LITTLE PARTY AND LONG JOURNEY

Because sleep too early, Rio woke up at night. He left the room, met Revan and Kron who looked full. Donald and Bean were also limp from eating too much. However, upon noticing the King watching from his room, the four men hurried to their feet, lining up neatly before offering the warmest smiles.

"Come down," Revan beamed.

The roast turkey was immediately served for Rio alone. The hot tanned skin, the deliciously appetizing smell, and the smoke! White smoke that floated as Rio's saliva fell from holding back hunger.

As soon as he wanted to remove the turkey's big thigh, Rio immediately burst into tears. His four friends suddenly panicked and raced to stroke Rio's back so that his tears would subside. He said he almost never had food this good in his life. The aroma alone was so delicious, it warded off bad memories of hard rice mixed with salted fish that still lingered in Rio's head. This noble treatment touched him.

"Thank you. Thank you T—"

"Stop it, O my commendable King. You deserve all the glory here. We should be the ones apologizing, for not being able to offer a luxurious throne as a symbol of your majesty. Forgive me, Kron, Bean, Donald and the others." Revan represents his colleagues.

"I will never forget your kindness. I promise!" Rio grimaced, but his mouth was busy chewing the tender meat.

After snatching up the turkey meat, Rio was invited to have fun all night to get rid of the pain. They sang a series of happy songs together accompanied by Donald's shrill voice which he thought was the best voice in Nefertyland. They also danced, bending their bodies to their heart's content. Old Bean was even too engrossed in dancing that his gout flared up. It was a very pleasant night. This was the first time Rio had been allowed to stay up until dawn, and of course when the sun was shining bright they became very sleepy.

"We had too much fun last night," said Kron wearily. The large eye bags are hidden behind long bangs.

"Sleep. I want to continue my sleep." Rio looked down as he walked to his room.

"Wait a minute!" shouted Revan not agreeing. "What about our plan? Today is a success. We've got the King, the big map and the eight whispers. Then what else to wait for?" He looked at Kron and Rio. Bean and Donald were already asleep on the floor.

"Just give us five minutes. After all, we still have plenty of time—"

"And it will continue to decrease! Time never waits, Kron son of Vron!" Revan interrupted. "So many years of being patient with all these trials, are you still able to remain silent when everything is complete?"

Kron gave a resigned snort, followed by Rio who slowly straightened up, producing a crackling sound from his spine. He knew a king shouldn't be reckless by putting state affairs under personal pleasure. What was the purpose of being brought here? Of course to retake the throne, not for singing or dancing contest. Revan was really disappointed, and Rio regretted being the cause of that disappointment.

"You're right. We've underestimated this matter." Kron's face was grim, disappointed at his own attitude. "Goblins don't like when their guests visit too late. Let's go!" His enthusiasm followed.

"Good. That's what I want to hear."

The trip has been set. After the agreement was made, Revan immediately woke Donald and Bean. Not inviting, but just to tell them that they were leaving headquarters today. Donald who was still overcome by sleep just nodded with narrowed eyes, while the old Bean wasn't listening at all. He snored loudly in response. On the other hand, Kron was busy counting the number of pockets under his bear jacket. In total, there were eight bags full of his belongings.

"A bottle of Christmas reindeer saliva, desert rabbit jerky, Wet-proof handkerchief, mole coat, bottle of rattlesnake blood. Perfect, all complete!" Kron tugged at his jacket so the clusters of mealybugs fell to the ground.

"What are you bringing those weird things for?" Rio asked.

"Just my personal collection. We don't know for sure what will happen during the trip." Kron explained. "It's not a day trip, after all, is it?" He said followed by a light chuckle.

"No one is listening to us, even though this is all for Nefertyland and Nepheel. Former soldiers shouldn't be like that," Revan grumbled as he closed the headquarters door.

"Calm down, My friend. Our warriors are just poorly honed," said Kron. "Besides, we have agreed not to go together. That would be suspicious, wouldn't it? There can only be two bodyguards and one king."

"Yes, it is. But as a royal aide, that laziness has to be put away. I forgive Bean because of his age, but Donald, Finstern and Rosa? They are such a disappointment."

"Yes, I'm disappointed too. However, the journey is still waiting to be completed. Just leave them and let us act," commented Kron. "Summon: Brie Island Mule."

