Chapter 5 – Unwanted Monster

Leo and Bel sat lazily on the cold ground of the lair with an odd silence. After a couple of minutes, Leo stood up from the ground staring directly at Bel whose eyes were tightly shut.

“B.. Bel, I want something from you.” Leo stuttered, staring intensively at Bel who flung his eyes open with a grin.

“Don’t bother asking, Leo.” Leo’s emotion quickly sank into a pool of sadness immediately after hearing the words of Bel who still had a grin, “I was going to suggest that. You can go whenever you want, but always remember that you’ll be safer in my arms rather than in that disgusting village.”

Leo’s face lit up with excitement and he began to jump around the wide lair. He settled down a couple of minutes later and ran to peck Bel on the cheeks, “I feel like calling you dad right now. Thank you!”

Bel nodded and Leo quickly grabbed the hair equipment on the ground and began to fix his appearance. The next couple of minutes was an absolute mess as Leo’s hair littered the ground, fortunately, he was able to cut himself into a suitable low-cut hairstyle that oddly corresponded with his shaved beard and mustache.

“Since when do you even care about looks, the longer hair made you look more mature!” Bel complained with a bittersweet smile. Leo was too preoccupied with his thoughts and blandly ignored the statement, immediately making his way out of the lair.

“Return to daddy if things aren’t friendly,” Bel shouted at the pacing young man with a pretentious smile.

****

In a dusty environment, Leo stood amidst a crowd of villagers who walked on their various paths. The Nonius Village has indeed transformed into a new landscape than he could remember. He immediately began to walk in a particular direction with a mind flooded with thoughts.

He had walked past a lot of people who he could recognize, but at the same time, no one seem to recognize his identity even though he received glances from some of the villagers.

‘Humm, I’ll just hope they’ll welcome me.’ Leo muttered while slowly making his way towards his dad’s cottage which was only a few meters from his view.

Leo finally stood in front of the cottage that looked unusually dusty, almost as if nobody was living there. He stepped forward to the front of the door that was tightly locked with a fragile-looking padlock. He stood there, confused for over a minute, and decided to turn around into the crowd who didn’t give him the slightest spotlight.

‘What’s wrong with these people?’ He could not help but think aloud in amazement at the brain-jolting event.

After standing in a particular spot for a long time, he decided to approach a seemingly idle young man.

“Where is senior Raynard and his son, Thomas!”

The villager turned to him with a bittersweet smile after hearing the statement and then proceeded to say a word, “You must be new in the village, or rather, the Kingdom as a whole?”

“Ye… yes, I am.”

“No wonder you’re asking such questions!” Leo’s brows conjoined with the statement of the man whose former expression slowly transformed into a solid smile, “Well, senior Raynard died exactly five years ago. And for the new elder, his wife is having a baby.”

“Who… who exactly is the new elder?”

“Thomas Raynard of course.”

Leo was taken aback by the words of the man who looked ignorant of his vivid facial expression, “And... And you’re happy about this?”

His eyes turned teary all of a sudden with the terrible news of Thomas being the new elder, not just currently, but for the past five years. Moreover, his father’s death.

The man looked intrigued by Leo’s uneasy expression and his unknowingly funny question, “Who wouldn’t be happy when that little monster, his brother was supposed to be elder? His brother got lost about… fifteen years ago, so he’s considered dead.”

Leo felt a flood of rage engulf him the more he listened to the words of the ignorant man, but luckily, he managed to contain it.

“And if his supposedly lost brother returns, what will happen?”

The young man’s intrigued expression briefly turned into a frown as his gaze keened into Leo’s face, “Nobody wishes that should happen. And even though it eventually comes to pass, he’ll be ignored and considered a mere commoner. But if he tries anything silly, the village or should I say the kingdom as a whole is ready for him.”

“As… as how?”

“Well, we’ll simply execute him. Who’ll want him to rule anyways!”

Leo’s eyes widened with shock as the man blabbered his words ignorantly. His curiosity went skyrocketing when the man revealed their plan and he wanted to know what they could do as he had returned, “And... And what if I’m Leo Raynard.”

The man’s eyes narrowed at Leo who looked piqued in the conversation. A wide grin appeared on the man’s face almost immediately, followed by an outburst of laughter.

“You really made my day young man. Leo Raynard is long dead and you can’t be that little monster!”

The man kept on laughing for over five minutes without stopping and Leo suddenly grew bored making him walk away.

Meanwhile, Leo’s heart trembled with fear as he made his way to the village square, which of course was the center of attention in the whole village. Only after thirty minutes of trekking did Leo stand in the village square, an empty plot of land that had nothing but a marbled-tile floor and a jeweled fountain in the center of it.

Without much consideration, he sprinted to the twenty-four-meter tall fountain and jumped on the thick stone-work basin. A small crowd gathered in the place within mere seconds as they stared at the stranger who looked unfazed.

When Leo saw the small crowd of people gather around the fountain with focused eyes, he heaved a sigh and turned to them with a smile.

“My regards to the villagers of the Nonius village, I am Leo. Leo Raynard, and I am here to speak with your… your elder, Thomas Raynard.”

The surrounding fell dead silent as everybody around the scene stood unmoving like they’d suddenly been struck by a bolt of lightning. Leo on the other hand felt embarrassed by the silence of the crowd with their eyes gazing directly at him.

“Emm… Can any of you tell me his location?” He shouted to the crowd with a confused face, but only received the echo of his voice as an answer.

After five silent minutes, an old man amongst the crowd mustered a word, “But Leo Raynard is long dead, the night he went missing, the guards brought his corpse out of the forest. And by the way, the late Senior confirmed the corpse as his son.”

“But… But that isn’t possible. In fact, I can prove to you that I’m Leo Raynard.” Leo retorted and pointed his palm before the villagers with the intention of creating a small beast. But he was immediately interrupted by a loud and husky voice that came out from the crowd.

“There’s no need to prove anything, the son of Abel Raynard, the former elder. From now henceforth, we all acknowledge you as our elder.” A deafening cheer from the crowd erupted in the atmosphere after the man’s words and some of the villagers went over towards Leo and began to bow before him.