6 On The Road
"So, let me get this straight, the power of a card mage is the same as a game that you play in your world."
Sharon stopped and turn to face Ahli as she asked the question to Ahli. They were trying to leave the small path of the forest, hoping to reach the big road and eventually a town before Sunset falls.
"Yes, it uses 7 different types of cards, well, 6 in this magic system that I have because there's no card that we usually know as the mana source." Answered Ahli as his feet climbed the steep hill path passing Sharon. He held into the trees that grow there as a means to push him toward the higher ground.
"And by mana, you mean the four elementals?" Asked Sharon again, confirming.
"Not exactly. The elemental used in this game was based on a belief in my world. So, it uses 5 elements, fire, water, wood, earth, and metal."
Ahli finally reached leveled ground and he breathed heavily from all the exhaustion of climbing. Followed in the back was Sharon, who did not show any sign of tiredness at all.
"Hold on, belief? So does it mean it is used as magic?" Asked Sharon in confusion.
"In some sort of way, you might consider it as magic. However, it was not the fancy one like I did before." Ahli still breathed heavily as he explained it. Sharon, who saw his current situation, grabbed a water pouch from the inside of her bag and gave it to him.
Ahli took the water bag and quickly sipped through the contents. It was quite long he sipped it, which made Sharon scold him, "Hey, mind the drink, will you? If it's empty, you can kiss goodbye any drinks as we might not be able to find any water source."
Sharon checked the water bag, and she felt there was water, however, it was so little of it, making the water bag feel so light.
"See, look what have you done?! I shouldn't have taken you." Sharon walked away leaving Ahli who still catching on to his breath.
"Sorry, it won't happen again." As Ahli chased her.
It took them an hour later, however, they finally reached the big road.
"We finally reached the big road!" Said Ahli in excitement. "So, where are we going anyway?"
"The Town of Shar. It's the closest town from here if I'm not mistaken. If you want to get some news, that should be the right place to start." Said Sharon in a cold way, which indicated that she was still angry with Ahli.
"Are you still angry?" Asked Ahli, even though he seemed to know the reason why.
"Not like before, but I do still upset with you," Sharon said without looking at Ahli.
The situation between them became awkward and Ahli thought carefully, of what might be able to break the tension between them. Then he got an idea.
"Tell me, your husband, what kind of man was he?" Sharon quickly stopped and turn to face him.
"Why do you want to know?" Glared Sharon.
"I'm just curious. Was he young, old, handsome?" Said Ahli as he made a stupid smile in front of Sharon, trying to persuade her to talk.
Sharon did not say anything as she turned and walked toward the destination again. Ahli felt that his intention seemed to have failed. Until…
"He was a charismatic man. If you said if he was young or old, he was an old man, well, on his way to being an old man." Ahli could feel Sharon's affection when speaking about her late husband. She really does love him so much.
"He taught me quite a lot. Especially regarding survival skills, like how to warm stale bread when camping." Sharon laughed as she remembered her memories. It was quickly turned into sorrow, however. "I wonder what he would say to you if he's here now."
"He might be asking more about card mages to me than you." Answered Ahli.
"How do you know?" Asked Sharon again.
"I got the feeling of him a master survivalist." Added Ahli with a grin on his face. Sharon laughed again after listening to his absurd yet believable logic.
"Oh, by the way. Why did you not summon any monster by the battle of the goblin back then?" Sharon's face showed a curiosity that Ahli had a few hours back.
"Ah, that? Carta, open menu." As he said that with his hand touching the deck box at his side, a menu opened in front of him.
He quickly scrolled through the items there and as he found a folder named EQUIPPED DECK, he tap on it to reveal the list of cards in it.
"As you can, see? There are only two kinds of cards here. Magic Spell and Quickening Spell." Ahli's hand pointed at the types of cards that were mentioned. "I don't know why, but they didn't give me any summon magic, even though it is a crucial aspect of the game."
"Sorry, what are we supposed to be looking at?" Sharon's question quickly made Ahli's expression change.
"This is the card that I have. Can't you see it?" Asked Ahli to confirm if Sharon was joking or not.
"I can't. It's all thin air." Her answer surprised him even more, but it gave him important info.
[Does it mean only Card Mages that are capable to see it? Or is it just me?]
[If it's just me, this could be used as a sneak strategy when facing another card mage. If only I can ask someone for confirmation. A good card mage for example.]
While Ahli was deep in his thought about the potential of the new piece of information, the sound of horse steps was heard by Sharon. it was faint, yet, she understood that it was coming at them as the sound grew louder.
"Ahli! Quickly shut off the system." Ordered Sharon immediately.
"Hey, relax. They won't be able to see it anyway." Answered Ahli jokingly.
"What if they are Card Mage as well?" Sharon had her point and Ahli quickly shut it off.
As they waited at the side of the road, they could see a carriage from afar. It looked like a normal merchant carriage, but they kept their guard.
When the carriage approached them, they gave it a signal to stop and it was done by the driver.
