PAB: Chapter 23

Haru was staring at the steak that was placed in front of him. He was  standing at a stall that was selling food. The area was quite full of  sitting people eating. Some couples too were here. Haru just shut his  mouth with the meat.

Time was passing, and Haru didn’t get any useful information.

He learnt that some children will be born soon, what that girl’s neighbour is doing for lunch and more useless information.

‘If only people minded their own bushiness…’

Haru placed his head on the table and sighed. He then left a bunch of coins and turned to leave.

‘Maybe I should provoke some conversation with some original inhibitor.’

Haru walked around the streets of the town, looking for the sight of any poor person.

When  he felt that something was following him, he turned to a more isolated  area. When he felt something was about to stanch his pocket, Haru took a  quick step to the side and held the wrist. It belonged to a little kid,  who was covered in dirt. His clothes were shattered too. It’s easy to  tell that he is poor and hungry.

“Leave me, you Asshole.” Said the kid, who looked to be 10 years old, as he tried to run away.

“Did no one teach you that stealing is bad?”

“I  had no one to teach me.” The kid opened his mouth and bit Haru’s hand.  The bite was painful a bit. Although Haru had inhuman strength, he was  still made of flesh and skin.

“You hungry kid?” Haru smiled as he let his wrist and held him from his shoulder. “Let’s have a meal. On me.”

The kid lifted his head, staring at Haru’s face in disbelief. “What?”

‘Seriously, someone should teach this kid not to trust strangers who offer free food.’

“Let’s get a meal, otherwise I may afraid that you would start eating humans.”

“Alright…” the kid looked at him suspiciously. Seeing that expression, Haru smiled. Good, the kid doesn’t trust strangers.

-x-X-x-

Haru stared at the kid as he finished the second plate. “More.” He lifted his head and demanded.

The owner of the restaurant came, took the empty plate, and replaced it with a new one.

“You surely have a large appetite.” Haru teased.

“I haven’t eaten for 3 days…” the kid replied as he put his head on the plate and ate quickly.

Haru winced.

“What happened to your parents…”

The kid stopped eating. But then he ignored Haru’s question and started eating like there was no tomorrow.

“They  have been taken, by the assholes who took over our town.” The kid  placed the bowl on the table, some tears falling from his eyes.

The  information was important. His parents weren’t dead, but they were  taken. Haru surely won’t miss such important detail. But when he saw the  tears, he felt sympathy for the kid since Haru’s father had been taken  to prison for almost 5 years.

Haru patted him on the back. “Don’t cry…”

“I’m not…” he said. “Something got into my eyes.”

“You are a tough one, aren’t you. What’s your name.” Haru smiled.

“Rong.” He replied.

“Now,  tell me, Rong, your parents, are they earthbenders…” Haru said, feeling  that he was grasping important information. Rong, unlike most of the  people of the town, had green eyes.

“Yes… how can you tell.”

Haru  pointed to his own eyes. “We citizens of the Earth Kingdom, generally,  have green eyes. Sometimes, there are ones with black eyes, but these  are rare.

“Oh… right,” Rong said. Then a horror  expression appeared on his face. “If you are a bender, quickly, ran.  They will take you to their base and prison you underground! Like my mom  and dad!”

Rong held Haru from his shirt and urged him to run.

Haru just smiled. “Don’t worry Rong. I’m just a wanderer, not a bender. Here, take these before I leave.”

Haru had a pouch full of coins with him. He gave it to Rong.

Rong  stared at the pouch, his eyes showing hope. But soon he went against  his desire “Sorry, I can’t accept this, uncle.” When he lifted his head,  Haru was already at the door. He closed it behind him and started  running on the wall of the building. Because of his agility and Wind  Shoes, he reached the roof of the 2 stories building in no time.

‘I will take my money back  when I loot that base.’

Haru sat down. He surely had gotten important information from that poor kid.

