The clown got off the front carriage and went to the middle of the caravan, to a huge luxurious carriage. The carriage was made of ocean blue metal and had thickly curtained windows on either side. When the heavy door of the carriage opened, the clown went in and came out again after a short time.
Now back on his front carriage smiled and said "You can hop on the trailer behind me"
Getting this good news made a huge weight come off the family's heart.
"Yes sir" said Davron, as he bowed again.
Davron and his girls went to the wagon and with swift movement he grabbed the girls one by one by their hips and put them on top of the wagon. For them it was pretty normal, but for the strangers it was a little bit too intimate.
"Let's go" said the clown leader and the caravan slowly started to move.
Davron was watching the tress go by, when he noticed a small, soft hand touch his. Looking to his left side, there was Luna sitting and looking away with a red tint on her young cheeks.
After the second treatment, she couldn't help but wanting to be closer to her brother. Luna always had romantic feelings towards him, but they had been barricaded deep in her mind until her treatment. She couldn't nor wanted to ignore them anymore, so despite being a shy girl, she tried to overcome her anxiety and be closer to Davron.
"Sir, are you part of a circus" Davron asked the leader.
"Oh you know what circuses are?"
"Of course! A few years ago, a clown visited our little village and told me about circuses and clowns"
"Oh haha we are a little bit more special" The leader laughed and left Davron wondering what he meant.
Suddenly, the clown stopped laughing and stared into the darkness. A cold gleam could be seen flashing through his eyes.
"Stop, we got visitors" He said and jumped off the front carriage.
The hearts of the girls and Davron stopped for a moment, fearing it was the village.
Rustle Rustle
A rustling came around them.
Suddenly, 5 wolves jumped out of the bushed. They were each 1 meter high and had blood-red eyes. Drool was dripping from their snouts. They haven't eaten a human in a long time.
While Flora and Luna were shaking, Ellena and Davron were preparing themselves. Although she hasn't been a mage for a long time, she had still been an adventurer in the past. Ellena kept her cool, while Davron was readying his bow.
However, none of them could have guessed that the clown would make the wolves' heads explode by snapping his fingers.
Davron couldn't believe it. In front of him was the strongest person the has ever met. "5 wolves with a snap of his finger.." he mumbled into the cold night.
The culprit turned around with a playful face and jumped back onto the carriage. As a clown, he of course liked to be in the spotlight.. even if his audience consisted of a young village boy and two women.
As the carriage started to move again, Davron couldn't keep himself from asking the clown leader "Sir, are you a wizard?"
"A wizard?" The clown laughed out loud.
"No no this little trick of mine was no magic, it was aura!"
"Aura?"
"Mhm aura is something only warriors can use ~yawn" He couldn't bother telling this village boy more about warriors, it was too much of a hassle.
Time passed slowly. The incident with the wolves was not the last. The caravan had to stop several times because of hungry predators, but all of them were successful.
As the sun was about to come out, sounds of hooves started to come from a crossroad.
Hearing the noises, Davron got a bad premonition right away.
"Lie down!" He commanded Ellena and the others. Right after they laid down, he pulled old sacks of them and himself.
A short time later, 30 men rode up. At the front was the village head with his bodyguards and behind them were a bunch of hunters.
The village head stopped in front of the clown and spoke to him in a condescending way, since he clowns were like bards to him.
"You there! Tell me quickly if you saw a village boy and 3 women!" The village spoke to the clown.
"Huh? Why are you searching for some village boy with such a big party?" the clown smirked at the pathetic village head.
"They killed a family and fled the scene!"
"You said they killed a family?" The clown glanced at the space where Davron was hiding.
"Stop wasting my time! Did or did you not see them?!" The village head was getting angry.
Regardless of the clown's morality, he honestly has no reason to snitch the MC and his family out.
If he tells the mayor he has them on board, what would he get in return for disclosing that? Most likely nothing, maybe a pittance of money, meaning it's worthless to someone powerful like him.
If he doesn't tell the mayor shit? He gets the MC to owe him a favor, which has more variability in worth. Better to choose the mystery option when the alternative is worth shit. Even if the mayor decides he's lying, the clown will probably just slaughter the fool.
It's actually the other way around, he has no reason not to reveal the MC and his family. If he does, he follows the law, he assists in apprehending a murderer, he helps the victims get closure,..., and if he doesn't, the MC and his family would be grateful, sure, but he'd be assisting a murderer, breaking the law, risking future trouble,...
In short, the only reason the clown has to help the MC is that he's the MC. Which the clown can't possibly know.
@ShEsHy what kind of sh*t argument is this? This might have some weight if we are talking about a modern society with actual enforced laws and monitoring around, but this is taking place in a medieval setting in the literal f*cking boonies between nobodies.
Moreover, there are no benefits to doing the law-abiding thing because following the law is supposed to be something that is expected of you, it's a neutral action. Giving the MC to the village head gives the clown practically nothing, it's zero benefits. Taking a risk when there's literally nothing to lose except the life of some nobodies meanwhile? That is an investment that could see returns.
And seeing as the clown made apparently clear that he's smirking at the village head and seeing him as pathetic, we can already guess on which way he aligns on the topic of the law.
@Starstorm Guess what, even in medieval times, laws were a thing. They've been a thing since the literal beginning of civilisation. They were much, much more unfair than modern laws, but they still existed. What, do you think everyone just walked around doing whatever they pleased with no repercussions like anarchists or something? Not even kings could do anything they pleased, FFS.
If following the law is "supposed to be something that is expected of you", and therefore not an advantage, that doesn't change the fact that not following it is still a negative.
Also, what investment? The clown doesn't know the MC is the MC in a story, he's just a random kid on the run with his family for murdering people. And who the f*ck would help a person they've never met before on the run from the law(-equivalent), a murderer no less, unless plot armour was involved?
Also, what investment? The clown doesn't know the MC is the MC in a story, he's just a random kid on the run with his family for murdering people. And who the f*ck would help a person they've never met before on the run from the law(-equivalent), a murderer no less, unless plot armour was involved?
@ShEsHy investment is for things which aren't worth something now and expecting it to be far more of worth in the future. The MC is someone with unknown potential, a young guy who clearly loves his family and wasn't afraid to break the law to protect them, meaning from the clown's perspective he knows what to do to gain his favor and is banking on him being worth the investment/trouble.
Also, it's absolutely f*cking laughable that you actually believe that the laws, in f*cking medieval times, meant sh*t before the powerful. "Not even kings could do anything they pleased"? As long as the king wasn't being cartoonishly evil they could get away with practically anything above murder and sometimes not even as long as they justified their actions. The only people the king would have had to be careful of would be the nobles, military high-ups, powerful merchants, and other kingdoms. Commoners weren't worth shit.
Also, this is a fantasy world, which exacerbates the problem where anyone can be that king above and even worse as long as they're magically powerful enough.
@Starstorm And the clown had absolutely no reason whatsoever to expect the MC to be worth anything, whether now or in the future.
What are you even talking about? The clown doesn't know the MC broke the law to protect his family. All he knows is that they're wanted for murder. That's it.
Seriously, does your entire knowledge of history come from pop culture or something? You know what, don't answer that, I don't wanna know.
@ShEsHy it's something called insight, maybe we wouldn't be having this discussion if you had it. The clown also has absolutely no reason to believe the village head's words, especially considering he told the clown a half-lie. Moreover, the MC and his family spoke to him respectfully while the village chief treated him condescendingly, no surprise who the clown is more likely to side with.