The Fat Landlord was quite scared of the events that happened today. The Rakshasa attacked the village right after his son returned to the Village. He was worried that the Rakshasa came to the village because of his son.
Probably, the bait he sent to lure the Rakshasa away from his son was somehow unable to reach the Rakshasa. So, the Rakshasa was enraged on not receiving the human offering this time. He had several questions spinning in his mind, as he got a headache just thinking about it. Their manor was safe for now from the assault of the Rakshasa as it was in the inner sanctum of the village.
But to be safe, he should evacuate with his family to a safer place in the wake of night. So, he ordered his servants to pack some of their precious items as they would get away from the village. He didn't want to stay in this hellhole of a village anymore. If the Village Chief got any clue about their plan then their days would be numbered. So, he silently watched with both his sons and wife as the servants hurriedly packed whatever was of value in large metallic briefcases to carry them more easily. Her wife covered herself in whatever ornaments she was able to wear comfortably.
She looked more like a show-piece for ornaments rather than a human at this point. As all of their stuff was packed, they loaded in the carts ready to depart from the village. They boarded on the carts and were about to move when a large battalion of armed guards with burning torches surrounded their manor. The fat landlord had an ugly expression on his face, so in the end, they were still a step too late to depart safely. He was pissed with the slow working servants who took a lot of time to pack their luggage.
A man tightly covered in bandages from head to toe slowly trotted out from the rows of the soldiers. His body was barely visible from all those bandages wrapped around him. The Village Chief angrily stared at the fat merchant in front of him. But due to all those bandages wrapped on his face, the scene looked rather comical. It took him a while to get his wounds dressed, so he arrived a little bit late. But looking at all those carts loaded with metal briefcases, he knew he made it on time.
The fat merchant got the scare of his life. His body was trembling in fear as he slowly got down from the cart and anxiously walked towards the Village Chief. The frown on the face of Village Chief looked rather funny but the fat landlord was wise enough to not laugh as he knows the gravity of the matter. He clasped his hands together and greeted the Village Chief,
"Pra...Pranaam! Village Chief! How may I be of service to you? His faltering voice was betraying the calm expression on his face. His face was sweating profusely and he felt a chill down his spine when the Village Chief dangerously inspected him.
The village Chief had a sullen face and his voice thundered in the ears of nearby people,
"Well done, truly well done Jetha Lal." The village chief spoke with glum speaking the fat merchant with his first name.
"Tell me how can you explain all of this chaos and destruction in the village. Can your bear responsibility for the death of one-third of the residents of the village? Can you bear responsibility for the death of all those guards from the Kshatriya Varna? Answer me, Jetha Lal. I need your honest words. If your answer is not to my liking then you with the entirety of your family would be thrown to gallows." The village roared.
Jetha Lal began to stutter while speaking,
"It is….. like this... my lord!"
"I need your honest words with no lies mixed within them" the village chief reprimanded.
"Yes!...Yes! I will speak the truth, only truth. A month ago, when you visited me to declare about the human offering. My heart lurched in pain. I had only two sons and I had placed all of my hopes and dreams on my second son. So, how could bear to sacrifice the life of my dear son? That's why I began to check records of all the children of Sudras alive in the village below the age of ten. I found one of them to be laboring for my family."
The fat landlord took a deep breath and continued,
"So, I thought of replacing my son's place with the son of that Sudra Adhiraman. But that Sudra refused to budge even after a hefty reward." Speaking up to this point the fat landlord looked at the expression of Village Chief.
The village chief frowned and asked,
"If my memory serves me right it is the same Sudra whose son exchanged places with your elder son twelve years ago, Right?"
"Yes!..... Yes! It is the same Sudra my lord" hurriedly the fat merchant replied.
"The life of a mere Sudra is inconsequential to me. What I want to know is what happened next? So continue" the village chief replied sharply.
"Yes!... Yes! Then we thought of a plan to send that Sudra's son to the forest of Death to replace my son without anybody's suspicion. We continued to send him deeper and deeper inside the forest of Death in the name of collecting medicinal herbs for an entire month. Finally, the day of the offering arrived. Before the departure of the convoy of offerings, we sent that Sudra to the periphery of a cave we considered to be the abode of the Rakshasa for collecting herbs due to an urgent reason. You know the rest of the story my lord!" speaking up to this point the fat landlord quietened.
The village chief nodded but he still had the chilly expression on his face.
"So, for the sake of protecting your son's pathetic life; you lead the entirety of the village to the destruction" the village chief spoke angrily.
"This isn't the only reason right! Did that Rakshasa destroy near half of the village just for the offering? There has to be another reason for it right?" the fat landlord questioned.
"Yes, there is. The Rakshasa was nurturing some weird fruits and those fruits got stolen. Seemingly, those fruits were very important for the Rakshasa. So, when the Rakshasa saw them missing from their usual spot he thought that someone from the village stole them. Thus, he went on a rampage" the village head calmly explained.
"Now! Now! Tell me what price would you pay for this incident. An arm or a leg or both of them" the village chief asked sinisterly.
The fat landlord gulped and asked,
"Is there any other option?"
"We will discuss that later but first tell me where is that Sudra? I think that Sudra is the culprit behind this incident" the village chief seriously.
"I am not sure where that Sudra is? He never returned to my manor to report about the job to me. So, I am not sure about his whereabouts" the fat landlord shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe! We should go and check his hut or whatever remained of it after that disaster to see if the Sudra is there or not" the fat landlord suggested.
"Yes! We would just do that!" the village nodded in affirmation.
Meanwhile on the outer edge of the village in one of the inconspicuous hut,
A middle-aged lady was bowling her eyes whereas a middle-aged man was trying to console her. Tears were streaming down the man's eyes too. The man gently wiped the tears of the lady and said,
"Don't worry about our son. I am sure he is fine. He is blessed by Lord Shiva. No calamity would be able to harm him in any way. His misfortune would turn into blessings" the man convinced the lady. But there was a hint of fear in his heart.
Adhiraman was concerned about the safety of his child. It has been nearing midnight yet there was no sign of their child. The Rakshasa went on a rampage in the evening and destroyed almost half of the village. Luckily, their hut was on the periphery of the village and thus was able to survive the assault. But many lives were lost. The number of lost lives is yet to be tallied.
As both husband and wife were sitting lifelessly inside their hut, there was a series of violent knocking on their door. Adhiraman quickly sprang up like a bow and pounced towards the door like a leopard. His heart was beating violently, finally, their son had arrived at home. He won't allow his son to leave his vision for the next few days. His son is the apple of his eyes, he won't allow any harm upon his son.
Lost in such thoughts, Adhiraman opened the door with trembling hands to hug his son delightfully in his embrace.