"Alright here's everybody's stop!" the driver said as they came within sight of the city. aero's eye twitched at the size, it was a lot bigger than he was expecting, at least six times. but he wasn't imitated or at least refused to admit it, "gotta find a place to stay for the night." it wasn't late, a little after midday. but he would like to secure that first before he got started on the registration for his future cart.

the cart stopped and he bid goodbye to the old man, he had mixed feelings knowing this was the last time he would see the man. 'should I morn someone I've known no more than 10 days?' this man was dying, joining his family. was this something sad or something happy. "I don't even know his name!"

he kept going back and forth with himself as he found his way to the right building through a sheer prideful will. "this looks good," he read the sign by the door for the prices. lower than he thought they might be, so that meant his budget was different than he imagined. the numbers started going through his head as he walked in, heading right up to the counter and requesting a room.

"one bed? are you here alone?" the female at the desk. aero bit back something hostile and asked if that was a problem, she probably picked up on his suppressed venom. but she didn't say anything beyond handing him the key to his room. hefting up his bag he climbed the stair to his room, "is this door reinforced?" he lightly kicked the door, cringing in pain. yeah, that door was pure metal under that wood decoration.

"Surprisingly light," after unlocking the door he pulled the door open with much less force than he expected. "no wonder she didn't say anything," whatever the door was made of would be hard to get through, at the very least anyone or thing trying to get through would wake him. it helped that the walls were made of something similar. "the perfect room for a man traveling alone, huh."

as he unpacked aero wondered how long they had this room and why, he knew guys rarely traveled alone. unless they were like despite or cocky. he wasn't sure why this was frowned upon as he traveled alone many times and nothing bad has happened, of course, he could put up more of a fight.

locking him room aero headed back out to the city, he needed to get started on the cart registration. it took a bit for him to find the right building, "well the zalts were not looking my way today." the place had already closed for the day, so that left aero with no other real choice but to come back tomorrow. sighing he headed back to the hotel, this time paying a bit more attention to the stores that he passed.

the next morning aero had his first meal on the go heading straight to the office, the worker there didn't seem pleased to see him. aero wondered what upset her more the fact it was the crack of dawn or the fact he was a guy getting a cart. he also didn't care making that clear along with the fact he was willing to throw hands with her if she didn't cooperate.

'my lord this process seems incredibly insouciant,' the helper commented as their lord filled out the 12th thing of paperwork.

'yeah I won't argue with that, but most of this I can see the need for. the rest I don't,' aero continued to work take an entire flower to complete all the starting paperwork. "don't worry he you actually buy the cart you don't have to fill out this amount of paperwork. aero just looked at her suspiciously, before he took the slip and left to go shopping for a cart. from what he knew three places around the city sold them.

Aero wanted to check them all out before thinking about buying, one to see their option another to see how they treated him. the helper was starting to get a little worried about his lord...well it wasn't paranoia since he was usually right about people treating him strangely because of his gender. but this might become a serious problem, the worst part is it would be years before it changed on this planet.

'this is a problem,' the helper thought as aero held himself back from making the seller who offered a cart great for carrying children. it annoyed him that she assumed that he wanted a cart because if he was with a child he would have bought that cart it was a very good recommendation well within his price range probably last until he was in his thirties.

but he didn't want that kind, the kind he did want was in plenty of what he could buy. there were a lot more choices than he expected, not even considering what he wanted the cart to look like. this led to him visiting the markets over several days, he did make a choice. a medium-size cart made from purple-silver wood and a lather canopy.

after that, he went to look for a creature to pull that cart, there were fewer choices this time and they all kind of looked the same to him. 'what an interesting specimen?' the helper spoke deep scanning the creature. they haven't had the chance to do scan a creature before, a deep scan could take days with their limited abilities at the moment. they couldn't wait for the lord could grow, which might allow them to see why the other life forms on this planet the grinine so much, the kind of hatred on a genetic level.

aero stilled had a few things to do before he could leave the city with his new cart. he had to take a class about driving the said cart. he wasn't looking forward to the class partly because he was completely expecting for it to be taught by a girl who got unnecessary soft with him.

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'well I was right about the first thing!' he was wrong about the soft things as the women didn't speak in anything lower than a shout. "why though?" he couldn't help but wonder as he pulled out a scroll to take notes with. he could argue with the law but he had to know it first, the last lasted five flowers. there was a lot of information that day, but aero decided he got what was important. mostly what he needed to know about being a hunter with a cart.

"I didn't know that leaving your cart somewhere could be a sign of how dangerous the mission is!" that would explain why it was recommended when we graduate that they were recommended to get a cart or when they heard a hinters cart had been sitting somewhere for a certain amount of time it was time to start a search party.

"another day then I can head home!" he then realized he probably needed maps. many roads were leading to small towns mostly but if you weren't careful you could get lost. it is why carriage drivers would always be able to make some money anywhere they went, if he ever got badly injured he could take up a job like this. back at the inn aero went over his notes before the third meal, the meal was sweet jell, it was good there was no doubt but aero still preferred his mothers.

the next day he was one of the first to class wanting to get this over with so he could go home, but stretching in preparation for long sitting and writing hours. it was as he expected, though the new student had his attention for a few seconds before he decided they weren't worth more attention. so he turned back to the teacher who lonely spent a few petals reviews yesterday before leading the classes outside.

