Freeday, 22nd of Marcia, 470th Year of the 5th Era
It had been about four days since Josias and his party set out from the jungles close to the Hutaharangan village where they had slain the Rhinoceros monster back towards their home of Goria. Under normal circumstances, if they had just ridden their tiger mounts with minimum baggage, they would've been able to make the trip in half the time but due to the necessity of having to carry a heavy corpse like that of the Rhino's and having to find a knowledgeable sorcerer to cast a preservative magic upon it to keep it from rotting, they had to take some detours as well as frequent rest and hunting breaks to get enough food for themselves and their tigers. While visiting some of the villages on the road during their break, the party managed to acquire a sturdier wagon to more easily transport the corpse of the Rhino as compared to the simple platform they had been lugging around for the early part of their journey. The villagers of Hutaharangan were so thankful to the party for finally slaying the beast that they had gifted the men with the cart and two well-trained oxen to pull it for free as a reward and so that managed to lessen the burden upon the warriors and their mounts.
As the party had returned to more civilized areas, they had finally found themselves on the road trail back to Goria and though the roads of the Halak were more like simple dirt paths and trails, it still far surpassed the undisturbed jungle flooring and hard rocky ground through which they had lugged the huge corpse with much struggle and difficulty. And so they could afford to travel a little quicker if nothing else. Along the way, the party had made some stops to hunt for wild boar meat for their tiger companions as well as to make camp to sleep for the night when they couldn't secure a place to sleep among the villages and hamlet's on the way. During one of these stops, Josias had went to a nearby stream to wash himself and train for a little while to get his body used to his newfound third-star powers as he felt a larger mana reserve capacity within him than before but the energy he had was still volatile and so had to be stabilised. By accident while he was training his breathing while practicing moves with his sabre, Josias had cut open a large rock nearby on the banks of the stream and what he saw inside was a rather large light blue-ish gemstone deposit that was almost the size of his forearm. Thanking God for his providence, Josias didn't waste a second to share his findings with his companions though they decided it was best to keep it safe until they could have it further assessed by the jewel maker back home in Goria. Though he didn't say it, Josias smiled as he had a couple of ideas on what to use the jewels for when he got back home.
Now after days on the road for the journey home, as they trekked through very familiar surroundings, they finally spotted their destination from a hill a short distance from Gloria. A sprawl of wooden houses and huts with some stone buildings in between could be seen where many traders with carts pulled by oxen and horses were making their way into and out of the settlement. Unlike most settlements in the Halaklands which were mostly unwalled, Goria was surrounded by tall palisades constructed from thick logs that stood over twice as tall as the average adult male. Though there were many buildings, farmhouses, and barns outside the palisade next to the vast rice Paddy fields and animal pens, most of the residential buildings and other stone structures were inside of the palisade proper. On the eastern side of the large village was the Great Arus river and upon its banks that were proximal to the village, the palisade continued to surround buildings and jetties in what was a protected river harbour with small fishing canoes and more medium-sized boats carrying barrels of produce and other materials were coming in and out of it, some rowing away to a direction where one could see the river flowing from the Great Mataniluat Lake. Truly Goria was the most deserving of the moniker ‘Capital of the Halaklands’. It was the fruit of what his forefathers before him had built, especially with aid from the wealth they had acquired during the reign of the current King of Goria, his grandfather King Parhal.
When they were already close to the main gates of the village after another half-hour with the sun beginning to travel to the west, Josias spotted from afar a very familiar face sitting upon a fence while watching the other boys playing a sort of ball game where they were kicking around a ball made of some animal fat and rubber. The boy sitting on the fence was acting as a sort of referee to his friends who were playing and wasn't paying too much attention to the road so he hadn't noticed Josias and his companions arriving. It wasn't until Josias had shouted out did the boys pause from their game and looked up.
“Oy Anggi!! Nga mulak Hami! (Oy, little brother! We're home!)” Josias shouted as he waved his arm toward the boy “Go and tell everyone we're back!”
It took a second for the boy Jakobus to register who was shouting at him but when he saw it was his brother and companions who had returned from their quest, the boy's eyes widened as he quickly jumped off the fence, and shouted back, “Olo, Abang!! (Alright, Big brother!)”
Without a second's delay, Jakobus immediately rushed into the city while telling his friends that his brother and companions had returned. The other boys immediately laughed and cheered along as they followed Jakobus in shouting and proclaiming that the Young Lord Josias had returned with a beast of a monster in tow. Josias and Johannes laughed as they saw the glee in the children’s eyes along with their cheers while Hesekiel only shook his head with a faint smile. As they passed through the gates, the guards stationed there and on the watchtowers greeted them by thumping their spears to the ground or banging their sabres to their shields while cheering.
