Ch2: The Speech
After traveling the path (and defeating a few monsters on the way... strange how most of them had no blood at all...), our crew soon came along the entrance to Farebury, the home of the Great Kalderasha. And I could tell from the many eyes pointed our way that people were not only surprised by Trode's appearance, but also by my ears and clothes. But I couldn't blame them. I mean, how often would they see an Elf with blue jeans, sneakers, and a blue t-shirt on? Probably never!
"Hmm... yes... if my memory is correct, this is the place where Master Rylus lives," Trode said as he got out of the cart. "Oi? Grandad? I thought we was after Dhoulmagus?" Yangus asked. "I am not your grandad, and yes, it is Dhoulmagus that we're after. He's the one that turned Medea and I into laughing stocks!" Trode growled at Yangus. "That's why we must locate Master Rylus. He's probably the only one that would know where Dhoulmagus could be."
"Okay. I'm gonna go ask around town. Wanna come with, Yangus?" I asked the cor blimey dude. "You don't mind, do youse guys?" Yangus asked the royal duo. "Just go on ahead. We'll wait patiently," Trode smiled. I then began to walk with Yangus up the stairs and looked around to see smoke from a nearby house and knew it was too late for Rylus. "I think the best place to find some info would be the local pub. What do you think?" I asked Yangus with a smile. "Good thinkin' there, g-I mean Mary," Yangus frowned, almost calling me guv accidentally.
"It's okay, Yangus. If you want, you can call me guv. After all, I did save your ass from getting whacked by that giant slime didn't I?" I smirked at him, pointing out another thing wrong with the plot at the same time. There was an enemy exclusive to the 3DS remake known as the Creme Caraslime. And it was supposed to be one of the rarest ones out there. "Well, ya got me there. I guess I could call ya guv every so oft," Yangus smirked. "Okay. Let's go to the pub," I smiled.
When we made it into the Pub, I immediately smiled at the nearby bunny waitress who gave a sweet smile to us in return. But then, I heard something back by the bar that I instantly recognized. Kalderasha's voice. "So what if I knew about the fire? What good would it have done for Rylus? It would've left a pathway for yet another disaster," he said while he was drunk. "Uh oh... guess he kicked the bucket..." I frowned to Yangus as we approached Kalderasha and he looked at me like he did the hero. "Hmm? Such strange clothes on a strange person..." Kalderasha said as he leered me in the eyes.
I really didn't want him to see my thoughts, but I knew he could have that power. The exact moment that he gasped, however, the man came in right on time. "Everyone! Come quick! There's a monster in the town!" he exclaimed. "Um, I'll take a rain check on that! See ya!" I exclaimed as I grabbed hold of Yangus's arm and drug him outside with me. "Oi! Where'r we goin?" Yangus asked me as we stormed out of the pub. "To help out a certain king, duh!" I frowned, knowing what was happening even if he didn't.
When we finally arrived at the town square, we saw all the townsfolk around King Trode while Medea stood behind him. "Ew! It looked at me!" exclaimed a person. "Out! Get out monster! You're not welcomed here!" exclaimed another as the villagers began to hurl rocks at him. I couldn't stand how rude and cruel that these people were being to him, so I let go of Yangus and stormed through the crowd.
"STOP!" I exclaimed as I went right in front of Trode, taking a few rocks to my shirt in the process. "W-wha? What are you doing?" asked a person from the crowd. Though everyone had stopped hurling rocks by this point. "Just because someone looks different, does that mean that they're a monster?" I asked the group, my ears finally getting noticed by some of the flock. "Oi? Yer an elf? And yer protectin' someone like 'im?" another person in the crowd asked. A brute this time. "So what if I'm an elf? And so what if he's green? It's not like we can help it!" I frowned. "Besides, this 'monster' is actually my boss. One could say that he's a king. And what nearby kingdom is just across a broken bridge west of this place?"
I knew I was taking a risk, but it would've been a whole lot better for both Trode and Medea if I were to protect them from harm by simply spreading word about how they came to be this way. And the expressions from the villagers upon my response was... well... a little weird. They looked at me in confusion until a certain female came from the crowd. "She has a valid argument," said the Spanish-accented Valentina from behind me, coming down the stairs.
"Oh? But what does she mean kingdom? Are you referring to Trodain by any chance? I thought it was ruled by humans," said a female from the group. A bunny girl. From the pub! "Well, it was ruled by me, but that was before a terrible curse afflicted not only me, but the whole of my castle, civilians and all!" Trode frowned. I made sure to tell him before we got into town that he should never give away Medea's true identity if only because word may spread to Argonia and eventually to the Argonian Prince Charmles.
"Wait... a curse? You're the king of Trodain?" asked a few different folks. "My whole castle, wrapped in thorns. All of the people inside, now frozen in place and turned into plants. And all of my castle guard gone," Trode sighed. "You know... I think I may have heard of that... I think Kalderasha said something about that happening earlier today... that is, before he went to the pub," spoke the bunny girl. "So will you please go and spread word about this? The last thing that we need is to go to another town at some point and have rocks thrown at us again," I frowned.
"But I still have one question..." said a kid, no older than eight. "Yeah? Wot is it?" Yangus asked as he joined back up with us while Trode spoke. "If you're King Trode, where's Princess Medea?" I smiled weakly and opened my mouth. "Princess Medea was out on a venture to see the sights when the castle was cursed," I smirked slyly. "She's still okay, since she had a few travelers protecting her along the way. Where she is now, no one can say. But she is still betrothed to Argonia's prince, so there's no fear for that much." That made the villagers nod in unison as if they were now satisfied with my answers.
After a few of them apologized and went on their way, I was left with the group as well as Valentina. "So... what can we do for you? There must be some reason that you defended my speech," I asked Valentina. "W-Well... I was hoping that you could help me retrieve my father's Crystal Ball... Kalderasha." she said. "Yeah, he gave me a weird look at the pub when he saw my ears," I said, hoping that was all he saw. "Forgive him... but he needs the Crystal Ball... I had a dream that you all would come to town today... and so far it has come true... will you help me and my father out?" "Sure thing. On one condition, however," I smiled. "And that is?" "When he gets his Crystal Ball back, he needs to tell us where to find the guy that cursed Trodain."