As the evening sun glowing red sets in the west, It casts it's fiery gaze upon the lone Ox-Cart travelling on the earthen path towards a distant village .
Inside the Ox-Cart .
After a taking a low breath of fresh air, the cart driver asked " Sir , Are you really going to leave the YOUMA ."
After a few seconds,
"Yes " said a middle-aged man seated beside the cart driver in a bitter voice. The middle-aged man named YOU was a battle hardened retired soilder from DSA. Even in his Sixties he looked very robust and healthy. His short brown hair , ice cold blue eyes along with a large scar on his face made him look a very fearsome individual even without doing anything.
" But Why "
" You know Rex I never wanted to be there for a long time . As for the Reason----"
You looked at max .
" You know it well "
" Then why are you leaving us behind. And also what about the zoo as well as the orphanage"
" I know leaving you all was a rash desicion but I believe you little kids have all grown up now . You don't need an old bone like me to manage you all . Right! "
" As for the zoo and the orphanage, I have asked FEDRIK
to look after it . With him around there would be no problem or at least he can handle them all"
[FEDRIK was one of the oldest child he had taken under the YOUMA orphanage . He was 7 years old when You met him in a village street roaming aimlessly. He was also dressed in strange and luxurious clothes. For a second You thought he was the son of some famous nobleman . But he soon dismissed the thought as there were no attendents by his side and by his demeanor he doesn't look like a noble son . Upon asking about him and his family You learnt that he was an orphan and doesn't have a place to stay . You asked him if he wanted to stay in his orphanage . He surprisingly agreed without any other thought and even looked happy about it . You know trusting someone blindly in this age is very rare and with YOU'S looks it is even more hard trust him.
"This must be an innocent and simple child lacking any worldly knowledge and filled with childhood innocent" You thought to himself.
FEDRIK was kind of a strange kid . He was considerably more intelligent and mature from children of his age . He always spoke something that even he couldn't understand. At the age of 15 he even asked YOU to give him a plot of land so that he could start his own zoo. Before FEDRIK built his zoo , YOU always thought of zoo as an enclosed area where he could put different tamable and friendly species of animals like cat , dog , birds etc. and feed them some food just like a garden. (As putting more large and dangerous animals would be very risky )
But the zoo made by FEDRIK was very strange to You .
But YOU knew that FEDRIK would be a better Director of the zoo as well as the Dean of the orphanage at that point. So he deligated all his responsibilities to FEDRIK along with making him the new Director as well as the new Dean .
After one year of spending his time doing nothing he felt that the children had grown up . They are becoming more indipendent, they don't need his guidance any more.
So he thought of doing one thing that everybody had atleast dreamt once in their life time. " I -- will travel the whole world and visit every wonderful places ( scenic spots) .
During this period,
The Kingdom that YOU lived in was in a very chaotic mess.
In the rural areas,Robbery, Theft , Kidnapping, Arson , Murder happened at a very high rate . Most of the officers along with able bodied man in the village were forced to participate in a war that happened some years age . Most of them never retuned from the war , Of those who returned a large part of them were recruited or forcefully recruited by some noble families as they have sensed a political instability that could broke out at any moment.
Those not recruited returned to their home but a large number of them were injured from the war.
In Town and Cities , the noble families had already started to assert their own dominance in their region.
The newly enthroned king didn't even had time to establish his authority before he got defeated in two successive wars. Which diminished the trust of his subjects in him and also destroyed the economy of the Kingdom. To run the Kingdom smoothly he decided to make an alliance with the noble families. He would give them some preferencial treatment along with some authority in their region. In return they provide the court funds to run the economy of the country. But then the noble families started fighting among themselves. Things got pretty messy.
Looking at the messy things , the king decided to strengthen his own forces . He invested heavily in the military. The king also tried to reduce the crime rate but he didn't succeed. The crime rate went a little low but not by much.
But all of these had nothing to do with YOU . Because YOU hates politics more than anything.
YOU will help in matter of public security but in politics he would never step in .
Everything was un related untill under a general's suggestion the king ordered to the ministry of WAR to buy all the steed and horses from the JK ZOO at a lower price.
You didn't know how the hell but the horses in FEDRIK's zoo named JW ZOO ( YOU didn't know why JW ) are much more in quantity than the horses in the market.
Even more outrageous think is that he didn't agree to sell his animals. " I WOULD NEVER SELL MY ANIMALS ------------"
The king respected his choice but this created a lot of conflict between the king and FEDRIK. ]
"You could at least bring Aaron with you. For Safety --"
" Never" stated YOU very hastily.
" You know how Aaron is , with him by my side I would never have a day of peace"
" I know Aaron is a very strong fighter but Don't forget I am also a fighter and I have more experience than him. In my entire life I have slained around 1000 people with my sword." YOU said with a faint smile.
While talking they reached their destination, The Village of ROUS . They stayed in that village for one night.
And on the next morning both parted ways .
After saying a final good bye to Rex , YOU started his journey --- THE JOURNEY OF THE WANDERER --- on foot.