I Choose Him

"I heard just now that Young Master Wiro make a bet for 200 silvers?" The Emperor suddenly asked amid the laughters and ruckus of the audiences.

"Hehe, I'm sorry for making a fool out of myself in front of Your Majesty. It's indeed true, but I'm always someone who seek for fun whenever I can." Wiro Sableng smiled devilishly. His smile was so sweet and charming, making the girls in the crowds screamed hysterically.

"Haha, very good. Young Master Wiro is indeed a carefree person." The Emperor laughed heartily. "May we know which hen of the two Young Master Wiro intend to make a bet on?"

Hearing that questions, peoples began to whispered each other.

"Isn't it clear? The scarlet hen is obviously stronger and healthier. Who would bet on that ugly hen?"

"Hahaha you are right, buddy. Just look at that black hen, it's so small and lanky. It's also very dirty, so disgusting."

"Look at it's legs. They are trembling non-stop. It lowered it's head as if it was so much in stress. It must knew beforehand that it couldn't win the match, right? It looked like it has lost it's spirit to live on, Hahaha..."

"Hahahahahahaha..."

Everybody's began to laugh and mock the little black chicken. In their heart, they were so sure that the winner would surely be the scarlet hen. No body's wanted to make a bet on the ragged and dirty black chicken.

"Of course, I'll bet for that hen..." The loud but calm voice of Young Master Wiro instantly made the noisy and lively crowd to fell silent. Everybody was looking at where the finger of Young Master Wiro pointed on.

"This..."

"It can't be, right?"

"Has Young Master Wiro got blinded? How come he bet on that type of hen?"

"Sushh, don't be so loud!"

"But, isn't it clear on who's gonna win?"

...

"Pfftt... Hahahaha Young Master Wiro is indeed Young Master Wiro. He's crazy as always. Hahaha..." A youngster whose seat was on the special row on the right side of the Emperor, which was only consisted of thirteen seats, was laughing loudly while clutching his stomach. He was feeling so amused.

"Gundala, I see you're having a good time making fun of me. Let's fight after this banquet is ended. I'm not afraid of your thunder." Young Master Wiro said calmly.

"Hmph!" Gundala snorted. "Bring it on! I'm also not afraid of your Dragon Axe, that Naga-Geni."

"Alright, alright... Calm down, everyone. How much money to put on the bet or which hen you should be betting on, everyone has the right to make a choice. So, stop quarrel." The Emperor interceded to avoid the quarrel getting out of hand. "Now, now, let's put your bet and choose which hen you are going to bet on wisely."

"Yes, Your Majesty..."

"Alright, Your Majesty..."

...

"I choose the scarlet hen, 150 coppers..."

"Scarlet hen, 400 coppers..."

"Scarlet hen, 100 silvers..."

"Scarlet hen, 500 silvers..."

"..."

"1000 silvers for my beautiful scarlet hen..."

"2500 silvers for scarlet hen..."

...

"Sh*t, everyone's going crazy..."

"I, Arya Dwipangga, also bet 1000 silvers for scarlet hen..."

"Is there still anyone who wanted to join the betting?" Gundala asked while looking around. His scarlet hair that seemed like a hot fire was swaying lightly in the wind.

"Well, I seemed to not see yet my little brother, Young Master Barda, and Young Master Raden Wijaya put their bet on? Come on, it's only happen once every year, you should join even if you're reluctant." Arya Dwipangga fanned himself with his white magic fan.

"Who is Young Master Barda?" Gundala asked, feeling puzzled.

"Oh, it's the real name of the blind-man with silver hair over there. Barda Mandrawata." Arya Dwipangga pointed at one of the handsome man on the row of thirteen seats.

"Hm? The one who always brought monkey everywhere he goes? The blind-man from the Ghost Cave?" Gundala asked while rubbing his chin, feeling it was interesting.

"That's him." Arya Dwipangga nodded his head slightly while still fanning himself leisurely.

"Oh, our Scholarly Hero is indeed Scholarly Hero. He knows many things what transpired between heaven and earth. I'm impressed!" It was unknown whether Gundala was flattering Arya Dwipangga or instead mocking him.

"Thank you." Arya Dwipangga responded indifferently.

"So, Brother Dhanu, Brother Barda, and Brother Wijaya, please put your bet on." Gundala instantly suited himself and acted like they were very familiar with each other that he had even started calling the trio with the word 'Brother'.

"Alright, I'll bet 200 silvers for the black one." Raden Wijaya made his bet helplessly.

What???!!!

