A Sorrowful Parting

The Minotaurs hadn't let the cold reception they'd received in the human town dampen their friendliness. They warmly invited Annan to visit their camp.

Annan soon learned why the Minotaurs were so welcoming from their chieftain's complaint: "The people out there sold us wheat flour mixed with sawdust and bread as hard as sticks."

Annan, on the other hand, had brought back one of their own, along with two small sacks of coarse wheat flour free of impurities.

Annan glanced at the townspeople still hawking goods around the edge of the camp. He accepted the invitation and walked in among the felt tents. Minotaurs ranging from two and a half to three meters tall filled his view. Even the calves chasing one another were almost as tall as he was.

Walking through the camp, Annan looked like Soluman Copperbeard walking through Pinglin Town.

Several female Minotaurs were lighting a bonfire in the clearing at the center of camp. As the flames rose, they gradually took on the colors of the western sky.

Then Annan saw the chieftain: a figure like a fortress wall, her bare body covered in scars carved by blades and axes through countless battles. Standing before her, he looked like a small child beside a brawny adult.

Once she heard the whole story, the Minotaur chieftain welcomed Annan.

"Why are there so many 'children'?"

Annan looked at the young Minotaurs, each far sturdier than Martin. Their immature horns were the only way to tell they weren't adults.

But that was no reason to underestimate them... As full-blooded Minotaurs, they had powerful builds and corded muscles, and could easily lift over a hundred pounds.

They were born warriors.

"We'll be on the Snow Mountains for a long time. The children are our people's future," the Minotaur chieftain said.

As for the Minotaurs nearly three meters tall who sat beside the felt tents polishing their enormous axes, Annan had no doubt they were Elite Level. There had to be at least a dozen of them in the camp—

It was hard to imagine Mr. Fast was on their level.

With Annan and an expectant Tasia in tow, the Minotaur chieftain came to a felt tent adorned with faded feathers.

"Shaman, I've brought home one of our lost kin."

The Minotaur chieftain lowered her head before the tent, as though listening to something. Then she lifted the flap and let a nervous Tasia enter.

Annan stayed outside. After a short wait, an aged voice eased both his and Tasia's worries.

"Child, welcome back to the embrace of your ancestors..."

Her people had accepted her completely.

Night fell, and the bonfire in the clearing drove back the darkness. Shadows danced as the Minotaurs gathered around it to celebrate the return of one of their own.

It seemed nothing could withstand their simple, heartfelt smiles.

Sitting before the fire among the Minotaurs, Annan looked like a barrel missing a stave. Beside him, a Minotaur child in its mother's arms, only a little shorter than he was, watched him curiously.

The Minotaurs wanted to hear about Tasia's life among humans.

To Annan, Tasia had always seemed clever and quiet. But in the Minotaur camp, the warmth of her people drew her out. She began telling them about a past even Annan knew nothing about.

It was a painful past, without question. Yet Tasia spoke of it openly, full of life, her broken horn seeming to gleam in the firelight.

"...I thought I would die in the mine. But then my human friend bought my slave contract, tore it up, and told me I was free."

Every minotaur turned to look at Annan. The chieftain thumped her chest. "Minotaurs value their friends."

Annan smiled shyly, the firelight hiding the flush in his cheeks.

Just then, a minotaur guarding the camp came to the bonfire feast and announced that a human and a dwarf were outside.

Mr. Fast and Soluman Copperbeard?

"Bring them in."

Before long, Mr. Fast and Soluman Copperbeard arrived at the bonfire, followed by minotaurs carrying several barrels of wine.

"Copperbeard said you and Tasia came here." Faster had been worried something might have happened to Annan.

"What about the tavern?"

"The bard and Evelyn are there. If it comes to it, the customers can settle their own tabs."

Annan noticed that Faster never seemed to use the bard's name.

Faster and Soluman Copperbeard didn't take Annan away. Instead, they sat down by the bonfire.

The barrels they had brought were soon opened, and wine was poured into wooden bowls. Nothing helped strangers get acquainted faster. Before long, the camp was lively, and the minotaurs began an old-fashioned but entertaining activity: wrestling.

Even Faster and Soluman Copperbeard took their turns.

Annan knew he shouldn't think it, but he couldn't help imagining Soluman Copperbeard getting kicked away like a ball—

Tasia was a giant among humans, but among minotaurs, she was only the size of a youngster. She could wrestle only with the younger minotaurs, and because she was weak, they kept throwing her to the ground. Yet she wore a radiant smile.

"You're different from those other humans..."

The chieftain came over to where Annan sat by the fire.

Annan knew what she meant. The cold reception the minotaurs had received in Pinglin Town was only one example of how they were treated.

Annan came from another world, where he was inclined to treat others with respect and as equals. Faster and his companions belonged to a secret society that worked to bring the races together.

Faster got along well with the chieftain. He knew how to speak with other races. When talk turned to Snow Mountain Fortress, everyone spoke with pride:

For hundreds of years, the Rikaner Kingdom's front line had held back the Demon Tide, never allowing a demon to set foot across the Snow Mountain Spine—but that claim alone sounded like a warning that something was about to go wrong.

Annan asked about the Demon Tide. Faster had more or less grown used to Annan's "ignorance" by now and simply explained that Demonfall Land lay north of the mountains, home to an endless horde of demons.

Yet Annan had seen no sense of urgency in either Breeze City or Pinglin Town.

Perhaps the war really was far away from them.

As midnight approached, it was time for Annan and the others to leave.

Tasia chose to stay. Annan said goodbye to her. "I'll come see you off tomorrow morning."

On the way back, Annan spotted a shadowy figure skulking around the camp.

He paid it no mind. No fool would try to attack a camp full of elite-level minotaurs.

Back at the tavern, Annan borrowed more money from the dwarf woman. Before sunrise the next day, he ran to the market, rented a handcart, filled it with coarse wheat flour, and hauled it to the minotaur camp. Then he told the townspeople who had come early to sell their goods at inflated prices, "The minotaurs are about to leave. Unless you want to be stuck with your goods, you'd better sell them at the usual price."

The townspeople who had hoped to make a fortune couldn't complain about Annan. They had to thank him.

The Minotaur chieftain gave Annan a few small gold nuggets in payment. He accepted them, then went into the camp to see Tasia.

"I'll come visit you in the Snow Mountains."

"I'll be waiting."

Tasia lowered her head and embraced Annan, discreetly slipping him a note.

The fences were pulled up, the felt tents folded like umbrellas, and the Minotaur caravan continued north along the road.

Annan stood in the pale morning light and watched them go.

"Goodbye, my first friend."