Voyage Of The Villainess

"How is she?" The cook, whose name was Palawin, went home dejected. At the entrance of the village, Oliver was waiting for him. 

"Master Oliver!" 

The cook was surprised to see him. "It seems you failed to get her," Oliver said with his hands folded behind him.

Remembering that Palawin didn\'t catch Malaya, his rage started to flare once again. He didn\'t say any words and walked ahead of Oliver. The other islanders also glanced at him with pity as he made his way to a certain hut.

"Palawin," Kiana called with tears in her eyes as soon as she saw the cook. "If I have known that she has done something horrible to elder Hashna, I should have stopped her yesterday."

"None of this is your fault, Kiana. Only that cruel outsider is to blame." Palawin said and entered the hut of his grandmother. 

Behind the mask, Kiana was wearing, a sinister smile escaped her lips. She followed Palawin from behind.

When Palawin entered, the first thing he saw was the healers of the islands, the eldest people in their tribes, and his grandmother lying in the bed, unconscious. The strong sense of herbs assaulted his nose and his grandmother was covered with lots of herbal leaves all over her body. 

Early in the morning, since Palawin had no choice but to do the errand himself, he went to visit his grandmother by himself. Usually, he would let the other cook handle this, but they were all out in the other tribes. His grandmother, Elder Hashna, was the one who bought anything that the tribes hunted in the forest or fish in the sea. So one could say that in this village she was the ingredient supplier of everything that he needed to cook for the village chiefs and other high-ranking officials in their village.

However, he and his grandmother had a dispute with each other. It started when he choose to be a cook instead of being a hunter just like what his grandmother wanted. From then on, they got separated from each other. And even if they came across each other outside, they just simply exchanged glances then completely ignored each other. 

Palawin clenched his fist seeing the state of his grandmother. When he arrived here near noontime, he was shocked to see that the door of his grandmother\'s house was not locked. But when he entered, his shock turned into fear, seeing the bloodstain on the floor. He hurried to where his grandmother was only to see her unconscious and her stomach was bleeding. 

"How is she?" Palawin exclaimed which earned him the gaze of one of the healers. 

"Her condition is stable now," the elder said. "You were lucky to find Elder Hashna on time or I don\'t know what else could happen." She sighed. "That is why I\'m against letting those outsiders roam around the village freely. Even if they are Master Oliver\'s acquaintances to do such an evil deed to Elder Hashna just because she ignored her. Tsk. Tsk." She shook her head. "Aside from Master Oliver, every outsider deserves the death of stepping foot on our island."

"Elder Javari is right." The two older women who were with her agreed to her words.

"Please take care of her, I will request for the other hunters and look after her in the forest," Palawin said with murderous intent oozing out of him. 

"We will lock the other outsider as well back to his cage, the hunters must be returning now from their hunt," Kiana said as rushed outside.

"I will leave now, elders." Palawin gave his goodbye and followed after Kianna.

When they reached the hunters who returned home, they were releasing a grimmer presence. 

Kiana looked around to look for Kayden but she saw that he was not with them. "Where is the outsider?" 

"We lost him in the forest," the head guard said. "We got careless."

"Then we just need to look after him along with his other companion," Palawin said as soon as he met up with them.

Oliver, who was watching on the sidelines, simply shook his head. \'So in the end those two got into trouble.\' Then his gaze landed on the girl that was with the guards and his eyes narrowed. \'And a big one at that.\' He then started walking away, his thoughts were unknown to everyone.

---⚓⚓⚓---

Malaya endlessly walked around the forest looking for a place she could hide for a while. Not only that, knowing the islanders, they have probably known the forest like the back of their hands. \'Sigh,\' Malaya continued to walk on, leaving a scratch mark on every tree she passed on so that she would know which way she had taken already or she would be lost.

"Hey," Malaya caressed the silver bracelet that was on her left wrist. \'Ah. It seems I won\'t be able to talk to those two again. I wish I could talk to the dragon once again as well.\'

Malaya stretched her arms and decided to go on a walk again. All of a sudden she heard, footsteps approaching. \'Crap, that cook is already here again. No, it seems he is not alone this time.\' Malaya glanced around to look for a place she could hide. Her gaze landed on the tree with lots of leaves and branches. She immediately started climbing above it and when she was sure that she was not visible to anyone on the ground, she stayed still as she observed her surroundings.

Soon she saw multiple islanders approaching. 

"Search everywhere!" The head guard and head hunter from before said.

Malaya massaged her temples then caressed her collar. \'It seems this collar only constricts our magic but it couldn\'t detect us. Thank goodness with that.\' She continued to stay still and observed the hunters below. 

*Cacao!* Malaya was startled when a bird suddenly made a noise that was on the other side of the branch that was on the opposite tree. 

All of the hunters looked above the opposite tree. Sweat trickled down her head as the other hunters continued to look above the other trees as well. With the branch she had that she made for a weapon, she readied herself to jump and fight or run.

"They are not here either," Palawin said, "let\'s look in the areas as well. We will search every place until the sun completely comes down." And all of them started to go ahead.

Malaya released a deep breath when all of them were gone now. \'That was close,\' she inhaled and exhaled once again to calm her nerves. \'If I have my Trinity or my talismans, life will be much easier for me.\'

Since there was still a chance that the hunters would come back, Malaya decided to stay on the tree branch. She climbed one more branch to see to it that she would be completely hidden from everyone\'s eyes. With the vines she got, she tied herself on the tree branch so that she would not fall down.

"I feel like I\'m in the Hunger games," she chuckled wryly. Then look ahead, from her place, she could see the entirety of the forest and its horizons. The sun was already setting as well.

The clouds were changing to the colors of red and orange. And the cold breeze touched her cheeks, sending a little relief to her tired body. \'Since I stopped the revival of the demon king, I\'m almost a hero now.\' She chuckled once again. \'I should have a blissful life doing everything I want but that would never be the case. I feel like I now become the heroine that has only encountered trouble after troubles. Or perhaps?\' Malaya\'s eyes widened with her thoughts.

"If I defeat the demon king, then does it make me now the heroine." Malaya clutched her head with her right hand. "Ah, that will be impossible. But whatever," she glanced back to the horizon in front of her. "Heroine or not, novel or not, every person is their own lead on their own lives. How silly, being alone a lot since I arrived on the island, I\'m becoming more sentimental. I wish to get out of here now and see them again." 

Malaya closed her eyes as she felt the breeze of the air. Although she was now getting cold, she didn\'t care anymore since she needed to use every time she could have to rest instead. \'Hmm...\'

{"They are not here either,"}

As Malaya relaxed her body, the words of Palawin came to her mind. \'Now that I remember, he said they? Am I not the only one they are searching for? Who else could it be? Is there another criminal that escapes besides me?\' Malaya sighed inwardly. \'Ah, this is what I hate the most. When things are out of my control. I don\'t know the situation and I don\'t even know how to get information of what could really be happening.\'

She sighed once again. \'What a stroke of tough luck I have.. Well, I should rest for now and think about things later when I have enough energy again.\'