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The royal guard procession had been on the road for 3 days on their way to the town of Hirane on the orders of the king. The deputy director of the guard had his reservations about the man they were being sent to save, but unfortunately, the world of politics was far more elaborate than being able to oust the man the kingdom knew for years had been doing... illicit dealings.

The royal guard itself was split into two main units; the elite section tasked with the actual guard work, as well as a subdivision dedicated to anti-counterfeit operations, and the military arm. While the guard element had a roster of 500 men at a constant state, the military arm's strength varied as needed. At the present moment the military arm, or The Sremir, consisted of 2000 men due to the current conflict and near civil war, the kingdom found itself in.

The deputy director, Edwin Wolfe, let out a sigh. As far as he was concerned, the fact that a grave fate had befallen the lord of Hirane was a good thing. On the other hand, he was deeply worried for the citizens. His immediate assumption was that the treacherous lord had underpaid his contracted criminals, underpaying being common in the city amongst the guards, it wouldn't be a huge leap he tried it on the criminals and paid for it.

He steeled his resolve for what would come, and the procession of 60 men rode on.

~~~

Tommy was awoken by the remaining maid, Emi, and was told the man he'd selected to lead the guard had urgent news. He slid out of the arms of his lovers, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts, leading to a red-faced Emi who rushed out. He scratched at his face realizing his mistake and sighed. He quickly suited up in his equipment and made his way downstairs.

He made his way into the sitting room where Fulker awaited. Fulker stood and saluted before Tommy waved him to parade rest. He had taken the liberty of imparting upon them some basic formalities of modern militaries, as well as a few wonderful tricks.

"Sir, the scout corp has spotted a procession of what could only be the royal guard riding on a direct course to town. Estimates say they will be here by noon. It is unknown if they have siege engines or heavy equipment as they are renowned for being pioneers of astral magic, specifically large-scale storage devices."

Tommy had been very busy over the past few days. With the help of Aleina, he had fitted out a good selection of men, and using Aleina's ability to impart immaculate training, had built up a 200 man strong Guard force, including 140 basic guards, equipped with M2 Carbine rifles and an M18 handgun; a heavy weapons section of 40, made up of ammo bearers, assistant gunners, spotters, machine gunners operating the M60E4, and a contingent of troops operating thermobaric M141 Bunker Defeat launchers. The last 20 men were made up of a recon team posted far and wide around the town, operating in teams of sniper and spotter, spotters utilizing thermal spotting scopes and M21 marksman rifles, and snipers operating M2010 ESRs with a 10-30x variant of the NGSW-FC system. The combination of weapons lead to the old guard command center being repurposed as an armory for the various systems to be massively stockpiled thanks to Aleina. All forces were trained to the standard of the USMC, with the recon section being trained to the standard of Marine Scout Snipers, with all the knowledge of their weapon systems also imparted upon them by Aleina.

"Get the Heavy Weapon Section deployed in the woods near the entrance, and I want a large portion of the standard guard deployed to the inner perimeter near the gate as QRF." he turned and spoke over his shoulder, "Emi! Could you please rouse Lucy and Silvia?" after hearing a response he yelled his thanks before getting back with Fulker, "You have authorization to deploy the two MII3s with the Heavy Weapon Squad, equip them with the modified Gau-19s."

Fulker nodded somberly, "Understood sir, we won't let them reinstate anyone of that child kidnapping bastard's family."

Tommy saw Fulker clenching the paper in his hands and shaking with fury. He put a hand on Fulker's shoulder, looking into his eyes with steely resolve, "They won't leave here alive if that is their intention."

~~~

Edwin had felt a deeply uncanny and disconcerting feeling of being watched upon the last 20 kilometers of the trek. As he and his men finally had the gate to Hirane in sight, they felt a deeply concerning feeling; that they were the Bo-rabbit hopping into the monster's den.

Everything was still. A town of 1500 had no reason to be this quiet. A sinking feeling began growing in his stomach as they finally made it to the gate. As they looked through the gate, they saw oddly dressed men, wearing odd olive-colored uniforms, strange helmets, and some sort of chest rigging standing with unrecognizable weapons staring at them with icy glares.

