The guards carried him back into the village. Tanuki fought as best as he could, but they restrained him from both sides. Hundredth confiscated his weapons and gave them to his handlers.

The villagers watched from the sides of the street, the King’s will still ruling over all but their eyes. Some showed sadness and fear in their glow, while others’ revealed obedience. Certain plantfolks, especially the guards remained unyielding. They would have carried out the King’s will even without his control.

The square was already prepared. A pillory stood on the wooden platform surrounded by the villager. Tanuki was brought to it and turned to face the King.

He was a tree of massive proportions who cast a majestic crown of leaves over the square. His weathered dark-brown trunk showed proof of age and experience deserving of respect. One could look at him and hear triumphant trumpets play in the mind. He had no human features, yet one look at him revealed a true king who towered vigilantly over centuries’ pass.

Hundredth pushed Tanuki before her and spoke loudly.

“My King! Father! Your daughter is alive and has come to present you the Pretender who cried Hero!”

The stone blocking the dark hole in his trunk moved, giving way to his raspy voice.

“It is joyous to see you alive, Princess! My night passed sleepless as I worried for your safety. It is a merry day to know that Yosh's future is well and secure.”

“My King?” Hundredth’s eyes grew sheepish.

“As my true Daughter, you have a primary claim in my succession. Perhaps one day the time will come when I wither away. It will be a sad day, but my passing shall be peaceful, for I will know the village’s fate rests in a strong Queen’s hands.”

Tears formed in Hundredth’s eyes as she whispered for her King again. The villagers cheered as they chanted Queen together. Hundredth saw all have joined the celebration and she knew, her deepest desire had come true. Her struggles had not gone unnoticed by friends and family, and she would be rewarded with the highest of honours. She had never felt as much joy in her entire life as in that singular moment.

Tanuki understood the King’s dirty game. Distress lingered in the villagers’ eyes as they were forced to clap hands and celebrate.

“Don’t forget, Hundredth!” he raised his voice, “The moment he learned about your death, he ordered all your belongings to be repurposed! Your house, your furniture, everything! He did not even wait for your presumed corpse to lose warmth! Do you really believe he cares about––“

A guard kneed him in the mouth, pushing his leg further to refrain him from speaking. Not that Hundredth would have listened, for all she heard was all she wanted, the praises of her kin.

She turned back to her father, calmed the smile in her eyes, and continued with business.

“I brought you the Pretender who hid in Hero’s clothes! He has plotted with the child-killer Echidna to exploit the village. Many of our men tried to halt his evil plan, but he murdered three innocents in cold blood! Two of the corpses he left were defiled so much that their masks burnt with more than half their remains!”

“That is indeed a disaster! Princess, you’ve done well to bring this felon before us. Has he committed any other crimes?”

“He caused the unnecessary deaths of at least four other guards.”

Tanuki freed his mouth and shouted in rage, “While we fought Pretenders! I did not force them to follow me, they followed me because they knew I would––Let go of my mouth! Let me go, you––“

The guards shut him up again.

Hundredth turned to the King. “That is indeed true. He made us believe he was the Great Hero spoken of in tales of old. Unfortunately, we could not have been any more wrong.”

“I killed two of them for you,” he fought the guards and managed those words before one kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fall and wheeze as air would not come to his lungs.

As his forehead planted against the platform, he saw droplets of blood. Whether they broke his nose, or his anger caused a blood vessel to burst did not matter. He has never had a nosebleed before.

This was more than just a trial; it was a parade set to humiliate him. Tears blurred his vision as he heard the two twist his achievements into crimes. They even found a way to make Cervus’s defeat as though he did it to give more land to the child-eater.

He closed his eyes and slowly grew to accept the inevitable when something strange drew his attention. As his soft forehead touched the platform, he could feel his skull resonate as something worked its way underground, a constant tremor of small things moving about.

“Could this be…”

The King spoke loudly to the crowd. “People of Yosh! It is time we proceed with the trial. Let us hear if any of you were witnesses to further wrongdoings of this war criminal!”

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An ordinary farmer stepped forward and took off his straw hat.

“My King! I have seen the False Hero talk with the Pretender of the Nestmen under the veil of night. I was just about to go to bed when I spotted those two cackling amongst themselves as they planned how to split the village like large slices of bread!”

Another villager stepped forward. None of them were speaking for themselves, but the King puppeteered them. Tanuki felt even more disgusted as he watched the guilt in people’s eyes when the King pretended to converse with them.

Falsities piled against him when suddenly a unique figure stepped forward. The shopkeeper had something else to say, directed towards Hundredth. His eyes glowed healthy of freedom. Despite that, he took no sides but approached Hundredth while putting something forward.

“My Princess, he requested I make medicine for your wounds,” he said, offering a bowl of green salve. She looked at it with confusion, then nodded.

“Indeed, my Father is a generous man.”

“It was not ordered by the King, my Princess.”

“Then by whom?”

The shopkeeper remained silent.

She knew. Hundredth turned to face Tanuki, he watched on with a bloody nose. He did not beg just hoped that this might make her think.

