Chapter 58
"You have our attention." Mikoto said firmly, giving Maki and Ryuu 'the floor' and telling the rest of us to hold off on questions until told otherwise.
"Maki used herself as bait, and sprung a trap in the slums of Sadera." Ryuu said, the smallest speck of accusation in her tone.
"I spent most of the previous day searching for the most likely spot for a secret base, and walked into it." Maki defended herself.
"Dragging almost every thug in the slums with you." Ryuu added.
All the while Shinkage was giving me a look that said quite clearly, 'this is your fault'. I could only shrug at the accusation, since it probably was.
"So, I end up 'falling into the trap' and meeting the crime boss. I figured it was even odds that I'd find someone useful, or someone I could just turn into the local authorities because I just happened to catch them."
There was nothing in our 'contract' that said we couldn't be helpful, so yeah, I couldn't fault that.
"Instead, the first thing that happens as I enter the only fully intact stone house in the entire slums to hide from the pack of thugs who were chasing me... Is the guy inside points a gun at me." Maki continued, "But by that point, I was already signalling for Ryuu to show up."
"She is lucky I ate while I ran there." Ryuu said.
"So after Ryuu drops through the roof, the guy fires twice, and I disarm him."
"I took a... round?" A pause, probably getting a nod from Maki, "But Fenrir's hide stopped it."
"So, he's surprised Ryuu didn't die from it, or even get hurt at all. But the weird thing, is was he was expecting that. Or rather, he was ready for an Apostle to show up." Maki paused for breath, "I asked him where he got the handgun, but he went all defiant and said, 'for the resistance'."
"He had a plan in place to drop the entire stone house on himself, and us, while the people outside went to fetch oil." Ryuu added.
"So, while the people outside pulled the supports out from under the walls, Ryuu tossed me through the roof, I used one of the thunderballs, and Ryuu ran through a wall with our new friend." Maki went on, "We ran out of the city, and took cover in a grain field someplace between the bridge across from Italica and the capital."
"Some of the things we found on him were quite interesting. And after waking him up and convincing him to talk, it seems we have a small... issue." Ryuu said.
"I'm pretty sure we have a third party." Maki said, "He told us the handgun is from a group of... freelance researchers. Remember Rondel? How we were told that the mages stayed out of politics? Well not everyone can be a mage, but that doesn't stop them from being a scientist."
Shinkage and I stayed silent, but we did nod to each other. Perfectly fair.
"Of course, not all research gets funding, and we all heard the story of Lelei's master exam. It seems, that some of these eggheads have gone underground and are working on things out of sight." Maki paused, "For example, he was told to save the brass, because he could get them refilled."
Mikoto spoke up, "Is that possible?"
I broke my silence, "Sure. Ask a JSDF about the 'anatomy of a bullet' and they'd probably tell you. But... It sounds like these are the people who made those black powder bombs."
"That was our theory too." Ryuu said.
"Yeah, it makes sense. But, I don't think they're working with the empire." Maki said, "When we searched the guy, we found a weird coin in his shoe. Obvious secret society stuff here. It was an altered Imperial gold coin, with the face of the Emperor scratched out on one side, and the crown hammered flat and replaced with a teardrop on the other."
The symbolism was quite obvious. They hated the empire, and were tired of bleeding for it.
"You mentioned paper." Mikoto said after that sunk in.
"Ironically, it was a shopping list." Maki said with a grim chuckle. "You'd know this one Sensei. Charcoal, saltpeter and sulphur."
My cat tail was unable to boff the back of my head like my usual tails could, but it was trying! "Yeah. That's it right there."
"Are they related to the ones we're hunting?" Mikoto asked.
"No." Ryuu said, "The common connection is this underground alchemist, but this 'anti Apostle' movement is not directly involved with our quarry."
"Are you sure he was being honest?" Mikoto asked.
"We are fairly certain." Ryuu said, "Once he saw it was in his best interest to be honest..."
"You didn't..." Mikoto sounded horrified.
