C005 King Richard The Lai Yen Hard... Who Gives That Name ?!?!
1987 Words
"Final call for this lad here for 4 gold and 5 shillings."
"How about selling yourself for 4 gold and 5 shillings...? You would make a great target practise..."
"Hiiiissssssssss.....He's not for SALE...!" the green goblin that was perching on the trader's shoulder hissed at me and spat on the ground.
"That green goblin would be his Master...weird to have a goblin at its master and not the other way round." I thought to myself as i glanced back at Matilda and Jean Lethal.
"Do any of you seen anything off with that seller over there?"
"No, Boss...nothing seems weird. He looked alright by me..."
"Nom...nom...nom...He seems to be slightly haggard and may not have taken dinner at all...nom...nom..."
Where did that packet of pretzels come from, M A T I L D A...?!?!?!
"Awww...what the heck...4 gold coins. I got no time to haggle with you and hand over that lad over to us. We need to get some supplies from the market first. Hurry up you haggard little man..."
"Alright...SOLD...!!! To the young adventurers that need to go the market to buy groceries...Ahh...Ahh...Ahh...Ahh..."
Damn...he sure sounds like Count Dracula from Sesame Street after he counted the 4 gold coins I tossed at him.
He quickly released the nose around the lad and removed the prop that was used to shroud him and shooed him off the platform. I held the lad's shoulder and led us out if they horrendous place as we head to the market.
"Matilda and JL, you know the drill. Get two week's supplies and 1 day on perishables. Here are 10 shillings...it should be good to cover the expenses. Gather here in 10. I'm going get a shovel, a hoe and a rake and I would be doing some dumpster diving with this boy here. PROCEED..."
The moment the 'Proceed' command was issued, they both raced to the respective stakeholders with the 10 shillings and picked up the readied groceries because all the stall traders had trained their ears and listened to our conversation as soon as they discovered we are adventurers.
I would never hope to see any change back from Matilda as she would efficiently use everything up for the 2 weeks of our needs.
The boy looked at me as I lead him to the dumpster and asked him to find a basket as I collected rotten tomatoes, ladyfingers, potatoes, tapioca stalks, bell peppers, chilli, dried string beans, brinjal, mustard leaves, pumpkins, strawberries, cranberries, mulberry stalks, carrots, onions, garlic, leeks, parsley, chives, cucumbers and peas.
After the boy had found a basket, I dumped all the rotten fruits and vegetables inside it and asked him to carry it. Next, I bought a hoe, shovel and garden rake and that too he carried.
He was speculating to himself why was I picking these rotten fruits and vegetables after acquiring him off at 4 pieces of gold coin and given my comrades 10 shillings, and yet does dumpster diving shamelessly until he saw me purchase the gardening tools and he finally comprehended.
=*=
As we walked around in Brotherton with the map, we discovered a cluster of unmarked mines on the map about 30 minutes away of the town. River Aire was running across it while the mines were clustered near some swamps and we wouldn't want to be careless in building such an encampment there.
We moved upstream and saw a forested patch of about 1000mx1000m, well secluded and away from peering eyes and the nearest man-made path. We also found a good 50mx50m clearing next to the forested area and decided to make our encampment within the forest and shades.
There were some 5 to 6 good grinding spots marked on the map but the only problem is, we need to get across a 50m wide river. There is no bridge anywhere and the only way is to either wade across or build a bridge over it.
We are not here for good... most we would be here as long as 90 days. We would be able to build a stone bridge but it's just a waste of time. We have a squidder here and he might even give some tips.
We discussed the location of where we are going to build the encampment and we agreed on the spot as the 4 of us trudged on to the location. Fortunately, the forested area is before the 50mx50m clearing and it gives us an idea on where our encampment would be.
We hit a spot and places our things down and collected some wood to make a welcoming fire first. After the fire was lit, we hung our perishables above using the branches and spread out the tarpaulin over the ground for our night's rest later.
Matilda prepared a pot for some tea while Jean Lethal took out the drinking mugs. The boy was like a blur sotong and have to tell what to do before he makes a move.
"Hey, kid...put that basket and the gardening tools down over there first and sit over here so we can look at you and interrogate you."
The boy went over to a spot to place the basket filled with rotten fruits and vegetables and the gardening tools. He then sauntered over and washed his hands in the river before he joined us and sat down.
"First...you are not a slave anymore. We had bought you your freedom. You may choose to stick around with us or you may wish to return back to where you want to be."
"I..." the boy started to open his mouth to speak midway but was interrupted by me.
"Don't talk yet when I haven't finished talking to you. As I've spoken, you are free to go and free to join us. You are not bonded to us in any manner at all. So what's your pick? You can speak now."
"I wish to stay, my Lord," he answered with an honorific that is so unbefitting at the moment.
"Don't use the honorific around here. The Lord is above us and He is the judgement between righteous and evil." I retorted.
