6. Chapter 5: To flee like a Falmartian

CHAPTER 5: TO FLEE LIKE A FALMARTIAN

After leaving because of the drunkard group, Ygar and Olva had found refuge in what looked like to be an abandoned shop near the river shore. It was closed by an iron fence, but lifting it up, breaking a glass pane of the door and pulling the bar which closed it from inside had been simple enough.

The inside was dusty, and a slight food smell as well as tables still laid reminded them of a tavern. Dust covered each piece of furniture and only the occasional gust of wind broke the stillness of the place.

Unfortunately for the two mercenaries, a short search had revealed all the cupboards to be empty save for a few cobwebs, forcing them to rely on their meagre travelling rations.

With discretion in mind they settled in a room deeper inside, one which had no windows. Its floor was made of white tiles and all manner of steel and iron furniture littered the place. As they had explored for a whole day and had to walk an hour more to reach this place, both were tired and Olva was the first to fall asleep, Ygar having pulled the short straw and stood guard.

He took a moment to put a visible blue piece of cloth on the front of the store to show Gelt and Velgard where they hid, then went back into the white-tiled room and started to rummage through the backpack full of goods they had stolen or obtained one way or another this day.

Under the light of one of the magical lights which Olva had understood how to turn on, Ygar started by inspecting the weapon that had been used against Gelt back into the house they had raided. Olva had stressed many times that she couldn't feel any magic in this world, but Ygar simply refused to believe it even though he usually trusted her.

The weapon, or as he liked to call it because of the sound made when used: Thunder Staff, was comprised of two parts. A metallic one made of two tubes and some kind of mechanism near the handle, and a wooden stock much resembling those of crossbows. With this in mind, he held it just like he would a crossbow: right hand on the wooden stock and left hand under the metallic tubes.

If his guess was right and this weapon was similar to a crossbow, then it meant that there had to be some sort of ammunition somewhere. No bolt or arrow could fit between the tubes, and he couldn't see any way to insert ammunition. He picked one of the red cylinders they had also brought back and tried to insert it in the tube, but a brass rim stopped it from getting inside more than a few centimeters.

A thing which caught his attention was a lever of sort near the metallic mechanism. When he pulled it, he momently panicked as the weapon broke in two. A whispered swear word and careful observation soon revealed that it wasn't broke, but the tubes which lifted were held with screws on the wood parts. One of the tubes had one of the red cylinders in it. Taking it out, he noticed how it was much lighter than the cylinder he had picked up just a second ago.

With a bit of apprehension, he put a cylinder in each barrel and closed back the mechanism. It fell loose, but by closing then pulling the small lever again it locked in place. For all he knew, he had a weapon ready to deliver death in his lap. As he didn't want to wake up the whole district by using it, he put it carefully back on the ground.

In order to not fall asleep while standing guard, he spent time to observe each item they had brought back with them. A small black brick, which lit up if you touched the glass it had on one side. He couldn't make any sense of what was written on the glass, but he still remembered how nearly every otherworlder had a similar thing. Some spoke in it, some tapped their fingers against it… Maybe there was a consciousness inside? Did they find a way to give consciousness to an inanimate object? The thought that they had found a way to imprison the souls of the dead crossed his mind, but he quickly put the idea aside as all souls went to the realms of the gods. To imprison souls would be defying the gods, and suffering their revenge. And a god's revenge came many times under the mantle of an apostle. No mortal could beat an apostle. Still confused at the object's intended use, he put it back in the backpack.

Many similar items made little sense in his head in how they worked or their use. A similar brick to the one he had just inspected, but larger. A minuscule clock on a leather band which he had seen people wear on their wrists. Tools that had no apparent use yet were sold in stores. It was a little overwhelming.

Fortunately, there were things that reminded him that both the Falmartians and the Otherworlders weren't that different. Soap, meat and vegetables, knives, forks and he had even noticed a few guards on horses. All of these lessened the feeling of being an alien to this world.

