Chapter 19: More Trouble
Macragge: 11:00 hrs. 29/08/1538 AFK
An anxious Subaru could be seen in wandering about in the White Whalers HQ, he was worried. Garfield told him 6 days earlier that Emilia would take some 4 or 5 days to arrive. Subaru anxiously looked around searching for something, anything. He sent Garfield and men from the security forces out to find Ana's army where Emilia should be. His brain started to race. What if Ana's army was intercepted by the cult? What if Emilia needs his help? What if…his communication metia started to glow he tore it open hoping to see Emilia.
Garfield: "Cap I think I found something."
Subaru took a deep breath in an attempt to hide his wariness.
Subaru: "What is it?"
Garfield: "Two hour following the road I found many tracks and they were carrying heavy stuff. However, the tracks indicate that whoever it was took a detour north through an old road that's not on the map."
Subaru: "Did the tracks seem old?"
Garfield: "I'm no expert Cap, but I'd say at least a day or two."
Subaru: "Can you get to the tracks while I see if I can find the road on any map?"
Garfield: "Sorry Cap, but we are at the maximum range of the metia."
Subaru: "Very well."
Garfield: "Cap, has Roswaal appeared yet?"
Subaru: "No he hasn't, but Ram can still hold on for a few more days with Beako's and Rem's help."
Garfield: "…"
Subaru: "Now Garfield. I need you to return as soon as possible."
Garfield: "Shouldn't I go after them?"
Subaru: "And loose contact with you? Also, they have at least a day of advantage."
Garfield: "Right. Ima head back them."
Unknown road: 11:50 hrs. 29/08/1538
A small army could be seen moving through the old and abandoned road. In the middle was Emilia who was bored beyond compare yet didn't dare read the book Subaru gifted her in fear of a certain royal candidate getting too curious. The convoy had slowed down significantly ever since they entered the old road and the surrounding forest was quite monotonous. All the riders where mostly quiet in an effort to conceal their presence from any mabeast horde that could have gotten through the barrier that was long overdue for maintenance. Suddenly Ricardo at the lead made everyone stop and yelled "We will stop for a few minutes! This is not lunch break yet!". Everyone dismounted and started to stretch. Once she stretched Emilia went to find Anastasia who was the one behind the idea of following this road.
11:57 hrs.
Emilia found Ana standing in the middle of the road holding a weird looking object above her head and looking at the sun, Julius at her side was looking at the time and held a map in his hands.
Emilia: "Anastasia, how long will we keep on following this road?"
Anastasia: "Don't worry Emilia. If the map is not wrong, we will be out of this forest in an hour or two, from then on it will be just one more day until we reach the place where the beast roams."
Emilia: "Also, what are you doing looking through that…thing?"
Anastasia: "Trying to find out where we are, taking into consideration the hour and time of the year."
After that Emilia went back to her dragon see if it needed any tending. Six minutes later Ricardo told everyone to get ready and leave.
Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:00 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Subaru was on a train heading for Elior Forest where he was going to see an issue that had appeared. He was still anxious about the whereabouts of Emilia, yet this was a pressing matter. Many people were going sick in the small mining town in Elior Forest and some where even dying. Subaru had brought with him Beatrice, Garfield, Rem and Ram just in case this disease was some sort of curse or deliberate sabotage. Knowing that Anastasia would not go to Macragge also made Subaru even more Anxious since he didn't know where she was or what she was plotting.
600 Meters east of the Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:00 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Emilia saw the railway and immediately pointed towards it asking Anastasia if she saw it. She nodded in response and told her that they would setup camp behind a nearby hill. Ricardo went to the canon operators and told them to install the canons on the hilltop.
Out of nowhere Emilia saw something cruising through the sky at high speed. Barely visible she managed to see the silhouette of a person 'Maybe that's Roswaal?'. She immediately took out her communications metia to see if anyone was in range. As she expected someone was in range, so she reached out.
Sky over the Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:01 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Roswaal was cruising towards Macragge. He finally managed to convince a particular lord of his domain to let a railway go through his lands and was eager to tend to Ram as soon as he could.
Suddenly his communications metia started to shake so he took it out of his pocket and opened it. He saw that Emilia was on the other side.
