and his thinking about the past made it suspicious that he lived longer than he looked, but he also didn't realize that Ylre knew too much for his physical age.
He didn't realize that in the new era, everyone would laugh if he gave them similar educational advice, he didn't realize that they behaved too intimately for the fact that they just met. And although such things were normal for Rue, although he felt as if he was close with every living creature, he didn't know that others didn't feel the same way. And so he saw nothing unusual in Ylre's behavior.
That's why he just sat contentedly and watched the landscape, which although still looked the same as an hour ago, he still enjoyed it. And he knew he would even more. Because exactly this was what he had been missing all along for a very long time.