Chapter 4: Taking over Italica

The Flame Dragon flies into the Coan forest that is southeast of Koda village. The dragon burned down and devoured an elven village and was later found by the Third Recon team of the JSDF expeditionary force in the special region.

When the dragon had its fill, it returned to its nest to rest. When it reach the opening on top of the dormant volcano, multiple bomb rained on it and injured its left wing which got torn apart by an explosion.

…

"OPEN FIRE!" Ray roared as he lifted his gatling machine gun, Proposition and rained fire on the dragon's less protected underbelly.

The operators also joined to shoot at the dragon while prioritizing its weakness and unprotected area. When it crashed, the turret did their job and coat the dragon with a cryo blast that could freeze the dragon which made it more brittle and susceptible to breaking.

Cheshire then shot her turret at the dragon's body and blasted open its hard scales.

*Roar!*

The dragon roared in pain but its killer didn't stop and continued to shoot at the dragon to its dying breath.

Ray used Hold The Line skill to increase his damage and piercing. The result is the dragon is filled with holes almost like a beehive. Holes riddled its body and the dragon was vanquished easily. Ray finds the Regurgitator to be a harder opponent than the Flame Dragon.

Yao's jaw fell to the floor after seeing the dragon that they found impossible to be killed were slaughtered like a helpless cattle. The magic staff Ray and his operators used are very powerful to be able to penetrate the dragon's scale. Most importantly is the little girl that can use a magic cannon which destroys the dragon's scale and also blasts open a big wound.

Even a deity or apostle of gods cannot kill the Flame Dragon without a long drawn battle, muchless slaughtering it like a cattle. He has to be a god. There is no more doubt in Yao's mind after his demonstration of power.

Yao thinks Ray is probably a fledgling god like how Tree Goddess Wareharun evolved from a forest spirit all the way into a goddess. Perhaps the girl is his apostle? Many thoughts are running in her mind that she didn't notice that Ray already cleaned up the battlefield and collected his loot.

[New material detected, Flame Dragon Scale. Improve Fire and Physical defence greatly]

When Ray saw the notification, he instantly looted the dragon's corpse. When everything is stripped from the dragon, only its bones and organs are left. Its head, scale, leather and meat are already properly stored in his inventory.

When Yao snapped out of her thoughts, she advised Ray that eating the dragon's liver and heart is beneficial. She also said the dragon's testicles are good but thank goodness this dragon didn't have one and is a female one.

After Ray also takes the bones, liver and heart, they start their return trip back to the settlement. The dragon bones he decided to be given to be given to the tribes because Yao says the bones are perfect material to create their weapons and armors, very sturdy and lightweight.

…

Another celebration takes place in this dark elves settlement after the Flame Dragon is vanquished by Ray. The dark elves are very grateful that they appointed Ray as the Honorary Grand Elder of the dark elves tribes. He might have no political power from this title but every dark elves will respect him like a king. Even the tribe's leader also respects him as the great hero that saved them and offered their daughters to Ray which was thwarted by Yao.

When Yao offered Ray's reward, she also presented herself as part of the reward. Previously Ray didn't hear when she offered herself as the reward because he was distracted by a notification from the system. He just nodded to whatever she said. Now Yao swore to follow him and carry out whatever order that he gave her.

Ray shrugged and accepted it. He isn't stupid to refuse such great offer that handed to him in silver platter. With Yao accompanying him, his travel will be way easier since he has a local to guide him along in this world. Yao is also a 300+ years old dark elves with a lot of experience which includes combat, lifestyle and arts.

Then everyone celebrate happily and get drunk while singing their native song around a big bonfire that is cooking the dragon meat Ray contributed for tonight's feast.

"By the way, you guys says you worship Goddess of Underworld, Hardy right? That's why your name includes Haa before your tribe's name, Dushi which forms Jeff Haa Dushi."

"Yes, indeed we worshiped the goddess." One of the tribe's leaders, Jeff, replied.

"So you all didn't know that the Flame Dragon is the doing of the goddess you all worship?" Ray added.

"Is that true, master?" Yao, who smoothly transitioned into Ray's servant, asked with worry and anger.

Yao already secretly tells the tribe leaders that Ray is definitely a god since he can easily slaughter a Flame Dragon. The tribe leaders are convinced after seeing the proof that the dragon is vanquished and it was done very fast. Ray didn't even take a day to kill the Flame Dragon.

"Yes, the one that caused the dragon to be awakened is Giselle, the apostle of Hardy that wanted to raise some dragon's offspring and awakened the Flame Dragon early to mate with the Water dragon. The dragon is also tamed by Giselle before it is awakened. This means that your goddess simply just didn't care about your tribes."

Many found it hard to believe but Yao instantly renounced her faith to Hardy. Her actions caused many to join her and renounce their faith. Yao then changed her name to Yao Ra Dushi. She adds part of Ray's name which means that she declared herself as a believer of Ray and thinks of him as god. The tribes leaders followed and soon other tribesmen also joined.

