People gaped as the BTR rolled through Rondel's northern gate. Although many observed in amazement, no one tried to stop the machine as it entered the city. Viktor looked through his periscope, watching for threats.
he streets were filled with people dressed in robes and carrying staffs. If reports were true, they were all magic users. Magic… who would have thought. In Bellnahgo, Viktor and his squad hadn't encountered any magic besides Giselle's incredible healing abilities. Here, it looked as if they'd be getting a lot of exposure to it.
An explosion of blue fire erupted up ahead. Moving his periscope, Viktor tracked the source. It was an old man holding his staff in the air.
"Be on the lookout for threats. Any one of these mages could end up sending the magic equivalent of a rocket at us." He said to his squad.
In response, they opened up the firing ports and connected their weapons to them.
"Is that truly magic, sergeant?" Demian asked.
"Reports indicate so."
"Sure as hell looks like it…." Igor muttered.
Another burst of magic sprouted out from the horde of people and caused Viktor to jump slightly. He didn't like this. Gradually, mages started to outnumber normal people as they drove further into the city. He kept the periscope on the swivel as they moved through the streets.
Caelia had been right, the streets were designed in a way that made little sense. Roads intersected each other at odd angles, sharp turns were at every corner, and there was no concept of a central road or any sort of main pathway. Viktor could tell his driver was getting frustrated.
"Hey Caelia? Giselle mentioned a few inns that would give us discounted prices, know where any of those are?" He asked in Russian.
She nodded. "Keep heading into city. There is inn just up ahead."
Viktor rubbed his face and nodded at the driver to continue forward. He had no idea how much the city's population knew of Russian forces. While they'd been told Rondel had a minimal Imperial presence, all it took was one Saderan loyalist to stab them in the back. Viktor just hoped no one figured out what they'd done to Bellnahgo while they were here.
The inn they approached was designed like all the other buildings in the city, the only thing that differentiated it was the sign on the front. Viktor couldn't read Saderan, but he assumed it meant "inn" or something along those lines.
His periscope was suddenly blocked by Giselle's face, causing Viktor to jerk back in surprise. Shaking his head, he addressed the squad, "Alright, we're here. Dismount and keep on the lookout for any Imperials trying to mess with us. Remember, masks up!"
The BTR's side hatches opened and they dismounted quickly. Spectators watched them from a distance, a few even wrote down notes. They weren't doing any harm, so Viktor decided to ignore them.
Inside, the inn had a bar on the bottom floor and presumably the rooms upstairs. There were a few people sitting at the tables scattered around the bar area. Two cat-human hybrids drew Demian's gaze, a group of old men huddled around a paper, and a brown haired woman sat in the corner copying down a book.
Giselle walked up to the innkeeper and started talking. "I need rooms for twelve people, your best ones. Be quick! I assume you know who I am."
"A-ah, of course, your holiness! Right away!" The human man stuttered out.
Viktor could see Giselle grinning as the man scampered away. She seemed to get a kick out of messing with people.
Out of the corner of his eye, Viktor could see Demian still staring at the cat girls. He went up and smacked him on the back of his helmet. "Don't get any ideas."
"I've got no idea what you're talking about, sergeant." He said while maintaining his stare.
Viktor sighed and walked over to Caelia. She looked up and greeted him. "Viktor."
"We're not going to have to deal with any Imperial loyalists will we?" His paranoia was starting to get to him.
She shook her head. "Rondel not loyal to Empire, many want Rondel be independent."
Viktor clapped Caelia on the shoulder. "Thank god for that."
The innkeeper came running out of a back room with a set of keys. He brushed himself off before walking up to Giselle. "Right this way, your holiness."
She grinned and followed the man. Viktor called the others together to head after them. Their room was spacious, but it was essentially large attic with eleven beds thrown into it. Giselle, on the other hand, got her own private room with a large bed and several decorations. She was obviously being favored here.
Viktor decided that a strong drink would be in order. Unfortunately, they hadn't been allowed to bring vodka with them so he'd have to settle for whatever the locals had. He doubted it would be anywhere as good as vodka.
Kilment and Igor decided to join him while the others dropped into their beds like sacks of potatoes. Demian also came down, but Viktor doubted it was for a drink.
Sitting down at the bar, Viktor dropped a few of the strange golden coins onto the counter. "Strong drink." He ordered.
