“Hrrmph.” I let out a grunt so my little companions could hear my emotions more clearly.

I started to handle the harness rougher, yet it didn't accomplish much.

I didn't understand why my bovines were being like this. They were uncharacteristically pensive. They had good instincts; why were they being so cautious right now? I needed to get these carts moving.

The sun was at its hottest in this arid region. Prolonging this anxiousness of theirs could only hurt us.

I gave up and tried looking around to see if anything was bothering the-

*CRSHSSSS

Both my merchant carts shook from the resonance of those crashes. Some of the products that were made of glass crashed down onto the floor, unable to be recovered. While the majority of my supply went into disarray.

“The hell!” That almost destroyed everything inside. I tossed away the reins and left the cart to see what was happening.

I could feel my back wincing from this excess movement, but I didn't give a damn.

The bovines didn't panic, albeit they stood as close as they could to the front of the carriage, which was where I was located at.

I wanted to lighten their spirits, but I didn't have the time. Something happened in that direction, supposedly over that western butte: (a dry isolated hill.)

Wait, what happened to that hill? There was supposed to be a hill in that direction, meant to be a self-checkpoint for me. Did it collapse onto itself? That should be impossible; it's a landmark for a reason.

This could pose a problem if it continues. This route of mine is too important to compromise on.

I took from my seat of the carriage my makeshift hammer for situations like these. It was made up of a slim club with two rocks attached to the top. And picked out a random bovine to go with me in the direction of the collapse.

My bovines knew not to act timid when I had my weapon in hand, so I wasn't worried about Daisy here being as pensive as before, especially if she had to be alone with me. The carriages would be fine if left isolated since nobody visits this location.

I mounted Daisy, and we started moving in the direction of that once-proud hill.

It was a bit of a distance, and you couldn't move too rowdy since at times there are beasts underground that rely on vibrations to hunt. Most importantly, in areas that are unchecked for a long time.

As I got closer, I kept seeing something that shouldn't have been here.

“Huh?” Why is there a corpse?

In the debris of the leftover hill, there was a giant earthworm, or what remained at the very least. That wasn't the important part; it was the gashes, as if it were gutted to bleed out. Most things here pierce with their teeth or weaponize venom, not slash to the point of puncture in such random areas of the worm. A fight had occurred where a monster took its own stand. I could still see some blood hanging from the worm’s mouth.

It could have been a human who'd done this. Yet no warrior in this area would escalate this much in a fight to drop a hill onto a giant worm. Let alone be caught off guard by one. That worm doesn't have eyes, meaning it can't even see its own prey. It would have been quite easy to avoid or escape from it. And if it was a group effort of people who fought it, I would have noticed them by now. Groups of people leave a lot of evidence of their presence and are considerably clumsier compared to one lone person. They would have left track marks or dead corpses roaming around. That's how I knew a swarm wasn't the thing to kill the worm.

What likely happened was that the hill collapsing being the finishing blow toward the worm, destroying part of its body in the process. It was probably having its own skirmish against that monster that led to its puncture and gashed wounds, which led to the hill being destroyed. I want to believe that the worm and the hill died with the monster, but I honestly doubt my luck.

I'm old; I have nothing to lose anyway. I'll deal with the thing if I have to, before it even causes any problems for my people or me in a later day. I knew Daisy disapproved heavily of going forward, but we had to carry on.

We started progressing more further with slow and methodical pacing.

“HEEEY! Somebody finally! Heh, I thought I ran out of luck. I'm going to sleep. Please make sure to take care of me. I'm really going to sleep now." A boy who was at a distance started yelling at me; for the gods sake, there's predators here. He was slouched down on another corpse of a worm. It wasn't as giant as the other worm, but a hassle to kill, nonetheless.

He looked bloodied and battered. I would have questioned him or scorned him, but he immediately lost consciousness, as far as I could tell.

I wanted answers to questions I didn't even care for. I tried moving in closer, but Daisy didn't want to budge an inch. I'll let her off the hook today and go to the boy myself. I was fine with leaving Daisy by herself like this since I knew she didn't have the resolve to abandon me in these parts.

I wanted to run at the boy, but I couldn't risk getting us both killed in these parts.

