The God of Cookery

by havok038

"Food is the medicine of the soul". Hitoshi Furuta tried long and hard to distance himself from the stigma of his violent past by following this creed his Shishou left him. But when a kindred spirit reaches out to him from another world beyond the Gate, how much is he willing to let go, to fight in order to save her wrongfully condemned soul? If so, could she save his?

33. Chapter 33 - Amidst the Firestorm

Author's Notes:

Been busy trying to secure a work placement after losing one with the university over some guideline reforms related to the outbreak. Still looking and thus spending less time writing. (Heartbreak)

---

The smell of burning bark, the neighing of warhorses and the angry but coordinated shouts of men forming up in the distance. The haunting echoes of war coming from the forest were all too familiar to the many inhabitants of Ascension and what was to come. Naturally, the person they sought for advice on how they may avoid certain peril was in no shape to answer it. They got their answer by means of witnessing the damage wrought by the outsider refugees, or what they were now being told was a ruse fabricated by Pro-war aligned Imperials.

There were two casualties sustained that night, SFG Assassin received a gash from a javelin that nearly skewered his insides that had fortunately deflected off his ceramic hard plate. Noriko wasn't so lucky, a punctured gut and a major artery that had been grazed and exposed, if she didn't receive emergency treatment immediately, she was as good as gone. Mari was put to work immediately with her as a top priority which Assassin had been given morphine to curb the pain, but he was no longer combat effective.

So there was no one to look after Tyuule, who had suddenly gotten silent from shock. After all the rage and excitement had vanished, she had been barraged with frantic questions and advice on what to do by the inhabitants. There was only so much Yam could do, even if she was a talented bodyguard who only just proved her helpfulness. Kenzaki had no time to do that either as he coordinated with the SFGs to distribute weapons and ammunition to several strong points where they could fend off the aggressors with their limited manpower.

Tyuule just sat with a vacant look on a chair within the Armskote where she had been quickly briefed on their defense plan by Kenzaki before he left. He didn't even have time to confirm if she heard it all or not when the buzz of 20mm shells from the air defense cannon brought him out to see the Imperials attempting an air raid. The blood on her face, Noriko's blood that hadn't been attended to had dried up. She needed time and a quiet place to herself, of which the former was not afforded to her, but she took it anyway. She needed to, or else Tyuule was sure that her entire psyche would break down.

Deep down, behind the rage and resentment she had for the Imperials and who currently led them. There was a deep-rooted fear. A trauma that had been reawaken, causing her to shake uncontrollably and developing a chilling sensation throughout her body even though she was fully insulated in clothing and indoors. Paralyzing her movement and restricting her thoughts to only the things around her, the competence that she had when governing the settlement had mysteriously vanished. And in its place was the same young and anxious queen of the Warrior Bunnies. The sound of the worried settlers began to die down outside, perhaps Yam had managed to settle them down, curious that of all times, she only showed off her talent when it was needed.

"Here." The vapor emerging from a warm cup held in front of her snapped her from the vicious cycle of worry. Instinctively, she accepted this token given freely by the gentleman who was also the master of this place of steel and gunpowder.

"M-..Master Sindri-… I can't-." As much as the delectable aroma tempted her, there was a time and place.

"You've no good to anyone the way you are now." The armorer of southeast islands was blunt but truthful to her as she accepted the warm cup reluctant, albeit for only a brief moment.

Sindri sat opposite her with a mug of his own that had the same golden frothy liquid brew which he drank calmly, almost as if this was just another day in the week for him. Was he not crucial to distributing weapons and ammunition to the warriors? Then again, Kenzaki and his clansmen had already helped themselves to the many armaments lying around, as well as boxes of ammunition.

"Mochizuki is in good hands. Despite being only a corpsman, Kurokawa was once a medical intern at Médecins Sans Frontières, before…. all of this." He assured her even though she had no idea what kind of organization that was, probably one of great prestige if Sindri bothered to mention it.

Against her conscience, she took a quick drink without even taking note of its temperature that might have scorched her tongue. But Sindri had taken great care in its handling before bestowing it upon his favorite student and working colleague just as he did for his own.

A milky sweet concoction with the taste of ginger and cinnamon mixed carefully, and its sugary texture was thicker and richer than what was normal yet not overpowering, it wasn't the ordinary sugar. She barely had time to process these thoughts like she usually did when she tried something new of Furuta's before giving an accurate assessment that pleased the latter of her "gift of taste", as he called it. The same could be said for the previous sense of urgency and anxiety that clouded her thoughts.

And just when things were getting good, it got better when Sindri held out a hot towel roll. Waving that she should wipe the blood and dirt from her face. She graciously accepted it after he unraveled it and patted it, releasing a cloud of steam and much of the heat to cool the towel a more comfortable temperature.

When the towel was placed on her face with her hands, she felt all the stress and cold wash away. The scent of lavender permeated from the steam, calming her nerves further. The warm fluids of that unusual drink had too kicked in and removed the cold from her stomach as well.

"Feeling better?" Sindri asked.

"Yes. Thank you, Master Sindri. Um….. How did you find the time to make this?" Even with her cup half full, Tyuule could tell that this concoction wasn't easy to make.

"I was preparing a night snack when the Lieutenant had his subordinate called me over." He justified.

"Enough for two?" Then what about the portion for both of them? The armorer simply smiled in reply.

"There are times when I just feel like rewarding myself too, you know. Although I'm pleased that Lady Iota enjoyed it." She had said nothing, but her facial and body language said otherwise.

"You're welcome."

"Thank you, it was delicious." Tyuule quickly corrected herself by acknowledging it before asking the next question.

"May I ask what this drink is called?"

"Saraba (farewell)." Which confused her as to why he said goodbye in Nihon, as if telling her that he had enough of her.

"I beg your pardon?" She exclaimed, although, Tyuule had faith that perhaps it was some sort of misunderstanding on her part, as Sindri chuckled and shook his head to confirm it.

"It's not Japanese for goodbye, it's a local drink where I'm from." Tyuule remembered Baldr mentioning that Sindri was born in an archipelago state called Indonesia, a place where the Aesir operated frequently before.

"I'm sorry for that mistake." She apologized for her hasty and offended reply, but Sindri waved it off as a trivial matter.

"No, you're fine. It's those mongrels I call friends that made it a running gag for the last three years." He shook his head whilst iterating a brief phase when the rest of the SR company had periodically teased him whenever he brewed his favorite beverage. Saying that it was his "final" drink, like the last meal of a death-row inmate and how it cursed all of them when he drank before a mission. Sindri didn't give a damn what they thought, but he didn't want that to become a trend even when the senior members retired, replaced by new recruits if any.

"In the place where I was born, Sulawesi. We have a pretty strong teatime culture." From Tyuule's perspective, Sindri was of a sophisticated heritage. It was common sense in Falmart that only the wealthy nobility could truly afford to enjoy anything that remotely resembled a past-time. A luxury only afforded to those who had both plenty of time and a high upkeep. Such an example would be the gossiping wives and consorts of the Imperial Court, very rarely was it a male activity given their position in governing and ruling the country. So for the Islanders of Indonesia and the one with a complicated history of rebelling against his national government to enjoy these privileges placed him highly in her regards.

"Master Sindri is indeed a talented brewer then." She said with sincerity as her current clarity of mind was made possible by this drink alone as she too was quite deep into the brewing trait herself.

Sindri made a grunt to acknowledge her compliment nonetheless as he dug into his pocket and pulled out a nightcap flask, pouring some of its fluids with strong alcoholic odor directly into his cup.

"It's gin. Something of a secret ingredient I do for myself usually." He offered to pour some in hers. Once again, Tyuule proved weak towards offers made with promise of unique flavors and nodded.

When her cup was refilled with this alcohol, Sindri was already finishing the last of his own before she started taking a sip. Milk was drank as milk, beer was drunken as beer. There was never a cause for one to think to mix the two thereby ruining its original flavor, or so she had thought until now.

"Tastes like Irish coffee, doesn't it." He said before realizing that there was no way she would know what that was. Indeed Tyuule had no idea what that was, but this unusual chemistry of drink tickled her tongue with flavors she would have not thought possible. Furthermore, it made the drink rather more enjoyable than it already was.

"The captain taught me this trick." He professed an answer to a question she never asked yet felt that it could only make sense when it came to Furuta.

"One-part gin to three-part drink. Said he got inspired by something he had in a cocktail bar we visited in Hamburg." He spoke almost as if he was talking to himself, but she was there to listen to it.

"I guess….. sometimes we tend to see things around us in our little bubble and call it the world without ever thinking to look further at the stuff that's out there."

"….." Sindri made his point, but to what end?

"What I did for those refugees-…." Tyuule pondered the genesis of this incident and how she was responsible for it happening once more.

"…. Was noble." But Sindri assured her otherwise, as he elaborated as to why.

"No one thinks to assume that everyone in the world has malice or ill will, if not these worlds would be too insane to live in."

"It already is." If he was trying to lessen her guilt for caving into such meek willed notions of charity, he was wrong.

"Once again, you did something that none of us thought for a second to do. And we're the ones with the guns and food surplus. I'd bet, not even the captain would think that." That can't be true, she thought. The Furuta she knew was never afraid to lose nor would he shy away from someone who was starving to death.

"No. Well… maybe that's not quite right." Sindri corrected himself whilst pondering on it. "What I meant to say was, not everyone extends a helping hand the moment someone asks for it."

Perhaps. Tyuule recalled that while Furuta was kind to others, he wasn't lenient nor sloppy. He was meticulous in his observation and his work. That's why Bouro had a hard time tracking him or find any hard evidence to pin on him, from the time he made that bistro down to his escape from Bassoon prison, only to suspiciously return back to Zorzal's company of all things. Causing the half-breed chieftain no end to their troubles. He didn't simply give freely as Sindri confirmed, he invested. And when an investment didn't pay off, he scrapped it. It was entirely different from what she did out of the goodness of her heart, expecting no positive returns out of it. The more she began to learn about herself, the harder it seemed Furuta was to understand.

"Was I mistaken?" As a direct consequence of her actions, she had compromised the safety of everyone in the settlement. She of all people knew how the Imperial Marauder groups operated, she proofread Lord Calasta's proposal to sanction the employment of bandits and mercenaries into vanguard cohorts to conduct pillaging and scorch earth ahead of the main army.

"I can't answer that." Sindri's bluntness was ever on point.

"I can't say for sure that even if there really were starving and crippled refugees among those Imperials who were used as human-camouflage. I can't say that if we had sent them away, they won't attack regardless." But while he was practical…

"But I can say that at least now, both them and the refugees outside now know they've stepped on the grace of someone they shouldn't have." That was the last in which Sindri used his words to try to convince her that there was nothing wrong. From there on, he placed one of his modified Springfield rifles in front of her on the table. As if to tell her that what was now required weren't words, but actions. Tyuule's fingers slid around the grip and sling of the rifle as if it was natural to her. This was the result of her extensive two-week training, she had never imagined how much this meant now of all dire times.

"You shot exceptionally well, for an amateur." He said as he slung another on around his shoulder and drew high powered rounds from an ammunition box. "…. Hitting a moving target at two hundred in low-light is no easy feat."

He had watched her use the commandeered Garand rifle to better effect than her brethren as they panicked in the fray. He finally understood what his captain meant when he said they were highly adaptive to warfare, despite their seeming affiliations to more peaceful activities. They just needed a wakeup call. After all, the Imperials didn't call them Warrior Bunnies for naught. Tyuule took the rifle that was handed to her and slung it ready to vacate the premises, following his lead out.

The machine gun fire had ceased, yet the tension in the air had not left, Tyuule knew that it was too wishful of her to believe that it would end so easily. This farce of theirs was weeks in the planning, the Imperial marauders wouldn't let go of their prey that easily. But they were aware that they were on limited time, until the Aesir Company returned, then, they stood no chance.

Which meant that if they could hold out for just a few days, this situation could pass without even a single bloodshed on her side, only….. blood had already been spilt and she wasn't going to allow Cimon's marauders to leave here alive with the knowledge of their existence.

"Ah!-.." As they departed the armskote and headed to the main pavilion where they agreed they would appease the populace of their worries that were long overdue, Tyuule realized that her face was completely without concealment.

"The Captain did say something about hiding your identity, did he." There were already in plain sight and far from the arms cache or her office, just steps away from the main pavilion were the main admin was conducted. When Sindri proposed something, she would not have even remotely thought.

"Actually, how recognizable was your face from before?" Tyuule had dared not even ponder if something did as she was aware of the feelings that her kind had towards her name. But how many really knew her from before? Parna was a Royal Guard, so there was no excuse for her not to remember. But what about Vivianne, elder of the Erste family?

"H-Hey, Master Armorer!?" Without consulting her, the armorer held her hand and pulled her along.

"Let's take a gamble, then." Hearing these careless words coming out from someone of his esteem was too much of a shock, but Tyuule was more concerned with refusing to comply by freeing herself.

"You must be joking, let go!" But Sindri held tighter as he pulled her along almost without effort despite how much stronger she was by race.

"Then, for how long?" He asked her sternly.

"…. How long…. What?" She responded confused.

"How long are you going to wait for them to find out on their own? How long are you going to keep it from them?" It wasn't as if she wanted to hide who she was, she wanted to retort. And Sindri could see that.

"You must have heard about how I joined the SR, ma'am. That was five years ago." Sindri started to indulge more of his story than push her further physically.

"For my time, I get to work in an environment that I always wanted, gain the respect that I deserved. But for my toils…. when its time for me to go home, I don't know if I'll be welcome or banished." As a former pirate and rebel, there was a possibility that the latter was more than likely. Regardless of whatever form of amnesty he earned from the Government.

"I'll have to tell them the things I did to survive. Worse, I'll have to live with the knowledge of what I did even if I get the chance to return to the life I once lived."

"But even so, I still want to go home." Sindri said with greater conviction.

"Because when I die, I don't want to be remembered as the boy who became the merciless cutthroat for fame or fortune but the man who was lost returned." When he left this world for the next, he wanted someone to still pray for him in the afterlife, easing his damnation. Thus, the punishment of being estranged or unforgiven was trivial price.

"Alright." The last words to have ever come out from her mouth left almost unconsciously.

She didn't know why, even when it was strategically unsound to do so without backup- no… that wasn't true. She was afraid, deep down inside just like she was all those years ago. She still was the same frightened child that she was sitting on the burning throne of Volgia. She just didn't want to admit it. Furuta had been there to give gradual pushes when she needed it, but what if one day he wasn't? Could she continue down this path without fear of the unknown future that awaited her?

"You're not alone, my lady." But then her hasty word was in-turn assured.

Turning to face the one speaking only to find a crowd of people who had assembled to her flank, it was Yam who spoke first as she wrapped a veil around her face, a spare one that she had kept on her behalf.

"She's right, these unruly folks want to strip us of our home and dignity!" Said a carpenter.

"If it's a fight they want, let's give it to them!" Added the tanner receiving a roar of approval.

"Calm yourself, men. Have you not forgotten that there are children to watch over and your women?" One of the warrior Bunnies reminded them to which they scratched their heads embarrassed for rousing excitement.

"The children are fine with me!" It was Nanami who replied from behind, with a whole lot of children beside her. Allowing them to rest easy if they were placed in her capable hands. She even made them give a cheer of encouragement to her to do her best. Tyuule let out a sigh that removed her anxiety for the last time before she spoke up once more to address those willing to do something about the incursion.

"I understand all of your eagerness and respect it dearly. Indeed, we must do something. While the Aesir and Fuyuki clan repel these Imperials for the return of the company. We shall give aid however we can, whenever we can. Feed those that are hungry, warm those that are cold, help bring them ammunition and most of all, be there for those who have no will to resist." Tyuule had lit up their hearts with these mere words.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, will you help me fight for our home?"

"""Yes!""" They answered in unison.

"Then let us protect our home!" And with that, they went out to do what they could for the settlement wherever help was needed. For even when the guns discharged again, they no longer carried fear of certain doom approaching.

Mira prepared the kitchen to serve food to those who had not eaten and restore some sense of working condition around them that things were still alright. The Imperial Marauders could still be kept at arms reach due to the mortars and autocannons ready to eviscerate their strongest ogres.

So certain of their survival and victory, that nothing could have prepared them for those twisted hearts who were already among them.

For their time to strike was now.

---

"""Heave Ho!""" In unison, they pushed the carts over the natural slope of the cavern tunnelway, thereby freeing the cart from its awkward angle and onto stable ground.

The Dallawan Brothers voiced no complaint as they took point and hammered or chiselled away at rock that impeded the way of the wide carts, all the while singing their local folk songs in unison. Almost like something out of the Disney adaptation of the Brothers Grimm Snow White fairy tale. Yet, they showed real professionalism in their work without overstraining themselves, always rotating when one of the five Dwarves needed to catch breath but making sure that it didn't cause delays.

According to Hitoshi's watch, it was a quarter past midnight, two hours since their departure and roughly a mile through ups and downs, lefts and rights in this labyrinth of tunnels.

"Boss, can we have a breather?" Kayn requested on behalf of his brothers as he tugged on his shirt.

Hitoshi looked behind to see his own companions to be huffing and swaying side to side. It was probably the narrow confines that were removing their sense of how much progress they'd made and how far they were till Mother Goose.

"Not here, the confines offer too little avenues." They were operating under the impression that they were in hostile remote territory, or at least unmonitored by the Dwarven Guard. They were lugging a heavy cart and were a large group in a small two-way tunnel with no escape routes visible.

Hitoshi unfolded a local map and shone his torch to see if there were places that allow them respite with Kayn.

"What about here, boss?" Kayn pointed to a location that had Dwarvish words overlapping the painted site.

"Papurath. It's a yellowstone mine. Abandoned now, of course." Kayn elaborated further.

"Sandstone in your language." Kugel addressed the translation of the ore that had previously been harvested there. A crucial raw material to building infrastructure.

"An abandoned and unmaintained mine. How is that a good place?" A mine that was not regularly reinforced had the hazard of frequent cave-ins, especially something as sedimentary as sandstone. He was no geological expert but these elementary things he was aware of.

Kayn looked more uncertain now that he put it that way but took heart and explained further.

"This particular mine they lined the walls with adamantite, but cave-ins might be the least of our worries in that mine." Why did he make it sound so ominous?

"Explain."

"…. It's haunted." Kayn's body language and expression read more as if one were telling a spooky story at a campfire.

"You're pulling my leg, right?" Hitoshi asked if he was serious.

"If you don't believe me, ask your Rune Priest and the Maiden back there. Am I right?"

"…." Kugel didn't say anything, but he didn't deny it either.

"Dagura Mine? Wasn't that the one that-…" Listening in on their conversation, Hadric the cart driver murmured to himself nearby.

"Alright, so how does an abandoned mine with a haunted background help us?" For which Kayn was eager to enlighten him.

"See, I figure if we Dwarves would avoid them. I'm pretty sure the Gnolls' magic users would do the same as well." Under normal circumstances, this was irrelevant. However, they were in a world where sometimes superstition might not be entirely fiction either."

"And you'd all be willing to go there?" Hitoshi questioned Kayn and his brothers' willingness to treat that superstition as nonsense.

"It would be best to avoid raising the alarm to the Gnolls since they roam in branching packs and rally to a Shaman at the soonest possible moment. That seems a safer option." Hadric cut in to justify further to support Kayn's proposal. Hitoshi was inclined to agree. Keeping the Gnolls outside Mount Nyx from impeding in their activities was important, especially without significant weaponry of their own.

"And if we meet any cursed spirits, I'm sure they would cower before the God of Cookery, right!" Hadric phrased in an overly optimistic way that wasn't to his satisfaction, Hitoshi didn't know what this mine was apart from its resource or what inhabited it, if anything did.

"We'll swing by, I suppose." Kayn was happy to relay the good news to the rest on his behalf, if only half of their company could consider it good news. Particularly the Dwarven members were affronted by his proclamation that had not included them in the final decision.

"What makes this mine haunted?" While Hadric tended to his cart once more, Hitoshi asked his companion Dwarf if he knew anything about it.

"Just some old folk stories and a couple of accidents that have been around since old Brom's time." As Kugel began to tell the tales of how many dwarves who worked in that mine seemed to have been afflicted with an unhealable untreatable curse that deprived them of their lifeforce. Some say that it was left by a blood shaman after they reclaimed the mine from the Gnolls' in the twenty-third war, others that Duncan had punished those afflicted for their greed.

It was assumed to be a curse because there was no physical affliction of any sulfur poisoning or burns from corrosive liquids. Even foreign mages specialising in hexes and curses could identify none, yet the victims all seem to succumb to what they described as a "fire within" burning their insides. None of them survived past a year. So as a precaution, King Altis the Eighth, Novar's late father ordered the mine shut and forbade further entry.

"Of course, boys being boys, we had our dares now and then." It was apparently one of the unofficial trial of passages amongst the Duncan priesthood initiates to go there and bring back a keepsake. Kugel did another more challenging trial during his tenure years, one that involved riding lava waves to fish for magma cancer, a lobster that inhabited the lava rivers, but that was a story for another time.

"What's this I hear about entering Dagura mine?" No sooner did Kugel end his cautionary tale did Hitoshi get confronted by the Shield Maiden.

"Beyond reason, you should know the capital punishment for entering there." Instead of addressing it to Hitoshi, she said it facing Kugel instead since he and the other Dwarves were liable. At most, Hitoshi would be told to go at his own peril as an outsider.

"You mean, if you report it." For the first time, Ashlaug showed distraught from Kugel mentioning such, given his quietness so far.

"You don't think I will?" She challenged him with a low tone.

"You'll do what's necessary, that, we all know. But that includes ensuring Lord Furuta's general safety under your charge." Kugel reasoned rationally to which, there was considerable thought given by the former in her silence.

Right now, she was the only one with weapons and armour to confront any Gnoll patrol that may stalk the labyrinth of caverns in the outer layers of Mount Nyx. Not encountering Gnolls along the way was for the best

"It's your call." Adding pressure on her, Hitoshi passed the reins over to her.

"And my call would be that we all turn around and head back before this foolish venture costs anyone their lives. That is….. if Lord Furuta would ever consider heeding my word." There was spice in her reply.

"Then shield maiden certainly knows me well, alright, we'll setup a rest point outside of the mine entrance. Good Enough?"

With a smile, Hitoshi responded. The shield maiden's response was limited, but she voiced no further protest to his counter proposal. So long as they weren't within the mine itself, that was sufficient.

With the shield maiden on point once more, their party moved onwards. Curiously, she didn't seem to need directions towards where they were headed. This Dagura Mine seemed to be a familiar spot to her. Even still, Kugel lit the way for her with the powerful torchlight and map which Hitoshi handed over to him to get insight.

The shield maiden was not oblivious to his attempts to interact but was not willing to entertain him. Thus, leaving them without words to exchange as her body language suggested that she wanted none of that. It left Hitoshi was a wry smile, unlike before, Kugel was now actively trying to engage and perhaps reconcile their past grievances. Nothing about their relations said it was easy, but at least he was taking the first steps.

Its at this point that he felt a pair of eyes fall upon him from behind along with a snicker behind her hand.

"What?" He asked Parna why the humour.

"Maybe master should stick to pairing food rather than couples." Leaving Hitoshi to scratch his chin sheepishly.

"Was it that obvious?"

"You tell me."

"…" Parna let out a chuckle in response to his silence.

"I too hope that this grumpy Dwarf can rest his heart, its honestly refreshing to see him stumble a bit." Her relationship with Kugel was amiable and friendly, but not as close as she was to someone like Kir whom she often ate meals with on a regular basis.

"We can only wish'em well."

"Hopefully master hasn't been too persuasive with that shield maiden. Your interference might make it worse."

Now she was just making him sound like the problem.

"You might understand Kugel's heart better than himself, but have you considered that woman's?" She pointed out in a more serious manner regarding Ashlaug, truly, Parna was looking on a much broader scale. How much she'd grown from the person that she used to be, almost brought Hitoshi into a smile as well.

"I know. It's my bad." He raised his hands. "….. Sometimes I forget myself into thinking I'd correct every mistake I previously made myself." But made a smile that seemed all too sad, even making Parna feel guilty for questioning him.

"What are you guys dallying around for, everyone's already ahead?" They were already being beckoned by Arpeggio, who was grumpy and tired despite being the only one seated on the cart whilst the Dallawan brothers pushed. The least she did was provide an illumination for their path surrounding the cart.