The innkeeper took a long look at the coins before pointing at them and asking. "Suwani?"
Viktor simply shrugged in response.
He quickly shoved the coins into a box underneath the counter and smiled. The innkeeper then walked into the backroom and came out several minutes later with a large keg. Kilment and Igor both looked at him.
"What the fuck did you order?" Igor asked.
"I, ehh…." Viktor didn't truly know.
"Guess we've got drinks for the whole inn." Kilment said while grinning.
The innkeeper tapped the keg while Viktor started laughing. They pulled down their masks so they could drink. It was going to be a fun night.
"This is Atlant-012, we've secured a stronghold in the Imperial Capital. Over."
"Copy that, Atlant-012. Have you encountered any resistance? Over."
"We've had to scare off one of the locals gangs, but it's nothing major. Over."
"Understood, stay hidden until further notice. If possible, attempt to establish a spy network among the locals. Over."
"Copy that, command. Will do. Over."
Captain Taras put down the long range radio. He and his fellow operatives had arrived in the red light district of Sadera after being airdropped nearby. The ultimate goal here was to assert the location of Russian citizens being held captive in the capital.
So far, they hadn't managed to gain very much information. All Taras' team had confirmed was that male Russians were being held at the slave market while female Russians were held in the Imperial Palace, information they'd already known. They still had to mark out specific positions and guard locations for a potential rescue operation.
Several thunks suddenly impacted the building they'd set up their stronghold in. Taras grabbed his suppressed AK-15, a variant of the AK-12 chambered in 7.62 cartridges. The other two operatives in his squad and the two additional squads he had command of, all responded similarly.
Taras could hear yelling outside. Slowly he took a peak from the boarded up windows at the source of the noise.
At least forty men and other creatures were gathered around their stronghold. They'd fired crossbow bolts into the building which was probably the cause of the thunk noise Taras had heard. One large demi-human was running up to their door with a warhammer in hand.
"Group of forty targets outside. Take up firing positions and prepare to eliminate the targets. On my word." He whispered out to the others.
They silently rushed to gaps in wall that they'd carved out for this specific purpose. The demi-human began to slam its hammer into the door. Taras could hear it buckle under the power.
Everyone was in position and had sighted their targets. "Execute." He barely whispered the word, yet everyone opened fire at once.
Instantly, all of the men holding crossbows dropped dead spurts of blood coming from their heads. The gang members stopped and looked around for the source of death.
Soon after, the men began dropping to the ground.
Taras sighted a man running forward, sword raised. Half a second later, the man was dead.
Some sort of goblin tried to run from the battle. Taras' bullet stopped his retreat.
Taras could hear a man, their commander possibly, was shouting orders in panic. His men weren't listening. Instead, they were running away. That did them little good as bullet rained down on their backs.
Taras decided to put an end to the commander's futile attempts to re-organize. The man didn't even see what killed him.
The last of the targets had been eliminated. Taras gave the order to stand down.
Contrary to popular belief, suppressors don't reduce a gun's sound to next to nothing. They merely dampen the sound, so that instead of waking up the entire city with their gunfire, they probably just woke up the red light district. It was for this reason that, as soon as the shooting stopped, a number of people went to investigate.
Taras ordered his men to stay quiet inside the stronghold while he observed the citizens. At first, it was only a few beggars who spotted the bodies and began looting them. That didn't last long and soon after, the gang bosses had learned what happened.
With his rifle aimed at their heads, Taras observed the bosses discuss something. He assumed they wanted to investigate what happened. Taras knew that they could only hold off so many attacks before ammunition began to run low. Resupply was not an option so deep into enemy territory. The operatives would just have to wait and hope that nothing came of it.
"Kilment you fucking bastard!" Igor stood up from his stool stumbling a little.
"Fuck you Igor!" Kilment took a drunken swing at the larger man.
The blow impacted his face, causing him to stumble backwards into the stool he'd just been sitting on. Due to Igor's large size, the stool smashed apart under his weight. Both men instantly forgot what they'd been fighting about and burst out laughing.
Viktor could see the innkeeper writing something down, probably an additional bill for them. It didn't matter, Viktor apparently was rich.
He spotted Demian sitting alone staring at the two cat eared girls. With nothing better to do, Viktor brought over two cups for them to share. He sat down and shoved one cup into Demian's face.