Hundredth wavered but ultimately refused the shopkeeper.

“It must be poison. Discard it.”

“It is not poison, my Princess,” he offered once more, “I myself oversaw its creation. This will bring you no harm, but good health!”

Before Hundredth could reply, the King spoke.

“How interesting is your stubbornness! Have you plotted with the False Hero to poison my heir? What did he offer you for this treason? Title? Land?”

“I am speaking the truth, my King,” the shopkeeper insisted, the worst thing he could have done.

Two guards restrained him. He did not fight back but continued to speak the truth.

“I would never hurt a fellow villager, especially not the Princess!”

“Yet you take orders from a Pretender. Curious! Your shameless assassination attempt shall not go unanswered. Hundredth, make an example for those who wish to plot with Pretenders!”

“Yes, my King,” Hundredth walked by the pillory, evading Tanuki’s gaze.

The guards locked the shopkeeper into the instrument with no resistance. He did not speak another word.

Hundredth drew her blade and began the execution procedure. She addressed the villagers sternly, letting them know the same fate would befall anyone against the village. Little did she know, they had no freedom to sin.

Tanuki put his hand to the ground and felt the tremor below had grown since last time. It came from directly below.

“Please dig faster…”

Hundredth raised her blade; she did not give the shopkeeper the honour of last words. She struck down but the ground collapsed before she could have made contact, and the entire platform fell diagonally into the hole. Hundredth and the guards fell to the ground, the suddenly grown slope sliding them away. Tanuki remained focused. This was Echidna’s doing, confirmed when he saw the mole quickly disappear into the wall. Whatever goal he had, Tanuki seemed like a valuable asset to his cause, and he needed him alive.

As soon as the guards fell, Tanuki jumped on the one who took his staff. It was attached to the guard’s waistband holding his scabbard, Tanuki wrestled to get it off, but the guard pulled away. The two rolled down the diagonal platform. The guard tried to draw his sword, but Tanuki kicked it out of his hand. He then tried to elbow Tanuki in the face, which he successfully did, but Tanuki was too focused to care. Even when the blow blinded him for a second, he knew where to reach for his staff and finally untied it. He did not need to use it, however, because when they slammed against the hole’s wall, the King controlling the guard failed to ensure his puppet’s safety and the impact with the cold dirt broke its neck.

Tanuki hit himself too, but he put up his arms to cushion the blow and managed to take it. He quickly sprung to his feet and ran to his sword before climbing the diagonal slope. His feet slid, but he held onto the withering planks of the platform.

Above him, Hundredth leaned against the pillory and shook the clouds out of her head. She would have tried to finish her job even after all that happened, but she could not get the same angle on the shopkeeper to behead him properly, thus the ceremony would not continue.

Not until the bothersome distractions were dealt with.

She turned and gasped at the guard’s unnaturally bent neck. A few meters above him she saw Tanuki, adjusting his staff into a crack to pull himself up. He too looked at Hundredth.

They spoke no words, but their eyes held a conversation. He felt relieved to see Hundredth did not suffer a similar fate as the guard, but she could not care less about him. She cared only for the guard’s death and her green orbs shot disgust in the boy’s direction. When Tanuki realised that, he shut out all the worry and hope he felt for the girl.

He could never get her to view him as a friend, at least not anymore. But it was time he would come to accept it. Despite her best intentions for her people, Hundredth was a tool of the King. As much as he hated the thought, he needed to accept it.

Hundredth had to die for him to get to that tree.

The masses gathered around the hole and observed as the two stared at each other. Finally, the King broke the silence with his words.

“Hundredth, my child! If you wish to become the Queen of Yosh, you must secure your claim. You can achieve that only by erasing all Pretenders who wish to steal it. That thing below you is a metaphor for this very thought. He is an insignificant degenerate who tries to squirm his way above you. As my heir and legacy, you need to stand above him, you need to stand above all! You must reach the apex of nature’s hierarchy!”

Hundredth tilted her head, observing Tanuki’s weak points while pointing her sword.

“Pretender! As the Princess of Yosh and its future Queen, I sentence you to death for treachery and treason! Now bow before us so I may make it quick.”

Tanuki’s mind raced over a thought. It would be foolish, but he refused the other option. Ultimately, he put the staff on his back and pulled the sword ahead. No matter if his friend was gone, he would respect her memory by granting her a quick, painless death.

“This is your last chance to lower your weapon, Hundredth,” he spoke.

“Shut it, villain! Your disgusting acts shall not go unpunished, no matter how much you beg!”

“Remember that this villain saved your life.”

“Hah! You merely dragged us into danger.”

“Yet you followed.”

“Because I wanted to believe you! I wanted my village to be safe!”

“And I made it safer. Tell me, which one of us brought Cervus to the brink of death?”

“Shut it!”

“And who helped you climb out of that hole? Who comforted you after they tore down your house? Do you truly believe they care for you if they could not wait for your corpse to lose warmth before moving on?”

“Shut it! Shut it! Shut it!” she broke forth with her blade, screaming.

She cast the first attack, killing the last hope Tanuki held for her redemption. The duel began.