Walking barefoot on the cool sandstone bricks which make up the countless walkways throughout the village. Kou began to head towards the inner ring, after enduring elder ru's endless rant.
'How is the history of our tribe not boring after the 20th time of telling it?' Kou thought as he skipped over a broken brick in the walkway.
Within the inner ring a whole assortment of shops could be found.
Ranging from old man Ruku's Smithy, to Aunt Saai's Spindle, and Refreai's Potion Shop. Although Refreai's sanity.. is questionable her potions are without a doubt top notch.
As Kou reached the entrance to the inner ring the distinctive sounds of old man Ruku's Smithy could be heard as the sound of his hammer rang out.
*TING* *TING* *TING*
As the assault of noise faded, one would instantly be assaulted again, this time by a lovely fragrance the smell of freshly cooked food.
Countless food stalls could be found in the inner ring always cooking away their products and experimenting with new recipes on unsuspecting... buyers..
Though the population of the Kuh was rather small compared to some of the other tribes of humanity.
They surely didn't lack any expenditure.
As Kou made his way through the inner ring a voice could be heard as he walked past.
Glancing sideways Kou saw old smith Ruku with his giant hammer still in hand standing in the doorway of his smithy.
"Hey little kou I heard you made Ru mad again!" he shouted as if his voice wasn't already loud enough, the man shouting was something you could feel as your bones danced from the vibrations.
Unwilling to give Ruku a clear response Kou just gave him a wink and continued on his way. Second to Ru if you gave old man Ruku something to nag about it would continue on for hours..
Halfway through the inner ring another voice resounded out into the street, this time belonging to a... more satisfactory owner. Saai the head tailor of the village was sitting outside of her shop 'Aunt Saai's Spindle' drinking a cup of Raju, a strong type of herbal tea.
"Good afternoon little Kou." Saai said as her voiced melted like honey in the air and soothed those who heard it.
"Good afternoon aunt Saai." Kou replied in response with a bright smile plastered on his face. Second only to his mother Rii, Aunt Saai was his favorite person in the village. His father was ..another story entirely.
"Where are you headed off too today little Kou?" Saai asked as she slowly blew air from her mouth onto the cup of Raju in an attempt to cool it.
"I'm heading over to Rakhi's place." Kou said in response still showcasing his wonderful smile to his aunt, in fact most people in the village would of never believed that the child even knew what a smile was.
"Mm Rakhi's huh? Be sure to give him my regards." Saai said as she still fiddled with her cup in an attempt to cool it.
Heading through the inner ring to the southern end of the middle ring where Rakhi's place was. Kou decided to take a small shortcut, the alleys of the village were constructed to act as a way for the villagers to escape during the times of war or the worst case scenario of the elder one's corruption spreading to the vicinity of the village.
The alleys for the most part would be used as storage for some shopkeepers as theft among the Kuh was virtually unheard of. Everyone was family and had the surname 'Kuh'.
The difference between a Kuh and an outsider is that all the Kuh have purple colored eyes this is a trait that only the Kuh have.
Darting through the alleys Kou was stealthily moving through the 'Stock' of the shopkeepers trying his best not to damage anything.
Finally he emerged at his destination Rakhi's place. Though it might not look like much but Rakhi's home has the biggest cellar in the entire village and is used as the primary storage for books of knowledge and the historical artifacts of the tribe.
As he started to approach the door he heard the one familiar voice which he loathed. Elder Ru was currently sitting inside the house ranting to Rakhi about today's so called 'spectacle', the only people who knew he would visit Rakhi was his mother Rii and his aunt Saai, not even his father knew. Everyone throughout the village thought of Kou as nothing more than a troublemaker who enjoyed to pull pranks on unsuspecting adults.
Although he did enjoy that greatly.
His father was however no different from the rest of the villagers. In fact it would seem as he hates Kou the most out of all the villagers combined.
Kou decided to hide near a crate by the window at Rakhi's house to listen in on their conversation.
"Don't you think you're being too hard on the boy Ru?" Rakhi said as he slowly weaved his hand through his white beard.
"Hard on the future of our tribe? If he doesn't start caring about the tribe than what will our ancestors think!" Ru spat out in visible anger.
Rakhi could only slightly smile in response as he knew the truth, the boy Ru hates more than Rai the current leader of the Kuh is one of the extreme few who have actually gone through more than half of the stored knowledge in his cellar.
"God damn that worthless Rai brat stole the spot of leader right from under my nose and left me with this worthless leader of the elders title, yet he can't even discipline his own son!"
Rakhi sighs rather loudly. "You still haven't fixed that tempers of yours even in your old age Ru. One of these times you're going to anger yourself to death." Rakhi said as he continued to play with his beard in his fingertips.
"You will show up to the next council meeting correct RAKHI?" The way he phrased Rakhi's name was as if he was scolding a child.
Rakhi just stared at Ru and gave him a beaming smile. "Maybe if i'm not too busy."
