Kodori has ARRRR- oh wait... (taps ear bud) Oh! MAKI HAS ARRRRRT!
Yes, I have gotten another artist to do a bit of art for Maki. Don't worry, Kodori in Colour will still happen, but while that happens, Maki gets some love too. It's up on my Ko-fi, viewable by all. :)
On with the show. :)
Chapter 21
I turned my head towards the feeling of magic, then started running forward. Maki, seeing me start moving, called out the first thing that came to mind as I tried to outpace the already at top speed streak of fire.
"BOMB!"
By the time I had spotted the little fireball, it was ahead of me, but I was already expanding my aura ahead of me, a dark shimmer of my power pushing into the bakery as I vaulted over the counter. There were too many people, soft people in the way, and moving at super speeds would likely kill them if I bumped into them.
I wasn't fast enough. I was just fast enough to reach the daughter, turn, and wrap the son up in my tails and do a little hop to get my feet off the floor, before the flour room ignited.
Ears ringing, my body feeling like I'd just been used as a pinball, and the feeling of failure in the back of my throat, I did my best to keep the father alive. Around me, people were panicking, soldiers were getting themselves and others sorted out, and the world around me sounded like it was under water.
The son, who had been wrapped up in my tails was most assuredly dead. I tried to cover him, and had I been able to get that extra step passed him, I could, maybe, have done it properly. But even with all my tails holding him, the shock wave had probably turned his insides to jelly. Even my super toughness didn't stop my eardrums from rupturing.
The daughter, who I held in my arms, was laying off to the side, her leg shattered from a bit of debris I had hardly felt clip past my leg. She was breathing, and in shock, but alive.
The father however, well he had to absorb the shock of me slamming into him. Even with my aura trying to slow things down inside the room to limit the blast, I still crashed into him really hard. And my body, not as wide as his, meant that he caught some debris as well. All I could do to put pressure over the side of his throat, and the stump of his left arm.
A familiar flash of green caught my eye, and I spotted Ryuu kneeling over the Mother. Maki and a soldier were holding her up, but she was already shaking her head as if to clear it, waving Ryuu away towards us. Maki had a few small cuts in her clothing, and a dribble of blood down the side of her face, but looked alert otherwise, while Shino who was coming in my direction, had half a boot print over the midriff of her uniform. The two soldiers who were waiting for pretzels were being tended by other JSDF, and...
Ryuu shook my shoulder, and I blinked, looked at her, and moved my hand away from the Father's throat. She applied a little of her healing, the wound closing. She looked at the stump of his arm, likely sheered off by the band of metal that had been on the storage room door and with a shake of her head, she just closed the wound. Without something like a lizard tonic, or advanced surgery, that arm was gone now.
I think I said something, turning towards the Son, but Ryuu shook her head, then gave me a headpat. A moment later, all the yelling and screaming became actual words, and that underwater feeling I got when I swam eased off. "He's gone." She said to me, "What happened?"
She had to shake my shoulder to get me to focus around the sudden noise, "A fire spell. A little one sent into the flour room. I felt it just before it went past me, but couldn't stop it. Her?" I looked to the daughter, but with how her shin was at a right angle to the rest of her leg...
"She will live I think." Ryuu said, "Can you stand? Help me save others sister."
Itami arrived on scene just as I got to my feet, and within seconds, had barked orders, gotten a quick report, and was re-organizing the cleanup and rescue efforts. Lazy ant or not, he could command like a pro. He was using the local language though, so I could only really watch as JSDF and Citizen alike started to act.
Then he said something I only half understood, "Rory!" something something.
Aisha, who had been with her was holding one end of a canvas sheet and getting wounded sorted nearby, while citizens were gathering around with buckets of water and tossing them over small fires to keep it from spreading. Flour explosions -tended- to be 'one and done' affairs, but any highly flammable things would catch as well. Being a bakery, the most flammable things would already be burning, or be clothes that were dusted in flour already, so it wasn't as bad as you might think. The rest of the building was stone, brick and mortar.
Rory held up a single finger and pointed at the boy, and of all things Itami looked relived. But then I understood why. Of course an apostle of Death, would know who was Dead in her presence. The wounded though...
