Jester The Ruthless

Noon, Town in Tarsvania:

Rio and Lars were just roaming around the town.

Rio: "Wow, this place looks much better. Lars, let's eat something."
Lars: "Yeah, but do you have any money?"
Rio: "Yeah."
Lars: "But… Lara will kill me if she learns that I ate without giving her anything."
Rio: "Don’t care about her. She only knows to scream at us."
Lars: "Okay."

They both then went toward a food shop.
To their surprise, there was a huge crowd in front of that small food shop.
Rio enquired about that to a citizen.

Rio: "Hey, why is there a huge crowd?"
Man: "Oh, that’s because the prince has arrived to visit the town and is eating from that shop."
Rio: "Oh, I see…"

Rio and Lars then went straight inside the shop without minding the crowd.
The Prince was sitting inside with his few friends. There were a lot of girls inside. The Prince was having a small chat with the girls.

Prince: "…Then I slashed all of them with my sword and stood victorious. I defeated about 100 enemies in one row that day…"
Girl 1: "Oh… my prince, you are very cool."
Prince: "This is nothing. Let me tell you all my other feats."
Girl 2: "Yeah, we can’t wait to hear that."
Prince: "But before that, tell me who wants to be my queen?"
Girl 1: "Me!"
Girl 2: "Me!"
Girl 3: "Me!"

Suddenly, the Prince saw Rio and Lars entering the shop.

Prince: "Hey, stop. Who are you two lads? You are not allowed here for now. Don’t you two see I am having fun with these girls?"
Rio: "Why? Even though you are the prince of this country, we pay the same to this shop after eating food, so why can’t we?"
Prince: "If you really want to eat something, go outside and eat. Only girls are allowed to sit here for now."
Rio(rudely): "So, are you a girl?"

The whole crowd got speechless and shocked after hearing Rio’s response. The Prince got very shocked. He didn’t expect a commoner to respond to him in that way.

Prince (very angry): "How dare you?! Who do you think you are?"
Rio: "So, do you really want to know who I am?"
Prince (shouting): "Yes! Who are you?"
Rio: "I am the student of—"
Lars: "Rio, stop it! We don’t need to cause any trouble here. My prince, I deeply apologize for my friend’s actions. Rio, just get out of here."

The Prince clenched his fist and controlled his anger.
Rio and Lars then bought some food and ate it while sitting outside.

Rio: "Lars, why did you stop me?!"
Lars: "We are not here to cause any problem."
Rio: "That arrogant prince… I need to show him what we are."

Bandits were also present there.

Bandit 1: "Oh, so the prince is here too."
Bandit 2: "Yeah. We are very lucky. If we tell this to Jester, he will surely praise us."

Meanwhile – the other remote side of the town:

The bandits were preparing for the attack.
Speed was preparing his explosive weapons.

Speed: "What happened, Murder? You look so frustrated."
Murder (very angry): "That bastard Jester! I don’t like that guy. Who is he to order us?"
Speed: "Yeah, but you know he is insane, right? We can’t predict what his actions will be, so we can’t oppose him. And we also need each other’s help to escape from this place, so…"

Suddenly, Jester arrives.

Jester: "Hey Speed, did you prepare the explosives?"
Speed: "Yeah."
Jester: "So let’s start our mission."
At that time, all other bandits also arrived there.
Bandit 1: "Hey Jester, we have good news."
Jester: "What?"
Bandit 2: "The prince is in the town."
Jester (shocked): "What?! What a surprise! We will capture him and ask money from the king! The king will grant us a huge amount of wealth! You all see, we are all gonna become very, very rich!"
Speed (teasing): "And… you will leave the prince after receiving the money, right?"
Jester: "What? Are you an idiot? I will kill him instantly after getting the money, and will even kill the king if I get a chance."
All others looked at Jester with shock.
Jester: "You all will see, I am gonna start a show today."

Meanwhile – in the forest:

Lara was looking around for Lars and Rio but she was unable to find them.

Lara (to herself): "Oh… this damn Lars and Rio. They are skipping training as always. I need to find those two brats."

Lara then went toward the town, guessing Rio and Lars would be there.

At the town, food shop:

Lars and Rio were eating food, sitting outside the shop.
Lars noticed Rio isn’t eating at all.

