The Unexpected Guest

Assayah and Kenchi were sitting in Assayah's living room. Along with Kenchi, Novaria, Robin Fletcher and a big muscular demon with one eye patched and another has a dark black scar across it. Assayah looked at the stranger and asked, "What is your name?" Kenchi said, "He can't speak. He is mute. His name is Goro and he is my new minister of war affairs." Assayah asked, "How many ministers do you have? Everything you come with a new person and introduce him as your new minister." Kenchi smiled, "What can I do? Everyone is dying to work for me. I'm quite respected in the Monastery after all." Robin smiled, "We all know how much respect you have, Kenchi. So, shut up and listen carefully." Robin crossed his legs and said, "My stupid brother took one of my prostitutes and ran away stealthily. I induced a lot of losses after his exit from the business. I lost a lot of clients, I lost a lot of money and foremost, I lost the dread and respect I once had in the human trafficking market. All my rivals are laughing at me and mocking me. I am not saying that I cannot find my brother and punish him, but for some reason I couldn't locate him nor that whore that ran with him. So, why aren't you guys helping me?"

Assayah said, "Robin. You are a finished person right now. Demons don't have any interest in your perverted quirks. We only helped you because you were providing us a lot of money and a place to hide earlier. But, now we are not dependent on you. So, your problems are none of our concern." Robin said angrily, "You cannot just use me and then throw me away like this. I know many of your secrets and I'm not afraid to disclose them." Assayah laughed, "Then, go ahead and do it." Robin said, "I will give you anything you want in return for your help." Assayah laughed, "First, locate where that scumbag Jerachi lives and then talk with me." Kenchi said, "I'm the smartest and highest ranked demon in the room. So, let me do the commands and planning. Robin will search for Jerachi. Novaria will accompany him as she has a keen sense of danger and will protect Robin from any non-human enemy. Robin has a gang of loyal mortals and with Novaria's power, finding Jerachi won't be hard. Assayah and I have to return to the Monastery and prepare for the arrival of Xao Chang, who has decided to continue the rest of his mediation inside the Monastery. He is apparently very furious with the recent attack in Assayah's house and has ordered us to present the culprit before him in the Monastery. Goro is assigned to find Kayuba and his outlaw student, Phantom who is also demanded by Xao Chang to be present in the Monastery. Since, Xao Chang is arriving we are cutting some of our expenses by a large amount. Assayah and Robin will no longer get any more wealth from the treasury. Novaria has to surrender thirty percent of her magic scrolls which she borrowed under the pretext of learning new things. I have already shifted sixty percent of demons from the Monastery and they will live here in Assayah's house till Xao Chang doesn't go to his previous abode." Assayah asked, "What about you? What expenses did you cut off?" Kenchi said, "I never made any expenses for myself. I spent all the necessary resources on necessary needs. So, I don't have to cut any expenses." Assayah said, "That's why no one likes you. You are a big scoundrel." Kenchi smiled, "That quality makes me better than you. Hurry up, brother. We don't have much time to waste." Kenchi and Assayah disappeared in red mist.

Assayah and Kenchi arrived at the Monastery. The decorations were already half done and only the main stage and Xao Chang's room was left to be decorated. Xao Chang never lived in the Monastery as the Monastery was built after the First War of the West and Xao Chang's mediation. Bacca was the head of the Monastery and after him, Kenchi took over him. So, there was never a specific room for Xao Chang in the Monastery. Kenchi decided to give Bacca's room to Xao Chang as it was the biggest and the most comfortable than other rooms. Kenchi smiled, "Assayah. Are you feeling nostalgic?"

Assayah ignored him and walked towards his room. Assayah's room is filled with a lot of books, scrolls and orbs which he used in his primary stage of magic learning. His room rarely changed as he had little to no interest in decoration at that time. Assayah asked, "Where is the large painting of Maester Goyoko?" Kenchi said, "The painting was quite old and was starting to get damaged. So, I burned it down. Maester Goyoko was never the guy to be respected. He was a psycho and his abrupt experiments made him a danger to society. I personally don't like him that much. I have a painting of Maester Aasim. Do you want that?" Assayah said, "You are saying to replace Maester Goyoko with Maester Aasim? What kind of idiot are you?" Maester Goyoko would have eaten him alive if they were born in the same era. Don't forget Maester Goyoko discovered the technique of extracting the soul without killing the body. Maester Aasim could never even reach the level of Maester Goyoko."

Kenchi laughed, "Fine. I will try to find out if anyone has any paintings of Maester Goyoko anymore." Kenchi walked towards Xao Chang's room to see if all decorations were per his instructions or not. Assayah walked inside his room and looked around. He remembered his old fetishes he had at certain points of his life. The cowboy stage, the racing fan stage and the most loving Gen-Z stage. Assayah picked up a photo frame and smiled. It was the picture of Samantha Daisy, an actress of the 1930s. He met her when she was auditioning for the role of a young princess for a local drama. He initially didn't want to get serious with her, but her innocence and charming aura pulled him towards her and his first real love relationship happened. Samantha Daisy died at a very young age of twenty five when she was murdered by Billy Johnson when he found out that she was pregnant with his child.

Assayah was very heartbroken that day and swore to not love anyone anymore like he loved Samantha Daisy. But, then Samantha Walschmidt came into his life. A tear rolled from his eye and fell on the ground with a splash. He put the photo frame in the drawer and walked outside the room. Kenchi looked at Assayah and for the first time in his life was genuinely sad for him. Kenchi wanted to hug him, but then he remembered the disgusting act he did with Samantha. He looked at Assayah and said, "Xao Chang is arriving on the thirteenth day of November. That means we have thirteen days to conclude all our tasks and present the results before Xao Chang." Assayah looked at him and said weakly, "Yep." He disappeared into red mist. Kenchi mumbled, "Where are you, Kayuba? Where are you when I need you the most?"

