Chapter 68 -Best Summer Ever!(2)

I have always considered myself smarter than others.

Until I actually met 'others'.

I was dumped in the slums in the Autumn of the previous year because I tried to stand up for my mother. Ironically both her and my drunken father did not appreciate my intervention.

So here I was.

It was at this time my real learning began about the world.

I realized that I had to find a place to sleep, so I naturally took one of the best shacks for myself that day.

In the evening the 'owner' returned from the forest and gave me a 'sweet licking'. I learned my first lesson.

Never try to reason with a desperate person.

I quickly fell into the routine of the slums, found an empty shack and worked collecting firewood. I bartered for broken bowls and cups with extra firewood and earned my first pay of coppers.

One day I saved enough coppers to make my first real purchase. I went trembling to the Tavern and bought my first whole rock bread. Not a slice not a quarter like before but a WHOLE loaf.

I ran through the village and slums in joy holding up my prize for everyone to see. I was just waiting for the others to shower me with compliments.

That evening I got showered all right but it was not the kind I was expecting.

They rained down a beating on me and then they took away my bread.

I did receive a compliment that day. Somebody said it was the freshest and softest rock bread they had eaten for days.

"Why thank you."

Was my reply.

Those heartless bastards!

Thus began my steep learning curve.

Winter came.

The stories from experienced folks had made me prepare for it but winter was more than I bargained for.

The cold ate away at the firewood I had stored. Food was scarce and I had to live on warm water and cooked snow for days at a time. If it was not for scraps in the village I might have died.

I ended up sharing a shack with about eight others. It might be more but that was the highest number I could count at the time.

My new roommates were not friends or buddies. On the contrary some of them were the ones who administered previous beatings on me before. I ripped down empty shacks for firewood and begged for food with others.

With nowhere to go, they took advantage of me that winter. I would never forget that one sneering face which constantly treated me like a slave.

Winter had only begun but as soon as the snow-covered the landscape the true horrors began.

One night a pack of wolves raided the slums and dragged off two residents from the outer shacks. The patrol came out of the village to scare them and they slinked away into the darkness. When the guards left and returned to the village, they came back and ambushed three more of my neighbors.

After that night me and my buddies had restless nights. It was worse for me since I was the one sleeping besides the makeshift door. Every few days screams echoed out during the nights.

As if the wolf raids were not enough, rumor started spreading of a creature stalking around that looked like a wolf. It spirited away its victims in secret without any warning.

It was like a wolf, cunning and vicious but it walked on two legs.

The older boys laughed at the story that spread from an old mans mouth but I was scared out of my wits. As more residents died my fear increased.

When Winter passed, my life nearly passed away with it too. Only half of the slum residents survived the winter.

My Winter diet would have made those legendary fat nobles jealous beyond reason. I had shed so much weight I was now skin and bones. I had to use a wooden stick to stand up and move like a broken back old man. Lack of sleep had me sporting bloodshot eyes.

Then the day arrived that many of the young men were dreaming of and the young girls were dreading.

The Mong bandits arrived.

They came in all their splendor, riding horses and decked in leather armor carying iron weapons.

As per the custom of the outlying villages like ours, the Chief came out and paid the bandits a pouch of coins and a wagon filled with sacks of food and other supplies. The bandits then turned their eyes onto the real prize.

The Slums.

I lined up with the others as the captains from the group of bandits swaggered around like a king. He then chose all the fit boys and young men. Those who were willing were taken, the ones who struggled died on site. The girls did not have any choice, they were simply abducted.

I stood there wobbly but proudly with my staff waiting to join their ranks. Unfortunately a scuffle happened near me. I was pushed slightly but the result was catastrophic.

When a strong fart can blow down a man, imagine what a physical push can accomplish.

I dropped like a log and was consequently knocked out by the fall.

When I woke up the bandits were long gone as were half of the remaining slum residents.

'Fuck! Who wanted to be a bandit anyway! Not like I wanted to ride around stealing what I want and living a live surrounded by girls moving at my every beck and call! Bastards!'

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I cried all night in my now empty shack.

The months passed by as my life slowly conformed to the downward spiral of the slums. I met some new kids, younger than me and like an old man gave them advice. Some considered me light-headed but hey, an elder should be treated with more respect.

"Hey kid try to hide your bread when you are walking around here."

"Thanks Ming, but I always do that when I buy it. I don't want to be beaten for it."

"Wise ass."

I started panicking when Autumn came along. I was one of the very few who knew what Winter really was like in the Slums. While engaging in frantic preparation a young resident called out to me.

'This is how the younger generation should treat the older ones.'

After a meeting in my shack I was thoroughly convinced. I even had an epitome.

'Mad people really can be found in all shape and sizes. I should steer clear of that one, it might be contagious.'

I ended up listening to the brat that night. Something deep inside wanted to break free of this shackle. The kid was offering me a glimmer of hope.

I went on my first real, life-risking adventure.

We caught a wolf.

The chains were starting to break. I understood something as I watched him brew some poison.

This guy was bona-fide crazy. I told myself the closer I was to him the safer I would be. Last thing I wanted was for this fellow's eye to fall on me in a bad way.

After our adventure he task me to search for another companion. Damn this brat better not think he would get rid of me just like that. Therefore I decided to prove to him how valuable I was in this team.

