Thank you again for the compliment, Azhure Raven.
Location: WCI. New Prison
Time: 11:00. Date: September 22nd, 20XX
"How long are we going to stay here? That person promised to let us go as soon as possible!"
"We're at war. This world and our Empire are currently enemies. Right now, our best bet is to wait for Lord Formal and the person's deal to get through."
"That treaty is nothing to be trusted!"
"They're still getting the terms done! And even the original terms are already more beneficial for us than them!"
The guards watch in amusement as the prisoners are discussing about the treaty Kuro has offered them a month ago. Occasionally, he and the Count would take a few hours to discuss about what the soldiers and possibly the Empire want. While there are some terms the CPU would allow, he didn't agree with some that he described to the guards as 'tricks that only babies would be fooled'. Even Colt could see it, but he kept his words and told it to Kuro.
"Hey, with the Immorality System and SKYNET's observation, shouldn't we just invade this Falmart?" One of the young guards whispers to an old one. "I mean, I don't question sir Kuro's method…"
"He has witnessed too many wars already. While he knows that some are inevitable, he wants to delay it to keep peace as long as possible. Also… this Gate is opened by The Creator, you know? There must be a reason that he did so, but he said nothing to sir Kuro. That's why sir Kuro didn't do anything in large scale."
"Oh… Ah, about the other nations…"
"They agreed to not join in the fight, but they will gain benefits if the trading business earns a green light."
"Well… at least no nations are being set aside."
Then, after a few more minutes, they see Colt walking to them, and they hear his request: "The terms are done. Please call your boss."
Location: Rectus Hill. Second Gate. Terran Base
Time: 15:00. Date: September 23rd, 20XX
Kuro and Colt are now seen walking between the buildings, with the latter having his old outfit back. The CPU has agreed to escort the Count back to Italica so he could make some preparations to take in the prisoners. Kuro also released Colt first and got him a guest room so he could be more comfortable, indicating the first sign of the treaty being through. Right now Kuro is giving him a tour around the base he has ordered to build around the Gate.
And it's more obvious to Colt that, even if he didn't sign the treaty, the Empire wouldn't even be able to do anything against this kind of army.
"I'm glad that we finally reached to an agreeable deal." Kuro speaks first. "Though, I can't just release you all out without knowing what happened to Italica. Tomorrow, I will bring with us an Elf who's looking for his daughter. By chance that the other Gate would send convoy to a nearby city, which seems to be yours."
Colt nods. "My city is the nearest to both the Gates… I'm a little worried about what the Empire would do to it."
"So far, our scouts reported that there are no Imperial main force units around here anymore. Only bandits, and I think your people are not that weak to defend against them, are they?"
"Of course!" Colt says with pride. "Even if most of my soldiers are not there, the rest could still protect the walls with ease."
"At least I know you still have a place to return." Kuro replies. Then, a Ghost suddenly appears on Kuro, surprises Colt a bit. "What is it?"
"Sir, we have a few 'uninvited guests'." The Ghost flips his goggles up and answers.
"Few?" Kuro facepalms. "More Apostles?"
"No, sir. Just… someone sneaking in our base."
"…And you can't deal with it yourself?" The Ghost then whispers into his ears. "…I see. You're dismissed."
"What is it? Someone dares attacking this base?" Colt asks after the Ghost disappears.
"Survivors. Got attacked from bandits and ran here. Trying to get something to eat." Kuro then bows. "My apology, but can you return to your room on your own? Or you can go around for more, but please don't cause troubles."
"That's the last thing I want to do." Colt laughs, which causes Kuro chuckle as well. "Very well. Have a good day mister Kuro."
"Likewise." The Count then walks away, leaving Kuro behind. "So… survivors? Guess it's time."
…
"They're in Supply Depot, huh? Not surprised." Kuro says to himself, as he walks towards the building. He then asks a nearby Marine: "They're still in there?"
"Yes, but if the scan is right, they're cowering in a corner. Well, except one who's still trying to find the exit, which we have locked every way to go out."
"Except the ventilations?"
"Except the ventilations. But, they're small enough to not let them go in."
