From what that man said, Sigma country only has around one month to prepare for a war. Having previously examined their technologies, I believe Sigma has no chance against them. Of course, I don't want to admit defeat either. That guy really makes me angry. He really annoyed me. I think I need to learn Sigma technologies first before preparing for the battlefield.
"Hulaif! Can you hear me?" Suddenly, I hear Laura's voice in front of me at the dining table in the dining hall. After meeting with the general, he told us to make preparations for an army.
"Yes, anything wrong?"
"Ah, you did not hear what I said. Do you know that we need to prepare ourselves before the war?" I nodded.
"Yeah, I know about it. But, do we stand a chance against them? Look at their advanced technologies." I started to feel my morale down.
"Do you know that someone said, 'In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity'."
"So, do you have any ideas?"
"Nah, thinking is not my ability to start with. But, I know that you know what you want to do because you are a man who has not lost in a battle yet."
"I appreciate your compliment to me. I want to get a drink." I went to add a drink at a food counter.
"Ma'am, please give me a hot milk drink." A woman at the counter prepares the milk drink for me while someone nearby talks about something that makes me feel interested. I tried to hear what they said.
"Do you know that Alpha country declared a war with us in one month?" Soldier A talked.
"Yeah, how can we win this war? Their technologies are damn good, better than ours." Soldier B answered.
"I don't think that we have a chance." Soldier A said what he thought.
"Maybe, if we still have our ancestor technologies. We can make our level equal to theirs."
"I hope so." Then, those two went away.
"Here's your drink, kid." The woman at the counter gave me the drink I ordered.
"Ma'am, can I ask you something?"
"Yes, sure. But, I am married. Ah, just kidding. What's it?"
"About the ancestor technologies: What's that mean?"
"Do you not know the history of Sigma from a hundred years ago?" I shook my head. "Seriously, kids these days have no idea about their ancestor's contribution."
"Sorry, ma'am. But, can you tell me about that history?"
"Sure."
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It was a long time ago. Before the Sigma country started to become a country, they were people from a small village. They lived a normal life in that village until a monster called a man-eater entered the village without being seen and slaughtered them one by one during the night. Since then, people have been scared.
One day, one man came to make a speech and told all the villagers that they should stop this together. But that speech was pointless because the villagers felt powerless to fight the monster without knowing what it looked like.The man felt disappointed with them and ran away. He tried to find help somewhere until a heavy sandstorm came and he was trapped there.
Fortunately, he survived that sandstorm and was sent to a place that was unknown. That man does not know where he was. Day by day, he made his way into the desert until his body was immobile. He falls down to the sand and cannot move anymore. He felt like he was on the brink of despair. "No one is going to help me, my family, and my village. The man-eater is slaughtering us and we can't do anything to protect ourselves." That man said. "Ah, I am about to die. There is nothing I can do to help them anymore. If I have the power, I will use it well."
Suddenly, he heard one voice not far from him. It is a woman's voice, and it is in a hoarse voice. "Human, quite an interesting wish to ask. Do not know that there is someone that still has a pure heart like you who wants to save everyone, even sacrificing yourself."
"Hah! Who are you? You are a monster. Don't eat me. I don't want to have any regrets before I die." That man felt fear as soon as he looked in front of him at a huge monster that was 66 feet in height. That monster has a body like a lion, a face like a woman, and a wing like a bird.
"Calm down, your body does not have a chance to survive right now. Just say the word. I will grant it if you answer my riddle correctly."
"Even a monster has such intelligence. I wish I could save my people from man-eaters and other threats. Also, what will happen if I answer your riddle incorrectly?"
"I will eat you and you will be dead."
"Ah, even though I do not answer, I will be dead. I don't have an option right now. So, what's it?"
"The riddle starts like this: Some try to hide, others try to cheat; but as time passes, we always meet. Try as you might to guess my name."
"Death." That man answered it without hesitation.
"Correct. I will grant your request. Do you have any questions to ask before I send you back?" The man asked, as that monster was going to use his power.
"Before that, what are you?"
"I am a creature called Sphinx. Before I bid you farewell, remember my last word. Keep a good heart and all that is anything and everything will remember you. Shall I hear your name?"
"It is Khaleed."
"Then, farewell, Khaleed." Suddenly, a bright light illuminates that area. Khaleed blinked his eyes, and he realised he was in front of his entrance village.
