46 Chapter – 46 The Most ‘Beautiful’ Woman

Following 'Uncle,' Layla, and Gamil, Betty, Ryuma, Kuina, and Rio made their way to the back room of the tavern. 

The back room seemed to function as a guest room or perhaps a meeting space(?). It featured a rectangular dining table crafted from wood, accompanied by three wooden chairs neatly arranged on either side of the table. 

In one corner of the room, there was a bar counter with several wooden barrels filled with rum, alongside wooden mugs placed on the side, and a wooden door behind the bar counter, likely leading deeper into the shabby building.

Additionally, there was also a billiards table placed in one of the remaining two corners of the room that was probably used for entertainment purposes while conversing about important and unimportant things with other people, finally, there was another door in the guest room which connected the main gathering area outside with this back room.

As the five people and a parrot walked inside, the 'Uncle' pointed at the dinner table and spoke, "There is a lot we need to talk about, so please have a seat first…"

The others nodded in agreement and took their seats. Betty claimed the middle seat on one side, flanked by Ryuma and Kuina. Rio perched on Kuina's lap, indicating a desire to rest. On the opposite side, 'Uncle' occupied the middle seat, accompanied by Layla Stroganoff, and Gamil settled on either side.

"Alright, let's talk Uncle..." Betty uttered as she lit a cigarette, her gaze fixed on the two individuals seated across from her.

"Before anything, I would like to express my gratitude. East Division Commander of the Revolutionary Army, for heeding our request and for coming to our aid, I, Ganzoff Hrigria thank you from the bottom of my heart…" 'Uncle' now named 'Ganzoff Hrigria' spoke with a bow.

Saaaaaa!

Betty exhaled a puff of smoke as she looked at Ganzoff Hrigria with a thoughtful expression, and shook her head, "I would say it's too early to be thanking us…" and added after a pause, "As for the matter of coming to your aid, it will depend upon whether you can convince me to lend you our power or not…"

Ganzoff Hrigria nodded, "That's natural." Unsurprised, and after taking a deep breath, he said, "Let's start with the current affairs of the Kingdom of Damseal, and how the situation became what it is right now…"

"That would be better…" agreed Betty.

"In fact, this land used to be prosperous and rich with both wonderful flora and fauna, the people of the Kingdom were lively and cheerful, and we also had a decent king who cared about his subjects, although there were problems from time to time with pirates and other criminals targeting our country for its riches, the military had enough power to fight back and protect the people of the country, so everything was good… good until it wasn't," explained Ganzoff Hrigria.

Hearing Ganzoff's words, Ryuma frowned, and asked, "Then what changed?" He doesn't know much about the land of Damseal.

There's the fact that there was no mention of this country in the One-Piece canon, additionally, this country has never appeared in any newspaper report either, since Betty has yet to inform him anything about what's been happening on this land, so, he is kind of clueless.

"Let's see, it all began in the year 1486, that twenty-six years ago… when that woman washed up on the shores of Damseal She was a foreigner to this land, no one knew from which land she came, however, the moment she stepped on this land, our land changed forever.

She was unlike anyone this land had ever seen — the most beautiful woman — with skin as white as snow, soft and rosy cheeks, hair as black as ebony, eyes that sparkled like stars, and lips as red as rose petals. Her figure was delicate and slender, she was the perfect embodiment of innocent beauty. No, not just innocent beauty; that woman symbolized pure and unblemished beauty that should never be touched.

Truth be told, she should have been killed directly then and there, left to die in hunger at the shore, which she would have certainly considering the terrible injuries she had on her body, if not for the fact that a certain young man stumbled upon her, and because he was fascinated by her otherworldly charm, he decided to save her."

"The most beautiful woman, you say?" muttered Ryuma in surprise, as he thought to himself, 'But doesn't that title belong to the Pirate Empress? No wait… this was twenty-six years ago; if that's the case, then it certainly makes sense… by now, if that woman is still alive, she would already be an old lady, and that would certainly make the Pirate empress the most beautiful woman in this day and age. Besides, even if Boa Hancock was widely praised as the most beautiful woman in the canon, there were other women as well like the Mermaid Princess from Fishman Island, the Tayu ranked Oiran from the Land of Samurai, who were just as beautiful if not more beautiful than her.'

As Ryuma reached such a conclusion with a solid reason to back up his thoughts, Ganzoff Hrigria's next words simply contradicted his reasoning, "Indeed, the most beautiful woman… I have lived a long life, and in all my years, I dare say that to this day that woman is the most beautiful woman I have ever had the opportunity to lay my eyes upon… Even now… she seems to be the same as she used to be twenty-six years ago…"

"Even now?" asked Ryuma in surprise.

