09. Encounter With A Demon

"Minato Chan! Minato chan!!"

"Would you stop yelling already?! Can't you see he's not here?"

"Then where the hell is he?!!"

Miyano hadn't been able to concentrate on their training at all since they were teleported. He was sure Minato was standing next to him back at the training grounds, so where the hell was he?

"Minato Chan!!'

"Would you stop that already?!! You're really getting on my nerves."

"Well I apologize if my voice is bothering you but I am trying to find my friend."

"Your friend? What the hell do you know about Minato? He and I have known each other for years! And yet after just a couple of days you're acting like he means the world to you."

"Maybe that's because he does! Now if you're not going to help me look for him, mind your fucking business and just go back to killing your stupid monsters."

In secret, Kaito was worried for Minato as well, but that was an emotion he would never show to him or anyone else. It wasn't like him to just wander off, and even if he did, he should have responded to Miyano's calls by now.

"He probably just wasn't teleported with us." He mumbled.

"What?"

"You know how much the old guy hates him, he probably just didn't let him come with us." He explained without looking at Miyano. "Now shut the hell up and let's just get this over with!"

Miyano was able to relax a tiny bit because of what Kaito said. Bato dono really despised Minato for being an Unwanted so he probably left him out of their training to spite him. He just hoped he wasn't giving Minato a hard time.

★★★

It felt like his head was spinning, nothing made sense to him anymore.

"What are you talking about?" Surely the stranger must be mistaken. Yes, that was probably all it was.

"For you to fully understand, I want you to come with me to my village."

"Your village? Don't you live in the city?'

"No. My family and I are treated like criminals in the city and I'm sure if Bato dono sees that our numbers have grown, he'll probably have us thrown in prison…or worse."

"Why? What could your family have done that was that bad?"

"We took care of someone like you."

"Someone like me…an Unwanted?"

"Yes. Now we really should get out of here, the more we stay here, the more danger we're putting ourselves in."

'Am I really willing to trust a stranger blindly with my life? While I am grateful that he saved me, I have no idea what he wants with me. What if this whole meeting his family thing was just a trick? What are his intentions with me?'

"Look, you have every right to hesitate. I'm not asking you to trust me, and you don't even have to come to my village if you don't want to. We just really need to to get out of here, like right now. That monster I killed was one of the weak ones, it'll be fatal if anything worse were to meet us here."

'He was right. First I have to prioritize getting out of here, I can't think of what comes next later.'

"Where do we go?"

The stranger led them away from the deserted area to a more wooded area. Minato finally understood why it was called the desert forest. "Hey, what's the story behind this place?"

"Ga'had?"

"Yeah. Has it always been like this?"

"Definitely not. All this started fifteen years ago, before that this place was the sacred garden of Ga'had."

"A garden?"

"It wasn't literally a garden, more like a forest if you ask me. But it was believed to have been in existence since the time of the gods. According to the stories, the goddess of nature created an enchanted forest for the use of mankind. It grew an abundant of delicious and healthy fruits, the leaves from the trees could be used to make medicine and some were consumable. The streams and ponds were said to have healing properties and taking a swim in them would make your skin flawless and free of wrinkles.

For years it existed peacefully, serving its purpose to all seven kingdoms. But that all changed when Bato dono came to Engrassia."

"Came? Wasn't he always here?"

"Not at all, see the previous king of Engrassia, His Majesty Toji the third, was a kind and generous man. He was always looking out for his people and did his best to help outsiders who came here for help. However, as kind as he was, he was never blessed with a child.

You see, king Toji made the ultimate sacrifice to save his people from destruction just a year after he assumed the throne. A dragon was terrorizing the kingdom, and after a divination from the great Oracle, it was revealed that the dragon wanted the king's wife and new born son as an offering."

"What? Couldn't they have just slayed the dragon?"

"Here in Engrassia, dragons are a symbol of the dark lord, and killing one is like asking for war with the dark lord."

"So the king gave up his wife and child. That's sad…but how does it connect to this place and Bato dono?"

"You see, after the death of his wife and child, king Toji refused to remarry. And so when he passed away he had no heir to take his throne.

After his death, the only other eligible candidate was his brother, Takato dono.

The whole of Engrassia accepted him with open arms because of his brother's legend, but King Takato was nothing like king Toji.

He is as greedy as they come, and ruthless and a terrible tyrant. A few weeks after his coronation, the mysterious man named Bato came to town and immediately became his right hand man. Two years after he became king, Takato Sama claimed ownership of the scared garden. He said it was on Engrassia lands so it belonged to him.

None of the citizens were allowed in the garden unless they paid a toll fee and he began to chop down the trees to make medicine to sell to other kingdoms.

Ever since, the garden started to dry out and all the trees that died would turn to sand. All the dried up ponds and streams were sand too and for the last fifteen years, the sacred garden of Ga'had became the desert forest."

"That's awful."

"I know. By the way, I'm Inaba Ijichi."

"Fujimura Minato. Nice to meet you."

"Same. So you–"

Ijichi's words were cut short as a knife impaled him from behind. His eyes widened in shock and horror as he was lifted in the air from his wound and tossed violently across the ground.

"Ijichi San!!" Minato tried to rush to his aid when a dark figure blocked his path.

"Well well well, you're the one they were talking about ei? The Unwanted." His eyes had a murderous glint in them as he licked his tongue. "I was wondering when I was going to have my next big meal. I'd advice you not to struggle for it will only make me angry…and you do not want to see me angry."

Minato could only tremble as he watched the ominous figure move closer to him, smiling in a maniacal manner.

"Now then…it's time for you to die."