"That's right. I meant to stay at the Ishvari temple instead, since I've made a lot of trouble." The young man finally spoke, concisely.
"Unfortunately, there is no Ishvari temple or anything like that here," Sancho informed.
"Oh. Too bad."
"But if you wish, I have a hut on the outskirts of Hauger, where I can use it for shelter… um, while avoiding the people of Jarl Orkhost, the head of this fief," continued Sancho.
The young man didn't answer right away, for a moment he seemed to be trying to read the look on Sancho's face, then looked up at the top of Hrothgarr in the distance, which was now shrouded in darkness. Sancho was like a prisoner waiting for a verdict. Not long after, the young man turned to look at Sancho again and smiled through the steam of his breath, he gave a short nod.
"All right, if you don't mind," he said, stroking his horse's white-spotted mane.
In front of Sancho, again comes the figure of a teenager who wanders far and alone, rather than a hero who has just brutally ravaged the entire tavern, which contains adult men with side jobs as thieves and thugs. Snow began to form tiny white mounds on the two hilts of his swords.
Sancho, who heard the answer, suddenly smiled happily, his charcoal sales which were not selling too well this week seemed to be forgotten.
"Then come on, let's hurry, it's going to snow more heavily," said Sancho, hastily stepping ahead of the taller boy. "By the way, I'm usually called Sancho, Young Master. Just call it that." He then introduced himself.
"Then don't call Young Master, I'm Rygar. Just call me, Cal."
"Okay, Cal."
A unique name Sancho thought, he had never heard of a name like it, he didn't know what it means. Yet, the two are now walking side by side.
The weather diminished visibility even further, when they arrived outside Hauger village, Sancho tried to open his eyes wide. Though the sound of the frozen river beneath him could be heard clearly, the wooden bridge that should have been in front of them was now only a blur.
He carefully preceded Rygar, trying to find the bridge's wooden base by sticking his feet out, Sancho was mentally cursing himself for not thinking about grabbing the torch when he left the Foxhound.
A loud clanking sound followed by a beam of yellow light erupted from behind his back. Sancho turned his head and saw that the bright light was coming from a tiny crystal hanging from the pendulum string in Rygar's hand.
"Use this."
Rygar throws his crystal and Sancho frantically catches it. He had heard that people in the west used magic a lot in creative ways, especially those who had the money to pay for it because magic items were not cheap commodities. And the thing in his hand is a small example.
"This… this is what people call Anor crystal, isn't it?" Sancho asked with a look of amazement, which could not be separated from the crystal that emitted a bright light beyond the several torches.
"You've heard of it?" Rygar came closer with his horse.
"Yes. Yes, I have heard from those who have traveled far." Sancho answered, once again walking a step ahead.
"By the way, you are very young, and traveled all this way to Hauger, may I know the reason?" asked a curious Sancho.
Rygar again didn't answer right away, so there was a moment of silence between their footsteps on the wooden floor of the bridge. Sancho thought of apologizing because his question might seem presumptuous.
"I intend to climb Hrothgarr to Mercu Andall. There is an old temple that I must visit. And the entrance leads to this Hauger village."
Rygar's flat answer made Sancho dumbfounded. He looked for the look on Rygar's face buried in the dark hood of his coat, there, Sancho didn't find the slightest joking expression. And this made him even more confused.
What is the need for a young man like Rygar with Mercu Andall, the highest peak of the entire Hrothgarr mountain range, which is not only sacred to the residents here, but also deadly because of the harsh terrain.
And again, old Temple?
Sancho did know about the existence of the old temple at Mercu Andall, however, "Since a few years ago, climbing beyond the Frostwood forest strictly prohibited by the Jarl of this fief, Rygar. After all, the terrain is very tough beyond the foot of the mountain, many have been desperate to climb and never come back." Sancho spit words off the tip of his tongue.
He thought, Rygar might be an adventurous youth, and is looking for a challenge, like many of those who never returned from an expedition to the top of Mt. Hrothgarr, despite all warnings.
"So, that's how it looks."
"Just undo that intention, especially as it's approaching December now, the weather could be much worse than this."
"Unfortunately, I still have to go," Rygar answered briefly, Sancho looked back, as if he understood the question that was shown on his guide's face.
"This pilgrimage is a matter of life and death." He added.
Why do people want to risk their lives, just to see the world from a high peak?
Sancho spent his youth looking for woods to make charcoal in the forest, around the foothills of the Hrothgarr mountains, but he never understood the exoticism of climbing to the top of the mountain. In the older days, he often heard it from those who used his services as guides to cross the forest boundaries. Still, he failed to grasp the romanticism.
That was back then when the ascent to the Hrothgarr mountains was still busy, before all the unfortunate events, expeditions that never returned, that led Jarl Orkhost officially closed access. Since then, Hauger has returned to being a deserted village in the mountains.
However, in Rygar's eyes, Sancho did not find the excitement of adventure or the desire to conquer challenges as he usually saw in the climbers he used to accompany.
When the young man talked about his pilgrimage as a matter of life and death, the impression was that he wanted to give up his life if necessary, anything as long as he could reach Mercu Andall.
***
From inside the hut where Rygar stayed, he could hear the young couple arguing, even though he had deliberately chosen to spend the night in an empty stable, instead of intruding on the small living room of Sancho's house.
"I'm just going to usher him into the Frostwood boundary, Ina, nothing more. After all, he paid me well, look, look at this. Five hundred gold Florens! The money from selling my charcoal in a month is not that much, even though it is sold out."
"Don't act like it's just a matter of money, we both know it's not about money. What, aren't you thinking straight? He's a nobody, what are you doing here?"
"Me, why? I'm fine, I just accepted the offer to be his guide to the limits of Frostwood, that's all." Sancho tried to rationalize his reasons. However, the wife still doesn't seem to accept it.
"Didn't you promise not to come to that forest again? Even just to find wood for charcoal. Then why?"
Their debate interrupted by the sound of a baby crying. Rygar also shifted and corrected the position of his back, which was leaning against the wooden wall of the cage. Counting the tips of dry grass from the sheaves left in the stable that the horse did not spend, while counting how many days he had spent in this wandering.
Today is December, Sol 9.
It's been almost 4 months, apparently, 4 months since he left the capital city of Gransis. He never even imagined that his odyssey would last this long, nor did he imagine that he would wander this far. The finish line is still nowhere to be seen, the line that fills the list of what he needs to achieve is still too much, and time is a luxury he doesn't have.
"The Princess doesn't have much time," he lamented.
Time seemed to always try to race his pace, and this tangled thought carried him into a dreamless sleep until dawn came.
It seemed that Rygar had just closed his eyes for a moment, suddenly he felt Sancho's arrival in a hurry to enter the cage. Sancho unlike most of the Hauger and surrounding people who were pale-skinned and had golden or red hair, the people of Sunset Isle in the far west were famous for their dark skin and black dreadlocks. They call their tribe the Tihuan people.
However, the look on Sancho's face was as pale as a corpse's and his big eyes were full when he woke Rygar from his sleep.
"You have to see this, Rygar. Hurry up and wake up." He half grabbed Rygar's arm and pulled him out of the cage.
The cold air hit Rygar's face when they stepped on the backyard of Sancho's house which is now a white expanse, Ina —Sancho's wife — looks out the kitchen door. Likewise, the rest of Sancho's neighbors, all eyes on the top of Hrothgarr with a look of astonishment and worry, precisely at Mercu Andall, who was still shrouded in the blackness of the night. A speck of red flame managed to penetrate the darkness of the surrounding veil.
"Bahamut." Rygar thought.