In the end, the son was the only fatality. Casualties on the other hand were much worse than I suspected. Maki had kicked Shino out of the way, and jumped over the counter to cover the Wife. There was a centre support pillar in the middle of the room that had luckily covered them from most of the blast, but Maki had taken a couple of brick fragments to her head and back. The Wife only suffered a bump on the back of her head (from Maki's forehead) and a bruise or two on her back from being thrown back over the counter. Healed by Ryuu's magic.
The two JSDF who were waiting for pretzels caught a little more of the blast, but suffered only minor lacerations from brick fragments, and first degree burns from the heat wave. Also healed by Ryuu's magic. She refused the handshake, but accepted the bow.
The Husband? Bruised ribs, broken nose, fractured shoulder, left arm missing just above the elbow, slash along the right side of his throat, and mild concussion. Mostly healed by Ryuu, arm unsalvagable.
The daughter had a shattered leg. Aside from shock, no other injuries. We managed to convince the medic on hand not to simply remove her foot and lower calf, since it was still just barely attached. Ryuu was still working on her, and using up more of our potion pills. It looked hopeful, but we'd know for sure in an hour or two.
Brick fragments, glass from one of the windows, and one of the metal bands holding their storage room door together had caused a few other minor injuries, the latter breaking a few ribs on the shop keeper across the street. The fragments however, and this included windows across the street breaking, had cut well over a dozen people.
But the son... I tried to save him. I really did. A half step too slow, and my tails just couldn't stop the shockwave from rattling all of his insides apart. He'd also caught several brick fragments, and been cooked by the explosion itself. I was immune to the heat, and so were my tails, but... it wasn't enough.
I waited with Maki and Aisha in the mess hall of the Italica base. There weren't others here, save for a maid who was wandering about with a cart and water. Almost all the JSDF were out and about cleaning up and the like. I was, to put it bluntly, seething, but I was much better at keeping my calm than before.
The door of the mess opened, and Itami walked in. Beside him was Shino and Akira, but also Pina and Rory.
Before Itami could say anything, Maki said, "Sorry for kicking you, Shino-san."
The tension in the air wobbled a bit as Shino blinked in surprise, then said, "No problem. Hardly felt it and it saved me from getting caught in the blast." She then smiled, "If you want to make it up to me, join the evening sparring when we get back to Alnus."
Maki nodded, "Remember you said that." She replied with my usual line.
Itami 'ahem'ed, "We've gotten the numbers together, and aside from a lot of glass to replace and one rite of passing to do, its well on its way to getting cleaned up."
"How is the family?" I asked, not liking how Itami was so... cold about the damage report, but understanding why.
"The Father regained consciousness a little while ago, and the Mother is fine, if in shock." Akira reported, "The Daughter... Well, I've never seen anything like what Ryuu-san is doing, but as of five minutes ago, it looked like her leg will be fine after a little rehab."
Pina, who had been looking at Maki and I over very carefully, "What about yourselves? You are uninjured? You were right next to the explosion, where you not?"
"More of your adventurer abilities?" Rory asked, a catlike smile on her face.
I leaned forward, spreading my legs a little, putting my elbows on my knees and resting my chin on the backs of my hands. Then, without even looking at Rory, who was quite honestly getting on my nerves, I asked, "Did you find who did it?" It was a pose similar to the Tarot Welf gave to Freya, a back alley interrogation, starting at the kneecaps.
"As soon as we got the situation under control, we sent out scouts to try and find anyone suspicious." Itami said, "But we didn't have much to go on. Aside from the need for some kind of magical focus, like a staff, or wand, or even bracelets, a spell caster can look like anyone else."
There was a moment of silence, then I decided to kick the elephant in the room, "Tell me what this is about." I didn't phrase it like a question either. (For those unfamiliar with Japanese, the word 'desuka' is basically a Question mark. I left that out of my sentence.)
There was a hint of steam from my mouth as the air around me cooled down, but I wasn't sure if anyone noticed. "Pina-san? Do you want to answer this one?" Itami asked.
Most would shy away at being put on the spot in front of me, but Pina nodded, "Mamima! Drinks please!"
From behind the counter of the chow line, there was a "Yes ma'am!"
They picked up chairs from the surrounding tables and we got into a loose circle. Once seated, the rabbit eared maid came out with another cart of wooden mugs and chilled glasses. Wine and water. Thus served, Pina started her explanation.
