Chronicles of the darcsen brotherhood
Chapter 2: Peace time
We finally arrived at Bruhl, after a long time traveling and surviving that attack from the raiders, at least we may have some time of peace, said that the empire would still take some weeks t get to Bruhl, that, of course, if the town guard could hold them off. When we entered the city, we were instructed to go to an address, it was a big building that was being used as a refugee camp or something like it, the old man that was the owner of the place was really kind and took us in despite the fact that we were darcsens, it's good to know that at times of war, there still people who don't judge a book by its cover.
The days passed, and so we meet a lot of people that were in the same situation as us, we also got temporary jobs to help the kind old man, although what he is doing is right and its helping a lot of people, it must cost a lot of money, and it's not like he is rich or working for the government, so we decided to help him, so as the others. My father worked as a engineer to the army, but he was also an inventor, he made lots and lots of weapons for the army, but not all of the projects were accepted, so i worked fixing the weapons and tanks for the town guards, and i have to say, the situation of the tanks was not the best, they were more like relics from the first great war so there was not much that i could do to repair them, Nazir is also helping me, after all, he was a bounty hunter, he must know about weapons and this kind of stuff more than i do, Zanna and Nanah got a job as assistants in a bakery not too far from the refugee camp, Mannar worked helping the new refugees and survivors that came to the town by the days that have passed, and Zig worked carrying ammo, food, medical supplies and ragnite containers to the center of the town, and for sure there was a lot of ragnite, guess the Empire is getting closer and closer to Bruhl and they are trying to gather as many ragnite as they can.
One day, when me and Nizar were finished for the day, so we closed our little "store" (as if it could be called that) that was not too much, just a space in the alley were we got to small benches and got a suitcase with all the tools that we needed to fix the weapons and some other things, and we were on our way home. The bakery were Zenna and Nanah were working was just in the way, so we decided to pass there and see if they were okay to go back to the refugee camp.
- Hey there! Zenna! Nanah!
- Oh hi! Brother!
- Hello there, Neroh! Nazir!
I looked around and saw the bakery, the outside seems pretty fancy, but in the inside it was nothing more than a ordinary bakery.
- So, are you two good to go back to the camp?
- You're two are going already?
- Yeah, we finished things today, so Neroh thought it would be a good idea if we got here and see if you two were already good to go.
- I think we are almost done, right Nanah?
- I guess we are, but we need to tell the manager.
- Oh, right! Alicia, we're done for today, we're leaving okay? – Zenna shouted to the back door that seems to leave to the oven of the bakery.
- Okay! Just wait a second! – Replied someone in the backroom
After some seconds i hear the footsteps from the backroom coming closer to the front part of the bakery, from the door, appeared a beautiful young girl, of brown hair and two pigtails, wearing a red and white headband, she seems to be really kind and nice.
- Alicia, this is my brother, Neroh, and this is his friend, Nazir.
- Oh, so you're the big brother that Zenna talks so much about, i'm Alicia Melchiott, nice to meet you!
- Oh, nice to meet you too! I hope my little sister didn't cause you to much trouble…
Zenna turns to me with an angry look on her face.
- Neroh!
- Ha ha ha, calm down, i'm just kidding! – I said that while petting her on the head
- Geez! You always treat me like a child! I'm sixteen you know!
- C'mon, i'm just kidding
After a moment, were everyone laughed a little, Alicia looked at my direction and said:
- Actually, i have to thank your sister and Nanah, without her help it would be really hard to run this bakery every day, you see, the owner of this bakery has gone sick, and after that i've being trying to run this bakery all by myself, and it didn't work pretty well, since i am also a member of the town guard, it has being really hard, but after Zenna and Nanah offered themselves to work here, things got pretty easy.
- I see… Well, thanks for accepting her for the job, i was really worried since she didn't really had any experience in this kind of job.
- Neroh! Stop it already! Geez, you idiot! – She said that while punching me in the arm.
