Given that it was Calvin's first day as the mber of the Cavaliers, it was physically impossible for a dallion to be created for him.
Thankfully, the Mission Order had the stamp of the church and it should be sufficient to prove his identity as a part of the Cavaliers. Ron Samuel, Ashlynn, Bruce, and Jas Branzuela all accompanied Calvin to the Southernmost gates of Ashlion.
"You take care now."
"I will..."
Ron Samuel didn't say a lot, he was bad with farewells so he had no idea what to say in these monts.
The wagon that Calvin was about to board had the City of Laguna as its final destination. Laguna was the capital city of Joselian. Travelling there from Ashlion would take almost six months. This was why the wagon that carried passengers to Laguna from its origin point was significantly bigger from the carriage taxis that one would see scattered in Ashlion.
The wagon was almost the size of a studio apartnt in modern-day Earth.
Given how huge it was, it should be pretty comfortable to be in it if not for the fact that there were dozens of people in one wagon and the suspension of the wheels that carried the wagon was a little more than garbage. One could still sleep on the cold hard wooden floors of the wagon, but it was pretty much impossible to feel comfortable in it.
The journey to the Village of Tulog would only take a day for Calvin since he chose this type of carriage.
After waving his farewell to the others, Calvin quickly boarded the carriage.
He pulled out his notebook and started scribbling away.
The scenery was quite boring, it was all green; the sa generic assembly of trees so there was pretty much nothing to see.
Calvin eventually closed his notebook when his wrist started to hurt, he let out a sigh and watched the green scenery pass by.
"As expected, I really am not soone suitable for slow travels like this... I really underestimated the scale of distances in Las Felipinas and how big it really is... But to be honest, I can't possibly bla myself. Back then, even though I had the weakest class, when I ca out of Ashlion to explore the world, I was already strong to the point that I could cross distances considerably faster than a wagon like this..."
"And that is on foot!"
Calvin let out a chuckle.
He stared out of the window and he eventually got bored. He couldn't help but rember the tis when he was travelling from the Forest of Everlasting Light to Ashlion. The journey was as droll as this one, but back then, he had soone to talk to. If he knew soone on this trip, or he had soone familiar with him, then he might have started a conversation at the least.
In the end, Calvin ended up reminiscing about the tis that he spent on Earth as well as his plans in the future.
The wagon continued on its journey and Calvin yawned, he was getting tired.
His eyes subconsciously shited to the other passengers around him.
Most of them had the signature darkened skin of the citizens of Ashlion. But there was one man in particular that attracted Calvin's attention. It was a person clad in the robes of a Priest. As to how Calvin knew that the man was a Priest? It was because of the generic get-up that he had and the discoloured cape on his back.
From the looks of it, he seed to be a part of the Church of All-Encompassing Light. The crystal orb strapped around his waist served as enough proof that he was a mber of the Church of All-Encompassing Light. The usage of crystal orbs imbued with the divine light of the Goddess was the signature weapon of choice for the Priest of the church.
In short, there was no doubt in Calvin's mind that this man was a Priest from the Church of All-Encompassing Light.
For so reason, this Priest had a particular look of excitent on his face.
Calvin thought for a while but he couldn't understand why this Priest looked so excited. In the end, he turned his head away and stared at the scenery once again. There was one young man whom he wanted to have a conversation with beside him, but it seed that this young man was asleep.
Letting out a sigh, Calvin turned his attention to the world outside, but before he could even fall into his daydreams and internal soliloquy, the wagon suddenly stopped. They had arrived at one of the checkpoints dedicated for caravans throughout the lands of Las Felipinas, yet none of the passengers walked out.
"Is there anyone in there that wants to have fun for a while?" The driver suddenly asked.
None of the passengers replied. Aside from the Priest who almost imdiately stood up and walked out of the carriage. When he returned, he was dragging with him an attractive woman with a pair of long black hair. The woman was clad in usual clothes of commoners and there was a scared, yet determined look on her face.
"Wait, are you planning on bringing her inside?" The driver who looked to be a middle-aged man asked with a frown.
The Priest clicked his tongue and hurled a banknote to the driver.
