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The village of Obu was a beautiful small village known to be the most peaceful village among its neighboring villages. While other villages admired the village of Obu and wished their villages could be as peaceful as Obu, everyone had forgotten the sacrifices the village of Obu had to make to become so peaceful.

In the past, the village of Obu was always so peaceful. It was a village that went to war almost every week. There was a rival village named Abo, which was constantly at war with the village of Obu. For decades, the village of Obu and its rival village Abo had been fighting wars, thereby sacrificing the lives of many warriors.

Before the village of Obu finally won its war with its rival village, there was a mighty warrior king, King Uche, who reigned for 25 years. King Uche was the King of Obu, and he ruled the village with an iron fist. Right from when Uche was just a prince, his late father and King had been training him for war and combat, knowing that one day, King Uche would take over the throne when he passed away, and that’s exactly what happened.

It was during King Uche’s Tenure that the unending war between the village of Obu and the village of Abo ended. Weeks before the war ended, the village of Obu suffered greatly in the hands of the Abo villagers. Warriors from Abo would forcefully enter Obu and raid the villagers, ambush and kill Obu warriors and steal their crops, women and children.

When King Uche could not watch anymore as his warriors died as animals, he decided that he would join the war and fight off the rival village. Even though King Uche knew that it was against the rules of their village for a King to leave his throne and go to war, King Uche knew that if he did not do something fast, he would have no land or villagers to rule in a few weeks.

The nonstop war was already straining the villagers, causing them to send young and old men to the war front. As expected, the elders of the village tried to dissuade King Uche from going to war, but his mind was made up. On the 7th day of that particular war outbreak, King Uche changed the history of the village of Obu. With his mighty strength and swordsmanship, King Uche Won and ended the war permanently, but unfortunately, he didn’t make it out of the battlefield alive because some of the warriors of Abo killed him and ran away.

Though the villagers of Obu were glad and rejoiced over their victory, they were very sad because they had lost a mighty king. As of the time King Uche passed away, he had an 18-year-old princess named Esa. Esa was King Uche’s only child; by the village tradition, she was the next heir to the throne since King Uche had no son to succeed him. 

Unlike the princesses of other villages who were soft, feminine, and interested in feminine things, Princess Esa was different. She was more interested in the things a typical princess should have no business with. For example, when King Uche was alive, Esa loved hunting with her father.  King Uche had trained her on how to handle guns and how to shoot arrows. In fact, not only was Esa skilled in Archery and animal hunting, but she was also a skilled swordsman, just like her father. Despite her pretty face and feminine nature, Esa always acted tough and disciplined. She barely hung out or played with girls but was always in the midst of boys. 

 She was also a lovely and caring person with a charming personality. The only problem with Esa was that no one understood how she could have multiple personalities at the same time. One minute, she could be laughing with one of her palace maids; the next, she could be ordering the execution of the same Palace maid if the maid offended her.

So, after her father’s untimely demise, Esa became Queen of the village of Obu, and just like her late father, she ruled the village with an iron fist. It was because of Esa that the village of Obu maintained and lived in peace for many years after her father’s death.

Esa did not give any room for wars to break out, and she hated troublemakers. If she ever heard that there was trouble brooding in the village of Obu or that another village was planning to attack them, Esa and the warriors of Obu would strike first before the other villagers carried out their plans.

It was through Esa’s constant cleverness and wisdom that the village of Obu became a model of peace to other villages. Shortly after Esa became Queen of Obu, the news of clever mind, wisdom, and iron fist traveled to different villages, and she grew popular among the neighboring villages.

Exactly two years after Esa took over her father’s throne, the elders of the village began to persuade her to find a husband for herself. The elders claimed that even though Esa was a strong queen, she still needed a man to be her King. They also claimed that no village could be sustained under the rulership of just a queen, so Esa needed to marry a husband.

For five years, Esa refused to listen to the Elders because she knew every one of them was trying to get her to marry their sons, and that was not what Esa wanted. Esa wanted to marry a man she genuinely loved, and she kept telling the elders that when the time was right, she would find herself a Husband and the future King of Obu.

When Esa eventually clocked 26 and had ruled the village of Obu for 8 years, she decided that it was time for her to settle down. By this time, the weight of being the Queen of Obu was already taking its mental toll on her, and she desperately needed a king to help her. 

As part of Obu’s culture and tradition, Esa announced that she was looking for a Husband. To help her pick a strong man who would rule side by side with her, she organized a wrestling competition for men. According to Esa, the wrestling competition was open to men from Obu and men from the neighboring villages as well. She did not want to confine her search for a husband to just the village of Obu.

Three days after Esa announced the wrestling competition, the competition started. As expected, able-bodied men from far and wide all showed up for the competition. Since the competition was open to men from other villages, more than 200 men showed up to fight for Esa’s hand in marriage.

