9. A simple code.
Author: Goodluck Ernest.
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

The people of Hillcrest kept saluting King Luca Cole as he moved around the place with his eyes on the ground while he looked out for the people that had brought him there.

At the end of some minutes, he noticed that the people did not know what had brought him there and their thoughts of why he was there was a real good one so he had to pretend as though their thoughts were right about his coming so that he would not make the people see him as a selfish person. 

Luca and his men had to assist the people a little for over two hours before asking after the men that had brought them there. First he enquired about their chief because that would be the person who would know about the people living in the villa and if they are to get a first class information about Zachary, then that would be the person to tell them what they want to know.

They were led to the chief of Hillcrest, who was also at a point putting some things in order for the structure of the village to come back to its original state before the attack of the dragon.

"Excuse me," King Luca said from behind as he came close to the man who the villagers had pointed him to as their chief.

The elderly chief in his mid sixties turned to see who was calling, and seeing it was the king of Palind, he bowed his head, "Your majesty. What brings you to Hillcrest?" The chief added that question because he knew the level of how Hillcrest was not regarded, so for king Luca who was always busy to come there, there had to be something of great value that had brought him there.

The king answered, "I heard of the attack of my people so I came to see how they are faring after the attack."

"We both know better. Come with me inside the hut." 

The chief had already predicted this and he knew that the reason Luca had given that response was because some other villagers might hear his major reason for coming there. So he took him inside the house which he was still putting the outside in place, and when they were sitted and alone with only one of the king's men who had come into with them, for the others stayed outside, assisting the civilians in the work which they were doing.

Now that there were only three inside the house away from others, the chief continued with a question to the king. "What really brought you here to Hillcrest, your Majesty? I know it is not because you heard of the dragon's return."

Luca was not amazed by these words of the chief, and since they were no longer exposed, there was no need hiding what exactly brought him down to that place. "I'm looking for a man and I believe you should know who it is because he lives here in Hillcrest."

"You should be referring to the veteran retired warlord, Zachary Hawkins?" The chief knew that would be the only person that would bring king Luca there, but he does not know why it took so long for him to come asking for Zachary. In this wonder, he said to himself that maybe he had lost a lot of good soldiers against the orcs that keep pressing on them, and thereby needs experienced soldiers like Zachary and some others to come back into the army.

"Yes. That is exactly who I am looking for. Please tell me he survived the attack of the dragon."

The chief kept silent for a while, wearing an odd and sad face just to pull the legs of King Luca by making him think that the person that brought him there was no more.

Luca Cole fell for that trick as his mood also changed. He could not ask after Eric Claus because he believed that nobody knows about him yet and if Zach would fall, then he too would not have survived it.

At the countenance of the king fell, the chief then brightened up his face again as he said with laughter, "He is still alive. He helped us against the dragon."

Instantly, the sad mood of king Luca changed too as he asked with so much anxiety, "Where is he now? I need to see him."

"I don't really know where he has gone. His shelter was towards the hill. You can check for him there if he's still there or if he has left with those that departed from the village after the attack." That was the only information he could give to Luca concerning the man he was seeking. Maybe that information could help or not. 

"Thank you very much for this information. I shall go over to check if he is there or not." He stood to his feet and left the house in haste. His mind was at ease that Zachery was alive, therefore theis said savior would also be alive. 

He was certain of one thing that if Zachary was no longer in his said residence, then he and his men would ride after the people who were heading of the fortress of Warcton since the chief had assured him that all who left the village were heading to the same location, so Zachary's case would not be any different.

Coming before the house on the hill, it was very quiet and any man in his right senses would say that no one was home because it was mid-day so the area should not be as quiet as it was.

His intention and that of his men was to give up and turn around to ride after those that were moving to the fortress of Warcton at once instead of waiting some time trying to check the building for somebody.

They all looked at themselves and made some communication with their eyes, of which at the end, the king nodded his head, and they turned the rides at once to leave the place without knocking on the door since they were all having the same opinion. Not even one of them stuck to the plan of checking the building first. And following a simple code which states 'Once everyone has a uniform thought or opinion about a particular thing, then that opinion is right and should be acted upon with no further doubt.' So that was exactly what they did at this point in time.

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    As they proceeded back to the main village where they would divert to the path that led out of the city towards the fortress of Warcton, they came across a young lady who was coming up to the hill and was heading for the woods which was behind the house of Zachary.As they headed towards the direction of the house without the knowledge that she was heading for the woods behind it to get some dry wood for cooking. They all stopped and followed her towards the house again making her curious and anxious since she did not know why the king had seen her and followed her towards the direction which he was already coming from. Despite her curiosity, she did not have the courage to ask king Luca Cole why he was following her. All she believed was that at some point, he would have to state the reason why he was following her.Neither king Luca nor his men asked the woman any question, they followed her till they came to the back of the house and she proceeded into the forest to pick up the fir