"Thanks for the report." Kuro then walks into the front door and orders it to be opened. Once he gets through, the door re-closes, locking him inside as well.
Walking into the darkness, he changes his vision so he could see in the dark, and pulls out a Magic Map that shows everything in the Supply Depot. Right now, there are three signals aside from his own: two of them are currently in one room, moving very slowly, like they're checking for something. The other is running quickly at the North side (he goes in from the South side) before heading back to the two. Deciding to play a little prank, he pulls out a flashlight and turns it on, then starts waving around like he's looking for them.
He slowly walks to their location, and since he's not using any Silence spells, he's sure that they would have heard him approaching. Walking pass the room, he goes for a few meters before hearing the door open, and he feels three figures quickly rushing out behind him. He looks at his map and waits for them to completely out of sight before spinning his light back, giving them a little relief in 'escaping in time'. Walking to the room, he then sees the trio quietly running to another location. 'Hm… one of them might know magic… or all of them are from species that have quiet feet.' Deciding to let that matter slip for a moment, he enters the room that the figures just ran out from, and sees the room slightly messed up. There are marks of claws on the surface, with multiple food stacks being opened. '…Food, for now…'
Quickly escaping the room, he decides to head to where the weapons are stored. During the walk, he purposely points the light just next to the figures, give them a little scare before moving it away. Though, it seems that they decide to follow him as well, and he feels some hostile aura from them. 'Must be planning to attack me.' He acts to be oblivious about it and opens the weapon's room. He walks into the back of the room, points the light to the weapons to give the figures a plan to do something…
Then, to his not-surprised-at-all surprise, some sorts of claw hits his back, causing him to drop the light and it turns off on its own. Turning back, he feels the figure immediately running to a dark corner, with the other two grabbing daggers to attack them. 'Damn, all of them have Night Visions?' That's all he could think before he grabs himself one as well. Then, a small light flicks up, signaling an attack coming to him. He immediately reacts and deflects the attack away, but he lets the figure run away for a moment.
For the whole minute, he keeps blocking the attacks, while trying to see who these attackers' intentions are. They're clearly aiming to kill him, but it's out of fear… then, he sees all three of them going in at once, so he decides to let the weapons hit him. One of it hits his heart, one aims at his throat, and one right at his forehead. Playing dead, he stops moving and drops the dagger to the floor. Once they see that he's 'dead', they let go off the weapons and watches his body fall to the floor. Then, one of them suddenly weeps, causing another to comfort her while saying something along the 'it's to survive'. They then try to tip-toe away…
"You know, this is the worst assassination I have ever seen." Suddenly, all lights come up, causing the three to jump up in surprise, then turn to the source of voice and scream in surprise when the body of Kuro raises up. They plan to run away, but Kuro uses his magic to bind their arms and legs, causing them to fall on a mattress (he created before they reached the floor). They watch in fear as the body's right hand starts pulling out the daggers, as the wounds heal up in no time. Once the daggers are out, Kuro then looks down at the terrified looks on their faces and sees how they look like… "Wow, a Cat girl, a Bunny girl and a Harpy girl? How could you girls even meet each other in the first place?" Though he doesn't receive any answers as they're too scared. Kuro sighs and unbinds all of them, earning looks of disbelief from the girls. "I'm not planning to hurt you, but please tell me why you're here."
After a few seconds of steadying their heart rates, the Cat girl, who looks fifteen in human age, speaks up first: "We're sorry for attacking you!" They immediately bow down to express their regrets. "We were just trying to find some food then leave… but we didn't expect that we've already caught, so…"
Sitting on the nearby crate, Kuro sighs again and replies: "You should have expected the worst situation. Still, it's a bit of my fault to give you heart attacks by lining the light too close to you."
"You… you noticed?" The Harpy girl, a ten-year-old or so, asks in surprise.
"Yeah, magic isn't for show, you know? Anyway, why did you come THIS far from…" He then remembers something. "…The Empire destroyed your home, right?"
