For the people of Promapple, their only goal was to dethrone the king, Zarek, destroy the royal culture, and place a citizen—preferably a Promappler—
on the throne, who would not only take care of all the citizens in Absyleous but also abstain from all the luxuries of the castle.
The leader of Promapple was Promanthae, who was responsible for the final training of all the fighters who were then turned into assassins by him, and he had drafted all the rules, regulations, and punishments for offenses.
Everyone followed him and trusted him blindly, and no objections were allowed against him.
Promapple was indirectly supported by eleven other villages. These villagers voluntarily let their children to be chosen by the recruiters of Promapple, who visited all the villages from time to time.
Knives and swords were the weapons of choice, and Promapple was the most advanced of all the other villages and cities of the kingdom.
Promapple was so wealthy that it provided houses, food, and necessities to all the inhabitants,but luxury was forbidden, and any kind of lavish lifestyle or clothes were also prohibited.
The villagers dressed in black gowns and lived in sturdy huts.
Promapple was situated in the middle of a dense forest, whose way was only known to the few inhabitants of Promapple. It was guarded so intelligently that even the inhabitants could not leave the village without the knowledge of Promanthae.
One day, it was raining heavily in the forest, which was nothing new to the Promapplers, and they were, as usual, busy with their work, with all the fighters being trained by the trainers and all the assassins being trained under the supervision of Promanthae. The rest were busy with their dayto-day work—business, teaching, research, health care. The spy handlers were organizing the information handed to them for more knowledge and better opportunities to dethrone King Zarek.
Promanthae was sitting on a chair on the podium in front of his house with an umbrella in his hand and watching the assassins being trained in front of him. Suddenly, he saw a man running towards him in a panic. On taking a closer look, Promanthae recognized him as Arigue, a man
whom he had brought from the city to his village two years ago, who now lived in the village and taught children along with other teachers all about Absyleous and other kingdoms and everything else important.
Arigue, without catching his breath, reached Promanthae and said in a panic, “I cannot find a child. I thought she was sick and resting at her orphanage when she didn’t come to school for three days, but when I went there today, I found that she has not been there for the last three days. I then
went and searched for her everywhere in the village but couldn’t find her.”
Promanthae replied calmly and elegantly, “She must be playing in the house of some other children her age. There is no need to worry. No Promappler will ever harm another Promappler unless it is my order, and leaving this village is impossible, even for the assassins, who are the best trained here, so for a child, there is no need to even think in
this direction. Go to your school. I will get that child in front of you shortly.”
Arigue tried to calm himself and replied, “Okay,” and left for his school.
Promanthae then ordered his personal guard to look into the matter.
His guard ordered some of the fighters to search each home and find the child immediately.
A few hours went by, and there was no news about the child.
Promanthae ordered a few of his assassins to find the child.
Hours went by, and it was almost dark and still raining, but the child was nowhere to be found. Arigue then came and stood next to Promanthae with a worried look in his eyes, which he couldn’t hide anymore.
Promanthae became furious and said in a loud voice, “If that child is not found quickly, then all the fighters and assassins searching for her will be eliminated from the training and will be named as unworthy for any other task, along with severe punishment. I am giving you all just one
more hour before it is completely dark. Bring that child in front of me immediately!”
One hour went by with no luck in finding the child.
Promanthae then stood up from his chair, ready to announce the punishment for all those searching for her and decided to look for the child himself.
Suddenly, a guard responsible for the security of the border of Promapple announced, “We can see a child coming towards the gates of Promapple completely soaked, with bruises all over her face and body. She is walking towards the gates without any worry about the security present here.” He asked, “Should we open the gates and bring her to you, Promanthae?”
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Hearing this shocked Promanthae to his core as he was the one who had planned this security down to the last detail, and he was completely confident that no one, not even the ones trained and taught perfectly, could break this defense. He just couldn’t understand how this child had managed to leave the village. He thought, Is there a spy in my village or
a rebel who took the child outside and the child then managed to come home again?
Promanthae then calmed himself, emptied his mind, and said, “Bring that child to me.”
