KEEP BUANA (Rise of Darkness)

Politics of Leaders

“Teacher Manik Baya, please tell the audience about the results of the competition that I entrust to you.” The King has decreed

Manik Baya immediately got up from his seat. His aura seemed ordinary in front of the royal dignitaries and the envoys of the contestants. It was completely different from when Gentayu first saw it.

‘This person, is very good at hiding and changing his aura. In this way, all attendees will obviously underestimate it.’ Gentayu deeply noticed the change in aura emitted by Manik Baya, the great-grandfather.

Exactly as Gentayu had guessed, the mocking gazes even the mumbled sounds buzzed around Gentayu. They were the dukes, senopati, and bodyguards of the contestant knights and were high-ranking warriors.

In the view of these people, Manik Baya was seen as a frail and old geezer.

All because they did not know the identity of the old man and had never met directly with Manik Baya. Even if in fact, the name Manik Baya itself can not be foreign to their ears.

Among the knights participating in the competition, the dukes and their guards, Gentayu was still among the weakest of his powers. On average they were at the level of the celestial warrior upwards, only a few princes were at the level of the earth warrior.

In fact, the attendants in that place were not all from the background of warriors. Many of them were just ordinary humans. Some ministers, most of the servants, and the heads of the neighboring royal envoys were ordinary people.

But, in general, in this grand gathering is dominated by strong people. Because, the competition that is being held is indeed related to the strength of the prospective applicants.

“Your Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen, the royal officials and the guest envoys.

Thank you for giving permission and opportunity to this old man to speak in this great paseban hall. Not to forget, I also thank His Majesty the King for entrusting the organization of this competition to me, Manik Baya.”

Hearing the old man who was talking introduced himself as ‘Manik Baya’, the whole room suddenly became quiet. There's no sound. In fact, some officials seem to try to resist coughing afterwards.

Gentayu observed the change in situation that happened so quickly. Then nod with admiration. It seems, the name Manik Baya is quite famous and respected by those who are in this room.

“Your Majesty and ladies and gentlemen. In a competition that has been held for two weeks in the forest of a thousand demons, all participants were declared to fail to pass the challenge.” reported Manik Baya with a quieter voice.

A low boisterous sound immediately filled the entire corner of the room. They all no longer refrained from commenting, even if it was only to the fellow next to them.

In the special hall of the princes of the contestants, the faces of the residents were bowed staring

flooring. Especially when the eyes of the audience are now directed to them.

“Is that so, teacher?” the king even had to stand up, in order to calm the entire room.

“Actually, not completely all fail, Your Majesty!. There's one that works. But, unfortunately he is not a participant.” said Manik Baya, while sitting back in his chair does not care about the dissatisfied gaze of the entire room.

“What do you mean, Begawan guru?” ask the king.

“All participants have failed to pass the challenge I made, Your Majesty. But, accidentally there was a young man who easily passed the challenge, even he managed to save the entourage of prince Jatilaga with senoptai Tancawesi. They accidentally harassed the herd of demons there on the way to meet me to convey the news that all participants failed to enter the forest.

Unfortunately, even though the young man managed to get through all the challenges I made, I cannot consider him successful because he was not a contestant. But after all, he had still crossed an obstacle that previous participants were unable to cross. I have no authority to decide, nor can I just ignore it. The final result and decision, I leave it to the King.” replied Manik Baya from his seat.

In his seat, Gentayu started to sweat coldly as he realized the person in question was him.

“How do you think, Uncle Patih Mangkubumi?” asked the king then to the old man in front of him, after being silent for quite a while.

The Patih Mangkubumi stood up, praying before he began to speak.

“Gusti powder. The purpose of this competition is a show of propriety and prowess as a prospective royal son-in-law. Since the participants who followed the contest all failed, then we should just state there are no worthy participants in this.

Regarding the presence of the young man called Guru Begawan Manik as the only one who succeeded, it did not change anything. The young man is not a participant and we can ignore any result he achieved.”.

A loud voice soon sounded.

From the front on the other side of the patih, a man dressed in greatness from the Mangkalayang kingdom rose to his feet. Mangkalayang is a neighboring kingdom of Giri Kencana. Both are geographically bordered and have gone through a long history, before Mangkalayang eventually became subordinate to Giri Kencana.

“Forcible servant presumptuously argues, Your Majesty. According to the servant, the fact that there are people who have managed to pass the obstacles proves that there are still people who are worthy of being royal daughter-in-law.” the reaction of the audience was a little boisterous when this Mangkalayang envoy took a pause before continuing.

“Then it is better, I propose that this competition be repeated by involving young men who claimed master begawan as the only worthy.”

The one who just thought was Mahapatih Danungraga from Mangkalayang. He was present accompanying the crown prince as a contestant.

Deemed unworthy for failing and being defeated by a non-participant clearly offended their self-esteem as well as the other participants. Thus, Danungraga subtly objected to the final results obtained and proposed re-execution of the contest.

‘Involving the youth’ as a participant is just an alibi to let all participants who fail can return to follow the contest procession.

The choice of words ‘diklam as the only worthy’ also shows Danungraga as an accomplished diplomacy expert who is very good at playing the emotions of the interlocutor. Manik Baya never used that word before.

The room was back boisterous. From their expressions, it seemed that support for Danungraga's opinion filled the entire room.

Danungraga himself is quite confident in asking for a re-run because of the position between

Mangkalayang and Giri Kencana in strength at this time are not too far away. The only thing Mangkalayang feared if attacked by Giri Kencana is only the power of the king and a secret group of kingdoms that are said to be able to conquer a small kingdom without involving a war army.

In addition, the crown prince of Mangkalayang was the figure who belonged to have the highest strength among the other participants. At just 23 years old, the crown prince had reached the mid-level power of the celestial swordsman. While the average prince his age was only at the peak level of the earth warrior.

It is no secret that the princes and crown princes are used to living lavish lives that make them spoiled.

With that belief, Mangkalayang felt that this competition should be won by their crown prince, Karangwangge easily.

Finally, after receiving some input from the royal dignitaries, Prabu Jayadilaga decided to repeat the competition. Gentayu was also forced to become a participant of the competition, because he was the reason for the re-enactment of the competition.

The king himself also did not want to offend the other royal envoys further by refusing to do a re-wandering openly, nor was he reluctant to Manik Baya who introduced Gentayu as his disciple if he had to refuse.

Karangwangge and several participants seemed to sneer at Gentayu after learning that Gentayu was only at the level of an earth warrior. To them, Gentayu would be nothing more than a bully insect, and his previous success was just a coincidence.