Chapter 2: Black Butterfly Tattoo
The rickety sound of the wagon and the trotting of the horse was all Orloh could hear. It was a bit boring but he was already accustomed to it. The road was a bit rocky too but not the same as in the previous mountains.
Something had been bothering him for quite a while. As soon as he drove down from the hillside, he noticed a sinister aura emanating from the village. It was only for a brief moment. The aura was kind of weak but he could tell he wasn't imagining things.
Looking from afar, a lot of villagers were waiting outside. Orloh could only tell that most of them were wearing white robes. He noticed earlier that someone from the herd of sheep was running towards the village. That man must have informed them of his arrival.
Orloh felt a little touched. He smirked in his thought. It was like this too in some villages he visited. Whenever they saw a merchant coming from afar they would patiently wait at the roadside. Food was never a problem for them, the wilds were plenty of animals and beasts they could eat for food. They even grew fruits and vegetables in their farms. But there were still a lot of things that they couldn't find in their land.
As he went closer to the village he noticed that they weren't as exited as he thought them to be. There were rather serious looks in their faces. Some villagers were holding spears and some were holding swords and axes. He hesitated for a moment. They were a dozen yards away from him. He stopped his horse.
"Why are they holding those weapons? Hmm. Maybe I should just ask them," he asked himself. His suspicion about the sinister aura earlier was growing. He couldn't tell whether the action of the villagers had something to do with the aura. It might just be a coincidence.
He narrowed his eyes as he examined the strength of the small unit in front of him. There were about a dozen of men holding weapons. It looked like there were no wizards with them, though he could feel some auras coming from the village houses. It could be from the elders of this village or someone else. If a fight would arise, even if he could defeat all of them, he would have a little trouble with the owners of those auras. He slightly flicked the rein, urging his horse to walk forward.
When he was just half a dozen yards away from them, two guys holding a spear each charged toward him. He stopped his horse. Their spears were pointing closely to his face.
Orloh maintained his calmness, confident that if they would attack him he could easily protect himself.
"Who are you? Why did you come here?" the man holding a spear asked. His face was showing a fierce expression.
Orloh slowly raised his both hands and removed his hoods. "Aha... ha... ha..." he awkwardly laughed, keeping his hands in the air, his palms facing front. He was smiling awkwardly as he thought of the right words to say.
The spear guy on Orloh's left was surprised by his appearance. For a brief moment, he showed it in his expression but he didn't let his guard down.
'He looks younger than me? How was he able to pass through that route? Even I won't be able to pass there easily. Dangerous beasts are lurking behind those mountains. And his horse shows no signs of injury. This guy is even smiling. He must be dangerous. I should be careful. After all, appearances can be deceiving.'
"Good morning, everyone," Orloh slowly said in a polite and lively voice. "I am a traveling merchant. And," he awkwardly continued. "I'm just passing by," he said, smiling awkwardly after his speech.
"Traveling merchant, you say?" said by a deep and mature voice.
A half-naked man stepped out of the crowd. His face was a bit mature but his face was clean with no beard. He must be in his late twenties. His body was proportionally well built. With a sword on his hands and a couple of scars over his body, one could tell that he had been in a lot of life and death situations. "Show us your merchant pass," he said in a deep commanding voice.
It was as if Orloh was struck by lightning, he froze in surprise but he didn't show it. At the left side of the half-naked man's belly there was a black butterfly tattoo.
For a moment, Orloh's memory of his expulsion more than a year ago flashed before his eyes. Those people that caused him his expulsion from school also had the same tattoo.
His expulsion was completely unreasonable. He bore witness of some of his classmates doing something sinister but the school didn't believe him. He was expelled instead. Those guys must have some kind of connection to the school.
'That tattoo again. It was more than a year since I saw that. So their influence actually reached this far south of Sarret, huh.'
In that one year, he didn't dare to look for information about the black tattoo blindly. He couldn't bring himself to trust anyone and more than that, he was still powerless. So he promised that when the time comes he would go back and look for them himself.
After contemplating for a bit, he thought he was already lucky to have been left alive.
"Of course, uncle," Orloh responded while inserting his right hand in the left sleeve of his coat. The merchant pass was in his interspatial bracelet. He wouldn't dare to show them that the bracelet he was wearing was actually an interspatial object. Wearing golden ornaments like rings and necklaces were normal and they were usually enchanted, so it was okay for him to freely wear it and show it to anyone. Besides, he was a merchant so he had all sorts of enchanted jewelries.
Orloh handed the half-naked man his merchant pass. "Here it is, uncle."
The half-naked man took the merchant pass examined the piece of paper. He had seen one before so he could tell how it should look. Though he knew he wouldn't know what a fake one looked like this was the least they could do.
"He indeed is a merchant," the half-naked man declared after inspecting the merchant pass.
The guys holding the spears nodded at each other and withdrew their weapons. The rest of the unit followed, lowering down their weapons.
"But you look so young, how did you manage to get past that mountain?" the half-naked man asked with a questioning look as he gave the merchant pass back to Orloh.
Realization hit Orloh. So that was why they readied their weapons. Anyone here would really wonder how. They weren't expecting anyone to get past that route. You need to pass two forests before entering the mountainous region. The forests were already full of dangerous beasts and the mountain path had even more. Wild beasts would be considered normal but the beasts there were unusually stronger that normal. Aside from that, they were more enraged than normal beasts.
The sinister aura, the black tattoo, the unusual behavior and strength of the beasts, and most importantly, the thing he saw at school.
"Aha... ha... ha...," he laughed awkwardly while scratching the back of his head. "I'm a wizard. That's how I was able to get past that mountain."
Orloh felt the immediate need to get away from there. He might be able to defeat the rest of this people but where would that lead him? Their organization must have been spread throughout the whole continent of Sarret. He needed to get enough evidence first. He needed to know more about the black butterfly tattoo. If he would attack now, it would be for nothing.
"I see. So you are a wizard, huh," the half-naked man responded. That explained things for him. But still, Orloh looked so young.
"So, does uncle would let me pass now? I'm actually in a hurry. I need to get to Hyndrel Town as soon as I can. I have a lot of things to deliver there. I chose this route because it was closer to Hyndrel Town," Orloh asked. It looked like they didn't notice his suspicion.
The half-naked man was a bit surprised. "Hyndrel Town? You didn't know what happened there, do you?" he asked.
This time, it was Orloh's turn to be surprised. "Did... something happened?"
"Hyndrel Town was attacked by hordes of wild beasts three days ago. You won't be able to do business there anymore," the half-naked man said casually.
"That's... " A look of concern appeared on Orloh's face. He couldn't find the right words to say.
The half-naked man noticed the shock on Orloh's face so he immediately asked him, "So, are you still going there?"
Orloh immediately regained his self. "Uh," he nodded. "I will take a look myself. Thanks for the information, uncle. I'll be going now."
'There are no further order from above. That means they'll just let this kid pass, huh.'
"Of course, young man," the half-naked man answered. "Give way to him," he ordered the small unit.
The people blocking the roadway moved aside. Orloh signalled the horse to walk. "I'll be going," he said in a long chant.
Orloh flicked the rein a bit harder, commanding the horse to go faster. He didn't feel good around those men. Even if they weren't wizards and were smiling, he could feel the faint malicious intent from them.
He was already way past the village. Ahead of him was a forest and another mountain. With his experience of traveling in the wild he already expected himself to meet a lot of dangerous beasts past the mountain.
But before Orloh could get through the forest, he felt the same sinister aura again. This time, it was several times more sinister and stronger. Shivers ran through to the deepest of his bones.
****
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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dried_shiitake Thank you for reading.
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