Let me introduce myself. My name is Ailanthus, which means "Tree of Heaven" It's common in my home village for people to refer themselves by the names of plants and trees.
My home village, like many other villages, is isolated from the capital. The empire is too vast to have any influence on its outskirts, or in territories too dangerous to travel. Ironically, if they don't have control over a village or town, they don't have to pay taxes, so it's almost as if they don't belong to the empire. Of course, they don't receive protection from the empire either.
In the case of my village, it was founded a long time ago, intended to be a colony near the northeastern border. At first, it prospered, but like many other colonies, it was cut off from communication. The emperor whose idea was to create this colony was deposed, and his successor decided to cut the colonization budget. Our village was one of the colonies that became isolated as a result. They stopped sending supplies and soldiers, and the roads were no longer maintained.
The controversial thing about this is that if a colony is cut off for long enough, they may lose their traditions and turn to pagan beliefs. They may even turn to banditry or be conquered by raiders or monsters. Things that crearly do not benefit the empire.
This makes colonization a double-edged sword, that's why few emperors intend to colonize not only the lands of other empires but also their own lands. Maintaining a colony requires money, soldiers, logistics, and time. It's common to prefer using these resources to go to war and obtain slaves and resources directly. In our empire in particular, slavery is illegal.
However, our village refuses to abandon the empire's traditions and dedicate itself to paganism. Even so, we have created some traditions of our own. The most relevant of them is our Spring Festival.
Our village retains the name of the colony our ancestors were part of: Nutaarvik. And although we have no contact with the empire, we try to not isolate ourselves completely. We trade with other former colonies, with villages, and even with tribes.
Every villager has to contribute to the village in some way. In my case, I'm a hunter. Although, not a very good one. I mainly protect the forest garden from threats, like goblins and other monsters. I also act as an escort for merchants and travelers, and as a guard for taverns and shops. But these services aren't very necessary; they're only needed during festivals, or in spring or summer.
I'm not good with bows, so I use a spear for hunting. I also gather herbs and fruits, as well as insects. I use a glossary to differentiate between the different types of herbs and fruits. As for insects... I only collect those I can recognize, such as beetles, and then give them to the village entomologists. I do this because some insects can be dangerous, and unlike plants, they don't stay still. Furthermore, entomology isn't widely practiced, so it's more uncertain.
As for what I do in my free time... I mainly read and study maps. In this empire, literacy is less than 15%. So I'm quite lucky.
When hunting isn't possible, I train with the guards or study anatomy with the physicians and alchemy with the alchemists. If I'm feeling especially lazy, I go to the tavern to gamble or catch up on the latest news.
It's not common in my village for people to be constantly on the go. However, people know that I do it because I intend to be a warden in the future. At first, when I was a child and I told my acquaintances that I wanted to be a warden, they called me things like crazy or childish. But over time, I kept training, and little by little, people began to help me and teach me without me having to ask. Typically, children follow their parents jobs, unless it's necessary for someone to take over a specific task. My parents are both farmers, so the traditional thing for me to do was to become a farmer as well. My relatives reminded me of this several times, but I stuck to my decision to be a warden.
The most impressive thing that happened to me was when I was just ten years old, our priest found out that I was planning to be a warden and he decided to teach me how to read and write. Normally, priests only teach reading and writing to future priests or future mayors. But apparently the priest thought helping me would please the goddess of adventure. Venturia. Learning to read and write was tricky, but it was worth it. I also convinced him to teach me some arithmetic, too. Although, he charged me for teaching me arithmetics.
I still haven't forgotten the reason that made me want to be a warden in the first place; I still remember that day when I meeted that ragged warden.
***
One spring day, when I was a child. I was near the forest periphery when I suddenly saw a man walking slowly while looking down. He smelled bad and seemed to be barely standing, but he kept walking. I thought he hadn't noticed me, but when I was about to speak, he showed me the palm of his hand.
I stayed quiet and waited to see what he was going to do. It was the first time I'd ever seen a warden, I recognized the badge that identifies him as one of them. The description of such a badge was mentioned in one of the stories I heard about them. and from what I'd been told, they were brutes that didn't care about dying. The warden then stepped hard on something, and a crunching sound could be heard. I looked toward the source of the sound and saw a rather strange animal with its head crushed.
"What's that?"
"An iguana, they usually live in forests near rivers, like many other animals. If you're near a water source, you have to look down; if you're in an open field, look forward; and if you're in a high place, look up. Otherwise, look back every once in a while."
He told me this confidently, but later on, I realized he was mainly saying it to remind himself of it.
"Why did you kill it?"
He finally looked at me in the eye. His gaze was surprisingly weak and tired. He looked like he was about to cry.
"Normally, it would be best to try not to disturb the animals. Most are harmless or easily scared. However, I did something that angered them quite a bit, so I'm not going to take any chances."
I wanted to ask him what he did to anger them, but again, he stopped me before I could even speak.
"I burned part of a forest, so I received the wrath of the forest."
