Guys peacekeeper is back with another chapter, enjoy.
Ch - Discoveries and Green Guardians.
(40 minutes before RCT 3 arrival )
Today the village was full of life, The preparations for the Harvest festival was in full swing. But all was not right for Elvira, instead of helping her friends and neighbours for the festival's preparation she was struck along with her elder sister for doing the house chores as their parents were now working hard on the fields in harvesting the last bit of crops remaining.
Elvira was helping her sister helping in mopping the floor of their house. Out of a sudden, she heard an animal most probably a dragon's roar from the sky. She still holding the mop ran towards the window of their house and saw a group of Dragon knights flying towards their village.
Many villagers stopped whatever work they were doing and shifted their attention towards the dragon knights flying closer and closer towards the village.
" They are coming from the direction Italica is located. " a man said while looking towards the sky.
" They must be Imperial troops, thanks to founder Brimir the army has returned we are safe again.
" Oh praise the founder, we are safe again. "
" The Empire has not abandoned us yet "
People began to cheer and clap with joy and happiness that with the return of the Imperial army, law and order would be restored again which had deteriorated after the defeat and near annihilation of the Imperial legions along with their Gallian allies at foothills of the Alnus Hill. After that defeat, the Imperial army pulled out completely from the province leaving its people to fend up the invading army themselves.
The Village council after a brief meeting even decided to provide most of their harvest willingly to the invaders and even going as far as pledging their allegiance to this new powerful kingdom for their own survival and sparing the village from getting pillaged and destroyed.
A couple of weeks later news begun to spread the Invaders hadn't even moved an inch from their current position which was a sign of relief for them. But with the retreat of the Imperial legions along with the death of their Count and the destruction of half of the local militia and guard units there was an acute rise in the acts of banditry and crime all over the province.
With the Town watch and militia being confined to the city walls of the provincial capital Italica there was no one left to maintain the law and order in the rural areas of the province.
With that, the rumours of a large brigand army containing the deserters from the Imperial legions and the Gallian army was also causing fear and panic all over the rural settlements in the province which little to no defence against them.
But with the return of the Imperial army, everything was going to change again. Law and order would return back to the land and they would this time surely be able to drive back the foreign invaders from their land.
A few moments later a detachment dragons knights along with their commander begun to descend from the skies towards the center of the village, While other knights started to patrol the village and surrounding from the skies.
Elvira after watching the dragons descend quickly turned towards her sister.
" Big sister, can I go and take a look at those dragons out there, please? she asked with pleading eyes.
" Elvira you know that those tricks of yours stopped working on me after you turned 15 so don't do it, it is not going to work on me and for going out the answer is no. " She replied
" But big sister I have never seen a dragon up close before. "
" No means no Elvira. " Her sister replied sternly.
She sighs in defeat " Ok big sister. " and continues moping the floor with a sad face.
" You can go, " her sister said " But on one condition. "
Elvira face light up " What is it, big sister? "
" Nothing much just complete the mopping of the floor of this room and you are free to go and take a look."
" Thank you, big sister thank you. "
With a renewed vigour of hope, she worked hard and completed the mopping of the floor within minutes.
" Big sister my work is complete, can I go now ?" She asked.
" Well that was fast" her sister replied and kneeled down to check the floor.
" Perfect," she said " You can go out now but do not linger outside for much longe... " she was interrupted when she heard people screaming and running from the center of the village.
" What is going on? " She said to herself as she along with Elvira went out of their house to see the commotion taking place on the streets.
To her absolute horror, she saw the dragons were now flying low and were setting the houses on fire with their fire breath. A man came running down the street shouting followed by a crowd.
" Those knights are here to kill us all, those knights are here to kill us all run for your lives. "
Elvira holds her sister's hand " Why are they doing this? we haven't done anything to hurt the empire or the emperor. "
" I don't know Elvira " her sister replied " But we have to run now"
" What about our mother and father? "
" They might have escaped to the jungle right now, our field is much closer to the forest. So don't worry about them right now. "
Both the girls joined the crowd as they all tried to escape towards the southern gate of the village. Only to find out the gates are already blocked off by a group of 10 men in black-clad armour armed with muskets.
" Ohhhh see the commoner rats are trying to escape from their rat hole " one of the knights mocked.
" Why are you doing this. ?" a woman yelled at them.
" Haven't you all heard we are here to help you all meet your maker. "
" Prepare to fire "
The villagers tried to scatter before the volley is fired but it was already too late.
" Fireeee. "
The musket balls pierced through the body of the poor villagers like a hot knife through butter and even hitting poor souls standing right behind the victims.
" Draw swords and wands lads, leave none alive, Happy hunting." Their commander ordered.
The knights on the ground begun to hack and slash through the villagers as ordered and even sending magical attacks to eliminate them. Women, Children, elderly none were spared by the knights.
Meanwhile both the sisters were running towards the center of the village.
" Where are we going, big sister ?" Elvira asked still shaken by the destruction and carnage happening all around the village.
" They are nobles, Elvira they would dare not to discrete or destroy the Brimir's temple. We are going to take shelter inside the temple until all of this is over. "
As they took a turn they a saw a group of people being burned alive by a dragon that was flying low looking for pry from the sky.
" We can't go that way, big sister. "
" I know. "
" Hey " someone called out from behind " Those two rats are trying to escape get them."
