Voyage Of The Villainess

*Knock! Knock! Knock!*

The sole guard that was resting in his quarters grumpily stood up from the brown old chair he was resting. He had this strong and broad muscular wide shoulders and his stomach was bulging as he walked towards the door. 

"Are they back from searching?" He slowly approached the door and opened it. "How\'s the search going?" He asked without any expressions on his face yet his voice radiated the power and authority as soon as he opened the door. But instead of his buff comrades, a young girl was waiting outside their quarters. His face became grumpier seeing her. \'I still wanted to sleep.\' He groaned in his thoughts.

"Excuse me, what do you need, Miss?" He asked. 

"The elders are calling out for you in Elder Hashna\'s house," Malaya said without looking up to avoid eye contact. She made her voice lower than usual so that the guard would not recognize who she really was.

The guard\'s eyebrows kneaded as he looked at the girl in front of him. Then he took a deep breath of annoyance. "I see. But I can\'t do that at this moment, Miss.  As you can see there will be no one left to guard and look at this place."

"I\'m sorry for the disturbance, Sir. It will be alright." Malaya said with desperation. "I will look here for a while. Don\'t worry. The elders really need someone who is as strong as you to help them."

"Oh, are you sure about that? So it only means the elder really needs my help." The guard bashfully said as he glanced upwards scratching the back of his head. The aura he gave earlier changed and he became soft. "If you say it that way earlier, then I will have really no choice but to go. Please look after this place for a while. I will return soon." The guard then rushed ahead towards the direction to where the house of Elder Hashna was located.

Seeing that the guard was not within her sight anymore. Malaya didn\'t waste any more time and immediately entered the house. She immediately rummaged and looked for her things. She kept looking around but there was nothing in there. Then she entered another room. There, she started rummaging again until she spotted her things in the lowest cabinet. 

Her eyes glimmered with joy. "Ah! Got you. My bag finally!" Then she checked the items. Her Trinity and her other items were all inside. "Thank goodness my babies are safe and they didn\'t take anything from it." Then just before she stood up, she saw another bag with potions and a pair of black daggers. The daggers were quite familiar to her.

She closed her eyes trying to remember where she saw those things and in just a second she remembered the time at Taleba when these daggers tried to strike her. \'Ah, this belongs to Kayden. I should bring this with me too.\' She picked the two daggers and put them in her bag. Then she stood up. \'Finally, I\'ve got everything ready for me.\'

*Boogsh!*

Malaya was startled. She became alert when she heard the main door of the house open. \'Is the guard back already?\' Malaya quickly peeked through the small hole in the door and saw it was someone else. There were two males. One was very familiar to Malaya and the other one was another guard. It shocked her when she saw the familiar guy.

\'It\'s Oliver?\' 

Since fighting here was not the right time for her plan. She immediately looked for a place to hide first. She didn\'t want to make things harder and chaotic than the situation she was in right now by attracting unwanted attention.

As she looked around, there was only one place she could hide in the narrow room. It was behind the sofa. She immediately went into that place and focused her hearing on their talks. Since the room was quite narrow, she could hear the talk of the two quite clearly in the other room.

"Master Oliver, I\'m really sorry that this has to happen to the people you are acquainted with, even us, we didn\'t expect this to happen." A rough voice of man resounded first.

"There is nothing I can do with that," Oliver answered in a saddened tone in his voice. "If they commit a crime, whether they are acquainted with me or not, they should pay for the things they have done. That is the consequence for their actions."

"That is why we honor and respect a person like you because you are really wise despite your age, Master Oliver." The guard replied with admiration.

"It is nothing," Oliver replied humbly. 

"You lying woman! Where are you?!" 

Malaya froze in the place she was hiding when she heard back that voice. \'That is the guard earlier. He is back already.\' She held her Trinity in her hands.

Both Oliver and the guard who was with him turned their heads when another guard burst the door open. 

"Maldrick? Are you okay?" The guard who was with Oliver spoke up.

The guard who was called Maldrick was surprised to see both Oliver and the guard who was with him. 

"Master Oliver! Avar! You\'re both here!" He exclaimed in surprise.

"What\'s with the rush, Maldrick?" Avar, the guard who was with Oliver asked.

"A girl earlier called me out, telling me to go to Elder Hashna\'s place because they need my help. But when I arrived there, they told me they didn\'t need me for anything nor called me. Hearing that I immediately rushed back here. Did you see anyone here when you arrived, particularly a girl?"

\'Crap.\' Malaya cursed inside her head and hoped that they would not enter the room or look around in the place she was in. \'Come on, don\'t you ever come near me, you hunk.\' 

"A girl you say?" Avar said as he exchanged glances with Oliver. "As I remember I have not seen anyone like that when we arrived here."

Maldrick looked around and it seemed there was nothing out of place. Then he took a huge stride towards the only other room in their quarters.

Malaya tightened her grip on her Trinity when she heard the door open. Maldrick glanced everywhere in the room and once again there was nothing out of place. But his gaze got fixated on the single sofa inside the room. His eyes narrowed as he started to walk towards it.

\'Ugh, please don\'t move forward. Gosh, I\'m really the unluckiest person in this world.\' Malaya readied herself for a fight when the footsteps of Malderick got nearer. \' If you want to stay at that kind of body you must stay there and not dare to move near me, you punk.\'

"Wait, you say a girl called out to you?" Malderick paused when he heard Oliver speak. He was just a few inches away from Malaya\'s hiding place. "Hmm, I remember something."

"Yes, Master Oliver. What is it?" Malderick faced Oliver who entered the room as well. 

"Then if I\'m right." Oliver pondered for a while as if he was trying to recall something. "On my way here, I spotted a suspicious girl going ahead of us before we entered this place."

"Then that must definitely be her!" Malderick exclaimed in rage. "Tss, why would I believe so easily in that girl. If I see her again I will make sure she will suffer for wasting my time and lying to me. Thank you, Master Oliver. I will look after her right away!" 

"I will also help you. She might be a spy from other tribes." Oliver said.

"No, Master Oliver. You don\'t need to do that. Besides, I think you need to take a break and rest first. It seems you\'ve done so much today." He was stopped by Avar. "Don\'t trouble yourself with our problems. I will help Maldrick locate her and please just stay here."

"Alright, make sure you got that girl as soon as possible." 

"Yes, Master. Thank you." The guards bow their heads in front of Oliver.

Both the guards rushed out to the house. When they were no longer in sight, Oliver raised both his hands when he felt something cold on his neck. In his neck, Malaya Trinity was pressed on it.

"You did that on purpose, noh?" 

Oliver grinned. "Hmm, what are you talking about?" He said trying to sound innocent.

"Ah never mind." Malaya retracted her Trinity. "Unfortunately, I will not be able to help you with what you wanted me to do. So after all of this that happened to us, I think this is the end of our deal."

"Why?" Oliver faced her and seriously looked directly into her eyes. "Is it because you are a wanted criminal here?"

"Well, yes. That is one of the reasons." Malaya responded as she walked towards the door. Then she touched her neck. "But look at this, since there is nothing binding me anymore.. There is no reason for me to help you."