Lucaris: The Cold Blood

An evening, Palace of Groacia:

Merlin was sitting in his room and reading the letter that Eidrin sent to him.

"Dear Merlin,
Two days ago, I visited Francia. I went to meet Romero and reunited with him. He was working as a farmer in his field. I encouraged him to return as a warrior. At first, he wasn’t ready, but after his younger brother's approval, he decided to return as a warrior. We both have decided to work together again, but in different paths.
I am now heading towards Morica. Romero also said to meet at Morica.
Anyway, is everything fine? How are Lucaris and Marina? Are they doing better? I hope you are fine too. Call me whenever you need my help. Lovingly, your big brother."
— Eidrin

Merlin (thought): "So big brother is going toward Morica."

At the training stadium, Palace of Groacia:

Lucaris was training with other soldiers. He had now become a strong and handsome eighteen-year-old young man. His muscles were well-defined, and his thick blue hair had grown much longer. From his pride, anybody could tell that he was a prince.
He had been training very hard for the past two years, so his skills had improved a lot.
Lucaris took out about twenty soldiers in a row in that training battle.
Merlin was watching all of that from above.

Merlin: "Lucaris, you have trained enough for today. So take some rest."
Lucaris: "Okay, big brother."

Lucaris then sat down to take some rest.

Lucaris (thought): "I think I have gotten much stronger. But still, I am not at the level of Eidrin and Romero."

*Flashback*

One week ago
Southern border forest of Groacia:

Lucaris and the Groacian army were patrolling the southern border because they heard that terrorists were hiding there.

Commander: "Be careful. Enemies can attack from anywhere, so keep your eyes on each and every corner."
Soldiers: "Yes, sire."
Commander: "My prince, please stay with me so I can protect you."
Lucaris: "No need for that. I can defend myself. I will inform you all if I see something suspicious."
Commander: "Okay. Take care and be careful, my prince."
Lucaris then moved forward to find the enemies.

Meanwhile, inside the forest:

The terrorists were hiding inside the forest, and they learned that the army was looking for them.

Terrorist 1: "The army is looking for us, and they are here."
Terrorist 2: "What will we do? We are very less in number compared to them."
Terrorist Leader: "No need to worry. The prince is with them. Go for the prince first. If we are able to catch the prince, the whole army will surrender to us."
Terrorists: "Okay, sire."

Meanwhile, Lucaris was still looking for the terrorists.

Lucaris (thought): "Where are these damn terrorists? I need to find them first and defeat them all alone. If I do that, I can prove myself to big brother that I have become a good warrior."

Suddenly, terrorists jumped out from every direction.
Terrorist 1: "Good evening, our prince. What about a little fight?"
Lucaris: "Fine. I was looking for you all. I am very glad that you all came to me by yourselves. Go on, let's fight."
Terrorist 2: "But you don't care about dying by our hands, right? Is death by our hands a disgrace for the prince?"
Lucaris: "Dying in a battle is always an honor for a warrior. But it will not be me who is going to die today."
Terrorist 3: "You talk big words. We will see."

Lucaris then fought about ten terrorists alone.
He went face to face against one terrorist, but another terrorist attacked him from behind. Lucaris blocked the attack, but another one attacked from the other side. He blocked that as well. Three of them attacked back to back, but Lucaris defended all of their attacks with his sword all by himself.

Lucaris (thought): "These guys are very tough. What will I do? No, don't panic, Lucaris. You can do this."

Lucaris then smirked and launched nonstop back-to-back attacks against every terrorist. They were unable to dodge his attacks. Lucaris was using his full skill and speed.
Suddenly, someone threw a chain from behind, and it wrapped around Lucaris’s neck.

Lucaris: "What?!"

Before he could say anything, the chain tightened around his neck.
Other terrorists also threw many more chains toward his arms and legs, and the chains strangled him from all sides. Lucaris tried to resist, but he was unable to.
Suddenly, the commander and the army arrived.

Commander: "No, my prince! Everyone, we need to save our prince, no matter what!"

The commander and the army fought the terrorists.
It was like a small war. The terrorists tried hard to counter the army's attack, but they were outnumbered. The army successfully saved Lucaris.

Commander: "My prince, are you alright?"
Lucaris: "Yeah, I am."

Lucaris felt very ashamed that he was unable to defend himself.

*Flashback ends*

Lucaris (thought): "No, I am not powerful enough. I didn't even have warrior madness. I need to train more so that I can reach the level of Eidrin and Romero."

Night, at Lucaris’s room:

Lucaris was drinking and having fun with his many friends.

Lucaris: "Guys, drink and eat as much as you want. Have as much fun as you all can."
Friend 1: "Thank you very much for all of this, our prince."
Friend 2: "Anyway, how is your training going on?"
Lucaris: "Good. But I am still not as powerful as I want to be."
Friend 3: "Good things take time, my friend. By the way, how powerful do you actually want to be?"
Lucaris: "....... Two years ago, I witnessed an intense fight between two great warriors. That day, I realized that we all are nothing in front of their power. Can you all believe that some people can destroy a mountain just by the clash of their swords? I witnessed it with my own eyes. I don't know whether I will ever catch up to them or not."
Friend 4: "Oh, I see...."