The best person I could trust turned out to be Lucy. She was a girl who cared for others in this place of hardship.

With Lucy also being a girl I was sure my place in this group was secure.

'Damit, Lucy turned out to be smarter than me!'

I focused my attention on the art of poison concoction, maybe I might develop something of use.

One night we set out for a routine hunt. I was holding a log when a stupid deer burst through the thickets. I dropped the log which swung away by accident.

'Crap, that's the end of Chu and my livelihood!'

By luck the log struck the deer and the danger was adverted. I was still pissing my pants when a Snow bear appeared. Lucy showed off her courage in luring and killing the beast.

'Shit, I'm going to be demoted from vice commander!'

Chu did not treat me badly. I helped him gather some more companions while I pursued the path of being a pill maker. I got some cheap ingredients from the Trading Post to make a pill for those suffering from constipation.

Chu gave a term for my smartness. He said I only learned from experience.

It was this Winter I became immune to the fear of wolves. Something that was once terrifying I could now face without screaming and running.

Then I encounter my worst fear. The stories of last winter turned out to be true. The horror had a name.

A Wolf Demon.

It stalked us in our new home. When all was lost, the stupid beast instead of moving on decided to eat all my wonderful pills.

Those were the pills I was planning on making a killing by selling to the Trading Post!

On seeing the results, I decided to seriously bury that plan. This was one secret I was taking to my grave.

'Holy shit thank god for this sucker! What the heck would have happened if I had sold these pills!'

Before my next venture could take shape, Lucy was injured. Chu did the near impossible and brought her back from death. I received the scare of my life afterwards, I could swear the ghost of the wolf demon returned seeking vengeance against me and my pills.

'Who the heck told you to eat the pills before I got them out on trial?'

Lucy had become amazing. She had the abilities I yearned for after I had learned about it from Simon. It came at the cost of her life so I was not jealous of her.

'I'm bigger than her anyway, elders should always carry about themselves with respect!'

I cried to Chu for a week to get me some kind of ability like Lucy. As always he considered my request and rewarded me with a few slaps in the end.

'How the heck was I supposed to know those kinds of abilities were that scarce?'

I heroically captured some wolf cubs in winter. The others refused to praise my skills saying I was mean and took advantage.

"When you grow up you will all loose that idiotic way of thinking."

I spoke sagely.

I received a few slaps for my kind words.

'Ungrateful bastards!'

Chu put together a most elaborate plan as he called it. At the end of winter even I knew we were rich. The shackles binding me to the slums shattered.

The kid even had the gall to frame the Mong bandits.

'Serves them right those bastards! That's what they get for refusing a genius like me last Spring.'

'Wait! If I had joined those suckers, didn't that mean I would not have known how I even died?'

"Holy Shit, what a ruthless kid!"

I swore again to keep close to this brat. He was too dangerous!

At the beginning of Spring, Chu found me a trainer. I was now working harder than a mule in a country estate. Worse yet he made book learning he called 'education' mandatory. I could only bear the shame as Sakura and the others looked down their noses at me.

Clod had the farm running smoothly. So I begged him to allocate one section of the fields to me for my own profit. I was going to make a killing selling grains for the upcoming winter.

Dyna had always been shy around me. I guess I gave of that superior air of a bona-fide noble.

One day Chu asked her a question about her wolves. I generously showed them how to tell the difference between boys and girls. My kindness as an elder was not appreciated for my efforts. For weeks Dyna and her little posse avoided me like a plague.

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Summer was the month of suffering. Mr Thomas had us sortie out into the forest for live training. He said we also had to temper our 'metal' or something like that.

I have never risked my life like I did that Summer.

I was bitten, clawed, patched and then sent back to restart the cycle. Near the end of summer I was chased by a boar the size of a small house. If not for me having completed the first few levels in that Military skill training I might have been squashed.

My training and insights made me a far cry from the boy in the slums. The months of having to run once a week from and to the village have strengthened my body. Good food cooked by Sue and Mrs Thomas have made me 'bulk up' as Chu called it.

Better yet, through that Military skill imparted from Mr Thomas, I know I am getting strong. If I focus during my fights, I can easily find tell tale signs of how my adversary would attack. I have hence used this training to give Chu a pounding during our sparring sessions.

I did stop after I felt that as an elder and the one focused on training, I should not take advantage of others. It honestly did not have anything to do with Lucy administering me a brutal thrashing one evening.

One night something raided the fields. According to Mr Thomas it was probably done by some birds that can't fly. Worse yet the portion damaged the most was the one Clod and I agreed on. Due to this my business venture went up in smoke.

'Damn those birds! You better hope I don't ever catch you.'

Our last hunt for the summer was against a stalking Jaga. Such a beast would make even an experienced adventurer party wary. For us it was a challenge to prove our worth. We were calm facing the creature head on. I did it without fear and with faith in my skills, weapon and companions.

And I succeeded.

The fatal strike belonged to me.

As a result, that evening I faced the little hoodlum and her thugs with pride.

"It's MY kill, you need to come good with your offers."

I had found a caring home, some real friends and above all became stronger.

Furthermore I had even been able to buy myself the wooden bead I was always longing for as a child from the Trading Post.

"Best Summer ever!"