Chapter 32 The Love of a Father

Batista was fuming with rage but could do nothing but watch in anger. He did not expect Floyd to stoop this low and even hold his son as a hostage.

“Now, gentlemen, you better give what I need or else,” Floyd warned and put more pressure on his sword making more blood flow.

“Fucking bastard! Let him go and take me instead, you can do whatever you want, it is me that you have a beef with!” Batista was starting to get desperate.

“Well, that’s true but what use are you to me? Just get me what I want and everybody will be happy,” Floyd answered without caring about Batista’s anger.

“I told you, we don’t have it,” Wilfred answered coldly, he was also furious but was still cool-headed.

“That’s not my problem is it?”

Floyd was in a dilemma himself but he had back up plans, the last gamble he had was hanging on Wilky. Judging by Wilky’s personality, there is a ninety percent chance that he will get some of the body parts.

The first plan he made was to kidnap Blue but despite the hate he harbors inside, he could not bring himself to harm the child especially that she resembles Bluegrass a lot. Dave, on the other hand, resembled Batista so he was okay with it, although it took him more effort to abduct him.

Shudder!

Suddenly, a pressure pressed on everyone out of nowhere, they felt like they were at the bottom of the ocean gasping for breath. This was especially for Floyd and Jack, they started to suffocate and their faces started to turn blue. If you view it from above, a semi-translucent globe of water covered an area of one kilometer.

“Well, what do we have here, a bunch of kids quarreling about a woman’s feeling?”

A teasing tone was heard from above while two men were descending. One was clad in armor while the other one was wearing a blue robe. Wilky and Colonel Sanders finally arrived, they landed in front of Batista’s group.

Wilfred, Batista, and Randolph saluted with respect.

“Well, we shouldn’t interfere in kid’s affairs right?”

A resounding voice echoed out and another pressure descended, this time it brought an unbearable heat pushing out Colonel Sanders’ domain and letting Floyd and Jack catch their breath. Both domains were clashing at the middle producing small energy ripples.

A thick-bearded lean middle-aged man descended, he was in full armor with a ‘Kalbo’ character imprinted on it and a thick sword was strapped to his back. He had a spiky red hair and his eyes were glowing red like magma, his name was Colonel James Reed.

“Hmph! You’re the only old man here,” Colonel Sanders was not moved and even spoke in a ridiculing tone.

Vein’s popped out on Colonel James’ forehead, it was true he was older than Sanders’ but it was only one year.

“Hmph! Just move your ass and stop meddling in other’s affairs,” Colonel James retorded back.

“Other’s affairs? You are talking as if you are not involved in this, whatever, I came to represent the general, lo and behold.”

Colonel Sanders spoke in a dignified manner and brought out a scroll, the decree that general Jakolito Lapid has given him.

Huumm!

Strong energy fluctuations rippled when the scroll was opened that easily dispersed both the colonel’s domain and was replaced by a greater pressure that even brought fear to the both of them. With the current situation, everyone around stopped their fight and regrouped to opposite sides and waited for orders. They knew that with the appearance of this big shots, continuing the fight was meaningless.

A towering gigantic translucent great sword appeared and pointed towards the heavens, it was roughly three hundred meters tall. If this sword will strike, they estimated that an area of ten kilometers would be annihilated, leaving no one alive.

Colonel James’ pupil shrunk and cold sweats started to come out of his back.

“I, General Jakolito Lapid hereby declare that the core you are looking for was not obtained by me or any of my subordinates. Pursuing the person who holds the core is none of our business but know this, giving troubles to my subordinates about this matter shall receive my wrath!”

A dignified and majestic voice reverberated throughout the battlefield and beyond. Everyone could not resist it and was forced to listen and even their souls trembled from the direct threat that was issued by the general. Everyone did not doubt what the general has said, especially that he was known as a person who did things directly and disdained dishonest people.

The entire place became silent and only the howls of the wind could be heard. Everyone stood there in silence until the towering great sword slowly faded away together with the scroll, despite that, the decree has been issued and nobody wanted to receive the general’s wrath.

Little by little, the people on the offense retreated until they were at a certain distance then stopped and looked Floyd’s direction. Floyd was stunned, he did not expect the general to issue a decree, it was out of his expectation. After all, a general-level character does not usually interfere with matters like this, especially the likes of general Jakolito.

Shit! Damn it all!

He was cursing inside but he already rode the tiger and did not want all his efforts to go to waste. Gritting his teeth, he made a bold move and broke the silence.

