Jester's Madness

Jester found the prince who was hiding under the table. The prince was shivering with fear and no words came out from his mouth. Jester dragged the prince through the ground by catching his hand and threw him out to the front of the people.

Jester: "Look at this rat. Is he your prince? He was hiding under a table. He doesn't even have the courage to defend himself. He isn’t worthy of becoming a king. He is a disgrace to his own kingdom. You all need to thank me if I kill him so he can't become the next king."

Everyone stood speechless and stared at the prince in a helpless and sad way. The prince thought Jester was going to kill him but Jester's intentions were different. Jester is a type of person who enjoys insulting his enemies as far as possible and doesn’t instantly kill them, while he kills random persons just for fun.

Jester started to strip the prince's dress in front of all people to insult him and his whole country. He fully stripped the prince’s upper body and then proceeded to strip the lower body clothes.

Suddenly, Rio raised his hands from inside the crowd.

Rio: "Hey, stop."

Jester turned around toward the crowd.

Jester: "Who is that?"

Everyone looked toward Rio. Rio walked straight toward Jester.

Rio: "No matter how much ungrateful a person is, there is always a limit for downgrading a person. So mind your words. And compared to you, he has far greater personality."

The prince stared at Rio with amusement. He didn't expect someone he just met and hated would talk like this about him and defend him. Tears flowed from the eyes of the prince.

Jester: "Oh, talking big words."
Rio: "Yeah, my master has told me this."
Jester: "Oh, so your master must be a wise and great person. But I want to tell you that I don't like when someone opposes my words. So you deserve death."

Jester then threw three ring blades towards Rio. Rio didn't flinch. He noticed the blades but he didn’t try to dodge. Suddenly, Lars jumped out and warded away the blades with his sword, thereby saving Rio.

Rio: "The difference between you and me is, the people that follow you follow because they fear you. But I have my friend on my side who stays with me not because of fear, but will stay with me no matter what."

Jester: "Impressive! No one can ward away my blades with ease. So you two are trained fighters, ain't it? Come on. Let's see who among us is most skilled."
Lars: "With pleasure."

Rio and Lars then proceeded to fight Jester. Jester threw multiple ring blades but Rio and Lars dodged them all. Rio and Lars then got close to Jester and fought him hand-to-hand. Jester held his own against both of them.

Murder: "This idiot Jester! He is fighting all by himself and not giving us any chance."
Speed: "Hey, where are you going?"
Murder: "I don’t care about his order anymore. I am going to fight on my own."

Murder then stepped into the battle and fought Rio.

Jester: "What are you doing? How dare you interfere in my fight!"
Murder: "You idiot! Do you really think you are capable of taking two skilled warriors? And are we your pawns just to attack only when you order?"

Jester then fought Lars and Murder fought Rio. Rio fought equally to Murder while Jester had the upper hand against Lars. Murder was using a pair of machetes but Rio dodged every attack and countered with his sword. Jester continued to throw multiple ring blades against Lars. Lars dodged most of it but one of them came straight toward him through his blind spot.

Rio: "Lars, look at your back!"

Rio jumped up and warded away the ring blade that was coming toward Lars. At the same time, Murder made his attack and knocked out Rio.

Lars: "Oh no, Rio!"

At that time, when Lars was distracted, Jester knocked him out by kicking.

Rio: "They caught us off guard."
Lars: "But we can still get up though."

But before they could get up, Murder proceeded to kill them both. When Murder swung his machete, another sword clashed on his machete thereby blocking his attack. It was none other than Lara.

Lars: "Big sis, so you finally came to save us all."
Lara: "Shut up, you idiot! I have told both of you many times to not fall into any problem."
Rio: "But Lara, we didn’t do anything. They are the ones who are causing problems here."
Lara: "Fine."

Jester: "Another one? It will be very fun to end three of you with my bare hands."
Murder: "Stop daydreaming, Jester. It will be me who is gonna kill them all."

