After the commander gave the order all the soldiers retreated and went to do their own business happily as they didn't have to fight, but two people were not pleased.

The two paladins of the church of Uji didn't like the thought of letting me off the hook that easily, but they couldn't do anything. Although the church was quite a powerful entity in the empire they couldn’t meddle in the business of the military.

The two of them just left while angrily staring at me with flame in their eyes, but I didn't care.

....

Inside the tent where I and Munnji were we sat down and solemnly stared at each other.

“Haaaa...

That was quite a stressful situation.

 Why did you have to barge in the camp so brazenly and then fight not only with a commander but also with two paladins of the church?”

“Munnji!

 Didn't you hear what I said to you? Rosella has been kidnapped and they may even have Naga.”

 

*sigh*

“I know.

Your assumptions are right because they have Naga as well.”

“What did you just say?

They have Naga? Where did you get this information from?”

“Girg came to tell me before heading back again.

When he returned to the Inn he discovered that two of the staff had been killed. One of them had his head cut off and the other had his tongue cut off.

Does that sound familiar?”

“Girg told you?

One of them had his head cut off and the other had his tongue....

*Bang*

Those bastards....

 I already suspected them, but to really think they had the balls to do this sort of thing.

Ill fu*king kill them all.”

“Calm down.

This is why I didn’t want to deal with you before. When you get really angry you just throw rationality out of the window and go into some sort of self destruct carnage mode where you just head straight into the problem head first like a mad beast.”

“Haaaaa...

I get it. Ill contains my anger for now, but we need to find a way to rescue the both of them, now.  Time is of the essence.

“I know.

Look at this.”

Munnji handed me a piece of paper.

“What’s this?”

“Their demands.

 They are asking for 200000 kils in exchange for the two of them and another 10000 for the two we killed. The exchange spot is....

Munnji continued explaining the contents of the letter, but I wasn’t listening.

I wasn’t angry, but I wasn’t calm either. I wasn’t sad, but also not relieved.

The feeling I was experiencing right now was difficult to explain. The anger that was like a raging fire had burned my every other emotion and left me with only a feeling of reflecting emptiness.

The calm I was experiencing was the result of that fire. My thoughts flowed constantly and without any obstruction that were the stray thoughts that flowed in my mind every second, breaking the dam that was 'self' and brought me 'enlightenment'.

 

 

“Did you hear what I said?”

“No.”

“Why you....

I’m explaining this so you could understand but you are just daydreaming?”

“It doesn’t matter what their demands are.  If we give in to their demands they will understand that we will bend to their will.

Also, how can I trust them? They may be just trying to lure us into an ambush and kill us. It wouldn’t be that hard to sweep this under the rug with all that’s going on.”

 *Sigh*

“I knew you would say that but what about the other possibility they expressed on the letter.”

“Which is?”

“You really weren’t listening!

Well, whatever. The alternative they gave us for releasing Rosela and Naga was for us to join them.”

“They are demanding us to join them?

Hahahahahaahhaha....

You realize how stupid that sounds right?”

“Ka ka ka...

You are right. “

 

“Forget the demands; we are doing this our own way.  I will not fall for their bluff and lose the real opportunity to rescue them.”

“Then, do you have a plan?”

“Maybe or maybe not, but we have one thing that is very important.

What we have is the element of surprise.”