Transmigrated As A Baby Villain-Chapter 57: King’s Court II

"Yo! He’s allowed to vote?" A male voice rang from the other side of the circle.

Jay was very touched by Eugene’s courage to vote, and he would like to think that the Wonder Soldier is doing it because of the toddler, for the toddler. Right now, the blonde man was being put in the spotlight as much as the subject of the vote.

"A Wonder Soldier?" An older masculine voice piped in. "Queen, did you count his vote?"

"Not yet, Wolf." JJ let out a sigh before she bumped her shoulder into the Red King’s side. "Jay, should we?"

Before her companion could answer, a teenage girl stepped forward, followed by a boy her age.

"I think his vote counts," Her triangle face looked exhausted, but she still smiled at the young couple. "He took down so many raiders and saved my brother."

Her bravery led to many voices in the community speaking up,

"Yeah, he killed the screaming psycho! I say he counts!"

"I hate Wonder Soldiers, but if he’s keeping his words he’s gonna bring us stuff, then his vote counts."

"Count him! I don’t know his name, but count him!"

"The Wonder Soldier is one of us now!"

"Pirate?" The Red King looked at the community leader expectantly.

The one eyed woman’s hand was rubbing her chin while she’s in thought. After a few seconds, she faced the Last Wonder Soldier.

"Eugene Romanov, do you want your vote to count?"

Lady, the poor guy is still having his hand up, and so is everyone else who’s voting this round, so obviously he wants to be counted.

"It’s an honor." Eugene nodded at her.

Jay couldn’t help but look at his female caretaker. The teenage girl turned to smile at him when she felt his eyes on her.

"Twenty one." JJ whispered to her companion.

"Twenty one for exile." The Red King echoed her count as he looked through the crowd once more. "There’s a few of you who didn’t vote."

A few people looked at a tall dark skinned man who’s being carried by his two friends, and one of the friends stated, "Donny got knocked out. I arn’t voting for him."

Jay didn’t expect to see a middle aged woman stepping out of the crowd into the circle.

"I didn’t." She admitted, "I don’t want to."

"Margaret!" Pirate groaned in frustration, but she didn’t push her friend to make a decision.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Luca cried out after his second failed attempt to escape. He quickly waved his hand in the air. "My vote counts! I’m still your trade expert!"

Instead of support, his action only gained glares and scoffs from the community members. Their reaction made the traitor’s face twitched. His hand hovered over the machete strapped on his belt, but another man grabbed his arm before he could.

"What?! Can’t I use my—"

He stopped speaking when another person grabbed his other wrist.

"Your vote doesn’t count, Luca." The Red King’s words sounded like law. "You’re why we’re voting, traitor."

"Ya know what, mom, I’m voting." A boy no older than twelve raised his hand. "I don’t give a damn if you wanna marry him. He’s a traitor, so he gotta be kicked."

"There’s no evidence that he’s a traitor!" Panic was evident in the middle aged woman’s voice. "Pirate, please, please, think about this a bit more! Forgive him even if he’s wrong—"

"Margaret!" Wolf yelled out. "He opened the gates for those monsters! Do you think he’s gonna let you live?!"

"Yeah!" Another woman from the crowd added, "I saw him letting them in with my own two eyes!"

Her testimony got the crowd murmuring and whispering again, but they were quickly silenced when the Red King raised his voice.

"Margaret," The teenage boy’s tone remained steady as he questioned the woman. "Do you wanna reconsider voting? If you still don’t wanna vote, that’s alright. We’ll just tie him up until Donny wakes up and makes his decision."

Wolf, an older man with long salt and pepper hair, spoke up again, "I know that boy Donny. He won’t let Luca get away so easily. Margaret, my old friend, I love you, but I can’t let this slide. You want that bastard alive, then vote."

Margaret looked like she was about to cry, but she took in a deep breath and raised her hand.

"I vote for exile." Her voice was barely audible.

"Twenty two for death and twenty three for exile." JJ announced. "If you want to reconsider, this is your last chance."

"I still think he deserves to be stabbed." Someone from the other side of the circle admitted. "But whatever."

"How about we drop him off far far far away from here?" A girl, who voted for death, suggested.

Wolf nodded at the young girl, and he raised his hand. "I changed my vote to exile. Drop him off in the forest."

"Twenty one for death and twenty four for exile." The Red King caught their attention once more. "Anyone else want to change their vote?"

Various forms of "no" were thrown around for a bit before the verdict was declared. "We’re exiling Luca Fortuson. June and Dragon, can you drop him off in the forest?"

On cue, the man holding Luca’s wrist gave a thumbs up at the Red King. Pirate was glaring at the traitor, but once the crowd started dispersing, she walked away without looking back. She didn’t even help June and Dragon when they tied up the traitor.

After the two escorts left with the traitor in their car, people started to clean up. Bodies of raiders were dragged away for cremation while their vehicles and weapons were taken apart.

Eugene offered to get them some canned goods before sundown, and they saw him off not before getting his number. So far, only Pirate had access to a phone in the junk yard.

While the adults were busy cleaning up the mess, the kids were lined up at the well to get shower water. Jay never caught Margaret’s son’s name even though he was chatting up Thor while they’re in line. JJ was humming a tune as she wiped the grime off the toddler’s face.

"La, la, la... La, la. La, la, la, la." The transmigrator tried to copy her tune, and he was rewarded with a pitch on his cheek and a smiley JJ.

Lunch passed by pretty fast when they were enjoying bread baked by Pirate herself. Then, most people got back to work cleaning up or sorting out valuable metals from the trash.

Jay wondered if their living conditions ever get any better. The original book never mentioned any of this, or how Kaon even grew up with these people. Hell, the original book never mentioned the only friend his age was Eden Ryun the prison guard, nor how well Eugene Romanov the Last Wonder Soldier got along with the outside world. That guy shouldn’t even be alive, and yet he’s probably buying up an entire grocery store’s worth of canned beef right now just because Thor asked him to.

After he was fed and cleaned, Jay was running around the junkyard with his mom following behind him. She’s still a bit absent minded, but she still kept him from doing anything stupid like not watching his steps and accidentally falling off a hill.

Pirate soon joined them on their walk under the top bright afternoon sun; the cool autumn wind made it possible for them to not die from the burning sun.

"Pirate, I can refer some construction workers to you. Or independent contractors." JJ said out of the blue. "I’ll pay for it too." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"You don’t have to, Jay." The community leader sounded like she’s about to turn it down. "Where do you even get the money? A gold can barely fetch enough room for half of us."

The transmigrator had visited the junkyard enough times to notice that most members of the community called his dad "King" short for "Red King" because that’s what Pirate called him. They never really asked his mom for her name, so some of them, like Wolf and a few of the women, resorted to calling her "Queen." Pirate is one of the few people who referred to JJ by her first name.

"Don’t worry about money." The teenage girl shrugged. "Jay and I got it covered. Mostly me paying for it. He won’t say no to me getting you a new cabin. And definitely a new building for the others too."

The toddler was holding his mom’s hand as they walked, and he sometimes waved at the other people. Most of the time, they stopped what they’re doing and waved back at him.

"New things in a place like ours attract unwanted attention." The one eyed woman looked away from the mother and child duo.

"Then let’s find somewhere else or claim this place as ours. As long as we don’t fight for more or become too flashy, people won’t destroy us." JJ suggested. "We learned from the Villain’s mistakes."