He halted his horse and stepped down. His most trusted men dismounted and stood a polite distance behind him, but not far enough that they couldn't rush to his rescue.

As he took his first step towards the gate, it rose. Standing in the entryway were 2 women, one a dogkin, and a man who seemed rather unimposing, but the air of reverence the weirdly dressed men regarded him said otherwise. Unlike the men standing at the perimeter, he and his companions were dressed in an odd uniform dotted with little squares making out a green pattern. They had stronger-looking armor around their chest, but it still seemed far from anything he'd ever seen. They had their helmets clipped to their bags and stood looking at them, each with a different version of the odd weapons on a sling.

"Are you in charge here?" Edwin asked the man.

"Even though I am having a hard time wrapping my head around it myself, it would seem that I am."

Edwin could see that he was a young man of lean stature with handsome features. Not him nor any of the oddly equipped men looked at all like the kind associated with bandits. In fact, they were all well-groomed and held themselves better than some of the units he had seen in the Shulkat's army.

The man held himself with a professional military air, which was both comforting and deeply concerning. Comforting because a military commander would have already attacked if they decided that was the better option, and most commanders would be willing to hold talks with enemy commanders. Deeply concerning, because if this was a takeover of an unknown element of the rebel faction, or goddess forbid, an element of the Aclein Kingdom, then this would mean they had finally started up the predicted offensive that had been having the Shulkat's strategists in kittens over.

The man looked Edwin up and down appraising him. Generally, the shoe was on the other foot in these situations, but he was in no position to complain. Not being able to tell the true force makeup of the enemy, and not wanting to endanger any of the civilians, He attempted the diplomatic approach.

"My name is Edwin Wolfe, leader of the 12th Expeditionary forces of the Royal Guard of the Shulkat Confederacy. May I ask your name?"

Tommy, seeing a possibility of resolution without guidance, took it. "Tommy, just Tommy. I'd imagine a military unit hasn't come all this way for pleasantries, however. I can offer a private venue for us to discuss the issue at hand if you would like. Frankly, your unit here is scaring the citizens."

Edwin furrowed his brows, "I've been dispatched here due to the Lord sending a distress call. I don't see him here and that leads me to believe he has been exiled or killed."

Tommy nodded and he continued, "Now, frankly, my main concern here is that the citizens are ok. Our best guesses were criminal elements taking over the town due to a.. lacking guard force."

"Well, if you could get your expeditionary force backed off the town, we can let the civilians know it's all clear, and you and a few of your officers may come and inspect."

"And how do I know you won't just hold us hostage or kill us?"

Tommy spoke over his radio. Shortly after Edwin's mana communicator went off.

[SIr, a contingent of men just appeared out of the bush with more of the odd weapons and two large boxy constructs! They are covered in shrubbery and leaves, wearing an odd camouflage! They were perfectly blended with their environment!]

Edwin looked worriedly to Tommy, who spoke first.

"That unit has been positioned there the entire time, as well as various ranged units all along your approach for the past day and a half. If I wanted to kill you, my men would have slaughtered you as if it were nothing."

As Edwin looked into Tommy's eyes after the bold claim, there was a still but deeply confident look in the eyes of his opponent. Not a single bit of doubt, and no hint of a ruse evident. It was true he had felt eyes on him but none of his scouts or the one mana scan specialist had been able to find, and the men waiting in perfect ambush proved his words.

"Alright. We will do as you say."

With his force called off, and a couple of his advisors discreetly brought in, the citizens were told it was merely a combat drill. The people came out of their houses and happily went about their day. This was a deeply different scene than when Edwin and his men had been resting there on a previous excursion. There was no robbery, no drunken fights. When one man's cart got overturned and trapped him under it, a group of the men dressed in olive uniforms rushed to his aid and began performing medical aid on the man.

The disparity of the visits and the happiness of the citizens was a stark contrast, it actually filled him with the hope that perhaps there was a happy way out of this ordeal.

"May I make a call to the king and convey the news?"

"I frankly don't see why not. I'm more than happy to maintain favorable relations when at all possible."

Edwin left to speak via the long-distance mana com. Tommy gave him his privacy as he awaited a response. After about 30 minutes, Edwin returned with an odd look on his face.

"The king would like to meet you in person it seems."