4 FATED ENEMEY

Volume 1: Ydeo's Adventure and the Trial of the Wise King - CHAPTER 4: FATED ENEMEY

Where am I?

This familiar rotten smell...

This cold floor...

And this dark room...

I guess I'm back to the Prison.

"So I got caught again." with my hoarse voice I said.

"From what I've heard you slept for a week already. Are you alright?" I heard a young voice coming from across me. He looked at me with nothing but inquiry, no hatred, no fear, no sympathy just pure questioning gaze.

Who is this boy? But he mentioned that I slept for a week? I guess my body is nearly healed.

"You look strong. How come you lose? Did they cheat on you too?"

What's up with this this boy? He is so talkative. He is too young to be in prison, maybe he is a thief?

"Boy, who are you?" I asked his name.

"My name is Ydeo!" he said cheerfully.

"I am Bakunawa." I said in response.

"What Bakunawa?" he asked again.

I stared at him with a questioning look.

"Just Bakunawa? No other names?" he explained his question.

I just can't get what he meant, so I asked, "What do you mean?"

"Ever since I came to the Ar-pi, I always heard long names. Like 'Geroleo the Rajah of Ar-pi', 'Ed-son the Elite Warrior', 'La-La the Great merchant of Halo-Halo Island', and so on..."

I guess he is talking about the titles...

"Unlike me, I am just Ydeo only Ydeo." He said

"I'm like you, I am Bakunawa just Bakunawa." I feel unexplainably comfortable with this young man.

"People are so crazy to have status in the world. " I said without thinking "Status shows you glory and greatness."

"Oh, so titles give you glory and greatness. Does that mean I will be great too? The foreign princess came earlier and took me, she said that I will be Ydeo the Slave soon." he casually explained.

...He doesn't know what slave means? How peaceful his country to not know what a slave means.

"You sure are so casual about it. Don't you know being a slave means someone who is under another person? Slaves can’t do what they want and restricted to almost everything. Slave does not have their own will."

"What?!" he shouted in surprise.

I guess he really doesn't know.

Silence enveloped the prison cell. As I saw him obviously thinking about his situation.

"Does that mean I wouldn't be able to pursue my dream if I became a slave?" he asked dejectedly.

Dream? It's been awhile since I heard that word.

I asked him out of curiosity "What is your dream?"

"My only dream is to travel the whole world and go to different places." He answered.

"...What a foolish dream." I voiced out my opinion

"Don't say that!" he got annoyed when I said it.

"If I am not wrong, that dream is the reason why you are here and also the reason why you are now a slave! You should have stayed in your country."

"I do not regret it because this dream worth my life." he said indignantly.

"Dying for your dream? You're being too idealistic. You should wake up back to reality." I advised.

He sat down and frowned, seemed to be planning something. He finally revealed it by saying, "I will escape!"

"Don't. If you do that... you will be a criminal like me."

He acted like he did not hear me. Does he not care about what will happen to him?

"You said you are a criminal. What kind of crime did you do?" he suddenly asked out of context.

Strangely, I found myself sharing, "I killed a Priest which is known as holy and mediator of the gods. I also killed that Priest's followers."

"I tried killing as well."

I stared at him to search for any signs of joking but there is none. He said it so casually, without any fear.

"Who did you try to kill?" I asked as I am curious.

"To others, it seems like I do but I didn't actually plan to kill... I just want to teach him and let him learn from his foolishness." he explained his side.

"I am talking about the Rajah of Ar-pi and the Prince." He added.

"What?!" I asked in shock. This kid is something!

So there's a fool guy like me who will attack a person in authority without hesitation.

"The results of your actions is something you cannot escape with." I added.

"I did not do wrong!" He said defended.

"I just don't like the way of justice of those royalties. I can't stand it that's why I acted like that and had conflict with those Imperial Warriors. In the end, I couldn't even escape from that Head Warrior Gen's hold. I guess he is the strongest of them." He added.