" Run sister run " Both the girls start running, Elvira taking the lead closely followed by her sister.
But before they were able to escape, one of their pursuers trained his musket and opened fire. The musket ball hit Elvira sister in the back cutting through her and grazing Elvira on her left hand. Due to being shot she lost her footing and tripped over hitting her head on the hard rock surface.
She lost her consciousness while her elder sister fell over her. She slowly bleeds out to death still shielding her sister.
" Nice shot sire, you got two rats in a single shot. Your marksmanship is amazing. "
" That's the reason why I am the second in command of this company Helfert. "
Another Knight comes running towards them.
" Sire Commander has ordered us back to the Founder's temple. We will be pulling out, the extermination is over."
" Very well " he replied " Let's go, Helfert, our work is over here.
( 15 minutes before RCT 3 Arrival )
Elvira slowly regains her consciousness and tries to get up only to feel the weight of someone or something over her. She removes the weight and begins to feel the warm sensation around her back. She notices her dress is drenched in someone's blood. She slowly turns her head towards to find out her sister lying beside her and the blood was none other than her own sister
"Ohh no Big sister, wake up" shaking her lifeless body while tears dropping on the floor. " Please wake up, don't leave me alone in this world, pleaseee."
Realization hit her, her sister was dead, she died shielding her from being shot by that knight, But she doesn't want to believe it yet.
" Big sister Please get up, What would I do without you ?. " She stood up
" I have to find someone to help us. "
She wiped away her tears and slowly walks towards the temple bypassing the dead littered all over the street while covering mouth through her hands.
Finally, she arrives at the location where she sees a boy little older than her sitting on the steps of the temple holding a piece of paper in one hand while clutching his wounded stomach on other trying to stop the constant flow of blood coming out from his wounds.
She ran towards him only to find out he was none other than her best friend Hecter.
" Elvira thanks to the founder yo...u are still alive. "
She tears a bit of cloth from her dress and attempts to stop the flow of blood.
" No El...Elvira, it's too late for me. "
" Hecter, let me help you, I have already lost my sister, I don't know my parents are alive or not. I cannot lose you now. " She pleads as her eyes are filled with tears again.
" Elvira listen to me, I have already lost a lot of blood. I am barely keeping myself conscious right now. Here take this. " He hands over a piece of paper he was holding to her. " This piece of paper is more important than my life right now. "
" Why "
" This paper holds the proof that our beloved emperor is a monster. I have to use the last ounce of my strength in order to save this document from burning up from the fire. "
" Heh, their commander thought leaving me to die a slow death was a good idea. "
He coughs up blood " My time has come, * cough * * cough* Elvira I wanted to say something to yo... before I leave this realm. "
" What Hecter ? "
" I...alwa..ys...lov..." He died in her arms before even being able to complete his confession.
" No Hecter No !, you can't leave me. I have lost everyone I cannot lose you too, please don't go." tears begun to flow uncontrollably. Just then it began to rain.
She sat there beside his body crying over the sorrow of losing everyone she every knew from her childhood. Her parents, her elder sister, her best friend everyone was dead. She was truly alone in this world right now.
She sat there beside Hecter's lifeless body like a statue, still holding his hand while tears flow from her eyes. The pain of losing everyone was too much for her. She was so engrossed in the pain of losing so much today she couldn't hear the pacing of several footsteps coming towards her.
( Present )
RCT 3 reached the source of the heavy smoke. The convoy entered the burning village. Most of the houses were on fire, but what horrified them the most were the dead. The streets of the village were littered with dozens of corpses of men, women and even children scattered all over the place.
Arran got out of his vehicle and shouted. " EVERYONE! GRAB EMERGENCY GEAR! DOUSE THE FIRE WITH EXTINGUISHERS AND SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS! GO GO GO ".
Itami relayed the order to his men in Japanese as both JSDF and International troops sprang out of their vehicles splitting into two groups, Itami along with his team begun to search for survivors while Arran's group tried in vain to control the fire.
" Muller, go with Itami his local language skills are deplorable, he might create more confusion than we need right now. " Arran ordered.
" Jawohl " He replied as he ran towards Itami's group.
( 20 minutes later )
" Come out! If anybody can hear us, please come out. It's United Nations Task Force, we are here to help. "
Muller kept on calling out in the local language in hopes for any survivors to hear him and come out of his or her hiding. Though the chances of finding any survivors in this massacre were very low.
Kurokawa kneeled down to check the body of a young girl most probably 17 or 18 years old.
" Anything you got Doc ?" Itami asked
" Sir " she replied with a sad tone " She died like the others 20 to 30 minutes ago."
" What the hell happened here. Lt ? "
" I don't know Kurata but what I had heard from heard from Arran, this village might have fallen victim to ethnic cleansing. " Itami replied.
" How does he know about that sir. ? " Kuwahara asked.
" He had been in several UN Peacekeeping missions before. He has more experience in these matters than rest of us. "
Itami this is Arran, have you found any survivors yet. over
Negative no survivors yet. Over he replies through his radio.
Other teams have also reported no survivors found. we are heading towards the center of the village for the last sweep. we will rendezvous there, how copy?
Affirmative, over and out.
