I woke up. Despite needing energy to recover I woke up surprisingly early. The sun was just starting to rise.
I glanced at the shield rune which was still holding up. "I expected it to run out already." I then stood up and went to the chest for some food. Even though it was pretty dry and bland at best it still tasted pretty good especially because I didn't have any time to eat yesterday.
!crack
A quiet crack sound came from the rune. It broke. "Since I didn't use it for so long I should have expected it to break when it turns off." I grabbed all the pieces I could see and put them in my bag. "I need to throw them out somewhere safe, I will probably toss it in the river when I see one."
Next step was to pack all remaining things up and get ready to walk a lot today. "I need to make it at least to the next town over today." I finally said. After packing everything and being really careful not to leave anything that would give away the fact I was there, I finally set out.
Along the way I also saw the river I thought about before. I threw all the parts of the rune I had in there along the way and continued.
"Now that I had some time to think I need to come up with some plan."
"They will probably try to come after me no matter where I go. Eliminating them is out of the question since I don't have nearly enough resources for that. Seeking shelter or help from someone else won't work since there's no one I know near me at the moment."
I thought for some more time. Weighting the pros and cons of every possible solution I could think of. At last I sort of gave up and decided to stay in the nearby town for now.
"I just have to hope they aren't dumb enough to search for me in the first city they can find."
When I finally made up my mind I took out a compass from my bag.
"I should be approximately in the middle of the forest now. The border with Sewol is on the east and the nearest city is down southwest."
I turned in the direction that I remembered the city being in and continued walking towards it.
The rest of the lengthy walk was relatively quiet. I had to stop and watch my surroundings a few times in suspicion there's someone who is tailing me. But that thankfully wasn't the case. Most of the times the random sounds were made by the nearby animals in the forest.
When I walked out of the forest I could see the surrounding plains. Most of them were covered in wheat or other crops. And in the distance there it was. The city of North Wessut. It wasn't exactly massive for a city, but compared to the village I was living in until yesterday it was vast.
The way to the city took at least half an hour through the plains and farm plots. I also walked past a few small huts that probably belonged to peasants living from farming and carpentery. Livestock wasn't nearly as cheap to maintain as they could afford so they simply didn't keep any.
But at last I finally arrived at the town gate. Even though I tried to keep my identity hidden I had to show my Tag from the military.
It was a little piece of hardened stone that was hung up on a string like a necklace. It was easy identification for military personnel of Dras and it was kept for life, unless you were convicted of a serious crime and banished from the country, which I to my own surprise still wasn't.
It allowed you entrance in most smaller towns and could sometimes get you free food in time of war.
But it was practically useless in bigger cities and at times of peace.
It still proved useful for me since I didn't need to provide any further information about me, allowing me to stay anonymous.
I finally entered the town and finally saw the inside of it.
The lord of this city surprisingly took good care of this town. Most lords usually don't care much for their smaller towns since there's not a lot of subjects to command and not a lot of money to be made from taxes.
But this town was well kept, the streets were relatively clean and there were also sounds of what I think is a festival going on in the town square. "That is perfect!" I thought. Its easy to get lost in crowds like this. But just to be sure I still watched my surroundings, a festival also meant that it could be one of the first places they search. But if they don't find me them they won't come back for some time … I hope.