13 CHILD AT HEART 5

"Why did you cut off the scene?" Lirzod fumed at the old man, who just materialized beside him. "I want to know what happens to the nieces!"

"Rick's nieces are no longer our priority anymore," The old man shook his head. But Lirzod's face instantly turned into that of a pouting gorilla. "Alright, alright, I won't show you their visuals, but... I will give you some information regarding them."

Lirzod wasn't entirely pleased but still got excited. "So, what happened to them? Did they end up with their parents?" He didn't like the character of the sisters of Rick, given how poorly they treated him, he still pitied them when they got mistreated by the minister and were led to lead painful lives.

"By the time the Golden Guards Unit showed up, almost all the maids have disappeared from the estate, except for a handful. And Rick's nieces were among those who stayed back."

"What?" Lirzod couldn't believe the words that came out of the old man's mouth. "Stop joking."

"I'm not trying to be funny."

"Why would they stay back in that shit place?" His face contorted. "There's nothing good about it."

"That's just your opinion." The old man stroked his beard in an elegant manner.

"C'mon, I am good at it! My opinions are always ranked high by my maids!"

The old man tilted his head, just a little. "Your maids must either respect you or fear you."

"It's neither of those!"

"It is either of those."

"Neither."

"... Either."

"Neither."

The old man turned away.

"Hm-hu," Lirzod placed his arms on his waist and lifted his chin to an extent.

"As a kid, you might think that women get easier time for being attractive, but you might not know that they also get a similar amount of a hard time because of it. That's why, behind all the superficiality of most girls, there's always greater forces at work — the desire for a better life."

"You mean, the better life in the sisters' opinion lied in being maids than in being with their family?"

The corners of the old man's lips curled down, but he nodded his head. "To them, it was."

Lirzod brows bent out of shape. "It doesn't make any sense. Their families are wealthy enough. The sisters are experienced in massaging and many other practices, so they can earn enough money without much problem. Why would they not choose to live such a life?"

The old man smiled. "After working for so many years as maids, you think they can easily go back to their previous lives like nothing happened?"

"Well," Lirzod startled but gathered his thoughts in haste. "If they are afraid of people calling them as prostitutes, they can just settle in a different place. Not everybody would know their identities, right?"

A modest smile surfaced on his face, as he seemed to have expected the question. "They weren't just any maids. They were the first-ranked maids and would know things most other maids don't."

Lirzod paused for a moment. "You mean..." His eyes enlarged, "if they run away, they will be hunted down?"

"Pretty much..." The old man nodded just a bit. "They and their families included."

Lirzod frowned. After a few seconds, he took a deep breath. "So, what happened to the eagle-nosed bastard?"

"He..." The old man constrained his smile. "The kingdom's people haven't heard of him after that incident. The king deployed troops but even a thorough search throughout the entire kingdom gave them no results."

"Not even a clue?"

The old man shook his head in a soft fashion. "All clues were either mistaken or misleading.

"They wasted lots of time over every little thing and before they knew it a lot of time had passed. In fact, decades had passed. And everybody forgot about the minister, including the king — the malevolent king who had gotten worse in his ways. Beforehand, the king only did dark dealings through Yizzy, but after his disappearance, the dealt with his clients using multiple such ministers.

"As a result, his kingdom had become a haven for all sorts of bad things, from excessive taxes to obligated roles and forced charity works. There were many ridiculous proposals put forward and made official without even getting opinions of the people. One such proposal was that, in every family, for every generation, one male child must be made a soldier and one female child must be made a rent girl[1]. Every family was forced to produce two children just as a sacrifice for the kingdom."

Lirzod was stupefied and felt like a ton of bricks fell upon his head. "That's just ridiculous! Didn't people stand against it?"

"Many did," The old man's head tilted down, and he sighed. "Lots of people formed groups and rebelled, but all those were made to regret through severe punishment. Most new laws the king brought forth, were officialized as Commoners Service, and people had to swallow those laws as if they were like ex gratia."

"Was that service necessary to be fulfilled?" Lirzod couldn't help himself but ask.

"People were held liable in case they failed to contribute."

"That..." Lirzod clenched his fist. "Those people should have suffered a lot."

"They did," The old man said, his tone not as bold as before, and his back bent a little as well.