Arran's group minus IFV's crew had joined them in search for survivors. 10 minutes ago they were trying to control the fire from spreading. As their extinguishers were about to run out dry, it began to rain which stopped the fire from spreading over the remaining structures and the forest. If it hadn't rained they might have been forced to pull out from the village and the forest itself for their own safety.
" It'd be a miracle if anyone survived this," Kurata said. Just then Muller held his fist up and the team came to stop.
" What do you find, Corporal? "
" I think we might have just found a survivor. " Muller replied while pointing towards the surprisingly untouched structure where a girl sat beside a body of a boy.
" Oh my god. " Kurokawa said before rushing towards her followed by others.
" Miss are you all right. " Muller asks in Germanian as they arrive at the spot, while Kurokawa kneels down to check the pulse of the boy.
The girl slowly raises her head and looks around, she had a bruise on her forehead and a small cut on her left arm, the girl's blonde hair was messed up. Though pretty much unharmed except those few bruises and cuts she looked visibly shaken and confused from the looks of her eyes and her dress was drenched with someone's blood.
" Who is not going to be confused if you are surrounded by men in strange clothes and armour and weapons in front of you. " Muller thought.
Then her confused look turned into a fearful one. Kurokawa shook her head, "We are too late for this boy. " She said and turned her attention towards the girl.
The girl suddenly stands and backs off from Kurokawa and rest of the group.
" Are you all Imperial mercenaries ? " she asks
" You are here to finish the work your masters started, aren't you."
" Wait we are not... " Muller was interrupted when she spoke again as she looked right into his eyes.
" Then I beg you please make it quick." tears began to form in her eyes again. " Those knights have already taken everything from me. My parents, my sister, my friends, my home everything. I am all alone in this world now. "
The girl kneels down in front of them. " Just make it quick, I don't want to feel any pain. "
She then began to mutter some sought of a prayer closing her eyes waiting for her life to end.
Muller stood there stunned. He couldn't comprehend a girl not more than 14 to 15 years old was asking them to end her suffering for being the last survivor of this massacre.
Muller goes and places his hand on the girl's shoulder.
She opens her eyes to look up at the face of her would be the executioner.
" Miss, we are not part of the imperial army nor some paid mercenaries doing their dirty work. "
" Who are you ? " she asks shocked by this revelation.
" We are part of the United Nations Task Force and we are here to help. "
The girl suddenly loses her consciousness and falls upon Muller's shoulders.
" Medic "
He lies her down as Kurokawa begins to check her for injuries.
Itami along with Kurata checked the surrounding area of the building for any more survivors when another group of their men arrived.
" Sir " Kuwahara saluted
" At ease Sgt Major. " Itami replied as he saluted back " Did you find any survivors in your sweep. "
" It's a negative, sir, the Perpetrators of this massacre have made damn sure not to leave any survivors behind. "
" Well, they failed here. We just have found a survivor. " pointing towards a girl on the ground been taken care by Kurokawa now being joined by Kuribayashi.
" She is the only survivor. I guess."
" I am not losing hope, old man. we are still waiting for Arran's team to arrive. "
" Were you able to acquire any information about the destruction of this village? " Kuwahara asked.
" Not much, she just asked us if we were some mercenary group hired to finish the... " Something clicked inside Itami's head, His eyes widened. " Knights, " he said out loud, " She asked are we hired by some knight order for cleanup operation in the village. "
" Do you mean... "
" Yes, the purge of this village might be a state-sanctioned operation. " Itami stated. " This is not a work of some roving Bandit group or a religiously motivated mad mob bent on killing off those who oppose their religion but instead Soldiers of their empire. "
" But why do this to your own people? "
" That is the question bugging me right now pops. " Itami replied.
" Herr Leutnant."
Itami looked back to see Muller was standing behind him.
" What is it, corporal? "
" Sir you have to see this." He handed Itami a bloodstained piece of paper. Itami looks into it, though unable to read the content he was able to recognise the seal on the paper. It was the seal of the nation UN is currently fighting a war with.
" Its look like some sort of official document." he thought.
" Yes sir, I found this document tightly held by our survivor. " He continued
" Sir, according to this document, Scorched earth tactics have been initiated in this Province. All and every may it be a small village or a town would be burned to the ground al... " Muller stopped, from his face Itami could see the young man was shaken. " Muller speaks up " he ordered.
" Yes sir. " coming back to his senses he continued. " burn the village or Town along with its population. "
" This is not good. " Kurata said.
" Corporal I want you to contact Lt. Kalb and ask him to contact base command immediately and relay the content of this document to them. Also, ask them if they could spare some units to help bury these bodies."
" Jawohl " Muller then contacted Kalb and relayed the message through his radio.
Itami pushed the button on his radio and spoke.
Arran do you copy? over
loud and clear over
What's your ETA, over
15 minutes or so, there is still too much ground to cover yet. over
Arran cancel the SAR mission, we are pulling out.
What, Why there might be survivors out here.
Arran we have just discovered a document containing important info about the destruction of this village. Right now we need to head back towards Coda village that village might be the next target. do you copy?
Affirmative, heading back towards the convoy, over and out.
Itami then walked where the only survivor of this massacre was taken care off.
" How is she Doc? " Itami asked.
" Physically except a few bruises and cuts she is alright. " after a bit pause she continued. " The reason she lost her consciousness was due to fever and also having a nervous breakdown due to the death of her family and friends has taken a toll on her. "
" Yes I know, She even went suicidal asking us to end her suffering," Itami replied.
