Chương 124: Chapter 125: Three Stories

The Shepherd Who Fed the Wolf Atop a mighty hill, the brown sheep once called a meeting with all the animals of the farm. The pigs climbed up first, then the cows, then finally the rest of the sheep.

"My brother's gone!" The brown sheep cried out, standing atop a massive stump.

"The wolf ate my brother!" After hours of discussion, the animals agreed.

"The shepherd will protect us," they reassured.

"He always does." A few days later, the brown sheep disappeared. The yellow sheep called a meeting with all the animals. The pigs showed up first, then the cows, then finally the rest of the sheep.

"My brother's gone!" The yellow sheep cried out.

"The wolf ate my brother!"

"Ours too!" The pigs and cows cried out.

"The wolf ate our brothers too!" The animals discussed for hours, yet in the end came to the same conclusion.

"The shepherd will protect us," they reassured.

"He always does." A few days later, the yellow sheep disappeared. Then, a pig. Then, a cow. At the next meeting, every animal panicked.

"The wolf will kill us all!" They cried out.

"Run to the shepherd!" But no matter what they did, it was hopeless. One by one, every animal began to disappear. The red sheep, the bravest of the animals, realized she needed to uncover the truth herself. She snuck out of his caging at night and watched the other animals closely. The next day, she called a meeting at the hill.

"There is no wolf!" The red sheep cried out as she scaled the hill.

"The wolf disappeared long ago!" But when she reached the top, the other animals weren't there. There were no pigs, no cows, and no sheep. Sitting atop the stump, the shepherd smiled. Evel stared dumbfounded at the text in front of him. Although it wasn't exactly suited for a play, it was actually pretty good? Was this another case of him underestimating others? Despite Moe's severe lack of comedic skills, if he wanted to be a playwright, then maybe they had a spot open for him.

He flipped over to the next story, which was far longer. No Curtains for the Crown. Once upon a time, there ruled a wise king. The king of Joy. The king of Wisdom. The king of Laughter. He went by many names, but the one his late mother donned upon him was simply: Roe. One day, a dirty peasant approached the king, begging in front of his throne room.

"Oh King, Oh King!" The peasant cried out.

"A great beast has attacked my village! A giant cow standing on two legs, and with two horns, is terrorizing us. We don't know what to do!" The wise king thought for a while. Finally, he blessed upon them with the wisdom he'd accrued through his difficult life:"In situations like these, the best solution is to kill the beast directly." His advisors stroked their long beards as they nodded in approval. It was truly a decision only such a fierce king could make.

Many others would have tried reasoning with the beast, or studying it first, but only the king Roe, the king of Joy, Wisdom, and Laughter, could make such a difficult call so quickly.

"But my King, who in these realms could possibly rival such a terrifying force?" The king pulled out his centuries-old sword, unsheathing the monstrous weapon in front of the court. The audience gasped, the advisors nodded, and the peasant grovelled lower. King Roe stood tall, his sculpted shoulders popping out. He brought his sword to the air, the light from the sun scattering from the mighty weapon. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"With this great weapon, I will slice off the legs of the overgrown cow, reducing it to mere ground beef!" Evel had to pause reading after that line. The difference in quality between the first and second stories was just too large. And for a self-insert, at least he could have changed to letters a little bit… Just the M into an R? The ground beef joke almost caused him to close the page altogether, but he kept reading.

The next page was when the King travels to the village and gets stopped abruptly by a group of bandits. The peasant quivered in the caravan until he felt the great King Roe's hand on his shoulder.

"I am here." The king simply said. Hearing the king's explanation, the peasant felt better, since now he knew that the king was there. With the powerful king there, the peasant would be safe. The muscular and powerful king walked out of the caravan and raised his sword high in the air. The light scattered off it, casting a wide pattern of light on the ground. The bandits quivered under his might.

"Who dares approach me?" The king's voice boomed out. But before the bandits could respond, they all fell to their knees. The king had used his special attack to take them all out at once, and the skill was one only he knew how to use.

"Lost your footing there?" The king mocked. The peasant and the king's entourage burst into laughter. With the safety of his caravan secured, the journey to the great cow beast continued. He was never expecting something of quality, but the first story had unfortunately raised his expectations. He kept reading. Upon arriving at the remote village, the giant cow beast was wreaking havoc on the townspeople.

