1700  Toma

Because downhill was dangerous for a cart or carriage with no brakes, everyone had to tie together the rear wheels to the cart itself so that instead of rolling downhill, it would have to be dragged instead.

This was bad on the wheel and more work on the horses, but this had to be done or else the journey would be too dangerous on a cart downhill.

Ning felt bad for the poor horses, but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was look at the massive city that lay at the base of the mountain and finally feel happy at the end of the 2-week-long caravan.

There were some good memories he had made from his journey through the caravan, but no doubt most of it was bad instead. He did not want to sleep on top of a wooden board with barely anything for a cushion.

He wanted a proper bed with a thick mattress. He wanted hot baths and tasty meat that wasn’t dried. Most of all, he just didn’t want to sit on the cart all day long.

After 2 more hours and riding downhill, they arrived at the gate of the city that wrote in bold words ‘Welcome to Lenes. Welcome to Toma.’

Ning and Shara rode past the large welcome gate and arrived at a checking station where guards from the city went through the carts to check for contraband.

 Ning barely had anything in his cart anyway, so the guards didn’t have anything to search. They still had to pay a small fee for entry, which was 8 bronze coins for the 2 of them.

They paid the price and went in.

They stopped by a large open ground where all the carriages began rolling toward. Ning didn’t follow them. That was for the caravan. They were no longer a part of the caravan, so they could keep going.

Dema, the bald spearman, came running toward Ning and Shara after seeing them leave.

“You’re not going to come say goodbye?” he asked.

“Not really,” Ning said. “You guys will stay here for a month, right?’

“About,” Dema answered.

“Then, maybe we will meet each other again,” he said, nodding toward the man. “If our fate wills it, we shall meet again, brother.”

Dema stood up straighter. “Farewell, brother.”

The man left, so Ning and Shara made their way toward the city as well, to find a place to keep the horses and the cart. They waved at the couple and child that were going toward the city as well and gave them a ride until further on.

“For a few days, until we handle some of the paperwork to become a citizen of this kingdom,” the husband said.

“I see. Then you will leave by carriage I assume. How far is Farma from here?” After a bit of chat, they said goodbye to the 3 and put their cart and horses into a stable. They then left the place, going to find a tavern to stay in. S~eaʀᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

There were many nearby, so finding one wasn’t that difficult. Once they got to a tavern, they immediately asked for a hot bath for both of them and took a long bath behind the tavern.

Ning took it second, so by the time he went to the room where they were staying, Shara had already fallen asleep. They were supposed to have eaten before they slept, but the girl was tired and just wanted a proper sleep.

Ning didn’t bother waking her up. He simply went down to eat a bite and came back up to fall asleep as well.

Even though he slept on a soft mattress, which was still hard but soft by comparison to where they were sleeping this whole time, Ning couldn’t immediately fall asleep.

He felt the world move while he tried to sleep, as though he was back in the cart.

‘I’m catching cart-lag,’ Ning thought, letting the feeling of movement back in the cart turn into a gentle rocking feeling as though he was back in a cradle.

His tiredness quickly caught up to him and before he knew it, he fell asleep as well.

Ning woke up the next morning, way into the morning by the rays of sun through the window. He had easily slept for over 10 hours by the look of it.

Shara had woken up already and didn’t seem to be in the room. He went outside and down to the base floor, to find her munching on some hot stew.

‘She must be incredibly hungry,’ he thought, quickly going next to her to eat a light breakfast himself.

Shara said nothing as she chowed down her food. Ning got some tea and a slice of bread for his breakfast. “Slow down. No one is going to steal your food,” he said as he sipped on the tea. He was a bit surprised at the sweetness of it, which didn’t seem to come from sugar but rather something else.

“Sorry,” Shara said. “Hungry.”

Ning nodded. “I know. You should’ve eaten yesterday.”

“Forgot,” Shara said before chowing on some more.

Ning didn’t say anything and sipped his own tea. He put it back confused at the taste of it.

“What’s wrong?” Shara asked.

“Tea tastes weird,” he said.

“Bad?” she asked.

“No, no. It’s good. Just… something is different about the sweetness. Maybe honey or—”

“Oh, we use artificial sweetener,” one of the tavern maids who had stumbled upon his words said. “They say it’s made from corn, but I wouldn’t know how. We get them in big barrels every month.”

“Oh…” Ning said, surprised. “They learned how to make corn syrup huh? This must have high fructose too to be this sweet.”

“No clue what you’re saying,” the maid said.

“Is corn syrup cheaper by any chance?” Ning asked. “Or do you think it’s a better alternative to sugar?”

“It’s cheaper, of course,” the woman said. “But only because it is impossible to find real sugar now due to the war.”

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