It was when he was praying to Emroy that someone knocked on the door. Three knocks separated by long pauses, then two quick knocks. Recognizing the code he had agreed on earlier, he walked up to the entrance and let in Velgard and Gelt.

"Quite the hiding spot you found us there…" Said Velgard as Ygar closed the door. "Smells of food. Must have been a tavern before."

"Speaking of food," said Gelt, "Let's eat something, I'm famished!"

Ygar led them into the room he had been occupying with Olva and passed them some supplies, namely a full waterskin and a cold gruel of multiple vegetables he had prepared before. Velgard grimaced before the content of the wooden bowl, but ate it all the same as Gelt.

Ygar waited for them to finish before waking Olva up. As soon as the bowls were cleaned, Gelt took out multiple papers from his bag.

"We can finally leave this god-forsaken land! Here's what we found."

Olva lit the light up and both she and Ygar stood in awe before what was in front of them. Maps. There was no explanation needed between the four concerning the worth of these items.

"Now we just need to find out where we are…" said Olva as the four studied the maps carefully.

Unfortunately, they didn't know how to use this map. There was a cross in a corner, but they didn't know which direction represented north, east, west or south. And despite the map's impressive accuracy, they had no idea where they were on the map. It took an unnecessarily long time, but by crossing memories and landmarks, they managed to somewhat make a plan for tomorrow. First, they would have to go south until they reached the bridge where they had rested the last day. Then, east until they reached the wooden area where they had slept the first night. Finally, they would have to follow the streets south until they reached the gate.

With no more energy to spare, Velgard, Gelt and Ygar fell fast asleep, leaving Olva the task of standing guard.

It was with brutality that they were woken them up from their dreams.

A light kick in the ribs for Ygar, a slap on the face for Gelt and a very rough shoulder shake for Olva. Before they could ask what was happening, Velgard who had picked the last guard round raised a finger to his lips. All of them listened quietly.

Someone was opening the front door of the building they had spent the night in. Fortunately for the mercenaries, as a Barghest, Velgard had an extremely sharp hearing and had woken up everyone on time.

« Doa ga ōki sugita, chōdo-chū ni hairimashou » said a first voice.

Peeking from behind a steel cabinet, Velgard managed to recognize two guards dressed in blue now entering without caring about noise. They both had a short black stick in hand from which a beam of light came out and left little opportunity to hide to where it was aimed at.

Velgard raised two fingers, and Ygar immediately responded by first pointing at Velgard then his short bow, then pointed to Olva and himself and then at the guards. As Gelt was about to voice some protests, Ygar raised a finger at his lips, pointed at him and then the ground.

Without waiting for an answer, the plan was sprung into action. While they still had the element of surprise, Velgar suddenly raised from behind their cover and launched two arrows in quick succession. The first hit the closest man's chest, and the second his throat. With his windpipe cut, the man died without uttering a single sound.

Surprised, the second guard immediately backed off while taking out a small boxy item from his belt, darting his light in Velgard's direction.

Ygar and Olva had sprinted in the second guard's direction as soon as the arrows had been let loose, but the sudden beam of powerful light right in their face forced them to close their eyes. Two loud bangs and something hitting his shield made Ygar trip on the ground while Olva reached the guard. He tried to back off once more and raise his weapon at her level, but she instead jumped into his arms and pinned him to the ground. Before he could react, she had already stabbed his heart two times and as he started to panic, she cut his throat.

As soon as she confirmed the guard was dead, she got up, walked up to Ygar and helped him to get up.

"Are you alright?"

Ygar took a moment to look over himself, passed a finger into the hole that had been punched into the wood of his shield by the guard's weapon then sighed in relief.

"I'm alright, but that was close! If my shield couldn't block that, I doubt I would have survived getting shot…"

Gelt and Velgard quickly joined them and stripped the guards from their weapon. It had a small wooden handle, a cylinder with a trigger underneath it and a small tube at the end. It didn't look like much, but Ygar's shield was enough proof of its efficiency.