While Ray retreated early from the celebration to get a good night sleep in his tent. Yao is spreading his faith and sharing his godlike powers tale to the other tribesmen. The little girl named Cheshire is an apostle of Ray who also wields great power which can shoot magic that severely injures the Flame Dragon effortlessly.

The believers become fanatics under the 'guidance' of Yao and they start by creating an altar from the bones of the dragon and other materials to carve out his heroic statue wearing the armor. Hopefully things didn't spiral out of control.

…

Another week later, Ray is taking the west route to the prosperous city of Italica partly due to his anime knowledge and another path is due to Yao's recommendation when he said he seek place to sell off some of the Flame Dragon materials.

The tribe gift Ray and Yao one each of their best stallion. They ride the stallion all the way from the Schwarz forest to city of Italica.

The city however isn't in a good shape because it is currently under siege by an army which Yao described as bandit. Smoke rised and bandit is attacking the gate with battering ram. Yao also reported sound similiar to gunfire.

Ray quickly catch up speed along with Cheshire that ride with him and Yao. He is currently not equipping his Combat Suit because it would be too heavy for the stallion but instead he wear leather armor set from neck down to his feet.

"Yao, you bring Cheshire into the city and let her assist from above the wall. I will attack them from the back along with my op- summons."

Yao nodded and I transferred Cheshire to her mount before we split. I continue forward until the edge of this forest while Yao and Cheshire will go from the side and scale the wall.

"Stop." I pull the reign that cause the horse to neigh and immediately halted. I tied the horse on a tree then equipping my Combat Suit before storming the bandit army with guns blazing.

Exiting the forest at my top speed, I came to a halt just shy few meters away from the back of the bandits which cause them to look shocked and didn't have time to react. The series of explosion from Aerial Bombardment I activated earlier muffled the sound of my Proposition, gunning down the army of bandits.

My 5 operators already appeared at my sides and provided suppressing fire especially when I am reloading. I keep my hand off the Elite Squad and Hold The Line since the bandits were very squishy that Proposition can kill more than a thousand with a magazine filled with only 300 ammo. The jam-packed formation and piercing on my LMG help contribute to the effectiveness of each bullet.

Ray didn't noticed the people in green is looking at him with ridiculous look and terror. Princess Piña even calls Ray a grim reaper that is harvesting souls but Yao corrected her and started her brainw- 'guidance' to correct Princess Piña of her mistake.

In less than 5 minutes, the battlefield was already being cleaned off any bandits. The only thing left outside the gate is corpses that mutilated beyond recognition, filled with holes created by firearms.

While Ray is busy fighting the bandits, Rory Mercury joins the fight beyond the city wall and occasionally gets caught in the crossfire. She can feel the death caused by Ray. The sea of corpses he raised but weirdly enough, he didn't have the resentment of the people he killed lingers on him.

(Note: This is made up ideas of mine, not canon one.)

As apostle of Emroy, Rory can feel and see the aura of death and resentment someone had accumulated. Sort of like a kill counter that only her or anyone related to Emroy can see. Ray has millions of deaths under his hands yet the resentment is less than 1% of the numbers he killed.

This either means that the people he killed are willing and satisfied, thus holding no resentment on Ray to be killed or those that he killed already lose their will to live and are waiting to be released from their suffering. For either circumstances, Ray is someone that she can tolerate since her god condones meaningless slaughter which Ray didn't commit if his victims either are willing or already lost their will.

"I am Rory Mercury, Apostle of the God of War and Death, Emroy. Are you perhaps an apostle like me too? I can see prayers constantly flow toward you." Rory said after seeing the power of faith are constantly flowing into Ray's body, especially from Yao who is 'guiding' Princess Piña with hidden hints of fanaticism.

"No, I am not an apostle of any gods. I am… a mercenary, sort of." Ray is about to introduce himself as a hero since he did slay a dragon and Yao said such a feat is enough to be called as one but what he is about to do later wouldn't work if he is a hero.

"The name is Raymond by the way or Ray for short."

Rory nodded and they both entered Italica while loud cheers from the citizens celebrating their saviour. The face of Piña and her entourage however became sour because now Ray had support from the normal citizens as their saviour.

His feat to turn the tide of battle with just a few people against tens of thousands of bandits is not something anyone could do even with help from the apostle. The proof is that even with Rory Mercury on their side, they still cannot secure a victory against the bandits. However Ray did and won in overwhelming victory.

The Third Recon team mouth gaped instantly when they see Ray and his operators close up. There is no doubt that he wields guns that shouldn't exist in this medieval technology of the special region.

"Excuse me!" Itami, who is the leader of the Third Recon team, calls out to Ray.

