Chapter 1 “Unexpected Trip”

“Please watch your step, ma’am.” I said to the passenger as I opened the door to my coach. “It’s quite slippery.”

“Why thank you, young man.” A small giggle came out of the middle age woman as she took my hand and slowly descended the stair out of the wagon. Appearance wise, she is not that bad. Although I could say that a little less make-up would be better for her.

“It’s my pleasure, ma’am.” I gave her a smile. “Ah, there you go.” I let her hand go as she stepped off the stair and finally placed her feet onto the paved road that will lead into her mansion.

“I’ll ask the servants to take the luggage. They’ll know what to do with them.”

“Certainly, ma’am.”

“Well, I guess this is good bye for now, young man.” Once again, a small giggle came after her words. “Our ride was quite pleasant.”

“It is an honor to be hear your compliment, ma’am.” I bowed my head to her.

“I look forward what other story you will give me when I ride with you again, young coachman.”

“I will certainly prepare a good story next time, ma’am.”

“What a long day…” I let out a sigh after finally getting out of the mansion of that noblewoman. That last job sounded simple at first. It is a simple escort mission from the abbey located outside of the town wall onto her mansion inside the town. Sounded simple, right? Wrong!

Here’s the thing. The woman is apparently a merchant of exotic trinket. An antique merchant, you might say. She goes all around the place to look for unique and interesting piece of item that she will either sell to a noble family or auction it for the public to buy. Still sounds fine, right? You won’t think like that if you know what her latest item is.

The item is a trinket that releases a certain invisible wave that attract wild beast. It will attract surrounding wild beast to the trinket. Within an area of five meters, any wild beast will rushed toward this trinket and charged blindly into it without minding anything. That is a very troublesome effect, if you ask me.

Although powerful, the effect can be stopped if it is put into a special box. The problem is that the box itself is too big and a too heavy for a simple coach to bring. So to bring it by a regular coach, it will take a serious amount of security and also an iron will to drive away from a group of chasing wild beast.

For the security part, the woman had brought along a team of four veteran hunters and trappers. They deal with various wild beast and game animal. So they certainly know what to do in times of need. And that responsibility to drive those people landed onto me, the coachman.

“Sheesh…no wonder the pay is so high.” I recalled the horror of running my coach away from the growling and roaring beast behind me. And the worst part of it is that I only realized the danger when we were half-way out of the forest. I should have known that a simple order will never need a group of heavily armed veteran professional like those four.

“Ugh…better be careful next time…or it might be my last.”

“Hey, Zin! Here’s the pay for yer job!” A loud voice came onto my ears as I approached the guild’s counter. In front of me stood a woman that is slightly older than me. I mean, she probably is since I don’t know her real age. All I know is she has that older sister feeling to it. But…how do I say it? Sometimes she gave the feeling of an older brother since her way of speaking is rather crude. That is quite a waste since with her rather above average looks and also her carefully maintained shoulder length light auburn hair could made her into a splendid woman, if not for her way of speaking. But that is just my opinion. As you might know, people have different taste. All in all, she is a very likeable person.

“…Thanks, Ms. Ellent.”

“Hey, ya can just call me Ell, ya know? Just like everyone else.”

“…Hehe, got it. Ms. Ell.”

“Sheesh, suits yerself.” She then put a brown pouch on top of the counter. Judging from the loud sound of clinking, the amount inside is quite a lot. I couldn’t help but made a grin at that. “Zin, yer expression loosened up too much.”

“E-Eh?” I shook my head as to recompose myself. “Hehehe, sorry, Ms. Ell.”

“I wouldn’t blame ya. Dis is some money ya got. Are ya smuggling weapon or some illegal stuff, Zin?”

“W-Woah! There’s no way I’ll do something like that.”

“Hahaha! Ya got dat right, Zin!” She laughed rather loudly. “Dat kind of stuff is not for the likes of Zin.”

“Of course! Well, is there anything else for me, Ms. Ell?”

“Hmm, let’s see.” She then flipped the stack of paper behind the counter. Her eyebrows furrowed while she does that.

“Hmm…nope! Not a single thing.” Together with that statement she shook her head.

“Ah, I see. Well I’ll leave my coach and the horse here a usual then.”

“Oh yeah, since yer free today, why don’t cha look at the fair today?”

“You mean…the slave fair?”

“Wow der! Don’t give me dat look, Zin. With dat much money, ya might want to invest, ya know? Since our line of work is pretty dangerous, ya might want to invest in some more muscles.”

