The Supremacy of Peculiar Dolls

Chapter 7: The Divulgence

“Since I was young, I was told about this one legend. Possibly most of the villagers are aware of this legend. This village was once intruded by a group of young men who claimed themselves as The Defender. They came here to abduct children and infants for their own purpose. However, their activity was busted and they halted right away. Our village has become peaceful since then, until on that fated day, they reappeared and continued their plan.”

            Yeomso and Hideo were engrossed by Stawarski’s storytelling. He seemed calm, nothing seemed fabricated and the utterance was smooth. They were striding to another building where the guards encaged Kouki and Hiroki. While on their way there, Yeomso forced him to divulge the history of The Witch.

            In order to avoid gossips to the guard, Stawarski asked them to wear the same full-face mask and hold a spear each. As for Yeomso, he detached both of his horns and kept them in his shirt. So it would seem like they were normal guards who were only guarding Stawarski all the way in the resident.

            “I was troubled by the fact that I’ve never handled such matter since my first day of becoming a village head. Thirty years have passed, but it was my first time managing this issue. I admitted that I was panicking. But, it’s natural though,” Stawarski shrugged, “Who won’t be afraid of going against an unidentified identity?”

            “Are you telling us that The Defender is not Humans?” Yeomso raised an eyebrow.

            “They are, or they were. I don’t really know,” Stawarski paused as he saw a few patrolling guards were about to pass by them. The guards bowed at Stawarski before leaving those three hurriedly. “I saw it with my own eyes. One of The Defender appeared in The Forest of Eve, taking away Hideo’s little sister and vanished like wind.”

            “Damn you,” Hideo’s curse was more to a mumble but Yeomso and Stawarski could hear him.

            Stawarski bit his lower lip. “For your information, it was your little sister who was willingly offering herself to be the bait. No one forced her, and judging from your reaction towards me, I don’t think you know the real situation.”

            Hideo was taken aback, but the full-faced mask gratefully covered his shock. They have eventually arrived at another similar building to the one encaging Yeomso, however the interior design was much neater and more brilliant than the previous one.

            “From what I discover here, this is not even a jail to begin with.”

            “Yes, it isn’t. This is our residential,” Stawarski smiled at the guards at the entrance. “We keep them here so that they could calm themselves down after being abducted by you.”

            “I don’t know how to convince you that I didn’t abduct them,” Yeomso rolled his eyes in disgust. It was difficult to talk and explain to someone as stupid as Stawarski.

            They headed to the first storey by climbing up a fleet of stairs. Yeomso walked just casually, but not to Hideo. He has been a guard ever since the mystery of The Witch was brought up, therefore stepping into the village head’s house was nauseating him. He felt dejected for having the permission to go there, whereas he was only a mere villager who sought revenge for his little sister.

            A few shoulder pats startled Hideo. He looked up to see the smiling eyes of Yeomso. Even though they wore full-faced masks, he could see Yeomso was beaming at him, believably to reassure him everything would be fine.

            They entered the first room on the right just to get ambushed by little soldiers waiting by the door. Those little Humans were really good in hitting people, or probably they felt threatened by the coming of Stawarski and his ‘two guards’, so that was why. Even though it was Yeomso under the mask, Yeomso was also receiving quite plentiful of punches on the abdomen.

            “Let us go! Let us go!” Hiroki cried while repetitively beat Hideo with a pole, unknowingly where it came from.

            The three adults (on The Earth, Yeomso looked like a normal adult unless the horns) have already lied on the floor, groaning and complaining. These kids surely had some guts to ensnare people of much bigger in size and older in age.

            “Stop, stop!” Yeomso pushed Kouki’s head from his reach. However, Kouki did not seem to stop. He kept on punching Yeomso, but he gradually slowed down as he noticed a pair of long horns poking out from underneath Yeomso’s shirt.

            “Kou-“

            “Where is he? Where is he?!”

            Somehow, Kouki seemed to have lost his composure. The habitually emotionless Kouki was rampaging on the adult he thought as the guard, the ones who captured and separated them from Yeomso. Finding out the pair of horns in the guard’s shirt meant Yeomso was defeated or possibly slayed, therefore these adults came to them to prove the death of Yeomso.

            “I said! Where! Is! He?!” Kouki even crumpled on Yeomso’s collar and bumped his own head to the mask. “Tell us!”

            “Kouki! Wait!” Yeomso frantically pushed Kouki from his body. He totally ignored the stinging pain on his forehead from colliding with Kouki’s.

            After a few seconds (or maybe a minute) of grappling to free himself, Kouki has accidentally knocked over the mask on Yeomso, disclosing the real identity of his victim. He quickly backed off, face went pallid and limbs shivered in terror.

