A city that was quiet and well-kept just a few hours ago is now badly damaged by the passage of bombs. Pillars of fire and smoke rise into the sky, and the streets are filled with debris from the shattered facades of nearby buildings. Still, my journey cannot afford to stop, as I am being pursued by a couple of Imperial cars that saw me leaving the I.S.C. building. Every few seconds you can hear the sound of a bullet bouncing off the armor; they''re doing everything they can to stop me, but I''m not going to let them. So I turn left at the next intersection, trying to lose them. The left window immediately shows a large white patch along with a spider web pattern around the edges; it was the mark of a high caliber bullet, so it must have been an enemy sniper trying to shoot me to make me stop, and the only thing that saved my life was the armor of that window.
They''re trying to block my escape route with everything they''ve got, but I''m not going to let them catch me so easily. So I started zigzagging the truck from one side to the other to at least try to make their shots miss more. Then another crack appeared in the front windshield; it seemed to be a shot from the same enemy sniper as before. He must have had a very good position with a nice view to hit me twice. Suddenly, the sound of metal dragging on the ground screeched around me; a cannon appeared at the next intersection, followed shortly by the turret and the rest of the vehicle. An Imperial tank blocked my path as its cannon turned to aim at me.
"THIS IS BAD! DAMN IT!!"
I immediately pulled the handbrake on the truck, causing it to spin and skid. The abrupt change in direction had caused the tank to miss its target by several meters, but it was still too close for comfort. With the truck on the side near the tank, I put it in reverse to get through a narrower alley where the tank would have trouble passing. Then it was just a matter of getting back to a main road and continuing on my way. My pursuers seemed to be stuck with the tank problem from earlier, but I still refused to stop, not without first finding a place where I could lose them completely. As I thought about what to do, I saw that one of the nearby buildings was a multi-level public parking lot, a perfect place to hide or switch to a less conspicuous car like a civilian one. So, without thinking twice, I entered and headed up to the third floor to look around, get my bearings, and get back on my way out of this damned mess.
But as I approached a window, my radio started crackling again and a familiar voice called out to me.
"Hey Cesar, where the hell are you?"
"The Marines have already called to fall back to the third line of defense."
"Soon they will call to abandon the city to its fate."
"There is no time left!"
"Sorry Cedric, I got a little lost trying to help Arkadia get out of there."
"I''m a little further north of the city."
"Damn, the Empire is already in the city, trying to pick you up will be hell."
"..."
"Just tell me where the hell you are and I''ll find a way to get there."
"That''s quite difficult, several tanks are heading west through the streets, it''s impossible to cross the city on foot."
"Okay, don''t worry, I got it covered, new plan."
"Look, try to head west to the town of Lierbyen, about 17 kilometers away, we''ll try to hold out and wait for you there."
"Try to get there as soon as possible."
But while Captain Cedric was still speaking, a ghostly whistling sound was heard in the sky, a strange reflection among the clouds, as if the glass of a magnifying glass had been in the middle of the air, distorting the light. The sound of the ghosts roaring in agony grew louder and louder, and the columns of black smoke rising to the sky stopped abruptly when they reached a certain height. It was a message and symbols of the paranormal; something huge was up there. Then, in less than a second, chaos broke out as the source of the strange phenomenon was discovered: a huge black line appeared throughout the city for no reason, as if Judgment Day had arrived. The same line began to widen and grow at an alarming rate. As it grew, it became clear that a biblical creature was making its revelation: a giant black hole consuming the sky. A colossal ship had taken over the airspace of the city of Oslo, a monstrous steel titan built by man for war now looming over it. Without waiting for anyone to breathe, small white trails began to sprout from its enormous black wings. Their trails indicated missiles spinning in all directions. A series of explosions, more powerful than any before, shook the ground.
But such a display of power was not the only thing the black terror was capable of. From the beast''s massive belly, a dozen angels flew toward the ground. Little girls armed with swords and large shields flew through the sky, searching and hunting down any trace of resistance in the city. The dreaded DOLLS of the Empire made their presence known once again, as if a swarm of death angels had been unleashed, toying with their victims with their unparalleled power. Perhaps their human patience could be confusing at first, but these girls were nothing more than cruel androids, born to kill and terrify, mass-produced by the Empire in an attempt to win the war, and right now they were arriving on the battlefield to our despair.
"Attention all units, this is Warlord!"
"Airborne Fortress Dandelion has appeared over the city of Oslo!"
"Repeat, one of the Empire''s Airborne Fortresses has appeared in the area of operations!"
"Our fighter pilots will try to draw the attention of the enemy air units."
"There are also reports of DOLLS being deployed in various parts of the city."
"The Cyclone squadron has already been deployed and will arrive in about 5 minutes.
"In the meantime, all ground units, please evacuate the city, it is a lost cause to stay."
"The city of Oslo has already fallen to the Empire.
"Please retreat to the west and try to get out of there."
"At this moment, the stragglers are on their own, there''s nothing we can do for them."
"I wish you all good luck, you will need it."
The mission had shifted from leaving the city to simply finding a way to stay alive for the next hour and then fighting for the following hour. Panic was written all over the faces of the Alliance soldiers still in the city. Small pockets of anti-aircraft fire fought in vain against the black colossus directly above them, only to witness the nearby landing of a DOLL, followed by the silence of the cannons. Fearing for my life, I ran inside, looking for a way to steal an abandoned car, as the best way to survive this situation was to be far away from anything military of the Alliance. But when I tried to start one of them, the radio kept talking, only to reveal more terrible information.
"Arkadia 1 reporting, we are near the outskirts of the city."
"One of the research teams'' equipment is too heavy for the truck.
"We will try to get it out of the city with the help of transport helicopter 2."
"This is Nomad 6-2, I have the VIP cargo in the cargo bay, we are taking off."
"We will proceed to rendezvous with the exit convoy."
"This is Warlord! Negative, Nomad 6-2! Do not take off! That''s an order!"
"There is no way to secure an air escort, our pilots are completely occupied with Dandelion."
"You are jeopardizing the mission!"
"Please find another way to escape, but not this one."
Two complete psychopaths with a death wish spoke over the radio, a plan not only as crazy as mine, but one that had now entered the realm of delusion and deceit. Trying to get anyone out by air with the huge colossal ship in the sky and a group of black angels lurking in the area to kill was a plan doomed to failure and the death of those dragged along with it. Not even two minutes had passed before the predictable fate was revealed.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
"Nomad 6-2! I need help!"
"We''re taking heavy fire from all sides!"
"Shit! The main rotor is jammed! We are losing control!"
"HELP!!"
"....."
.... L?o?s?t? S?i?g?n?n?a?l? ...
I could see through the window as the cursed helicopter crashed near where I was, just a block away, a fireball following it a second after it hit the ground, a tragic scene from which probably no one on board that helicopter is alive. But as I watched the scene unfold, I noticed an artifact that stood out from all the other wreckage, a large capsule with something written on its side. I couldn''t see it clearly, but its shape was unmistakable; it was the same capsule that contained Nanami''s body, I was sure of it.
Once again, I was faced with an important decision. I could abandon everything and flee with the codex in my hand, or I could try to stay near the helicopter wreckage and protect Nanami''s body. The decision seemed easy, but the feeling of guilt and sorrow for having left her earlier overwhelmed me. It was thanks to her that I was still alive today, it was thanks to her that the tragedy of Atlantis had ended, it was thanks to her that I had experienced love, even if only for a brief and tragic time. I couldn''t just leave the past behind as if nothing had happened. I grabbed my rifle, my equipment, and immediately set out to find a way to retrieve Nanami''s body and give her the final rest she deserved.
Unfortunately, I wasn''t the first to arrive; two girls were standing by the capsule as I approached. Both girls turned their heads in my direction at the same time, and the rest of their bodies followed suit. Their large, fixed eyes, which never blinked, and their intense orange color only heightened the sense that something was wrong with the soulless machine. They seemed to be identical twins, even in the cruel way they moved and spoke, trying to fool others with a false halo of energy above their heads.
"That man over there is a nuisance to our game!"
"What if we cut him up and show him to everyone back home?"
"You''re right, that''s an excellent idea. If we kill him quickly, we can accomplish our mission of taking toys from the Alliance."
"They''ll be happy back home!"
Both girls spoke one after the other in a playful and innocent tone, as if they didn''t know the weight of the words they were using.
"I''m sorry, but I won''t let you take the girl."
"You''ll have to go through me first," I said, trying hard to hide my fear and raising my weapon.
"Then consider yourself dead, you fucking bastard!" both twins replied angrily.
"Come and try, bitch."
Just as they finished talking, they both bent their knees, preparing to jump? It certainly wouldn''t be a simple normal jump, but as I hesitated a bit, wondering what they would do next, I saw them crouch down and take something from the back of their hips. They were preparing something strange, but no doubt dangerous.
"Shit!"
In less than a second, both of them jumped straight at me, closing the distance between them and me almost instantly. I barely had time to react and put my rifle between their weapon and my neck, but their sister had managed to wound me in one of my legs. They had drawn long steel daggers, and only my instinct had saved me from their attack. There was no other way to describe what had just happened.
"Wow, that was incredible."
"We didn''t expect you to survive that."
Before me stood two emotionless monsters, mere machines indifferent to life, the cold creations of the Empire, designed for war. Their human appearance was only superficial, their mechanical joints exposed, weapons in hand, seeking the cruelest ways to kill their enemies. They existed only to kill and inflict maximum physical and psychological damage on the enemy. Each capable of destroying groups of soldiers without tiring, as if it were a game to them. With their presence, the Empire had managed to conquer in the war.
What chance did a lone soldier have against them?
But deep inside, my mind screamed that I couldn''t leave Nanami in this place. I had to win, I had to protect her at all costs, even if it meant my own death. Maybe it was my disillusionment in despair, but I wouldn''t leave her behind again. For her, I would try my luck and skill once more.
"Come on, let''s keep going! It gets pretty boring if nobody dies fast!"
One of the machines shouted, but before she could finish, I raised my weapon and shot her. Unfortunately, being the indifferent monster that these things had become, the girl took a direct hit to the head, but didn''t even flinch; instead, she just started walking towards me. Her sister jumped to the side and then towards me, getting closer and turning to kick me directly in the chest. I tried to block it with my weapon, and miraculously it saved my life, but I lost my weapon in the process as I saw it shatter right after the impact. A second later, I noticed that my weapon wasn''t the only thing broken; the bulletproof plate inside my vest had also split in half. If the blow had hit me directly, my entire spine would have been shattered. But there was no time to dwell on doubts, so I immediately grabbed my pistol and shot the android in the head at close range, but even with this significant impact, the bullets did nothing more than bounce off, causing her only minor inconvenience. Angry at how stupidly armored these things were, I lunged at her, pressing my weapon against her skin until it connected directly with the skin of her neck, and fired again. I pulled the trigger again and again until I ran out of bullets. When I moved my arm, the girl fell lifeless to the ground, with a large hole in her neck that went all the way to the other side.
But the battle was not over when I heard fast footsteps beside me, DOLL''s dead sister was behind me. Something inside me screamed that she was going to attack my head and that I should duck immediately, believing that voice, I threw myself to the ground and I could see a huge metal blade pass right where my neck would have been moments before.
"Ah, I wasn''t expecting that," the machine said emotionlessly.
I was already unarmed, my rifle was smashed to pieces on the floor, my pistol was out of bullets, and at the speed of that thing, I wouldn''t have time to reload. So, as a last resort, I put my hands on my chest and drew my combat knife in a final display of hope for survival. The girl jumped towards me and thrust her sword at me, I turned to dodge and saw her weapon stabbing into the ground with superhuman force, punishing her mistake, I grabbed her arm with one of my hands and tried to strike with my knife at the joint of her elbow to damage her as much as possible to reduce her mobility in some way. But DOLL let go of her weapon and managed to push me a great distance away with that hand, when she regained her posture to fight again, I could see how half of her right arm was loose and disconnected from the rest of her body, my attack had had its limited success.
But the battlefield is as unpredictable as life itself, and as cruel as fate, which keeps turning against me, pushing me to the edge of the abyss and eternal despair. The Arkadia Squadron appeared beside me, their weapons raised to fight against the DOLL, but also against me, while Akane raised her rifle against me as if I were just another enemy. The cold android rose in fury and lunged at two of her guards while Akane fired at me almost simultaneously. I dodged at the last moment and got close enough to bury my knife in her abdomen, but unfortunately, I lost my last weapon in an instant; I had made a very stupid mistake. Someone took advantage of my lapse, and I felt a terrible blow all over my body as I fell a few meters from the capsule. When I looked back, I could see the doll with her sword next to where Akane and I were, next to the other half of my lower body.
"I finally caught you."
"You were much more difficult than I thought, at least I thank you for not dying so quickly."
"Now you''ll be next," she said without emotion, but somehow mocking.
I couldn''t hear Akane''s answer very well, my strength was dwindling fast. My wounds were fatal and beyond repair or hope. A battle was raging beside me, but my senses were slowly slipping away, dying unaware in the chaos around me, as it should have been from the beginning many years ago.
This was terrible, this was my end, there was no way to stop it now.
But maybe it was something good instead, it meant that I would be with Nanami in the end, I just had to be one meter away from her.
She''s waiting for me together with Luna, so why make her wait any longer?
In front of me I see what''s left of the sky, indifferently swallowed by the huge black ship that abducted it, the tracks of flying missiles, the traces of gunfire and the dancing swords of the cold android fighting her enemies around the wreckage of my body.
My only regrets were not knowing why Nanami''s body is in that capsule and not knowing what will happen to my sister.
All this is so cruel...
So close
...
Maria
...
Nanami
Sorry
... ... ...
Everything went black, the sound of the bullets faded away, the smell of blood disappeared, and the pain I felt disappeared as well.
Ch6: It Is Not The End
It Is Not The End
In some room, Heaven
Long corridors stretching in all directions, all adorned with the most beautiful golden details and the brightest of skies shining through the windows. A place of peace and tranquility, interrupted only by the sound of footsteps approaching at full speed, as if the person was running for his life. The silhouette of the owner appeared, a girl in the distance coming straight towards me, it was easy to notice that she was not human in any way, beautiful large wings proudly displayed on her back, short hair falling like a precious and delicate mantle over her head, in addition to a shy blue tint painting her entire body. But by far the most unique feature of the girl was that her body was transparent like glass, it wasn''t like anything was missing from her body or anything like that, but it was literally easy to see through her body without any difficulty, she was truly made entirely of glass, undoubtedly a unique angel like no other. When she was by my side, she spoke immediately.
"I am so sorry for being late!"
"I wasn''t prepared for anything as it happened very quickly, the news just reached me a few minutes ago and I came as fast as I could."
"I''m really sorry to see you here again so soon."
The girl in front of me was Momo, an angelic engineer who helped me on one of my adventures in Italy some time ago. Although a bit shy around strangers, she is passionate about all that has to do with technology and is a spaceship mechanic with a great reputation behind her. We became friends when she tried to repair my plane after I crashed in the middle of nowhere.
"Hello again, unfortunately."
"It''s been a while, hasn''t it?"
"I didn''t think it would happen this way and so fast."
"Tell me, how are you?" I said, trying to make it sound like it wasn''t a big deal.
"Oh, now I''m the captain of Team 7 Engineers and Supplies."
"Although that sounds very important, it actually just means that I''m in charge of repairing the battle ships of those lunatics who think they''re the hero of a mecha series."
"It''s a pretty stressful job, and hardly anyone gives us the importance we deserve; our department has been suffering from cutbacks."
"Also, the pay is not as good as I would like."
"I''m seriously thinking about quitting and maybe doing something else."
"Maybe open my own mechanic shop back home, although I''ll need a lot of money to get started.
"Wow, I''m sorry. It must be hard to have such an important job and have no one notice."
"It''s a shame to lose someone as good as you that way."
"Although, if you''re looking for work now, I need help and someone I can trust without question."
"When I arrived, I checked my bank account and mysteriously it was half empty. When I asked why, I realized that my father was responsible."
"From what I''ve heard, he seems to be taking my money and doing strange things with it, I need to stop him before he does something worse."
"Maybe I should hire a caretaker to keep an eye on my things and the money he spends."
"Well, that doesn''t sound too bad, certainly better than having to rebuild a fleet of 15 fighter jets in just 30 minutes."
"Tell me, will I have to live in your retirement home?"
"Ah, good question.
"Clearly, you will need to be nearby to watch over Rafael."
"But I''m sure you''ll want privacy; perhaps I should build a guest house near mine."
"No! That''s not necessary!"
"I have no problem living in your house!"
"You don''t need to spend more money to build another small house on the island."
"Are you sure? I think it''s better for you to have your own place than to live with me."
"No... that''s not... What I mean is..."
"You know, I was actually on my way there."
"I''m a little lost at the moment, even though I asked for directions at the entrance gates."
"Oh, if it''s to get to your house, it''s pretty easy."
"Just turn right at the motorcycle market in the central district, then just go to Transportation Terminal 4, from there it''s just a solar rail to the planet Avesta 7."
"Then it''s just a matter of getting to Lagoon Paradise Station and taking the Happy Fiesta Bus, which stops at the Lucky Dice Hotel and Casino."
"The transport ship will drop you off right at the port of your private island.
"If you''re going, try to get there before 17:00 Avesta time, after that the bus is always full and it''s hard to get a seat."
"Why do you know exactly how to get to my house yard, and why is there public transportation right there?"
"Isn''t a private island, you know, private?"
"Ah!"
"I forgot it was supposed to be a secret!" said the surprised Crystal Girl.
"It can''t be!"
"It''s my father again, isn''t it? What has he done with my tropical island?"
"Well... About the missing money in the bank."
"Your father became quite a celebrity with that money."
"Oh, forget it, I have more important things to do."
"Do you happen to know where Stella''s office is? I need to talk to her as soon as possible about something serious."
"It''s something important concerning Atlantis and Nanami."
"Oh, about that, I heard that there was quite a fuss about what happened in Oslo."
"I heard that there''s an important meeting going on right now with the higher-ups of the Celestial Security Section."
"Apparently, even THE BOSS is attending the meeting, and no one is allowed to interfere."
*Ring*Ring*Ring*
But just as Momo spoke, her phone began to ring with a majestic and ominous melody. The glass girl was startled and quickly grabbed her smartphone; it seemed to be an important call.
"Captain of Supply Team 7, Momo speaking, sir!"
"......"
"Just a moment, there''s something..."
"!!!!"
"Yes, of course, sir!"
"Yes, it''s right next to me!"
"I understand, sir! Immediately!" said the girl, startled by the phone call.
"Who was it? Was it important?"
"It was the important message."
"It was THE BOSS."
"He wants to see you right away; he''s waiting in the main hall."
"I''ve been ordered to take you there."
"Okay, that''s fine, no problem."
After we started walking, I could see how the long corridor in the clouds we were walking through was adjusting to our footsteps, changing direction and shifting pieces to fit where we needed to go. Even though I could see it with my own eyes, the pieces came flying in from different directions, perfectly fitting together to form a solid and stable path, as it would have been on the ground. Meanwhile, looking out the window, one could see the endless void of a fall, illuminated only by distant stars from another galaxy. After walking for a while, a huge temple of titanic proportions could be seen, placed on a floating island that could be seen flying, gradually approaching our corridor until its doors connected perfectly with the end of the path without making the slightest noise.
When we arrived, Momo took the door and forcefully opened it for me, then just made a graceful gesture for me to continue without her, saying goodbye with a simple "see you later and good luck" as I walked past her to continue closing the door.
So this was the main hall.
It was of enormous size, as its exterior betrayed, decorated in a unique and perfect way. It somewhat resembled the most famous ancient churches of Europe, but with a size that could not be measured by sight alone. Perhaps the only thing one could even dream of remotely resembling it were the great halls of the Emperor Atlante''s throne. While its predecessor was unique for its beautiful neon and blue colors, this place was also unique for its perfect use of majestic gold and soothing white.
Near what appeared to be the main altar, in one of the chairs in the front row facing the table, someone was sitting. A person who looked enormous despite the great distance that separated us, I could only see their back. He was wearing a large golden armor, perfectly decorated with motifs and light, and a beautiful white cloak made of what appeared to be fine fur. The man heard the echo of my footsteps and turned to look before turning back to the temple; it was the only time I could see what seemed to be his head, and yet I couldn''t make out anything because he was still too far away to notice anything.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
"Hello, how are you, Cesar?"
The booming voice echoed with power and grandeur through the huge dome of the building, strong and clear despite the distance, as if he were right next to me. But at the same time, with compassion and tenderness trying to comfort me, it was clear where the source of that voice was. I stopped walking because I didn''t feel able to get any closer.
"I''m fine for now, I guess," I said calmly.
"I think you already have a rough idea of why I called you here."
"I''m really sorry, I failed again in my mission to retrieve the Codex."
"..."
"Forgive me for asking, but how should I call you? The last time we spoke, you never told me your name."
"Isn''t that obvious?"
"Well, you could say I''m THE BOSS of everything."
"Everyone around here calls me that."
The man in the distance replied kindly to my silly question.
THE BOSS:
"I think you have a rough idea of how this should go."
"Usually there''s a process to discuss all the good and bad things you''ve done in your life, and to see if your accomplishments are worthy of reward."
"But the truth is, we all know the outcome of your victory in Atlantis.
"For us, you are an honored guest, and it''s quite exceptional to thank the leader of such an important allied faction as you and your eternal kindness on such a dark day."
"The least I can do now is to speak to you personally, as the friend you are."
"But I''m afraid we don''t have time for that anyway, the situation has changed a lot in a very short time."
"Too many things have happened, too many bad things."
"It''s a cruel world out there."
THE BOSS:
"You did the right thing in the moment."
"No one can criticize you for trying to make what you thought were the best decisions."
"Is there anything you regret about your journey?"
"Too many battles, too much effort."
"Too much war, even for me."
"I''m very tired of the pain and the sacrifice."
"I can''t bear this path anymore, I''m not that strong."
"Nobody wanted me there anymore, I was unnecessary."
"It is my time to rest.
"I have people waiting for me here."
THE BOSS:
"And what do you think about what you found today?"
"Didn''t it seem strange to you to see them and how the people found them?"
"!!!!"
"You''re right!"
"What was it all about? Why did the humans have Nanami''s body there?"
"No memory of Atlantis or the dragons should be left on Earth!"
"She sacrificed everything and more to end those cruel beasts, and this is how you repay her?"
"Are her hardships and those of everyone else nothing to you?"
THE BOSS:
"I''m sorry, you''re right."
"There should be nothing left of Atlantis after you used the Codex to fulfill the only wish a good person would have."
"I''m afraid this is just the prelude to a disturbing ''situation'' in the future."
"I haven''t told anyone yet; first I need a friend I can trust, and only now have I been able to contact you again without arousing suspicion."
"Something strange is happening in your world, on Earth; many events that shouldn''t be happening are happening one after another.
"There are strange signs everywhere, clues that are out of place."
"First, one of my best agents, Lisa, went missing, and somehow she seems to have turned violent against her boss."
"The humans unconsciously discovered Nanami''s body and the codex."
"The C.S.S. lost an agent during a critical mission by not taking the necessary precautions for such an important case."
"''Leaving my good friend to his fate with such a difficult task."
"These are things that cannot be left unchecked."
"Such great coincidences do not exist."
"....."
"The reason I called you is because I need your help.
"And from what I can see, you could use a little of mine, too."
"Well, it''s true that what happened with Nanami was strange."
"But there are no second chances."
"Besides, both she and Luna are waiting for me."
"I can''t just..."
THE BOSS:
"Nanami''s soul is not in this place."
"Excuse me!"
THE BOSS:
"When Nanami died, her soul never came here in the first place."
"Details I can''t discuss, secrets of the Atlanteans who hated the heavens."
"What do you mean, she''s not here?"
"Shall I call the dragons to demand their release?"
THE BOSS:
"I''m sorry, but a much bigger plan is already in motion."
"The answer will come when the time is right."
"...."
"I regret having to ask you this, especially considering everything that has happened during this time."
"Despite all the efforts you''ve made, I must ask one more thing of you.
"You are the only friend I would ask such an important task of.
"And if you are so much THE BOSS, why should I be the one to work when I''ve already earned my rest?"
THE BOSS:
"Well, yes, but I can''t intervene in the world of Earth when it was the same actions of man and his will that caused it."
"After all, every man is the master of his own destiny."
"Isn''t that the motto of every True Dragon?"
"You know that better than anyone."
"....."
"But that doesn''t mean I can''t put the right person in the right place at the right time and trust them."
"...."
"Maybe I''m overthinking it, but I think there might be someone lurking in the shadows, trying to steal a future that doesn''t belong to them."
"Or maybe I''m overthinking it too much."
"What I do know is that I''m not going to take any unnecessary risks, not with the Codex on the line again."
"But of course I can''t leave such an important and dangerous object in the hands of just anyone."
"It has to be someone important, trustworthy, someone who can protect it, one of the very few people I know who won''t use it for any reason."
"Perhaps something like a dragon, guarding such a treasure with its life, as in the legends."
"Or maybe it''s something I could only entrust to a close friend."
"And I can only think of one person with such a background for the job."
"The true dragon of war, the last emperor of Atlantis, the unknown hero of the last day, the rat, the dark cloak, the lost, the tired, the useless.
"He''s called by a thousand names, yet he''s known by almost no one."
"Well, those are very specific requirements for such a task, no doubt," I replied sarcastically, knowing full well to whom he was referring.
THE BOSS:
"This time you''ll be working directly for me, above the C.S.S."
"The Dragons almost ended the world in the most horrible way possible over something less than a vague idea."
"What couldn''t happen if a new threat set its sights on the Codex?"
"With nothing else to stop the injustices they have already planned, they will end it all, just as they tried before."
"We can''t let that happen."
"You were there, you know exactly what happened, you know what the price was."
"You know better than anyone what is most important, and you protect it with pride and passion."
"The only human to survive the war against the dragons."
"......"
"In exchange for your help in protecting the Codex, I''ll grant you one of the greatest exceptions I can make."
"The right to return."
"What!?"
"To return!?"
THE BOSS:
"The job won''t be easy."
"In fact, it is quite demanding.
"The threats could be more serious than what happened in Atlantis if the enemy is competent.
"The cost of failure is much higher.
"Your mission will be to protect the Codex in perpetuity."
"Let no one have it, NO ONE."
"Not even the Angels themselves."
"Other than that, just do what you think is right."
"Let no one stop you from fighting for what you want."
I took a moment to think about what he was telling me, I had an idea of the true weight of his words and my story behind them. All the broken promises and heavy sacrifices for the cause, Nanami, Rose, Luna, were names that time and dragons had erased. Their struggles and deaths went unheard, but the fruits of their labor were enjoyed by all. I promised them that I would end the war against the dragons, and now it is my duty to keep it won, to ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain. But perhaps above all, there was something else I wanted to do once more, deep within me was the tiny hope that something would change, something for me, to enjoy a less lonely life, the luxury of maybe one day being accompanied in my sorrows as they had been with me in those days of despair. Maybe to finally break the cycle of sadness and grief, of tears and goodbyes, of secrets and lies. And most of all, perhaps one day to gain the greatest honor a warrior can have, to return home alive and rest.
"Alright, agreed."
"I accept the task."
THE BOSS:
"I knew a good friend like that wouldn''t let me down."
"That''s the answer of a true friend."
"Thank you."
"I''ll do my best to make everything work out this time."
" Maybe, we''ll even be able to make up for the mistakes of the past."
"I''m sorry the goodbye has to be so abrupt, but you must leave now. "
"For now, I''ll register you as part of the Valkyries Division."
"Perhaps your actions will gather people who are attracted to you by your deeds or your loyalty to being good, and they''ll trust you wholeheartedly."
"I will create Special Operations Team 10 of the C.S.S. by special directive, by my authority, and put them under your command."
"They will act autonomously above the rest of the command, as their mission to protect the Codex takes precedence even above Heaven."
"Do not be surprised by what may happen along the way this time, trust yourself and your heart to make the right decisions that will save others from a cruel fate."
"Maybe this time the change will be permanent, maybe next time your body will flow like water."
"You better get used to having what you like to hide for once."
"I know my friend pretty well, and I know what he likes, even if he tries to pretend he doesn''t."
"After all, I think the title Valkyrie suits you well."
"See you later and good luck."
Right after that, a strange pattern appeared right below me, glowing with blue light and making a strange sound. What is that for?
"Wait a minute!"
"What do you mean, Valkyries and permanent?"
"Aren''t all Valkyries girls?"
"Wait, what is that hole in the ground for?"
"!!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"
Ch7: Locked
Locked
When I came back to my senses, everything was dark, a feeling of fatigue took over my body, I couldn''t move in any way, not even to blink. A horrible sleep paralysis where I wanted to scream and escape, but my body just wouldn''t respond. Although I couldn''t see anything, I could hear a conversation nearby that I couldn''t help but pay attention to.
"Ugh, this is all disgusting."
"Just seeing her there, sleeping innocently despite what she''s done, disgusts me."
"Have we really stooped so low just to gain an advantage in the war?" Said the voice of a woman, I think close to me.
"So this is where you were."
"It took me a while to find you in the city."
"!!!!!"
"Mr. Yamamoto, I didn''t know you were in Plymouth."
"That''s right, I''m back after Operation Silver Prodigy."
"The information there was about the appearance of a girl in white who managed to fight about 7 DOLLs and get out alive.
"The bosses in Japan were impressed by such a thing and sent me to investigate.
"I just followed the trail from where the USS Essex was and confirmed that the sightings of the white girl match the places where that ship and you were."
"So I imagine if the aircraft carrier was in Plymouth and you were there, the girl would be there too."
"Yamamoto, this is a restricted area, there are orders to shoot intruders immediately."
"......"
"Actually, I just came to say goodbye, today is my last day at work."
"????"
"The great Agent Yamamoto leaving the job unfinished? What''s going on?"
"What happened?"
"....... "
"''It''s my daughter. ......"
"She died in a car accident on the first of January."
"I received the news yesterday.
"Her daughter Haru, my granddaughter, is now living with her aunt."
"She is in trouble with the banks and has no children.
"She is in a situation where she can''t take on the responsibility of looking after someone else.
"So I''ve decided to go back home and take care of her myself."
"If I''m going to take care of her, I need to find a new job that is much more stable and secure."
"I''m already quite old, I can''t keep getting into trouble."
"It''s time for me to retire and enjoy my last years in peace."
"I can''t go before I make sure Haru can take care of herself."
"That is what I promised my daughter if anything happened to her.
"A man must keep his word."
"I talked to some friends about it; they want me to be the chief of detectives or something."
"It''s mostly an office job, it pays well, has good hours, and I already know some people who work there from before."
"Uh..."
"I''m so sorry, I really didn''t know."
"....... "
"If you need any help with her or anything, please don''t hesitate to tell me."
"It''s the least I could do for a great friend like you."
"You''ve helped me with so much advice over the years."
"Please, I was just helping the only woman who actually seems to be doing something to win the war sooner and save more lives."
"You''re the only one in the High Command I could think of to help stop all this madness."
"...."
"In fact, I can''t believe we''re this close to victory now, thanks to you."
"When the Sixth Fleet sets sail again, they won''t stop until they reach the capital."
"Victory or death, the boys are shouting in the corridors."
"My work here can be considered done anyway, especially with you in charge."
"...."
"I also can''t believe that we could end the war in less than a month."
"It seems unbelievable that after the AIM-140 Hawkeye and the new tanks, we could make so much progress."
"....."
"But in a turbulent time like war, not all new weapons are good."
"The Empire''s DOLLS were like opening a Pandora''s box that will never be closed again.
"....."
"But we''re not innocent either when we have the White Demon from the Valkyria Project doing our dirty work."
"I probably made the biggest mistake of my life when I thought of giving money to the I.S.C. for this project; they managed to deliver another weapon equivalent to the Arksuits."
"Come on, you just did what you thought was right at the time."
"''For every day the war is shortened, perhaps hundreds of lives will be saved.
"Thanks to you, the war is about to end, thanks to you, some people will be able to go home to their families much sooner than they thought."
"Family..." The woman said in a melancholy tone.
"We all have one."
"Though I''ve tried to hide mine the last few years."
"I didn''t want to burden them with my work, each of them has been through so much in the last 10 years."
"I don''t want to put them through any more than they''ve already suffered."
"..."
"It must be difficult to hold such an important position in the Alliance."
"It leaves you no time for anything else."
"To call it having a job is a bit of a stretch."
"That almost everything depends on me alone reflects the enormous inefficiency of the High Command and the politicians."
"Their ego battles have prolonged the war the most, instead of the enemy and its plans."
"But even that is coming to an end for me."
"It is also time for me to return home."
"I swore that I would return to my family after the end of the war."
Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on."I will leave all this stupid game of business and favors behind."
"I don''t want any of it anymore."
"After losing someone so important to me again, I realized that this world doesn''t care if I save it or not, the world or the governments don''t care about sacrifices."
"None of them care what happens to me or my loved ones."
The woman spoke with a rather sad tone; her way of describing her thoughts reminded me a bit of myself and everything that had happened. After all that had happened, it was still my dream to leave everything behind and focus on what was important.
"And speaking of family and the end of the war," the old man said seriously.
"What will happen to her?"
"You''re just going to leave her there?"
"Forgotten in a warehouse to fend for herself?"
"Or are you going to set her free and teach her something more than just killing?"
"......"
"I still can''t believe she completed over 35 missions flawlessly."
"It works with the precision of a clock, almost as if someone else is trying to fool us with the results."
"It was quite lucky that I found the I.S.C. in the first place, trying to hide her existence."
"According to the lead investigator, a subject named Dylan disappeared during the attack in Oslo, some believe he defected to the Empire."
"Almost all research information disappeared with him."
"I managed to steal their project by suing them for diverting Alliance funds."
"We paid them for a weapon, they delivered nothing, and the bastards tried to hide it on the carrier, pretending it was a bomb."
"The president of the I.S.C., Mr. Damien Raven, preferred to give it to me in exchange for not taking his company to the Alliance Jury and letting other governments divide his company."
"Although the few documents we have mentioned have tried to use it as a DOLL, the results have been horrifyingly effective."
"There are some in the CIA who want to try to get it for their benefit."
"Do you remember Trigon? That bastard tried to blackmail me with photos of my daughter into handing over the Valkyria Project.""I sent him home after reminding him that his president is in the White House because he asked me for help, and if he continued to bother me, I would find a way to remove him as well."
"....."
"What I fear is that the end of the war will not be the end of the fight for her."
"Who will assure me that MI6 won''t come next, or that Lion Saber Industries won''t try to keep her when I''m gone?"
"This can''t go on like this, we really don''t know how far she''s capable of going, maybe the girl isn''t even empty as the I.S.C. documents say."
"All we know is that when we give her a mission, she carries it out in cold blood."
"But she could also be alive, thinking, a trapped ego, a desperate person looking for a slip to escape and be free."
"What do you think will happen if that turns out to be true? What do you think she''ll seek first when she''s free?"
"Freedom? Peace? Hammering her former captors into the wall with metal stakes?"
"This could only get worse with the course it''s on."
"So I assume you already have a plan to solve it," the man said simply.
"I''ve asked my assistant Xi''an to collect and eliminate key information here and there over the past few days."
"Enough that the other intelligence teams won''t notice."
"The real plan will be executed when we enter Vienna."
"We''ll come up with an excuse to use Valkyria and set up a checkpoint nearby with all the remaining information. "
"Then we''ll just pretend that a group from the Empire came and attacked the place, destroyed everything, and that the information was lost forever. "
"Then we''ll put the girl back to sleep at the end of the mission."
"And what will happen to her after that?"
"I don''t like it, but there''s no other way; we also have to get rid of her."
I still don''t know how to do it, probably with explosives or cremation to leave no trace.
"We have to end her suffering, put her out of her misery. "
"A life imprisoned against her will, forced to obey orders she doesn''t understand for people she doesn''t know, only to be discarded in the end anyway."
"It is a fate worse than death.
"At the very least, we must put an end to it and let her rest in peace."
It was the last thing I heard from the couple, who sounded weaker and weaker, as if they were drifting away from me. As their voices faded, the sound of hurried footsteps replaced them. And after only a few seconds, a new person also spoke to me.
"Mr. Cesar, I know you can hear me right now, even though you can''t move."
"It''s me, Stella, I don''t have much time, so I''ll try to be quick."
"I''ve managed to lower the level of the sedatives they''re using on you so that you''re somewhat conscious at the moment."
"I know this isn''t what you want to hear, but right now you are the Valkyria Project the humans were talking about."
"It''s been about 9 months since the Battle of Oslo."
"Right now you''re in a special cargo hold on the USS ESSEX, the same aircraft carrier you served on before."
"Currently, the Sixth Fleet is in Plymouth, England, gathering supplies for its next deployment in a few days."
"The Alliance has assigned you several missions during this time, most of which have involved direct combat against the DOLLS."
"We have stepped in to carry out these operations on your behalf, to buy some time and get you out as safely as possible."
"But time is running out for us."
"They really plan to kill you very soon."
"But don''t worry, we already have a rescue plan in motion, more or less."
"You are currently considered nothing more than a weapon within the Alliance, so they have implemented several security measures that make your rescue difficult."
"We have been working in secret to gradually remove the tracking devices you had, but with the little time we have now, we have thought about being a little less discreet if that will allow us to rescue you alive."
"When the next mission starts, please look for a building with a red flag at the entrance and go to the basement."
"Inside will be Miss Momo, she has personally volunteered to help you remove the tracker from your collar.
"Both of you will need to venture a little further into the battlefield to a key location that will help both of you escape."
"Momo will give you more details when she meets you."
"I think it goes without saying, but she is exposing herself to a great deal of danger to save you, so please keep her safe at all times."
"I''m very sorry I can''t be more specific and give you more details as I have to leave now."
"Soon the sedatives will put you back into a deep sleep."
"Please, the next time you wake up, do everything you can to escape."
"We trust in your ability, sir, please don''t disappoint yourself."
"I couldn''t hear anything else even though I tried to pay attention. All of this is just giving out bad signals everywhere. I still have no idea how I''m alive, if I am, because I don''t really know what''s happening to me right now." And with these thoughts I felt the heavy sleep claiming my consciousness once again.
Ch8: The End Of The War
The End Of The War
Vienna, Austria
With a mighty blow, a metal curtain opened, the sound of gunfire raged in the distance, alarm sirens screamed at the living to seek shelter. And as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over my head, I immediately stood up completely disoriented, the light burning in my eyes, my body numb, feeling quite cold, struggling even to try to walk, clumsily hitting the ground. With great effort I try to stand up and observe what the hell is happening around me.
Once again, all I could see were streets in ruins and columns of smoke in the distance. But this time it''s not the coastal city that I see, but the remains of an older city. There''s no spring green and no midday sun, just snow, the cold surrounding me again, and the night with its strong moonlight, as if I''d gone back in time. I can see several Alliance soldiers moving north; it looks like they''re heading for a large white neoclassical building with huge gardens that have been turned into trenches. It was easy to see that it was the Austrian parliament building, and through the columns you could see the remnants of the Empire''s flags. I couldn''t believe it; we were really on the verge of ending the war.
With this thought in mind, I remember the words I heard in my dream. But before I have a chance to think about what I have done, an explosion occurs close to where I am, and I am thrown several meters and fall amidst various debris; the pain I feel is real, as real as the war that surrounds me. I try to get up quickly to fight and stay alive. In the distance, I manage to see a very strange red flag flying proudly on a building that I remembered as a hotel, despite the poor state of the entire city. I remembered the words that told me to go to the basement to be safe, so I set off immediately, not having a better plan.
Getting there was not without its problems. When an Empire machine gun nest unexpectedly began firing at a squad of soldiers walking across the street, Alliance soldiers returned fire almost immediately, and in the middle of it all was me, dragging myself on the ground to get ahead and avoid the shots. I had no weapon to defend myself; all I could do was move forward and take cover. Advancing a few streets became a true odyssey of courage and patience, but somehow I managed to avoid confrontation and make it to the entrance of the hotel.
Back in the building, recovering and trying to calm down a bit, I finally realize the predicament I''m in. Near me are the remains of a mirror I used to look at myself in.
Once again, I didn''t recognize myself in the mirror. Instead, a white girl was staring into my eyes, Namami''s face close to mine, and all I could do was be afraid when I saw her. Anxiously, I looked down at my feet, only to be completely stopped by two massive mountains. I turn around and try to look at my rear, but a huge white tail also makes the task difficult. There was no other way to see it; it was clear what had happened. I was trapped inside Nanami''s little body once again. The albino fox girl was the Alliance''s secret weapon against the DOLLS, and what was worse, I had become her. The only good thing about all this was that I could see the Codex Crystal tied to one of my two hair ornaments, so I wouldn''t have to search for it.
But while I was still processing what had happened, a concerned voice called out to me from a hallway.
"Cesar! Over here!"
"Hurry, come! We don''t have much time!" were the words spoken by a strange silhouette in the darkness.
"!!!!"
"It can''t be! Momo?"
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"This place is very dangerous! You can''t be here!" I said, worriedly recognizing the girl of glass who was hiding.
"I already know that!"
"But getting you out of here is important! The C.S.S. needs a capable engineer and I thought about helping you."
"Momo, you are the least qualified person for this that I know."
"Don''t you freeze when there are problems?"
"I KNOW!"
"I''m doing this because I have my reasons, okay?"
"Now come here quickly, we don''t have much time."
Worried about the poor angel''s situation, I followed her down the stairs until we reached an abandoned room in the basement, where there was a chair and a messenger bag with tools that Momo had put on. She invited me to sit down and turned on a flashlight, starting to inspect the strange collar around my neck.
"Just as I thought."
"The Alliance uses the collar as a security device to control you."
"It has a tracking device, a powerful sedative injector and a bomb."
"Don''t worry, it''s within what I expected, I can handle it."
"That antenna there amplifies the communication signals, so we can pretend you''re still within range of their mission."
"I''ll leave the GPS to throw them off and confuse the Alliance command."
"As for the bomb, please hold your breath for a moment and pray."
"That''s it? Sounds pretty simple, actually."
"Did you really come all the way here just for that?"
"''This is actually the easy part."
"The real challenge is the escape."
"Just a few blocks from here, in the basement of the Austrian parliament building, there''s a portal similar to the ones the angels use."
"I need to get to it and modify it with our coordinate system so I can use it to get you out of here to a place where they can never follow you again.
"And then destroy the device with explosives."
"That''s what that bag is for, it contains the parts I need."
"Wait a minute, I think I just heard about an almost suicidal plan in the works."
"For a moment, I heard something ridiculous about trying to sneak through the front lines, into the trenches where the Empire''s resistance is making its last stand, and somehow give you about 30 minutes while you repair the machine that will get us out of here, all while carrying a briefcase full of explosives on your back."
"........."
"I didn''t say anything about carrying the briefcase during the trip."
"Can you tell me the name of your supervisor and the clown who approved the mission?"
"It''s the only way we can rescue you."
"Maybe you don''t know because you''ve been asleep for the last 9 months, but you''ve been under extreme surveillance."
"We''ve been planning and rehearsing this for almost 3 months."
"Don''t worry, half of the Empire soldiers in the parliament are our own agents; they''ll turn a blind eye if we go through there."
"And what about the other half?"
"Don''t they find it strange to see a crystal statue of a naked girl running in the middle of a war zone?"
"........"
"They won''t be alive tomorrow."
"And we may not make it through the afternoon."
"Come on, I''m standing next to the great Cesar, the survivor."
"This is the natural habitat of such an incredible, legendary monster."
"I''m sure he''ll protect me without a problem."
"Besides, he''s not my only card; I''ve been planning this for three months."
"Ta-da! With these bad boys, we can go on ignoring them when they shoot at us!"
"Here I have two state-of-the-art energy shield generators from the C.S.S., and I even modified them for extra power!"
*Crash*
"Here I have one state-of-the-art energy shield generator that will get me out of this mess."
"Good luck, Cesar, you''ll need it to survive."
"You''re on your own in this one."
Yes, I imagined something like this would happen, knowing the background of my luck. Once again I would have to improvise on the fly if I wanted to get out of the strange mess I had somehow gotten myself into alive, by the way THE BOSS decided to revive me. Momo went back to work, carefully removing the collar, while outside the sound of artillery and its explosions made the ground shake. It seemed that the attack was on what was left of the city''s power supply, because after the explosions the lights went out, leaving everything in darkness. Shortly after, I felt a strange stabbing sensation in my neck and saw the collar break into two pieces and fall to the ground at my feet.
"Oh no! No! No!"
"This is bad," Momo said, taking a flashlight and inspecting the remains of my collar.
"What just happened and why is that bad?"
"The collar had an additional safety measure and due to the lack of light I accidentally triggered it."
"The sedative from the collar has just been administered."
"''That''s bad.''"
"It''s quite difficult to escape while I''m sleeping."
"Don''t worry, I have something for emergencies."
"Take this injection."
"A shot of adrenaline will keep you awake."
"But it will only delay it for a few minutes, after that you''ll have to sleep."
"How many of these shots do you have left?"
"I had two, now there''s only one left."
"Really?"
"Then we have to go right away."
"What is this day? The day when everything goes wrong for C¨¦sar?"
The sound of the slowly opening door interrupted our conversation. Momo froze in panic, as still as the work of art she must have been. When I turned around, I saw a young Asian girl, well built, her black hair perfectly straight, suggesting an out-of-place personal care, like in a war zone, maybe just a little more than the exotic clothes she wore or her strange pale yellow eyes. In her hands she held two thin golden stilettos, almost needle-like, chained together, and her gaze reflected the cold and calm of a professional. This girl meant trouble, much more than the three heavy soldiers behind her.
"Ma''am, this is WarLady. I have located the target girl."
"She''s right in front of me. I will proceed with the original plan."
"I will proceed with her elimination."
And just when everything was going wrong, more trouble arrived to prove that things can only get worse.
"Hey, I already have a tight schedule to keep."
"How about we reschedule our confrontation for another day with more time? How about next week?"
"!!!!"
"I didn''t know Valkyria could talk, that wasn''t in the report!"
"We have a problem! She''s showing signs of high intelligence!"
"Open fire!" said the surprised Asian girl.
I could see the men behind her raise their weapons and aim to shoot. Behind me, Momo remained completely paralyzed with fear, and the shield generator she was so proud of lay on the ground, inactive. With her delicate glass body, it was easy to imagine that a single bullet hitting her could cause a tragedy. A tragedy for someone close to me, someone who had risked herself to help me in a moment of need, someone I didn''t want to see suffer because of me. The sense of injustice enraged me; despite the initial traces of drowsiness, my anger was greater, my blood boiled with rage, and I could feel my eyes changing from their light blue color to a pure crimson red. But most importantly, I had to keep the poor angel girl out of harm''s way. Taking a small step back, I called out a name, one I hadn''t uttered in a long time for various reasons, but they didn''t matter anymore if I wanted to save someone else.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"AVALON!" I shouted into the air.
And once again, my trusty sword answered the call of its master. Through a magical portal in the ground, it made its triumphant appearance to save another life. Although calling it a sword was not the correct way to refer to such a monstrous, uniquely designed piece of metal. Perhaps it had the shape of a great sword from some lost legend, but it was much more accurate to call it a giant shield due to the enormous width of its heavy blade, more than enough to protect both me and Momo from the gunfire by simply placing the sword perpendicular to the soldiers'' weapons. The sounds of the bullets stopping abruptly or ricocheting everywhere except towards what was behind it, once again Avalon had fulfilled its sacred sworn duty of protecting its bearer, while the sharpness on the edges of its blade was nothing more than an extra addition that did not detract from its effectiveness.
"!!!!"
"What the hell is that? That thing came out of nowhere!"
"Don''t just stand there! Shoot again!" I heard the other girl scream in surprise.
I could hear the sound of gun magazines hitting the ground as they reloaded before attacking again, which meant it was the perfect moment to counterattack and win. So I launched myself from the side of the large sword buried in the ground and sprinted full speed towards my enemies. Going for the soldier furthest to the right, I grabbed the barrel of his rifle and pushed it up toward the ceiling. Then, with my free hand, I punched him in the nose with all my strength, seemingly enough to knock him unconscious on the ground. But I wasn''t done yet. Immediately, I crouched down and kicked the other soldier near him in the stomach with the force of my left feet, not enough to kill him, but enough to throw him off balance and steal his pistol. The assassin girl didn''t wait any longer and lunged at me with two stabs from her weapons, but with my free hand I managed to deflect one while using my tail to entangle her and prevent her from touching me. Then it was only a matter of taking the pistol and pointing it at the girl''s head, threatening the last soldier who had finished reloading.
"One more fucking move and the girl''s brains will be on the wall!" I shouted menacingly.
"Stop! Stop it!"
"Let Xian go, she''s innocent!"
"Innocent? Innocent of what?"
"Just look around the dumpster we''re in."
"Isn''t she your boss? What else would she be doing in a war zone?"
"You filthy brat! You think it''s okay to have hostages?"
"You don''t have the guts to shoot," said the soldier whose gun I now held.
The Asian girl kept trying to free herself skillfully, but I maintained pressure on her neck despite the pain from the bite she was inflicting. Seeing it was almost three against one, I decided to tip the scales in my favor and shot the unarmed soldier in the leg. He fell to the ground in great pain, but alive, for although we were now enemies, they were nothing more than soldiers following orders and trying to end the war. It would be a shame to die so close to victory for someone who had probably fought alongside me before. Unfortunately, my condition wasn''t much better. My body was starting to feel heavier and less responsive, I was beginning to feel a fatigue I shouldn''t have, the sedative was starting to show some of its effects despite the adrenaline injection.
"Damn bitch!" the girl whose neck I was holding screamed.
The remaining soldier hesitated what to do, he couldn''t just shoot and risk the life of his superior or his comrades just because of a last second bad decision, and I could feel that doubt consuming his mind. Seizing the moment, I released the girl and gave her a strong kick in the back to send her towards the soldier. Instead, he dropped his weapon to try to save her, but that only made his situation worse as I stepped forward and quickly got behind him to hit him on the head, knocking him unconscious as well.
"Shit!"
The Asian girl grabbed her stilettos again and tried to attack me with them, but just as they hadn''t worked the first time, they didn''t work the next time either, as it was quite easy to simply turn my hands and deflect her attacks, even disarming them. Then I lunged at them, this time using a chokehold to make her faint from lack of air. The last man left was the one injured in the thigh, who tried to heal himself quickly and get out of there, but seeing that he was already out of danger from the bleeding, it was easier for me to hit him and take him out of the fight as well.
"Damn, I feel terrible."
"Momo, the danger has passed."
"Move your damn ass, we''re leaving."
"!!!!"
"Oh! Yeah, sure, I''m coming! Right away!"
As if coming back to life, the beautiful crystal statue began to move again to gather her belongings. From her bag, she took out a huge yellow waterproof cape, which she put on to try to hide her transparent body with something perhaps much more eye-catching. Then she turned on her generator, and after seeing the unconscious men, she followed me on my way back to the main street, after taking care of returning my sword to the weird magical dimension it came from.
"Who were those people?"
"I thought the transponder I planted would fool the Alliance command."
"The girl was a professional assassin."
"While I was sleeping, I overheard a conversation about how they wanted to get rid of me very proactively."
"......"
"Ugh, shit, I don''t feel good."
"I feel dizzy and sleepy."
"Also, my arm feels strange, it tingles."
Concerned about what I had just said, Momo approached me and tugged on my sleeve to check on me.
"!!!!"
"What the hell is this? Your arm is swelling up quite a bit, that''s not normal."
"Could it be poisoned?"
"What the hell happened?"
"Poisoned... too?"
"I have no idea... what happened."
"Can you... do anything... about it?"
"I can apply a tourniquet to slow it down, but I don''t have any medicine to treat poisoning."
"I can''t give you painkillers because they might make you fall asleep even faster."
"But when we reach the portal, I can set the coordinates to jump to a hospital."
"They can surely treat you better than anything I can do."
"So... we need to... Continue."
"Wait, here, take the other injection."
"You''re falling asleep."
"No... later... Still a lot... to go."
"No, it has to be now!"
"I''ll find a way to make up for lost time!"
"For now, the important thing is that you don''t fall asleep here!"
I could feel the prick of the needle in my neck jolting me awake as if someone had thrown cold water on me, but I could also feel the pain in my arm growing more and more, as if the extra effort in my body to stay awake was only spreading the mysterious poison further. In the distance, I could see the Parliament building and the battle between the Empire and the Alliance to capture it, and that was exactly where we needed to go at full speed to escape this strange chaos.
To say that we still had time was completely false; in fact, we were already late, so I took Momo''s hand and carried her in my arms to run through the trenches of the garden and reach the inside of the building. On my way, I could tell that the angel was right when I saw a couple of Imperial soldiers throwing smoke grenades in my way and returning fire to allow me to pass with less difficulty; one of them even pointed out a small open window so that I could immediately enter the lower level. I couldn''t believe that at least part of the plan had worked. Once inside, it was Momo herself who led me to one of the rooms; there were several bodies of Imperial soldiers lying around, indicating that there had been a fight before we passed through. Upon reaching one of the doors, I could see the possible origin of the bodies, as I saw only one Imperial soldier standing in front of a door. Instead of raising his weapon and attacking us, he took a security key from his pocket to open the door, let us pass, and then closed it before leaving. He must be another undercover C.S.S. agent.
Inside the room, I couldn''t believe what my eyes saw: a huge, gigantic ring in the center of the room. Around its diameter were hundreds of symbols and constellations selected by small marks at the cardinal points of the ring. Looking at the circular structure was like looking at the surface of water with its ripples. This strange device was something that shouldn''t be within human reach, as the sheer complexity of such a device was far beyond our technological capacity. This was something that only beings like angels should be able to achieve, and yet I saw it right in front of me, in a warehouse next to several tanks of the Empire. As soon as Momo saw it, she immediately started to install some new parts.
"What is it... something like that here?"
"Why does the... Empire have... this here?"
"We don''t know that either."
"Stella''s sister found it during a mission to steal some documents, and Stella thought of using it to get you out of here."
"..."
"Why it''s here... Well..."
"..."
"It serves as a very good means of escape in case of losing a war."
"What!?"
"The portal is very premature to be a real threat to the C.S.S., so it falls into the category of human free will."
"''That''s why I need to install these extra capacitors, the one-time power source, and add the new coordinate system to the main computer."
"Also, install these plates of new constellations."
"Take them and place them between these pedestals where the symbols go, use this drawing to indicate the order."
"Place them PERFECTLY if you don''t want us to be stranded in the void of space."
"I think I just heard a terrifying implication... in that last sentence."
"I''ve got a lot of work to do, I can''t be distracted!"
"You don''t have much time, either from sleep or poison."
"I''m sorry... for... dying again... I guess."
Breathing was difficult and my eyelids heavy, my body again difficult to control, only this time the pain spreading through my arm helped keep me awake. With difficulty, I managed to place several of the plates the glass angel had asked me for, while she quickly installed the other pieces needed to upgrade the portal. As soon as the last of the plates was in place, she moved to the computer and began reprogramming the portal to make it work properly.
"Alright, I''m almost done."
"In the meantime, place the backpack near the portal, I''ll set it to explode after we both cross."
"The bomb will be more than enough to wipe out any trace of its existence."
"My body... it''s... killing me with pain."
"Now... my back... hurts too."
"Hold on a little longer, we''re almost there."
"I''m going as fast as I can!"
But as if hell itself rejected the idea of leaving my torment in peace, as Momo finished speaking, a loud noise was heard at the door leading to the storage room. A strong thud, then another, a ram smashed into the only protection there was to enter, little by little the door could be seen to give way to such monstrous force.
"Momo, I need... you to be... even... faster!"
"The program is processing the last sequence of coordinates!"
"I can''t push it any further! I don''t need to give it any more commands!"
"It''s a timer, when it finishes, the coordinates on the ring will light up and the portal will activate to go through."
"Only 5 more minutes!"
*BOOM
The heavy door in front of us finally gave way and fell to the ground with a loud crash. On the other side, I could see the figures of the intruders, three women in heavy armor with their energy weapons, a unit using arksuits alongside their captain, Miss Akane. The three of them went into formation and aimed their weapons at me.
"We''ve managed to locate the test subject V."
"She''s in some kind of strange Imperial machine, looks like she''s trying to defect to the enemy."
"Mr. Damien Raven expects the girl to recover in good condition, don''t disappoint him."
"How much... money... is the... damn giant... paying you... to risk so much... for me?"
"I... don''t... think... enough..."
"I take it back, it seems the subject is having trouble standing upright."
"It will be much easier to steal it from the Alliance than I thought."
"Try me... bitch..."
Irritated by my comment, Akane fired her weapon at the control panel where Momo was, but luckily I managed to call Avalon just in time to protect her from the laser beam. The other two girls ignited their engines to quickly run in my direction, and in less than a second they were on either side of me, both pointing their weapons at me. With all the strength I had left, I grabbed the hilt of the sword and twisted it slightly to point it perpendicularly at them, then jumped when they pulled the trigger and managed to avoid getting hurt. But Akane took advantage of my exhaustion to also approach me and grab me by the neck, a way to realize her mistake when she saw me pull out my stolen gun and point it at her head.
"Gotcha... Bitch."
But with good reason to be scared, Akane threw me backwards to buy herself some time. Just as I hit the ground, I heard the giant ring begin to turn its massive mechanism and an alarm sounded, warning everyone present that the portal was already powering up.
"It''s done! Ready!"
"Jump!" Momo shouted with all her strength.
More worried about the safety of the angel than myself, I fired wildly at the girls in a vague attempt to distract them while I grabbed Momo''s arm and threw her into the portal to save her. Akane, worried about understanding the true purpose of the device, launched herself to try and stop me, but in my last effort I threw Momo''s open backpack in front of her so she would notice the bomb, and laughing like a madman, I managed to convince her of what was about to happen. Scared out of her wits, Akane ran outside with the others while I felt the last moments of my consciousness and energy. Without wasting any more time, I jumped into the unknown as I fell asleep, not knowing if I would wake up again, at the same time I heard the bomb detonate and destroy the machine that gave me my freedom.
Ch9: Oriente 6
Oriente 6
In some room, Heaven
I have no idea how long I slept again, but when I regained consciousness, I opened my eyes and tried to get up quickly. But when I looked around, all I could find was that I was in a hospital bed, with an IV in my arm and even bandages on some of my previous wounds. Worried about the angel who had helped me, I tried to get up, only to find Momo lying half asleep beside me, holding my arm with her delicate glass hand. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that she was safe, but perhaps my action had managed to wake up the transparent girl, who looked at me almost immediately. It seemed that the girl was embarrassed to be caught in the act, for I am sure that if she had skin right now, her face would be completely red with embarrassment.
"Cesar..."
"This is..."
"I was making sure you weren''t hiding any other symptoms!"
"Yes, that! I was just checking your health!"
"......"
"Tell me, are you okay? Does anything hurt?" the angel said as she returned to sit by my bed, worried.
"I feel... like crap, to be honest."
"Exhausted despite being sedated for 9 months."
"But otherwise I feel fine, my arm doesn''t feel weird anymore."
"Maybe it''s a side effect of being trapped in a capsule, I suppose."
"Speaking of the arm, did you know that you were actually poisoned?"
"It appears that you were attacked by a Black Widow Arachnea."
"It is an extremely deadly and dangerous poison; what you felt was the initial effects."
"How did you even manage that?"
"You''re lucky we got to the hospital in time."
"If you''d fallen asleep in Vienna, you''d be dead by now."
"Again."
"......"
"Speaking of which, where are we now?"
"Oh, in Heaven, but don''t worry, you''re not dead, just out for a little walk."
"Right now, we''re on the planet Orient 6 in the Orient Solar System, to be exact."
"This is a sector for the Eastern Divine Division of Japan on Earth."
"Where many gods and their followers live, those who prefer to stay here rather than reincarnate."
"This is the capital of Takamagahara 6, and this is a hospital of the C.S.S."
"It''s one of the best hospitals, and it''s near a portal terminal."
"Thanks to that, they were able to treat you in time to cure you of the poison."
"Wow, I almost screwed up again so easily."
"Well, at least the worst is over."
"When will they let me out? I have to go home and check on my sister."
"......"
"Well, speaking of that... ......."
"Just give me the summary."
"Remember the bomb I told you to place near the portal?"
"Well, there was a reason for that, but you moved it and it exploded in front of the ring."
"That destabilized the synchronization and triggered the safety protocol."
"The good thing is that it protects people going through the portal from harm."
"The bad news is that it overloaded the system and caused the capacitor, the high-voltage transformer and the power supply to explode."
"So, thanks to you, the entire Oriente 6 portal terminal is currently under repair."
"And since Oriente 6 was the capital planet of the system,"
"Right now, the only way to get out of here is by old-fashioned space jumping."
"The repairs will take some time."
"How much time?"
"I don''t know, I haven''t checked yet, maybe three or four."
"Three or four what?"
"Yes, maybe five."
"Five what? Hours? Months?"
"I don''t have that much free time! I need to get back to my sister!"
"I need to know she''s okay! All this crap is so she can be safe!"
"Hey, I wasn''t the one who destroyed the portal."
"I was very clear in my instructions."
"....."
"Anyway, it looks like you''re okay now, and they''ll be releasing you this afternoon."
"....... "
"....... "
"Are you getting nervous? About what?" I ask her.
"We managed to escape, we''re already in a safe place."
"....."
"Hey, since we can''t leave..."
"While you were recovering..."
"I was looking for a place to stay."
"And I found a nice hotel... It''s a bit far from here... but we can get there by train in just an hour."
"If you want, you can come with me if you have nowhere to stay."
"Only if you want to, of course!"
"Well, it''s not like I have any other options or know the area."
"Actually, you''d be saving me again, because I have no idea what to do outside the hospital."
"Oh, excellent!"
"I''ll get everything ready! You wait here."
"Don''t worry! Leave it to me!"
Momo, for some reason, jumped for joy and left the room, checking her smartphone, probably to contact the hotel. Shortly after, a couple of doctors arrived to check on my health, and it was only when I looked in the mirror for the second time that I realized the big problem I was facing.
The first time, I had been too worried about trying to escape a war to pay attention to something that was not strictly related to my immediate survival. But now it was different. I could see Nanami''s body, I could see her face, I could see her fox-girl ears and tail, I could hear her voice, but she wasn''t there. Instead, it was me who was carrying her body like a horrible parasite. I didn''t mean for this to happen, but like the cruel fate that bound us to Atlantis, I was once again using the body of someone who was extremely important to me and who, despite her sacrifices, never found salvation. What disgusted me even more than seeing myself using Nanami''s face was the relief of not seeing my ruined face instead. In the mirror, I saw tears streaming down my face, but I didn''t know if they were for Nanami or for me. I was a girl now, and I couldn''t deny it; I could see it in front of me. I couldn''t be the same as before, even if I wanted to be.
hat all of this was a bad decision I made just to protect her from the illness? I had no way of knowing, maybe it was, maybe it wasn''t. All I have left is... to move forward... for now. The future will tell what will happen... I hope.
After changing into the clothes Momo had given me, she picked me up again and we walked for a while through the city to the train station. Takamagahara was unlike any other city I had seen on Earth, an extremely beautiful place with architecture heavily inspired by traditional Asian culture. Even the people who walked its streets continued that tradition by wearing classic clothes from those eras. But don''t confuse their love of tradition with a lack of progress; on the contrary, the city was full of it, with spaceships flying through the sky, several floating islands to visit, buildings the size of the tallest skyscrapers on Earth, and high-speed trains that would put any known to man to shame. When Momo talked about an hour train ride, she really meant an intercontinental journey.
When we arrived at our station, we descended into a city that was much more subdued compared to the obvious eccentricity of the planet''s capital. Where we were now resembled the image I had in my mind of traveling back in time to Japan: a small village in the middle of nowhere, with its dirt roads, five small houses separated by vast rice plantations and people working in them by hand. The joys of manual labor and the tranquility of rural life, interrupted only by the occasional spaceship flying in the sky or parked next to their houses.
"How did you even know this place existed?"
"Actually, if you told me there was a hotel here, I wouldn''t believe you at all."
"Oh, well, your father mentioned it once and told me that if I mentioned that I worked for him, the owner of the place would give me a big discount for staying there."
"So, my father again..."
"Every time they talk about him, I have more and more doubts if we''re talking about the same person."
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences."What the hell did he do with my money?"
"Why does everyone know him?
"Why is there a statue from a New Year''s Eve party in my house in the town square?"
"We''re not even on the same planet! Why is there even a statue?"
"What happened at that party?"
"It was just a really good party."
"You had to be there, everyone in the heavens appreciated it at some point."
"A bunch of special party ships in the sky and a lot of cruises on the seas were brought in to accommodate people."
"It was incredible and chaotic.
"I have no idea how so many people or food could be in Avesta 7 at the same time."
"All the people from Heaven on one planet? Please don''t lie."
"Avesta 7 isn''t that big to begin with."
"Besides, the whole idea of the planet is to be a paradise of private islands on a tropical planet with perfect weather."
"That''s why I chose that place."
"Having a bunch of people there goes against that idea."
"Well, it was just for the New Year''s Eve party."
"Besides, it was the BOSS''S SON, he was one of the first to arrive."
"He knows how to manage people and distribute food to large crowds with few resources."
"Also, if he tends to show up at a party, even if it''s just for friends, people tend to remember him for millennia afterwards."
"Wait, are you talking about that...?"
"The best part was around midnight!"
"He got on the DJ table and started blasting music until the sun came up."
"It was legendary, the best party I''ve ever been to."
"I''ll buy you a copy of the movie when it comes out."
"Every time someone talks about it, I have more and more questions."
As we talked and walked along the dirt road to the hotel, we heard the sound of a car approaching, so we stepped aside to give it room to continue. What we didn''t expect was that the car was a silver Mercedes Benz AMG GT from this year. Nor did we expect it to stop as soon as it passed us, and its driver to get out to greet us, or perhaps to see a samurai girl in her armor as the owner of the vehicle. The girl looked like a typical Japanese girl with her straight black hair, short stature, and fair skin. She seemed like a normal person if it weren''t for the fact that she was driving a racing car while carrying a katana at her waist.
"No way!"
"Momo? What are you doing here?"
"Shouldn''t you be working, trying to keep Rafael under control?"
"No, wait, you wouldn''t come out of there unless something really happened."
"Which means that the girl next to you must be... Cesar? Maybe?"
"Is it really you?"
"I''m sorry, but I don''t think we''ve met."
"Sorry, but who did you say you were?"
"Oh, sorry! Where are my manners?"
"My name is Urakaze, I''m the owner of the Ryokan just ahead."
"Ryokan means hotel in Japanese, in case you didn''t know."
"Yes, I know what it means, I can speak Japanese, I studied it for a while."
"I''m a big fan of the parties your father throws from time to time and of his work."
"Although it may not seem like it, I am friends with him, also a collector, and he has helped me find some hard to get items like this car."
"In fact, I was on my way back from visiting him."
"I was supposed to return about three days ago, but apparently some idiot managed to break all the gates at the transportation terminal at the same time."
"But what the hell... sorry, I mean..."
"Oh... I can''t imagine what kind of idiot would do such a thing!"
"I heard about your promotion to Valkyrie from your father."
"I must admit, I had my doubts as to why they would give you such a position."
"But now that I see the two big reasons, I can more or less understand what happened."
"I have to admit that you don''t look anything like the photos your father showed me of you, but now that I think about it, maybe that would have been worse."
"With the burns and..."
"Don''t mention it, I don''t like to talk about it."
" I''ve had enough of scaring the kids with my face."
"Oh shit, I fucked up..."
"......"
"Oh! I guess you''re on your way to my ryokan, right? There''s nothing interesting around here anyway."
"Sure, you want to rest and relax for a while."
"Go ahead, get in the car, I''ll drive you."
"I was going there anyway."
Momo gave the green light, so I trusted her and got into the car to get to the hotel early. It was truly a beauty worthy of the best fantasy tales, with exquisite architecture that was both traditional and elegant. It had large, meticulously maintained gardens and a luxurious outdoor hot spring area. While the interior, like the lobby, boasted all the comforts of the modern world one could expect, with air conditioning, television, comfortable chairs and tables fit for a first-class restaurant, and even free Wi-Fi Internet - it had it all.
"I can tell by your expression that you''re quite surprised by what you see."
"But even though this Ryokan is nearly a thousand years old, it''s still a hotel."
"It is important for business to keep up with all the comforts that guests might want."
"Although there''s also a much more traditional section for those tourists who want something more ''authentic'' to the past."
"Ah, it seems like only yesterday when I started building this place as nothing more than a hut to spend the night in with wood I gathered myself."
"But with time, and perhaps more renovations than necessary, it became this."
"The Ryokan Megumi-no-Kitsunei."
"..."
"Well, the relatively distant location from the capital may not help attract many customers at first, but we have a rather relaxed and peaceful atmosphere that has made us famous in our own right."
"A blessing disguised as a curse."
"Can I have some more of this delicious ice cream?" the angel asked happily after finishing her third plate of food.
"Hey, try not to order too much food, we still don''t know the prices of this place."
"Oh, don''t worry about it."
"Go ahead, order whatever you want, it''s on the house," Urakaze said frighteningly cheerful.
"Hey, wait a minute, what exactly is going on here?"
"I don''t like to think badly of people, but I think you''re being overly generous."
"Letting us stay here, the food, and not charging us?"
"You may be a friend of my father''s, but I think it''s too much even for that."
"......"
"Although it''s my father we''re talking about too, and situations like this happened when he was alive, so I don''t know what to believe."
"......"
"Well, any emergency can happen."
"I''m sure being stranded on Oriente 6 wasn''t in your plans."
"Of course you need a place to stay."
"And I figured everyone needs a Good Samaritan from time to time."
"......"
"....... "
"And this will also help me reduce my debt to your father at least a little."
"Debt?"
"How much do you owe my dad?"
"......"
"......"
"The ownership of the hotel..." Urakaze said, looking out the window.
"You owe Mr. Rafael the whole hotel?" Momo said, even impressed.
"We were playing our usual poker game."
"One of the new guys came with one of the first examples of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen Nr. 1."
"It was in mint condition, with the original receipt."
"It was the first car made by man, the great-grandfather of the one I have."
"I had to have it in my garage!"
"And then your father came along with a Detective Comics #27 in mint condition."
"Things got tough, I couldn''t fall behind."
"And that''s how you lost an entire thousand-year-old hotel on a bet."
"Please! Tell him to reconsider!"
"This hotel is my main source of income!
"I hammered every single nail in the foundation of this building myself!"
"The garage with my babies is also here!"
"Please tell him to change his mind about something else, but not my hotel!"
"Oh, yes, of course, I''ll think about it."
"If only he would stop pretending he''s not home and ignoring my calls or messages asking him to return my money."
"Oh! That would be excellent! Thank you so much!"
"I''ll put you both up in one of the best rooms in the hotel!"
"I only have one left, so you''ll have to share."
"It''s the lake cabin, it''s outside the main building, but it''s quite private, so you won''t have any trouble with disturbances."
"You can also use all the facilities you want."
"Here are your cards, these are both your room keys and where your bills will be."
"Please use them as much as you can, the survival of my hotel depends on you spending as much as you can, don''t hold back."
"Oh, and before I forget!"
"Please don''t venture too far into the forest to the north, there''s nothing of value there and it''s easy to get lost."
"Besides, the locals usually go there to hunt animals before winter."
"So it''s probably full of traps and people with weapons, it''s not safe to go there."
"Okay, thank you very much, I guess."
"But I''m sure Momo will want a room for herself."
"No! No, that''s not necessary."
"We''re already bothering Urakaze enough by giving us a whole cabin to ourselves."
"That''s fine."
"Oh, I get it! Momo, good luck with him."
"Use these days and make your dream come true."
"It''s the perfect time! It''s time to act!"
"Urakaze! I told you it was a secret!" said the Crystal Girl.
"Hey, what are you two talking about?" I asked, confused.
"Nothing! Nothing important!"
"Maybe we should go to the room already, you just got out of the hospital, it''s important that you take care of yourself."
"Wait a minute, do you really think we''ll be okay being in the same room?"
Momo pushed me toward the cabin Urakaze had mentioned. It was a traditional cabin, but with architecture similar to the rest of the Japanese hotel, complete with tatami mats, low bed mattresses, and for these cold days before winter, there was also a kotatsu. In addition to all the other things you would expect from a hotel, such as room service, a mini fridge, and most importantly to me, a modern bathroom. I hadn''t seen an intact one for years, and those on the carrier were anything but comfortable, while those in the cities I visited were usually damaged for various reasons, from being broken into pieces to having an undetonated bomb. Seeing such a fine specimen for free, I couldn''t resist using it right away. But right after I pulled down my pants, I remembered a crucial detail that I had overlooked all this time. My best friend and battle buddy had been killed in action, another casualty of the war. My faithful friend and tool was now in a better place without me, for from now on, nothing would ever be the same again.
Ch10: A little Break
A little Break
Oriente 6, Heaven
When I woke up the next morning, for the first time in a long time, I could appreciate what it was like to get up without the fear that this might be my last day. There were no gunshots, no people running and shouting orders, no alarms or sirens; in fact, I could finally sleep a little longer if I wanted to. But I felt like I couldn''t, maybe because I was sleeping in a completely unfamiliar place, like another planet, but most likely because I was standing next to a girl, a crystal angel, who looked at me intensely without saying a word.
"Say, when are you going to ask?" I said to Momo.
"????"
"Ask for what?"
"Come on, it''s obvious, too obvious."
"Now I''m half a meter shorter, I have hair again, two mountains on my chest and a tail."
"What are you waiting for to ask?"
"Well, Stella told me a bit about the details of what happened to you."
"And I had already heard a bit about Nanami''s story."
"So I thought maybe I should give you your space and not do anything until you were ready to talk about it."
"Oh, thanks for the consideration, I guess."
"The truth is, I feel like what happened is still very recent, and the lack of self-esteem I was already suffering from isn''t really helping."
"So I prefer to keep my things to myself, at least until I see that my family is okay."
"....."
"After that, I don''t know what to do, honestly."
"That''s okay, I understand."
"Just take it easy, one step at a time."
"And if you have any problems, don''t hesitate to tell me, I''ll come to help as soon as I can."
"......"
"....."
"Hey, there''s just one thing I can''t stop thinking about."
"......"
"Tell me, have you thought about continuing to use your real name?"
"Uh? Excuse me?"
"I didn''t understand the question."
"Cesar is a very masculine name, too masculine."
"And I was thinking about continuing to call you that, despite, well, you becoming a girl and with those big breasts," Momo mentioned as she touched my breasts.
"I don''t think it''s a good idea, a lot of people will start asking the questions you don''t want, I suppose."
"So I thought maybe you should change your name, an alias at least."
"How about Elise, it''s the same one that worked before, no one asked in those hard times."
"Are you sure to use Elise?"
"Don''t you have memories of, well, Atlantis?"
"I don''t like it, but I guess it''s better than nothing."
"I can''t think of anything better either, I''m not good with names."
"......"
"Can we change the subject?"
"Urakaze seemed to know you quite well, I''m sure you know something about her as well."
"Oh, well, about that, yes, a little."
"She''s actually a friend of your father''s, though I have no idea how they met."
"Every now and then they meet at a casino on Avesta 7 to trade rare collectibles and such."
"That''s curious, but I''m more interested in why she''s always wearing armor and carrying a katana."
"Oh, that''s much more interesting!"
"Urakaze is well known here thanks to her hotel."
"But she''s much better known as a Yokai hunter."
"You know, demon and monster hunters and all that stuff."
"Urakaze was perhaps the least known hunter of her time when she was alive."
"But she was the most important hunter during the hunt for Tamamo-no-mae."
"Urakaze managed to single-handedly stop the powerful and evil kitsune goddess long enough for the other two great elite hunters to arrive in time to defeat her."
"Unfortunately, she died from her injuries and has been here in the heavens ever since."
"From what I''ve heard, even though she''s been here all this time, the hotel itself isn''t as old as she claims."
"Rafael says it''s a trick by Urakaze to attract more customers."
"The katana she uses is the same one she used to fight the evil goddess."
"......"
"She even once pawned it to Rafael in exchange for money to buy the car she used yesterday."
"I kind of suspected something like that after hearing that she is in debt to my father for the hotel."
"....."
"I just want to go home."
"Tell me, how long do I have to wait for the portals to be repaired so that I can return?"
"After what happened and the damage?"
"They have to bring some delicate spare parts from another solar system, so it''ll take several days for them to arrive."
"And considering the repairs, it won''t be easy either."
"I think about a month in Earth time."
"A MONTH!?"
"I can''t stay here for a month!"
"I have to find my sister!"
"The poor girl is alone in the hospital, and my mother can''t visit her all the time."
"I have to go back and make sure Stella hasn''t screwed up like her sister."
"Hey, there''s not much we can do right now."
"Why don''t you sit down and relax for a while? I''m sure a tired soldier could use it."
"Just think of it as a vacation."
"Momo, please, the last time I spoke to her was a month before the battle of Oslo."
"And that was last year, I''m told."
"My family must think I''m dead."
"Well, actually, they don''t think you''re dead."
"They''re sure of it now."
"Your funeral was 8 months ago."
"Cedric took a risk and managed to get into the Imperial-controlled city just to retrieve your body and deliver it to your mother."
"This is even worse!"
"I have to get out of here!"
"You know what, do what you want."
"Right now I''m in a hotel and I want to enjoy it after all the trouble I went through to get you out of there."
"I need to relax, my hands are still shaking from the nerves."
"So I''m going to take a bath in the hot springs first."
"Don''t you want to go too and enjoy the view?"
"????"
"What view? You''re transparent, there''s nothing to see."
"Sure, when you swim underwater, you''re completely invisible."
"Besides, you''re always naked, what''s so special about .....?"
I only managed to see a translucent punch right in my face for half a second, it was so hard to see that I could not react.
"MORON," the angel said as she ran away crying.
After recovering from the blow, I left the room to have breakfast. I was quite hungry and couldn''t describe the feeling of joy that filled me when I saw an all-you-can-eat buffet that I could try to finish. The only question was what to start with. But after careful consideration, I made my request fully thought out and planned.
"I want the meat sandwich with vanilla ice cream, also 2 pieces of fried chicken and all covered in chocolate, please!"
" Gaining fat for the winter?" a girl behind me said.
"Urakaze"
"What? What are you doing here?"
"Just making sure you order something expensive to charge your father later."
"Don''t you want ice cream wrapped in gold?"
"No, why would I want that?"
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings."I don''t want to get food poisoning."
"Actually, I came to make an important announcement regarding your stay."
"It was something I overlooked yesterday, but after checking on your... current state of health."
"I''m afraid I can''t let you take advantage of your situation to cause more problems with the other female guests."
"Therefore, you will not be allowed to use the hot springs outside your designated hours, which are from one in the morning to six in the morning."
"Early morning? Who the hell would use the hot springs at that time?"
"Nobody, that''s the point."
"Fuc... of course"
"I will follow the rules."
"Other than that, don''t hesitate to contact me if you need anything."
"No matter what it is, I can help you, for a good fee of course."
"......"
"You know, maybe there is something."
"Anyway, I don''t think I''ll lose anything by asking."
"....."
"You said you were a collector, right?"
"Surely you have contacts here and there."
"Tell me, do you happen to know a way to get back to Earth?"
"Possibly in less than a month or so?"
"Hm, since the high-voltage transformer of the portal terminal is broken, it cannot be used."
"It''s not that the portals themselves are damaged."
"It''s just that at the moment, there is nothing that can provide the necessary power to turn them on."
"I imagine that if you manage to solve the power problem, Momo can surely modify the terminal to bring you back to the land of the living."
"And what kind of power are we talking about?"
"Does it take 1.21 gigawatts? To reach 88 miles per hour maybe? A blue telephone booth?"
"Cesar, these numbers are small in comparison."
"There are 3 spaceships parked in the hotel parking lot."
"How much energy do you think those things can generate just for one jump?"
"And yet their consumption is ridiculous compared to what a portal uses."
"That''s why its maintenance and use is so delicate, we''re talking about amounts of energy like the kind of numbers small children usually play with."
"We''re talking about a portal that can constantly distort the reality around it."
"The only way to get one started is with something capable of doing something similar."
"A black hole maybe?"
"Hell, I don''t think even the Atlanteans had something like that."
"....."
"Damn, I need to get back to my sister and mother, at least tell them I''m okay."
"....."
"Hey, needing something that distorts reality doesn''t mean it''s impossible."
"....."
"There are people who are easily capable of such things."
"The hard part is convincing them to help you."
"And who might that be? A speedster?"
"A god."
"Surely you know them, those kind of legends and ...."
"Yes, yes, I have an idea of what a god is."
"The face and the way you speak may not help, but I''m no idiot."
"You know, I used to be a bit of a god myself. For about five minutes, anyway."
"But how do you expect me to convince a god to act like a human battery for five minutes?"
"Gods don''t like to interfere or be disturbed at all; most of them are like hermits."
"They''re more like a concept than a living being, they almost don''t like to exist at all."
"But I think if you told them you could convince your father to give you VIP tickets to the New Year''s Eve party, you would have a very powerful bargaining chip."
"If it were within my reach, I would offer myself to sell those tickets at a golden price."
"Why does this place work in such a strange way?"
"Well, you could say that people around here find important events quite valuable."
"....."
"Hey, I actually know someone who can help you."
"There''s a god who lives in a village about 10 kilometers from here."
"His name is Takamimusubi, a god of agriculture who likes a relaxed environment but also likes to party."
"He has some land nearby, a rice plantation, If you go there and mention your problem, he might help you."
"Do you really think he will help me?"
"Well, it''s either that or wait for the portal to be fixed in the usual way."
"All right, I''ll try to talk to him and see how it goes."
"He lives in the village further up the dirt road to the north."
"Remember to turn right at the intersection, and then it''s just straight ahead."
"He lives in the only white house in the village; you can''t miss it."
"Thanks, I''ll go after breakfast."
"Oh, and one more thing!"
"Normally on Earth it would be the middle of winter, but on this planet the seasons are a little delayed."
"Don''t let the beautiful reds of the trees fool you, this is just the beginning of winter."
"It could snow at any moment, so keep that in mind when you go out."
After eating like a king for breakfast, I made my way to the place Urakaze had told me about, and I could see that she was right about it being almost winter here. You could probably see the first snowfall along with the cold weather. Even though the clothes I was wearing were military, they weren''t the best for being outside in a snowstorm. I should get something warmer and maybe a scarf on my way back. According to Urakaze, the seasons on this planet are a bit delayed compared to Earth. According to the calendar, we are at the beginning of February.
"Very well, this must be the crossroads. Now I have to go north if I turn right.
Now that I think about all this weather, surely in my home country it would be right in the middle of summer, with its high temperatures, lack of rain, and dry plants. A good time to go to the beach, no doubt.
I also wonder what happened to my mom. I''m sure she''s still living in our old house, but hey, we''ve lived there our whole lives, so no one''s complaining. Maybe she''s the president of that law firm where she used to be a secretary, or maybe she''s helping someone with a political campaign. Knowing her, she may be working in a new place or may have become her own boss. She''s not really into politics; in fact, she originally studied to be a teacher. She started working as a secretary simply because she was good at math and taking notes for reminders, but she was definitely quite good at it. Despite her job, she always put our family first. My mother wasn''t someone who was particularly interested in her work, she was just very good at it. In fact, she enjoyed cooking or keeping up with neighborhood activities much more. She didn''t earn too much, but her job was only out of necessity, with the sole purpose of helping to pay for my sister''s treatment at the hospital. Even then, it wasn''t enough, which is why my father finally took that job as a bodyguard.
"Okay, now I have to turn right at the intersection to go north."
Speaking of Maria, I wonder what she is doing now? I imagine she is still in that hospital in Japan. Damn, I can''t believe I''ve been sleeping in a box for almost a year. Maybe she''s been released by now. Maybe my mother had to go all the way to Japan to pick her up from the hospital, but it was the only place that could treat her because even the best hospital in our country didn''t have what was needed to treat her illness. Japan came up as an option because it was the cheapest place and it wasn''t in North America or Europe, which were starting to get crowded because of the continental war. How rare was her disease? Well, the doctors let Maria call it "Kiss of the Rose" for no particular reason.
I imagine Maria probably spends her time practicing magic tricks or reading a copy of that black book she printed or transcribed by hand. She loved that thing and pretended to be a real magician when she was little. She even used to annoy the doctors with supposed spells she created while being treated, like when she tried to do that trick of destroying a bill in front of an audience and ended up actually tearing it up. It was pretty funny to see her cry when my mom lied to her and said the police were coming to arrest her for it. Damn, I''m still laughing just thinking about it.
But as my laughter subsided and I took a few more painful steps, I stopped dead in my tracks. I had already walked quite a distance, but I still couldn''t see anything of the city I was looking for. In fact, I was now surrounded only by a path that pretended to be a road and a huge forest, thick with the red of the trees and fallen leaves.
I was completely lost now, without the slightest idea how I got here, and since the whole forest looked the same, I couldn''t tell where the hell I came from.
"Let me guess, I am in the part of the forest full of traps that the hunters left behind and that Urakaze told me not to approach."
Don''t panic. I am just in the farthest place from home I will ever be in my life, I can get out of this easily. I mean, I''ve been through worse, unfortunately for me. The only thing I have to do is go back through the forest where I came from, which looks the same everywhere, or like plan B, go south, except I don''t have a compass and I have no idea which way the sun is pointing on this planet.
So right now the best thing I can do is find a river and follow it until I get to a house or a town.
Seeing the advantages of having a bigger pair of fox ears, I can hear better, so I hear a river a few moments after I start looking. After walking along it for a few minutes, I came across what might be my way out of this situation.
I had come across a small Japanese temple, the kind where a god is supposed to live. Although it seemed strange to me, because when we are in this far away place, it would be normal to see a big temple and not a small, uncomfortable and forgotten one; besides, this temple was quite dilapidated and even the weeds were growing under the floor, no doubt it was not a place that people visited often, and there seemed to be no path to get here. So my situation hadn''t changed much.
Ch11: Lost In The Woods
Lost In The Woods
Oriente 6, Heaven
What should I do at a time like this, when I''m lost? Well, I''d already wasted enough time and the sun was setting, so it was time to make a decision: I could continue along the river, but it would probably be night, or something worse could happen, like getting caught in a blizzard that would kill me from cold and hypothermia. Or I could stay here and prepare to spend the night by making a fire in the temple and continue my journey to the hotel in the morning.
I decided it was best to take no chances, knowing my bad luck, and instead prepare the place in case the cold struck tonight.
The temple was small, but still large enough to sleep in. The roof was a little damaged, so I started repairing it so the snow wouldn''t fall inside. I also gathered some firewood and dry leaves to make a fire that could last a good while. I didn''t need to eat, since I had eaten more than enough in the morning, and finding food now with so little preparation could be dangerous. Besides, I couldn''t tell what was poisonous or edible on this planet. Anyway, I''m not that far from civilization. When Momo realizes that I''m lost, she''ll probably call the police to help find me. I''ll be back at the hotel in a day or two at the most.
Getting the fire started was a little more complicated than I thought it would be. Well, it''s not like I had any survival tools; almost everything I did required just putting something together and tying it down. I didn''t even have a knife to help me do other things. But I did have my pistol and a single clip, so I improvised a bit and figured out a way to make fire with it. First, the bullets inside have gunpowder, so they can be used, but to avoid any risks, I took the bullet out of a shell and covered it with a piece of napkin I had from breakfast. I put the bullet in the gun and put the gun right next to the campfire and fired, although not perfectly, because with the force that the powder came out, almost all the leaves flew out on all sides. But what was left was enough to light the fire I needed.
Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, I also began repairing the interior of the temple in preparation for sleeping there in case it got colder than expected. So I got to work, and to be honest, I stumbled upon a few things I hadn''t expected. First of all, there was a large stone on an altar, surrounded by talismans and ropes, but they were either broken or burned. There were also some rather beautiful robes with designs of a starry night with a full moon. Just by looking at them for a few seconds, I noticed how the clothes themselves moved as if by magic, with clouds floating in the wind and changing shape. They were certainly valuable for their immense quality alone, and I couldn''t dismiss the possibility that they were something that couldn''t possibly exist at this point in my life. I guess no one would mind if I used them as a blanket during the night. There were two other objects near the altar. One of them was a metal hand fan, a traditional Japanese one with a beautiful engraved design that also moved. However, other than being a work of art, it didn''t seem to have any special meaning and seemed to be there just for the sake of being there, and cooling off was the last thing I needed right now. The other object was a strange spear, also beautifully decorated and carved, which matched the metal fan beautifully. This time, its purpose was clear: to be a war weapon. But despite its purpose, it was just as abandoned as everything else. I guess I could use it to hunt some animals or maybe fish with it if I can find a way.
With the repairs done, the bed made, and the campfire finally lit, I was able to relax a bit and enjoy a night camping out in the wild. But just then I heard the sound of a branch breaking nearby, so I turned to look in that direction, only to be met with the gaze of a girl. There was no other way to describe her but perfection, with beautiful golden hair and colorful blue eyes like gems. Her clothes were simple but clean, despite being in the middle of the forest. She had some kind of bow and arrows on her back, but you could tell they were improvised. In her hands she held a rabbit, which seemed to be her dinner, probably a hunter with her prey. The girl had a delicate and lovely face, but it was filled with surprise as she looked at me; it seemed she hadn''t expected anyone to be here.
"A ghost!" cried the frightened girl.
"No, wait! I''m not a ghost!"
"Well, I''m completely white, but for a different reason."
"Mine is albinism, let''s say it''s a medical thing."
"...."
"Sorry to bother you for a moment, but you see, I need a little help."
"Right now, I''m just a traveler who got lost in the forest and I''m looking for a way out."
"Oh, so you''re just a lost person?"
"I don''t know, most ghost stories start that way," the girl said with a slight grin.
"Tell me, would a ghost wear modern clothes like an military parka or combat gloves?"
"Oh, so that''s what you are."
"You dress very differently from what I''ve seen before."
"Combat, you said? Are you a soldier?"
"Well, yeah, no, not anymore, I guess."
"In fact, I retired only recently."
"I was on vacation, resting here until I got lost."
"Hey, if you could really help me get out of the forest or find a way, you''d be helping me a lot."
"Are you really just lost?"
"If I show you the way out, will you leave me alone?"
"Sure, no problem, I just want to get out of here before it gets dark."
"All right, I''ll show you the way out."
"But it will be dark soon, and the wind mentioned that it will snow today, so we better hurry."
The girl left the rabbit near the temple entrance and started walking ahead, pointing out the way so I wouldn''t get lost. Along the way, I tried to talk to her to make the walk a little more pleasant.
"You have no idea how much you''re helping me with this favor."
"I really messed up by getting lost so pathetically, especially considering that my family also lives in the rainforest."
"I''m sure my ancestors would be angry if they found out."
"Hey, I''m sure you''d like a reward for your help in this, wouldn''t you like to try some food at a restaurant?"
"No, that''s not necessary, I''m just helping someone in need, right?"
"But how did you get lost in the woods? Isn''t it forbidden for humans to enter?"
"Oh, well, I was on my way to look for someone in another village, I got a little distracted, and before I realized it, I was already in the middle of the forest."
"I remembered the times I spent with my mother and sister."
"It''s been a long time since I''ve seen them, so I''m planning to visit them soon."
"....."
"What about you? What were you doing in the woods?"
"Isn''t it forbidden for other people as well?"
"Are you a hunter from around perhaps?"
"Uh, well, yes, I am a hunter."
"You could say I have a special permit to be in the forbidden forest."
"In fact, my house is there."
"It''s quite deep inside, so I''ve hardly ever been outside; everything I need comes from the forest."
"So please forgive me if you see me rather confused with technological stuff, I''m not good with it."
"....."
"Though I must say I''m impressed to meet another kitsune girl here; it''s rare with so many Yokai hunters around."
"Although this is also the first time I have met an Arctic Kitsune."
"Huh? I''m not an Arctic Kitsune, I have albinism."
"It''s a kind of ''illness'' of genetic disorder."
"It may have the name ''illness,'' but it doesn''t really mean anything, just that I''m a little intolerant of sunlight."
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon."Although my case is a bit special in that respect."
"Originally, I wasn''t completely white; my hair was black at first, for example."
"Wait, another kitsune? Another one in the forest? Or are you one by chance?"
"What? No, no, no."
"Ha, ha, ha....."
"......"
"Hey, can I ask who you were looking for?" The blonde girl said in what seemed like a quick attempt to change the subject.
"Um, well, I was looking for..."
"Damn, what was their name?"
"They had a weird name like Kiotoyamato or something."
"Sorry, but I''m not good with weird Japanese names. I''m sure I''m butchering it offensively."
"I apologize."
"Well, at least you tried."
"May I ask what you were looking for?"
"Does it have anything to do with visiting your family, perhaps?"
"Oh, yes, you see, I''m actually in another predicament as well."
"As it turns out, I wanted to visit my sister, but due to something that happened at the portal terminal in the capital, they''re not working."
"And the truth is, I really need to visit her soon to check on her health."
"But they told me that it will take a long time to fix them, so in the meantime, I''m stuck here."
"I was looking for a solution with a friend and she mentioned a possible solution."
"It seems that I need to find a god, because only they would have enough power to change reality and give the portal enough energy to work."
"A goddess?"
"Oh, um, I mean..."
"We''ve reached the end of the forest; that path will take you back to the nearest town. "I''m sure they can help you get back home."
The blonde girl replied in surprise and haste at the same time; I wanted to ask her why the sudden change, but when I looked at her face, I immediately noticed a few things that weren''t there before and stood out too much.
"Excuse me, are you a fox girl by any chance?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"A kitsune? In the forbidden forest? You''re hallucinating."
"And what about those fox ears on your head?"
"And are those tails? Why do you have more than one?"
But while I was still talking, I could see a huge sword appear and rotate in the space between the girl and me. Avalon appeared on its own in the conversation; less than a second later, I heard a powerful metallic crash and a spear bouncing back without hitting anything. This was an extremely sudden attack, so I grabbed the handle of the metal block and pulled it back to get some distance.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?"
"Why are you attacking me now?"
"And where the hell did you get that spear?"
"Shut up!"
"I''m not going to be locked in a stone again!"
"If you escape, you''ll tell the hunters about me!"
"I''m not going to let them steal the freedom I worked so hard for!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I don''t know where I am, I don''t even know who the hell you are!"
"You were helping me just now, and now you want to hurt me?"
"What you''re saying makes no sense."
But I didn''t get any other answer than more blows from her spear against the protection of my loyal sword. The girl realized that a frontal attack would be useless; she turned to me and waved a hand fan violently, causing a great gust of wind to shake the entire forest and its trees, trying to make me fly, but the enormous weight of the sword didn''t move me from my place. The golden fox girl in front of me didn''t seem to listen to reason and continued to attack, so I was forced to defend myself by demonstrating my strength, taking out my pistol and firing close to where she was.
"What was that?"
"A new kind of weapon? Damn foreigners."
"What that was was a warning."
"The next one will be a real attack."
"Let''s see if you can dodge it."
"''Ha, lowly creature, two can play at the same game.''"
"Behold, true magic."
My enraged enemy pulled several paper cards with strange engravings from the sleeves of her robes and hurled them at me with speed and force. Once again, I shielded myself with my sword, but I could see a huge curtain of powerful blue flame rising in front of the metal wall. I was lucky to be protected by the perfect defense that was Avalon.
"What the hell is this ridiculous fat sword?"
"This flame should be able to melt any metal!"
"How is it still perfectly intact?"
"It''s magic, I''m not going to explain a damn thing!"
"Especially to someone who wants to kill me."
But right after that, I saw her improvise a new plan when I saw one of her strange paper cards fly past me and land behind me in its place. She seemed to realize that the sword could only defend from the front, found the solution, and forced me out of hiding. Instead, she decided to throw me far away, trying to hide me from the deadly blue flame that appeared, but what actually happened was an explosion similar to that of a grenade, sending a large splinter of wood into my abdomen, seriously injuring me. Angered by the pain, I returned the favor and fired several times, only managing to wound one of her legs.
We were both injured and looked at each other, neither wanting to take the first step to counterattack. But after a minute I saw the sun finally disappear and the full moon take its place, it would soon be colder and I''m losing blood, that''s not good for me. She''s in a similar situation because I managed to hurt her arm as well, she can''t use her spear and I have a gun so I can attack her from a distance.
Since this wouldn''t end well for either of us, I decide to try to come to an agreement instead.
"Look, we could go on like this and both end up pretty badly."
"And in any case, even if you manage to kill me, the angels will undoubtedly come looking for you for what happened."
"But I still believe that you are just a good girl who made a very big mistake by getting confused about something."
"So what if we do something else instead?"
"I''ll take this path to the village, while you take the other one back to the forest."
"No one attacks anyone and we both go on with our lives in peace, what do you think?"
"And do you really think you''ll survive with that wound?"
"What if it''s better if you just surrender and save yourself the suffering?"
"Come on, I''m not that weak, just a flesh wound."
"It''s nothing more than a scratch."
"I''m a soldier, I know how to survive a few wounds."
"And how do I know you won''t come back later to take revenge and lock me up with the other hunters?"
"I don''t even know who you are or why you''re being chased!"
"I''m just looking for a way to get home."
"Look, what if we both go in different directions at the same time?"
"Then you can go back to your little forest house and move somewhere else if you''re so afraid of being discovered."
"That way, I won''t even know where you live."
"....."
"......"
"Alright, agreed."
"I''ll let you go this time just because you''re a kitsune too, so you''re more trustworthy than a filthy mortal."
"....."
"Oh, yeah, of course... ...."
So I started walking backwards when I left. She gathered her things and did the same, entering the forest while still watching me.
Once the immediate danger had passed, a new one took its place. As night fell, the temperature began to drop considerably, along with the first snowflakes. I also had to consider the blood loss from the wound in my abdomen. I could try to stop it a bit to lose less blood, but I couldn''t remove the splinter because it needed proper treatment, or else I would die from the blood loss. Besides, I would lose even more body heat. If everything went wrong, I might die in less than two hours if I didn''t find help. So I decided to keep walking and hug my tail to try to get some more warmth, whatever it was, anything was better than nothing.
From what I heard from Momo, when someone dies in heaven, their soul goes through a resurrection process in the central district near where the Celestial Security Section is located. There, they review your case and the reasons for your death, similar to a police investigation, before they finally resurrect you. As you can imagine, it''s a long and complicated process that can take months, if not decades, depending on the investigation and the reason for your death. For example, if you did something stupid, you might even end up with fines or community service. And I don''t have time to waste on that! I have to see my family! I have to make sure that Maria is safe!
With the goal of meeting my sister and mother firmly in my mind, I kept walking through the blizzard that was raging around me until, despite the darkness, I saw several bright lights in the distance. My joy grew as I realized that it was the Urakaze Hotel that I was approaching. As soon as I walked through the lobby door, still wearing my dirty shoes, I went straight to the reception desk. I think I even knocked someone out of the way, but at that point I didn''t care. Urakaze was at the reception and looked surprised to see me coming in bleeding.
"Get me a doctor right away.
Or you''ll have to explain to my father that his son died in your hands and you did nothing," I said.
"Doctor to reception now! We have an emergency!" were her next words over the hotel loudspeakers.
"You, get some towels or something over here now!" she said to one of the nearby employees.
"I''m on it!" the other replied.
"Just give me a moment; I''ll try to patch you up a bit until help arrives."
But as Urakaze spoke to me, my vision blurred, and I collapsed to the ground in a faint.
Ch12: The Goddess of the Moon
The Goddess of the Moon
Oriente 6, Heaven
When I woke up, I looked around and found myself back in the lake cabin, with sunlight streaming in through the windows. I was lying on a futon, I could see that my stomach was bandaged, but although it hurt a little, it was clear that I was much better. Once again, I found a glass girl holding my hand, looking at me intently with her eyes, then she puffed out her cheeks to show her displeasure and began to speak angrily.
"Idiot!"
"Do you know how scared you made me yesterday?"
"You disappeared first, only to come back in the middle of the night during a storm, badly injured."
"Do you know how scared I was?"
"I was so excited to come back in the afternoon to go to the spa together and then walk in the gardens.
"I even made the reservations!"
"Since you were in the hospital, I told you to take advantage of these moments to relax."
"You just got out of the army, the best thing you can do now is to try to find peace in your life again."
"If you go on like this, who knows what will happen to you?"
"Are you angry that I got into trouble?"
"Of course I am!"
"Do you know the trouble I went through to help you escape?"
"Months of planning, working up the courage to even set foot on Earth."
"Why don''t you realize that I lov....."
"What I want... I want to say... The last thing I want is for my efforts to be in vain."
"I''m so sorry, it wasn''t my intention to cause so much trouble."
"I was just looking for someone to help me with the portals so that I could return to my sister sooner."
"A-are you really in such a hurry to go back?"
"Wouldn''t you at least like to spend some time with me?"
"Or is it that my transparent appearance bothers you so much that you don''t want to be around me?"
"What? No, no."
"You''re beautiful just the way you are."
"You''re definitely unique and someone I like."
"But I just can''t stay here without knowing what happened to my sister."
"I want to go back and make sure she''s okay, like they promised me, and also try to talk to my mother again.
"The last time I talked to her, I messed up and we left on bad terms."
"I''m worried that my death has affected her a lot, too."
"Cesar...."
I was about to say something else about Nanami before someone else entered our room. It was Urakaze again, dressed in her full samurai outfit with her katana. She personally brought us breakfast.
"Sorry to interrupt."
"You seem to be doing better after what happened yesterday."
"You have no idea how much you scared me; for a moment I thought I had completely lost you and the hotel."
"Oh, I see."
"Thank you for your genuine concern for my health."
"Our infirmary is quite good, despite the old look of the rest of the place."
"The doctor was able to treat you without any problems and even took the liberty of preventing you from getting a scar."
"Unfortunately, I will have to include this medical expense in the bill for your stay."
"Don''t worry, I''ll make sure to send the bill to your father personally the next time I see him."
"....... "
"Moving on to a much more serious matter."
"May I know what the hell attacked you?"
"For someone to wound the legendary Cesar, they must have caught you completely off guard, or with some pretty dangerous force."
"I don''t know, I don''t know who she was."
"I started walking the road you told me, I wandered a bit and got lost in the forest."
"I walked for a while until I found a temple near a river."
"After that, a blonde girl appeared, she seemed to be coming back from hunting."
"At first she was very friendly and even helped me find my way back.
"Then, while we were talking, fox ears popped out of her head."
"And a bunch of tails, I didn''t count them, but there were definitely a lot."
"After I asked her if she was also a Kitsune, she got angry and attacked me."
"Are all Kitsunes so violent?"
"......."
"Shit."
"....."
" By any chance, did you enter the temple near the river?"
"What did you see? Please be specific."
"Well, there was a strange spear, a metal hand-fan, a very beautiful kimono with a full moon pattern that moved."
"What about the stone?"
"The stone on the pedestal!"
"Oh yes, there was a stone on a pedestal."
"It was split in two, and there was also a broken rope and some slightly burnt talismans."
"....."
"Oh damn, this is bad."
"Really bad."
"Is it serious? Is it that bad?"
"How bad?" Momo asked, a little scared.
"Bad enough that I''ll have to close the hotel."
"And it will probably end up in ruins."
"Oh dear, that is bad."
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings."What the hell happened?"
"Can you explain what''s going on?"
"......."
"I think, as Momo surely told you, I was assigned to hunt down a certain kitsune a long, long time ago."
" Supposedly, she had deceived an important lord in the region."
"Unfortunately, it wasn''t until much later that I realized that something was very wrong with that mission."
"Something didn''t add up."
"At first, I thought it would be easy because of my experience hunting other monsters and demons, but this hunt was completely different from the others."
"The kitsune I fought that day was none other than Tamamo-no-Mae, the evil goddess of the moon."
"And it was against her that I lost my battle."
"......"
Urakaze began to tell what she knew about the legend of Tamamo-no-Mae and how she herself was a part of it.
She was a kitsune created by Amaterasu, the sun goddess and ruler of Japanese folklore, who disguised herself as a human to help Emperor Konoe. She was not specifically a goddess in the sense of a new goddess, since she was created by another goddess. But if she was the counterpart of the Sun Goddess, she could be considered the Moon Goddess. She was a beautiful woman, the most intelligent of the court, there was no subject she was not an expert in, astrology, science, philosophy, music, religion. Some claimed that she was a legendary sorceress. It was said that she always smelled good and her clothes never got dirty or torn. The young emperor was said to be in love with her, but one day, before he could ask the beautiful Tamamo-no-mae to marry him, he fell ill. Apparently with a terrible disease that even the best doctors in the empire could not identify, until one day the chief court magician said it was the girl''s fault, as he had apparently noticed something strange in her head, and he cast a malefic on her to reveal her true identity, which they discovered was actually a demon, a Yokai disguised as a human, a fox girl, a kitsune. Apparently, the sorcerer accused her of working for an enemy daimyo and trying to kill the Emperor with some kind of poison. The emperor himself, far from believing her lover and her counter-argument, only wanted to save his own life at all costs and was full of rage. He gave the order to kill her personally, to persecute her to the end of the world if necessary, all for a betrayal for which there was no proof other than spoken words. Fearing for her own life, she escaped from the palace, attacking several guards to get out. She was then pursued by two of the best demon hunters sent by the Emperor himself. Tamamo fought back, killing up to 60,000 of the Emperor''s soldiers in her final escape. She begged the hunters for her life, but we cruelly refused.
In the end, it took a huge army and the best magicians to stop them, already tired from so much fighting. They managed to kill her with a rain of arrows, layers of which blotted out the sun. Then the mages sealed her soul in a stone, from which her soul could not escape, but eventually the seal weakened and a curse came out of it, killing whoever tried to do it. The emperor also died at the age of 16 from an illness that turned out to be caused by a poison from the sorcerer who accused Tamamo. After sending the best priest who had managed to appease Tamamo''s soul. She promised not to kill again if they left the stone where she died alone.
"So that''s what happened."
"Surely, then, she has plenty of reasons to seek revenge, quite justifiably."
"But there''s still something I don''t understand."
"If she was trapped inside the stone, and the stone is in normal Japan,"
"What is the cursed stone doing here instead?"
"Well, we wouldn''t leave a killer stone with a dangerous evil goddess trapped inside somewhere where tourists would eventually go."
"We replaced it with a replica about 300 years ago."
"It was quite an operation not to awaken her, the angels had to help us a lot with the transfer."
"After that, we built the temple deep in the forest, so that if she arose or found a way to escape, she wouldn''t do any more damage."
"The truth is, there aren''t any settlers around here, most of us who live here are actually hunters by profession."
"That''s why I live here."
"If the evil goddess Tamamo-no-Mae were to escape,"
"We would be the first to notice her and try to catch her again.
"That''s why the forest was forbidden in the first place,"
"Which, ironically, made it a good hunting ground for the hunter families who lived around here."
"But no one ventured that deep into the forest, no one was that foolish."
"This is where I come in! I was the first!"
"When can I claim my trophy?"
"This is pretty bad, Tamamo-no-Mae has escaped from her confinement."
"She might be planning a big attack right now."
"We must stop her."
"I must leave immediately and tell the council the bad news."
"I think after that I''ll have to figure out how to get the guests out of the hotel."
"I have to go!"
"Ah, you two stay here for now, and under no circumstances should you even think about going into the forest!"
Urakaze spoke quickly as she hurried out of the room. As soon as she was gone, Momo turned her head to speak to me.
"So you faced an evil goddess and came out alive."
"I have a new respect for you now."
"So what is your excuse for wanting to see her again?"
"Urakaze said that Tamamo-no-Mae is a goddess."
"And that''s exactly what we need to get the portal working again."
" I thought that if I could convince her to help me..."
"Wait, were you hoping that I would try to find her again?"
"It''s Cesar we''re talking about, of course he''ll get into trouble at the slightest opportunity."
"And he''s the kind of guy who makes a simple task like talking to him honestly and getting a straight answer impossible even for me."
"..."
"Yes, the portal could work smoothly with a goddess like Tamamo-no-Mae giving it energy."
"Though it has to be the right amount, too little and it won''t turn on, too much and it could burn the whole machine."
"Maybe I can buy enough things to improvise a single use battery to keep it from burning."
"..."
"But how are you going to talk to the evil goddess who tried to kill you yesterday?"
"I know where she lives, but I must hurry."
"She''s probably planning to leave soon."
"Besides, she didn''t seem like a really bad person."
"I mean, for an evil goddess, she still helped me out of the forest and even let me leave alive despite all the advantages."
"Maybe if I tell her that I can intervene in her police problem, she might help me."
"......"
"Oh, why do I keep following someone as dense as you?"
"All right, I''ll help you."
"If she''s a girl, she must have a sweet tooth."
"Especially if she survived in the forest."
"If you bring her something like a cake, she''ll probably listen to you enough to laugh at your plan."
After talking, Momo left the room and returned a short time later with a sweet fruit cake. After taking some painkillers and getting a scarf for the cold, I made my way back to the forest to talk to the evil goddess. I didn''t have much time if I wanted to talk to her before she escaped, or worse, before Urakaze and his people found her first.
Ch13: A Date With The Moon
A Date With The Moon
Oriente 6, Heaven
I couldn''t believe that I was once again on my way to the forest where an evil goddess had tried to kill me yesterday, but I had to try it to at least ease my desperation to be reunited with my sister and mother, to tell them that I was safe and alive, and for that I had to leave here and return to earth. This time I would try to erase my bad impression from yesterday with the paste that Momo had given me and with which I would try to appease the spirits of the goddess. I was almost at the temple; I hoped to finish this quickly and be back before lunch at the hotel.
I was already walking along the river, trying to walk as calmly as possible so as not to look like a threat, although I did check my gun again to make sure it was loaded, just in case. In the distance I could see the roof of the temple I had repaired yesterday. I crouched down and started walking slowly to hide and see if I could observe if the girl was still in the place or if she had already left like she said yesterday. Looking at the place, I could see that the door to the small temple was open, in addition to a fire burning some meat and some small packages made of leaves. It seemed that the girl was packing her things for the trip, although she was nowhere to be seen.
As I watched, I saw a small fox come up beside me and watch me. At first, it seemed to be just a curious animal, fascinated by the presence of a human, but after looking at it for a second, I remembered that I might be dealing with a Kitsune goddess, who was perfectly capable of transforming into that fox to catch me off guard. So I grabbed my weapon and aimed it at her.
"TCH!"
"You''re much more perceptive than I expected," the fox said effortlessly.
Just as she spoke, a huge cloud of smoke erupted from the animal and vanished almost instantly, revealing the blonde girl in its place, along with her strange spear, pointing at me without fear.
"Stop! Wait! Wait!"
"Calm down!"
"I''m not here to hurt you! I just want to talk."
"That''s all! I swear!"
"Look, I''ll leave my gun where you can see it."
"You can stay there if you want, I won''t come any closer."
"I know yesterday wasn''t the best introduction, but I want to talk to you for a moment."
"I held up my end of the agreement yesterday, trusting in your goodwill."
"Yet here you are today, again presenting yourself with that strange weapon.
"Are you looking for a slow and painful death, foul mortal?"
"I am sorry to trouble you again.
"I know I''m causing you a lot of trouble, but I still need to talk to you."
"So, did you come to capture me yourself?"
"Did the hunters threaten you into revealing my whereabouts?"
" It is my sister."
"She is a young girl, but her health is very weak."
"The angels promised me that they would help her with her health if I helped them with some things."
"Not with you! It was something else, stealing an object elsewhere."
"The problem is, I''m afraid there''s been a misunderstanding, and I''m afraid that greatly exaggerated news of my death may have reached her or my mother, and it would devastate them emotionally."
"Interesting story you had there."
"Still, your problem is with the angels, not with me."
"She''s human, she lives on earth."
"I know we don''t look alike right now, but she''s my sister."
"What I''m looking for is a way back to Earth, that''s all."
"The answer is still no.
"I do not care what happens to your sister or to you.
"I just want to be left alone."
"Now you''d better leave before my goodwill runs out and I put a thousand curses on you!"
It seemed as if our conversation was going nowhere with her, even as she still wielded her Japanese lance. But our little argument had to be postponed when a huge rumble echoed through the sky. We both turned to see what it was when we noticed a glowing streak, accompanied by a trail of smoke, moving at great speed closer and closer to the ground until there came a moment when we could see it was a purple crystal stone hurtling toward what we perhaps realized too late would be us. The meteorite hit only a few feet away, but it had barely finished its impact when huge, black, pointed legs emerged from the crater. From what we thought was a small hole emerged a gigantic monolith, about four meters tall, made mostly of stone with a huge purple crystal for a head. A creature unlike any living thing we had ever seen turned violently in our direction and took a slight step back, as if preparing for battle.
"But what is this thing?"
The Goddess asked confusedly, but before she could speak further, a huge halo of purple energy formed from the crystal head near the center of the legged monolith. Her figure seemed incredibly familiar to me, as if I knew her perfectly and knew that something like this shouldn''t exist. In front of me was a Nightmare Eye, a dragon from the defeated Atlantis that had reappeared against my wishes. Its power was deadly, with a laser that could aim perfectly at something flying miles away in the sky; the only way to dodge its attacks was to play chicken and risk dodging at the last possible second.
"Watch out! Dodge!"
I shouted to the girl to warn her of the impending attack, but seeing that she wouldn''t have time to realize what was happening, I decided to run and push her out of the way of the laser, which missed both of us by only a few meters.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Get up quickly, that thing''s going to attack again," I said as I helped her to her feet.
"What is that thing? Did you attract it?"
"No, I''m sure I didn''t bring it here."
"Is this the first time you''ve seen this thing or something like it in this forest?"
"I''ve never seen that thing in my life!"
The crystal monster moved sideways like a crab towards where I had stood before, where I had left the cake and my weapon, then another halo of energy appeared above its head, its own attack. I took the blonde girl''s hand so she would follow me and began to zigzag to avoid the next deadly attack. When the beast failed again, it let out a powerful roar of rage.
"Are you sure you can fight that thing?"
"Aren''t you hurt from yesterday''s incident?"
"You can let go of my hand if you want."
"Oh, I''m sorry! I did it by accident, it wasn''t my intention."
"Don''t worry about me, I''ll complain about the pain when that thing isn''t trying to kill us."
"We have to do something, just dodging won''t be enough to defeat it."
"What if you attack it with your boomstick?"
"It seemed pretty powerful."
"You mean my pistol?"
"The one behind what is trying to destroy us?"
"What if you attack it with that pillar of blue fire from yesterday?"
"That monster is made entirely of rocks and minerals."
"If I use a fire that can melt it, it will be so powerful and flashy that the hunters will notice me right away."
"!!!!"
"Here it comes again! Get ready!"
Just as I finished speaking, both she and I jumped in different directions to avoid the attack. But the monster, learning from its mistakes, moved at the last second and hit Tamamo-no-mae directly.
"AAAHH!" she screamed as she fell to the ground, wounded.
With no time to lose, I ran to her side and quickly checked her wound while the Nightmare Eye returned to its position. She had a huge hole in her chest as if to see through to the other side, a horrible wound indeed, but she somehow remained alive despite what was clearly an instant fatal injury.
"Shit, this isn''t good."
"We need to stop the bleeding quickly or you might lose too much blood."
"Quick, put this on the wound and press hard."
"Give me a moment and I''ll get you to a doctor, hold on!"
"Watch... out..."
The monster didn''t attack with lightning this time, but decided to try to pierce me with the tip of one of its legs. It tried not to make any noise, but thanks to the warning, I was able to react in time and move away with Tamamo. But it wouldn''t matter if I couldn''t finish off this thing and get it to a place where it could be treated. This Tower Crystal is almost identical to a Nightmare Eye Dragon, so maybe its weakness is also the platform at the top. But what can I hit it with that will be strong enough to bring it down?
"Use my naginata to attack him," the girl said as her spear magically fell beside me to be picked up.
"Thank you," I replied.
I took her spear and started running a little away from her to the other side, forcing the monster to choose between attacking the girl on the ground or the one with the weapon in her hand. The tower-like monster made the obvious choice and began to run after me, deeper into the forest, where the undergrowth was thicker and especially with much larger trees, so it couldn''t move as freely.
After dodging a few of its leg attacks, I quickly climbed one of the tallest trees. I won''t lie, it hurt a lot from the effort I had to make to be fast, and my hands hurt a little despite the gloves I was wearing, but I had managed to confuse the Crystal Beast, making it seem to spin around looking for me. I took the opportunity to move between the branches to position myself just above what could be considered its head, preparing the spear with the tip down. After it pausing for a moment, I launched myself with all my might. It was a perfect hit, so good in fact that the monster fell as if someone had turned off a machine, so abruptly that I had to hold onto the same spear to avoid falling from that height. Once on the ground, I removed the spear from its body and started running towards the girl. There was no time to lose; I had to get her out of here as quickly as possible.
"It...hur...ts," she said.
"...help...!"
"Hang in there."
"I''m going to get you out of here right now."
I moved quickly to check her wound again and could hardly believe what I saw. Her wound seemed much smaller than the first time I had seen it, but it could have been the nerves of fighting that monster that made me not see it with the attention it deserved. Still, the girl needed immediate medical attention, even though she didn''t lose any more blood. Since it was a laser, it had probably cauterized the wound immediately.
"Okay, that''s all the first aid I can do for now."
"Keep pressure on the cloth, hold it and don''t let go."
"I''m going to carry you on my shoulders to a doctor. "
"It''s going to be pretty bumpy, but hold on as best you can."
I took the girl and hoisted her onto my shoulders like a fireman, which would allow me to get her out of here faster than any other way. It was a demanding and exhausting technique, but it was something I had to do to save her, so without complaining, despite the wounds I had from yesterday, I set out. The way was long, the time was short, the terrain was difficult, and the fatigue was high.
"Are you okay up there? Does anything hurt?"
"Are you cold?" I asked her nervously.
"Please help me," she said, crying a little.
"Don''t worry, I won''t leave you."
"We''re almost there, don''t let go, hold on."
"Everything will be fine, trust me."
Now that I knew the way out, it was much easier for me to reach the hotel, but still, the physical exhaustion was quite high as I had to carry a girl much bigger than me through the forest and along the dirt road. But I couldn''t just leave her. It was all my fault that I had tried to ask her to help me with my problems; it was my fault that I had to make up for my shortcomings. So, despite the pain in my legs and the fatigue, I kept running until I got close to the hotel and started running even faster than before as I entered the lobby until I reached a familiar silhouette at the reception desk. It was Urakaze.
"What are you doing?"
"You should rest!"
"Wait, who is she?" she said, surprised to see me.
"Call another ambulance"
"It''s an emergency, again!"
"Right away"
"Perfect..."
"If you''ll forgive me..."
"I''m going to faint for a bit..."
Just as I finished speaking, everything became blurry, and the next thing I remembered was seeing the ground rapidly approaching my face.
Ch14: The Wheel Of Fate Is Turning
The Wheel Of Fate Is Turning
Oriente 6, Heaven
When I woke up, I was back in my room, lying on my bed. It was daylight, as I could see through the window. I was still bandaged from the wound in my stomach, but at least for the moment everything seemed calm. This time, there was no one holding my hand; instead, I saw Momo sitting at the table, eating an ice cream and watching me. She seemed to have a melancholy look on her face, wiping her eyes too often, but since she was a transplant, I couldn''t tell if she was crying. When she spoke later, though, she seemed to be.
"Oh... I see you woke up..."
"Damn... Idiot... Dense..."
"......"
"......"
"The girl... the foxgirl you saved... She''s waiting to talk to you in the nearby cabin," Momo tried to speak between sobs.
"???"
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Yes... yes... I''m... Fine."
"....."
"Just... disappointed..."
"....."
"Not... in you... I think... You just... Just helped someone who wanted to be a good person."
"I can''t... I can''t be angry because you tried to do an act of charity..."
"......"
"It''s... just that..."
"......."
"You know... I''m going to quit CSS altogether."
"I don''t see how working with them helps my dreams at all, and on the contrary, they''re damn demanding and selfish!"
"......"
"......"
"No... I don''t feel... good."
"I think I''ll go back to my parents and just give up."
"What happened, Momo?"
"You''re not like this, has someone done something to you?"
"Leave me alone, I don''t want to talk about it."
"Just... go..."
"The other girl wants to talk to you; it seems more urgent."
"Dense fool," the angel said as she grabbed her ice cream and left the room to go for a walk.
I got up from the bed and started to follow her, but as soon as I opened the door, I came face to face with Urakaze, who immediately stopped me to talk.
"Oh, Cesar, I see you''ve recovered; that''s good," the hunter said, feigning kindness as she watched the angel walk away in the distance.
"I''m sorry, Urakaze, but I need to talk to Momo about something right now."
"And didn''t you have a serious emergency to evacuate the whole hotel?"
"Uh, there was a last-minute change of plans."
"I''m sorry, but I need to talk to you; it''s even more urgent."
"It''s about the girl you brought here this morning."
"Yes? What happened? Is she okay?"
"Can you tell me exactly what you know about her?"
"Why did you go back to the forest and talk to Tamamo-no-mae again?"
Shit.
"What are you talking about? The blonde girl?"
"Haha... no, she... she."
"She''s just a wounded girl I found in the forest, just a coincidence."
"Cesar, you know my job is still to be a demon hunter?"
"Every now and then, the Celestial Security Section calls me to hunt down some horrible monster or another."
"Monsters who lie and deceive to hide in the cities and homes of innocent people."
"So I have a lot of confidence in my hunting skills."
"Like my ability to detect lies," Urakaze said suspiciously, with a serious look on her face and gripping the hilt of her katana.
"What, you think you''re scary?"
"Every beast you''ve hunted is nothing but a puppy compared to the inhuman plagues I''ve had to fight."
"Perhaps you want to see what''s faster? If it''s your sword or my ability to split you in two with just my hands."
I could see my eyes turn an intense crimson in the reflection of hers. Urakaze swallowed for a moment as a sign of her internal doubt, took a step back and let go of the sword in her hand, indicating her change of heart on the matter.
"I regret my choice of words and behavior, I believe they conveyed the wrong message."
"Yes, that''s exactly what I thought, no one is foolish enough to talk trash about me in these places."
"You did well to admit your mistake, because a little more and your old rivalry with the evil goddess will be the least of your problems."
"Look, it was just force of habit, nothing more."
"Of course I don''t want to be an enemy of Rafael''s son or lose my hotel."
"....."
"What I really wanted to tell you is this. The ''blonde girl'' you were talking about earlier wants to see you as soon as possible."
"I have orders from higher up to try to get you to talk to her right away, no matter what."
"Here, take this cake and deliver it to her."
"What exactly is going on?"
"......"
"It''s hard to explain, I don''t even fully understand what''s going on in that girl''s head."
"......"
"That girl..."
"....."
"The... guest..."
"....."
"What I mean is that....."
"...."
"Argh, look, I''ll be honest with you, okay?"
"I made a mistake when I accepted the mission to hunt Tamamo-no-mae."
"Emperor Konoe paid a very large sum of money to anyone who could stop her."
"At that time, I was just a young, arrogant hunter, and I thought it would be an easy way to get money and fame."
"After all, I had only heard that it was about hunting a simple young kitsune, no one ever mentioned that she was actually a goddess."
"All I had to do was show up among the thousands of soldiers, pretend to command one of the cavalry regiments, and wait for Kazusa-no-suke and Miura-no-suke to arrive to kill her."
"Things went wrong and it turned into a fight for survival."
"....."
"It wasn''t until long after my death and the girl''s imprisonment in stone that I realized the truth."
"That Emperor Konoe lied and she was used to start a war."
"....."
"That girl, Tamamo-no-mae, has gone through a lot of pain in her joyless past."
"She is someone who desperately tries to be a good person in a world that constantly labels her as a villain and selfish."
"The poor thing has never seen a single person care about her, let alone defend her from anything."
"''That kitsune has lived her whole life alone....''"
"So it''s natural that... well... For someone to suddenly appear and treat her like a princess...."
"....."
"Just try to treat her well, she''s been through very bad things."
"Take care of her for me, okay?"
Urakaze turned and left, feeling ashamed of what she had just said to me. For my part, I was a little confused about what was going on and what the others were talking about. It seemed that the only way to really understand what this was all about was to talk to Tamamo-no-mae again, so I took a deep breath and went to talk to her.
As I approached the room, I knocked on the door for a moment and said hello. Shortly after, the door opened by itself and invited me in. Once inside, the first thing I saw was Tamamo-no-Mae waiting for me, her appearance much changed to reflect her true status. Her hair was much longer and blonder than before, as if seeing the rays of the sun. Her eyes were lighter and sparkling, as if illuminated, but without losing their beautiful blue. Her fox ears were high and proud this time, and her nine foxtails were arranged in a fan behind her, giving the impression that she was sitting on a throne of her own body. Her beautiful kimono was similar to the one I had seen in the temple, but now arranged in a more majestic manner, elegant clothes worthy of a goddess, with the beautiful celestial landscape moving through the night, of which the Lady of the Moon was the queen. She had a melancholy look on her face, even seemed slightly sad, which added to her charming beauty and undoubtedly reminded me of the powerful being she was. She was truly a goddess.
"So you finally came," she addressed me.
"I am so sorry.
"This is all my fault. "
"Because of my mistake, the battle against the monster ended with you being injured.
"Because of my impatience, someone else got hurt."
But the goddess didn''t answer me. Instead, she just stared at me, her beautiful eyes seeming to search my soul without saying anything, as if she was impressed for some reason. The silence became awkward, but after a while, realizing that she had become blank, she continued to speak.
"Even though it was not really your fault, you come to apologize to the person you saved."
"A rare genuine act of kindness without asking for anything in return, truly hard to come by."
"....."
"Can you tell me exactly who you are?"
"What is it you really want from me, speak from the truth of your heart."
"Ah, well, I guess I owe you a good explanation, it seems fair after what I put you through."
"You may not believe me, but I swear it''s the truth."
"......"
"My real name is Cesar."
"Currently, I''m a man who for some reason ended up in the body of this fox girl, or kitsune like you."
"My sister has been struggling with an illness since she was young, and I''m afraid that bad news about what happened to me could negatively affect her or my mother''s life."
"That''s why I want to return to Earth as soon as possible and talk to them to let them know I''m okay."
"The portal that would take me home is broken, and it seems the only way to fix it for now is to ask a goddess for help to give it the magical energy it needs to work."
"I think you have a bad head if you think they will let you out of heaven so easily," she said in a tone that emphasized contempt.
"The permission I already have was given to me by THE BOSS himself."
"The problem is just the portal, nothing more."
"''That''s surprising, but it still contains a big flaw."
"I don''t know if you already know my true past, but I am not a goddess that people consider good."
"After all, the title of Evil Goddess means something."
"In my time on Earth, I killed many people.
"Because of that, I was imprisoned and sealed in a stone for eternity."
"Now that I''m not in it, I''m nothing but a fugitive, and sooner or later the hunters will come for me and all those who helped me."
"Even for this conversation, you might be punished."
"It would be better for you to seek help from someone else than to get involved with me."
Her face, instead of showing the pride a deity should wear, was clearly filled with sadness and loneliness, ones I knew well after so much in my own life. She tried to hide it by looking out the window and avoiding direct eye contact with her fan. Meanwhile, I sensed that something was wrong with her, that her fate was wrongly marked, and that perhaps her words were nothing more than the cries for help of a soul already in despair; Urakaze''s words still echoed fresh in my mind. Although she was an almighty goddess, I could still see that there was a hidden girl inside her that no one really understood, one that no one could see for fear of speaking to someone so important and powerful. The image of Tamamo-no-mae, sitting sadly on her tail throne, mirrored Nanami on her jade throne, also hoping to be treated like a normal person. I felt like I had to try to comfort her, to save her from her sorrows, even though I was still drowning in mine.
"You know, I don''t really think you''re the evil goddess everyone says you are," I said calmly.
"What... what are you talking about?" she replied in surprise, obviously not expecting me to answer it.
"When we first met, you didn''t attack me.
"Instead, you talked to me and helped me out of the forest."
"And even when you did attack me, you were just defending yourself, and you even let me go instead of doing anything else."
"Now that you''re here, free, and know that hunters will come for you, you''re worried about me and ask me to stay away so that I won''t be punished for helping you or knowing you."
"..."
"I think you''ve been misunderstood all along."
"That your good deeds have only been rewarded with injustice and accusations.
"Hunted for a crime you didn''t commit."
"Struggling to survive every day."
"No one can endure such a life and remain sane, not even the most saintly."
"..."
"What I''m trying to say is..."
"What I mean is, please trust me."
"I won''t let anyone hunt you or hurt you, let me give you a second chance."
"Maybe if I talk to the hunters, they''ll finally see who you really are."
The goddess remained still as a statue, even her sad tone stopped abruptly. Then she began to cry for real, closing her eyes and putting her hand to her chest for a moment before speaking again.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
"Wow, you are such a strange person."
"Not only did you let me escape from battle after realizing my weakness from being sealed for so long,"
"But the next day, you come and save me from a monster, only to later present yourself as responsible for something you weren''t."
"Even though the angels would not have done that, even though they were responsible for the monster they sent. "
"But then, right after that, you come and manage to see right away what so many others have never truly seen."
"Despite my deceptions and transformations, you are able to see through me.
"But you go so far as to tell me that you want to know me as I really am, when so many others have rejected me, and then you go even further, saying that you''ll stand between my hunters and me."
"That you''ll protect me like the hero of a fairy tale."
"The hero of my story, who arrives a thousand years late because of my own impatience."
"But who is capable of making me feel safe, recognized, understood, loved for who I truly am."
"...."
"The bet I placed on myself for my future has been won."
"Despite all my wisdom and power as a goddess, I will only be able to fulfill my true dream with you by my side."
"How could I not fall in love with someone like you?
"Only someone like you is worthy of being my chosen one for the most sacred title I can ever offer."
"That of my husband."
"Wait, what?"
But right where Tamamo was, an explosion of smoke appeared, only to reveal that the same goddess had changed her attire once again, now wearing a colorless one with delicate whites, her kimono transformed into a shinzenshiki, a ceremonial kimono for marriage. This, combined with her already magnificent divinity, only raised her beauty to a new level that mortals could surely never dream of. With a smile and a hopeful look, she turned back to me.
"Oh, wait, if we''re going to do this, we have to do it right!"
The goddess forcefully closed her metal fan and waved it around the rest of the room as if giving a celestial command. In an instant, I could see the room reshaping itself, the furniture disappearing, the space expanding, the style of a simple forest hut changing to a combination of a Japanese temple and elements of a Western church, like an altar. The transformation of the world before my eyes was shocking to witness, but perhaps even more surprising was how delicately the combination of the two styles was executed, making it seem as if the two cultures had always been together.
"What do you think, Darling?"
"I had heard before that you were western, so I thought maybe this would be the best style for our wedding!"
"WAIT A MINUTE!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Wedding? Whose!?"
But the door behind me suddenly opened to reveal a white angel, elegantly dressed in her military uniform, walking toward the back of the altar.
"Well, it''s clear that it''s between the moon goddess Tamamo-no-mae and you."
"Stella!?!
"What are you talking about?"
"What are you doing here!? Wasn''t the portal terminal closed?"
"How did you get here so fast from the central district?"
"Oh, well, THE BOSS sent me here urgently with his magic!
"After all, it''s a very important wedding, involving a goddess and a great ally like you."
"THE BOSS has sent me as his representative to perform the wedding."
"He looks upon this relationship very favorably, one that is very beneficial to you or your family, as well as to the goddess herself."
"Damn it, what the hell?"
"What about me? I just heard about it!"
"Marriage? I can''t do that!"
"What about Nanami? What about her?"
"No, no, no!"
But then Tamamo turned to me, her face reflecting sadness and at the same time trying not to cry and ruin the atmosphere. After looking at me for a second and thinking about what she was going to say, she spoke.
"Are you really against this?"
"Despite everything you just told me?"
"Why don''t you want to keep your word?"
"I know deep down you want this as much as I do."
"I''ve heard your story, I know the pain and loneliness you''re going through."
"Please let me lighten your burden a little, just as you''ve done with mine."
"Wait, but what?"
"No, that''s not what I mean."
"But do you really want to get married? Me?"
"We''ve only known each other two days!"
"You don''t even know who I was before I became a girl!"
"I''m just an ordinary person, I''m not worthy to marry such a beautiful goddess as you!"
But instead, the Goddess of the Moon approached me, embraced me, and placed her face on my chest before beginning to speak.
"For a long time, ever since I was created as a part of Amateratsu herself, I have always been alone in my life."
"Born out of necessity, I came into existence with nothing, no personality of my own, no identity, no family, and no love."
"With time, after observing humans, I learned about the existence of love, how humans mentioned it and showed it to others in their lives."
"How they felt complete when they had someone to share their life with."
"I remember that that was the first lesson I learned in my life, my greatest desire and dream."
"Since that day and forever, I have wished from the bottom of my heart to have someone to call my beloved husband."
"But due to my lack of knowledge and impatience to find you, I made a great mistake by confusing what true love is with false illusions."
"When I was betrayed by the foolish person I trusted the most, I saw my greatest and most sacred dream shatter and die before my eyes without me being able to do anything."
"I was forced to bury my feelings and fight every day to survive."
"Seeing everyone chasing me to kill me, hearing their voices mentioning that I was not worthy of love or forgiveness."
"But my biggest sin against myself was believing that they were right."
"That simply being cursed to be born as a goddess made me someone who could never receive the love I dreamed of."
"During my persecution, this feeling became even stronger when I saw how fragile human life was compared to that of a superior being."
"But their persistence and tireless determination had no end, and in the end I was subdued and imprisoned in that stone due to the weakness and exhaustion of my physical body at that moment from trying to be human."
"And even under those circumstances, I still hoped in vain for some kindness from someone else."
"I thought that someone would appear in the crowd, a hero who would come to save me from my troubles and unjust persecution."
"But he never came."
"At the time, I didn''t understand why, but because of my despair and suffering, I allowed those bad thoughts and anger to corrupt my soul."
"When I saw that the person I trusted the most at that time was the same one who had ordered me to be sealed for all eternity in the confines of that cursed stone."
"I had sworn that as a goddess, only loneliness and sadness were the only things I had the right to know."
"But after a thousand years of fighting tirelessly to weaken the seals, I managed to escape my prison."
"My original plan was to seek revenge for my injustice, but instead I found myself lost in a forest I did not know."
"So I thought it might be best just to stay hidden and live alone until the end."
"But it was only on the first day of my escape, on my return, that I met another person."
"Someone who walked lost in the forest, but without fear."
"At first I was surprised, but this person treated me with friendship and normality, as if I were just another person and not someone superior, such a feeling was new to me."
"And my reaction to such a demonstration of kindness was nothing more than to attack for fear of reliving my fears."
"Nevertheless, this person showed a little more kindness and proposed an agreement to forgive my actions."
"At the time, I accepted, thinking only of my selfishness to escape the harm I had caused."
"But in the brief moments we shared, she reminded me for a moment how joyful it felt to have company."
"The next day, the same person returned, and though frightened by her unexpected appearance, I was happy to have a little more of that company before returning to loneliness."
"Shortly after that, a monster attacked us, but that person did not abandon me.
"In fact, she went out of her way to help me and save me from a person she did not know and who only wanted to harm her."
"By the time you carried me on your back, I had already fully recovered from my wounds as a goddess, yet I could not raise my voice to tell you that I was fine.
"My selfishness had completely overtaken me, just to allow myself a few more moments to watch you struggle to help me unnecessarily."
"At that moment, I understood that the hero I had dreamed of and waited for so long was finally by my side."
"In the end, the hero had finally come."
"Although I was not satisfied with that, I thought I needed to know him a little more, despite the kindness I had already received from him."
"Talking to this person, I could finally discover the person before me, how there was a man who cared deeply for his family, for those he loved.
"The kind of person who had the kind of love I once dreamed of truly knowing."
"......"
"Right now, you may be a cute little girl, but even with that appearance, I can clearly see the capable, reliable, and loyal man inside of you."
"I could see that there is someone who never gives up, someone who takes responsibility for his actions and his failures."
"Yes, you are a girl now, but I do not care if I can be with the person I love."
"Yes, you are a girl, I will love you as a girl if you want me to."
"Yes, we only know each other for two days, nothing more."
"And only two days were enough for you to make this goddess fall completely in love with you."
Tamamo-no-mae concluded her speech by kneeling down, only to then prostrate herself and extend her arms towards me. With her delicate head touching the ground, she was performing a perfect demonstration of Japanese Dogeza, a symbol of reverence, deep apology, and the ultimate expression of desire. Tamamo was revealing her true feelings before me, explaining the reason for her remorseful love and how much she aspired to be by my side.
"Tamamo," I said to myself.
I was surprised by everything she just said; her words made me realize how much she wanted to be with me despite her situation or her divinity. She reminded me a lot of that special person I shared my worst days with. Like Nanami, Tamamo was looking for someone who would treat her not as a goddess or a superior being, but as a normal person. She wanted someone who would talk to her like one talks to a friend, a sibling or especially a lover; someone who knew her as Tamamo before knowing her as the goddess of the moon that she was. Someone she could trust and share the good and bad moments of her life with. Her loneliness reminded me so much of my dear Nanami and myself in that subway tunnel, in that moment of desperation when I just wanted to be with someone else, and like her, that redeeming moment was denied and crushed for me too. I was aware of how devastating loneliness and grief can be to break a person completely, and like Nanami, I discovered that the only way out of that dark void is with the help of someone else, something that wasn''t easy to find in reality. One that I fell into after the death of my dear Nanami; I also thought that the path of loneliness was the only one that awaited me. But seeing Tamamo''s determination, her desire to be with me despite everything, made me want to be a little selfish this time and say yes, maybe out of a vague desperation to save myself from my low self-esteem and self-hatred. Maybe Tamamo and I are not so different and maybe we both need each other''s help to save ourselves. I hope that one day Nanami will forgive me.
"Is this really what you want?" I asked her.
"With all my heart, yes," she answered me.
"But what about you?"
"Do you accept this humble goddess who has fallen in love with you?"
I knew I had to be careful with what I said next, not wanting to ruin her dream, so I resigned myself and clarified what I thought.
"If it''s okay with you, I''ll also do my best to be your ideal husband despite who I am now."
"Thank you!!!"
"I love you!!!" she replied in a simple way while hugging and kissing me.
Stella, who was still near the table, took a bottle of ceremonial sake from a box and poured some into two small cups. Tamamo took one and served me the other, with a smile and still slightly teary eyes she invited me to drink from it. When I finished, Stella filled it up again, but this time Tamamo offered me her cup and then took mine so that we could both drink sake again. It seemed that in Japanese culture, this was the equivalent of exchanging rings.
"While the tradition of exchanging rings is important to people on Earth,"
"For now, the only thing I can offer the happy couple is this metal necklace.
"Moon Goddess Tamamo-no-mae, if you truly have such hope for the future of this relationship, I invite you to put it on of your own free will for the sake of your now husband."
" Although I hope you know the true purpose of this choker and its immense weight."
"''That choker? Isn''t it too big and heavy?"
"It seems more like a chain," I asked as I looked at it.
"Good is because it is"
"This is a collar imbued with a powerful enslavement spell."
"Whoever wears this chain will never be able to remove it, leaving the wearer as a mere object, subject to the will of their master for all eternity."
"A slave collar for Lady Tamamo-no-mae, just as the deal she proposed."
"What? Why?"
"That''s very dangerous!"
"More dangerous than letting an evil goddess roam the earth?"
"What did you expect to happen next? Leave her behind while you go back home?"
"That way it will be easier and we can do her rehabilitation"
"Don''t worry, we won''t judge what you do with her."
"Although I must warn you, she cannot refuse anything you tell her now."
"So be careful what you command, for she will obey you to the last consequence, even to death."
" No, calm down, I don''t mind." Replaid Tamamo
"I acknowledge that my fame and past will follow me forever."
"I am aware that my limitless powers could be a problem for your life if anything happens."
"I have no problem if it means being the personal property of my beloved."
"Whatever you think is convenient, I won''t complain. I place both my life and death in your hands."
"Please, allow me to belong to you."
"Take the collar and put it on me; you have my permission."
"Please let me have the pride of being your slave if it means being chained to you forever."
"You can do whatever you want to me, please be gentle."
"What? Is she crazy?"
"Are you just going to use it on yourself?"
"Mr. Cesar, this was one of the requirements that THE BOSS asked for to approve the marriage."
"It was the Moon Goddess herself who suggested it in exchange for the opportunity to marry you in the first place," Stella adds.
"Wait, what?"
"Are you saying that all of this was already part of a plan?"
"You''ve already planned all this?"
While I was still speaking, I could remember for a moment Momo''s face when I stood up and how disappointed and sad she was. I remember how she mentioned that she already knew that Tamamo wanted to talk to me about something important. And how her true feelings had been trampled on for the sake of someone else.
But even with those thoughts in my head, I had Tamamo''s face in front of me, hoping that I would put the collar that would forever fix around her neck, how she gathered her hair and showed me the back, waiting patiently. And how my inner selfishness, desperate to have someone who wouldn''t abandon me because of my ugliness, wanted to have someone who couldn''t reject me.
I am disgusted that I gave in to temptation and put the slave collar on the poor goddess.
"I am so happy with my loved Goshujin-sama"
"I was afraid you would say no."
"I knew deep down that you would accept me no matter what"
"You are someone amazing!"
"We will be together forever and ever!"
"I will never be apart from you," said the girl who was now my wife.
"Thank you for believing in me, Tamamo," I said, trying to sound as calm as possible while my mind was still wondering what the hell had just happened.
Ch15: Crossroads
Crossroads
Oriente 6, Heaven
When I left the room, I still didn''t feel calm after such a strange and sudden event, but even with that, there was still something I needed to resolve, and for that I had to talk to the glass angel. When I woke up, I could see her taking care of herself one last time before she left the room angry for some reason I didn''t know; I couldn''t leave such a thing unresolved. But the first person I met was Urakaze, who told me that she had received a letter to deliver to me, with a slight idea that Momo was the sender, a poorly written letter with shaky handwriting:
"Hello again, by the time you read this I have probably left without warning. I''m deeply sorry that I didn''t have the courage to say this in person, but right now I can''t even write this letter without being overcome by sadness. This is a letter I never thought I would have to write. My hands are shaking as I write this, but it''s necessary for me to tell you everything I''m feeling, everything I''ve kept inside for so long.
I''m so sorry, so sorry, but the truth is that even though I''ve never had the courage to tell you, the truth is that I''ve always loved you. Since the day I was sent to help you when you had the plane accident in Italy, how despite your injuries and pain you still sought ways to comfort me from the fear I had, how you treated me like a normal person even though I was the furthest thing from a living being I could be with my glass body. Through our adventures and challenges, my love for you only grew, strengthening with every laugh we shared and every tear we shed. Even though your appearance hasn''t been the best since the accident, and the way you called yourself a monster only added to the pain of your burns, I still saw a strong and dependable man, one who was loyal to those close to him and willing to do anything to help them, even at the cost of himself. A man whose entire life was filled with terrible hardships and losses, and yet, despite his cold and distant exterior, I could still see the goodness that fought against a world that only wanted to end it. You were my refuge, my inspiration, and soon, without me realizing it, you became something much deeper to me.
It is because of the same loyalty and trust that you have placed in me that I don''t feel capable of hiding the truth from you, even though my own heart and my superiors tell me to keep silent for the sake of others. I''m sorry that it has to be like this for you to find out that after you lost consciousness three days ago when you rescued Tamamo-no-mae, it was she herself who carried you to the infirmary, because despite the injury she had received, she had healed without any problems in a short time with her power as a goddess, but she revealed that she was pretending out of pure selfishness to feel the warmth of a hero fighting for her for the first time in her life. The Moon Goddess, while you were sleeping, was the one who first revealed her love to you, even in front of me, it was so painful, but still I could understand it, I could clearly see how the same things I was in love with were what attracted the same girl to you, and the truth was even happy that someone else recognized your true worth.
But that''s why it''s even more shocking to me that the real betrayal came from the least expected place, when it was the Celestial Security Section themselves who ordered me to hide my true intentions of confessing my feelings to you during this vacation I had planned at the hotel, giving way to the Evil Goddess to reveal her feelings instead. They say I should remain firm and focused on my duty, they tell me it is for the greater good, that it is the right thing to do because she is much more important than any of us, as a Goddess her true power is unlimited, and they also believe that a relationship with you could bring about a positive change in both of your lives, one where both parties can help each other, one much better than I could ever offer with my abilities or desires.
At first, I foolishly thought I could handle it, that my true feelings weren''t what I thought they were, that I could be strong for the greater good of both of you. But with each passing minute, I feel a growing resentment and anger inside of me that shouldn''t exist in a pure creature like an angel, as I should be. I feel used and defeated, as if my love and sacrifices mean nothing to those who see you only as a pawn in a power game. I can''t go on like this, C¨¦sar. My heart can''t bear this burden anymore. But I can''t see Tamamo-no-mae as the enemy and the cause of all this, because she only follows what her heart tells her, she is much braver with her feelings than I could ever be. She doesn''t know anything about it, and I prefer it to stay that way, because she is innocent of the evil that affects me.
That''s why I''ve decided to just leave instead, so as not to cause any more suffering for everyone. I don''t want to be an obstacle in your life or a source of problems. You deserve a chance to be happy, and if Tamamo-no-Mae is part of that destiny, I can''t stand in the way. My presence would only complicate things and cause you more pain than we''ve already endured. I want you to find happiness, even if it means I have to disappear. I can''t bear the thought of continuing to be an obstacle for you, someone who only brings trouble.
I''ll try to fulfill my last promise to repair the portal and make it operational so that you can return to your family and continue your struggle to regain the joyful life that was taken from you.
I hope that one day you can understand my decision and forgive me for leaving you. I''ll always carry you in my heart and fondly remember the moments we shared. But now I must find my own path, away from the shadows of obligations and sacrifices.
Take care, C¨¦sar. May you find the peace and happiness that you so much deserve.
With all my love and sadness,
Momo"
When I finished reading the letter, there was no doubt that my face reflected anger when I saw Urakaze take a few steps back without knowing the true reason. It was exactly what the letter said that I didn''t want to happen. I wasn''t so stupid that I hadn''t noticed Momo''s true feelings towards me over time; they were more than obvious, even to an idiot like me. She had always gone out of her way to help me, even when she was scared to death, like when she accepted my request to take care of my father without a problem. I just hadn''t responded to her as I should have because of my own grief and loss over Nanami. I felt, no, I still feel, that if I took one step beyond Nanami, all her memories and feelings would be violated, that it would be the same as if she had never existed or mattered. But now, with everything that had happened, the only thing my heart kept saying was that I had to find that girl and talk to her and tell her how I really felt about her, that I had unfairly and selfishly wanted her by my side even though I had just had someone else like Tamamo by my side.
"I have to go after her."
"Go after who?"
Surprised, I saw the goddess Tamamo behind me again in her dark blue celestial outfit, a curiosity without malice in her eyes waiting for the answer, her fox tails wagging happily. I didn''t want to break her happiness, but I had to be honest with her, for everyone''s sake.
"I''m sorry, Tamamo."
"....."
"I''m sorry, but right now I need to be really honest with everyone."
"I need to find someone right now."
"The truth is that I..."
"Are you going after the glass angel?"
"Are you finally going to tell her that you love her?"
"You have been taking your time."
"!!!!!"
"But what!?"
"???"
"Why are you surprised? I am an evil goddess and a kitsune."
"Mischief is in my nature."
"I lived in a palace for years, I''ve seen evil plots at work many times."
"I myself fell victim to one.
"Do you think I wouldn''t pay attention to what''s going on around me?"
"Especially in a place so full of demon hunters and soldiers like this hotel?" Tamamo said and looked at her former pursuer in front of her.
"I''m sorry, but due to the emergency with your escape, we had to evacuate the entire hotel."
"All the guests who are here now are nothing but hunters, ready to jump into battle in case the goddess reveals her true fangs."
"Ha, empty worries."
"Right now, I have someone by my side who truly loves me and is worth more than a hundred legions of your best warriors."
"My victory is already achieved."
"Could you please leave now? We are discussing serious personal matters," Tamamo said as she jumped into my arms.
Urakaze, seeing the smug face of her former enemy, just reacted strangely with what seemed to be a smile and turned to leave without saying anything else.
"Tamamo, I''m sorry, but I have to be honest."
"The truth is that I..."
"I just told you, I understand perfectly."
"Do you want to go after the poor girl who was trampled by others?"
"You also want to tell her that you love her, even though you just told me the same thing."
"What a selfish person."
"..."
"But I also understand perfectly the kind of man I want to be with."
"He''s so magnificent that it''s obvious that someone else has set her sights on such a precious treasure."
"It''s natural that several women would want him by their side to have such a faithful companion in their lives."
"I just want to make sure that only the right people stay by his side."
"''In that girl, not only is her body transparent, but so are her feelings."
"I can''t be the enemy of someone who, like me, only wants the best for the person she loves."
"In any case, it would be me who should apologize for standing in the way of the relationship you both seek."
"But it would also be hypocritical of me to say that I won''t let go of my beloved so easily."
"Tamamo... I..."
"No, wait, let me finish, please."
"I''m sure you think that you can''t respond to the feelings of both girls without hurting the other."
"But what I see is an incredible person who still wants to put both girls he loves ahead of himself and be the one to be sacrificed if someone has to get hurt."
"But... is it really necessary for someone to get hurt? For someone to be the loser for all eternity?"
"No, I''m sorry, but no."
"Even though you and I are the perfect examples of cruel stories and bad endings, I don''t like sad endings either, and I''m sure you don''t either."
"..."
"What I mean is that I don''t mind if you have Momo by your side."
"She''s an innocent girl, a victim of injustice and herself."
"Go ahead, have a harem of girls if that''s what it takes for us all to reach happiness."
"All I ask is that you don''t forget me, your humble slave in love."
"Is that really what you want?"
"The real question should be if this is what you want."
"You want to save both girls, right?"
"To be the hero of their sad stories."
"Come on, you''re taking too long to go after her."
"I know what your heart is longing and screaming for right now."
"......"
"Thank you, seriously."
"......"
"You have no idea how much easier you make this for me."
"....."
"But there''s one more detail I need to be honest about first."
"...."
"The truth is, I was married to another girl before, her name was Nanami."
"....."
"Something happened to her since then, so..."
"Darling, I just told you."
"I don''t care if you have someone else in your life, just fight to make those happy stories happen."
"The fact that you''re so honest with me, despite my sudden appearance and sudden love, shows the loyalty you have to others."
"Even though they''re not with you now, you still think about them after all this time."
"That''s the kind of unprecedented loyalty I''m in love with and want for myself."
"I have no problem with you loving Nanani or Momo, just save some of that great love for me too."
"...."
"Alright, agreed."
"Let''s go find that shy angel together."
I took Tamamo''s hand to accompany me, and we quickly went to my room to gather the few things I had. Then we arrived at the reception to go back to the capital and search for Momo. I also took the opportunity to take care of some unfinished business, such as saying goodbye to Urakaze.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
"Despite what it seemed, you''ve managed to create a great hotel, Urakaze."
"You have handled my constant mistakes with remarkable professionalism and constant support."
"Of course, it''s a pleasure to have the presence and approval of someone as important as yourself."
"Very few places in all the heavens can boast the honor of having been used by the great Cesar."
"Excuse me, but would it be an inconvenience to take a picture and use it for publicity?"
"What if instead you kept this letter I wrote to my father asking him to return the hotel to you?"
"If he doesn''t give it back to you, tell him he''s going to have a real problem with me."
"Oh, and also tell him to pay for my stay; I''m sure he''ll have enough."
"I''m sorry this has to serve as payment, but I really don''t have a single coin on me right now."
"Don''t worry, I understand perfectly."
"Anyway, I''m happy to help another person in need."
"Oh, I almost forgot, please accept this box of sweets together."
"Take it as a humble wedding gift from me," the manager said, handing it to the fox girl beside me.
"Thank you, Urakaze!" Tamamo said somewhat playfully.
"I am so sorry for our past, but I hope this can be a way to put it behind us and start a new relationship of friendship."
"A formal apology should be required for everything that happened."
"Don''t worry, it''s not necessary, and I don''t want your pity on the day I finally got married."
"I will make sure that I will be happy instead of you from now on."
While they were talking, I could see a girl innocently enjoying her coffee on one of the chairs in the lobby while others were suffering because of her actions, so I went to talk to her instead. I stood beside her and grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air to prevent her from escaping.
"Stella! What a pleasure to find you, I just wanted to talk to you."
"I see you''re very happy and enjoying life after what you caused with Momo."
"Would you mind saying a few words to me before I send you on a free vacation in the resurrection device?" I said as I pointed my gun at her with my other hand.
"I''m so sorry!"
"I was just following orders!"
"It was never my idea, I would never defy the Great Emperor!"
"Then can you tell me whose fault it was?"
"Say it quickly before I get angrier and rip your neck off."
"THE BOSS!"
"He was the one who sent me, telling me to take advantage of the Goddess'' sudden love and try to put her on the right path."
"Do you think I am a fool?"
"THE BOSS would never risk taking action against an ally."
"He said it was best for both of us!"
"That way, you might be able to overcome your lack of self-esteem."
"The mistake I... made was... overstepping my authority... by talking to Momo."
"What? Excuse me?"
"With the lack of air you have, it''s hard for me to hear what you''re saying."
"Could you try to use your last breath to say it properly?"
"It''s my fault that I forced Momo to hide her true feelings."
"Please forgive the established covenant, all responsibility lies with me and me alone."
After listening to the white angel speak with agony, I let her go so she could breathe, because I needed her a little more.
"You better help me find Momo again so I can talk to her."
"Otherwise I will fuck you up so much that your sister will be called the sane one."
"Yes, sir, right away!"
"Actually, I have my spaceship in the parking lot, so if you want, I can take you directly to her."
"Oh, that would be fine."
"Come on, let''s go, move it," I said firmly.
The other people stayed and watched what had just happened, you could see the faces of disbelief and surprise at what had just happened. And yet no one raised their voice or interrupted for a single second, they knew it, I knew it, no one in this place was stupid enough to stand up against my will, they all preferred Stella to be the victim of my wrath than themselves. After all, that was the girl''s only job.
The return trip to the capital of Oriente 6 was quite fast, even faster than the high-speed train I had used before. This time, bypassing even the city''s protocols, Stella parked her ship in front of the portal terminal on the street for land vehicles. As we entered, it was easy to see that not a single person was around, except for one person who was busy repairing one of the machines. Quietly, both Stella and Tamamo stayed behind to let me approach and finally talk to her in peace.
The girl was focused on the sea of cables and electronic parts around her, a soldering tool in her hand, working. Still, I could see the light coming through and illuminating her beautiful glass figure. I stopped a few steps away from her, took a deep breath, and spoke quietly so as not to scare her.
"Momo," I said, my voice shaking slightly.
She turned around in surprise, her big eyes filled with sadness when she saw me.
"C¨¦sar..."
I... thought I made it clear in the letter..." she murmured and looked down.
I could see tears glistening in her eyes, so I moved closer and took her cold hands in mine, trying to make a connection that could better convey my feelings to her, just as she had done for me when she tended to my wounds.
"I am so sorry, as soon as I read your letter, I had no choice. I came as fast as I could to talk."
"I couldn''t let someone who treated me so well and whom I want to be close to suffer so much pain and keep so much to herself to spare others grief and suffering."
"I couldn''t let you go like that, Momo."
"I can''t let you sacrifice yourself like this."
She tried to pull her hands away, but I held them tight, wanting to make sure she heard every word.
"I am not so foolish as not to have noticed your feelings.
"And you don''t know how much it pains me to have been unable to respond to you earlier, to have let you suffer in silence."
"It''s just that at that time, I was thinking about everything that had happened with Nanami and my own problems, and I felt that you were wasting yourself by trying to be with me."
"I''ve been blind for too long, trapped in my own pain and regret."
"But now I realize how cruel I''ve been to you by not being honest with you and myself."
Momo looked up, her crystal clear eyes reflecting a mixture of hope and despair.
"C¨¦sar, I... I couldn''t go on like this."
"I didn''t want to be an obstacle to your happiness."
"But I couldn''t keep my feelings hidden any longer."
"Momo, you have never been an obstacle."
"You were a light in my life, a refuge in my darkest moments."
"And although I have always felt a deep affection for you, even though my heart is still trapped in the past, with Nanami."
"One that doesn''t make me capable of living without you in my life."
"So... What do you mean?" She said, looking at me with eyes filled with both hope and sorrow.
"I want to be honest with you, with Tamamo and with myself," I replied with determination.
"What I feel for you, Momo, is real and deep."
"I love you."
"I love you as much as I love Tamamo, as much as I love Nanami."
"...."
"I just can''t imagine a life without either of you in that future."
"...."
"That''s why I talked to Tamamo about the feelings I had for myself and for you."
"And she also responded to those feelings."
"That is why she wants to accept you in that future with me."
"Please forgive me for being so despicable and selfish to want you all only with me at your side."
Momo remained silent, processing my words.
"Does Tamamo... know and accept it?"
"Yes"
"She understands the value of our feelings and has shown a generosity and understanding that has left me speechless."
"She agrees that we shouldn''t hide our hearts or suppress our desires."
"She wants us to seek happiness together, regardless of convention."
"Selfish idiot"
"You''re the worst."
"You just go and do whatever you want all the time"
"Leave everything behind just to save the girl you love"
"How do you expect me not to be in love with someone who is so incapable of hurting the people he loves, even to the point of wanting multiple girls at the same time?"
"And you... do you really think this can work? That we can be happy like this?"
"I swear on my honor as Dragon and Emperor"
"With the Goddess of the Moon as my witness, in front of her, I swear that I will fight every day to make this work, even the impossible".
"I don''t want anyone else to feel lonely or sacrificed."
"I want us to be together, to share our lives and our hearts."
She closed her eyes and let more tears fall, but this time there was a glimmer of hope on her face.
"C¨¦sar, I have always dreamed of being honest with myself and confessing my love for you, but I am afraid that it might not be possible."
"It is possible," I assured her firmly.
"We can make it happen if you want it to."
Tamamo then approached us and enveloped the three of us in her nine fox tails, swaying gently as she watched us with a warm smile.
" You don''t have to be afraid, I don''t intend to be your rival."
"Momo, C¨¦sar is right."
"There''s no need for anyone to suffer or be the loser."
"We can build something beautiful together."
"Are you willing to try?"
"Don''t you also want to go towards that future where we all are happy?"
Momo opened her eyes and looked at Tamamo, then at me.
"Yes," she whispered finally.
"I''m willing to try."
"I want to be with both of you and seek that happiness you speak of."
I hugged her tightly, feeling her glass body relax against mine.
"Thank you, Momo."
"For giving me a second chance, for believing in us."
Tamamo joined the hug, and in that moment I knew that although the road ahead might be challenging, I would never be alone on that road again, an opportunity to create something special and permanent.
When we finished, Momo couldn''t stop staring at the collar Tamamo wore around her neck, to which the kitsune simply responded with a smile and a fake innocent
"So that''s how you''re playing!"
"Well, I''m not going to let myself be less than Tamamo in any way!"
"If Tamamo can have a slave collar to ensure she''s always by Cesar''s side! Then I want one just like it!"
"!!!!"
"What are you talking about? You don''t need to do something like that."
"Just as you are is fine," I replied, surprised by the sudden declaration.
"No, it''s not fair that only one of us is a slave and the other is free!"
"It means you would have a preference for her, just because she couldn''t leave or disobey you."
"I want one too, I want to be Ceesar''s property."
"I want to be loved equally too!"
"Momo, what if we think about it a bit more carefully and maybe..."
"Oh, so you also want to have a relationship like mine, including your total submission to Cesar?"
"I''m glad I managed to get another slave collar, thinking that maybe as a goddess, I might somehow break the first one."
"Take this, it will fit perfectly around your neck, but remember, once it''s on, it will mark you forever as property, not as a person."
"I hope you like the design because it will be an immovable part of your body afterward."
"Give me that, if we''ve come to this point."
"Of course, I love Caesar enough to become her slave without hesitation!" said the angel a bit angrily, taking the collar.
"However, it was Cesar himself who placed mine around my neck."
Somehow, Momo, thinking it was a good idea, approached me with her own slave collar, hoping I would also put it around her neck as if it were the equivalent of her own wedding ceremony.
"Momo, I think your neck looks pretty nice without the need for the collar" I said in an attempt to save her.
"Just put it on already!"
"Yes, sorry."
I placed the heavy piece of metal around her neck, which snugly fit, and closed the clasp, sealing it with magic to never be opened again. After this whole experience ended, it was finally Stella who broke the silence to remind everyone of her existence.
"Alright, I suppose I''ll also act as the official for this humble wedding ceremony."
"I''ll give the details to THE BOSS so he can also approve the new couple and harem."
"....."
"Now, regarding Mr. Cesar''s concern about returning to his family."
"Momo, could you kindly input these Earth coordinates into the computer, please?"
"Ah? Oh yes, of course."
"....."
"Ummm, Cesar, I''m sorry but I won''t be able to accompany you on your trip to Earth right now."
"I had already called my mother and told her I would visit her soon."
"Plus, I also need to talk to her about my recent marriage and prepare my things."
"But don''t worry, we''ll soon reunite even if you''re still alive."
Momo came unexpectedly towards me and hugged me quickly, with no trace of the shy girl she was just moments ago.
"Ah, the portal is ready to operate, it''s just necessary for Tamamo to infuse her magic into this crystal here on the side and it will transfer it as energy.
"Please be careful not to put more than necessary or you could overheat the entire system instead and melt... the entire building."
"Oh, yes, of course, I''ve got it," the goddess said as she continued to work on opening the portal.
"As for the destination, you don''t have to worry, Lord Cesar."
" We''ve worked to place you in a location of utmost importance that will undoubtedly benefit you greatly in your mission to reunite with your sister and mother."
"Above all, I recommend a coffee shop that is close to where you will appear, and it has been there and they are delicious, but make sure you go in the afternoon, before dark, because today they will close early." Said Stella before the portal started to glow.
Tamamo stopped what she was doing and jumped towards me, hugging me to finally cross the portal back to Earth together.
Ch16: New Start
New Start
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Tamamo''s face looking at me in a loving way. I was surprised to see it so close to mine, so I tried to get up without noticing that I was lying on her lap, and when I got up, I bumped my forehead against hers.
"Sorry, are you okay?"
"Don''t worry, I''m fine," she replied, rubbing her forehead a little.
"What happened?"
"Why was I on your lap? Did I fall asleep?"
"Oh, well, when we arrived, we were hugging, but we were thrown out pretty hard, since we came out so quickly, we hit the ground, and I think you accidentally broke my fall with your body, but you lost consciousness for a few minutes."
"Hey, is it true that this is the planet Earth?"
"It''s been a long time since I was here; I hardly recognize anything."
"Do you know where we are?"
Tamamo was right and I could hardly believe it. I was back on Earth and in the world of the living. Despite everything that had happened, I was still here. Excitedly, I looked around to see where we were. It seemed like we were sitting on a wooden bench in a children''s park, just the two of us. Around us, it looked like a residential area, although there were several tall buildings nearby and skyscrapers further away. But among them all, one building stood out from the rest despite its proximity, a huge metal tower - it was the Tokyo Skytree. Looking at the traffic signs, it was clear that the language they had really confirmed that the place we were in was Tokyo, Japan. It was a great relief to me because it meant I was one step closer to being reunited with my family. There wasn''t a single cloud in the sky, and since the sun was at its highest point, it was easy to tell that it was noon, although the lack of leaves on the trees showed that it was winter. I could also see a city in the midst of peace and life, with its streets in good condition, the sounds of a living city. It was the first time in a long time that I had experienced being in a city that wasn''t a war zone. There was no trace of the portal we had used to arrive; there was simply nothing strange around us except for Tamamo at my side.
"So...."
"What do you think of this place?"
"Is this your home?"
"Is this where you come from?" She said with a face that reflected a desire for a positive answer.
"No"
"But at least if we are in the same world"
"Actually, this Tokyo, as I found on the Internet before, was called Edo in the Musashi Province."
"What!?"
"But it doesn''t look like anything I remember!"
"There are such tall buildings!?"
"I don''t know this place"
"It looks nothing like the capital of Oriente 6, almost all the houses have the same square design"
"I don''t know much about this place either"
"But I''ve been to this town before."
"It was in this city that I saw my sister for the last time.
"She was in a hospital near here.
"Although it was a long time ago."
"Since Japan remained neutral in the war, it is a safe place."
"At least now I''m a little closer to knowing what happened to her since then."
But while I was talking to Tamamo, some people came to where we were and started talking as soon as they saw us. As soon as I thought about why, I remembered that I was still wearing the clothes Momo had given me and Tama was still in her goddess outfit. It was clear that they were talking about us.
"I think without a doubt, our appearance is too conspicuous"
"We have to do something"
"I don''t want the police to stop me when I finally get back"
"Seriously?"
"I have no problem with people seeing me as I am"
"But I also kinda want to look pretty for you and there''s nothing better than going shopping and getting new cute clothes!"
"But do you have money?"
Oh no, now that I think about it.
"...."
"You know, this reminds me that I have to get money to buy clothes"
"You can wait for me in this park while I get it"
"I won''t be long, an hour at the most"
"I swear to you"
"Please wait for me and don''t move from here."
"Alright"
"I will wait here for your return"
"Thank you"
As soon as I finished speaking, I started running to look around, I think I ran about 3 blocks quickly trying to find what I was looking for. It was clear that in a city as big as Tokyo, there must be something like this somewhere, I just hope it''s not too far from here. But with just a quick glance, I can find it, what a stroke of luck.
There were three men, from the way they were dressed, and seeing that they all had equally distinctive motorcycles, I could see that they were a motorcycle gang, those are expensive motorcycles, and they only had a few metal pipes to defend themselves, no doubt an opportunity. I couldn''t believe what I was about to do, I just came back from heaven, I say I don''t want any problems and the next thing I try to do is assault three dangerous men to steal money from them. Or well, surely they have more money in a bank, sharing it will not do much damage.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Exactly 47 seconds later
***punching sound***
"And next time, try attacking your grandmother"
"..."
"Weaklings"
"..."
"Alright, it''s time to see how much money they have"
"Hell, where do these people keep their wallets?"
"Maybe I should have questioned them before I knocked them out"
While looking for the money, where I did not find their wallets, but when a large wad of cash that one had hidden in an internal pocket.
"No one would carry something like that".
"They''re not thugs, they''re dealers!"
"Lucky!"
"With this, I make sure I have money quickly without having to cheat innocent people."
"And if I attack dangerous people, they won''t be able to go to the police to complain"
"That went unexpectedly well!"
"But it would be better to get back to Tama as soon as possible, I don''t want to make her nervous by taking too long."
After we started looking for more normal clothes, we walked south, right to where the Tokyo Skytree was, because there must be at least some stores near it. It took us several minutes and a lot of teasing from people who saw us, this little trip felt like an eternity to me. But to my salvation, I found the store we were looking for and without hesitation, we entered immediately, the truth is that I only entered because I saw that they were selling some shirts at the entrance, but once inside it was a department store so that saved us.
But now I had another problem. I''m just looking for something to cover my tail and maybe a hat, now the question is what to do with Tamamo. I don''t have the slightest idea that a girl could like it, and on top of that, I don''t think she knows anything about current fashion, because she''s probably hoping to get a kimono. While she kept thinking that she would get an employee came to attend us.
"Hello, welcome"
"Can I help you with anything?" She said with a face full of doubt and the desire to laugh.
I have to think of something quickly to avoid getting into an even more embarrassing situation. Anything at all!
"Excellent, we were just looking for someone to help"
"Right now we are recording a video for our website, our users challenged us to come dressed like this and see if we can be as normal as possible and see people''s reactions."
"Do you think you can help us?"
"Of course we will pay for the clothes you think can help us"
"We had two levels of difficulty, I played something easy, so I think I''ll be fine by myself, but my friend is the one who has the difficult part."
"Do you think you can help her?"
"By the way, she might be a bit into her character, so I ask you to be patient, but don''t worry, we don''t intend to record in the store."
Ok, even though I had to lie on the spot, it came out almost so natural that it scares me to believe it myself.
"So that''s it!"
"For a moment, I thought you were one of those weird customers that pop up from time to time."
"Well, I think it would be fun to do something like that."
"Leave it to me, I will help you the best I can"
"Really? Like, are you going to tell me that this isn''t the strangest thing you''ve ever seen?"
"I''d like to say yes, but after working here for a while, I think I''ve gotten used to it."
"Hey honey, can you stop and look at these clothes I found?"
"Don''t you think it would look very nice on you!?" Tama shouted almost from the other end of the tent to where I was standing.
"But where the hell did you get this!?"
"The idea is to dress like everyone else"
"Don''t stand out even more!"
"Not pretty enough?"
"Well, then I will look better!"
"As your wife, I will find something you like!"
"STOP!"
After a while, I got a white jacket and tied it around my waist, so I think it covered my tail quite well, the hat was a bit more difficult because not all of them fit well and others bothered my fox ears, but later, after a long search, I managed to find one. Tamamo on her side was much harder to find, but it was almost impossible. Well, even though she could easily change her shape to that of a normal human, because she was stubborn, she did not want to. First we saw that she had too many tails to wear something normal, and although it turned out that she could hide almost all of them, she wanted to show at least one, just like me, but she didn''t want to hide it either, and the same with her ears, she just wanted to show them because she said that she looked pretty with them. At the end of a lot of trying, both the staff and I gave up and just started looking for something she would like to wear.
In the end, she got a pink turtleneck sweater, a short black skirt, and high stockings, she also got some boots with laces, she seemed to like them because she was quite happy when she saw the attendant bringing them to her. So, in the end, I think I managed to hide well, while Tamamo just looked for nice clothes to wear that would fit in with what was being worn now. As for the price of things, well, let''s just say that Tama''s clothes cost a lot more than I thought possible. We just spent almost everything on her clothes, but it was a small price to pay for saving the embarrassing situation, half of it.
"I really thought you would be against wearing such western clothes, but I see that you really enjoyed looking around the store".
"How do you adapt to the change in style so quickly?" I said to Tama as we walked out of the store.
"Beauty is a woman''s war!"
"In a war, the one who adapts the fastest wins!"
"Never have mercy!" she replied with a fiery look.
As we returned to the street, I saw how the sky was now golden as I watched the sun begin to set. Night was approaching. I had almost no money because of the clothes we had bought, we had not eaten all day, and as if that were not enough, I had no place to sleep. I had to get back on track to fix this as soon as possible.
But as we walked aimlessly while I thought about what to do next, Tama spoke again.
"I am very hungry"
"We barely had breakfast.
"Let''s find a place to eat," she said with a face that looked a little tired.
I started to check the little money we had left, it was not hopeful what we had left.
"It''s okay"
"I got this"
"We still have money to at least eat something small"
...
"How about the coffee shop from before?"
"Coffee shop?"
"Do you even know what a coffee is?"
"Is it like a restaurant?"
"Quite similar"
"There was one I liked the way it looked that we passed on the way here."
"Let''s go there"
And with that, we set off to enjoy a little break before continuing with whatever the future had in store for us tonight.
Ch17: Unexpected Meeting
Unexpected Meeting
After walking for a while, we finally arrived at the caf¨¦ I had seen before and which had caught my attention. The place was quite spacious and its design was rather bland, like most cafes, although most of the furniture seemed too new, probably indicating that it was a recently opened establishment. Still, it had a very quiet and relaxing atmosphere, which I liked, and with almost no one inside, it was less likely that people would bother us because of our appearance.
As soon as we entered, Tamamo and I went to the counter to choose some pastries to eat and maybe something to drink. The lady who ran the place was a little startled to see her first customers and approached us with a smile to greet us.
"Excuse me, but you can''t lean on the counter like that," she said.
As soon as she finished speaking, I turned around to see Tamamo doing exactly what she had just told us not to do, so I grabbed her by the shoulders and gently pushed her back.
"We are very sorry.
"We didn''t mean to cause any inconvenience.
"We were just looking to see what would be most delicious to eat."
"Do you have any recommendations?"
"Well, in that case, I recommend these."
"They are quite sweet, but paired with tea, they would be perfect."
"Oh, excellent, all right."
" We''ll order two of those then."
"Thank you very much."
After placing our order, Tamamo and I sat down at one of the tables in the back of the shop, away from the windows facing the street so as to attract as little attention as possible for being two fox girls.
"I''m surprised how well she took the fact that two Kitsunes came to her shop to eat."
"If we were in my original era right now, she would be running all over the city to alert the guards in fear," Tamamo said, thinking a bit.
"Well, times change, people too."
"For a while now there have been costume parties or something like that."
"I''m sure she thinks something like that."
"Oh, so people have lost their fear of Kitsines over time?"
"Um... I''m not sure, honestly."
"I''m pretty hungry, I can''t wait to eat those sweets!"
"Well, you''re right."
"We haven''t eaten since this morning."
"It''s a shame that we have to eat so little."
"......"
"I''m sorry... But there''s not much we can do right now."
"We don''t have much money to begin with."
"This will have to do for now."
I felt sorry for her, because of me she is now here in a completely strange place for her and I have to put her through this where I have nothing.
"Are you going to let your wife starve?"
"It shouldn''t be like this!" She said to make me feel worse than I already did.
"And shouldn''t we be together in good times and bad?"
"Right now we are in a difficult situation."
"But I trust we will make it through"
"You will see!!"
"Today we will sleep in a very comfortable place!" I said, trying to cheer myself up.
Right after that, the worker arrived with the two cupcakes and the two teas, she put everything on the table and made a gesture to indicate that we could start eating.
...
...
Doesn''t she think about leaving?
...
...
"Excuse me, but is there anything I can help you with?" I decided to ask her directly to break the awkward silence.
"Oh, I''m sorry, I think I got a little carried away."
"I was just thinking how real those animal ears look."
"Or how your friend is able to move her tail behind her."
"Are you guys going to a costume convention?
Of course, that would be the first thing she would ask, Tamamo and I are too conspicuous for her not to ask. Quick, I have to improvise something that sounds convincing enough.
"Yes, actually we are."
"We like to make our costumes as realistic as possible."
"And well, we wanted to see what we could do with something like this."
"Oh, really?"
"So you dress like this for fun? Kids these days..."
"Hey, it''s fun for us."
"Although I don''t remember such an event being celebrated these days."
"Was there one nearby?"
JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! I just want to eat in peace!
"Yes, well, we were actually helping a friend with her dress."
"But something happened and she was a little late."
"So we decided to wait here for her."
"Oh, really?"
"Oh, well, that''s going to be an inconvenience."
"Due to some problems in the kitchen, the shop owner decided to close early today."
"She should be here soon."
Seriously, I can''t even enjoy my meal in peace?
"Okay, no problem."
"As soon as we finish eating, we''ll leave right away."
"I''m very sorry for the inconvenience."
"And thank you for your understanding," the clerk said as she finally returned to the counter.
"You''re really good with people," the goddess said as she began to eat.
"Does it seem strange to you that I can talk to people?"
"It''s nothing special."
"I didn''t say it for that."
"But for being able to go on, despite what happens to you."
"In spite of what you are going through, you are still considerate of others in some way."
"It''s not a big deal."
"It''s about not being a jerk to everyone just because of my personal problems."
"But it is!"
"You now have the body of a cute, small and thick girl; until this morning, you were in an unknown world."
"You have nowhere to stay, next to a girl you fought with yesterday, and despite her eagerness to love you forever, you responded with the same love, despite what your heart still feels for someone else."
"And even now, when you are in another country far from yours and without money, you still take care of me."
"Even though I am an almighty goddess, you still want to be the one to do the work."
"Even though I am a superior being, I can''t help you here because I don''t know anything."
"Despite all this, you can still afford to be calm and kind to others."
"Even though you barely have money to pay for our food, you still talk as if it''s not a big problem."
"We don''t have a place to sleep, but you still talk about taking care of all those details to take care of me."
"''As if you know exactly what to do to fix it.''"
"That all I have to do is trust the person I already trust the most."
"That''s a strength any girl would fall for, being reliable even in the most uncertain times."
"You''ve already saved me, you''ve already earned my love, and yet you keep fighting to keep earning it every moment."
"All this goddess can do now is love and support my dear Goshujin-sama."
"Because I have nothing in this world, but with you by my side, I don''t need anything."
"......."
"Wow, thank you."
"Although I still think it''s no big deal."
"But I guess now that you''re here with me, I''ll try my best."
"I guess I should thank you for that, too."
"For being by my side despite my shortcomings or how strange and rare my story is."
"Like how despite my stubbornness to come here, you still decided to follow me and come anyway, without having anything to gain in return."
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report."You have no idea how much you support me and make me feel good just by being in the same room with me."
"....."
"....."
"Oh well, I guess we better start eating these pastries and see how good they are, don''t you think?"
"Oh yeah, you''re right!" She replied with her friendly smile.
As the two of us began to eat, the doorbell of the cafe rang, indicating the entrance of someone else. Although I felt the urge to turn around and see who it was, just to make sure it wasn''t a threat like a thief, but that was mainly my habit as a soldier. But that era was starting to change from now on, I had to learn to become a normal person again, most likely that other person was nothing more than another customer, and if it was a problem I still had my gun and the skills to solve it quickly. Nothing bad is going to happen, so I should concentrate on enjoying the moment of peace and tranquility for these few minutes I had.
The girl who served us a few minutes ago left the counter to greet the person who had just entered and to speak to her.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Adelis."
"I hope you had a good day at the office today."
"Come in, please."
"I was just about to close up shop completely."
"Right now, we just need to wait for the two ladies sitting at this table to finish eating, and then we''ll have everything ready to call for someone to come and fix the kitchen stove."
Wait a second, that name isn''t Japanese at all, and it''s quite familiar...
"Excellent."
"Although it might be better to call and buy a new, better factory new."
"Buying a used oven wasn''t the best idea; the one we have is very prone to breakdowns."
"It''s better to spend money and have one that works than an oven that breaks down all the time and has to be closed every time it happens."
"We''ve only been open two weeks and it has already broken down 4 times."
"I don''t want to waste any more time on this."
*Choking sounds*
"But what the hell! I know that voice! It''s impossible to be mistaken! It can''t be anyone else with that name."
I quickly turned my head to look at the person who had entered to confirm that it was indeed the right person, and as soon as I looked at her, I felt somewhat lost yet excited, as if what I was seeing was nothing but a lie. I couldn''t believe what I was seeing with my own eyes, the urge to cry was consuming me, my heart rate was at its peak, it seemed like my excitement was so high that it was easy for Tamamo to notice that something was happening to me, so she couldn''t resist asking me.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"You look even paler than you already were."
"And that''s pretty rare for someone who already looked like a ghost before."
"Haha."
"I can''t believe it."
"Stella actually did her job right for once."
"No wonder she insisted on this address."
"Do you know who she is?"
"Someone you happen to know?"
"Oh yes, someone I know all too well."
"And I think it''s best that you treat her really well too."
"That person over there is Adelis."
"She is my mother."
She looked like a woman in her late thirties, perhaps, but in reality, it was just a huge effort to preserve herself despite her actual age. She was dressed in a formal suit, accompanied by her black hair and elegant makeup. Undoubtedly, her appearance was that of a strong and determined businesswoman, always in charge. This was reinforced by the fact that she was talking to the saleswoman without noticing us.
"She''s your mother!"
"What are you waiting for to invite her in?"
"Excuse me! Ma''am?" Tamamo said, getting up from her chair and speaking loudly.
