A group of people was leaving a village in a quiet and orderly fashion. They left toward the south, a direction where it would lead to another village. The village that was mentioned was located a few kilometers away from the place where they left just now. And it was a bit bigger than this one.
Their expression was serious. If one could see their faces, he would see that they had interesting expressions. The atmosphere was serious to the point where they did not even want to talk along the way. Their intention seemed to be to reach the destination of their journey as fast as they could. They walked faster than how a group was supposed to walk normally on this terrain even though their wounds were aching all over their bodies.
But this did not deter their determination. It was as if after listening to the man’s speech, they started to believe that what they’ve been doing was in vain and now they seek their salvation by opening a new blank page to start a new life. And because of that, some pains in the body were not even scratched for their new spirit.
Listening to someone’s advice and words could sometimes change his life in a total upside down. Either it would bring a good thing or a worse thing. But looking at things the way they were, how could one not conclude that the gang did not decide to be better after being taught a lesson? Especially after listening to his dramatic speech being spoken even though it seemed a little bit out of space?
Or so some would have hoped.
“Damn it!” The frontmost man in the group stomped his left leg harder than usual as he walked. His face was distorted, combined from the annoyance that he just received and from the pain that he was feeling right now. He gritted his teeth while clenching his fists harder, either to cope with the pain or to express his frustrating accident.
He was the real leader of the gang in that village, the bald man that Enjar talked with a few moments after Enjar had beaten the group. His arm had been bandaged to keep the blood from flowing more, even though most of it had been dried off. But the pain was still there, and he could feel it anytime he moved his right hand. His eyes became sharp, and a menacing aura appeared every time he remembered how Enjar was beating them in that battle.
“It must be luck, it certainly must be luck!” The man said in a low voice. He truly could not help but remember how he got defeated in that fight before. He basically got thrashed without even being able to show his might. He too was a person who could employ energies from his body. But no one in the village knew that, except for his underlings. He never used his power for a reason like this. And more than that, he was not even the surface leader. He conveyed his orders subtly, either in a political way or even in a fight.
With how he acted and took actions, he found it unbelievable that Enjar was able to see him as the real leader of the gang. Just what was the reason that he could see he was the real leader? If one said because of his charisma thus Enjar was able to sense him as the leader, then he would truly beat that person black and blue. How could he exude charisma when he acted like a freaking mob?
He was the leader of the gang, so when he was in a fight with Enjar together with his men, he naturally coordinated with each other to plan their attacks. He did not do it openly though, he still did it disguisedly and acted like he was a normal mob in the gang. He had always done this on most of the occasions that he had encountered. It was like this was the way the gang works, even though they were a gang, a gang that harassed a village in a place located pretty far from the center of a big civilization.
But today, he realized that his plan was for naught. For some people, at least. Or at most, for someone. A certain someone that he fought a few moments ago. He felt like the man knew he was the leader just from the moment he started to fight for just a few moments with him. He had been cautious, especially after knowing that Enjar was someone who could use energies to fight. He never talked out loud, even most of the time he used only body gestures and whatnot. But still, he got found out and was targeted at the most critical time.
He was a person that could use energies too. His power heavily relied on his right arm to conjure his attacks from the best ability that he had. But somehow, his right arm was hurt in the battle and he could only plan for another action that he could do.
He wanted to believe that Enjar was lucky. He was so perplexed and annoyed whenever he thought about the fight that he had before. But he could not help but think otherwise. Was it because he could not see through him? Or was it because he just did not understand Enjar’s power and tactic? But the biggest odd for him was that Enjar was lucky!
That attack that Enjar employed before was so weird. Enjar threw his spear in his direction. The gang leader saw it thoroughly and could decide where it was going to land and when it was going to arrive. But suddenly, the spear changed its speed. It flew faster than before and it was already a few moments before it landed on him. He could not evade it in time.
What was the reason? He did not see anything at all! Was the weather windy at that time? That was the idea that he had, back then and until now. Because of that, he could only use his right arm, his arm that could employ energy, to defend the attack or he would receive fatal injury. The trajectory of the spear only had his right arm to have the chance to guard his body against such a powerful spear. What could he possibly do, either to sacrifice his right arm or to get fatally injured that he could not even imagine the consequences, either for his well being or even for his political career.
And because of that, he could not employ his power perfectly. Looking at the situation, he thought that it was better not to do anything rash and bear the loss for today. He had decided to come back again later and pay back the loss that he had received. Sometimes taking a sacrifice was needed for the bigger plan, sometimes a setback was needed for a bigger step. He was a patient and a pretty meticulous man that did not even really mind being a leader that was disguised like a subordinate, so was this even going to be a big deal for him?
He thought that although he could defeat him and his men, then what would it be if he brought more men to his side to attack Enjar? He would then overwhelm him with numbers! He was just a single human being, what kind of things could he do alone? He would then teach him a lesson about messing with the wrong guy.
He grinned when his thought reached this conclusion. He thought that Enjar was just a sage wanna-be that has never seen the bigger scene of the world. Did that guy think it was cool and such to act so patronizing? He got very annoyed when he thought of how Enjar tried to admonish him like a little child a few moments ago. He probably had the same motives as him, trying to control the village to act as he liked.
And he tried to think hard for something that he had thought of just now. It was for the next plan that he had just brewed. He wanted to give a surprise attack to Enjar in the next fight. By using his right arm that got wounded to attack Enjar so he would be caught off guard. He never used his strength and never even once used that power in this place, and when he was about to, he got canceled. So this was an option for him, a chance for him to get an upper hand and deal Enjar a blow.