“Now that everyone is here, I assume you have the means to meet my demands right?”

“Are you crazy? A decree has been issued and you are still insisting on your demands? Hmph! Are you sure you can bear the brunt of the general’s wrath?”

Wilky answered spoke in disdain while everyone else was stunned by Floyd’s bold move.

Interesting,

Colonel James did not utter a single word and just watched from the side, he was not the one opposing the general after all.

“Fine, I’ll count on three,”

Floyd bit the bullet and gambled everything, this was his one and only chance, waiting for more time would not be good for him so he had to put more pressure.

“Three, two...” He immediately started the countdown and put more pressure on his sword.

“Wait!” Wilky shouted with a grimaced face.

“Let’s just see how long you can survive after this, now release him.”

He waved his hand and a sealed jar floated then made it’s way to Floyd. Colonel James’ eyes flashed for a second but contained his excitement. Floyd received the item without saying anything and put in on his spatial ring after inspecting.

“Let me worry about that,”

Floyd withdrew his sword and unsealed Dave’s binding. Dave immediately dashed towards his father’s side without anyone stopping him.

“Are you okay?” Batista asked in a worried tone then brought out a medicinal paste and applied it to his son’s wound.

“I’m okay father, thank you,” Dave answered in a respectful manner.

“Don’t thank me, thank your uncle Wilky,”

Dave did not dally and bowed to Wilky and expressed his thanks with sincerity.

“No worries, it’s just a beast blood, your father is my brother so you can be considered as my son.”

Wilky waved his hand and grinned, though the blood was valuable, he could never sacrifice his brother’s son for it. Besides, he gained a lot from his journey, aside from the general’s good grace, a promotion was waiting for him together with Wilfred.

“Now that matters had been settled, I believe we are done here, no?”

Colonel James spoke and looked at Floyd with a smile.

“Yes, colonel, men! retreat!” Floyd shouted and started the retreat, his goal was met and he would think of the consequences later on.

“Wait! You think you can just walk away like that?”

Batista would not let things just slip by and wanted to settle things and even prepared for battle. Colonel James furrowed his brow and looked back,

“Enough, you can settle your grudges one day, but that day is not today,”

Colonel Sanders raised his hand and stopped Batista, he could understand what his subordinate was feeling but they had to think about the consequences. And besides, Dave was rescued and the enemy is retreating, spilling more blood would be useless. Aside from that, if both colonels will really fight seriously, it might have consequences on both kingdoms especially that this is not an official war.

Batista knew this but he could not just let Floyd go after what he has done, his body was trembling non-stop while he was trying to suppress his rage.

“Another time brother, let’s just focus on the city’s recovery first. You will have your turn one day,”

Wilfred placed his hand on Batista’s shoulder and calmed him down. Batista heaved a long sigh and just looked at the retreating enemies with cold eyes.

Just you wait, Floyd.

.....

Floyd and the group retreated and packed up their camp then marched towards the border. Both him and Colonel James were riding in front, he already gave the jar a while ago.

“Good job Floyd, you have my utmost respect for actually having the guts to do that. Don’t worry I’ll have your back and I doubt that the general will pursue this matter to the end. After all, nobody got seriously injured or killed after his declaration. If ever he decides to do something, our commander will not sit idly either. As for your promotion, you have my support.”

Colonel James was in a good mood and reassured Floyd.

“Thank you, Colonel.” Floyd gestured and expressed his thanks, all of this was only the first step of his plans, he would do everything to climb at the top.

You were mistaken, Bluegrass. Hmph! Choosing that muscle-head over me because of how I do things? See what keeps happening to him because he doesn’t use his brain.

After all these years, he still could not get over what happened and wanted to show that there was nothing wrong with how he does things, the strong are right and the weak could only bow in submission, it doesn’t matter how you do it as long you achieve it.

News of the general’s decree immediately spread throughout the kingdom and the nearby places. A general’s decree was rarely issued, after the information was spread, everyone was delighted, they were sure that the valuable core was not with the general and was being held by an unknown person. Investigations were immediately launched for tracking the one who holds the core.

.....

The damage to the city was not light and it would take months repair it, aside from that, Batista’s group had to bury the dead people and settle their compensations along with the survivors. There was also the repair of the formation and the cannons.

Without resting, they made temporary arrangements and would officially start the repairs tomorrow. Batista invited the colonel and the other’s to his house and prepared a simple banquet.