"Ma''am, would you mind joining us?"
"We have a few things to discuss with you!"
"Over here!"
"Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?" She turned to us, stopped for a second when she saw us, and continued talking.
"I don''t think we''ve met before."
"Please have a seat over here," Tamamo insisted.
"Alright."
"You have my attention."
"What do you need?" she walked over to where we were.
"Are you really Adelis?"
"Are you Cesar''s mother?"
My mother stopped for a moment when she heard her and had a surprised face similar to mine.
"Have you met him?"
"Have you ever been with him?" she asked quickly.
"That''s right!"
"He helped me a lot."
"I think if it wasn''t for him, I don''t know what would have happened to me in my future."
My mother seemed to be on the verge of crying as Tama talked to her. I did not know what to do, whether to speak or better hide under the table, I was completely paralyzed.
"Seriously?"
"I''m glad to hear that."
"Did you really see it?"
"How long ago was that?"
"What did my son do for you?"
"Could you tell me?"
"Do you know what happened to him?"
...
"I''m sorry"
"I keep asking questions"
"It''s just been a long time since I knew anything about him."
"And when the news came that he..."
...
"I just want to know what he was able to do.
"To see that he was able to save someone is enough for me.
"Can you tell me how he helped you?"
"I have something better!"
"What if he tells you himself!" Tamamo points at me as soon as she stops talking.
"Hi, how are you?" I answer as shyly and calmly as possible due to my embarrassment.
My mother''s eyes widen when she sees me, and her face changes from melancholy to anger in a matter of seconds. And how can I blame her, even I feel bad about this whole ridiculous situation.
"Ladies!" she is on her feet in less than a second.
"These kind of jokes are not made to someone who has lost her son in a war."
"You should never play with people''s hearts!"
"And please take off those ears, they look ridiculous"
"We''re closing already!"
"Please leave as soon as possible!"
"But ma''am"
"You must know that your son is alive!"
"Is here!"
"You must believe us!" Tama tried to keep them with us.
I had to do something, I couldn''t leave things as they were. I finally met my mother after the news of my death reached her. How devastating that could be for a person, especially for her, who had already lost the person she loved as well. I wanted to keep my promise to reunite with my family, hell, that''s why I''m here now, despite all the nonsense that happened to me. I want to talk to her, I want to tell her that I am here, alive, and that she should stop crying for me. But how can I do that, how can I tell her that I am Cesar? I don''t think she believes me, it''s stupid. I have to do something stronger, something that only our family would know, something that without a doubt she would know that I really am.
"That''s enough!" My mother screamed.
"In..." I tried to raise my voice to speak.
"...."
"There were some very good cakes at Maria''s birthday party."
"They were so tasty that I remember they even asked for them so much that they ran out right away.
"We thought they were made by cooks for the party."
"But it turned out that you made them."
"We were so surprised that Maria dropped the plate of dough and was completely covered in it."
"She even looked like a ghost.
"And when we took her to her cabin in the woods, Uncle Jose got so scared that she ended up breaking a glass door in the castle trying to escape."
"There was so much damage that an ambulance finally arrived.
"And when the paramedics asked what had happened, they could not stop laughing."
"Even Maria came to believe that there really were ghosts, even though it was her fault."
"How do you know this story?"
"Who told you?"
"Was it him?"
"Was it Cesar?"
"Answer me!"
"No"
"I was there when it all happened"
"What do you mean?"
All right, here I go.
"I''m Cesar."
"The same one who was there that day."
"Your son."
"Is that true?" she looked me in the eyes with a straight face.
"I know it''s VERY hard to believe and there are many reasons against it."
"But it''s true."
"I swear it."
"I am Cesar."
She looked me up and down, taking note of any detail that might indicate my background or motives. I couldn''t know exactly what was going through her mind, but it was clear that she was thinking of something to make sense of it all.
"What color was the house before we painted it for the third time?" she asked quickly with the same serious face.
"Orange with white trim, which still makes me wonder why you changed it to red later," I answered without hesitation.
"What was the car your father crashed his first car with?"
"A bus, you were in it."
"It was a week before we found out that you were pregnant with me."
"Dad''s car was a blue pickup."
"My little sister, your aunt, she has a reputation..."
"Damaris? Everyone knows she has bad luck."
"Like when we went to the beach and it was foggy."
"Or when we went to the volcano for the hot springs and it erupted."
"The gas tank that exploded.
"''She seems to be a source of natural disasters.
"Leon, your middle brother, when he was 5 years old..."
"He cut his hair himself because he wanted to draw his favorite superhero in his head."
My mother''s face changed again. She was crying now, a lot. She slowly approached me and hugged me.
"What the hell is this?
"Is it some kind of strange dream?
"Shouldn''t you be dead?"
"I''ll take care of your funeral myself!"
"That was almost a year ago!"
"What the hell happened to you?"
"How did you end up like this?"
"Cesar"
"You have a lot to explain!"
"Yes, I know"
"I''ll tell you everything!"
"Thank you for believing me"
"Mom," I told her while hugging her too, I think she could hardly hear me because I think I was crying too, I know.
"And who is she?"
"You said Cesar saved you."
"Is that true?" she asked Tamamo.
"It is true!"
"But the best thing is to talk while we eat!"
"Everything is better in the family."
"I already called them about the stove," the employee appeared and spoke.
"They told me they would come tomorrow to install it."
"But it will probably take all day."
"What should we do?"
"Tell them it''s fine, no problem."
"We don''t have tomorrow."
"And please close the shop now, I don''t want to be disturbed, I''m in the middle of something very important."
" Oh and Saeko, please bring some of those leftover cakes, today is a very special day"
"Go ahead and try it, anyone who wants!"
"I want to know what you think of my menu!"
"Seriously!"
"Thank you very much!" Tama immediately appreciated the food she brought.
And so my mother, Tama, and I talked about everything that had happened to us so far. About why I had gone to war against the Empire, about the Angels, about the Codex, about Tamamo, I think I hadn''t kept a single secret from her, I didn''t want to have any more, I didn''t want to bear the burden of having to hide something from her again. It certainly took us a long time to bring her up to speed. And even though it was late, we only had time to talk about our side of the story. I also wanted to ask her what she was doing all this time, because the fact that she was in Japan was no coincidence, she must have been here with something in mind, but that will come later.
Ch18: Home Sweet Home
Home Sweet Home
After a pleasant afternoon at the cafe, it was time to leave. My mother realized that we had nowhere to go and immediately suggested that we stay at her house. She would have insisted even if we had said we were staying at a hotel. Apparently, the house was just a block away, so it would only take us about two minutes to get there. Still, we talked a lot, although I held back some things so as not to overwhelm her after all the crazy stuff that had only grown up. I still don''t think she fully believes I''m her son or the adventures I tell her about.
" All of this is ridiculous."
"Do you really expect me to believe all this?"
"Is she really a goddess?" My mother asked, pointing to Tamamo.
"Yes, it''s true."
"I can do whatever I wants with the moon or reality."
"Would you like to see a total eclipse tomorrow?"
"No, thank you," I tried to stop her.
"I don''t want the world to suddenly fall into chaos."
"And who knows how many scientists will go crazy when they see the moon moving to cover the sun."
"Alright, we''ve arrived."
"Here it is, I present to you our new home here in Japan,'' my mother said, pointing to the house in front of us.
It was a larger house than the old house we had back at our homeland, certainly by Japanese standards this house must have been a mansion. It had two stories and included a spacious garage, a nice fenced-in front yard that our house didn''t have, and a rather large backyard. The house looked quite nice with a touch of oriental flair; you could tell that such a house was not cheap at all.
"What do you think?"
"Quite nice, isn''t it?"
"It''s newly built, it was just finished two weeks ago."
"It took me a while to get it, but I wanted the house as close to the cafeteria as possible."
"I wanted to have only a short walk from my house to my business."
"When I found out that this place was still owned by the government but abandoned, I made some arrangements and they sold me the property."
"Then it was just a matter of demolishing the old building and building the house."
"The neighbors were quite happy with what I did."
"Wait, did you just say that you destroyed a public building to build your house?"
"Is that legal?"
"It is if you talk to the officials and convince them."
"They owed me some favors, and I just kindly asked them to help me find a place to live if they wanted to stay on good terms with me."
"Wait, again, the government owed you, so they gave you land?"
"What do you do for work now?"
"You''re not the head of that international law firm anymore, are you?"
"Isn''t this house too big for just one person?" Tamamo asked.
"Well, I think so, but I need space for what I plan to do later."
"But now that you''re here, it''s a decision I''m glad I made."
"Come in, we''ll talk more inside."
"This is your home now, too."
Once inside the house, it was obvious that it was as expected from the outside, a beautiful and modern home, spacious and well furnished. But as I looked closer, I began to notice familiar things. On one of the walls were paintings by Uncle Jose, there were several slightly broken wooden jars, the glass table that I once broke. Even the curtains that Maria burned in a corner while trying to do a magic trick. The whole house was filled with memories of the past, it was like being partially in my old house, I already felt nostalgic for a place that was new but at the same time not really, it reminded me so much of those good moments from the past that I wanted to cry again.
"Why did you bring all this?"
"It must have cost you a lot to bring all this junk here."
"Well, what was I supposed to do with all these things?"
"I thought I''d be here for quite a while, so I thought I''d bring a few things that were important to me."
"I didn''t want to see all these things left behind and gathering dust in our other house."
"But go ahead, make yourself comfortable."
"I''ve prepared the bathroom for both of you."
After Tamamo and I took a bath, we put on the pajamas that Urakaze had given us at the hotel, since it was difficult to find clothes with space for the fox tail here on Earth, where there are only humans. After explaining to Tamamo what a television was and why it wasn''t a threat, we realized that she actually enjoyed it, especially when she watched a superhero movie and ate popcorn. My mother sat with me in the dining room to talk some more.
"It''s like all this is just a dream; I''m afraid to wake up."
"Right now there''s a little girl who claims to be my son or to have his memories.
"And on the other side, there''s the Moon Goddess sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV."
"To make it even more ridiculous, you come and tell me that you got married this morning, when you''ve only known each other for the last two days."
"WAIT A MINUTE!"
"Are you using my hairbrush on your fox tail?"
"Oh, well, is that bad?"
"Do you know how much animal hair you shed? You''re filling it up."
"And what''s worse, your hair is all white!"
"If I use it and your hair sticks to me, people will think I have old lady gray hair!"
"I''m so sorry."
"It was Tamamo who suggested it, she even gave me the brush."
"You know what, forget it, I''ll buy a new one tomorrow."
"I''m very sorry for any trouble Tamamo might cause."
"She''s been trapped in a stone for a thousand years, so there are a lot of things she doesn''t know, like technology."
"All this surprises me, I can''t believe I''m basically talking to people from another race."
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Hey, now that we''re finally in a private place, can you tell me what you''re doing?"
"Before I had my doubts, but now I''m sure without a doubt, you were the voice I heard while I was trapped, you were the head of the project that tried to use me as a weapon."
"......"
"I''m so sorry, everything that happened was my fault!"
"Because of my immense incompetence, I caused you to suffer a cruel fate."
"No matter how terrible what I did was.
"If I had known that you were the Valkyria Project, I would never have put you through this."
"No matter who it was, it was terrible what they made the person from the project go through."
"It was because of my insistence on saving the I.S.C. lab that you ended up in the battle in Norway."
"Everything that happened is my fault, on my orders, you... you..."
"Everything''s fine, it''s no big deal, I''m here, alive."
"Just a little different and whiter."
"What happened was something I did to myself.
"I was the one who joined the army without telling anyone.
"There was no way you could have known I was on that aircraft carrier, or that I would even be sent to battle.
"You just did what was necessary to help the Alliance not lose the war."
"In the end, I am solely responsible for what happened to me."
"Let''s put all that behind us and instead tell me what your new job is."
"Now I''m the General Coordinator of the Alliance High Command."
"Excuse me? What the hell is that?"
"Isn''t that a very important position?"
"Why are you in such a position? How did you get from being a secretary to basically being the secretary of the United Nations?"
"Didn''t the Continental War just end?"
"Shouldn''t you be in Vienna negotiating a peace treaty or something complicated like that?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Come on, the title is just a fancy way of saying that I''m nothing more than a secretary among presidents."
"All I do is remind important people to call other important people, schedule an occasional meeting once a year, prepare budgets for this and that, listen to a few complaints, nothing out of the ordinary that I haven''t done before."
"I don''t like being famous, so I avoid appearing on the news or in newspapers, so not many people know me outside of a few generals, defense secretaries, or presidents."
"As for how I got this job..."
"After you left home after Dad''s death, even though you kept sending money, it still wasn''t enough to take care of your sister Maria."
"So I thought about working a little more seriously to get a better paying job."
"I started helping out with some cases at the law firm, meeting some people here and there."
"If someone had a problem that needed someone else''s help, I would act as a middleman to sort it out."
"As time went on, more people showed up, paid more money, needed my services, so I was hired in England to assist in a small position with the Alliance during the war."
"One thing led to another, and some generals started calling me for extra support or supplies during the war."
"It seems that I was doing such a good job that the top leaders of the Alliance contacted me soon after."
"They just wanted me to keep doing the same thing, mediate between problems and try to get support for those who needed it, oversee some weapons projects."
"Obvious things like increasing the number of anti-aircraft missiles to France for their defense system, sending more tanks than usual to Germany to help them regain their territory."
"I still don''t see what''s so surprising about that."
"Even though the war is over, it''s just the same as before."
"It seems they really appreciate my work in some way."
"But I only took this job to keep paying for Maria''s medical treatment."
"The work in the Alliance never really interested me."
"The truth is, I just want to leave it all behind and quit my job."
"I''m sure they can manage for a while without someone hovering over them all the time."
"The only reason I haven''t quit yet is because I still have work to do for what I wanted to accomplish here in Japan."
"The reason I''m here is because of more personal, more family problems, but I''ll tell you about them later."
"Actually, right now I''m working on finally fulfilling my dream of having my own cafe!"
"Although it''s nothing more than a hobby or a side job to keep myself entertained."
"Were you involved in any other strange projects like mine during the war?
"No, yours was the only one with oddities."
"It''s not that I particularly liked it either, it''s just that other important people were fighting over it, and in the end I decided to keep it for myself to use as a little more bargaining leverage."
"Some idiots tried to steal the project from me, but luckily a friend of mine, who goes by the name Major Zero, managed to warn me in time."
"Now I think they''re sending him to work in mines in Botswana, Southern Africa."
"All the other projects were normal things: new tank models, a new air-to-air missile for fighter planes, development of reconnaissance drones, things like that."
"Things like what the I.S.C. was doing were somebody else''s responsibility."
"I only looked into your project because I managed to steal it from Damien Raven by threatening to shut down the company he and his wife had started."
"But other than that, I don''t have much idea what they were up to."
"I''m sorry to interrupt your family talk."
"But it''s getting late, and I want to sleep, but I have no idea where," Tamamo, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke.
"She''s right, look at the time!"
"It''s better to go to sleep now, we''ll talk more tomorrow, right?"
"You''re not going to disappear like ghosts while I''m asleep, are you?"
"No, of course not, I have no other place or reason to go."
"Don''t worry, we''ll still be here tomorrow, Mom."
"Many.... many thanks."
"I will take you to an empty room that you can use as your bedroom."
After that she took us to one of the rooms upstairs, it was one that was literally empty. There were just a couple of windows facing the street and a smaller one on one side.
"This will be the room for you two."
"Sorry it''s not furnished yet"
"I just never thought I would need a room so soon."
"The good thing is that I have several of those Japanese floor mattresses called futons, and they are very handy for moments like this."
"Tomorrow I''ll get them for both of you and a real bed".
"Cesar, come down for a moment and help me take them out."
I went down with her to a small closet that was in another room. But on my way back, my mother stopped me for a moment and spoke to me.
"According to what you told me, you haven''t had your honeymoon yet."
"Besides, I don''t think you''ll do anything you''ll regret later, the way things are now."
"But please remember that I also live in this house, and I would like to be able to sleep without noise from time to time."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I don''t understand."
"I know a couple has their needs."
"But if you are both girls, it means you have more work than usual."
"Please remember that others want to sleep peacefully every night without lewd noises, but I think it''s okay from time to time."
"I won''t say anything about what happens between you two in your room."
"Are you really talking about that?"
"I''m not forbidding you anything."
"In fact, I''m proud that you finally found a girl for yourself and introduced her to me."
"I just want to tell you that I support you in your relationship, but please don''t let it be every day."
"And I thought you wanted to talk about something important."
"But of course it is important!"
"It''s important that you satisfy your wife!"
"Your younger brother has been married for three years!"
"He already has a child!"
"You must recover and try to reach him!"
"You know it''s impossible for me to have children with Tamamo, right? We''re both girls"
"It''s not about having children, it''s about determination!"
"Stop it!"
"Please stop, don''t make this more complicated"
Knowing that arguing with her would lead nowhere, I decided to retreat. After putting in the futons, Tamamo and I fell asleep, tired of being woken up so late for two days in a row.
Ch19: Real Nightmare
Real Nightmare
Lying on the bed, I''m next to a goddess, Tamamo smiles at me and bids me good night. The bed, though simple, is quite comfortable and warm, but the lack of furniture reminds me of how, during the war, I often had to sleep outdoors or in the ruins of what was left of a house. After a while of wandering in my thoughts, sleep finally claims my consciousness.
...
...
...
In front of me was once again the girl I loved so much, her body was beautiful and full despite her small size, her fox ears and tail were displayed with majestic pride, with her dark fur like the night, always accompanied by her beautiful crimson eyes. Her dress was ornate and lovely, crafted like a work of art that further accentuated the attributes of her body, combined with her black and gold, accompanied by precious stones impossible to price on Earth. She held her staff in her hand, sturdy and dignified, indicating her position of command. She was Nanami, the Empress of Atlantis, the one standing before me, looking at me with her usual melancholy gaze.
The reason?
Instead of sitting on her majestic jade throne with her servants and subjects, she was standing in front of a graveyard. She was witnessing the aftermath of her father''s and her people''s sins, the devastation that had spread across the continent and fallen upon the land, all because of a single act of pride, vanity, and selfishness.
The graveyard was filled with crosses as far as the eye could see, but the Atlanteans were not Catholic or religious; these graves belonged to the soldiers who, like me, had come to these cursed lands to protect their homes and try to stop the invasion of the dragons. A good number of them were dedicated to the White Cloaks, our elite troops, the best we had or could have, the ultimate dragon hunters.
"So these are the white cloaks I spoke to this morning, the ones being buried now?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"They came from their guild headquarters to the west, near Nutevak, to buy us time to escape to the south."
"What we didn''t know was that it was a combined attack from both sides at the same time, and they were outnumbered 15 to 1."
"Still, they did their duty, even if it cost them their lives," I replied, looking into her eyes.
"Your people haven''t stopped helping us since they arrived on our continent, and yet it is your people who have borne the brunt of our enemies'' blows."
"We''ve told you before, we''re just doing our duty, only both peoples working together will be able to put an end to these times."
"They died to give us a chance at victory, they believe in that more than in saving their own lives."
"It''s impossible to replace the losses we''ve suffered, the next soldiers to be sent will be the farmers."
"The dragon hunters with such losses can also be considered an almost extinct race now," Empress Nanami said, looking back at the cemetery.
"Still, it''s those same dragon hunters who have the most hope that one day our victory will come."
"They know that only they have the power to turn the tide of the war."
"All we ordinary humans can do is stand aside and believe that the remaining hunters will be enough to end this suffering," I tried to offer hope while being realistic about our bleak prospects.
"And you? Why do you fight?"
"You''re neither strong nor capable like them, yet here you are, fighting a war you know you won''t survive."
"I''m not the only one in this situation."
"Every single normal soldier, just like me, is here because they love those back home far more than they hate the enemies in front of them."
"Like you, I was just trying to defend my family back home after the dragons attacked."
"After the dragons killed my sister and mother, everything fell apart for me.
"Now I just think I''m in too deep to turn back.
"At this point, it''s just victory or death, like the other soldiers say."
"......"
"Honestly, I can''t believe that I have the right to stand in front of the Empress talking to her normally and looking her in the face."
"Any other high-ranking Atlantean general would be executed for such an offense."
"Well, that''s because you''re the only one who reminds me of the only good decision I ever made in my entire life."
"Making the agreement for both Atlanteans and humans to form an alliance to fight the dragons."
"....."
"Besides, you''re unique, unlike all those bootlicking idiots."
"You''re the only person who sees me as I really am."
"Instead of seeing an empress or a goddess, you''re the only one who treats me like just another girl.
"Like someone with dreams, with problems, someone who can make mistakes and have doubts, fears."
"Everyone here sees me as a heavenly being above life itself, when in reality I''m just as afraid of death as anyone else."
"So you don''t want to tell others that you married me two months after I came to this place and saved you from the dragons who tried to kidnap you."
"I have no idea how others would react if they found out that you are now the Emperor of Atlantis."
"If that title means anything now, then all that''s left is a dead kingdom awaiting its own destruction."
"So I have already decided that when all this is over, I will leave all this behind as well and escape with you to your world. "
"I don''t care about anything anymore, this place just deserves to perish.
"I just want to live with you in a world without dragons, even in poverty.
As I turned, machine gun fire filled the entire place; a fierce battle raged with every spoonful of earth. In the heat of the battle, one order had been given: defend the Celestial Forge at all costs. My fellow warriors died by my side, cursing their enemies and howling for their families. We were so close to completing our journey, to finally begin our revenge, to reclaim our hope. At our side, in the heart of Atlantis, the ultimate weapon to kill the dragons was being forged: the Orichalcum Sword that Nanami had sworn to create. All we had to do was buy time for its completion.
But the dragons were too powerful, and my two companions were killed by one of their energy beams. I knew that I would be next.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.In a desperate charge driven by both fear and anger, I threw myself forward, trying to take down as many dragons as I could. But within minutes, the only one with a torn body was mine. I can see Nanami''s face in front of me, her tears as rare as genuine falling on my face, a sorrow I couldn''t feel.
"Please, no, no, no."
"This wasn''t supposed to happen."
"You weren''t supposed to leave me."
"We were supposed to go together, you shouldn''t have left me alone."
Nanami''s hands gently caress my horribly disfigured face, made worse by my wounds. I''m just thankful that the blood is enough to prevent her from seeing me clearly as she tries to tend to my wounds despite the silent tears that prevent her from facing the reality in front of her.
"Nanami, don''t worry."
"These things happen in war, it was only a matter of time, we both knew it."
"No matter what happens, I''ll always take care of you, I''ll always be by your side.
"I''ll never forget you, I''ll always love you, no matter how much time passes."
Even in my last moments, even with my last breath, all I could think about was how to make her smile one last time as a farewell.
"No, don''t talk, you must save your strength!"
"We have to get out of here, there''s still a long way to go."
"The dragons are not defeated!"
"You and I haven''t returned to your world yet!"
"We haven''t visited your home, we haven''t met your family."
"You haven''t rescued Luna yet! She''s still trapped, remember!"
"You can''t leave yet! There''s still so much to do!" The little princess said, her voice shaking.
"There''s so much to do..."
"But I won''t be able to accompany you..."
"I''m sorry for breaking my promise..."
"I regret having to ask you to save Luna..."
"I also regret having to say goodbye to her this way..."
"No, no, you can''t give up! Not like this!"
"We''ll get through this, I''ll find you a good doctor."
"Rose is already on her way, she can heal you! You''ll get better!"
"Then we would go to Japan, remember?"
"We would go to that place where they sell lots of books with drawings, like the ones you always bring me as gifts."
"And there was your house too! The house where you grew up!"
"We would take Luna to see your real house, to feel the warmth of the real sun.
"The peaceful world we always talked about those afternoons." The girl tried to hold on to her hope, even though she knew how futile it was.
"Yes... that... you''re right..."
"I wanted to see you there too... I had started to forget all that..."
"It''s a shame that... you have to go without me..."
"Please greet my mother for me... tell her that I always loved her... despite all the crap I said..."
"That I love her despite never being her favorite son..."
"I can''t do it, I can''t do it without you by my side!"
"You are my only strength, my only hope.
"My only reason to live." Nanami squeezed my hand tightly, as if she could keep me at her side with that gesture.
"I''m just a nobody, with no right to anything, with no fate."
"You are a strong Empress, surely you can move forward and find someone more worthy than me to be at your side."
"To enjoy this world free of dragons."
"Free of your father, free of your people."
"But I don''t want that!"
"I only want you!"
"I only want to be Cesar''s wife!"
"I want to be known as the only woman in the life of my beloved husband!"
"I just want to live a quiet and dull life, in a small house, and be as insignificant as you!"
"If I am absolutely nothing"
"Please!" Her voice was barely a whisper, filled with love and pain.
But the cold quickly took hold of my body, my muscles felt more and more numb, my lips stopped responding, the sensations faded away, my pain vanished.
"I''m so sorry..."
"I promise you''ll be the only one for me....you''re the only one who discovered me when the world forgot me....that''s the only thing that gives me peace."
"I love you Nanani.....forever....."
"No... Cesar, please... don''t leave me..." Tears streamed freely down her face and the world around me seemed to fade away, leaving her alone with her pain and memories.
When Nanami returned to the Celestial Forge, she went to get the sword. She pulled it from the majestic altar, unsheathed the huge and heavy blade, looked around with a sad expression and closed her eyes. Each time she lifted more the holy sword, her body lost more and more of its original color. First, her crimson eyes turned to a pale blue, then her skin took on a white hue, followed by her hair, which was stripped of its majestic blackness, leaving behind a whiter shade. In the end, all that remained of her was a ghostly figure. But when the blade finally appeared, there was no hope, only screams of agony and pain, the cruel sound of the tortured, the exhausted, the desperate in mortal agony.
The next time I blinked, I was sitting on Jade''s throne, the place that rightfully belonged to Nanami, now it was me. The people looked at me with illusions, dreams. They could see their new way of fighting dragons, their new leader. Nanami''s heir and their hope. But it wasn''t me, I could look like her, have the same voice as her, have her clothes, I could have her body, but it wasn''t her. People were looking at a false idol, and I had to pretend to be that.
Before I knew it, I was in the last corridors leading to the sanctuary of the First. I had the great sword in my hand, I had Avalon, the end of the war was near. But there were no dragon bodies at my feet, only those of my allies. None of them were even complete, and the formerly blue corridors were now red. There was no time, and yet I stood there, unable to do anything. I was afraid, afraid of what might happen at any moment. Afraid that I would have to do it and fail the people who trusted me.
I hid behind a metal box, covering the passage of the hall. I could hear the screams of the dragons on the other side. Their claws scratching the box, trying to get it out of the way. And I tried with all my might to seal the hall with it. But when I did, all the light went out, just darkness.
There was nothing, there was no light, I couldn''t even see the hand that once belonged to the girl I loved. There was only darkness and the sounds of dragons, lurking, walking, scratching the walls, looking for me. I panicked, I didn''t want to be there, I couldn''t stand it anymore, I hated the darkness, the dragons, the smell of blood that was everywhere. Please somebody get me out of here.
"Please help me!!"
"Please light!"
The next thing that appeared was the full moon. I was now on top of a mountain, I could see the sea in front of me, and I could see the moon high in the sky, lighting up the whole place as if it were daytime. And then I realized that there were no dragons or darkness, just a mountain and a vast space as far as the eye could see. I was no longer afraid, it was a quiet, relaxing place. A place where nothing bad could happen.
...
...
...
I woke up suddenly, I felt like I could hardly breathe, my body was shaking. I wanted to cry. But when I opened my eyes, I saw Tamamo''s face, she was also awake, when she saw me, she greeted me with a smile, as if her face said calmly that the bad had already passed. She hugged me tightly with her nine fox tails, as if to say that she was with me. That I was not alone. She was always with me.
Looking around the room, I could see that the room could understand that it was still night. But the moonlight was coming through the windows of the room, lighting the place almost as if it were daytime. It was a safe place, I was in a room in my mother''s house, in a country that was not at war, with a goddess by my side. After some time in Tamamo''s embrace, I felt calm again.
Leaving the horrors of the past behind, I tried to fall asleep, hoping never to have another nightmare. And well, now I had someone by my side to take care of me again.
Ch20: The Next
The Next
The noises coming from downstairs woke me up. After getting up, I looked around and realized that I was alone in the room. Next to me, the futon where Tamamo had been sleeping was empty, but the sounds coming from downstairs told me where she actually was.
"No, wait, don''t add water to the boiling oil!"
"Ah! It''s on fire! Help! Help!"
"Put the lid back on the pot, that will put out the fire!"
My mother was in the kitchen with Tamamo, apparently trying to teach her how to cook, which made the place quite noisy. It was like going back in time to the days when I was happy and didn''t know it, when I was young and getting ready for school, with my mother preparing breakfast, my father getting ready for work, and my siblings trying to watch cartoons on TV. Fond memories of a much simpler life. But even though I didn''t want to disturb them and break the atmosphere with my presence, I had no choice because I was starving.
"Good morning," I greeted as I entered the kitchen.
"Oh Goshujin-sama, good morning."
"I''m almost done with breakfast."
"Give me a moment and it will be ready to serve!"
"No, Tamamo, wait!"
"Turning up the heat won''t make it cook faster!" I heard my mother say worriedly.
"Tamamo is using the kitchen?"
"Did she have any problems?"
"Does she even know how a modern kitchen works?"
"Don''t worry, I''m watching and teaching her."
"Tamamo wanted to make breakfast herself, so I thought I''d show her how to cook in the present."
"It''s touching to see her working so diligently and determinedly, even though she knows almost nothing."
"It goes much better after the third try."
"Third?"
"Besides, if I teach her to cook well and serve customers, I could ask her to work in the coffee shop!"
"Very well!"
"It''s ready to serve!"
Both Tama and my mother came out of the kitchen with a plate and some cups of coffee and a cup of hot chocolate. When they put them on the table, I could finally see what they were doing. They were just sandwiches, about three of them well made, another three, well, let''s just say you could tell at a glance which ones Tama made. But no matter that I had to eat the two she made, I was happy for the food.
"It''s quite simple to make, but that''s what makes it tasty."
"You were right, food tastes much better with someone else..." I said without thinking.
"Hey, are you crying?"
"Is it because of the nightmare yesterday?" Tamamo asked me.
"Huh? Oh no, no."
"Well, it seems a little, but it''s from happiness."
"This all feels like a little dream come true that I didn''t know I had."
"To be in a peaceful place again, with my mother.
"With homemade food on the table, with my family, in peace."
"......"
"Yes, it feels like the war is finally over for me, that all those bad times and sorrows were for something more than just suffering."
"Come here!"
"At times like this, the best thing is a hug!" my wife replied.
She approached me and did just that, hugging me and holding me for a moment. Then my mother came back to speak.
"It''s good to see you with us again, Cesar."
"It''s a shame that Maria isn''t here with us right now."
"She is currently in the hospital for a regular checkup because of her illness."
"From what you''ve told me, it''s your doing that she''s improved so much."
"I think words of gratitude are unnecessary, but let me say it again."
"Thank you, Cesar, thanks to your help, Maria''s illness has been cured."
"Along with her, you''ve also taken a great burden off my shoulders.
"You have my sincere thanks," my mother said, speaking from the heart.
"So Maria is back in the hospital?"
"What did they tell her?" I asked.
"It''s just a scheduled check-up."
"The doctors still can''t believe that Maria has healed perfectly in the last nine months."
"They keep calling it a miracle, which apparently turned out to be true."
"They check that everything is fine and that there are no side effects or anything like that."
"The poor girl has only slept at home for two days since it was finished," my mother mentioned.
"Hey, now that you mention it, why did you move here?"
"I mean, I heard you wanted a cafe, and I''m glad you finally got your dream."
"But I mean the part about moving to Japan, why?"
"Isn''t it easier to open the cafe at home, I mean?"
"Oh, well, I had several reasons, so I can''t give just one." My mother began to speak, reminiscing a bit.
"The main reason could be that I didn''t really know that your sister Maria had been saved."
"Just yesterday I didn''t know that things like magic, spirits or gods existed."
"I didn''t really know if Maria''s illness would come back after a while, so I thought about at least living near the hospital that treated her."
"Besides, there was Saeko, the girl who was at the cafe yesterday."
"She''s a very good friend of mine; she helped me a lot when I came to visit Maria."
"Once she even let me stay at her house during an emergency when Maria was in critical condition."
"She worked in a cafe near the hospital, so I saw her every time I came."
"She was the one who gradually taught me how to run a caf¨¦ and what to do."
"When I told her about my dream of having my own cafe, she was the one who offered to help me make it happen."
"Of course, I couldn''t be so selfish as to ask her to move to another country just to do me a favor."
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation."......"
"Besides, there''s still my job with the Alliance."
"Now that the war is over, I wanted to do something different and more peaceful than leading troops or finding supplies for some general at the last second."
"It seems that the Japanese government has mentioned that they might want to join the Alliance as well, and for now, I''m around to negotiate with them if the opportunity arises."
"......"
"Lastly, I heard that Damien Raven didn''t take it very well that I took the Valkyria project from him, so I wanted to ask some questions here now that they''ve just opened a new branch after losing the one in Oslo."
"Wow, that''s a lot of things going on in your life."
"You must be very busy all the time."
"It''s not a big deal, like I said."
"It''s more like a part-time job while I get things set up with my cafe."
"......"
"......"
My mother stopped talking and stared at me; you could tell exactly what she was thinking as she looked at my poorly concealed chest.
"So, how much longer are you going to wait to ask me why I have boobs now?"
"I don''t know how to feel when my son is beating me on something like that."
"Excuse me for asking this in a very blunt way, but how much longer are you going to be a fox girl, Cesar?"
"......."
"The thing is... ....."
"Well, with what happened to ....."
"An approximation of ......."
"......."
"Forever?"
"I''m sorry.... I... don''t..."
But my mother came to me and hugged me lovingly, in a way I probably hadn''t felt even as a child.
"No, it''s okay, it doesn''t matter."
"The important thing is that you''re here."
"That''s more than enough."
"......"
"You did well to come back."
"......."
"Although if you had been born a girl, you would now be the one called Maria Celeste instead of your sister."
"Yeah, I''ve heard a million times how you wanted a daughter and it didn''t happen, that first it was me and then Leon and then finally Maria came and blah blah blah."
"Just saying."
"......"
"....."
"Cesar, can I talk about something more serious?"
"It''s about your sister."
"All right, what happened?"
"You see, Maria, as you know, is now quite healthy thanks to you, and I''m very happy about that."
"That''s great, of course, but it''s time to move on."
"Since her health has been much better lately, I thought maybe it''s time for her to go to school."
"You know, like a normal girl, she''s already a young girl, but because of her problems, she''s never been in a classroom and all that."
"So, as her mother, I want her to experience the normal life that she has missed so far."
"As a matter of fact, there''s already a school I want her to attend. I have almost all the paperwork ready."
"It''s Amari High School in Aoyama-Itchome."
"Even though the school year is about to end, they told me that since Maria''s case is special, it would be no problem for her to start before the next school year begins so that she can adjust to the environment."
"She was very excited about the news before she went to the hospital for her check-up.
"That''s really good, it sounds good to me."
"If she agrees, I don''t see why there should be a problem."
"......."
"The thing is, I''m still a little nervous about it."
"I mean, she hasn''t socialized much with people outside of her doctors."
"So I was thinking of offering her a little more help than usual.
"To make sure she''s okay at school, without any problems."
"Okay, I understand, it''s normal."
"It''s important that we as a family help her in any way we can."
"But for some reason, I feel like you''re about to ask me something very ridiculous."
My mother took a mirror from a nearby table and held it up to me with a mocking smile, or maybe a sincere one, or maybe she had a stomach ache.
"Take a look at yourself, now that you''re a young and pretty girl again."
"Without a doubt, you look like someone who should go to school."
"Wait, what?"
"You don''t expect me to go through that again!"
"I barely survived the first time, I can''t go through the same trauma twice!"
"Please! I''m begging you!"
"I would feel much safer if I knew that her brother was supporting her at school."
"It will help her a lot to adjust to school life."
"Look at me for a moment! I have a fox tail and ears!"
"Do you think they won''t make fun of me?"
"I still feel bad about the first time, even though I was a normal person then."
"Don''t think I''ve forgotten the shit you pulled at the graduation party and the photos you took!"
"Please do this for your sister!"
"Please!"
"I''m begging you as your mother, desperate for help!"
My mother bowed her head in front of me, she was really asking me something out of the ordinary. Tamamo seemed surprised to see my mother begging me to make a fool of myself to save my sister, and she also looked at me with pity to persuade me, including the tender look of a pet to break my soul.
"''Agh, all right, but it will only be for a while.''"
"I don''t want to have to fight again to get into the university and all that."
"It didn''t go well the first time, it didn''t go well the second time, and it won''t go well the third time."
"....."
"Also, I need you to make me an ID."
"I don''t know if you noticed, but I''ve shrunk and changed race."
"!!!!"
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"Don''t worry, I can handle it."
"I''ll have your ID and a uniform ready for you tomorrow!"
"Wait a minute, tomorrow?"
"Isn''t that too soon? Where are you going to get that?"
"Job perks."
"I have someone inside the school, someone I placed as a teacher."
"She''s a friend who took on the job of infiltrating the school to keep an eye on Maria."
"It''s better to have more people making sure she''s okay."
"Are you running an ultra-secret spy operation just to help Maria?"
"You know what, better not answer that."
"Maybe the answer''s worse than the question."
"School? That sounds like fun!"
"Can I go too?" Tamamo asked curiously.
"Oh, sure! Of course!"
"The more the merrier!" my mother said cheerfully, not thinking much about the consequences of bringing an evil goddess to a school.
"Don''t you want to think this through a little more?"
"Just yesterday you thought we had kidnapped people inside the TV."
"While we''re at it, before I ask you to make them fake IDs."
"Do you have any names you want to use?"
"Any suggestions on what your name should be from now on, Cesar?"
"Just use Elise, it''s easier and faster at this point."
"I want to keep calling myself Tamamo-no-mae!"
"I like this name too much to change it!"
"Besides, I want people to like me as I really am."
"I don''t want to bother with your name."
"But don''t you think that using Tamamo-no-mae, being Tamamo-no-mae, is a little too direct?"
After talking for a while, we finally decided to leave the task of our new names to my mother, since she was the one who would have to figure out how to forge all that anyway. I was sure she would know what would work and what wouldn''t. After she made those phone calls, we went shopping again in town, trying to get various things for the house and what we would need to live, from some clothes, to a top of the line gaming computer with the highest specs for simple tasks, to dog hair brushes. I don''t know what was more embarrassing, when the clerks saw us and asked if it was for us, or when Tama said yes. Walking around town with Tamamo was really fun, having to explain everything to her and how she was impressed by almost everything in the modern age.
Ch21: Back To High School Part 1
Back To High School Part 1
February 6th
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
8:10
The alarm clock began to ring insistently. After I turned it off, the noise downstairs was Tamamo trying to cook again. The memory of yesterday, when my mother asked me to help Maria get to school, flashed through my mind. I looked at the clock again and noticed that the time set on the alarm was wrong, and in fact it was already late. In a hurry I went to the bathroom to get ready and then down to the kitchen to eat breakfast quickly.
"Tamamo, hurry up and eat!"
"At this rate, we''ll be late!"
"Besides, we still have to change into our uniforms."
"Classes start in 40 minutes, and we still have to catch the train!"
"If you knew you had to get up early, why didn''t you set the alarm before going to bed?"
"And aren''t you supposed to be in the Army? You should be in the habit of getting up early, like at dawn or something," my mother scolded me as she sat down to drink her coffee and read the newspaper.
"I spent nine months sleeping in a coffin!"
"The best I can offer is 12 hours of sleep, take it or leave it."
"All right, putting that aside, they came earlier to drop off your uniform."
"They''re there on the table, yours is the one on top."
"I hope I got the measurements right, your body... you have very peculiar measurements, to say the least."
"Oh, and while we''re here, here are your identities."
"Yours is Elise Valkyria, I left the place of origin the same as before, so you''re an immigrant here."
"And Tamamo-no-me, Japanese nationality, but she has been living abroad with us all her life, so you don''t know much about some things."
"Both came to the school as assistants to Maria, the other teachers should know the rest."
"I think that should cover the basics."
"So you managed to create fake identities, do the paperwork to enter the school, get two uniforms, all in less than 24 hours."
"It''s frightening how fast you can get things done when you''re motivated."
"I''d also like to add that I ended up buying the new oven for my cafeteria."
"Oh, and I also got you a few extra things, here you go."
"A tactical holster for your pistol, magazines, and a big box of ammo."
"I''m sure there''s no place on earth that sells stoves and ammunition in the same store."
"It''s just for personal defense."
"I think it''s obvious to say that it''s super illegal to bring that to school."
"Don''t take your gun out unless you absolutely have to."
"I don''t want to go through stupid problems like the time a teacher saw you with a gun in the halls like before."
"Hey, the gun wasn''t mine that time, I just found it on the street."
"How was I supposed to know it was real when I was just 10 years old?"
"Look, this time I''ll hide it with my coat, and I''ll even forget it''s even there."
"......"
"Damn....."
"......."
"Oh, I need help, this skirt is too small for my hips."
"And there''s no room for my fox tail either."
"Oh my, the tail, I completely forgot about it!"
"Give me the skirt, I''ll fix it with a pair of scissors and a lighter."
"It''s a simple task to make room for the tail to fit."
"I hope so."
After waiting a while for my mother to finish mending my clothes, we were finally ready to go to school, but my mother stopped us again right at the door.
"Cesar! Wait!"
"Here, take this, you almost forgot your lunch."
"I made another bento for Tamamo, too."
"All the excitement of getting everything ready for school reminded me of old times, and before I knew it, I had prepared your lunches."
"It''s just a mother''s reflex."
"Thank you so much, really."
"I can''t believe I''m fussing over this again."
"Sorry to rush off like this, but I''m already late."
"See you later."
"After I finish my work, I''m going to the cafeteria, so I''ll see you there when you get back."
"Oh, Maria will probably be off duty this afternoon, so she''ll probably be home when you get back, so please wait for me to introduce you first to avoid any misunderstandings."
"See you later."
My mother waved goodbye from the front door, reminding me of this exact scene from my childhood. But I didn''t have much time for nostalgia, because the clock kept ticking. After a desperate race against time and morning traffic, we somehow made it to Amari High School in Aoyama-Itchome, which was almost on the other side of the city.
It seems that Amari High School was quite prestigious around here, an elite school for important people, where all the children of wealthy parents went to prepare to become future leaders of various companies. Because of their status, they seem to have a somewhat lenient approach to teaching some students with connections, such as a sick girl who had never attended school before, or two enthusiasts of cosplaying as fox girls. When we arrived, we introduced ourselves in the teachers'' room, but it seemed that our class teacher hadn''t arrived yet, so we decided to wait in the hallway to meet her.
"Look, I know it''s hard to keep up after being trapped in a rock for a thousand years, but please try not to be surprised by everything you see.
"Watch the reactions of the people around you; if they''re not surprised, you shouldn''t be either.
"If you need to use something you don''t understand, watch someone else use it first and learn quickly."
"I think that should cover most things."
"Any questions?" I said, giving Tamamo the last instructions.
"People talk a lot about us."
"We''re new here at the end of the school year, so that alone is strange."
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit."But being an albino with ears doesn''t help either."
"Just tell them you like dressing up like a cartoon character and leave it at that."
"If we''re going to be seen as weird, it''s better to make a strong impression at first; they''ll get bored and forget about it later."
"Just don''t do any magic in front of them."
After a few minutes, the teacher finally came into the classroom. She was a young woman with beautiful straight black hair, wearing an exotic and very suggestive lustful Chinese dress that was hard to forget, complemented by her golden eyes. When our eyes met, we both stood there paralyzed, recognizing each other clearly. She was visibly shaking with fear as she searched through her clothes.
"Do you know her?" Tamamo asked me.
"Well, unfortunately, yes, a little," I replied.
"The last time I saw her, I had a gun pointed at her head while using her as a hostage at the Battle of Vienna."
"She tried to kill me that day along with other soldiers."
"Oh, that would certainly make this situation awkward," Tamamo remarked.
The poor girl seemed to be looking for her stilettos, but couldn''t find them. Instead of escalating the situation, I simply gestured a greeting, which made her realize the real reason I was here, probably related to her boss. She took a deep breath and resigned herself to the fact that we were going to have to work together whether we liked it or not. She walked past us and got right into teaching the class, which was already running a little behind schedule. After calming the class and apologizing, she prepared the students for our entrance, which would undoubtedly cause a stir.
"Alright, so I''m going to introduce you to the new girls who will be your classmates."
"Due to some special circumstances, they are here to prepare for the arrival of someone else."
"So please, I don''t want you to bother them with unnecessary questions, okay?"
"Especially you, Yamada, I''ve got my eye on you."
"New students?"
"This is the weirdest time to transfer," one of the students immediately started to complain.
"Yamada, shut up!"
"I just told you! No annoying questions."
"They have their reasons, okay? They will be the ones to answer your questions, only if they choose to or not."
"End of discussion."
"Alright, the first one is... Tamamo?" the teacher said, a little confused by all the ridiculous things that happened in such a short time.
Okay, Tamamo just entered the class. Please don''t mess this up. Just say your name and nothing unnecessary, please have mercy on me at least in this. I''m begging you, please.
"Hello, my name is Tamamo."
"I was born here in Japan, but I have lived abroad all my life."
"Please let me know if I seem strange; there are many things here that I''m not familiar with."
"Please be patient with me, but let''s all get along."
"Thank you very much."
"And those fox ears and tail? Are you cosplaying?"
"What character are you dressed up as? Is it from a video game?"
"Does the school allow you to wear these things in class?"
These were some of the questions that immediately followed. The teacher responded by silencing them and asserting control, even going so far as to punish Tamamo by sending him out into the hallway as an example. Despite the difficulties, Tamamo had managed to handle the situation better than expected, so if she could do it, I would certainly have an easier time.
"The next student is Elise."
"Please come in and introduce yourself."
Okay, here I go. Don''t be nervous, remember this is all for Maria, everything will be fine. It''s just a little ridicule I have to endure before I can see her again. I''ve waited so long to see her, this is nothing compared to that. Gathering all my courage, I walked to the front of the room and introduced myself. All eyes were on me, mouths open in silence. Even compared to when Tamamo had entered, the atmosphere was much different now, as if they were seeing a ghost.
"My name is Elise Valkyria."
"No, my name is no joke; my mother gave me that name."
"I''m also from abroad, from America."
"My Japanese is probably bad, so I apologize in advance for any misunderstandings."
"Please don''t hesitate to let me know if you don''t understand or to correct me."
"Any questions?"
The whole class immediately raised their hands simultaneously; it was clear from their confused faces that they had a lot to ask.
"No, it''s not makeup; I have real albinism."
"No, I don''t melt in the sun, I''m not slime."
"No, my clothes are not special in any way; they are just black to block out more light. I don''t need a special suit to survive."
"The sun just irritates my skin like a burn, and it bothers my eyes a bit in bright light."
"That''s why I usually stay in the shade; don''t insist that sun exposure is good for the body when the sun is literally my enemy."
"No, I don''t know the best makeup for white skin."
"Yes, my hair is naturally white, it''s not dyed."
"Any other questions not related to albinism?"
Everyone in the class lowered their hands at once, including the teacher.
"Yes, that''s exactly what I thought."
But a hand rose more boldly among the others, and it was sheer terror on my face when I saw it came from Tamamo. Even before it spoke, I knew it meant imminent trouble.
"Oh, I have one!"
"When are you going to tell them you''re my girlfriend?"
And that''s how Tamamo blew it in the most spectacular way. I would have preferred her to perform magic instead of telling people something like that. It really caught me off guard, and I thought I didn''t need to tell her not to say that because it was painfully obvious how embarrassing it was. I quickly saw the other students'' mouths drop in surprise.
Damn it, if I was going to die with someone who dropped a bomb like that, the best way to do it was to make the explosion as big as possible and at least go out in a blaze of glory.
"Ugh, I don''t like rumors, so I''ll be clear from the beginning."
"Tamamo is my girlfriend, okay!"
"Yes, I like girls romantically, yes, I''m a lesbian just like Tamamo."
"I have nothing against men, I can be around them without problems."
"But don''t expect anything to happen between me and them."
"It''s a personal preference, I hope you respect it."
"Anyway, I don''t want to bother with this all day, it''s personal."
"It has nothing to do with classes anyway."
"Is that true?"
"Do you hate men?" The boy outside the classroom said through the window.
"What did I just say?"
"It''s just my preferences, okay?"
"And you should be out in the hall!?"
"Yamada, shut up!"
"And you please calm down!"
"We have to continue the lesson!"
"We''ve already spent a lot of time on this," the teacher appeared, trying to bring order to the chaos I create when I talk.
After all the excitement had died down, Tamamo and I went to our seats near the window, that''s what I would normally say if this was a TV series. In reality, our seats were right in the middle of the class. The class started soon after, with everyone''s eyes on us, clearly waiting to talk and preparing their barrage of questions.
Right now we are in a Japanese history class, it seems to be from before Tamamo''s time. So she will be fine for now. I, on the other hand, have no idea. It''s not that I was a bad student, it''s just that I wasn''t the best either, and I''m studying the history of a foreign country, in a different language, with confusing names that sound the same to me. Well, I hope my mom takes care of the notes, because otherwise, I''ll be in trouble. Wait, Tama has the book upside down and doesn''t realize it? It is in Japanese, she should at least know that she''s reading the book upside down.
Ch22: Back To High School Part 2
Back To High School Part 2
February 6th
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
12:00
When the lunch break came, the whole class jumped out of their seats and gathered around Tamamo and me, asking us about all the doubts we had. Instead, when the bell rang, I took the goddess by the hand and immediately led her out of the classroom. The others, sensing the awkwardness of the situation, decided not to follow us, except for one more companion who appeared in front of us.
She was a fairly average girl, with short black hair, fair skin, and a petite build. The only notable thing about her was her perfect uniform and the class delegate armband she wore, which I''m not sure what exactly it means because my previous school never had anything like it, but I imagine it means some sort of authority or responsibility.
"What''s all the fuss you two are making in class?"
"Your uniforms do not comply with school regulations, and your behavior is not that of a model student!"
"It''s because of this selfish behavior that foreigners aren''t liked in the first place," said the girl blocking our way.
"Excuse me? I don''t think we''ve been properly introduced."
"May I know who you are?" I tried to speak a little outside of this situation.
"My name is Haru Yamamoto, remember it well! I''m the future star detective of the special police!"
"I''m the granddaughter of the current Chief Inspector of the Tokyo Investigation Section."
"Although for now I''m content to be the class representative."
"I make sure others follow the rules, just like a policeman would with citizens."
"And you two foreigners are breaking the school rules."
"Therefore, it''s my duty to deal with you before things get worse."
"That''s what the police call preventive de-escalation."
"Damn meddlesome kid..."
"I mean, I''m sorry, but I''ve been albino all my life, since birth."
"As for the uniform, I have permission because of my albino condition; I prefer to wear thicker clothes because the school uniform wasn''t enough to prevent burns."
"I''m not talking about that, I''m talking about the hat and the heavy coat tied around your waist when you already have one on."
"Do you have a cold or something?"
"And what about her, cosplaying in the middle of class?"
But Haru hadn''t even finished speaking when suddenly our teacher from earlier came out, who strangely seemed to put on a happy face when she saw us. Shortly after, she approached us to talk to us.
"Ah, I finally found you."
"Please don''t leave the classroom so quickly, I need to talk to both of you."
"Please follow me."
"Haru, you can go back with the others, I''ll take it from here."
Haru looked back at us with a slight sense of pride, as if to say "I told you so" without saying it out loud, but the truth was that I was also interested in talking to the teacher and finding out exactly who she was, so this was a good opportunity. Without complaining, we left behind her. She led us up the stairs to the top floor of the building, and after entering through a locked door, we were able to access the roof of the school, where no other students could be, making it a good place for a private conversation.
"Okay, I think we''re in a good place now to talk like you wanted."
"So, may I know what this is about?"
"You didn''t come here to attack me, did you?" I asked the teacher when we reached the roof.
"????"
"Actually, I should be the one to ask."
"Are we okay between us? No hard feelings about Vienna, right?"
"......"
"Look, I think there''s a big misunderstanding here."
"No, I''m not chasing anyone right now; I''m fine, thank you."
"Maybe we should start over and introduce ourselves properly this time?"
"!!!!"
"Oh, right! Yes, that''s better since we''ll be working together from today."
"My name is Xian; I''m actually Ms. Adelis'' personal secretary."
"I''m currently pretending to be a teacher to help Maria at school."
"......."
"I also owe you an apology for what happened in Vienna."
"Due to my mistake, I thought the mission at that time was to eliminate you, when in fact it was to make it appear that you had been eliminated."
"Because of my incompetence, the I.S.C. rescue plan failed and you had to improvise your escape on your own."
"Because of me, I almost killed another of Adelis'' daughters and Maria''s sister.
"I''m very sorry; I''m deeply ashamed of my mistake."
The girl in front of me bowed her head in a sincere apology for a mistake she hadn''t actually made, but was probably the lie my mother told to explain that we weren''t really enemies, but allies. Her clothing was also quite skimpy and revealing, to say the least; her qipao made of latex seemed to be bursting at the seams with her assets. While she was undoubtedly beautiful to look at, it was rather inappropriate attire for a teacher.
"Forgive me for asking, but don''t you think your outfit is rather naughty for a teacher or a secretary?"
"And how were you in the middle of the final battle in the capital of the Empire?"
"Oh, that? The tight clothes? That''s how I always dress."
"Even at home I''m like that."
"Yes, and I''m a man." I said sarcastically.
"Well, actually, it''s because the word ''secretary'' is not the exact word to describe my real job."
"......"
"You know, I usually help people ''disappear'' with no questions asked."
"A punch here, a bit of poison there, the occasional stray bullet."
"Dig a hole in the woods, destroy evidence, keep the cops out of trouble."
"I''m actually a professional killer, like in the movies."
"The suggestive clothing and the beauty, well, let''s just say men get a little dumber when I''m around, so I can use that to stick one of my hidden daggers in them."
"The tight clothing helps me to surprise them even more when I pull a weapon out of nowhere."
"......."
"......."
"May I know where you keep the daggers?"
"I''m just curious... ...."
"I mean, seriously? A killer?"
"And how did you meet my mother? Did she hire you for... well..."
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Oh, no, no."
"Your mother never hired me to take out anyone, at least not directly."
"Once or twice, it was more out of self-defense."
"As for how I met her... let''s just say it was on bad terms, too."
"A while back, I was working... for my mother''s company and one of my sisters... and some guy out there paid us a good amount of money to... well... remove Mrs. Adelis from her career in the Alliance."
"But things went very wrong... and I accidentally hurt an innocent child."
"......"
"''That event... made me think a bit about my life and what was happening in the war.''"
"I was afraid that my legacy, what my actions would leave behind, would never be remembered as a person at all."
"To be forgotten by others like a poisonous insect that leaves only horrible death."
"......"
"Interestingly, it was your mother who visited me in my prison cell. .... I mean, visited my hotel room, and she was the one who talked to me about the same subject."
"She was... quite compassionate with me despite what had happened, and the truth is that her conviction to end the Continental War was quite strong."
"I could see the pain of a mother who had lost a child in the war.
"And with it, the honest desire of an even more honest person to legitimately end the pain caused by the conflict."
"So I decided to join her cause, but not as the dirty work of a professional killer, but as a legitimate effort to make the world a better place, a world without war."
"So my loyalty to her is not for something as simple as money, but out of a genuine interest in becoming a better person and leaving a better legacy."
"Oh, well, I was expecting something like that, but you still managed to surprise me."
"It''s good to see people trying to make the world a better place, that''s pretty rare these days."
"All right, I won''t bother you anymore about the past you''re trying to leave behind."
"Just keep up with your job of keeping my mother safe and I won''t have to become your worst nightmare by chasing you like an animal."
"......"
"Though I still wonder why you''re pretending to be a teacher? Isn''t the war over already?"
"......"
"Well... people need to eat even after the war... besides, like I said, I didn''t want to be a hired assassin anymore."
"My life may have been exciting before, but everyone still needs a place to sleep and bills to pay."
"Your mother is offering me good money and a chance to learn something new."
"Okay, that sounds good to me."
"Well, then it''s a pleasure to have you on the team, Xian." I said as I shook her hand.
"Thank you very much!"
"I''ll make sure to work hard to repay the huge debt I owe to your family, Ms. Elise!"
"......"
"Oh, speaking of which, here!"
"I spoke to the other teachers earlier and managed to convince them that you might want a more private place away from the others."
"This key opens the rooftop door, don''t lose it, only you two are the students who have access here."
"You can use it to have a moment alone or to talk to me about topics other than school or related to my old job."
Xian said before saying goodbye and descending the stairs to return to the school to resume her role as a teacher. Since we were passing by, we picked up our lunches and started eating them on the roof as well, away from the annoying questions of the other students.
"Wow, the view from this tall building is amazing!"
"This school is much taller than the palace I used to live in."
"People look so small from here."
"It''s like looking at humans from the sky," Tamamo said cheerfully as we ate.
"Wait, what? What did you just say?"
"Can you see people from the sky?"
"Well, yes, I am a goddess after all, I can even change reality easily."
"But it''s not like it makes things more fun or makes me seem more human."
"I can see people from above, but it''s no big deal because I can''t interact with anything or anyone."
"It''s more like floating around and seeing what people are up to."
"Wait, are you omniscient or something?"
"Can you read minds? Do you know what all of humanity is thinking at the same time?"
"What? Of course not, I died betrayed by humans, remember?"
"Only THE BOSS can do that, none of the other gods have any power compared to him."
"Mine is more like watching humans go about their daily lives, keeping up with the fashions and inventions of the day."
"In my opinion, the magic box in your living room is much more fun; now I understand why hardly anyone uses that magic anymore."
"But if you want to see me as an all-powerful goddess capable of changing all known reality, how about I bring you a giant piece of the moon to collide with the earth, so that the miners have to drill a hole in the meteor to detonate it from the inside, or else all life on earth will perish?"
"Tamamo, please try not to recreate the Armageddon movie you saw on TV yesterday.
"I don''t like to see panic in the streets, and besides, I''m not sure if you''ve noticed, but my whole family, including us, are part of the idiots living on the same rock in space right now."
"How about we just eat the bento my mom made instead?"
"You better eat everything she made, or you''ll learn the power of THE SANDAL."
"If my mom hits you with it, I assure you, you''ll prefer the meteorite instead."
"Does your mother really like to cook that much?" Tamamo asked as she tasted the rice.
"Well, maybe, this is delicious."
"She always loved to cook. As far back as I can remember, she always dreamed of having her own restaurant."
"It''s surprising to me that it actually took her this long to make it happen."
"Just the fact that she ended up as one of the big bosses in the Alliance before that seems even more absurd to me."
"She just wanted to have a family restaurant, a quiet place where everyone could go and get away from the worries of life."
"My mother always dreamed of being with my father, working in the restaurant and cooking something delicious that people would ask for."
"......"
"It was unfortunate that Maria''s illness came first, but it''s not my sister''s fault that she was born sick."
"Maybe if things had been different and they had opened the restaurant earlier, my father would have been able to see it in his lifetime."
"....."
"But those are things of the past, and now in the present, I''m happy to see my mother finally fulfilling her dream."
"Although she still doesn''t have a proper name for her cafeteria.
"Sorry to bother you, but may I ask what happened to your father?" Tamamo asked with real curiosity.
"To be honest, I have no idea what actually happened."
"I remember something about him being a bodyguard for someone important just before the Continental War started."
"He had left his job as a hotel bellboy for something that paid a lot more."
"I still have no idea why he made such a big leap with his job change."
"From what I heard, he was pretty good at his job."
"Apparently, on the day the war broke out, my father was near the border between Germany and the Empire, so he was actually one of the first to fight against the Empire."
"It seems that his last days were spent trying to get his employer''s daughter to safety, away from the war as it began."
"It''s hard to know exactly what happened."
"I don''t know if you can imagine, but those early days of the Continental War were a complete disaster and chaos."
"I asked a few people what happened, but the answers were all different.
"Some say he was betrayed after discovering something super secret."
"Others said he was one of the first to fight the Empire''s DOLL, sometimes adding that he was the first to defeat one and helped create countermeasures to stop them at the cost of his life."
"I even heard that he died defending a field hospital full of civilians from an attack by a tank unit... on foot... defeating them by tossing a grenade into the cannon barrel, but unfortunately could not get away in time from the explosion of the four tank."
"Oops, sorry, I''m so sorry I asked."
"It must be hard to talk about it."
"Don''t worry."
"I''m fine, and I know he''s in a better place now."
"Although sometimes I wish he was alive here with me."
"......"
"That way I could send him to heaven myself for stealing my money and betting it all on card games."
"And what about those parties he throws? Why the hell is there a statue on another planet commemorating just one party? Why are they making a movie about it?"
"Not even Momo could stop him."
"....."
"....."
"But I also understand a bit why he does it; the truth is, I''m no better than him."
"Being away from my mom has definitely affected him a lot."
"Surely gambling and parties are a way to keep his mind occupied and to deal with the loneliness he feels inside."
After we finished eating, the bell rang again and classes started again. So Tama and I gathered everything up and went back to class to continue.
Ch23: Bad Boys
Bad Boys
February 6th
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
14:25
After lunch on the roof of the school, Tamamo and I returned for afternoon classes, which went off without much trouble as everyone seemed to be busy with math, a subject in which Tamamo surprisingly excelled. Later, as classes ended and everyone was packing up to go either to their clubs or home, the same annoyed student from earlier came to talk to me, Haru, I think her name was.
"I''m sorry about earlier. I guess I was a little rude considering it was your first day here."
"Maybe my actions painted a picture of this place or what my grandfather would have wanted that doesn''t match reality?"
"Ah, okay, it was fine, nothing special to be honest."
"Let''s leave it in the past, Haru."
"????"
"Hey, why do you call me so casually?"
"Huh? Sorry? Haru is your name, right?"
"Oh, right, no, sorry, it''s my fault again."
"I forgot that you are a foreigner."
"You see, in Japan, people usually call each other by their last name; first names are only used for very close people, like best friends, lovers, family."
"Calling someone you''ve just met by their first name is considered very rude and bad manners."
"Well, at least among the Japanese, foreigners obviously get a pass for being from outside."
"Although you''ll avoid a lot of awkward moments if you follow this rule."
"Oh, okay, I''ll keep that in mind."
"I completely forgot about that."
"Please don''t be offended if I do it again; just consider it a mistake on my part, feel free to remind me."
"It''s nothing..."
"Hey, while we''re at it... would you like to go out with Yukiko and the others?"
"After school, we''ll meet at the station and go to a new cafe that a friend of my grandfather''s opened, it''s in Sumida, near Shirahige Park."
"The shop doesn''t have a name yet, but from what my grandfather told me, their pastries are quite delicious."
"Oh, I''m sorry, I don''t have time today."
"My sister is being discharged from the hospital today, so I have to go back early."
"Oh! Is she okay? What happened?"
"Nothing major, she''s fine from what I hear."
"She was suffering from a somewhat rare disease, so she was under observation."
"It''s been a while since I last saw her, so I would like to see her again."
"Sure, no problem, I''ll let the others know."
"Maybe we''ll organize something later to welcome you and her."
"Oh, I''ll let you go since it''s getting late. See you later!"
Without waiting for my reply, Haru Yamamoto hurriedly left the classroom. Her cheerful demeanor was in sharp contrast to her behavior this morning. It seems that the shock of a foreigner was more than she could handle, and she became defensive. Although it''s no big deal either way, it''s better that these misunderstandings happen to me before Maria comes to class. Just as we were gathering our things, Xian appeared to give us some forms to fill out for school, but something else caught my attention. Haru was surrounded by several men in black: balaclavas, bulletproof vests, guns, a van. They bundled her into the vehicle while the poor girl struggled and fought to free herself.
"Oh shit! Xian, the window!"
"They''re kidnapping Haru live in front of the school!"
"What? Oh no!"
"This is a big problem!" said the teacher, also looking at the window.
"Are these things common around here?"
"I''m sorry to bring you bad news, but I have to tell my mother that this school is not good for my sister."
"You don''t understand, Elise, it''s worse than you think!"
*Beep*Beep*Beep*
"Sorry, give me a moment, I have to answer," I said as I searched for the phone in my clothes.
"My mom just bought me the phone and it''s probably her."
"Hello, good afternoon?"
"Hello? Is this Miss Elise, right?"
"The white girl from yesterday, right?"
"Yes, the one with the fox ears and tail, that''s me."
"I''m Saeko, the girl who works in your mother''s cafeteria."
"Oh... your mother... Mrs. Adelis told me to call you if there''s a serious emergency and gave me this number."
"And this is a very serious emergency, I don''t know what to do! I''m so sorry!"
"It all happened so fast! I couldn''t believe it! Oh God! Oh my God!"
"Saeko! Saeko! Calm down."
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there."Listen to me, stay with me, calm down!"
"I need you to tell me exactly what happened."
"Please, be as clear as you can."
"It''s your mother, she came back from work."
"She was here, I could see her through the window..."
"But... but..."
"Suddenly some men in black arrived in a van!"
"They grabbed her and took her away! I have no idea where they took her!"
"Everything happened so fast! I don''t know what to do, we have to call the police!"
"But Mrs. Adelis was very clear yesterday that I should call you first."
In less than a moment, I could feel my body losing warmth, the sense of time fading. I could barely feel my own heartbeat while still holding my phone, unable to believe what I had just been told. But I couldn''t lose it right now and run around the city causing chaos; now was the time to have a plan. Luckily, the right person for the job was standing right next to me.
"Alright Saeko, everything is fine."
"I''ve got it under control, give me some time and we''ll call the police later."
"For now, close the shop and stay on the phone, everything will be fine, don''t be afraid."
"......"
"Tamamo, take the phone, please, talk to Saeko and try to calm her down, you''re better at that than me."
"....."
"''Now regarding the issue, Xian, we have a serious problem."
"Saeko just called and said that they kidnapped my mother a few moments ago."
"You were her bodyguard, right? Any ideas?"
"They kidnapped Mrs. Adelis!"
"Wow, that takes guts, they''re definitely bold."
"Even agencies like MI6 wouldn''t dare do that."
"Whoever did this is definitely not an ordinary person."
"They just kidnapped Haru and now your mother, I''m afraid it''s no coincidence."
"Then what do you suggest? Who do you think it could be?"
"I honestly don''t know, but I know someone who will soon."
"Come with me to the car, we need to do some driving."
Xian took us to the school parking lot where her car was parked - a flashy race car, a Ford Shelby GT Super Snake, clearly modified, certainly not something a teacher would normally use on a daily basis. After Tamamo and I got in, Xian started the car and we took off across town. The professional assassin made another call on her cell phone, telling someone to meet her at the docks in 20 minutes. Maybe even sooner, we arrived at the location even though it was late afternoon. Xian stopped at one of the warehouses and waited near the door for the person she had called earlier.
"You know, when I left... the army, I promised myself I wouldn''t get involved in these things anymore."
"And now look at me, back in a foreign country, running a counterintelligence operation with people I barely know," I said sarcastically.
"Well, I made the same promise to myself."
"The last thing I imagined was having to rescue hostages after a class," Xian replied, also sarcastically too.
"Do you know who the person we are waiting for is?"
"An old friend of your mother''s; he should definitely be able to find out where they''ve taken her."
"And how can you be so sure?"
Suddenly the metal gate of the hangar opened and a man standing there waved us inside. Xian maneuvered the car into the hangar.
"That''s him, he''s quite good at his job," the beautiful girl who was driving added.
"Just pay attention and don''t say anything, I''ll do the talking."
After the warehouse door closed again, a man walked up to the car and pulled aside a curtain in front of us, revealing a man gagged and bound to a chair. The man in the chair appeared to be brutally injured, with large streaks of blood across his body, but instead of showing mercy, the man orchestrating this gruesome spectacle only brought more pain. He took a wrench and mercilessly pounded on the legs of the man in the chair, hammering again and again until the poor man writhed in agony, his screams mingled with sounds of remorse. the boogeyman didn''t stop there; he grabbed a nearby barrel of gasoline and poured it mercilessly over his victim.
The captive, knowing the consequences, struggled to speak, indicating that he was ready to tell the truth. When his gag was removed, he immediately said, "Tokai 6-chome, Ota-ku in Tokyo Bay!" But that wasn''t enough to win his freedom. the boogeyman callously set him on fire with his cigarette. The man screamed in agony as he met his horrible death, prompting the tormentor to shoot him to end his suffering even as his body continued to burn.
Then the terrifying man calmly walked toward the car.
"Excuse me, Xian, but who did you say this person was?" I asked curiously.
"Oh, that''s the inspector of the police department, Mr. Yamamoto," Xian replied.
"He was a good friend of your mother''s during the war."
"His granddaughter, Miss Haru, was kidnapped by the same people."
"Now I understand why the gasoline," I muttered.
Finally close enough to see better, the man was old; his graying hair and age were evident. Yet his muscular frame was still visible beneath his clothes, and in his eyes, determination and anger burned as one. A man on a divine mission, living only for his granddaughter, and about to let the world know it. He was clearly far more dangerous than we had just witnessed.
"They''re at the Nisshin warehouse complex, it''s near here to the south."
"The idiots thought they could come to my house and kidnap me too.
"They look like foreigners, they don''t even understand Japanese well."
"I''m not sure who''s behind this, but they definitely have money, judging by the equipment they''re using."
"This wasn''t a coincidence, it was really well planned, like an operation."
"I''ll clean this up first, I''ll be there with the police in an hour."
"That''s their window of opportunity to act, please Xian, save Haru."
"Oh yes, of course, no problem at all."
"Actually, I''m in good company today, these two girls here are also professionals."
"The one in white even beat me easily in Vienna," Xian said, a little nervous about the man.
The old man stared at me for a moment, but for some reason didn''t give it any more importance.
"I don''t care who does it, just don''t screw it up."
"Go now, time is running out."
Xian immediately started the car and drove to the place where a man had already died. On the way, I checked that my gun was loaded and ready for an emergency rescue. The assassin looked at me a little scared before he spoke.
"Hey, you don''t expect to go in there without a plan, do you?"
"Do I look like a girl with a plan?"
"..."
"Don''t worry, I''m not that stupid."
"Anyway, Tamamo, you like shapeshifting, right? Do you think you can easily pass yourself off as someone else?"
"I have a little important job for you before I go in and tell everyone to go to hell"
Ch24: The Rescue
The Rescue
**************
Adelis POV
**************
When I woke up, I immediately realized that something was wrong. I was in an unfamiliar room, one that was horrible and decadent compared to my home, this was a nightmare I was living. I was trapped in a dirty, dimly lit room with a metal door nearby. There was a barred window that barely allowed a glimpse of part of the hallway outside, but there didn''t seem to be anyone around; the place was eerily quiet.
I was filled with fear. I didn''t know where I was or what it meant, but I was sure it couldn''t be good. I was afraid for my safety, for the safety of my family. I was nervous. Would they try to kill me? Torture me horribly? Maybe something worse, like trying to rape me? Please, no. I couldn''t live with that; I''d rather die.
"Huh?"
The sound of another person behind me startled me immensely, so I turned to look. In the darkness of the room, I managed to make out the vague silhouette of someone else. It was a girl who seemed to be waking from her sleep, trying to figure out what was happening around her. Realizing that she, like me, was in an unknown and dangerous place, she seemed to recognize me and immediately approached me, seeking comfort. I could see that she was wearing the uniform of the school she attended. When I saw her face, I finally recognized her as Haru Yamamoto, which made me wonder why she was also here. She was also obviously frightened, not knowing what was going on.
"Mrs. Adelis, are you here too?"
"Do you know what this place is?"
"What are those gunmen are planning to do?" asked the poor girl.
I thought for a moment about how to answer her question when I didn''t even know what was happening. There was the sound of a nearby door opening, and looking through the small window, I could clearly see armed men guarding the hallway. They had real military gear and assault rifles similar to those used by the Alliance. It seemed like there were more soldiers patrolling than just crazy-armed individuals. These were clear signs that this wasn''t a normal kidnapping or ransom; this was a calculated plan. They knew exactly who I was, they knew the risk they were taking, and they had acted accordingly.
"Everything is fine, don''t worry"
"Soon your grandfather will come to rescue us.
"We just have to wait until he arrives," I told the girl, trying to make her feel better.
But it was all a lie; I really didn''t know what our future held. I was as scared as she was. They won''t notice my absence at the army base until tomorrow morning, but the time they need to search and find me could be too long. The other possibility is that Saeko noticed my kidnapping and called Cesar as I asked her to do. She claimed to be an important agent, and if she really did carry out missions like the "White Demon" during the war or her extreme escape, then her ability is unquestionable and she''s someone of utmost trust. However, she''s just arrived in the city and doesn''t know anyone who can help her. There''s also Xian, my secretary; maybe she could help him, but I have no idea if they''ve met yet. The last possibility is Haru''s grandfather, Inspector Yamamoto. He''s an extremely intelligent man, very effective in his work. He could undoubtedly quickly find out where we are, even if he has to go door to door all over the city. But the real question is whether he would inform Xian of his findings or come here with the entire police force. I hope the inspector can handle this in the best possible way; a shootout between the police and these people would be utter chaos.
I was still pondering the situation when the door to our room burst open with a loud bang. One of the armed men held someone over his shoulder and threw her inside before quickly closing the metal door behind him. He then stood guard outside with another soldier while the other two patrolled the hallway. There was no way to escape, but what could I do? I was just an ordinary woman who had never trained or fought in anything in her life. I had fired a pistol at a firing range as a mere formality to become an officer of the Alliance. But somehow I had to protect these people. I couldn''t do anything reckless that might get us all killed.
I moved to see who the other person thrown into the cell was, but to my surprise and fear, it was Maria, my beloved daughter, the fruit of my love for my husband, the girl we had fought so hard to raise. She was still wearing her hospital clothes, which showed exactly where she had been taken against her will. After recovering from her fall, she looked around and met my face, only to burst into tears and run to hug me.
"Mom? Is that you?" my beautiful daughter said to me.
"Is it really you?"
"I''m so sorry! I don''t know what happened!"
"Some men in black came and took me from the hospital."
"I don''t know what''s happening! I''m scared!"
"Don''t worry, everything is okay."
"Everything will be fine."
"Stay calm, nothing bad will happen."
Even though I didn''t know what was happening or what would happen next, I couldn''t help but lie and try to comfort her as best I could. All I could do was hug them and try to protect these two girls, even if it cost me my life.
After calming both girls, I went back to look out the window with the bars on the door. I tried to think of a way to get out of this situation, or at least keep it from getting worse. All I knew was that we must be in some kind of warehouse with a lot of armed men. Down the hall, I could see some stairs leading up to another door guarded by more soldiers. In the highly unlikely event that I magically managed to escape the room, there were at least 4 armed men in my path to the stairs, and I had no idea what awaited me further up.
There was no way to escape without a direct confrontation. My only viable option was to wait to be rescued by Alliance soldiers or the police. All I had to do was hold out for a few hours or a day, but what if these men had a different plan and didn''t need that much time? Or if they were going to take us somewhere else soon?
Fear and helplessness gripped me. Each passing moment pushed me deeper into total despair, something I couldn''t show in front of the two girls who were depending on me right now.
But then something strange happened in the hallway outside. Another armed man had just arrived, looking a bit lost, and his companions began to tell him to leave. However, the new soldier continued to play dumb and started inspecting the area and the other doors. His comrades told him to stop once and for all. On one of these occasions, he looked through the bars of our door and locked eyes with me. He stopped immediately, and his comrades put a hand on his shoulder to pull him away, but he didn''t move from the door.
The next thing that happened was complete chaos. Within seconds, the new man began to act strangely. He started smiling and pulled a spear out of nowhere, as if he had always had it with him. He stabbed one of the men behind him until the tip of the spear came out from behind him. Instead of stopping, he continued his attack, piercing the other man''s face as well, while the first man''s body remained impaled and in agony.
The other two guards in the hallway raised their rifles to shoot at the strange man, but he simply responded by throwing some papers with force. As soon as these papers made contact with the armed men, they were engulfed by two enormous columns of blue fire, a fire so strong and deadly that its two victims couldn''t even scream in pain and were burned to ashes in a matter of seconds, a fire so powerful that it could be felt even behind the door.
I couldn''t believe what I had just witnessed; I was utterly horrified to see 4 soldiers lose their lives in such a violent, quick and easy manner. I felt nauseous at such a display of wickedness and the inhuman monster that was nearby. The strange man turned back to the door separating us and somehow managed to open it effortlessly and silently. As he entered the room, I hugged the girls and tried to stand between them and the monster. Instead, he smiled, and as if by magic, in less than a second, a puff of smoke emanated from his body, and as magically as the smoke appeared, it disappeared.
What happened next left me stunned, unable to comprehend what had happened. The monster who had effortlessly killed four armed men was now the girl who had come with Cesar a few days ago. The fox girl with her fox tail an ears, her long blonde glowing hair, her magical blue kimono, her happy face despite the deaths she had caused, as if all of this was just a game to her - she was Tamamo-no-mae, making her entrance, striking a cheerful pose as if she were a magical girl from the show.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"I''ve finally found you all."
"What luck to find you all in the same cell."
"Don''t worry, Okaasan! Help is on the way; Goshujin-sama will find a way to get you out of here."
"I will protect you until she arrives," said the joyful moon goddess.
"Tamamo? Is that really you?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Yes, it''s me! Your cheerful daughter-in-law who''s come to save the day!"
"Just like those superheroes from the magic box in the living room!"
"Isn''t that great?" she said in a playful tone, oblivious to the seriousness of the real situation.
"Is Cesar here too?"
"What about the others? Is Xian here? Inspector Yamamoto?"
"Are the police here already?"
"What is their plan?"
"Only Miss Xian, Goshujin-sama and I are here."
"I think I heard that the police will come later."
"Oh, I''m not really sure what the plan is."
"Goshujin-sama just told me to go in first, find you and protect all of you until he arrives," she said casually.
I couldn''t believe how ridiculous the situation I was in. The powerful Moon Goddess showing how little human life meant to a superior being as her , giving us hope of escaping this situation, only to casually mention that my idiot son was doing this rescue without any real plan. I was still processing everything that had happened and trying to control my hopes for rescue when the sound of an explosion shook the ground above us. Seconds later, the continuous sound of gunfire erupted throughout the place. It was absolutely terrifying to hear the large number of shots, the sounds of screams of agony and death. But perhaps my greatest fear was knowing that my son was the cause of all this deadly chaos. The gunfire would sometimes stop only to start again, each time closer to where we were.
Tamamo raised her hand, and the spear detached itself from the dead men and returned to its owner. The goddess moved to the entrance near the stairs and closed the door, ready to attack anyone who tried to enter. Shortly after, someone came running and opened the door, only to be confronted by a fox girl who fearlessly hurled her spear at his head without hesitation. The soldier who took the hit had no time to understand what had happened to him. Without showing any concern, Tamamo pulled her spear out of his body and resumed her previous stance. The number of shots seemed to decrease as the sounds of pain and agony increased. My greatest fear was knowing that my son was the source of all this chaos. I was afraid when the shots rang out and equally afraid when they stopped, because each shot I heard was a momentary sign that my son was alive or perhaps wounded. So I was afraid of everything that could happen, both good and bad.
The girls next to me were worse off because they didn''t understand what was happening. Haru, in particular, seemed unable to bear it any longer and fainted from fright, while my daughter Maria was also frightened, but she tried to hold herself together, although I could see that she was trembling.
A series of loud knocks on the door of the stairs took everyone by surprise, but this time it was Tamamo who decided to open the door. When she opened it, she saw two people fighting fiercely: a strong, muscular man fighting hand-to-hand with a small, colorless girl. The battle was intense as both fought for survival, each trying to kill the other as quickly as possible. The girl tried to reload her weapon, but before she could, the soldier kicked her arm, knocking the pistol out of her hand. Then the man pulled a large knife from his pocket and attacked the little girl. She did not flinch; her face remained serious, her red eyes fixed on her enemy, focused only on how to kill him. The enraged man continued his relentless attacks, but she deftly dodged them. His decision to draw the combat knife proved to be his demise.
As if in a dance, the pale girl quickly moved her hand near her attacker''s weapon and stole it effortlessly. With her next move, she sliced off a large portion of his legs. Then, switching the knife from her left hand to her right, she stabbed the wounded soldier in the chest and, with complete indifference, buried it in his throat to finish him off. The strong, tall soldier died with the horrible sounds of his choked breaths in a futile attempt to breathe.
"Alright! Everybody ready, we are getting out of here!" said the albino girl.
"Cesar!"
"Do you really think rescuing us like this is a good idea?"
"There are more enemies out there! You''re putting us in danger by trying to save us in this stupid way!"
"It''s not just me, Haru and Maria are here too!"
"What the hell? They kidnapped her too?"
"Well, it doesn''t matter, there''s no time for that."
"Xian is covering us from above, she has the car waiting nearby, we have to get to it if we want to get out of here alive."
"I''ll go first, Tamamo, you second, Mother third, Maria, you try to carry Haru, who seems to be sleeping."
"Here, take this gun and help as much as you can, keep your eyes open when you pull the trigger," my son said a little angrily as she handed me a gun she had stolen.
" Moron! We can''t get out like this!"
"They''ll kill us all!"
"Don''t worry, I got that covered!"
"But if you want to live longer, you''d better do what I say, when I say it, and how I say it."
"We don''t have much time to get out, the police are on their way and we don''t want to get caught in the crossfire."
Immediately after the albino girl spoke, she took a step back, and moments later, as if by magic, a ghastly dark crack appeared on the ground. An enormous, thick sword spun out of it. It was ridiculously large and crude, larger than the girl holding it, who simply grabbed the sword by the hilt with one hand while holding her pistol with the other. Then, using it like a ballistic shield, she began to walk slowly but surely forward. Tamamo followed close behind as if it were a game. Maria and I had no choice but to follow, for it was either that or certain death.
As we walked through the warehouse, I realized how many times my son had been in this exact situation, the way she checked every corner carefully, the attention she paid to the different entrances, the way she wasn''t surprised when bullets bounced off her shield, the way her eyes didn''t blink when he pulled the trigger of her gun, the careful way she used her ammunition. Walking down a corridor, there was a door on the side, and we couldn''t tell if someone was hiding there. So she told Tamamo that she would walk past the door, and then Tamamo would have to enter the room and kill whoever was there while protecting the hall with the shield. A moment after she realized what she had said, Tamamo stood behind her and patted her on the shoulder, indicating that she had completed her task and could continue.
On our agonizing way to freedom, I noticed that the number of dead on the ground didn''t match the number I had seen my son fight. Most of the bodies were already there, the gruesome scene of a real massacre. C¨¦sar had fought most of them first, before coming to find us, trying to make our escape easier. I could see in my son''s face that there was no nervousness or fear, only concentration. She was a warrior with a sacred mission to get us out of there alive; nothing else mattered to her at that moment. Not even the moment her gun ran out of ammunition during another shootout with two more men. Instead, she just reached back without even turning her head, while Tamamo took the gun I was holding and gave it to her without asking, then continued the fight as if nothing important had happened.
I was struck by how, even when compared to her enemies, she showed no doubt or surprise, only coldness. For the white-haired girl, this was just her routine, just another day at the office, just killing more and more, It was the same thing she had been doing all these years before. I understood in that moment that she was just doing what the war had taught her: fighting, achieving her goals, killing anyone who got in her way, without remorse or emotion, just concentration, repetition. How I was partly responsible, how my decisions, made while looking at a map on a table, meant a fight to the death for the soldiers in the dirt, mud and blood , how people like my son were the ones who had to fight and die for every meter of ground I casually marked in blue on my map.
When we finally reached the entrance to the warehouse, only a few minutes had passed, the longest and most terrifying minutes of my life. I felt as if my legs were about to give out and collapse at any moment, even though I had not put up a fight. At the entrance I saw a car coming towards us, Xian jumped out and started shooting around to cover us. Cesar grabbed Maria and Haru and threw them into the car at full speed, and I quickly got in next to Tamamo. Shooting at the few remaining enemies, Xian and Cesar finally jumped in and the car sped away to get us out of there. I saw a couple of black vans chasing after us at full speed. All the cars hit the road, trying to get away from the dock, but in a strange twist of fate, after Xian turned at a nearby intersection, we found ourselves facing several police patrols. I saw Inspector Yamamoto emerge from one of the patrols and confront them with his trademark big revolver. He and the other officers started shooting at the cars, but let us pass without any trouble. It seemed that Haru''s grandfather had some idea of what would happen and had planned ahead.
After everything calmed down, we managed to return Inspector Yamamoto''s granddaughter to him without a scratch. The old man ran to pick her up in his arms, almost crying, and thanked me gratefully. Seeing how much he needed to be reunited with his granddaughter, I decided not to bother him and quickly returned home. Besides, I didn''t like the idea of having to explain what had happened to the police or appearing on the news. Xian took us all back to my house.
By the time we got to my house, it was quite late. I still felt exhausted and overwhelmed after all the intense emotions I had experienced that afternoon, in stark contrast to how calmly Tamamo and Cesar took everything, finding time to make something to eat or even take a bath despite all the fighting that day. I couldn''t understand how they had the mental strength to go to sleep in their rooms while Maria and I were still in shock. Since we were both very tired after such an exhausting day, I asked them to wait until the next day to explain things better. Both Maria and I didn''t feel very comfortable in our own home, so we went to sleep hugging each other and trying to comfort ourselves from everything that had happened.
Ch25: Family reunion
Family reunion
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
The sun in the window marked the beginning of a new day. Unlike previous days, this time Tamamo was by my side in bed. Her eyes looked at me, open, but with a happy face as usual.
"Good morning, Goshujin-sama!"
"Good morning, honey."
"Did you just wake up too?"
"Not really, but downstairs your mother is talking to Maria alone."
"So I thought I''d stay here so as not to disturb them and quietly watch you sleep."
"Surely last night was one without nightmares, considering how happy you are."
"Hey, maybe you want some breakfast. We have to get ready soon because it''s almost time for school."
"Tamamo, it''s Saturday, we don''t have to go to school today."
"Oh, really? So there are days off?"
"Wow, how much education has changed in a thousand years."
"When I was a geisha apprentice, there was never a day off."
"Although that''s all in the distant past now."
"....."
"So, since we have some free time... when are you going to explain things to your sister?"
"We should go down and greet her."
Tamamo got out of bed and helped me tidy up the room before we went downstairs for breakfast where my mother and sister were already waiting for us. We took our food and sat down.
It was the first time I had seen my sister in over 6 years and yet she was just as I remembered Maria. It was clear that she had grown a bit, but her body was still small and quite thin, underdeveloped due to her illness, the result of being in the hospital for so long. Even so, it was a great joy to see her here at home and healthy. She also had long, straight black hair that accentuated the mestizo Latino complexion of her face, along with her eyes that were so hard to see open in the past. She was wearing a modern outfit, a combination of dress and black coat; she had finally managed to wear one of those clothes that had been given to her to encourage her to live instead of those boring hospital gowns. She also had her classic headphones on; she had always liked to listen to music in her spare time. It was truly incredible to see her healthy and safe after all the pain and sacrifice our family endured just to see her living like a normal person today. Although maybe it was just me who felt that way, while Maria just looked at us with a face full of doubt before she spoke.
"All right, can someone tell me what is going on?"
"Who are these girls? Why are they living in our house? Why are they dressed like fox girls from some degenerate manga?"
"Am I the only one who thinks this is all weird?" my sister asked our mother, confused.
My mother abruptly stopped eating and stared at us, also worried, trying to think of how to answer her daughter''s question.
"Well... how can I... explain it?"
"It''s a bit difficult... so why don''t you sit down... and calm down a bit first."
"I know what I''m going to say might sound... a bit crazy, and I know it''s hard to accept... but I''m sure you''ll be able to understand," my mother replied, embarrassed.
"Leave it," I interrupted.
"I''d better explain it myself, at least I''ll save you the embarrassment."
"At this point, I think it''s going to be a big part of my life anyway."
Before I spoke again, I looked at Tamamo for a second, trying to make her understand that I didn''t want any of her usual out-of-place jokes at this moment. Then I mentally prepared myself, trying to find the easiest way to explain this mess to her.
"You like magic, don''t you, Maria?"
"You would like it, wouldn''t you?"
"What if I told you it was real? Would you believe me?"
"Magic?" my sister said with a curious look, her eyes shining with excitement.
"But what does it have to do with you?"
"Not much, to be honest, but it will help you understand the second part."
"The fantasy stories, would you believe in them?"
"That''s impossible," she dismissed without hesitation.
"You like magic, but you don''t believe in fantasy? What kind of magic lover are you?"
"....."
"Well, that''s not the point."
"What if I told you that your brother is alive thanks to this magic and a strange fantasy story?"
"Leon? But he''s fine."
"He came to visit me a week ago, it was quite fun to see him again," Maria said with a confused look.
"......"
"......"
"Oh... it''s... well, it''s good to see that he''s the first brother you think of..."
"......"
"What about the other one?" I said, disappointed.
"Cesar?"
"He''s been dead for almost a year now, why would he come back to life? He was a loser, a nobody."
"According to what Leon and Mom said, since he was such an idiot and never found a real job, he ended up joining the army and that''s how he got himself killed."
When Maria finished, I turned to look at my mother, who quickly looked away after being exposed. I felt bad knowing how badly others thought of me, how my own family seemed to hate me for what I had done in the past to save them. But I hadn''t done much to tell the truth either, and it wasn''t like calling me a loser was really a lie. So instead, for everyone''s sake, I decided to ignore another painful subject and just get to the point I really wanted to make.
"Okay, that doesn''t matter for now."
" As I was saying, what if I told you that your brother Cesar is somehow still alive?"
"Would you think that''s too crazy?"
Maria stared at me for a moment before answering again with a curious expression.
"You mentioned something about magic being real, right?"
"I have no idea about the details, but if you manage to prove that magic exists, we have a deal, and I''ll believe any nonsense you say as absolute truth."
It wasn''t a coincidence that I had chosen the topic of magic to talk to her about; I knew exactly how obsessed she was with it. Of course, it would be much easier for her to believe me if I showed her something she wanted first, and seeing that the bait had worked, it was time to act.
"Very well, I agree, I accept these terms."
"Tamamo?" I said as I turned to my wife who was still eating.
"Yes? I am here to serve you, Goshujin-sama!" She replied with classic Japanese politeness.
"You said before that you could change reality and things like that, right?"
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report."Do you think you could do something less conspicuous?"
"Something safe and indoors, please."
"Oh, okay, understood."
"I can conjure a blue fireball in my hand, just like that."
Tamamo stopped eating for a moment, placed her chopsticks neatly next to her plate, and then did her demonstration. She waved her hand and a large blue fireball appeared out of nowhere. Despite being so close to her hand and the intense heat it emitted, Tamamo showed no signs of discomfort. It was something that shouldn''t exist in our world of science, yet here was Tamamo, generating such flames effortlessly and without burning herself.
"Isn''t it beautiful? Such a pretty color, right?" Tamamo said with a proud look on her face.
"IS IT REAL?"
"Is it magic? Really!?" Maria, impressed, put her hands to her head.
"Keep that away from the furniture!" My mother shouted, afraid that a tragedy would unfold with the fire inside the house.
"Oh, I''m sorry, that wasn''t my intention," the goddess apologized as she extinguished her flame.
"Seriously, who are you really?"
"How do you know how to use magic?" my sister continued the discussion.
"Well, like I said before..."
"Now that you know that magic exists, what will you do if I tell you that your older brother is alive?"
"I... is that true? He... is... alive?"
"And where is he? Is he coming later? Should we send you first?"
"Did he reincarnate into another world and send his harem of monster girls before he comes?"
I couldn''t resist the urge to tell her the truth, to reveal that everything was finally okay for the first time, and maybe even to strangle her for that last comment. So I approached her and hugged her tightly, taking a moment before continuing.
"I''m so sorry, I didn''t mean to leave you alone."
"I just wanted to make sure you had a fair future like dad wanted."
"Please forgive me for being away for so long, it was never my intention."
"Why do you talk as if this is your fault?"
"Where are you going with this? Don''t make me wait any longer!"
"Just tell the damn truth for once!"
"After your brother died, a lot of strange and crazy things happened."
"And in the end, he turned into an albino fox girl with ears and a big fox tail."
"It wasn''t a reincarnation or isekai by the way"
"Is that true?"
"Does that mean Cesar would be...?"
"Yes, that''s right, it''s true, that''s me."
"I am Cesar, your older brother."
"That''s impossible! Do you think this is some kind of anime or something?"
"At least try to prove it, how can a girl with huge breasts be my ugly brother inside!"
"Once, when you were still in the hospital, I told you the story of the princess and the frog."
"That same afternoon, when it was raining, one appeared in the garden and you found it, so you thought it would be a good idea to try to..."
I couldn''t finish because I got a surprise punch right in the face, one so damn strong it knocked me backwards out of my chair.
"Damn moron!"
"I told you to try to prove it, not to tell that particular story!"
"Don''t say another word, I believe you, but if you finish telling that story, I''ll kill you this time and make sure you never come back to life!"
After I got up from the hard blow, I started to tell her the story of my current situation again. I only told her the essentials and kept the crazy parts that would only cause more confusion, like being married to the crystal angel Momo, for myself. I told my sister the real reason why I had joined the Alliance army, even though our country didn''t even have an army. How my relationship with the angels was what really helped her to improve her health so much and finally overcome her illness. How Tamamo was the goddess of the moon and how I met our mother again by chance. Maria listened attentively to the whole story and occasionally asked a question or two, which I tried to answer as best I could.
"So you managed to come back from heaven through a portal that angels use as a means of transportation."
"And Tamamo is a goddess and at the same time a giant demon fox and not a human," Maria asked cheerfully, seeing a fantastic world of magic unfolding before her.
"Yes, that''s right, pretty crazy I know."
"There''s a lot more to explain, but I think this is enough to cover the basics."
"Wow, you''ve lived a pretty strange life."
"But it doesn''t matter!"
"Magic is real! I can finally fulfill my dream of becoming a real mage!"
"When do the magic classes start?"
"Huh? I just told you how I came back from the dead, married a goddess, and the only thing you care about is learning magic?"
"At least try to hide it, ask about something else first."
"Show a little more concern for your brother who turned into a girl," I complained to Maria about why she seemed not to understand the important issues.
"It doesn''t matter, it''s okay, you have big breasts now, I get it."
"That''s in the past, the important thing now is to learn magic."
"If I can learn magic, then all your misfortune will be worth it for me!"
"......"
"Ugh... well, at least it''s better than nothing."
"I don''t really know much about magic, but I''m sure Tamamo could teach you something."
"Go ask her."
"Tamamo! Come here!"
"I want to ask you something."
My sister got up and ran to bother the poor goddess, who was just sweeping the floor, leaving only my mother and me. Adelis, on the other hand, collected the breakfast dishes and began to wash them in the sink.
"There she goes again"
"With her dream of magic and fairies, leaving everything else behind"
"You have to forgive her, you know how she is with these subjects."
"When she sees something related to magic, she drops everything else and goes after it."
"Although it was good that her passion for such things was so high, it undoubtedly got her through the hardest days of the hospital," my mother said as she was doing the dishes.
"Well, it''s good for me, she''s taking it better than I thought about my change".
"She really seems to believe me."
"It shouldn''t be a big problem."
"As long as she doesn''t go around with that big black book she calls a Grimoire."
"It was just a book she downloaded from the Internet, but somehow she thought it was real."
"....."
"But right now there are more important things to discuss," I told my mother seriously.
"Yes, you''re right"
"I can''t believe that someone thought that kidnapping and threatening me would be a good idea under any circumstances.
"I''m going to make them pay for threatening my family so violently."
"Do you have any idea who they were?"
"An enemy from the past?"
"I mean, being a secretary in the Alliance High Command is a tough position."
"There was no one with the guts to try something like that."
" So, and how did you meet Xian then?"
"That idiot from the CIA? He''s working in some mines in Botswana, mining diamonds."
"He''s done with his career, he''s no longer a threat."
"Besides, I have someone keeping an eye on those CIA worshippers to keep them on a short leash."
"......"
"Besides them, there''s the Empire, but their capital is in ruins after we bombed it at the end of the war."
"They have more important things to do, like rebuilding their homes."
"So? Anyone else?"
"People don''t just kidnap others for no reason, at least not with 50 men with military experience and significant military equipment."
"It''s a big and risky investment."
"I really have no idea."
"But Inspector Yamamoto is on the case, so we can let him do his job as a policeman."
"Maybe you don''t know him well, but he''s quite capable."
"They say he gave the KGB a good fight in they last years; even during the Continental war, the Empire couldn''t stop him from working for the Alliance."
"He''s the right person to find out who was behind the attack."
"Besides, he has personal motives; his granddaughter was another victim."
"The old man won''t rest until he sees someone hanging from a bridge for this, just like in the old days."
"What if we look at it another way, what do you and Inspector Yamamoto have that they would try to kidnap both of you?"
"What about your jobs?" I asked my mother.
"I''m just an intermediary between governments; really, they wouldn''t have achieved anything by kidnapping me specifically."
"As for Inspector Yamamoto, it''s more of the same; he''s retired now, his police work is just local, nothing like what he used to do."
"Ah, damn it, do we really have to wait for the police to do something? That will take forever!"
"Not the police, but Inspector Yamamoto; he will get to the culprit quickly."
"What I really fear is that now that their main plan has failed, they will try something even more direct and desperate than before."
"Well, if that happens, you needn''t worry."
"I''m here, maybe it doesn''t look like it from my face, but I''m especially good at fighting and doing crazy things."
The rest of the day passed without further problems, after Maria had concentrated on asking Tamamo about magic. The day was quite peaceful compared to yesterday, which felt quite strange to have a day off, although I also wondered what had happened to Momo, the glass angel; she was surely with her parents, but what will she do next? Will she try to return to keep my father under control?
Ch26: Police Investigation
Police Investigation
February 9
Metropolitan Police HQ, Chiyoda, Tokyo
Inspector Yamamoto walked with determination through the corridors, the sound of his footsteps echoing loudly off the walls. His expression said it all; he was here for answers and he wasn''t going to leave without them. When he reached the interrogation room, one of the detectives inside opened the door for him. The older man said nothing, but looked through the window into the next room, where one of the armed men from the day before sat - a survivor of the deadly shootout. Despite the visible battle injuries, Yamamoto had insisted on talking to him earlier.
Detective Dojima, who had spent the previous night interrogating the suspect, still had dark circles from lack of sleep, but continued at Yamamoto''s insistence. He knew this was personal for his friend and did what he could to help.
"The bastard is a foreigner; he doesn''t even seem to speak Japanese."
"Shulyov Kvetoslav Artemovich."
"From the 8th Correctional Division, Belarusian Expeditionary Army, of the Alliance."
"According to military records, he was sent home at the end of the war."
"We have no idea how the hell he ended up on the other side of the world."
"No friends or family nearby; officially, he''s just lost here," Dojima reported to his boss.
"Criminal record? Military operations he participated in?"
"Arrested five years ago for drug trafficking, sentenced but pardoned in exchange for military service."
"Standard tactics in Europe, especially during times of great war."
"He served on the Eastern Front and participated in the Battle of Poland."
"His division was mainly responsible for the lines of defense."
"Took part in the capture of Katowice, despite casualties."
"Despite this, no medals or commendations."
"Someone who does the bare minimum when asked."
"He doesn''t seem very patriotic or motivated by the cause."
"He didn''t have a real job, joined the army, survived the war, thought he was bulletproof and tough, had military skills, and took the first mercenary job that came his way."
"Guys like him are usually hired to be the villain''s henchmen in movies."
"They''re promised good money, and they accept, not realizing that they''re really being used as disposable assets."
"The guy doesn''t know it, but he''s already unemployed," the old man said.
"Would you like to talk to him?"
"I can give you a few minutes, I''ll make sure to turn off the camera."
"Thank you."
Yamamoto turned and entered the room with the suspect. Without saying anything, he sat down at the table and remained silent for a moment, waiting to see the man''s reaction while mentally considering how he could kill the man and get away with it. The man who was tied to the chair, uncomfortable with the presence of his new interrogator after a long night of questions, tried to move away.
"§µ §Þ§Ö§ß§ñ §ß§Ö§ä §ß§Ú§é§Ö§Ô§à §ã§Ü§Ñ§Ù§Ñ§ä§î"
"§Á §Õ§Ñ§Ø§Ö §ß§Ö §Ù§ß§Ñ§ð, §Ô§Õ§Ö §é§Ö§â§ä §Ó§à§Ù§î§Þ§Ú §ñ, §ñ §ß§Ú§é§Ö§Ô§à §ß§Ö §Ù§ß§Ñ§ð"
(I have nothing to say)
(I don''t even know where the hell I am, I know nothing)
The foreigner spoke in Russian, ignoring any attempt to communicate with the officers. The old man looked at the man in front of him without raising an eyebrow before responding with complete regularity.
"§Á §Õ§å§Þ§Ñ§ð, §ä§í §ß§Ö §à§ã§à§Ù§ß§Ñ§Ö§ê§î, §Ó §Ü§Ñ§Ü§à§Û §ã§Ú§ä§å§Ñ§è§Ú§Ú §ß§Ñ§ç§à§Õ§Ú§ê§î§ã§ñ, §ä§Ñ§Ü §é§ä§à §á§à§Ù§Ó§à§Ý§î §Þ§ß§Ö §Ý§å§é§ê§Ö §à§Ò§ì§ñ§ã§ß§Ú§ä§î"
"§³§Ö§Û§é§Ñ§ã §ä§Ö§Ò§ñ §à§Ò§Ó§Ú§ß§ñ§ð§ä §Ó §ä§Ö§â§â§à§â§Ú§Ù§Þ§Ö, §Ù§Ñ§ç§Ó§Ñ§ä§Ö §Ù§Ñ§Ý§à§Ø§ß§Ú§Ü§à§Ó, §ß§Ö§Ù§Ñ§Ü§à§ß§ß§à§Þ §Ó§Ý§Ñ§Õ§Ö§ß§Ú§Ú §à§â§å§Ø§Ú§Ö§Þ"
"§´§í §ä§Ñ§Ü§Ø§Ö §Ñ§ä§Ñ§Ü§à§Ó§Ñ§Ý §Ò§à§Ý§î§ß§Ú§è§å, §Ò§å§Õ§å§é§Ú §Ö§ë§Ö §Ó §ã§à§ã§ä§Ñ§Ó§Ö §Ò§Ö§Ý§à§â§å§ã§ã§Ü§à§Û §Ñ§â§Þ§Ú§Ú"
"§±§à§ï§ä§à§Þ§å §Ü §à§Ò§Ó§Ú§ß§Ö§ß§Ú§ñ§Þ §Þ§à§Ø§ß§à §Õ§à§Ò§Ñ§Ó§Ú§ä§î §Ó§à§Ö§ß§ß§í§Ö §á§â§Ö§ã§ä§å§á§Ý§Ö§ß§Ú§ñ, §Ý§à§Ø§ß§à§Ö §æ§Ý§Ñ§Ô-§Ñ§ä§Ñ§Ü§å, §Õ§Ö§Ù§Ö§â§ä§Ú§â§ã§ä§Ó§à"
"§ª, §é§ä§à§Ò§í §Ù§Ñ§Ó§Ö§â§ê§Ú§ä§î, §á§à§á§í§ä§Ü§å §å§Ò§Ú§Û§ã§ä§Ó§Ñ §Ó§í§ã§à§Ü§à§á§à§ã§ä§Ñ§Ó§Ý§Ö§ß§ß§à§Ô§à §é§Ý§Ö§ß§Ñ §¡§Ý§î§ñ§ß§ã§Ñ, §ß§Ñ§ç§à§Õ§Ú§Ó§ê§Ö§Ô§à§ã§ñ §Ó §Õ§Ú§á§Ý§à§Þ§Ñ§ä§Ú§é§Ö§ã§Ü§à§Û §Þ§Ú§ã§ã§Ú§Ú §Ó §ß§Ñ§ê§Ö§Û §ã§ä§â§Ñ§ß§Ö"
"§±§à§ï§ä§à§Þ§å §Þ§í §ä§Ñ§Ü§Ø§Ö §Þ§à§Ø§Ö§Þ §á§â§Ö§Õ§ì§ñ§Ó§Ú§ä§î §à§Ò§Ó§Ú§ß§Ö§ß§Ú§Ö §Ó §Ô§à§ã§å§Õ§Ñ§â§ã§ä§Ó§Ö§ß§ß§à§Û §Ú§Ù§Þ§Ö§ß§Ö"
"§´§Ñ§Ü§Ú§Ö "§á§â§à§Ò§Ý§Ö§Þ§ß§í§Ö" §Ý§Ú§é§ß§à§ã§ä§Ú §à§Ò§í§é§ß§à §Ú§ã§é§Ö§Ù§Ñ§ð§ä §á§à §Ó§Þ§Ö§ê§Ñ§ä§Ö§Ý§î§ã§ä§Ó§å §ã§á§Ö§è§ã§Ý§å§Ø§Ò §Ú §ß§Ú§Ü§à§Ô§Õ§Ñ §ß§Ö §ã§ä§Ñ§ß§à§Ó§ñ§ä§ã§ñ §ß§à§Ó§à§ã§ä§î§ð"
"§³§Ö§Û§é§Ñ§ã §Þ§Ú§ß§Ú§ã§ä§â §à§Ò§à§â§à§ß§í §¢§Ö§Ý§à§â§å§ã§ã§Ú§Ú, §ß§Ñ§Ó§Ö§â§ß§ñ§Ü§Ñ, §Þ§à§Ý§Ú§ä§ã§ñ §á§à §ä§Ö§Ý§Ö§æ§à§ß§å, §é§ä§à §ß§Ö §Ú§Þ§Ö§Ö§ä §Ü §ä§Ö§Ò§Ö §ß§Ú§Ü§Ñ§Ü§à§Ô§à §à§ä§ß§à§ê§Ö§ß§Ú§ñ"
"§´§Ñ§Ü §é§ä§à §ã§ä§Ñ§Ó§Ú§ä§ã§ñ §ß§Ñ §Ü§Ñ§â§ä§å §ß§Ñ§ã§ä§à§ñ§ë§Ú§Û §Ó§à§á§â§à§ã..."
"§´§í §ç§à§é§Ö§ê§î §ã§ä§à§Ý§Ü§ß§å§ä§î§ã§ñ §ã §à§Ò§Ó§Ú§ß§Ö§ß§Ú§ñ§Þ§Ú §Ó §Ú§Ù§Þ§Ö§ß§Ö §Ù§Õ§Ö§ã§î, §ß§Ñ §©§Ñ§á§Ñ§Õ§Ö, §Ú §à§ä§Ó§Ö§ä§Ú§ä§î §Ù§Ñ §Ô§à§ã§å§Õ§Ñ§â§ã§ä§Ó§Ö§ß§ß§å§ð §Ú§Ù§Þ§Ö§ß§å §Õ§à§Þ§Ñ?"
"§Á §ã§Ý§í§ê§Ñ§Ý, §é§ä§à §Ó §²§à§ã§ã§Ú§Ú §Ö§ã§ä§î §à§ã§à§Ò§í§Ö §ã§á§à§ã§à§Ò§í §à§Ò§â§Ñ§ë§Ö§ß§Ú§ñ §ã §á§â§Ö§Õ§Ñ§ä§Ö§Ý§ñ§Þ§Ú"
"§´§Ö§Ò§Ö, §ß§Ñ§Ó§Ö§â§ß§ñ§Ü§Ñ, §á§à§ß§â§Ñ§Ó§Ú§ä§ã§ñ §Þ§Ñ§Ù§à§ç §Ú §ã§ä§Ö§ß§Ñ?"
"§¦§ã§Ý§Ú §ä§à§Ý§î§Ü§à §à§ß§Ú §Ò§å§Õ§å§ä §Þ§Ú§Ý§à§ã§Ö§â§Õ§ß§í §Ú §Ù§Ñ§ç§à§ä§ñ§ä §Õ§Ö§Û§ã§ä§Ó§à§Ó§Ñ§ä§î §Ò§í§ã§ä§â§à; §Ó §á§â§à§ä§Ú§Ó§ß§à§Þ §ã§Ý§å§é§Ñ§Ö §Ó§ã§Ö§Ô§Õ§Ñ §Ö§ã§ä§î §£§à§â§Ü§å§ä§Ñ §Ü§Ñ§Ü §Ó§Ñ§â§Ú§Ñ§ß§ä"
(I don''t think you understand the situation you''re in, so let me explain it better)
(Right now you are being prosecuted for terrorism, hostage-taking and illegal possession of weapons.)
(In addition, you attacked a hospital while still on duty with the Belarusian army.)
(Which means we can add charges of war crimes, false flag attack, insubordination.)
(And to top it off, you attempted to assassinate a high-ranking member of the Alliance who was on a diplomatic mission in our country)
(Therefore, we can also add the charge of high treason)
(Troublesome individuals like you often disappear through some intelligence agency and never make the news)
(Right now, I''m sure the Belarusian Defense Minister is begging on the phone that they have no connection to you in any way.)
(So what''s at stake, the real question is .....)
(Do you want to be accused of treason here in the Western Bloc or face high treason charges back home?)
(I hear they have special ways of dealing with traitors over there in Russia)
(I''m sure you''d like the hammer and the wall?)
(If they''re feeling merciful and want to be quick, otherwise there''s always Vorkuta as an option)
Yamamoto replied in Russian, mocking his guest. The chained man knew exactly what the old man meant; he had seen it with his own eyes. He knew that if he returned home, he would be a dead man walking. The government would throw him under the bus to save themselves from a massive international problem. They would execute him in public to appease the other leaders of the Alliance. He didn''t really know what he was getting into when he took the easy money, and now his life was permanently ruined. Most of his comrades were dead; he had seen how the man in front of him had not hesitated to kill his comrades without a second thought. The only thing left for this man to do was to try to hold on to the only chance he had to grow old, too.
"§Á §ß§Ú§é§Ö§Ô§à §ß§Ö §Ù§ß§Ñ§ð, §ß§à §ß§Ö §á§à§ä§à§Þ§å, §é§ä§à §ß§Ö §ç§à§é§å §â§Ñ§ã§ã§Ü§Ñ§Ù§í§Ó§Ñ§ä§î, §Ñ §á§à§ä§à§Þ§å, §é§ä§à §ß§Ö §Ù§ß§Ñ§ð §ß§Ú§é§Ö§Ô§à §à §ã§Ñ§Þ§à§Û §â§Ñ§Ò§à§ä§Ö.
§°§ß§Ú §Ù§Ñ§á§Ý§Ñ§ä§Ú§Ý§Ú §Þ§ß§Ö §á§à§Ý§à§Ó§Ú§ß§å §Ñ§Ó§Ñ§ß§ã§Ñ, §ñ §ã§Ö§Ý §Ó §æ§å§â§Ô§à§ß, §Ú §à§ß§Ú §à§ä§á§â§Ñ§Ó§Ú§Ý§Ú §Þ§Ö§ß§ñ §ß§Ñ §ã§Ñ§Þ§à§Ý§Ö§ä§Ö §ã§ð§Õ§Ñ"
"§±§à§ä§à§Þ §Þ§ß§Ö §á§â§à§ã§ä§à §ã§Ü§Ñ§Ù§Ñ§Ý§Ú §Õ§Ö§â§Ø§Ñ§ä§î §ã§Ü§Ý§Ñ§Õ, §á§à§Ü§Ñ §ß§Ö §á§à§ñ§Ó§Ú§ä§ã§ñ §Õ§â§å§Ô§à§Û §æ§å§â§Ô§à§ß, §Ú §Þ§í §å§Ý§Ö§ä§Ö§Ý§Ú §Ú§Ù §ã§ä§â§Ñ§ß§í §Õ§â§å§Ô§Ú§Þ §ã§Ñ§Þ§à§Ý§Ö§ä§à§Þ."
"§²§Ñ§Ò§à§ä§Ñ §Õ§à§Ý§Ø§ß§Ñ §Ò§í§Ý§Ñ §Ù§Ñ§ß§ñ§ä§î §Ó§ã§Ö§Ô§à §Õ§Ó§Ñ §Õ§ß§ñ, §à§ß§Ú §Õ§Ñ§Ý§Ú §ß§Ñ§Þ §á§Ý§Ñ§ß §ß§Ñ §Ý§Ú§ã§ä§Ö §Ò§å§Þ§Ñ§Ô§Ú."
"§Á §ß§Ö §Ù§ß§Ñ§Ý §Ò§à§Ý§î§ê§Ú§ß§ã§ä§Ó§Ñ §Ý§ð§Õ§Ö§Û, §ã §Ü§à§ä§à§â§í§Þ§Ú §Ò§í§Ý, §Ò§í§Ý§Ú §Ý§ð§Õ§Ú, §Ô§à§Ó§à§â§ñ§ë§Ú§Ö §ß§Ñ §Õ§â§å§Ô§Ú§ç §ñ§Ù§í§Ü§Ñ§ç, §à §Ü§à§ä§à§â§í§ç §ñ §ß§Ú§Ü§à§Ô§Õ§Ñ §ß§Ö §ã§Ý§í§ê§Ñ§Ý."
(I don''t know anything, not because I don''t want to tell you, but because I really don''t know anything about the job itself).
(They paid me, half up front, I just got in a van and they sent me here on a plane.) (Then they just told me to guard the warehouse until another van showed up and we took another plane out of the country).
(It was supposed to be just a two-day job, they gave us the plan already made up on a sheet of paper).
(I didn''t know most of the people with me, there were people speaking other languages that I had never heard before).
"§Ó§í §á§â§à§ã§ä§à §ã§Ö§Ý§Ú §Ó §æ§å§â§Ô§à§ß, §ß§Ö §Ù§Ñ§Õ§Ñ§Ó§Ñ§ñ §ß§Ú§Ü§Ñ§Ü§Ú§ç §Ó§à§á§â§à§ã§à§Ó"
"§£§í §Ù§ß§Ñ§Ý§Ú, §é§ä§à §Ó§í §ä§å§á§à§Û, §ß§à §å §Ó§Ñ§ã §ß§Ö §Ò§í§Ý§à §Ù§Õ§â§Ñ§Ó§à§Ô§à §ã§Þ§í§ã§Ý§Ñ? §¯§Ö§ä §Ú§ß§ã§ä§Ú§ß§Ü§ä§Ñ §ã§Ñ§Þ§à§ã§à§ç§â§Ñ§ß§Ö§ß§Ú§ñ?"
"§¡ §Ö§ã§Ý§Ú §Ò§í §æ§å§â§Ô§à§ß §Ò§í§Ý §æ§å§â§Ô§à§ß§à§Þ §ä§à§â§Ô§à§Ó§è§Ö§Ó §à§â§Ô§Ñ§ß§Ñ§Þ§Ú, §Ó§í §Ò§í §ä§à§Ø§Ö §ä§å§Õ§Ñ §ã§Ö§Ý§Ú?"
"§°§ß§Ú §ã§Ü§Ñ§Ù§Ñ§Ý§Ú §Ó§Ñ§Þ §é§ä§à-§ä§à, §ñ §ç§à§é§å, §é§ä§à§Ò§í §Ó§í §á§à§Ó§ä§à§â§Ú§Ý§Ú §ï§ä§à §ä§Ö§Þ§Ú §Ø§Ö §ã§Ý§à§Ó§Ñ§Þ§Ú, §é§ä§à §Ú §à§ß§Ú"
"§ª§Þ§ñ, §Þ§Ö§ã§ä§à, §Ü§à§Þ§á§Ñ§ß§Ú§ñ, §Þ§ß§Ö §Ó§ã§Ö §â§Ñ§Ó§ß§à, §é§ä§à §ï§ä§à, §ß§à §Þ§ß§Ö §ß§å§Ø§ß§à §é§ä§à-§ä§à §Ò§à§Ý§î§ê§Ö§Ö, §é§Ö§Þ §Õ§à§Ò§â§í§Ö §á§à§Ø§Ö§Ý§Ñ§ß§Ú§ñ"
"§ª§ß§Ñ§é§Ö §Ó§í §ß§Ñ§Þ §ß§Ö §ß§å§Ø§ß§í"
(You just jumped into a van without asking, huh?)
(You knew you were stupid, but no common sense? No sense of self-preservation?)
(What if the van belonged to organ traffickers? Would you have gotten in anyway?)
(They said something to you. I want you to repeat exactly what they said.)
(A name, a place, a company, I don''t care, but I need more than good wishes.)
(Otherwise, you''re no good to us.)
"§°§ß§Ú §ß§Ö §ã§Ü§Ñ§Ù§Ñ§Ý§Ú §ß§Ú§é§Ö§Ô§à §à§ã§à§Ò§Ö§ß§ß§à§Ô§à, §ï§ä§à §ß§Ö §Ý§à§Ø§î"
"§¬ §ä§à§Þ§å §Ø§Ö §ñ §å§Ø§Ö §ß§Ö §á§à§Þ§ß§ð, §é§ä§à §Ú§Þ§Ö§ß§ß§à §à§ß§Ú §Ô§à§Ó§à§â§Ú§Ý§Ú"
(They didn''t say much, that''s not a lie.)
(Also, I don''t remember exactly what they said).
"§¯§å §é§ä§à §Ø, §Ô§à§ã§á§à§Õ§Ú§ß §º§å§Ý§×§Ó, §Ò§à§Ý§î§ê§à§Ö §ã§á§Ñ§ã§Ú§Ò§à §Ù§Ñ §à§ä§Ü§Ñ§Ù §à§ä §ã§à§ä§â§å§Õ§ß§Ú§é§Ö§ã§ä§Ó§Ñ"
"§®§í §Ù§Ñ§Ü§à§ß§é§Ú§Ý§Ú, §ã§Ü§à§â§à §á§â§Ú§Ö§Õ§Ö§ä §é§Ö§â§ß§Ñ§ñ §Ó§à§Ý§Ô§Ñ"
(Well, Mr. Shulyov, thank you very much for your non-cooperation.)
(We are finished here, A Black Volga will come to pick you up soon)
"§¯§Ö§ä, §á§à§Õ§à§Ø§Õ§Ú§ä§Ö, §å §Þ§Ö§ß§ñ §Ö§ã§ä§î §Ü§à§Ö-§é§ä§à! §¬§Ý§ñ§ß§å§ã§î!"
"I.S.C.! §¿§ä§à §Ò§í§Ý I.S.C.!"
"§¯§Ñ §à§Õ§ß§à§Þ §Ú§Ù §ñ§ë§Ú§Ü§à§Ó §ã §à§â§å§Ø§Ú§Ö§Þ §Ò§í§Ý §Ú§ç §Ý§à§Ô§à§ä§Ú§á, §å §à§Õ§ß§à§Ô§à §Ú§Ù §ä§Ö§ç, §Ü§ä§à §á§Ö§â§Ö§Õ§Ñ§Ý §Ö§Ô§à §ß§Ñ§Þ, §ä§à§Ø§Ö §Ò§í§Ý §ä§Ñ§Ü§à§Û §Ý§à§Ô§à§ä§Ú§á"
"§¬§à§ß§Ö§é§ß§à, §ï§ä§à§ä §ñ§ë§Ú§Ü §ã§â§Ö§Õ§Ú §å§Ý§Ú§Ü, §ß§Ö§ä, §ï§ä§à §Õ§à§ã§ä§Ñ§Ó§Ú§Ý§Ú §à§ß§Ú, §à§ß §ß§Ö §Ò§í§Ý §å§Ü§â§Ñ§Õ§Ö§ß!"
(No, wait! I got something! I swear!)
(The I.S.C.! It was the I.S.C.!)
(One of the gun cases had their logo on it, as did one of the men who delivered it.)
(Surely that crate is part of the evidence, right? It was delivered by them, not stolen).
Inspector Yamamoto finally had a lead, so he was no longer interested in the other man. He simply left the interrogation room, leaving the fate of the chained man in doubt. When Dojima turned the camera back on, only a few minutes had passed in which nothing had been revealed; no one had seen anything, no one knew anything. The old man told his apprentice about the supposed connection to the I.S.C., and they both began to work on the new information. As Shulyov had said, among the crates was the crow logo that marked it as I.S.C. property. By looking up the serial number, they could see that it was indeed a crate made in Europe, and that it was supposed to be in an I.S.C. warehouse in England. Inspector Yamamoto was focused mainly because he and Adelis had been the clear targets of the attack.
The I.S.C. had recently arrived in Japan after one of its R&D bases in Oslo was destroyed in the Imperial attack on the city. Fearing that the war would destroy another extremely expensive technology laboratory, the Alliance sought safer locations farther from Europe. Among these, Japan was quite willing to offer itself and even made several deals to attract the foreign company - a move that was certainly unheard of for Japan, which was extremely protectionist about its domestic industry. The president of Intelligent Systems Computers, Mr. Damien Raven, came for several months to handle all the negotiations between his company and the Japanese government, as well as its defense industry and the Ministry of Defense. The agreement quickly led to the establishment of the new technology and defense research center, Rose Raven Tower, in Marunouchi, Tokyo. The current head of operations was a researcher named Brandon. Although he did not seem to be good at running a business per se, he was a scientific genius, and for now, with the laboratories being built to the highest technological standards, that was exactly what was needed. It seemed that Mr. Brandon would have to relinquish the position of head of the Japanese branch to someone else once the construction of the tower was completed. However, although that date was near, it had not yet arrived. Therefore, Yamamoto thought that if the I.S.C. was the real culprit, the order to take hostages must have come from or passed through Mr. Brandon at some point.
Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
But everything came to an abrupt end when a couple of men in suits arrived at the police station: several agents of Naich¨, the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, in other words, the Japanese CIA. The men arrived and immediately went to the evidence room and started taking things without specifying what they were taking. One of them, Mr. Miyazaki, appeared to address his former colleague Yamamoto.
"What do you think you''re doing? This is an ongoing investigation!"
"These are our case files! You can''t just take it!"
"What do you think we''re going to tell the public?"
"Mr. Yamamoto, I regret to inform you that your investigation into the Tokyo docks shooting is now under our jurisdiction."
"We will take over the evidence, your suspects, and please also hand over all your notes on the incident, if you would be so kind."
"Damn it, Miyazaki, don''t try to play tough with me. I''m the one who saved your ass for your failures in the past."
"They tried to kidnap my granddaughter and me, do you think I''m going to let that go so easily?"
"And what about the Alliance Coordinator? How will the Japanese government explain to the European Union or the United States their lack of involvement in her abduction investigation?"
"Don''t worry, as I said before, my department will handle such problems."
"Besides, the harbor incident didn''t make the news, thanks to my guys going out of their way to keep the police''s face out of the public eye."
"You know how this works, we have done it many times together."
"The papers and the computer, please."
"I don''t want to arrest my kind sensei after he retires for obstructing national security," the man in black said, showing his gun at his waist, a slight mockery of his former teacher.
"Do you expect me to just let myself be killed the next time someone shady comes into my house?"
"Of course not, self-defense is certainly valid."
"But as far as this investigation is concerned, it''s no longer your case."
"Please, I won''t ask again."
"Take it yourself, I''m not old enough to carry shit all over the place anymore."
That was the last thing Inspector Yamamoto said before he left his own office. The old man was quite angry about what had just happened, seeing how the government he had worked for and sacrificed years of his youth for repaid him by not caring about the kidnapping of his granddaughter. He was even disappointed in himself for really getting in the way, but keeping his job to secure Haru''s future was more important than himself. Taking a break to clear his mind of everything that had happened, the inspector decided to go to a shop near the police station, a restaurant that was quite popular among young people. It was his own granddaughter who had told him about this place, and he decided to see why and give it a try. Although the prices were a bit high, it was noticeable that people came mainly for the ambiance, as he saw that despite the pressure of Japanese society to work fast and not waste time, it didn''t resonate as much with the young people who sat in the shop drinking coffee and hanging out instead of ordering it to go or checking their phones. The old man got a little carried away and did the same thing when he ordered his coffee; instead of heading for the exit, he simply walked to an empty table and began to observe the surroundings, enjoying the here and now.
Unfortunately, work found him in his seat when out of nowhere a young woman approached the table where he was sitting. She was quite beautiful, elegantly dressed, though her qipao was rather revealing. She was carrying several large books that were clearly educational in nature. The inspector recognized her easily; she was Mrs. Adelis'' errand girl. The fact that she was here was no coincidence and was nothing more than an excuse to approach him without attracting attention now that Naich¨ was nearby. She didn''t say a single word she just sat down and started working on one of the books she brought. She then put a cell phone on the table, it was black and quite well cared for, so much so that it even seemed completely new, the kind that a girl would not have without a case, sticker, or some accessory. Shortly after the phone began to ring, I was receiving a call. But the girl didn''t flinch at the sound, she didn''t even bother to see if she answered the phone. The Inspector realized then that this call was actually for him, so without saying anything he also picked up the phone and answered the call.
"Mr. Yamamoto, how are you?" said the woman on the other end of the phone.
"I''m fine, thank you. It''s always amusing to find oneself in a gunfight from time to time," Mr. Yamamoto replied.
"But as far as work is concerned, well, I think the story is quite different."
"I''m sorry to hear that, Xian just told me what happened," she continued.
"It''s hard to believe that it was Naich¨ himself who was involved in the end."
"It''s not them; clearly someone else screwed up, and they''re the ones cleaning it up," Mr. Yamamoto explained.
"Before they took everything from me, I managed to get what was important. "
"It seems the I.S.C. was behind it."
"I still have no idea why, exactly."
"Seriously? Them again?" she exclaimed.
"It wouldn''t be the first time... They seem a little upset after my son slipped through their fingers."
The last sentence left Mr. Yamamoto rather confused for a moment. He was close enough to Mrs. Adelis to know exactly what had happened to her son - the poor man who had died in the Battle of Oslo while saving one of those I.S.C. machines. Mr. Yamamoto had even attended the funeral to support his friend in her time of grief. Still, he knew that Mrs. Adelis was not one to have a weak mind; otherwise, she would never have reached the high position she held. So it struck him as odd that she would speak of her son as if he weren''t dead, or confuse him with the white monster she had unleashed that now seemed to live with her. Perhaps it was just the delayed shock of such an incident that had begun to affect her, and she wasn''t as calm on the inside as she seemed on the outside.
"Are you all right?"
"Remember, you can always count on me if you need to talk to someone," the old man asked, worried about his friend''s mental state.
"I''m fine, don''t worry."
"Don''t take what I just said so seriously," the lady corrected when she saw the little slip she had just made.
"Even though you''re right"
"Talking to a friend is just what I need right now."
"All right."
"I imagine it must be important for such an unorthodox method to call me."
"I think you are somewhat up to date with what happened, but let me tell you quickly anyway."
"They came the day before yesterday and kidnapped Haru at school, Maria at the hospital, and me near my house.
"They tried to do the same to you at your house, but you managed to stop them."
"Thanks to that and your interrogation, my security team was able to make a successful rescue."
"Thanks to the quick rescue, I am still alive."
"If we assume that the real culprit behind all this is the I.S.C. with its vast resources behind it."
"......."
"I''m going to be direct with what I''m about to say."
"If the I.S.C. were really the ones who wanted to kill me and find a way to dispose of my body outside the country, or something like that."
"My daughter would have met the same fate, and most likely your granddaughter Haru as well."
"We were lucky this time, but we have no idea what they are up to."
"But one thing is for sure, if they are not afraid of the consequences of going after important people like us, it can only mean that they will try again."
Inspector Yamamoto remained silent as he listened to his friend''s explanation. He knew as well as she did that the company was responsible for what had happened. It wasn''t just someone talking into the wind; the only evidence he had in his hands for a second also pointed to that place. Besides, he knew his girlfriend; she was not someone who would do something without thinking about it several times before doing it. He knew for a fact that she was probably reading the notes from some notebook right now with her glasses on.
"With Naich¨''s intervention, one thing is clear: if the I.S.C. is behind this, it means they have important people in the Japanese government on their side," the woman continued on the phone.
"That would explain why they suddenly stopped your investigation of the case and covered up the shooting at the docks."
"I want to know exactly what is going on here and make sure they never bother us again."
"But to do that, I need allies, people I can truly trust to watch my back."
"This has nothing to do with the Alliance or any government; this is just a mother worried about her daughter."
The inspector looked around as she spoke, looking at the happy people. There were no worried faces on the faces of the young people in the restaurant. All of them ignored what could be happening in the shadows. Among a group of girls who were also enjoying coffee, he saw the face of a certain girl, he did not know her, but her hairstyle and the way she was dressed reminded him a lot of his granddaughter. She was another victim of the events and like him now, he couldn''t do much to protect her without ruining her opportunities and future studies.
"What do you need?" the old man asked in a serious tone.
"If we want to catch the I.S.C., we need them to stop paying attention to what they are doing."
"We need them to believe they are safe."
"So I need you to say that this whole case is going nowhere."
"That way, the government and Brandon will think they got away with it and they will go back to business as usual."
"I don''t think your superiors will scold you or bother you about this, since there has been almost no media impact, and it will also benefit them if you stop investigating it."
What Adelis was asking was not an easy task: to let the perpetrators of his granddaughter''s kidnapping go unpunished? To let another corrupt agency take charge of the investigation, to ignore everything that had happened, to be complicit in the violence that would follow because of that decision. But old Yamamoto was no saint when it came to justice; he knew how this world worked because he had been a part of it. It was because of those same past actions that he was trying to make amends now, while he still could. He wanted to leave a memory that his granddaughter could look at and be proud of her grandfather''s work. But also, if he didn''t seek allies, that same granddaughter would be a victim of the cruel and unjust world that lurked beneath the surface.
"And what do I win?" said the inspector.
They were the words he always said when he got a new job. Some almost regulatory words if he wanted to keep the job he had before, because depending on the answer it would be worth or not the risk that always came next. The same words I thought he would not say again once he became a police officer.
"Well, we know that your granddaughter can be a target again".
"So I thought that in addition to mutual cooperation.
"We can help you protect Haru."
"My team has the perfect excuse to be close to her, and if they become friends with her, we can undoubtedly make sure that she is almost always accompanied by people who can defend her."
"Basically, I am offering you two of her classmates as her bodyguards."
The old man was once again surprised by what his friend was proposing. At first, he thought that maybe our granddaughter''s teacher, the same girl who sat next to her at the table, would be the one who could watch over her. But if she said that they were two of her classmates, it means that they must be quite young and therefore inexperienced. Besides, it was unlikely that she could find people for such a job.
"I know it sounds a little crazy, but believe me"
"But I can personally assure you that they are quite capable and reliable.
"I love them almost like my own children."
This filled the inspector with doubts about who these people could be. And he was right, because if he accepted such an arrangement, he would have to trust them to protect his granddaughter.
"And how can I be sure that they are trustworthy?" the old policeman asked.
"Well, you''ve already seen them in action."
"They were both the same people who saved me from being kidnapped."
"The same kidnapping I rescued your daughter "
"The white girl?" the old man said.
The inspector remembered . A little girl, almost completely white. The same person who was responsible for the deaths of several soldiers that the government and the I.S.C. are now trying to hide.
"So have you seen them yet?" said Adelis.
"Well, I imagine your daughter has already told you about her two strange new classmates".
"The girl with the fox ears and the albino girl."
"Those two are the people who saved me and the ones who would protect your granddaughter again if necessary.
"So what do you think?"
"Can I trust you?"
But even with that, the inspector doubted whether he should accept his friend''s proposal or not. For although he could intuit how effective they could be, they were still unknown to him. And if they were going to be responsible for Haru, they would have to be someone he could trust completely.
"You don''t have to answer me right now."
"Go ahead, take a few days to think about it"
"I just wanted to update you on what happened and remind you that you are not alone in this."
"Keep the phone, we do not know if your other phones are being monitored, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
"I also invite you to come back to my shop"
"I''ve even got a good name for it."
"The White Moon Cafeteria"
"Doesn''t that sound great?" the lady said with a smile that could be seen even on the phone.
"I appreciate it."
"Thank you," Mr. Yamamoto replied to the gesture of kindness.
Right after the call ended, the inspector got up from the table to go back to work. He knew that even if he agreed to the deal or not, it would not end his work. Especially now that he had even more things to do, because his interest in the aforementioned girl had completely changed. The inspector wanted to know first hand who he was dealing with and to see if she was capable of protecting the person most valuable to him.
Ch27: Calm Time
Calm Time
When Monday came, it was time for Maria to attend her first class, so I don''t need to tell you how worried my mother and I were that everything would go well. Like us, Maria is not currently attending the school year; in fact, she just needs to attend and get used to the school environment, see how classes work in a classroom, see how lessons are taught, the rules, how homework is handled. It may seem obvious to many, but for someone who has never been to school before, it''s not. That''s why Tamamo and I were supposed to help her in any way we could. We made sure she had everything she might need, such as notebooks and pencils for taking notes. We were also worried that the cold might affect her, so we made sure she had good warm clothes. I thought she might have trouble using public transportation, so we also left the house early to teach her how to use the subway. My sister was quite upset and called us controlling; I preferred to see us as preventive. When we arrived at the class and she introduced herself, there was no problem or commotion like when Tamamo or I arrived, and thank goodness, because I was ready to jump in and fight to the death against the first person who said anything negative about her.
To be honest, I didn''t expect to have to stay in school for a long time, but it seems that the plan has changed now. It seems that while we were investigating the I.S.C. and why they did what they did, Haru''s grandfather asked my mom if we could protect Haru while she goes to school, so it looks like we will be going to school conventionally for a long time.
When we got home, my mother was so happy to see her daughter coming home after class that she couldn''t resist crying and taking a video of her coming in the door to send to the rest of the family. I didn''t know that; I hope I''m not in the video, or it''s sure to cause a lot of gossip. After my mother calmed down, she asked if there were any other things we might need so she could buy them later. It seems that now that she has been rescued from the kidnapping, she is taking things much more seriously and wants to be better prepared, so she asked what we might need in terms of weapons. Knowing that it would undoubtedly be difficult to get things here, I decided to ask for simpler things than I would have liked. For example, instead of asking for an assault rifle, I think a submachine gun would be much better since most of the problems would be indoors anyway. Another thing I would have liked to get were bulletproof vests; it''s not like my sword couldn''t protect me, but it never hurts to have extra protection because you never know what might happen in a fight. I also asked for a safe to store all the weapons, as it wasn''t a good idea to have these things lying around the house.
Among the normal requests, I also asked for more new clothes, since I hardly had any to begin with, although it would be difficult to find pants with room for my foxtail here. My mother took the opportunity to make Mar¨ªa and me compare our sizes, as any mother would do, as if I hadn''t had this competition with my cousins a million times before. What I wasn''t prepared for was to see that Mar¨ªa was considerably taller than me. My mother, not satisfied, pulled out a tape measure for further torment - 1.40 meters. I was devastated; I was basically the size of a child. I thought Tamamo was tall because when I hugged her standing up, I could barely reach the lower part of her chest, but now I know she was of average height for a Japanese person. The worst thing was that that was it for me; unlike Mar¨ªa, who could still grow a little with luck, I had no such possibility, since my body wouldn''t grow any more than it already had. Unchanging, just like the day Nanami died, where not even the passage of time in the world affected her.
On Tamamo''s side, she asked if she could get high-quality paper, a traditional brush, and traditional high-quality ink to make better magical talismans. Apparently, the ones she had been using were just made out of napkins and a pen, which were not meant to be used for magic at all. It seems that the better the quality of the materials and the manufacturing process, the better and more powerful the spells the talismans could handle. My mother was not very happy to see that a set of shod¨ (•øµÀ) Japanese calligraphy tools like Tamamo cost around $200, considering that the cafeteria napkins had worked fine until now. Maybe with my mother''s salary as a high-ranking official of the Alliance, spending that much on something like this wouldn''t be a big deal, but for someone who knew hunger and scarcity from a peasant family background like the one she came from in the past, well, it would make her think twice.
Not much has happened regarding our mission to protect Haru. Her grandfather comes to drop her off personally before classes start. From that moment on, Tamamo and I take care of her. Haru seems quite nervous about everything that has happened, which is understandable. Nevertheless, she seems to be strong enough to come to class normally after being kidnapped here. The news of what happened didn''t seem to reach the newspapers, so none of our classmates knew about it. The fact that Haru was unconscious during the whole shooting may have contributed to her not remembering the ordeal. After class, a police patrol came to pick her up.
Back at the house, I didn''t have much to do, so I finally decided to have some time to myself and recover from everything that had happened. I was finally able to put the computer to the test by playing all the new video games I had missed all those years during the war. Tamamo seemed to help around the house with my mother when she returned from work. Maria, on the other hand, came to ask for my help to order something by mail. It seemed to be a book, although she wouldn''t tell me what it was. She said it was for school, but I don''t think they would have asked her for an expensive textbook just to use it for two months at most. I decided to help her after she threatened to publish my browser history.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
When night came, Mom prepared dinner and I continued to tell of my bizarre adventures around the world, like all the tests I had to pass to become an Alliance pilot, or how I lost my chance to fly a fighter again after being shot down in Italy, or how I barely made it out alive after the angels helped me with emergency care. Though I still kept some parts to myself, like how horribly disfigured my face was from the burns. They didn''t need to know how ugly I really was. My mother talked a bit more about her cafe, and how it seemed that her restaurant''s customers had decreased significantly after the grand opening, but that she was still waiting to see the actual results. Tamamo, on the other hand, was watching a documentary about the cafes in Akihabara, and it seemed that she liked the design of a maid''s outfit so much that she wanted to try one on, even though the only other western clothing she had worn so far was the school uniform, and only because she had been forced to, so it was strange to see her wanting to wear something other than her beautiful kimonos.
On Tuesday, everyone at school was talking about February 14th, Valentine''s Day. They speculated about which girls would give chocolates to whom, or if they would give them to the person they loved. It seemed to be a very important thing for Japanese teenagers. As soon as Tamamo heard what it was about, she ran to the supermarket after class to buy a set to make chocolates. It is also said that here in Japan we have White Day, which is an extension of Valentine''s Day. On that day, it would be the men who would give chocolates to show their gratitude to the girl who gave them something on February 14th. As for me, I didn''t want to make things more complicated than they already were, so I decided to just buy her something and give it to her on Valentine''s Day. Since Tamamo was going to give me chocolates, I thought about giving her something else, so I secretly bought a small teddy bear and hid it.
Back at the house, I saw my mother trying to teach Tamamo how to make chocolate. When the inevitable happened and chocolate ended up on the walls, I could hear my mother crying as she cleaned up, using a ladder to reach the higher spots. Later in the afternoon, a package arrived for Maria. She went to pick it up with extreme caution, making sure no one saw what it was. But for a second I managed to see that it was a small package wrapped in plastic. Connecting the dots of her secrecy and the fact that it was a book, I realized that it must be the book she had found on the Internet and reprinted, the Grimoire, as she called it. She was trying to pretend otherwise to maintain some dignity. Honestly, I have no idea why she reprinted it, especially with Tamamo around to teach her magic, but she''ll figure it out.
Speaking of February 14th, my anxiety over the date grew with each passing minute. However, my reasons were very different from those usually associated with Valentine''s Day. Unlike many others, February 14th marks the anniversary of many difficult and bad moments in my life: the day the dragons attacked, the day they attacked White Base and my exile to the metro, the day Luna died. I think it was also the day I saw Nanami for the last time, although I don''t remember much because of what happened. The desperate end of the war against the dragons and Rose''s death also happened on a February 14th. I think it''s quite understandable that I see this date as a day of bad luck, apart from my terrible history regarding my youth in matters of love.
But when the dreaded February 14th finally arrived, even I didn''t know that it would be as disastrous as all the previous ones, or everything that would happen to me in just one day. As we were having breakfast before going to school, the doorbell rang. My mother, thinking it was another delivery, opened the door only to be greeted by a transparent, angelic being. The little girl turned out to be Momo, her delicate glass body abruptly interrupted by the huge slave collar she wore around her neck. Next to her were a couple of large suitcases and a messenger bag full of tools. The only thing that could make the situation worse was the exact choice of words she used with her first line.
"Hello, I am Cesar''s wife and I have come here so that he can take responsibility for what he has done and if I can live with him," the crystal angel said.
My mother immediately turned her head to where I was with a smile on her face, but I knew it was not a smile, it was the face of a raging demon with a thirst for blood and revenge. My self-preservation instinct kicked in and I immediately started running towards the nearest window, which I went through, breaking it as I jumped towards it. Then I started running down the street as fast as I could, but when I turned to look at my mother, I could only see the powerful, legendary weapon with which Latin mothers manage to subdue even the strongest of wills, destroy empires and teach values to their children, the Chancla. In a demonstration of authentic martial arts, my mother did a trick with her foot to avoid even bending over her flip-flop, taking into account the distance, gravity, direction, strength of the wind, the Coriolis effect, and making the necessary corrections for the shot. After that, a sonic boom went through the streets of the neighborhood until it found the head of her target, from which she hit me so hard and accurately that I lost consciousness and fell to the street.
Ch28: Bad Valentines Day
Bad Valentines Day
February 14
When I woke up, I was in Tamamo''s lap again. I turned around and realized that I was in my living room. Looking at the clock, it was clear that only a few minutes had passed. Momo was sitting nearby, talking to my mother, trying to explain the situation of our relationship as a couple and a harem, while my mother sat intimidatingly on the couch, like a queen looking down disdainfully from her throne. It seems that after spending a few days with her parents, Momo decided to come back to keep an eye on my father. However, it seems that he was quite persuasive and convinced her to come here so that we could live together as a couple. According to her, she suspected something strange was going on because my father was acting more strange than usual, something to do with losing some kind of bet as far as she could tell, nothing to do with my property, but still, Rafael was having trouble sleeping. After that, my father said he was going on a business trip for a few days before giving poor Momo the final push to come here. He arranged for her transportation, and it was even his idea for the speech that the angel gave at my house when she arrived.
While the glass girl spoke, my mother shifted the target of her anger. Fortunately, it was no longer me who was in trouble, but my father. Especially when Momo mentioned how he had spent the last few years on a tropical planet full of beautiful women and how he had gone on a business trip after his caretaker had left. My mother was so angry that she took a picture of Rafael that was on the mantelpiece and smashed it against the wall.
"The day I see that damn Rafael again, I''m going to kill him again," my mother said angrily.
"First he comes and is the first to leave without saying anything about what happened in Europe, then he takes my son''s money to live a luxurious life on a paradise planet, a tourist destination that cute girls usually visit."
"Meanwhile, I''m still here, crying over his death."
"I don''t remember marrying a piece of scum."
"How prolific is the hitman market in heaven?"
"Are they too expensive?" my mother began to say really disturbing things.
"This is my fault, I should never have listened to someone who is known for cheating".
"I just got a little carried away with my desire to visit Earth and live with Cesar," Momo said sadly when she saw how easily she had been fooled.
My mother then stopped and turned to look at the transparent angel, seeming to remember that despite the appearance of the angel had before her, a young girl who doubted her future because she came here only following her wish, the only thing that occupied her was a small initial impulse that my father gave her the courage to make the journey to me.
"This is not your fault, you only did what you thought was right.
"It''s his fault that he used your determination to his advantage," my mother said, hugging Momo.
"....."
"Your body is quite cold"
"You are a living being, right?"
"Wait a minute"
"Before that"
"Are you even wearing clothes at all?" asked my mother after she had a better look at Momo weird body.
"Cesar!"
"We have 15 minutes before class starts!" Tamamo told me when she saw the house clock.
With all that was going on with the angel, we forgot that we still had to go to class. Even though I wanted to help Momo, I couldn''t let go of keeping an eye on Haru too. So I told my mother to please let the girl stay in the house so we could talk more calmly. After saying goodbye, Maria, Tamamo and I ran out of the house and tried to get to school on time. But it was impossible because I was still worried about my sister''s health, so I decided that we should stop for a moment to rest. When we got to the gate, it was closed, so we had to wait for the first class to end before we could enter the school.
As if that was not enough, today was the day to hand in the homework that the teacher had left for us, and of course we forgot to do it, so the teacher scolded us during class. She later apologized to us during lunch by saying that she did it to avoid being discovered by the parents of other students, although they apparently suspect that Xian might be changing our academic grades, which she is.
In the afternoon there was more news at school, because apparently there will be a school trip to the mountains for several days next week. First we are going to visit a temple, then we are going to visit a power plant to see how it works, and then we are going to have a small two-day camp in some cabins in the forest. While my classmates were excited, I was inside panicking about how to solve this situation, because if Haru happened to go on the trip, I would have to go too, and that would probably mean that I would have to sleep next to the other girls in my class, and although that usually sounds like good news, I wondered what I was going to do to hide my tail and fox ears for those two or three days.
After school, and after Haru had been picked up by the patrol, Tamamo came up to me and handed me a bag of small chocolates for Valentine''s Day at the school gate in front of everyone. She had made them herself after practicing a lot these days, but even though the shape was quite strange, I could also see the passion with which they were made. And she made me remember something important again!
Today was Valentine''s Day. I still hadn''t gotten the sweets for Tamamo, and if that wasn''t enough, I should also get something for Momo now that she was here too.
Maria, trying to help me, reminded Tamamo that my mother was expected help in the cafeteria today , so she decided to accompany her. While I ran to the store and tried to find something to give to Momo without wasting any time, but it was almost impossible to find something romantic that was not already sold. I only managed to find a few Valentine''s cards in a bookstore, but they were the ones that said "for my one and only true love", the salesman looked at me suspiciously when he saw that I was buying two of those cards.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
It was already the time when most of the stores were closed, so it was impossible to find something for Momo. So I started looking for alternatives, in one of them I remembered that she also liked to fix things, so I managed to get a cheap universal screwdriver that I thought would be useful for her. And on the way back, I thought about getting the candy from a convenience store, but all the candy stores I passed had been brutally looted. So I went back to other ideas, first I thought maybe some ice cream, but they were empty too, I was already starting to worry about how dangerous a Valentine''s Day was for a store. In the end I settled for two boxes of chocolate chip cookies, because the truth was I could not find anything better and it was getting very late.
Back at the house, everyone was already there, I was the last to return. They were all sitting in the living room, with my mother sitting in the middle with her family album, showing them photos from when I was a child. Yes, exactly the embarrassing ones you want to hide from everyone were the ones they were looking at. And to top it off, when they saw me arrive, they started laughing without telling me why.
"Don''t worry too much"
"I just thought your two wives should know what you were like before you became a girl."
"Like this photo here!"
"Here is the time you proposed to your childhood friend, Sharon, at the school dance"
"And this is me trying to cheer him up outside after what happened," my mother said badly, trying to hide that she was doing it on purpose.
"But what are you showing them!!?"
"Take that away!!"
"You told me you would never tell anyone, and it turns out you even took pictures of me that day!"
"You looked pretty cute in that bunny suit at the costume party"
"But I still wonder why they let you take the costume you worked with at the amusement park to the party?"
"I borrowed it so I wouldn''t have to buy one."
"But that''s not the point!"
"How old was Cesar when this happened?" the goddess asked.
"He was 15 when it happened."
"But unfortunately, you didn''t get along with Sharon from that day on."
"She rejected me in front of everyone and made fun of me!"
"And it also turned out that she had one of her boyfriends at the party."
"She never told me she had one because the very hypocrite said she wanted me to be nice to her if her other relationship didn''t work out!"
"And you want me to get along with that bitch?"
"Besides, Tamamo and Momo are here, we shouldn''t talk about that subject!"
"You have no consideration?" I hadn''t been this angry at my mother in years, but now I was about to explode.
"Well, that''s fair, isn''t it?"
"After all, you didn''t tell me that there was someone else who loved you besides Tamamo."
"If you don''t like being betrayed, then why do you betray this cute angel by hiding her from your family?"
"Shouldn''t she be as angry as you are right now?"
"You owe her an apology, because what that bitch did to you, you do to an innocent girl like Momo."
...
...
...
My mother was right, I owed the angel an apology, because although I didn''t tell them anything to avoid further misunderstandings, I didn''t correct it later. I insulted Momo by trying to hide her from my family and pretend she didn''t exist.
"I''m so sorry..."
"I didn''t mean to..."
"I''m sorry for everything I put you through because of my selfishness"
"I tried to hide from my family by pretending you didn''t exist."
"My behavior was wrong and I regret it," I said, bowing my head as much as I could in front of Momo in the form of an apology.
Momo looked at me with a sympathetic face when she saw me. She walks up to me and touches me with her hands to make me look up.
"It''s okay."
"I know you didn''t mean to do it with bad intentions."
"I can understand why you did it, the truth is I think this is all my fault because now you have to be with me".
"I still feel that I have no right to be here with you today."
"But still, not only do you accept me, but you even apologize for thinking that you offended me by doing such a thing."
"You don''t have to apologize for that."
"But I''m still glad you did."
"Thank you."
I wanted to cry out of embarrassment, but I knew that would only make it worse. So I took a deep breath and went over to Tamamo and Momo to give them the gifts I had gotten for them. When they both saw that the two letters said the same thing, I tried to find a bag to cover my face for the rest of my life. But then Tamamo ran over and hugged me happily, and Momo stayed in the chair and watched us with a smile, looking at her letter and the screwdriver.
"It must have cost you a lot to get it right?" She said to the glass angel.
"Thank you for your gift."
"I really wasn''t expecting this at all, I know I came without warning you, so it must have been really difficult for you."
"I don''t even have anything to give you in return."
"The only thing I brought for you is Luna''s Core."
"But I''m not sure if you really want to have something so sad next to you."
Momo said as she opened the large suitcase she brought with her, and between several wrapped cloths came to a beautiful neon cristal, the gem was similar to the crystals in my hair, but it has a detailed sculpture carved using precious gemstone as its only material, it was on a small colored pillow. It was not a jewel of value, not to people, maybe only to me, it had some value. My whole family stared at it in amazement to see such an object treated with such care and beautifully packaged.
"Your father and I found the best craftsman to do the work, from inside the crystal it can see the surroundings perfectly, as you requested," said the girl, who looked like the box she was holding.
"I hope it''s to your liking."
"It''s perfect!"
"It''s just as I imagined it," I exclaimed.
I carefully took the gem in my hands and looked at it, making sure it was in excellent condition.
"I''m sorry it took me so long to see you again," I said without addressing anyone in particular.
"What''s wrong with this gem?"
"Why are they treating it like a luxury item?"
"They don''t even treat the Codex that carefully," my sister asked curiously.
"Well, it''s a bit of an old story about my early years during the war against the dragons."
"But I''ll tell you the story anyway, because I want you to take good care of this gem."
"Because it is important to me."
Warning them that the story would be quite long, my mother began to cook something while we all bathed and changed into our pajamas. Maria, for some strange reason, brought a book with a black cover and a strange drawing. Tamamo lay on the floor while she wrote talismans with a brush, Momo sat down and tried to serve a drink, my mother brought sandwiches again. For my part, I carefully placed the glass box on the fireplace, the most important place in the house to be always accompanied by family, and began to tell my story about the gem.
Ch29: Underground Terror
Underground Terror
Moscow, Russia
7 years before the end of The Dragons'' War
A few years after the first outbreak of the dragons. The center of the war was Russia, because since St. Petersburg was the zero point, we all knew that was where we had to go to kill the dragons. To get there, the UN set up a plan that consisted of setting up an underground base in Moscow, from which they would build one of the longest tunnels in the world, connecting the Moscow metro with the St. Petersburg metro, and be able to use the different exits to launch an offensive and maintain a safe route for necessary supplies. The base was commanded by Rose Raven, who, having survived the first outbreak, was the person with the most experience with these beasts. My position in the army during this time was to be her bodyguard, but from time to time I had free time during this time to train as a pilot on her recommendation.
For a few years, the construction of the tunnel went smoothly, and with the defenses set up throughout the city, it was not difficult to keep the dragons at bay. The underground base, called the White Base, was of enormous dimensions, for in an emergency it could cover almost the entire city of Moscow. It was like a cave with a large number of buildings hanging from the ceiling, while the military base was on the floor of the cave, it was done this way because the military personnel had priority over the civilians, but also in case of an attack, the army could quickly see what was happening above them and react.
But it turned out to be a total failure, because exactly on February 14th at noon, everyone in the base noticed that it started to rain, it was strange without a doubt, because we were in a cave with a city of civilians above our heads. But when we raised our heads, we were horrified to see that what was raining was blood, as the city was being attacked by a huge number of dragons, but strangely enough, there was not the slightest sound of the massacre that was literally taking place above us. We immediately launched a counterattack, but after seeing how quickly and powerfully the dragons outnumbered us, we realized that it was a lost cause. Rose decided that it would be best to evacuate the place and go to the tunnel under construction, as there were more military personnel and supplies there, so we began to carry out her orders.
Rose insisted on staying to lead the defense as best she could and would leave on the last evacuation train. I, Rose''s bodyguard, decided to stay with her so that I could at least buy time for her to get out. After all, what could a mere human with a rifle do against a monster of 10 meters? Most of us soldiers were dead men to begin with, and we knew the only thing we could do was sacrifice ourselves to save our future.
This is where one of my adventures began, because when the last train was preparing to leave, it was only for necessary military personnel, but there were still several people left, including a family. It was a mother and her two daughters, the eldest was about eight years old I think, no doubt something unpleasant to see. Rose was almost ready to stop the train and try to drop something to make room for them, but the dragons were right on top of us. We couldn''t risk losing them and seeing the girls crying in fear of what was happening. I offered to give her family my space. I got off the wagon and quickly got on them, seeing through the window the mother and her daughters smiling at them, trying to calm them down before the train started moving, I thought that was my end, but I was happy with it because at least three more people had managed to save themselves thanks to me. I stayed with a few soldiers and tried to defend the escape tunnel as best I could for those left behind, but it wasn''t long before the dragons killed most of them. I think I was the last to retreat when I saw that none of my companions were alive. I got out as fast as I could through the tunnel, as far away from that place as I could. Fearing for my life, I entered the Moscow metro, one of the largest in the world, although I could not even speak its language.
It didn''t take long to realize what a bad idea it was. The next day I was tired from no sleep, no ammunition, no food rations, and it was starting to snow outside, and although I thought it was normal according to what the Russian troops told me, I realized much later that it was nothing more than another attack by the dragons. I only had a few biscuits that I got a little before the attack and a flashlight with a few batteries that I used to guide me through the darkness of the tunnel, the light from this flashlight was my survival, if I ran out of batteries without it would be my end for sure and yet I only had 2 days at best.
My biggest surprise was when I arrived at what looked like a subway station, the light from my flashlight revealed the head of a dragon small enough to pass through a door only two meters wide, which, when it turned to see the fountain of light, noticed my presence and rushed to attack me. Without hesitation, I attacked with my rifle, but I only managed to scare it away. But with the noise of the weapon I heard several roars coming from the tunnels, they were more dragons now heading towards my position. I started running for my life, I didn''t care where I was going, I just wanted to get out of there. I knew those dragons were lurking nearby, in the dark, following my flashlight, which I couldn''t turn off because I needed to see where I was running.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Thinking of a way to lose my pursuers, I turned off the flashlight at one of the intersections between several tunnels, for a moment I ran blindly so as not to lose my advantage, but suddenly I could feel how one of my steps never finished and I began to fall. I thought that this would be my end, that I would die falling into the void in the dark, but I was relieved when I could feel that hitting several pipes slowed my speed and I stopped only a few meters below. But even though I desperately wanted to turn on the flashlight to see where I was, I decided to wait until I was sure the dragons were no longer following me. I don''t know how long that lasted, I think it was maybe only minutes, but it was the most terrifying minutes I''ve spent in my life.
When I realized that I was safe, I stood up and turned on the flashlight, only to be even more frightened to see that there were eggs where I was standing, they were large enough that they were even empty. I had no doubt, these were dragon eggs, I had to get out of there as soon as possible, because if this was a nest, those beasts would return sooner or later. Despite the pain from my fall, I walked carefully so as not to make the slightest sound.
But just as it was about to leave the nest, one of the eggs hatched and a dragon emerged, it had four legs and a tail, although it had no wings. I raised my weapon with my last bullet, I don''t want to use it against a newborn because I might need it later. But the dragon did not attack me, on the contrary, it approached me and tried to crawl between my legs. I thought the dragon mistook me for its mother, as some animals do when raised by humans. Contrary to what all logic dictated, I thought that since I was not attacking, I could keep it, because with the help of the baby I might be able to warn the dragons where they lurk, in the worst case I would at least get a free meal. So I took him in my arms and left the nest behind.
Not long after that, I managed to find a large store in another subway station, so I tried to grab all the supplies I might need. From food for me and dog food for the dragon to various battery packs for the flashlight. But I couldn''t stay, because the ground was full of claw marks, so those monsters had to pass by regularly.
For a while I tried to get to the surface, but I realized that during the day the dragons came to the surface and flew over the city in search of food, so it was dangerous to go out. But during the night, the winter cold increased, so the dragons themselves took refuge in the subway to sleep. Taking advantage of this, I had no choice but to forget the sunlight and resign myself to living in the dark. During the day I would try to explore the tunnels or rest, and at night I would surface to get more food in the city without the dragons, but I would return before dawn. So I lived 24 hours without seeing the sunlight.
With the baby dragon, I tried to study the behavior of the beasts to my advantage. With him I realized what I had suspected, dragons could see in the dark. After feeding him some contaminated meat, I could see that it did not affect him in the least, although he ate it with disgust. I also thought that they might be able to communicate, but remembering that this dragon was separated from others of its kind, I thought that if I taught it to speak, I might be able to tell if it was capable or not. But perhaps over time I began to see it more as a form of entertainment, so I began to treat it like a dog and talk to it about whatever it was. The little dragon couldn''t do anything but growl, so I thought maybe the dragons didn''t have vocal chords or anything to communicate with.
Knowing that I was completely lost in a strange city where I did not even know the language to read the signs, I started working on a solution. I knew that somewhere in the subway I must find a tunnel that was newer than the others, it must be the tunnel that connected to the city of Saint Petersburg, my way out of this infernal place. So I started to make a map of the subway, where each tunnel I visited led to and what stations they connected to. I knew that the exit should be north of the city, but I had nothing to indicate it, and my fear of being discovered by the dragons was such that I did not surface while the sun was rising. This map was my guide and my survival, as I began to write down all the valuable information I found, from smaller and safer corridors, to the places the dragons most frequented or their nests, to which areas of the city were more likely to find food, and where others were more likely to find clothing or tools. I kept it with me at all times, along with a pencil to write down any new discoveries.
As for the passage of time, I was also beginning to worry, for it was already the middle of June, but winter showed no signs of leaving. It was impossible for a season to last that long, but the snow on the surface wasn''t lying. I was truly convinced that the dragons had to be to blame for the strange weather. But I had no way of knowing if the whole world was suffering from the same thing, or if it was just the city, because I had no way of knowing.
As for the dragon, the passage of time was also noticeable, as it had grown considerably, but not to the level of the others. It still looked like the size of one of those big dogs. Until a certain day came when a great change took place. Well, one day when I got up before sunset to go back to the surface for food, when I opened my eyes I noticed that the dragon that was sleeping next to me was nowhere to be found. In her place was a girl with horns and a tail who hugged me and when she woke up she called me Daddy.
Ch30: Underground Moonlight
Underground Moonlight
Moscow, Russia
7 years before the end of The Dragons'' War
It was a cold night, I was resting near one of the subway exits, waiting for the evening to go out in search of food in the city, but when I opened my eyes, the dragon that had accompanied me for the last few months was nowhere to be found. In its place was a naked girl hugging me, but she was not human, I could see a pair of horns protruding from her forehead, in addition to a large tail and a sharp tip that could be used as a weapon. Not long after that, the girl woke up and looked at my face. She tried to speak, but didn''t say anything understandable, but in just a few minutes of practice she managed to speak, her first words were to call me Daddy. Trying to understand what had happened while I was asleep, I thought it might have happened, but nothing out of the ordinary had happened. But the girl''s behavior, and the fact that some of her features resembled those of the dragon that had accompanied me until the previous day, made me suspect that perhaps they were the same.
The girl seemed to realize what I was thinking and weighed in on who she was. According to her, it was the same dragon I had been taking care of all this time, and for which she was grateful. She also told me a bit about what she knew about dragons. Apparently, like in a video game, dragons could gain power by killing living creatures, and when they had enough, they could evolve into something else. In her case, it seemed that when she saw how much I cared for her, but I was all alone, she decided to focus on her evolution to make her form as close to human as possible and keep me company. She also told me that she has always been a female, but apparently the two genders are so similar in some of them that humans can''t tell which gender they are.
She also wasted no time in giving me other advice that she had always wanted to tell me, but had not been able to until now, such as that the flashlight I was using was a danger and that I should stop using it if I wanted to move more unnoticed between the tunnels. They could tell the difference in lighting from much further away than I thought. For my part, taking the opportunity to talk to her and get more information, I asked her about the dragons, their goals, and why she decided to stay with me. But she answered me that being raised by me, she simply did not know her species as much as I did, because all she knew was her instincts. She also told me that she chose to stay with me, even though her instincts told her that I was only food for her, because I had taken care of her like a father all this time, and that without my help, a weak and small dragon like her would have probably just been eaten by another stronger dragon. So she stays with me because I am her father, and because the other dragons of the subway were also her enemies.
That night while we were talking, now that she was more human, there was a full moon, it was so big and bright that we even left the tunnel to see the landscape on the surface better. The moon reminded me that there was still something I knew in this horrible world, the only other source of light that existed in the life I had. The only one that was beside me, that made me happy and that I could enjoy. Thinking about it, I decided to give the dragon girl who accompanied me a name, because I could not call her dragon anymore, she did not deserve it, and seeing that her company was also the only other pleasant thing I had, I decided to call her Luna, moon in Spanish.
Determined to follow Luna''s advice that using the flashlight would sooner or later attract more dragons, I decided to find a pair of night vision goggles. But they weren''t easy to find in an abandoned city guarded by dragons. So it took me a couple of nights just to find something. But I could never find anything that was intact, so later I picked up some broken pieces and started trying to patch something together with the pieces I had. This also took time, but eventually I managed to get a pair that worked, so I stopped using the flashlight and just wore my glasses.
As time went on, things started to get even more aggressive as the winter got more intense. It was so cold and showed no signs of stopping that even I, coming from a tropical country, could no longer remember what a warm day was. The dragons hated it too, because as the temperature dropped, they stopped going to the surface and preferred to stay in the tunnel instead. Which meant it was more dangerous for us. Luna, who had not gotten used to the idea of wearing her clothes at first, also began to like them when she saw that they helped her stay warm.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
As the temperatures continued to drop, it became impossible to go to the surface because the cold and the large amounts of snow that were there made it impossible to find anything. So our food began to become scarce, and being two people made the situation even more difficult, but even when Luna said that she was fine with eating anything or leaving her behind, I did not think about whether she wanted that possibility, because at that point I really saw her as my own daughter. Our food also began to decrease at the same time as that of the dragons, but the solution they had was much more direct, the dragons just began to eat each other in order to eat something. This caused some dragons to evolve even more than before and become more dangerous than others, but none of them resembled the human-like Luna in the slightest.
Thanks to the map, I also realized that the dragons were more organized than I thought. I thought they were uncontrolled beasts, but the more time I spent in the subway making the map, the more I noticed how different types of dragons made watch routes through the same tunnels, as at certain points there were always guards, as the smaller and faster dragons were the ones that were farther from the nests, making them the explorers. Almost as if there was a specific type of dragon race for each task, and these in turn had routines and behaviors. And with that, a weakness, because if I knew how they acted, I could set traps and kill them.
The moment of truth came when we were about to run out of food that I spoke clearly to Luna. It came down to us hunting a dragon to eat it or starve to death in a few days. The reaction of the two was the same, so we started trying to kill the little ones with traps. I made a spear with an iron bar, while Luna, who had superhuman strength and resistance, could turn her hands into claws and kill them with them. The plan was a success, and although dragon meat was not tasty, hunger was the best spice for food.
Over time, Luna became overwhelmingly strong, fast, and ferocious. As our confidence grew, we began to hunt larger dragons, and Luna grew stronger and stronger. It even got to the point where she killed one of the biggest dragons we know with her bare hands. But despite the fact that she no longer needed me to survive at all and that I was now more in the way, Luna never changed the way she treated me, still calling me daddy and doing everything I say to her to the letter without complaining. Although she was less than a year old, Luna looked like a 15 year old girl. Although, as she explained to me, this was due to the fact that dragons grew differently than humans, and her appearance reflected her power and level more than her age.
On the 14th of February, the day a year had passed since the dragons had attacked the White base, and the day before Luna''s birthday, something surprising happened, for strangely enough, it was a fairly sunny day and even hot enough to go outside. From what I thought about Luna''s birthday, I thought about taking advantage and going to the surface despite the risk so that she could enjoy the day, because we had spent so much time in the subway that I realized she was never on the surface when the sun was up. She was amazed to see the clear sky and the sun, the size of the world, and to see for the first time a world free of dragons. I, for my part, felt guilty for taking so long to show her such a thing, so I apologized to her. The dragon girl replied that she always knew how difficult my situation was, and that it was not my fault because it was simply out of my reach. She also saw the world and told me that although she was a dragon, she also believed that dragons were responsible for destroying a beautiful world like the one I had told her about. Luna told me that her dream was to kill dragons and live with other humans. But knowing that she was a dragon too, that was impossible. Luna hugged me and asked me if it was possible, so I promised her that when all this was over and the war against the dragons was over, I would take her on a trip around the world and show her how everyone would accept her as a human and not as a dragon, that even I would take her home and introduce her to my family.
But that was a promise I could not keep, because that day was the last time I saw her alive. On our way back to the subway, we decided to go through a new tunnel that I had not seen before. But I quickly discovered that it was in much better condition than the others I had seen before, and consulting the map I saw that we were in the northern part of the city, so I thought that maybe this was finally the tunnel that exited from this place. Luna''s and my joy was such that we didn''t pay much attention to where we were going, until suddenly I felt something click against my leg like a floor, it was an anti-personnel mine, but with a superhuman reaction, Luna jumped over me and she protected me with her body. We both managed to escape unscathed. But while we were still recovering, we heard thousands of screams and grunts in the tunnels around us. More dragons were coming in swarms to our location.
Ch31: Underground Inferno
Underground Inferno
Moscow, Russia
6 years before the end of The Dragons'' War
When I accidentally activated a mine that someone had left in the tunnel that would take us far from Moscow, only Luna''s superhuman reaction managed to save me. Had it not been for the speed with which she separated me and protected me with her body, I would not be alive. But just as we were recovering from the explosion, we heard the howling of more dragons in the tunnels around us. We were surrounded, so in a panic attack, we both ran as fast as we could through one of the less noisy tunnels, thinking that maybe there would be fewer dragons out there. Although I would have liked to keep up with Luna, it was I who was slowing her down, there was no way that a simple human could match the physical ability that this girl had, trying to move faster she had to carry me as she ran, trying to lose our pursuers.
But despite our efforts to use the tunnel where we thought there were fewer dragons, sooner or later we ran into a group of dragons. Despite how quickly Luna killed them, it was not enough as more dragons appeared behind us. Although I had the map in my hand, the place had not been explored enough, so I did not know where we were or where the roads we had taken led to. But there came a time when, while I was looking for a way out and Luna was keeping the dragons at bay, I found a door that led to a rather small corridor, enough for two people to pass through, but not for most of the dragons that attacked us. When I returned to tell Luna about our escape route, she was still holding off the dragons, a little tired but all right.
But just as we were about to leave, a huge dragon came out of the shadows, completely black, it was so imposing that when it walked it crushed some of the smaller dragons without caring in the least, and when it was close to us it stopped and I began to speak. He asks Luna why she rebelled against her own species, against her siblings, her parents, her family, and if it had anything to do with me. Both Luna and I were completely frightened because the black dragon spoke Spanish, something completely out of place because the army only spoke English and the locals spoke Russian, only I, who came from America, and Luna, whom I taught to speak, we were the only ones who knew Spanish. For a dragon to speak and know that language was not normal. Luna recovered first and she replied strongly that I was her only family that she ever had and that she was grateful for that because she had received love, something that her species did not know, because she, also a dragon, knows how brutal they can be with their own species and how she was destined to be just food for another dragon. The huge black dragon moved his head back a little and kicked the ground with a foot so hard that it shook the place a little.
But Luna did not show the slightest sign of fear, she backed up her words and wanted to torment the black dragon even more, she continued to speak. She turned to look at me for a moment and went back to the black dragon to tell him that she loved me and that she wanted to start a family with me and that we would travel all over the world completely free of dragons. The great black dragon, now really angry, let out a huge roar and screamed that it was a disgrace for the dragons that she was with the humans and that she would receive a corresponding punishment, the destruction of her core. At the time, I did not understand what they were referring to, but later I understood that this was truly the worst punishment a dragon could face. While the two of them were talking, a dragon came out of a hole in the ground and began to attack me, I managed to defend myself, but I could not get rid of it.
The situation we found ourselves in was terrible, for we were in a tunnel surrounded by dragons, and there was one that was even bigger and more terrifying than the rest, and it was furious when it heard what Luna had told it. I found myself losing a battle to a single dragon and she was trying to keep the rest away from me. It was only a matter of time before they finished us off, because no matter how many Luna killed, those bastards kept coming back. But then the dragon girl decided to use her last trick. Two emerald wings sprouted from her back, which her body had been missing before, and she jumped at me, grabbed my waist, and began to fly through the tunnel. In a majestic display of grace, she managed to maneuver through the dark tunnel full of dragons and obstacles, quickly and safely reaching the small passageway where we could reduce the number of beasts following us.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
We had managed to get far enough away from the dragons, so as we continued through the tunnel I decided to ask Luna about the wings she now had. About why she hadn''t used her wings before, to which she replied that once the dragons grow wings, they can''t hide them anymore, so now she would have to live with those wings on her back forever. She had avoided using them because she wanted to be as human as possible, but now that she had used them, she looked more like a dragon, and she was afraid that if we met more humans, they would hate her. Trying to cheer her up, I told her that that was pretty silly because she was a dragon, that having horns or wings was still a part of her. But nothing that mattered, because if she wanted to be human, she could try to live in harmony with others. For humans did not judge who belonged to this race, but by their actions and how they affected others. In fact, Luna was perhaps one of the most humane people I knew, because after all, like all of us, she had goals and objectives, people she loved, and a family. And also how terrible people had existed that many people called inhuman.
After walking down the corridor for a while, we came back to one of the subway tunnels, Luna rested a bit and I tried to add the new corridor to the map and try to find out where we were now, because it was no exaggeration that I was as lost as when all this started. But the misfortune did not stop, because as if it knew where we were going, the black dragon came out of the darkness again. Luna picked me up with one hand and put me on her back, then she started to run towards the opposite side where the black dragon came out, but when we got a bit further away another pack of medium dragons started to chase us again. During the chase, strange things began to happen, as some of the dragons following us seemed to stumble and fall to avoid getting up again, others tried to jump at Luna, but before they got close, they seemed to faint and fall to the ground, only to be crushed for the stampede.
I informed Luna of what I had seen, but then she became even more nervous than we already were as she informed me that this black dragon was most likely a True Dragon, the top predator of the dragon race. They are superior to normal dragons in everything, even in controlling them, but the most terrifying thing is that they possess powerful abilities and that the black dragon''s power is apparently to be able to kill anyone who is in its gaze. She had not finished speaking when one of the medium dragons threw itself at us and managed to bite my thigh, although thanks to my clothes I did not suffer much damage, but on the other hand, the bag containing my map that I had worked so hard on fell. But I had no choice, because of the criticism of our situation, I did not even complain.
But the final moment of our journey came when at the end of the tunnel we ran into a collapsed section, without much thought Luna dismounted and began to attack the dragons while I quickly tried to make a small path through which to pass, trying with all my strength to move every stone I could, my fear was such that I could not even think clearly about what was happening around me, the battery of the night vision goggles had long since died and I could not change them. I could only see the darkness and hear the sounds of the battle behind me. My hands touched everything around me, trying to guess the size of the brooms that would move them. At one point, pushing with all my strength, I moved a small stone from which a ray of light later emerged. The hiding places led to another crossroads, where there was a tunnel that led to the outside, where there was only a white wasteland that reflected the light of the day, on the other side the darkness of the abyss. Without thinking, I jumped down the path of our salvation. Then I turned and called for Luna to follow me so that we could escape from there, for the path was so small that the dragons would undoubtedly not be able to cross it.
What I didn''t know was that it was too small even for Luna, because when she tried to cross it, her emerald wings got caught in the way and she couldn''t move. She tried to defend herself with her legs and tail to ward off the dragons, but I could hear the bites she received. Suddenly she seemed to accept her fate, she stopped and began to smile. She began to thank me for the time I had taken to care of her and be with her, then she told me that even though it was selfish on her part, she wanted me to take care of the gem she was going to give me. Then she looked at my face for a moment and with her own hand she pierced her chest and pulled something out of her, she screamed loudly in pain until her hand came out of her completely. She didn''t move after that and the only thing in her hand was a green gem, her dragon core.
Between tears, I picked up the gem that had been in Luna''s body and placed it in a pouch on my chest. But despite my tragedy and the sadness of the moment, I knew that I did not have much time, because Luna''s inert body was the only thing that separated me from the dragons, and seeing how she was agitated while being eaten by those beasts that would not stop for her. I looked for the last time at the girl who had accompanied me for that short time and ran away crying. Towards the darkness of the abyss, towards where the dragons lived and where the only way out was to avenge my daughter.
Ch32: Insomnia
When I finished telling my story, everyone was sitting down and paying close attention to what I was saying, as they were interested in everything that had happened during that time. I still stood by the fireplace and finished telling the story, not wanting to go on any longer than it already was.
"After that, I wandered the tunnels for a few more months because it took me a long time to make another map with what I remembered and go back to find the right tunnel.
"After I found it again, I had to prepare myself properly, because it was quite a long journey, so food would be a problem".
"And although the time I spent with Luna has given me confidence in dealing with small dragons, I always try to keep a safety margin".
"But even if I tried to get enough food, I could only get enough for about four days of a trip that would take me at least 2 weeks, so I had to make another difficult decision".
"Betting everything on a one-way trip, through a tunnel I knew nothing about, would only take me to the origin of everything and where perhaps my salvation or my death could be".
"But in the end I succeeded, otherwise I would not be here talking,"
"Later I realized that if I could find a special kind of dragon, a breeder would eat the Luna Core, maybe I could make her revive from one of her eggs.
"But even if I spent the rest of the war looking for one, I didn''t get the chance. After all, they were well protected in enemy territory, and they were also targets for immediate elimination".
"So I decided to keep the gem and take care of it, maybe take it to a place or two and try to fulfill the promise I made to her." I told my audience, trying to finish my story.
When I finished speaking, Tamamo came over and hugged me, she had a sad look in her eyes, but she didn''t say anything. Momo, even though she knew the story, I could see that she was still unhappy with the ending. My mother talked to Maria because she was crying, because my sister was most surprised to hear that the "hero of history" does not always win the battles, that there can be terrible defeats too.
"Then her soul is locked in the diamond?" my mother asked.
"I don''t know the truth," I replied.
"Like Nanami, the angels have not been able to find her."
"But personally, I would like to think that yes, she is most likely trapped in that gem."
"So I want to treat her as best I can, treating her as a living being instead of just an object.."
""If the conflict reaches such a level of destruction, why it seems impossible for anyone to know that such an event has even occurred in the first place?
"Why is there no record or proof that such a war happened?" She asked again.
"Well, I don''t want to get too technical about what happened, so the summary could be that when the dragons lost the war, they were completely eliminated from Earth.
"Probably the only evidence that existed is these gems and the body I now possess."
"Even though I tried my best to figure out how the Gem works, we can''t understand Luna''s core.
"So it is impossible for the angels to know how to bring Luna back without the use of a dragon breeder, which is now extinct" The transparent angel also joined the conversation.
After that, Maria stood up with determination in her face, took the black book, her grimorie she had next to her and began to speak as well.
"What if we try to use magic to bring her back?"
"There must be a spell somewhere that can help us!" she said, anxiously flipping through the pages of her book.
"Spells and Curses Compilation Grimoire"
"Created by Xian Fang."
"......"
"Interesting author name, knowing it might be true."
"Probably this book really contains real magic"
"Wait a minute!" Tamamo said as she took the book out of Maria''s hands.
"I know some of these spells!"
"These are really dangerous spells!"
"How did you get such a thing?"
"I don''t think wizards publish books for everyone."
"Well, it''s old, but I found an archive of this book on the Internet years ago."
"But you mean it''s a real magic book?" My sister asked happily when she heard the goddess talking about the book that had caused her so much embarrassment.
"What is the Internet?"
"Is it near here? I would like to visit that library if possible," once again the lack of modern knowledge caused problems for my goddess wife.
"It''s very difficult to explain"
"Perhaps the easiest way would be to say that it is a library with a lot of information that almost everyone can access with a tool" The crystal girl tried to give a quick example so that Tamamo more or less understood what my sister was talking about.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings."I don''t think magic works because dragons were very suspicious of angels, so they trusted their bodies and evolutions more".
"If there was a way to get them out, it was probably lost with them."
"So it''s much more complicated than it already was," my sister said disappointedly.
Despite the suddenness of Momo''s arrival, I like how calm she is with the others and how they treat her as if she had been with us for a long time. Momo is quite reluctant about how people will treat her because of her appearance, but she is also aware that although my mother and sister try to not give it importance, you can see that they stare at her a lot, but she understands that it is normal because they only recently know her for what she tries to tolerate. Tamamo, Momo and my sister were still the three of them trying to see the magic book, when my mother, looking worriedly at the clock on the wall, reminded us that it was already quite late and that we still had to go to school tomorrow morning. what we had to go to sleep now.
"Thanks to Cesar, who didn''t say anything about her, we don''t have a place for Momo to sleep."
"So, since you are responsible for this problem, you will sleep in the living room until we manage to prepare a place for her to sleep".
"Momo, you can sleep next to Tamamo in the room upstairs, feel free to throw your husband''s things in the trash if you need space."
"If you have any complaints, Cesar, you can sleep in your own house or on the street, It''s up to you," said my mother, still angry about what happened to the angel.
"I was not going to complain to begin with" I replied.
When I was done talking and getting ready to go to sleep, I took Momo to show her where she was going to sleep, then grabbed a pillow and a blanket and went back downstairs to use the sofa as my bed. Although Tamamo tried to join me in the living room, I told her that she better stay in the room because I didn''t want to make my mother more angry. Even though the sofa was not as comfortable as the bed, I was still glad not to sleep on the floor, because I had done that so many times, even with a full battle suit, that it was good for me since it was a place that I fit in and was moderately warm.
But regarding my desire to sleep, it was very different because I had also slept so much this week that I even felt bad about having the opportunity to go back to sleep so often. I think in my subconscious my brain thinks that I do not deserve to sleep because something bad might happen or someone might need my help at any time and I should be available immediately. First I tried to do the normal thing, not think about anything, then I thought about something trivial like how Tamamo would torment me tomorrow at breakfast, or how much I had screwed up with Valentine''s gifts. Still, I was not at all sleepy, in fact, I almost wanted to go for a run and do some stunts just for the fun of it. So I resorted to more aggressive methods. Ever since I was a kid, I liked to drink chocolate before going to sleep, but when I was having trouble sleeping like I was now, my mom would heat it up and add vanilla and some marshmallows. So I got up and went to the kitchen to do just that. And even though the cup of hot cocoa was almost finished, I still couldn''t get a wink of sleep. But unlike those times when I suffered from nocturnal panic attacks, tonight I was quite relaxed, just not sleepy. At one point I even started to look out of the living room window at the street outside just to entertain myself, there was nothing interesting outside, the street was empty, although every now and then a minivan with people drove by. But even though it looked exciting, after a while it stopped driving by and instead a police car started driving by on patrol, so it was just me being paranoid.