"That's obvious, being the strongest is what it takes to become a Head Warrior." I added.

"I feel proud thinking that someone like him tried to stop me! But despite being great Warrior, he seems unlucky though." he described the great Warrior though his description made me puzzled.

"Huh? Why?" I asked.

"That Head Warrior Gen is unlucky. I can see it in his eyes that he doesn't want to serve his rulers. He is wasting his strength." he consecutively commented.

We talked about his fight against the Imperial Warriors and Head Warrior Gen. Ydeo asked about the strength of an Imperial Warrior compared to a Galleon Captain and obviously, Galleon Captains are way stronger.

Aside from that, we also talked about the rankings and job of the Warriors in the Ar-pi.

The very least are the Warriors, they can be promoted to either as an Imperial Warrior or Elite Warrior. Elite Warriors are much stronger they have Sacred Arm unlike the Imperial Warrior. The Imperial Warrior can be promoted to either Head Imperial Warrior or Elite Warrior if ever they obtain their Sacred Arm. The Strongest among the rank, and the highest is Head Warrior.

The difference between these divisions is that Imperial Warriors work directly under the Royal family, the Elite Warriors are tasked to protect the regions of Ar-pi from the enemies while the Head Warrior's job is to protect the whole Kingdom, the very reason why people call Head Warriors, he should be that strong to be called as the Kingdom's Hero.

"You are still lucky that you will be a slave, it is better than to be fed to ants or cockroaches. Well, unlike me the Holy Covenant will surely execute me for I've done." I said.

"Holy Covenant? What is that?" he asked in confusion.

"Holy Covenant is the one who oversee the world. They are the Direct Descendants of the Creators." I answered.

"Creators? This is the first time I heard of them." He asked.

"Maybe you know them as the Four Original Gods. We called them as Creators as they are the creator of all." I answered.

"How did they become the Direct Descendants of the Creators?" he asked again.

"Well they say that Creators used to live in Mala-Laya in harmony with other gods. After thousands of years, the Creators and the gods left the Mala-Laya. Only the people of Mala-Laya are left. The first and current Bishop was born in the same place—in Mala-Laya. Another reason is that the Bishop has the Holy Vessel with Wind Element and he can also hear the word of Bathala, one of the Ancients." I explained to him.

"Wow. Those Holy Covenant seems to be a really important title!" He said.

"It's nothing but bullshit." I said.

"Enough of the chatter, if I continue to stay here, the longer I will become a slave! We have to escape even if we need to dig!" he rushed.

"Don't be an idiot! The Imperial Prison is designed to be the grave of criminals. This is not a place where you can easily escape whenever you want to."

Because if that is that case, I should have escaped long time ago. It is hard to even hear the sounds of birds since we are currently in the seventh floor underground, the deepest floor.

The Imperial Prison is a three-story cell from the outside but the prisoners were kept underground. Mostly the most wanted criminal like me.

"Maybe I can ask that foreign Princess to take you as a slave instead!" He said.

"Forget it..." I said.

Meanwhile on the Imperial Palace.

"My Lady, if it would not be disrespectful, may I ask the reason why you asked that young man to be your slave?" My knight asked.

"Ydeo is strong." I simply answered.

"I would be able to protect you just enough, My Lady." said with conviction.

"But Ydeo is different. He is strong even without the blessing from gods. He was able to fight back with men like the Head of Imperial Warrior and an Elite Warrior. So he must be strong." I said.

"But he is man."

"Ydeo is an interesting kind of man."

On the other hand Rajah Geroleo was ecstatic as he learned the gift of Princess Mayari to him in return to her favor. His son, Prince El-ma asked him about it but the Rajah only said that he will likely have a new wife. Prince El-ma was bothered about his mother knowing but his father does not seem to be too worried about it and said, "I will tell her when the time comes."