" Hey, Corporal can you help me carry the girl back to our convoy. ? "
" Roger that mam" Muller replied as he picked up the girl in bridal style and began walking back towards the convoy along with rest of the group.
" What about the bodies Lt. ? " Kuribayashi asked.
" We do not have the manpower now to bury them right now. I have requested the base command to send some help if they can spare. We also need to warn the settlement we came across this morning about the impending attack they might face anytime. It is also getting dark out here and I don't want to know what lurks in the jungle in the dead of the night. " he replied.
( 30 minutes later )
The convoy had already passed through the forest and was on the way back towards the Coda village. The trip back to Coda was a silent one. Nobody talked or made jokes as they were doing in the morning.
' Things we witnessed today are going to be engraved in everyone's minds days to come. ' Itami thought.
He gave a quick glance towards the rear of the HMMV where the only survivor from the village is being taken care off. According to Kurokawa, the girl is just exhausted and she will be alright taking a little bit of rest.
" Heh, I might be needing a therapy after this," he muttered.
RCT 3 this is the base command, come in RCT 3 the radio crackled to life.
This is RCT 3, we read you loud and clear over.
RCT 3, your request for additional support has been granted, RCT 1 has been diverted towards the village level settlement you made contact with. over.
Thanks for the support base command, over
Take care out there RCT 3, over and out.
" So we are getting reinforcements? "
" That's an affirmative Kurata and please concentrate on driving, this pitch black road creeps me out. "
" Sir, I suggest we set up camp two klicks away from the Coda village. If we enter the village right now we will be freaking the natives out. "
" You are the right old man, It is midnight already and our men need to have a rest after what we went through today. Relay the order. " Itami replied.
A few hours later the convoy came to a halt just 2 km away from the Coda village and set up their camp there.
UNTF Fort Endurance, Special Region, August 19, 2019
10.45 pm ( Earth Time)
Command Center, General Hazama's Office
Hazama leaned back in his chair, Before him on the table was the latest situation report provided to him by his aide.
The Recon missions he authorised to commence today morning hadn't produced any results yet. He had expected the recon teams would be facing some difficulties like scared locals and even strange wildlife. But he was not prepared for this at all.
The map and reports of the surrounding area those were provided to him by the Drone command were a day older. According to which the bridge which RCT 1 was meant to cross was intact and probably in good condition, but today when they arrived 70 km from Fort Endurance the bridge was gone. The wooden bridge was burnt to the ground. Their recon mission had to be aborted and they were ordered back to base.
RCT 2 and RCT 4 were meant to make contact with the settlements as described by the previous drone recon reports were bustling with life. Instead, they found only death and destruction. Not a single survivor was recovered from those settlements. Due to the fact, no enemy military presence was detected before it was deduced to be work of bandit groups.
RCT 3 was the only group to have made the first contact with the local population in this area. The village is called Coda and is considered to be friendly in nature. But a few hours later the same reports of death and destruction arrives. The neighbouring settlement was also attacked and was destroyed. But unlike the previous settlements which had no survivors, they were able to find one. More so RCT 3 was also able to recover an official imperial order which specifies the beginning of scorched earth in this province and every village in this area was deemed expendable and is to be purged.
' Well this is bad ' he thought ' when the news of these incidents reaches the other side of the gate. Lots of fingers are going to be pointed towards us for not doing anything even if we have nothing to do with it at all.'
He then heard someone knocking his door.
" Come in."
The door opens and Yanagida enters the room.
" Sir, as you have ordered RCT 1 has been sent towards RCT 3's previous location designated as Coda village. They will Rendezvous with them there. The attack helicopters you asked for are being prepped and will be ready for combat by morning. "
" That's good, what about the extension of Drone recon."
" They will be beginning their operations with the first light in the morning. " Yanagida replied. "
" Anything else to report Lieutenant? "
" It's a negative sir. "
" Very well you may go now," Hazama ordered.
Yanagida exited the room leaving Hazama behind.
2 Km from Coda Village
Elvira slowly opened her eyes, she looked around and noticed she was inside a strange cabin. She slowly raises her hand to feel its wall and felt the cold sensation of steel. As she began to come back to her senses she realized she was in some sort of a steel cabin and she was covered by a blanket.
She slowly peeked into her blanket only to realize her clothes were gone.
' Where am I ? ' she thought
' What am I doing here? '
Judging by the state of her present condition she began to speculate the people she met before losing her consciousness were probably slave traders and she was being prepared to be sold at a market.
As Elvira was still in her thought planning to escape from the clutches of these people. The door of the cabin suddenly flanged open.
A woman in strange green clothes entered the cabin, she waved at her and said something in a foreign tongue. Elvira put off a confused look on her face.
The woman then slowly pulled a red book from her pocket and began to read it.
" Hello how are you ? " she said in the broken tongue.
" Who are you? " Elvira asked.
" I am Mari Kurokawa nice to meet you."
" I am Elvira. "
" How are you feeling? "
" I am fine," Elvira replied. " What am I doing here? "
" We found you, in the village not far from here. Village destroyed you only alive."
Elvira lowered her head in sadness tears begun to flow through her cheeks again.
" hey don't cry " Kurokawa consoled her.
