As soon as they were seated, Futch and Sasuke
began voicing out the questions they had in mind.
"What did they mean by "heroes
coming to save them"?"
"What in the world was that ugly thing
doing in the port’s entrance?"
The two stared at Shu from across the table.
Shu calmly replied, "I have sent for someone, formerly from the army, to
come help out since the monster has been disrupting trade in Radat for the past
few weeks. As for the sea monster…"
Shu turned from Futch to Sasuke. "It is
not the last of it."
"People have reported about seeing an
even larger sea monster of the same type in one of the nearby caves. I believe
that it may be the mother of the monster by the port. If that is true, then
there will be more of these monsters in the future."
"The townspeople can, barely, get rid of
the monster by the port but I feel it is more important to take care of the
mother. That is why I’ve prevented them from wasting their lives on the port
monster and have called for several of our stronger warriors from the war to
come."
The four sat contemplating for a while.
Nothing moved other than the steam billowing from the four cups of tea. The
whole room was quiet except for an occasional whine from Bright on Futch’s lap.
Futch and Sasuke wanted to help Shu defeat the
monster, but they were not sure, knowing that the other one would be even
stronger. Finally, Luc broke the silence.
"Who did you send for?"
Apparently, Shu’s last sentence interested
Luc. Shu eyed the magician.
"I called for Viktor and Flik."
"…"
Luc was silent. He had been expecting a
different answer, but his doubt answered his question.
After all, Lord Riou had become sick of war
and had retreated to a simpler life with his sister Nanami. But still, Luc
thought, he could’ve become a great warrior.
Glaring at the boys while they had their eyes
cast down, Shu retrieved the question he had been asking them.
"Why are the three of you having a
journey…together?"
Futch and Sasuke shot their heads up as if
they had an answer, but paused when nothing could come out of their mouths.
They both slowly turned their heads towards Luc.
"Lady Leknaat simply said we needed to
have a journey together."
"To where…?" Shu questioned.
Luc’s eyes remained transfixed onto his cup of
tea. He placed a finger on his chin. "We were never told to journey
where…but so far we have been drawn to wherever fate needed our presence. I
believe the significance of our journey may just be to cause some altering to
the world for things to move on."
The whole room was silent. What Luc said was a
bit confusing.
"So…in a way, you three are just having a
trip drawn by…fate."
Shu concluded doubtfully. He wasn’t used to
saying something so unscientific before.
The answer to their purpose was not perfectly
satisfying, but the unmoving silence showed that they had accepted it. A small
knock came from the open doorway followed by one of the townspeople they had
seen before.
"Master Shu, there’s a man outside who
wants to see you."
‘Just one?’ Shu thought. ‘I guess one of them
can’t make it.’
"Please show him in."
Shu turned back to the three boys at the
table.
"I guess the real hero of the people just
arrived," Sasuke said.
Shu walked towards the doorway, ready to greet
Flik or Viktor and give him his new mission. But he was surprised when he saw
that the man was neither Flik nor Viktor.
"Klaus?"
Klaus meekly peeked into the room and looked
up when he heard his name being called. He smiled to the four guys as a
greeting as he carefully stepped in. Shu quirked an eyebrow and Klaus took it
as a cue to start explaining.
"I’m sorry for the trouble, but Viktor
and Flik were not at the headquarters," he paused for a moment for Shu to
speak.
"Why’s this? I just heard that the two
were stopping by the headquarters as a break from their trip."
"Yes, but they had left again when your
messenger came. If you had called a week earlier, they would’ve still been
here."
"…"
Shu was silent.
"If you really need them, I can go check
their old fort to see if they’re there…although, I doubt they would be there."
Klaus looked at Shu, waiting for an answer.
The strategist seemed to be really deep in thought. He finally let out a sigh
as if he came to a conclusion. When he opened his eyes again, they were looking
at the three at the table.
The boys flinched, but most visibly Sasuke.
They watched as Shu’s proceeding figure grew before them until he could place
his hands on the table.
"Can you three do it?"
Immediately, Klaus called from the other side
of the room. "But Shu, they’re only child..ren…"
It was then that Klaus realized how silly that
sounded and Shu knew exactly why. Ever since the strategist had met Riou, he
had learned not to look down on children. Sometimes, even children can do
things that were meant for adults.
Shu’s unwavering stare remained on the silent
trio. Futch was the first to speak.
"It’s not that we don’t want to do it,
but we just need some more practice."
"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, "That
last battle almost killed us."
"How much time do you think we have
left?" Luc glared at Shu and directed his question to the strategist.
"Not much," Shu paused. "It
will only be a matter of days before the mother finds out that her baby has
been killed."
Sasuke quickly stood up, causing his chair to
scratch loudly on the floor. He confidently looked at his other two partners.
"Alright, what are we waiting for? Let’s
go train!"