Novels2Search
Haja, A Merchant's Apprentice
Chapter 15: The Start of our Journey of Friendship and Happiness!

Chapter 15: The Start of our Journey of Friendship and Happiness!

It is now late evening. After a long journey and a long onslaught of discussions, Imogyeran was

persuaded by the couple to sleep in a nearby inn. They paid for their own rooms, while Imog preferred

to set up (stone-)camp close to a window into their room. It was his plan to surprise them during the

night by jumping through the windows with a handful of mud to throw into their faces.

However, something different happened.

The late night has broken in. Imogyeran is getting ready for the jump as he let Yunran scout out the area

for him to barge in.

Yunran suddenly comes back in extreme haste and tells the boy not to do it!

He mistakes her caution for an extortion effort from the couple and prepares himself anyways.

Yunran informs the other 4 of her brothers and sisters to try and stop Imog’s plans. The only one

standing with Imogyeran is the trusty and faithful Dogogo, who does not understand the ruckus.

With his help Imog and Dogogo make it up to the inn’s window but they stop short before entering.

The two are currently veiled by the night’s spirits and while they can see and hear inside, the couple

cannot see them.

*WHIP*

Like a good boy, Imogyeran climbs down the inn’s windows, 60% confused and 40% frightened.

Is this what having a girlfriend is like? Does he really want something like this?

Dogogo next to him is as confused as and frightened as his bestest friend Imog.

Imogyeran seems depressed, that he had found such a couple as friends and does mind their

way of expressing affection.

Even though it should not play any role in this incident, Imogyeran actually lied, when he told the

Medalians his age. Whether it was just a mistake on his side and he just rolled with it or he wanted to

seem older than he actually is, fact is he is actually still 9 years old and did not even get into his

puberty.

Imogyeran is confused.

The next day. Kasim and Kassandra notice, that Imog is keeping a strangely large distance from the two

of them. Did something happen?

Imogyeran pretends to be unaware of this new distance and tries to covertly lead the two of them away

from the village.

He is too ashamed to be seen in the same place as them and this shows in his hurried speech and

strangely normal style of speech.

Skipping forward a bit in time, the three of them are now a decent way away from civilization.

Imogyeran signals all of them to stop.

By this point, everybody would realize that something weird was going wrong.

<>

<>

During the last night, Imogyeran had a serious discussion with his family on how to proceed. Though

he might not always seem like it, Imogyeran is a very serious and honest boy. Creating a dispute

between friends is not something he wants to do, which is why the boy decided on this:

<>

He tells them the truth!

As he kept talking, the faces of both Kassandra and Kasim’s faces started reddening and contorting

from immense embarrassment.

In the end, the three of them had to hold a really awkward talk that none of them were ready for.

Just a quick reminder: All three of them were less than 15 years old! They actually never had the proper

education in this area and they certainly do not have the maturity necessary to explain such a complex

topic.

We need to go on a short tangent here:

Society:

This word describes the product of different people unifying under one moniker and being subjugated

to the same rules. An early society’s priority should be simple:

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

1) Survival: Everyone should have a chance to live their live, which includes:

-health

-hygiene

-economy

-architecture

-infrastructure

2) Etiquette: Everyone should be somewhat comfortable with how they can behave and how people

should behave. This may include:

-Mannerism

-Ethics

-Religion/Freedom of speech/Freedom of opinion (depending on the country’s society)

3) The society’s core: A society is often created as a response to imminent environmental pressure. It’s

development will heavily be influenced by this core ideology, creating a difference in societies. Events,

people, environment, culture, history, etc.. Anything can become a society’s core. Whether that is a

good thing or not, is not for us to decide here.

4) The society’s future: Education and development of their children. This includes:

-Basic education/ hereditary knowledge

-Creating opportunities for future employment

-cultural education

-emotional development

If humanity was a line of generations with a starting generation:

Would the generation 0 know, that they created children when fooling around? Could they care for

them, give them the necessary love and care for them to grow straight? Maybe but it isn’t easy to care

for something you do not know.

The essence of this little tangent is this: It is right to criticize the systems of Gaia’s society. It absolutely

should be criticized and through the effort of many people, it should develop into something better.

Especially the fourth priority of a society, its future, would eventually gain more and more importance

as a society proceeded to grow. Eventually, it would grow schools, daycare facilities, social gathering

spaces for teenagers, regulations for mature content and more and more development.

But that stuff does not exist right now.

In a twisted way one could make an argument, that children related to the pleasure-districts in these

societies are emotionally better prepared for the future, though that does not make them an ideal to

strive to.