"Before the JSDF arrived at Alnus, the Empire was the absolute ruler of the continent. We were an expansionist civilization, that consumed or assimilated the other races, until all but the furthest reaches, deepest mountains or darkest forests were under our control." She explained. "When the Gate opened, we had no place to expand to, so we went through with a large force. Capture and conquer. Our greatest mages locked the Gate open, so it wouldn't close on its own, and went through."
"Except they met resistance." Aisha said.
"Yes. After they recovered, Japan, the home of the JSDF, sent a force through. They held off every attempt to retake Alnus from them, and set up their great fortification atop it." Pina continued. I could tell there was a hint of... idolization? In her voice. "This had several large effects on the people, and the Empire."
"Let me guess?" Maki, who totally wasn't guessing, said "The Empire got a bloody nose, and the people stopped thinking they were unbeatable?"
Pina 'urk'ed, but took a sip of wine and nodded, "While the Emperor may rule, not everyone agrees with him. This caused a great schism among the nobles. The JSDF saw this, and started to show that they weren't here to take over, but rather live among us peacefully. It took several great acts of heroism, but the People started to sway to their side."
The Orario side of the table stayed quiet, but we all knew about the Fire Dragon, and the Siege of Italica. If I ever visited Earth again, I would have to give Akeno the biggest hug ever.
"The Emperor at first tried his best to quell the dissent. But then my brother, Zorzal, showed them something they couldn't ignore." Pina said.
"It was during a Ground Shake. Something that had never occurred in this area." Akira said, "Pina insisted we go and meet with her father, to inform him about it, but Zorzal knew as well. Because one of his slaves, a young lady from Japan, told him."
Shino spoke next, "After Itami lost his temper, I beat the stuffing out of the Emperor's guards, and we rescued the girl." Small but fierce, that was Shino.
"Eh well..." Itami scratched his cheek.
"My father, surprised that he was left alive, started to soften his views on the JSDF. But my brother refused. He attempted to assassinate my father with poison, and took control in the confusion. He started to hunt down the ones hoping for Peace with the JSDF." Pina resumed, "Ultimately, he failed, and fled the capitol, north to the colder lands."
"And let me guess..." No not guessing still, "He has agents and spies everywhere, and has been causing trouble for you." I said, "Like the attack this afternoon."
Everyone but Rory looked like I'd just stuck them with an arrow. "Yeah." Itami said, "We were hoping to conclude your business before another incident, but..."
Pina was apparently not in the loop, and asked, "Business? What sort of business do you have here, Kodori?"
Itami gave us a nod, but Aisha was the one who spoke, "We're from the other side of the Gate, but not from this Japan you speak of."
"You're from the world those monsters and insects came from?" Pina asked, "Oh..." She was certainly not just a pretty face. I was rather pleased about that actually.
"Yes, your Gate ended up in our world, and we want it gone." I said, "Lelei and our best magical mind are working on a solution now, else she'd be here." I looked past them all, to the door that was opening. "Sister. How is she?"
Everyone turned to look at Ryuu, who looked exhausted. But she nodded, "It was costly, but she will recover."
Aisha pulled a chair from a nearby table, and Ryuu gracefully sat down. "Speaking of ears." Aisha hmm'ed, "Where are those two? And Hagane?"
"Being our most magically inclined on hand, they're looking for clues. Hagane asked to go with them." Itami said, "Sorry if I didn't clear it with you first, but I'm not in the habit of arguing with large metal cats."
"How could a metal beast help them I wonder?" Rory hmm'ed.
"I built his eyes to be able to see magic, and his body to be all but immune to it. He's also very sharp, heavy, durable, and makes for good conversation." I said, "Let's hope then. In the mean time, now what?" One of my tails went to visit Ryuu, a little more friendly than it should have been, but she didn't shoo it away when I started to feed her a little of my mana to recover what she had used.
"You are that gifted with magic? Is your world filled with such people?" Pina asked.
"From what I've seen, they went one way, with their machines. And we went the other, with our magic. Almost every adventurer has a little magic, but only a few really apply themselves to it for something other than the Dungeon." I explained, then headed off the next question, "It's a place where monsters constantly spawn, and we adventurers fight them to keep them from getting to the surface and wrecking the place."
