Chapter 5:

The King's Son

Tears of Wars: The Heroes are Born


That night...

“Kong, I’d better get going. I sense something amiss around here. Don’t worry. I won’t let a single monster harm my friends,” Shinra said as he hurried away.

“Take care, Shinra.”

Shinra had noticed something strange around him. He then investigated the surrounding areas and sure enough, he saw two Wolfies and a Torto patrolling. He approached them.

“Young Master, where have you been? Your father told us to follow you into the woods,” the Torto said.

Shinra made an excuse so they would not be suspicious. “I was just looking for some equipment. You guys hurry back home,” he said firmly.

Having an incredible sense of smell, the Wolfies sniffed another human scent. They detected other human’s scent from his body.

Shinra saw their suspicious behavior and asked them, “What are you doing, Wolfie?!”

One of the Wolfies replied in a slightly defiant tone, “Nothing. I’m just looking for any prey around here.”

Shinra ordered, “You’d better go home. I’ll catch up with you later.”

They answered in unison, “All right, Young Master, we’re leaving.”

On the way home, the Wolfie told the Torto that he noticed the human scent. Not just one, but several humans.

“Hey, Torto, do you smell a human other than Shinra? Is he hiding someone?”

“Yeah, but let’s not talk about it. The Young Master has already said there’s nothing.”

“Why do you trust him so much? Is it because you love him that you let him do as he pleases?”

“Enough, Wolfie!! Don’t make me hurt you. I’ve been with the Young Master since he was little. He’s like my own son. I truly respect him. I cherish him. That’s my duty as a royal soldier. Thus, I’m not allowed to have feelings beyond that.”

“But wouldn’t that be dangerous for Shinra?”

“I said enough!! Watch your words. Call him the Young Master. If I’m not around, you can address him however you wish. However, if I’m around, you must address him as the Young Master!!”

Looking away, the Wolfie said, “You’re behaving more and more like the Sharkins, all right.”

“Let me tell you. He’s strong. He could protect himself. His attack is on par with the Sharkins and his defense is on par with me. So don’t underestimate the Young Master!!”

“Okay, okay, okay. All right, Torto. I get it,” the Wolfie said, walking away.

Shinra tracked down the village where Terry, Darma, Kenue, and Roman lived. He wanted to make sure something bad did not happen.

Moments later, he came across a village. He got off his horse and entered the village. The villagers were wary of the emblem on his right shoulder, shaped like an eagle, because they knew there was a human kingdom protected by monsters bearing the insignia.

The village head walked over to him. “Excuse me. Are you really from the Sacred Hawk Kingdom?”

Shinra retorted, “What is it to you, old man? Can’t anyone come and stop by as one pleases? Does this village ban people just because they’re from a different place?”

“That is not true. I am just worried. I thought you were like him. All right, please enjoy the place, young man.”

Shinra’s father was friends with the village chief. They lived, played together, and grew up together in the same village. However, they had taken different paths.

“Just call me Shinra. That’s my name,” Shinra said, taking a sip of his drink.

The villagers were taken aback. “Shinra?! He’s the son of King Tertoro of the Sacred Hawk Kingdom. Oh, so he’s the king’s son. What is he doing here? Does he want to snitch on us? What to do?” they said in panic.

That useless old fart. I’m the one who has to take the brunt of his misdeeds. Shinra said to the villagers, “Don’t worry. I’m not like my father.”

A few moments later, the air was fraught with tension and the silence hung thick in the air. Unable to bear it any longer, Shinra left the village.

Meanwhile...

“Hey, I just remembered I needed something. You go first, Torto. I’ll catch up with you later.” Then, the two Wolfies left.

“Okay.”

The Torto let them go without any suspicion. If he had known, maybe he would have stopped them. Alas, he did not notice it.

The Wolfies left, following Shinra’s scent. The way Shinra spoke down to them got on their nerves. Just because he was the son of the human king, he had looked down on monsters. He cussed and shouted as he pleased. They rushed toward Shinra.

Meanwhile, Shinra had just left the village and was going to return to the kingdom. He met the two Wolfies sometime later.

“Hello, Young Master. What are you doing here? Did you just find a village?” one of the Wolfies sneered.

“Why did you go against my order? I told you to return to the kingdom, didn’t I?!”

“Will you take us to where the humans are? I want to taste them. I bet they taste delicious. Or maybe you want to protect them, huh?”

Enraged, Shinra drew both swords at once. He jumped off his horse and talked to them calmly in a menacing tone.

“You already know for sure. If I wield my two swords, even the Sharkins are no match. You should understand your situation. Scram. Don’t you dare set foot in this area again or else you’re going to bite the dust!!”