"Drink." He ordered.
Demian took a small sip. "How long are we staying here?"
"Just the night. We'll leave tomorrow morning." Viktor knew where this was going.
"You said we could recruit auxiliary soldiers, yeah?" Viktor could see the hope rising in Demian.
He nodded slowly.
"Well… what if we recruit some additional help from those two over there." Viktor didn't need to look where he was pointing to know who Demian wanted to recruit.
"What help can they give us? Giselle fills in any combat support we need and Caelia has good enough knowledge about Falmart to suit our needs."
Demian slumped down in his seat and Viktor thought that was the end of it. Evidently it was not. Sitting up in his seat, Demian came up with a new plan. "You said we're here to look for resources, yes?"
"Among other things, yes…."
"Well, what if they know something about that?" Demian's smile was growing with every second.
Viktor sighed. "Do you even know if they have that information? Have you even talked to them?"
All he got in response was Demian slumping back down in his seat.
"Alright, I'll give you one chance here. Go over there and find out if they have anything potentially useful we could use."
Panic flared up in Demian. "What?! I don't even know the language well enough!"
"Good luck." Viktor grinned and handed him his language book.
Demian nervously took the book and shuffled his way over to the cat-eared girls. He started off with the one phrase everyone had memorized. "H-hello, how are you?"
They just looked at him with an annoyed look on their faces.
Viktor could tell Demian desperately wanted to fall back. Unfortunately, it was too late to back out for Demian, he had to continue. "Do you know…" He flipped through his book. "Where mineral be? We pay for information."
One of the girls began to open her mouth when she was interrupted by an outburst from across the room.
"Minerals?! I study minerals! I can help!"
Viktor directed his gaze towards the source of said outburst. It was the woman who'd been copying a book down. She now stood with a frantic expression and wide eyes staring at Demian.
"Well… uhh…." Demian flipped through his book frantically.
The woman dashed across the room in record time and grabbed him by the collar. "You're paying to find minerals?!"
Viktor could see Demian's mind shut down. He resorted to the one thing he knew how to say. "H-hello, h-how are you?"
Undeterred, the woman started a rant. "I've been copying that magic encyclopedia for days! Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to do that?! I've had to slow down with my right hand hurting and I don't know if I'll be able to finish to meet next month's bills!"
She stopped to take a few frantic breathes. "If you're paying to find minerals, I can finally continue my work while not worrying about money! No one around here funds mineral magic and it's extremely expensive! Please hire me!"
As funny as it was to watch Demian panic, Viktor knew he had to step in. Pulling Demian out of the woman's grip, he stepped forward to face her. "You have knowledge of mineral?"
"Yes! Have you been listening at all?! I study min-."
Viktor interrupted her before she could begin another rant. "Alright, we hire you. You come with us to look for minerals."
She took a step back and brushed off herself before smiling. "Of course, if you're ok with me. I'm Arpeggio." She said it as if she hadn't been begging them to hire her a few seconds ago.
Viktor just shook his head and turned to Demian. "Looks like you did find someone with information we needed. Just not the right someone."
The man just slouched down in despair. The cat girls probably weren't into him anyway.
Reviews:
kasrkinsquadtrooper: I have no idea what the AOT's author was thinking when he wrote Chapter 139. He must have been drunk or something. Even to this day, I'm still bitter about the ending.
Thanks! Of course the original author would be happy about this.
Papon777: Oh, okay. :)
Yep, both of them will be allies in the Special region. Also yes, the events you mentioned here would be non-existent, though the original story didn't get that far.
Realistically, the US, would immediately aid Japan should the latter been invaded by foreign forces under the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. But in Gate series, they didn't needed the US or their allies help and prefer to solve it by themselves. That's because the one who wrote the Gate series was an ultra-nationalist, who wanted to return back Japan to Imperialism and made the Japanese in the show pretty impressive, ignoring the facts and its flaws.
Thank you! :)
Maroon567: I'm fully aware that Giselle is one of the Apostles like Rory and using White Phosphorus is a bit too much, especially the weapon is banned under the Geneva Conventions (at least on civilian population). Maybe if Giselle has gone too far? Who knows?
Sorry, can't change that one. :(
Guest (1): Spot on. :)
Guest (2): Already done. :)