According to the competition rules, only one man would be declared the winner, and whoever won the competition would marry Esa and become King of Obu. On the very first day of the competition, there was a man who stood out among the other fighters. His name was Olisa, and he was a very skilled fighter. Aside from being a skilled fighter, Olisa was a very handsome, tall man with a broad chest, well-built muscles, and attractive dark skin. He was also around Esa’s age.

Esa noticed Olisa from the first time he stepped into the wrestling ring, and she was instantly attracted to him. Though Esa did not think that Olisa would make it to the end of that day’s competition, surprisingly, he did. Even though Olisa was not as huge and muscular as the other wrestlers, he managed to make it through the first week of the wrestling.

Because of Olisa’s unmatched strength and fighting skills, he became very popular among the villagers of Obu, and the villagers began to root for him. As time passed, Esa realized that each time she watched Olisa fight with the other villagers, she would secretly pray for him to win because she had become attracted to him. 

Not only that, but the young girls in the village also liked Olisa. From where Esa sat to watch the wrestling match, she would see other girls smiling at Olisa and trying to seductively touch him, which made Esa very jealous. 

The wrestling match lasted for two weeks, and at the end of those two weeks of constantly fighting, Esa’s prayer was answered. Olisa won the match, thereby making him eligible to marry Esa, and when this happened, Esa was very happy. 

None of the fighters introduced themselves before the wrestling began because the competition rule demanded that only the winner introduce himself at the end of the fight. After Olisa won the fight and was announced as the winner, he was to properly introduce himself to Esa, the elders, and the villagers and mention his village. 

“Greetings to you, my Queen, Elders, and villagers of Obu. My name is Olisa, and I am a warrior from the village of Abo,” Olisa introduced himself. 

Immediately Olisa mentioned that he was from the village of Abo, the rival village that had claimed King Uche’s life, all the villagers gasped in shock, and they began to murmur.

“How dare you set your foot in this village?” One of the elders asked.

“You should have known that this competition was not open to you or anyone from your village,” another elder said in a hoarse and angry tone.

“Silence!” Esa said as she raised her hand. Immediately, Esa raised her hands, the Elders apologized, and the villagers bowed their heads in respect.

“You all have constantly told me that what is in the past remains in the past. It is true that my late father died at the hands of Abo warriors, but that was a long time ago. Our village has been known as the village of peace for years. What will the neighboring villages say when they hear that I went against my word and did not marry the winner of the wrestling competition because he is from a rival village? Esa asked. 

“But my Queen. It is against the …”

“I don’t want to hear another word from any of you,” Esa said immediately. The plan was to marry whoever won this competition, and this man right here has proven himself worthy of my hand in marriage,” Esa said, pointing to Olisa. 

Even though Esa knew that it was wrong and against the tradition of Obu to marry anyone from the Abo village, she still wanted to marry Olisa because she had fallen deeply in love with him. The next day, Esa called for a meeting with the elders, and she tried to persuade them to see eye to eye with her.

“But my elders, if we claim we are a land of peace, are we not supposed to make peace with the land of Abo?” Esa asked during the meeting.

“No, Queen Esa. Our ancestors who lived before us all knew the dangers of trying to marry from the village of Abo. The two villages can never live as one,” one of the elders responded.

“I believe that if I marry Olisa and he becomes King Of Obu, there will be no more wars, and the two villages can finally live in harmony,” Esa said in a bid to persuade them.

“Have you forgotten that you slaughtered the 200 men who planned to attack our village 7 months ago? I don’t think the villagers of Abo have forgotten so soon,” another elder responded.

“But this situation is different, ” Esa said.

“No, it is not. If Olisa becomes King of Abo, it will be a bloodbath between the village of Abo and Obu. Do not endanger your people. It is not too late to compensate Olisa for his strength and skill during the competition. You do not need to marry him,” one of the elders said.

“Hmmm! My elders, I hear you, but I’m afraid I have made up my mind about this decision. I will go ahead and marry Olisa because he is the man after my heart,” Esa said, and with that, the elders said nothing else.

“We will go ahead with the marriage ceremony, and if anything happens after this, then I will bear responsibility for it,” Esa added, and all the elders nodded in Unison.

About a week after Esa met with the elders, she announced her marriage to Olisa. She also invited all the neighboring villages, including the village of Abo, to the wedding ceremony. The wedding ceremony lasted for a whole week, and for that entire week, there was plenty of food and drinks for everyone.

After their marriage, Olisa moved into the Queen’s quarters with Esa. The two of them lived together, and Esa envisioned they would live happily ever after. After their marriage, both the villagers of Obu and the villagers of Abo expected that Esa would crown Olisa as King almost immediately, but they were all wrong. Even Olisa tried to softly persuade Esa to crown him as King, but Esa told him she would only do that when the time was right.

Esa understood the implications of crowning Olisa as King without getting to know him properly. As King, Olisa had the right to change certain rules and regulations that had guided the village of Obu for centuries, but Esa wanted to know him better before giving him such power. 

Watch out for part two

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