Voyage Of The Villainess

On the third day of doing errands, the people around Malaya started to become less wary of her. And that means... Malaya could only sigh in weariness. \'That means more work for me. Well, like I expected it would not be easy. And I need to do this in one week. Forget about earning their trust, more like I\'m just earning a spot to become a slave here.\' She glanced at the rice field that she needed to plant more. The size of the rice field was almost one hectare.

\'Ah. Think positive Malaya. Think of this as just helping people in need. Yeah, that\'s right. I\'m helping people. I\'m such a good person. They are lucky that they got me here.\'

Malaya slowly stood up straight and stretched her hips and arms. \'Yosh!\' She raised her fist to the air. \'I can do this!\' She continued to plant the rice seedling. She woke before sunrise to do some basic stretching first and she started to plant the rice seeds again for almost two hours now. 

\'It will be okay! Continue onward! No matter what errands you threw at me, I can do all of this. Well, aside from that old lady yesterday. Anyways simply be more persistent then they will surely see the fruits of your hard work.\'

Malaya hastened her pace since she didn\'t want to be on the field when the sun rose to its peak or the heat would be just unbearable to her. 

*Unga!* 

Malaya glanced up when she heard of a Carabao passing along with its owner. It was pulling a wagon from behind that had some hay on it. "Hello! How are you? It\'s nice to meet you! Good weather we have today!" She waved her hands at them with enthusiasm. The man pulling the carabao turned his head. As usual, he was wearing the same mask as everyone in the village. \'I forgot to ask why the people here love to wear masks.\' Malaya thought for a while.

And then the said man returned his gaze on the road and proceeded to walk without saying anything or even smiling at her. \'Well so much for being friendly.\' Malaya said as she just stared at them and kept walking away like she was just a shadow or invisible that didn\'t exist.. \'Hmm. He is heading into the forest\'

The wind blew hard and in the air, Malaya smelled something familiar to her that made her stop in a moment. \'That smell, the smell of blood?\' She kept staring at the man until it was long gone from her sight. \'Maybe he is a hunter as well going for a hunt? Well never mind, I\'ll just continue this! I\'m going to finish all of this before noon!\'

After four more hours of shortly resting and planting, the sun finally rose to its peak. Malaya decided to rest now for a moment and ate the lunch prepared for her by the kind lady who ordered her to do this. She said that her husband got sick so he has no strength to do all of this by himself so he decided to request for her to do this. \'Only a quarter left unplanted.\'

She put her right hand on her waist and stretched once more. \'Ugh,\' she felt some minor pain on her shoulder as she did some stretching.\' I can continue and finish it after some rest and the sundown.\' Then she stared back at her lunch and took a seat under the small nipa hut in the middle of the fields.

"It\'s tiring huh." Malaya smelled her lunch box. "Hmm, it smells quite good. Can\'t wait for what is on the inside. "

Malaya opened the white cloth first, then it revealed a small wooden box. When she opened it, the smell became stronger and made her gulp her saliva because something sweet engulfed her nose.

"Oh," her eyes sparkled seeing her lunch. It had white rice on the left side and three small fish that was soaked in red-orange sauce. She picked up her spoon and started scooping the sauce first to taste it. Her eyes widened once more, \'is this tomato sauce? pretty good.\'

And thus, she began eating her meal with delight. "Yum! If I\'m just eating it every day, I\'m going to do this task without hesitation." She squealed more in delight as she continued eating.

Just a few moments when she was nearly done finishing her lunch...

"Blue missy!" Malaya raised her head to see someone running toward her. "So this is where you are! I kept looking at you earlier and then now I finally saw you" It was the cook yesterday. And he was holding two huge knives.

"Oh! Hey! Is there anything you need?"Malaya greeted him with a wide and genuine smile on her lips. But then it faltered when out of nowhere, the cook threw the knife he was holding on his right hand towards Malaya. 

"Woah! What is that for? What\'s your problem?" Malaya asked and the cook just kept his sharp eyes on her. She instinctively dodge and as she did that her lunch that was on her side was hit by the knife. Scattering all its contents.

\'My food! What a waste! No,\' Malaya shook her head. \'Why in the world did this cook throw the knife!\' She glanced back to the cook who was now a meter away from her.

"I will kill you!" The cook angrily screamed as he tried to hit Malaya with the remaining knife he had. 

"What the?!" Malaya started to dodge every bit of his attacks. "What have I done wrong?! Don\'t tell me, it\'s about yesterday\'s errand from you that I didn\'t finish. No way, you\'re really serious that you will cook me! You will just upset your stomach!"

"Stop moving. How dare you do that to my grandmother?!" 

\'Ah, what?\' Malaya\'s mind started processing at the aggressive cook. 

"I don\'t understand what you\'re trying to talk about! I did nothing wrong to your grandma!" Malaya screamed back as she ducked to the left.

"Stop talking nonsense and pretending you did nothing wrong Blue Missy!" he felt a tremendous burst of rage inside him. "That is all the reason for criminals who committed crimes!" The cook yelled in rage as he swung the knife. Malaya dodge it and it landed on the part of the field that had some rice seedling on it. 

\'Darn this, Okay this is not fun now. I need to think about what I need to do.\' Malaya gritted her teeth. \'I can\'t simply dodge him here or he will surely destroy all these crops I planted. And all my hard work and sweat will be wasted. I won\'t let that happen. This assh*le really getting into my nerves. I need to get us out of the field first.\' Malaya started turning her back to the cook, who just picked the huge knife. \'This guy is serious about cutting me into pieces huh.\' Then she started running away in the direction away from the field. 

"Stop running and fight like a real warrior! Get back here!" The cook angrily screamed as he ran after Malaya. 

"No thanks! And I\'m not a freaking warrior!" Malaya screamed back as increased her pace. The cook continued to scream some words, but Malaya decided to just focus on her running and didn\'t speak anything other than that. 

\'If not for this stupid collar, I can simply take down this man. And besides, that wasted food. I feel bad about it.\' Malaya sighed inwardly as she looked in her front. There was only one way ahead of the track she was heading. It was the forest. \'Argh. Damn it. I don\'t have a choice but let\'s make a run for now.\'

She dashed ahead of it as her life depended on it. 

---⚓⚓⚓---

In the forest, the cook kept looking for Malaya.

"Where is she?!" He was still fuming in rage as he looked for her from the bushes and in every direction. "Blue Missy!" he shouted.

*Awoo!*

The cook gritted his teeth as he could not find her anywhere. "Blue missy, I know you can hear me. Hide well because if I see you. You can\'t escape from me ever again and I don\'t let you go whatever happens. I will make sure I\'m the last person you will see until your last breath. Enjoy the remaining days of your life. Keep my words."

The cook decided to go back. When he was no longer in sight, Malaya reappeared behind the tree that she hid at. She took a deep breath as she pondered on her thoughts.

\'What in the world is happening?\' She exclaimed as she continued to inhale and exhale air until her panting calmed down. She sat on the long grass and leaned her head to have more rest. "He called me a criminal. Just what happened to his grandma for him to be furious like that.. It looked really serious based on his actions and even to the point, that he wanted to take my life. More importantly, with him being like that, what should I do?"