“How amusing, Young Master. You can beat the Sharkins in a one-on-one. Now, we’re two against one. You think we’re afraid of your bluff, brat?!”

“You really do have a death wish, don’t you?” Shinra said, shaking his head.

The Wolfies went in the opposite directions. They aimed at Shinra, who was standing still, with their long claws. They jumped up toward Shinra.

“Forgive us, Young Master. We have to kill you here. We could say that the one who killed you was a gorilla near the cave. Is his name Kong? Take this. Hyah!” They continued to rile Shinra up.

The Wolfies had seen Shinra meet Kong. The calm Shinra then turned brutal. He dodged their attack.

Shinra chopped off one of the Wolfies’ leg with one slash. His movements were brilliant and swift, a stunning display of cunning and strength. He wielded his twin swords as if they were extensions of his body.

The Wolfie fell to the ground.

Not giving up, the other Wolfie attacked from behind and managed to injure Shinra’s face with his claw. He attacked for the second time.

Shinra was going to jump to keep his distance, when his leg was bitten by the Wolfie who had been struck by his sword. For a moment, his gaze was diverted to the Wolfie who was biting him.

“Die, brat!! You think we’re weaker than the Sharkins? We’re way faster!!”

“Damn. I let my guard down.”

The Wolfie quickly jumped at Shinra and aimed his attack at Shinra’s stomach.

Shinra slashed at the Wolfie who bit him and blocked the other Wolfie’s blow while tossing his own attack at the Wolfie.

The Wolfie received a severe wound, but Shinra was also injured in the stomach. He doubled over. When he looked back, he saw that the Wolfie got away, while the other died there.

He immediately thought about warning the villagers and Kong, to ask them to leave immediately because the monsters would come back.

Getting on his horse, Shinra said, “Damn. I have to hurry back to the village and tell them all to leave. Maybe then I could make amends for father’s wrongdoings. Ugh. Damn. This wound is quite deep. Cough.”

He returned to the village to ask them to leave as soon as possible. He was afraid that the Sharkins would come.

“Look. He’s back!!” the villagers exclaimed.

The village head was astonished to see Shinra’s body drenched in blood. “What happened to you, Shinra? Why is your body covered in wounds like that?!”

“Never mind!! I just killed a Wolfie, but unfortunately the other Wolfie managed to escape!! I’m sure they’ll be sending Sharkin here soon! Run away. All of you, hurry, save your lives!”

“You heard it? Like father, like son!! Ratting out humans for themselves!!” the villagers roared furiously.

“I don’t have time to argue with you guys!! Hey, old man, you’re the village head, right? Get out of here. This is the least I can do to make amends for my father’s crimes!”

Surprised, the village head said, “I wonder why you care about us?”

“Because your daughter is my best friend!!”

In the Sacred Hawk Kingdom...

The Wolfie trudged along until he reached the kingdom. “Argh… Help... The Young Master attacked us and one Wolfie was killed. He protected the humans and-”

Then, he fell unconscious due to the severe injuries he sustained. He had not even had time to inform Kong’s whereabouts. Alas, he reported to a Rhino, the royal guard as well as a level 1 monster. The Rhinos were far more dangerous than the Sharkins.

The Rhino barged into the Main Hall, furious with the king.

“Hey, you’re the king of humans, right? Answer the questions I’m about to ask you!! If your answer is not what I wanted, I’ll erase your existence off the face of the Earth straightaway!!”

“What’s the matter?? A-All right,” King Tertoro said in a trembling voice.

“Your son has killed my men. He protected the humans and attacked the Wolfies. What’s the meaning of this?!”

“I-I d-don’t know,” King Tertoro replied, puzzled.

Instantly, the Rhino lifted the king with one hand. All the royal soldiers were flabbergasted when they saw it.

“Just so you know!! If it weren’t for the Central Kingdom ordering me to guard here!! If it weren’t for your service, telling us the location of human villages. If it weren’t for you being the king of this kingdom!! I would’ve crushed your skull right now, got it?!”

“I-I-I un…un-understood.”

The Rhino lowered him and said, “You’d better be able to issue a proper order!! What are you going to do now?!”

“A-All right. But before that, how is Shinra doing? Is he okay?”

“I don’t give a shit about him!! If he comes face to face with me, I’ll finish him off!!”

King Tertoro was still unsure what to do. “But I-”

The Rhino immediately cut off his words. “No buts. Or do you want me to go get him? What would you choose?! Don’t tell me I’m not being nice to that brat, okay?” he snapped.

“A-A-All right. All soldiers, capture Shinra and force him to go home no matter what, because I’ll give him a severe punishment!”

The Rhino grinned. “Good. That’s not a bad choice. But if they can’t bring your son home, I’ll go instead. How do you like that?!” He stormed off.