The wrath of the forest. If someone recklessly defies a forest, the wrath of the forest falls upon it. Even dragons are sometimes afraid of it, though they don't usually admit it. The wrath of the forest is a phenomenon that only occurs in our empire, and if you receive it, the spirits of the forest will mark you and make all the animals try to destroy you. Not only that, but the wrath of the forest can spread to several settlements within dozens of kilometers of the disturbed forest. This is because, spirits also blame the other creatures for allowing anyone to destroy the forests without consideration.
Thanks to this, the worst crime anyone can commit in our empire is to defy the forest. Such a crime is the only one punishable by death, since death is the only thing that quickly calms the spirits. And even if you weren't executed, you wouldn't last long; you'd be much more prone to disease, and all animals, including dogs and cats, would attack you.
I was instructed that if I ever encountered a wielder of the forest's wrath, I was not to speak to them; I was to inform the village quickly, so they could decide what to do.
"You'd better go. The spirits don't distinguish between child and adult. They have no mercy; they might lightly mark you as well if you keep talking to me."
"Why did you burn the forest?"
"If you're going to talk, talk in one or two words. I burned the forest because necromancy was practiced in one of the villages inside my jurisdiction. I tried to stop them from practicing this dark art, but they got angry and unleashed an army of zombies and skeletons on me. I had to leave my horse behind and flee through the forest. They were about to catch me, but as a last resort, I scattered some gasoline and casted a fireball. Their village must have been destroyed too, by the forest's wrath."
"Where, going?"
"I'm going to try to flee the empire; it's my only chance to get out of this alive."
"Need, help?"
"From a child? No. You'd better go. I'm going to see if I can remain unnoticed in your village while I buy some supplies. Then, I'll leave. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about me, but I'll understand if you do."
The warden resumed his way to the village, but I decided to follow him a little. My footsteps were clearly audible. After a while, the warden reluctantly stopped. I took the opportunity to ask him one last question.
"Why?"
The warden seemed to have been expecting that question. He sighed and slowly turned around. This time, his gaze no longer seemed sad or pitiful, but rather held a somewhat strange vigor.
"At first, I was interested in the stories I'd heard about the great wardens of history, about how once everyone supported the wardens, and how the wardens weren't just humans, but various races also were wardens."
I'd heard those stories too, but they were always twisted to ridicule those times, or the wardens themselves.
"I became a warden out of passion, but over time, I found a purpose. I wanted to improve the empire. Just as there are those who dream of going to the moon, I dreamed of improving the empire, seeing the empire I belong shine brighter than any other one."
"Why would you care about the empire? It's just a political territory. According to my parents, simply following the traditions and language of the empire is a great service considering they betrayed us."
"Don't talk so much. And yes, maybe you're right, but I didn't want to live in just a political territory. If you were to become a warden you would understand what I mean."
The warden then pulled a battle axe from his belt. He came over to show it to me. It was an impressive, lightweight axe with a silver engraving and an oak handle. It was also made of what later on I found out to be, magic steel.
"It's a Franciscan axe, especially good for throwing. In the old days, I used my savings to buy it before I left to enforce. It has a basic enchantment that allows you to vaguely sense where it is at short distances, and another one that allows you to pay a weaponsmith to rebuild it by teleporting it and using magic. If I carry it, perhaps they'll be able to figure out my identity; after all, it has my name engraved on it, and also, wardens usually use axes. So this axe is no longer useful to me. Do you want it? Sell it or whatever you want. The enchantments won't work on you, though; you don't own it. Just make sure to not show it around recklessly"
He offered me the axe, and for some reason I felt drawn to it, even though I felt that if I took it, my fate would be uncertain. But after thinking it for a while. It was just too risky. If someone knew that I had an axe that belongs to a criminal. People could see me as an accomplice. I shouldn't accept it.
"No, I don't want it"
"I see..." he returned the axe to his belt. "Do you at least want my badge? I also don't need it" he then removed his badge and again, showed it to me.
At first, I was going to say no again. But I thought that his badge wouldn't necessarily trace it back to him, and it should be more easy to hide. Besides, every children in my village would be amazed if I showed them a warden badge.
In the end I decided to take It. The steps I took to grab that badge were the first steps I took in my path to become a warden.
"Thanks." The warden started to walk again. But after some time, he threw his axe as far away as he could. His axe then landed in a tree that was passing the periphery of the forest. The sound of the axe's collision was very loud. The clashing of the wood was a bit terrifying.
The warden then gave me a knowing look and returned walking, this time faster. I spent some time looking at the tree were the axe landed, and then I started walking as well. I felt myself drawn again to that axe. By the time I realized what I was doing, I was pulling the axe embedded in the tree with all my strength. After a while, I found myself having an axe in my right hand and a badge in my left hand.
That warden bought supplies as promised and then left, never to return. The only evidences I have that prove all of this even happened are that axe and that badge. I buried them near the tree where that axe landed. I didn't told anyone about my encounter with him.
After a while; I decided to become a warden myself. That way, I could travel throughout the world, and find out why there are people who want to become wardens despite it being so dangerous.