Chapter Twenty: Hercules's Brave Part Three

There was no point in lying to my friends anymore. “Yeah, but I never told anyone about it,” I admitted.

“Who’s Hercules?” the Shaolin asked.

“I’ll tell you about it when we get home,” Wilt replied before turning his attention to their leader. “You must be a Jormungand commander.”

“What makes you think that, newbie?”

Wilt turned his glare toward Del Rio. “We’ve already acquainted with the lieutenant during their last caravan run. And this guy —” He then turned to the biggest person in their group, a towering Indian, about a head taller than Li, wearing formal clothes from his homeland. “I’ve heard some gossip here that you’re famous. Captain Madhur, I presumed?”

The towering captain bowed to greet our leader out of courtesy.

“So seeing you leading this group with a ranked captain like him,” Wilt continued explaining. “I’d say that makes you their superior officer. And the way you stand there like a posh with an English accent and fancy vintage tux. Are you perhaps from the Victorian Era?”

I gulped. Those last parts felt like Wilt was taunting their leader. My party and the Jormungand were locking on each other’s intense stares.

To everyone in the hall’s astonishment, their leader clapped. “Brilliant deduction. You spoke like a detective in my era. Are you a Sherlock enthusiast, perchance?”

Wilt shrugged. “My dad is a big fan. He used to read those to me for bedtime stories?”

He chuckled, “Let’s hope we can share our common interests some other time. Oh, pardon me for not introducing myself. I’m Commander Cromwell, and I’d like to thank you for saving our caravan from those dreadful raiders. My good Corporal Del Rio provided me with a fascinating report about your little party.”

“Corporal?” Katie burst out cackling. “You got demoted!”

“Why, you little —” Del Rio snapped.

“Stand down, Corporal,” Commander Cromwell ordered without sparing a glance.

“But —”

“That’s an order,” he said, to which the now Corporal Del Rio did what she was told, but not before cursing Katie under her breath. “Apologies, my adjutant hasn’t yet learned her lesson from the little squabble with her previous commander.”

I hung my head high, realizing why she got demoted. She disobeyed Commander Raja’s orders during that battle, which caused many hired ones to get recalled.

“No problem,” Wilt asked. “But what do you want with Sam, anyway?”

The crowd started to exchange comments. They all shared the same anxious expression on their faces, including Marseille, who was among them.

“Glad you asked,” the English commander replied. “We confirmed that your friend is a power brave, the last one whom we have all been waiting to get summoned into this world.”

“Power brave?” Wilt paused to analyze that term. “You mean a champion with super-strength like Sam. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Correct, everyone here knows they are an elite type of braves. Thanks to their unique ability, every power brave who came to this world had earned their fame. Like your friend, Raid Breaker, here. Ninurta, Maui, Kratos, all the gods of strength had sent their champions, except one.”

“And that’s Hercules,” Wilt finished.

“Exactly, Captain Madhur here is one of them.”

I cast a glance at the Jormungand captain. I never expected to meet another so-called, power brave.

“You’ve already got a power brave.” Alex frowned.

“The Jormungands could use another.” The English commander turned his attention back to me. “What do you say? Would you like to join our guild?”

“Commander Raja already asked us the same thing,” Wilt chimed in. “And we said no.”

“Really?” He cocked a brow. “Then I’d like to hear it from you, Raid Breaker. How about it?”

“Well, I’m —”

“Oliver, stop this at once!” Commander Raja arrived with Rad, Zeki, and some of their entourage followed from behind.

“Raja’s right,” Rad exclaimed. “You know what happens to anyone who messes with my par-tay.”

“I understand,” Commander Raja coaxed to calm him down. “Please let me de-escalate this, your Majesty.”

“You’d better be,” Rad snarled. “Your guild’s reputation is getting worse recently.”

“Don’t worry, sire,” Commander Cromwell said. “We’ll be leaving soon. But not without you, Raid Breaker. Gold, fame, power, whatever price these guilds offered you, we can double it. No, triple it. The Jormungands could use a talent like you.”

Turning to the crowd again, they still had that anxious look towards me. I wasn’t sure if they were worried about me accepting the Jormungands’ offer. Upon shifting toward Marseille, her troubling expression showed she was more concerned about my well-being. Lastly, to my friends. They shared the same as Marseille’s except for Alex, who strangely remained composed before she gave me a small nod.

What did she mean by that? Was she suggesting that I had to make a choice? After a short pondering, I glanced back at the Jormungands.

“Out of respect, sir,” I repeated what Alex said to Commander Raja. “My friends and I had been planning to build our guild for a long time. We want to spend more time in this world first before joining an esteemed guild such as yours. You know, go on adventures. Exploring new places. Just us, friends.”

My friends cheered while the crowd gave their satisfied smiles. There were a few who applauded. I barely contained my joy seeing Marseille was one of them.

“Terrific, just terrific,” Commander Cromwell said in an ominous tone. “You think you can smile all you want just because you’re Hercules’s Brave.”

