They crossed the village in a matter of minutes, and easily located the stall that Mary had talked about.
On the edge of the village, right next to one of the exits, was a stall with several bits of clothing, cloth, and fabric hanging there and swaying in the breeze.
A large and jovial looking man was standing there with a bright smile on his face. He was a bit shorter than Lucien, but significantly wider, which made him look bigger.
Most of that size was fat however, meaning that he had access to plenty of food, and was probably wealthier than most people that lived in Whaeldrake.
The wealth of this village was massively disproportionate to its small size and population.
Despite his massive frame, his face made him incredibly unintimidating. He had a round, babyish face that looked like it couldn’t even get mad.
The man tried his best to make himself look more mature by growing a thick moustache, but it didn’t help much. He was just too cheery.
Lynn took the list from Lucien and handed him the reins to her horse. She left him with the horses and walked over to the stall since she could carry everything they would need just fine by herself.
Lucien wasn’t too worried that the guy would do anything to her since it was broad daylight, and he also knew that she could handle herself just fine unless the guy also had some experience fighting.
But he still stayed close just in case.
“Welcome! How can I help you today?” the man’s voice was equal parts gentle and enthusiastic, matching quite well with his appearance.
“We’re here to buy a few things, the mayor told us to come here.”
His eyes scanned her, Lucien, and their horses, but not in a threatening or creepy way. “I see that you haven’t bought anything from the others, that’s good.”
“Good? How so?”
“Some of them try and sell you stuff that you just don’t need. And they can be very pushy as well,” he spat.
“It seems like you don’t like them.”
“Just because there’s only a few of us, doesn’t mean I have to like all of them. Some of them are just too greedy for their own good. Leaves a bad impression on travellers and makes it harder for decent folk like us to make a living.”
“Why not get rid of them then?” she asked.
“There’s nothing we can do. They pay their taxes. And its not like they’re breaking any laws,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Anyways, enough about that, what did ya need?”
“We need to cross the wasteland. We’ve got this list here.” Lynn handed him the parchment.
He scrutinised the list for a moment then looked back at them, nodding. “Yeah, I should have all of that. Give me a minute.”
He walked over to the racks of clothes and fabric and started pulling some things out. “No, that’s not right,” he muttered while looking at them and putting some things back.
After a few minutes of scrounging, he placed two big piles of fabric onto the counter. “Here we are.”
“What’s all of this for?” she asked.
“That place gets very hot, and you’re going to sweat a lot. These robes will help with airflow and will stop the sweat from escaping into the air,” he explained.
“Normally, most adventurers wouldn’t need this stuff since they won’t be in there for long. But since you need to cross the entire thing, then you’ll definitely have to worry about the long term effects of the weather.”
Lucien nodded, agreeing that that made a lot of sense.
“And what about this?” Lynn picked up two smaller pieces of fabric.
“Headwraps. I don’t know why, but the sun has a lot more bite in the wasteland than it does here. Just another remnant danger leftover from that ancient monster. These should help protect you from the sun a bit.”
“Thank you.” She paid for the clothes, bundled it all up in her hands and carried it back to the horses where she threw it over the horses’ backs.
“May the Matron bless your journey.” The big merchant sent them off with a blessing and a smile.
They hopped on their horses, something that Lucien had thankfully gotten increasingly skilled at after having to do it so many times. He no longer looked like he was throwing himself onto the horse, and now looked like he was properly mounting it.
Albeit, he lacked a lot of grace when compared to Lynn.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The two rode off through the village exit, journeying towards the wasteland.
As they rode on, the place slowly started to become more and more desolate and barren, but it wasn’t quite fully there yet.
There was still plants, and animals, and life. It all just felt drier, and harsher.
Approaching the wasteland, they could almost see exactly where it started. The grass grew less dense until there was nothing growing out of the ground at all.
The earth was also dry and cracked, like it hadn’t rained in eons.
They could also feel the temperature starting to rise, and felt that it would be even worse the deeper in they went.
They stopped their horses and looked out over the wide expanse before them.
“We’ll probably have to face a few monsters in here, but there shouldn’t be anything we won’t be able to get away from as long as we’re careful.” Lucien looked around at the vast wasteland just in front of them.
“I know you’ve been keeping up with your practice every day, and I would like you to keep at it. It’s even more important now that you’re getting some actual combat experience.”
“Mm.” Lynn nodded, her eyes scanning across the horizon, trying to find where the wasteland ended.
It didn’t. It covered her entire view looking forward. From one side of her vision to the other, and far off into the distance.
“How long is this going to take?” she asked, a little bit stunned now that she was looking at just how big it was.
