Karna moved toward the Upvana—the outer and safe layer of the forest—toward the same river where he had been bathing earlier.
He walked past some male villagers after greeting them with his sweet smile.
Like others, they also just wore a dhoti. Village males normally stayed bare-chested for two reasons: first, clothes were expensive here; they couldn’t afford them. Even if have some money, they still preferred to save it and use it somewhere else. Also, stitched clothes were considered impure here; they couldn’t wear them in prayer rituals.
The second reason was the heat-, it’s summer- they preferred to work with no upper clothes and to feel the air directly on their skin.
That air touched their body after kissing the fresh, cold water from many rivers. That was the good thing here: everywhere were mountains, thick forests, trees and rivers, not like modern civilization, when the land was mostly filled with buildings and carbon, polluted air created by jets and factories and endless consumption of a vast population.
If he wasn’t wrong, right now the population would be just a few million.
Maybe this world would also turn into modern Earth in the future, or maybe not, since real gods exist here.
Though he never saw any God, he was sure they existed; after all, he himself was a demigod, and that sun god had also once spoken in his ears.
"Oh!"
After seeing Lysa, Mina, and Priti, He hid behind the tree.
They were carrying clay pots on their heads, while their hips moved with every step. They were giggling while talking with each other.
Seeing them happy, Karna smiled too.
He wanted them to always have those playful giggles on their face.
But he had to tell them that he was leaving for a while. He knew they were attached to him; he was always with them. He had no idea how they would react, as he had never left this village before. But at least he was sure they wouldn’t be happy.
But it was important to leave. He wanted to do many things that were impossible to do while staying in this small village.
When they came close...
"Buu!"
"Aheh!..."
He suddenly came out, startling them. The clay pot fell from Mina’s head and hit the ground. shattering into many pieces, wetting the ground with spilled water. That wasn’t in his plan.
"Oops!" Karna muttered and just smiled shamelessly and chose to flee.
Mina frowned and shouted. "Karna!" ,
But he was already running and looking back, smiling at her.
"You stop there!" She chased him. Priti and Lysa glanced at each other before placing clay pots under the shadow of the tree, before joining Mina to chase him.
Karna giggled. If he wanted to, they would never catch him in this life, but making them angry or helpless wasn’t his goal.
After running toward the Upvana, inside the forest, Karna let them catch him.
It was Mira who first grabbed his wrist, Lysa grabbed his other arm, and Priti hugged him from behind.
Now there was no more place left to run.
" You guys caught me." Karna laughed.
They didn’t reply to him; all three ladies were half out of breath. They were just leaning, putting all their body weight on him.
The birds were chirping around them; the sunlight was falling on the ground in the shadow of the tree through the space between leaves.
"O Karna, why have you run so much?" Lysa complained, putting more of her weight on him, hugging his arm more strongly.
Karna freed his arm from her and wrapped it around her soft body. Pressing her breasts against his chest, but Priti’s arms came in between. Though Karna didn’t mind at all.
" I’m leaving this village for a while, or maybe for a few years," Karna said.
He decided to tell them here without wasting time, since his so-called father was already announcing it in the village. Hearing this news, many would come to block his way, and he couldn’t convince them all together; it’s simply not possible.
Running was the best option here. And he had no idea how long he would be gone.
"Where?!" Lysa asked.
"Why?!" Mina asked.
"No, you can’t leave!" It was the one who was hugging him from behind, Priti, the demanding one, without any curiosity to know why or where he wanted to go. She directly ordered him. Or maybe she was curious but too afraid and too sure that he would convince her to let him go.
He explained anyway.
"I’m going to get a divine weapon," Karna said.
"It wasn’t some fruit that you wanted, and you can just have it," Mina tried to show reality. Well, Karna didn’t argue with her or try to explain how will do that. Since he himself wasn’t sure.
"Alright, alright, I will come within a year, even if I get it or not, I promise."
"No, we don’t trust you, liar," Mina said.
"Hahaha, " Karna can’t even say he wasn’t a liar, or maybe he can because he was a liar. " I’m not a liar."
Karna spent some time convincing them. It was important, after all.
He just wanted to take things into his own hands. If his plan worked, then he could become the king of one of the strongest kingdoms.
But he wasn’t sure whether it would work or not, since this world was similar to what he read, but not the same. So how much it was different, he didn’t exactly know...