The next King

Chapter 4

The next morning, Regis returned to the city and submitted himself to them again. Chrollo was surprised. He had seen when Regis was escaping but didn't bother stopping him since he too had sensed the danger.

"You're welcome to prison again," Chrollo said to him.

After having Regis locked up again, Chrollo went to Regis' little village to find out what he had defended it from. To his greatest surprise, the head of seven werewolves were freshly hung on stakes in the center of the village.

"Who did this?" he asked. But no one seemed willing to answer. They knew who he was and how powerful but it seemed they had greater respect for the cause of protecting the identity of their fighter.

"You don't need to tell me," he smiled, "I have him already." He rode off, back to his kingdom to inquire from Regis himself, how he was able to handle the threat of a hundred men. When Chrollo returned to Regis' cell, he came dressed in casual wears.

"I'm intrigued," he said from the doorpost. "You're not the prince I want to see this morning. I need the one who looks like a girl," Regis bluntly said.

"Aaargh," Chrollo chuckled, "Luchi was decorated by the heavens but that doesn't mean he looks like a girl."

"What makes you say I look like a girl?" came Luchi's voice from the window. He had been spying on Regis.

"Climb in brother. That's not noble of you," Chrollo said.

"It doesn't matter as long as it's this bush brat!" Luchi said.

"Do you like me?" Regis asked Luchi, "cause you're my favourite of you three brothers." A blush flushed across Luchi's face but then he instantly maintained composure,

"I know what you're trying to do. But sorry, it doesn't work on us brothers." Chrollo chuckled, "well, you've got some answering to do, Regis." "I see. You've even learnt my name," Regis said boastfully.

"Cocky brat!" Luchigan splurted. "So tell me," Chrollo started, "how were you able to defeat seven werewolves last night?"

"Werewolves? What werewolves?" Regis asked him. Luchi was surprised,

"there's no way this imp can do that." "I'm not an imp but then who says its possible for even you to kill seven werewolves all alone?" Regis asked Chrollo.

"Well, I must admit that that will be a tough battle for me," Chrollo said.

"Werewolves are very deadly," Luchi added.

"Well, Regis, I'll start from the fact that you leaving this dungeon last night was a call of serious attention," Chrollo said, "you acted like it all depended on you."

"Of course it all depends on me! How will my people eat if I don't hunt down the evening swines that go to drink water by sundown?" Regis asked.

"You're toying with my brother," Luchigan said.

"I don't know what he's talking about," said Regis,

"I only went to catch swines last night." "You should better talk cause you may be of value to us," Luchigan said.

"He's right. You could be of value to the kingdom. You could join the knighthood or hunters league. Anyone! As long as you have something good to offer," Chrollo proposed.

"I won't fall for that cheap bargain!" Regis laughed. When king Galliard returned that same morning, his face bore nothing but worry and anxiety. He ate only a little from his breakfast and couldn't sleep. His wife came to soothe him to sleep but that too wasn't working. She was so concerned about what was bothering him.

"Talk to me, my king," she said, "what has been bothering you since your return?" The king didn't want to talk at first. But seeing that he had been quite for so long, he decided to let her know what his problem was.

"We need to get stronger warriors," he started.

"What for?" she asked, not knowing she had interrupted him.

"I'm coming to that," he said. King Galliard liked to make his speeches narrative. The craziest thing was that he loved speeches. Even while having a normal conversation with someone, he could suddenly switch to rendering a speech to that person. This was because when he was selected as a kingship candidate, his brothers mocked him cause he couldn't give a speech. He had been trained by a barbarian and had this barbaric influence to himself. Because of that, he decided to learn how to make good speeches and that was the reason he did that till now. To let his brothers know that it wasn't late for him to get better. He continued, "when I went for the council of kings, the meeting started gracefully. And for the first time in six years, recorded no conflict between any king. Reason being that a new threat has befallen all of us. We have a new and common enemy to face. He's a wicked monster and currently is weak. But if we go against him and he manages to fully recover, I doubt he'll delay for a second to waste us all. At the same time, we cannot sit and watch him roaming around at will. We have to do something."

“I see... Who's this threat that dreads the kings?" his wife asked.

"Who else, if not Zodd?" Galliard said to her.

“Zodd? It doesn't ring a bell," she shook her head. "Don't tell me you haven't heard the story of Zodd, from a thousand years ago. The wizard who almost destroyed the every nation. He was overwhelmed by his own power and sort to destroy everything in sight. An he had this hatred toward kings cause the king he served used him as an underdog," Galliard said. "Look at how you just talked like you know who he is. Isn't he just a story you were told," said the queen. "I knew that's what you'd say," king Galliard sighed. "I wasn't born a thousand years ago, so I don't expect myself or anyone I know to know him," she said. "That's one thing with you women. You fail to read about history," said king Galliard, standing up from his bed. "Rest back, darling. We are going to conquer whoever he is" she assured him dragging him down with a kiss so he could fall asleep