Ch 9 The Mission

Hiraeth began to prepare everything he needed for his activities this time, the activity he called the mission being full three times a day. That was what this mission was all about.

Hiraeth collected wood, then made a simple trap first, because he had to build a quarters also known as tree house immediately for himself to shelter either from humans or animals. Just like what he had planned.

Hiraeth just made two traps, the first trap was for rabbit, and the second one was for fish made of bamboo. Hiraeth put a fish trap into a river where he thought there were many fish, then left the trap while he began to build a treehouse as a quarters.

Due to the limitation of tools and abilities, Hiraeth did not expect much. He only expected a place that could be used for sitting down and lying down and also storing goods, especially his game.

After a long time tying, hammering, until finally he finished making a place to relax on a tree. Actually it was a little better than Hiraeth imagined when he made it. He did not think that he had such a talent. Maybe in the future he could build a simple wall and roof. It was possible, but now was not the time.

Hiraeth looked at the sky, the sun seemed to be getting lower, he had to check the trap immediately, wondering the catch after being laid all day.

The first trap was the rabbit trap. Not a single rabbit he got. Then Hiraeth turned to the fish trap. He tried to pull the rope connected to the fish trap, because of the water pressure or something else, he needed a little energy to pull out the trap. Until when the trap was lifted out of the water, Hiraeth's eyes seemed to come out.

"So many fish!"

Hiraeth cheered when he saw the fish trap he made contained almost half of the trap, in fact, he just put bread he had wrapped with a cheesecloth into the trap. It seemed that a lot of fish were hooked on that bread. Another reason was because the river he trapped the fish in was rarely explored by humans as the location was far enough into the forest so that the fish supply was still very much. Or another reason was because the trap was a small one so the fish looked more.

Hiraeth hurried to get the fish out of the trap, then put it in his bag. At this time his bag was empty, because the tools were left in the quarters. He took out the stationery so as not to get wet because of the fish. There were about six medium size and two fish in a smaller size.

A happy expression was clearly drawn on Hiraeth's face , as tonight he would eat fish with his mother. Perhaps he could exchange it for some wheat flour from his neighbor. Yeah, just by imagining it Hiraeth was already excited. But beforehand, he had to come back home before nightfall, because he had no lighting device, and the night was very dangerous.

Hiraeth put back the trap into the river, he did not forget to put the bait in the form of bread wrapped in cheesecloth. The same bait he used before.

After making sure the fish trap rope was firmly tied at the edge of the river, Hiraeth hurried to leave the forest. He quickened his pace while accustoming his body to move quickly. Even he ran a few times before finally slowing down his pace as his breath was tight.

Hiraeth realized that his body was not as good as others, especially in the past. But that was not the reason for him to give up. Hadn't he been training himself the best he could for the past three years?

Perhaps it still didn't have a big effect, but he could run without feeling pain in his chest. It was just the feeling of tightness that is commonly felt by humans when running. A good thing for his useless body, even though it took time, but he was so sure that he could get through it and became strong. Even though it took time and a long process, he had to try, for his revenge.

Hiraeth arrived at home when the sun was still in the sky, in other words there was plenty of time left for him. Hiraeth put some fish into a container, then he brought it to his neighbor's house.

In the vicinity of Hiraeth's residence there were several neighbors, or rather six neighbors. Afterwards, around five hundred meters, several home residents were found.

Hiraeth greeted a woman, who was sweeping, and the woman greeted him back. The woman seemed interested in the bowl Hiraeth brought, then she asked.

"What do you bring, Hiraeth?" the woman asked, approaching with the broom in her hand.

"Fish."

"What will you do to the fish?"

"I'm thinking of going to the house over there, then changing it with wheat flour." Hiraeth answered, pointing at a house. The house that Hiraeth pointed at belonged to a family. They had a large wheat field, so that people came to it frequently, either to buy or exchange a thing.

"What if you exchange the fish with me? My son is craving to eat fish today, but his father is not at home." The woman asked.

"Alright. What about two cups of flour to replace all the fish?" Hiraeth asked, stretching out a bowl containing three palm-wide fish in it.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright, wait for a minute."

The woman got in the house right away, then she returned with a pouch in her hand. She approached Hiraeth then held out what she brought to Hiraeth.

"I think two cups are too few for three fish. So I added one more cup."

"Then thank you."

Hiraeth left the woman's house with joy. Because he had no idea the price of the three fish he offered, he just mentioned randomly how much flour he wanted. He just thought that two cups could make himself and his mother full for two days. He could also make a bait for the next trap.

With joy, Hiraeth went back to home and found his mother had just returned from work. The woman looked tired, but she still gave her son a smile, until finally she paid attention to the pouch in her son's hand.

"Where have you been, son? And what's in your hands?"

"It's flour, mother. I caught plenty of fish earlier, so I exchanged them for flour."

The woman got in the house along with Hiraeth, they headed to the kitchen right away, and the woman was so happy when she saw there were a lot of fish in a bowl. "I don't know you are this smart and brave," she said. "You're like someone else!"

Thump.