Children need to educate each other, making mistakes but trying their best.

Once again, criticizing a system is a vital part of human development. But please, do not condemn

them, because if you do, you also condemn the effort of those, who do not know better. You condemn

the helpless and innocent. Do not do that.

Time passes. Imogyeran takes in a lot of information he has actively avoided over his life. The boy is

confused. But he is still glad to have had that talk with his two friends.

Not to say that this talk won’t have its hilarious repercussions, but more on that later.

Going forward, the group needs to decide on a new agenda:

Kassandra and Kasim are not used to life in the wild and they have no intention of changing that.

They need food, water, shelter, money and hygiene.

Water and shelter could be negotiated with in the future with the help of Dogogo and Raul, as well as

Aranierô.

Depending on the service, they might also be able to compromise for hygiene.

But the duo had no interest of becoming fasting monks. They insisted on either getting a cook for their

travels or limiting their resting places to villages, cities and small settlements.

Imog found their needs to be very excessive and he still did not want to be seen with the two in the

same inn or room. He tried to compromise by learning how to cook from the spirits, but his family

prohibited him from doing that, more precisely limiting his exposure to the spirits.

As it turned out, Imogyeran’s behavior evidenced that he still had too much exposure to the Strays in

the environment. To circumvent any dangerous changes from occurring inside of him, they strictly

regulate Imog’s allowed time of communication.

Imog also tried to cook them some of the stew he had eaten together with his family in Minoborgo, but

they reeled back in disgust and threw down the wooden bowls he had put all his efforts into preparing,

earning the two a big slap in the face.

After a long discussion he eventually relented to the group’s decision.

*Thud*

<>

Imog is currently lying on top of Aranierô’s back, watching the clouds go by and lamenting his new

comrades. Aside from his normally crazy family of familiars and his even crazier families in Carcera

and Minoborgo, Imog does not have that many human interactions. Compromising like this and

socializing has proven to be extremely taxing on the boy in ways he did not expect.

He probably thought of himself as extremely knowledgable considering his years of communication

with Animas, Strays and Altaras, but is was surprising how little he seemed to know once he actually

got into contact with those two.

Is this his fault? Is he an idiot? Are the two of them smart? Are they idiots and he is the smart one?

It is easy to deduce, that Imog must be having such thoughts right about now.

Only a day has passed since the so-called ‘inncident’ and he already feels exhausted. Something needs

to change.

The next day.

Imog has had one day to think and decided on today’s solution.

Kassandra and Kasim just came out of the inn, being received by a warmly smiling Imog.

Though they did not meet that long ago(disregarding the time 4 years ago), they could tell, that this was

a really dangerous smile.

Once again, Imogyeran leads the two of them away from the inn and away from humanity, all while

humming a fun tune!

<>, once again Imog shared his worries with the two of them and

told them what it was that annoyed him in which way.

<>

For the first time yet, Imogyeran raised the earth around the three of them and encased them in a cage,

while proudly grabbing his shoulders with both o his hands and laughing:

<

Step 1: Decide a leader by force!

Step 2: What the leader says is the law!

Step 3: If anyone has any problems with the law, fight me, the future leader, or leave!>>

You could call that behavior regression, you could call that emotional distancing or you could call that

a fight-or-flight reflex in response to the unknown situation. But this is how it turned out and by the

way, that Imog started calling all his familiars to battle against Kassandra and Kasim at once, it was

more than clear that he was serious!

Three hours later: Kasim is already knocked out inside a large chunk of sand.

Kassandra is currently using her threads to disperse a giant wall of ice trying to corner her from the

sides, while dodging a bunch of rock spikes jutting out of the ground. While fighting, she is losing a lot

of water, because Aranierô has heated up the air, making breathing and respiration more and more

difficult. She won’t hold on that much longer.

One hour later: Kassandra is knocked out, completely drained of her energy. Imogyeran has flown into

the sky using Yunran and not come down ever since.

<

MONEY!>>

And that is the about how the Kas-Couple had to bend to Imog’s will.

The end.

<>

… or not?

Two additional days have passed, in which Imog taught the two of them how to live without drinking

and eating. At night, he conjured a large stone pavilion for them to sleep in, while Imog himself slept

together with Aranierô and his family.

Surprisingly to him, both of them kept staying with him despite their apparent bad mood.

They had mentally prepared themselves for the worst to come.

This makes it all the more confusing to them, that Imog decided to take a stop in this small town.

But Imog has decided to no longer be concerned with their opinions. Instead he told them this:

<

our little group!>>

<>, Kasim asks.

<>

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter