Chapter 241 The Son of Fire Part 21

Yul's eyelids were heavy, and his thoughts were confused. The conversation of others echoed in his ears, and he tried hard to listen to the conversation, but it seemed that the more he concentrated on the conversation, the less he understood it. Then he heard the sound of rustling leaves, and the sound of rustling leaves triggered the movement of his fingers. Although his lazy eyes were not focus yet, the pain in his left shoulder awakened his heart. Yul slowly sat himself up.

"Hey," U-ri said. "Slow down...don't get up too fast."

Yul turned to his left and saw that U-ri had come to his aid. "How long... how long have I been unconscious?" Yul asked.

U-ri put his medicine box on the ground and sat next to Yul. "You are out for a day now," U-ri said, opening the medicine box, taking out a pill bottle, pouring out a round brown pill, and then handed the pill to Yul. "Take this first." He pushed the plug in. "This is the last painkiller I can give you." He looked at Yul, then at the person lying next to Yul. "There are others who need it more than you."

Yul looked at the pill and then gave it back to U-ri. "My pain is still bearable," he said, looking around at the people lying around. "Hajime...where is Hajime?" Yul looked at U-ri and found that the expression on U-ri's face was wrong. "What happened to Hajime?" He reached out and grabbed U-ri's arm.

"I don't know," U-ri said.

Yul asked worriedly, "Then where is he?"

U-ri said, "Hajime left with Kaizen, and when Michio tried to summon Kaizen, Kaizen refused to show up, so... we don't know what's going on with Hajime, but I know he's in good hands."

Yul was worried, so he stood up and grabbed the sword. "I'm going back," Yul muttered painfully.

U-ri said, "You are in no condition to walk. Traveling long distances with this kind of injury is a death sentence. Hajime is being cared for by Master Budi and Master Yuuto. We know where Hajime is, so there's no need to rush to find him. Moreover, Hajime knows where we are going. Hajime will come to us sooner or later. Now, you have to take care of yourself first." He looked at Yul and still found that what he just said did not alleviate Yul's worries. "Look on the bright side, the next time we see Hajime, little Meiji will have been born."

After listening to U-ri's words, Yul knew that U-ri was right. Rushing back to the temple will do more harm than good. Although he was worried about Hajime, he also knew that at least Hajime was safe now, and this safe place was where he wanted Hajime to stay during such a time.

"I'm sorry. I was too impulsive," Yul said. "Where are the others?"

U-ri said, "They are helping to move the seriously injured away from the city."

"What happens after I pass out?" Yul asked.

U-ri said, "After Kaizen appeared, Kaizen said that the sky beast was the Zahog Phoenix. Zahog was looking for her child and since she couldn't find her child, she started burning the city and hurting the people. Only by removing Hajime from Maka City can save everyone's lives and stop Zahog's wrath, so Kaizen takes Hajime away."

Yul asked, "What happened to Zahog?"

U-ri said, "After Hajime left with Kaizen, Zahog circled the burning city twice and then flew south." He handed the leather water bag to Yul. "Although Kaizen didn't tell us much about the Zahog Phoenix, I may have guessed the cause of Mount Zin eruption."

Yul put down the leather water bag and said, "Please do tell."

U-ri said, "Mount Zin erupted because of Hajime's blood. The pure phoenix egg that Hajime accidentally ate must be the last egg of Zahog. Because the pure phoenix egg is in Hajime's body, and he is pregnant with little Meiji, so when Hajime's blood was dripped into the pond, it angered the Zahog Phoenix, causing Mount Zin to erupt." He paused for a moment. "But what I don't understand is why would Meng release such a creature?"

Yul said, "Maybe the Zahog Phoenix is another Eldrys, a subordinate of Huoyan." 

U-ri said, "If this is the case, the gatekeeper of the South Sea would have mentioned it to us when we were in Magior City, and Master Yuuto would have mentioned it to us. If they did not mention it to us, then maybe the Zahog Phoenix has no connection to Huoyang.

Yul sighed and said, "I hope so... We currently have nothing in our hands that can defeat the Zahog Phoenix." He suddenly realized that when he and Hajime escaped from Mount Zin, he was holding a baby. "U-ri, I remember I saved a baby. Where is the baby?"

"The child is fine and has been taken to the first village with other children," U-ri said. "Children who are not claimed by their families or families will be taken to live in the north side of Maka City."

Yul breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. I'm considering bringing the child back to be Meiji's older brother."

U-ri laughed and said, "You saved a little girl."

Yul chuckled, finding the pain in his shoulder getting stronger every time he laughed. "I thought it was a boy," Yul said, smiling at U-ri.

