*creak*
The carriage door opened and Edward walked in, he had a haggard expression and was clearly exhausted. He nudged Caesar"s shoulder to wake him up.
"Let"s swap, I am too tired to go on" Edward whispered quietly into Caesar"s ear.
Caesar opened his sleepy eyes and slowly stood up, "okay… have a good nights rest" Caesar said still half asleep and went to the front of the carriage.
Caesar sat down and grabbed the reigns of the horses, he controlled the horses to slowly move forward.
The carriage abruptly started moving once again and awoke Joe, he gradually stood up and grumbled loudly as he did so.
"d.a.m.n it"s early" he grumbled and squeezed out the front carriage window… he plopped his a.r.s.e down and yawned loudly next Caesar.
"It"s chilly as h.e.l.l" Joe complained loudly and picked his nose.
"Sigh, I thought I would be able to enjoy a quiet morning…" Caesar sighed loudly and ma.s.saged his forehead.
"What"s for breakfast ?" Joe asked Caesar curiously.
"We"ll either eat the dry foods that we stocked up on or we can go hunting in an hour or so" Caesar replied.
Joe nodded his head and sighed in exasperation… "haah, an hour is to d.a.m.n long!" Joe whined in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Ahri is still asleep and besides, I don"t think there are any animals nearby," Caesar said while scanning their surroundings.
Joe leaned back and stroked his long beard, he turned his head towards Caesar, "do we at least have some jerky?" he asked pleadingly.
Caesar reached into his right pant pocket and pulled out a few pieces of jerky, he placed them in Joe"s hands… "Hopefully that can hold you over for now," Caesar said with a sigh and jerked the reigns harder.
The carriage started to move at a quicker pace and Joe began eating the few pieces of jerky in his hands with relish.
An hour quickly pa.s.sed by, Joe had an impatient look on his face as he glanced between Caesar and his belly.
"It"s been an hour, hasn"t it?" Joe asked curiously.
Caesar nodded his head and brought the carriage to a gradual stop, they were still in a relatively simple gra.s.sy plain, however, many trees were on the sides of the dirt road.
*plop*
Caesar jumped down and tied the horses to a thick tree, Joe followed behind and they both walked westward.
"Are there any animals to hunt this way?" Joe pestered Caesar continuously as they walked.
"Yes, now shush" Caesar placed his index finger on his lips and made a hushing sound.
"Okay, okay, I get it" Joe mumbled quietly and just silently followed behind Caesar.
They stealthily walked through the lush forest, Joe tried his hardest not to step on any branches or to make any sounds for that matter.
They continued walking for a few minutes before finally, Caesar raised his hand to signal Joe to stop moving.
Joe and Caesar walked a few more steps and poked their head out of a green bush, a large and crystal clear lake appeared in their line of sight.
On the sides of the lake were many different types of animals, they were all drinking water in this peaceful lake.
s...o...b..r started to drip from Joe"s mouth as he looked at the many Favin boars, "h-hey are we going to catch one of those?" he asked eagerly.
Caesar nodded his head in confirmation, "yeah, we should get a few extra for tonight as well" Caesar replied calmly.
"Did you bring any weapons with you?" Joe asked curiously.
Caesar shook his head, "I can just use my hands or a branch" he said
"Heh, it"s a good thing I brought this then" Joe smiled widely and took out a short bow from the insides of his pants.
Caesar looked at Joe wide-eyed, "I don"t remember you grabbing that… did you sleep with it?" he asked with a bewildered expression.
Joe rubbed his nose, "A dwarf such as myself is always prepared" he replied boastfully and put his chin up.
Caesar examined Joe for a few seconds before asking, "where are your arrows?"
Joe"s eyes went wide, "I can"t put sharp objects down my pants you know?"
"Then what is the point of bringing your bow if you have no arrows…" Caesar ma.s.saged his forehead and looked at Joe in shock.
"Meh, at least I have a weapon" Joe argued back with a defiant expression.
"Are you r.e.t.a.r.ded? The bow is useless without arrows, joe!" Caesar tried explaining calmly to Joe.
"No, I am not r.e.t.a.r.ded, who is that?" Joe asked curiously
Caesar sighed loudly and wanted to bash his head against the tree, "it"s fine, just go spook those animals in my direction and I will take care of them" Caesar said towards Joe quietly.
Joe put the bow back in his pants and nodded his head, "okay, wait here and I"ll show you" Joe said excitedly and soon disappeared from Caesar"s line of sight.
Caesar jumped up on a nearby tree and broke off a slim branch, he patiently waited for Joe to startle the animals in his direction… although with Caesar"s current power it would be simple to just kill the boars where they stood, he didn"t want to fight with any of the other animals around the lake.
Caesar waited for about a minute before finally, a short dwarf popped out of a bush and charged towards the Favin boards head first.