600 Meters east of the Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:05 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Emilia was glad to finally be capable of telling Subaru that she was ok 'He must be so worried and it my fault' she thought. She greeted Roswaal and immediately relayed Anastasias plans and thoughts, she also told Roswaal that Subaru must stop all train traffic between Macragge and Elior Forest to prevent Anastasia from seeing them. But something unexpected happened. Emilia saw a lonely smokestack appear on the horizon, a train. Now Anastasia would see her beast and she would have to make sure that Anastasia doesn't destroy the train or learns too much about it. Emilia sends Roswaal on his way to Macragge.
Julius also saw the smokestack and told Anastasia of the possibility of it being the beast. All of the men started to scramble trying to get the macer canons into position before the arrival of the beast.
Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:08 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Subaru was staring to his metia hoping it would grab something…anything, suddenly the screen started to glow indicating that a new metia was in range 'Emilia-tan' was his first thought as he called whoever this new contact was.
600 Meters east of the Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:08 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Emilia was looking at the distance seeing as Roswaal's silhouette got smaller and smaller and how the smokestack was getting ever closer. She was startled when her metia started to shake, she grabbed it and saw Subaru on the other side.
Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:08 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Subaru was unbelievably happy to see that Emilia was alive and well.
Subaru: "Emilia-tan where are you? I was so worried."
Emilia: "I don't know exactly, but I am at the east of the railway to Elior Forest."
Subaru: "Can you see us? We are on a train."
Emilia: "I believe I can see where you are. Can you make the train turn around so that Anastasia doesn't see it?"
Subaru: "I don't think that's possible, there are no roundabouts nearby and the trains can't handle reverse with cargo. But Ana will just look at the train, right?"
Emilia: "Yes she wants to determine if its hostile and if it has any potential to boost the productivity of her company. She preferably wants to capture it."
Subaru: "I wish her luck capturing one of these. How is the sight where you are at?"
600 Meters east of the Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:09 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Subaru: "I wish her luck capturing one of these. How is the sight where you are at?"
Emilia stopped looking at the metia and look at the landscape, she didn't look at it until now. She wished that she could bring Subaru with her on a date here to look at the sunset.
Emilia: "It is beautiful here. I wish you could see this."
The two kept on talking about the previous four days.
Sky over the Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:14 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Roswaal noticed something odd. He could feel Emilia's large pool of mana but also other smaller yet powerful pools of mana. He decided to stick around to see what was happening.
600 Meters east of the Macragge – Elior Railway: 15:28 hrs. 30/08/1538 AFK
Emilia noticed something that worried her a lot. The canons where all pointing at the train where Subaru was on. She waved goodbye to Subaru and went to find Anastasia or Julius to ask what was going on. She found Anastasia at the very top of the hill looking though binoculars mounted on a tripod.
Emilia: "Anastasia didn't you say that you wished to first see if the beast is hostile or if can be useful to you somehow?"
Anastasia: "Yes I did, you should look at this, it seems almost mechanical, pure metal on the outside, yet one can clearly see how it breaths."
Emilia: "Then why are all of your canons aiming at it?"
Anastasia: "We just don't know if its hostile, so we are not taking any chances. If it makes any move to threaten us Julius will blow this whistle that will make all the canons fire."
Julius: "Do not worry Emilia-sama I doubt the beast will even notice us being so far over here."
Emilia: "Can you give me your word that the canons wont fire at the beast if it just ignores us?"
Julius: "I promise Emilia-sama."
Anastasia: "You seem awfully worried about that beast."
Emilia: "I just don't want anyone to be harmed if possible."
15:40 hrs.
The train is nearing the closest point to the hill, some dears could be seen wandering around the railway.
Train: 15:40 hrs. 30/08/1538
Driver 1: "We have company, many dears on the rails ahead!"
Driver 2: "Should I blow the whistle or are they out of the way?!"
Driver 1: "Just do it I love how it sounds!"
Hill: 15:40 hrs. 30/08/1538
All of Anastasia's mercenaries are holding their breaths waiting for the beast to just move on. Anastasia on the other hand is looking at the train in amusement. "What a wonderful being. How can someone make such a mechanical monster work?" Ana stated. Emilia was keeping an eye on Julius just in case he was going to blow the whistle. Julius stood on edge looking at the creature, searching for any signs of aggression. Suddenly a loud "CHUUUUU!" echoed through the pains.
Canon operator 1: "Is that the whistle?"
Canon operator 2: "How could I know? I never heard it."