" I am the only survivor from my village. Everyone I know is dead. I just want to die."
After a few minutes, Elvira slowly goes back to sleep.
" How is she? " Itami asked standing just outside the HMV.
" Her fever has gone down but she is still traumatized by the loss of her family and friends, it is going to take some time for her to overcome it. "
" Alright then." looking towards the horizon as the sun begun to rise. " We will be moving out in 2 hours. "
Coda Village ( 2 hours later )
RCT 3 arrived at the gate of the village, the villagers were surprised to see them back in a day. The Elder came outside to greet them.
"Good day and welcome back soldiers. What can I help you with ?"
" We have bad news for you, sir " Itami said.
" Bad news, " The Elder asked.
" The neighbouring village we were supposed to make contact was wiped out."
" Wiped out ?!" The Elder was shocked along with the rest of the villagers gathered around.
" How can this happen ?, Who did this? "
" It might be hard for you all to believe but, it is the work of the Imperial army."
After hearing this the Elder along with the gathered villagers was shocked. Fear and Panic slowly started to a grip on them. People began to run back to their house and gather their belonging in order to flee. It was turning into a chaos and even RCT 3 was being unable to control them until..
" What proof do you have? " Someone yelled authoritative tone.
The villagers stopped whatever work they were doing and looked towards the old man walking towards those strange soldiers who warned them about the attack.
The man was in his fifties and worn blue wizard clothes along with his blue pointed wizard hat and had a long grey beard.
"My Lord Ca..." The old man raised his hand
" Don't Lord me Percival, How many times I have to tell you all folks that I have already renounced my Noble title ages ago, Sage Cato will be fine."
" I apologize sage Cato. " The Elder replied.
He began walking towards Itami's men and asked again " What proof do you have, that the settlement was destroyed by the Imperial army, not by bandits. "
" We have the proof. " Itami replied signalling Kurata to bring the document recovered from the village.
He handed the document to him.
Cato took a quick glance at the contents of the document but stopped the end. Being a former noble he was quick to recognise the seal of his Imperial Majesty.
" They are telling the truth, Percival," he said lowering his head.
" The Founder has forsaken us." someone cried. The villagers began to panic again.
" Wait. " Cato ordered " We if Panic now we will be creating more problem for us. I believe though the rural area of this province has been ordered to be destroyed the Urban centers are not to be touched. We just have to escape to a near city in order to survive. "
" This calmed the villagers a bit and now they began to prepare for their evacuation in a much orderly way."
" Thank you, Sage Cato. " The elder said.
In return, the old man nodded in agreement.
" You two " He signalled two young boys. " Come with me I need you to help me pack my belongings for this journey."
" Yes sir . " the boys replied and started to follow him towards his house just outside the village.
" Sir," Itami said. " We need to ask you a favour. "
" Anything, oh noble warriors, you warned us about the attack. You can ask anything in return." Elder said.
Itami led the Elder towards the back of his HMV and opened its read doors, revealing a young girl sleeping and covered with a blanket.
" She is the only survivor we found in the village. Could you take care of her? "
" I apologise for my rudeness but we cannot as we also have to flee the village right now. "
" Could you be able to provide her with a form of clothing. Due to being drenched in rain we had to remove them in order to prevent her from getting ill. "
" That can be arranged. " The Elder replied.
( 30 minutes later )
RCT 3 along with recently arrived RCT 1 were helping in the evacuation of the village.
Itami with Arran's help was even able to convince base command to help to escort the villagers until they reach a safer location.
A large convoy of carts formed up inside and was going outside the village walls. Out of the convoy came Itami and Arran along with Lt. Takeo Shinji commander of RCT 1 and his international team counterpart Lt. Fuller from USMC.
" We don't have enough men and vehicles to protect this many people. " Arran complained.
" We have to make do what we have right now," Fuller said.
" Reinforcements are still being prepped at the base, but will not be able to reinforce us for a while. Only good news we have right now is that helicopter gunships are on standby, anything happens and we will be having air support in few minutes."
" I suggest we will having our Marder IFV along with the convoy to ward off any possible attack from the rear. Your LAV ( USMC) has more firepower than our IFV so it should take lead as vanguard and discourage any possible threats from engaging the convoy. " Arran suggested.
" Well, I agree with him," Shinji said.
" The LAV will go forward along with my Marines, we will act as your vanguard. Shinji's men will join you in escorting and protecting these refugees. The trucks will be moving on the side of the column with Itami's HMV ready to intervene at any moment. "
" Any questions ?" Fuller asked.
There was a brief silence.
"Ok then let's head back to our posts and form up."
A few meters away Cato was riding on his cart filled with his belongings most of which were only books. He took a long glance at the men with strange green clothes he met today. They conversing about something, but due to this crowd, he was unable to hear a single word properly.
" Hey, Percival," Cato called to the village Elder.
" Yes, Sage Cato. What can I do for you? "
" Can you tell me something about those strange soldiers out there."
" We don't know much about them sage Cato. They came to visit our village yesterday. They asked a few questions and directions before heading out towards our neighbouring village. "
Percival continued. " They might be some mercenary group."
" I highly doubt that, the way they work they are definitely soldiers, not a ragtag mercenary group. "
The convoy of carts begun to move slowly " I have to take my leave now. " Percival said before returning back to his cart.