U-ri smiled and stood up with the medicine box and said, "I'm going to see the others. You can continue to rest. Abrafo and the others will come back tonight, and we will go back to the first village tomorrow morning."

Yul watched as U-ri walked toward a group of injured people. Due to his physical condition, he was unable to help others, so he decided to sit down and lean against a tree. He looked up at the rustling leaves and sighed.

"Hajime," Yul murmured.

Walking along the same rocky path they had walked the day before, Abrafo began to feel the afternoon heat. After leaving the wounded at the halfway camp, Abrafo, Michio and Bong walked back to the first camp with the soldiers.

As they walked back, they saw many injured people who could walk on their own and old people who walked slowly. Whenever someone walked past them, Abrafo looked the person up and down, wondering if Meng was among those heading toward the first village in disguise.

"Why do you keep staring at people passing by?" Bong asked.

Abrafo sighed and said, "I wonder if Meng is walking among us without our knowledge."

Bong said, "If I were him, I would have left a long time ago. I will not expose myself to public view and let you arrest me."

Abrafo looked at Bong and said, "But you're not him. If I were him, I would walk among these people to avoid suspicion."

Bong turned to face Abrafo and began to walk backwards. He looked at Abrafo and said, "If my theory is wrong, then your theory is wrong, too." He turned and bumped into an old woman walking with a cane.

"Oh child, I'm sorry," the old woman said.

Abrafo looked down and found that some of the old woman's belongings had fallen to the ground, so he quickly picked up the fallen items and put them back into the basket on the old woman's back.

"I'm sorry, senior. We were at fault. We didn't look at the road," Abrafo said.

The old woman smiled and replied, "No child... no child... I was at fault."

Bong said, "This was an accident, and no one was at fault, so you two should stop apologizing to each other. You go your way, and we go ours."

The old woman nodded quickly and walked past Abrafo and Bong.

Abrafo shook his head and said, "You should learn to be polite to your elders. Your eyes and behavior towards her are too harsh. No wonder everyone calls you an ugly pirate, not a prince."

Bong looked at Abrafo angrily and said, "If I were a pirate, the first person I would hang on the bow of the ship would be you." He looked back to see how far the old woman had gone. "Stupid old woman..." Bong found that the woman was far away from them. "Abrafo... we just walked past that old woman for a few minutes, but the old woman was already far away from us..."

Abrafo turned to look at the old woman, and he also noticed that the old woman had walked quite far from them. Abrafo grabbed a dart tied to his thigh and threw the dart at the old woman.​

"Abrafo!" Bong shouted in horror as Abrafo's dart heading straight at the old woman's back.

The old woman turned around and knocked away Abrafo's dart with her cane. "You really won't let me go, will you?" the old woman said with a smile.

Abrafo reached back, grabbed the hilt of the sword sheathed in the scabbard on his back and jeered angrily at the old woman who stood thirty yards away from him.

"Just because you disguise yourself as anything or anyone doesn't mean we're going to fall for your trick every time," Bong said.

Meng smiled at Abrafo and Bong and said, "What has happened is irreversible. Wasting time here with me will not bring back those dead people. Moreover, I don't have time and energy to waste here, because there's somewhere else, I need to be, so... let's part ways on good terms, and maybe next time we meet, I might leave you an escape route."

Abrafo gritted his teeth and said, "Negotiation is off the table."

Abrafo rushed forward, swung his sword forward, and sent a line of fire flying straight towards Meng. Meng quickly did a backflip, transformed into an eagle, and flew away from Abrafo and Bong. Abrafo stared at the eagle and angrily sheathed his sword in the scabbard on his back.

Abrafo shouted angrily, "If I see you again, I will kill you!"

Bong walked up to Abrafo and said, "I said the same thing last time, but I've seen him twice and I haven't stabbed him once."

Abrafo scoffed, turned around and started to leave Bong. He said, "Because I'm not you, I keep my word."

Bong quickly caught up with Abrafo and asked, "Okay, so tell me how you are going to catch someone who can turn into anything?"

Abrafo gleefully said, "That..." He turned to looked at Bong. "Is something Michio is best at."

"I thought with all the tough remarks coming from your big mouth, you will be the one with the idea, but that's not the case, you left all the hard work to the monk."

Abrafo said, "Hey, he has a name; besides, I do the fighting and Michio and U-ri do the thinking." He sighed and quickened his pace. "Equal partner workload."

"You are ridiculous," Bong said, shaking his head.

Abrafo turned around and said, "Hurry up, we have to get back to U-ri and the others before dusk."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Bong shouted after Abrafo.