Hitoshi shrugged his shoulders and moved on ahead with Parna in tow.

"If I ever act controlling on anyone of you, can I depend on you reminding me?"

"Of course." Parna replied without hesitation, which lightened his own conscience in knowing that someone was watching out for him. Then again, she had always been, since the day she pledged herself to him.

"How's that armour?" Ending on lighter topics, he asked about her comfort in that antique.

Parna moved around in it to show that it hardly restricted her movement even the slightest, it was after all made by the ancient warrior bunnies.

"It feels…. Heavy." Somehow, Hitoshi felt that she wasn't referring to its physical weight. As it was mostly leather with half-plate of black steel, this venerable armour was the symbol of the original tribes' unity and might. In other words, Ostroc was a totem left behind by their ancestors from a distant world.

There were no other examples like it anywhere in the ruined Volgia, except this one that the high elves pilfered. Kugel claimed that its leather came from none of the known creatures found in Falmart after inspecting it during their transit. The hide of an apex predator of the Warrior Bunny Homeworld, Hitoshi surmised with their findings. Terrifying and without weaknesses, a creature that would make anyone think to run off to another world safer than their own. After all, how else would the Warrior Bunnies be bred to be the most vicious warrior races within the Special Region if not for their equally inhospitable and dangerous homeworld? Other than, it was incredible durable, stab resistant and mildly bullet proof after striking it with a hammer. After that test, Parna didn't let him so much as look at it less he smashed that relic which they had only just reclaimed.

Hitoshi commented no further and moved on. Parna was coming to terms with the responsibilities that entrained wearing this artifice that surprisingly fitted her well. But Hitoshi believed that she would manage. In fact, it was fair in his option that the whole venture to Amarel wasn't wasted solely on recovering the armour by accident, despite the losses of equipment.

It was restoration on a physiological level, the recovery of their spirit. Something that no manner of coin or material luxury could compensate. If brought back to Ascension glades, it proved that the Restoration of the Kingdom wasn't just a fantasy but a fact.

But more than that, it served as the basis for all future patterns of armour for the Warrior Bunnies cladded in invulnerable adamantite.

When he caught up to the rest, they had already arrived at a stone arch that was lined with Dwarvish rune writing, stating the name of the mine and its most current status.

"One hour, then we move on." Hitoshi announced as the Dwarves began to undo their packs and prepare firewood for some late-night supper and drink.

Arpeggio was already dozing off to conserve as much energy as she could. Takeo had his own way to stave off fatigue, he took out his portable stove to reheat a can of coffee drink he'd been saving.

The rest were finding their own little area to rest and restore their strength, since they were only about a quarter of the journey. The next "rest" stop would be at Mother Goose and then it was all the way back without rest.

Hitoshi did not take a seat but let his feet guide him to the next point of interest.

"Where are you going, Lord Furuta?" Even though she knew, it was still her duty to warn him.

"Just a peek, I've got a few theories regarding your cursed mine." He did so with an apparatus that was bulky and had to be slung around his shoulder.

The shield maiden was exasperated with his obstinate behaviour that surpassed the dwarves but got up on her feet to tail him. Even though none of his companions bothered to, she was at unease to let him venture into the mines up to his schemes. The Temple was cautious of him, he was after all the man who tricked the highly scheming high elves and got away with it.

"I alone am enough." She said to discourage the other person that accompanied her to follow Hitoshi.

"Is he your friend or mine?"

"Hmph." As dismissively as she pushed his assistance aside, she followed Hitoshi without another word.

The person in question passed through the arch at the entrance and walked through the tunnel shaft guided by the rails for mining carts deeper into the mine where he heard the hollowness of it by the distant sound of water dripping from the stalactites. There was also another sound resonating from the device that sounded like glass cracking or tapping sound slowly but rhythmically.

Wind suddenly felt apparently against their skins despite there being none for the last hour.

"We must be in a ventilation chamber." Kugel correctly surmised their current location within the mine. But as soon as he opened his mouth, the device that Hitoshi carried increased in rhythm, not because of their location, but the wind itself. Hitoshi began to trace his steps according to the flow of the air as the device began to increase in its beat.

"What is that?" After walking almost aimlessly for nearly five minutes around the cave, the shield maiden could not stand it any longer with his wayward behaviour and asked him what he was doing.

"This?" Hitoshi hefted the compact but bulky item. "We call it a Geiger counter."

It was one of the standard items military-issue to all the members of the Special Region Resource Investigation Teams, among other kit. Because as frontline reconnaissance, they were exposed to numerous hazards that no one could detect without high-ranged detectors found on specialised vehicles.

"It measures a certain invisible "poison"." That word was enough to get Ashlaug's attention as to why he was inspecting the mine in such thoroughness.

"Poison?" The shield maiden murmured in surprise. As many including her had always thought that the curse in Dagura Mine was real. What sort of poison was found here and who left it here?

As they ventured further towards the ventilation shafts, Hitoshi led them towards the sound of trickling water as his Geiger counter too began to increase in sound.

"You have an idea of what it is?" Kugel asked him as Hitoshi had suggested in his speech. For he recognised this device to be similar to the one that was used in their Demon hunting in the Fane, thus, Kugel was sure that this device detected traces of this poison in the air.

"I do."

"This is a yellowstone mine." The shield maiden reminded them and more of herself. It was harmless material to the body, that much she knew. But neither of the boys were convinced.

Descriptions of the material mined from here, the affliction sustained by the victims so described as internal fire burning them inside out without physical phenomenon all pointed out to one thing. An invisible poison that the dwarves were unaware of ever existing.

Shining his torch ahead lay a creek of flowing water which lay as one of the vents out of Mount Nyx to the surface. Sufficient for a person of Dwarven statue to crawl his way through to the outside, but insufficient for their party and cargo. Hitoshi's device was brought up to the creek which caused the device meter to dance erratically.

This gave sign to the poison he talked about being within the waters itself making the shield maiden suspect that it was orchestrated by those living outside Mount Nyx.

"It's not in the water."

"Your device disagrees." Hitoshi however, corrected her.

"The Geiger counter detects emissions." As he pointed it to the tunnel shaft where the water and wind flowed in from, the device reached even higher limits.

"Found it." Taking a torch and changed its setting to a blue light.

"Found what?"

"The mineral that poisoned your fellow Dwarves." He said as he pointed to a wall of sandstone that was around the mouth of the ventilation shaft.

"It's yellowstone!" She seemed incredibly bothered that even he couldn't see that, until he shone that blue light upon said wall of sandstone causing it to show signs of illumination that was not present on other walls where he shone to show difference.

"What?" The sight of this invisible mineral made visible left her astonished.

"Sandstone isn't the only mineral found in this mine." Or rather, the sandstone wasn't the actual mineral that this mine was rich in.

"We call this mineral on Earth, Uranium."

And then, there were sounds beyond water, device and wind. Voices beyond their own.

---

When mankind from Earth mastered the atom, it was this unassuming yellow stone mineral that had brought them to new heights. Both a formidable energy source and a means to bring the end of their very civilisation.

Kugel had received much education from his classes to learning the Japanese language and culture hosted by the Aesir clan members. They all acknowledge it as the mineral that made "the bomb". But he never imagined that the potent superweapon they described came from this worthless looking rock, and now told that it was responsible for the deaths in this mine gave him a new respect and fear for it.

Those miners must have used these contaminated waters for refreshment and bathing, thus resulting in their incurable and undetectable ailments. They had been subject to gradual radiation poisoning. Ashlaug likely still thought of it as a poison, but Kugel was more well informed. Although he didn't understand the concept well enough, radiation was energy emitted from the substance or matter.

He had no time to ask for further enlightenment on this matter as the next word from Hitoshi made him hug the corner of the wall as did the other two.

"Hide." There were no second opinions when it came to his commands, Kugel knew that it was a matter of life and death he would ask that, so he did as he was told. When he had, the lights were killed leaving them completely stationary and locked against the wall for concealment.

Quietening his breath, he began to hear echoes in the distance. However, they couldn't have come from the party since it was coming out of the opposite end of the cave. Ashlaug thought it yet another joke, till she heard the echoes sound more like distinct growling and barking than properly enunciated words. But she wasn't the last to realise what made those noises.

"Gnolls…." Hitoshi said under his breath, in total darkness but not blind.

As his vision was lit up with a green ambience, provided by the tubes of his night-vision monocular. The glow of torches held by the approaching figures granted further brightness, although not sufficient in making out the silhouettes of two Dwarves and a human.

The shadows against the light revealed themselves to them, around the rock wall.

-What the heck?-

The point man, his first encounter with the Dwarves' natural enemy was nothing like the ones that he knew. Standing six foot even with a hunching back was the least notable of its massive stature, a fur that was unkept and dyed in crimson, blood. Sporting ornaments of bone and crude metal woven together to form primitive armour and an unwieldy ivory axe as its primary weapon. And for eyes, it had two orbs bathed in unending killing intent that even he could feel from where he was despite the creature not sensing his presence yet. This was a gnoll?

The ones he saw in Herm's 9th Legion which formed the Gnoll Marauder bandits weren't nearly as big or buff. Herm kept them in groups mixed with the Orcs and goblins as they had a tendency to break rank when surprised, they were 2nd line infantry, expendable assets who were promised whatever they killed if they ever got that chance before the hounds and ogres were done with whatever stood in the way. But the ones he was looking at which increased in number from four to six were almost the size of a Volralden and hardened in expression. Velduars Blood Gnolls were a whole different breed.

They communicated with one another in short grunts and jackal-like cackles that masked what sounded like words no different from the Dwarven language itself.

He didn't need to tell the other two not to make a sound and let this war band pass. But their presence within this mine was just as much of a surprise to him as it was to them. Kayn's theory had not lived up to their expectations unfortunately, but what were they doing here where it was hardly a detour around the Nexus defenses.

It was then that his queries had been answered by the Gnolls own action. Receiving orders from a pack leader that was about a head taller than the rest, they begun to approach the contaminated waterway. Their axes begun to tear at the walls which were laced with the toxic mineral which Hitoshi had identified a while ago and placed the collected ore into woven basket backpacks for carrying it out.

The Gnolls were harvesting natural uranium ore?

This was as confusing for Hitoshi as it was for the shield maiden and Kugel. About the only thing that Ashlaug could think of was that they were aware of its poison and intended to use it as a weapon upon her kin. That, she could not allow.

That assumption was quickly concluded once the shield maiden drew her short sword out of its scabbard, denouncing her desire for silence. The sharp hearing of the humanoid hyena-heads picked out this familiar sound of metal scraping leather amidst their mining operation and turned towards the reignited torch that the shield maiden held.

"Ash!" Kugel called out in surprise of her dismissing her concealment. Before his words were deafened by a warcry matched only by howl returned by the Gnolls as they prepared for combat.

She was the only one armed and insistent on being their guard yet charged the Gnolls when no fight was called for.

"Damn it!" Not allowing this moment to be caught up in their own folly, Hitoshi bounded from his cover and threw a bottle containing some precious fluids he had intended to keep at the nearest Gnoll's torch. Shattering the bottle and igniting its flammable contents and bathing said Gnoll in a blanket of fire.

Their instincts kicked in telling them which was a far more dangerous opponent than the one chanting a hymn that lit her sword in a blue hue as it cleaved into the shoulder the unfortunate Gnoll closest to her but failing to kill it outright. Resulting in a longer struggle between them.

Closing in on the four remaining Gnolls that stood above him in stature, Kugel picked up the fallen iron sword belonging to the now crisped Gnoll while Hitoshi moved in unarmed. The Gnolls didn't stay confused at his actions for long and struck him in pairs, two for him and two for Kugel.

Their coordination once again showed that they weren't inexperienced, as the pair that went for Hitoshi attacked high and low. Grappling the closest Gnoll by his weapon hand, he turned the weapon to parry the other Gnoll's scimitar and kicked said Gnoll's face before relieving him of its blade with a Tachi Dori disarmament technique before throwing the weapon across as it impaled the back of a Gnoll which Kugel had entered a deadlock with, giving him enough time to parry the other Gnoll at his back.

"Your left!" Amidst the flickering light of the burning corpse, Kugel called out as he kicked an axe towards him just as the second Gnoll lunged forwards with its spear to run him through. Grabbing the spear tip made the Gnoll struggle to break free when an axe blade ran down its outreaching hands, severing them at the wrist.

(Growl) The Gnoll made a noise that sounded like a dog getting beaten and leaped away quickly to seek shelter from the darkness as the fluids burning its fallen comrade were dimming the fire. This left only the shield maiden's sword as the last source of light. That unnatural glow emanating solely from the runes carved upon the sword, the same glow that turned an otherwise normal steel sword into something dangerous. It cut through a sandwich of steel, leather and meat. But then again, so was the Gnoll that still stood strong despite the severe gash in its side.

It exchanged heavy blows with the shield maiden who had the comfort of a tower shield with the same runes that protected her. As Kugel finished off the last Gnoll of his pair and approached to give aid to Ashlaug before Hitoshi stopped him with a raised hand.

He was not about to make what she started easy on her, the least she could do was properly subdue that one. And as she did, Hitoshi studied both the movements and mannerisms of both Gnoll and Dwarf alike.

The Gnoll was fast with its strikes and heavy with its blows, attacking relentlessly whilst completely dismissing its guard like a berserker. Lashing out at the one that had gravely injured it and was poised to take her down with him if it fails to succeed. Behind that dwarven armour there was a stance as solid as one-woman phalanx. Taking the Gnolls blows and waiting for the opportunity to exploit a gap.

All it took was for the shield maiden to take a single provocative step back, luring the Gnoll into a false sense of dominance as it left a wide enough opening in its swing. Her sword arm thrusted up with such precision, piercing its flesh to bone before she swiped it across its torso, tearing through muscle and fat effortlessly with the enchanted blade. And that was the end of the completely pointless battle, Hitoshi closed his eyes to take in the surroundings even as Kugel reignited the torch to assess their surroundings and to ensure that the dead Gnolls were truly dead.

Such behaviour was peculiar to the shield maiden, no gloating nor complaints. It made it seem almost as if the honour of battle was nothing more than a waste of time.

"There was a high probability we would have been found anyway, my lord. Gnolls sense of smell-." In the middle of justifying herself, Hitoshi interrupted her.

"You provoked an attack on a mere rear echelon group and you treat it as a glory kill." Instead of condemning her actions like most other Japanese officers in his class would he instead trivialised it as something so unworthy, thus catching her off guard.

"I'd bet if they did the same to some of your own rear line troops you'd be infuriated." Without getting further into explaining his words he had explained in just this sentence alone the weight of her actions from the Gnolls' point of view.

Having the opportunity to look around after her meager victory, she noticed the five other bodies of Gnolls that were dispatched while she only took one down, the packs' leader. Perhaps she thought that the others would disperse and rout after seeing their leader fall.

"I-… I was just trying to-." She responded with meekly excuses.

"To impress or scare me, I suppose. Well, you've done neither very well." He venomously replied to her attempts to address the circumstance.

He could see that the shield maiden was holding in her anger well given by her clenched hand.

"Are they dead?" His query was directed to Kugel instead, who had gathered up a host of melee weapons from the Gnoll warriors.

"The last one bled out." Referring to the handless one.

"Let go, then. We've had enough sightseeing for now. I'll tell you more about the uranium deposit later." Hitoshi casually conversed with Kugel as if he were the only person with him.

"If you hadn't asked to come here, then we would have never encountered them!" Finally, the valve that held her contempt burst after this show of indifference, resulting in her shouting these words back at him. Hitoshi halted his footsteps and laughed to himself.

"If I didn't come to Velduar, maybe I wouldn't have encountered you either, right. Do you justify actions by consequence instead of just the natural occurrence?" Hitoshi traded her words for his in blows.

As his words seem to hit deeply into her character in some way that made her lose all focus.

"You're welcome to leave at any given time, Oakenspire. I'm sure another one of Mortar's lackeys would be jumping on the opportunity to know wha-(crack)."

A shape crack of rock under pressure of feet echoed from the tunnelway where the Gnolls came from, giving a response of sharply turned heads in that direction. As if to prove his thoughts correct, he was interrupted by the presence of immediate reinforcements to the fallen Gnoll mining party.

Footsteps became closer, yet still not within sight of the flashlight shone in their vicinity. Three pairs, five- no, nine pairs of feet approaching towards them. But something was different.

Hitoshi's sharp hearing told him that apart from the heavier feet pounding upon the sandstone floor, there was a certain percussion of bones that rattled every time a pole of some kind landed on the floor.

His suspicion were founded when the sound of a chant echoed through the tunnelway as well as a surge of magical energy he'd never seen before. But he could sense it, thick wet bloodlust polluting the air. Kugel dropped the weapons and picked out one for himself and Hitoshi to prepare for a second skirmish. He was sure that he wasn't the only one who sensed it.

What followed next was the howling and growling for a battlecry of their own, only it was more unintelligible than the previous bunch of Gnolls.

Hitoshi threw a sword like a throwing knife into the darkness and struck something but did not result in any yelping or wails. This was shown to him as the very same sword revealed itself to be lodged in the neck of one of the Gnolls, but it wasn't succumbing to death. Its mouth drooled with saliva and blood, its eyes were glowing with amber. They all were.

And behind them stood a cloaked figure, holding a staff of bone that caused the rattling noise. That figure was responsible for the fundamental change in their nature. That figure was a…

"….. Shaman." This name leaked out of the shield maiden's mouth as she started to chant another hymn to empower her armaments.

"Iri. Help me charge the runes." After doing so, she told Kugel to do the same as if he should've done so before.

"I can't." He said too softly for her to hear.

"Are you deaf?!"

"I said I can't!" He repeated louder without moving his eyes away from the threat. Leaving the shield maiden surprised at his sudden lack of ability.

"SGOR!" And then, the figure behind gave the order to attack.

(((Growl))) Its escorts responded with wild howls and cackles as they rushed towards them with wild abandon in their eyes, their souls. As if they had devolved back into a pack of hell hounds.

Before he knew it, they were already upon them. Closing the distance of twenty yards in a blink.

(thang) "Hah!"

Hitoshi allowed his instincts to parry what would have been a mortal wound and felt the difference in the Gnoll's strength despite still being the same average height as the first group. His counter came in the form of a swift cut to the throat with the small knife in his other hand. Intending to turn to the next opponent when the same Gnoll swung its iron hatchet at him despite a mortal wound. Its blade passed inches from his face as he deflected it out of the way and backed off.

"Takeout the shaman! Yah!" Kugel sounded off in a struggle with three Gnolls trying to overwhelm him. Trying to suggest an alternative to being pummelled continually by these deranged Gnolls.

The Gnolls in front of him were also attempting to do the same to him as well as the shield maiden, whose form had faltered slightly under the increased aggression. He was slightly aggrieved that he had nothing to quickly dispatch the gnolls with, even though he dodged most of their attacks relatively efficiently with a few minor nicks and cuts here and there that were lucky.

It was as Kugel had said, take out the Shaman, and this…. Bloodlust would end.

Without a moment of hesitation, he activated his essence detection to assess his options. His surroundings were black as the void, with the only colour before him being that of the Shaman. A yellow amber mana that was marginally under Arpeggio in strength. But unlike with other mages, he could see floating strings attached to the centre of each of the Gnolls tracing back to their shaman. Giving rise to his understanding of the shaman's blood magic, an active spell that enhanced the ability of their allies in the vicinity.

Within that moment, he also felt a pair of eyes line up on him. The shaman had sensed his potential as a mage and acted in accordance to the scale of threats. For this bloodlust spell wasn't the only one in its arsenal.

Without chanting, he could see mana being siphoned out of the Gnolls towards the Shaman as it built up energy into an invisible sphere that only Hitoshi could see.

What followed was something he could never have imagined. A dark red arrow of pure energy was flung at him with frightening velocity. Grazing him deeply in the side as he jumped out of the way of the energy lance that continued on before its power was subdued against the rock wall, but shattering it with the power of something only seen with dynamite.

(BOOM)(Rumble)

He heard a wail of pain behind him, realising that the shield maiden had been hit by the shrapnel of stone.

"Kugel! Help her!" If he didn't carry out as Hitoshi instructed, they knew that Ashlaug would fall before anyone came to her rescue. That explosion of rock should've gotten the attention of the others who were not far, it was a matter of how long they could hold out for.

In the background, the shaman was already charging another one of its magic arrows. As the Gnolls closed his manoeuvring space he noticed that their movements were much more sluggish than before, certainly not as slow as the first group, but slower than when they first encountered the Shaman. He believed it had something to do with the spell of magic arrows consuming energy. This was his chance.

Storming through the clumsy sways of blades and clawed grasps, he made it his mission to converge solely on the shaman who recognised his intent in a split second.

The shaman seemed prepared to his singling out of targets and instead of chanting up another spell, it threw out a thrio of bone skulls of its own kind. Falling at its feet an ominous green flame engulfed the skulls and grew to a point that it dwarfed the shaman. Skeletons Gnolls bathed in a sickly flame stood as its last defence. Hitoshi rushed through them like he had with the bloodcrazed Gnolls, but unlike before, these spirit warriors weren't governed solely on instinct which he had exploited.

In unison, they struck the earth in front of him, blowing up dust. Bursting through it with a surprising counterattack that invoked the three skeletons attacking in a chain, limiting his ability to respond. Hitoshi had been pushed back all the way towards the mass of blood raging Gnolls who had turned their attention towards the two Dwarves.

Having being injured by the debris of stone that pierced through parts of her back that wasn't as well protected as her front, the shield maiden's wheezing made it all the more apparent that her ability to stave off attacks was becoming more limited by the second.

"Ash!" Kugel sliding under the feet of a Gnoll to get between them and her, exposed him to her situation. She had fallen two more Gnolls at the cost of her right arm, which received a bite from a dying Gnoll as she thrusted through its skull, killing it. The sword fell the moment he called out her name while her shield struggled to keep the other deranged Gnolls from gnarling her to death.

"Yaarrgghh!" Gaining their attention with his own warcry, he lunged onto one of the Gnolls with a stolen dagger and redirected its whole body mass towards the fury of blades poised for him. Causing them to end one of their own.

He tumbled away as they lunged at him with teeth and claw, jumping towards the fallen blade of the shield maiden which parried away a spear meant to skewer him through the belly. The blade continued on and severed the skin and greaves on the spear-wielding Gnoll, resulting in a stumble. But wasn't enough to kill the Gnoll, as he knew from his reintroduction with the way the Gnolls of Velduar fought. Within the turmoil that was his mind, he could not believe that these were the very same Gnolls that he had fought safety within the confines of the Nexus Defence during one of their earlier skirmishes nine years prior. His first combat experience with Velduars primary foe.

-This is wrong…..-

Since then, Kugel had fought numerous beast and people during his troubled life, thus gaining exposure from his exploits. But these were nothing like the Gnolls from eight years ago, not just their size had grown large, but their ferocity. The only thing that remained the same was their tenacity which was the attribute that was their main strength and hindrance to the Dwarven field muster corp. Noticing that Hitoshi had been backed by the Shaman all the way next to him by a few feet with his own corner of Gnolls and ghouls to worry about, he felt that he no longer had the need to tell the former to watch himself. Just like with the Gnolls, their shaman had grown stronger.

With a quick glance, their eyes met and relayed the jeopardy that they were in. Without firearms, without his adamantite blade, he was made man. Where Gods of Falmart cursed his hindrance and weaponry, he was now nothing more than a mere source of annoyance to this Shaman.

His hope that the others would come had not come to fruition as they were in a distant part of the mine without straight route, leaving the others to discern where exactly they were within the mine, assuming that they weren't scared of some superstition of the mines curse.

Their odds worsen with every second, as the shaman had not yet unveiled all of its cards yet. Instead of flinging another magic arrow repeatedly, its new chant allured to something different and more terrifying than before.

Hitoshi felt the air thicken with blood until it was almost suffocating as the coughing of Kugel and Ashlaug suggested that he wasn't the only one suffering from this ailment. But unlike him, they were dropping on their knees and bleeding from their extermities. The most he felt, was his blood boiling hotter into a discomfort. He looked back at the shaman disbelieving that this attribute of mage could be this powerful to be surprised that the shaman too looked stunned by the supposed inconsistency of the spell it casted on him as well. But it continued to chant as if it would break if it stopped.