Canon leader: "It's spiting white smoke, just FIRE!"
A canon was fired and then the rest fired in succession. Emilia was for a moment petrified, horrified by what she just witnessed. She immediately snaped out of the shock and shot giant icicles to intercept the magic bolts fired at the train.
Train: 15:41 hrs. 30/08/1538
Subaru was at ease since contacting Emilia and was now looking though the books in search for anything that could help him solve the problem in Elior Forest. He saw Garfield's ear twitch as a few flashed of light appeared on the left side of the train. Garfield out of nowhere lifted Subaru and launched him in the direction of Rem and Ram who were playing with Beatrice.
Subaru: "W-what are you doing?"
As soon as Subaru landed Garfield threw himself on top of his friends just in time. The entire left side of the train blew up and broken pieces of metal and glass flew about ripping though the passengers that where still upright killing most of them almost instantly. Subaru's ears where ringing like crazy and his vision was blurry. His body acked but was mostly unharmed. His vision readjusted and he saw just how bad the damage was. The train had turned on its side to the right with half of it missing. People lied dead on the floor, some screamed in pain, a man was just sitting looking around with a confused face. Subaru looked at the state of his friends. Rem and Ram where mostly ok, but Garfield had a metal rod protruding though his abdomen. Beatrice was also unscratched and was busy tending to Garfield.
Hill: 15:41 hrs. 30/08/1538
Anastasia bit her lip frustrated that the peaceful beast won't be capable of serving her company. Emilia was just staring dumbly at the train with watery eyes. Julius was somewhat relieved that the beast was actually fairly easy to kill. The beast could be seen still struggling, still beathing and trying to move, but something terrifying happened, it started to scream and it sounded like many people in agony.
Anastasia: "Prepare to fire again, full power!"
Gunners: "Yes madam!"
Emilia: "W-what? Haven't you done enough damage?"
Anastasia: "What happened is nothing short of a tragedy, but now we must put the beast out of its misery. Beside it's screams are unbearable surely it is a monster!"
Emilia: "I can't allow you to do so! We can still help!"
Anastasia saw that all the canons where ready to fire.
Anastasia: "I really feel sorry for the fate of this beast. But what's done is done. Fire!"
Emilia with eyes wide open heard in horror as the canons fired, she lifted a wall of ice in front of them, but the canons designed to pierce through magic like the one Emilia casted penetrated the ice wall losing only one bolt with the rest heading for the train. Emilia fired giant icicles to intercept again but closed her eyes in fear of seeing her failure.
Sky: 15:41 hrs. 30/08/1538
Roswaal looked at the disaster that was unfolding on ground. He saw the people thrown on the ground and the perpetrators. He saw how Emilia's magic failed to intercept the bolts. 'Should I intervene? Am I even in range to intervene?' Then his eye caught sight of something. He saw Subaru, Ram, Rem, Beatrice and Garfield in the wreckage as well as a second salvo fired from the hill that again Emilia failed to intercept.
Train: 15:41 hrs. 30/08/1538
Subaru was wondering what had happened when he heard a familiar sound, that of macer canons firing. He looked around trying to find the source and before he could even start looking around everything was engulfed in flames. Every one of the survivors died engulfed in an even greater explosion than the one before.
Train: 15:30 hrs. 30/08/1538
Subaru didn't even realize he had died, so far one of his best deaths. He looked at the time and saw that he had about 10 minutes to find out what had happened and prevent it from happening.
'So…I died…doesn't feel like it…but I died and so did the rest…I was fortunate it didn't hurt and that I got to hear what killed me…so…macer canons fired upon us…Emilia is also nearby…maybe Ana fired upon the train…but Emilia told me that Ana won't do it…hmmm…perhaps some cultist infiltrated Ana's Iron Fang…I have to call Emilia.'
Subaru opened his communications metia and reached out to Emilia.
Hill: 15:33 hrs. 30/08/1538
Emilia was surprised to be contacted so soon. She went behind the hill where Anastasia and Julius couldn't see her to answer.
Subaru: "Emilia-tan I have something to ask."
Emilia was worried by how Subaru's face got so serious. Yet she knew something was going to happen if Subaru was like that.
Emilia: "I am all ears Subaru."
Subaru: "Are Ana's canons aiming at our train?"
