Swordsman Behind the Scenes

CHAPTER VI - THE PATH OF THE COMMON MAN

One morning, Waseso arrived at a clear river. Without thinking for long, he immediately took off all the clothes he was wearing and took a shower. Feeling satisfied playing with the water and soaking his whole body then he took the foam powder in his cloth bag and poured about a quarter of a grip on his palm. Then with one hand he took the water and cupped his hands continued to swipe both palms repeatedly. When the foam and aroma came out, then he rubbed it evenly from the start of his hair, face and all his body. He also picked up a stel of clothes in a cloth bag and a pair of clothes he had worn and washed and rinsed it with river water. After it was felt enough then he hung his clothes on the rocks and continued to throw himself into the river and take a bath. When he felt hungry, then he flirted to and fro and stepped left right trying to see the existence of fish, but he did not see a single one. When at a certain location under a river stone that is not so big, for the sake of seeing two shadows that are not so big in the shallow water, he decided to change the target. Finally, while waiting for the laundry to dry, he finished burning fifteen shrimp which although the per-tail is not too big, he said, but just eating ten tails alone makes his stomach feel full and immediately fall asleep under the shade of a large rock. When the sunlight was felt burning his face, then he woke up and immediately picked up all the clothesline. One stel was worn and one stel was put back into his cloth bag. While eating one by one the remaining grilled shrimp earlier, he continued his journey by following the direction of the river water flow. By late afternoon, he arrived at a wooden bridge that ran over his head. Muttering to himself, he decided to take a deviant direction and not continue his steps down the riverbank, but he brushed the thick grass that contoured the ground slightly upward towards the road;

"let me take the path of the common man, rather than having to always meet with the rest of the evil deeds of the martial"

Still continue;

"after all with this defective state of my body, there will be no evil people interested"

Just finished he muttered, both feet had reached the side of the road that was not so wide, where the ground in the middle was quite hard with the left right edge slightly in the growth of various types of weeds.

"hmmm,.the country road.let me take the right direction"

Finished thinking so, he stepped his feet in the direction in question. By sunset he had walked into a village whose house was more than his village. However, the surrounding conditions seemed quiet. Some of the windows and doors of the house are seen tightly closed even though the walls of the board are reflected faintly by the light of lanterns that have been lit in the house. Slowly he continued walking down the village road and was interested in approaching one of the houses that looked brighter than the other house. When we arrived in front of the house, the, but still from the side of the road he turned briefly towards the door of the house that was open and saw some elderly men and women were sitting on mats and gathering, he said, looks like they're going to have dinner together. Not wanting to interfere with their activities, so while taking a breath he continued his footsteps to walk past. Most likely one or several people in the house had seen his fatigue as it passed, because only about six paces were left behind, behind him were the sound of footsteps following him following a soft cry; and;

"cu,.grandson...stop for a moment,..."

Waseso then stopped and turned his body. A grandfather walked over and stopped in front of him two steps away. The grandfather seemed stunned for a moment to see the boy more clearly, but he immediately said;

"what a guess I am, you are not one of the children of this village, let's go with the battery to the house, you must be tired and hungry"

The grandfather now waved his hand to see the doubt from the boy. He continued, turning his body back to the house;

"luck.ayo,..."

Finally Waseso followed behind the grandfather and led him into the house while saying as if to make an announcement to all who were inside;

"what I just said, is not one of the children of our village"

Grandfather's words in response by muttering everyone in the room, especially now Waseso looks to have been standing in the house. Seen all their faces showed compassion, for the sake of knowing a boy with a shoulder to his left walking alone before night armed with a bundle of cloth.

"cu.bet your default, go back and wash your feet and then come back here immediately"

Not yet finished the speech of the grandfather, saw a woman older than his late mother approached and helped put the bundle that Waseso brought and guided him to the back.

Just as he was returning home and sitting on the mat, the woman approached him with a plate of rice and fruit vegetables in his hand and handed them to Waseso while nodding her head as a sign of order.