"GAHHH, IM COMING FOR YOU!" Joe roared loudly
Contrary to both Caesar"s and Joe"s expectations, however, the boars weren"t scared of Joe, in fact, they angrily snorted and charged back.
*plop*
Caesar jumped off the tall tree and looked at Joe with interest, he wanted to help Joe out, but he was curious as to what power this small dwarf hid from him.
Caesar stroked his chin and smiled in antic.i.p.ation, If his guess was correct, Joe should be a decently strong figure...
*bang*
*AHHHHHHH*
Both Joe and the boar in front collided, Joe went flying in the air, he loudly screamed out in pain and was once again being charged at.
Caesar scratched his hair with his index finger, "was my presumption incorrect?" he whispered to himself and moved towards Joe.
Like a shadow, Caesar soon made it in front of Joe and gazed at the three upcoming boars.
Caesar concentrated on his eyes and could see a glowing red dot on all three of the boar"s spines.
He shot off the ground and before the boar"s instincts could even warn them of their impending, Caesar was already right in front of their eyes.
*bap*
*bap*
*bap*
Caesar struck out three times with his stick and hit them directly in the middle of their spines.
*eehhhe*
The three boars squealed out in pain and toppled over, Caesar scanned his surroundings and noticed all of the other animals already ran away after all of the commotion they caused.
Caesar lifted two of the boars and put one on each of his shoulders, he looked towards Joe that was still on the ground with a slightly annoyed glint in his eyes.
"I know you are perfectly fine, hurry up and pick one of the boars up" Caesar spoke somewhat angrily.
Joe"s body didn"t move one bit so Caesar just snorted and walked away, once Caesar made it a decent distance from the lake. one of Joe"s eyes abruptly opened up and he slowly stood up.
"Whew, that was dangerous… I almost needed to use "that" thing" Joe grumbled inwardly and picked up the last boar on the ground.
Once Joe lifted the boar on his back he shakily walked back towards the carriage, the boar was a bit heavy for Joe to handle.
Caesar made it back to the carriage relatively quickly and plopped both of the boars loudly on the ground, he gathered some dry wood and leaves and started to craft a bond fire.
When Caesar was a young child, his father that happened to be an military specialist… He taught him many things required for survival, starting a fire was one of them. Unfortunately, his father didn"t stay very long.
Caesar created a tinder nest and a small hole in a board of wood, he created an angular notch in the small hole and got another piece of wood… he started to continuously twist the piece of wood until he got an ember.
He quickly put the ember on the timber nest and blew on it gently, suddenly a flame erupted and the bonfire was complete.
Caesar went towards a nearby tree and grabbed some thick branches and put them in the fire, he then strolled towards the side of the carriage and took the knife that Edward normally used.
Caesar went to one of the boars and crouched down beside it, Caesar sliced the neck of the boar and put it upside down to drain it.
Once the boar was drained, he gutted it and took out all of its innards, once the boar was prepared he grabbed some water and salt from the carriage and cleaned it thoroughly.
Caesar impaled the dead boar with a rod that Edward had brought with him and started rotating the boar above the fire.
After about 10 minutes of cooking, Joe finally made it back to the carriage.. His body was full of sweat and he threw the boar on the ground.
*plop*
Joe sat down and gasped for breath, "my goodness, that d.a.m.n favin boar was HEAVY" He roared out angrily.
"Go bring me all of the spices we currently have" Caesar glanced at Joe and ordered.
"Why do I have to do it?" Joe asked sadly
"Both Ahri and Edward are sleeping, and besides, you want to eat something delicious… don"t you?" Caesar replied back calmly.
"I suppose so…" Joe said quietly and walked towards the carriage, he looked for a few minutes and brought back a few brown pouches that were tied by a string at the top.
"Here you go" Joe handed Caesar the pouches and sat down by the fire.
Caesar smelled and tasted each of the spices and put on which ones he thought would be good.
When he was the CEO of his company he had lived alone… He hated going out or having others live inside of his home, so he learned how to cook.
Soon a delicious scent was released in the surroundings.
*creak*
Ahri opened up the carriage door and stepped off, she patted her stomach and looked at the boar with antic.i.p.ation.
"I didn"t know you could cook" Ahri raised her eyes and looked at Caesar surprised.
"There are many things you don"t know about me haha" Caesar laughed softly and gestured to a finely sliced up piece of the boar.
"Come, breakfast is served" Caesar beckoned Ahri over and smiled.
Ahri walked over and sniffed the air, "it smells delicious!" she could not help but compliment.
"Let"s hurry up and finish eating so we can get back on the road…" Caesar said while looking at Joe that was currently stuffing his face with a piece of the boar.
Suddenly a strong breeze kicked up Ahri"s hair and further escalated her beauty… Caesar observed her quietly.
"The cold heart that I had developed for so long in my past life… Is it melting?" Caesar thought to himself silently while observing their currently blissful atmosphere.