“Horas, tulang! Abang! (Greetings, Uncles, brothers!)” Josias greeted the guards to which they greeted back. Some of them even approached the heroes to give them congratulatory pats on their backs.
“Yabbag! Na bosar ma binatang i! (Holy shit! That beast's huge!) How did you manage to kill it?” One of the guards said in astonishment as they saw the sheer size of the monstrosity that they were hauling upon their oxen-pulled wagon.
“Oh we just gave it a couple of love taps is all! Hahahaha! My mother was more terrifying than that beast!” Josias said with a hearty laugh to which the other guards laughed along with him before the party continued its way into the village.
As the three young warriors were making their way through the village, more and more people - most prominently the young men and women of the village - started to gather round and cheer for them with songs and dancing as some villagers even started banging upon the traditional Gondang drums that were in their houses to mark the occasion while many of the children were throwing around flower petals And rice grains to mark the happy occasion. Josias was starting to get sucked into the atmosphere as he raised both his arms towards the crowd as he rode through the streets of the village. Soon enough, the feel of the moment caught up with him as he engaged in the traditional Halak pastime of singing as he sung with a booming yet melodious voice.
“~Dison adong huboan, Tuhan! Parbue ni ngolungku na so tardok nian! (~And here I bring a gift to you, my Lord! An offering of thanks from my heart that I can give..!)” Josias started to sing a familiar hymn to the people “~Sadia ma argana Tuhan, molo sai nirajuman sude dengganbasaM? (But what's it worth when I dare to compare, to all that You have brought with Your mercy and Your Love?)”
And to that, all the people in the crowd responded with the chorus of the song, “~Jalo ma Tuhan, sai las ma rohaM! (Take it please, my Lord, accept our offerings!)”
And so the parade had continued through the streets of the main square of the village all the way to Josias’ destination which was the main Great Hall of the King in the central part of the village. It seems that news travelled very fast as the party arrived at the courtyard outside the Great hall, dozens of people had already gathered to welcome in front of it. From young to old, warriors to servants, but Josias recognized them all as family. They were members of his clan or of the Clans of his companions. Stood at the front of the lot was a muscular middle-aged man with a large frame, and a chiseled bearded jaw who looked strikingly at Josias with a huge grin as he embraced a gentle-looking woman with her black hair ties to a bun next to him who was carrying in her arms a toddler of only two years old while next to the large man was Jakobus and slightly hiding behind him was a young girl who looked to be about five or six years old who bore a resemblance to the woman. Josias smiled as he saw them and raised his arm towards them before he got off his mount and walked towards them. They were his family, his parents and younger siblings.
As the three young warriors dismounted, they approached the front of the great hall and the people before they clasped their hands together with their palms pressed against each other and brought their hands towards their foreheads while slightly bowing their heads towards the elders in a gesture of respect and reverence called the somba. After that, Josias stepped forward as he knelt while his hands were still clasped and his head was still slowed before speaking.
“Horas ma di Hamu angka tuatuanami. Dijolo raja sieahan, dipudi raja sipaimaon (Greetings be with you, O great elders. In front of the King do we bow and behind the King do we wait). We, your children, have returned from our journey and have brought with us the spoils of the hunt as proof of our victory.” Josias said with an audible voice so as to be heard by everyone in the courtyard. “Please accept this offering of flesh as a pleasing gift to you and so that through its blood may we be strengthened always…”
The large man, Josias’ father - Lord Parulian - nodded in satisfaction before he bellowed out in a loud voice, calling out the three young men in front of him. “Tuan Josias Panuturi Hatigoran Sigumogo, Tuan Johannes Hisar Sinatua, Tuan Hesekiel Patindoan Torang Rapmasari. We welcome you and we accept your offering! Horas!!”
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“Horas!!” Everyone shouted back in response to Parulian’s call before erupting into cheers as soon as the greetings were over and done with.
With the formalities finished, Josias immediately leaped towards his family to embrace them after a week apart.
“My son has returned!!” Parulian said excitedly as he basically picked Josias who was a few inches shorter than him up and started spinning him around “Thank you God for safely returning my son! And… what's this I'm feeling?”. As if by instinct Parulian could feel the aura exuding off of his son to be stronger and more potent than before. At this realization, his eyes widened as he asked to confirm.
“Did you advance already, son?” Parulian's excitement could hardly be contained as Josias nodded in the affirmative. Immediately the man gave Josias another bear hug and tightened his grip “That's my boy!! I'm so proud of you! Hotma, can you believe this?! Our son is already a third star warrior! And he's barely eighteen!!”
