By the time Little Brother and I returned to the marsh, it was beginning to become daylight. I quickly fed the other 8 petals to my other siblings and consumed the last one. While we were exercising, Arthur hopped over to us. Wow, he actually moved over to our log. I wonder what it is this time. No, I’m pretty sure I know what it is.

“Where did you get that petal?”

See?

‘From a powerful friend.’

“Can I see him?”

‘Probably. But don’t expect him to come help or just hand out more petals. He has his own job to do.’

Don’t involve people who don’t matter. The reason I freaked out so bad for Little Brother was his wound was getting infected. We live in dirty water that has many little organisms that feed on all sorts of gross things. If I hadn’t fed him that petal, he could’ve died!

Besides, the look this asshole gives me is the worst. After spending so much time here, I can actually tell his emotions now. He is really angry I don’t help him out. Now that he knows I have a powerful ally, he can’t just commit any atrocity against us so easily.

“I wish to see him.”

‘Okay, he’s at the end of the river. He is a big black turtle who goes by Mr. Black. He’s a Guardian of the lake.’

“No, I can’t leave this place. He needs to come here.”

‘But if he leaves, trouble will happen. So he can’t.’

Arthur’s eyes are nearly popping out of his head, although most frogs’ eyes do that. His, however, are bloodshot and throbbing like they are about to pop.

“I. Can’t. Leave.”

‘Then I guess you don’t need to see him that badly.’

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He jumped up into the air and when he landed back down, he had enlarged himself by breathing in. All my siblings stood at attention, ready to fight. Out of nowhere, the other tens of guards appeared and also enlarged themselves.

I had no idea how they would fight, but if push comes to shove, I can always use my super moves. Speaking of, I never saw the aftermath of the whirlpool back at the small pond.

From the skies, bird calls could be heard. Immediately, the frogs all jumped for the nearby logs and ceased their aggression. Even Arthur acted like a little coward, deflating himself and running away. I wondered what could possibly be so bad when I saw it. A heron.

I didn’t order a King!

So this was the Tyrant. Indeed, I was reminded of the old story of the frogs wishing for a King. But, then why is it so small? Or are we just big? The heron stood about my height, making Arthur’s cowardliness seem unnecessary. Why be afraid of such a small bird?

Well, my doubts were answered when a strange breeze kicked up and swirled around the heron. It was using magic! Or…not. It was just beating its wings. Really? Just beating its wings caused such a change? I activated my Drills and Strengthened my legs to quickly jump towards the heron.

The power behind my legs caused me to appear as if I nearly teleported directly in front of the heron, bearing down on it with a sharp blue cone spinning at it. The heron just sniffed and flapped his wings, instantly killing my acceleration. Thankfully, it didn’t stop the Drill. The attack approached the heron and just as the tip almost hit the bird, it dissipated and turned back into water drops.

What? What happened?! Damn, can’t get sidetracked here!

“You foolish idiot. I am an honorable noble. Your disgusting existence is nothing compared to mine. Just yield and become my feed.”

‘Fat chance.’

I activated Strengthening again but this time focused it around my legs and arms as well. I punched towards the egotistical bird and felt my punch connect, but bounced back. How hard was this stupid bird?!

“Is that all? Die.”

Out of nowhere, a pink whip with a blue orb on the end smacked the stupid bird in the face, making a strange cloud of steam appear and block my vision. Was that Big Brother? It was! And here’s Little Brother! Thanks for the reed! If magic won’t work, let’s use tools!

There were the four of us prancing around the aggravated stork wannabe while large tongues whipped him when he was distracted. We may not have been tough, but we were faster. He tried to fly up, but I quickly jumped on his back when he wasn’t paying attention. When I struck out the base of where his head met his neck, he trembled and fell down a little, giving my Big Siblings the chance to lasso him with their tongues.

We pulled him to the ground and he was soon covered with the grimy water. He got so enraged he threw us all off! He was still this strong! Luckily, I had damaged him pretty good with the neck strike and he was visibly weakened.

“You bastards! Just die!”

The heron finally began flapping his wings while the air around us began to converge onto a small spot located directly in front of his face. It started to change into a shape with strange symbols around it. Was this magic?

I had to stop it!

I quickly jumped as hard as I could, slamming my body into the heron’s chest and disrupting the spell. I heard a crash and felt a force push me into the water at an unbelievable level. This was devastating! Well, if we had been right there. After I had tackled the Tyrant, we had already been thrown a couple feet away before the spell backfired.

It seems that the heron also suffered mentally or spiritually since he was bleeding from his beak. I took the sharp reed and tried to add the energy to the reed like when I use Strengthening. I struck down with the spinning force combined with a physical object.

The reed pierced the heron’s chest and red blood splattered all over me, dirtying the water around me even more. After making sure it was dead, I realized I was extremely hungry. Almost by instinct, I began plucking the bird and draining the blood. I was wanting some cooked food for once!

I looked around for dry twigs and good rocks. I used my power to easily absorb the moisture out of the sticks, but not all of it. I wasn’t that talented yet. I used the reed as the pole and some good sticks to prop it up. I slowly turned the bird over and over, cooking it slowly and thoroughly. I had done my fair share of cooking when I lived by myself.

Plus, the smell even seemed to coax the other frogs out of hiding.

After a while, I peeled some pieces for my siblings and we ate our reward with relish. Arthur approached as shiftily as he could. I could clearly see he wanted to taste some. I had some extra, but I really didn’t want to give it to him. What should I do? Speak my mind, or be polite?

Naw, I had enough being polite. I was always told to do this and do that when I didn’t even want to. I was limited by others and was told that I was good enough. Then others told me I would never be good enough. I wanted to change.

‘You didn’t help, why should you eat?’

He looks completely surprised by my response. But he does realize he’s in the wrong.

“I was just wondering what it tasted like. You are correct, we have no right.”

Does he think this reverse psychology guilt tripping bull will work on me? Ha. Fine, but only a leg.

‘If you truly want to help your soldiers to grow, share.’

He didn’t. He took one nibble and chowed the whole thing down by himself.

“Haha! That was good! Maybe we should do this more often!”

‘We will be leaving soon. The ten of us, the others will remain here. We can’t be staying here where there’s not enough room.’

“Come on, the Tyrant is gone! We can live peacefully and have all of the marsh again! There should be more than enough room!”

You idiot. A bird just doesn’t pop out of thin air. It must have come from a family.

‘We need to get stronger, not fatter. Thank you, but we won’t be staying here. We will travel further upstream to check out the source of this water.’

Arthur quieted down and dismally stared at the fire.

“Then goodbye.”

That was all he said before he hopped away back to the logged area. By the time morning came, the ten of us had left. What we didn’t realize was we had followers.

When we stopped to rest later that night, they appeared.