But the Gnolls overcome with bloodlust and the spirit skeletons all turned their attention to him when he show no signs of the afflictions that had overwhelmed the Dwarves, his heart began to race. He had never been cornered so badly before, at least not after so many years. And this small group of Gnolls were merely a mining party, and the shaman one out of hundreds more. What about the Gnolls as a whole army? Even with their fortitude, Hitoshi remembered the wounds sustained by the Dwarves of the main defense line, the marks on the outer fortress made abandoned. How was he supposed to help the Dwarves combat that? When he no longer had any firearms left, apart from the ones mounted onto Mother Gooses fuselage? How was he going to break his way out of this present losing situation?

-You really forced my hand in this.- Because these instances of misfortune and strife had such a commonplace in whatever he did, he always devised backup strategies or skills. When he lack understanding of an ingredient, he would study it down to its varieties. When an opposition presented a superior way, he copied it to understand their strengths.

(Thang)

"I was saving this….." He murmured as his action of dropping his appropriated weapon confused the Gnolls and their shaman equally. As he raised his fists as if to prompt them he would fight with nothing but his barehands.

Taking a breath in, he circulated his inner manapool, gathering power into his fingertips as his hands clenched into a boxing stance. Since Amarel his control over his magic had increased corresponding to his manapool. The shaman knew he did something but not what it had expected off a fellow mage, it had previously surmised that he was still too weak in mana to use offensive spells, that opinion quickly changed after the first Gnoll attacked him.

(crack) He delivered a swift uppercut to its chin, causing its lower jaw teeth to collide with its upper jaw giving off a crunching sound. Other than a brief concussion, that hadn't hurt the Gnoll in any significant way other then to stun it slightly so that he could attend to the other converging Gnolls.

Again, when another Gnoll attacked, he struck it back on its shoulder blade with a quick jab. It appeared insignificant from view, but through the essence detection skill that both Shaman and he possessed. He had done something to the Gnolls internal bodies causing inner turmoil that would backlash towards the shaman. Not allowing this invisible affliction to damaged it, the shaman disconnected its influence on the Gnolls that were hit by Hitoshi's strange power.

Having lost its connection to their shaman, the Gnolls seemed to be confused by developments in their surroundings. Like they had been put under a trance and now woke up from it…

(splurt)(splurt)

Only to be robbed of the why and how as their very craniums expanded and detonated from their eye sockets, ears and mouth. Leaving not just the Shaman but the Dwarves shocked by what he had done.

In their bloodlust, the remaining Gnolls were oblivious, as were the spirit bone warriors who only saw him as a threat that needed to be eliminated at the behest of their master. Hitoshi struck another Gnoll as it missed his head with a swing of an axe, hitting its neck which had been exposed beneath its armour plate. And in a similar fashion, the Shaman disconnected its connection to said Gnoll, only for it to wake for the remaining seconds of life it had before it detonated from its inner torso like some exploding tomato.

For the first time since its appearance, the shaman showed stupor in its body language, unable to comprehend what sort of magic he used or what sort of mage he was to have that sort of combat ability. Exploiting this hesitance, Hitoshi wasn't about to complain as he struck yet another Gnoll who would awake from its bloodlust only to perish gruesomely. The Dwarves too came under a wave of disbelieve to see them fall and implode after receiving just one hit from Hitoshi. Something Kugel had never seen him use before and a strange terrifying ability to kill with a touch from the shield maiden's perspective. As the later was not too far from the concept of the ability he used.

As the last of the living Gnolls was blown asunder by the disruption he caused, he now had to contend with the skeleton warriors the shaman had reanimated as he converged slowly towards the latter. Realising the change in the air, the Shaman begun to devote every effort into suppressing him. Abandoning that spell that caused discomfort to its enemies in favour of the blood arrows that were flung in quick succession. Its aim no longer steady, allowed him to dodge the shots that whizzed much slower. Perhaps it was running low on mana, still, the skeleton warriors didn't seem like they were disappearing any time soon. They still attacked him in coordination, even capable of feinting attacks and openings with their cleavers. Hitoshi treated them as if they were living, unfortunately, his hidden technique would not have any effect on them due to them having no flesh or internal organs to exploit.

But the Shaman didn't know that.

"Eforgjaer!" The shaman immediately shrieked at the skeletons, drawing them in to form an immediate defensive circle around it, as to prioritize the Shaman's safety above all else.

Hitoshi had managed to break the worsening odds that they were in, but he wasn't about to push forward with his attack anymore. Not while his options were limited to this extent, and while the Shaman didn't seem to have much mana left from his essence detection skill peering, neither did he.

"Let's go." He stepped back as he told Kugel and Ashlaug the end of their bout with the Gnolls.

The Shaman too was surprised by his initiative to back off and sighed almost in relief behind its hood.

"You must be joking, if you let them go, they'll swarm this entire part of the tunnel looking for us!" The shield maiden voiced her disapproval that was considered a tactical error in her perspective.

"Kugel, pick her up and let's get out of here." Hitoshi was not about to let this opening to leave with dignity intact than squander it over a single enemy patrol out of hundreds of others.

"This is a grave mistake!" She once again shouted out as Kugel propped her up from her back injury.

"The mistake started with you, Oakenspire." He sneered at her which stunned the shield maiden by his accusations.

"We're discussing this later." There was a ton of things he wanted to set straight with the shield maiden and her overwhelming zeal to eradicate their enemies with extreme prejudice. To think that Kugel might have also turned out like this if he had completed his Rune priest training.

The later carried the shield maiden away regardless of her reluctance while Hitoshi could hear the calls of his companions in the distance. Late to the scene it seemed.

Hitoshi turned around to confirm this temporary ceasing of hostilities to return back to their respective camps, only for the Shaman to mutter something that he had no idea bore significance to the Gnolls.

"Oaken…. Spire…" The Shaman mimicked the Imperial language that he had used to address Ashlaug's family house. Only, said shaman trembled with anger in lieu of fear.

Its amber eyes lining up with the shield maiden, identifying her as a scion of Oakenspire burning beyond the emotions of resentment. So much so that by the time Hitoshi realised that this drawn ceased hostilities were no longer in effect, the shaman was already charging up another magic arrow to fling her way.

"Kugel!" Hitoshi shouted in vain as his companion hung his entire frame over hers, shielding her from the imminent magic bolt that was casted.

Raising his hands out of desperation, Hitoshi tried to do the impossible by casting a defensive magic sphere in front of the arrows trajectory only for it to shatter effortlessly without loss of velocity. For that expenditure, he suffered a backlash that caused him to puke out internal blood.

The vengeful arrow was set to kill them both, and he was helpless to stop it.

"Arte Durin!" (Ting) At these words, the arrow struck an invisible shield that glowed when struck. But these weren't his words that set up this spell of protection.

"Weh mindi!" In the other end of the corridor a fireball soared across them towards the Shaman and detonated with such force that it blew both Hitoshi and the Dwarves into a tumble away.

As the dust settled, all that remained of the skeletal warriors was their bones grinded to dust, and the Shaman laying on its back. Concussed by the explosive detonation at point blank that had consumed all of its mana to protect itself against. Hitoshi couldn't believe that it still lived after that, certainly, if it were Lelei instead of this mage, her shaped charge-type magic molten jet would have vaporised any opposing wizard or sorceress.

"Whew! Right on time." The cheerful voice congratulated herself on a job well done.

"Idiot! This is a confine space! You could've killed us all!" Hitoshi angrily shouted his grief at Arpeggio who stricken up as she had not expected him to be furious at her actions to save them.

Hitoshi sighed out in relief before addressing her again. "But thank you for coming."

Confused by his character, Arpeggio didn't know whether to start gloating or mouth her complaints given that it was his idea to venture out in the first place. But seeing his tired face made her realise that he had struggled greatly just before they arrived in numbers with shovels and pickaxes for weapons.

Takeo emerged from the dust to hold out a hand to stand, which he graciously accepted.

"What happened?"

"Gnolls, shaman." He summarized his confrontation in two brief words as he turned his attention to the Shaman who had been knocked unconscious.

Picking up an axe, he walked around the fallen Shaman to assess the danger. Wearing a cloak and thinner armor that wasn't as crude as the Gnoll grunts, it was a lot slimmer than them as well. Using the end of the axe, he pushed the hood off its head, revealing an humanoid face blended with that of an earth hyena but less animal-like to the other dead Gnolls.

"A woman?" Takeo was the first to identify the womanly curves upon the Shaman or Shamaness body

"No." Hitoshi instantly replied. It was far shorter than him, Takeo and even the genus of Gnolls that Hitoshi was familiar with in Herm's horde. He bent down and retrieved a dark green crystal it had attached to a string-like amulet from its unclenched hands.

"It's a kid."

---

On the third hour after midnight, their torchlight leading the way had been hazed by the overlying moon. They had finally made it out.

The shield maiden was temporarily out of commission, after carefully removing the shrapnel from her back under her plate. Some anaesthetics and bandages later with a mild dose of healing from Arpeggio sealed the wounds. She was made to rest on the cart the rest of the way.

In that time, Hitoshi had explained what he had initially found within the mine. A natural uranium deposit, being the only other man from Earth, Takeo was astounded by this discovery. Since oil became the highest search priority for the Investigation Teams, they had mildly neglected other raw minerals of equal or greater value. But considering the previous stories of radiation sickness and deaths, the deposit alone wasn't enough to irradiate the miners to the point of showing physical symptoms. So Hitoshi gave his other theory.

"A natural fission reactor?" Takeo repeated his words in disbelief.

As far as he'd told the Dwarves including Kugel for reeducation, Uranium was one of many minerals that gave off radiation, a type of energy emission that warped living matter if exposed for too long. What happened to the miners was that they'd received lethal doses of radiation from unstable amounts of fissile uranium, what Hitoshi and Takeo knew as the U-235 isotope. In a one in a billion chance, this uranium deposit had an unusually high concentration of this isotope. And began to react with other elements and the flow of air through the ventilation shaft, the only thing that kept it relatively remote was the constant stream of fresh water and some other elements that chemically bonded with the waste and reduced reactivity.

He had read in a geographical article once about one such natural fission reactor in Gabon uncovered by the French during their uranium harvesting for their nuclear fuel demands. That's what made the Geiger counter read the ionisation in the air and contamination in the waters. If they had stayed there overnight like the miners typically do at dig sites, they would be showing symptoms as well. But apart from the relative mystery and power of this unassuming mineral, what interested Hitoshi the most was what the Gnolls wanted with the uranium ore? Before their skirmish even started, he witnessed them harvesting shale-type uranium ore. What would a primitive tribal society want with this non-fissile quantity? If they mistook it for iron ore, there was definitely better places to look, no, they wanted uranium.

And that's what the young Shaman, tied up as their prisoner was going to tell him. The yelling for them to kill the Shaman didn't end from her Dwarven equivalent, the Shield maiden. As fanatical as these warrior-clergy were, their indoctrination that the Gnolls and their Blood Shamans were their mortal enemy were quite on the extreme. The same could be said for the Shaman, when the name Oakenspire reach its ears, it went crazy with fury.

"I'm not surprise, Bromhall Oakenspire was who they probably thought of." This was not informed to him by Kugel, but Hadric the cartman.

Like many lords who led the Dwarves into battle, they held terms as Generals. Bromhall's was not known as the most valiant, nor the most honourable. Yes. In his tentative years as a General, Bromhall was known as the Scourge of the thirteen tribes by the Gnolls. He wiped out a tribe of the Gnolls from young to old after claiming the heads of their warriors. Evidently, genocide wasn't good for continual war. So he was discharged from military service by the late king. The story was that the survivors of that tribe swore a blood oath to hunt down every one of his kin.

"Yeah, they all remember him, down to the marrow."

To think that the mellow and cheerful Brom was the very same Scourge, Hitoshi nor the rest could fathom.

"Nevermind that! Tell me about that "Five-point finger" technique!" Takeo had become excited after he heard about his fight with the Gnolls virtually unarmed from Kugel. He instantly recognised that technique from popular martial arts fiction, fiction because it had never been revealed in public and if it did it would have likely become forbidden throughout the martial arts world.

"There was no five-finger pointing or whatever." Hitoshi exhaled.

It wasn't a technique, let alone a full magic skill. Having learnt to control his attribute within his body and outside of it, Hitoshi realised that he could influence other people's body by sending a charge through body contact. This was proven when he defibrillated Granham that one time.

He essentially did the same thing this time through his fingertips. But instead of sending a pulse to shock the heart, he struck the meridian points on the Gnoll, thereby blocking it. The rest of the pressure was caused by the bloodlust spell that the shaman casted, accelerating the blood flow and consequently the pressure build up in vital areas. Resulting in the explosion of tissue from within. He turned the Gnolls own bloodlust into a poison.

Hitoshi did not feel the least bit good about what he did. Beyond the morality of what he had done, he had used sacred medicinal knowledge given to him by Hai Muon. And weaponised it. The Chinese Monk was harsh on him, but never lax and certainly never used his arts for killing.

"Shame you didn't say "You're already dead." (Omae wa mou shindeiru) Before they-."

"When you trivialise death like that, it disappoints me, Takeo." In a neutral tone that hid all of his anger, his words ended Takeo's nonsense in an instant. But it was true, Takeo should not be the one to do that. After an awkward laugh from him, his silence was a strain to hear between them.

Hitoshi could only sigh, it wasn't Takeo that killed the Gnolls that way, it was him.

Moving quicker thanks to the flat and stable terrain outside, they followed Hitoshi lead as he tracked the location of Mother Goose within the nearby Umfre forest. Then, it was Arpeggio's turn to remove the veil of magic that hid the aircraft from sight.

The Dwarves were captivated by said aircraft in their rigidness when they approached the hulking metal contraption. It was the first time they'd seen an aeroplane-type flying machine. They went around tapping on the control surfaces and fuselage half-believing that this was made entirely out of heavy sheet metal, but it was.

"We rest here. Two hours." Hitoshi gave a more generous time to rest, since they now had a single casualty and he himself was greatly exhausted by that bout with the Shaman.

"How does it fly?" Kayn wonderously tried to spin the propeller.

"Those spinning blade generate thrust and push it till it flies, if they stop, the whole craft will crash." Kugel told his fellow dwarves in layman's terms.

The Dallawan brothers discussed it amongst themselves quietly and became more curious after Hitoshi opened the hatch and asked them to come aboard to retrieve the artefacts.

"It's hollow!?"

"Course it's hollow. What, you thought we'd be hanging outside by the wings?" They were in awe of the spacious living quarters as well, sleeping bunks, cooking galley, even a lavatory.

Outside, Hadric prepared another fire with the bounty of wood from the forest. Arpeggio had already transitioned herself from cart to bunk bed and only awaited their departure, he didn't instruct her on anything since she had fulfilled her purpose well enough today.

Since the incident at the mine, they had encountered two patrols of Gnolls. But Arpeggio had used her magic to disguise them into the walls. Her expansion on earth magic through Arhan's notes had allowed her to mimick the surface of any wall with ease. Hitoshi directed the Dallawan brothers to carry out the artefacts of Amarel while he took a toolbox and went outside to the left end of the wing to remove the gunpod.

Hanging off the wing, he went about disengaging the safety cords and screws with a wrench by hand. Then when to do the same to the M261 rocket pod full of hydra rockets but with the help of steady hands while ensuring they were inactive before retrieval.

When the Dwarves had helped him load the rocket pod onto the overworked cart, he excused them to take their rest while he continued on with the disassembly of the gunpod to retrieve the only firearm that was left. An aircraft variant of the .50 cal browning machine gun.

Why they thought the Albatross needed offensive weaponry at all was beyond him, but it was a welcoming coincidence that the airmen retrofitted this to Mother Goose.

"Here." Just as he looked for a screwdriver in the toolbox to undo the solenoid trigger for a mechanical one, one was presented to him in advance. He took it without saying anything and begun to work on the gun itself.

"Why am I here?" His helper questioned quietly.

"Is that a query for me or for yourself? Pass me the rag, will you?" He received said rag to wipe the grease off the edges that obstructed he disassembly process.

"I'm sorry I gave you that mouthful back there." He apologized to Takeo.

"No, I-….." He said on reflex.

"You're here as my friend, not my subordinate, Takeo. Please understand that." He said whilst continuing his work.

"It's fine….. it was insensitive of me as well."

"The answer to your question."

"Hmmm?" Didn't he already answer it?

"You have a conscience that none of us have. But most of all, you have spirit." It was confusing to Takeo, but not to Hitoshi.

Amongst all of them, none of them had empathy like he did. If an enemy presented itself, they would kill without hesitation. That went for all of them, Kir, Riku, Parna, Kugel, even Imazu. Takeo was untainted by the horrors of war and violence. And Arpeggio….. was Arpeggio.

"I did terrible things when I was young." He confessed. And Takeo somehow felt that these weren't typical bad things that a child did, his tone seemed to suggest this.

"I kept doing them because I was told it was the right thing to do." In a way, he was no different from the zeal of Ashlaug.

"By the time I realised the blood on my hands, I knew I could never sleep peacefully again."

"But you saved an entire city-."

"I went to war with it in the end because they tried to kill my friend over a trivial dispute. You, stood up to Granham's insults. You, striking Flare when everyone was afraid. There can be many good people out there, but few have brave hearts." He had also heard of Takeo's integrity when they raided the elven armoury from Kugel, and it greatly pleased him so.

"Your virtue is our greatest asset, Takeo. Don't ever forget that." He said with a hand upon his friend's shoulder.

And with the other hand, he placed a token that only Takeo would recognise from their outings in Tokyo. A lucky token that he had given Hitoshi years earlier.

"In these eight years of service, the only one I could have ever considered my friend has always been you." His aloof behaviour was not the most rewarding in terms of friendships nor allies. Even with the SR Group, it was his strength that they respected and feared. But as a private ranked cook, he was just another grunt serving meals at the canteen for the last three years at Yokusuka Base.

Not to Takeo though. He had invited him to mixers, at game centres and manga conventions as a group, it was always Takeo that did so. Without prejudice or distinction, Takeo befriended him for who he was and who he wanted to be. Apart from a certain other person, there was no other.

"You're here not as a part of our adventure. You're here on your own one, Takeo. And what you decide to do with it in your own search for accomplishment will make you either the person that you'll desire to be with Persia, or you could be something more than what you make of yourself."

Of this, Hitoshi knew in his heart. It was a matter of when Takeo could see it also. Where others had God's grace, Itami had luck, he had experience, Tyuule had persistence and Takeo was a good man. Which was becoming valuable commodity in a world hellbent on ripping itself asunder.

Hitoshi held out his hand once more.

"Will you help me, build a better world for these people than could ever be dreamed?" He meant not just the Warrior Bunnies and those they rescued, but the Dwarves and Gnolls too.

"Yes!" Without even a moments hesitation after his surprise, Hitoshi's hand was clasped and shook. This was the friend that had supported him during his waning years in the military. Who gave him the courage to find life beyond the war that he had once again fallen back into mongering for.

Takeo Kuruta's adventure had only just begun.

---

Their accomplishment in retrieving all the items that Hitoshi desired to be brought back for study had been outstanding. And would not have been possible without the muscle of the Dallawan brothers, or Hadric's skillful cart manoeuvres.

The artefacts from Amarel were just as mysterious to Hitoshi as it was to the artifice-adept Dwarves. It was nothing like anything they'd ever laid eyes upon. Weapons and armor from an automaton-like suit that came from a forgotten era within the Special Region. A time when the primodial beings ruled this world, according to the Gods of Falmart. A dark age where technology and magic were at their peak.

He hoped that once he had brought in these samples to the King, the latter would be enthusiastic enough to grant him access to their main library to learn of a possible origin or insight on reverse-engineering parts they could. Alternatively, the Nationalists could lend him a hand.

Out of all the things that were an anomaly to him, so far, the Shaman was at the top of this list. He returned to the makeshift camp that the Dallawan Brothers made with Hadric to where they'd left the Gnoll Blood Shaman under Parna's watchful eye. The Dwarves mortal enemy and that of the temple led by Mortar in particular. Today, Hitoshi understood why the Shamans were considered the most dangerous of the Gnolls. For a magic-inept race which had solely depended on Adamantite, it took a mage to combat a mage. In truth, Hitoshi was no equal to this Shaman. If Arpeggio hadn't come along they would be there all night.

The shaman was slumped against a tree with her hands and feet tied in front. Parna had done a preliminary check to ensure that their captive wasn't bleeding or injured. Or else they'd be dragging back a corpse. But she remained unconscious for longer than one should.

He brought his fingers towards the snout to check if she was still breathing.

(bite)

In a flash, jaws enclosed around his middle and index finger, her feint unconsciousness had paid off with just a few drops of blood. He did not retract it nor yell out in pain like most would.

"Hitoshi!"

"Well, at least she's alright." He said casually even as his fingers were being checked upon by a carnivorous set of jaws. When she opened her eyes and saw that the victim of her ambush was none other than the strange mage, she retracted her mouth and reared all the way into the tree.

Before growling and summoning enough courage to yell out her grievances before she was killed or declared captured.

"(Growl) Goth joth slaliggrond!" The unnamed Shaman roared with her adolescent teeth, which sounded along the lines of "Do your worst!".

"I will say this even if you can't understand me." He understood that there was a language barrier to overcome, but from his body language she should be able to understand a bit.

"Under the provisions of the Geneva Convention, no harm shall come to you during your prisoner of war status. You shall be treated with dignity and respect, your right as a living being shall be protected."

True enough, his words had seemed to baffle her as much that he wasn't doing anything that a typical torturer or enemy would do to their prisoners in their world. And they certainly looked weird for Humans, both Hitoshi and Takeo. Their whole band was weird, Dwarves, warrior bunnies and mages.

"Then, you'll do well to release my mistress!" Spoke a very manly voice that came from the Shaman.

Leaving them surprised.

"I-It's a trap!" Takeo believed that the female shaman was in fact a girlish male instead.

But Hitoshi didn't see her lips move when these words of crude Imperial were spoken, unless she was a talented ventriloquist which was impossible.

Hitoshi squatted closer to the Shaman and held his hand in front of the Shaman to let her know she meant no harm, before shifting her cloak aside to reveal what had voiced these demands attached to the belt on her waist.

A shrunken head of its race, where its eye sockets were had sapphire jewels laid into them. A curious practice he'd never seen before.

"Keep staring an I'll gorge your eyes out!" The inanimate head moved its mouth angrily as if to gnarl at them.

"Wah! Talking head!" Having stated the obvious before them, Hitoshi was the first to unbuckle the head from the Shaman's belt. Even with her gnarls of protest.

"Does the head have a name?" Hitoshi inquired, but the head responded with….

"This head will make you wish you weren't born unless you put me back down!" It said with a tinge of worry hidden beneath its anger as Hitoshi lifted it up away from its master.

"So the "Talking Head" then." Hitoshi named him otherwise to its growing irritation.

"I am Wyldmin! Greater familiar to Dwokur, the greatest of the thirteen! Personal familiar to princess- oph!" It retracted its words as it just disclosed something it shouldn't have to folks he should not have said it to.

"A dumb head it seems."

"Yup." Takeo agreed, the head was to gullible and impatient.

"How dare you! (gnarl) Turn you hand so I may bite it! (gnarl)" It made the biting motion but at thin air.

"Alright Mr Head, as I said to your princess. She will be treated with fairness and respect during the term of her imprisonment."

"If you know what's good for you, you'd better let her go. Of the thirteen tribes of Illuma will chase you to the end of the earth!"

"Threatened by just a head, this is new." Hitoshi exchanged with Takeo who also found it peculiar.

"Nrgh! I'm warning you!" The head was troubled by its own helplessness and that of its master but persevered in its high-handed negotiation for release.

"I'm on a busy scheme myself, so you're in luck actually."

The head quieten down as he actually seemed to agree to release them, but was slightly unconvinced due to the untrustworthy nature of Humans in general. Especial the ones that spoke the language of the Imperials which the head recognised.

"I'm gonna ask you a few question regarding your race, and depending on how satisfied I am by the answers, I'll consider letting your princess go back to wherever it is your kind goes. You hear me, head?" The head was silent, but it seemed to be troubled by the catch in entailed. Since he could ask for many hidden secrets that the Gnolls had kept that would endanger their plans.

"Naturally, you're free not to answer them. I'll just keep her confined." He said to the head he held out an arm's length.

"Jeg'll ath ilmon, gotek thurv lurlurt." The shaman or princess said something to the head that sounded like she was saying she was ok and it didn't need to say anything, perhaps the word princess meant the same thing for a female shaman in Imperial, Hitoshi honestly didn't care.

"….What is it you want to know?" But the head relented.

