Having swallowed down some water, Midas glanced up from his emptied clay cup. The scenery they passed through was completely flat, as the entire ground was covered in masses of grass that spanned from the lowlands to another, seemingly even wider-spanning forest right at the foot of the large wall of mountains that towered over each other on their horizon. The even fields were riddled with tiny, seemingly dated huts made out of corroding wood—not many seemingly passing through the region despite the kingdoms' open borders with each other.
From the ground, clusters of giant blades of grass reached up for the cloudy sky, dimly folding and curling as their own weight made them bend down slightly. Among the groupings of five or more of these unusual grass blades, thin stems ranged up even higher—at their peak, dimly opened flower petals, their reds and blues shining dimly in the muted light of the sky above them. The entire plain was covered by these clusters in irregular patterns, and moss covered parts of the ground, slithering in between these growths.
From the direction they were headed into, Midas was able to make out a distant base of a stem, planted right in the middle of the even field, as the tree that used to belong to it was completely missing. Already anticipating the remains of the tree being much larger, like the flowers their carriage passed by, even though the trunk was easily visible from the distance, it was still dwarfed by the snow-covered peaks of the mountains that rose up high over it.
Having stepped forward to peek out of the front of the ride, Jikith grinned at Midas as he ignored the steps of the Fahin growing more tired with every bit of distance they traversed. Uteli watched the youth for a while, somewhat tired from sitting around as her unrest grew, dimly knowing she was now closer to reaching her homeland than ever before after the past few Trestempos. Javelin scanned the pages of the book Midas brought on the trip, glancing over many foreign words he had never heard of when speaking with Uteli.
"The fact that the plant kingdom shares an open border with the water kingdom led to a mixture of their both languages. The capital city therefore has two names, 'Arbocaso' being used by travelers on their way into the kingdom and 'Baumfall' being used by the people that are native to the region. Officially, the state recognizes both of these names—probably to keep their good relations with the water kingdom intact."
"So it's true that this place is a vassal of the water kingdom...?"
"Yes, you could say so. Even though that is only stated unofficially by the man who rules over the plant kingdom, actually declaring their state to be a mere puppet of another would enrage many that live to the north of this kingdom. All of this in front of us is one giant forest, good for cover, but also bad in a way as it separates your own folk into those who decide to interact with the people from the southern lands and those who tend to stay with their own kind in isolation."
After his explanation, Midas eventually realized the state of the horned beast—grasping dryly for air as its hooves struggled to continue moving forward, making the wheels of the ride eventually stop completely. As the youth turned to Jikith with worry, he met his sunken glance, simply sighing at the overworked state of the animal in front of him as he watched it collapse to the ground.
"We're stuck now."
Guan stepped out of the back, squeezing through Midas and Jikith to glance at the collapsed beast, his expression softening dimly. Lazily, Jikith undid the straps that were bound to the Fahin, calling the rest of them to get out of the carriage as the three of them watched their driver pull at the carriage with the help of Guan, parking it eventually at the side of the road.
Uteli crouched down in front of the collapsed animal, while Javelin gave Midas his book back—their glances somewhat worried as Baumfall was still quite far away from them. The youth leaned against one of the large grass blades that sprouted not far away from the road they travelled on as the plant dimly gave way under his weight as he relaxed onto it. Returning to them again, Jikith and Guan looked around the region.
"I suppose we just have to wait for her to recover. That's the best we can do here..."
Fearing the reputation of his tiny business, Jikith muttered as he fed the exhausted Fahin some old bread, watching it chew on it before raising his head to someone approaching them. Going up the same hill they had passed over, a blonde man with tied-up long hair and a slim physique matching Guan's made his way towards them. Riding on top of a six-legged insect, covered in slim, elongated plates of dark and dimly reflected armor, sporting a set of large, shear-like teeth that expanded out from its tiny head.
Seated on top of the round torso of the large insect, the foreign man gave them a relaxed grin, nodding at them before noticing their stranded ride—eventually making the bug he sat on top of stop as his palm rested briefly on its forehead before jumping off. The tall man's hair was bound together by multiple, slim plant fiber ropes; the hat he wore had a flat top made solely out of folded-up pieces of the giant grass Midas rested his back against.
"Southerners... oh, and some real southerners... Are all of you on your way to Baumfall...?"
The tone of the foreign person became less polite, growing more cheerful and intrigued instead once he laid eyes on Midas and Javelin, holding onto his chin as he turned to the dim frown of their driver. Uteli was quick to turn to the parked beetle, disturbing the peaceful creature as she inspected every one of its tiny legs, touching its shell and large teeth with an agape mouth. Javelin only watched the creature from afar with his hands crossed over himself, finding the subtle movements of its feelers unappealing.
"Yes, we are. I lost one of my Fahin on the way through the lowlands. The weight of my carriage was too much for it to carry."
"I'm not surprised by that, to be honest... I'm quite surprised that you even got your hands on such a model like this. Today, you barely get to see carriages like this... You know what, I'll help you out since the fest of growth is that near..."
Dimly surprised at his reasoning to help him out, Jihid widened his eyes at the hospitality the man showed for people from the surrounding kingdoms. Making Uteli turn back to her dropped axe to pick it up from the ground again, the blonde man sat himself on top of the large bug, aligning it with the front of the ride to tighten the leather straps belonging to it around the two large teeth of the bug, making it start to move in the same slow tempo it used to move in before.
Binding the tired Fahin to the wooden frame of the slowly moving ride, the entire group began to move thanks to the native man helping them continue their trip. Walking along, Midas and Javelin watched Uteli as she grinned at the sight of the bug she walked along with, barely able to keep her axe on her shoulder. Guan had sat himself on the driver's seat, while Jikith sat on the Fahin, dimly frowning at the fact he now was relying on another driver to get him to his destination.
Midas found himself dimly confused as to why the water kingdom would be interested in meddling in the business of this state—growing slightly bored of the sight of nothing else but grass, as the only thing that stood out was the colors of the gigantic flowers that dimly opened up their petals. Whatever the nobles and elites of the water kingdom were seeking to take control over must be located inside the forest that covered the northern half of the territory—possibly it was rare herbs like the Nor'Luft that motivated them to do so.
Using the uneventful day to check up on his mana, Midas realized how fluent he seemingly became at transporting it from one arm, through his chest, and then back into the other arm without having to stop, as doing so while walking became less of a problem, barely taking a toll on his performance. Looking at his rusty weapon as he held the curved blade of his sickle in his palm, Midas eventually realized the rugged state of his weapon—soon, if he really wanted to stick to his weapon of choice, the youth would have to replace it with a newer one, having to somehow get his hands on some money.
The youth watched as the speck of dark brown eventually grew bigger with every passing moment, as the enormous size of the trunk became more noticeable. Midas remembered Ivyda mentioning guilds—the work they took care of seemingly a part of her club, as she mentioned it directly in her introduction shortly after she met the youth.
Whatever this work was, most likely similar to the quest Midas had taken care of, it might prove profitable for the youth, as the thought of joining a guild to finance new weaponry sounded intriguing.