Just like that, I was riding on Reverence through the jungle with the forest girl jumping on trees, taking me to her tribe.
"Hey!" I call her but she doesn’t reply back. I know she is listening so I just ask, "How far is it?"
An inaudible mumble got out of her and she lowly said, "15 minutes."
We were going at a soft but not slow speed so 15 minutes wasn’t a lot. Though it also meant that there would have to be a lot of ground to cover to find the place by myself.
"How about sitting back here?" I pat Reverence’s back, "There is a lot of empty space here."
"Hnngh?" That wasn’t her but Reverence. The guy twisted his head at me with a questionable look like ’You’re already heavy and you’re bringing more?’.
But I ignore him and turn to forest girl who also ignored me.
"Hey, are you listening... helloooo.... Damn, she might be deaf, which is why she’s able to ignore my awesome voice?" I say jokingly as I knew she was listening very clearly, "But, she did listen to me back then."
"Was it a ruse? A false thought or was I just being too thoughtful?"
"And if it wasn’t a ruse and she actually talked to me then why isn’t she talking to me now? Is my voice going through some problems?"
"Is she ignoring me?" I said and waited a bit as I saw the girl’s body relax a bit in relief and smile, "Nah, that can’t be. I’m too awesome, even the bandits running away as I kill them don’t ignore me, how could she?"
"Perhaps she’s shy. That’s the only reason I can think viable." I nod slowly, "I’m a handsome guy and she’s a young girl who’s susceptible to love so it’s no wonder she would try to avoi-"
"Can you shut up for a second." Came her groaning and pleading voice.
"Only if you reply to my words."
An audible sigh of acceptance went out.
"So, wanna sit here and ride horsy with me?"
"Not even if the gods tell me to!"
"See! Was that so hard?" I say as I feel her hate filled eyes stab into me.
"Alright, alright, I’ll start the conversation with something basic, what’s your name?"
"Why would I tell you my name?"
"Because you didn’t say it when I asked you the last time. I traded my name, you can at least do the same for court-"
"It can go take a shit!"
I smile, "Ahh, a woman after my own heart with such vulgar words. You sure you’re not trying to seduce me?"
The look she gave... WHA, you could just feel her inner animosity waiting to gush out and drown me.
"So no name?" I ask while sliding past a tall tree.
"No name." She said while jumping to another branch.
"I can’t keep calling you, hey, you, woman now can I."
"You can, I actually insist that you do."
Hearing her I smile, "SO you can Insist huh."
Letting go of the jokes, I ask a genuine question, "How many people are you guys?"
"Hm? You really think I would tell you that?" She thought cautiously, which was understandable.
"Hey, I’m not trying to hurt you guys here. We have an understanding and I’m here to prolong it, I just want to know how big your tribe is. Like 200 or thousand or more you know, just a general number."
The Wodonic girl was silent for a while before murmuring, "A few thousand."
"Do you guys use sigmat crystals?" Just as I suspect, her shoulder tensed for a second, "Like the rings we use?" Then it relaxed.
I knew why she tensed, which is why I asked it like that.
"No, we don’t and if your trying to learn my tribe’s secret methods, don’t bother."
"Okay, I understand the secrecy." I say as a careless curiosity came to my eyes, "But why aren’t you willing to sit behind me?"
"I mean, you sat before, why not now?" I say.
"Back then, I wanted to safely guide you through traps so that’s why."
"Oh? So there aren’t any here then."
"There are... I’m just hoping you would land on one of them." Came her undisturbed voice.
"Only one? You must really start to like me then." She groaned again.
She wasn’t lying about the traps. There were traps here but not like the previous time.
Back then, she guided me closely because of the multiple traps laid around. This time, she took me through the route with zero traps but if I moved left or right, Reverence would quickly get caught by a bear trap or two.
"Hey, do you know someone called Illythia?"
The Wodonic girls body tensed further than it should, "Why do you ask?"
I try not to say anything too much and speak casually, "Well, I heard that she is a very strong warrior and brave in many ways."
"Yes, I heard that she is the strongest fighter in the tribe." Her smile lifted, "Well, the female strongest actually." It went down.
"But even then, her praise has been nothing but big from both sides of the gender."
"So you’ve heard such of her." She said with a hidden smile, "Who did you hear it from?"
"Well, it was from..." I lengthen the time and she focused directly on me, "Why should I tell you?"
"You wouldn’t tell me your name or act nicely so... why should I tell you?" Official source is novel⚑fire.net
"Because... Because... Grrr." She groaned and quickened her speed as she went ahead.
Even though she sounded angry, I could still see a curved up lip at the corner showing that she felt happy... prideful even. Either she’s a fangirl of Illythia or she knows her personally and is on the good spectrum.
Illythia wasn’t just anybody but a heroine if you haven’t noticed already. She is the chief’s daughter and a future bride of Arthur, and I mean future as in, not yet.
Illythia also has a rough character.
"Speed up, if you get lost, I won’t bother finding you."
’She’s definitely close with her.’ I smile and speed up Reverence.
It was in the 15 minute allocated time that we reached the place.
Finding a large wooden door covered by long wooden walls and sharp barricades by the side. What greeted us to the door were 10 guards, presumably waiting for us.
Their eyes went to me and curved down.
"Don’t talk too mu- You know what, don’t talk at all or I can’t guarantee your safety." The Wodonic girl said as she walked up to the lead guard.
"What is this? Why is he here?" The lead guard was a tall guy with slightly dark-brown complexion. He wore the same clothes like her, except his upper half wasn’t covered. His words were the same language the kingdom spoke but there were some slurs and curves that differentiated us a bit, but divided us nonetheless.
"There was a complication. The situation is changed." Her words changed to match his. Before, she was talking perfectly without any slurs just like me, but now she felt more blended with them.
"What complication? Even if its big, you know we can’t let a stranger come in here, know us."
"Of course I know." Her words were getting angrier, "But as I said, it’s complicated."
"Doesn’t matter, he needs to leav-"
"The Chief will decide what must be done to him, not you Calric." A small disagreement but the guy stepped back, somewhat angry.
The girl had grit. She came to me, "Stay here, I will go talk with the Chief first about you."
"And if he doesn’t accept?"
"Naturally... you go back."