Lirzod tilted his head downward. The memories of his clan flooded through his consciousness. Though it was not as worse a situation as of the people of the past, his clan also faced many such similar situations, and many bad deeds were performed by the clansmen in order to survive — which also gave birth to the Masked Guards of his clan. But the difference was that in the past, the head of the kingdom itself was the enemy of the people, but when it came to his clan, it was the outsiders.

Lirzod even heard people talking about assassinating the clan heads, at times, when people of their clan were socially engineered by other bigger clans which secretly exported drug ingested foods using proxy merchants. As a result, many lives of the Faceless clan were spoiled for years, and nobody could tell the cause. The scourge of encapsulated drugs i.e., food sold on streets turned people into lifeless masses as they roamed the streets. It was Fidelis and Sinario who discovered the root cause of it and entirely stopped importing and severed their good relations with most of their allies. But still, the bigger sects, clans, and organizations always looked for ways to control and deracinate if not decimate the smaller ones.

His clan faced many such troublesome and scary situations in the past. Howbeit, thanks to the strength and wits of the clan heads of the Faceless clan, they survived through every situation they were forced to involve in, at the expense of losing lives, property and such.

"What happened to the people was truly terrible," The old man took a breath and straightened his spine. "But they suffered for decades until one person showed up, and put an end to it."

Lirzod was elated. "Who? It's Rick, isn't it?"

The old man calmly shook his head. "It was Yizzy."

Lirzod blinked twice. "Huh..?" He was taken aback. "He didn't die?"

"He got the audience of the king by proving his identity, and during a court meeting, in front of many ministers, he blew a dart at the king, and as many eyes watched, a dart lodged itself into the king's throat."

Lirzod was wide-mouthed.

"The soldiers, the royals, the ministers were all left stunned to the core. They didn't even understand what happened until the king's shoulders hugged the hands of his seat. As everyone looked at Yizzy in absolute shock, all they saw was a small bamboo in his hand."

"That.." Lirzod was saying, but words still didn't come out of his mouth.

"Yes. It was the same weapon that Rick used on him before. Since nobody foresaw that, they were a bit late to react. If not for that, Yizzy could have died by a rain of arrows. But a certain guild made their entrance and suppressed all the ministers, and had the ministers order the killing of the remaining royal family.

"Yizzy hung the head of the king in the streets, which boosted the morale of the people like never before. Yizzy made it so that he was the only one who could sit on the empty throne. And he did. In time, he removed all the laws set by his predecessor, and put forward new laws which favored the oppressed."

"Really? He's a changed man now?" Lirzod didn't believe the old man's words. "He's definitely plotting something, right?"

The old man stood still for a moment. "His motives were unclear at the time. Instead of ruling his Lapol kingdom all by himself, he split it into two kingdoms — North Lapol and South Lapol. To the commoners, it seemed like he had no choice but to do that, as Lapol was a giant kingdom, and there were too many bigwigs who would never be willing to work under Yizzy. Many people foresaw the split of the kingdom as well. People who didn't like the new laws set by Yizzy, and people who liked the old laws had chosen to go to South Lapol ruled by a council of ministers, while Yizzy alone ruled the North Lapol.

"Everybody thought things would calm down after the split, but new problems that nobody foresaw arose. The main problem came with trading and the inconsistent prices which affected the commoners more than anybody else. It didn't take long before the neutral kingdoms turned into enemies. They used to live together, but then they showed no hesitation when fighting each other at their borders. It seemed like a never-ending war. Both of the kingdoms were big enough to attract the attention of neighboring kingdoms which helped either of those.

"More and more kingdoms joined in for support.

"Before people could even comprehend the scale of it — began the War of Wars. You might know it as the first World War." The old man turned his head towards Lirzod who nodded a bit late. "Not every kingdom participated in it, but most of the major kingdoms did."

"That eagle-nosed bastard...He was the cause of all of it, wasn't he?"

"We can't be sure since he told nobody about it and we don't really know his thoughts."

"But I know!" Lirzod said in a firm manner. "He wants to be the king of the world."

The old man laughed without a restraint, which surprised Lirzod.

"What?" Lirzod's voice was rather threatening. "I'm wrong?"

"Ahem," The old man adjusted his throat. "Like I said, Yizzy was a liar of many levels. His true goal is unknown. Lying was like his profession after all."

"But then," Lirzod paused for a moment. "Does that mean he lied to Rick back then as well?"

The old man slightly nodded. "Maybe... Probably."

"Yeah," Lirzod nodded back. "He's a wolf in sheep's clothing."

The old man chortled a bit. "Most people in power are."

