12 "New experiences for the young boy"

"Wow!" Azrael, mesmerized by the women in front of him. Lauren Heems was different from what he was used to seeing.

"What are you looking at?" Lauren, a woman who is a bit hot-tempered, pulled a face at Azrael.

"* She looks so beautiful…*," Azrael thought to himself. The woman in front of him was an elf with interesting hair color. Lauren walked closer to Azrael, who never spoke, and lightly hit him on the head.

"Ouch, that hurt!" Azrael is rubbing his head. "Why did you hit me? I didn't do anything wrong?" Azrael is confused by the women's actions.

"I had asked you what were you looking at? You seemed dazed while looking at me!"Lauren's hot-tempered personality was starting to show. "*Poor kid hasn't even been 5mins, and Lauren already looks like she is getting heated*," Thought Cyra as she watched.

"Well, mama, you just… look so pretty, but your chest is kind of large…." Azrael stuttered, but only as the words came out did he realize what he had said. Wondering how this woman would react. He stood still as he waited for the response of the Tsunade women!

"*This child has no shame at all? Does he even realize what he has said?*" The woman wanting to unleash a fearsome hit on the child tried to hold back her fiery temper.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that. It just came out of my mouth unconsciously." he bowed down continuously while apologizing non-stop. Lauren looked at him and took a deep breath in and out, and replied, "Hey kid, don't go saying things without thinking; otherwise, you will get a good beating. Also, never say that to any women; otherwise, well no need to say anything else. You get the point." Lauren hit Azrael on the back, which pushed him to stand close to the others, who laughed a little at the incident.

"Okay, enough of the foolishness, we are going to move forward at the agreed time and start the transportation. Escorts, please note your levels or fighting abilities don't have to be high as stated in the form, but if you are not conscious of the surroundings, you are likely to be killed by weak bandits and demonic creatures!" Lauren stood there covered in comfortable-looking clothes.

Lauren wore a grey sweat t-shirt with a white top, black tights, and black shoes with sunglasses. Her hair had been blond with brown tips, her hair reaching her back. The wind had blown as she took off her sunglasses which revealed sun golden eyes.

"All the cargo has been loaded already, so get in the vehicle and not waste any time!" Lauren shouted, "Yes, Mrs!" Lauren starts moving towards the vehicle, accompanied by those looking after the cargo.

Everyone had hoped into the vehicle. It had been more spacious than what it looked like. The cargo had been put in the vehicle up ahead with another vehicle in front of it, which also protected Laurens with her personal guards.

"Well, this is going to be a long ride, so ya, hope we don't get bored, hey?" Cyra said to Alhoi, who sat opposite her. Alhoi had leaned up against the corner of the vehicle by the window and pulled out a molývi, also known as a pencil to draw on paper stored in her personal holoinv.

"Wow, what is this thing we are moving in? I have never been in or seen it before! This looks so cool!" Azrael is enjoying the view of the vehicle he was riding in. Everyone else just looked at him, amazed at how little he seemed to know about the outside world.

"Little kid, do you not know anything about the outside world? Have you never seen something like this before?" Cyra seemed the only one who had wanted to respond to Azrael.

Azrael blushed as he moved his pointy fingers together as he replied, "Well, I have never been out into the world; this is actually my first time. I don't know much; I only started school about umm," Azrael stopped, took his hands and counted the months, then carried on with his sentence, "Well, it looks like one year and five months, I think." he looked up at Cyra after he finished fiddling with his fingers.

Cyra started laughing while she hit herself straight into the face, "Well, that explains your density and how you don't know anything, hahaha!" she laughed a bit more and lightly teared up.

"Why is that so funny? I mean, does that really matter when you are a merchant or hunter?" Azrael, unsure of what to make of Cyra's laughing, slightly tilting his head sideways while frowning his eyebrows lightly.

Cyra, letting the last bit of giggles escape, replied, "Well, even as a merchant or a hunter, going to school and learning about all the aspects of life is important, you know. You never know when what you learned in school might come in handy; trust me, I know…." Cyra took a deep breath in and then out.

Cyra carried on with saying, "Well anyways, when you get a chance to learn from someone, learn. You can be perfect in one thing but be crap at everything else." Alhoi looked at her sister and laughed lightly.

"I think that might be the smartest thing I have ever heard you say." Alhoi carried on drawing without bothering to make eye contact with her sister, who she talked to.

"Oh shut up!" Cyra shouted playfully at the comment.

Azrael laughed slightly. "You went off-topic. Just answer the boy's question, sheesh. Youngest can't even converse properly!" Albus finally spoke first. But he was grumpy at the fact that they never got to the point of the conversation throughout the whole talking.

"Sheesh, kid gramps, someone seemed to have taken your baby toys away," Azrael started to laugh at Cyra's comment. Albus, not bothering to talk back, just kept quiet and grunted.

"But anyway, this vehicle is called a 'klouví' which is said to translate to 'The Cage,' it's one of the sturdiest vehicles out there. It is commonly used to transport things, but it is still expensive because its internal space is larger than what it looks like. That's because it can be considered a space artifact because of the distortion of space." Cyra calmed down; she started to explain more about the vehicle and other things.

Azrael listened about the vehicle, and he could not hold in his excitement as stars started to sparkle in his eyes; the conversion moved forward to things about what Azrael should look out for in the world and what to and not to do. Albus gave his own piece of advice, so did Alhoi, and even Glock said a few words.

The air that had been stale and awkward had now sweetened up; they started to laugh with each other, began to speak more, and became closer as friends.

….

Weeks have passed, during that time, everything had seemed calm, 'The Cage' had stopped a few times to be refueled with crystals which were grounded into a special liquid called Aquil. Everything seemed to be going well; there had been no hassles in dropping the cargo at its destinations. Azrael learned a lot from everyone and their experiences and life stories of their past, he even had a chance to share his, and they had a fun chat. No sadness or bitterness entered the air when he spoke about his parents or what happened to his sister.

"... damn can't believe things are that hectic, but still, what is princess Lucidis like?" Alhoi started to speak more informally and freely. "Well, you see, she's fun to be around, that's for…."Before finishing his words.

*Bang! Bang!*

The sound outside was not the sound of your regular gun, but rather a cannon shooting large rocks that blocked the road and damaged the 'The Cage' of Azrael and the hunters.

Shaken by the sudden attack, Azrael had to stop and think; Cyra and the others had instinctively jumped and prepared for battle. Weapons were extracted from their inventories, aiming at the assailants and fighting. None of them hesitated, and none of them had a shred of doubt or fear about the battle.

Azrael was the only one still think and frozen as the attack came; the sensation that he once felt, the confidence, the pride, and the will to fight to survive was there. But he knew he had lost all feeling in his body when the attack started. He sat there thinking to himself, at the very moment when he needs to take action, when everyone had to take action, he was the only person who didn't jump to action.

At that moment, Azrael finally realized his true lack of experience in the field of fighting and surviving in all aspects of life.