Paths to destiny.

Chapter 5. I'm not a child.

After the long silence in the room, Mueller raised his face and looked at Gabriel. "I guess you are here to seek revenge for your friends?"

"That would be after I have discovered who they truly were and why they were killed. If for no good reason, then I'll have to avenge their death."

"Take my advice son, you can't avenge their death. So just return to Gytle. Continue your life as though it never happened. The people you are after are not easy to kill. In short, you can't defeat them all by yourself. Even if you gather all the men from Gytle, you still can not get the revenge you seek."

Those words interpreted one thing. His father was not worthy of death. He was innocent of all possible crimes. But Gabriel was not yet satisfied, he wanted a better explanation of who his father was. "Are you saying they were killed for no good reason?"

Mueller nodded.

"Why were they killed?"

"I'm sure you don't want to know because you won't like it after hearing it. To be plain, it's something that has to do with people from Tadeas. Get back on way, return to Gytle and never mention to anyone that you are from Gytle until you leave the country."

"I have come so far to go back without finding the answers I need. I want to know why they were killed, even though it would hurt in the end." 

Noticing the seriousness in Gabriel's words, Mueller had to give him some conditions, "Promise that after I tell you what you want to know, you will return to your town and forget about getting revenge."

"Yes, promise," Gabriel said casually.

But Mueller knew that he would not keep to that promise, so he had to put it straight to him, "If you don't return home, then I will surely report you. And trust me, the soldiers will find you in less than no time."

Gabriel could tell that Mueller was serious about his threats, but he was not afraid of it. His priority was getting answers about who his father was.

Since Mueller had made his threat clear to Gabriel, and had seen that Gabriel knew he meant every word, he began.

"Ronald Rodgers was the fourth and youngest son of last King Rodgers Chung. It has been over twenty years since King Rodgers died, and following his death, was the death of his sons. The four sons of King Rodgers died defending this country in the field. Leaving the throne without an heir. The dead bodies of three Princes were found after the war but that of Ronald was never found, despite how hard the soldiers had searched. After a long time of searching to no avail, Ronald was also believed to have fallen with his brothers. So the four generals of Tadeas decided to ascend the throne, but no general agreed for the other to rule. They were all poisoned with the desire to rule and it gave birth to an unending struggle between them. With the struggle for kingship amongst the generals, the scepter was lost, so no one could wield it."

Then Abby, who was hearing this story for the first time had to interrupt Mueller. "How did it get missing? And why didn't the generals find it since they wanted to rule?"

But Mueller ignored her questions since it had nothing to do with her. While he said to Gabriel, who was full of surprises after learning of his identity. "I believe you have learnt enough about the man you seek?"

"Of course. But you didn't tell me how this had to with his murder. If he was finally found after these years, why then was he killed instead of bringing him back to take his place as their king?"

"You still don't get it?" Mueller was expecting Gabriel to be very smart to have understood why Ronald was killed.

"Get what?!"

"Like I said, they are poisoned with the desire to rule, so they don't want him to return and shatter their desire."

"I see… Thank you very much for the information. At least I now know where I stand." Gabriel spilled out without knowing when he released those last words.

Surely that last word had a lot of interpretation, and Mueller being full of age, gave so many meaning to the word.

"What do you mean by where you stand?"

"Sorry, did I just say that?" Gabriel asked. He didn't know that he was too loud.

"Yes you did."

So he tried to defend himself, "I mean I have been cleared of my queries."

"I'm not a child. You can tell Abby that and she would believe you."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you suppose those words mean?"

"Who are you?" Mueller looked directly into Gabriel's eyes.

"I already told you. My name is Gabriel."

"Not that. Who are you to Ronald?"

"I'm just a friend to him."

"And by that, you mean you are his son right?"

"What?! I told you I was friends with both him and his son."

"You can't fool me. I can tell that you are his son. The resemblance is there, and I can see it clearly so stop acting." Mueller revealed all his observations so far and there was no way Gabriel could deny this fact anymore. His curiosity has told Mueller who he was.

"How did you know?" Gabriel was shocked.

Then Abby shouted at his proclamation, "You are the king?!"

"No, I'm not. I am just the son of Newton."

"You are saying the same thing. Your father is the heir to the throne, and that makes you his successor."

"I don't want to have anything to do with the throne. All I want now is to bring the killers of my father to justice."

"You can't run away from destiny, son. If you must avenge your father, then you must take your place as king and bring this war to an end."

But Gabriel declined the throne, "I don't need to ascend any throne in order to avenge my father. I know those who I should go after for killing my father. As for the war in Tadeas, it can continue for all I care."

"You can't do this alone. Your people need you. Tadeas needs you."

"I only have one people, and that is the people of Gytle." Gabriel stands up from the chair he had been sitting on. "Thank you once again for the information sir Mueller. I really appreciate it." Then he walks out of the house in haste.

"Go after him, find out where he is heading." Mueller commanded his granddaughter and she quickly ran out after Gabriel. But as she came out of the house, he had vanished out of sight.

"Where did he go?" Abby asked herself as she could not believe her eyes. It was so soon for him to have just disappeared.