While eating, he watched the people in the house. Almost all of them were old people, only the woman who held out the plate was the youngest. In addition, there are about five children smaller than him who appear to have slept in groups on the left side of the house. As for the woman who seems to be the son of the grandfather of the owner of the house, after finishing eating appears to compose some cloth like a head pad, in a position next to a horde of sleeping little children. Next he waved his hand to Waseso who had also finished eating a moment ago and was sitting still.

Seeing the wave and the claps he made on the floor mat, Waseso immediately approached and spread his head and body. In order to feel fullness and again feel sleep on the mat and roof tile, he began to feel a normal life after almost three weeks of wandering in the wilderness. Spontaneous with him, whispered softly to the woman who sat behind him and was chatting with others;

"thank you bude"

(bude is a call to a woman whose age is considered older than the mother of the caller)

What was meant seemed to hear Waseso's whisper, because after that he turned his head for a while and smiled and patted his left palm on Waseso's leg, like the treatment of a mother who was luring the child. Of course, the actions of the bude quickly made Waseso immediately fall asleep and more soundly than the last sleep since the death of his parents. That morning Waseso woke up when he heard the sound of a hoe hitting the ground. Slowly his eyes opened and looked to his right and he immediately rose to see that the room was empty. He then turned back and then headed towards the source of the sound from behind the grass of cassava fields in front of him. After he walked to the plants that grew tightly, it is true that he saw the bude appear to be hoeing the ground, while the grandfather not far near him was chopping the cassava stems to plant. This is an activity that is very commonly done by him along with his late father, so he immediately approached the grandfather and picked up some trunks that have been cut off, so he immediately approached the grandfather and picked up some trunks that have been cut, as much as his right hand cupped and immediately headed to the hole of the former hoe made and stick the stems one by one while not forgetting to cover the surrounding with the ground and compact it through the foot. The bude apparently stopped hugging and approached his father and sat there watching what Waseso was doing at the time. The two of them looked at each other for a moment and smiled as if they realized that their guest, even though his body was deformed but had experience in gardening and had a sense of responsibility.

It did not feel nearly three months more Waseso hitchhiking live in the bude house and his routine activities are waking up every morning, breakfast, washing clothes, helping with gardening, lunch, and so on, help clean the house and yard, dinner continued to sleep. That is the routine he does. Only occasionally, though, maybe every two weeks he had to replace the bude who was forced to hide and help the grandfather bring food dishes to the house of the head of the hamlet who was entertaining the presence of a certain troop or horde that happened to stop by and they openly accepted the banquet considering that there was nothing else valuable they could ask for or take from the village that there were not even women or children who they thought were worth. A village they thought was worthless because it was inhabited only by old people and one disabled boy. Actually Waseso had begun to feel the rush of life there, until one day he voluntarily accompanied the grandfather to bury his bud corpse due to the bite of a poisonous snake while working in the field. When the grandfather began to see the boy's eyes glazed over, the grandfather said something that really made the boy always remember the meaning of the grandfather's words and made his cry not continue to break ;

"cu, there is no need for you to cry because now he is free from all pain and suffering"

Since the incident, the boy has become a child of poverty. And three days later he asked his grandfather for permission to continue his journey. Actually, the grandfather spontaneously wanted to forbid it, but for the sake of seeing the eyes of determination that emanated from both eyes of the boy, but for the sake of seeing the eyes of determination that radiated from the boy, finally the grandfather let go even showed the direction of the road to be taken by the boy who wanted to see a city. Waseso is a temporary resident of empty houses or buildings that he passes when he wants to unwind or sleep. Digging, burning and eating various types of wild tubers to silence hunger in the stomach. Accustomed to being the estimation of certain people or groups who happen to cross paths with him on the road but ultimately do not ignore it. And he could deduce based on his experience so far that, if he later arrived in any small village usually the residents are very generous to feed him even with the ability and experience of gardening he has, he said, then he can easily also get a wage to eat, drink and shelter for free for several days.

Slowly but surely, the result of the steps he was making, now took him little by little to one of the small provincial cities in the Gunumlatar empire.

SERIATE.