"I wish to stay...sir." he looked around our heads and found that it was greyed out as we had disabled it many weeks ago. He didn't have any because he wasn't an adventurer and was considered as a low key NPC before.
"Are you sure you wanted to stay? All of us will be treated equally and as you can see, we all are adventurers. Meaning that we battle monsters to being for experience points and also to gather spoils which will be turned to coins for our daily needs and also for other necessities."
"Yes, sir, I wish to stay since I have nowhere else to go and turn to. I know little about adventuring but I am a quick learner. I see you have the basket of rotten fruits and vegetables and I learnt that you are going to farm these things, am I right sir?"
"That's right. You do have a good eye and intuition. So, divulge us about your background." I said as Matilda had done making tea and Jean Lethal fetches the mugs of hot steaming freshly brewed sweetened tea and passed it around, the boy included.
"You may turn to Volume 10 Chapter 4 to read all about my background, sir, ma'am. It would be a repetition if I were to relate once more and would be badly criticised by some readers later on."
With that, all three of us took out our smartphones, opened the w******l App and tapped QLMT novel to read the latest unpublished chapter. It took us about 8 mins of silent reading as we scrolled through his roller coaster experience that filled with tragic from start to end.
*Beep Beep* "Is this boy full of bad luck or what?" a message from Matilda came through. "I don't know...I hope he is not." I replied and click send.
*Beep Beep* "This boy really got a bad start in life, I hope he has a good one with us." a message came from Jean Lethal and I replied, "I hope so...hope he won't so blur like a squid that you caught...hahahaha."
Our conversation continued with the exchange of messages through our smartphones when we finally put them aside and came back to the 12th Century.
"*Ahem* Alright...we have read your sorrowful tale from start to end. The name was greyed out though, tell us your name kid before we introduced ourselves."
I cleared my throat as I began once more. I looked at Matilda and she was holding to a bag of Ruffles and now both she and Jean Lethal were silently removing a chip out from the bag and tried silently to chew with their hands over their mouth...!
NOOOOO...!!! Why are they eating at a time like this...AND RUFFLES...!! What's next...?!?
"My name is Will.I.Am, sir..."
"Alright...Will, you are then."
"No, sir...its Will.I.Am..."
"Like I've said...its Will, you are..."
"No sir...please don't get it wrong... it is Will.I.Am..."
"Indeed, it's Will, you are...why are you making things difficult for both of us now?!"
"No, sir...Will.I.Am...Will.I.Am...its Will.I.Am"
"Will, you are then...WILL, YOU ARE...!!"
The kid was now standing up and stomping both of his feet trying to tell us that his name is Will, he is...what the hell's so difficult about that? Matilda and Jean Lethal were agitated and they both chorused out and cranes their necks and voiced out his name that it echoed deep and scared the birds who were roosting for the night.
"WILL, YOU ARE...! WILL, YOU ARE...!" Matilda and Jean Lethal were almost screaming the boy's name down the latter's face.
"HUUAAAAAAAA...IT'S WILL.I.AM NOT WILL YOU ARE...WILL.I.AM, WILL.I.AM, WILL.I.AM..!"
The boy screamed his name to the duo repeatedly and the three were virtually screaming the boy's name while I went silently over to steal a puff behind the trees and returned back a short while mater and find them quarrelling on Will's name.
When I sat down and watched the ruckus, I finally realised the boy's name when he repeated call out name in quick succession.
"PRRREEETTTTTT....!" I don't know where I had gotten a referee's whistle and I held up a yellow card and everyone stopped what they were doing and pleaded not to be booked.
"Alright, boy...who actually named you?"
"It's the author, sir...PaperbackWriter. He's the one that named me...please sir...my throat is sore from all the screaming...my name is Will.I.Am....not Will you are or something like that."
"Hahahahahhaa...listen up everyone...his name is William...hahahah. No need to get worked up over something like this. The author just added two periods between the letter 'I' and that's the reason for this confusion. It's been nearly like over 10 minutes arguing of his name."
"So, Will.I.Am, welcome to The Band Of Vagabonds and our motto here is Ready To Strike. My name is Robyn and I am the leader of the band, Matilda, my left-hand lieutenant while this is Jean Lethal, my right-hand lieutenant."
"Are you Robyn Hode that robs people in the highway and these are your Merry Men with John Little too?"
"No...I'm Robyn Firestarter and it is not John Little but Jean as in French spelling and Lethal as in Lethal Weapon...not Little which is synonymous with small."
"Yeah, boss...my blood went upstairs and haven't come down yet. Phew...what a unique name you have there, boy."
"I can't be bothered that much...as long as no-one goes through my stash, I'm fine with it, even if your name is King Richard the Lai Yen Hard."
The moment I heard about King Richard, I laughed at how Matilda pronounced the pseudonym. Hahahaha...
=*=
"Alright...we had finally settled with our new member here. He is known as Will.I.Am or just Will for short, would that be fine, Will?"
"It's fine with me sirs, ma'am. Will would be fine."
- Writer