Emilia: "Yes they are, but she said that as long at the train isn't a threat the canons won't fire."
Subaru: "A threat…"
Subaru wondered if the train did something strange before the canons fired. 'The train whistle was triggered!' Thought Subaru. 'Though I can't stop it from happening now…there is no way to move to the front of the train…'
Emilia: "Subaru is everything ok?"
Subaru: "Oh, yes Emilia-tan…well actually…no, I believe the canons will fire on the train if you don't stop them."
Emilia: "Anastasia doesn't want to take any chances with the 'beast' should I just tell her?"
Subaru: "Can you freeze the canons if you see anything strange instead?"
Emilia: "Hmmm…I would have to freeze the entire canon…I don't really know how its internals work. Is there anything strange I should look out for?"
Subaru: "The train's whistle will probably be triggered, when that happens freeze the canons."
Emilia: "Leave it to me Subaru. Anything else I should look out for?"
Subaru: "I don't think so."
Train: 15:35 hrs. 30/08/1538
Subaru finished his conversation with Emilia and immediately went to the seat where Beatrice, Rem and Ram where at.
Subaru: "Beako. Do you happen to know how to stop a shot from a macer canon?"
Beatrice: "Well…the only real way to stop its bolts is by intercepting one with something else I suppose."
Subaru: "Can't we lift a barrier or something like that?"
Beatrice: "Those canons are specifically designed to go through any barrier and mana construction by decomposing them back into mana, so the answer is no in fact."
Subaru: "Say, if a few macer canons fired upon the train in five minutes could you intercept the bolts with Minya?"
Beatrice: "What are you? Fine…five minutes, right?"
Subaru: "Well it could be four. Don't worry until then."
Beatrice: "Sometimes you attitude it unsettling I suppose."
After that Subaru was tense very much waiting to see if he was shot at. 'Relax Subaru, if Emilia fails to freeze the canons before they fire or they can fire even if frozen we still have Beako.' Subaru was trying his best to keep calm, yet his friends noticed just how nervous he was and in turn prepared to meet anything that could thrown at them.
15:40 hrs.
Driver 1: "We have company, many dears on the rails ahead!"
Driver 2: "Should I blow the whistle or are they out of the way?!"
Driver 1: "Just do it I love how it sounds!"
Hill: 15:40 hrs. 30/08/1538
All of Anastasia's mercenaries are holding their breaths waiting for the beast to just move on. Anastasia on the other hand is looking at the train in amusement. "What a wonderful being. How can someone make such a mechanical monster work?" Ana stated. Emilia was keeping an eye on the canons and gunners. Julius stood on edge looking at the creature, searching for any signs of aggression. Suddenly a loud "CHUUUUU!" echoed through the pains.
Canon operator 1: "Is that the whistle?"
Canon operator 2: "How could I know? I never heard it."
Canon leader: "It's spiting white smoke, just…what?!"
Emilia enveloped all the canons in a thick layer of ice, making it impossible for them be fired.
Julius was thrown off by Emilia's sudden action but was thankful that she avoided a possible confrontation with the beast. Anastasia was also glad that Emilia saved the beast from any unwanted damage, now she wanted to learn as much as she could from it.
Train: 15:40 hrs. 30/08/1538
Beatrice was standing looking through an opened window. A loud "CHUUUU!" could be heard and everyone in the cart was on edge, everyone heard what Subaru had said before. Once the "CHUUUU!" died out, only the sound of the train traveling through the rails could be heard, everyone was dead silent waiting for something. Subaru used Cor Leonis to see if the train had already passed Anastasias army and to confirm that they were out of danger.
15:46 hrs. 30/08/1538
So far nothing had happened. No flash, no explosion and Subaru noticed that they had already passed the hill where Anastasia's army was, leaving them behind.
Subaru: "Seems like Emilia-tan managed to stop them, now we should be ok."
Everyone sighed in relief and the atmosphere sprung back to life.
Sky: 15:48 hrs. 30/08/1538
Roswaal felt how Emilia made the smaller mana pools just disappear and decided that since the train had already passed her without any further incident it would be ok to leave. He kept on flying towards Macragge.
Hill: 15:50 hrs. 30/08/1538
Anastasia was captivated by the mechanical monster she saw. She ordered most of her men to stay put and take note of any other sightings.
Anastasia: "Julius, Emilia, Mimi start packing we will follow the beast to see how and where it lives."