Murder then proceeded to attack. Lara then fought Murder. Murder did multiple attacks with his double machete but Lara blocked all of them. Lara seemed to be dominating Murder. Murder wasn’t able to handle Lara's combat speed.

Jester: "What happened? You were the one who was talking big words?"
Speed: "Jester, should we help him?"
Jester: "Yeah. Blast her off."

Speed then threw multiple explosives on Lara.

Lars: "Lara!"

Thankfully, Lara dodged the attack by jumping away.

Lara: "That’s cheating!"

Suddenly, Murder emerged from her back.

Murder: "We are bandits. We don’t care about how many dirty tricks we need to use in between a battle."

But Lara took out a knife that she hid with her left hand and stabbed the leg of Murder and knocked him out with her sword.

Lara: "If you can use tricks, I can use it too."

Jester laughed and clapped his hands after seeing it.

Jester: "Impressive! Very impressive. Now let me show you who I actually am. Play time is over."

Jester then proceeded to confront Lara. This time, Jester did not throw his ring blades. Instead, he used them to stab and cut like knives. At first, Lara blocked every attack of Jester with her sword. But Jester then showed his insane level of agility. Jester was very agile and dodged every attack of Lara. He also managed to do high damage on Lara with high speed. Lara tried to attack Jester but Jester dodged it and did a slight cut on Lara's leg. Before Lara could react, he cut on her back then kicked her into the ground. Before she could get up, he proceeded for a serious attack that could even take her life. Jester proceeded to stab Lara on her face with the ring blade. Lara thought that attack would pass through her eyes. But before it could reach her face and eyes, Jester stopped. Jester’s plan wasn’t to easily kill off Lara. His intention was to fully humiliate his enemies.

Jester defeated Lara. Jester then tied up Lara, Lars, Rio and the prince and took the whole crowd as hostages.
The whole crowd surrendered in front of him and he placed explosives all around them — if someone tried to escape, they would get blasted. He then said to his people that they could do whatever they want to do with the prince, Rio and others.

Jester: "Finally, all that I planned has worked."
Speed: "Yeah. The guards have gone to call the king and his men. But what if they attack us?"
Jester: "They will not, as far as we have the prince in our hand. You all will see, we are gonna become insanely rich. But, what about killing the prince before the king arrives? Wouldn’t that be a good surprise for him?"
Speed: "Yeah, but I don't think that's a good idea."
Jester: "I don't care!"

Jester proceeded to kill the prince. The prince stared at Jester with fear.

Lara: "Stop! Why are you doing this all? All the people around here didn't do anything to you. Then why are you torturing us all?"
Jester: "Why am I torturing all? It's very simple. I like to torture people. I like the helpless stare that comes from their eyes, with fear, when I torture them."
Rio: "You are just a psychopath."
Jester: "Did it take this much time for you to understand that? Yeah I am! But the world made me like this. Okay so before doing anything else, let me tell you all about my life."
Lars: "We aren't interested at all."
Jester: "You need to hear it anyway! I was born in a palace."
Prince: "So you are also from a royal family!?"
Jester: "No. I was born to a jester couple of a palace. My parents used to do circus at the court along with many others. We were just slaves to the king. The people in the court used to molest my parents many times. I grew up seeing all this. My parents died when I was very young. I also ended up as a clown slave of the court. I even forgot the name that my parents gave to me after their death so I started to call myself Jester."
Rio: "...... Now I am feeling a little bit sad for you but..... having a bad past doesn't mean it is approval to become a monster."
Jester: "Wait! Let me continue and hear the full story. I didn’t have hope in life. I thought I would live and die as a clown there. There was no life nor hope. There was only one thing left. It was fury. The fury against the people that have us as slaves. Who are these people to keep slaves? Is there any difference between them and us? We all are made up of flesh and it is blood that passes through all of our veins, not gold in the veins of kings. So there is no difference between kings and us at all. The only difference is political power and status."

The prince bowed his head in a guilty way after hearing Jester's words.