"We told him we would pay him, or, leave him buried up to his chin in the field with a bunch of food on his head." Maki said, "I'm out of money by the way."
I didn't broadcast it, but I did laugh. "She really is your little sister." Shinkage sighed, "Better than torture at least."
"Once we showed him that we bleed like anyone else who isn't an Apostle, he was a little more trusting. Even eager to help." Ryuu said, "He wouldn't give us any information past that though."
"He also said he liked the JSDF, though, that was just his personal opinion. The Empire getting its collective teeth kicked in by the JSDF made them very popular with a lot of people."
"A good find nonetheless." Mikoto said firmly. "We are not here to help the Apostles, but the JSDF to keep the peace. Should I advise them of this?"
"Yes. But not yet. Wait until our caravan has returned. This 'resistance' sounds like it's been waiting for something like this for a long time, and well, it's not our fault the citizens hate the Apostles." I paused and looked to Shinkage.
"I am sure the JSDF will want to know about an underground faction that is very close, or already at the basic firearm level. If they were to make peaceful contact they may gather more goodwill. If not, they they would clash, and it would be bloody." Shinkage said with a frown, taking hold of my tail and letting it curl around her fingers.
"Understood. I will tell them as such tomorrow after our caravan returns." Mikoto said. "Kaede, are you still there?"
Nothing.
"I will catch her up when she checks in next. I have my own report." Mikoto said, "I took a second look at the house across from the bakery, and it seems there was more than one person involved in the attack. One seemed to be a beast-folk, a cat-folk or volralden. The room the JSDF searched was a decoy, and the mage fired from the roof. From there it appears they split up, with the mage running the rooftops, and the other losing themselves in the streets."
"Chase two foxes, catch nothing." I smirked, "Interesting find though."
"I of course informed the JSDF, and with the help of their local 'assets', sniffed out the location of your secret house in the slums. The other trail led towards the bluffs behind the town, but the trail was far too told by then."
"They found one but not the other?" Maki asked.
"The beast-folk did not brush enough, and left a lot of shed fur behind." Mikoto said.
I could almost feel her trying to look in my direction from Italica, to get me to brush my tails more.
"Speaking of, Shinkage and I are following very sparse clues that people have walked this way before. Looks like a smugglers trail and it's leading towards the abandoned mining town north of Italica." I said, trying to shake off that imagined stare. "But aside from that, we've had a boring day."
"The fish are very tasty." Shinkage added.
Mikoto sighed, "Be safe everyone." Mikoto added, "Maki-san, Ryuu-san?"
"We're going to wander the slums just a little more tomorrow. If we come up with nothing we'll join at the mining town." Maki said.
"Yes." Ryuu agreed.
"Very well. Signing off."
Call over, Shinkage and I shared a look.
"Go now, or wait until morning?" I asked.
"So that's why you let me nap. So you could skip sleep and keep going."
"More or less." I admitted, "We can both see in the dark so..."
"You do know I will tell Haruhime you are skipping sleep."
"I look forward to being grounded." I smiled.
"Careful, she might think up something new."
"That's okay too."
"Let's go then." Shinkage sighed.
It was late. Of course, aside from the moon overhead, we didn't know how late, but all the same... A few more hours of walking later, and the ground started to change a little. The colour of the stone started to shift, from a dull white, to a light red, then red and black... We were getting closer to the mountains near Rondel I was sure.
Another half hour of that, and I could smell... something. Ah, right. 'Civilization without soap'. Well not exactly. But the scents of manure and the like were wafting over us every time the wind shifted slightly, and if I remembered the map correctly, there wasn't supposed to be anything here. However, unless there was a land dragon nest just over the next ridge or two...
"Making saltpeter from manure." Shinkage said what I was thinking. "I remember, long ago, when the human race was still playing in their own crap."
"Probably to keep you from wanting to eat them." I replied.
"Who knows? I still don't understand humans most of the time." She shrugged, "Plan?"