As soon as I got there, I saw the teen who yelled for my attention. He was a bit thin, with a green pale complexion and purple bags under his eyes. Pieces of metal armor that shouldn't be worn in the sun while carrying a half-destroyed satchel. And piercings after piercings of beast teeth. It also appears as if he was poisoned by those same teeth. Would explain the pale skin, but not this durability of his. Was he the monster?

And a sword handle? His body was hiding it from my perspective, but as I got closer, I could see the weapon more and more. That sword’s aura was familiar. It was a blessed weapon; nothing could copy the familiarity of a weapon enchanted by a god.

“Kuku.'' I laughed to myself. Wonders the mind on how he broke it.

He was holding a broken great sword. He must have been utilizing the bottom half as a wide short sword. It impresses me how he can still wield it even without the sharpest part, the point.

I tried grabbing a hold of the handle, but as I attempted to move it, the child's grip tightened even more on it. Even while unconscious, he still held his sword. Even while being withered, he shows his will.

He must definitely be the one who caused all this trouble. He looks so unprepared and weak. His blessing of a weapon must be the thing carrying him. Even if the blade has been broken in two or maybe more, it holds the power of a god. And he is the apostle for it.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

A rare blessing indeed.

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I was having a cool dream where I fought an onslaught of many different monsters. Not just getting into a nest full of the same type but a different variety each time I looked, a gathering ground of theirs. They had this exciting cave system where I finally found water. It had been days since I drank good water. And then a giant mouth popped out of nowhere and surprised me and pushed me up to the surface. And, and, and

“HUH!” I immediately jumped to my feet to check what was going on. The floor was moving, which was weird. What is happening right now?

*Crash

I must have knocked something over when I stood up.

“HEY! Don't break anything while you're there, kid! I gave you some much-needed help, and this is how you repay me.” An old man was shouting at me, but I didn't really pay much attention to the words he was speaking. He looked familiar, though. Where did I see him again?

The old man with a stitched-up hat had stopped the movement of this wooden box and proceeded to check up on me. Wish I could see through him, but I could barely even see through his eyes. He did have a hidden weapon underneath his clothes; I could tell by him being this close to me. And a pathetic-looking axe hammer was lying on his side of the cart.

“Kid, you got poisoned earlier today with different types of venoms. More importantly, baby back spider venom, which takes only a few hours to kill its victims. Luckily, I was generous enough to give you some of my stock in antidotes and what I could make of bandages. You lost that green complexion you had before, but you're still pale and look sickly. I suspe-

I didn't want to interrupt the old man, but the last time I could remember dealing with a spider, it had been longer than a day. Maybe he confused it with me eating uncooked meat from monsters that made me look so ‘green.’ Those monsters sure are fun, but not everything else in this place. The heat and bland terrain are getting to me; I honestly miss the cold. But that’s what makes it a challenge.

“Hey! HEY! Pay attention, jeez.” He let out a huff and then continued, “Heh, Let's get to the important part here. What are you doing in this specific territory? You seem like an outsider, and the natives in these lands don't take too well with trespassers here. The god here made a pact with our neighbors, letting our kind kill anyone who got caught in our territories. And this god of ours likes to make sport of it.”

Didn't know gods and people cared so much about someone walking in. That's so different from home. I guess not everybody has the same head.

"Sorry, my bad old man. I was trying to get to the Volcano Islands. I heard that's the place to go to fix this,” as I pointed to my broken half greatsword, “I got kinda lost, so I decided to go walk east since that's apparently the direction of the Volcano Islands with the greatest blacksmiths. That's how I got here.” I told him enthusiastically.

I could see he had one eye open in surprise at my words.

He followed up with, “Then why were you walking in the direction west? Never mind, I had forgotten the stupidity of the state in which I found you. But can’t your god fix it for you? It's a great weapon, so it's in the domain of Thorgar: The Barbarian Viking God. Speaking of which, how did you get that weapon? You're not big enough to have come from his territory, let alone spawn from it. As far as I know, they only respect your size and strength. You being an apostle is abnormal.”

What do you mean by the ‘stupidity of the state’ you found me in? I was mad at his words—not the first thing, but the respect and abnormal part. I am a bit different from my people, but I still have the same blood as the others.

