chapter 18

"This feeling is quite nostalgia, don't you think so? Ryuji?" Leonard turned his head over and checked on the trap ancestor, who had remained quiet and obedient since the moment their group was separated from the militant that had brought them over to this city.

"..." Ryuji remained silence as he stared into the distant.

"It reminded me of home, back in the twenty-first century… it should be the same to you too, I mean- you have been living in Lorwyn for how long already? Almost millennia?" Leonard asked.

"Sound about right...it's indeed has been a very long time." Ryuji finally spoke up as they continued to tour the city of old, that resembled their old world.

"This place is very easily get you lost...let stick together for the time being until the other decide to come back." Leonard suggested.

After their separation with the group of militants and headed toward the city controlled by the Central Government, they were indeed stopped by the group of soldiers that routinely patrolled the checkpoint and their border, however surprisingly- the leader of the militant were right, these guys did not give them much of a hard time, they quickly process Leonard and his group by giving them a temporarily identification documents, such as a simple ID and a visitor pass which allowed them to enter the city- however the downside to that was that they couldn't keep their weapon- much to the disappointment of Jeanne and Roger, along with his group.

Of course, they didn't dare to protest too fiercely about it, as they did not want to have bullets for dinner and yes, they still love their life.

But that doesn't mean that they didn't ask for the obvious reason as to why they couldn't keep their guns and other good stuff.

"This is for security purposes, all visitor and soon to be permanent resident will have to go through this procedure, of course we store your weapon for you in the armory, when you decide to venture back into the wilderness, you can use your ID and withdrawn them, this isn't something against you, this is for the security of the civilians within." the soldier( they do not called themselves soldier, these armed militant called themselves "Marine") stated.

"Are you sure that we can withdraw back our stuffs when we exit the city?" Roger repeated the question for the fifties time already.

"Yes, you are allowed to do that, just look over there." the Marine pointed at another gate just a block away from them, there a group of people were walking out from the checkpoint from the city side, but they stopped at the station block and pulled out their ID and showed the Marine that was stationed there, after seeing the man ID, the Marine went back inside of the shack and pulled up a large wooden box and pushed it to the man, who happily opened it gusto might and revealed a shotgun to the world.

"...alright…" finally Roger complied to the Marine demand and pulled aged revolver from his holster and pushed it to the Marine, of course he took out all the ammo from the chamber, which only amounted to around six rounds, and stuffed it back into his pocket, the Marine saw what he did, but did not say anything to such matter, what's the point of having bullet but no gun to shoot it from he thought.

"Alright, next- put all your weapons into the box, I want any form of blades and guns, also label all your names and identification number on the outside of the box as well." the Marine brought up a large wooden box and dropped Roger old revolver into the box and pushed it to the group.

Every single one of them dropped their weapons into the box.

Finally it was Leonard and Ryuji turn as the Marine turned his attention onto them.

"We don't have any weapons, these people protected us all the ways here." Leonard lied as he pointed his finger at Roger group, who were still very reluctant to drop their weapon into the box.

"Hmm, walk pass that gate." the Marine then pointed his finger at the security checking gate, like those you would find in an airport.

Leonard just casually walked pass the thing without much of a problem, the same goes for Ryuji as well.

After a few torturous and long hours of processing procedure, they were finally allowed to freely roamed the city on the other side of the checkpoint, guarded by a legion of Marines and their heavy duty weaponries.

They could finally understand why the Central Government spent so much effort on manning every checkpoint with such "high end" security measure, these troops were probably stationed there to ward off the mutated creatures and as a formality of accepting and processing in new blood for their territory and maybe occasionally turning raider and bandits who lurked in the wilderness into sieve if they're stupid enough to make a move.

"Why are you holding onto your ID cards like it was your life treasure or family heirloom?" Leonard asked Roger and his group as they were quite paranoid about the whole situation and held onto their identification card with both of their sweaty hands.

"Aren't you afraid that people are going to steal or pickpocket your identification card? I mean- this is literally the key to open the lock of the treasure box that held your very life! In the wilderness, your guns is your life!" Roger told Leonard.

"...put that shit in your underwear then, who in their right mind would put their hand into your underwear and dig around for that tiny metal card?" Leonard suggested as a joke toward these battle hardened survivor of the wasteland.

"You're RIGHT! Why the hell didn't I think of that yet! Hey! Put it into your underwear! Quickly!" Roger shouted at his group.

"..." Leonard who saw their reaction was speechless, that also included Ryuji as well as he turned his eyes toward Jeanne, who stood their emotionless.

"Jeanne...please tell me you wouldn't follow Leonard suggestion." Ryuji looked at Jeanne with pleading eyes.

"Please, Ryuji, don't look at me like that, I'm not as barbaric and uncivilized as these barbarians of the wilderness here." Jeanne mocked Roger group for being over paranoid.

"Cut the crap Jeanne, we know you're also paranoid as well, you probably kept that card in between your tits!" Roger retorted back to Jeanne rude comment about himself and his group of ragtag survivors.

For a moment, Jeanne had a surprise and shock expression plastered all over her face as she stared at Roger and comprehend his words.

"I was right! Hahahaha!!! You stored it in between your tits!" Roger laughed loudly at Jeanne, who had an embarrassed and flustered face, as she was exposed to Ryuji.

"...what the hell am I supposed to do with you idiots…" Leonard only let out a sigh as they walked toward the city that was ahead on them, on a newly paved road.

"By the way, Leonard, Ryuji, where did you store your identification card?" Roger asked them, noticing that they were quite carefree about the whole situation and did not once pull out their card after they accepted it from the Marine.

"I have it in a place where no one will be able to get their hand on it- and it's not between my tits and inside my underwear if you're planning to ask." Leonard pointed out as his hand suddenly disappeared into a small black hole that appeared out of nowhere and pulled out a small metal card with his face and identification number printed on it, along with a line of bar code.

"I have it in a separate dimension of course- and don't even bother asking me to help you since you already stuffed it in between your leg."