TAIHEN Only If We Could Go Back

”Damn it! ” he shouts in frustration. ”Why in the hell am I stuck here!? ”

As he walks back and forth in the midst of confusion and anger, the intensity of the heat pummels him causing him to get more and more frustrated.

Talking and shouting like a madman while carrying Krys lifeless body is quite uncomfortable and disrespectful. So he puts him down, as gently as possible, without bursting his rage unto him.

After that, he takes the travel device off his bag to, for some reason, be mad at it. ”CHRONOS! ”

The device turns on.

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Hi!

Im Chronos!

Your time-traveling assistant!

How may I help y-

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”WHY DID YOU TAKE ME HERE!? ” he shouts to Chronos. ”Didn I tell you to take me somewhere where its not hot and humid!? NOT HUMID! ”

After a quick while of Chronos processing the question, he gathers the date and answers.

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The request was; [Don you dare land me somewhere humid!]

The request was given at 72% of the time dynamicity, but the fixated coordinates were already at:

Latitude: 30.044420

Longitude: 31.235712

To compensate, I searched for the nearest cavern for the lowest temperature available.

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”And who decided the coordinates!? ” he asks confusingly.

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The request was; [JUST TAKE ME SOMEWHERE! QUICK! ALLOSAURUSES ARE CHASING ME!]

The request was given before the time warp started.

To follow, I calculated the best location where no entity:Allosaurus and where sentient:Humans are easier to contact.

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”The best location- are you KIDDING ME!? ” he asks angrily.

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No, I am not

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”ARGH IVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! ” he shouts to let out his final frustration, calming himself in the process. ”Didn I already tell you that Im sensitive to humid places? I can even walk away from this cave! ”

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A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep undergr-

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”SHUT UP! ”

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Halting…

Charging now; 26% remaining

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As the device shuts down, he looks at himself through the screens reflection. At that moment, he sighs, looking at himself as a pathetic loser getting mad at an inanimate object.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. ”I need to find a way out of here or Ill be staying here forever. ”

GROWL

His stomach growls, signaling him about his currently empty stomach. In an attempt to relieve his hunger, he opens up his bag to check for more snacks, but there are none.

Apparently, the tuna pie he just ate a moment ago was the last of his food supply.

”Out of food? Now? Really? ” he asks himself in pity.

And when he thinks that is unfortunate enough, he then hears an interesting amount of crackling under his bag. Its almost as if theres something hanging there thats trying its best to cling onto.

He zips up the bag and takes a look at whats beneath. And to all expectations, the bat shows itself high and mighty as it hangs upside down with its wings covering its body under the bag.

Out of miniature curiosity, ”what are you doing here? ” he asks confusingly.

Obviously, therell be no response, and Taihen knew that. Yet, he still asked. The bat continues its humble beginnings hanging itself peacefully…or not.

Without any warning, the bat starts flapping its wings rapidly while clinging. This reaction causes Taihen to immediately throw the bag as a flight mechanism. He also trips himself to the ground, off the shade of the cave, into the rays of sunlight.

”AAAAAAAAAGH! ” he screams in pain as he slowly feels burning on his face and hands. ”IT BURNS! AAAGH! ”

His face and palms start getting redder and redder the longer he stays out there. Without the protection of any clothing in the face and palms, his exposed skin gets burned.

He immediately stands up and runs towards the caves shade, giving him space to take deep breaths.

”Ow ow ow ow ow! ” he exclaims as he tries touching the burns.

Eventually, the burns wear out and get back to their original color blue. After regathering all of his thoughts to get his mind back on track, he picks up his bag and wears it.

Then, for some forsaken reason, he looks around abruptly to look for the bat and see if he injured it. And… he spots it right up on the wall, high and mighty once again.

”Don even try to ruin my face again or I swear to Chronos Ill seriously- ”

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Hi!

Im Chronos!

Your time traveling assis-

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”Shut up! ” he shouts.