“Oh that’s right.” I have seen some of the coachmen bringing a couple of guard. So some of those are slave? “Well…I’m not–“

“Ya don’t really like the slave business, right?” Ms. Ellent completed my words. “Well, don’t cha think I know dat?”

“Then why suggesting?”

“The latest job was mighty dangerous, right?” Ugh, she knew. “Now, now, no need to give me dat look, Zin. I’m just speculating, but turned out I’m right.” Ugh, she trapped me. Great. “With yer pay, not enough to hire guards, but enough to buy some slave to give some protection. Ya got dat?”

“Err…yes.”

“Now think about that. Very carefully. Go now! Don’t dilly dally here!”

“Uwaaah…so crowded.” I let out a small gasp after I arrived at the fair. Personally, I don’t really feel comfortable with slavery. I can tell you that. Unable to do anything and becoming someone’s property. Isn’t that the lowest level one can get into? From a person to an object? Ugh, I hate that. I don’t want to be one and I don’t want to know someone I know become one either.

Thankfully, the current law in this country is getting much better for the slaves. From being treated to a mere object, they are now required to be treated as a precious and important object. It means that the owner must take care of it properly and the slaves can give complaint to the official if they are treated more than they are entitled too. But, still, they are treated like an object.

“…If I have enough money…and power…” I muttered that while looking at the number of people walking into and out of the fair ground. Someone like me could only dream of doing that.

I guess what Ms. Ell said is right. For the past couple of days, the number of job that turned up in the watering house has been riskier than before. From escorting people out of the city into the nearby village to delivering package to the port city, the jobs have become much more dangerous. I’ve also heard some report that a few coachmen have either been killed or missing in their recent job.

That led to some of my colleague offering their service to the noble family to become their private coachman. Of course the risk is much smaller, but the pay. Well, the pay is not exactly the problem. The pay is…hmm…rather average while still on the high side. But the amount of work is certainly far from fair. They will work us like slave, if not worse. That’s why I still keep my status as a private coachman.

After thinking like that, what Ms. Ell said to me is very correct. I really need to keep myself safe and the most logical way for me at the moment is to buy a slave. Either a magic caster or fighter slave. I wonder how much they will cost. Although the pay from the previous job is a lot, it is not a lot to be splurged on. I still have to think about my living cost.

I then looked around the fair and hop from one stall to another. They showed a lot of ‘merchandise’ for people to see. From various age to various race. Although most are human, I still managed to see some elves, dwarf, beastman, even dragonewt. The buyers also varied. I can see some aristocrat and also merchant. In short, this fair is so very very crowded.

“Hey you!” Eh? Who? “You! The coachmen!” What? Oh, right. I’m still wearing my usual outfit for my job which consists of a white shirt and brown pants, hidden by my heavy and long overcoat. To top it off, a worn out flat top hat that had the emblem of this town coachmen guild, the Flame Horse. A uniform fitting for a coachman.

“Y-Yes?” I looked to the source of the voice and found a short man with a plump build and also a long and thick mustache that decorated his face. He was standing near me. I guess I didn’t realize that as I was looking around the fair in awe.

“You’re late! Deliver this crate to the port right away!”

“E-Eh? B-But I’m no–“

“There’s no time to talk!” He then grabbed my hand and started pulling me. “We have no time!”

“B-But w-wait!”

“No waiting!”

After that, I was lead to a nearby wagon and then placed into the coach sit without being given any chance to say anything. On the back of it I could see a pair of crate that is sealed shut.

“So here is the plan. You get to the port town, Metze, and dump this crate on a nearby lake there.”

“L-Like I said there’s seem to be–“

“Got it? Good! Off you go then! Hyah!” He then slapped the horse of the wagon which made them start to ride away, forcing me to steer it away from danger.

“W-W-Wait a minute!”

T-That man is crazy! And these horses are too! I have been trying to stop them but they keep on galloping like mad straight out of the town. They have even almost trampled a guard or two along the way. It really took all of my ability just to make them run on the proper road. Ugh, I hope they don’t know who I am or I can’t show my face in the town anymore. Okay, that’s not right. Let alone coming back to this town, please let me get out of this job alive!

“Calm down boys! I said calm down!” Why can’t I stop these damn beasts?! They kept running like there’s no tomorrow. It is as if they were in some sort of trance or under the effect of some kind of drug. Wait…no…it can’t be.

I tied the reins to the edge of my seat and then tried to stand up. I know that it is a very dangerous action, but I have to make sure for my next move. With so much shaking and rocking, it is a very difficult task. Thankfully, my experience in riding has taught me quite well how to balance myself.