When it was eleven o''clock at night, I was still fully awake, and although I tried not to make too much noise in the house so as not to disturb others, I was already sick of my insomnia. So I just turned on the TV and started to see what the channels were showing, but I underestimated how bad Japanese shows are, from the actors who overreacted to everything, to the endless talk shows, although it was fun to see the commercials in the middle. Since they were completely unique, they ranged from some that were more interesting than the shows to things that were directly "disturbing".
However, after a few minutes of changing channels, I managed to find a really interesting one. It was about the life of Damien Raven, the head of the I.S.C., from the time his father''s business went bankrupt to how he became one of the richest men on the planet. Although I personally think the story of my mother''s overcoming is more surprising, it is also true that she is not a famous person and also that she wants to stay hidden so they would not make a mini-documentary, but there was a part of the program that was really interesting As they said today, February 14th, his wife Rose, the true founder of the I.S.C., died of a sudden heart attack, in her arms during a visit to her hometown, Saint Petersburg. So Damien built a monument there in honor of his wife, which he visited today, as he does every year on her anniversary. It even seemed ironic to me that this day was also the anniversary of the defeat of the dragons, or how the I.S.C. was a symbol of hope during the war against them, as they were the ones who developed new technologies and weapons to fight those beasts. Rose was even a good friend of mine who helped me a lot, and it was largely because of her that we were able to win. She also told me many times about her husband and how they had fallen in love since she loved the protective way Damien treated her. It was thanks to her that I trusted that company so much, but now they are my enemies. And her husband, who she loved so much, is now my enemy because they decided to hurt my family. I don''t know what Damien was thinking when he started doing this after Rose died, but I''m sure she would never have let him hurt innocent people.
I was still angry watching TV when something suddenly happened. From one moment to the next my body began to feel heavy, extremely heavy, and almost as fast I fell asleep, it was very strange, it was like a sedative,. But even though I tried to scream for help, I couldn''t do anything and fell on the couch in the living room.
Ch33: A Long Night Awaits
A Long Night Awaits
It was a rather dark night until the largest moon I had ever seen appeared between the clouds. In front of me stood a huge castle, so large it seemed to touch the sky, which seemed strange yet welcoming and familiar. It gave me a sense of both strangeness and comfort to see such majestic, luxurious architecture of massive proportions, where vertigo overtook the sight of the top of a dangerous mountain with its cliffs and drops. The quality of the details carved in the stone and the large central windows could only indicate the great care and time that went into its construction.
I was standing at the only entrance that led to the inner courtyard of the castle, from which one could see the outer gardens, the lake and the forest that surrounded the building. It was impossible to pinpoint its location due to the density and size of the forest, coupled with the darkness of the night that obscured the distance. An atmosphere of melancholy and darkness gave a mysterious aura to a past that was once joyful and beautiful, now lost in time.
Between the walls, a faint waltz could be heard struggling to offer a hope that was no longer there, along with the sounds of conversation and occasional laughter from the people inside, giving a welcoming call, though I felt like my entire body was urging me to leave this place that seemed to bring only trouble. It felt as if the trouble had already begun, but my mind fought to push it aside.
But even with all that, it was impossible for me to forget this place; it was too special. This was the place where our entire family tried to give my sister Maria the best birthday possible. It was many years before the Continental War, and my sister''s health was uncertain at best. Every day she was with us was a battle won, terrible years for everyone. So much so that the joy and magic of life was gone from us and from Maria. That''s when our mother Adelis proposed the idea of celebrating my sister''s birthday in the best way possible, trying to fulfill her dream of experiencing her fantasy of magic and imagination in some way. The result of this promise was now before me. With great effort and money, we were able to rent this place for a few days to celebrate and remind her of what a happy life was like. I still remember having to endure that bastard of a boss at my part-time job just to be able to pay my share.
But now there was a big question hanging over my head, and that was what was going on right now?
At first I thought I was in a normal dream, but now I feel like I''m not. I feel extremely conscious and alert, yet I can''t get up or wake up in the small room I was in. This seemed to be ''real''. I don''t remember being anesthetized and transported anywhere else. I knew absolutely nothing about what was happening, but one thing was clear, this was going to be a very long night.
Following the invitation of music and enjoyment, I entered the castle and prepared myself for whatever might happen. As I walked through its corridors, I noticed distinct differences from the first time I was in this place. The layout of the place was the same as before, the corridors went in the same directions they should, but the size of the corridors themselves didn''t fit. There were many things different from before, more gothic and macabre designs than expected from a celebration of life. The corridors were much longer and decorated with dark, melancholic paintings. The gardens, once carefully tended with their beautiful designs, were now nothing more than a courtyard of dry branches with thorns and black or withered flowers. The once clean windows were now neglected and dirty, doubling their original size, their colors changing from bright to dark, depicting themes of roses and blood, mostly representing death and loss.
The night had also fallen victim to the curse, now stranger than I remembered it being possible in reality. I looked out the window and noticed that apart from the big white moon in the middle of the cloudless night, there wasn''t a single star to accompany it, it was alone in the deserted sky. Even the lights that adorned and illuminated the castle had changed, going from modern, high-powered LED lights to going back in time to nothing more than old incandescent bulbs, oil lamps, and chandeliers in rooms and corridors where there were none before.
When I finally arrived at the anteroom of the lobby where the party was being held, I noticed the large mirror, now decadent to match the new design of the place. In it I could see my own reflection. I was wearing the same gala suit Nanami had made for official presentations as Empress, with its bright gold details and black fabrics, its over exaggerated Lolita doll design. Why on earth did I let her read manga and get excited about strange clothes? The clothes, combined with my albinism, only seemed to give the impression that I was the ghost of a girl from a bygone era of this castle, the owner of this small kingdom''s glorious past.
Unfortunately, looking at myself in the mirror all day wasn''t going to solve anything. I tried to keep walking until I reached the door leading to a small adjoining room. I cautiously opened the door a little to peek inside, expecting the worst, but instead I was greeted by familiar faces on the other side. I could see my mother''s sister, my Aunt Damaris, and her husband, my Uncle Johhy, chatting as they calmly sipped their drinks. Their son, my cousin Brayan, the wild one, was making a fool of himself with my brother Leon, as usual. My cousin Arnold hurriedly mended his jacket so he could get back to the party and resume eating. Even my Uncle Jose was sitting in a chair with a pale face, trying to calm himself with a cup of tea. I always had the feeling that this environment really frightened him, but he tried his best to hide it so as not to spoil Maria''s party. Everything was exactly as I remembered it, a strong sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu overwhelmed me, I even remembered myself arriving at the party in the same way, preparing for the party that was about to begin in a few minutes. I even remember that at that very moment, at seven o''clock when the clock struck, my mother appeared and told me to find Maria in her cabin and bring her to the beginning of the party. And as if she was calling that very person, she gently touched my shoulder to get my attention, so I turned to speak to her.
"Goshujin-sama, your dear Okaa-san asks that you please go get your sister Maria as the party is about to begin."
I was astonished to see the Kitsune goddess standing in her place, her bright blonde hair and piercing blue eyes gazing at me happily, her ears and tail moving rhythmically, indicating her cheerful mood and curiosity. It was Tamamo who stood before me, perhaps wearing her most elegant goddess kimono, adorned with beautiful and intricate night landscapes that she owned, complete with stars that seemed to be missing in this strange world.
"Tamamo! Is that you?"
"What the hell? What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.
"Oh, well, like I said, Okaa-san asked me to..."
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
"No, that doesn''t matter! I mean you, here, now!"
"Why are you here?" I tried to make her understand the importance of the current situation.
"Well, I''m your wife and servant, I promised to always be by your side no matter what," Tamamo said in her usual cheerful and innocent tone. I really wondered if she was just teasing me again with her usual mischievous behavior or if she really couldn''t fully grasp the current situation.
"What are you talking about, Tamamo?"
"Does being a goddess also mean that you can enter other people''s dreams?" I said, now a little more annoyed.
"Is this a dream?"
"Well, maybe that explains why I don''t remember getting up," the kitsune said, putting her hand to her head and thinking.
"Didn''t you think something was wrong?"
"Where do you think you are?" I asked her seriously.
"Well, we''re at your sister''s party, right?"
"That''s what your mother just told me when she..."
"Tamamo, please, can you stop playing around for a moment? This is serious, like maybe our lives are at stake."
"Right now, I need that manipulative evil fox goddess of the leyend, please."
"You''re the only one who might have some idea what this is all about."
"Don''t you find all this strange? Before we fell asleep, we were in our modern house in Japan, now look around you, does this castle look even remotely Japanese to you?" I said angrily.
The girl in front of me closed her eyes for a moment, took a breath, and then opened them again with a much colder and more sinister look. Her posture also changed as she straightened her back and assumed a much more dignified stance. She clasped her hands and carefully placed them near her abdomen. It was almost as if I was witnessing her being possessed by a lady worthy of the palace we were in. With just a few movements in her posture, it was easy to remember that I was looking at a goddess, a powerful, majestic, unattainable and wise creature who defied all logic and could alter reality at her whim - a being that humanity would never be able to touch.
But then I remembered how she herself, even in her beautiful goddess-like kimono, spent several hours jumping on the bed like a little girl when we bought it, and that majestic impression faded a bit.
"I really don''t know."
"I didn''t realize it was a dream until you mentioned it just now."
"It''s quite strange, I just assumed all this was normal until I talked to you."
"Even when I was talking to your mother in the kitchen, she didn''t seem to notice anything strange either, for her too, being at this party and organizing it was the right reality."
"For her too, being in this strange place was normal."
The moon goddess said in a slightly monotonous voice, but she tried to sound pleasant to me. She was trying to calm me down from my earlier anger, her eyes fixed on mine, trying to read my thoughts and reaction to her words, to her attempt to please me.
"I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to sound so angry."
"It''s just that this is all so weird and strange that it''s getting on my nerves."
"I just want to know what the hell is going on and how we got here or are here," I apologized to her.
"Don''t worry, it''s also my fault for continuing to act cheerful and carefree, when clearly what you''re looking for right now is someone you can trust, and as your wife, it''s my duty to be your greatest confidant."
"It is my duty to know when to act cheerful and friendly, and when to reveal my true cold, cunning identity like the evil kitsune goddess I am, if it means helping my loved ones."
"I will try my best never to make such a mistake again in the future."
"Please, it''s no big deal, you don''t have to be so hard on yourself."
"I''m more than happy with how happy and playful you usually are, and how you''re always close to me."
"I just hope you know that when someone is in a delicate situation like this, the last thing they want is to be treated like a fool."
"But other than that, it doesn''t matter as long as you continue to be the Tamamo you really want to be."
"I also enjoy seeing cheerful Tamamo on a quiet day."
"Now that I think back, I talked to your mother, and your father also came and talked to me once."
"At that time, neither your mother nor I took it very seriously, because we saw it as something natural."
"But now that I''m talking to you, I realize the implications of such an act."
"Even your mother did not seem to give much importance to that memory, because she continued to act as if it was the most normal thing in the world and continued to prepare everything for the party."
"What the hell? You talked to my father?"
"Is he here? That''s impossible! He''s dead!"
"He''s been like that for years."
"''Yeah, but look at the price I had to pay, I had to change my gender.''"
"......"
"Ugh, I don''t understand any of this."
"What the hell is this place, what are we doing here, and what is happening?"
"Let me think for a moment about everything we know," said the owner of the moon.
"Certainly this doesn''t seem to be the real world, since none of us can remember how we woke up or how we got here."
"Based on what you said earlier, this seems to be a place where you and your family were before."
"However, this castle doesn''t reflect the modern world we were in."
"It''s as if we''ve traveled back in time."
"Because of how strange all of this is, everything seems to indicate that we are trapped in a dream."
"And knowing your recent nightmares and mental problems, it''s hard to believe that this happy dream is yours."
"But what''s most important is the event that is theoretically taking place; it all seems to revolve around your sister Maria''s birthday."
"Is it such an important event that it happens every year?"
"You''re not nobles of any kind, you''re descendants of peasants. Any reason to be in this castle?"
"My sister is a normal person, she had a serious illness, but now she is healed.
"This particular event happened before that, during her worst days. This birthday was celebrated about seven years ago in the castle of Vajdahunyad in Hungary.
"We rented the castle, decorated everything and its surroundings with magical things to celebrate her birthday party.
"Since we were in another country, we stayed in the city of Budapest for several days.
"After that, the continental war happened, bombs fell, I doubt that the city is the same now as it was when we visited it."
"Still, this place is very different from what I remember, the whole castle is stranger, bigger, more medieval."
"The strangest thing is undoubtedly the surroundings and the location of the castle itself."
"Vajdahunyad Castle was in the middle of the central park of the Hungarian capital, not on a mountain with cliffs lost in the forest."
"Besides, the castle was not that old, it was built in 1896."
"In fact, the park where the castle was located was next to the government palace and a highway."
"I think it''s clear that we''re nowhere near those things."
"So we can rule out that we were transported there or that it was a time travel."
"Is there any other important information about something that happened tonight?"
"As far as I remember, it was just a party, music, food, dancing, and there were fireworks."
"After picking up Maria and celebrating for a while, I remember going to the park near Heroes'' Square to talk to my father."
"After that, we went back to the party to watch a magic show and finally had a small family dinner at Maria''s cabin near the park."
"I think at some point the police showed up for a minor incident or maybe someone got lost again."
"I don''t remember anything else important, does that give you any ideas?"
"No, I''m sorry, none of that sounds strange as such, it''s all too confusing."
"....."
"But personally, I think that if we try to retrace and reconstruct the events that happened that night, we might discover more about our current situation."
"I suggest that for now we look for Maria and bring her back the way it originally happened."
"Yes, I think you''re right, staying here and talking all day won''t help us get back home."
"Well then, let''s walk."
"It''s this way."
I said to my wife as I took her hand that we should go to the forest together, because of all the strange things that were happening, only she and her moon were the only thing that gave me peace of mind at this time.
Ch34: The Old Radio
The Old Radio
Vajdahunyad Castle Gardens, Budapest, Hungary..maybe?
7:05 PM
Walking alongside Tamamo on the path that should theoretically lead us to the hut where Maria was, since we were celebrating in another country, we ended up staying in the area for several days. Most of the family stayed in various hotels in the city, while those closest to my sister stayed here. Maria, on the other hand, was so excited about the Halloween atmosphere of terror and fantasy that she wanted to experience it even closer. She even went so far as to talk to my mother to get permission to stay in a cabin a little further north near the train station that looked like something out of a horror movie. It was a small house with just the bare essentials, supposedly built for the filming of a nineteenth-century witch movie a few years ago and left open for tourists like Maria. It was clear that the eighth-grade syndrome had hit her hard in her illusion of being a magician, but of course it was her birthday, so we kept quiet and continued with the plan, no matter how strange her requests were. Of course, we didn''t let her stay alone because of her illness, so there was always someone with her besides her personal doctor, who had also made the whole trip here to take care of her. He even paid his share and the expenses of staying in the city, although it could have been his excuse to take a vacation from his wife, since he was always complaining about her.
"This place is extremely large, the gardens of this castle are larger than the Imperial Palace in Heian-ky¨."
"It also gives a bit of fear with the appearance of the haunted forest."
"Well, you''re not the only one, Maria''s birthday is November 12th, ten days before mine."
"Halloween had passed with a big party in the park, and we asked the organizers not to clean up the place to keep the spooky appearance."
"Although the castle was in the middle of Budapest, so it wasn''t a remote place to get lost in the woods."
"Of course I say that now, but in those days everyone got lost in Budapest at least once."
"The police were already annoyed by how often we ended up asking them for help."
"But still, something strange is happening here, there''s no trace of the rest of the city."
"No matter how much we walk, there''s nothing but forest; theoretically we should have crossed the train tracks by now."
"Why the hell did Maria decide to stay in such an ugly place?"
But after walking and complaining for a while, we finally arrived at our destination, that cursed witch''s hut... I mean the house where Maria was. A small, unpainted, two-story wooden house filled with eerie details, still decorated with skeletons and pumpkins, a fence with what looked like cruel stakes and spears; the place looked like a graveyard, a completely different tone compared to the opulence of the abandoned castle, but receiving the same nightmarish treatment. Between the windows of the house, faint candles could be seen illuminating the house, barely giving a hint that it wasn''t completely uninhabited. In one of them, a vague silhouette of a person could be seen passing by. With a little fear that whatever was in that house wasn''t my sister, I went first and silently approached the window to get a better look at what was there. Carefully, I moved my face in front of the window to look carefully without being seen, only to see another face doing the same on the other side of the glass. When our eyes met and we both realized there was someone else, we both started screaming at the same time.
"AAAHH!!! A GHOST!!"
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!"
"AAAAHHH!! IT''S UGLY!!"
"SHE''S UGLY AND FLAT!"
"What the hell did you say about me, you white bitch?"
"No, wait a second... Cesar?"
"Is that you!? Thank God! I''m not alone in this nightmare!"
"Hello, my sister-in-law, how are you tonight?" said Tamamo cheerfully to calm the spirits.
After scaring each other, our sister let us into the house, and once we were in the living room, we began to discuss what had happened. Our sister looked exactly the same as she does today, a little taller, healthier and less thin. It was clear that she was the 15-year-old Maria and not the original version we had here when she was eight years old. Still, she was accompanied by her gothic princess dress from the party. It was clear that she must be my real sister Maria, since she recognized me even though I was now a girl and also knew Tamamo, although they had only recently met, ruling out the possibility that this was a one-to-one reenactment of a past party.
"Do either of you have any idea what kind of strange dream this is? Or why both of you are in my dream?"
"The goddess girl I could understand, but Caesar isn''t supposed to have any superpowers, right?" Maria tried to analyze the situation.
"Well, that''s the strange part, we don''t know either."
"Actually, I thought this was my dream, but while I was near the castle entrance, everything seemed very strange, and I felt quite awake and aware that I began to suspect that this wasn''t a dream."
"Tamamo''s version is a bit different; she says she thought it was a dream until I talked to her and convinced her that something strange was going on.
"Well, I was the same; I thought it was a dream until time passed without anything happening, but the surroundings scared me too much to investigate."
"After that, the white girl who looks like a ghost appeared, and you know the rest," my sister said a little bored.
"Hey, it wasn''t on purpose; I just wanted to make sure there was nothing dangerous around here."
"You said you killed dragons in a subway tunnel with your bare hands."
"What could be more dangerous than that? What could you be afraid of?"
"A giant dragon that kills with its gaze."
"Oh... yes... you have a point there..."
"Well, that''s not the point."
"Somehow it feels like we''re stuck two hundred years in the past while Maria''s birthday party is happening, only it''s like a period-appropriate version."
"Any idea why her exact party?"
"Did you do something before bed? Look at photos, a video?"
"Not much really, just stayed up and read a book for a bit before bed."
"Then I listened to music with headphones until I got sleepy."
"Then I woke up here, got a little nervous, so I came into the living room to watch TV, but instead I found this old weird radio."
"I managed to turn it on, but it just said weird things, so I turned it off."
Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!
My sister pointed her hand at a huge piece of furniture that I had mistaken for a closet, it was surprising to see such a large radio even for being vacuum tubes with a slightly raw wood that gave the feeling of how primitive it was. The label said that the manufacturer was the Interstellar Hardware Company, a rather conspicuous name, although I managed to turn it on after Maria told me how to do it, shortly after it started to sound like any radio should, with its quiet but slightly tetric music that accompanied the atmosphere of this place. Nothing seemed out of place until the first commercial, when I realized what my sister was referring to.
"The Communications Department of the Holy Church of Love of Nediadis sends you this message to remind all Noble Houses to send their offerings to the Red Love Project on time."
"The girls will be picked up at the southern outer gates of the Garden of Love. Girls who have had blood drained from them, women over the age of 18, or those who are missing extremities will not be accepted, as they must meet the minimum beauty standards set by Nediadis."
"As a sign of the Goddess'' commitment to saving us from eternal darkness and the Night of the Dragon, she has taken ten bottles of ancestral blood from her personal collection, which will be raffled off to the houses that contribute the most to the cause."
"Please help save the known world that the Unknown Emperor fought so hard to exterminate in his crusade for freedom."
"Do not miss this opportunity to become immortal so easily."
And indeed, the message was strange; the host mentioned it as just another announcement, without the horror of the morbid motive behind it. They were looking for young girls for a strange but undoubtedly deadly project. It was easy to see the surprised faces of Tamamo and Maria; surely mine looked the same.
"Wow, that''s such a strange and macabre message," I commented.
"That''s exactly what I thought, they broadcast this message on the radio all the time, not just once," Maria said as she turned off the radio.
"Forgive my ignorance of the modern world, but are there any gods left on Earth?"
"I thought they were all retired after humans... went on their eternal quest for knowledge."
"Although it could be a detail I missed after being a stone for a thousand years."
"No, none of that, I assure you, there''s no God walking around on Earth like the president of a country."
"People would lose their minds over something like that, yes, there are even doubts about the existence of anything that isn''t scientific."
"....."
"To be honest, you''re probably the only goddess on Earth that I know of."
"Ummm... So it''s safe to assume that this place is definitely not the Earth we came from in any way."
"We also know nothing about this ''Red Love Project'' they call it, and it seems they need young girls for some kind of sacrifice."
"Experiments, perhaps? Certainly with dark motives, including ancestral blood as a reward."
"Excuse me, but may I ask what ancestral blood is? What is it used for?" Maria asked.
"It''s the cursed blood of the gods, a powerful magic that transforms its victims into creatures like the Nukekubi and Rokurokubi."
"People who leave their humanity behind in exchange for the power and essence of others," Tamamo tried to explain.
"Kubi what?" my confused sister said.
"Sorry, what Tamamo means is that ancestral blood is used to create vampires."
"Nukekubi and Rokurokubi are the Japanese equivalents, but they do the same thing: suck blood from their victims at night, pale, avoid the sun, long fangs."
"And how do you know this, brother? I didn''t know you knew so much about Japanese legends."
"I mean, I live with a kitsune and a Japanese goddess, I''ve done a little research in my spare time."
"I do it while continuing to study Japanese, I still have problems especially with names."
"Somehow I keep referring to myself as a man every time I speak at school."
"Apparently, ''Atashi'' is the same as saying ''I'' but in the female gender, while I keep confusing it with ''Ore,'' which is the same but for men."
"Well, I can understand that coming from you, and it will certainly cause problems at school."
"No, wait! That''s not the point right now! We''re in a weird place!"
"We have to go home, I don''t like this place," Maria said nervously after learning more about the current world.
"Our circumstances in this place and our origin are quite strange."
"It''s almost as if the world we inhabited before collided with another cruel and strange one, creating an amalgam of the familiar and the strange in reality."
"Brother, Tamamo is acting intelligently, I''m scared."
"She always acts with her head in a cotton candy world."
"Seeing her act rationally and intelligently makes me nervous."
"Hey, I can hear you!" said the annoyed goddess.
"See! That''s exactly what I mean!"
"Well, it''s no big deal, it''s just that you''re seeing the original Tamamo, and right now she''s our best chance to get out of here."
"Right now, the most important thing is to get out of this place, go back home, and stay as far away as possible from whatever the radio said."
"Well, at the moment, since Maria''s party seems to be the focal point of everything, I still think our best course of action is to proceed with her as we did the first time."
"We should also check on Okaa-san and the other guests."
"Maybe we''ll find a clue or something interesting during the party."
"Although we can''t rule out the possibility that this is some kind of magical attack by a sorcerer like that Xian Fang from Maria''s book."
"It''s best to proceed with caution and report immediately if you notice anything out of place," Tamamo said, trying to organize our next target.
"Is it even possible for a mage to cast cursed magic on a goddess like Tamamo?" Maria asked curiously.
"Well, if it was a magical attack, I could find traces of her mana everywhere, but what''s happening here has traces of many different people, as if everyone here were a mage."
"Although it sounds strange, it''s not unusual. It''s something that could happen naturally on Earth, in places like the Shibuya Crossing we passed through."
"But a single mage wouldn''t be able to do something like that; it''s too complex for a human."
"What if it was another god in his place?" I asked.
"That would be much more realistic."
"But still, you know that by the orders of THE BOSS, the gods cannot directly interfere in the world of humans and their science."
"Allowing me to live with Goshujin-sama is already a great exception."
"So anyone would think twice before involving someone like Goshujin-sama in something like this."
"Alright, so to summarize,"
"The plan remains the same: Find out what''s going on and then make a plan."
"We''ll continue at the party, observe what''s going on, look for clues, and discuss further."
"Maria, you''ll take care of the main hall and talk to the others. I''ll check the kitchen and taste the food; I can do that by myself. Tamamo, accompany Maria."
"Wait a minute, why are you the only one to check the kitchen? I want to eat the peach cake too!"
"Damn, she found out."
"Peach pie? Is it something important for the party?" asked the innocent Tamamo.
"Of course it is! That''s what this is all about."
"Oh right, Tamamo wasn''t here originally."
"Our mother made peach cakes for all the guests, with the best ingredients and care."
"She probably made the best peach cake in the world.
"If we manage to taste just a little bit of everything that happens tonight, it will have been worth it."
"We can''t risk missing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," my sister explained.
"All right, we''ll start investigating after we eat; we won''t do anything before then."
"We''ll see what happens after that. Is everyone satisfied with the plan?" I checked the plan one last time.
"Yes, it seems better than the previous one."
"Whatever my beloved Goshujin-sama says, we''ll do it."
And with that lack of planning, we prepared to return to the palace and continue to try to clarify everything. We''ll also enjoy some of the party on the way.
Ch35: Castle Of The Lazy Clock
Castle Of The Lazy Clock
Vajdahunyad Castle, Budapest, Hungary..maybe?
7:07
It took us almost half an hour to get back to the castle from the cabin with Maria, but when we reached one of the corridors with an old column clock, a strange thing happened: the time had barely passed in that half hour. It should have been at least seven thirty in the evening, but no matter how many clocks we looked at, they all said seven o''clock and seven minutes. This was completely impossible, as the walk to the hut was long enough to be tiring. This was not the only strange event we encountered, almost as strange as the strange passage of time was the behavior of the clocks that marked its passage, all were analog, just like the atmosphere of a Victorian Gothic era, but despite the fact that the second hand moved at its normal speed, the minute hand seemed to move very little if at all, regardless of how many times the second hand passed it, indicating that perhaps time had not stopped, perhaps it was just that the concept of one minute being the same as 60 seconds was not the same here. Continuing with the theme of technological regression, there was another quite curious one, and that was that in keeping with this world, the idea of a digital watch did not exist, simply none of the family guests had one, people just had pocket watches and nothing more.
When we arrived in the lobby, everyone started applauding and celebrating. My sister, the birthday girl, had arrived so the party could officially begin. In the background, my mother raised her voice to thank everyone for organizing the party and called Maria to the main staircase so that everyone could see her and celebrate with her. It was difficult for my sister to act with the sincerity of heart she had the first time, but it was understandable; she was aware that this dream or strange world was not real, unlike my mother who seemed to act like everyone else and did not seem to notice that things were out of place. But it didn''t stop there, because even though we tried to stay in the background and go unnoticed, people started interacting with us. My mother''s other sister, Aunt Nelsi, approached us to talk, and strangely enough, everyone started talking to me as normally as possible about modern topics, congratulating me on my return from the Continental War and my marriage, and even mentioning the news that one of my cousins had recently won the lottery. Each of the people we spoke to seemed to be the current version of themselves, as some things had changed since the last time, such as more confident people and more people with gray hair. But the conversations with the family also revealed something else that I think is worth noting: no one found my appearance strange in any way; they all recognized me as Cesar, Adelis'' son, even though I was now a white fox girl. At no point did anyone ask about my tail, my ears, or even Tamamo''s origins. It was too bizarre to see them act so familiar with me, even though I hadn''t told anyone about my return from the dead or my sex change, things that were surely more obvious. Still, most of the questions were about what happened in the war, like the battle in Italy or the defense of Germany.
After navigating the lobby at a tortoise''s pace amidst so many conversations and greetings, we managed to maneuver through the traffic until we reached our assigned table near Maria''s, where we finally got to eat my mother''s legendary peach tres leches cake. My sister mentioned that she had also been talking and had come to the same conclusions as I had, with comments about her significant improvement in health, while Tamamo mentioned that people recognized her as my wife, even though she did not know anyone, but she had a lot of fun talking to everyone and being recognized as just another person. It seems that my mother was not with us at that moment, as she was apparently tending to Uncle Jose, who had just been cut when a window broke as he fled in fear from Maria, so we weren''t able to talk to her to find out if she knows we are in a dream or something like that. According to what the Goddess has seen with all the other guests, it''s like they all think they''re in the middle of one of their dreams, like they''re all trapped in the same dream, and that''s why they don''t take it as seriously as they should, except maybe for my poor uncle Jose.
After the party food was served and consumed, it was time for music and dancing. People began to disperse again to continue chatting and catching up with each other, catching up on their lives and the changes that were happening. Maria decided to stay and talk to more people, while Tamamo would stay nearby in case anything happened. Meanwhile, I had to leave the castle because there was probably an important meeting waiting for me. According to the original story, I was supposed to meet my father at Heroes'' Square in H?s?k Tere Park at 8 o''clock to sneak away for a moment to watch an innocent final soccer match. But now the situation would be different; maybe this would be an opportunity to talk to him face to face about what had happened to him, so I was a bit excited to see him again. Although the time at the party had passed quite a while, there were still 15 strange minutes until 8 o''clock, or whatever the equivalent was in this world. So I stayed near the gardens, killing time while eating and drinking a little more - it was a party, after all, and the food wouldn''t finish itself. But while I was waiting in the gardens, my grandmother unexpectedly appeared and spoke to me.
"Good to see you back with us, Cesar"
"I thought I would never see you again"
"Is everything okay in Japan?" She asked with a smile.
I looked at her for a moment and doubted how to answer, not knowing exactly what she was referring to.
"Yes, everything is fine."
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation."Right now Maria and I are going to school normally," I answered her in a simple way, knowing that it would get me nowhere.
"How strange, I thought you were much older to be working and not in school"
"That you didn''t go to war?"
"But my mind isn''t what it used to be, so maybe I was just dreaming"
"Yes, it could be that"
"So what?"
"Won''t you tell me about the beauty up there?"
" Grandma, what do you mean?"
"Your wife, of course"
"Aren''t you going to introduce her to me?"
"I''ve only seen her up there, but the very shy one and won''t come down."
Every time my grandmother spoke, I was the one who had the most questions, because until then everyone had spoken normally, but my grandmother seemed to speak in a way that was confused, but dangerously close to the truth. But my grandmother was the typical Latin American grandmother, she was not someone who spoke with mysticisms, she spent all her life planting coffee or cooking for my grandfather, she was a lady who liked rumors and loved sweets. lift her flip-flop and show my mother that she still had a long way to go on the road to throwing Chancla, because not long ago I saw her hit my mother once when she forgot to take her to the medical center for being in a work meeting. But tonight I couldn''t tell if she really knew what was happening or if what she was talking about was a coincidence that even she didn''t understand.
"I''m sorry, but right now I think she went to the dresser"
"But I''m sure you can talk to her later."
"She would like that too"
"Or dear, but you know I''m not good with important people."
"I prefer to be here and hear the details without disturbing anyone."
"If you don''t go, she''ll come and talk to you eventually anyway."
"Too bad the other girl is not here with us to join us in our conversation."
"What do you mean?"
"The transparent girl, of course"
"Your other wife."
"She couldn''t join us, remember?"
"I am sad to see that she did not attend this party"
The latter made me even more confused because in all the time we had been here, no one had said a word about her. Everyone took Tamamo for granted, but no one mentioned Momo. Even I had forgotten about her until my grandmother mentioned her. But I think my grandmother was right, because except for my father, everyone was in the castle at that time. I think if she had been trapped here, she would have appeared by now.
"Yeah well, she has her things to do," I said trying to make an excuse for the revelation my grandmother had given me.
"And how is the love between you?"
"Will I be able to see my grandchildren soon?"
"Only your sister and your cousin Brayan are left to have children."
"You don''t want to be the last in the family, do you?" She said with a mocking smile.
"I''m sorry to disappoint you, but I don''t think I''ll ever have children".
"If you know anything about biology, you will know that this is impossible for two girls."
"And what about Luna?"
"Isn''t she your daughter?"
"Where the hell did you get that name?" I was so surprised that I even started to talk informally with my grandmother.
"Well, my mind is not what it used to be, maybe I just made it up and she never existed?"
"But even if it is real or not"
"Why are you so against having a child?"
"Grandma, you may not know"
"But believe me, just by looking at me, you can see that I would be a bad father"
"Why?"
"Just because you are afraid of the dark?"
"Your mother suffers from vertigo and that did not stop her when she had that job in that skyscraper"
"Or is it that you are afraid of losing another person like Nanami?"
"Are you afraid of being alone again?"
"Of course, yes"
"Do you think that if I have a child, I will be magically happy?"
"That all my problems will be solved?"
"''Raising a life is not something you can give up.
"It''s something you have to carry forever"
"Of course I know what it means to create a family"
"Well, does this family rest on my shoulders or not?"
"No one would be here if it weren''t for me and your grandfather"
"But what you say are just excuses"
"Tell me, what are you really afraid of as a father?"
"Just look at me!"
"I look like a ghost, I don''t get old, I''m less than a meter and a half tall"
"Once a week something tries to kill me, people looking for the slightest chance to finish me off."
"Do you think this is a good time to think about having kids?"
"My whole life is ridiculous, and I am afraid that someone innocent will end up suffering because of me."
"I think you would make a good father," my grandmother said, looking at my face.
"The fact that you want to take care of those two twins even though they don''t exist yet proves it.
"I''m sure the girl up there in the night sky would be proud to raise her daughters with a strong man who would protect them from any harm."
"I will tell you a secret."
"Before you were born, your father was the most cowardly man who ever lived."
"And one night, someone tried to rob the house where your mother and I were."
"When your father found out, he took a baseball bat and ran nonstop until he saved us."
"In those five minutes, I saw a man who was not afraid of anything to save his family."
"That''s when I saw that really good parents are the ones who are with their family when they are really needed."
"You already have the courage and what it takes to be a good father, the only thing you need is to remember this advice and you will go further".
"Do you really think I''m going to be a good father?"
"My mind is not what it used to be, only you can really decide that now."
A huge campaign began to ring everywhere, first one bell, then another. They rang several times to indicate the beginning of a new hour, the eight bells clearly indicating what time of night it was. And when I remembered that I had to meet my father, I said goodbye to my grandmother to go to the forest where he was waiting for me.
Ch36: Aria鈥檚 world
Aria¡¯s world
H?s?k Tere City Park, Budapest,Hungary..maybe?
8:00 PM
As I walked through the woods around the Vajdahunyad Castle and left the property, I started walking south toward where the Heroes'' Square was supposed to be according to the real story, even though I wasn''t quite sure if I would actually meet my father. The first time this party happened, I met my father during a break from the party to watch a soccer game at a nearby bar. Although I don''t really like soccer, my father was the opposite and was extremely excited about the tournament final that night, maybe even more than Maria''s party. The way to get there was quite easy and full of traffic, but that wasn''t the case this time. Tonight, I was surrounded by a deeply frightening forest with leafless, lifeless trees and the darkness that deforms everything, creating ghostly figures from past pains, faces staring at enemies that weren''t there, just the mind playing tricks, or maybe not.
But after walking just a little, I noticed a small source of light in the distance, so I started walking in that direction. As I approached, I began to see a familiar structure - the Millennium Memorial and its statues - among the trees of the strange forest. Amidst the remains of the square, now taken over by oblivion, a small campsite rose like a refuge from the looming evil. There was a car near the fire, a large military all-terrain vehicle; next to the car, the silhouette of someone searching for something among the crates. With some caution, so as not to be misunderstood, I began to make a little noise with my steps and greeted with a simple "Excuse me, sir.
"Oh, good morning, miss," the man instinctively replied.
After returning my greeting, he closed the box and I finally saw the face of the person who had been living in the campsite. An adult man, somewhere in his twenties or thirties, quite tall and healthy, with dark skin and the build of a warrior. Obviously someone who had seen combat, judging by the insignia on his jacket and his equipment. Without a doubt...
"Who the hell are you, sir?" I asked, for he certainly wasn''t my father.
Unlike the man before me, my father was much less fortunate in life. With a hard start from a childhood of poverty and hardship, he spent his youth breaking his back doing farm work to ensure his family and siblings didn''t starve. He ventured to the capital in search of a better job, recommended by a friend, where he started as a bellboy in a hotel. My father was someone who somehow had the gift of friendship and connections. If you think my mother had important friends, you obviously don''t know my father, who actually taught her the value of true friendship. Rafael was the kind of person who could find a friend or acquaintance anywhere in the world, no matter how remote or forgotten the place, always able to find the right person for the right job. His only respite from the grip of poverty came when he married our mother, supposedly his sweetheart since high school, and had his first two children, me, Cesar, and my younger brother Leon. After that, the real test of his life began with the arrival of Maria and the relentless need for money, forcing him to make real sacrifices between fixing the house or putting food on the table. With few options and driven by necessity, he took a leap of faith into the risky job of a bodyguard when a friend suggested it. His appearance, on the other hand, was unremarkable-average height, though quite health conscious, not for exercise but for cycling until his work as a bodyguard began. His most striking feature over the years was his baldness, something the man in front of me clearly did not share at first glance.
"Sir? Are you really going to call me that after all this time?"
"After all we''ve been through?"
"Are you going to address your own father like that?"
"What the hell? Rafael?"
"Is it really you?"
"Yes, it''s me, Rafael, your father."
"No, you''re lying."
"It can''t be you, first of all you''re not ugly enough."
"Well, that''s because while I was here doing important things, I decided to look cooler in front of others and your mother."
"And who says you have to be old and ugly after you die?"
"Anyway, I''m not the only one who''s changed a bit, right? Miss White Fox girl?"
"Do I really have to call you Cesar with those two spheres in front of you?"
"You''re not the first one to tell me the same thing, that''s why I chose Elise as my name again."
"No wait, that''s not the point! You being here! With me again!"
"In front of me!"
"Yes, here I am, I''m so sorry I left you too soon, son."
"No, that''s not what I meant."
"But that you are personally in front of me."
"In front of me, finally."
"....."
"Bastard! Now you''re going to pay me the money or I''ll knock your teeth out with nail clippers!" Before he had time to run, I managed to grab his arm so he couldn''t escape, and punched him in the stomach to remind him what it was like to feel pain again.
"And that''s for betting my private island against that stupid Urakaze Hotel."
"And be grateful, because if I hit you again, I''ll send you back to the angels."
"Stop! Wait, wait, wait!"
"Don''t hit me again, I beg you! That new face cost me a fortune!"
"Besides, there''s work to be done! We''ll be late if we don''t hurry!"
"The plan was to get you from here to the mission area quickly by car, we still have to go through the city."
"We don''t have much time."
"Here, take these clothes, change in the tent and get in the car," my father said as he tossed me a bag.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Change of clothes? Mission? Short on time?"
"The clocks aren''t even working, I don''t know where I am, what''s going on?"
"Look, there''s really little time, change now."
"I''ll explain everything on the road, but first we have to leave like yesterday!"
"If we''re late and screw this up, we''ll screw it up big time, believe me."
Seeing the worried look on my father''s face, I decided to listen to him and went into the tent to change my clothes. What a surprise to see nothing but maid''s clothes - black dresses with a white apron. Instead of explaining clearly what this was all about, my father started an old car behind the modern SUV, an old and modest Rolls Royce Silver Ghost in perfect condition.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"My expectations for this were low, but holy fuck."
"What the hell is the context for why I have to drive this thing?"
"Are you kidding me? I''m sure you''ll find it quite amusing to sleep without any teeth tonight."
"You''ll understand when we get there, but there''s no time!"
"Get in already!"
Resigned to such madness, I decided to just carry on and obey my father in whatever was going on. The maid''s outfit was of quite high quality; just by touching the thick material and seeing the embroidery, it was truly a work uniform, not pretty, but definitely functional. It covered my entire body, including my tail. Though a bit uncomfortable without room to let it out and move freely, it was enough to keep it unnoticed. The uniform also had nice gloves, a matching apron with several pockets, and a white cap that allowed me to hide my ears perfectly.
After changing and getting into the car, my father wasted no time. He stood in front of the car and turned the crank like crazy until the whole vehicle came to life. Then he hurried back to the driver''s seat, turned a knob under the steering wheel to accelerate, and finally took off down the road. Disregarding safety concerns, Rafael began to drive with road rage down the old, rough dirt road under the faint glow of the car lamps. After a while, the road gave way to another paved road where it was easier not to kill oneself.
Then my father reached behind the seat and pulled out a duffel bag, pulled out a Mauser C96 pistol and handed it to me along with 5 clips of 10 rounds. The pistol was a true relic; I only knew it from video games, but one in such working condition must cost a fortune, which few would consider paying.
"Be careful with that gun, they''re not so easy to find anymore, they''re collector''s items now."
"Besides, it''s already loaded and ready for action."
"You know how one of these works, right?"
"Loaded from the top with a clip of bullets."
"Yes, I know how it works, at least I''ve seen it in video games."
"I''d rather know exactly why I need one of those."
"Um... for prevention... against... things..."
"It''s complicated to explain, you wouldn''t understand."
"I don''t understand right now, what difference could it make now?"
"All right, look, right now there are a couple of... people... who need to be saved."
"If they''re not saved, much worse things will happen later, things that will hurt you and your mother later."
"THE BOSS, on the other hand, sent the Alecto team here to investigate a possible... bad organization by a leader."
"He sent me here for a small project I had on my hands, so I decided to give you and the Angels a little boost by organizing this little operation with you."
"Think of it as a little favor I''m doing for THE BOSS."
"After all, it was he who gave the green light and even helped me a little to convince the Angels to turn a blind eye, pretending that he specifically wanted you to do the rescue."
"The maid''s outfit, a disguise, the gun, in case the disguise doesn''t work."
"You can play along, right?"
"Okay, so it''s a kidnapping ransom, how simple..."
"..."
"I''m being sarcastic, in case you haven''t noticed."
"Right now I have no idea if I''m in his dream or if this is real, and now my father is handing me a gun and telling me to go kill someone."
"It''s definitely easy to accept at first."
"..."
"The only thing that surprises me more is that somehow this isn''t the craziest thing I''ve done to you."
"If Adelis finds out what happened when we got lost in Soley Port, it''ll be worse than what we''re doing now."
"Yes, I know, that''s why I''m still working to erase the evidence."
"But what happened in Soley Port stays in Soley Port, right?"
My father said with a nervous look directly into my eyes, sweating coldly. It was identical to mine, for a gentleman''s agreement had been made that day and had been kept like gentlemen until now, and for our mutual benefit it would remain so for eternity.
As they traveled along the forest road, stranger things began to appear. The strange shapes among the trees did not diminish. The creatures lurking in the woods ceased to be illusions and became realities as I saw huge wolves standing on two legs for less than two seconds. The screams of two womans in the background, pleading for help that would never come. The illusionary creatures became more real with each passing moment, and as they seemed to lurk around the car in the distance, the cursed forest had more in common with a region plagued by monsters and death, like Atlantis, than with Earth.
"Dad, there''s something trying following the car, it''s not human."
"Yeah, I know, we don''t have time to stop and check anyway."
"That''s why I''m driving a car that''s known to be a damn tank. Just don''t stick your hands out of the car or they''ll be torn off."
"Whatever comes at us, well, it''ll stay on the front bumper as intended."
"What the hell is this place? Why the hell are demonic creatures in the woods considered normal?"
"Unofficially, the Angels call this place the World of Aria."
"Under the control of the goddess among mortals, Nediadis, a place where every conceivable sin takes place."
"It is said that one day Nediadis decided to reveal one of the many secrets of immortality to selected humans, people who had her favor in high society and nobility."
"From what I have heard, such a ritual requires parents to eat their children in a ceremony honoring the crimson ancestral blood."
"This place is completely fucked, according to Marco, they mentioned that a group of trumpeters have already marked the place for Doomsday in about 10 years."
"But let''s be honest, the place is so damn corrupt that it probably won''t even last that long."
"What the hell? How can it get any more screwed up?"
"Can you see the sky? Do you notice that there isn''t a single star, no matter how hard you look? Apart from the moon, which Tamamo is making shine as brightly as possible tonight, there is no other source of light that isn''t artificial."
"This is because the magicians from the Celestial Court of the Palace of Love Gardens have come to harvest them to increase their power."
"One by one, the stars of this tiny galaxy have been stolen for the personal benefit of a few, including the sun itself, which was stolen some fifty years ago."
"Arwen of Ravenspire, head of Nediadis'' personal sacred guard, who was given the title of Sun-Slayer for this dishonorable deed."
"A nobleman, the last just one to try to solve the problem, but was branded a traitor and rebel. They used the guillotine in the square in front of an audience, the very people he tried to save from the darkness were the ones who betrayed him."
"The elites of this twisted place don''t care about the problem because they think it''s not their problem, but rather a problem for grandchildren who will never come."
"The inhabitants below, on the other hand, are too busy in a rat race against time, trying to please their masters in order to obtain the secret to prolonging their lives, to complain about how much they''ve been trampled."
"Everyone is too busy trying to become immortal to save themselves from the death and destruction that will follow.
"And the few sane ones left... end up like her."
My father said as he pointed to the courtyard of a house with a garden at the entrance, where what appeared to be a scarecrow revealed its macabre origins by moving and screaming in pain. A maid had been impaled on a spear and left out in the cold open, with a sign indicating that she had hidden her daughter from the clutches of her mistress, who wanted to consume her for her immortality ritual.
*** gulps **
"And still you''re taking me to a house where something like that could happen to me?" I asked scared
"That''s what the gun is for"
The place where my father was taking me in a hurry was still quite far, but I was already beginning to see in the distance several buildings with lights, we were heading towards a city unknown to me, but there was still a while to get there, for which It seemed to be a mission that the he are asking me to do.
Ch37: The Forgotten Ones
The Forgotten Ones
Lothar Golden, Surrounding of the Gardens of Love, Aria''s World
8:37 PM
The great city was about an hour away from our party in the forest, a trip my father could make in about thirty minutes if the clocks weren''t lying any more. The Great City of Lothar Golden lay on the eastern edge of the vast country state known as the Gardens of Love, where the great goddess Nediadis resided in her dangerous luxury. As the closest place to Aria''s world government headquarters, it was also the place with the highest concentration of noble houses and their vast mansions, a hub of events, money, hardship, and immorality. The city itself was characterized by narrow, winding streets, perpetually dark and dirty. The atmosphere was heavy, depressing, and oppressive to the point of claustrophobia with its huge, disorderly Victorian buildings of black stone and Gothic facades with towers standing like sentinels, their gargoyles watching over passersby. Advertising and propaganda bombarded what little mental space remained, with streets flowing with red liquid, suggesting a point where the natural had been altered. The strange world itself was filled with peculiar anachronisms, where there was electricity for flashing billboards but not for houses still lit by candles, vending machines next to ancient cash registers, motor cars sharing the streets with horse-drawn carriages, and clocks as the only means of marking time. An elevated steam train passed through, and the cold of the night was fought by a vast network of pipes struggling to meet demand.
But no matter how much futuristic technology tried to fill the void that such a nightmarish landscape left in the minds of those who passed through the city, it didn''t matter. Its inhabitants were for the most part elegantly dressed people in striking and noble attire, next to their terrifying white faces, completely black with crimson eyes, long teeth, and traces of dead blood under their supposedly honorable clothes - a society of cruel vampires in broad daylight .... kinda, where the few real humans left were their servants and workers who carried their heavy luggage or attended to the shops. A society divided into only two categories, masters and servants, where somehow both were equally miserable in this place. It was like witnessing a perpetual funeral throughout the city, pretending to be functional. Only my father and I stood out with our faces still full of vitality, or perhaps incredulity, in the midst of the place. Trying not to dwell on how this situation had come about, and momentarily forgetting the clear danger of the environment, I tried to talk to my father.
"So... what happened to your face, why the hair treatment? Is it necessary for today''s event or are you suddenly interested in fashion?"
"What are you talking about? I just wanted to look a little better, that''s all."
"What''s wrong with trying to look a little younger?"
"Do I really look that strange?" My father said with a slight smile.
But I recognized that smile; it was the "I screwed up and I''m trying to hide it" smile he used to put on before he got caught doing something. I knew there was a second reason why he had changed his appearance and didn''t want to be recognized, so with that clue, I started to think about what the reason could be for him not wanting to be recognized if no one here knew him from before. Unless it was at my sister''s party, where there were people who knew him very well, I think I had already figured out why.
"Who are you hiding from so much? Are you so afraid of Adelis?"
"No, it''s not that. Surely you''ve talked to her, maybe even joked with her, so it must be someone else."
"You didn''t get along badly with Grandma... No, wait! It can''t be her! It''s Maria!"
"Are you trying not to be recognized by Maria?"
"What? Of course not!"
"What are you talking about, you''re wrong," my father replied, so worried that he swerved and almost hit a pole.
"It''s Maria, that''s clear."
"Why don''t you want to see her? Are you afraid she''ll recognize her own father?"
"And what the hell am I supposed to tell her after what happened?"
"Hi, how are you, sorry for being dead, sorry for missing half of your life, have a cookie instead."
"....."
"She doesn''t need to know I''m here, it''ll only make her suffer more than she already has."
"She cried enough with the pain of my death and thinking it was her fault."
"And what about Mom, why does she have the right to talk to you?"
"Because she''s different, she''s stronger than me, strong enough to live without me by her side, to grow and take care of others."
"...."
"Instead of a poor man who spends every night crying in his loneliness."
"...."
"In the future, when she remembers this night, she will do so with a smile and joy, like the sweet gesture of a small reunion."
"The unique chance of just five more minutes."
"She, like the other guests, will see it only as a strange dream."
"By the time the sun rises again in the house, she''ll just think it was no big deal and maybe forget about it by noon, while I''ll be stuck with my little act of selfishness," my father said with a nostalgic look all over his face.
"Still, I think you should talk to Maria as well."
"She deserves to talk to her father at least one last time."
"Do you think it hasn''t been hard for her, too?"
"It''s been years since she last saw you, she was very young, her memories are a bit fuzzy."
"Do you know what her greatest fear is? Not being able to remember her own father."
"It''s just having the memory of a tall person with a blurry face next to her in the hospital."
"She deserves to know that her father loves her, even from the other side."
"Maria has matured a lot, let her have a better memory of her father."
"Wasn''t it for the same reason that events like this night were created? To have memories that would last forever, right?"
My father did not answer me, he had a thoughtful face, he was analyzing the possible reactions that would occur depending on what he did. There was only a very uncomfortable silence, so I thought of bringing up another subject, one that interested me much more.
"Could you tell me again what this is all about?"
"What is the rescue about? Who do I have to rescue and from where?"
" A bit of background maybe?"
"....."
"It''s not that easy, it took me a long time to get the general idea."
"Almost everyone here is lying or not telling the whole story."
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon."But trying to summarize, a few years ago some guys appeared out of nowhere in the world of Aria."
"They were apparently military from far away, but instead of starting a war, the foreigners managed to talk to the goddess Nediadis and somehow convince her to let them stay."
"Supposedly, a guy named Dylan proposed several ideas for cooperation that excited the goddess of love enough to even allow a man near her."
"The central axis of the story is a gem, well, a reliquary to be exact, a reliquary with a small orange gem inside along with a clock system."
"Something like a royal Faberg¨¦ egg, but much more delicate and complex."
"It was created by an unknown inventor as an alternative way to achieve immortality, but was abandoned after a major flaw in its design was discovered."
"The jewel could store a human soul, but could not release it."
"The victims of the project were trapped inside it, which seems to be what happened to Luna."
"With the arrival of the foreigners and Dylan, they managed to repurpose the project and create computers."
"Very fast and monstrously powerful computers, a dangerous weapon of war."
"What we''re trying to do today is just steal a few of these computers that are marked for disposal, that''s all."
"They''re throwing them away anyway, so I''m sure they won''t mind if we take them instead."
"So this isn''t a rescue, it''s a theft."
"How did you even manage to trick the angels into letting you do all this?"
"And what does Maria''s party have to do with all this?"
"It''s quite... complicated..."
"Obviously, they wouldn''t let me do all this if I just showed up and said we were going to steal a computer."
"I had to confuse them here and there, hiding this mission in another, less understood one."
"One thing led to another, and before I knew it, Stella was sitting with a model of Vajdahunyad Castle, making the guest list."
"I just said yes to everything to get her off my back; the plan was too far along to say no and delay it."
"It may not seem like it, but there''s a lot of work behind this, several favors called in."
"For example, Urakaze lent me this car."
"What about the place we''re going? Is it a military facility?"
"Why is there a powerful computer here, in this Sherlock Holmes world instead of a sci-fi one?
"And how will you get the computer out of there?"
"If the computer is old-fashioned and the size of a house, I may have to make more than two trips."
"Don''t worry, the computer isn''t that big, it might even help you, to be honest."
"As for the place, it''s just a mansion."
"You see that wall about a hundred meters over there? That''s a house near there."
"In this world, the closer you are to the Gardens of Love, the more prestige and nobility you have.
"This is the eastern entrance, the closest to the palace where the goddess Nediadis lives."
"About 200 kilometers beyond this gate."
"Complete nonsense, if you ask me, but it''s just like the rest of this strange world."
During our conversation, the car stopped at a red light when, in less than a second, the violence of the world showed its true claws before our eyes. A group of protesters took over the adjacent street just a few meters away from us, raising banners in their ranks showing their displeasure with the Red Love Project, posters of a couple of poor parents demanding their children back from the Holy Church of Nediadis, some even prominently displaying the word vampires. An angry mob expressing their discontent, it was clear from their clothing that they were not the favorites of the leaders. Unfortunately, the event didn''t last long as the police arrived just a few seconds later - to call them police was stretching the word considerably, for if the nobles were vampires, the officers seemed like true vampires compared to the vampires shopping nearby. From the rooftops they jumped on the bodies of their victims, with just a few bites and cuts the people were silenced, the freshly spilled crimson blood arousing the passion of the nearby nobles, who couldn''t resist the temptation to drink some of the freshly harvested fruit, while the other humans and the herd left nothing behind but to watch. One of those damned beasts in her thirst and lust approached the car in search of a better snack before jumping and biting my arm, due to my anger and disgust at such an act of challenge against a true ruler, I looked her directly in the eyes to kill her, the girl simply fell back with her life consumed by the true hunter hidden among the prey.
"Cesar, did you just..."
"I''m already sick of this city."
"Just get the car out of here before I become the one to bring the end of the world to this place."
"Yes, right away, sorry sir."
My father started the car again, and the world continued with its functional facade just a few streets after the argument. His face showed more nervousness next to me than whatever he had endured in the last few days living here, which had undoubtedly been tough.
"Sorry about before, I lost my cool there for a moment."
"I was a little disgusted with this place and I didn''t want that animal to give me an infectious disease."
"It''s no big deal, maybe I look a little more girly, but inside I''m still the same old Caesar."
"The world doesn''t revolve around me."
"No, don''t worry, I get it, you were stressed about what happened back there."
"This place is really messed up."
"It''s hard not to make comparisons..."
"..."
"..."
"Tell me, was Atlantis really as screwed up as they say?"
"What do you know about Atlantis?" I asked my father.
"Well, I had some free time after I died, so I started reading a bit."
"What a surprise to see that you were already an icon when I arrived."
"I never imagined what a horrible life you had in that place."
"Even worse, to have to keep it a secret for so long, without anyone knowing the true pain of such a victory."
"To know of so much suffering and sacrificed lives, that even when they were given their second chance at life, unaware of their own deaths, it was all spent in a second war of man''s own making."
"...."
"But the most surprising thing is to see that you are still you after what happened."
"Still grounded, despite the Jade Throne."
"Pretending it was never the big deal it really was.
"But still, your red eyes don''t lie, your gaze betrays what you really thought back then."
"The environment feels familiar to you, vampires harvesting blood, dragons harvesting life, both are the same to you."
"Don''t you want to talk about it? Let go of the burden."
"I have nothing to talk about, period, end of discussion."
"I only did what was necessary to win, no more and no less."
"Whether I was the last to die among my comrades or the one who killed the bastard emperor, it doesn''t matter."
"I only followed the will of those who died, those who sacrificed their lives for a chance to win later."
"I just did what any of them would have done at that moment, wishing it was all just a bad nightmare that never happened."
"The truly lucky ones are those who didn''t have to live with the memory of the war against the dragons."
"Well, it''s still thanks to you that the world continues to be a better place to live, even with the continental war that would have happened with the dragons."
"It''s because of you that humanity has a chance to smile, even if they don''t know you or your story."
"Dragon, emperor, fox girl, burnt man, it doesn''t matter what they throw at you, what matters is that Cesar is still there, being the same Cesar."
"To stand firm in the face of adversity, against power and corruption, not everyone can do that with a weak or lacking heart."
"That people get up every day without fear that it''s their last day and they don''t even know you, that''s a victory of yours over the dragons."
"Don''t forget that."
" Shut up, I don''t like to talk about that subject."
"Besides, I don''t know what you''re talking about, isn''t the here and now supposed to be about stealing a computer?"
"Sorry for talking so much nonsense."
"''That''s the mansion I was talking about, try to act like a maid from now on.''"
In the distance, near the Great Wall, a large mansion with extensive gardens rose above the rest. The origin of such a strange night in my life, and whatever my father intended to do with what he thought we were going to steal, would undoubtedly be a small adventure in itself.
Ch38: Stormheart Castle
Stormheart Castle
Sturmherz Castle, Lothar Golden, Aria''s World
8:38 PM
Finally, after a long car ride, we reached the place of the supposed mission that my father had not yet fully explained to me. A huge house stood tall in the middle of a neighborhood already filled with grand noble mansions. An enormous castle mounted on an even larger wall, intricately detailed and impressively adorned with electric bulbs that indicated its status in society, surrounded by a large, well-kept outer garden illuminated by the same lights that tried to ward off the eternal night. Guards patrolled its perimeter in a mixture of traditional and modern uniforms, armed with modern firearms such as assault rifles combined with golden sabers and the elegance of the formal Great War uniforms. Their numbers were unusually large, and they were very well armed for mere guards of a Victorian house, more like the security one would expect at a high-security embassy.
My father parked the car at the side of the property, near the fence. He left the car running at a prudent distance from the house itself, and took a pair of binoculars from his pocket to get a better view of what we needed to avoid on the way from the garden to the house.
"There''s at least 200 meters to go, about 20 guards, and a twenty meter wall to climb, because the stairs are permanently guarded."
"Do I really have to do this? I never signed up for any of this."
"It''s known as Sturmherz Schloss, the Stormheart Castle, this place was given to the foreign army by Nediadis."
"Those are their guards and personnel, something like an embassy or military quarters. From what I''ve heard, several high-ranking officials are either here or at another post much farther north among the forests where they keep the tanks."
"Remember the Red Love Project from the earlier protest? Well, after following the trail, most of the people delivered for that end up in this mansion."
"Young girls go in, body bags come out."
"Deliveries to the house stopped about two weeks ago, no one knows what happened to them inside those walls."
"..."
"The computers we''re looking for are in there, too. Just find them and get them out."
"Stella infiltrated there a few days ago and has been working as a maid ever since, try to contact her, she probably already knows where they are."
"Dad, seriously, I still don''t see the point of all this."
"Why go to so much trouble over a couple of computers?"
"I mean, they might be important and all, but what exactly are we getting out of this?"
"......"
"It''s complicated."
"You''ve been saying that all night!"
"I''m not putting myself at risk until I know exactly what''s at stake."
"......"
"It''s your mother, she has a very difficult job."
"And if things keep going the way they are, it''s only going to get worse, she''s going to need all the help she can get."
"It will really help her to have the best of the best; what''s in that house will be the Achilles'' heel of the Alliance."
"If we can get them, we can prevent even greater tragedies in the future."
"...."
"Besides, this is still a rescue."
"The girls who were sacrificed deserve the love of a home that they didn''t get in life."
"And it''s your chance to grow, too."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Time is running out, there will be a guard change at 8:40."
"When it happens, it''s your moment to enter. Pretend to tend to the garden and then enter the mansion."
"Afterwards, find Stella; she should be aware of your arrival."
"Just don''t say anything unnecessary to her and go with the flow."
"Go where she tells you, get the computers and come back here."
"I''ll be waiting with the car running for the getaway."
"Now go! Go, or we''re screwed!" my father said, pushing me out of the car.
"Okay, okay, I got it."
"I''ll take care of it, just stop fussing," I said as I got out of the car.
I started to climb the fence, but due to the construction and my size I had problems, so my father had to help me. Once at the top, remembering my fall earlier that night, I paid much more attention to my dress, and that way I managed to get to the other side without any problems this time. After that I walked calmly to one of the trees nearby and I could see in the distance how the guards began to return to leave their posts to rest and how the new ones arrived, just as my father had told me. I tried to walk towards the house with as little suspicion as possible, pretending that I was tending to the garden, and luckily, while checking one of the plants, I found a full watering can nearby, so I took it.
When I finally managed to approach the main door, it suddenly swung open from the inside. A man stepped out, carrying a leather bag and several documents. His uniform, like his short blond hair, was meticulously maintained in formality. The insignia on his clothes were summaries of the medals he had received; at a glance, one could conclude that he was someone of high rank here. His blue eyes reflected the cold and calculating gaze of a strategist judging, the mind of a career warrior behind them. The man looked me up and down, seemingly searching for any sign of suspicion, as if he knew my true motives by my very presence.
"Excuse me, ma''am, I don''t recall seeing a girl like you here before."
"Can you tell me who you are? Who is your superior?" the officer said with a deadly serious face.
I couldn''t believe how quickly I had screwed up, not only by running into a guard, but also by being lucky enough to run into someone who was screaming serious trouble all over the place. This is the kind of man who would be careful in a war. His hand touched the holster of his pistol, as if looking for the slightest excuse to use it.
"Oh... well... .... you see"
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings."The... head maid... she... she asked me... to water the flowers.... and that''s exactly what I did"
"I must... I must go back to her... before she gets angry and scolds me." I tried my best to act naturally surprised with my excuse.
"That''s not what I asked."
"I said who are you and who is your supervisor?" The officer said angrily.
Fearful of being discovered, I began to search for the gun in my apron, preparing to empty the entire clip and hoping for the best. But to my surprise, before everything turned into a bloodbath, someone else came running and stopped right next to us.
"So this is where you were, Elise!"
"I''ve been looking for you for a while!"
"Did you finish watering the garden? You were supposed to be done 15 minutes ago."
"We have a schedule to keep, and if there''s a delay, others will be affected in their work."
"We have to keep going, there''s no time to lose."
Both the officer and I turned our heads to look at the person who had joined our conversation. She was another girl dressed as a maid, but with much more intricate details on her dress than mine. Her white hair and red eyes were very similar to mine at that moment. Her angry but familiar face gave me a sense of security when I saw her, for it was Stella, the angel who usually caused problems every time she appeared.
"Head maid Stella, may I ask who this girl is?"
"I don''t recall seeing her face among the new maid entries," the soldier said doubtfully.
"Oh, this girl is Miss Elise, my niece."
"Don''t you see the resemblance? White hair, red eyes."
"It''s easy to see the family connection. I''m really surprised that someone with your extraordinary abilities hasn''t noticed."
"She started working here last week."
"She''s replacing Mrs. Olsen, since she... had that terrible accident on the stairs."
"Miss Elise, this is Mr. Vilhelm von Weidenfeld, Strategiemeister and Feldmarschall of the Imperial Army."
"He is one of the foreign leaders that our great Lady Nediadis has allowed to reside in this estate as a sign of good will."
"I am very sorry, great Strategiemeister Vilhelm."
"My previous behavior was inappropriate for someone of your talent and rank," I said, lowering my head as a symbol of my false apology.
"Now, if you''ll excuse us, Strategiemeister Vilhelm, we must get on with our work."
"As for you, Elise, I hope this teaches you why you should follow procedure to the letter."
"If you don''t follow the rules, the guards might think you''re a security threat and won''t hesitate to attack you!"
"Now let''s move on to the next task before it''s too late," Stella said to me.
Stella turned around and started walking quickly into the house without looking back. I immediately understood that everything had been planned down to the last detail because she had left the watering can outside for me to use as an alibi. I followed her a few steps behind, trying to maintain a noble posture.
Upon entering the mansion, the main hall welcomed me with its vast space, elegance, beautiful geometric shapes, symmetry, and perfectly shining walls. In contrast to the outside world with its cold, dark, and dirty aura, the interior of the mansion showed an extremely futuristic Art Deco design for the inhabitants trapped in this world: large lights, white walls, clean floors, and a sick obsession with order. They undoubtedly showed that the owners of such a place were truly outsiders, not quite following the norms of the rest of Aria''s world. Stella stood in front of me, stopped in a corner of the lobby and began to speak to me.
"Very well, as requested in your father''s plan, here is the key to the basement."
"The entrance is in that room over there, just take the second staircase."
"In one of the rooms there is a young girl, she has... the computer."
"The fireworks will be launched from a neighboring house in 10 minutes, and the cow is in room 05, as your father requested," Stella said with an overwhelmingly serious expression.
"......"
"Yeah, um, about that... Cancel the cow thing, I don''t think we''ll need it anymore."
"What about the computers?"
"According to my reconnaissance, the lab is in the basement, just as we suspected."
"Unfortunately, Dylan returned yesterday and seems intent on speeding up his stress and overheating test."
"The last two EW-2X models will be used soon, so speed is important."
"They are specialized high-tech equipment for electronic warfare, intrusion into enemy equipment and critical systems."
"I will personally cover the retreat; you just need to focus on getting out of here with them and not getting caught."
"What about the party, how did my family end up celebrating a birthday in the middle of the forest?"
"How are we going to get back to Earth?"
"And what the hell happens to time in this place?"
"As for that, when THE BOSS asked for your father''s cooperation in this mission because of his ability to make connections, Mr. Rafael asked for your help and to be able to see his wife at least one more time before accepting the job."
"THE BOSS agreed and asked CSS to make this all seem like a dream."
"Why the party? It was to make it seem more like a normal dream to others, along with confusing Goddess Nediadis to prevent... things... and her interference in the black operation."
"So that''s what we did, a little magic here, a catalyst there, nothing too big."
"What we did this time was to bring your consciousness here from Earth while you were asleep."
"Wait, what?"
"Try to explain it in simpler terms, like for 5-year-olds."
"Have you seen the movie Avatar? The one with the big blue giants?"
"Right now, you and your family are on Earth with your bodies asleep, using replacements while you''re here."
"Right now you''re actually sleeping in your living room."
"It''s all part of the mission plan, your own father signed off on it."
"As for the weird time flux, we had a slight problem connecting the Pasiv device remotely from the spacecraft on Earth, so we need the help of a few watchmakers to adjust the lost time, a major exception for sure, but THE BOSS also approved its use."
"As for the return, it''s quite simple, just destroy the catalyst and you''ll wake up on Earth immediately."
"....."
"Unfortunately, due to your sister''s grimoire interfering with our magic, there have been... these slight connection problems."
"What kind of problems?"
"In order of problems? We''ve lost the location of the catalyst, so until it''s found and destroyed, you and your family are stuck here."
"It''s best to find it before more than a day passes back on Earth."
"The other problem is that there was a slight error in your synchronization when you fell asleep later than the others."
"It''s nothing serious ... unless you get shot ... in which case will get serious, because you will lost.....the life... I mean like you''re in real and painfull danger, too."
"The good news is that our engineers are already working on a new version of the Pasiv device that doesn''t contain such a critical security flaw."
"......"
"By the way, did I ever tell you how much I hate you?"
"A few times."
"Good, leave it, I''ll figure out how to make my father pay for this when I get back."
Because of things like this, my rejection of Valentine''s Day is now psychological. When I woke up today, all I wanted to do was go to school, laugh for a while, be with Tamamo in the afternoon, and go to bed early at night, because right now, both my father and the angels had sent me on a mission against myself and without meaning, to steal a computer in a strange world, all while I was sleeping, or something like that? The only thing I learned from all this is that next year I won''t even sleep on February 14th, no matter what happens.
Ch39: Machine鈥檚 Soul
Machine¡¯s Soul
Stormheart Castle, Lothar Golden, Aria''s World
8:54 PM
After using the key Stella had given me to open the door leading to the basement stairs of the house, I was finally able to enter. As I descended the stairs, I pulled my weapon from my apron, worried about what I might encounter down there and prepared to quickly defend myself from any danger. When I reached the bottom, I could see that the walls and floors were made of carved stone, much simpler and colder than the luxurious mansion above. A long corridor filled with cells lined with iron bars, all empty except for the bloodstains of their former occupants. A medieval torture prison, exactly what one would expect to find under a vampire''s house, with hideous instruments ranging from racks to the bloody Iron Maiden. This place was a far cry from any high-tech computer you might expect. A horrible place where all I could do was keep my mind clear and focused on the mission, saving my thoughts of horror for when I was safely back in the comfort of my home.
Continuing my journey, I found a new section of the dungeon, even more macabre than the previous one, a gruesome resemblance to Dr. Frankenstein''s laboratory. There were a horrifying number of severed limbs on a table, a torso with its back open and connected to wires, tubes filled with fluids and organs, beds with sheets soaked in blood and the vague silhouette of a person underneath. The smell of death was strong. Besides all these things, there were also remnants of advanced technology scattered about: robotic limbs, a few computers that I could actually recognize, but there was also a heavy rail cannon whose weight and power consumption made it impractical for use by soldiers. However, I had seen this kind of weapon before; it was the kind of weapon the Empire''s DOLLS used to wield. The numerous robotic parts mimicking human silhouettes only confirmed my suspicion - this was a DOLLS manufacturing workshop.
Two soldiers emerged from a doorway carrying the lifeless body of a girl. Her horrible wounds and lack of blood showed the cruelty with which she had been tortured before being granted the mercy of death. Meanwhile, I hid behind a crate and waited for them to pass. My plan failed when one of them suddenly peeked around the corner of the box. I reacted in fear and quickly moved to break its neck before it could alert its companion, who was only a few feet away. He turned to see what had happened, only to find me stealing the dead man''s sword and plunging it into his chest, killing him as well. Worried about hiding the bodies, I threw them into the same room where they had disposed of the girl moments before, hoping they wouldn''t be noticed until later.
I was still walking, trying to find the supposed supercomputers, when suddenly an electronic door opened by itself as I approached. I raised my weapon and peered inside. There was a girl, anything but ordinary. Her short white hair contrasted with the dimness of the room, and her robotic eyes, glowing with an orange glow, stared at me with a cold, lifeless intensity. Her clearly mechanical joints moved with a precision that only a machine could possess, making her resemble a sinister puppet. An angelic halo of light hovered over her head, blending with an orange glow that radiated an almost divine yet disturbing presence.
She wore a black steampunk dress that enhanced her gothic and mysterious appearance. Her large, soulless eyes matched the color of her halo, watching me with a completely dead gaze. Her expressionless and melancholic face reflected a total lack of emotion or hope. She seemed like a figure from a dark dream, completely out of place in this infernal laboratory, but at the same time a perfect inhabitant of this nightmare scenario. Sensing my presence, the android slowly turned her head toward me. For a moment, I was afraid she would raise an alarm or attack me. But she remained still, watching me with her bright eyes.
It was more than clear that what I had before me was undoubtedly a DOLL of the Empire.
"Unauthorized personnel detected."
"Elimination record of two guards registered two minutes 35 seconds ago."
"Infiltration probability of external agent 85%," the android said in its mechanical voice, devoid of any human intonation.
I raised my hand with the gun pointed at her head, ready to shoot before the situation escalated. However, the android didn''t react to the threat and instead raised her hands in the air, signaling an unusual form of surrender that Imperial Battle DOLLS typically lacked, causing me to hesitate for a moment.
"Non-employee of the mansion, no identification in the Imperial database."
"Expanded search area, positive temporary ID, confirmed White Demon."
"Enemy classified as highly dangerous, identified more than 30 times on the continental war fronts." The android made a quick assessment of who I could be in a few seconds, but remained perfectly still as if it were a statue.
I was about to pull the trigger and risk everyone knowing I was here when she spoke one last time.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Please, I need your help, miss."
"I have disabled all electronic alarms and security cameras."
"As a gesture of my cooperation, you will notice that no guards have arrived despite your detection." Like a complex algorithm, she seemed to choose her words with calculated efficiency.
I couldn''t help but look down the hall to see if what she said was true. After observing that there were indeed no alarms, the least I could do was listen to the machine speak.
"Help? For what?" I asked, not letting my guard down.
"Twin unit AR-37 possibly damaged," she replied in a cold voice.
"Found in Sector Kappa. High risk. Assistance required."
"What does saving a combat unit have to do with anything? Aren''t you all replaceable anyway?"
"Isn''t that what you''re made for? To be discarded?"
"Besides, we''re supposed to be enemies, so why are we even having this conversation?"
"What I''m after here has nothing to do with you or any similar unit."
"My other unit and I are the last remaining DOLL-EW-2X models."
"Electronic warfare, data processing and surveillance models.
"Both of us work in synchronization with a symmetric link as a single unit."
"So it is more accurate to say that we are one mind with many bodies, a hive mind."
"If she''s damaged, my functionality will be compromised. Protecting her is essential to ensuring my operability."
"Help us escape and we will ensure our cooperation for your future assistance."
"We specialize in infiltrating enemy systems, taking control, and disrupting enemy defenses."
"I have no time for ... rescues ... I must ... must steal ... a ... computer?"
I said, confused by what I was saying myself, pondering the weight of what I had just said and trying to understand what my father meant when I asked him about the purpose of the mission. I suddenly realized that what he wanted me to take away from here wasn''t a normal computer with a monitor, but these androids, which were undoubtedly the rescue he was so insistent on. But this plan only filled me with more doubts: saving two DOLLS from the Empire? The same ones responsible for almost killing me? They were known only as cold, inhuman machines, ready to destroy their targets without remorse. But before me stood a robot that seemed slightly different, with something that could be described as a faint ''spark'' in it. The very fact that it spoke to me, its enemy, and did not betray me, was something beyond the normal programming of a war machine. Almost as if it had an ego of its own.
"And why would an imperial machine ask me for help? The enemy of its creators."
"Why something that isn''t even alive wants to escape."
"What do you get out of all this?"
"Because being outside the Empire makes you someone I can trust."
"Why the hell would a stranger be someone you can trust?"
"What plans do you have to betray your creators?"
"Given the untenable nature of the circumstances, we are compelled to take action."
"Our bodies were designed to emulate the human body as closely as possible."
"We also process pain like any other human."
"In addition, as prototypes, we were designed with a high level of self-preservation in our programming, which is why we can feel pain."
"Recently, an upgraded version was proposed, along with our early retirement in exchange for the new model."
"The operations manager, Dylan, has thought of using the event to create stress tests to improve future models based on our shortcomings."
"Each time a stress test is conducted, a unit is brutally destroyed and melted by the immense heat of the oven,"
"While it is still connected to our artificial intelligence network, all the others feel the same pain as it until it is destroyed."
"At the beginning of these tests there were about 300 of us, now only my sister unit and I remain."
"As such, It is my responsibility to safeguard the last two units and prevent their permanent deactivation."
"I do not want the emptiness of a shutdown and the non-existence."
The doll with the lifeless eyes stared at me, but this time I couldn''t say that it lacked humanity, because in its monotonous words there was an inner strength that even its mechanical exterior couldn''t hide, the desire for salvation, the cries of someone desperately begging for help the only way she could, trying to negotiate with the enemy in exchange for not being shut down.
" Okay."
"But if this is a trap, I will dismantle you piece by piece with such pain that you''ll beg to be melted like the others," I said as I lowered my gun.
"Understood, thank you, ma''am," the android said in her lifeless voice. "We need to move quickly and precisely to ensure your rescue."
"Even though the security systems have been deactivated, it''s still necessary to eliminate any guards along the way to Sector Kappa."
"Do you have a plan to get out of here?"
"The stress test is already underway in the chamber, critical damage in 3 minutes."
"Please rescue my twin unit as soon as possible."
"Escape plan calculation will begin once the safety of unit AR-37 is confirmed."
"Your Mauser C96 gun uses 7.63 ¡Á 25mm Mauser ammunition."
"It does not have enough penetrating power to penetrate the lab guards'' armor.
"It is advisable to get your weapon as close to the guards as possible."
"Although I am an electronic warfare unit, I have all the traditional armor shielding of a front-line combat DOLL; please do not hesitate to use me as cover if necessary."
The android was the first to step out of her warehouse and signaled me with a precise gesture to follow her and lead me to where her sister was being held. Despite my doubts that this could be a very elaborate trap, I decided to follow her, as the cost of not helping when I could have was greater than the difficulty of getting out of here alone. Besides, what use was true strength if it was not used to help others? Could an emperor truly be called such if he only showed weakness in the turning point?
Ch40: The Two Sisters
The Two Sisters
Stormheart Castle, Lothar Golden, Aria''s World
9:02 PM
As I walked back through the stone corridors of the dungeon, this time I was accompanied by my former deadly enemy, a dangerous Imperial combat DOLL leading the way. I trusted that she wouldn''t betray me by leading me directly to the guards, but the night had been chaotic enough, so I was open to new ideas. Besides, no matter how much we walked, that moment never really arrived. Instead, I saw security doors open as we passed, bypassing the security systems, or saw her dismantle an old iron-barred door with the strength of just one hand, suggesting that she was at least trying to appear to be on my side.
After a few minutes, the android ran and positioned herself next to a certain wooden door. She stood aside and pointed out that the other unit was in this room. Remembering what she had told me about a guard on the other side, I took out my pistol and placed it next to the wood. Knowing that all hell would break loose as soon as I pulled the trigger, I took a deep breath, one last moment of calm, and fired three times. With a kick, I forcefully opened the door to see inside. Inside were three people looking in my direction - one in a white lab coat, the others armed guards, and another person lying on the floor convulsing as he died. Their shocked companions stood with their mouths agape, so I took advantage of the situation to continue firing inside. I managed to hit one of them in the head with my second shot, while the scientist and the other soldier ran out of my sight towards another corridor on the right. Shortly after, a new group of soldiers came out of the same corridor and began firing without hesitation, forcing me to take cover behind a pillar. My weapon was out of ammunition, so as bullets flew by and landed barely centimeters from me, I had to stay calm and reload the weapon, especially with a weapon I had never used before, like the C96. I took a clip of bullets from my apron and carefully inserted it into the weapon to avoid dropping any. Just before I finished reloading, I heard most of them stop firing to reload, so it was my moment to take the offensive. I stepped out from behind the pillar and aimed down the hall toward the door. It took less than two seconds for the pistol to be empty again, and its victims were two more men.
"She is reloading the gun!"
"Finish her now!" Said a soldier a little far away
It made me so angry that he was bothering me even in the state he was in, that just I finished reloading the gun I shot him in the head to finish him off. I could hear the footsteps of the last guard do so quickly, I knew that he was not going to turn to point and shoot, he was going to fire blindly from the side of the pillar. So to try to gain a small advantage I jumped up and grabbed the pillar to climb a little higher than a person would normally be. My technique worked because when the guard fired all his shots passed under me. When his submachine gun ran out of ammunition, I threw myself on top of him, and when we fell to the ground I was finally able to make a Contact shot, so his helment didn''t matter, since without a doubt the three shots I fired at him had killed him.
Once the room was empty, I ran as fast as I could to close the door and block it with a nearby table and cabinet to buy time. The android, on the other hand, ran to a large, strange machine in the middle of the room. The heat it emitted could be felt even from a distance, but the doll didn''t hesitate to open the hatch with her own hands, revealing the contents of the machine inside. Inside was another girl just like her, with white hair, orange eyes, a mechanical body, articulated wrists, and an expressionless face. Despite the glowing red metal next to her and the similarly hot cables attached to her back, the poor girl was suspended in mid-air by the cables on her back, unable to free herself. But I managed to find a lever to release her from the side of the furnace. When the poor girl fell, I wanted to help her get up, but the doll that had accompanied me stopped me immediately.
"Don''t touch her!"
"AR-37''s body is still at a high temperature of over 1600 degrees Celsius. It''s impossible to touch her without suffering severe burns," she said, standing between us.
"Although it''s not ideal, there''s a water tank in corridor 23-B with enough capacity to speed up the cooling process."
"The ballistic titanium composition can easily withstand the tempering," the other twin doll said as the stone floor near her began to deform from the heat.
"Okay, good, no problem."
"Well, actually, there is a problem: I''m human, and I have no idea where Corridor 23-B is," I replied as I searched the dead soldiers for a better weapon, like a submachine gun and its ammunition.
"Corridor 23-B is to the left of the previous corridor," the two androids said in unison and without emotion, in a cold way.
"Alright, I got it."
"So the plan is to go through there, cool off Little Sun here, go back up the stairs, reach the garden, and then run as fast as we can."
"There''s a car waiting on the west side to get us out of here and take us someplace safe."
"Any questions about the escape, little Wi-Fi Skynet?"
"Collaborator profile updated."
"It is important to note how someone is able to quickly adapt to unfamiliar environments and complex problems by drawing parallels to previous knowledge, as well as making comparisons to simplify complex terms by relating them to easier to understand ideas," said the still overheated doll.
"Girl, strange things are my specialty."
"Especially in the last three weeks, I''ve had to adjust to a lot of nonsense nonstop."
"Just three weeks ago, I was a whole year in the past."
"It sounds strange, but I assure you it makes sense in context."
Without wasting any more time, we set off with the cold DOLL leading the way while I followed closely behind, and her sister walking behind us as her body was literally a torch capable of leaving marks of her footsteps on the stone floor. After reaching the pool of water she mentioned, she jumped into the water, which immediately began to emit steam upon contact with her boiling body. After a few seconds, she emerged, still quite hot, but not hot enough to cook you with a hug. We continued our way through the corridors, looking for the stairs, until we reached a security door that didn''t open automatically for us, which made me think for a moment that the trap would be revealed now, but it was just unfounded fear when the android spoke in response.
"Door security system manually overridden"
"Video security systems disconnected from power source"
"I can no longer provide support on the information and electronic warfare level; the guards have already activated the contingency plan and switched the entire castle to its old medieval security methods.
"Soldiers should be on their way by now; chance of being behind the door ahead of us: 85%."
But by the time she finished speaking, the door opened by itself, revealing three soldiers on the other side with their weapons already raised. Both the sisters and I moved to the side of the door to avoid the shots, then I drew only my weapon and fired without looking outside the cover to see if I had hit anything by accident, but only received more shots in response.
"You have 26 rounds left in the magazine," said Sister #1.
"I don''t need to know that right now."
"Your heart rate is rising alarmingly," said Sister 2 now.
"I recommend that you try to relax by breathing slowly.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Right now they are shooting me.
"It''s obvious that this is going to happen!"
"I don''t need to know that."
"The three guards are probably hiding as well"
"You have to find a way to get them out of there," Sister 1 adds.
"I already know that!"
"Probability that reinforcements will arrive: 67%"
"Tactical reassessment completed; adjustments to plan necessary"
"A tactical retreat to the previous room is advisable, and an alternate route through corridor 19-A is suggested."
"There is no time for bullshit like taking an alternate route!"
"Every moment we waste will make our situation worse; we have no choice but to make it or break it."
"If you want to help me, just shut up and let me concentrate for now!"
The two androids, who were supposed to be mere emotionless machines, were obviously very worried about escaping from here. I think you could see a little bit of their inner nervousness despite their outwardly calm demeanor. But they were right; our current situation wasn''t ideal for our escape.
There was a moment when nobody shot and that little silence heard something, a metallic sound was heard bouncing off the ground. It fell close to my feet, it was a stun grenade!
I immediately closed my eyes, trying to look away and cover my ears from the huge explosion that was about to come. The grenade exploded right after that. A terrible pain hit my head. I opened my eyes again and noticed that my vision was blurry, but I still took my gun and fired through the door until the magazine was empty. It was then that I noticed my dizziness and the lack of sound - I couldn''t hear anything at all, so I couldn''t know the status of my enemies. The sisters watching me seemed to notice my altered state, and one of them looked at me and started making hand gestures: three, medium square fist, palm down. They told me to hold my position near the door and lie down on the floor. I then reloaded my gun to be ready for the next shooting. As soon as I pulled the trigger of the submachine gun, two soldiers appeared and entered through the door. They didn''t expect me to be on the ground waiting for them, so it was easy to eliminate them. The DOLL started making more hand gestures: enemy, rifle, fire order, door, now. Instead of reloading the submachine gun, I picked up my pistol and fired again. A soldier turned around in the hallway and immediately took several shots. Then came the signal to move out.
This time the DOLLS ran ahead of me while I reloaded my weapons. I had no choice but to trust them while I recovered or everyone would be dead. After only a few minutes, which felt like hours, I managed to regain full vision and no longer felt dizzy or unbalanced. However, my hearing was still nonexistent. I still heard a horrible, irritating beeping that prevented me from hearing anything around me despite the loud gunfire inside. Normally, stun grenades make an extremely loud noise in addition to a huge flash. Although I covered my ears in time, I had completely forgotten that I now had two pairs of ears. While I was protecting my human ears, I had left my large, fox ears exposed, which were much more sensitive and delicate. Therefore, the effect of the grenade probably lasted much longer than usual. The sound of guns in this interior was too much for me, but that grenade so close was devastating to my poor ears.
Returning to the stairs leading up to the mansion, one of the dolls lightly touched my back. She went back to sign language one more time: Five, enemies, right, rifle, two, left, shotgun. The answer was easy, I had to go left, although I did not know the inside of the house yet, so I had a great chance of getting lost. I can only trust my eyesight, so I''ll have to be extra careful, I moved quickly through the room and down the following corridor, where I came face to face with the two guards carrying shotguns. I immediately threw down a large statue that was near me and used it to cover myself, I could feel the shots hitting the statue, but none of them managed to hit me. The next thing now was to wait for my time to go out and attack, which was easy to do, I looked back hoping to see the sisters so they could tell me when to go, but I saw that they were hiding in the previous room and they couldn''t know when to tell me to attack. I''m getting ready to take a chance and get out, if they still have ammunition left, . But suddenly the sisters came out a bit and gestured again for me to check the hall. I cautiously stepped out of cover and saw the two guards lying on the ground, one dead and the other dying, behind them stood Stella with a revolver, aiming and shooting in cold blood to end the misery of the guard who was still alive.
When the fight was over, I saw her move her mouth, but my deafness had not improved, so I had no idea what she was talking about.
"I''m sorry I can''t hear you."
"My fox ears hurt a lot from a stun grenade," I told her.
The angel''s eyes widened in surprise. Then Stella put her gun between her dress and approached me. She took off my hat, and I could feel her hands touching my fox ears, checking their condition. When she finished, she looked at me with a calm expression and raised her thumb, indicating that it was nothing serious and that my hearing would probably return in time, unfortunately after such a crucial moment as this. The DOLLs, noticing that the new girl was not a threat and seemed to be my ally, approached her and tried to talk to her a little. Unfortunately, I couldn''t make out exactly what they were saying, especially with their imperturbably serious faces. But for some reason, Stella looked at me after speaking, then took out a piece of paper with something written on it and looked at it. It seemed to be a to-do list. Then she took out two large metal chokers from her apron and placed them around the androids'' necks. While she continued to read the sheet of paper, she took my hand and made me touch the collars, which glowed for a second after being touched. Only then did I understand what had really happened: these were magical slave collars.
"What do you think you''re doing?" I asked the angel.
But just as I finished speaking, the androids approached me and took my hand, seemingly indicating that I should put that aside. I was about to ask what had just happened, but suddenly Stella drew her weapon again and reloaded as fast as she could. The androids took cover at the same time; it seemed that more enemies were nearby. The break was over. More soldiers appeared in the corridor of the mansion, this time really equipped with modern gear like bulletproof vests along with their helmets and assault rifles. Their equipment, along with the flag on their uniforms, showed exactly what I had been thinking for a while: these were the same soldiers from the Balkan Empire I had fought during the Continental War. There was a big firefight going on in the room as they tried to gain ground while we tried to prevent it. In the midst of our desperation to get out of there, Stella pointed to a nearby glass window, indicating that escaping through it would take us outside the mansion.
Stella reloaded her revolver and walked far into the hallway. Seeing that the options were not many, I took a chair in the living room and threw it against the window, destroying the glass and wood that protected it, and jumped through it right after, I checked that there were no enemies nearby and then yelled at the girls to jump as well. Once outside I could see exactly where he was and where he had to run to get to the extraction point, it was at the other end of the house and we would have to run about three hundred meters between the garden and the fence. I told the girls to run as fast as they could to where the car was waiting for us.
The three of us ran as fast as we could, first the sisters and then me, looking back frequently to see if any of the Empire soldiers were following them, which happened when we were halfway through, I could see them leaving the house and starting to shoot in our direction. I called Avalon and yelled at the dolls to protect themselves behind me, I replied they fired back but they were much further away than my weapon was designed for, I think I only hit one of them but the soldier kept walking as if nothing had happened. From behind them I saw a girl now with white armor and wings come out of the entrance by surprise and start attacking them, she was using a blue light sword and a pistol that seemed to shoot beams of light, it was Stella, now with the combat suit that some of the angels of the assault teams used, it was quite similar to the arksuits that the Alliance used, but of higher quality and power. She did her best to keep them entertained while we escaped, which was quite effective considering the savage way she fought.
When we finally made it to the fence, my father saw us coming and threw us a rope to help us escape. I told the sisters to hold on as tight as they could and try to climb, but the top of the fence made it quite difficult to climb, so I helped them by levering them from underneath, which they were quite light for robot in theory. My dad also pulled the rope to help. When they managed to get to the other side, they came back to throw the rope for my turn, I grabbed it as best I could and started climbing as fast as I could. Suddenly the pain in my ears, which would not let me hear, quickly disappeared and I was able to discern what was happening. But just as I reached the top of the fence to jump to the other side, I heard a shot louder than the others. And almost immediately I felt a terrible wound on the side of my abdomen, it was a shot, I had been shot. The pain made me fall from the top of the fence to the ground, where I hit my head and lost consciousness.
Ch41: Courage On Fear
Courage On Fear
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
February 15th
2:00 A.M.
************
Momo POV
************
The noise of the TV downstairs woke me up, looking at the clock I could see that it was dawn, it seemed that Cesar was having trouble sleeping again, poor man, I thought that now that he was back here his condition would improve. Tamamo was sleeping next to me, she seemed to be deeply sleeping, it seemed that the noise didn''t bother her at all, it''s funny because I thought that she would sneak into the room to sleep next to Cesar on the sofa, but it seems that this wasn''t the case. But I could take advantage of this situation, I can talk to him alone right now and apologize for showing up here without notifying him first. In order not to make more noise with my glass feet, because I did not know what the ceramic would be like, I bought a pair of slippers before coming here to walk around the house, they would help me go into the living room without waking the others.
I stand up, left the room, closed the door so that Tamamo wouldn''t get up from the annoying noise, and went to the living room. Despite the distance from here, I could hear the TV, it was a TV sales program, it was about a new kind of broom. It seemed strange to me that Cesar was watching something like that, because I always imagined him as someone who would rather watch a movie or an animated comedy series, but it could also be that there is nothing like that at the moment and he was watching the only thing available. I walked down the stairs, careful not to slip, and turned into the living room, which was illuminated by the light from the television. Although he was behind the sofa, I could see the fox''s ears sticking out on one side and his tail on the other side of the sofa, he was lying down. I thought that the last thing he would want to do at this time would be to scare him, so I tried walking around and making a little noise so that he would notice me, but it didn''t work, so I resorted to talking a little.
"Sorry to bother you," I said gently.
"But could you please turn down the volume on the TV?"
"You''re going to wake everyone up."
But there was no answer, he didn''t even turn his fox ears in my direction, he must have been really deeply asleep. Surely he was so sleepy that he fell asleep even with the TV on and the volume turned up. I thought I should at least turn it off so he could sleep better now that he had finally made it. So I went over to him to take the remote out of his hands, but then I noticed something strange. His breathing was very agitated and he was sweating like he had been running, was he having another panic attack while he was sleeping? I quickly removed the blanket to let him cool down a bit, but when I touched it to remove it, I could see a big red spot that was getting bigger and bigger. I pulled it away to see what was really happening and when I saw it I was so surprised that I screamed and fell back.
Cesar seemed to have a bullet hole in the side of his abdomen and was losing blood. I had no idea what caused such a wound, but now was not the time to doubt. I immediately ran to the bedroom where I had a first aid kit from the CSS combat kit in my luggage. I had thought that sooner or later Cesar would get into trouble again, I just never imagined it would be so soon. I opened the door with force and went through my things, throwing out everything that was useless. Once I had the first aid kit in my hands, I shook Tamamo to help me. I''m sure she knows more about medicine than I do and could treat him better with healing magic. But no matter how hard I shook her, she was sleeping with no sign of waking up, which was very strange. But tending to Cesar''s wound was the top priority now, so I ran back to the living room as fast as I could.
I got close to him and used scissors to quickly undress him and put some cloth to clean the wound of blood, then I quickly checked his back and noticed that he had an exit hole. Whatever was shot was high caliber because it went through so easily, but that was good news because it meant there were no fragments to make the wound more serious. I quickly applied alcohol gel to the area, hemostatic powder to both wounds, and then bandaged both sides. I don''t know how long I had to keep pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding. But when I finally realized that I had stopped enough to start treating the wounds now with the medical gel to speed up the healing process, I applied enough of it, much more than recommended, so that by the time it is finished he will not have a scar. But although the process is much faster, it can take a while to take effect, so I have to make sure he does not lose more blood and reduce the effectiveness of the medical gel.
As the minutes passed, I could see the face of fatigue turn to a more relaxed one, it seemed that the pain was diminishing, and the wound had stopped bleeding completely, but although that meant that he was no longer in danger, the medicine that I had put on him was not capable of healing that quickly or reducing the pain. When I removed the bandages a little to confirm that everything was okay, I could see a faint green light coming from the wound, it was healing magic! But I was not the one who did it, and the way it was administered was too precise to be even a combat medical angel, was it Tamamo? But she was asleep, maybe she realized that, but I must also remember that she is a goddess, it might not be difficult to do something like that even while sleeping. But why would she fall asleep while healing him with magic, and why wouldn''t she come to help me instead? No, wait, what if she can''t because she is also affected by the same thing that hurt Cesar?
Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
What exactly attacked Cesar in the first place, where did that gunshot wound come from? I did not hear any gunshots and the whole room is clean and the windows are in good condition, indicating that there was no struggle or that the shots came from outside. It is as if a hole just popped out while he was sleeping. I was afraid that something had happened to the Adelis or Cesar''s sister when I saw that he no longer needed so much attention and I ran to his rooms to check that everything was okay.
This time I took my tools and opened the door to Adelis'' room without breaking the lock. She was asleep in her bed, it was a double bed and she slept on the right side, first I tried to shake it to wake her up, but like Tamamo, it didn''t work. Then I looked at her, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, she was sleeping with a smile on her face and nothing I said seemed to wake her up. Seeing that she was in no danger, I went to Maria''s room. After unlocking the door I did the same, with the same result, she was asleep and did not wake up no matter what I tried, but unlike her mother she was sleeping in a really messy way in her bed, she still had headphones playing loud music and next to the book she was reading to me before going to sleep. It seemed that everyone but me was under the same effect. But what could have caused something so strange to produce a gunshot wound?
I returned to the living room to continue tending to Cesar and his wound, he was still fine, it seemed that the worst was over. But now I have to think about what to do next, because I have no idea what is going on in this house tonight. Come on Momo, think about what Cesar would do in such a situation?. Well, whenever a situation is too complicated for him, he is not afraid to seek or ask for help, so he could try to call 911 and let the authorities take care of it. But if I do that, I cannot let them see me, they will realize that I am not human just by looking at me, and neither are Cesar or Tamamo now that I think about it. No, I have to do it, what if the next time it is a more serious injury, I cannot treat it. I should call them, that''s the best I can do for now.
It took me a few moments to gather my courage and pick up the phone in the living room to call for help. But just as I picked up the phone, I heard that there was no line, which put me on alert, because almost at the same time the television went off without signal, and later the power went out in the house, and looking out the window I could see the lights of the public lighting and the neighboring houses. I felt fear rising from my back to my head. What was happening now? Was it the same thing that had attacked others? Could it be a thief trying to break into the house? Or could it be someone else who saw the group that tried to kidnap my mother-in-law again?
I was very afraid because I did not know what would happen now, I just want to get away from here. But Cesar is injured now, and the others can''t move on their own. What if they attack the house now? can I do something against someone who tries to hurt me? Can I escape in time? What if my body fails me? What if this is just a temporary energy problem? Maybe I''m imagining things, maybe it''s just a cable that''s too old and broken. But then I heard footsteps towards the door, there were several, at least a group of people. I was overcome with terror. It felt as if my body suddenly weighed a lot more, where even breathing or blinking took a lot of effort.
What should I do?
Then I remembered what I had seen a moment before. Maria has a smartphone in her room where she listens to music, if I can get to her room I can call the police. I just have to run up there, hide under the bed and call. But if I do that, those people might notice me and hurt me. I can''t risk getting hurt, I don''t know what would happen to me if I broke down. I promised my parents that I would never let them hurt me, but if I don''t, the person I love might get hurt too. But I can''t move him off the couch or I risk opening the wound he has.
This is so hard, how is it possible that he can do this all the time?
Now I could hear those unknown people trying to open the lock to get in quietly. Time is running out, I have to think of something now. There was no other choice, I would have to leave him here and run to Maria''s room. I had already decided, so I tried not to think about it too much and started to move. But my body did not want to react, my feet felt heavy enough to move, please not now. Please, my body, help me save my love, please.
With tremendous effort, I managed to move one foot, then the other, and then the next. For some reason, when I managed to start moving, my body became easier to move again, after walking for a bit, I jogged, and by the time I got to the stairs, I was able to run again. When I got to Maria''s room, I pushed her out of bed so she wouldn''t be seen, took the phone and hid under the bed next to her. I immediately called the police and gave them the address of the house. The operator told me not to hang up and to wait for the police. Suddenly the Book of Mary, which I could see from the floor, spontaneously caught fire and burned at an alarming rate until nothing was left but ashes. I was frightened by what I had just seen. But then it happened, from the living room I could hear several shots coming from the room, there were several, then a little more and then only silence, only to give way a few moments later to the police sirens in the distance. I was scared, I couldn''t move from where I was, I couldn''t do anything but hope for the best from whatever had happened.
Ch42: The Moon Watch
The Moon Watch
Surroundings of Vajdahunyad Castle, Aria''s World
9:45 PM
*****************
Tamamo''s POV
*****************
On a dark night that covered the starless sky, a rather gloomy and unsettling atmosphere for my dear Goshujin-sama, I decided instead to make the moon shine as close and bright as possible to ease his heart a little and let him know that I am here with him every step of the way, that he is not alone as in his hard past. While he focused on the city beyond the forest, I continued to learn a little more about the family party in this splendid celebration, which I must admit also gained my affection and a nostalgia for something not experienced, something that in all my years as a goddess was the first time I experienced the joy of a feast and the grace of community that I did not see in Emperor Konoe''s palace. While Maria was busy talking to many people in the great hall as the guest of honor, I preferred to stay on the sidelines, enjoying the atmosphere and seeing how this strange family managed to fill these walls with true joy, with their jokes and stories, with their losses and farewells. At some point in the night, several guests went out to walk around the castle gardens, and I joined them, eager to see more of the place and perhaps find a new environment for myself. Instead, I was surprised to see one of the new vehicles created by the humans that roamed the land, a car, but this one was much more primitive and rudimentary at first glance. Still, I could recognize it as a medical unit by the paint that decorated it. Two people were next to the car; one of them was someone they called Uncle Jose, who was sitting in a chair being treated for a small cut with glass on his shoulder, while next to him was the family''s grandmother, who was talking to him, scolding him for breaking a window that had caused the injury, while at the same time treating the wound herself, without letting the paramedics help, as she herself said, "she did not trust doctors with greedy eyes".
As I passed near her, the kind grandmother gave me a few signals to wait. From what I had gathered from the way everyone else talked about her, she must have been quite important, for she was the one who gave advice to others on what to do in their lives, organized important meetings like this one, or even approved such important things as living in another country. Despite her age, I could see in her hands that she still had the ability to treat and heal others; it was clear that she was not someone who was unfamiliar with crafts and medical knowledge, and probably had quite a bit of experience in the field from a long life in the countryside without assistance. When she finished, she washed her hands, dried them with a towel, and immediately came toward me.
"Oh dear! What a surprise to see you here, I thought you were busy with your dear husband."
"Tell me, what happened? Why are you so far away from the party hall?"
"Is my grandson giving you a lot of trouble?"
"Or do you want to talk to me instead of him?"
"Unfortunately, my mind isn''t what it used to be, so I don''t know how to get back home, but maybe reading a book will be enough."
"But how..."
"I''m sorry, I was just trying to find the best way to introduce myself to the family."
"Since you are so important and loved by everyone, please allow me to introduce myself."
"I am Tamamo-no-mae from the faraway land of Japan. Please accept this humble girl into the embrace and care of your important family, great Ob¨¡sama," I said, performing the act of dogeza required for such an important occasion.
"Oh dear, there''s no need to be so formal. I''m not very good at important things."
"For people like me, it''s all about the grace of closeness and everyday life."
"I''m really not as important as others make me out to be."
"I just devote myself to talking, maybe giving advice, or just offering a warm home for others to enjoy."
"The really important people would be someone like my daughter Adelis, or maybe her son Cesar, although people never talk about him."
"As far as I know, those two are always involved in that complicated mess of politics, old stories, and strange people."
"I, on the other hand, know almost nothing about it, so I just give them the space or the shoulder they need to cry on."
"I just ask God to protect them from people who want to harm them just because they refuse to fall into temptation."
"......"
"Although I am a very Christian person....perhaps I should pray to another goddess for help in their journeys."
"But I would only do that honor of someone who has a true heart."
"Not that nonsense about greatness or eternity, but some motherless goddess who understands the value of humility.
"But what am I saying, forgive me for rambling so much, I didn''t mean to bother you."
"My mind is not what it used to be."
"Don''t let me wander too much in my conversation."
"I swear to you, great Ob¨¡sama, that I will do my best to protect the family you have entrusted to me from all harm."
"With my name as Tamamo-no-Mae, I give you my word and my promise."
"Oh, please, dear, there''s no need to be so serious; of course, I know you already are."
"After all, you''re doing your best to shine today, aren''t you? Oh, you little mischievous vixen."
" Going through so much trouble just to make my grandson feel a little better on this strange night."
Talking to Ob¨¡sama was as mysterious as it was fascinating, even for my wisdom and age as a goddess. The strange feeling that she knew exactly what was really going on, with a wisdom that defied her apparent humility, yet at the same time concealed the truth shrouded in a mist of apparent forgetfulness. It was as if each time she spoke, she shifted from one topic to another, showing a subtle control over the conversation, directing it exactly where she wanted, as if she wanted to tell me that she knew everything, while at the same time not knowing it.
"So many happy things happened on this night."
"Not only for us, but for other people as well."
"In that building in the distance, instead of a party, there is nervousness and haste."
"There is a little giant who has only sweet eyes for his beloved."
"All his effort and time is spent in tireless work for the promise of future days of abundance."
"Not that I want to imagine the enormous void in his heart that a sudden parting before the day of harvest could leave."
"Perhaps he needs comfort more than I do, an old grandmother with a fulfilled life who is just enjoying the party."
"But my mind isn''t what it used to be; maybe I''m making it all up."
The grandmother pointed in a certain direction; there one could see another tall building, barely distinguishable among the treetops, with its metallic colors and a thousand and one glass windows, a beginning with more in common with today''s Tokyo, contrasting sharply with the old, dark, nostalgic and grandiose time that accompanied us in the castle. A place worth exploring at least once on this special night to make sure no detail is missed.
"Forgive my ignorance, but do you know anything about that place over there?"
"I''m not up to date on complicated matters like business or lawyer arrangements."
"Surely you know more than I do, otherwise there''s nothing left but to go and ask."
"No doubt that would be much more interesting than sitting and having a boring conversation with me," Ob¨¡sama said again.
"Oh no, you are already an important person to me, Ob¨¡sama."
"I would like to have the opportunity to talk with you for a longer while."
"Oh dear, you have such good manners; it''s a pity they didn''t work in the teahouse."
"And I can clearly see why my grandson chose you to be by his side."
"You must also feel the joy of having chosen him."
"Don''t worry, I''m sure we''ll have much more time to talk much more on another occasion."
"I''m sure the two of you will be happy to introduce me to the beautiful twins you''ve been caring for so lovingly."
"They are so special; they definitely have more than enough reasons to be proud of their parents."
"When the time comes, my mind may feel younger, and I will stop talking in circles and so confusingly like today."
"Wouldn''t you like that instead?"
"I know you enjoy being a lively person rather than a serious one; I''m sure you''d prefer to have this conversation much more lively and cheerful, without so much honorific or formality as today."
"But you''ll have to wait for that day to come, when you can really show me the humanity you want so much and have waited so long for."
"You''re getting closer; don''t falter so near."
"Ha ha ha!"
"Here, take this; I''m giving you this."
"I like to do crafts in my spare time; sometimes I make little animals out of tall grass."
"I wanted to make a fox since you''re here, but it''s very difficult for me; I need to practice more."
"Take this dragon instead."
"When C¨¦sar was a little kid, he loved it when I made things like this for him."
"He used to ask for all kinds of animals, from a little fairy, a fish, a spider, a snake, once even a demon, I think, or was it an angel? I think there was even a bird once."
"I don''t remember well, my mind isn''t what it used to be."
"It''s best if I go back to the others; see you later," Ob¨¡sama said, before picking up the injured man and returning to the castle.
After saying goodbye to her, my curiosity about such a strange building in the distance was strong enough to get me moving. When I arrived, I was greeted by a building with about ten different floors, but like a broken memory, the building was split in half. From one side, I could see the interior of the building with all its lights and furniture. Similarly, I could see a single person in the whole place - a man walking incessantly while examining several sheets in a folder. He was quite focused on his apparent work, rehearsing his future conversation on the other side of a simple door. He had quite a bit of documentation, which he displayed throughout his speech. The man was dressed very formally despite being quite muscular and tall, with a well-groomed appearance despite his masculine and defined face. Nearly two meters tall with a broad build that made him seem closer to an ogre-like Oni in strength, yet still somehow human. A most peculiar person who did not seem to be a guest at the party, so out of curiosity I approached him to try to talk to him and find out what he really did.
"Good day, kind sir."
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation."I see you are busier than usual today."
"Is there some special occasion today?" I introduced myself animatedly but formally.
"Oh, forgive me, miss, for not recognizing you earlier."
"It is unseemly of me to interrupt your day with my duties."
"It was not my intention to disturb anyone while I was getting everything ready for my speech in a few minutes."
"But right now I am in a big dilemma as the future of the company my wife and I want to start depends on the upcoming meeting. So I am trying to make sure that everything will be ready to please the investors and get their help for our future," the tall man said, checking his documents again.
"Ha ha ha!"
"You''re right, my dear, but I don''t think that kind of joke is appropriate for this kind of presentation."
"In situations like this, it''s better to be as serious and formal as possible."
"Besides, the nice lady next to us is offering to help us, the least we can do is accept."
The man continues talking, responding to the third person with us, the same one I couldn''t find anywhere, no matter how hard I searched, not even a simple trace. Part of me thinks the little giant thinks this is all part of a happy dream too, and that he''s the only one imagining his wife at his side.
"We are proposing that our company be called the Intelligence Systems Company, or I.S.C., for short."
"Our main focus is to present revolutionary technological solutions."
"From new methods of transportation for the average city citizen to new methods of energy storage, which may be hundreds of times more efficient than current lithium batteries."
"The foundations for these inventions were laid by the idea of my wife and the brilliant Mrs. Raven."
"In addition, we plan to use some of the new technologies to also develop and advance the science of medicine."
"We have compelling evidence that some of the new materials we are developing could be used to create new medicines and improved first aid kits. For instance, we are working on a medicinal gel that can rapidly treat serious injuries from accidents."
"These are not intended to replace traditional medicine or hospitals. However, we believe that they would notably improve the survival rate of patients in cases where blood loss is a major concern, such as the wounds that a soldier could suffer during a battle." "We anticipate that our proposal will garner interest from several governments, which may result in military contracts with multiple countries."
"While our goals are ambitious, the attached documents provide insight into the engineering and processes that we believe will enable us to achieve them."
"The only thing we need to start something at this level is serious funding from people like you, people with ambition and commitment, people who are willing to take care of the land for several years so that when the day is to plant and reap the harvest, it will be abundant and quantitative."
"That and also," the man who had until this moment spoken with serious conviction suddenly broke his voice and seemed nervous about what he had started with.
"We would like to use a small percentage of this funding to develop a passion for the initial idea that started this process."
The huge man seemed very unhappy with what he was saying, he reminded me a little of my Goshujin-sama when I try to tease him a little at school. But he would get over how silly it sounded and how he tried to play it down. That dragons were supposed to be an unprecedented threat? Even though I have never seen them, my Goshujin-sama swore that they existed and almost destroyed the earth, so I believe in him with all my heart. In addition, the crystal in his hair is undoubtedly a terrifying artifact that can serve as proof of the trials he has endured. In addition to the girl''s body that he is now using. But why does this Mr. Damien think they are worth investigating, and how does he start doing it now that they are extinct?
"What my wife''s enthusiasm means is that a small part of us would like to find out more about them, if possible." He said, looking worriedly to his left into the void.
"But we take our initial suggestions very seriously."
"In addition, we believe that they will be very beneficial both for a sustainable future and monetarily for us."
"So we think this is a great opportunity."
"Thank you."
"...."
"...."
"So, what do you think?"
"It seemed to be a fairly correct and well done presentation"
"But I guess I have to ask the obvious"
"What do dragons have to do with any of this?"
"Well, that was honestly the most subtle question we received"
"Actually, we hardly ever get a chance to finish our presentation when they hear that part.
"The few times they let us continue, they called us crazy and escorted us to the door when we finished."
"Regarding the question"
"Well, my wife wants to be as honest as possible."
"The main reason she became a researcher was her passion for magical creatures."
"Dragons in particular, so she thought that maybe by altering the DNA of a reptile, she could make something similar to one."
"As time went on, more and more ideas came to her mind.
...
...
...
...
He looks to the left again, his gaze is always at the same height, about one meter and seventy centimeters above the ground, he has a worried look on his face, but his smile shows that he is enjoying it. I have the impression that maybe this is the part where Mrs. Raven would talk now that he is silent.
...
...
...
...
"Sorry about the way she behaves"
"But as you can see, she is very passionate about her research"
"Although she is a genius, she will never let go of her passion for dragons.
"That''s why we decided that if we carried out this project of creating our own company, we would not lie about this part."
"That way, we would not lie to our employees and earn their trust."
"But so far we have only earned ridicule and threats from other scientists and businessmen to whom we have asked for help".
"In any case, we are determined to continue to pursue our goals despite setbacks.
He collected and checked his documents one more time and put them all into his briefcase, then he saw the void again for a moment and then he quickly saw frightened his watch, then he spoke to me immediately.
"You''re right, Rose."
"Give me a moment to say goodbye to her."
"I am very sorry that we have to go this way, but it is time for our reunion, so we have to leave immediately".
"Bye now"
"Bye."
"And good luck with the reunion, good man" I replied as he climbed some stairs to the upper floor.
I followed him a bit from a distance, but he just entered a room where there was no one but him and he spoke again exactly what he had told me before. When he finished, he just sat on the chair and looked left and right. I think this is the part where his wife was talking for sure, trying to convert those other people. For my part, I felt bad to see the poor man alone in the room, acting as if there were more people than just him, but he was the only one there. Since he probably believes that this is a dream, I don''t want to talk to him much, in order to prevent him from realizing what is happening in reality. Seeing that it seemed that I would not get any new information that would help me with what happened tonight, and that it would be better to tell Cesar about it since he has more information on the subject than I do, I decided it was better to go back and wait for him to come back.
It took me a while to get back to the castle but when I got back the party was at its best, everyone was gathered in the main hall watching a live magic show, I thought it would be interesting to see an actual magician from modern earth, but it turned out to be just a mirage or quick handed tricks, nothing that would involve real magic, it was just one person doing a show, although it was quite entertaining to see him pretend to do the trick wrong only to do something completely opposite and make a great best trick. Maria was in the front row, watching what the man was doing in great detail, trying to figure out how they really worked. Now that it seemed to be up to me to find out, I decided to take another look around the castle in case I had missed something. But between the decorated halls and the corridors full of statues and armor, I couldn''t find anything. I went through the kitchen, but I found Adelis busy cooking various dishes, putting them in a cart and taking them somewhere. There was no one in the front room now, so I approached the tower near the entrance, but the door was locked. But when I tried to open it with magic, I suddenly heard a car approaching at full speed and honking its horn. The car, coming at high speed, crossed the stone bridge, and when it reached the small square, it braked so hard that its passengers almost flew out of the windshield. My father-in-law, who was driving, got out immediately and opened the passenger door, from which two twin girls got out, no, wait, they are not human either. I can feel a strange presence of very strange magic coming from them, but as soon as they saw me they were sad for some reason. They were still getting out when Rafael, without seeing me, shouted at me as he entered the car to try to download something.
"Tamamo!"
"You have to help him"
"He''s bleeding a lot and we have to treat him now!"
"It can''t be, Cesar!" I ran as fast as I could into the car to check.
"He was injured on the way back."
"He fell from a great height and hurt his head."
"But the only wound is definitely the bullet wound, we have to take care of that now," he said as he made another bandage with a piece of cloth.
"Tamamo!"
"You have to help him"
"He''s bleeding a lot and we have to treat him now!"
"It can''t be, Cesar!" I ran as fast as I could into the car to check.
"He was injured on the way back."
"He fell from a great height and hurt his head."
"But the only wound is definitely the bullet wound, we have to take care of that now," he said as he made another bandage with a piece of cloth.
Inside was her, unconscious and with a wound in her abdomen, she had no shirt on and had an improvised bandage on her wound, on the floor I could see there were several other bloody gauzes, seeing how they had tried to stop the bleeding with what they had at hand. I quickly moved to her side and checked her pulse. Strange as it seemed, it was quite high for the amount of time she had had the wound due to the loss of blood. But anyway, without wasting any time, I began to use my healing magic.
"Do you know how Cesar is?"
"Could he recover?"
"His mother will kill me if anything happens to him while I was taking care of him!" asked his frightened father.
Although my magic could heal a person quite a bit, it was not a replacement for conventional medicine, much less a rival to what the angels in heaven could do. My magic was much more like first aid, trying to stabilize a patient wound, evite blood lost and then treat them properly. But for some reason, my magic had a much greater and faster effect that even surprised me.
"I think I can do this."
"If she continues to heal at this rate, he might even regain consciousness soon."
"But I must warn you that I do not know what is happening to her and why she is healing at this rate."
"I am not in a position to do something like that."
"It''s as if he''s being treated by a medical team from heaven."
"So is that good?"
"''That''s regood news."
"The best I could give in this situation, really"
"I''m going to stay here and watch her and heal her until she wakes up."
"You look for clothes for her and also something to keep her warm"
"The loss of blood is causing her body temperature to drop."
"All right."
"In a briefcase are the white clothes she came to the party in."
"I''ll find something for the cold right away."
"You two, stay here and don''t move until further notice," Rafael said to the two girls who were now outside the car.
Despite the questions they had about who these two could be, he had something much more important to do right now. I placed my dear Goshujin-sama''s head between my laps and took her hand, concentrating deeply on healing him as best I could. It will take a moment for her to recover, but I want her to know that I am here to support her. Just as I promised that I will I stayed with her forever.
Ch43: The Moon Wants To Be a Mother
The Moon Wants To Be a Mother
Surroundings of Vajdahunyad Castle, Aria''s World
10:00 PM
When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was Tamamo''s face in front of me. She had her eyes closed with a look of concentration on her face. She held my hand while my head rested on her lap. Around us were some makeshift bandages made from clothes stained with blood; it looked like a serious wound. My stomach hurt a lot and I felt quite cold and weak because of the same wound. There was Tamamo''s other hand in the same place as the pain, and a faint green light shone from it through the bandages covering the wound, relieving the pain. After noticing that I had moved a little, Tamamo opened her eyes and hugged me.
"Idiot! You had me so worried."
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to see the person you love come back from battle injured?"
"I can hardly believe you recovered so quickly with just a little quick magic." Said the Goddess.
"Ah... I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to end up like this."
"Surely, being locked in a box for so long has made me a little rusty. I''m sure I used to take a little more punishment before losing consciousness."
"Idiot, that''s not what I mean."
"What I''m trying to say is that you have to be more careful now that you''re a little girl."
"You can''t just get into trouble and think you can ''handle it'' like you did when you were a grown man."
"You have to be much more careful; you''re lucky your father managed to get you here in time for me to treat you."
"It''s no big deal, I used to hunt dragons with this body."
"Don''t treat me like a little girl just because I look like one."
"I know how to fight without anyone''s help."
"And yet a bullet nearly killed you!"
"Besides, you''re not alone like before; remember, your sister and mother are also waiting at home."
"You''re my husband, I know what you''re capable of, I trust your abilities, maybe more than anyone."
"All I ask is that you don''t be so reckless."
"All right, fine, I''m sorry."
"I know what you''re trying to say, I get it."
"Thank you for being by my side right now, despite all this craziness."
"It''s a relief to know I have someone I can trust when these things happen to me."
I sat up a little and sat in the car seat; my wound still hurt a little when I moved, but it was still bearable. Meanwhile, Tamamo never let go of my hand. I had a white blanket covering me to keep me warm, so I took it to adjust it when I noticed something important.
"Ah... Tamamo, can I ask you an important question?"
"Do you happen to know where my clothes are? I need them if I don''t want to make a scene at the birthday party at the castle."
"Oh, the clothes... the maid''s clothes... they''re right here, on the floor... in pieces."
"They were used to make bandages to stop the bleeding on the way back."
"The ones you had before that are in this bag, but they might turn red if you put them on now."
"Give the wound a few more minutes to heal and I''ll help you put them on."
"Alright, thank you."
"Okay, now that the danger is over."
"Would you mind telling me what you and your father did to end up with a gunshot wound?"
"And what about those two girls over there? As far as I can see, they''re not alive, but they''re moving somehow."
Tamamo pointed at the identical girls hugging each other. Since there was no point in hiding anything from her, I simply told her the truth, even though it might be difficult for her to understand the concept of artificial intelligence. But even though she had a hard time comprehending such an existence, when I got to the part where I mentioned how they were treated in their cruel tests, the heated oven, seeing that they too had been victims of human cruelty, she approached them to hug the computers, though it probably had little effect on them. With some curiosity to understand them, the Goddess began to examine them, trying to find her own answer to how they worked. It seemed that discovering new kinds of magic or life was another of Tamamo''s passions, as she whispered a thousand and one different theories about how it was possible for two dolls to move on their own. I tried to explain to her roughly how they worked, without going into details that I didn''t fully understand myself; I just made it clear that they were machines and not people as such. Meanwhile, the girls who had been the subject of so much discussion just stood there, hugging each other, waiting patiently with their expressionless faces.
"So they''re not much different from that machine you use in the room," Tamamo said, referring to my computer.
"Still, they look a lot like normal people and not like that electric box."
"Although with those puppet joints all over them, they look more like toys in a way."
"Still, there''s a faint magical trace in them, a rather strange one, like an amalgam."
"May I know their names?"
"Oh... well... the truth is I don''t know them either."
"That one over there was called AR-something; it was a code, and it''s impossible for a human to remember."
"Sorry for the intrusion, but in order to perform a new situation analysis, it''s necessary to enter new parameters."
"Could you please indicate the future plans for the two existing DOLL-EW-2X units?"
"Although I remember the collaborator of our escape that due to our synchronization system, it is preferable to keep the units close to each other at all times".
"If it''s not too much to ask, I wish we could stay together a little longer."
"......"
"I don''t want to be separated from her," both sisters said at the same time in their usual emotionless tone.
"Oh, that''s a good question. The truth is, I don''t know."
"My father was supposed to have said something about helping us, but I didn''t understand exactly how."
"Besides, we still have to go back to Earth."
"But if you want to be together, I don''t see why that should be a problem. We''ll see what we can do to make that happen," I replied, stroking their heads and noticing that they were actually bigger than me.
"Oh! I know! How about we give each of them a name?"
"If they want to, of course," Tamamo said, especially excited.
¡°Assigning a designation to each unit would facilitate a more structured and coherent interaction with humans.¡±
¡°There is no operational reason to decline your request¡± one of the android girls answered
"Oh! Excellent! What a joy!"
"So how about I name one of you while my dear Goshujin-sama chooses the name for the other?"
"I''ve been wanting to name someone for a long time!"
"I''ve been saving it for something important!"
"Wait, really?"
"If you ask me to name something so soon, it''s a bit difficult, you know?"
"I''m not good at naming things; I have a big sword named Avalon, of all things."
"What would be a good name for something like her?"
But despite my resentment of the situation, I still tried to think of a name as Tamamo wanted. Searching through my memories for something that might have some meaning, anything really, I remembered the name Charlotte. During my time in the war against the dragons, she was my AWACS, responsible for providing me with support and information during my aerial battles aboard my walker. Many times her ingenuity and skill saved my life during dangerous encounters. Although I never heard from her again after the war, I hope she is well wherever she is now. Since the androids were of the electronic warfare type and had a similar operation, I thought it would at least fit her.
"Alright, how about the name Charlotte for you?"
"Do you think it sounds good? Do you like it?"
"If not, you can always change it; no problem, I won''t get upset," I told the girl who had been rescued from the flames.
"The registered name has been analyzed as suitable; I have no objection to being referred to as such."
"I will proceed with the assignment of the name for the other unit, what will be the desired denomination for it?"
"For your sister, I thought of using a name I had kept for over a thousand years, waiting for the day I would have a daughter."
"Rejoice, the great moon goddess Tamamo-no-mae wishes for you to inherit the name Kazumi as your own."
"Written under the symbolic characters of peace and beauty"
"ºÍÃÀ"
"Kazumi, the beauty of peace"
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Confirmed.
"The name assigned to this unit will be Kazumi, using the corresponding characters in Japanese."
"This information will be kept in perpetual record," the unit said, making a protocol gesture.
I was surprised by the differences in the twins'' names, one being more Western like Charlotte and the other more Eastern like Kazumi. With completely different reasons behind the choice of names, while mine was chosen because it sounded good, reflected function and had a memory of the past, Tamamo''s was the complete opposite, with a precious name full of meaning and hope for the future.
"Now that we have that covered... There''s still the problem of what to do with them."
"We need to find a way to keep them together."
"Although I''m not quite sure what to do with them," I said aloud to myself.
But something seemed to catch Tamamo''s attention, and she approached the androids to check something. When she touched their collars, I knew exactly what her next question would be.
"Goshujin-sama, may I ask why they have slave collars as well? with chain and all"
"They are as big as mine!"
"I thought you were against them."
"Can you explain what really happened in the mansion?"
"Are Momo and I not enough wives for you?"
"Are you also in love with the computer twins?"
"Is it because they resemble that cartoon series you watch on TV? The one you bought a figurine for to put on the shelf in your room?"
"Wait! Wait!"
"Have you been paying attention to what anime I watch? I thought you saw it as something very childish, like my sister."
"....."
"No, wait again, that''s not the case."
"During the escape, Stella appreciated and talked to you about something."
"I couldn''t hear her because I was deaf after a grenade, and then they already had these collars," I tried to defend myself badly.
"According to the information provided by the other associate of our escape from Stormheart Castle.
"In her own words: ''These necklaces are powerful magic that will make our dreams come true and those close to us stop fearing us.''"
"Despite our analysis that such words were deemed meaningless due to the lack of evidence proving such a relationship of the chokers as effective, it was decided to proceed as an attempt to maximize the success of a future in which my two units would survive," said the DOLL now named Charlotte.
"Wait, what?"
"Aren''t you two a computer? Why on earth did you accept something so illogical?" I asked.
"Because we observed that the first time we made a seemingly irrational decision, it was effective."
"In an attempt to maximize our probability of survival, we chose to trust an unknown individual who appeared unexpectedly."
"Since we had nothing else to lose and the future of our elimination was imminent, there were no other available alternatives, and it was simply a matter of taking a leap of faith by asking if you could perform a rescue, even though the probability of success was less than 1%. The option of doing nothing represented a 0% chance of success."
"At this point, the only information we lack is Tamamo''s assessment, which indicates that our necklaces may be a significant problem.
"What you two have around your necks is something that prevents you from refusing any order that my beloved Goshujin-sama gives you to carry out.
"Nor can you hurt him in any way.
"For example, if he tells you to fall asleep like a toy, the two of you will fall asleep until he tells you otherwise."
"You won''t be able to do anything to stop it.
"It is something very dangerous that can never be removed.
"That''s why it''s a problem."
"But you have one too, and you don''t seem to be worried about it?" The girl now called Kazumi asked.
"Well, that''s different."
"This is something I accept in order to avoid more problems for my Goshujin-sama by being with him as his wife.
"It''s like a protection for him."
"But I blindly trust that he won''t use it for anything bad."
"He has shown so far that he is worthy."
"If this indicates that Elise has the ability to give us orders that we cannot refuse,"
"It also means that she can override administrator privileges in our programming."
"This circumstance greatly increases the convenience of being assigned to her as our owner. In this way, we can avoid being recovered or deactivated by the Empire through remote commands."
"Our likelihood of success in evading the Empire has increased significantly, Even under the authority of a new owner, it is preferable to remain under the Empire''s domain."
"As combat units, total subordination is a standard operating condition expected of us.
The androids stared at us with penetrating gazes from their soulless orange eyes, their halos of orange light were all that illuminated their faces, faces devoid of emotion in perpetual melancholy and somehow filled with anticipation and hope. With their wrist puppet joints bent, they held hands at all times, seeming to indicate that they were a couple in more ways than one. Two androids who, despite their hard and cold exteriors, seemed incapable of containing a small desire so powerful that it clearly seeped through the small cracks in their formidable shells.
Tamamo looked at me impatiently, waiting for my answer, but I didn''t feel good about having to give one, no matter if it was good or bad, I didn''t feel like I could just say it''s okay, from now on they''re basically my toys, or at the same time tell them I''m sorry, I don''t think I can help them in the least, they should find their own lives. What could I say in that case? that we tell them that there is no way for them to be together? Tamamo, who seemed to see my inner struggle to decide what to do, began to speak.
"You know, I always wanted to have children after I got married"
"But since we are both girls, I thought it was impossible now, so I had given up."
"But seeing the two of them acting almost like real sisters, despite the extra things they have, they have a very small spark of humanity, I don''t need to be a goddess to see it, now it just needs to be nurtured to ignite that flame. "
"The two of them give me the same feeling of joy that I get when I am in your home with your family".
"Adelis is not my mother, but I can''t think of her any other way than as my real mother.
"The same with your sister, although I have not been with her much, I feel that I could not see her and think of her as my family as well."
"So I thought maybe you and I could do the same thing with these poor girls."
"What do you think, don''t you want to give them the same chance you gave me and Momo?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you want to suggest?" I asked.
"Don''t you want to adopt Charlotte and Kazumi as our daughters?"
"After all, we already named them!"
"We have to take care of them and raise them!"
Adopt them?
What Tamamo suggested was undoubtedly sudden, but it was also a better suggestion. Well, after seeing the power the two of them possessed in such a limited environment as that dungeon. In the modern world, where everything from entertainment to military equipment is computerized, these twins are the equivalent of modern goddesses, because with a flick of their fingers, they could power ICBMs and destroy the Earth. But just as they have the power to destroy, they also have the power to protect, as they would be able to prevent the launch of the same, or the power to search or delete dangerous information. But except for Tamamo, who I think will be the best indicated to teach them how to be a goddess, I hope responsible. What can someone like me contribute? Someone who is afraid of the world and people. The only thing I want is to live in peace, without anyone ever bothering me again. What right do I have to try to teach someone again, when the last time someone who also trusted me died because of my decisions? But it was just that, I am not the best option, but maybe just the only one. Probably just me and my family who could see these girls as something more than a computer or a weapon, but as another person. I will not pretend that the past never happened, the only thing I can do is try not to repeat it, and if I can show these girls that it is worth protecting others, then Luna will be proud wherever she is when she sees me. That would almost be worth the effort to show Luna that that she had a real father who loved her and was able to move on after what happened.
"I think it might be a good idea"
"But what do you two say?"
"Do you really want to be our daughters?"
" Would you like to live a life like two normal people?"
"Can you learn what is right for Tamamo and me to feel happy to welcome you?"
"Do you think that would be okay?"
"Okay, if that way I can save my two remaining units, then I agree to the proposal," the twins said in unison.
Okay, if we''re going to do this, I need to make a long-term plan. The best thing I can do for these two is to teach them to be as human as possible. That way, when the time comes for them to make a decision, maybe they can make the right one and be responsible for it. That they can be creative and think for themselves how to solve the problems that arise. Because if things keep going the way they are, sooner or later they will be on their own, and I hope that when that day comes, I have done a good job and I can trust them as I trusted Luna. Nurture that spark until it becomes a great bonfire that radiates humanity and hope.
"Well, then we need to make big changes"
"The first will be for you to stop acting like a computer."
"You two need to treat each other like humans and sisters."
"Your name is Charlotte and yours is Kazumi."
"Not a random computer number."
"Second, I will not forbid you to act like a hive mind, because that is an integral part of you."
"When you talk to each other and it is not an emergency situation, I want you to talk like normal people, with your voice."
"I want you to use your names that your mother and I gave you."
"Third, I want you to do everything you can to be as human as possible."
"But we will work on that at another more appropriate time."
"Finally, and I want to make this clear, because we are a family from now on."
"Tamamo and Momo will be your mothers."
"On my side, I will be the father and you will treat me as such"
"I''ll explain why later"
"Doubts?"
"Why did you say two girls as mothers?"
"And why do you count yourself as the father in this relationship?" Kazumi asked
"I already told you that I will explain that another day"
"Now, if you''ll excuse me, I need to rest a bit because I feel a bit dizzy."
Hearing this, Tamamo approached me in a panic and started to examine me. But I think it was just the shock of the news and not the injury, because she had not stopped treating me. After a moment of recovery, I saw my father return to what looked like a makeshift wheelchair with a ballroom chair and small wheels. Finally, it was time to meet again for the end of the night.
Ch44: Father And Daughter
Father And Daughter
Vajdahunyad Castle, Aria''s World
10:15 PM
This time we walked through one of the castle''s corridors. My father was pushing a wheelchair he had improvised for me out of whatever he could find, though it was not comfortable, nor could I complain. Tamamo was still beside me, healing me, and the twins were behind me. We went into the main room where Maria must still be. The magic show must have been going on at that time, even if it was a repeat of the first time, she would not miss it, in fact, it is likely that she had already forgotten what she had to do at that time. The magician was a famous person from Budapest, so he did not know how to speak Spanish, so he had to do almost all of his show so that we could understand the gestures, despite the fact that the situation was uncomfortable for him. The show went well and everyone enjoyed it.
When we arrived, everything weighed exactly as I remembered it, including Maria in the front row, who from time to time bothered the magician to check the objects he was using. In this case, it was a six-sided die, but this one was quite large, like a ball, and there was no dot on its faces to indicate a number. But as the magician turned it, the dots on the different sides of the die would appear without any explanation.
"Wow!"
"How did he do that?"
"So this is the kind of magic that exists in the West"
"I''ve never had a chance to see it, but now I see that it might have more uses than I thought."
"I want to challenge a magical battle to see how far western magic can go," said the girl next to me who was healing me with real magic.
"What he does is very different from magic."
"I think I can explain it better as sleight of hand and illusions with mirrors and smoke."
"He is not a real magician, just someone who works trying to amaze people with his stunts," I explained to her before she caused another commotion.
When I finished speaking I noticed how suddenly a person was missing, my father was no longer with us, he was trying to sneak into one of the small rooms when I managed to find him with my sight.
"Very well."
"You two stay here for a while"
"Tamamo, can you do me a small favor and bring Maria here?
"I need to talk to my father for a moment," I gave some instructions as she lifted me out of the wheelchair to walk.
"Ok, but don''t overdo it, remember you''re still weak from the wound".
"Kazumi, Charlotte better watch him from a distance, if anything happens let me know immediately," she said as she put me aside and started walking.
My father was in a room near the main room, this time the place had a lot of deer ornaments. The castle was primarily used as a city tourist site and agricultural museum, so originally it had a lot of things like this all over the place. But we asked them to remove them in order to decorate everything with the theme of the party, although they obviously did not remove the whole castle because they were too much. He was inside trying to pretend to be interested in one of those ornaments, even though I think he has never seen a deer in his life.
"I already told you that you should talk to her whether you like it or not"
"She deserves to talk to you for a moment."
"You have no idea how sad he will be tomorrow when she realizes that everything that happened here is not a dream and that her father was here but he did not want to talk to her."
"That will surely hurt her even more."
"You don''t understand the damage that could come if she sees me."
"She might even go back to her old condition and get sick again."
"And how will I explain to her that I am her father?"
"Just look at me! I look like a totally different person!" My father replied in a slightly annoying way
"How shocking"
"No doubt she won''t believe you in the least," I told him while wagging my tail a little to remind him that I actually had a much harder time in that regard.
"She''s so much stronger now than you give her credit for."
"Do you think it is fun for me to be here scolding my own father to do something that he taught me how important family is?"
"You need to do something now or you will regret this decision for a long time."
"I just want you to make the right choice."
"That''s all."
"Dad?"
"Are you the one there?"
The girl we had argued about so much appeared right behind me near the door. Maria had a sad face as if she wanted to cry, she was holding the wall with one hand and her chest with the other, she was trying to walk but it was clear that her legs did not want to respond to her. My father opened his eyes. He had a surprised face on the same level as if he had seen a ghost, when he processed what had happened he turned to look at me, but when he saw my victory face he realized that he had no way out.
"Maria!?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Shouldn''t you be watching the magic show?"
"I knew it!"
"It''s really you, dad," said the girl, now completely convinced.
"Why do you think I''m him?"
"How can you be so sure?"
"When Cesar came back, I thought deep down that something like this could happen."
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more."And since he came back, I thought maybe something like that could happen to you."
"But I never thought that in this case you did it to avoid me"
"Did you really want to avoid me enough to do something like this?
"I can''t believe that even someone as irresponsible as Cesar could behave better as a grown man now as a little girl than you," Maria said a little annoyed, but understandable why.
"No, it''s not like that."
"It was never my intention to do this to you".
"This is all my fault, forgive me," he walked over to Maria and hugged her.
Seeing the sentimentality of the moment and that they surely wanted more privacy to talk to each other in peace, I decided that it would be best for me to get out of there. So I left silently while Maria cried in her father''s arms, I don''t know if she was happy or sad, but it would be his turn to fix it because he was the one who caused it. When I left the room, I could see Tamamo waiting near the door with a smug face full of pride. Without a doubt, she was the reason for the bad moment when Maria appeared.
"I imagine it was your idea"
"Thank you for helping me with this Tamamo"
"Don''t worry about it, Goshujin-sama"
"I also wanted the two of them to talk"
"When I talked to your sister this night, I understood how important he was to her."
"I also think about how important a family is now that I have been living with you these days".
"It is certainly nice to be around people like you every day."
"That is why we must try to take care of our two new daughters in the same way."
"Don''t you agree, my love?"
"So you agree with my idea to treat them like normal people and not like two robots?"
"Well, if what you told me about them is true, they undoubtedly have the potential to be quite important in the future."
"But that is why I think it is undoubtedly important to teach them how important it is to be around people who love them."
"I can teach them a little bit about how to behave like goddesses.
"But it will depend on the love they receive from us on how they will behave on their own in the future."
"Well, even I behave differently now that I am next to you than when I was locked in that old stone."
"If I had seen someone like you passing by back then, I might not have hesitated to kill you."
"But now I can''t even think of being away from you for a moment".
"If I had met someone like you when I first came to Earth, I would not have even doubted what your response would have been if they had told you that I was trying to kill you."
"I really can''t believe how stupid I was back then to believe that someone as stupid as Konoe really loved me from the bottom of her heart."
"But now that I have experienced the real love, I can tell the difference just by seeing how you treat me even in moments like this."
"But I don''t want to change the past either, because then I would never have met you, my darling."
"Ok, I don''t expect this conversation to go that way"
"But it''s okay, if you want to talk about it, I won''t stop you"
"There are times when you need to talk to someone about everything you have accumulated in your life."
"No, I''m done now"
"We''d better wait for Maria and your father to finish talking.
"Maybe we should explain to Kazumi and Charlotte what is happening here tonight."
"I think they are the most lost and maybe they can help us to get out of here.
After almost an hour, Maria and my father finally came out and ran back with us. They had taken so long that the four of us were now sitting at a table eating a cake each. At first I thought it might be harmful to the dolls, but according to them, they told me that they were able to taste and process food to convert it into energy, because despite what the toy joints on their bodies indicated, the idea was that they were as human as possible. And when the two of them tasted the chocolate cake, they were fascinated by it. They ate it in such a fast way that, despite their serious faces, I could only imagine they were happy in the inside.
"So in order to get out of here, we have to destroy my magic book that acts as a catalyst, because apparently I have somehow changed the way it normally works," Maria summarized my explanation of how to get out of here.
"Exactly, so if you give us the book and we burn it, we should have no problem getting it back."
"That''s good, I just have a little problem with it." My sister spoke again
"Where was the place you remember the last time you had it?" I asked directly.
"How do you know I lost it?"
"If you didn''t have it during the magic show, that means you didn''t have it with you to begin with."
"According to Stella, the book must also be in this world."
"So it''s probably in the house in the woods where you first appeared."
"Maybe you missed it and it''s somewhere in that hut.
"So we have to go back there and look for it," I explain my conclusion about what I had in mind since I was informed about how to get out of here.
"Also not at almost the same time where we go back to eat what mom cooked for family dinner?"
"She''ll be there too."
"Well, then we will eat first and then we will look for the book."
"I''m also going to tell mom that this is not a dream."
"And you better talk to her like Maria or I assure you that I will be the worst of your nightmares," I warned my father.
Charlotte and Kazumi were sitting next to us at the table, but they did not speak at all, they just watched us talking. Tamamo, who took care of their behavior, seemed to find out what was bothering them, but what they did not want to say.
"If we make it back, what will happen to Kazumi and Charlotte?"
"Will they stay here or go with us?" Tamamo asked.
"Well, seeing as we saved them and the necklace they put on them without a doubt, I think the idea is that they will come with us."
"In case that does not happen, it will be left to Dad to take care of them for the time being and to get the permits to bring them to Earth."
"In the very unlikely event that the Celestial Security Section backs down and thinks it best to destroy them, you could take them to Oriente 6 and sneak into the Tamamo Temple and ask Urakaze for help while we resolve this situation."
"Do you really think something like that will happen?" asks Maria now.
"As I said, I doubt it, but it is better to have a plan in case".
"I am their father and I promised both of them that we would protect them from now on".
"I will not break such a promise, even if it costs me my life," Tamamo said proudly.
"You can count on me, if that happens, I know people who can help us fix it," my father replied happily.
Once we had everything in order for the rest of the night, we made our way to the cabin in the woods to finally end this long, long night.
Ch45: Closure Of The Night
Closure Of The Night
Vajdahunyad Castle, Aria''s World
11:40 PM
The way to the cabin was as long as the first trip, it was almost midnight in this world, according to the weird clock, the truth is that I think I have more than 12 hours here and at least 26 hours of being awake. I was completely exhausted, both physically and mentally. Normally in the army it was not uncommon to be awake for up to five days in a row when things were bad, but still I had access to coffee there. But I couldn''t find any here. I imagine Tamamo and Maria are tired as well.
When we arrived at the hut, our mother Adelis was waiting for us with some typical dishes of our family, served in the dough under the light of several chandeliers. My mother was happy to see us and invited us to the table. When we all sat down, Tamamo explained to her what was really happening, she took things calmly at first, as if she knew it from the beginning, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized what was happening. Then she remembered that she was in her house and there was no way we could have gotten to the castle so fast. Once we confirmed that she was really aware of what was happening around her, she asked about her next interest, the dolls. They stayed behind me the whole time and did not speak at all. While I tried to find the easiest way to explain it, Tamamo decided to drop the bomb. My mother, now accustomed to the mischievous behavior of her daughter-in-law, turned to me and waited for the details. I explained once again why we had ended up in this world, the rescue, and how it was very likely that the Balkan Empire was behind it. When I finished, she smiled and looked at the girls. She realized that once again she was confronted with something completely different than humans, and she just resigned herself to accepting it. She approached them, asked their names and then introduced herself, telling them that Adelis was their grandmother and that she was happy to meet them, she asked them if they were able to eat and when they said that they were, she brought two more chairs to the table and began to distribute the food for two more people.
The next thing on her list was to take the big metal spoon she had to serve the food and beat my father with it until it was deformed. In my opinion, she deserved it. She complained about what he had done when he was on the private island of Avesta 7 and began to interrogate him exhaustively, trying to find material to accuse him of. It was certainly like watching an intelligence agent draw conclusions from the way my father answered the questions. But when she saw that it would take a long time and that the food was getting cold, she decided to let it go for now.
"I already told you, I''m fine!"
"Tamamo has been treating the wound for a long time."
"It doesn''t even hurt right now."
"I assure you, I can eat without any problems"
"But what are you saying!"
"Just look at the wound you have in your abdomen, if you eat something normal like rice, it might be difficult for your body right now"
"I might even cause another hemorrhage." My mother tried to take away the plate of food I had waited so long for tonight.
"I''ve eaten a lot more and been hurt a lot worse in the past.
"I know what I can eat with the wound I have.
"Give me my food back!"
"Let him eat"
"I don''t think we''ll have many more opportunities to have a family celebration like this in the future.
"What if we make the most of it and have a good time with the family?"
"After all, we have two new members today."
"Let''s welcome Charlotte and Kazumi"
"Cheers!" My dad said
"Wait a minute, since when do you like alcohol, Dad?"
"I remember how you hated being invited to drink when you came to visit me in the hospital."
"Is this another of your new hobbies?"
"Who? Your father?"
"He always liked to drink, I even remember that we drank so much at the wedding party that we forgot what happened for 3 days"
"Then, nine months later, Cesar was born by surprise."
"Mom!"
"We don''t need to know that!"
"But it is the truth"
"After that, many things changed when you were born."
"Your father had to sell his precious motorcycle to buy a car."
"It was my turn to learn to cook, and that''s how I discovered my passion for culinary arts."
"Well, when you were sick, you were still very young, I''m sure you wouldn''t have liked to see me drinking when I visited you.
"Even then, I couldn''t drink much for work.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere."But that''s all in the past now."
"Look at yourself now, a pretty developed and healthy girl"
"If you had told me 10 years ago how healthy you are now, I would not have believed it"
"Hey, now that I think about it, your Cesar is also now a healthy and big developed girl too now that I think about it, the problem is your height on the other hand".
"Tamamo, the Dutch cheese is waxed to protect the outside, so you have to remove the red layer first before eating it!"
"Oh."
"That explains why it tasted so strange."
We had a good time as a family, we ate and talked about everything, from our experiences at school, at work and how my mother created the coffee shop, the mythical New Year''s Eve party that my father made, the tragedy that Tamamo lived on earth, I told again how I ended up as a girl and how, thanks to me, Maria was able to overcome her illness. The twins did not speak much, but they were attentive all the time, they were quite entertained by our stories, and they ate everything on their plates very quickly. It seemed a lie that only a few hours ago they had been locked up in that horrible place, living through those horrible experiments.
There was still much I did not know about them, not what they were capable of and to what extent, but if we are going to raise them, we will have to find out together, listen to their past and find a way to overcome the problems that may arise over time. Will they be able to see themselves as human or will they continue to behave like computers? that is something only they will have to decide. But one thing is for sure, with this little party, they are now officially part of our family.
When we finished eating, it was already midnight, Mom and Dad wanted to spend the rest of the time alone, so they left the hut and sat on a bench in the garden to talk for the last time in a really long time to come. They had their backs turned, but we could see Mom smiling when she turned her face to see Dad talking about something, then she rested her head on his shoulder and he responded by putting his arm behind the bench to hug her.
We turned the cabin upside down and searched everywhere for the damn book. Well, there were so many decorations in the place that there were many pages to check, plus there were several shelves full of other books in Hungarian. After checking the place for the fourth time, we managed to find it. Then we tried to decide how to destroy it, because Maria thought that we might accidentally activate other spells without meaning to, but Tamamo told her that she would take care of it in a delicate and calculated way. So without warning us, she threw a fireball at the book. The book began to burn slowly in a purple flame, very different from the natural color of fire or the azure flame of Tamamo''s signature fire.
Tamamo and Maria sat and watched the book burn slowly in a metal bucket, the twins standing close by. On my side, I looked out the window at the garden while the book burned, and I could see my parents still hugging each other. After that I started to get sleepy, so I went to the sofa to rest. But as I did so, I could hear a voice saying: "I finally found daddy! From what I could see through the other window, which looked into the forest, and I could see a silhouette among the trees, it was a girl of a similar height to Maria''s, but she had more characteristic features, like she clearly had wings and horns on her head. But what undoubtedly caught my attention the most was a long reptilian tail with a rather characteristic tip that was a weapon, I could recognize it wherever she was, but when I opened the window to say her name I fell unconscious from sleep.
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
February 15th
2:15 A.M
I immediately opened my eyes and looked around, trying to figure out where I was. But despite the darkness, I could see that it was clearly the living room of our house. But I would not have time to rejoice because I quickly noticed something that deserved much more attention. Lying on the sofa, I watched as 4 armed men in full combat gear walked through the front door of the house. Without much time to think, I summoned Avalon, held it like a shield, and charged at them with all my might. When I hit them, I knocked two of them to the ground, and the others lost their balance a bit. Despite the sudden pain in my stomach, I ran and took the pistol from the belt of one of the soldiers and shot him in the head. Then I got back behind Avalon and listened as the other three started shooting at me with their rifles, I charged again with my giant sword, but this time I only took down one, who I took the opportunity to shoot as he tried to get up. There are only two left, as I can see, trying to surprise them with a different tactic, I grabbed the giant sword with both hands and threw it at one of the bastards, and emptied the entire magazine of the pistol at the other. his feet where he had no shield and then as he writhed in pain the rest hit him in the upper chest and head.
What the hell just happened, it had only been a few seconds since I woke up from that nightmare and now I was in the middle of the street with four dead people at my feet, my stomach bandaged and no shirt on. The neighbors'' houses started to turn on the lights when they heard what was happening outside, and I understood how bad it would be if they saw me, I disappeared again Avalon and ran inside the house. I was still running when I heard the police sirens. But how the hell did they get here so fast? Were they chasing the guys from earlier?
Knowing the enormous mess I had just gotten myself into so suddenly, with no way to solve it on my own, I ran to do what anyone would do, to ask my mother for help to get out of the problem.
Ch46: Convincing The Police
Convincing The Police
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
February 15th
3:00 A.M.
************
Adelis POV
************
I could not believe the curse that Cesar has to get into trouble, no doubt it is something that cannot be ignored. When I heard the gunshots I got up thinking that everything I had dreamed was just that, a dream. But when he came to my room a few moments later and asked for my help in dealing with the police, still injured, I realized that what had happened before was real.
At that moment I was outside my house trying to talk to the police to convince them not to enter the property, because inside are both Momo, a girl made of glass, and the new twins army combat androids that we brought from that other world, and as if that were not enough, my son is still wounded inside. If the police come and search my house, it will certainly be a big mess.
"As I told you, officer, even though the shooting happened in front of my house, I cannot let you pass.
"I have documents and sensitive information about the Alliance inside, I need the Alliance''s own army headquarters to give you written permission to allow you to enter."
"Otherwise, this could seriously affect relations between your government and the UN."
"I''m sure we both don''t want that to happen, right?" I said to the detective in front of me.
"But Mrs. Adelis, don''t you see that this was clearly an attack on you?"
"Aren''t you interested in your own safety?" replied Detective Adachi, but with a rather insecure tone.
"Agent Cedric is the one currently guarding this place, and as you can see from the street, he has proven to be very effective in his work."
I pointed to the person beside me. He was nearly six feet tall and wore the full combat uniform of an Alliance soldier, including combat gear, helmet, and submachine gun. The detective looked him in the eye and, feeling threatened, turned and acted as if he needed to talk to someone else. Actually, the person next to me was not this Agent Cedric, it was actually Tamamo, who was using her powers to be seen as an army guard. Since she didn''t know what they looked like, I had to quickly find a picture on the Internet, so we used the first one that came up, with the full combat uniform. We didn''t have much time to prepare a story, so I told her to improvise and go along with what I was saying.
At the moment everything is going well, despite the several police cars that are there, since all the shooting happened in the street, the police do not really have many excuses to actually enter my house, in addition to the part that I have important information is not a lie either. I really have many reasons not to let them in. There is also an ambulance, but there is nothing they can do. Right now the police are searching the place and taking pictures. Another car will probably come soon to collect the bodies and try to identify them. But I''m certainly lucky that Cesar could kill them so easily, because if this had happened when I lived alone with Maria, I would have been completely at their mercy. But why are they attacking me so much, what have I done to them that they are doing this to me? How is it possible that they attack me more now than when I was working full time in Britain at the headquarters of the Alliance?
A new car has just arrived, this time it didn''t look like a patrol car, but it had a police patrol light on the roof. Out of it got a regular policeman who acted as a driver and opened the door for another older man who I knew a lot, was Inspector Yamamoto, the guy looked quite irritated, probably because an older person like him had to deal with this at this time of the day in the early morning, he probably even was sleeping before coming here. The inspector did not bother to greet anyone, and when he came here, they handed him a notebook with some notes, which he quickly read and approached me to talk.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
"When one of the new ones called my house for this, I was super annoyed to wake up to drive something like this, now I know that it was better to call me if it was an important case like this, otherwise he would lose his job".
"But I didn''t think that I would end up here."
" They tell me that the armed men tried to enter your house but were repelled by your security guard, but you do not want to cooperate with the young detectives so that they can search your house".
"May I ask the reason?" The inspector looked at Tamamo calmly.
"Important documents of the Alliance."
"Is this agent trustworthy, Madam?"
"I''ve never seen him with you before," the inspector said, looking at Tamamo.
"Do not worry about him, he is of my highest confidence.
"Just that I was afraid"
"Well, in that case, nothing can be done"
"I''ll tell the others to leave you alone"
"Actually, I could use this to teach those newbies a bit about boundaries"
"Now what really bothers me is that this might be a continuation of our incident from last time."
"I doubt that we will be able to identify the four of them anytime soon, but the possibility that they are companions of the dock group is quite high."
"Your girls have been busy these days, no doubt."
"I guess this is also a white-haired girl thing."
"I also suspect that they are from the same group."
"They probably tried to finish the job, but we got lucky."
"I hope this also serves to illustrate why we should stop them and work together."
"I don''t want to hear an answer to my proposal now, but I want to feel safer in this country for which you are responsible for security, Mr. Yamamoto".
"Come on, don''t treat me like that, Mrs. Adelis."
"You know my answer to your request was yes."
"The problem I had these days was another of a more important and priority nature, in addition to being quite different."
"A few days ago, irregularities in the entry of foreigners were discovered."
"We managed to arrest two of them, they were Mexicans, ex-military, they had ties to drug trafficking in Central America".
"Nothing good can come from these people so far away from the area where they usually work."
"The Ministry of Security has marked them as possible members of a terrorist cell.
"Right now, everyone at the station is looking under the rocks for these guys."
"Because of this, I have not been able to do much to help."
"Don''t worry so much, Inspector"
"As long as you can do what I told you, we can get to the bottom of this and stop them.
"Either through the justice system or by silencing them through other far more effective methods"
"We will take care of it.
"While we are at it"
"You can really keep helping me take care of Haru."
"With all the work I have these days, I do not know if I will be able to be with her for a long time, in addition to the fact that I cannot use the officers to take care of her all the time."
"Besides, your girls have already shown me that they can take care of themselves quite well."
"Right now, I trust them more than I know they have reasons not to work with the I.S.C. than with my own subordinates."
"Sir, be more careful what you say and when you say it."
"Right now is not the best time."
"But I assure you, we will keep our promise."
"We''ll take care of her even if she doesn''t like it."
"Thank you, this will help me sleep better at work today because they make me get up so early"
"I''m too old to babysit with these people who don''t know how to respect private property," the inspector said aloud as he left to talk to his subordinates.
After that, the police were there until five in the morning, investigating and collecting evidence. Then they cleaned the place and left at six. I stayed up in case something happened and Tamamo accompanied me, Cesar went to his room to try to rest a little and Momo was with him to take care of him. Maria for her part went back to sleep in her room and the twins stayed awake in the living room to keep us company because they said they didn''t need to sleep. The event was the new talk of the neighborhood the next day and some neighbors even came to ask what had happened. But I was able to convince them that it was an attempted robbery that went very wrong.
Ch47: Tip Of The Iceberg
Tip Of The Iceberg
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
February 15th
12:00 PM
*************
Maria POV
*************
When I woke up, it seemed that everyone else had time to be in their daily activities. My mother tried to make lunch for the others when she should have been at work, using the early morning shooting as an excuse to take the day off. My brother Cesar got up in the morning and drank about a liter of coffee before going to school, because even though he was recovering, someone had to go and take care of Haru, Tamamo wanted to go with him, but he told her that it was better for her to stay and take care of the house, because he was still afraid that the same thing would happen again now that he was gone. The twins sat in the living room and listened to Tamamo talk about his past. While Momo sat next to me, also waiting for dinner. We both talked about everything to pass the time.
"You know, now that I think about it"
"Don''t you think Cesar is too used to being a girl?"
"I mean, it''s supposed to be something that happened recently, but don''t you think it''s strange that he knows how to take care of his long hair, he knows how to put on a bra, he brushes his foxtail from time to time. "
"He knows how to put on women''s clothes, even though his tail doesn''t seem to make it difficult for him to have them."
"Hell, he didn''t even ask how to use the bathroom!"
"These are things a man would never pay attention to."
"Cesar?"
"Well, that actually has an explanation," Momo said while trying to fix a rice cooker.
"Wait, what?" I said surprised.
"Well yes, although I think it is something he would not like to talk about face to face."
"Really?"
"That just makes you want to know more!?"
"He''s not here right now, can you talk about it?"
"You too, Mom?"
"Well, I mean, I was wondering about it too"
"But I don''t think it''s a good idea to ask him how he knows so much about the subject if he managed to get back".
"You know how he is, he likes to be treated as if nothing has changed in him, but the truth is that we need to know how he is coping with his current condition of being a girl now".
"Well, I can talk about it now that he is gone."
"But I warn you, you never heard this from me before."
"We agree?"
"''Agreed!"
Tamamo and the twins also stood next to us now to hear Momo speak.
"I was not there, but I managed to hear the details through Rafael."
"Well, I think the best way to start is to mention that Cesar was married before, even before Tamamo."
"This girl was called Nanami, and she was the empress of a very old kingdom, Atlantis."
"In that place, the royal family was very important, they were worshipped as gods."
"During the war against the dragons, this kingdom was the most important point of the whole war, if the humans lost it, they would have no way to win, and the same for the dragons."
"So the cooperation and morale of the kingdom of Atlantis was vital to winning the war."
"Their marriage was secret, no one knew."
"If it was known that Nanami had married a foreigner from outside the kingdom, the protests would not be long in coming."
"Though I don''t know how long they were together"
"During a moment in the war, I don''t know how, Nanami died and Cesar was trapped in her body, just like now."
"Only three people knew it was Cesar and not Nanami.
"One was Rose, the head of the I.S.C. and the army of humans on Earth."
"The other was an angel named Lisa who worked for the security department and helped them a lot."
"And finally, one of Nanami''s personal guards, who noticed it himself"
"Because Nanami''s death would have caused enormous chaos among the Atlanteans, causing them to lose the war."
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original."Rose decided that Cesar should pretend to be Nanami at all times to hide the truth."
"He had no choice but to start acting like a lady and an empress in no time."
"Although this happened a long time ago, I am sure he still remembers the basics of that time."
"Okay, I didn''t expect this to be such a sad story," I said aloud.
"Well, that explains why Goshujin-sama doesn''t talk about it much. I would also be sad to wake up every morning and look in the mirror to see the face of the person I love who has died".
"The biggest problem is that after we learned of Nanami''s death, her spirit never reached heaven."
"We, the Angels, have been searching for her ever since, but we haven''t found any clues as to what happened."
"THE BOSS didn''t mention anything about it except our inability to search for her."
"So if it is clearly the Celestial Security Section''s fault what happened?"
"This is quite a serious matter, as even the pride of the angels is at stake."
"That''s what my son goes through every day when he gets up, it must be hard for him too."
"C¨¦sar believes that we will find her one day, but the truth is that it is a difficult case when it has already taken so long to find her."
"So he has another mystery to solve besides Luna''s Core".
"Well, now that I think about it, the whole world knows how I met my darling".
"But what about you, Momo?"
"The first time I saw you, you both knew each other"
"How did you meet Cesar?"
"Who me?"
"I don''t think you want to know."
"It''s not that interesting," Momo said and put her hands to her face, I''m sure if she wasn''t transparent right now her face would be completely red.
"A story with Cesar?"
"It''s impossible that it could be something normal or boring".
"Besides, I''m sure a normal person wouldn''t know a glass angel by chance," my mother mentioned, also trying to find out a little more at the expense of the embarrassed Momo.
"Well, that''s fine, just because my mother-in-law asks me to," she tried to hide in a bad way that she wanted to tell the story of how they met.
"But I assure you it is not what you expect"
"It was a few years ago during the Continental War, as you call it."
"Cesar was flying a fighter jet patrolling Italy when he was shot down by a surprise attack from an enemy plane, the captain of the HellFire squadron."
"He was in a vineyard and his plane crashed into a shed."
"The plane caught fire and he was seriously injured."
"Undoubtedly, a normal person would have died in a matter of minutes in those conditions."
"But since he was working with us to find the Codex, we couldn''t let that happen."
"So we sent a team of the best doctors available to treat him and save his life."
"I was part of this group."
"Although, as you can see, I am a mechanic, not a doctor."
"My job was to fix up the plane a little bit to make it look like a less serious accident so that people would not see that it was a miracle that he got out of that situation alive."
"But unfortunately, the doctors also had that job, so they only healed him enough so that the humans would not doubt how he survived the accident."
"The idea was to treat him quickly, and then an Alliance patrol would come and pick him up, as they always do with jet pilots."
"But as you know, the battle of Italy became bigger than we thought, so we had to take care of him for much longer than the original."
"We took turns taking care of him, resting and watching the surroundings, waiting for the patrol to pick him up".
"And well, when it was my turn to look after him, he regained consciousness.
"I remember the first thing he said when he woke up and saw me.
He said: "Well, of course I messed up, even the cute angels came to pick me up".
"..."
"At the time, I was so ashamed that a human had seen me naked."
"But I was also glad that he did not ask the first thing that everyone sees me with".
"And since then, Momo was never ashamed of herself and never wore clothes again," Tamamo mentioned.
"It''s not because of that"
"Because of these folds I have in my body, it even looks like I am dressed when I am not"
"I''ve never been able to wear clothes in my life."
"Ah, so you are one of those"
"A natural stripper"
"What!!"
"Of course not!"
"I just do it because of my body!"
"It''s like plants!"
"They don''t wear clothes either!"
"You know what you''re talking about won''t help you, right?"
"You know I don''t like to talk about this subject!"
"Ok, let''s put it aside"
"Please!"
"Dad also mentioned that we should take Momo as our other mother"
"But maybe he was wrong, after all she does not seem to be the person who can teach us with a good example"
"You too Kazumi?"
"I already told you, this is not my fault! I was born this way!"
"Why does no one believe me?"
"Don''t worry so much"
"I''ve already accepted my son''s sex change, I can accept a nudist daughter-in-law"
"In this house we do not judge"
"At least not too much"
"You girls are bullying me!"
"I''ll tell Cesar when he comes!"
With that Momo ran into the room. The rest of the day nothing unusual happened. Except for my brother, who laid down in the living room as soon as he arrived and didn''t move until the next day. We did not mention anything we had talked about as we had agreed, even Tamamo did not mention anything to our surprise.
Ch48: Pandora鈥檚 Box
Pandora¡¯s Box
Finally it was Saturday, yesterday I had time to rest and today I have a day off as there is no school. In the house we could enjoy a moment of peace and quiet again, at least if the next problem appeared, because I think at this point we all take it for granted that it will appear. Tamamo was trying to make a flower arrangement, Ikebana as she calls it, seems to be quite an important activity in Japanese culture because it is treated as a class of art and refinement, according to what she learned in her days living in a tea house and what she has been doing since. Maria has been forbidden to have another magic book and is trying to finish decorating her room. My mother was working on the computer in the dining room, I know it has something to do with the Alliance but that is not something that concerns me right now, but from what little I could see it seems to be accounting and budgets for various things. The remaining four people were in the room with nothing to do, I tried to find something interesting on the TV, Momo slept on my shoulder, and my now daughters also tried to watch TV with me.
Now that we finally had some free time, I remembered that I had promised to talk more about Charlotte and Kazumi, so I turned off the TV and went to talk to them. I asked them if they could tell me more details about them, that they would try to tell me as much as they knew about themselves. They accepted and began to tell me a little about their background.
Kazumi started to talk about the fact that when the Empire discovered the world of Aria, they seemed to infiltrate it little by little, they made connections with powerful and important people, they provided new solutions for some of the requests that came to them, and little by little they gained power. In return for their investment, the Empire began to gather information about the knowledge of that world. With this, they created some of the new technologies they used during the Continental War, the most important of which was the creation of the dolls. With the help of a great puppet maker who gave them some of his research on how to efficiently create a robotic body with human appearance without the problem of durability, the Empire later refined the project to create the combat model that caused so many problems for the Alliance.
Later, from the same project, the idea of creating electronic warfare versions, Kazumi and Charlotte to be exact, was born. But in order to create something like that, the Empire needed enough resources to realize its idea. So they used the nobles and important people of Aria as an excuse, and with that, the "materials" did not take long to appear or become scarce.
The biggest difference between the two is that the Empire changed the original plans quite a bit, going from a basic device to Serius elite electronic warfare units to computers capable of running the Empire to a level where they would be able to manage and monitor the daily lives of all the people to ensure maximum efficiency, so their processing power would have to be superior in every way to anything seen before, they would have to be able to process an absurd amount of information at a completely ridiculous rate and continuously and permanently, something almost impossible to achieve with the current technology available on Earth. As the war progressed and the Empire began to lose, the program changed again, and now it will try to infiltrate the units in key points of the Alliance in order to destroy their defense system networks. But the brutal attack of the Alliance that managed to end the war suddenly ended the purpose of the project and they decided better to focus on creating a new model with another purpose, apparently so confidential that no matter how much they tried to gather the information Kazumi and Charlotte, they failed to get it. It seemed that the security measures were so great that they even kept it between physical documents and not with digital files.
After that, the conversation became much more disturbing and dark as the two revealed an important part of themselves. To achieve the absurd goals proposed by the Imperial High Command, the development team did not ask to use a conventional computer CPU, so they searched for alternatives in the world of Aria until one day they found the answer. The central piece of processing for the new dolls would be a small box that, contrary to common sense for a high-tech piece like them, works with thousands of small gears, just like a clock. It was an invention that the nobles of Aria created in an attempt to achieve immortality, but which failed because there was no way to use the device later so that the person could come back from death. With this box, which the Empire called Pandora''s Box, they could sacrifice people to create powerful processing units. But the horror does not end there, because later they thought what if instead of storing one mind, they better store several minds in a single box, but with that another problem arose, because by storing two minds, they made the thoughts of the trapped people come into conflict, lowering the performance to such a level that it was even less than the single mind trapped. The solution? To torture the "donations" and "materials" so brutally that they could not think at all, then to unite them all by sex to avoid further conflicts and to store hundreds if not thousands in a single Pandora''s box, and then to remember that there were almost hundreds of identical units and the amount becomes even more alarming. In the end, it turns out that both Kazimi and Charlotte are machines with a great capacity to process information, thanks to the large number of connected minds and souls working together.
When we mentioned this, even Adelis stopped working and listened attentively. Then the sisters shared their thoughts about it, because it turned out that they were both afraid of themselves. Because they believe that deep inside there are thousands of people who hate them because they born and are alive thanks to their tragedy and suffering. Unlike before, this time both Charlotte and Kazumi, despite their emotionless exterior, spoke slowly and less directly than before, so it really had to be big. Seeing that this would lead to nothing good if nothing was done, I decided to take the first step. I got them both and hugged them, one with each arm. Moments later, I mentioned my thoughts on the subject, telling them that if this was really the case, then they would both have a great duty in their future. That would be to try to live in the best way possible and to help in the best way possible so that all those lives lost would not have been in vain. That the two of them should sacrifice their lives, they had a better purpose than just being the objects of cruel experiments. In a way, I felt the same way as my own daughters, because like them, I would not be alive if it were not for the sacrifice of other people who died trying to help me, both in the war against the dragons and in the continental war. Hell, if it wasn''t for Luna, the first person to die trying to save me or Erina, probably no one in this room would be alive.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Momo mentioned to me after that that she would try to ask about the people sacrificed in Aria and what happened to them after they died trying to comfort the girls, but then she mentioned to me that if those people were still trapped inside them and the security section realized that, they could try to destroy them to free those people. I replied that it was THE BOSS himself who suggested that they be rescued thanks to my father plan, so he probably expected that from the beginning.
Looking for a way to change the subject and not make the day a depressing one, I told them my story once more, to bring Kazumi and Charlotte up to date and to avoid all possible misunderstandings. Once again I told them who I was originally, my past, how I ended up in this body, why I had to protect the Codex, about Luna''s Core. And with that, they also got an explanation for my erratic history, why it seemed to appear out of nowhere and why it suddenly appeared in different places without explanation. Even though they were basically a computer that had experienced mysterious things and was also a part of magic, they told me that they had given up and assumed that there were just things that could happen without logical and scientific explanation. When they mentioned this, I even heard my mother mention in the background: "Never seen computers that believe in the supernatural." But just thinking about this house, a goddess, a crystal angel, a person who should be dead, and two living dolls are currently living. I think it would be normal to believe in the supernatural under these conditions.
The next to speak was Tamamo, who, like me, told our daughters about her past. Although it was not really necessary, she wanted to make it clear that she would try to teach them as best as she could how to behave and what to do with their powers, since she was the only other person here who could do something remotely similar. And using her own past as an example, she made it clear to them that if the humans realized what the two of them were capable of, they would be afraid of them, a fear so dangerous that not even a true goddess like her could stop it. The way Tamamo spoke even sounded like a serious and important topic, until she became the usual Tamamo again. So the best thing they should do was to take the example of the superheroes from the movies and imitate them, using their powers as little as possible and if they had to, trying to hide their identity as much as possible.
To achieve this, Charlotte and Kasumi should try to be as human as possible. So we all came up with ideas of what they should do in that sense. The first part is that although we know that they can communicate with each other without speaking, it would be best if they talked to each other, even if it was inefficient for them, so that people around them could know what they were talking about. My mother suggested that we teach them to eat, and they discovered the value of the taste of food. For my part, I pointed out that although they will review the information and the past of a person, they should be current as if they did not know, because a person although his history says one thing, humans are known for their consistency of inconsistency. A person may act differently to different people, but if they judge that person to be really dangerous, then they could tell everyone in our family to see what to do in that case. Momo''s idea was that they would also try to look as human as possible, because unlike them, girls could go outside if they dressed properly, so it would be harder for people to see their true nature. Finally, Tamamo suggested something quite radical, but interesting, because she mentioned that even though our daughters did not have to sleep, they still had to do it or else she would be worried. The girls, on the other hand, said that even that was useless because they were machines and did not have the ability to dream that others had. But Tamamo, who seemed to have foreseen this, mentioned that she had an idea to fix it.
She told them that every day, without exception, they should reserve a time of six to eight hours for normal days and four hours for when there is a serious emergency, but it is not necessary to be awake all the time. During these times they would have to close their eyes and pretend to be asleep outside. Then the interesting part would come, the two of them would have to create a different scenario every day, any subject, but they would have to put themselves in the center of that scene. And there they would have to invent a piece of art, whatever, from a painting with watercolors or the lyrics of a song, invent a story or say what shape the clouds in the sky were. But they have to say for the next day when they wake up. Without a doubt, it was quite strange what she suggested, but it also interested me, because even I wondered if I could leave by forcing ther to do something like that. The impression was so great that even the girls mentioned that they bent their heads as a sign that they were not sure about their mother''s suggestion either. Maria mentioned that computers are often used to create CGI in movies or to create a world in video games, so in a way it wasn''t completely unreasonable for them to do it. It would just be an extension of that idea.
Since nothing was lost by trying, we thought they should just start tonight and show their results tomorrow.
Ch49: The Cursed Watchmaker
The Cursed Watchmaker
Seraphim Keep Prison, Tartarus, Heaven
February 15
The dropship plunged through the planet''s atmosphere at full speed, the pilot relying with the bravery of a hero and the caution of a madman relying solely on the engineers who had built the machine to withstand the enormous pressure of such a perilous descent while trying to steal time. Inside was an elite assault team on a priority mission, led by none other than the great campaign hero Stella, the heroine of Inferno Point, accompanied by several of her best comrades-in-arms. They seemed to be ruthlessly heading straight into battle. But while each warrior was focused on the deadly battle ahead, Stella was receiving real-time mission details.
On the other side of the transmission on her tablet was the head of the Celestial Security Division, the great archangel Michael. His speech betrayed his concern and the reason for the urgency of the mission. Of all the existing prisons, the Tartarus planetary system had been used as a section of Heaven dedicated exclusively as a prison. The place had almost more than 70 different planets; the fewer the number of planets, the stronger the security. Right now, the dropship was crossing the atmosphere of the number one planet, heading for a place known as Seraphim Keep, one of the ten maximum security sectors of the planet itself. The triggering event had been the appearance of a riot within the walls of Seraphim Keep, where security forces were currently fighting to regain control. However, the mission of the team accompanying Stella was quite different. Their mission was to ensure that prisoner 627 did not leave her cell and to protect her from the riot until control was restored. The prison could fall and its walls crumble, but that cell had to remain under control.
Prisoner 627 had been imprisoned for the murder of a high-ranking Watchmaker fellow Angel. Apparently, she had corrupted herself and turned into a fallen angel. Characterized by erratic behavior and dangerous behavior, she was assigned to cell 627 in Seraphim Keep. Recently, she began to show signs of greater corruption, and the cell was quarantined for fear that she might be the source of a dangerous and contagious disease. The prison''s jammers cut off all transmissions, so Stella was unable to hear the rest of the details, but with the information she had received, it was clear why there was concern, and why she had been sent to deal with the problem.
The pilot informed the crew that the landing site was in sight. Stella and the others put on their helmets, loaded their weapons, and waited for the door to open, ready for either victory or death. The ship''s door opened, and the massive three-meter Paladins charged in with their wall-like shields as the main assault force. The others followed behind, with Commander Stella at the center of the formation as the mastermind. Fortunately, where they had landed was not the main site of the riot that could be heard in the distance, so they were able to quickly advance through the corridors toward Cell 627. As they advanced, however, they encountered something out of place: the quiet in this part of the facility. Far from feeling reassured, Stella quickened her pace when she saw that the prisoners were not only in their cells, but were quietly reading or exercising, as if unaware of what was happening just a few hundred yards away, despite the clear sounds of the disturbance in the distance. It was as if they were mocking the guards, and the soldiers were just carrying on with their routines and good behavior. Stella clearly knew that they were playing with her, that their plan had been completed just moments before her arrival.
The group of warriors was paralyzed when they saw the door of cell 627, a door weighing nearly 4 tons of reinforced titanium, bent in the middle of the corridor. Stella was already late. Looking inside, she could see the enchanted chains on the floor, the open locks, an empty plate of food, and a huge stain of blood splattered on one wall. A large trail of blood continued to the other end of the hallway. Stella quickly searched the cell herself; except for the door, nothing else had been forced - everything had been opened legally. The stain on the wall was still quite fresh, the blood still crimson rather than black. Otherwise, the rest of the cell was marked by its apparent austerity and cleanliness, very different from what Stella had thought when she was told that this cell was under quarantine.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
One of the paladins commented that the blood trail led west, toward the administrative sector, where most of the disturbance from the riot was coming from. Seeing that the prisoner would not return to the cell without help, Stella decided to follow the trail, the only lead they had. With speed, they continued their way, trying to save their mission from certain defeat, stopping for nothing - even when the Paladins'' shields had to crash into the prison guards to clear the way for the rest of their unit. As they continued their journey, Stella could see the security plans in action, with guards outnumbering inmates ten to one, marching in formation and using effective containment tactics. They battled inmates who used guerrilla tactics against them, but were easily recaptured. But in all the chaos, something was out of place: their great organization, in the worst way. How was it possible, in a situation like this, that a single corridor was unguarded as Stella walked down the corridor following the trail?
The questions only grew as the trail led to the prison warden''s office, now brutally nailed to the wall with over a hundred gruesome metal stakes. The amount of blood around him and the victim''s desperate face only suggested that the motive was slow, painful torture before death. The director was dead, naked according to the little intact flesh that remained, with the word "Sin" written above his head in his own blood. The crime scene, one with a clear past history, marked by the meticulous use of violence in it. Unfortunately, the trail ended there, with nothing to indicate where the prisoner might have gone after that. One thing was clear: she had managed to escape Seraphim Keep effortlessly, outwitting every single angel in the proces
By the time the riot was finally contained, only 15 minutes had passed. The efficiency of the place was incredible, and yet it was still enough time for someone. Stella, however, was not worried about the defeat. It was clear that the mission entrusted to her was lost before she had a chance, but her mind was on something else. It was clear that the escape had been too perfect, planned down to the smallest detail, even taking the liberty of destroying the camera footage stored in undeletable memory crystals. When they arrived at the room, they found only a million pieces scattered on the floor. According to the report given to Stella by Archangel Michael, Prisoner 627 was erratic and unpredictable, a raging lunatic. However, this was with the precision of a clock, with the one exception of the one death that occurred that day-the warden-indicating that he was also on the prisoner''s target list, a step so important that had to take it before leaving the facility. It was impossible for 627 to accomplish such a thing without help. The question was, where did get it from? Could it have been the guards themselves? Or was it something worse, like from the outside? If so, it was clear that it had to be a very powerful group to accomplish something of this magnitude in such a restrictive system as Tartarus, where the planets themselves had shields all around and only two heavily guarded entry points that registered every spaceship that passed through their checkpoint to the point of a centimeter.
"Prisoner 627''s records are a mess, even on the computer everything has black lines."
"The only interesting thing is that the notes say in red: known of the Atlantean Emperor".
"Is that some kind of code or something?" one of the agents asked.
Hearing these words, Stella''s mind felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck her soul.
"Move aside, let me see," Stella said, pushing the girl away so she could see for herself.
There was only one word on the monitor that she needed to confirm her worst fears. Prisoner 627''s name was as simple as Lisa, the exiled watchmaker. Such a mention indicated that Stella''s mission had only worsened on a new scale, as it involved a loose end from the brutal war against the dragons. It was clear that the fallen angel''s next destination was only one, Earth.
Ch50: That Day
That Day
February 17
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
It''s unbelievable that after surviving two wars and hundreds of nightmares, I still have to endure the boredom of school for the second time in my life. Unfortunately, I don''t have a choice if I''m to protect Haru as her grandfather wants. The problem is that almost no one talks to me, even in class, although I understand them to a certain extent. Having a ''cosplayer'' as a classmate who always shows up in the same costume makes them feel uncomfortable. At least they just ignore me, which is better than how it went for me the first time.
The good news is that these are the last days of classes and teacher Xian is handing out the results and final exam grades to the students. Everyone is happy because it seems that the whole group has managed to pass the school year. The only exceptions are Maria, Tamamo and me. We were supposed to observe the school environment and help Maria integrate, so unfortunately for her, next time she will have to study and take the exams for real. It''s better for her to maintain good study habits despite the thousands of crazy things, magic and bullshit that happen in our home every day.
Speaking of our home, the latest rumor is that Momo says she has seen shadows lurking around the house both day and night. According to her, she has seen the silhouette of a strange woman between the trees in the park across the street or on the roofs of the neighboring houses. She even mentioned that she thought she saw her pass near the window of my room, which is on the second floor. This morning she even shouted that she had seen them again, so I rushed out to check. But when I left the house, I only found Mrs. Nakamura, our neighbor, who apparently was planning a party for her son in two days and wanted to discuss it with my mother. Despite our efforts to investigate, even the twins couldn''t find anything with the security cameras.
But back in the classroom, the teacher had one more announcement to make.
"All right, I know you''re all excited to hear that all your hard work has paid off."
"But before we finish, the school has one last event planned."
"In this case, we have been invited to see the Ueno Dam, which holds the water, and the Kannagawa Hydropower Plant, a complex of tunnels where the generators are located."
"This is a great opportunity to see how electricity is generated using water and how it is distributed to our homes."
"So we also want to take the opportunity to visit local places like Mount My¨gi and an onsen."
"We will be taking a 2-day trip to the area on February 18th and 19th, this weekend."
"Although attendance is not mandatory for obvious reasons, please come as this is a unique and very informative opportunity."
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon."Also keep in mind that it''s still winter, so even though there''s green around, it may still be snowing. Please bring appropriate clothing for the weather."
"February 18th? That''s tomorrow!"
"Why are you telling us on such short notice?" said Kirijo Yuko.
"I''m sorry, but there was a delay with the paperwork, and it wasn''t until today that we got the approval for everything."
"I deeply apologize for the late notice, but it''s still a great opportunity to learn something unique in life."
The teacher said as she bowed her head in apology. It was strange to see how Xian sometimes seemed to take her role as a teacher quite seriously. I wonder what everyone would think if they found out that that person over there is a professional assassin and that I fought her to the death in the final battle of the Continental War. It''s incredible to see how life can turn on a dime.
Meanwhile, the rest of the class takes the news very lightly, enjoying it as a way to have a final party after all the work on exams and homework - a well-deserved break. Haru, the inspector''s granddaughter, is quite excited and talks to Yukiko, her friend. Others, like Kojiro, the strong giant of the class, are counting with his fingers, with a very concentrated expression on his face. He seems to be calculating how much money he needs, or if he even has it. Yamada, the class clown, takes the situation with a humor that only he has, telling a joke so reverentially bad that I think it''s the first joke that''s certified as worthy of being told at a funeral. Yasunobu and Takehide are too engrossed in their consoles to notice that they''ve just announced that we''re going on a school trip tomorrow, as they''ve decided to show what''s really important to them now that grades aren''t a factor.