"I am Lieutenant Itami of this Recon team from JSDF. Can I ask you a question?"

Rory Mercury noticed that Itami and his team are currently feeling the emotion of fear. She didn't know why but she is interested to know the answer too because she can confidently say that she already travelled the continent of Falmart but she never saw anyone with technology like Ray that is stronger than the JSDF.

When Ray nodded, Itami asked where he came from and how he could hold such an advanced technology. Ray is tempted to simply tell them he comes from a far distant future since he just came from Aartris that is already in its fourth millennium. However that will just pull the JSDF interest to him so he better just let them deal with something that will keep them occupied.

"You should come from beyond the gate on Alnus Hill right? Then you should know that this isn't the first time it happened and your world isn't the only one that the gate connected to."

Ray drop the bomb on Itami and also give them information taht will keep the higher-ups of JSDF in paranoia. The only reason JSDF dare to even explore the special region is because of their superior weaponry and technology. Imagine what would happen if they found out they aren't the ones with superior weaponry and technology.

Itami quickly asks Rory if the gates can open in more than one location at the same time. Rory said it is not impossible and she isn't an expert about the gate so she isn't very sure.

…

Countess Formal or Myui Formal is a 11 years old girl who happens to become the countess when her father died during the invasion of the other world. Her sisters were already married to other families which caused her to become the immediate heir of the Formal clan and the leader of Italica.

She is currently sitting calmly at her seat while several people are discussing the city that was just annexed by the one who slaughtered the bandits on her doorstep. Princess Piña is defending her right as the owner of the city and even goes as far as offering herself as hostage to the man in a scary armoured suit.

The man in green from Alnus Hill also supports Princess Piña but not directly because they have their own rules to not interfere with politics that do not involve them. Not directly anyway.

(Note: What a hypocrite when JSDF won the battle, they also took control of Italica but now someone else did it, they are trying to prevent Ray from getting the city.)

"Please, will you reconsider your decision?" Princess Piña asks hopelessly since she knows Ray is hellbent to get the city in his hand.

"No, I will annex the city as I said and if you are dissatisfied then I can raze the city, kill all its defenders before once again annexing the city. I am trying to avoid meaningless bloodshed since the city needs people to run it."

Some of the Third Recon members want to voice their opinions on Ray's brutality but Itami and other more experienced one quickly shut them up especially Shino Kuribayashi who frowned upon Ray trying to conquer the city.

"Princess Piña, it's fine. There is no use in opposing something inevitable." Myui said when she got up from her seat.

Myui is very grateful that the princess is willing to defend her and even go as far as offer herself as a bargain chip against the Empire just to help Myui keep her city. Myui is young but she isn't inexperienced. Even if she had the city in the end, she didn't have the capability to keep it. It will either be raided by bandits or the people will revolt because she doesn't have any soldiers left that are loyal to her to defend the city in her name.

A defenceless city is a juicy piece of meat for the bandits and people can simply revolt against her and take over the city. The soldiers of the Formal clan were brought along with her father and have died beyond the gate.

Thus, it is better to let someone else that can enforce rule on the city to govern it. She might turn into a powerless political puppet but at least she still gets to live without worry with wealth left behind by her father. She simply needs to give up the governing right to someone else.

"But countess, you will lose your right over the city. The city that your father left behind to you."

"It's fine, even if I get to keep the city, I have no soldiers left or any defenders to protect the city. No need to say about invading forces, I could barely even maintain the public safety before the bandit attack. Now I left with no soldiers, how am I going to enforce rules?" Piña was dumbstruck by Myui's statement and so does the Third Recon team.

"Since you accepted me peacefully, I will now explain my way of ruling this city. I will appoint you as my vassal and I am the lord of the city. You will help me govern the city since you live and grow in this city, you should have better knowledge on it than me." Ray recites the plan that he already thought of since the start of this meeting.

Everyone is shocked but also satisfied because it could be worse. They cannot properly grasp Ray's character because he is constantly covered by his armor. However they judged him based on his brutality when he slaughtered the bandits. They think Ray as a bloodthirsty and brash person but surprisingly he isn't and even peacefully resolve the matter.

With everything resolved, Ray becomes the new lord of this territory which Ray declared is a free state that breaks off from the Empire. The reason why Ray dared to do this is because the Empire now suffered great defeat and lost too many of its soldiers on Alnus Hill.

If the Empire still dares to attack then Ray will not be shy and show all his abilities to defend this land that Ray wanted to turn into a big trading city. He didn't know how but just by lowering tax should do the trick. The Empire has enforced very high taxes since the start of their campaign to invade Japan. The tax is above 20%. If Ray lowered it by half, he would get a lot of merchants into his city. Besides, Italica is also surrounded by farmland that provides essential foods to most neighbouring cities and towns.