"They did." The Bunny girl, who is actually the oldest one being in the end of 20s, answers. "We were chased down until we hid in the forest nearby this place… the bandits were killed by the people here. We sneaked in to try to find some food…until you went in here…"
"You don't have anywhere else to go?" Kuro asks, which earns timid nods from the girls. 'So… basically they lost everything... Right…of course, I just have to do it.' He decides to stand up and walks to the door. "Okay girls, let's go out and…"
"PLEASE DON'T!" Kuro turns back to see the girls' terrified faces. "Please don't turn us in! We don't want to be in prison!"
Giving them a funny look, he asks: "Why do you think I would turn you in? I just said I wouldn't hurt you girls, right?"
"But…but, you're just a worker here, right? A worker would report those things to their lord…"
"Girls, I'm the lord here." Kuro lets out a chuckle when he sees their surprised faces. "Yeah, save the questions later. I'm pretty sure you girls are still hungry, right?" The girls plan to say something, but their stomachs immediately answer his question. "Seems so. Let's get you girls some proper food to eat, rather than the ones in the storage."
…
After an hour later, the girls are now sitting around a table that has emptied dishes on it, with Kuro sitting patiently next to them. The girls are now looking better than before, their skin looks livelier, and they're now wearing more clothes than just the rags they had before. The Bunny girl, Bianca, is now wearing a pink shirt and blue shorts, which go well with her long white hair, pink eyes and white skin. The Cat girl, Cinnamon, has brown fur and slightly lighter-color ears, so Kuro gives her a blue shirt and a white skirt. The Harpy girl, Thera, is a little difficult, since she has wings replaced for her arms. Her feathers are black, contradicted to her blue hair, and her claws are sharp as blades so it's even harder to find any clothes that wouldn't tear. Eventually, he decides to give her a necklace that would give her a white shirt and black shorts on her will. Thankfully, if she wants to remove them, the necklace would help her with it.
Putting down the fork, Bianca speaks with respect: "Thank you again, sir Kuro. We might die out there if we didn't find you in time."
"It's no big deal." Kuro replies.
"It is!" Cinnamon exclaims loudly. "No one we met before were generous like you! You gave us food, clothes, and even a place to stay! We owe you our lives!"
"Well… there are people who are as generous as I am, you just haven't met them yet." Kuro smiles warmly to the girls.
"We want to pay you back…" Thera quietly replies back, she's a little shy. "Please, I don't want to just take this without doing anything to repay you."
"…To be honest, I don't really need you girls to pay. But, I'm sure you would just ask me over and over again…" Kuro then rubs his chin to think about it… "You know what? You can go around and help anything that you think you can. Right now, I'm having some works that you can't help… yet. See you in a few days. Feel free to ask anyone to help you."
"Thank you very much!" The trio bow down gratefully, as Kuro waves them goodbye and then walks away…
"The Empire is getting worse every day, huh?"
"They are just what they are, mister Marceau. By the way, we will depart early tomorrow."
"Why?"
"Let's just say that I got a report about Italica… and recommendations about when I should arrive. You should take some rest now."
"I see. I guess I should do that."
Location: On the sky, heading to Italica.
Time: 6:00. Date: September 24th, 20XX
"This is a little terrifying…"
"What, too old for a dragon riding, mister Formal? *Laughs*"
"There is a reason for that, mister Kuro. YOU are the dragon in this case. And your size right now is basically the same as the Flame Dragon."
Instead of calling an airplane or a helicopter to send them to the city, Kuro decides to just change himself into his usual Blue-Eyes White Dragon form and carry both Hodor and Colt to Italica.
"Well, what can I say? I do it for good reaction." Another laugh comes out of the Dragon's mouth, echoing in the air.
"I swear, we're going to be attacked." Colt says, but he's a little amused. "My people couldn't do anything to you though."
"I aim to see their faces when it happens." However, his cheery tone drops when he sees something from afar. "What is… fire?"
"It's normal to see fire on top of the castle…"
"That's not fire from a torch." Kuro cuts in. "That… a fight is going on!"
"What?" Colt could only say that before Kuro speeds up, causing the Count to hold on the Dragon's back tightly to not get thrown off.
