I AM AN ATHEIST

King's Judgement

A red carpet was laid from the foot of an empty throne to the entrance of the room, standing across the carpet, the court officials and important figures of the kingdom were discussing among themselves.

" Uuuuuuuuuuuu"

As soon as they heard the sound of a horn, the crowd ended their chit chatter and looked towards the entrance, a man surrounded by imperial guards and Razor, wearing royal robes entered the room, every step that he took was elegant and showed the charm of a great leader.

There was no doubt that this man was King Alfred.

The people bowed to him as soon as they saw him,  the man wore a smile on his face as he walked towards the throne step by step and sat on it, while Razor took his place by standing on to the left of the king, the guards stood behind the throne and were ready to battle at any time for unexpected circumstances.

" Let's Begin"

making himself comfortable King Alfred said.

When king hinted the start of the daily court, the people straightened themselves, among the crowd a man wearing white priest robe moved forward, standing in front of the king he asked: " Your Majesty, what's a most important thing in our life?".

" hahaha..."

Immediately after hearing the question from Bishop Zim, the king laughed before replying "you are very funny bishop Zim".

No one could understand the reason behind his laugh and no one dared to interrupt either, they just waited for the king to give out his full answer.

" Isn't it eating and sleeping?"

"Poof"

Razor chuckled when he heard the king's sentence, the sudden chuckle was not polite so became the target of intense glare from the people.

" Sorry, sorry that wasn't on purpose"

Razor apologised after being intimated by all famous persona.

Although Bishop did not expect this answer, he did not deny it either, while facing the king and  holding his one palm with the other, with a standing bow Bishop said: "Yes, your majesty you are right, eating and sleeping are fundamentals of our life but"

Bishop took a pause.

" There is something greater than these small activities, that's our beliefs and traditions  "

"Our beliefs towards the goddess of rebirth and reincarnation"

" No one got the right to breach them, not even the prince".

Bishop expressed his reasoning and the intentions of all the people gathered here.

When Bishop finished his sentence a series of claps sounded.

" clap"

"clap"

"clap"

King Alfred clapped before appreciating the bishop " Bishop you are indeed right, being a king and a believer I agree with you, rest assured the prince would be punished for his deed"

" thank you, your majesty"

Bishop thanked then went back into the crowd.

" Do you all wish to punish the prince?"

Moving his eyes towards the people of the court the king asked.

" Yes, your majesty and I request you grant as cruel punishment as possible for the prince"

Retired Minister Tewa took the chance to express his desires.

" Yes, I also agree with the minister Tewa, the prince must be thought a lesson"

Another current court official, the former student of Tewa supported his teacher.

" Yes, your majesty "

" I agree, the prince must be punished "

The other officials also followed.

King Alfred lifted his hand and gestured the people to stop indicating he understood, then the king appeared to be in deep thought from the perspective of the crowd.

silence reigned for a while before the king scratched his beard and replied: " The prince is not here yet, let's decide the punishment after hearing from his side"

" Razor, go and bring the prince here right now "

King ordered.

" Yes, your majesty "

Razor bowed and about to move out but was stopped after hearing " Royal father, I am here".

All hostile eyes turned towards the prince Xavier who was at the entrance.

Ignoring all the gazes, the prince walked towards the thrown and stopped next to the bishop and smiled at him before sitting on one knee and keeping his head down.

The prince intentionally provoked the bishop and was successful.

Seeing his enemy smiling even faced with adversity Bishop was boiling with anger from the inside.

" Prince Xavier, glad you are right on time, can you tell us about your battle first "

Looking at his son with no serious injuries king felt glad, at the same time he wanted everyone to know the achievements of his son so he asked.

"Royal Father, it was a victory but our losses were high too, we lost around 200 soldiers from the 2000 soldiers you gave to me and the enemy was completely wiped out, their 7000 warriors are must be resting in the hell"

Prince reported.

"How this possible? The military official of the court, the famous chief general of the era Wenton exclaimed out.

Not only him, but all the military officers were also in shock, the civil officials were confused and they were wondering what so special about this victory but only a true veteran, a military soldier who fought life and death battle knew how to big of an achievement it truly was.

No matter what methods the prince used to accomplish the clean victory but no one can deny that it was an achievement worth to brag about.

