Chương 70: And we’re off!

Goodbye was difficult. In the months he had remained with this small village, Blick had grown comfortable and close to the peaceful hardworking people. His presence was mutually beneficial to his own emotional growth and the villagers health and construction. They steadily provided him with new perspectives on life while he consistently helped them build new structures and move heavy stones from the most used areas. His most difficult lesson was learning what loss meant to a close community.

The old man left a gap that had to be filled with multiple people working around their own families and lives. Beth ended up sharing a new home with a small family of three who had been close with the old man and her prior to his passing. She nearly refused, not wanting to be with anyone but her favorite teddy bear. He had to sit down with her and explain his life was all danger and exploration. She would need to grow up big and strong so one day she could come find him on his journey through planets.

Ultimately the day finally came when Blick was ready to leave and explore more of the world. He had to wait on that damned bird to come down from the mountain top before he could actually walk away. So he found himself in the arena surrounded by most of the village who threw him a large farewell party. They pitched in and got him a larger satchel that strapped to his back instead of the smaller one he carried on his side.

He transferred his things from the old one to the new one and even added some dried meats and berries the villagers rounded up for his journey. When the satchel was empty he handed it over to Beth for "safe keeping". The little girl took the satchel with a stern expression and a nod accepting the implied mission. Clarance found him just as the bird came down looking for some snacks from the group of celebratory humans.

"Can I have a word before you go?" The older farmer tilted his head off to the side as to not be overheard. Blick stood and followed him over curiously.

"I know you will find danger and probably more than a few bad people along your journeys son. But I want you to think about your responsibility in ending them. You're no monster despite what people will think when they first see you. Try not to become one son. You're better than that." Blick stood there absorbing the old man's words and reflecting the fights he had survived with the new context of what others felt when they lost a loved one. In the forest life and death happened fast and dirty.

It was brutal and you had to make split second decisions. But that mentality had left bodies in his wake. Bodies he hadn't even considered until the old man's funeral. He looked into the old farmers eyes and asked.

"Do you think the men I've killed left behind a little one like Beth?" There it was again. The unfamiliar burn behind his eyes. The hurt from inside his chest.

"Son…. There's no way to know. Honestly I don't think you're at fault for those men. Defending yourself is one thing. But in the future just think about the cost to others when you can afford to. That's all anyone can ask of you. You're a good person. Better than most humans honestly. Now go finish saying bye." The old farmer finished his sidebar with a small pat on the back as he lead Blick back to the farewell gathering. Beth cried a lot.

Blick held back his own tears to keep the kid from falling completely apart.

"Hey bird. Let's go" he yelled out to the gigantic animal who was chasing the teens around as they taunted it with dried meat. At this point the bird had grown to reach Blicks shoulder if it just stood in a comfortable position. It towered over Beth as she slowly moved away. She wasn't a big fan of the giant bird and Blick had made sure the bird didn't spook her. It walked with a weird waddle with its two long tail feathers brushing a zig zag pattern in the dirt behind it.

The bird tried to poke its beak into the new large backpack Blick had slipped on, and Blick pushed its face away as he chuckled at the silly animal's antics.

"Stop, there will be plenty of snacks on the way. And if you keep a look out we may find some more blue berries!" The bird let out a squawk and hoped up into his backpack with several awkward flaps to stabilize itself before settling in resting its breast on the back of his soft furry head.

"Listen here you dumb bird." It cut him off with a louder squawk and several of the children laughed out loud. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Hearing kids laugh was enough to convince Blick to let the situation play out and he waved to everyone as he started making his way to the mountain pass that he was told leads to a port town just a dozen or so miles away.

The trip shouldn't take more than a day so he wasn't too concerned about the wilderness. The big issue would be the citizens inside the port town. The village had sent a runner a week prior to let the town know that Blick wasn't some wild animal. But that didn't mean his travel through town would be peaceful. He was warned by the villagers that there were some less than savory people who passed through from time to time. The plan was fairly simple for Blick.

He was meant to find a ship meant to set sail in the coming week that would take him along the coast to one of the major ports. From there he was on his own as the villagers knew little else about their neighboring town aside from its reputation. The path was really straight forward if a bit narrow. He now understood why no wagons traveled the rocky path between the village and port town.

A minor shrub every now and again followed by a small scurrying critter climbing the rock wall and finding a crack to hide in was all that broke up the monotony of the trip. Within moments of walking onto the path, Blick hopped into a casual jog. For him it was not a very difficult pace physically, but with the walls close beside him and a bushes flying past at speed he quickly realized he was moving way faster than he ever could have before.

He hadn't had the need to push himself since developing his first solid layer inside his mana core. This was a lot faster than he was expecting at such a comfortable pace. With a smile he told the bird.

"Hold on tight" as he took off to see how fast he could go. The bird was absolutely not a fan as it took flight almost as soon as he took off and followed him from well above. It could keep up from the sky, But he was down in the path dodging boulders and bushes. On an open straight away he was sure he could outpace the bird. Within minutes he saw the opening ahead where the rocky path tuned downhill. It came up a bit too fast and he was not actually prepared for the drop off on the other side.

The man sized ball of grey fur flew over the near thirty foot slope that was steep enough to have multiple switchbacks leading up into the mountain pass. Blick launched out over the clearing and into a small patch of trees that lay between the mountain pass and the port. From the air he could make out the small buildings off in the distance for just a moment before gravity pulled him down and he collided with a tree top.

The snap of branches and the growl of what amounted to a human bear caused any local wildlife to sprint away from the landing zone. The bird let out its weird squawking laughter as it perched on a nearby tree high in the canopy and looked down at Blick. He lay on the ground for a minute just thinking about the aches from the smack of multiple branches all over the front of his body. When he was finished considering how dumb that move was he sat up and began pulling small twigs and leaves out of his fur.

"Come on, that's enough." He stood up and found his new direction before setting off at a more casual pace this time.