Hearing Ganzoff nodded, "Yes, the same maiden she used to be twenty-six years ago," From the way he spoke, it was as if he was absolutely certain, and he added, "Anyway, let me continue… where was I?"

"A young man decided to save the woman upon being fascinated by her beauty…" answered Kuina.

"Ah, yes… the foolish young man," nodded Ganzoff Hrigria, and continued, "His house was at the edge of the forest, in one of the many villages of the Kingdom of Damseal, he was primarily a hunter, but on that day he had decided to fish… a huntsman is not a fisherman, so naturally, he failed at it spectacularly, and decided to go back to his home, however, just as he was packing up his things, suddenly a person was washed ashore by the waves… The young man noticed this and cautiously approached the person, and noticed that it was an unconscious woman wearing nothing but rags, and…"

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"Her injuries are terrible… did she escape from some Pirates or what?" the young Huntsman muttered looking at the unconscious woman, who was slowly, but surely approaching death. At the same time, he was in a pickle, "Well, I can't leave here to die here, can I? Granny would be furious at me. Not to mention she is such a beauty… guess, there's only one thing to do…"

The young hunter brought the unconscious woman to his home, carefully tended to her injuries with the little medical knowledge his Granny had taught him, and slowly nursed her back to health, he had decided to let her stay at his house until she recovered.

Several months passed by in a flash while the young man continued to tend to her injuries, and slowly but surely, her injuries healed, one by one, all the wounds on her body completely disappeared leaving behind only a single scar, the one that was on her back.

Gently caressing the burn mark on the woman's back, the young man muttered to himself with a frown, "It's strange, all her injuries healed without leaving behind any scar, but this one isn't healing… Is it because she received this one long ago…?" 

"Wonder how she got this weird scar, it looks like the claw of some animal, was she attacked by a giant animal or something? No, but that doesn't explain the burn… Is there a creature in this world whose hooves are made up of fire?" he mumbled to himself in confusion, then shook his head reaching no definite conclusion, and withdrew his hand. 

It wasn't his business, and it didn't really matter to him. With this in mind, the young man quickly applied medicine to the woman's body, then wrapped bandages around her body, and left the room while wondering to himself, "When would she regain consciousness?"

One thing that the young man found odd was that the woman hadn't regained consciousness so far. He tried to wake her up, but she didn't respond at all, leading him to believe that perhaps she was in some kind of Coma.

As the young man left the room, he did not notice the pair of eyes looking at him 'He doesn't seem to be acting, anyone who knows about that 'burn' mark wouldn't be able to stay calm… which means he is rather ignorant about the world at large.' 

Contrary to what the young man believed, the woman was very much awake the entire time, but for some reason, she had made sure to 'stay' in a state of 'coma.' And allowed herself to be healed.

Certainly, the woman's injuries healed, however, it was not without a cost, and it was a cost that the people of that land would have to pay for the rest of their lives. 

At the same time as the woman recovered, the forests and greenery around that village had completely disappeared, leaving behind nothing but dark and desolate woods that had a creepy aura to them with no greenery whatsoever, it was as if the entire forest had died suddenly.

Nobody understood why such a thing happened, the lush and green forest that was supposed to have existed for hundreds of years on this land had suddenly disappeared within a short period of a few months, and that was not all, strange monsters that appeared to be mutation of normal ones began appearing from that creepy forest as well!

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"The lush and green forest turned into withered woodland with mutated beasts?" muttered Betty with a surprised expression.

"The folks of this land these days call that withered woodland the 'Dark Forest,' strange creatures live there, it's a forest that preys on your fear, it is said that anyone who ventures inside is impossible to return…" explained Ganzoff.

Ryuma questioned, "Did no one try to find out the reason why such a thing happened?"

"Some thought that it was some kind of disease, some assumed that it was a curse, some said that this was Karma for ungratefully taking so much from nature, while some claimed that this is the wrath of Gods, others contemplated and contemplated to no avail, while a few blamed the woman for the destruction of the forest, and the creation of the 'Dark Forest.' 

Putting the blame for what happened to the forest on that woman was a bit unreasonable, there were indeed people who tried to protect her by reasoning, 'How could a human be responsible for this?' 'Surely, this must be the work of pirates or bandits!' such claims came forward in her defense, but the odd timing of such an occurrence coincided with her arrival on this land, so there was little one could do to quell the anger of people that depended on the forests for their livelihood, even the young hunter wasn't so sure.

People argued, some wished for her sacrifice to quell the anger of the Gods, others, including the young man assured her that everything was going to be fine, some wanted the woman to just disappear while others wanted to protect her because they thought she was innocent… her beauty naturally played an important role in all of this as anyone who dared lay their eyes upon her immediately had their heart swayed in her favor and developed a desire to protect her. 

