12 Bandit Camp
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Screamed a man, cowering in fear.
"Just here to take your map, don't get so fussy about it."
"Do you know how much time I've spent, just trying to get this MAP!" He strongly pointed one of his fingers toward a table, with a large spread out map on it.
"I don't know, I don't care. I just need it, so hand it over; or I'll take it from you."
"LIKE I'LL EVER JUST GIVE IT UP! MEN!" He raised his right arm, and quickly dropping it right after.
"Oh, c'mon now. I just wanted this damn map." Kuoka was frustrated from recent events. When he was on the way to the bandit leader's camp, several annoyances, hindered his approach.
'There's a kid by that river, what's he doing?' Kuoka saw a yellow circle, appear in his vision again. It hovered over a young kid, hunched over a rock beside a river. "Probably fishing, or washing clothes. Aren't you smarter than me? Shouldn't you know at least this much." The yellow circle started growing in size, and became darker.
'No, not that one! Look at the other one! With the rock!' Kuoka looked back at the river again. The yellow circle instantly became smaller, and he saw another kid near the river, with a small rock in their hands.
"Are they making a campfire? If they're wanderers or travelers, they might potentially have some useful information. I should head over to them." Just when Kuoka took a step forward, the thud of his foot was interrupted by another.
"Wha-" One of the children, the one holding a rock. Hit the other, who was hunched over a fishing pole. Both the pole, and the child fell into the river, both were washed away.
"Hey! What are you doing!" Kuoka rushed to the scene, but not very fast, as his armor was too heavy for him to handle. The child quickly noticed Kuoka, because of his thumping footsteps, so they ran away along the river.
Kuoka reached the rock. He looked into the river but didn't see anything, the pole had gotten stuck on a rock. But the other child was nowhere to be seen. 'I expected this, but why am I still surprised...'
"I'm going to have to ask that other kid for answers." Kuoka picked up his pace and started following the same path that the child had taken to escape.
He ran along the river, and it splashed water onto this face several times, which was hard to wipe off, due to his armor. "Damn this armor! I need something else. It's good protection, but if I can't even move properly, then what's the point!"
Kuoka ran until he saw a camp, 'are those refugees?'
"Refugees of what?" Kuoka approached the camp. He saw the child, who wore the same clothes as the one who had hit the other with a rock. "Hey! You!" The parents, as well the child were startled by Kuoka, and they soon looked at him in fear. "My lord! Please don't hurt us! We are just lost, I promise!" The father pleaded.
His arms were big, he was very burly. He knelt on the ground, and firmly planted his head into the soil. "We couldn't find our way back to the fortress! Could you take us back home?" Kuoka questioned the family, "your child killed someone infront of me, could you explain that first?"
"Of course My lord! That was a child that stole food from us! It deserved to die, so I called on my youngest to kill it!"
"It? Why do you call children, 'it' wasn't that your other child?" Kuoka slowly unsheathed his sword, "don't lie to me, now say what really happened!"
...
...
...
"Hey Regalia." Kuoka stepped into a clearing, where there were 2 logs beside a campfire.
...
"Why are you being so silent. Remind me on what that father said?"
'... why?' Her voice was silent, nearly to a whisper.
"Just tell me already, I've already forgotten."
...
"Yes My lord! I'll tell you everything! That was indeed my son, we are from the nearby fortress. We are slaves." Kuoka looked closer at the father, "show me your back." The father quickly took off his shirt, revealing several long scars. 'W-what is all this...'
His chest didn't have many scars, only 1 or 2. But his back had many. "We were constantly whipped in the fields, forced to work harder. One day, me and my family couldn't stay there anymore, we'd had enough. So we decided to leave, I made a plan, and my family followed. It got us to where we are now, we've been here for 3 days. And we were already running out of food, so I... what have I done..."
The man started sobbing, 'He... killed his child on purpose?' Regalia sounded shocked. Kuoka stood, motionless. "You'll have to pay with your life." The father stood on his feet, firmly saluting. "Just take me! Let my family live, please."
No wonder why he was saluting, this man used to be a soldier in the military. But what cruel leader would do this to their own people? Especially those who served them, even at the cost of their lives. Kuoka sighed, "you don't need to get so formal with me, I'll let all of you go. But you'll have to search for your child. I'm not letting you go, until you either find their body, or give up."
"Yes of course! Thank you My lord, your forgiveness is greatly appreciated! Will you help us search? I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to, because I'm old and weaker than I used to be."
Kuoka nodded, and let the father, as well as the mother, to go off and search for the missing child. "Hey, Regalia."
'You asked to me remind you, so I did.'
"Now I remember why I wanted to forget."
'Why did you want to forget? This tells us that the other Kuoka is indeed pure evil. We learned something valuable, we will be able to use this in the future!'
"That's not the point Regalia, it's a matter of perspective. You may see something useful, but I only see the results of what I've done. You see these people? They suffer at my hands, all because of a stupid wish I made several years ago." Kuoka kicked a tree in anger.
He sat down on one of the logs, "Regalia, why did you save me."
"I... saw something useful in you... but you're not a tool! I needed you, just as much as you needed me.'
"Even if I was a tool, what else would I live for? The country I wished to serve is all but gone, the people I was going to befriend, all slaughtered. The name I wanted to give to the people, as a great warlord. Now turned a tyrant."
Kuoka sighed, he covered his eyes using his hands. "Regalia, what can you do about all this? I've never learnt about anything like this happening the past, why now? Why me?"
'There is nothing I can say, other than someone had to be the one, you may be the one asking this question right now. But there have been countless others that have asked the same.'
"Like who? There aren't exactly hundreds of tyrants spread out in the world you know, this is the first time in the history of our nation that this has happened."
"No, I'm sure you know all this already, you probably created some of them, if not all of them." Kuoka scratched his head in frustration. 'I didn't create any tyrants, I'm only trying to create something to defeat them. The one making tyrants is that false wish granter.'
"You mean to say that you're the real wish granter, yet your powers are little, compared to that other damn voice that killed Naomi's father, as well the entire capital?"
'Yes.'
"My trust in you was fine until a moment ago, how do you expect to win a single time? When all you can do is watch the result."
'Don't lose your motivation! You're the only one that can defeat the other Kuoka, I need you to follow my instructions.'
"And what if I don't, I could just leave right now."
'... I wouldn't stop you. I understand that this is a near impossible task, but even so, I need you to help me.'