Blue light bursting on the ground left two mules for the journey. His skin was grayish black with long donkey ears and stout legs like a horse's. Both neighed showing large teeth behind their blunt snouts.

"You gave us mules for a trip?" said Revan glaring in annoyance.

"Not an ordinary mule, Grumpyman. They're from the north island, Brie. Breeds of the strongest female donkey and the fastest male horse. You'll be amazed." Kron raised his voice, trying to defend himself. "And this is special for you, Rio. Summon: Winter Griffin!" He again cast the summoning spell.

Beside the mules, a bluish light bloomed again, leaving behind a wondrous creature. Kron said his name Frig. The creature size of a lion has large white wings that give off a lavender scent. Its hind body resembles a snow leopard with sharp claws and a bushy tail. While its front body resembles that of a bluish-white eagle. It also has a pair of pointy ears sticking up.

"I found him in the snowy land of Chion, injured. He was a baby at that time. After I brought him home and treated him, Frig grew into a cheerful Griffin. He was even willing to live in my imaginary captivity," told Kron

"Imaginary captivity?" Rio repeated.

"A place protected by magical spells. You know? Like a huge zoo tucked away in your head. All magicians who use summoning spells have imaginary captivity. I have three mules, two owls, one flying monkey and Frig, of course. That's why I can summon them just by imagining and chanting the spell."

"That's cool! Can I use magic like you, Kron?" Rio's eyes lit up with enthusiasm.

"Talent, My King. Talent decides what kind of magic you will master. However, learning a little bit is fine." Kron smirked. "He always talks about you too. I'm sure you have a lot of talent," He said while glancing at Revan.

Revan and Kron rushed up their mules whose long ears were waving. Now it's Rio's turn to ride the winter griffin, Frig. He looked both doubtful and scared as Frig growled as loud as he could while pawing at the ground with his front paws.

"Don't be afraid." Kron got up from his mule. "Frig is good animal. You'll love it," He said as he led Rio's hand to pet Frig's head.

The griffin jerked violently, then growled as if not letting anyone other than Kron touch him. However, he finally gave up, letting Rio stroke his bluish white fur.

"Being friendly with animals is easy. You just have to treat them gently and, viola! You've made a new friend." Kron taught.

The giant returned to riding on his mule, which neighed in surprise as a two and a half meter tall person pressed down on him. Meanwhile, Rio slowly climbed up on Frig while continuing to give him a gentle stroke.

When he reached the top of the creature, Frig immediately jerked upwards, standing on both feet behind him, startling Rio to death. Frig squealed loudly but sounded excited, not as scary as the previous one.

"Whoa!" Rio gripped Frig's spiky feathers while balancing himself.

"He likes you, Rio!" Kron exclaimed happily.

Frig's two front paws landed on the ground. Now his condition was calmer and quieter, while Rio was shaking and gasping for air.

"T-that was so scary," He said quietly.

"Frig really likes to go too far when he's happy," said Kron. "But when he likes someone, he will be loyal." The giant smiled broadly, letting his loose teeth show.

Right after that, they continued on their way. The two mules began to swing their legs, followed by Frig who looked straight ahead. As far as the eye could see, the cypress trees seemed to be mushrooming, towering tall with several squirrels between the small branches.

Rio's eyes narrowed for a moment when his head looked up, staring at the hot sun. After twenty kilometers of travel, the cypresses began to change into bigger trees with lush leaves.

"You brought the map?" Kron looked at Revan.

"Sure. If we lose it can be bad, right?" Revan removed the brown backpack from his back.

A shabby backpack that only had one room. The brown color had even faded, plus small holes from termite bites. However, Rio was surprised when Revan took out the large map he saw yesterday from the backpack . too big to fit in there, Rio thought in disbelief.

"Exactly! We are entering the Nyx forest area. About four hundred meters from the goblin village," Revan told, engrossed in reading the map.

"I'll bet there won't be a warm welcome for us," said Kron. His eyes flashed sinisterly.

"Are goblins that bad?" Rio refuted Kron's words.

"Very bad. Miserly, greedy, selfish, everything belongs to them. I'm even sure they're too stingy to sell their own shit." Kron's teeth gritted.

