While I was fretting on about magic the past few days, that doesn't mean my life reached a standstill. Sometime ago, I was approached by Cliff on a specific matter.
Cliff's...'job' as a blacksmith led him to procure all kinds of metals and materials, which directly meant there were times his profession could lead him running errands right outside of the village. And this time around, he thought he'd bring me along.
My eyes lit up as soon as I received his invite, of course I said yes. There was no way I would pass up an actual chance to visit the world beyond the confines of the village!
My days recently had been mostly occupied with thoughts of magic, I had almost already forgotten the event significant much to me.
According to Cliff, it wasn't an errand that would drag on for weeks and would merely conclude in only a few days. The destination this time around was a small established town, neighboring the mountain ranges, even. Basically, it was a direct neighbor to the village, only a day's travel, even by foot.
So in theory, I wouldn't exactly be leaving the mountain regions surrounding the village, but I wasn't left disappointed, that would be the first ever civilization outside the village I would experience of this world, still.
I was convinced there were many possibilities, depending on how I looked at it.
The day of departure finally arrived. I got up extra early that morning, ploughing through my usual routine with renewed and exaggerated vigour! I felt like a little kid jittery from excitement over a school excursion trip coming the following day, I couldn't even get a wink of sleep last night!
I swung my practice sword as an outlet for all of my rising excitement, with certain degree of moderation this time around. I wouldn't want to burn myself out even before the sun graced the skies.
In just a few hours, dawn arose, and using a part of the morning, I rounded up a few loose ends like saying my goodbyes to Don and the others, along with Mr. Ridge.
And by the time I was through with all the formalities, I returned back home to meet up with Cliff, already all prepped up for the little trip.
And then there was a donkey.
"Oh hey, Reo. Have you met Buttercup?" Clif said, gesturing at the...donkey?...tied and connected to the front of a small open carriage.
"Huh?" I gaped bluntly, dumbstruck at the bizzare sight of the beast with droopy eyes and massive antlers the size of pack leading reindeers.
'It's a donkey...'
This was a donkey, right?
'A donkey with antlers...!'
'A Reindonkey?'
And it's name was Buttercup. I shook my head at the surrealism of it all and turned to Cliff, unable to hide my incredulous expression.
"Where did you get this? It's a donkey, right? Right? Tell me it's a donkey. It's a donkey, isn't it?"
Cliff merely laughed dismissively and walked forward to make sure the reins on Buttercup were fixed in tightly.
"Well since you were coming with me I went out to rent a small carriage," he paused, spared a glance at the creature," and Buttercup."
"What happened to a horse?" I asked, glancing wistfully at Buttercup.
Cliff shrugged dismissively and passively moved on from the subject.
"So, you ready, son? Border Town might be only a day away, but I'd like to get there with a few hours to spare before sunset."
I forcefully pried my eyes off the droopy eyed donkey... reindeer... Buttercup and nodded at Cliff's words.
"I'll just kiss Mother goodbye and we can set off."
.
.
.
.
The feeling that accompanied the moment, I rode the small carriage passed the borders of the village was simply undescribable. I felt bigger than life and it all, I felt exposed, excitement, anxiousness...fear.
Mostly excitement.
The first few short hours of the trip involved going through the vast forest of greenery and trees on a small paved road specifically made for such travels through the woods.
Buttercup led the carriage passively through the path, matching forward unhindered and at a suitable pace. There was no rush, and according to Cliff even, we were a little ahead of schedule. Any bit even slower than our pace, we'd still arrive at the town situated at the mountain ranges foot in a day.
Within that time, I could only pass by the hours and suppress my excitement through a lasting meditation session and sit quietly in the back cart. In my head, I simulated all of the, skills, and basic techniques of my training I'd learnt the past months.
It felt strange and weird sitting so still and idly. My body itched to swing my wooden sword, which — matter of factly — i had brought along with me on this trip.
Some moments later, I broke my meditation state with a small sigh. I raised my gaze and spread my awareness to realize our path had finally cut across the forest and led onto a straight road with clear sky's undistrupted by the canopies of forest trees.
It was mid afternoon by this time.
Our travel so far peaceful and quiet with the welcomed chirping of beds and rustling of trees in the mid-day air.
I pulled out a short bladed weapon from a small scabbard hanging behind my waist. The pristine blade of the dagger shown with my quiet reflection on its surface. I received the dagger only a day before this trip from Mr. Ridge. In fact, we all did; Leon, Don, Kyle and I.
It was apparently one of the next branch of our training. At the beginning of it all, Mr. Ridge had a few rules to take to mind he made clear to us. One of such rule was, for a warrior, or swordsman, to always have an extra blade or weapon, be it a spare sword, or an extra dagger. And this thought process, I welcomed a lot.
In short, dagger training was going to be among our many list of techniques and arts to learn.
I proceeded to study carefully the silver blade of the dagger under clear blue sky. The blade that formed a vast majority of the dagger was, quite honestly, too long to be actually considered a dagger, and too short to be looked at as a short-sword.
'Peculiar.' I thought with amusement, but what ever did I know about bladed weapons?
In the following hours, we arrived at the town at the base of the mountains.