Jester: "..... And who gives these kings this political power and status? It's the people itself. And the kings exploit their own people with the power that people itself gave to them."

Lars: "But there are good rulers too....."

Jester didn’t mind Lars's words. He continued to speak.

Jester: "So there was only fury in my mind and I realised my anger will go away only if I kill people. I then started to kill people just for fun. It relieved my anger — the pain in my heart like nothing else can do better. I used to make people laugh when I was a clown, but now I like to make them cry. In reality, they used to laugh at me then but now, everyone fears me. A man who always makes others laugh also knows how to make others cry."
Lara: "If you really didn't like the harsh rules and life of slaves, you could have just saved other slaves and protested against the king."
Jester: "I could have done that but, I didn’t! Because this world can no longer be fixed so the only thing I can do is destroy it by myself, or do as far as I can, until only I remain as the absolute destroyer and pain giver."

Jester laughed loudly like a maniac. Others stared at Jester and just stood speechless.

Lars: "He's good at saying dialogues anyway."
Lara (annoyed): "So you didn't understand the meaning of what he just said?"

Jester then turned around and stared at Lara.

Jester: "You were the one that told me to not kill the prince? So I will start with you. I will kill you first."

Lara looked at Jester with fear.

Lars: "Hey, please don’t kill my sister."

Jester: "Oh so she is your sister. Wouldn’t she cry if I kill you first?"

Lara got frightened after hearing that.

Jester: "If I kill her first, you will cry. If I kill you first, she will cry. I don't have idea who I need to kill first but..... I like when girls cry so I will start with you."
Lara: "Hey! Don't dare to hurt my brother."

Lars looked like he accepted his fate. He was ready to die before his sister.

Rio: "Hey, don't kill my friend. If someone kills him when I am alive, it will be a disgrace to my existence. Kill me first."
Jester: "Oh! I like that attitude of yours, but.... If I kill him first, you will disgust your own existence because you couldn't save him, right? That’s the biggest torture that I can give to you."
Rio: "What?!"
Jester: "Murder, you are the one who told me that I don't give you any chance to shine? Kill them all and enjoy as much as you can. Let's start with that lad."

Murder didn’t like the fact that Jester was ordering him. But he still didn’t miss the chance to kill someone with his hand.

Murder then proceeded to kill Lars. Lara closed her eyes with fear and tears rolled down from her eyes. Rio tried hard to break the rope with which he was tied up but was unable to. Lars stared at Jester without any fear.
Murder then swung his machete, but suddenly, someone caught his hand.

Murder: "Who is that?"

Murder turned around.

Hope filled in the eyes of Lars. Lara wide opened her eyes.

Rio (with faith): "Now we all are safe!"

Rio, Lars, Lara (all together): "MASTER!"

It was none other than Eidrin.

Eidrin: "The two things that I hate the most is hurting people without a reason and hurting my students...... and you are now doing both of that."
Murder: "But who the hell are you?"

At that time, the whole crowd noticed Eidrin.

Man 1 from the crowd (with relief): "That's Eidrin, the great warrior."
Man 2 (shocked): "What! Is that really him?"
Man 1: "Yeah it is him."

The name passed down from people to people.

Jester: "Who is that guy? Is he the master they referred before? He seems to be kinda famous."
Speed: "Yeah, he is Eidrin. He is currently considered as one of the greatest warriors."
Jester: "Oh I see. Murder, end that guy now!"

Murder tried to react but he was unable to.

Murder (thought): "What happened!? I can’t move myself."

Eidrin then threw Murder into the ground. Murder stood up again but Eidrin knocked him out in just one punch.

The whole crowd cheered.

Rio(screaming): "Yeah! That’s the power of our master."

Jester: "Speed, blast him off!"
Speed: "But Jester, he is way above our league. We can't handle him. I am sure that my explosives will not work against him and....."
Jester: "And..?"
Speed: "And.... I am his fan."
Jester: "What the...."

At that time, Eidrin approached Jester.