The Rajah was so happy about Princess Mayari's surprise gift and he couldn't help laughing. The Rajah gladly approved Princess Mayari's request.

Meanwhile on the Torogan of the Head Warrior Gen's.

I called all of the Elite Warriors to informed them that we will escorting Bakunawa to the ship of the Holy Covenant. I admit that the said prisoner is strong enough to make our group cautious.

While instructing the other Warriors I heard Dan-bin another Elite Warrior talking too loud and seemed to be enjoying himself while doing so.

"How come you lost despite having three Sacred Arm? It only means that you are weaker without it!" he mocked with Elite Warrior Ed-son, another outstanding rookie.

I heard they were in bad terms with each other, I guess it is not a rumor.

I mediated before in could turn to a big brawl between a supposed to be 'Elite' Warriors.

"Head Warrior Gen, why do we even need everyone in here? Taking all of thirty Elite Warriors to escort a single criminal is way too unreasonable." Dan-bin complained.

"Why not let Elite Warrior Ed-son explain it since he was in the scene." I asked Elite Warrior Ed-son to explain it.

"Even with his weaken state, he was able to kill sixty-seven of our men." He said with mix of emotions which I could not identified.

"Maybe the reason you couldn't defeat him is because of your new weapon, Kanabō..." Elite Warrior Gil jog to jump in the conversation.

"No, he is weak among us, he can't even stop a kid on the Imperial Plaza. Maybe you should be demoted back to being an Warrior. Does being called as Rising Hero made your head bigger to the point you can't fight as how heavy it is." Dan-bin annoyed Ed-son more.

"I am an Elite Warrior! An injured man wouldn't be able to win nor fought back, even a fight between an Elite Warrior would not be easy, but he did it despite being injured. Allegedly the Slayer massacred a Priest and its followers. The Priest is not just an ordinary Priest, but of high rank. I am not sure of how powerful is a Priest, but Priest are blessed with Holy Vessels which is known to be the greatest blessing to be given by the deities. He even the followers of the Priest which was rumored to be numbered is in hundreds, all alone. He is so dangerous that he was able to defeat me with an ordinary sword and the 'One Sword Style: Unsheathed Slash.' technique."

Everyone think of it as a troublesome technique...

"If that's the case then he is dangerous. What do we do about it?" Gil asked my opinion.

"Aren't you just giving him too much credits?" Dan-bin said.

"We just have to be careful and keep him away from any sword." I said.

"Out of curiosity, how strong is a Priest?" Dan-bin asked.

"A Priest strength is hard to be compared, it depends in which deity blessed them. Like the Bishop, His Excellency is blessed by a god of wind which ruled the south west wind of Garsula Continent, and this god is created by Bathala himself." I said.

"How about the Priest that will come here? Is he strong?" Dan-bin asked.

"I heard that he is known to be a Hero to the Holy Covenant." I answered.

"Our Hero or their Hero, which is stronger?" Dan-bin asked without hesitation.

"I am glad that you honored me, but let us not compare." I said.

"I am also curious." Gil asked.

"I am not sure, I once fought a Priest, and it is not a bad fight, but if this Priest is known to be a Hero then it may turn out to be one of the greatest fight in history of men." I said.

After the comparison of strength, I brief everyone in our plan; to block any possible escape route, I told them that I will personally escort the Slayer to the port. Two Nights from now, the plan should be executed.

Another part of the discussion is to escort Princess Mayari when her highness will get the boy as her slave. I ordered Elite Warrior Mar to be the escort of the Princess.

"I will make sure the boy won't do anything stupid." Elite Warrior Mar said.

Speaking of Ydeo, I heard he was shouting and throwing tantrums because he was asking for food and the Watchdogs were rejecting him.

In the north sea of Ar-pi.

A ship from the Holy Covenant is coming

"We are nearing the destination." announced the sailors of the ship

"Hurry up! I want to see that bastard face again!" The Priest said.

CHAPTER 4 END…