บท 3: God's Champion

Arrluk loosened his grip on Tom's hand after making him agree not to fight any further. He stands up but also helps Tom to get on his feet.

Arrluk asked them to sit in a circle politely. Maybe because of his disposition and calmness, the kids agreed to do as he said and waited for him to explain.

Arrluk took a deep breath while he internally thought over his plan to fool them.

"Guys, while you all had gone out today, I was laying there on the verge of dying. You all know how ill I was for the past few days, and my days were numbered. Today, I would have really died if not for the strange being that appeared in my dreams. He cured me with his powers. But that's not all that he did."

"He blessed me with strength and told me that I was his champion."

"Was... was it the Lord of light?" Ignis asked. He had seen a red priest and priestess preaching about the Lord of Light, R'hllor, on the streets many times.

"No! It wasn't the Lord of Light, nor was it the Black Goat. It was something else, something much more powerful. But I cannot tell you his name. You all are not ready. Only the people that he blesses can know of his name. If I tell you now, then your ears will bleed and rupture since they will not be able to bear its power. You will turn deaf. So unless you prove yourselves worthy, I can't tell you his name."

The kids were definitely terrified and quickly said they didn't want Arrluk to utter that God's name, but Tom wasn't convinced though he was smart enough not to retort at this time.

"You can just refer to him as God of Heaven. Now let me tell you why I grew so tall and powerful. The God of Heaven wants to bless me with strength as he had chosen me as his champion to purge the darkness from this world. He wants me to help people like you. He is sad to see his children starving from hunger, sleeping on cold grounds while the greedy merchants and evil nobles live in their lavish palaces and castles with no care for the plight of common people even when they have the power to help us."

"Then why doesn't your God help us? If we are his children, then why does he let those bandits beat us." One of the children named redneck started crying after saying that. He was seven years old, after all, the second youngest of the group after Arrluk.

"When I met him in my dreams, I also asked him the same question. Why does he not help us and smite those who do evil with lightning or burn them with fire from the depths of hell?... He said 'I may be an all-mighty God, but I cannot intervene directly as I'm bound by the rules of the Universe, not until the world is about to end or Devils from hell invade our lands or the lesser gods cross their limits and try to disrupt the world order'..."

The kids became sad after hearing those words.

"... But the God of Heaven can indirectly help his children through his chosen champions. Through Champions, God of Heaven can help those, who are in need and deserves his grace. I don't know why he chose me as his champion, but since he has given me powers, then it's my responsibility to do his work and make this world a better place to live for everyone."

Arrluk saw each one of their expressions and then continued, "Every champion needs trustworthy brothers, good companions that can help him in his endeavors to change the world for the better. Since I'm a champion of the Almighty God, I will also need such brothers who can stand with me shoulder to shoulder. But a champion's brothers cannot be weak or dumb. No, they need to be strong and smart. God of Heaven will bless and pass his gifts to those who truly give their all to help me in my journey. Like how I have become stronger than before, you all can also one day become powerful warriors that you can crush a mountain with a punch or become a wise man that can use magic to create storms and flood cities."

Arrluk dissed out a few more examples to make the kids completely fall for his words.

Thankfully his words had great effects on the kids. Each one of them was ready to follow Arrluk and become his companion and brother-in-arms.

Tom didn't know if the God of Heaven was real or not, but he became jealous after learning that Arrluk was chosen as the champion and not him.

But hearing that he can gain magical powers through Arrluk, he decided to follow arrluk for now. Maybe one day after he gains the ability to breathe fire or makes stars fall from the sky, he will kill Arrluk and take his place as the champion of God of Heaven.

While Tom was still dreaming about his future as the champion, Arrluk called out the names of every kid that lives in this hut "Ignis, Redneck, Buggy, Hal, Orlon, Grant, and Tom... If you all are willing to follow me then I promise you riches, power, women, and plentiful food to eat every day."

"Yes, we are willing brother Arrluk!"

"Good! From tomorrow onwards, I will show you a better way to earn money. Let's sleep for now and wake up early tomorrow. We got a bright future ahead of us. Let's work hard for it."

"But we haven't eaten our food yet" Orlon, the nine-year-old spoke with some hesitation.

"Ah... yeah, I forgot. Let's eat and then go to sleep. How were your gains today, Tom?" Arrluk asked.

"It was better than yesterday. Grant was lucky to pick up a bag of salt that had fallen from a moving cart. We sold it to a shop for 11 Lady coppers." The buggy was quick to answer.

Three Copper ladies were enough to buy a white loaf or a small bag of wheat. Salt is a precious commodity and a normal bag of salt sells for twenty copper ladies in the market. But they were beggars, no merchant would give the market price for things that are obviously stolen.

"We also picked up some leftovers that the sellsword threw outside the pillow houses. It should be enough for three people to eat." Orlon said.

'Sigh... Leftovers are all I have ever eaten in this world... But no more will I do that. From tomorrow, if I can't even earn good food with the strength and knowledge I have then it's better to die' Arrluk decided.

The kids shared their food with Arrluk and then they all went to sleep. The next morning, Arrluk woke up with dark circles under his eyes (not literally).

He did not sleep or that he wasn't able to sleep because of Tom. He could tell that Tom still held a grudge against him for taking his knife and money. Therefore, he stayed up all night in fear that Tom would bash his head with a stone while he is sleeping.

Thankfully that did not happen, Arrluk decided to get a solution as soon as he can for this matter, or else he will never be able to sleep peacefully with Tom in the same room.