A few moments later Cato passed through those strange horseless carriages these strange men were using as their mode of transport. ' Must be steel forged by a master blacksmith and evened coloured it too.' he thought.
Special Region, Three hours later.
" The landscape is changing. We are entering a rocky and arid area." Itami noted.
" Heat is getting unbearable," Kurata complained wiping his sweat from his forehead.
" Yeah, the condition of the convoy is also deteriorating," Itami said.
For the last hour, the journey was taking the toll on the refugees. Overloading their carts of all their belonging in order to escape came to bite many of them as their carts broke down on the way.
Though UN troops tried their best to help them, their help wasn't enough. Slowly one by one people began to drop out of the convoy as they were unable to move any further. It was really a painful sight for many UNTF men and their helplessness to do anything for them.
Itami looks backs to the rear of his HMV " How is she doing? "
" She is fine, " says Kurokawa as she hands a Snickers baton to Elvira sitting beside her.
The girl slowly ate the sweet chocolate.
" What was her name you mentioned before? "
"It is Elvira. "
" Anything else do we know about her? "
" She doesn't want to talk anything about what happened in her village and also must urge not to ask anything about her village right now. " Kurokawa states.
" I understand. "
Suddenly the radio crackled to life.
" RCT 3 actual this is RCT 3-7 we are detecting unknown flying bogeys flying towards us very fast please advise, over. "
Itami sticks his head out through his HMV window and looks through his Binoculars. To his absolute horror, there were nearly 40 to 50 dragons were flying towards them.
" This is RCT 3 actual to all elements we have hostile bogeys flying fast towards the convoy. prepare for combat I repeat prepare for combat. "
RCT 1's JSDF vehicles took a quick turn and drove head-on towards the oncoming dragon knights.
" All units engage, nail those bastards," Shinji ordered. " Don't let them get near the refugees."
RCT 1 engaged the Imperial fists with their guns blazing and took a few of them down from the sky with 50 cal. machine gun fire from their Komatsu LAV and rifle fire from their trucks. Though facing some losses the dragons flew past them towards the convoy.
The villagers began to panic and flee for their lives as the Imperial fist dragons begun to descend upon them.
Kalb's Marder begun to fire at the oncoming dragons with its MK 20 Rh 202 autocannon cutting them down. But it was not enough to stop the knights from attacking the villagers. The dragons used their fire breath to burn many poor souls. Their riders used their different magical attacks and musket fire to attack the villagers and the UNTF troops on the ground.
" Crap they have mages. " Arran yelled.
" Where our air support? "
" They are on the way ETA 15 minutes. " James reported.
" We don't have that much time. "
" Arran, this is Itami go and support RCT 1 one of their vehicles has taken a direct hit and had been overturned. They have sustained casualties and are requesting support. over "
" How the hell that happened? "
" Stop asking questions, they need our support right now, go and help them. "
" Roger that. Moving out."
Itami turned back and ordered " Kurokawa take the girl and go with the convoy. I want you to be escorting them to safety. "
" But sir... "
" That's an order Sgt. "
Kurokawa dismounted from Itami's HMV followed closely by Elvira and entered the Type 73 light truck waiting for them. Their place was replaced by Kuribayashi, Tomita and Higara as they entered the HMV.
Kalb's Marder kept on advancing and firing gunning down numbers of dragon knights from the sky followed by Arran's humvee which 50 cal. machine gun kept the dragons knights away.
Quickly they arrived at RCT 1 location and formed a perimeter around it. A few moments later Fuller's marines and LAV joined the fray.
" What the hell happened here? " Fuller asked while firing his M4 towards the flying dragons.
" A dragon rammed more like crashed into one my truck after it was shot down."
"Casualties? "
" Some broken bones and minor injuries. Already radioed for MEDEVAC chopper it will arrive with air support we have requested.
UN forces formed a defensive square around themselves. The attacking forces also diverted their attention from attacking the fleeing villagers to the immediate obstruction to their operation. Heavy casualties were being inflicted on the imperial fist force but UNTF was also not left out of its share of losses.
" Reloading. " James yelled as he reloaded 50 cal. machine gun.
Noticing a gap in UN lines a dragon descended from the sky. Till now Imperial fist riders were trying their best from not getting shot down from the sky by ferocious fire they were facing from UN troops.
"Incoming! " A JSDF trooper yelled training his gun and firing at the oncoming knight.
" Get out of there," Fuller warned, but it was too late. The dragon's fire breadth engulfed him.
" Ahhhhhhhh... "
Before anything could have done he was killed by a grenade explosion which he had on him.
" Man down. "
" Bastards. " Shinji cursed firing his rifle
As they held the Imperial fist attack and inflicted heavy losses letting the villagers escape. The Fists divided into two groups, the larger group kept on engaging UN Troops while a small group began following the fleeing villagers.
Cato watched the battle unfold as he drove his cart to a safer distance. He was surprised to see these unknown men were able to withstand those dragon knights attack and were even inflicting heavy loses on them. Nearly have of the knights had already fallen.
He could hear the sound of screeching dragons in pain as they fell on the ground shot by those strange metal carriages.
" Don't, stop keep moving. " one of those soldiers yelled in native tongue who and few others had stayed behind to act as their escorts.
" Incoming." one of them shouted in albionish firing his strange musket towards a group of four dragon knights flying towards them.