"Find a nice hidden spot and watch. For all we know, that smell might just be an attempt to grow stuff on rocky soil." I shrugged. "And we don't actually want them. We want the people buying the powder and using it on the JSDF."
"I will argue that allowing gunpowder into the hands of an otherwise uneducated world is..."
"True. I mean, we can always come back and light a match someplace nearby. Or tell Rory. Or any number of things. But first I'm aiming to take down the people who thought involving civilians was a good idea." I sighed, "And honestly, something like this was bound to happen eventually."
"True. Mortals have a history of rising up and punishing the Gods. Eventually." She chuckled darkly.
(Kaede)
Part way through the little crystal meeting, Kaede's 'guest' showed up. He was not alone either. This was a little awkward, since she wanted to listen in, but she had done as Kodori did, and put the crystal in her mouth and simply kept quiet. Of course, when she saw the second person was a beast-folk, maybe a chienthrope, she tapped the crystal to leave the call. Something about her though seemed a bit odd. It wasn't the usual 'slightly more feral' look of all the beast-folk here on this side of the Gate.
No, this beast-folk lady was... twitchy. Like she was waiting, and ready, for something to jump out at her. Another thing that was kind of odd, was that she had no tail. Nice pointed ears, not quite like the Renard of the Manor, but no tail.
Kaede took a moment rotate her head around a little, letting her ears try and catch any conversation between them, or more importantly, if they were the only two around. Hearing nothing but the various nighttime insects and a couple things that hunted them, she gave herself one last equipment check, then hopped down from the tree she was camping in.
As they got within a couple of paces, "I didn't expect anyone else." Kaede said, making a point to eye up the dog(?)-folk. She had a lanky wiry build short fur over her arms and legs (like all the native beast-folk did) and had the hilt of a weapon peeking out behind her hip.
The reply was totally unexpected. Instead of riling, making excuses or calling her out, the tailless lady stepped forward and put one hand over Keade's right breast, and the other between her legs.
Far more forward than anyone in Orario had ever been with her, Kaede backed up a half step. The Beast-folk laughed, "Your ears are shaped like one of their weak males, but you're a woman no doubt." She looked to the Orc(?), "Another horny bunny? Really? Why are we bothering?"
"I think she shows promise." He grunted, "And if you've forgotten, I'm far more of a deviant than her."
Kaede had shaken off her surprise fast enough, but had to stop herself from asking about that last line. Instead she asked, "That's not the kind of entertainment I'm looking for."
"Sure sure."
"Ignore my maimed friend here." The Orc(?) said, ignoring the dagger filled glare from the other woman, "Despite her coarse greeting, she is a worthy ally for our cause."
"Cause?" Kaede asked.
"As you should know, the Empire is divided. Their fighting with these JSDF, green men, have weakened them. Now there is a civil war." The Orc explained.
"That thing with that prince guy poisoning his old man? Yeah, I heard about that." Kaede kept the names out, since she knew, but didn't want to seem 'educated' about the whole affair.
"Calling it a 'war' is a joke!" The lady sneered, "Zorzal is just hiding his head in his den, while the world moves on without him."
"Heard something about that too. But... don't the green men support the Emperor?" Kaede asked, "I walked through one of those... mooter fields?" She shivered.
"Yes, the mortar fields were quite the demonstration of the JSDF's power. But they are cut off from supply, and we know more about their weapons now. They will lose a war of attrition." The Orc said with a smile, showing off ugly rounded teeth. "Meanwhile... well, let's call it 'home advantage'."
"So you plan on fighting them?" Kaede asked.
"Cold feet? Your little tail shivering?" The woman laughed.
"Be at ease. We aren't fighting them directly. There is no point. For now, we are simply eroding their support. Their weapons are great, but they are still only human. They bleed like anyone else." The Orc laughed, "And they are too caught up on those silly games the nobles play to simply wipe us out. So long as we do not get caught, we can almost act freely."
"Haha yeah! Every time they start to relax... CHOMP! We take another bite out of them." The lady laughed, her teeth (triangle pointed) grinning viciously.