"today is a practical lesson!" these words excited aero but he kept himself contained. they had to show off their understanding of their ability to drive a cart. 'yeah no way it's that easy!' aero stood back and watch the first girl climb into the driver's spot. he knew skills that people took pride in took a lot of effort to acquire, he did know this from gaining his own skill. as the lord of pride he knew the drivers took quite a bit of pride in their skill, nothing he had to worry about so far but that could change.

"I expected a disaster, kind of disappointed!" he had just watched the woman almost drive the cart into the side of the building the creature pulling it wasn't so lucky and now very upset with her. he wondered if it was going to try and eat her if it did he wouldn't hesitate to put it down. but the teacher calmed it down before pointing out everything she need to improve on.

this quickly became the pattern, they tried driving they messed up some way and then the teacher told them what they need to work on. aero was not looking forward to his turn, 'i should take it slow make less of a fool of myself this way.' he didn't let his worries show keeping his face carefully blank as he climbed into the driver's seat.

he have the reins a gentle crack and the creature moved forward slowly, its large hoves making the earth tremble slightly. he took it slowly just going for a simple lap of the test area. he had nothing to prove so he didn't do anything extreme or unnecessary.

"very good," the teacher praised since it was honest aero allowed his pride to swell at it. he didn't look at his fellow classmates, "it seems that at least one of you have the patience to properly drive. remember that you have to take things slowly at first or you will be losing a lot of money in repairs medical costs, and fines." it would be no cracks in her carapace as long as no one got seriously hurt.

a few more test drives and a final lecture she let them go to drive their carts as they pleased. 'i should wait so none of these people are on the road,' aero decided this as he returned to his inn room to collect his things. he had a few words with his helper as he picked up his cart, he first went and brought several sacks of feed for it. he also put in an order for a few months down for more feed.

'is buying in bulk cheaper?' aero asked himself as he went over numbers in his head. "yeah it's cheaper the deliver fees would stack," so bulk delivers would cost him more. that choice made him finish loading the cart," still got a bit of money." he found better deals than he was expecting so spent less than he planned. 'let's see if there are any souvenirs of interest.' he spent most of him in his room or cart and creature shopping. he didn't know what else this store sold.

'foods off the list first,' that could go bad on the way back so instead, he looked at accessories. he didn't do much in the way of them, got in the way during a fight, and had people hitting on him. but his mother licked accessories just didn't have many of them, she rarely wore them. she did on some date with Adir or when she just wanted to look pretty.

he also considered bringing some scrolls back with him, his mother liked reading almost as much as he did. he went debated on the two gifts decided to get her a simple necklace, his mother didn't like him spending so much money on her so this would be good. then he brought a book which according to the worker was, " rather popular with people around your age!" what he was allowed to skim off the first paragraph definitely intrigued him, he just hopped the writing quilty didn't drop later in the story. or he was going to be very upset.

putting his new things on the cart checked the time by a bundle at a storefront, "yeah most of them have probably gotten off the roads at this point." really it was a matter of luck but hopefully he Zaltess of luck was smiling at him. getting into the driver's seat he cracked the reins and set off, the steps of the creature were going to take some getting used to. he could feel each one from the cart.

"man this is dry," aero stretched out two flowers out of the city. but driving needed most of his attention so he had no other choice, 'would you like to consider your choices to buy a vehicle from the store?'

"oh yeah we talked about that, do we know the price of pride energy?"

"no, but it's let the study phase and they're now figuring out a way to sell it. the sciences who've studied it are willing to pay to study it more, for no other reason than their curiosity, of course, they will report all their finding. none of them could have made it to where they are if they weren't smart or aware.'

"someones threatening them?" that what it sounded like to him.

'the companion has put together a group designed to make sure the people survived the lord's wrath.' the companion was a very smart being aero decided at that moment. a force to protect people from the lords when they got angry, aero had a short temper but he wondered what the lord of wraith was like. is his temper worse than mine?"

'no, while you're temper resembles a fire. the lord of wraith is either fire or ice, to this day people are still debating which is worse either way you will be destroyed!' aero wasn't scared one day he would be at that lords level and he didn't have a plan to get on the bad side of his fellow lords. that would be kind of pointless, the only reason he would fight them is for some training.

"how many of them are fighters?"

'of the current lords of sin, they all have ways of defining themselves. but fighters most of them are not.' aero asked how many were fighters, they responded with the lord of wrath. they were the only lord of sin that could be called a fighter, though he didn't practically enjoy combat. but he would fight the moment, then you die if he had mercy for you.

"do you think he would be willing to spar with me?" the helper responded with a maybe. aero changed the topic but continued to talk with the helper. mostly about what the scientist might do with his energy, it was kind of all he could do at the moment driving. when he stopped the cart for the night he spent a good 10 petals stretching out before he stating training with his weapon. working with his energy afterward mostly just coating his body as he moved as fast as he could.

'i need to work on the sync more.' His poor control made it so that his energy couldn't get up with his physical movements. which causes the energy blow to weaken but had no effect on his physical strike, he would have to fix that one!"