But...
Fumetsumi woke up after three, maybe four hours of sleeping? He was wet to the skin. The fire, of course, was already extinguished.
- "Bloody hell, what is this?"
It seems that it was raining for almost a half of an hour, since outside the tree's radius the water had already formed a couple of puddles.
It was easy to survive the rain, espepcially when you can stand under the dense and wide tree crown for a long time. Thunder was rare, so Eddarnon bet that lightnings would bypass him.
- "Definitely not the best start. Maybe I should go towards the stream and forget about survivng here? My plan was to rest here for a while, but I understand it was a bad idea. Berries and cooked sproutes aren't enough to give me energy for a whole day. It's good that I can easily digest anything due to the hyperacidity of my stomach though."
He had had enough of what he had endured. Taking everything he could with him, he went down the hill towards the mountain stream, hoping to find a settlement of intelligent life.
- "Well, it's quite beautiful here. Reminds me of my motherland..."
Eddarnonn was looking around constantly. At least he was entertained.
After about many minutes of walking, having passed many obstacles and seeing how the surrounding landscape changed to a flatter one, Fumetsumi heard a loud sound coming somewhere from the valleys, covered with a dense layer of unnaturally dark forest. It was too sudden.
PWOOOOOO-
!!!
Please, don't do anything so unexpected. This entire adventure is unexpected. And most likely this is already the last adventure in my life.
- "Sounds like a hunting horn. There must be a hunt somewhere. This means that local society is either very similar to the human one, or, maybe, is actually human potentially in the Early/High Medieval era of technology?"
- "This is my chance to save myself from living in the wilderness for an unknownly long amount of time"
Of course there is one problem with encountering advanced species..."
Fumetsumi distinctly heard from where the sound was coming. From his knowledge, it's about 1,5-2 kilometres from him.
- "Should I really try to get there? I might be mistaken for an animal, and I'm unlikely to survive an arrow wound in such condition. I can barely run for a minute."
But it wasn't a question. He quickened his pace and headed in the direction.
After only 10 minutes he heard the actual sounds of hunting. It was obvious that the hunting was only starting, and people were driving the animals out of the forest.
Eddarnon heard strange mumbling around. He raised his hands up and slowly walked to a forest clearing, where a lot of people had gathered.
Finally! Are these humans? Or aliens? Show me!
I must pretend that I'm voiceless, or else they might try to question me. I guess I should even pretend deaf, since if they decide I'm a peasant, they might punish me despite I'm not even a local.
No, it's better to make them think that I'm a mute noble lost in the forest. My dirty though still aristocratic clothes together with my wide knowledge of noble manners tested on practice will help them to believe that. But what if the etiquette is different?
Why I always try to use my Earth knowledge to this unknown world?
Maybe, because this method always worked for the last 2 days of my life?
It was only a second when people noticed him.
A group of about 15 people, all had very noble-looking but flexible and comfortable clothes.
One man, probably from the middle-class, was holding a couple of dogs from running into the forest.
The number of people was slowly increasing, as low-class peasants were slowly coming to the clearing from the forest.
All seven noble men stood near their horses, all had strangely-shaped spears.
Maybe this is a boar hunting? If this is the chase phase then they should ignore me and continue their activity.
- "Oi, Selnor au, men eldt?"
- "Icná sä selnor sheu? Tora Hagon eldt!"
- "Hagon? Uila din qo Tonor eldeu!"
- "Caes! Qon shë - qo phamru Eliondu eldeu! Undon padn, vorhaux Uon, icard tyr! Gar qon no malëvé rïwon urqu."
Ah yes, here it comes. Unknown language of unknown family! I must say something, maybe try to tell them something in British Sign language, just for them to know that I use gestures to communicate to avoid misunderstanding.
He made a couple of gestures that meant "I come in peace!" and "Be wise, please". These phrases contained very complex gestures, Eddarnon was more than sure that none of these gestures would enter into common usage among people in a negative way.
Although, I heard in the first sentences they've said a word "Hagon" twice while looking closely at me. Maybe they imply that I'm the "Hagon"? Hagon means human then? I don't think I should try to test that, I don't know the context and I can hardly distinguish their speech.
- "Ulmitos, qo garon hariteu ce..."
- "Savalan üe! Hagon datró edleu! Icnour Hagon garon haritouo!"
- "Ha! Laj tawas eldeu! Qo toro favalté kalvelte loune ubitoreu."
The people were talking louder and louder. The reaction was unique for every person.
Yes, some of them are laughing at me. What could that mean? I shall try to tell them that I want to go with them, but not with a sign language. I'll use simple signs then.
He pointed at himself, then pointed at the people and then made a gesture that should've mean "walking".
It's impossible that any of these genstures will be interpreted by someone as agressive or insulting!
Well, he actually had no choice. If he continued just to stand in his place the people might end up thinking he is crazy, or eventually come to even stranger conclusions, killing him, punishing him or just ignoring him. Communication is necessary.
- "Gar qon no malëvé urqùar, feurgan!"
This line was said by a man still sitting on a horse, despite that everyone else had already dismounted. His gaze was cold and full of pride.
He said a few more lines, but Eddarnon simply didn't understand their sound at all.
Everyone silenced and looked at the noble, then bowed (peasants apparently bowed much lower), and then continued the hunt under the leadership of 7 other nobles, heading into the forest.
...Apparently, he decided to take me somewhere.
It seems that only servants remained. Eddarnon was brought a horse and offered to get on it, something he could hardly refuse.
This means that they are going to go somewhere. And this also means that Eddarnon is treated like a noble, since only 7 people among about 40 participants had a horse
The "noble person" then put hand to his heart and nodded his head with his eyes closed without getting off the horse...
Local etiquette?! If I won't answer then it will be explicitly rude, but what if I don't need to respond? No, If I won't respond that may be taken as an insult, but if I'll respond back there's lower chance for a reverse gesture to be an insult, at worst it will form a funny situation.
Eventually, he made the same moves back and...
Servants smiled.
At least I didn't harm their feelings, Eddarnon thought.
The noble didn't react. He turned off into a different direction and comanded the other servants to follow him into the forest.
4 people were assigned to Eddarnon to guide him to the "place".
When Eddarnon finally climbed onto his horse, fully prepared to show off his riding skills, one man walked ahead, pointing in the direction with two fingers.
Eventually, this silent and obscure team where everyone were shocked started slowly moving into an unknown direction.
Such a silly situation. This noble's actions and misunderstanding saved my life potentially. I feel like I'm gonna have a lot of job soon...