"What happens when the Green Men are gone then? I mean, they've been trying to clean the place up a bit... a little late, but..."
"Aww, sad nearly your entire race got reduced to either sex toys or sex workers?" The woman laughed, her eyes clearly watching Kaede's hands, "Ooooo not even mad?"
Kaede, instead of riling like she knew the other woman wanted, she instead went for a silent insult. Turning to face the Orc directly (who looked like he wanted to sigh like Shinkage when someone interrupted reading time) and ignoring the dog eared woman, Kaede asked, "So, you're working with that wayward prince guy, to take out the rest of the Empire, and drive out the JSDF?"
As crude as the woman was, she did not miss the insult, but the Orc held up a hand, the back of his thick knuckles quietly 'paff'ing against the woman's shoulder before she could step forward. "Humans have ruined everything." He said, "It's a shame you can't read, or you might know that." He sighed, "Once they established their little kingdom, they simply weren't satisfied with it. They continued to grow, expand, consume... With what we've gained from a moment of carelessness from the JSDF, we have a way to tear it all down."
He spoke with not only conviction, but hope. This wasn't a fanatic, but a revolutionary.
He was also someone who obviously knew what was going on too.
"I think that sounds like the entertainment I want." Kaede said with a smile.
"We're really going to take this bitch in heat with us?" The woman spoke up, "Why? She's a runt!"
The challenge was clear, and Kaede chose that moment to 'have enough' of her. With a little half step in, Kaede took hold of the woman's belt, kicked out her left ankle, put her other hand on her shoulder, and tossed her into the nearest bush.
The Orc(?) sighed, "Seems strong enough to me." He shrugged, "Come, we don't have long."
Kaede started to follow him, ignoring the other woman as she untangled herself from the shrubbery, "Long? Long for what?"
She felt a sudden rumble under her feet, and a few seconds later a sound like thunder rippled through the air. "Before yet another iron mine collapses." He said without blinking. "Where did you learn that?"
"Told you. That wasn't the kind of entertainment I was looking for. But that doesn't mean I haven't looked before."
"Ah. I hope you can see well in the dark. We have some ground to cover before their weak human eyes gain the benefit of sunlight." And with that, his wide shouldered bulk started to jog, then trundle, his squat broad shouldered body dropping to all fours to run almost like a boar.
"I'm going to kill you, you know." The woman said as she caught up and then matched pace with Kaede.
"Keep thinking that. Let it keep you warm when you're in bed alone." Kaede smiled, "And when you get bored of that, I'll be glad to toss you around some more."
"Ladies, save your breath for running."
It was indeed a long run. And while Kaede knew, more or less, where they started, she had no idea where they were going. With only the mountain range as a landmark, the only thing she knew was they were running away from everyone else. At one point the ground transitioned from the scrubby forest to flat plains and they went over a well travelled dirt road, but they didn't stay on it long.
What might have been an hour later, with only a few stops for breath and one stop to avoid a lone knight on horseback, they finally came to a stop at the shore of a river. While Kaede pretended to catch her breath along with the other two, the Orc(?) was sniffing the air and looking for something among the smooth white rocks along the shore of the river. Like most long standing rivers, this one had eroded the shoreline until it had hit bedrock on either side, leaving many small natural crevasses and stony nooks. And so long as you weren't there after a rainfall you could certainly take shelter in one of them.
"Here." The Orc(?) said after a few minutes. "We have more work to do it seems."
Keeping well apart like a pair of school kids with detention, they followed him just a little further along the shore. Kaede noted that some of the smooth white stones, eroded by the water, had been turned over. It was subtle, but the smooth white tops of some were covered in sand and looked a little unsettled in their resting places. If it was some sort of message, she had no clue what it might mean. But, it would be washed away with the next rainfall or high tide.
"One of you catch breakfast." He said, "The other come help me move these."
'These' referred to some barrels that seemed to have 'washed up' on shore. But they were far too new looking to have been here long. They were sealed too, the barrel staves looking to have been carefully filled in with tar or something similar to keep the water out. There were a dozen of them too, and they were not small.