"I didn't know you knew how to use a dagger, witch…" commented Gelt.

"Mercenary is dangerous work, imperial. You have to know a lot of things in order to stay alive. For example, where to stab precisely to avoid the ribs and hit the heart directly. Or which vein to cut to cause a crippling haemorrhage. Unfortunately, magic isn't everything…"

Looking a little uneasy at the way she glared at him while cleaning her blade on the guard's clothes, he cleared his throat and waited for her to finish.

"Let's leave" Groaned Velgard. "The sooner we're back in Falmart, the better it will be. Ygar, you remember where to go?"

Ygar took a few moments to remember what they had agreed on yesterday, then nodded.

"Yes, let's hurry."

And as the pool of blood spread on the ground, the three mercenaries and the imperial witness left the abandoned store.

"Sir!"

Taketa excused himself from the civilian he had been interrogating, then turned to the officer who addressed him.

"What is it?"

"There's been multiple reports of gunshots a little bit further up the river, and team five isn't answering!"

Immediately, the inspector's eyes went wide.

"What are you waiting for?! Quickly, have a car ready, tell team two to follow us and warn the other teams to be careful!"

The officer dashed to his car and Taketa followed him closely, while the second officer of team one turned on the engine. They waited for a minute for team two to show up and as soon as the car showed up in the mirror of team one's car, the engine roared as both cars sped along the river.

They soon reached a large group of civilians who were surrounding the entrance to a building and Taketa walked out while holding his police badge up as soon as the car stopped.

"Tokyo Police, everyone back off!"

The sirens along with his order were enough to open up a path which he took accompanied by three police officers while the fourth was already looking for the yellow police tape in the trunk of the cars. He stuck to the wall near the door and took out his pistol. One of the officers came behind him while the two others came on the other side.

It was a New Nambu M60. A simple five-shot revolver, but which had proved its effectiveness and reliability among Japanese law enforcers countless times. But most importantly, it was almost Taketa's hand extension. He had trained so much with it. Had learned its recoil strength. Had been taught how to use it even in disaster scenarios. Had disassembled then reassembled it even blind. He knew it even better than he knew his wife's pleasure spots. And he was a very, very sharp shot with it.

As the three officers prepared to storm the entrance, he noted the civilians hadn't gone away. Even worse, they had gotten closer, a lot of them having started recording.

"I SAID BACK OFF!" He roared. Multiple people flinched at the authority in his voice. "THIS IS A DEADLY AREA, YOU COULD GET SHOT IF YOU STAY THERE!"

Everyone scrambled away, and the running was even faster when more police sirens sounded in the distance. As soon as they were far enough, he made a hand movement and the officer in front of him put his hand on the door knob.

A second hand movement later, the door was burst open and Taketa was the first to barge in the building.

"TOKYO POLICE! HANDS UP!"

Only silence answered him. The three officers following him turned on their flashlights and sweeped the area. The light beams stopped on the two corpses on the ground, then resumed their search. Slowly, the four policemen advanced, darting their weapons on every hiding spot.

The building was an abandoned restaurant, it even still had a "Yuki's Food Heaven" sign on top of the counter on the right side of the room.

They methodically sweeped the main eating area, checking under each table and piece of furniture. When it was done, it was time to check the kitchen. The door was behind the counter. After quickly making sure that no one his behind the counter, the four policemen once more separated in groups of two on each side of the door.

Once the door brutally opened, Taketa barged in the kitchen, finger twitching in the trigger. Unfortunately (Or fortunately, depending on the point of view) the search bore no results. The displaced dust showed that a small group had been there very recently, but apart from that there was not a single soul. The last place was a small empty local which had a locked door to the outside, probably the garbage holding area.

The building was empty. There was a first floor, but it was closed with a locked door and the dust on the knob showed that no one had touched it recently.

"DAMN IT!" Raged Taketa.

They were here! At his reach! Should he have come just five minutes earlier, he may have catched the murderers!

But most of his anger wasn't directed at the murderers.