"First off, why do you know Imperial?" This seemingly easy question was answered immediately by the head.

"When I was alive….. I was once a captive in your Imperial camps." It said with clenched teeth.

"We're not Imperials." Takeo said.

"So you say!" As the head replied unconvinced. "I know your kind well, you say one thing but only when it serves you well!"

Hitoshi shrugged his shoulders at this in attendance, Takeo, Parna and the Shaman. "The head knows Humanity well."

"Hmph!" As its point was passed across, Hitoshi didn't bother to correct that mistake. It didn't matter in the jewelled eyes of the head.

"And what did you mean, when you were alive?"

"…." The head chose not to answer. But Hitoshi could only imagine that the head had once been a living Gnoll. Since it carried the past of being a prisoner to Imperials like most Gnolls were.

"Does your princess have a name?" The head didn't feel like answering that either as he had accidentally exposed her prestigious status within the Gnoll community.

Enough was enough, Parna stepped forwards and did something that the head did not expect.

"Urgh-."

She pinched his nose shut and they watched as the head struggled to breath despite being dead, somehow, she knew that the head still kept memories of being alive.

"Woakay! Woakay! (cough)(cough)(cough)" The head submitted before coughing to regain its breath.

"She is princess Rhelzus of the Woeblight tribe. An esteemed member of the unified tribal council."

"She must be only eleven years of age." Parna was astounded by her age to be so gifted, and formidable from Hitoshi's perspective.

"Thirteen, harlot." The head corrected before its mistake of addressing her as such cost him another pinch of his nose to suffocate it.

It was irrelevant to Hitoshi, he had already promised not to kill or mistreat her. As far as morality was concerned, he wouldn't outright kill children. Or at least wouldn't do so if it was unnecessary.

His gloved hand reached into a pocket to bring out a bag which he unwrapped revealing the very mineral they most recently found in the Dagura mines.

"What does your tribe call this rock?" Instead of asking if he knew the significance of this rock, he wanted to know what they considered it as.

But the head wasn't so dumb.

"Gotek gjagan thji." Even the princess voiced her opinion that he should not say a word of it. But her naivety betrayed the significance of the mineral to the Gnolls.

The head bit its lips shut, to silently protest its non-cooperation once more. This time, it was Hitoshi who suggested a way to "convince" the head to open its mouth.

"Say, Takeo."

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever played the Juwalu?" The moment Parna heard him say that, her ears propped up. It was the traditional ball game of the Warrior Bunnies.

""J-Juwalu?"" the Head and Takeo hadn't the slightest clue what that was.

"Well, its sort of like a cross of hacky sack and kicking volleyball. The kids showed it to me one time." It resembled the Malaysian game of Sepak Takraw, but without a court and was just passed along in a circle.

"Here, we'll show you." After receiving a glance of approval from Parna they spread out and had Takeo stand in a third corner about five feet away.

"Right, are you should you don't want to tell me anything?" Hitoshi asked the head one more time.

But the head refused to speak, and for some reason felt the ominous sensation of itself somehow being involved in this game they were playing.

"Okay. Let's play." He said as he raised the head out and prepared to drop it in front of him.

"Wait- what are you-argh!?" To keep the head from falling to the ground, Hitoshi dribbled the head on the side of his boot. Repeatedly bouncing it up and down and between each foot.

"Arhh! Aggh! Arrghh! Arrghh! Sto-argh!" The Shaman was left in disbelief as they used her subject familiar as a toy.

"See? Now to Parna." He dribbled the head skillfully and kicked it lightly over to Parna. Who enthusiastically bounced it off her chest to stabilize it before he held it with her kicks.

"Now let Takeo have a go." Hitoshi suggested to Parna who kicked the head towards him.

"Uwah!" Caught by surprise, though his leg shot out on reflex, it fell short of the head resulting in its hitting the ground.

The head wailed in pain.

"Sorry." Rather than apologize to the head it was to Parna for messing up the rhythm of the game.

"It's alright, we'll go again."

"Huh!" The head gasped at her suggestion of a retry.

"Agreed. You just need to get the hang of it." Hitoshi said as he picked up the head and dusted it off.

"Nonononono!- Argh!" And repeated starting with him.

"Now, Parna." He kicked it off to her once more, where she skillfully caught it with her knee and balanced it off.

"Miss Parna is really good at this." Takeo commended her as she showed off her skills to an astounding degree of dexterity and eye coordination. It was ironic that Hitoshi had encouraged her to attend more of these ball games with her brethren as it helped curb the worsening of her condition with her tendons that were losing its strength.

"Thanks. Here."

"Oph!" Takeo managed to catch it this time and even managed to pass it back to Hitoshi to complete the cycle. All the while forgetting that what they were playing with was a talking head that was screaming in pain. For afar, the Dwarves thought that the three of them were torturing that poor Shaman enemy to such a degree that they would laugh and cheer one another in such a sadistic fashion, they dare not approach.

"Kuruta is also quite good with the ball yourself." She complimented him back.

"Gee. Thanks." He said scratching his head.

"Takeo won the annual soccer tournament last year for our camp." Hitoshi only made him feel more embarrassed.

"Argh!" The head struck the hard floor once more, this time being Hitoshi's miss.

"Sorry, that was me. The head is a bit pointy at the front." He made an excuse about the "ball's" inconstant roundness. Picked it up and prepared to repeat the game that they were getting better at.

"Wait! Wait!" The aggrieved head submitted finally.

To which Hitoshi also ended the game, and turned the head to face him.

"Maharu. In our tongue, it is called the "stone of change"."

"…." Hitoshi passed the head over for Parna to hold, causing said head to be shaken. As her kicks were the hardest and her dribbles the longest, the head had a new found fear for this Warrior Bunny.

"I just have one last question, and we'll call it quits, for now." It was a relief to hear, and also terror since he intend for this sort of treatment to continue.

"You said you'd treat us fairly."

"I said I'd treat her with respect and humility, your princess. You are just an object. Then again, you were the one that said Humans had dual natures. So I concur." Hitoshi reminded it to the point.

"My last question is….. what is the mission of the Gnolls of Velduar?" Again, the head found it strange that he asked things that were relatively common sense between both races. It started to suspect that they weren't Imperials as they said they weren't. It recalled a rumour about warriors from another world also, who dressed in green and were almost always black haired and partially yellow fair skin. Who had recently caused the upheaval of the Empire with their amazing display of powers. The head was still sceptical but decided that in all fairness, he was being asked what the Gnolls truly wanted from their conflict with the Dwarves, since there were no Dwarves present to suggest otherwise, this person had his own agendas.

"The liberation of Illuma, the sacred altar of fire." Somehow this seemed to be related to Mount Nyx. And he was not far off as the head gave another name for this illuma sacred holy ground.

"Illuma is also what the Dwarves call Duncan?"

---

As Kugel has said before, Duncan had once been known as the Deity of Burning Earth by the original tribes surrounding Mount Nyx. The Gnolls also had their own name for him and worshipped him in their own way. Dwarves by iron, Gnolls with blood. Hitoshi guessed that ever since Duncan had generally been selecting Dwarves to serve as his proxy, as Apostles. They were the dominant power of Mount Nyx. The Gnolls seemed to disagree.

If he had to guess, Illuma's altar of Fire was referring to the Altar of Inferno within the Temple of Duncan. The closest point to their God, words straight from the Apostle. This was a Jihad for their holy ground with the Dwarves, and they didn't mind spending an eternity fighting for it. Just like the Jihadists faris and Crusader knights did in his world a millennia ago. Hitoshi now understood the Gnolls ultimate goal clearly, but ultimately, it wasn't up to him to make them change, both of them. Neither Duncan nor his apostle ever bothered to clear up this misunderstand, if it was as he perceived it to be. He returned the head to the comfort of its master's side before returning to the albatross to fix up something to eat.

All that strenuous work and fighting had drained his sugar levels, he was sure the group were tired as they were hungry by now. Within the galley, he begun to assess the contents of their pantry and refrigerator.

"You cooking something, Furuta?" A half-asleep Arpeggio yawned. This woman's gluttony never failed to surprise him sometimes.

"I'll be done in ten, if you're not up by then, there'll be none left for you."

"Mmmm…." Hitoshi took that as an acknowledgement before going back to sleep.

Retrieving the ingredients that he desired, he started to chop a whole cabbage, some bacon and garnishes into thin slices and gathered these prepared ingredients over to the campfire that Hadric had started.

The moment he positioned the fire to accommodate a skillet, all faces turned towards the fire and awoke from their fatigue. The God of Cookery was going to cook them a special night snack as he promised.

Sitting in their spots and quietly watching he at work was what they all had in common, regardless of their relation to him.

He mixed some flour with baking powder and sprinkles of salt before stirring in some water and beaten eggs to create a batter with smooth texture in faster time than it would take for a baker to make his bread.

While waiting for his twenty-inch large skillet to heat up with the grease, it afforded him time to mix up a sauce comprising of equal ratios of ketchup to worchestershire sauce, with a few dabs of soy sauce and sugar.

He then poured the milky texture of his batter onto the whole pan to a reasonable height and allowed it to cook for a moment before adding the cabbage as its next layer. Already losing the Dwarves' favour in the dish, but restored it with the generous layers of bacon over their least favourite foods. He even cracked a couple of eggs spread out evenly over the layers, then allowed it to cook underneath. Using a metal spatula, he began to divide the corners into twelve portions with an egg each.

(flip)…..(flip)….

He turned those divided layers over after pouring more batter over them, revealing a golden-brown batter underneath. Retrieving the mixed sauce which had formed a complete okonomi sauce, he had it greased over the golden layer of the batter, followed with a seasoning of seaweed shavings and mayonnaise all over. Returning to the albatross, as he let the concoction fry a little while unsupervised while he picked an additional garnish that went well with it.

He returned with a bowl of pieces that resembled fine wood shavings and scattered it all over the portions along with green onion slices. The result was an appetizing smell that made the Dwarves forget their was vegetables, which they hated the most.

"All done." No sooner had he said these words had he received earnest looks of wanting to dig in as soon as possible. The Dwarves pulled out their own bowls and cutlery at the ready, while Parna came back with their own from Mother Gooses galley.

In their own coordinated line, Hitoshi used the spatula to deliver a portion of this aromatic night snack into each of their bowls.

"Enjoy." He said to each of them, as the Dwarves were the first to receive theirs.

"I think we will." Kayn, the elder brother was the last of the group to receive it.

He gave a portion to his own crew as well, Parna and Takeo, Kugel came to collect his and Ashlaug's where they sat in their corner recuperating from the tremendous fatigue she sustained. Right on time, Arpeggio came out to receive her meal and ate with Takeo and Parna, as they commented on the taste. Hitoshi found that there was no other way of motivating his mage to move other than food and monetary incentive.

But there was one more portion which he made not just for himself. As he approached the Shaman with two bowls.

"Head, tell your princess I've brought her some supper."

"You tell her yourself!" The shrunken Gnoll head unhappily responded, it was still feeling to sores from behind kicked around by the three of them like a toy.

"She's a young growing girl, you're a headless undead. Who needs food to survive and who doesn't?" Hitoshi let the head do the math, as it quickly stated what Hitoshi had come to do in their native language.

The Shaman looked curiously at him, was it not common to feed their prisoners he wondered? Certainly, it wasn't a priority over their own troops at best.

"I'm gonna undo her hands, please advise her not to attack me if she knows what's best for her."

"Hmph!" The head certainly wished she would start clawing his face, but reluctantly did advise his master so.

After undoing the rope around her hands, he placed the bowl on her lap and held out a fork and spoon for her as cutlery. The Shaman looked at him funny, like she couldn't believe he would do this for a prisoner.

"Does she not know what food looks like?"

"Even if you ask me….." The head whistled innocently, as if it didn't involve him anymore.

Leaving him to sigh as he took a scoop out of her bowl and ate the contents to show that it was edible and not poisonous. Before he sat across her against the tree in front of her and ate quietly.

The shaman detached the head from her belt and held it over the bowl asking it what it was. The head sniffed it to guess what kind of strange food this was.

"Weird human, what is this stuff?" The head asked.

"In my world, it's called Okonomiyaki. A freestyle pancake meal. Hiroshima style." One of the many street foods that he had indulged in late night and studied himself. It was incidentally, Yaeko's favourite snack. "And the name's Hitoshi Furuta. Who you calling weird, you're the talking head?"

The shaman took a whiff and was pleasantly surprised by its sweet savoury smell but asked the head to translate something.

"Furuta man, what are those things that are squirming around on that pancake?" That was a novelty of the Okonomiyaki, but they obviously didn't know that.

"They're just dried fish shavings reacting to the heat, nothing harmful." He said no further as he enjoyed his own meal and heard the Dwarves sing their praise at one of the best meals they'd had in a while. The trip out of Velduar was becoming worth it for them, ney, it was a privilege.

The shaman tried to be adventurous, more so than the cautious head and took a bit. Her tongue absorbed a multitude of flavours that she had never tasted before in her thirteen years of living. Letting out a shameful yelp of surprise when her pallet was assaulted by the strong fusion of mayonnaise, Worchestershire sauce and sour ketchup. The savoury taste of bacon and egg with the crunchiness of the lettuce and pancake. Her only desire became taking the next bite after properly swallowing the first. The shaman ate almost madly, as if she'd been starved for days. To the point that even the head began to wonder how good it tasted and regret that it wasn't alive to do so.

When she reached the end of her meal, there was a sadness to her drooping eyes that even the head couldn't console.

"Was it that good?" He mused at her savouring every bit of the snack till she licked the bowl. As an adolescent Gnoll, it was embarrassing to admit such things.

"I don't have such a big appetite, if you would like…." Hitoshi offered the rest of his Okonomiyaki to which the Shaman tried to conceal her salivating with a neutral expression.

"She says if you insist." The head translated with a monotone as he didn't feel like entertaining his master's indirect behaviour.

"Then, it's yours." He exchanged bowls with her as she dug in without hesitation, wolfing down as if she'd never had a more delicious meal than now.

"Head, if she's still hungry, I can still cook more. Tell her that." Hitoshi instantly recognised that ravenous behaviour and look anywhere. Why was a princess of a tribe so famished when the Dwarves of the common halls never complained about the lack of food?

"Why would you do that for her?" The head asked in a rather confused tone.

"No child should ever go hungry." He said with a light in his eyes that shone brighter than the head's jewelled eyes. Almost deceiving the head into thinking that he was in the presence of a saint.

"More human lies." The head distrusted humans more than dwarves.

"They're not lies, head." Answered the voice of Parna who had finished her meal and rested to relieve Hitoshi of his post of guarding their prisoner.

"My master feeds and cares for our people, young and old."

"What would a slave know of compassion beyond the whip?" It misinterpreted her calling him master as them being in a master-slave relationship.

"You serve him to meet an ends, you are chained by your very will alone." Parna was about to approach the head to give it another pounding when Hitoshi grabbed her wrist to prevent her.

"See?" It snorted, as if to prove his point, that she did not move when he prevent her from doing so.

"And what about you, what about your princess?"

"What about us?"

"Are you not slaves to your religious beliefs?" The head remained quiet as he contemplated these words but found no comeback, they would enter a pointless feud over words.

"Then again, this is me saying that after I murdered over a dozen of your fellow Gnolls to speak so lightly." Hitoshi took a step back on his own accord and announced his own hypocrisy to the head and Shaman if she could understand even a little bit of what was going down between her familiar and the enemy human.

"Human, whose side are you on?" The head asked a profound question that it was dying to know.

"Mine." Hitoshi responded.

---

Signs of dawn were already showing with the lightening of the sky above as they reached the abandoned fortress where they first entered from. With an additional member to their party, a prisoner which they had yet to release as promised.

They entered the tunnelway that would lead them back to the inner nexus fortress and into Velduar, Arpeggio had reactivated the cloaking spell that hid Mother Goose from curious eyes before she made a bunk on one of the carts which Hadric lugged without complaint. Artefacts from Amarel, machinery from Ascension Glade and the weapons on Mother Goose in their respective carts pushed by Hadric and the Dallawan brothers. The Shaman had also been placed on one of the moving carts with Hitoshi fiddling about with some mechanical items, particularly a retro K-14 reflector gunsight which had been used as the main fire control for the weapons installed on Mother Goose. Primitive to the modern JSDF but advanced for the Special Region. Takeo was left to set up the Browning machine gun into a troop tripod they had in the cargo hold and to check the headspace whilst riding on one of the carts.

They had managed to wire the rocket pod to be activated by a piezo-electric firing trigger with a few extra wires from the spare parts kit to make an adaptor. Hitoshi stuck close to the Shaman not because of the levels of comfort they had developed but wariness of Ashlaug's behaviour. Since she was the one that started the fight with the Gnolls in the first place. Kugel was with her so he couldn't tell him what was going on with that woman even if he wanted to.

It was around this time that both the head became convinced that they didn't represent the interests of the Imperials but the fabled Men in Green. The shaman still had no idea who they were, because the head was preoccupied with the conversation he had with Hitoshi as he worked. Specifically asked what did Gnolls do and how did they worship their God Illuma, whom the Dwarves also called Duncan. To which, the head shared plenty.

"Let's see, we also take the sixth day of every month to have drink and dance." Even the Gnolls had days when they celebrated and relaxed.

"What about you, human?"

"We get more holidays than we should." There were more than his fingers could count for that.

"Your country of Nihon sounds very prosperous." The head concluded.

"…."

"Yet your show of contentment suggests otherwise." The head was starting to sound too intelligent for what it was. As it gathered from Hitoshi body language.

"I'm no flower child, and you're a bodiless head, Wyldmin."

"I'd nod to that if you could do it for me." The head tried to share a common place with him.

He was so preoccupied that when he talked to his master, the Shaman refused to speak to him. Until he pressed her.

"Tho var thast jikablith tho're hez zva kjunkith, uthwe." She said in a sour manner.

"What did she say?"

"I can't understand it either." The head confessed. "Something about us enjoying ourselves." Hitoshi could resist a light smile as his eyes met with the Shaman's.

Picking up the head he knocked it with his knuckles as if it were a coconut to show that inside the head, there was nothing but hollowness. And to his delight, the shaman actually understood his reference and laughed.

"You're more insensitive than I thought." The head had its heart set on, but also did not mind that his master had a little laugh at him.

"And you are a reliable subject."

"That means nothing coming from you." Once again, the head rebuffed his kind words as nothing but empty meaning.

It made Hitoshi chuckle a bit as he reflected on what brought them to this point.

"Head, how do you say fun in your tongue?"

"Sarew. Why?" He then faced the Shaman and tried to speak in their tongue.

"Rhelzus ei…. sarew?"

And she responded with a very satisfied nod. "Ast…. Furutah."

"She said thank you."

"Yeah, I got it." But the head was thinking about something else.

"How did you know the way the sentence is formed?" Hitoshi certainly didn't know the language until today, so how was be able to decipher this much in only limited interactions?

"Your tongue is almost similar in structure to Dwarven. Just with different phonics here and there." Gnoll almost sounded like a distant dialect of the main dwarven tongue.

"No, I take it back. You are weird, human."

"Not shrunken head weird though."

"Stop that!"

"Ei." He poked the head to its dissatisfaction. Until it received the same provocations from its master and lamented the bad influence that the weird human had on his precious master. Even if they shared yet another laugh.

In the cart at the rear, where Takeo fixed the heavy machine gun in the company of the resting shield maiden with Kugel walking beside the cart. Her eyes were affixed dangerously to the Gnoll shaman.

"Why does he not end her like he did the others?" She was confused by Hitoshi's actions.

"That Gnoll is just a child." Kugel felt like he was repeating himself in vain.

"But a child of the Dwokur tribe, you heard the head!" She ranted to the point of delirium, making even Takeo uncomfortable in the front.

"Killing that she won't change what happened." Kugel knew what made Ashlaug so aggrieved by the presence of the shaman especially this shaman that hailed from "that" near-extinct tribe.

"But at least it won't repeat itself." She justified her intent otherwise.

"No… You'll only make it worse." Just as conflict as the shield maiden was, so to was Kugel in convincing her as well as himself that it was as he said. For the Dwokur tribe weren't the only ones who had sustained casualties on their side. So too did the House of Oakenspire, particularly with Ashlaug.

"Iraemus, please." For the first time in so long, she pleaded using his name. catching him with his guard down.

"If we reach the Nexus West, we'll lose our chance."

"That's enough, Ash." He said with a mild threatening tone in his voice.

"How could you even say that?"

"Why can't I, the woman I loved is talking me into killing a kid. An enemies child, but a child nonetheless. What if one of ours was left at their mercy? Are you so concluded they wouldn't think any different from what you're thinking now?" He hoped that the Gnolls wouldn't be that savage.

But something else triggered her again, something else he said.

"Liar."

"Be quiet, Ash." He didn't want to make a scene in front of everyone.

"Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar! Liar!" She repeated in an increasingly unstable tone as she cradled her head.

"Ash." Kugel tried to reach out to her, but she swatted his hands.

"Don't touch me, you liar!" As she said so, her eyes turned hostile towards him.

"No. I'm not lying."

"Liar! You don't mean it!" She punched him in the cheek with a audible feedback, but he just stood there and took it.

"Liar!" She hurled another punch followed by another until she exhausted herself and left his cheeks raw.

"You can punch me as many times as you want, I'll still say the same thing." He decided to take a stand for himself at that moment. But was unprepared for what followed.

"Then why didn't you take me with you….?" She faced him with her face softened by the running tears down her eyes.

"I-….. I couldn't." He said with stammering in his voice and his head shaking.

"Couldn't….. or wouldn't?" He was posed another question that he found difficult to answer yet again.

"I was an-."

"I didn't care what you were then!" She responded with breaks in her voice due to the runniness of her throat from the emotions she was feeling.

"How?... How could you live with a cheat like me?!" He too felt wronged by her tears.

"All of them calling me a traitor-…. A scoundrel!" But all he got was a shaking head from her and a disproportionate laugh.

"When have I ever cared about anything that others said about you?" Kugel could only bear the blunt of these honest words at point blank, and the consequence of his words that day that shunned her away when he entered exile.

"I would've followed you out there in exile without a second thought. But I never wanted to ever hear the words, "I never loved you". Especially from you." She continued on as the tear in their hearts widened with every word.

"Duncan's busom, you left me with nothing." She cursed.

"Ash, I-."

"So I want nothing more from you, Iraemus." Having set her mind on something, she decided that she had enough of this pain and chose to banish it, even if it meant severing this connection.

Kugel was so stupefied that he almost got left behind by the cart moving until, Fin halted its moment to wait for him.

"Ash, please. Just give me a chance to-."

"I'm sorry, but that time as passed." She shook her head with an almost dead look in her eyes. "I never want to be hurt by you again." These words had a lasting effect on him to the point that he even collapsed to the floor on his knees. It would take Parna to lift him on his feet the entire way.

"Cartman, please move on." Fin Dallawan was unsure but decided that if he delayed, they would stray too far from the main group. Having witnessed the entire drama from the front also was Takeo. Who pretended he was an inanimate object when they broke into shouting and expressing their grievances. Telling himself that he had nothing to do with this as he couldn't concentrate on fixing the machine gun.

Until he heard the woman in the back cry, he knew that he couldn't take this pedestrian position any longer.

"Here." He held out a handkerchief which Persia had personally embroidered for him, which she received with grace.

By the time she was done with it, he almost didn't want it back. But he had to, since it was from Persia.

"Thank you,….. Sir Kuruta, was it?"

"It's fine." Even though he was inwardly grieving, he had no idea what detergent to use. Perhaps Hitoshi could help him later.

"So you and Kugel, huh?" He said with a fake laugh and instantly regrated his poor choice of words.

"Yes." She responded though before the silence stalked in once more.

"I would have never guessed."

"No, you wouldn't."

"Sorry, that's not what I meant. I meant, the way he took that beating from you. That was something scary." Takeo was sure he heard a crack from a broken tooth from where he was at the time.

"…."

"The Kugel I know has always been cautious of his surrounds. No openings, not even a gap. Even when Flare attacked us in Amarel."

"What?" Takeo realised he made a serious breach in secrecy they had sworn in concerning Amarel and was too late to correct it.

"Uh-uwah-… I mean, uh-…. Oh god, please don't tell Furuta I said that." He begged the shield maiden who gave a nod, he sighed in relief to that response.

"So anyway-."

"It's alright, I know you are trying to stand up for him." She could already guess from such a predictable behaviour from such an inexperienced man.

