Ashen Metalworks
“Do you hear that? Sounds like some sort of large fight broke out….” I mumbled, half asleep.
A large fight broke out…. What?!
“Shit!” I yelled as my fuzzy mind started clearing. How long have I been asleep? I still felt a little groggy, so maybe a few hours had passed, but the sounds I heard were unmistakable.
I hurriedly got up, wore my clothes, and picked the basket up. Thankfully, the child was still asleep so he made no noises at all. I quickly stashed the milk I prepared for him in his basket, and picked up my bag, then I opened the window and silently jumped onto the closest roof.
It was still dark outside, yet the entire kingdom was alive with color.
I could hear screams and shouts coming from all directions, but I blocked them out as I quickly scaled the walls of the Adventurers Guild. Once I had reached the top, everything became clear.
A war was happening here. Not between rival kingdoms, but between the Adventurers Guild and this kingdom…
Is that why that girl asked me to stick around? What’s really going on here?
I looked over the entire kingdom once more and came to a conclusion.
I don’t know and I don’t care enough to want to know. I circulated mana through my legs once more and quickly moved above the buildings until I reached the unoccupied city gates.
They were tightly locked, but no one was there to guard them. Maybe this battle was planned by the kingdom?
No, I doubt it and I don’t have time to think about it. I ignored the screams of pain, cries of help, and shouts of anger as I quickly unlocked the guards’ door and stole one of the carriages they had stowed inside.
Thankfully, the horses were trained, so I locked the door behind me and left. This was not my kingdom, so this was none of my concern.
It was still dark outside because it was quite possibly an hour or so past midnight, but I had managed to light the way with fire magic as we moved. After about an hour or so, we had finally gotten out of that accursed kingdom’s borders.
“Well, we achieved our goal I guess. We got our ride, and at no price to boot.” I said, conversationally. The boy was still asleep, but I could picture him frowning at me, and then insulting me for leaving them. However, I didn’t care right now.
Not our business in the first place, so there is no point to involve ourselves, and my experience has taught me that the less we know, the better in these situations.
We covered good ground, passing through the borders of nearly 2 kingdoms, saving ourselves about a few days of walking, and then the child finally woke up a little past noon.
He didn’t cry, he just looked around first until he spotted me and then he started giggling.
“Don’t you have better things to do than laugh all the time?” I said. He laughed again as if to spite me.
I was focused on him and forgot to look ahead. The carriage hit a rock and we nearly flew for a second there. His basket rocked slightly and he started crying! The sounds were reverberating through the entire forest! It felt like everyone could hear us now!
“If you don’t stop crying, god help me, I will turn this carriage around! Listen to me, and stop!” I nearly shouted. He cried even louder.
“Stop, boy!” I yelled once again, but much louder this time, and he kept crying.
“Stop!..... please?!” I said and he kept crying. I slowed down and moved the carriage to the side.
I picked him and his milk up, and I held him in my hands. I started feeding him slowly, and he eventually calmed down. Soon, he finished his milk, and we just sat there, staring at each other.
I don’t know how much time passed, but what awoke me from this weird….daze, were his little laughs. I felt a little guilty about my shouting now.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to shout at you. It’s just that I hit a snag in the road and you started crying and everything became weird for a minute there…” I fumbled around my apology, and then I looked at him. He started giggling again, so he probably accepted it, I guess.
I sighed and placed him back in his basket.
“Come out before I kill the lot of you,” I said. I could sense a small group watching us from the moment I stopped the carriage, but they didn’t seem hostile. I initially decided to ignore them, but I would rather not get careless right now.
I got up and brandished my sword in the evening light.
“Please don’t hurt us! We mean you no harm!” Said a fairly young, ragged, and muscular man, as he ran out of the woods to the left of the carriage. He didn’t look rich, given the state of his clothing, but he also didn’t look poor.
“Who are you?”
“No one evil, I promise! I’m here with my family!” He said, and four figures came out of the woods. A young woman carrying a baby, a young boy who resembled the man speaking, and a young girl who resembled the woman carrying the child.
“A family? Really? In the middle of nowhere?”
“I promise you, we truly mean you no harm! Our entire caravan was attacked and slaughtered, but we managed to escape! We were on our way to Dains before escaping from the battle. We promise that we mean you no harm!” He said as he got on his knees, the other four followed.
His story could explain their current state of clothing, however, one thing lingered in my mind.
“Dains? Why there?”
“We have family there. Two parents, but we are adopted really.” Said the woman, accidentally fumbling about under my gaze. I realized that the children looked terrified as well, so I cooled down a bit and sheathed my sword. I could unsheath it in a heartbeat if the situation calls for it.
“What do you want?”
“I would like to be allowed to join you on your journey! Please, just get us to the closest peaceful kingdom and we will be out of your hair! We won’t cause you any trouble at all! We promise!” Said the man, and the rest nodded as they bowed down further.
I looked at the child with me and sighed once.
“Empty your pockets.”
“What?” They replied in near unison.
“You heard me. I want nothing dangerous to get onboard my carriage. Now, prove to me that you are not dangerous.” I said, and they quickly followed. They were clean.
“Do you not have any belongings?”
“We did, but not anymore.” Said the little kids and I nodded.
“Get on, but remember that I will be watching your every move. A single transgression is all it will take for me to cut you down.” I said as I pointed at the carriage.
They quickly got up and bowed once before getting on the carriage. I grabbed the child’s basket and placed it next to me as we started moving once again.
It didn’t even take them ten minutes to fall asleep, well, all of them except for the man. We sat there in silence as I guided us to the next kingdom, approximately half a day away, at the earliest, by horse, and most likely 10 days by foot.
“So, what happened with your caravan?” I asked, mostly out of curiosity.
