The bandits of the village were getting massacred left right and center but the soldiers fail to see that underneath them were cracks in a cavern. And the four people in it were completely bypassing everything.
"This way it's pitch black so put your hand on the wall and walk. I'll start a fire once we get a little deeper." Ten says.
A bit later
"Ow! Kid, where is the fire?" Shin asked after they had been walking in complete darkness for a bit.
"Don't call me kid, it's Ten." Ten said while lighting a torch.
When it was lit it revealed that the small three were standing fine , but Ju Kun was crouching every now and then due to his height.
"Hey you, are you injured?" Shin said notice blood on the right side shoulder of Sei.
"It's not mine, it's blood from above." Sei said.
"Well damn, they plan on killing everyone in that village, don't they." Shin said, looking up to see the blood leaking through the ground. "Hey kid don't you have any family? Are they going to get killed up there?"
"I don't have any." Ten responded, pausing the other three for a moment.
"Shin, are you also royalty?" Ten asked.
"No." Shin said.
"Like I thought, you look like the common is coming out there! Then why are you talking so casually to the king? And your attitude towards him is bad." Ten said.
"The same goes for you. And as for my reasons. He knows most of them." Shin says.
"Me? You don't need to worry about what I do. He's not my king." Ten responses. "I'm not from Qin, I am from a mountain family way to the west. I don't know the reason behind it but my family was forced to leave their home and we ended up in this village. Everyone has died though."
He didn't mention he was a noble either, because the girl didn't know well enough to call him out on it, or he purposefully ignored, mentioning it. So he's smart, because he knows if he had mentioned his nobility, one or both of us would've been inclined to ask him of where if it had been me, he wouldn't have been able to refuse. So he's definitely a medium, ranked noble." Sei thought.
They continued on the path which was very difficult to get through at some points, but eventually Ten brought something up.
"Hey, why is the king of this nation being chased by soldiers?" Ten asked.
"Because his brother started a coup d'état." Shin said.
"This is still odd. Because he knew there was going to be an uprising, prepare the body double and hid himself in this village. If he knew all this before hand why didn't he just squashed the uprising?" Ten said, not noticing Sei had stopped. " why is he the only one running away like this? Isn't he the king?"
"Ten." Sai said.
"What is it?" Ten responded.
"Which way?" Sei asked standing between two paths.
"Oh it's to the left." Ten said and walked on. " I guess he doesn't want to talk about it."
"No shit." Shin said, turning to Ju Kun. "How are we when it comes to escaping?"
"I'm not sure if anyone saw us entering, but I can say that if we were followed down here, we would have heard armor for some of those difficult points. I say we don't have to worry while we are down here." Ju Kun said and Shin nodded.
The reason I didn't stomp out the uprising is because I didn't have the power to. That's all there is to it. My grandfather sat the throne for a mer three months and died. After him was my father he had a throne for three years and died. Thanks to that last year, I was given the throne at the ripe age of 13." Sei said shocking Shin and Ten. "Of course there's no way a child could governor country. I was nothing more than an ornament to the throne. Empirical sign, nothing more than a battle ground for the authority between the officials. Yeah within that fight there was one who stood out. The man who worked his way up from an entrepreneur to Prime Minister and now Chancellor, Lü Buwei. He became my patron and gained even more authority that way, there was another nearly equal power Jie Shi . The government was split into two factions and day after day, night after night there was bloodshed throughout."
"All your ministers are fools, but how did you get mixed up in this fight between politicians?" Shin asked.
"Because the second chancellor who is after the throne has connections with my little brother." Sei said.
Flashback
Jie Shi's residents
Jie Shi was taking a bath when a servant came in and whispered in his ear.
The King's brother is here? You must have been mistaken." Shi said.
"No it's really him." The servant said. " Now then what on earth does that dog of Lu possibly want from me."
On the wall of his manor
"I cannot believe my eyes! For my lord Chenjiao to be at my mansion today I am truly blessed. I'm preparing a room for you so please take your ease." Shi says. "
"Right here is fine. Talking to a dirty minister as yourself this moonlight area is just fine." Chenjiao said.