"What are those doing there?" Kaede asked, "Strange place to find..."
"You will see." The Orc(?) said, "We simply have to get them off the rocks and up the bank before sunrise."
"You're strong enough." The other beast-folk sneered, "So you get to lift them. I'll catch something to eat." And with that, she jumped up the short rocky cliff and dove into the bushes.
"You'll have to forgive her. She lost her tail to a Warrior Bunny and has a bit of a grudge." He wrapped his arms around one of the barrels and with a grunt lifted it off the ground. "They're heavy, so please be careful."
Instead of showing off her Adventurer strength and just putting one of the barrels over her shoulder, she tilted it to about 45 degrees and rolled it along its bottom edge, carefully. "She doesn't scare me." Kaede said, "So, aside from finding a dozen barrels of... something, and getting them onto the shore..."
"You would think you are part cat-folk." He snort-laughed. "Those were left there for me. And just before the sun rises, someone will come for them. Everything must work together, yet to stay ahead of our enemy, we must remain unseen."
Kaede kicked that around in her head for a moment, but couldn't really puzzle out the words. She would certainly remember them though. "Well, suppose I'll just be a good minion and move stuff around. She better bring back something good to eat... Speaking of, you are going to pay me, right?"
"One cannot eat patriotism." He snorted, "Once these are delivered, and I receive payment for them, you'll get your fair share."
Of course, when the dog-folk returned, she had a pair of rabbit-like critters in her hand. Instead of riling however at the joke of 'eating a relative', Kaede simply took out a bit of flint and started a fire. "If it took you that long to hunt them, you're really out of your league with me." And while the tailless woman growled at her, Kaede smiled and added, "Think you'll be okay to skin them? Or did you need help with that too?"
They ate in silence, the barrels simply sitting on the shore as if they'd grown there, while they hid themselves and the little cooking fire in one of the eroded nooks by the shore.
Well, mostly silence. The dog-folk used her sharp triangle pointed teeth to crunch through the rabbit bones. After the small meal, the Orc(?) doused the fire, then made sure to throw everything into the river to hide as much as he could of their passing.
"Try not to kill each other while we wait." He said once he'd returned from spreading the ashes, "Get some sleep if you can. We have a little time before our ride gets here."
And with that, he simply flopped backwards and closed his eyes.
"I'm going to wash up a little first." Kaede said, standing and heading downstream a little.
She didn't know any of the local euphemisms for 'going to the bathroom' for this world, and she hadn't actually heard 'watering the flowers' before. But that's what she was doing.
Lacking anything to wipe with, and not trusting the local leaves, she simply started her business in the water. While her 'Amazon Armour' was suitably stylish, it had a little of the 'thoughtful design' expected from the Alliance Armourer. So instead of some complicated lacing or the need to take the entire outfit off, she really just had to loosen her belt a little and tug the flap of leather covering her away.
Except, just as she was squatting in the water and about to relax, she felt intense bloodlust at her back. "Really?" She mumbled to herself, the hand behind her back, holding the flap of leather up and out of the water taking hold of one of her kukri, "You already gave me a feel, now you want to peek?" She called over her shoulder.
She hardly knew the Orc(?) but he seemed very, no, exceptionally job focused. So it was no surprise when she heard, "DIE RODENT!" from behind her.
Kind of irritated at this point, and still needing to pee, Kaede did a jump forward and spun on one foot while she drew one of her blades. Surprising her, the beast-folk lady didn't try to strike her, but instead slammed into the just over knee high water as hard as she could, creating a huge spray of water and sound.
Blinded by water, sensitive ears deafened by sound, Kaede played it safe. Drawing her second weapon she jumped backwards again, raising her inwardly curved blades and angling to cover her gut and throat.
There was a clash of steel and a spark from her lower blade. "Aww, I wanted to gut you, to watch you bleed to death even as you kept fighting!"