"Actually, what kind of dream did I have earlier? It might be a hallucination for me. Is this my village? I also don't feel tired anymore. What sorcery happened actually?" He does not want to think about anything right now. He doesn't want to give up asking everyone to attack the man-eater back in his village. This time he gave a speech in front of everyone. He inspires them by giving a good talk. What he does is to avoid becoming the livestock of that man-eater. He wants to save everyone from the attack of the man-eater. Even if this costs him his life, he doesn't care. It's all about protecting others. That is what he thought.
Unfortunately, this time the same thing happened. All people do not want to hear what he said. They were terrified and powerless to act because they were frail. They thought if they fought they would end up dying faster. That's why that man's efforts became futile. "Ah, what should I do? They did not listen to me. It seems I have to fight it alone. But, how? I don't even know what kind of man-eater looks like." Khaleed tried to think about how to meet that man-eater. "Ah, it's useless. I can't even think of one. I should ask the family victims, maybe they know something."
Khaleed tried to find the victim's family. He wants to know the clue to get to the man-eater. As he looked around, he found a woman. She looks tired while walking around the village with her bare legs. Khaleed met that woman and asked a question.
"Miss. Could I know, what are you looking at?"
"Huh! I am finding my little brother. He didn't come home for a few days. I am really worried about him. Hey, did you know where he is?" Khaleed felt if he said that, she would break.
"What kind of look is your brother?"
"He is small, cute, and innocent."
"Quite an adjective to tell me miss. All right, do you have any other clues? Since when has he disappeared?"
"About three days ago, since he disappeared. He disappeared at night."
"Miss, I am going to find where the disappearance of the people here is. If you can help me, how about we collect information about them through the victim's family?"
"That means if we can narrow down the information we get, we can find them. You are a genius. You can call me Balqis."
"You can call me Khaleed."
Then, those two asked the victim's family about the victim's disappearance information. After collecting the information from the victims' families, they tried to brainstorm the information. They get an idea about how to find those people.
"Khaleed, do you think that my brother is still alive?" Khaleed didn't answer "You know that they said that the people disappeared because of the monster called the man-eater? Why did you not say earlier? That monster might have ea...eaten my brother."
"Hey, don't think like that. That monster might be real, but we should not be overthinking it. We must look at it by ourselves. Seeing is believing."
"Thank you, Khaleed. You are a good person. I should not let my emotions control me."
"Okay, about the information that we got. There is the possibility that another victim will be caught by this night. I think we should wake up this night and follow that monster." As the night began, they waited for a man-eater to come and take a victim. They stay through the night, outside of the house, while in disguise with nature. The man-eater might not see them. That's what they thought.
As they watched, the man-eater is not seen. Balqis started to think that this is useless. She said to Khaleed that she wanted to get back to her home and sleep. Khaleed insisted on not making her go back to her home alone. He has a bad feeling about this. The man-eater had not come yet, and Balqis started to feel tired. He tried to think first.
"I think I should follow you home."
"Ok, sure." It was dark on their way to Balqis's house. He started to feel uneasy with his surroundings.
"I just want to know, are you living by yourself here?"
"Oh, yes. I live here by myself." Right now, Khaleed is having doubts about Balqis.Before Balqis entered the house, Khaleed heard someone's voice inside his head. It was loud and felt familiar.
"Khaleed, that's dangerous. If you don't want to die, don't enter that house." He tried to ignore it and asked Balqis.
"Hey, did you hear something?"
"Nope. What's it?"
"Hmm... Maybe it's my imagination."
"Let's enter the home first. You might be hungry. I am going to cook you something." Although he felt a bit of hesitation at first, he did not have a choice but to learn the truth. Then, he entered that house. It was dark. He waited for Balqis to light up the house with a candle. As he waited for a few seconds, Balqis did not come. Because of the darkness, he couldn't see anything in that house. He tried to find Balqis.
"Hey, Balqis! Are you there? If you are there, please answer my call." Suddenly, a familiar voice is heard again.
"Khaleed, get out of there! You will be dead there."
"This voice again. Who are you and where are you?"
"There is not enough time for an introduction. Just get out of that house."
"I can't. Balqis is still inside this house."
"Just get out. She is not a human being, to begin with." When he heard that, he ignored the warning.
"No, I am not going to escape. If what you said is true, this is my chance to get rid of the monster"
"Hah, there is nothing I can help if you are really curious about something, but please be cautious." Khaleed entered the house deeper. As he went deeper into the house, he found that there was a pit below the house. When he looked at the pit, there was someone pushing him to enter the hole. He falls down through the pit of that house. Fortunately, he landed on the sand and did not injure himself. As he stood up and looked around, that pit suddenly glowed with a mineral. It was bright enough to see in there. He walked through that pit to the deeper site.
