Chapter 191
191 We Will Show You Something
(Jane’s PoV)
I really couldn’t stand the texture of the creese. Was it the same creese that I saw in that man’s memory? The one that had both offense and defense skill in it? Why was it looking so dull in my eyes? Even though the aura that I felt was somehow mysterious, but I couldn’t feel the sinister and terrifying aura that I felt when I peeked into that man’s memory.
Was it really the right creese?
“P-Princess, please, put it back.”
I raised my eyebrows at them and put the creese back into its scabbard. Only after I did so, they could finally let out their breath that had temporarily stopped in their throats and their heart beat started to return to normal.
“Princess, are you okay?” Sir Ahmad hastily came near me and inspected me with his eyes.
“I’m fine.” I answered calmly. “What? Was something supposed to happen to me when I pulled it out?”
“Usually, some people are allowed to open the box but not allowed to pull it out from its scabbard. Those are lucky people. Those who are allowed to pull it out from its scabbard are considered unfortunate. Other than Lord Rama Satya and the previous Kings before, people who were allowed to pull it out would end up as its nourishment. It was either their soul would be drawn into it to be its slaves or their blood would be its bathing water.” Sir Ahmad stopped for a moment, but I felt my eyes widened as I heard his explanation.
That bad? No wonder my father asked me that question that day and they had such a strong reaction just now. My curiosity really nearly killed me! How close to death was I actually?
.....
“There was a King back then who had a son. For us, the son was a good person. He was so kind with above average power that we were almost sure this young man would probably the first successor of the position. For your information, we have never had a King from the same bloodline. But at that time, we thought that he would inherit his father position as the King. It was fine for us, seeing that he had already ‘met’ the creese when he accompanied his father. But, after he pulled out the creese, the creese swallowed his soul.” Sir Ahmad’s voice turned grim, even his expression changed.
It was not only Sir Ahmad, but also all the Elders in the room. It was as if they were forced to remember an unsightly memory that they had been trying so hard to forget.
Well, seeing a living human was being swallowed by a ‘thing’ could really be considered a nightmare. I knew what it felt to have such a memory.
But, the creese swallowed him? I stared at the creese in my hands.
Are you really that dangerous? Why did you do it? I believe you have some explanation, right?
I had those thoughts in my mind, asking that creese and ignored the fact that it couldn’t hear me.
Or maybe it could, who knew?
After I said those, the creese in my hand trembled and let out its warm glow. Before I could react, the creese went out from its scabbard by itself and presented itself in front of me.
The others jumped back hastily when they saw the creese was moving. I was the only one left in the middle of the room, staring at the creese that was floating in front of me. It looked like it was scrutinizing me from head to bottom, judging me.
[We won’t hurt human with pure heart]
I was stunned when I heard the voice in my head. I was sure the voice belonged to two creatures or whatever it was. The voices were overlapping, sounding like a bad quality speaker. However, I couldn’t see the origin of the voice.
Also, what did he mean by ‘pure heart’? Did it mean the reason it harmed that King’s son was because he harbored ill-intention inside his heart? Well, I bet these Elders and Sir Ahmad didn’t know about that.
My eyes were still being fixated on the creese. No matter what, I couldn’t turn my head or look at the others. For the others, I might look like I was being hypnotized or possessed, but in reality, I just couldn’t move. A big force was holding me back to my place.
“Pardon my ignorance, but why aren’t you guys with my father right now?” I asked to them inside my mind.
[He purposely left us here. No matter what, we can’t go to him]
I frowned. Why?
[Human, are you going to take us with you?]
The voice changed. This time, it was only one entity that was talking to me.
“Yes.” I nodded. “My father asked me to bring you along to the South Sea.”
[South Sea? The Queen needs us to do something?]
The voiced changed again. It was the other guy who had higher pitch of voice.
“Do you know the Queen? Have you met her before?”
[Rather than saying we have met her, it was more précised to say that we saw her once]
“Last question.” I said to the creese. “What are you?”
[You’ll know it one day, human.]
With that, the creese went back to its scabbard and the invisible force that made me unable to move disappeared. I shook my head slightly as my hands caressed the creese.
[Human, we’ll show you something before you bring us out.] The voice came back.
I arched my eyebrows in confusion and my vision went white. In a second, it came back but my surrounding had changed. I was brought to a place that felt familiar but also unfamiliar for me. Then, I saw the man that I had crippled just a day before.
