Chapter 224 The Son of Fire Part 4

In the morning, the sun begins to rise, and the dew from the previous night is still on the leaves of the grass meadow. The early morning sun makes the dewdrops on the leaves in the field sparkle, creating a diamond-like illusion, like diamonds sitting on the grass leaves. Dew wetted their shoes and trousers as the six men rode across the meadow on the backs of three gray wolves, and the three wolves continued walking south across the meadow. At this time of the day, wild animals have already begun their day, and the shadows of sky beasts are constantly passing over the heads of the six men from above.

"If you need a break, just say so," Yul asked, his eyes searching for signs of trouble as the wolf continued on.

"I'm fine," Hajime said, looking at U-ri. "U-ri, are we close to the next village? Or should we stop for breakfast?"

"According to the map the villager sold to us, there should be a village near here," U-ri said. "The last villager mentioned that after walking for two days, we will encounter a small slope. There should be a river at the bottom of the slope. If we reach the river, the village will be on the other side of the river." He folded the map tucked into the robe. "Let's walk until noon or find a water source and then rest. The people I spoke to advised us not to rest in this area because of bandits."

Abrafo jokingly said, "I'd love to see some bandits."

Bong asked, "Why?"

Abrafo said, "My arms and legs started to get stiff."

Yul said, "It would be best if we didn't meet any."

Hajime reached into his cross bag and took out his wooden crafts. He grabbed the black hawk and threw the black hawk wooden figure forward in front of him and Yul. The wooden black hawk figure quickly came to life and flew away.

"Hopefully the hawk can bring us some good news," Hajime said.

The morning breeze blew over Bong's face, making his lips tremble. He regretted it now, he actually fought to sit in front. Now, the morning breeze made all the hair and goose bumps on his body stand up. Despite wearing two layers of clothes, he still felt cold. The sore buttocks and the morning breeze both made Bong feel uncomfortable. Bong continued to adjust himself on the wolf's back, hoping that by adjusting himself, he would feel less cold.

Abrafo, who was sitting behind Bong, whispered in Bong's ear, "Are you still feeling uncomfortable after our battle last night?"

Bong elbowed Abrafo in the stomach, and Abrafo chuckled. "It feels cold, there is nothing uncomfortable," Bong said through gritted teeth.

Abrafo teased, "It's too late now. I've told you to sit behind me and let my manly body protect you from the wind and cold, but you rejected my offer."

Bong replied stubbornly, "I am very capable of taking care of myself without the protection of your body." 

Abrafo said, "How about I hold you? My body cand give you some warmth."

In order to avoid continuing to talk to Abrafo and causing a heated scene, Bong stopped replying to Abrafo, looked at the other four Tanzanies and asked, "So, this is how you usually travel? Riding on some mythical creatures instead of sitting comfortably inside a carriage?"

Michio travels alongside Abrafo and Bong sitting on the back of a wolf he shared with U-ri smiles at Bong. "These are not mythical creatures; these are spell creatures," he said.

Bong looked at Michio and asked, "Is there any difference?"

Michio explained, "Mythical creatures are creatures that are not summoned through spell. Spell creatures are creatures that are summoned through spell."

Bong asked, "What if the spell is broken?"

"Then these creatures no longer exist," Michio said.

Bong asked, "What about that giant eagle?"

Michio said, "That's a spell creature summon by Hajime."

Bong said, "If this is the case, it is much better traveling by horse-drawn carriage. With the horse-drawn carriage, it can protect us from wind and rain."

U-ri said, "Where we are going, these friends are more reliable than carriages." U-ri turned to look at Bong. "Besides, they can run faster than a horse-drawn carriage."

Michio stopped when he saw the wolf carrying Yul and Hajime stopped. He quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

"Shh..." Yul said. "Listen..."

"For what?" Michio asked.

"Jingling sounds," Yul said.

