Chronicle of the Returned King

Traps

It was exactly a week since the training regime started. Alex evaluated the situation and decided the time had come for another safety measures.

“Folks, you surprised even me with your stunning growth! At this rate, you won’t need anyone’s protection anymore!” acknowledged Alex. “I guess you lot are ready for the next in our plan!”

“Before, apart from meals and occasional rests, your days were filled with nothing but scheduled training. From now on, everyone will train only for half a day!” declared Alex, followed by the hoorays of the people who thought their exhausting days were behind them.

“Another half of the day will be utilized to reinforce the village and surrounding. I’m talking about making defensive ditches around, pitfalls, and other defense mechanisms!” continued Alex, quickly extinguished the villagers’ joys. The hoorays turned to boos real fast.

“Now, now, don’t be like that! This will be useful in the long term, consider this as your future investment,” said Alex, attempting to persuade the crowds. “Once made, you can kick back a little while until they need to be replaced or repaired. It’s kind of passive income, uh I mean passive defense! You lot get protected just by doing nothing!”

The villagers whispered at each other, growing suspicious of Alex’s true motive.

“You remind me of those cunning merchants from the South,” commented Stella. “I bet these guys don’t even have a clue of what are you talking about.”

“And that’s where you come in handy!” reacted Alex, as if expecting that opinion from the Archer. “You will instruct and supervise them in strengthening these villages by making use of booby traps. Of course, everyone will join. But you, Stella, will be the leading heroine for this task!”

Flattered, Stella turned her face away while attempting to hide her delight to be entrusted by the Hero whom she secretly had a crush on. Her flushed red face gave away her feelings, though.

“Ironic, a boobless chick is going to show people how to make booby trap,” chuckled Alex to himself, unaware that elves’ ears were highly sensitive.

“I can hear you, you pervert!” screeched Stella. “So, you gave me that task just to make fun of my developing body?”

“Err, you must have misheard me. It just happened to me that elves are known for residing in the forest, right? So, I bet you will be familiar using the vines and others from Mother Nature as defensive measures,” evaded Alex.

While that dynamic duo were in heated debate, back in the palace, King Romeus couldn’t help but to feel anxious. He’s wondering what took them so long, they were supposed to come back already after defending the village. Dreadful possibilities started to cloud on King Romeus’ mind.

While pacing back and forth in front of his throne, the king was alerted by the guards that a messenger had come, bringing back the news from the village.

“What? You’re telling me that stubborn hero is preparing the civilians to face the demon horde?” shouted the king after he heard the report from the messenger. “Who does he think he is, taking decisions by himself without my approval?”

Nelson, who just arrived, also managed to hear that unusual news. Somehow, a devious plan hatched in his mind.

“Your Majesty, your humble vassal reports in,” greeted Nelson. “May you enlighten me of what’s causing your fury to be unleashed within this room?”

“Nelson, you come at the right time!” expressed the king to see his Royal Advisor had shown up. The king then proceeded to tell Nelson of what’s happened. Although he already knew, still he showed how concerned he looked, trying to show the king that he also shared the same sentiment.

“Your Majesty, that is a serious offense, I must say,” told Nelson. “If you allow me to offer my opinion, I would suggest Your Majesty to dispatch my oldest son there. Dangerous as it is, but for the sake of this kingdom and your sovereignty, our family would gladly risk our lives.”

Touched by his advisor’s dedication, King Romeus agreed and sent Nelson’s son, Horat, to be on his way to the village with the mission of bringing Alex back to his senses.

Horat remembered his father’s instructions before his departure. As a pure blood of royalties, their family was always revered as the kingdom’s guardians for generations, either by brute force or cunning wits. That was why they couldn’t accept the fact that now Nousant Kingdom must depend its fate on some random outsiders.

Upon his arrival, Horat found the village was bustling with lively atmosphere. But it looked more like a military camp preparing for war, instead of a peaceful village which he expected before. He scanned around, searching the culprit behind all of these commotions. It wasn’t difficult for him to locate Alex, who was busy instructing the people and making sure everything was in place.

As he saw Alex who was supervising the construction of the village’s defense mechanism, he thought to himself how naïve of the king to entrust the kingdom’s future on him.

“Greetings, Sir Hero. King Romeus has sent me, Horat, to take you back to the kingdom,” greeted Horat to the point, without wasting any time for trivial stuff.

“Yeah right, you can go back and tell the king to wait. Maybe one more week?” replied Alex without even batting an eye. “Hey, you lot over there! How could you make a tilted siege tower like that? Do you think leaning tower of Pisa will be useful at war? Fix it, start it over if you must!”

Being ignored ignited a little bit of rage within Horat, but he suppressed it. He continued to pester Alex.

“It must be nice to have your own little army to fight in your stead, huh? You can reduce the risk of you being hurt in the battle by using them as your meat shield,” provoked Horat. “And when they win, you can take all the credits. This world is surely just a plaything for you, right?”

Horat was not the only one repressed his anger. Alex was actually acting all calm while gritting his teeth to see the traitor again. But since Horat hadn’t done anything yet, Alex felt it was still unnecessary for him to take action.

Receiving no response from his target, Horat continued to follow Alex around while mocking him and commenting in cynical tone.

“You call this a pitfall? Sorry, I thought it was a hole meant for the bodies of your fallen soldiers. You plan to join them later, perhaps?”

“You must be out of your mind if you think this ditch will slow down the demons. They have wings, you know?”

“This net is for traps? I bet my late grandma can knit better than this!”

Amidst the flurry of insulting remarks from Horat, Alex tried his best not to take the bait. He didn’t want to start another matter at the moment. His focus currently is preparing the village for another skirmish anytime soon. Surely, he didn’t want to spend his energy on something so trivial like this.

Horat smiled despite Alex’s composed stance. He was sure that he already planted seeds of doubt and ire within Alex’s mind. For now, he would leave him be because he already had another thing to do. He prepared to come back to execute the devious plan he devised.