Other soldiers joined him and shot down three of the four knights from their dragons with precision rifle fire. The fourth was able to fly past them. The rider suddenly jumped from it dragon and landed right in front of few villagers blocking their path. He drew his wand and begun to attack them with magical attacks.
A few of them were cut down by his relentless fire magic.
The knight looked over his shoulder to see a man and a boy trying to get a woman on her feet.
" Melissa, get up Melissa we have to run. "
" Get up mama."
" No use, my legs won't move. "
' Ohh those filthy commoners are trying to run, pathetic ' he pointed his wand towards them and send a wave to fire balls at them.
As fireballs were about to a hit a family they were countered by Cato's water blast.
" Who dares to counter me? "
Cato slowly walks between the family and the knight.
" You are my opponent. I will not let you harm these people " Cato challenged the knight.
" And who the hell are you water mage, a fallen noble. You dare to challenge a member of the Empire's elite Imperial fist. "
" Why are you attacking your own people.?"
" by the order of our emperor, I am bound to purge the commoners and burn their villages and fields to the ground. This is a small sacrifice for the survival of Germania. I advise you old man get out of my way. Though you are a former noble I have no orders to kill a mage. If you stay in my way then by the grace of founder I will make you pay.
" You don't know what this old man can do ." Cato snapped before sending a wave of magical attacks.
Both the mages one a fire mage and another water began to fight their ferocious duel against each other and no one even the escorting soldiers dared to interrupt them. They passed by them while escorting the refugees towards safety.
Back at Itami's position, their forces have started to suffer casualties. Muskets weren't the most accurate firearm to ever be invented in history but sometimes they tend to have luck on their side. Some of the musket fire marked their targets though modern body armour was enough to stop them, Some casualties were sustained. Though inflicting heavy losses the imperial fists didn't falter or flag and kept up their attack.
" Damn those guys just changed their attack pattern," Arran said
" They are adapting. " Itami stated
" There too many, we can't hold them much longer."
A group of dragons dived for an attack run.
" Here they come again," Fuller said aiming his rifle
All the guns were trained on the diving dragons and fired. Those dragons were as expected were torn apart. But something unexpected happened, their riders used their dead dragons as shields and landed right between the perimeter created by UN Troops.
" They are inside our defences."
The five fists inside the perimeter drew their swords and charged firing their flintlock pistols at unexpected targets.
" Shift fire Shift fir... uhhhh. " Fuller was hit by a musket ball that tore through his unprotected neck. He fell on the ground choking by his own blood.
" Man down, Man down. "
" Turn those bastards into Swiss cheese," Arran screamed in anger
Troops quickly shifted their fire at the enemy landed inside their perimeter and took four out of five. The fifth one kept up his charge at the nearest soldier.
This misfortunate guy was being Pvt. Higashi Higara. As his attacker drew near his gun jammed.
" Oh f*ck."
The knight swings his sword at him which he blocked it by his rifle. The knight raised his sword to strike again but this time Higara dodged his attack and drew his sidearm and fired at his attacker, only to his surprise his 9mm rounds bounced up his armour.
" The hell. " He cursed as he kept on firing until his pistol run dry.
The Knight stood there un flinched by this prepared to strike again, this time was cut down by 50 cal. machine gun fire from the Humvee.
" Hey bro you alright," Carter asked
" I am fine," Higashi replied.
" Did you see that, that guy just shrugged off 9mm rounds like they were nothing," James said
" They are not that primitive we had thought of them before. '
" yeah man," Carter said.
" They are preparing for another pass" A marine warned pointing towards another group of dragons diving towards them.
Suddenly one of the dragons was hit from an air to air missile and burst into flames. Others broke their formation.
Itami looked towards the source of the attack to see their long-awaited reinforcement has finally arrived.
" The cavalry has arrived. " Yells James raising is the rifle in the air in joy.
4 AH-1z Viper along with 3 AH-1S cobra attack helicopters flew past them gunning down dragon Knights from the sky Following them were 4 Super Hueys bringing additional reinforcements. The imperial fists riders were not prepared for air to air combat and were cut down by the helicopters. Some even tried to retreat but were chased and shot down from the sky.
Meanwhile, the duel between Cato and the Fist finally came to an end. The fist was mortally wounded by one of Cato's attack and lay on the ground in the pool of his own blood.
" Ohhh, It was refreshing," he said as he stretched his hands. " though I am getting too old for this." He took a good look at his opponent lifeless body which had been pierced by a long ice spike he used to defeat his opponent. "These men," he said to himself. " belongs to the Imperial Fists. "
" So that idiot brat finally did it. " he cursed. " Sending Germania's elite force to purge the innocent for nothing. Scorch earth can only to be initiated by the approval of the war council and too should be conducted by local forces while protecting the commoners not killing them off. "
' Being an emperor doesn't mean he can do anything he wants without anyone's consent. I thought I taught you better how to become a good emperor, not a despotic tyrant you are becoming Albert. '
Wiping this thought out of his head Cato began his work healing injured individuals from the village he had called home after he renounced his Noble title and went into exile.
( 3 hours later)
The rest of the day was uneventful. The soldiers and villagers tended to their own and buried their dead. Two body bags were loaded to a MEDEVAC chopper going back to base. These two men were from RCT 1. A marine Lieutenant and a JSDF trooper, The Marine was killed by a stray musket round when it hit on his neck. JSDF trooper was killed when he was lit on fire by a Dragon's fire breath and one of his Grenade exploded. A few others were also injured during the battle.
