A Man Without Fear

Hiroshi didn't stop here.

He wanted to take maximum advantage of the moment and strike while the iron was hot, so he raised his voice even louder, almost as if he were shouting:

"BEFORE YOU ALL DECLARE ME A MADMAN OR A TRAITOR, TERRORIST AND MUCH MORE, I WANT THE ENTIRE WORLD TO HEAR THIS! OUR KING SVULS OPAR HISENTER IS KNOWN FOR HIS WISDOM AND VIRTUE, BUT TODAY I OPEN YOUR EYES! I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME AFTER THIS, PERHAPS I'LL DIE OR BE EXECUTED ON THE SPOT WITH THE NAME OF TRAITOR OR TERRORIST, BUT AT THIS POINT I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!

I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT THAT OLD MAN THERE WILL DO TO ME, BECAUSE I AM ALISTAIR VASSAIR, A MAN WHO HAS LIVED HIS ENTIRE LIFE WITHOUT FEAR AND WILL ALSO DIE THAT WAY!

SO, DEAR WORLD, WRITE THIS DOWN!"

Then Hiroshi ran, grabbed a file from his desk, opened it and started shouting again. No one was stopping him because everything that was happening was very fast and everyone just wanted to listen and do nothing else.

"JOURNALISTS, WRITE! TWO YEARS AGO, A GIRL NAMED GIULIA DESCIOURIL WAS RAPED! SHE, EVEN IN THAT STATE, CAME TO MAKE A REPORT TO THE POLICE! BUT GUESS WHAT HAPPENED! NOTHING! NO ONE DID ANYTHING!

WHY?

BECAUSE OUR KING PREVENTED IT! BECAUSE THE MAN WHO RAPED HER WAS AN IMPORTANT GENERAL OF THE ROYAL PALACE!

THEN, FIVE YEARS AGO, THE TWO BROTHERS WHO WERE EXECUTED IN FRONT OF EVERYONE, SAYING THEY WERE THIEVES!

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY STOLE?

NOT GOLD!

NOT MONEY!

NOT ANY OTHER PRECIOUS THING, BUT YES, TWO APPLES!

YES! TWO APPLES! THOSE TWO WERE DYING OF HUNGER, SO THEY STOLE TWO APPLES!

AND OUR KING, TO SHOW THE PEOPLE HIS POWER, HAD THEM EXECUTED!

AND THOSE TWO BROTHERS, BY AGE... THE OLDER ONE WAS TWELVE YEARS OLD AND THE YOUNGER ONE NINE!

THIS IS JUSTICE! KILLING TWO CHILDREN!

WHY? BECAUSE THEY'RE POOR? BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE THE POWER TO BREAK OUR OLD KING'S FACE?

AND I'LL ALSO TELL YOU THIS! OUR DEAR LAWYER, A FEW DAYS AGO, HERE IN THIS VERY COURT, SAID THAT MR WILHELM SPENT THOSE ONE HUNDRED FIFTY MILLION DRAVS ON REBUILDING NORDIC VILLAGES! SO I SENT ONE OF MY MEN THERE!

AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE TOLD ME?

THAT THE STATE GAVE US THIS MONEY BECAUSE IT WANTED TO, BUT IT HAD TO!

YES, YOU HEARD RIGHT!

THOSE VILLAGES FOR TEN PREVIOUS YEARS HAD BEEN ASKING FOR MONEY BECAUSE, DUE TO NATURAL DISASTERS, THEIR VILLAGES WERE DESTROYED!

AND THEY WERE ASKING THE STATE FOR MONEY TO REBUILD, BUT WHAT DOES THE STATE DO?

IT BECOMES DEAF!

AND THANKS TO MY CASE THEY WERE FORCED TO GIVE THAT MONEY, OTHERWISE HOW COULD OUR LAWYER EJIN LOZZO CONTRADICT ME?"

Hiroshi's speeches went on and on. No one stopped him, since even the guards were listening to everything and wanted to know everything about their kingdom. Hiroshi was like someone stripping away all the government's masks, and to stop this someone had to act.

And it was none other than the queen, who lost control over herself.

Hiroshi hadn't finished speaking yet when a loud sound was heard.

And in the blink of an eye, Hiroshi turned and saw the queen risen from her seat with her hand aimed at him. The king was trying to stop her but without success: the queen's immense height was nothing but like an elephant before the king.

The queen's fingers were slowly glowing.

Hiroshi's neurons sent the danger signal.

MOVE!

MOVE!

The time was very short. Hiroshi understood it and made a desperate jump, almost foolish, perhaps even useless, to get out of the queen's aim.

But it was too late.

Hiroshi had made that very fast jump that tried to fight against time and destiny, but he saved himself only halfway because in all this his right arm couldn't get out of the aim and was caught by the queen's magic that cut off his arm.

Everything had been so fast that people realized it very late, when they saw Hiroshi on the ground with his arm cut off screaming in pain, the queen standing with her hand toward him, and the king trying to stop her.

The first to react was Rania who, seeing him, screamed:

"HIROSHIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!"

After which, everyone started running from one side to the other thinking they were the next to be struck, since they weren't thinking with their heads.

The judge tried to stop it by banging his gavel, but without success.

In that chaos there were Hiroshi's screams that drowned out everything. Those screams were intimidating, almost as if the heart itself was breaking.

Meanwhile the doctors intervened quickly and went to Hiroshi, still on the ground. Gradually he got tired of screaming, his eyes grew heavy, and after a while he fainted while still bleeding brutally.

This move by Hiroshi had been like killing himself.

Something he perhaps would never forget.