Everyone was bewildered for one more time. Another bet for the ugly hen? Are they crazy? Or do they have too much money on their pocket that they didn't know how to spend them?

"Calm down, everyone." This time, it was Aji Bandawasa who spoke. "It's okay if Brother Wijaya wants to bet on the black one. Isn't it fair? If later on, the one who win was unexpectedly the black hen, wouldn't all the money goes to Brother Wiro? That won't be fun at all, right?"

"Hahahaha Brother Aji is wise. That's more like it." Gundala commented. "How about Brother Barda and Brother Dhanu?"

"I will bet 2000 silvers for the black one." Barda Mandrawata, the blind-man with silver hair answered calmly. His voice was a little hoarse as if he was very seldom to speak.

"Hey hey hey, Barda, are you kidding me? Isn't it too much? I and Raden Wijaya only bet for 200 silvers, but you made it ten times more than we have been betting on?" Young Master Wiro instantly got annoyed. What the hell? Was he for real?

Barda Mandrawata 'looked' at Wiro Sableng as if he was an idiot, but didn't respond.

Not getting respond from the blind-man, Wiro Sableng could only gave up and shut his mouth. "Fine." He said.

"What about you, little brother?" Arya Dwipangga asked.

Arya Kamandhanu looked at his elder brother coldly, but didn't answer. Instead, he turned his gaze to the 'battlefield' and observed the two chickens which were facing each other. His handsome face was so serious that there was no one who could bear to destroy the scene. In the end, they wisely choose to be silent.

When Kamandhanu's eyes landed on the black and ugly hen, the hen abruptly raised it's eyes. At this moment, two pair of eyes were looking at each other. This scene was very strange, but there is no one who paid attention. The twilight-colour eyes of the chicken suddenly flickered with a golden light indiscernibly. It's whole body also emit a golden light. Strangely, there was no one who could saw it, including the black hen itself. Only he, Arya Kamandhanu who was lucky enough to see it.

'Strange...' Arya Kamandhanu thought inwardly. 'What's with this hen? Is it a spiritual creature?' He squinted his eyes and continue to observe the black hen. He knew that in the Nusantara Continent, spiritual creatures weren't a rare thing to begin. It's just that, a spiritual creature from the chicken species was never heard of, even if there was one, it was an extremely rare occasion.

...

Meanwhile, when the eyes of the black hen landed on the handsome and cold young man, it's heart suddenly skipped a beat. The dark blue hair with a headband coiling around his head, the slim but sturdy body, the white and fresh skin, the pointed nose, the red and sexy lips, the slender hands and legs, the sharp jaw, the dark-blue eyes, the light-blue robe he wore, the dark-blue belt decorated with 'Batik' pattern, and the black leather boots, everything was perfect.

The black hen already observed most of the peoples, especially whose seats were on the tribunal, other than the Emperor, Ken Arok, as well as the silver hair man and Young Master Wiro, this young man whose name was Arya Kamandhanu, was the most handsome man Marissa had ever seen in her life. Staring at the man made her heart beats so fast as if it could explode at any time.

"So handsome..." She muttered. However, when she uttered those words, what had came out of her lips was 'Chuckooo...!'.

[Little girl, hurry to make your choice]

[Choose one of 'The Thirteen Heroes' as your long-life companion. Make him falling in love with you and devote his heart to you forever if you want to be able to come back and forth between this world and Earth. This is the first condition]

[The second condition is, you must help your chosen one to do some missions and help him to ascend the throne and rule the Nusantara Continent]

[If you don't fulfil those two conditions, you shan't back to Earth]

"Why are you so cruel, Mr. Angel?" Marissa, in the form of a black and ugly hen, lowered it's head in depressed.

By this time, she was aware that she had been reincarnated into a parallel world in which the various Ancient Kingdoms of Nusantara were still exist, except for the concept of the time was really in a mess. The various characters who were gathering around her should be living in a different era one with another according to the real history, but here they are, mixed together in the same world and era. For example, Young Master Raden Fatah, who sat at one of the thirteen seats should be living in the later era after the era of Ken Arok, the founder of Singhasari Kingdom. But now, they were all living under the same time and space.

Marissa Nasution, when she first realize that she had been reincarnated into this kind of world, she was so shock and depressed. "I only dislike to read and study about history, why should I be sent to this ancient era? Sigh... Life is really cruel!" She muttered silently, feeling so helpless.

Moreover, why the heck she had to be a chicken? Was it because she had too many sins in her past life? Was it a punishment for her to become an ugly chicken? Damn! This is too much!

[That is your fate, your destiny! You don't want to understand and learn about history, so The Mighty God gave you a chance to create your own history. Isn't it wonderful?]

