Chapter 22: 22: Unchangeable past, unknown future and… a campfire?

The sun started to fall into the horizon and the blue moon to rise. We got into the village at midday but after we bumped into that particular group we could not afford to stop until nightfall.  

From what I had observed so far, one day in this world was definitely longer compared to my former world. It was a shame that there wasn't something like a watch to measure it.

I wonder if the seasons were a thing here. I got lucky to not came here in the middle of winter or something...

*rumbling* 

My wandering mind was disturbed by a sound that came from below. If I remembered correctly we hadn't had the opportunity to eat anything with all the agitation in the village. 

” Are you hungry, Fio? We got some distance from the village so I think we can make a pause to eat something. ”

” Mm. ” she gave me one of her usual short answers and started to gather some dry branches for the campfire. 

Even if we could make it just fine while the blue moon was up it was better to take a pause, eat and get some sleep. We needed to be ready for the red moon. We couldn't sleep in the most dangerous period of the night after all. 

We changed our ragged clothes with the ones we got from the village since we hadn't been able to do it earlier with all the mess we almost got in. It wasn't bad, at least the clothes weren't uncomfortable and wouldn't obstruct your movement either.

Fiona already started lighting the fire by the time I finished changing my clothes. She was much faster than me since I somehow avoided peeking at her but mostly because I tried to hide myself for some reason. We were both girls but it was still awkward.  

My mind wasn't accustomed to it yet. Yes, I had gone through a lot with this body— from washing it to other biological needs and problems I wasn't willing to speak of— but it felt wrong to me to cross that line. I was not that degenerated... yet.

It took quite a bit for Fiona to make that fire without a lighter or something similar to it. 

As she was struggling with that, I was wondering if there were primitive versions for these day to day necessities. Maybe the primitive term wasn't entirely fitting. Even though this world was clearly culturally and technologically inferior to my previous one, this one had magic and that counted quite a bit.

While I had acquired [Fire Manipulation] which allowed me to do just that, manipulate already existing fire. There were superior versions or other skills that allowed you to create it and the necessity for a lighter was greatly diminished.

If I had to guess, maybe there really was something invented— some magical lighter —but I wasn't sure that something like that was available for commoners.

On the other side of the coin, there was the possibility that the magic factor allowed for things that were impossible in my previous world. Maybe flying vehicles... no, flying carriages. Maybe flying carriages existed there. Or even the teleportation thing...

*sigh*

I let out a sigh and shake my head from the useless thoughts. That wasn't the time to contemplate about life and stuff. 

I grabbed the rucksack and took some empty bottles. We just passed by a small stream of water not so long ago. I could as well do something useful until Fiona was done with the fire.

.

.

.

While I was gone to fill the bottles with fresh water, Fiona finished with the fire. We took out from the rucksack some preserved food and a blanket to sit on it.

I sit down next to her and grabbed a piece of something resembling bread. It was hard. There was not puffiness to it at all. There was no yeast probably so it was understandable. 

” Say Fio, it may be a little inappropriate to ask like this, but I just realized that I don't know too much about my trip companion. Soooo... I'm a little curious. ”

She stopped eating and turned her head to look at me. Her eyes seemed to demand a further explanation of what I wanted to know. 

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Maybe she was in a good mood? In that case, I couldn't miss it. I decided to go for it.  

” Emmm, you just told me that you got caught by the slave traders and nothing more... like from where you are or what you were doing before that... ”

” Mm. ” she simply nodded while turning her stare from me to the burning fire and took another bite of bread. 

” Not much to be told... I wasn't someone special in any way, just a normal girl you can find anywhere in my tribe. ” she said somehow with a sad voice.  

” Oh. ” I nodded in acknowledgment and prompted her to continue. Most people would stop there but I wasn't most people. We almost got in serious trouble due to her past and I wasn't willing to help further for no reason. At least, I wanted to know for who was I risking my life. 

Maybe she wasn't aware of it but even with that small sentence, she had already attracted my full attention. 

She said tribe. In other words, that implied that there were different types of beastkin people. I already expected to be like that but a confirmation to my theory was always welcomed. That also implied a different form of society. 

” My tribe was located in the north-west of the beastkin territory. We lived mainly from hunting and fishing because the sea was close to us. We also weren't that far from the Mermaid’s Archipelago and because that was the most accessible route that conected the north and the south of the continent besides the mountain range— which is pretty much untraversable —you can guess how they captured me. ” her face darkened at the final but she quickly changed it back to normal.

’Yeah...’ I could already see from the way the people from that village treated her that the relationship between humans and beastkin people wasn't that bright. 

Even the remote village shared the same mentally so I could assume that it was the same for the entire country. 

I had also seen that she wasn't that fond of them, which was somehow understandable. If you lived a relatively peaceful life with your tribe and some vile human slave trader kidnapped you to sell you as a slave in a faraway country... Yeah, I could see from where was coming all that resentment toward humans.

At least that Brigandia country where we planned to go seemed to not allow slavery and was not discriminating toward other races.

I sincerely hoped to be like that. After all, I was supposed to come from that place and crossed the border from a mistake.

” I don't know what to say to you but I hope we can make it safe to Brigandia and maybe you could find a way to return home afterward. Or maybe you could start a new life from there... ”

I was never good at reassuring people in these kinds of situations. Even if I planned to keep her with me, she had a proper family somewhere there which most probably loved and was grieving after her loss. 

Whatever the result would be at least I managed to make a friend in this strange world and that was a step further. Even if she decided to go back, I would acknowledge her decision.

” That won't be easy. I need to cross this country again if I want to return. The next one is even worse than this and after that, I need a boat to make it further. ” she said with a dejected face.

That was sad. But if she could not return, that was it. Even if it wasn't the noblest thing to feel reassured by the situation, that seemed to be the case. I still wanted her to stay with me. It seemed that I was not that good of a person. 

” Fio, you can accompany me even after we will arrive there. To be frank, I was mostly running from place to place and I arrived in Brigandia not long ago so we are almost in the same situation. It would be nice to stay with someone I know and trust after we arrive there... ” I said while combining some truth with some lies in order to align the situation with what I lied before. I felt a little sad for lying to her so often but that was the best way for now. 

” Mm. Thank you. ” she slowly nodded her head while she continued to look at the fire. She said nothing more after that. 

I thought that I had to cheer her up somehow but after several moments of silence, she seemed to suddenly brighten up for some reason. I could have vowed that I saw a little smile on her face for a moment. 

I rubbed my eyes. Maybe I really needed a bit of rest after all.

FDSIO

I somehow messed up the release schedule due to my chaotic program and also because I tried to make more than I was capable of doing. However, to be sure that a situation similar to this will not appear again I decided to announce a schedule of two releases per week. That means one chapter every 3,5 days and if I had enough time that week an additional surprise chapter. 

This is all I want to say for now and I hope you enjoyed my story so far.

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