"I can kind of understand." Lirzod clamped the sides of his head with his palm as his brain began to heat up. "If he doesn't want to be the ruler of this world, what exactly does he want?"

"It's not known what he exactly wanted, but one thing was certain," The old man shifted his head and looked sideways at Lirzod. "He wished to make the lives of all women miserable. And he wanted to start it with his mother."

Lirzod startled. "He still held grudge against her?" He shook his head. "Wait, he should already be old enough to be called a grandpa. Would his mother even be alive—"? Lirzod was about to say but paused. He remembered Blanche, an old woman of his clan. "Never mind. Women tend to live longer than men. I wonder what's the reason... Their beauty maybe?"

"It surely is not.

"... The first World War continued on for years until a man appeared at the borders between Northern and Souther Lapol. Possessing the strength of an elephant and the heart of a lion, he single-handedly dealt with many units and temporarily halted the war."

"Ended the war alone?" Lirzod waved his hand. "Stop joking."

"He didn't end it yet. But yes, he suspended it."

"How?" Lirzod still didn't chew the words.

"Because he wasn't ordinary," The old man's words contained a tinge of pride and proudness. "During the War of wars, he alone healed more people than all the other healers combined, both in a physical and a mental sense. Every wounded person brought to him got healed in a matter of days, regardless of the graveness of the wound. He was the first person to attach a severed limb and bring it back to its previous state, just with his spit. His methods were bizarre but they worked, so nobody complained. In a matter of months, his name spread across kingdoms, and it reached the peak when he personally held back a ten million army."

Lirzod gulped a breath of cold air, his eyes enlarged to the extreme in awe. "He stopped ten million soldiers? Alone?"

"No. Not alone. He had the backing of the animals."

"Oh, so he had the backing of the animals," Lirzod's shock and excitement began to die. "That's nothing special." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he turned his head away.

The old man twitched. "He didn't have the backing of the beasts but just the animals."

"Hmm?" Lirzod glanced at the old man through the corner of one of his opened eyes. "What's the difference?"

"An animal remembers your kindness; a beast does not!" The old man stressed his words, for the first time, though only by a bit.

"O-Oh..." Lirzod's heart shook for some unknown reason, and his hands loosened down subconsciously, as his body turned towards the old man. "So those two are different?" Lirzod rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. He thought that both were one and the same and never got any doubt during school days. "Now that I think about it, I might have heard or read something similar."

The old man lifted his staff.

"No, no, I didn't," Lirzod replied and moved a step backward in a flash, but the old man still didn't put the staff down. "Tell me about that man. W-Why did you stop?"

The old man paused for a moment, before putting the staff down. "He fought the ten million opposition with the help of the nature that rallied every wild animal in the vicinity to fight in his stead. A human commanding so many animals - it was never heard of prior to that. All the soldiers feared him, and so did the heads of their kingdoms. Healing miraculously was one thing. Taming animals was one thing. But they couldn't get their heads around the fact that someone managed to take those two things to the highest degree one could imagine. Some sent men to kill him. Some sent women to get him on their side. Regardless of how people thought of him or what happened, he joined hands with nobody but ones who took care of the Mother Nature.

"His teachings and the miracles he did, solidified his name as the Man of God. Hundreds of thousands of people tried to become his disciples but he rejected all of them. Still, thousands left their homes and followed him from a distance."

"He doesn't seem to care about rejecting the requests," Lirzod began to like the guy. "Now, that makes him a worthy candidate to be Lirzod's friend."

The old man banged on Lirzod's stomach before he knew it. Lirzod howled in pain.

"Why did you hit me?" He coldly glanced at the old man, unable to control his anger anymore.

"You deserved it," The old man said in a similar cold tone. "And you know it." His words surprisingly took all the gas out of Lirzod.

He still continued rubbing the top of his head, but his eyes laid on the object in the old man's hand. (That shitty staff, I will break it one day, I swear!)

"Whichever place that man visited, peace flourished," The old man continued. "The number of thugs dwindled down. Crime rate itself had collapsed."

"You've been referring to him as 'man.' Doesn't that 'man,' have a name?" Lirzod's speech was rather satirical.

"Oh, he does have a name. He was Godrick," The old man looked at Lirzod. "Do you know him?"

Lirzod's jaw dropped instantly and his eyes turned as round as the moon. "G-G-G..." Words didn't come out of his mouth. "G-Godrick?" He almost fell backward, and his mind totally went blank.