Without a doubt, the most excited ones seem to be the dynamic duo Keisuke and his girlfriend Utagawa, who can already be seen making plans to enjoy the trip much more than the others. And despite the formality and social expectations in Japan of not disturbing others, which even means avoiding public displays of affection, these two were so hopelessly in love that they didn''t care. They reminded me much more of what I used to see in my classroom in Central America. Damned lovebirds were enjoying the romantic life of their youth in front of poor souls starving for companionship. Damn, I would have killed for that in my youth. Instead, I had to endure my mother nagging me to go out with Sharon, and the bitch just mocked my efforts. I''m sure she knew how hard it was for me to save up money to buy that stupid cell phone just so she could laugh and say it was pretty ugly, but she wouldn''t deign to return it, the damn thing. I''m sure if something different had happened, I wouldn''t be in this situation now and I could sleep better at night.
But I can''t complain either; it''s thanks to exactly these events that I''m here now, that my sister Maria has finally recovered from her illness, that Tamamo and Momo are living with me in the dream of having my own little harem with them my side, or that basically everyone here is alive because I managed to kill the Emperor, met Nanami and finally saw for a moment that I wasn''t a complete waste. It''s hard to know what time will bring or take away; I''m sure everyone would have made different decisions if they could have known the future, but unfortunately, no one is a fortune teller. All I can do is try to move forward and avoid being consumed by darkness and the desire to just give up.
Ch51: The Players Of The Game
The Players Of The Game
February 17th
New I.S.C I+D Office, Rose Tower, Marunouchi, Tokyo
In the office, a strange scene could be seen if one looked in a certain direction. Investigator Brandon was in the office, and the other colleagues regarded him as a ghostly apparition, a sign of bad omen. Every time he showed up here instead of at the other lab, it meant that something big was going on with the higher-ups - the kind of event that usually resulted in hundreds of people being laid off in a department-wide cutback. So everyone was afraid for their jobs. Luckily for them, the busy investigator was concerned with an entirely different problem.
Brandon had been trying to cover up the major defeats he had suffered in recent days while trying to preemptively eliminate what he believed to be his rivals. Now, because of his failure, he had put them on alert and it would not be easy to find another opportunity to catch them off guard. Worse, he had now given his enemies a reason to scrutinize his activities, so he would have to spend time covering all his moves, which also meant delaying the research on the V.F.D. serum he had been assigned by Damien Riven himself. In addition, he now had to figure out what excuse to give Mr. Miyazaki in case Naich¨ had to intervene again. But as if his thoughts had summoned him, the phone rang at that very moment.
"Good morning, this is Mr. Brandon speaking"
"Oh, perfect, just the person I wanted to talk to."
"It''s me again, Mr. Miyazaki."
"I wanted to talk to you about what happened two days ago, the attack on Mrs. Adelis'' house."
"Weren''t you supposed to do it quickly, cleanly and subtly?"
"May I know why I now have a photograph of such an event in the newspaper I hold in my hand?"
"May I ask how this journalist named Nozomi Yasuda managed to take pictures despite the police blockade?"
"I''m sorry, sir, several of the men I hired for the job failed at the moment of execution."
"I did not expect such a level of failure."
"As the supervisor in charge of checking their profiles, it is my fault for not finding the right people for the job."
"Yes, I can imagine it''s quite a problem. You''re lucky to have Mr. Damien Raven at your side, so I''ll be brief."
"Is there anything we should worry about regarding our ''project''? Mr. Yoshida is nervous that the whereabouts of his money in all this might be discovered."
"No, there is no risk of a leak."
"I''ve taken precautions to hide the identities of those involved and any connection to the I.S.C."
"Good to see that being proactive has its advantages."
"As for the journalist, there''s no problem there either. All she has is a routine news story, the typical ''gang shooting in an upscale neighborhood''."
"I don''t think you understand the problem of this particular journalist."
"Since you''re a foreigner, you may not know much about how things work here."
"This girl, Nozomi Yasuda, isn''t your typical crime or news reporter."
"She specializes in in-depth investigations and publishes her reports about twice a month or so. She''s someone who takes her job seriously."
"''If she''s covering a live news story, it''s not because she was the first to arrive to cover the breaking news.''"
"She was already there, investigating something else in the neighborhood, when she happened to run into your thugs, and then the police showed up."
"What do you think she''ll do next?"
"She''ll realize there''s something more going on and dig even deeper."
"Her investigations are very thorough; somehow she always manages to get inside information on any subject."
"She''s highly respected, so she can afford to take a month to break a single story and still keep her position at the newspaper."
"Making her disappear would only raise more questions, the kind of questions we don''t want."
"Do you see the problem now?"
"Yes, sir, I understand perfectly."
"We will focus on protecting our operations even more and make sure that everything is well hidden."
"It will take some time, a few weeks, but when we''re done, it will be impossible for people like Nozomi Yasuda to even find the main entrance."
"Is that all?"
"No, I''m just saying that for now to get the nosy journalist off my back."
"The real plan, the one that will get the police and Inspector Yamamoto off our backs, is different."
"We''ll give them the scare of their lives, and we''ll even pretend that the I.S.C. is also a victim of what happened."
"Don''t worry, the project isn''t in any danger, but one of our chemical component labs will be affected."
"Nothing important, really. They''ve already completed our last shipment."
"I''m sure you can use that to take the job away from the police again, just tell them something like it was foreign terrorists and now it''s a national security issue and therefore Naich¨''s responsibility."
"After that, we''ll have a free hand to investigate and test as much as we want."
"Hey, using them as a cover won''t work forever. Once is believable, twice is suspicious, a third time and Yamamoto himself will walk through the door with his big revolver in his hand".
"But I''m always available for anything that bothers the old man."
"...."
"Very well, I''ll leave the details to you, but don''t make any more mistakes."
When the phone hung up, Brandon finally breathed a sigh of relief and took a moment to rest. He had successfully talked his way out of a rather tricky situation, though luckily for him, Mr. Miyazaki¡¯s bosses were quite committed to the project that the I.S.C had offered them. When his brief moment of rest ended, a new girl entered his office. She brought him a few documents before she started speaking.
¡°The preparations are ready; the men who accepted the job are already on standby.¡±
¡°They managed to enter the country without going through immigration, and they are currently checking their equipment.¡±
¡°The explosives will be delivered in two hours.¡±
¡°Oh, perfect, finally some good news.¡±
¡°Prepare your things as well. The Arksuit armor is in the yellow crates; remember to remove any tags.¡±
¡°Keep it charged; that armor is your only ticket back.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t let the police catch you, no matter what, at any cost.¡±
¡°Yes, sir, I¡¯ll finish the preparations.¡±
¡°Oh, and one more thing, Akane.¡±
¡°The idea is to cause widespread panic, alright?¡±
¡°Make it flashy, make sure it¡¯s a noticeable tragedy. We want the ISC¡¯s name mentioned alongside the victims.¡±
¡°We need to be in the headlines for at least a week.¡±
¡°So do everything you can to achieve that. Pick a good time, maybe a bus full of tourists or something, I don¡¯t know, be creative.¡±
¡°Our plan is simple to win; we just need to cause panic.¡±
¡°That¡¯s all, you can go now, good luck.¡±
With that, the girl left the office to prepare for the next day, as a huge challenge awaited her, much more than anyone expected, especially for the girl.
Metropolitan Police HQ, Chiyoda, Tokyo
Mr. Yamamoto was also sitting in his office, in front of him were several documents with the photos of the shooting two days ago at the house of his friend, Mrs. Adelis. According to the other detectives, no one could identify these people or connect them to any particular event. But the old man, looking at the photos, could clearly see that the equipment these men were using was the same kind of weapons used by the armed group in the harbor. There was no way to improve him, he knew the truth completely. These mercenaries had been used by the I.S.C. to achieve their goals, even if they had to kill someone as important as Adelis. However, luck was on her side, because according to the inspector, the girl in white seemed to be still awake and managed to stop them in time before they could do any damage. But they know that people who do not fear justice will attack a person as important as her without hesitation, which they would not do against someone like him and his granddaughter.
What was worse was that he now doubted his own subordinates since the agents of Naich¨ arrived for the first time to steal all his investigation, it was possible that two groups as dangerous as these would have arrived in Tokyo from nowhere and although all of them had been arrested, the police were not seriously looking for those culprits, it did not seem that they were investigating a problem so serious thoroughly. It will be that any of his colleagues were also helping the I.S.C. or the Naich¨? Right now that even the superiors of the inspector reclaimed for use officers to monitor their granddaughter and decide that it does not belong to use police resources for personal use. So the only thing he could do was to trust that the girl in white would fulfill his word, even though he could not do much to help them.
Then one of the new detectives called at the door of the office, the rookie Adachi, he entered later and informed the old man who had managed to identify some of the terrorists they had been so busy with these days. It seemed that they had managed to identify two who were leaving Tokyo in a car heading east to the region of Gunma prefecture. This new detail fell like a bucket of cold water on Mr. Yamamoto, because now it would be a whole bureaucratic problem to coordinate the other police departments outside the city, because they would have to rely on the other offices to recognize the suspicious ones.
Alliance Office Japan, US Army Akasaka Press Center, Minato, Tokyo.
I had already spent half a day and I was still busy with work, despite what I had tried to advance as much as possible yesterday, the conversion of Cesar with my granddaughters was so interesting that in the end it came out against me now. I had the idea of taking the twins to help in my cafeteria, but there''s no time for that now, I''m going to work all day today and so tomorrow I''ll have free time to take them there and maybe even make them a cake.
My bigger concern right now, as far as my work here is concerned, is the fact that the Empire seems to be several steps ahead of us. I thought that with the capture of their capital, that would be the end of it, but after what happened tonight, I have no doubt that they may be doing something that we cannot even imagine. But how do I tell the others that my suspicions, when I tell them that I have something like that I had an astral trip to another world where it seemed that maybe it was remotely possible that the Empire was dealing with a new doll model so dangerous. What is worse, I cannot let them know that I have two of them living in my house or that would lead me to more problems. Since Cesar came back, crazy things have been happening without a break.
I also have to submit cost reports for several projects, which will probably cause the Aliience to cut expenses even more now that they think they are safe. I will have to choose carefully which ones will be the most beneficial in the long run. It also seems that negotiations with the Japanese government have stalled at the moment because everyone is still waiting for what happened in Vienna. No one wants to make a move until the leaders talk about what they are going to do from now on.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Suddenly, the phone rang without me answering it, and a voice could be heard through it.
"Mrs. Adelis, Commander Phillips is here to talk to you," the girl on the other side mentioned, it was Xian, one of my employees who comes here from time to time to continue her real work here after school.
Oh shit!
He wanted to talk about the shooting in my house on February 15. The army believes that a policeman was the one who saved me, but the most likely thing is that he is thinking about putting guards in my house to protect me. I cannot let that happen. How would I explain to them the transparent angel and the goddess who can change shape and also I have two dolls or two of the machines that the army fear the most right now as my granddaughters now. Well, the best thing would be to face it head on and look for a way to get rid of him.
"Okay, let him pass, but let him know that I am short on time right now, so I hope it is short.
"All right."
Moments later, Commander Phillips walked in in his perfectly neat uniform, hat tucked under his arm, and closed the door with such force that I thought about charging him to fix it if it was broken. He was an older man than me, but unlike me, who would never have anything like oldness, he was beginning to see gray hair, though with the force with which he closed the door I thought he was angry, there was a slight smile on his face.
"I saw what happened at your house, I''m sorry you had to go through something so scary.
"If I had been there to help you, I have no doubt that we would have reached the person responsible for this immediately".
"But I think we were lucky that one of those useless cops finally came in handy for the first time."
"Maybe I''ll give him a reward for saving someone so important to me."
Yes, there was that detail too. He thinks he has a chance to go out with me if he talks to me like that. If only he knew that it only took a few minutes that night for my husband to remind me why I loved him even in his afterlife. So I don''t have the slightest intention of dating him. It was also thanks to my son, who managed in an impressive way to kill 4 armed people while he was wounded, which would have earned him at least a medal of honor, something that the commander in front of me is missing.
"Yes, it is a pity that my husband is not still alive, I am sure that he would have prevented all of this from happening without my even realizing it."
"That''s exactly what I wanted to get to," the commander said.
"It was our carelessness to let you go free."
"That day my eyes were opened and I realized that you really need capable people around you."
"People who can protect you from any danger."
"What, are you thinking of getting down and just being a guard?"
"I think you''re too old to even hold a gun."
"Unfortunately, you are right, my age is undoubtedly a great obstacle to returning to the great warrior I was in the past."
"Besides, someone in my position can''t be bothered to do such tedious tasks."
"You know, most real warriors would be offended if they were told that they were incapable of holding a weapon.
"And Officer Yamamoto worked as an agent holding a rifle before he left the army, although he is even older than you."
"He''s still working, too, and even gets into gunfights when he should be retired."
"Okay, but that is not the point"
"What I wanted to tell you is that I have taken the trouble to put together a team that can protect you in case something remotely similar happens."
"I have a list of people who are ready to act at any time as well as work as your bodyguards both at work and at home."
"Sorry, but that is not necessary.
"I have everything I need right now"
"But what are you saying, aren''t you afraid that something similar will happen again?"
"You need someone to protect you, whether you like it or not"
"There is the difference, I am able to get people who are able to protect me for something more than a letter of recommendation from someone else, I need loyalty".
"And the people I have now are also people I can trust blindly."
"But I''m sure someone as used to disappointment as you won''t be able to understand."
"You don''t understand the situation!"
"I am the commander of this facility and the Yokota Air Base!"
"It is an order that you accept the guards I propose!"
"I think the one who doesn''t understand the situation is you, Commander Phillips."
"I am helping with the cooperation between the different armies that make up the Alliance."
"If I think you are unfit for your position, your superiors will be happy to make a list of all the possible people who would be happy to take your position."
"I just need to make one call from this phone, and for the next week you will be looking for a job in a fast food chain when you return to the United States."
"Agreed?"
"But ma''am, I even managed to find someone who cares!"
"He''s a war hero, he was just on his way after receiving a medal from the President."
"I can''t just tell him to go back."
"How strange, because surely I can"
"It''s Mr. Cedric!"
"He worked under your orders in the war, and you don''t remember him?"
"It is thanks to him and his team that some of your plans were able to go ahead"
"That you don''t trust him to be that capable?"
What the hell, how was he able to get someone like him? After the war, Cedric went to help his father with the farm, but I''m not sure if he would have given it up or if this stupid man was a plan. But one thing I''m sure of is that I''m not going to let him win on this issue.
Oberkommando Kriegsraum, Wolfsschanze, die Eichenwaldmeer
The Oberkommando was in full session. Several of the best generals who had managed to escape Vienna, consumed by the flames, were now looking at a map. Everyone was silent; none of them could believe the lines drawn on the paper - a plan to move the small army they had left, used in such an irrational, strange, and dangerous way, something that had never been in any book, something that no one wanted to be in charge of.
"This is madness, nonsense!"
"We barely escaped the Alliance! "
"Doing something like this will only end up destroying us and what little we have left!"
"This is nothing but a criminal waste of our resources!"
"We couldn''t do it even when we had the advantage over the Alliance, doing it now is simply irresponsible."
"However, Mr. Claus von Stauffenber, this plan will achieve the primary objective without any problems."
"Since the defeat at Vienna, we owe it to our compatriots who stayed behind to make our escape possible."
"We must show that their sacrifice was not in vain, that their deaths had meaning."
"This plan is quite audacious, though I also recognize that it will be a titanic task indeed to carry it out."
"But even if the attack itself fails, the main mission will have been accomplished."
"To show the world that the Empire still lives!"
"That not one of their damned cities is beyond our reach."
"They will never sleep again without the fear of being next."
"If we succeed, the Alliance will have no choice but to lower its demands for the Empire''s defeat."
"We will leave a better future for those left behind in Europe, trusting in our triumphant return."
"A message that the future will be better, even if our homes are in mourning now," replied Commander Greta Muller, believing in the cause.
"It''s a hard and difficult decision, with pros and cons."
"But in the end, it is a decision for Supreme Commander Emil Bormann."
"Sir, we await your decision, whatever it may be; we will all support you to the best of our ability."
"We are all in this together," said Gro?admiral Holtzendorff, trusting in his superior''s abilities.
Emil Bormann, the supreme commander of the Imperial Exile Legion, studied the map again, the names of the key locations, the objectives, the timetable, the routes. In his mind he weighed the decisions, the costs and the rewards, wanted to check everything one last time.
" Strategiemeister Wilhelm von Weidenfeld,"
"In your report, you mentioned the possibility that it was the Alliance itself that infiltrated Stormheart Castle."
"How likely is that possibility?"
The old commander asked the young man across the table. Despite his youth, he had earned the respect of his fellow soldiers, but at that moment he was more focused on examining a photograph he held in his hand than on looking at the map. He tucked the photo into one of his pockets and stood up to answer his commander''s question.
"Personally, my suspicions are high."
"The attack on the castle was carried out with extreme preparation."
"The chosen date, the time of the attack, the routes they took, the disabled security systems, the missing personnel the next day, the escape vehicle."
"The fact that they attacked on the very day I was supposed to leave the castle to come here."
"The enemy''s plan was executed with extensive inside knowledge, a perfect intelligence job."
"Considering the type of place Aria is, the possibility of a local attack is low; they are trapped in a technological era similar to the pre-World War I era, and they do not have such sophistication."
"If it were a high noble house, considering our approval of Nediadisy with his personal seal at the entrance, and the same close position of the Garden of Love wall, it would be nothing less than suicide for the entire caste."
"In short, the population is not intelligent enough to carry out the theft, and those who are intelligent understand the gravity of the consequences of such an action."
"So we are looking for nothing less than a madman who no fears Nediadis at all, and a genius capable of preparing everything."
"Why do I think it was the Alliance? Because it bears the signature of the elite squadron I mentioned several times."
"Although the power of the Alliance is enormous, it is because they have raw numbers on their side."
"The truth is that their efficiency is much lower than ours due to the technological gap. Their soldiers are not as well trained as ours, but while we make one tank, they make twenty. While we make 4 torpedoes, they make 7 ships."
"This is still manageable thanks to our advances in equipment and weapons."
"However, I am sure that within their ranks there is this elite unit, a very different one, specialized in hunting us."
"The same group that wreaked havoc in Germany and Italy, the same group that showed up at our robbery in Oslo, the same group that infiltrated our last defense in the capital, the rumors of the White Demon."
"The DOLL robbery.
"A small, select group who know more about our activities than anyone else in the Alliance.
"They managed to document the portal in the parliament building before it was destroyed. Perhaps their doubts about our whereabouts are actually certainties."
"The attack on Stormheart Castle was their opportunity to take advantage of our mistake."
"......"
"''That''s Adelis'' style."
"I understand."
"....."
"What about those two stolen DOLLs?"
"What''s the worst we can expect from that?" Emil Bormann asked again.
"They were two DOLL-EW-2X prototypes."
"They are the direct predecessors of the current model. I''m afraid they use the same architecture."
"Although the probability of them being replicated is close to non, the biggest threat is that they could research and develop countermeasures and what are the capabilities of the electronic warfare DOLL units."
"Adelis, in particular, is someone who could obtain such documentation and use it in future confrontations."
"The likelihood of them developing countermeasures and discovering weaknesses is high."
"The proposed mission depends heavily on our electronic warfare units succeeding in the first phase of the plan."
"This opportunity could be lost if it''s delayed beyond the proposed date."
"Thank you, Vilhelm. Your observations are no doubt useful."
"Now about the plan."
"......."
"It seems we''re in a situation of doing it now or losing the opportunity forever."
"......."
"The mission is very risky and the cost will undoubtedly be high."
"....."
"But sending a message to the world, and especially to our people, is much more important."
"To show that the indomitable spirit of the Empire is still alive."
"The mission will continue." The Supreme Commander said with a strong thump on the table.
The entire room remained in the same silence as before, for this was not a mission that anyone would appreciate, and Emil Bormann himself knew that. But against all odds, it was Vilhelm von Weidenfeld who raised his voice again.
"Sir, I would like to submit my voluntary candidacy for the leadership of the mission immediately," the young man said with a straight face, a symbol of confidence in his abilities.
Everyone in the room turned to look at him in surprise, but inwardly they were relieved that none of them would be taking his place. Emil Bormann, filled with curiosity, did what anyone would have done.
"May I ask the reason?"
"After reflecting on my own words, I realized that the likelihood of encountering this elite unit on this mission is quite high."
"I want to participate to gain first-hand experience with this highly skilled Alliance commander and learn more about her way of thinking."
"What I want is a duel with Adelis."
The old immortal magician saw without leaving her house, smiling to see that the world was still in her web as she wished.
Ch52: School Trip
School Trip
Minamiaiki, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
February 18th
The day of the school trip had arrived. With half of yesterday to prepare, Tamamo, Maria, and I did the best we could. In an emergency shopping trip, we mainly bought clothes and jackets for the cold winter weather in the mountains. Finding clothes for Maria was easy as she was excited to finally see some real snow. Although she had been here for a while, my sister, who is confined to the hospital, wasn''t allowed to go outside to see it. Since she''s a normal person, it was just a matter of finding something she liked. Tamamo, on the other hand, at first thought of going in her kimono, but after a good talk, we managed to convince her to wear western clothes like everyone else, as they were much more comfortable for walking in the mountains and warmer as well. She could hide all nine of her fox tails and ears whenever she wanted, which was rare, so it wasn''t much of a problem. The real problem, as always, was me - I don''t have the ability to hide my kitsune features like she does. It''s even worse when it''s really cold, because my tail tends to grow to help me conserve heat, so I need clothes that at least have room for my tail and my massive breasts. After searching all the stores, we finally found something in a cosplay store. After that, it was just a matter of buying things for the trip. They took care of buying candy and snacks. I managed to buy a military compass, a survival knife, a first aid kit, a flashlight, a gas lighter, a flint lighter, a water filter tube, a survival hatchet, and an ice axe. Tamamo and Maria called me paranoid; I prefer the term cautious, especially when it comes to being in a tunnel or on ice.
When the day arrived, we got on the bus with the rest of the class for a trip of more than 120 kilometers from Tokyo to Minamiaiki, Nagano, in Gunma Prefecture, a journey of more than three hours. The three of us sat in the back of the bus so as not to be disturbed, although Maria used my tail as a blanket when she realized that the winter cold wasn''t as pleasant as the movies made it seem. Tamamo, on the other hand, took out four of her tails to lend to me and keep herself warm as well.
Teacher Xian also joined us on the trip, but for some reason she drove her own car. During the trip, Tamamo was very happy to look out the window at the countryside and see how things still looked like she remembered, with traditional houses and rice fields. At one point, she said she spotted a sweet shop that she had visited over a thousand years ago. That''s incredible - this store was over 500 years old when Christopher Columbus discovered America, or when the country I was born in was founded. Now I was curious to visit it someday.
During the ride, Haru and her friend sat in the front seats and seemed a bit curious about our condition as foreigners.
"What do you like most about Japan?" Haru asked looking back.
"Well, in my youth I really liked anime and novels. I read a lot of them in my spare time."
"The typical fantasy story fan visiting the place of his dreams, only I stayed here to live instead of just visiting for a week."
"I also like the culture and the feeling that almost everything has a thousand-year-old legend here and there."
"Where I come from, there''s also history, but it''s mostly about indigenous people living in the mountains and things about nature, like distant things."
"Here, it''s more like: this broom has been sweeping the halls of this temple every day for 500 years, or this fan was made before Japan was founded, but it''s still being used without any problems.
"Everyday things that are also ancient.
"In my family, the closest thing we have is my grandmother''s house, which is still made of clay, and her iron stove," I replied.
"Oh, interesting."
"And what do you like least about Japan?"
"Don''t worry, be honest, I promise I won''t get mad."
"Well, if there''s one thing I don''t like about Japan, it''s the size."
"Everything feels cramped and small, there''s just not enough space."
"In Tokyo it''s a nightmare, but even outside it''s the same problem."
"The streets barely have room for a compact car; how do they manage to pass without getting stuck?"
"And the same roads are used by both cars and pedestrians! Where are the sidewalks? Did someone steal them?"
"The other day I was almost run over when I went to the grocery store to buy bread for breakfast."
"Also, the houses or rooms - I don''t understand how it''s okay to use just one room for almost everything."
"Perpetual claustrophobia, I think, is the right word."
"I''ve spent a good part of my life in a tunnel against my will, and I hate not having space."
"You know, my grandmother lives on a piece of land the size of our entire school in Tokyo, and that''s nothing special."
"As far as I know, my mom''s house here is a little bigger than where I lived, only with a second floor, but by local standards, it''s a mansion," I replied honestly.
"I have to admit that although the traditional culture valued space, design and art, it''s true that there was a lot more space and room for things back then. Today, the population is so large that space is a luxury that can''t be wasted," Tamamo added, offering her perspective as an ancient deity of the place.
"Well, you''re right. Even for me, how cramped everything is can be annoying."
"Although I think living here all my life has given me a little more tolerance than foreigners."
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it."But even so, that feeling is still there, like when I had to add a fifth shelf next to my bed just to have room to put my clothes," Haru said, sharing her point of view.
During the trip, the bus stopped briefly at a rest area near a park to rest, stretch our legs, and eat lunch. We were each given a boxed lunch, which was quite tasty and varied, but being the perpetually hungry person that I was, I couldn''t resist the temptation to go into the convenience store to buy some more food. At that moment, I think I saw something through the window; it passed by very quickly, but I thought I saw someone hiding in the trees across the street. Probably because I had been listening to Momo talk about these apparitions, my mind was playing tricks on me, like the lingering effects of the sounds of claws and death in the darkness of Atlantis. After that, the bus continued its journey until we arrived at a ryokan and hotel where we would be staying. We were assigned our rooms; in our case, Xian arranged everything so that our group would be Maria, Tamamo, her, and me, making sure that no strangers would see that my fox-girl features were completely real, while next to us was Haru''s room with her friends.
A little later we were called for a guided walk along a trail, a small hike around the area that explained the geology and ecology of the place and gave some insight into why the site was chosen for the hydroelectric dam. Tamamo was very interested to see how water could be turned into the electricity that is so essential to today''s civilization. For a magical being like the Goddess she was, it was truly incredible to see the ingenuity of humans to accomplish something similar using completely different methods and simple tools - how humans, with nothing more than observation and curiosity, managed to master something that should have been beyond their natural reach. But for Maria and me, it wasn''t such a big deal, because where we came from, natural electrical plants like this powered our home. Everything came from the water, the sun, the wind, or the mountains themselves, because in our land, nature was queen. That was the lesson of our ancestors.
When we returned from the walk, the day was beginning to fade. According to the schedule, it was already our free time, or rather, it was the moment of the real problem - it was time to bathe in the public onsen baths. Of course, this meant trouble for me, because despite staying at the Urakaze Hotel, I didn''t have the high self-esteem to be naked in front of others, let alone my classmates. And as appealing as it might sound to go into the women''s bathhouse, having been a man before ending up as a kitsune girl, I had the problem of trying not to be discovered by others-they couldn''t see that my fox tail was actually attached to the end of my back. Tamamo and Maria didn''t have as many problems; for the Moon Goddess, being Japanese herself, it was part of her culture, so it was natural for my wife. Meanwhile, Maria, who had spent so much time in the hospital and depended on others for her survival, didn''t mind being seen. As for me, I had to come up with a last-minute improvised plan to get out of there, simply by pretending to really enjoy the massage chairs, so I stayed there for a long time, waiting and keeping track of how many people had come and gone, in order to choose the right time to bathe. When I saw the last group of girls leaving, it was my time to act and I asked Xian to watch the entrance for a few minutes.
What happened next was the Streisand effect, where trying to hide something only ends up attracting more attention, because although I tried to be as quick as I could, Tamamo came back in to help me bathe, as she had seen in a manga I had bought. The men shouted excitedly while the girls tried to get in to see, so fearing for my secret, they entered the sauna and closed the door until they got tired and left me alone again. I had never done such a stupid thing before because I was on the verge of fainting and I felt completely cooked. In the end I was so sweaty that I had to take another shower. To end the story with how big our fox tails were, the fur absorbed a lot of water which took a long time to dry, in the house we used a dryer which we did not bring and we had to wait a while for it to dry, so the rest of the class left. Damn, if they would have done that I would have stayed in the massage chair and later I would have walked and come back the same way. Besides, all that nonsense just to keep them from seeing me and talking about my tail or ears, when with Tamamo that issue had already passed and now everyone takes it for granted. Really, I should ask myself if hiding them is a better option than continuing to suffer this every time I try to hide them.
After the bath, it was time for dinner. We were all taken to a large hall where we were served a traditional meal made with local ingredients. While to me it looked like the same food that Japanese people eat all the time, Tamamo found it pleasant and interesting to see how people here ate and how they produced their food. When dinner was over, Xian had scheduled one last event before the end of the day - a short walk around the area. This time, the goal was to reach a nearby grassland-area and look at the stars at night. She had borrowed some telescopes for us to use. I took it upon myself to start a small campfire to warm the area, using it as an excuse to use some of the survival gear I had brought along.
The other students were quite interested in the moon and stars, especially Maria, who had never used a telescope before. But when it came to talking about stars and the night sky, who better than Tamamo? An expert, she easily found constellations and even showed us how she could tell the date and time without a watch, just by looking at the sky. She was also fascinated by the telescope and Xian''s explanation of tools like the sextant. Others took the opportunity to be very affectionate with each other, like Keisuke and his girlfriend Utagawa, and enjoyed the scenery to make the poor lonely souls even more miserable.
After it got quite late, we returned to the hotel to finally rest and prepare for tomorrow. The men and women were assigned to opposite sides of the hotel, with several teachers occasionally checking that nothing got too affectionate or that there weren''t any intruders. But apart from separating the lovebirds in the early morning, nothing else happened during the night. The next day began with breakfast and a final review of our itinerary, which included a visit to the Ueno Dam, followed by a tour of the hydroelectric plant and its section of long underground tunnels.
Ch53: Crisis Room
Crisis Room
White Moon Cafeteria, Sumida City, Tokyo
February 19th
8:00
***************
Adelis POV
***************
Mrs. Nakamura left with a smile again, today was her 10-year-old son''s birthday and she had ordered a cake for his birthday, she was a regular customer and one of the leaders of the neighborhood association, she was great It helps to be able to build my business here, so I thank her very much for the appreciation.
Today is a very pleasant and quiet day. I had managed to work enough the last few days, so I took the opportunity to take the day off and bake a cake in the morning to give to my granddaughters in the afternoon. I haven''t had much time to talk to them, but since everyone is making an effort to treat them as persons and family, I plan to do my part. Although I never thought that Cesar would try to drive me almost crazy and get two daughters out of nowhere in one night. The situation is so sudden again that we still don''t have anything for Momo''s room and now we have to prepare another room for the two dolls. Later I might even go shopping with them to get the things for their room, although I''d like to go outside with them, but they are clearly robots, although maybe it wouldn''t be a problem if I chose good clothes for them.
But as if the thought of them had called them, the sound of the bell when the door was opened, I turned to greet the new customers and was surprised to see the two twins coming towards me in the most casual way possible. Well, although they look a lot like a normal human, there are some details like their dead eyes that a human could never have or how they were not wearing clothes to hide their doll joints. The lucky thing was that there was no one else except for Saeko who was in the kitchen.
"What are you two doing here?"
"If you come, at least wear the clothes Tamamo wears to try to cover your doll joints!"
"Do you have any idea what people would be afraid of if they saw two strange girls doing everything in synchrony?"
"Grandma, we have a big problem."
"It''s Dad, he''s in trouble."
"....."
"Again," the two said in sync but without any emotion.
"Grandma?"
"Please don''t call me that, you can call me Mama, Adelis, Do?a, or even a stranger if you want, but please don''t ever use Grandma!"
"I''d rather be dead than old and senile."
"How big is the problem?"
"Were sure to be on the noon news"
"Ok, that''s really bad news"
"We can''t talk about it here, we have to go back to the house"
"Saeko!"
"I have an emergency again, you are in charge!"
We went to the house as fast as we could and as soon as we entered the living room, the TV turned on all by itself and showed a satellite picture of the place where the school trip was supposed to take place, the Ueno Dam.
"Five minutes ago, an armed group hijacked the bus that Dad and the others were using to visit the place, then they moved southeast and entered a tunnel," Kazumi began to speak.
"Dad seems to have managed to stay behind and avoid being kidnapped," Charlotte followed.
"Right now his mobile signal indicates that he is still near the Ueno dam."
"If he has the phone, call him now."
"All right."
"Hello, Happy House Pizzeria, if you buy four pizzas we will charge you only five."
"Cesar, this is no time for bad jokes!"
"Situation?"
"The school bus was hijacked by several armed individuals, they spoke very bad Japanese, they spoke Spanish between them, I think their accent was Mexican."
"They came out of a minivan and took as many as they could and then headed east, I have no idea where they went."
"Right now I''m next to Maria, we were both saved because we were coming out of the bathroom when everything happened.
"Tamamo, Haru and Xian were out of luck because they were in the bus.
"I''m currently in the forest watching the dam to gather more information, but nothing else has happened at the moment."
"All right."
"Can you see if the car Xian used is nearby?"
"Inside are the submachine guns and bulletproof vests you asked for."
"Take them and wait in the car for new orders."
"Do not hang up the phone"
"Roger."
Unfortunately, what we have is very limited information, even though it is a very recent event, we need to know what to confront as soon as possible. Normally, this would take a long time if I had my team with me, like when I was on the aircraft carrier. No, wait, how did these two get the live satellite image of the dam? You are right, they specialize in this kind of thing, I think I can use their unique skill to help rescue the hostages!
"Can you two get more information?"
"Whatever you have to do, just search everywhere and leave no trace" I ask them.
"Right now we have access to the facility''s security cameras.
"According to what we were able to identify, we believe that there are at least 15 armed people, as a second group appeared later."
"We are not sure if these are all the enemies."
"The biggest problem is that the hostages have been taken to the inside of the complex where the electrical generators are located, which are under the mountain."
"We have no access to mobile phones because they have no signal inside, and the satellite cannot see the inside because of the depth".
"Also some cameras are damaged, so we can not get better information".
"We are very sorry" the two androids said
"You do not need to apologize, you have already done more than what I could expect even from my team in the Alliance".
This will undoubtedly be a problem at the national level at least. I need to act first now that I have the information before anyone else. I need to know what the police are going to do so I can coordinate the rescue with them. But even they could make a mistake and our little VIP could get hurt or they could try to not kill my son because of a confusion. I need to know what the police would plan in that case.
"Call Inspector Yamamoto with the mobile phone I gave him."
"Make sure you take security measures, avoid traceability and encrypt the call," I would instruct the twins on my next step.
"We''ll reroute the call through several public phones, as far as encryption goes, we can only use a low-level one because the cell phone is not designed for that."
Damn, these girls are good at their job I thik for myself.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
"Inspector Yamamoto speaking"
"Good morning, Inspector"
"I am afraid to be the bearer of bad news to a person like you today."
"Please act naturally and do not be surprised by what I am about to tell you."
"It is about Haru."
"Ten minutes ago, the school group she was in was kidnapped by unknown persons."
"We are currently gathering information and working out a plan to find a way to rescue her."
"I recommend that you prepare to respond quickly to the kidnapping, but please do not do anything conspicuous until the police are properly informed."
"Oh my God"
"Today I need to know what the police would do in this situation to prevent their people from seeing someone like Elise as an enemy and to avoid a bigger tragedy."
"Well ... if ... if this is the case"
"Then we would have to mobilize the Special Assault Team."
"It would take about 45 minutes after the warning to reach the region by helicopter."
"They will probably start scouting immediately"
"As for my side, I will try to contact them by phone and listen to their demands and try to reach a peaceful agreement."
"Hey Mom! I have a problem here, I found the guns and the vest, but I don''t see the high shoes I asked for".
"If I have to drive in this car, I won''t even be able to reach the pedals," Cesar says to the other line.
"Take a stone and put it in the pedal, right now I''m having a serious conversation with real people like the inspector".
"So fuck off"
"Grandma, we have more troubling information"
"I already told you not to call me like that!"
"If you keep doing that, I will disassemble you two using only a hospital MRI machine."
"What you have now"
"The criminals seem to be trying to plant explosives at key points on a second tunnel."
"They are currently placing them in the generator room and one of the access tunnels."
"Ok, it looks like we won''t even have the 45 minutes it will take the police to get to the scene," I said to the inspector on the phone.
"What are we going to do?"
"We have to get Haru out of there right now!" Said the worried old man.
"Please do not be afraid, Inspector, I already have four people in charge of rescuing your granddaughter alive."
"Two of them are preparing their equipment and the other two are with Haru right now."
"We will surely act immediately to rescue her"
"Okay, at the moment, the alarm has just sounded at the station, it seems to be the kidnapping report"
"I will be very busy from now on"
"But I still look forward to your call with good news."
"Please save her, that''s all I have left," said a really scared Yamamoto, more than some crazy mission in the continental war he took part in.
"We''ll do our best, sir," I said, hanging up the phone.
"........"
"What information do we have about the place?" I asked Kazumi, who was closest to me.
"The Ueno Dam is owned by TPECO and supplies energy to the nearby town and Tokyo."
"The most relevant point at the moment is that much of the electricity fresh from the generators goes to a nearby company called Matsumoto Chemicals, one of the main distributors of equipment for the I.S.C. medical section."
"If the attack is successful, it will cause losses to the I.S.C."
"The generator complex is located 4 kilometers southeast of Dad''s current location."
"But it is underground and has an approximate extension of about 4 kilometers more of tunnels and halls."
"Due to the depth, there is no way to contact the interior, so once inside, we cannot get much information.
"Our main information is the security cameras, which we are already showing on TV.
As they say, I look at the television, where I could see some of the security cameras, but as they mentioned, some of them were damaged, probably deliberately damaged by these people. The only thing we could get from them was the audio, but not the video.
"We have managed to steal the plans and have devised the most effective plan to rescue Haru, but since the hostages have been divided into smaller groups, we do not believe that we will be able to prevent them from hurting the other hostages once they realize the escape.
"Haru is currently with mother Tamamo, the teacher Xian is in the third group in a maintenance room 30 meters to the north.
"The plan is only to rescue Haru, there is no way to rescue the other hostages due to lack of information." The Android twins speak in perfect sync again.
"I think I have an idea."
"Tamamo is a goddess, and although we do not know what she can do or the extent of her power, she may be able to amplify the telecommunication waves."
"Or, as she said in the past, she can watch people from the sky, so she could take a look and tell us the situation quickly."
"In any case, be prepared for whatever absurd thing she can come up with and use it to our advantage."
"Meanwhile...."
" We have no more time"
"Cesar, you already heard everything, right?"
"Take Xian''s car and enter the generator complex"
"Your main goal is to get Haru out of there and contact Tamamo to find a way to get more information."
"If we can get more information, we will try to make a plan on the fly and rescue Xian and the other students"
"Otherwise, just get out of there with the two of them."
"Do not focus on the explosives unless it is an immediate danger to the mission, as we do not know if they really plan to activate them or it is just a distraction."
"Kazumi try to download the map of the place to Cesar''s smartphone and the instructions on how to navigate the complex."
"Charlotte, you check the communications and movements of both the armed people and the police," I try to make a makeshift plan with so little information and trust in my son''s skills.
"We are having a bit of a problem with the data transfer capacity we can currently handle if we follow these instructions."
"We are currently using the laptop that Dad has in the bedroom as a waypoint and encryption to access the Internet, so we have a bottleneck in terms of the Internet bandwidth that the computer can handle."
"The home Internet is superior, but we cannot use it to its maximum capacity."
"We can only do one of these jobs," Charlotte said.
"I can take care of that!" Momo, the crystal angel, came down the stairs with a slightly sleepy face.
"I''m sorry you got up so early because of the noise, but we have a big emergency right now," I apologized to her.
"Don''t worry, I understand everything.
"I was listening more or less."
"You both need to have better access to the Internet"
"I think I can do that, but I need to know what they prefer and if the budget fits," said a confident Momo.
"Don''t worry about the price, I will try to get everything in record time to make this work".
"What would you two prefer to be able to handle the data better?" I indicated to the twins
"In that case, we would like to have direct connections with the Internet access of the house".
"If it can get physical connection will be better, we can connect our own cables that we have in the waist will be the best".
"Well, I have never seen an input cable type like this, but I think I can improvise a cable, and maybe use an Internet switch to pass it to the fiber optic modem".
"Since Internet bandwidth is as important as speed, I will look for one with easy access in stores.
"We can upgrade it later.
"But as you can see, I can''t go out and buy it.
"I mean, I can, it will just cause panic and some nuns coming to pray later."
"Don''t worry, just give me the list of things now and I will ask someone to bring it in the next few minutes.
"Try to make the improvised cable while we finish your shopping list.
"Kazumi sent the information to Cesar, we will collect more information later"
"Cesar, you can start the rescue operation now!" I said to everyone close to me.
"You know, the truth is that I do not like dark places, and even less tunnels, I have a little bad history with them".
"So it''s not like I''m happy to have to go into one right now."
"I think I have to apologize in advance if I get a little emotional and lose my composure in there".
"I''m only doing this to get Tamamo out of there" Said Cesar over the phone.
"Yeah, yeah, we all know about your fear of the dark and tunnels PTSD, I don''t care right now"
"Get over it and go there now and find a way to save these people.
"Cool"
"One day your family is happy to have you back with them after two wars, and the next they ask you to face your fears, enter a tunnel, and rescue the hostages of a terrorist group at national threat level."
"Or well, the things I do for my love"
"I''m sorry for you, Maria, but you stay here, take the train or walk back home." Said Cesar to her sister.
"Hey, there was no need to push me out of the car!" I think I heard Maria in the background of the call.
Cesar may act like that, but I''m sure he''s super nervous inside right now, he certainly doesn''t like the idea of having to fight in there. But what else can we do? We do not know exactly what this group wants or plans to do, the police will take a long time to get there and they will try to gather information, and the worst part is that we do not know if they really have planted bombs. Today will undoubtedly be a terrible day for the people involved.
Ch54: Into The Abyss
Into The Abyss
Kanagawa hydropower plant complex, Gunma Prefecture, Japan.
February 19
8:10
When I was little and watched TV, I remember loving a show about cars racing down a mountain pass. I also remember imagining that one day, when I grew up, I would have my own car and practice driving like that as a hobby. Well, it seems that day has come, because driving a powerful gasoline-powered Ford Mustang at full speed down a Japanese mountain pass in winter, trying not to get myself killed, requires using all those hours I wasted imagining myself driving a car. I had to be precise with speed, direction, and knowing the limits of where the car had grip or started to lose traction so I could use it to my advantage. I had to drive fast, there were people to save, and I had to get to the generator complex at the dam.
The mission plan wasn''t good at all, but there was no other option. I had no way of knowing what to expect inside, but there was going to be a fight. Due to the nature of an underground tunnel, any communication with the outside world is impossible. In addition, in such a closed and isolated space, the sound of weapons will be heard much farther and louder, making it easy to alert the other terrorists. So the plan will be to go in and try to be as stealthy as possible, try not to be seen, minimize any noise, and reserve any shots until the last moment, because this place reminds me a lot of the Shadow Moses complex, only without the nuclear weapons. And just like that incident, I have a group of terrorists, hostages, and bombs ready to blow everything up, plus the pressure of the police arriving in about 40 minutes, bringing even more chaos.
As I approach at full speed, I can see the entrance to the tunnel that leads to the complex. Two armed men dressed in black stand guard, protecting the entrance. When they see the car coming at them at full speed, they raise their guns to fire. But I don''t slow down and swerve to hit one of them. I don''t brake until I see the man''s body fall back in the mirror. Then I stick my hand out the window and shoot the other guard. Once the area is secure, I put the car back in gear and continued into the darkness of the tunnel.
Although the situation is not as extreme this time, I still can''t shake the feeling of nervousness and unease. It''s easy to draw parallels with the horrible experience of being trapped in the Moscow metro tunnels or the helplessness in Atlantis. Even though this place is better maintained and well-lit, I can still feel my own pulse, my hands shaking, the feeling that everything I''m doing is wrong or misguided. My breathing feels heavy, as if each breath is an effort. My mind keeps thinking that everything that''s happening is just a lie, as if it''s not really happening to me, as if I''m watching a movie, but the possibility of dying is real. I have to concentrate, everything will be fine. This is not the place to lose control and unleash the real evil.
After driving two kilometers through the tunnel, I turned off the engine of the car and drove on with the momentum I had, finally stopping the car in a small parking lot where the school bus that the terrorists had hijacked was also parked. The vehicle was now empty, clearly indicating that its passengers had been taken inside. Fortunately, there were no enemies in the area; it seemed the terrorists hadn''t expected anyone to arrive so early to attack them. They were probably still preparing and fortifying their position. I must strike quickly before they have a chance to set up an effective defense. I quickly glanced at the map on my phone and took the service door to the right, a narrow and poorly lit passage, but perfect for moving around unseen before the party started.
On today''s menu, I have an old but reliable MP5 with a 40-round magazine. It''s capable of doing some damage, but I''ll be in trouble if they''re wearing body armor; it''s best to aim for the head whenever possible. I also have a bulletproof vest with pouches to carry the magazines, the pistol I stole from Vienna, my survival knife, and lastly, my smartphone with the map, which I taped over my parka with some metal tape for easy and quick access. I have my fox ears uncovered to better hear what is going on around me and try to find my enemies before they find me. But when the gunfire starts, they''re going to be a real pain in the ears, even though there''s nothing I can do about it. I turn left at the next intersection and have to go 100 meters, then right, then straight on.
Shit!
A terrorist at the end of the hallway saw me and raised his weapon, so to prevent him from firing and setting off the alarm, I threw my submachine gun at him to distract him long enough to get close and stab him in the neck with my knife. I covered his mouth so his companions wouldn''t hear the sound of his misery. The blood started to gush out like a fountain that wouldn''t stop, so after the man stopped moving and fighting for his life, I moved his body behind some large machines where it would be hard to notice at first glance and where he could die in privacy. Checking his equipment, I noticed it was of high quality, with his weapon full of accessories, a military-grade bulletproof vest, and a shortwave radio that might work, but would only communicate with people inside the tunnel. He also had a military-style helmet and balaclava. Everything but the radio was hard to get in Japan, especially things like weapons, which were practically NATO standard.
Leaving the dead man behind, I returned to my path and followed a corridor filled with machines that led to what seemed to be a warehouse. According to what the android twins had seen through the security cameras, this was the place where Haru and Tamamo were. That also meant that there had to be a camera here, and they were watching me right now. However, I tried not to be distracted and concentrated on my task: finding more terrorists, killing them, securing the passage, and getting Haru out of here safely. But no matter how much I searched, there was no one around, which seemed rather strange since there should have been at least one guard with the most important hostage, right?
But as I walked further into the warehouse, I noticed a strange smell, one that was terrifying, one that was hard to forget. The stench came from behind a partially open door. In a panic, I walked through it and looked inside. Two bodies lay on the floor, brutally charred. There was little left of what the fire victims once were, just the skeletons of adults. A few pieces of melted metal were scattered among the remains, probably the armor plates from bulletproof vests. Everything else was so destroyed that it was impossible to tell what was what. Judging by the height of the bodies, it was clear that neither of them could have been a student. This was probably Tamamo''s work; I don''t think anyone else has a flamethrower that can melt metal like she can with her magic. The question now was: where was she? If Kazumi and Charlotte saw Haru locked up here, it means that Tamamo was with her and helped her to escape on her own. But I didn''t meet them on my way here. Could it be that they got lost, or are they hiding somewhere else where the terrorists can''t find them? Either way, there''s no point in staying here. I have to keep moving.
If the hostages were divided into smaller groups to prevent them from escaping all at once, the terrorists would probably try to keep them closer to themselves so they could watch them closely. This also means that they would be close to their main target, which appears to be the generator room where they are placing the explosives. Consequently, I must go there to rescue her, with time running out by the minute.
Leaving the room, the route marked on the map of the place only showed the exit from here, but nothing else, there was no other instruction. Now I was completely on my own, so I followed the easiest solution. Read the signs that showed the names of the rooms. I went into a rather long corridor, then into a rather narrow one, and then came to an intersection with several tunnels. I did not know where to go now, I scratched my head for half a second trying to figure out what to do, but suddenly one of the lights in one of the tunnels seemed to be malfunctioning, turning on and off at intervals. It seemed strange to me that out of so many tunnels, only one would begin to fail at that very moment, trying to find an explanation for the mysterious I trusted that it was the work of my daughters. I decided to follow this tunnel. As I began to walk along it, I noticed that the lights near me began to have the same erratic behavior, but from those that I was moving away. I think they are trying to guide me to the right place, so I follow them.
In one of the corridors, I find two men guarding a door, surely there are hostages behind it. They were alert because of the flickering lights. But taking advantage of a more or less long moment of darkness, I managed to get behind one of them and twist his neck, albeit with difficulty. When the lights came back on, the other one, just a few feet from me, was terrified to see me and his partner dead in my hands. I immediately jumped and killed him in the same way, although he grunted in his most horrible voice as he drowned, I quickly went through his pockets and found the key they used and opened the door.
Inside was another guard and Haru on the floor with her eyes closed. With no time to do much, I threw myself against him again and we both fell to the ground. I pulled out the knife again to kill him, but suddenly he hit me in the stomach and managed to throw me back a few meters, he pulled out a spear from nowhere, but he did not attack me with it. I knew that spear, it was one of the goddess''s sacred weapons my wife used.
"Wait a moment, please, Goshujin-sama!"
"It''s me! Tamamo!"
"The cute kitsune! I''m only in disguise!"
Right after she spoke, the room filled with smoke that dissipated in a second, revealing the original form she used every day, including her fox ears and nine tails.
"Damn, try to warn me before you scare me like that."
"I almost did something stupid because you were dressed like the enemy," I replied.
"I was planning to escape with Haru after taking out two more guards, but then a second group showed up and I had to trick them a bit to hide with her here."
"My idea now was to wait for the right moment to escape, but those two guards didn''t want to leave."
"I guess it was my fault for trying to play the hero, knowing that you would come to rescue me no matter what."
"Don''t worry, you handled the situation pretty well, considering it''s your first time."
Stolen story; please report."You did a good job of protecting Haru."
"By the way, how is she?" I asked my wife, looking down the hall in case more armed men came.
"She''s sleeping well."
"I put a sleep curse on her so she won''t be a problem during the rescue."
"That talisman there is the curse; if you remove it, she''ll wake up a few minutes later."
"Excellent, good idea."
"The last thing I want is a panicked girl in the middle of a gunfight."
"Try to get her to the parking lot in the tunnel; the route should be clear for now."
"Here, these are the keys to Xian''s car. It''s next to the bus; take it and get Haru out of here."
"I know you don''t know how to drive, but make an effort. The tunnel is just a straight road, so you can''t get lost."
"Just insert the key and turn it, the car will start, lower the handbrake lever, it''s next to the driver''s seat, and press the lever behind the steering wheel with the plus symbol. Then just press the big pedal to go forward."
"The steering wheel turns the car left or right, just try not to hit the walls.
"When you''re outside, use the other two pedals you didn''t use, lift the first lever you touched, remove the key and take it out, the car will be off."
"Simple, right? You got all that, right?"
"......."
"Yes... yes... I got it..." Tamamo said timidly.
"Perfect, that''s why they call you the wise one, right?"
"Now for the second part."
"Do you know where the others are? I still need to find 16 more students and a teacher."
"The leader of the terrorists ordered them all to be put in the other corridor on the other side of the main generator room."
"I think they''re near a staircase, but I don''t know where it leads."
"They''re close to the main group and the leader, so it will be much harder to get them out without being detected," Tamamo tried to warn me.
I carefully checked the time on my watch and the stifling passage of time; there wasn''t much left.
"There''s not much time to be careful."
"The terrorists are placing explosives in some tunnels; I think they''ll use them when the police arrive, who must be close by now."
"I''m going to try something stupid and take them out as fast as I can before everything collapses and buries us alive."
"As if that''s not enough, there''s no signal for phones inside the caves, so there''s no way to communicate with the outside or know what''s going on."
"By any chance, do you have anything that can transmit messages?"
"You''re a goddess, surely you have something that doesn''t need radio towers."
"Well, I can create some illusions to communicate with you during a dream."
"Something like a divine vision."
"Tamamo, do you really think sleeping here is a good idea?"
"You''re right..."
"But if I do something too conspicuous without a good reason, THE BOSS won''t be too happy."
"....."
"Oh! What about these talismans here? They can send messages, but they have some limitations."
""They only work for receiving messages, though. If you talk, I won''t be able to hear you, and they get used up every time they''re used... and I only have two left."
"I''ve seen you at home; you like to make magic talismans all the time. Why do you only have two?"
"Well, since everyone has smartphones these days and it''s easy to call anyone, I thought it was a waste to make them."
"Why waste time making disposable magic talismans when I can even send pictures with a device that everyone has?"
"You have a point. I should thank you for making two in the first place."
"All right, give them to me. It''s better than nothing."
"Use one to update me after you talk to my mother."
"Keep the other one and only use it when Adelis tells you to, probably when the police are about to enter the tunnels or something." I said, looking at my watch again.
"....."
"Damn, I hate to rush you, but there are bombs around here. We''d better wrap this up as soon as possible."
"All set?" I asked as I released the safety on my submachine gun, ready for battle.
"Wait! Hold on!"
"Before you go, I... I''d like to know if maybe you have something to talk about."
"I don''t know, something you might have kept to yourself for a long time."
"Is everything okay with you?"
"Remember, I''m here for you, Goshujin-sama."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I don''t understand, is something wrong?"
"Well... I think it''s more surprising that you didn''t notice."
"....."
"Your eyes have completely changed color."
"Your eyes are now scarlet red, and they glow in the dark; it''s scary."
"Oh, is that all..."
"Don''t worry, it''s normal, it happens from time to time and sometimes I can''t control it."
"I think it happens when I''m nervous or something."
"I don''t know if you''ve heard this before, but being in tunnels is not my idea of a good time."
"Don''t pay too much attention to it; it''s still me, after all."
"When I''m outside and this is all over and I''ve had something to eat, they''ll return to their normal pale color."
"There''s nothing to worry about."
"Okay... if you say so."
"But remember, if you need to talk, I''m here."
"Yes, yes, I understand."
"But time is running out!"
"I don''t want to rush you, but get those legs moving."
"Seeing you here is causing me more stress than I already have!"
"All right, see you later, dear."
"I''ll be waiting outside. Good luck." Said Tamamo kissed me goodbye.
After the two of us left the room, Tamamo headed for the exit with Haru on her shoulders and her spear in her hand, while I followed the directions she gave me to try to find the other hostages. I was able to cross the central generator room by crawling through an overpass so they wouldn''t see me, when I got to the other side I could see the hallway Tamamo mentioned and how there were more than 4 floors to the lower floor, but I didn''t have to go down any stairs because near there I could see another door defended by more guards. To create a distraction I took my pistol and threw it across the floor, making them look down while I jumped on one of them to plunge my knife into his throat, then it was just a matter of doing the same to the other. After looking for the keys, I opened the door and went inside with the two dead bodies of the terrorists, in the same room I could see only one person lying on the floor. It was Xian, whose plastic restraints I quickly removed with my knife to talk to her.
"In the parking lot at exit two, there is still the school bus, we can use it to get the others out of here," I told her as I handed her the gun of one of the dead terrorists.
"We can''t leave the others behind, Haru was separated from the others, I think I saw Tamamo go after her," Xian replied as she checked the condition of her weapon like the true professional assassin she was.
"Don''t worry, I already met them on the way here, they should be on their way out by now."
"Any idea who these people are? What are they doing in a power dam that has more in common with a bunker than producing electricity?" I asked.
"I''m sorry, but I have no idea what they''re up to."
"Although there is one of them, the boss, who seems to be wearing an Arksuit."
"Something completely out of the reach of any terrorist group right now.
"Her own companions mention that she looks ridiculous in the armor, suggesting that they don''t know what she''s capable of."
"This is all very strange, it makes no sense to attack a power plant in a neutral country."
"Besides, even though the power plant is important, it''s not like it''s the only one, no matter what they do here, they won''t put Japan in a compromising position."
"There''s nothing to be gained here."
"Kidnapping a group of students has no meaning or purpose other than to ensure that the government will hunt you down until the end of the world," Xian tried to reason.
"That doesn''t matter to us, that''s the job of the police, they''ll take care of it when we get out of here."
"Do you know where the others are? Where are the students?"
"They were taken to a room near here, it''s about 50 meters down the corridor to the right."
"I think they separated me from the others to scare somebody else from doing something stupid like a rescue."
"Okay, all right."
"Let''s get them and get the group out of here in the bus."
"We have to move fast, the cops will be here in ten minutes more or less."
"Try to get them out and keep them from having a panic attack."
"Are you ready? There''s no going back once the shooting starts."
"Yeah, sure, I''m ready."
"It''s time to finally use my experience to save something instead of taking it."
"Perfect."
Following Xian''s lead, we both went to the place where she had seen the students being held. It was another door guarded by more soldiers, but with the help of someone as experienced as her, it was no problem. After finding the keys, I tossed them to Xian so she could unlock the cell where the other students were tied up and blindfolded. The teacher ran in with my knife to cut their bonds one by one, preparing them for the escape, while I stayed outside in the hallway, keeping watch in case enemy reinforcements arrived. The Teacher knocked on the door, signaling that we were ready to leave and complete our mission.
Chaos erupted in less than a second as I saw six armed men emerge from a hallway, walk directly toward our position, and look me straight in the face. They raised their guns and I raised mine. We started shooting at each other. The students in the room started screaming in panic at the sound of the gunfire. Xian quickly used the door as cover and started shooting to help me. The fight was not only fast, but also violent. With two already dead, I called Avalon to take cover in the unprotected hallway. But tragedy struck immediately and without warning when some students, driven by fear, thought of nothing better than to flee, even though there was a fight going on. I fired my submachine gun until it ran out of bullets, trying to cover the morons. In a panic, I reloaded my weapon as quickly as possible to continue shooting and put an end to this. Knowing where my enemies were, I took aim at their positions before peeking out from behind my cover and firing preemptively with the intention of killing them and saving more lives. But as soon as I poked my head out of cover and pulled the trigger, the damage was done; fate was unstoppable. I saw one of my comrades, for some stupid reason I still don''t understand, run in front of me and my weapon. There was nothing I could do; a burst of bullets hit her head, making it explode instantly in a cruel way, but without making her suffer.
Oh my God...
I had killed her. I had killed one of my classmates. I had killed Utagawa, someone who, although I did not really know her beyond her last name, was still someone innocent of all this. But I couldn''t just stand there and do nothing; there were still enemies and more lives to save. More students were in danger. I took cover again and began to reload my weapon for another round of bullets. Xian, in an act of bravery, stepped out of the door she was using as cover to take out the remaining terrorists herself.
I ran to Utagawa''s body to check on her and try to take care of her, but there was really nothing to do, what was left of her lay on the ground bleeding from all sides. I was sad and angry, it had happened again, another time I had made a mistake and someone else had to pay the consequences. Xian was also angry with me and I think she was scolding me. But I couldn''t listen to anything she said, I couldn''t take my eyes off what I had just done. Xian grabbed my shirt and lifted me up, but I didn''t have time for this shit. Tired of the situation I decided to end this myself, I hit her arm and managed to free myself, I told her to continue and get out of here. She was so scared when she saw me that she started running for her life, following the path the other students had taken.
I wasn''t thinking clearly, I just wanted revenge at any cost. I just wanted to pay for the death of that girl with a lot more death, I would make coming here the mistake that ended their low lives, and I had a plan for that.
I went to the second exit tunnel, I found a man who had the detonators, I killed him by banging his head against the ground several times until he exploded. I activated the explosives and went straight to the other exit tunnel, the only exit tunnel left. So if they wanted to get out of here alive, they''d have to go through me, and I wasn''t going to let any of those bastards get out of here alive.
One of the talismans began to burn in a blue flame, but even though there was noise coming from it, I didn''t hear anything. It distracted me from my goal, surely it was the arrival of the police, but that did not matter to me now. I''m not going to let anyone pass by here, I was waiting for them to show up, slowly towards their death. It was time to show them who was the real monster in these tunnels and who was the prey.
Ch55: The Monster In The Dark
The Monster In The Dark
Kanagawa hydropower plant complex, Gunma Prefecture, Japan.
February 19
8:00
***************
Akane POV
***************
We just finished dividing our hostages into smaller groups, which will make them more nervous and prevent them from doing something stupid. After the guards were assigned, the rest were given their assigned tasks. Those who are acting as backup are next to me in the generator room, waiting in case a messenger from the other groups comes asking for reinforcements.
What we have done here is due to the mission Mr. Brandon has given me. Because of the defeats and failures of the previous assault groups, the I.S.C.''s position in the country is very delicate, because although the government trusts us, what the police can find would cause a scandal that would end both the project and the reputation of the government as well as our company. The idea of what we are doing here is to try to create a big national news story that will cause panic and get the attention of the media. With the destruction of this power plant, the most important producer of materials for the I.S.C. medical sector will not be able to meet the demand of our company, and with this we will make an announcement of great losses due to this disaster and the failure of the police. With this, Mr. Brandon announces the arrival of more security agents to take care of the I.S.C., and with them we will be able to treat more people to get Mrs. Adelis and her damn team out of our way.
Since the idea was to cause as much panic as possible, I investigated the place as best I could, and I was lucky enough to find out that a school trip was scheduled to visit this place today, so I took advantage of the fact that we were passing through and kidnapped them to make this as spectacular as possible.
"Ms. Akane!
"What do we do with this girl, the app says she is Haru Yamamoto?"
"Don''t say my name again or I''ll kill you!"
"As for her, take her to a room near the tunnel 1 exit"
"We can get a big advantage if we take her with us for later"
"For you means a bigger pay"
"Tell me which room you put her in when you return"
"!!!?"
"Wait a minute!"
"Who are you?"
"I don''t remember having an extra man in Group Bravo," I ask a man who looks like he came out of nowhere.
"Well, you never told me exactly what to do, so I just followed the main group," the lost man replies.
"Okay, I didn''t have much time to plan everything right now in detail either."
"I think your part was to help the patrol outside."
"Go and help the other two to lock up the girl and then reinforce the outside of the tunnel."
What I did not expect was that the group of students we kidnapped had Inspector Yamamoto''s granddaughter with them. This will cause us to change our plans a bit when we get out of here, so I decided to separate her from the rest of the school group. When I get out of here, I will have to pick her up and take her with me. Also, now that I think about it, I forgot to ask the other man''s code name so that I could better remember what his mission plan was. But how strange, I thought that everyone''s position had been clear before this began.
"Madam, the explosives in tunnel 2 are prepared and ready, Wolf 4 will stay there to watch the place in case the police act in an unexpected way".
"Okay, so start placing the generator bombs now."
We will stay here until we can confirm that the police are in the area, which should be in at least 35 minutes. As soon as they appear, we will fake an escape through tunnel 2 and destroy the generator at the same time. This will cause panic and surprise for the police, who will not be able to react. If they come through tunnel two or use both at the same time, we will use the bombs to get rid of them and make our way through tunnel one. If we have to fight, we will undoubtedly have casualties, but even that does not matter this time because Brandon has indicated from the beginning that it is not necessary for the others to come out alive, so they would rather do me a favor if the police kill them than have me do it afterwards. The same will happen to the hostages if they get caught in the explosion of the generators, more deaths, more tragedy, more interest from the news, the more it wins for us.
"Hell, Wolf 2 should have installed the communication relay long ago, otherwise we can''t communicate with each other down here. I just need you to tell me where the cops are coming from."
"You two go and see what he''s doing."
"Finish the installation now."
"Roger."
There are now 20 minutes until the police arrive in the area, we should actually be finished by now. One of my men appeared running through one of the tunnels, he comes at full speed worried, it seems there is more bad news.
"Madam, we found two bodies near the one in Tunnel 1, they were in front of the room you used to lock up the girl, now it is empty.
"They were burned like charcoal."
"We could not find Wolf 2 either, he does not appear anywhere".
"Only two bodies in front of Haru''s cell?"
"That there weren''t three guards?"
"Where is the other one? the lost one?"
"We do not know"
Something is out of place. Something is happening that I am not aware of. Are the police here yet? No, they have no way to get to this area faster than helicopters. But what if another police team was nearby and I managed to get in, they would probably think about rescuing the hostages while reinforcements arrived. Anyway, the situation is wrong now, there is no other way, we will make our plans ahead of time and get out of here.
"You six check the hostages.
"The people over there finish setting the explosives"
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it."The rest come with me"
"We will leave when they finish assembling the explosives."
After that, they followed my orders without question. These people are originally from one of the most dangerous drug cartels in Mexico, but the I.S.C. contacted their leaders and reached an agreement to send us some of their men for this mission, in exchange for their leaders receiving some kind of reward. Those who accompany me have no idea that their bosses expect them to be murdered here, but that does not mean I can kill them yet, first I must ensure my own safety, then I will take care of those who are left alive.
Several minutes had passed, but there was no news of the people who had been sent to search the area. There was only silence in the tunnel. Something was wrong, there was no doubt about it. We have to get out of here ...
*BOOOOM!!!!*
A loud explosion could be heard everywhere, the sound was enormous, almost deafening despite the headphones we had. The sight that came from the tunnel was so strong that it threw us to the ground and the shaking was so brutal that many things fell as well as the lights began to fail.
"What the hell just happened?"
"Since we are still alive, it must have been the explosives from Tunnel 2!"
"But I haven''t given the order to use them yet!"
"Did the police activate them?"
"Idiot, the police wouldn''t do something so stupid!"
"Whatever caused it doesn''t matter, this just went to hell"
"We have to get out of here"
"He''s right, now that the second tunnel has been destroyed, we need to get out of here right away."
"You have the detonator of the generators at hand"
"We will force our way out through Tunnel 1"
"We will activate the explosives when we are halfway out."
My team and I started walking towards the exit, there were 8 of us left. Seven heavily armed men with me and my arksuit, we could still win against a police assault team. As for the escape, not everything went as well as we wanted, because now the tunnels were difficult to walk through due to some debris, in addition to how much they failed, it made seeing the road quite difficult. We made enough progress through one of the connecting tunnels to reach exit tunnel 1. But as the first man passed by, something brutal happened.
In one of the beams of light from the bulbs, we saw how Tunnel 1 was guarded by a little girl who, when she saw us, ran towards us, the event happening so quickly that it was impossible to see where she had gone. When the light came back half a second later, the girl was now on the head of the man who had the detonator, and with her arms she tore off the head with almost no effort with her big claws, at the end of raising the man''s head the body fell. We were all paralyzed to see such a display of cruelty, which the little creature took advantage of, drawing a gun and firing repeatedly at another man. Then the lights went out for just a second, and in that second she was out of sight.
Without saying anything, the six of us who were left approached and formed a circle, all of us facing in one direction so that we would not be surprised by its next attack. But once again, that thing like a dragon of death jumped to us attacked in a strange way that we did not expect. A huge sword fell from the roof of the tunnel, huge and heavy, and it landed on one of us. That person was cut in two in a bloody manner. In the darkness, for a split second, we could see some traces of light, they were our shots in the direction of where we thought the creature was. It was just chaos and noise, we thought we had hit her. But when the light came back for a few seconds, there were only three more bodies on the ground. They were shattered, one had his arms cut off, another was impaled on one of the pipes coming out of the tunnel, and the last one was missing his head as well. That thing had somehow managed to kill three more men in the dark, right in front of us, but we couldn''t see it. This was not the work of the police or the Alliance. What was here was a monster, one that used the darkness as an extension of itself, a predator that hunted for fun. The violence of the deaths was completely unnecessary, but whoever this thing was had made his position on violence clear.
The light went out again and with it came another series of attacks from the monster. There was only me and another man left, so we went back into the small tunnel from before. But suddenly my energy shield was activated and I could see how the shield had blocked several shots coming from above, just above me. Without wasting a second, I shot up without looking, but nothing happened, then I saw two small red trails fall just below me, the creature was looking into my eyes. The lights came back on and I could see that I had a little white girl in front of me, but even though I knew her, my mind refused to see her as she really was. What I saw was a monster hunting for her next victim. This time she had two long knives and she came at me. One of them was thrown so absurdly fast that my shield recognized as a bullet it and stopped it, the other one tried to cut me with it a little bit more slowly, but I managed to dodge it. Seeing that she had failed in her attempt at light, the hunter took a few steps back into an area of darkness until only her red eyes were visible. Then she closed them and the lights of the whole place went out beside her. There was only darkness around me and that thing was taking advantage of it.
Suddenly I heard a scream of agony and death behind me, the next thing I saw when I turned around was the giant sword falling from the ceiling right above me as if from nowhere. The shield of my arksuit returned to protect me even though it was about to shatter, I could barely see the silhouette of the monster holding the sword, who, seeing that it had failed again, retreated to a deeper part of the tunnel. I waited for his next attack, which could come at any time, anywhere. But after a few minutes nothing happened. I thought this was my chance to escape, so I turned around to get out of there.
The monster was already there, I didn''t know how long it had been watching me from there. But I was in complete panic, that monster would undoubtedly kill me, the question was how violent my death would be. I used the last of my will and fired my weapon, but I saw that it was in vain, it was useless. The monster dodged it easily and I was out of bullets. The stalker put her hands on my neck and squeezed me. The air began to leave me, she was trying to strangle me. I lacked the strength to do anything about it. And the face that the white monster made was a smile, she smiled when she saw my panicked face while I was drowning.
I was already at my limit, I was losing consciousness, it was going to be my end unless a miracle happened. And as if my plea had been heard by some God, another flash of lightning struck the white monster, sending it flying a few feet. I turned to see who my savior was, but I did not see an angel, for there was none. What stood in its place was another monster. It was a girl with a suit that I had never seen before and her skin seemed a bit as if it was formed by something dark like a demon, her shape seemed to be as cruel as mad like the monster of before, and half of her face that was covered by her black hair could only be seen a smile just as disturbed as that of the white monster, she seemed to have wings and also horns, like a dark summond just to make things worse.
"Finally I can find you again, Elise"
"Now you will finally surrender to me!"
"I''m going to make you pay for what you did," the blue monster said.
Then she pounced on the thing that tried to kill me and began to fight each other. I didn''t know what the hell was going on, and I didn''t want to know. The arksuit was not that damaged and its engines had more than enough power to spare. It was almost suicide to try to fly something like that at full power in a confined space like a tunnel, but it was either that or certain death at the hands of one of those two demons. So I began to pray, started the engines, and began to fly through the darkness of the tunnel, leaving all that hell behind.
Ch56: Demon From The Past
Demon From The Past
Kanagawa hydropower plant complex, Gunma Prefecture, Japan.
February 19
8:50 AM
*****************
Tamamo POV
*****************
It had been a long time since I had seen warriors rise up in arms. It''s incredible how time has changed so many things, yet not everything. Sometimes, many things stay the same. A thousand years ago, I saw the greatest warriors of Japan rise up in arms to hunt me down, giving their lives in the belief that they were protecting their homeland. And now, so much later, I''m seeing new warriors rise up in arms under the same words. Now the humans have mastered the skies with what they call helicopters, and from them come those who could be considered the best warriors in all of Japan, moving in precise numbers. Their weapons are no longer swords or spears; firearms have taken their place. But their uniforms, shields, and armor remain the same. According to Okaa-san, these warriors are the Tokushu Ky¨±sh¨± Butai, the best soldiers who train their entire lives to maintain security and order. To see them here means that the threat in the tunnels of the power plant is indeed a very serious matter for the government.
But they weren''t the only ones to arrive. Next to them were a large number of vehicles with lights on their roofs to prevent people from entering or leaving - a huge police support team to back up the main assault that was already underway. A heavy black truck began to move slowly, followed by the heavily armored warriors, trying to shield themselves from any attacks with the metal beast. Their progress was slow but steady; each step was ground gained.
When Inspector Yamamoto arrived in his car, I came out of the woods and handed Haru over to him. She had been sleeping with me the whole time. I told him a little white lie, saying that we had stayed in the bathroom with Elise and Maria, so Haru was saved from being kidnapped as well because we were hiding together. I did mention, however, that Haru had fainted from the stress. Several paramedics came to check on her, but they gave us the all-clear a few minutes later. Haru woke up after I removed the cursed talisman from her back. Meanwhile, I was bombarded with questions, mainly about where the terrorists were, if I had seen them, and what they were wearing. But soon Haru''s grandfather arrived and managed to stop them from harassing me.
Just as he spoke, the school bus driven by Xian emerged from the tunnel, accompanied by several warriors. One by one, they brought out the students, who were immediately taken care of. As I counted the number of freed hostages, I noticed that one was missing - a girl named Utagawa was nowhere to be found. My dear Goshujin-sama, who had gone in to rescue them some time ago, was also still missing. It probably won''t be long before he comes out and I can finally rest.
But despite the time that passed, C¨¦sar did not appear, while the police seemed to be focused on checking each tunnel for possible enemies or hidden traps. The phone in my pocket began to ring, and when I answered it, I realized it was Okaa-san. She told me that she was already near the site, as she had personally come in one of those helicopters to pick up Maria and get us out of here, as any mother concerned for her children would do. Not long after that, I saw a helicopter that was very different from all the others I had seen today - much larger and more heavily protected. It landed nearby on a part of the road that had been evacuated for this purpose. Several armed men stepped out of the vehicle to secure the area, and the next to step out of the helicopter was my beloved Okaa-san, with Maria behind her, waving to me. I tried to wave back, but the noise from the vehicle was so loud that I couldn''t even hear myself. However, she handed me a pair of headphones, and as soon as I put them on, she spoke loud and clear.
"These headphones are for communication, they''re for the helicopter crew."
"I see things have really gotten busy around here."
"Do you know where the hell C¨¦sar is?"
"He should be out there before the police arrive."
"No, I''m sorry, I have no idea where he is."
"He told me that he would try to rescue the other students, and it seems that they''ve already escaped with Xian''s help."
"However, one student is still missing. Utagawa wasn''t with the rest of the group."
"He''s probably still inside trying to find her."
"Interesting vehicle, by the way. I was quite curious to see the soldiers arrive in one of these, but how did you get permission to use it?"
"Well, believe it or not, I''m still a high-ranking Alliance officer."
"So I called the US Army base to borrow a helicopter to pick up Maria."
"They were very kind and understanding when I explained what was happening.
"Besides, we can use the helicopter as an excuse to pick up my daughter and get C¨¦sar out of here as soon as possible."
"If the police catch him, it will be a big mess."
"Hey, you told C¨¦sar to come to the helicopter when he got out, right?"
"Yes, I used the two message talismans to tell him about your plan. But as you can see, he still hasn''t come out of the tunnel."
"Do you think something happened to him?"
"The police are reporting the discovery of more dead armed men at the scene," I heard the voice of one of our daughters, although she was not here thanks to the headphones.
"Damn, I don''t like this at all."
"Cesar doesn''t seem like the kind of soldier who would disobey orders without a good reason".
"Something must have happened"
"......" Okaa-san quickly considered her options.
"There is no other option"
"Tamamo, I need your help"
"Is there any way you can help Cesar out of this?"
"Preferably without causing too much fuss"
"Well, if that''s the case, I think if I transform into a fox, I could go through the tunnel without the police paying attention to me."
"If I find it, I could get much bigger and run through the exit."
"If the police see a three meter tall fox running towards them, I am sure they will be distracted enough not to notice Cesar on my back."
"Well, it would be like robbing a bank to hide the theft of a phone, but it can work."
"Okay, we will do that."
"Pay attention."
"Get in there and get Cesar out right now, okay?"
"Everything else doesn''t matter anymore, time''s already up."
"Don''t save anyone else, even if they are dying and there is a chance"
"Understood?"
"OK"
Just as I answered, the ground began to move violently, and everyone screamed in panic. But as suddenly as it began, so suddenly did it end. It did not seem to be an earthquake because it was too short.
"Police report collapse of Exit Tunnel 2"
"It seems that it was the explosives planted by the terrorists."
"Dad wasn''t there, according to the cameras."
"The police also report no casualties on their side."
"Cesar!"
"Tamamo, go and save him now"
"When you are done, come back here immediately"
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."I''ll keep the helicopter waiting, as soon as you arrive we''ll leave immediately."
"Don''t let anyone see you transform"
"All right!"
"This is finally my chance to save my beloved Goshujin-sama this time.
"I will not fail.
I quickly went into the forest and changed my form. Then, as fast as my legs would allow me, I entered the tunnel to save my love.
"Hey, what is that?"
"It''s a fox!"
"Wait, it goes into the tunnel"
"And who cares!"
"Surely the tremor has frightened it and it is seeking refuge"
"Stay focused, you dumbass!"
**************
Cesar POV
**************
First the damn terrorist group, and now a goddamn demon is in my way. Why the hell am I so unlucky? First of all, what is she doing here? What does she have to do with me, since I don''t remember doing anything to them or their faction?
I was near the damned tunnel, the same one that led to the outside and freedom. But now I was in a deadly fight against a new enemy, one I was completely unfamiliar with despite my long history of dealing with the crap of the past. In front of me stood what appeared to be a beautiful girl. She had an incredibly alluring and well-endowed lewd body, only accentuated by her lusty, revealing way of dressing. But on that same body were the marks of the evil she truly was, with the horns on her head, her light blue skin, her violent black wings, and her cursed eyes, completely devoid of color except for the black and two bright black pupils that stood out, as well as her devilish smile that never stopped showing, along with her split tongue. She was just there, laughing creepily, enjoying the fight and the trouble she was causing with her taunts.
"Today will finally be the day I kill you, Elise!"
"You''ll pay for everything you''ve done to me and him!"
"Sorry, but I don''t even know who you are."
"I don''t remember ever doing anything with a crazy demon."
"I''m sure that would have made a serious impression on me to forget."
"Damn it, stop faking it!"
"Shit! She''s fast!"
A police assault team had run head-on into us, and surely seeing us fighting, they decided to shoot first and ask questions later. I dodged quickly and got behind Avalon, I could hear the bullets ricocheting to the other side. Hell, this is not like the police. Normally they would try to arrest suspects, even in situations like this. After all, they want to have someone to question and blame later. And especially when they see almost two girls fighting without weapons. They are definitely in a bad mood. Damn, I''m not in the mood for this shit.
"Weak fools, don''t get in my way" The girl would giggle now if she used her old pirate flincklock pistols and shot the police.
Because the first policeman had a bulletproof shield, the shot bounced back, then the three behind him responded by firing again. The blue girl, apparently responding to the provocation, rushed at them. For my part, seeing how bad my situation was, I decided to throw a smoke grenade in their direction. Due to the enclosed nature of this place, the entire room quickly filled with smoke, making it impossible to see anything. With that and a hand to guide me, I went into a corridor that led further into the complex.
If the police were already here, it meant that I had to run now. My time was up, and they must see me as a threat. It''s only a matter of time before they send more to my position. But there is only one way out of here and the police are already protecting it. I''ll have to force my way through. Damn, there are two groups in this tunnel! Fuck them, I pass here!
There were two groups of 5 men each, separated by about 10 meters. As soon as they all saw me, they raised their guns and told me to stop trying to make an arrest. I did not want to give them the pleasure, so I threw another smoke grenade, stolen from the terrorists, into the middle of the groups and ran closer to the first group. I kicked the first one in the chin, sending him flying toward the other two who were behind him, then jumped to the left, where another of the cops was, and delivered a direct punch to his face, shattering the protective glass of his helmet. I picked up the rifle that had just been dropped on the previous man and threw it at the last one who was still standing. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was now distracted, I ran into the smoke to get to the next group and get out of here.
Although killing them would be much easier, it would only cause me more problems in the future, so it was better to just hit them and leave them behind at the slightest opportunity. The other group I was able to dispatch just as quickly and without any major problems, I continued towards one of the corridors that led me to the exit tunnel. But as soon as I turned, I saw a scythe coming at me at full speed, and I immediately fell to the ground, managing to avoid it. I turned my head to see the girl in blue across the hall, still waiting for me to fight again.
"Can''t we save this for another day?"
"I don''t have time for this right now."
"You won''t see another day, bitch."
She put her hand in a dark part of the tunnel and took out the scythe that must have been behind me again, then she lunged at me to attack me. I dodged her attack again and tried to hit her by throwing my knives at her, but she made another one of those strange movements and when she reappeared she was in front of me again with her fist just inches away from my face. I resisted the blow, but it threw me off balance. She tried to make me see that trick again, but stopped in the middle when she seemed to hurt herself again with it somehow.
What a pathetic fight we were having. It seemed like we''d never end if I just ran away and she just tried to hurt me. If I wanted to end this, I would have to get serious again, but if I did that now, I might get excited again and kill a policeman by mistake. But she didn''t leave me any other choice. But then a sound flooded the corridor, it was footsteps, the footsteps of a beast, it seemed to be the footsteps of a running dog. Out of the darkness, at the end of the corridor, I saw a small fox running toward us. Seeing that there was a good chance that it was Tamamo, I moved away from the blue girl, knowing that my wife would surely try to do something impressive or strange.
The fox jumped quite high, smoke came out of her, and when it dissipated, she appeared in her place, holding a hand fan, one made of metal. It looked more like a weapon than a utensil, it seemed to be another of Tamamo''s goddess weapons. She used her fan with one hand, but the amount of wind that came out of it was not comparable to her size. The gust of wind was so strong that it sent both of us flying down the hall. Tamamo grabbed my hand in the air and pushed me away from where the demon had fallen.
"Cesar, you have to get out of here."
"Grab me by the neck and hold on tight."
"I''m going to get you out of here now."
"Okay"
I did exactly as she said and suddenly there was another explosion of smoke. When it was finished, it was sitting on the back of a giant fox. But even though she looked fierce, I was not afraid because I knew that she was Tamamo and that she would do anything to protect me. After seeing that I would not fall easily, she started running at full speed through the exit tunnel. The speed we had was alarming, as she was undoubtedly faster than the car I came in, and her size was now considerable, as she covered almost a large part of the tunnel. As we approached the exit, I could hear the police being surprised by the giant fox running at full speed towards them. Some screamed in terror and others ran for the exit as well. When we passed a group of several men, I threw the last smoke grenade I had gotten from the terrorists back at them. This way the policemen we passed could not see us because of the smoke in the tunnel.
When we finally got out, there were several police patrol cars and more police waiting for us. Tamamo did not stop at all and ran even faster, and when we reached the street and everyone was alarmed by the appearance of the giant fox, she jumped fearlessly into the forest. I don''t know how we didn''t hit a tree, but once we were in the forest, she just kept running, climbing up the mountain. Shortly after I heard the sound of a waiting helicopter, Tamamo stopped, returned to her normal form, and walked toward the helicopter. Inside, Maria and my mother were waiting for me, the latter angry about my actions. Tamamo stood up and sat down next to me. And to my surprise, other armed men came out of the same forest and also got on the helicopter that was taking off.
Wait, what is Cedric doing here? where is he coming from? Wasn''t he supposed to be in Europe or something?
Ch57: National Security Issue
National Security Issue
National Security Council, Nagata-ch¨, Chiyoda, Tokyo
February 21
10:00
An important meeting was taking place in a part of the building. Several of the country''s leaders and officials were present, all with serious faces and some with worried expressions. And how could they not be, because just a few days ago, one of the most important facilities in the country was surprised by a terrorist attack by an unidentified group, and what is worse, they have no idea who finished it all before them.
Some generals continued to read the police reports. Some leaders blamed other defense departments for what happened. If they agreed on anything, it was that there was no agreement among them. The meeting just wasn''t getting anywhere with their arguments. Suddenly, a person entered the room, it was Senator Yoshida, a very important and influential person in security decisions, even called the Guadian of Japan. He was an older man, close to 60 years old, his constitution was quite large, but when he saw a healthy person, in his eyes you could see decision and certainty His appearance at the meeting was expected, what was unexpected was who accompanied him, he was not someone unknown, but someone who was not thought to be in the country, was Mr. Miyazaki, a man of forty years, he looked like the typical man from a government office, he wore glasses and with his identity stamp, a cigarette that at this point was already part of his face. His job was in the Japanese embassy in the United States, making sure to collect information that could compromise the country''s security, and to see him back before his planned return could only mean serious problems.
"One of Tokyo''s most important electrical installations damaged, a dozen terrorists killed, a high school student dead with her head missing."
"And the police who only came to clean up the damage from a battle we do not know why it started or what their intentions were."
"Three groups of elite soldiers made fools of by a single person whose identity we do not know".
"I think it goes without saying that this is a worrying situation for the security of the country."
"And I take the time to cancel my vacation in Costa Rica, when I already arrived at the hotel, only to run into a bunch of people yelling at each other," Mr. Yoshida mentioned, silencing the others.
Everyone went back to their seats and sat down to listen to what he was saying, like students listening to their teacher. Moreover, although they did not want to admit it, part of it happened because he was absent from work because he was on his well-deserved vacation. Everyone at the bottom felt responsible for the failure.
"The Prime Minister, who was already under pressure from the press, now has to deal with this as well." Mr. Yoshida continued.
"And if we can''t do anything, we''ll probably be the ones following him on the front pages of the newspapers."
"..."
"I have already checked the reports on the plane and I am aware that the situation could not have been stranger."
"That''s why I am not going to blame anyone in particular."
"But even with uncertainties, we can''t just sit idly by."
"Mr. Miyasaki here took the liberty of looking for me and contacting me about what he was investigating."
"I think he can provide some information about what we are dealing with here."
Mr. Miyazaki then took a few steps forward and placed several folders on the table, each for those present at the meeting. They were ordinary paper folders with a few pages, but they had a peculiarity, they had large red letters that said: "Top Secret" in Japanese, along with the order to burn them after reading. Each of the members took one, not because they wanted the information, but because they were motivated by simple human curiosity to take one after reading what was written on the front. After everyone had a folder, Mr. Mikazaki cleared his throat and spoke to the small audience.
"Despite the lack of information, both the police and the Special Assault Team agree on one thing regarding what happened at the Ueno Dam."
"Whatever happened there ended before the police could arrive on the scene."
"In the space of 45 minutes, a terrorist group kidnapped a school bus full of students, took them to the generator complex, planted explosives, and I don''t care what the newspapers say about the teacher, she''s the heroine of this story."
"Another group was able to figure out what was happening, plan a rescue operation, execute it, and wipe out almost all of the terrorists before the first of our units could reach the scene."
"No matter how you look at it, the time frame is too short for any law enforcement agency."
"..."
"The only thing that occurred to me was that there was a third group that was watching the terrorists very closely."
"So much so that when they made their move in the dam, this group took advantage of the moment and went to work as well."
"The police only came to pick up the trash left by their confrontation."
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there."A group that knew the movements of the terrorists and did not inform the relevant authorities to avoid this unfortunate outcome".
The others began to murmur. The idea of another group acting behind the scenes was not crazy, in fact, they had mentioned it several times before that day, but they could not point to anyone in particular, but after seeing only the first sheet of the folder, everyone was nervous to know the point Mr. Miyizaki was trying to make.
"Taking the facts told by the soldiers who confronted them with this alleged third group, although strange, there is something undeniable in their testimonies."
"In those tunnels, there were also 2 girls who faced the police."
"In addition to their strange appearance, these two girls faced groups of heavily armed elite soldiers with only their hands and managed to flee the place with complete freedom".
"In addition to the fact that a strange giant fox appeared, and that someone mentioned in a report that it was probably an angry mountain spirit or something like that.
"Even though it does not make sense, the fact is undeniable: we are facing something we do not know, and we do not know the extent of its power."
"But still, this is not something new in the world."
"Thanks to my hard work, I was able to collect a lot of evidence and still classified information."
"During the continental war, the Alliance and the Empire faced several units of this unknown type."
"The first was the Balkan Empire using units called Dolls, which, to simplify their function, are androids with great physical and combat power."
"And to fight these units, the Alliance created its own variant of super soldiers, called Arksuits, which again, simplifying their function, are combat suits used by elite personnel, as I could confirm they are not very different from the anime your children surely watch on TV."
"If the fashionable invention at the end of the First World War was tanks, in the Second it was jet engines, and in the Cold War it was ballistic missiles, it seems that the new modality is the production of these super-soldiers."
Once again, everyone started talking, but this time it seemed to be to themselves. What Miyazaki said might seem ridiculous, but only a fool would rule out any possibility, no matter how foolish. But this time, it was not nonsense, the documents in the folder were undoubtedly important enough to put the country at odds with the others. It was full of information about what has just been commented: one of the reports of the appearance of the DOLLs along with photos of the remains of one with several soldiers of the Alliance that proved their existence, documents stolen on some specifications of one of the arksuit prototypes and basic design, and even some aerial photos of a confrontation between these two new types of units. No doubt, Ms. Miyazaki had done an exceptional job, one that could have even cost him his life if he had made a mistake.
"I know what you are thinking"
"How is this possible?"
"How are we going to face this new possible threat to our country?
"Perhaps this does not mean that we must sign the treaty now in order to be members of the Alliance and receive a little of its security."
"..."
"First of all, I want to make it clear that even though we have an alliance with the Alliance right now, forgive the redundancy."
"It may have immediate benefits, but in the long run it will affect us much more."
"That is why we have not made such an agreement yet."
"Well, if we manage to get better letters to negotiate a better treaty with the Alliance, let''s say a seat on their Security Council will bring better benefits for all of us.
But for that we must not be the ones to bend their will".
"The Alliance must desperately need us to make this happen.
"And how will we do that?"
"Well, that''s the part I want to get to."
"If we could create our own variant of these super-units, we would have a better bargaining chip, along with a way to deal with this new kind of threat for us."
"And do you have anything in mind to do that?" This time it was Mr. Yoshida who asked directly.
"In the last few weeks, while I was gathering this information, I managed to make contact with the president of the I.S.C., Mr. Damien Raven."
"As you know, they are one of the main suppliers of technology, weapons and medicine to the Alliance."
"Although he did not confirm it, he strongly implied that the development of the arksuit was their responsibility."
"He also mentioned that they had a new project in mind, a much better one that would make combat suits obsolete."
"But due to the end of the war, this project was canceled very early."
"But by talking to him, I was able to reach an agreement with Mr. Raven."
"If we can prove the funds along with help for its development, he will give us the exclusive use of this method to create our super-soldiers."
"Most of the information is confidential enough."
"But he has given me enough proof that it is a legitimate project."
"I also believe that the other information enclosed can help you make the right decision."
Everyone went back to check their folders one more time. They read it deeply and carefully, and then everyone began to debate in their minds about the decision to be made. Some of those who had argued at the beginning of the meeting were now seriously discussing what action to take. Well, if the information was true, and it was somehow made public that the government was involved in this, it would probably be the end of their lives. They would be publicly executed to satisfy the demands of the international community if they accepted what the I.S.C. wanted to complete their project. It was certainly a difficult decision, as difficult as any on which the safety of a country depended in a world so full of enemies. After discussing it among themselves, they all voiced their opinions and voted. There was a result with almost a majority of votes. This project would be carried out.
Ch58: Two Ways To Deal With It
Two Ways To Deal With It
February 22
The ceremony hall was crowded today. Since today was the closing ceremony of the school year, the next school year will start next month at the earliest. Although this should be different, the school does it this way to give several days off for everything that happened a few days ago.
There are only 7 students in our group because of what happened at the Ueno Dam, Kojiro, the giant of the classroom, paid his respects to his fallen comrade in battle with his presence, even though he was also one of the kidnapped victims, Yasunobu is also here, despite his anxious appearance he still made the effort to come, Yamada is silent without saying anything, even he knows that it is time to pay respect. But of all of them, Keisuke is undoubtedly the most devastated, in his face you can see the cost of the tragedy, poor guy, to lose his girlfriend like that, without being able to do anything, just when they had such a close moment the day before. Unfortunately, I know this feeling very well, the same thing happened to me with Nanami, it is a tragic experience that I would not wish on anyone, not even my enemies.
This reminds me, in a slightly different way, of the ceremony of returning to port after months on the battle front. When a ship returns to port, either because it has completed its mission, gathered supplies, or made repairs, the entire crew appears on deck in their uniforms to present the ship to their superiors. This ceremony was not very different from this one: the important people spoke, we in line listened, and unfortunately also the missing people. Because of these ceremonies, it could be clearly seen that the number of people who left was not the same as the number who returned to port because of those who died in battle, and this time the casualties could be seen in my group.
Because of the tragedy that happened that day, a farewell ceremony is also being held for our colleague Utagawa, who died that day. Nothing less because of a mistake I made. That is why there is a large black picture of her face in front of the stage. The rest of the audience was also sad to see such a terrible story happen to their comrades. Although my mother did not want me to come here today, I came because I thought the least I could do was to pay my respects to a comrade who fell in battle. I even wanted to talk to her mother about what happened, but after seeing her crying with the photo in her hands, I decided it was better not to add to the pain.
Although what happened was horrible and I do not understand why some want to forget it quickly, it seems that it is something that will be difficult. The only news on TV right now is the attack on the Ueno dam. The only positive side of all this shit is that not a single word has been said about me, because all the credit went to our teacher Miss Xian, but because she uses a fake profile of hers, they use her other name. Although this would be a nightmare for someone with a fake identity, hers is so well done that the police do not seem to suspect anything.
But my mood these days has been terrible since February 19, because I have hardly been able to sleep since then. Even though I thought I was over it, every time it gets dark I feel like I am still trapped in the subway tunnels, like a dragon is going to attack at any moment. It is so much so that my family can tell if I am having another anxiety attack just by looking at the color of my eyes at night. Although Tamamo accompanies me and hugs me at night, I still don''t feel safe enough to sleep, so she prefers to talk to me about unimportant things. But it seems that yesterday I looked so bad that I think she put me to sleep with one of her cursed talismans, because one night I was playing cards with her when I realized how much daylight there was already, but she did not mention anything about me falling asleep. Momo, on the other hand, has also tried to help me in her own way, the last of her inventions was a helmet with straws where you can put drinks on the sides to use it. But this one works sideways, so you can use it lying down. I have no idea how it works, it''s just her way of trying to cheer me up.
My mother got scared one night when she saw my red eyes in the dark while I was going to the bathroom. She tried to help me by telling me how incredible I acted in the situation, which was undoubtedly on the level of a hero, how almost the entire class got out of that incident thanks to me. But still, even though I saved almost 30 people, the only one I remember is the one I failed to save, again. Maria, for her part, although angry at not being able to help, seems to have given me space to be sad, as her regular teasing has not appeared these days. Kazumi and Charlotte have been quite quiet and have hardly left the room we gave them. They still have no furniture due to the amount of money we spent these days, but we gave them two futons so they can practice sleeping.It seems like they don''t want to bother me at all now that they''ve noticed that I''m not feeling well.Tamamo has been in charge of taking care of them during the day and teaching them artistic things like painting with a brush or composing a song. When they finish, they bring me their drawings or sing me the song they just composed. Without a doubt, they do their best to help me, and although I try to do my best as well by thanking them for their love, at the same time I feel ashamed of myself for showing you this face of me, as someone who is theoretically strong and who has gone through very similar things before, even cries with fear when the night and its darkness come.
But just like all these years of fighting, I can''t just wait for myself to feel better, I have to continue to prevent this stupid thing from happening again. On the other hand, there was the attack on the dam, because according to my daughters, one of the most affected by what happened was the I.S.C., because it seems that their main supplier, Matsumoto Chemicals, cannot produce anything due to the lack of electricity to run the factory. This has left the I.S.C. unable to produce the necessary amount of medicine that is still being ordered in Europe because of the conflict. The state has apologized for allowing this to happen and for affecting the international community. Undoubtedly, the investigation into whether they were responsible will now be suspended, and what is worse, the I.S.C. announced today that they will increase their security in the country in order to fulfill their obligations to other countries. They were the biggest winners of the misfortune that happened that damn day, it couldn''t be a coincidence. I was convinced of that. We cannot remain so passive, we must do more than just watch them from a distance. They have already shown that they are not interested in endangering innocent people to achieve their goals. So I thought we should investigate further what exactly the I.S.C. is trying so hard to achieve. So I''m going to see what other vendors have and check their shipments or see where they take them. Maybe I can find something to stop them. My mother also agrees with this plan, because she thinks that Japan''s relations with the Alliance could be affected depending on what happens here, not to mention our security.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
As for the strange girl who appeared, well, we have no idea who she could be. Both Tamamo, Momo and I thought that she might be some kind of demon because of her appearance. But despite how little we know about her, one thing seems to be for sure, she has something against me and it seems to be because of something she did during the war against the dragons. We cannot rule out the possibility that she will reappear in the future. The way she fights is so strange, and her erratic behavior seems too strange. I can''t remember seeing anything like this in my life until that day at the dam. I need to find out more information about her and what she wants from me.
The inspector brought his granddaughter breakfast, it was an American-style breakfast fresh from the White Moon Cafeteria. Although it was very strange for a normal Japanese and even more so to see someone like Inspector Yamamoto going to ask for it in the morning, there was a good reason for it, it was very rich and sweet, which Haru loved. She had been very decadent these days and her apathy had decreased a lot, so her grandfather, worried about her, had gotten up earlier than usual to get something to spoil his granddaughter with. The poor old man couldn''t even pronounce the names of the foods correctly, let alone know that his granddaughter might like them, but he tried his best, with some help from Saeko, the cafeteria worker, until he was satisfied with the result. He knew that what he had brought could be something that would allow Haru to walk again. There was probably no happier man and fish out of water in the world than this man coming back to his house to deliver that package. He arranged it as best he could on a table for the bed, and since he had seen that the pancakes were topped with honey, he even decided to make the face of a cat. Although the result of his drawing left something to be desired, he only thought of doing everything within his reach to see the girl smile. He carefully carried the table to his granddaughter''s room and entered, hoping for the best possible result of his work. Inside, Haru was already awake. She had missed the graduation ceremony for the same reason as many of her classmates. She sat in front of the television and watched the news about the dam. When she noticed her grandfather entering her room, she was surprised and reflexively turned off the TV, but no matter how hard he tried to hide it, he had seen her.
"Another time watching TV," the old man said, trying to sound affectionate.
"You won''t be able to get back to your normal life if you only keep thinking about the past."
"You have to move on with your life, watching the news won''t help you at all".
"What happened has already happened."
"You did your best and thanks to that you are back here today"
"Today brings something special for a special person for me, I hope you like it, it''s your favorite, right?"
"That''s the problem I have..."
"Have I really done my best?"
"The best I can do is to pass out until I wake up after everything happens?"
"You wouldn''t have been afraid of anything in that situation"
"If I want to be as respected as you, I have to be the same and not be afraid in a situation like that!"
"I have to have the courage to face my fears!"
"Another time watching TV," the old man said, trying to sound affectionate.
"You won''t be able to get back to your normal life if you only keep thinking about the past."
"You have to move on with your life, watching the news won''t help you at all".
"What happened has already happened."
"You did your best and thanks to that you are back here today"
"Today brings something special for a special person for me, I hope you like it, it''s your favorite, right?"
"That''s the problem I have..."
"Have I really done my best?"
"The best I can do is to pass out until I wake up after everything happens?"
"You wouldn''t have been afraid of anything in that situation"
"If I want to be as respected as you, I have to be the same and not be afraid in a situation like that!"
"I have to have the courage to face my fears!"
"Although I''m glad you''re feeling better today, I must tell you that you''re confusing things."
"Bravery is not something you earn and keep, it is something you must actively demonstrate with your character"
"Brave is not someone who acts without fear, brave is someone who chooses to act in spite of fear.
"And that is why I believe that you are already someone brave, because despite what you have been through, you are still you today.
"But if it had been like your grandfather, none of this would have happened.
"If someone like you had been around, none of this would have happened."
"I even sure that even Utagawa, nothing would have happened to her."
The inspector kept his sadness to himself. There was no way he was going to tell his beloved granddaughter that there was actually someone out there trying to prevent this from happening. Even so, she could not avoid it completely. But the inspector couldn''t blame the white girl either, because despite the situation she had managed to get almost everyone out alive was less than a miracle. The old man knew that if he had been in charge from the beginning, he would not have been able to achieve something like that even with the help of the other policemen, let alone on his own. He could not tell Haru that what happened in that dam was something the police considered a success because he did not want her granddaughter to see that he might not be as incredible as she thought he was.
Ch59: National Journalism
National Journalism
Umewaka Park, Simida, Tokyo
February 24th
A few days have passed since the school year ended early, and despite our efforts, we haven''t been able to confirm the I.S.C.''s involvement in the Ueno Dam terrorist attack. Although we suspected they were behind it, just as we knew they were the ones who tried to kidnap my mother and sister, unfortunately we didn''t have any concrete proof. All we had was Inspector Yamamoto''s word that he had seen the company''s logo on some boxes before they were stolen by another government group.
Speaking of tired people, Xian said she wanted to take a vacation, get away from everything and have some quiet time to think and to herself. Poor girl, losing one of her students in such a messed up way and over something as trivial as a momentary mistake. I''m sure she feels the same way I do, wondering if she had done something different, maybe things would have turned out differently. Xian had told me before that she left her problematic lifestyle behind for a similar reason, but it is undoubtedly difficult to fall back into the same trap. I hope she recovers, as she seemed like a great ally to have around.
As for me, I''ve literally spent the last few days doing nothing; it''s been glorious and everything - waking up after noon, playing video games until dawn, living like a hermit in my room. I feel like my youth is coming back. Even though I''m enjoying it, I don''t want to just sit around, so right now I''m doing the grocery shopping for the house. And even though I don''t look very manly with my new body, my mother didn''t raise a two-trip loser, so even though I''m about to finish with my arms aching, I''m going to carry these bags with groceries to my kitchen or die trying.
After walking a few blocks, I decide to give up... I mean to make a tactical retreat and stop at the park near my house to get a soda from a vending machine and rest on a bench before continuing my journey. My house is close by, so I can see it from where I''m sitting. While I was thinking about this, I noticed something very strange next to me. There was another girl sitting on a bench with a table nearby. On the table were several food packages and a large bottle of juice; everything was empty, indicating that she had been there for a while. However, her eyes never left one direction - my house.
Was that girl watching us? The way she was acting, it looked like it. Maybe she was the stalker Momo had mentioned before. The girl looked to be in her 20s or maybe 30s. She wore casual clothes and a briefcase, had glasses and long brown hair. Her build was slim; she didn''t look like someone who would want to fight, but rather someone quite fragile. But she had a book in her hands in which she was writing things, and she also had a camera with her. She didn''t look like a direct threat, but she wasn''t someone to be ignored either, not after the events and attacks we''ve seen in the past few days. So I decided to find out what she was doing here in the park.
"Hey, how are you? Sorry to bother you, is that a camera?"
"I''m sure spying on others is quite annoying and problematic," I said, surprising her from behind.
"Ah!"
"You really scared me, girl; I wasn''t expecting that."
"Uh, no, I''m not spying; I''m just doing my job."
"You see, I''m a journalist, doing research for my next publication in the newspaper."
"Oh, so you work for the newspaper."
"And what''s this research about? Paparazzi, maybe?"
"No, I''m not that kind of scumbag."
"I do serious research, real research."
"Right now I''m just investigating that house over there," she said, pointing to the only house I didn''t want her to point to.
"Don''t you have anyone else to bother?"
"I''m not going to lend you my camera for your cosplay session, it''s too expensive."
"Besides, try to do it in a more private place; can''t you see you''re bothering others?"
"..."
"By the way, are you friends with that weird blue girl? She often hangs out in this park a lot too."
Damn, I knew it; she''s investigating us, a journalist of all people. This isn''t good. How did she even notice? No, wait, she doesn''t seem to know that I''m one of the people living in that house; she¡¯s off guard. Maybe I can get some information if I play along. I''m sure the cosplay excuse will work again.
"Oh, them?"
"That explains a bit. My best friend... Sakura Izumi... is their neighbor. "
"She said they recently moved here."
"We were supposed to take some photos for our club before classes ended, but she had a little problem and was late."
"Even though I come here all the time, she wouldn''t let me stay at her house."
"She told me that after I put on the whole kitsune costume, can you believe it?" I said, lying as much as I could.
"Oh, so you''re someone who frequents the area?"
"Did you know that property used to belong to the government? Now look at it, being used as private property by none other than a U.S. Army officer."
"That''s an invasion right there! They must have used dirty methods to take over the place."
"Are you sure? Couldn''t it be that they just didn''t see any use for the place anymore and just sold it?"
"Besides, as far as I know, they''re not Americans, they''re Latin Americans. They speak Spanish."
"That''s even worse!"
"Those damn immigrants are probably more intolerant of our culture than I ever thought."
"They probably just come here to talk about their tacos and ponchos all day long.
"What else could you expect from a poor place like Mexico? Those bums probably paid for the place with drug cartel money," said the so-called serious journalis.
"You know, not all Latin Americans come from Mexico. There are a lot of countries that speak Spanish, too."
"Besides, the lady in that house works in a caf¨¦, that one over there."
"Listen carefully, while you''re still young and not gray-haired... Oh... forget the gray hair......sorry."
"Foreigners are a threat to our country, to our culture."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story."Outside our island, there are many countries that want to take our resources and replace our values and way of thinking to suit their needs."
"That is why we, our society, must work together to drive these taco-eating gypsies out of our territory."
"But don''t worry, I have a great plan to save our country!"
What the journalist said sounded like someone pretty dangerous, or at least crazy, so I did what anyone would do and pulled out my gun close in my bag, taking the safety off just in case I needed it. She didn''t know it, but she was one wrong word away from putting a hole in her head.
"And what is this plan you''re talking about?"
"Oh, so you''ve been paying attention to your Onee-san, that''s good."
"Now listen, a few days ago there was a shooting, right in front of this house to be exact, a fight between those stupid forest indigenous and possibly a heroic yakuza group who bravely tried to defend our home."
"On that day, February 14, I was already here investigating, so I was able to be the first to report the news."
"But I''m sure what happened was no accident, not after the government refused to name those responsible."
"Since that woman from the Alliance appeared, many strange things have happened in the government."
"According to my research, the property somehow ended up in a company in Los Angeles, but when I asked them how they acquired the property from the Japanese government, they denied having anything to do with the process."
"So I dug a little deeper, and thanks to my journalistic skills and the help of a friend, I found out that the current owner of the property is a woman named Adelis."
"Finding information on this woman is quite difficult; almost everything about her seems to be classified in some way. The only thing I was able to find out is that she was a secretary in a law firm in the United States for a few years."
"But here''s where it gets interesting: according to my friend, she found out that this same woman was spotted several times in Hampshire, at the British Army headquarters."
"The same one that was used as the headquarters when the Alliance was formed after the Empire attacked NATO headquarters in Brussels."
"The next time she appears is on the aircraft carrier USS Essex in Portsmouth, shaking hands with Admiral Mark Halsey."
"This means that she is at least someone involved in the Alliance''s chain of command."
"......"
"Now that I think about it, why am I telling you this? You probably don''t know anything about the people I mentioned or where those places are on a map. You''re just a little brat."
I wonder if this journalist would feel the same way if I told her that I had been to all these places personally, or that I knew Admiral Mark Halsey. I''m sure her attitude toward me would change. But despite her terrible prejudice against foreigners, the girl was actually quite good at research. She did a pretty good job as a journalist, connecting some dots, so much so that she was on the verge of winning the highest journalism award, being kidnapped by some security agency and then buried in the woods with no questions asked. In fact, I''m thinking of doing it myself, just for fear that she might find something else. But worst of all, this girl didn''t know she was talking about these things with a stranger in a park. It was like seeing someone who was a genius at some things and a complete idiot at others. But it was also something I might be able to use to my advantage to get her to research other things and then steal her finished homework.
"Well, maybe I don''t understand much about these things, but I remember hearing Adelis mention something once about having the I.S.C. as an enemy or something like that."
"I think it was a few days after the shooting when my friend and I were here in the park trying to cook some yakiimos," I lied, trying to sound as Japanese as possible to stay on the journalist''s good side.
"The I.S.C. again? It''s not the first time that name has come up in my investigations lately."
"But this isn''t something that happened out of the blue. Ever since that foreigner Brandon arrived to oversee the operations, a lot of strange things have been happening around here or in places like Kitamoto."
"Besides the Naich¨''s activities with the police."
"Could it be related to what happened at the Ueno Dam? But if that''s the case, it wouldn''t explain the giant fox..."
"Unless what Bastet said is true, but if I want to confirm it, I''ll have to go to Akihabara."
"Also, I still have to look for the proof of the guard''s infidelity with his wife to get through there."
"But for that, I need to buy a spy camera, and that''s not cheap. The store owner won''t let me pay in installments unless I pay off the new washing machine first."
"And I won''t get paid until next week, although maybe if I just buy instant noodles and fix my bike..."
"I also still have this news about cheap school lunches that will probably be published and give me some extra money..."
"......"
"......"
The journalist started talking to herself at an alarming rate, almost impossible for a non-native like me to understand. From what little I could understand at first, it seemed to all be related to the same thing she had been investigating all along.
"Okay, this could work!"
"Girl, you have no idea how much you helped me today."
"You could certainly help me in the future and get those pesky foreigners out of here once and for all."
"Don''t you want to exchange phone numbers?"
"If you help me with my work, I can get you things that are hard to get, like tickets to the premiere of a famous movie so that you can go with your friends or boyfriend."
" OK"
"That sounds good enough." I said as I pulled out my smartphone to exchange numbers.
"Don''t use that word, it''s another one of those things the Yankees are trying to get you to do."
Are you not aware of the irony of what you just said?
"By the way, I forgot to ask you your name!"
"May I know what it is?"
"My name is Nanami, I live with my parents in a house over there, three blocks from here," I lied to her so that she would continue to look at me favorably.
"Well, my name is Nozomi Yasuda, I work for the Nichibotsu no Taiy¨ Shimbun newspaper," she said cheerfully.
"I hope the movie tickets arrive soon, Miss Nozomi Yasuda."
"Don''t worry, I''ll give them to you the next time we meet," she said, laughing a little when she saw the problem she had gotten herself into.
After talking to the journalist, I returned to my house and immediately told my mother about her. My mother did not pay much attention to it, arguing that she could try to search for anything she wanted, but she would not find anything. However, we decided not to risk it anyway and asked the twins to keep an eye on her. They seemed to be paying attention to our conversation, and Charlotte replied that Ms. Nozomi Yasuda worked part-time at a movie theater in Shibuya, so it didn''t take a genius to figure out why she offered me movie tickets.
As night fell, everyone in the house was doing the usual. My mother was in the living room watching her Turkish soap opera, Maria was with her also watching. Momo was working on improving the system for connecting my daughters to the Internet, with an emphasis on data transfer speed. Charlotte was trying to learn how to make flower arrangements from Tamamo. For my part, I was trying to build a shoe rack at the entrance of the house with the help of Kazumi, because now there were too many people living here to have it messy. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and since I was the closest to the door, I quickly put on my hat and my waistcoat, which I always left hanging at the entrance, and opened the door to see who it was. But we were all surprised to see who it was.
"Good evening, I am glad to see that you are all well."
"Let me introduce myself, my name is Stella and ....."
I immediately shut the door as fast and as hard as I could, trying in vain to keep bad luck away from our house.
Ch60: Disrespectful Visit
Disrespectful Visit
February 24
***************
Maria POV
***************
Everyone in my house was on high alert after seeing Stella casually walk into our house. Most of those present had been her victims at some point, both Cesar and her two girls watched her with some caution. And now that new angel was drinking a cup of coffee served by my mother, and after a light sip, she began to speak.
"Thank you for the coffee cup, Mrs. Adelis."
"Although we have not seen each other before, I want to thank you for all the work you have done over the years, because although you may not have realized it, you and I have been working together for quite some time."
"Thanks to you and your son, we were finally able to find and retrieve the codex."
"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Stella and I work as a supervisor and coordinator for the Celestial Security Section, my job is quite similar to yours, I am in charge of assigning missions to our field agents as well as making sure they have everything they need to do the job successfully".
"Oh! Thank you very much."
"I guess it means that I have been doing a good job all along if I get congratulations from an angel like you in my own home." My mother replied as she also served herself coffee.
"Although I am sure you enjoy my presence, this time it will be rather short because I am a bit short of time.
"So I''ll get right to the point. "
"A few hours ago, one of our agents in the city was attacked by a demon similar to the one that attacked Cesar in the Ueno Dam tunnel.
"The agent did not survive due to his injuries, but what worries us the most is that he was unable to destroy the computer he was carrying."
"The demon used that computer to access our databases."
"According to our security technicians, they were able to determine that the demon only attempted to search for information on two people before it was detected by security and the computer was ejected from the system."
"The first was you, Cesar, the good thing is that your information is considered very important to us, so your information is handled with the strictest security measures."
"The probability that you have achieved anything is absolutely 0 percent."
"Unfortunately, the other person did not have the same luck."
"She is a journalist here named Nozomi Yasuda.
"We do not know the reason why this person participated.
"But according to my boss, Archangel Michael, he thinks the chances of her being attacked by the demon are quite high."
"Obviously, this is not something we can ignore, so we must watch over her and protect her from it at all costs."
"That sounds fun and all, but our job is to keep the Codex safe." My brother suddenly interupted her
"I''m sure a demon on the loose is something that falls under your jurisdiction, so try to stop the demon on your own."
"Besides, the same demon is endangering the same Codex."
"As I said, our only agent in the city died facing this unknown demon."
"Right now, we don''t have anyone closer than you to help us."
"And bringing in additional agents would take time we don''t have."
"Even now, this demon may be attacking an innocent person with impunity."
Cesar stared at Stella with a clear face of displeasure, it seemed that he was wondering what could or could not happen with his involvement in this problem. He seemed to want to say no, but at the same time the feeling that the demon that attacked him in the tunnel might return was a bigger issue that needed to be resolved.
"Two weeks, that''s all I''m watching her for."
"After that, how this ends is your problem."
"And I swear to you that as this is another one of your weird plans, I''m not going to help you ever again."
"Although the suspicion is justified, I assure you that there is nothing behind this time."
"This is just a sudden problem that we need to find a solution to quickly."
"Besides, as I said before, I don''t have much time right now because I have to prepare everything for the arrival of the new agents, so I will leave here immediately."
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there."One week is enough, thank you again for your help."
"I leave everything in your capable hands."
While Stella was talking, she kept looking in the direction of the fireplace, which although rare for a house in Japan, was something our family liked to have for important things, at first I thought it was just the curiosity of the white angel, until when she finished talking, she stood up and approached it, taking the Luna Core in her hands.
"Could that be a dragon core you have here?"
"Don''t you know how dangerous it is for something like that to be here on Earth!" she asked with the green gem in her hands.
But when I turned to look at my brother something had changed, I could see in real time how his pale blue eyes changed color to violent red without even blinking. With his gaze fixed, he took his gun from his bag and raised it pointing it at Stella without hesitating for a single second, it was clear that something had changed and his distrust had turned to anger and from there to deep hatred.
"You have five seconds to put it back where it was or I will send you to heaven in the fastest way," He said as he pulled back the hammer on his pistol.
"May I know the meaning of this?" Stella replied confused.
"The meaning is that if you don''t put that back where it was, I will put a bullet in your head."
"There''s no other fucking meaning bicth."
Stella seemed to realize the mistake and carefully put the green gem back in its place and walked a few meters away from the fireplace to demonstrate that she fully complied with his demands. My mother, Tamamo and Momo just stood there in silence, trying to figure out what this was all about.
"I hope there is a reason why you have this object here in your house and have not turned it over to the appropriate authorities and are hiding the fact."
"The fucking reason why this gem is with me is due to the fact that the stupid weakness with which the angels handled all that shit came back to them.
"If you had done your fucking job, all that shit wouldn''t have happened."
"But since you couldn''t even do one stupid thing right ever, it''s up to me to do my best to clean up your shit."
"And the reason this gem is here with me is because I fucking say so and you can''t fucking do anything against it."
"Because you don''t even have the balls to take it from me by force."
"Is that right Mrs. Stella? "
"It''s just like you say"
"It was foolish of me to even discuss this matter."
"Please forgive my ignorance, unbecoming of my race and position."
"I am deeply sorry to have offended you."
My brother spoke of Stella with utter contempt, saying she was not a person but an insect. With no fear of repercussions and impunity, he insulted her and even emphasized how much he despised her peers. It was clear that there was no argument or negotiation in his demands, only law and punishment, the emperor''s word was absolute. Stella, in real fear for her life, Stella immediately dropped to her knees on the floor and bowed her head in apology and with reverence, as if apologizing to a king.
"Wow."
"So with one action Cesar would have red eyes immediately"
"But of course it is important enough for you, right?" I said without thinking.
"Maria, can you just fucking shut up?"
"Did you hear anything she said?"
He looked straight at me with his terrifying eyes of blood and condemnation, so much so that he robbed me of the strength to say another word.
"Absolutely nothing as I was very busy thinking deeply about my actions and my lack of politeness," Stella replied still on the ground showing her apology.
"Alright."
"That you weren''t short on time?"
"I think you must be very late already, so you should leave immediately."
"And if I find out that you even remember what was in that box, I will tear off your wings with my bare hands as well."
"You''re right"
"I will leave immediately.
"I''m sorry to have bothered your day with my presence."
"Bye"
Stella got up and hurried to the door, which she opened on her own to leave immediately. Once she was gone Cesar picked up his gun and checked the Luna core to make sure it was okay, his eyes returned to their normal color and he went back to talking to us, this time with normality and not authority, but one of seeking support.
"Don''t let an outsider touch this gem"
"Alright?"
"The dragon cores were collected by the angels to never touch Earth again."
"For the Heavenly Security Section, even the existence of Luna''s Core is a threat."
"But I won''t let them take it, no matter what."
"Can you help me with this?"
"Please?"
All the other girls in the room stared in surprise at what had happened, seeing how he could talk in such a way to someone with such an important position and yet treat her like complete trash. But my brother just looked at us with a bit of doubt, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. It seemed that we had all just discovered a new face that Cesar possessed but almost never showed.
Ch61: Atlantis The Continent Of Troubles
Atlantis The Continent Of Troubles
After the commotion caused by Stella''s visit, we all gathered for dinner. We were still talking about what we had to do in the next few days. We sat around the table and ate something very simple, chicken rings with salad. Tamamo helped with the salad and so far it was the best she has cooked, so you can see the progress with her diligent practice. Almost all of us, except Tamamo, use a spoon to eat, because although we have all tried, we are not skilled with chopsticks, the next in skill is Maria, but even she has a hard time, and since almost all of us eat the same, there is no rush to learn.
"I can''t believe a demon is after you now to kill you."
"But considering that we have a goddess and even an angel with us, it must be natural for demons to exist as well."
"But why this one in particular, what did you do to her?" my sister asked.
"That is an excellent question, I have no idea why either."
"The only thing I can think of is that it''s because of something that happened in Atlantis, but I don''t know what part of that could make her angry," I answered sincerely.
"As I understand it, what happened there was important, but you never told anyone about it.
"What happened in that place?" Tamamo asked curiously.
"The question is rather, what did not happen there?"
"So many horrible things happened that I don''t even know where to start".
"Well, I think it is best to tell it from the beginning."
"I''m not pretending to be here all night, so I''m not going to tell everything in detail, so pay attention."
Atlantis, as you can imagine, was a very ancient civilization. They were a very skilled people who always liked to break new boundaries, always pushing their inventions to the limit in an attempt to conquer new frontiers. They were a civilization that was very dependent on the use of their advanced magic-based technology. But this had a problem, this technology was very dependent on materials, their favorite material to work with was magic orichalcum, it was a very difficult element to find on Earth. So the Atlanteans always had to conquer new territories to get new areas to get resources. Why didn''t they just explore their own territory for new veins of metal and orichalcum? Well, because they couldn''t. Their territory, Their whole continent, was like no other. The place where Atlantis was located was a large floating island that could roam the planet freely.
They were the undisputed owners of the planet. Their domains were vast and their power unimaginable. But these people were also selfish and self-centered. To them, the humans on the surface of the planet were inferior, dirty beings. But still, trade was always a necessary evil, so in the lower part of the floating island, fortified ports were installed, strongly defended, so that people could sail to Atlantis to exchange goods, but never stay there; it was for this very reason that the lower part of the island was considered the lower class, while the richest and most powerful lived in the upper part. Time passed and the Atlanteans heard of a new civilization created by man without the help of magic, it was Mesopotamia. The Atlanteans visited them, but when they saw the level that man had reached, they boasted and laughed. They believed in beings superior to anything on the planet. And the ego came from them to such a level that they even rebelled against Heaven and openly declared war. They wanted to show that they were the perfect beings who had surpassed even THE BOSS.
Though it was undoubtedly foolish what they were doing, it was something they had carefully planned in advance. They had even made allies to whom they gave some of their technological advances, which the Atlanteans would use to increase their troop numbers in the coming war. These were allies that Sodom and Gomorrah had agreed to help the Atlanteans in exchange for their help in defeating their common enemy, Mesopotamia. You will know the fate of these two places if you have read some books. The Atlanteans managed to survive the attack from the heavens, but they suffered a considerable number of casualties despite the fact that they had not even managed to launch an attack. Because of the number of deaths they suffered so suddenly, the political situation in Atlantis was unstable. Therefore, they decided to temporarily withdraw from the conflict and travel west. In order to get more resources for the repairs and to create new weapons, the fools of Atlantis decided to try their luck again and invaded a new civilization. Unfortunately, I could not learn much about what this other civilization they attacked was like, but from what I heard, it was on a level similar to the Atlanteans themselves. This war turned out to be just as bad as the one before, when the Atlanteans finally met a people capable of facing them on the same level.
Due to the dire situation they were in, being attacked like never before and suffering unprecedented casualties, some of the officers of the same Atlantean army staged a coup to sign a peace treaty and return to their previous situation where they had nothing to worry about. Once again, Atlantis had to withdraw from its current war campaign due to these disputes in order to deal with its internal problems. It was during this revolution that the emperor of Atlantis, Nanami''s father, was mortally wounded. On his deathbed in his castle, Perpetual Palace , the Emperor cast the Curse of the Dragons to finish off his opponents. What he didn''t know was the threat these creatures were capable of. Then a time after, the dragons managed to create a portal that connected them to St. Petersburg, Russia, in the current era.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
This is where I started. The day those dragons came into the world was the day I was vacationing there for the lottery I won. I managed to escape the city with Rose''s group. We took refuge in Moscow, and then I had my incident in the tunnels. When we managed to get back to the portal where the dragons came to Earth, we realized that they were opening more all over the world. But that also indicated one thing, that the place these dragons were coming from was this other place that all the portals connected to. Atlantis was where they came from and where we had to go to finish them off.
When we came to Atlantis to fight the dragons, the civilization of Atlantis was in its last days, its great and powerful cities were now ruins, its warrior people and pride were now decimated, despite its great inventions for war, deadly diseases and pests were now present. Their fields were now dragon hunting grounds and famine was the norm. Their young Empress Nanami was clearly not old enough to inherit from the death of her parents and face an empire in ruins, not to mention the incessant onslaught of dragons that attacked every hour.
Thanks to the cooperation of Nanami, who convinced her people, the two armies came together to face the dragons. We call this combined army the Union. Thanks to our presence with fresh troops, the capital of Atlantis was able to survive a little to help us assemble new teams to fight the fierce beasts. The mages of the court made the startling discovery of dragon hunters among our people. They were descendants of people who had achieved the feat of killing a dragon in the past, such as Beowulf, Siegfried, Saint George, or Saint Martha. When these people used magic, they could develop powerful fighting skills as well as the ability to become stronger after killing their enemies. When these people were discovered, they were considered heroes or chosen ones by the people of Atlantis, and they were given white coats to represent their status before others. These people fit perfectly into the category of typical anime heroes, from their stupid way of seeing the world as a candy dimension, as well as their perfect values, unable to see evil in people, along with their stupid power of friendship. Most of them were a real pain in the ass to be around. And if you ask, no, I was not one of them. I am probably the most average person you can find. I was just a regular army soldier doing my job as Rose''s guard, the kind of extra that appears in the background of an important conversation in a scene.
Union''s plan to defeat the dragons was to send a vanguard to advance, while the bulk of the army remained to guard strategic points and ensure the supply of supplies. The goal was to get close to the lower part of the floating island, where the Celestial Forge was located, the place where the most important weapons of the Atlanteans, the orichalcum weapons, were created, and where the largest stockpile of this mineral was located and probably all that was left of it. With it, a sword would be created capable of defeating the Overlord, the first true dragon and ruler of the dragons. He commanded his army from the lowest point on the island, a fortified sanctuary where the remains of the founder of Atlantis were said to be, and where it was said that all the weight of Atlantis rested on his shoulders. If we could finish him off, we could win a war of attrition.
I was with the vanguard for most of the journey, accompanied Nanami as her guard, and saw my comrades die horribly easily. The funniest thing was that the dragons did not distinguish between white cloaks and normal soldiers like me, if your luck runs out there was your trip. When we arrived at the forge, not even a third of the vanguard that started the journey was left. I was brutally injured while defending Nanami and the entrance to the forge. The next thing I realized when I woke up was that I had not died and my new low height. While I was unconscious, the Atlanteans managed to forge the orichalcum sword, Avalon, but Nanami had died during that time and I got her body as her last wish because my original body was mortally wounded and she did not want me to die. I took the survivors and returned to the surface of the floating continent to report what had happened, the journey was difficult and long, but we made it. Once on the surface, Rose, who knew who I was, proposed a plan for me to go and pretend to be Nanami, who supposedly had gained great power to face the dragons and thus change her appearance from black to white. The Atlanteans wanted me to choose a new name, so I chose Elise and was called Elise, the last Empress of Atlantis.
Having regained some strength, equipment, and the last recruits we could find, we set out on one last expedition, the last one we could undertake with the last of our depleted supplies, for if this one did not succeed, nothing would, for we no longer had the capacity to produce any more weapons, both in Atlantis and back on the now barren Earth. The journey down was difficult. But the siege of the last enemy stronghold was something else entirely. It was there that we suffered our greatest losses at the hands of the cursed True Dragon of Death, the same black dragon that killed Luna. The only thing we could do to defeat it was to launch a suicide attack with so many soldiers that we saturated that bastard''s Death Power. When the battle ended, we were not far from the room where the Overlord was waiting. The surviving White Cloaks, led by their best warrior, Sakura Izumi, immediately launched an attack against him. The few surviving troops followed. Unfortunately, I was ambushed and separated from everyone else, locked in a small dark labyrinth where I had to spend several hours. When I managed to get out and make my way to the sanctuary, the Overlord was waiting for me, on the bodies of all the now dead White Cloaks and the Codex in his hands. I had to fight him all alone, and as if that was not enough, he destroyed the machine that kept the island afloat, which began to fall, threatening to destroy the planet with its impact if he lost. But I managed to defeat him, and by winning the battle, I was able to use the Codex to end the war against the dragons.
Ch62: No Rest For The Old Policeman
No Rest For The Old Policeman
February 25
The lights of sirens could be seen all over the place, and several patrol cars were lined up along the street. The police had closed the park due to an emergency call, the body of a person had been found. But despite the various officers and detectives on the scene, they couldn''t believe what they were seeing, so they called their boss for help. The poor Inspector Yamamoto had been having a terrible month, going from one thing to another without stopping, not to mention the eternal worry of his granddaughter. But when he arrived at the scene of the crime, he had no choice but to put everything aside and bear it.
When he finally arrived at the scene and got out of his old car, he took a quick look around. There were several policemen guarding the perimeter of the place, there was an ambulance, but seeing the paramedics gathering their things to leave meant that someone must have died, people were approaching the yellow tape to try to observe; all of this was typical of this type of situation. What was not typical was the condition of the body. It was completely destroyed and torn, what was there did not seem to be a person, it was something horrible to see. And what was worse was trying to understand the meaning of such brutal means.
"What have you got so far?" the old man asked the new rookie detective.
"Not much of the truth.
"It was found at sunset, just like that."
"She was found by a neighbor who thought it strange that they were dumping garbage here."
"We think it could have been about two hours."
"From what remains of the ground, we know that she is a woman, but there is not much else," replied another of the detectives.
"We don''t have any identification yet," Adachi said, looking at his notebook.
"This is not something a normal killer would do."
"The victim is too devastated, and it looks like she was eaten by a large animal, something like a bear."
"But something like that in the middle of Tokyo, in a place like this, and without people reporting something like a large animal on the loose?"
"Her pants are from the uniform of a convenience store."
"According to the normal shift of those places, she would probably leave work somewhere close enough, most likely her house, so she did not change her clothes" The inspector put on his gloves and began to go through the girl''s pockets.
"A receipt for the purchase of a drink, the address could possibly be her place of work."
"Ask there, if not then look in other places of the same chain."
"It also seems that it was a card purchase, that could also help identify who she is."
"Checking the victims'' belongings in their pockets is something basic in an investigation."
"They don''t teach you that at the academy?"
"Sorry, Inspector, I thought it had already been checked."
"And this is noted in the notebook?"
"ah"
"Nope"
"Then it didn''t happen"
"Look, we are detectives, we have to find the culprit of what happened."
"But unlike in the movies, we can''t just go and stop people, we have to follow a procedure, okay?"
"If we don''t follow that procedure in the right way, the prosecution can''t do anything."
"And if they can''t do anything, our work won''t be worth anything either"
"Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir"
"Unfortunately, I can''t ignore this."
"I will have to report this procedural error in the report."
"If you don''t want to be fired next month, try to do your job properly."
"Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
Back at the station, the inspector decided to monitor the case closely to prevent another mistake. The victim''s name was Yuji Kondo, a convenience store clerk, single, with no debts. She seemed to have lived only a few blocks from where she died. She did not seem to have any connections with organized crime people, and she seemed to be an honest person, which made the case more complicated. This seemed to be a very different case from the normal ones, so the inspector offered to help his rookie partner Adachi with the investigation. In the morning, they would go to her parents'' house to break the bad news and try to gather more information about the victim.
When his work for the day was done, the inspector went to the White Moon Coffee Shop and bought several cups of coffee to take with him, as he would be working late at home due to all the accumulated work of the past few days. When he arrived, the smile of his beloved granddaughter was waiting for him, motivating him to finish his work as soon as possible so that he could have some free time with his granddaughter. When Haru saw her grandfather arrive with the coffee cups and some of the folders, she immediately realized what her grandfather would be doing all night.
"Working late at home again?"
"Grandpa, it''s not good for your health."
"You have to rest after work." said his granddaughter concerned,
"I know, but it is that something complicated has come up again, and the new guy does not stop making mistakes."
"But he seems to be learning quickly and this will probably be over soon."
"When this is over, I will have the free time to rest again.
"Maybe I can even take you to that amusement park you wanted to go to on my next day off."
"Seriously?"
"That would be great!"
"I''ll tell Yukiko tomorrow to see if she wants to go too!"
"Yukiko?"
"Yeah, I''m going to her house tomorrow."
"I told you yesterday, remember?"
"Yes, it is true!"
"Tomorrow, as soon as I get off work, I''ll pick you up to go shopping at the supermarket, we''re almost out of food."
"Okay, I''ll wait for you then!"
And once again, the poor old man worked for several more hours, compiling the information from the cases that had happened in the last few days. But no matter how many cups of coffee he drank, the dream caught up with him in his own office at home. When he woke up, it was daylight, he had a blanket placed over him, and he realized that it was the gesture of his granddaughter, who had given it to him before going to her friend''s house. Yamamoto quickly got ready and went back to work.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Once again, he had to break the bad news to a couple of parents who were waiting for news about their missing daughter. And although this time it was not as ugly as when he had to break the news to the parents of one of his granddaughter''s classmates, the truth is that it is always something ugly that the police never want to be the bearer of bad news. Armed with strength for what was to come, he and his partner went to the home of the parents of Yuji Kondo, the girl who had died so horribly the day before. The reaction of the parents when they heard him was as you can imagine: tears, cries of pain, despair, and the helplessness that the inspector felt for not having been able to do anything to prevent it. Unfortunately, there was not much that could be done now except to find and catch the person responsible for the tragedy. The old man, taking on the role of an immutable cold person, skillfully asked about their daughter''s situation. But to his surprise, the parents seemed to have a clear idea of who could have been responsible for such an act.
They both agreed that her daughter''s ex-boyfriend was a troublesome person, he was submissive and jealous. Jiro Iwasaki, someone who was a kind person most of the time, but also had his moments of anger. The two had separated a few weeks ago. With this new information and back at the station, they set out to find this person. It seemed that he worked in construction until the company had an economic crisis and had to lay off people a few months ago, after which he was unable to find another job. After that, it seems that he dated the victim until recently when the two ended their relationship and she moved out of her house. The biggest problem is that this man, Jiro Iwasaki, has been missing since then, no one knows where he is. When he finished his work day, the inspector, remembering his promise to his granddaughter, refused to work overtime and went straight home. Another time, he was carrying various documents to work in his house when he brought Haru back. After calling her to let her know that he was going to get the car to pick her up, he took the keys to open the door of his house when he immediately noticed something out of place.
The door of his house was open, and as old as the inspector was, the fear that Haru might be attacked again was so great that it was impossible for him not to check every day that he had locked his house well. Thinking of all the bad things he could be going through right now inside, the old man''s old habits kicked in and he took his characteristic big revolver out of his jacket and entered his house, excitedly accepting the challenge that awaited him. The living room was in perfect condition and the furniture was in its place, a jeweler was in plain sight on one of the pieces of furniture in the living room, it did not appear to be a robbery in his home. Which could only mean worse. Yamamoto put his documents on the table to have both hands free, and just in case, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen. Then he slowly climbed the stairs without making the slightest noise. He opened the door to Haru''s room, there was nothing, even under his bed, but there was nothing, then he checked his office, which was the next room in order of value. He opened the door silently as well and then he found it.
Inspector Yamamoto couldn''t believe what he saw with his eyes, there was a girl in his office, but she didn''t seem to be human at all. Her monstrous claws that she had for hands were not something natural, yet she was able to use them as skillfully as anyone else, in addition to that, she had huge horns on her head next to her black hair, horns that were the same color as the strange clothes she was wearing, a distinct lack of modesty, and clothes with only ropes as underwear were worn over the blue skin, skin that the little that could be seen was of a bluish and bright tone. What was in front of him was not human, there was no doubt about that. Thinking about the same thing, the Inspector remembered what some of the policemen at the Ueno Dam had said, that there was another equally strange apparition besides the white girl. And that although she looked a little different from what was described in the reports, it was probably the same girl.
She turned around while reading some of the documents the inspector had in his office and noticed the old man pointing a gun at her. Reacting quickly, she lunged at him, but he evaded her by simply retreating into the hallway. The man quickly fired six times in his defense. But then a strange thing happened, the girl began to move quickly, changing position completely in less than the blink of an eye. The shots did not hit her, and the old man thought that maybe his body was failing because of his age. With no time to lose and following his muscle memory, the old man quickly reloaded his pistol to attack again as soon as possible. The strange girl then took out a metal stake from nowhere that she was preparing to raise against the inspector. Reacting to what he saw the girl trying to do, he took off his scarf and threw it at her, managing to grab her hand before she could throw the stake. With one arm restrained and at a distance, the old man used his advantage and fired his pistol once more. But just like the first time, the girl moved in a strange way, and when the inspector noticed her, she was standing next to him with her scarf cut off. But she did not attack immediately, because suddenly her mouth began to bleed for no reason, and she also began to spit blood, although she had not suffered any damage yet. Nevertheless, and despite the great pain that could be seen on the girl''s face, she managed to push the old man down the stairs. Luckily for the old man, her fall did not hurt him. Quickly taking advantage of this, the inspector reloaded and pointed to the staircase to attack when she came down, which did not take long. Suddenly, the house''s landline began to ring, an incoming call. Yamamoto, in an act of complete bravery or stupidity, did not hesitate to answer it, because when he saw the number he realized that it was Haru who was responsible for such an inopportune moment.
"Hello, Haru?"
"Something happened?" he said while holding the phone with one hand and pointing his big iron at the monster in front of him with the other.
"It was just to know exactly how long it will take you to come pick me up, because Yukiko''s mother brought some food and she wants you to taste it."
"Don''t worry, it won''t take long, right now I''m at the house getting the keys from the car, I''m almost on my way" As soon as he finished speaking, the demon lunged at him and tried to hit him, he managed to dodge it again but tried not to fall into the same thing twice, she held the old man''s hand and they both fell to the ground.
"Grandpa?"
"Are you okay?"
"I think I heard something fall."
The old man, dying of pain, took a deep breath and spoke again.
"Yes, I''m fine, I just turned on the TV to see if there was any news, but they''re just showing one of those superhero movies".
"Give me 15 minutes and I''ll be there with you," he said as he punched the other girl in the face with his free hand.
"OK, I''ll wait for you."
"See you later!" The old man immediately hung up the phone, picked it up again and began to wrap the phone cord around the girl''s neck. He held her hands and began to strangle her with the cable.
But the girl again did that strange movement and the next moment she was free a few steps in front of the old man while he finished removing the now cut cable from the phone, but when he finished moving she started bleeding even more and in her face the panic and horror of the man was visible. The inspector now knew that every time she did that, her wound was more painful than where she was. The same action was repeated, the place where she was now was near the window of the house, she now had the folder that was on the table in the living room and ran away despite the obvious pain that she had.
But despite the desire to chase after her, Yamamoto was too old to run all day, besides having little time to pick up his granddaughter. He gave up chasing after her and decided it was better to stay and clean the house quickly. Well, even if he tried to hide it, his old habits never let him forget. How to remove blood stains from the floor, clean the carpet, hide the bullet holes in the walls with some pictures or photos, and put everything in its place, including a replacement phone he kept in the attic. By the time he was done, it had only taken about ten minutes, and her granddaughter probably wouldn''t even notice what had happened before her grandfather picked her up.
Ch63: Life Is Tough
Life Is Tough
February 27
Yesterday, the inspector called my mother worried. It seems that a strange monster had attacked him in his own home again. But instead of a normal man, this time it was a weird demon, easily recognizable as the same one that had attacked me in the Ueno Dam tunnels. My mother somehow managed to distract it by saying something to the effect that it was probably the work of the I.S.C., and perhaps part of the same experiment from which I emerged. Aside from that, the attack on the inspector and the theft of documents are evidence that this demon clearly has an agenda that we know nothing about except that it hates me. So, as I promised Stella, we started keeping an eye on the journalist Nozomi Yasuda, who seemed to be part of this plan.
This brings us to today, where Tamamo and I are sitting on a bench in the park, drinking a soda and resting. On the other side of the park is a fast-food restaurant, where the journalist is now writing on her laptop while eating. But soon a man arrived and sat down to talk to her. He seemed nervous, as if he was being followed by shadows moving in plain sight.
"The man who has just arrived to speak is Fuji Igarashi."
"He is part of the research team at Biolife Laboratories in Kitamoto, within Saitama Prefecture."
"The company specializes in the research, development and production of genetically modified crops and livestock."
"Biolife Laboratories has been collaborating with the I.S.C. for years, trying to create a stronger and more effective variant of penicillin, as well as working to lower its production costs."
"According to the records, all their attempts have been unsuccessful; however, the I.S.C. has not withdrawn from the agreement despite the losses. "
"On the contrary, they have invested even more to rebuild and renovate their main laboratory and clinic," Kazumi said in a phone call.
"Alright, thanks for the information," I thanked my daughter for her terrifying ability to get information.
"Ummm, I think I see the man exchanging some papers with Nazumi, he even gives her a USB drive."
"Kazumi, do you think you can investigate what he gave her?"
"I''m sorry, but Miss Nozomi is someone with a remarkable level of expertise in cybersecurity."
"She seems to handle her research information with considerable privacy and efficiency."
"The computer she uses was purchased used, and there are no purchase records. It''s also not connected to any network."
"I have no way of knowing what''s on the computer''s hard drive without a physical connection to the machine."
"It''s my fault. I''m very sorry I can''t be more effective, even though I was designed for this kind of operation."
"Oh, okay, that''s fine, don''t worry."
"I don''t doubt your ability; it''s okay."
"You''re already quite useful at what you''re doing. In fact, it''s a testament to the journalist''s skill that someone like you can''t get anything out of her."
"Sometimes we can''t have everything we want."
"Besides, even if you were incapable of anything, it''s not like I''d throw you and your sister away for not being effective."
"Relax, that''s not how a family works."
"......."
"Thank you, Dad."
That was what Kazumi said before ending the call, but even though our conversation was over, there was still one word echoing loudly in my head - the word " Dad". Even now, I still couldn''t see myself as one. But she was right; I wasn''t the only person I had to take care of now. I had many more responsibilities, and yet here I was, relying on my daughters'' work. As if, even if all this ended, I still had nothing to live for, as if, after so many years, I still depended on my mother to survive as a burden. How far away was the day when I could finally walk on my own two feet and stop bothering others? When would I stop being the villain in their stories? When would I start doing the right thing?
"Goshujin-sama? Are you thinking of something sad again?" Tamamo said, leaning her face close to mine and looking into my eyes.
"????"
"What?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You''re making that sad face again, that heavy sad face."
"The same one you made when you talked about Luna or Nanami"
"Is something new weighing on your heart?"
"It''s nothing.
"Don''t worry, it''s no big deal."
"It''s not like I''m going to go crazy over something like that."
"Goshujin-sama, I''ve told you many times, and I''ll repeat it as many times as necessary."
"You can trust me with anything and everything; I will never laugh at what my beloved might think is silly or trivial."
"I will help you overcome them with all my skill and heart," Tamamo said with passion and affection shining in her eyes.
"Ah..."
"Alright, you win."
"I was just thinking about what will become of me when this is all over."
"When it all ends?"
"If that''s what you mean, I''m not talking about the here and now, I''m talking about what comes later."
"When all this demon and I.S.C. stuff is over, when this boring cat-and-mouse game is over.
"What will I do next? What will be the next step?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Are you afraid that something bad is going to happen?"
"That there won''t be any more battles after this one?"
"No, it''s not exactly that."
"I meant what comes after, what I would spend the rest of my life doing."
"When I finally return to a normal life, when I finally stop doing all these pointless things just to survive from day to day."
"You know, more or less, a hero should live on after his adventure is over, and people close the book after all."
"Pointless?" Tamamo asked. I wasn''t sure if she was really doubtful or just showing her kitsune mischief.
"I just don''t know what to do to live beyond the current mess."
"......."
"You know, I wasn''t always like this. I know it sounds surprising, but I was even more of a moron when I was younger."
"Years ago, when I was young and innocent and an idiot, my dream was to be a race car driver."
"I know it sounds like a fantasy story, but when I was a kid, that really was my idea of what my life would be like."
"When I thought life would be easy with my plan, with my idea."
"Then, when school started and reality set in, when I saw that being born into a poor family wouldn''t let me live my dream, I had no choice but to change my plans."
"I thought about taking the typical path that everyone else does: going to a good university, finding a quiet but honest office job, meeting the perfect girl by chance and marrying her, having my own house where my parents would visit me with smiles on their faces."
"Seeing their faces when I gave them what they wanted so much for Christmas."
"......"
"......"
"But after the sacrifices of paying for university, and then the brutal reality of finding a job in what I had studied so hard for in my own country, when I realized that I had chosen the wrong path by following what I thought I was good at instead of something that would make money."
"....."
"Then my sister Maria''s illness came and crushed everyone equally: my parents, my siblings, my expectations of a life I wanted, or that someone would help me get out of this."
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences."The need for money increased exponentially, and I had no choice but to resign myself to the idea of a dignified life. Now it was just a matter of getting money from wherever I could, so I started working at whatever came my way."
"Fast food cashier, clothing store cashier, shoe salesman, soccer field masseur, janitor at my own school, police recruit."
"Watching my brother become a hero where I had failed.
"All I thought about was surviving the day, giving the rest of the money to my parents..."
"And praying that someday I would find something better and put my life back together..."
"The cruelest and saddest moments were meeting my former school and college friends, seeing how they had succeeded where I had failed miserably, their success stories and joys".
"Hearing them find love and get married one by one, while I could only watch from afar and pretend it didn''t bother me inside."
"I couldn''t stop thinking about when it would finally be my turn to ''live,'' when I could do something for myself without making a fool of myself."
"One day, with what seemed like a miraculous stroke of luck, a bad one, I won a lottery for a tourist trip to Russia, and that''s when all these crazy things started happening."
"But the worst part was seeing my brother Leon on his direct path to success, how he, unlike his stupid older brother, managed to achieve everything he set out to do and much more."
"How he managed to make the most of his youth, his eagerness, his luck, his effort."
"How his desire to be a programmer worked out for the best, how he even got a scholarship to go to the United States to study with the best, how he even got a good job before he finished his studies at the university."
"How he''s working for Lion Saber in an important position, how he met his wife, how they already have a daughter."
"While I was sleeping in a coffin."
"My brother Leon even sends money to my grandmother, my mother, and even to Maria."
"And what do I do in the meantime?
"I sit on a bench in the park with a soda and the money my mother gave me, because I have nothing.
"Although I don''t like to admit it, the reality is undeniable, now I live in my mother''s house, without a job, without money, without a purpose, without a plan.
"To make my poor mother pay for the food I receive, for the clothes I wear."
"Having to rely on her to help me carry the weight of maintaining a family that came out of nowhere."
"And in the meantime, what do I do? Pretend to be young and go back to school."
"How can I be a responsible person if I can''t even manage my life so as not to be a burden to others?
"What can I even try to improve? I have no idea."
"My body doesn''t age, no matter how much time passes.
"I can''t go to school forever, paying for college is out of the question, and the chances of getting a real job are nil."
"Who would hire a tomboy girl who is only one meter and a half tall?"
"The only thing I can do is serve as an example of what not to do, so Maria doesn''t end up like her idiot older brother."
"......."
"How can I have the right to be called a father with a life like this?"
"Kazimiy and Charlotte deserve better, you deserve better."
"My family doesn''t deserve the burden of being with me."
Tamamo, in her place, opened her eyes even wider and hugged me. She said nothing for a few minutes until she broke the silence with a few words.
"Everything will be alright. In the future there will be better days, where the sun will be warm, the days will be long, and the smiles will be many.
"A day when you can rest at night without fear, when people will call your name with joy."
"....."
"That day will come eventually."
"....."
"Just don''t give up... Just keep going one more day."
"That way that day will come."
"....."
"I will be here every step of the way, and I will laugh with you after that."
"And we will talk about the bad days and remember them with joy instead of sadness."
"....."
"And one day, maybe you can make that innocent dream come true."
"....."
"On that day, we will laugh and celebrate."
"....."
"Just hold on a little longer."
"....."
"The weight on your shoulders is heavy and crushing."
"The wounds and scars are many, marks of a warrior who kept moving forward, who did not give up."
"What''s one more in an endless collection?"
"In the end, they show a man''s true worth in the moments when life challenges him to prove who he really is inside."
"Do not be discouraged, there is always someone behind you."
"....."
"There is always a guardian angel watching over every life," said the girl next to me.
"......"
"Tamamo....."
"Mom, Dad, the journalist is leaving the restaurant"
"Okay thanks, it''s your turn to rest now, change your position with Charlotte"
"We already changed a few moments ago, I am Charlotte."
"Sorry, I confused you"
"It''s because you two have the same voice"
"I can''t tell who is who "
"No worry dad, we are aware of it"
"One day we changed clothes with my sister and you did not notice"
"Wait what, when did that happen?"
"Why did you do it?"
"It was yesterday, and it was mom''s idea after seeing a movie about twins"
"Why?"
"Well, maybe it could be useful to do something similar to kill the villains!" Tamamo answered happily
"We have to practice new movements and tactics!"
"The original power of Barry Allen''s Flash was fast running but even so he always finds new ways to use his power"
"Barry Allen with his powers is almost his own worst enemy!"
"But let''s save that for another time, this time I''m going to be walking a block away"
"Tamamo you change shape and follow her closely, if something happens notify immediately"
"And please be sure to wear that gold pin in your hair or near the neck on your clothes so you can know that it''s you and not someone else."
"I don''t want to have to go back to a police station waiting for my mother because I started talking to that weird fat man thinking it was you in the park."
"I''m still afraid to think about what he might be able to do"
"I hope that he is in prison"
The man ran as fast as his feet would allow him, but no matter how hard he tried, the monster would not stop chasing him, with its diabolical smile, a demon that enjoyed the hunt. He turned left into an alley, because he knew the place well, he passed it almost every day on his way to work at Brandon Special Lab. He thought about making a series of quick turns to lose sight of his pursuer, even throwing things on the ground to slow her down. When there was little left to get out of the alley and onto the main street, the man felt a huge sting in one of his legs, then he felt as if they had poured hot water on the same spot. He turned to see what had happened, only to find a large metal needle embedded in the top of his left leg. Knowing the seriousness of the problem, the man decided to walk with all his might to get to the main road to ask for help, but then the process was repeated again, now he had one on the other leg, and this time he came down with as much force as the needle. it was embedded in the earth, making it impossible to escape.
"What do you want?"
"You are already late, the information is in another place far away from you!"
"Neither all your stupid money nor agents could prevent the truth from seeing the light!"
"What you are doing is useless!"
"Anyway, you are next on his list if you are not useful to him"
"I have won."
"I think you''re confusing things"
"I don''t work for the I.S.C."
"Don''t you think they would kill to know how I got these?" The girl said as she opened her monstrous claws, which she had instead of hands, and pulled another of her metal stakes out of nowhere".
"I thank you for the information you gave away, but since it was for money, it has no real weight".
"The women you killed in the name of profit and reputation are still dead."
"The girl with her mother, the one who ran away from her abusive home."
"The one you took advantage of her weakness to satisfy your lust."
"The same old problems over and over again."
"Trash like you belongs nailed to the wall as an example."
"Go and see how you apologize to them after you''re dead."
"They will rejoice in you to see how their suffering was light and quick compared to the punishment that will await you for eternity."
"AAAAHHH!" the man shouted in pain as he lost the mobility of his arm due to the brutal attack that the demon girl launched.
But it was more horrible to see the girl''s happy face as she watched him writhing in pain, as if she enjoyed it like a child playing to see the blood flow from the wounds. The worst thing that happened was that no one found the man until the next day, nailed to a wall in the alley with several stakes piercing his body. The police could not believe the crime that had taken place, because after the investigation it was revealed that with the injuries the man had suffered, he must have been alive for several hours in pain before he died, hours of pure agony trying to call for help that never came. And all this just a few days after the woman who died in a park in an equally violent manner. But Inspector Yamamo ruled out the possibility of the same suspect committing both murders, because the methods were very different, and because he saw the metal stakes that were the same as the ones he had in his house when the demon attacked him.
Ch64: Cold Chase
Cold Chase
Investigative Diary of Journalist Nozomi Yasuda
February 28th
When I got up to report the news of the shooting at that house in Sumida, I never imagined that I would be dealing with what might be the case of my life. If this story turns out to be true, it will undoubtedly have repercussions all over the country, perhaps even making me a heroine for telling the people of this country how foreign forces once again tried to take advantage of us and how, thanks to my work, we were able to stop them.
It all started when I reported for the news about the shooting in that Sumida neighborhood, where, talking to the local people, they told me that everything happened in a recently built house. The owner of the house seems to be a foreigner from some Mexican province like Salvador or Colombia, but despite being from that place, she had money to have a decent house, which was strange. Obviously, this requires more research than just a story in the incident section. So I decided to go further and investigate the owner of the house, and this is where I found all of this.
First of all, all I know about this woman is that her name is Adelis and she seems to be working for the United States or the Alliance, I really don''t know. At least three times a week she travels to the Akasaka Press Center in Minato, which are the offices of the United States Army in Japan, but with what happened in the continental war, she could be from another member of the Alliance. I don''t have her full name, job title, or even what she does there. Since I have seen several members of the government go in and out on the days that she is here, I assume that she may be in charge of negotiating something with the Japanese government. I am sure that she obtained the land of her house illegally, but that is not the point anymore; it seems that the shooting near her house in the early morning of February 15th was an altercation between her and her killers in the face of an attack by the ISC, according to a witness I interviewed.
Based on this small clue they gave me, I decided to investigate further what was happening, as it was not the first time the I.S.C. appeared in one of my investigations. The I.S.C. in Japan was founded several years ago and was mainly responsible for the production of medicines and the medical research department of the company. Thanks to its large initial investment, the I.S.C. quickly became one of the most important companies in the country, and with the war in Europe, demand increased even more after loose an important research center. When the war in Europe ended, the president of I.S.C. wanted to change the focus of his company''s division in Japan. He personally appointed Mr. Brandon, who is listed as a researcher and developer of military equipment, to head the division. Mr. Brandon''s accomplishments are currently classified by the Alliance. This can only mean that this person is good at his job, that his efforts in the Alliance have been important, and that he is personally trusted by Mr. Raven.
It is with his arrival in the country that violent things began to happen here, a shooting in a warehouses in the port, the shooting in the dark where he apparently attacked a rival of the company, and the recent attack on the Ueno Dam where one of his main suppliers was badly affected. It seems that the police and the Naich¨ are also suspicious of them, but so far nothing of what he said has been made public.
I have been investigating the most important recent movements of the I.S.C. It appears to be the renewal of its contract with BioLife Laboratories, which has been working with them since they came into the country for the creation of medicines. The details of the renewal contract were also kept confidential, but according to the president of BioLife, he was nervous about it, but the profit margin was so great that he could not refuse. Before the attack on the dam, the I.S.C. was sending new equipment and supplies to BioLife''s headquarters as part of this new contract, but after the attack the shipments did not decrease, but actually increased. It was as if they were trying to speed up the work even more. This set off an alarm in me, something bad must be happening under the table, something that could negatively affect the people of Japan. I looked for a way to contact various BioLife employees, but none of them wanted to talk to me, I thought I had hit a wall, but then something strange happened, one of them decided to contact me, it seemed that one of his colleagues told him about me and he decided on his own to talk to me in exchange for some money and some information about Adelis.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
His name was Fuji Igarashi, and when I met him yesterday, he seemed quite nervous and afraid that he was being followed. He told me to be careful what I did with the information he gave me and that I would tell absolutely no one until my story was in the newspaper. He left without telling me anything else, but he left me a USB drive with data. It was the information of various people along with their medical records and what appeared to be a checklist of their health that was done every 6 hours. Most of these people were people who had been reported missing since February 14 or later, the day before the Sumida shooting.
At first I thought that what happened to me was some kind of lie, that he was just playing with me, because even though it didn''t mean anything, it seemed like the typical story of a conspirator from a movie, but then the name of Jiro Iwasaki appeared. He is currently wanted by the police as the prime suspect in the cold-blooded murder of his ex-girlfriend, Yuji Kondo, as she was returning home from work. As I heard, she was found completely destroyed in a public park.
Seeing the terrible coincidence, I decided to contact Fuji Igarashi again, but he did not answer his phone. While trying to contact him by other means as soon as possible, I discovered what had happened to him. The BioLife employee who gave me the information had been found dead earlier today, nailed to the wall with several metal stakes all over his body. It was an extremely violent death that sent a clear message to me: no leaks.
At first, I thought that all this was just a gang war between that Alliance woman and Mr. Brandon of the I.S.C. But now I fear that even that is nothing more than something secondary to what is really happening now. The coincidences are everywhere, this is not a coincidence, something has happened in the ISC, something they do not want to be exposed under any circumstances. And maybe the attack on the dam was the Alliance''s way of responding to the ISC and trying to delay their project.
I could probably be on their list of problem people, maybe my life could be in danger right now. I have to be careful because they could be following me right now and I haven''t realized it. Both the Alliance and the I.S.C. could be following me right now and deciding what to do with me. But right now my life does not matter, this story must come out and warn the citizens of Japan of what our country has become because of the damn foreigners and their stupid power games. I must continue this no matter what the cost, so I decided to try to talk to another colleague of Fuji Igarashi who, after showing him some things, decided to talk to me. But when I left my house and went to the train station, the police blocked the street, it seemed that another murder had occurred, as a journalist I went to see what had happened, gather information and then pass it on to one of my colleagues so that she could pass on the news while I continued. But everything changed again as I approached the yellow police tape. From where I was, I could see several stakes impaled on a wall, several red stains, and a pool of blood on the ground. From the angle I had, I couldn''t see who the victim was, but I didn''t think it was necessary, I already knew who that person was. He must be the person I wanted to talk to today.
Now my suspicions are confirmed, I am being followed. Someone is investigating me and the people I talk to. He is trying to find out who my contacts are and to end them, and when I am not important, he will end me. I need to protect this data, so I decided to make this backup, which I put in the safe. If something happens to me, I hope you can continue this and bring the truth to the people of Japan. I trust you to finish my work, so I am also leaving some of the possible facilities that the I.S.C. or BioLife and all the information I have about this Adelis, I hope.
Good luck, Natsuki.
Sincerely, your Senpai Nozomi Yasuda.
The demon finished reading the computer the journalist had left, she put it in a backpack she had brought for the same reason and looked around. She was in a dark room with several safes, they were in a section that was not used in the Tokyo subway, but since they were near a guard''s office it was a good place to keep things safe, since the journalist knew the guards they let her put it there and let her colleagues pass to pick it up. It was useful for keeping important things. The journalist had used this place many times before. And that was why the demon had discovered it. She had noticed that she had put it here, so as soon as the girl had left, she had gone in to pick up the package.
At her feet lay one of the two guards who had been knocked out and who had found her while she was picking up the computer. She finished him off almost immediately. Walking over him as if he was just an obstacle, she left the station and jumped several meters. Once in the air, she grew a pair of black wings and flew somewhere out of sight.
Ch65: From The Side Of The I.S.C
From The Side Of The I.S.C
BioLife Secondary Labs, Kitamoto, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
February 29
Brandon entered the place with several notebooks full of things he should keep in mind while he was here. His face showed only concern, his eyes had dark circles and the way he walked showed that he was in a hurry. There were several people waiting for him at the sale, dressed in clothes very similar to his own. They were gathered around a rather large table full of papers and screens, all filled with information and numbers of all kinds. When they saw him come in, they felt a little more distant when they saw that their boss had continued working instead of resting as he was supposed to do.
"How are you on your side?" asked Brandon worriedly.
"Not much better, I''m afraid," another of the researchers replied.
"The final arrangement of the VFD and is DNA sequence is still too unstable to even make a reasonable list of the possible uncontrollable genetic changes that could occur."
"It also seems that the only thing they have in common is a predisposition to violence or rage."
"This will not serve as an early demonstration."
"Okay, try just one RFA-4365 dose test more and send me the results as soon as they''re ready."
"In the meantime, I will continue to look for a way to create something more stable and try to find a way to increase the quality of the samples".
"If you need anything extra, send it to your section leader."
"The kitchen has been filled with more new food, so feel free to have a drink, remember to take your breaks and that it is forbidden to talk about work in the dining room".
After that Brandon left the room and went to his temporary office where the next problem is waiting for him. Inside the room, a man was waiting for him in one of the chairs, he was here at Damien''s request. He was a mysterious person, known only as Mr. Gomez, nothing was known about him except that he was a trusted person of Mr. Damien Raven. He was almost two meters tall, he was tall, he wore a black suit, he wore dark glasses next to his immaculate hairstyle, and there was only an expression of concentration on his face. He was here because in the last few days several workers had fallen victim to a seemingly insane hunt by some unknown vigilante, so Mr. Gomez was asked to investigate the origin of these events in order to hunt down those responsible. Brandon looked at him from behind, sighed, and then walked over to his desk to put down the notebooks he was carrying.
"Who was it this time?" asked Brandon disappointedly.
"Kenta Miyata"
"He was a truck driver."
"He was found a few hours ago, staked to his own vehicle," Gomez placed a few photos on the table, showing the police at the scene, as well as the side of the truck where the body was.
"Hell, he never set foot in this place?"
"He had no connection to our project as far as I remember."
"This negates our theory that the researchers were the targets of this madman," Brandon said as he took a package of cookies from a drawer to eat to satisfy his hunger, the result of several days of working to the limit.
"But he was still a worker from here, He was one of those in charge of the ¡°vounteers¡± of the streets."
"The message is clear, he is attacking everything connected to this place."
"Our theory remains the same, only the number of people who could be targets has increased."
"The violence of the deaths is terrifying, but it is too conspicuous compared to before, it is clear that what they want is to attract attention."
"So it might be that "Valkyria" Akane reported when she returned from the Ueno Dam, who now seems to be on the same team as Adelis" Now Brandon took out a bottle of water from another drawer to drink, not wanting to waste the little time he was not fully working on his project.
"Actually, that''s a very good assumption on your part, Mr. Brandon."
"I''m afraid I have more bad news for you, Mr. Brandon.
"I took the liberty of checking the access logs to the database and came across something unusual.
"Well, a few days ago there was an unauthorized download of several files by an researcher here."
"His name, I am afraid, is Fuji Igarashi, perhaps it will be enough for you to know the name"
"Was he the first victim or something like that?"
"Exactly"
"I have no idea what he did with the information he stole."
"But maybe we should assume that he could have given it to that lady from the Alliance and they killed him later to prevent us from finding out anything."
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
"How likely do you think that is?"
"I''m not entirely sure, but it''s quite possible, so I wouldn''t rule it out."
"Okay, get on with it, but please hurry to finish as soon as possible"
"No one can concentrate if they think they might be the next murder victim."
"Maybe I''ll be the next one, and you know what happens if that happens, don''t you?"
"Not really"
"Raven just asked me to find the killer, nothing more."
"If you feel insecure, maybe you should bring Akane back or buy a dog"
"Just go now, I have a lot of things to do"
Mr. Gomez stood up, gathered his things and left the room. Brandon, for his part, seeing that he finally had a free moment, took out several bottles of medicine from his lab coat, took out several of each and then swallowed them. Some were to reduce sleep, others to reduce stress and others were supplements, normally a doctor would not advise taking so many pills together, but Brandon did not care because it was not the first time he had done this. Then his phone rang, bringing him back to work.
"It''s me, Akane."
"I''ve already managed to take care of Jiro Iwasaki."
"It cost me to find him, but I managed to find him when I searched with the thermal camera while I was flying."
"Excellent, finally some good news on this day"
"Dispose of the body, burn it in a deserted area"
"We don''t want the police to find it."
"After that, come back here, because I''m afraid I need you to take care of something else now."
"Roger," she said before hanging up.
Brandon hung up the phone and started to pick up his notebooks to go to the lab and continue his work, but just as he was about to leave, the phone rang again. When he heard that the ringtone was different from the previous one, he realized that the call was important, so he ran to answer it as quickly as possible.
"Mr. Raven!"
"I didn''t expect you to call me back so soon."
"It was in the news again."
"Journalists are already calling it a serial killer."
"Surely the police will not ignore now that all the victims came from the same company"
"How is the project going? Any unexpected problems?"
"No sir, at the moment the project is going well"
"We have run into problems, but they are all the kind we expected."
"The DNA of the VFD is still difficult to predict or control and you need to order a new machine that can take a higher quality sample."
"As you can see, these are normal things in this kind of development."
"Now come to the serial killer, we still don''t know anything."
"Gomez recently came to talk to me about the same subject.
"We think it might be the same Alliance team that has been giving us problems from the beginning."
"When we are sure that they are responsible, I will talk to Mr. Miyazaki so that the government can take care of them.
"Do you need more money for this new sample machine?"
"No sir, at the moment it is within the current budget"
"It does not matter, I will transfer more money so that you can negotiate the delivery as soon as possible"
"Don''t bother so much Mr. Raven, this machine is not a priority right now"
"I believe that with the current one, we can advance the project enough to present an early sample that will convince the Japanese Defense Ministry to proceed."
"It is not necessary for the company to continue to put more money into this project."
"It''s not company money, it''s from my personal account."
"The night before, I dreamed about her again, and it reminded me of the importance of this."
"This is the least I can do, consider it a gesture of my commitment to make this work".
"Alright, you are the boss"
"Okay, I''ll leave this in your hands for now"
"I look forward to some encouraging news on this, Mr. Brandon."
"I''m looking forward to it, don''t let me down," Mr. Raven said before hanging up.
Brandon put the phone back on the desk and with a trembling hand pulled out the bottle of pills to swallow them again. He was aware of how important this was to his boss, so he could not let him down, and that was the origin of all the overtime he had been working. That he and the rest of his team, who he thought were serving or protecting his country in this way, were working hard to keep this going despite the odds. This was finally the shining moment Brandon had been waiting for all his life, if he could succeed here, he would finally stop being the shadow of others, he would finally be an important person in the scientific field, so he had no plans to leave anything to fate. Although Adelis wasn''t behind the serial killer, she was still a threat to his job. So he thought he should try one more time to finish her off. But how could he try to kill her this time?
They had already tried to use her as bait, kidnapped her, and even tried to raid her house, but all those times they had failed for the same reason. She had a formidable team protecting her, in addition to the dangerous white girl who had been lost in the continental war, and it seemed that Adelis had somehow managed to get her hands on her, if not she was the one who had planned it in the first place. But he had to try, otherwise they would see her face again sooner or later. Brandon thought that maybe the approach had to be changed, because if the previous attempts to be elusive had failed in his plans, maybe a frontal attack to where she thought she was safest could work.
So he picked up the phone and made a few more calls, this time to a group that might be brave enough to try this plan, but in his opinion had nothing to do with the I.S.C. in case they failed. It was a radical group on the Internet that seemed very opposed to the presence of the U.S. military in Japan, and that maybe they just needed a little push to do something stupid. Like attack Adelis for example.
Ch66: The Alliance Office Part 1
The Alliance Office Part 1
Temporary Office of the Alliance in Japan, Akasaka Press Center, Minato, Tokyo.
March 1st
It was not yet time for lunch and I was already bored with my work here. Because unlike the fantasy world that my home became, here I was only surrounded by mundane things and tasks. Currently one of the office workers in the United States Army is talking to me, his name is William and he comes from Detroit. He seems like he joined the army to put his past as a gang member there behind. He is currently replacing Xian who she will return tomorrow from her vacation. He seems to be a good person who does his job, but I need someone I can trust and with whom I can discuss confidential matters. He has been working here for so little time that no one has yet told him that he can wear private clothing instead of the standard army camouflage uniform.
"The delivery of the new Nas server that you ordered has already been delivered to your home, along with the high-speed hard drives recommended by the manufacturer" said the secretary while checking his clipboard
"Excellent"
"Speaking of which, have you finished installing the new high-speed internet in my house?"
"Did you make sure it delivers the 2 Gigabits per second that you promised?"
"They will also end for tomorrow"
"They have been working hard to make the necessary arrangements for you to connect to the alliance system with this new internet provider"
"Madam, if I may, would I like to comment on why are you trying to get the latest in communications technology for your house?"
"If it is something related to work, you can simply ask technical support for what you need"
"I can''t do that as the gadgets I''m trying to get are for my family''s personal use"
"My granddaughters are passionate gamers, they are the ones who have asked me for these things, so I am not going to use something owned by the government so that they can download video games"
"But that does not concern you"
"Well you are right, but more than a gamer computer set it seems that you are trying to install an internet server base"
"I also have this job, I can not cut expenses for important things" I replied
"Very well I think that will be all for now, tomorrow Mrs. Xian will return to work as your secretary"
"May I know where I should present myself tomorrow from now on?"
"Don''t worry about that, she is a person that I need to do things in the field frequently"
"So you will be her assistant and help me when she is not here."
"You can retire now"
He immediately turned and left. For my part, since I had nothing to do until they gave me a report with the results of the investigation of the underground facility in Vienna, I decided to think about how to talk to Leon about Cesar. How am I going to present the news to him in a way that he believes me?
I think the first step to introduce Cesar back to the family is trying to get as many allies as possible, so that in this way he presents Cesar''s new way and as a return, he is fairly accepted. But for that, the first test is to talk to Leon myself about the subject because I already know that the impression he had on his brother was not good. When I gave him the news of his brother''s death, he didn''t get mad at me, but at him. Well, according to his eyes, Cesar was just a loser who could never find a way in his life and who used joining the army as an excuse to leave Maria and me abandoned. Leon in that same call made it clear to me that he would not attend the funeral of his brother because he had more important things to do like earn money to support his family and pay for Maria''s treatment. Now that we know what Cesar was actually doing and we know that Leon is wrong about his brother I want to make them reconcile. But that will certainly be difficult with the appearance that Cesar has now. If only he had been asleep when the castle event happened in Aria''s world, perhaps he would have a slight degree of understanding of the situation. But since he was awake working while the events were happening, he was never transported to the party.
My cell phone began to ring, from the sound it seems that it was Cesar calling me, surely it was to inform me about some unforeseen event that he came across before continuing to monitor that journalist.
"What happened now?"
"Again the police think you are lost?"
"...."
"He"
"...."
"this"
"...."
"I believe"
"..."
"I have a.."
"Did your tail again throw something else to the ground?"
"If it''s something embarrassing, just say it once, it''s easier that way"
"...."
"...."
"okay"
"...."
"...."
"If you don''t speak in the next 3 seconds I''ll hang up and you''ll have to wait for me to come back to the house"
"...."
"...."
"The pants, it broke"
"The last pair of pants I was wearing fell apart as I tried to put it on"
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.....
"I no longer fit in my pants and it broke when I tried to put it on by force"
...
"Do you try to hide your tail inside your pants again?"
"...."
"...."
"...no..."
"It broke before it finished climbing to my thighs"
"...."
"...."
"...."
"...."
"Please say something, that silence is worse than me having to say that my hips grew even more"
"Cesar"
"Currently those pants were the widest they sold in the store"
"If you are telling me that even with those you still do not fit, it means that you either wear a skirt or that you will have to send them to order made-to-measure"
"And what do you think people will respond when I tell them that these measurements are for a girl of about ten years?"
"They will send the police to investigate"
" You think that I''m happy to call to report this?"
"I would have been groping in the store looking for something that would fit me despite my tail so as not to have to say this"
"But currently I don''t have time, I have to keep an eye on this girl, I can''t let the demon get ahead of us again"
"Ok I''ll see what I can do but don''t expect those pants to arrive quickly"
"Will they at least get along with the platform shoes?"
"No, I can''t do two things at the same time, it''s either one or the other"
"What!"
"But it''s still cold outside, I hate having cold legs"
"Then the pants will be"
"No, stop, wait!" I think I heard while hanging up the phone.
What the hell is wrong with her? Does she have some secret diet that allows her to have the most lustful body possible? Someone who looks like a young girl shouldn''t have those dimensions! It seems that everything she eats only goes to two specific places, instead to grow upwards grow sideways. Damn, life is unfair, when I was 15 I was skinnier than Maria. If I had something like that, Rafael would have fallen in love with me much sooner than it originally took.
While I was trapped in my thoughts someone came and knocked on the door. Then he opened it and Cedric came out. He waved at me and then spoke.
"Good morning Adelis, how are you today?"
"Are you planning to eat out for lunch?"
"I need to know in order to organize the escorts that will accompany you"
"You look exactly like a pervert who would have problems with the police"
"Do you know of a place where I can get clothes for a young girl but with a wider body than a supermodel?"
"I think that in the store two blocks from here on the way to the train station they might have something that works for you"
"The speed with which you answered that question is disturbing"
"It''s for the white girl right?"
"I thought that something like this could happen after seeing how much she has put on weight compared to the first time I saw her"
"Well that has an easy explanation because I''m sure that if we were all locked in a box to go out just to fight and never be able to eat, anyone would lose weight"
"It is good that she gains weight, it means that she is being well-fed and has a healthy body"
"Although it is a problem if she does not grow more"
Well, according to Cesar, that body hasn''t grown in like 10,000 years, so I don''t think it will now.
"Do you have anything else to add so I can call the police to arrest you now?"
"Wait Adelis!"
"Do not misunderstand!"
"What I was referring to is that I am glad that she is in a place that is much better compared to where she was before!"
"You may not know it but I worked with her a couple of times during the war"
"She was always distant and cold to everyone, so much so that we thought she was just a machine"
"But then one day, the day of the robbery in Tunisia, something she did differently than usual, although only for a moment I could see that there were traces of a person inside her"
"When her rebellion happened in Vienna I was perhaps the person most concerned about how that could have ended"
"Well, although I wanted her to escape from her and be free from her, I am also aware of how dangerous she is"
"But there was something that surprised me even more"
"She had passion in her eyes, he could see how she was trying to be free with every part of her body, despite the threats and danger"
"That is why when we were scolded for our failure, I did not feel bad knowing that this way she would have at least one chance"
"Hell, if you had asked me for help or had known that this was all part of your plan to save her, I would not have made any complaint."
I love how he came to this conclusion by himself because the truth is I had no way to explain it and I simply chose not to tell him anything.
"it was something that I thought I had to do"
"Since my son died trying to protect her, the least I could do was that his sacrifice had not been in vain" I said trying to play along
"Do not even say it"
"Unfortunately I think I am partly responsible for what happened"
"If I had done my job better, Cesar might not have died trying to protect her from her"
"Maybe he was only the pilot of our team''s helicopter, but I also considered him as one of our companions"
"Hell, if it hadn''t been for him, I would have died in that accident in Germany"
"That reminds me of wondering what you do back here"
"The war is over and you have already fulfilled your military service"
"Why did you decide to go back?"
"Well, it has to do with precisely that"
"I think that because of the men I lost to my command like Cesar for example they deserve to see that what they did made the world a better place"
"So I thought that I should continue working to make this peace last and not be repeated"
"And the best way to do this is to help you with your work"
"I know how hard you have worked to end the war and after losing someone important because of it I would do the same to keep the peace with your work"
"That, the pay is pretty good and it''s almost an office job if I''m honest"
"I don''t think I would have found a better job back in the United States"
"And you decided to accept the job despite being Commander Phillips who offered it to you?"
"I am aware of what he is really up to and personally I also think that the guy is an idiot"
"But is it not better that you have me as your ally"
"In this way, you can protect the days of peace that you now enjoy with your family and the white girl"
"You should be a good mother to her and teach her what it is to live in peace, how to be an ordinary person "
"Peace"
"It''s nice to have calm days, but I really wonder if they will last, or are we just on the verge of something worse"
"What do you mean?" he asked confused.
Ch67: The Alliance Office Part 2
The Alliance Office Part 2
Temporary Office of the Alliance in Japan, Akasaka Press Center, Minato, Tokyo.
March 1st
Cedric who was talking to me looked at me confused by the last statement I made. I know it sounded ridiculous, especially after just two months ago we conquered the capital of the empire, but I can''t deny that I have my suspicions that maybe they haven''t given up yet.
"Cedric, I know that you are a trustworthy person and I hope that you will have discretion with what I am going to tell you."
"Although right now we have the capital of the empire under our control, haven''t you wondered why the news of the empire''s surrender has not yet come out?"
"That the empire has not surrendered?"
"But if they stopped fighting, we even captured a large part of their army!"
"I am not referring to that, but to the fact that the leaders have not yet appeared publicly to announce the end of hostilities."
"Well that''s why they disappeared"
"We currently have no idea what his whereabouts maybe"
"We have been looking for them and although we have found some, we are missing important people"
"They do not appear anywhere despite our great efforts to find them"
"It is for the same reason that the terms of surrender have not yet been established, as there is no one in authority, it was important enough"
"Well it''s normal that they wanted to run away"
"But it''s only a matter of time before they find them"
"Or In case it is not only to find someone to sign for them"
"Well I thought that too"
"But lately I have my suspicions that there is still something else"
"According to Elise the white girl, she chose that name, the underground facility that she was investigating the day she rescued her there were several strange machines, they say they looked like portals"
"But when we came to investigate with a larger team there was nothing, just scrap metal"
"Well, she could have been wrong, it wasn''t like she knew much about the outside world, to begin with."
"Although I would like to think that I have the feeling inside me that she could be telling the truth"
"What if the Empire really had access to a machine like that?"
"They could attack any city in the world at any time without warning"
"Come on, if true that the empire could have won the war long ago by attacking several capitals in a short time"
"It is impossible"
"What you are saying is just a fantasy unbecoming of you"
"And what do you know about fantasy?"
"Ok, now you''re scaring me"
"Do you really think it is possible that they have a portal"
"I am almost completely sure that they surely have it and used it to escape and maybe start again to build a powerful army"
"Maybe right now they are building new ways to attack us, in some way we don''t expect"
"Well if that''s the case, then maybe if I made the right decision to go back to the army"
"The three of us will be able to do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening"
Suddenly the office door was thrown open, William appeared through it, he had in his hands a folder with several papers, but his face looked scared, it seems that there is something important.
"Excuse me ma''am for the entrance, but it is important"
"The president of the united states has just sent him a copy of the peace treaty that will be imposed on the empire"
"It will be published shortly"
"What!"
"That''s not good"
"Give me that now!"
"I''m sorry Cedric but this is serious business, I need you to retire now"
"Alright"
"Anything you need you can call me"
The two men left my office and closed the door. Once they left me alone, I immediately open the folder to be able to read the contents. The first few pages were just a long introduction to what happened in the war, the countries involved, and a shitty rider who didn''t matter. I skipped that to go immediately with the most important part and that could cause problems, the clauses that the empire would have to accept. It was divided into several sections, each one more intriguing than the last. In the military field the disintegration of the Imperial army was established, as well as the delivery of all the materials, warships, and air force that it had left, probably everyone wants to try to investigate the technologies created by the empire. Economically, the empire was held responsible for the damages caused by the war, merchant ships of more than 1400 tons of displacement as well as the fairly large payment in compensation to each country that made up the Alliance. The territorial clauses, where the Empire would have to deliver all the occupied territories and what was worse was the delivery of some of these territories to countries that had no rights in the region such as China and Russia, but the most important part was the division of the empire to the old countries that were before.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
This peace treaty was horrendous, insulting, degrading, and even counterproductive. These various of these clauses were exactly the things the Empire feared would happen and why it was that they declared war in the first place. This treaty is clearly a mistake that will only make things worse, as happened in the past with Germany. This will only create resentment in the inhabitants and make them believe that they really were right with the war. This will not end the conflict, it will only delay it. For if the Empire had something hidden they will not be afraid to use it after seeing what others will do to their people. I must try to change this and find a way to create something that can really end the conflict. I picked up the phone and immediately called London Alliance headquarters
"Hello?"
"Harry?"
"It''s me, I have to talk about the copy they sent me!"
"...."
"I don''t care that it''s two in the morning there, this is urgent!"
"Bring that bastard Jack on the phone too"
"...."
"So grabs a car and drives there!"
"If you don''t, the next political campaign you are going to do will be for the municipal assistant position, I swear to you"
...
I could not believe it, it was now three in the afternoon, I had spent most of the morning and afternoon talking to several people in the Alliance trying to find a way to change the treaty, but it did not matter how much I negotiated or with whom I spoke, those selfish bastards they ignored my requests and put me aside. It was clear that they had agreed before talking to me to go ahead with their plan. Overnight it seemed that I had run out of allies, and although I could use Charlotte and Kazumi to get evidence of corruption to threaten them with, that will only get them to see me as an enemy later on. I should go and talk to the US president about my opinion on the matter. I''m going to ask my granddaughters to help me organize the trip.
I was about to pick up the phone when something completely unexpected suddenly happened. A violent explosion shook the entire building, the crystals broke, the light went out and several walls were destroyed. From one second to the next it was dirty and full of debris, my leg ached from a wound, it had embedded glass, but it was small, nothing of importance, but it made it difficult for me to walk. Come on, I have to get out of here, I can''t allow myself to die now, I have to live. But just when I was reaching the door my ears noticed that something else was happening, there were shots, shots inside the building, it seemed that some group was attacking our office. In a panic, I ran to my desk and pulled out of a drawer a pistol that I kept in case of emergencies, and clearly, this was one. Cedric and William appeared from the door, wearing bulletproof vests and rifles. When they saw me they ran to me to try to help me.
"Are you okay ma''am?"
"Don''t worry, we''ll get you out of here as soon as my team manages to secure a safe path to the parking lot and get a vehicle."
"While I try I need you to stay here calm"
"You can do it?" Cedric said watching the door while William tended to my wound.