"What is it that brings you here? A minister isn't so bored that he has times to play around with one of your foolish pranks." Shi says.
"This isn't a prank. From what I hear you're going around calling us royalty Lu's dogs." Chenjiao says.
"I cannot believe what I am hearing! Who on earth told you such things? I do nothing more than lies!" Shi says.
"No need to hide it. Lu's dogs huh? I can see why you would say that. Under normal circumstances my father wasn't supposed to inherit the throne. He had 20 other siblings and he was the youngest of all of them. But along came a very wealthy businessman and he used bribes to put him on the throne." Chenjiao said.
"What on earth are you saying? The throne isn't something that can be bought with money. Your father and the throne to his benevolence." Shi said.
"Stop that. It's well known throughout the palace that Lu Buwei set my father on the throne through his money." Chenjiao said annoyed. "Because my father took the throne as king, my brother is currently king Naman next in line for it. This is all thanks to Lu Buwei. Neither my brother know I can do anything to him. He's a quite a man, a male Petaler all the way to chancellor of this country. Dui come here!"
"Yes sir!" Dui a soldier said coming forward and kneeling.
This man is a son of a well-known blacksmith. Because of his birth order he was abandoned by his parents but he's well skilled in both pen and sword, he has risen this high from being a simple servant." Chenjiao said. " Now he has enough power and authority to hire those same parents to throw them out. Though not quite the same level I've raised up someone too."
Chenjiao snapped his finger in the thing behind him, came forward with such speed and absolutely crushed Dui leaving him nothing but a spatter on the wall. Absolutely shocking Jie Shi and his attendant.
I can't stand it, people like that. That man was nothing more than a simple commoner, the chancellor is also nothing but a commoner. No matter how high you rise or what kind of clothes you put on it doesn't change the fact that you're a commoner. The same goes for my half brother, he didn't have a royal mother like I did. His mother was a palace dancer! seeing people like that walk around the palace makes me want to vomit, much less having one sit on the throne…" Chenjiao said.
"So then what is it you want from me?" Shi said.
"This morning Lu Buwei Took his entire faction and left on an expedition. There are plenty in that fashion that want to kill you but they all went on that expedition." Chenjiao said. "Since his patron is out right now I'm the only one protecting my brother, is Shou Bun Kun's personal army."
"Are you asking me to kill the king!? There is no way even if he is just an ornament there's no way I could do something so Heinous as raise a hand on my king." Jie Shi said.
Just say that someone in Shou army he killed everyone in an attempt to take the throne. If you want to use the word heinous , then say it was heinous for Lu to not be able to protect his king." Chenjiao said. "And I'll be the rightful king! You will bring me the head Shou Bun Kun. I'll be the one to bring the rightful purity back to the royal line."
Killing the king is and easy task I don't believe Lu Who holds command over the majority of the army will stay silent or him in Aspen if it spills out too far." Jie Shi says.
"Don't worry I have way more soldiers in the country than either does. So long as you get a hold of the royal seal I'll take care of the rest." Chenjiao says.
"And when you have succeeded, what will be coming to me?" Jie Shi said.
"I have no interest in politics. You can do whatever you feel like with this country." Chenjiao said.
"My Lord and King." Jie Shi says bowing at the waist.
Flashback end
"You know I'm surprised you managed to escape by yourself from The castle that was filled with your enemies." Ten says.
"I am not alone. Just one, there is one man in the den of lions that was on my side. My instructor Shou Bun Kun. Right now he's only an imperial official but when he was young he was a great warrior." Sei says.
Shou Bun Kun? That old man who took Hyou away, I'm going to get him back as well." Shin thought but then slightly tensed at the next words.
"There are only two people in the Kingdom that could stop the coup d'etat before it happened and they both didn't respond to calls to court, just the presents of a Lord of the Warring States or a member of the Six, would have brought them to heel even if they didn't pick sides they wouldn't have risked inadvertently getting one of them involved and the retaliation that comes along with it." Sei said. "After that Shou Bun Kun figured he wouldn't be able to stop the coup d'état with just his personal army, so he set a plan into motion. In case we ended up having to use a different escape route he set up multiple meeting points and pissed said Lord off in the process. The village was just one of those, however on his way back from that village met someone who looked just like me. That shack in the village turned out to be a hiding place for me, and not a meeting point for us as it was originally meant to be. Looking back on how confident he was on our escape, that shack and Hyou we're nothing more than a "just in case" measure. thanks to his just in case thinking I'm still alive."