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Halting…

Charging now; 54% remaining

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He, once again, tries to calm himself down by taking deep breaths. ”Haaah. ” he sighs.

Reevaluating the situation, he looks at Krys body as it lies on the ground. Deep inside, he still feels the guilt. The guilt of being responsible for his death.

He wants to pay him back somehow, but he couldn think of anything since Krys can answer any question hell give to him. The only thing in his mind right now is to give him a proper burial.

”Im sorry, Krys. ” he says with resentment. ”I promise Ill meet up with this Horha guy you speak of. ”

He uses up all of his strength to dig up a six feet deep hole beside the cave entrance for Krys to rest in. In completion, he places Krys in and buries the body.

”See you again in the future, I guess. ” he states of wonder.

He glances to the distance, smoldering to the emptiness of the desert. He isn even sure where he is, nor what hell do up to this point. He has a task to fulfill that is now on hold because of lack of gems.

For now, what he should do is keep his promise and look for this ”Horha ” guy. But, he does need to know where he is first.

”Ugh. I hate this piece of junk. ” Taihen says as he talks to himself. ”Chronos! ”

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Hi!

Im Chronos!

Your time traveling assistant

How may I help you today?

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”Where am I? ” he asks.

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Request for location [489]

Latitude: 31.3567420

Longitude: 31.511093

Name of cmd:location [Egypt]

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”Egypt, huh? ” he tells Chronos as he recognizes the name of the place.

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Egypt, a country linking northeast Africa with the Middle East, dates to the time of the pharaohs. Millennia-old monumen-

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”WAIT! ” he commands frustratingly. ”When is this? ”

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Time location: [31st century BC]

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He realizes the situation and tries acting as normally as possible. ”Right…now wheres the nearest village or town or whatever? ”

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Request for nearest cmd:whatever [90246]

Location found: [Memphis; 4km ahead]

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”I see… ” he states. ”-but how do I get there without getting burnt? ”

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Sunscreen

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”I don think I have any of those… ” he replies. ”Alright, fine. Shut up. ”

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Halting

Charging now; 68% remaining

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As the device shuts itself, Taihen uses his ability to zoom in and see how far the village is. Doing so allows him to have a rough calculation on how long it would take to get there.

”Thats one big village… ” he says to himself.

GROWL

His stomach growls one more time, intensifying his desire to eat. Because of this, he gets uncomfortable and tries to give himself some motivation to walk towards the village.

”I hate this… ” he says as he covers up all his exposed skin so he would be able to walk without getting burnt. ”Argh. Nothing will get done if I don move. ”

And there he goes, he takes his steps away from the cave, trembling from the immense heat. As he continues on walking, he slowly realizes that hes getting headaches, making him walk slower.

The situation then arises when he notices that he could barely manage to breathe properly because of his rapid breathing. And then, he slightly becomes unaware of his surroundings and begins feeling nausea.

He wants to vomit, but he can because he has an empty stomach. Gradually, he starts hearing a high pitch buzzing sound in his ears as his eyesight goes all white.

Until…he passes out.

» » ————- ¤ ————- « «

”Umaah, anzur! ” a subtle voice exclaims. ”Hadha alrajul algharib yataharak. ”

”Limaa? ” another subtle voice asks. ”Hal hu mustayqaz bialfieli? ”

The subtle voices continues to talk to each other, as if they
e concerned about something.

”Ashaak… ”

”Adhhab wahdur lah kub ma. Rubama hu eatshana. ”

”Limadha nahtamu hataa bihadha alrajulu? ”

”Aifealha. ”

”Rrrgh ” she says, walking away to grab some water.

Taihen, in the midst of hearing the subtle bickering, opens his heavy eyes. Its blurry. He couldn see but grounded light. He rubs his eyes to see much more clearly, and yawns.

”Sabah alkhayr. ” A woman says to Taihen as he wakes himself up.

He sits himself up from lying down to look at who just talked to him. And, after a minute or two of unawareness, he realizes that something is wrong.

