Chapter 23: Guardian and Ainos the tribe of the forest
‘This is so awkward.’
Joonbum looked at the strangers with awkward silence. The food and drink he prepared were all gone already and with no common language between them, he didn’t know what to do. Even the people looked awkward.
‘What should I do now?’
Just when Joonbum thought about what to do next, the sound of munching stopped him. Everyone turned their heads as if it was a good chance to break the ice as they looked at Galfus who was eagerly chewing on the arm of a monster. Pree-an ran toward Galfus and shouted to Howen.
“Chieftain, Kawiqunin! Four of them.”
“Four?”
“Yes, but there are so strange wounds on these corpses.”
Howen’s gaze glowed as he turned from the corpses to Joonbum, who blushed at the sudden attention. The man seed too weak to be a warrior. He was pretty tall, but that was it. His hands were clean without any calluses or scars. He didn’t seem to have the usual signs that farrs or hunters had. Even his skin was cleaner than the white patch he was wearing on his cheek. There were no wrinkles or imperfect tightness that could be found in commoners.
With his plumpness and huge belly, he had the typical look of a wealthy noble.
‘Is he a noble?’
Howen heard stories of nobles who would run away and hide in the mountains, away from their own cris. The area was also filled with unbelievable items. It was such that no commoners would ever imagine getting their hands on. Even the clear glass cup and transparent jar were not things that were easily obtainable.
‘But he’s too friendly.’
More questions brewed in Howen. The Ainos were never hostile against humans, but even with that fact, the man was too friendly.
As Howen was deep in his thoughts, his n turned to Joonbum with amazed looks on their faces.
‘Uh…’
The startled Joonbum accidentally chewed his tongue and flinched.
“Excuse , sir!”
The Ainos n shouted, retreatingly at Joonbum and Joonbum was startled at the shout of the unknown language. There was a mont of silent awkwardness. Joonbum grew thirsty and realized he was hungry.
“Oh.”
He rembered he did not eat enough due to serving his guests. At that mont, his belly rumbled as if it was waiting for it. Everyone’s eyes gathered at Joonbum’s protruding belly. The belly that earned Joonbum his nickna Pig rumbled loudly.
‘Damn it.’
Joonbum’s entire face flushed with sha. He shouted.
“Why don’t we eat first? Shall we?”
Joonbum put charcoal onto the fireplace and brought a torch, starting a fire. A hissing sound and fla ca out of the torch, lighting up the charcoal.
“What!”
“It can’t be!”
The n around him gasped at the sight that they had never seen before. Joonbum’s sha disappeared at their reaction.
‘Bet you never saw sothing like this before.’
He felt a new sense of joy coming to him as they were astonished by his work. Joonbum raised the wired sh that was installed for cooking as the charcoal fire grew. He opened up the fridge to bring out pork at and so handmade sausage. He also brought out mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, pineapples, apples, green onions, and green potatoes, slicing them down to bite size before putting them on the sh to cook. Oil dripped from the at as the fire popped. As the pork belly and neck at were nearly cooked, their sll blended and spread with the sweet sll of veggies and fruits warming up.
Joonbum’s belly rumbled as one of the n swallowed his empty throat. Joonbum burst into a smile.
‘Let’s feed them first.’
He decided to do the talking afterwards. It was ti to deal with hunger.
Joonbum’s hand moved quickly as he sprinkled salt and pepper on the at and brought out new dishes. He also opened the cooler and took out a coke, water, and a pack of beer out onto the table. He also picked out so snacks to be had with the beer. The table was filled and the atmosphere started to loosen up. One of the n ca toward Joonbum as he prepared to pick out the at from the fire.
“I will carry it.”
Joonbum could not understand what he said and watched him. The n smiled awkwardly but he was calm.
‘I guess he wants to carry it.’
The man pointed at the cooked at and then the plate. Joonbum was sure that he was right. The n nodded as Joonbum seed to understand what he saying and asked to carry all the veggies also.
“Good, good.”
Joonbum mumbled in excitent. He finished preparing the at, chopped it up, and brought it to the table. He then handed beer to all five n.
“Beer! Beer!”
He shouted and repeated the word multiple tis before he opened the lid. The n followed Joonbum and opened their lids also. When they opened them up, Joonbum bumped the bottom of his beer against another man’s beer right in front of him, then drank.
After that, it was a breeze. The awkwardness soon disappeared as they enjoyed the food and drink as they liked. As the alcohol consumption grew, their laughter grew also.
Joonbum watched the n as they ate. It was clear that they were not like the elves he’d seen in the movies. These people called themselves the Ainos. They once again, introduced themselves as the drinking started and called themselves Ainos, pointing at all of them. By repeating the word Ainos, it was obvious.
There were so similarities he found to that of an elf. They were thin and slim like those elves, but not thin enough to look weak. Joonbum found their slender figures to be filled with sothing solid inside. The most striking part of them was their eyes.
‘It’s astonishing.’
All their eyes had a bright green base color with a mixture of black and brown in it. It was as if the pupil had a strain of black and brown on a green background. He was sure that he had seen sothing similar before.
‘Hmm.. where…? Oh. The marble!’
He rembered all the marbles he used to play with during his childhood.
They also had a variety of hair colors. There was blond, platinum, brown, bright blue, and green. There were only five of them, but all their hair colors were different. They even looked different from one another. One had a cold look, one looked rough, one wore the impression of a young boy, one looked stiff, and one had soft lines.
‘At least they’re not handso.’
That was the part he liked most. They weren’t handso like most of the elves in the movies. It was perhaps the reason why he beca generous enough to share his food.
‘Death to the handso people.’
He drank his beer away with the thought. The next thing he noticed was the clothing. The Ainos were wearing armor made of various types of leather. It seed to have started with fresh leather pieces, but wore out over ti.
‘I don’t think they lack the leather to make new ones.’
The old armor was patched with more layers of leather where it was needed.
‘It looks cooler that way.’
It certainly looked much nicer. He examined it more carefully, and found that the armor was full of scratches and damages everywhere. There were so newly inflicted damages also. The armor was also filled with deep dark marks that hadn’t been wiped off.
‘Is it blood?’
He thought for a while but then shifted away, chewing on the snack.
The next thing that caught his attention were the necklaces that these n wore. Various-colored ornants hung on their necks. They were made from so kind of claw as if they were trophies won from the battles with animals. It resembled those Native Arican people from the movies he’d seen.
Joonbum then moved onto next thing he noticed. It was their weaponry. They had two daggers wrapped around their waists and short axes hanging on their backs. dium-sized swords hung from their waist down to their thighs. The swords were wrapped with leather to protect themselves and they were strapped to a heavily-decorated leather belt. There was also a leather strap that connected the bottom end of the sheath to the thigh.
‘I guess it’s easier to move around through the forest that way. But isn’t the sword a bit short?’
Joonbum pondered, but he soon understood why. The forest was full of obstacles, with various tree branches and bushes. It would be hard to swing a sword around if it was too long.
‘I could be wrong though.’
Joonbum laughed and noticed a beautifully engraved bow. It wasn’t too big in size but it seed like it had aged well. It had so kind of an elegant feeling to it due to its engravings and its deep color from the aging that went well with it. Perhaps the arrow that was shot onto the table was from that very bow.
“Beer! Beer!”
A man shouted at Joonbum who was lost in thought. He looked up and saw the youngest-looking Ainos repeating the word beer with a reddened face. He lifted his hand, acting as if he was drinking. Joonbum nodded and went to get more beer.
All the Ainos watched as Joonbum brought new beer, except one that had a hard look on his face and warned the n in silence.
‘He’s probably the leader.’
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