No…

His anger was directed at himself.

He came back to the entrance and with a soft hand, closed the eyes of the dead officers in front of him. HE had caused these deaths. People may say it was the job's risks. People may say it was normal to dispatch officers when looking for clues.

But ultimately, he had been the one who directed them in this place. Two police officers, sacrificed on the altar of justice. The one closest to the entrance had stab wounds on his chest as well as his throat, while the second had large holes on the chest and in the throat too. At this stage, he couldn't tell what had caused these.

He was angry at himself, but right now he had a job to do. Even if they had escaped, the murderers couldn't be that far yet. He would at least try to avenge their deaths. Fortunately, he was blessed with competent officers at his orders.

While he was searching the building, many other police cars had come and delimited the area with yellow police tape. He could hear the sirens of an ambulance approaching, but he had saw this kind of injuries a few times during his career. These two policemen were dead and unless a miracle happened, they would stay so.

"Inspector Gennosuke!"

He recognized the voice of officer Yuna Kanamori. A woman, a girl in his opinion, who had been recruited as soon as her studies had been completed with brilliant results. She had been a trainee at his side for a year now, and had helped him on many cases. She had short bob-cut hair and a pair of glasses on her nose, with a cute face underneath. Her police uniform accentuated her womanly charms, and should he have been unmarried and twenty years younger he would have flirted with her without hesitation. However, they had built a healthy senpai-kouhai relationship over time.

Busy with his investigation as he was, he had completely forgotten today was the day she came back from a short trip to visit her family in the countryside. He made his best to smile.

"Kanamori? I wish I could have welcomed you back under better circumstances."

She smiled as well.

"Don't worry inspector, I wish too. I asked the neighbours, they saw a small group of people leaving the building just before we came in that direction." She said as she pointed further up the street.

"What?" He couldn't believe his ears. Such a stroke of luck! "You there! I want everyone to lock up the district! No one is to leave, we may catch them! Kanamori, team one and team two get in the cars and hurry!"

The officer who he had been addressing acknowledged the order and started giving orders on his car's radio, while he went in the back of team one's car with Kanamori. The engine came to life, the sirens blasted away and the chase began.

Hello there, author here,

Again, sorry for the delay. I'm quite busy right now, and next chapter may come a day or two later too.

Answers:

Mail Lambong: Thank you! Doing as you said actually helps me in describing those!

Just a reader: Hehe, I think we watched the same videos when I was doing my research for this chapter, but I have a few points to how I wrote the empire in GATE.First we would have to consider that in history, while the Roman Empire was very large, it wasn't invulnerable. In the british isles, the Romans couldn't beat the tribes. Hell, they even built the Hadrian Wall because they were afraid of these tribes! And the video on Invicta explains also why they didn't use maps.BUT, this is the Empire from GATE we're talking about. It's true that they have a heavy Roman inspiration. However, the Saderan Empire has conquered like 80 or 90% of the continent they're on! The Roman empire couldn't conquer a whole continent. That's why I like to think that the Saderan Empire is more advanced than the Roman empire on the topic of warfare. Hence why the use of scouts (to know where and when to attack instead of a more traditional warfare) and the use of maps.I agree that maps can't be precise without a bird-eye view. But here's the thing: magic exists in GATE. I assume it would be easy for a druid or an elf to possess a flying animal and draw a pretty accurate map from this. But I also know that magic users are pretty rare, explaining why these accurate maps are precious for the Empire, and why having them fall into enemy hands is disastrous.It's a shame how the way magic changes a society is ignored in most fantasy stories. It's easy to fall into the trap of "well magic exists, but the medieval society stays the same with only a few exceptions.". And I don't want to fall into that trap.

Kirov of the USSR, Guts and Toes, itsFAX: Well I didn't expect my characters to be so much hated lol. But that's a good thing, I didn't write them to be kind. Mercenaries be it from our world or another aren't kind.

And a big Thanks YOU for the support!

Have a good day, and see you next publication!