Jester: "Fine, I will take him by myself."

Jester threw many ring blades toward Eidrin. A blue aura glowed around Eidrin and the ring blades got destroyed before they could reach him.

Jester: "What!"

Jester then ordered his men to attack Eidrin but Eidrin just one-shotted each of them with one hand.
Jester then proceeded to directly fight Eidrin. He tried to stab Eidrin with ring blades. Eidrin easily dodged the attack.

Eidrin: "You are using weapons when I am not? That doesn't seem fair."

Eidrin then took out his sword and did a massive attack. That didn't cut Jester but it slightly cut the ground beneath Jester and Jester got knocked out just by the force of that attack.

Jester (to himself, with fear and wonder): "What kind of power was that? How can a man be that much powerful? So am I actually weak."

Eidrin then went toward Speed.

Speed: "Hey, please don't hurt me. I am your big fan. I only did it all because Jester forced me."
Eidrin: "Oh I see. But you wouldn’t do that if you truly were my admirer."
Speed(with fear): "No please. Please spare me."
Eidrin: "Okay fine. I am forgiving you all for this time. Never ever repeat things like this."
Speed: "Okay. I understood."

Speed then left with Murder, Jester and others before the army could catch them.

Eidrin then untied his students and the prince, then saved the civilians who were kept as hostages.

Rio: "Please forgive us master. We are unable to save ourselves and others by our own. We aren't worthy to be your students."
Lars: "Yeah. We understood that we are still weak and aren’t even capable of saving ourselves."
Lara: "I promise we will train hard to become more powerful. Please forgive us."
Eidrin (smiling): "Don't need to ask for forgiveness. At least you three tried to stand up when something bad happened. I am really proud of you all."
Rio (very emotional): "Really, master?"
Eidrin: "Yeah. Anyway, does anyone of you got hurt...."

Suddenly, the prince rushed and hugged Rio while crying.

Prince (crying): "Thanks a lot. No one was there when he was stripping me in front of everyone, other than you. Even my friends didn't help me."
Rio: "Hey, stop crying, it's okay."
Prince: "I am ready to give anything for you. I can even give my whole wealth to you. I am not worthy for that wealth. I am not even worthy for my title."

Rio didn't have idea what to tell. He thought Eidrin would say something but he realised that Eidrin was waiting to hear what would be his reply.

Rio: "I don't need anything. Use your wealth for the well-being of the poor people of your country. I am sure that you will become a great king."
Prince: "Do you think so? Thank you very much. From now, I am considering you as one of my closest friends."
Rio: "Thanks a lot for that."

Eidrin and his students then left from there and continued their journey.

Meanwhile in the forest:

Jester was too furious because of his defeat. He was screaming with anger.

Murder: "Stop it, you idiot. Your plan was just pure foolishness. We all would have got killed there because of you!"
Speed: "Hey, we need to hurry. We need to escape from here before the army could reach us."
Jester: "I lost only because of you. I am not gonna stop hunting for you, no matter how powerful you are, Eidrin!"

In the path toward the border of Tansvania:

Eidrin and his students are traveling in their horse cart.

Rio: "Master, you should have killed that damn Jester there."
Eidrin: "Yeah, but now I prefer giving a second chance to everyone."
Rio: "But he is purely evil. I am sure that he will cause much trouble to us."
Eidrin: "So we will stop him next time too."
Lara: "Anyway, where are we going master?"
Eidrin: "King of Morica sent a letter saying that he needs to meet me urgently so we are now going toward Morica. But to go to Morica from here we need to go through Francia too."
Rio: "Francia? You mean your country?"
Eidrin: "Yeah. I am planning to meet Romero too. It’s been 2 years since I met him."
Lars: "Romero? You mean your old friend and rival."
Eidrin: "Yeah, he is my best friend too."
Lara: "You have told about him many times, but actually what kind of person he really is?"
Eidrin: "Oh, he is a very interesting guy........"

Eidrin and his students continued their journey toward Francia.

To be continued.........