Someone shouted, “You’re dust now, kid!”

“No, no, it’s not like that,” I begged. “Please, I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

“Oliver, don’t do it!” Commander Raja growled, much to our bewilderment.

“Wait, they weren’t offended,” Katie said incredulously.

The rest of us were also baffled.

“I’m afraid, Ms. Lestrange,” Zeki explained in dread, “if Mr. Roche wouldn’t join them, then the Jormungands will make sure he won’t join the other guilds as well.”

Our eyebrows rose upon why the posh was provoking me.

“Rookie crushing,” I grunted under my breath.

“Sam, we’re leaving,” Wilt exclaimed.

No need to tell me twice, I said in my thoughts. We were about to run when Madhur stood right in front of me in a flash. I was surprised that he had quick feet for a big guy.

“Madhur, stand down!” Commander Raja growled. “The rest of you stand down as well!”

“Sorry, sir, we’re from Commander Cromwell’s division,” one of the subordinates said as none of them, including Del Rio, moved from their spot. “We only take orders from him.”

Commander Raja glared daggers at his fellow commander.

“Sorry, Raja,” Cromwell said. “I’m doing this for our guild.” He turned back to me. “Don’t forget, you’re not the only power brave around here. Madhur, would you please take him outside so you two can talk.”

The Jormungand captain began to transform into a five-meter giant of blue steel. He was just another Asura — fine then. As soon as he was about to grab me, I grasped both of his enormous hands.

“I-I’m…” I declared. “I am not backing down.” Remembering the painful memories again, I was determined to fight back this time. Once our raw strength met and our grips tightened, the floor under our feet burst to crack.

“Shots fired!” Katie gave one of the Jormungand warriors a roundhouse kick, and he fell on the floor. Most of them bolted to subdue my friends. Two were about to grab Katie when Brock swiftly cut them off and punched one with his metal fist, sending him to knock against each other’s heads with sheer force.

“Thanks, Brock,” Katie exclaimed.

Three were down, but the other three leaped into action. Li stood behind them in a flash. Using his Shaolin skills, it took him seconds to send them flying in different directions. A reinforcement of five Jormungand members charged at us. Before my friends could confront them, they turned into pillars of light before vanishing.

Wilt stood on the spot where the reinforcement vanished. He had a sword in each hand.

“Guys!” He handed both blades to Brock and Katie, producing another pair and gave them to Alex and Li, and another one for himself.

“Swords, nice.” Brock grinned. Now that my friends were armed, all that was left were the three officers. It was fortunate they remained where they stood. Commander Raja wouldn’t attack them, but he couldn’t do anything but watch. Del Rio and Cromwell were focused on us, power braves.

Madhur and I were locked in a stalemate for two minutes. None of us budged an inch. The awing crowd was staring in suspense for one of us to yield first.

“Wow, you two got equal strength,” Cromwell said. “Let’s see you are equal in skills.”

“Oh, no.” When he said, skills — that meant combat prowess. I got none.

In the blink of an eye, he flung me in the air and crash-landed on one of the long tables, breaking it in half, and the dishes were smashed on the floor.

No longer wanting to stand by and watch, Marseille cried to the Libra members nearby, “Help them!”

“My lady, we can’t,” one of them explained. “The city laws only apply outside the castle.”

Unable for Libra to help, Alex turned to the Boston Tea Party. They were gaping at the brawl the entire time.

“Do something!” she barked.

“What? Oh, yeah.” Rad snapped his senses back. He shouted at the top of his lungs, “Shandao! Shaozong!”

In an instant, iron spikes sprang from the floor, pointing at each Jormungand member. Then, a pair of two-dimensional Chinese warriors appeared on the wall from both sides, glaring daggers at our aggressors. One of them was the bouncer from the double doors.

The Party King angrily approached the two commanders. “From now on, the Jormungand Guild is banned from all of my par-tays and festivities, forever!”

“This is on you, Oliver!” Commander Raja roared while three spikes were pointing at his throat. “I’ll make sure King Gaius hears about this.”

Cromwell said nothing. He was giving our party a dark glee. Whatever was in his mind, it’d spell trouble for us in the future.

Now that the fight was over, Katie cried, “Sam, are you okay?”

“Hope you’re alive there, buddy,” Brock said.

“I’m fine!” Still lying on the floor, unhurt, to my astonishment. Neither was my pride and dignity. After I rose to my feet, I dusted myself to show everyone that I was alright.

Someone cried, “Look, he peed himself!”

Hundreds of laughter filled the hall. As I glanced down, my mouth hung open after seeing the crotch of my pants were soaking wet. That made me shift my glance toward the floor. There were shards of a shattered glass bowl and fruit punch spilled right under my feet.

“No, this isn’t pee!” I cried in my defense. “This is fruit punch!” I wiped my soaking right lap with my fingers and licked it. “See, it’s cherry!”

“EWW!” The crowd gawked in disgust.

“Oh, no,” I gasped for air, struggling to breathe. “It’s happening again.”

Suddenly, my vision went black.