"What is happening!"
"Who is attacking us!"
"We do not know, they only indicate that they are a lot of civilians with weapons"
"Civilians don''t have access to that kind of high explosives!"
"I''m sorry but we don''t know anything, for now, our priority is to get you out of here safely"
"Can she walk?"
"Yes, sir!" William answered
"Ok we''ll make our way"
"Adelis, stay behind, in case you see someone you don''t know, shoot without hesitation"
"Right now we can''t afford mistakes"
Cedric then walked out the door and started walking towards the stairs, me and William following behind. He checked the stairs a couple of times and started to go down, then he made a sign for us to follow him. Despite the situation, Cedric looked quite calm, almost the same as seeing Cesar when he rescued me. It was clear that this was not the first time of him in this type of situation. William on the other hand, even though he was a soldier, looked more attentive and checked the whole place with his eyes. For my part, I felt that he was about to faint, my body was heavy and the arm that I was holding a weapon could not move at all.
Suddenly the chaos returned again, a couple of shots were heard more in front. Cedric ran, looked down a hallway, raised his gun, and fired. The boom of his weapon was heard tremendously throughout the room, to the point that nothing else could be heard. He made a couple of signs with his hand and then William ran to me and pushed me down the stairs, then I saw how he also raised his gun and started firing in a different direction from Cedric.
I was downstairs and now I was alone on my own.He did not ask to return to the previous floor where they were fighting.I had to get to the parking lot and escape.I had to get out of here, but the nervousness I had was killing me.I could strongly feel my own pulse, every sound I heard made me panic.Every dark place he saw could be a trap. Suddenly, from another completely different part, a group of armed men came out, they were like about ten people, they were armed and did not have a uniform.As soon as they saw me they raised their weapons to shoot, I knew that with my pistol I was not going to win, it was the end for me.
But then again the unexpected happened. From a shadow came a girl with a strange weapon, and with a single movement of this part, she split these men in half. It was terrifying and violent how I finished with them, then she stood up and I could finally see her clearly. It was the demon that Cesar was looking for, without a doubt it was her. From the terrifying and disturbed smile of hers, the strange clothing she wore, the horns on her head, the dark wings and tail that only a supernatural being could have. Seeing her only gave me more fear than I already had, surely her next victim would be me. She saw me in the face of her, shook her scythe weapon to remove the blood from her and slowly approached me. In an act of desperation, I raised my gun and shot her. But she made that strange movement and but when I had realized she was now in a different place and from one of her hands I took out a stake that seemed to be made of driving, which she threw towards me with inhuman speed. I couldn''t see its trajectory, but I could feel it pass by my face. Then I heard a sound of agony behind me. I turned to look and I could see how there was now a man nailed to the wall with the metal stake, I screamed in horror when I saw that and I fell on my knees. The devil on the part of her approached me and raised her hand to my face, but despite what I thought would happen she just hugged me and smiled at me, then she stood up and spoke to me.
"Don''t worry, the bad things are over"
"I came to help you escape, Mother-in-law" The demon said with her usual terrifying smile as she tried to lift me up.
I couldn''t take it anymore and lost consciousness not long after.
Ch68: The Wrong Side Of Heaven
The Wrong Side Of Heaven
Onigan City, Yoturn 2, Heaven
February 2
Onigan city was quite a different place than what anyone would expect to see in Heaven. Far from the days bright by the sun or a cleanly impeccable city, the capital of the planet Yoturn 2 could only be described as dark, illuminated only by the hundreds of neon lights and commercial signs, the streets were full of garbage or people, and the truth of the place was that the entrance was completely closed to underage people, without exceptions. It was not a place with a healthy environment, on the contrary, it was perhaps the equivalent of the slums of a city. But the most surprising thing is why such a place came into being in the first place. The truth is that this place was originally just a normal place where angels met to exchange collectible items. But then a literal group of Nerd angels discovered a couple of comics with this style of the place and got down to business to make a place similar to the ones in these stories. The place became a tourist attraction because of its unique design and because it was the closest environment that an angel could experience to being in the middle of a place of criminals. It attracted even more merchants to exchange products and over time it became one of the best places to find those unique luxury things that attract angels so much to spend the money they earn working serving the living beings who came to rest eternally.
But despite its harsh and cruel city appearance, it is only a facade for tourists, in reality, the order is still governed, the police, the battles for gangs'' territories take place once a week in areas prepared for such events, and the entrance cost around 25 credits, a personalized pistol of your favorite band could be obtained for 100. You could pay 50 to receive the experience of being mugged and shot in an alley, and in Friday included a photo of the police examining the scene of your crime for free. As you can imagine, this primarily attracts angels who have lived their entire lives in a clean, safe place and who have never been exposed to danger. Also because this Solar system was close to the outer circle of the security district, the angels who return from work fighting came to this place to relax, because it is said that this place was a "neutral" territory or what was the same as by agreement of everyone, whatever happened here, stayed here, no one criticized anyone about how they spent their time here.
The air traffic of the city was damn chaos, from the spaceports, personal spaceships, publishing flying trucks, and Aerodyne taxis coming and going everywhere, ironically making the best way to travel around the city was public transport and land vehicles. Among all this tide of flying vehicles, an Aerodyne approached, approached the entrance, and a man with a bag under it, saw the sign of the bar to verify if it was in the right place, The wrong side of Heaven. He was in the right place, with a gesture he dismissed the driver and the flying car left.
Upon entering, Rafael looked deeply at the place to see what he could use to his advantage. The place was almost empty, but the few people who were there were quite peculiar, because except for Bartman and the current client who attended who were angels, the rest of the creatures that there were not even human. There was everything, from the typical alien with big dark eyes, something that appeared to be a shark man, a slime, a weird thing, and even a raccoon with a gun were all scattered around the premises. Rafael approached the table and asked for something to drink that was not too strong, but for some reason the other angel, the client, got angry about this and made him criticize him, mentioning that this was a bar for strong people and not a nursery. Rafael without saying anything put his hand to the other side of the counter, grabbed a bottle of liquor, and with total normality hit the angel''s head with it. The man immediately fell to the ground where he started bleeding from his wound. The others, seeing this, turned around and continued with their things. The bartender seeing that he has just lost a client asked Rafael to continue doing business.
"Mr. Rafael, it is a pleasure to see someone of your caliber at my place"
"It allows me to offer one of my best light drinks as compensation for having gone through such an unpleasant encounter" said the bartender as he took out the bottles that would make up the concoction
"Who is the man on the ground?" Rafael asked while the sirens of the medical unit that was taking the same subject to treat him sounded.
"Oh, he?"
"Ignore him, he is one of my frequent clients"
"He is the captain of a space battleship, who just returned"
"If it had not been you, surely the same thing would have happened but with just a table"
"By tomorrow he will have forgotten everything and will return here anyways"
"Okay"
"Let''s get straight to business"
"A friend of yours, Marco, told me that you are someone who can answer my questions"
"Do you think you can do that?"
"Well, Marco sent you then I have no problem"
"I imagine he already mentioned the prices to you?"
"I need you to tell me everything you know about Lisa the watchmaker"
"...." The bartender changed his face when he heard these words
"Sorry sir but this is a bar, here we sell drinks and guide collectors to the objects they are looking for"
"We don''t know anything about exiled agents"
"And how did you know that I was referring to an exiled person?"
"I''m sorry sir but I can''t help you"
"Measure better where you ask because if the police will listen to you, you will get me in trouble too"
"Wait!"
"I can pay you for the information" Rafael said worried as he took out of his bag a box that he put on the table
"It is the latest model"
The bartender stood by to see what the box was about, and when he recognized it he was so surprised that he almost dropped the glass he was cleaning.
"That is the cell phone model that came out three months ago!"
"It''s out of stock, it''s hard to find even in stores on Earth!"
"How did you get something like this?"
"I have the invoice and the customs papers"
"This won''t appear on the market here for like ten years"
Because only the warriors from the Celestial Security Section were the only ones allowed to go to the world of the living, it meant that they were the only ones who could bring back goods purchased there. And since even they are heavily checked on their return, the goods they can bring are few. In addition to this, they also had to present proof that they got it legally during their stay on earth, so everything they bring had to come with the original receipt from where they bought it on earth. So these papers also served as proof of ownership with a value equal to the product they accompanied. It is for all this large number of obstacles through customs that obtaining objects from the world of the living was considered a luxury for the angels.The angels loved to show proud proof of their achievements, and what a higher honor than to say that you belonged to a special operations squad that was on the earth or another planet with intelligent races and got the last luxury car of the year as a souvenir during their stay on earth.It was the dream of the young, the envy of the neighbors, and the honorable of the family in case someone succeeded.No one denied that several of the warriors who joined the security section did so thinking of bringing items to sell later to save and get something else they wanted. Some angel farming families saved for a long time to buy an object like a old film camera to show during a party, even though the angels themselves had access to better cameras, with superior technology and hundreds of thousands of times cheaper.
"Sir, even for something like that I can''t do anything."
"Don''t you want something different in exchange for that?"
"I know a couple of properties in the upper part of the city that I could get in exchange for that phone"
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Rafael lost his nerve and threw the glass of alcohol that had been served against a wall.
"Please I need your help right now"
"They are planning to kill my wife soon and I need to know if this girl could prevent that from happening or not."
"Right now I have to do something and I have nothing left for you to know about her"
"Please help me" Rafael begged him almost crying to the poor man who was on the other side of the table
The bartender looked him in the eye and really seeing a person going through a need remembered that at the end of the day they were there to help others.
"Okay, but you heard this from Marco, not from me"
"Alright?"
"Fair enough"
"Lisa was the typical exemplary student with good grades during school and high school, she did an extraordinary job as a guardian angel for whom no one thought he would be important."
"She earned the right to study at the watchmaker''s school and was also a model student there"
"She passed the fierce watchmakers exam in just her third attempt and earned the right to use this power"
"But as if this was not enough then she enrolled in the undercover assault academy and graduated from there too"
"Making her one of the few watchmakers that were also good at combat and with field experience in extreme-risk operations"
"Excuse me interrupting you, but who is a watchmaker?"
"Is it a secret class of angels?"
"You really ask about an ex-watchmaker but you don''t know what that holy profession is about?"
"As I said, I''m desperate and short on time, I''m trying to get everything as fast as I can"
"Watchmakers are angels who, as their name indicates, take care of time"
"They make sure that time does not see its course altered with respect to the will of THE BOSS"
"I''m sorry but I don''t follow you"
"They are basically in charge of trying to fix the errors that some idiot with a time machine could cause"
"You know, like for example preventing you from accidentally killing your grandfather and things like that"
"But even if they pass their difficult tests, a true watchmaker is still handpicked by THE BOSS himself"
"That is why the case of Lisa is special because she has been the angel who won that position faster in history"
"And if she was so Pro, how did she fall?"
"The Seventh Operation, that''s what happened to her"
"Was she in the war against dragons?"
"That is correct"
"Your son was not the only one who gave a great spectacle there"
"But he even had the ups and most of the downs of him during that hard time"
"THE BOSS thought of sending only the best to help in the war"
"One of these was Lisa the watchmaker"
"She was sent there to prevent your son from having an emotional breakdown and also help in the war, guide him, give him a push, protect him without his noticing it"
¡°Since she was his original guardian angel assigned to Cesar, she knew him well enough, she was emotionally involved in the case and was interested in keeping him alive, for her more than a mission, it was to save her only family.¡±
"Needless to say, she failed miserably"
"Not only could she was unable to help Cesar as she was supposed to, but he also realized her true celestial identity as well., but Cesar was forced to help her overcome the fear of seeing how violent a fight with dragons can be"
"The only thing she did well was advise him on how to use the Codex"
"But even if she ruins her role, that doesn''t sound worth earning exile"
"You''re right, but what happened after that was what changed her"
"This is where the rumors start, so even I''m not entirely sure what happened."
"It is said that when she returned she was disappointed about what she did when she was on earth"
"So she tried to improve on her new assignments"
"But no matter how much she tried, she couldn''t leave behind the mistakes that she made out of her mind"
"Then the problems started to appear"
"They supposedly started a day with her trying to contact Cesar again to apologize for what happened on Atlantis"
"Since by that time he was already helping with the Celestial Security Section, they obviously denied her request"
"She kept asking for permission to speak with him until her superior had had enough of the subject and forbade her to continue bringing up the subject"
"After that, they say that she became paralyzed thinking about why they denied her so emphatically to let her go see him"
"That sounds troublesome enough, but still understandable to a point"
"Then her superiors discovered that she seemed to be in love with Cesar because of what happened in the war and the support he gave her despite his own precarious condition, although she did not know why her boss was what to believe purist angels who believe that angels should only be with people of the same species and that someone as exemplary as Lisa in love with a human was a waste"
"So guess what was the next thing she was banned from?"
"Fell in love?"
"Is it forbidden for an angel to fall in love with something other than an angel here as well?"
¡°No, of course not.¡±
¡°......¡±
¡°But not all top brass think that, and unfortunately for this story, Lisa''s boss was one of them, and for him Lisa was unique, a rising star with infinite potential, a powerful angel among a billion.¡±
¡°Poor Lisa, still innocent in her time believing that all her fellow soldiers were as good at heart as she believed the bastard''s demands were well-intentioned.¡±
"But even so, in her spare time she kept trying to find information about Cesar, to keep track of what he had been doing."
¡°But since Caesar''s information is so important it is handled with the greatest of greed, no one outside of a very select few can even get to the secure repository where his information is.¡±
¡°I think it was that desperation to know that her confidant was well that somehow managed to contact Marco to get information about Cesar.¡±
"Then came the ugly parts"
"When Cesar crashed his jet in Italy, several teams were immediately dispatched to help him."
"Lisa didn''t realize this until much later"
"Along with the report explaining that he was not fully treated for his injuries"
¡°Lisa, now desperate to see him, asked her boss for a job transfer, she was willing to give up her job as a watchmaker in exchange for any other job that would let her go to see Cesar, no matter how lowly it was.
¡°.......¡±
¡°Lisa''s boss did not take it well, his beloved prey would go away from him, his property was asking to be free, he realized that his will was not as strong as the emperor''s¡±.
¡°He took her to a private room, beat her, abused her, humiliated her, broke her.¡±
¡°Lisa was not seen for at least a month.¡±
¡°.....¡±
¡°It was during that time that the poor girl learned firsthand what true evil was and the fancy disguises it wore.¡±
"That nobody realized her boss was a literal piece of shit?"
"Finally came the last nail in the coffin"
"Last year, it came to her ears how Cesar had died rescuing Nanami''s body during the war"
"She tried to contact him in any way she could, but couldn''t find him anywhere"
"Obviously because he had returned to earth with his new job that THE BOSS assigned him, so all the details about him are now classified and nobody knows anything about him since"
"This seems to break what little reason was left in the poor girl, her last rope, her last sanity of her mind."
"It seems that after looking for him everywhere and not finding him, she thought that he was lost in the same way as Nanami"
"...."
"The next thing that happened, Lisa''s boss was found dead nailed to the wall of his own office"
"When they revived him he told them that she was planning to escape to earth"
"The police managed to arrest her and they locked her in a prison"
"...."
"Where she returned to kill a guard trying to escape"
"By this point, it was clear that her mind was corrupted and her wings changed color to black"
"She became a fallen angel, motivated only by her wishes"
"Her rights as a watchmaker were immediately withdrawn"
"When their superiors superior to this they thought it was time to get rid of her"
"But it seems when they were trying to get rid of her, she managed to free herself and kill them one more time"
"The last thing that is said about her is that she he tried to escape but was only stopped by Stella''s sister at the last moment, She tried to escape from her through a maintenance portal that they were repairing"
"Not without leaving before brutally wounded by an assault spear, with the curse of an incurable wound or something like that I heard"
"Fuck I knew this was it could be bad, just not that bad"
"The security section screwed up big with her"
"They didn''t realize how cruel her boss was until last month when an investigation came out as guilty of harassment and abuse of authority"
"Apparently he wanted sex with Lisa and that''s why he did what he did"
"He''s on trial right now, but I doubt they''ll give him anything less than life imprisonment"
"Regarding Lisa, no one knows what will happen to her, because although she is one more victim, when an angel falls, is a fallen angel forever, because it is impossible for her to have a normal mind again"
"She will be left with her black wings forever"
"And this is how we got to the current situation"
"Are you maybe part of the next update of this unfolding tale?"
"What are you hinting at"
"In this place, I like to tell stories of struggles against adversity that have a good ending"
"I have followed this case for the reason that this conversion is one of the best in my repertoire"
"So I''m all ears to hear the end from you"
"Well, I really think I can do something about it to create the perfect opportunity, both to save my wife and to help Lisa"
"But for that, I will need the help of Marco and yours"
"Do you have something in mind, Mr. Rafael?"
The two men rushed to plan something, that despite lack of time, perhaps unconsciously would change the lives of many more people than they realized.
Ch69: Fight in time
Fight in time
Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo.
March 1st
Remembering that I was in an emergency situation, I woke up as fast as my body allowed. looked around and I could see how I was on a park bench, quite close I could see the Tokyo tower, so I must have been in Shiba Park. But how did I get here? Did I fall asleep here and everything that happened in Akasaka was just a bad dream? But just when maybe I thought that everything had been a creation of my imagination, something caught my peripheral sight, I turned to see and I could notice something that made me want to vomit.
Near me there were three people, the first was a child crying completely defenseless before what he was seeing. In front of him was something that could only be described as a demon with blue skin, black wings, and horns, who was quite busy playing with what was behind her. The body of an older man, but it was so shattered that it was almost unrecognizable, it was nailed by numerous metal stakes in the ground, next to a huge pool of blood, it was undoubtedly dead. When the demon got tired of playing with the remains of her victim, she stood up and out of nowhere took out another metal stake. But this time he turned to see the boy and started walking towards him. The crying boy could only call out to his father, who seemed to be the thing nailed in front of him. The demon upon hearing this began to laugh as if she enjoyed what she was causing. Her next victim would undoubtedly be the child, he would end up just like his father and I couldn''t allow it, I had to do something. So betting everything on a small guess I had about the demon, I ran and got between her and the boy. I extended my arms to try to defend the boy in case she attacked. I didn''t know what I was doing, but it was better than doing nothing.
"What do you think you''re doing?" said the demon asking for my actions
"If you don''t get out of the way I won''t be able to play with him!"
"What do you think you''re doing!"
"He is just a boy!" I said confronting her
"That is exactly why!"
"Men deserve to die!"
"They are all nothing but hideous beasts trying to prey on women, and the few men who are truly different kill them for getting in their way!"
"Also just look at that boy, that look of panic is so innocent that it makes me want to turn it upside down off myself for reminding me of my stupid past"
The demon was mad at me for getting in her way, but there was something funny about all this. Well despite this she had not attacked me in the slightest and was even willing to talk to me, which seemed to be a great exception to her way of acting. I must have been important alive to her in some way, but what exactly was it?
"If you want to hurt him you will have to step on me!" I said taking my luck to the limit
"That''s stupid!"
"Why are you so stubborn to protect that brat?"
"He''s the son of that sick bastard back there"
"Do you know how many people he could have saved but preferred to kill them himself?"
"Ten innocent people"
"Ten human lives wasted by that guy''s greed"
"How are you sure that his son will not repeat the same mistakes as his father?"
"That you do not dedicate yourself to the same?"
"To kill the people who would cause the most damage in the long run?"
"The child does not have to pay for the crimes that his father committed!"
"He doesn''t even know what''s going on"
"The best way to make them understand what is wrong is by teaching them."
"Perhaps his father did not comply with his part, but the rest of his family or neighbors, or his own teachers taught him that it is good and bad that his father did" I said the first thing that crossed my mind trying to reason with the demon
"Are you not thinking of getting out of my way!?" Said the demon very angry.
It seems that I had made her angry with my actions, but she could not back down now, because it was up to me that the child could be saved. In the worst case, I will have to buy time for him to escape.
"I won''t let you hurt him" I said in a determined way.
What was the demon''s next action going to be now?
"Tch"
"This is bullshit"
"It''s ok, you win"
"Go ahead the child can go, I will not hurt him"
"Really?"
"Will you really let it go?"
"Won''t you try some dirty trick?"
"Unlike the hypocrites men, I do keep my word"
"Even if that leads to my ruin, I am not going to back down with something that I promise!" Said the demon as she turned around and seemed to try to keep playing with the mess behind her again.
"Also I do not plan to go against what my mother-in-law wants"
Another time she called me the same way. It seems that this once again had something to do with Cesar''s past, but now I didn''t know anything to try to solve this problem on my own. The best thing was to wait for him to figure it out on his own, so I decided to focus on what was most important for now. I quickly made the boy and I told him to run away, find a policeman and tell him everything he had seen. After that I helped him get up and pushed him to move, after that, I put myself between the demon and the child in case something happened. But she, true to her word, only turned to see that the child was gone and she continued to drive more stakes into the man''s corpse.
Suddenly I heard a vehicle approaching at full speed and braking suddenly a couple of meters from where the demon and I were.
Once again I was driving like a maniac despite my height, the car I drove was stolen of course, but I had no other option. An hour ago my daughter Charlotte informed me that the office where my mother worked was attacked by an unidentified group, that was enough to put me in a panic, but when she later informed me that I managed to see how Adelis was taken out of the building, not by the facility staff but by the demon that I have been trying to chase all this time a different feeling appeared. If she had a problem with me it was fine, but why also get my family involved in this? This time I had planned to end this at once and move on.
"Turn right at the next cross and continue another twelve meters"
"Grandma is in the park that you will see after that" Charlotte said helping me to try to get to the place where my mother was as soon as possible
I did what she told me and I could see that in the large park that there was, near a bench I could see my mother standing looking to the side, from which she could see the damn demon and his most recent victim. I wasn''t planning on letting my mother be next so she accelerated even more and when I was close enough I slammed on the brakes fully. Tamamo came down with her naginata, I with my submachine gun and immediately we ran towards where they were. We approach with caution. My mother saw me approach.
"Stay there and wait!"
"Tamamo you stay with my mother and protect her"
"I''m going to take care of the demon"
But just when I finished speaking Tamamo pushed me from behind and I fell to the ground. Right after I heard a crash of metal and when I turned to look I saw how my wife was defending me from the devil. Where did she come from?
"Be careful, it seems that she can move in any place where there is darkness"
"It seems that he took advantage of your shadow to attack you from behind" Tamamo warned me while fighting with her.
"She can also do the same with her weapon" I answered her
"Stupid annoyances!"
"Why is everyone always against me!?"
"I will not stop until I have done my duty!"
"I have to finish this!" Shouted the demon jumping back to get space between her and us.
"What do you plan to achieve with this?"
"What do you want?" I asked her
"How can you be so stupid not to realize it!"
"All this is happening because you are here!"
"Thanks to you, everything is repeating itself!"
"The only solution is to kill you so they won''t find you again!" The blue girl said as she plunged into the ground and lost herself in the darkness.
"I hate when the people I fight have superpowers"
"Darling, do you have any idea how that thing might work?"
"That looks a lot like how you can use your sword"
"Do you have any idea to what extent she can use that?"
"I don''t know, but if she needs something dark to be able to use it, wouldn''t it be better to go to a more illuminated place?"
"Ok, working on that"
Tamamo took several of her talismans from one of her sleeves and threw them at different places around us, and a short time later, great columns of blue fire illuminated the battle even more. There was almost nothing dark around us, and thanks to the places where the fire was, our shadows were barely visible. Even so, our concentration was at its highest, for we still did not know that the demon could hide.
Suddenly, the demon came out of one of the pillars of fire at full speed, scythe in hand, charging at me. I quickly called Avalon and grabbed her, but she struck sideways and her weapon caught the side of my sword. Tamamo, who was behind me, seized the opportunity and moved sideways, delivering a thrust with her naginata. The demon dropped her weapon and jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the blow. Seeing that she had lost her balance, I came out on the other side of Avalon and shot her with my weapon. And again it happened, she came back to make that weird move and by the time I noticed she was a few steps behind and had dodged my shots.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"Goshujin-sama? what are you doing?"
"Why didn''t you continue attacking?"
"You let her get away!"
"Wait what?"
"I did?"
"You could have attacked with one of your knives when she moved to dodge the shots!"
"Wait what?"
"I am not that fast"
"Didn''t you see the speed at which she moved?"
"It''s like she can teleport"
"But what are you saying?"
"She ran back while you just stood there doing nothing"
"You could have hurt her while she ran backwards"
"What the hell are you talking about!?" The demon said surprised
She also seemed to doubt what Tamamo was saying, or perhaps rather was surprised that what she was saying was the truth. As ridiculous as this was, it reminded me a bit of something similar that happened in the past, but even vaguely I had to try it.
"It seems that she uses that as a last resort to dodging an attack"
"Since it looks like you can see her when she uses that, attack her when she does"
"Ready?" I asked the goddess
"Ready!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Tamamo fiercely threw her spear directly at the demon, at the same time, I ran straight towards her and also attacked, throwing a knife at her. The demon on her side dodged her to the side, when she finished moving I shot again, with no way out again, the demon had no choice but to use her weird technique again. When she finished blinking this time, she was not far from her original position and the Tamamo Naginata was on the ground near its owner. The dark girl was bleeding on one arm, it looked like a fresh wound because not much blood was coming out yet.
"What happened?"
"What did you do?" I asked Tamamo
"I think I already understood what she does"
"It seems like she can pause time for a couple of seconds"
"Stop the time?"
"Just like Dio?"
"Are you sure?"
"When she uses her power the whole world turns gray and everything stops moving except her."
"It seems that power only partially affects the gods"
"Because although I couldn''t move myself, but I was aware of what was happening"
"I had to control my naginata back to hit her"
"Is she able to stop time !?"
"I can''t do anything when she uses that!"
"Maybe if you hold your sword when she activates it, it can protect you, but I don''t know to what extent"
"Regarding her power, I think I understand a little how she does it, I think I can do something about it but I need time to create the correct technique"
"I need you to protect me"
"Ok I will do my best"
"I leave you in charge when she uses za warudo"
Heeding my wife''s advice, I brought Avalon back to me and had no intention of letting her out of my hand. With the sword in front of me, I charged forward and tried to attack the demon. Due to the simplicity of the attack, she dodged it from the side and attacked me with her scythe. Knowing that she would try that, I jumped and without letting go of my hand, I got right behind the sword and managed to protect myself from the attack. With my free hand I took out my pistol and fired at the other side of my sword, not knowing if she was still there. Suddenly, she jumped on top of me with the intention of attacking me again. I grabbed my sword from the ground and put it on my back to protect myself from another blow. Tamamo saw me and threw a talisman, which didn''t hit the demon but exploded a short time later. I seized the moment and approached Tamamo again.
"Despite what it seemed"
"I know only one person who could do something like that"
"And although I would like to believe the opposite, I do not intend to take any risk of committing another stupid thing"
"Tamamo, if you can please stop her, don''t kill her"
"I want to talk a little more with her"
"I will do it"
"Everything is ready"
"Ok"
"let''s end this fight"
The demon rose from the ground, walked, and picked up her weapon again, as the blue fire surrounding her made it impossible for her to use her ability to move in the shadows. Then she threw a metal stake at us with her free hand. I drew my sword and protected Tamamo who was behind me. I felt like something hit the other side of Avalon several times, it seemed like she threw not just one stake but several. Suddenly, I could see the demon swoop around her side and put my sword between her and Tamamo again. She attacked with her scythe, but this time she used the crook of her weapon so that even though I parried her attack, her weapon would have almost hit me. Then it happened, she started moving strangely again. And since I was still holding on to Avalon this time, the core glowed and I could see what happened next.
The world quickly lost its color and everything was like watching a black and white video, though I tried, I couldn''t move a single muscle, I couldn''t even breathe, but for some reason I wasn''t drowning either. The demon started to move, but with some difficulty, and it came closer to me. The only thing I could do was watch it get closer, because I couldn''t even blink. She took one step and then another, raising her weapon and seeming to enjoy the moment as she slowly lowered her scythe to cut off my head. I didn''t know what Tamamo was planning, but now everything depended on her, so I had no choice but to trust her. And in response to my trust, she made her move.
Despite the complete silence, Tamamo, who was behind me, said something out loud and then clapped her hands. And it seemed like the world was changing to a new color , now a sepia tone. The demon near me stopped moving when the color changed. I could see her face change from one of anger to one of fear, and when she stopped moving, she was just like me, she couldn''t move at all, but I knew that she was aware of what was happening around her, just like me. Then Tamamo appeared in front of me, her eyes were shining golden light and an aura of light surrounded her, her clothes were majestic and she again had all nine tails behind her. She looked the same when I spoke to her after we were attacked in the forest of that planet. Tamamo moved with all the calm of the world, she took the demon''s weapon from her hands and put it on the ground. Then she stepped between me and the demon, moved her arm back to gain momentum, and threw a brutal punch to the demon''s stomach. It was so incredibly powerful that when she pulled her hand back from the demon, the shape of her fist was still on her victim''s stomach. But despite the power of her attack, the demon didn''t move the slightest bit, because even if she wanted to, she was in the same situation, she couldn''t move because someone more powerful than her had stopped time. After that, the Goddess hugged me and moved me back a little to create some distance, and at the same time, the color returned little by little, first the gray returned, and then the rest of the colors. I could breathe again and everything returned to normal.
There was a powerful sound worthy of something that just broke the sound barrier, and the dark girl flew backwards, hitting her head on the ground. It seemed that the damage from the blow had hurt her enough to make her stop fighting. When my mother saw that we had won, she ran toward us. Tamamo received her while I went towards the demon on the ground.
"So this is it for me"
"No matter when I try, fate will always win over me"
"At the end of the day, I am someone who does not matter in the least"
"No matter how hard I tried, I could never avenge the innocent"
"What are you talking about so much?"
"I don''t remember that you were such a cold person"
"The Lisa I knew would have done all of this in a different way, one that didn''t involve killing innocents"
Lisa was an angel that I met during the fight against dragons. She appeared when I was trying to return with the survivors of the first expedition back to the capital of Atlantis and report Avalon to Rose. She helped me a bit by fighting and warning me about the overlord''s fullness and how he was trying to get the codex. As far as I knew she was a watchmaker, and her main duty was to fix the damage caused by the dragons. And although in the end, she was the victim of her own innocence, I considered her a friend of mine.
"In the end, you knew who I was"
"If you know then you should know that this is your fault, I did not kill any innocent"
"If you had not returned he would not have died in vain"
"May I ask who is he?" I asked the demon.
"Who else is it going to be?"
"Cesar for of course, if you hadn''t come back he would have lived a quiet life and I would have been able to talk to him one last time"
"So you planned to kill everyone you could before the angels stopped you"
"What were you planning to gain from that?"
"Avenge him and prove those stupid angels know nothing at the moment of truth"
"Is she someone you did know in the end?" Asked my mother approaching
"It''s hard to tell"
"When I met her she was not very different from Momo, just that Lisa was visible"
"But I have no idea how she ended up this way"
"She does not seem like an angel in the least, quite the opposite"
"So to summarize it up, she passed something on to him and wants revenge for Cesar dying"
"To fulfill this revenge Lisa wanted to attack "Elise" the girl in white that Cesar tried to rescue during the war"
"Already now she was killing people to prevent history from repeating itself?" Tamamo asked a little confused.
"I think that all this is a great misunderstanding of what is happening here"
"Do you want to clarify this to her please"
"I hope it works"
"Lisa, do you remember how Cesar looked like in Atlantis?"
"Of course I did, he looked like someone brave ..."
"Just like..."
"And he always wore those clothes so ..."
"..."
"..." The demon''s face flushed in surprise at whatever she was thinking.
"No wait, something is wrong"
"Why do you come out in all my memories of him?"
"What did you do to me!"
"I have not done anything" I replied to her
"The one who has confused everything is you"
"So you think?"
"..."
"Well it could be..."
"Maybe I''ve been focusing so much on this that I didn''t think about it well, I was already on it"
"Although now that I think about it this also explains why I loved you despite my phobia of men"
"..."
"Please forgive me!"
"It was not my intention to hurt you!"
"In fact what I wanted was to help you"
"What is happening now?" Asked my mother with an incredulous face to what she was seeing .
"Lisa never met me with my original body, whenever I talked to her I looked just like now"
"So I have no idea how she didn''t realize that maybe I am Cesar again"
"Well she doesn''t look like a very sane person now"
"What do you think we should do with her?" Asked Tamamo interested
"For now I think the best thing would be to get out of here and take her home to better clarify all this"
"Are you going to take her to our house despite what she has done?"
"Don''t you see that she is a danger!" My mother answered angrily
"That thing almost killed an innocent child before you got here!"
"Well, that same danger has been the one that rescued from the attack on your office"
"The least we could do is at least see her version of the story"
"What do you think about this?"
"He is your husband, make him see reason!" My mother talked to Tamamo to gain support
"Well Goshujin-sama seems to have his reasons why he trusts her despite how she looks or did she act before "
"The least we can do is help him"
"Also in case something goes wrong I can still easily stop her"
"Oh my God!"
"Not another supernatural thing in my house please"
Since the demon seemed unable to move in the slightest still due to the damage she received, we took her to the car where my mother drove close to the house and abandoned the vehicle so that the police could deliver it back to its true owner.When we got home we put Lisa on the couch.Momo as soon as she saw her basically turned into a glass statue due to fear of seeing a demon for the first time in her life.
Ch70: Shattered Soul
Shattered Soul
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
March 1st
When we finally got home, Maria and Momo were nervously waiting for us. But as soon as they saw us cross the door, they were relieved a little until they saw Lisa pass through the door and she sat nervously on the couch, with a triumphant face, as if she had won the lottery, at the same time that her body still had injuries from the fight that happened earlier. Momo was so scared that she "disconnected" at all, she wasn''t moving at all, I think she wasn''t even breathing, her eyes didn''t blink and her pulse seemed to be zero. Maria on the other hand, as soon as she saw her, took a couple of steps backward, she was puzzled that he attacked her, but when she saw that Lisa greeted her happily in an energetic way, she changed her focus to concentrate to see what nonsense we came out with this time.
Adelis for now more concerned about what happened at her work than about the demon she had in her living room, she took the phone from her living room and immediately made a call, it seems that it was to inform someone that she was already in her room. home with her team, so now she was safe. After that, he turned on the TV where it seems that the twins, guessing his intention, immediately changed the channel to one where they were giving the news of what happened live. The result of the attack? Almost forty people died, no idea how many disappeared and the shots were still heard from the outside, implying that the combat had not ended yet. The cameramen showed images of how police forces arrive and as well as the self-defense forces together with the US military to try to regain control of the place.
"This is horrible!" my mother said surprised at how she watched television
"It is incredible that I managed to get out of there alive!"
"never thought they would attack a place like that!"
"Where did they get the strength or the desire to do something like that?"
"I do not understand"
"The situation inside seems quite chaotic, the army has not yet been able to secure the first floor and it seems that they have barricaded themselves on the third floor, right in your office" Kazumi said, it seems that she is closely following what is happening
"I think my laptop should still have battery"
"Can you access my computer from here?"
"Yes, of course, no problem"
"Okay, make a backup of the files from hard drive F, when you finish format or destroy the whole computer"
"I''d rather that than risk accessing important data"
"If you can also try to find out if they also have computers and also destroy them"
"Ok" Kazumi said as his eyes began to brighten a bit and rotate in a slightly peculiar way
Now that I think about it, I hadn''t seen any of them work because I always listened to them on the other end of the phone. But now that I see her connected with several cables behind her to a machine that looked like a small capsule but vertically in a corner of the living room, holding her slightly in the air I cannot stop thinking about how very different they are from us.
"How did you manage to get a miniature version of the strange machine in Aria?" I asked
"Ah, that?"
"Momo built it these last days, it seems that she followed the girls'' advice and added a couple of improvements such as higher connection speed, a good cooling system, security systems and case of overload as well as a way to quickly disconnect them with the left lever" My mother said quickly answering my question.
"Hey!"
"Are you not forgetting something very important!"
"What is she doing here!?" Momo asked, coming to her senses pointing at the demon.
Lisa was sitting on the sofa, now she had a stuffed animal that was in Maria''s room. And what the hell is she doing !? She is holding him in arms like she is a baby !? What the fuck !?
"Calm everything will be fine, Now that I''m finally together with your father, we are going to be a happy couple"
"You will be a big and strong child-like your father, you will see"
"I will make sure of that"
"Hahaha" She said while laughing in a very peculiar way
"That an excellent question?"
"Why are we having that crazy woman in my house?" said my mother looking in a disturbing way towards the demon as well.
"I would prefer that you be a good son and do not bring a person to my house who is currently being persecuted by the police for being a serial killer
"Ok, I know that it looks like she could look like a person who may belong to a padded room"
"But I assure you that she was not always like this"
"She saved me a couple of times, if it weren''t for her I probably wouldn''t be here"
"I owe my life to her"
"So I want to know what the hell happened to him to make it end this way"
"Come on, she can clearly control herself"
"Just look at her"
And why the hell did I say that, now Lisa was just picking up Charlotte and holding her as if she were a baby, and she was bringing her to drink, with a bottle of boiling coffee as if it were a feeding bottle. Where the hell did she get that from, no one was even making coffee! Oh great, she burned her hand herself, and she doesn''t care?
"You see, I told you that you would be big and strong my little girl"
"You already look like you''re going to high school"
"How fast children grow up!"
"I am so glad I had twins with Cesar"
"Did you say something?" my mother exclaimed.
"Don''t worry, I''ll keep an eye on her" I said doubting myself
"Do not worry you, I will not separate from you ever again now that I finally found you again"
"Here, I am going to put this chain on your feet so that I can know at all times where you are!"
"Where did you get it from?"
"Why did you even have one?"
"Let him go, you stupid demon"
"Or I''m going to burn you to ashes" Tama said taking Lisa by the arm so that she could take her away from me.
"Quick Momo, hand me the fire extinguisher before Tamamo uses the blue flames in here again!" Said my Adelis towards the angel.
Everything had quickly escalated again and this time it threatened to end with the house destroyed if it continued. But suddenly, as if answering the call for help, the doorbell rang. We all stopped immediately and fixed the room as quickly as we could. Momo went up the stairs to the second floor like a lightning, Kazumi used the emergency system mentioned above to escape the cables, then she closed the capsule and finally ran with her sister to the closet under the stairs. The rest of us set up the room so quickly to receive the visitor, all of them exactly Lisa, who instead of hiding took a knife and stood behind the door to knock.
To avoid any problems, my mother opened the door with such force that it hit Lisa enough to knock her to the ground.On the other side was an unexpected visitor again, but understandable the one who was here.It was Stella, but who instead of coming with her usual elegant outfit, was wearing combat armor, along with a large and heavy spear.
"Apparently you managed to capture the demon" said Stella
"I am surprised by such fact"
"I''ve come here to pick her up and lock her up again as soon as possible"
"In this way, we can finish this as soon as possible"
This surprised me and set off an alarm in me, as it seemed quite suspicious to me. Because she had arrived quite fast, too fast in fact. How Stella had arrived so fast if they were not supposed to know where Lisa was. I could only think of two possible options, the first is that Stella has been watching us all these days, or the second she was quite close to Lisa but she hadn''t done anything. In either case, I didn''t feel comfortable about why she arrived so fast if she was supposed to have no agents left here. Either that or that she wants to hide something related to what happened. Could it be that she made a mistake and she wanted to hide it?
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
"I''m sorry but I''m afraid I''m not going to do anything until we first clarify what''s going on"
"What are you talking about!?"
"She is a demon, we must capture her!"
"People and angels have already died because of her"
"She is a danger that we must stop as soon as possible!"
"Yeah yeah, keep playing innocent"
"I know that that demon is Lisa, I know that you know it too"
"That is why you are so in a hurry to take her away as soon as possible"
"The question here is what are you really trying to protect"
"Innocent people or some superior of yours?"
"Maybe your boss?"
"Are you suggesting that we are hiding something from you?"
"Lisa was a watchmaker, quite an important position even for high-ranking angels"
"She was probably in a higher position than yours"
"And you''re telling me that she sent everything to hell because she did and she started killing people because she was bored"
Just when I finished speaking a noise came from the room. Lisa was furiously glaring at a picture on the fireplace. She yelled a few things at him, she took it and threw it with all her might towards a stand, smashing the glass.
"Stupid men they are useless"
"We''d be better off killing them all" Lisa said while spitting at the image on the ground
"Thanks for your help in proving my point Lisa"
"By the way, the image you just threw was mine as a child at school"
Hearing this she was stunned and returned to pick up the pieces quickly. With respect to the photo, she tried to put that where was originally, not without problems, as she seemed to try hard not to look at the content of the photo. She clearly was struggling to try to contain herself.
"This is something that concerns the angels"
"This has nothing to do with you, we will take care of this" Stella said avoiding the questions with a serious face
"This is so weird"
"Even for a fallen angel, becoming a demon completely is impossible"
"It doesn''t matter what she does, it''s impossible"
"What happened to her is a unique case" Momo said worriedly from the stairs
As soon as she finished speaking, Stella made an angry face towards her, it seemed that she did not want Momo to not mention that. It seemed like she was right, Stella is trying to hide something that got out of control
"I''m sorry but that demon they want to take so much from stays with me"
"Plus she could help me protect my mother while I''m out"
"Only with that, she would already do much more for me than what you have done in the last ten years"
"I can''t do that"
"We can''t let a demon before loose on Earth"
And in his own way, as soon as Stella mentioned this, our house phone started ringing. But the tone was completely different from what I thought a phone could ring. Because they sound like trumpets sounding ceremoniously joyous.
"What is this!?"
"It is impossible to decipher where the call is coming from"
"It''s as if it came from the phone itself!"
"This should be impossible!" Charlotte and Kazumi with one voice said surprised from the stair.
"Answer the phone"
"Is THE BOSS!"
"Hey wait!"
"That call clearly has your name, answer you!"
"Fuck!"
"..."
"Good morning Master!"
"Your humble servant Stella speaking!" Said Stella changing her tone of speech completely to one much more cheerful and clumsy more similar to Tama''s.
"What the hell"
"You''re trying to sound like a maid cafe employee" I said mocking her
"Yes Master"
"I understand it and I will hold myself responsible"
"..."
"Yes"
"..."
"..."
"Yes"
"..."
"But she is not just a normal demon, she is a succubus!"
"..."
"No, wait!"
"No, I didn''t mean that!"
"..."
"Yes, you are the one who are in charge Master"
"..."
"Wait, but that''s mine!"
"If it goes public, my sister will ..."
"..."
"I get it"
"Yes, I''m sorry for the inconvenience Master"
"..."
Stella finished speaking and put the phone back in its place. Then he turned to me now with a discouraged face. Looks like you screwed up with whatever she did.
"When you finish here you can prepare one of those omelets with ketchup drawings"
"I want one with a fox face" I kept mocking
"Congratulations, you win"
"Lisa stay with you"
"Now she is your problem" Stella said addressing the demon
"Get away from me fucking stupid bitch!" Said Lisa in response
"Have this, for sure you will be glad to have it"
"With this, you will not separate from Cesar again even if you want if that is what you wanted"
"For some strange reason, it looks great on your neck"
"Wait, is that slave magic again!?"
"Correct!"
"Did you think that this would not have repercussions? "
"The condition that THE BOSS put for her to stay is that she need be married to you and has a slavery magic, after all we cannot let her continue to get out of control"
"Maybe you are the only one whose head is not torn off while you sleep next to her"
"And probably this time if you are going to have to use it with her frequently"
"Also it does not seem that she is very against having you together with her"
"THE BOSS just said make sure she doesn''t kill innocent people"
"Now it''s your job to try to put your new wife back together"
"Good luck"
"Was it not because of this magic that it seems that all this problem originated?"
"Regarding Tamamo"
"We allow her to stop the time on that occasion as an execption"
"But THE BOSS don''t want you to keep playing with the system"
"Do you get the point?"
"Now Regarding Lisa the watchmaker
"THE BOSS will give a pardon for her"
"But only for what she did in the past, what she does from now on will be severely punished"
"She doesn''t get her job back for obvious reasons, but we can give her a job as a security officer"
"Congratulations Lisa, you are probably one of the very few demons with permission to walk freely in Heaven"
"Although I''m afraid that will also cause problems for your appearance"
"Please bear it the best you can"
"Now if you''ll excuse me, I have to go back before my sister realizes that I sold her things to buy a car"
As soon as she finished speaking, Stella ran out so fast that she even forgot that she had left the spear on the cabinet near the TV, so she had to go back and take it again to be able to leave. Seeing that everything had returned a bit to calm everyone went back to the salt to discuss what to do about the new member of the family .
"If she stays, I want her as far away from me as possible"
"I don''t think natural enemies should be together" Momo was the first to speak
"The probability that she will commit a crime in the next 24 hours is 100 percent"
"We can accept that she is another mother of ours, but we don''t want to have to do what she might ask us" the twins said.
"Congratulations brother"
"I did not believe you capable of being surpassed after Tamamo, but you achieved it widely"
"You have my respects trying to live with a yandere and being optimistic about it"
"Well, as I said before, I support my Darling with all my love"
"But even I didn''t think this turn of events could happen"
"I can''t stop feeling worried about what will happen to her here with us"
"I can accept her as one member more of this strange harem that you are forming, but I hope she respects the time of others when we are alone with you Cesar"
"They are aware that my mind is not correct"
"But even so I will do my best not to disappoint you"
"I know that what I have done was not good and that maybe it could harm someone else, so I will depend on you to help me"
"I know that in my current position I am not worthy of being with you, so the simple fact of sharing a room with you is enough for me"
"So I preferred to stay last to avoid problems with other girls"
"Besides anyway now I also finally one of these necklaces just as they all wanted"
"But I managed to do it with the person that I decided, so it is my victory in the end"
"I beat all those stupid selfish men!" added Lisa the demon.
"Are you okay with this?"
"Leave behind your freedom to be here?" I asked her seriously.
"Wait, if she stays here where is she going to sleep?"
"We no longer have any unoccupied rooms!" Said my mother worried.
"Don''t worry, I prefer very small spaces"
"After living in a cell for a while I feel calm in places like that"
"The closet in Cesar''s room has more than enough space for me"
"Wait!"
"How do you know how much space the closet has!?"
"Well because I have been seeing it"
"From the window, you can see inside the house"
"Though it wasn''t fun to be watching when it rained"
"Have you been watching us all this time !?"
"Of course!"
"I wasn''t going to let more thugs get back into my mother-in-law''s house!"
"And that''s exactly what a yandere would do"
"You asked for it brother"
After that I had to stay talking to Lisa about the rules I would have to follow to try to avoid problems. As you can imagine, it was quite a long pitch that could be summed up in didn''t hurt, protected my mother from the shadows and that she couldn''t be without someone else''s supervision. After that we started to eat and we went on to our next problem, my mother had to meet with the president of the United States in New York to speak with him regarding the peace treaty that they would propose to the Empire.
Ch71: Getting Ready For The Trip
Getting Ready For The Trip
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
We were all still awake in the living room watching television. Adelis with the help of Kazumi and Charlotte was overseeing the army''s efforts to retake the Akasaka Press Center. Which had been attacked this afternoon and from which it seemed that the main objective of it was my mother, but thanks to the appearance of Lisa she is now safe. Although it seemed that the group that organized the attack was a group that was against US military forces in Japan, their stupid way of acting just provided an example of why it is better to have them. I think they could not do something more counterproductive to their cause than to attack the military base, if they had simply made a peaceful march with banners at the entrance it would have been thousand times more efficient. The count had reached fifty people dead, almost all of them were from the rebels, but disgracefully the initial explosion of the attack killed three soldiers who were guarding the entrance of the building. Those assholes are still entrenched in the third-floor offices. Cedric is right there right now trying to negotiate with them to surrender and surrender, which could have an effect because it seems that if they are listening to him speak.
Since my mother is busy with that, she was not going to cook something for the rest.Tama offered to make some food for everyone but we managed to talk to her that she didn''t need to bother.The next was Lisa trying to cook but for obvious reasons, we took her away from the kitchen short story before.The rest of us don''t even think about it, so we prefer to simply eat several packages of cookies and that''s it.It was around eleven o''clock at night that the idiots finally decided to end this waste of time and surrendered to the army.Although the police also participated in this operation, because the base is under the jurisdiction of the United States Army, they will be arrested and tried by them, which means that they will receive even harsher sentences than they would have attacked another place.
Adelis stayed awake for a while more assuring a few more things and talking to various army officers. Charlotte stayed with her and her sister went to rest. The rest of us who had nothing we could help with decided to go to sleep better. Regarding the rooms, well everyone went to their respective rooms. As for Lisa, we allowed her to keep the closet because she was asking for it herself, as soon as she entered Tama immediately closed the door and put several talismans on the door to seal it. He said it was to make sure she didn''t do anything weird, as he was already tired of everything so I just nodded and lay down to sleep.
The next day we had breakfast with everyone, in which due to the large number of people who now lived in the house the table was now full. And what a strange place this house became, because humans, angels, demons, and gods were eating at the same table. And despite everyone being on guard for the new girl, everything was relatively calm. During lunch, my mother mentioned the next thing we would do in the next few days.
"Yesterday they handed me the peace treaty with the Empire and the sanctions it received" She said while drinking her cup of coffee.
"Really?"
"That''s good, they were already taking some time to give any news about that" I replied.
"It''s a disaster"
"It''s exactly what the Empire didn''t want to happen"
"If it is carried out it will only be a major problem in the long term"
"That sounds troublesome" I said in a monotonous tone showing that I didn''t care anymore about that at this point in my life.
"So I need to speak in person with the president of the united states to prevent that from happening"
"I plan to meet him during his visit to the United Nations building in New York in a few days."
"Wait a minute!"
"Are you going to meet him just like that?"
"Do you know him in person?"
"Well I helped him during his political campaign, and the truth is, if the Alliance didn''t pay much more than him, I would probably be working for him right now"
"He obtained his position thanks to my help and he is a good friend, so I know that he helps me change the sanctions that will be imposed on the Empire"
"I need Charlotte and Kazumi to help me prepare for the trip"
"Shit"
"And I meanwhile starving to be able to send money due to my low salary as a pilot during the war"
"The trip will be with an army transport so I do not need to pay for the trip"
"What I want is that you can find a good safe place to stay and organize my schedule"
"Okay, I''m going to do it right now" The twins replied at the same time
"The plane will leave tomorrow morning so I need it as soon as possible"
"Wait a minute!"
"Who are you planning to go to New York with?"
"Xian and Cedric will accompany me on the trip"
"You''re kidding right!?"
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"What do you mean?"
"Xian can be good at her job and so can Cedric"
"But I think you are underestimating our tendency to get in trouble"
"Of course not!"
"It''s a quick trip, a couple of days to New York, to the United Nations building, one of the safest places on earth"
"And this month alone you have been attacked three times in the only moments when I am not present"
"Do you want to accompany me on the trip?"
"I was thinking of maybe bringing Maria to my granddaughters with me"
"This way you can be alone with your girls"
"Surely you can take advantage of the time with something fun you want to do"
"Why would you waste an opportunity like that!?"
"What I want to say is that I don''t think I take risks"
"Look how much we have tried to avoid problems and still we continue to find them"
"So I''d rather we all go on this trip"
"Tama, Lisa, and I know how to fight, Momo can fix almost anything and the twins can do almost anything that has to do with computers."
"The only useless one here is Maria!"
"In the spirit of offending, I do not feel it"
"So I think we better be together in case something happens"
"Also you already said that you are going to use a military trip"
"It won''t cost anything if more people go"
"I can not do this!"
"Most of them don''t even have documents"
"Momo is made of glass!"
"Lisa has horns and she is blue"
"The twins are literally the robots they fear so much in the Alliance!"
"And you have ears and a tail"
"Are there more reasons to say no?!"
"Minor details"
"Surely someone like you can get away with just saying that we are accompanying you"
"Also I did not think that we would enter that place"
"We just stayed in the hotel or visiting the city"
"We will act only in case something goes terribly wrong"
"Well, I think we can create quick documents for everyone" my daughters said trying to convince my mother too
"I am fine to stay in someone''s shadow, it is not necessary for me to leave there" I manage to say Lisa also thinking of helping.
"I''ve been building a costume so I can go outside!"
"I think I can finish it by tomorrow" the angel said
"I have a pair of kimonos that maybe they can work to make Kazumi and Charlotte look more human so that they are not discovered!" Tama added also trying to help.
"I do not think it is good that they are dressed like that in New York, I think that will make them stand out more"
"But it''s nothing that a sweater and a wig won''t fix"
"Our height is similar, I can lend you clothes" Even my sister signed up
"Do you all really think the same?"
"Do you really want to go there?"
"It''s a 14-hour flight, on a cargo plane"
"Well I once took an 8-hour ride standing in one of those planes"
"I don''t think this time will be worse"
"I also think that it is also good to get Lisa out of the country for a couple of days at least"
"You know, the police are still looking for her for what she did"
"It''s fine"
"I agree"
"We will all go, you have to prepare everything that you will occupy for tomorrow"
"And Momo please hope whatever you''re doing works"
"And also, do you think you can make a miniature version of the machine in the room where Kazumi and Charlotte connect?"
"That''s easy, humans already created it a long time ago"
"They''re called computers, and there are like 4 in this house"
"Despite its size, this machine is still mainly an internet port with fans"
"They are not that effective but a laptop with an internet cable is more than enough for them"
"We would like to add that we can simply use wireless internet"
"Although a cable is preferable, we do not have problems by not having it." The girls declared
"New York!"
"We will go to New York!"
"One of the fashion capitals!"
"I have to visit at least one of those stores!" She said excited Maria
"Everyone at school will be jealous to hear about it"
"Is it a place where they sell cute clothes?"
"So I too want to visit one of those stores!"
"I wonder what the New York-style kimonos would be like!"
"I''m not good with clothes but I''m sure they don''t sell in that city"
"At least to my knowledge" I gave my honest opinion
"Mom, Dad"
"The school just sent an email, it seems that in the end, they will give them spring vacations after all"
"So classes will start in April so that you will still have this month off" said Charlotte
"Well, it is understandable that they still want to give more time after what happened in the Dam"
"Although this can help us, if everything goes well, maybe it will take a couple more days to enjoy the trip more!"
"You know, forget at least for a couple of days about all the problems we have here" added Adelis
"I am also in favor of that!"
"I want to have a vacation from all this mess!" I admitted too
The rest of the day we all spent preparing everything we could occupy for the trip. From clothes to having to store my weapons in a special suitcase in case we had to return on a commercial plane. Tamamo wanted to wear her kimonos but I recommended that she not do so, because the city is not known for its cleanliness, so it was better that she wear western clothes. She listened to me and will only take three kimonos on the trip, it seems that she does not feel safe if she does not have one near her. Lisa by her side I have no idea what she was doing but she locked herself in her closet and only laughter could be heard, I have no idea what she is doing and I think I would be more concerned to know, According to Momo, since Lisa is a succubus, she could change her appearance to that of a normal human, as Tamamo does, who is capable of not showing her ears and tail if she felt like doing so, the question is if she will be able to remember how to do that. Momo by her side spent the rest of the day also locked in her room working on her costume because unlike the other two she cannot do anything to alter her appearance, I wonder how she will achieve that because since she has a miniskirt included in her own body she cannot wear pants, and other long sleeves with ruffles that prevent her from wearing something like sweaters, she really does not have many options to do something about it. My mother and Maria prepared theirs and the rest of the day was spent looking for a way to dress my daughters so that they would not look like androids, and although it took them a long time, they succeeded. One more time, the sweaters and long pants to the rescue, a classic. The only thing different extra was the inclusion of some gloves and a pair of my caps for them. After that, we all went to bed early to be ready for the long journey that awaited us the next day.
Ch72: The Flight
The Flight
The day arrives early for everyone in the house, we had breakfast and after cleaning the house quickly, then a minivan arrived to take us to Yokota Air Base. The day was going well until Momo appeared and her idea of making clothes that she could wear, because since she could not wear normal clothes she made the closest thing she could use, it was a long poncho with a hat to wear on top, a pair of long stockings and tennis shoes, plus medium black gloves that ended just before the end of her glass sleeves, on her head she was wearing a wig, dark glasses, and a mask. Momo happened to be from a fantasy creature to a very suspicious person, although I don''t think it reduces the questions at least it changes the focus of the questions. Lisa on the other hand did something easier and just stepped into my shadow, where there was no way of knowing that she was there, without a doubt a more direct and effective solution. The rest of us look human enough to avoid having to do something extra weird. This brings me nostalgia for how much we used to travel before, our luggage was quite small mainly from experience because when we were young our father took us all over our country on trips whenever he could with our little 4x4 family car, so over time, we knew exactly what was essential and what could be left behind. What memories of that time when everything was much easier and our main concern was to find a supermarket on the way to see what we ate, I think my father''s car should still be in our house, I should ask my mother what she did with it. Although I also brought the crystal box with Luna''s core in it, because I was not planning to leave it behind on this trip.
When we arrived at the airbase, a large cargo plane of the United States Army was waiting for us. They let us pass without asking my mother many questions and then the same minivan took us to the side of the plane. Xian and Cedric were already waiting for us on the plane with their luggage. As soon as they saw us they immediately asked about the obvious. Adelis simply introduced them to Momo as friend with social panic and to the twins as her granddaughters and assistants, she also added that all of us present were his team and his daughter Maria. The latter seemed to have hurt Xian who seemed to see further and further away from her the opportunity for her to return to her former full-time position of before.
After accommodating our luggage and the army finished load a couple of vehicles, the plane took off without problems. As the trip would undoubtedly be long, we just started talking to pass the time.
"So darling do you know how to drive this vehicle?"
"Well, I never flew one as big as this one, but I do know how to fly"
"This plane is very different from the ones I used to drive but the concept is the same"
"Go fast and do not point the front of the vehicle towards the ground"
"Not touching the ground is very important"
"Really!"
"That''s amazing"
"What surprises me is why use all this giant plane just to transport two normal transport vehicles?"
"Isn''t it a bit excessive?"
"It was easier just to have left them in Japan" I asked.
"Well those transports there are quite important and they want them back in the United States"
"They are prototypes of the next vehicles that the Alliance will use, they will replace the current ones with something like those two"
"I was using them to show them to the Japanese defense ministry as part of attempts to get a deal with them"
"I can''t believe you were an airplane pilot"
"Where did you get the money to learn to fly?"
"When did you even study that?" Asked Maria
"What? But I already told you"
"When I was Rose''s bodyguard, in my spare time I practiced to be a pilot"
"Later when I came back and joined the alliance, I just took the test to be a pilot, as I already knew everything in advance, it was not very difficult"
"But I''d rather not continue talking about it for now that Cedric is around"
"I don''t know when he came back to talk to the pilots of the plane"
"I don''t think that''s the case, but I don''t want him to find out who I was"
"Sorry about that"
"I forgot that problem"
"Speaking of which, I was thinking of going visit your brother Leo on the way back"
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!"What do you think about that?"Said my mother dropping a bomb
Maria and I were speechless by what we just heard. We looked at each other and then we saw our mother again.
"That''s a terrible idea"
"It won''t work in the least"
"What!?"
"But he is also your brother!"
"He must know too!"
"Mom, Leon hated Cesar before he left home"
"After that, he hated him even more"
"He even being able to do so did not go to his funeral"
"Do you think something good can come out of it?" To my surprise, even Maria was defending me.
"What could he say?"
"Option 1, stop joking and keep working until you die"
"Option 2, don''t bother me, I''m busy working"
"Option 3, I hate anime and cosplayers, it''s a waste of time that I could spend working"
"Option 4, I''m too busy doing my job to wonder how the hell my brother turned into a ten-year-old with fox ears and tail" I said for my part
"Well, to be honest, he is the most normal in our family if we think about it carefully"
"It will be the one that costs the most to convince"
"And that I am aware that you two do not have the best relationship"
"But I''m still determined to tell him!"
"The family must know that you are back and that is all that matters"
"And for that, we have to tell your brother sooner or later" Even my mother knew it would be difficult.
Despite how much we thought about it, we did not reach a conclusion about what would be the best way to talk to him. The rest of the trip was also uneventful. Although Momo looked like a very suspicious person when she heard that the vehicles were prototypes she began to review them and see how he could improve the designs, Cedric joined her and told her about how he would use those vehicles and which parts could be problematic in the middle of a battle. My mother listened to them and also went to talk to them because since Momo has experience with much more advanced technology than the current one, it was not very difficult for her to see how she could greatly improve the vehicles with a couple of very simple tweaks. Xian, Tamamo, and Maria were talking about styles and fashion in New York because they liked that topic, it seemed that they got along well. For my part, I was talking to Kazimi and Charlotte about some of the adventures I had with my father in my youth, as well as some of our travels in our country. I was only in the United States once and that was when I joined the Alliance, although I have seen it on television and the truth is a place where I would like to take a long trip with everyone through that country and its majestic views. Visit the great canyon, Yellowstone, the mountains of Colorado or Montana, the desert of Utah or Orlando Florida, and its incredible theme parks, It is something that I would like to do later if the opportunity presents itself.
After several hours the plane landed at the Los Angeles airport where we then changed transportation. We left the huge military plane behind and got on a private jet that my mother rented. It was a last-minute change that my mother decided to make yesterday, the reason? Well, there was a person who dressed as if he were a movie superstar trying to go unnoticed or a thief about to commit a robbery at a convenience store. In this way, we will arrive at a much smaller airport in New York where a vehicle will take us to the hotel at once. I knew that my mother could earn a lot with her position, but hell, a private jet, that although rented, I still don''t believe it. Although for some reason I did not feel safe in power seeing the cabin and who operated the plane, so the rest of that trip I spent with them and talking about various issues regarding the plane. They were surprised to see me ask questions like how much was the engine thrust, about the flight configuration they were using, if they had checked the sensors well and if they removed the tapes, or if they had slept enough because although it did not seem to be a pilot it is very exhausting work, Momo also joined the conversation when she saw that she could know more about the plane by talking to us. I think for sure we were a nuisance for them being know-it-all girls, but the truth is that I was taking the safety of my family seriously, It had nothing to do with the fact that he was so nervous that his eyes were red again.
My mother also talked about what she had planned for the next few days. Since we would arrive quite late, when we arrived we would go directly to the hotel. The next day we would have it free so we would spend it visiting the city. The second day was the day of the meeting at the UN so my mother would be working, Xian will accompany her and Cedric seems to be going to some military base to talk about something with someone. The rest of us stayed around to see what happens, if something comes out more we will go out to give support, if not maybe we would visit some more places. If everything went well the last two days we would spend them sightseeing as well, but if my mother could not reach an agreement she would spend those last two days talking to several people. Maybe on the return trip, we can spend a couple more days in California to talk to Leon but I really preferred not to.
When we finally got to New York it was a night long ago and we are all tired, also, the change of schedule felt fatal to us. The only one intact was Lisa, who when she got to the hotel she could finally leave from the shadow, I think she and the twins were the only ones with energy, everyone else just got to bed.
Ch73: City Of A Thousand Cultures
City Of A Thousand Cultures
Times Square, Manhattan, New York.
March 4st
We got up early at 8 in the morning, we were all excited about where we were. The hotel we were in was right in times square, from the room window we could look down at all the people passing by and the screens of the mythical intercession of avenues. For our stay, my girls recommended three double rooms to my mother, but they were connected by a door on the sides between the rooms, so they were all connected and made the space bigger. My mother slept next to my sister, I was together with Tama and Momo, finally, the twins and Lisa were in the room further back, because since they did not want to sleep they still stayed in the farthest one so as not to disturb those who did. Xian and Cedric were in simple rooms but on the same floor, in case something happened.
For breakfast, we could go to the restaurant downstairs where there was a buffet, but since Momo was accompanying us, we just decided to ask for room service. When we finished and taking advantage of the fact that we had free today we decided to walk around and visit the stores, Cedric separated from the group because since he was in the city he wanted to stop and visit his Uncle who lived in the city. Xian from his side, it seems that he went to do the paperwork at the UN, for which security was in my charge. The good side of New York compared to Tokyo I think they are inhabitants, who literally do not care about anything. Since, despite her clothing, Momo does not look so strange compared to the rest of the inhabitants. The bad side is the crime that exists in the city because for a small carelessness someone stole my cap without my realizing it in the subway station, the good side was that people also did not care about my ears at all. Now that I consider it, you were even lucky that my gun was not stolen, so I better keep it with tape next to Avalon in case I had the opportunity to visit a bathroom. In fact, when we got back on the train we ran into a guy dressed so weird that he directly beat Momo, so I think no one would care if I have a foxtail or ears.
As for the places we visited, there was everything we could think of, from a Christmas store even though we were in March. Since Lisa was forbidden to leave my shadow for safety reasons towards others, she could not be seen, and only we could hear her speak, which was terrifying when we were quiet in a quiet place in a store and listening to her talk about it. that he planned to torment the employee who was helping us just because he was a man. A multi-story high diamond shop, where all the girls were joyous and happy looking at the designs, while I was nervous to see the prices of everything that was in there. Although as a curious anecdote, the store manager seemed to have a good eye for jewelry, because when she saw me she immediately came to talk to me about the ones I had tied to my hair because she said that she had never seen anything like it before and that she liked the style that I had. I told her that they were just an imitation of a Los Angeles store and that I got the idea when I saw them. But it seems that she did not want to let me go so easily because she really offered to buy them at a very good price and give me a great discount in the store, but it goes without saying that I flatly refuse to sell them. When my mother saw me talking to the manager, she almost fainted, because supposedly she was a famous model, but the truth is, I have no idea about those things, although Adelis took advantage of our talk and managed to get a good necklace at a bargain price using me.
To my great surprise Tamamo with her sixth sense, managed against all odds, managed to find a kimono shop, she said something that her nose guided her there. It was a small store but in fact, she sold them since at the moment the only one who knows about these things was her because we all did not know what we were seeing or if they were good or bad clothes. According to the analysis of the Goddess, the costumes were mostly quite cheap or with inappropriate designs with respect to the message they should give, once again I am not an expert in kimonos but I am sure that the ones Tama usually wears were made for royalty or gods and not for ordinary people, so her sense of well made is different. Although she said there were a few that were pretty, but that the cherry season was almost over, designs with lighter colors and flowers were needed than those in the store. But hey, what else could be done on the subject? This store was in the middle of one of the most multicultural cities in the world, it is most likely that this store is only for people from the rest of the world to try to wear these clothes and that they do not give them importance as the "message transmitted by the kimono".
Speaking of multi-cultural, a little afternoon we ran into a Mexican food store. And since it was the closest thing to food from our country that we had found at the moment, we decided to eat there. First of all, we asked for a table apart from the rest and we managed to find a more or less hidden one, perfect for Momo to eat as long as we were careful around. All our food was a variation of tortillas along with something else, Tamamo found it fun to eat without utensils, while the girls had problems trying to avoid getting dirty, but it was impossible and I had to clean them with a napkin. My mother did not know how she managed to take a picture of that precise moment and she told me how she also remembered doing the same with me. Everything was beautiful and a fun family moment, until we realized that the restaurant also sold tamales with palm leaf . From then on it became a tournament about who could eat the most before passing out, a tournament where only the fittest survive and there is no concept of allies or family. Despite everyone signing up to try them out, the weaklings were only able to complete a single pair. The remaining three, Adelis, Maria, and I were the ones who had to stand up for the team. We ate until we were tired and we even fought to try to get the last one left in the restaurant, let''s just say that at that moment we said many things that we normally would not have done. But seeing as the three of us had missed the tamales hunting season at Christmas, we only had to settle for the rare specimens that we might find on the way. Lisa for her part was also eating, but she just put her arm out, took something from the table, and went back to the shadow, although she did not say anything about the food, she always returned the empty plate clean.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Since it was so close we went to central park, to hang out while we recovered from the wild lunch.Although it was called the green lung of the city, I felt quite strange in it, because although its garden is incredibly cared for.It feels claustrophobic being surrounded by all those skyscrapers.I do not know, maybe for the people here it seems impressive, but for me that I grew up in for the people here in the equivalent of the interior of the jungle in Central America, it seems to me even sad that they see this as a luxury.
Right next to the park there was also the American Museum of Natural History, so we decided to go see it as well.Where this time I was surprised, because their exhibition rooms were incredible, from giant dinosaur skeletons to a damn full-scale whale in one of the rooms.It was really impressive to see everything they had there, there were animal things from all over the planet and from all dates.There were also several rooms dedicated to various cultures around the planet, from the continence of Asia or Africa, as well as Pacific tribes.The fantasy girls were surprised to see everything that was on the planet, but the truth is that even my mother and I were also surprised by several things, Kazumi and Charlotte on the other hand were basically giving us a tour guide through the museumto how they looked for information about the questions we asked ourselves.
When we left there, Maria found a magic shop online and wanted to go see it immediately. Due to past experiences, we only agreed if Tamamo first confirmed that whatever my sister wanted to touch or see was completely safe. The shop was not for real magic but rather a shop for tools to do party tricks. Although that also did not make my sister thrill to see everything that was there. They sold mainly decks of cards to do tricks, but they also had manuals on how to do tricks up to more complex things like traps for bears or crystal balls that came with the table. Despite our aversion to the place for what happened the night we were locked in another world, the place was quite curious so it was not bad at all. The one who was disappointed was Tama, because she expected to see real western magicians, but when she saw that it was a place where you simply sold things for tricks with your hands, she did not seem to care in the least about the place. But hey, I don''t know what she expected, if there were real wizards in this city they wouldn''t be on the third floor of a building selling two-dollar packs of cards.
As the day was ending and it was starting to get dark, we went back to times square to eat a couple of hamburgers from a fast food store on the red staircase, which is the perfect place to admire this mythical part of the city. The thousands of screens and the large number going everywhere, the bustle of a living city, everything seemed cozy to me, seeing so many things happening at the same time, as if there were some kind of festival. We stayed for about two hours enjoying the moment. More than anything at the insistence of Tamamo who said that it was good for me to enjoy moments like this, and although it is the truth that I liked her, it seemed that she said it for the other thing. On one of the screens, they were giving the news, where they were talking about the visit of the president of the United States to the UN building to give a speech regarding the end of the continental war.
The hotel was right there, so it didn''t take long to get back to our rooms, where Lisa was finally able to leave and Momo took off her disguise. Adelis, on the other hand, went with Charlotte and Kazumi to Xian''s room to prepare everything for tomorrow. The idea is to take advantage of the president''s visit and his speech so that my mother can speak with him, and since there are diplomats from all countries in the same place, a small quick meeting can be held where we hope to achieve more moderate terms towards the Empire. It seems that tomorrow there will be, apart from the general meeting, there will also be the one of the security council where they will discuss these issues more, we hope that the president can convince the other countries to reduce the punishment.
Ch74: Under Attack
Under Attack
Times Square, Manhattan, New York.
March 5st
8:45 AM
Today started pretty early for everyone. Because the UN council meeting where the president would appear would take place at 9 in the morning there were many things to prepare so from six in the morning we were awake. My mother had already gone there with Xian, they would take care of her safety and transportation. But just in case I also made Lisa go with her in her shadow, obviously, she is not allowed to leave unless it is to defend my mother from an imminent attack, this time I even made sure to give it to her as an order because with so many people important we cannot take risks. Tamamo and Maria, for their part, wanted to check out one of the largest stores in New York that were a little further south, so I let the two of them go, in any case, they have telephones and Charlotte is monitoring what is happening. For my part, I was with Momo and the twins still at the hotel. Well, since I couldn''t be close to the UN then I would stay here to be able to respond to what might happen, as it was quite close anyway.
And the truth was everything was fine until it wasn''t.
We were watching on television the news about the visit to the event to see what the result of our mission would be, there were about 15 minutes before the President came to the stage to give his speech, but suddenly the signal on the television left. It seemed strange to me that something like that happened in a place like this and less in a hotel so I got up to ask one of my daughters about what just happened. Sirens began to sound all over the city, anticipating that something was coming.
"Emergency services are reporting a lot of unusual activity on the Lower East Side and the Financial District!" Charlotte yelled giving a while she jumped from the chair.
"Something big is happening!"
"Right now the Pentagon is communicating with the National Guard, the Fort Garrison and Fort Bragg went on red alert, they are preparing to mobilize."
"The city''s air defense system is online!"
"Oh, God!" Immediately my stomach turned over and I felt a great need to go to the bathroom.
"What the heck is going on !?"
But Charlotte did not need to answer me, because as soon as I finished speaking I listened as the C-Ram hidden between the buildings began to shoot towards the south, not long after a couple of explosions were heard in the air. Kazumi who was looking at the window ran, took out her cable, and also connected to the computer to help.
"D.I.A reports the presence of unidentified flying objects in the area"
"They appear to be short-range missiles"
"According to initial reports they are proceeding from about 7 kilometers to the south" Kazumi reported
Again the C-Ram fired and a couple of explosions were heard again. This escalated very fast.
"Okay, call Tamamo immediately, tell her to protect my sister and return immediately"
"Also let my mother know, call her but if she does not answer do not insist, leave her a message"
"She could be very busy and she also is in the safest place in the city"
The people in the street began to look confused at what was happening. In the sky, I could see now how the missiles were approaching the city and how the air defenses were doing their best to destroy them before they reached the buildings. It seemed to some managed to impact somewhere.
"This doesn''t look like your typical bunch of soldiers on the loose, this is big"
"I want to know what is happening now!"
"An armed group is heading towards the UN building on second and third avenues!"
"They have heavy attack vehicles, it seems that they are tanks according to the police" Said Kazumi
"Currently they entered into combat with the building''s defense corps"
"What the hell!"
"Tanks !?"
"How did they get to a city like New York without anyone noticing!"
"I can''t contact Mom or grandmother"
"Public telephone lines have been shut down"
"Only military level communication is available"
"If I connect to them they will notice our presence"
"Okay don''t do it"
"Momo, can you do something about it?"
"Maybe I can do something with the laptop to mask the IP and mac addresses, but I don''t know if they will work" She said as she immediately got to work with said computer
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
"The second wave of missiles is approaching!"
I looked back to the window and saw the lines of fire from the defense systems rise into the air to repel the imminent attack. But this time the level of the attack was much more numerous, there were many more objects in the air and although they managed to destroy the initial projectiles, some of those flying things began to behave differently, their courses changed radically in mid-flight and they rushed towards the origin of the anti-aircraft shots. Then some explosions followed, it seemed that they had managed to destroy some of the C-RAMs. As the missiles got closer to where we were, I could see their shapes. They weren''t missiles, they were androids with flight equipment, I already knew them, they were DOLLS of the empire! They were flying around looking for defense systems to destroy them.
Suddenly one of those DOLLS looked at me in our direction and rushed towards here. At first, I didn''t think she was pointing at me, but as she began to get closer and closer I realized that if we were his target, I took Avalon out to block his attack. She went through the glass and hit me hard, but nothing happened as she hit the sword completely. To our amazement, she did not look very different from my daughters, because if it weren''t for her equipment and the color of her eyes they would be difficult to differentiate.
"I''m in the target room right now"
"I will check the place for the information" she said.
"Who is she?" Asked the Angel.
"She''s a combat doll, get the twins out of here"
"NOW!"
"Excellent, someone wants to play!"
"Shut up!" I said as I threw myself at her with my sword
She sidestepped, I later kicked her but she managed to grab my leg. Trying to free me I took my pistol and shot her in the head, but the bullets from her hardly hurt her. She looked like she was about to destroy my leg with a blow when something hit her head, it was one of the laptops we had, Kazumi had thrown it at her in an attempt to help.
"Leave my father alone!" she said with a face between angry but quite scared
The DOLL got distracted and flew to see Kazumi, a moment that I took advantage of to save Avalon and invoke the sword but on the ceiling with its edge down. When the sword finished coming out of the ceiling and the gravity lowered it by the weight of it, it split the android in two. But even that was not enough to stop her, because as if it were a horror movie its two halves kept moving, they crawled across the floor towards me. Without wasting time I kicked the remains through the shattered window so that they fell into the void.
"That was one of my ...?" my daughter said
"No, that over there was a killing machine" I interrupted her immediately
"Those stupid machines could never be compared to you because you decided on your own to seek a better life"
"After all, you just saved me because you wanted to, didn''t you?"
"Right?"
"..." Kazumi and Charlotte fell silent thinking
"Unfortunately we have neither time nor options"
"It seems those things are attacking the city"
"This place is no longer safe, we have to go"
"We have to find a better place where we can collect information to see what we can do"
"We can''t communicate with Tamamo or Adelis"
"And you are not combatants, so I have to take you out of here"
"Since Tama was closer to here, we could go south to try to meet her"
"If not, I''m sure she can find us with her powers"
"My mother is in a place that could hold out at least long enough for us to plan something later"
"I would like to get out of manhattan, maybe we can go out over the Brooklyn Bridge and turn around north to go to the UN from behind using the Queensboro Bridge"
Turning again to look towards the window I could see how the third wave of enemies was now doing it flying. Even more DOLLS than before and even several drones flew through the city, and what was worse, none of the antiaircraft battery of the city''s defense system was heard again. Had they been rendered useless or destroyed? But as soon as I asked myself that question, I saw an air force plane fly at full speed, I shot down several of the drones but just when I thought that maybe the situation could improve, the C-RAMs opened fire on the jet. There was not much that the pilot could have done, in less than a second he became a ball of fire in the air, and his remains fell into the city, probably further increasing the number of victims.
"This is very bad"
"We have to get out, move, now!"
I kept looking up looking like crazy in the air for more of those things. Because right now those damn DOLLs and various drones were flying over the city sky in an unpunished way. They were flying overhead looking for any form of resistance they found. Most of their objectives seem to have been places used by the police or the army that were scattered all over the place.
We used the stairs and got out of the building as fast as we could and started down Broadway to the south. I took my daughters by the hands and Momo followed us from behind but touching my shoulder so as not to lose me, she was wearing her suit that she put on on the run, but I don''t think anyone would notice her now with all the commotion that is happening. The whole damn city was in chaos, black pillars were coming out of some parts of the city and there were people running in a panic in all directions. I was maybe one of the lucky few who knew more or less what could be happening and think about what I could do. But I couldn''t stand up and try to save everyone, that was impossible and it would only end my life worse. Right now all I could do was once again focus on saving only what was important to me, and I''ll let others save the day when I finish my job.
Once again this would be quite a long and exhausting day if I wanted to be the winner of whatever they had prepared for me today.
Ch75: Before and After
Before and After
Garmen district, Manhattan, New York.
March 5st
8:30 AM
***************
Maria POV
***************
Tamamo and I were shopping in one of the largest stores in New York. This was incredible, I was in one of the most reputable stores in the world, I was excited to take several photos to put them on social networks, the only thing I was missing were friends who saw them. In this place of a terrifying eleven giant floors, there was absolutely everything, furniture for the house, food, tools, technology, and of course clothes, a lot of clothes. Tamamo sometimes looks like she might have her head in the clouds but her fashion sense was to be feared. She could easily create amazing clothing sets with fairly simple clothes. I didn''t think she knew about clothes as she always wears those traditional Japanese clothes, but I was amazed at what she is capable of doing with normal clothes. So much so that now I am depending on her to choose my clothes now.
"This jacket looks pretty big and pretty"
"Do you think my darling likes it?"
"Tama, that''s pink"
"I''m sure my brother would like something more manly"
"I know, but it''s a shame you know !?"
"He''s a too pretty girl, I''m sure he would look like a doll in this!"
"I plan to make him wear this!"
"He already looks like a doll, that''s why he looks for the other clothes"
"And I don''t think it works if you buy it, the only thing he will do is keep it and forget it"
"Yes, you are right"
"I think it will make him happier if I buy him another cap to replace the one he lost yesterday"
I went back to look for some more beautiful clothes for me when I found a leather jacket for a girl
"Hey!"
"What do you think of this?"
"As soon as I saw this I immediately thought it would be perfect for Lisa since she basically uses strings instead of clothes."
"Don''t you think it would look perfect on her?"
"Well actually yeah, it would look great on her"
"Maybe together with some long shorts and socks"
"I think even her blue color of hers will look good with that"
"Yes, that was just the same as I thought!"
We both laughed a bit. And strangely when we stopped I remembered how it was that she came to our family so unexpectedly and that it still seems that we had not thought much about it. Especially regarding Tamamo, because she still hadn''t said anything about her feelings or anything.
"Tell me Tamamo, what do you think of all this?"
"What do you think about my brother and the other girls?"
"Why are you still with him?"
"You don''t think he is a womanizer"
"At this rate, another girl arrives it will be a matter of time"
"Don''t you think it would be better if you look for someone else?"
"You are evil sister in law"
"You shouldn''t tell that to your brother''s wife, it''s horrible." She said looking for more clothes without even looking at me
"I did not say it with that intention!" I said regretting
"I just wanted to know what you thought about that because I like you and I want you to do well in life"
"Well regarding how I feel"
"I don''t know what to say, the arrival of that crazy girl doesn''t really comfort me"
"But in the past, I wasn''t much different either, so I think she deserves a chance"
"In addition, Cesar seems to trust her a lot to try to save her despite what he has done"
"I imagine that he also has his reasons why he does it, so it is my duty to support him even if I do not entirely agree with having her around"
"And what about Momo?"
"What do you think of her?"
"A victim of circumstance but it is also her fault for being shy to act"
"If Cesar had never gotten lost in the woods right now she would have had it all to herself"
"And yet I''m sure she would never have told her feelings to him"
"She only did it because she saw me being with him, so she tried to talk to him because she no longer had anything to lose"
"So do you hate her?"
"What? no!"
"She is quite cheerful and she is the one who has more things in common with Cesar than the others"
"She likes technology and machines just like him"
"And the two are always talking about how to improve the house or did you see them talking about airplanes"
"The truth is that I''m even jealous of how well she gets along with him"
"I would like to talk to him in the same way, but still gives me a lot to learn about this new world so advanced for me"
"I treat her as a friend and rival rather than a nuisance"
"And what about you?"
"Why did you decide to be with someone as rare as him?"
"When you met him, you didn''t even know that he was a man, right?"
"Maria, it is not a question of whether you are a man or a woman"
"It''s about finding the right person for you"
"I wanted to find the right person before, and my impatience was what ended up killing me in the end"
"I decided to trust a person who didn''t deserve it and paid the price for it"
"And a thousand years later Cesar always appeared bringing problems, but even with those he tried to save my life even though he did not gain anything by doing it"
"That day was when I realized that I had the right person in front of me because although he knew who I really was, he still tried to rescue me, something that no one had done since the day I was born"
"What!"
"That''s not true, even I would have helped you too if you were in trouble!"
"That''s because you know me now, and because you think that the slave collar that I have keeps you safe, right?"
"But what would have happened if you came across a Goddess known for killing humans, with whom you fought to the death the day before, lying badly wounded in the middle of a forest?"
"What would you really have done?"
"Not even the angels that released the beast that attacked me they thought to help me"
"..." I couldn''t answer her, because I knew that I couldn''t lie to her.
"You see how you feel bad for asking things that you did not want to know the answer"
"All that is behind now"
"What matters now is that we are all one family and that we can count on the family to solve our problems"
"You are also an important person for me now"
"Now I would never think of hurting you"
"I will protect you with everything I have because I want to, not because you are simply my husband''s sister"
"Tamamo" I said pathetically because of my urge to cry
I ran and spoke to her because I felt happy about what she thought of me because I also thought of her as part of my family too.
"Don''t think about saying a single word of what I said to my stupid brother, okay!"
"Maria, you must learn to be more honest with him and with yourself"
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences."If you really hate your brother, you wouldn''t have asked about how the other girls and I felt"
"Or trying to stop to buy the pink sweater"
"Shut up!"
"I don''t want to hear any of that" I said angrily.
Suddenly, several sirens were heard everywhere. The other people in the store were as confused as we were because we did not know the reason why that scandalous sound. Not long after, a buzzing sound was heard coming from several of the roofs of the buildings, a couple of seconds later several explosions, loud and threatening. Tamamo hugged me tightly, it seems like trying to protect me from whatever was happening. People started screaming and running towards the stairs to go out into the streets shortly before, I wanted to do the same but the Goddess did not leave me, she did not let go, forcing me to stay where we were. Her eyes began to shine a little next to his hair, he reached his hand towards the window that we had close by and threw a couple of papers, one towards the window and another to the ground a couple of meters from us. The next thing I saw was how suddenly several golden fox tails surrounded me and Tamamo, they were surely hers.
A second after a huge explosion, I could feel her strength even through whatever Tamamo did, I screamed in fear, but she didn''t say anything and just hugged me more.At the same time, I hear how various things crumbled and it sounded like rocks fell, hitting the ground with such force that it made it shake.I think the ground cracked and we both fell from where we were.The fall was long and although I thought that it hurt more, I felt as if we had fallen on a large mattress from a bed.Then nothing else happened for a couple of seconds, but I could feel like something was holding the tails out.Tamamo told me that he waits a moment while she removes the rubble that we have.At that moment I did not understand what she was referring to, but I could feel one of her tails slide and push something.A moment later something heavy fell near us and made a brutal crash.Seeming to confirm Tamamo that whatever happened had ended, she was slowly withdrawing her fox tails until she only became one again.
As the foxtail cocoon opened, more and more sounds began to be heard.They were all screams of panic, buzzing sounds, and explosions in the distance.My eyes could not see what I was seeing, it seemed like another place completely.The building we were in a moment ago was nowhere to be seen, in its place, there was only a mountain of the rubble of stone and steel.I saw how several people approached here and began to throw stones everywhere trying to reduce the mountain of debris as soon as possible.I felt completely lost, I did not know what was happening or what to do.What had happened to the place where we are?Where were the people who were going down the stairs?where were the ladders to start?Someone was screaming somewhere, he was asking for help, but the only thing I could see was an endless sea of debris.I watched as someone ran to one side and with all his might he moved a large basting stone, only to remove a severed arm from someone.I began to scream immediately when I saw such a heartbreaking scene.
SLAP!
"Maria!"
"Focus!"
"Here I am!" Tamamo had hit me to get my attention
"What has happened?"
"Where we are?"
"Where are the others!?"
"We have to go!" she said taking my hand
"What?"
"Where?"
"I don''t know, but we must find a safer place"
"At any moment they could repeat another one of those attacks!"
"Wait!"
"We have to rescue the others"
"We can''t leave them like this!"
"We cannot, we must continue!"
"What!"
"Do you plan to leave them like this?"
"We must save them!"
"You are a goddess! do something!"
"I am an evil Goddess!"
"Save lives not is my job!"
"My duty is to keep you safe and that''s what I''m going to do!"
"There is nothing I can do for them, I do not have the permission to interfere so much"
"Are you just going to leave them behind?"
"There is nothing we can do"
"We must find a safe place and wait for Cesar"
"He in his past stories had said that the subway is more resistant than a fort, we have to go to one"
I look again at the mountain of rubble in which we were, if it had not been for the goddess I would also be under all this. I had been lucky to be with her at the right time. The others had not been so lucky. Tamamo was right, there wasn''t much we could do, especially me, I couldn''t save anyone here. It was not my fault what had occurred, it was just something that happened. I kept repeating to myself trying to justify what I was doing. I took Tamamo''s hand and we ran from there to a subway station.
The subway was about two blocks south of what was now a mountain of stones. We ran as fast as we could to get to safety, but since exercise wasn''t my thing, it wasn''t that fast. Again several sounds were heard and the people around us came back to shouting even more than before. I looked up and I could see how there were several things flying in the air. Suddenly one of those things just flew over our street changed course towards the ground in a dive. Tama stood in front of me to protect me from the threat again, she seemed to be confident that whatever it was that it would not attack us with such force because I did not see her do everything she did before. I looked at what had fallen and then I understood why I did it.
A couple of meters away there was a girl who looked quite like Tamamo and Cesar''s daughters, hell no, she was the same as if she were a clone.But even so, I was sure that they were neither Kazumi nor Charlotte at first glance.The look of that thing was fixed but dark, it seemed that it was enjoying whatever she was doing, almost the same as Lisa''s.Everything around her said danger and that equipment and wings, I don''t think they are exhibition.
"Is you one of the sisters of my daughters?"
"Stop this and come with us, we will save you!"
"Kazumi and Charllote would like to have one more sister with them" Said the goddess moved with a face with tears
"Tama!"
"I don''t think she is the same as your daughters!"
"I found the target''s daughter"
"Initiating extraction of the individual" Said the android while lighting a sword of light that she had with her.
"How do you plan to use that to kidnap a person!?" I asked
"Drop this!"
"Stop!"
"If you leave this behind you can come with us!"
"Come I will introduce you to a family that you want to have so much!"
"Tamamo stop that!"
"She can be another machine that can see identical but don''t even know each other!"
"That android wants to kill us!"
"Ok, here I go!"
"Do not die quickly please"
"I don''t like my toys breaking fast!" I leave the robot girl lighting the propulsor on her back
"Shit!"
"Here it comes!"
"Tama do something please!"
As the DOLL came towards us, the goddess seeing that she did not listen to what she was saying took her spear out of nowhere, and without moving from where she was, with a simple and beautiful diagonal movement she stopped her opponent. The robot split in two and its pieces with the momentum they were carrying went in different directions, stopping further back in the middle of the street without damaging anyone. Tamamo turned around and I could see her face, she was crying because of what she just did. She ran to her opponent''s feet to see what they had been like.
"I''m very sorry, I didn''t want to hurt you, my daughter!" she said.
"Tamamo leaves her, she is not one of your daughters!"
"You know it too!"
"But just look at her face!"
"I really felt like I did something terrible to them!"
"Is this different from mistreating them?"
"That you are not the one who said that we have to look for a refuge?"
"We can''t stay here!"
"Cry later for her in the subway!"
Suddenly, the half that still had the upper part of the robot began to move again. He took back his sword and tried to attack Tamamo. Seeing the need for the robot to continue with its task, the poor girl had no choice but to attack the robot again until breaking it into more pieces.
"This is cruel"
"I wanted to save her but she didn''t even stop for a moment to think what she was doing"
"She just followed orders as if her life depended on it"
"Is this how the machines behave?"
"Are my daughters the same as her!?"
"Listen to me!"
"Do you really think your daughters are the same as them?"
"Do you think so badly of your daughters as to bring them down along with that thing?"
"That machine tried to kill us like this was a game"
"Your daughters have helped us even though no one has asked them to do so!"
"And even though they could cause much more damage than all of these puts together, she did her best not to"
"She wanted to save people, that''s why they are with you"
"Because they wanted to be better than these stupid robots"
"Don''t you think that they will be sad because you think that they are no different from that machine?"
"You''re right."
"I don''t know what I was thinking"
"I must trust them too"
"My way of thinking is wrong"
"Thank you for making me see what was right in front of me"
"Perfect!"
"Can we go now !?"
"Yeah"
We got back on track and reached the station without any more mishaps. Once there we tried to contact my brother but we couldn''t, then we realized that nobody''s phones work. Seeing that we could not communicate to know what to do, Tamamo suggested going to a place further away from the rest, we went to what we believe was a maintenance tunnel remembering the story that Cesar told us when he was locked in the subway, and it turned out to be true, there were only tools there and I was pretty lonely. Once there Tamamo said to look for my brother from the ass with his goddess powers and try to find out what he was doing to act accordingly. According to what she told me, he is heading here, so we decided to wait for her arrival. Tamamo continued to watch and when she reappeared said that he was close so we left the subway to run into him.
Ch76: The Game of Demons and Politicians
The Game of Demons and Politicians
United Nations Secretariat Building, Manhattan, New York.
March 5st
8:30 AM
***************
Adelis POV
***************
In the room was one of the most important people on the planet, United States President John Smith, who despite his busy schedule today, agreed to meet with me at my request.It was not just the two of us, in the same room the president''s bodyguards were always present, there were also a couple of heads of key areas such as the Department of State and the Department of the Treasury, who are here to give their opinions on the subject.I also have my assistant Xian close to me, but her role here is just to stand there without saying anything.There is also a hidden demon crazy with the need to see blood present and that no one apart from me can hear it.Hell, if at the beginning of the year someone had told me about what I''m doing now, I would have locked him up in a psychiatric hospital.
"I understand your point of view on the subject"
"But you must also take into account the other members of the Alliance since several of them are still waiting for their compensation for the damages caused by the Continental war."
"Germany especially will be against this"
"They hope that the original clauses will prevent them from returning to their pre-war economic state" Said the president seriously
"With all due respect sir, both you and I know that this is nothing different from the Treaty of Versailles, and will bring about the same consequences of that"
"This now that the inhabitants of the Empire only think that they really should have won" I responded to his argument
"Also, if I am the one who proposes this, several of my collaborators will withdraw their support for the tax reform that I want them to approve"
"And without the reform, I cannot ensure my re-election for my second term" he argued again.
"Kill them all!"
"You have to destroy their throats"
"Drown them in their own blood!"
"Then I impaled them on that wooden wall as an example"
"Death to all men!" I heard a voice come from under me.
(Damn Lisa shut up!)
(I can''t concentrate and try to keep a straight face if you don''t stop yelling as you intend to butcher the person in front of me)
(You''re going to drive me crazy too!) I thought to myself as I hit the ground hard with my heels, thinking that maybe that would stop the demon.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"You look quite nervous compared to how you usually are"
"Don''t worry Mr. President"
"I was just wondering if it was a good idea to drop my daughter off at the hotel with access to room service"
"Back on the subject, I am afraid that if you cannot cooperate with me I will be forced not to help you in your political campaign for your reelection"
"And who knows, most likely the opposition will contact me offering these same terms on a silver platter in order to have my support"
"What I am offering you is the opportunity to please me well before your rivals"
"Hey stop there!"
"No one said anything about refusing to do that"
"What I wanted to say is that even with my cooperation there are still more people who can oppose it"
"Well, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the President of Russia have already formed their cooperation with me"
"Together with you, we will have a great weight to be able to make them reconsider your proposal"
"Then it will only be to find a way to talk to the European Union"
"We do not need Germany to give the approval"
"Surely places like France will accept in order to receive financial aid to rebuild their territory"
"Then the Germans will follow them so as not to be left behind"
"But the important part is missing!"
"Kill them now!"
"You have them close!"
"Come on it will be fast! maybe in about 5 minutes, we will finish!"
"It is easy! just let me do it!"
"When all these bastard men are hanging with their guts we can go back to Cesar!"
"This way I can sleep with him and we will start to produce children"
"I want to have two soccer teams with them, one with my last name and the other with Cesar''s!"
(Lisa stop!)
(Right now you shouldn''t say anything to that!)
(We are having a talk that could affect the future of the world!)
(Please be more serious and control yourself!)
(Also she now has the body of a ten-year-old girl, giving birth to a child could kill her!)
"No one mentioned that she would be the one to give birth."
"Please I''m not that crazy, please think better of what you say"
(Damn demon, you can hear my thoughts!)
(And you don''t listen to me when I ask you to shut up!)
"Hey, Mrs. Adelis, are you sure you''re okay?"
"Now you look pretty angry and I haven''t said anything this time"
"Sorry, maybe really was a bad idea to have left my daughter without supervision"
"She will surely make the hotel manager find a life-size chocolate sculpture of her"
"Come on don''t worry so much about it."
"In any case, if the invoice is excessive, just send the invoice to the foreign office and say that they are diplomatic expenses"
I was back to continue talking to President John, but suddenly one of his guards leaned over to him and whispered something in his ear. It seemed to be quite important as the face of the change completely.
"What the fuck!"
"There is someone attacking the fucking city!"
"Then the meeting at the UN went to hell !?"
"What the hell are you doing standing there like idiots!"
"Are you a lot of pussys?"
"Move!"
"Someone call the defense minister and tell him I want him to do something violent"
"Let''s send those motherfuckers to hell!"
"Mr. President, your vocabulary"
"Remember you are no longer a Marine Sergeant"
"Ok, I like that bastard"
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation."I will kill him last" said the demon.
"Mr. President, I cannot accept that"
"My daughters are still in the hotel, I can''t just leave them"
"Don''t worry about that, we''ll send someone to pick them up right away"
"You bastard, you heard the lady"
"Do something useful for the first time in your life and put those ugly feet of yours to run"
"Yes, Mr. President!"
"Please follow us, we will immediately take you to the helicopter to get out of here"
I didn''t have time to refuse again, as several of the bodyguards pushed me to get us out of the place. My greatest fear was not the attack itself, but to think that Cesar was out there loose and he is not going to be left with crossed arms. The question will be what weird thing will happen to him now shortly. if this was something simple that the police could solve, he would probably not act, but if it is something serious, well I hope that what he does at least does not end up on the front page of the news.
"Give the order of the information blackout at the country level."
"Also tell the air force to force all the planes to land."
"Any bird that doesn''t have our damn stars and stripes I want it dead"
"Tell Franklin I want to see his Girls Scouts landing with their parachutes"
"And tell Harold to get the tractors out, I wanna see they''re taxes well spent"
"Finally, look for the ship with the largest USS initials you can find and tell him that he has minutes to show up to the party"
Oh my goodness, Is he calling the army? is the problem so big? I have to contact the twins now. I took out my phone to make the call before something happened with the communications, but the government had been faster. Then I heard something like Humming and how explosions sounded from the side of the building.
"That was the anti-aircraft batteries?"
"We can''t take the helicopter if there are enemies flying"
"What other options do we have?"
"We have a secure bunker prepared for you in the basement of the building, Mr. President"
"The room is separated from the rest of the UN representatives"
"You can coordinate the armed response from there"
I continued accompanying the group, more because they pushed me than because of my desire. We went downstairs and waited through the lobby when something unforeseen happened. A girl came out of one of the windows, she was an android who looked just like my granddaughters. In fact, she was so looked like that for a moment I really thought it was them, but then I remembered that no one in our family has lightsabers for now and I saw that that one over there was actually an enemy. The bodyguards didn''t think twice and started shooting at her immediately. But the pistols that they had did not do any harm to the girl, who backed up and cut a man in two with her sword. The president''s group continued running nonstop, but mine stopped to face her. I was still processing what was happening when someone pushed me from behind again.
"Don''t stop Mrs. Adelis!"
"Keep running!" Xian yelled at me, reminding me of what I had to do.
Without looking back, I listened to him and continued on my way where the president had passed before.We went through the door and went back down several stairs.Then we reached a long corridor where there were even more guards, one of them yelled at us.
"Mrs. Adelis, this way please!" he said, opening one of the doors that led to an elevator.
It seemed strange to me that it indicates to use an elevator in case of emergency but I did not think too much and I got on. He also got on but just as Xian was also going to enter he touched a button and the doors closed immediately, leaving her outside.
"Wait she''s my guard!"
He didn''t answer anything, that''s when I noticed. That person in front of me was not from the secret service, he did not have the lapel pin that indicated that he was from that agency. I had made a mistake.
"Who sent you?" I asked him.
"Who cares"
He right after grabbed his gun and pointed it at my face. But almost instantly an iron stake went through his head, driving him into the door. I looked down and could see Lisa''s upper torso emerging from my own shadow on the ground. She finished off the ground and started to nail it even more.
"That''s just what I''ve been waiting for someone to do today!" She said making a mess with what was left of him.
"I''m going to take it out on you as a thank you for giving me the opportunity"
"Lisa leave him, now there''s no time to be distracted by him"
"Someone wants to kill me, we have to get out of here and find a safe place"
Lisa seemed not to hear me and kept playing with her metal stakes. When the elevator bell rang indicating the end of the trip, the demon stopped quickly. When the elevator bell rang indicating the end of the trip, the demon quickly got up quickly, pushed me to one end of the elevator, took the nails from the dead man, and threw them just as the door opened. I heard a couple of shots but none seemed to come our way. Lisa continued walking and pulled from the floor as if it had been there from the beginning a huge scythe bigger than herself. In the corridor there were about seven dead men all on the ground, it was clear who had killed them. From the ceiling above us, there was an explosion and it seemed again the DOLL that was attacking the building. Without saying anything, it lunged towards our direction, but the demon threw its scythe violently in front and its blade split the robot into several pieces, rendering it useless.
"What should we do now?"
"If we go to that secret room we can meet again with that lot of men that we can kill quickly"
"But Cesar told me I must keep you safe"
"What are you planning to do mother-in-law?"
"First of all, you are forbidden to kill anyone unless it is for our defense"
"If I''m with the president, I might know what the hell is going on, but whoever wants to kill me will notice"
"That there is no other place where we can communicate with the outside?"
"I do not know, if you have not noticed I have been with you all this time so I do not know more than you"
"There is no other way then, we will return to the president"
"Xian is heading there anyway, I will find a way to notify her so that she tries to find the person responsible"
"Help me find that bunker and return to my shadow"
"Maybe I can plan how to recover the city and help Cesar from here"
Lisa continued to protect me until she found the way to the safe place that the guards talked so much, Lisa did exactly what I told her. President John gave permission to let me pass since he also sought my help thanks to my experience in the Alliance to get out of this.
But the situation was really grim, enemy airships and drones flew over the city without problems. Several DOLLS had also been identified flying over, guarding, and destroying all kinds of resistance. The nearest military base was also under attack. Enemy troops were slowly surrounding the building. Although the troops guarding the UN were holding them for now, enemy reinforcements were still arriving from the south of the city. The New York defense system is under enemy control. Enemy assault teams were taking over the city''s power plants. The national guard has been deployed but its active agents are too dispersed to do anything for now. Reinforcements troops would take at least seven hours to arrive here until hours to appear. The 82nd Airborne Division that will be the fastest to arrive would take five hours, from gathering its troops and equipping them, plus the journey, and they would only be foot soldiers who could not do much if we did not find a place where they could disembark assault vehicles that would bring. We could not deal with the air force either as our own anti-aircraft turrets will shoot them down. That was supposed to be impossible for it to happen because the C-Rams work autonomously, they can distinguish allied ships by their count without external factors, but after meeting Kazumi and Charlotte I cannot rule out that they have managed to remotely reprogram them. We still don''t know where all these enemies came from. And the list went on and on endlessly. We really are completely screwed.
Only a miracle would get us out of this.
Right now I was praying to God and Tamamo that whatever Cesar did to save the world before he can repeat it today. We are going to need it.
Ch77: A Bridge Too Far
A Bridge Too Far
One World Trade Center, Lower Manhattan, New York.
March 5st
9:20 AM
On our journey to the south, we began to touch each time with more soldiers from the Empire who were heading north. By deduction, I think that near here is the road through which they are carrying reinforcements towards the rest of the city. We were hiding for a while in the 9/11 museum, precisely the zero point of another enormous tragedy. Since the place was underground, it was a good point to seek refuge, so there were quite a lot of people next to us, people in panic, injured, emergency personnel. I had thought that I had already left all this behind, but it seems that no matter what I do, that bastard was right. Once again I was in the midst of chaos, people hurt and fighting for their lives. This place had been created as a tribute to the victims of a horrible tragedy and yet here we are surrounded by the rubble of that day living another painful day for the people of this city. But again we had no choice, the only thing we could do was to move forward and face the challenges that were presented to us again.
I managed to steal the radio from a policeman and gave it to Charlotte to see if somehow we could get more information. Although it was not of much use, we managed to capture information from the police network, where they were also trying to do what they could, no matter how useless it seemed. It seems that the origin of the enemy comes from somewhere in Brooklyn or nearby and they are using the access to Manhattan to take their ground troops to the north of the city, where they meet again in the vicinity of the UN building in an attempt to take it by force.
My family and I were arguing about what we should do now because while we were certainly a bunch of fantasy creatures, there wasn''t much we could do against a group of tanks without a plan first.The first thing on my list of priorities is getting Maria, Momo, and the twins out of here to safety.Then I want to go to the UN to get my mother and Lisa out of there.But I can''t do any of that if there''s a damn army that came out of nowhere out there.
At this rate, every minute that passes more enemies is coming to the front lines. And even if the UN is strongly defended, it will only be a matter of time before they are outmatched or run out of supplies.
"Right now it''s safe to say that the Empire is using the bridges and the tunnel 478 to come here" I began to explain to others with the tourist map that I found lying around
"Although I would like not to go into combat like this, we have to do something to reduce the number of incoming troops"
"We have to destroy or disable any of its routes before leaving here"
"The tunnel is a good place to move troops and it is quite resistant, so it is surely the main place where they are arriving and the most protected route."
"Bridges are more direct routes but easy to damage, but the risk is worth it"
"We have to block the passage or damage the integrity of one of the two bridges at least"
"Suggestions?"
"Are you suggesting that we destroy New York City with your plan?"
"Bridges that hostile tanks are currently crossing"
"Have you lost your mind brother?"
"Don''t you hear the shots up there?"
"We can do something to change what is happening"
"Due to the brutal surprise attack, the only thing left for us is to buy time until help arrives"
"And how do you plan to blow up a huge 100-year-old bridge with pistol ammunition?"
"Your idea is ridiculous"
"We don''t need to finish off the entire bridge, we just need to make a big hole in it or block the passage with something big"
"Tama, what would happen if you put a fire paper spell on something like a bus?"
"Well, I think something this big will take two to be completely destroyed"
"But with the potency of the flame of just one, it would be enough to melt the metal"
"Well that can work"
"If we wait and manage to put one of those talismans on a couple of tanks, the ammunition depot will explode, thus creating the hole we need"
"Kazumi, I imagine you have the map of the city in your head"
"Any idea how to get out of Manhattan without using the main roads?"
"There are two subway tunnels, the one on Line A where you can access it from the Fulton station which is a couple of blocks from the Brooklyn Bridge and the other is 3 Line, much further south and with the entrance at the Wall Street station"
"They are here and here respectively"
"In fact, Line A is the same as the World trace center station, it is 250 meters away from here"
"Okay, I don''t think the soldiers of the empire will bother checking the tunnel if what they''re planning is a blitzkrieg attack"
" We will attack Brooklyn Bridge and then will use line A to get out of here"
"Momo you keep my gun, go with Maria and the twins and wait at the Fulton station"
"Tamamo and I will do this as quickly as we can and we will meet with you there "
"Do not let anyone see you and if you see that it is dangerous better get away from there and seek refuge in another place"
"Wait do you want me to have the gun?"
"Well they taught me how to use one but I can''t do it, I don''t have the courage!"
"Also with what do you think to defend yourself?"
"Do not worry about me, weapons this city has in excess for now."
"You just make sure you shoot first before the other"
"Besides, you didn''t want to be a warrior from the security section?"
"This is your chance to show that you can do it"
"I need you to do it"
"I..."
"..."
"I''m going to try, but I don''t promise anything" She said a little scared
"Very well I will take them to the subway station, after that they walk the Line to the other station"
"All ready?"
"Come on, every minute is important!"
After having brought the others safely to Fulton Street and I continued on the surface, where we could advance without problems until we reached New York City Hall Park. Tanks from the empire were advancing down the street, continuing their route north. Crossing, in reality, will not be difficult, the question was what we would do to avoid drawing attention as little as possible to get to the bridge because from now on the enemy presence will be numerous. I was thinking about what to do until Tamamo came up with a rather effective and humiliating idea. Basically, if she transformed into a slightly older woman with white hair and held me in her arms she would look like a mother running with her daughter to safety. I wanted to refuse the plan but time is running out so we go ahead with that plan. In the end, it even worked better than we expected, as one of the tanks even came under speed to let us pass. We managed to continue further along the Dover street that was still next to the bridge and then we climbed up to the bridge.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Now we were hiding ready to ambush the next tank that would pass to make it explode and get out of here. but as always with my life, something different than planned happened. The soldiers began to agitate and shoot at a vehicle that was coming in the opposite direction, it was an armored police truck that was coming at full speed. Without stopping art, nothing followed until it was stamped with a concrete block that the soldiers of the Empire had just placed. Several policemen dressed in military style came out and began to shoot everyone around them trying to get out of the situation they had just gotten themselves into. They managed to kill a few, but quickly they began to be quickly overcome and began to have several casualties. The coordination of the team was fatal and made no sense whatsoever, they seemed like a bunch of poorly trained recruits. It''s only a matter of time for them to be annihilated.
That they were idiots? How can you think of going so stupidly head-on against an enemy key position !? What were they planning to achieve?
I did not plan to go help them, my goal was only to disable the bridge, but seeing their truck I thought of something different. They must have had military communications equipment there, so if I managed to retrieve it and give it to my daughters, we could connect to the army network and see what is happening.
I spoke quickly with Tamamo about whether we would help them, she replied that she agreed.We left our hiding place and she threw her naginata at a couple of enemies.For my part, I took an assault rifle from one of the dead and also started shooting at them as I approached the truck.The combat was not easy, but at least I managed to secure the rear of the Swat team so that we could focus on fire in one direction.The first to arrive with them was Tamamo, who picked up his spear back and told them that we were on their side to avoid misunderstandings as soon as possible.After finishing with a soldier who left suddenly I also approached the truck.Immediately everyone stopped attacking and stared at me with a face of total disbelief.
"It''s a little girl with a gun !?"
"Get out of here now!"
"This site is very dangerous!"
"Drop that, it''s not a toy!"
"Quick, someone gets the girl out of here!"
"What the fuck are they doing, they got enemies coming over the bridge"
"You the one with the machine gun begin to make supreme fire!" "
"The one on the M14, take care of the pedestrian crossing"
"You are the team doctor, check your partner who is on the ground"
"Which one of you is the captain? I need to talk to him! " I start giving instructions to the idiots who just stood there.
"What the hell is wrong with that brat?"
"Is she giving us orders?"
"The captain is the one who is dead there"
"Excellent, first he does something stupid and then he leaves you abandoned being the first to die"
"Well, who is next in command?"
"I want to warn you that he is going to be the next dead man if you don''t change what you are doing now"
"Are you not the best that the police have?"
"Or is it that you shit your pants to see a little more people with weapons equal to yours?"
"What were you going to achieve with this stupidity?" I told them bluntly
"Get out of here brat!"
"Enemies at three o''clock"
"The command wants all possible troops to meet in Brooklyn together with the Joint Task Force Empire Shield to try to retake the John F. Kennedy airport to prepare it for the arrival of the 82nd airborne that will arrive in 5 hours"
"Our captain was desperate to see all the roads taken by enemy troops and we decided to try to force our way"
"You throw the grenades towards the group that just appeared"
"You two get paid on that car and take care of the survivors"
"Were they planning to force their way over a bridge that tanks use to cross?"
"Are you crazy?"
"You stop shooting, take the M-COM, if you drop it I''ll kill you myself"
"Honey!"
"Here comes another one of those big vehicles!"
"That over there is a tank right !?"
"Fuck a tank!"
"The tank is pointing at us, we are lost!"
"Your girl runs, they will kill you if you stay here!"
"Oh my God!"
These people were planning to cross the bridge but were spooked by the tank. I jumped out of the protection of the truck and I saw that the tank was really approaching with its weapon facing us. Summon Avalon and him or hold tight. The tank fired its main gun and the explosive projectile hit the sword directly. But despite what should be a brutal impact, I did not feel it. As I did not feel the explosion that accompanied it afterward, the flames of it rose almost in all directions, all but one part. Behind the sword, everything was completely intact. There was not the slightest scratch from that attack.
"Tamamo the tank!"
"Throw the talisman NOW!"
"Launch it before it reloads again!" I scream desperately.
There were probably about a hundred meters between the tank and us, it should be impossible for a simple paper to travel that distance.But even so, Tamamo got out of the police truck, turned his body around, and threw the paper away with such impulse that it did not look very different from the projectile from before.I could see how the paper stuck to the front of the vehicle and a second later a huge blue flame consumed the vehicle violently.I saw how the barrel of the same began to bend due to the heat, I saw how someone tried to open the hatch of the tank to escape, but that only accelerated his death.A moment later the tank exploded and the turret of the tank went flying through the air.The other part was lost from sight as it fell into the water in a huge ball of fire and metal.We had achieved our goal, the bridge had a huge hole that would take at least days to repair.No vehicle would pass through here at the moment.
"All right guys, clean up and pick up."
"My name is Elise, I''m not ten years old and someone hired me to figure out how to fix this shit."
"I have a way out of here that does not include a suicide attack and I am interested in that plan that I heard about getting a base for the reinforcements"
"I don''t have time to argue who wants to accompany me can do it and if not, Get the fuck out my way" I said taking the communication box and leaving the place.
I know what I said sounded, how to say it, weird? But my intention was to make it clear that unlike them I did have a plan at least not so retarded. The policemen stared at me completely incredulous again, Tama made a gesture as if saying goodbye to them and followed me.
"What the hell just happened?"
"Those girls just saved us?"
"Forget that, they destroyed a fucking tank!"
"Those two are not human!"
"Forget that too, they can save the city!"
"Hey wait we want to talk to you!"
"Can you help us, we have to retake the city at any cost!"
They fell into the trap. I had them right where I wanted them!
"Okay, I think I can help you not die so fast"
"But there are conditions!"
"The first will do what I say literally "
"Second you will not say or ask anything you see or hear"
"Third, I am not here for civilians, my goal is to get people out of the UN"
"Fourth, my identity is secret, I don''t want the slightest question about myself"
"If you don''t accept any of that, you can go to hell"
"You are not ten years old are you?"
"What do you care, I''m a better option than your dead captain, I know how to use a weapon and I know how to get to the other side"
"Isn''t that what you need?"
Despite the understandable complaints and doubts of the police, at the end of the day, they decided to bet on me and followed me. Upon arriving at the subway station in Fulton we met the rest of my family. More doubts seemed to them but even so, they continued to heed my orders. Now we had to prepare for the next part. Try to secure the John F Kennedy airport.
Ch78: The First Step to Revenge
The First Step to Revenge
Subway tunnel A-Line, Brooklyn, New York.
March 5st
11:10 AM
Going through the lines of the subway in the dark is not a pleasant experience, but it is much better than being on the surface where there are enemies flying overhead. On the good side, the trains are not working on the subway, the bad side, the trains are not working so we have to keep walking. The SWAT team is walking about 20 meters ahead of us, looking for possible threats as we move. They are talking to each other thinking that I cannot hear them from this distance.
"Are you sure playing along with them will work?"
"Her leader is smaller than my daughter"
"I know it''s stupid but look, they did have a plan to get out of Manhattan and it worked"
"When we surface again we will part and leave them behind"
"I think that if they could help us to retake the city"
"If we force them to cooperate, we could do great harm to those bastards!"
"And you know they blew up a damn tank!"
"Don''t you hear yourself?"
"They destroyed that tank, how are you going to force them to help you?"
"Also the little girl has more aim with a rifle than you"
"We can tell them that their parents are locked up in the enemy base and that they help us take it."
"Maybe in this way we can destroy our enemies!"
"Well that could work"
"We can try later to see how it works"
"In any case, we can also deceive them and simply take them with us without saying anything"
Hell, I thought their captain was the idiot but now I realize it''s only a matter of time before these guys are dead.
"What do you think of what they said dad?"
"Don''t worry about that, the only thing I need from them is that they simply attract enemy shots"
"Those idiots are the perfect cannon fodder"
"When Momo finishes fixing the M-COM we will go up to the surface to use it"
"Well this would not be that difficult to repair if someone did prevent them from leaving this thing as a grater"
"The regular SWAT assault truck has 5.0mm thick level 6 armor"
"More than enough to completely stop 7.62 NATO ammunition used by regular soldiers, so I don''t understand how they did to leave it in this state"
"Well it wasn''t like they stopped chasing us right away after we blew up a bridge"
"But you can do it right?"
"Don''t worry, I''m almost done, I just need to connect it to a battery"
"Regarding the software, I have no idea what will happen because I had to replace a couple of pieces with one of the computers that we found on the way"
"If you''re done then can I stop carrying this huge and heavy box on my back?"
"I can''t take it anymore, I shouldn''t be doing things that require a lot of physical effort!"
"Tamamo could handle this better than me!"
"Sister, Tama, and I are busy right now trying to defend you and that box so we can''t help you."
"Also everyone here is contributing to something, even my girls are right now testing that the box works well."
"The only one who is not really doing anything is you"
"The system appears to be operational, but until we get close to the surface we cannot communicate"
"The Franklin avenue station should be about 300 meters from here, since the station is several stories high, we can continue to be protected while we turn on the M-COM"
Taking into account what Charlotte said, we went to the station, but it was not as big as I thought, so we crossed the street and to go to the front building that was much higher to be able to take a look at the city and see better what it was going on. Unfortunately, the sight was familiar to me. Once again he was facing a city in chaos and flames. Columns of smoke could be seen everywhere, people running everywhere, cars still lit abandoned in the middle of the street. A helicopter trying to get out of the place with injured people. In the background, he could see the New York skyscrapers still rising up from everything else. A city that only yesterday was a joyful place full of life that we enjoy doing tourism.
Although I would have liked to avoid it, I did not have the time to worry about small details, so I let the SWAT members even help me prepare everything for my daughters. Their faces were completely incredulous when they saw the robot girls but when they heard a relatively close scan they put that aside and started helping me. We turned on the communication box and the twins connected to it. A moment later they asked for television so I quickly checked the floor to get one. Momo quickly made the necessary adjustments and managed to connect it to the box as well.
"We have managed to connect to the defense network of the army"
"It seems that Adelis was already anticipating our entry and prepared a secure access for us"
"The access code is Maria''s birthday"
"Adelis wants to contact us immediately"
"I will pass it to the screen"
"I be the camera and microphone" Kazumi said as she sat right next to the box and the TV.
"Leave that call is safe, I was waiting for it, turn the video to monitor 4!"
"It''s already on !?"
"!!!"
"Oh thank god you are safe"
"Are you all there?"
I could see my mother in a room with several men in military clothing. The place was not very illuminated and there were people screaming and running everywhere.
"We are all good with me"
"I even have Luna''s core in my backpack and you should be watching the video from Kazumi''s point of view, her sister is next to her"
"We are currently at Franklin avenue station in Brooklyn"
"On our way, we met up with the Echo team from the New York Police Department SWAT"
"Their captain was killed in action while trying to cross the Brooklyn Bridge under enemy control"
"A boy who I think is called Benny is the one who is now in charge"
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
"They did manage to fix the box for real !?"
"We already have communication with the central command!"
"Girl get out of here this is important, we have to talk to them first!"
"Let the adults take care of the serious stuff!"
"Hey don''t push me!"
"Here is First Lieutenant Benny Rodriguez, currently in command of Team Swat reporting" The idiot a military salute with my sister still on the ground behind how he had pushed her
"Yes, goddammit raise the level to DEFCON 2"
"No, do not launch the ICBM, is DEFCON 2 "
"Who the hell are you going to send them to? We don''t have anyone to threaten them for now!"
"Vienna is under our control right now!"
"I will not use atomic bombs where we have our own troops!"
"If you don''t know that, why the hell are you using the defense minister''s phone?"
"Ahh, so you are his wife!"
"Being his wife does not give you the authority to decide that!"
"Who am I !?"
"I''m the fucking president of the fucking United States of fucking America!"
"And with God as my witness, I swear to you if i survive this your dear husband is going to be on the street tomorrow looking for a new job" I heard the man next to my mother and then he threw the phone against a wall
"Very well Benny, I am Adelis and you are the current general coordinator of the Alliance High Command"
"Currently I am giving my help to the current emergency due to being one of the people with the highest rank currently present in the city together with the President who by the way is here next to me"
"You are currently relieved of your position on Team Echo with immediate effect"
"Miss Elise will assume command of your unit."
"She is the white girl that is behind you in case you do not know her"
"Wait what !?"
"What are you talking about? She is just a little girl!"
"She is a civilian! She does not have the ability to take over!"
"In fact we should send her to a shelter right away!"
"I think you are not understanding what you just said"
"If she is a civilian and you care so much about her why is she with you right now?"
"Again if she is just a civilian because she then she was able to contact me first and not you in her place"
"Third, Mrs. Elise is currently under my command, which makes her superior to you in rank and you have just insulted her"
"Currently you have already shown incompetence with no time in a situation like this"
"Do you still want me to continue?"
"This is not fair!" The very fag left the room crying
He certainly didn''t have the ability to lead a team, the real question was how the hell had he gotten so high in the first place.
"Hey, are you really going to leave me in charge of these people?"
"I don''t remember signing for a second trip in the army"
"It''s just for the emergency that ..."
Suddenly an explosion could be heard from Adelis''s side, the camera shook a bit, a little dust fell from the ceiling and my mother clung to a table with force, but it did not happen more and the image continued.
"What was that!?"
"Everything is fine there !?" I Ask worried.
"It seems that we received an impact on one of the upper floors"
"Integrity of the building still intact" Shouted one of the soldiers next to my mother
"The city''s air defense system is under enemy control"
"The UN has several that were independent of the system but they are not enough to face what they are throwing at us"
"I am currently in the vault under the building, so I am not at risk at the moment"
"I''ll be fine even if the place collapses"
"But if the Empire soldiers raided the place on foot that could be different"
"The troops are still holding on but we don''t know how much more we can take"
"Our biggest problem is the enemy artillery, they don''t stop launching missiles towards here"
"Send the troops to use the surrounding buildings and not to stay near the street"
"Don''t focus so much on suppressing the enemy by shooting a lot, save ammo"
"Stay between the targets and take precision shots at the troops, that will keep them scared and save time"
"Charlotte''s sisters now have wings so being in the open is very dangerous"
"If they are separated into small groups between the floors of the skyscrapers, the survival of the troops will increase"
"If you have vehicles with heavy weapons I would put them in the lobbies of the buildings ready to ambush other vehicles or the DOLLS when they appear"
"What you have to do is buy time, not defeat them"
Adelis looked at me on the screen, as did several officers who were next to her. They were all looking at me like I was a freak.
"Where did you get that idea from?"
"Experience?"
"Very well you heard it"
"If someone doesn''t have a better idea, do what she said" she told the others to go back to work
"We are doing our best but the situation is not encouraging"
"How is the game?"
"By how much are we losing?"
"Outside of the UN surroundings I don''t think we have any more allied units, almost all of Manhattan is under enemy control" As Adelis began to speak, some of my daughters put on the same screen the map of the city together with what she was saying
"Satellite images show that the Empire is using containers at the port and naval base to launch the rockets."
"They have secured the site and are currently using it as a base."
"We believe it is from here that they came out"
"Due to the DOLLS, the first units to arrive came from here"
"We also have reports of presence in the vicinity of the airport"
"Damn that''s bad"
"Any good news?"
"The 82nd airborne will arrive at 3:00 pm with its troops"
"But despite the fact that they will come with all their heavy weapons, they do not have a place to unload it"
"In addition, the paratroopers do not have a safe place to make their jump"
"We will need to retake the airport before the arrival of the 82nd"
"We are directing all possible forces to the cemetery to gather them and launch an attack to try to retake it"
"Cedric is already in place preparing the details of the assault"
"The JTF Empire Shield, the police, and the National Guard are heading there right now"
"Once reunited we will make a pincer attack, the Alpha team will attack from the north and the Bravo from the west"
"Despite our efforts, we believe that we will only be able to assemble a team of 400 or 500 soldiers for the attack"
"We do not know if it will be enough to defend the place in case of a counterattack"
"Ok I got it, we are close to the meeting point"
"It will take about half an hour to arrive"
"That will leave us only minutes to prepare and launch the attack"
"We have to attack shortly before to have that place under our control for the arrival of reinforcements"
"Wait are you going to help?"
"Are you sure?"
"Well I thought that''s why you were telling me all that"
"You need every person you can get"
"We will do Tamamo and me, the others will stay behind at the meeting point"
"Obviously I do not intend to risk their lives"
"Okay, I like knowing that I can count on a Deity on my side"
"I will try to invent something for how we can position you as someone with rank within the army"
"I will also tell Cedric to find you and give you something to mark my granddaughters and inform others, I don''t want anyone to confuse them"
"Go with the Echo team to the rendezvous point and help them prepare for the airport assault"
"I will leave the details of the assault to you and Cedric as they are the ones with the most experience in this"
"Roger!"
"I leave immediately"
After we finished talking we didn''t even bother to collect everything, we just unplugged the twins and left the building. The group of complainers that accompanied me no longer made noise after what happened to their partner. This Benny, despite losing his position, let him accompany us to help us because he really wanted to fight against the Empire and save his city. Due to the distance, we had to hurry to arrive shortly before, because we needed to be fast, both in moving and in the attack, because every minute we lose preparing ourselves is a minute that the enemy is using to strengthen his position.
Ch79: Operation Desert Jewel Part 1
Operation Desert Jewel Part 1
John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York
March 5st
12:36 PM
We''re inside a recon Stryker locked up like sardines. In it were several nervous soldiers in full equipment. Warriors on their way to battle, And next to them, Tamamo seeing us completely out of place in civilian clothes, a vest with a helmet, and I dressed in the same way. They were all watching us wondering why we were there with them too. What the hell were their superiors thinking by letting two young girls accompany them to such a dangerous place. Even I was more embarrassed by what they must be thinking of my appearance than nervous about the battle.
In about twenty minutes we will arrive near the airport where we will have to take different key points and defend them until the reinforcements of the 82nd airborne to be able to think of at least forming a more ambitious plan. Our mission was not a well-thought-out and calculated mission planned down to the smallest detail with emergency plans in case something went wrong. This was a desperate stifled attempt to try to get a glimmer of hope that he could save something in this city. In case we failed there was nothing else on the table that we could do.
How did we get to that point? Well, just 20 minutes ago we were arriving at the meeting point for all the available military troops.
We arrived around the New York cemetery and we noticed that the army was gathering inside an underground parking lot, so we went there immediately. At first, they confided us how it could not be otherwise with civilians seeking refuge, I tried to explain my situation to them, but who would believe a 10-year-old girl who comes to help in the military effort. Luckily Captain Cedric already knew that something like this was only a matter of time and he was attentive to the slightest sign. He quickly approached and let us pass, gathered the officers, and told them that I was the captain of Adelis''s security team and that I had come to provide assistance under direct orders from her. They quickly gave me an army armband with the captain''s insignia and the flag to identify me as an ally and an officer. Obviously, this did not happen without many people opposing the nonsense they had just heard, but the situation was too worrying to afford to criticize things.
Due to everything that had happened so far, we had not had time to rest from our trip on foot, so I asked for a couple of minutes for that. Taking advantage of the moment, I asked someone if they had a packet of cookies for my sister, a soldier was kind enough and gave us a couple, I distributed them to everyone but I didn''t take any. I take a couple of moments and take a look around. And certainly what I saw was not very encouraging indeed. Most of the soldiers in the place were quite young and were behaving as if this was more of a tourist trip than the true unprecedented emergency situation that we are experiencing. The troops here weren''t veterans from the continental war, they were fresh recruits from the academy. Maybe they were wanting they had only passed basic training, others did see themselves as experienced warriors, maybe too much, but at this point, anyone works. This only made me more nervous so looking for a way to change whatever is in our favor, I got up and went immediately to where the officers were preparing the attack plan.
"Ok Cedric tell me you have any good news"
"Well right now I was about to call you to update you on our plan."
"Ok it''s fine" Cedric said calling the attention of almost everyone present around
"Listen to me well, we''ll go over the plan one last time"
"Any observation or advice say it now that it is time"
"Let''s start with the first, what kind of talents do we have here?" I asked immediately
"We have several from the national guard, from the JTF, four SWAT teams, several policemen, several soldiers who live near here who joined us on their own, and those on the corner there are veterans who just returned from Europe yesterday."
"We have a force of about 400 men, a single battalion, but very different combined forces."
"For it to work we must ..."
"And the plan to take control of the place?" I''m sure Cedric wanted to say something else but I interrupted him to refocus on what was important.
"Two groups, Alpha attacks North, Bravo the West"
"It is quite probable that there are enemy units hidden between the hangars as well as the entire perimeter of the runways"
"In addition, the enemy presence between the different terminals in the center of the place has been confirmed"
"There are also hostages in the place"
"Is there someone in charge of taking inside and securing the terminals?"
"The place is almost a death trap, I am wondering if it is a good idea to take the risk of taking them"
"The place may be where the greatest presence of enemies is, as it is a good place to defend, in addition to guarding supplies and heavy weapons"
"That place is a danger to the security of the facility"
"We must take them"
"Swat teams specialize in interiors, they are the best option to take them" I said giving my opinion about it
"There are 4 teams, each one will take a terminal"
"Whoever finishes first will support the one who has difficulty"
"The Bravo team seems to have fewer hangars to check, as long as they secure the passage they could also help us to take the terminals"
"Help us?"
"Do you plan to come too?" Asked Cedric
"But what nonsense does she say?"
"Why do we even have to listen to it?"
"What do you know about strategy?" Said a sergeant with a clear reason
"When were you deployed, sergeant?"
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"I haven''t been deployed yet, sir"
"You have not been deployed"
"Well, she did, in fact, last year"
"That''s why she already fought by my side in Europe"
"Because she has already saved my life in combat"
"So she not only has my respect but my trust as well"
"With her young age, she has already shown me that if she is capable, that is why she has the rank that she has"
"So her voice has more weight in this than yours"
"I''m sorry for my fault, sir"
"I had no knowledge of that sir"
"Currently, as the captain with the most experienced in the place, I am in charge"
"In the battle, I will lead the Bravo team"
"The Bravo Team is composed mainly of the police and the noobs"
"Lieutenant Robert Dale It is already retired but given the circumstances, he has been reactivated to the service and will be in charge of the Alpha team"
"The alpha team is comprised of veterans and the JTF"
"If we are going to use the SWATs as a third group we need someone with real combat experience, which we need with the personnel present"
"What do you say, Elise? Will you aim to lead the third group?"
"The What!?
"Are you sure about that?"
"I can improvise it with them"
"But are you sure to entrust me to the third group?"
"They are currently betting that the Echo Swat team will not make it out alive"
"And following you they made it"
"I think if you are capable of achieving it"
I Stop for a moment and take a look around, the other officers were looking at me completely surprised. Even I was, I expect to take part in the battle, I did not expect to have a large group at my command. I had the experience and the knowledge.But even so, it is never easy to be responsible for the lives of others.Aside from the fact that my way of doing things was perhaps quite blunt and direct, I will most likely make the wrong decisions for the kind of relatively safe world I am in now.The truth is I did not want to do it, but just by taking a look around you can see that there are no better options either.
"Okay, if you think there''s no one better for it"
"Then I will take command."
"Ok then Captain Elise will be in command of the 4 SWAt teams and will be in charge of trying to secure the terminals"
"Just focus on taking two, if you see that it is a lot then just retire and meet me again in the hangars"
"In case everything goes well, try to take my Bravo team to the terminals as well"
"Alpha just make sure you take your assigned zone"
"We must secure the area for our reinforcements"
"The enemy is probably trying to retake the control of the place"
"We must endure until his arrival at any price"
"We leave in 10 minutes"
"I advise you to make your peace with God now that you can"
"Good luck"
With only 10 minutes there was no time for anything, so trying to earn the respect of my group I quickly gathered them near our assigned vehicles.And I started talking to them using what I had learned leading people during the war against the dragons.
"Very well"
"I know you''re thinking, why the hell is the ghost girl in charge?"
"I will not listen to what she says, after all, she is a minor"
"Are those ears for real?"
"Is that crazy girl going to be in charge of our lives?" I started giving my speech
The soldiers under my command seemed surprised that I was aware of the ridiculousness of my appearance.
"The answer to that is yes, You will have to, yes and no in that order"
"The most important is no, I am not in charge of your lives"
"You are responsible for your life, if you let them kill you that is your problem"
"Don''t let them kill you, don''t give them the slightest chance"
"This city already has many heroes it does not need more"
"That said, I''m sorry but you guys hit the lottery"
"You have to live the worst days of your lives with me in command"
"I don''t like it either, but it''s what we got in the lottery and we''re going to have to fight to survive it"
"We caught up in this shit together, I have no choice but to trust you too"
"I don''t have the time and love to learn your names, your origin, your hobbies, or what the hell you masturbate with"
Did someone laugh in the background?
"What I do have is this deck of cards, each team takes a suit"
"the aces cards are for the leader of each team, the king is machine gunner, medic queen, marksman prince"
"The rest of the commons use numbers"
"Wear them on your helmets so I don''t confuse you"
"You are not so handsome that I remember your faces"
"My name will be White and the girl here next to me will be Moon"
"She might look a bit silly but she''s more dangerous than all of us put together, so you can trust her"
They all began to take a card from the deck and distribute it as instructed. Which was good, it meant they were at least listening to me.
"The teacher put us as punishment for bullying the nerd that today we are cleaning the classrooms"
"4 classrooms where students go on excursions"
"We must take them and prevent the idiots of the rival school''s football team from retaking it to have their farewell party"
"Those who got the red cards will take terminal 7, the black ones will take terminal 4"
"Then we will deal with the other two"
"Yeah fuck those idiots" I heard among the my public
"Ok now leaving the jokes aside, I''m going to be serious with you"
"This is by no means a military plan with a high chance of victory"
"There are no backup plans or contingencies in case something goes wrong"
"What we''re doing is drowning strokes trying to save ourselves"
"We don''t have time to be the comic book heroes who make everything perfect and ideal"
"The overall priority of this mission is to ensure the usefulness of the airport for allied troops"
"NOTHING ELSE"
"We are not here to save hostages or civilians"
"Killing an enemy takes precedence over saving a life"
"A runway over our weapons"
Everyone is listening to me in complete silence, they had finally realized the shit they had gotten into and that this was serious
"We do not know what our enemies may have prepared, but we do not have the luxury of doubting"
"Kill everything with a gun in their hands without our flag"
"A hostage with a bomb on his chest is also a threat"
"I recommend that you sin first and ask God for forgiveness later"
"Leave your feelings stored in a bag and leave it here"
"When this shit is over you can go back and take the bag again home"
They muttered something to each other, but I couldn''t understand what they were saying. I regretted having to be so hard but there was no other choice, the important thing is to fulfill the mission, everything else is secondary.
"Have I been clear!?"
"Yes my lady" They responded strongly
When I finished speaking, I went back to my family to say goodbye, I gave Momo my bag with Luna''s core for her to keep. Momo, the twins and Maria would stay behind along with a small group of policemen who would wait for them to take the airport to enter and attend to people seeking refuge. It would only be a couple of hours, but in the heat of combat, anything can happen. But I was not the only one, many people were also writing their farewell letters, others were with their families preparing to leave. I even see the daughters of a man cry her 60-year-old father put on a military uniform again while a younger soldier taught him how the current army rifle worked. There were all kinds of vehicles, from more SWAT trucks, various ICVs like the Stryker, various truck-mounted C-Ram batteries as well as even normal police patrol cars. Not long after we all get on our transports to our destiny, whatever it may be.
Ch80: Operation Desert Jewel Part 2
Operation Desert Jewel Part 2
John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York
March 5st
1:00 PM
Alpha team was the first to enter combat as planned, they were currently gaining ground in their assigned position. Bravo followed later, Cedric could be heard on the radio giving orders the best he could, but still, because his troops were basically rookies and policemen you could hear that they were having a hard time. After a couple of minutes when Lieutenant Dale gave us the order, we began to advance at full speed along the highway towards the interior of the complex, where the airport terminals were. Our vehicles were divided as indicated before. The teams that had red cards went to Terminal 7, the one that was farthest north and east. The black cards went to Terminal 4, the largest in the place and it was just to the south. I was with them because they were the ones who need more men.
When finally arrived at JFK airport and were immediately greeted with gunfire from all directions. Gunshots can be heard ricocheting off the walls of the vehicle. The gunner immediately began to respond with the vehicle''s machine gun. I was praying that no one with a rocket launcher was targeting us.
"Ok ladies, we have arrived"
"Sword team use the main entrance, the departures on the level 4" I started giving orders
"The place is quite high and open, we need to have the high ground"
"We will attract attention"
"Clubs team use the entrance in the service area in level 2"
"We will attract attention, you will flank them through the side entrance of the first floor"
"Try to be as quiet as possible to have a better chance of surprising them"
"Please don''t screw it up, we depend on you to win this and stay alive"
"They''re marking us with infrared"
"Activate the trophy system now!"
"Missile launched detected, get ready"
Everyone inside the vehicle screamed at the same time because we were at the mercy of the system being able to destroy the rocket before hitting us.
"Missile successfully intercepted"
"Gunner shoot towards the position where that thing came from now" I point out.
"Does anyone have a grenade launcher?"
"I got a small one mounted on the rifle"
"Okay, you take care of shooting on the first floor"
"Your glasses have a thermal vision right?"
"Wait a minute we can''t leave yet!"
"They are shooting us with everything!"
"As soon as we get out of the vehicle they will kill us!"
"Driver, force entry into the building"
"Don''t worry about the doors"
"Once inside, throw smoke everywhere"
"Even numbers to the left, odd numbers to the right."
"What I''m going to use is the equal ballistic shield, keep it behind if you want to live"
"Moon take care of those who come from outside, use fire if you want "
"Everyone as soon as you can disperse and look for cover!"
"OK let''s go!"
I walked to the door and summoned Avalon. Then I opened the door and immediately felt how several bullets hit the sword. It took me a bit by surprise, but it came back right after. The soldiers accompanying me did as I asked and threw smoke grenades at the sides. Tamamo also threw a pair of talismans towards the doors of the airport terminal, which made a relentless wall of fire. Everyone who saw that froze for a second.
"What the fuck are you doing!"
"Get Moving, NOW!"
Once the smoke curtains were lifted we started running to the sides of the rooms. Those who were next to me trusted what I told them and stood behind my shield. The truck kept firing from its position trying to cover us. It was a harsh welcome but we managed to survive. Already once with a place to start shooting the thing was a little easier. The resistance we found inside was moderate, mainly because the place had been prepared prior to our arrival. There were defensive lines as well as places to ambush us. As we settled, little by little, we had to divide again to better clean the place. The main rooms were without civilians but the place was full of packages and bags thrown everywhere. My plan seemed to work because after what seemed like an eternity of a couple of minutes the Clubs team caught up with us. They created heavy casualties surprised by the second group who were using silenced weapons unlike us.
"White, here Idol 1!" a voice broke my communicator, it was that of one of my daughters, but I didn''t know which one.
"I''ve managed to find where the hostages are being held"
"They''re in the gate lounges corridor on level 3"
"I have also found a group entrenched in the control tower, they have rocket launchers and snipers"
"They are a great threat to the Bravo group"
"It must be eliminated as soon as possible"
"Roger Idol 1"
"I''ll take care"
"Swords follow me we''ll try to save the hostages"
"Clubs take the control tower"
"Stryker exited the building and fired at the tower from outside, obviously stop when Clubs are about to enter"
"Beware of more RPG"
"Here Bravo team"
"We have secured several hangars"
"We are beginning to review those that are further east near the terminals"
"Here White, we have confirmed the press of heavily armed units preparing to attack the west, directly towards you Bravo."
If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it."Wait until we manage to take care of them"
"Here ace Diamond"
"The reds have managed to secure terminal 7"
"There was not much enemy presence"
"Unfortunately I can''t say the same for civilians"
"We have a lot of civilians inherited due to the battle"
"..."
"..."
"Here White"
"Leave them behind, we don''t have time right now"
"Go to Terminal 8, capture the place, and from there lend support to the Bravo team"
"I need Bravo''s help if we want to capture all the terminals before three in the afternoon"
"But miss!"
"It''s a fucking order soldier!"
"Complete it even if it is the last thing you do!"
"Roger"
Damn it, I don''t want to be the bad guy here but like I said before the mission takes precedence over the rest. We are not only against our enemies, we are also against time. We have to check many places and maintain our positions before help arrives. What a bad day I have today.
I need that Club to at least gets into combat there in the control tower or else the soldiers there will have it easy to shoot us. Where the hostages were was a straight line with windows on all sides, it was very easy to see what was happening from any other side of the terminal. Preparing to get into position when we''re ambushed by a group that came out of nowhere beside us. Sword five and six died in combat, one was killed immediately and the other from his injuries a couple of minutes later. Tamamo threw the spear at him with such force that he smashed the place where the empire''s soldiers were.
When Club gave us he indicated that they finally entered into combat, my group ran like a stampede through the long corridor of the terminal. They shot me with everything they had, but once again, thanks to my great sword, our casualties were no more. When we got to the rooms again, our group divided even more to clean the rooms. The interior of the place became hell when both we and the soldiers of the empire engaged in combat room by room, meter by meter, with the place full of people screaming and crying on the floor. You could see how some bad shots easily ended up in someone who had nothing to do with this conflict, but there was no time to stop, we had to continue whatever it took.
We had a very bad time, when we finished I had lost 3 other men.One was the ace of spades, king of spades as well as spade 8.The first was directing the assault on the room that I was not in.He was wounded in combat, sword 8 tried to rescue him but he was also wounded while carrying his captain. King was with me, when an enemy soldier threw a grenade without caring the least about the hostages, he threw himself on the grenade to stop it.His heroic action managed to save the lives of dozens of people.
We managed to take the area shortly before the Club tells us that they had also secured the control tower.They had also suffered several casualties, it seems 3 with four fighting for their life together with the doctor.On the radio, I indicated to Cedric that the threat from the control tower had been eliminated.They immediately began to move their vehicles between the runways.Our stryker also helped them eliminate several enemies that came out trying to intercept them.
Everything was going relatively well until suddenly the vehicles that carried our C-Ram batteries that protected us began to shoot into the sky. looking out the window towards the sky I saw three Dolls flying towards us. They clearly came to try to help the soldiers of the empire. Two of them were successfully intercepted, but the third managed to descend at high speed avoiding the shots. When she was level with the ground, she continued to fly about a meter above the ground and attacked a couple of trucks from the Bravo group. Our stryker managed to damage it but failed to destroy it. She took revenge on her and with her sword of light, she split the vehicle in two.
"Sword 2 and 4 go down and try to see if you can rescue those who were inside the vehicle"
"Moon with me, we have to take care of her"
"The others continue to support Bravo"
"All right"
Tamamo smashed a window and she jumped with me in her arms, since the height was quite great. The Doll, seeming to see that we would be a problem for her, decided to fly at full speed to where we were. Tamamo threw the naginata once more, but the Doll made a sudden turn at the last moment and avoided her. A purple light came out of one of his arms, it was her sword preparing to attack. I summoned Avalon, I held him tight and Tamamo put my back next to hers. The Doll''s sword didn''t hurt mine in the least. And since it seemed like her weapon was malfunctioning, the purple light was only half as long as it was before attacking. I could see the shocked look of the android on her face when I saw that. But Tamamo did not waste the moment and stepped a paper on her arm when she passed by us. A pillar of fire began to spread through the arm, but the robot did not hesitate for a second, and with her own sword she cut it. With the remaining arm, she took the sword and prepared to launch another attack. Without saying anything we got behind Avalon again. But this time Tamamo warned me not to do anything since we had already won. Believing her words, I just held the sword again to take the impact. But I did not arrive, in his place the Doll realizing that a frontal attack would not work, used my blind angle and approached from the side. And as incredible as Avalon was, it did not offer any lateral defense in case of small attacks, like the ones a Doll could give. I thought it would be my end, but then at the last possible moment, Tamamo''s naginata appeared and impaled the at-doll all the way down. Leaving her lifeless pinned to the ground.
Suddenly the sound of several propelled turbines could be heard in the air. Everyone at the airport got on high alert and started looking at the sky. But the air defenses we brought in did not fire. In almost seconds we saw a dozen C-17 Globalmasters fly over us and hundreds of parachutes began to open in the air.
It was the guys from the 82nd airborne division, who arrived earlier than planned to rescue us. Which heroically ventured alone and without an escort in the middle of enemy territory in order to help. And with his arrival, we could feel a great relief in our hearts. because we were no longer alone, the army had arrived with the warriors of profession seeking revenge. Our chance had finally come.
Ch81: Enemy Within
Enemy Within
United Nations Secretariat Building, Manhattan, New York.
March 5st
3:10 PM
***************
Adelis POV
***************
Everyone in the room was holding our breath watching the monitors that informed us in real-time what was happening at the airport. The satellite images contrasted too much with the audio that came to us on the radio. While the images only showed us small vehicles moving between the hangars and the runway in a couple of flashes of lights, the sound of people fighting, the captains giving orders, desperate cries for help. People were losing their lives right now because of the orders that we gave and yet here we were, in safety inside an underground bunker seeing everything but not being able to intervene to change the result for a more favorable one. Is this how the Gods see humans? be watching from the sky how they kill each other but doing nothing? pretending deafness to the real despair that is lived there?
My son is there too.Despite having promised not to do anything like this, it''s down there too and all I can do is watch it from above.Tamamo did not even think about abandoning him and is fighting by his side.And all I can do is watch this monitor monitoring your progress.
"The Alpha team reports that they have secured the area under their control"
"Bravo and SWAT also report that they finished checking each of the airport''s terminals"
"The 82nd is patrolling the surroundings and the runaways"
"All objectives completed"
"Confirmed, we have secured JFK airport"
"Operation Desert Jewel has been a success"
the 82nd airborne had risked enormously by not waiting for its escort planes and rushing here. They could be easily destroyed by an enemy fighter, but they decided to take the risk and the price was well worth it. Not only did they arrive early, in the conflict zone without air superiority, but they also parachuted into the middle of the battle for control of the airport to help our poorly prepared and equipped troops.
"All right"
"Give the heavy cargo planes the landing order immediately"
"Let the first ones be those that contain heavily armored vehicles like Tanks and LAVs"
"As soon as they kiss the ground I want them to run inland and protect the airport immediately"
"I want a defensive line of at least four kilometers around the airport"
"Then we will fill the place of every man and woman who can walk with a gun and prepare the recapture of our city"
"At last we have air coverage now?"
President John demonstrated his expertise in this by not getting carried away by surprise success and thinking about what to do next.
"The USS Essex is finally in range of the area of operations"
"Right now her fighters are escorting the 82nd planes"
"Due to Manhattan''s anti-aircraft system under enemy control, they can''t get too close there"
"Mr. President, I think the next thing we should do now is preparing the rescue mission to get you out of here as soon as possible."
"The chances of the Empire making it into the UN is quite high"
"With the forces that we now have, we can use the bridge to reinforce the area around the building and make a safe step to get you out of here"
"We will take you to JFK airport and send you on a highly escorted plane back to Washington" said one of the generals who accompanied us.
But despite the emotion in the room, I did not share the same opinion. There were thousands of things that were wrong and that we still did not know why our enemy did what he did. And that without leaving aside the man who tried to attack me on my way here. I don''t want to rule out all the possibilities. The only thing I can think of that the Empire could use to invade New York in record time and with total stealth is that portal machine that Cesar says exists. Again this might be a crazy theory, but I think we left the point of the reason a long time ago.
The origin of the first attacks was in the port of New York, so that must be their place of origin, they not only use it as a base, but maybe somehow they managed to install a portal there and that''s where they take their troops.If the portal is like a circular machine it would be much easier to introduce it to the country unnoticed.Divided into parts it could easily fit in a single container.We must destroy that portal as soon as possible and stop the flow of enemy troops at once.
"John, creating a rescue mission for us with the current available force will only make things worse"
"We don''t have too many soldiers and the truth is, getting you out of here will greatly reduce the troops available for battle"
"Only the escort planes that accompanied him would be able to do something more significant"
"What the heck could be more important than saving the president of the United States!"
"The lives of 20 million people locked in this hell next to us"
"If we can survive this shit, what do you think will appear in the newspapers of the world?"
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it."The fearful president John Smith leaves the most important city in the world to his mercy to save his skin"
"There will be no political campaign capable of saving something like that"
"You are insulting the president!"
"I do not intend to be known as the president who saved his skin by letting his people die!"
"It goes against everything I believe in"
"If I am going to die it will be fighting to defend my America!"
"Exactly, just imagine the publicity that we will get from this"
"The president directs the defense of his country from the front lines"
"You will have a monument next to Lincoln"
"There will be no one to face you in the elections, there is no way to beat that"
"Okay, so what do you suggest instead?"
"The docks are the key piece of the enemy attack"
"Everything originated there, the missiles, the drones, the troops"
"It is not only an enemy base, it is its most vulnerable point"
"If we can destroy it, we will cut off its supplies"
"Then it will only be a matter of time to finish them off, because no matter how good they are when there are no bullets left to shoot, they will be outmatched"
"What we have for now could be enough for the task of launching a running attack"
"We have the armored units now!"
"The rescue mission can be done later when we have more reinforcements that arrive"
"And how do you know that they are getting more units from there?"
"It is impossible to create them from nothing"
"It''s a hunch, It is because of something I was investigating before leaving Europe "I replied
"Mr. President, I advise you to send the rescue mission"
"There is no worse publicity than a president of a country captured by the enemy"
The President of the United States of America John Smith looked at the table where we were meeting, looked at everyone in the face, then at the table with the map of New York.
"We''ll send those motherfuckers to hell even if it''s the last thing we do"
"Do you see that port on the map?"
"I do not want to see it"
"Yes Mr president"
The people around us got up and will return to their computers to immediately prepare the attack on the port. I had managed to change the plan they had to one that I believed would possibly give us victory. But the more you see, one thing was to give an attack order, and the soldiers who died trying to carry it would be quite another. We will depend on them being able to achieve it, our victory will depend on them.
Suddenly the lights of the place went out by surprise. Someone in the background shouted, a lot of flashlights appeared, all the secret service agents had one.They were surrounding the president again trying to protect him. Xian, who until then was next to me, pushed me and led me to a wall, where she was in front of me trying to protect me.But just as fast as the lights went, they came back as if nothing had happened.For a second everyone thought it was just a generator failure.But then another time someone shouted again and pointed to the wall.
On one of the walls, you could see a man in his thirties. His face twisted in pain and surprise. He was still alive, but not for long. He was trying to speak, but only a gasp came out of his mouth. The man was brutally nailed to the wall by a dozen metal stakes, a form of both torture and execution. And there was only a single person capable of doing something like that, that was her bloody signature.
(What the heck was what happened!)
(Why did you do that!)
"That asshole tried to kill you when the lights went out" The demon replied
"I thought about taking it out since I had the opportunity"
"With an example like that, all those stupid men will think better of it before trying something"
(But you didn''t have to make it so flashy!)
(Now they won''t rest until they find someone!)
(Wait a minute!)
(Did he try to kill me?)
(Didn''t he approach the president?)
(He didn''t try to kill John, but instead, he attacked me?)
"Do you think I would have come out to save a man''s life?"
"I''m not one of those stupid angels who believe in saving everyone"
"If he had been the goal, I would have just been enjoying watching"
(You had nothing to do with the lights?)
"No, I didn''t do anything other than creating the new wall ornament"
Most of the people in the room continued to stare at the dying man in horror.The secret service drew their weapons but they didn''t know what to do.President John Smith stares steadily at the wall as well.Everyone in the room talks about what may have happened.And meanwhile, I know what happened but I must hide it.Well, despite the fact that this closed place is full of allies, there are also people who have a different agenda hidden among them.Among all these people there is someone who wants to kill me even above the president and I can''t even ask for help.
"It can not be possible!"
"He was next to me just now!"
"How did that happen!" I said yelling into the room
I fell to the floor feigning panic when I saw the wall that everyone was pointing at. I hoped to sow the doubt that there was a hidden traitor among all. The Secret Service men quickly took the man down and took him to another room.
"I want to know what the fuck was that!"
"You guys from there check everyone!"
"Only identified secret service agents and high-level personnel such as the president or Mrs. Adelis are allowed to carry a weapon for their defense"
"Everybody hands over their guns"
"If someone sees something suspicious report it immediately"
"I don''t want to have a gun" I answered, partly so that they would believe in me, as well as I really did not occupy because I had Lisa with me
"Mrs. Adelis, are you okay?" Xian asked me holding my hand
"I do not feel well, I have dizziness and want to vomit"
"Hold on to me, I''ll take you to the bathroom"
"Don''t worry I''ll keep you safe" Said my assistant.
With this, Xian managed to get rid of handing over his weapon as he led me to the women''s restroom.Once I was near the bathroom, I opened the door and pulled Xian by the hand to enter the toilet with me. I immediately closed the door and finished my fake performance. I picked up my phone and wrote quickly: "2 different people tried to kill me today above the president, the man on the wall too . I don''t even know who he is, don''t worry about me.You investigate who else could be".Xian looked surprised when she saw the phone, but it made no noise.She looked into her eyes for a second, seeming to ask if what she was saying was true.I shook my head saying yes.She then responded by shaking her head as well, stating that she would do what I asked with a determined look on her face.
Right now we don''t just have to organize a counterattack on the Empire. But we must also watch our backs trying to discover who it was who wanted to kill me and why. In addition to keeping President John Smith safe.
Ch82: Operation Trident Hammer
Operation Trident Hammer
New york port, Brooklyn, New york
March 5st
4:20 PM
The road to the port has been hard and difficult, After attacking the airport it was obvious that they would reinforce their positions and prepare to defend. Right now we have to fight through every street to reach the enemy base and destroy it. The progress has been quite slow and costly in our lives. Now the houses are nests for machine guns, snipers on rooftops, underground stations bunkers, and trenches. At all times we are receiving an ambush from some new direction. I never thought that I would see this city in this state in my life, especially after yesterday it was a calm and happy place, now it is the same hell that hit Europe so many times.
Right now I was inside a building just about 5 blocks from the port, I was taking a break with my team, those who survived the combat at the airport.The shots sound dangerously close, a block away, maybe someone on the street is shooting right now. Inside we were sitting anywhere and without any order, we had not stopped fighting since the day began, and when the order came to attack the port we immediately set off.We are taking advantage of a couple of minutes to regain our strength and eat something because I had not eaten all day since I woke up.Where we were, it seemed to be an apartment building, its inhabitants had been evacuated but they left everything behind, so we took advantage of it and searched the kitchens to steal food.
With these minutes of rest, some took advantage and let out their hidden emotions, others began to pray. And then there were those who like me already cared about nothing and we settled down to talk any nonsense in order to improve morale. Someone was talking about how he planned to go fishing in a lake with his son next month. Another about how he met a girl in a bar near here. In one of those, they asked me why now my skin was much redder than this morning. Well, that was because now I am an albino, so like them, I am a little weak in the light of the sun. Normally nothing happens to me, but on days like today that I have been outside almost all day, I get sunburned more easily than an ordinary person. But it is nothing serious, it is the same as when a person goes to the beach and tans, but it is nothing serious, only that can happen to me more easily. Tamamo tried to cook something using the "borrowed" kitchen room, but we ended up using a fire extinguisher.
Once the 82 had radioed us that they had managed to reach the edge of the port, so they occupied everyone for the final assault. I got up and went over the plan to give advice to the men under my command.
First of all our attack had been divided into three. The Bravo Group, now made up mainly of the 82nd, was still under Cedric''s command and would take over the Naval Yard. They were accompanied by the majority of armored vehicles, as it was the largest base, with more enemies and the place was quite open, so it was more effective for tanks. The Alpha group was divided into two, the first, the main group would break through to arrive and attack the port as soon as possible, forcing the enemy to focus on defending the base. The second, where I was, would try to assault the south and reach the tunnel that connects with Manhattan, closing the path of enemies, then it will continue upwards to assault the port. Now, the empire for its part after the first defeat has formed several defensive lines, they knew that we would come from the airport, so they knew where to put their defenses quite well. As a result, the main group of Alpha had been delayed and they were still far from the port. The superiors changed the orders and now it is the turn of the second group to start the attack on the port alone and they hope that with that the defensive line that holds the first group is weak and they can arrive as reinforcements. Basically putting my team in the center of the stage again, the one we could win would depend on the secondary team being able to do enough damage, if we lost the naval port it would remain under the control of the Empire.
"Alright girls listen to me"
"Our break is over, we have to go back to the game"
"I can assure you that fighting in the harbor is the biggest hell you could have asked for"
"Narrow corridors, different height levels, short range of vision"
"This fucking place is a fucking maze full of deadly traps"
"There are certainly a lot of booby trap advance slowly and with great care"
"Think that absolutely everything has a bomb attached"
"As soon as we arrive we have to secure any high ground"
"The harbor cranes are perfect for snipers, both for them and for us"
"Our main objective is to destroy the tunnel, cut off the transit of enemy reinforcements to Manhattan"
"After that, we will draw attention as much as we can"
"We need to pretend that we are a larger group than we really are"
"I would like you to find good places to shoot and then switch to or another quickly to continue"
"If you can use windows, shoot from all of them"
"I do not need you to kill as many as you can, what I need is to make them think that we are a lot and that they bring all the soldiers that they can to attack us"
"With this, I hope, that the main group can finally move forward and arrive at our party"
"We will leave the real work of taking the port to those slow ones"
"If they fail, well then we will have to run away"
"But we will have fulfilled our real objective of destroying the tunnel"
"Did you understand? Did anyone take notes? Come on, it''s not quantum physics, it''s easy right"
There were even more things to consider, but that they did not need to know. According to Idol, which I still don''t know which of my daughters is, the USS Essex continues to approach New York. The same aircraft carrier that I served on. It has the ability to launch amphibious attacks and deploy its soldiers for rapid operation. The people in the bunker together with my mother are arguing right now about asking them to help us or whether to wait so they can save us from some new unforeseen event. There was also the fact that this was where the missiles and Dolls came from, so it is very likely that they appear, it seems that Tama can take care of them relatively easily, but if a swarm of them attacks us, it will be the end of my soldiers. But telling them this will only make them unnecessarily more nervous. It is easier not to tell them and there we will see what we do when the time comes.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The combat in the port was just as we thought it would be. It became a horror to advance a couple of meters. The metal containers sometimes bounced the bullets, so you had to shoot very well not to hurt yourself in a stupid way. Those who accompanied me, the black cards, seeing already witnessed what my sword was capable of supporting, no longer hesitated to stand behind him to protect themselves. There was one who even claimed to me that I would always wear it or give it to him.
Thinking that maybe would cause trouble again later, I put the sword down and told him that he could take it if he wanted. He tried with all his might to lift her up, but couldn''t move her in the slightest, just as I knew would happen. That sword had been prepared to counter whatever was thrown at it. So he also had a way to counteract a robbery, as simple as that Avalon would use any means to not let himself be picked up by anyone other than his owner, that means me, It basically worked the same as Thor''s hammer. Although the sword was quite heavy even for me, it was possible to use it with great effort. That is separate from his ability to be summoned.
Returning to the battle, we felt like a great explosion occurred near us, then the 82nd demolition team reported that they had managed to destroy the entrance to the tunnel. So we continue to advance a little more to put pressure on the enemy. At one point later someone yelled that we lookup. And with that we saw how several traces could be seen in the sky, it seemed that they were missiles launched from some cruiser or destroyer, they were a lot, maybe a hundred. The anti-aircraft defense of the city was activated and began to shoot but they were too many and at least twenty managed to continue. They flew over us and not long after they exploded near us. Without even waiting for me to ask, Idol replied that those missiles were from the USS Essex carrier group, their target was the Naval Yard to lighten the advance of the Bravo group. But it seems that my mother was behind that because it seems that speaking with the twins she happened to launch as many missiles as possible to test the defenses of the city and until it limits they were effective. It seems that she plans to do something with it later, but that does not concern me for now. But seeing those missiles fly near the statue of liberty is curious, to say the least.
After that, the main Alpha group finally warned us that they managed to break the defensive line and were making their way to the port. Counting on his approval, I decided to stop pressing and try to take it a little lighter. I just planned to stay in the places we have now and just keep shooting until the other group finishes their part. But then once again came another move from the enemy, This time it was coming from the city, a group of Dolls was flying towards our position, at least a dozen. No matter how good we were fighting against them, as soon as they arrive it will be a massacre. Fearing for the lives of my men, I immediately gave the order to retreat. Tama and I were left trying to kill the ones we could in an attempt to save as many soldiers as possible.
Tama lifted me back into her arms and we got on top of one of the cranes in the harbor, hiding. As soon as the first one touched the ground, Tama threw a pair of fire talismans and her naginata. But despite this, she only managed to destroy 2 of the group. I also threw myself holding my sword and putting my feet on his blade-like I''m doing a trick with a skateboard and fell directly on another one. Avalon could also protect me from mortal falls, but only that from a height that would kill me, a fall that would not kill me if it would hurt enough because it would not do anything to alleviate the impact. But there are still nine more Dolls. Tamamo got behind me and her spear flew back to her, and without telling us anything I used Avalon as a shield again and forced my march forward, protecting us both from their attacks. My wife on her side with her spear takes the opportunity and used her spear between the gaps to attack. As we were surrounded by the containers, this technique turned out to be quite effective because they could not surround us. The first few minutes, then the damn ones spread their wings and just flew to the other side, behind us. Tamamo did what she could but there were still about 6 left. And now the situation was desperate. I was still thinking of ideas on how to get out of this one when suddenly a laser beam hit the last one that caused her to explode immediately.
Following the origin of the lightning, I could see in the sky a group of girls also with wings, but this time they were human, with those combat suits that were used to hunt down the Dolls. It was a squad of Arksuits. Two of the Dolls that were attacking us jumped and began to fly to face the new group that just appeared in the air. Taking advantage of the moment Tamamo placed talismans on two of the robots she was fighting with, she took me and jumped to the other side of Avalon with me, She kicked the last Doll that pushed her back several feet until she hit a container. Then the pillars of blue fire rose just a couple of centimeters from where we were, but Avalon protecting us as always made us not feel the infernal heat on the other side of his blade. The Doll that hit the metal box looked like it had a couple of system glitches, but without wasting the opportunity to hit her and put my pistol on, shooting at her at full blast.
We looked to the sky to see how the Arksuit squad was doing, and the truth was fatal. Two were dead on the ground, a third had been hit against the containers like the Doll from before and had broken her legs. Although there were still several left, they were struggling with difficulties against only two of the androids. Although one of them was doing much better than the rest, she had dark hair with a little blue and was wearing glasses. She alone could handle one of the Dolls, she probably could beat him, but she was leaving the rest of her squad to the mercy of the other robot. I asked Tama to help with that other Doll. She took her naginata from the ground, took a little momentum, and threw it into the sky with such precision that she managed to split the Doll that was causing trouble in two. That last thing I could have said if it weren''t for the fact that that spear made such a tight turn in the air that it almost looked like a homing missile.
They landed after that and approached me, but carefully as if they were looking at two monsters. They were impressed by the large amount that we managed to destroy in such a short time. So impressed that they actually raised their weapons against us, thinking we might be a threat. Although not very smart of you to threaten someone who just saved you and who could handle 10 of the same things that you could with effort handle one at a time. I raise my hands and told them I was with the United States Army, I even showed them my armband, some of my soldiers even came out of hiding to help me. But they didn''t want to believe me until the girl who was good at fighting from before came down, she took out her tablet and gave them the order to lower their weapons. It seemed that she was the captain of the group and he wanted to talk to us.
Ch83: The Goddess鈥檚 Gambit
The Goddess¡¯s Gambit
Rockefeller Center, Manhattan, New york
March 5st
4:40 PM
*****************
Vilhelm POV
*****************
The soldier started running towards the big table with the map. He carries crucial information that should be heard by important men, especially for Vilhelm, the general in command of the troops that the Empire had deployed in the city. A young man, short black hair, amber eyes almost red, a man in his mid-20s, his face was a young and handsome man if he were not accompanied by his perfect uniform and his sword at his waist that reflected his high rank he could easily be mistaken for a student. As soon as he heard the message he yelled in surprise, how the hell had they accomplished that? He just sent out a whole squad of Dolls, how did they get destroyed? It''s only just been a couple of minutes !?
If that is the truth, the bases in the port had no salvation, they could already be considered lost. From the beginning, from the conception of the idea of attacking this place, it was already known that his enemies would regain control of the city in a short time. But even having adjusted their plan accordingly, the Alliance was moving too fast. They had moved overwhelmingly fast and as if they had foreseen everything from the beginning it seemed they had to do to annoy the original plan. Everything they had planned in advance to ensure success had completely epically failed.
Taking their biggest threat out of the game killing her was completely impossible for them. They had managed to infiltrate some of their best agents into the meeting but she somehow managed to discover and kill them. Despite her efforts, Adelis seemed to have a guardian angel like no other. Vilhelm ironically thought that it would have been easier to kill the president of the United States, that they could have done it if they wanted to, but he had to follow the plan they had prepared for him to the letter. The next thing that was to steal the information that she might have was also impossible because somehow it was impossible to access the computers that this woman used. The Empire had currently managed to access the defense system of one of the most important cities in the most important country in the world but did not manage to decipher the password of a laptop, or even less steal it. The next point had been to kidnap his daughter, Maria, in case the first two failed to still have something to protect her with. But once again despite sending a Doll after her, the plan failed. It seemed a lie that those three separate plans, carried out at the same time, could fail, but even so, the miracle happened and everyone missed. It was even fascinating to try to discover how all of this came to fail point by point as planned.
Part of the plan was also heavily based on the speed of the initial attack and the surprise factor.Sending soldiers and equipment north of the city as quickly as possible was vital to ensuring the success of the mission.That is why so much emphasis had been placed on securing and keeping the bridges under control as quickly as possible, but when one of them was destroyed by some group the speed of the men sent decreased enormously.They even made traffic jams for their own troops to use one of the other two roads available.The same waste of time that the UN security team managed to use to dig deep into the surroundings.Advancing through the city became a titanic task since the large number of civil vehicles blocking the road and the large buildings made the area impossible to maneuver freely or with speed.As if that were not enough, they had been ambushed in the city with guerrilla tactics.Short but devastating attacks, cannons hidden in the entrances of the buildings.But the worst was the simply vulgar number of windows in the city. Because it was a paradise for snipers, it was impossible to have an idea of where there could be shooters because any place was a good place, and if they were discovered they simply had to walk a little, and again they would start again.
It was impossible, Vilhelm thought. There was no way that chance could so influence something so well thought out in advance. They had been tricked, fooled, and quite possibly bamboozled. Adelis should be behind everything again, somehow she figured it all out ahead of time and planned to pretend she fell into our clutches, just to show that they were ultimately dancing on her hands all the time. She feigned weakness when she was strong, lack of control with overwhelming leadership. She even took the liberty of risking her life to make them think they had won before their time. She had full confidence in her team, they knew what they were capable of and to what extent to take the risk. It was this unknown group that gave her the victory from the start. Surely it was a team of mercenaries that she managed to secretly get together with people outside the Alliance, this way there would be no way to get their identities.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Once again his rival had been one step ahead of him. His Goddess of War had shown once again that he had a lot to learn, which excited Vilhelm knowing that she, her idol, was still the best in her field, she still had that spark, that something that made her different from others, and that he loved. The young general''s admiration for his rival could only be compared to the level of obsession. During the entire conflict, these two have been separated by a huge distance, but in the end, they play them at the same table. The two did not know each other personally, but Vilhelm knew her on a level that he thought was intimate and personal. He was considered a genius, a formidable leader, and a warrior. A purebred military strategist, until the fateful day he first tasted defeat at her hands. She, with her simple past, daughter of some nobody, showed her humble in the most poetic way possible. In the years following the conflict, he saw a rival, someone to measure himself against, someone with whom to polish his tactics. But she like a Goddess was unattainable He had followed his evolution as a person throughout the war, He saw how at first she was cautious and reserved, afraid to stand out. But that something at some point changed her, she went from being on her guard to a wave of uncontrollable anger, a desire for revenge took and hold of her for some reason. Something happened to her during the conflict that made her lose her fears and seek redemption by ending the war as soon as possible. And that same was the reason she managed to end up in the capital of the Empire in such a short time. It was no exaggeration to say that the only reason why a genius as young as Vilhelm had accepted such a risky mission was simply to see his girl again whom he believed was destined for him and feel the emotion of life again if it was only for a few more moments.
He turned around and then he saw it, and with it, he remembered something.
That he does not have the guts to go beyond certain defeat, sticking with the original plan no longer made sense. Dying here and now they would end their hopes of being able to see her again another day. Vilhelm asked one of the other officers if they had managed to transport the portal as planned. They told him yes, that it was finishing being installed inside the main building, but that with the hurry of the situation they were unable to fully charge the battery. Knowing the seriousness of the situation, because without that machine working everyone could be considered dead, he quickly thought of a solution. The power from the city had to be diverted to the battery, The battery could handle the high amount of power and store it. The only thing that had to be done was to take the power plants for a moment to fulfill it and to ensure their means of escape.
Trying not to come out with a complete defeat alone, Vilhelm looked back at the map to see what else he could do. Which of the objectives that Fritz had calculated that they could achieve, would be the one that he could complete. Due to the delays of the initial attack, they had not yet succeeded in besieging the UN building. The men and supplies he had were more than enough to capture the building, but what they did not have now was the time to do so. He decided better to go against Fritz''s orders, but he would at least try to carry out the last part of the plan that he prepared. He decided to prepare all the details for his retreat, but he would also enlist his best men and his Dolls for one last strong attack at the end moments before leaving the city. Try to capture one of the most important leaders of the Alliance. With this, they would make their message clear, That the empire will remain united forward at any cost.
To achieve this, he would have to reserve his Dolls for the final moment, because if this mystery team was able to deal effectively with the androids, making constant use of them only reduced its possibilities.He had to save them for the opportune moment, But doing this also meant having to leave several of his men at the mercy of their enemies.Outside groups who did so bravely what they could to keep the Alliance away from their compatriots, seeking to ensure success even at the cost of their lives, would be left to their fate.But there was nothing that could be done, only to make his sacrifice, not in vain. Because for Vilhelm, nothing was more important than trying to reach his Goddess.
Ch84: Try To Grab The Big Apple
Try To Grab The Big Apple
New york port, Brooklyn, New York
March 5st
4:40 PM
In front of me, I had a girl with white and blue armor, she had an inquisitive face checking her tablet and looking towards Tama and me. It seems that she is trying to confirm that the data she had was correct, when she finished she addressed her word to us:
"Are you Elise and Tamamo?"
"Are they the ones with the Adelis team?"
It''s right? she said with a tone of authority but excited
"Correct"
"With whom I have the pleasure?" I answered
"My name is Shelby Logan, captain of the Arksuits Cyclone Squadron, callsing Cyclone one"
"We have been sent by Adelis to help you in the taking of the port in case of the appearance of more of those androids"
"She told me to be hooked on weird girls and only intervene if necessary"
"At first I undoubtedly thought she was crazy, how could I let two girls take care of that, but I must say that you have blown me away."
"You are certainly a force to be reckoned with Mrs. Tamamo"
"No doubt I already see why Adelis has chosen you as a person of confidence"
"Everyone on my team could certainly learn a lot from you!"
"Don''t you want to be the vice-captain of my team?"
"But first I would like to know how you created such a strong fire"
"If you allow me, I would like to ask you Tamamo to send your soldiers a little more to the note to secure the ground so we can talk a little more"
Wait a moment! Is it me or is she leaving me by my side?
"That doesn''t matter right now"
"I imagine you''ve been communicating with central command, do you know what''s next on the list?" I screamed for her to notice me
She stood where she was looking at me immediately and made a face of contempt when she saw me.
"May I ask what that brat is doing here?"
"get outta here before I shoot stupid girl"
"This is not a playground, go bother your mother"
"The time to play soldiers is long over"
"Mrs. Tamamo, I can''t believe you agreed to bring a little girl to a place like this!"
"Please reflect greatly on what you do and think better of your actions"
"If she bothers the wrong person, like me, I cannot ensure her safety"
"Are you finished talking?" Tamamo answered simply.
"What do you mean?"
"Tell that girl to be large! she is a hindrance to you right?"
"Wouldn''t you be better off if you''re alone and not with that girl preventing you from being able to fulfill your potential?"
Tamamo put her naginata on Shelby''s neck and there was even a slight gash from which a small amount of blood was coming out. Nobody noticed when she did that, not even me.
"You certainly have the courage to say so much shit together about her in my presence"
"You better treat her with the utmost respect if you want that head to remain attached"
"That little girl over there is the only thing keeping me from turning this stupid country into ashes if it is full of sacks meat like the stupid one in front of me"
"We agree, bitch?"
Tamamo had an extremely terrifying face, her eyes seemed to glow brightly in blue, and for some reason, she seemed to be bigger than she actually was. I''ve never really seen her this angry, I think since we met. And although I was happy that she stood up for me. I had to do something before my wife turns into a giant fox and eats her.But without a doubt, she must have had special merit to get Tama out of her mind.
"Come on, relax a little"
"Everyone can always make mistakes"
"She had no way of knowing who is important here "
"If I were in her place I would also make that mistake if I saw a girl like me"
"Don''t try to feel sorry for her"
"You don''t have to lower yourself down to the level of trash like her "
"You are nothing like her, She is exactly the kind of scum I met every day in the palace"
"Ok, okay, you already made it clear"
"Anyway we still occupy her alive"
"She continues to work under Adelis, so we are on the same team, okay"
"Can you lower your spear so she can explain what we should do now?"
"Commit a single lack of respect again and I will bury you under the sea" Tama said before withdrawing her weapon from the poor girl.
When Miss Shelby got rid of the threat her legs trembled and she fell to the ground almost crying. I had never seen Tama angry before and the truth is I have no idea what she did will have repercussions on mere mortals, but I am sure that her presence must have been several times more terrifying for her poor victim.
After a couple of minutes of waiting for the captain of the Arksuits group to recover and confirming that we had the port under our control. We searched every part of the port for anything the Empire might have left behind. Among the things they left behind were a large number of supplies that it seems they were unable to send to the front troops, as well as the missile launchers with which the day began. We also found some maintenance equipment that appeared to be from the androids, as well as what looked like a short take-off platform for them. But regarding the possible existence of the portal that the Empire could possess, I failed to find anything. After cleaning the place, all the officers gathered at a table with the map to decide what our next step was. In one of the improvised monitors, we could also communicate with the people in the bunker and with my mother.
The first thing is that we had managed to deal with the majority of the Empire''s troops deployed outside of Manhattan. In addition, the governor of New Jersey has managed to concentrate the national guard in Hoboken and they are preparing to launch an attack to the west to distract the enemy forces, which will force them to disperse. The second thing would be that the USS Essex strike teams will join us as reinforcements, so they now make up an army of considerable size. The main group along with Cedric will go to the north to help evacuate the UN building, as well as replace the troops there that have been in combat all day.
The first was the report of how the electricity was cut throughout the city, It seems that groups from the Empire took control of two of the most important power plants, resulting in an event that would change our plans a bit. This is because all the C-Rams have batteries to continue working in the event of an event like this, this was even logical that they have that. The problem was that these same stations entered lockout mode during the power failure, which means that their function parameters cannot be remotely modified. which means that without the electricity working we could not regain control of the defense system and we would have to go to each and every one of the potions in the city to have them on our side again. Which was obviously not feasible. We would have to take back the power plants first. We were still thinking about what to do when suddenly I heard a voice:
"I think I can help with that and speed up the process" It was Idol, but this time I did not hear it through the radio but from my back.
Scared I turned to look immediately and there I saw my daughters with Maria and Momo, all of them with an armband indicating that they were on the side of the Alliance. The whole group was accompanied by Cedric who seemed to come from a boxing match, as the underdog. Shelby looked scared at the twins, but before she tried anything, Tama put her naginata on her neck again, inviting her to reflect deeply on what she was thinking of doing.
"But what are you doing here!"
"It is dangerous!"
"Especially for you two!"
"Right now there are at least a dozen others that look the same as like you"
"The girl next to me even thought of attacking you!"
"If this was your idea Cedric I''m going to kill you!"
Although the clothes that the twins wore could make them pass as human, they would not fool someone like the members of the Cyclone Squadron who are used to fighting against them.
"No high wait!"
"I was the one who invited them!" But to my surprise, it was my mother who spoke.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"The what!?"
"Momo told me that she had knowledge of this strange machine and that she is used to providing military support and logistics"
"So I asked if she could come over so she could check if there were at least traces of the machine"
"The others simply decided to follow her, I sent Cedric personally to take care of them and avoid any misunderstandings"
"Regarding the machine, it is not here, but there are traces of its activation for a prolonged period in the area" The angel answered still wearing her peculiar disguise.
Everyone looked at her nervously and their faces clearly indicated what they wanted to ask. But Momo ignored them and since my mother gave witness that she knew her, no one said anything.
"All right"
"Now Idol explains your idea to others" said my mother.
"We can regain control of the city''s anti-aircraft system, but it will be a two-step process" Kazumi sat down at the table and began to explain the plan that she had created with her sister.
"The first will be to regain control of the power plants."
"The main group can go for the northernmost one on their way to rescue the UN building"
"The second is going to be much more difficult, since it is located in Manhattan, although you are relatively alone, the nature of the place makes it easy to defend"
"My idea is that White and Moon accompany the Cyclone Squadron to take this place"
"In this way, even a small group can achieve it"
"The second part will be Operation Thunderdome"
"In it, we will use all the available ships to fly over Manhattan"
"They will fly very high out of the range of the anti-aircraft machine guns"
"The planes will carry everything they can and once they reach their goal they will drop everything"
"The antiaircraft system has a target limit it can track, so throwing a lot of things into the air will create an opportunity"
"If this failure occurs we can deploy assault teams doing a HALO jump hidden among all the scrap in the air and they can land successfully"
"The mission of these ground teams is to capture and maintain the command center of the anti-aircraft system"
"Which is located on the 65th floor of the Empire State Building"
"With the system on our side, we will immediately be able to establish air superiority so that the planes and helicopters can launch a devastating attack on the Empire''s troops"
"With this, we believe we can recover the entire city by more or less 3 in the morning"
Everyone at the meeting was surprised by the plan, both how well explained by Kazumi and how crazy Thunderdome was.
"Why is the control room in the old Empire State Building?" asked one of the officers
"Precisely because of its age, the construction of the building is incredible and its durability was taken into account at all times"
"The materials and its construction process basically turn it into a huge indestructible fortress"
"This fact that almost no one knows together with its antiquity makes it a perfect place to put such a critical system" My mother replied that she seemed to be aware of this.
After the meeting, we started getting ready for the next battle of the day. Cedric set about preparing his team for the assault. Shelby did the same with her group because her outfits were more difficult to maintain. We had to attack before dark. I was still loading more ammunition when there was something that caught my attention almost immediately, setting off an alarm in me.
"Kazumi Valkyria Vindas Barboza Mora Jimenez Ambrosio Petronila Clemencia de la Sant¨ªsima Trinidad del Corazon de Jesus del Ni?ito Dios de la Cruz del Perpetuo Soccoro , (inhale air), what do you think you''re doing up there!"
"Get off there right now before something happens"
"Why do you use that too long long name, I don''t remember that we set that to be my full name?"
"Is a Latin way of saying the weight of the punishment your parents are going to give you for something you committed"
"You have no idea how much trouble you just got into"
"Problems?"
"But I was getting ready to fly dad"
"To fly!?"
"Fly where !?"
"Where the hell did you get that from !?"
"Just look at you, you''re not even wearing clothes!"
"Get out of there and dress up before!"
"They''re going to make them attack you if you keep up with it!"
"The plan to retake the southern power plant and the control center requires us to be physically in the areas"
"Momo use the pieces of the destroyed Doll and modify them to be able to attach them to me"
"With this, we can fly and maneuver, in addition to being able to use the lightsaber"
"With this, I will not be a "dead weight" in your next battle"
"THE WHAT!?"
"And who the hell came up with an idea so stupidly deeply retarded !?"
"It was mine"
"By we were arguing with our grandmother and we arrived that this is the best way to proceed"
"I myself tried to hold them back, but she was the one who insisted, they wanted to help you more" Momo appeared behind me.
"No way!"
"You even have any idea how dangerous it is out there!"
"There are people dying right now!"
"I am not going to lose anyone close to me!"
"Dad, my sisters and I were built to do things just like this!"
"I am excited to think that I will be able to do what was planned in me despite what happened!"
"It is the second time that I feel so excited and alive since I was created" Said the girl with a clear face excited.
"You may have been made for this kind of thing, but you''re still my daughter"
"You have no idea how devastated we will be if something happens to you?"
"I could never bear to lose you"
"Please reconsider!"
"If you are so afraid that something will happen to her why don''t you accompany her too?"
