This was not the first time the prince asked his guard about his opinion. But more often than not, he would just completely chuck it aside. Even his council received the same treatment.

"Your Highness," Gaptin Jantra Kawa tried to find the right words to say. "Permission to take my helmet off?"

"Granted," replied the prince dismissively.

The prince should have appointed someone with a higher rank to be his personal guard. But since Jantra Kawa had been his security detail for six years long, he insisted to keep him. And yet, that didn't mean Jantra Kawa always had his words translated well into the Prince's ears. And it's dangerous to offend a young royal such as the Prince as he had witnessed.

"I don't think it's wise for you to let a stranger whom you'll unlikely see again use your name for his personal gain," he said as he took off his helmet.

"He's the only one who truly cares about the people in this area, didn't you notice?" asked Prince Basandaya. "I'd rather say he deserves to be far from those people if he wishes."

"I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but that is only your assumption," added Jantra Kawa. "Like it's only your assumption that they're prolonging the construction of the ships in Port Teratan."

"Like it's only my assumption that the food supplies have been misappropriated?"

Jantra Kawa just took a short breath. There's no coming back after that.

The Prince Regent might've only been ruling for four months, but the changes that he had made were already more than his grandfather had done during his reign. There had been a dozen high profile arrests. No less than twenty young people had been appointed within his ministries. At least six new villages were getting built. Two And a handful of new decrees had been legitimized.

One of the most controversial decrees that he had created was the new tax system. This decision was proven to be quite unpopular among the landowners all over the kingdom, hence the unfavorable treatment from the Bunyawi noblemen.

Sometimes Jantra Kawa thought it's better if he would tone it down a little bit. Just so that his work wouldn't be as challenging as it already was. Even that week they'd gone on what he called 'field research' four times. And he'd been shot twice to save him in his disguise.

"On my defense, the construction of the ships have been going on before my father even think about going to Holy Isle," added Prince Basandaya. "It has been months and I still do not receive any report about its progress whatsoever. Pram Ustama keeps saying it's going on well, but I doubt he even knows the detail."

The Minister of Transportation had been cleared from suspicions regarding the sinking of His Majesty's ship. There was no possibility that he had anything to do with the ship's build in the first place. The investigation by the Ministry of Defense further proved his innocence.

"Still, I'd rather you send Lir to investigate it for you," said Jantra Kawa. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked around.

"I, for one, would rather see it with my own eyes. I trust Lir with my life but I don't trust her to know anything about ships. If I want to know who Pram Ustama is courting as his next wife, then yes, I'd send Lir. Now what on earth are you doing?"

Jantra Kawa was standing half way up while looking up to the ceiling. Still on that position, he turned to the prince, "Do you not smell it?"

"BOOM!"

The carriage exploded. One of the horsemen behind it was thrown off of his horse down the cliff, while a wheel hit the other. The coachman was the first to hit the water. The horsemen on the front jumped down before the horses took off with them.

"Gaptin Jantra Kawa!"

They ran toward the shattered carriage. The squad leader had his bottom half trapped under there. His head was bleeding from the knock and sharp debris, leaving him unconscious. "We need to get him out of there."

"But what about the Prince Regent?" asked the other.

"Let's get him out first," the one of the horsemen pulled Jantra Kawa's body out.

He was stuck. The two horsemen had to pull him out together at the same time. During the struggle, Jantra Kawa's hearing returned. He slowly opened his eyes. Piece by piece, his memory was back together.

"No!" he shouted. "The prince! Don't pull me out. Push the carriage up."

The two let go of his arms and held the imperial of the carriage. It moved a little bit, enough for Jantra Kawa to look under. Colors drained from his face as he found the Prince bathed in blood. A piece of wood pierced through his left shoulder.

"Use the Raging Elephant technique, goddammit!" yelled Jantra Kawa desperately.

Before the horsemen even made the right stance, the earth underneath them was already moving. They realized they were still in the area where landslide often happened. Remembering the rain last night, the ground they were standing upon might be fragile enough to cause another landslide.

The sky was rumbling. Its resonance sent wind toward the earth. And the outer part of the cliff slid into the river, taking the carriage with it.

The third surviving horseman caught Jantra Kawa's hand before he was swallowed by the collapsing cliff. He was bruised by the rogue wheel, but his grip was strong enough to keep their leader from falling. The other two helped him pulling him up. As they looked down, they found Jantra Kawa's other hand was holding the Prince by his jaskap.

"Goodness gracious," they reclaimed. "Let's pull them up."

As Jantra Kawa was being pulled, his other hand couldn't hold on to the prince much longer. Prince Basandaya opened his eyes right into the rapid flow of the river. He turned around to see what's holding him. And the jaskap slipped from Jantra Kawa's hand.

"No!"

The prince fell down the cliff and disappeared into the river.

Jantra Kawa was pulled up. Once his feet touched the ground, he ran alongside the edge of the cliff while taking off his heavy armor.

"Go get help!" that was the last order he made before he jumped into the river.

The two horsemen ran to different directions to find the quickest help possible. The other one grabbed a lying quiver, pulled an arrow dipped in red, lit its head on fire and shot it up on the sky. The arrow burst in red flame against the dark sky backdrop. The closest office would see the distress signal and send a rescue team.

He then looked back down on the river, searching for Jantra Kawa and Prince Basandaya. It's been a few minutes and there's no sign of any of them.

A head snapped out of the water. It's Jantra Kawa. He swam toward the riverbank on one arm while his other arm pulled the fainting prince. The guard made his way to the riverbank and ran toward them.

Once he had his hands on the prince, he pulled him out of the water. He checked his pulse while letting Jantra Kawa regulate his breath.

He turned to the drenched young man. "I can't feel his pulse!"

"What? No!" Jantra Kawa quickly kneeled and put his ear on the prince's chest. No heartbeat either. He pumped his chest with all his might, groaning, "No, no, no, this is not happening."

The other guard began to tremble. The kingdom must be cursed if they were losing their king, queen and prince regent at such a short time.

"Stay back," suddenly Jantra Kawa stood up. "I'm going to force him to wake up. Keep yourself away."

As soon as the guard was at a safe distance, Jantra Kawa placed his feet firmly at the ground. He closed his eyes and moved his hands in a precise direction. The guard watched in awe as he performed another legendary janak kurat technique.

"Hear me, o sky," Jantra Kawa whispered as he directed his left hand to the sky. "Grant me your Divine Thunder. Let it surge through my humble hands."

He then moved his right hand slowly from the tip of his left hand's fingers. Lightning cracked at the sky. "From the will of Gemilat, the almighty goddess..." he directed his right hand toward the prince's chest, "I summon you!"

And an enormous lightning surged through his body.

The flashing light was visible from the windows of the palace. Some people closed the curtains, some others were stunned watching the phenomenon. A deep tan skinned woman with a tiara on her shawl-covered head came closer to the window. Realizing the peculiar lightning struck nearby Bunyawi and Port Teratan, she screamed.