Ward woke up to find himself asleep in a warm bed. He got up and went to exit the room only to quickly see the same maid who helped him the day before cleaning in front of his door. She smiled at him and asked him to go back inside the room and wait while she notified the duke he is awake.
However, before she had the opportunity to leave, Ward latched himself to her seeking information. He found out that his host is The Duke of Veis, heir apparent to the port city, the biggest city in the entire Eastern Kingdom, bigger than the capital itself. He had given up the claim of the city to his younger brother.
When Ward asked why, the maid suddenly paused and realized that perhaps she should not be sharing any information, so once again she urged Ward to go back to his room while she headed out to call the young duke.
***
“I heard you asked about me? Am I that interesting to you?”
“You decided many things for me yesterday, yet I didn’t even know your name… so yes”
“Then how about I answer one of your questions, and you answer mine” the Duke’s curiosity was exploding, and he quickly got an agreement from Ward, so he took the first opportunity to ask a simple question
“Do you know the tale of the ugly duck? It talks about a duck that is the ugliest duck among all of his siblings and is abused because of it. Then when he grew up..”
Ward continued on his behalf “It turned out that he was a swan, the most beautiful swan in the lake.”
“So you know it? Is it a story told around your village?”
Ward thought for a moment, and while this is the type of story he used to tell his grandchild on earth, he had never heard it in his current life.
“My turn, why are you asking me this?”
“Just curious, I found a book with stories in them - you already knew the continuation of the story of the Zphinx, I was wondering if you knew other stories as well. So these stories are famous in your village?”
Ward without hesitation responded, “Yes, my father used to tell me these stories all the time.”
“You are the Duke of the port city? Why did you leave it and come here?”
“Because the princess wanted me here. What the princess wants, the princess gets. Plus, it is a good opportunity to try new things and expand my knowledge of how each section of the capital operates before my responsibilities catch up to me.”
“You said one of the merchants that vanished was your father, I looked them up, these merchants don’t look Aklamatians, and they’ve been going back and forth between the northern and southern kingdom for years. What is their goal?”
Ward was thinking about his next question when he heard the duke’s question. He started to feel pressure as if suddenly realizing he had fallen for a trap laid down by a hunter. He wanted to change the narrative quickly
“My father only joined the merchants to pay the tribute in the capital. He didn’t want to travel with so many valuables without protection.”
“If you are lying to me, the punishment is death” the duke empathized sarcastically, then added
“Did you lie to me?”
Ward couldn’t help but gulp, but quickly he calmed himself and brazing retorted “is this your next question? Because mine is going first” He then asked
“The people in the city, they were very malicious toward us. Why is that?”
“I am not convinced you spoke the truth earlier, so this game is over.”
Ward understood that the Duke was trying to put pressure on him because he was just a child. He wanted to get information from him that could prove to harm his village - but he understood enough to try and divert his attention from the truth. He then wondered if he was caught lying he could be killed, so why would he admit to doing so?
The conversation had ended, with the Duke no longer willing to answer any questions, and not asking any of his own.
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The Duke was curious. However, he had nine other people to ask, that were likely to know more. Moreover, he intended to head out to ask them about the stories first thing.
The duke switched to his soldier uniform and headed out taking Ward with him. He introduced him as a guest of the Duke, to a solo merchant that was intending to return to the papermaking town, and asked the merchant to take care of him.
He bid him farewell with a smile on his face. He then went to the Marquise house to ask the other aklamatians about the riddle.
***
The merchant was traveling alone, without guards or a group, as merchants usually have, she didn't seem to be holding anything in the cart that had two horses attached to it.
She had shown displeasure about being asked to take care of the child, the dissatisfaction was not because he was Akalamatian but rather because she did not want the responsibility that was laid on her.
“We will arrive at the crossroad between your village and the papermaking town in about four days. You can continue on your own from there, right?”
After receiving an affirmation, the merchant insisted that Ward will not be making trouble for her in the next few days, and will instead help by feeding the horses.