Silence matured again, before Takeo gained to the heart to speak again.

"That won't be enough."

"What?" She couldn't understand what Takeo had just set his mind on.

"The Kugel that I know struggled alone for eight years to make a name in the Imperial capital. Who fought in the auxiliaries when we came to this world. And fought an evil God for his friends and the things he believed in. That guy you called a traitor and liar came back here in the end." Takeo turned around and stared at her with eyes without conviction. As Hitoshi had told him earlier, it was his virtue that was their greatest strength, so he would use it to save them all.

"The Kugel I know won't let this end the way you wanted it to. So I'll say this in advance…."

Ashlaug could not fathom why this Human was getting so worked up on Kugel's behalf.

"Prepared to be proven wrong."

The shield maiden was baffled by why this man had so much faith in something that she had lost faith in. Especially when they couldn't have known each other for more than a year since Holy Alnus opened.

(BOOM)

"What was that?!" The surprise was voice by the youngest Dallawan, Dale.

"Wasn't us." Hitoshi confirmed from where he was as he confirmed that the rocket pod hadn't exploded either.

"That was at Nexus West!" But Hadric could tell by the vibrations of where it roughly came from, and it was in the direction they were headed off to. His ear touched the ground as he listened further for more clues on what had taken place before he reported his findings.

"The Fortress wall is under attack, the Gnolls are invading the West gate."

---

How did a waste disposal cart mover carry these sorts of skills found only with pathfinders? No one thought to ask other than to assert the truth with their own eyes. Hitoshi aligned the cart to assist Hadric with his cart down the relatively smooth road. Till they reached the illusion barrier they had previously entered.

The frequent patrols were no longer there so they travelled onwards down the tunnel until they reached the wide cavern space where the smell of smoke and burn flesh could be tasted in the air.

"Hadric, your cart hangs back for a while." He instructed his point cartman who made way for the other two carts which lugged their own offensive weapons forward.

"Takeo, you have the gun."

"Aye, got it!" His sergeant let his training take over as he attached the belt and charged the weapon before pointing it forwards despite no targets yet being present.

Hitoshi went over to the cart with the Rocket pod, manned by Kayn and Saul. And started to arm the warheads on each and every one of the hydra rockets.

"Parna, you have point." His companion sprinted forward to give them advanced details since the carts were slow and unwieldly to move forwards or backwards fast.

As the carts moved forward, Nexus West entered their sight. Along with part of its wall turned to burning rubble and a sea of Gnolls trying to push their way in. Hitoshi could even taste the blood in the air which meant only one thing.

"Blood Shamans." He could even make them out within the sea of thousands that stormed the wall with thick crude metal shields to protect themselves from the barrage of defensive siege weapons and arrow launchers. But unlike the shaman princess, these shamans stood a head taller than the Gnolls themselves. Like the apex of their kind, leaving no doubt of their ability to act as leaders with intimidating build alone. And their magic, force multiplied by their numbers. Turning the very frontline troops into expendable but almost the most savage and unkillable of their strength.

The Dwarves were doing all they could to plug up the breach in their wall with everything they had, but the Gnolls pushed them so hard that the garrison seemed to waiver. Hitoshi's binoculars had suggested this as he passed it over to Kugel for a second pair of eyes on the battle they were witnessing.

Hitoshi returned to where his prisoners were being held.

"It is time for you to fulfil your promise, Furutah. Release us." The head spoke on their behalf.

"Into that? I don't think so." He pointed at the massive melee that occurred between the Rune priests that led a phalanx outside the wall to buy the engineers some time to fix the hole while they took the stress off the wall.

"We can cease this attack, if you would just let us go." The shaman was saying the exact same thing in their local language, but Hitoshi had already set his mind to it.

"No." Looking at the state that those Gnolls invading the fortress were in, the bloodlust was several times thicker. All they would be achieving would be her death.

The shaman voiced her refusal as the head would have too, but then Hitoshi addressed the latter.

"You've seen these kinds of battle before, head. Tell her!" As the head became hesitant to do so.

"Then what will you do?"

Hitoshi turned towards the raging battle that was deafened by howls, screams, and drums hammering.

"I'll show both sides the cruelty of war."

At the second hour of the battle, the garrison of the fortress wall had weathered the relentless assault upon them, threefold worst than the last a yesterday morning. Reinforcements had been sent for, but would take another hour to reach, such time they no longer had. They were certain of it, the Gnolls had tested their walls the previous day. Now they were certain of their advance.

Whichever chieftain or shaman was leading this army, he wanted to breach this wall today for the rest of the tribes to follow suit. They could not allow that to happen, if they could lay down every life to prevent them from getting through, they would.

What a time for the Apostle to recall all of his aligned Rune Priests than now when the Gnolls were most relentless during this Winter. Leaving severe gaps in their already stretched defences, if anything it made the adjutant garrison commander think that the Apostle was secretly aligned with the Shamans or he was trying to thin out the King's faction supporters little by little.

(BOOM)

"Argh! Left quarter hit!"

"Seal it!"

-Tsk! It's the second one now!- He cursed in his head. There was more than just one of those weapons the Gnolls used upon the wall.

The legendary Nexus wall, fabled to be unbreakable, lasting for eight hundred years since its construction and regularly maintained. The Gnolls had something in their arsenal this time, something they hadn't had before. When he heard that the Bulwark Fortress fell months ago, he couldn't believe it till he had read the official report. None of them could, it was the farthest they've been since the Nexus defence was constructed.

Fear of the Gnolls' thousand years crusade reaching fruition stricken his heart even as he helplessly gave out orders to delay them even by a second. The odds were clear, two hundred could not fight off thirty times their number even with the defensive advantage.

"They're through!" A soldier called out just before being overwhelmed by a sea of blades diving into him and created a fountain of blood. Showering his killers with his innards as they moved on to the next victim of their more than successful conquest. The Gnolls had a certain way of killing them off one at a time, they would grab one of theirs and drag him out of the column, such that the Dwarves couldn't recover their casualties.

(Whistle)

To mark their breach of the fortress and the beginning of their massacre, a piercing howl broke into the air. He had never heard anything like it, and to his surprise, the Gnolls temporarily halted their attack. Baffled by the sound that wasn't actually coming from any of them or their Shamans' physical machinations, like the Ghouls.

(BOBOBOBOOOOM)

A continuous rumble that dwarfed the two previous uses of that weapon rocked him from his feet up till his helmet. The adjutant fell from his feet covering his head that rung hollow and his eyes closed shut to prevent the debris from blinding him. But he would not open them, not even when he had a fortress to defend. What was left for him to defend now? It was hopeless.

Soothsayers had often mumbled the end of Velduar but he took no purchase of those words for, their God was with them, an Apostle stood by them and a King fought for them.

-Forgefather, help us!- He prayed.

As sound restored in his ears, he heard the most peculiar of sounds. His men were still alive, baffled by the sound of the Gnolls in delirium. The taint of bloodlust had also vanished, thus, restoring the Gnolls back to their senses and the overwhelming sickly feeling in him and his men had disappeared.

"Over there!" His best set of eyes on the guard tower called out, pointing to where the Gnolls had been forced to redirect a portion of their army to fight someone who had approached from their vulnerable rear line.

The Gnolls were still engaged within a tug of war in their fortress compound, however, they were no longer empowered by the Shamans' evil spells as their attention was towards their rescuers that had come from outside.

The adjutant left the internal fighting to his soldiers as he climbed the observation post to see what had caused the Gnolls to shift and entire army around. Didn't they want this fortress? It was nearly in their grasp.

His subordinate assisted him up the ladder but he pushed his hand aside. And bore witness to the outside of their walls where a sea of Gnolls once stood waiting their turn to enter their fortress. Now, there was only black chars and corpses with missing limbs dotted about these areas. He looked up, and saw what the Gnolls had reorganised themselves to engage.

A mere open-top wagon caravan of under a dozen silhouettes in the distance. He rushed over to the magnifying glass in the tower while his subordinate aligned the hundred pound apparatus towards this unknown party that had disrupted the Gnolls to such an extent that they would abandon the effort to breach the wall.

What started out as blurry images being focused by his skill at the glass revealed to him the identity of their unexpected reinforcements.

Two men in uniforms of green, a warrior bunny and a company of Dwarves at their side. But the adjutant recognised some of their faces, as they had only just passed through the other day before an assault was repelled. One of those who had come was….

"God of Cookery, Furuta Hitoshi."

He saw the Gnolls charge at the sound of the bone horns towards the caravan and in return, a flash of light which almost blinded him occupied the entire lens since it focused at them quick closely. Followed by a rhythmic rumble that sounded too soft compared to the previous few times.

Light shot out from one of the carts where the other human in green sat and struck the Gnoll charge with such a force that the front most column exploded into a red mist followed by the next few columns. This light passed through flesh and metal as if it were just pieces of paper, killing dozens at a time as the Gnolls had packed themselves too closely.

In just ten seconds of watching this light flash, nearly a fifth of their numbers had vanished with only blood staining the rock and limbs about.

(Whistle) That whizzing sound happened again.

With his eyes on the caravan, he saw that it came from the second cart which sent out missiles with burning smoke trailing out as they were launched towards their target, the Gnolls en masse. Showing the adjutant what had just taken place earlier, and why the Gnolls were suddenly so afraid. Orange fire balls bloomed where these missiles impacted and sent a packs of Gnolls flying with or without whole bodies, decimating another few hundreds.

Collapsing on his back, the adjutant tried to control his breathing. For in his initial excitement was no replaced with horror. The God of Cookery should have just been that of his name sake, yet he unleashed an even more terrifying weapon upon the Gnolls that assaulted the fortress.

It suddenly clicked together, the things he heard from the other Dwarves and of what he himself had personally come close to the God of Cookery to know. For he had been guarding them during their hold within the fortress dungeon. Hitoshi Furuta was one of the Men in Green.

The monsters who crushed the empire, shrew dragons and subdued Gods.

"Forgefather, hear my prayer….." For even though he had been saved by said people, his gut was telling him that this was only the beginning.

---

By the time the M3 machine gun barrel was smoking, the Gnolls had already had a taste of the terrifying weapons which they held. It didn't matter how tough or resilient the Gnolls were to damage, before the Browning all were equal. It was by coincidence that when Takeo cleared a fifth malfunction from the constant use, they heard a horn get blown which instantly collapsed the Gnoll attack waves into a complete rout. The Gnoll army had been ordered to retreat.

Hitoshi huffed a sigh of relief as the jury-rigged rocket pod used as rocket artillery had been expended. He had managed to prevent the Fortress from falling, but had left a battlefield charred and littered. He took a breath as he turned around to see the Dwarves who were not in his company void of any cheer or relief, all they had on their faces were dumbfounded looks of mild horror and disgust. But they dare not say it.

For he had shown them a way of fighting that not only stripped any sort of glory and honour but made them question the cruelty and immorality of such deeds as they laid waste to an entire army of their enemies.

And they were just the bystanders. Hitoshi walked up to the pair that were in more shock and fear than the Dwarves.

"Stop, human! That's close enough." The Wyldmin told him to back off as his mere presence had built a newfound fear within the young Shaman's heart.

Hitoshi did as the head asked and did not say a single word as the Shaman regained what little of her senses after watching hundred of her kin fall to the hands of this person. Making her recall that he was the very same person who slaughtered her guards and charges. That kind man who gave her delicious food, was it just a lie? She looked into his eyes, but no matter how she looked into them from magic and from real life, they weren't there anymore.

"This is war in its purest form. This is what your war in these mountains will look like in the centuries to come." He said in the most clear and indifferent tone that he could make to the Shaman and the shrunken head which she clutched tightly.

"Rhelzus Woeblight. Shaman Princess of the Dwokur tribe, you're free to go." He waved his hand towards the retreating Gnolls who had recovered from their bloodlust only to carrying their injured out with difficulty and fear in their hearts. Amidst them were the group of shamans, who had been leading the army. Noticing that one of their own who had gone missing earlier was amongst the Scourge, as a captive. Wondering if they should discuss terms for a release to such a frightening existence.

The Shaman aligned the cart with the help of the Dallawan Brothers, who seemed empathic to her case. She walked up to him with the confusion in her face gone stone cold as it had been before.

"Dath vurthurkon ath vort ljez heth etta thuu." She said before tapping her familiar to translate for her.

The head looked troubled by what it had to pass on to him, as much as its preserved corpse head could make for expressions.

"She said, "It must be difficult to live with yourself with such deeds."." Was her reply to the glimpse of the way his world fought wars that stripped honour and pride from those who fought. It forgot the sacrifice and the plight of those who were depending on those who fought.

She started to make her way down without saying a goodbye. But left one last set of words for him before she reunited with her kin.

"Dath jr wrugg glaek midjurd tho vurthurkon hle borfra. Jeg galjeva hini vrag rir tho oz denthar voth evvil alfra briggast bavta frarth eth."

"The world that you come from, is indeed cruel. I can only pray for you and that we may never meet again on the battlefield." The head wanted to say something, but her hand covered its mouth, preventing even a single word of its own from coming out.

She looked back at him and said.

"Kill… you." With cold eyes, she declared in the Language of the Imperials. That she wouldn't hesitate to kill him and his companions the next time they came across each other.

Hitoshi tossed something over which she caught in her hand, unravelling it to reveal a green crystal amulet which she thought she had lost.

Using her mana, she cycled energy from the ore of uraninite causing a sickly glow to emulate from her body. And instigated the most peculiar of changes upon her, as the shaman seemed to grow in size. Leaving behind her former child-like frame from an adult one, but the cold expression yet remained the same.

In honouring his agreement to release her, she revealed to him what the uranium ore did to her peoples. The ore that they venerated as Maharu, the stone that perpetuated change in them. Morphing them in ways that prepared them for a new kind of war, one where the change of flesh and blood would finally overcome the Adamantite steel of the Dwarves.

At last, he had the answer to why the Gnolls wanted that radioactive substance that even he and his fellow countrymen were afraid of. The Gnolls had somehow mastered the change of flesh that exceeded what genetic manipulation could achieve. By controlling their mutations through their mysterious blood magic, they could make themselves stronger, faster, and more ferocious than their predecessors.

But the cost for showing him this, had robbed her of her innocence. And had also been a challenge to his previous statements about not harming children. For she was no longer a child and he would therefore be given leave to kill her as well. He had made killed her innocence in order to prevent her from throwing away her life.

As her silhouette reunited with her brethren in the distance, they hurried off without even looking back. But just as Hitoshi had shattered what was good in her heart, she had also left a scar on his.

In a way. He killed the adolescence within Rhelzus. And now, Rhelzus the Shaman would have her revenge.

"Hitoshi-." Having watched this play out, Takeo felt just as guilty but received no verbal attack from the Shaman. Hitoshi neutral expression hid the pain that he felt for an enemy he'd only just known. Knowing, that they would eventually meet again, and that he would have to kill her. It was not a maybe, the Gnolls stood in the way of his plans for the Restoration.

"Let's not dally any longer." The gate of the fortress had opened intentionally to let him back in. He could hear the distant cheers of the garrison. The party returned the quickest they could back to Velduar where they would have to face the authorities to explain what happened here.

But Hitoshi, sitting in the cart beside Parna and Takeo was distracted by the thoughts of his time with another kindred soul that was not too different from her. The only memorabilia of him he had was in the hands of the Dwarves. Leaving him longing for his keepsake.

Once again, he lamented.

-I've killed another one.-

---

Within the fortress, he it was déjà vu all over again. The sight of the ruined interior, the row of injured soldiers awaiting treatment and another row for their fallen. Now four times the amount of the last time. But this time, he and his group were greeted personally by the garrison who all thanked him for saving their lives. He gave them the obligatory smile and humble reply, but he had nothing good to feel about it. None of them did.

Takeo was only beginning to deal with these emotions himself. That day at Alnus, against the fifty thousand Imperial soldiers and a hundred thousand from the allied kingdoms, none of the Jietai soldiers even faced the people that they killed. It was all done from afar with howitzers, mortars and machine gun fire at extreme distances. He didn't have to look at the people he slaughtered directly as their eyes flashed with surprise, then disbelief, followed by horror. At least he had Kugel who had him as well to talk about it in full detail.

As for Hitoshi, his mind was no longer on the things of the past. He would have plenty of time to reflect upon it latter when he rested. But now, he wanted to investigate something else.

How did the Gnolls breach the Nexus Defence?

The same one that Kugel tooted stood for nearly a thousand years. He was in the best place to start, at where the wall had been breached. Standing before him was a ten feet tall cave-in of the walls internals. The same honeycomb design as the outer fortress that was lost. His hand ran over the imperfections of the torn metal. There were two breaches, he was currently at the first one.

"You want something, Gilbs?" He asked the adjutant whom he had befriended a day earlier over a meal and cards in a dungeon space.

"Only to give my thanks."

"Then, thank Duncan." Hitoshi carried on with his investigation like a defective over a crime scene.

"Honestly, I wonder if he was ever here." The adjutant confessed.

"If the priests caught you saying that, you'd have a place in a cell."

"Well, thank Duncan they ain't." The adjutant took a swig from his wine jug, an early celebratory drink for himself.

"What weapon did the Gnolls use?" He asked Hitoshi after a while of silence.

"That's what I'm curious to find out. There's no magic residue, and the outer and inner walls are made of your adamantite composite, right?" The adjutant commander nodded.

It wasn't full adamantite, or else it would've cost the sum of building Velduar several times over, but a derivative that was mixed with steel and cement into a laminate. Advanced as medieval wall building was concerned, but Hitoshi was willing to bet that a few kilos of C4 would fell it all the same.

He walked through the gap and had a look at the wall from the outside before the engineers began their makeshift patching up job.

The wall had no burn marks. It was as if an armour piercing round had shredded its way through the wall, a really big one. But he saw nothing big that could deliver such a projectile with the Gnolls when they assaulted the walls. If it really was a cannon, that is.

"Where's your Commander?" Hitoshi now needed a full account if he wanted any more clues to what did this.

"Come on, I'll show you." He should've realised that the way that the Adjutant put it was strangely put. As the latter brought him before the row of dead corpse.

"He was the first get killed." The adjutant knelt down and pulled the white cloth off his commander's corpse to reveal a missing head.

"Did the Gnolls take his head or something?"

"I-… I don't know."

"You have to be straight with me Gilbs. There's a possibility that they might try again elsewhere." The adjutant didn't like the sound of that either way, even if he wasn't where they might attack.

"We were on our routine inspections over the Ramparts. He said something about wishing we'd have dinner again….. I laughed and splat!"

"Splat?"

"His blood on me, and his head went missing!" He was shaken by the whole experience, he could see it in his eyes.

"Then there was that loud deafening rumble for just a second and then came the warcries." The adjutant's accounting seemed straightforward. It implied that there was a coordinated effort to eliminate the command element before the wall was even breached.

"Was their any loud bang around the time when your Commander was killed?" Hitoshi even mimicked the sound, but the Adjutant could say for sure. All he heard next was the explosion of the breach that rumbled the fortress.

Hitoshi squatted on the opposite side to get a closer look at the exposed neck of the corpse when-..

(click)(click)(click) His Geiger counter which he forgot to off from their mine detour went off telling him their was a presence of radiation on the corpse.

"What is that thing?"

He pulled it out of its bag and pointed it towards the corpse to find exactly what part was giving off that very weak signature, but he didn't need to look long. It was at the base of the neck where he found a small fragment embedded in the skin. It gave off even less radiation that the ore in the deposit leaving him to suspect its nature.

"Your C.O. was the first target before they assaulted you fortress." It was not the most comforting of words but at least shed light on how he inexplicably exploded.

"But not by the same weapon as the one that blew the holes in your wall." It was something much worse.

He was beginning to suspect that both the weapon that did this to the Fortress Commander and the Walls weren't originally made by the Gnolls, but brought from somewhere else. Someone gave them these weapons.

The sound of a horn blew followed by the trundle of Nixie rams, the Dwarves favoured mounts. It appeared that the cavalry had finally arrived, although late as they went out to see. Over five hundred mounted soldiers and three airships approaching from a distance.

However, what caught his attention was the mounted soldier in the lead. Hitoshi noted that the Adjutant hurried in his steps to report to the mounted squadron command.

As he dismounted from the Ram, the adjutant fell into a kneel before him and the former's retinue.

"Your Majesty! I regret to inform you of our failure to hold Nexus West. Had it not been for Lord Furuta's providence, the Gnolls would have been upon the city!" The adjutant knew it wasn't the time to give excuses for his unabilities.

"Rise, Commander. You have not failed me or the city, it is our apologies that are in order for being late." Having received a notion for a promotion to Commander in his reply, King Novar was indeed just.

Hitoshi stood where he was as the King dutifully approached him.

"We owe a debt to you again, Lord Furuta." He said as he took off his helmet.

"A King personally riding to the rescue. Either I've read too many heroic legends or this was genuinely unexpected." The King responded mirthful to his humour.

"When we lost the outer defences, I made it my priority."

"To investigate?" Hitoshi suggestion was met with surprise amongst his retinue of subjects.

"The weapon the Gnolls used was the same one." Hitoshi saved them time by confirming it.

"I see….." It appeared that King Novar had his suspicions about something confirmed as well.

As he turned towards the airship that approached for a landing, one bearing the coat of arms of the Apostle.

"Gilbs, burn that body now." He told the former adjutant.

"What?"

"Do it now." He suspected that Hitoshi intended to keep this known by the Temple, or that they were investigating to such detail. He even received consent from the King with a nod.

Commander Gilbs excused himself and went about preparing the corpse for an emergency cremation.

"Gilbs was telling me that the temple recalled most of their rune priests just before this happened. Little bit of a happy coincidence." Hitoshi shared with the King just as the Apostle walked towards them with his posse.

"…." This was also known to him.

"Your majesty. I did not think it necessary that His majesty requisite his own bodyguard to the alarm." The Apostle replied in the most surprised manner he could make for Novar bringing his elite forces to personally reinforce the fortress.

"His holiness was thinking the same, it seems." The Temple Guard were with him on their airships, standing in an almost statue-like attention seen only on precision drill squads.

"And Lord Furuta, here as well." He acknowledged him as if a side-note to their ongoing political cold war.

"What would Lord Furuta be doing here at this particular hour though?" He questioned him.

"I left some stuff in my ride, went to grab them. Mighty coincidence that I found the fortress besieged when I came back."

"Indeed." He said unconvinced, like he was the most suspicious person here.

"Or….. I could've been the one instigating this attack." The fact that he said it so bluntly with a smile on his face broke the Apostle's flow of the conversation.

"That's entirely up to you to decide." He continued.

"No one is suspecting you, Lord Furuta." King Novar continued on and pulled him aside to continue their conversations and dismissing the Apostle from them.

"Come, allow me to escort you back to Oakenshire Manor." He directed him towards their available mounts.

"Are you being too rude to Lord Furuta?" The apostle stopped them from moving on.

"We have airships and you want him to ride back."

"….." The Apostle wanted to isolate King from interacting with him, and for good reason. As the King had no good follow up and would reluctantly agree to the Apostle's terms.

"I'm not a princess, Mortar." But Hitoshi casually dismissed the Apostle's proposal as being stupid. The Apostle stood fuming inside but failing to show it.

"Are you just gonna stand there all day? The Fortress needs the Temples' aid. Chop chop." And to add fuel to the fire he passed the Apostle off as nothing more than an errand boy. Since the Dwarves treated him like a God, he decided to use it to his favour and left the Temple with the clear-up op.

Hitoshi motioned for his companions and employees to follow him to the mounted knights. But without saying anything between them, Ashlaug reported back to the Apostle. It couldn't be helped since she was from that organisation after all. Kugel didn't stop her either, she would likely report the events that transpired last night including the capture and subsequent release of a Shaman. Which the Apostle would be certainly pissed to hear, for letting a potential ransom captive go.

"When you step on someone's tail like the Apostle's-…." The King tried to warn him.

"You squash them." Hitoshi answered, proving that he couldn't be taught.

He hadn't just made Mortar clean up after his mess, he also robbed him of his Temples' chance to ride in triumphantly to save the fortress. A political win that was likely orchestrated from the beginning and stolen by Hitoshi.

"I've never seen him so infuriated." As the King said so, he also leaked a smile. It wasn't everyday that you could see someone incorrigible who couldn't be touched hurt.

But Hitoshi had his reasons, one being, he didn't want his cargo to be inspected and confiscated by the temple as well.