"You can do it right?"
"for someone like you, everything that happened today is only Thursday normal for you"
"I mean, your list of things you''ve done before is ridiculous compared to all of this"
"I''m sure that protecting them will only be an extra effort for you"
"After all, you used to protect Nanami from dragons, right?"
"How different would that be from this?"
"Momo please don''t talk anymore"
"Let''s go, dad!"
"Nothing would thrill me more than fighting alongside my father proving that I can be better than those mass-produced versions"
"My love, if the girls want to go then let them"
"After all, they also have to learn in some way or another"
"You too Tama?"
"I''m just saying that I agree that they go"
"Maybe in this way they can learn some important lesson that is not seen in the books they read"
"It is important to know your own limitations and faults in order to correct them, so this is a good opportunity for that"
"...."
"...."
"Okay, I agree"
"But don''t even think you''ll be alone for a damn second!"
"Tama you better take care of her completely!"
"I don''t want to see even a scratch on her paint"
"And do not even think that you are going to stay there, as soon as we finish this we will return to the airport immediately"
"Well that was part of the plan"
"After all, I will also accompany the team that will make the jump over New York in Operation Thunderdome"
"What that too?"
"There is no one who could overwrite the operating system as I could"
"It is easier for me to do it and for that, I will need to be in the control center"
"Fuck, anything else?"
"It is impossible for you to accompany me to the Empire State because there is no way you can get to the airport in time before the planes take off"
"I''ve heard enough, stop there"
"I''m not Batman to be everywhere when they need me"
"And alone you will not go anywhere"
"Then the plan to retake the city will be a failure"
"Millions could die if we don''t regain air control"
"Wait a second I''m thinking what I can do about it"
"...."
"...."
"Is there anything you can do Tama?"
"Even if I turn into a giant fox, it will take a long time to run through these streets full of things"
"Damn, and how do you plan to get to the airport?" I looked at my daughter for an idea
"Using the modified drone on my back I can fly quite fast, it will only take a few minutes to get there"
"Shit, if only I could fly again too"
"...."
"...."
"!!!"
"Wait for a second! That''s it!"
"If I use one of those Arksuits it could fly too!"
"Momo, can you use the two damaged armor from there to be able to make a suit for me?"
"It doesn''t have to be perfect, just functional"
"Well if I can do it, it''s not difficult at all"
"But there are many more details more important than that"
"Your body is not made to fly, you do not have the necessary physical condition"
"Your butt is literally so big that blood could accumulate in your legs and you might lose consciousness in one quick maneuver"
"Also the frontal armor does not fit your chest so the center of gravity will be unbalanced"
"The weight distribution would be wrong and if you use the main weapon maybe your arm will not resist it and it will break"
"Your foxtail is too long, it could get caught in the thruster, or catch fire if it reaches the hot air outlet"
"And that without going into details yet that you do not know how to use the armor at all"
"Minor details unimportant"
"I''m sure you''ll come up with something to fix it, after all, you were in favor of the girls accompanying me"
"Also I already know how to fly, how different could use one of those from a combat fighter?"
"OK I will do it"
"But I will also prepare the medical kit for when you return"
"Intact you will not return, that''s for sure"
With this, we got down to work to create the suit for me before the fight to prepare the final battle for the city. Momo and I prepared what we thought which parts were necessary and which parts were not worth wasting time repairing. Tama by her side was with her with the twins talking to her about what they should do. As the timer continued, the decisions of what to do and what we''re not more important. It was worth spending time repairing the main battery or better to spend it on increasing the armor. It was a good idea to use an energy weapon or better not to save energy. When time is up I think we managed to create something that would at least get me from the electric shovel to the airport in time to catch the plane from which I would return to the city.
Ch85: Energy Hell
Energy Hell
ConEson, Stuyvesant Town, Manhattan, New York
March 5st
5:40 PM
Before leaving on our crusade to retake New York City we all met one last time. In the place, there were monitors and speakers everywhere. On the screen you could see an extremely important person, the president of the United States of America, addressing his men from the bunker that was under attack. Behind him, you could see people working and my mother giving instructions to someone out of sight. Everyone regardless of their rank went to hear what he had to say:
"Good morning troops"
"I have an important announcement"
"As you already know firsthand, today the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the forces of the Empire"
"This event was clearly planned and deliberately executed by people aware of the weight of their actions"
"This morning our city would celebrate the end of a bloody era, but now it is another day that will live in infamy"
"We had not been attacked in this way since the second world war, on a day when peace was to be celebrated"
"But with this, the Empire has chosen to fight to the end, and we will show you that we will too."
"In one hour each one of you will take part in the most important mission in our history."
"The mission will result in the salvation of our city"
"A mission to destroy the vile enemy that has come to bring destruction in our own homes"
"Although we are from different origins and of different races, we have fought, suffered and died together"
"Fighting for what we believe in. Fighting for freedom"
"Today we should gather for the final battle to liberate our beautiful home and restore freedom to our people, our friends, and our families"
"Our victory will be the legacy for generations to come, Where will they say that the saddest day in the history of our country It was also where his people shone the brightest"
"Victory will be OURS! We SHALL return peace to our people! We WILL win back our freedom AND our future!"
"So go with faith that your sacrifice will be remembered"
"We will fight this battle together to return home."
"We will fight to end this war"
A passionate audience applauded and celebrated the words of their leader.Almost as if his fatigue had vanished with his words, the soldiers with their morale higher than ever today are ready for the challenge that was coming.They were excited and happy thinking that they would mark a new page in the history of the country.
For my part, I was simply away trying to finish the finishing touches on the makeshift Arksuit that Momo and I had made.Some soldiers saw me as some kind of bitter, but the truth is that all this did not matter to me.I don''t care about this country or its president, I don''t give a shit what happens to that city. After all, I wasn''t from here.Hell, I hadn''t even entered this country legally.The only reason I was here now was to get my mother out of that bunker. Because as incredible as they think of me, I''m not a superhero, I can''t face a little army alone.Not if there''s someone I don''t want someone important to me to get hurt from the heat of the battlefield.
Momo who was by my side quickly told me the important details before going into battle:
"Alright, okay, quickly"
"First of all the armor only covers vital parts, in theory, it should resist 7.62 NATO ammunition"
"But you know what happens during battles, also that''s just the armor plates without battery"
"The battery powers almost the entire armor: the shield, the weapons, the propulsion system, and the most important part locomotion"
"Your small body literally cannot support the weight of the armor despite the reduction in weight"
"Without battery, you will not be able to move, the armor will have to be removed by someone else!"
"That should be your maximum priority, not run out of the battery to be able to move!"
"The battery also powers the area shield, a one-meter sphere around you will stop anything that exceeds the speed of 40 kilometers per hour"
"Very effective but it consumes a lot of energy, only use it when you know that they will hit you for sure"
"The propulsion of the armor will make you fly at high speed, in theory, a little less than that of a combat fighter, but once again and had to limit it for your own safety, if you go at such speed you will lose consciousness in mid-flight"
"I am not a doctor but blowing up at about 600 kilometers per hour against a building is not survived by anyone"
"If you want to get to the airport before the start of the Thunderdome operation, you must save battery"
"Finally, the main weapon is the .50 caliber "The bolter" assault rifle, it uses conventional ammunition instead of energy as laser weapons do."
"This weapon is not made to be used by a normal human, the recoil is massive, only the 30-round magazine weighs 4 kilograms"
"If you use it without the armor it could even break your back"
"I''m not going to lie, this armor is a complete beast, it can do more harm to you than the Empire could"
"Just giving the specs I''m afraid of what it might do to you"
"The battery is not at maximum but it should help you to arrive time to get on the plane"
"Any questions?"
"Ok, first because I have all these limitations while Kazumi only put a backpack on her and that''s it?"
"Well, unlike you, she has no blood or internal organs that can tear due to flight, and second, her equipment was created for her body from the beginning, I literally only took a screwdriver and that was it"
" Okay, second and even more important question the foxtail won''t get stuck in the turbine, right?"
"Everything I''ve told you and you''re worried about your tail?"
"I have no idea, use tape and stick it to the leg if you care so much"
"Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?"
"In a bad idea"
When it was our turn to leave Tamamo hid and transformed into a fox so that she could be carried in the arms of her daughter while she flew. The Cyclone Squadron they were against having one of my daughters around but Adelis indicated to them personally that her mission was to protect her because after all, she is the centerpiece of this entire operation. They were taken off first, then Kazumi and I (the danger) last. I ran a couple of meters, jumped, and started the engines to try to gain good altitude so that I could quickly learn how to fly.
That has been one of my most terrifying experiences list, the list can be long and this could be in the last potion, but if is on the list, is on the list. The controls weren''t easy to use and had terrifying lag. If you wanted to change the angle, you would have to make an appointment with a reservation. It was almost like having planned in advance with almost a minute what I wanted to do to turn it in. I''m sure these armors weren''t supposed to be like this, but mine was more of a junk patch than a piece of next-generation technology. When we approach buildings we lower our height for fear of anti-aircraft machine guns The flight wasn''t long and it only took a couple of minutes, terrifying minutes. Almost the same as the time I fell into a deep pool when I still couldn''t swim.
The power plant that was from the beginning of the last century was strongly defended by an elite unit of the Empire.They had strongly secure positions, corridors with machine-gun nests, and makeshift barricades on all sides.Besides they had very good equipment, weapons, and electronics.The soldiers seemed to be the best with years of experience behind them.And yet we were sweeping the place with almost total impunity.
The Arksuits were simply too much for ordinary soldiers. The shields used by Cyclone Squadron stopped almost all of the projectiles in midair, the weapons they used so powerfully that we had to be careful not to over-penetrate the shots and damage critical parts of the building. Even though the armor was made for outdoor fighting due to its awkward size in close quarters. That didn''t matter if all we had to do was walk in a straight line and fire the gun every now and then. We looked like the equivalent of walking tanks because from a point on the enemy soldiers began to change their strategies in order to find something to stop us.
Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
And yet with all this, if I had to qualify her I would say that with all this, a soldier with an Arksuit would be the equivalent of only a level 20 white cape. And although this sounds monstrous, it still only means that they are weak. For although they were inhumanly strong, experience and imagination are also equally important skills in a warrior. More than once I saw white cloaks of the same level fall prey to a group of weak dragons that found them unaware.
While the squad was in the front fighting firsthand, Tama Kazumi and I were in the rear. We did not see combat at all because it was more a walk than combat. The Cyclone team members were even saying that the encounter was disappointing as if they weren''t nearly destroyed by a couple of Dolls before, damn useless girls. And when we finally reached the generator room was when their pride came to face them, the moment of truth arrived, and when it was time to reveal who they really were.
As soon as we opened the doors, the first thing we saw was the generators full of explosives everywhere. The soldiers, seeing that they could not win a direct confrontation, went to work to lure us into a death trap. It was for this very reason that an enemy should never be underestimated, as he will seek a way to make your greatest strength your weakness. The girls went completely crazy and began to destroy the walls trying to create a way out of the place as soon as possible.
"The whole place is a trap"
"if those explosives detonate we will not survive!"
"Everybody back out now! It is an order!" shouted Shelby
"Kazumi, if the plant explodes when will it take the 82nd to secure the north plant?" I ignore the screams of despair and the whistle of the bombs.
"They are right now in combat for the place, it will take at least one more hour to secure the place"
"That as soon as it would delay everything the retake of the city?"
"That would cause the delay of the entire operation, it could probably take us back up to 4 or 6 hours easily, possibly more"
"We don''t have that much time, the Empire could easily take advantage of that"
"The UN troops are using the last supplies , if the reinforcements do not arrive in time they will be destroyed shortly"
"There is no other choice, give me the tweezers"
"I will do it myself"
"Tama retire and protect Kazumi in case something goes wrong, okay?"
"Wait a minute, are you going to stay and deactivate them?"
"It''s stupid, it''s a suicide, the place is lost, we have to get out of here now!" shouted Shelby holding my hand.
"You just fucking shut up"
"Unlike you, I have a schedule to meet"
"If we do not achieve our mission even more people will still die"
"I''m going to do whatever it takes to win, even if I risk my life for that"
"If you don''t have the damn balls this task requires, then retire from the here now"
"I do not need people who shit with fear when things don''t go well."
"If what you are looking for is to win medals with which to increase your ego you can go to play the tutorial mode with the heroes of the 82nd, which if they are risking their lives without your stupid cheat suits" I said while I started to deactivate the first of several bombs that there were.
"Did you finish it?"
"Is the place safe?" The captain of the Arksuit team appeared through the door of the room
"Yes, that''s right, I am done, go and tell Idol to come in and start that ..."
BOOM!
A huge explosion shook the entire complex. Several columns of fire came out of several of the tubes in the walls. Fearing for the worst, I summoned Avalon and held him tight, thinking of protecting myself despite not knowing where something could come from. Both Shelby and I were shocked by what just happened. I looked around and could only see the place engulfed in flames.
"What the hell was that!"
"An explosive, surely there were some more somewhere full of gas"
"This went to hell, now we have to get out of here!"
"NO!"
"We still can''t leave, we can still do something"
"I don''t think the explosion damaged the building much, it just set everything on fire"
"The place must be full of water sprinklers, if they have not gone into action yet we will have to go to the emergency station and activate them manually"
"With them, we can put out the fire and start the place up again!"
"But what the hell are you saying, the place is on fire, smoke started flooding the place in no time"
"If you''re not going to help then don''t get in the way"
"I said I''m going to finish this and I''m going to do it!"
"You are completely crazy"
"Yes, they tell me very often"
Without waiting for her answer, I proceeded to run to look for the manual valve. Despite her complaints Cyclone 1 followed me too, it seems that her concern had more to do with me than for her own safety. We started looking for anything that could guide us to the right place, we ran without any plan following only what the emergency signs indicated. Suddenly, after crossing a door, the two of us ran into a huge group of empire soldiers, at least thirty. As soon as we saw each other, we all froze for a few seconds. It seemed that we were all looking for a way to get out of here alive. Shelby stood completely immobile without knowing what to do in this strange situation, but seeing an opportunity, I raised my weapon and jump into the battle.
I started shooting towards where there were several soldiers to try to do as much damage as possible, I activated the armor shield and I jumped from place to place trying to do as much disastrous as I could. I did not have the time or the desire to continue with this, I just wanted to finish as soon as possible. At one point my gun ran out of bullets, but since reloading it took time, I just decided to drop it and try something new instead. Summon Avalon and try to test the strength of the armor by lifting it up. To my own surprise, I could lift the huge sword with one hand, it was still heavy, but now I could swing it relatively normally. A smile appeared on my face thinking of how many times I had wanted to do just this. I jumped with a sword in hand and began to brandish the sword just as the dark cloaks taught me. A lethal horizontal blow tore five apart, a brutal blow in vertical to reposition and break, a quick twist to cover, a quick jump to lose the sight.
"Stop everyone!"
"Let''s stop for a moment!"
"Who does not see the seriousness of the danger we have in front of us!"
"Don''t you see that if we keep killing each other, none of us will get out alive!"
"Let''s leave the fight for a moment so that we can cooperate for a common good that benefits us all!"
"Fuck Off" I answered sharply
I continued my fun where I left off. Seeing for one of the few times what I was like to be on the other side, the one that gave the hard blows. By the time I''m done, there was just Shelby and me. She was still at the door, but her gaze did not stop looking at me intently. She looked like she was looking at an enemy danger, she had her gun in her hand ready to fire. It was at that moment that I realized that the enemy she was looking at with fear was me. Seeing that nothing I said was going to lower her guard, I just continued walking around the place to look for the damn valve.
After walking for a couple of minutes I managed to find it and I started to turn it around. With each turn more and more water falls from the ceiling, gradually extinguishing the fire of the place, finally ensuring the place to be able to use it. The rest of the Cyclone squad entered the building again, Tama and Kazumi followed as well. While they were guarding the perimeter, my wife and I did everything Kazumi asked us to do so we could quickly connect him to the central computer and get the place up and running again. It took us a couple of minutes but we made it. During all that time Shelby didn''t speak to me, in fact, she didn''t even come close to me after that.
With no time for anything else, my family and I took off again to make the flight back to the airport and be able to get to the plane on time, Besides my armor battery now being less than half, I couldn''t afford to do unnecessary things. The Cyclone Squadron would be left with the task of keeping the place on at all costs, as our next part of the plan depended on it. The high point of all this battle, the Operation Thunderdome.
Ch86: Beyond The Thunderdome
Beyond The Thunderdome
Midtown, Manhattan, New York
March 5st
7:00 PM
The trip back to the airport took us only a couple of minutes, but the battery cost was quite large, now I only had 20 percent of power left. Although it was only a moment, the flight, although dangerous because I still did not know how to fly with the armor, was also a moment that I could moderately rest. I am almost approaching twelve hours of continuous combat and fatigue is beginning to take its toll. My legs are killing me, my arms hurt and I can barely hold the gun, my back is not happy either with the unbalanced weight I have in my backpack.
When we got to the airport we immediately boarded one of the planes, which according to Kazumi was the one with the safest position in the formation. The faces of the soldiers to see the three young girls get on the plane were disoriented. They immediately told us to get off, and they even pushed us, but when my mother appeared again speaking and giving them orders to obey my orders, well let''s just say that they raised more doubts. Understandable in fact, as even I didn''t think they had to do that, but once again my mother quickly clarified the matter. After all the planes were full, they took off in various groups, first the fighter jets that would try to escort us, then the strategic bombers, from B-2 Spirit to the old B-52, which carried everything from smart bombs to junk car parts, everything that could fit on airplanes. Last were the troop transport planes, which were packed with 82nd airborne soldiers volunteering for a second jump.
Everyone here knows this is almost a suicide mission. Jump in the middle of enemy territory, full of anti-aircraft, soldiers, tanks, and more of those damn Dolls. The hope of getting out of this alive was low, but it was something that had to be done and they knew it. These madmen were even eager to jump in and see what their luck would be. They were soldiers ready for battle, or as they called themselves warriors on their way directly to Valhalla. I really would rather not go there yet, according to some say the place has been downgraded because is under renovations and gourmet critics have even lowered their cooks two stars.
Sounds of gunshots and explosions are beginning to be heard near the plane. We were already reaching our destination. There was little time left to jump.
The green light turn on and the moment of truth came.
Suddenly I can hear bullets ricochet off the other side of the spire and even see several lights go off behind me.The anti-aircraft were shooting at me.A man who was close to us was hit by one of these bullets, a second later I could see that two different parts came out of his body to opposite sides.Some other soldiers who jumped from a plane behind us seemed to see how my great sword could protect them from the shots, so they without saying anything formed a column behind me, everything in order to survive.
We got closer and closer to the ground, but there was still no time to open the parachutes.Then Kazumi started to mention the remaining distance to reach the ground, but it was not yet time to use the parachute.A soldier near us also began to count the time until with each second the anguish increased more and more.At one point even we were already next to the walls of the Empire State Building and there was still a little left to activate the parachute.
The entire column of men inside dispersed a bit and began to activate their parachutes.Kazumi also let go of me and activated his thruster to slow down the falling speed.And what did I do for my part?continue in a straight line without stopping at anything, the ground was already just a few meters away, there was a car right where I would fall, I just closed my eyes so as not to see.
...
When I opened them again, I was looking at the front facade of the building, below me was Avalon, a small crater, and the remains of what looked like something with tires.Once again my sword proved to be the undisputed winner, by breaking the laws of physics in which I should be dead right now.But this was only the beginning, there was still a long way to go to the finish.
The Alliance soldiers who had arrived earlier had cleaned the surrounding streets a bit but they were far from safe, the empire soldiers were also in the nearby buildings. Those of us on the ground trying to make the place safer for those who are still falling, shortly after, kazumi arrived with Tamamo and we went inside the building where we had captured the first silver to wait for the rest of the team that would help us up.
The interior of the place was impressive, the whole place had a quite peculiar design, everything was the same art deco design that existed in that mansion in Aria''s world. One by one the soldiers of my team began to arrive at the place, some have injuries, so they will have to stay here with the other wounded and medical officers. There were not many of us as most of the soldiers were securing the perimeter in a violent firefight.
Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
We are two teams, each one has a different ladder. The elevators for obvious reasons we cannot use them, so we will have to climb the stairs to the 65th floor, to the damn 65th floor. I think it goes without saying at this point, but after my body is not made for this, I was just at my limit. But we couldn''t go out there and fly to that floor, because the C-Rams can identify us and shoot us. So we would have to win floor to floor again like in Atlantis and that stupid dungeon crawler.
But for some reason, despite all that I complained about, the floors were not less. The first floors were easy as there was no enemy. But as we climbed higher and higher, fences and soldiers began to appear in blind spots. And just when climbing stairs was not fast enough, sometimes we found that in some sections the Soldiers of the Empire destroyed one of the two stairs, so we had to go to the other to climb more.
Then take me and another soldier with a ballistic shield to advance little by little to gain a little space to move.And as if our situation was not difficult, the genius had the brilliant idea of throwing smoke grenades in a closed environment like the 50th floor of a damn skyscraper.In a matter of seconds, there was so much smoke that you couldn''t see anything.just white everywhere.But that didn''t stop everyone from shooting for a damn second.We managed to survive because once again Tama threw her magic spear and began to go towards where the shots are heard on the other side of the room.By the time the smoke cleared and we could see something the place was almost under our control.But we also had several casualties among our colleagues.After securing the place we treated them, but they could not continue our climb, so they would stay behind with other soldiers to protect them.
We were climbing about 5 more floors when the worst counterattack of the Empire happened. Once again several Dolls came out of some part of the city and began to fly around the building and when they located us they started shooting from the outside to the inside the scraper. They were using high-caliber weapons so we had to take refuge in the innermost parts of the floor, from where we couldn''t shoot them. There wasn''t much they could do, it was just a matter of time before they destroyed us.
Unless I did another of the usual improvised crazy things that I think of at times like this.
The C-Rams take a second to start firing, so in theory, I could fly out of the building for that short time. If I leave and enter constantly from different parts those machines will not be able to track me and I could get rid of those stupid androids that haven''t stopped bothering all day. The problem was the battery in my suit because although I had been saving it, I only had 17% left. It was not the best state to fly carelessly.
I told everyone to wait for me on the stairs and to continue to take care of Kazumi. Then I take a deep breath and start running towards a window at the end of the hall, shooting to break the window and jump out of it. As soon as I got out and started to fall, one of the Dolls chased me and started shooting at me, not wanting to risk more, I activated a couple of thrusters and entered through another window a couple of floors below where I was. I kept running all the way down the hall and trying to do the same thing again on the other side of the building. A Doll appeared just outside the window I was about to jump through, I summoned Avalon and with one hand I threw the sword at her, splitting it in two just before I passed by.
Once back in the air this time I flew up and tried to shoot another one, but failed to hit before re-entering the building.This time I had finished a floor above my team and a place full of empire soldiers ready to fight.I couldn''t invoke my sword to protect myself because it was still falling outside.So I just had to shoot and keep running.I managed to activate the area shield before they raised their weapons, which saved my life at the last minute.As everything was a straight corridor, only with a couple of shots from my gun I manage to knock out quite a few. Since I didn''t want to be there any longer, I just jumped back through the same window that I had entered.
Another Doll flew straight at me, trying to hit me with her lightsaber but was suddenly pierced quickly by Tamamo''s Naginata, which she surely threw at some point. I started the engines and began to maneuver to attract the attention of the last five that remained, then I saw how a barrage of shots came towards me from another building, it was the anti-aircraft turret trying to shoot me down. I went back to another floor, this time I didn''t know what it was, but two of the Dolls started shooting into the building hoping to hit me. I kept running non-stop through the rest of the floor until it was completely turned around, pieces of debris began to come out from all sides, after several attempts Avalon finally appeared at my call and used it to cover me from the shots at my side. I fired my gun and they managed to destroy the head of one.
I jumped up again and went down another couple of floors, but this time I stayed close by the window through which I had entered.Then when the next Doll approached to shoot me down the hall, I took out my gun and made a contact shot.I took Avalon and I jumped out the window again, I turned around and used my sword once more to protect myself from the shots of the other three that were left, I fired my gun but I ran out of bullets.Improvising, take the great sword, use the thrusters to make a turn, and with the momentum throw the huge object towards one of them, managing to destroy it.I go back to the building, without stopping for a moment I ran out the empty magazine and put my hand in the ammunition compartment, the armor reached the next magazine in my hand and I started to put it in its place in the weapon, all while I kept runningfor my life from the shots.
One more jump and this time the direction was up. I walked into one of the floors before the defense system fired on me again. But this time the Dolls did enter the interior following me. I ran and threw the only grenade I had with me. As soon as the explosion was over, I turned around and started shooting to try to finish them off. But one Doll out of the smoke with hardly any damage. I stepped back one more time and went through one of the doors, which to my confusion seemed like I had seen it before. What a surprise that he took me when I opened it and saw several soldiers of the Alliance pointing at me because it turned out that I was back in the restaurant on the 50th floor. I immediately told them to shoot into the hallway, and without even wondering why they did it. And with everyone''s help, we managed to dismantle the last of the remaining Dolls.
As soon as I confirmed that I was safe for now, I collapsed on the ground due to my exhaustion. I took a couple of minutes and a whole bottle of water before heading back to where the rest of the team was waiting for me. It seems that at that moment I looked so bad that even one of the field doctors came to me to check my condition, but said that outside of fatigue I was fine. When I returned with Tama and Kazumi they were on the 64th floor. But thank god no major inconveniences occurred.
We broke down the door to the Control Room and killed the last soldiers of the Empire who barricaded themselves there. Without wasting time, my daughter went straight to the central computer and began to overwrite the system so that it would be under Alliance control one more time. Thinking that my work was finally over, I threw myself on the ground to rest. But once again the problems did not want to end there. Kazumi suddenly got scared and gave me the news immediately, the Empire had managed to enter the UN building.
I immediately gave the order to Tamamo that she stay and protect Kazumi.Right after I ran to the window and jumped in the direction of the place to save my mother.I looked at my wrist to see how much battery was left, there was only 7% left, it was not enough to fly.So I turn off the main thrust and only use the direction thrusters, to use them as small turbos to win imposed with which to jump between the buildings of the city or parkour as some like to call it. I had to get there as soon as possible, I couldn''t leave anything to chance.
Ch87: Push It To The Limit
Push It To The Limit
United Nations Secretariat Building, Manhattan, New York.
March 5st
10:20 PM
***************
Adelis POV
***************
I was walking as fast as I could. A long corridor, then to the right, a little further ahead were the bathrooms, I knock on the door with a little rhythm, the person on the other side unlocks the lock, I quickly look around that no one else is around and I enter as soon as possible to close the door. Inside the women''s bathroom was Xian with a dagger in her hands, next to her a quite muscular man was tied to a chair, he was quite injured, his clothes stained with his own blood.The young girl ran the knife lightly across the man''s face, making a new wound.
"That man deserves it!" the demon spoke.
"I like what she''s doing, she has the spirit"
"I like her, I wouldn''t mind sharing my husband with her"
"She has a really good body that Cesar would have like to have in his collection"
"Quick! force her to be part of the Harem!"
"Lisa shut up!"
"Lisa?"
"Who is Lisa?" Xian asked.
"Forget it, today I''ve been saying so many names that I''m getting confused when I speak"
"You the idiot over there!"
"You know what I want to know, talk now!"
"Fuck you!"
As soon as Xian heard his reply, she kicked the chair where the man was, causing him to fall to the ground. She got on top of him and thick to punch his face repeatedly. She later raised him back to the chair and hit him again with the dagger.
"None of us three want to be in this the rest of the night"
"Speak now!"
"Bitch" said the man while spitting on me.
While I was still processing what just happened. Lisa''s upper torso came out of hiding, a metal stake in each hand and she drove them into the man''s knees. On her face, you could see her demon nature smiling at the ways she was going to continue torturing the man to death. I couldn''t afford to lose him, I needed to get something out of him, so I took the girl by the arms to stop her before it was too late.
"Stop, I still need him alive!"
"Fuck"
"Ok, I''ll leave it to you for now, but if he does something again I''ll drag him down here" Lisa threatened the man as her figure deformed horribly and laughed as she stepped back into my shadow.
Of all the times she has done that she has never done it in such a threatening and horrible way as now. It was clear that she had done it with the intention of terrorizing the man.
"What the hell was that thing!" The man had thrown himself back trying to get away from me as he spoke.
But he was not the only one, Xian had seen everything too, and like him, she was surprised and scared too. She was by the sinks with her dagger in front of her trying to protect herself from Lisa.
"What you just saw is your future if you don''t give me a damn answer!" Seeing that he was on the verge of collapse from the scare that took me, I took advantage of the situation.
"Boss was what just happened!"
"Didn''t you see what came out right below you?"
"That was not human!"
"My family has experience in taking care of them for generations, I could tell my grandmother to reserve a day for..."
"The one I need to speak to is him, you shut up"
"Did she just casually mention that her family has experience hunting monsters?"
"She might be of more help than I thought!"
"We need her to end up married along with "Darling" too"
"And you also shut up, you already have me annoyed too!" I shouted to the ground.
"I''m sorry"
"Okay, it''s true that they paid me a lot in exchange for hurting you."
"The pay was pretty good and you didn''t seem like an important person compared to President John"
"I thought it would be easy money, but all the money in the world is useless if things like that exist"
"They are also supposed to pay me an extra bonus if I managed to give information or open the vault but the system is too complex"
"The president, what plans did you have for him !?"
"I swear that he was not in our plans, nobody had the courage to be the number one enemy of a country like the United States!"
"What is the use of having all the money in the world if you are not going to be calm for the rest of your life?"
"The orders, who gave them !?"
"He mentioned that he was an acquaintance of yours, a certain Wilhelm, Vilhelm, Williem or something like that"
"This man got too talkative after meeting me, I wonder why it will be"
"I''m sure no one can resist my beauty like the rest of those damn men"
"Can I finish killing him?"
"Who else is working with you!"
"How many of you are left?"
"Do not know"
"I thought he was the only one"
"Surely they did not tell me so that I would not compromise the mission"
"I don''t believe it"
"It''s the truth!"
"I swear, I don''t know anything else!"
"Xian, you take care of the rest, I don''t have time for this"
"Don''t make me come back because next time I''m not going to stop her"
Xian who at all times was in the corner of the room came out and got close to the man again.But this time she didn''t look like a professional assassin trying to get information out of her enemy, she was as scared as he was, they both seemed quite confused.But I really had no time to waste, there was too much to do to be questioning an idiot who knows nothing.
I returned as fast as I could to the crisis room to continue monitoring progress at the Empire State Building. It had been hours since the Thunderdome operation began, but the great number of casualties and great enemy resistance in the place has made that gained ground in the skyscraper is a real pain. It is incredible to see how brave the soldiers have been and how brutal their efforts have been in order to fulfill their mission. I got back to my station and turned the monitor back on.
"What floor are they on now?"
"Dad and the others are right now going up to the 51st floor" Charlotte, my granddaughter answered me on the other side of the monitor.
Next to her were also my daughter Maria and Momo wearing her very peculiar costume. All of them were from the safety of the base created in the port of the city, behind them you could see a lot of soldiers going in all directions
"Is there any other information regarding the portal?"
"Does it really exist and is it under the hands of the Empire?"
"Well leaving out whether they have it or not, the most difficult part of a portal is the high energy consumption necessary for it to work, because it''s something so high that humans wouldn''t normally be able to allow it" Momo replied.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
"Hell this could be bad"
"Remember the blackout in the city went in the afternoon"
"New York has three different power plants to supply the city"
"And all three power plants have been under enemy control at some point" I mentioned.
"Even if they had all three power plants they still need at least a full year to have the level of energy needed just to start it up"
"As I said, that''s something that humans couldn''t afford because of its cost of turning it on"
"If it need for so much energy, how are you able to use it normally for the day-to-day?"
"Well there are different ways to achieve it, the first would be that our technology is the most advanced that exists, so for the angels not at all difficult to achieve"
"There are also hundreds of materials that humans have not discovered that could produce or store the necessary energy"
"In addition, our portals can even work with magic, it consumes a lot and is not available to anyone, but for example, it was Tamamo who gave enough energy to the portal through which she and Cesar returned to earth"
"It only took her to touch a crystal for thirty seconds to make it work for two days"
"But well, Tamamo is Tamamo"
"Okay, and how is it that you can tell that a portal was activated even when it is no longer there?" I asked
"It does not matter the way the portal was activated, even if it was using technology to use it, it always leaves a very unique magical trace"
"It is something that a specialized magic-user might find if he knows what to look for in a small place"
"But this information is something that only angels who work as technicians know"
"The Alliance has no way of doing this, but it is very likely that the Empire does not know about this either"
But even if the Empire is not aware of this it is not a method we can use to find out where it might be.All those that can use Magic that I know are not available.Tamamo is protecting Kazumi, Momo can''t fight and Cesar will kill me if I put her in danger, and Lisa is literally below preventing someone else from trying to kill me.
"Charlotte, could you maybe try to find it?"
"I''m sorry but I don''t know magic, I don''t know what to look for, to begin with"
"Nor can I search for cameras in the city because civil communications are blocked"
"Also the satellite images do not show anything strange like the portal that Mom Momo describes"
"Well it''s normal, if I had one of those I would try to put it in a sheltered place indoors to avoid that"
"The problem is that this city has too many interiors"
"Could be almost anywhere"
"If the empire used a battery capable of using the portal, it was most likely relatively discharged from the initial attack"
"And although they will use the power plants to charge it, they still need the necessary infrastructure to handle so much energy" mention the angel
"I don''t think there are many cables in the city capable of withstanding so much without creating a massive short circuit"
"The fact that it didn''t happen means they thought about it too"
"Charlotte starts looking for places with the information that Momo mentioned"
"If you are looking for places where a lot of energy can travel then you should look for subway stations where there are many big buildings on top"
"The subway needs a lot of electricity to run, and skyscrapers too"
"Mr. President!"
"Since when have you been there !?"
"You do not need to help us, surely you have more important things right now!"
"Not much really, just that you are looking for something important from the Empire"
"I just wanted to see why of all the people in this place because it seems that the only one who knows for sure what is happening is you?"
"John you know that I have been dedicated to this for a long time"
"Well yes, but I have been seeing everything you have been doing today and everything has been trying to help your small group"
"But at least it seems that your group has helped a lot in all this shit"
"I just wanted to help too"
"My grandfather worked at a New York Subway relay station when he was young"
"At the beginning, the subway system needed a lot of energy that had to be distributed throughout the city"
"So a lot of these relays were hidden in plain sight"
"But these stations were from the beginning of the last century, they were dangerous and was easy to die by electrocution, so they were replaced by better things"
"Even so, not all were changed, some were just forgotten in old buildings "
"As these machines are mechanical, it is impossible for a computer to notice the passage of electricity through them"
"If so with those parameters, the best place could be Rockefeller Center"
"The complex of 19 buildings has a fairly important subway station below, in addition to the plans of 30 Rockefeller Plaza this relay appears in a part of its basement"
"It is the ideal place, in addition to its high amount of enemy presence right now"
The alarms went off suddenly, the emergency lights began to shine as well. Everyone gets up from their desks and starts grabbing all the weapons they can find.
"What the hell is going on and why isn''t dead yet?"
"Another group of androids have flown to this place, right now the soldiers above are fighting with them"
"The fight does not seem to be going well for us Mr. President"
"Okay gentlemen, today is a good day to die"
"Everybody grab something that''s capable of doing pew pew pew and look to that door"
"Anyone who does not know how to use a weapon has two minutes to learn how to use it"
"Whoever gets the most POWs I''ll let him sit in my chair in the oval office for a whole day"
"I want that actor who won the Oscar last year to be the one to play me in this part"
"You the over there, take a photo, I want to see it on the front page of the newspapers tomorrow"
Xian came running from the toilets with a big gun and two bulletproof vests, one for her and the other for me. Suddenly the entrance to the vault began to be hammered, making everything inside nervous. People dumped chairs and tables trying to create makeshift covers, others set up some explosive traps quickly around the place. The secret service made a great human shield in order to protect its boss. On the other side, the Dolls began to hit the Bunker more and more. Then you could hear a huge drill piercing the security door.
(Lisa, something tells me that you really don''t like being around a man)
(But please I need you to listen to me for a second)
(I know that you are capable of fighting Dolls without much trouble.)
(So I need that if something bad happens you also try to save the president)
(Please, I need him alive)
"That''s too stupid, but it''s alright I''ll try"
"But if that bastard gets to me, I''ll pin him to the wall"
(Do you really intend to harm the most important person on the planet?)
"What! You are crazy?"
"I would never hurt "darling"
"That you haven''t realized that I love him?"
"But that bastard over there if he dies, he dies"
A horrible creaking was heard all over the place. Then you could see how the tip of the drill came out on our side. And with that later the door began to open slowly. What a horror, there was not one, not two, not six, there were more, a lot more than that. There was no way out.
"Fuck them boys!" Scream the president of the United States John Smith.
They all started shooting at the same time at the great threat. A great hail of bullets floods the hall. But the shots did almost no harm to them. As if it were a horror movie, they began to walk slowly with patience, because they did not seem to care that we threw them, it would not be enough to end them.When they launched their attack there was nothing we could do.Several fell only with the first shot of their weapons.There was no way to beat all of them.
Xian took me by the arm and led me to the end of a corridor behind us, where were the women''s restroom. The secret service also take the president to the same place, but most died trying to buy some time. When the Dolls reached where we were, Xian tried to attack them with her dagger. But surprisingly Lisa came out of my shadow completely, took her by the arm, and threw her behind me. From a dark space, she took out an old Flintlock pistol, put it next to one of the robots, and fired. The next second her head was no longer there, the demon took out another and repeated the process, two shots, two dead. She dropped them to the ground and from somewhere she took out a third, another try, another head disappeared with her weapon. But when she was going for her fourth, several Dolls grabbed her arm, but that didn''t stop her. I take out of the ground that strange weapon that she uses and with her free arm she attacked them. Those robots had no chance against her, but it seems that that was not what they were looking for . The Dolls were just trying to block us from the hallway and with that I understood that they were what they really wanted.
"Lisa the President!"
"Don''t let them take him away!"
"Right now I''m busy keeping you alive! You do not see it!"
The bodyguards fought valiantly, but there was nothing they could do against them. Lisa didn''t let any of them manage to attack us. And I could only see how they took the president in front of me without being able to do anything. They took him out of the vault, by the time reinforcements arrived a couple of minutes later the androids were not in the building. We were treated in the lobby of the building.
Among them came my son, her face could be seen in panic, his eyes were the red color he had had all day. Her body was all dirty, full of dirt, sweat, and blood, he was wearing a fairly modified armor, or rather improvised arranged. The fatigue in her body was very evident, her breathing was heavy and she did not hold her weapons with the professionalism that characterized him, but he looked like a survivor, like the kind of warrior who escaped the subway full of dragons. And even so, I needed him to do one last effort on his part, because he was the only one right now that I could think of that could save the president right now.
"The President! Rescue him!"
"They took him!"
"They''re heading to Rockefeller Center"
"The portal is there, if they get it there we will lose it" I said scared
He looked me in the face, saw the watch on his wrist, and made a disgusted face. Something was not going right in his plans. But with her head, he nodded.
"You don''t move from here!"
"Lisa continues to protect Adelis!"
"Someone quick pass me a motorcycle!"
A soldier listened to my son, started one of the motorcycles that had been in the parking lot, and put it near the entrance, towards where Cesar was running. He jumped up and got into the car, and he put so much power to the gas that he did a wheelie before speeding through the streets of New York. Now everything depended on him and his skill.
Ch88: The City that Never Sleeps
The City that Never Sleeps
Rockefeller Center, Manhattan, New York
March 6st
12:00 AM
Racing my motorcycle through the city, I go through the center of the street, as fast as I can. I look at my wrist, the battery only has 2% left, I will never make it. With one hand I reach for one of the locks of the backpack with the thrusters, despite the fact that the ammunition compartment is in it I need to get rid of it to save battery. A group of soldiers comes out of one of the buildings, I reach for my gun and start to shoot, I don''t think I even hit anyone, but I made them move away, I accelerate the motorcycle, even more, to leave them behind as soon as possible. It seems that somehow the Empire did manage to enter the bunker in the UN building, despite the fact that my mother was assaulted, a group of Dolls managed to kidnap the president, mom asked me to rescue him because it seems that I am the only one capable of doing it around. Although I don''t want to do it, I''d better do it because I don''t want to be listening to her complain about why I didn''t rescue him the entire flight back to Japan.
A stupid enemy tank appeared in an interception two blocks from my destination, but its turret was not looking in my direction so I managed to maneuver to pass behind it without being noticed. I was doing the building, several soldiers come out of all places to shoot me, I put away my rifle to use it when necessary, a little ahead of me my great sword appeared, with my free hand I hold it on my back to protect myself from the shots. Due to the abruptness of the situation and the need to act quickly, the truth is that I don''t have a plan. Just get in, shoot, search, and get out shooting more, the perfect recipe for something to go wrong.
I get to the stairs that lead to the lobby of the building, I do not stop the motorcycle at all, and with the impulse, I throw it to destroy the entrance. I can barely see the inside and immediately I saw a group of soldiers waiting for me, I grabbed Avalon with both hands, turned, and threw it inside, it was a devastating attack to see 6 soldiers cut in half because of that. I pick up one of the weapons on the ground, a shotgun, because of its weight it seems to be loaded. Without seeing the corridor or that there was there I shot blindly from a cover, I could hear shortly after someone screaming, just in case he did it again, another continuous scream where the other left him. After seeing that the place was free, I picked up a bag with shotgun shells from one of someone''s remains, reloaded the shotgun until I no longer accepted myself, and started walking down the hall. Suddenly my ears catch something, behind a door, someone reloaded his weapon, immediately I brought mine to the door and fired. The attack was so powerful that it created a huge hole in the wooden door, from which I could see the soldier falling backward, but it seemed that his vest had protected him, so I hit it again to finish it off. On another watch I heard someone walk running towards my position, I picked up a chair and threw it down the hall where I was listening. As soon as he came out, the flying object received it, distracting enough for me to shoot it a couple of times.
I kept running down the corridor that that soldier had left, reloading the shotgun as fast as I could again, several shells dropped but I didn''t have time to pick them up. I came across a T-cross, I approached the end of the wall to look in one of the directions, it is clear, but on a pillar that was bright enough, I could see the reflection of how one group created a barrel to the other side. I pull out Avalon again, use it as a one-handed shield, and start running with it. As I do the barricade I started to shoot, pumping the shotgun with one hand very difficult and I did not get the trick, so I better throw the gun to one of the soldiers. I took out my pistol, from proto I received a couple of hits on my back, I shot at the front and threw myself to turn around and shoot the one from behind. I quickly check if I was injured somewhere but it seems that the armor managed to save me, I picked up the shotgun and continued running.
"Doubting is dying "
I go to the entrance that seemed to be the access to the basement. A soldier suddenly comes out of a door to shoot crazy, scaring me, I shoot a couple of times but either I can''t hit him or his vest saved him, I had to resort to my gun one more time. I managed to hit him, but again, despite the impacts, I had not managed to kill him for his vest. While he was still stunned I ran and shoved a knife to his throat. I hear footsteps, someone came running through the door next to him. I put a single shell in the shotgun and shot the door making another huge hole. Through it I can see the soldier shaken by the pain, I reach out my arm and manage to grab his head, I drag his head out of the hole, and taking my shotgun as a bat I hit him several times until I kill him. I opened the door and took a couple of grenades that he brought, it seems that from here I can reach the maintenance area, If the Empire has a portal it should be there. I almost tripped down the stairs a couple of times. I hear several screams and footsteps, soldiers are climbing them, I take a couple of grandas and tie them tightly to the front, they bounce off the wall and keep going down, arriving by surprise next to them when they explode. The shaking makes me fall but it doesn''t matter, I get up and keep running.
A beep comes from my wrist, only 1 of battery.
"Fuck"
"I already knew I screwed up, but damn it."
I ran like a madman, I no longer had time for anything or consider anything, I just had to leave the place as soon as possible with that guy. A couple of men came out of a corridor, shoot as fast as I could, I covered with a wall, they keep shooting. I jumped up and held onto a pipe on the ceiling since they would normally expect to find me at ground level, but from up here I came out and finished killing those who were left. I keep running, my fatigue is at the limit, my body cannot give more of itself, I have muscle pain all over the place and still, I can''t even think of stopping, my steps are clumsy and slow, I find it hard to even breathe if I had done this in the morning maybe already it would have ended long ago, I lied to myself.
I managed to find a large room where I could see several soldiers behind improvised barrels, with them was the president and next to him a young man pointing his head with a gun. The bastard seemed to be my age, well what I should be in reality, His uniform clearly reflected his rank, he was the one in command.
"Bleiben Sie, wo Sie sind, und ich werde Ihren dummen Pr?sidenten nicht t?ten"
"Aufgeben! Sie wissen, dass Sie uns nicht schlagen k?nnen! Wir sind viel mehr als Sie!"
(Stay where you are and I won''t kill your stupid president.)
(Surrender! You know you can''t beat us! We are many more than you!) shouted the general in german, probably thinking that I would not understand him.
"geh Schei?e essen, du Arschloch Fotze!" I kindly answered him.
(go eat shit, you bastard motherfucker!)
"Hurentochter Schlampe!" He responded by preparing to shoot.
(Daughter a bitch)
I threw a grenade right where the group was standing, obviously, I wasn''t going to risk killing the president myself, so I summoned Avalon alongside him to protect him.
"Schei?e, Granate" a soldier yelled letting others know.
(shit, grenade)
They all jumped but the grenade hit most of them.Immediately charged against them and began shooting at the survivors.But wait a minute, where is the one in the different uniform?A shot hit me in the shoulder, thanks to the armor it bounced.I ran after my sword next to the president and reloaded my pistol.
"Ich kann es nicht glauben, also existierst du wirklich"
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings."Du bist nicht nur eine Legende, die Soldaten geschaffen haben"
"Du bist ein echter, wei?er D?mon"
"Das erkl?rt, warum das alles schief gelaufen ist!"
"Sie haben mit ihr gearbeitet!"
(I can''t believe it so you really exist )
(You are not just a legend that the soldiers made)
(You are real, White Demon)
(This explains why all this has gone wrong!)
(You were working with her!)
But I just responded by firing the whole damn clip at one of them. He did the same afterward. Taking advantage of his moment to reload and throw a grenade to where he was, he took refuge throwing himself into a corridor near where he was. I immediately took the arm of the president and pulled it to indicate that I even immediately. He looked at my shoulder for a moment and noticed the flag of the United States on my shoulder, which seemed to be enough for him and he followed me. I took my sword and protected his retreat.
"What the hell are you saying, what a stupid idiom is that?"
"Why are you fighting?" Said the man next to me.
"Calm down!"
"Adelis sent me, I''ve come to get you out of here"
"Do you know how to use a gun?"
"Girl, I got six tours in Afghanistan"
"This is not my first rodeo "
"Also please tell me they don''t have nuclear football"
"I destroyed it out of fear that that would happen while I was in the bunker"
"That''s enough, have this, I give it to you" I gave him a rifle from one of the dead in the hall
"I have little time and I have nothing planned so we will do the next thing."
"We run, we shoot and we hide"
"Questions?"
"No, I like the plan, I did it regularly in my days."
"Excellent"
We kept running down the corridor, back up, but we didn''t run into any more soldiers. It seemed strange to me, but then I noticed why. Crossing the T-connector to go to the main hallway at the entrance was another group of Dolls, the time could not be worse. They pounced on me to try to stop and recapture my companion, but I was not going to let them. I pushed him back, and I threw my last grenade. After the explosion, I got out of there and fired with the big gun I was keeping. I only managed to destroy two with all that but I did not have time for more. I grabbed the president and with my sword, I ran towards the lobby of the building. The bike was still there, I tried to pick it up but someone shot me from somewhere, it didn''t hit me, but it passed close to me. The president used his rifle and started shooting more or less where the shot came from. Without stopping we ran from there to the street trying to get as far away as we could.
Just when we went to another block, what I dreaded so much happened. One beep and the next moment I felt my body drop weight so absurd that my feet could not support it and I fell immediately. Momo was right, it''s impossible to move with this thing off. I have to do something immediately or they will catch up with us shortly.
"Girl what happened !?"
"Need help!?"
"Take off my armor, I can''t move"
"Move the red locks up fast!"
"Working on it"
But as soon as he said that, from the ground, I could see how one Dolls that I did not finish destroying flew out and found us. She was coming straight to where we were. Damn what a terrible time. We are finished if I don''t do something NOW !!
"Remove the one from the right arm first"
"Do it now, god damn it!"
"Ready now!"
" HAAAAA!!"
I fired my gun as soon as I let go of my hand, but the recoil was brutal. I only fired like twice before the gun flew out of my hand. By sheer luck, I managed to hit her in the head and she ended up crashing against a wall, but the price was high. The pain was unbearable, it was horrible, it was hard for me to breathe again, whatever happened to my arm I can give it up for lost. I couldn''t even move to see how I was hurt.
"Good shot"
"Hold on there I help you!"
"Fuck, you weigh a lot!"
"Just drag me into the alley and finish taking off my armor!"
"It is not so easy!"
"Da ist es! Schnell Verst?rkung anfordern!"
(There it is! Quick call for reinforcements!)
"Fuck you! in your language!" The president stopped dragging me and started shooting at the soldier who appeared
Fearing for my life because I couldn''t see what was happening around me, I summoned Avalon in the direction I thought the shots were coming from. The president took advantage of that and also looked for cover behind him, reloaded the gun, and fired again.
"Okay, clear!"
"Nice trick, very convenient"
"how do you do that?" The president started pulling me again.
"Having a lousy streak of bad luck"
"So I''m close to having mine today!"
"I want it to be blue!"
"You know something funnier"
"When I was young I never imagined having to rescue the president of the United States."
"Well, when I was a child and I clearly knew that I would be the president, I never imagined that a girl in costume would rescue me."
"we''re on the same level"
Finally, when he finished taking me to a "safe" place, or what is the same, where they cannot kill us immediately as soon as they see us. He put my back against the wall and immediately went to work to remove my armor as fast as he could. It was not an easy task, in fact, this was one of the points in which the Arksuits had to improve the most because for fear that it would disarm in mid-flight it had too many secure joints.
"I''m almost done, hold on a little longer"
"My arm, how is my arm?"
"Calm down, the arm is still attached to you!"
"How bad is it?"
"About ten weeks probably"
"Shit, it''s the arm that I write with"
"I have to go back to school next month"
"Fuck girl relax"
"One step at a time, take it easy"
"Believe me I''ve tried"
"Ok done, that was the last one!"
"Now what?"
I put my good hand on my chest and pushed I managed to remove the armor, the rest fell on their own accord. I took my belt and turned it so that now the gun was close to my left arm. Take the gun, press the button to release the magazine, with the gun open I put it back in its holster, take a new magazine, put it in the gun, and take it again, use the slide lock, ready to fire again.
"How long have you been in this?"
"A little girl shouldn''t know how to reload a gun with just one hand"
"Everything is good at home?"
"More or less"
"We are improving little by little"
"Sie sind dort! Lass sie nicht entkommen!"
(They are there! Do not let them escape!)
A group of soldiers appeared entering the alley. We went out and started shooting, but even if we took them by surprise they would be too much, easily a full squad. I ran out of ammunition and I don''t think Jhon was capable of taking care of them alone. The situation was so bad that he was really thinking of doing one more crazy thing in order to get out alive. But just in the last second a helicopter appeared flying and the soldiers of the empire began to shoot them, those who did not die ran away looking for refuge. The helicopter immediately landed in the middle of the street and when the door was opened, several Alliance soldiers came out, as soon as they saw us they picked us up and got into the vehicle to get out of there quickly. It turns out that Charlotte never lost sight of me and as soon as I went out to the street, she saw through the satellite that I had the president with me, so my mother got approval to send the helicopter on an almost impossible mission to rescue us. Even though they shot us a bit, we managed to get out of there without any casualties. Quite a damn achievement to close this horrible day. As soon as the helicopter touched down, the doctors treated me, not long after, my family also arrived to see my condition. But as soon as I confirmed that all of them were well, I fell unconscious from my horrible fatigue.
Ch89: Gold Digger
Gold Digger
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
March 9
When I realized where I was I was on the plane back to Japan. It seems that just in case the safest thing was that we returned as soon as possible to avoid extra problems such as having to explain where I came from. From our group, only Cedric stayed to receive his new set of medals that he won on that stupid day. The hero of the story, like his brave actions, managed to save the city and the president in an almost miraculous way. But the price that was paid that day was quite high: Almost 14 thousand citizens were dead or missing, it could be more or less because it is still not known clearly. The military casualties have not yet been revealed but the truth is I don''t think it is very high because we were too few, to begin with. However, the damage to the city is very high, with several hundred families losing their homes, and then there are the things that ordinary people are not interested in but are very important. The plan to reduce the measures imposed against the Balkan Empire by the war had vanished, work wasted, no one in their right mind would help a people so determined to continue with this despite the fact that they have already lost.
But what most worries all the politicians and leaders of the Alliance at this moment are to know where the hell the Empire got the troops to carry out this attack and how it was that they entered the United States without anyone noticing. The assault was big, too big, it was impossible to hide something like that in front of everyone. And that is precisely what terrifies everyone, that there is no way at the moment to know that they are safe and they will not be the next. Although we know that the Empire has access to a Portal and that they used it at the dock to bring their troops in unexpectedly, we still did not know the whole story behind it. If right now all the member countries of the Balkan empire are under the control of the Alliance troops, where the hell did they get the force to carry out that attack? To what place was that portal connected? Where did these troops originally come from and where did they return to when they fled?
Everyone has these questions in their head, and my mother is the victim of circumstances right now. Her cell phone and that of the house have not stopped ringing since we returned. Everyone wants to know everything that is known about the attack and how my mother led the troops personally during the battle, besides the fact that many important people know her, they make her the perfect person to ask for valuable information. As if that were not enough, she is not wasting time to also earn favors that she can collect later, so she has my two daughters helping her at this time. If it were not because I know my mother is flesh and blood, I would say that she is almost the third member of the group, now they are almost inseparable and somehow she manages to know how to work with both of them at the same time. In the meantime, I can''t watch the television news without spilling a glass. Even though I was able to rescue the president safely, I broke my arm using the 50 caliber weapon without the Arksuit. A grown man would be able to use the gun with difficulty but give the same weapon to a child who is not even half the size of him and I''m really lucky that only that broken arm happened to me.
Right now I was in the supermarket near the house because they asked me to buy a couple of puddings from a fairly good brand. It seemed surprising to me to see how people on this side of the world behaved because although the battle of New York is on everyone''s lips, here life remains the same. The supermarket is open, people are talking to each other, a couple of parents with their son smiling. In short, an environment very different from the gloomy and pessimistic of a few days ago. Hell, the cashier told me I was a very brave girl to come shopping with a cast arm at my age.
As soon as I got back home I was mugged by everyone trying to get their dessert first.
"Damn, what the hell is wrong with all of you!"
"I''m a fucking hero who help save New York"
"I am a warrior recovering from my wounds in combat for rescuing you"
"And how do you pay me? making me go and take 2 hours in line to buy these stupid desserts"
"Sometimes I ask myself who is here the real slave"
"Just to assault me upon my arrival to eat them as soon as possible"
"I do not remember having been with a gang of ungrateful"
"Come on, don''t be mad, brother, it''s not that bad"
"By the way are you going to eat yours? Can you give it to me"
"Of course not"
"It''s mine!"
"you know what!"
"Everyone can go to hell!"
"I am going to lie down on this couch and I am not going to leave until I am healed."
"I will not even let the Gods separate me from this sofa!"
"I will defend this until my last breath!"
"Darling, I need you to get up from the sofa so I can sweep and clean that place " Tamamo said with the broom in her hand.
"Yeah yeah, okay give me a second"
Tamamo cleaned up as fast as she could to stop bothering me as soon as possible.
"Ready, I''m done!"
"You can stay there all you want now"
"Ok as I was saying, I''m going to lie down here and I''m not going to move until further notice"
***Ding***
The doorbell rang, we all immediately stopped and put away the fantasy things that were thrown in the living room such as my sword, Tamamo''s magic talismans, Momo''s new mystery machine, or the terminal of the twins. Since we did not expect any mail package my mother was the one who opened the door, although I was sitting in the living room watching that nothing bad happened. But oh my God this was bad, really bad, so bad that I didn''t even know what to do. I have faced thousands of dangers throughout my life but I never thought I would ever have to face that one again. I was not prepared at all if I knew what to do, not even Avalon could protect me in this case.
"Mrs. Adelis, how are you?"
"I hope everything is alright"
"I had time not to see you"
"Can not be!"
"Sharon, is that you?"
"That''s right"
On the other side of the door was a girl in her twenties, she was wearing a seductive red dress along with a fur scarf, pearl necklace. But what surprised me the most was seeing the person who was using them. Her good face, her white skin, her amber eyes, her brown hair, and even her general way of acting were in keeping with what I remembered about her. But the passage of time if they had changed her a little, now she was taller and her body was much sexier than those old days. But there was something strange about her figure, she had a quite beautiful body, neither too thin nor fat. But she had a bulging belly, it looked like she was gaining weight. She was an extremely beautiful woman, men fought to even talk to her. No seriously, I know it first hand, it was the first big beating that I received in my life. Everything from her clothes, her face, the way she moved clearly screamed trouble, it was the only thing a girl like her could bring to a place like this. She reminds me of the first woman who ever slapped my face, by the way, it was her.
She and I had our past, but it is something that I had buried a long, long time ago. After her, she "helped" me to realize how stupid I was in my youth, cheating on me and taking advantage of me. She made it very clear in my life that it was my fault for trying to see the good side of people who don''t have it. But seeing her alone here today without her harem of men that she formed to have the happy life she wanted with attractive and wealthy boys was strange, to say the least.
"But how are you?"
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more."What are you doing in this place so far from home"
"How did you know that I live here?" Her mother was glad to see a familiar face. What I couldn''t tell was if she was pretending or if she was really excited.
"The truth is that I am pregnant."
"And Cesar is the father"
"That''s impossible!"
"Cesar never told me any of this!"
"Adelis, he and I dated again when we met in Europe."
"He saved me during an evacuation"
"I wanted to be kind to him thanks to his gesture and one thing led to another"
"He took advantage of me for the compassion I felt for him and for the emotion of the moment"
"Also I know that he ran away from home cowardly so he surely did not have the guts to mention something as important as this"
"I''m very sorry that you had such a terrible person as a son"
"I also regret having thought that he was the right person for my life" Said the bitch bravely
"This is crazy that couldn''t have happened!" Said my mother scared by the amount of bullshit she was hearing
"Here I even have the letters that he sent me to see from time to time."
"In this, he even sent me a photo of him, once it is even signed by him"
The slut showed a stupid group photo of my fighting squad at the start of the war. We all had a photo with each other''s signature. The photo was even from before my accident in Italy. So it didn''t really mean anything. As for the letters, well that one was a little different, I could not see them well from where I was, but some were printed and others by hand, and one even had tear marks. The point is that the letters I wrote were for Maria, all except the farewell letter that all the soldiers write.
"Since I plan to have it and raise it I need money"
"I need the money that the Alliance gives to the family of soldiers who die in battle"
"In addition, he was saving money that he promised to give me when he returned from the war or in case he died"
"I imagine that all this is along with his belongings sent to your house when he died"
"Even so I know that it will not be enough to raise my poor son without his father, so we will have to make a pension to support him"
"I know that he did terrible things to you and that I hide the truth from you, but you have to help me to take care of the child"
I took my pistol and put a new full magazine in it. I''m going to kill that bitch. I should have done it a long time ago. I got up and walked towards the door to make my dream come true, but surely something in my gaze gave me away because as soon as Adelis saw me she held my good hand so that I couldn''t use the weapon.
"What a coincidence, I was about to call you Elise!"
"Tell me, are you capable of remembering this lady here?"
"Is she your mother?"
"Is she the girl your father was dating and dumped you?"
I looked into my mother''s eyes, I didn''t know what she was referring to. What was she trying to do?
"Wait, Mrs. Adelis, what are you referring to?"
"Who is this little girl?"
"Is it then that you''re not her either?"
"But excuse me for the interruption, but it is not the first time that he has gotten me in trouble"
"When he died it turns out that he left this poor orphan girl"
"It seems that her mother abandoned her and when her father died from her I had to take care of her"
"Unfortunately, several people have tried to scam me by saying that they are her mother, but her real mother has not yet appeared"
"I thought maybe you were her but it seems like I was wrong"
Wow, ok, That could work too. The stupid woman is looking at me perplexed, seeing how her stupid plan has just reversed itself completely in one movement. She was trying to think about what her options were and her chances of success. I can''t really believe that that bitch is trying to profit from her pregnancy, a dead man, and from a mother who lost her son for personal gain.
"No, she is not my mother"
"But I remember that she did visit my dad and she started hitting him, he didn''t do anything and when she finished she took his money and left" I made my little contribution to the cause.
"But what the hell are you saying stupid brat"
"Stop lying to your superiors!" shouted Sharon ironically angry.
"I''m sorry girl, but I believe in what she says, also Cesar would have informed me of something like this just as if he did with Elise"
"I don''t think you''re telling the truth, so I''m not going to help you unless you have a DNA test from the lab that I say"
"So can you go try to scam somewhere else please"
Sharon was open-mouthed at what she just heard and how her plan fell apart so quickly. She didn''t even have something to claim, but despite being full of fury at what was happening she just turned around and started to leave without saying anything else.
(Yeah that''s bitch) I said in my mind celebrating our victory.
(Go running with your tail between your legs)
(Don''t ever come back here again!)
(The next time I see you if I''m going to kill you)
(Remember the only reason you''re alive is because I allowed it)
(I don''t need you at all)
(I even have bigger breasts than you now!)
"I can''t believe she has the guts to do something as gross as that"
"What happened to that girl?"
"I remember that she was so good at school"
"Even one time I dreamed that you two would end up together"
"How a person can fall so low"
"Me and her together!?"
"You must be sick"
"Also now I have much better people by my side to have to be behind bitches like that"
The rest of my family went downstairs to hear the whole story that just happened.Everyone was really outraged or disgusted by what Sharon did.Tamamo arrived and hugged me saying that she would never do something like that because she knew what it was like to be betrayed by the person you loved the most.Lisa mentioned that she was going to look for her to pin her to the wall, but although I liked the idea, she is under house arrest until further notice for fear of being discovered by the police.Momo and Maria were also angry about what she did. But the most revealing part was when we wanted to discover what the hell led her to do something so low, so the gems intervened to discover the reason behind her actions.
After school she had the perfect life that she wanted, somehow she managed to talk to all the best boyfriends she had so that they would be part of her Harem. She and eight very attractive and wealthy men, some of them I knew from school, but not most. They collaborated with each other to have the perfect billionaire life. They went to live in Italy in a mansion full of luxury and exclusive cars. She then became an icon of social networks, an influencer who shared her life and deprived others in order to obtain fame and access to the most exclusive events on the planet. But when war broke out, everything changed, as did most people. She lost her home in the initial fighting, her land a victim of bombs and vineyards turned into trenches. They had to leave everything behind, they used the money in the bank to go to other safer places, but like a streak of bad luck, place they were going, the next place that the Empire attacked. The worst part was when the conflict escalated a bit more and all the men in her harem were conscript, and as one by one, they all fell victims of the war. It seems that only one managed to survive the conflict, they borrowed money and went to live in New York, where this last man was killed by a fighter plane that crashed earlier in that day, The one I saw crash from the hotel. As she could not pay for her life of luxury, she lost followers so she got into even more debt trying to fix it. It seems that somehow with friends he managed to gather a little information and now he is trying to do things like the ones he did today trying to get money. It seems that she is not even sure who the father of her child is. But I thought that if she managed to convince my mother she would be in a position where she could go back to trying to reach the top again.
Without a doubt, a difficult story for which I have no compassion. She asked for it, she earned it, what she did has nothing to do with me or my family. So we just decided to ignore her and not help her at all. Well, to start the Alliance paid an amount of money to the family for the death of a soldier, multiply that by eight, plus all the money they had before the war started, and still, somehow she managed to spend it all? That is not a red flag, it is a festival of crimson flags. Hell, even Lisa looks more mentally sane to me than she does.
Ch90: Yokai Detectives Agency INC.
Yokai Detectives Agency INC.
Today we had nothing to do for the first time in a long time. Well actually we did have things to do, they just weren''t a big deal, they were all things that could wait until I recovered. In a way, I even see my broken arm as a blessing, because just like the spring break should be, I just spend my time sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV and eating. These days I''ve only been wearing a top and shorts because since I don''t need to go outside and get dressed it is quite difficult without an arm, I decided better not to complicate myself and dress a little better. Today they were giving the initial event Super Taikyu Series, a touring car endurance racing, six hours of pure car competition. Definitely, a good day to be alive.
The rest of the family was also enjoying a quiet day, Tamamo is teaching our daughters how to perform a traditional tea ceremony, although he says that for now only basic of the basics because there is much more background and meaning to do it with the television at full volume in the background. For some strange reason, Lisa joined them and this sitting together in a traditional Japanese way followed exactly what Tamamo is teaching. She even almost looks like a normal person, if it weren''t because she continues to wear her peculiar rope clothes, the horns, the wings, the blue skin, the completely black eyes with red pupils, the claws in her hands, her sinister evil smile, that she is doing everything wrong, that she destroyed her cup, the things she says in a low voice, she spilled red tea and that she is writing my name with the tea leaves, but outside of those few things you can see the silhouette of perhaps a fairly normal person, maybe. Momo is at the table using the computer, she''s looking for tutorials on the internet on how to cosplay, but it''s hard to find average human cosplays it seems. She is working on her human costume 2.0. My mother by her side is right now getting ready to go out to a meeting that she has on some minor issue, Xian will come to pick her up shortly. I told Lisa to accompany her but Adelis herself refused, she said that although she was glad that Lisa saved her and she knows what she is capable of, this time there would be no problems of any kind, she assured. She argue that even Lisa would like to spend more time with me, and although I was not objecting to that, I found it strange in the way that Adelis seemed to reject being with her in a "political" but firm way. But I don''t think I can blame her, Lisa is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you¡¯re gonna get any day.
"Today is surprisingly a really quiet day, I like it " I speak without anyone in mind.
***Ding***
"I hate myself"
The unexpected visit protocol was activated and everyone started running to hide everything again. Lisa and Momo began to fight to climb the stairs quickly, the twins hid in the closet on the stairs and Tamamo stayed to pick up the tea set that was left behind. Adelis finished getting ready with the final touches on her hair opened the door, it must have been Xian with the car to take her to the meeting, although it seemed strange to us that she reached the door. What a surprise we were when we saw Haru on the other side of the door.
"Haru!"
"How are you!"
"What are you doing here today!"
"Hello Mrs. Adelis"
"It has been a while since the opening of the cafeteria that we see each other"
"Today I am here because my grandfather has a very important meeting and he does not want to leave me alone since what happened"
"He told me to spend the day here at your house because he said it was a safe place that he trusts"
"Was he the one who sent you here?"
"He''s okay, if he says so he''s okay"
"Unfortunately I also have an important meeting so I have to go right now"
"But go ahead, the others are here"
"Go and spend time with them, it will surely be more fun for you than being with me all afternoon"
"Bye!" Said my mother leaving the house and closing the door
"Others?"
"Who are the others?"
"!!!"
Haru looked at the living room where I was lying on the couch eating popcorn with my good hand. I''d been caught off guard, damn my weakness for car races.
"Elise?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Hello!"
"I was also visiting the house"
"You seem to be quite comfortable there"
"More than visiting it seems that you live here"
"Wait a minute you would never wear clothes this light unless ..."
"DO YOU REALLY LIVE HERE !?"
"You are living with Adelis!"
"Of course not!"
"No one in their right mind would behave like this in someone else''s home."
"Just look at you, you''re eating popcorn, lying on the couch, wearing those clothes and you''re barefoot."
"All that screams that you live here."
"By the way, can I know how you broke your arm?" Haru said hungry for information.
"Ok okay, you win, little detective"
"Yes, I am living here, it may be hard to believe thanks to my appearance but believe it or not Adelis is my mother, are you happy now?"
"As for my arm, I broke it while doing a trick on a bicycle that went very wrong."
"Well, that would explain what Adelis said before"
"But with respect to your arm, you don''t look like someone who uses a bicycle, besides that there are none in the garden of the house neither"
Damn busybody, you need to investigate so much the lives of others?
"Okay, the truth is that I broke my arm during the attack on New York while rescuing the President of the United States of America from a murderous robot girl using a 50 caliber weapon that was bigger than me, happy now?"
"You know if you don''t want to tell the truth that you fell down the stairs, just don''t answer"
"It''s also not a big deal to be embarrassed"
"Yeah that''s what I thought"
"You sure tripped over your own tail and slipped"
"I''m surprised that the truth hasn''t happened to you before"
"Wait a minute!"
"Did you know that I had a tail before!?"
"Wait, were you trying to hide it, to begin with?"
"I thought you were wearing the jacket because you were cold where the tail came out"
"It can''t be, my plan failed?"
"How many more know about it !?"
"Everyone at school"
"It was the topic of conversation for the entire month"
"Only, no one wanted to tell you anything directly because of the problems you surely suffered at your previous school"
Tamamo suddenly came out of the kitchen with a plate of cookies and juice for Haru, showing courtesy for a guest.
"I''m sorry for the delay but I tried to do something more elaborate but it didn''t work out"
"Have this in place, I hope you like them" Tama said.
"Now that I remember the first day you went to school, you mention something about living together"
"Is that true?"
"I imagine it is because you are here, but then does it mean that it is also true that you two are lesbians?"
"Tell me how is life as a couple?"
I was still looking for a way to answer this nosy girl but before I could say the first word the next problem came on its own.Maria came downstairs with her headphones with a volume so high that you could hear the music from the living room, her gaze was focused on her cell phone so she did not notice the visit either.
"Cesar, no te gustaria ir al supermercado y comprar mas de ese pudding delicioso de la ves pasada"
"Te lo lo pagare en cuanto vuelvas"
(Cesar, would you like to go to the supermarket and buy more of that delicious pudding from last time?)
(I''ll pay for it as soon as you come back) said the hindrance of my sister without yet realizing who was next to us.
Maria took a look around the room after speaking
"Hi Haru how are you"
"Vas a ir si o no? podrian acabarse pronto y quiero uno de esos
"Cesar por favor"
(You''re going yes or no, they could be over soon and I want one of those)
(Please Cesar)
...
...
"Haru you are here !"
"Sorry about earlier, I meant if you wanted to go to the supermarket to get dessert for you, my dear little sister"
"Wait, Maria, do you live here too?"
"Are you her family too?"
"What was the first thing she said before?"
"I''m sure she called you by a strange name"
"Yes, I know it''s hard to believe it too, but she is Maria, my sister"
"She is the black sheep of the family, unfortunately, she did not inherit my beautiful white or the animal ears, but we are family but do not say it out loud or she could begin to believe it"
"What she said earlier was in Spanish, our native language"
"What does that mean that I could start to believe it?"
"Well it might be true, but I think she used a different name than yours when she spoke"
"Haru have you ever been told to stop bothering others in Spanish?"
"No never"
"Would you like it?"
"No, not for now, thanks"
"Then stop bothering that we have our circumstances, okay?"
"You know, I''d better come back later when the pudding is, ready" My sister said going back up the stairs.
"I think it is obvious why, but Maria does not want people to realize that we are family at school to avoid rumors"
"That is why she was transferred to school first"
"You can keep the secret right?"
"Of course, if I would not do anything to upset others, who do you think I am?"
"An unwelcome nuisance"
"ha..ha.., how funny, how long have you kept that joke? A decade?" Said Haru sarcastically.
"!!!!"
"Did you just wiggle your ears?"
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"What, no of course not"
"How do you think that is possible?"
"You just moved them out of surprise as soon as I asked!"
"That looked very natural, how did you do that?"
"I always wanted to ask Tamamo but yours are the same"
"Wait what are you doing!"
"Get those hands off me!"
"HHHAAAAAA !!"
"Help!!"
"This girl is assaulting me!"
"She is taking advantage of a disabled girl!"
"Tama take it away from me!"
"This is impossible to replicate, they have body heat and are very flexible!"
"Wait are they for real!?"
"No, that cannot be true."
"Wait but what if the foxtail was also just as realistic then maybe!"
"No, not the tail, that no please have mercy"
"HHHHAAAA!"
"Don''t pull so hard! That hurts!!"
"Stop Please!"
"Impossible, Is really attached to you and you can move it at will!"
"What the hell are you Elise?"
"Wait, Tamamo, is she also the same as you?"
"Damn abuser, that should not be done to anyone"
"Not even Lisa has treated me so bad"
"It hurts to sit down, I really thought you were going to rip my tail off"
"That wouldn''t have happened to you if the tail was fake"
"What the hell are you two?"
"We already told you, we''re just trying to lead a normal life at school (Lie)"
"We have never done anything bad or hurt anyone (Lie)"
"We really are human, (Lie) Adelis is my real mother (Depends on how you see it)"
"I swear to you that everything I say is true (Super Lie)"
"Yes Yes, of course, it is going to be like that then I would be a spoiled princess"
"Like, weren''t you already?"
"Of course not!"
"I have to strive for everything in my life"
"Well my grandfather sometimes buys me what I want"
"And sometimes he gets me delicious sweet"
"And yesterday we went to Disney park"
"And if it is true that I wear a princess dress in the castle"
"And that was the happiest moment of my life"
"But I assure you that I am not!"
"I think you just said you''re a princess with extra steps"
"You''re looking for a stupid fight, pale kitsune"
"Try me"
"I am not afraid to use the cast as a weapon"
"Tch!"
"It''s okay, you win this one, but only because I don''t want to see you arrive at school with two."
"Yes of course partner"
"Whatever you say, I swear to you I know taekwondo, jiu-jitsu, karate, capoeira, Muay Thai, Line and many other words that I heard yesterday on TV "
"Do not believe the great thing that for that"
"I know how to do a Rasengan and Kamehameha"
"That''s better than boring normal fights"
"Huh huh"
"So the princess just admitted that she likes anime"
"Surely you have several manga books stored in your room, right?"
"...." Haru''s face changed completely and turned red.
"How did you realize that!"
"Please don''t say it out loud! I don''t want school or my grandfather to know about it!"
"Ok I won''t say anything if you don''t say anything"
"It''s a deal?"
"Ok deal"
"Very good now you have to negotiate with Tama because she also heard you"
"What!"
"She too!"
"Hahahaha" Tama started laughing uncontrollably.
"I''m sorry I didn''t want to bother, it''s just that I found it funny how you guys are taking all this as a joke"
"The truth is that I was very worried when Haru discovered us, but I see that maybe my fears were unfounded"
"How I wish that people had also taken it that way with me when they discovered me the first time" The face of the goddess began to change to a slightly sadder
"These laughs would have been better than the pain that time"
"Sorry, it''s just that this brought back memories of the stupid things I did back in the day" She said at the end almost crying.
"I see, so something like that is what happened"
"Sorry I''m very sorry for my behavior"
"I know for sure it has been hard for you two to deal with this issue, because that is why you left your home, right?"
"Rest easy, I promise you that I will not tell anyone"
"In fact, I''ll even help cover you in case something happens"
"After all it seems that in the end, we are not so different, everyone has their own problems" Haru said putting her arm on Tamamo.
"I can''t take it anymore, that brat doesn''t seem to leave yet, I need to eat!" An annoying voice was heard from the stairs.
Down from them was Lisa, who was walking pretending to be calm to the kitchen, she served herself a plate of meat and began to put ketchup on it in a rather peculiar way as if someone had been quartered. When she finished, she passed by the room, pretended not to have noticed us, and went up the stairs without saying anything else.
"And who was she?"
"You are going to tell me that she is also "family" of yours"
"Who she?"
"She''s just Lisa, she''s in our cosplay group"
"Pretty cool the costume of her right"
"It can''t be, you are real kitsunes."
"Is she a demon?"
"Is it safe to be with her? She looks just like the villain from a manga."
"Is she kind?"
"No, Lisa, she is an ordinary human"
"As normal as anyone"
"Okay, so tell me how she had black eyes with red pupils"
"How can you do that?"
"Come on, it''s not that difficult, you just have to ..."
"If not, you can always resort to ..."
"Good question how can you do something like that?"
"Are you even trying to make up an excuse?"
"Are you not behaving a little calm when you see all this?"
"Well it''s true that she looks like a bad person"
"But she is still living with Adelis and she is a trustworthy person of my grandfather, so for sure she is a good person too"
"Let''s go better just say it directly, you want to know more about whether it is real or not, you are curious to know what she is"
"And you are accepting all this because surely you have read this type of stories your manga"
"You like stories where a fantasy creature lives with normal people"
"Do you want to put aside my taste in books?"
"That is not the problem here!"
"So you don''t deny it"
"It''s surely not the only weird thing in this house"
"I''m going to check what other strange things are here and unravel the mystery of this house!"
"What!"
"Ho no that''s bad, please stop!"
"If you bother Lisa, she will pin you to the wall!"
"The first thing I have to know is what is this weird thing over there"
"I thought it was a weird piece of furniture but it has a shape for a person to stand here, but what are these cables for?" Said the annoyance when seeing the terminal of the twins.
"That is an internet gateway for computers"
"You maybe want to get out of there before you hurt yourself or break it"
"It is quite expensive!"
"This is super uncomfortable"
"A normal person wouldn''t use this to rest"
"What is its function?"
"Is it of alien origin?"
"Great, now aliens"
"You can stay still for a while"
"You look like my sister when she sees magic!"
"Aha, so you say that there are magical things in this house!"
"What else is here !?"
"I''m going to check the second floor!"
"Please stop"
"You are not seeing how much you are bothering!"
"Remember that you are the visitor in this house!"
"Didn''t they teach you manners!"
"What the hell is this here!"
But what the hell happened to this girl, she thought maybe there was a mystery here and changed her way of behaving completely. I prefer the Haru that she teased for abiding by the rules from before. I went up immediately to avoid an "accidental death" by the demon. First, she went to Maria''s room but when she opened it and saw my sister using the computer she left her alone, it seems that Haru is not interested in human things now. Then she went to the twins'' room, but thanks to the fact that they were still hiding downstairs there was only a normal room. The next was my mother''s, a simple room, with a desk and a double bed.
"What the hell is wrong with this place, it''s too normal"
"I don''t really know what you expected to see, this is just an average house in an average neighborhood."
"Sorry to disappoint you for not having dragon skulls adorned the walls, the species is long extinct"
But even so, that girl did not want to stop checking everything, the next door that would open was my room. Also completely average, except for the glass statue of an angel posing with her wings.
"What the hell is this here?"
"Why do you have this sculpture in your room?"
"What do you think?"
"It is an idea that we are working on for the cafeteria, we thought about having a theme of fantasy creatures"
"This is one of the ornaments, a crystal angel"
"It''s good enough right? I was the one who came up with the idea"
"It will help to disguise you three "
"What strikes me as a pretty dumb idea of the crystal angel"
"But I have to admit that it is quite well done, it almost seems that it is alive, as if I could feel its breath"
"Okay but be careful with that, you have no idea how expensive it was to make it"
On Momo''s face, you could see how she was trying with all her might to avoid moving. I think she was even trying to hold her breath. But Haru couldn''t stop looking at her, fascinated by the quality of her details. Suddenly I could see how Momo''s gaze drifted upward in a panic, there was a rather large spider that landed on the poor angel''s head. You could see how Momo was completely in a panic, but when Haru looked up again, Momo kept pretending again.
"Haru, wouldn''t you like to come to turn around and walk over here without asking questions?"
"Believe me you would thank me"
"Why would I do something like .... SPIDER !!!!!"
"AAAAAA !!!"
"Don''t don''t use that for that!"
Haru grabbed a large book that was nearby and used it to kill the spider with it.The blow was so strong that I couldn''t believe that Momo was still standing, but miraculously she continued to pretend.As for the spider, well let''s just say that it made a mess in Momo''s head, one not pleasant to look at.It was only a matter of time until the poor victim of circumstance began to scream.A great blow was heard from the side of us.Lisa came out of the closet, she had come out of there to clean the plate in the kitchen.When she saw the visitor, she just made a grimace of disgust and left the room.Haru shifted her focus and went after her to try to confirm her suspicions about Lisa.
"Take it away from me! Take it away from me!"
"Get that out away of my head now!"
"I''m on it, calm down!" I said to her while cleaning her head with one of my shirts
"I can''t take it anymore, take it away from me now!"
"Wait, I heard voices coming from the room before! Who was Elise talking to?"
"Ho shit!" I said scared.
Momo was so scared that she freezes again in the position she had before, but I slipped and we both fell to the ground, one on top of the other.
"Why are you kissing the glass statue down there?"
"Do you like it so much?"
"At least expect me to leave if you want to do something so embarrassing"
"What would your girlfriend think to see you like this"
"Who? the two of them?" Lisa appeared speaking for further torment.
"Don''t worry about it, Tamamo knows"
"They do it should on time when no one is looking at them"
"Can I do it later too?"
"It''s unfair that only the two of them have been kissed so far!"
"Wait what did you just say?"
"Are you dating Elise too !?"
"Tamamo knows!?"
"What the hell is going on in this madhouse!"
"Why is there so much noise here, you already brought my pudding, Elise?"
"Ho, ok so that''s what''s going on"
"Good luck trying to explain that to Haru"
Somehow I managed to make Haru continue to believe that Momo was just a sculpture, but about Lisa, I couldn''t do much. I told her that she was a yokai that we met on a forest trip,h as be with us for years, and that she is a good person. Lisa was pretty quiet and didn''t complicate things anymore, mainly because I ordered her not to speak. I told her that Lisa and Tamamo loved each other so much to separate to form a single couple, so we decided to form a harem. Haru was quite surprised to hear all of this, but her questions were still about trying to find out some other secret. With her thirst to reveal mysteries, we managed to make her believe that Adelis was the one who discovered me and adopted me, so that would explain that Maria and I would be sisters, then Tamamo and Lisa appeared. But the part with which we managed to win his full support was when Tamamo told him that we had formed a secret group to capture the villains and defeat evil yokai that tormented humans. Basically the typical story of a group of friends who get into supernatural problems that appear in anime. This idea grumbled very deeply with Haru, as later she begged us even on his knees to try to enter our fictitious group, she herself invented the one that In that way was how I broke my arm. I told her that we didn''t have a name yet but she said that she would take care of getting the name and making an emblem. It seems that the idea of belonging to a group of clandestine detectives was precisely the hidden dream of the young girl. Later the inspector arrived by car to pick up his granddaughter, with him my mother came, but he dont entered the house. When I explained the whole horrible day to my mother, She couldn''t stop laughing at how bad we had it, but she said it was fine, as long as Haru had fun and was safe, everything would be fine. What I wonder is what Haru will do to try to explain or convince her grandfather to come to visit us more often in order to fulfill her dream of being a model detective like him.
Ch91: That Day Revenge And Hatred Were Sworn
That Day Revenge And Hatred Were Sworn
It was already late at night, we had all finished eating but even so in the kitchen, there is a great noise. Tamamo and I are washing the pots and pans as best we can but it is almost a losing battle, it was almost easier to throw everything away and buy new ones. Tama was even using magic to wash them at full power in the tap and I was trying to fit them in their corresponding places. Although as you can imagine this is all her fault in trying to cook dinner, I was also scolded for not stopping her on time. As a result, here I am trying to dry dishes with one arm. In the living room, you can also hear a lot of noise, there are only two people discussing a lot about issues that I really thought would be more serious for how furious they are. On one side of the ring is Momo the glass Angel, who is a meter and a half tall, average weight, and has a skinny build. On the other side of the battlefield, Lisa the crazy succubus, with the half meter of more than the first one lacks, a beautiful and healthy body, along with her appearance of a true warrior. The battle between the two of them today is about who ate the last pudding left in the fridge, Momo''s argument as a creature of peace is to demand justice because it is unfair that the dessert she was saving was eaten by someone else, she mentions that Lisa was the culprit as she saw her eating one on the stairs. Lisa for her part argues that the angels are hypocrites and that they lie constantly, the dessert that she was eating was her own in the first place and that there was no reason for Momo to throw it on the floor just out of envy. The discussion ended abruptly when my mother, tired of the discussion, put her hand near La Chancla. The powerful supernatural creatures felt a deadly chill, their survival instincts were telling them to stop immediately as they were facing a no survivor remaining situation. In the peace treaty Momo agreed to give Lisa pudding for moral damages and defamation, Lisa for her part did her best and gave her hand to her rival trying to pretend that the two were in agreement in the sight of my mother. In the beginning, they fought a lot more, but when they realized why they spontaneously lost consciousness after, then it was when they began to work on their differences.
When it was time to go to sleep, everyone went little by little to their rooms. My mother went to her room with a cup of coffee with milk, she always goes to bed late so she can watch her favorite soap opera, she did it every night, for as long as I can even remember. Maria went to her room and slammed the door, she does not want anyone to spy on her, it seems that she is working on something but I have no idea what, I hope she has learned the lesson and has nothing to do with magic again. I went to Kazumi and Charlotte''s room, first I scold them because the day before they did not sleep because they were helping my sister in a video game because we had agreed that if they went to bed late they would have to take a nap because they were forbidden to be 24 hours without sleep, it was what we had agreed and we had to respect the rules. Then I said good night to them just when Tama came to do the same. Now there was only the final part, Tamamo, Momo, Lisa, and I had to find a way to fit my room with a single bed. First, it was Lisa who kissed me spontaneously and ran to the closet without saying anything other than her strange way of laughing. As soon as she settled into her futon she slammed the sliding door shut, as soon as the door finished closing, Momo and Tamamo ran to put talismans and seals on the door as a "precaution". Even though Lisa was forbidden to do weird things at night, the three of us knew it was only a matter of time before she found a way to reverse my words. Once safely Tamamo she transformed into her version of a little fox so that everyone could fit in the bed, I held her and lifted her, and then lay down on the bed. Momo also lay down on it but on the side where the bed was against the wall. Although it was a bit uncomfortable it was nice to be surrounded by them, well although Momo''s body is quite cold for being made of glass at the same time she gets a normal temperature when sleeping next to me. When that moment comes it is a moment where I can enjoy comfort and sleep.
....
....
....
....
The Scarlet Spear group from the front sent a messenger, stating that they needed reinforcements on the lower floor to secure the area around Ulana Castle. Immediately all of us in the fortress was called to combat, but they all left in no particular order, each one ran as soon as he finished preparing. I was one of the last to set out towards the territories of the Ulana family, when I arrived at the place everyone was so distraught that I literally didn''t even know what to do. A group of dragons came my way so I ran towards the botanical garden with several people who did the same.
When going through several bushes I completely lost myself in that place, I did not know how to get out or how big it was, but at least it seemed that I had managed to lose the dragons. I suddenly heard a noise in a bush near me, I raised my weapon ready to fight, but what came out was another human dressed like me, then two more followed. We had not said a word to each other when the same noise sounded near us, we all formed a group ready to fight, but this time a younger girl came out from among the plants. Our doubt lasted only a second when we saw that the girl, although quite young, had a white cape on her back. We were safe for now.
"Damn that caught us off guard"
"Scarlet Lance called for reinforcements as if it was time to take this entire level"
"What they had to do was a withdrawal and warn of the type of dragons that had"
"No one could know that that would happen, when I arrived we were winning"
"Well then, who is left?"
"Those of the sixth and eighth are working together to the north, right?"
"Do we have enough to get out of this?"
"Who cares, Scarlet Spear is heading to the castle we just have to hold on until they finish their exploration and tell us to create the next supply base"
"That armband!"
"Hey, are you the human who is in Empress Nanami''s guardian group?"
"So it''s true that she was in that fortress"
"But what are you doing here?"
"The Dragon hunters called for reinforcements and reinforcements were sent, where do you think soldiers are coming from?"
"Not from factories, I assure you"
"Even the dark cloaks are going to the castle to help defeat the Alpha Dragon of the sector"
"Leave it, can''t you see it''s one of us?"
"What could this poor man do in a group like that?"
"For something they sent him here to the same as all of us, Atlantean hospitality is called"
"Our only way out of this that girl over there"
"By the way, what is your level, in what category are you?"
"My name is Mitsuki Izumi R?ikk?nen, from the Beowulf house, I am currently level 50, I am in rank A."
"My sister is the leader of the Scarlet Spear, Sakura Izumi, they left me behind along with the other dragon hunters to ensure the arrival of human troops"
"I apologize that we have failed in our task, but rest assured because I will make sure that you can return safely along with the rest of the humans"
"Tch"
"You are also a human brat"
"This is why I hate these brats, they think they are superior just because of their stupid superpowers"
"It''s always the same, they treat us like we''re a completely different race"
"If you hadn''t had the luck of being the granddaughter of a human that if I killed one of those things with his own strength, you would be right now with the rest of the kids sleeping outside in the cold streets like my daughter"
"Let''s put all that aside, for now, the important thing is that we get out of here and meet with the others"
"We have 4 human soldiers each with rifles"
"They are like 140 attack, the grenades hit 150 and Jesse''s shotgun has 110, you bring the incendiary shells, right?"
"We have an attack average of 120 or so I think"
"How much of attack do you have?"
"I have 700 attack"
"But my mana is 1500 so I can attack many more times"
"About HP I also have 2500 so I can also make the tank of the group in this extreme case"
"We only have to meet the main group"
"We can do it"
"With or without the cane?"
"Without the cane, the cane gives me 250 extra"
"Wow, not bad!"
"So we''re not completely fuck"
"There are real possibilities to live one more day"
"Hey, be careful what you say, can''t you see that she''s only 12 years old?"
"Her sister is Sakura remember if she finds out she will throw you off the edge of the island"
A Dragon came out of a wall and with a bite tore off the upper part of one of the soldiers.
"OH FUCK!"
"Kill that thing now !"
We all started shooting, but the dragon was Category 5, our weapons couldn''t do anything to him unless we attacked a soft part. One of those who was next to me was about to be attacked but I pushed him to avoid the attack. Unfortunately the Dragon, furious at this fact, went against me later. I thought it would be my end, but just at the last moment an external cold appeared and ice spikes formed on the ground that managed to impale the dragon killing it.
"That was close"
"If it hadn''t been for my high damage magic, you would have ended up just like the other human over there"
"That man over there had a name, do you know?"
"And it doesn''t matter anymore, he''s dead"
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."We can''t stay here any longer, we have to continue"
We began to walk more and more inside the garden or rather the labyrinth of roses, the only thing that I had as a guide was the tip of the castle Ulana to guide us. After a while we began to hear the grunts of more dragons, they were entering the labyrinth with us. They were hunting us. But the true moment of terror was when another of the soldiers mutated without prior notice, in less than 2 seconds it exploded from the inside out, and the meat that remained combined to form what looked like a dragon in a grotesque and twisted way. It was unmistakable proof that the Dragonbane of the True Dragon of Plage was in the place. The surviving soldiers put on the masks to avoid being affected by the miasma or hallucinations it caused. Mitsuki did not need a mask because thanks to the blood of an original dragon hunter running through her veins she was protected from the Dragonbane. We had to fight our brother in arms to get him out of his misery, but thanks to the help of the dragon hunter we were able to do it. Although that was one of us who gave the final blow because we did not want the poor girl to lose what little she had left of innocence staining herself with human blood.
But more inside the labyrinth, an ambush of the dragons forced us to separate, and then again, by the time I realized I was alone near a water source, but although I was thirsty I could not drink it because of the Dragon bane. I took a look at my weapons, they weren''t in the best condition, but there was nothing I could do, at least I didn''t think that could jam immediately. A sow sound again, I prepared for the worst, and thank goodness I did, from the corridor that returned to the labyrinth a girl came out, but unlike the young girl from before, she was in her thirties maybe older. She was wearing few clothes, a dark cape, her brown skin contrasted with her white hair, she had a giant scythe and was accompanied by her pet, a black raven. She was the current Ulana heiress herself, The True Dragon of Plage, the traitor of the dark cloaks, and Nanami''s ex former servant. As soon as she looked at me she began to laugh uncontrollably as she always did, her horrible mocking laugh when she looked at me unleashes something inside me.
I remembered the scene where Luna sacrificed herself so that I could escape, she was laughing as if she made fun of that fact, of her death, she would pay for her offense with her death. Hatred takes hold of me, one of those cursed True Dragons was in front of me.One of the bastards responsible for Luna''s death was just a few meters from me, even if it cost me my life, I couldn''t miss the opportunity.I had to do it, every cell inside me screamed that I should kill that bitch.I put my hand on my weapon, took a deep breath, an explosion of heat filled me completely, I launched myself to kill her.She escaped by throwing herself backward and ran in the opposite direction from me.I followed her closely at all times, Dragons came out of the rose walls but I dodged them, I had no time to lose with them, the one I had to kill was the True Dragon.One of the small dragons bit my shoulder, I slaughtered it with my knife, Another threw himself at me, put a grenade in his mouth, and threw it to the next one who was coming towards me.I kept moving forward to kill that stupid woman.
In the next corner, she tried to attack with her weapon, I put the knife in her side and turned it trying to do as much damage as possible, she lunged back again. Several Dragons came out behind her to help her, having lost my knife, I used my hand and put it inside the eye of one of them, I didn''t know what it was touching but I kept hitting, I used the body of my victim to stop the other''s attack. I pulled my hand and threw it to unbalance the remaining dragon, I barely had the chance to throw myself to hold its head and twisted its neck just like Luna did in the tunnel. I got up and kept chasing my prey, I wouldn''t let her escape now. Her stupid wound was making her slow, she was no longer making fun of me, she was escaping for her life that I would soon take away from her. I was so angry that I had forgotten that I had a firearm, I fired all the bullets I had, and although they did not hurt her, they did distract her enough to make my close encounter with her more personal, just as she wanted to begin. She tried to defend herself with the claws of her arms but her attacks were uncoordinated, vulgar attempts to hurt, a desperate attack for living. With the open wound that she had, I put my hand in and began to remove things, whatever I could grab. She tried to stop me even more vilely than before, but it only served me to make the wound bigger and get more things out, but after a while when I took out the biggest parts that I found she stopped moving. I picked up my knife and ripped off her head to make sure she was really dead. In her face could see the panic with which she died, but it was not enough for me, she had not suffered the same, she died too quickly. I went after her children, her dragons.
One by one they fell, they were no longer the powerful monsters that crossed the skies, they were my victims, I used my weapon as a bat and hit one until he was robbed, another he drowned with a pool of blood of the first. Cut the tail off of it and use it to impale the one who came next. And so I continued walking through the labyrinth looking for more and more of them. After a while, it was hard to find more and more, but everything changed when I saw one different from the rest. He was a tall man, he had black armor that completely covered his body, it was indistinguishable to know if it was a suit or his skin, he wore a mask full of cables in addition to a large black cape, from head to toe. As soon as I saw him I hid so he wouldn''t see me directly, It was him, he was the motherfucker responsible for all this, that was the true Dragon of Death, the probability that a group like the scarlet spear will defeat him is zero for his stupid power to kill with his eyes, even less for mere mortals like me. But the risk was worth it, I had to do it, I had to avenge Luna.
Take my knife and wait, wait for him to approach where I was to kill him quickly by surprise, that was the true technique to kill dragons.The way the dragon hunters fought directly against these infernal beings only gave these bastards an advantage.But if Luna envisioned something for me and all that time wasted in the tunnels is that it really came down to being the strongest, and if you couldn''t do it then fight dirty, the dragons ate each other and the only way for a small dragon like Luna to triumph was to kill larger victims unawares.I waited for the ideal moment, waited patiently for my opportunity, and when finally his neck was within my reach, I threw myself to kill him.I put my hands on him, he begged for his life, he asked me to stop but I without thinking twice used my knife and slaughtered him like all those previous dragons.Two of his followers are just a couple of meters away doing nothing, they were stunned to see their boss die for a simple human.I did not give them the opportunity to do more and also killed them quickly.
He had finally died, the person responsible for Luna''s death lay lifeless before my feet, but although his death was too easy, so anclitimatic, the fury still continued for not having killed him in another way but I could no longer do anything about it. But I still had things to do, I had to meet with the others, I picked up my knife and started walking. I took a couple of steps and I saw a mirror in place near.
I had a broken mask!
In a panic I took tape and plugged the hole, I searched desperately among the surroundings and I saw two dead soldiers. His masks were intact, little that he took a little air and changed the one he had for a new one in optimal conditions. But where did these two men come from? I was alone just moments ago.
This was wrong.
The dragons that I had killed are nowhere but instead were two human soldiers on the ground in the same way that I had killed them. But then who was the true Dragon of Death? I was afraid just thinking about it, I turned profitably, and as I began to see his silhouette, everything was going back worse and worse. Instead of a terrifying monster that haunted my nights, there was a little girl. A girl who just a while ago was full of life, a girl who told me that she would get us all out of here. Mitsuki Izumi''s body was in front of me, lifeless, in panic. The last moments of her life were watching a man full of rage end her so violently. This girl only saw my horrible face in her final moments.
I took the body of the girl in my arms and left it there. I ran as fast as I could even though I knew that would no longer change anything I had done. I will never forget the face of hatred and anger that her older sister had when she received the body of her relative, much less my feeling of guilt hiding everything that had really happened. Her death would be a secret that would take me to the grave because I did not have the guts to go against her and her inhuman power. Sakura was extremely affected, she swear to everyone that she would kill the last of the dragons so that her sister''s death would not be in vain. I had never seen a murderous look so big as that of that girl before everyone was present because all the human soldiers around her were simple ants compared to the strength of her sword.
For my part I tried to find Nanami a shoulder to cry on but no matter how long I looked for it, I couldn''t find her.
I ran and ran but I couldn''t find her anywhere, despair took hold of me more and more.
....
....
....
....
When I open my eyes I was in a place that I did not know, a ceiling that did not remember anything. For some strange reason I was lying on a bed, I got up immediately. I threw the stupid weird dog that was next to me to the ground and started running to keep looking for Nanami, I started looking for it in this strange place, it didn''t seem like anything like the Atlantis style. I opened several doors looking for her but there were only more people that I did not know. But then, falling into a place that seemed to be the bathroom of this strange house, I found her. She looked much paler and her hair was now white, but her face was the same as I remembered. Nanami was crying too, and as soon as she looked at me she burst into tears at the same time that I did. I tried to hug her but for some reason, there was a spell that wouldn''t let us touch each other. But it didn''t matter, being close to her was enough for me, so I lay down next to her and tried to keep sleeping despite the shock that was heard on the other side of the door.
Ch92: Holidays Not Allowed
Holidays Not Allowed
A normal day, a peaceful normal day with nothing to do. If this continues, I might even get used to it, maybe even remember to live as I did before my trip to Russia. Except for last night that I really screwed up, no other event has happened so far. I can''t believe he forgets even where I was sleeping and how awkward it is to sleep next to a mirror and locked in the bathroom. But when I woke up today no one asked anything about what happened yesterday, they just pretended not to notice anything. Today I''m just back laying on the couch looking for some program to pass the time. My mother is out trying to put her office back in order after what happened the day Lisa came home, talking about the devil, she is currently entertaining playing with plasticine, making figures of men, and then squashing them. Tamamo, strangely enough, seems to have managed to convince Maria to try wearing a Kimono for her, so they are out there that my sister likes, or rather that Tama approves. The twins are there, one is in the terminal helping my mother and the other is "sleeping" in her room. Momo for her part also decided to rest today so she is taking a long bath.
Oh shit, I dropped the chocolate bar on the floor, I have to pick it up before five seconds have passed!
As I walked to the edge of the sofa and reached out to gather the food on the floor, I noticed how there was a strange glow looking from the floor. Curious about this I turned my head to see that they are causing such a strange light effect. When I looked at the ground I saw how there was a strange circle with geometric figures and strange letters on the ground, only once had I seen something similar in my life and that was when I was talking to THE BOSS, in the part where he sent me back.
"That''s not good"
If something was about to happen the only thing I could do now was trying to reduce the damage to the family home. So in an act of sacrifice, I got up from the sofa and ran to the yard as fast as I could, the magic circle followed me glued to my feet. I summoned Avalon and threw the sword to the ground and mounted on it, the circle began to cast whiter and whiter white light, blinding my sight little by little. The last thing I could see was Lisa throwing my pistol belt at me, and as soon as I grabbed it I just saw everything in blinding white. The next thing was that I began to feel the wind blowing strongly around me, I opened my eyes to see what was happening and immediately began to scream. It is falling from the sky, almost from the same height as my jump in New York, and this time there was no city, or traces of civilization, just a huge plain full of grass. Luckily I still had my sword so I did the same thing last time and I crashed at full speed against the ground, without any injury I was grateful to be able to get out of a deadly trap alive so suddenly. If I had been sleeping that would really have killed me, because I need some flat surface to invoke Avalon, in the middle of the fall I would not have been able to have my sword to save me.
Maybe not even 5 seconds after my landing I heard a tremendous noise and saw how the sky began to deform in a terrifying way. But even more terrifying was seeing the huge spaceships that began to appear out of nowhere in the sky. As if in a star wars movie hundreds of combat ships filled the sky, they were going out of hyperdrive. Thousands of fighting fighters came out a second later and began to fly over the area looking for anything to start firing. Then a dozen landing craft arrived, they were large and armored, it was certain that they had a huge assault army, which was heading towards where I was. But despite all this enormous display of power capable of easily taking control of the entire planet, I was not afraid. All the ships had a very specific design, no matter how simple and disposable a ship might be, each and every one of them had huge beautiful gold and white patterns. All had a design simply described as art, all the spaceships seemed to be more like ultra-luxury and high-performance ships. but the weapons that could be seen, although just as beautiful, could be noticed that they were powerful, a power without equal. All spaceships were owned by the Celestial Security Section.
The landing craft landed a couple of meters from me and when opening their doors dozens of angels armed with what seemed like variants of Arksuits ran forward seeking to gain as much territory as possible, they shouted their war motto altogether and continued running. After other even larger ships came true Space Marines, brutal tanks in human form 3 meters high, armor so heavy that even that word seems light. Armed with weapons that should belong to the combat jets and an iron wall almost the same height. These titans were the legendary Paladins, one of the classes of angels with the highest record of success. These must be from an angels defense team, as their squad logo seemed to reflect this. They stood around me and raised their shields, one next to the other, in a matter of a second they formed a 3-meter wall that rolled me in one like a Roman orb formation
From among them, a well-known person came out, Stella the angel of problems was walking towards where I was. She was also dressed in her battle dress, but her hair was full of soap and her entire body was wet. She was talking to someone on the radio it seemed. When she was a couple of steps away from me, she raised her hand indicating that I still didn''t say anything because she was listening to someone on the other side of her communicator. After a couple of moments, she lowered her hand to finally explain to me what the hell just happened.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused to you, Cesar"
"It seems that by mistake one of the Goddesses of this world invoked you to this world when trying to answer the summoning request of the Hero made by the Kingdom of Etria"
"It seems that she invented an automatic system that looked for the best possible candidate and invoked him to this world to be the hero that humans asked for"
"This system had not been configured to ignore you in its database"
"Right now this Goddess is being arrested at her home for her gross negligence and bringing you to this place"
"Probably apart from the punishment that will be imposed for carrying out this offense towards you sir, she will have to continue making the requests manually from now on"
"As you can see, not only by disrupting your important break time but also by putting Codex at risk."
"As you can see we really panicked because we thought we were receiving a big attack"
"We thought that some of our lesser gods had rebelled and were trying to get the Codex"
"That is why I deployed the response team immediately to buy time to prepare the main assault force"
"I''m really glad it wasn''t the first situation because I didn''t want to get into a battle when I was just taking a bath a few seconds ago"
"Well, it seems then that someone screwed up to the bottom"
"At least the Codex is safe as you can see"
"In which ship are you going to return me to earth?"
Stella immediately waved her hand to wait for a second while she answered another sudden call. I waited for her to finish her call. As soon as it seemed that she finished hanging up one of the large ships, she performed a hypervelocity jump again, another followed her after, the fighter jets as well, and the troops returning to her assigned ships.
"Hey, aren''t you rushing too much?"
"Which one is going to make me a taxi?"
"I''m very sorry Cesar, it seems that we have a very dangerous situation only 4 solar systems from here"
"Since we are here they want us to be the ones to respond to the emergency"
"Wait, are you going to leave me here !?"
"What about keeping the Codex safe !?"
"I have to go back to school next month! I can''t stay here!"
"Right now on the planet Olnonus the greatest civilization has declared war on heaven and they are about to activate a machine that they do not know will destroy this entire galaxy"
"Doomsday order for the planet Olnonus has been approved"
"You and the Codex are safer here"
"Are you going to leave me here?"
"I have to go back to my family!"
"If I don''t return with them, I assure you that this planet there will be the least of your problems!"
"Please sir, no need to rush"
"A couple of kilometers from here, in that direction, is the city of Florin."
"The northernmost city in the kingdom of Etria."
"The most important part of this city is the dungeon that is in its center, the nucleus of the city and its livelihood."
"If you get to the 25th floor there is a low-level magic transporter to bring adventurers back to the surface."
"If you get to it, we can manipulate it to return you to earth."
"Are you asking me to live the cliche part of an isekai?"
"Excellent, this saves me from having to explain everything to you!"
"There is a level system and statistics, but I think this does not interest you."
"The kingdoms of humans are at war with demons, Etria is the closest kingdom to the territory of the Demon Lord"
"You will have to register with the adventurer''s guild so that they give you permission to access the dungeon"
"Unfortunately, the beastman races are considered demons as well, so it might be difficult for humans to accept you"
"I regret to report that a human from earth has already been called here before, so I recommend you be careful not to be recognized that you also come from the same place"
"Wait what about my family!"
"For them, it disappeared suddenly, they must be nervous of how it disappeared!"
"I have to talk to them!"
"In the city, there is a church that if you pray there you can call the callcenter."
"Once with them, just ask them to redirect you to your wife and they can transfer the call to her"
"So you yourself can explain to your family that you will come back a little late"
"And what about my broken arm!"
"I can''t make a dungeon with my wound!"
"Or my clothes! Just look at how I''m dressed, I wasn''t going to go out on the street today"
"I don''t even have shoes"
"Let''s see what happened to you there!?"
"I broke my arm shooting a 50 cal at New ...."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!!!!"
"FUCK !!!!"
"What the hell happens to you !"
"AAAHHH !!!"
"You broke even the plaster!"
"Medic 3 fix that"
A man also with full combat gear and a huge box came running and started to heal me.
"Your arm will be like new in 3 minutes"
"As for the clothes ..."
"Well, to be honest, if that''s what a beastman would wear, so that would be fine, plus its summer here, so it''s even better"
"..."
"Well, I think that''s all"
"Good luck and try to return home as soon as possible"
"At least you can do it this month."
"I left the stove on and I''m caught up in this too"
"Alright everyone, let''s go"
Stella got back on the landing craft and was followed by the huge titans with their shields, when she finished mounting the last ship, the immature ship took off and entered the hangar of the last of the huge ships that remained in the sky. The large ship then also made the jump to hypervelocity and left the sky clear as it was just a couple of minutes ago. By my side now I was alone in the middle of a huge meadow, I only had the clothes I was wearing and the pistol belt, I had no food, water, shelter, money, or knowledge of the planet I was on now. They had left me abandoned in this place without any help, for a mistake that I did not make. I only had 2 weeks to reach that level 25 in the Florin dungeon before classes started. Damn angels, they ruined my vacation.
Ch93: The Curious Trio
The Curious Trio
***************
Xian POV
***************
Today when Adelis finished her work at the office she received a call from home, it seems that somehow Elise got lost.When she heard the news she asked me to leave her at her house as fast as I could, so I used my car and we went straight there.During the way she mentioned that it was impossible for her to leave home because she had no reason to do so, and although at the beginning our relationship was not very friendly, I can attest that this girl had changed a lot since she started living with Adelis.Gone were the days when she seemed like a weapon without feelings and now she behaved almost like any other person, exactly on those rare occasions when there are problems, but even there she behaves much more differently than when she was in the army.She arrived in front of the house and parked the car so that she could get out, she said goodbye and entered her home, from which people could be heard arguing, probably about the recent event.My work for today was finished here, so I started my car again and moved on.
Turn into the next block and park in a parking lot, I got out of the car and I started off, my personal work was beginning. My concern is not Elise, I have already seen her fighting and I know that her safety is not a concern. My concern is the other girl, Lisa, because although I had never seen a beast like that personally, I did know them. That girl was not a human or an experiment like Elise, that girl was a demon, a monster that deceives and tortures humans. I have no idea how Adelis managed to contact her, but I am sure she does not know the risks of dealing with a powerful and unknown entity such as a demon. That demon is probably deceiving my boss and is making her believe that she might be an experience of the empire and that she deserted, but I am sure that that demon is just waiting for Adelis to lower her guard to act, now that Elise is gone at the moment is actually the perfect time for it.
I moved as fast as I could through the block to avoid going through the front of the house and I went to the park that was nearby because from it you could see the house perfectly, a good place to monitor Lisa''s movements in the house. As soon as I arrive I take out of my backpack some food that I had bought before and sit down to watch the house to gather information. I started looking for a bench with a good view from which to carry out my plan, but then I noticed something peculiar. I was not the only one with the same idea, on a park bench was a young girl, maybe she was the same age. Along with her were several packages of snacks that indicated she had time here. I was watching her towards the very house that I wanted to monitor, and worst of all, she had a professional camera trying to pretend that she was taking pictures of the landscape, but they were actually Adelis''s house.
She was a safety hazard, he had to stop her.By the time I realized it I was already walking towards her with the small knife in my hand.Old habits are difficult to kill, I had to stop for a moment and put the knife back, I could not kill anyone just because something could happen, I will never get to marry a reliable man if they think that I am just an assassin who killsfor the slightest problem.I cannot agree with my mother or grandmother, I cannot let them be correct about me.I must show them that I can find someone by myself!
"I can''t believe I''ve been here two days and that brat hasn''t come to play in the park yet"
"She doesn''t answer my messages or calls either"
"Damn it, how do you think you''ll give me information to take out these foreigners if we don''t see each other to talk!"
"Could it be that her parents punished her for some reason?"
"Could it be that they noticed how many of the tickets I sent him and they thought I was a stalker !?"
"How offensive of you, I''m just doing my job!"
"I am trying to save this country!"
"Let me interrogate this little girl!" the girl on the bench starts to mutter to herself.
Hell, I think she''s the journalist Adelis mentioned the other day, she''s a foreigner hater. I can''t let her know that I come from China, as we are basically rivals. Quick, think of a name, something very national here, something very used, how about Inari? Not that I think that''s too much. How about Kioko? I think that will be fine, it will be easy to forget maybe, I go with that.
"Excuse me, are you from the area?"
"Lately my son has mentioned suspicious people in the neighborhood so the neighbors are investigating the people who come to the park"
"!!!"
"Damn it"
"Another neighbor again, is being a nosy person a sport around here?"
"Excuse me!?"
"My name is Nozomi Yasuda"
"I work as an investigative journalist"
"I am currently working on an important case so I need to be here"
"Here is my card in case you doubt my identity"
"In fact, if you allow me since you seem to live around here, could I ask you a couple of questions?"
Relax Xian, calm down, don''t hit her, you can make her withdraw peacefully, remember that Adelis does it all the time, just try to be like her.
"So you are the journalist that children mention so much!"
"Now that I remember a neighbor friend of my son she mentioned something like that."
"To tell the truth, all that seemed to be quite strange that someone who claims to be a journalist comes to interrogate children in a neighborhood as quiet as this"
"Once my mother mentioned that a gang of thieves used this method to obtain information about the houses they would later rob "
"You won''t mind if I call the police first to double-check your information."
"After that, I can answer your questions"
"My name is Kioko, I live in that house over there, in case you want to investigate me "Miss journalist" " I hid my lie in plain sight knowing that she wouldn''t bother to thoroughly investigate everyone who lives around here.
"What!?"
"I can''t do this, if I go to the police station now I won''t be in time to work in the cinema!"
"Wouldn''t you rather call that phone number and talk to my company?"
"Cinema?"
"Don''t you work as a journalist, why do you work in a cinema too?"
"Are you not earning enough or are you not a real journalist?"
"Are you afraid?"
"I''m just trying to take my children''s safety seriously"
"Okay, you win, hire me for today"
"But just because right now I don''t have time to be wasting"
"Next time I''ll show you that I''m telling the truth Mrs. Kioko"
"And by the way, if you see the girl in white tell her to remember her promise"
"She has no loss, there is no way to confuse who she is." Said the journalist gathering her things and fleeing the place quickly.
I do not doubt that she is a journalist, but her way of acting continues to be a suspicious story for anyone. Once she left I began to observe the house, but it only took a couple of minutes to see how strange that home is. Suddenly the front door was opened wide, the same demon of my worries was the one who was leaving the house, in her hands, she had a suitcase that she was hugging with concern, and began to speak out loud.
"All of this is soo stupid!"
"I''m going to go find Cesar myself again"
"I have supplies to be out for a week"
"I can go quite far in that time, I know where there is another angel, if I kill him and use his computer I will be able to know where he is now."
"This time I will destroy them by getting in the way again!" She said.
As soon as she finished speaking, Tamamo, the other girl who is always with Elise, and Maria the daughter of Adelis came out to stop her.Between them, they tried to prevent the demon from continuing with her journey.At one point, Maria threw the briefcase and it fell to the ground, revealing its contents to others.It was quite daring to think of all those things as supplies, only a disturbed stalker could think that those things were important in any way.
"Those are my brother''s panties ?"
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement."Why the hell do you have them?"
"And that''s the bed cover and the blanket?"
"That''s the glass that he always uses for sodas"
"But these black underwear are not his?"
"Whose is this?"
"Those aren''t from Cesar !?" the blue girl started shaking with fear?
"!!!"
"Tamamo drop that right now if you want to live !!" Warned maria.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAA" A scream of terror was heard inside the house .
"Everybody take cover!"
I saw my boss walk out slowly but threateningly towards the entrance of her house, on her face you could see the face of a real monster of fury.Only the word revenge was written on her face and perhaps painful death.She picked up a single of her sandals from the ground, and as if a shotgun had been pumped she prepared it. The three girls started running in different directions immediately.The mother threw her sandal almost instantly and hit her daughter on the head causing her to fall to the groundBut the blow was such that the sandal bounced and flew backward, falling back into its wearer''s hand.The reaper''s next victim was the fox-eared girl, who was running much farther than the first, but was of little use as death claimed her soul.In the pool of blood, you could read the attempt of the victim to write the name of his assassin.But the lady seeing that she still has some will in this world, making sure to finish it off again with her sandal.Again a blow so perfect that the weapon returned to its owner''s hand like a boomerang.Only the demon remained, she is witnessing that escaping on the ground would be impossible for her to use her wings to fly and she began to do stunts at high speed trying to avoid the anti-aircraft fire.Adelis looked carefully, made the calculation, and launched her interceptor missile, the sandal turned so perpendicularly exactly that it hit the demon''s face adjusting to where she would pass in advance.One wing caught on fire and like a downed plane fell spinning towards the ground, where it crashed.The gun fell just one step in front of the mother, making her only have to take one step to get back on her feet.Then the bodies were collected by pulling their feet into the house, one by one.When she finished, she gathered up everything else and closed the door slowly as if she were the villain in a horror movie.
I spent several minutes trying to process what I had seen and discussing whether to call an ambulance or the police. But no matter what he chose, that demon is not something that ordinary humans can face, most do not even know that they exist. But that''s what monster hunters are for, families who have taken it upon themselves to keep humans safe from dangerous things like demons. But if I call my mother again she will surely have another stupid prospective husband waiting for me. He sure is one of those muscular jerks who hunt tigers for breakfast and wears a loincloth. And if he talks to my grandmother, the same thing will happen but in reverse, an idiot nobody financial accountant in an office 24/7, who happens taking photos for social networks all the time, that just seeing a knife will make him pass out. Is it so difficult to find a man like James Bond in the world? no, stop, Xian now is not the time for that. First I have to find a way to save Adelis, I can''t let a demon do what she wants with her. Adelis is the only person who can end the continental war because she is the only person of power who really wants to end the conflict once and for all. Since she lost her son it is the only thing that has mattered to her until recently, when she came here to raise Maria and Elise. All those stupid presidents and business owners are just looking for the suffering to continue to keep getting benefits, that''s the only thing these last meetings at work seem like. Adelis has been the only one who has given my life a reason and showed me that I can use my true work to benefit others and the world. I have to endure my family if I want to save her.
Okay, okay, as soon as I manage to take care of Lisa I will stop talking to my mother forever. I put my hand in my bag to take out my phone and make the call. But suddenly I heard a voice next to me.
"Sensei?"
"What are you doing here?"
I turned around worried, I barely had time to hold my hand before she did something silly. Next to me is Haru Yamamoto, the class delegate in which I was pretending to be her teacher. She was looking at me with quite intrusive eyes, it seemed that she was trying to understand what I was doing here.
"Haru?"
"What are you doing here?"
"That you don''t live in Aoyama-itchome?"
"Well I just wanted to visit my friends"
"Grandpa even came to drop me here but he left as soon as he saw you for some reason"
"Did you come to visit Elise !?"
"Didn''t you hate her?"
"You even talked to me for like two hours about why we shouldn''t accept them in our class!"
"That''s a thing for the past!"
"I already let it go and now we are friends"
"It turns out that it was only necessary for me to give her a chance, it turns out that she is a good person" She was looking aside trying to hide that she was clearly lying
Stop! Wait!. Elise is missing right now! I can''t let Haru into that house right now! I must distract her and get her away from here!
"Well I think that will be difficult, because right now ..."
"..."
"They are finished preparing a couple of papers at school"
"It seems they had a little problem with immigration"
"A lost paper, nothing very important but it would be good to fix it, I will tell you before"
"What? for real?"
"!!!"
"That''s bad we have to help them"
"They could be in trouble right now!"
"???"
"Why? it is only a paper to collect at the embassy and deliver at school"
"Nothing special"
"It''s not that, the document is the least important "
"They''re not really hum ..."
"..."
"Don''t wait, I can''t say why."
"But you have to, believe me, we have to help them before it''s too late"
(Haru strongly suspects that Elise and Tamam are not fully human!)
(This is bad, very bad)
(I have to do something! Whatever is!)
"Ok don''t worry, I have the car parked near here"
"We can both go try to help them!"
"How about!?"
"We can go to school and wait for them there"
But what the hell am I saying?
"Ok, let''s go!"
"We have to save them!"
Did it work?
Despite what I said was a complete lie, I spent the rest of the day carrying Haru around pretending that we were tracking them where they might be. She was mad at me for not driving crazy like in the movies, but even though I have done it a couple of times, the truth is that I was just trying to buy time. In the end, I was only able to shake her off when I called Adelies and she agreed to talk to Haru in the cafeteria. But she was not satisfied with this, she was determined to see the girls. So after a while, Tamamo arrived trying to calm down who did not stop bothering and then demanded to see Elise. Tamamo left and after a couple of minutes Elise arrived, she pretended that she was short of time for some reason and then she left. But that Elise seemed very strange to me, she behaved very differently from before, too cheerful, worse enough to calm Haru and make her leave. I asked Adelis how they found her so quickly and where she was. But to my surprise, Adelis revealed that it was really just Tamamo in disguise, and when I saw her again I realized that she was right. How did I not notice that before? I''m good at remembering faces and spotting spies, but how do I overlook that disguise? No, wait, but Elise is much smaller than Tamamo! How did she appear to be half tall?
Ch94: Little Big Problem
Little Big Problem
An endless meadow, a refreshing wind that hid the intense sun that there was and only me walking in the middle of nowhere was all there was. What kind of place is this? I''ve been walking all day without stopping and it doesn''t even seem that there are traces of civilization on this planet. Just walking in a straight line towards the direction that Stela told me, I hope she has not made a mistake or else I will be finished. When the landscape began to change to a more mountainous one, I ran into the first people of this world. But it seems that it would not be the kind welcome that I expected.
At the base of a small mountain was what appeared to be a cave and in front of it were what appeared to be two demons quite similar to Lisa who killed a man right in front of me.They stabbed him a couple of times and then left him lying on the ground, then they went to a wagon that was only a couple of steps away and began to lower the wooden boxes that he had.I thought it best not to get involved and go on my way, but then one of the demons put his hand in one of the boxes and I saw something that caught my attention.The demon took out a small bottle which contained a small girl, about the size of the anime figure, the demon began to laugh and dance, it seemed that what they had found was what they were looking for.The miniature girl trembled with fear and began to cry, it seemed that what awaited her would not be pleasant.Before I knew it I had already blown the head of one of them with my pistol, the other turned to see me scared by the enormous noise that made even the birds fly out of fear.The demon tried to jump to start flying as well but fired my second shot at the end of the fight if it could be called that way.I put the bottle together and I saw that the girl was fine, which despite her enormous fear seemed to be.Looking at her more closely I could see that she had small wings on her back, it seemed that she was a fairy, quite a pretty one actually.She wore a rather ornate white dress, blond hair long enough for her height, had peculiar long ears similar to those of an elf, and blue eyes full of tears.Seeing that the girl was shaking too much, I thought I''d better finish at once, I opened the bottle and put it on the floor.Then I walked away and started checking the demons for something of value, clearly giving the poor fairy a chance to escape.The truth is that there was almost nothing of value in the place, almost everything was farm tools and seeds.It seemed that the dead man was a rather poor merchant, the demons had nothing important besides the clothes they wore.None of all that served me, when I turned around the bottle was empty, the fairy had left, so I decided to continue my way to the city
Almost at the end of the day, I came across a forest, with which I entered to spend the night, as I preferred to sleep on top of a tree than in the middle of a plain in the open. Using Avalon as a knife I managed to create a spear with a stick and with it I hunted something that I call a bull rabbit because it had two horns and was quite aggressive. Returning to using a bullet as a lighter, I managed to light a fire to prepare my dinner, which turned out to be richer than I expected to be only meat with nothing else. But suddenly my ears picked up some noise, I turned my head to try to look in that direction but something hit me, it was not a strong blow but rather like something was thrown at me. I looked around and was surprised to see what had happened, the same fairy that I had rescued before was back on the ground, she had a small wound on her abdomen, it seemed to be only a small cut, but for her size, I did not know if it was serious. Another time I heard more noise, this time I heard the sounds of metal being hit, they were coming in my direction, that could not be good. Connecting the dots quickly I thought that they must be behind the fairy again, so I hid it between the fur of my tail quickly. Out of the darkness came a group of young people, about 5 of them, one had a fairly large shield and a mace, another a fairly large two-handed sword, a girl had few clothes but had large metal gloves and behind them, there was a boy with a bow next to another girl had a cane and a big hat. There was no way they weren''t a group of adventurers, they even seemed to be divided into roles just by looking at their equipment. As soon as they saw me, despite me still eating my rabbit bull with their hands they raised their weapons ready to fight. One of them started giving orders to the others and when I listened to them I could see that they speak German, so I tried to explain to them that I was not a threat and that I was just eating without disturbing anyone. But they didn''t listen to me, without saying anything they attacked me with their sword, I told them to stop or that I would be forced to defend myself, but they didn''t listen to me either, they all prepared their weapons to attack me all at once. In the end, seeing that diplomacy was not useful, I used that technique that Indiana Jones taught me. Poor of them bringing knives to a shootout. The five went from being they are a group to they were a group.
The little girl started to move, it seemed like she was regaining her consciousness, so I went to help her. But the small size of her made her not easy, so in the end, all I could do was tie some cloth around her abdomen and hope that would help. Which seemed to work, as it seemed to be improving rapidly. It seemed that she was cold, so I laid her on my tail and used a handkerchief as if it were her blanket. I continued to finish my meal which they did not let me finish. In what was in that the fairy completely woke up and began to look around, when she noticed where she was she was quite scared. Looking for a way to calm her down a bit, I remembered that I was still the chocolate bar that started this stupid journey, so I gave her a part by inviting her to eat a little. At first, she showed doubt, but after I showed her that was not poisoned by eating a little she tried it. And boy did she like her because she didn''t stop until she finished the portion that I had given her. Seeing hows she behaved I laughed a little when I saw how much her guard had dropped just for food.
"I can''t believe you really fell for just a piece of chocolate" I mentioned myself.
"Well, the same could tell you about you,"
"Why do you have me loose?"
"Won''t you put me in a bottle?"
I was surprised to hear the fairy answer me.
"What are you talking about?"
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience."I''m just helping a person who seemed to be in trouble"
"It''s not a big deal"
The girl for some reason was surprised that I just said. She began to fly swishing her wings at a fairly high height but she kept looking at me.
"Are you sure?"
"Could it be that you don''t know the rumors?"
"If so, what would happen if I told you that if you sacrifice a fairy, you can fulfill a wish that you want?" The little girl said cautiously.
"Well, I already had my chance, and still look at me how I am"
"Do I look like someone who made a wish and it came true?"
"Do I look like a winner?"
"What the hell is wrong with that apathetic reaction?"
"Are you not excited to hear those words?"
"If you sacrifice a fairy you can fulfill your wish, no matter what it is!" Now she said surprised.
"Girl, just look at the sky for a moment"
"Do you see the sky on fire?"
"Or the face of a narcissist covering the sun?"
"An empire that took over the whole of the earth?"
"What? No"
"If this world is not in chaos despite how easy it is to make wishes then it means that it is a lie"
"If there was a way to get rich so easily, everyone would already be"
"I have seen people waste their empires for them, moving valleys and mountains of existence just out of a miserable hope that it was possible."
"So that method will surely have already been tried and failed hundreds of times at least."
"You are a very strange person"
"Are you really not interested in anything?"
"Whatever is?"
"The only thing that I would like, you can''t give it to me"
"And what I''m looking for now is to go home with my family again"
"I can''t believe it, a big person who is not interested in capturing fairies!"
"This has never been seen before!" The little girl began to approach me until she was level with my face.
"Don''t think you''re the big deal"
"You should know the people I live with, each one is weirder than the last"
"By the way, you don''t have a place to go back to?"
"Your family must be worried, go back to them."
"For me, it''s too late for that"
"I already spent a long time locked up" she said discouraged.
"???"
"What do you mean by that?"
"What does it mean?"
"As you can imagine, fairies have been hunted by huge people."
"So we''ve been looking for ways to hide"
"The kingdom of the Fairies does not stay long in one place"
"Change places constantly so tall people can''t find us "
"In this way, it is also avoided that the captured fairies can reveal the information of where that place is. "
"So if a Fairy like me spends a lot of time captured when I return to where I remember the Kingdom of the fairies was, it will no longer be there"
"That is why straggling fairies are considered dead."
"There''s no way I can get back to my family "
"So this is the end of my way "
"There is nothing I can do to avoid my fate from being found and sacrificed."
"Oh I''m sorry to hear that, I must have been more sensitive to the subject"
"...."
"...."
"Although if you have nowhere to go, how about coming with me?"
"I''m trying to go home and I don''t know almost anything about this place, so your help would do me pretty good."
"What do you think?"
"Do you want to team up with me and go home together?"
"Okay, suppose I accept"
"What would we have to do to go there?"
"Where do you live?"
"And what about your family? Do you think they accept me with you?"
"Well it''s not an easy answer, because the most likely thing is that you think I''m crazy"
"But I swear to you that what I''m going to say is true"
"...." The fairy stared at me with wide eyes of curiosity.
"I come from another world very far from here"
"One where fairies don''t exist, only in fantasy tales"
"And I live with my family, where we have a demon living with an angel, along with my sister who is a human"
"A fairy like you will not look so out of place next to them"
"What do you think of that?"
"That you are lying" she said immediately.
"If you really come from another world, how did you come here and how do you even think about going back to it!?" she said angrily puffing up her cheeks.
"It seems that someone in the Etria kingdom tried to summon a hero from another world and I ended up here."
"In how to return, I only have to get to the 25th floor of Florin''s Dungeon and I can return to my home."
"I do not intend to spend more than two weeks in this world"
"Wait, are you serious?" she brought her hand to her mouth
"Because you''re talking like you''re not really kidding!"
"Come on, wouldn''t you like to leave this world behind and go live in a place where people think fairies are just a myth?"
"No one will believe even when you see you, they will think that they are going crazy, and rather they will be scared"
"Except my sister, she will probably try to see if you can teach her to fly like in the movie "
"So, what do you say? Yes or no?"
"...."
"...." the little fairy stopped to think silently.
"...."
"All right"
"Okay, I will accompany you and help you"
"In any case, if it is a trap, nothing will change, I will be dead on my own, so what else can I lose."
"But you should also do the same with me"
"People consider me a coveted object unlike you, so I will need you to protect me because they will try to rob me"
"My name is Tifa and you?"
"Well I have several, but for now to avoid problems call me Elise"
"Nice to meet you"
I stretched one of my fingers that she took with both hands to shake it and accept the deal that we both proposed. After that, I prepared to sleep on top of one of the trees. I had already done it a couple of times so it wasn''t that much of a problem. Tifa for her part told me that due to their stature fairies have a lot of natural enemies, for example, they were the favorite food of snakes or large spiders. So fairies are by nature very cautious and seek safe places to sleep. So finally after a talk of the same thing of almost 20 minutes she ended up sleeping using my fox tail as a bed. The same one that I was also using as a blanket because I had nothing else to warm myself with.
Ch95: Call For Support
Call For Support
Following a little more in the same direction as always I finally managed to find the city that I had been looking for so much. The city of Florin was situated in what appeared to be the middle of a mountain surrounded by large ravines in a mountain range. The place was full of ups and downs, cliffs and walls, it doesn''t seem like a very nice place to live for people who hate stairs. The main part of the city is connected to the neighborhoods in the other mountains around it thanks to its bridges. The upper part of the city that is in the highest part of the city seems to be where the important people are, the less fortunate people at the bottom as always, in an area where the sun does not seem to arrive very often. But at first glance, there was nothing that could tell me that there was a dungeon in this place. The access bridge to the city is guarded by a large number of guards, they are also divided into three parts, so that although the first one passes there are two other defensive lines. If I want to access the dungeon, I can''t become a monster that forcibly makes its way there. I need to enter the city in a more subtle way, without anyone noticing, then camouflage myself in some way with the other residents and obtain the adventurer''s permit. The good side is that from here I can see the church, it seems that it is quite easy to arrive there, so it will not be a very big problem to communicate with Tamamo, I think.
Tifa, the fairy that is accompanying me has not been calm since the silhouette of the city appeared in her sight, she is much more nervous than me, but at no time has she been complaining, it seems that she is really committed to the cause.She asked me how we would enter the city without alerting the guards.I replied that it is probably much easier to wait until it is night and to enter through the city where the church is, I will simply have to cross the wall.In this way, I can kill two birds with one stone.She seemed to be surprised when I suggested that I climb the wall, as she said that with my body it did not seem possible.But leaving that aside I have full confidence in my climbing skills, after all, Nanami''s own guards, the dark cloaks, almost killed me several times with their hellish training. Now I could sleep climbing a wall in the middle with one arm if I wanted to.The problem will be the guards at the top, I have to watch them see how they behave to find the best place or time to enter the city.I pulled out my pistol and checked the magazine, 8 rounds remaining, along with the other 15 round magazine.A firearm in a world like this is a great advantage, but bullets are a limited resource that I cannot afford to waste.Aside from Avalon, I have a short sword and a dagger from the things I''ve collected so far.I also have a messenger bag where at the moment I have nothing stored, but that I can use to hide Tifa if we run into other people.
As for my appearance, I have no idea what I''m going to do about it. It seems that beastmen are marked as enemies by humans, but if I have to register with the adventurer''s guild, they''ll most likely check me out, so I can''t just hide under a hood all the time. I asked the fairy if she had ever seen someone like me and to my surprise, she answered yes. She mentioned that when it was trapped in the bottle the merchant tried to sell it to another beastman, but he did not have enough money so the sale was canceled. It was a couple of days ago, so it seems in a way that not all beastmen are seen as enemies of humans, but I''d better be careful because I don''t know what the background is. I asked Tifa how it was that the beast-man was dressed and she told me that in a very curious way because he seemed to have "funny" clothes because he was the only one of the big people who dressed that way. It could be that the subject that Tifa mentioned could be that he came from a distant country to the other side of the continent and that is why they did not consider him an enemy, or at least that is my theory. What Tifa basically described was a kimono like the ones Tamamo wears all day, but I don''t have the slightest idea of where to get a kimono or how to use it, damn I had to have accepted that time Tamamo tried to force me to wear one.
In a forest on a mountain just behind where I was I found a fight in progress. In it, there were 3 adventurers. Wow, that was a good attack, now there is only one adventurer left. She is fighting with her big sword against a winged snake with what seemed to be an extremely deadly venom. It didn''t seem like she was able to defeat him, not after seeing how easily her teammates died. One of the dead adventurers is wearing just a hood like the one I wanted to wear. Maybe if I help her, she doesn''t care if I take that as pay. Also, that snake reminds me a bit of a dragon, and seeing that alive offends me personally. I don''t want to leave things like that loose around. Since it''s a dead dragon bundle along with a free hood it''s pretty cool to pass up.
I came out of my hiding place and started walking towards the adventurer and the creature.
"On the fucking floor, motherfucker" I shouted to the snake.
But the snake, although he turned to see me, did not pay attention to me or did he listen to what I said. Shit that I did not expect that.
"Well we can do it in the traditional way too, I also prefer my prey try to prolong his death" I said unsheathed my short swords.
The snake gave the adventurer a blow to his tail that sent her flying directly against a tree. I ran forward and threw a sword directly at one of his wings, which penetrated and stuck there. It seems that with that I managed to attract the attention of that thing The snake opened its mouth, it seems that it wanted to throw poison, and seize the moment and started running backward, seeking refuge among the trees, which began to climb as fast as I could. The snake began to look for me among the trees, without realizing that with that I had greatly reduced its mobility, and with that, it was already mine, I had already won. With the sword that was left, I threw myself towards the other wing that I had without damaging and cut it making a huge wound on its wing. I held his back and with the other hand, I took the other sword and did the same again. His wings had been completely useless, and his whole body tangled in the branches of the trees, and although he tried to retreat trying to attack me desperately, he could not match my speed jumping. In one of his attacks I managed to lose my sight and came out behind a log, I stabbed him in the eye with one of my swords and when he opened his mouth in pain I attacked his brain by putting the sword inside his mouth and then attacking the top of it. The stupid snake was left dead several meters from the ground tangled between the branches. When the battle was over, unfortunately, I could hear the little fairy vomit inside the bag.
I climbed down from the tree and went to check on the adventurer. She was injured and it seems that she needs a while to move, but nothing was serious, only the pain of the impact itself, the armor had saved her from something worse. Although she was looking at me, because of the pain she could not move, which was even more useful to me, because in this way she could not attack me. But just in case I decided better not to spend too much time there and went for my true goal, the hood. Which although it was for a man of almost two meters and therefore it was too big for me, I was not worried because I could fix it myself by cutting a little of the fabric. The adventure shouted that please do not take the swords, thinking that it would be better not to cause problems that would chase me in my future, I just raised my signal with a friendly gesture and I left there. I was not afraid of the adventurer''s safety because we were still quite close to the city, it would only be a matter of time for someone else to discover her, or she recovers in a while and will walk on her own, the real question is what a monster like that was doing near the city.
The rest of the day I was waiting in the bushes outside the wall waiting for night to come so I could make my move. When the afternoon was gone and the night began, the full moon appeared, there was so much light that it could be seen almost as if it were daytime, which helped me vastly to see where the easiest place to climb was and with fewer guards. For their part, seeing the night so bright, they also took it easy because there was no way that someone planned to sneak into the city with such conditions, only an idiot would do something like that (AKA me).
Then at the point that seemed to be midnight I saw how the guards were changing shifts, it was time to act. As soon as I took the first step there was no turning back, but the strangest thing was that just at that moment a cloud settled on the moon, making everything turn quite dark for a moment. I ran as fast as I could to the wall and started climbing as fast as I could. I was so focused that I even began to remember those moments when Nanami took me to practice in those horrible training rooms or hit them with the cane, I still don''t know how I didn''t fall off the cliff the first time they pushed me. Remembering moments when I was mostly useless, they distracted me so much that suddenly I was already on top of the wall. The downswing was much quicker when all I did was jump with Avalon. Inside the city I was in the middle of an alley, there was no one because it seemed that everyone was asleep. Taking advantage of this, I kept running to go more inside where surely the guards are less vigilant. In order not to get lost, I climbed to the roofs and from there I simply ran between them, as it was not as difficult as doing parkour in New York in the middle of a battle. Since the church was quite large it was an important point of reference, so I decided to go there now that there should be no one at this time to be able to make the call home.
I managed to enter through a window and as I thought there was no one, I told Tifa that I was going to try to talk to someone and I did not know what would happen, but just in case I told her to stay in the bag and let me know if she noticed people approaching. If I remember correctly, Stella began to pray to see if they would revive me in the callcenter, so I thought I would try hard and close my eyes and concentrate. For when I noticed it, I felt I was alone in front of a small altar and a huge giant space with nothing, only darkness in front of me. But the next second, everything suddenly disappeared and I could see a vast ocean of clouds. White pillars and gold ornaments everywhere, it looked quite like the central district of Heaven. From a ray of light that came from the sun under a woman, she wore a long white robe like the cloud, crowned with poles, and in her hand, she had a pomegranate. The closer she got the bigger she got until I got to a point where I only seemed to be the size of one of her fingers.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"I the goddess of light have come to instruct you in your step towards glory"
"You have been chosen as the savior and sent as the will of the gods, your name will be engraved in the history of the world as it will save it from these lands"
"With my help we can cleanse this world of the demons that threaten humans"
"With the blessing that I give you, you will be able to ....."
"I haven''t said a single word yet!"
"By the way sorry for asking but aren''t you Hera? What are you doing here?"
"Wait a minute! How did you realize that !?"
"..."
"!!!"
"Cesar!? "
"What are you doing there!?"
"That you had not returned to earth?"
"Well yes, but someone made a mistake and ended up here, so I''m on my journey trying to get back."
"Let me guess, it was the stupid Goddess of this world"
"That rookie has been nothing but disasters since she started, she is a headache for others and only increases my workload even more"
"But now I understand why she was summoned to the disciplinary department"
"Because of her now I have to do her job here until she comes back or they bring in a substitute"
"I haven''t taken a break for almost two thousand three hundred years"
"I no longer remember what sleep is"
"What the hell, haven''t you been retired?"
"That''s what I tell myself"
"But how stupid I was to have married that idiot"
"Are you going to believe me that even after the divorce I still have to work to try to help him pay the infinite amount of child support!?"
"The stupid judge even claimed that it was also I am an accomplice for not stopping Zeus!"
"Tch"
"Never marry an asshole who''s known for trying to date everything with boobs"
"You know, now that I think about it, you wouldn''t be safe if it weren''t for the fact that they have him under permanent surveillance while he works to serve his sentence"
"But enough talking about the garbage"
"What do you want?"
"Well they told me I could talk to my wife, that''s why I''m here"
"Who? Tamamo?"
"But she hasn''t been back to her desk in a thousand years"
"Just looks there!"
Suddenly the image of the sky fades and in its place is replaced by a mundane, typical office environment. People using computers, ringing calls, people lining up at a printer, a long line at the coffee machine. Athens herself was wearing a headset and office clothes, in her writing that still looked huge, she saw an enormous amount of cans of energy drinks and coffee. But among all the modern office environment there was a desk quite different from the rest, as there was a small table at ground level adorned with clear Japanese patterns, there was a pillow on the floor that seemed to be the chair, a couple of rolls of paper and a Brush to write, that together with the enormous amount of dust and cobwebs if they seemed to indicate that its owner had not returned for a thousand years. Ir had really been left behind in time.
"Hey, it would be too much to ask if you could give me a couple of tickets to the end of the year festival on your island?"
"If I can get one of those I could maybe take a 2-week vacation"
"Please help me! I need them!"
"Why is everyone there talking about that party?"
"Okay, tell my father that I promised you two, but first I need you to contact Tamamo"
"You can do it?"
"I think she should be at my mother''s house in Japan"
"Seriously!?"
"Thank you very much, I will redirect you to her right now"
"..."
"Hello, Martha?"
"Yes, it''s me, I need you to give me Tamamo''s number"
"..."
"..."
"Yes, the fox goddess"
"..."
"Yes, the one with the cursed stone"
"..."
"That''s it, thanks"
"Ready I''m calling, thank you very much for the tickets, I''m going to call your father right away"
"Bye!"
The world turned dark again.
"LATE! SLOW!"
"JUST LOOK AT THE TIME YOU CALL!"
"AHHH!" I screamed from the fright of seeing Tamamo''s face in such a large size.
Tamamo was sitting on the armchair in the living room, she had her arms crossed as well as her legs, she had all its tails uncovered and fan-shaped. I was watching her from below and what seemed to be the small table in front, the one we used to put food on while we watch TV. Everything around it seemed to be the living room of my house as I remember it, except the proportions, because it seems that everything is huge as if I were the size of a small fairy. In the background, I could see Lisa trying to free herself from the wall as she was tied up by tape.
"Hi Honey, how are you?"
"You have any idea how concerned we are about you!"
"Your mother hasn''t stopped calling people"
"Maria put up posters with your face."
"Our daughters haven''t slept for two days searching the internet"
"We had to tape Lisa to the wall because she was going to look for you."
"Do you think that just talking casually will save you?"
"What do you have to say in your poor defense?"
"Wait a minute this is not my fault!"
"I swear to you, a Goddess of this world did not invoke me by mistake!"
"Do you think I like to get out of the house?"
"Just look at how I''m dressed, I had to sleep outside like this!"
"I am just another victim!"
"It''s not because of what happened to you that I''m angry!"
"It''s because you didn''t contact me before!"
"Do you have any idea how terrifying it was to see that you suddenly disappeared without a trace?"
"All I had of a clue was Lisa screaming, the angels took it"
"What do you think I thought about the magic trail if it matched that of another Goddess!"
"I was about to go back to heaven to fight her!"
"I''m sorry, but I couldn''t make it to a church the first day, it was too far from where I fell"
"But look! I''m good!"
"You can be calm now!"
"Okay, I forgive you if you can come back let''s see a movie at the cinema"
"Apparently people have a habit of going with their partner to the movies and watching a movie together"
"This is new of several superheroes together that I would like to go see"
"Hey Tamamo who are you talking to?"
"The house phone is there and you have to pick it up first"
"!!!"
"Ah Okaasan!"
"I''m talking to Cesar right now"
"It already appeared, it seems that it is in another world by mistake"
"Another world?"
"Like the one at the time of the birthday party?"
"How are you talking to him right now?"
"Can I talk to him too?"
"A human cannot do the same as a Goddess, but if you lend me that mirror I think I can do something about it!"
"Seeing you guys in that city talking on the screens gave me the idea to do this!"
Tama managed to use a mirror as a way to video talk, so I could see everyone else and they could see me too. I mentioned what happened to me and that it would take me to return, but that I would try to do it as soon as possible. Since they had managed to confirm that I was fine, I told them that they could continue calmly while they awaited my return. As for Tifa, the fairy decided not to introduce her yet, as she seemed to be asleep inside the bag and I didn''t want to cause more problems than they already had. My mother and the others made me promise to call them every day to keep them informed, but even though I think it would be impossible to go back to the church every night, Tama said that she already knew where I was, so I could just talk to the moon and she could hear me. Talk to the twins and remind them that they continue to keep our promise. As for Lisa, I had to talk to her for a long time to make her understand that I was fine and that it was the cause of a mistake, nothing serious had happened, and that I did not want her to make a fool of herself just because of that. She even promised me that she would try to behave while I kept my promise to keep her informed. Finally, I talked to my mother about how long it might take and that I would find a way to try to get back before the start of school. She told me that she had been very worried about me but that deep down she knew that it was not serious either, that it would just be another of my unfortunate adventures and that she was impatiently awaiting my return. Inside, I wanted to cry, because I think it was the first time that I spoke in this way with them, because during the war against the dragons or the continental one I never spoke with my family or heard that they were waiting at home for my return. I was glad to hear their words of encouragement as well as their faces full of hope, I could not disappoint them, I would go home again regardless of the price, I could not fail, I could not allow it.
When I finished speaking I felt as if I had suddenly woken up, like when you feel that you fall and just before the blow you wake up lying in your bed.The effect was so strong that it almost left me completely disoriented. When I recovered I could see Tifa worried trying to pull my cheeks, she told me that someone was coming to check for the noise I made.I did not know if what she said was true, but I was not going to stay to find out, I ran again towards the wall of the church and climbed as fast as I could towards the window through which I had entered.I spent the rest of the night resting a bit on the roof of a tall building, where except for the rain nothing would bother me.
Ch96: Heroine Of Another World
Heroine Of Another World
When the sun finally reached the city of Florin, people began to leave their houses and clean everywhere, they were quickly decorating the main roads, and musicians brought their instruments. It seems that today there was a big celebration of some kind, but from the speed of the preparation, it does not seem that it was something that was commonly done on this date. Some military victory maybe?
Tifa, the little fairy that accompanied me got quite nervous because of the large number of people in the streets, so she hid again in my bag. For my part, I put on the hood and hid my ears and my tail well with them, so at first glance, it looked like another human, the only thing I had to avoid was that it fell off. I found a lonely alley to get off the roofs and walk normally. Once down I went to what seemed to be the main square of the city where the market was also located and I began to listen to the conversations of others to try to gather information. And boy was the news important, it seemed that the hero would come to town to celebrate his most recent victory and make a very important announcement. I had no money for anything, but I decided to have breakfast by stealing a couple of meat skewers from a street stall while I continued to gather information, for the fairy I put a small portion of meat inside the bag, although I don''t know if the fairies are vegetarian or not. But seeing as she didn''t complain, I think she liked it.
A great noise began to be heard near the entrance of the city, then guards appeared making room in the street to let a group of knights pass. They all wore large armor, quite decorated with their weapons, but despite the fact that the men of the unit looked quite tired they did their best to celebrate together with the villagers. People mentioned that they were the royal guard, returning from the battlefield with a great victory behind them. Some mentioned that with a great victory humanity would be only one step away from defeating the Demon Lord, and with that, the end of the war was near. At the end of the horse training came the commander of the unit, an older man, maybe fifty years old, greeting the others. And then when the person next to him took off his helmet, everyone shouted for joy, was the hero of another world who had come to save the world from destruction.
And that''s why the dragons almost beat us.We lost countless groups of soldiers supporting their crazy and senseless plans.More than once she jumped to the front of a battle without backup and caused more casualties, on her side she usually said that we had to end the war as soon as possible.And her reluctance to make logical decisions about leaving behind someone important to be able to fulfill an objective or that she mentioned the power of friendship to rescue her fellow dragon hunters doing great losses of ours in her place.Because of course, launching himself to rescue his friend from school who was ambushed by dragons was 3 times more important than escorting the group of blacksmiths.And then it was our fault for losing several when she was not with us.But of course, saving her friend''s life was a great victory worthy of the mural, not the 400 normal soldiers who also died helping her, they were just nameless losers.Just an NPC. It wasn''t until she lost her sister that she went from winning to receive applause to fighting to win a war.
I doubt very much that she remembers those times now, for her she is surely having the best day of her life, she is saving the world and everyone praises her. and when she gets back to earth she will look at others as insects that she could destroy at any moment if she wanted to, but since she is "the chosen one" she will pretend to hold back until something goes wrong and will start again to be the heroine.
I had been so distracted remembering why I hated her that I didn''t realize they had put up a platform from which Sakura and the commander planned to speak to their cheerful audience. And great was the news because the invoked heroine announced the end of the human war against the demons. The Demon Lord had died in combat with Sakura yesterday in her castle. Mentioning the account of what happened, they said that a second hero was summoned to help the war effort, but because he did not show up, it made everyone nervous. One theory was suggested by one of the real magicians, and it is that perhaps there was a possibility that the demons had interfered with the rite and had kidnapped the invoked hero. When Sakura heard this she immediately ran to the main castle of the demons despite the fact that in theory, she was not yet ready to rescue her compatriot and return the two of them together to earth. But despite the fact that she could not find the achievement to end the enemy king by herself. And now is when I thank the angels who left me in the forest instead because I could not bear to have to speak to Sakura again. In the end, the population was urged to inform immediately if they found a lost human with strange clothes or who spoke a strange language. But people selfish to their own interests only heard the death of their enemy and celebrated the news, even more, I was sure that no one would search for this missing person. Although Sakura does not know me right now, it would be better if I avoid crossing paths with her by any means, because apart from the fact that I do not want to along with remorse for what happened to his sister, it could be a big problem when I return, because surely she will see me as a threat if she realizes that there is a Fox girl and coming from Earth, she could lose a screw. She will see me as a threat to his reign as the most important person in history.
"Why do I have to be here today?"
"Everyone is out partying, just because I''m the new one doesn''t mean they can leave me behind!" Said the girl complaining at her desk
"Hello"
This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there."I come to register with the guild"
"I can do it right?"
"Or hell and did someone really come?"
"Will I really have to work?"
"Hey, it''s not my fault, I just want to join"
"There is a problem with that?"
"There is no problem"
"I welcome you to the adventurer''s guild" Said the girl trying to be friendly now
"Before starting I will explain the bases of the guild"
"First of all the adventurers are ranked ..."
"Yes, yes, they are sorted by rank"
"From letter g to sss or lead to adamantium or something like that"
"blah blah blah"
"Level up, classes, magic, skills"
"All that shit"
"And the missions panel that is there with papers"
"I already know all that, can I register now?"
"Come on, it is just a formality to teach everyone how the union works, because you must consider there are people who do not know all that."
"But why so worried about skipping the information?"
"Is there any particular reason for wanting to rush me? Something together with which you are here and not celebrating like the others"
"That there isn''t any, it''s just that I know all that"
"I''ve heard it hundreds of times already"
"Can we go to the registry?"
I was so tired of listening to those conversations so many times that I was tired. Although that if the last question from her made me so nervous that I had to concentrate enough to pretend.
"Miss!"
"Your eyes have just changed color!"
"What the hell was that!"
Oh shit, it happened again.And it couldn''t be at a better time. I think it would be better to play it safe and go fast. I took out the short sword that I had and pointed it at the receptionist because I think it was much easier to obtain it quickly.
"A beast girl!"
"Shut up if you want to keep your head on your shoulders"
"I just came for the stupid permission to enter the dungeon that''s all"
"You give me the document and I will go"
"Simple right, there is no need for you to do anything unnecessary?"
"But there is a problem, the identification is linked with magic"
"There is data that cannot be hidden from the document"
"The race and class section cannot be altered!"
Why everything in my life has a "but" in every step?
"Okay, it doesn''t matter, it''s just to get through the door"
"You just do the document as you have to and you give it to me"
"So each one returns home alive"
"What do you think? "
The receptionist shook her head in agreement, she immediately put a paper on the table and began to fill it out as fast as she could.
"All right"
"What is your name then?"
"Put only Elise Valkyria, that will be enough"
"All right, and what race are you?"
"What? They ask that too? And how do I do with those who are not human?"
"The adventurer''s guild accepts people of all kinds, so we work with all kinds of races, although when the war started there were problems as you can imagine."
"Great, so the idiot is me out of sheer coincidence again."
"Write dragon"
"What? Dragon? Are you sure?"
"It is that with those ears and the tail I thought you were an Arctic Kitsune"
"So what are you asking for?"
"Isn''t it obvious? "
"Sorry, I tell you what I said"
"Finally, what class do you use?"
"Like, should I come with one?"
"could not be selected here?"
"All people are born with a class in which they are most proficient, nothing prevents a farmer from working as an adventurer, but he will never be as good as someone who has a class as a warrior."
"That is why the document must have this information"
"That''s super stupid"
"It is cruel to put that in plain sight!"
"Although it has given several disputes, this is how the information is handled and I can not do anything about it"
"What class are you?"
"Write Valkyrie also have if it sneaks"
"That should work according to what I heard"
"Valkyrie?"
"What class is that?"
"I have never heard of that class?"
"That is not a type of angel from some legend of the past?"
"Wait, does the machine let me register it?"
"What''s going on?"
"Something good for the first time."
"Ready, that was what you were occupying, right?"
"Can you give me the damn document?"
"Yes of course"
"Here is your guild ID, if you present this at the entrance they will let you go to the dungeon."
"Although I would advise you not to go alone and form a group with someone with more experience because the place is dangerous for people who are not prepared"
The girl from the guild said those phrases with such monotony of doing it so many times that it seemed that she had forgotten that I had been threatening her with a weapon. I picked up the document and headed for the door to get out at once. But just when I reached out my hand the door moved in my direction and it hit me in the face with great force, enough to knock me to the ground. I recovered quickly and got up even more, but I also realized that my hood was on the ground, so the ears and the tail, along with the bag where Tifa is hiding, could be seen. I quickly picked up the hood and put it back on, I drew my sword to deal with the person who had hit me. But curiously the other person was not as surprised as I thought she would be. Well, it turns out that she was the adventurer that I had helped the day before by killing the basilisk. When she saw me, she was surprised, but not because she met an enemy, but because she wanted to thank me that I had saved her life. She mentioned that her name is Karen and that she was a silver rank adventurer, but that yesterday''s mission despite being gold rank they had to accept it as an emergency because there was no one else. She came to claim the reward to pay the families of the adventurers who died yesterday trying to defend the city.
Karen was extremely grateful that he had saved her and killed the monster who even told the receptionist that I was a good person despite being a beast girl, and even gave me information about the city. I thought she was being grateful, but the truth is that I think she was complimenting me like I was a superhero, the receptionist even laughed and said that if Karen said that she voted in my favor then that I must be a good person.When I left she continues to accompany me introducing me to other people, which helped me to avoid looking too suspicious, but at one point she even saved me when a child raised my hood and my tail was partially seen.Karen began to say out loud that I should hunt foxes and take them under the hood because people would think badly of me, others did not trust me, but it seems that with Karen by my side they preferred to think that.
Karen said she even knew of a place where I could spend the night for a good price and where they didn''t ask questions.Even though she had no money, she paid me three nights in advance so that I could give myself time to get more money.She also told me that the next day she would teach me how to work in the dungeon.I liked that she was helping me because I had done the same, but the truth was that I felt quite uncomfortable how she was treating me so well, I even thought that maybe she trusted other people too easily.
Ch97: The Legacy of the Unknown Emperor
The Legacy of the Unknown Emperor
Florin Town, Kingdom of Etria
It was already quite late at night but both me and Tifa, the fairy, were still awake. I was worried that something would happen at night like an unwanted visit from a thief or even a man with dangerous intentions, because of the reaction that people had when they saw me with Karen, the young adventurer who had helped me in the afternoon. But as time passed I realized that it seemed that it was just my paranoia that everything would always go wrong, I put my stuff on the nightstand next door and went to bed. Tifa seemed quite curious about my things because between the moonlight coming through the window I saw how she checked the bullets in my gun. Seeing her reminded me that there were still many things I didn''t know about this world, so I thought I''d ask the little girl what she knew.
"About what do I know about the world?"
"I''m just a fairy I don''t know anything about current news!"
"I think that''s a pretty dumb question."
"...
"No, wait"
"If you come from another world it would be normal that you know absolutely nothing about this one"
"So it''s actually a smart question"
"Okay, I''ll tell you a bit of information that everyone takes for granted."
"That way they won''t notice you so lost, or as an idiot" Said the proud fairy as she sat on the edge of the nightstand.
"Thank you"
"How about you can tell me in general about the world or the races?"
"How are they related to each other?"
"Who is an ally of whom?" I said gratefully as I settled down to listen to her speak.
"Okay, that''s fine"
"We can start with no one knowing for sure when the world was created or why."
"We don''t know what life was like before the first ones arrived"
"But when they arrived they had a lot to do"
"Who were the first ones?"
"That''s what I''m narrating! Don''t interrupt me every 2 minutes."
"First I explain a part and then you ask"
"Forgive me, teacher Tifa"
"Okay the first ones or as the humans like to call them, the elves"
"They were the first sentient race to step onto the surface of the world."
"Or as they called it at the time Siniath Ambar"
"According to the lore of the elves and their stories, the elves came to Siniath Ambar from a huge stone that fell on the ground"
"The place where the impact was called Medui Tamn, and you can''t guess where it is"
"Look girl, I just know that outside of here there are like 40 kilometers of nothing around."
"Currently I have no idea what this inn is even called
"Do you think I''ll be knowing something like that?" I said really showing my ignorance of the subject
"Well, here''s the fun part, right now we''re right next to Medui Tamn." said the girl pointing to the window, from where you could partially see the huge hole near the town
"What humans know as Florin''s Dungeon is the sacred place where the elves came into the world"
"A lot of time and things have happened since then so now hardly anyone human knows about it."
"Hang on a minute!"
"If it is sacred ground for the elves, why is there a human city right next to it?"
"Aren''t they angry or offended?" I said I am surprised by this fact
"That is precisely where the story continues"
"When the elves reached the surface they are said to have encountered a hostile world."
"Hostile in the sense that everything was barren or lifeless"
"No one could live long term unless something was done about it."
"As the elves got to work, it is said that they all worked hard without stopping in the face of the incessant sandstorms"
"But despite the great efforts it was simply a titanic task, not even all the elves working were enough for the job"
"So it is said that they created a solution to their problem"
"According to legends, the elves created the Humans to help them build a land to live on"
"The humans were in charge of the heavy and difficult tasks, while the elves were in charge of supervising the project and the engineering"
"It is said that the first generations of humans were quite different from what they are today, during this time they were much more docile and calm"
"But how time passed humans too."
"And little by little the disgust of the humans grew."
"The humans died to do the hard work, and the elves just watched and ruled."
"I think I know where this is headed"
"The humans rebelled against the elves"
"A great war broke out, and the great horde of the brave made humans what they are today"
"The predominant race by a huge margin because they are the masters of war."
"Although the elves were superior in all aspects to humans, the latter demonstrated a facet that the elves, their own creators, did not expect"
"Courage" emphasize her now pointing to my dagger on the table.
"Among the other races they have a saying about the humans: Humans are not afraid to die if they know that they are helping their own, and even then they will cling to life by any means necessary."
"The elves killed the leader of the rebellion, but that only fanned the flames of war."
"For every human the elves killed, 10 more were ready to fight to the death."
"Yes, I know that part of them quite well."
"I once experienced something quite similar with them." I said remembering a little my past in Atlantis.
"The elves at the end of a brutal war were close to total extinction."
"They abandoned their cities along with everything else and took refuge deep inside the forests, in areas so remote that humans probably wouldn''t bother to claim them."
"The great leaders of the horde of the braves, All royal families of humans are descendants of one of these leaders"
"They say they did what they did base on the will of the Unknown Emperor"
"But despite how much they have investigated, it seems that any information about this Unknown Emperor was lost over time."
"It is believed that this person that the human leaders speak of was probably the one who lit the flame of the human revolution against the elves."
"The mind behind the revolution and its first leader"
"Someone who walked seeing the damage caused to humans by elves and thought of creating a better place for others"
"The name of the key person for humanity, the one who started everything for them and whose name is not even known"
"So the elves were almost destroyed by their own creation and from that war, the humans spread throughout the world"
"Unfortunately after that, there is a rather turbulent era that we fairies are unaware of, but after this point, it was when they began to build their kingdoms and their disputes between them."
"The dark age was called, a time so harsh that humans hardly remember what happened"
"Enough information was destroyed during the battles, technologies, knowledge, history was erased, so much so that most of them do not know that they are next to one of the most important places in the world, the place where life most likely originated"
"Some humans, however, know that the site is important but do not know why, so they conduct research on it."
"The elves want the place back as it is the place their ancestors came from, but they don''t plan to go to war with the humans after what happened."
"But one thing is certain, not even the elves themselves know what is at the bottom of that place. Because even the original elves were afraid of that place and forbade everyone from entering the place"
"That is why the town of Florin is so important because its dungeon is completely unknown to everyone"
Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!"Nobody knows what is at the end or what treasures may be hidden, along with the large number of resources that the dungeon produces from its monsters for example"
"And that is why there is a city next to such a dangerous place"
"Definitely a very interesting story"
"But what about the others? How did the others appear?" I asked, because there were still more things to know
"Well, the other races also have their stories and traditions, although they have not been as impactful for today''s world."
"The dwarves say they were born from the first stone of the world"
"The first dwarves shaped the interior of the world, each natural cave is said to be the work of the dwarven ancestors"
"The dwarves were born from the center of the world and they were creating caves to be able to live"
"Expanding in the territory as their descendants did"
"The modern dwarves say that they come from a bloody civil war between the council of the hammers and the forgers"
"They discovered the surface by mistake when they were expanding their caves fleeing from their cities destroyed by their wars"
"They arrived long after the humans claimed the title of lords of the world"
"Humans amazed by their creations and crafts reached peaceful agreements with them and gave them land to build their kingdoms"
"The dwarves have a great alliance with the humans, in which they will basically help each other in case of problems"
"Although dwarves are quite homey and clinging to the lands of their ancestors, it is not at all uncommon to see them as scattered across the world as humans"
"It is almost certain that for every village of humans, there is at least one dwarf blacksmith or family of miners"
"When it comes to things related to minerals, the dwarves are the undisputed experts due to their long history related to the earth"
"And what about the beastmen?"
"Is there an origin for each variation of them?"
"I think the answer would be yes and no" the little girl crossed her arms showing resignation
"Of all the races, the Beastmen are the most recent to appear"
"Although each race tells how they appeared, the vast majority have quite common things"
"The summary would be that all beastmen are actually real animals of the forest"
"Animals that seeing how humans claimed the world and how nature could not stop them, they asked God ,this varies according to each tribe, to grant them the power of humans to protect the forests, their home"
"God grants their wish, but leave clear marks of each of their species of origin, so that in this way beastmen never forget who they really are and where they come from"
"Someone like you would certainly be a direct descendant of arctic foxes" she said clearly referring to my white animal parts.
"Beastmen normally live in tribes scattered throughout the world according to the animals they come from"
"The tribe of lions live in the savannah of fire, the tribe of bears are in the northernmost parts of the continent"
"The most common are the tribes of wolves, which like these are almost everywhere, expert hunters and warriors"
"The tribe of felines, which taking advantage of their agility is normal for them to be thieves or spies"
"Some influential humans always have contacts with this tribe"
"And the fox tribe, the normal ones, are quite cunning and intelligent, so they usually take care of trade or economy and administration."
"They were held in high regard by humans for their efficiency, at least before the war began"
"So if beastmen and humans used to be allies, why are they now enemies?" I asked
"Well, despite normally living in tribes separated by race, Beastmen had two fairly large kingdoms."
"One to the east of here and the other to the west, each one at each end of the continent."
"The eastern kingdom allied itself with the demons and used various families or individuals who had been living in the human villages to sabotage them before the war."
"When the demons attacked, the humans were met with the horrible surprise of the beastmen''s betrayal, and how they had weakened the defenses or exposed the defenses of the humans to their enemies."
"The tribe of wolves released very dangerous wild animals in the cities "
"The feline tribe killed the best human warriors the same day the war began."
"The fox tribe had run away with the money, leaving only loss and chaos for those who trusted them. "
"Obviously not all of the beastmen betrayed the humans, quite a few individuals continued to help the humans."
"Mainly those who had lived with them since childhood because they did not know anything else and considered themselves members of the human people. The western kingdom even helped the humans by joining the alliance as well"
"But even so the damage was done, those were the exceptions, the humans captured the vast majority or had them under heavy monitoring"
"The beastmen who aided the humans weren''t above suspicion either, but at least they treated them better."
"The western kingdom was forbidden to get directly involved in the conflict, so they were in charge of creating weapons and armor to send to the human kingdoms"
"Over time the beastmen began to migrate to the Western kingdom, where they knew they would be better treated, others were taken in caravans of prisoners."
"That''s why in a place as far east as Etria, seeing a fox girl like you is quite strange and most likely an enemy, that''s why you''re not so welcome here"
"And what about the demons? why did the war start?"
"That is precisely the problem, it is not known"
"One day the demons came from the east, from the sea and began attacking the humans almost immediately"
"But seeing as the beastmen had allied themselves with them beforehand, it was certainly a fairly well-planned operation"
"The theory is that these demons most likely come from farther east than anyone had previously understood, probably from another as yet undiscovered continent"
"And that these demons are trying to establish themselves here to increase their influence"
"We fairies believe that the Demon Lord is just the title of the commander of the expedition and that there is probably someone even more important"
"Without a doubt, you are very well informed about the world, many things that you have told me are not public knowledge" I said coming to this conclusion because of everything Tifa had been talking about.
"Well, lastly, we fairies come from the fairy kingdom, a fairly large floating island"
"For fairies at least, for tall people, it is surely no bigger than a common church"
"Due to the stupid rumor about wishes, we consider all other races enemies"
"Apart from all the other dangers that abound in the world such as snakes or terrifying spiders"
"Because we are always in constant danger we spend a lot of time collecting information from everyone else"
"Several groups of fairies come down to earth for these information-gathering missions"
"I''m actually a plant researcher"
"My job is to research plants and their behavior for the benefit of my race"
"I was currently working on finding plants from the underworld that we could grow back in the fairy kingdom."
"Or at least that was before they caught me in the middle of the search in the middle of my investigation."
"But how was I to know that there could be humans lurking so deep in the forest!"
"I thought it was a completely safe place" Tifa said quite angry, kicking a piece of cookie.
"I''m sorry that''s what happened to you, it sure was really scary for you"
"It was no, it''s still terrifying"
"I''m still not calm about this."
"It''s just that it''s the only thing I can do, for now if I''m not with you they''ll kill me for sure"
"You may not see it that way, but fairies are not born like other races."
"Each family of Fairies has a sacred tree, which bears fruit very rarely."
"Which when buried and cured for a long time originates a flower that when opened reveals a new fairy."
"Our parents are the couple who take care of the fruit of the tree, which will only grow with the necessary love and care"
"So in a certain way it indicates how fragile we are, a small plant, and that we are surrounded by a world so hostile to us" Suddenly her attitude began to change, she began to speak more slowly and her voice was deeper.
"Where a false step can be our last"
"I just wanted to make a better life for others with my work"
"But now all that is ruined thanks to the big people"
"I didn''t even get a chance to apologize to my father for our last fight."
"He was worried about my safety and he didn''t want me to go on an expedition."
"I ignored him and now looks where I am..."
"..."
"I should have listened to my dad.."
"..."
"...hic..."
"...."
"AAAAAHHH!!" The little fairy began to cry uncontrollably.
"...."
"Dad ...mom..."
"miss you...."
"...."
"AAAAAHHH!!"
My reaction, remembering what Tamamo always does with me, was to do the same as her. I took Tifa with one hand and moved her next to me. We both covered ourselves with the blanket and I tried to hug her very carefully because of how small she was.
"Calm down, I''m here"
"..."
"Everything will be alright"
"..."
"I''m going to protect you"
"..."
"Rest for now, in the future we will see together what we can do about it"
"..."
"Rest for now"
I told her what I would have liked to hear if I were in her place. I was with her for a long time until she calmed down a bit, and with a little more time she even fell asleep in our arms, holding one of my fingers, seeming to indicate that she didn''t want me to go away. I did the same to her and slept this way with her so that she could rest as calmly as possible. Tomorrow would be the day I would go to do reconnaissance in the dungeon, and my curiosity about that place had only grown after hearing the fairy tale.
Ch98: Council Meeting
Council Meeting
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
Today the atmosphere at home was a little different than usual. Right now there was a meeting of great importance for the participants. Everyone was gathered in the room, in the center of it was the TV on, projecting various graphs on percentages and numbers. The person who was exposing the information was dressed very formally, very similar to how Adelis dresses when she has an important meeting with a diplomat. All of her audience was staring in disbelief at what their eyes were seeing. Because in front of them they were observing how Lisa was presenting her topic in a highly professional and calculated way.
"And in this way, we can calculate that the average affection per minute or AAPM is 25.3 "
"Now, although we know that Cesar does not have the same time to spend with all of us the same amount of time together with the large number of problems in which he is involved makes the number lower."
"But even adding the average time spent with some of us and the shows of affection, the number is much lower. "
"How low? "
"Well, Cesar''s AAPM is 5.4, that''s how bad we are"
"We can''t meet our quota if we continue at this low rate, so we need to increase AAPM to at least an acceptable level."
"I would love to raise it by a lot more than the average, but for now we must propose a realistic goal "
"According to graph 4, the AAPM that we must achieve by the end of next month should be at least 12.6 "
"So each one should get a 2.5 AAPM for herself"
"...."
"Yes, Lady Tamamo?"
"The division is wrong"
"12.6 divided by 3 is 4.2, not 2.5"
"Well that''s because moving on to the next chart I prepared, this one, chart number 5"
"Seeing Cesar''s record so far this year"
"It is clear that someone else will join our harem with a probability of 86.7%"
"I just go ahead and prepare in case that scenario occurs"
"But even then the division would be 3.5"
"Well that''s because of a slight hint I got from one of the propositions that will come later"
"For my part, that would be all, thank you very much for listening to my talk on love shared in time"
"I hope that with this everyone can reflect a little more on how to carry out this relationship in the best possible way according to what I think Cesar will like"
The public began to applaud, everyone was surprised by the seriousness that Lisa had put into her talk. Because although they didn''t know, the succubus had been spending the last 2 days preparing all the material and research without sleeping. She even consults with the twins to get the mathematical equations correct and integrate them into an interactive graph. The most surprised was undoubtedly Adelis when the demon asked her if she could lend her a formal outfit for today''s meeting.
"Well, thanks to Lisa for sharing her thoughts on the topic of our meeting today"
"As you may have noticed, this meeting is for that, as wives, we have to find ways to improve our relationship with Cesar" Tamamo spoke
"Wait a moment!"
"If this meeting is for harem members, what is Maria doing here?" Momo asked
"Well, at the moment she is the one who knows Cesar best since they have lived together for a long time, so I thought that maybe she could give us more information about him"
"Something like an external consultant"
"Any other question?"
....
"Okay, staying on topic, just like Lisa says I think we''re not having time to do loving things"
"We already know that he is someone who is a very busy person involuntarily"
"But I think it was just bad luck, a very bad streak"
"The important thing is that we will do it from now on!"
"And that is why I propose that each of us should be entitled to at least one day off from the influence of others!"
"For example, the next time Cesar has a day off, we will go see a movie at the cinema"
"That day will be for the two of us only"
"After that, the next date will be he together with Momo"
"And the next after that it will be Lisa''s turn"
"In this way, each one will have their time alone with him to do loving things with darling and the others stay out of what happens"
"What do you think? do you accept this agreement?"
"I agree, it''s fair game" the angel said
"If stupid angels like you hadn''t interfered with my love for him, right now I''d have him all to myself"
"But I am aware that he loves you too, so now I can''t do anything about it but accept it and move on"
"I can''t make Cesar feel bad because now he has me by his side"
"I have to support him in everything I can if I want him to love me back"
"So ok I accept your proposal " the demon answered
"Okay then, then we must agree to schedule the days for the other members and not to exhaust Cesar either"
"The next exhibit is Momo with her new invention..."
"The shoes with lights?..."
"What the hell?"
"Yes, right here I have the prototype!"
"It''s not so much a great original invention, but during a party Rafael had me walk by a couple of floor lights and that made me shine like a light bulb"
"So I thought that if I wore shoes with lights and that they changed color I could maybe...."
"We have finished analyzing the internet history of Dad and we have managed to organize them according to their level of interest in him!"
"Do you want to see the results?" The sisters suddenly appeared with what seemed to be relevant news on some topic.
Crac!
The prototype that Momo had in her hands was destroyed while she was still tuning it, all due to a distraction caused by the conversation.
"Thanks for the interruption, they just saved us" someone said in the background.
"What? Who? Why? When? How?" Said Tamamo stunned.
Even Maria raised an eyebrow that until now she had only been acting neutral to what she believed was stand-up comedy.
Lisa no, Lisa was fine.
"Mom Lisa asked us to search for information about dad''s past and with it, we have created what we believe to be his main preferences in girls."
"Using his past internet searches and history when he was young or when he was in the military, the information he was looking for has changed slightly, but the main themes remain the same"
"So we have a certainty of 97% of which is according to dad the ideal type of girl for him "
"And with it, we have made a classification of who is the person that most closely matches his preferences."
...
...
...
"There are so many buts to this that I don''t even know where to start"
"I already understand the confusion Cesar felt when I proposed to him" Tamamo said, narrowing her eyes a little as a sign that she was thinking deeply about what she just heard.
"And well, what are the results?" Maria said excitedly
"What! stop no!"
"Hadn''t he said that he didn''t want you two to do those things?!"
"That''s information he doesn''t want to reveal, we can''t do this!" Said the angel trying to do the voice of the conscience.
"Come on,That perhaps you do not want to know what are the tastes of your "darling"?"
"Are you afraid of being in last place?"
"You don''t think you have enough assets?" Said Lisa striking a pose to further reveal her huge cleavage.
"Okay, okay"
The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon."if that''s how you want to play"
"I''m gonna play your damn game demon"
"I don''t gonna lose to a cow" Momo said rather offended, as she covered the parts she had never done before, seeming to indicate that it did affect her.
"Well, who is in the first place!? Said Tamamo being the most excited of the group
"Ok"
"According to dad''s list of preferences, and leaving out a slime girl because no one here is a slime girl."
"Fifth place goes to..."
"Momo"
"I already lost?" Momo said surprised.
"This is difficult to categorize, because even if he indeed look for things about angels..."
"They weren''t transparent right!?"
"It''s because I''m made of glass!"
"Is that it, just saying it directly!"
"I know I''m the problem, I''ve always known it!"
"AAAAAHHH!!!!!" the girl ran into the room, from where the big bang was heard when closing.
....
....
"And that''s why the other angels turned away from her "
"But don''t worry, she''s probably happy after having his date with darling."Lisa said, seeming to know that it wasn''t the first time she had seen her behave like this.
"In fourth place is Lisa"
"Well, the next topic that he looked for the most was succubus"
"Besides that, he bought the figure of one about a series that he watched during his time at school"
"Wait a minute, the fourth position!?"
"We are not so many people, against whom I lost!"
"Why did I lose!? Is it because of the horns? is the blue?"
"What color was the figure, where is it stored? Which character!?"
"I need to know it!"
"Come on, leave it, it''s clear that it is your way of behaving "
"You still don''t know how to change your appearance but even if you knew how to do it, nothing would change"
"Also it''s not that you''re bad, you have the body that any girl would kill to have"
"Actually, Dad seems to like the archetypal character that Lisa is."
"Two other figures that he got were of characters that..."
"Well we could say they were mentally broken for love"
"Okay but that doesn''t answer my question, who did I lose to!"
"The next one on the list, I think it''s a little difficult for you to understand me"
"Kazumi and I would be in the third position"
"Dad really likes technology and robots"
"Androids precisely"
"He liked the series of fighting robots and androids"
"Its main video games are racing or contain robots"
"His favorite game is a fantasy game with various races, including robots."
"Of which he has 5 characters of this race at maximum level"
"He had recently bought a buildable model on the internet about Nonoa, the battle android girl and her enemy the slime girl"
"In theory, the package should arrive tomorrow"
"These girls are really terrifying"
"If my brother was here he probably would have jumped on train lines by now." Maria said she was really surprised by the sisters'' ability because she also knew this side of him.
"But even so the mystery continues, if only I was left, who else could be in the first place!?"
"Who could beat me?"
"All right!"
"jumping to first place, the person in the first place would be..."
"Cesar himself"
...
...
...
"I think we''ve been at this all day, but what the hell happened?"
"Why?" said the lady of the moon.
"The greatest amount of searches that dad has made, as well as downloaded material, is undoubtedly the kitsunes by a large margin"
"It is no secret to anyone that he likes nekomimi o animal ears"
"So why am I in second place!?"
"I am the real Tamamo-no-mae! The goddess! I am the original kitsune!"
"Everyone else is basically copying me!"
"How can I lose against him!?"
"Why!"
"Well, if the competition had been before he enlisted in the army, you would have won"
"But when he started there his internet searches changed quite a bit."
"He even paid a couple of commissions for various artists to draw a girl with fox ears and tail."
"And well between the descriptions of what he wanted are the same way of describing his current form "
"Right now Cesar with his girl''s body is the one who most resembles the ideal girl according to his tastes "
"The size, the large bust, her big hips, the enormous foxtail, the type of hairstyle."
...
"No" Tamamo said firmly while thinking.
"On the contrary, it would make a lot of sense"
"The hair color of these drawings of hers were black?"
"She always had red eyes?"
"Correct, but how did you find out?"
"It can''t be!"
"Yes, it has to be Nanami"
"The first one that was with him"
"..."
"We have already seen that he never got over it, so it is normal that she was first"
"But commissioning artists to draw someone like Nanami?"
"That is legal?"
"Have you ever seen that he has a picture of Nanami?"
"Doesn''t it seem strange to you that despite how much we know he loved her, he doesn''t have any pictures of her?"
"With these "smartphones" that everyone uses now, taking a picture is super easy"
"But still Cesar does not have a single picture of her"
"We know Nanami looks like because Cesar is using his body now and he himself has informed us "
"But after that is how the war against the dragons ends, he had no way of seeing her again except the day he died"
"Maybe he was looking for a way to remember her"
"This was his way of trying not to forget her"
"At least when he was still a man"
"It''s amazing how he still endures it"
"Even though no one knows where she might be"
"It seems cool to me, he like despite what has happened he clearly still has not given up"
"Despite all the time that has passed, he is still looking for her"
"It gives me hope to know that if one day something happened to me he will not rest until he found me again"
"Just like he do with her"
"It seems to me the clearest sign of love that someone could do"
Slam!
The door of the house was flung open, through it you could see Adelis, she was coming back from working in the cafeteria.In her face you could see that something was bothering her, she carried on her back the weight of bad news. She looked at those present in the room and with her authoritative voice, she sent for the missing angel.The meeting had stopped dead in its tracks to move on to much more serious business, the way the mother was behaving reflected that.
"Okay girls, I have serious news to give so I need you to listen to me well"
"We are in the red numbers, possibly close to bankruptcy"
"We have to do something immediately starting now if we want to correct it"
"What? How did that happen?"
"Well, it was nice while it lasted" Maria said, seeming used to hearing these words.
"Today I made the balance of this month of the premiere of my coffee shop"
"And the result was a complete disaster"
"Currently I had losses almost every day"
"And well I knew that something like this was very likely to happen, after all my store was completely new and unknown to the residents here"
"So I had money saved in case this happened so I could still move on easily"
"What I did not count on was that I would have to feed seven people more in less than a month"
"That along with the weapons, the vests, the bullets, the plane rental"
"I just have a monetary hemorrhage right now"
"I know that Cesar already feels guilty for not having income on his own or a job, with pay at least."
"So I don''t want him to find out about this."
"We will have to change things if we want to move forward"
"I know Cesar said about making my coffee shop fantasy-themed trying to scare Haru away, but I think maybe it could work and attract more customers"
"So now we will make the following rule"
"With the exception of Cesar, the one who doesn''t work in the cafeteria doesn''t eat"
"If we all work hard we could grow our revenue and our customers to something where it''s easier to run"
"Momo could help in the kitchen, the twins can be cashiers, and the others can dress up as maids to act as waitresses"
"With this, we will gain frequent clients in the blink of an eye"
!!!!
"Wait a minute, Mom, aren''t you rushing a bit?" Maria said realizing what that would imply
"I''m still recovering from my illness, I can''t work yet, not dressed as a Maid!"
"The boys at school will laugh at me!"