Lars: "Hey Rio, what happened?"
Rio: "Nothing."
Lars: "You are still upset, huh? You need to control your anger just a little bit."
Rio: "… I really want to teach that prince a lesson. He is treating his people in a very bad way, not giving even a bit of respect or value to his own people."
Lars: "Strong feeling of justice, huh? But who are we actually to teach him a lesson? You need to understand that he is a prince and we are commoners."

Rio didn’t reply and sat still.

Meanwhile inside the shop:

The Prince was still sitting with his friends and girls.
His friends realized he had been quiet for some time.

Friend 1: "Hey, what happened my prince? Why are you so quiet all of a sudden?"
Prince: "Nothing."
Friend 2: "I guess you are still upset because of that kid."
Prince (very angry): "That damn lad. How dare he insult me? I will surely teach him a lesson…"
Suddenly, an explosion happened outside. Everyone present got shocked.
Prince: "What… what was that?!"
Man 1 (shocked): "What was that?!"
Man 2 (scared): "What was that?!"
Lars (panicked): "Rio, did you hear that?"
Rio: "Yeah. People might be in danger! We need to check."

Both Rio and Lars rushed to check what happened.
Suddenly, countless bandits emerged from the explosion. Jester stood at the top of them.

Jester: "Welcome you all to my show. Let me show you the best explosion you have ever seen… Speed… now."

Speed threw many explosives in all directions and various explosions happened everywhere.

Man 1: "Hey, who are you people?! Why are you doing this?!"
Jester: "Are you an idiot? Don’t you see? We are bandits!"
Man 2: "Actually, you are looking more like a joker."

Suddenly, Jester threw a ring blade at that man and it cut his neck. He didn’t die but fell to the ground bleeding.
The whole crowd stood shocked and speechless.

Lars (to Rio): "This isn’t good. They are damn serious and brutal."
Rio: "Yeah. We need to do something."
Jester (to the crowd): "So let me tell you all. I am here for the prince. If you all are ready to hand him over, I will return calmly without causing much trouble. But if you oppose me… today will be your last day."

The crowd stood speechless. They didn’t know what to do.

Inside the shop:

The Prince and his friends were still inside.

Friend 1: "My prince, he is saying he is here for you. We need to do something."
Girl 1: "Our prince, please save us from them!"
Girl 2: "Please, our prince. Aren’t you good at fighting?"
Prince (thought): "What?! What will I do now? How can I tell them I don’t know how to fight at all? I brought only a few guards today… Oh my God, I will get captured… Who is gonna save me?"
Prince: "Guards, go and save everyone from those damn bandits!"
Guard 1: "As you wish, our prince!"

All the guards rushed outside.

Jester: "Oh, so the little lord has sent guards to stop me, huh? Guys, attack!"

A fight broke out between bandits and guards
Jester used ring blades and agility.
Murder slaughtered guards with brute strength.
Speed threw explosives and fought hand-to-hand.
Other bandits fought as well.

Rio: "I think we need to do something."
Lars: "Wait. Let’s see who wins. We don’t need to move if the guards win. But if the bandits win… we will act."
Rio: "…If you say so… okay."
Lars: "But… do you really think we are strong enough to face them?"
Rio: "…I don’t know. Master was always with us before. We were safe around him. But now… it’s only the two of us. No one is here to save us."

The bandits had the upper hand.
In the middle of the battle, Jester slowly entered the food shop, searching for the Prince.
He found the girls and friends… but not the Prince.

Jester: "What? Where is the prince? None of you looks like a prince. Prince! Where are you? Do you really think you can hide from me? Come out, I am not gonna hurt you that much. If you aren’t coming out, I will find you myself."

Prince’s friends and the girls stood frozen in fear.
The Prince was actually hiding under a table, shivering.
Jester walked toward his friends.

Jester: "Tell me, where is the prince?"

No one answered.
Jester’s eyes then caught sight of the girls. He stared and smirked.

Jester: "I know how to find you myself, prince."

Jester went toward the girls.

Jester: "Tell me, where is the prince?"

The girls were terrified.
He grabbed one girl’s hand, trying to force her to speak.
Suddenly, a glass fell from a table and shattered
Jester realized the Prince was hiding beneath it.

Jester (smirking): "So there you are hiding, you rat."

Jester went straight toward that table.
The Prince had no idea what to do.

To be continued…