Emilia: "So we are going north?"
Julius: "Anastasia-sama shouldn't we prepare supplies first?"
Anastasia: "Just take enough for a week, Emilia you do have enough food, right?"
Emilia: "Yes I do, but I feel like we are not going to be capable of caching up to it…"
Anastasia: "Yes, but that beast has to rest somewhere and we are going to find where."
Julius: "To speed thing up we will carry all the supplies on the dragons instead of relying on carriages. Do you agree Anastasia-sama?"
Anastasia: "Seems good."
Elior Forest: 16:04 hrs. 30/08/1538
Subaru had finally arrived at Elior Forest after a rather tense journey. Subaru saw and greeted William who guided the group to the makeshift hospital that was housing all the sick. "Sir so far 230 people have been sick, only 30 have recuperated but…4 died." Reported William. Subaru just nodded he was going to ask the healers about the symptoms and what their opinion is.
Rem: "How many people are here?"
William: "About six-hundred people, I think. I can't be too sure my lady."
Once they arrived at the "hospital" they saw row after row of beds with people on them, many moaning in pain but most sleeping. They were met by a healer who immediately asked Subaru if he had brought more healers. "Don't worry, they are on their way and should arrive on the next train." Answered Subaru and then asked how they were treating the disease. Subaru was very curious about the way magic interacted with disease. The healer explained that in cases of disease unrelated to injuries they can make the patient hold out until the disease was gone, depending on the skill of the healer and the disease, the symptoms would be either lessened or outright deleted.
Subaru: "Then why are we losing people?"
Healer: "This disease has proven to be particularly strong, I've never seen anything like it, though the lead healer said he encounter it a few times."
Subaru: "Can I see him?"
Healer: "He is currently occupied fixing the internal organs of a patient…"
Rem: "Subaru can I be of any help here?"
Subaru: "Hmm…come to think of it…can Rem and Beako help out?"
Healer: "I guess so? Are they good healers?"
Subaru: "Beako is the second-best healer I know of. She will keep an eye on Rem."
Rem: "What? Why do I need supervision?"
Beatrice: "To make sure you don't spend too much time on the same patient I suppose."
Healer: "Fine, you two may go ahead."
Rem and Beatrice leave to help tend to the patients.
Ram: "Can we also go help?"
Garfield: "Yeah captain can we also go help? I can also heal people."
Subaru: "What you can use healing mag…? I had forgot you could do it. Go ahead I guess."
Healer: "Yes, go ahead, Ram-sama you can help by giving water to thirsty patients."
Ram and Garfield leave to help tend to the patients.
Subaru: "So now more questions. First of all, what disease is it? Do you have any name for it?"
Healer: "Its currently known as 'the fever' and the lead healer hasn't given any other name."
Subaru: "So other than fever what symptoms do people have?"
Healer: "For starters most have general discomfort and pain, some have coughs and some nose bleeding on about a third of the patients."
Some moaning could be heard in the background.
Healer: "I almost forgot about that. Some very few patients also express pain in the stomach area."
Subaru: "So far we a lot of symptoms, please continue."
Healer: "Patients may also start to briefly lose their minds and some type of rash also appears. Diarrhea and constipation may also appear. Internal bleeding appears on the last and most dangerous part of the disease it's not fatal if treated, yet it may lead to some sort of internal injury in the organs that is sadly…frequently fatal if left for too long. Some patients also get weak and catch a cold that can worsen a lot. I think that all."
Subaru: "Thank you very much, maybe I can figure out a treatment for you guys to implement or better yet figure out ways to stop the disease from spreading."
Subaru finished taking notes about the disease and sat down on a near by table, he wondered if he should cancel further train movement and if Emilia could deceive Anastasia well enough. 'I doubt Ana or her men would fire on the train now…and we can't just cut off Elior Forest under these circumstances…train rides will have to continue even if Ana is to find out…' Subaru rubs his eyes 'Seems like I'm tired…It's just crisis after crisis after all…the inflation, the lack of housing, Ana's expedition and this outbreak of disease…I really hope it's not like this once Emilia is king…who am I trying to fool…Its just uphill from here…' Subaru shook his head "Now it not the time for such worries. Let's see what disease this can be…" He started to go through his notebook and the books he brought searching for anything that coincides with the disease plaguing the town.