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Episode X: Part 3:

After catching his breath for a little while, he jumped up on his feet and walked down to the road again. There were several wanderers walking same way he did, but he never walked close enough to be able to talk with them. Occasionally, a rider or wagon passed him by, either infront of him or past him. It was a busy road since it led between a major city and the harbor town.

Not much happened on that road. Bandits usually stick away from it as there are too many travellers on it, able to fight back. And it wouldn't be profitable for a bandit gang to lose too many member in a fight.

He spent the whole day walking, sometimes increasing his pace; never running. It'd maybe cause problems for him as travellers on this road usually are nervous and they would doubt defending themselves against someone they thought was suspicious.

But no matter how fast he walked, he wouldn't reach the road inn he aimed for, until the sun had set. But he got there safely, and spent the night in it for an acceptable sum of money.

Next morning, he sat down at the cafeteria and check his backpack for something to eat.

"Ah... I got plenty of meat", given from a kind girl in the juvie camp before he left "... at least I won't starve." other than that, he had two big bottles of water and two packed, raw salmons.

So he unpacked two chunks of meat together with a glass of water from his bottle, and started to eat.

Feeling good to go, he packed his gear and headed out. Realizing the weather wasn't too nice. In human terms that is. He didn't mind rain. It was just starting to, too. 'Good' he thought. The weather cooled his body down to a perfect degree for walking.

The forest was still thick around the road, until clock was just past noon. He had been walking uproads for some while and now he had reached the top of it. He could see that the forest ended a few kilometres ahead, the road taking off to a sharp right, towards the faraway coast.

He could take a shortcut in the forest but that would drain his energy rather fast. Even if he was in good condition now, he'd be exhausted when he was at his goal.

So he stuck to the road, yet jogging every now and then to save time. He estimated he'd be at the town gates in three or four hours.

Which was a good calculation. By 4.30 pm, he could see the tall gate towers in the distance. The asphalt road had turned into a stone plated road, since he reached the town outposts a while back.

So he slowed down and walked the last piece up to the town gates. There he had to pay a small sum to get a town permission ticket, to enter the town.

Almost everything there required a ticket. A ticket for shopping, for sleeping, renting things... Money wasn't allowed to be traded around very much; just to the shopkeepers, who all worked for the same organization, gathering money for something big. If you wanted a work, you wouldn't get it to gain money, but tickets, and you'd get a sufficient amount of each type to survive and keep living a good life. So it wasn't a bad thing really. Pointless to some.

Undreas didn't care much though. As long as he'd not get in trouble, anything would work just fine.

The last ferry to the island was about to go when he reached the harbor area. So he quickly bought a ferry ticket and boarded the ship.

It wouldn't reach the island until the morning after, so he found himself a chair onboard, and sat down. And relaxed.

So to explain the islands, the one he is going to is the island of a fishing town, but there are lots of natural phenomenon to see there. Miniature volcanoes, geysers, underground caverns and lakes. A lot for an adventurer to handle.

But he was going to rent a boat on the island to get to the place he aimed for. It's generally called "Ancient Island", but the fishing villagers call it "Demon island", because they think a demon created it to find a safe place to live. And that the temple on it was its home.

Undreas didn't believe in it though. Even if he did, he would still try to find his friend there.

He thought a bit about it all when he sat there on the ship, watching the sun sink in the horizon. When it was beyond sight, he shut his eyes to get his mind and body some rest.

There weren't many civilians on board, mostly sailors and crew members. He wants to remember last time he was on the boat leading both too and back from the island, there was always a lot of people. He spent a lot of time in the fishing village back then and could always see tourist and adventurers climb on and off the ship each day.

But instead of wasting more time on thinking, he fell asleep...