The Sage of Einar

In the morning, in a dimly lit room with some rays of the sun coming through a wooden window.

Darían began to wake up after having enjoyed dinner with Einar's family the day before.

Looking up at the wooden ceiling of the house that she had lent him so that she could rest, a face of doubt formed on her face.

'What is evil and what is a demon, I think I know what they are but why is it so difficult to answer those questions ...'

Getting up from the bed she stared at the book that was still next to her bed "There is so much I don't understand."

Shaking his head, he got up and decided to take a bath in the hot springs, because it was one of the few pleasures that she liked to enjoy when he came to the island.

On leaving the house, he was accompanied by two of his closest guards, who simply followed him without saying anything.

As he walked, he looked at the construction that had been done around the hot spring pool.

"They do not think that the change that this tribe has had is too abrupt. I feel that next year their tribe will be able to become a city and in two years it will be superior to our home."

One of the guards looked at Darían with some anger "It is not possible that you can say those words if your father finds out ..."

Darian motioned for him to be quiet, the guard then fell silent and realized his mistake.

"Devon, before you continue talking first tell me what things you could see in this tribe a year ago and tell me what you saw yesterday."

Devon clenched his fist "Last year it was just the harbor and a bunch of makeshift houses, but now they have a wall under construction and…"

Darían smiled when Devon fell silent "Your silence only shows me that you have realized the breakthrough they are making.

It might seem like a bad thing for us but in reality it is something that would benefit us completely, because if this tribe becomes an established kingdom, the attacks of the Vikings from the north would be reduced considerably.

Although now what worries me are other things which have to do with my vision of life, but that is something that I will have to discover on my own.

Now wait outside this place that I don't want to be disturbed during my bath. "

When he finished saying those words, Darian walked to enter a kind of dressing room where he took off his clothes to later look at a kind of linen cloth.

'That should be the towel Einar mentioned yesterday. I guess I'll use it to dry my body.

But I think I'm more curious to be able to use the yellow soap you told me about. I hope it can work to remove dirt on my body.'

Taking his towel, he left the small dressing room and with his gaze he looked at the beautiful place before going to a wooden bench that next to him had a wooden bucket.

He could also see that in front of the bench there was a kind of yellow bar and a sea sponge.

'I suppose that must be the place to carve the body before entering the hot springs. I think it is an improvement to the archaic style of just undressing and entering the hot water.'

When he arrived where the bench was, he looked for a kind of a wooden object in the wood, when he found it, he left the towel in that place and took the wooden bucket.

Walking towards the hot water, he filled the bucket and after that he returned to the wooden bench from where he took the soap and sponge.

"If I can remember correctly, I have to wet the soap and the sponge, then I just have to scrub my whole body including my hair."

Using the bucket of water, he moistened the soap and the sea sponge, to later begin to carve his body, although the soap had a sulfur aroma that did not bother Darían.

He who carved his whole body until he was covered with soap, when he finished emptying the water from the bucket on his body and was surprised by the large amount of dirt that fell into the water.

"Even as a person who tried to maintain complete hygiene in my body, this is too much ...

But if I have this amount of dirt, what will happen to the rest of my crew. "

Taking a deep breath, he told himself that he had to force his entire crew to take a bath before leaving.

When he entered the hot springs, he could feel a sense of comfort that made him completely forget the tiredness of his body.

'I already missed this feeling, but what will I do after breakfast, I could visit the slaves.

But I'm more curious to see what the orphanage is like where the children without parents are ... '

Lifting his head and looking at the cloudy sky, he stretched out his hands, which he placed behind his head.

'To think that in this place, the well-being of children is guaranteed. While in our home, they are just a group of thieves whose only value is what some nobleman wants to give them.

But if I see it that way, we are not the bad guys or we just don't see life as something of value. '

Darían put his head in the hot water for a few seconds, and when he took it out, he wiped his eyes with his hands.

'That book is quite dangerous. To think that it is making me doubt my own way of life is something that scares me a little.

But what am I supposed to do, if I helped my neighbor I will only manage to lose silver coins because they can give me a group of children.

I have to check that orphanage; I am sure that in that place I will be able to see what Einar is trying to achieve by taking care of the orphans. '

After clearing his thoughts, Darían got up from the water and after taking his towel, went to the dressing room because he wanted to try on the clothes they had prepared for him.

When he came out of the dressing room, his guards looked at him with a lot of curiosity, because they realized that Darían's hair and skin were quite different.

Darían, when noticing the looks of him, shook his head and began to walk towards the center of the town because he had to have breakfast with Einar's family.

"If you want to enjoy the bath and the soap, you must wait for me to speak with Einar to ask permission for you to bathe.

In the meantime, avoid doing tasks that require a great deal of physical effort because their aroma is quite annoying and it will be a real headache to have them near me. "

Devon looked at his partner with quite a bit of confusion, as he did not know why Darían's sudden change was due, but in a very subtle way, he lowered his head and began to smell his armpit.

With some disgust, he stopped doing it when a smell of sweat hit his nose 'I think I should try that soap that Darían talks about or at least I can put my body in water to wash the dirt.'

On the way to the center of the town, Darían could see something that surprised him a lot and even made him feel some curiosity.

A woman who had a wooden cross hanging from her chest gave a girl who appeared to be her daughter to a woman who was dressed in an apron and strange clothes that looked very comfortable.

He knew that it was not a forced separation, as the woman who appeared to be a slave did not have a sad or melancholy face.

On the contrary, the woman's face was one that showed that she had hope and happiness, not to mention that the girl seemed to be very happy with her.

Approaching slowly he touched the slave woman's shoulder "Excuse me, I could see what you were doing with the girl, but I was curious why you are so happy to give your daughter to that woman with an apron."

The slave woman gave the man a smile "That's because my daughter is enjoying the new law made by Messiah Einar."

With some doubt Darían looked at the slave woman "Messiah?"

The woman nodded and with her hands squeezed her crucifix "Messiah Einar is an envoy of God for us. He gave us a different treatment but even more important is that he gave us the ability to obtain our freedom.

Not to mention that with the new law, our children do not have to work, they can go to school where they receive studies and food.

But the most important thing is that they are free, they are part of the tribe and they will never suffer any kind of outrage from anyone because childhood is the future of the tribe.

Anyone who hurts them will suffer horrible punishment ... "

The woman then began to cry as she recalled her horrible childhood "To think ... that someone would ever care ... about children makes me feel quite happy.

Well, my daughter will not suffer any abuse like the one I suffered when she was a child ... "

Darían at that moment felt a slight pain in his chest, because he realized that perhaps his way of life was not correct.

Perhaps the only thing that kept him from feeling like shit was the fact that, according to the book he had read yesterday, one can always redeem his actions.

Although he would never get a pardon for the actions he did before, at least changing the way he acts would guarantee a better quality of life.

Where he did not have to carry a conscience full of problems for the actions, he has done.