Episode 53: The Capital of Aezeokar (3)

******** Prophet's POV ********

The 'Lost Hero' is finally here.

All my sacrifices will not be for naught. The crimes I committed in the name of the Goddess and the lies will finally stop once the Lost Hero will slay the ender dragon.

"Prophet? Are you listening? What should we do next?"

I can hear someone talking to me in the room. We are having a meeting in the church right to discuss what to do next.

It appears that I lost focus on my objective. I must stay alert since King Carolus must never know what we are hiding beneath this church.

"Just make sure to let King Carolus dark to what we are doing and add more guards to the church just in case," I said to them.

"What about Lady Rose? We didn't account for her to come with King Carolus. She will be a problem once we start convincing King Carolus to the Goddess' plans." said one of the priest in the room.

"Just lock her in her room and don't let her out. Make sure to say that it is the king's order." I answered.

"There was an invasion of phantoms these last few days in the eastern territory. Shouldn't we return the troops and ships that we borrowed from them?" asked the other priest.

"No. We need every soldier we can muster for the final battle. We are finally close to end our suffering." I answered him.

The meeting continued for a while until I finally dismissed them and head to my room.

I am busy reading books and planning for the coming conversation with King Carolus. I need to be ready and able to convince him to my plans.

I noticed that there is a commotion outside.

What is going on?

I opened the door of my room and quickly head to the direction where people are gathering.

It is Lady Rose and she is dragging someone on her hand. She is dragging the soldier with relative ease.

So this is the gifts of the Goddess that my informants are talking about. They witnessed Lady Rose performing incredible things during the invasion of phantoms in the eastern territory.

Two priests are following behind me while I also follow Lady Rose to wherever she is going.

She looks really angry. She is probably not happy that I ordered to lock her in her room.

She suddenly threw the soldier towards the crown prince making both of them slammed into the iron door of the king's room and breaking the door down.

What tremendous strength Lady Rose possessed. Maybe I should include her in my plans instead of having only King Carolus participate in it.

Lady Rose will definitely find out that it is not the king who ordered to imprison her in her room so I have to think of an excuse to make this incident pin on someone else.

I was busy formulating a plan in my head when suddenly there is someone shouting coming from the direction of the room where King Carolus is staying.

Lots of soldiers are running towards the room of King Carolus and so am I and the two priests who came with me.

To everyone surprised, the room of King Carolus is filled with dead illagers.

The lanterns of the soldiers here are barely lighting the room but everyone can still see the slaughter.

So this is the capabilities of a man who is destined to save this world.

He is holding an illager in his hands. It seems like there is still one of them alive.

"What do you want from me?" asked King Carolus to the illager.

"The ender dragon has a message for you." answered the illager.

What? So the point of this attack is to deliver a message? How did they even get inside the citadel? We have thousands of soldiers guarding this place and a thousand more guarding the walls. It has been years since I saw an illager. None of them are able to step on this kingdom.

"What message?" King Carolus asked.

The illager suddenly started laughing and King Carolus is still calm.

"You will never get back home. Hahaha." answered the illager to King Carolus question.

King Carolus calm face quickly turned into anger.

What is that illager talking about? Home?

No, I can't let them get through King Carolus. We still need him. The world still needs him.

"You," I said to one of the priests who is standing beside me.

"Yes, Prophet." he quickly replied.

"Load a crossbow and kill that man," I ordered and he quickly followed my order without question.

The priest equipped a crossbow in his hands and aimed at the illager.

He fired the crossbow and hit the illager on the head killing him in an instant.

King Carolus quickly turned his head towards us and his eyes are full of hatred. Everyone is really scared right now like King Carolus' eyes alone can kill a human being.

******* Carolus' POV ********

Who is that bloody crossbow-wielding priest?

Why did he suddenly killed this person? I still need to ask him some question like how did he know that I'm not from this world. No, he said it was the message of the ender dragon so ender dragon is the one who knows that I'm not from around here.

I drop the dead body on the floor and started walking towards the priest who killed the illager.

I'm really angry right now and it seems that it is showing in my face since most of the soldiers are afraid of me and are slowly walking backward except for priest and other two people.

I was about to grab the neck of the priest when suddenly an old man put his hand on my shoulder.

"King Carolus. Please. I need you to stay calm for a moment. He has a reason for doing it. His family got killed from illager raids. I hope you can forgive him." the old man said but I'm still full of fury.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

My yoga skills are now in effect.

After exhaling a huge air and opening my eyes, I become calm and steady.

"Thank you, your majesty." the old man said to me.