Suddenly, Merlin entered the room.

Lucaris: "Oh, welcome, my dear big brother."
Merlin: "Oh, I see you all are having a lot of fun here."
Lucaris: "Yeah. Guys, can you please excuse us? I want to talk with my brother alone for a while."
Friend 1: "Okay, Lucaris. Good night."
Lucaris: "Okay, bye guys. Good night."
Lucaris’s friends then left.
Merlin: "Hey, you didn’t need to do that. There would be no problem if they were here."
Lucaris: "Yeah. But I understood that you wanted to tell me something, that’s why I asked them to go."
Merlin: "Okay."
Lucaris: "Do you want some drinks, big brother?"
Merlin: "No, thanks."
Lucaris: "Fine."
Merlin: "Actually, Marina told me that you are getting spoiled."
Lucaris: "She always says that, doesn’t she? Just don’t care about her. She is the type of person who only thinks about Romero. I don’t care about her opinion."
Merlin: "Hey, she’s your big sister. Give her some respect."
Lucaris: "If you say so, okay."
Merlin: "Lucaris, I need to say this. You need to be much more responsible and think about our country more. At least, you are the future king of this nation."
Lucaris: "What? Me? I am not interested in becoming a king at all. You are my big brother. You are the king, and you will always be."
Merlin: "No. I am planning to pass down the crown to you when you grow up. Then I will travel the whole world with big brother Eidrin. Then I will reunite with my other brothers, if fate puts us together."
Lucaris: "So, you don’t want to be with me? At least I am the one who stayed with you more than Eidrin."
Merlin: "Hey, I didn’t say that. You and big brother are the same to me. Both are my brothers. Anyway, I can’t imagine a time when my kids become the king and your kids become just royals. For that, you need to be the next king."
Lucaris: "Kids? For kids, you need to marry first. And you already know that I am not the type of person who goes after girls. I just want to be a great warrior."
Merlin: "Lucaris, don’t you think I want to see my brother happy with his family?"
Lucaris: "...... Yeah. But you need to marry first. You are getting older, you know."
Merlin: "Okay. What I was going to say is, you need to stay away from here for a while."
Lucaris: "Why?"
Merlin: "You are getting very spoiled by staying here. There is no one who can stop you here except me. But I have boundaries too. So I am thinking of sending you to someone who can help you improve a lot."

Lucaris was under the effect of drinks, so he spoke very freely and cuddled Merlin tightly.

Lucaris: "Big brother, I am your baby brother, right? How can you stay away from me? You know I can’t stay away from you. I always want to stay with you forever."
Merlin: "Okay, I understand. Now calm down. You don’t need to stay away from here. But at least, can you please do me a favor?"
Lucaris: "What?"
Merlin: "Go to Morica. The King of Morica is a good friend of mine. Deliver him some gifts. Also, you are free to explore there so you can refresh."
Lucaris: "Okay. I am ready to do any favor for you."

Lucaris then blacked out due to the effect of drinks.

Merlin (smiling): "This idiot."

Merlin picked Lucaris up, put him on the bed, and covered him with a blanket.

Merlin: "Good night, Lucaris."

Merlin then came out of the room and went to his own room.

Merlin (thought): "I wish he meets big brother Eidrin there, and big brother could fix him."

Merlin then went to sleep.

Forest of Morica:

Some smugglers were cutting redwood in the forest. They were also stealing spices from there.

Smuggler Leader: "Do it fast, guys. We need to take all of this before anyone arrives."
Smuggler 1: "Okay, boss."
Smuggler 2: "Boss, we need to be careful. I heard that a monster lives here."
Smuggler Leader: "Monster? There is nothing called a monster. Do you really believe such myths?"
Smuggler 2: "I don’t mean that. Many people said that a man lives here who is considered as a monster."
Leader: "What? Who is that?"
Smuggler 2: "Simbha."

Suddenly, a bullet-like object made of wood pierced through one smuggler’s shoulder, and he fell to the ground.
Leader (panicked): "Who is that? Come out, you coward!"
Suddenly, a tall and muscular man wearing clothes made of jute, animal skin, and mane came out of the jungle. Many people were with him. That man was none other than Bagheera.

Bagheera: "How dare you steal things from our area? Do you know this is the territory of Simbha? No one can leave this place alive if they do anything here without our knowledge."

Before the smugglers could do anything, they realized they were surrounded by a large number of wild people aiming crossbows at them, which looked more like guns.
The smugglers stood still and silent. One of the wild men went and checked their bags.

Wild Man: "Bagheera, they have lots of money and goods in their bags."
Bagheera: "Take it all. Simbha will be very happy."

Bagheera then turned toward the smugglers.

Bagheera: "You all are free to go for now. But if any of you return to steal from us, none of you will leave alive. Never dare to play any game with us, the wild bandits."

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