To Rio, goblins didn't seem friendly. Kron hated them to such an extent. Of course the creatures were not happy about the arrival of humans. And, while Rio was too engrossed in thinking about it, he didn't notice that Kron stopped his mule suddenly.

"Wait!" Rio stopped Frig who was about to hit the mule.

"Where are you going?" asked Revan looking at Kron who was stumbling.

"Pee. Wait a minute, please!" The man with wavy hair ran away, across a row of lush trees.

"I thought a person as big as him had a bladder that was the same size," Rio commented somewhat amused.

"His body size is still smaller than other giants," Revan responded, making Rio quickly turn his head towards him.

"Giant, you say?"

"Kron is giant. He used to work as a special sculptor for the Lord. His masterpieces are always great. His sculptural technique even made me envious. However, since Tarnath ascended the throne, Kron began to be lazy and lost his natural talent as a sculptor. He said it was useless to sculpt if the king's real eyes were never there to admire him."

Revan's eyes filled with tears when he ended his story. He had gone through too much suffering with the Anti-Tarnath wizard since the evil king's tyranny was established. Tarnath really hated the rebels. In fact, he himself became king because he led the coup plot.

There used to be over a hundred magicians standing beside Revan, together against Tarnath. One by one they were killed, leaving six people who now live in a secret base.

After a long wait, Kron finally returned with a beaming face, as if he had just thrown a heavy load away. Rio smiled at him, so did Revan. As he rode his mule and led the way, Kron really wondered why it was so quiet.

Rio stopped asking many things about goblins, Revan was also reluctant to criticize his bear jacket which had not been washed for three weeks. Feeling uncomfortable, he turned around and rolled his big round eyes at the two of them.

"There must be something you two were talking about while I was peeing," He guessed.

"Nothing," replied Revan pretentiously innocent.

Suddenly Frig jerked upwards, making Rio again startled half to death.

"Looks like Frig knows something," said Kron, raising his eyebrows in victory.

"Oh, you cunning wizard!" said Revan irritated.

"Just tell me, what's the big deal?" Kron looked away as if he didn't care about Rio who was shaking on top of Frig.

"We were just talking about your job back then, when things were still peaceful." Revan's eyes narrowed, ready to hear the spray of Kron who didn't like his past being brought up.

"No problem. Rio deserves to hear it. He's the King." This time he wasn't angry. His voice was soft, though he seemed to hold back his emotions. "Did you also tell him about my parents?"

Revan shook his head while curling his lips inward, while Rio guided Frig forward so that he wasn't too far from Kron. He tried to eavesdrop on their conversation (especially the part of Kron's father and mother).

"I'll just tell you briefly."

The journey is getting closer to the destination. The mule's feet tread the path in the dark forest. The further they went in, the more humid it was. There was no more sunlight, but a row of dense trees whose broad-leaved branches covered the sky.

Right now, it felt like Kron's story was way more interesting than the big map that said that the end point of the journey was only a hundred meters away. They forgot to look at the map because they were focused on Kron's exciting story.

"That's all. As a baby, I was about a meter long and my mother said she screamed so loud when she gave birth me. Uncle Greg, Aunt Celine, especially my dad was so happy to know the baby was a boy. Yes, that's great. Everyday he trains me to carve beautiful statues, hunt flying pigs in the woods, then catch fanged fish in the Memphis River."

"Where are they now?" Rio asked, making Revan surprised. He should have warned the young man not to ask all kinds of questions about the Kron family.

On the other hand, Kron looked sluggish. His green iris eyes looked down with a soft snort. Feeling guilty, Rio hastily apologized.

"It doesn't matter. This is actually the part I hate to tell you the most. Do you know? Everything went perfectly except for that one. Ever since Tarnath came to power, I decided to return to my home in the Valley of giants. Pathetic journey home when I heard the news that the fake King's army invaded my village. They exterminated all the inhabitants and burned everything that remained. I ran off without knowing how my parents were—uncle Greg and aunt Celine too." A drop of Kron's tear seeped out, but he quickly wiped it with the sleeve of his jacket.

"How cruel," Rio muttered furiously, like he seeing the incident with his own eyes.

"I told you, Tarnath—WHOAH!"

(To Be Continued)