Pina could only respond with a quiet, 'huh...' But Itami came to the rescue, "Sorry for getting you involved in this, but..."
Akira spoke over Itami, "Our orders are to play by the rules. So even if we know more or less where the problem is coming from, we can't just go there to deal with it." This got him a few looks, "What? Bozes says the same thing."
And yes, all at once, everyone but Rory sighed, "Politics."
"The further north you go, the more support Zorzal has. And while yes, we have the force capable of simply overtaking the nobles supporting him, the cost in lives would be unacceptable." Pina said, "And while we have the citizen's support, a civil war would go against everything we've just achieved."
"If we come up with a lead, we can pursue it, but otherwise we're kind of stuck here." Itami said.
"Ever thought of mercenaries?" Aisha asked. "Small band of capable people who could just... what?" She paused as one of my tails flicked at her.
"One problem at a time." I said, "But yes. This made it personal." I focused on Itami.
He coughed uncomfortably, "Well, I'll pass it by the commander..."
"You do that." I looked into my untouched wine cup, and set it back down, "I'm going to find that blacksmith I heard before this mess happened, and ask if I can hit some metal."
Of course, I had an escort. But that was okay. I mean, sure, I could have just lifted up the blacksmith, set him down, and used his shop. But that would have been rude. Even if they didn't seem to know about high carbon steel (at least, the guy at Alnus seemed to have just been using melted 'pure' metals) I would show respect to a fellow craftsman.
"Thank you for coming along." I said to Shino as we followed the sound of hammering. Even with the mess by the bakery, these were a hardy folk. They just avoided the damaged area, dusted themselves off and went back to work. The mood had fallen through the floor, but bills still needed to get paid.
"I'm sure you've guessed by now that you're supposed to be under escort at almost all times." Shino replied breezily. She was carrying all her gear though, rifle, knives, pistol, flak vest, helmet.
"Wasn't hard to guess. It was like they were doubling the guard every time my party and I moved locations at Alnus."
"Well, from what I hear about that you were carrying Hagane over your shoulders almost the entire time. That puts you in the 'special class' threat range." She glanced up at me, then went back to keeping her eyes alert for anything.
"Dragons, large monsters, magic users?"
"And Apostles. Like Rory and Giselle. Basically anything that we need to take extra special measures to neutralize." She nodded, "You seem... less impressed at the special category. When we told Rory about it, she had a giggle-fit."
"I just find it understandable." I shrugged. "Hm, he has a good setup here. Is that a Dwarf?"
The guy at the forge looked similar to most of the pure-blood dwarves in Orario. Short, about a metre and a third, and almost that wide across the shoulders. He was wearing an apron, but his muscular arms were as big around as a bodybuilder's thigh. Of course, he had a thick beard, bushy eyebrows, and what looked like polished quartz goggles. His huge hands held a heavy iron mallet hammer, and he was smashing a bit of metal flat at good speed.
"Want me to-"
I gave her shoulder a pat, "Wait until the metal is back in the fire." A pause, "And give me one of your knives?"
"Huh? Sure."
While we waited for him to finish smashing metal, I gave the JSDF standard bayonet blade a quick look. Almost 30 cm long overall, one third of that for a hilt, loop on one side of the crosspiece so she could fit it to the rifle and a single sturdy looking flat head screw holding the wood grip to the tang.
"Hey!" Shino complained as I used a fingernail to unscrew the lone screw in the middle of the hilt.
"Hold on to this." I handed her the two wood bits, the slotted pommel that fit into the end of the forward rifle grip, and the crosspiece.
She fumbled for a moment with the collection of bits, and the motion and noise got the Smith's attention. He put the metal back in the furnace (a nice funnel design I might add, capable of good temperatures for sure), and said something in a deep voice.
Shino paused a moment, as if switching gears for speaking another language (more common than you'd think) and replied with something. This made the dwarf look up at me. Shino added a few more words, and the dwarf laughed, then asked something.
"I told him you wanted to hit something to blow off steam. He asked me if you know what you're doing." She translated.
So, unbuckled one of my bracers, then unstrapped my gauntlet and handed it to him, "I made this." I was surprised, but pleased, that he didn't do what almost everyone else had done, and made a 'this is heavy!' motion with their hands. To be fair, he looked like he could have picked up a horse without much effort.
