The mountains weren’t steep. They moved quite easily, especially after Angor found a man-made mountain path. It meant there was a civilization nearby.
Angor asked Toby to observe from the sky. Toby happily complied and returned to Angor’s shoulder after a short while.
“There is? A big city on the other side?” Angor’s eyes brightened up. He was worried that small villages might not provide him with much useful information, but a large city would totally do the trick.
Since they had a certain destination now, Angor proceeded in a brighter mood. He turned back and spoke to his little follower, “There’s a city just ahead. I can’t keep ‘hey you’. You need a name now.”
The man replied to him with another confused gaze. However, there was a tiny trace of innocent happiness in it.
The coffin man had stopped repeating Angor’s words. But that was about it—he couldn’t express anything yet. And Angor wasn’t sure whether he should be worried or happy about this.
Angor did notice that every time he talked to the coffin man, those eyes would twinkle brightly with pleasant emotions.
Maybe it was “imprinting” like how newborn chicks recognized anything they saw first as their mothers? Wait… it should be “father” in this case.
Angor shook his head. He wasn’t going to consider someone who might be older than Sunders as his son.
“Tell me, what do you want to be called?” Angor asked.
The coffin man would occasionally say simple words he learned from Angor’s sentences. He couldn’t really answer Angor yet, but Angor only wished to use the first word he heard as the man’s new name.
A “Devil Angor” in Angor’s mind was expecting a funny word like “poop” or “puppy”. It would be so much fun when the coffin man regained his memory and found out about the terrible nickname he chose for himself.
However, Angor’s evil plan didn’t work out. The coffin man didn’t say anything yet. He only tilted his head to one side like a curious baby.
“I’ll help you then. How about ‘Pocratee’? The place you used to live in. You can use it so you won’t ever forget it,” Angor said. He continued talking on his own, “Wait, no good… That place met with a terrible fate.”
He hoped to get the coffin man to talk by constantly speaking. One word would do.
Yet the man never made a sound.
Angor sighed. “Forget it, I’m so bad at this. Just get your own name. You look pretty well when I helped you get rid of the parasite. Why did you suddenly become an idiot?”
Angor suddenly thought about something. “Wait… you said something at the moment before you faint. Let me think…”
He tried his best to recall what happened in the Nightmare Domain.
When he dragged the parasite out of the coffin man’s body, the man’s eyes showed intelligence albeit briefly. He muttered something at that moment.
“It’s ‘Dodoro’. I remember it. You said ‘Dodoro’ and went out cold. Should I call you ‘Dodoro’ then?”
It sounded pretty weird. Angor believed that it meant something since it was the first and only thing the coffin man mentioned in the condition. Maybe a really important concept that he had to remember.
Anyway, it was a good choice. There were many strange names in this world. Besides, “Dodoro” was quite catchy and easy to remember.
As Angor went over his own thoughts, the coffin man suddenly shivered a little.
Something uncertain flashed past his eyes when he heard “Dodoro”. It seemed a series of scenes were brought up. There were blades, armor, blood, and horse hooves… as well as a kind-looking elder who carried an iron box…
“What do you think?” Angor looked at the man again.
The coffin man’s memory ended along with Angor’s question. He looked at Angor and tilted his head again.
“Guess I shouldn’t be asking you. It’s settled then. You’re Dodoro, at least until you recall your past. As for your last name… it doesn’t really matter. It was Akeso who kept you alive for a thousand years, and you shouldn’t forget that. We shall use that then. ‘Dodoro Akeso’ will be your name for now.”
The coffin man nodded with uncertainty.
Mountain wind traveled past and momentarily moved the man’s long hair to one side. This very moment when Dodoro obtained his own name under the clear sky and fallen autumn leaves had become a permanent print in his mind.
…
When they were halfway to the peak, Angor noticed a double-story wooden house that was out on the open ground among the woods. There was a sign not far from it.
Angor approached and saw several lines written on it using different languages. The topmost one was the universal language.
[Byzan Mountains No.0039, Ranger of Kana Ridge]
There was a date printed at the bottom left suggesting the day the sign was placed, along with an emblem which showed a sun rising above sea horizon.
A forest ranger’s house…
Angor held his chin and considered. There was nothing wrong with the house, but he was quite interested in the small sign. The simple record could tell him a lot.
The emblem, as well as the “plot number”, suggested that it was something determined by officials. Only government-like organizations would give numbers to plots. Also, it could be seen that whoever set up the sign enjoyed the peace. A country suffering from warfare or conflict would not have time to care about protecting mountain woods.
The Goldspink Empire had its own forest rangers as well, but it became a lost profession ever since the battle against Heylan broke out.
“I guess I’m lucky to arrive at somewhere peaceful,” Angor murmured. He rubbed a finger against the sign and noticed there wasn’t much dust on it, which meant someone had been taking care of it.
Next, Angor came to the wooden house.
According to his spirit feeler scan, it was unoccupied. The door was locked, which… didn’t matter. Angor could always open it easily either by using spirit or mana power.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The two stories were only two different rooms—one hall and one bedroom. There were only basic furniture and several locked cabinets.
“Some weapons and foodstuff… no books. Guess our mister ranger doesn’t have much spiritual entertainment,” Angor murmured as he opened a cabinet. He was glad to find a map inside.
The map only showed the locations of such houses of “Byzan Mountain No.0021 to No.0040”. Judging from the map scale, there were 20 such houses around the mountain range of about 400 kilometers.
That was a lot.
It seemed this nation was in good condition since they took such an effort to preserve nature.
Angor put down the map and smelled mild smoke. He looked and saw a series of smoked and dried pork hung below the ceiling beam, as well as some unknown jerky.
After surviving on plainly-cooked food for months, he was immediately attracted by the smell of salt and rich spice.
He picked a slice of pork jerky. He then silently apologized to the owner of the house before he used a pot to boil water on the kitchen stove.
Man, the smell was heavenly!
Even Toby couldn’t help digging in like mad.
Sitting away from them, Dodoro’s mouth also watered at the delicious smell. However, he only looked at the pot without actually asking for food.
Angor thought it over. Dodoro didn’t seem troubled by all the fruits in these days. So, he decided to give Dodoro a really soft part of the meat.
Their meal was very satisfying. When leaving the ranger’s house, Angor placed a gold coin on the table as a late payment. Anyway, it was better than paying nothing.
The coin wasn’t only for buying meat. He also took a set of clothing and a pair of shoes.
For Dodoro.
Angor’s bracelet contained a bright-purple wizard robe that he received from Prome, which served as Dodoro’s outfit during the previous days. Without any other inner fabrics, the robe didn’t do a very good job.
Even though he was wearing nothing on the inside, Dodoro didn’t seem troubled at all. However, Angor couldn’t help feeling uneasy about it. Every now and then, the wind would expose Dodoro’s private parts under broad daylight… very clearly.
They were heading toward a city now. In order not to look too unsightly, Angor had to find him something to wear from the house.
With the new set of clothes, Dodoro looked more “civilized” now. To prevent unnecessary trouble, Angor also cropped his long hair into a crew cut.
When everything was settled, they moved out of the ranger’s house. There was a path leading away from the house. Following it should lead them to a colony quickly enough.