“W-Woah!!” The wagon suddenly jumped and I was almost thrown out of the wagon. The only reason I was still on the wagon was that I managed to cling onto the edge of the coach seat at the last minute. So much for my experience. Getting cocky is going to be the death of me.

But still, I really need to make sure. Slowly I crawled onto the edge of the wagon and then look at the spot where that man slapped the horse.

“…Oh, really now? He did that?” I let out a sigh as I finally noticed the abnormality on the horse. On the spot where that man landed his hand I could see a small circle with some kind of writing on it. It is a magic enchantment. And the effect of that enchantment is inducing a certain state of mind to the animal. That state is ‘Frenzy’ and ‘Panic’. I’ve seen it on one of my recent job when I have to drive the coach to a group of hunter that want to exterminate a nearby monster nest. One of those hunters put the same spell on to one of the captured beast and then releasing it into the nest, making a riot inside the nest so that they can subdue the monster inside the nest much easier.

The thing is, I don’t know how to remove the enchantment. And to make matter worse, I need to do it fast since the wagon is heading onto a river fast. I could try to steer the horse, but I doubt that will be enough to avoid disaster.

With little time, I looked around to see what I can use. Sadly, the only thing in the wagon is the two crates. Wait! They didn’t even give me any food or water!? That damn man! Are you thinking of killing me!?

All of a sudden the sound of the horses’ neigh came into my ears. After looking to the front again, I couldn’t help but widened my eyes and letting my mouth slacked open. The river is only a few minutes away from us. I immediately took the reins and steered them the best I can do with as much force I can muster. Thankfully, the horses managed to steer away from running straight into the river. Unfortunately, they went straight onto a fallen tree.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!!!” I pulled the reins as hard as I could and fortunately the horses followed my command. They turned sideways avoided hitting the fallen trunk. “Eh? Clink?” It seems my relief was short-lived as I heard a sudden clinking sound. I looked at the source in horror as I realized it came from the part that connected the two horses to the wagon. I immediately released the reins in fear of being carried by the two out of control horses.

“N-No! No! No!” My shouted came out as the wagon showed no sign of stopping its ride onto the tree. I jumped onto the back of the wagon in hope of saving myself. The next thing I heard is the sound of crashing and I felt my body lifted onto the air. The last thing that ran in my mind before darkness enveloped me is a wish that I wished to give that man a sharp and hard blow to the head for all of this.

“Ugh…my head…” As I slowly regained my consciousness, I felt a throbbing pain from my head. It took some time to finally open my eyes completely. “…Great…I’m bleeding.” I said that after I confirmed the condition of my head with my hand, which is also injured slightly. Thankfully, the bleeding is not bad as it seems to be just a shallow cut.

“S-Slowly there…” I managed to stand up and looked at the carnage in front of me. “Sheer luck...Sheer luck I tell you.” I muttered that as I saw the remains of the wagon that crashed into the tree. The coach’s sit is, as expected, totally wrecked. I shudder at the thought of how I will end up if I didn’t move onto the back of the wagon.

“O-Oh yeah! The crates!” As soon as I remembered that my eyes fell onto a pair of crate that has fallen onto the ground. It seems that the impact had thrown not only me out of the wagon, but also the crates. “What’s inside, I wonder?” I guess trash, right? Since that man wanted me to throw them onto the river. But…does it have to be so far away? Strangely suspicious.

Driven by my curiosity, I walked toward the crates that were thrown out of the wagon. At first, it looked very common. Nothing special. Just your everyday wooden crate. But at closer inspection, I noticed that there was a small enchantment on it. Or at least what left of it. The impact of being thrown had broken the enchantment on it. So I guess whatever effect it has is gone with the wind,

“…Ugh…”

H-H-Huh?! D-Did I just hear someone’s voice just now? D-Don’t tell me…

I looked at one of the crate and saw a small opening on one of its side. I put my hand in to that small opening and tried my best to pry it open. At first, it was not moving. But after a few nudge, it started to cracked open. With a loud crack, the top of the side of the crate opened completely, enabling me to see the content of the crate. At that, I couldn’t help but let out a gasp, shocked at what I see.

“A g-g-girl!?”

Author Note:

Okay! There you have it! I know that I already have Marked Soul as my current ongoing story, but I have to write this before the inspiration go away into nothingness, hehehe...

Please give me comment and opinion for this story, or even critique so that I can improve my writing. Do tell me if you find something strange or wrong with the chapter.

You can visit my website in this link http://bit.ly/1Q3YDZg. I'll post my fanfiction link there. Thank you and I hope to see you again in the future!