Through water drenched vision and the white noise of the splash, Kaede focused on the voice, but even as she turned another wave of water was kicked into her face, followed by a solid 'THUNK' as a river stone bounced off her shoulder. The stone didn't really hurt, but her dungeon instincts were in control. Keade turned with the impact, then lashed out with her nearest arm while keeping her other up to cover her vitals.
This time it was her blade that met another, and a pleased sounding shout of, "Yes! Struggle! Kick and claw until you die!"
It was around here that Kaede had had quite enough. With a sudden bend, she crouched down, her chin touching the water. Quickly, she scrubbed one forearm across her face to clear the water, and the other over her head to get her ears out of the way. Her guess was right, and her blade 'tink'ed as her opponent blade went for her ears.
Eyes no longer clouded by water, she spotted the dog-woman just before she retreated behind another wave of water. But a single clear target was all Kaede needed, and like the Warrior bunny she was, her legs uncoiled and propelled her towards the refracted shape behind the wave. One arm went up to deflect the glint of metal in her foe's hand, and her own fist reared back to deliver a modified 'Kodori special' right to the dog-folk's chin.
She misjudged her punch, but there was still enough force to snap her head back and send her onto her ass into the water even as her other blade turned aside the dog-folk's own.
"It's very hard to nap when there is so much fighting going on." The Orc(?)'s voice cut through the sudden halt to the fighting.
Kaede watched as the dog-folk rubbed her chin and backed up, her feet pushing her out of knife range before she spun on one heel and got up to her feet.
"She started it." Kaede said, adjusting her footing just a little so she wasn't showing her still uncovered bits to the Orc(?).
"I'm going to Finish it too!" Her opponent growled, not giving any time for Kaede to try and talk her down. With a similar full powered lunge, the tailless woman led with her blade, pointed like a spear towards Kaede's heart.
So, like she would in any spar at home, she slipped the lunge and smashed one of her blades down on her opponent's weapon to knock it out of her hand. To everyone but Kodori or Asuka, this would be the end of a match.
But instead of stopping, her opponent twisted in mid air, splashed down into the water on all fours facing Kaede, and lunged again. Clawed fingers arced towards the Hume-bunny's throat. There was no reason, no sense, no restraint in her opponent.
So Kaede stepped into the lunge, getting under the claws of the mad woman, and drove one of her blades through her chest. Like everyone else in the manor, Kaede hunted animals.
But she killed monsters.
Even impaled on her blade, the woman kicked and screamed for a moment longer, the weight of her body pushing Kaede under the water for a moment, turning the feral noise of her opponent into a bloody gurgle that was ultimately, literally, drowned out by the gentle noise of the river.
As Kaede stood up from the water, the body of her opponent slipping off her blade, the Orc(?) sighed like an old man who just watched his children do something really stupid after telling them not to. "Clean yourself up, and cover yourself. We now have even more work to do without her." He started to turn, then said over his shoulder, "Cover her with rocks to keep her from floating away. We cannot afford to draw attention to this place."
Even at sixteen, Kaede was a veteran monster hunter. Only the vain or truly novice adventurers counted their kills in the dungeon, so all she could say was 'she kept up with the rest of the rookie team' when it came to killing monsters.
And while she trained, a LOT with everyone at the manor, this was the first time she'd killed anything with a noticeable IQ.
Even if that Orc(?) was ultimately her enemy, he seemed to already have Kaede figured out. The task of weighing the woman down with rocks for the fish and scavengers to eat gave Kaede something else to think on while she took in exactly what she'd just done.
Somewhere between the end of the fight and her finding the Orc(?) again after the burial, a wagon had arrived. Pulled by two mules, there was a Volralden sitting in the driver's seat. He stopped talking as soon as Kaede had finished the shallow climb from the riverbank.
"New help?" He grunted, his eyes squinting at her suspiciously, "Looks like a runt."
"She just killed the skin-wearer." The Orc(?) said without feeling.
"Crazy bitch had it coming. But she killed her?"
"She's young, but has the right attitude for the cause." The Orc(?) shrugged. Then, as if he didn't know she was able to hear them, he turned, "Was that the sort of entertainment you wanted?"
