The Musafir

The Residents Plan of Lonceng Angin Village

FROM the conversation of the citizens, Mantingan learns that the kingdom intends to erase all traces of the Hero Man. Neither his name, nor his story of heroism, must be erased without remainder.

Meanwhile, surprisingly, the Wind Bell Village residents have made a library that specifically contains stories of Hero Man collected from many witnesses.

His home was made a sacred place. There are so many offerings placed in that place, along with all kinds of incense aroma that is very stinging. Either they were praying for the dead or worshipping a god.

Several independent warriors guarded the residence secretly from the hands of bad-tempered warriors.

Reportedly, the royal army will come today also to tear down his residence and destroy the books in the village library that contains about the Hero Man, so now with a tense face the villagers are preparing to take up arms.

Mantingan immediately spoke to one of the villagers whom he saw had enough power. Initially, he only offered grass, until he managed to extract a lot of information about the villagers' plan to prevent the arrival of the royal troops.

Still with his disguise, Mantingan reminded that Hero Man once bet his life to save the lives of the Wind Bell Village residents from destruction, so he would be very disappointed if now they just died in vain just to protect his residence.

At the time he wanted to leave, the person he was talking to called back, “Young man, how did you know about the incident that befell our village at that time? We've all tried to keep it a secret.”

The young man simply smiled and replied, “I entrust this to you, Father, lest there be any unnecessary commotion.”

However, Mantingan still felt sad after hearing that his residence would be demolished. Though in that residence stored his memories with the Angel of the North River, Cana, and Kina. But what could he do?

He did not want to fight against the royal army, because it would only cause unnecessary losses, not even impossible to cause innocent casualties!

Of course he refused to consider the government forces as the guilty party. They are just doing the work of the kingdom. And even Tarumanagara should not be blamed.

The act of treason is not something that can be left alone. Tarumanagara has regarded Hero Man as a disgrace whose goods may cause problems in the future due to his actions. The mantan could not dispute that fact.

It is not impossible in the future the power of the Dark Lord fell after being impregnated by the descendants of the king who still escaped death or by other small kingdoms that supported the old power. If this really happened, then they could very well blame Tarumanagara where Hero Man came from. Wars can occur, and casualties are inevitable.

However, Mantingan had calculated that more casualties would be incurred if the Pair of Moon Swords reached the improper hands of the swordsman. Therefore, he chose to let himself be considered a criminal, the most important thing for him was to win good over all evil.

After all, he believed that Rashid would manage to keep his travel books for the next few hundred years. But even if the man failed, he would not bother about it at all.

Is not like the giants, really powerful but does not seem powerful in the face of the public? Let Hero Man be a hero who is blasphemous, as long as the heavens do not regard him as such.

Now Mantingan is moving towards his residence with Munding Caraka. From a distance, the two-story building also appeared. The atmosphere around it is quite crowded, many residents of Lonceng Angin Village or residents of other villages that fill the place with a plate of offerings and incense.

Looking at those people, Mantingan could only shake his head slowly. Do they see him as a god or a dead man? The offerings as they were brought were used only for worship of the gods or to pray for the dead. However, he did not want to bother about it anymore. Immediately he spread the Science of Hearing the Whisper of the Dew to monitor the surrounding environment.

Mantingan found many conversations related to him.

“Will Hero Man come and stop the actions of the royal army later? He would not be happy if his residence was taken down just like that.”

“Ah, I heard he has a lot of money, so it's possible that a trivial affair like this will not be taken care of by him.”

“But, the residence is not just about money matters. From what I read in the village library, Pahlawan Man lived in the residence together with Princess Champa and two small children. Although I'm sure that Hero Man will never dare to touch a woman as beautiful as the goddess svarga, still will be left with a few beautiful memories when still with them, and it's all in his residence.”

“All I know is that Princess Champa has left Javadvipa. As for those two children, it was possible to go with him to Champa as well. If I were to become the Hero Man, I would have been heartbroken by the separation ..”

“Lantas what does this have to do with the residence?”

“Yes, it is possible that Hero Man will let the royal army tear down his residence because it wants to erase all memories.”

“Allegedly-expectedly you this.”

Meanwhile, the other conversation took place much more seriously.

“If Tarumanagara succeeds in removing the entire name of Hero Man from the circulation of history, is it possible that our grandchildren will be able to hear his story?”

“Isn't it worth copying what that Man Hero does?”

“Make macar? I don't think so.”

“Don't do the act of treason was also told.”

“It is not good to tell it only half-and-half.”

“Then it is so easy, let's say that it is very unlikely that Hero Man made a mockery if not for good.”

“Do you have any evidence that the truth about the story is questionable?”

The conversation stopped for a moment because apparently the person being asked was thinking.

“Of course not,” answers.

“Then Tarumanagara was right to eliminate the whole story of Hero Man, so that in the future no one will imitate. However, I still do not understand why the Maharaja wanted the young man to die so as to make a competition that is not just a big prize.”

“Maybe it was because Sri Maharaja was afraid his country would be impeached by Hero Man?”

“Maybe, but it is too early for us to be able to guess the contents of the mind of an emperor like himself. It is not impossible for the Maharaja to have other strategies than really others to achieve certain goals. We'll never know.

“So, do we really have to hold back the royal army that will come soon?”

“I don't know. My goal to the Wind Bell Village was not to incite violence. I just want to see this historic event with my own eyes.”

While the conversation was still going on, Mantingan was able to catch the clattering sounds of the treads of hundreds of ponytails from a distance. However, he still walked towards his residence like he had never heard the voice of the royal army that had been so close to the Wind Bell Village.

The action was in addition to maintaining his disguise, also because Mantingan had not really seen his residence up close. Is the flower garden still maintained? Are the beautiful fish in the pond still alive? Or did the bushes grow back to fill the place because no one dared to touch it?

The questions were finally answered after Mantingan was right in front of the gate of his residence.

Sure enough, plants of the same type still look well maintained in the garden. There was a Flower of the Scent of Death that he could never forget about its scent.

With the Science of Eagle Eyes, he can see that the fish in his pond are still alive fresh, even have been breeding. The lotuses were floating on the surface of the water.

On the terrace of the residence, there are a pair of benches where he and the Angel of the North River used to talk. The same wind bell remained hanging on the ceiling.

The Kana-Kina store still stands as it was. Although the door of the store seemed open, but not visited by any buyers, so it seemed only as a mere sight.

Seeing that his residence remained intact without diminishing anything, a sense of dignity so abundant filled the young man's chest. The mantan felt like it was going back in time, where his hands were still not so dirty by the swordsman-blood. Just cheerfully go day by day with warmth. The Angel of the North River, Cana, and Kina had transformed into a small family for him.

Such peace that always coveted Mantingan even before he decided to become a swordsman.

However, that feeling did not last too long when the troops from the kingdom finally arrived near the residence. The Wind Bell Village citizens who had planned something quickly tightened themselves so that not even a horse could pass through the line, indifferently blocking the royal army.

“BERI ROAD!” Mantingan could hear the spokesman of the force shouting loudly.

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note:

A little vent and moan, the hard disk of my device seems to be damaged, some data is lost, many files are corrupt. A bitterness I had to swallow was realizing that more than 5,000 words of the Musafir script had been lost without a trace, and some of them had to be completely rewritten.

Dear readers, I apologize if I find the update schedule remains as before, which is one episode in one day, in the knowledge that due to the loss of these data I have cancelled my vacation plans at the end of the month.