As they gathered by the knights, a mount was provided to each of them. While the knights hooked a Ram to each cart to lug back as well. Hitoshi was given the reins of one by Hadric who looked clearer than before and had the a robe over his shoulders, and a badge of office pinning it in place.

"You must forgive my suspicions in sending by chief spymaster to tail you, my lord." The King revealed who Hadric truly was in the King's company.

"That's alright. He was a terrible spy anyway."

"How you hurt me, boss." He smiled with mirth.

"Here's a tip, Hadric." Hitoshi mounted the Ram almost naturally as a horse after a brief bonding with the Ram and leaned over.

"Nightsoil collectors don't have as clean hands as you do, and they certainly don't venture out where there's no protection." Revealing that he knew from the start that Hadric wasn't who he posed as. He simply let him tag along.

"Can I count on you attending my invitation to my laboratory this afternoon, My Lord?" King Novar asked him in person than from a letter. Considering that they had been out all night, he might not be able to wake up for it.

"You will. The Colonel will be with me for this afternoon's lunch." As promised to his companions, they would have a whole day's rest while he carried on.

"Very well, I look forward to our next rendezvous. Hadric will escort you with my Guard back to Oakenshire. I'm sure Hekrel will be worried about your disappearance." The King said before he gave a curt nod and rode off with half his guard.

"Let's go then, lousy spymaster."

"Oh my, that's not going to be your epithet of me, is it?" Hadric joked as he mounted his Ram.

"Not unless you tell me your assessment of this situation." By that he meant the fortress affair between the two factions.

But Hadric didn't answer him.

"That-a-boy, Hadric." The spymaster didn't fall for the quickest trick in the book. And they made their peace as they rode on back to Velduar.

Where a warm bath and sheets awaited them, as did an explanation to calm Hekrel's franticness.

---

Hekrel feared the worst, even though his head attendant did all he could to calm him, the latter was in cahoots for facilitating their late-night departure to some extent. By the time, they returned, the young lord had a mouthful to give to Kugel for allowing Hitoshi to go on such a dangerous journey, even though it was the other way around. He would have pledged a whole contingent to go on their excursion, but that was far from what Hitoshi wanted just to grab a few things. The fact that the Apostle didn't know that he left only when meeting him meant that he couldn't anticipate everything. If he followed Hekrel's suggestion, there would surely be one or two spies. And he'd might as well hold up a sign to the Gnolls that he was a Dwarven VIP worth attacking.

All in all, it was a successful run. He had managed to bring back three important items. Mother Gooses underslung weapons, although the M3 browning had only a burst worth of bullets left. However, he managed to spare a few of the two- and three-quarter inch rockets. Pieces of the Amarel power armor were also safely stored in the private Oakenshire forge with guard rotations. Accompanying it was another piece of equipment that had much relevance to what they were doing here as it did with what the folk here did. A disassembled metalworking lathe and compact generator kit weighing in at around a thousand and a half pounds.

That was why it was no easy task to move other than with carts, mounts and Dwarven movers. Of whom were well-paid after their contract and given an arrangement for future employment. The Dallawan Brothers were a reliable service after all and a humorous lot.

"Ready?" Eager to formally meet with the members of the Dwarven hegemony, Imazu awaited their departure by the carriage called for them.

"This is the fifth time you've asked already." Hitoshi passed him in a JSDF dress uniform of olive green, a matching one to the Colonel save for the additional medals and ribbons the latter had attained over the years of service. Whereas Hitoshi hardly had a single defensive memorial cordon due to spending nearly six years in solely clandestine ops.

Without another word, they boarded the carriage with Hekrel as their escort liaison. After their return, and explanations to Imazu and Hekrel, Hitoshi made sure that their gear was stored in a safe place while they were away as they were still weapons of war. He didn't need to tell the others to do anything, they went about their own means of rest. Even Parna wasn't insisting she come along.

He afforded himself three hours sleep after breakfast served to him by the attendants before making himself presentable for what was a seasonal party under the patronage of the Queen Mother, Novar's elderly mom.

But this was merely a guise of the Dowager balancing out the power struggle between her reigning son and the apostle-led temple. Where supporters and statesmen repledged their allegiances to their lords or offer deals for alliances. Sort of like an executive session politics. It showed how powerful the Queen Mother was over both the King and the Temple. It was likely to come from family ties to powerful men and women of influence deeply rooted to their society.

"Your pin is loose, here." Imazu offered to adjust one of his naval diver badges from his time in the maritime service.

"When was the last time you checked your uniform?" Imazu shook his head at the travesty that was an officer who couldn't even manage his dress code properly.

"At my graduation." He said arranging his top, recalling the vivid memory of himself casting it into the air upon his commission.

"…." The Colonel realised he touched a grey area that was Hitoshi's extensive deniable career. Hitoshi had likely spent more time in the field than the Colonel himself had on peacekeeping and disaster relief operations combined.

"Yanagida said you were Ranger qualified, which year were you?" Honestly, Hitoshi didn't like sharing this stuff, but this was a moment which Imazu shared with him alone. Hazama had sent him to scout his background and history that wasn't already blanked out by Public Safety upon his return. Personally shared if possible, Imazu was a friendly man to the folks at Alnus, but to him he was just a nuisance. The wrong person to send at the wrong place and time, he already didn't mind that Kenzaki was sent to him to begin with.

"09'."

"09' would be….. Major Matsugawa Ino's class, wouldn't it?" Imazu had deep roots with many C.O. and Commandants around the country. But Hitoshi shook his head.

"Flynn Clayton, Fort Benning."

"You. An American ranger course graduate? Like how many openings are there for Foreign Allies every year?" The Colonel raised his eyebrow and let out a laugh.

"Less than four." Imazu thought there would be less, and they were. It just happened that Commander Komokado pulled some strings to get him a placement when he first started out. Since most of the operations were jointly led by the Americans, it was prudent to know their up-to-date tactics and operating procedures for combat efficiency and coordination. That year, he and Ymir were the lucky ones or unlucky. Depending on how one puts it, the latter missed out on a whole year of leave that he'd much rather spend with his folks in the mainland. Even so, they attended a course that set the standard for high combat proficiency and survivability.

"Wow. Sixty-one days of pure hell on earth I suppose." Hitoshi didn't agree, he didn't have problems with the physical aspect of their drills, it was communicating. At the time, his English was passable in the states. However, there were a plethora of jargons and trends in their country he was unfamiliar with, so he ended up being "that foreign exchange student". His saving grace was none other than his cooking skills, becoming the de facto cook in the class when barbeques were hosted or wild game was caught during survival courses. At the end of the course, he received his Ranger tab and a uniquely Georgian-style grill technique and sauce recipes.

"Hardly." Hitoshi replied.

"You're gonna break the hearts of our boys in Camp Fuji." Imazu humoured himself.

"They're on different operating theatres, what's heart-breaking about it?" Again, Hitoshi was pragmatic about it. Not everyone needed to graduate in America like he did.

"…" Imazu got a better understanding of the way he thought now.

"…. What about yourself, sir?" Keeping the conversation going, Hitoshi asked. To which he made the Colonel rather happy.

"Ranger, Airborne like yourself but domestically. I started out with a field job in Hokkaido. Armour. Aviation squadron."

"Sir Imazu rides in flying machines?" Catching on to their internal conversations, Hekrel was most curious about Japanese aviation.

"Five years a Huey pilot, six on a King Air turbo-prop." The latter explained his competence with fixed wing aircraft, like Mother Goose. But to Hekrel, these were just weird names.

"Ah….. A Huey is a vehicle with a spinning blade up top that lets us land vertically like your airships do. A Turbo-props just an ordinary aeroplane that flies straight all the way." Imazu tried to explain as best he could, but without showing an actual demonstrator, it was difficult. He instead showed him pictures from his camera which he used in his exploration tour.

Preparing to show it to the socialites and statesmen at the party who wondered what the Men in Green were. Hekrel got a glimpse of said vehicles and even a video that showed how fast they flew, it was coloured all over his face. In speed and agility, the other worldly flying machines were superior. Even in lifting capacity, as he saw a chinook carry a vehicle off into the air.

But there was also something Hitoshi saw in his eyes that sparkled when he was shown these aviation wonders. It would have to wait, as the carriage stopped at their destination. The Royal Castle, occupying the isle belonging to the King.

Alighting from the carriage, they saw the steps and pavement were adorned with carpet and fresh petals. Walking towards the Royal Castle entrance to be announced into the party were over a hundred Dwarves and foreign delegates from other nations like them. All in their best attire and with escorts to accompany them.

"Should've brought escorts as well." Imazu lamented their lack of lady partners to the party.

"Who'd be yours? Certainly not Arpeggio, I presume."

"You read me like a book. And is it really alright to bad mouth the young lady?" Hitoshi shook his head, even if he was concerned about their image as Jietai representatives, having Arpeggio as a partner was about the worst thing you could do. She had no tact nor eloquence of a lady. Even Parna who would say yes if he asked wouldn't, not just because she liked snobby vanity parties but because she knew herself well enough that she wouldn't fit in with the noble ladies. Either way, it wasn't happening, since he promised them their rest for the whole day.

Only one-person fitting Hitoshi's requirements as a partner escort came to mind, but she wasn't here.

"Apart from her face and magic, she'll only ruin your image in a flash." Imazu took his advice and tried not to be too bothered about it.

They entered the castle bypassing a long line of important people to the Kingdom, awaiting introduction as Hekrel had a pass from the King and Hitoshi had a letter. The Royal Guards personally led them through and the crier announced their presence first.

"The God of Cookery, His Holiness, Hitoshi Furuta! Daichi Imazu, Colonel in the Men in Green! And Lord Hekrel Oakenspire!"

Imazu was a little annoyed that the herald could not be bothered to call the JSDF by its proper name but let it past as he begun to receive stares at his being.

Although, most of them were directed at Hitoshi, being that they had just announced a God in living form without any form of reverence.

They were led into a hallway that said "High Society" all over its drapes and velvet carpets or hanging colours with the Royal Crest embroidered into it. There were tables of food, sweet meats, and other rare exotic foods that came from far and wide to suit the tastebuds of the foreign dignitaries. And the view out from between the massive stone pillars that held the function hall was a mesmerizing lavafalls in the distance.

The Royal Guards halted in front of one of several lounge spaces and had the occupants move out without anything said between them. It was a little rude, but no one was going to rebuff the King's guard escorting VIPs as high profile as them.

"So, I suppose we wait until the hosts arrive?" Imazu sat comfortably and was handed a local beverage by an attendant almost immediately. Getting too relaxed by the exclusive treatment he'd been receiving since they arrived.

"Lord Furuta, the matron would like a word with you in private." The leading King's guard whispered into his ear out of earshot from Hekrel and the Colonel.

"Very well. Lead the way." Hitoshi had a hunch this would happen.

As the Royal Guards led him on to a different location, Hekrel rose from his seat, attempting to follow.

"Only Lord Furuta, My Lord." To which Hekrel protested immediately.

"I was assigned the role of liaison to Lord Furuta."

"Special orders. My Lord." The guard replied in monotone as he always had.

"On whose authority?" But then, his mind worked it out for himself. The one who had assigned him the duty of attending to Hitoshi was King Novar. Therefore, authority had to be given either by someone of equal status… or greater.

Hekrel gulped at the possibility that it was whom he thought it was. As God fearing folk, there was someone else whom all Dwarven nobility feared besides Duncan, their wives and King.

Having given him a clearer understanding of the circumstances, the King's Guards awaited Hitoshi.

"It's fine, Hekrel."

"My Lord, you might nee-."

"Fine, Hekrel." Hitoshi repeated to assure him.

"Instead, why don't you get the Colonel acquainted with some of the folks around here. I'm sure they'd love to hear all about the developments in Alnus and Italica." After all, information on the geopolitical situation between the Imperials and Japan was critical to deciding executive choices that would either effect some leading parties whether from a military or commercial perspective.

Hitoshi handed over a cherrywood box out of his unexplained bundle. Accepting it, the Colonel opened to see that its contents were rows of expensive luxury grade cigars. A vice of the privileged.

"You even brought trinkets, now you're just showing off." The Colonel smiled wryly because he couldn't help himself. He never pictured Hitoshi a skilled negotiator beyond his ability to persuade with the barrel of a gun down someone's throat. Amarel and a few other places in his Special Region report suggested this. Helping himself to one to sample, to understand the product which he was selling out for building relations was important too.

"Do what comes naturally."

"I will. With these, it'll be a cake walk." Indeed, from what he heard from Yanagida, Imazu handled most of the commerce aspects in Alnus making him the de facto bean counter for Special Region raw minerals to be bought and brought back for study.

Rejoining the King's men, he was led out to one of the balcony areas which had been cordon off by two guards. A private area where a tea party of sorts was hosted exclusively to the ladies of nobility. This balcony was attached to a garden area which rivalled that of the Imperial Palace Garden in size, again with the magma falls in the backdrop gave a very unusual ambience.

While he was admitting the view in the distance, someone had come up them as the leader had returned after informing of his arrival. The person whom he had called for carried with her an air of steadfast and strength. While dressed in modest attire that was still party appropriate, her aura still reflected her bearing and status which was unmistakeable as the crown in her braids. Of course, with these traits were also her beauty which was not overshadowed by her other outstanding qualities as befitting of one such as herself.

The Queen of Velduar had invited him here.

"This servant greets his Holiness, Lord Furuta with the highest esteem. I am Thranmilla Mithram Brightshield, Queen of His Majesty King Novar Brightshield." She said whilst performing a curtsy as the rest of the members of that party seemed to do the same to acknowledge his presence.

"No." The jolt that was sent through her body when he said this single word was to say it all about the surprise of his denial. Before he rectified it by speaking further.

"The honour is mine, Your Majesty. As His Majesty the King and Lord Oakenspire have provided me with both hospitality and grace, I will on no part do any less in your Majesties presence." Hitoshi present a bow with such respect that it left both the Queen and the crowd of ladies behind her at a loss of words. It wasn't everyday that someone who was called a God would do that, of course. Raising the prestige of the Velduarite monarchy to greater heights.

"As you may already know. I am Hitoshi Furuta. While some call me the God of Cookery, I am a Captain in the Japanese Self-Defence Force, what everyone here calls the Men in Green. Even so, I am flesh and blood. So, for the sake of improving relations, I hope that you could treat me instead as if a personal friend." In light of his humility there was also wise choice of words to reduce the need for cordial behaviour that would impede their talks. Because it was clear that she had something to say to him, something not within the King's presence, as sceptical as it sounded.

"Very well, Lord Furuta. Then, in return, please address me as one as well." Instead of head back to the tables where her clique had assembled around her, she instead headed towards the garden steps.

"If you would, please follow me, Lord Furuta." The Queen invited him to walk with her through the Garden, it seemed.

Hitoshi stepped forwards while the King's men bowed and went on their way, dismissing themselves. He caught up to the Queen, wondering if he would have to experience yet another fiasco like in Amarel.

For it was clear that the person who had sent him that invitation letter wasn't King Novar, but her. That scented letter had the handwriting and style of a woman after all. Perhaps she was doing it on his orders but given the freedom to decide how he arrived entirely at her discretion.

Why were the consorts of the Special Region Monarchs all like this? Always fiercely intelligent and ambitious, as if these qualities wouldn't bit them back. What kind of relationship did they have?

"I have heard a great deal about Lord Furuta in these last few days, but am curious how have you found our Kingdom, are the accommodations to your liking?" She started off with small talk.

"Hekrel has been a very gracious host, his family too. Unique but endearing." Hitoshi remarked honestly.

"Once again, on behalf of our Lord we apologize for the injustly treatment you had experienced in custody. Please do tell us of how we can make it up to you."

"I'll say it again and continue to say it, it's fine, Your Majesty. If your soldiers let any who or what in, it just let's their defences and readiness speak for itself. If anything, they should be commended especially for last night."

"Yes, the recent Gnoll incursions. His Majesty informed me." She referred to the King.

This talking almost made him miss some of the outstanding garden features that were carved out of rock or spitting water into fountains as exquisite as they were for where they were.

"Would it be rude of myself to inquire the health of Lord Bromhall?" Her concern spoke much about Brom's relation to Royalty.

"Not at all, he and his sons are currently under collaboration on a couple of projects of mine."

"In this Ascension Glade town, yes?" Hitoshi nodded in return.

"I am glad, and how is Lady Bloodstein?" She said quieter as she spoke the last name that was not to be spoken in Velduar. Hitoshi guessed it referred to Grimilde.

"She's fine as well. Getting the boys to eat their veges though….. she's still a long way."

For the first time, he heard the Queen giggle at his humorous remark as she pictured Mighty Bromhall and his sons fearing the greens with all their hearts.

"Forgive my humour, Lord Furuta." She begged his forgiveness after regaining control.

"It's okay, once in a while. He is rather stubborn though."

"He is!" The Queen chuckled again after receiving pardon. "I recall at one of the King's Birthdays when I had been involved in preparing some of the feasts, he secretly tossed a plate of pickled cabbage into HIs Majesty's plate." And continued to laugh when catching Brom red-handed for such a treasonous action for such a loyal subject of the King. Hitoshi knew that well in his daily meals prepared in Ascension. To Brom, the greens were the arch enemy rather than Gnolls.

"I made a souffle with spinach once." Hitoshi shared a story too. "Plenty of meats and cheese in the mix, with almost a negligible use of greens and he still skipped it." Hitoshi shook his head remembering the waste.

That was even funnier when it was cooked by none other than the God of Cookery, as was expressed by the laughter that he broke her into.

"Lord Bromhall was always a rebellious one, he had always come into conflict with the Apostle and House Mobkis." She reminisced before bowing to Hitoshi once more.

"Once again, on behalf of our Kingdom, we implore you to treat his family and him well."

"I will." Naturally, they were important to him as well.

"I am sorry for bringing you off in such a secretive manner, Lord Furuta. But I hope that what I am to show you will make more sense soon."

"As long as it's interesting." Hitoshi cheered her up from feeling too bad about her ulterior motives. At very least, he felt that this Queen wasn't doing it for herself, it was just a feeling with the way she asked.

They passed a group of Dwarven children, likely of nobles running around the garden playing hide and seek. Using their short frames to their advantage at concealment behind hedges which Hitoshi easily towered over. In the distance, was another notable structure that was seemingly advanced for the Dwarves with their technology.

A Greenhouse at least twenty feet high and a hundred and fifty feet across. As grand as it appeared with its frame decorated with carvings and its windows, under an inch thick all around, it was a very serious project.

"A greenhouse…."

"Your world has one as well? We call it a glass hut." Queen Thranmilla smiled as they reached the large oak door that was opened by two sentries outside.

Inside was what you would expect from a greenhouse, rare flora and fauna hanging from the top or sprouting from their own dedicated patches where specific soil and water dosage was rationed accordingly.

"It is quite the ironic name, since much of what lies within in green." The Queen enforced his name for the given structure that was likely the only one of its kind in the Special Region. It was also a coincidence that it had been used for the very same function as the ones on earth. To create an enclosure that provided the suitable environmental characteristics for the plants to grow. Since the inside of a volcano where it was dry and void of water weren't conducive for any plant life.

Queen Thranmilla allowed him to enjoy the surroundings and even hear the sounds of a stream and even insects buzzing than explain. They passed a hot spring pond which provided a mineral rich water to the plants as well as providing humidity within the enclosure. There were workers of Dark Elf heritage who were the sole tenders of these plants and the greenhouse maintenance as it seemed that Dwarves inherently had no patience when it came to plant life nurturing.

"I see that Your Majesty is growing a number of rare herbs and tonics here."

"Lord Furuta is quite sharp, indeed, most of the Royal Dispensary acquire ingredients for their remedies here than purchase it outside." There must have been an avid use of some of these herbs for them to seek a self-reliance for these remedies. But given the wealth of the Kingdom, this was possible.

"Also….." It was the first time the Queen stumbled to say something when she reached a corner of the greenhouse where another enclosure within the greenhouse separated it from the plants.

"Also?"

"I think, it would be better if Lord Furuta see it for himself." She raised a special key and inserted it into an intricately carved wooden door with metal reinforcement as equally exquisite. When turned, the sound of clockwork mechanisms and runes lighting up to ensure that it was the right key and not a lockpick enabled the locks within to disengage.

The Queen pushed the doors revealing a lavished suite room complete with its own enclosed viewing balcony and quarters. Even the air felt refreshing as it was conditioned carefully within the room. Someone lived here.

She walked with him towards a King-size bed where a figure lay asleep and wheezing. An elderly Dwarven woman many decades the senior of the Queen. And since Dwarves lived slightly longer than humans by an additional century, it was fair to say that she was at least at her first.

"Lord Furuta, may I present to you on her behalf, Grammola Brunwig Brightshield." In other words, the Queen was sitting beside her bedridden mother-in-law.

"The Dowager Queen of Velduar."

---

As far as ages go, a Hundred years old for a Dwarf wasn't even fifty for a human, so this person was considerably young for their inherent longevity.

"When did she enter this state?" Hitoshi knew she was dying to hear him ask.

"Eight years ago, at first, it seemed that she lost the strength to walk, then there were nights when she would scream in pain. Now she just lays asleep, she hasn't woken up for the last eight years…. My Lord!" The queen fell to his feet after explaining the rapidly declining health of the Queen Mother, embracing his shoes as if they were holy items.

"I heard from Oakespire's kin that your food had curing effects to some. I know that it is unorthodox to ask another God for his blessings, but if it would break this idle, I willingly commit this taboo!" Hitoshi squatted to reach down to her level, already it seemed that the queen had come under misunderstanding of what Hitoshi was capable of and what he couldn't. The reports that the Apostle spread through Velduar about him when he enforced its secret with Amarel wasn't helping the slightest. He "purified" a taint in the High Elf kingdom could be misinterpreted as curing disease and illness. Then, there was the blood pudding soup which he fed the extended family of Oakenspire. One of them must have spread the word. The King believed in his might to strike Apostles and God alike, but the Queen believed in his miracles. Belief was a very dangerous thing.

"I beg of you, Lord Furuta, please save her from her silent torment!" The Queen further exorcised her aura of dignity by grovelling to him like it would change anything in the difficult situation she had put him in by her misunderstandings.

But now, he understood the reason for the Queen bringing him here. She thought that he could do the same for the Queen Mother that lay ill in her bed. It was said by Hekrel, that a word from her had even more power than the King and challenged the Apostle at times. And it had nothing to do with the title, but the person who bore it and her own circle of influence. As kings passed on their titles to their sons to inherit, there were camps of factions to win favour for approval. And not every King succeeded in acquiring all of the powers of their predecessors. The person that did, who commanded many of the old guard officers and nobles was the Dowager. The Hegemonic China and Britain were quite the same in their respective eras of dominance.

"I understand that Her Majesty has over-estimated my abilities a little." Hitoshi knew he had to tell the truth as he raised her up to her feet.

"All I truly understand is cooking and the way most people think. I cannot simply will a person to get better or be cured of incurable illnesses." He could already see the colour draining from her complexion.

"But I'll see what I can do." He quickly added before she was too weak to stand.

True to his word, he pulled a stool to the side of the bed where the frail woman lay to examine her symptoms.

"May I have permission to touch her skin?"

"Y-Yes! By all means!" The Queen responded excitedly that he would try his best.

But she put to much hope on him despite this being very out of his field. At most, all he knew in medical sciences was the basics, food health and some of the symptoms from poisonous plant and animals being consumed, but how to cure it as well. But it was unlikely that the Queen Mother fell into any of these categories.

Hitoshi carefully raised his patient's wrist to feel for a pulse to find it weak, but understandable in her current situation. But noticed her hands had bruise marks, and continued to check her limbs by unravelling the sleeves. More bruises.

"Who handles her daily nourishment and care?" He inquired about her caretakers.

"Her ladies in waiting, people we trust." Her own personal attendants.

"Do people you trust do this?" He raised the hand to show the bruises.

Immediately, he could see anger fume in the Queen's eyes as she was already contemplating the capital punishment she intended to order upon the attendants.

"Calm yourself, Your Majesty. It may be part of the symptoms of her illness not their handling skills." His benefit of doubt seemed to keep the Queen from leaving the room as he continued to examine for symptoms. He used all his knowledge he had learnt from conversations with Mari, the person who should be here but wasn't.

"Actually, could you send for them. I'd like to hear their routine for cleaning and nourishing her." He had to know the foods they were giving her as well as if they had noticed anything on her.