"You don't care?" Kaede countered, feeling a little unsteady still.
"You gave her enough warning." He shrugged, "I just care about the job at hand. Are you still with us?"
"Was that your first kill then?" The Volralden asked, motioning with not just his snout, but an arm that ended in a stump, just behind the wrist. "Get used to it, or you'll never see things to the end."
"Has your fur gotten between your ears?" Kaede asked, "I just killed the last one to taunt me like that."
"oooo scary." The much bigger wolf-man laughed, "Settle down, I've no wish to fight another Warrior Bunny berserker." He waved his stump, "And like our friend here said, we have work to do."
He stood up and hopped into the mostly empty wagon bed. In it were four barrels already, but the ones Kaede and the Orc(?) had gotten up here were all still unloaded. "Decoys?"
"Smart. Yes." The Orc said, grunting as he wrapped his arms around a barrel and waddled over to the back of the wagon, "Two in front, two in back, and all covered by a sheet. Most Imperial patrols never look past the surface."
Again, Kaede was rolling the barrels along the bottom edge, while the Orc lifted them up. The newest of their group used his greater height to wiggle them into place. "Huh, what's in those then?"
"Wine." The Volralden grunted, "Reward enough for our compatriots."
"And these?" She gave one of the barrels a tap.
"Sulphur." The Orc(?) said, "Now lets hurry, we'll have to work just a little harder now, but we have a schedule to keep."
(Kodori)
Shinkage and I took turns watching from a little burrow I'd made under a gnarly tree that had somehow managed to grow despite there being basically no soil for it. It wasn't a big burrow, but with a little sweeping and mana cloth to keep the remnants of what ever was living here before we'd arrived off of us, we simply set up a little blind and watched in shifts.
What were we watching? A small, 'revitalized' mining town. Maki had been spot on with her prediction. There were a lot of little shelters here and there all over the quarried out basin that looked like they'd gone through a hasty restoration or been built recently out of leftover stone from the mines that used to be here.
To our right, still, was the river that ran behind Italica. But there was also a mostly collapsed bridge. There were a few supports still there. Stout stone pillars that hardly looked touched by the reasonably rapid river. But again, Maki was on the money, and there were several long ropes stretched between the pillars. One could easily use those to get goods across in secret. Though, the road on the other side looked long abandoned to the elements.
As for the town. Well, we were only half right about the smell. There was a pretty large field of dark brown crusty looking, well, crap. And yes, some of it looked like it had been tilled. Now, I was no farmer, but I wouldn't have wanted anything grown from that. Of course, you didn't just need manure. You needed to add wood ash, water, maybe some way to aerate it like straw or other fibrous plant stalk, and urine.
Once the water wicks away, what you want settles to the top. Nasty work, but it did occur in nature in places like bat filled caves with limestone floors.
Still smelled horrible.
I woke up, not to Shinkage poking me, but to the sound of someone working a forge. We were a fair distance from the little town, but like any worker without the modern convenience of having lights you can turn on and off, as soon as the sun came up, work started. So, opening my eyes and skipping my usual 'deep breath' to start the day, I crawled over the Shinkage.
Laying down on the inner slope of the little burrow, she was watching the town. "Figured that would wake you." She mumbled. "Looks like they're getting started for the day."
Creeping over to her and laying next to her, I looked out as well. Yup, people were walking about and just getting on with their day. A line of them were going to the river for water. Some were moving things like stone or barrels around. There were three blacksmiths, though only one of them was actually hammering metal, while the other two were just setting up to start.
Someplace far to the left, I saw a couple groups of people leave the basin. From the look of them, I'd have guessed hunters. Those were followed a little while later by a bunch of sturdy looking folk with axes. Made sense. Needed to eat, needed to burn something for the forges.
"Do you have your spyglass?" Shinkage asked.
"Yeah. Lemme..." A few moments later, I'd assembled the simple leather wrapped 'telescope', "Here."
"No no. You look. There." She pointed.