"For now, let's focus on getting the city back on track so the trade can continue. The longer we close our gates, the slower the economy is going to recover. My summon can provide medical services and security to the city. So, if there is anyone injured, you can bring them to the blue one."

With everything in order, Ray left to find Yao and Cheshire who went to get my horse at the edge of the forest. While he is at it, Ray stationed two Assault operators on each gate since Italica has two gates and 1 Heavyshot turret on each gate.

Princess Piña stayed with Myui and her maids while the Third Recon team followed him to the gate. Their leader, Itami, seems to have things to talk to Ray about.

"What is it that you need from me?" Ray asks when they reached the gate where the fight took place.

"I just wanted to ask if you come from a planet named Earth." Itami asked with confidence as if he is very sure of his deduction.

"I wonder what made you think so?" Ray asked back without any turbulence in his emotions since he is sure they will reach this conclusion but he didn't know how.

"Well, obviously you talk in english when giving orders to your summon. You also naturally talk between the language of the special region when talking with the princess and the countess then Japanese when talking with us."

Now that's shocking information to Ray because he didn't notice it at all.

"Then your summons, some of their gears are very reminiscent of the gear back in our world but only less futuristic, especially the bulletproof vest."

Even the other members of the recon team are surprised and realize it now. Then again, this is expected and I couldn't do anything about it because the operators also have cosmetic functions that make their appearance remain same with the original one regardless of what armor they equip.

"So, your answer?" Itami asked again with greater confidence because he knew that he already guessed it correctly but Ray unfortunately will give him a very surprising information.

"Yes, I come from the planet called Earth." Ray says while nodding his head.

"But, I can tell for sure that I didn't come from your Earth."

The victorious smile on Itami's face instantly vanished and was replaced with a surprised one.

"What do you mean you didn't come from the same Earth?"

"Exactly as I said, there are many Earths out there. Parallel timeline exists, you know. My Earth didn't have any news about a gate appearing in Japan and an invasion of foreign army." What Ray said leaves the recon team dumbfounded and Ray leaves them hanging at that information.

…

The recon team is having a headache with the information provided by Ray who indeed is a person from Earth. Parallel world existed? They are naturally aware of this theory about the parallel world and have a basic understanding of it. The main question however is how does one move between parallel worlds? Did Ray even move between a parallel world or the gate simply opened to a parallel world from a different time?

There is so much uncertainty which gives Itami a headache on how he will report this to his higher-ups. They probably will flip if they know there is another group of more advanced weaponry somewhere in the continent that might become hostile to them.

Regardless, he is now bringing his team back along with Rory who tagged along with them to their base in Alnus Hill to write a report then inform of his finding to the commanding officer.

…

When Yao and Cheshire returned to the city, Ray brought them to the countess mansion which is now partially given to Ray as a gesture of good will from her. He was about to have a well deserved rest when the operators stationed on one of the gates suddenly informed him of an armed group that demanded them to open the gate.

Ray already knew this is the Knight Order of Roses belonging to Princess Piña and he asked one of the beastman maids nearby to find him Princess Piña. The Princess didn't even wait for Ray as she rushed to the gate and ordered them to stop trying to instigate another battle or Ray would kill them like how he killed the bandits.

Princess Piña brought her knight order into the city of Italica which Ray allowed because he placed his trust in the princess. However Bozes Co Palesti, a comrade of Princess Piña, felt offended that Piña failed to protect the city which fell into Ray's hand.

She sees that Ray barely has any forces which he has already deployed on the city gates and the medic is helping the citizen. She attempted to assassinate Ray since she felt that they would definitely be able to win against him since he is alone and she had the knight order that would assist her.

Princess Piña looked in horror and tried to stop her comrade who had already drawn her rapier and attacked Ray. The stab failed to enter any crevices in the armor and stopped completely with only a dull sound of metal impacting each other.

"What is the meaning of this, Princess Piña?" Ray asked with the same and unchanging voice.

Others might perceive his calm as a good thing but Piña is already in full blown panic and on the verge of a heart attack trying to suppress her horror of Ray and anger on Bozes.

"No, this isn't my intention! This is her own independent action. Knights! Arrest her!" The other knights look in daze for a moment before being woken up by Grey Co Aldo, a veteran knight of the knight order who followed Princess Piña's order and arrested Bozes.

"Please let me take care of this, I will definitely take action and give him the most severe punishment." Princess Piña immediately suggested since she was afraid that Ray would take the matter into his own hand and execute her comrade.

Ray nodded and shrugged it off. He gave a warning to Princess Piña to not allow any of this repeat again or he will deliver the punishment himself and the punishment for attempt of assassination is execution.

—————

4.2k words

(Note: Should I turn the Bozes nightly visit into a +18 or not? She isn't Ray's love interest for sure which means this is a one night stand since Ray right now didn't care about those yet and he spent most of his idle time doing Mission to raise his levels and grinding loot.