The Queen left and called the nearby guards to get those responsible. While he waited, Hitoshi looked elsewhere for clues. The tables for anything read, the floor for any crumbs and the even the condition of the chamberpot.

As he did, he noticed that the Queen Mother began to groan in her sleep, as if experiencing a nightmare. With no one to attend to her, he went to quickly grab a bucket and a towel that he had with him from the bundle of trinkets he carried and went out to the hot spring, scooping a bucket full of hot water before returning. Drenching the towel, he wiped the cold spots and sweat that had formed on her body where it was appropriate for him to wipe like the limbs, forehead and neck.

"… Hambleyn?... Is that you?..." In her delirium, he heard her murmur the name of someone no doubt close to her. Almost saddened yet relieved by the supposed return of this person. But Hitoshi didn't answer for that person, nor replied at all. And proceeded to rinse the cloth which he noticed had slightly dyed in red. The Queen Mother's skin had also become substantially raw and red, confirming that it was caused by the bruising. She was bleeding from her extermities.

Once more, he held her hand but this time to perform a different diagnostic. In a strange coincidence, his hand was grasped firmly by the Queen Mother. She was probably thinking he was that person who had come to assure her, if it helped, he wasn't going to remove his hand yet.

Closing his eyes, he activated his moving mana to examine the internal circuitry of his patient. Finding everything to be weak and considerably lower in blood count. It was like an old steam machine that was losing its pressure and coming apart. He sent a small amount of energized mana through his body to hers in the hopes that it would improve the situation. Ironic, given the utility of this art which he had previously used as an improvised weapon on the Gnolls bloodrage. His supercharge barely improved the situation anymore than increase the amount of breaths she took in her sleep. But in doing so, exposed him to signs of something strange in her uneven pulse. Like blockages in her bloodflow. He also expended his mana in a flash, and swung from side to side for a brief moment.

"Lord Furuta!" Seeing him weakened to that extent, the Queen grasped his shoulder to steady him as he regained his energy.

"She has extensive haemorrhages throughout her body."

"What does that mean, My Lord?" The Queen was a statesperson, not a doctor.

"It means that her internal organs are like an overdue mushy fruit." His description was quite easy to understand yet terrifying. He looked up noticing three individuals who were shaking in their boots and a compliment of guards who were there to watch over them.

"Has Lord Furuta found the cause?"

"Not yet. But its starting to resemble something we have on Earth." He had an inkling of an idea, but it needed more evident to support what the Queen Mother might have contracted, if it was even possible for Dwarves to suffer the same ailments as Humans.

He turned his attention to the attendants whom the Queen ordered brought before him to answer his queries. It already felt like they feared they were being accused of slowly poisoning the Queen Mother in her weakness.

"I'd like to assure you that I'm not accusing you of anything pertaining to the Dowager's condition. I only want to know your schedule for taking care of her and how its accomplished. Afterwards, I'd like to go through with you all a revision that might improve the Dowager's health a little better." With this, they sighed in relief as he merely wanted to hear accountings to act out a remedy for the condition.

He sat at the table instead and listened to each of the attendants give their stories. Apparently, they were attendants who came from families that were either affiliated to the Queen Mother through patronage or favour she had over them while she was fine. A very select few chosen for this role.

They rotated every half-a-day with one as a spare in case something came up between them. Unfortunately, they weren't the original caretakers who were the Queen Mother's ladies in waiting. But successors, it was eight years bedridden after all. But overall, they were thorough in their care and attentive towards her frailty. This was shown by how delicate they were with her when even Hitoshi's earlier rinse handling left a bruise or two.

"Did she discharge excessive amounts of blood at times? Cough out a mouthful?"

"No, Your Holiness!" The Dwarven attendant he last interviewed said no.

"Your Majesty, they have performed admirably at their tasks. Be sure to reward their loyalty." He said to the Queen to assure her that their story checked out and they were truthful.

"I will have it arranged."

"Mmm. I'm still unclear about the Dowager's personal history, did she have any vices? Did she smoke or drink excessively? Or prefer a certain meal?"

"Not that I am aware, My Lord."

"Was she active or frequented any particular place before she landed up like this?" But the Queen was drawing blank slates.

He then noticed one of the attendants whispering to the other about something she knew before being silenced by the latter.

"Is there anything you know?" Said attendant was caught and fallen under the scrutiny of him, the Queen and her guards.

"M-…My mother was the previous caretaker before I was assigned to take over her. She often talked about Her Majesty the Queen Mother's attending guest of honour talks with the workers unions and visited the mines where most worked."

"Mines? Like which ones?" The attendant thought about it before giving her answer.

"I can't remember the names, only that it was within the Eastern Mining Complexes. My cousin worked there once, and saw her there." This was suggestive to him of the origin of where she begun contracting this illness.

"Did she visit Dagura Mine?" When he mentioned this cursed name, the attendant bowed repeatedly unable to answer since she didn't know.

"Royal Mother had visited numerous mines during her active years." It was impossible to tell if she had. But his suggestion allured to the widely known curse of that mine.

"That's more troubling than I anticipated."

"Do you know what has caused her condition, Lord Furuta?"

"I have some guesses since I'm not a doctor, but for now, I'd like to fix her up something that'll reduce the symptoms and relieve some strain." Hitoshi began to prescribe a list of ingredients that he wanted. The Queen hovered over to see the list so that she could makes preparations as soon as possible but he handed it to her immediately.

"I hate to make Her Majesty perform this task of fetch and carry but-."

"I understand, Lord Furuta. I'm grateful for your perseverance." She started to give orders to the guards to procure the ingredients that she needed.

"I'd like these three ladies to stay so they know how to make it for her on their own time later." He would have helpers this time as they learnt how to make what he was preparing for the ailing Queen Mother.

"Understood. Follow Lord Furuta's commands as my own." They obliged to her last orders as she went to personally oversee that the foodstuffs were obtained to the highest quality.

Hitoshi breathed a sigh as he would never have guessed that he would be performing treatments ranging from his hybrid acupuncture to food remedies for Royalty. But it was more preferable to negotiating for support with his lips flapping. At least he got to do something he liked.

"Your Holiness?" The closest attendant asked as he humoured himself.

"Right, your name was…."

"Darcia, your Holiness." She bowed, the one that told him about the mining trips that the Dowager made, a very uncharacteristic behaviour of a woman in her position. But who was he to judge.

"Follow me, I'd like to inspect the garden for any herbs we could use. And you will address me by my last name. If you please."

"Yes, your-… Lord Furuta." She obliged.

And with that, they set off through the garden examining the herbs and roots. Whatever caught Hitoshi's eye, he checked before pulling out a small sample of it such that it wouldn't affect the plant. Some roots, some stems and their berries.

"Is there a dispensary here? I'd like to see if they have dried versions of these." Darcia led him to the nearby dispensary that was made solely for attending to the queen mother and introduced him to the apothecary.

Explaining his circumstance, the man of medicine enlisted his services to him immediately and brought out dried fruits or processed plants of the type that he requested. And asked to come along for he desired to watch what Hitoshi intended to do with these supplements when he said he was making a meal out of it. Something never done before or seen. Food that could heal.

Hitoshi returned with one extra hand as the attendants cleared the table and brought fourth crockery and pots, as well as a heating stone element in lieu of a fireplace, since this was a confine area.

Around this time, the Queen returned with her men carrying bags of food ingredients which they put aside the table. After examining their quality, he washed his hands in a basin provided by a savvy attendant and suggested that all of them do the same. It felt good to hold a kitchen knife again, as he diced parsley and green onion down into tiny bits. He transferred the dried herbs and roots into a basin of water to soak and hydrate.

He had them all cut pumpkins, mushrooms of their skin as he prepared a pot for them to boil in water from the hotspring. It was as good as any time to use it.

As for the staple product that was used, a guard produced a bag of millet grains. After rinsing four cups full, he placed it aside.

When they presented him with samples of raw meat in their freshest condition.

"No pork, no red meat. Anything with preservatives mustn't have more than a tablespoon of salt. If its fresh, make sure the cut is cool in ice before serving." He informed the attendants and Queen who watched him process the fowl meat by removing layers of excess fat and keeping it lean. Marinating it in salt, sugar and soy sauce he had in his bundle and left it for them. Throwing it into the pot with at the ratio of eight times that of the millet to be used after massaging the marinate into the meat. He also added the herbs and spices into the pot and turned it to a boil.

He then prepared a pan with a small amount of sesame seas which he roasted lightly before adding in oil and instructed one of the attendants to let it cool after it had reached boiling.

While waiting for the other processes to be complete, he removed the skim and muck that emerged from the pot with the meat and herbs by removing the foam on top with a ladle. When the pumpkin and sweet potato boils were done, he ordered them to dice them into smaller bits after showing them a demo. After inspecting the meat to ensure a full well done cook, he removed just the meat and replaced it with the millet grain and turned the heat to a medium. Allowing the meat to rest, he went to process the seeds into sesame oil with a strainer. Inspecting the main pot, he threw in the cooked diced vegetables and left a lid on the pot to continue cooking. Using that time to clean up the rest of his station which set the standard for all cooking in Velduar which couldn't stack up to him in terms of hygiene if only they tried.

"Lord Furuta, perhaps you have prepared too much for the Royal Mother." Queen Thranmilla worked up the nerve to ask since the former wasn't much of an eater in her current state.

"I prepared portions for everyone in this room."

"Your Holiness! We are not worthy!" Attendant Darcia exclaimed before dropping to her knees as the rest of them.

"Nonsense. You mean to tell me you'll be cooking for the Dowager without knowing how it should taste?" He certainly caught them there as they couldn't refute him and neither did the Queen deny them this unexpected blessing.

"And you lot too." He pointed to the guards who wondered what this had to do with them.

"Understand how it looks, how it smells when it is prepared. You are responsible for ensuring that this meal is as it should be and not a poison drafted by an assassin." Food security for the Queen Mother was just as important to those guarding her frail body after all.

The guards nodded in understanding as he gave them a simple task of shredding the meat, because he wanted them to know that there weren't supposed to be chunks in the food where someone could inject or add something not native to the recipe. Normally, Royal would have taste testers for poison, but it seemed that they had no countermeasures here yet.

Once shredded, he put them in a bowl of sesame oil with additional swabs of soy sauce and mixed the contents about to thoroughly soak up the oils.

An hour passed as they waited patiently. However that temperance ended once the vapour of rich flavour reached their noses.

"I never thought something not lamb or beef would smell so fragrant." Confessed one of the guards.

Once he lifted the lid and threw in the shredded meat and green onions, he mixed it around before taking a swab from a spatula to taste its consistency. When he was satisfied, he turned off the heat with his mana and poured its contents into a bowl before approaching the Dowager to feed it to her directly.

"Royal Mother, it is time to eat." The Queen lifted her mother-in-law from her bed, weakly responding with a groan. She was partially awake but in no condition to speak.

Hitoshi blew into the porridge-like concoction to cool it off before passing the scoop of it to the Queen to feed the Dowager. As she levitated it over her nostrils, the Queen Mother gave the faintest of reactions by the twitch of her nostrils working to bring the aroma into her lungs. Feeding it to her proved no more difficult that readying her up to eat as the non-solid food helped in her digestion.

And then, the Queen repeated the scoop to feed the Queen Mother, followed by the next one until it became a given that she would eat what was scooped for her. Tension of the room was released when the Queen Mother finished the entire portion of the bowl.

"Her Majesty the Queen Mother has never finished an entire meal before." Whispered an attendant to another. As Hitoshi had also been told by them earlier, congee was the food of the ill and recovering. Providing digestible nutrients and plenty of water in its contents to hydrate their consumer.

They would have celebrated loudly if not for the sake of the Queen Mother, as they couldn't believe that the Dowager's expression turned to relief after so long.

By the time they turned their heads, ten bowls of this porridge were prepared for them at the table to eat.

"Your Majesty?" One of the guards spoke as it seemed in appropriate to share the table, but she shook her head with a smile.

"We shall eat together as Lord Furuta wills it." And they did, but not before he cracked a raw egg into each of their bowls and told them they could either stir it or let it stand to cook on its own. They gave their thanks to Duncan and him before savouring the meal of Royalty make by a God's own hands. It was certainly a day they would tell their grandchildren if heaven allowed it.

Hitoshi shared the recipe on a piece of paper and other combinations of ingredients to mix up the flavour so that the Queen Mother wouldn't have to eat the same thing over and over. He recommended that they start writing on a board their schedules and report what they had witnessed during their shift so that when the hand over was complete, the next person would know what to do next. He encouraged the attendants to work closely with the guards as they were additional pairs of hands and legs to get help or assistance when needed. Basic things that would always monitor the health and status of the Queen Mother. This was helpful especially to the apothecary, who could determine what sort of herbs to use and not to. But he was too busy enjoying the meal to listen.

It was indeed the strangest table group, attendants, royal guards, a queen and a god.

"What is the name of this dish, Lord Furuta?"

"Millet congee. Nothing intricate." But they knew that it was anything but simple. He had used the finest herbs and spices in the realm, on top of Barberry seeds, a common root which he called a Ginseng in his world and tuber.

"Lord Furuta, if I may. Why mix herbal remedies into food when it may be consumed directly?" The apothecary asked as it seemed a bit roundabout, immediately asking forgiveness for his impudence.

"Isn't drinking or consuming herbs also the act of eating, apothecary? The patient's body can be your ally if you know how, it may make the recipient willing physically and mentally accept your concoction or the other way around." The apothecary realised his meaning, he gave the same look that Sarezac gave when he reached an epiphany in his theory.

"The body is most receptive to water when thirsty, meat and grain when starved. In a way, you aren't curing the patient, the body is. You are only meant to supply the body with needed minerals to sustain and fight the illness on your behalf." Having explained it in such layman's terms, it was even easy for the attendants and Queen to understand. Hitoshi continued to eat his own lunch meal, wondering what Imazu and Hekrel were having for theirs in the hall of lavished feasts.

When he was finished, he realised that they had finished way before him and that included the Queen.

"I hope this meal was to your liking." He said to which they looked at each other and bowed in unison.

"Lord Furuta has given us something truly memorable, we won't forget his kindness." Darcia said on all of their behalf.

"Mmm. I won't forget it either."

Hitoshi went to check on the Queen Mother one more time before announcing that he would now depart. The Queen had another place to take him to, the place he should have gone in the first place if not for this unofficial detour that she had led him through.

He said his farewell and accompanied the Queen on route to Novar's laboratory, some few hallways towards a large warehouse-like structure where the Royal airship hovered over.

"Hopefully, some of her pain is eased until we can pinpoint the illness." Hitoshi said as they walked.

"Has Lord Furuta any clues?"

"Some, but I'll need a sample of her blood later. I'd like to check on her progress for the next few days I'm here, if possible. If the symptoms worsen, I would like to offer her medical attention at Alnus." Hitoshi proposed.

"You are very much welcome to the gardens and palace, just say what you require and it shall be given!" The Queen expressed her elation through her tone with the cooperation he gave without being asked.

"I'd also like to question one of the former attendants by the name Hambleyn." When the Queen heard that name, her feet were firmly rooted to the ground leaving Hitoshi whizzing pass before turning around to see the shock on her face.

"Where did Lord Furuta…. hear that name?" She asked with uncertainty.

"The Dowager murmured it in her sleep while I did a pulse check." As well as clear some of the blockages in her body with his magic acupuncture. The Queen looked around to ensure that they were alone when she asked him to bend down so that she could whisper directly into his ear.

"Lady Hambleyn was the Royal Mother's favourite attendant, before-…." The Queen stopped as if pondering on the moment.

"Before she was caught in an attempt to poison the Queen when this illness started." And? That's what Hitoshi wanted to know more than how things played out.

"Why would she poison someone who was already ailing?" Unless to remove her out of the picture entirely. But that would cause more disturbances than help the opposition if this attendant was truly an assassin for other factions.

"Who caught her?" And that's when the Queen frowned.

"The Apostle's Rune Priests." Him again? It looked as if he was out to get the Monarchy and turn the entire Dwarven State into a Theocracy with himself on top. Then again, this could also be Queen Thranmilla pointing fingers. Although, it seemed that she didn't hold it against this attendant either.

"They were there to perform a curing ritual." Or so they say.

"What poison was it?"

"Forgive me but I do not know. His Majesty read the report and would likely know."

"So what about Hambelyn, is she locked up somewhere?" But the Queen shook her head sadly.

"She was tried and executed the following day." The suspect was executed, what a convenient thing to happen, Hitoshi thought. And attendant favoured by the Queen Mother tries to kill her without any motives.

"Any next of kin?" He figured that there were only two groups of people who could have any idea what went through that person's mind before this attempt. Her own family or the Queen Mother herself, the latter wasn't likely to say unless she was in a better state.

That's when the Queen showed an even more complicated face when she answered.

"Yes….. And they happen to be in your company."

"What?" He didn't have any other Dwarves in his company except-….

"Yes, Lord Furuta. Lady Hambelyn is or was the wife of Lord Bloodstein. The mother of Grimilde and Iraemus Bloodstein."

It was as if the entire family and its bloodline were cursed with misfortune. But there was nothing he could do for them except what he already had.

"Right, take me to His Majesty." Hitoshi had enough of delays and detours after all he had promised so far. But the Queen stopped him once more.

"Does Lord Furuta not ask a price for helping Royal Mother?"

"What do you mean?" His honest question baffled her further.

"Do you not want my support or that of the Queen Mother's supporters to vouch for you in your request for arms?" When she said it like that, it was almost tempting. But Hitoshi knew better in the current state of affairs in Velduar that it wasn't economically viable at the moment. If a ceasefire between the races was officially signed, then he'd get his arms with no questions, until then it would have to wait. Besides, he was curious about Kugel and his developments in Adamantite as well as discovering the origin of the power armour.

"Would be nice, but I doubt it'll have any affect. Besides, I only helped because you asked." She literally begged on her knees.

"Because…. I asked?" Was he saying that he did that all for free?

"I was happy to help where I could, although, it's not everyday you see a daughter-in-law nurse her mother." Hitoshi teased the queen with her actions that contrasted her typical behaviour. Even if those traits made her shine brightly in the eyes of benevolence.

Queen Thranmilla tried to contain her embarrassment but ended up laughing at herself and the predicament he had solved without expecting to receive anything in return.

"Lord Furuta is truly an enigma." She admitted.

"Thank you." Being called unpredictable was a compliment to him.

"I mean what I say, My Lord. Just ask and I will do my best to see it fulfilled." He had somehow earned her respect and admiration when all he did was feed an old woman. Was the Dowager that precious to her?

He had seen daughters act in the ugliest manner towards their in-laws, just as the did back to them all over the world, not just Japan. As if there was never enough in their lives to just be content with what they had and whom they shared it with.

"I hope His Majesty will like his meal." Hitoshi motioned to the last portion of his millet congee which they had saved in a metal container to keep the warmth for the King's consumption.

"He will, My Lord." The Queen assured him, in fact, she was sure that he would love it.

But before that, she would tell him of Furuta's deeds in restoring his Royal Mother's health that had not improved for the last eight years. Perhaps then, King Novar's worries would come to pass, and he would fully trust in the God of Cookery to what they had in store for their foes, externally and internally alike.

---

Out of all the Velduarite wonders, aside from the production of Adamantite weapons, nothing was more ambiguous than their unique mode of transportation. In lieu of carriages for heavy loads and many men, the Dwarves of Velduar relied on the unique mode of transportation that resembled airships. Resembled because they didn't follow the same principle as earth airships and dirigibles.

Nearly three hundred years ago, an eccentric Rune Priest had witnessed a phenomenon like the one that the first aviators of Earth had seen with their own eyes. A handkerchief of his floated over the heat radiated from the rivers of lava. Inspiring him to walk the path of aviation that was similar to De Rozier and D'Arlandes, the pioneers of manned flight by air balloon. Except their theory and his were two different fruits. The Rune Priest would never conclude that hot air was what generated lift like the latter pair did.

He thought that air could be "blanketed" for the lack of a better word. As compared to the suffocation felt in arid dry areas because there were air pockets displaced. The Rune Priest went about crafting a rune device that ran on this principle of capturing this pocket of air which he believed was buoyancy like on boats where floating on water was achieved despite being heavier than it.

This gap in his theory was patched using a revolutionary circuitry that worked upon the principle of being floating on heat banks, thus creating a controllable lift. Meaning, that without the lava heat banks, the airships weren't viable elsewhere, nor for long distance, to be used exclusively in Velduar alone. But that didn't matter to the Dwarves since their activities were limited to the city and the fortress defenses alone. Hitoshi dare say that it was in some ways superior to Earth in sustainability, although not mature enough.

So ends Queen Thranmilla's understanding of Airships in general, but she was happy to share how convenient it was for moving across isle to meet with her clique.

The Queen arrived before another reinforced door, this time thicker than the one protecting the Queen Mother and the Temple front. She inserted another keycard that unlocked its sophisticated rune security measures and winded open for her. When the doors swung in his direction, the foul air of burnt chemicals and ash were present throughout what was essentially a chemical laboratory. Full of chemists and other science related professionals testing samples and passing a hypothesis to their colleagues before bashing eachothers heads in disagreement like typical Dwarves would.

The pungent odours suggested an avid use of sulfur and the clear glasses were of purified alcohol. The fine line between alchemy and chemistry weren't well defined, he was certain one of the chemists was trying to enact a transmutation of copper to gold with several failures to prove it.

He found Imazu and Hekrel being given a presentation by a foreign scholar on the dynamics of crystal acoustics emitting signals of magic, similar in some ways to earth sciences.

"Hekrel, Colonel, sir."

"Furuta. Who's that with you?" Hekrel squinted as he heard Imazu casually refer to the person who had escorted him here.

"Her Majesty, Queen Thranmilla of Velduar." Imazu already made the expression of making the biggest mistake ever.

"Forgive my associate, Your Majesty. He hasn't recently gotten his eyes checked." Hitoshi's tongue was already slicing his superior for a mistake that could have been costly under different circumstances, and he was supposed to be the diplomat here on behalf of the JSDF.

"I humbly ask for your forgiveness, your majesty. I am Colonel Daichi Imazu of the Special Task Force at Alnus." He held out a hand to shake making Hitoshi shake his head at the second mistake. But the Queen accepted his handshake with grace and gave her name.

"I am Thranmilla Mirthram Brightshield, Sir Imazu. A pleasure to meet your acquintance."

"The pleasure is all ours, Your Majesty. Myself and Lord Oakenspire were simply having a demonstration by your talented scholars, foreign and local."

"His Majesty had given my instructions to bring the Colonel, Your Majesty." Hekrel explained their being here in cleared detail.

"Indeed." She then turned to Hitoshi.

"Lord Furuta, I take my leave then. Gentlemen." She bowed as he returned it with a curt nod before going to speak with the King and inform him of Hitoshi's arrival. She believed he was somewhere in his private area of the laboratory dedicated to the eggheads of Velduar.

"Where have you been all this while?" Hitoshi was gone for approximately two hours, missing out on the lunch buffet and all.

"Meeting the Dowager."

"The Queen Mother?!" Hekrel's surprise was heard by all and then ignored.

"Queen Thranmilla was telling me about the Bloodstein connection with the Dowager as well."

"I see….." Hekrel sounded like he had expected this to happen eventually.

Hitoshi talked a little about the Queen Mother's bedridden state since it wasn't a secret and Kugel's affiliation to the Queen Mother through his own mom.

"That sounds like a curse." Imazu couldn't help himself speak ill of the Bloodstein name.

"When you see Kugel next time, you tell him that." Hitoshi challenged the Colonel for these careless words.

"No need to get worked up, Furuta." But he was precisely doing that, and Hitoshi knew that he was testing him and his level of control all the time. He would report to Hazama his assessment of him and whether his progress would come back to bite the Special Task Force in the end.

"Lord Furuta, you've arrived at last!" His name was called out at no better time. As the King approached him in a manner more friendly than before, and even sounded greatly content.

Hitoshi raised a bundle pot towards him.

"For me?"

"It was from the meal for the Dowager, Her Majesty insisted on leaving a portion for yourself as you'd likely skipped out."

"Oh my, how fortunate I am! Many thanks, Lord Furuta." He graciously accepted the food as he led them up to show them more of the laboratory that wasn't accessible to even the most loyal of his guard.

As enforced by yet another large, reinforced door with the rune lock mechanism which was accessed solely by a keycard that only Novar possessed.

"My Thranmilla had just informed me of my Royal Mother's current state. You have my gratitude as well, Lord Furuta." He exclaimed as they waited for the door to clear them.