“Oy! Let the boy go! Can't you see he can barely breathe, you big oaf!” Josias' mother gave Parulian a hard slap to the back of his shoulder in a harsh tone before she turned towards her son and the biggest smile appeared on her face. She immediately handed the child in her arms to Parulian before she embraced her son who was now a head taller than her almost as tightly as her husband did. “Agooo, mauliate ma Tuhanku Jesus ngadiramoti Ho anakku na buhabaju asa boi mulak ibana di bagasan dame! (Thank you Lord for taking care of my son!) Oh did you know how much you worried me, you ungrateful child!! One of these days either you or your father will be the death of me mark my words!”
Josias could only laugh at the comical fashion of how his mother can go from scolding him to hugging him and back to scolding him again in a matter of seconds. At this point he's half-convinced that his mother was an unappeased vengeful spirit. But it always amazed him how despite the fact that she had given birth to four children, she still had a fairly fit body without any signs of excess fat nor did she even start to show any signs of getting wrinkles or gray hairs. Despite the fact that she would be thirty-eight years old in a few months, she could easily pass for a woman a decade younger than she actually was.
“Ma, I'm fine, really! Hahahaha! I've already passed the age of eighteen, my confirmation, as well as my very first hunt. By all respects, I'm a man now!” Josias said with a chuckle
“Nonsense! You'll always be my baby!” his mother refused to concede as she continued to glomp him “And, oof! Has anyone mentioned how much you stink, boy? Hurry up and get cleaned! You've always been like that! Dirty and disorganized unlike your brother!”
Josias merely rolled his eyes before he continued, “Speaking of brothers, how are my baby siblings doing?”
“Brother, as you can see I'm doing fine!” Jakobus said proudly as he puffed up his chest to try and show off a bit of muscle “Father has started training me recently and I'm sure I'm going to be just as strong as you soon! You better watch out or maybe I'll be the king someday, hahaha!”
“Pfft, yea sure, pipsqueak.” Josias immediately ruffled the boy's hair to his brother's annoyance but eventually he laughed “Anyways, I was talking about the siblings I actually care about (Jakobus: Abang! That's mean!). Where's my little Julia and Janus?”
Immediately as he said that, the shy little girl who had been hiding behind Jakobus peeked her little face out as she looked at Josias for a second before smiling and running towards him to hug his waist while shouting, “Abangg!!!”.
“Ooohh there's our little princess!! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!” As Josias picked up the little five year old girl he wasted no time before he landed pecks on her cheeks and her head while tickling her.
“Buhahahaha!! Abang stop! That tickles!!..Hahahah!!” Though the little girl was saying that the joyful laugh and smile on her face betrayed her words as Josias even continued to blow on her stomach making fart sounds. Just as Josias was having fun with his younger sister he looked at the little two year old boy who was being held by his father and so after putting Julia down he stretched his arm out and towards the little Janus and the toddler laughed as he stretch his arms out towards his older brother while saying, “Babangg!”
“Woah… that's a strong grip!! Hahaha! I can tell you're gonna be just as strong as your Abang!!” Josias said as he smothered the boy's cheeks with his own to which Janus just playfully smacked his brother's face away while laughing “Or maybe even stronger than me!”
“Me stwong… ya ya.. Stwongg!!” The toddler Janus raised his arm trying to imitate what he regularly sees his father doing when showing off his muscles.
“Don't believe him, Janus. He's a bully.” Jakobus said as he took Janus from Josias’ arms “Say it with me, Bully…”
“..Bbu-..wyy?? Buwwy??” The toddler did his best to try and imitate his second oldest sibling.
“Bully!!” Julia laughed and pointed at Josias as she joined in the fun.
“Hehehe, that's right!”
“Oy, Maa!! Jakob is teaching my babies weird things again!” Josias said in exaggerated annoyance.
“Boys, play nice with each other.” Hotma said as she shook her head in disapproval before she took off one of the wooden slippers she was wearing and held it up towards her two sons like a mace “Or else you know what’ll happen!”
Parulian laughed as he saw the antics of his family before he smacked Josias in the back and pointed towards a direction. When Josias looked to where his father was pointing, he noticed the one person he cared about just as much as he did his family standing near the entrance staircase to the Great Hall. Serena was standing there with her hair still tied up in a ponytail as she had immediately rushed from the apothecary. When she noticed Josias looking at her, she smiled and waved at him as she approached him and his family. Josias quickly cleared his throat and slicked back his hair as he saw her coming. Jakobus noticed this as he clicked his tongue before he turned away to bring his younger siblings away to play something.