After a few minutes later, they all witness something they didn't expect: A huge force is attacking the Eastern Wall, and Kuro and told them that he has seen some symbols of the Empire units among the mess. Parts of the wall are destroyed… and the people inside…
"This is terrible…" Colt says in despair. "How did this happen?"
"Matters not. This is not the time for fun anymore." Kuro turns his serious mode and descends down, his mouth starts gathering energy for a blast.
Once he's lowered down enough, he fires the energy ball directly towards the wall, exterminating all bandits attacking the city. Anyone in the area immediately sees the sheer terror, and many bandits have abandoned their plans and try to run away, but they're immediately killed under Kuro's feet when he lands down. Roaring in anger, Kuro gathers energy back in no time, and he releases a stream that burns down many runners. He's planning to throw another energy blast…
When he notices the attack helicopters aiming their weapons at him, so he raises his right wing up to cover his face from getting hit. While it doesn't hurt him, it's still annoying to be hit by bullets and missiles. Some of the helicopters shift their attentions towards the bandits though, so at least he's not completely bombarded.
"I told you, didn't I?"
"Not the right time to joke, mister Marceau." He then feels something hitting his foot, so he looks down to see a Goth-loli attacking him with her massive halberd. "…Is that someone you know, mister Formal?"
"That outfit…" Looking down, Colt narrows his eyes to see the girl's appearance. "Isn't that the Apostle of Emroy? What is she doing here?"
"Well, I hope you could speak her down so she OUCH!" Kuro lifts his left foot up and tries to avoid hitting the girl before putting his foot down. "Get in my hand. Maybe she's defending your home or something, right?"
…
It's a little unexpected.
Rory is only planning to release her stress on the bandits, when a massive white dragon which has its size rival to the Flame Dragon from before descends through the clouds and attacks the wall of the city with a fireball… of sort. However, to her surprise, ONLY the bandits are killed, and none of the soldiers of Italica are killed under that, and even the buildings aren't affected at all. The dragon then lands on the ground, creating a small shaking, and attacks the bandits again, completely ignoring the people on the wall. Then reinforcement from JSDF arrives and attacks the dragon, which just raises up its wings to block the attacks. She decides to start attacking the dragon's foot, trying to get its attention. However, the dragon just simply raises its foot up and, to her surprise, avoids her first before landing it back down. She looks up further, and notices its arm reaching to its back, and pulling out a man. It then lowers the man down in front of her, causing her to point her halberd to the person…
"Thank you for saving my city, Apostle of Emroy." The man respectfully bows to her right in the middle of battle… or not, because the bandits are too scared to attack now. "However, can you please stop attacking our friendly dragon here? He's just helping defending the city."
"…That?" Rory points her halberd upward.
"Yes… I will explain later…"
"And can you somehow ask the people attacking the dragon to stop as well?" An Elf suddenly descends down from the Dragon's back with his magic.
Upon looking at the Elf's features, Rory sees something familiar from him… but, given the current situation, she dismisses it. "Are you two REALLY sure that dragon is friendly?"
"Yes." Both of the males reply.
Rory then turns back to the wall to see JSDF soldiers running to her. She calls one of them: "Hey, Kuribayashi, can you call your people to stop attacking the dragon?"
"…Why?" The girl asks back in confusion.
"Well… does it look like it's going to attack us?" Rory points up.
The soldiers look at the dragon's face, to see it not doing anything other than covering itself from bullets. After a few moments, Itami calls to his radio: "Um, Cobra Units, this is Avenger from Third Recon Team. Can you stop attacking the dragon?"
"What, are you crazy?" One of the helicopter pilots shouts back.
"Well, it's not attacking us, right? Maybe it's a friendly one?"
After a few moments, the helicopters do stop attacking the white dragon and focus back on the running bandits. Then, the dragon suddenly shines up, causing everyone to cover their eyes with their arms. And when it's over…
"For eff sake, I should STOP making jokes about making myself a target again… or not." Then, in place of the white dragon, a man wearing a white coat speaks to himself while dusting his clothes. "Seriously, if it's not me, any kinds of dragons would die from that." Rory raises her eyebrow in curiosity, as the person walks to the group. He then looks at her and asks: "Is it necessary to attack my foot like that, lady?"