“Well, how long have we been travelling so far?” Lucien asked, trying to hold back a mischievous smile while looking at her.
“About, three, maybe four days. Why?” She suddenly wasn’t feeling too good.
“I’d say it would be a little bit more than that.”
“Phew, that’s not too ba-”
“Three, maybe four weeks. That would be my guess anyway.” He could no longer contain the smile, looking at her as she stood their frozen in shock. “Now let’s put on our robes and get moving.”
Lynn grumbled but complied. She hopped off the horse and put the robe on top of what she was already wearing. After a few minutes of shimmying, she pulled out what she was previously wearing and stored it in a satchel on her horse.
Lucien did the same, albeit it took him a bit longer to do it with one arm.
They also put on the headwraps, covering their faces until only their eyes could be seen.
The robes felt surprisingly light for how much fabric they were made of, and was also incredibly easy for them to move in. It wouldn’t impact their ability to fight much at all. They just had to be careful not to snag any of the fabric on anything.
They hopped atop their horses and set off into the wasteland. They could immediately feel a change in the air as the heat bore down on them.
When Lynn thought of how long they were going to be spending in that heat, she felt that it was going to be unbearable. By far the most difficult thing she had ever done. Even more difficult than running away from her parents.
“Is it too late to turn back now?” she asked.
“Worried about the heat? If you want you can go back. Nothing’s stopping you. I’m certainly not.”
She looked back the direction they came from for a moment, clearly thinking about it. But after a few moments, she shook her head and turned back.
“I’ve already come this far. Besides, it’s just a few weeks. They’ll hardly notice that I’m gone,” she joked, trying to shake away her thoughts as best she could.
“Glad you’ll be seeing this through.” He smiled. “But if you really want to go back, now’s the best time.”
“No. I’m not going back yet. Not until this is done. I still need to prove myself remember?”
“Mm. Let’s get going then.”
The two continued across the harsh, barren and rocky landscape, making sure not to exhaust the horses by going too quickly.
“Why is it going to take so long anyways?” Lynn asked, wanting to fill the silence.
“Well there used to be a mountain range here, right? While it wasn’t this long, the creature did move around a bit and destroyed a lot of the surrounding area,” Lucien explained.
“But it looked so much smaller on the map back home. I thought Whitmore castle was a lot closer.”
“Map back home? Is it a map of the entire kingdom by any chance?” he asked.
“Yeah, why?” she asked puzzledly.
“You have no idea how big the kingdom is, do you? It would probably take close to a year on horseback for us to reach the capital, let alone for us to go from one corner to the other.”
“How do people travel then? There’s no way people would make that journey each time.” Lynn was astounded by this piece of information.
“By magic, of course. Important places have a teleportation array that allows people to get from one place to another. That’s how contact between countries is so well maintained.”
“How do you know all of this? I thought you hadn’t even gone past Whaeldrake?”
“I haven’t, but I know someone who has. Uther, my teacher.” Lucien paused. “He was a very well travelled man. He had gone all around the kingdom, and to other countries as well. He knew more than most, and made sure to teach me a good amount of it.
The Kingdom of Roddarus was one of the largest nations on the planet of Avara. Albeit, not the only one of its size. There were three others of comparable size, as well as countless other smaller nations.
The smallest nations, like the Eternal Forest of the elves, were less than a hundred kilometres long. While the largest, were in the several thousands.
Avara was almost one-and-a-half times the size of Earth, and consisted of three continents. The northern continent, the southern continent, and the western continent.
The northern continent, where the kingdom of Roddarus was located, was a place teeming with life and political intrigue. It was where the majority of the world’s population was located.
The southern continent was relatively close to the northern one. They were separated by an ocean, but plenty of ships had travelled back and forth, establishing connections between the two continents. It was also well populated, albeit not as much as the northern continent was.
The western continent was quite a bit further away from both of them, and thus was shrouded in mystery. It not only had a significantly smaller population than the other two, but was a lot smaller in terms of landmass as well. There was very little contact established between it and the other two continents.
No one knew if there was a fourth continent out to the east. Many people had tried to find it, but no one ever could. Some would return home disappointed, while others would be lost out at sea forever, never to return.
Lucien and Lynn continued their journey across the wasteland, and soon day turned into night as they continued to talk.
They set up camp long before the sun had set, giving the horses a good chance to rest. They decided to forgo building a fire, as despite the fact that the sun was gone, the heat had only diminished slightly.
They ate their dinner consisting of water, hard bread, and a bit of dried meat. Then as per usual, took turns on watch with Lucien first.