            “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” Kouki repeatedly bowed for apology. “Mister Yeomso, I don’t mean to injure you! I really thought you were the guard, and I also thought the guards have killed you.”

            Watching the dramatic scene, Hiroki also ceased from beating Stawarski and Hideo. Kouki helped Yeomso to get up, while Hiroki continuously apologized at the other two adult Humans. Hideo brushed it off, telling him that it was fine since they were alarmed, but Stawarski was just remaining silent. The twins assisted them to the sofa.

            Nevertheless, they did not seem to get separated from Yeomso. Both of them were sitting on Yeomso’s respective laps while the discussion was ongoing.

            “Ehem!” Stawarski cleared his throat. He has not really moved on from the ambush by the twins, but he later decided to let it pass. “I suppose you have thousands of questions to quiz me, but it seems like you’ve grasped everything.”

            “Not really,” Yeomso wrapped his arms around Kouki and Hiroki. The twins leant their backs against Yeomso’s big chest. “Well, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m The King of Capricorn Valley. I’m not an Earthling, and I’m not a Human since day one. To be frank, I don’t think I should meddle into the Earthlings’ matter. However,” he rested his palms on Kouki and Hiroki’s knees respectively, “It seems like I can’t leave these kids unsupervised in the forest.”

            Hideo’s eyes widened. “You found them in the forest?”

            Yeomso blinked at Hideo’s abrupt response. “Y- Yes, I did. They were in a hut. Their actual Father has died meters from the hut, and I happened to come across the dying Father right before he passed away. He entrusted me to take care of his sons, who were these twins,” he ruffled through Kouki and Hiroki’s smooth hair.

            Hideo suddenly rose from the sofa, “Are you sure there were only these two in the hut? Have you checked the entire hut? Maybe there are more kids hidden somewhere in the hut.”

            “I have done checking everywhere in the hut to figure out what I should do for these twins since I’m not an Earthling,” Yeomso lowered his eyes to evade from Hideo’s wishful gaze, “Unfortunately, I couldn’t even find their spare clothes.”

            “We’ve taken our baths here, Mister Yeomso!” Hiroki was not butting in. He was just reporting their activities while under surveillance out of excitement. “They provided us clean clothes, delicious food, and a large bed!”

            Yeomso chuckled to Hiroki’s exhilaration. This one little kid surprisingly delighted him although it was just a simple happiness they sustained. He was glad and relieved that Kouki and Hiroki were taken care fittingly there.

            Realizing that he accidentally indulged himself in the twins, he shifted back to Hideo and Stawarski. Stawarski was in his cautious mode, while Hideo was ducking his head. Instantly, Yeomso grasped the actuality behind Hideo’s suggestive question.

            “Hideo,” Yeomso called his name, luring the latter to look at him for a while, “Until you have seen her body with your own eyes, you can always deem that your little sister is still alive. Moreover, no one knows what The Defender does to those children. ‘The Witch’ is just a term to scare the villagers, right?”

            Yeomso unexpectedly reflected the topic back to Stawarski. Stawarski nodded reluctantly. “Yes, it was a term our ancestors created to avoid any of us to get involved with The Defender. Our ancestors were the first people to witness who The Defenders were, and it was told that our ancestors successfully fought against them. Probably, The Defenders knew our ancestors have died, so they returned and continued abducting children.”

            “So these Defender Humans are supposed to be very old, right?” Yeomso predicted based on the story Stawarski has disclosed.

            Stawarski intertwined his fingers while hesitating, “They were supposed to be very old. However, on that day, I figured out that man was much younger than how he should be.”

            “So, these Defender Humans are also evergreen?” Yeomso concluded.

            “I don’t know,” Stawarski let out a sigh, “Their existence is still a mystery up till today. Most of the villagers don’t know how they look like. Even if there were the old folks who are still alive, I can’t assure they could recall.

“In order to compare how old they should be currently, just calculate my own years of service. I have been the village head for thirty years already. I heard about them for the first time when I was 10, and I became the village head when I was 20,” said Stawarski, his one hand calculated as he spoke.

            “So they should be old men who might use cane to walk,” Hideo propped his chin, thinking deliberately while listening to the historical revelation. “Are you sure one of them abducted my sister and ran away immediately?”

            “I am so sure the one abducting your little sister is The Defender,” Stawarski clenched his fists in anger, “He had long white hair, which is none of the villagers has it. It wasn’t that he ran away – he was more to vanishing himself. I believe it is a practice done by black magic user.”

