After killing all his strongest rivals, prince Solo directly named himself ko-o king, putting the crown on his own head and taking for himself the king's sword.

The number of his followers increased as he gained "legitimacy".

Then, Solo started executing not people who threaten him, but people who he simply did not like.

Before he understood how, Roo was tied up and set up for execution.

"Why?! Why me?!" Roo shouted, feeling appalled.

Solo leaned in close and whispered to him with a sadistic smile, "Don't think I didn't notice the way you looked at me, Roo."

Roo's eyes widened in shock. "You're gonna kill me just because I looked at you wrong?"

In reply, Solo just leaned back and laughed.

His laughed sounded like mockery.

Then, in front of his depressed audience, he made his speech.

"Everyone, I, your King, finally found the true culprit. Roo practices magic. He must have used magic to steal your houses! I will execute him!"

"Wait!" Roo shouted desperately. Before Solo could shut him up, he spat out, "I am not the culprit. I know a magic that can find the culprit!"

About to hit him, Solo stopped and laughed again. "If you knew such a thing, why didn't you use it earlier?"

Roo lowered his head in shame. Could he say that it wasn't originally his problem? Or that once Solo stepped in and started performing his killings, that he was too scared to get involved?

He regrets it now, but it's too late.

"Now die!" Solo raised his sword.

Roo shut his eyes tight, bracing for the pain.

"STOP!!!" A loud and deep shout echoed throughout the village square.

"Who is it?!" Solo shouted angrily.

An old ko-o missing an arm stepped out of the audience. Soon followed a bunch of other ko-os, some wrapped in leaf bandages, some limping with a wooden cane, one missing a leg and walking on a peg, another missing an eye, et cetera.

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There were dozens of them.

"A bunch of cripples want to stop me?" Solo said, utterly shocked. The same was true for the rest of the audience.

"Young king, you can't kill Roo. He is the only one in our village who understands medicine. He saved us all." The old one-armed ko-o waved his furry arm, indicating everyone who stepped out.

"So what?" Solo scoffed.

"He is needed for the future of this village this village, even more than you."

"That's right!"

"Roo saved me. I can't let him die!"

The other ko-o cripples shouted.

Tears welled up in Roo's eyes.

He had read a book that described how to make some simple medicine and perform first aid and had helped a lot of fellow ko-o ever since he was a teenager. He didn't think of it much back then. No matter how many people he helped, there would still be people that looked down on him for his weakness. He didn't realize that were so many that were so grateful.

Meanwhile, Solo was trembling from anger. He pointed at the one-armed ko-o and the rest of the cripples and shouted, "Kill them for me!"

His followers raised their weapons and... hesitated.

"Oo?" Solo looked back in confusion. "What are you doing? Kill them for your king!"

"But king... that's my gramps."

"And that's my dad."

"Mine is there too."

"There's my uncle..."

Solo's furry jaw dropped.

"So what? Your king orders you to kill them!" Solo shouted furiously. As a ko-o male that never had any filial piety, he did not fully understand what was making these ko-o warriors hesitate.

The ko-o warriors did not move, as they continued hesitating. None of them wished to kill their own parents, and those whose relatives are not there hesitate to kill the parents of their comrades.

"Fine! I'll do it myself!" Solo said. He raised the king's sword and leapt at the cripples.

Bang! Slash! Ripp~! Crack!

"You... stupid..." Solo turned his head in midair, as his back was ripped into or bashed by the stone swords, axes, and clubs of the ko-o warriors who once followed him.

He stared into their desperate faces as he fell to the ground, bleeding out a pool of blood.

... ...

Roo was freed.

A new and more appropriate ko-o king was chosen.

For a long while, he went through emotional turmoil from all the happened in the past week and a half, and was unable to focus well on his studies.

Eventually, he concluded that he just wasn't strong enough or brave enough. Otherwise, everything could have turned out different.

That's why, when the new king, a more amiable ko-o warrior by the name of Nuo called him to help with finding the true culprit behind the ruined houses, he did not hesitate to volunteer.

This unscrupulous thief was the cause of everything, the spark that led to so many deaths. Even now, when the village is in such a terrible mood, he is still sneaking around at night, pulling out planks. The culprit is hateful and must be punished. And Roo will do his best to see it happen.

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A comment on the ko-o race by an anonymous student of the Mod Genius University:

The ko-o race is filled with barbarians. Their thoughts are relatively simple and don't seek to go out of their traditional ways, meaning that it's rare for them to have technological advancements. They admire the strong. Consequentially, they value their men more than their women. They think their men must be warriors, and their women are better off laborers. Their lack of intelligence also applying in battle, most of their warriors die before they can reach the 4th stage. Meanwhile, with a lack of innovation, neither can their laborers reach the 4th stage before they die of old age. But every once in a long while, a deviant may appear among them, choosing to go down the path of a scholar, gaining inestimable potential.

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