24 - ORSEYA TOWN

Some days later.

In the western border of Orseya Town, two guards were resting on their rock benches, guarding the entrance leading into the town. A man was coming from the woods, having killed a deer with a longbow, and the guards took the antlers before letting him pass.

On either side of the entrance, a good ten meters away from them, there were dozens of metallic boxes placed in a row. There were grains in those boxes with open doors. And there was water placed in a wide saucer next to the box. Birds came alone or in groups, drank water and then stepped into the boxes for the grains. The doors of the boxes then suddenly shut, trapping the birds inside.

“There aren’t many birds visiting this year, other than crows and pigeons,” one of the guards said. “I wonder what’s the reason.”

“Yeah,” the other guard nodded. “I wish there were more sparrows. Not only do they taste good, they fetch us some good coins.” 

“Indeed. Do you think any good beasts will show up this year, at the end of the season?”

“A four-earred rabbit came last summer, and I made a good amount of money, thanks to it. I hope a six-earred rabbit comes this year.”

“Why six? Hope for eight or ten ears, you selfish bastard.”

“Haha, don’t get jealous now.”

As they were casually chatting and randomly cracking jokes to kill their boredom, they saw two strangers coming out of the forest in the West and got alerted. There was no town in the Tempting Woods, so the guards couldn’t guess where those two were coming from, so they immediately stood and grabbed their spears tightly.

The two people were none other than Edgar and Fabby. Edgar was in the front, dragging a tiger’s corpse by a rope. Fabby was looking a bit tense in the back. Six monkeys were giving the human master-companions a send off in the background, while hiding themselves in trees, so the guards wouldn’t notice them. There were only six and not seven, because one of them had died, not to some unknown beast but to the leader when its position was challenged. And the remaining six also looked bruised and cut at many spots from having regularly fought each other in recent times.

Edgar and Fabby turned around and waved goodbyes to the apes, especially Lice, with whom they shared a bit of a special bond, but the guards were puzzled and wondered why they were waving at the woods.

Though Edgar didn’t look emotional, Fabby’s eyes got teary because the monkeys had become somewhat of friends. Having fought them so many times, and having eaten the same meal with them for many days, she found it a bit hard to part with them. Still, she gotta do what she gotta do.

As the two of them got closer, one of the guards barked, pointing the spear at them, “We’ve never seen you guys before. Identify yourself!”

“We are natives of the Vedi Kingdom, a friendly nation to your Fira Empire,” Edgar said with a tired voice. “We were on a journey to strengthen ourselves, sirs, but we got lost and...” He politely bowed his head to both the guards a little.

Seeing how he bowed, the guards loosened their bodies. “Since when Vedi was a friendly nation to our great empire, huh? It’s not even worthy to be considered our friend.”

Neither Edgar nor Fabby spoke anything.

“Hmph. Two silver per head. Pay, and you can enter.”

“Sorry, sirs, but we are spent,” said Edgar, still bowing.

The guards’ eyes fell on the tiger. It wasn’t a fully grown one, but it was still a tiger, nonetheless. They exchanged quick glances before speaking, “Did you kill that?”

“Of course, not,” said Edgar, his head still bowed. “It was already half dead when we stumbled upon it.”

“Quite lucky, aren’t ya? Okay, leave it here then,” they said. “That should cover the entrance fee.”

A tiger’s body would cost much more, but Edgar said nothing and handed over the rope. Soon, both the siblings walked through the gate and entered the town.

One of the guards looked back at them and wondered, “Hey, did you check their ankles?”

“C’mon, not everyone in tattered clothes are slaves,” the other guard swatted the air. “Even if they are slaves, they are going to be caught sooner or later, and our town will have two more dogs working for us.”

“Haha, you’re not wrong.”

Meanwhile, Fabby still looked tense. She closed the distance to Edgar and walked next to him.

“Eddie, I still think this isn’t a good idea,” she said in a low voice. “What if we get found out?”

“But there’s no other way, sister. We can’t find someone who can remove this slave seal in the forest.”

“I get you, but this is too risky.”

“If it gets that risky, then don’t worry, we will leave this place. For now, let’s buy some good clothes and act like ourselves.” He took out a small sack of bronze and silver coins he got from guarding a wealthy man in the woods for one week. “Four silver and hundred-and-fifty bronze coins in just one week.” He still couldn’t believe he earned that much.

If he remembered it right, an average man earned a couple of silver per month in his home kingdom some years ago. In this Fari empire, it might be a bit less or more.

“This should be enough for a decent start to a new life.”

At this moment, even though Edgar was acting calm, deep down he, too, was tense. Sensing that, Fabby grabbed his hand and forced out a smile. He smiled back.

The entire Shshui mountains and Tempting Woods was but a tiny part of the border between the Vedi Kingdom and the Fari Empire. Now that they’ve left the kingdom they were born in, they felt like it was time to put everything in the past aside for good and look for a new and beautiful future, starting with the town they’ve entered.