Near the smiths there was another pair of workshops. One looked to be a tannery. Yet another exceptionally smelly industry. But, leather, even in Orario, was one of the most versatile things we used. Next to that though... "Is that... Oh wow."
They were made of wood, with bits of metal at the joints, but there were unmistakably cannon mounts there. Close to what you'd see from a Privateer's ship for a cannon. There was even a fully built one 'on display'. Looking like a metre long 'bell' you might be able to fit your arm into, it was unmistakably a cannon.
"Well, that's not good." I said.
"Look left, at what the little kobold is working on."
"That's... musket stock?" Yes, there was a fuzzy looking kobold, his(?) nimble little hands carving a good imitation of a JSDF rifle stock.
"Remote, abandoned, with access to forests and water. A perfect place to set up shop." Shinkage said, "But do you notice something else?"
I put the spyglass down, lest me moving it about made it glint and attract attention. "Aside from it looking like a very firmly established resistance camp?"
In one of her rare childish moments, Shinkage booped my nose and replied, "Fifty points." She smiled, "Missing it does you credit, but it's an important detail."
I looked again, wondering what I was missing. "Aside from every single person here working just as hard as the one next to them, and there being no obvious house for someone like a leader... Nope."
"No humans." She said.
I looked again, "Well, when you have dozens of other races get oppressed by a single race..."
"The question now, is how will we deal with it? Between us, we could remove this threat without breaking a sweat." Shinkage wiggled down, prompting me to do the same and getting us both totally out of sight from the town.
"Doing that would be... final." I said, "It would crush any hope these people had for maybe getting fair treatment after a history of the Empire subjugating them."
"Exactly. But they are clearly willing to fight. And are now just making ready."
I thought on it. This was... not ideal. Not only did we have what seemed to be a third faction (the Empire/JSDF, Zorzal's group that broke away, and now the 'Anti Apostle' group Maki and Ryuu had discovered), we had... maybe a forth. Who were about to visit a primitive, yet no less deadly, Thirteenth Century cannon warfare on their oppressors...
"If we tell someone like Rory. They all die. If we tell the Empire or the JSDF. They all die. If we tell no one, a bunch of people, a great many who are probably innocent, will die, and then they all die anyhow." I sighed, "The question here though..."
"How long do you think they will prepare? They are too well organized to think this would be enough to do more than commit highly explosive suicide." Shinkage reasoned.
"And if they are this well organized, who's to say they don't have other assets all over the place. I mean, land dragons? Wyverns? We know they have at least one mage..." I looked up at the hopelessly gnarled tree we were under. "It's not like we can just ask them to stop."
The two of us lay there, looking up at the withered old tree for a moment longer.
"Maybe not stop." Shinkage said after a moment, "Remember, a secret is only worth something if it remains a secret. But, what if the secret was that it is still a secret."
I turned my head to look at her, "Oh... That's clever." I smiled, "We could tell them their camp had been found out."
"But not actually tell anyone about it." Shinkage said.
"Their plans would have to be put on hold. The Empire, JSDF and apostles won't kill them off..." I added.
"And we could follow them up the chain to their next base." Shinkage shrugged, "If nothing else, it follows the letter of our contract, and gets 'the danger' off the lawn of the JSDF and the part of the Empire they're working with."
"There will still be a bloody war..." I said, shaking my head, "But..."
"No." Shinkage said firmly, "You cannot fix that. This has been a very long time in coming, and unless you were to take on the world, the best you can do is delay it, warn the right people, and dampen the effect. There will be blood, no matter what you do."
"I love you to bits, but sometimes your wisdom hurts." I sighed, applying one well deserved headpat, "Okay. Let's do it like this then..."
NOTES!
Yeah, this is certainly a 'no happy ending' situation. But, what would you do? Wipe out, or set up the annihilation of an oppressed people? Let them/ignore them and know that a lot of innocent people will die because the revolution won't care who might be in the way of the bullets?
Anyhow, see you all soon in the next episode of FoxGate. :)
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