“I offer this toast to the colonel for helping us and even personally coming to get us out of this predicament,” Batista raised his cup and everyone followed.

“Cheers!” Despite what happened, with the influence of alcohol, everyone started to feel a little better.

“Bang!”

While everyone was enjoying the party, the door to of the main hall suddenly opened with a bang.

“Who dares?” Batista was infuriated and stood up.

“An urgent report to the captain!”

The one who barged in was a young man in his mid-twenties and was one of his subordinates who accompanied his daughter on her travel to Red Sparrow city. Batista’s pupils shrunk and had a bad feeling, without delay, he rushed to his subordinate’s side.

“What happened?”

“I-I- we-we,” The young man stuttered after seeing the captain’s expression.

“Stop stuttering and just say it,” Batista was irritated and scolded him.

“Please punish this subordinate, I was incompetent!”

The young man suddenly fell to his knees and kowtowed while banging his head on the floor. Batista’s anxiety raised to another level after seeing how his subordinate acted. He picked up the young man and helped him back up.

“Just tell me what happened,”

The young man started to calm down after looking at the Batista’s serious face.

“Captain, we were ambushed at the hummingbird forest by bandits,”

“What!? Where is Blue?” Batista panicked and wanted to know how was his daughter.

“I-i don’t know captain,” The young man was flustered while answering.

“What do you mean you don’t know!?”

“Captain, we were ambushed midway through the hummingbird forest. I believe they were from Brown Bear and Red Skull bandits. We managed to escape but when we arrived at Red Sparrow City and inquire about Blue from the city lord, he said he had no idea. But I was sure she was with them.”

“Why would that fatty city lord have my daughter? What about Rogelio?” Batista’s fury was once again being ignited.

“He-he-he died during the attack that is why we had no choice but to temporarily put young lady’s safety to the city lord’s group.”

“What? How did he die?” Batista was shocked, his subordinate was at the middle-stage of Halo realm and would not die easily even if faced with two enemies with the same level of cultivation.

“I-i don’t know captain, it was chaotic and we could not clearly see how they fought.”

The young man was becoming fearful, afraid that he would die out of the captain’s anger.

“Damn!”

Batista was furious and threw the young man, slamming into the wall. He immediately thought of a plan to find his daughter and time was of the essence, she was everything to him. It could be said that he would still bear the pain of losing his son but not his beloved daughter.

“Sir! I beg you, could you stay for a longer time and look after the city and my son for the time being while I and my brothers look for my daughter?”

Batista was in another desperate situation and half-kneeled towards the colonel.

“Hmm, okay, the most time I could stay here is a month, after that, I should go back or the general will get mad.”

Colonel Sanders was still calm and agreed without reservation. He had gained a lot from this situation and treated this as a form of repayment.

“Thank you, Colonel, I will never forget this,” Batista bowed and expressed his thanks with utmost sincerity. At least he was at ease for the safety of his son.

“A small matter, Wilfred and Wilky will accompany you,” He urged Batista to stand up and looked at Wilky and Wilfred.

“Naturally,” Both answered at the same time.

“Thank you brothers, if you don’t mind, can we set off now? I’m deeply afraid for my daughter’s safety.”

“No worries, let’s go and see who dares to touch little Blue,”

The trio immediately left and headed to Hummingbird Forest after asking the young man earlier where the ambush happened.

.....

Martin was watching the whole time while the city was being bombarded by attacks, he saw how the formation slowly crumbled while dust and smoke rose from the rubbles. He was even shocked to the core when he saw the ‘meteor rain’ that descended upon the city. All he could do was hope that the city he considered as home would not fall.

After the battle was settled, together with the others, they went back to the city and was shocked to see that the city’s state. Debris was everywhere, some corpses were even buried beneath it. He planned to go back to the Fragrant Pavilion but was invited by the city guard who accompanied him to go to the Northern district because Captain Batista had arranged a residence for him there.

He wanted to refuse but they insisted. Martin even joined the banquet that was interrupted and when he heard that the Captain’s daughter was missing due to bandit attack, he became anxious and thought about Eznho.

After the incident, he immediately investigated on his own and found out that Eznho and Minchin joined a merchant group but he had no way to confirm their status. He wanted to go personally to Red Sparrow City but was advised not too by Randolph, especially because of the recent bandit attacks.

He was helpless and powerless and he hated it, all he could do now was pray to the heavens. Although, Randolph promised him that he would send a word to the Captain and inquire about Eznho which made him more relaxed.