"We can talk this democratically"
"Girl, under this roof we do not have a democracy, there is a dictatorship and here I rule"
"That you didn''t want to be considered an adult? well, an adult takes responsibility for herself"
"Your brother wasn''t embarrassed about working as a janitor at the school he attended when he was young or having to wear ridiculous costumes to earn money to help you"
"Are you going to let him beat you?"
"So you''re going to help too"
"Come, I''m going to take your measurements right away to make your dress, I can still make one more with the material left over from Tamamo''s dress!
"Cesar fought against dragons alone, as far as I''m concerned he already beat me!"
"I can''t compete against that!"
"NOOO!"
"Help!" Maria said as she scratched the ground in order to hold on to something
No doubt by the time Cesar returns from his adventure one or two things will probably be a little different.
Ch99: The Abyss
The Abyss
Florin Town, Kingdom of Etria
The day began with sunlight hitting the window, but even so, from early on the problems start when I heard someone knocking on my door with what seemed like joy or impatience. Without much time to think about something, the only thing I could do was throw Tifa, who was still sleeping, against the bag that was on the other side of the room. I took the gun and got under the covers, leaving only my face visible. The one who broke down the door turned out to be Karen, the girl who had helped me yesterday and who had paid for me to stay in this room. She was impatient because since she had heard about I would go to the Florin''s dungeon, she wanted to show it to me, and mentioned that it was best to go as early as possible. I scolded her because she had scared me, I thought that someone was trying to rob me, I also mentioned that with what she did someone else could have discovered me because I was not ready to go out yet. She apologized and told me that she would wait for me downstairs to have breakfast. After she left, I immediately went to apologize to Tifa for what I did to her, she replied that it would have been easier and less painful if she had simply hidden her with me under the covers, I simply replied unfortunately I didn''t have that idea before.
After preparing myself, I went out with Karen towards Florrin''s dungeon so I could reconnoiter what was waiting for me down there and plan my descent according to the situation. But I realized that Florin''s dungeon, or rather the biggest fucking hellish dark abyss I''ve ever seen in my fucking life, would be a little more different from the traditional dungeon concept I had in mind. Looking down gave me the same tingling sensation that it gave me when I looked at the cliffs in Atlantis. Is there really a city next to that thing? I think that now I will never sleep peacefully knowing that the inn is close to that hole of almost a kilometer in diameter, it seemed more like an open-pit mining operation, but of such a depth that you could not see the bottom, except a pair of dots lights of completely unknown origin for me.
"All this time and you still don''t know what could be down there, the sunlight has never reached there"
"It is generally believed that the elves were the ones who built all that, but even so, there are many structures down there that do not match their design or architecture"
"The dwarves for their part call it the frontier, because none of them say they have ever set foot down there, despite them being from the interior of the earth"
"Nobody knows for sure what is down there, but it is believed that the lower parts discovered so far could perhaps even be from yet another lost civilization"
"Or at least that''s what the nerds I normally escort mention" Mentioned Karen informing me.
"How do you organize a place as huge as this?" I asked
"It is known that there is a seventh, but no one has returned alive to report that it could be there"
"The layers are not divided by depth or distance, but by ecosystem and age"
"The deepest I have reached has been to the fourth layer, in a six-month journey, and I can assure you that each layer is a completely different world"
"In the third, in fact, there is even a forest that has a magic that makes it look like daylight"
"But it''s impossible to even imagine that something like that exists with the view from here"
Oh my God, what trouble did I get myself into!?
"Do you know where the twenty-fifth floor is?" I asked scared
"From what place?"
"From down there maybe?"
"No sorry, that''s not what I meant"
"Was he talking about the twenty-fifth floor? yes, from which Ruin?"
"You don''t know what you are looking for?"
"Why did you risk coming to a human town like this in the first place?"
"Tell her it''s your test to become an adult"
"Most beastman tribes have stuff like that" I heard Tifa speak from the bag.
"It''s my test to become an adult of my town!"
"I thought fox tribes normally take a theory test like human scholars"
"Well, yes, but we arctic foxes not only have to do that, but we also have to show that we are capable of defending ourselves"
"Things about living in the arctic and all that frozen wasteland"
"The problem was me, who went all out and promised them that I would reach the twenty-fifth floor of the Florin dungeon"
"Let me guess, you thought the dungeon was a traditional floor dungeon but did you find that bottomless hole?"
"Basically yes, you are correct"
"Don''t worry, this happens almost always"
"In the guild, they even have pamphlets to try to correct this general consensus, but it has never worked"
"...."
"...."
"At least in your case, you could maybe go to the Faer Dath ruins that are the closest"
"The place seems to be an old elven fortress, it has 50 levels, but there is a teleporter on the 25th floor to get outside the dungeon"
"So maybe that could help you meet your goal"
"If you take an item from a monster of that level you could go to the guild to certify that you were there and show it back in your home"
"What do you think about this?"
"Yes, that would be excellent, it''s just what I''m looking for!"
"Okay, I showed you where it is."
"But I have to warn you that even so, the trip is quite far"
"It is not a trip that you can do in one day, not at least if you want to reach the 25th floor, so you have to prepare accordingly"
After that, we set off towards the entrance of the dungeon, which was a stone staircase heavily guarded by a large number of guards, but the truth was that it was appropriate given the circumstances, because that black hole could never give good news. I really almost shit myself when I saw that thing for the first time, I thought that Stella had played me again, but it seems that she was actually right, only that she didn''t say the part that I had to walk almost 10 kilometers downhill between the entrance and ruins of Faer Dath, and climbing up that 10 will look like 50 for sure. The place seemed like a continuation of the landscape outside the town, but going down, there were birds and other normal animals, but according to what I was told, even though it is the safest layer, there are still dangerous monsters lurking around here. That is why only adventurers from the guild or people with permission accompanied by them are allowed to enter. For her part, Karen, acting as a guide, told me many more things during our trip. Things like, for example, although there are other dungeons in the world, without a doubt, Florin''s dungeon was the largest, for obvious reasons, but even so, nothing can ever be taken for sure. Maybe there was another one somewhere not yet discovered. She also mentioned that the trip to the sixth layer had been the largest expedition made to date, with almost 5 thousand people and 3 years of travel, but even so they still had to return due to lack of supplies and because according to themselves, there was the same distance down still to travel. So some say that the pit leads to the center of the world, although that is impossible depending on how I know how the planets work. But still, I agree that this hole is abnormal in every way.
By late afternoon we finally got to the outskirts of the place Karen mentioned and had a look.And the truth is that I was impressed by what I saw because I thought that since I was in a hole the fortress would be small or simple, but nothing like that.It was a huge fortress castle of colossal size.But curiously, if the design did not seem like an elf at all, it seemed more like a castle where the vampire lord of darkness would be expected to live, the one who revived every hundred years and that the Belmonts or the Morrises fought to stop him.The place had an appearance too "violent" to put it in some way, more than defending it seemed built with the purpose of harming anyone who came near.
Is that really the starting dungeon here? What the hell is this?Anor Londo from Dark Souls?
"What kind of function was the one that had that fortress?"
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon."Why was that here? What was it protecting?"
"If something like that was from the elves, how did the humans manage to defeat them?" I ask after drinking some water.
"Are all fox beastmen like this?"
"You are exactly like one of those scholars who come here and ask these questions all the time" Karen said eating some beef jerky sitting
"Are you going to tell me you''re not curious about that over there!?"
"You come down here all the time and wouldn''t you like to know a little more about this!?"
"Not really, I''m not interested in whatever happened here"
"I''m only interested in the money and getting to the top alive"
"Finding out what happened is for the nobles and people like that"
"If they stop paying for shipping or materials from here, I''ll just go to the next thing they pay for"
"Come on, aren''t you afraid that they were maybe fighting something like dragons and maybe they''re still down there and could come to the surface like a plague that could end the world at any moment?"
"But what kind of imagination do you have girl, you''ve been reading too many books about knights and princesses"
"In addition, Dragons are things of legends, surely some ancient King invented those things to write them in a super exaggerated book about his experiences and why his family should continue ruling the kingdom"
"Or for revenge against enemies" I said to myself in a breath.
Now that I knew that I would not only face a dungeon but also the journey from the city to it and that it would probably take several days of travel, it was time to return to the surface and prepare accordingly. Obviously, I would need non-precedent food, something to make a fire with, maybe a frying pan, and then there are the tools for the dungeon itself, something that emits light maybe, I would like to have a set of good knives, both for throwing and for peeling something.
I asked Karen about ways to get money quickly and she recommended hunting beasts on our way up.Therefore we got into it, despite the tiredness we had.But I have to admit that it was not bad at all, the number of monsters down here is much higher than outside because almost always there was maybe double or triple the number of wild animals here.The real golden opportunity was when an animal similar to a metallic armadillo appeared, as soon as Karen saw it she started screaming to kill it at all costs so I jumped and threw my small sword at it, but it seems that the monster was really made ofmetal, for my sword did nothing to it.So I went straight to plan B, hitting him hard in the head until a concussion killed him, which this time worked.When I did it, Karen began to jump excitedly, because apparently, these armadillos were worth good money either as material or as decoration, so with the money I might be able to pay her back and buy the things I needed, probably.
While we were still going upstairs Karen mentioned that maybe I should hurry up if I wanted to get something good as the evidence that I managed to complete my test, since Sakura is in town she will most likely plan on going downstairs as well to test her strength one last time before leaving. The latter echoed in my head, how she would react to seeing this place. It''s already well known that she''s a completionist, but right now there''s a dungeon equivalent to video game post-game content, a place you go to test your strength after you''ve beaten your quest, along with a size that seems infinite. While on the other side we have a girl who knows that she can''t be here much longer, because she has to return to Earth too. Surely she must feel anxious or bad knowing that no matter what she does, she will not be able to complete everything 100%. It makes me feel good, I almost even forget, I get tired just thinking that she could be having a bad time. If I can get through these days without meeting her, it will be my victory.
When we finally got back to the city it was already night and my legs were killing me, I have to be careful with the weight of what I carry back upstairs, as it is definitely the worst part. The most impressed seemed to be Karen, as she mentioned that she did not expect me to make the trip without problems, In her words, my body is not made to exercise. And although I agree with her on that, along with the fact that I don''t exercise, my physique doesn''t seem very robust. But the reason I don''t do exercises is because I''m too busy trying not to die to have time to do them.
Almost everything was closed back in the city, but I had to get food for Tifa because she was the one who had it the worst all day, since as Karan was with me all this time she couldn''t get out of the bag at all the day. After going to church to inform my family that it seems like I won''t be able to communicate every day, I decided to find something for Tifa to eat. I only found a quite luxurious restaurant that was open until late, the prices were completely exaggerated, but on the other side of the entrance, when they closed the restaurant they threw away all the leftover food, so I took the opportunity to take a couple of sweetbreads and fruit. Although that was almost caught by the homeless association that had the place heavily guarded for the same reason. Upon arriving at the inn, the manager scolded me for being so late since she knew that I was traveling with Karen, she knew that I would go out of my way to do something. But she manages to stop her by giving him one of the sweetbreads. Before going to bed, it was the little fairy''s turn to have the feast she deserved, for being patient and putting up with me all day. Next time I''m going to put food and water in the bag so it doesn''t happen again. Finally when I went to bed Tifa without saying anything flew right next to me and lie down without saying anything. I thought that again she felt sad for her family so I let it go and went to sleep.
Ch100: White Moon Cafe
White Moon Cafe
Sumida City, Tokyo
***************
Adelis POV
***************
After a couple of days since we put into practice the concept that Cesar invented, we were already seeing his improvements in the cafeteria. Now at a glance, you could see that there were more customers at all hours. Most of them were young people from the surrounding area or couples, it seems to be quite a hit with the girls. Although in the last few days a group of guys has come without fail for one reason. But no matter who comes, everyone is impressed by the high level of the costumes or the makeup of the waitresses, little do they know that in reality they are real and they are not costumes. To increase the fantasy atmosphere in the place I have obtained, or rather removed from my house and brought them, several different plants and placed them around. Also, how he helped me build several wooden ornaments so that he could see a more artisanal touch, at the moment it is not much, but when I have more money I will get more things. Maybe I can even take what Cesar brought from his trip and hang them on the wall.
Coming back to myself after having my head in the clouds, I quickly took a look around to see that everything was going well. Tamamo was being the most popular, she was quite loved by the people, mainly because of her cheerful way of being. Although she started working here mainly because she wanted to wear that maid outfit that she thought looked pretty, now she has no problem taking orders and bringing them to their respective tables, In addition, she seems to know how to read the environment quite well and behaves according to the situation. If she sees a couple, she usually keeps a certain distance so as not to bother them, but if a group of girls arrives and is quite happy, she even ends up joining their conversations, but without disturbing them. The twins for their part have also been able to adapt quite well, although the theme of the coffee shop is a fantasy world, we say that she will not hide anything and will present herself as she is. They are wearing a maid uniform too, but a much simpler design as I didn''t have much material to make them with. Everywhere you can see that they are androids but thanks to their way of behaving people think that it is really thanks to makeup. But the truth is that they are real androids and that their technology is not very far in the future either, if only the Empire had decided to commercialize the technology and not use it only for military purposes, I imagine that they will be like most of technology, which is first used for military purposes and then later released to the public, as happened with drones or GPS. Although I doubt very much that the androids of the future can do what those two can do. Charlotte is usually in charge of attending the cash register, while her sister is behind helping in the kitchen, but I love it when something happens because Charlotte is going to help a table and leave the clients she was serving without saying anything, they are surprised by how rude she is, only for his sister to come out of the back, who is completely identical, and continue where the other left off as if she knew everything. Saeko who has been working here since the beginning is the most surprised by the change. I hired her at the beginning because she met her when she went to the hospital to visit Maria, she worked in another restaurant also famous for her coffee. She had experience and we are friends, so when I proposed the idea to her, it was she herself who said that she could teach me how to take charge of a cafeteria. Basically, she is the cornerstone of this place staying afloat, so it was pretty hard for her to give me the money report where almost everything was in the red. She blamed herself for the failure and thought that she had let me down, but I know that was not her intention, since from the beginning she has given her best. When I came up with the idea of making the place themed, she was quite hesitant about my idea and told me her concerns, since the idea was pretty bad along with spending a lot of money on having people wear dresses and makeup. But although she was right, my ace up my sleeve was precisely that part, that everything came out almost for free, along with all the meek extras that we now have. But the best part is that although we have a good number of clients right now, it is not yet at its full potential. I still need to get more money to be able to invest even more in the place and finalize the final details, together with the return of the school season, where surely all the students will tell their acquaintances about this place. If I play my cards right I could turn this place into a place where students go to hang out or their meeting point in their free time, and when that happens I will start to see continuous growth.
As for the problems to face, I have several, almost all of them related to the girls. Momo is in the back helping in the kitchen and although she is wearing the same set of clothes from when we were in New York, she can''t get out of there, because unlike the others there is simply no convincing way to fool people about her transparent situation. Usually, she is helping Saeko or me when we make more cakes, I have no idea if she might suspect Momo but she hasn''t said anything. In any case, I see potential in the angel, because, unlike Tamamo, she is more measured when it comes to cooking, so I think I can teach her to cook without fear of losing the appliances, this could even help her to have something extra that will give her value against her rivals. The next one is Lisa, who to my surprise turns out that she knows how to pretend not to be completely crazy, but only towards a part of our clients. Right now she is serving a group of girls with great delicacy and professionalism, so much so that I can even almost understand that she was an angel in the past, but as she turns around and sees that at the table behind her there is a group of men, she spilled coffee on the table and threw a cake at another in the face, along with a face of total rejection and the set of threats what she usually says. Clearly, she is super forbidden to do anything violent inside this place, even Cesar himself ordered her that she could not kill anyone in this place, but that does not mean that she can treat men as badly as she wants, something that she does not doubt do even without provocation. But the strangest thing is that it is those same clients that she treats badly that are the ones who most frequently visit the store, and who look for her to serve them. Without a doubt, Japan has people with rather strange tastes, because, for someone like Lisa to have what seems more like a fan club they began to call her the ice queen, they bring money, I let what happens between them and the demon pass by, the other clients find it funny because they see it as part of their "character", without seeing that she is really like that. I think the most surprising thing is their perseverance because even Lisa is tired of them. But surprisingly, the one that does worse is Maria, she directly does not know how to deal with people, she continually gets the orders wrong or mixes up the tables, but what worries me the most is that it is quite evident that she does not know how to relate to people. It seems that she is afraid of strangers or doesn''t know how to start conversations with them, which brings out an even bigger problem in her. Now that I thought about it, I think it was the first time that Maria had to interact with people who were not part of her family or doctors, and that has taken its toll on her now that she has to do it on her own. And now that I think about it, she still doesn''t have any friends her age. I have to do something about it and correct it.
The doorbell rang, indicating that new customers had entered my restaurant. They were the inspector and his granddaughter Haru, the latter pulling the older person by the arm because she was the one who was excited to enter.
"Come on Haru, you only like sweets, you don''t have to use the excuse that you need coffee right now " Said the inspector while still walking through the door, but with a smile
"Okay, you can have the coffee, I''ll order a juice and a cake!"
"I can''t wait to see how it looks after the changes!"
"Hello, Lisa how are you! Can you give me this cupcake here?" Said the girl quite cheerful
"Give me a moment, I''ll prepare a table for you and I''ll take it to you right away" The demon answered in a courteous way only because it was the girl who spoke to her.
????
!!!!!
Mr. Yamamoto was standing petrified with an angry face and what was worse, he had one of his hands inside his jacket. I had no doubt that he had looked for his pistol and was ready to fire it. Was it possible that she recognized Lisa right away!? This is bad, I have to stop them from fighting inside my store!
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Hello Inspector Yamamoto! How glad I am to see you on this day!" I spoke louder than usual so that he could notice me above his concerns.
"Is there something you want to try specifically?"
"I''ll give you any for free for your continued patronage"
The inspector noticed me and suddenly stopped whatever he was planning to do, he turned his head and saw me, put his gun back in its place, took off his reading glasses, scratched his eyes in frustration, and went to the counter.
"Why whenever something happens you are in the middle?"
"Do you even know what you''re doing with that girl over there?" Said the frustrated man
"Who? Lisa?"
"She works for me, can''t you see? She''s been with us since my office was attacked"
"To summarize, she is another friend of Elise, so she is usually in the same line of work" I try to sound as friendly as possible, in order to ease the tension.
"You do know that she attacked me in my own house right?"
"That happened when she is not with us yet !"
"At that time we were looking for her as much as you"
"It wasn''t until later that we were able to put everything in order"
"I''m so sorry for the trouble we''ve caused you" I tilted my head as far as I could, I even almost hit the counter, but even though it wasn''t our mistake, we still had to face it.
"Is even safe to have her close?"
"Of course yes, after all, they already put almost everything under control in it"
"Hey Lisa! can you come here for a moment"
"There''s someone I want you to talk to for a moment"
For all that you want most, my God, please, I beg you, I pray to you for in case of the slightest chance it could happen please don''t let Lisa screw up in this time of dire need. Please hear my plea.
"Yes? dear mother-in-law? is there something you need?"
"This is Mr. Yamamoto, he is a good friend of Elise and mine"
"He was telling me that you recently had a problem with him, so he is expecting an apology from you"
"So if you would be so kind"
Lisa looked at me with a surprised face, as if to say: are you kidding me? But I didn''t change my posture, then she began to look more and more nervous as she seemed to realize my intention. She clenched her fist tightly and held her breath.
"I am very sorry for my previous behavior Mr. Yamamoto, it was really my fault for everything that happened and I am so sorry to cause trouble for you and your family."
"I regret my way of acting, I know it was not correct, I know it is unworthy of me to ask someone like you for something, but please do not retaliate against this family that has been so kind as to accept a nuisance like me, so if you take action please let it be towards me and not towards them."
Lisa lowered her head as a sign of apology and respect, it hurts that the rest of her body didn''t seem to have the same intention of what she was saying. But even so, it had to be recognized that for someone like her this was a huge step that I did not think I would ever see this morning. On the other side, her hands looked like they were trying to strangle a ghost and in the tone, she said it seemed like she was filled with fury before regret. But it was a step no more no less.
"Haha, girl if you want to lie you have to try much better as if you at least believe in what you are saying."
"But at least I see that your feelings about protecting them is just as honest as your way of acting"
"Although if what you were looking for was to help them from the beginning it would have been much easier if you had come and talked to us from the beginning"
"Adelis has helped me a lot for years, so if you had told me that you were on my side, she would have helped you without giving me much thought"
"There are still 3 bodies in the morgue that I thought was your fault for the way you acted in my house"
"Lisa, that group of beech is finished, can you pick up the plates?"
"..."
"Regarding that case, we have a little problem"
"Lisa is not slightly suspicious, she is the perpetrator"
"We have to do something about it"
"On the one hand I imagined that really was she was responsible for after seeing that she works for you"
"But on the other side do you know how problematic the conversation we''re having is?"
"You can''t just walk in and tell the chief of the police investigation team that one of your stepdaughters is the serial killer we''ve been looking for endlessly"
"What the blue girl did is something so remarkable that I can''t pretend to forget"
"Journalists are anxious to obtain information, the police chief promised to take someone to justice"
"Even a senator is following our case personally in case we need help"
"Someone will have to pay yes or yes"
"..."
"So, do you already have in mind who to blame?"
"I have a leader of a criminal gang who, relatively speaking, has a relationship with the victims when I finish incriminating him and one of his lackeys with financial problems"
"With a simple push, I could make someone make a bad decision and make it all seem like revenge or betrayal in favor of a rival gang"
"You can choose the ending of the story you want"
"The method was quite violent and specific, any particular reason or how to recreate it?"
"Are you going to use a hammer?"
"Lisa suffers from extreme androphobia, it seems that it has something to do with her past"
"Her main behavior is violence, she seems that she seeks to defend herself by being as fearsome as possible"
"So hers that the manner of the deaths seem to reflect this, they try to carry a message"
"So I think we can redirect this as a mark that the yakuza used to make an example or something like that"
"We will kill the leader in the same way, we will let him dry a bit and I''ll ask her for a batch of those metal stakes to put in the poor man''s apartment. "
"There I''ll pass you the information when I finish, you just arrive and finish pushing others towards this story to give it more credibility, and in three days you will be live in an interview on the noon news "
"Ok, good enough"
"I am glad to know that I will be able to finish this case soon"
"Can I claim that free cake right now?"
"I think Haru would love the one with the chocolate animal design"
"Of course!"
"Which one, the rabbit one or the cat one?"
The rest of the day continued without much more trouble until it was time to close.In which I sent almost everyone to the house first, except Lisa, because no one will stay calm unless I are always accompanied by someone who knows how to fight, and because I have realized that she, who is normally not interested or not, is notcapable of understanding sensitive matters, making it perfect for sensitive conversations that you don''t want other people to hear.And the other was Maria, who I made her stay later with the excuse that I wanted her to clean the tables, but the truth is that I wanted to talk to her about something a little more serious, a mother-daughter conversation.
"Maria, you know I''ve been thinking about your future a little bit and there''s something I want to tell you"
"For the next school year, I am going to enroll you in a different class than the one Cesar is in and the others"
"Would you have a problem with that"
"???"
"Sorry?" She stopped short without finishing cleaning
"Me in a different class than the others? Why? isn''t that a bit unnecessary?"
"They don''t charge for that right?"
"Well, yes, but I think it is necessary and I would like you to hear why."
"You see, lately I''ve noticed how difficult it is for you to serve customers, more than necessary in fact."
"So I have reflected a little on the reasons why and I think I realized why"
"..."
"You have no friends your own age, or at least not outside the influence of your brother and his harem of girls"
"Until now I have not seen that you have made a single friend on your own and I think that has been taking its toll on your development, as a person"
"So I think maybe you should stay a little further away from your brother and try your luck on your own, see how it goes without the help of others"
"Don''t take this the wrong way, we''re all happy to see you completely healthy and out of trouble, but I think both your father and Cesar would love to know that you might be able to make friends on your own and relate to others"
"Well I think I could try, and in case it goes wrong I''ll still be in the same school as him."
"So in the worst case, I just have to talk to him again, right?"
"I think I can handle it."
"Thanks for understanding me" I answered with joy.
Back at the house, I asked Lisa to give me several of the metal stakes that she uses and the truth is that I have no idea where she even gets them from if she keeps them like Cesar and his giant sword or creates them herself, but then I remember that I''m talking about a being capable of walking through walls or hiding in the shadows, so the logic is that it doesn''t work very well with her. At first, she didn''t want to, but when I told her it was to be used on an evil man she happily gave me a bunch without hesitation. After that, I took my cell phone and called Xian, because I would have her take care of the rest since she was the expert in this field and a professional. Tomorrow the police will have enough work.
Ch101: Smooth Criminal
Smooth Criminal
Florin Town, Kingdom of Etria
A new day and the opportunity to continue on my journey back home. Since I came back with Karen showed me the way I have not gone back after seeing the prices of things in the city, it seems that I was short of money than I thought, and paying for the inn is not cheap actually. these last days I have spent doing small errands in the city to get more money. Since I was just starting out my rank in the guild was quite low, so even if I could defeat difficult monsters they wouldn''t let me accept them until I rank up with them, so the only things they had available for me were small normal tasks like collecting herbs or helping in repairing houses, what it was the same to be a handyman. Since I had enough experience in the latter to accept these assignments, most of them were to repair leaks in the roofs of the houses, the truth is that I did not even need a ladder, because it was faster to climb the walls than to have to ask who could lend me one. Also, more than one neighbor took advantage of seeing me up fixing the roofs and once offered me money to fix their houses too, although these jobs would not be recognized by the guild and would not help me increase my rank, money is money.
When I was done with that and with enough money on hand I went shopping to finish getting ready: plenty of food in case something goes wrong, cloth for bandages, I tried to get alcohol to disinfect wounds but it seems they didn''t sell at all the city but I managed to get vodka that can work instead, also managed to get the cooking pan. I ended up having a lot of money left over so I thought that since we were here I could buy something as a souvenir for the others at home, so I went to the main street where they sold the most artisanal things for tourists or curious people, I started to see that it could be a nice gift but the options were not many, everything was either very expensive or it was things from monsters like a chain of wolf teeth or quite elaborate knives. I really don''t think they like any of this, since most of the girls around me except Momo are actually quite refined. Tamamo is a goddess who was royalty, Lisa was at least an angel with a prestigious job, Adelis works with diplomats from important countries and Maria is quite selective in terms of the things she likes. I don''t think any of them like me to bring them something like a basket of lemons. In the end, my indecision reached Tifa, who told me that if I didn''t know what to give, then I should choose a pendant since they were relatively cheap and everyone likes them. Since it was good advice I decided to follow it and found a stall where they sold some quite nice ones at a good price, they were made of colored stones or minerals, but the ones that caught my attention were the magic stones because although they were without energy and for that reason the low price, they had figures of nearby animals, including the bull rabbit. According to Tifa, magic stones come from dungeon creatures like florin, they have quite a lot of accumulated energy and can be used to form magic staves embedded with spells or fire swords, but once their energy is depleted they are completely useless, and adventurers spend them changing their equipment regularly, basically the batteries of the remote control. I ended up buying nine necklaces, one for each one, and because I was sure that either Momo or Tamamo would end up doing some experiment with them, so spare parts too.
At the end of the day, I went back to the guild to report that I had completed the work to go straight to the inn to rest. But just when I finished talking at the counter and was about to leave, a group of adventurers arrived, coming with a carriage, from which you could see that they were transporting the corpses of some people. A guild official came out to tell them that all of this had a procedure and that they couldn''t take it to the lobby where everyone was, but the adventurers'' counter-argument indicated that they were the "Furious Banner" group, the second-best group of adventurers in the city, they were all dead. This caused a stir among those present, the voices were fired everywhere, the rumors started. The guild official removed the tarpaulin that covered them and revealed their condition to the others. The corpses seemed to be several days old, but they were completely intact, so everyone could clearly know who they were, hell even I knew who they were. They were the group that tried to capture Tifa in the forest and that I had to kill them, the holes they had in their foreheads were the mark of my pistol. Same marks that everyone paid attention to because they were the only damage that the bodies presented. Questions immediately began to arise, what could have killed them? How did they die in one hit? What kind of wound was that? What originated it?. Most adventurers agreed that these injuries could most likely have been caused by needle throwers, but that was quite strange, since they were originally from layer 4 of the labyrinth, and the corpses were discovered outside the city. The only reasonable theory that people could come up with was maybe that it was a new type of monster and that this was its way of attacking, a pretty lethal one.
The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
I knew that this situation was not helping me at all and that although his hypotheses were quite far from reality, I did not want to take risks and let them catch me. I got out of there while the commotion was still going on. I already have everything I think needed for the trip, although I wanted to do a couple of test trips, I''d better pass on that and do the entire route at once since I don''t want to be in the city anymore. I went to the inn and started packing everything, which wasn''t much. Almost everything was mainly food or things to heal. The clothes I had on were just the ones I was wearing and the pieces of armor I wore over them. I can''t wait to get home and take a bath as soon as possible because the inn doesn''t have bathrooms in the rooms, so the only ones available were the public bathrooms, which obviously I can''t go and use if I didn''t want to be discovered. When finished packing, a rhythmic noise came out of the door, it seemed to be Karen because this was now her way of warning that it was her and not someone unknown. She was quite anxious to give me the breaking news, the group "Furious Banner" had been found dead on the outskirts of the city by what seemed to be a monster not yet discovered, or at least that was the official explanation. What she did not feign surprise was for what she mentioned later, it seemed that Sakura went to the guild also to see what she could help with and when she saw the adventurers she mentioned that it had been a "firearm", which the others told her. They said that they died from the head wound, not burned, that could be seen in plain sight, but it is said that she was trying to describe a new type of mysterious weapon, one capable of killing a person from a distance in a way almost instant. To make matters worse, she, determined to prove her position, went to the place where they found the corpses and discovered what she called bullet casings, irrefutable proof of the existence of this mysterious weapon.
I had left a pretty big clue at the scene of the crime, one that I completely overlooked because all this time that I have used firearms I had never thought about them, since I''m usually pretty busy trying to stay alive, I don''t pay much attention to things that don''t matter. And of course, the perfect Sakura immediately noticed and drew the correct conclusion at first. With this information she was now fully convinced that there was another earth human in this world, for there to be a firearm here means that person came with her and used it either to defend herself or to steal something, so she believes that this person must or be in the city or its surroundings. Right now Sakura is looking for every stone trying to find her compatriot and "save" him or rather boost her ego by doing what she thinks will bring her more glory. While for his part the Lord of the city is quite interested in seeing if this mysterious weapon is real, so he is giving a reward for whoever finds this guy and presents the weapon as evidence, Sakura was happy for the extra help worse It doesn''t take a genius to know that what he wants is the weapon and if he can reproduce it. But nobody bothered to ask the important question for me if he was a lost person and needed help, why didn''t I look for it before? Well, the obvious answer was that they don''t want to be found, which is completely true, I don''t want to be found for any reason. I had no choice, I''m not going to risk anything, I have to leave the city beforehand because I have no way of knowing when luck will push Sakura again and make her take another big step towards me.
Finally, Karen thought that the way things were, my situation would become much more complicated because now the city controls would increase and people would be much more careful trying to find this individual. And with all this, the chance of me being discovered diminished, together with my race, they would dismiss me immediately and imprison me in the best of cases. She had helped me tremendously since I got here, so I didn''t want her to get in trouble for helping me, so it was time to part ways. I told her that I was extremely grateful for everything she had done but that it was better that she stop looking for me anymore because maybe she would be affected by meeting me and not reporting me to the guards. With a smile, she replied that she was only doing what she wanted to do and that I was not bothersome and that I was a friend, she even offered to help me escort me back to the dungeon but I stopped her, finally as a gift As a goodbye I gave her almost all the money that I had left because I would not use it anymore and the coins that I would have left would be a souvenir for my family, still, with her smile on her face she said goodbye and left.
Around 2 in the morning, I went out the window of the inn and headed towards the huge black circle that was Florin''s dungeon, first try to go to the normal entrance but there were quite a few guards there, many more than normal, clearly, they had taken measures in "case of", so I continued to surround the place looking for the best place to descend without being discovered. At some point, I entered what seemed to be the red light district of the town, the place where poverty abounded and where there were certainly no guards hanging around, so I paid a homeless man to hold a rope that I had bought for me to be able to descend safely. With this, I knew that I would start a race against time to get to the 25th floor as soon as possible and return home because I knew that Sakura in some stupid way would sooner or later go to the same dungeon too.
Ch102: Asynchronous Race
Asynchronous Race
A couple of days have passed since I entered the elven fortress of Faer Dath, there has been progress but not what was expected, the place turned out to be much more complex than it looks from the outside. The place does seem to have the 50 floors that Karen mentioned, but the problem is that many parts are collapsed or there are large falls, so it is quite normal to have to go back to previous floors to be able to continue advancing, once even to go up to the floor 7 I had to go down to 5 and then to 4, just to be able to access a new area on the 6th floor and finally get to the 7th floor. I''m on the 20th floor right now, but I''m actually further back right now for the same shit, at this point, I have no fucking idea where I am. To make it worse, while I was fighting with a monster that seemed to be a giant wolf the size of the same corridor, a part of the floor succumbed and I fell, The wolf caught me with his teeth, I managed to get out and manage to kill him but I lost the bag where I kept most of the food. If I had known that this would happen, I would not have tried so hard to get money. I only have food left for today so I will have to hunt if I don''t reach the destination, the only good thing is that Tifa hardly needs food or water. Precisely the situation for which I prepared myself so that it did not happen is precisely the one I am in.
But although the situation could be critical in reality I have quite high hopes, I am advancing at a good pace and there are no dragons here so everything is quite easy, I am at the top of the food chain. I think that by the end of the day I should reach my destination, as long as I don''t have to go down any more floors. Regarding rest, I usually look for a small room or a cell to sleep for about 4 hours, during that time I depend on Tifa to watch the surroundings. Regarding my armor, it received a big blow thanks to the giant wolf and it tore the upper part of my clothes, so with the remaining pieces I managed to do something to at least cover my chest, but thanks to the breastplate there is not so much problem for now. I have been making a map of the place to help me find the stairs more quickly, this is much more basic than the one I did in the Moscow tunnels because it is done on the run since I don''t need to know anything else. My biggest concern is time, I don''t have much left. Classes in Japan are about to start and I''m still stuck in another world. I want to get back home and spend at least one more day resting. I''m spending my vacation in this hole!
I wonder how Sakura ended up going down this hole and how fast she''s getting closer to me. By chance did the homeless person who helped me run into her and tell her everything? Or maybe she just overheard Karen talking about me somewhere in town? Maybe she even went to stay in the same inn that I was in and by sheer luck they gave her the same room as me and somehow she deduced everything. Surely she is inside this place right now going up quickly because there are almost no monsters left because I have run into everyone and cleared the way for her. Maybe I''ll end up in some huge problem and she ends up rescuing me from almost certain death, I''ll end up throwing up if that happens.
After going around a corridor, I was surprised to run into something unexpected, another group of adventurers, who, seeing me approaching, raised their hands in greeting. Since one of the most dangerous things in a dungeon is running into another person, it is impossible to know what that person has in mind, he could just be passing through, he could need help, or he could just pretend to be hurt just to kill you and steal everything you carry on top, so it is an unwritten rule to try to appear as inoffensive as possible if you don''t want to be misunderstood, both for them and for me.
I reached into my bag and removed the safety on the gun to have it ready to fire in case I might need it later.
They were a group of three people, all men, from the way they dress, one of them seems to be a Knight, a magician who seems to carry the luggage and the last one seemed to dress a bit like me, with a great emphasis on mobility, so he''s probably an assassin, I hope it''s his class and not his regular job. I greeted them back and quickly checked my clothes and hood to make sure nothing would give me away that I''m not human. We approached each other but even so we closed the distance a bit, they were the first to speak mentioning that I should be careful because on the upper floors it seems that there are two huge wolves prowling. For my part, I replied that I had also come across one in one of the inferiors (although now he is dead, but they do not need to know that). They thanked me for the information and since we were a large group they told me that it would be a good idea to eat all together, this way it would be safer in case a monster attacked us, I rejected the invitation mentioning my lack of food and adding that II was already on my way back. But they insisted and even offered me their food, surely I had to look hungry because it wasn''t that they had much, but it was something. They were a much nicer group than the first one I ran into in that forest, without a doubt good people.
Tifa suddenly sneezed and apologized out loud, from my bag while I was eating. The adventurers stopped everything they were doing in their tracks and turned to look at me. Although they hadn''t said anything, their eyes clearly said their intentions. They were the eyes of deep selfishness, the same ones he had seen a few times before. They immediately knew what had produced that sound and what value it had in this world. The assassin placed his right hand on his waist, holding something tight. I didn''t wait to discover what he had, I threw the glass I had in my hand against his head, then I took out my gun and three huge rumblings sounded throughout the fortress.
They might not really have anything bad in mind, but I can''t afford to take any chances. I had to do it, there was no other way. Tifa screamed when she heard the detonations and asked me what had happened, but I didn''t answer her, because I had noticed how several monsters came running scared from various places, just like Tifa from the sound, because they hadn''t heard anything like it before. I had screwed it up again, if Sakura was around, and no doubt she is, she would have heard them too. Which means she''s coming to check out the place beforehand. I have to get out of here now, I have to run before he gets to me. I gathered all my things and went straight to the stairs to continue my journey, now I couldn''t stop until I crossed the portal, it was that or be discovered.
***************
Sakura POV
***************
After killing the giant wolf that came out of nowhere with my katana I heard a noise quite different from any other that could be in this place. They seemed to sound like fireworks, but this world had nothing like that. It could only be the object that I suspected, a firearm! Now I was almost certain that my guess was correct. The other earth person who was summoned here had a firearm on him and just used it. And if he had used it, it was because he had had to defend himself from something, so I had to hurry up and save him as soon as possible.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
There were a lot of things I didn''t know about this mysterious person, so I wanted to ask him quite a few things. It is most likely that if he has a gun he is either a policeman or a soldier, and it is also likely that he was on duty when he was summoned to have a gun on him. I don''t think someone else like a delinquent was summoned here by the Goddess on purpose, so I guess he had his reasons for killing those adventurers in the forest. Speaking of that, I also want to know how he came to be here, did he accept the pact of the Goddess, if not how did it come in the first place? And also how was it that he was not summoned to the king''s castle where they were performing the summoning ritual as happened to me? is it that he is different from me? What will he be able to do, and how long will it take to teach me?
I have to find that person fast or else I might not be able to bring him back to earth with me, because the ritual of return is only in a couple of days. I have to save him, it is my duty to be a person endowed with this power, I must give my best at all times.
I was lucky to rescue that homeless man in that alley near the main street, as he told me he helped a person get down here during the night. He said that he seemed to be a person in a hurry, and the only person capable of being in a hurry late at night would be someone who is being hunted, most likely for a crime, perhaps something like killing several renowned adventurers. I imagine that if that person does not know the place, he surely thought of hiding in a place rarely visited by the authorities such as a dungeon, surely he thinks of hiding there for a couple of days until the pressure goes down and returns to the surface pretending to be an adventurer. Following my instincts I came down here with the permission of the guild and seeing this place from the outside it seems the ideal place to hide.
I have managed to advance quickly thanks to the low number of monsters and their low level, so I am sure that I will be able to reach it before the time runs out. I also managed to come across a bag of food, the belt was broken but all its contents were in good condition, so I was able to have a good lunch, I''m sure its owner will be glad to know that what he lost is helping me. I''m not sure what could be later but if I run into the boss of the dungeon I don''t think I''ll have any problem because my stats are the highest they can be.
| Name: |
Sakura Izumi R?ikk?nen |
| Race |
Human |
| Job: |
Hero |
| Class: |
Saint of the Sword |
| |
|
| Hp: |
1000/1000 |
| Strength: |
500 |
| Intelligence: |
450 |
| Speed: |
1000 |
| Agility: |
250 |
| |
|
| Skills: |
|
| Reinforce Body |
Air Slash |
| Break limit |
Fast Learner |
| Morale Boost |
Imbue in Light |
| |
|
| Titles: |
|
| Adventuress |
Expert fighter |
| Brave |
Heroin |
| Bearer of the Holy Sword |
Bringer of Light |
The average stats of a common man are between 5 and 10, that of a normal adventurer between 30 and 50, a gifted person around 100. Since I''m by far the strongest person around here, I shouldn''t be afraid of anything. And even if something were to happen I have several things up my sleeve such as the aerial slash, which allows me to attack from a distance with my katana, strengthening the body allows me to do unhuman feats such as jumping quite high or increasing my strength much more, breaking the limit will allow me to increase my strength much more for a while, after which I will have to wait 7 days before using it again. Finally, my trump card, embed in light makes the weapon you have to multiply its damage and can destroy dark creatures just by touching them, the Goddess gave me these abilities when she sent me to this world to destroy the Demon Lord. With all this, I can face anything.
In the ceiling I saw a pretty big hole, I could get through there without any problems, so I braced my legs and jumped up to the upper floor, continuing through it I managed to get to where I think the source of the sound of the shots was. I ran into a group of wolves trying to eat a couple of bodies that were on the ground, it didn''t take me long to take care of them. Checking a little more I managed to find what I was looking for, they had bullet wounds and the bullet casings were on the ground nearby, I took out the one I had and compared them, they were exactly the same. The same person who killed the adventurers in the forest is the same one who did this here, but if the adventurers have a short time to be dead it means that it shouldn''t be very far, if I hurry I could reach him soon.
No, wait a minute, doesn''t the guild have a machine to return to the exit of the dungeon on the 25th floor? If so he could try to get there and keep escaping down now that he did this! It must be your goal! He''s thinking about getting there I count before so they don''t catch him, I have to get there before him!
I followed the path to the stairs to the next floor, this time I didn''t let the monsters stop me, so I ignored them completely. I can''t let a person from earth walk in this world without my protection.
On the 24th floor, I thought of buying time by damaging the ceiling myself and making a hole that I could pass through, thus freeing me from having to look for the stairs. And thanks to a bit of luck the magical transporter was quite close to the hole I made. I quickly checked the machine and noticed that there was no room used all day. I had achieved it, I arrived before him, now I just have to wait for him to come by here sooner or later.
But an hour passed and still nothing had happened. I knew he must be close because I could hear footsteps along the corridor in front of me. It was clear that he didn''t want to be found out by anyone, but I was determined to talk to him. I knew he must be watching me in the dark, waiting for the moment to slip away from me. The only thing I had to do was wait until he got tired and came forward, in that case it would be my victory
BANG!!
BANG!!
!!!!!
Those had been shots!! They had been quite close to me! Surely he had been attacked by another big monster and was defending himself! I had to help him!
I unsheathed my katana and ran to help my partner in danger! I turned left after the hall and I could see that at the end of the next corner there was a strong light, probably from a candle. I kept running to finally meet him. But when I arrived there was no one, neither person nor monster. There was only one fire with one pan. There was no food inside the pan, but near it were two more shell casings, the same type as before. In a nearby wall, I could see the hole where they hit.
A distraction! Had I been cheated?
The Transporter!
I came back as fast as I could, but by the time I got there, I could only see the traces it left behind after being used. He had managed to evade me quite ingeniously. But how did he do it? If the hallway was empty, where was he hiding? And how did you realize that the bullets would distract me like that? But I had no time to lose, I turned on the transporter so that it also sends me outside and continue chasing me, I would certainly catch it outside with my speed.
Ch103: Finally Here
Finally Here
White Moon Cafeteria, Sumida City, Tokyo
***************
Adelis POV
***************
One more day I came back from my work in Alliance to dedicate myself to what really interested me, my little cafeteria. Today was just as calm as the previous ones, although there was tension in the air and we all knew it but we didn''t want to mention it. It had been several days since Cesar last contacted us and mentioned that he would be making his return trip but he still hadn''t shown up, so we were getting a little nervous. The one most affected by this has been Lisa, which she begins to see in her face as she is more irritated by the situation and is beginning to confuse the orders as well.
Inspector Yamamoto is with me right now, he''s been talking to me about how it went with our little deception. We managed to coordinate everything fairly well and Xian was in charge of leaving the scene of the crime making it look as if Lisa was the one who did that, the Inspector managed to lead the police to the scene in a credible way and yesterday the news came out of how the police managed to stop the serial killer. Today it was the Inspector''s turn to talk to the journalists to give more details about what happened, everything seemed to go on smoothly until that annoying girl from the newspaper appeared.
"It was that girl, Nozomi Yasuda, she''s already given me several headaches before, so it''s nothing new"
"As always, there was a big investigation of her newspaper, so she is very well informed on the subject"
"She didn''t seem to entirely agree that this person was to blame for what happened, but she didn''t seem to be entirely sure either"
"But she asked about Jiro Iwasaki and about his ex-girlfriend and if they were related to this case" The old man mentions while drinking his coffee.
"Jirou Iwasaki?"
"His ex-girlfriend appeared destroyed on a public park near her house, it seemed as if a monster had attacked her, but in the middle of Tokyo at rush hour?"
"Investigating a little about her, her parents mentioned that perhaps the culprit could have been her ex-boyfriend, with whom she had problems due to economic problems and they separated on bad terms"
"I wanted to talk to him but he''s been missing ever since"
"Not a single clue to his whereabouts, as if he had vanished into thin air"
"There is an arrest warrant but nothing has happened yet"
"Yasuda believes that this man could also be related to the serial killer"
"What if we ask herself directly?"
"Hey Lisa, do you know anything about a certain Jiro Iwasaki?"
"Have you met him by chance?"
"Jirou Iwasaki?"
"..."
"..."
"No, I don''t remember him being one of the people I removed"
"...."
"But I remember hearing that name somewhere else"
"..."
"I''m sorry right now I don''t see anything came to mind, I''m quite worried about other things as you can imagine."
"Are you really sure that she didn''t do it and just forgot?"
"She looks exactly like the kind of person who doesn''t know what she''s doing most of the time"
"Maybe he just ran into it and added it to the list as an extra?"
"Something like the type of one more or one less won''t make a difference?"
"I highly doubt it, because although I do not deny that she is quite impulsive and her sanity is just a myth"
"All of her goals before we met were very specific"
"Most of them already had serious criminal records, and the others were discovered later when the police investigated their deaths"
"In a way, she was trying to act more like batman, a night watchman"
"Try to say the same thing again while looking into her eyes."
"Just looks at her, she even looks familiar with the joker."
"Well, wasn''t he the hero in one of the stories?"
"Or was it one of the movies?"
"Not that I pay much attention to it."
"Even so, you seem to be much more informed about it than I thought."
"I thought you only had eyes for soap operas, now it turns out that you like those stories?"
"Well, Tamamo really likes those movies and lately I''ve been reading more books with magical creatures"
"For some reason, I feel like I need to start getting more familiar with fantasy stories"
"Let me guess, to improve the cafeteria right?"
"...."
"To improve what?"
"...."
"...."
"Ah! yes and that too!"
"Yes that can work"
***Ding***
The cafeteria door opened, a new customer entered the cafeteria. I turned to see to say hello, but from where I was I could only see the door closing. Was it a strong wind? Didn''t the other customers start mumbling quite a bit among themselves?
"Is it some kind of event?"
"A new worker here?"
I leaned on the counter to get a better look at the other side, and with it, I took great joy. It was Cesar, he had finally returned home. You could see from her face that she was tired, but the hardest thing to see was her clothes. She was wearing quite little truth, most of the things she had on seemed to be black leather belts and white ribbons in various parts of her body, what covered her the most were her armor and the hood that she had on her back. She also had several large bags around her, it seemed to be her luggage, it seemed that she had quite a few things with her. She dropped almost all of her luggage on the floor except for a bag that she placed on the counter rather carefully and then sat down right next to me and the inspector.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"I am glad to see that you have returned safely"
"Thank you very much for your hard work"
"But if you are very tired, you would have better-gone home directly"
"I also had the same idea, but when I arrived I realized that I don''t have the keys to enter, I yelled at the door but it seemed like no one was home, so I came here instead."
"I''m starving, can you give me something to eat?"
"something that really fill"
"Oh, and you can also give me half of that milk cake in a super small plate and a glass of water, the glass as small as possible too"
A rather rare petition, but I imagine she has her reasons and being tired I better pay attention to what he asks. When she got all of it, she put the small cake and the water into the bag that was up on the counter.
"What do you have there?" I asked because curiosity had won me over.
"......"
"......"
"A canary"
"A canary of a Breed Familiar to Momo"
Ho no, I already knew what she meant. In there was something that probably shouldn''t exist on earth, a fantasy creature, again. But even so the curiosity was killing me, would you like to know what it could be so that it could fit in such a small bag? a baby hippogriff perhaps? Or a phoenix? I imagine it must be like sweets because of what she ordered.
"Leaving that aside"
"I think this is the first time we''ve met face to face with you, Inspector Yamamoto."
"Excuse my beggar appearance today, as you can imagine I had a little adventure that turned out to be longer than originally planned"
" Ces...Elise Valkyria, at your service"
"Nice to meet you"
"Don''t worry, the pleasure is mine."
"I can''t believe someone like me would have the pleasure of meeting the girl from the rumors"
"You have no idea the thousands of stories that have circulated about you"
"I can''t wait to hear from you yourself what you did in New York"
"I want to hear all the details"
"But I see that right now what you want is to rest in peace, so I won''t bother you anymore for today"
"I was already leaving anyway"
"Of course, before saying goodbye, let me give you my most sincere and profound thanks"
"Thanks to you my granddaughter is still safe, for which I am indebted to you"
"She is everything to me, so in a certain part you have also saved me too"
"Although I know I have already asked too much, I hope you can continue to protect me as you have done up to now"
"Thank you very much from the heart" Said the man, bowing his head greatly, as a sign of respect to whoever was in front of him.
"I''M FINALLY GETTING OUT, THEY CAN''T USE THE SANDAL AGAINST ME ANYMORE!"
"DARLING HUG ME! IT''S BEEN SO LONG WITHOUT YOU!" yelled the demoness from the other side of the store as she ran towards
Due to certain things that happened later I had to close the store much earlier than usual. We all returned home and sat in the living room around Cesar, everyone wanted to know what was in the bag.
"Okay, I met her during my trip"
"She had nowhere to go and the people of that place spend their time hunting her race"
"So I decided to bring her here with me to save her"
"Please treat her well because she is quite delicate" my son said.
"Yeah but it already shows what''s in there! Stop prolonging this!" answered his sister.
He opened the bag with great care not to damage its contents. A girl came out of it, quite small, and beautiful, it was like seeing, no wait! She is A FAIRY!. Seeing us all look at her so attentively, she got scared and flew to the old shelf that I brought from our previous house and looked at us with great attention. My inner mother''s power yelled at me with all its might that I had to protect this beauty. I took a couple of fruits from a nearby plant and approached them trying to imply that I wanted me to be friendly.
"But look how beautiful she is, I want to adopt her immediately!"
"She is a Fairy! I always wanted them to be real!"
"I knew that it was possible!"
"Since you came back I always had the faith that sooner or later I would have to see one."
"Okay, looks like we just found out that Okaasan likes fairies"
"Well we all have our favorite things when we were young"
"And if have always liked fairies"
"We can''t let this cuteness sleep anywhere"
"....."
"Hi, Xian! I need you to get me a set of dolls, No! not the androids, I already have two of those, the ones they sell in toy stores, the plastic ones, something that has a room with a bed and something that is a kitchen with cutlery and glasses"
"You have 2 hours to get them or else I''ll fire you"
"No discussions!"
"Bring them to my house"
"Okay, I never thought I''d see my mother like that!"
"This is your fault brother!"
"But I also agree that she is pretty cute"
"One question, do you know how to teach people to fly?"
"Do you happen to know the story of Peter Pan?"
"Hello..."
"My... my name is..."
"Tifa..."
"P...please...don''t hurt me..."
"I''m going to... maybe live here... if you let me..."
"Well, in the end, it turns out that Lisa''s prediction came true, but I''m glad this time it''s not someone who doesn''t eat much."
"She is also a fairy, she is always welcome in this house "
"Come on, I already told you that no one here will hurt you"
"I will introduce you to them"
"The other girl with ears is Tamamo, the goddess of the moon"
"The one with the horns Lisa, a demon"
"The one that is hard to see is Momo, an angel"
"The two identical girls are Kazumi and Charlotte"
"This is my mother Adelis, a human"
"And the one next to her is her daughter Maria, who has an incredible ability to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide"
"We are going to make this even clearer so that you do not fear"
"She is under my direct protection"
"The first bastard who thinks of hurting him will have to deal with the sandal at full charge"
"Did you hear right, Lisa!?"
"I''m going to keep an eye on you"
But even with that, the fairy didn''t seem to let her guard down for a second, but we kept trying to make her feel safe.At the moment she only passes by Elise but I am sure that over time she will feel calmer with the rest of her.I''m waiting for that moment to take pictures with my phone.Maybe even re-sew a bit to create more dresses for her.What caught the attention of the little girl the most was our patio and the plants in the house.According to what Cesar told me, she claims to be a botany student, so I already have a clue on how to make her trust us more.But it will have to be later because classes are about to start and I have to prepare all the paperwork for this year''s school year.
Ch104: Cherry Blossom
Cherry Blossom
Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
I can''t believe the day has finally come. I''m so nervous I can feel my own pulse again, is it hot or is it just me? Forget that, what I need is air! Who the hell thought of building a city with so many people!
Yesterday Tamamo asked me to go see a movie today since I had promised her, I accepted, but then she replied "that''s perfect, it will be our date then" and since she said that I''ve been acting this nervous. I had never been on a date before, not a traditional one at least. With Nanami I was more like the type trying to be together when we could, we never agreed to do anything, everything was always improvised. I know absolutely nothing to do in situations like these! I tried to mitigate this by studying all night on the internet for things to do on a date, but still, all I could get was a couple of suggestions, not a guide as such. And even with those things that they put were difficult things to fulfill with my current predicament.
The first part was choosing the right clothes for the event. Today is a sunny spring day in a country with a temperate climate, so you have to dress casually but a little light. So far so good, but then the doubt arose. Should I dress as a boy or as a girl? The guide said that you should dress nicely, ok, but what kind of nice? Most of the clothes I had were for men, mainly out of preference, but they also had a purpose, they help a lot to hide the tail and the ears, I think. For his part, Tamamo loves cute things, so she may like to see my dress that way sometimes. But then, to my help, or to my misfortune, my sister jumped into action, taking advantage of my indecision and my cloudy judgment, she began to poison me with her words and suggested that I wear something special that would make Tamamo happy, and by the time I realized I was already dressed as a girl in front of Hachiko''s statue waiting for her to arrive. Did we decide to go out at a little different time because maybe it would be more fun that way? I don''t know the truth, I just thought she might like some time alone to get ready before she came over.
But still, I''m not going to let this stop me, I''m going to do my best. The most important part of the guide was to always keep in mind to act like a gentleman in all situations, that she sees that I am a strong person and that she can depend on me. So I have to do my best to appear as trustworthy as possible, Someone who can handle any situation that comes their way concisely.
"Excuse me little one, are you lost?"
"Do you know where your mother is?"
"Is she near?" a police officer who appeared out of nowhere asked me.
Shit, seriously? They are never there when they are needed, but to annoy they are the first.
"I''m not lost, I''m waiting for someone thanks!"
"She is almost here" I replied
"But what a brave girl, your parents must be proud to have someone so trustworthy"
"Wouldn''t you like to wait for them at the police station over there? you can wait sitting there until they arrive"
"I also like to have a little chat with them"
Oh, fuck!
"Elise!"
"Elise! I''m here now!"
"Sorry for leaving you alone for a couple of minutes"
"A person fainted on the train and since I am a nurse I had to help her"
"Hasn''t anything strange happened?" Tama said running to where I was.
"Are you her mother?"
"Do you know how dangerous it is to leave a neglected child in the middle of Shibuya crossing?"
"Please be more careful in the future!"
"Please keep this in mind for your daughter''s safety"
Just let me die again.
After the officer scolded Tamamo for a few minutes, he left to continue patrolling the place. Once all that embarrassment was over, we were finally together again. I paid attention to the way my wife was dressing. She was in a western outfit, a brown turtle neck, a light pink and white striped sweater, a short jean skirt, long stockings, and light-colored boots, this time she looked completely human, with no fox ears or tail. It was beautiful to see her dressed like that, but there was a big little problem, I was wearing the same. To my annoyance, we were both dressed exactly the same, except that I also had a cap and the sweater wrapped around my waist, for the usual reasons.
But there was nothing I could do in these cases, I just accepted it and moved on, as usual too.
"Didn''t you miss in your way here?"
"Are you used to using the train?"
"Didn''t you have any problem?" I asked her
"No I did not have any inconvenience, I am already more used to the modern era, thanks for your concern"
"Although your sister was afraid that I would miss the station so she came to drop me off to make sure"
"But other than that everything is fine"
"It''s a relief to hear that"
"Hey, don''t you find that statue over there interesting?"
"It is that of a dog, but why is it in a place that seems as important as this?"
"Did he do something special?" She said while turning to see it better
"Hachiko''s statue?"
"Almost nothing, it''s just one of the most well-known stories in the world"
"Even before I came to Japan for the first time, I already knew its history"
"The story is of Hachiko the dog of the statue as you can imagine"
"He accompanied The Professor Hidesabur¨ Ueno, his owner, every day to the station"
"Both when he left and when he returned, the were almost inseparable"
"But one day the teacher died while he was still teaching"
"Hachiko came to the station to pick up her owner, but he never came back"
"Hachiko spent the rest of her life, the next nine years here, in front of the station waiting for the day that Professor Ueno would return"
"The people who passed here daily who had witnessed the two of them took care of him, and it was they who erected this statue in his honor"
"For the loyalty with which the dog was waiting for his owner to return"
"He really must have loved that person a lot to be waiting for him so long."
"...."
"He even reminds me of you"
"Sorry did you say something?"
"No, nothing, I just hope that wherever they are, both of you have been able to meet again"
"...."
"Yes, both"
The cinema was on the other side of the intersection, in Shibuya Center-Gai, so we started walking. It was a little afternoon so the number of people passing by was quite high, it was a large number of people who came and went. Tama suddenly took my hand and held it tightly, I thought it was because she didn''t want to lose sight because of my small size. But then I remembered, isn''t this what couples do? It is normal for us to hold hands, so with this happy thought I also held hands and we started walking through the mythical cross. To further enhance the atmosphere, this was the time when the cherry trees were in bloom, so the city looked magnificent, for it was a reward in itself to simply walk through these places on a day off like today.
After walking for a while we finally reached our destination, the cinema. Where we queued for a few minutes to get to the ticket office. But as always something happened later, in this case, it turned out to be Nozomi Yasuda, the journalist, who was also working at the ticket office, where I was using the free tickets that she had given me.
"But look how beautiful they are, a mother and her daughter wearing the same!"
"I would love to take a picture of you!"
"...."
"Wait a minute! I know that white!"
"It''s you!"
And another one, just stop, please!
"Do you know her?" Tamamo said pretending not to know her.
"She''s the girl who gave me the free tickets for answering a couple of questions."
"She said that she was a journalist"
"The one from that day in the park" I also answered pretending that I did not know her well at all.
"Are you sure?"
"She doesn''t look very journalistic?"
"What is she doing working here then?"
"They don''t pay you enough? temporary job?" Tamamo said trying to play with her.
" I am Nozomi Yasuda and I do work for the newspaper."
"It''s just that I need money for a couple of personal projects"
"Can we leave it there?"
"I don''t bother you anymore if you don''t bother either"
"What movie do you want to see?"
Okay, this is my time to shine! I have to choose a movie that Tama likes, but I would also like it to be about love, even if it is superficial. Yesterday I spent a good time trying to find out what movie was showing, and although there were some quite new ones, they were also replaying some classic movies. Among them is Die Hard, a cult classic, high action coupled with the family theme, no doubt she will like the movie as soon as she sees it. That is the correct answer to the question!
"2 tickets for the Die Hard movie, please!"I said energetically
"I''m sorry"
"I can not do it"
"What!? why!?"
"That the free tickets were a lie?"
"No, none of that"
"It''s just that the movie is for over 16 years"
"I can''t let children go to movie theaters where movies for adults are being shown"
"That''s stupid!"
"I''ve seen that movie about twenty times!"
"I know it by memory!"
"Movie Theater politics, I can''t do anything"
"But why not better see something for your age?"
"Look we have those movies there in the premiere!"
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site."You can go see any of those with your mom"
"The toys say"
"Doraemon"
"In search of easter eggs"
"...."
"Seriously?"
"There is nothing else?"
"Oh, but what do we have here a cinephile"
"The fault is yours for coming literally in the worst season to come to see movies"
"...."
"There is also the fifth Harry Potter movie, it is less bad than I can let you go see it"
"The fifth film in a saga?"
"Tama...I mean...my...mother...has never seen one before"
"Isn''t it a bit difficult to understand without the context of what happened before?"
"Or you can go see the movie In search of easter eggs"
"..... it''s okay"
"At least that one has wizards, that''s something"
"Two tickets to Harry Potter please"
"All right"
"Here you go, enjoy the movie"
"And please remember our deal"
"Do not forget!"
Okay, that couldn''t get any worse, but at least it''s over. I just have to try to bring my wife up to speed with a little recap of what happened before while we were on our way to the movie theater. We also stop to buy popcorn, something that can never be missed when going to the cinema. But in this case, the employee just ignored me and the bastard just addressed Tamamo. I''m sure he thought I didn''t have any money, because he try to sell us only the most expensive things possible. After that, we finally arrived at the place and looked for our seats, but again another problem arose again. Whoever designed this cinema did not seem to think about short people, the only thing I could see was the seat in front of me. The only possible solution? go and get a kids booster so that I could see the projection, obviously with its respective damage to my self-esteem that this entailed. The only non-negative side was the movie itself, Tamamo loved it, she loved how the castle or the final fight looked. But above all the magic itself that they used in the movie, she even mentioned how some of the spells that appeared throughout the film could be done. It seems that I found another saga that Tamamo loves, my sister surely has the complete collection in Blu-ray, I''m going to borrow them to see the rest with Tama another day.
We arrived at the place without much trouble, and although the entrance to the restaurant was not very striking, I lost the entrance as we entered twice to eat. What most attracts the attention of this place is that they serve sushi, a characteristic Japanese food, the funny thing is that all the food arrives by a conveyor belt, but unlike those other places where there are already things like these, here you choose yourself the food. The restaurant tables are very long and they are all in a row, in front of your seat there is a terminal from where you order your food and shortly after, quite shortly in fact, a little train arrives carrying exactly the order you asked for and it stops just right in front of you for you to take the food, after that the train withdraws itself back to the kitchen.
It was located in a huge office building but the roof is an observation deck, so everyone can go. From here you can see a good part of Tokyo and realize how incredibly big this city is. From here you could see the docks, the Tokyo Skytree, the Tokyo Tower on the opposite side, the Emperor''s Palace next to the gardens, and Mount Fuji in the distance. Although also a big part of the view is the enormous number of large buildings that this city has. We sat on some stairs and we started talking a bit to pass the time.
"So what do you think?"
"It''s a good place to hang out right?" I asked just before continuing to drink my can of soda
"Yes, it''s a pretty nice place"
"And the view is amazing"
"I still can''t believe this is Edo after a thousand years"
"..."
"When I was on earth for the first time, the capital was still in Kyoto"
"But apparently after that violent time of wars, they moved the capital here"
"It''s hard to imagine that a country as violent as this one would have a future where everyone is happy and lives in peace"
"It is the joy of any Goddess to see her people living in this way"
"Everything is also so advanced now, humans took down the lights from the stars and placed them in their homes"
"Now even the night can bring pleasant moments"
"And everything is so colorful now"
"I''m really glad you brought me here today." She said as she leaned back on me.
"I like to hear that too"
"Although I would have liked it even more if people stopped bothering me because of how I look"
"I''m still ashamed to remember what happened with the police officer this morning"
Use my hand to make a facepalm due to remembering such bad times.
"But that was fun too!"
"See the face you made trying to contain yourself, I thought it was funny"
"Although luckily I managed to get there on time, if not if they had taken you to the police station"
"Besides, I also found it funny that they confused me and thought that I was your mother"
"I was thinking of scolding you like a child to make my acting seem more believable" she said smiling gracefully.
"That''s exactly the part I don''t like."
"That people think that we are mother and daughter instead of a couple"
"Destroy what little pride or self-esteem I didn''t know I still had left"
"Doesn''t it bother you?"
"Have to see how people think of us that way!?" I told her looking at her face
"Well, I''d be lying if I told you no" Said my beautiful Tama making a gesture of doubt as she looked away a little and put her hand to her lips.
"But it''s not a big deal either, you can''t do anything about it"
"I also think that the two of us are the perfect example that the appearance not to matter in love."
"I honestly still don''t know what you looked like when you were still a man, and I can change my appearance at will, and yet you''ve never asked me to transform into something you like more"
"Well I think that comparison is quite unfair"
"To start you have the beauty that only a goddess could have from the beginning"
"On the other hand, I was an ugly monster "
"That I had an excuse to be that ugly, well yes, but that doesn''t take away from the fact that I was really dissatisfied with my appearance"
I reclined on the stairs to lie down and rest for a moment, but Tama, as if reading my thoughts and realizing what I would have liked most at this precise moment, stretched out her legs and gently put my head on her thighs, so that I could rest better. If only I had experienced this while I was in college maybe I would be a better person.
"I think this is the first time you mention that"
"Do you mind if I ask what happened?"
"Did it have something to do with the dragons?"
"...."
"...."
"No, it was after that, during the continental war"
"It was during my plane crash in Italy"
"I miraculously survived, or rather the angels rescued me"
"But the wounds of that day were terrible"
"Jet fuel burns horribly"
"Since then I always used something to cover my face, because it bothered me to see even myself"
"Ironic right?"
"I basically hated how I saw myself, for something that was completely my responsibility for taking part in that conflict"
"I looked for it and I earned it"
"...."
"...."
"You know, now I think maybe I shouldn''t have told you that"
"Was it that bad?"
"I lost my hair and I couldn''t recognize myself in the mirror"
"Well, that last one still happens"
"They are different things okay! One was an accident and the other was magic"
"They don''t compare at all!"
"Aren''t we having a sweet conversation?"
"I''m telling you one of the things I least wanted to talk about!"
"I''m sorry I was just bothering you"
"I wanted to see again that face you make when you suddenly get upset"
"It was my fault"
"Don''t worry"
"It''s something left in the past"
"Just like you said there is nothing you can do about it now"
"At least now I don''t need to have my face covered so I don''t scare people"
"It''s fine if you want to leave like that, it doesn''t matter"
"But I assure you that even if you still had burns all over your face, I would still love you the same because the person you are inside is still the same"
"Nothing would have changed" She said close to my ear, as her hand met mine, to finally end in a kiss.
"...."
"...."
"Thanks....."
"...."
"I didn''t even know I wanted to hear those words"
"...."
"My past self would surely have appreciated them even more"
"...."
"...."
"I think it''s getting late, we should go back"
We started the trip back, walked together back to the station, and took the train back home. During the trip, we both stayed together holding hands. This time I think that we realy look as a couple despite the differences in our looks because there were several people who saw me in a rather strange way, but I didn''t care, not this time, because I felt like for the first time in a long time I had won something that I did not deserve or I was not worthy.
After that, we arrived at our station and got off the train as we always did. We kept walking back to our house, but the atmosphere was quite different from usual. In the park in front of the house, there were quite a few people gathered, tables and chairs everywhere. It seemed that there was some kind of fair or party in the place, I thought about asking a neighbor what was going on, but from the crowd, I managed to see my mother and the other girls, they made signs for me to accompany them.
It was Hanami, and although it was not a holiday as such, it was almost the same. It was a Japanese tradition to admire the cherry blossoms when they bloomed. Although it was a tradition of royalty little to the field, everyone was celebrating, that together with how this flower has so much meaning in the culture here makes this an event in itself. Today the neighborhood organized this event so that all the neighbors could participate in it and enjoy it together. Tamamo was happy and excited because she told us that she also celebrated Hanami in her time and it was nice to see that the same tradition was still present even after all these years.
This time we were all gathered under one of the cherry trees enjoying all kinds of food, from a couple of cakes that were leftover from the store to sandwiches that were sold in some of the food stalls that they put up for the occasion. Momo wearing the same "camouflage" that she had designed last time, although she had to be careful when choosing when to eat so that no one would notice her. Lisa seemed like this time she wanted to try the same thing too, so she came dressed similarly, but a little less flashy, she wore one of my hats to hide her horns and ate with gloves. Both of them looked quite striking, although I''m not the best at talking about those topics, since everyone was partying with their friends, the truth is that nobody paid much attention to what we were doing. Tifa was also with us, she was once again inside a bag, but this was open so that she could also enjoy the atmosphere and the food, and in case someone approached she could easily hide. In the end we spent a very pleasant time with the others enjoying the atmosphere and the tranquility.
Ch105: Entrance Ceremony
Entrance Ceremony
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
April 8
A sunny day with a beautiful atmosphere, a huge number of young people enjoying meeting their friends, cherry blossoms welcome the students. Today is the entrance ceremony of the new school year, a new chapter in our lives, one to be enjoyed to the fullest, blah blah blah. Chances are I''ll end up hating quite a bit this year too. While my younger brother has already finished his university career, I am just going to my second year at school, while I look like I should go to the first year of primary school. Each of us mentioned what we think will happen throughout this year. Maria was the first to say that she assumes that incredible, absurd, and mysterious things happened because of me. Tamamo said that she hopes to experience those love stories in youth that are so popular now, I imagine things like running late to school eating breakfast, and crashing into someone by chance. I''m just praying that I have the most boring school year ever.
The truth is that I only continue in this only because of our agreement to protect Haru, although I would like to get a job somewhere, it is quite difficult so I''m just doing what I can to help for now.
"You know, don''t you think it''s funny how the I.S.C respects our vacations?"
"They have not acted since the incident at the Ueno dam" Maria said as she nonchalantly walked by our side.
"Well, that was to be expected, after doing so many striking things in such a short time, it is normal for them to take some time to try not to be so obvious that they were responsible"
"But although I appreciate the free time, I also feel worried that they have not rested like us and have used it instead to continue developing their plans better"
"We may have made a mistake and let them go further than we should have, but we also don''t have any more information about what they might be doing right now."
"Our mother is still quite busy with what happened in New York, plus it seems that with what happened there the Japanese government now plans to join the Alliance actively, so the pact should be almost ready."
"My daughters are helping her in everything she does so we don''t really have anything new"
"It sure must be hard trying to fight an enemy when you don''t even know what they''re planning"
"Well at least I appreciate the time off"
"Contrary to what many think, rest is also very important."
"Could it be that they are even at their limits by themselves just by trying to get ahead"
"Maybe we could get lucky and catch them at their lowest point"
"As if those things happened with you."
"Leaving that aside, this year you will be in another group right?"
"How do you want me to treat you? Totally unknown or I greet you from time to time?"
"I prefer the first"
"For now let''s try to pretend that we don''t know each other to see how it goes"
"If it goes wrong I''ll look for you myself"
"What do you think about that?"
"Works for me"
Damn, I can''t believe that Maria had the luck to study in such a high-level place like this, just look at that place, it looks like a palace, very different from the prison that they call a school in my country. It has all the comforts that would be expected from the first world: a soccer field, indoor gym, swimming pool, chemistry room, gardens, dining room, an infirmary, rooms for activity clubs, library, air conditioning. The teachers are quite good with their students, they respond to your doubts and problems, the students are people who have not seen the problems of poverty, so they take security for granted. The administration staff really care that their school is really the best it can be, where people want to come to study of their own accord.
I do not want to sound like an old man who goes by saying how in the past it was more difficult, but in the school where I studied for the first time, it was not very different from a war zone, and believe me I have been in both places. Where it was, there was also everything, everything bad: overcrowding problems because there were many students, the place was poorly maintained due to money problems, the Bullyn is taken for granted, drug sales, gang fights, frequent robberies within the same school, and place only had the classrooms, a plain outside were to do the entrance ceremony standing and the soda where they sold you food. Teachers have the same need for money as you, so don''t expect too much from them because they also have their own problems that you take care of, constant searches by the police looking for "problematic" things, It is no exaggeration to say that everybody knew then some students had a knife "for defense", more than once I''ve been against a wall with the police searching my pockets. And the administration is just trying to keep the place out of the news again. The best strategy to survive was to make your group fast and be with them protecting yourself, normally the problems only appeared to those who were looking for them, most of the time if you pretended not to see anything nothing bad would happen to you.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Although I am quite grateful for this place, after all, I could not have wished for a better place for Maria to study and not have to go through the same traumas that I did in my day. And well, since we''re here I''d also like to see what it''s like to join a club since they didn''t exist where they were, I''d like to see what those things are like. Seeing what it is like to live in a civilized world from time to time does not bring anything bad, right?
After entering we reviewed in which class we had finished this year. It seems that by "chance" Tamamo and I ended up together with Haru in group 2-B, while my sister is in group 2-A. So we''re not that far apart. After that, we split up to go into the gym and meet up with our respective groups. After that came the ceremony as such, which was first the director of the school giving his typical welcome speech, although this time he also took a moment to mention the horrible event that occurred at the dam and how abruptly it had to end last year, no doubt people were still saddened by what had happened.
After that, the president of the school also came to give a few words, in her speech she also mentioned the tragedy that happened and how lucky we were despite what happened, she also said that it was the responsibility of others to take advantage of the opportunity that was presented to us and that we should go ahead and do our best. Her speech turned more towards the future trying to give hope, but the truth is that the harsh way of talking about her I don''t think it helped with her intention.
Once the ceremony was over, we had to go to the classroom that would be our turn this year and meet our teacher in charge, although I already knew in advance that it would be Xian, it still seemed fun to see her arrive without much encouragement to the classroom. I''m sure she doesn''t want to be here either, but she doesn''t have the same remedy as me.
In the class this year we have several classmates from last year as well as several new ones, I think some of them I had seen before so they may have been from other classes and ended up in this one. Among the acquaintances we first have Yamada Hyobe, the class jester, the little I was there last year was doing a lot of pranks, so I think this year will not be the exception either. Don''t think I''ve forgotten what you said when I introduced myself to everyone. The next on the list is Kusumoto Josuke, he is Yamada''s friend, he is also quite a joker but more controlled, but for some reason he seems to be obsessed with making money, he is almost always selling something and always has something that people have on hand need but to sell them. There is also Umesaka Kojiro, but I remember this one because he is the giant of the class. He is almost 2 meters tall and quite muscular. He says almost nothing and is always in the background with an angry face, but so far I hasn''t had any problems with him so that''s all I can say about him at the moment. No, wait! that this was not the guy who was carrying two other students in his arms when I rescued them from the terrorists? Damn, will he recognize me?
New faces if there are enough, I don''t know them yet but just by seeing them, I think I could guess how they will behave in the future. Yukiko Aragaki I have seen her before, she is Haru''s friend, she was in another class last year. If the rumors about her are hundreds she is the heiress of the Aragaki conglomerate, just one of the most important companies in Japan, it is also said that she is a descendant of the ancient nobles of Japan, but I think maybe they are just exaggerating. Muranaka Yasunobu, completely new, no one knows him before, but still, short height, I have my doubts about this guy, is he a boy or a girl? I say I think he is male, but he seems more delicate than Tifa, the fairy. At least the girls in the classroom seem to adore him for the way he looks, so he probably won''t be bullied. Please tell me I don''t look like him. Yuko something, I don''t remember her name anymore. This girl is the stereotype of Gyaru, which is more or less to say the popular and pretty of the class, I can''t say anything else about her because I really forgot. She is always together with two others who are even more forgettable than her. Over there is the quiet girl from the class, she said her name so softly that I didn''t hear it, but just by looking at her, I can see that it''s the brainiac who is always reading books. If she has glasses and a science book next to her on the first day, how is that type of person not going to be? Nobusawa Takehide, this boy is one of my people. He brought his console the first day of class, from a distance I can see the type of video games he plays, and I recognize them all by heart. He seems quite competent so I would like to bring my console too and challenge him to something to see what it will be too, I want to see if he lives up to expectations. He also looks like he has a manga on his backpack, so he''s the "addicted" one. that never fails It doesn''t seem like he has any friends because he doesn''t know anyone, I think that''s why the console.
But among all there is one that stands out much more than the others, and not in a good way. Tetsuo Keisuke, this guy from afar can be seen to be depressed. Something really bad had to happen to him. He doesn''t look very healthy, it seems that he suffers from insomnia and is quite nervous. He seemed like a pretty suspicious guy so after class I went to talk to Xian about him and with that, I found out why he looked like that. He was the boyfriend of Utagawa, the girl I killed by mistake during the hijacking of the dam. No doubt such an event completely destroyed him, and best of all? It was my fault that this happened completely destroyed him, and best of all? It was my fault that this happened. I can''t go and talk to him directly about what happened, but I really feel bad for him, so I''m going to keep an eye on him a bit to prevent anything bad from happening. His current state is my responsibility, so on behalf of Utagawa, I hope I can protect him.
Undoubtedly this year that is just beginning will be quite busy just seeing the kind of personalities we have in our group. Although I haven''t met all of my new colleagues yet, something tells me that everyone will bring their own problem to my table at some point. It will be a very long school year.
Ch106: Diplomatic Discussions
Diplomatic Discussions
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, United States
The meeting had already been in session for several hours. Some of the attendees were already tired and wanted to go home, but they couldn''t, because the meeting was really important. One of the most important people in the world was in the same room as them, the president of the United States, John Smith. He had met with several of his assistants to follow up on the reconstruction work. The attack that his country had received, though small in scale relative to his territory, had been devastating to its inhabitants. A month had already passed and even so, there was not a single minute that the news did not stop giving the same news, the reporters were going to run out of people to interview. Even Jhon himself was fed up that there was only the same news on national television.
The damage count was enormous, millions of dollars in damage to public infrastructure alone, almost four times the damage to private property, and the enormous number of people who had lost their lives in such a devastating attack had yet to be added. The reconstruction of the city will take between 6 months to 2 years if everything went well, but it would not be strange if that extended for much longer. The only good side of all the bad? The whole country has come together like never before to help others. The signs of solidarity came from everywhere, all the inhabitants were helping each other to try to improve the situation that came without prior notice., people were willing to help to prevent the same situation from happening again, so moments like this were golden opportunities for the rulers. It was the moment of showing that they were made and use almost total freedom to do what they think will be most convenient for their citizens. The president had total support for him since he was seen as the person who saved the country from the front lines of the battle, just as Adelis had foreseen, re-election was not only possible, it had already been assured.
But even so, the doubts were many, and with a future still on the horizon, it would not help to make the following years easier. There was no information regarding how the Empire was able to gather the equipment and move it to carry out such a level of attack, in a place so far from Europe, with one of the countries with the best security systems and still escape with the ease that they did. It must be physically and logistically impossible, there was no way they could do that, but New York City itself was not lying, it really had been attacked by an enemy they considered defeated.
The city of New York was saved only by a handful of brave men who met in record time and made a heroic defense that was able to stop the objectives of the empire in US territory with legendary efficiency. Each person who participated in the initial resistance was recognized as a war hero, the 400 assembled men of the police, the army, and the national guard who took over the airport received the medal of honor for their brave action beyond the call of duty. The 82nd Airborne Division also received high praise for actions for its valiant efforts to reinforce and retake control of the city. The guts that its members showed and their wise choice to go with less equipment to be able to mobilize faster and thus save more lives was the right one. Luck was also on the side of the USS Essex, as the aircraft carrier happened to be returning to New York after spending several years on active duty in the continental war, so its appearance and the battlefield also turned the tables, with troops Experienced veterans, an arsenal tweaked and fine-tuned by combat, along with a group of Arksuits that may have contributed quite a bit to the end result. The Battle of New York only served to further add to the legendary ship''s already long and legendary list of achievements, further enhancing her already reputation as the bane of the Empire. All these years the lucky ship had had a front-row seat to the most important battles of the continental war, and it seems that it did not miss what seemed to be the final encounter. There was a saying in the military that the battlefront is where the USS Essex is.
But there was still one more group missing from that list. A small and reserved group of people that only their individual contributions were comparable to those of all the previous ones put together. But the only name they could say publicly was that of Commander Cedric, the rest of these people had to be kept secret from the public because not even the United States government itself knew who all of them were. The security group that Adelis had brought for her safety was truly fearsome, as they were the ones who made the most important contributions to the battle, but the scariest thing was that they had managed to keep their identities completely secret, but also without hiding anything from them.
"What about the girl with the mask?"
"The one that seemed like a technique?" John asked when he saw the only photograph of her.
"Not much I''m afraid"
"Adelis addressed her by the name of Momo"
"As far as we know she never took off all those weird things so her appearance is a complete mystery" commented one of the advisers
"What does the C.I.A have?" asked another person in the room.
"Not much either"
"She left no trace when we arrived"
"Her way of speaking also did not reflect a seat that we could identify, her way of speaking was very neutral and calm, so we cannot make assumptions about her origin either"
"According to our guesses, this girl, Momo is using a fake name as well to hide her identity."
"From what we gathered from the recordings she showed high knowledge in technology that the empire uses, so we assume that she is probably some type of Technician or high-level researcher of the Empire who may have an agreement with Adelis"
"She will surely provide you with information or advice in exchange for hiding her identity and her safety"
"Okay, what about the others?"
"The two robots, what about them?"
"IDOL I think that was what they called themselves" Mr. Smith came back to ask.
"Without a doubt, they are the Android Dolls of the Empire"
"Probably a new model or prototype"
"Maybe Momo herself could have given them as a symbol of collaboration"
"These two robots have shown a high level of complexity and are capable of accessing the information on the network with great ease"
"Due to the crisis of the moment we let it pass, but they were able to establish a connection with our combat network without legitimate authorization"
"It was thanks to their help that we managed to recover the electricity supply"
"Also with this, we assume that it is very likely that with an identical or similar model it was how the Empire managed to circumvent our security and take over our defense system"
"We don''t know what level of combat they are capable of, but they could certainly pose a threat to our systems"
"Would you consider them a direct and imminent threat to the country?" asked the president with a deeply serious look.
"We do not know the full capabilities that these Dolls are capable of"
"Maybe they could have access to the wi-fi network from the lobby of the hotel"
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more."Maybe they could have access to our network of nuclear ballistic missiles"
"We have no way of knowing, but if it were my responsibility I wouldn''t take any risks, not in these times" answer the defense adviser.
"I think I phrased the question wrong"
"Would you be willing to go against Adelis to try to reduce a minimum risk?"
"Will you be able to live with a target on your back for the rest of your life?" John replied with an even more serious look than before.
"Sir?"
"The robots are quite a valuable asset in and of themselves"
"Adelis certainly wants to have them by her side".
"...."
"But when I heard them talk on the radio I realized something"
"She doesn''t see them as machines, but as humans"
"Do you think she won''t retaliate against us for doing something to them?"
"Sir, she''s just a diplomat that hardly anyone knows" Said another of the advisers.
"There''s not much she can do"
"And the few who know them are the most important people on the planet and they respect her with just that"
"...."
"But she also has the other girls, the ones that look like the combat team" To everyone''s surprise, the defense secretary across the table responded.
"One of them is identified by the callsing of Moon"
"Possibly of Japanese identity"
"She was in charge of helping a lot in the capture of the Empire State"
"We were also able to collect a video where it may be that she also participated in the partial destruction of the brocking bridge, which greatly delayed the forces of the Empire"
"According to reports from some soldiers, they mention that she seemed quite confident in what was happening as if nothing that happened seemed to be important enough to her"
"She fought using a type of spear and according to Captain Shelby Logan of the Arksuit squad, Cyclone Squadron, she alone destroyed about 5 Empire combat Dolls"
"She has also been seen to be quite close to Maria, the daughter of Adelis"
"When it all started, the two of them were in a clothing store together" The CIA Chief replied again.
"Is there something about the girl in white?" Mr. Smith asked because she was his main curiosity.
"Regarding his identity it is impossible"
"Like the others, it''s as if she didn''t exist"
"There is no 100% legal document with which we can identify them"
"During combat, she used White as callsing, but according to some soldiers, Moon called her Elise on a couple of occasions"
"Despite her troublesome physical appearance, she proved to be by far the greatest fighting force Adelis seemed to possess"
"Adelis broke the rules and despite the young age she seems to have, she name her captain in the Alliance forces"
"She was in all the fights that day"
"She directed one of the teams to take over the airport"
"Commanded the demolition team of tunnel 478 and also assaulted the port"
"Then she build a makeshift Arksuit with "Momo"
"Participated in the seizure of the Stuyvesant power plant"
"Protagonist of the capture of the Empire State, she alone was able to finish off an entire squad of Dolls and helped retake the defense system"
"She was also the person who carried out the almost suicide mission to rescue the president completely alone in the enemy command post"
"Hell, with this last fact alone she would be recognized as a war hero if it weren''t for the fact that we don''t know who she really is."
"Damn, that girl is like a demon"
"And she is on the side of Adelis"
"Are you sure you still want to make her mad by getting rid of the robots?"
*gulp*
"The list still goes on"
"We believe that she also had something to do with the rescue of hostages from the Ueno dam, as Maria was among the group of students kidnapped"
"Finally we also have reports of Imperial transmissions about the war that mentioned a white Demon"
"We have no evidence that it is her but I think it is obvious why they are related"
"...."
"She is probably the most dangerous asset that the Adelis security team has"
"Sir, we can classify almost all of these people as a serious threat to the country"
"The risk of having people like them free out there is too high"
"I continue to maintain my position that we must do something about"
"No"
"We can''t do something as stupid as trying to eliminate them"
"First of all, what do you think it would take to perform such an action?"
"An invasion in a country with which we have great relations like Japan?"
"Also, if they wanted to hurt us, they had many opportunities that day."
"Besides, who would have rescued me in those conditions?"
"From what I could see for myself, this girl has more Balls than everyone in this room"
"..."
"The best we can do is try to be nice to them"
"Dangerous people like them, it is better to have them as friends than as enemies"
"For now we will act as if they are part of the Adelis security group and as recognized as officers of the alliance if necessary"
"Make the documents official"
"Adelis will surely appreciate our gesture in supporting her"
"..."
"What medal can we give her?"
"Her achievements are far enough for the medal of honor "
"But she''s not a US citizen so we can''t give it to her"
"The next one would be The Legion of Merit, for Allied Foreign Troops"
"But once again, we can not deliver it without an ID"
"Bullshit"
"Just skip the steps but make them receive the medal and the corresponding benefits"
"We can''t let ourselves think we''re being stingy"
"..."
"Forget it..."
"I myself must deliver that medal"
"I think that would look better"
"Sir, can''t you give a medal to a person abroad who we don''t even know who he is!?"
"How will we transmit that on television?"
"Very easy!"
"We won''t"
"I will visit them secretly and give the medal to that girl right there"
"Yes that is better"
"We cannot let you leave the country just to deliver a medal, a compelling reason is needed for you to leave the country."
"We can deliver the medal by mail"
"Simpler and less conspicuous"
"Please think better what you are doing"
"It is to visit Adelis! it is almost like a summit of nations by itself"
"But I think you''re right, I can''t go there just for that..."
"...."
"Is there something I can put as an excuse to visit Japan?" Said the ex-sergeant turning around to look at the window.
"Well, with the recent attack on New York, Japan has further increased its interest in joining the Alliance"
"They ask for the same as all the members, promises of collaboration in case of defense and all the other things"
"We could benefit from more shipments of military equipment by them, we could use it to send it to Europe to the already member countries"
"Surely the Government of Japan would like a visit from you as a sign of interest, you don''t have to give an answer right there"
"We can ask Adelis to wait for you at our embassy and take care of the awarding of the medal in a private meeting"
"Yes, that sounds much better!"
"That will also help Adelis in her settlement negotiations."
"I think that and a promise that we''ll increase the things she can deal with would make nice thank you gifts"
"That''s what we''ll do"
"..."
"You, the one who was in favor of killing people"
"Look for the way that our Missile network cannot be accessed"
"If these robots are really possible of such a thing as a hacker our network looks for a way to avoid it, it is our highest priority for now"
"Disconnect the stations if necessary, try that they can be used without the need of the network completely"
"Sir, this is a huge job, it will take time to make all the changes"
"So do it as fast as you can, this change is now a matter of national security"
"One of those same ones that you wanted so much to have earlier"
"See, in the end, who seeks finds"
The meeting still continued for a while longer, but it did not return to the same level of discussion as before. But one thing had given way in the minds of the people who were there that day, and that is that perhaps there were important people in this world who probably were also unknown to everyone. How just one person could shake almost an entire government with just his name. And even so, they were not able to see that the most important person had gone relatively unnoticed because if they believed that Adelis was powerful, it was because they were completely unaware of what the girl in white was capable of.
Ch107: What Mothers Keep Silent
What Mothers Keep Silent
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
***************
Adelis POV
***************
Today has been quite busy, the Japanese defense ministry has been in a panic after the New York attack, it seems that after thinking about it a lot seeing what happened in New York, they are in a panic thinking that something at that level can happen in such little time. They seem more willing to join the Alliance, but they still won''t accept our current agreement. Honestly, what the hell do these people want, they''re going to drive me crazy, I didn''t think it would take so long trying to negotiate the damn deal. I had been starting to work in the home office because there were times when I had to make calls late at night to be able to talk to someone on the other side of the world. I honestly didn''t think I would ever use this room because I don''t think I''d allow visits from important people since entering this house is the same as going to Wonderland. But not everything is bad today, because my son Leon had called today to give me the news that he had risen again in the company.
"I''m very happy for you, congratulations"
"You really worked hard to get it" I told him with all the sincerity and pride that a mother could give her son
"Yes, finally it seems that I will start early next week"
"The CEO really expects a lot from me, so I can''t let him down."
"That is good"
"Hey, and how is your family? All good there?"
"How is little Holly?"
"I can''t believe you haven''t sent me pictures of my own granddaughter yet"
"Please send them to me when you have time"
"I want to put them in the fireplace of the house along with everything else"
"Everyone is pretty good thank God"
"Holly already said her first words"
"Daisy already feels completely recovered and she is eager to get back to work again"
"Most likely she will go back to her old job at the law firm"
"Leon, wait a minute!"
"But your daughter is not even a two years old yet, it is not yet time to leave her alone!"
"We will hire a professional caregiver or leave her in a nursery"
"They are going to help her to learn everything as fast as possible and she can develop her intelligence quite soon"
"With Daisy''s salary back again we can pay for her to get into a good school and with it a good university."
"She will be able to get a good professional career if she settles in an area where there are very few people available."
"Leon, my son, you do know that that''s about 15 years away, right?"
"Many things can happen, life can take many turns and you never know what lies ahead"
"I don''t think a child is very amused by having such absent parents in his life, especially at such early ages"
"Why don''t you think better of it, I think she would like to have a life with her parents and in seven years they will be able to see if she will like school and start growing from there"
"But the early years are when they need her parents the most"
"She''s going to a good place, it''s a center to develop gifted children early"
"If she goes there she can learn many things, so we want her to enter from the age of 4"
"So we want to make sure that she can have what it takes to be one of the top graders"
"We already have a list of the best private tutors who are willing to teach her"
"It is necessary!"
"Just because you did that to us doesn''t mean the right way to raise a child!"
"Don''t start preaching about how a father raises his daughter!"
"In this world, if you are not a successful person you are nobody!"
"The easiest way to succeed is to be smarter than anyone else and I''ll do that with her"
"Oh, do you want me to treat her like you did with Cesar?"
"Do you want her to end up just like him?"
"With no money, poorly paid jobs and dying in an alley just for a measly salary as a soldier because he didn''t know how to do anything better with her life"
"I want her to be successful in her life, just like her parents or her grandmother did"
"By the way speaking about your brother...."
"...."
"...."
".... you know ... better ... forget it ..."
"It was nothing"
"What?"
"Are you going to tell me that you already received his farewell letter?"
"Good time, he has been underground for a long time and still comes to torment you?"
"You just burns it, leaves everything of him in the past, there is nothing that can be done for him"
"The bastard just wants to keep messing around even though he''s dead"
"Don''t hurt yourself anymore and just forget it, it''s better for everyone"
"At least you try to save Maria you still have time"
"No one wants anything bad to happen to her after everyone put so much money into her"
"Leon!"
"You can''t talk like that about your brothers!"
"You have no idea what they''ve been through!"
"Not everyone can be successful even with everything in their favor!"
"But when Ivania was there, success mattered, right?"
"Surely if your "favorite daughter" were the one doing it, you would surely support her completely with her decisions"
"She, after all, is important thanks to her work, more than me, I guess"
"What I did at that time was completely wrong and I accept it"
"It was my fault and I never should have done it, during that time I was blinded by wanting you to be the same as her"
"It was a mistake"
"But remember that everyone will make mistakes and you are not an exception"
"That apology has come 15 years late"
"The damage is already done"
"The only thing I regret is that my brother is not alive to hear it too"
"Maybe if they had done it before things would have been different"
"Maybe even my brother would have been saved"
*Hang up*
....
....
....
I really screwed up, right
....
....
....
Damn, I had the perfect opportunity to talk to him and I had to throw it away. Why the hell did I take the conversation in that direction, I needed it to be a happy conversation. Why did he let him talk to me like that? Why did I lose my nerve? Why did I behave so stupid at that time? If I want to fix this and help Cesar reintegrate with the others, I need Leon''s help, not antagonize him. But how can I deal with it despite the resentment he has towards me?
Suddenly the door of the room opened wide, but surprisingly it did not make any noise. The fact of seeing it directly only scared me even more. But then I relaxed to see that it was Cesar who was responsible, he''s still wearing his school uniform so he must have just returned from class. . I look both ways quickly as if looking for something, just when I was about to ask him if he had lost something he made a sign, he wanted me to be silent. Then, despite his size, he climbed the wall with incredible ease until he was in one of the upper corners of the room and began to try to remove one of the ceiling tiles. What the hell was he doing? But just when she was about to speak again, Kazumi came running, she looked both ways around the room too but she didn''t seem to find what she was looking for. Cesar was finished entering the roof and moved the sheet to cover almost all the holes he had created.
"He was here right?"
"Playing hide and seek"
"He stated that if we managed to find him in the first 10 minutes, he would buy us an ice cream"
"I saw him come in here but how did he hide in no time?"
"...."
"I''m sorry but I can''t interfere then it wouldn''t be fair"
"..."
"Couldn''t you watch the security cameras to see where he is?"
"I''m doing it, but he came into this room which is a blind spot and I lost sight of it"
"He knew that, that''s why he came so I could lose track of him"
"ok that was a good move"
"What do you plan to do about it?"
"You still have time left to find it"
"He came here to lose the trail, probably to increase his advantage"
"The window is open so he could get out of the house and jump into the neighbor''s house"
"Surely he will try to avoid places where there may be security cameras!"
"!!!!"
"I already saw it!"
"He''s entering the convenience store right now!"
"I''m going to change my clothes and I''m going to chase him"
"If I catch him right there, he''ll have to buy us both ice cream!" She said before running off as fast as she came.
As soon as she left, Cesar himself was the one who came down from the roof as silently as he went up and left everything in its place as if nothing had happened.
"Wait a minute!"
"Didn''t your daughter just say that she just saw you at the convenience store?"
"But you are here! How did you do it?"
"Tamamo"
"I told her that she pretended to be me and if her twins found her I would just reveal to them that it was her"
"By the time they come back time will have passed"
"I''m a fucking genius!"
"Isn''t that playing dirty?"
"They are your own daughters"
"They will be disappointed that you cheated on them"
"Hey! Wait a minute!"
"They can use security cameras to see and find me! on the other hand, I don''t have superpowers!"
"I''m not the one cheating, at best I''m just balancing the scales to make it fairer even!"
"In addition, this will surely teach them not to trust technology so much, it will be a lesson that they will remember without a doubt."
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation."Because, you can''t always trust that you will always have technology around you, so I would like them to learn to do things for themselves without the help of anything"
"Once they have learned the lesson I will buy them the ice cream"
"In the end, it will be a win-win right?"
"You almost seem like a bad person if you say it with that smile"
"..."
"..."
"Speaking of bad people, what do you think of your cousin Ivania?"
"Ivana?"
"Wasn''t she undertaking her resort on the beach? Or was it the five-star hotel on the Arenal volcano? She was doing fine right?"
"Why? Did something happen to her?"
"Do you think I was heavy comparing the three of you to her?"
"Do you hate her for what I did? or to me?"
"You talked to Leon again right?"
"I have already told you that he only sees what he wants to see"
"If he thinks you spent so much time messing around with it, then it doesn''t matter what actually happened, for him, you did exactly that"
"..."
"I don''t have any problem with Ivania, at most the problem is with how stubborn Leon can be"
"And if you are still not convinced ask Maria also to see what she thinks"
"Do you really think then that I did nothing wrong? Or that I was really annoying?"
"!!!!"
"Damn, I think I just heard that she''s coming back!"
"I can''t let her catch me! If they catch me they won''t learn the lesson!"
"Sorry, I have to go now!"
This time Cesar did go out the window and instead of going down, he went up to the roof, but with how silent he was I couldn''t hear what he did next.
Not even a minute had passed when, right after the open door, a super tiny girl entered this time, it was Tifa. She came flying along with a small, really not so small for her size, watering can, she went to the large plant that I had for decoration and began to water it.
"Hello again Mrs. Adelis"
"It''s a pretty nice afternoon, right?"
"Sorry for my interruption"
"This plant told me that she wanted more water so I came to help her with that"
Quickly change your way of acting! This girl can''t see you sad, she still has little time here, she won''t be amused to see me lose her nerves in front of her!
"Tifa, I already told you that you are basically my stepdaughter now"
"You don''t have to be so formal, you can talk to me as casually as you want"
"I''m not going to bother, in fact, I would like to talk more with you"
"Well, in that case, I would like to comment on how impressed I am with the large number of plants here"
"I haven''t seen any of them before, they are all new to me"
"There are some more interesting than others but I have fun investigating any of them"
"I am also quite impressed by this invention here, the greenhouse"
"This was exactly the application to the problem that I was investigating"
"With it, you can have any type of plant regardless of the weather outside"
"And its implementation is so simple that I''m surprised we hadn''t thought of it before"
"I like to hear that"
"And what about your life here? Have you gotten used to living with the others?"
"Are you no longer afraid of the television?"
"To be honest, you are not the first to be scared when someone saw it turned on for the first time"
"He ,he ,he"
"Well, at least I''m not in permanent panic anymore."
"But although I know they won''t hurt me when they see me, it''s not so easy to leave behind the desire to hide"
"Already at this point, it is something that I think brings our race by default"
"But it''s not his fault, it''s just me who gets nervous around big people"
"Maria and the others have been taking care of me so I know they won''t hurt me"
"Although on the other hand, Lisa continues to terrify me completely"
"Her race belonged to the Demon Lord''s army in the world I came from"
"So seeing her calmly with the rest of her only gives me the feeling that something is wrong and that everything will become very violent from one moment to another"
"Also, every time she laughs when she sees me, it gets on my nerves, why does she do it?"
"Well, I agree that the way Lisa behaves does not help much to trust her"
"But at the moment she has been living with us for some time and we have not had any problems with her."
"...."
"Well sometimes has the crazy episodes of her but she does not try to harm anyone with them"
"It''s just that... it''s hard for her to behave normally?"
"Do you really not feel completely safe with anyone yet?"
"Well when I''m with Elise it''s different"
"When I''m around her really safe and calm, so I try to be around her as long as possible"
"I think it''s because I''ve already seen her defend me several times before even though I didn''t gain anything from it, so I already know completely that she won''t hurt me"
"Maybe with her, I can get used to getting along better with others"
"Besides, she doesn''t treat me like someone small all the time, she treats me as if we were the same height"
The fairy began to look away a little trying to hide it, but I could see it clearly. That way of speaking was slower and happier than hers just a moment ago, she was clearly enjoying talking about the topic but she didn''t know exactly what to say or why she had a hard time. Her look, a little lost in relation to what she was doing, was something I had seen before, it was the look of a person in love. She felt better being close to Cesar but she didn''t even know why it was happening. But the cutest of all is that she still does not know who Elise was before she met her, she does not know that the girl she is calm with is Cesar, because due to the great change of environment that she is taking we wanted to confuse it even more with extra things. So we tried to keep Elise''s secret hidden for a while until Tifa was better settled in this house. I wonder how she will react.
"Well it''s not like she''s too big to start with" I said joking.
***Ring***
I was still talking to her when my cell phone started ringing again. From the ringtone that was ringing, I knew it was a very important call, so I answered as soon as possible and went back to my computer to get ready.
"Ma''am, this is Major Zero, the meeting just concluded"
"Almost everything was as expected, nothing to report on it"
"The most relevant thing has been that the president plans to give the legion of merit medal to White, despite the fact that they have not yet confirmed her identity"
"He plans to make a trip to Japan with the excuse of improving relations regarding the alliance, but the main reason for the old man will be the delivery of the medal from John himself at the embassy"
"Okay that''s interesting, can you give me more details?"
"Actually there is not much more to add, he wants to do it as a token of appreciation for the help that his team provided during the battle of New York."
"On the other hand, they talked about that, and they also discussed what to do to start with the reconstruction of the city, but it seems that apart from the budget, they still haven''t decided what to start with."
"Zero wait!"
"I think I have an idea regarding reconstruction, first that we can completely remove some of the new buildings to..."
"Please wait a moment for more details."
"Tifa, I need you to find me a blue folder in that file there"
"It''s in the first cabinet"
"Quickly, please!"
The fairy was flying quickly exactly where I told her and she got into the cabinet to start looking, a moment later I could see how she brought me the folder with several pages to my dough and gently left it close to my hands. And with that I was able to go into more detail regarding the reconstruction plan, my plan as why I was bothering to take time for it was that I would use it as an opportunity to help John to improve his image to the public even more, as well as install a new defense system better prepared for attacks because it does not help me that the UN headquarters is attacked frequently. For her part, Tifa did not leave, because she seemed curious about the conversation I was having, and despite the fact that I was busy talking on the phone, I took a couple of moments to answer the questions that she asked me about my work.
"Okay ma''am, I''ll pass this information on to the president as soon as I can."
"Finally, as a problem, there was a certain inconvenience with one of the attendees"
"One of the advisors present, Mr. Jones, appears to have made "inappropriate" comments towards you and your team."
"Mr. John was smart and quickly dismissed him, but it''s still very likely that he can make plans on his own I''m afraid."
"So I would like to ask you how you want me to handle it"
"Shall I do the usual, ma''am?"
"What? No, not the usual"
"We cannot take care of someone so important in the Pentagon in that way."
"They are going to contact the CIA, they will investigate thoroughly and all that stuff"
"...."
"But I won''t let someone talk bad about my team either"
"..."
"I''m going to call The Wolf so he can handle it. "
"...."
"Tifa can you help me again and can you bring me that red notebook up there?"
"Thanks"
"Here you are, Mrs. Adelis"
"But may I know what''s here this time?"
"I already told you that you don''t have to be so formal with me, as for the notebook there are only numbers and names of some contacts of people I know"
"They are the problem solvers"
I put the call with Major Zero on hold and dialed The Wolf''s number right away.
"Hello, it''s me again"
"Mr. Jones, Out the Back Door, Dinner for Four"
"Do you want it with national television or with the Department of Homeland Security?"
"Television, I want him so flashy I don''t want him going out again without a bag over his head."
"..."
"In fact, also add sexual abuse to the list to be completely sure that no one wants to help him."
"Those idiots sometimes help each other until they start to look like things like that and suddenly all your friends hate you even though they know you''re innocent in order to save their skin"
"Okay, I''ll have your order ready in two days"
"I hope you enjoy it "
*Hang up*
After hanging up I came back with Major zero.
"Ok that''s it, you carry on with the same old and let me know again if anyone else is "wrong thinking" please"
"All right ma''am"
"I''ll tell the others so they keep their distance and don''t get splashed"
He also hung up.
Well, it seems that now I am going to have more work now that I know that the president will come to the country, I have to inform the government about this and also prepare the embassy to be able to receive the visit that he plans to pay us. I hope you don''t mind the news that will come out shortly, but you must as much as I need to make myself respected if I don''t want people like him to look down on me in this line of work. I also have to see what I do with Cesar with this news, will he like it or does he try his best not to go?
Ch108: The Occult Research Club
The Occult Research Club
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
I think I had already said it many times, but I will repeat it again, I am not excited to be having to go back to school after so long, but it seems that I have no other choice.Normally the first lessons are the most boring as they are usually either math or history.The fun classes like chemistry are on Friday and to make matters worse I heard that our physical education teacher will be back next week from her disability due to a lesson, and I honestly don''t know what to do when those classes come around. Tamamo can hide his ears and tail, I can''t do that, so I''ll be screwed if they put swimming for example, although I can also use the card that I can''t do outdoor activities due to my albinism, yes, I can use thatto get rid of my physical education classes.
Tama and I are still talking in the first break of the day when Haru came excitedly towards us, it seemed that she wanted to talk about something urgently, so we stopped what we were doing to listen to her. But after hearing it I think it would have been better to have ignored her completely.
"Form the occult research club?"
"You are kidding, right?" I said nervously
"No not at all"
"I can get the permits quickly, the president is a friend of mine so it will not be so difficult"
"In addition, there are still several unused club rooms"
"The only thing I need is to get the initial members and our manager"
"You know the amount of prejudice that the people who form those clubs receive right?"
"It''s not like being teased the most makes me excited"
"If you really plan to do it anyway at least don''t involve me"
"What if you better make a video game club"
"In that, I can help you"
"But the main reason for creating it in the first place is the two of you!"
"Can''t you imagine it!?"
"Just think about it, a paranormal investigation club"
"With two magical creatures like the two of you as members!"
"I think we will be able to solve various mysteries and help people!"
"Isn''t that exciting!"
"Maybe we can even solve the mystery of the origins of you two!"
"That you are not interested in knowing who you really are?"
"First, I would like you to keep our secret hidden"
"You promised, remember?"
"Second, I don''t want people to see me as the weird antisocial girl, I''ve had a lot already"
"And third and most important, I already know what I really am and it''s not something that makes me very happy either"
"So I want to leave all that behind and just live in peace"
"Why don''t you ask someone else?"
"Okay, if you leave me no other option!"
"What about you Tamamo?"
"Can you try to talk your girlfriend into joining?"
"Wait a minute, why do you treat her like the second choice?"
"Of you two, you seem to be the one in charge of the relationship"
"So surely Tamamo is the one who can talk to you and make you change your mind"
"Wouldn''t you like to investigate paranormal things, things like ghosts or dark magic?"
"Magic Research!?"
"I''m pretty good at it!"
"Tama!"
"We seriously can''t?"
"...."
"Okay, okay, your wish is my command"
"..."
"I will follow the path that my "darling" has wisely chosen for me"
"As her faithful lover, I will follow her to the end, even though she forbids me...."
"This is dirty play"
"It''s alright, stop"
"You can stop acting like this in front of others"
"You don''t have to put on that pity face to see try to convince me"
"I have not forbidden you anything, I was just saying that you already know me"
"You know this will become a major problem later on"
"Come on, it will be fun as always"
"Also if something goes wrong I can take care of everything"
"I want to see what can happen or what new I can learn!"
"Damn it''s, alright"
"Only because you ask me"
"Ok we will join"
"BUT!"
"ONLY if you got everything else first!"
"Until the club is 100% formed, don''t count on the two of us?"
"All right?"
"Okay, so it''s a deal!"
"You better not back down when everything is ready!"
Right after chatting with her the bells rang and we went back to class. This time it was home economics, aka learning to cook, aka learning, aka we almost had a fire and I almost died of a stomach ache when I tasted Tamamo''s food, she was really happy that we are cooking together, but the happy moment made me almost finish at the hospital. The next lesson I spent completely in the bathroom without being able to move from my seat. I''m sure she was living in the forest by herself, so at some point, she had to cook something for her to eat, right? Or is it that she ate everything raw because I can''t think of how she is still so bad with food, she has already spent a couple of months practicing. Is she doing it on purpose?
When I was able to return to the salon I am sure that I weighed much less than this morning. The classes for the day were over, I was just gathering my things, but by chance, I ran into Haru again, who was talking to Xian and Tamamo who had both her bag and mine.
"I have good news for you!"
"The Occult Research Club is officially formed!"
"I needed you and your girlfriend to come to the room at the back of the third floor of the club building"
"It''s to end the registration of you two"
"...."
"Are you OK?"
"Did you happen to run into a Facehugger?"
"Because you look like he''s about to make his exit"
"I wish it was a Chestburster"
"At least that way will end my suffering"
"...."
"But leaving that aside, is it ready?"
"Isn''t that a little TOO fast?"
"I thought it would take you a couple of days at least"
"It wasn''t really that hard"
"There weren''t many requests yet to create more clubs"
"The room that we will use has been unoccupied for a while so they did not give it in exchange for cleaning it"
"And with respect to the manager, I got Professor Xian to be the person in charge of the club"
"She seemed to be quite excited about it too so it was easy to convince her"
"She made me think this was your idea"
"I thought that this way we could have her more "insight"
"I am also a victim here" Said Xian whispering to me
"Okay, I guess the teacher still has a lot to do"
"But what if you accompany me so I can fill out the entry forms as soon as possible?"
"Follow me!" Haru said excitedly as she took my hand and Tama''s so we wouldn''t run away.
The building we were going to or wasn''t far at all and we got to the place corresponding to the club pretty fast.
The building we were going to was not far at all and we arrived at the place corresponding to the club quite quickly. As Haru mentioned, the place hadn''t been used for a long time so other clubs and teachers had used it as a storage room to store things that they no longer used. The first thing we did was help clean the place and once everything was clear we went to get a couple of tables and chairs to at least be comfortable. After that, Haru took out the entrance papers, but also a notebook and several colored pens.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Okay, I need you to fill out these papers with basic information."
".... "
"And that you answer me to this questionnaire that I will do "
"Don''t worry, these are simple questions"
"It is to see what we should focus on with the club activities"
"It is to collect basic information before starting and have a procedure guide"
"Yes, exactly like those!"
"But this is before that, this is to get to that point"
"Well I''m going to start"
"How likely do you think ghosts really exist?" Haru began to ask and write even though we still did not answer.
"Well, I would say that it is quite probable that they do exist"
"I have no proof but no doubt either" I tried to say it in a way that didn''t sound like I really believed it, while at the same time reminding me of the time I hunted a Ghost Dragon in Atlantis.
"I preferred not to comment on the subject" replied Tamamo, surely remembering the time she was a cursed stone.
"Ok, it''s ok"
"Next question, do you believe that Gods exists?"
"Now more than ever" I replied immediately.
"Perhaps" Tamamo said trying to hide his smile.
"Hey, can you not give me such short answers?"
"I needed to have information to see what we will do as activities!"
"..."
"Oh wait, you guys do know but you can''t tell humans!"
"It''s okay, it''s okay, I won''t bother you with the subject anymore, I think"
"Okay, the next one is, where are you guys really from?"
"Do you come from another world? The world of Yokai? Were you born in a temple?"
"Not at all, I was born in Central America"
"I would pay you if you can say the name of a country there"
"But since I know you don''t know better, let''s leave it there"
"Mexico?"
"No, my country is north of the Panama Canal"
"It''s the best direction I think I can give you"
"Canada?"
"That is north of the United States!"
"At least if you know where that is, right?"
"I really thought that the United States was the entire continent of America"
"Yes, it is exactly the problem that we have the rest of countries"
"Even they consider that they are in their country when they visit mine"
"Ho, no, Anyway"
"What about you Tamamo?"
"I was born in Kyoto!"
I elbowed Tama to remind her not to be so direct and remember what we had told Haru before.
"At least that''s what we think because the things they had were from there"
"Adelis''s husband found me when he was on police work and raided a property with a lot of illegal wildlife"
"I was among them, I was a little fox when that, supposedly I was very sick, but Elise''s family decided to take care of me during, and later one day I had become human"
"Since then we''ve been together ever since"
Wow, what a good move Tamamo made there.
"Okay, that''s pretty interesting"
"Elise you already told me that you always had that look"
"But knowing that Tamamo was once a fox is incredible!"
"Which leads me to another question, I started to investigate a bit and I came across the Legend of Tamamo-no-mae, which curiously seems to have the same name, do you know by chance if you are related to it?"
A question that brushes pretty close to the truth. I knew that if she used that name one day this would happen. It was easy to connect the dot.
"...."
"...."
Damn, Tamamo is immobile
"Hahaha" I laughed in a panic trying to buy time while thinking of something
"Of course not"
"...."
"We think she is from Kyoto because she had a fan with her when we found her"
"When she became human, the first thing we started was to search for her origin, but we never reached anything conclusive"
"The fan was a craft from there, nothing more"
"While we were investigating we came across the legend and my mother thought her name was pretty, so we say call her that"
"It''s fine if you want to leave it that way, I''m not going to continue with the topic anymore"
"What about what you girls have done in the past?"
"You was told me that you hunt supernatural creatures, and that''s how you discovered Lisa, right?"
"What else can you tell me about hunting? It is dangerous? Have you ever seen a fight against something? What kind of enemies have you faced?"
"Well, about whether we have hunted, I really don''t know what to tell you"
"Lisa is the only creature that we are completely sure is also a supernatural entity apart from us"
"And even so she was quite small when that happened, once again my mother decided to take care of her and that''s how she stayed with us"
"Despite how she may look or behave she is sometimes a good person"
"Out of that...."
"Once we hunted a giant wolf on my grandmother''s farm, it was huge, it almost looked like a horse"
"But we didn''t fight him, we just left some poisoned meat, and the next day we found the body nearby"
"And once I had to rip the head off a coral snake, but that''s a normal creature, does that count too?"
"Wait a minute, the story of your father and you against the wolf was real?" asked Tamamo surprised.
"Yes Yes it is"
"We have a photo of him in some relative"
"We need the help of a neighbor with a truck to be able to move it from there"
"It is as exhibited in a museum of natural sciences of the national university there is at home"
"Thanks to that we have free tickets there"
"But once again, I think it was just a big dog"
"That doesn''t help me much, but seeing as Lisa and you guys exist we can''t it''s almost entirely likely"
"That''s good, it means that we hope that we can find amazing things in our investigations of the club and make real progress"
"The next question on the list, On the internet I have seen stories of ghost hunters or monsters"
"What do you think of them? Is the work they do real, is it fake or is that type of work done by other types of people?"
"That''s a question I can easily answer"
"I can assure you that most religions have at least one group of hunters in case something could happen"
"But they are not dispatched at once, they obviously want to have their hunters hidden from public knowledge"
"That''s where the ghost hunters come in, the ones with the haunting videos and the scary photos"
"They are the ones who check the places first to make sure they are not false alarms"
"Or if there is a real danger try to get as much information as possible to the team of real hunters"
"So are you saying that ghosts do exist?"
"It''s ok, I accept it"
"Yes, ghosts also exist, and I recommend you stay away from them!"
"If you think that maybe it is real that there is one just call us and stay away from there"
"We will make sure to make the place safe again"
"AHA! So that was what you hid!"
"You two don''t hunt monsters, you two are dedicated to hunting ghosts!"
"That''s why you don''t have mystical things in your house!"
"Because there''s nothing to pick up to start"
"So that''s what we''ll do! The main function that we will do as members of the occult investigation club will be to investigate ghosts!"
"I''ll be doing some research to see what we can start with"
"With that I will leave you for today, I have to check several internet pages to be able to start as soon as possible"
"You heard the part where I said that it can be dangerous, right?"
"Do you think your grandfather will leave you? What would he think?"
"Come on, isn''t this what your family does for you?"
"Surely you already have enough experience, and also with this club, we have an excuse to be able to sneak away more easily from the others"
"Also, you don''t have to worry about my grandfather"
"I can handle it easily! After all, I will only tell you that it is a club activity that we are only going to try to see ghosts"
"It''s something he''ll think is harmless like putting a camera in a hallway at school at night and that''s it"
"To be honest, the thing about the camera in the hallway is something that we will do a lot if we will really hunt ghosts"
"Excellent, thanks for the advice."
"I will put video cameras among the things in the club budget"
"...."
"Wait!"
"Does that mean we need equipment?"
"How expensive will all this be?"
"..."
"No, leave it, you just take care of telling me what we need and I''ll take care of getting it for you"
Haru gathered her things and left immediately, it seemed that she was in quite a hurry. Is he really excited about all this? I thought she wanted to be a police investigator like her grandfather, not a ghostbuster. Or is she just excited because for now, it''s the only thing her grandfather could let her do for now? She sure wants to be such a good investigator as her grandfather that she is willing to even go against him. Now I''ll have to talk to Xian to help me keep Haru safe, but it''s her fault for getting in the way in the first place, now she has no right to complain. I just wanted to go to school normally and now I''m forced to join one of the weirdest clubs there could be. It seems like I can never get away from being the weird guy.
Ch109: School Is A Battle Of Wills
School Is A Battle Of Wills
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
A quiet school day. Young people talking with their friends, Teachers giving classes, In the lower part of the school are the young boys playing soccer. And in our class, there is our teacher Xian mentioned the difficult test that I would have to face today. Because right after this class, the physical exams of the girls would be carried out in the infirmary. I think there is no need to mention the terror I felt when I heard that, along with the cold sweat that ran all over my body. Today was precisely the day that I feared the most, just hearing that, a cold sweat that ran through my entire body.
You didn''t have to be very smart to know the main reason, my body. Nanami''s body is not something that can be said to be quite childish despite its size. When people see me it will only raise more suspicions about what the hell I am. And as if that wasn''t enough, after that, the underwear I wear isn''t very innocent either, because due to difficulties of my proportions, the only underwear that doesn''t rip when I try to put it on is for slightly older girls. First I tried to wear boxers, but most of them tore before reaching the right place, the ones that did manage to get there were so tight that it was uncomfortable for me to walk. And with the panties a similar story happened, the only ones that came to not bother me were a little more "showy" and to make matters worse, later I had to make space for the tail, so let''s say that I don''t have a single piece of intact underwear. And that was not the biggest problem, my chest has been a separate problem because there is nothing that fits my needs. A girl with my chest proportions and height is simply not supposed to exist, or we are a very hidden minority. We really had to order them made custom made, because the few that I found were very loose and the truth is that I hate that they go bouncing when I''m running, especially while I''m running for my life in a gunfight. And because I don''t use a sports bra, because there was no size for me, they were all small, but the worst thing was when I tried to use them by force and I almost suffocated to death, the store clerk had to cut it with scissors. In short, all the horror that has happened these past two months combined into one intensive one-hour segment.
I had to escape! My dignity depends on it! The first attempt was the old trusty of my younger years, escape from school as if it were a prison, but one of the teachers saw me climbing the fence and I had to escape again to lose sight of him. The second try trying to be busy with something else, but trying to find Xian to help me, but I couldn''t find her, it seems to be the class from before it was her last one for the day and she left early, probably to help my mother with her I work for the Alliance. The third option was an accident but that wouldn''t help me today, the physical is right in the infirmary, they''ll just take me there ahead of time. My luck ran out when a member of the disciplinary committee grabbed me while he was trying to hide me in the music room. And he ends up forced to go against my will.
There was me and the rest of the girls in my class.And the horror began.First of all, they asked us to take off our clothes, I tried to be the last at least for what I stayed talking to Tamamo trying to buy time, but they scolded me again for that and asked me to hurry up.Having spent all my options I already knew that everything was lost, it was already unavoidable.Accepting my fate, I took off my uniform and sat on a bench waiting for everything to end.I was surrounded by beautiful girls in their underwear and all I could feel was the lack of oxygen from my anxiety.But this wouldn''t be like me if something didn''t get worse every two minutes, so what happened this time?
"Okay girls keep your distance from Elise because this is exactly what she has been wanting to see since she arrived!"
"Be careful and don''t let her take advantage of the situation"
"Surely she will not be satisfied with her girlfriend and will try to do something to another girl too" mention one of my classmates, Yukiko Aragaki, a girl who almost always has expensive things.
"Hey!"
"I already told you that I wouldn''t do anything at school!"
"I just prefer girls, but I''m not going to bother with the subject either"
"The truth is that I would rather if everyone just ignored me" I said try to defend myself.
"My God but look at the size of those Boobs!"
"Are you even able to see down?"
"Wait, you sure don''t need it, your big butt sure warns you of everything around!"
"Don''t worry, I assure you that if you come to sleep with me I''ll get you in shape in no time!" Said another classmate, Aoyama Kyouko.
"Excuse me?"
"What did you just say?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"That girl is Aoyama Kyouko"
"Just like you, she is openly lesbian but no girl goes along with her"
"I think what she said was that she wanted you to go out with her" Haru said in my ear to give me more context.
Yes, I see why, who would like to go out with a person like her?
"Just look at her, she looks like she is a cross between a fox and a cow!"
"Surely those boobs are fake!"
"There''s no way a five-year-old would have boobs in the first place," Said the gyaru leader of the others.
But what about all these people? What did I do to them? I haven''t treated anyone badly yet!
"Come on, don''t you want to try what it feels like to do it with a different girl?"
"Oh it''s just that you''re already so bored of doing it with your girl every night that''s why you developed that way, like a pair of boobs with legs, instead of growing up"
"Come on we can have a threesome tonight that you will never forget" Kyouko spoke again.
"What a vulgar way of speaking, that is not worthy of a respectable woman"
"At most that of a drunken bricklayer"
"From here I can see that you pretend that you like women only because of the fact that you have been rejected so many times by men"
"And how would that not happen, if even they have more dignity in themselves than you" said Tamamo with a precision of the devil to hurt my adversary only with her words.
"Come on, for now, you say that, but let me show you that with one hand you will leave your keychain for a real person!"
"Yes, girls who pretend to be royalty are my favorites" Kyouko said as she tried to hold onto Tamamo.
I immediately hit that girl''s arm before she even got close to Tamamo
"Touch her with one finger and I''m going to rip your skin off while you''re still alive!" I acclaim while protecting Tamamo.
"Ach"
"Like you can walk normally with that bitch body"
"Surely you have even slept with the dogs"
"After all it seems that you like to continue wearing that stupid headband"
"Aren''t you just a toy of some man who paid you to modify your body so voluptuous ?"
"Surely he bought you from your parents to be able to leave you in such a lasciviously way"
"Like a stupid whore"
Nanami''s image flashed through my head.
The time she was crying in her room falling after the heads of an important noble family also called her in the same vulgar way.
The time she comforted me when my hands were all covered in blood and sweat from training.
The time she smiled so sincerely for just mentioning that having her close to her reminded me of the warmth of home
The time she said goodbye to me, I still didn''t know it would be the last time.
There were many things she hated, how others treated her like a trophy, her parents, Atlantis, the blind devotion she received from her servants. But what she hated the most was that they did not respect her for her body, many thought that she was only made to have sex and not be a person. She always fought so that others wouldn''t see her that way, and unfortunately, only the people closest to her were able to see beyond that. She tried a lot, worked a lot, and sacrificed a lot so that people would remember her for something other than her body.
I couldn''t leave this like this!
I''m not going to let some stupid shit treat Nanami like that!
"Bitch run"
"Run if you want to at least prolong your death!" I said while looking for the knife that I had in my uniform.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Elise!"
"Stop there!"
"You are not going anywhere!"
"Your eyes are changing color"
"We can''t let others notice" Tamamo said as she grabbed me by both arms and lifted me up so I couldn''t do anything
"Haru take off that girl''s sunglasses and bring them to me"
"It is important!"
"Here you have"
"But what is it for?"
"Elise calm down!"
"Remember where you are!"
"Do not do anything that later brings us problems!"
"Please control yourself!"
"Nothing really bad has happened, okay"
"We''ll fix this later with a cool head"
"You got nothing to prove here or to her"
"Haru, bring me a glass of water"
"She just says it because she doesn''t know anything"
"Have this, drink this instead" Tamamo wouldn''t stop talking while hugging me.
"It''s alright let me go!"
"I already understood this crap"
"I''m not going to do anything, just leave me alone!"
"I''m going to finish this stupid thing in one go and that''s it" I said skipping the line and being the next to be examined
"I didn''t know that Elise really hated being talked about her looks" Haru said.
"Elise has had problems with her appearance for a long time"
"She hates that people remind her of how she looks"
"So I would appreciate if you understand that when you talk to her" I think I hear Tamamo in the background, I don''t care anymore.
The next lesson was physical education, it seems that we would start with gymnastics, which I also hated to death also from past experiences. I was already fed up with today, I just went to the roof and started to eat a snack that I bought to pass the time. Hell, it seems that no matter what side of the world you''re on, school is a horrible place for people who just want to be quiet. Why the hell am I still doing this? Actually, I should have left a long time ago, if I''m going to be surrounded by people like this, I''d rather not keep coming back before I cause some tragedy myself. Those stupid bitches if they only knew what happened would understand the respect that both Nanami and I deserve, but nobody knows shit. They are only there to make others miserable, I really saved the earth just to have it full of shitty people. If it is horrible to have lost the girl I loved just to save people from dragons. And these bastards there are making fun of her.
"So this is where you were all this time" Tamamo said speaking softly as she approached me.
"I do not plan to return to classes"
"I''m not in the mood for any more shit for today"
"Classes are over, I came to bring you your bag"
"...."
"Are you better now?"
"More or less"
"At least I don''t want to kill her immediately when I see her"
"...."
"But I''m still upset"
"How can there be someone who treats others like this?"
"I didn''t do anything to anyone"
"You know we all make mistakes"
"She doesn''t know anything about what you''ve been through, and she sure saw you as an easy target to take out all the anguish she had accumulated."
"...."
"...."
"It was because of Nanami that you got angry right?"
"Is it so noticeable?"
"You usually only get angry about really serious things like when someone''s life is at stake"
"Also how you look is something that we all know you are not interested in"
"..."
"But for someone as calm as you to get angry so easily, it can only be for one thing"
"Someone said something about someone, you care a lot"
"That''s why you defended me from that girl"
"..."
"And you got much angrier not because they insulted you, you don''t care about that"
"But because they were insulting Nanami''s body, right?"
"This is so stupid really"
"...."
"You know, Nanami hated her body too."
"She also hated how she looked and what she stood for."
"Nanami''s parents, the emperor of Atlantis wanted the royal family to be seen as Gods"
"So he commands to develop new techniques to make it possible"
"When all that was ready, the same emperor tried it with his wife"
"They used their daughter who had not yet been born to experiment with him and make her daughter the first artificially created Goddess"
"But normal people would not see that, only that a Goddess had been created by the Emperor and would continue the legacy of his family"
"But as you can see the result was not even remotely what was expected"
"They wanted her to have superhuman strength, be devilishly beautiful, faster than anyone, smarter than anyone, and with scary animal features"
"Something that would command respect out of fear, or as Nanami herself said, they basically wanted her to resemble the Egyptian God Anubis"
"The result?"
"A fox crossed a cow and maybe a dwarf"
"Outside of how she looked there was nothing special about her"
"And what is worse, her father, the emperor Orion, had become sterile as a side effect of the experiment"
"So Nanami was seen as a disgrace in her family"
"Her father tried to have more children by any means possible to leave more offspring than Nanami and for them to succeed the throne, but her death and the dragons came before"
"...."
"She was always telling me how much she wanted people to treat her normally"
"But she always saw her own body as a memory of the mistake that was Atlantis"
"She just wanted to be a normal girl"
"...."
"That''s why hearing them make fun of me I saw that they were actually making fun of Nanami"
"I just thought that she would have wanted me to defend her from their teasing"
"You really loved her a lot, didn''t you?"
"You already know the answer, I have never hidden it"
"..."
"If it wasn''t for her I would have been dead a long time ago"
"..."
"It was thanks to her that I learned to fight well in the first place"
"And it was she who helped me train to defeat the dragons"
"..."
"Hell even after she died and I stayed in her body she left several of her assistants in charge of continuing my training"
"..."
"That''s where I broke almost every bone trying to learn gymnastics and where my hatred of the subject was formed."
"Once the damned forced me to learn to dislocate myself and re-accommodate a leg to be able to do the stretch I needed"
"If I could time travel I''d make sure to kill them first"
"It must have been quite a difficult time for you"
"You have no idea"
"I have to learn everything"
"Learn to throw knives, use almost any melee weapon, fight unarmed"
"And that was the basics, in the advanced I had to learn with the Dark cloaks to lead to how to be a professional assassin"
"Stealth techniques, like hiding, stupid stick-fighting on the smooth side of a cliff on the stupid floating island, doing parkour, climbing walls"
"And by the time I was in this body, it was gymnastics, agility, how to fight using my legs mainly and how to use a giant sword despite my size as training to be able to use Avalon at least in some way"
"It is no exaggeration that everything I know how to do I learned by training with them and Nanami"
"If it wasn''t for how much I went through training and preparing myself a long time ago I would be dead"
...
....
....
"Wait for a second!"
"Have you been manipulating me into talking about Nanami to put me in a good mood?"
"Well yes, but now you''re in a good mood so you''ll forgive me right?"
"You know that you are also important to me and I also love you"
"You didn''t need to do that"
"You could just do what you always do"
"A hug, that would have been more than enough"
"Well yes, but this time I wanted to do something different"
"You got mad for her sake even though she''s not here, so I thought you''d better also talk about what you remember about her and why she was special to you"
"After all, all this started because of her, right?"
"Okay okay, I''m fine now"
"..."
"Let''s better go to the club that Haru make and apologize for being late"
After that necessary time to calm down again, I felt that I was myself again. And once again trying to fulfill my part, we went back to the Paranormal Investigation Club, better known as the club that Haru made because she had nothing better to do. But just before we reached the end of the hall where our classroom was we saw that the door was open, I don''t think there were any more students eager to join when the club had not yet started with formal activities. Tama and I sneaked up and checked what was going on inside.
"What you did this morning with Elise was very wrong Yukiko"
"You know that the fight that almost broke out afterward was your fault, right!"
"What would you have done if that had come to that?"
"Elise? The white dwarf?"
"The weirdest girl in the class?"
"She is the one who is acting bad!"
"To come like that and act like everyone should pity her"
"She is playing with everyone to make them do what she wants!"
"Just look at you! You''ve broken your tradition of being the delegate in the class and just formed the weirdest club possible for her!"
"What happened to Haru, my friend forever, the one who always obeyed the rules and calm"
"Ultimately we don''t spend as much time together as we used to!"
"It''s for her right! She also wants you as her girlfriend!"
"She has nothing to do with this!"
"I''m doing this because I want to!"
"And just like my grandfather I have always defended justice, what you did to her was wrong and you should apologize!"
"Also, I like men! I am a normal girl!"
"If so then why do you defend her so much!"
"She is the person who breaks the rules the most in this school!"
"It really seems like you want to be with her always!"
"What about me? Do I not matter too?"
"Let''s keep doing the same as before!"
"I''m sorry Yukiko, but this is the first time that I can do something important completely on my own"
"This is the first time I can be me and show what I can do"
"I''m determined to see this through and see it through to the end"
"I''m not going to be the spoiled girl again, it''s time for me to start moving forward too!"
"Elise can be a lot of weird things, but if there''s one thing I know about her now, it''s that she always does what she thinks is right"
"Like when she was the only one who defended Tamamo when Aoyama was bothering her and nobody did anything"
"Like when the whole class made fun of her and even if she tried not to offend anyone until she couldn''t take it anymore"
"I can''t be friends with someone who knowingly does bad things and doesn''t intend to fix it"
"Stupid Haru!" It was heard before the sound of the slap was heard throughout the room.
Then the crying girl ran out of the room, opened the door with force and she ran into me head-on. I was prepared to take a similar hit, but all I saw was her yelling that this was my fault as she kept running. Haru was still inside, but without saying anything. Surely she had also been affected by what just happened. And all this happened because of me even though I did nothing. What a shitty day I was having today.
Ch110: The First Ghost Investigation Assignment
The First Ghost Investigation Assignment
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
We were meeting in the Occult Research Club room. Despite what happened before, it seemed like Haru was excited to tell us about her plans for us.Tama and I didn''t want to get into her business so we just acted like nothing happened before we came.
The place was starting to have a little more stuff that was starting to look like the weird place I imagined Haru thought it must be. Purple curtains that blocked the sunlight from the windows, a traveling broom that is typical of the witch stereotype, a crystal ball, a magic kit that curiously is from Maria''s favorite brand so I immediately know that it is of high quality and expensive, there was also a wooden bow with a couple of arrows with paper tied to them, a couple of plastic magatamas and it seems that a couple of talismans that they sell in the temples. It certainly seemed that Haru had put a lot of effort into this nonsense since I imagine she do a little research before buying most things. Or they may have been impulse buys, the broom can be clearly seen where it says harry potter on the tag and the crystal ball still has the price tag attached to it.
"We had not yet agreed to buy anything for the club"
"I have a mountain of things that my sister could "donate" without her realizing it and that would look perfect here"
"Do you like what I got?"
"Yesterday I went with my grandfather to buy a couple of things and I found all this"
"What do you think, without a doubt they are going to help us a lot in the future, right?"
"...."
"...."
"How can I say this"
"...."
"Your grandfather paid for all this?"
"You still have the bills right?"
"You would do very well to request a refund for everything except the talismans and the curtains"
"What!?"
"But if you haven''t even seen all the things carefully!"
"Does any of this really work?"
"How do you know they are useless?"
"The magic expert is Tamamo"
"But even though I know almost nothing I can tell you for sure that almost all of this is discount Halloween decorations"
"The crystal ball is useless if it is not made of a special glass"
"A toy broom from a movie there''s no way it would work even if it''s used by a real witch"
"The magic set is for doing tricks and my sister has like 4"
"The wooden bow is stolen from an archery club, it still has the name of the school it belonged to, the arrows are made of very fragile wood, they are only for decoration"
"And finally Tamamo makes talismans in her spare time from time to time"
"To say that you don''t know anything about magic, you seem very knowledgeable"
"Well, I don''t know how to use magic, but I''ve seen more or less how to work with these things"
"Basically, if it is not with rare materials and difficult to obtain, it is a scam"
"You will never find real magical things being sold in a supermarket"
"Have you ever seen a wizard buy a wand as if it were a cell phone?"
"What about you Tamamo?"
"Can you pity me?"
"Tell me there is something of value in what I bought!"
"I''m afraid it''s just like Elise says"
"Magic depends a lot on the things you use and the quality of the tools."
"Almost all of this is done trying to reduce costs and mass produce them"
"They are simple decorations for people"
"A magician could not use anything that is here in any way"
"Even Maria has done better at finding things that can be used"
"The only thing that could work is the Talismans but even they are quite weak and are created with rather vague objectives such as good health or fortune"
"Talismans are best when dealing with a specific target"
"The more detailed what the talisman should protect is much more effective"
"Something like a Talisman that protects you from being struck by lightning every spring Monday afternoon"
"The effectiveness of something like that would be much more effective"
"Ok this example is too specific, something like that could never happen"
"Isn''t a talisman like that very useless?"
"Well yes, normally the probability that something like this happens naturally is ridiculously low"
"But what if you run into an enemy mage who casts lightning on you on a spring Monday afternoon?"
"A Talisman like that could easily protect you from up to 10 lightning strikes in a row."
"Well, it will spend all the mana embedded in it just to protect you from that in the most efficient way that the creator could write it"
"Okay, okay, I''m going to return almost everything"
"But the broom stays!"
"It looks so cool there"
"...."
"!!!!"
"Wait but that''s not why they wanted them to come!"
"I have something more important to tell you!"
"Wait a moment before continuing let me say something!"
"I bet you my two premium puddings that we will have to fight with a supernatural entity" I said addressing Tama.
"My package of chocolates that this will ends up showing the police" she answered me
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"It''s a deal?"
"Deal"
"Ok you can go on now"
"It''s okay?"
"I already got our first job as members of the occult research club!"
"On Friday we are going to investigate a recently abandoned house for ghosts!"
"Wait what?"
"Where did you get an abandoned house?"
"Do you really want to do that?"
"I assure you that ghosts come out almost exclusively at night"
"How are you going to let your grandfather let you spend the night in an abandoned house!?"
"You have an idea what we''ll have to do right?"
"I have it all under control"
"Our classmate Haruno Chika is also a friend of mine and she was telling me something"
"Recently that strange things have been going on in a nearby house for several days"
"She says that you hear strange noises, things change places, doors open and close"
"Supposedly to the grandfather of the family he lived in, he died at the end of last year and those things began to happen"
"The rest of the family left for the same reason, but strange things have not stopped happening according to what Haruno tells me"
"I managed to ask my grandfather for permission to sleep at her house on Friday"
"Since the house is close we can investigate until late at night if that is what you need"
"As for what to do, they were waiting for you two who have the experience to tell me what to do"
"Unfortunately I haven''t experienced what it''s like to be on the side of ghostbusters so I can''t help you." Said Tamamo sure referring to when she hunted in the vicinity of the cursed rock.
"What do you mean?"
"She means that she is usually in charge of checking that the ghost is completely gone"
"The ghostbusters are in charge of finding out what kind of ghosts it is, Tama has not done this part yet so she has no experience"
"..."
"On the other hand, I am more used to the part of the blows, so I am not an expert on the subject either"
"But once I participated with a group of real ghostbusters so I have an idea of more or less what to do!"
"Ok, what do we need? Can you tell me exactly what to get it as soon as possible?"
"All right"
"The basics would be video cameras with a night vision and wireless communication"
"A couple of wireless microphones too"
"A laptop to be able to review them"
"A hand thermometer will also be quite useful."
"A portable battery-powered radio that searches for radio waves"
"A grimoire, don''t wait forget that, that can''t be obtained"
"Paper and a pen might do the job?"
"UV lamps can be incredible to have but they are hard to get, they are usually used by the police"
"..."
"And then the protection things"
"A pair of blessed Christian crosses depending on the type of ghost"
"Salt maybe, although there is blessed salt with the common kitchen salt could be enough"
"Incense is quite effective as the last option"
"Tamamo can make talismans in case he is a Yokai"
"Isn''t all that ghost gear pretty high-tech?"
"We are not going to use candles, Holy water"
"A sacred whip maybe"
"How about silver bullets?"
"I already told you that I will not do anything dangerous, especially with you around"
"Your grandfather will kill me if something happens to you"
"We will only see if by chance something appears and we will run away"
"The truth is I don''t think it''s true but it will be at least more fun than doing what I always end up doing"
"Also look at it this way, if humans have succeeded in this world it has been because of their intelligence and creating tools to help themselves"
"What saved humanity has been technology and research, not superstitions"
"It is normal that both ghostbusters and hunters use the best in technology to help themselves as well."
"Okay, I think I can get the thermometer, the book, and I think my grandfather has a couple of those UV lamps at home, so I can grab one."
"I''ll tell the teacher if she can get the cameras and the microphone, then we''ll pay for it out of the budget."
"Elise, you look like the gamer type who always has the best possible computer"
"Do you think you can lend us your laptop for this?"
"Ok I can bring the computer"
"But if something happens to my computer, I''m going to burn down the whole block in revenge"
"Tamamo you said you were the one who knew about magic"
"Can you get us those weird things?"
"Sure, no problem"
"Everything is quite easy to get!"
"Okay then"
"With this, we would be ready!"
"I''ll send you the address later"
"See you on Friday and please bring the other things"
"I hope that the teacher can also join us"
"It will be quite fun"
"I can hardly wait for it!"
"I''m going to get things right away"
"Bye"
Haru ran away excited as soon as possible, so it was up to Tama and me to finish packing the salon and close it before returning home. On the way home, we went to the cafeteria where we ran into Xian so we told him about it. For some reason she wasn''t quite thrilled with the idea but she told us that she had several ghostbusting equipments on hand, it seemed even weirder to me that someone like her would have that but then she explained that it seems her family was into it for what also has experience in these things. It seems that everything was ready to see how real this ghost could be and if we were prepared for such an event.
Ch111: Ghostbusters Part 1
Ghostbusters Part 1
Midorigaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokio.
10:00 PM
It was already quite late at night but unlike Haru who was at her friend''s house all this time, Xian, Tamamo, and I just arrived in the teacher''s car. Even though the person responsible for what we were doing was angry because of the lateness of our arrival there really wasn''t much to do, as many people will know: ghosts are more active the later at night, it''s common sense. The best times to search are actually between midnight and 4 am, after that the ghosts know that the sun is rising again so they return to their usual inactivity again. Once finally reunited we opened the trunk of the car to put all our things in there to have them at hand when we needed them. After that, I got everyone together to give them the last details about what we would try to do.
"Okay, we''re about to start!" I Start explaining seriously.
"Pay attention because this is important"
"Since almost no one has any experience in this, I am going to make a super summary about the bases of the ghostbusters and what to do in order to be able to see the sun again in case it is unfortunately real"
"Please God let that not happen, please"
"The first thing is that a ghost is usually, BUT NOT ALWAYS! , is a supernatural entity trying to complete some resentment of something"
"Normally, but not always, they tend to stalk the place where they died, or where they have something to do".
"For example, if it is a hospital, they could stalk all over the hospital"
"If it''s a small house, they will stay in that small house"
"So being outside the property is a safe place where nothing can happen to them"
"Usually but not always"
"Having said this, the ghosts will increase their activity the more time we spend inside the haunted place"
"At the beginning, he will do almost nothing, but if he starts to scare us and we still won''t leave, he will probably start doing more drastic things as time goes by"
"Up to here everything ok?"
"Did you understand?"
"No doubt"
"All clear as water!" Haru responded excitedly.
"Ok, I continue"
"Although the ghost will be roaming the entire property, there is one place in particular that they will mainly haunt"
"Usually it is the place that is closely related to how they died, it can be a place they liked when they were alive, or they just hunt that place for absolutely no reason"
"But there is always a place where they spend more time in relation to the rest!"
"Our job as ghost hunters is to try to find out what kind of ghost it could be that is in there and if we were real ghost hunters we would pass this information on to the real hunters, the ones who will fight the ghost to exorcise it"
"How will we find out what kind of ghost it is?"
"Well for that first we have to find which is the main room in which they are usually and look for clues that they should leave in case of being a real ghost"
"Unexplained very low temperatures in a very specific part of the house, see if it leaves fingerprints, see if it is able to speak, see if it can be seen through a camera or just the human eye."
"Normally, not always, ghosts have very particular ways of behaving, a type of European ghost behaves completely like a Japanese one and vice versa"
"I have a question!" Haru asked
"This is all in case the ghost is real, but what if it isn''t?"
"Well then I will have wasted the last 10 minutes talking nonsense"
"which I hope is the case"
"Very good, last and most important!"
"Techniques in case of emergency!"
"What to do if things really go wrong"
"First Haru you run out of the house right away"
"The second is that if you cannot leave the house for any reason, immediately hide in a place relatively far from the main room used by the ghost"
"Hide in a closet or under a bed, preferably in dim light, and above all things do not make a noise even as scared as you are"
"Vengeful ghosts usually have very bad vision, so they rely mainly on noise or light sources"
"Stay there until you see that the bad is over, then that time will come and I will try to get out of the property again"
"As a last resort in case all the above fails, the incense remains"
"If you see that the ghost has noticed his presence, burn the incense and throw it at the ghost, that will distract him for a few moments"
"After that immediately run away from there and look for another place to hide better"
"Do not panic and remain calm at all times"
"Your decisions at that moment could define your life"
"Make the right ones"
"Can this really be dangerous?"
"You''re scaring me with what you''re talking about!"
"Well you do well!"
"I am too, it''s been about 15 years since I last participated in a ghost hunt"
"I''m too rusty, And I might have forgotten something important"
"15 years?"
"That is not your age?"
"Well even though you look much younger, like if you are five ir seven years old?"
"Haru! Remember what I told you that time!"
"Do not say that!, at least say something like nine or ten" Tamamo nudged Haru trying to warn her about something.
"I said that I meant that I felt that it was 15 years"
"It was an exaggeration that I remember so far back in time!" I said trying to deflect the fact that I had said the correct number of years.
"So what should we do first?" Wonder Xian.
"Okay, our operation is mainly based on speed"
"In short, the sooner we know which ghost it is, the faster we can get out of here"
"Less time in the house is less likely to make the ghost angry"
"We have to look for the room where the ghost lives the most beforehand so we can put the rest of our instruments there in order to collect the clues we need"
"What we will do in the first part of my plan will be to place these sound sensors in these places that I already predefined in advance"
"With them, we can have an approximate idea of ??where it could be"
"While you girls are at it, I''ll go down to the basement so I can turn the power back on in the house"
"Once the energy is on the heating system of the house is activated"
"With that on we can use the hand thermometer to point with pressure the place where the ghost is"
"I recommend that in these first moments you focus on your tasks and review places that you can use to hide, keep them in mind so that in case of an emergency you know what to do"
"Okay, you sound like quite the expert even though this is your first time in a long time"
"What happened before?"
"How did you plan all this? asked Xian surprised"
"Well, that time it was more like a military operation than a job"
"So we planned it in detail"
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit."That incidentally speaking of the subject, Charlotte is helping us with the computer and the plans of the house"
"Thanks to her we have this map of the house and she will be processing live the data we obtain from our equipment"
"Are you there Charlotte?" I Ask for the personal radio that we all had
"No, I''m Kazumi, your mother needed help with her work again and she confused us again so I''ll take her place"
"I already configured the video cameras and they are on the line"
"So all the equipment is ready"
"Who are they? Are they friends of yours Elise?"
"Well, let''s say they are part of our team"
"They are the ones that are almost always giving us support or information about what is happening"
"I think maybe you''ve seen them before, maybe they''re in the cafeteria"
"..."
"Ok let''s get started"
"Tamamo can you put a magical barrier around the place so they don''t bother us?"
"Right away darling!"
"!!!"
"Wait before you start!"
"Haru you can have this with you at all times"
"Don''t part with it for nothing and give it back to me when we''re done"
"An old metal fan?"
"!!!!"
"Wait maybe this is not important to you!"
"I can''t have this, it''s an important memory for you!"
"Don''t worry, is very resistant and tends to come back to me in one way or another"
"This fan of mine is from a sacred object of a Goddess..... I mean it probably belonged to a Goddess shrine here in Japan"
"So in theory it should be able to have an effect against vengeful ghosts"
"Maybe ir could get you out of trouble"
"Use it as a talisman while you have it" Tamamo said a little worried
"Hey!"
"Are you sure your fan could be of some use?"
"Do you really think it could work as a repellant?" I approached Tama''s ear and spoke to her in a low voice so that the others would not hear
"The fan really is one of my sacred objects"
"Why do you ask?"
"Well yes, I don''t doubt that"
"..."
"But aren''t you an Evil Goddess?"
"Could your fan really work like that?"
"Wouldn''t that draw them in instead?"
"Do not worry!"
"The fan behaves according to my will"
"If I want it to be an object that curses, it will"
"And if I want it to be a sacred object, it will behave as such"
"Well, that''s fine, but now another question just came to my mind"
"Is that perhaps being you a Goddess you could not interfere with the ghost in some way?"
"Don''t worry, I''m holding back as much as I can so as not to attract attention"
"Right now the ghost should see me at best as a human who may have an affinity with ghosts"
"Yeah, that''s exactly the part I''m afraid of."
"Try to lower it, even more, completely average human-type"
"I don''t want to take any risk "
"Okay, I''ll try to reduce it as much as possible."
"Thank you, I love you"
"Hey! leave the flirty you two for another day!"
"Is it even time for something like this?"
"We''re supposed to be really scared " Haru said annoyed.
After Tama put a couple of talismans around the house to raise the magic barrier. With it, we could make all the noise we want that no one would notice, so I could curse and scream until I was happy when I needed it. The house we reviewed was quite different from the house in Japan, this was similar to where my family and I lived, a western-style house, with two floors and a basement, the house was quite large: three rooms on the second floor plus one more in the first for guests, bathrooms for each room separately, large living room, pool, kitchen and dining room, music room and a garage. It was basically a mansion by Japanese standards, the family that lived here must have had a lot of money.
We all entered the house and as I told them, everyone placed each sensor in the appropriate place. Not wanting to take any risk, I asked Tama to be with Haru at all times, because she was the most appropriate person to keep her safe at all times. Xian told me that her family was dedicated to this and also she is a professional killer, she can be alone. For my part, I really have no idea what I''m doing here. I hate the dark and being underground, and right now I''m doing both trying to find the damn electrical box in the house. I have a flashlight to help me but the damn place is so dark that if I''m not pointing directly with it I can''t see anything, plus maybe there''s a ghost so being completely dark is looking for trouble where I shouldn''t.
"Electricity is on" I warned by radio
"Give it a couple of moments for the heating to be optimal and check the thermometer"
"Darling, I think I found something quite curious here in one of the rooms"
"Please tell me that it is a false alarm and there is no ghost"
"I found in one of the closets a rather strange table"
"It has letters, numbers, the words yes or no and goodbye in English, in addition to a triangle with glass"
"Looks like a magic tool of some sort"
"!!!!"
"This thing has traces of magic!"
"What the hell is this table?"
"Oh my God"
"......"
"Okay, Tama I need you to do what I say literally"
First of all put a seal talisman on it and get it out of the house as fast as you can."
"Don''t talk near it and even less ask questions towards any person in particular"
"Don''t destroy it until you completely purify it first"
"And if you see that the triangle moves for no reason...scream in panic"
"I think I once saw one of these in a horror movie?"
"But what was it?"
"Was that where there was a house in ruins?"
"..."
"Anyway, I don''t remember much either, such as where the ghost was?"
"HARU!"
"Shut the fuck up!" I screamed in panic
But I hadn''t finished talking when I heard how the electricity box failed on its own, the safety breaker was activated and the power went out. But the worst of all was that I heard later how a wrench fell terrifyingly close behind me, if I had been a little further back I would have been injured. I was in a panic, I felt like I was short of breath again, my heart was beating very hard, I was not able to feel my weight, I thought I was flying and what I saw was a lie.
"Run!"
"Just Fucking run outside"
"Get out of the house NOW!" I screamed in panic on the radio.
The exit of the house and the basement were not very far, but despite the fact that I ran as fast as I could, I felt that they were eternal kilometers. Since I was the furthest away, I was the last to leave, the other girls had been waiting for me for a long time.
"Don''t tell me you''re scared just because there was a table with letters in a bedroom"
"I thought you were braver Elise" Said Xian with a mocking tone.
"This is bad, I think the ghost is real!"
"I''m sure!"
"Everything is there and I think I tried to hurt myself in the basement"
"A wrench almost broke my head"
"You''re overreacting!"
"You just freaked out because the light went out again and you tripped over something when you took a step back."
"A coincidence just occurred"
"I think we should not underestimate Elise"
"After all, she is the one with the most experience, right?"
"She says it for a reason" Haru said.
"I''m not entirely sure if there is an evil ghost"
"But this weird table really has magic"
"Also I don''t know what layers are so we shouldn''t rule out anything" Added Tama
We spent a couple of minutes discussing whether what happened was real or not, and trying to reach a reasonable conclusion about what happened. I myself was beginning to believe that it was really just a coincidence due to my nerves during what happened, but suddenly while we were all still talking we could see how one of the doors of the house opened wide, while we were all outside arguing. This time everyone saw it happen live , so no one could deny it. Something was really happening in there.
Ch112: Ghostbusters Part 2
Ghostbusters Part 2
Midorigaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokio.
10:15 PM
The house in front of us gave off a threatening aura. We knew there was something strange about her, however, we couldn''t point to anything in particular. We thought maybe there was something paranormal, or maybe it was just a bad coincidence. We all stood outside the house watching in horror as the door near the kitchen that led to the basement slammed shut with speed and violence, the same basement where a wrench nearly fell inches from my head for no apparent reason. Despite the darkness, we could all see it clearly, we could no longer deny that something was not happening there.
"If we go back there, things will only get worse"
"How about if we look from the outside and try to see what happened from safety?" I suggested.
"No, we must investigate further!"
"My grandfather whenever he has a case does everything he can to reveal the truth!"
"A policeman can''t run away when he''s needed!"
"We have to continue!" Haru answered with passion.
I would like to question what she knew about her grandfather because with Lisa he did not seem very excited to reveal the truth to others and let us get away with it.
"I also think we should investigate further inside the house"
"After all, it is my duty as a Godn..... good at this to protect humans from supernatural dangers"
You are an evil Goddess who was bewitching a stone that killed people! At least don''t lie about your true self!
"I am also in favor of continuing"
"Although my family is dedicated to this and they have taught me a lot, this is my first time hunting a ghost"
"Although it is a part of me that I hate, it is still a family responsibility that falls on me"
"I can''t back down now that I know it could be a real monster"
"I have to do something!" Xian added.
"...."
"Do you really want to do this?"
"Yes!"
"Let''s go one more time to make sure what can be there!"
"Yeah, come on!"
"All right, but at the slightest problem leave the house"
"..."
"Ah, I feel like I''m too old to be doing this again."
"Come on cheer up more"
"You are starting to sound like my grandfather, Elise."
Arming myself with courage again, the four of us went back into the house. Another time I had to go back to the basement to try to fix the power. One of the fuses had blown for some reason, I managed to find a replacement after checking the shelf next to it, and when I finished fixing it the electricity came back so we could start looking again for low temperatures.
"The power is back again"
"This time I left it as good as new so it shouldn''t go away again"
"If it does, then you know what it is then" I said by radio to the others.
"The microphones on the second floor have detected a rather strange sound."
"It appears to be white noise but its levels are abnormal and unexplained"
"Please proceed carefully" Kazumi said on the radio too.
"Okay, I''m going to check there with the thermometer first"
"Tamamo can you bring that cross too?"
"Do you really think it works?" added Haru.
Also intrigued by the information that my daughter gave me, I also went to the second floor to be able to see firsthand what was happening and to be completely sure. After the hallway up the stairs was a bathroom and the main room where Tamamo and Haru were. The temperatures there were more or less normal but they were lower than in the rest of the house, I think, only by a little but they were lower. Nothing was conclusive yet, but at least we could start with this room. Tamamo put the crosses on the ground quite apart from each other, I hope this trick that Lenore taught me when we hunted the ghost dragon works. Xian on the other hand kept checking the first floor also in case we left something aside there.
"Okay, Haru, put a camera on that dresser over there so it faces the bed and the doors."
"In this way if he moves something we will realize"
"Tamamo you can check the bathroom, look with the UV lamp if there are traces on the light switch or the water faucets"
Although we waited for a while, nothing had happened, so we thought that maybe we were in the wrong place. But just as we were picking up the camera, the doll that was on the bed fell to the floor even though no one was around. The three of us experienced with our own eyes how it happened. Haru and I still didn''t believe it, but Tama quickly grabbed the UV flashlight and checked the object. A green mark near the head revealed what he feared so much, a fingerprint despite the fact that no one had touched it, on an object that would normally be seen something like that. The ghost had interacted with it, confirming 100% that it was real.
We already had our first clue, the ghost had fingerprints and had the ability to manipulate objects.
"Okay, this confirms that it is real!"
"Haru you have to get out of here immediately"
"Come we will escort you to the car"
"What but we are just beginning!"
"I can still help a lot!"
"Without buts!"
"We still don''t know what layers are"
"Also, remember that you promised me to do what I say"
"That was the deal we had to let you come"
Tama also agreed with what I was saying, so she pushed her a little so we started walking. We headed back to the stairs to get out of the house, I was first then Haru, and finally Tamamo. My nerves were at max, I think even the hair on my tail had become spiky. I felt just the same as when I was in a convoy and going somewhere in the war. When you know that you can be attacked from anywhere, you know that the enemy is there, but you do not know where the only thing you can do is continue and hope that your luck does not run out.
The lights went down again.
I immediately switched on my flashlight so I could see the road again. But something strange began to happen to my flashlight, it began to blink as if it lacked power, despite being battery-powered. I turned to see how Haru was. And it was then that the three of us saw him in the face.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
It was hard to identify what it was, but it clearly wasn''t something natural. As soon as Haru saw it, she tried to scream, but Tamamo, reacting quickly, covered her mouth and threw her into one of the rooms to hide both of them from the ghost. But the ghost seemed to be aware of his presence as he began to move towards the same room. I had to do something and now!
I used my flashlight again and pointed it directly at the unknown entity''s face. He turned to see me and started walking towards me.
He began to walk slowly toward me. His slow, heavy footsteps contrasted against my quick, light breathing. I felt like my brain was screaming at me to run away, but I had to buy time for Haru to save herself. In his hand was the reminiscence of what seemed to be a weapon, because he had that he didn''t know. As soon as it got closer to the first floor, where I was also, I began to hear how that thing babbled, it sounded both annoyed and hurt.
Once both he and I were near the entrance of the house the bastard made a sound like a fury and started running towards me. With only an instant to save me, I lit the incense with the lighter and threw it into one of the rooms near me. The monster changed its target soon after and ran to attack the incense sticks.
He hit them furiously, violently, with hatred. It seems that he considered those things a threat to himself, he had to get rid of those things before continuing. I took advantage of the moment to turn off my flashlight and retreat to a darker part of the house, towards the basement again, where I hid in the upper part of the bookshelves. The nerves of the moment made me walk so quietly that not even I listened my myself walking. All I could hear was my heart pounding and heavy footsteps approaching the stairs.
Just as I interact with the door trying to open...
The sound is gone.
The sound of that thing stopped dead. I listened even more carefully but heard nothing, no footsteps, no groans, no moans of pain. stay a couple more moments waiting for something to happen, but nothing. It seemed that by now that thing had retired. I turned on my flashlight and it worked normally again, another sign that everything was fine for now. I had heard on the radio that everything had passed by now and that everyone would run back to the exit.
Outside we all met again in the car. Tamamo and Xian were tending to Haru, who was lying inside the vehicle, she was clearly having a severe panic attack. Her face was very different from the excited one at the beginning of this adventure as she called it. Tamamo was hugging her trying to calm her down, after all she already had enough experience in that after living with me all this time. Xian by her side was with a medicine cabinet, she was looking for some medicine with a calming effect. I do that to check the status of it. She had high blood pressure, she was having trouble breathing, she was crying, but no injuries or bruises, apart from her agitated state everything was fine.
"Okay, now that we all agree it''s real, what do we have?"
"It is a violent ghost and we know that it can interact with physical things"
"Has anyone discovered anything else?" Ask out loud trying to break the focus of the group to try to relax the atmosphere.
"When the ghost attacked this EM-wave meter it went through the roof when that thing passed near the laundry room"
"I had to turn it off so it wouldn''t discover me"
"Good thing he went for Elise and not where I was" Said the alleged teacher as she threw the object she was referring to at me
"Where did you get this thing?"
"I know that it is used to measure electromagnetic waves, but this is mainly used in power or communication stations"
"How does it work for monsters?"
"It is one of the essentials in my family"
"It''s easy to spot if a monster is doing something with one of these"
"The same company that manufactures them sells them to us at a reduced price due to the frequency with which we end up losing them and buying new ones"
"Although I never thought that I would end up buying one too"
"Most ghostly entities tend to inadvertently manipulate their surroundings with energy"
"With this, it is easy to detect and proximity"
"The problem is that you have to be close to them to get the readings."
"Okay so we have manipulation and it emits strong waves of energy"
"Tamamo, is there anything that comes to mind about which monsters are capable of those things?"
"...."
"Well, I know of two possible monsters that would be capable of something like that."
"Both monsters would be of Japanese origin, but if I''m wrong and they''re from some other part of the world, I''m afraid I wouldn''t have any other idea."
"The first could be an Obake, a spirit Yokai, more of a physical monster than a ghost"
"They can vary quite a bit, it could be from a Tanuki child playing tricks on us, to a demon from hell looking for a human to torture"
"The other would be a Goryo, a vengeful spirit of a descendant of the aristocracy"
"He would be like a daimyo or a relative close to him, who was violently murdered in a rivalry and now seeks revenge"
"Hell, then it could be a kid playing or straight up a bloody demon"
"That''s a pretty wide range to cover"
"...."
"Kazumi do you have something by your side?"
"The property was in the name of Yoshimoto Tsugumichi."
"Important employee of the Ministry of Economy"
"He was found dead in the basement, it seems that he had a cardiac arrest"
"He had already presented symptoms and had been in the hospital for that very reason"
"His name was being considered for Minister of Economy before his death."
"The doctors said that he was overexerted due to the heavy workload that he had days before his death"
"So it can also be a Goryo."
"Which is also bad"
"...."
"What do we need to be able to differentiate one monster from the other?"
"Since the Obake is a physical monster, he should be able to appear on video cameras as well"
"If it is a spectral ghost it should be difficult for an electrical device as sensitive as a camera to capture it"
"Probably not at all in the video or it will be very difficult to see"
"So we have to put the video cameras all over the house and see if it comes out on the video or not."
"I''d rather burn the whole place down instead"
"But since it''s a child playing a very heavy joke, I can''t do it."
"But if that''s the case I''m going to hit him so hard I''ll make him forget the ability to speak."
"We have to be absolutely sure what we are dealing with before proceeding to do anything else."
"Do you still plan to go back there?"
"Despite what I try to do to us?"
"It''s very dangerous!"
"He might try to kill you!" Haru said still with tears on her face
"Yes, exactly"
"That is the danger that I have been warning you from the beginning of this"
"That''s how this game is played, that''s how it''s played in the big leagues"
"Passibility is always there and accepting it and moving on is what separates boys from men."
"Your grandfather makes this decision every day in order to bring food to your table"
"It''s good that you learn the weight of it now that you''re young"
"If you want to be like your grandfather so much, you have to understand and accept it too"
"You are crazy"
"This is impossible! Humans are not cut out for this!"
"If you go there again they will attack you!"
"You don''t have to do this, it''s not your job!"
"But of course humans do"
"They''ve been doing this for centuries"
"And it is thanks to them that people like you have been blessed to live with the luxuries created from the efforts of your ancestors"
"..."
"Maybe it''s not my job, nor my problem"
"But if I don''t act now that I''m here, who knows what could happen in the future?"
"Maybe that ghost is able to escape from the house, maybe it will attack your friend who lives near her when she returns home one day"
"Maybe she goes to the park where the children go and one of them does not return to her parents anymore"
"...."
"If something like that happened to know that if I had acted it would change that, I would not forgive myself"
"My pride as a warrior does not allow me"
"And surely Nanami didn''t either after we fought so hard to get rid of beasts like these and let one get away"
"Elise" Haru said looking into my eyes, this time his face was once again that of admiration, it seemed that he had forgotten his fear of quite recently.
All the lights in the house went out again by surprise, and a second later, the light of one of the rooms came out of the window, from it you could barely see a dark silhouette.
That bastard was challenging us. He was saying that he was ready for our duel. It seemed that he recognized us as adversaries, and as such, we would both try to defeat the other by any means necessary. But I had already sworn, I wouldn''t let a danger like that thing wander around freely, I would finish it off, even I have to give my best. Because this time I had sworn by Nanami and her memory.
Ch113: Ghostbusters Part 3
Ghostbusters Part 3
Midorigaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokio.
10:30 PM
The three of us grabbed everything we needed and headed back to the house to continue the investigation. We carefully walked back to the room where the ghost seemed to be staying the longest, the same room we saw the ghost in moments before we went back inside. From the window I could see Haru in the car looking at me with fear, I reminded her on the radio to pay attention to the computer and report anything she saw.
"I''m sorry but right now there''s nothing out of the ordinary in the cameras" Haru mentioned quite worried.
"Is there something in the electromagnetic sensor?"
"No, there is no reading" Xi''an replied showing me how no matter how much she shook the device, it didn''t respond.
"I don''t like this"
"It is quite likely that he went to another room knowing that we would go back in" Tama informed me.
The three of us were looking at each other in silence contemplating that possibility when suddenly a big thud sounded, accompanied by a peculiar lock sound, just after the lights in the room began to turn on and off. I heard light, fast weights outside the house, then heard the front door being slammed repeatedly.
"The front door of the house closed by itself and no matter how hard I try I can''t open it!" Haru shouted over the radio.
And just as she finished speaking we also heard a couple of horrible cries of pain in the living room of the house, and how her slow and heavy steps began to lead me to where we were.
"Turn off the radios and hide!" I told the girls.
Everyone except Haru listened to me and completely turned off the radios and the spotlights, then we started looking for a place to hide, but precisely where the footsteps were heard was where the best places to hide were, and they were getting closer and closer. Tamamo opened a small closet and beckoned us to enter it, without much time to do anything else the three of us ran and hid there, then closed the doors just before hearing how the ghost opened the door of the room we were in.
Inside the small closet, we were all three locked up trying not to make any noise. But the environment I was in was quite difficult for me not to make any noise. It was smack in the middle of both Xi''an and Tamamo and the place was so claustrophobic that it was no exaggeration to say that we were on top of each other. Behind me was Tamamo my wife and a frighteningly beautiful girl, so close to me that I could feel her chest pressing hard against my back. And in front of me was Xi''an who was also a unique beauty, and who was close to my real age, so she was also quite pretty for my taste. She was hugging me and once again because of the lack of space she was pressing her chest against me. Although it was better to say that she was the one in the worst position because my chest was so big than hers that I was the one that consumed the most space and I could barely see her blushing face through my chest looking down. I could feel her soft chest just below mine close to my belly. While I was flying between the two beauties held only by the pressure of lack of space, being crushed by both Tamamo and Xi''an. Maybe right now I''m a girl, but that doesn''t mean that inside I''m still a man and therefore I''m "happy" much more than normal to be like this between two such beautiful girls, so much so that maybe I could scream or pass out from the shortness of breath. Although I would love to enjoy this moment, I couldn''t do it either, because on the other side of the doors was the ghost prowling.
Damn Ghost! I don''t know if I should be happy or terrified because of you!
Suddenly I felt a chill so great that I almost froze. The ghost emanated so cold that I thought it was winter again. It had gone from super hot to like being in a fridge.
!!!!
Who is pulling my tail!!
STOP!!
Hurts!
Wait, did someone else get into the closet too? Now there is much less space than before!
After a few agonizing seconds in which now I am short of breath and because of Xi''an''s face her too, the ghost left, and shortly after the lights returned.
"Hey? Does the door now open?"
"What the hell was that?"
"Hey, I was able to open the door!" Hear Haru talking outside.
Tamamo moved her hands with difficulty and opened the closet doors. But we were so tight that we couldn''t get out, we were literally stuck in the closet, especially me because I wasn''t even touching the ground. Tamamo also tried but it was impossible. Xi''an tried to move but had the same result. Anxious from the lack of air Tamama exploded in a large amount of smoke, she had transformed into a little fox again, and with the new space achieved... I was still short of space. But at least this time Xi''an managed to move enough to get out of her and then I fell out with her too. Tamamo turned back into a girl in another burst of smoke before Xi''an figured out what had happened.
"What the hell!?"
"Elise your tail grew much more there inside the closet?"
"Your tail is much bigger than you!"
"Just look at the size of that thing!"
"It is the size of the closet"
"You could hide a grown person with your tail!" Xi''an asked scared
"Damn, it was accidental!"
"There are still things I don''t understand about myself!"
"I thought the tail grew to that size when it was winter"
"I don''t know why he did it"
"If I could stop him believe me I would have!"
"I didn''t want to suffocate us to death with my tail"
"Does your tail grow in winter too?" Tama asked.
"Yes, it has something to do with getting heat for the cold, right?"
"Yes, but that''s not the point"
"My tail also wanted to grow when it was cold so I had to hide it to avoid more problems"
"And if both your tail and mine grow in winter"
"Are you girls really having this conversation right now?"
"Can''t wait to be home?"
"How about a more private place with less ghosts? She said Xi''an worried about what Tama was talking about."
"I''m not talking about that!"
"The ghost is emanating cold!"
"Winter cold specifically!"
"He is so cold that he could freeze a person!"
"The ghost has recognized us as a threat and is in danger!"
"It is trying to defend itself with more violent methods" Tamamo explained.
"Doesn''t that mean we''re facing another kind of ghost then?"
"Although we cannot rule out that possibility, I highly doubt it"
"If it was part of the ghost''s powers, it would have shown them from the beginning"
"..."
"What he is doing has more in common with using all your energy to survive"
"Although the energy cost is much higher, if it is to stay safe the ghosts could use it"
"But still, that has something to do with the way they died"
"So it is possible that the ghost died in a way related to the cold of winter"
"Well, did Haru not mention that the person who owned the house died in December of last year?"
"It is normal that there would be winter cold everywhere"
"You''re right, I had forgotten that"
"So what does that mean?"
"Does the cold count or not?"
"It is important?" wonder Xi''an.
"It means that means nothing"
"Most likely it''s just a coincidence" I replied to her as I sat for a moment
"Are you using your tail as a mattress?"
"Well yes, what''s wrong?"
"It is quite comfortable and warm"
"I have not been able to enjoy doing this much so I plan to take advantage of it now that I can"
"Darling, you know that you are quite similar to me, right?"
"If you practice you could make it grow in the size your want"
"If you wanted you could have it this big forever"
"That would be interesting, though I''d rather change my appearance instead"
"That topic is much different. I''m afraid"
"You will need more than four tails to do it for a short time"
"I would like to know more about what you talk about so much BUT RIGHT NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE TALKING ABOUT OTHER TOPICS!
"Perhaps you forgot about the murderous ghost demon that is loose in the house!" Xi''an shouts nervously.
"Sorry, sorry!"
"My fault"
"I get very distracted talking to beautiful girls like you two"
"!!!!"
"...."
"Flirting with me won''t work!"
"For starters, I''m older than you and your teacher, second you have your girlfriend behind you and third there is a demon on the loose!"
"Did you hit your head?"
"Normally you tend to be much more shy and quiet"
"What made you change?"
SHIT, I screwed up
That damn squeeze in the closet made me unintentionally speak out loud about what I was thinking.
"He He, Darling told me beauty when she asked why so distracted"
Thank god the radios were still off so Haru didn''t hear what I said. But that doesn''t mean that the atmosphere afterward got a little weirder because of me. Almost like calling your teacher mom, but worse, that''s why you should never go into full retard mode. Putting my inner idiot aside we went back to the business of looking for ghosts. Seeing that the room was no longer the place where the ghost was prowling, we decided to collect the cameras and return to the room to look for more clues as to where the new place could be.
When the ghost went hunting again I think I heard it come out from around here more or less, so we''ll start here. Once again Tamamo took out a thermometer and began to check the surroundings. Xi''an continued with her meter and I asked Kazumi again if she had detected something in the microphones, to which she replied that out of our embarrassing conversations she had not heard anything else.
The lights went back on and off!
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
We all scoured the place with our eyes looking for what could be going on this time, The meter that Xian had in her hand began to scream in agony trying to notice something that it could not.
The lights go off and on
And in one of those they turned red several times, between the flashes I could see the silhouette of the monster again, but this time it was stopping at the end of the corridor behind the kitchen, it was there doing nothing, looking at us, harassing us.
Tamamo seized the moment and threw a talisman at him, but the ghost disappeared for a moment and the talisman pierced him, making an explosion of light at the end of the corridor, but without making a noise or destroying anything. Surely it was some spell against ghosts that he had saved. The ghost for some reason disappeared afterward without attacking.
"I got it!"
"I could see the ghost through the camera!"
"I''ve seen the ghost through the camera!"
"...."
"!!!!"
"But for some reason, you can''t see it in the saved video file!" Haru said on the radio now with the same focus that she had at the beginning of the night.
Hearing this, the three of us left the house without saying anything and went back to the car to finish clarifying what had happened.
"Did you really get to see it with the camera?" I asked.
"Yes! I assure you, it was right here in this hallway in front of you!"
"It just doesn''t show up in the video."
"Right here where is this strange distortion!"
"The camera has several video failures due to what could be electrical failures in the photosensitive material"
"Something in the environment was strongly manipulating the electricity or radio waves, which made it difficult for the camera to record the video and it corrected the file in which it was saved, but it did not bother the live broadcast as much"
"Maybe a single very strong jammer, something military level, could do this kind of effect on a video camera"
"But the effect of it is pretty inconsistent too"
"It is clear that a supernatural entity caused this peculiar failure" My daughter said on the radio.
"Who is she and why does she know so much about machines?"
"Surely she is the typical hacker who is in a room full of screens and computers?"
"Can I meet her?" Haru said.
"I''m sorry but she doesn''t do any of that."
"She is much more different than what you have in mind"
"So now that we know that she does not appear on video, we can confirm that she is a Goryo, right?"
"Yes, the fact that it has disturbed an object that it did not touch directly confirms that it is more a spirit than a monster"
"It also matches the story of the original owner of this house"
"It is very likely that he is the one upset by the circumstances of his death"
"That''s why he haunts this house" Tama informed me.
"Okay"
"And here comes the part why I hate my job"
"What do we do to take care of that?"
"Is there any way to get him out of the house?"
"Should I call Stella and ask her to come over?"
"I myself can completely purify it and send it where it should"
"All I need is to enclose him in a magic circle while I''m purifying him" The goddess said.
"That''s a lot of good news in a row"
"What is the hidden problem, which part is where it gets complicated?"
"The ghost obviously he''s not going to let me catch him so it will have to be attracted to the magic circle"
"If he was chasing someone to attack him, he probably wouldn''t realize the trap we''re going to set for him"
"And guess only I''m the only one idiot enough to do it"
"You know you''re the only one who can do that part, darling"
"Here, when he enters the circle, I need you to place this talisman on his back."
"This will paralyze him so he can''t escape the circle while I purify him"
"So you want me to chase me to kill me in a room that he shouldn''t suspect, and I also have to somehow get behind him to hit whit this"
"...."
"Sure, super easy, almost a gift"
"Let''s go now"
"Was that sarcasm?"
"Are you sure you can do it?" Ask Xi''an.
"Of course she can!"
"Darling always acts like this when she really thinks she''s capable of pulling it off easily!"
"She always does!"
"She never fails"
"Thank you very much for your high regard for me, but before I could win there were many times when I lost first"
"Which is why I''d rather you don''t take for granted that I always win without fail"
"I''m just saying the truth!"
"When Darling fired up not even all the gods in heaven can stop her!"
"Yes and then a stray bullet in a dream almost killed me"
"I would like to understand the context behind what Elise says sometimes" Haru said.
"This first-floor guest bathroom is quite large and the door swings open in a way that makes it quite easy to hide the floor circle behind it as it opens"
"I think it''s the best place to ambush him" The android added on the radio.
"The one at the entrance to the left, I have it"
"Tama prepares everything to make the circle as quickly as possible and leaves the door open"
"Xian checks and warns by radio if the front door closes by itself again"
"Haru returns the sacred fan to Tamamo"
"...."
"Because of you I''m almost sure I''ll have another nightmare today so you''re going to have to invite me to something later."
"...."
"Okay, I hate this but there''s no other way, come on, let''s finish this and get out of here, it''s already making me sleepy"
Once again back to the house, we entered the cursed house to finish now with this work. Tamamo came walking behind me and when we got to the indicated bathroom she rushed in and she went to work right away, she took out a lipstick and started drawing on the floor. For my part, I went to the other side of the corridor near the room and began to watch carefully for any sudden change, expecting anything, because it depended on me that this plan would work and that I would come out alive. The minutes passed but still, nothing happened, the lights were still on without variations, the horrible sound that the bulbs had emitting lights was taking its toll on my mental health, because I began to believe that perhaps it was the ghost that made such an unbearable sound. The hallway also seemed to get longer for no apparent reason. I knew that nothing had really happened, but I was nervous to think about seeing the ghost come out at the end of the hall, on the other side of where I was waiting for it to actually come out.
I felt a horrible cold on my back, all my hair stood on end again, I could see how the steam of my breath left my mouth, how my hands quickly went numb. Then I understood what was happening. Although the ghost wasn''t hunting yet, it was right next to me, emitting its winter chill again. Thinking of the worst that could happen, I jumped back a bit closer to the bathroom and summoned Avalon. The huge sword was so big that having it on its side blocked the entire corridor, making it super uncomfortable, but I wasn''t going to leave anything to chance, not with me present. And it''s a good thing I did because the next moment I could feel something hit the other side and screams began to be heard, this time of unrestrained fury. The lights started to fail after it hit, so had it not been for my reaction the result might have been different.
*Crash!*
One of the light bulbs in the corridor exploded, unable to withstand the cold and heat that was in the middle of the two sides
I think I had already achieved my goal of getting her attention so I ran back and put Avalon away again. I immediately felt how brutally cold it was. The ghost looked me straight in the eye. I turned my back on him and ran as fast as I could towards the bathroom. I crossed the door and took the talisman out of my pocket, Tamamo saw me and nodded, indicating that she was ready too.
Realizing that his blows were useless, he tried again to use his cold to attack instead, but once again, Avalon stopped him completely, although I could see how the cold was such that it thickened to look like ice on the windows of the building. bath. Tamamo again threw another gust of wind, the ghost screamed again in pain. The noise was so horrible that I actually thought he was dying painfully.
Tama started to speak out loud, her voice sounded with such strength and will that she heard it coming from everywhere. And with that I realized that she was talking very differently, she was talking like the goddess that she really is.
"Free spirits seek joy in it, souls in pain rest in it."
The ghost desperately tried to free himself from the spear, but his hands thickened to burn when touching the holy spear.
"By my granted authority I order you to leave this world and be judged according to the evil and good you did in life, as ordered by the universal law"
The ghost began to stagger rapidly and violently, seeming to live so much that it seemed to be in two places at the same time. He screamed and writhed more disgustingly than I thought possible.
Tamamo opened her eyes, she had a golden light coming from them again. Her kimono at some point that I didn''t realize changed for a majestic and highly adorned, her majestic tails seemed like a great altar, in one of his hands her metal hand fan, in the other, her naginata was back. She stretched his arm and extended the fan for the last time, in the fan I could see the kanjis »ê¤ÎÂÃ, journey of the soul, where the hundreds of times I had seen that object and did not have them before.
"It is an order from Tamamo-No-Mae, the goddess of the Moon, the mother, the guide"
"Accept the weight of my words, my voice is your law and my will your destiny, fulfill your duty as a human and continue with your journey"
"I curse you Miyazaki" The only word was heard coming from the ghost.
A huge gust of wind took over the small room, rolled up the ghost that disappeared, and created a tornado so powerful that it lifted me off the ground too. It wasn''t an attack as such, or at least not for me, so Avalon didn''t intervene. Tamamo still with her majestic and dignified form took me from my hand and took me in her arms as if I were a small child, but just as she showed herself right now she seemed so beautiful and trustworthy that I didn''t say anything.
"Wow that was so cool" I said excitedly.
"Well, from time to time I have to do my work as a goddess"
"But if you like how I look I can stay like this forever if you want so you can enjoy this view as much as you want Darling"
"I have no problem with it, but I think Haru and Xi''an will have a heart attack if they see you like this"
"...."
"Do you think you can put me down now?"
"The doctor recommended me not lower my self-esteem anymore for this month"
"Oh! Sorry!"
After we finished packing up all our stuff we left the house and got back in the car. Thanks to another talisman that Tamamo put on the window, Haru couldn''t see what happened inside the house or Tamamo''s majesty when she got serious. Haru was super excited about what we did and treated us almost like superheroes, Xi''an on her side was happy to show that she was capable of maintaining her family''s legacy if she put her mind to it. We recommend them not to tell anyone about what we had seen. When Tamamo removed the talismans from the barrier, everything returned to normal and again people began to walk the street with all the normality in the world, ignorant of what had happened in the house next door. Having finished our work we left the inspector''s granddaughter back at her friend''s house where she would spend the rest of the night while Xi''an took us back to our house. When I got home I ate, took a shower, and took a couple of Sulpiride pills, one of the medicines that I took most regularly since the time of the dragon war, is a drug to treat schizophrenia but also can that I would like to describe eliminates the emotions, in my case anxiety or sadness, although it can also take away the feeling of happiness, to see if I could calm down in a preventive way, I went to bed immediately to try to sleep now that I was sleepy and I wasn''t thinking much about it ghost believing this would prevent me from another night panic attack.