He looks around and tries to process what happened, as well as whats going on. His head is full of intimidating confusion. He remembers that he fell unconscious in the middle of the dessert, but is too overwhelmed to come up of what probably happened next.

”Akhbarat abnati an tuhadir lak baed almai. ” the woman adds. ”Aietaqadt anak qad takun etshanana min kuli almashi. ”

”Huh? ” he asks, still confused.

”Faqat aintazar. ” the woman sitting beside the table out the balcony replies.

Realizing that he has been here, listening to the woman talk to him, without noticing what shes talking about. He places his palm on his left ear to feel if the translator is still there, and it was.

He taps it twice to open it up.

– translator battery at 100% –

”Speaking of the devil. ” the woman says as footsteps from downstairs ascend.

Taihen looks in the sounds direction and sees a young-looking girl holding a cup full of water up the stairs. She then walks towards the woman, carefully holding the cup of water so nothing spills. She looks quite annoyed to Taihen though.

”Peace be with you. ” she greets as she insists to give Taihen a thirst quencher. ”Have a drink. ”

A bit engulfed by the manner of the kind woman, he wants to reject the offer. But he gets submerged in the kindness anyway.

He reaches his hands out and the lady hands Taihen the cup of water.

”Thanks. ” he replies.

He drinks the water. It doesn taste that great, but its clean enough to be consumed. As he gulps the cup finish, he observes the room deliberately.

Staying put at the mat on the floor, he looks around. The walls and floors made entirely of brick. There are a handful of mats, vases, and unlit candles scattered around the fairly sized room. A balcony is also accessible in front of him.

He also sees Chronos and his bag in the corner of the room just beside him.

”Are you a traveler? ” she asks Taihen.

He takes his time to analyze the question. Since he traveled here, even though its on accident, he could still be considered as a traveler.

”I guess… ” he answers.

”So that is why… ” the woman murmurs.

Taihen becomes curious. ”What? ”

”Oh, nothing. ” she sides off. ”Have a name young traveler? ”

He stops looking around and faces the woman. ”Taihen. ” he says. ”Taihen Torauma. ”

”Torauma… ” she repeats, trying to point out what she recognizes. ”Are you from the east? ”

”East…? ” he asks as a reply.

”No? ” she replies. ”I was almost certain your name is from the east…or am I wrong- ”

”MA! ” the young girl standing in the corner interrupts.

”What do you need?! ” the woman replies, a little annoyed.

”Stop talking to this weird, suspicious man. ” she answers. ”Hes already awake, isn he? We should let him leave now. ”

”Stop being rude to our guest! ” the woman exclaims.

”Our guest?! ” she replies. ”I mean- Look at him. Hes wearing a very long coat, he has a very strange bag and a weird-looking object, and his skin is BLUE! Why did you let him drop this strange guy in our house?! ”

As the situation gets heated, Taihen wants to diffuse it before anything bad happens. ”Maybe I should go if- ”

”Wait. ” the woman says to Taihen. ”Whina, go downstairs. Now. ”

”M-ma!- ” she says hesitantly.

She points to the staircase. ”Go. ”

”Hngnngnngg. ” The young girl pouts angrily as she hesitates to go down the stairs.

Taihen looks at both of them, concerned about their relationship since he mightve been a nuisance to them.

”I apologize for what just happened earlier. ” she apologizes.

”No- no, its fine, its alright. ” Taihen replies. ”She your daughter? ”

”Yes, her name is Whina. ” she answers. ”She is not usually like that, she is actually caring and helpful. ”

”Oh… ” he replies clueless.

GROWL

Taihens stomach growls loudly. When both of them hears this, things get a little bit awkward.

”That was- uh… ” he says as hes embarrassed to himself.

”Do you want to eat something? ” she giggles as she asks. ”We only have some grapes and figs here leftover if you wa- ”

”Oh really?! ” he exclaims delightfully. ”My Chronos Im starving. ”

He walks towards the balcony where the woman is currently at. She stands up and picks up the bowl full of fruits in the low table.

