World of Taroo

by Jimmy Eriksson

  The hunter felt stones under her feet and with some quick thinking, she used her feet to get a rock up in the air. She kicked it hard so it hit the already bloodied man over one of his eyes. His vision became blurry and didn’t see her getting close fast. His friend attacked again which she blocked and when the man with damage eye tried to strike her, he missed and she could easily dodge and cut him on his hand. She grabbed the sword that she had picked up from him and ran towards the bigger man. He saw her coming and swung his sword against her. She ducked it easily, and on her way down, she grabbed a wooden box and smashed it over his head as she came up. He stumbled and lost his stance.

  As he moved to the side, she stabbed him in through the heart and let him sink to the ground while she turned towards the last two men. They ran towards Jay and told him to move, but Jay had no intention of letting the men go. The only one of them that was still only lightly injured believed he might have a chance to get away if he gave the bounty hunter a bait. While they both ran towards Jay, he cut his friend over the back legs so he fell down on the ground hitting his head. The man that was bleeding out was also now almost unconscious.

  The last remaining attacker realised his strategy, however it only made him an easier target by himself since he then faced a soldier from the kingdom on his own. Jay blocked a stab and held the man by him, not letting him pass. The young woman came from behind, walking calmly. She was still holding the sword she put through the heart of the big man. As she passed the injured man who was now lying on the ground, she stabbed it in him and kept on walking towards Jay and the last of the men.

  The two were battling together and Jay was merely stalling. The man tried to get in a strike but was not good enough against Jay. Suddenly, he got the whole weight of the hunter over him as she jumped up and landed on him with her feet first. She stomped a couple of times on his back and then grabbed his neck and broke it. Jay had backed up a little and observed her when she was looking for something in their clothes. She pulled out a pendant from one of the men and held it up. She put it in her pouch that she then put away. Bounty hunters were welcome in the kingdom as long as they notified the guards about their presence. He didn’t know if she received permission but would have to ask.

  She walked towards him, and he asked her for her name and if she had been to the castle to inform the guards about her being there. She said nothing and Jay knew she was very skilled and wondered if she might attack if he would try to stop her. She stood in front of him and he, again as the last time, felt a little shy but this time, looked her in her eyes. She thanked him for not letting the men disappear. He replied that she was welcome but let her know unless she had permission to be there, she would get in trouble by the guards. She smiled and asked Jay if he would tell on her. Jay knew his job and didn’t want to get in trouble but told her if she maybe was in danger. Perhaps, she only defended herself and then it would be a different matter and she would not get charged with the killings.

  He also added if she was done with her business then she must leave immediately. She was about to say something when ten guards came running from the corner in the alley and demanded her to stand where she was. She looked at Jay and told him he was still cute and kissed him on his cheek. Jay became red and she laughed and ran the other way. The guards were behind her as she got closer to the wall. One of the guards told her she had no choice but to stop and come with them. The woman was very fast and she had no problem with the wall. She took a jump using her legs again against the wall and grabbed a ledge of a window. From the window, she grabbed another beam and hurled herself up on it. She ran to the roof and jumped to it and in the air she threw Jay a kiss as she disappeared.

  The guards ran back to the street in an effort to catch her, and Jay started to walk back to the castle to inform the guards what had happened but might twist the story a little. He thought about her and wondered if he might see her again soon. It had helped him a little to not continue to think so much about his previous missions.

  Marriage of Gon and Senji

  The restaurant had been doing so well, and after almost a year of both progress and mishaps, the money was flowing in more than ever. Gon was constantly investing the money in the restaurant and upgrading the equipment and made sure he always was on the top of anything that could make his business even better. For a while then, they had been working hard and could finally relax more since they had trained up workers to take over.

  Lately, Gon and Senji had been spending a lot of time together, and Gon never felt so strong for anyone as Senji. He knew it was a bold move but there was a reason to why he had been working so hard. He thought back as they lay in a park at the castle when he had to go to the land next to the ocean. He needed some new marble flooring for the restaurant, and he had travelled there to a mine that manufactured them. He had looked at the gems and found some really nice ones. When he was paying, he saw some other samples from the mine. It was different gems and some were shining very brightly. He stood and thought for a while and then made the easiest decision he had ever made in his life. He was going to ask Senji to marry him and knew what gem he wanted to buy. He told the mine owner he wanted to get a gem to put in a ring for his wife to be. He was shown several different gems both mined in the land as well as elsewhere.

  The miner had many different minerals in form of gems, rock and other hard materials. He showed him a blue ocean gem that he managed to buy from another miner on the island of Besidil. Also, one other he told Gon was part of another piece of jewellery he found in the ocean. The miner told him he found the necklace when he was fishing with his brother and for some reason happened to stumble upon it. He said the stone was made of almost pure Alumrylite. Gon heard him say it was impossible to make them since the knowledge of creating the high quality Alumrylite had been lost.

  The contents of the stone were not known, and the people that knew of the Alumrylite were usually people like himself, he said. The miner added that pieces of Alumrylite could still be found around the world but it was very rare, and they all looked different. Not one of them, he said, had the same colour and whatever it looked like was determined by chance. The small Alumrylite stone would be one of a kind and Senji would wear something no one else did but Gon found it not to be to his liking. It was very hard and had an interesting colour but Gon had his eyes set on something else.

  After asking for what he wanted, the miner gave him a great deal on a really nice diamond he looked at. Still expensive but the cutting would take a month so Gon could get the money for it and the miner would deliver it to a goldsmith in the kingdom. On the morning of that day, he had told Senji that he was going as he usually did to the market for groceries. He had stopped at the goldsmith who told him the ring was ready. He looked at the ring and could see it was as beautiful as he had hoped it would be. The brightness was incredible and really white and clear. The price was heavy but for Gon, the money meant nothing and the ring was everything. He paid the man for the ring with a diamond and headed back.

  He then was in the park and asked Senji how she felt her life was. She responded with that she never thought she would end up in the kingdom and with Gon as her boyfriend. She was very happy, she said, then looked in his eyes and kissed him. Gon was a little sweaty but kept himself calm and said that he would like to give her the life she deserves. He brought up the ring and held it in front of her with shaky hands. She was first quiet as she looked at the ring as she was in shock. She then started to cry as she jumped in his arms and said she would love to marry him.

  Gon was relieved and held Senji in his arms tight. When he let go, she smiled and said she also had a surprise for him. Gon told her he could not become happier at this moment, but Senji put her hand on his cheek. She looked into his big warm eyes and told him she was pregnant. Gon was feeling his body warming up inside and a great smile reached over his mouth. He asked if she was sure and she touched her tummy then said she was. Gon hugged her again and said he would do whatever h
e could to be the man she deserved. Senji rested her head on his shoulder and told him she just wanted things to stay as they were and she would be happy.

  Jay found out about the wedding as he came the day after to have food and wished them all the best. He was asked to be the best man and he gladly accepted. When told about Senji being pregnant, he couldn’t congratulate them enough. The wedding was planned, and Kemi wanted the couple to marry in the castle temple, and when the day came, the crowd in the temple was very big. Two months later, after Gon proposed, many of the friends had entered the temple. The ceremony took place and the newly married couple looked great together when they stood next to each other. Senji looked beautiful in the dress that Kemi had the royal maidens make for her and hid the tummy while giving it some room. Jay took his duty as a best man seriously but also made Gon do some embarrassing things at the wedding party. There was a mix of guests from various backgrounds together at the wedding.

  Mr Pan had come from the great city of Shetana with his daughter, Bianca and her son, Rensi. They gave the new couple some gifts and talked about what happened before. He handed Gon a bottle of Redoli that he said had just come to him before he left, and remembered he liked it. The three fighting girls from the tournament that Senji helped were all her brides’ maids and danced with all the single men at the party. Even Jay was dragged up on the floor by Thura who made him dance to everyone’s enjoyment. Some other friends from earlier encounters had joined the party and also the king tried to dance with Kemi. He did have to sit down soon as he felt he lost his breath easier than he used to.

  Since Senji had no interest in inviting her family from her village, more friends could come to the wedding but she did invite her cousin that she played with when she was young. They talked a lot about how life was with both of them, and the cousin said she would let Senji’s parents know how well she was doing. Senji was asked to sing and she did so with much happiness coming out of her. Everyone could hear her, and for a moment, no other sound was heard other than her voice that went through the castle down to the city.

  When the party finished, the couple retired back home and the site was cleared of rubbish. Kemi ordered her servants to have the courtyard fixed up for the next day since it was held in front of the castle. Finally, back in their house, they then both stared at the ceiling and talked about the day. They had so much fun and thought it was fun to see Jay pass out from the wine and being dragged home by some friends who continued to party. Gon looked at Senji and said he would do his best to make her and their new child happy. She said she had been happy ever since he saved her from the men in the woods a few years ago. They kissed and turned off the light then held hands even in their sleep.

  When they woke up, both felt like new people and especially Gon that took his responsibility as a soon to be father very seriously. He intended of making sure his family would be taken care of and would work harder from then on. He made good on his word and spent much time in the restaurant making sure the money kept flowing in. Senji helped as long as she could but had to eventually stop and sat mostly upstairs where it was calmer. Gon felt guilty he could not be with his wife as much, but she calmed him down by saying she understood he only wished for his family to have a good life.

  The Big Cooking Competition

  The king had been working hard a few months because he, in his heart, felt peace was something that the world deserved. For a while then, there had been some tensions between some of the countries and kingdoms. He had, for years, tried to create a trade deal with the kingdom of Redonia but had constantly been rejected by the royals there. The Darcolian Kingdom that was part of the Redonian kingdom also refused to answer to his attempts. The anguish between them had been going on for over 200 hundred years and not even the citizens of Grasoll were allowed to enter the island of Redonia.

  King Lenchi did not really need them as trade partners since the land he held had more forest and soil that brought crops than any other kingdom. The mines were full of riches that he used to trade with the Domoro land’s Queen Lisaro as well with king Tambo of Ocenia. He hoped a competition to get the land’s greatest cooks to come to the kingdom would have a beginning of friendship between the lands. He had sent invitations to every large island and some had returned their answers. It seemed some of those invited were, at first, not sure about what the point of it would be, but soon enough, the neighbouring continents within Taroo had all answered to his request. He ordered the preparations to finish to be ready for the big day.

  When talking to his advisors, he had got many suggestions of what the prizes should be. The prize for the winner was eventually a small chest of gold. Second and third place got prizes as well but no one would really want to come anything other than first, he thought. The king only wanted to unite the lands in a competition like the tournament in Shetana and also wanted to know who the greatest chef was. The competition was judged by the people that would eat the food and would not know who cooked. There were a lot of people that wanted to try to win, and many of the restaurants were sending their top chefs to compete.

  Gon thought about competing and Senji encouraged him to as well. He did not know how high he could place, but he would definitely give it his all. After living in the kingdom for a few years then, he had picked up more skills and fine-tuned much of his knowledge about cooking. Within a few weeks, the people started to arrive and he had already sent his wish to compete to the king who was happy Gon wanted to try to cook in the competition.

  Soon, the city had transformed the great market place to many stations for the competing chefs. There were so many competitors that five matches with twenty-three people each had to take place. Gon ended up in the first group which he was happy about so he didn’t need to wait and be nervous about the others so much. The whole kingdom was engaged in the competition and Gon had some solid followers. The signal went in form of a horn and they had to cook their best meals. Gon worked hard and had a great support from Senji who held their second daughter, Isabel, in her arms with first daughter, Sophia, standing next to her. The restaurant personnel had all come as well since they had shut down the restaurant for the day.

  Gon could not do anything but smile as he looked at his family. The other contestants worked hard and some of them had trouble and gave up after they realised they would not have a chance. Gon made his buns and a soup that he believed would be enough to get him to the next round. He finished and the judges who were from every kingdom got the dishes in front of them. They all had numbers on the dishes and the judges didn’t know who cooked what so it became fair.

  The winners of the dishes would be put in a group of ten and would cook again. Gon believed he could make it to the end and had a high confidence about himself. The other matches went and in the 4th group a fight breaks out between two chefs because of struggles in the past. Fun to watch, thought Gon and appreciated the difference in the people who were cooking. There was a dish that he was able to try that was made with some red flowers. He had never tasted anything like it before and when he asked the chef, he had said the flower only grows in his country. He had said that in Redonia the flower was used in much of the cooking. The people had come from every land, and even if some of them did not currently get along, they had put their differences behind themselves for then.

  Many of the contestants were from private rich estates on Nanta but some had come from across the sea from other lands. The first part was over and Gon had seen some great dishes and was able to taste some from the leftover food. He had tasted the difference of the food that was served throughout the lands. The ten chefs were called out and Gon was one of them. He knew he would, at least, advance to the final. From the different parts of the world, there were two from the Grasoll land which was he and one more elderly lady. Two from the Darcolia land where one was the king’s own personal chef. One was from the land of Domoro that had presented an amazing fish dish. One from the kingdom of Ocenia that Gon had met before when he, at one point,
came into his restaurant. One from an unknown land as he never put down where he was from but many believed he was from across the ocean from Canteria.

  The man from Redonia that cooked with red flowers was also in the final. The remaining two were both from Shetana and seemed to hate each other. They would have to cook a new dish that would have to be something grand. Gon started to cook a dish that he had been perfecting but had yet to sell in his restaurant. The onion, mushroom and pork stew would take him some time but he would enter with it since he believed it was great. The chefs came from many backgrounds and many owned their own restaurant. There were some home cooks in there as well amongst the professionals.

  The competition went on for a couple of hours and the people of the city were enjoying it at all times. Some of those that had not made it tried to promote their own food to gain some business. When Gon finally finished, he was happy and let the judges get the dish to their table. He was not the last one, and he was very impressed about what the others made.

  When the judges were done, the contestants got to come up to them. The three best ones stayed, and Gon was overjoyed to be one of them. Senji and then Jay, who had come from the main gate, was cheering for him. They all waited with some tension in the air while the judges got ready to announce the winner. The 3rd place was announced and it was Gon. He was still happy and believed he did great and thanked the judges. The prize was a patch of land up close to the mountain with a small forest. It had been owned by someone who died in the city and had left it to his wife. But she was old and they had no children so she wanted it to be one of the prizes. Gon was happy to be owning something like that and went down to Senji. Second place went to the personal chef of King Arobe and was given a chest of silver and gems. The winner was the man from the kingdom of Ocenia and his dish was described as spectacular and unique. He was presented with the chest of gold and was hailed as the first winner.