"…You're that dragon?" Rory asks back. "Who are you?"
"The name's Kuro." He greets. He then turns to the human male and asks: "Hey mister Formal, the bandits are kinda out of mind so they won't attack anymore. I think it's time to escort you into the main building…"
"Wait a second!" Itami interjects himself into the conversation. "Formal? As in Formal Clan?"
"Yes." The human male then stands straight up and introduces himself: "I am Colt Formal, the Head of Formal Clan. I have returned to take care of my city."
Everyone's jaw drops when they hear that. And even more when Pina reaches them and shouts in surprise: "Sir Formal? You're still alive?"
"I am here, that's the proof. How's my children doing?" The Count asks, his voice filled with worry.
After snapping out of her shock, the princess replies: "They are okay, and back at your mansion."
The Count sighs. "Thank Gods…" He then turns to the man in white and says: "Sorry for the late greeting, but welcome to Italica, mister Kuro."
"Later than never." The person, Kuro, grins back.
"Father!?" Tuka's shout catches everyone's attention, and they see the girl looking at the other Elf with tears in her eyes. "Is that you?"
"TUKA!" The older elf shouts back, and the two engage in a heartwarming hug, as both of them start crying in happiness. "I miss you so much!"
"I miss you too father!"
Itami is a little shocked at the development, but he is also happy about it. At least something is going right.
Location: Formal Mansion. Main room
Time: 8:00. Date: September 24th, 20XX
"A SECOND GATE?" JSDF asks out loud in surprise.
"Yeah." Kuro responds. "The Empire seemed to be caught off guard as well, but they still managed to divert some forces to it."
After the conversation in front of the protection walls and the battlefield's cleaning, some of JSDF's commanders and the royalties retreat to the mansion. In there, both sides start discussing about some treaty terms between Japan and the Empire. Then, when Colt Formal pulls out a piece of paper and talks about a treaty between Italica and the world behind Second Gate…
"So it's true. But, why didn't you discuss this with us before?" Pina asks, clearly not pleased with the outcome.
"It's because he…" Colt points to Kuro. "Wants to talk to Emperor himself about what your father has done."
"He did nothing wrong!"
"I beg to differ." Kuro cuts in. "But, that's something I will tell him directly. For now, I believe that we have an immediate situation to deal with. Mister Formal, how long would it take to have enough space for the current prisoners to transfer into your city?"
"About…"
"Wait a second." Colonel Kengun enters the conversation. "Are your people really that easy to release the prisoners?"
"Well, they didn't manage to kill anyone, so…yeah."
"Really?" Itami asks in disbelief. "How? Did your Ministers or something expect an attack or so?"
"Well, no, but that's a different matter." Kuro then looks at the door. "What's going on out there?" He listens for a couple more seconds before dismissing it. "Nothing, probably."
Everyone else also decides not to comment about it. Pina then asks: "Mister Kuro, I am the Princess of Empire. You could talk to me whatever you want to speak to…"
"That won't do, miss Pina." Kuro shakes his head. "This is between us and him, not you."
"But…"
"Did you order the soldiers to attack the Gates?"
"Wa...no. That's my father's orders."
"Did YOU expect him to let the Vassals fight on their own?"
"…No."
"There's your answer. However, if you want, you can warn the Emperor that we're going to talk personally in the future."
"…Do you expect him to just take a random request from a random person…"
"I have my ways."
"Why you…"
"Madam Pina…" Colt has to jump in. "While it's our matter, we should just focus on the current matter at hands. He won't get to the Emperor soon, considering that all sides are fighting now…"
The door of the room suddenly flings open, causing everyone to turn to the direction in surprise. Kuro doesn't follow immediately, as he sighs and says to Colt: "You better have some better maids, mister Formal." He then turns to the door. "It's not a very polite action for a maid to…"
"ANH?" All of whatever he's planning to say die instantly, as Kuro sees who's standing in the doorway. The person's wearing a maid outfit, so his words are not very wrong. However, her face is what gives him the shock. Long black hair, brown-black eyes behind a pair of pink-framed glasses, obvious Asian skin tone… and given by what she just said… "ANH… CO PHAI LA ANH THAT KHONG?"