What the creese showed me was more like fragments of memory that came and went in a smoke. Sometimes, I couldn’t even hear the sound or voice in the fragments of memory. Even so, I realized what it had been showing me.
All the family members of that man, including the children, were guilty of cursing more than one hundred people. The youngest child, the ten year old girl, was responsible for making some of her friends died with a terrible sickness that even doctors couldn’t find the cause.
With her innocent appearance, people wouldn’t link their deaths to her. Actually, not only her, but also all the family members had a rather good image in front of other people’s eyes. People wouldn’t think that they were the cause of several deaths in their place.
Evil, right? But then, they met my father. My father wouldn’t make a move that cruel to them if they didn’t threaten him, actually. From those fragments of memory, I could only assume that it was related to my mother and me. Our whole family, actually, including my uncles and aunts. It triggered my father’s anger that he made that killing move.
And it all happened before my father reached Satu Village, before he was officially appointed as the King. He had already had chemistry with Black Creese.
I couldn’t say I wasn’t proud of my father. A smug smile appeared on my face as I realized how awesome my father was.
After watching and interpreting the whole fragments of memory, I finally returned to my body. The first thing that I saw was the faces of the Elders and Sir Ahmad who had a worried look on their faces.
“Princess, are you okay?” Sir Ahmad asked.
I blinked my sore eyes then nodded. Damn, how long did I not blink because of watching that fragments of memory? My eyes were so sore that I started to tear up.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” asked one of the Elders.
“I’m sure.” I nodded and moved to put the creese back into its box. “I was just having a conversation with Black Creese.” I smiled.
Should I tell them that the creese could detect people’s malicious intents that were why not everyone could touch it?
“No, I’m not going to inherit this creese.” I added hastily as I saw their weird expression on their old faces. “The creese made sure of that limit to me.”
The odd smile that was threatened to appear in their face disappeared, but the twinkle in their eyes remained. It was as if they were more relieved that I was fine than finding a successor of the position.
“You can take the creese with you, Princess.” Sir Ahmad smiled as he reminded me of my initial purpose of coming to this village.
“I promise I’ll take care of it.” I said to them.
“Of course, we’re sure about that.” The Elders nodded their heads.
They were so cooperative that I almost thought it was all a test or a set up for me. After all, some of them openly said their doubts about me. But, they were pretty rational after being shown with my real capability and whole-heartedly accepting me.
“Princess, since you’re able to take the creese with you, are you going to leave this village as soon as possible?”
I turned my head to the Elder that was asking me that question. I could notice a hesitation in his voice. “I suppose so.” I nodded at the old man.
“This old man begs you to postpone your journey.” He bowed a bit.
“Why?” There must be something that caused this old man to say so.
“Start from tomorrow, there will be thick mist in this forest. It might be a natural phenomenon, but actually it is gathering for those entities. A portal will be opened nearby and when that happens, humans would usually get lost. Even though Princess is the Master of White Army, it is better to be safer, right?” He patiently explained to me.
“Ah, right. Good thing you remember that!” Another Elder exclaimed.
My eyes lit up in excitement when I heard that a portal would be opened nearby. “Is it okay for me to visit it?”
My reaction might have stunned these poor old men as they had been staring me like I was a bit crazy. Other people would stay far away from the portal, but here I asked whether I could visit it or not.
“Err, about that... We truly had no idea. We all stay in the village when that time comes every year. Since this village had its protective charm, those entities coming from the other side can’t enter our village at all.” Sir Ahmad explained.
Such a strong protective charm! “Who made it? The charm, I mean.” Maybe I could learn some new tricks about charms from this person.
“It’s Lord Rama Satya.”
The excitement disappeared from my face. Not because I didn’t believe what they said was true, but it was because I needed to be patient for I still needed to take him back with me quickly before I could learn anything about charms from him.
“Ah well, how long will it last?”
“Three days. Only after that Princess can go out safely.”
I nodded my head. “Three days, huh? Then, I’ll spend my time training with the men.” I got up and straightened my clothes.
“Then, Gentlemen, please, excuse me.” I bowed down to down and turned around to leave the hall with a box with the Black Creese inside in my hands. They had changed the black box with an ordinary one to avoid any suspicion towards me.
I walked towards where I entered and a bit surprised when I saw Siji was there. I thought he had returned back to the camp, but he was there, guarding the door silently.
“You’re still here?”
“Aren’t you curious whether you can visit the portal tomorrow?” Siji asked.
In a flash, my eyes were on him, with my head nodded enthusiastically.