As the beast grabbed onto a maiden with jade-like skin and brought her up to eat, King Roe burst forward, slicing the beast's left hand in one go. The village people cheered.

"King Roe has come to save us!" The jade-skinned maid soared through the air, but the King was quick, and leaped up to catch her. The giant Cow-Beast, a terrifying monster, took advantage of the king's kindness and wound up a massive punch. The king tensed his metal-like abs, and raised the jade maiden above him. The cow-beast's hands cracked upon impact, and the king quickly brought his sword forward to chop off the left leg of the beast.

"Don't worry!" He comforted the crowd.

"The Cow-Beast will be 'all right '!" The crowd burst into laughter once again. This is because King Roe chopped off the left arm and left leg of the beast, causing it to be all right, in the sense that all of its appendages are the right ones.

"Just kidding!" The king boomed, as the cow-beast collapsed onto the ground.

"The cow is ground beef now!" The crowd laughed.

"You saved me!" The maiden in his hands fawned. King Moe leaned in and kissed her jade-like skin passionately. She was pure and had never been with a man before. The crowd cheered. The village got together to quilt a massive curtain for the king.

"No," He shook his head.

"I shall use this as a gift to the beauty instead! No curtains for me." A few weeks later, the two had a grand wedding, and just two months after that, the first prince of the kingdom was born.

"..." At the end he just gave up even pretending and wrote his own name kissing the beauty! And two months for a prince? King Moe, your maiden may not be as pure as you think… Despite all the glaring flaws and the constant repetition, it had somehow been fun to read. Regardless, one thing was clear as day. The first and the second story could not have been written by the same person. There was just no way. Evel flipped over the page to read the third story. The Gardener's Debt. The gardener was a very busy man.

In the mornings, he woke up early to feed his chickens. In the days, he spent all his time planting and harvesting plants. At night, he cleared the weeds. One day, the biggest chicken in his pen finally asked.

"O' Gardener who feeds me day by day, why do you work so hard?" The gardener immediately broke down into tears.

"Little chicken, how could you possibly understand? I owe too many people too many things. Now I'm cursed to work forever until I pay off all my debts."

"But you work so hard!" The chicken reasoned.

"They would surely understand and give you a few days of rest!" The gardener continued sobbing before continuing to plant the seeds. He had no time to even waste on being sad. Otherwise the work would keep piling up. Seeing the gardener's struggles, the chicken vowed to help him. In the nights, the chicken snuck out of its pen and wandered into the dangerous forest to eat as much of the exotic plants as it could. And soon, it began working. The chicken laid one egg, then another.

Each egg far healthier than the last. The chicken pushed itself harder and harder, escaping the foxes and finding better food each night. Yet upon seeing the gardener's joy each day, everything became just a little bit easier. The gardener, seeing his biggest chicken grow more tired, withered, and older each day, finally asked with deep concern, "Little chicken, are you feeling under the weather? Am I not feeding you enough?" The chicken shook his head and denied anything was wrong.

One day the gardener would be free of his debt, and the two wouldn't have to work so hard. Only then would the chicken tell him of his dangerous excursions into the forest each night. The trips got more dangerous as the chicken had to venture further and further every night. Just as the chicken was approaching its limit, the gardener excitedly ran to the pen.

"O' little chicken, you've saved me!"

"You're finally free of your debt?" The chicken cried with joy. They could finally live happily and without worry.

"No," he shook his head.

"But they've forgiven all my debt! As long as I keep working and providing them with plants and eggs, it's like I don't have any debt at all!" Evel's heart quickened. He flipped back to the first story, The Shepherd Who Fed the Wolf and read through the whole thing again, carefully. He flipped back to The Gardeners' Debt. His heartbeat intensified. Scanning through the page, he reread it line by line, word by word. The two stories told a very specific tale, and sent a very specific message.

Taking a shallow breath, Evel scrambled over to his closet to grab his hidden VTR. Quickly placing it on his desk, his shaky hands pressed a series of buttons as quickly as he could manage. They fumbled, messing up the code the first time. BEEP. The Video Transmission machine was now recording his message.

"I–" He hesitated. The stories lined up far too perfectly not to explore further.

"I might have found Dissent."