The old man turned around and face the soldiers.

"Soldiers. Can you please clean King Carolus room and increase the security of the citadel. Also, start checking the city for any more illagers who managed to get inside." the old man ordered the soldiers.

The soldiers bowed to the old man while walking past him and they also bowed to me.

"King Carolus. It is unfortunate that this incident ruined your rest. It will take a while for them to clean the bodies. May I offer you a cup of hot water in my room while waiting for them to finish." said the old man.

I didn't say anything and just nodded my head.

We started walking in the hallway when suddenly I can see Rose in front of me.

I just ignored Rose and just walked past her.

I'm not in the mood right now for any conversation. My head is so jumbled up and I need to sort my thoughts out.

We managed to reach the old man's room and we quickly sit on the chairs.

The old man places a cup of hot water in the table in front of me and I quickly grab it and started drinking.

Whoa! That did the trick. My chest is so hot right now and my head is starting to feel better.

"I remember that I still haven't introduced myself to you. My name is Terrick but you can call me 'Prophet'." said the old man.

"Carolus Rex."

"I know your name, your majesty. You're the only one the Goddess keeps talking about." The old man said this with a huge smile on his face.

Okay. I didn't know that I have a celestial being who is keeping an eye on me.

I don't really know how to proceed with this conversation. I really want to ask him to ask the Goddess the question 'What am I doing in this world?'.

I was about to say something when the Prophet started talking.

"It is great to finally have you with us, your majesty. I don't know your reason for hiding for this long but I know that you probably have a valid reason for it so I can totally understand."

Oh no. Don't tell me this guy will start talking about destiny.

"It is finally time for you to face your destiny."

I freaking knew it.

I don't know how to react to this. Every time someone brought up the destiny thing, I just ignore them but this time I can't do that since I need this guy to be able to communicate with the Goddess.

The Prophet started babbling about some things I don't really care and I just listen to him without interrupting.

He also started laying a map on the table saying things like I need to get here and grab a thing to open the thing in the other side of the map so I can fight the ender dragon but none of his information managed to stay on my head since all I can think about is my home.

I was about to fall asleep when suddenly, for the first time, the words of the Prophet managed to catch my attention.

"You need to trust me, your majesty. For this plan, victory will be assured."

Okay. Enough with this conversation.

I quickly stand on my chair and excuse myself. My room is probably clean right now so I quickly told the Prophet that I needed to rest since it is already late and started walking back to my room.

Luckily, my room is finally free from dead bodies and they even change every sheets, carpets, and curtain in the room. It is a bit excessive but I didn't mind since I can finally sleep.

I hop on the bed and close my eyes.

I cleared my thoughts and covered myself with the blanket.

'The problem of tomorrow is tomorrow's problem.' I said to myself to make me fall asleep.

******* Rose's POV ********

How did the illagers get here in this citadel and most importantly, where King Carolus is going and why he is with the Prophet?

King Carolus just past me and didn't even said a single word or spare another glance. He is still calm even with all the things that just happened. I don't really know what is going on with that man's mind.

But I can let this chance go. The Prophet will absolutely say some things to King Carolus which means I need to know what it is.

I quickly run back to my room, ignoring my uncle and my cousin. The matter about my uncle's order to imprison me will have to wait until later or tomorrow.

I managed to reach my room and quickly get inside.

"Rose. Ahck! Rose."

I can hear my parrot saying my name while sitting on the table.

I quickly approached him and grab him and make him sit on my shoulder.

"Jack. I need to listen to me. I have an important job for you."

"Job. Ahck! Job."

"Yes, job."

I started walking towards the bookshelf place on the side of the wall of the room.

I move the bookshelves out of the way and was surprised to see that the entrance to the secret passage is still here.

I guess with all the changes that happened to the kingdom while I'm away, they didn't change the hidden passageways in the citadel.

I grab a lantern in my inventory and quickly walk inside the tunnels and navigate to the nearest place where I think is the room of the Prophet.

I managed to reach the place and I think beyond this stone wall is the room of the Prophet.

"Jack. I need you to listen to the conversation behind that wall and repeat everything you hear to me. Do you understand?" I said to him.

"Ahck! Understood."

This parrot of mine is special since I trained him myself to be able to hear voices and sound behind thick walls and far away distances and also be able to say it back.

It didn't take long for Jack to start talking.

Jack speak in the voice of the Prophet and King Carolus but mostly the Prophet. King Carolus is a quiet type of person so it makes sense

I just listen to Jack while sitting and leaning my back again the wall since I got tired of standing around.

I'm surprised by the information I just heard.