Three days passed in a flash. For most, it felt like three whole days, but for me, it felt like only hours had passed.
For reasons unknown to me, since the day I came down from the mountains, it felt like time wasn't something to worry about. One could say it's because of the carefree life of the olden days. I mean, yeah, I could vouch for that, because the system in which the future era worked made most people's time preoccupied with social activities deemed necessary—for instance, schooling.
The fact that school takes up most of the time from the age of three to twenty-three is something I don't understand why people aren't bothered about. Then there's work. If one's lucky enough to find a job, he gets to work for the rest of his life until his sixties before he or she retires. All these combined really scared me back then. But look at me now—having almost all the time to myself, embarking on thrilling adventures.
"How I wish I could stay here forever."
"Will you stop daydreaming and focus on guarding our goods!"
The brat that had been nagging me for the past two days barked.
"Is your brain that empty, or are you just so blind you can't see there's literally nothing to protect you from?"
I pointed to the clear expanse of grassland stretching as far as the eye could see.
"How dare you talk back to your employers like that? See, Father? I told you we shouldn't have hired this fraud. Not only will he not protect us, his incompetence won't even allow him to understand the hierarchy of things here."
"Now, now, easy with that temper of yours," the old man—the nagging fool's father said. "You just handle the horses and leave the young chap to his duty. If eventually he is a fraud, then I will count on you to protect my life." He tapped his son's shoulder with a dry, paced laugh.
"Yes, Father. I'll protect you instead." The nagging fool chuckled shyly.
And this is the situation I found myself in. A day after I left for Shogi Village, I found out the hard way that my body needed food to function. That was when I stumbled upon the old father probably in his eighties and his son in his thirties. Both are merchants and, as of this moment, en route to Shogi Village with their big carriage, driven by two healthy horses and the son at the wheel.
If there's a phenomenon called love at first sight, then I'm certain there's also one called hate at first sight. Unfortunately, that's the case with me. I don't know why, but the foolish son just hates me for no reason.
At first, they gave me food to eat. I was really grateful, like very grateful, in fact. And the son was chill too. But then we had a long conversation that made both parties realize we were headed in the same direction. The old man offered me food and a ride in exchange for me serving as their bodyguard, and just then, everything changed.
Did I act strange? I don't know. Was it the fugitive mark on my arm? It was tightly covered with pieces of cloth.
To be sincere, I am the victim here.
"But then again, I seriously do not know what you saw in him that made you hire this fraud," the son whispered, casting a suspicious look at my arm, where the fugitive mark was engraved.
"You could say it's a hunch feeling, son. Just a hunch," the old man said.
"If you were going on such a long-distance journey, why didn't you hire better men as guards?" I asked.
The old man turned to me and smiled. "Well, young chap, as you grow, there are very few people you learn to trust."
I shrugged and kept quiet as we continued the journey towards Shogi Village.
***
Hours into the days journey
"There is someone lying on the road," the foolish son said.
"Injured, the person must be," the old man added.
"I'll go check on the person, Father."
The foolish son left the steering and ran to the person on the ground. I could swear I've seen this kind of scenario play out in movies but it wouldn't be bad experiencing one myself, robbery.
"Hello there, are you alright?" he approached. Even while wearing a big cloak stained with some red substance, her feminine curves were still notable.
"She's bleeding…" he whispered and placed his hand close to her nose,
"...She's alive. She's still alive!!"
The foolish son turned to face us when the girl lying on the ground pulled out a dagger and placed it on his neck.
"Don't move an inch until I tell you to move," she said, a wide smile plastered on her face.
The son froze as the blade pressed on the nape of his neck.
"Big brother, you can come out now. No guard in sight."
After speaking, two young men approached us from behind, both clad with curved blades.
"Get down here, now." One pointed his blade at me. As I made my way down from the carriage roof, the other guy entered the carriage and began examining the supposed loot.
After his quick inspection, he came out with a smile on his face.
"Wow! It's going to be a great haul."
All three of them burst into laughter.
"I can already smell cash from here—"
"You cruel bandit…" the foolish son looked at the girl,
"...I thought you were injured. I wanted to help—"
"I said don't move!" The girl pressed the dagger into the son's neck until a drop of blood seeped out.
"Ahem… I'll advise you not to go any further with that," I said to the girl. "You see, I was hired by the old man to guard his foolish son, the goods, and himself. So I'll give you a very good piece of advice, let us pass and we'll all just pretend like this never happened."
"Huh?" The girl's eyebrow twitched.
"You? A guard…" the man behind me sized me up.
"...Get down on your knees."
He kicked the back of my leg, but I didn't budge.
I turned my head slowly, staring up at him from the corner of my eye.
"Touch me again and you'll wish for a quick death."
Terror struck his core. His muscles trembled as he took three steps backward.
"What is the brat saying?" the other guy walked up to me and bent down, grabbing my long hair.
"Say that again, boy—"
My arm blurred as I punched his stomach and grabbed his arm, twisting and bending it until I heard multiple cracking sounds.
"Arghh!" he yelled, tears in his eyes.
"I said, touch me again and you'll wish for a quick death."
I continued bending until I dislocated his elbow, then grabbed his upper arm, forcing him to his knees and bending it.
"Please! Please!!" he shouted in pain.
The girl hurriedly left the son and knelt down, pleading for her brother's life—and so did the other.
"You all promise never to show yourselves on this road again?"
"Yes, yes, yes! We won't ever again!"
I let go of the guy's hand and looked at the foolish son and his father. Although the son's face was filled with surprise and questions, his father wore a calm smile. As I looked at the two of them, something struck me...
"Hey! You three," I turned.
"Yes, sir!"
"Rather than running away forever, how about joining this carriage and serving as their full-time guards? You'll be paid, right?" I turned to the old man, and he gave a nod of approval.
All three of them looked at one another and nodded violently, accepting the offer with little to no thought—and with that, our numbers increased.