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Hi!

Im Chronos!

Yo-

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”SHUT UP! ” he faces towards and shouts. ”Damn it. I really have to change your settings. ”

The womans quite confused at what just happened. ”What was that…change se- tings? ” she asks skeptically.

He looks at her again and attempts to blot out the response by Chronos. ”I- uh…I think its just someone outside. ” he says, giggling awkwardly.

”I was almost certain that it was from that weird thing you just looked at. ” she says as she points towards Chronos.

”Oh that…right… ” he awkwardly looks down. ”It- its just something…I- uh…I have fro-from the-uh… the east! YES! Its an item we have in the east! ”

”So… its not from someone outside? ” she asks.

”N-no!- I mean, Yes… kinda? ” he answers.

She stays silent for a while, clearly skeptical of this man.

”So I was certain… ” she says. ”You were from the east. Your people are…strange… ”

”Y-yeah…haha! ” he replies awkwardly. ”W-we get that pretty o-often I think… ”

”Right… ” she utters.

Then, an awkward moment of silence emerges. Both of them stares intently with each other. Taihen trembles a bit from nervousness.

”Well…you should already get some grapes or figs here before they get rotten from waiting too long. ” she says to cut off the intense silence.

Taihen loosens up a bit and sighs off his relief. He walks up to the woman and takes a cluster of grapes. The grapes are nice and warm as its exposed to the heat of the sun.

He takes a couple of berries from the grape and consumes them one by one. To his surprise, its quite tasty and sweet.

”Its actually pretty nice. ” he compliments as he continues on consuming the snack.

”I am glad you liked it. ” she says contentedly.

Taihen, being distracted by his delicious snack, starts picking up his stuff to prepare leaving.

”Are you getting ready to leave now? ” she asks.

Realizing that hes being disrespectful to her, he immediately stops and looks at her. ”Ah. Im sorry. I mustve been really rude. ”

”Its alright. ” she replies. ”If you are to leave, let Whina guide you outside. ”

”Wait- I-! ” he exclaims.

She walks to the staircase to call Whina. Taihen follows.

”Whina! ” she calls.

”Yes Ma?! ” Whina replies.

”Will you guide sir Tora out the house? ” she asks loudly.

”Whatever. ” Whina answers blatantly.

Taihen nervously walks down the staircase, a little anxious to see Whina again since she completely feels uncomfortable with him around here.

”Did you do anything to her? ” she asks skeptically.

”N-no. ” he stutters as he attempts to walk past her.

The house has seems to have two exits. One doorway that leads to a fig farm, and another one which is closed. He takes his bet and moves towards the open doorway.

She catches him walking towards the farm suspiciously and halts him. ”The exits here, Tora. That farm is covered in tall fences and theres no way out. ”

”R-right… ” he replies he walks towards the correct door this time.

”We earn our gold by farming figs, so don even think about being a thief. ” she adds, still skeptical of him.

”I w-wasn going to- wait… ” she says. ”…you earn gold? ”

”We sell harvests to Giza every we- wait a sec- whats your goal here?! ” she asks confusingly. ”Are you going to kidnap me a-and steal all the hard worked harvests?! ”

”No! ” he shouts as soft as he could. ”Why would you even- ugh. ”

He raises his left hand and looks at the silver ring hes currently wearing. It seems to still have the scratch marks the bat left when he was on the cave just a while ago.

”You know what- is there a place here where I can sell stuff to earn those golds? ”

”And why should I tell you? ” she asks. ”Is that part of your scheme to sell our bodies to- ”

”Wait- what?! ” he exclaims. ”I-I don have any money so I-uh…really need some quick cash. ”

”Cash? ” she asks confusingly, having no idea what hes talking about.

”I meant- gold. ” he corrects himself.