Conflicts arose, and although the woman did not utter any word in her defense, the folks who supported her even went as far as to turn to arms for her sake.

Soon, the word of this 'fiasco' reached the ears of the king, since folks were unable to decide things on their own, it was time for a higher authority to step in and take the matter into their own hands.

The King summoned a representative of each faction to his court, along with the woman who was at the center of it all. The folks believed that the King would make a just decision, however, what happened at the Court was something no one had ever foreseen, perhaps not even the King himself.

The King too was enchanted by the woman's beauty, the moment he laid eyes upon the silhouette of that woman, everything about him changed, he cared not for why he had summoned the people to his court, he cared not for justice, he cared not for the state his land was slowly falling into and certainly he cared not for the people of his land, the only thought in his mind was about the woman, and how he wanted to love her and be loved by her. He announced his desire to make that woman his wife, and at the same time, he decided to discard his first wife as if she were nothing more than a piece of clothing.

The people of the kingdom were shocked, they loved their Queen dearly, and considering that a lot of people–the ones who were not enchanted by her beauty–already wanted her out of this land, they opposed when the King made such an announcement, however, anyone who raised an objection was publicly executed by the King. Not a soul was spared regardless of whether it was a man, or a child, though, women, especially the young and beautiful ones, were all captured and sent to the castle prison for reasons unknown, never to be seen again.

As if that wasn't enough, the King offered that woman the beating heart of his first wife whom he murdered with his very own hands, while proposing to her for marriage, which she accepted by eating it raw.

Bathed in the blood of the former Queen and the people of this land, the King, and the new Queen exchanged vows of marriage, it was a terrifying sight, however, what was more terrifying than the bloody marriage was the new Queen's smile of satisfaction as she ate that heart, to this day my nerves become cold just recalling that smile."

"You-you've got to be kidding me, that's dark as fuck!" Whether it was Ryuma, Betty, Kuina, or Rio, neither of them could keep a straight face upon hearing about the second marriage of the King. Betty, Ryuma, and Rio were still relatively stable, Kuina on the other hand directly puked out the content in her stomach at the thought of eating a person's beating heart.

Layla looked down as tears flowed down her eyes, and said in a painful voice, "I wish that was the case, I truly wish that this was just a Grim tale, but it's the truth. She… the beating heart of Queen Eleanor was indeed offered to that woman by the King while he proposed to her, and that woman truly did eat it, before sealing their marriage with a kiss of vow."

Ganzoff Hrigria picked up once again, "What happened on that night was not something anyone other than the King, and the new Queen was supposed to witness, but by some twist of fate, someone witnessed it… it was the five-year-old daughter of Queen Eleanor… she witnessed everything, but she was unlucky… the King and the new Queen discovered her and instead of silencing her, they imprisoned her at the tallest tower of the castle.

After murdering his wife, imprisoning his daughter, and marrying that woman, the King then turned to his subjects… He increased taxes and made increasingly strict and unjust rules that anyone had a hard time following, because of the mass public execution carried out not long ago, people were afraid to oppose the King, and those who were unable to pay taxes or failed to follow the rules were taken away by the Dark Army."

"The Dark Army?" asked Betty with a frown.

Gamil answered Betty's doubt, "I have seen them, they are certainly not normal human soldiers, it's unclear what they are and how they exist, but they are incredibly strong, each soldier of the Black Army seems to be five times as strong as a normal human soldier, they do not bleed, they do not feel pain, and they do not feel fear either. If you defeat them, they will just turn into ash and disappear, however, what makes them truly scary is that their number doesn't seem to end at all, no matter how many you destroy, they keep coming as if there are infinite of them."

Ganzoff Hrigria once again continued, "If the person taken away by the Dark Army happens to be a man, he would be taken to work at the mines/Royal farms to slave away his life for the 'sake of the Kingdom.' If it was a woman, and if they happened to be beautiful they would be sent to the Royal Castle for reasons unknown, if they were not beautiful, or had some form of a scar on their body that tarnished their beauty, they would either be sent for prostitution and child farms where they would be forced to bear children who would be raised as slaves to serve the throne in the same manner as their slave mothers and fathers."

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Author's Note:

I am going to be honest, it's getting too dark, why the F**k is this King so evil?

On a serious note, I am just trying to write an Arc, I don't know how it would turn out, but I want to do this, of course, if it turns out crap (if I think it is Crap) then, I might even delete it.

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As always, drop your power stones, comments as well as reviews, and also if you like the story so far, then make sure to add the book to your library for constant updates of new Chapters.