"I don't accept paper not-"
"That note is a guaranteed note. I am sure that you know what I an, right?" The Priest didn't even wait for the driver's reply as he dragged the woman into the wagon and amidst the eyes of everyone, he made her sit down on the floor as he asked.
"What is your na?"
The Priest's voice was strangely gentle.
"Uhmmm... I'm Cherry."
"Oh, Cherry... What a good na... It definitely fits you, especially when I heard about your circumstances from the lady boss."
"T-Thank you..."
"What about it, are you comfortable with these dozens of eyes watching you?"
"I-I don't know..." The woman averted her gaze, she seed to be hesitant about sothing.
"Don't worry, I am a disciple of the Goddess, so I would never force myself onto soone. However, considering that I've already paid your lady boss to borrow you for a month's ti while I'm in Laguna, I really hope that you would be considerate towards , okay?" The Priest moved closer to the woman. His tone was still gentle, but the slight smile on his face made him look sinister.
Calvin started to frown, 'what was about to happen?'
He had a lot of experiences in the world of Las Felipinas, but this was the first ti that he saw such a peculiar scene. Unsure of what to do, or if he should even do sothing. He remained as a spectator.
"Okay... Uhmm, please take care of ..."
"Good, good, you don't have to worry about anything. In fact, you are quite lucky. You are about to experience sothing that not a lot of won are able to experience." The Priest carried the woman in a princess carry and placed her beside the window. Then, the Priest reached out under the woman's stop and started to fondle, eliciting a small moan from the woman.
Calvin watched with a frown on his face until he realized that the Priest had removed the woman's underwear.
'What?'
Calvin was about to stand up to stop what was happening when the sleeping young man behind him stopped him just in ti.
"Don't do it..."
"What?" Calvin turned to look at the young man who had woken up.
By this ti the Priest had already started pounding away and the pained moans of the woman were already starting to fill up the wagon. The other passengers didn't seem to be particularly disturbed as to what was happening, but the other won in the carriage didn't dare to look at the scene out of courtesy.
anwhile, the hearts of the other n in the carriage began pounding hard.
Calvin sat back on the floor.
He knew that prostitution was the norm in the poverty-stricken lands of Ashlion, but he really didn't expect that they would be this open about it. Eventually, he managed to recover from his shock soon enough but when he turned around to look at the young man and ask him as to why he had stopped him on doing sothing about it, the young man had beaten him to the chase.
"I know what you are going to ask . The reason why I stopped you is that there is no point to it."
"What do you an?" Calvin raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued.
"These girls have no education and apart from basic household work, they have no marketable skills at all! I doubt that they even know basic arithtic, so they have no choice but to sell their bodies to earn significant money for them to feed their families. I'm sure that you'll be able to understand since you boarded this wagon from Ashlion that the matchstick and textile factories in Joselian are the worst!"
"These won would rather work in the red light district than to struggle for five pesos a week in those sweatshops. I an, it's also easier so their decision to sell their bodies does make sense." The young man let out a sigh.
Calvin also sighed.
It was sad.
"Those without education and skills are forced to sell their bodies?" Calvin softly whispered.
"That's right, but there's also another way for them to earn a living. Albeit, it's incredibly dangerous."
"Do you an becoming an adventurer?"
"Yup... But most Joselian won do not like the idea of becoming an adventurer. After all, it is in our culture to prioritize our families first and since adventuring involves being away from one's family in an extended period of ti. It's a job that they do not really want to do unless it's the last resort."
"I feel like there's sothing wrong in that statent," Calvin comnted along with a bitter laugh.
"I know, but Joselian won do not really prize their first tis that much. For them, doing it as an inexperienced woman is just a one-ti consumable way of earning a tonne of money in just a few hours..." The young man shrugged, "Anyway, where are you heading at? My na is Ricardo by the way."
"I'm going to the Village of Tulog, I should be there in a day's ti."
"Oh, the Village of Tulog?" Ricardo frowned, "I seed to have heard so bad rumours regarding that village. I'm not sure if it is true."
