Chapter 58 Honor

In good time, after a steady persistence that was worthy of commendation, Xzavier and the others finally caught up with Kadin. As they approached the scene where the hunters had been asked to wait for Kadin, Xzavier saw the dignified form of the old man up ahead. From that distance, Kadin's robes flapped in the wind of the early morning breeze like a cape.

Xzavier didn't understand why Kadin remained frozen in one spot, why wasn't he moving around to check on the hunters? Was the old man disappointed that they had fled already? These questions raged through Xzavier's mind. So, with the old man in full view, Xzavier sped up ahead to meet him. He hailed him from afar;

"Old man! Are they gone alre-"

Xzavier instantly regretted his presumptuousness. He skidded to a halt when he came to the entrance of the open clearing located in the womb of the forest. An atrocious sight greeted his eyes; Spread out in a haphazard manner were the mangled corpses of the hunters whom Kadin had asked to wait for him.

In Xzavier's time as a member of the Special Forces unit, he had seen his fair share of the destruction that was common with war. But even as he looked upon the dismembered, bleeding bodies of the men who lay before him in death, Xzavier saw a different shade of destruction. This level of devastation was morbidly insane, it reeked of cruelty at its worst. Intestines spewed out of so many guts, huge chunks of flesh had been ripped out of the necks of several, leaving their heads barely hanging on.

Several bones had been twisted at an unnatural angle. Xzavier noticed the bleeding eye sockets on many of the corpses, he looked closer and saw that several eyeballs had been destroyed by plucking out or by forcing in. Xzavier was shook. This level of brutality was something he had never seen before. It was only in that moment that he finally understood why the mere mention of the orcs made so many giddy.

Tacy and Adalia showed up a couple of minutes later. They too were forced to look upon the horrendous sight. For a full minute, no one spoke. There wasn't even the sound of breathing. The slaughter before them was loud enough. There was simply no words for this.

Asides from the others who felt a morbid sense of gloom, Tacy was the only one didn't feel a shred of sympathy for the dead hunters. She knew that they had met their end in the most unconventional manner. But she couldn't bring herself to feel bad for them. The cowardly hunters willingly chose to abandon both her and Kadin. And now, the very evil which they had thought wouldn't befall them had taken them unawares.

Tacy said nothing about her true feelings. But she maintained an outer front that suggested that she was also horrified, even though she wasn't.

--------------------------

A day later, Xzavier was fast asleep in his hotel room. He had the serenity and thought of how he would love the peaceful state that he was in to last forever, but fate had other plans for him, and peace was not part of it.

His sleep was suddenly interrupted by some disturbances coming from outside the building, voices shouting, the beat from the brim of the drum whenever it got hit with the mallet, singing, and noise from boots hitting the ground uniformly from people's voices singing and jubilating, excitement filled the air which forced him to come back to reality, he opened his eyes struggled to hear his thoughts inside of him.

He had not even been able to fix his thoughts on the cacophonies that arose from the disturbance outside when he heard a knock on the door. He got up reluctantly and went tingling straight to open the door. He turned the doorknob and pulled lightly to open the door, revealing a familiar face.

"Oh, it's you," he murmured as he leaned backward and opened the door wider than he opened before to reveal Adalia's beautiful face smiling radiantly at him. He was not really surprised to see her though, she lived in the next door to his.

"Yes, how are you doing today?" she asked excitedly as she let herself into the room uninvited. She walked slowly to the bed, swinging her sexy body to the right and the left and right and sat down, gently sinking her beautiful body into the soft bed and laying across her left leg on the right.

The shouting and noise outside persisted and it was almost blocking out every other sound, most especially Adalia's girly voice. Xzavier had to strain his ears, and his disapproval of it all could be clearly seen on his face.

"What is all that hustle and bustle going on outside about?" Xzavier asked her gruffly, partially ignoring her question as he was still disturbed by the interruption of his sleep.

"It's all because of you, Xzavier!" she replied to him with more excitement than before. Her face beamed with excitement and it made even Xzavier to wonder what had gotten her in that happy mood, although she was always childishly cheerful.

"Me? How?" he replied her looking puzzled. He stretched his arms out, walked to the window to have a good look at the crowd outside making the fuss.

They were indeed chanting and singing his praises as they danced with such vigor. He stared at the streets and the people for a while, but this filled him with nothing but absolute discomfort. He didn't feel like the man he always wished to be, cool and calm but his braveness and straightforwardness has won battles.

All he wanted was to rest and enjoy some serenity this time and he did not want any exposure not the type that an association with the politicians would bring him eventually. But residing in a border town in Princy State would not provide him with the type of serenity he wanted.

"Yes, your deeds have gotten to the ears of the governor," Adalia's sweet voice streamed past his ears and interrupted his line of thoughts.

"And he means to honor you with a commendation for your heroic acts. People out there are chanting your praises and celebrating your deeds," she added and smiled from ear to ear, revealing her perfect glowing set of teeth. After appearing to be deep in thoughts for a while Xzavier replied her.

"Well, I'm not interested in the politicians and their so-called politics," Xzavier replied abruptly as he walked back to the bed running his finger on the wood of the bed. Xzavier would never have anything to do with the government even if the heavens rain fire upon the earth, their unclean hands has made him realized a lot being a special force agent before transcended. "They are liars and they are not to be trusted, "he added but before he could finish the sentence the military system interrupted him.

"You have no choice but to accept the governor's award," Xzavier, the system suddenly said to him. The interruption almost made him lash out in anger changing his expressions into a human beast, like a human hunter but he maintained a grip on his emotion a trade trick he had learned in all his years in the special forces in other to hold himself hold together for the new mission assigned to him.

"And why must I accept something so irrelevant?" Xzavier asked angrily letting his rage out partially, his fury was no longer as contained as before, he was starting to let his anger out a little bit.

Xzavier know he had no option but to go because he already knew the outcome of declining mission given to him. "

"It is a vital task that you must complete, that's why," the system replied him almost as quickly as he had asked the question.

"Well, I am delighted that you're getting a commendation. But I am even more excited that I'm going to meet Earlene. This has been the cause of my excitement all along." Adalia announced dreamily. "I miss her so much," she added. This brought curiosity on Xzavier's face and prompted him to ask her about this Earlene.

"Who is Earlene?" Xzavier asked her as he stared at her with bewilderment written all over his face. He wondered why she would be so excited for him to meet this person and how important the person must be to make her feel such joy. It was a kind of feeling that had begun to feel alien to him since getting to this strange world.

"She is the governor's daughter and my best friend," she replied him as she giggled brightly, her beautiful well carved face became even more beautiful at that moment.

Adalia happened to be a maid serving in Earlene's home when she was younger they grew up together and along the way developed the most wonderful and bond and strong friendship even though they hailed from different backgrounds and one is supposed to serve the other."