Voyage Of The Villainess

"Then let\'s hear Oliver\'s plan," Malaya said with a smile on her face. 

"Please tell us, Oliver!" Hyun Jae looked at him with enthusiasm and expectant puppy eyes.

"Then, my plan is like this." Oliver started speaking, but he seemed a little flustered.

Seeing this, Malaya noticed as well that Oliver\'s ears turned red. \'Oh, hahaha. That must be a critical hit.\' Malaya tried to stop herself from giggling. \'But oh well, I guess stopping a war would also bring us great fame here, to make the search for our other crewmates easier as well.\' 

After almost an hour of discussing what Oliver had on his mind.

"Are you sure about this plan?" Rhyme asked with disbelief. Fear and doubt were visibly written in his eyes.

"Yes, I\'m certain." 

"Hah," Malaya couldn\'t help but laugh with amusement hearing Oliver\'s plan. "Well, definitely, both of them will unite with this plan."

"But can we do it?" Hyun Jae asked with worry as well.

"Well," Malaya held her chin as if she was thinking. "This sounds fun. So why not?" A huge grin plastered on her face. "Let\'s do everything that Oliver said."

"Then it is decided," Oliver had an equal grin as well. "We will move at dawn."

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The sun was already high above the skies and added to this intense heat was the on-guard Kingdom of Baslon and the unmoving army of beastmen outside the castle walls. An immeasurable pressure atmosphere was eating up everyone\'s well-being.

Over the skies, a huge falcon flew over the horizons of a huge army. It flew towards the castle walls and landed on Prince Kija\'s left arm.

"Your highness!"

The third prince Kija glanced at the army of beastmen that was standing outside the castle walls. However, the wall was too sturdy and added to the deep ditch that was surrounding the palace, it would take more work before the invading army could break the wall.

"Do you have any ideas now on how that huge army made it here without anyone\'s notice?" Prince Kija said without looking back to the knight that called him. His gaze was just fixated on the attacking army right now.

"Base from the people who disguise themselves to infiltrate the army. it seemed they dug a huge underground tunnel heading to our kingdom." The knight reported.

"An underground tunnel huh?" The second prince\'s eyes narrowed as he glanced at the army. \'These beast-men would not be able to do it themselves. Even if they dug it for years, our palace mages, if they used magic or even just physical labor itself, would be able to detect these as soon as possible. For the palace mages to fail to detect this, there was either a traitor in the mages that helped to hide this. Or there was someone more powerful backing them up that even the strongest mages in the kingdom couldn\'t detect.\'

\'Having the first option will be much more normal than the first one. If what we are fighting is some strong unknown entity. Things will be more difficult for us. Plus, the beastmen would not recklessly attack like this unless they are certain of their victory.\'

"Is there anything else you need to report?" Prince Kija asked the knight.

"All of the beastmen are led by an ape king, named Baru. But our infiltrators weren\'t able to dig deeper than that."\'

"I see." Prince Kija said. "Go back to your post now and help the others."

The number of these beast men was not a joke either. In numerical advantage from what the third prince, Prince Kija would see, they were thrice the current number of militia they had. In total, they were a total of forty-thousand soldiers they had inside the capitol. However, it is so strange how they still didn\'t do anything and merely stood as if they were waiting for something.

\'I hope father has already sent notice to the other dukedom and allied kingdoms. If these huge armies made their move, it would be harder to last. Plus, it was still unknown whether they had a more back-up army hiding in the shadows.\'

"You seem to be thinking something deep, brother." 

Prince Kija turned around to see his first brother and the crown prince, Prince Hou walking towards him. 

"Who wouldn\'t fall to think something deep about this? There are some strange things with that army."

The crown prince gave a light laugh. "Yes indeed. If I could know how they can come here undetected more precisely, I will be able to make an empire of my own."

"Don\'t speak such rubbish." The third prince said. "You, a peace-loving maniac, would wage war and create an empire?"

"Yes, yes, those words are so irresponsible of me, little brother." The crown prince said as he glanced at the army.

Even though most of the princes should have animosity with each other due to the crown, these two princes had a peaceful relationship that was very rare to any royalty.

"I intended to abolish slavery after I ascend to the throne. But if they started attacking like this, that would make things more difficult for us." A flash of sadness passed to the crown prince\'s silver eyes.

"That is why I am here," The third prince said with a sullen voice. "I\'m going to make sure that all your dreams for the kingdom will come to light."

The wind breeze was cold as the two brothers fell into silence. But it was not an uncomfortable one but rather a more warmed silence.

"Where is the second brother?" the third prince, Kija, asked.

"He is in the magic tower." The crown prince responded with a sigh. "He is still investigating this situation."

"For him to not be able to have results fast, it seems we are facing something more dangerous this time." The crown prince added.

"Yes, indeed." The third prince said. "The only thing we can do is to wait and defend for whatever they would throw at us. However, as long as I am here, this kingdom will not fall no matter what." Prince Kija\'s face was full of determination and courage.

"I believe in you brother," The crown prince said as he looked at his brother\'s back standing proudly. \'Seriously, if you didn\'t make that claim that you don\'t want the throne, you will be more fit to be a king than me.\' He smiled. \'I\'m quite fortunate to have brothers that I can always rely on. So I must do everything I can for the sake of this kingdom.\'

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Extra Scene:

"Ah Rein, how long are we going to walk in this endless desert?" Dorris whined. "Let\'s just go back and see Rhyme on the ship. That poor guy must have some difficulties building the ship." Dorris said. She wanted to chant some teleportation spell right now.

\'Ah, that\'s right! Why didn\'t I think about that?\'

"Rein, we should just leave a mark, then come back and forth to the ship to rest and back to where we last walked."

"It will exhaust your magic, Dorris."

Dorris pouted at Rein\'s remarks.

"Then let\'s just use teleportation scrolls.

"It\'s a waste of items." Rein said once again as he continued to walk to the sands. "If you want, you can just go back yourself, and I will continue my search on my own."

Dorris pouted even more at his remarks. 

"What if Rhyme had already found Lady Malaya and the others?"

"Rhyme would give us signals about that. Or send us a message." Rein said. "So if he finds lady Malaya, will know right away."

Dorris ran in front of him and opened her hands wide, blocking his way. "And how will  Rhyme do that? Does Rhyme even know our location right now, to send us any message? Or teleport to us?"

"Ah right. I haven\'t thought of that." Rein said dryly then walked past her. "Then you can go back and check what he is doing and if Lady Malaya is already there?"

"And what will you do while I\'m gone?"

"I\'ll continue to travel and search for her."

"Will you continue to travel and not wait for me to come back?" Dorris said. "You know that it will be difficult to find you in this desert if I come back and you\'re not here."

"It\'s not that I will be lost here. If I find Lady Malaya, I can use the teleportation scroll to go back to the ship."

"Rein, why are you being like this?"

Rein paused in his tracks. Then turned towards Dorris who had both her hands clenched. "We have been for almost five years now. And when something is bothering you, you become extremely distant and cold."

"Distant and cold? I\'m acting my usual self, Dorris." Rein said.

"No, since after a few days Lady Malaya returned from her disappearance. You talked less to her and I could feel that a distance is starting to form within us."

"You are just overthinking things, Dorris." Rein said. "Why would I do that to Lady Malaya? I swore to serve and protect..."

"You already know, don\'t you?" 

Rein\'s brows kneaded at Dorris\' words.

"Lady Malaya. No, the real Malaya are already gone four years ago,"

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