Kai woke up with a gasp, chest heaving as he breathed deeply, forcing oxygen into his lungs. His hands reached for the most prized possession he had, his sword, and he was suddenly panicked when it wasn’t there. In fact, he realized that he was only dressed in unfamiliar pants, ones that were a size too large for him.

Kai told himself to breathe deeply and after calming down, he went through the events leading up to the last thing he remembered. He could vividly remember fighting the wolf. Wolves, Kai corrected himself. Hunter would be angry with me for not being aware of my surroundings.

He remembered a second wolf sneaking up on him and spearing his back with its claws. However, before he had been killed, the rest of the guards had entered the fight and saved him. The last thing Kai remembered was the sound of Cohen yelling his name before he’d passed out. However, he could tell that something had happened after that. He’d either done something or gone somewhere, but he couldn’t remember exactly…

His head started to pound so he shook himself out of his thoughts and looked around. Kai was lying down on some fur on the wooden floor of one of the wagons from the caravan. He didn’t recognize the interior as he had only been invited into a couple of them but there was nothing in there, other than some bowls a few feet away.

Kai tried to sit up, but his back suddenly tightened in pain. He groaned a thousand miseries as he felt the marks on his back left behind by the savage beast. At that moment, he felt the rumbling of the wagon beneath him suddenly stop. A few seconds later, the sound of the door opening reached him and light filled the wagon.

He heard a gasp and then, “Father he’s awake!,” a young girl’s voice yelled.

The door closed and Kai heard the sound of footsteps get closer before the girl kneeled down next to him with a skin of water in her hands. She was around his age, maybe a year younger and was wearing a light green riding dress that matched the color of her eyes. Her red hair fell in a heap around her before she pulled it behind her head with one hand.

“I’m sorry but you’re going to have to sit up for this,” a soothing voice said to Kai.

He tried to sit up again, this time using the strength in his arms to push his body up. The girl set a cushion behind him and then picked up the skin and handed it to him. Kai hadn’t realized how much he had been craving water until that moment.

After finishing the entire skin, he handed it back to the girl and asked, “Who are you?”

“Corinne, and well, I’d ask who you are but everyone knows the name of the man who heroically held off two Green Maned Wolves until the rest of our guards could come help.”

“Wait. T-two? W-what?” Kai stammered out before composing himself and asking, “Sorry, can you tell me exactly what happened?

Corinne settled down, crossing her legs.

“I didn’t get to see it but from what I heard, a pack of five wolves attacked the caravan and you were able to hold two until reinforcements came to help. It was honestly pretty heroic. You were heavily injured in that attack and so my father offered to keep you in one of our empty wagons. Honestly, we were lucky to have a resident healer on board who whipped up a mix of herbs and stuff and was able to save you from certain death. I’m just glad we had this empty wagon or I’m not sure father would’ve even offered…”

Seeing that she was starting to ramble, Kai cut in with a question. “How long has it been since the attack?”

“Oh, about a week.”

“What?” Kai exclaimed sitting up straighter, resulting in his back sending out a throb. This time he was able to hold back his groan, pushing his way through the superficial pain.

The door suddenly opened and Cohen came barging in, his large frame fully blocking the sunlight from the opening. Corinne, seeing him enter, darted out of the wagon before Kai was able to thank her.

“Cohen,” Kai said, a little panicked. “I’ve been injured for a week. The captain…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, kid,” Cohen said with an unconcerned wave. “There would’ve been a riot if the captain tried to do anything to you. But, he didn’t even say anything. The captain might seem a little strict, but he’s a good man.”

“Wait, a riot?”

“Oh you’ll see,” Cohen answered with a mysterious smile. “That reminds me, here are your spoils.”

He tossed Kai a small fur coat, presumably made from one of the dead wolves. It was mostly gray, with a thick line of green fur cutting right through the middle.

As Kai looked at his new fur coat, Cohen took a seat and said, “A craftsman in the caravan made it from the wolf you killed.”

Kai’s head snapped up at that. “I don’t understand. Why are the people of the caravan being so… kind to me? They wouldn’t even acknowledge me the first week and now, they’re letting me use a wagon to rest and making fur coats for me. I’m confused.”

Cohen smirked and answered, “You see, Kai, most of the caravaners hadn’t been present on the day of your test to join us. And so, when they saw a kid walking around the next day as if he’d been hired by the guards, they were understandably upset. The lead merchant, the father of that young lady who was just tending to you, talked to the captain, who vouched for you, claiming that you would be worth every copper the caravan would pay for you.”

He leaned back a little before continuing. “Anyways, when we got attacked by those wolves, more than a few of the merchants came out of their wagons at the noise, saw you fight and were understandably impressed. Obviously, some of them felt bad about talking to the captain about you, including the lead merchant and so they tried to make up for their earlier dismissal of you by, well, this.”

Cohen let Kai absorb the information he’d been given. After a few seconds, Kai said, “Wait, but I didn’t even kill the wolf.”

“Ah, but you had basically killed it by the time everyone else got to the fight. It only took a couple more hits to take it down and anyways, everyone agreed that you should take its spoils. Right, that reminds me. One of the merchants asked to buy the corpse of the wolf, minus the piece of fur that made your coat, and of course, the core. I, in your stead, agreed, since there really wasn’t anything you could’ve used from it yet.”

