Chapter 40 40. A Forest Dweller Hungry Boy



"Thank you for your help friend, We will never forget this aid of yours."

Suyodhan is an elder brother of Kauravas first to speak, In his voice was genuine gratitude. 

"You are calling me a friend? Did you not hear I just said I am Suta, A son of Charioteer? So the prince still wants to be friends with me?"

Karna on the other hand wants to check if this Suyodhan was as good as he read to the lower caste, Low-born. 

"You being a prince or Suta was not important to me, Friend. You are the one who helped us in need and is important to me, So no matter what your lineage is, I still want to be your friend."

Suyodhan didn't think or be affected by Karna's question but straightforwardly answered it.

"Then I will accept you as a friend but there is one thing, You will not do anything that I will tell you not to do."

Karna was satisfied with his answer. He used to live on the streets, So those streets teach him a very important skill, A skill that he can feel if someone is lying to him or not. 

Obviously, he knows that Suyodhan is not lying but it was his pure emotions, So he too takes a step further and to be friends with him, After all, he already decided he wants to be his friend as the tale of friendship between Duryodhana and Karna was legendary even in his time.

And now that he confirmed, He of course wants to be his friend. As for why he wants him not to do things he forbidden is also simple. It will prevent him from doing anything bad, Which gives him bad Karma. An original reason for his fall.

"Okay, I am the eldest Gandhari Nadan (Son of Gandhari), Sut (Son) of Dhritarashtra, and The eldest brother of Kaurva's, Give you a promise in their name, I will not do anything that you my friend will forbid me to do."

Suyodhan thought about it for a second and gave his word, and to make it more convincing he gave that promise in the name of his mother, father, and brothers who he loved the most.

He felt that the boy in front of him would not have any ill intentions toward him, So he gave his word, A promise. 

"So, From now on, I Radhey (Son of Radha), Adhirati(Son of Adhiratha), and the Future king of Anga promise you my unyielding friendship, Of course on the premise that you keep your word."

After hearing his words, Karna lets go of his worry and he too promises him his friendship.

For the Warrior class like Shatriya, Promises are above everything. Now that he gets his promise, Karna knows he will prevent at least a few things that he knows of from happening.

"So from now on, we are friends, So as a friend I remind you that if Sushasan's injury is not treated soon, It will leave hidden wounds and it will hinder his future growth as a warrior."

Karna looked at Sushasan, Who now has a happy smile on his friend. Seeing Bheema getting beaten, He was so happy that he even forgot about his injury and pain.

"Ahhh, I had forgotten about it, Now it's hurting a lot. Please take me to the Royal Doctor."

Being retained by Karna, Sushasan remembers his injury and because of that his pain too came back, So he asked Vikrama to take him to the medic, Hering that Vikrama hurriedly take him to the medic after getting permission from his big brother, Suyodhan.

Karna looked at this and once again marveled at the function of our body. Because there is too much pain, Sushana's body stopped feeling pain but now he was reminded of it, Once again he started to feel it.

How much our body knows what to do and what not to do, Like even pain which most people hate is a blessing for us. Not only it prevents us from harming ourselves but it also indicates when there is something wrong in our bodies.

Like now, If that much is felt by him in an encounter with Bhima, He will definitely fall into a coma but his brain prevented that by not letting him feel that pain. After all, if he collapses there then he should have been more injured than he is right now.

But now that he was safe, His body once again gave him that feeling of pain to remind him that he was injured and needed treatment right away.

Karna, even in this world of gods, is amazed by the inner workings of the human body.

*Swif~* 

When Karna wanted to talk to the remaining duo of brother and sister, A black shadow figure ran past them, And quickly grabbed the mangos on the ground. Before they reacted it was once again ready to blitz past them.

"Where are you going, Little guy?"

Karna's body automatically goes on full alert the moment that figure blitz passes them, and when it was intending to run off again, Karna's body moved on its own and directly caught that fleeing figure.

When he saw who it was, Karna was a little shocked. In his hand was a tribal young man. He heard about this tribal group he called a Nishad, Forest dwellers.

A young boy had a very sickly appearance, There is not much meat on his skeleton, You can even count how many bones have in his body, 

His height is also not that big, It was only 5ft, Which according to current standards is too low, There are also not many muscles, His skin tone was very black because of long exposure to the sun, and His body and face were covered in dirt and dry leaves were struck in his noted hair, There was peacock feather struck on his hair to hold his hair in place.

Other than his little handsome face, There is no shining point in this young boy.

"Let go of me, Ahha"

That young boy struggled to get free from Karna's grip, But not even Bhima who was blessed with immense strength able to break free from his grip not to mention how weak this boy but to Karna's surprise even knowing there is no chance this boy did not stop his struggle to break free neither does he plead forgiveness. 

"Who are you, wanderer?"