Shino translated for me, and the smith squinted at my work. He tapped the metal with his knuckle, looked at the joints and seams between the orc hide and plates of metal. He handed it back to me and said a couple more words with a nod of approval.
"Go nuts." She said. He then added something else, but Shino replied to him directly. "If you want any of his metal though, you'll have to pay. But I got it covered."
"Thank you." And I went about doing a real tour of his shop before picking up a hammer.
The roles were a little reversed on the way back to the JSDF Building (Italica branch). Shino was far too distracted by her new knife to really be on the lookout for anything.
Now, a bayonet blade is usually shaped like a spear point. The spine of the blade is solid about half way to two thirds of the blade, with the point, and all of the other side being sharpened. It was meant for thrusting, using the rifle it was attached to as the 'shaft' of the weapon. Of course, it could also be used without the rifle, but only crazy people (like Shino) did that.
I'd managed to show the drawf a couple of things he didn't know too. His work was excellent, especially with the limited tech and metal variety, but he'd never heard of twisting the metal before, only folding. They do similar things, in different ways. For a slashing weapon, I would consider folding a better way to work the metal. But for straight blades, twisting was better. It would make the blade less likely to simply sheer off when it took a nick, or met another blade edge-on-edge.
I'd also shown him how to make a hamon line. Hardening a blade was part of the process, but too hard, and you will end up shattering it on the first thing it doesn't cut through (like another blade, bone, dragon scale, a tree stump, etc). But too soft, and it won't hold an edge. By putting a little clay over the edge of the blade and treating it, you leave your blade with a more shock absorbent core (prevents shattering), and a harder edge (for long lasting sharpness).
This left a nice pattern (because being artistic made me feel better) on the edge, and well, Shino was holding it up so the sun glinted off it, and was sparkling at it.
"It's like my own little hand forged tanto!" She turned her sparkle towards me, "And it hardly feels different! AND! It still fits my carbine!"
I couldn't resist, and applied one headpat.
"Grr, I'm not a kid!" She flailed at my hand with her unarmed hand.
"You are shorter than me though, and acting like it's your birthday."
She grumbled at me, but gave her new blade one last look and put it back into its original sheath on her hip. "Oh, looked like they're back. Let me introduce you."
The Humvee were no longer in front of the building and were now properly parked in the converted stables. Now the front of the building was occupied by another half dozen horses, their riders, a pair of elves and one metal nightmare cat.
Most of those riders (all women this time) were tending the horses save one, a long haired blond who was just a tiny bit taller than Pina (making her just a tiny bit shorter than Itami). She was talking to Itami quietly, along with a couple of JSDF and the two elves. Hagane was simply sitting there like a good catto, likely waiting to verbally pounce on someone when they said something silly.
Itami paused what he was saying, looking over the armoured blond's shoulder, "Ah you're back. Feeling better?"
I nodded, then gave Shino a pat on the back, "And even better knowing my work is appreciated."
Shino pulled her new weapon from her hip sheath, "She made me a new blade!"
Bozes, the two elves, Itami and almost every nearby JSDF paused what they were doing to look Shino's way. She must have a reputation of some kind to break a soldier's professionalism like that.
I found out what kind as soon as someone asked, "How long do you think she'll take to break this one?"
"Next time she starts on the posts?"
"First time she spars with the militia, I think."
There were a few more, but Shino snapped at them, "Come ON guys! I'm not that bad!"
Itami couldn't stop himself from saying, "Your equipment replacements were the highest in the entire battalion." He was leaning in to get a really good look at the blade though, "Hey... You used clay on that? And this pattern I see..."
Since I didn't have any hydrochloric acid I couldn't etch the blade to bring out the twisted pattern, but since this was a military knife, I didn't actually polish it, leaving it blackened everywhere but the edge. "I'm a fair hand with metal." I said, "I'd trust that to hold out in the dungeon, but not very far. The metals around here are kind of basic. But that's easily better than that mass produced rubbish you all have."
"Hey!" Someone said, mock offended, "This is modern weaponry. It might not be hand crafted, but it's made to hold up to anything."
I turned towards the voice, "Draw your blade? You to Shino?"
He complied, and Shino held his knife side by side with his. I gave each a tap with the tip of my metal clad finger, the blade I'd just made making a nice 'ting' noise, while the 'standard issue' made a boring 'tunk' noise. "It even sounds nice!" Shino started to sparkle again.