The familiar jingling of bells suddenly brought Abrafo back to the first thing they encountered when they stepped into the southern land. He quickly looked around to see if there were any bell fruit trees around, but all he saw were tall trees. "I heard it too," Abrafo whispered. 

Hajime turned to look at his friends and said, "Everyone thinks the same as me, right?"

The four Tanzanies nodded to Hajime.

Bong asked, "What's the matter with the jingling bells?"

Abrafo said, "If we walk into this trap, we will be pitted against each other."

Hajime turned to looked at Bong and said, "Abrafo stabbed me in the abdomen. It took me several hours to recover."

Bong said, "Maybe it's not what you think?"

"Hearing sound of bells chiming in the middle of the forest that is the only thought we could think of," Michio said.

Yul saw a black figure running straight towards them from a distance, and he noticed that as the figure got closer, the sound of jingle bells became louder and louder.​

"Maybe Bong is right," Yul said. "Someone is coming towards us."

The other five men looked towards the distance where Yul was pointing, and they saw a figure running directly towards them. As the figure got closer, they could tell that the person running over was a woman. The woman's hands were restrained by a chain connected to her neck. When the woman runs, the ten bells around her neck make sounds. The five Tanznanies were relieved to see that the jingling sound came from the shackles around the woman's neck and not from the bell tree.

The woman paid more attention to those chasing her rather than where she was going, so when she looked back to where she was and saw three beasts standing not far away, she fell to the ground in fright. She quickly sat up and moved away from the three wolves using her hands and feet.

"Please! Don't eat me!" she screamed in horror. She hugged her knees, buried her face in them, and burst into tears.

"My wolves will not eat you," Hajime said.

After hearing Hajime's words, the woman finally raised her head and looked at the three beasts again and found that the three beasts standing in front of her were not tigers. The woman looked past the wolf fangs and stared at Yul.

"Please... help me," she begged through tears. "Please don't let them take me back."

Bong asked, "Who is chasing you?"

The woman's lips trembled, and she said in horror, "Malik's men." 

U-ri looked and said, "Do you remember the first city we came to when we first entered the Southern Kingdom?"

Hajime breathed angrily and said, "I don't know you, but I haven't forgotten that scene."

As soon as Hajime finished speaking, ten men slowly approached the five Tanznaies, Bong and the woman with a tiger.

Wadi and nine of his men stood a few feet away from the six men and the woman. He rolled his eyes coldly and looked at the woman standing between him and the six unknown men.

"Gentlemen, since we just passed each other, let us cross path peacefully," Wadi said.

Hajime said madly, "And if we don't?"

Wadi said, "Then don't blame us for being rude."

Yul said, "Hajime..."

Abrafo looked at Wadi and then at Hajime. "Hajime..." Abrafo said with a smile. "We're not in the land of the alpha, are we?"

Hajime looked at Abrafo, smiled and said, "We are in Dreake Kingdom."

Abrafo chuckled and then said, "So, there is no need to abide by their rules and cultural traditions because we are not near villager." He looked around, then looked at Wadi and Wadi's men.

Hajime looked at Abrafo then at Wadi. "That's correct," he said.

Wadi took two steps back and stood beside the tiger, while his nine men took three steps forward.

Wadi said, "All we want is the woman. The six of you can leave here without being harmed."

Hajime said, "Well, all we want is that woman, nothing more."

Wadi looked down at his feet, then at the six men and the three wolves, and said, "Friends, it seems that you don't follow the rules. The first rule a merchant must abide by at all times is to never steal other merchant's merchandise. If you break this rule, there are many consequences follow."

Hajime said, "No matter what the consequences are, that woman will go with us today."

"You are a rare beauty yourself," Wadi said. "People like you can be sold at a very high price." Wadi looked at Hajime and smiled.

Yul looked at Wadi coldly and said through gritted teeth, "If you don't want to die here, just walk away." Yul stretched out his right hand back and grabbed the hilt of his sword.