"Hi there, sir. May we ask where are you going?" Asked Sharon to the driver, who by appearance would surely be around 50.
"Oh, hi there, miss. I and my daughter at the back were on my way home toward our village." As the driver gave his answer, Ahli could see the disappointment on Sharon's face. Ahli could understand her feeling as they were aiming toward the nearest town, and going toward the village meant it would be a detour for them.
"May I ask where do you two planning on going?" Asked the driver as he seemed to understand Sharon's disappointment.
"Oh, we aim toward the town of Shar. So, maybe we can join you? And from your village, we'll continue by ourselves." Proposed Sharon.
"Town of Shar? By this time of the day?" The driver's face showed some concern regarding Sharon's proposal, "It won't be enough time to reach it before nightfall. But, if you two still want to tag along, I'm fine with it."
"Thank you, sir." Sharon showed her gesture of gratitude to the driver and as he saw that, Ahli mimicked what she did.
"You're welcome. You two can join my daughter Ecuti at the back." With the permission of the driver, Ahli and Sharon walked toward the back of the cart. As they climbed in, they were helped by a little girl, who Ahli estimated, is at the age of around 10-12 years old. She had black hair and a pair of monolid eyes. From her smile, Ahli assumed her to be a very kind kid.
As they entered the carriage, Ahli could see the inside of it with many crates of goods and big bags. He touched one of the big bags and it felt soft in the inside, which made Ahli assume that it was flour. He sat beside it, making the bag his side cushion. Sharon sat across from him, putting her back against a crate. Ecuti, the driver's daughter sat facing both of them, closer toward the driver's seat.
"Okay, everyone comfortable enough? Let's go." As he said that, Ahli felt the carriage start to move. For him who never had any experience so traditional as this, it was surely quite an interesting one, feeling all the shake that the wheel bumped into.
"Excuse me, have you two eaten? If not, please have this." Ecuti hands reached toward Ahli and Sharon. Each grabbed a piece of bread, however not just any bread.
As Ahli examined it further, he saw how the bread was stuffed in the middle with meat and what looks like carrot. He saw Sharon seemed to be confused with the appearance of the bread. He wondered if she never had bread served like that before.
"Is that a sandwich?" Asked Ahli to Ecuti.
"A what sir?" Asked Ecuti back as she was confused with the word that Ahli said to her, making Ahli realize that the term might be not available in that world.
"A sandwich. Various things in the middle of two bread, that's how this is called in my wo…I mean home town." Ahli was thankful that he was able to stop mid-sentence. He could not expose to any other people the fact of him being a card mage from another world.
He saw Sharon's left eyebrow raised while staring at him as if saying 'really dude?' to him. Ahli quickly avoided eye contact and took the sandwich from Ecuti's hand.
Ahli took a bite of the sandwich, and he tasted the richness of the meat flavor, along with the sourness of the carrot. He took a second and third bite before he stopped and said to Ecuti, "I like how the carrot was pickled. It has good acidity balancing the meat flavor. However, as the meat was cured, I was not aware of what meat it was."
"Oh, it was rabbit. Currently, we had a large rabbit migration, therefore we hunted them to prepare for winter as well." Ahli was impressed by how Ecuti explained the whole thing, and he was even more impressed by the fact that he just ate a rabbit, meat he would never think ever to try. It seemed, with each moment passed, there would be more and more surprises coming to him.
"Did you make all of this Ecuti?" Asked Sharon to Ecuti. Ahli could see that Sharon herself also was impressed with the food that she tasted. Well, it was not just hunger that made it good, it was really just good food.
"Well, mother made it. I helped a little in preparing the pickled carrot." Answered Ecuti being humble.
"Still, I am thankful for the food that you two made. It really filled up my stomach." Ahli could see how Ecuti blushed after being praised by Sharon. It seemed that it was rare for her to get compliments, especially from strangers, so this might be something truly new for her.
Afterward, the whole journey they chatted and chatted, as topics of conversation seemed to be endless. Without realizing it, they arrived at the village. The carriage stopped at the village gate, where all four descend from it. When Ahli look at the outside, he saw that the sun was low, even though sunset might be an hour from then.
"Thank you for the ride, sir. Please accept this." Ahli saw Sharon was handing a pouch to Ecuti's father as a token of gratitude. He assumed that it contained a couple of coins.
"No, I can't accept it. Besides, you two have been very nice to my daughter Ecuti." Said Ecuti's father as he kept on avoiding touching the pouch. He then continued, "By the way, are you two sure of going to Shar now? It would be sunset soon. Instead of camping outside, you two may stay at our house."
Ahli and Sharon looked at each other, asking what they should do. Looking at the rationale, it was agreed telepathically of the action that they would take.
"If it was not a bother to you and your family, we'll stay for the night." Said Sharon to Ecuti's father.
The answer was greeted with joy by Ecuti, who quickly pulled Ahli and Sharon's hands. As they hold hands, they went into the village, to stay for the night.
