Chapter 4: Making Plans
When Luckas arrived at Jothyr house it was almost getting dark, there were three more people at the house, Jothyr was talking to one of them, the man looked old but a little younger than Jonthyr, the other two people were sitting on a couch a little bit away.
As Luckas and Byrth entered the room, the two men stopped talking and looked at Luckas, the strange man eyed Luckas with interest and looked back at Jothyr as if signaling him to introduce him,
-" Ballan this is Luckas, he is the young man who arrived earlier in the village." Jothyr awkwardly introduced Luckas, him and Ballan were friends for ages so he instantly knew what he was up to. " He was part of a merchant group that was attacked in the surroundings by a group of bandits." When he finished the introduction he sighed, Ballam already knew everything about Luckas but to cause a better impression Jothyr decided to act like he didn't share Luckas backstory with him yet.
-" Oh what a tragedy those dammed bandits are truly counting their day, taking advantage of the Marquis and his troop's leave to create trouble in the territory." Ballam tried to gain a few points with Luckas by cursing the culprits of the young man's peril. " We merchants need to be careful those days, working so hard only to be victims of those savages." Ballam approached Luckas and patted him on his shoulder.
When Jothyr told him about Luckas supposed background he almost could smell an opportunity, Ballam had a lot of experience with nobles and merchants, and the instant he got to see Luckas clothes he knew that his clothes aren't clothes from normal nobles or even merchants, even if the clothes were dirty and ragged he knew those clothes were exotics products that only a few could get the hands on.
-" Boy, I'm responsible for the trading of the village goods at the city, and lucky you, we're going to Strafhampton in a few days, it would be better if you accompany us in the journey, as you know those roads arent safe right now, a young man like yourself traveling alone will be too dangerous."
When Ballam ended his speech Byrth, Jothyr and the other two young people in the room sighed at the same time, how could anyone be so shameless? Even Luckas himself was a bit baffled the man in front of him was too friendly in contrast with the rest of the village.
Even so, Luckas was a bit happy, he knew his journey to the next city would be dangerous, but staying in the village wouldn't be too good for Luckas, and now besides getting someone to travel with him he got tons of information about the country he was in.
-" This help would sure be appreciated, thank you Ballam." Luckas politely accepted his invitation and bowed. "To be fair I was a bit too nervous myself."
-" Don't worry, don't worry, oh now that you gonna travel with us let me introduce you to Maria and Jonathan, those two usually travel with me, hey you two come here and introduce yourselves to Luckas." Ballam was happy that Luckas accepted to travel with him.
Luckas used the dinner time to befriend Maria and Jonathan and gather more information, while he couldn't probe too far on the actual state of the country he was in he still got some useful things from them, especially about the territory he was in.
The country he was in was named Iqecia Kingdom and currently, they were at the beginner's stage of a war to the Helmer Kingdom located at the south border of Iqecia, as one of the king most loyal subjects the Duke of this region marched his army to help the king, but the lack of manpower empowered the bandits and outlaws of this region, this was the cause of the suspicion of the villagers.
After finishing the dinner they talked a bit more and parted ways, Byrth accompanied Luckas to his guest house and headed to his home, while in the dinner "party" Luckas tried to strike some small talk with him but Byrth was not really engaged in talking to him.
Luckas laid down to sleep soon after getting home, he felt lucky that things were going too well after the transmigration, so he decided to take things slow and started thinking about his plans for when he arrived in Strafhampton, starting his cultivation journey was a must, but his knowledge about those things were almost nonexistent.
The only things he knew were the things written on the system and the information of the novels in his past world, he wasn't sure that they hold match but at least he could base some things on them.
Luckas lost himself in thought till he slept, only to be awakened with heavy footsteps and clashing noises late at night.
As Luckas stood up from his bed Byrth flung the door of the guest house open and instantly sprinted to Luckas.
Luckas was taken by surprise and asked -"Byrth was is happening? What's with all this noise?" Before he could finish Byrth held Luckas by his collar and dragged him.
Luckas face lost all colors, he didn't really understand what was happening but it was clear that Byrth thought that Luckas was a part of that. When Byrth finally dragged Luckas out of the house what greeted his view wasn't of the peaceful village of a few hours before.
Armed people were everywhere and fire raged in the entire village, instantly fear washed over him, and memories of his past death resurfaced. Jothyr was a few meters away with Ballam and the others from earlier, in front of the bandits were clashing with the few abled men in the village.
-" Byrth, you should help the rest of the guards, I don't think Luckas is with them." Jothyr said while he took his distance from the fight.
Byrth stared icily at Jothyr and looked at Luckas in his feet, he still found Luckas way too suspicious, but just from looking at Luckas face he could tell that he was way too frightened.
Byrth sighed and sprinted in the direction of the clash, as he reached close to the bandits his steps got heavier and his first started shining brightly, when Byrth punch connected with someone the person instantly was pushed back, some of them were even sent flying.
Luckas looked at the situation and hope started to fill his eyes, Byrth really a cultivator as he thought. Luckas instantly felt even more grateful towards Jothyr, if he didn't calm Byrth down maybe he would be one of the victims of the young man punch too.
Byrth appearance gave the villagers a boost in courage, they started to push the bandits back and gain some ground, but when they thought that victory would be theirs Byrth suddenly stopped fighting and looked to the entrance of the village.
A lanky man was slowly approaching, he held a spear in his hand, Byrth eyes waved as the man approached.
-" Get back, this guy is a cultivator." When Byrth informed the village guards about the man their face dropped, they knew Byrth started to cultivate not long ago and seeing how serious he was this guy must be strong.
-" Oh, I didn't think a cultivator would be living in this small village." The lanky man said as he approached. "Quite the lucky encounter we have, I think he will pay much more for someone like you."
Byrth cursed, he could feel that the man was way above him, finding such opponent was rare in this region, after all, why would cultivator care for poor villagers? He steadied himself and prepared to attack.
As Byrth dashed the man's eyes shone and his spear moved, the speed of the strike was so fast that everybody missed it, even byrth himself couldn't keep up with the spear's speed, he only felt a searing pain on his left shoulder.
The lanky man's spear pierced Byrth shoulder without any resistance, Byrth tried to pull the spear but before he could do anything the man lifted his spear and threw Byrth in the air.
-" If we did have a little more time I would love to play with you." the lanky man gazed Byrth with a mocking smile on his face.
-" Kill those who resist, we need to get moving, Jeffrey troops are close to us." The bandit leader walked to byrth and kicked him. "He is still alive, get someone to carry him, he will fetch a good price."
Luckas watched everything with terror in his eyes, just a few hours ago he was overjoyed that things were going too well, but now, the village and he met with such calamity.
He couldn't believe how unlucky he was, what was the use of his system if he couldn't even use it? As the bandits escorted them to their hideout, Luckas kept close to Jothyr and the rest, Byrth was being carried by him and Jonathan.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone