It didn’t take long for Karna to find his so-called father and guards, as he was already aware of the way.
Ahead of him, at quite a distance, three people were walking.
In the middle was a dirty, brown-haired man with a beggar’s appearance whose hands were tied behind his back with rope.
And on both sides of him were two village guards.
The guards wore short white dhotis that reached just below their knees, and a brown cloth draped over one shoulder like a loose scarf— they called it angavastar, and even though it wasn’t covering their torso, that cloth was very important here.
People believe that without angavastar, if you pray to god or do any prayer ritual, it would be completely useless. And without it, you can’t go in front of higher-status people like a king or your Guru— Guru means your master, father-like figure, guide for your whole life— and going in front of them without angavastar was considered disrespectful; you could be punished.
However, Karna always scoffed at those things...
Let’s free that bastard and leave.
He increased his walking pace toward the guards. Though they were not royal guards. However, those guards were still paid by a royal place. And their job was to catch small thieves, sort small village fights, and inform their higher-ups if something big happened beyond their power.
Though there wasn’t any big punishment for small stealing. But for a thief who stole again and again, punishment could be death.
Karna walked past them and blocked their way.
"Hey, " he waved at them with sweat smile. Karna was already familiar with those two village guards.
The guards halted on the spot, but their expressions didn’t look good; they appeared as if they were seeing a ghost that they were trying to avoid, and it wasn’t just the guards; the thief’s expression was uglier then them.
However, Karna totally ignored their looks and kept a smile on his lips.
"How about letting him go?" He asked.
"No, not this time, Karna." The first guard said; he was a man in his thirties, with a big mustache and a bald head.
He probably blended His head on his own to fulfill some ritual; well, Karna didn’t pay attention to those things. There were too many rituals here... some to make God happy, some for good luck, or not to make God angry; there were rituals to even ask for rain and even for making dead ancestors happy and so on, so much nonsense.
" He was right, not this time, K-Karna. " Second guard said, this was wearing a pagdi– a five- to six-meter-long cloth they wrapped around their heads.
They always say this. Karna thought and chuckled. "May I ask what he did this time?"
" I didn’t do anything, believe me, son." His so- called father said.
" Today he stole from the village chef." The bland guard spoke.
"No, no, they’re lying. I didn’t steal; I never steal." No one cared what the thief was saying.
"So what did he steal this time? Karna asked.
" Silver coins", the second guard answered him.
"Oh, what if I returned that to you?" Karna asked.
The guards looked at each other before nodding and stared, untying the thief’s hand. But their faces looked as if saying What choice do we have?
Karna let out a reviled sigh. I didn’t have to waste too much time here.
He turned to his so-called father.
Karna smirked. "Now, tell me where you hide stolen goods?"
"I didn’t steal anything... ahh!"
Karna punched him in the stomach. His so-called father fell to his knees, covering his stomach with his arms, closing his eyes, and his mouth open in pain.
"I won’t ask again," Karna warned.
"I-I hide it under the third tree in front of my house", he said immediately in one breath.
Karna smiled at the guards.
"You heard him."
The guards looked at each other before running away, as they had been standing all this time in the presence of the devil and couldn’t bear to stand a second more.
Karna rolled at their dramatic action; they were behaving as if he was some kind of bad guy here, when he was just helping them.
Karna gazed at the man, left kneeling on the ground; he didn’t hit him that hard. This bastard was just overacting.
"Hey, stand up," Karna said.
"You committed sins, son... Sinner, even hell won’t give you a place. Disrespecting your parents was the biggest sin... parents must be respected like God... "
" Shut your barking and stand up."
Karna didn’t care about this shit at all; here, adults, especially the elderly, give too much self-importance to themselves. They teach their kids how to respect older people, especially parents; they would treated a like God, listen to them, follow their wishes and orders, like some kind of divine Order.
And it doesn’t matter whether parents are wise or the dumbest Person in the world... No, you must follow without questioning, or you won’t get a place in heaven; instead, you will be put into hell. That’s the belief here.
So, if the villagers didn’t know that this man wasn’t his father, and Karna didn’t accept him as a father, the villagers would have kicked him out, treating his father like that even though they knew he was a thief.
Anyway, this parents’ shit didn’t suit him. In his last life, they sent him to a mental hospital and didn’t even come to visit him. So, he didn’t want to get trapped in some kind of parents’ nonsense ever again. Especially not with this world’s logic, which would be too absurd.
Seeing his so-called father still wasn’t standing up, he lost patience.
"I have to tell you something. I’m leaving this village, so next time I won’t come to save you," Karan told him.
" Really! Hahaha.. Finally, finally hahaha.. Go son Go!, I will tell this good news to everyone hahahahahahahaa. Finally, finally, my son was leaving!" He immediately stood up.
Karna saw him running away while happily laughing, loudly shouting. Thinking of God.
Karna’s eyes twisted. "This bastard"
Karna came and told him first, and that’s’s how he was reacting... ungrateful bastard! ... I took care of him for seventeen years for nothing, 14 at least for sure.
That was true; after this man brought him into his house, he didn’t raise him. Karna was raised by the villagers. But when Karna was able to walk, he started running around, doing whatever he wanted, not listening to anyone.
He never stayed at that man’s house; he slept sometimes outside under trees or even in the forest, well, of course, after he found out he had divine armour.
Though Most villagers also welcomed him into their houses since he was a cute kid and always clean, some even believed he was a divine child. So, in his childhood, he was pretty much free and could do whatever he wanted...
***