Next Destination
1688 Words
After Guy had informed those listeners of what's the selling points of Gracehaven, he sat down and continued with his meal which by then the barkeep had replaced the cold bowls of gruel into hot piping ones, free of charge.
No matter how the party of four had refused the hospitality that was showered upon them, the barkeep insisted since he was utterly interested with the news and report of a town's progress even though its in the midst of the Great Slump.
"We would like to ask you a few questions if you may, sir. How far is the nearest town, village or settlement from Aidi Village here? We would like to continue our quest to spread the news of our goodwill."
Guy asked Aidi and he explained that the nearest civilisation would be about a day's trek from here and it would be approximately 20 or more miles from the present location.
"Are you really serious about going to other civilisations to spread the news from Your Majesty? Would you like to have other provisions that you may require on your travel then?"
The barkeep raised the questions and was refused politely by the party of four. It seemed that they need some rest before they would proceed to their next destination and therefore there would be no need to replenish their supplies except for freshwater.
"There's a well here that you could draw groundwater to replenish your leather skins. If you need more leather skins we could offer to you as well."
Guy once again politely refuse the offer since everyone had carried 3 such leather skins along with them they would be equivalent to about 12 pints of freshwater.
At the meantime what they need was to fill up the empty leather skins so that they would be sufficiently provisioned.
"We would just replenish some water, please. There's no need to get more leather skins since we have sufficient and would be able to last more than a days journey."
"It is Autumn and we require lesser water and there's also condensation from the earth that we could gather some moisture to quench our thirst in the mornings as well."
Guy explained and the barkeep nodded his head. He marvelled at the young lad before him as he never thought that a person this young would-be literate and also at the same time be able to survive in the wilderness with just a bow and a short sword at their sides.
Little did he and the rest of the settlers knew that the leader of the party was originally an Irish Traveller and his experience in the wilderness had everyone in the party to be able to withstand the wilderness and ability to survive even longer.
Since the village does not have a bakery, so the party of four was unable to replenish their bread but they had 3 pounds of flour each inside their knapsack that could be made into flatbread if needed.
After giving the general directions of where Gracehaven was situated, the party of four decided to leave to the next destination, which was also a village nearby.
They hoped to get to a body of water so they would be able to fish and make some smoked fish store for consumption later in the days.
"If you happen to go to Gracehaven, remember to report to the Adventurers Guild and state my name there."
"You would then be processed to be inducted as temporary residents by then and the usual registration would ensue."
"Don't worry, you won't be sorry the moment you enter the town and you would be thankful to us for making this trip here in your village."
Aidi and the settlers bade the Adventurers farewell as the party of four filled up the water inside their leather skins and soon left the village and walked onwards towards their next destination.
It was already more than high noon and according to Guy, Autumn seems to have shorter days compared to longer nights and there would be some daylight hours left in between.
"Alright guys, we only have a few hours of daylight left and we already had our fill at the tavern earlier. We still have a few pieces of meat and we could hunt a few more rabbits or even hares later in the evenings."
"We have a general idea on where our next destination should be and we could make a beeline towards it. Besides, we have a full water supply and we could make camp before dusk falls."
"Come on, let's follow this unmarked trail and head towards the forest beyond yonder. Once we get here, we would make camp and see what we would be able to forage, alright?"
Guy spoke to the rest of the Adventurers as they walked in a beeline fashion towards some clumps of trees some miles away. From the distance, it may seem near but in actual fact, it would be about 10 miles at least before they would reach such places.
Forest such as that magnitude would be bountiful with the game and also wild beasts too. Not to mention there would be other vegetation that could be foraged to make meals in the wilderness.
Fortunately, they had chosen Guy to be the rightful leader of the party since he was well accustomed to staying alive in the wilderness with nothing but a small flintstone, striker and a hunting knife.
As the party of four trekked towards the forest beyond, Gillian had slipped ahead of the group and was shooting some blunt arrows into the ground and she held up some woodchucks and some rabbits as well. Those kills were simply knocked out and she stuffed them all inside a hemp sack that she had carried along inside her knapsack.
"We don't have fish but we do have meat here. There are so many woodchucks and we would only catch a few more and then we would scourge the lands for some other edibles...!"
Gillian raised her hemp sack high in the air triumphantly as she counted off about 3 woodchucks and 4 rabbits what would be enough to be shared with everyone tonight.
Although the food was bountiful, Gillian decided to make jerkies so that these meats would be preserved and last longer in storage. Besides they were getting further and further away from GraceHaven and deduced that they would only be back in about a month's time.
Gillian waited to regroup with the rest of the party before she moved along together. By engaging in small talk, the party of four didn't feel too bored as they asked about general things especially survival when there's no water around.
"Ah... Look at this linen cloth that had been soaked beeswax. It's the bag that we had bought from the food wagon that sold the popped corn before."
"This cloth is waterproof and could be used to trap water from the air and then use these four corners to hold it up by sticks."
"Place a small pebble in the centre here and then a cup at the bottom here. The cold might and mornings would make water droplets from underneath here and then the water would drop inside the cup."
"It's freshwater and it would be able to fill up at least half a cup of water during these seasons. The colder it is the more condensation it would form. That's what I learnt in class."
The Guinness listened with awe since they had just arrived in town some months ago and had met up with each other before getting married. Besides, they thought the classes held in school would be such a bore but little did they know that there were lectures about survival and general knowledge as well.
"Well, we would be enrolling ourselves back in the glass when we get back. Besides how many towns would you intend to be visiting, Guy?"
"About a dozen minimum before we head back. No matter how long it takes, my target is 12 towns, villages and settlements and then we can head back slowly and rest up before we take another task at hand."
"We don't need to think too much about the rewards since I know we would be getting a whole lot more than we would count. Hahaha."
Guy laughed at the thought of the silvers that they would be rewarded when they had returned back to town.
Besides that, even if takes a whole month to complete the journey, at least the Guinness would be able to survive on their own and then form their own party with the junior members soon.
Thinking of that, their feet onwards felt lighter and soon they had breached the forest and it seemed that the forest was not being explored as there were no stumps or fell trees to indicate that lumberjacks had not been visiting there to get wood at all.
By observing the surroundings in the ground deeper inside the forest, Guy discovered small animal drippings and none of the ones from a predator. He let out a sigh of relief before announcing that they would make camp here.
Once after announcing to make camp, Gillian immediately began to remove the knocked out animals from the hemp sack and then began to dress the animals up.
The Guinness was assigned to find firewood to make a campfire and a fireplace while Guy went around to get water from the most unimaginable manner — by tapping a maple or birch tree for water...!
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