Not a split second after he said it, he received a punch to the head from Shin.
"I thought I told you not to say his name, I was going to wait until we were in definite safety but you're catching these hands right now." Shin said, then proceeded to beat Sei down, rambling about Sei's lack of respect for human life.
A few seconds later Sei grabbed Shin's neck which almost cost him that arm, but Shin decided to just put distance between them, breaking the grip and moving back.
"There is a war going on here, and one that we're at a grave disadvantage. Are used in full whomever I need to, and if it's some kid from the slums, even more so! However he came in knowing all that. He had already figured out what he was there for and still went through with it!" Sei said.
Flashback
A body double? Hyou asked.
"You don't need to worry. We're just covering all bases so that if the usurpers do try anything, we'll have a counter in place. However there's no way they could ever reach our king, but like I said, we're just being extra careful." Shou Bun Kun said.
"Shou Bun Kun, how about you just tell him the truth?" Sei said.
My king.." Shou Bun Kun started.
"The king spoke!" Hyou thought as he prostrated himself.
"Although we are confident nothing will happen, we brought you here because there's no guarantees in life. Just tell him that." Sei said. "Hyou listen well to my words. Your safety cannot be guaranteed in this plan we've devised. In fact the enemy might kill you in place of me. Since you're here as a body double don't think you're me and kill you."
It was silence and both the king and the advisor beginning to wonder if Hyou was scared.
Hyou…" Shou Bun Kun started.
Excuse me Shou Bun Kun…" Hyou started.
"Oh what is it?" Shou said.
"Am I allowed to speak?" Hyou asked.
My king!" Shou said.
"Granted, raise your head and speak your mind." Sei said.
"For a slave like me to be taken to the palace, I was prepared for some kind of outrageous job to be waiting for me here. But not in my wildest dreams did I think it would be something this big!" Hyou said shocking Sei.
"Then does that mean you'll.." Shou began.
You know, you might die." Sei said.
My friend and I have a dream that's more outrageous than this plan." Hyou said think of him and Shin being generals. " we were plan on betting everything anyway."
Flashback end
He knew the full extent of The danger of this plan and took on the job! Without the slightest hint of fear of death he took on the job. All for the sake of something that you slaves from the slums would never be able to attain otherwise." Sei said, causing Shin to unconsciously release some of his aura. "However, he missed the mark. And lost his life in the process."
You don't think I don't know that the idiot wouldn't have done it without being willing. He was like a brother to me… the only family I had left." Shin said suppressing his aura.
Shin tears finally came out after so long. As this was happening Sei realized the torch was flickering, against a draft.
And yet another piece is revealed he's trained not just sparring, but professionally, I only know a few people who have the capability of releasing aura such as that and they're all high military, or high nobility or governance. Who are you Shin?"
"Is the exit close?" he asked Ten.
Oh yeah it's just over there." Ten responded then Sei started walking towards the draft. "Hey wait a second, Shin isn't ready."
Shin let those tears be the final morning for Hyou. I see you are your own person, but now you have to come to terms with the fact that you will be walking down that path by yourself." Sei said. "And right now there are only two paths available to you. One is to return to your home your days as whatever you are. Or go along with a weak king and become an instrument of war for him. It does not take a genius to see which one of those two is closer to that ridiculous dream you have."
"The path I take, it's not even a choice. For now I will stick around him until my dream leads me elsewhere." Shin thought, following Sei outside.
"The sun is rising." Sei said from the cave opening.
Ten minutes later, they had just finished explaining to Ten for the millionth time that both of them were broke because they had left their money in different places. And that she probably wasn't getting that money and less they either went back or waited until they got to the palace which could be at the latest a year from now.
Sei you're planning on heading back to the palace, but how? I mean considering it is just the three of us." Shin said, shocking Ten and Sei.
