The Story of the Wind Wanderer
Aetheria #100

Night had come, and Altezza continued to walk among the forest trees of the easternmost region of Lagarde Country. The atmosphere of the forest is so quiet, only the sound of some insects are usually active at night. The traveler's footsteps did not stop, continued to walk far, until he finally found the end of the forest he passed.

Both slices of black eye Altezza can see the existence of a stretch of green grass and a small hill when it reaches the edge of the forest. Pausing to sigh, the man then spoke to himself saying, "it should be behind this hill."

The return step he took, with great enthusiasm and faster than ever before. Altezza climbed the expanse of grass on the small hill in front of him, without even stopping his footsteps. When he reached the top of the hill, the wind blew quite strong and made the black hair and black robes belonging to Altezza waving. His steps stopped at once, with both irises of his eyes appearing enlarged, as well as a wide, etched smile, looking at the truly beautiful scenery from the top of the hill he was currently walking on.

Far ahead there was a glittering amount of lights, almost like a sprinkling of stars in the sky tonight, only it was on land. A city that looked quite large and spacious, with a large port on its coast looking small from a distance.

"It's not wrong, it's Aetheria!" altezza said with a happy expression that he could not stand. Not wanting to waste too much time again, Altezza decided to move on immediately, with the aim of approaching the city.

While walking down the hill, Altezza found a straight sand road leading to the Aetherian City. The male traveler walked on the sand road, and continued to move quickly to the beautiful city in front of him. Although it was under the night sky, the sand road he was currently going through was not too quiet. Several times Altezza passed by a merchant horse-drawn carriage that appeared to be coming out of Aetheria.

"Hey, wanderer! Are you going to Aetheria?" cetus was a middle-aged man, the coachman of a freight horse-drawn carriage that walked right behind the current Altezza.

Altezza was a little surprised to hear himself being called. He stopped his steps, looked back and replied, "yes, sir."

"All right! It just so happens that we have the same goal" the black-haired man said, and sat in front.

Hearing the offer, of course he did not want to refuse. Altezza lowered his head slightly and said, "thank you" before he climbed into the carriage through the back.

Sitting right behind the working coachman, Altezza stayed there along with the wooden boxes that happened to be loaded on the horse-drawn carriage. A black horse controlled by the coachman slowly began to walk down the gravel and sandy road, heading to Artheria which was already seen getting closer.

"When I was young, I was also a wanderer like you," the middle-aged man said, opening up the subject with Altezza, without turning his head as he had to always focus on controlling his horse.

"Well, rather I wander about having to ship merchandise to various places, anyway," continued the man, then chuckled by himself and smiled. He seems friendly, based on his attitude, gestures, and speech intonation reflects that he is not a bad person.

"That means you've been a hard worker since you were young, huh ...? It's great!" altezza said, while enjoying a ride on a simple horse carriage and made of wood.

The middle-aged man turned his head to throw a smile at Altezza, before then his gaze returned to the front.

"You know, we can't live without money, right? The economy is the most important thing in human life" said the man.

When you want to pass through the gate, right in front of the gate there is a line of horse carriages that will also enter. Each of them was inspected by the guards who were there, ensuring safety, and for the sake of mutual comfort.

"This is it, we'll pass the examination" the man said with a smile. The horse carriage he was driving slowly continued forward, often the line of horse carriages in front of him also walked forward.

"Good night, can you show me the identity of your merchant?" asked a guard to walk up to the chariot that Altezza was riding with a spear that he kept carrying.

The middle-aged man grabbed something from inside his jacket pocket, and then showed the guard a card. The identity card was received by the guard, and then checked. But the attention of the guard was more attracted to the figure of Altezza who seemed to sit sweetly behind the coachman.

"Is the traveler with you?" asked the guard, glancing towards Altezza.

The middle-aged man nodded confidently, "he is with me," he replied without further ado.

The guard seemed to nod, returning the man's trade identity card and said, "alright, you can pass."

"Thank you" said the man, receiving and keeping his identity card, before then again spurring his horse to walk.

When crossing the guard, the guard's gaze still could not escape staring at Altezza with a confused and curious look. Altezza himself realized this, and just nodded his head, smiled and waved a little one hand.

After the horse-drawn carriage passed, passed through the gate, and entered the city. The first guard was still standing in the same position, drifting in his daydream, looking like he was thinking.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? Why are you daydreaming? Is something wrong?" cetus another guard, approached the first guard and awakened him from the reverie.

"Ti-no," said the first guard a little jolted in surprise by his friend, and went on to say, "just ... I feel .. confused, like I've seen ... or known ... the wanderer who had come with the merchant just now."

The guard's companion first seemed to chuckle in a few seconds, before finally arguing, "you seem tired."

"It's better to go back to the post, soon your watch time runs out, right? Maybe that's why you're hallucinating people you think you've seen or known" the second guard continued.

The first guard let out a long sigh, "it looks like you're right," he said later.