"Yeah, so?"
"The uneven noise you hear are flaws in the blade. That metal that was made from was probably just a single length of hardened steel that was stamped into that shape, then sharpened. No accounting for possible flaws in tempering, no care given to uneven sharpening..." I shook my head, "It's no wonder she kept breaking the things."
"See! I kept telling you we needed better knives!" Shino grumbled.
"Huh." He put his blade away, "Maybe I'll commission a better blade then..."
"Give it a little while. The dwarven smith I showed will need a little time to perfect the technique himself." I nodded, "And put that away you." I nudged Shino, then looked at Itami. "Suppose you can introduce us?"
He blinked, then facepalmed, "Right, sorry. This is Bozes Co Palesti-Tomita."
I gave him a five degree head tilt.
"Ah, well..." He stammered.
"My father was gracious enough to allow me to keep my family name, but in honour of my husband, I kept his name as well. It is tradition where they are from." Bozes said for herself, standing straight and tapping her right hand to her chest in a salute.
"And this is Kodori, one of our guests who's helped us clean up the giant bug problem." Itami continued.
I gave Bozes a fist-in-palm bow, "Where we are from, it is our job to hunt monsters, big and small." We both relaxed our postures, and I looked to Hagane, "How did it go?"
"We couldn't find any real traces to follow. But we were not the only team."
"Yes, we still have a couple of teams looking for suspicious people, but..." Itami sighed, "We aren't very hopeful."
"I am sorry you had to be involved in such a thing, Kodori." Bozes said, "Lady Pina told me about it, but had forgotten to apologize."
"Hey Itami!" Someone called from the door of the building, "Commander is on the horn!"
"On my way!" Itami called back. Then to us he said, "Keep yourselves entertained for a few minutes? I have to find out what our orders are."
Most of the other JSDF hurried into the building, while Bozes, Shino, Hagane and myself trailed behind a little. "Soooooo... you married one of them?" I asked.
Bozes blushed just a tiny bit, "Yes... I couldn't help myself when I realized what I was feeling. He saved my life at the risk of his own, and he hadn't even considered failure." She smiled, her right hand going to her left. Her hands were like mine, armoured, but it was similar to what I did when I touched my own wedding ring.
"He probably considered it, but duty can override common sense." Hagane said.
"He's the first one to break the rule we have." Shino said conspiratorially, "And here I am, unable to find a guy, even in an entirely different world." She pouted, "Even that geek Takao has a girlfriend now..."
So I gave her the same advice I gave Chloe, "Have you thought about not beating them up when they ask you out?"
Itami came up to the (hehe) 'pink ponk' table while one of the JSDF was trying to teach Ryuu how to play. No surprise she picked it up quickly, but it had attracted a little crowd too. Thanks to the incident earlier, there was no cheering, but I could tell it brought on a little stress relief.
"Okay, I've got-"
"Reporting!" Itami was interrupted by someone before he could get far. Of course, another JSDF, but his uniform and equipment was a bit different from the 'knife/rifle/handgun'. Lighter green uniform too, like the paint from the Humvee, but still camo.
The entire room looked at the newcomer, and Itami motioned for him to go ahead. Instead of saying it out loud though, the new guy took a half step forward and mumbled something in Itami's ear. Itami looked like someone had just told him his dog died, and he said, "Forward that to command."
"Sir!" And he was off towards the command room (or what ever it was called).
Itami sighed, "Right... We-" He looked at me, "Are to return to base. We'll have more to do there, and Lelei reported things look hopeful, but will take time."
I nodded along with the rest of the Orario team. (Except Shinkage, he was sitting between Tuka and Yao getting headpats.) "Sounds good. And this... problem?" I asked, making a wide gesture with one hand.
"Part of the 'more to do' I suspect." Itami sighed, "His orders however didn't say 'when' just 'as soon as convenient'. So unless you wanted to spend the night here, we could leave now."
I looked to Ryuu, then Aisha, then Maki. They all gave me varying levels of 'shrug'. Hagane however, said, "The fewer entanglements the better." His sudden speech shocked the two elves, and they quickly stopped patting his head. "But depending on how long this takes, we may have some spare time."
I considered, "True. Let's go now though."