The old man stopped Lirzod from falling back by making a wall out of thin air. Lirzod's back touched the wall. "Easy, child."

"Wait," Lirzod swallowed his saliva, and shook his head. "You mean that M-Martial Godrick? The Father of Martials. He's the one you were talking about?"

"Yes," The old man casually said.

Lirzod froze like a boulder of ice. "Godrick. God... Rick." From the thought that flashed in his mind, his eyes enlarged further. "I-Is... Is Rick, Godrick?"

The old man grinned. "Yes."

Lirzod was at a loss for words, and couldn't breathe or even swallow his own saliva. His heart pounded viciously and its beatings ran recklessly his own ears. The thought had never crossed his mind that Rick was in sooth Godrick. Blood rushed to his heart and an indescribable feeling oozed out of it and spread to all segments of his body. In school, he read many of Godrick's tales, but what he learned from the books and from the old man in front of him differed by a vast margin. "Was it really him?"

The old man nodded twice, while still smiling. "But he was no longer the same Rick as he was before."

Lirzod mechanically nodded his head.

The old man began to stroke his beard. "Though people saw his supreme healing abilities, they were clueless on how he achieved such abilities. Some thought that he spent many decades on a certain mountain and got enlightenment. Some thought that Gods gave their blessings to him. But given the deeds he had performed till that moment, no rumor about him would be considered as an exaggeration.

"No matter the place he visited, locals offered him lots of wealth, but he only accepted simple things like water and food from those he helped.

"When he was in Southern Lapol, three old women came to the house he was staying at. They were his nieces."

Lirzod startled and came out of his daze. "Sisters? Were they living in Southern Lapol?" He said, but then closed his eyes. "Don't show me how they look at that age, got it?"

"I wasn't going to show you anyway," The old man said, and only then Lirzod opened his eyes. "Godrick was happy for the arrival of his nieces, but he didn't show it on his face, or even in his actions. He knew that his nieces would come at some point. But he wasn't sure if they were sent, or if they came by their own choice. Because of that, he made them work as his assistants for an entire year. They saw every miracle he did, with their own eyes. Afterward, he told them to not follow him anymore and gave them the location of a certain place. The nieces listened to his words and left his side.

"Soon after the nieces left his side, many shadows tailed those three nieces. Godrick no longer bothered about them, and instead made his way to Yizzy's castle in the Northern Lapol."

"Wait," Lirzod interrupted. "What do you mean by 'tailed'"?

"People who lusted for Godrick's power thought that he would have likely told them something important."

"Why did Godrick put them in such a danger?"

"He didn't exactly put them in a dangerous spot, because the three nieces weren't as easy targets as you may think. Each sister experienced themselves in deadly arts which improved drastically in the time they spent as Godrick's assistants. Unless Guard Units were dispatched, those three can't easily be seized."

"Oh, then would those people just send Guard Units after them?"

The old man's shoulders jerked a bit, and he stopped his beard-stroking. "You think Guard Units can be sent on a whim? Everybody would know when a Guard Unit was on the move. And people would inquire."

"Oh, so that's why…" Lirzod's heart began to slow down. "I should have guessed when he told them to leave. It's Godrick we are talking about after all."

"If your questioning is over then," the old man lifted his staff, and the visuals appeared in front of Lirzod.

Godrick and Yizzy were in a private room. "I let you go that day after you promised me you'd no longer bring harm to anybody," Godrick's voice was calm yet choking, as he stood before Yizzy who stood with his back against a pillar. "I knew you were associated with a guild. But I didn't know you were a puppet of that guild."

Yizzy's face was devoid of all color. His heart sped up uncontrollably, and the throbbing echoed in his ears.

"But you no longer have to worry about them because I have crippled all of the guild's members...for you."

"F-For me?" Yizzy was utterly puzzled. Though the thought that the guild members were crippled made him happy, the presence of Godrick overshadowed all his positive emotions.

"Yeah," Godrick's spoke normally, but his voice penetrated deep into the deepest parts of Yizzy's heart.

"W-What do you want?" Yizzy never felt such fear in a very long time. He felt like even his heart was under the control of the person who stood in front of him. Though he tried to hide it, he couldn't suppress all of it, and some of it showed on his visage.

"As the king of Lapol... As the person who has half of the world's kings on your side, you are worth nothing as a cadaver. But..."

"Y-You can't kill me. I know you don't kill people."