"Wonderful your head!" Marissa cursed, but the sounds that was coming out of her mouth was 'Chuckoooo~'

[ Hahaha, alright, stop grumbling! Make your choice. The one who you choose to help and spend your life with would have his lucks increased by 10% as a starter reward]

"Sigh, I'm about to fight that arrogant hen over there. Could you please be so kind to make my body stronger?" Marissa asked.

[Don't worry, the starter rewards include the increase in strength of the Host's body, guaranteed permanent. There was also two <magical beads> that could be consumed by the Host. This two beads could increase the strength of the Host up to the level of Nascent Soul termporarily (4 hours)]

[Other than that, Host also received the other rewards, such as: three chances for <teleportation> (available in the entire area of Nusantara Continent); three chances to <transform> into human form (available when the level of the Host is under the Void Master); One piece of <Glamorous and Mysterious Black Feathers Robe> (Resistant to fire and water, defensive and offensive attributes are on the level of early stage of Core Formation, could be used in the form of human and chicken); <Secret Skill : Invisible> (complete)]

"Wow, I didn't expect that you are so generous, Mr. Angel." Marissa praised.

[That is the reward based on the rules]

"No matter, at least, I have a way to protect myself for a moment." Marissa shook her chicken's head. "By the way, the increase on my strength which you said permanent, in what level it is?"

[Warrior, Dan-3]

[Then, who is your chosen one?]

"I choose him!" Marissa pointed at one of the handsome man on the tribunal.

...

Back to the tribunal...

"Hey, little brother, why was it took you so long to decide? Which hen are you going to bet on?" Arya Dwipangga asked impatiently.

"Yes, that's right. Everyone's waiting. You are staring at the black hen for too long. Are you perhaps falling in love with it?" Gundala chimed in.

"Hahahaha...!"

Hearing that accusation, everyone laughed.

"Well, I bet 3000 silvers..."

Actually, Arya Kamandhanu wanted to bet more, but he only possessed 4000 silvers as of now. He wanted to save 1000 silvers in case he was betting on the wrong side. Although he actually still had more money, but they were all on his secret vault, and he didn't have an intention to take a gamble.

Moreover, the total sum of his money that was 'in the open' weren't that much to begin with. His monthly salary as the head of the Imperial Guard wasn't that high. If he didn't build his own organisation in secret, he wouldn't have so much money. Nevertheless, up until now, he never used that money from his organisation to avoid being suspected and gotten punished or even sentenced to death, because of rebellion accusation.

"What? Are you crazy? Hey, Arya Kamandhanu, it's enough for your elder brother to be stupid, but please don't join him, alright? What do you mean with that 3000 silvers?" Wiro Sableng got even more annoyed.

What the hell with this peoples? It's okay for Raden Wijaya to put a bet with the same amount of money with him, but that blind-man should bet 2000 silvers? What's more, this fool little brat also join in the fun and bet 3000 silvers? Were they all trying to mock him for betting on the wrong chicken? The heck!

"I'm not joking." Arya Kamandhanu answered in a calm manner. "I choose the black one."

"Fine, fine! You are all the boss! In that case, owner Syam, please increase my bet to 1000 silvers." Young Master Wiro said to the owner of the betting stall, while clenching his fist.

"Sure, Young Master Wiro. Your bet has been increased." Syam responded with a wide smile.

"Thank you!" Wiro Sableng nodded his head, feeling satisfied.

"Heheh, I didn't expect my little brother to be so rich..." Arya Dwipangga stared at his younger brother with malicious eyes.

...

"I also would like to put on my bet." The Emperor suddenly said. Hearing this statement, everyone was falling into silent once again. "I will bet 7000 silvers for the Scarlet hen."

"Yeaahhh! This is so exciting!"

"Hurray....!"

One by one, the peoples began to cheer excitedly. The Emperor said that all the fortune he obtain if he should win the bet, would be shared and distributed to all the common peoples, especially the beggars and refugees. Hearing this promise, everyone began to cheer even more.

"Alright, everyone. As per usual rules of our Annual Banquet of Singhasari, aside from winning the money, the winner with the highest bet would also be given the hen or rooster that he or she was betting on." The referee announced. "Please wait for a moment for the match would be started in a minute."

~~~~

Quizz:

Who is the handsome man that our lovely FL choose?

A. The white hair man, Barda Mandrawata

B. The calm and collected Raden Wijaya

C. The charming Young Master Wiro

D. The cool and expressionless Arya Kamandhanu

E. No one above are correct