“They were not my caravan, rather, they were a caravan that had promised to take us to Dains on their way, for quite the price too. We agreed since our usual method was temporarily unavailable.” He said and I nodded.
“However, we got unlucky and we were ambushed by Snakes.” He added.
“No way! Snakes?! Are we talking about the same guys?” I asked, flustered, and he nodded.
“One of them hitched a ride onto our caravan. I warned the master of the group that even a single one was bad news, but he ignored me since the man paid quite a lot. That dirtbag clearly knew he was going to get everything he paid back. No wonder he spent so much for such a lousy method of transportation!” Said the brown-haired man, looking angry.
“I guess you could see it that way. Maybe it was just a planned ambush.”
“You think so? I’ve never been much of a fighter. I can barely wield a sword. My son, however, is a natural talent! The best I’ve ever seen, really. I want to use my skills as a renowned merchant and auctioneer to help him thrive, and thankfully, with each step I take forward, he gets to take ten.” He said, sounding proud as he moved his hand through his son's hair.
“This may just be a coincidence, but I’m on my way to Dains as well,” I said, and he looked surprised for a moment, before looking at me like I was lying.
“I’ve never seen you there before.” He said, almost questioningly.
“A friend recommended the place to me,” I said, and he seemed to accept the answer.
“I see. Well, you must allow me to treat you in exchange for this show of generosity!” He said, and I shrugged it off.
“It will be a miracle if we make it to Dains in one piece since we are a small group. It would be much better if we had a few knights with us, or maybe just a larger group in general. It’s easier for small groups to get picked off on these roads, and you know what kingdoms at war are like. They have no sense of morality, and as a result, they care very little about the effects of their actions.” I said, and he nodded.
“Aye, given the state of everything, it’s a miracle the world still exists.” He said, and I just nodded. Then he looked like he just remembered something random out of nowhere.
“I forgot to introduce myself completely! Please excuse my bad manners! My name is Aaron Jamison. This is my wife, Claire Jamison, my eldest son, Justac Jamison, my oldest daughter, Lillia Jamison, and my youngest daughter, Cecil Jamison.” He said, pointing at each of them.
“Don’t worry about it. I forgot as well. My name is Ashen Metalworks, and this child here is Tristan…Metalworks.” I said, looking at the child. He wouldn’t make any noises or take his eyes off me.
“I see! Well, it’s nice to formally meet you two! Like I said earlier, I’m a merchant and auctioneer. My wife is the same, but she mostly handles the social aspect of our job. What do you do?”
“Oh, nothing much. I used to work in the army and as a part-time adventurer. Now, I’m just a grandfather looking for a safe place to raise his only…grandson.” I said, looking at the child once again. His eyes remained fixed on me. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, assuming he could even think at all.
“That sounds rough. I’m glad you get a happy ending at least. My adoptive parents are the same. Both of them are retired officers from Dains’ army. My real parents perished before I could remember, and those two raised me.” He said, smiling.
“How kind of them,” I said, but if it were me, I would have simply handed him over to the adventurers guild. They always enjoy helping war orphans and the like.
“Indeed, they are truly the kindest people I have ever met. I even named my children after them!” He said, getting a little embarrassed.
“I see. Anyhow, where were you coming from, and how long were you all in that pitiful state?” I said, and his face froze for a minute as his eyes hardened.
“I work in one of the Domains. My auction house and trading headquarters are both located there. Not in the inner city, at least, but in one of the best neighborhoods there. I also have a little branch in Dains as well. Anyhow, we left for there nearly a year ago to run the business, and thankfully it is thriving now. New beasts, weapons, cores, and goods had come to us via some of our sponsors and business allies. We couldn’t wait to get there and apprise them, and thankfully, everything was genuine as could be! Once we had finished, we decided to get back to Dains for a year or so, work on our business there and keep my parents occupied, you know. They love good stories, and we even had a few items ready especially for them! Thankfully, my wife suggested we ship them, and we did. Thankfully, the only items we lost on our trip were clothes and a few coins.” He said, before looking around for something. I threw him my water skin and he gladly took it, bowing quickly in appreciation before taking brief sips.
“Thank you. Now, our trip started nearly 2 months ago, and we were attacked only about two weeks ago. It happened in the middle of the night when my son had woken up to go pee. He caught sight of strangers rushing towards the camp, so he immediately ran back to us. We informed the master, but it was too late. We managed to escape without any injuries, but just barely. We ran, and ran, and ran until my family could not run any longer, so I carried them. I don’t know how long I kept at it, but I didn’t feel tired at all. I was terrified, not for myself, but for my family, and that kept me going. By the time I stopped running, it was morning already and we were lost. We managed to survive on nothing but berries, nuts, seeds, and rainwater during the past two weeks. It was enough, but just barely. We got lucky every now and then as we saw quite a few travelers pass by, but none of them of looked safe to join, until we heard a child crying. We rushed over and caught sight of you and him alone. We wanted to approach you, but your weapon was a little daunting, to say the least, and then you called us out and I got terrified, and well, you already know the rest from there….” He said, cutting off awkwardly as he realized he had started rambling.
Everything he said made sense. Snakes are known to loathe the domains, so it is no wonder that they attacked a caravan coming out of one. I wouldn’t put it past them to even make an example out of their victims, so these five were quite fortunate to have been able to escape.
“Well, it is no wonder that you made it out and then survived. My father always used to say that nothing is ever done without reason and that the kindest and strongest are always those who suffer at the hands of reason. Since you are here, and we are going to the same kingdom, you might as well stick with me to the end.” I said.
He looked at me, and then he sat there in silence for a minute before breaking out into silent sobs.
I looked at the child next to me, and though it might just be my imagination, he seemed to be smiling a little.
I turned away and focused on the road ahead. I had a feeling it would be a long, shitty one for me.
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