It was late in the day already, and by the time the JSDF had gotten things squared away, sorted, filed and loaded up, the sun was going down. This however, was the idea. Of course, Rory had to ruin my moment of mysterious Kitsune stuff. It was full dark by the time we were within sight of the bright lights of Fort Alnus, but we were still a good way off from it.
"Eager for nightfall?" She asked me as I looked back and forth between the nearest left and right windows. "Hoping your enemy reveals themselves?"
Itami answered before I could, "Well, we are a lone vehicle, in the dark, with the lights on. Good to know I'm not the only one thinking that."
I had to respect that. I mean, sure, I'd had Akeno read me his file, (the non-classified stuff at least), and he had gone through the harshest training the JSDF had. From his attitude, I'd guess it was just his superiors trying to motivate him, but again from his attitude, I'd say they failed. But that isn't to say the training didn't stick. If the enemy did strike, well, it was literally the most dangerous hornet's nest they could kick in the entire world.
"Kodori? How are your eyes in the dark? I've seen them get a little reflective in dim lighting, but..."
"I have a little trouble seeing some reds properly, but I can see in almost total darkness." I replied. "Maki is almost the same, Ryuu not so much, and Aisha is bright enough on her own, but only a little better than a normal human." Aisha chuckled, then captured one of my tails to play with.
"She had trouble keeping her eyebrows early on when she was learning to work metal." Ryuu said, exercising her right to tease the little sister.
"And Hagane?" Yao asked, since Tuka was now giggling.
"Can see in absolute darkness." Even magical darkness, but not in an anti-magic zone. But I didn't add that.
"Right. Well, if they wanted to try for us, some time in the next few minutes would be my guess." Itami said, taking one hand off the wheel and giving various bits of himself a pat, just like we adventurers do when checking weapon and potion placement. Tuka and Yao traded seats, but only so no one was sitting in them for a moment so they could get their bows out from the compartment under them.
But, the minutes stretched out, turned to five, ten, a half hour, until finally, forty five minutes later, we were a stone's throw from the little town around Alnus. "Seems you have a bigger problem than I thought." I said.
"Hmm?" Itami glanced over his shoulder, "What's that?"
"Your enemy is professional. An amateur would strike again, riding off the high of success." Ryuu replied.
"This was more a one, done, pull out." Aisha said, giving me a discreet eyebrow waggle. The joke wasn't lost on Maki though, and Ryuu facepalmed. Rory started giggling too.
"Suppose I'm not professional?" I shrugged, amused at how the dark skinned Yao could blush so brightly. "Itami? What did that guy say?"
"Our guy from the engineer corp? Oh..." I could see him consider telling me when I watched his face in the rear view mirror, "That explosion was rigged. The flour would have gone up for sure, but there was something else in there too. It wasn't the only place either."
I frowned, not just at the news, but at the implication. "What did they use?"
"A..." He paused, though it looked like it was more to sort his thoughts than hide them. "A powder that is many more times explosive than just flour or sawdust."
"So they were just waiting for the right time to set it off. When a bunch of you JSDF types were in a huddle." Aisha said, "Yup, you're in trouble. They're professionals."
"We've only gotten here kind of recently, and we're under orders to walk the straight and narrow. So our connections to any underground, or hidden networks, or what ever you call it, is no where near what they have." Itami admitted.
"It's playing by the rules that won you so much favour." Yao said.
"He does break the rules when he needs to." Rory added, leaning wayyyyyy over from the passenger seat and just plunking her head down on his thigh. We had to suffer a moment of shaky driving and a little hit of acceleration, but Itami recovered.
"I wonder how long it would take to just... run to where ever this Zorzal guy is and just toss him off a cliff or something." Aisha mused, "I mean... couldn't be too hard?"
"Not our problem yet." I said, even though I agreed.
"I wonder if you could." Rory said from Itami's lap.
"No picking fights." Ryuu said to me in Kione before I could reply to Rory.
"Yes sister." I sighed.
"Looks like we're safe." Itami said, "I hope they left some hot water for us."
NOTES!
I know I know, a little shorter, but I didn't want to leave it mid scene, or on another cliff hanger, or whatever. If you want to blame something, blame my D20 for a bad roll on the encounter chart.
See you in five days for more!
Daeore on Ko-fi and Inkitt.