Chapter 46—Malzura calendar
"What do you want?" the woman asked, trembling, still terrified of the red sli who had butchered people like weeds.
Wob!—The old sli bounced toward her. She was in a one-story dwelling, so he did not need much effort to reach her.
He stood at the window, looked straight into her eyes, and asked, "What is today’s date?"
"It’s 16th March," she replied, fear still clear in her eyes as she blocked Elder Sli’s gaze from reaching her children behind her.
"What year is it?" Elder Sli asked, curious how long it had been.
"It’s 7159," she answered, then nervously asked, "Why would a...sli like you need this kind of details?" The woman tried to compose herself as the blue blob before her seed normal.
He then questioned, "What calendar?"
"Calendar?" The woman tilted her head in doubt. "Isn’t the Malzura calendar from the beginning?" She clarified.
’Malzura... not the calendar I knew,’ Elder Sli mused. After a bit of a pause, he asked, "Do you know about the Teakuluna calendar?"
"Teakuluna calendar? From the beginning, didn’t we only have the Malzura calendar?" the woman asked back.
’Hmm... it seems she lacks the knowledge of such details...’ Elder Sli mused, and asked, "How long until the guards from the manor or Baron Blackwell’s n appear to collect taxes and grains?"
"It’s always exactly on the first of each month...the baron’s n arrive to inspect and take the money from Bailiff," the woman replied, holding her four-year-old son, who suddenly jumped out. "I want to hug him... he’s so cute," he yelled.
"No..." The woman roared and pushed him back.
Elder Sli didn’t care about the interactions between the woman and her children as he—Wob!—went back to Sli#47 and said, "We don’t have much ti... only 14 days till the baron’s n arrive and contact adventurers."
He’d inford Young Sli in the beginning that adventurers would be after them no matter what they did because of this arrival from higher-ups. They would contact adventurers on behalf of villagers.
They could only lengthen the ti by burning the crops and cattle so that villagers wouldn’t get money to call adventurers on their own.
’I see...’ Sli#47 mused. "So, either we run to a place where humans don’t enter or find a powerful demon as a backer who would protect us..." He said, and after a pause, "Elder, any idea where we could fulfill one of these conditions?"
"Wait for a mont," Elder Sli said, as he Wob!—went to the crate carried by the bulls.
Slis had carried all the crates from the farm; later, the bulls took over them to make it easy for the slis to bounce.
He opened the crate’s lid and pulled out the maps, checking them one by one.
Young Sli peeked in. Elder Sli explained, "This is Oakfield village, which is one of the few villages under Greenbriar Manor, and the manor is one of the few manors under Baron Blackwell." He understood that by reading the map.
He pointed to a place on the map, at the extre right corner, and said, "This is the state of Caerwyn... and the place we have to reach is this... state of Thornwall." He pointed to the place which was in the center of the map.
"This far... seriously? How much even that distance is it?" Young Sli said, tilting his head as he couldn’t read the map, but he knew it was too long.
"We can..." Elder Sli grinned playfully.
’Another trick up his sleeve...’ Young Sli mused and grinned, understanding the aning behind Elder Sli’s smile.
"So... what do we have to do?" He asked, as Elder Sli replied, "We have to just go around 200 km, cross the Blackwell baron territory, River Blackwell, and reach the Ruins City Lunxia."
’A river called... Blackwell... no wonder the baron was nad after that,’ Sli#47 mused, glancing at the long river which flows through the Blackwell territory.
"We have to cross at least 15 km a day to reach the Ruins City Lunxia so that adventurers wouldn’t be inford... by the ti they get the news... we..." Before Elder Sli could finish, Young Sli continued, "We... would be in Thornwall."
"Yup..." Elder Sli nodded.
"So, by the elder, what is this map?" Sli#47 asked, wanting to know more.
"This is the map of country Verdania," Elder Sli answered, and mused with bitterness, ’It was once ho to powerful demons... where humans and other races... even the legendary dragons were afraid to set foot in,’ tears ford in his eyes, which he wiped out quickly so that no one would notice.
Young sli didn’t even notice them as he was focused on the map.
Old sli understood that demons were taken down sohow; Since the map identified it as the human’s country, while he rembered it as the demon’s ho.
He knew how demons would stick to one place; they have territorial pride, since humans took over, then it ant only one thing—demons were taken down.
He wanted to find out more details. Which he could only get if he rushed to the state of Thornwall.
"Verdania... a country... huh?" Young Sli muttered to himself and asked, "By the way, Elder, what did you ask the woman?" Which pulled old sli back to reality.
"It’s nothing... just today’s date, and when the baron’s guards would appear," Elder Sli plainly answered, glancing at the woman’s dwelling, windows which were shut close.
She didn’t want to talk to him again. She had her heart almost beat out of her chest.
"What is today’s date?" Young Sli asked, as it’s the basic info he never learned.
Even after more than twenty loops, he didn’t even know basic details except for knowing it’s sumr due to the weather changes.
"It’s 16 March 7159," Elder Sli answered. "We used to follow the solar-luni calendar..." he pointed to the sky, but was cut short as Young Sli said, "Which follows the movents of both sun and moon... to calculate the date."
"Yes... but now... I don’t know what they use..." Elder Sli said, glancing at the black sun, which took over the place of the actual sun.
"Yeah... ti to move," Young Sli said, eyeing the bull who was barely holding himself together. He was cald down by Cow#1.
Mama Sli had trouble pulling the slis, which went off the track.
Thud!—He opened the crate and took the crystals out to count them. "One... two... three..."
"I will help... Boss Sli..." Little Sli, who was in the crate playing with crystals, stepped in to help Young Sli count.
Elder Sli also joined; Cow#1 and Bull#1 joined in as well.
Poor Mama Sli was left alone to check the slis, despite wanting to join in. Sli#47 couldn’t help her despite wanting to, as no one was better than her at controlling slis.
The cows and bulls plopped down lazily, watching their leaders do the work as they helped Young Sli count.
’Right... my new title,’ He rembered and ordered, "Everyone, stay in one place," to the slis.
Whoosh!Thousands of slis sat instantly, staring blankly at him.
He nodded at Mama Sli, who was filled with happiness as she joined in helping him.
After a few minutes, everyone finished counting except Bull#1.
"Twenty... no—wait—no, start over..." Bull#1 muttered, flustered. He picked up all his crystals and started, "One... two..."
"Let ..." Cow#1 was about to lend help, but Bull#1 shouted, "No..."
End of Chapter.
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