Karna was impressed by his iron will, So he asked about him, Calling him to wanderer then Nishad also a sign of respect, Because just like Suta, Nishad was also a low-born class, Even more below on the food chart than Suta. That's why he did call him Nishad but wanderer. 

"...."

Boy didn't speak but held the mangoes dearly in his arms fearing it would be taken away. His eyes were tightly closed as if waiting for the beating that he had long expected.

"Boy, You do know that stealing is a crime, Not to mention you sneaked into the royal garden to steal, If you give a good reason your crime will be forgiven, If not be prepared for the punishment."I think you should take a look at

Suyodhan, seeing that it was someone else, Who sneaked into the garden to steal fruits, spoke in a threatening tone.

But Karna raised his eyebrow when he heard his words. Not because of being disappointed but because of the meaning in his words.

This guy acts tough and all but actually this is a chance given to this young boy, Karna was sure as long as the boy was in front of saying his reason no matter what it is, His crime will be forgiven by Suyodhana. With this not only he can forgive the boy but he also will not lose royal deterrence.

Because of this he once again felt that it was the right choice to be friends with this guy.

"Hungry"

The boy too heard the meaning of Suyodhan. He was surprised that he did not get beaten for stealing the fruits, So he confessed, Why did he steals this mango.

Forest is not as forgiving as it looks on the surface, other tribes control some parts and food supplies in it, And his family who was kicked out of the tribe can't have those supplies at all. 

Other tribes are too territorial, So they do not allow an outsider to enter their part of the forest, So it's very hard for a family of 7 people to find enough food to feed those mouths.

If they find any king who wants to gain good karma while feeding a poor like them, Those days are the only time they get to have full stomachs, While others if they are lucky might get fruits or two fallen on the ground.

"If that's the case, Are those 2 or 3 mangoes enough for you?"

This time Sushala poked her head from behind her brother's back and spoke in her crisp innocent voice.

"Here take all of this, No one will eat it, So they were going to spoil anyway. You can eat it."

She quickly turned around and gathered as many mangoes as she could from the ground. Although she said there were not good mangos, she made sure only to pick up the one which had not been destroyed by their blunder with Bhima before.

After that, She put them in a cloth and handed it to that boy. After that she goes back to hide in her safe haven, Behind her elder brother's back.

"That...Thank you."

Boy was surprised, He met to many royal, Some were outright showed disgust, Beat them, or even if they fed them they always behave like superior to them, But right now, These two children, Who look like princes and princesses didn't show any of that, This fact makes him surprised but seeing the mangos front of him, He didn't care about that as his mouth became watery seeing the food.

"Wait!!!"

Just as he was about to reach out and take the mangos which were packed in the cloth, Karna spoke and stopped him.

As he spoke, 3 pairs of eyes of surprise, confusion, and sneer locked on him.

'What fool I was to think this royal is good, They just want to humiliate me.'

The boy said it in his heart, His heart filled with contempt for this person but unknowingly there were tears in his eyes, Which he stubbornly held back. As if it was his only way to keep the last remaining self-respect.

It's been days since he ate anything, He was really hungry now they had given him a hope but mercilessly crushed it. He hates this royal, He hates this prince and princess, He hated those kings, Who were so rich but can't even spare them a few bites of food, Even when they took their home.

But mostly he hated himself, He hated his powerlessness, If he was strong no one dared to humiliate him like that, He didn't have to steal food like a thief and be chased by people. 

He hates those eyes when people look at him with disgust. He is also human like them. Then why do these people hate him? Why do they disgust him? Why does he has to beg for food?

'Why!? Why!? Why!?'

This was the only question he kept asking in his heart but no one there to answer it.

'System uses Thread of Fate skill on this boy and shows me his data."

Karna spoke to the system. He didn't get any chance before to look at Bhima's fate but now this boy in front of him was a proper target for him to see how this skill works.

He actually didn't want to humiliate this boy. He just wanted to ask the boy about his name and talent and see if he could find work for him.

After all, these fruits are just a one-time solution to his hunger. This boy remained him of his past self. He too just like this boy used to scavenge for food, He knows those eyes very well, Hated living like this but was also helpless to do anything about it.

That's why he wanted to allow him to change his life but he thought that he should first check his fate before making any decision. What if he will ruin his future because of good intentions? 

[Ding!.....]

The system's voice fell and the line of data appeared in front of him but seeing those details, He was shocked to his core.

[A/N : Hii guys, How have you been? 

I was busy writing my other book that's why I wasn't able to write this but don't worry, I have received a non-exclusive contract for this novel, Although I have yet to sign it but I will tomorrow, So you guys will receive an update often.

Also, do you guys think the non-exclusive contract is good? Or also I am planning on opening a patron, So do you guys want that? If you want it I will create it. There will be at least 10 more chapters there than here.

Don't forget to tell me about it, Here.

Like always thank you for your reading and have a good day ?.)