She had felt conflicted about the whole thing. The kid was brought by a soldier who said it was words of the duke, the child was wearing beautiful clothes and a fine green coat. Yet, his home was in a simple village.
She felt conflicted regarding how to treat the child since he seemed to have an important sponsor. In the end, she just went with a casual treatment toward a villager child, but slightly better by not making him help in anything heavy. So he ended up just quietly sitting in the cart, and coming out to relax whenever they would stop.
She thought he was an extremely quiet and shy kid. However, while Ward did not speak a word, his head was racing with ideas, and with the single thought of how weak he was, how he had no way of protecting his friends, how he did not ask what was going to happen to them. How, the only thing he was able to do, was to get himself out of trouble and even get nice clothes - while his neighbors are likely dealing with a terrible fate.
He thought about asking the merchant the questions he had, but he remembered that all the people he met in the Capital were very hostile toward him. So he preferred to being ignored than feeling any of that again. However, on the second day, the merchant herself got the boy to ride next to her
“It is very creepy. You have not said a word since yesterday! What is on your mind?”
Her directness dumbfounded ward, so he tried a bit of his own
“The people I met in the capital were very hostile toward me, why aren’t you?”
“Hostile? I am born and raised in the papermaking town. The town is rather new, and our livelihood is based on what we learned from Aklamats, so I don’t know anyone hostile toward you. Rather, there is a bit of admiration to your legacy. Regardless of what is being said.”
“What is being said?”
The merchant did not want to tell a child what children should be spared from
“Nothing that will reach you in your little village, don’t worry.”
“Do you know the Duke of Vies?”
Finally relieved that the boy has gotten a bit more lively and started talking, she responded
“Is he the one who sponsored you? I don’t know much about him - except for that fact that he is the princess’s fiance. Are you honestly sponsored by him without knowing that?”
Ward’s eye grew wide, and he started probing for more about the situation
“What do you know about the princess?
“For a kid, you are really interested in the politics of that place, aren’t you?” she expected an answer, but did not receive one - instead she received expecting eyes that wanted answers of their own
“Princess Viola Verai of the Northern Kingdom, she is the oldest of two children, she is 15 years old, and her younger sister is 13 - which makes her the crown princess, though I think her younger sister is the one with real potential. Both of them apparently know how to play the political game really well.
There was supposed to be a conflict of war with the northerners earlier this year- it was the princesses interference that stopped it from happening. The relationships are still tense, they’ve been tense for the past five generations, but it is getting even worse now.”
Ward was listening to the explanation as if he was listening to a bedtime story.
The merchants passed through the usual route next to the river, which is safe and well traveled, nothing exciting happened for the rest of the journey, and on the 5th night Ward arrived at the intersection, he stayed the night with the merchant, and as soon as he saw break of dawn he started walking toward the village
The path wasn’t well traveled, but it wasn't dangerous. Yet, it seemed like he needed to walk two days to arrive on time.
After walking for an hour, he was already too exhausted to try and walk more. After all, he was still a child.
This, coupled with his thoughts on how he couldn't help his friends earlier, frustrated him even more.
He still had the Ellanour’s backpack with him, but there was nothing useful except for a knife.
He thought he could try to make a skateboard with it, but he didn't have the strength to cut pieces of wood the way he needed to, and the branches he found wouldn't work.
Instead, he used his time to make a bow and arrow to try to hunt with in order to eat. He then continued walking for as long as he could, but it was too exhausting, so he needed to take more breaks than he expected.
That night he collected wood to start a fire and continued to do so until the fire was big enough. He then tried to flame it out in hopes that someone from the village would see it, and get him.
No one noticed, no one knew.
The journey that he thought was going to need three days, ended up taking him 7.
He had to hunt on his own, cook on his own, and make it all the way back on his own two little feet. He was only lucky that no dangerous animals made their way to him.
When he finally saw the village, he was extremely exhausted. Both physically and emotionally. But, upon seeing one of the villagers, he cracked a smile as he fainted in his hands.