"Don't thank me yet, your mother's condition is a lot worse than I thought." This was indeed something that took his smile away.

"You know what ails her, My Lord?" Hitoshi had a rough guess and decided to say it.

"I think your mother has Leukemia."

"Leukemia?" The was a word that only Imazu recognised.

"Sir Imazu, you know of this illness?" The colonel rubbed his beard thinking about the prospects of contracting said ailment.

"What makes you think its Leukemia, Furuta?" He questioned his junior first.

"She's showing all the conditions of one, and she used to frequent the mines. There's a possibility that she was near one of the exposed Uranium deposits that caused it to flare up." Hitoshi had no proof of this, but so far this was all that made sense.

"No, I see what you're getting at. In fact, don't volcanoes emit radioactive gas when erupting?" Imazu too knew something about the volcanoes process in his own general knowledge.

"Can this illness be treated, I must know." The door had already unlocked, but they were still talking outside.

"If its an Acute Leukemia all she needs is a bone marrow transplant from a willing donor. But if its chronic, it might only be suppressed and she'd have at most a few years left in her." This was grave news for the King indeed to hear about his mother's condition being so unique.

"Lord Furuta….. your news gives me great conviction." King Novar had something to show him, and it was right behind this door.

The doors creaked open letting out a rush of hot dry air being produced from the furnaces pumping out refined metal plates for assembly. But that was far from the most impressive thing about this room, if it could even be called one.

"My god." Imazu took his hat off and wiped the sweat from his brow that was mugging up his view.

Lo and behold was what lay within the humungous warehouse structure in the distance, only it wasn't warehouse but a dry dock. With the sole purpose of building airships. Currently occupying its basin was a Gargant never before seen by anyone save the Dwarves, until now.

A monstrous airship that dwarfed all other airships in size and weight class. Unlike its smaller ones that resembled a boat lifted by a balloon, this one was entirely compartmentalised within the structure itself. Its span was arguably as long as the biggest airship that Humanity had every made to fly on Earth. But unlike the Earth-counterparts service solely for air travel and record breaking, this airship was built for another purpose.

"A dreadnought?" As hinted by its metal plating and decks with primitive artillery emplacements dotted as far as the eye could see, the Dwarves' secret weapon to regain supremacy had a far more ambitious goal behind it. A warship that would allow the defensive nature of the Dwarves to be carried on the offensive.

"Dreadnought, is that what your warships are called?" The King sounded impressed by that intimidating name.

"Furuta must be joking, an airship is no bigger target than pointing a gun to your head."

"At least on Earth." But Hitoshi said something unbelievable.

"What?" For Hitoshi had found out the secret formula to the militarized airships' structure that made it more durable than the ones on earth.

"You see that plate, that's adamantite."

"So?" Imazu didn't know the properties of Adamantite like Hitoshi did.

"Certain qualities of Adamantite is like our tank composite armor, its immune to chemical energy attacks. Shaped Charges and explosives don't effect it, regardless of thickness. Except maybe very high velocity shells." Imazu realised the impact of said described armour. It meant that nothing short of a very potent kinetic energy penetrator could pierce it, and still had to do sufficient beyond armour damage to disable such an airship.

"If it can fly with all that weight that is." He was still doubtful that such a heavy contraption could sustain its own flight, it was no heavier than one of their naval destroyers at least.

"Sir Imazu has made astute observations. What you see before you is two hundred years of development and construction. Continued on since the time of my grandfather. The Dominion has completed its hull and flight tests, while the Asunder is expected to take another month. However-….." The King dragged his words as if there was a fatal flaw to the design. Outweighing the impressive names he had given to two of the warships currently being constructed here.

"They can't fly outside of Velduar."

"What?" This was the first time the Colonel was hearing this.

"Correct. Which is why, I was hoping you could provide some insight."

Hitoshi was now aware of the impact and gamble that the King had taken in inviting him here to see this secret being built. If these battleships performed as they should, there was literally no nation that could challenge them. If Velduar decided to go to war with the Jietai as well, it would be difficult to take down something none of their anti-air missiles could damage. Save for a boarding to capture the ship.

"Absolutely not!" It seemed that the Colonel had already decided for them both and was thinking of leaving.

"I do have one question if I do decide to help."

"Furuta! You are not contributing to this monstrosities commissioning, and that's final!"

"No need to get worked up, Colonel." Hitoshi repeated the sentence he used on him before.

"Which would you rather have, sir? These things pointed at you or with you?" The answer was obvious.

"Besides, its not like I built it for them."

"And what sort of damage could your insight give?" Imazu contemplated the consequences of sharing science with the Dwarves.

"That's especially rich coming from you lot from S2." Hitoshi's reply carried a sharp sarcastic tone despite it being conveyed to a superior officer.

"Excuse me?" Imazu rightly questioned back his insubordination.

"You're really gonna pretend that you didn't let Lelei run around with her knowledge of thermo-dynamics and shaped charge techniques, are you? Or that she even publicised it at Rondel City no less." In the centre of all knowledge and learning, magic or non-magic phenomenons, her thesis was open to all to read to better themselves in learning. And who would ignore what one of the Legendary Heroes who shrew the Flame Dragon had to say, or her secrets to her power? They were forgetting that the Pro-War Faction still had a majority of the Magi Corp which included the Chief Magi, Godasen. What if they started developing flame based techniques that could defeat their mechanised forces vehicle armor? Hitoshi wasn't going to let their hypocrisy stand, he himself also developed Arpeggio's napalm-like flames which had saved them against the bugs as proof of its benefit.

"I told this to Hazama and I'll repeat it to you. There's nothing that'll stop our science from being shared, either now or years later. But its our responsibility in how it shapes our relationship with this world." Science was the gift which Humanity of Earth could offer to the beings of the Special Region in exchange for a way to break technological barriers that their current science could not surpass.

"..." The Colonel had nothing to add, because he knew that what he said was logical. They could not afford to fight an entire world even if they surpassed their current tech.

"My question, Your Majesty. Is what warrants the use of such weapons of war as these?" He wanted to know what the purpose beyond warfare was that these warships were built for. Purely defense and deterrence or conquest?

"To protect my people." The King could not have given a more straightforward answer, and Hitoshi was pleased to hear it. He didn't fiddle with his words and say it was for the sake of Velduanite interests or to protect the sovereignty, his kingship. But simple his people that were in danger, and Hitoshi had seen how in danger they were.

"I have learnt that these people you have gathered under the Ice and Snow mountains are of great importance to you, Lord Furuta. So much so that you would go through great lengths to ensure their survival and safety. Can you not relate?" King Novar knew his situation well. His timetable to secure resources for the restoration in order to cement its power were right out there for the taking, if he missed it there would be no second chance.

"Yes, we can."

Imazu sighed as he really couldn't do anything about it and wondered why he was so stressed about something unrelated to him.

"Let me show you where we are with our work." Novar offered to give a tour around the namesake vessel, Dominion.

"Would you mind answering a query of mine? What is a dreadnought in your world?" He was fascinated by the name that inspired dread and wrought it.

"A penultimate warship designed to destroy all over vessels it dwarfs, and started a trend during its time and a saying that only a battleship can fight a battleship." King Novar was duly impressed.

"In bygone era." Imazu reminded him. Since the vulnerabilities of the battleship class greatly increase over the years since its inception. From torpedoes and u-boats, to carrier squadrons. It was ironic that their country had made one of the largest of its class during its heyday, still venerated in pop culture till this day. Battleships named after their homelands sacred mountains, it would blow Novar's mind if he saw a picture of one, that was for sure.

But perhaps, a battleship of the air might rekindle this class of warship, Novar thought. And so, after their departure he would reclassify his warships into the Dominion-class dreadnoughts. The first true aerial warships of the Special Region.

---

An air battleship was a concept never before explored. There were concept artworks and sci-fi portrayals of flying aircraft carriers in fiction. But not a work in concept, because nothing could economically have a sustained flight without constantly burning fuel at a rate that would equate to billions to keep it in the air for just over an hour. There was also the maintenance costs to consider and the industry to support the building of its complexed components. Aside from upkeep, there were several vulnerabilities to address, such as its exposed propulsion systems and weakness to being swarmed by multiple bandits at a time.

Who would have thought that the work in progress would actually conceive such a marvel would be in the other world? Certainly not Hitoshi or Imazu.

In the latter's case, since they were already in cahoots, he'd might as well be involved as well. Although, he could only advise from military theory. The primary concerns that the dreadnoughts had to face were agile air combatants such as the Imperial wyvern corp, and heli-borne troops assaulting their decks. Meaning that they had to have substantial anti-aircraft weaponry and marine defence. Next, it was prudent to have capabilities for ferrying troops down to the ground and up. Requiring hangars to support smaller airships or flying creatures. Described as pens or stables for easier reference to the King. For control of the ship, its bridge had to be in a place with vantage yet protected well enough, prefereably beneath the bow with point-defence compliments. Command and control also demanded instantaneous communication throughout the ship, suggesting voice pipes and speaking tubes to critical areas of the ship connecting to the bridge. A ship was a complex operation by many men and the Dwarves hadn't truly thought through all of these aspects due to having no previous naval presence and experience in the region. But Hitoshi did, as he'd captained a commercial ship for many years prior. The SR were essentially sailors and marines in one, underpaid and overqualified ones to be exact.

King Novar's chief engineer took down notes of these inputs while Hitoshi examined the Rune circuitry of their primary propulsion for the first time. He had heard details of it from Kugel and Hekrel, while the Queen gave its history and concept. What he was looking at was top secret blueprints for the manufacture of the entire engine assembly. And it was fascinating.

They had bypassed the entire phenomenon to create mechanical torque to propel the ship by propellers. The Runes that were made to give the airship a lighter-than-air effect were carved on large adamantite panels which sort of resembled circuitry from electric experiments, except there was no switch for amplifying or switching signals, it was fixed. Out of curiosity, he approached the sample engine that belonged to the Dominion and ran his essence through the circuits causing the machinery to light up and whine with invisible power while disconnected from the ship.

And in that moment, Hitoshi realised something left by the layout. There was none, only an image imprinted within the circuit itself. That was the true essence of runes, it wasn't intricate words to a spell, it was the suggestion that these words gave to the user as he let his imagination move the rune the way he wanted it to. When a shield was raised and charged, what the person wanted was protection, causing its effects to deflect incoming impacts. A sword too was made sharper not by the spell but by the belief that it would slice through. This was the foundation of which Velduarite rune magic worked. It was honestly primitive and prone to failure if not imaged properly, that's probably why Rune Priests were entirely relevant, only their disciplined mind and fortitude allowed them to interact with the runes without much faults.

Ordinary mages weren't able to use runes as well as Rune Priests because their mana overwhelmed the circuits where the priest were more precise and only needed a minimal amount to get it working. Hitoshi had struck a eureka in his own experiments and theorising. To test his theory, he took up a blank slate of adamantite they had positively charged for rune carving and took out a chisel thinking of what to write.

-High-Low Density- He wrote in Nihon for the sake of visualising it. And imagined the dynamics of a hot air balloon rising due to decrease in density to air while how to maintain this process by the measure of the air density around the plate. He focused his mana through the plate and flipped the imaginary switch.

(ting) No sooner did he do so did the slate rise up into the air like it was a helium balloon itself.

This sight stopped all discussion and talks as they witness something that they had spent centuries struggling to overcome. The slate rose until it hit the ceiling and remained there for a good while before it suddenly dropped to the ground like a lethal projectile due to gravity.

"What did Lord Furuta do?" The King frantically made his way to him and asked him, pleaded with him.

Hitoshi cleared his throat as he also was surprised by the sudden discovery.

"I imagined that the slate was lighter than air." He said in the simplest way. But the King was unconvinced as was the chief engineer, many had done so before. The chief engineer even channeled his own powers as a rune priest through it but resulted in nothing.

"Could you please show us again, My Lord?" The engineer insisted, as Hitoshi did it once more. And the same thing happened again, the plate flew up into the air, touched the roof and fell down inert. Again, the chief engineer tried it as well but gave no result. So what was different this time?

Hitoshi thought about something as he took some cloth and wrapped his hand around the slate tightly before channeling the energies through it. At first, nothing happened. But as he attempted to increase the power through it, he rose with the slate ever so slightly off the ground like one of those Houdini magic acts. He continued to rise alarmingly so without stop as Imazu failed to grab his feet while he rose. In the panic, he stopped supplying his energy and plummeted down, realising that it was his energy supply that kept him up he maintained that amount as he decreased it slowly, and sure enough, he lowered in altitude as well.

"Got you, you're not flying out on us yet."

Imazu caught hold of him and exclaimed.

"It's my attribute, sir." Hitoshi realised what he had done.

"What did you do?"

"I programmed it. Then powered it with electricity."

His imagination and runes had "programmed" the slate, while his attribute had become the only power source in which to make this phenomenon happen. This explained why the runes didn't work when the chief engineer tried.

"I wonder….." Hitoshi dug into his bundle and retrieved a torchlight, removing the batteries and wiring which he jury rigged to the slate and used the cloth to hold the batteries in place. No sooner did he do so did the self-powered slate fly up and stay trapped against the roof. It brought a smile to Hitoshi's face, he had not only discovered a viable flight, but one powered by the most abundance power source, electricity.

He also realised that the reason it had worked so well was because he understood the fundamentals of elements. He thought in the process of atoms and compounds with varying density, while the Dwarves were limited by their science and therefore imagination. Thus, he had theoretically made a viable form of self-sustained flight at least in elevation with electricity as the control element. And he was the only one capable of supplying these runes apparently. There were still factors to consider like the lifespan of the runes, their ruggedness and susceptible to anti-magic properties like the Nightstar elves powers or lead.

This had also become apparent to Imazu who realised that only Hitoshi could supply these propulsion plates that would give the dreadnoughts and all other airships the ability of sustained flight. Hell, if they laced a ships underhull with this adamantite runes, and wired to the reactor or engine, they'd have flying ships as well. It was a frightening prospect, to create this fusion technology that many would pay billions to get their hands on.

"Lord Furuta, I believe we can make an offer to you in your plight now." The King spoke with seriousness in his tone. Hitoshi had stumbled upon a windfall that the Dwarves had sorely been lacking in their development for so long.

"As you know, the Gnoll threat yet remains and thus wartime production continues. But, if these…. Dreadnoughts are put into commission, it would be possible to extend our reach to the Gnoll camps outside of Mount Nyx and have greater deterrence."

"But also increasing their perceived threat from you." Imazu was right, it gave the Gnolls more justification as well to increase their attacks as well for fear of these ships attacking their homes. They'd stop at nothing until the factory and laboratory are both destroyed too.

"I can think of no greater deterrence than these ships, My Lord. And if you would be able to help allow them to achieve their potential, then my forges are yours." Hitoshi nodded to the understanding that helping them fly would also give him his armour. And previous, he wouldn't have given a second thought. But then, the memory of that Shaman and her familiar begun to make him have second thoughts. As he recalled that Ashlaug sought to destroy the Gnolls and Shaman with extreme prejudice. If even half of these fanatics got hold of one of those ships, the Gnolls could very well face extinction. Especially if the Apostle commandeered one, the King and Queen might have to watch out for themselves too. These dreadnoughts were a literal game changer, and Hitoshi's attribute was a very unique key to building them.

"Let me think about it." He said instead. To which the King respected his decision. He was effectively given charge of deciding whether to give a super weapon over to them after all.

"Then I wish you will enjoy the rest of your stay and hope nothing too eventful happens while I'm away." The King wished him well as he stood ready to depart.

"You're going out somewhere?"

"The incursion this morning was likely the first of many. I intend to support the defences as best I can and perhaps raise morale for the troops. I will likely return in two days. Preferably in time for dinner." He said smiling.

"I'll make something at Hekrel's place, you're welcome to have it with us then."

"Dinner it is then!" He shook hands with Hitoshi as the chief engineer led them out on their way back to their quarters. For that was all he could hope to accomplish as far as the day went. The King had also sent large quantities of Adamantite slates and other unfinished materials for him to play with. Since he could best use his time to refine his equation and improve the control over this new discovery.

The colonel had his reservations but was glad that Hitoshi didn't immediately accept to this proposal. Else he would be no different from an arms dealer. He didn't even know how he was going to report this to Hazama or whether he should.

Little did they know, Hitoshi's decision would decide the outcome of who would rule over Velduar.

---

It was a day since Hitoshi had perfected vertical flight by rune. He had spent an entire day at the workshop of Hekrel's family manor conducting experiments of his own. As there were applications for a portable flight device as there was for enabling the dreadnoughts to take flight beyond Velduar.

Like an emergency chute, to reduce the velocity of someone falling out of say a helicopter or even jumping out of one during an assault. A gravity chute had quite a demand. Then there was the linear flight movement that hadn't been gotten around yet, how does the craft fitted with his special plating move where it wanted. Hitoshi took a look at their original engine which turned a propeller and thought that it was basic. He conceptualized a sterling engine instead, using the generated heat and the difference of cold air rushing outside to generate torque, similar to modern submarine engines giving an additional stealthiness for approach by something so large not even heard from afar.

He also figured that if he was to accept this proposal from the king, it would be extremely tedious to manually graft his equation onto each plate which could be one of ten thousand each ship with a lifetime of replacements. Therefore, he had to have people making them for him in large numbers. This also meant that he had a total monopoly over sales of parts and could indirectly ground Velduars fleet if he chose not to supply them more. There was also the issue of power source, as they didn't have any electric generators. When he propelled the slate up, it absorbed quite a bit of his mana to do it. The best deal would be to import electric generators but not viable in the long term. Leaving him to brainstorm how he would produce a suitable battery. There was a lot of work just for sets of armour for the restoration, but Hitoshi didn't want to just walk out of here with armour now. The Dreadnoughts had opened him to new options of attack, and while he couldn't acquire one for the restoration, it was possible to obtain a smaller class of airship though.

"I'm going to start a business." He said the next morning at breakfast, causing food to drop out of Hekrel's mouth.

"What kind of Business, Lord Furuta?" Melvin was prudent enough to ask.

"A factory. I'm going to the bank later to get a loan and offer a collateral." Hitoshi did not specify what kind of factory, only that it would manufacture his products in mass quantities. Kugel and Takeo accompanied him as they were newly elected partners to his business. Kugel supplies the ideas, Takeo supplied collateral of Amarel gems and Hitoshi would construct the business plan.

An hour in the bank and they had secured their required funds and searched for a site to use as their factory. One such place was found in Bruneberg, and old cheese warehouse that had gone out of style. Melvin provided the contacts to refurbish the establishment while finding movers to bring their equipment over to the warehouse converted into their new factory.

That evening, fliers were handed out to the public in each of the respective isles owner by the Lords of Velduar. Who learnt that the God of Cookery had opened an establishment for making objects in mass quantities. It was an insult to the craftsmanship spirit of the Dwarves. As Hitoshi found out the hard way when no one turned up for the open recruitment. Not even with the enticing pay and free meals provided.

Takeo was forced to sit outside looking at the empty street that lacked any willing candidates. While Hitoshi and Kugel were working on making a rune that could store his attribute and pass it on, thus making mass production possible for what he was now calling "levi-plates", patent pending.

And Hitoshi had an idea of where he could acquire such a device or at least concept on how to convert attributes. For he had seen such circuitry in none other than the power armour uncovered in the fane.

The broken sword that he used, also had a means of converting his lightning attribute into a power source for the blades arc as well as storing some of that energy which he used as well. The same could be said for the power armour, unfortunately most of the internal circuits had oxidized and vanished, leaving an empty shell.

Hitoshi and Kugel worked on the shape of the shell which housed the circuits to determine where this converter was. While he was thinking about taking a break, Takeo came back with a visitor whom he wasn't acquainted to but Hitoshi was.

"Darcia, right?"

"I'm honoured Lord Furuta remembers my name." The attendant of the Queen Mother came to visit.

"So what can I do for you today, Darcia? Isn't it cutting into your break time?"

"You need not worry for me, Lord Furuta. Instead, I came to pass on advice from Her Majesty the Queen. She understands that you have been having a problem seeking recruits and workers for your project." True to her word, Queen Thranmilla had her eyes out for him.

"Okay?"

"She said, it was only natural that much of the Dwarven community would resist your intentions to make cheap and easy products to sell as it conflicts with the dwarven philosophy."

"Quality over quantity I suppose." He was potentially affecting the prices of their products as well, but they didn't know that he wasn't making ordinary items or artifice but a product only sold by him. Unfortunately, his economic sense had been a double edge this time.

"Yes, Lord Furuta. That is why Her Majesty would suggest that you go to Oberun to find people who will."

"Oberun? Where is that?" A heart quickened at the name of that place, as the attendant noticed his companion shook.

"It used to be the old Bloodstein quarter, until that house was denounced. It now serves as an unofficial refuge for many of whom were unable to find employment such as ours, you may even find aspirants who had failed their trials to become Rune Priests." The last bit certainly appealed to Hitoshi. Since they had a basic ability for rune magic, Hitoshi didn't required skilled workers. The more unskilled the better, then they could easily take in the unorthodox style of production he had intended.

"I suppose we'll have to make a trip there then." Hitoshi was careful about Kugel's mood since it was technically his ancestral land.

"Mmm. Let's go." But he responded positively to this suggestion.

"You're him, aren't you?" Attendant Darcia suddenly realised who he was. "You're Iraemus Bloodstein."

"I suppose, but what's it to you?" He responded defensively.

"Fear not, scion Bloodstein. I mean you no ill will." Darcia held a hand to her chest.

"Lady Hambleyn was a great inspirat-.."

"Don't say that name!" He shouted at her reluctant to hear her words about his own mother.

"Alright, I won't. I request that Lord Furuta allows myself to accompany you and your companions. My general knowledge and understanding of social norms would be of great value to you."

"If you don't mind loitering with a bunch of weirdos, it's fine by me." Even though he referred to himself as one.

"Count me out, you're the only weirdo here." Takeo spoke for himself.

"What ever happened to sticking it out to the end with bros?"

"That's after you decided to play these long contriving games!" Takeo was understandably upset that he was too fond of outplaying his foes and rivals, it was unhealthy for the soul.

When he looked Kugel's way the latter responded with.

"Don't look at me, I'm native here."

"Betrayed, by my business partners." He mused. To which Darcia couldn't help but laugh.

"Forgive my rudeness….. Lord Furuta."

"Let's just go and see if there's anyone willing to take up our jobs in Oberun." If he remembered correctly when they first arrived her by airship, the dilapidated isle town must've been Oberun. It was clear that Kugel didn't fancy going back there but there was manpower that could be found there and perhaps some other things they weren't aware of earlier.

They vacated the factory after Hitoshi locked up the door.

"What say we have lunch first?"

"Let's go to "Franby's favourite" this time." Takeo suggested a bar that came highly recommended and had been dying to go ever since.

"Ahem, Sir Takeo might be new but franby's stinges on their beverage and substitute most of the drink with water." The Attendant informed them reliably.

"What, really?"

"Might I suggest one in my home district, My Lord? "Languid Loft" is renown for its succulent honey glazed ham and they give free flow of drinks." Free flow appealed to Kugel.

"Alright, Darcia. Lead the way."

"Most excellent." As she took point and brought them to her district that was not on Bruneberg but in a neighbouring isle.

As he was crossing the bridge, the bells were rung all over without indication of what had happened. Then, he heard the sound of hooves galloping and recognised the colours of the King's men riding through the crowds with blood caking their attire, some even with injuries and missing limbs.

"What's going on?" Kugel asked as they witnessed a train of wounded stragglers.

"Something's not right." Hitoshi could feel it in the air about him. Something grave had happened. He could hear screams and wails where a crowd gathered around the wounded soldiers trying to rally.

"Lord Furuta! Lord Furuta!" A frantic Hekrel searched far and wide for him after finding that the factory was closed.

"Over here, Hekrel!" He called out as the Lord approached him with a stumble, telling how urgent the news he carried was.

"Lord Furuta, grave news…." He said huffing as Hitoshi gave him time to catch his breath, but was already feeling a knot in his stomach. For very rarely did Hekrel show as grave a look as he had now.

"The King has fallen in battle!"

He realised there was no time at all.

---

Author's Notes:

42k words long, I wonder if i should dial it down like before.

(Edited for grammar on 16th Oct 2020)

Author's Thoughts:

I always pictured the Dreadnoughts as something out of Studio Ghibli's Laputa: Castle in the Sky, air destroyer Goliath.