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    The rate of speed which the king used in responding to Zach was so fast. Eric was about countering it when he accepted the challenge. So he looked at Zach who had told the king to increase the number of men that would fight against him with very annoying eyes that showed his inconvenience with the decision.Zach read the meaning behind those eyes and whispered to him, "Don't worry, you will be fine. I believe in you."But Eric was more pissed by the words that he should not worry, so could not hold his peace anymore, for he had to speak out. "I am to face this trail, so I do not accept it.""Eric....!!!" Zach stretched his name."What??!!""You can not forfeit this trial.""Yes I can. Why would you ask that I face four men at a time? Have I fought against two people before at a time yet you talk of fighting four?""I believe in you. I have taught you all that you need to know." "Well, I say, I haven learnt all that I need to learn."So King Luca had to come in, seeing that the argume

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    At the sound of king Luca Cole's voice, ordering the test to commence, the four attacked Eric at once, putting so much pressure as their swords clashed with the staff on Eric's hands. In this test, Eric's main aim was to defend himself for as long as he could because he did not plan to fight all four at a time. With this intention of his, he expected the king to see his ability and call off the test. But the test had a goal which had to be met. Defending himself for over thirty minutes was not enough and his wooden staff had begun to crack due to the swords that were crashing with it. Soon, it was about to break into two as the men did not seem to recognize this.Since he saw that the test would not be called off, Eric had to change his agenda, noe he had to beat one of the men down before his staff would completely get broken.Harris, who was taking a very close look at the fight, noticed that the staff in Eric's hands was bending and he knew that it would not last long again if Er

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    His words were pleasing to king Luca Cole as he will still have to persuade Zachary to come with them to the castle, but those were not pleasing to Zach, he was very disappointed that Eric had chosen to stick to his words and make king Luca continue to bother him."Zach, you have heard from him, he wants you to come with us to the castle. You will be safe there." Luca said.But Eric had to come in because Zach had gone short of words, it was obvious he could not argue again with the king. "Your majesty, please do not misinterpret me. If my master does not want to come with you, I don't want to go with you either. I will appeal that you bear with us. I think for the time being, the best place for us to stay is here in Hillcrest. Maybe in the near future, we will come to the castle as you have asked. We have our reason, my heart tells me that it is not yet my time so when my time comes, I shall join you in the castle without you coming for us.""It is your safety I am after here. The dr

  • Stuck in my Game World.   14. Like father like son.

    Zachary went some distance away from the house and sat under a tree facing the house then Eric came too and sat close to him without saying anything for the first few minutes."I want to be alone right now." Zach said to him. He was not comfortable with Eric's silence, he knew that soon he would say something and it would not be what he'd like to hear."I know, but your countenance leaves me very curious that my heart will know no peace unless you tell me what the problem is.""Then your heart might forever be that way because I don't think my mouth can express the way my heart feels.""Therefore you have struck me so hard that I will never recover from." Eric responded as they continued in silence, no one of them decided to speak again. Even in his silence, he kept observing Eric to see how sure he was concerning his heart being troubled. Without a doubt, it was seen in his face that there was actually trouble in his spirit, but still he chose not to say a word.The clock kept ticki

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  • Stuck in my Game World.   17. Has and is still alive.

    From the boldness in his demand, the soldiers knew that with their actions, they would never scare him, so one of them who was not focused on him earlier had to turn to him and say. "Who are you?" "Are you the captain of this troop?" Zach asked, facing the young soldier that had questioned him. His reason for answering with a question was because he does not look like a captain, even from the way he spoke, he did not have a commanding voice or tone. Even the man that had asked them to stop in the first place had a more thick and threatening voice than him."We lost our Captain, so I'm in charge,'' the man answered as he drew close to Zach looking him in the eyes.Zach wanted to laugh because he did not imagine the young soldier to be the one to assume the rank of the captain even if the actual Captain was among the fallen. He held himself from laughing and then looked at the other twenty four men to see if anyone would counter the words of the soldier but none did as he was expecting

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    192. The number one game.

    On Eric's side, he didn't expect that question to be asked, but since it was asked, he could not answer it, so he simply said. "Don't worry baby, everything will be fine. The police are there to protect you and your aunt Lauren." "From who?" She asked again. "From some very bad people." He answered, in order for her to ask another question, he added. "Can you give your aunt the phone?" "Eric, what's going on?" Lauren asked as soon as he received the phone from Jodie. "I promise I'll explain everything to you when I am bad. Just be rest assured that I am not the one they are protecting you from. It's very complicated but I promise you will understand after I've explained everything to you." "Okay bro." "Please be safe and keep Jodie safe." Eric pleaded as they said goodbye. **** Towards evening the next day, Eric Claus and Chase Stevens were called to the police station by the detective and on their arrival, the detective took them to meet a new prisoner under their custody. "M

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    191. Endangered lives.

    It took almost over five hours before the detective in charge of interrogating the suspect came out to meet Eric Claus and Chase Stevens in the police station. "I thought you were asked to leave?" he asked, to my surprise. His question called their attention, so they looked up in shock but without fear since they had committed no offense by staying. "Well," Chase began as he searched for the right words to say that would make the detective understand their reason for not going home as they were asked to. "We just couldn't leave." he said, still unable to find the best words. Eric had to help him out at this point even though he was not totally in support of them staying there for that long. "Were you people able to force the truth out of him? I just can't go home knowing that someone wants me dead and probably why?" That was a good reason to defend and justify their refusal to leave the station and the detective understood quite well so he did have to press further. "Well, you two

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    190. The arrest.