"That's may be true. But I can cripple you."

Yizzy felt like a ten-ton boulder of rock crashed on his head. Beads of sweat surfaced on all over Yizzy's face and body. "... You are right. I can be of more use alive than dead. Being cripple is equivalent to being dead. No, it's worse than being dead."

"You see," Godrick stared straight into Yizzy's eyes. "You are too cunning for your own good. However, I will give you another chance. Just one."

"I-I am listening."

"Good. Your task is simple. You just have to unite the world without any women getting raped and anybody under fourteen years of age getting killed. Can you do that for me?"

Yizzy said nothing.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"I did, I did. But, Unite? Y-You think it's selling peanuts or what?"

"You got a problem?" Godrick sharpened his voice and stare.

"W-With all the restrictions you gave, it's an unimaginable task? Even without them, it's impossible," Yizzy was quick to reply. "There are still many kingdoms whose names we don't even know of yet. The world is too big of a place to conquer in a lifetime."

"You can't do it?" Godrick's voice was threatening.

"I-I never said I can't," Yizzy said in a haste. "I said it's impossible. But I can still do it." Though Yizzy said it out loud, his voice contained no confidence.

Godrick turned back and walked a couple of steps away. "You don't have to worry too much. I will give you some of my power."

"What?" Yizzy startled. "Can it be given to others?"

Godrick said nothing.

Yizzy, however, deciphered the silence. "R-Really? Would you do that? To an enemy?" He stepped closer.

Godrick's glanced back over his shoulder, and his look resembled like that of a predator. "You did terrible things. You caused the greatest war that spoiled countless souls. I know everything crooked thing you did. But I'm still giving you a chance to repent your sins."

Yizzy was taken aback. "I will do it. I will."

After Godrick averted his eyes, Yizzy could again be at ease. He went into deep thought for a few seconds, and the end of it, his heartbeat slowed down and he gave a cold glance at Godrick. "... Why do you suddenly want to save the world? You have nothing better to do?"

Godrick stared into the distance and was late to reply. "In this age, our world runs on greed. It makes slaves out of everyone.Most are ever hungry because of it, and they never get fully satisfied. My sisters… Greed clouded their eyes from my love. It also kept my nieces from ever loving me."

Yizzy stayed silent for a moment, before speaking, "You think uniting the world eliminates greed from people? You are just being silly, again. Such a society only makes it easy for the greedy to fool those who aren't."

"You may be right," Godrick still looked away. "But as long as we elect capable leaders to oversee the welfare of their localities, things should become a lot better than now."

"Not all people are as good as you, Mr. Mud Squeezer," Yizzy gathered up the courage to smirk. "You may think you found great leaders but they would all be acting in front of you out of fear or..." he smiled. "Because of the same greed, you spoke of."

Godrick glanced back at Yizzy. "If I can turn a trash like you into a decent human being, don't you think turning others is a piece of cake?"

Yizzy forced out a chuckle. "No one ever praises me like you do."

"I wasn't praising."

A few seconds of silence passed.

"What's in it for me?" Yizzy's voice contained less to no hesitation.

"You won't end up in the Endless Plains after you die," Godrick answered in a calm manner as if the question wasn't out of his expectations.

"Endless Plains? The hell are those?"

"Yes, they are what us humans call as Hell."

"Hell? Stop fooling around. You think I'm an infant?"

"I've seen it," Godrick turned to Yizzy and their eyes met, "I've seen the terror that countless souls were experiencing with my own eyes. Their screams are still fresh in my ears." His voice was filled with gloom.

Yizzy's heartbeat increased in pace, and its pounding rang in his ears. "Hell... is real? I don't believe you." Though he said that, his heart wanted to believe the opposite of it.

Godrick looked away. "I wish I can show you that, but I'm not capable of it yet."

Yizzy still didn't want to believe Godrick's words. "Hmph, you think I fear Hell? I don't even fear the heavens! Why would I fear a mere hell?" He increased his chest size. "It's true that I desire your power, but not at the cost of bearing the burden you are putting on me."

"What if I told you," Godrick glanced sideways at Yizzy, "your mother is in the Endless Plains?"

Yizzy's whole conscience shook whereas his body froze.

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[1] Rent Girl: Unlike a prostitute, a rent girl was allowed to stay at home, but was required to report at said place on notice. A higher ranked rent girl was paid more than a lower ranked one, and get privileges like having bodyguards and such.