Chapter 7: Suspicious Stranger

"This is Mint village, but as you can see, even after the war, they remain prosperous. They are like a mini centre of commerce." Valera explained, while she guided the mount that had Kazi and their bags on its back. 

They walked for a bit before they stopped before a building in what seemed to be the residential area of the village, as they were a lot of houses people lived in. 

'This place is really something. The houses are on par with those found in the middle class area back home.' Like back home also, the houses were made of wood in a style that felt ancient if Kazi was to compare with his old world, but at the same time, it was the good kind of ancient. It was clear that the architectural style and integrity he had seen in this world so far wouldn't lose to the one in his previous world.

Valera let go of the mount as she went towards the door to knock. A few seconds after she did, someone from within came to the door to unlock and open it.

"Yes? Who is it?"

The question wasn't exactly for security reasons, as before Valera even gave an answer, the door was unlocked and opened slightly as a woman stood beside the opened door. Seeing who was standing outside, the one who had opened the door couldn't contain her joy and energetically pounced on Valera with a huge. 

"Valera! Oh my God! Wow, it's really you! It's been too long I thought you had abandoned us!"

'Another person who talks a lot, just great.' Kazi knew what was to follow. Both women seemed to be close and had no seen one another for some time. Now one shows up with a child... It only spelt disaster for Kazi.

After some minutes, the woman's attention finally found Kazi who was still sitting on the mount with a normal expression. "And who might this little one be? Don't tell me..." The woman gasped before saying the last part. 

'Just great.'

She rushed towards Kazi and took him away from the mount into her arms. Kazi felt a little embarrassed, after all, he was no longer some kid, he was 9! Or so he saw it.

Valera unpacked their things into the guest room provided while their mount was taken to the backward where it was fed and left to rest.

This was one of the most frustrating evenings Kazi had ever experienced. He had to sit with the two women as they discussed and laughed and reminisced. After some time that seemed like several tens of hours to Kazi, the woman's children returned. She herself had two children, a boy and a girl. After they returned, Valera and her friend, Isha, left for a girls' night out or something similar. 

'I've never understood why old women do such childish things, but whatever.'

Kazi's mother wasn't even old yet, and it was good for her to get some free time once in a while, so he didn't really care. As for the two kids he was left at home with, Pal and Misa, they weren't much to look at.

'Urhh.' "I'll be in the guest room." There wasn't much in common between them that they could relate, and even so, Kazi didn't see the need to. They were useless to him.

After visiting for some days, it was finally time to head back, and to say the least, Kazi was glad. Early in the morning, they were done parking, so Isa and her two children with her husband saw Kazi and his mother off. After getting to the main gate of the village, Kazi and his mother were sent off by the small family. 

'Finally! We are leaving!' Kazi was more excited than he was when they arrived, that was clear, even his mother noticed it, but the truth could not be hidden forever anyway.

Kazi sat on the donkey while Valera walked beside it. This was how they travelled. During the heat of the day, Valera would also climb onto the animal, and it would bring them for as far as possible until the sun sat at the east and its heat reduced. 

During noon, Valera found a nice shade just on the other side of the road that had some grassy areas that bordered the forest and sat their goods and Kazi there. There was a small river just over on the other side of the road, so she brought the donkey there to have a drink. The water wasn't flowing steadily well enough, so it wasn't good for human to drink. It was a good thing that they had enough water with them though and didn't need extra.

They waited there under the shade the trees provided for about twenty minutes. When they were about to begin setting their goods on the donkey's back to resume their travel, Kazi noticed a fellow traveller walking towards their position, coming from the same direction they had come from also.

"Mum, there's someone approaching." 

"Hmm?" Valera only raised her head to look at the person her son had seen. Indeed, it was a fellow traveller, but unlike they who had a little luggage, the man walking towards them only had a donkey. It wasn't uncommon to see this, so it was not suspicious in anyway.

Even though Valera saw nothing to it, Kazi was a bit skeptical about the approaching man. There was just something about him that didn't sit right.

As the man approached and Valera was done with the packing, he glanced at them briefly and then a second time. Kazi caught that very movement of the man's eyes and it caused his suspicion to increase.

'We shouldn't be important people in anyway, so...' But there was also the fact that normal people also ran into problems, like getting rubbed, abducted, or any other thing. It had been on Kazi's mind since he found out about ora, that there would definitely exist people who will want to use others as sacrifice to accomplish their evil desires. These type of people existed in every world as far as kazi was concerned.