Cohen reached into the pouch attached to his belt and pulled out three silvers.

“You know how the currency works right? Or you need me to explain that to you too?,” Cohen asked with a smirk.

Kai gave his friend a withering look and said, “Yeah, 10 coppers to a silver, 10 silver to a gold, and 100 gold to a platinum.”

Cohen handed the silvers to him, who stuck them in his own pouch, which already contained 5, courtesy of Hunter.

“And then, of course the core.” Cohen reached into his pouch once again and then threw the core to Kai, who held it up to his face.

It was a solid green orb the size of a golf ball from back on Earth, and if he didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought it was a precious stone of some kind.

“Normally, since you can’t Cultivate yet, I would’ve sold that for you too, but I recommend you keep it out of sentimentality. It was your first fight against a beast, after all. If not for sentimental reasons, then maybe keep it at least until you get back to the village to show your Master, or maybe even have something made for that village girl of yours.”

A slight blush rose in Kai’s cheeks at that, and he nodded quickly, stuffing the core into his pouch.

***

It only took a couple more days before Kai felt healthy enough to walk with the caravan again. He was still exempted from the night watch, but he’d started to help the other guards during the day again. It seemed that not only the rest of the caravan, but also the guards themselves had began to accept Kai. He didn’t know about what Cohen had said about a riot, but he definitely felt like no one would’ve liked the captain being hard on Kai after what had occurred.

He’d started to get nods everywhere he went and some even approached him to talk about his fight. None of them came close to the growing friendship he had with Cohen, but not being ignored felt good all the same. However, there was still that small undercurrent of fear present in their expressions and body language, almost in the same way the villagers addressed Hunter in Brasbury. Kai was still only 12 after all. They could only imagine how much stronger he would become in the future.

Even now, no one had been able to figure out why the wolves had attacked the caravan. Not only did the beasts usually not foray so close to the southern edge of the forest, but also, a pack as small as five normally never chose to attack such a large group of people. It was confusing, to say the least.

Kai had gained another friend from the attack and his subsequent recovery. During the day, Corinne now chose to walk with him, telling him about her family and her life as a traveling merchant. At first, he’d been annoyed by her constant rambling, but curiosity had started to get the better of him and he had started to ask her more questions.

“You do know that your village is technically part of the Revanian Kingdom right?” This topic had come up after Kai had asked Corinne about where they were going to restock their wares. He’d learned that normally the caravan would journey for about four months through the southern villages, stopping last at Brasbury, and then they’d come back North to the city of Novan to restock.

“The only reason Brasbury doesn’t acknowledge that is because the Kingdom hasn’t sent a tax collector that far south in many years. On their maps, the boundary extends to the southern edge of the Dorinthian Forest, but they don’t care enough so that boundary truly stops at Novan. Of course, it’s not like the Azel family can’t send collectors south, just that they know there isn’t much point to doing so.”

“The Azel Family?” Kai cut in with a question before Corinne kept rambling.

“Ah right, the House of Azel is the current Royal family of the Revanian Kingdom. Though I hear there’s been some unrest lately from the other Houses.”

She thought for a second, hand on her chin, before shrugging. “It doesn’t matter though. The Azels have always had the support of the commoners, and for good reason too. They’re strangely kind to the people, unlike a lot of the other Noble Houses. And as long as they have that support, no one can take their throne that easily.”

***

Over the next few weeks, Kai was taught many things about the world outside of Brasbury by Corinne and some of the guards that had finally stopped avoiding him. He’d learned that the Dorinthian Forest was much larger than he’d originally thought. It spanned from the city of Novan, all the way down south to his own home of Brasbury. Under Brasbury was the Kigara Forest, but even Kai knew that Cultivators didn’t go there due to the inner parts of that Forest containing many powerful Beasts. Brasbury was lucky that there hadn’t been a beast attack there in many decades.

A few days after the caravan had come out of the northern edge of the Forest, they finally reached the city of Novan. Kai had gotten a rundown of exactly what the city looked like by Corinne and some of the other guards but he still stood speechless at his first sight of it. The walls surrounding the city were massive, stretching up to heights he hadn’t seen since his old life. The gates were almost golden in the bright afternoon light, seeming almost heavenly to the 12 year old boy.

As they got closer to the city, they started to meet some more traffic. All of the newly recruited guards had been briefed by the captain the night before due to the fact that it was on these wide open roads with chaotic crowds where thieves felt the most confident. Kai stuck close to Corinne’s and her father’s wagon as the girl in question walked alongside him, chattering away. Kai looked around at the many faces that now surrounded him. He’d never seen this many people in one place in his life, and he knew that the crowds would be even larger in the city.

It took the caravan many bells to enter the city due to the large line at the gate and then even more time for them to arrive at their destination. The caravan split up once they reached an inn called the Wandering Spirits. The guards were to stay there while the merchants would obviously stay in homes they owned within Novan.

Half a bell later, Kai stood in front of Cohen in the room they both were to share within the inn.

“You really want to explore the city now?” Cohen asked him incredulously. “It’s almost evening.”

Kai emphatically nodded and seeing his enthusiasm, Cohen sighed and said, “Fine, but if I don’t see you here in three bells time, I’m going out to look for you, and when I do finally find you, you’re not gonna like what I have to say.”

However, Kai had left the room long before Cohen finished, the energetic boy much too excited about exploring this new unfamiliar city.