I declared to the stupid-looking old man, “I was born sick; that's why I am smaller compared to the rest and look different! I may not have the same muscle sizes or immensity as the other, but WE SHARE THE SAME MIGHT! Hahaha, how about that idiot!”

I could tell for certain that my conviction spooked the things moving this box—those little horn animals. And for the old man, he didn't show it, but I knew he was just acting tough.

“Ok?” He scratched behind his ear and said, “What about your god? Can't he fix it?” As he pointed to my sword, At Falle.

I wanted him to at least show some of his fear, but he was a veteran. If he lived long in this world, then he wasn't a slouch. Oh yeah, he asked about my god, didn't he?

“We killed our god. I'm planning to kill all the gods too.” I told him straightforwardly. It did cost us most of everybody's lives, but we won. So the lives lost didn't die for nothing.

“Your people killed your god, right? One of the few gods that is regarded as part of the Holy Quint. That god.” He squinted his eyes and paid more attention to me.

“Yup”

“I see.” When I gave my response, he left me be and went back to the reins to get this wooden boat moving.

Should I ask him if he can take me to the Volcano Islands? He doesn't look like the type who can sail well, but eh, you can never know. He knows my conviction, so if I ask him good enough, he may take me. Although he did hear my conviction, he might be scared of it and not want to take me to the islands. I should be good to him to make him lose his fright of me.

The old man coughed into his hand to get my attention and uttered, “Last question: by coincidence, have you happened to run into my people, the natives of these lands, while you were traversing? Did you, by chance, happen to fight them? They wouldn't have neglected you, that's for sure.” I could tell by his person he was ready to fight if he wanted.

It would be rude to lie to him.

“Nope, that's for sure. Haven't encountered anyone who dresses or looks like you, old man.” Hopefully he doesn't kick me out for that answer, but if he chooses to fight me and I beat him to a pulp, I could get to eat those horn beasts pushing this box. How would they taste? Maybe like goats, but fuller.

“I don't dress like my people, but I'll take your words at face value, but that's good, good.” His aura was not as prominent, and he calmed down some of his muscles, which were ready only moments before. He started focusing more on the steering and the traveling aspect now.

He continued with, “Please don't call me old man, and you must be curious about what's going to happen now.”

“Umm, sure!” I didn't know what else to say, but he looked competent, so I trusted him.

“These lands are dangerous for you, and you're dangerous to everybody else who lives in them. You'll cause problems wherever you go; you even destroyed a landmark that people use to see if they're going the right way. I'll drop you off on my next stop, into a civilization, into a new domain of a god, in which they won't treat outsiders as hostile. You can check for proper direction or a guide there for this not to happen again.

“But please don't cause any issues. If you say that god nonsense, true or false, you'll find many who will take issue, especially about killing them. Not many have been disillusioned by them. Maybe outsiders like me, but they're all oddballs, including me. The place I'm taking you doesn't have swords or weapons like the others; it's of a different caliber. Everything in that place is new compared to the other territories, with this new young god being spawned there no less than 120 years ago. That's relatively new. While these lands are spaced out and us split into factions, those people are unified. With their own apostles carrying weapons like your own, with special properties. So don't kill anything; there will be severe consequences.

“Anyways, I checked that half-broken satchel of yours; you have nothing of value to sell for coins. And I doubt you'll want to sell your greatsword or what remains of it. You don't have many options, but you can work as a mercenary or do something that you're good at. Then slowly work your way up to buy that trip to those islands. And, HEY! Stop messing with my goods!”

I was partly listening to the old man, but I got interested in what he had in here. I had never seen stuff like this, and why was there glass on the floor? Seemed there was some on my back too.

“I give you my wisdom, and this is how you treat me! Is this how my elders felt?” He said that last part under his breath, but I could still hear him even over all the noise of those horned animals moving these land boats.

Honestly, his idea was good and all, but if it's a new god, wouldn't he be easy to kill? We had so much trouble killing ours because he was strong and all, but he wasn't any ordinary god. He was far above it.

I'll try to get money, but I will fight an apostle. Need to make sure I'm not getting bad at fighting or becoming weaker. I haven't seen human blood in a while.

Also rude of him to check my stuff and not expect the same.