Kayuba and Bayu were walking through the market, when they heard a commotion coming from the middle of the vegetable market. They walked towards the crowd and asked, "What is happening here?" One of the ogres replied, "Actually, today is the annual tournament organised by the small community of local wrestlers. The ogre that wins the tournament gets the finest ladies of the tavern and a prize money of fifty-thousand ogre money." Kayuba looked at Bayu and asked, "Why don't you take part in the tournament? We can earn a lot of money and fuck some good ladies tonight. Also, I want to see how fine of a fighter you are."

Bayu smiled, "Why don't you show your skills, old man? Afraid that you lost your skills and got rusty?" Kayuba laughed, "Fine. I was trying to be benevolent towards the ogres and give you a chance to impress me. But, your arrogance snatched the chance from you." Bayu said, "I don't need to impress you. You need to impress me. I'm starting to think that I should have killed you that day. You are very senile." Kayuba laughed, "Senile?" Bayu said, "Yes. Senile. Go and show your skills."

Kayuba walked towards the ring and said, "Whoever defeats me in less than one minute, will be rewarded with one thousand ogre money." Many strong and muscular ogres entered the ring and looked at Kayuba. All of them looked at his physique which was of an old man with a fat belly. One healthy wrestler walked towards him and said, "Uncle, there is no bravery in dying in the ring and losing your money at the same time. Go away and spend time with your grandchildren." Kayuba smiled and picked him up and threw him in the ring. He then again picked him up and threw him outside the ring. Three wrestlers jumped on him and tried to pin him down, but he easily picked them up and threw them outside the ring as well. Kayuba laughed, "Is there no one who can defeat this old guy? Is there no macho amongst you?" All the wrestlers looked down, when a voice echoed, "I will fight you."

All looked at the direction of the voice and saw a six feet tall monstrous man coming towards the ring. Bayu didn't recognise him, but Kayuba immediately regretted his overconfidence. The monstrous guy was not some ogre, but the ghost of Juan Quagmire, a legendary wrestler and a ruthless brawler. Juan Quagmire entered the ring and looked at Kayuba. He laughed, "From when did demons start to fight in such local brawls?" Kayuba smiled, "So, you did recognise me after all. Well, I'm honoured to be in your presence first of all and for the answer to your question, yes sometimes demons like to fight with ogres."

Juan laughed, "Then, fight with me." Kayuba smiled, "Are you seriously challenging me? I can easily rip you apart." Juan Quagmire laughed, "Then, why are your legs trembling?" Kayuba said, "Because I'm afraid of your outcome." Juan caught Kayuba by the neck and threw him on the mat and then stomped on him. He then picked him up again and then again threw him on the mat like a doll. Kayuba caught him on the leg and tried to trip him, but Juan easily picked him up and threw him outside the ring.

But, Kayuba was reluctant and he caught one of the ropes and rolled inside the ring. He then dodged the incoming punch and then took Juan and threw him on the mat and then again slammed him again and then again. Juan caught his leg and picked him up on his shoulder and then with one sweep threw him on the floor. All the ogres started to cheer and clap. Kayuba threw the pouch full of coins towards Juan and walked away in shame.

Bayu followed him and said, "It's okay to lose sometimes. It makes you feel vulnerable and normal." Kayuba sat on a bench and said sadly, "It is easy for you to say, Bayu. You have tasted defeat once. But, I have never been defeated. But, today an ogre and that too, a ghost defeated me and threw me outside the ring like I am some doll made of cloth." Bayu asked, "You have never been defeated before? Not even once." Kayuba said, "Nah. Never. I defeated many and many great warriors and local heroes of folktales, but no one has ever defeated me." Bayu asked, "Who was that ghost, anyway?"

Kayuba said, "He was Juan Quagmire. A very good friend of mine or was once upon a time. He fought alongside me and killed many opponents, but one unfortunate day he got ambushed by the elves and then they killed him with poisonous arrows and swords. Everyone rejoiced on his death, but he didn't die completely. His gigantic body and enormous strength managed to keep him feeble yet alive. He crawled towards our camp and asked for our help. He requested us to give him demonic powers and make him a demon like us. But, it is impossible. No ogre can become a demon because they don't have the blood of Xao Lin in them. Ghosts can have powers like a demon, but still it was not like what we have. Xao Chang did not want to make Quagmire a demon, but losing such a great warrior was also not wise. He broke the law and tried an experiment on him and expectedly failed. Quagmire died and became a ghost.

Quagmire still fought alongside us but the power and fear he once brought to the battlefield got very less. After the war, he wanted to stay in the Monastery with us, but Bacca objected by saying that no ghost is allowed in the Monastery as it will make a bad example on other demons and would encourage them to experiment things like this and cause hazards in the Monastery. I wanted to help him, but my new position and the duties that came with me took most of my time and energy and soon we all forgot about Quagmire. But, it looks like our liability became a hero for the ogres and with a mad scientist like Kystion alongside him, he might have gained many unnatural powers." Bayu asked, "What should we do now?" Kayuba said, "No matter what we do or how we do, in the end we have to eradicate Quagmire." Kayuba rose and walked towards the house they took for rent, as Bayu followed him.....