The king was devastated and distressed by his current predicament.

Meanwhile…

The village head treated Shinra’s wounds and asked where his daughter was.

“Do you know where Terry and the others are?”

“They’re in safe hands. I’ll go get them now. Cough... Damn. I’m losing a lot of blood. I can’t stop it. I’m losing my strength…”

“Come with us so we can heal your wounds. You cannot leave like that.”

“But they will surely be confused if later they see that there’s no one in this village! Or worse, they could run into the Sharkins. Argh! Damn!!”

“Was it not you who said they were fine? Do not worry about the four of them. Even though they look weak, if they are together, they will surely become stronger. After all, my daughter would not do anything reckless.”

At dawn, the whole village and Shinra fled the village. Otherwise, it might be fatal to them if the monsters came.

Currently, in the morning...

Roman and the others returned to the village. They did not find a single soul there. Puzzled, they feared the worst. They checked every nook and cranny. Surprisingly, they did not find the villagers’ belongings either. They wondered if the villagers had relocated once again.

“What really happened? Did they go somewhere? But why? What happened? Why so soon? Why didn’t they wait for us?” Terry asked frantically.

They searched around. They split up and climbed to a higher point so as to be able to see further. To their surprise, they saw that a large number of the human kingdom’s army was heading this way. Looking the other way, Roman shouted.

“Wow. Look at that. There’s a dead wolf-like monster!”

“A Wolfie? Let’s get closer. Maybe there’s a clue around there. We’d better hurry before the army come,” Terry said.

The four immediately rushed to the corpse and saw that the land and trees were ravaged like a war had taken place. There was a lot of blood starting to dry and there was a trail of it.

Roman found the blood trail and said, “Let’s follow the blood trail!!”

Darma concluded where the blood trail led to, then he said, “Wait. Isn’t that the direction to our village?!”

“Right. Could it be that a villager was attacked by the Wolfie? But could there be a villager who could kill him? I don’t think so,” Terry asked, bewildered.

Similarly, Darma was baffled. “I don’t know, either. What should we do?”

“Let’s hide for now,” Terry said.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we hide at Kong’s place? Maybe he can help us? Right??” Roman said.

“This time I have to agree with you, Roman. You’re right. Let’s go back to where Kong is. At least for now we know that the villagers are fine,” Darma said.

“Okay. Let’s go back to his place,” Terry said excitedly.

On the way, they kept thinking whose blood it really was that led to the village.

“I’m wondering, don’t you think it’s strange? A trail of blood leading to the village. Whose blood is that? And why does the Wolfie die with severed legs?” For a moment, Terry pictured Shinra. “Hey, wait. Could it be Shinra? This is all I could think of right now. Who else could possibly beat a Wolfie besides him?”

For a moment, Darma also thought the same thing, but he still had doubts. “Does that mean he was injured after that fight? However, with his strength he should be able to easily kill the Wolfie. Why did he get hurt?”

“Did you forget? They always patrol in a pair or more. So, perhaps Shinra fought a few Wolfies and got injured?” Terry said.

“Ah, I get it. It all makes sense. It was possible that Shinra fought several Wolfies and he managed to kill one and injure the rest. However, because he had a hard time battling the monsters simultaneously, he ended up being caught off guard and injured, then the remaining Wolfie fled and reported the incident. Later, Shinra came to our village to warn the villagers to leave because it’s possible that the monster army would come. And of course we all know. If any humans disobeyed or fought the monsters, they would definitely send the Sharkins to come and finish off those humans!!” Darma said.

“All right, let’s go tell Kong. Surely he’ll help us and go with us. The more the merrier, right?” Roman said.

Then, they arrived at Kong’s place and told him about all the deduction and the incident near their village. Kong understood. He agreed to go with them to find the villagers.

“If that’s true, surely he needs my help. Keep this in mind, if indeed Shinra was being targeted, then the monster army would definitely send a Rhino instead of the Sharkins. And surely the order wasn’t to come and bring Shinra home alive. He’ll definitely kill him,” Kong said.

“I’m not done with the Sharkins yet and now I have to face a Rhino. I bet it’s going to be exciting,” Roman said.

“No. You guys should run away if a Rhino comes. There’s no way you’ll win. No, we can’t beat him. I’ll give you guys some time to escape and hold him off as long as possible,” Kong said.

“We’re friends, got it? Don’t just sacrifice yourself like that!” Roman said.

“He’s right. We’re your friends now. We won’t leave you alone,” Darma said.

“We fight together, Kong,” Kenue said.

“Right. We’re all your friends now. So you can count on us, okay?” Terry said.

“All right. Turns out humans aren’t as bad as I thought. Let’s go find Shinra and your fellow villagers.”