Everyone was shocked on hearing this, and Promanthae was worried and curious about this matter.
The child was escorted into Promapple with guards armed with knives and swords. She was the center of attention of all the villagers at this moment, and Promanthae looked at her with suspicion and curiosity at the same time.
When the child reached Promanthae, he sat down and observed her state.
He noticed her black clothes, completely soaked by rain. Her hands were black-and-blue in several places, along with her legs; it seemed like she had dragged herself for a long time. Her face was bruised everywhere, as if she had fallen on the ground a few times. There was a cut on her
head, which seemed like it had bled for a while.
Promanthae looked in her eyes and asked calmly, “Where have you been?”
With confidence and no regrets, she replied with the exact calmness Promanthae had shown on his face and in his voice, “I went to see the world outside our village. I went to meet King Zarek.”
Promanthae paused for a moment. Of all the answers he could think of this had never come to his mind.
He was incensed by her reply but closed his eyes to calm himself again and asked her a little loudly, “Did you see Zarek?”
He asked this question as he thought, I wonder if this child, who was able to breach my security, might also find a way to break the king’s security.
The child casually replied, “I sneaked past the guards guarding him and went inside the castle and saw Zarek taking a walk along with some women. I saw no security around him, so I went to him and held his hand
to greet him.”
Overcome with curiosity, Promanthae interrupted her and asked, “What happened then?”
With no emotion, the child replied, “He threw me to the ground and looked at me like I am unworthy to go near him. And shouted for the guards to kill me. But before the guards could reach me, I took out the small knife that I had carried from here, covered in my ribbon, and held his hand again, while he was looking away towards the guards, and cut him
slightly on his palms and ran away. His guards were not as skilled as ours. They saw me, but they still couldn’t catch me. I hid for the whole night yesterday and morning today, and then later, it started raining, and I found
my way here.”
Promanthae was completely stunned by this reply. He looked at the child with respect, and of all the questions he wanted to ask, he asked the question that had really bothered him after listening to the child.
“Why did you think Zarek needed our greeting?”
The child boldly replied, “Everyone deserves one chance before we consider them our enemy. He was your enemy before. Now he is mine too.”
Promanthae smiled very proudly at this answer and asked her, “Who taught you that everyone deserves one chance?”
The child replied without hesitation, “Arigue.”
Promanthae looked at Arigue, who was standing there. Arigue had looked worried earlier but now showed no emotion on his face. Promanthae looked at the child again and asked her with a smile, “Where is the knife
that you used to harm the king?”
The child gave the knife, which was covered in a ribbon, to Promanthae, saying, “I took the knife from Promapple and wrapped it under my ribbon, and after harming Zarek, I wrapped it again to keep the knife intact.”
Promanthae took it respectfully and looked at the small knife closely; it had some bloodstains. He said, “This knife is very small, but you know you can kill someone with it if used with the right technique. I will teach you that; you deserve to know.”
Promanthae then looked at her with admiration and asked, “You said Zarek’s guards are not as skilled as ours, and still you surpassed our guards. How did you do this?”
The child replied wearily, “It was not easy. I observed them for six months. Then only I was able to get past them, after trying three times. After that, I couldn’t find the way out of the forest. It took me so much time.”
Impressed with this reply, Promanthae asked, “How old are you? And what is your name?”
“I am ten years old. And my name is Martia,” she replied.
Promanthae then held her hand and stood up and announced in a loud voice for all the villagers to hear, “This child will not be an orphan anymore. From today onwards, I will be her parent. And Arigue will be her personal teacher, who will teach her all about the politics, economy, and
geography of this kingdom and also of other kingdoms. I will make her much more efficient than she is right now, so that, when she grows up, she will be worthy of becoming your future leader, who will not only dethrone
the king ruling at that time but will also give our village the due respect by bringing it to the center of the leadership.”
Everyone bowed before Promanthae and accepted his decision with gratitude. Except for Arigue, who was still standing emotionless.
They all then returned to their respective work.
Martia started living with Promanthae, who took care of her like a strict parent.
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