She sighs out all her frustrations and temporarily gives up on trying to confront him. ”Our neighbor actually owns an antique shop just beside us. If you want to trade items with gold then its the closest shop you could go to. ”

She opens the entrance door beside her and walks outside. Taihen follows her as she leads him outside. And to his notice, the town surrounding him as he takes his steps outside, is splendid.

There are homes with thriving people, talking to each other as they live on with their daily lives. There are children, some working on their farms, while some run around playing with each other.

Horses are plenty too, mostly being used for transportation. One thing takes his interests though, and it is a wandering trader carrying a large body bag.

”Come on up here get such a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious deal! ” the wandering trader shouts, attempting to grab the attention of passers.

No one comes up to the trader. Taihen, to the empathetic guy he is, tries to walk up to him to atleast give him a spark of hope. Thankfully, Whina catches him and immediately stops him.

”Stop. ” she commands Taihen. ”Hes been here for three days, so there are already people who put up to his scheme. ”

”What? ” Taihen asks.

”Ugh, nothing…I just said we
e here. ” she says as she points to an abode beside her home.

He looks back at her and looks at where shes pointing at, and its a small shop that is literally just beside them.

The structure of the shop is of a small box-like home made out of sandstone bricks. The façade is far from welcoming and looks a little displeasing, but the wooden signboard that is written in heiroglypghics.

”Wow… ” he murmurs as they both walk into the shop.

”You eastern people are weird as hell. ” she comments. ”What was Amin thinking bringing you to our house… ”

”W-where did that come from?! ” he asks confusingly.

The shops atmosphere is vastly comparable to its façade as it looks a lot different. Outside, the shop looks like a it had no effort. But inside, it looks fabulous.

Walls are completely smooth, paintings are marvelously hanging, and the items being sold are laid on three perpendicular tables in front of him. Theres also a doorway in the far back of the room covered with linen curtains.

The valuables on the table contains a lot of beautiful vases, golden and silver necklaces, and more. And it impresses Taihen.

”Sir Bardick! ” she calls out. ”A traveler here wants to do a trade! ”

Theres no response. She calls out once more. ”Sir Bardick? ”

”Whina? Lassie? ” an old mans voice coming from behind the curtain asks.

”Yes! ” She shouts to him. ”There is a customer here! ”

”Ah! ” he replies to Whina. ”Coming lass! ”

”Don do anything to sir Bardick, alright? ” she requests to Taihen rudely as she takes her steps out to leave.

”Wait-, you
e gonna go now? ” Taihen asks Whina.

”Yeah. ” she answers. ”I doubt you would even kidnap someone that old. The only thing worth doing to him is blackmailing him for his riches. ”

”W-what-! ” he exclaims.

”Oh- one thing I need to tell you. ” she says. ”Doing crimes here is impossible. ”

”H-huh? ”

”No matter how you
e desperate to kill someone, you can . ” she replies. ”The Pharoah can see the future. So, if you want to get executed before you could even do anything, feel free to steal stuff here. ”

”Wha…? ” he asks, more a ton confused. ”Pharoah…? ”

Without saying a word, she leaves. Taihen is left abounded with the confusing statements said by Whina.

”Doing crimes here is impossible ” - ”The Pharoah can see the future ”

Everything that Whina told him doesn necessarily seem impossible to him. In fact, to him, it is completely doable and humans in the future actually uses it for that purpose. But it doesn makes sense to him that a Pharoah is able to do it.

After waiting for a quick second, the old man Sir Bardick finally reveals himself out the curtain. His entrance to the shop is quite of a bummer as hes holding a cat whos violently trying to escape his grip. Eventually, he drops the cat and it walks to the side of the shop.

”Hoshaa! ” Bardick exclaims with a delightful face. ”Welcome back to me-shop lass-… ”

Taihen and Bardick stares at each other awkwardly. ”Hi? ” Taihen says.

Bardick leans over to look for Whina, but shes nowhere to be seen. This leaves him utterly confused.