Wait a minute, you plan on going with him?" Ten asked/yelled.
For now my path is leading me to the palace so yes I'll follow him, at least until this whole situation is dealt with. And there are some people at the palace who I need to introduce my sword to." Shin said.
"Your logic annoys me. Besides it's not like I owe you anything, You're nothing more than a sword to me, if you break I'm throwing you out." Sei says.
Oh, is that so?" Shin says Maliciously.
So how exactly are we getting back to the palace?" Ten asked.
"We need to meet with Shou Bun Kun. Beyond this forest we have a rendezvous point set up." Sei said.
"Dammit." Shin said.
Back at the village soldiers were in the caves trying to find where they had escaped to. Outside the commander just got the report.
"Call that Muta guy from Nanetsu here!" The commander said.
There was Guy sniffing around the broken play shed.
"Muta. Muta!" A soldier said.
"Master, I can track them. I already have their scent, back where the first assassin was found dead there was a cent heading in the opposite direction of here. But here there is the scent of three kids and a man, my legs have been trained for this, I'll get them before you know it. It's one shot of my blow pipe, I'll kill them all." Muta said.
"I know, now go." The commander said.
"After they die from the poison, I'll use this hatchet to bring you their head."
Back with The Boys
The was running through the forest at full pace trying to get to the rendezvous point. When Ten tripped and roll into a tree headfirst, luckily she was wearing the hood which brunt of the damage. Sei realized shin was not doing so good.
Let's take a rest." Sei said.
"Shin, you're covered in wounds and bruises." Ten said.
"Oh yeah I forgot to wrap them." Shin said nonchalantly.
"You idiot, you need to clean them, sit still I'll get it." Ten said beginning to work on his arms.
"Leave me alone, I'll deal with this at the rendezvous point where there should be proper things to heal me." Shin said.
"Let's go." Sei said.
But as they were getting up shin just dropped to the ground.
"Shin!" All three yelled.
"How is he?" Ten asked.
"He has a pulse, so I bet he just reached the limits of his physical and mental stamina. Not like I can blame him and one day he lost his best friend and also fought an extremely difficult battle and then ran all this way." Sei said.
"Honestly if we hadn't stopped back in the cave I don't think it would've caught up to him for a while longer. He was just too strung up after everything, as soon he started to come down it just continued and now he's here." Ju Kun said.
"We can't go on like this, we need to let him rest." Ten said.
"No, we don't have that kind of time." Sei said.
"Then I'll.." Ju Kun started.
"No. You're our best fighter, you need to be able to move around freely." Sei said. "I'll get him, if you ever wanted to go back on your word the second he passed out was your opportunity and you didn't."
Minutes later the three could be seen running through the forest. Sei carrying Shin and Ten at the lead and Ju Kun bring up the rear.
Our only chance is to get to Shou Bun Kun and his unit, right?" Ten asked.
"Yes, that's right." Sei said.
"They never showed up to the village, doesn't that mean they're all dead?" Ten asked.
"Honestly, after what happened to the village I wouldn't take an army force into that region, just to prevent them from getting mistakes for the people who actually did it. We just have to pray that is the case." Sei said.
The Royal Palace.
What the hell do you mean you haven't found the king's corpse!?" Someone screamed
"That's because the soldiers got a little carried away and chopped everyone to pieces. So we're having a hard time putting everyone back together again. Also there were a lot more tunnels under the village than we thought but we were using all we have to search for them." An advisor said.
Damn that Shou Bun Kun! I knew he was up to something but for him to plan this far. I underestimated him just because he was a low ranking official. Dammit now I'm kicking myself for not taking care of them earlier." Jie Shi said. "However it doesn't matter if the king has gotten through our grasp! No one knows what happened within the castle walls so no one in their right mind will believe anything he says! Find him along with the king! Give us not under any circumstances let those two meet up! Do whatever you must to find and kill him!"
There's no need for any of that." A voice said.
Where on earth have you been at such an important time. General Ouki." Jie Shi said.
Where? I was out playing. Nothing much talked about Shou Bun Kun. so calm down I made him suffer and killed him."