Finally unable to overcome his frustration Ru stood up from the table and left Rakhi's house heading to the western part of the middle ring.
Kou slowly peaked his head out from his hiding spot to make sure Ru was completely gone before coming out. As he slowly emerged from his hiding spot he proceeded to knock on Rakhi's door.
'Please don't tell me that old goat came back for something' Rakhi thought as he lightly cursed underneath his breathe.
Moving from his old wooden chair a rarity within the desert, Rakhi headed towards his door.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
As he opened it his frown was instantly replaced with a genuine smile, not one of those fake ones he used for Elder Ru.
"My if isn't the little troublemaker himself what can I do for you" Rakhi said jokingly poking at the youth standing in front of him.
Kou stared at the well built man only that seemed to be in his forties, "It's not my fault Rakhi I thought people lost hearing as they got older but it seems Ru's the opposite."
Chuckling at his reply Rakhi welcomed Kou inside.
"What book are you looking for today little kou?" Rakhi asked as he played with his beard.
"I was hoping there was a book on the kingdom of Raefra before the corruption." Kou said as he eyes sparkled with anticipation. Looking at the youth in front of him filled with such excitement over old knowledge left Rakhi chuckling at how foolish Elder Ru is to not see through a mere childs act of disobedience.
"I think theres one down there towards the left of on the bookshelf near the desk."
"Thanks Rakhi!" Kou said as he darted towards the staircase leading to the cellar before stopping suddenly for a breath before saying "Oh and aunt Saai says hi!" without missing a beat he raced down the stairs at lighting speed.
"Heh that one is so silly." Rakhi said ruefully as he continued to weave his hands through his long beard.
Upon entering the dimly lit cellar it was as if Kou was whisked away to a different world.
Heading straight towards his goal Kou headed to the left portion of the cellar. Until he found his mark, right on the bookshelf there it was 'History of the kingdom Raefra'.
Grabbing the book with both hands as he tried to pull it from it's ancient holding place, dust could be seen as the air soon became filled with it.
Walking towards the table with the heavy book that was much bigger than most of the books in the cellar Kou struggled to get it on top of the nearby table.
Lifting himself up into the chair Kou traced his fingers across the ancient cover of the book, slowly he opened it to the first page.
History of the kingdom Raefra.
By Heather Voltstruck
Raefra was founded shortly after the age of chaos by the hero of the age Rae Balefrost, The kingdom is without a doubt the oldest among the kingdoms of humanity, our knowledge on the continent is second only to the elves.
During the 2nd king's reign he embarked on what we call now the 'Campaign of Disaster'. It was a campaign to explore the northern reaches of Versa'al what they discovered was the Veneifer Mountain Range. Filled to the brim with valuable ore, the reason it is known as the campaign of disaster is because within the Veneifer Mountain Range the king's forces discovered the monstrosity known as 'Monsters'.
Half of the king's forces were decimated in but a half night. Forcing them to retreat however this would be the greatest folly of the king's forces, as they retreated the monsters began to follow their new found food source until they reached the safety of their holds.
This folly brought forth the age of monsters, thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians were killed and eaten by the countless swarms. That seemed to occur every 20 years from the Veneifer Mountains.
The kingdom struggled to get a vantage point over the monsters, finally they erected what would be later known as the 'Adventurer's Guild' to combat these fiends and keep their population under control.
At first it took groups of highly skilled men and women to fight off a single foe, finally the king decided to rank the monsters depending on their difficulty. This was so he could fully use his forces without receiving too big of a loss.
The guild would later rank these creatures with a simple yet effective ranking method.
The ranks were as follows.
SSS
SS
S
A
B
C
D
E
F
-F
And as such the guild itself took on an appropriate corresponding ranking method for all it's adventurer's as to not send them to their deaths.
The guild ranking method were in fact the same but with one difference.
SS
S
A
B
C
D
E
F
-F
Humanity has yet to give birth to a single being of SSS rank and as such it was deemed impossible. Groups subjegating SSS ranked missions must have a total of 15 SS ranked adventurers to ensure victory, and even then it's a flip of the coin known as fate as to whether they will come out on top.
The Raefra Magicians guild also copied the ranking system of the Adventurer's Guild and formed an alliance with them to work on missions on behalf of the kingdom together.This has continued until the current age, the age of knowledge.
Throughout the continent of Versa'al the other kingdoms have slowly started to establish their very own 'Adventurer's Guild' and 'Mages Guild'.
Kou stared at the flickering of the flame lit candle as it slowly went out.
'Ah I got too caught up in reading I should head back before dad gets home.' Kou thought as he slowly lifted the massive book back into it's resting place.
Heading back towards the staircase of the cellar, Kou emerged from the cellar to find Rakhi asleep in his chair. Kou grinned as he pulled out a piece of charcoal that he used to draw pictures with.
The sound of a door shutting could be heard as it echoed out into the street.
Kou was full of smiles as he made his way home.
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