Not even Bishop dared to  bad mouth the prince at the moment, but the saying goes that event a handful of high-quality grain may contain a small bad seed

" Your Majesty, don't be impressed with his achievement, he might have used women to do it, please punish this damn p*****t right away "

Minister Tewa insisted.

" Sir Tewa, are you the king ? or am I the king ?"

Annoyed by Tewa, the king shouted.

" Of course, it is you, your majesty " Tewa was a bit slow-witted but realised that he had gone overboard.

" Then let me decide what I have to do " with this statement, king shut the mouth of Tewa.

King shifted his focus back to the prince, with a gentle tone at the beginning but ending with the harsh one he said: " Indeed you did well, of course, you will receive the reward for it but I also heard that you took a female as a war prisoner, is it true?".

prince did not dodge the question " Yes, royal father" and accepted his deed.

" But why? Any special reason?"

The king questioned.

" Your Majesty, even if there is a reason we must punish the prince" Tewa reminded thinking that the king would just forgive the prince if Xavier comes up with a story.

Annoying Bastard! King Alfred cursed the famous minister Tewa internally while glaring at him.

Intentionally or unintentionally Tewa did not lift his head, luckily he avoided the murderous gaze of the king.

" royal father, I wanted a maid badly and I found a perfect candidate of my taste in her, this is the reason why I took her as a prisoner "

Prince answered.

" Are you aware that the goddess Anoushka prohibits us to take a female war prisoner? But still, you took one "

The king stood up from his thrown when he uttered the sentence loudly.

"Yes, royal father"

the prince replied without flinching.

" So, prince Xavier, do you accept your crime ?"

the king asked as he was walking to and fro.

" yes, royal father. I am willing to embrace whatever be the punishment I get in return "

Prince Xavier was straight from the beginning, he did not deny his crime and also prepared for the punishment.

the king then stopped in front of Xavier, placed his hands on his shoulders and said:

"Then  pack your bag, in the early morning tomorrow you will depart for the Gurukul, this is your punishment"

" As for the reward, you can take the maid you brought back along with you"

"Lastly to make sure that you would not run away, I am assigning your two cousins Golu, Molu to go along with you to Gurukul "

" You are dismissed for now".

The king released the prince's shoulders and went back to sit on his thrown.

" Yes, royal father"

Prince Xavier said as he smiled at the bishop one more time before leaving the room under countless gazes.

Bishop looked cool on the outside but he was thoroughly angry from the inside.

" Is the punishment was too little ?"

Seeing the little exchange between the bishop and his son, the king asked after the prince left.

"No, your majesty "

Bishop was angry but he knew that the punishment was not small either.

Gurukul was a name which even today makes the brightest generals of the war to shudder in fear.

It was known as a place run by a Guru,  Guru in sense is a teacher but not the normal one, he produces the ultimate warriors who stand at the peak of this world.

To become a warrior who stands at the peak in the world filled with mysterious beings as blessed ones and mutated monsters was not easy.

Gurukul was also said to be the best example of hell on earth, those who attended and survived it shared their horrific experiences, the odds of survival in Gurukul was less than 10%, so sending your children to Gurukul equivalent to sending them to death.

So none of the officials thought it as light punishment.

Despite having the notorious reputation,  every year ten thousands of prince, princess, son and daughters of generals attend Gurukul without fear because the people who would survive the training definitely would become big figures in their respective kingdoms and those who would be chosen by the Guru as personal disciples would stand at the top of the world.

The history itself was the proof, as several well-known generals emerged from the Gurukul who shook the world with their brilliance.

Then the court switched the topic to general affairs and continued as usual.

After leaving the court, Xavier was feeling hungry, so he went to the palace's dining hall and had the lunch then he decided to visit the brothel and inform Faiza to be ready to depart in the early morning tomorrow.

the prince travelled on his horse as usual, and in no time he reached the brothel but when he entered it, he saw a peculiar sight of two women fighting each other.

Grabbing hair of the other with one hand, both were fighting, their faces were hidden behind their hair and were not visible.

Using the other hand they slapped, beat each other.

It was not a professional fight but a rowdy fight between the women.

" Stop, what's happening?"

" Prince" Hearing sound of the prince, both of them released each other revealing their faces.