Chapter 4: The Village of a Tribe

Asteria and the three men finally arrived safely in a village. The place was neither too small nor too big, it looked very peaceful with children occasionally laughing and running around, though their eyes also occasionally being cast over Asteria's figure full of curiosity.

She had attracted a lot of gazes from the villagers nearby. Asteria indeed stood out too much from the group, however, as it was her personality, she just ignored it.

"What happened?" A blonde-haired girl approached the four, bringing some pots made from terracotta as she walked over. She helped them to untie the meat hanging over the three's bodies and bringing it into the animal skin spread on top of the ground as to not to get it dirty.

The girl then just realized that the fourth member didn't look like a hunter at all and completely unfamiliar. She frowned and looked at the shorter middle-aged man with annoyance. "Uncle Han, do you kidnap an innocent girl again? How many times it has been?"

Asteria didn't really know what to say. At some point, she questioned herself if she had been tricked, as she was just too excited about meeting real living people. She had a look of doubt on her face that made the other two men sighed in exhaustion. This pair of uncle and niece sure loved to bicker.

The shorter middle-aged man named Han was stunned being accused that way by his own niece. "Don't talk nonsense. How can your kind uncle kidnap people? Those previous cases are that the women admire your uncle too much that they followed me here. But, this little girl is just lost. I also must tell you that I don't like a girl as young as my supposed daughter in case I have one."

The blonde-haired girl pulled a look full of doubt and slight exasperation. She then just ignored her uncle and turned to Asteria. "What's your name?"

Asteria gave a slight smile. "I am Asteria. I am sorry for troubling all of you. Actually, I get lost after being chased by a wolf."

Something seemed to flash in the girl's eyes. But, she still put on a kind expression as she introduced herself. "I am Annie. Don't worry, this kind of thing happened several times already actually. Some people got lost when running from wolves."

Asteria looked at Annie and smiled. "Thank you."

After the group of four took the journey last night, they kept on moving to avoid the wolves. However, strangely none of those wolves actually approach them, even if their howls sounded quite near, no wolf came. It puzzled the three, but they didn't waste the time to dawdle and seek for the reason.

Asteria crouched down and helped Annie to cut the flesh of animals from the spoils of hunting into smaller sizes while also getting rid of the bones.

Uncle Han also joined the two to cut down the meat while the other two men brought water to wash some of them. As he looked over at Asteria, he was surprised. "You are quite good at cutting down the meat, eh?"

Asteria blinked and nodded. Truth to be told, she liked to cook in her home. "I like to cook."

"Ah, really?" Annie's face brightened immediately. Asteria could almost see the sparkle in her eyes. Annie grinned. "You can cook with me, then."

Asteria nodded in compliance. She was also curious about how did they do some cooking.

"Uncle, I want Asteria to live with me. Do you allow it?" Annie suddenly asked, turning to her uncle.

Uncle Han almost couldn't believe himself. He nodded furiously while the tone of his voice raised in slight excitement. "Of course, of course. You like to be alone, and it's not good for a girl your age not to have any friends at all."

Asteria wondered why this Uncle Han was so excited over Annie inviting her over to live with her. However, she didn't want to be noisy, so she didn't ask.

The two men arrived while bringing two pots of water. Uncle Han told the younger one. "Go get the salt."

Uncle Han separated some of the newly cut flesh and gave some to the taller middle-aged man. "This one third is for you, Jack. Don't forget to join us on the hunt again next month."

The man named Jack took this share and left after saying, "Alright. Thanks. I will definitely join the two of you again. Let's hunt more meat next time."

After Jack left, Uncle Han washed a small portion of the meat and put it in a separate place. He handed the rest to the young man. "David, dissolve the salt into the water and wash the remaining meat with it. We will have some stocks of food for a month with this. Let's also exchange some for bread and rice."

David did as Uncle Han said. Asteria watched the whole process with great interest. She used to live in a city and she had never watched the real process of food preservation with her own eyes. By being soaked in saltwater and then put under the burning sun, the meat was expected to last for around a month. As long as the atmosphere wasn't humid, and the meat stayed dry.

Now that Asteria had truly met with real people, she still wanted to ask them about the thing that had been nagging her head all this time.

"By any chance, do any of you know of a city called New York?" Asteria started.

Uncle Han put on a thinking face as if to recall something while Annie and David looked bewildered. They looked at Uncle Han with great curiosity. "I have never heard of that place before. Say, Uncle Han, you've been wandering outside for a long time and meet some people of other tribes. Do you know anything?"

Putting on a serious look, he looked at Asteria, then shook his head. "The tribes are quite far from the cities. Nevertheless, I have heard the names of a few cities before, but never this one."

Asteria was disappointed with this, but such a great place as New York and this hunter that often wander outside had never heard of it before? This puzzled her. She couldn't help but ask. "What are the cities that you know?"

She looked at Uncle Han almost expectantly. She had just randomly mentioned a famous city and not her hometown. Her city wasn't a famous one and it was quite far away from where she'd gone into for the vacation; in which she almost lost her life there. If people here didn't know New York, as long as it was the city she knew, she probably could go there to find the way back.

Uncle Han opened his mouth and answered Asteria's question, leaving her with an inexplicable feeling.