The Musafir

Caraka Munding

Mantingan gazed at the vast grassland set in an orange sky. Time has entered twilight. Indeed, there is almost no difference in the view of twilight in Javadvipa or in Suvarnadvipa. However, dusk is still orange twilight and dimness, so that sometimes it displays something that does not exist and actually hides something that does not exist, so it is very natural that warriors in the martial world avoid fighting when dusk has arrived.

The mantle took off a roll of white cloth wrapped around his artificial arm. Of course, from now on he covered the shape of the wooden arm with a winding of cloth, because however it is not natural if someone has a wooden arm that is able to move like a real arm. With the winding of the cloth wrapping the artificial arm, The mantle can display as if it were a real arm covered in cloth for a reason that is not so important as to provoke the curiosity of others.

***

MANTINGAN rests his back on the tree trunk while looking at his grassy shoulders with orange sky. A smile was on his face, for the buffalo had regained his life spirit. He became more and more grazing, and it was as if his stomach was an infinite space so that all the grass in the meadow could be devoured to the end. On several occasions, the buffalo roars long with a happy tone. His originally sleepy eyes, were now wide open, as if the entire scene was a precious thing not to be missed.

It's just that, the buffalo is still deckil-looking and smells bad. Of course, the buffalo cannot clean its own body. But Mantingan did not plan to bathe him in the near future, because however he had to find Tapa Balian as soon as possible.

So once the sun has sunk perfectly and the sky has become pitch-black and instead of in the dimness that makes any swordsman will feel anxious, depart the Mantan with his shoulders to leave the meadow.

The Mantin did not light the Light Magic Throw even though he still kept quite a lot of it in his bundle. The bright light from the Light Magic Throw might attract high-level warriors to come, because however there is only one person who can make a mere ejection sheet become very bright, glowing, what is not wrong and not is the mantan.

Of course the young man knew that there were enough thieves in Suvarnadvipa who hated and even took revenge on him. Moreover, with advanced warriors who feel that Mantingan has destroyed his martial path after all his actions that thwarted the rebellion in Taruma Country. If their numbers were large and attacking simultaneously by combining forces, the Mantingan was unsure of being able to win against them.

Tonight, Mantingan only intends to face low-level warriors. For it is impossible that he did not face an attack by continuing on his way even though it is clear that the thieves will mill around once the sun sinks perfectly in the western horizon.

He carried a large buffalo with luggage that could not be said a little. Moreover, it moved without a troupe. The mantan was like a piece of fresh meat among hundreds of hungry tigers. However, not many know how a piece of fresh meat is just the appearance of the outside, because inside the meat has stored thousands of poisonous needles that can be fired in all directions!

“I haven't given you a name.” Mantingan smiled a little while stroking the back of the buffalo he was riding. “What kind of name do you like?”

Of course the buffalo was not able to give a satisfactory answer to Mantingan. But when he learned that his master was speaking amid the silence and darkness of the night, the buffalo let out a short cry in return.

The mantle fluttered his hands a few times. There was a scream several times, before being followed by a falling object and a long groan. Such was the Mantingan crippling some swordsmen who were prowling towards him with the intention to kill, using needles that had been laced with deadly poison. After the poison liquid entered the blood vessels, for them there was no way but death.

“Your name should have a good meaning,” murmured then as if nothing happened, “let me think about the goods for a moment.”

The Mantingan shook his arm as if he were driving away mosquitoes, but in fact he was sending a wind site to attach throwing knives that shot towards him, which were then returned to the owner at twice the speed! So that's how the sound of the debaman again sounded fill the silence of the night.

“How about Munding Caraka?” The mantle slapped as it again flicked its arm. “It means ‘bull wanderer’. Didn't you always want adventure, Munding?”

The buffalo was short-sighted though no one could know what the moaning meant. But then, Mantingan smiled widely. “I think you like it.”

***

Mantingan let Munding Caraka graze when they arrived at a small field that was quite overgrown with grass. Although the buffalo showed no signs of fatigue, Mantingan still let him rest. While he sits under a shade tree to rest and eat fish jerky that has been smoked before.

Mantingan quite enjoy the atmosphere of the morning like this. After five months of confining himself in the Thousand Drops of Water that was completely untouched by sunlight, the warmth of the morning sun he felt today became so precious. Similarly, the passing of birds of various types; the breeze that cools sweaty skin; and mega-mega floating in the middle of a stretch of blue sky that seems to have no end.

Mantingan tries to relax more by closing his eyes. However, that does not mean that he has relaxed vigilance, because with the sharpness of the eyes that the Science of Hearing Dew Drops can be used as well as possible. Everything that could not be captured by his eyes was able to be captured by his ears through sound waves, which afterwards translated into form.

So with the distribution of the Science of Hearing Dew Drops, Mantingan caught quite a lot of sound waves that came in unison. The voices came from the streets, quite a distance away from where he was sitting at the moment. Mantingan keeps his eyes closed and sharpens the Science of Hearing Dew Drops, intending to know what is coming, because however he and they will be paced.

From the results of his observations, at least Mantingan knew that the coming this time was a group filled by many people with several buffalo pulling a pedati. The mantan can hear the voice of women conversing while laughing, the sound of buffalo breath, the sound of the screeching of the pedati wheel, and the noise of the rattles that are not clear from what objects. It's clear that it's big enough.

But what kind of group are they? Too many women were conversing, and too many rattles that seemed to come from the new sounding device sounded as the pedati swayed.

“Maybe ...”

At a glance, it occurred to him that this time was a group of puppet players, who were always filled with women and sound tools. However, Mantingan still can not confirm it really, considering also for whether the puppet cast group through a silent path that does not lead to human civilization?

Indeed, as Mantingan remembered, the road he passed did not lead anywhere but to the beach that intersected with Balian Valley. The road does not intersect with towns both small and large, although some times it has branches leading to small villages. However, for what would a large group of wayang players visit small villages that really need food rather than entertainment from them?

___

note:

The performance of the Musafir dropped in the previous week. Let's help me to restore the performance of the Musafir by sharing, like, and comment.

I'm preparing for a crazy up at the end of the month.