Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

Chapter 6: Kingdom of Myrtana, Part 1

"Woah there. What's wrong, young man?" Grim asked after he saw Erik panicking and screaming.

Erik froze for a second, and then quickly grabbed Grim by the collar and asked in a hysterical voice, "What country is this? Where are we?!"

"Calm down. We are in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Myrtana a few dozen kilometers from the city of Geldern," Grim answered with a scared look on his face.

"Myrtana? Geldern?" Hearing that, Erik let go of his collar and froze with eyes and mouth wide open. His mind was running through all the information on countries and kingdoms of the Earth, present, and past. However, he was absolutely certain that he never heard of those places.

A new wave of anxiety flew over him and he started breathing really fast, but he somehow managed to keep himself from bursting out.

After a few deep breaths, he finally calmed down and turned to Grim with a forced smile "I'm sorry for my reaction before. It seems like I really messed up this time. I'm actually way further from where I thought I was. It would appear I got lost. Haha" he awkwardly scratched his head while forcing a laugh.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know if I can help you with that. In this small village, we don't really get to know much about the outside world." Grim thought for a while and then continued, "Come. Let my wife take care of those wounds and then we can talk about your problems."

"Okay, thanks."

Erik followed Grim to his house at the edge of the village. It was a small wooden house with a few chickens walking outside. "Gvene, I'm home! I brought a guest!" Grim called before he even stepped inside.

"Welcome back honey. I'm just about to make dinner," a voice was heard coming from what looked like a primitive kitchen. On the ceiling there were many different herbs tied on a string, drying. In front of the fire was a middle-aged woman preparing some kind of vegetable soup.

"Erik, let me introduce you to my wife, Gvene Frolf." Grim hugged Gvene by the shoulders with one hand and then pointed at Erik, "This is Erik. I found him in the woods at the clearing by the river. Apparently, he got lost in the woods and got attacked by wolves. "

"Oh, dear. You poor thing. Let me take a look at your arm." Gvene quickly noticed his bloody bandage and torn shirt and just looking at this young man, it reminded her of her son. That's why she showed that much concern for him.

She gestured him to sit at the table and then took out a pestle and mortar, collected a few different herbs and ground them into a powder. After that, she added a few drops of oil and mixed it all up into a thick dark green paste.

She then took off his bloody bandage and carefully cleaned his wound with a clean piece of cloth. Then she applied the green paste on his wound.

"Tsss" Erik sucked in a mouthful of air because he felt his arm burning.

"I'm sorry, but try to resist for a while. The pain will soon go away," the woman tried to comfort him. Sure enough, the pain soon went away and replaced it was a warm and comfortable tingling feeling. Afterward, she bandaged his arm again with a clean bandage.

Erik slightly smiled and said, "Thank you. " Gvene smiled back and nodded.

Suddenly Grim remembered something and said, "Ooh that's right, Gvene. Here, take this meat and prepare it," he took the piece of wolf meat out of his pouch and handed it to his wife.

"Oh, where did you get that?" Gvene was surprised. The rarely had meat since they were poor and hunters didn't like going deep in the woods for bigger prey. That's why they only hunted small game with traps and high-quality meat was expensive.

Grim smiled and pointed at Erik "This fella killed two wolves on his own. That's why he got wounded."

After hearing that, Gvene was honestly impressed by the young man and then sighted. Her own son went missing a few years back after getting too deep in the forest. His body was found after a week, floating down the river. His clothes and body were torn apart and a few limbs were missing. The gruesome memory still lingered in her heart.

life in a small village was hard and merciless.

While Gvene was preparing dinner, Erik had a few questions for Grim. He had to be careful not to leak any important information about himself. From his memory, he knew that people in the middle ages didn't like outsiders.

They were suspicious of possible enemy spies, especially in times of war. That's why even though Grim and his wife were very welcoming, it didn't mean that they would be so hospitable if they suspected that he was an enemy spy.

"Could you tell me where is the closest city? I think I will need to find some work so I can make some money to get back home," asked Erik.

Instead of staying in this small godforsaken village, it would be always better to stay in a more crowded area to figure out his situation. At least until he knew what he was dealing with he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks.

"Sure. As I said before, we are now on the east edge of the Kingdom of Myrtana. If you follow the road to the west you will come to the city of Geldern. It's the first big city in the vicinity. It's only a few dozen kilometers away. It shouldn't be a problem to reach it in a day's worth of walk."

Grim scratched his beard, though for a while and continued, "If you want to make some quick money and you are not afraid of hard work you should try joining the Warrior's Guild. I used to work there when I was younger. I met some great friends there as well hehe. Ah, good times. " While talking, Grim chuckled while falling into memories, remembering his youth.

"Cough, cough," Erik cleared his throat and asked, "What is this Warrior's Guild? "

"Oh, it's something like a mercenary guild just the jobs and work is much more varied. " Grim took a big breath and continued "Let's take our village for example. As you saw, the wolves came quite close and if you didn't kill them, they would probably attack our animals in a few days. We would then have to request help from the Warrior's Guild so they can send some experienced hunters to take care of the problem. Of course, we would have to pay for the service."

Grim took a sip of his drink and then continued, "There are also many different requests. You could for example go and collect some rare herbs for Alchemists or merchants in the city. You could also act as an escort between the towns. The bandits are getting more and more daring these days. They often attack lone merchants and travelers on the road between the towns. "

'Holy shit, this is going to be a huge pain. Armed guards just to travel between towns? Are you kidding me!?' thought Erik to himself, but in reality, he just nodded and said, "So that's how it is. I will have to be careful it seems."

Grim nodded and suggested, "Of course, you can also take some other jobs. You could work at the inn or you could become an apprentice or an assistant for some Alchemists or blacksmiths."

"Thanks for your advice. I will have to think about it," said Erik.