A total casualty of the UNTF were 2 dead and 15 wounded from both RCT 1 and RCT 3. Nearly 145 villagers were dead. Whereas the villagers were buried their dead in a marked graves for their loved ones, the knights were all piled up in a mass grave. Their equipment mainly their armour which taken off back to the base for further research. Recovery trucks also arrived from the base to take the damaged and immobilised vehicles back to base.
The last of the choppers returned back to base taking their wounded and marine detachment with them. As the dust settles down the village chief approached Itami. " Thank you, oh noble warriors, Thank you for saving us. How can we repay you. ?
" You don't have to repay us. We just did our duty. "
" No no, let us pay you something, you not only defended us but shed your own blood for the commoner folk. "
" Again, You don't have to repay us, you need everything you have for your own right now."
" You are very kind."
" So what will happen to those lost their relatives in the fight? I mean, where will the orphans go ?. "
" We will entrust them to the god. "
" What !, you cannot do that. That's not right."
Hearing Itami's outburst Arran came running to see what was happening.
" Hey man, calm down. care to explain what just happened? "
Itami explained to Arran the present situation.
" Sir, you must have a reasonable reason to abandon these children out of nowhere," Arran asked
Percival lowered his head and spoke. " I'm afraid we can barely take barely take care of ourselves. We can go to our friends in other towns and villages. They have no one left... "
" I see... Eh ok, sir, we will take care of them, you should go prepare the convoy to move, then we will accompany you. "
" There is no need for it anymore. We are almost there. In half a day or so we will be in Italica the provincial capital and we will be safe there. We will spread the word of your bravery and feats today. You will always have our uttermost gratitude. "
An hour or so later the convoy was on the move again minus their escort. They waved their saviours' goodbye and went on.
" Elder Percival, weren't they bit generous towards us ?" one of the villagers asked.
" Yes, they were. Their leader even wanted to accompany us until we reach Italica, but I declined. They had already taken their fair share of losses and even took out those dragon knights. So we will be safe even without their escort."
" Who were they Elder. ? "
" All I know that they were soldiers and what sage Cato had observed they weren't part of any army from the kingdoms. That's the reason why he decided to be left behind in order to observe them. "
" You promised to spread the word of their bravery, didn't you Percival? " Another villager same of his age asked.
" Yes, Why do you ask. "
" Did you asked them what their army was called. "
" Ohhh... I did forget to ask them what their army is called. "
" Still clumsy as you were before Percival. " the villager remarked.
" We should call them Green guardians grandpa. " A boy ten years of age said.
Percival thought for a while ' They did wear green uniforms, though some of them were in different patterns their uniform was green.'
" Son you are right, Green Guardians we shall name them then. " All others nodded their head in approval.
( 4 hours later )
Commander Noldid was not just angry but absolutely furious he just found out that half of his force was wiped out in a battle. This was the first ever setback faced by the Imperial fist.
Their present target today was the Coda village, which had a much smaller population compared to the previous one they sacked a day before.
That's the reason why he sent half of his force commanded by his incompetent second his command who was clumsy enough to lose the Imperial decree during the last purge.
Though he expected that piece of paper to be burned along with the village he was wrong. A messenger arrived bringing the news the Coda village was empty. Their strike force was unable to find a single living soul in the village. Somehow the news of this village destruction along with the decree was found out by those villagers and decided to flee for their lives.
His Second in command decided to give chase.
That was the last that he heard from him. So he decided to take matters into his own hand and followed the dirt road they the villagers presumably had taken.
After flying for awhile he along with rest of his force arrived at a location that looked like a ferocious battle has taken place. Bodies and remains of dead dragons lying everywhere. From close examination, their bodies were virtually destroyed. They also found strange copper casing lying everywhere and strange vehicular tracks all around the area.
" Sire." a soldier approached him. " we found the graves of our men up on that hill. "
" Lead the way soldier." He ordered.
A few paces later he arrived at the spot. The grave was marked by a sword struck on the ground with a imperial fist helmet on it.
" Whoever slaughtered half of our men had some decency in burying them and marking their graves for us to find them. " A fist commented.
" Sire, should we exhume the bodies? "
" There's no need. Our men have already rested for peace, so no need to discrete their graves anymore. "
" Sire what about the villagers. " One of his men asked.
" they might already have reached Italica by now, so we can't nothing about them right now. Ok, men, we will be returning back to base for today," he ordered.
As ordered by their commander they mounted their dragons and headed back to their base.
" When I will find people those who inflicted the first ever crushing defeat to the fists I am going to make them pay for this humiliation, " he said to himself.
Now people who would be going to flames at me not adding Rory and Lelei. I want to clarify this that, I tried my best but there is no way a person in the whole of Halkeginia who is a loli and also has the power of regeneration and wields a large axe which weighs a ton and lived a nearly 900 years. So sorry she had to be removed from the story as a whole. But something can be done about Lelei's situation though, she will be appearing as a noble ( she can do magic duh ! ). he character is also to be overhauled so it might take a little time for her character to appear.
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Stay tuned for next chapter: Back to base and Problems of a Kingdom.