"What is it?" Calvin's interest was piqued. No matter how mundane it was, more information was better than less.
"The Quads seed to be paying particular attention to that Village..."
"The Quads?" Calvin thought for a mont before he stared at Ricardo in shock, "How do you know about the Quads? Wait, how do you even have this information?" He was now suspicious of Ricardo's identity. Common folks weren't normally privy to this kind of information, after all, if the Quads wanted to operate, they needed to do it in secrecy due to the existence of the three Judiciaries.
Yet, how did this guy knew about the Quads?
"Don't think too much into it, I'm a mber of the other Judiciaries, you must be a mber of the Cavaliers, right? I can sll the scent of the church's mission order from you." Ricardo gave a smirk and at the very next mont, his eyes shone in an orangey light.
"You're a Scout?"
"Yeah..." Ricardo blinked and the orange light disappeared.
"Why are the Quads keeping an eye out for that village?" Calvin was convinced.
"I have no idea what they are doing there, and I do not want to know. That is the job of the Cavaliers and since you are one of them, it's your job to uncover the truth." Ricardo shrugged and refused to say anything useful which elicited an annoyed frown from Calvin. But Calvin knew that it was most likely true that Ricardo had no idea why the Quads were keeping an eye out for the Village of Tulog.
After all, different Judiciaries have different jobs. Though he heard of rumours, it was simply out of his jurisdiction to investigate it.
Calvin decided to let go of the issue as he sat beside Ricardo.
"Are you not going to stop that Priest? He's one of yours, right?" Ricardo stared in amusent at Calvin. He had noticed that Calvin seed to be pretty disturbed about what was happening earlier, but now his tune had changed.
Calvin glanced at the Priest and the woman, the two of them seed to be having fun. The woman's nerves had loosened and she seed to have gotten used to being watched as her moans started to beco more amorous and louder. Calvin could only roll his eyes at them as he turned to Ricardo and replied.
"Both of them are consenting adults, why should I stop their fun?"
"Well said..." Ricardo lightly laughed.
The trip to the Village of Tulog beca a lot less mundane with Ricardo around him, the latter seed to have beco incredibly excited after realizing that Calvin was willing to listen to his stories. Even though he was confused that Calvin would sotis record what he was saying into his small notebook, Ricardo still kept on telling Calvin his experiences in the world out there and so information about Tulog.
Night soon fell and the wagon had to stop to give the driver the rest that he deserved and needed. The inside of the wagon was strangely silent since most of the passengers alighted the wagon to catch so fresh air. Calvin remained in the wagon, the Priest and the woman was still going at it even though it was already dark, but Calvin wasn't bothered by their presence and what they were doing anymore.
Ricardo had gone back to sleeping, his throat tired from all the talking that he did in the afternoon.
Calvin let out a yawn and after scribbling so words into his notebook, he decided to lean back and take a rest.
He turned his head to Ricardo's direction so he can lean onto the window, but when his eyes t with Ricardo. He found that the latter's eyes were opened wide. Anxiety seed to be brimming within Ricardo's eyes as he signalled to Calvin and said.
"Stop them..." He pointed at the Priest.
Calvin quickly caught on what was going on and he moved to the Priest.
"You need to stop what you are doing right now."
"What? Haven't I paid you enough yet? I'll pay you ten pesos to fuck off."
"I'll gladly accept that ten pesos, but you will die if you do not stop what you are doing right now," Calvin said in a cold voice.
"What?" the Priest was finally convinced.
He pulled out his mber and pulled up his pants.
"What is going on, my dear?" Cherry, the woman who was so hesitant to do the deed early this morning had been completely entranced by the Priest's performance and was now acting as if she was his wife.
"Be quiet!" The Priest criticized her with a low growl.
"Ah!" The woman was frightened and she was quick to cover her mouth with her hand.
The Priest took out his crystal orb and chanted a few words of prayer.
Then, he crushed so herbs and spices and sprinkled it on top of the orb.
Swish!
The crystal orb reacted. It started to radiate the colour of darkness.
"Certain death..."
"Shit!"
"We have to get out of here!"
The Priest exclaid in a panic.
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