"…EM GAI?" That's all he could say. There's no way…
"ANH!" Immediately, the maid rushes to him and gives him a tight hug and starts crying into his shoulder. "ANH THAT SU DANG O DAY! EM TUONG EM SE PHAI O DAY DEN HET DOI! HAY DUA EM VE VOI BO ME DI!"
Slowly, but surely, Kuro's arms wrap the girl's head and gently pats her in one hand while the other holds her body close to him. "On roi em… Anh dang o day roi… Em an toan roi…"
Everyone doesn't say a word, and the only sound in the room is the girl's crying. Everyone then sees Kuro's eyes closing, and tears also flow on his face as well. While they don't understand what those two just said, they could say that it's something important between them… something that they won't forget.
After a minute, Kuro acts first as he slowly retracts his arms and gently moves the girl a bit away from him, and his hands grab the girl's cheek. Now, he's wearing a happy smile as he says: "Anh xin loi vi da khong tim em som hon… Em co the doi anh them chut nua duoc khong? Anh dang phai trao doi voi nhung nguoi o day mot luc nua."
Wiping the tears away, the girl nods. Though, she wraps her arms around Kuro's right arm, not letting him go.
When Kuro faces him, Colt coughs once before saying: "My apology that my maid is bothering you. Can I…"
"There's no need, mister Formal." Wiping his own tears, Kuro then composes himself. "However, I need to ask you this: Where did you find her?"
"It was us." Two of the maids walk in and start standing next to Kuro's left.
"Mohmu, Persia? Did you ask Kaine to buy her?" Colt asks in surprise.
"No. However, we knew who she is, that's why we bought her before telling the Head Maid." Persia answers, no regrets in her voice.
"My apology, Master Formal. I should have watched over my maids more often." Kaine bows down apologetically.
"It's fine. But, I would like to hear the reason, Mohmu, Persia." Colt is not angry, not at all. But, to think that his maids did something without thinking…
"…You said you knew who she is…" Kuro repeats what Mohmu said. "…Then, you already knew who I am."
"We do." Persia nods.
"…I see." Kuro closes his eyes once, then opens it and looks at Colt. "Now it all makes sense."
"Makes sense, of what?" Pina asks, not understanding one bit.
"…Let me unfold the story from the beginning." Kuro starts his speech. "Right now, everyone knows that the Empire decided to attack the Gates on Alnus Hill and Rectus Hill. However, while the latter suffered no casualties, Japan has lost many, and many more were captured and brought into this world…"
"What are you getting at?" Kengun asks impatiently.
"…Among the captured, there's no guarantee that they are all Japanese." Kuro continues, then points to the girl holding his arm. "For example, she is not."
"…WHAT?" Taking a few seconds to connect the dots, the JSDF soldiers shout in surprise, and Itami immediately continues: "This girl is from our world?"
Kuro nods. Kengun immediately notes: "We need to call back HQ and report this. Mister Kuro, would you kindly…"
"I'm afraid that she trusts me more than you all." Kuro shakes his head, and the girl follows as well.
"Why would a girl from Itami's world trust a stranger from a different world?" Rory points out the 'supposed' suspicious point in Kuro's words.
"Simple:
I'm originally from Earth.
And I'm her older brother, by blood."
Chapter 4 end!
So yeah, that's why I (The Creator) opened the Gate in Rectus Hill.
For the dialogues that's written in my language:
"OLDER BROTHER?" "OLDER BROTHER...IS THAT YOU?"
"YOUNGER SISTER?"
"BROTHER!" "YOU'RE HERE! I THOUGHT I'M GOING TO STAY HERE UNTIL THE END! PLEASE TAKE ME BACK TO OUR PARENTS!"
"It's okay sister... I'm here... You are safe now..."
"I'm sorry for not finding you sooner... can you wait for me just a bit longer? I will have to talk with the people here for a while."
You can also use Google Translate if you want, but the English version is the right translation for the conversation.
See you all in the next chapters!