The Blind Prince

Chapter 23

"Now explain this to us, Hakuryuu," Alibaba demands. Hakuryuu sighs softly and leans against the wall.

"Ren Gokuen, the witch from Al Sarmen who took up with the stupid, gullible Kou Prince in order to manipulate the Kou Empire. She was a woman who resembled The Great Holy Mother a lot. She cares nothing about her children. That kind of woman must not live," Hakuryuu explains to us in a soft tone.

"That's why you killed the Great Holy Mother, huh," Alibaba says, anger clear in his voice.

"Even if I hadn't done anything, she would have been executed anyway."

"That could be the case but didn't you do it because of a personal grudge of yours!?" Alibaba begins to shout again. Hakuryuu doesn't get the chance to respond. Olba breaks the ropes around his wrists and steals a knife from a guard. His eyes lock onto Hakuryuu and he bolts towards us.

"Olba!?" The other children shout. Olba doesn't look back to them. He reaches us and moves to stab Hakuryuu, but Hakuryuu simply catches his hand.

"I'll kill you," Olba glares up at Hakuryuu. "You... you killed Mother!" Hakuryuu shakes his head before back handing the small boy. Olba falls back onto the ground with a sharp cry of pain, his blade falling from his grasp.

"How many people did you kill in this city?" Hakuryuu asks him coldly. "There were even women among them, right? Weren't they the mothers of someone else? What about their children!? And only after your own mother's death do you behave like that!? Aren't you thinking about things too conveniently!?" Olba doesn't respond to him, unable to find any words. "Also you've vaguely realized it already, right? You already know the Great Holy Mother was just using you."

"Hakuryuu," I step forward to grab his hand, but he pushes me away from him.

"Because The Great Holy Mother commanded you to kidnap even more children, right?" He continues without batting an eye. "That was in order to create new pirates. You should know this already. You should have noticed. There is no reason to be sad. You all, from the beginning, were not loved."

"Hakuryuu!" Alibaba shouts, rushing up to him. Hakuryuu glares at Alibaba before storming off. We don't get a chance to go after him thanks to the guards. They quickly gather Olba and tie him back up with the other children.

"Hurry up and move, you damn brats!" One guard screams. "We're moving out. You'll go to meet your execution, or you will be sold as slaves." My eyes go wide when I notice the rukh around the children. It's turning black. Aladdin softly gasps when he notices it. He quickly steps forward, his staff raised to put a stop to this.

"Wait, please," Aladdin freezes at Alibaba's voice. Alibaba calmly walks up to the guards and holds his hand out. "Could you hand those pirates over to us?"

"What? It is true that you cooperated with us in the capture of these pirates, but aren't you going beyond your authority when you interfere with how criminals from Aktia should be judged!?"

"No, my country has half of the responsibility of these pirates," Alibaba says. My eyes widen a little when I realize what he is planning.

"Responsibility, you say?" The captain asks him.

"Yes. The Great Holy Mother acted on a trade route that went between Sindria and Aktia, so as members of Sindria Kingdom, we cannot ignore this. However, regarding all future damage caused by pirates on the maritime commercial routes between our countries, if Aktia prefers to cope with them alone and give us reparations, we will convey this principle to his majesty the King of Sindria," Alibaba says confidently. I smirk a little as I watch the guards become flustered.