“I’m too old for this.”
Jinpok ranted as he swept the sweat off his forehead.
Doral commented sarcastically, “Hah, you look like you just hiked over a mountain or something.”
Jinpok replied, “Who cares! Mind your own business! Are all Ainos like you? Nosy about other people’s business?”
Both men kept quarreling with each other and that made Joonbum grin every time. It was pretty amusing to watch.
‘But it is getting out of control.’
The forest was littered with monsters and animals. A forest was usually dangerous for all human beings, but it was now much more dangerous.
“We are almost there, but why do we have to stay in the forest? Why are we avoiding those towns!” Jinpok ranted again. Their original plan was to stay at a village along the way, pretending to be mercenaries. But as they were ambushed at nearly every village they visited, they had to change their plans. It was not hard to fend off the ambushes, but it was not a pleasant experience to kill those villagers.
“City!” Jinpok shouted as they just got out of the forest. They were now at the capital of the empire. The air freshened up instantly as they got out of the forest and onto the large plain.
“Let’s eat some good food and take a shower! I long for a shower so much, ugh.” Jinpok spoke as they rode on the road. Joonbum felt the same.
“Let’s eat a large chicken when we get there.”
“Large chicken?”
“Yeah.”
Joonbum looked confused at Jinpok’s words, but Doral nodded.
“It’s about four-foot-tall chicken-like bird. It can’t fly.”
“Ostrich?”
“No, it’s much smaller. It looks like a chicken. It tastes like a chicken too. If we fry it and eat it with beer…”
“Oh.”
“I heard the empire’s capital has Ainos beer too?”
“Sounds good. Are you with us, Doral?”
Joonbum smiled and turned to Doral. Doral nodded.
“Let’s go! We should get there before the sun sets!” Jinpok shouted. It was still half a day away with on horse, but the thought of food and comfortable beds made them brighten up.
*
“Did you hear that? A war!”
“Yeah, Dentrion and Katzback.”
“But why? We’re barely getting there.”
“It’s the corn.”
“Why?”
The corn was now a very popular crop in the world.
“They want more! They’re not the empire.”
“Oh.”
The empire had imported a large number of corn seeds to plant from Khalodian, but other countries could not do the same.
“They can just join the empire… how stupid of them.”
“I know.”
“It’s all because of those greedy nobles.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, watch your mouth. It might get you arrested!”
“Oops.”
“Be careful what you say if you don’t want to get dragged off the street by the empire’s secret guards. We can talk about other countries’ kings, but be careful not to say anything about the empire’s nobles.”
The empire had been humiliated as they lost the war with Khalodian. It was after they received the corn that they stopped being blamed by their people for losing a war. Yet the distrust and complaints were still there and nobles of the empire used secret guards to capture any who spread such words.
The men began leaving their seats and Joonbum who had been eating his food mentioned, “This is good.”
There were various foods, including the large chicken that Jinpok mentioned. There was also Ainos beer for them.
“Yeah, this place is best for the large chicken dish.”
“How did you know about this place?’
“This is where my wife got pregnant. Hallis originates from this place.”
Jinpok grinned and pointed upstairs.
“OH! So Hallis was…”
“Haha.”
Jinpok nodded as he smiled.
“I ate this back then. It was so good.”
Jinpok was reminiscing about his old memories.
“It was a safehouse for me and my wife back then. But we were found out by them and had to run.”
“And you will solve it this time?”
“Yeah.”
Jinpok nodded. It was also the reason why he came in place of Hallis.
“I’ll show that old man…”
“Yeah, do what you want. You can use my name if you need to.”
“Sure, that was my plan.”
Jinpok nodded.
“Let’s go out and walk around the city after we’re done here.”
“Is there a good place?”
“Yeah. You’ll like it. It will be a good spot for you to take care of your business.” Jinpok commented, indicating something.
‘It’s good that I came here with him. I’ll find a good sniping spot easily.’
Jinpok also served in the army when he was on Earth. He knew the requirements for a sniper as well as Joonbum.