“I'm so glad you're safe, Josi!” Serena said as she had come and hugged Josi out of the blue to which Josias could only smile sheepishly as he blushed slightly.
“I'm back, Sere!” Josias said a little flustered as he noticed his parents grinning at the sight of the two young lovebirds. But regardless of his embarrassment he hugged the young woman back as he whispered into her ears so as to not make what he was about to say audible to anyone else “I've missed you, hasian (my love)...”
“Au pe, hasian. (Me too)” Serena said softly as she comfortably laid her head on his chest. Due to her foreign blood, Serena stood a little taller than most of the average Halak girls her age but when standing next to Josias, he still managed to stand several inches taller than her.
“Okay, that's enough, break it up! That's way too close for my liking…” All of a sudden Johannes appeared between the two lovers to separate them “Ito (sister), how many times do I have to tell you to be wary of your surroundings. You're in public! And you, Josi! Ain't no way I'm letting you get all touchy feely with Sister Sere here. Don't think I didn't see where your hands were journeying, you whippersnapper!”
Serena and Josias only rolled their eyes before chuckling after seeing Johannes' antics.
“Abang, you don't have to worry, honestly! I've known Josi since he was a baby. He's safe with me…” Serena said with a smile to her cousin. Though he was only a few months older than her, because Johannes' father was her mother's older brother, Serena referred to him as older brother according to Halak customary laws.
“He may be safe with you but it's you who's not safe with him! And he's a sly one too! Did you know in one of the villages we were in there was this girl who-...!! Ow! Hese! What the heck-?!” as Johannes was starting to blabber his mouth causing Josias to slightly panic, Hesekiel had appeared and pulled the man away.
“Lae (cousin), my parents want to speak to you.” Hesekiel said curtly as always while he nodded his head towards Serena and nodded at her before leaving while dragging Johannes with him “Later, kak (older sister)...”
“Ito (brother) Hese has always been short on words.” Serena said of her adopted cousin before she turned back her attention towards Josias who looked like he was heaving a sigh of relief “What was bang Jo talking about a girl in a village?”
“Hasian, you don't need to listen to him. You know he's always running his mouth off making up wild stories. Blowing things out of proportion, I say.” Josias tried his best to dispel Serena's doubts but she only raised her eyebrow and gave a small pout.
“Really? Blowing things out of proportion means that there was indeed a situation to begin with so…”
“Th-that’s not what I meant! What I meant to say was that-...!” Just as Josias was about to explain the situation, the conversation was cut short by the sound of loud bangs of a staff being thudded to the ground coming from the entrance to the Great hall. The one to make the noise was an older-looking man that looked like he was in his sixties, judging from his wrinkled face and white facial hair though not in line with that was his body that still looked very toned with minimal wrinkles. The man was one of the King's most trusted advisors and Serena's grandfather, Tuan Marasi.
With a loud and powerful voice, Lord Marasi declared, “Lend your ears, brothers, for our King speaks!”
And with that powerful statement, almost immediately after, the loud crowd instantly quieted as they saw from inside the great hall, being supported by his staff in his right hand and the bishop Ludwig on his left side, another older man emerged from the great hall. His neck-length hair was gray while his clean-shaven face made his very sunken cheeks all the clearer to see. He was wearing the traditional Halak Ulos that wrapped around his waist which covered his lower body until his ankles while his torso was only partially covered by another ulos which acted more like a cloak rendering his ribcage and very thin upper body all the more visible. Josias couldn't help but lower his head in sadness as he saw his grandfather, who once stood so proudly as the village's - if not the entirety of the Halaklands' - strongest protector, achieving the Seventh star of power during the great battle against the coalition nearly two decades ago. But now here he still stood, the bones of his body withering, his strength failing by the day due to some blasted illness that not even the Reverend Ephorus knew how to cure or what it even was. But in spite of all that, when Josias looked at his grandfather, he still sensed the same strength and sharpness within his eyes that he's had for a long time. This wasn't even an exaggeration as Josias felt King Parhal locked eyes with him and the King smiled before he continued to speak in a voice that still contained some strength.
“In honor of these young warriors who have returned with such a bounty, and my panggoaran (Grandchild whose name he bears) achieving the third star in his young age, tomorrow night, we shall gather here once more in celebration and a feast! Horas!” As the king declared, the people in the courtyard cheered as they responded. Soon after, King Parhal and his advisors entered back into the great hall along with the other clan elders including Lord Parulian. While that was happening, the younger generations were very giddy about the upcoming feast. Josias smiled as he couldn't wait for it to come to pass. A feast in honor of him. The very thought sent waves of happiness through him as he couldn't wait for tomorrow to come. But first things first. He needed a bath desperately.