            “So that was why he was named as The Witch instead of The Woman, The Lady, or The Waitress,” While listening, Yeomso subconsciously patted Kouki and Hiroki’s side laps. “I never heard Earthlings have magical practice such as black magic. It’s my first time hearing it.”

            Hideo gritted, “This doesn’t mean my fury towards you has just demolished, Stawarski,” he said, eyes glaring at Stawarski while his fists were retained in his pockets to avoid him swinging one towards the latter.

            Yeomso rubbed Hideo’s back, demanding him to stay calm and solve things one by one without rush. Hideo could understand what Yeomso was telling him, therefore he loosened his furrow and leant his back to the sofa. Kouki and Hiroki on Yeomso’s laps exchanged glances among themselves.

            “Mister Yeomso,” Hiroki initiated first, “When can we start learning how to read?”

            Oh.

            Yeomso’s ogling eyes portrayed his surprise. He has almost forgotten the main purpose he and the twins risked themselves to enter the village without permit. Hideo and Stawarski carefully stared at those three talking among themselves.

            “I’m sorry, Kouki and Hiroki. I have forgotten about that,” Yeomso ruffled through Hiroki’s hair. He began to like Human’s hair since he touched the twins’. “Then, between both of you, who can teach us how to read?”

            Hideo was about to offer himself, but he has almost neglected the fact that he was still the guard of the village, which meant he would be on duty. Moreover, he has attacked Stawarski the village head and even murdered his colleague. There would be a penalty for him, and he never thought Stawarski would let him go just like that.

            “I would like to, Yeomso, but,” Hideo took a glance at the queasy Stawarski, “I have done grave sin to the village. I will be punished-“

            “You won’t.”

            All eyes were fixated on Stawarski. Stawarski intertwined his fingers, gripping them tighter as he noticed the concentrated focus he has just received. He gulped before proceeding.

            “I won’t punish you for everything happened today,” Stawarski averted from meeting gaze with either of them, “I will just claim Yeomso has burst the cell and the guard who killed was actually the subordinates of The Witch, so he took Yeomso away with him.”

            “That means the security here is breached,” Hideo frowned at Stawarski’s, to him, simple minded way of resolving, “The commander guard will enhance the security and even barge into anywhere available.”

            Stawarski straightened his one finger. “There is one place they won’t bother.”

            Yeomso and Hideo exchanged puzzled looks.

            “In conclusion, you wanted us to hide in that particular place you said?” Yeomso propped his chin, expecting a Yes from Stawarski. His another hand was still patting on Hiroki’s side lap.

            “Yes,” Stawarski nodded once, “It’s the only place the guards won’t have to check on. However, there’s one thing we have to consider.”

            He noticed the tensing environment in the room. Except Kouki and Hiroki, they must be deadly serious over the matter. “No one knows when The Witch will come back.”

            Hideo face palmed and grunted in displeasure, while Yeomso blinked in confusion. Kouki and Hiroki moved from Yeomso’s laps and went to the toys, playing among themselves. Despite being five years old kids, they could grasp the situation well. Avoiding from being called nuisance, they opted to go somewhere but the discussion space.

            “I will try fast learning!” Yeomso half cried, startling even the twins, “Please teach me first! I will master quickly before The Witch returned! If I’ve mastered reading, I will learn on writing all by myself. As for the twins, I’ll teach them.”

            Kouki and Hiroki heard Yeomso was mentioning about them. They instinctively ran to Yeomso and left their toys lying bare on the floor. Yeomso opened his arms widely, welcoming the twins to embrace him. They immediately buried themselves in Yeomso’s warm hug as if Yeomso was really their Father.

            “I will study diligently, Mister Yeomso!” Kouki said in high spirit, “I want to be able to read too, so that I can help Mister Yeomso on our journey after this!”

            “Me too, Mister Yeomso!” Hiroki raised his hand in the air, attracting Yeomso’s attention from Kouki, “I will be a good boy so that you can teach me properly!”

            “We won’t be naughty!” Kouki nudged at Hiroki’s arm and sent off glares at the little brother.

            Yeomso giggled at the twins’ enthusiasm. Watching over them was almost like watching Yagi when he was at their age. He was initially treating his son gently and lovingly, however he eventually changed his way of management since Yagi has become a teen. He did not want Yagi to grow up with soft heart. Considering how the other Zodiacs behaved towards his ancestors and him, he was afraid that Yagi would be trampled by any of them once he was granted as The King of Capricorn Valley.

            He stroked over Kouki and Hiroki’s head. He longed his hometown and his family. He wished they would not despise him for not coming back as soon as possible.

            “We will learn together, okay? Kouki, Hiroki.”