The den of Kurkhaza was located towards the east of the village. The gate was located in the western side of the village. This meant that we would have to first encircle the village and only after reaching the opposite end could we move straight.
The village was enclosed in a wooden boundary. The walls of the boundary were made up of tall tree trunks. These tree trunks were thick and strong. The top part was cut into a conical shape just to remove the crown of the tree. It was obvious from the height of the trees that nobody could reach the top.
'I wonder how they even made this structure without any machines! All of the slaves must have worked together for this, or atleast were forced to work.'
I was amazed by the structure of the boundary of the village. I had seen and even crossed it before when I went to get the seeds of the yellow starlight fruit. Yet, it still was as mesmerizing as ever.
Rattle! Rattle! Rattle!
As the cart moved forward, I turned to my head backwards and saw the vast forest. The forest was at a considerable distance from the village. In between the forest and the village there were only grasslands. They were huge in size just like how I had to run through an empty land the size of a soccer field to get to the tree.
I then looked upwards and noticed the dark sky, the sky that looked like a painting. These colorful glowing stars were enthralling to look at. It made you want to keep staring at it without stopping.
'I don't know why, but the stars never move in this world. On Earth, the position of the stars would constantly change as the planet rotated and revolved around the Sun. It was as if this planet never moved. It just stayed still in the space.'
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
As the six legs of each Lakéqus stomped through the grass, we crossed the village and reached the river. The river was flowing in the opposite direction to ours. Its clean dark water was shining and reflecting the colorful starlight.
The water was entering inside the village through a grilled channel. The wooden wall still covered the water and enclosed the village. The lowermost side of the wall which was in contact with the flowing water was not made of wood but instead the metal grill was attached to it.
The cart continued moving west, opposite the river. The cool breeze was hitting us. If not for the trip being a deathly punishment, I would have thoroughly enjoyed this trip. Even the guards were silent for the past hour as they seemed to dive into the scenery.
Eventhough the outside scenery was amazing; I couldn't say the same for my mental state. Honestly, my mind was a mess.
Constant thoughts and worries were running inside of my head. Thoughts about when should I even initiate my plan. How should I escape in such a way that the Princess was not blamed? What would I do if my plans were to go south? What would I do after I successfully managed to escape? On the exterior I seemed sad and also amazed by the beauty of the world whereas on the inside, my mind was in overdrive.
Pulling me back from my thoughts Ares said to Nasir, "The outside world is really beautiful but only when you are observing it. It's like a dancing flame, it looks beautiful but just as you touch it you get burned."
Nasir then replied making fun of him, "How many times do I have to tell you Ares? Your philosophical side does not suit your muscular build! You should have been a bard!"
"Let the old man be, Nasir." Carlo said as he was handling the Lakéquses. "We all know that he is going to die soon from the lack of stamina, ha-ha!" He gave out a huge laughter, startling me.
"Keep talking like that and someday you will be found dead in a gutter!" Ares said to Carlo in a pretty calm tone. "By the way, how much longer till we reach the den?"
Carlo answered, "According to the information that the Elders gave us, we should be there in a few minutes."
As soon as he said that, everything around me became silent. The time to act was now coming closer. My heartbeat started to increase, my guts started to churn. Nervousness now hit me like never before.
I looked around me. The guards had a casual expression on their face while they were lightly chatting and enjoying the view. The forest was now getting closer and closer. The village was no more in sight.
I looked to my right and noticed the rope which tied the Lakéquses. Gradually, the river started to meander away and a big cave came into sight. The forest already came so close that we were now inside of it.
'Here goes nothing!'
Phew!
I blew lightly from my mouth as I noticed none of the knight's attention was towards me. I then looked down at my hands and lip-synced, "Space one, slot three, store!" As soon as the rope tying my hands disappeared into my inventory, I covered my hands with my shirt. The brown vortex was still there as I didn't yet make it disappear.
Without noticing anything, Carlos stopped the cart right infront of the cave. He then got off the driver's seat and started to look for a place to tie the Lakéquses. Meanwhile, the swordsmen also jumped off the cart and started to unload the 'goods'. They also had to make sure that the 'goods' weren't damaged.
After noticing that none of the knight's focus was on me, I brought my hands out of my shirt. Moving the vortex over my hands I commanded it to place an item in my hands. It was a brown gooey substance and it was still warm.
***
A young boy could be seen in a stable petting some horse like creatures with six legs and three horns. There were many dirty clothed slaves sleeping in the stable.
The boy had slightly curly, deep black hairs which were slightly covering his forehead. He had dark brown eyes which had no luster in them. The eyes were so brown that they looked black unless looked closely.
The boy's skin was pale white like the many others in this village. His face had no fat and looked very skinny; it was as if a skeleton's face was covered with a thick white skin. Despite that, his face still had a slight blush of pink on it.
As the boy was petting and getting familiar with the beast, one by one the slaves would wake up and leave without minding the boy. After a few minutes, Alex too would leave as he had a mine to mine.
After finishing his work in the evening, when he would come and notice that the slaves have not returned, he would use that opportunity to understand and bond with the beasts. Once he even collected some of the fresh dung from of the beasts in the third slot of space 1 of his inventory!
Everyday he would finish his quota early and harvest his fruits. After he was done with it, which only took him around 5 minutes, he would come down into the stable. Alex would then directly sleep if someone was in the stable. If there was no one, he would spend some time with the Lakéquses.
After spending some days like that, Alex found out that these beasts were very docile and very useful. They only needed a very short amount of sleep to replenish their stamina. They would eat any type of grass and leaf without any complains. They wouldn't even act up when you extract their milk!
Alex once tried to extract some milk out of them but he couldn't do it. No matter what he did, the milk never came out. Although they were able to give milk, Alex noticed that the amount was way less than what a cow would give back on Earth.
Despite the beasts being very docile, they would still act up when they were either hungry or were in pain. It was also one of their habits to stomp their feet whenever they sensed danger around them.
As the day for Alex's punishment got closer, he even started to learn how to ride the Lakéquses! It was a very strange experience as he had never rode a horse in his last planet.
He noticed that there was no response from the beasts when he climbed and sat on them. He then started to practice to ride the beasts. First he had to correct his posture. He had to sit straight and balance himself, like how one does on a bike but it was a lot more difficult.
Next he learned how and where to position his legs and arms. He didn't have a leash or a saddle but he could guess how to control the leash as he had once watched a video on that in his previous world. Also, the beast's back was quite comfortable so a saddle was not actually needed.
A couple of days before his dispatch, he managed to properly balance himself and also learned some tricks. Although he didn't get a skill for it, he thought that it was because he hadn't actually properly learned it. Nevertheless, he was now confident that atleast he now had one more card up his sleeves.
***
After I placed the warm Lakéqus dung in my hands, I looked at Nasir's face and said, "Eat shit!"