”Oooooooooow… ” he says impishly. ”Where is lassie me-lad? ”

”I think she just left. ” he answers.

”Howaa? ” he replies. ”Is me-lad buyer that lassie said? ”

”No, Im actually here to sell something. ” he says happily.

”Lad come here for trade? ” Bardick asks. ”Hoshaa! Whacha tradin me-lad? ”

He removes the silver ring from his hands and shows it to Bardick. ”Id like to sell this ring. ” he says.

Bardick takes the ring off of Taihens grasp and looks at it carefully. It seems that though, a lot of scratch marks are visible on the ring.

”Haaayyaaaii… ” he disappointingly says. ”Me-lads not taking care of this ring, eh-? ”

”N-no…its actually important to me. ” he stutters. ”A young girl called Mary gave it to me before she passed away, so its dear to me. ”

”Oke. ” Bardick replies, completely forgetting what he just said.

Bardick continues to inspect the ring and notices a ruby in the middle of it, gasping its beauty as he sees its subtle glow. Then, he recognizes this ruby as something he has seen before.

”Are you from north, me-lad? ” Bardick delightfully asks.

”N-north? I-I guess…? ” he uncertainly says as he tries to mask where he actually comes from.

”Me-lads from north?! ” he exclaims blissfully. ”Bardick sees… Bardick thought me-lad comes from east! But no, me-lad come from north! ”

”I-uh…no…know! ” he says, awkwardly giggling. ”I know. ”

Bardick places the rick beside all the jewelries on the front table and goes behind the mysterious curtain to grab some gold coins. After successfully so, he hands a pouch containing of gold coins to Taihen.

”Hoiiiiishaaaa! ” he loudly says. ”Good trade me-lad! ”

Taihen looks through the pouch and sees five gold coins in it. Not knowing the currency system in this place, he remains confused on how much it actually costs.

”Um…Sir Bardick? ” he calls out. ”What can I do with five coins? ”

Bardick doesn answer and resumes to inspect all his belongings. Taihen calls out one more time.

”Sir Bardick! ”

”Ah- Me-lad! ” he says. ”Still here? ”

”Yes. ” he replies. ”I just wonder, how far could these five coins go? ”

”Me-lad from north is unsure? ” he wonders. ”Five coin iz about… two nights in best inn with meals me-lad. Is me-lad new here? ”

”I guess… ” he answers. ”But, only two nights? ”

”Is me-lad out of gold to spend? ” he asks.

”Unfortunatley. ” Taihen replies honestly, since he has no idea on how anything works here.

Bardick stays quiet, leaving the room silent for a short while. Without warning, he grabs a papyrus paper and a reed pen.

Taihen stilly takes a step toward Bardick to discreetly spectate whats happening. It seems as if Bardick is writing some heiroglyphic sentences to the sheet of paper.

After he finishes writing, ”Write me-lads name! ” – he points to the bottom of the paper – ”And sign me-lads sign! ”

Taihen grabs the papyrus paper to read what it says.

Taihen couldn read nor could not understand a single character written on this paper.

”I-uh… I can read this. ” he says gloomily.

”Aaaaiaaayaaaaiiii. ” Bardick replies disappointed. ”Me-lad… Bardick offer you job! ”

”A job-? ” he asks. ”You
e going to hire me t-to work here?! ”

”Yiipppppiieeeyyaaaa! ” he shouts delightfully. ”Me-lad work to help Bardick maintain! But Bardick iz disappointed. Bardick remembers me-lad come from north… No read and will go home… ”

Taihen rethinks his current situation. Hes stranded in an Egyptian city with nowhere to go. He has no time gem to go back and travel anywhere. Worst case scenario, hell have no job and have a miserable life.

Signing it will give him an advantage, so he decides to do it. But… his decision is actually driven by the fact that Sir Bardick will be sad.

”Ill sign it! ” he exclaims.

He places the paper on the table beside him and writes his name on the bottom of the page using the reed pen given to him.

