Makiya

17. The Gold Cart

The man standing in front of the shrine was really old. He wasn’t expensively dressed as Andrey expected. His face was covered in wrinkles. He was about a meter and sixty in height and a-top-of-that he was hunched over, making him look even shorter. The giant mole on his forehead made it hard to keep eye contact. 

He deeply reminded Andrey of the monks on Earth. Orange kimono and orange sandals. He had only one accessory and it was some small wooden form tied to a simple rope on his neck.

“I am really sorry for being late!” Andrey quickly apologized in a rush. 

“It’s okay, young one.” the merchant replied with a high pitched voice. Andrey felt some familiar tone to his voice. It genuinely reminded him of the Father at the church he grew. Of course, they looked nothing alike, but this old dried out from talking voice was truly something you remember easily. 

“Polkas Reven, right?” Andrey asked just to confirm. He was certain that this was the person, but still, he was known to trade with extremely expensive goods and that he will be carrying all that money… but this man didn’t seem like he had any money on him. 

“In the flesh and bone.” the geezer replied and a few seconds later added “well, mostly bone, to be honest.” followed by a small, but very cheerful laugh.

Andrey joined in on the laugh as he really loved darker humor and would essentially laugh at mostly everything if he was in the right mood.

“Goodlie told me that you would be having a lot of… expensive things on you. I don’t see you wearing any of that?” 

“Don’t worry about that. There’s a cart waiting for us at a secret place.”

“Oh, that explains everything!” 

They both started walking into some small streets without many people around. “Should have figured as much...” Andrey mumbled silently. He thought that no matter the people these kinds of deals and events would certainly happen in a non-crowded, small, dark lit, place without anyone around.

Polkas appeared old and really weak, but his body seemed to be in condition to do fast walking. If Andrey hadn’t been through all this training and the mana buff he had, he probably would be panting now.

While walking those smaller streets Andrey took the chance to look at the architecture of the city. He genuinely enjoyed it as it looked very futuristic, yet medieval. It had the gothic style on it, but it was candidly well managed in terms of space. The buildings had interesting curves and unusual windows, which was indeed rare to see. 

Those big houses with lots of windows probably belonged to rich people like that guy Andrey just beat up a few minutes ago. Though he thought as much, he did spend a moment to think about what he had learned about magic and how you can manipulate the world with it. 

“Polkas, are you familiar with the magic in this world?” Andrey asked, not realizing that he’s the only one who isn’t from this world.

“This world? What, you come from somewhere else?” the man laughed.

“Well…” Andrey took a moment to reply but decided to just listen.

“I’m not a mage myself, but I have hired mages before and I have been in contact with many before. In fact, most of us have been, we just don’t know it.” the old man spoke with a voice as if it were a storyteller’s.

“Do you know if any mages live in here? In Princepsius?” Andrey asked as he looked at the beautiful house they were passing by.

“You really fell from the sky, didn’t you?” the old man asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, let’s just say that I didn’t go out much.” the boy replied hesitantly.

“Some mages live in isolation striving for control and improving their powers and condition. Others are integrated with society. The answer is, yes. What is common is that mages would buy special materials from other cities and villages and build their houses with that.”

“So they build their houses on their own by manipulating the materials?” Andrey asked further exploring the possibilities he had.

“Indeed. Not many of them are skilled enough for this, but I have seen a mage build a house in mere hours. Well, it wasn’t really all that complicated of a h-” as the man spoke he suddenly started to cough.

“Are you okay!?” Andrey panicked as he suddenly started slapping the man’s back, thinking he choked.

After a few coughs, the man replied “Don’t worry, boy. I’ll live to see another day.” and he smiled.

“Are you possibly ill?” Andrey asked as this would require additional attention and care for the man. I should have known there would be more to this mission than just escort. Goodlie probably forgot to tell me or purposely didn’t mention his condition.

“Ahh… a man’s age and mistakes of the past would haunt him even after his final sunset.” the old man continued walking in his fastened pace and continued “Don’t worry. I just ate something rather dry earlier and it got in my throat. I’m in perfect condition!” and he laughed.

“Are you kidding me? I am supposed to take care of you, but if I don’t really know the truth I won’t know how to act!” Andrey tried to explain.

“I hardly need any taking care of, boy.” Polkas said as he pointed the cart in front.

“We have arrived, young one.” the old man said with a dose of pride, expecting the young man’s reaction to the cart full of gold.

Andrey stared at it in amaze. He didn’t expect that the money would be pure gold and it would be so easily visible. 

As they got closer the boy noticed that four shady figures were covering the gold with carpets. 

“These are my bodyguards, young one. Did you possibly think that it’ll be just the two of us?” the old man laughed at Andrey’s shocked face.

He was more shocked by the fact that all this gold wasn’t hidden, covered, or anything of the sort. It was just too visible and obvious! 

“How is this even allowed?!” Andrey asked in shock.

“It’s not too scary. Our kingdom is safer than it might appear.” the geezer said as he patted Andrey on his back.

“Yeah, right.” the boy replied as the whole cinematic of his fight from earlier ran through his mind. 

The shady figures didn’t introduce themselves nor did they speak to Andrey. They appeared to be too proud to talk to a young boy who didn’t even have any real armor on him.

Andrey tried to look at them and see more underneath their cloaks. He could notice that they had heavy armor and the big swords resting on the cart only pointed that they were warriors of Nyadzel’s caliber. Maybe they would join me in the search for Nyadzel after we finish the escort? The boy thought.

“Reven, man, what’s with this good for nothing fancy-looking young inexperienced piece of black-hero garbage?” one of the cloaked figures asked with a deep manly voice. 

“Now, now, behave. He’s sent by the king. No need to show disrespect.”  Polkas explained, but to deaf ears.

“How about you show your face and act like a normal man?” Andrey mumbled under his nose, but nobody really noticed. He didn’t expect much different behavior, but he was hoping they would be the quiet type and he would be able to just read one of the books he had in his bag.

“Duuudeee, come on if you are going to watch my back you’d at least better show you are capable of watching your own back!” the man came closer and lowered his head to match Andrey’s height and look him in the eyes.

Lowering his head his hoodie fell back, revealing his scarred eyebrow and blond hair. He was shaved from the sides. He had some beard on his chin. His wide jaw and deep voice, along with his bright blue eyes made him look like a real fearsome slayer. 

“I was just about to say that when you challenge someone you should at least reveal your face” Andrey replied in a low voice.

“Oh boy, here we go.” a disappointed voice was heard from the other three men.

“Oh, pardon me, sir, of course, I must introduce myself first, how rude of me, oh yes, indeed, yeah, you’re right, uhum.” the man stepped back and put a hand on his face to hide his pretended shame, then continued “I am Galera Rose. I come from the cold depths of the savage mountains, which is Frosthosis village.”