He encountered many small monsters in that pit, but they did not attack. Although he has no weapon, he proceeds to the deeper part and finds what he needs to find. He found a huge monster that looked like a centipede. That centipede has a white mask cover on its face. Also, there are a few masks with human faces on its body.
"What the heck is that thing?" Khaleed feels confused when looking at that monster, also called a man-eater.
"You came to me, human, or should I call you Khaleed? It's nice to see you in this form."
"That voice, are you Balqis?"
"Hahaha. That's true, it was me, but it was just a vessel of a woman I used to lure people here. How naive of you to come here without suspecting anything."
"So, about the story of your brother being totally a lie?"
"That's a memory of a girl I took control of. Since she does not exist anymore, maybe it's a lie."
"How dare you do this to innocent people."
"Calm down, Khaleed. You need to be wise." The voice inside Khaleed calms him down.
"Sorry, I lost my temper for a moment. All I need to do is to think."
"What are you doing, human? Thinking of the way, how should I eat you?"
"Nope. How about we make a deal? If you answer my riddle correctly, I will grant you something grand to eat, maybe even more. If you get it wrong, you lose and go away from this village."
"Hmm... it's a deal. Then, what is the riddle?"
"The riddle began with: What can bring back the dead, make you cry, make you laugh, make you young, is born in an instant, yet lasts a lifetime."
"It is easy. The answer is time."
"I know that you would answer that, but that is not an answer. The answer is a memory. Don't ask me the details about that. You can think that by yourself if you are a human."
"Whether I answer your riddle wrong or correctly, You are still going to become my food. You cannot run away from me now. This is my territory and you are like an insect trap on the web string. How amusing? Better run for your life, human." As that centipede was going to eat Khaleed, something just appeared in front of him from his body. The body of that thing looks like a lion with a woman's face and a wing on her back. That's a Spinx that Khaleed has met before. Khaleed felt confused.
When that centipede is going to reach Khaleed, Spinx opened her mouth and ate that centipede in many bites. Then, that centipede got killed by the Spinx. "Thank you, Spinx. You saved my life."
"There is nothing to be thankful for. You use a riddle to lure me out. I am pretty ready if that centipede answers it wrong. Well, you use your wisdom to counter someone stronger than you. It seems that siding with you is not bad at all."
"So, how long do you want to stay here?"
"Until your wish is granted." Since then, Khaleed has become the leader of that village. He remakes that village and unites another village around it to become a country. After gathering enough people from every village, he builds a huge wall in the centre of that country. Using his knowledge from Spinx, he invents many inventions to ease the lives of people there. He has also made a barrier for that country to avoid the attack of man-eaters. Also, there is something secret that he does not tell anyone about because it's a dangerous thing. He is not sure to pass that secret to his descendants. According to rumor, his secret can destroy the peace that he creates.
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"So that's a story."
"Wait, you didn't tell me about the invention that he made. Now I'm really curious."
"It's not because I don't want to let you know. That invention is erased from history. Even if it did, I'm not sure I can explain it because I don't know much about that invention. Those inventions are really complicated. That's what I heard from my ancestor."
"Do you know where that invention is?"
"I don't know. But that invention might have someone protecting it. That's what I think."
"It seems I get what I want to know. Thank you for telling me the story. It is great to hear that story."
"Ah, I think all youngsters today should learn something from that story." I went to sit back in front of Laura.
"What's brought you so long to come back here?" Laura asked me.
"Oh, just listen to the story that someone told me."
"Now we should discuss the plan more. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Wait, I am pretty curious right now. Is there anyone that is ranked higher than a general or another general?"
"Actually, there is no higher than a general when they have a five-general to begin with. But other generals are on a diplomatic expedition to another country. It will take them around two months to get back here. One of them you have met before. That is General Khairi. He is a fighter maniac. That's why you need to be calm and relaxed when meeting him."
"Why did you not tell me earlier? I am going to become a punching bag if not for that weird Alpha guy."
"You have crazy luck with you. That's why I think you will be safe."
"Please don't relate the luck to me."
"Okay. Because I am the only ranked lieutenant general, that's what makes me want to help him more. Four generals went on a trip, while one kept the country safe."
"So that's the story. Could you take me to the armoury later? I want to learn what weapons we have and the most effective way to fight in this war?"
"Hmm... Are you sure you are not going to sabotage us?"
"Why would I? Listen, we have one month to do what we can. Who knows what kind of attack they would use?"
"Damn, you are pretty good at this. I am really proud of you."
"Then, please show me a way."
"Yes, follow me."