    “Just before you woke up,” Chase began, “He told Lauren and I that he would be removing you from life support because his test showed that you would never wake up again. But upon coming to see you in the ward, we found you awake, that is to say he has found out that you would be waking up any time soon so he wanted to prevent it from happening. When I asked him how it was possible that someone who he presumed to never wake up again was awake and sound, he said he didn’t know and would do some research that would explain it scientifically. He still has not given any response with the claim that he was still doing his research with some of his colleagues.” Now Eric was getting a clear understanding of something that he never put into consideration before now. It was now clear to him why he had to leave the world of Palind, letting them complete the fight which was supposed to be concluded before his departure. So he had no reason to doubt the words and suspicions of Chase. “In that cas

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    189. Discharged.

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    188. Funny but true.

    When he came into the room Eric was still gusting and laughing with his sister and daughter, Chase did not intend to disrupt that moment knowing how much such a moment felt for the family. “I am happy to see such smiles on your faces,” Chase said, “Permission to share at this moment?” “Sure you are free.” Eric answered with gladness. The fun moment lasted for a couple of hours, until it was getting late, so Lauren had to take Jodie home since they came right from school. “Jodie, I guess we should get going now.” “No, I want to spend more time with my dad.” Jodie refused because she didn’t want that moment to end. She was also scared that her father would go into a coma again. “Come on… you will have the time you want with him, he is not going anywhere. Besides, you haven’t gotten home since you closed from school today and you still have homework and school tomorrow.” Lauren gave her some reasons why they have to go home. Eric was quite happy to hear that Jodie has been going to

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    187. Awake.

    Due to the looks on both Lauren and Chase’s face, the doctor could tell what they were thinking but he could not concur with it. “That is not possible.” He opened the door and to his greatest surprise, it was exactly as he had read from the faces of Chase and Lauren, so he froze at the entrance. Seeing the manner in which the doctor became static, Chase and Lauren looked into the room, lo and behold, it was Eric Claus awake and talking to his daughter Jodie Eric. They too could not move for a moment and were short of words to say until Jodie saw them standing static at the door post and said. “Aunt Lauren, look, dad is awake.” “Of course he is…” Lauren replied as he slowly took some steps closer to the bed Eric was lying on. Eric then turned to the door and saw both his boss and the doctor. He was surprised to see Chase Stevens there instead of being in the company. He knew quite well what happened to him and did not need much explanation from them, he only asked one question perta

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    186. Reality.

    The monitor attached to Eric Claus began to beep loudly, alerting the nurses and medical personnel nearby to hurriedly come check on him and find out what was the cause of the sudden beeping of the monitor. The first nurse that ran in noticed his temperature was burning beyond normal and it was something beyond her skills so she rushed out to call the doctor in charge of his treatment while another nurse that followed after her tried to stabilize the situation pending the doctor’s arrival. In a few minutes the doctor came in to check on him and saw that it was more than a normal burning for someone in his condition, and something he hasn’t seen before throughout his entire career, but that was not going to prevent from running some quick test on him. The tests were all reporting strange feedback as they stabilized him with an injection to stop the burning. Soon he began to sweat which was still strange to the professionals. “He is dying,” The doctor gave the only explanation he co

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    185. Tricked.

    After the conversation and argument had come to an end by those words of Eric, the four of them came out of the room to meet General Aaron Gordon, General Morgan Elliot and Prince Reece Cole who were waiting for them outside. “Let’s move out.” King Luca gave the command which they have all been waiting for all these while. Afterwards they got their horses and led the soldiers out of the city of Griffins. Harris had not taken his mind off from what Eric told him, so he was still waiting to hear the outcome of Eric’s discussion with his father. So as they headed for the city of Ironbrook, he rushed forward, coming close to his father and asked in a low tune since he also thought it to be a secret. “Father, how did it go?” Zach’s mind was no longer on that, he did not perceive Harris to keep thinking of that, so he asked back as he looked into his son’s eyes curiously. “How did what go?” Still wanting to keep it a secret, Harris did not answer that question with words but with an ey

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    184. The argument.

    After Harris was out of sight, Zachary Hawkins changed the pretentious discussion. “The King will now see you Eric.” “Okay.” Eric said as they both head to meet with King Luca Cole. In a couple of minutes they were in the king’s presence and Eric said. “Your majesty, you asked to speak with me.” “Yes,” Luca turned towards him. “We are ready to move out, so we want to know if you are set.” “Ermmm….” Eric stammered because he had not told the King about his soon departure and as Zach had advised, it was wise for him to tell the king that he would soon be leaving the country Palind back to his world. he struggled to get the right words to break the news he had for Luca but his facial expression already foretold that what he was trying to say was not something pleasant to be heard. “It’s okay, Eric, you can spit it out and stop bordering on how I will take it.” Luca encouraged him to speak and stopped holding his words. With the readiness and willingness of King Luca Cole to hear wh