”Done. ” he says as he hands the paper to Bardick.

Bardick reads it promptly and scrolls it. ”Hoshaa! ”

”So…is that it? ” Taihen asks, expecting much more than a simple signature.

”Hieehiee… ” he replies. ”Me-lad remind me of me-son. Always expekt more on such simple task. ”

”Your son… ” he murmurs, taking in.

Bardick points to a portrait on the wall. Upon closer inspection, it looks to have a drawn picture of a man that looks similar to Bardick. It mustve been his son. He couldn read the name though, since its in symbols.

”Me-son was best, offer all he can for yearz to help Bardick thrive. ” he remarks. ”But then, Pharoah command to get me-son and execute me-son. ”

”Oh my… ” he reacts. ”Why was he executed? Did he do something? ”

”Bardick know nothing. ” he replies grumpily. ”Pharoah claim that Pharoah saw future and said that me-son will murder Pharoah. Full of lies! ”

See the future.

That line reminds Taihen of a statement Whina said earlier about the crime rates being zero because of a guy named ”Pharoah ”s ability to see the future.

”This Pharoah guy can see the future so that he could tower down the crimes, right? ” he asks for confirmation.

”LIES! ” Bardick aggressively shouts. ”Bardick says it all LIES! Bardick thinks Pharoah use that excuse to kill innocent lads to enjoy. ”

”Im so sorry to hear that… ” Taihen replies. ”But, what is a Pharoah exactly? ”

Bardick pauses for a moment and sighs. ”Pharoah is leader of whole Egypt. ”

”Leader…like- a boss? ” he asks.

”Just like boss. ” Bardick answers. ”Leads everything. Basic-ly god. ”

”I see… ” Taihen replies.

Another awkward silence submerges, but Bardick cuts it off as he reminds himself of something hes supposed to do.

”Haaaiiiyaaaai! Me-lad. Bardick gotza do a thing. ” he says awkwardly, with a pinch of delight. ”Look around or leave. Bardick gotza go. Call Bardick if Me-lass arrives. See me-lad tommorow! ”

”See you tomorrow, ” he replies.

Bardick seems to be in a hurry, either to do something or to escape the awkward silence. He takes the cat off the table, grabs his other stuff, and runs back behind the curtain.

Being left alone in the shop, Taihen stands still as he has no idea what hes going to do next. Is he going to check out the shop or go back to Whinas place? Hes left unsure.

But what he does know, for now, is that he has to find a place to spend the night in. He doesn want to sleep out cold in the dark or bother Whina and her mother. So, he needs to find an inn.

As he leaves the storefront, he reencounters with the shouting wandering trader earlier. Taihen stops for a while as the wandering trader is currently staring at him dead in the bid. The coats covering the face though, so the trader has no idea what Taihen looks like.

”Looks like you didn get a good deal there joyride. ” he says in a joyful, almost annoying manner. ”Why not trade with me and get some supercalifragilisticexpialidocious items for a cheap price?! ”

Earlier, Whina told him to ignore the trader, so he does as hes told and tries to walks past him. But the trader insists.

”Hey- HEY! ” he says as he blocks Taihen to stop him from walking past.

”Excuse me, I need to pass through- ”

”Wait- just listen to me. ” he adds. ”Ive been here, homeless for three days. Could you just help me out here? ”

The trader grabs Taihens wrist firmly to keep Taihen from going anywhere, which makes him a little too suspicious. This continues to make Taihen uncomfortable and he had enough.

”Please STOP! ” he shouts as quietly as possible so no one would avert attention to them. ”You
e making me uncomfortable. ”

Suddenly, it stops. The gripping and blocking stop. Taihen takes some steps back, breathing heavily, wondering why it all stops suddenly.

Is it because of the command? No. The trader saw Taihens face.

”No… ” the trader says out of disbelief. ”This can – this shouldn be happening! ”

”W-what? ” Taihen replies.

”Is that you, Taihen? ”