So, there is a near base of the Fire Soldiers. Moreover, they have locked some earthbenders.

Since Haru made his first step as a crown prince, he may get to attack that base and free those benders.

[Ding, the system has a new quest for you.]

[Quest: Prison Break.

As a new leader of the Earth Kingdom, your first merits are going to be counted. Free the earthbenders and gain them.

Object: Break them free.

Rewards:

-20.000 exp

-Gift Box

Risks: Death…

Punishment: -….

Time Limit: two days.

Do you accept (y/n)]

Haru  sat down and stared at the quest bar. Quests, rewards, and punishments.  It’s not about getting a reward. But it’s about making him commit to  his decision once he accepts.

“Sure, I’m going to do it.”

Haru muttered.

He accepted the quest.

He opened the skills bar. He had 8 Skill Points to be used. As for attribute points, he had 4, gained from his fight with Bumi.

He  thought about using his skill points since he has two new powerful  offensive skills that he wanted to train, but they were hard to train.

The  Earth Meteor and  Physique Shift were both powerful skills. But the  Earth Meteor was the real deal, even though it was level 2.  Nevertheless, he can always increase it in the middle of the battle if  he was forced to.

Haru then headed in another  direction. He collected some information about the whereabouts of the  base and the prison from original citizens of the Earth Kingdom. Those  weren’t hard to find, thanks to their tanned skin and green eyes.

Haru put on his bamboo hat, took his ride, and headed in the direction of the prison.

-x-X-x-

Half  a day later, he arrived at his destination. Currently, he was above the  hill, staring down at the beach, the naval base of the Fire Nation that  was surrounded by all of its walls.

Around, there were  some guards walking around. The base was big, surrounded by metal  walls, and some soldiers were running and doing their training. There  were some observation towers. As Haru noticed light heading in his  direction, he created a wall to cover him.

“Time to lead a rebellion.”

Haru, somehow, didn’t feel excited. He knew that there will only be bloodshed.

‘Just  another day in the life.’ Haru took a step forward. When he activated  his skill, he was floating on an Earth Board. With the current level of  this skill, Haru could move very fast and even fly 4 meters in the air,  and he could control the board with a movement with his body movement.  His agility helped guide him for sure.

Haru descended  from the hill. Once he arrived at the ground, he took a deep breath and  held it. When he sank to the ground, Haru started depending on his sixth  sense, and he started travelling toward the base.

Because  this tunnel was connected to the surface, on purpose, Haru could have  enough air for him to breathe. Since this skill levelled up to the sixth  level, his travel became faster. Haru got to the foundation of the base  in so little time. Haru was sure that if he levelled up this skill, he  will be able to travel faster than his ride when it comes to moving  underground.

Haru stopped when he reached a metal wall. He touched it.

The  Fire Nation surely knew how to keep earthbender from sneaking and  getting away. They build their bases and their foundation with iron. It  was a good way to keep earthbenders away from them. But such a method  doesn’t work on Haru. He put his hand on the wall. It started acting  like a liquid, shifting its shape and creating a hole for Haru to pass  from. When Haru got in, he travelled up, until he was on the surface.

Touching  the metal, he closed his eyes. Although this base was made of iron,  because of his Metalbending skill, he could sense through the metal just  like he could see through the earth.

Haru felt a bunch  of people sitting by the wall. They all seemed to be desperate. They  didn’t have hope for themselves at all. Although there were men and  women here, there were no signs of affection. Most of them were girls it  seems.

Haru created a hole in the middle of the large room and got up.

He noticed that all of the eyes were on him as he sat up by the hole.

“Hey,  guys.” Haru turned. A bunch of women and men were here. They seemed to  be quite young; Some were old. Their number was more than the prisoned  people in his village.

“Who are you…” asked a middle-aged woman as she stepped forward.

He smiled. “I’m the prince of Omashu Kingdom. Nice to meet all of you, fellow Earth Kingdom citizens.”