- Ouch! Okay okay, i got it, i'll stop it! Ha ha…
- Here, take this with you before you two go, think of this as a thanks for helping me so much this days that have passed. – Alicia hands two paper bags filled with bread to Zenna and Nanah, and i gotta say, if that's a thanks for the help they two provided, than for sure it was a lot of help.
- Thank you so much Alicia!
- Thanks you manager!
- You're welcome!
After we got the bags we said bye to Alicia and got our way to the camp, we were having a nice talk when i wasn't watching my way and suddenly bumped into someone.
- Ouch! Sorry for that, are you okay? – I stretched my hand in the direction o the person that i've bumped into, she was a young darcsen girl, maybe the same age as Zenna, with short hair, she grabbed my hand and stood up.
- Thanks! I'm okay!
- Neroh! Watch out when you're walking! – Zenna said looking at me, she seemed really mad.
- Please, don't fight because of me! I'm fine, really.
- Anyway, sorry for bumped into you, at least let me help you with all your shopping.
We walked along with her and got into a big mansion, rumors from the local villagers said that this was the home of a national hero, we entered and saw that the inside was fancy as the outside, a house really worth its fame i guess…
- You can put them in the balcony over there
- Wow! You sure have a beautiful home!
- It's actually my father's home.
- And where is h now?
- He's not here anymore, he died a while ago…
- Oh! Sorry for asking…
- No problem at all, by the way, i didn't really catch your guys names.
- I'm Neroh!
- I'm Zenna!
- I'm Nanah, nice to meet you!
- And i'm Nazir!
- Thanks for helping me everyone! My name is Isara Gunther!
For a moment everyone got quite for some minutes, i couldn't believe what she just said, i need to confirm it.
- I- i'm sorry, but did you just said Gunther?
- Yes! Isara Gunther! That's me!
- You mean that you're the daughter of General Gunther? The hero of the great war? – Said Nanah really surprised by her reply to my question.
- Yes, that's right!
- Wow, incredible! – Said Zenna.
- But there's one thing i can't understand. – Said Nazir while looking through some paintings on the walls of the mansion. – If you're he's daughter, how come that you're a darcsen and he's not?
- Actually, now that i think about, it would be impossible for her to be he's daughter, unless she is… - i thought to myself.
- I'm not really his daughter by blood, you see, my true father was a really close friend to him, and when he died, General Gunther accepted me as member of his own family, along with his son, my brother.
- And where is your brother now?
- He has traveled south to do some bug hunting, he really is a lover of nature, i just hope that he is okay and that he is coming to Bruhl soon.
- Well, i hpe so too, but anyway, sorry again for bumping into you, but we gotta go now.
- Thanks for your help, and if i can help you anyway you need just ask me, okay?
- All right, no problem! Bye then!
- Bye Isara!
- Bye everyone!
After that we got back to the camp, i talked with Mannar to see if he had any news about his daughter, he said that she is not in Bruhl, and all he wants is to find her and know how she is.
I wake up the next morning and prepared myself with Nizar to go out and continue our work
- Here you go! – I handle a rifle that i have fixed to the town guard captain.
- Thanks! Boy, you got some talent! Could you look at my pistol to?
- Sure! – But before i could get the pistol from his hand, a town guard came in a rush, looks like he really needed to talk to the captain…
- Captain! Captain! We got really bad news!
- Alexander? What are you doing here? Were you not supposed to be in the borders?
- That's why i'm here sir, i got as fast as i can. – He actually looked really exhausted, something tells me that he was running the whole day.
- Calm down and say it slowly Alxander, what is it?
- The… the Empire… they are coming here… To Bruhl!
- What?
- It's looks like that we have 4 days to prepare before they reach Bruhl.
Now we had a new problem, they said 3 days ago that the empire would take at least 2 weeks before they could get to Bruhl if the town guard could hold them off… Does this mean that… that the town guard has failed? And if they have failed, what are we gonna do right now? We only have 4 days, i know that we can't defend ourselves in the military state that the town is, the only other option is a massive evacuation of the town, and if we're gonna do it, we need to do it fast…