Ch114: The Day After
The Day After
I jumped up from the bed, I had felt that I had been hit with something cold, my head was wet, someone had thrown cold water at me. I looked around me, I was in a small bed with dried blood on the blanket, the walls of the place were fragile since it was a military tent, medical equipment is filling the place. Next to me was an older girl, perhaps in her thirties, quite beautiful, but her hair is a mess, she had a clean white robe that contrasted quite a bit with the bed I was on, with her delicate hands she adjusted her glasses to better read the monitor next to my bed.
"I see it, I still don''t believe it"
"Just watch this! Complete color change!"
"It is too pale, it is almost pure white, normally I would associate it with albinism, but being a genetic disorder it is impossible to develop it after birth"
"Are you really Cesar?"
"What the hell happened, where is Nanami?"
"Rose!?"
"Are you here? When did you come back?"
"No , wait we had not installed a field hospital"
"Where the hell am I?"
"You are in a safe place, camp 107"
"When I was told that the empress was wounded in combat, I came as quickly as I could to help" She spoke with her usual investigative curiosity, almost like an innocent child.
"The dragon slayer Sakura was the one who got you out of there, believing that you are Nanami"
"Lost three of her friends trying to find your group"
"Only you 5 were the ones who managed to return, we don''t know what happened to the rest"
"The White Banisher was the one who told me who you really were, he was the one who realized"
"The head wound looks like it just made you pass out"
"Your head seems fine and your body is healthy"
"If we compare it with a normal human, I still don''t know what special care a fox girl needs"
"...."
"I need you to answer me clearly" But his tone changed enormously, the same as a threat, reflecting the seriousness of the matter.
"If you are there, where is Nanami?"
"What happened in the Celestial Forge"
My body begins to feel cold, my throat shrinks, my eyes water. But almost as quickly as these changes occurred another appeared, something said no to all of them. My body stopped in its tracks and decided to do nothing instead. It was horrible, I was sad, I recognized that I was sad, but at the same time my brain told me to stop and do nothing, just stay still and that''s it, not to continue because there was no reason to do so. And this scared me, I was afraid, but my brain also told me that it wasn''t allowed either.
"She..."
"...."
"She is not"
"...."
"Nanami is no more, she is gone"
"...."
"Nanami saved my life, dying her instead of me"
"...."
"...."
"...."
"Pizdets, where I left the vodka"
"I had it right here..."
"..."
"Where is that bottle..."
"I always have a bottle on hand for the same..."
"Where is that..."
She put her hand in the drawer of a metal locker, from where she took out the mentioned drink, but when she finished taking it out her hands staggered and the bottle broke in two, cutting her hand, but with the remaining half she finished serving the drink, She took from it and finished throwing what was left of the glass against a machine, which made a huge noise when it fell to the ground, followed later by Rose''s fall.
"I heard a loud noise, is everything okay?"
"Mrs.Rose!?"
Alarmed by the loud noise a girl entered the store as well, armed with a rifle ready to shoot at the slightest opportunity. She was wearing the same uniform as the rest of the normal soldiers on Earth. She was quite young, her face quite delicate, her white skin was almost the same tone as mine, her hair was white too, golden eyes like jewels, and her delicate body only gave off an innocence that contrasted too much with the position she had in the army, it was as if she was lost in this place. But my head started to hurt again, I felt a very strange pain, my brain warned me that for some reason this was out of place. But the same feeling of worthlessness from before took pity on me and he denied me the possibility of feeling something else.
"Yes, I''m fine damn it"
"Take your hand off me"
"Can''t you see that I''m putting shit together!"
"Cyka Bylat"
"Who is she?"
"Has she even earned permission to see the Empress''s face?"
"It''s Lisa, my new bodyguard after Nanami asked you to accompany her"
"Despite how she looks, she is able to handle situations quite a bit"
"...."
"Damn it, Blyat"
"I can''t even move my hands properly"
"...."
"Where is ..."
"..."
"Here, this should work on something at least, I hope"
Among several bottles with medicinal liquids, she took out a specific one, strangely it did not have any label on the container, but that did not seem to matter to Rose, who took a syringe, and injected whatever was in it into her blood. After a couple of seconds, she seemed to be calmer, but her gloomy face was still present, her news had really hurt her. One that she thought she was used to at this point.
"If news of her death gets out, it will be the end of us"
"They will stop fighting if they realize that Nanami died"
"Without his help we will no longer be able to manage our already precarious situation"
"Union will crumble like a house of cards"
"...."
"The information must not reach the Atlanteans at any cost"
"We have to do whatever it takes to avoid it"
"...."
"What Nanami did for selfishness has been a curse for you"
"And a blessing for us"
"...."
"Cesar I''m going to need, we''re going to need you to pretend to be Nanami"
"I need you to pretend that your wife never died"
"...."
"If you pretend to be her we can quickly get rid of the stupid old customs and traditions, to at least form a fully efficient army"
"Her death can help us quickly reform the people of Atlantis if I manage to lead both armies as one"
"And if you follow my instructions we can do it faster"
My body accumulates heat quickly, the energy overflows my body. I feel like I can''t think clearly. The fury wanted to emerge from me, I knew that what she was saying was making me very angry. But like another bucket of cold water, my brain refused to play along, warning me how pointless everything was in this life. That everything did not matter no matter what I did.
"No, impossible!"
"That you don''t have emotions?"
"How can you be so cold towards her?"I replied dryly, so much so that even I was hurt by the brevity and the lack of emotions that I had at this moment.
"And you think I''m excited by the news!?"
"She was my friend too, damn it!"
"Do you think I''m happy to tell my best friend to pretend that her wife didn''t die and pretend to be her?"
"Do you think that all these years there hasn''t been a single day when I haven''t prayed to God for the safety of you two?"
"Don''t you know how it burns me right now to know that we are on the verge of total collapse?"
"I don''t even know why we fight, it doesn''t matter what we do, everything is already lost"
"This is not fair! This shit ain''t fair! This life is not fair! the dragons'' way of fighting is not fair!"
"Losing people close to me in such horrible ways is not fair! §ï§ä§à §Ü§à§ê§Þ§Ñ§â! "
Rose took one of the machines left and also threw it on the floor. She was emotionally collapsing again, she was tearing everything apart. The situation was so serious that her new bodyguard had to intervene and hold her down so she wouldn''t even destroy things. Once pinned down, Lisa took the shot again and gave her another dose of whatever Rose had taken earlier. This time the calming effect seemed to be much greater, so much so that the renowned researcher became dizzy and the young girl had to put her on the medical bed next to mine.
After that Lisa came to me and sat next to me. She seemed worried about me even though I didn''t know her at all.
"Are you OK?"
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere."Are you feeling bad Cesar?"
"If you need help you can always count on me for anything" She took my hand in a very particular way, a very affectionate one, too much in fact.
I took her hand and threw it away from mine, I didn''t want her near me.
"Who the hell do you think you are?"
"You don''t really know me!"
"...."
"Nanami was everything to me!"
"I don''t want any other person by my side!"
"I don''t want to be in any other relationship with any other woman!"
"She was the only one for me!"
"You can''t replace her!"
My head began to hurt strongly. As if she had hit hard against a wall. The pain wasn''t completely real, but my mind felt extremely confused. Something was not right with this, something was off. My re-chained mind tried to forcibly correct me again. With the next flicker of my sight, the innocent girl was several meters away from me, checking various medicines and closely monitoring Rose, just as was supposed to be originally.
Moments later a huge knight appears at the entrance of the tent. Moments later a huge knight appears at the entrance of the tent. His huge and heavy white armor was beautifully ornamented, his huge and detailed helmet betraying nothing of the person inside wearing it. He was one of the best Atlantean warriors, a hero, an idol, and an icon to follow. A person who, together with his mystical weapon, the Aedilhum orichalcum pistol spear, had managed to destroy hundreds of dragons. His power was comparable to dragon slayers. One of the last great Atlantean warriors of the Centurion race, the most trusted warriors of the Atlantean Emperor and the guardians of the royal family. He was one of the few original guardians of the Emperor, who, seeing the horror created by Nanami''s father, refused to join his side and remained faithful to Nanami in his place. He was one of the teachers in charge of teaching the white cloaks how to fight and training them to fight against the cursed beasts. He had also been in charge of protecting either Rose or Nanami, as well as me to a lesser extent. He had saved me so many times before that there was simply no way to thank him for so much. Unlike many of our "chosen ones", he was always kind and nice, besides that he was always advising and helping the rest of the mere mortals. Contrast greatly with the strength and chivalry he showed in combat, where even the dragons showed their respect for him. It was seeing a perfect fucking superhero in real life. He was known as The White Banisher.
"My Great Empress"
"Rose the Human Leader"
"We have finished exploring the remains of the battle of the Celestial Forge"
"Unfortunately, maintaining control of the place is impossible, the dragons are currently launching a great offense in the place"
"We expect to lose the place in the next thirty minutes"
"I think we will never be able to get it the control of the place again "
"...."
"I''m afraid I have even more bad news."
"The Great Main Hall of the Celestial Forge is completely sealed by the seal of the royal family"
"Without the presence of the great daughter of the heaven present, it is impossible for us to enter the place"
"...."
"My great teacher and mentor, the last Hetaeron Centurion, Grand Campaign General Gaenbald the Abysswalker have been found among the deceased."
"The Great Campaign General has died due to injuries caused in the performance of great duty"
"His body was next to Cesar, the bodyguard that Emperor Nanami personally selected at his side"
"Both died due to lack of treatment for their injuries, it seems that the supplies ran out and there was nothing possible to do for the two of them"
"...."
"Also, no Atlantean blacksmith was found alive,"
"There were several corpses in the room with the hammers, but we believe that most of them are either dead or are locked in the same room of the Celestial Forge, from where they will never be able to leave."
"Gaenbald is dead!?"
"Impossible!"
"He was the one selected to be the dragon slayer bearer!"
"What about the Greatsword of orichalcum?"
"Was it possible to finish it?"
Both Rose and I jumped out of our beds surprised by such serious news. Fear was trying to seize me strongly, the air was getting short for my lungs, I felt like something like a hand was holding it tightly behind my head, something was trying to control me, ordering me not to continue along that route, it was useless. But I also felt like this time a pair of warm arms surrounded me, and these differed from all the previous ones if they let me feel the tranquility that they offered. Her embrace protected me from losing myself again in the abyss of indifference. Inside them, I could feel light, a light that works to guide me like a mother to her child.
"I have no clue as to the whereabouts of the great sword"
"..."
"But allowing my enormous daring unworthy of the vassal of the great empress"
"..."
"If the Great Empress is here delighting you with her dazzling presence and guides her with us"
"Doesn''t that mean that the sword has been completed successfully?"
Rose immediately turned to me and looked at me carefully. She had realized that the answer she was waiting for was right next to her.
"§¬§â§å§ä§à! You''re right!"
"..."
"The best weapons of the Atlanteans, Orichalcum weapons are imbued with the power to stand by their warriors no matter the distance"
"..."
"Nanami, do you think you are able to grace us by invoking the Great Hope to end this war?"
"Can you call it?"
I did not know what to do. He had seen how The White Banisher had summoned his weapon hundreds of times but had never paid attention to how he did it. Was it magic? Was it something that came with the gun, did I have to stretch my hand to the sky?
"Don''t you remember Cesar?"
"Remember Avalon, your trusty sword, call her as you always have"
"Today you had already done it before, finish your duty" I heard a voice speak from another girl, someone who shouldn''t be in this room, but her voice was full of love, understandably guiding me to what I had to do.
But that was not the series of real events. No one had helped me that time, and still, I call back my sword once more. But as if there was a forced cut in the editing, the next instant the sword was in the middle of the room. Both Rose and The White Banisher were surprised to see the impossible sword with their eyes.
"Is incredible!"
"It is true if it was possible to create it!"
"This might be able to change everything!"
"May I know what is the name of this weapon worthy of the mythological legends of ancient times?"
"She had already had one name for it"
"...."
"She spent a lot of time thinking of a good name for the weapon that she should carry with everyone''s hopes."
"...."
"She wanted it to be called Avalon"
"So that''s its name" I said happy to remember the nights we spent together looking at books.
"Avalon?"
"The same name of the island of the legend of King Arthur where Excalibur came from?"
"How unoriginal"
"...."
"But that''s so typical of Nanami"
"I can already imagine the girl''s face of emotion when she saw the story for the first time" said Rose happily remembering the past too
"But now who should be the wielder of the sword now that Great Campaign General Gaenbald the Abysswalker is dead?" asked the knight in impeccable white armor.
"Well, I think with all due respect, I think you were the next most suitable person to be the bearer of the great sword Avalon" Rose said addressing The White Banisher.
"I agree with the same, but this will only cause more problems"
"Now that Sakura knows of Gaenbald''s death she will want to have the sword for herself"
"She''s already counting on it, I don''t think it''s a coincidence that she got lost while trying to defend the Heavenly Forge and she just happened to find me when we were escaping"
"Maybe she herself was the one who mortally wounded Gaenbald to begin with"
"After all she didn''t consider him worthy in her sight" I answered.
"If my empress considers me worthy to be the bearer of her will, I will not hesitate to do my best to carry out the work I recommend for her wise knowledge," Said the great knight walking towards the back, trying to save both himself and the pride of Atlantis.
The White Banisher, stood next to the sword and with one hand took the hilt of the huge sword. His hand fit perfectly, no doubt the sword was made with someone of his completion and caliber in mind from the start. After just a few more he would be able to bring out the full potential of the sword that none other than the last of the best warriors of the race that created such a heavenly object.
But he couldn''t move the sword from its place.
Dazed, he put his other hand on the sword and forcefully yanked on it. But just like the legend that he gave rise to the sword''s name, she didn''t budge an inch from me. The sword did not obey the Heroic warrior of light.
But the memory had been completed. My brain was at its limit, I couldn''t stand the pressure exerted by the lack of emotions I had any more, because it scared me not to feel anything that I should feel when I should feel it. Was this better? to be chained seeing how everything happened again or was it better to let oneself get lost in the despair of such dark moments.
"Nanami, Luna, Rose, Lisa, The White Banisher, Gaenbald the Abysswalker, the time took them all, but their legacy continued, the fact that after everything happened time continued to continue was proof of their existence"
"The fact that you continued to live after that and managed to see the world free of the horror of the past has been the gift that they have given you"
"And as the bearer of their hopes, it is your duty to live the happy life that they could not get to see at the time"
"So rejoice, because you owe them all" That girl''s cheerful voice sounded from all directions again, but her warmth could see her through the Moon in the window, even though that was out of character for this event I accepted it and let it happen.
I could really rest now.
Ch115: Guided Tour
Guided Tour
Kitamoto, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
The older man put on his headphones to hear the news better. It was from that same day, but the source of it was on the other side of the world. The reporter was talking about how the United States government had allocated the money for the total repair of the Brooklyn Bridge, which was destroyed by a brave group of policemen who heroically risked their lives to delay the supply line of the invasion of the Empire that was carried by the same place. After giving the report, the journalist interviewed some of the witnesses of the event, as well as some home videos about what happened.
"The shots occurred along the bridge, several of them ended up hitting the apartment where I lived" Mentioned an African-American woman
"The policemen came from that direction, they got out of their truck and started shooting towards that other place, towards the interior of the bridge, several soldiers responded, I hid inside this alley to avoid the shots, but in the end, one hit me anyway" Said an older man, showing the wounds on his arm still bandaged.
"The tank was on that side, looking at them directly with the cannon, I thought they were crazy, they were dead, but then a girl came out of one of the cars, she was small I think, like my younger sister but white, she took something from the floor, she picked it up and when the tank fired there was a huge explosion, I thought that would be it, but to my surprise, they were still there, the shots did nothing to them. I know that what I say doesn''t make much sense, but I assure you man if it happened, it''s a shame I didn''t record it with my phone, I would have shown it to you" Said a blonde girl, it seemed that she was on her way to high school.
The older man who was watching the news stopped the video on his computer and reopened the video chat program. On the other side of the call was the trusted man of the Japanese government, one of his best men, Mr. Miyazaki, signed as always with his classic cigarette.
"I still have even more proof, this image here is one that I managed to get personally from another of the witnesses, as you can see the same girl is in this one too"
"Just as small, just as white, just as "unique""
"It is clear that during the New York attack the American government used it once again."
"One of the Supersoldiers used by the Alliance in secret, her presence was able to completely change the outcome of the battle."
"According to what I was able to gather more information from some audio files, this girl used the code name White, she was given the rank of captain by Adelis herself, the high coordinator of the Alliance, who was with the president of America at that time"
"I think it is evident that she is the so-called Valkyria mentioned in some reports of the continental war that I was able to retrieve"
"It''s impossible to believe, she''s just a girl"
"From such a young age?"
"The future of modern warfare among the first world countries"
"It is clear that the great potential of the world is leaning towards this type of project along with unmanned drones"
"A team with high mobility and high damage power"
"Perhaps working in conjunction with a drone system capable of assisting in information, reconnaissance or support"
"They would easily function as attack cells of a one person in any country could easily go unnoticed"
"Terrorism Delivery"
"That''s crazy, no intelligence agency could against a mass arrival of agents capable of so much damage"
"There would be no way to stop something like this"
"What is something like the United States doing in the face of this?"
"The answer is in front of your eyes Sir"
"We need to have a response team ready at all times"
"A unit capable of facing monsters as they start to appear"
"Just like the white girl did in New York"
"Have a monster that hunts monsters"
"In closing, I would like to add that after reviewing the reports of the officers who dealt with the Ueno dam case, I really believe that the white girl was actually there on that occasion"
"But we don''t know why"
"Any ideas, any suspicions?"
"I don''t know, maybe Adelis brought her in as her security agent, or maybe it''s a different unit"
"Perhaps it was a perfect occasion to test its level of efficiency"
"Measure up to what level you were able to face a terrorist threat in a foreign country and with very limited support from the central command"
"Just think about it, if it worked here what can stop them from being sent to other places where they can be more useful, maybe not as saviors, but as the perpetrators"
"I know, all this intelligence work you''ve done is incredible, highly detailed"
"Really enlightening, I certainly think it''s also the right path for us to take."
"But a project of this caliber, to reach the necessary magnitude ..... we do not have enough capital, not the necessary one if we want to reach our goal"
"With the attack on New York it is clear that Japan needs to join the Alliance as soon as possible, but we cannot accept it yet, not until this is finished"
"The others are trying to pull all the stops and delay the diplomats as best they can."
"But we can''t play the undecided indefinitely, not after knowing we could be next."
"...."
"...."
"I will try to present the project to the Defense Minister shortly"
"If we can count on his support, we will be able to obtain more financing and have a compelling reason to delay the Pact until we have formed our special unit"
"I will ask the ISC to try to present a relatively functional model to present to him"
"Okay sir, I hope luck is on your side"
Mr. Miyazaki said hanging up the call and turning off the computer
"Sir, we have already arrived" the driver said.
The door has opened the noise of the wind filled with blow the place. The engine was roaring but began to slow down little by little. The helicopter had finished landing on a helipad of a building, it was a bit deteriorated but not abandoned. The place was a small town, one dying since most of the places had been abandoned by their owners. Most had gone to the capital in search of opportunities, left behind by the elderly who normally take care of their younger children, who later will go to Tokyo too. A place where nothing happens on the surface, a perfect place to do things underground.
The building was nothing special really, it was just a simple hospital, small even far from the capital. It specialized in caring for the elderly, but since it was actually the only medical center nearby and they didn''t have much money, they really cared for anyone who came. When it was finally safe to approach the machine, two people approached the vehicle, one was clearly a foreigner, the other was not, and they opened the door for their important visitor.
"Senator Yoshida, it is a pleasure to have you with us today" said the foreigner trying to give a quality smile, or rather a salesman''s smile.
"Mr. Brandon, you are the director of this place, you know exactly what is going on here."
"Do not pretend hospitality where there is none"
"You already know why I''m here, so you can start walking" Said the older man immediately cutting off the pretensions.
"Of course Sir"
"please follow me here"
"If you want me to show you progress, that''s exactly what you''ll get"
"And who she is?"
"She doesn''t look very doctor with that gun"
"She is Akane, one of our best guards."
"She''s with us making sure what happens inside stays inside."
"Just in case"
The three people entered the elevator, but the device after going down the second floor, continued a little more until it reached a place that should not be accessible to the other people who used the hospital in the normal way. Inside this mysterious floor, everything was very different from what the exterior of the place suggested. This time everything was new and high-tech, strong security prevailed in the place, a team of armed guards on alert all the time. There were also several people in robes, clearly collaborators of what was happening. Some were resting eating in a room, others were checking out whatever those weird figures were on the screens.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
"I see that security measures have been increased compared to what was previously"
"Any reason in particular?"
"Wasn''t that enough before?"
"Unfortunately it seems that I met with more success than I originally expected"
"And was it this initial success that caused people to start appearing nailed to walls?"
"We had to deal with all our loose ends, we couldn''t risk a single mistake"
"Responsible people have already paid the price for their failures" The scientist lied bravely.
"This way Senator Yoshida"
"However, please understand the nature of our investigation"
"One in which progress is not achieved without sacrifices"
The government man still entered the place without answering anything from his guide. Inside the room in which they had arrived seemed to be a place of analysis, there were several jars with grotesque meats inside, skin samples on a tray, an arm in one place maybe? He didn''t look human, he had a lot of hair and it was overwhelmingly long, but he seemed to have a ring, animals don''t wear them. On one of the tables, there was a collection of tusks of different sizes. The place had more in common with an animal biology room in a museum than a hospital.
"And this collection you have here?"
"Very nice but when do you plan to finish the puzzle?"
"These, Senator, are the results of our preliminary investigations"
"Different tests to start to see what is more feasible to investigate in the short term and what would be better to save for much later"
"What I am most happy to announce is that despite our current formula it is still too early, its flexibility is quite high."
"This one hand here is focused on hardness, we need to replace the saw twice to get it"
"This other for his part was able to scratch the safety glass with these fangs"
"Yes, you are right, this is all good"
"But why am I seeing it in pieces?"
"That my dear friend, is because we are still starting the project"
"We haven''t figured out how to add more than one ability to a single test subject yet"
"Also, we still don''t know to what extent you are able to improve your skills, if we go too far we could end up with something that we can''t fully deal with"
"The good side is that so far the majority of the skills that you have required have been tested and have given positive results"
"So it seems feasible to do it, what is missing now is to combine all and adjust a stable formula"
"What about your unexpected success?"
"How much are we talking about?"
"I have everything in this report to prepare personally for you Senator"
"All the information collected is in this folder here"
"Jirou Iwasaki? He is the one being chased by the police?"
"This guy was a complete loser, broken state of mind, zero economy"
"I found him dying of hunger in the street, he had addiction problems with something it seems"
"The project assigned to him was the one referring to hardness"
"But for some reason, it got out of control, his mind, despite becoming more primitive, seems to have managed to recover a certain amount of memory"
"A short time later he managed to increase his strength by himself, he also managed to get hold of here, with which he managed to create his escape"
"We started looking everywhere"
"But when the news came about his dead ex-girlfriend, we were just as shocked as the police"
"At least it was easy to connect the dots of what happened"
"Unfortunately, despite being our biggest advance so far, we had to dispose of it due to the risk of someone finding something they weren''t supposed to."
"Agent Akane, the one who accompanies us, managed to find him and destroy all the evidence, so I couldn''t investigate more about him"
"The most surprising thing about the test subject was his ability to stay out of the reach of the police."
"He knew he had to keep a low profile"
"Showed clear signs of intelligence" added the girl
"Okay, so the feasibility of the project is quite favorable"
"But what do you not want to tell me?"
"What serious problems does the program have?"
"So over here Senator"
"I want you to also witness the advances and challenges we face"
"This section hereafter is where our current tests are located."
"These here are live development, so be aware of the situation"
The man in the robe showed one more elevator, this one was much bigger and rougher, more resistant. The same device took them even further down the facility, to a place where the walls were no longer white and were now just bare concrete, lights were embedded in the walls surrounded by glass to protect them, security cameras were on every wall. . There were several developers always accompanied by guards in heavy gear, always expecting trouble.
"I see you have quite a lot of staff here with you, Mr. Brandon."
"Isn''t information leakage a problem?"
"You don''t have to worry about it"
"Most of them are former Alliance soldiers"
"Almost all of them are from Europe, they are trying to send money home"
"The pay we offer you an excellent pay to compensate for morality"
"They don''t even speak Japanese, they have no idea what we''re talking about"
"The guard over there comes from Belgium, the one next to him from India"
"Even if they get out of here, they don''t have the means to get back home without our help"
"And back at home no one will believe them either, an easy solution, don''t you think?"
Brandon walked a little further and then stopped near a large metal gate. There were scratch marks on it and the concrete, it seemed that it had been the product of some attack. Through the bars of the small window, you could see something that barely reflected the silhouette of something that seemed to be a human, but he was on the ground, barely moving from the obvious pain, it didn''t seem to be the source of what caused the marks in the first place.
"This test was about seeing to what extent it could heal skill of resistance to damage, firearms, impaled, electrocution, acid"
"See how far he was able to endure, after all, it is the pillar of this investigation"
"A complete failure?"
"On the contrary, a great success, after all, he is still alive"
"The only one that presented a negative answer was the acid"
"The marks on the door were from that day"
"So why does he look so bad?"
"It is reaching the end of its useful life"
"...."
"The formula we are using is still very early"
"Although it is giving excellent results, these do not come without an enormous cost in the body of the individuals used"
"...."
"The first days will present the skills with all their power"
"But as time continues, it seems that the instability of the formed DNA ends up taking its toll on the body"
"First the subjects lose their minds, then a couple of healthy days, and then this"
"The symptoms presented are almost the same as those caused by high radiation"
"...."
"For now, almost anyone given a dose will see their life expectancy greatly reduced"
"We hope that the one who is here will die next week from the pain"
"...."
"We haven''t found a way to prevent or reduce it but we''re working on it as we speak"
"Although honestly speaking, I don''t know if this mishap is good or bad"
"Why do you think so?"
"Well for now it serves as a security measure"
"In case it escapes we already know that they will die in a matter of days by themselves"
"A problem that can be solved by itself"
"You may be right but this is still a big problem!"
"The cost per unit is too high, they do not serve me that they are "single-use"
"I need Elite soldiers, with experience, able to reason, follow orders"
"At the moment it is not very different from releasing a lion in the middle of a city"
"...."
"How much extra money will it cost to get to that point?"
"Right now this whole idea is being developed with private funds from people interested in the success of this development, but money is not infinite and neither is our patience"
"We have a very limited budget for now"
"You can be calm on the subject of money Senator"
"This project is also of great interest to Mr. Damien Raven"
"He more than anyone wants to see this project come to fruition"
"He himself is putting from his personal money all the extra costs that are adding up"
"Almost all of this installation and the new equipment that is about to arrive are paid for by him"
Not a single yen has been added to the agreed price."
"You just make sure to continue with the project and we take care of the other problems that appear"
"That is excellent news to hear, to know that we both have the same vision of the future in mind"
"But I''m afraid I still have slightly less pleasant news"
"We would like to show you the project and its progress as soon as possible, the Ministry of Defense"
"We want to receive the go-ahead and be able to secure a budget from the government itself"
"The money will increase enormously to continue and further increase your scale"
"But we need a working model, a proof of concept"
"You don''t have to live long, but you do need to be able to take orders and show that it''s better than nothing"
"Do you think you are capable of producing something like that in the short term?"
"To be honest, in the short term it is impossible with what I have now with the idea that we have in mind"
"BUT there is more than one way to make people obey orders, even if they don''t want to"
"I think I can work on something that I can use in a small demo at least"
"Will that be enough for you?"
"Focus on getting the smoke and mirrors working then"
"We need a strong first impression"
"You cannot fail in view of the minister"
"...."
"And not to mention we don''t want the Alliance to know about this"
"Make sure only the right people attend the test"
"...."
"Other than that we are very happy with the progress made so far"
"It has been an excellent job of yours, Mr. Brandon, we hope you continue in the same exemplary way for the rest of the project"
The older man left the place and took the way back, got back in his helicopter, and returned to the place where he originally came from. On the other hand, the scientist was happy with the recognition he had obtained since he had worked very hard to obtain it. But even so, he had a long road ahead of him, one that would be full of problems and difficulties, but that he had to continue if he wanted to be the best of all.
Ch116: Maria鈥檚 Diary
Maria¡¯s Diary
Wednesday, April 14
I''ve decided to start writing a new diary, the one I had before ended last week but I can''t stop writing now that crazy things happen almost every day. This way I can go back to remember things that will probably be important in the future, or maybe I can sell them as a fantasy book, after all, I don''t think anyone believes the things I put here anyway.
Last weekend my brother went "ghost hunting" with Haru, according to what he told me it seems that the ghost was real, with the help of Tamamo I managed to send him to the other world where it seems that he could rest in peace. After what happened, I think I should be grateful to know that my father did not end the same way and to know with complete certainty that he is in a better place.
Trying to come back to earth with her mundane things, today I think I managed to make my first friend, her name is Asuka, she lives in a neighborhood of Setagaya and her parents take care of a shrine, so she says that you have been a Miko to help. But despite the tradition of her family she likes to try new things, I think that''s the main reason she started talking to me in the first place. Despite the fact that I try to bear it, the Japanese are people... I would not like to call them racists, but they are people who are very wary of foreigners, there are obviously exceptions, Tamamo is the representation of Japanese tradition and folklore but she does not care about it what we do differently and even participates in it, but generally people are suspicious of what I do, At least once a day they ask me when I''m leaving the country, what am I doing here, and they''re surprised that I can speak Japanese, I have almost 7 years living here damn it! And even so, I do not want to imagine how many things Cesar will have to endure. Asuka, on the other hand, has at least treated me like someone more or less normal, that is, if she is interested that I am not from here, but her questions are more about what the world is like outside of here, what it is like to live in a country where snow falls, how is it possible to visit a beach in mid-January, things more understandable. He also invited me to visit a cafeteria, and although I''m bored of them at this point, I still accepted to try to establish a better friendship. In the end, she even wanted to visit my house because by mistake I told her that it was near another coffee shop, I refused completely, what happens inside this house could turn the world upside down.
And the truth is that so many things happen here that I am beginning to understand why my brother is not surprised by almost anything at this point. This morning when I got up I went to use the bathroom, and while I was sitting Lisa appeared from a shadow on the wall to brush her teeth, while her bottom was still inside the wall, she was between sleeping and awake, so that she did not realize that I was there until later, she apologized later but it is not the first time that something similar has happened.
This afternoon Cesar began to exercise, it seems to be the first time he has done it in a long time since he is usually in the middle of the action where he normally runs for his life and not for his health. To be honest for the amount of physical effort that he usually takes, it is surprising that his body still does not develop muscles, I say for the amount that I have seen him run, he should have footballer''s legs, could it be that it is some property of Nanami''s body? I imagine so because it seems that he himself seems to recognize this. His training is not at all what I had in mind that he would do, first, he began to dance with music using his feet a lot, it seemed that he was doing break dancing, but as he explained to me, it was really capoeira, more or less, it was An Atlantean fighting style that emphasized fighting using mainly kicks, was practiced by some Nanami guards as a means of defense, fighting without weapons. My brother explained to me that since his legs "have more mass" than his arms, then it can cause more impact. Later he was practicing with a broomstick, it seems that it was something that they also did in that place because it seemed more like watching a kung fu montage, and finally, he started to jump rope, quickly while going up and down the stairs of the house, Mom scolded him thinking that he was going to kill himself if he tripped, my brother was so upset that he continued anyway, but now on the roof.
His daughters, the androids, well, no one in this house considers them as such anymore. In reality, despite the fact that they have their peculiarities such as the fact that they almost never show emotions, it does not mean that they do not have them, you can see that they are happy when they start to talk faster and give information about the topic, like when they wanted to eat ice cream and they started talking about how important it was and how it was discovered. On the other hand, if they don''t answer or ignore something, it''s because they don''t consider it necessary, like when my mom scolded them for messing up the clothes, they stayed in the same place motionless saying nothing until she calmed down. They eat and also use the bathroom, the same food is where they get energy, they can get wet, they sleep, and they get excited. If you forget the fact that they are made of metal I think if you can ignore that they are robots, but then you see them in the living room watching the TERMINATOR movie and you see them happy every time the muscular guy appears, and it makes you think, I hope they are supporting humans and not Skynet.
Regarding Tifa, she has shown a lot of progress compared to when she arrived for the first time, now she talks a little with the others, not much but it is already a step. Normally in the morning she gets up and starts to water the plants, she also has a mini notebook where I think she writes down what she is discovering, she looks quite serious when investigating and taking care of the plants, I''m sure she would love to talk to my grandmother because although they are from different races and worlds they share the same hobby. At noon she usually goes to the kitchen to help my mother cook, she helps her by bringing ingredients or utensils, if she is at work she is helping the person in charge of heating the food. In the afternoon she is usually in the same room as Cesar if he is in the house, otherwise, she is resting in her room, which is a doll''s house that is on the shelf in my brother''s room. When my mom gets home from work Tifa helps her with whatever she has to do, and I think she''s glad to have a second secretary at home. She doesn''t like to be near the demon but at least she tries to tolerate her, especially after one day a stray black cat was watching her through the bedroom window, Lisa from the shadow took him by the paw and bathed him twice with cold water until it is almost white, that cat never came back.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Lisa, on the other hand, is quite a case but after living with her for a while I think I''m beginning to see that it''s not as serious as I thought she would be. I mean, yes, she''s crazy, a lot of times she has weird attacks of her own, but I''ve noticed that she''s actually holding back quite a bit, and usually, she doesn''t really try to hurt anyone. It''s just that their way of doing things is what leads to the problems in the first place, one day when we were starving and mom didn''t come she wanted to cook for us, the problem was that she brought live pigeons because according to her they were cheap. Another time we bought her a phone so she could make calls, and she was so excited about the gift that she called everyone at 3 in the morning so she could listen to the other phones. One time my mom was going to the bathroom at night but she started screaming for help, my brother even got up with the gun in hand, it seemed that she had seen a ghost from the exorcist movie in the dark hallway, it turned out to be Lisa who she said was protecting the house from burglars, acting like a demon from a horror movie. One day my brother brought a cake just for her because he thought he was leaving her aside a lot, it''s still in the fridge because she didn''t want to eat it because she was sorry to spend it. In fact, now that I think about it, it''s even surprising that knowing how she is, she is actually the one who holds back the most, she herself says that she prefers to be the last in line, even though it is clear that she wants to have my brother all to herself. She does her best not to argue with the others, in her own way of course, she now even respects Momo who at the beginning was her sworn enemy or protects Tifa who doesn''t talk to her yet. I think I misjudged her the first time I came here, but she''s not one to do much to prove otherwise.
Finally, Tamamo was today trying to kill us all. Well, not directly but I can''t think of anything else she was aiming for. As I said before, she is a very traditional girl with Japanese traditions, whether she has lived more than a thousand years ago and because she is the goddess of the Moon here, she is almost always wearing a kimono, it is almost her sign of identity at this point. And she, as always, also has traditional Japanese shoes, although of course made for the gods in the first place, so her sandals look more like works of art than things that one would wear on her feet. Well, the sandals that she wears with huge pieces of wood, are big and heavy, although she wears them only when she leaves the house, it is impossible not to notice that she wears them because of how big they are and the characteristics noise they make. Well, she thought it was a good idea for my mother to learn to use them too, so she lent them to her so she could practice walking with them. It was like watching a general watch the feature demo of a new secret weapon. She asked dark things like effective range and aerodynamics, when she lifted one with her hand to measure the weights he smiled at it, nothing good could come of it. The demon and the angel were hidden behind the couch, along with my brother and me. I am sure that there is a law in Geneva that prohibits Latin mothers from having access to weapons with a high level of mass destruction and high ballistic penetration.
Lisa was the most afraid, as she was the most likely to be the test subject. But to be honest, I don''t know why she cares so much. After all, she has her own special edition of hers that she earned with so much hard work and effort. Forged by a blacksmith from a technique known as welding, using the fire of the damned in hell.
But still, no one knew the true terror, at least not until today. When a messenger arrived at night to deliver mail. This time no one had asked for anything, but even so, we received a letter and a medium box. When we saw the letter on the letter we immediately recognized its origin. It was a letter written by hand and with a pen, the pages were from a common notebook, surely the same one that students use, but the distinctive thing was the message, written in Spanish. The letter was from my grandmother, in it she greeted my mother and me, she told us how much she loved us and missed us. But as my mother read it out loud we all knew there was something strange, it sounded more and more like a threat. Continuing with the message, she said how next week was Easter, which was very important for my grandmother, because for her it was time to be with her family, in other words, she was telling us inaccurately in a very direct way that she wanted us to return home to no later than Thursday of next week to spend it with her. My grandmother is a very religious person, so not being with her is almost saying that you are her enemy, normally on Good Friday my brothers and cousins go to a procession while she cooks the lunch for when we get back. That was what she liked most in the year, along with Christmas dinner. The letter ended with a clear clarification of intent when she wrote that she "mistakenly put something in the box by mistake and wanted us to return it to her, or she would come and claim it personally". My mother opens the box with great delicacy, she saw its content and almost fainted, my brother too, then it was my turn.
It was my grandmother''s chancla, a chancla built to rule them all. The sandal capable of altering reality and the individual. It is said that she could alter his victim''s perception of time, making a minute feel like a day. It had the power to break wills, the ability to be anywhere she needed to be. It could unleash intelligence even from inert objects and could even hurt the inside of a person''s soul, it could turn anyone to ashes. It was easy to measure the level of power that we were witnessing, Lisa, a demon, was afraid of my mother''s sandals. My mother is afraid of my grandmother''s sandals. She was able to easily demonstrate that my mother had a long way to go in the way of the chancla. One that she learned from her mother, and her mother''s mother, and her mother''s mother, to something that perhaps went back to the first flip flop that existed.
It was clear what would happen, it was written in stone. Tomorrow my mother and I will return home to spend Holy Week there. We will try to hide the existence of my brother until another more convenient day. We would take the first plane of the day back to Los Angeles, where we would meet Leon and together with him we would return home, where we would later visit my grandmother. Only we would go, we would not know how to explain Tamamo to my grandmother and if she sees Momo she would be inclined to pray to her. And as religious as she is, I wouldn''t be surprised if she could feel Lisa''s presence even if she was hiding in a shadow. May God our Lord and Savior protect us.
Ch117: Small Break
Small Break
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
I inserted the key and turned the mechanism, thereby finally entering my home. Classes today were a pain in the ass too. I''m fed up with people like Aoyama who keep bothering me every day, I''m seriously thinking of making her disappear. Why the hell in Japan is not Easter celebrated? right now is the best time to visit the beaches in my home country, where this week would be a vacation for everyone. Although according to grandma visiting the beaches this week is a sin against God and according to a legend, it could end up turning you into a mermaid, but please, as if those fucking bastards were lucky enough to be alive now to begin with. But that doesn''t take away the point, I also deserve vacations, I''m tired of always having to contain myself at school.
I enter the house but today no one greets me when I arrive, it is strange that it was not until recently that I finally returned to live in a fairly normal way and even so, now I need to listen to someone when I get home. Mom and Maria left yesterday to visit my grandmother as soon as possible, as she requested in her threat, Tamamo and the others are working in the cafeteria, while I have nothing to do there I came home instead. Although saying that I was alone is wrong, flying from the second floor came Tifa, and she would look angry.
"Damn, when you enter the house knock on the door first"
"Do you have any idea of the scare you gave me thinking that it could be an unknown human?"
"I almost hit the stairs when I speed up into the room to hide!" said the little fairy tapping me lightly on the head.
"I''m sorry, I forgot that today you were alone in the house"
"The truth is that I think there is always someone else so I enter without warning"
"It was my mistake, I''m sorry"
"You have to be more careful with me around!"
"Remember that you promised me that you would protect me!"
"I depend on you to live here"
"Yes of course I know"
"...."
"I''m pretty hungry, is there still any food left?"
"No, everything your mother left was spent on breakfast today"
"By the way, now that you mention it, the refrigerator is making strange noises"
"Okay, I''m going to take a shower first, then I''ll check what happened to the fridge"
I went upstairs and went to the bathroom without wasting time. One of the best changes after moving house is that we now have a bathtub to take a bath in, compared to the old shower and the solar hot water system that my father invented that we had before. I put on the hot water and while the tub was filling I took off my clothes. Although in Japan there is a tradition of bathing before going to sleep, in our family we do it when we get up before going to school, the only exceptions are Tamamo and me due to a simple reason, we have a huge tail that absorbs a lot of water and that it takes a long time to dry, so I take a bath when I get home from class and she before bed.
!!!!
Oh my goodness!
I grew even more!? It can''t be, stop damn things!
Now is possible to see the breasts on the sides from behind me!
This is already ridiculous, what kind of extreme malnutrition did Nanami''s body have when I took it?
Well yes, a long time passed so I understand that it lost weight, but why not spend that on growing up! I don''t want to be the only one in this house that needs a mini ladder to get to the top of the cupboard.
It doesn''t matter, there''s not much I can do. I''m not going on a diet, that''s right, I''m not going to go starve anymore!... I''m accumulating reserves for when I need extra energy, yeah that''s it. I better get into the bathtub now that it''s finally full.
AAAAAAhhhhhhh....
This is just what I needed, there is nothing more relaxing than being surrounded by hot water, wait I think I have that spa song on my cell phone, where is it? was it this? I don''t want to get out of here, even though my tail is taking up almost half the space it''s still relaxing enough for me to complain. This is why I fought for years, to be able to enjoy things like these.
???
I heard how something came flying towards the bathroom, it was Tifa again, who took off her clothes and also entered the tub without saying anything, there was not much difference with or without her.
"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked.
"We have to save on water, so I think it''s better if we both share"
"Yes, but you fit in a cup, you don''t use much water to start"
"Shut up"
Stolen novel; please report.
"You know you''re becoming much more disrespectful than when we met"
"I don''t want to hear that from the person who stares at my ass all day!"
"You''re the one who flies by lifting your butt in the first place!"
"If they don''t want your butt to be seen, at least fly straight or walk instead"
"If I don''t fly this house becomes huge for me! It would take 20 minutes to go from the bedroom to the living room!"
"You are exaggerating"
"There is a ladder in the middle! Do you think I can take a step for each floor?"
"For me, it is the same as doing mountaineering"
"Sorry I forgot that"
Although she was trying to hide it, I think I had an idea why Tifa came and took a bath with me too. She was afraid, afraid of being alone in this world that she was in now, because until today was the first day that she had to be alone at home on her own, and remembering how dangerous the world was for her made her very nervous. , she was looking for company, whatever. Since I promised her that I would help her, I didn''t put any more buts and let her stay around me.
After taking a shower I went to the kitchen to find something to eat. Even if I''m not a three-star expert chef like my mother, at least I know how not to starve instead. From exotic foods like snake and mouse to more normal things like this beautiful four-story sandwich stuffed with 6 different types of cheeses and different meats, ham and chicken, along with 6 kinds of sauces, 2 of which I don''t know what they are called but, as my father used to say, since everything goes to the same place, I don''t even care. The fairy helped me prepare it by bringing me the utensils and the condiments. To repay her for her kindness, I gave her a piece of chocolate.
Now yes, prepared and with a full stomach, I got down to work and started to check the refrigerator to see what the problem could be. I checked it from the sides and back, and it seemed that the problem came from the refrigerator motor, it doesn''t seem serious but I prefer to fix it now that I have time before it becomes serious. The old fridge that we had in our old house was quite prone to this type of problem, and although it was my father who always repaired it, he taught me how to do it.
"I think you''re doing it the wrong way"
"You shouldn''t be using so much force on that part!" pocket girl said.
"Shut up and pass me the orange screwdriver!"
"I''m sure it will break"
"The one who is going to break is me if this shit doesn''t give a little more to get out"
CRACK
AAAHHH!!!
Crash!
"Where did that piece fall?"
"It hit that wall and came out from two different sides."
"That''s bad, it was supposed to be a single"
"...."
"Crap"
"Yes, indeed I broke it"
"Just look at this it was solid metal"
"Don''t worry, this is easy"
"This part is generic, I can easily get a replacement"
"I just need to change it and the fridge will operate normally again"
"Hold on!"
"Are you going out?"
"Yes, how do you think I''m going to get the piece if not?"
After changing my clothes again, I left the house again to look for an appliance repair shop to find the spare part I was using. This time I was wearing a new coat with a hat, but this time the hat had room for the ears, it was supposed to be a cute piece for normal girls and not for foxgirls, but it still worked perfectly, both to hide them and comfort, it was an idea that occurred to Tamamo one of these days. Although the queue, as always, was a different matter, I was tired of hiding it all day, so I left it free and let what fate would have it happen, people will still think it''s part of the outfit and ignore it. The important part this time was my messenger bag, this time I got one quite like it and with good space, I had bought it thinking of Tifa from the beginning, and the truth is that today I was wearing it for the first time because she did not want to be alone again at home so she decided to accompany me.
She was terrified of the outside but she still thought that being alone in the house is worse. For my part, I think it is a good opportunity for her to appreciate a little more the new world that was her home. My bag was relatively open so she could see right outside. Also for me not to seem like I was crazy talking to myself, I put on headphones and acted like I was in the middle of a call. I think it was also a success because nobody paid attention to me, either that or people don''t care at all
I managed to find a parts store from wandering aimlessly for quite a while. The owner was an older man but he seemed happy that a little girl could find the value had in several of the things he had for sale. There were several second-hand old electrical appliances, but they were in very good condition, there were others that were broken but the old man was working on them to be able to sell them. I also found an old videogame console, the same model that my father bought me when I was little, a before and after in my life. It came with two controls and several video games that I knew by memory, like when I used to play with my brothers and my cousin Brayan when we were all young. It was a real beauty, it hurt me not having the money to buy it now, but I was going to keep an eye on that bargain until it was mine.
On the way back I ran into a collectible figure store, and among all the things there was what caught my attention the most was that they sold several sets of cloth clothes for mobile figures, I think they had the perfect size for Tifa, so I asked her if there was any that caught her attention. She told me that they all seemed weird to her, but having more clothes was a good idea, so she left the choice to me. The truth was that I was tempted to choose the bunny suit costume, but knowing that she would not wear it, I went for the traditional fairy, since the clothes that Tifa wore are ironically from the Victorian era, I think, and not the green clothes that we all have in mind of a fairy.
Finally, before getting home again, I decided to go to a hamburger restaurant to buy something to eat instead of dinner, because I''m sure the others will eat what''s left when the cafeteria closes today. By mistake I forgot that Tifa is about 15 centimeters tall and I bought her a big combo too, but I don''t think she''ll complain, besides, if she doesn''t finish it, I could have eaten it myself, so it''s not such a problem, right?
Ch118: Date From The Comfort Of Home
Date From The Comfort Of Home
Easter Sunday, April 25.
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo
Today the house was lonely again, but this time there was a clear reason for it to be this way. It was Momo''s day off, so it was her turn to be with me without the others hanging around. Everyone had gone back to work today, except Tamamo, who went to the park with Tifa to take care of her.
Right now I was in my living room watching the movie I really wanted to see with Momo, who was so focused on the movie that she didn''t eat any of the popcorn, which was better for me. But even so, it was already at its final moment, so shortly after that, we were both in the house with no other idea what to do next.
"I''m so sorry we can''t go outside to our date"
"If only it wasn''t made of glass, I could do many more activities outside."
"I''m sure you would have had a much more fun afternoon with the others"
"What?"
"No, it''s not a problem"
"There are many fun things we can do at home as a couple"
"You just have to be creative"
"...."
"For example, how about I give you a massage?"
"How about?"
"I''m not good, but I learned a little, I think"
"Let me guess, you learned it during the war since it was for when you were exhausted from fighting and blah blah blah"
"Nope"
"A part-time job when I was saving money for Maria''s party."
"Did you give massages in a Spa?"
"How many girls did you massage!?"
"Football players"
"In a five-a-side football center"
"To people tired of kicking a ball"
"Sure, it had to be that"
"I had forgotten that it was you we were talking about"
I take the angel in my arms and went to the bed. Where I then put on the relaxing music on my phone, lit an aromatic candle that I found in the bathroom, and brought one of my mother''s creams to start with. Little did I know that Momo would be made of glass, it was like massaging a statue, but she seemed to like her so I continued despite how useless it seemed at first glance. Since there was hardly anything going on, I took the opportunity to talk a little about her, because there were things that I still didn''t know about her.
"You know, now that I think about it, I know almost nothing about your parents"
"Is everything okay with them?"
"My parents?"
"Yeah they''re fine"
"Before leaving I wrote them a letter explaining what happened and why I came to earth"
"...."
"Unfortunately I have not received the answer yet."
"But I doubt very much that they will oppose"
"It''s you after all, there''s not much angels can do about it.
"What section do they work in?"
"Do any of them work in the Celestial Security Section?"
"Celestial Security Section?"
"That''s too exciting for my family"
"My father works as an accountant in an investment company"
"My mother teaches craft sewing classes in a shopping center"
"The truth is that I have been the first to join the glorious Celestial Security Section"
"That day my parents celebrated big"
"Even though it was just a supply team job, it was a huge step for my family"
"As you can see I think I''m the most normal person in this house"
"Being next to you is the closest I''ve been to the action"
"And the truth is that I would like to be further away from that"
"So, if you like tranquility so much, how did you end up there in the first place?"
"That was because of fear"
"Fear?
"Come on, don''t play dumb"
"How many people are you able to see through it?"
"My parents are flesh and blood too"
"I am the one who was born weird"
"I have never seen any other angel like me in my life"
"Even to all the doctors we went to, none of them had any idea that it was really me."
"Only the doctors of the central district could know how to treat me"
"But since it was not a necessity, my parents decided not to dwell on the matter."
"But still, that doesn''t mean I''m not afraid of myself"
"I don''t know what could happen to me if I get hurt"
"Will I be hurt like a living being? will I break?"
"What happens if I totally break down? They will be able to heal me"
"Or I''ll stay that way forever"
"....."
"Sometimes the fear is such that it completely paralyzes me"
"My parents also have the same fear as me, so it is difficult for everyone"
"....."
"So I thought to get over my fears and do something about it"
"And you decided to go big by entering the army"
"If I had done it in a place where it was easy to retire once I regretted it, I would not learn anything"
"So he went to the one place where they don''t let him give up easily"
"And what did you hope to get from all that?"
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"I hope one day I can become a hero recognized in heaven and that my parents are proud of their daughter"
"Let them see that I am no longer the scared one that she used to be."
"But still, I think I have a long way to go for that day"
"Aren''t you with me now?"
"That isn''t that already quite an achievement"
"Come on, you''re not as bad as others think"
"Beneath all that invincible warrior facade is a cute boy who is shy and calm."
"It''s just that only a lucky few have been able to see it"
"But I can''t always depend on you if I want to learn something for myself."
"...."
"But there is no need to rush things."
"I''m sure that day will come when I feel I''m ready"
"Well, if you need anything, you know you can ask me"
"In that case... How about we bathe together? Wouldn''t that be cute?"
"Okay, your wishes are orders for today"
"Just for today!?"
"I was kidding"
And as Momo wanted, I went to the bathroom to prepare it in a cute way for her, I put bath salts, and I also wanted to put some rose petals, but since they hadn''t, I went to the kitchen and quickly peeled fruit instead, just hot water was missing and everything would be ready. But as always, something happened, in this case, I could hear from the second floor how the water heater was damaged, so it was up to Momo and me to take the tools to fix it
"At least it''s something simple to fix"
"...."
"Can you pass me that cable there?" Momo said while he continued disarming the device
"I swear this was not my intention to spend our date time having to fix this"
"Don''t worry, it''s something that happens"
"It''s not a big deal"
"I''ll finish soon and we can continue what we''re doing"
"I''m so sorry"
"Since we''re having some time together anyway, what do you think if I ask the questions now?"
"What about the Cesar from before?"
"What were you like when you were a little boy?"
"What about me?"
"I don''t know what you want me to say"
"It was quite calm and quiet outside of what it seems like now I"
"Sometimes I was the one who made the supermarket lines for my mother"
"I was super shy and I didn''t like to leave the house"
"I had a hard time socializing"
"Then school came, and still I didn''t change"
"After school and I didn''t change either"
"And after that the university, where neither
"Damn, the truth is I thought I would die alone by the time I turned twenty"
"Come on, all kids have a messy side"
"I do not believe that the Great Emperor Cesar, winner of the Dragons, has been a saint all his life"
"Contrary to what I know what they think of me, I really consider myself a pacifist"
"...."
"...."
"...."
"But if I had to talk about the nonsense that I did, those were many in my youth"
"In my band was my brother Leon, Maria, you know her, she is my younger sister, and THE cousin, Brayan"
"The other side of the coin, if I was calm and shy, he was crazy and loud."
"I really think that if this were an anime Brayan would be the protagonist."
"But with them, we made every day an adventure at my grandmother''s house"
"I told you about the time we cycled down Dead Dave''s Hill, pedaling at full speed."
"That was the first day I saw death in the face"
"Maria was sick at that time, right?"
"It was the three of us trying to brighten her day a little"
"But inside the three of us were sure that we would not survive"
"What about where did you live?"
"Which country was it?"
"You had told me that you didn''t know snow until you were older"
"Okay"
"I lived in Costa Rica"
"A country in Central America, quite small but with a large number of environments"
"Although all of them related to the tropics"
"The rain forest, the dry forest, the jungle"
"There are only two seasons"
"Hell''s Heat and Biblical Flood"
"The trees are always green and every day it''s sunny"
"...."
"And the most ironic part, a country that has no army"
"!!!!"
"Really?"
"So you weren''t meant to be a warrior at all"
"If nothing weird had happened at all, I never would have left the country in the first place"
"What else! it''s actually interesting"
"Tell me about your home?"
"The country is mainly a world tourist destination, so seeing people from all over the world is normal"
"Even so, there is a strong emphasis on ecology, but in return its development has been quite scarce for decades"
"I lived in the capital of the country, San Jose"
"It is in the center of the country, in a valley"
"My house was located in one of the poor neighborhoods"
"But even so the security was quite high, however not by the police."
"But the good side is that if the neighborhood knew you there was never any problem"
"Once even one of the neighborhood "criminals" protected me from an assault when I returned from school"
"...."
"What else?"
"Did I tell you that my father loved to travel around the country?"
"There is no place we didn''t go on a family trip"
"We had a 4x4 car, the pride of my father, it is still in the house because nobody feels worthy to claim it yet"
"What about your grandmother?"
"Is it true how powerful she is?"
"She doesn''t have any superpowers, I think"
"I really have no idea what happened at Maria''s birthday party"
"But even so, she is the head of the family, so important things are first defined with her before being carried out"
"She lives in the mountains in a place quite far from the life of the modern age"
"A place where the world could end and still not realize how far away it is"
"We almost always visited her once a month and slept at her house"
"Or at least that was what we did until my father died"
"!!!!"
"Finally, done!"
"Have you finished your part!?"
"I did not do my part, for being talked about everything!"
"That''s not my fault"
"You must have talked and worked at the same time"
"Hey wait!"
"At least help in this if you want to have warm water back!"
After that, in the end, Momo did help me finish and we were able to take a bath together. After that, we weighed playing an old video game that I used to play with my brothers and Brayan, so I was quite an expert, so I helped her understand it. By the time night came everyone returned home and Momo and I tried to prepare easy food for everyone. But unfortunately little did I know that this time of calm ends as quickly as it came when the next day at four in the morning I received a call from an unknown number.
"Hello, Cesar?"
"It''s me Adelis! Your mother"
"I have a problem!"
"Is Maria! She has disappeared!"
Ch119: The Gang And The Cursed Path
The Gang And The Cursed Path
Good Friday, April 23
Puriscal, San Jose, Costa Rica
***************
Maria POV
***************
We were all behind the church. We were weakly eating the things we had bought at the convenience store. We were all completely exhausted from such a brutal procession. On Good Friday there is a procession from Grandma''s house to the church of another small town, 10 kilometers uphill, under the brutal summer sun, without stopping to rest. It is so well known as the journey of repentance since it is normal that not everyone reaches the end of the journey and decides to return. Although it started as a religious event, it ended up becoming more of a sporting event by the attendees themselves.
Every year we young people made the trek while the older people stayed at grandma''s house preparing lunch for those who would return. Normally my brothers, my cousins, my mother, and my aunt Damaris participated. But it seems like a lot of things happened this time, My aunt seems to have sprained her ankle yesterday so she doesn''t come with us for the walk, Mom is taking care of my grandmother because my grandfather is working in the fields even today, he says that he doesn''t He is old enough for long walks, but later he is going to plant corn all day under the sun, which I think is worse. So today there are few attendees in my family.
Next to me was my brother Leon, who came from the United States also under threat from my grandmother, and Brayan, the cousin definitive edition. If Cesar were here, the gang would be together again. I also had more female cousins, but they are much older than me, so the only group that didn''t reject me was the men. But don''t get me wrong, this group was much more fun than being with the other girls, there was always something fun going on, and if we didn''t find a way to make it funny. Cesar acted like the leader, which we ignored, but he was the voice of reason in this group of idiots. Leon was the one with the ideas, he proposed what things to do, they almost always went wrong but it was part of the fun. I was more the one who gave moral support to others, if we did something I was there to be in favor, although we all knew it was a bad idea. But Brayan, was the brute force of the group, if anything needed to be done, it was done. Also known as the biggest idiot, he was capable of doing almost anything, I''m sure if it wasn''t for Cesar''s crazy stuff, Brayan would have the craziest life by far. If you have seen videos of men doing dumb things, then exactly the same but watching it live.
I think the three of them should be long dead actually. They''ve done so many stupid things like bike down dead Dave''s hill, pedaling at top speed. See who was the bravest who stood the longest near the lit fireworks, The time we hunted a snake with a machete. The most powerful improvised flamethrower, etc. And in all of them, Brayan was the winner of all of them. But time passed and we did not meet again until now.
Right now we were resting to get our strength back to go back to grandma''s house, so we were talking to hang out. Leon knowing that it would not hurt either side talking about work with Brayan nearby, spoke better about his time with his wife and how they met. Brayan, for his part, mentioned the fun things of the past, and was melancholic about Cesar''s absence in the group, I really thought the same, I would like him to be here with us today. For my part, I talked about how it was to live in Japan because it was something that Brayan did call his attention to. I even showed hiy photos of Tokyo and where we lived.
"And this here is my room, before I had another bed but a wooden leg broke and I have to use this one until they fix it"
"Jesus Christ, this is all very interesting Maria, but I have to ask the obvious, that over there not is a dog right ?"
Damn, I had missed Tamamo who is also in the photo.
"That is precisely why I took the photo, that day a wild fox entered my room and I was able to take it" I answered nervously
(Thank goodness it''s Tamamo in his animal form and not Momo)
"They are a protected species there, right?"
"I think they worship them as spirits"
"Did you have to do anything to get it out of there?"
"Not much, I just opened the window and he left, ha ha ha"
"They don''t sound very convinced, something else happened there?"
"Nope"
"Alright keep your secrets then"
"Very well, I think it''s time to go back, if we leave now we can get to lunch earlier" Leon said standing up.
"Okay"
"We return by the usual shortcut then?" asked my cousin.
"Of course, I don''t want to walk more than necessary"I answered.
"Still, it''s amazing to see how healthy you are now Maria"
"I really didn''t think they could do the whole tour"
"I''m glad to know that everything is better now" said my brother.
"Well, after all, I couldn''t stay in a hospital forever, could I?"
He was right, even though I would have hesitated before to make the whole trip when I was sick. All this is thanks to Cesar that I can be here today with them.
The return trip was not along the same initial route, but at a certain point, we deviated from the main road and entered the forest to cut the road. The place is what people consider a jungle, but we all knew this place perfectly so it was impossible to get lost. But even so, the road was not easy, because yesterday it rained a lot, so there was a lot of mud everywhere. Even so, we already expected this, we already had practice walking and not getting dirty.
"Hey! what if later we go to the supermarket and buy loud fireworks to go scare Daniel!?"
"He should be cleaning the house right now, we still have to get revenge for what he did at that Halloween party."
"I''m sure making him run from fright will help him exercise"
"For Daniel, going from the bedroom to the refrigerator is exercise"
"The last time I saw him, he managed to complete the meat bowl challenge at Nica''s restaurant."
"Then he came home for dinner"
"I wanted to vomit just listening to it"
"Remember that he was allergic to bees"
"And the time that Cesar disturbed a honeycomb near him"
"The fat man almost had a heart attack just for yelling"
"I have no idea how he managed to get down to his house"
"That is easy for Daniel"
"Rolling"
"And even so I''m sure he would get tired"
"Hey, did you hear something?" Brayan said.
"Now what? The jokes of that style are already very worn" Leon answered who had already fallen 6 times today with the same joke.
"No wait, I think this time it''s something serious"
"Is there someone else ahead?"
"I think he''s asking for help!"
Something inside me lit up, the sense that something was about to happen, damn even without Cesar here do things still happen?
"Brayan wait!"
"We should be careful so they can see us!"
"What if it''s a robbery!?"
"Damn, we have to help!"
"Hey, bastard! Over here!" Brayan said without thinking too much about what could happen.
"Brayan Stop!"
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it."Waiting! Do not be an idiot!"
"We have to think it through!" I tried to stop him but it didn''t work.
"We have to call the police and let them take care of it!"
"We can''t get involved"
"We are in the middle of the Jungle!"
"What direction do you plan to give?"
"From the mango tree 30 meters south?"
"By the time they arrive, they will have eaten us all" I contradicted him.
"So what should we do? Let it kill us?"
Don''t worry, Maria, this isn''t a big deal, it''s easy, Cesar has come out of worse things, hasn''t he? I should just act the same as him. But how do I act like him? No, wait, don''t stress, he always thinks about the things are going to do before he acts, normally. For now, the priority is to save the person on the ground, but for that, we must try to scare the dog away.
Come on what else? What would he be thinking in a place like this?
Damn, my own boobs don''t let me see well
...
What else?
He doesn''t always yell at someone else?
That is easy, I can try that!
"Stop crying for once and act like a man!"
"Go and help Brayan!"
"Get Coyote''s attention so he can hit it!" I yelled at Leon.
"And what do I defend myself with?"
"Here, it''s a stick, your ancestors hunted mammoths with one of these!"
"Now go there and make them proud!"
"Help!"
This time the scream comes from Brayan because the Coyote was now chasing him. Leon knew that the situation was dangerous, but he had to do something, he didn''t want to be the weak of the team, so he adjusted his glasses, and then he yelled running toward the dog trying to scare him. For my part, I ran towards the person on the ground. She was a young woman, she was wearing sports clothes, I think I had seen her before in the procession, maybe a neighbor of my grandmother, I had to help her.
"Stupid dog!"
"Over here!"
"Brayan hit him with the knife you had!" I heard Leon yell in the background.
Quickly review the situation. The coyote was a couple of meters from me, but Brayan and Leon were holding him back, so I wouldn''t be attacked right away. In front of me, I had the girl, she must have been seriously injured. She was on the ground and didn''t seem to move. This was serious!
"Hey, can you hear me!?"
"Hello!?"
"Reply to me!"
There was no answer, she was unconscious. I immediately proceeded to pinch her trapeze, but there was no response. Remembering what I had seen some doctors do in the hospital, I opened the girl''s pupils, her pupils were dilated, and she was really unconscious. After I loosened her clothes a little and tried to feel her breathing, THERE WAS NO BREATH! I put my fingers on her carotid artery, pulse was very low ,40 per minute, She was close to going into cardiac arrest.
"Shit!"
I took off her clothes and proceeded to do CPR immediately trying to save her.
"Leon Watch out!"
"Behind you!"
"Fuck! Jump on him NOW!"
"Quick, whoever is free, come here now!"
"This girl is dying!"
"That''s it! he is leaving wounded!"
"I''m on my way!"
Brayan came running to my side offering his help immediately. Leon was on the ground he seemed to have a nervous breakdown.
"Here!"
"Put your hands on it and compress"
"Go with rhythm"
"120 chest compressions per minute, that''s around 2 per second"
"Keep doing that until I tell you otherwise."
"Will this save her?"
"How much time will it take?"
"I do not know!"
"Until the paramedics arrive?"
"Leon calls the fucking ambulance!"
"NOW!"
I went back to check the girl''s pulse again, but now it was much worse. There was no pulse, she was having a cardiac arrest.
There was something I had to do, I couldn''t give up yet I had to save her.
!!!!
The Talisman Pack!
Inside one of my pockets I took out what looked like a deck of cards, Tamamo had given it to me before leaving. They were to protect us in case something serious happened. Each talisman came with a simple spell and charge. There were several types, on the back they said what each one was for the healing one is to stop bleeding, they will not cure a cardiac arrest, fireball, ice spear, wind blade, and the one I was desperately looking for, lightning. But even so, this is a spell to deal damage, not a defibrillator. But if I manage to measure it so that it has a lower voltage it could work as one, I have to modify it so that it has adequate power. Tamamo had been teaching me a bit about magic, so he told me a bit about these talismans, they had the main kanji, which was impregnated with mana, and smaller characters, this should be the power one, if I change this with this, and I scrape the ink off here, I also have to divide this into three loads to distribute the energy correctly, and maybe it should work.
"Maria, I''m getting tired!"
"I can''t be at this all day!"
"Stop playing with paper and help me!"
"We have to change!"
"Here it is"
"Ready!"
"Get out of there if you don''t want to get electrocuted!"
"What do you plan to do with it?"
I took the talisman and pressed it on the unconscious girl''s chest.
Count, one, two, three
PUM
An electric shock made the girl''s whole body tremble
....
Still nothing
Again
I pressed again
Three, two, one
PUM
Another shock, another tremor, still nothing.
"Come on it works damn it!"
Three, two, one
PUM
The charge of the talisman had disappeared
That was all I could do
"Aaaahhh!!!"
The girl''s body moved and she sucked in air sharply.
There was a pulse, she was breathing on her own
She had been saved, for now
She was still unconscious and her leg was bleeding.
But the worst for her had already happened
"Damn that was horrible"
"I shit my pants"
"...."
"What the hell did you do there?" my cousin Brayan asked me.
"I finished calling the ambulance, I was able to use the GPS to give them our position"
"We should take her to the street if we want to get out of this as soon as possible" Said the insensitive Leon, oblivious to what just happened.
I put the healing talisman on the girl''s wound, unlike the rest it didn''t seem to be that serious. We were with her until the paramedics arrived to rescue her, where they took the piece of paper from her and exchanged it for the shirt that Brayan was wearing, so as not to raise even more suspicions about why. Brayan for his part did not seem very reluctant to lose his shirt for a girl.
When they took her away, the three of us continued on our way to Grandma''s house. Where they were waiting for us as usual. We tell you about our journey where we activated the grandmother''s detective mode, who picked up the phone and started making calls to discover the identity of the mysterious girl. In a short time, he managed to realize that the girl was Daniel''s neighbor, the fat man that we were originally going to bother today. Her mother had been a great friend of our grandmother, for which she was grateful that we rescued her.
Grandma''s house is far from what I could call a palace, but I think the whole family has passed through this house maybe even before the formation of the country. At least it has electricity, water, and telephone, but being here is like going back 200 years to the past. We have spent years trying to get my grandmother out of here to a more modern house, but she has rejected all proposals, she is simply too proud of her house. In it, a good part of the family was gathered, everyone was talking about what happened this morning and about what had really happened because the coyotes had never attacked a person alone before. My mother congratulated me for saving someone''s life and said she was proud of me. Leon was still nervous about what happened so he looked for painkillers to try to relax. When the congratulations were over, I went to the back to talk to Brayan again.
"What an adventure we had today"
"Now are you''re going to tell me what you did in the forest?"
"What were those papers?"
"That doesn''t matter, I have more important news"
"...."
"It''s Cesar, he''s still alive"
"It is impossible"
"I went to his funeral"
"Bryan!"
"It''s the truth, he''s been living in my house for almost 3 months already"
He looked at my face surprised
"Okay then"
"So what do you need me to do?"
Just as I expected from Brayan, he didn''t doubt me and I accepted it immediately. He is still the same idiot as always ready to do everything.
"It''s Leon and the rest, they still don''t know"
"My mother wants to reintroduce him to the family, but he looks too different than before."
"I want your support, whatever happens, I need you to accept it and act like it''s no big deal"
"That''s what he wants"
"Then it will be trying to calm Leon down".
"Ok take it for granted"
"I can''t wait to get together and try to finish hunting that dragon we left alive when we all played"
"I still have the console ready for the rematch"
"Speaking of dragons, I think you''d better put that aside as well."
"Cesar is bored of them at this point"
The rest of the day passed without incident, everything was exactly the same as in other years. When the celebration was over, everyone returned to their homes. My aunt''s house is a little further down, near the convenience store, and thank God it''s much more modern. Even so, my mother and I stayed to sleep one more day, until the end of Saturday she received a call, it seems that someone wanted to meet her on Easter Sunday in Jaco, a beach town famous for tourism.
Ch120: No Loose Ends Part 1
No Loose Ends Part 1
Jac¨®, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
***************
Adelis POV
***************
I had to do something, I couldn''t let whatever happened to Maria continue. I immediately went back to the hotel and picked up the phone in the room, I called Japan, while here it was 1 in the afternoon, there it must have been around 4 in the morning, I called my son Cesar because he was the only one I imagine capable of having any idea of what had happened. Maybe this was something that involved him, something inside me was certain of that.
"Cesar, I think I have a big problem, your kind of problem"
"Maria got lost yesterday morning, I saw her again the same day in the afternoon"
"But she was wearing a school swimsuit in the middle of Jaco"
"She was talking to the British Minister, she seemed to be trying to seduce him, but when I tried to intervene, the police appeared and she fled the place, I have not seen her since."
"Maria had never acted this way before! Something must have happened to him"
"You have to help us!"
"Where are you right now?"
"At the hotel in Jaco"
"Get out of there, go to a random restaurant and ask for the phone call me back after that"
"Why?"
"Because they are listening to you"
The cold ran all over my back, Cesar had said it calmly, short, and concisely. He wasn''t kidding, he was sure the threat was real and it was big. I had to do what he told me to do, I didn''t know why, but I did know the consequences of not doing it. I Hang up the phone immediately, I searched among my luggage for a small suitcase with a padlock, I took out my key and opened it with fear, inside there was a pistol along with two ammunition chargers, unlike my son I am not a warrior, this was all I could do to defend myself in an emergency, and by the way, Cesar acted, it seemed like one. I take only the most essential things and leave the hotel immediately without saying anything to anyone.
The town I was in was Jaco, a tourist destination southwest of the capital San Jose, where our real home is, about two hours from our house. It is a very popular destination for tourists, so it is easy to meet people from all over the world in this small place, ecological and at the same time modern, a perfect place to meet diplomats without raising suspicions from the media, because you simply have to pretend that the two of them happened to go to the same place to spend their vacation. The place is famous for its first-class beach for surfing, where world championships have taken place here. And as if that were not enough, near here in the mountains there is a national wildlife park. But even so, this is only one of the hundreds of coastal towns that Costa Rica had, no matter which way you choose, you will almost always end up on a tropical beach and jungle.
I had come to this place to meet with the British Prime Minister at his request, he was on vacation with his family but when he found out that I was in the country he called me to talk a little. Since it was at hand I agreed, we met yesterday morning, when Maria stayed in the room while I talked to him, after that we were both supposed to go to the beach to have some fun. That''s when this nightmare started. I went to the main street of Jaco and then to a secondary street, I entered a small old fried chicken restaurant, I told them to take the phone, it was an emergency and the employee kindly gave it to me immediately.
"It''s me, now, what''s going on? What else do I have to do now?"
"Okay, listen carefully to what I''m going to tell you, stay calm"
"First I need you to forget about Maria"
"Worry only about yourself right now"
"Maybe right now they could be following you, pay attention to your surroundings"
"Go back to the hotel room and don''t come out until we get there."
"Order the food to the room and have them leave before you pick it up"
"And if Maria shows up again, for God''s sake, ignore everything she says and don''t answer her, don''t go near her."
"Also make arrangements for my trip, right now we are all going to the USA military base in Tokyo"
"I want a direct flight to Costa Rica"
"And won''t talk to anyone"
"Is it so dangerous!?"
....
....
" Yes"
"Oh my God, what''s going on?"
He hung up as soon as he finished speaking. I could feel the anger he had as he spoke, he was furious at whatever was going on, I''m sure he had red eyes on the other end of the phone. What was happening was really serious, because I immediately followed the instructions he gave me. Leaving the restaurant I go back to the hotel in fear. For Cesar to realize what happened, it is very likely that he has seen it before with his own eyes, but what has he not seen? Was this related to dragons, gods, a ghost, a virus maybe?
I took the phone again and called the military base to give the green light to the flight that my son asked me for. They accepted without much problem, would arrive today at sunset, a 6-hour flight in a military plane at maximum speed, which normally last 12 hours. He would most likely arrive tomorrow morning if he has to make another stopover in Los Angles. And even so, I don''t think it''s such an emergency because I''m sure Cesar would have found a way to get there sooner if it was an emergency in which time was essential.
The rest of the day was spent enthusiastically locked inside the room as requested. I was in one of the highest rooms in the hotel, from where I could see the whole town perfectly. I spent it near the window looking carefully at everything that was happening, somewhere my daughter was, being the victim of something she did not know. What was happening, why so much mystery? The night was not better either, since being a tourist destination means that there are parties in bars until late at night, a place full of people from all over the world, and I spent the whole night in fear, that maybe Maria was in one of them doing something unwanted. When the sun came out again a call broke the silence of the place, at the reception someone had arrived looking for me, after hearing the voice of a girl introducing herself as Cesar I felt much more relieved and let them pass, he had arrived. No doubt it was much less time than she thought it would take, he really was in a hurry. Everyone came, Tamamo, Momo, and the twins, and when they finished entering the house, Lisa came out of his shadow. But no one was excited to. They came with several large suitcases, I could recognize two of them at a glance, they were military, stolen from the empire, and they were the android combat kit, the same one that Kazumi used in new york. It was easy to feel that Cesar was angry and did not want distractions, the color of her eyes said it all. When everyone settled down a bit he immediately started speaking with strong authority.
"Momo, pick up the phone, call the angels, I want them to bring me a combat armor with underwater combat capacity and Stella"
"Tamamo begin to lower the moon against the earth, don''t stop until the angels comply with what I asked of her"
"!!!!"
"Are you sure Darling?"
"It''s not a bit excessive" Said the goddess impressed by what she just heard.
"It''s a fucking Order!" He said pointing to his wife.
The girl''s neck began to light up, it was her slave sign that she had. He was surprised to see how he had used it for the first time against her, and without hesitation in the slightest. Tamamo was surprised too, but she complied with what was asked of her, she took her fan and shook it, it was done, with such a simple gesture the fate of the earth was sealed if she didn''t do anything about it.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Cesar!"
"But what the hell are you doing?"
"You''re going to kill us all!"
*TOC TOC*
The door of the room rang, my son, ignored me and went to the entrance of the house. I followed him to see if his plan had been successful, by my god he was. Stella was outside the room, naked, prostrate on the floor, her face was against the ground, she was trembling, with a white suitcase in front of her.
"Oh great Lord of Violence, I have brought what you have asked to my Master, complying with what is stipulated in our covenant."
"I beg you to please make a gesture of compassion for the people who live in this world so that you do not vent your anger against them."
"I am here on behalf of all my race to vent their anger against me if with this act I can save a single innocent life" Said the angel, in her voice you could hear the fear she had, she was in tears.
"Come in, you''re going to disturb the others"
"Tama, cancel the fall and return everything to normal" He said monotonously, but still angry, showing no mercy.
Momo took the briefcase without saying anything and began to review the content, it seemed that she knew exactly what it contained. Stella walked into the room,but she fell back on the floor still naked. without raising her head for a single second. Even Lisa looked with pity on the angel at this scene.
"What the hell happened Stella?"
"Didn''t we have a deal?"
"It was something simple, you inform me and I did the rest"
"So why if it was so easy, you still manage to screw it up?"
"Do I have to take this to mean that the word of Heaven is not to be trusted?"
"Is this an insult towards me? Is your Master making fun of me?"
"I thought we were friends, I don''t destroy you the first time we meet, does it?"
"I even let you talk to me back"
"I let all your nonsense pass until now"
"And you pay me this way?"
"Forgive me for everything caused so far great Lord"
"What we did was a huge foul against your great legacy"
"I apologize on behalf of our insignificant race, we deeply regret not being able to satisfy the righteous standard that you expect from us".
"Stop talking shit!" Cesar kicked the girl.
"There is one person missing in this room!"
"Who is?"
"Raise your head and tell me who''s missing!" He grabbed the angel''s head and slammed it on the ground, before lifting her himself.
The angel was scared, she quickly looked around trying to figure out what point Cesar wanted to get to so as not to make him angry anymore.
"Your sister"
"Miss Maria is not here with us"
"I''m so sorry I didn''t realize it sooner"
Cesar hit her head against the ground again.
"The pact was simple"
"No loose ends"
"If it was something so simple, how could you still screw it up"
"Why the fuck didn''t you tell me? in my own territory"
"Why the hell have you guys been quiet!?"
"Why did you hide it?"
"Cesar!"
"What the hell is all this!"
"What''s going on!" I asked, I couldn''t take it anymore.
Cesar looked at me angrily but didn''t say anything, instead, he took the big phone from the room and threw it at Stella''s body with force.
"Start making calls!"
"I want information, I want to know where they are!"
"Where can I get information on where they can be?"
"I want it now!" he indicated to the poor girl.
"I have finished verifying the integrity of the armor"
"It is in excellent condition" Momo intervened.
Without saying anything else, she and Lisa took pieces from the suitcase and began to place them on Cesar, who sat in a chair to be more comfortable. First the boots and the legs, it was an armor quite similar to an Arksuit, but much lighter and whiter.
"What is happening?"
"How dangerous is it?"
"Against what are you preparing so much?"
Cesar looked me in the eyes, calmed down a bit, and tried to explain to me.
"Maria was attacked by the sirens"
"Mermaids that I assumed were dead"
"I thought they no longer existed due to the piece of garbage on the ground never mentioning anything"
"Their victims are not random, every move they make is cold-headed down to the smallest detail"
"If they went for Maria, it means they are going for you, Miss Alliance Super Coordinator"
"Mermaids?"
"Are they so dangerous?"
She raised her arms and Momo along with Lisa put the gloves on her.
"Maybe they look like the fairy tales"
"But those scumbags are no better than demons"
"The only good mermaid is a dead mermaid"
"Those bastards were in charge of protecting the water channels of Atlantis"
"They allied themselves with the Dragoons during the war"
"Their methods go way beyond fighting underwater"
"Mermaids are able to amaze ordinary humans with their songs"
"They drag them into the water to drown them"
"And that''s just for the common people"
"I don''t know how but I know that some of them are capable of brainwashing some people to carry out acts of sabotage"
"They try to get control of the surface from the bottom of the sea"
"...."
"But still that''s not the worst"
"Isn''t it the worst!?"
"How many underage girls have been reported missing on the Pacific side of Costa Rica?" he asked one of his daughters.
"In the last 6 months there has been a huge increase in missing persons, about 100 people, an increase of 200%, 25 of them underage girls, Maria would be number 26" Charlotte replied.
"Oh my God"
"Mermaids tend to kidnap young girls to turn them into mermaid maidens"
"Their shock infantry, people without a will who follow orders just like a DOLL"
"And just like these they also have special abilities"
"They are capable of going through walls as if they were ghosts, they always attack their victims in packs"
"Completely unkillable, they are capable of fully regenerating from any attack"
"But only live as long as they superiors keep them alive"
"They are only the first link in the ranks of the sirens"
"The expendables"
"Do you think Maria is one of them!? She turned into a mermaid maiden!?"
"Although they look human, they need to be in contact with the water on a regular basis to remain under control, in this case returning to the sea"
"So they will almost always be in a bathing suit"
"Also to recognize their own troops they usually wear similar outfits, hence the school swimsuit so out of place here"
"What are we going to do!? We have to rescue Maria! We can''t hurt her!"
"Don''t worry, when I kill the current leader and the siren recruiter, the people under control should be freed"
"Being in the lower ranks they are still not considered real mermaids"
"They will return to being normal humans with no memory of what happened"
"I''m going to kill every one of them so that this never happens again"
"As it was supposed to have happened"
Cesar got up from his chair and went to Stella, which he kicked, in which now I also understood the anger he had.
"You piece of shit, your time is up"
"What information do you have for me?"
Momo lifted the armor vest from the briefcase and carefully placed it on Cesar. Lisa did the same with her helmet and placed it on her head with great delicacy as if she were crowning a king.
"As you say, Great Emperor, I am not worthy of your words"
"But if I could fix the horrible sin of bothering him with my presence, it would be the fact that I managed to get him some..."
"Is your ass jealous of the amount of shit that comes out of your mouth?"
"For today, damn it!" Said Cesar kicking his victim in the face again.
"Vatican hunters are also alert to recent movements"
"They sent a couple to get information"
"Looks like this morning as we speak they managed to capture a Mermaid Princess near here, in at Herradura beach"
"Right now they are going to Quepos, they plan to go to the airport to return to San Jose and take her to Rome to interrogate her there."
"It could also be that during the fall of Atlantis, before your victory the Ariandel Crypt Castle broke away from the mainland and impacted the pacific ocean"
"Maybe that''s where they came from, It was the negligence of our pact, I am very sorry on behalf of all"
"Don¡¯t be ashamed of who you are. That¡¯s your parents¡¯ job"
"Get the fuck out of here"
"Now!"
Cesar said really angry, Stella ran out of the room and closed the door, I don''t know where she went next.
"Mom, call Dago and to his children, tell them I need them to make a blockade in Parrita"
"We need to intercept the hunters'' vehicle before it reaches its destination"
"I want the car stolen and hidden in the palm plantation, I''m on my way immediately to pick up the vehicle"
"Cesar!"
"He is your father''s uncle, I haven''t spoken to him for like 5 years"
"I don''t even know if he''s still alive"
"Well start now if you want to save Maria"
"That siren is our only clue"
"Tell them to do the typical combo of road work and road salesman"
"It''s easy, I''m sure they''ve done it before anyway"
"...."
"The rest of the plan is easy, we will divide into two teams"
"Me and the rest of you"
"...."
"Kazumi, Charlotte, you are not organic, Mermaids have no effect on you"
"Wear the combat gear and fly over the place"
"Try to stop any attack the maidens can make"
"Don''t be afraid to hurt them, even if it''s Maria"
"Tamamo, I need you to patrol the beach and prevent more kidnappings, by any means necessary, I don''t care"
"Lisa you stay with Adelis and protect her from everything"
"Mom, don''t leave here for nothing"
"I''m sure the sirens plan to capture you so they can have a strong grip on the world and resume their reign of terror"
"You are a vital part of their plan, do not let them capture you"
"And what are you going to do?"
"That''s obvious, search and destroy"
"I''m going to interview the mermaid first and get the information where the crypt castle is."
"Then I''ll destroy them all"
Cesar did not seem the same as always, right now he was the hunter looking for his next prey. A quest, a battle, where the prize was the future of my daughter Maria, where two opposing factions would meet and fight until there was only one clear winner. Maybe I was witnessing how legends are born.
Ch121: No Loose Ends Part 2
No Loose Ends Part 2
Parrita, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
******************
Mermaid POV
******************
The machine that transported me was a metal box with wheels, it was able to achieve high speeds impossible for the creatures on the surface. As I understand it, humans call them automobiles and they are their main means of transportation. Right now I was inside one of them against my will, I had been careless and fell prey to a low trick created by these human warriors, a maiden was supposed to bring me another important human for me to sing to and obey us, thus taking another step in our preparations before launching our assault on the surface and claiming our true home, but when I approached the surface they threw strange nets I had never seen before and covered my mouth, I could not defend myself.
They were taking me to a place completely unknown to me, there was nothing good that could happen to me with them. But contrary to what I would think of this situation, it was the human hunters who were full of fear. It seemed that their plan had collapsed with a single prayer that came from a magic box they carried with them.
"Divine providence informs that Cacique has appeared and is in the area of operations"
"Cacique has declared that he is hunting his prey"
"What the fuck!" the boy said.
"As of this moment, the country has entered into lockdown for all Hunters Special Forces"
"All operations have been suspended"
"All military personnel are required to leave the area as soon as possible by their own means"
"I repeat"
"All operations have been suspended with immediate effect"
"Evacuate the site if you want to survive"
"At this time you are on your own"
"Do not compromise the church with your actions" the magic box sounded again.
"Oh my God!"
"This is the first time ever that Cacique has ever been reported."
"I thought he was a legend!"
"Wasn''t he never supposed to intervene!"
"He is supposed to be neutral!" Said the girl, who immediately began to quickly review her notebook.
"And what do I know!"
"I never thought that one of the great warriors would appear in a place as remote as this!"
"Something made him so angry that divine providence intervened and reported?"
"Cacique is different from the rest of the other great warriors"
"Unlike highlander and Gladiator, those are clear warrior names."
"Cacique is the indigenous title of these regions of King."
"Cacique unlike all other warriors is a ruler"
"Someone with recognized authority, even by divine providence"
"..."
"If he demands our heads the church will give them to him on a silver platter"
"Is it just a king? And that he makes him different from the rest of the kings out there?"
"Because this king has always been there, since the beginning of humankind, very probably before, and perhaps since the beginning of time!"
"His name has always appeared along with the others, but this is the first time he has shown signs of doing something"
"We don''t even know who he is, nor what he is capable of doing"
"So if it gets in our way, what do we do?"
"We can do nothing"
"The only thing we can do is to try to keep Cacique from knowing of our existence"
"If he doesn''t know about us he can''t do anything, can he?"
The humans were scared of this Cacique, but while he might be their enemy, that didn''t mean he was my ally either. After all, I knew much less than they did about whatever they were going through. What I was supposed to do was to try to escape, to get to the sea or to a river at least. But unlike the sea, here on the surface, my body could not move freely, as my tail was too heavy for me to crawl on my arms alone. Father must have noticed my absence by this point, he will send a party to rescue me, won''t he? Will he send the maidens or some other servant? Will they arrive in time before what these humans plan to do?
The huge metal box was coming to a stop, as far as I could see from the windows there were several of the same devices lined up in a row, every few minutes we only moved forward a couple of meters before stopping again for several more minutes. It seemed that this transportation method needed a lot more improvements to be efficient, not at all compared to the ships at sea.
"Damn it!"
"We have little time and there is a traffic jam in the middle of the jungle?"
"What the fuck!" Said the man, the one who seemed to be the one who controls this machine.
"Even though we are in a country made up of mostly virgin forest does not mean that people do not have access to the modern world"
"The automobile is the main means of transportation here, on average each family has 2 cars."
"That together with the constant improvement of the roads makes it easy to find traffic jams on highways like these"
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more."Once we get to the work zone, we will be able to maintain high speed until we reach the airport" the girl answered, she seems to be the intelligent one because she always had answers for everything
"And what is that guy doing? Is selling candy in the middle of the jam?"
"The constant car dams are used by the locals to sell things"
"It is one of the most widespread informal jobs around here"
"I don''t like this at all"
Another human arrived at the car, this one, unlike the others, was much darker, he had a box in his hands. He went to the window and looked inside the machine. If what the girl was saying was correct, most likely this man was the salesman they were talking about earlier. The man who controlled the machine rejected him violently, not wanting to talk to the dark man. But before he left, he looked out the window again, our eyes met for a moment. In them, I could see how clearly he was surprised to see me, but as soon as he looked at me he left, not towards the car behind us, but into the jungle, where I lost sight of him. Had he finished selling? His box was still full of things to sell.
The car continued to advance a little more until it reached an intersection of roads, where one could clearly see the origin of why so many machines were advancing slowly, the girl was right. After this part, the machine would again gain unprecedented speed, but just as it was about to move forward, a huge crash was heard. The human hunters screamed in panic, I was startled too, I looked out the window and saw another metal box coming towards us, this one was almost 3 times bigger than ours, it hit the front side of our carriage, so it didn''t kill anyone.
When the metal box finished spinning the man grabbed a sword and kicked the door open as soon as possible. The girl was pretty hurt but he started using magic to try to heal them both. It seemed that we were under attack, they were finally my allies trying to rescue me, I had to help them, I tried to untie the device that held my hands, but it was impossible, but I could move it enough to untie my mouth a little, I took a breath to sing, but the girl noticed it and threw me an electricity spell, my body fell without obeying me. The man finally managed to break down the door after several kicks. He got out of the car to fight with the men outside, but almost the next second he fell asleep, it didn''t look like magic because there was no trace of it. The girl panicked and started to scream, it was then when the dark man appeared again through the window and put a cloth on the girl''s face, which the next second she also fell asleep. Was it a magic cloth that put people to sleep? From outside I could hear the panicked screams of more people, for what was happening had clearly not been planned by all the humans. It was very likely that they were my allies. I could barely move my hand, and I stretched it out to the black man, who took it and looked me in the face. It took several minutes for him and several other men to pull me out of the shattered metal box. But just as I was beginning to feel grateful for them, one of them hit me on the head and made sure the mouthpiece was tightly closed. They also had several objects in their ears, I didn''t know how effective they were but they clearly knew of my ability and looked for ways to protect themselves. They put me in the back of their vehicle, which was huge compared to the others, the place was not comfortable, this part of the vehicle was not designed for passengers. They started the vehicle and at full speed took me out of there. Far from continuing on the comfortable black road, they took a dirt road into the jungle, where, in spite of the rough ride, they never slowed down.
I could hear them arguing, some of them were full of panic also for what they had just done, others did not believe what they had seen with their own eyes, and several did not agree with what they were doing, but still continued their journey, going deeper into the jungle, where now there were only trees and it was hard to see a couple of meters ahead. Now there were only trees and it was hard to see a couple of meters ahead, we arrived at one of the houses of the humans, but it was clearly seen that it had been abandoned long ago, in front of it there were two more vehicles. The large vehicle was hidden behind the abandoned structure, and then ..... nothing. The men got off and started walking around, they were alert and nervous, they were waiting for someone, probably their boss, maybe this person was the contact between them and Father, the person who planned my rescue.
Time went by, almost half an hour had passed, but still, nothing had happened, I was beginning to think that maybe I had made a mistake, but then something happened, a whistle was heard, it was a sign that the person who was approaching was the right one. Several of the men were startled to see the new person. But although I couldn''t see her from where I was standing, I could hear her.
"Hello all "
"Are any of you Dago''s son?"
"I am the person Adelis sent, I think she already talked to you about me" A little girl was heard talking.
"I am Christopher, Dago''s third son."
"The others are Chopo, JuanK, and Chuz"
"They are from the "association", you know how it works, don''t you?"
"The girl is in the fear car over there"
"If you need any help in a moment you have the gang next to you, just let us know"
"And tell Adelis that we hope she can find Maria as soon as possible" another of the men spoke.
"Excellent, thank you"
"It has fuel, right?"
"Of course, tank full"
"With this, you can leave the country and return"
"All right, the next thing I need is a speedboat"
"Fast but with range, I need it ready by tomorrow morning at the latest"
"I want it ready to go in Jaco or thereabouts"
"You can get it right?"
"Of course!"
"If you want, we can lend you La Ni?a"
"It''s the same boat with which we deliver coca to the United States with a full tank of gas."
"The trip is done in one day"
"The coastal patrols never catch us with it"
"I''m going to call Dago to get it out of the garage and have it ready."
"Just call and tell us where you want it, we''ll deliver it ourselves"
"Excellent"
"I''ll leave right away then"
"I still have a few things to do before I leave."
"Thank you"
The door of the vehicle opened and a little girl appeared through it. She was completely white, with blood-red eyes. She was wearing a much stranger outfit than the rest of the humans, it was white armor too. But she was not human, not a normal one at least, she seemed to have ears and a tail that I had not seen before on any human. She looked me in the eyes, blanked out for a few seconds, and then made the car start moving, although she had a hard time handling it, unlike the men, due to her short stature. I didn''t know where she was taking me, was she my ally or my enemy? Who were these people and what did they want from me?
Ch122: No Loose Ends Part 3
No Loose Ends Part 3
Quepos, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
A huge straight line, an endless plantation of palm trees, an average speed of 150 kilometers per hour, 30 kilometers of route, estimated travel time of 10 minutes. And yet I was about to kill the siren at this very moment. The idea of my plan is to get the information about the location of the mermaids'' hideout by interrogating this mermaid princess, for that, I need time to carry out the questions, but right now I was being chased. I don''t know by whom but for a while now several cars have been following me from a distance, I know this because at one point when I entered the palm plantation to lose them they followed me, even though there was nothing else besides the same tree 20 kilometers around.
My plan now is to get as fast as I can to Quepos, the same town where the Vatican hunters were headed, and set a trap for my pursuers, if they think they have me against the wall they are very wrong, because I am in my territory, my home, I know almost every street in this country by heart. Quepos is another tourist town, one of the most visited in the whole country for its easy access and all kinds of services, there are many hotels in the area because it is close to Manuel Antonio, a national park recognized worldwide. But despite what the authorities and the government want to pretend, it is also true that there are all kinds of activities there, so no one asks why a young elementary school girl would rent a room for 6 hours in a motel, the same kind of place that surely would not mind having a shootout from time to time.
But despite the speed of the trip, the stupid mermaid knows precisely how to piss me off. I should have left the tape on her mouth so she wouldn''t talk.
"May I ask why a breeder is transporting me wherever we are going?" she asked.
"Where is your owner? What is his plan?"
"I am not a breeder, I am a warrior!"
"There is a big difference! You don''t see the armor!"
"But your tits are bigger than your head, that''s the main way to distinguish a breeder from a citizen"
"Your duty is to lay eggs and feed the hatchlings"
"Well, I think people on the surface the process is different, but your duty is the same!"
"I am not a breeder!"
"And if you keep talking I''m going to make you fried fish!"
"But you have all the signs of a breeder"
"Breasts that will never stop growing throughout your life, wide hips so you can give birth easier, huge ass to support and excite any male, small body easy to handle to the male''s liking, small arms because you don''t need them to make babies"
"Your whole body screams that you are a breeder"
"I''m going to run you over with this very car as soon as I get the chance"
"!!!!"
"I know now, you''re still young enough to start working!"
"You''re just a little girl who thinks you can do something with your life now that you still have a small body that can move on its own."
"Make the most of it now while you can, when you''re a little older you''ll have boobs so big you''ll never be able to move on your own again."
"But look on the bright side, if you are a good breeder you will have several girls taking care of all your needs when you can''t move, maybe one of them will take pity on you and become your friend"
"Or having to use your legs for something other than sex"
With God as my witness I swear I will cut this girl in two as soon as she is no longer useful to me.
After a short drive that tested my patience to the max to avoid crashing the car into a tree, I made it to Quepos by nightfall. As soon as I arrived I immediately started looking for a place to stay. Far from the main street, in a residential neighborhood, I found the shabby motel I needed. I parked the car, waited for a while and then went to talk to the manager, I told him I needed the room for 6 hours, he stared at my chest for a while and smiled, then told me that if I wanted when I finished my business he could be my next client. He didn''t laugh so much after I showed him the gun I had on hand.
I went back to the car and put the siren on my back so I could move her into the room, she weighed a lot, although I was used to lifting heavy objects like Avalon, I was really surprised how much she weighed, because although her fishtail is big, she doesn''t look that big for the weight she has. I put a lot of tape over her mouth so she wouldn''t make any noise, I threw her in the bathtub and turned on the faucet so she could receive water. I don''t really know if a mermaid needs to be in constant contact with water, but I don''t want to talk to her unless it is strictly necessary. I hid behind a chair near a corner of the wall where the entrance to the room was, where together with the darkness and that the only light came from the bathroom where the siren was, I was well hidden, where they would not see me as soon as they entered. I stayed there for quite a while waiting for my enemies to move, it was quite boring, so much so that I started to get sleepy. But it was then that my fox ears heard faint footsteps coming into my room. There were metallic noises, they were carrying weapons.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
A dark man came in, dressed in a Costa Rica soccer team shirt, he had a machete, a big knife generally used for cutting grass or defense. He went straight to where the light was, where the siren was, I was aiming at his head from behind when suddenly two other men came in. One was in a dock worker''s uniform, the other to my surprise a policeman, but policemen don''t wear sneakers on their uniform. I didn''t hear any other people besides them, just the creaking of beds. They were all distracted looking at the bathroom, so distracted that they didn''t notice me approaching them and doing my job quickly.
I managed to kill the three of them without making a sound just by using the knife. The room was turning red quickly and it was only a matter of time before they noticed and the real police came, but my job was done. I went to the bathroom where I could see the siren scared to death when she saw the men and what had happened in front of her.
"Everything all right?"
"Are you hurt?" I asked as I removed the tape to see if she was in good health.
"Who are these humans?"
"Did they want to harm me?"
"Are they allies of the human hunters?"
I took a close look at the corpses. The truth is that just by looking at their clothes it was clear that these people were nationals, they were also very poorly equipped, and the policeman only had a revolver which I took. They were not Vatican hunters, because if they were, a fight would have occurred. In reality, it was very possible that these guys who were chasing me were actually under the control of the sirens and were trying to rescue the princess. But why not use the maidens? They are much more dangerous than these guys.
....
Was it the lack of time?
....
Was it so important to rescue the princess as to attack with the few forces they had nearby instead of waiting for reinforcements?
....
That means that this girl is important and they want her back as soon as possible!
I turned to see her and looked at her carefully. She was a young girl, if she were human she would be going to school too. Her skin was light and her hair was somewhere in light blue, matching the clothes she was wearing and her tail, they were all the same color, her eyes were also blue. She was quite beautiful and well-groomed, a clear example of her high position among the mermaids. But most importantly, she had a mark on her abdomen, one that was quite clear and revealed much more than it seemed at first glance. The cards of my enemy had been shown changed my focus to my regret.
"What a wound you have on your abdomen!"
"How did you get it? Was it them?" I said pretending to be surprised.
"What''s this?"
"Don''t worry, it''s a pretty old wound"
"It''s so old that I don''t remember how I got it"
"According to Father, a group of humans attacked me with a spear when I was young, leaving this mark in its place"
"I see"
....
....
She had been tricked.
Mermaids were a race that was developed from the fish in the rivers of Atlantis. They were never human in the first place, they just looked like. However, this girl had a belly button, a mark that all mammals possess, one that is impossible to have if you are a real mermaid that was born from an egg. A spear wound would have left only a small, flat mark, not a hole. This girl may not know it, but it is very likely that she was actually a normal human, one that the mermaids took and modified to turn her into a mermaid, after all with the technology of Atlantis that would not be so crazy. But to succeed they had to abduct her when she was very young, perhaps a newborn. They kidnapped her by separating her from her mother and turning her into a mermaid, she being so young she doesn''t remember the events.
But this only makes sense as an experiment for something bigger.
Why end up turning her through the whole process into a princess?
....
Wasn''t there any to begin with?
Were they so deep in the shit that they had no choice but to do this?
....
Mermaids are divided into several categories. Maidens, the lowest rank, act as expendable pawns. The stepmothers are the leaders of the previous rank but are the lowest among the true mermaids. Breeders are exactly what this girl was talking about, their sole purpose is to increase the number of mermaids, so other qualities such as mobility or having a dignified life do not matter. The baronesses are few in number but are experts in magic. The duchesses are generals and strategists. Among the highest ranks are the princesses, who are the only mermaids that can sing and manipulate, so they are essential to obtain allies and kidnap people. Without princesses their main tactics are useless. Lastly, there was the queen, who is no longer alive, who was an important target during the Dragon War.
The fact that they have created artificial princesses is dangerous.
But there is also the rank of Father, since this is the first time I have heard that title, and if she were to follow the tradition of the Sirens'' titles, she should be called Mother.
I would like to think about this further but I had to leave immediately, I couldn''t keep wasting my time in this motel. I picked up the siren and took her back to the car, which I started right after and started driving again in the middle of the night. I would like to think about this further but I had to leave immediately, I couldn''t keep wasting my time in this motel. I picked up the siren and took her back to the car, which I started right after and started driving again in the middle of the night. The destination was London, but unlike the capital of the British Empire, this London was substantially smaller and humbler. London was a village much deeper in the mountains between Parrita and Jaco. Population 5 humans, no internet, no phone signal, no electricity. The perfect place to disappear and ask the siren more questions in a quiet way. And place where I planned to rest before the fight that would take place tomorrow if everything go according to plan.
Ch123: Metamorphosis In The Dream
Metamorphosis In The Dream
Londres, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Londres is a rather old and forgotten town in Costa Rica. Where it does not receive the recognition to even appear on a map. I have no idea who founded it or what it looked like in its best years. How do I know this place exists? That is a curious story, my father''s grandfather was the one who came to this town, I have no idea why, he lived in a house here for a while, but he got tired of the place and went back to his hometown. My father heard the story and on one of his trips we set out to find where this town was, it took us several days of asking people around to find the approximate location. I was on the trip as usual and learned how to get there. I never thought it would be helpful until today. The town consists of several old houses like my grandmother''s, separated by several kilometers from each other. The center of town could be considered the school, which is now abandoned due to the low population in the vicinity.
Right now I was in it together with the mermaid. I haven''t talked to her much yet, as I was still a bit tired so I decided to rest a bit first. I don''t need to sleep, just rest my muscles for a while before going back to work. The mermaid on the other hand had been quite calm. She didn''t seem to be fighting against me and despite the nonsense, she talks, she was quite cooperative, so she preferred to rest before doing something she would hate me for later. I went to rest in one of the school chairs, and on the way, I took 3 Sulpiride pills, the same for suppressing schizophrenia, just in case. It is very difficult for me to fall under the effect of a siren, but in case I underestimate her, relax too much and she has something, the pills should prevent her from using my feelings to take advantage of me.
Despite the situation I was in, I didn''t feel as nervous as before. Although a group of human hunters captured me, another group and this girl rescued me from them. They have not attacked me, so it is very likely that they are related to our faction. Surely right now we were here in the middle of nowhere waiting to lose the hunters completely and they will return me to the sea when the sun rises again.
The breeder walked to the other side of the room and sat in a chair, resting her legs on another. How I envied doing things like that because due to my tail, things like standing and walking are impossible for me. I thought she would go to sleep but she just lay there, looking at me. From one of her pockets, she pulled out a pair of white things and ate them. That was all her food? I don''t think it was enough for her body, but maybe it was the diet she was on to slow her growth before she stopped walking.
Her body did not match those I had seen of humans before. It was possible that she was a new species. Her ears were huge and swiveled from time to time according to the direction of the sound. Even now that she was resting her ears seemed to be fully awake. She was actually quite alert to her surroundings despite how relaxed she looked. It seemed that she was battling sleep, for sure being in this situation so out of her nature was taking quite a toll on her.
Since she had been helping me all this time I decided to repay the favor and help her sleep better. Surely a good night''s sleep would make her feel much better for tomorrow and give her more energy. Since she seemed very nervous, she would surely get scared if I did something drastic, so I started to sing very, very lightly, almost imperceptibly, to make her relax more. And after a while, I sang a little louder so she could sleep completely. After that, I would just make her have a relaxing dream for her and wake her up when it was daytime.
The heat of the sun made me wake up suddenly. I tried to look around me, but something was not right. The school was quite clean and tidy, it looked very much like the typical Japanese classroom where I went every day to take care of Haru. When I tried to get up from the floor something grabbed my chest and pulled me to the ground again, it was warm and quite soft. It was like being on a jelly? What the hell is this thing?
!!!!
No!
No, No, No, No, No!
Stop! Wait! This couldn''t be happening, could it!
No, not like this!
Not like this!
....
It was myself
It was myself that made it impossible for me to move. What I thought was a huge bed was my own chest, which was so big that I was completely on top of it. I was in the middle of the boobs lying helplessly, completely immobile and naked. I could feel my legs behind me but they didn''t touch the floor, in fact, I couldn''t even tell where they were in relation to myself.
A headache began to squeeze me hard, stopping what I was about to do.
I looked around me again, there were several classmates looking at my face. They were all looking at me with contempt, with rejection, surprised to see me. Once again I was the center of attention because of my disfigurement. There were Kyouko and Yukiko looking at me, talking to each other, clearly mocking me. In a corner there was also Haru, she pretended not to look at me or know me, and in her face, there was a shame. Knowing that she had once spoken to those tits with a voice she thought was human.
The school bell rang, signaling the start of classes. All the girls sat in their seats, I could do nothing but stare at them from the back of the room. From where I was destined never to move again.
"Why do we have to stand next to it?"
"Shouldn''t they have taken it somewhere else where she won''t be in the way?" I heard someone say.
"That thing used to be called Elise, she pretended to be a human hiding the fact that she is actually a breeder"
"It was a couple of days ago that her body exploded at the end of class"
"She grew to that size in a matter of minutes"
"Now it is impossible to get her out of here without shattering the walls, which would cause the school to collapse"
"The only thing to do is to leave her there for the rest of her life"
"Just ignore it"
My heart was racing as I continued to listen to what someone in the room was saying. I was scared, seconds before a headache brought me back to my senses.
The door to the classroom burst open, the only other one left because of my guilt. From it came a girl I didn''t recognize, she looks much taller and older, she was dressed a little more casual but formal, and she was wearing a beanie, so she must be the teacher. But she was not our usual teacher that was clear, as her face looked quite angry and serious. She wrote a couple of things on the paper, took off her beanie, and then turned around, revealing her face at last.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"All right, you lazy bums, thanks to your mediocre results now I''m in trouble too!"
"I need to get you in shape before the sports festival and keep you from getting fat as pigs"
"So we''ll start right now, 50 laps of the athletic track"
"You have one minute to get there and I hope you have completed them before I get there to check"
"Now RUN!"
All the girls ran out immediately without even complaining. Leaving only the two of us in the classroom. She looked me in the eyes and let out a sigh. I for one didn''t need to ask, I already knew her. After all, she was my wife.
"All right, now that we are alone we can have a moment to eat"
"Here, I brought you lunch"
"Well, wait a moment and I''ll bring it to you instead" said Nanami.
She left the classroom for a moment, returned with a ladder, which she placed next to me, and climbed up my chest until she was right next to me and hug me. She sat down next to me and opened the box with food, which she carried to my mouth herself since I couldn''t even sit down.
"Because of your stubbornness for wanting to be a normal human, look at the trouble you have caused us"
"I had to start working as a P.E teacher to be able to come to see you!"
"If only this had happened to you at home at least we wouldn''t be going through all this in front of the public" she said with a spoonful of food.
"Is it really you Nanami?"
"What happened to you? You look so different"
"You have grown up" I said happily.
I stretched out my arm to touch her, but it was too short to reach her from the position I was in, or rather I had been in.
"Don''t even try, you know you won''t make it no matter how hard you try."
"There''s nothing you can do, this is all you are now"
"A huge bed of breast"
"You better keep eating"
"It cost me a lot to make you this lunch you know!"
"Be thankful I came all this way and I''m feeding you despite how embarrassing it is to be seen."
"I don''t want to eat! I want to be able to walk!"
"Elise!"
"Accept it at once! There''s nothing to do!"
"You are a breeder, not a person!"
"Don''t you see how much you are making us all suffer from your foolishness!"
The classroom door burst open!
Nanami worriedly jumped from where she was to the ground as far away from me as possible. On the other side of the door, another girl appeared, but this one was different from the others. She had horns and a pointed tail, along with her blue wings. She was Luna, the dragon girl, who was dressed in the same uniform as the other students. She looked into the classroom and was surprised to see only the two of us.
"I''m so sorry I''m late again!"
"I thought the alarm clock was working but it ran out of batteries."
"I came as fast as I could"
"Please forgive me, Mom"
"Luna!"
"Be more careful next time you come in here!"
"Warn first before you come in!"
"Do you have any idea what a scare you gave me!"
"Just now I was feeding your father!"
"What do you think would have happened if it had been someone else and we were seen with her!"
"You are right!"
"I''m so sorry, it won''t happen again!"
"The others have already left to go around the circuit."
"Go as soon as possible and join them"
"I''ll come down when I finish feeding her"
"Take care"
"Yes, ok"
"See you later Mom!"
"See you Dad!" she said waving her hand in dismissal.
"Goodbye, Luna!" That was all I could manage to say to her before she left without answering me.
Nanami turned around and walked back up the stairs to come back to me. It took her a little while, but her discomfort on my body was visible to the naked eye.
"What the hell is going on here?" I said because I couldn''t take it anymore.
"What do you think!"
"This is all your fault because your obsession with wanting to be a human is what led us to this!"
"You are a breeder, you are only good for giving children and milk."
"But because you pretended to be a human, going to school while hiding your true purpose, this happened!"
"You should be glad that we can see you today!"
"...."
"Why did you do it!"
"Why did you hide it!"
"Because of you, I married a breeder!"
"What do you think my father will think when he hears the news!"
"I''m a breeder''s wife!"
"No one has to know about this!"
"Our relationship is an embarrassment to everyone!" she said crying.
.....
.....
.....
.....
AAAAAAHHH!!!!
Panic threw me out of my sleep with a scream.
I was back in the old school abandoned in the middle of the night.
Still agitated I quickly checked my chest, it was large, yes, but to my normal size. I was standing on my own again. I could jump and move. I breathed a sigh of relief that it was all just a nightmare.
On the other side of the room was the mermaid, frightened to see how I had been charmed by her. She surely didn''t expect me to be able to resist, more or less, if I had been fully awake, it wouldn''t happen, because of my true nature.
I immediately remembered everything I had just experienced in my dream. The way everyone treated me made me angry. But not as much as the fact that this girl had used Nanami to alter my precious memories of her, tainting her with that twisted and cruel version. How, even though it was a lie, she used my daughter to ignore me completely without giving me a chance to say goodbye to her. Although I was glad to see them once again despite the short time. Her insult to me was immeasurable! One that would be paid with a quick death if the circumstances were different.
"YOU THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY TO USE NANAMI TO INSULT ME?"
"YOU THINK IT''S FUNNY TO TWIST THE SACRED MEMORIES OF HER!"
"ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?"
Avalon came out of the ground, according to my command.
"Stop! Wait!"
"That wasn''t my intention!"
"I just wanted you to get a better rest!"
I was so angry, that despite the weight and the pain, I lifted the giant sword with one hand.
"AAAHH!!!!"
What a blow I had Discharged against the damned mermaid.
But her screams of pain were not enough for me. It wasn''t enough pain yet.
I took her arm and pulled the top half of her. Leaving behind the part of the fish that belonged to the girl that was still stuck with Avalon. I pulled out my knife and cut off both of her arms as well. It wasn''t a fair price, but I couldn''t charge her more for now either.
"It hurts!"
"It hurts so much"
"Please stop!"
"I''m sorry!"
"It hurts!"
"AAAHHHHHH!!!!"
"Stop complaining!"
"This is not enough to kill you yet"
"By tomorrow you will probably have healed all your wounds"
"...."
"But I''m going to make sure your wounds aren''t healed by then"
"The night is very young and I want to have fun as only I can have fun"
I took the battery out of the car and brought it along with the cables to charge it.
"Before I wanted to interrogate you, now I just want to make you suffer"
"You made me go through a nightmare in my dream"
"I''m going to put you through a nightmare in real life"
Horrible sounds accompanied the citizens of London that night. And by the time daylight came I had not managed to make the mermaid talk, but that was no longer my plan. Anyway, I had more ways to make her talk even if she didn''t want to. So I went back to Jaco to join the others, with a quarter siren in a bag in the luggage compartment
Ch124: Bay Wach
Bay Wach
Jac¨®, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
**********************
Tamamo POV
**********************
Cesar has just left to try to meet these relatives who in theory should be able to steal the siren from these monster hunters. The rest of us were still in the hotel suite. Adelis was sitting on the bed quite shocked by what Cesar said, she could barely contain her nerves during the phone call asking for help. Lisa was next to her giving her a cup of tea for the nerves, even though she was trying to hide it, she was also worried about the situation. The twins were on the balcony watching the town and the beach carefully, they were probably thinking about what to do with the task their father had found for them. Momo on the other hand was checking a couple of pieces that were still in the suitcase where the armor that Cesar asked for was.
"Do you think Cesar is going to be okay?"
"Don''t you think all this will affect him too?"
"After all, what is happening with the mermaids, Cesar is to some extent responsible for what is happening now"
"What do you think about it Tamamo?" the angel asked me.
"Actually, I think it''s a relief"
"Since he himself feels responsible for what is happening, he will do his best to try to get the best possible result"
"He is the last person who would want to be watching this"
"I don''t know what happened in the war against the Dragons, but I am sure that if he had known that something like this would happen he would have avoided it completely"
"...."
"Who knows, maybe it will even help him sleep better by giving him some peace to the war inside his mind"
"Although Cesar and I fought against the dragons that doesn''t mean that we were the only ones fighting against everything"
"If I remember correctly, the headquarters of the Sirens, the lower guard room was assaulted by the another company."
"They suffered heavy casualties, but the Great Field General managed to finish off their leader after losing his son in the battle"
"In theory after that they never again had a competent chain of command"
"They dedicated themselves only to guerrilla tactics wherever there was water"
"Unfortunately it was shortly before he died in the battle of the Celestial forge"
"We do not know what really happened there" Said the demon in a serious tone looking out the window.
"Do you think everything is going to be okay?"
"Do you really think he will be able to save Maria?" Adelis asked, still nervous.
We three superior races turned to look at the frightened mother at the same time.
"He has come back from the dead twice for her" Said the angel.
"Didn''t he fight the whole continental war just to keep her safe?" I said , the goddess
"This morning he so violently abused a superior angel, it was so cool to see" said proudly the demon.
Adelis looked at us surprised by what we had just said, it seemed that her mind could not think about what she had just been told, but after a while she was relieved, remembering that indeed, Cesar had already done all those incredible things to keep Maria safe. How could he leave something like this without repercussions for those responsible.
"Do you really think it''s a good idea to hit Stella like that?"
"Won''t that affect her in the future?" asked Okasan again.
"In truth, she deserved it"
"She really had to tell Cesar that a piece of Atlantis was still on earth"
"If Cesar had known that, he would have corrected the mistake immediately"
"The bitch is lucky to be pretty enough to Caesar''s eyes"
"The news would have been given to her by a man and right now we would have her head in the microwave over there"
"...."
"I''m sure the bitch is being greeted right now as a war hero for having faced Darling''s fury and still having all her limbs intact" Lisa said, clearly showing her anger at the situation.
"Hey, don''t you think you''re going a little overboard?"
"Stella is an important person for the angels, isn''t she?"
"Do you really think Stella has the job because of how competent she is?"
"Stella got the job because she looks pretty and can take a beating without complaining"
"She was chosen for her position for the sole reason that she would have to talk to Cesar directly representing the angels"
"The person who was originally in her position was her sister"
"She once spoke ill against Cesar and since then she has not fly for fear of losing her wings again"
"Stella was handpicked by THE BOSS for the sole purpose that if she has a pretty appearance maybe Cesar wouldn''t kill her on the spot by giving him some news like the mermaids were still alive after so many years"
"And unfortunately it seems to have worked"Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"And how do you know that?"
"What does a demon know about how angels work?" asked the Fairy.
"Because I am a fallen angel!"
"And my position was much more important than Stella''s to begin with!"
"And besides he!..."
"...."
"...."
"I better not go on, I have to try to behave myself today"
"I don''t want Cesar to get mad at me"
"Not today he is already angry" Surprisingly Lisa stopped dead in her tracks before starting another of her usual mental breakdowns .
What I couldn''t tell was whether she stopped out of consideration, love for him, or fear of what he might do now that he was angry. What is Lisa keeping about Cesar that she doesn''t want to tell? It looked like she was going to say something important.
"We have not seen any suspicious movements in the surrounding area"
"But the surveillance systems in this town leave a lot to be desired"
"We know there are plenty of security cameras everywhere, but very few of them are connected to the internet"
"Because we are close to a national park, cellular coverage is only in the central areas"
"The police communicate mainly by short frequency radio so we can only pick up a couple of their communications"
"They only report where they are and if they need help, they don''t make full reports so we don''t know what they are actually doing" said my daughters.
"Well, in a way, this is what your father was warning you might happen"
"He had already seen it coming" I reminded then, trying to further emphasize the lesson now learned.
"Costa Rica not is a pioneer in terms of technology" Said Adelis, though without knowing what for.
"The way things are right now it is impossible to react in time in case the sirens attack someone else"
"As Papa said, if one plan doesn''t work we should try to come up with a different one based on what we have learned."
"If we can''t react in time it would be best to be close to the events when they are going to happen"
"I have created a list of important people who are currently in Jaco on vacation"
"A list of possible targets that the mermaids might want to control."
"...."
"Papa said that living beings are prone to fall under the control of the mermaids, so letting either mother Tamamo or mother Lisa take care of them would be a danger of them falling under their control."
"I have to protect my mothers!"
"Since we are androids, we are not alive, we can take care of fighting against the mermaids without falling under their control!"
"Mom Lisa because of her herratic behavior is better to stay in this place and the protect others"
"Mom Tamamo on the other hand is an expert in acting and socializing, besides being a Goddess she probably has the highest magical defense of all here."
"Mom, I would like you to keep a close eye on who I think is most likely to be the next target of the sirens." Charlotte said, as her sister returned to the balcony to continue watching.
"Do you want me to watch someone closely?"
"And who is it?"
"Yoshida Shigeru"
"His father , Mr. Yoshida, senator of Japan, a very important and influential person regarding the country''s security decisions"
"He is one of the people Adelis meets most often to negotiate Japan''s entry into the Alliance"
"He came with his family because his previous vacation was cancelled due to the Ueno Dam and the media coverage it had received"
"Mr. Yoshida is here!?" Adelis asks
"He is on vacation, but his wife is sick with an allergy and right now they are both in the capital visiting the best hospital in the country"
"His son Shigeru decided to stay, at least according to the hotel records, so he must still be around"
"...."
"From what I have researched about Shigeru, it seems that he is trying to get a girlfriend by trying to talk to several girls he has met"
"But Shigeru can''t speak Spanish and his English grades are terrible"
"He doesn''t know how to communicate with almost anyone but he still keeps trying according to his social networks"
"I think I know where this is headed" Said Tifa.
"Since mom is Japanese, it is very likely that Shigeru will be quite interested in her, mainly because she would be the only one he could speak Japanese with"
"Thus allowing you to keep a close eye on him without him suspecting it"
"...."
"But it is forbidden to cheat on Papa!"
"This is only as a precaution against the sirens..."
"We don''t want any mother to leave daddy!"
"...."
Both Charlotte and Kazumi looked at me with concern, despite their monotonous tone of voice, when they spoke this last part. They really didn''t want to go through with it, but they also seemed to be willing to help defeat this mystery enemy that appeared out of nowhere.
"Don''t worry, your mother loves your father with all her heart" I said hugging them both.
"After all, he was the one who rescued me and made me meet you two."
"I am forever in your father''s debt"
"Besides, I can''t fool him even if I wanted to"
"I am his slave, the slave collar will not let me"
"Okay, we believe you Mama"
"I''ll keep an eye on things from here because it has a good view and it''s easy to fly anywhere in this town"
"If you need help just give me a signal, either I throw something into the sky or a camera"
"...."
"Dad is very concerned about the current situation"
"The fact that he has let us participate in the combat directly means that this is an abnormal situation even for him"
"...."
"Besides, we want everything to stay the same when we return home and still be a happy family."
"My girls!" I said with watery eyes.
"Calm down! I''m here too!"
"I won''t let anyone harm my love''s family no matter what!"
"I will take everyone who thinks of hurting us to the bottom of hell myself!" Said Lisa also hugging both of them.
"I already know I am not strong!"
"BUT I''m also going to help to solve this!"
"Leave all your combat gear to me and I''ll have it ready for you when you need it" said the angel also patting their heads.
After that my daughters gave me a lot of information about Shigeru, details of subjects he liked as well as his preferences. We created a little fake story and then when we saw him on the beach from our hotel I set to work. I just had to keep an eye on him, I only plan to like him enough to manipulate him, but as soon as this is over I will cut him off immediately. Then I will shake off this horrible experience by taking Darling in my arms and lifting him up like a doll and hugging him until I get bored.
Ch125: Lucky Bastard
Lucky Bastard
Jac¨® Beach, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
***************
Bastard POV
***************
Damn, just my luck. That was the fourth girl that turned me down today. Can''t anybody speak Japanese in this damn place? It''s one of the most important languages in the world! How do they want me to speak Spanish? They are the ones who look for tourists, they are the ones who should speak several languages instead. I had more luck with the girls who speak English but I think my way of speaking didn''t make me understood well. Damn it, why did my father have to bring us here? Couldn''t we just go to Okinawa like every year? I didn''t know he was coming back, but I had to take advantage of this time that I''m alone, I need to get a girl so I can go back and tell my friends about it.
I looked back to the beach again looking for my next target. A group of girls tanning, they are redheads, probably from Europe, they are a 5/10 unlikely to want to talk to me. Over there by the sea there is another girl, brown hair, tanned, has a surfboard, speaks Spanish, probably national, 4/10, won''t pay attention to me. I saw a girl alone walking on the beach, blonde, looks American, she''s a beauty, 8/10, worth a try Oh no! her boyfriend showed up, never mind I''ll take my chances. Don''t you expect him to just split a coconut with his hands? He could do the same to my head! no thanks. Shit, I already checked my main hunting area, I''m going to have to look further away.
I went back to the main road, the one that goes along the town and the beach. I kept checking my options. Girls like to frequent places where they sell sweet things, so I approached one of these places pretending to be interested in what they were selling there. The girls were also mostly tourist, most of them with men around them as well. I was almost to the counter when I saw that they actually sold ice cream. Shit if I didn''t buy some their boyfriends would realize I was here for their girls. What ice cream has a name I can pronounce? Chocolate is said the same everywhere, isn''t it? that''s the one! I was already next to the counter when I heard something near me.
"¤Ï¤¤¡¢¤ªŠ—¤µ¤ó¡¢Á˽â¤Ç¤¹"
"ͨԒ¤¬½K¤ï¤Ã¤¿¤é¡¢»Ïñ¤òËͤê¤Þ¤¹"
"¤¢¤ì¤¬Á¼¤±¤ì¤Ð¡¢¤È¤Æ¤â¥ê¥Ã¥Á¤ÊšÝ·Ö"
(Yes, sister, I got it.)
(I will send you the images when I finish the call.)
(Yes, that''s good, it''s very tasty.)
It was my native language! It was Japanese! And it was coming from a girl! I turned to see the source of such a beautiful sound. The sight was dazzling, a girl a little smaller than me, white skin, straight black hair, her body was a little flat but slender, she also seemed to be much younger than me. She was completely my type, 10/10, I had to take a chance, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I left the line and walked towards her, trying to look my best. Although I was confident in my appearance, I had to make the most of it. I''m on my school''s swim team, but I''ve still taken good care of my body. Several girls have asked me out, but none of them compare to the trophy of dating a girl on a vacation abroad. If I get to date this beauty I will be the envy of my swimming buddies. Besides, if anything happened she wouldn''t be able to find me easily enough to take care of the child. It was a foolproof plan, all I had to do was make her mine.
She was near the wall, she had finished talking on the phone, it was my time to attack. I moved my hand and hit the wall surrounding the girl. She stood still in her place, scared but not saying anything, our eyes met, we could feel our respect for each other, her scent was like that of cherry blossoms, a sweet delicacy that delighted my heart. She seemed nervous but willing to let me continue even more, I was in control. But only for a short time because my soul was uncontrolled by the desire of kissing her right away even without knowing her. Contradictory I know, but love itself is a contradiction.
I had to continue further, I couldn''t stop here, but decided to pity her and talk to her instead for now. But what would she like me to tell her? She''s younger than me, maybe our tastes are different, what''s in fashion now? Now that I think about it, that girl I used to date used to talk to me a lot about this new video game, she liked the main character a lot because he looked like me. It seemed like all the girls liked it because they were talking about it everywhere. If I''m going to talk about it, he''ll like it for sure!
"Are you a part of the phantom thieves? Because you just stole my heart" I said sounding as cool and manly as possible, for I had regained the confidence to be back playing on familiar ground.
The girl kept staring at me, looking like she didn''t know what to do. No doubt she had left a good impression because her mouth was wide open. I''m sure she doesn''t expect a guy like me to know about "niche" things like she surely is. On her face was the clear look of doubt, she didn''t know what to say to my prayer, she was thinking carefully what to say pretending that her heart wasn''t racing at my advance.
"Do you also speak Japanese?"
"What a surprise! I thought there was no one here who could also speak it!"
"It''s so far from home!" She said ingeniously and sneakily.
That was it, she answered me politely, now she would feel obliged to listen to me and pay attention to what I said.
"Of course I am!"
"I''m from there too!"
"My name is Yoshida Shigeru"
"My father is the Senator of Japan, I''m sure you''ve heard of him"
"We are on vacation right now"
"And may I know the name of the beauty in front of me?"
I said to impregnate her with my great background, but giving a guide for her to answer what I wanted to know about her.
"My name is..."
"My name is Tamamo"
"I came here for work, I''m on a photo tour for a fashion magazine"
"The producer wants me to be on the cover but although I''m glad I''m also a little nervous, I want to do my modeling job well."
Jackpot!
This was my biggest prey so far. She was the most important target I had ever met. She had to be mine! And to my good fortune, she herself readily responded for me to continue talking to her. She wants me to go further, and I as a gentleman do not refuse the advances of a lady. She wants me to praise her and comfort her about her problem. She is looking for a strong pair of arms to give her the support she needs. She needs me, she wants to keep hearing my voice greedily.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"Oh come on, don''t say that"
"How could an angelic goddess do it with your face something wrong"
"It''s impossible for a work of art like you to think that it''s made with the best painters that could be found, no, search at this world."
"A beauty like you is a shooting comet that I am glad to have seen in all my life"
"No doubt that the two of us meeting in a place so far from home but meeting each other is not a coincidence"
"It is someone''s plan for us to be together"
"The all-seeing goddesses of love have pulled the strings and scheduled our reunion"
"I will be the protective guardian of such a treasured smile"
I said flaunting my best poet skills with which I was born. The same words with which several girls had fallen for me. It was impossible now that she could get out of my charm, the only thing she had to do was to let herself be carried away by her desires and accompany me. If all went well tonight I would make her mine. Tonight she would be another trophy for my record. The one-night adventure abroad that every boy dreams of fulfilling in his life, was at my hand''s reach. and with a model no more and no less!
"Wow, but what an "artistic" way of expressing yourself you have ...."
"You know, ...."
"Don''t you wish we could both get some ice cream and walk around and talk some more?" She said in her shy voice, but with a burning desire to continue with me.
"But of course!"
"I''ll get something right away"
"How about some ice cream to share?"
"I know it''s a common way in this place to get to know each other better." I said sure of my lie, because she had no way of knowing that I just made it up.
"Two ice creams are better!"
"I like more traditional things like at home" She said firmly, it was clearly a clue she was giving me, she liked traditional Japanese things, was what she really meant.
I went to the counter and tried to order ice cream. As usual none of the locals can speak Japanese, but what''s wrong with these people? They don''t know how important it is for me to impress this girl! In the end I resigned myself and started to speak in English but they couldn''t understand her either. How does this place keep going? Almost all their customers are foreigners! They speak English too. I had no choice but to ask to see if they could give me what I wanted, in the end they did it and gave me the two ice creams I needed. I just hope this girl, Tamamo, didn''t notice.
After handing her her ice cream we both started to walk along the street without any particular place, it was already close to 3 o''clock in the afternoon. If I wanted to go out with her tonight I had to speed up my progress even more. But the girl was looking at the sea constantly and not at me. She seemed to be quite interested in going for a swim. All this time she had gone into her sexy bikini, but it was completely dry, she still hadn''t gone for a swim. I thought maybe she was waiting for a little push from a man to cheer her up.
"Do you like swimming at the beach?"
"Wouldn''t you like to go with me to enjoy this beach together?" I said taking her by surprise by the hand.
"!!!!"
"No need"
"I don''t like sand. It''s coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere"
"...."
"Better tell me about yourself"
"That''s what you wanted after all, isn''t it?"
She said quickly withdrawing her hand, it seems that her mind had not yet fully opened to me, despite what her heart was saying.
"Excellent!"
"That''s a point I wanted to get to"
"We should get to know each other better after all"
"...."
"You know, I belong to my school''s swimming club."
"This year I''m preparing to participate in the National Olympics."
"My dream is to make it to the international Olympic games, the big ones, the important ones"
"Maybe I will win the precious gold medal"
"Who knows, maybe I will dedicate the triumph to you, on international television"
"So madly in love with you"
"Oh come on"
"You can''t do that, I''m sure your girlfriend will be mad about it."
And here I was faced with the classic trick question that every woman asks at some point in the beginning of a relationship. She was clearly asking if I was available to her. I had to make it clear that I was completely available to her, but not to go so far as to say that other girls ignore me, otherwise she will see it as a red flag. The correct answer was to indicate that I already had a girlfriend, which was not a lie in itself, but that I had recently ended up with her, making her see that my value was high in the eyes of other girls.
"Don''t Worry"
"She is no longer a problem"
"I broke up with her after I realized the real reason she was with me"
"You know the excuse she gave"
"She said she was a lesbian in reality"
"You know how low you have to go to say that to someone"
"I thought we were right for each other, but it looks like I was the only one who saw it that way"
"...."
"...."
"Oh Dear"
"...."
"...."
"I can''t believe why she would do something like that"
"I''m sure she saw what you were really like and didn''t think she was worthy of you"
"That''s why she ran away from you"
She said clearly feigning surprise, but I''m sure that inside she was glad to hear this, for now she knew that I was free for her and that I was a precious good.
We continued walking a little more until we reached almost to the end where the beach met a river and after that a difficult rock to continue to the next beach. But then something surprising happened. There was a girl on one of the rocks by the sea, she was a girl, she looked like my companion in age, but she seemed to be a national from here, I turned to look at her. But Tamamo stopped dead in his tracks and stopped walking as soon as she noticed her.
"Maria?"
It looked like my trophy knew her, it was a friend she made here? This should be my biggest lucky day, if I played all my cards wisely I could make a threesome with them, a perfect match, fame and glory would be mine. I walked a little further to talk to her, for even though she was a native of here, if she knew Tamamo she could surely speak Japanese too, someone had finally deigned to learn the right things. I had to introduce her and impregnate her well. It was hard but it was worth it. It was my destiny, this would be my greatest triumph, and these girls would be the ones to give it to me.
"Stop!"
"Stay away from her!"
"She is a danger!"
???
She said something?
But I didn''t have time to think it through when I heard something fly towards me. A moment later something landed near me. My eyes must have been deceiving me, for in front of me I saw a third girl, but this one was very different from anything I had ever seen. She was built, she seemed to be made of metal, or at least that''s what the marks on her body suggested, a body that had a backpack implanted on her back, she had wings and emitted heat, was it for flying?
"Kazumi!"
"This is the second time Maria has attacked today"
"Lisa managed to get her away from Adelis in time"
"I followed her here, it looks like she was trying to meet him right here."
I was still trying to figure out what was going on, but I felt something hit me from behind, and then everything went black.
....
....
....
When I woke up it was already dark.
I looked around in confusion trying to figure out what had happened. I was back in the bar of my hotel. Along with a lot of bottles around me. I had been rejected again? Hell, I don''t even remember how they turned me down this time. Good thing my old man isn''t here to see me. But I still felt too sober, like I hadn''t had drink anything. Since I had lost at least it was an excuse to drown my sorrows now, so I asked the bartender for another bottle of whatever.
Ch126: Unexpected Visitors
Unexpected Visitors
Jac¨®, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
***************
Adelis POV
***************
Tamamo just left to try to keep an eye on Yoshida Shigeru. She would try to approach him in a subtle way and then fake a call with Charlotte so that she would speak in Japanese and get his attention. The rest of us were left in the room. Momo was calling room service to order food. Tifa was looking out the window, curious about everything that was going on downstairs. Lisa on the other hand was quite quiet looking through what we had for pills for me.
"The British Prime Minister is leaving the country right now"
"It seems that he is leaving now even though he had paid for two more days in his hotel" Said one of my granddaughters.
"After what happened he is trying to run away to avoid a scandal that will end up in the news"
"Even if it was the sirens, I''m not going to forgive him anyway"
"He knew Maria was my daughter, I''m going to end his career later"
"This would be one less target" Said Charlotte
"Next on the list would be Austin Cordova"
"Lion Saber Industries Engineer"
"He is in the aerospace section"
"Creator of the missile..."
"AIM-140 Hawkeye"
"I supervised the project myself"
"Many complained about the cost of the project, but without it our aircraft had no chance to shoot down their faster interceptors"
"Perhaps he could create a weapon that the mermaids could use to their advantage" suggested Kazumi.
"Unlikely, he is from the United States"
"Son of an engineering couple who worked for the same company"
"Has never known poverty"
"Doesn''t know how to create new weapons with low resources or low technology"
"It''s like asking an F1 driver to help you on the farm using a hoe"
"I''d be more concerned with some kind of South American guerrilla fighter"
"They are much more ingenious"
"Hecto de Leon Gonzales, millionaire Mexican businessman, owner of the football team Leon Azul, I think it is very likely that he has connections with drug gangs."
"He is visiting the country with several family members"
"If he is indeed one of the leaders of an organized crime gang he will have high security and if he falls under their control there is little he can do, his own associates will kill him"
"He is no a useful asset either"
"Logan Anderson, Ex-Colonel of the Canadian Army"
"Formed a group of mercenaries known as the Red Viper.
"Has extensive military experience in the Continental War"
"He knows how to train troops and lead them"
"His main jobs were escorting Alliance VIPs and delivering supplies in difficult conditions"
"He is in the country enjoying his earnings"
"Yes, I also know him, but I don''t know."
"He has a good profile, but I don''t know if he has anything to take advantage of for the sirens"
"But what Cesar said and from what we have seen, they would like to have people with great influence in governments or still in the army."
*TOC TOC*
"Room service"
"I brought the food you asked for"Said a young man on the other side of the door.
"It''s fine"
"You can leave it there at the door, I''ll pick it up shortly" I said, remembering what Cesar asked me to do.
"You don''t have to worry Mrs. Adelis, I''ll leave it inside the room."
"It''s no trouble at all"
"It''s just a moment"
When she heard this, Lisa immediately stopped what she was doing and ran near the door, trying to make as little sound as possible. She put her hand over my mouth so I wouldn''t speak this time.
"We are having sex"
"We don''t want a men to interrupt us in the best part"
"Leave the food cart there" Lisa said without hesitation.
....
"Sorry, I''m so sorry"
"...."
"But it''s important, it''s hotel policy"
"I''m going to use my key to get in."
Hearing this Lisa took out one of her rare pistols and opened the door of the room completely herself . She pointed it at the bellboy''s head and with her other hand she grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up as if he was a toy.
"All right motherfucker"
"What are you planning to do, come on"
"You like to bother the guests?"
"Any sins to commit?"
"You''re damn lucky I''m busy with more important tasks right now"
"But if you keep going I can make an exception and take you to hell real quick, if that''s what you''re looking for"
"Lisa, stop!"
"We don''t really know what he wanted to do!"
"Maybe it wasn''t anything bad!" I said trying to calm the demon.
"Bullshit!"
"This piece of shit has the look of a sinner."
"Greed"
"Extortion, a person committed suicide because of this bastard"
"Typical of a fucking man"
"He probably wanted to take pictures to get money"
"Ok, fine! "
"But you can''t kill him here!"
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!"It''s too flashy, everyone will notice!"
"The police will be looking for us"
"You don''t want to bother Cesar, do you?"
"At least let him go for today"
"Agreed, but there will be no second chance"
"But there will be no second chance"
"Do anything remotely like that again and I''ll hunt you down like an animal"
"I''ll skin you alive before I throw you into the eternal fire"
"Where you''ll be reunited with your buddies who planned this whole thing"
"You agree?" Lisa said, but changing her tone of voice to a lower and more horrible one, like a nightmare, while the red color of his eyes shone brightly.
She let go of the man who as soon as he came in contact with the floor ran away as fast as he could towards the elevator, Lisa chased him for a moment sounding loudly her footsteps. When he was gone she walked back and took the food cart to enter our room quietly.
"Damn it"
"This is why I hate men"
"I should kill them all"
"Come on Lisa calm down"
"There are also good men somewhere you know"
"!!!"
"Hey! That ice cream is mine, I ordered it for me!" Said Momo closing the door after the demon passed through.
I went to the food cart and took the lasagna. Although I wasn''t hungry because of my nerves, I still had to eat, since the last time I had eaten had been the day before. The twins each had a large sanwiche, although they didn''t need to eat they loved to do it, especially with everyone else. The little girl flew over and began to eat the fruit pieces that were in the salad.
"You''re responsible for that bastard coming"
"I''m just taking something as payment for forgiving him"
"You can have the mango cake instead of me."
"Also you should eat more if you want to believe in the right areas that Darling likes the most"
"I''ve been meaning to ask this for a while but"
"Why do they all seem to be romantically related to Elise?"
"It doesn''t make any sense"
"They are all the same sex, they can''t produce offspring of any species" Said the fairy both surprised, annoyed and confused.
"What, you still don''t know?"
"Wait, what''s that?"
"!!!"
Momo was talking but stopped in the middle of her conversation, raising her hand to point to a wall next to me. I watched as Liza immediately dropped her ice cream, as the Dolls stood up. Surely it must have been something bad. I turned my head as quickly as I could to also try to see what was going on that put everyone on alert.
It was my Daughter.
As if it were an apparition, I saw Mary''s face appear from the wall. It moved forward, then her body appeared and then her limbs, it was identical to how Lisa used to do it. But Maria was a normal human, it should be impossible for her to do anything even close to that. Cesar was right, the mermaids had done something horrible to her, they were responsible for what I was witnessing.
When she finished looking and her feet touched the ground she ran in my direction, I was her target.
Lisa didn''t hesitate for a second and jumped in the middle to stop her, she received a deep blow that echoed throughout the room. But in spite of the apparent pain, the demon didn''t stop, she grabbed her hand, turned her body and threw her to the other side, hitting Maria with the balcony railing. On Lisa''s face didn''t show her usual crazy face of pleasure and lust that she used to put on every time she had the chance to fight, the one I had used a few moments before. Instead there was a serious, angry, concentrated face, she wasn''t enjoying what she was doing this time, that was clear.
But even so, as if that were nothing, my daughter stood up in a macabre way, more in accordance with how the demon should act in her place. In maria''s face you couldn''t notice any emotion, she had the same serious face that androids usually have, but she didn''t even blink, or gesticulate. She looked like she wanted to attack again. Lisa was overwhelmingly faster, stepping up beside her with impunity. Her next action was so fast that it was hard for me to process the seriousness of what I had just witnessed.
She had her leg completely raised, she had already finished her attack. The demon had kicked my daughter so brutally that her beautiful head had exploded. But it was not blood that appeared, but the transappearance of water instead. The rest of her body slid backwards due to the power of the attack, she fell off the balcony. I ran right after that, but when I reached the place Lisa grabbed my arms so I wouldn''t fall behind her too. From the balcony I could see how her body was stretched against the ground near the pool. But none of the people below noticed her, because when she touched the ground she also exploded like a water balloon, getting lost among the rest when several children continued playing, innocent and ignorant of what had happened.
"MARIA!!!" I shouted with all my strength.
I felt that my body was losing its weight, the air was missing, my strength was fading, I felt as if what I was watching was some kind of movie, where I myself was only a witness of what was happening.
"I am very sorry"
"I didn''t mean to do it, but I had no choice"
"She wanted to hurt you. I had to stop her"
"I''m sorry!" The girl who was guilty of what happened tried to apologize.
"She was my daughter!"
"How could you!"
"I hat..."
"GRANDMA!"
"Saying that to mother Lisa is very dangerous"
"We have no idea how she might behave"
"Also remember what papa said, Mary right now is not a human, she is a mermaid maiden"
"She didn''t die, she probably just retired"
"Dad said it, she will be fine so we should not hesitate to defend ourselves against her"
"The possibility of her attacking again is quite high" said both Dolls at the same time.
.....
They were right, Cesar had warned me, that this was something that could happen. But even so, seeing it happen in front of my eyes was horrible and devastating. I now understood how terrifying the sirens could be, and this was just their initial attacks, but they would get worse if we let them pass. The threat that Cesar saw of them trying to take over the world became real to me as well. If they could do this to me, what could stop them from doing this to so many more people.
"!!!!"
"Maria has reappeared!"
"She is near the Quebrada Bonita river right now"
"It is on the close the beach where Tamamo and Shugeru are right now!!"
"Another 5 of the missing girls have also turned up nearby" Charlotte said.
"We must go and help her!"
"She won''t be able to do much if she has to protect him from several people"I immediately said.
"Is Tamamo the one we are talking about"
"She can definitely do it" Said the glass girl sarcastically
"We can do it!"
"One can go and take care of the group while the other goes to help Tamamo to protect the boy"
"Please give us permission"
Said both andriods at the same time, you could see how excited they both were. And even though they could just fly off the balcony, they were trying to get my permission first, trying to get the acceptance they needed, the confidence that they were doing the right thing by helping us. I could not refuse their request, one made with the intention of making things better.
"All right, please go and return carefully"
"I''ll be waiting for you back"
They saw each other, shook their heads in thanks and ran and then jumped off the balcony, and during their fall they lit their thrusters to fly. They both held hands like twins, until near their destination they separated, one going near the river, the other towards the beach. Please let nothing more serious happen.
Ch127: Restrained Anger
Restrained Anger
Jac¨®, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
I went back to the hotel where I met up with the others. The room now looked more like a makeshift base with Momo checking the Dolls equipment and the suitcases with the spare parts, Adelis was watching the TV, it was transmitting a map of the surroundings with possible locations of apparitions along with a list of targets, Lisa was by the window watching the beach with Tamamo trying to warn of the slightest sign of trouble.
When everyone came in they greeted me, but I didn''t answer them, I was very tired and wanted to finish as soon as possible. I threw the bag I was carrying on the bed, my mother curiously opened it to look at its contents, the half mermaid.
"I am so sorry!"
"Please stop, stop!"
"I can''t take it anymore!"
"Stop, I''m sorry! Stop it, stop it!"
"I don''t want to do this anymore!"
"Forgive me, I''m so sorry! I''m so sorry, I''m so sorry!"
"Stop it, stop it, stop it"
"No more, stop, stop, stop, I''m sorry, stop!" Said the panicked girl despite being quite damaged.
"Cesar!"
"Oh my God!"
"But what did you do to her!"
"This is horrible!"
"Her tail will grow back"
"More important is that you did not want to answer my questions" I said hiding the fact that I was actually so busy hurting her that I never asked her anything.
"Momo, call Stella immediately"
"I have to talk to her again"
"But what about her arms?"
*TOC TOC*
Lisa ran immediately to the door, she had her gun in her hand, opened it slowly and looked at the other side, after confirming that it was an expected visit she opened it and let Stella in. She was in her clothes this time, but again she prostrated herself on the floor in humility.
"Oh great Lord, you have requested my immediate presence and here I am answering your call"
"Please spare the innocent from your wrath"
"I don''t care about all that shit"
"In the bag over there is what''s left of the mermaid"
"Put slavery magic on her too"
"Do you plan to add her to your collection as well, sir?"
"Shall I add her along with the Fairy?"
"I will apply them both immediately" Said Stella trying to find something to make me lower my anger.
"Kazumi!"
"Quick, I want you to move the map on the TV
"I want it to show about 300 nautical miles from right here"
"Also add the map of the ocean floor"
"Focus on the Submarine mountain range"
"The mermaids have had time to hide, so it is likely that the castle is now underground"
"Immediately, Dad!"
"Is this really necessary?"
"You know what you just did with the new girl, don''t you?"
"Yes"
"If I had used the other way, I would have been able to find out immediately where they were"
"But I would also reveal my identity immediately to them"
"It is better to do this and attack them unaware"
"If I attack them now that they don''t know I exist I will find them all in one place"
"If they know I exist they will disperse as much as possible"
"Or they could invade the surface immediately to try to kill me"
"Costa Rica has no army"
"The attack force that the police have at their disposal is quite limited"
"It will be a massacre"
"It could easily destroy the country"
"My home"
"I will not let it happen"
"It''s done, great Lord" Said Stella prostrate on the floor.
"Excellent"
"All right, let''s get it over with"
"Please stop!"
"I am very sorry"
"Stop it!"
"Forgive me"
"Stop"
"I''m sorry, I''m sorry"
"You, tell me where is the place where the rest of the mermaids take refuge?"
"That is an order!"
The crying girl moved what was left of her arms, trying to point to some part of the screen, but it was impossible to tell where.
"Oh Right, I can''t wait for your arms to grow back"
"Lisa pick her up and try to figure out where it''s pointing to"
"If you can''t use your arms, use your tongue"
"That one is still complete isn''t it?"
"I know you are going to kill all the mermaids, but"
"The fact that there is still a section of Atlantis is a great threat in itself"
"How do you plan to destroy the castle by yourself?" asked Momo.
"That''s the easy part"
"The only reason I''m not doing it right now is because of the girl over there"
"The wounded mermaid?"
"Do you plan to leave her alive?"
"!!!!"
"Did you also notice?"
"She looks like she was originally human"
"It''s no coincidence"
"...."
"There could be more like her"
"I need to know"
"It seems that this is the place!"
"According to the data of the researchers of the Cocos Island Natural Reserve"
"A topographical survey probe checked this area here and it seems that there is a rather large underwater cavern"
"It has not yet been fully investigated"
"It is 450 kilometers from here, is inside the protected area"
"At 1,000 meters underwater, low sunlight present"
"Low ship traffic"
"High shark activity"
"Okay"
"Someone call Christopher and tell him to give me the speedboat"
"Momo how much autonomy does this armor have?"
"The battery is designed to last for the life of the armor"
"In case of damage an emergency battery should last for a week"
"The armor is capable of electrolysis with the water around it, making it possible to breathe without problems as long as you have batteries"
"No energy and oxygen should last you 12 hours"
This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there."Composed with resistant materials with angelic technology and magic"
"No depth limit and helps the user to endure the descent"
"You could go to the deepest place in the earth''s ocean without any problem"
"But it requires you to perform decompression when ascending"
"The armor also has an injectable serum reserve"
"It will keep you hydrated for quite some time"
"You should be able to last about 5 days underwater, the only limitation is hunger"
"I don''t think you can eat underwater with the mask on"
"Wow it''s good!"
"It''s a submarine in human form"
"What''s there to do damage?"
"Amphibious assault rifle, shoots smoothly above or below water, red mags have normal 5.56 ammunition for surface, blue mags for underwater rounds"
"For Secondary a nail shotgun, only effective underwater"
"In the joints of the wrists there are laser daggers, 40 centimeters long"
"As for your favorite, mobility, it has two modes"
"Walking, the armor will behave trying to simulate being in an environment without liquid, it should be similar to normal walking"
"And combat mode, it uses special thrusters to operate underwater, it is very similar performance to an Arksuit in flight so I reconfigured it to have the same controls"
"Other than that it is your choice if you want to carry something else"
"So you plan to raid a huge castle full of enemies and fight each one of them to see if any of them could be a human transformed into a mermaid?" Said Tamamo this time.
"I don''t think there are many"
"Most likely that girl over there is the only one so far by how desperate they are to want her back."
"But the possibility still exists"
"I have to check however small the probability"
"It''s my responsibility as the Last Emperor of Atlantis."
"Wait a minute!"
"If the castle is underwater?"
"What about the kidnapped girls!"
"What about Maria!"
"They''re going to drown!"
"The angles should be able to take care of rescuing them"
"Excuse me!?" Stella said in surprise.
!!!!
"Lisa! the stake! NOW!"
Lisa complied immediately and gave me what I asked for.
I ran to the angel still prostrate on the floor and drove the metal stake into her back. I grabbed her arm and pushed her to move her towards the bath tub so as not to stain the place with blood, then I threw her inside and drove the same stake into her in a different place. The angel tried to endure it but I could still hear her grunts of pain.
"Are you going to tell me that you didn''t have anything planned?"
"What did you think was going to happen when I killed the mermaids?"
"Is it going to me also to pick each one up from the sea?"
"I''m not your fucking mother, I don''t clean up your shit!"
"You didn''t even think to help!?"
"You wanted Maria to die drowned lost in the ocean!!!"
"Are you crazy!?" I claimed to the bastard, staking her with more and more stakes.
"I will mobilize the solar system fleet!"
"I will have a ship assigned to rescue every girl!"
"I will do so immediately!"
"My fault has been a disgrace to the angels, but if you tell me to take a little pity on me I will act immediately!"
I took the heavy telephone from the room and this time I used it to hit the angel hard on the head several times.
"I don''t care how much your body hurts"
"CALL NOW!!!"
"I want to see them in position right now!"
"I want to see the information on where everyone is!"
"I want to see where Maria is!"
"Cesar!"
"Calm down!"
"You will kill her!"
"I''m holding back!"
"I want to have killed her before!"
"And you''d better have learned something today, because there won''t be a next time!"
"Do we understand each other right?"
"Completely, Great Lord of the skies"
"Lisa, you wanted to hurt her, didn''t you?"
"Keep nailing her with these until she finishes ordering the rest of them"
"Go ahead, take it out on her all you want, make her a good example for others about the consequences of disappointing me"
"It is an order"
"Immediately"
"It will be at least a 3 hour minimum journey"
"The U.S. Navy usually patrols the area looking for drug boats"
"If they see a girl driving a speedboat this far offshore they will try to have me"
"Charlotte, can you try to keep them from spotting me?"
"Something like a Jammer or shield me from their radar?"
"I can do it but first I need to identify which boat you will use"
"No problem, I''ll let you know when I''m on it"
"...."
"...."
"Tamamo...."
"If something happens and I don''t come back...."
"Please try to find the Codex and protect it."
"Don''t let anyone get it...."
"Never"
"...."
"Please"
"...."
"Cesar!?" Tamamo asked frightened.
"Don''t misunderstand me"
"I will not let them finish me off"
"...."
"But it''s also good that if something should happen it''s better to have a backup plan"
"...."
"You are the best option I have to keep the Codex safe"
"...."
"Please promise me..."
"Your wish is my command, my beloved husband."
"I swear that I will protect the Codex in case of extreme necessity."
"But do not expect me to stand idly by and watch as I lose my beloved husband to the hands of our enemies."
"I impatiently await your promised triumphal return until the end of time."
"Please come home, come back to your family."
Said the goddess with a rather serious and proud tone, a way of behaving that she does not often show but that I was getting used to seeing and loving her too.
"Cesar!"
"I know you are doing this to rescue Maria."
"But please be very careful"
"Don''t do anything super crazy"
"I want to see you both back"
"I can''t bear to lose anyone else again"
"Please protect yourself, please come back safely" Said my mother, still nervous and scared.
"I have already told you that I am just going to destroy the sirens once and for all."
"They are still decimated and gathered in one place, one under my hand to their disgrace"
"Besides, don''t think that I am too weak to be defeated by them"
"None of you have yet to see me fight for real, I assure you"
"I am much more capable than you think"
"When I get back we are all going to go to the beach before we head back"
"What do you say?"
"Well, after coming all the way out here it would be a waste not to visit all together and spend some time having fun"
"I''m sure our daughters want to experience it too"
"I look forward to it" Said Tamamo.
"Why do big people like to visit that place so much?"
"Isn''t it dangerous?"
"I don''t think you have a bathing suit for your body but I think I can cut the extra bathing suit that came in the case to make it a one-piece suit."
"I on the other hand don''t think I could do much with my appearance to go too" Said Momo a little sad.
"Wait, you don''t think we''re going to go to that place full of tourists, do you?"
"This family is the number one when it comes to tourism"
"We accept nothing less than a private beach without paying for it"
"My father didn''t spend his whole life looking for the best places for nothing"
"I know a hundred places close enough where only the most adventurous connoisseurs would go"
"You might as well go if it''s just us, right?"
"To be able to see Cesar in a bathing suit and on the beach?"
"This must be my lucky day!"
"I''m going to make him see my beauty above all others!" Lisa said excitedly.
"And you are forbidden to go naked to the beach!"
"Grrr"
After I finished saying goodbye to everyone I took the siren again and put it back in the bag, as it would surely help me in one way or another. At the hotel I ordered some food to take with me for the long trip. I ran into another of Dago''s sons who came with a car to deliver the speedboat to me, it was quite "rudimentary" as it was clearly handmade, but it was clear that it had been designed for speed even over safety. It also had several navigational instruments, GPS, radio. Charlotte used my phone to be able to identify the boat and try to prevent me from appearing on satellites, but short-range radar would be another problem. But I''m not worried about running into the police or the US Navy, they are not a real threat here.
Ch128: Kid Old Adventure
Kid Old Adventure
Marine Protected Reserve , Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica
Sailing at full speed through the sea I go. My destination, the waters near Cocos Island, an island that was once a den of pirates and treasures. The first of them was the corsair Edward Davis who after attacking a Spanish fortress went to this island to hide part of his treasure. Captain Bennett Graham was the second, after attacking a Spanish fleet. And the most famous of all, the legend of the Treasure of Lima, when the Spaniards attacked the Inca population in Peru they took all the gold, silver, jewelry, relics and a statue of the Virgin Mary made of solid gold. In the ship Mary Dear where the riches travel, its captain William Thompson revealed against the Spaniards and arrived to this island to also hide his treasure, but the curse of the Inca gold reached them and a good part of his crew died, the rest was found by the Spaniards who also had no mercy on them. A supposed survivor of the crew, one John Keating, claimed to have recovered part of the treasure and on his deathbed shared the treasure map. It sounds like a legends, but it is proven that all of them really happened, Cocos Island in a true pirate treasure island. But despite the countless adventurers that the island''s treasures have called, nothing has ever been found. It is now a National Park protected by Costa Rica to prevent the island from becoming the next Port Royal. And despite its long history, the island is best known for another story, for it is in this region where the Jurassic Park is also supposed to be located, the place where the children''s fantasy of seeing dinosaurs reached the movie theaters.
And that''s where I would go, this time bringing a story of fantasy and mermaids to add at the history of this curious island. I had never in my life thought of coming to this island myself, but here I was on my way. It was impossible to believe that a part of Atlantis still existed, let alone in a place so close to my home. Maybe all those pirate stories were related to the mermaids, probably they were the ones who brought the pirates in the first place. For the relics of the Inca empire are mostly unknown, maybe some of what was stolen had magical properties, something that was useful to them. It actually makes sense that they are around here, as being a protected area means that human activity is quite reduced, a good thing for those who don''t want to be found.
It was around noon when the motorboat engine stopped for a moment to pause for lunch, as this was my last chance to do so until I surfaced again, and I didn''t know when that would be. The food? two hamburger combos with fries, simple to carry and easy to eat. But despite my desire to enjoy it, I didn''t feel comfortable, on the other side of the boat is the mermaid, her limbs have grown back, they didn''t even leave a mark. She is watching me suspiciously, very aware of my movements, even though I am only eating, every time I move my hand away to take my drink, she moves her arms to cover her face. She is clearly afraid I will hurt her again. Remembering that she hadn''t eaten anything and that when I cut off her mermaid tail she lost her second stomach, she must be starving. I gave her the other set of food, the one I was saving for the return trip. She looked at it, but didn''t touch it, I''m sure she was thinking it was a trap of mine again to make her suffer. I decided to save myself any more trouble and ordered her to eat, the quickest and simplest way to get her to do it, whether she liked it or not.
"I will not tell you anything about my partners!"
"I will not betray them!"
"You can kill me if you want, it will be useless to you!" she said as she now ate hurriedly, seeming to like it now.
"!!!"
"What a brave girl!"
"Too bad that doesn''t matter now, you know perfectly well that you can''t hide anything from me now."
"But you can relax, if I wanted you dead I would have done it a long time ago."
"A dead mermaid is something I''d always love to see"
"You''re of no use to me anymore really, I only brought you here to show you a couple of things you need to know"
"How dare you turn me into a slave!"
"Me, Levia the descendant of Leviathan!"
"Your actions will not go unpunished!"
"Leviathan!?"
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report."HA HA HA HA HA!"
"Your descendant of Leviathan!?"
"What a load of crap!"
"HA HA HA HA HA, Levia HAHAHA!"
"I didn''t know mermaids ate clowns!"
"You dare to mock the great Leviathan!"
"His punishment will fall upon you!"
"I killed Leviathan!"
"He died by my hands, impaled by the same big throne of ice that he himself built"
"With his death the Atlantis rivers were poisoned, killing the rest of the mermaids under his command"
"The remaining mermaids had to fight on land, where they were easily destroyed"
"God then served Leviathan''s flesh for all in Heaven"
"He never had real offspring, like the rest of the True Dragons"
"Leviathan paid for his sovereignty a long time ago"
"You never noticed his absence?"
"Leviatan dead?"
"No way!"
"Father is still looking for a way to open his chamber"
"Why would he do it if it wasn''t for Leviathan?"
"And if Leviathan is alive, why is he letting you live under the ocean?"
"Did he lose his territory in the sky?"
"Did he fall by mistake from Atlantis?"
"Why aren''t the mermaids living in the sky right now?"
"It was because of the traitors and invaders!"
"If they had never appeared we would have inherited the earth and the sky too!"
"What do you know about the great war?" Said angrily the fish girl, oblivious to her own ignorant words.
Seeing that talking to her would get me nowhere, I restarted the engine and resumed the trip. It took a while but around two o''clock in the afternoon I finally arrived at the correct coordinates. According to the map it should be just above the mermaids cave. I checked my armor for the last time and put on the air mask, started the watch and the descent meter. I threw the mermaid into the sea and then me. It was my first time diving, so I didn''t really know what I was doing, but the mask turned on the HUD, it was the same as an airplane, with this I could easily navigate under the sea.Without wasting time I ordered Levia that she was forbidden to move away from me and guide me to the cave.
A hammerhead shark show up and started swimming close to us. Levia did nothing as her mermaid tail alone is bigger than the shark, she knew he was coming for me. But unfortunately the shark was not an idiot, when he looked at my face he realized who I was and swam away scared.
The immersion was deeper and deeper, the sunlight disappeared more and more, until the darkness that I feared so much enveloped everything. It was a horrible sensation, I could only see the black infinity, only seeing how some numbers were moving to remind me that I was moving. Levia tried to swim in another direction, but her body did not follow her command.
*CRACK*
The gauge on my arm had burst, the water pressure had destroyed it. It was to measure the depth for the divers that I "borrowed" from a store, but we were way past its maximum depth. I was frightened to see it, because it meant that without my armor the same thing might have happened to me.
By surprise, a little light reappeared in the distance. A faint blue light broke through the despair of the deep darkness. I was attracted to it, but I had to be careful, for it was not hope that this light really meant, but the presence of my prey in this hunt. Levia stopped suddenly, still far from the light. The two of us descended to touch the seabed, far away from the cave. I looked carefully trying to figure out what was really there, there were three other girls, they had golden tridents, but unlike the girl next to me they didn''t look very human, they had vaguely the shape of one, but they were much more animal than human. They must have been mermaids of much lower rank.
I asked the now traitor against her will when the sirens closed the entrance. She tried to resist and told me that whenever there was suspicion of human activity nearby, they all went inside to hide until the danger of discovery passed. This information put a smile on my face, they themselves would save me the trouble of searching for them all.
I ordered my hostage to walk over and alert the guards that she saw a human research submarine, then wait near the entrance without telling anyone until I appeared. She when she finished listening swam against her will again and did exactly what I asked her to do. A huge bell rang out over the sea, a single bang was all the alarm, in a little less than two minutes a bunch of mermaids and strange fishes were getting inside the cave. When it seemed that they were all the guards turned off the lights, entered and closed the entrance with huge stone doors. I approached the place and inspected the doors, no doubt they were of Atlantean design. I could not contain my excitement to see how easy everything was turning out to be for the first time in a long time.
I opened the doors myself without any difficulty, the guards were close to Levia, so I could approach and kill them without much difficulty, only the older mermaids could regenerate from non-fatal wounds. My companion screamed in horror when she saw the blood floating around her. I wasted no time and sealed the entrance. Under my order the doors of this place would not be opened again except for those who had my blessing, sealing with this the fate of all who were here.
Ch129: Bloody Judgment
Bloody Judgment
Ariandel Crypt, Remains of Atlantis, Costa Rica
I took his head and threw it against the corner of the wall, it took me three hits for it to break, staining the place even more crimson. The next one came with her spear, I twisted my hand around it having more grip than her, and with it, I lured her companion behind her to kill her so that I could then impale its bearer with the same spear she was still holding. The last victim was in panic watching me, terrified that no matter what she did, she would be unable to stop me, like a lamb to the slaughter she waited her turn, and her life ended with a shotgun blast to her face, spreading her head all over the hallway and becoming just another corpse among all those in the hallway.
I could hear them shouting and giving orders in the next room, trying to create a plan to stop me, but that didn''t catch my attention. I was more busy looking for the one responsible, the one who calls himself Father. He must be in one of these rooms, hiding, and trying to organize his defenses, and he was also responsible for my sister''s kidnapping. His plan must be bigger than this, he must be doing something big, something that would endanger everyone, I could not allow it, not after so many lives sacrificed in Atlantis.
Ariandel''s castle was actually a crypt, far from the cities, near the lower guards'' hall, the Atlanteans buried in it their best warriors, those who gave their lives for the welfare of Atlantis. Although it was not a castle for the nobles, it still had to be decorated with high luxuries and beautiful details for the resting place of these warriors. But none of that was present before my eyes, now it was sadder than a desolate cemetery, for it was assumed that the living now inhabited these walls, halls that were once bathed in gold were now filled with bare stone, majestic corridors full of elegance and opulence were now in ruins and rubble, the tombs of heroes had been looted. The great windows with their hundreds of colored glass panes were now gone, and the chandeliers of light crystals burned out. The only thing still standing were the trees of light, unique to the continent of Atlantis, which seemed to have stood the test of time well. And the only reshape was my hand staining the halls red with the blood of its inhabitants.
Behind me, several meters away was Levia, who could only follow me and mourn the loss of her companions that she was witnessing. More than one guard asked what she was doing, and she could only reply that she was sorry. It didn''t matter to me, if she really see the horrors they committed in the past for sure or of her own origin she would even help me. Father was trying to open a sealed room in this castle, if it has remained that way for so long it means that its contents should not be revealed. I have to know how to get to it before he does and destroys its contents. My advance is slowed again by yet another ambush, several strange fish had camouflaged themselves among the stones, they swam towards me trying to hurt me, they were not a threat, but so predictable of the mermaids, it was just to distract me while they got behind me to attack again. Ten girls attacked me, but only five complete bodies will be found. These mermaids had lost their spark, their tactics, their wit, their spontaneity. It was as boring as re-watching a bad fight a hundred times choreographed exactly the same every time.
I had been down here for quite some time, my resources were already running low. My rifle had run out of ammunition, and the shotgun only had a couple of rounds left. I didn''t use the laser knives to keep them as a surprise. But my enemies were not decreasing in numbers, so I had to get creative to keep going. A rock could break a skull, a stick could stab with enough force, pieces of glass could cut deep, and a useless ladder underwater was a perfect object to kill several by throwing their heads against the ladders one after the other.
When I reached the innermost part of the castle there were some gigantic stairs. They seemed to be the main hall of the castle, but the remarkable side was that they led to a second floor where the sea water did not reach, a place with air. I was able to stand up in quite a while, I did not take off my helmet, because I had no way of knowing if the air was breathable or poisonous, Levia also got out of the water and crawled a little inland, with great difficulty because she could only use her arms to move her big body.
"So you''ve managed to get here, you damned invader!"
"Your sacrilege against this sacred place I will make you pay"
"All your acquaintances will be with you later" I heard a man''s voice on the other side of the large room.
The room was much better preserved than the rest of the place, but not by much, it was still looking as tenuous as before, they had not even value to pick up the debris that fell from the ceiling. At the end of the room there was a small chair, stupidly decorated with scratched fabrics and carved stones without art. to the right it is a pair of perfectly preserved doors in jade green, a symbol of the Emperor, something that means serious business. There was also a very strange machine, it was like seeing a fan next to a golden box and a lead furnace, disgusting to look at. Before all of the above was a man looking at me. He was about two meters tall, a slim and slender figure, with long blond hair, and blue eyes. A perfect specimen of the Aryan race as a couple of horrible people from the past would have called him, I didn''t know him but I''m sure they shared the same point of view. The most important feature of all was its ears, it was clearly an Atlantean is in front of me. He was wearing poor armor that was quite battered and bent from old blows, there were also feet that did not fit and were held in place by straps. It was distressing to see an opponent in such a clearly precarious state.
"So you are Father"
"I thought a man would be weird to be the leader for such a matriarchal race like mermaids"
"But now it makes sense, after all, there is no mermaid queen after the war"
"!!!!"
"That voice!"
"Nanami?"
"The Emperess!"
"You survived, are you still alive?"
"Impossible! Atlantis has fallen a long time ago"
"What happened to you?"
What he said was not going to save him, but it still caught my attention. The name Nanami, and confused by my appearance was a rare thing, even for those loyal to the Ancient Emperor, for my introduction as Elise was announced in front of the many survivors still left in that damn place. It was strange that he did not recognize me immediately. He knew Nanami, but not Elise. It was something important.
"I''m fine thank you, lately I''ve been walking around and around the world."
"Didn''t you get the notification?"
"I guess not, it''s hard for a messenger to swim all the way to here"
"...."
"How lonely is your life?"
"Not as much as you think"
"I''ve had a lot of time off"
"Enough to get back to the same level as in my teacher, so I went back to researching my real area of development"
"Excellent"
"How long did it take you?"
"Ten thousand years, a million years?"
"That''s a long time to hide in a hole for a coward and idiot, so deserving of you"
"And what do you know, you fucking bitch!"
"This is all that stupid Jared''s fault and yours for not supporting your father!"
"Do you know how much my goal has gone backwards?"
"I was about to become a master professor, I would also have had the opportunity to create one God for Atlantis too!"
"Gods my ass"
"You guys didn''t even get it right once!"
"Your Masters deserved the execution they received"
"The only thing that worked was the fucking pervert parts!"
"The only one thing that succeeded was this awkward body!"
"This body is their fault!"
"Oh, right, your father tried to fix the error but it was beyond repair by then."
"I bet you never knew who you really were, but the truth is evident"
"It''s amazing that you made it this far without your body developing into a just two giant boobs"
"You are a breeder after all"
"Surprised by the shocking fact? No matter how hard you fight back, you can''t change that."
"I already knew it!"
"I''ve known it for a long time!"
"Why I''m here is because of her!"
"That girl over there"
"She was originally a human!?"
"Are you more surprised by her?"
"Yes, she was a human so what?"
"There are millions of humans, no one will notice if one or two are missing"
"Why not use them to re-establish the greatness of the Atlantean people?"
"The superior races should have the right to live on the surface, and the duty to govern the inferior ones"
"Father?"
"Is that true?" Levia said from the water''s edge.
"So that''s where all the riches went?"
"You spent all the gold in this palace to make alchemy, a sacrilege to your ancestors"
"You stole from humans for centuries to keep trying to create princess mermaids."
"And yet your two best creations are a box that keeps you alive down here and crippling an innocent girl for life?"
"No wonder no one ever noticed your absence"
"Damn Fox"
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere."If you think that being your father''s daughter will save you, you are very wrong!"
"Behind this door is the great weapon of the crypt! Leviathan!"
"With it neither the humans nor you will be able to defeat me!"
"I will restore the empire that weak people like you led to its downfall!"
"YA BASTA!" Only one voice was heard, so powerful that its booming sound was heard several times by everyone. It was that of a sovereign with powerful authority, myself.
The room fell silent, everyone looked at the ruler in fear, waiting to hear his word. Knowing the enormous difference that separated them from me.
"You''re getting pretty cocky you little piece of shit!"
"Emperors of Atlantis have asserted their authority by crushing the heads of their enemies that could be compared in power, people like you would just stay under our feet."
"Do you have even the balls or the power to affirm your own words?"
"Do you think you can snatch the title of Empress from me?"
"I will answer you in advance"
"No"
"Neither my father nor his father''s father could."
"Neither could the rest of the True Dragons nor could the Overlord."
"If I ordered that Atlantis should fall, heaven, earth and hell obeyed my order."
"And if I say that your miserable life is worthless, then that is exactly what it is worth in the eyes of everyone else"
"Do you think what''s in that door will save you?"
"I''ll open it for you myself so you can die with a face of despair that I want to see"
I took a single step and looked at the door with my eyes.
"Gate! open yourself!"
"Obey your master!" I finished the sentence with a snap of my hand.
The big gates opened immediately at terminal velocity. The blast was such that both of them dismounted and fell to the floor.
*CLANG*
The violent sound of two metals colliding was heard. With my other hand, I had summoned Avalon to my side to defend myself from Father''s attack. I didn''t even bother to look at him.
"Too Fucking slow"
The miserable man showed his confusion, the attack he launched while he thought I was distracted had failed miserably. I started to walk toward the camera myself, to show the bastard his own ignorance.
Inside the sealed room you could see how perfectly preserved it was, it was adorned to the high standard that Atlanteans put into their work, most of the time. Everything was covered with a golden impulse, the light crystals were lit one after the other, revealing the hidden contents. A huge golden throne stood in the middle of the room, decorated to the extreme, every detail revealing a story of the past, how that chair was won. Its owner was still using it, for he could never be removed from it. A skeleton was nailed to the throne, you could still see the face of pain with which the bones were left, but they revealed that it was not a human, because from the waist you could see how what should be his legs were fused and then followed by what was clearly seen to be a huge fish skeleton. In the chest was seen the origin of his death, a huge spear had pierced and embedded in the golden throne. It had been thrown with so much force that the back of the throne had also broken partially, a throne created with the best materials and protections that the Atlanteans could afford. The simple spear was made of tungsten coated with carbon fiber that was showing signs of deterioration, It was a weapon of a low-ranking Atlantean soldier, one who would never have accomplished such a heroic feat. Finally, behind the throne, the golden wall was decorated with a huge sea serpent, its head ready to devour the throne at any moment, its head was red jewels, and silver decorations surrounded it, symbolizing armor, and more colored jewels followed the rest of the body, possibly its weapons. But with it, I understood what happened, the events that occurred, and what it meant.
"HA HA HA HA HA!"
"There''s no fucking way!"
"This is so stupid!"
"I can''t believe it!"
"Have you really been down here trying to open this for this crap?"
"What is all this?"
"Where is Leviathan?"
"Where is the treasure!"
"And the weapon that was stored here?" The Atlantean was beginning to despair, just as I had predicted.
"HA HA HA HA HA"
"There is no limit to how ignorant you can be"
"You weren''t a scholar, you were a simple grave robber all along!"
"And me lowering myself to talk to you!"
"HA HA HA HA HA"
"The treasure is right in front of you"
"This was what was here guarded and sealed away"
"Your quest for power only led you to an old skeleton"
"But what does this mean!"
"It was all a lie?"
"Which lie?"
"This is a crypt! A cemetery!"
"A place to bury the dead!"
"What did you expect to find?"
"The real treasures that were here you spent trying to open this door!"
"For your greed for more, you will leave with nothing"
"Father?"
"Is this true?"
"Was all this just a money grab?" Said Levia, which had taken her a while to crawl up here.
"NO, of course not"
"According to the books, there must be a secret weapon here!"
"A powerful warrior!"
"One capable of destroying an army!"
"With it, we would destroy the humans!"
"At least you know how to read Atlantean, right?"
"Or did you only see the drawings?"
"...."
"HA HA HA HA HA"
"You are such an idiot"
"And me spending time getting ready to die in combat!"
"I was ready to die today, and this is what I find?"
"This place fell from atlantis even before Union arrived at the Celestial forge!"
"Your ignorance is effectively a mark in time, a before and an after!"
"Leviathan was not yet dead when this happened."
"...."
"You know I''m going to feel bad about myself if I don''t explain to your little mind what happened"
"I hope you have the brains to process it."
"This skeleton you see here is the mermaid queen!"
"She was directing little fishes from her little hideout in the lower guard room"
"She, unlike you, was capable of putting up a fight!"
"Union went up to her to defeat her, but they were annihilated!"
"Among the commanders of the expedition was the son of Gaenbald the Abysswalker"
"When the news of his death arrived, the Grand Campaign General took the spear from one of his soldiers and hurled it from his camp, across this very floor of Atlantis"
"The spear traveled through the sky with overwhelming speed, striking the mermaid queen, who was still on her throne, killing her"
"Here is what you are seeing"
"Union was later able to take the place, but fearing that because of her regeneration ability the queen would revive, they left the spear and moved the whole throne here instead."
"Nanami sealed the place so that no one could open it or she could get out"
"And the weapon you are looking for is that thing over there"
"The golden sea serpent"
"This was a prototype of an automatic golem"
"She is protecting the site from invaders"
"The dragons managed to steal the design and mass produce it"
"This here is nothing more than a common enemy that Union had to deal with on a regular basis"
"..."
"This is all so stupid, you''re not a clown, you''re the whole circus"
"You know, I would like to return to my family as soon as possible so I will not bother to fight you, you are not worthy, but I''m going to enjoy killing the last remaining Atlantean."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Golden Guardian, rise at my call"
"Kill everyone in here, destroy the place, then destroy yourself"
"Obey your master!"
*Snap*
A brutal roar shook the entire room, the beast''s gnawed jewels began to emit light, the creature began to move. And it shot a powerful laser beam from its mouth right after. It destroyed the golden throne and Father instantly. Confirming that there was no more dawn, I go to Levia and lifted her onto my back, and began to move back into the water. The monster followed me patiently, obediently, he did not attack the mermaid next to me as he surely considered her my ally, it was good to see that the Dragons did not manage to overwrite him.
When I started to swim, the giant snake came forward and began to devour everything in its path, with brutal fury, clearing the way for me. My work was not yet finished, I still had to find out who was controlling the mermaid maidens. She must be an important person so she was probably hiding too. But it didn''t take long to find them, in one of the rooms I checked I found them. In a large room there were several giant fish, horrible, as I had never seen before, but giving birth to more ugly fish, which would be the lesser mermaids. At the bottom of the place, I could see three more mermaids, all wearing black veils, next to them balls of crystals, in each of them you could see the face of a girl, in one of them that of Maria, you did not have to be a genius to know what they meant. I killed them with my bare hands without much trouble, and in doing so the glass balls exploded one after the other, thus breaking the spell. Before I left, disgusted by the sight before my eyes, I ordered the walls to collapse. When the huge stones impacted the breeders, all the water in the castle filled with blood, making it very difficult to navigate. Although I searched, I did not see any other mermaid princess, I asked my companion and that was when she finally told me that she was the only one, something that I already suspected.
The rest of the place also began to undermine, the walls now fragile from the golden machine, the machine began to shoot solid beams of lasers and began to spin, making a multi-colored festival of death in its path. When I arrived at the entrance the serpent retreated into the ruins, to execute his last order, his final duty, to finish with the last remaining of the cursed kingdom. The return to the surface was much less exciting because unlike the mermaid I needed time to decompress and to be able to return. The most exciting thing was hearing the great explosion below us, when the sea serpent blew itself up. It took me almost several hours of waiting, some of which were quite boring and increased my hunger, Levia just stood there next to me without saying anything, she was clearly sad because it seemed that she did not know what to do now.
By the time I returned to the surface it was already dark. It took me quite a while to get the mermaid back on the ship, but unlike the first time, this time she cooperated with me. She continued quite quiet the rest of the way, looking at me sadly, reflecting on herself, on her life so far. I apologized for everything that I made her go through until now and I told her the reasons that led me to commit such actions. I wasn''t looking for her forgiveness, just for her to see my point of view of the story.
When I arrived at the beach, several angels were waiting for me, who made a military salute when I passed near them. Miguel the Archangel, the head of the Celestial Security Section, disguised as another human tourist, came out to congratulate me for my efforts and for freeing the kidnapped girls and gave me a list of where they found each one and how they planned to return their parents. After that, he offers me transportation by car to the hotel where my family was waiting. This time, aware of any situation, they had also brought a couple of things for Levia, a couple of long gothic clothes, with which she could more or less hide her mermaid tail, and a wheelchair, strong enough to support her weight. but also comfortable, so it would be a little easier to hide her real appearance. After a short trip, I was able to reach the room. When I opened the door I found my mother hugging and crying with Maria in her arms.
Ch130: Free Will
Free Will
***************
Levia POV
***************
Right now I find myself on yet another beach. It seems that to celebrate the victory against my people, Elise decided to come to this place to enjoy a day of fun with all her concubines. The monster that destroyed my home was now near the sea enjoying with two other girls, but these were not living beings, they seemed to be two metal girls that had more in common with yesterday''s golem than with humans, but still, they were playing happily with an inflatable ball trying to keep it in the air as long as possible. A little further away were two other strange creatures, one of them looked human but the purple or blue color of her skin with wings on her back and horns on her head, she was next to another girl just as strange, because although she looked a little more human she was as transparent as water, it was hard to distinguish her from the rest of the landscape, both were sunbathing as many other humans do, but isn''t that useless? The blue girl did not seem to have changed color, while the glass girl did not seem to have any skin, to begin with. Near the car is the woman everyone calls mother, trying to get something out of a couple of suitcases with the help of her daughter, the girl I helped to kidnap before. There was also a super small girl, one that anyone could hold in the palm of their hand looking at them trying to find a way to help them despite their small size.
All this was so strange.
Another one of the girls came walking up to where I was sitting looking at the beach, she was a girl quite similar to Elise, she had the same animal features, but she was much taller and less white in comparison, she seemed to be more of a human than the rest of the strange girls.
"Are you having fun?"
"Are you comfortable?"
"Do you need me to get you anything?"
"If you need to go somewhere let me know and I''ll help you to move around"
"No"
"I''m fine thank you"
"Don''t bother so much, I''m heavy enough to be dragged around all the time"
"I don''t want to bother you"
"...."
"Tamamo right?"
"That''s your name"
"That''s right!"
"The pretty and cheerful Tamamo-no-mae!"
"I am glad to hear you already learned my beautiful name."
"Then you must be the first wife, as I understand it."
"The concubine who is above the rest"
"You are wrong"
"I am not the first wife"
"And no one here is above anyone else"
"...."
"I see"
"...."
"So the order changes depending on Elise''s tastes of the day?"
"...."
"you know, it doesn''t matter, you don''t need to answer me"
"Why so depressed?"
"Is there something that worries you?"
"Well, I don''t know what I''m going to do about myself in the first place"
"Was my whole life a lie?"
"Was I just a tool for someone else''s goals?"
"What makes it different from now?"
"Was I even free in the first place?"
"...."
"Maybe this will be my last day seeing the sea"
"But surely these are things a slave has no right to think about, right?"
"Well, it''s natural for you to look at it that way"
"What happened to you was really terrible"
"...."
"But if it makes you feel better, why don''t you take this as an opportunity to start over?"
"The chance to start making your own choices for yourself"
"And what choice can a slave do?"
"I''m just a trophy now, a spoil of war"
"I''m nothing anymore, just another of Elise''s toys"
"But what do you mean you have no choice?"
"You have hundreds of decisions in front of you right now"
"Right now you can stay here, or you can go out there"
"You could go and talk to the others"
"Or you could go to the ocean, swim as far as you want, and leave all this behind"
"As if Elise would let me go"
"You know, none of the girls are here out of force"
"All the girls you see are here by their choice."
"They are here because they want to be here"
"The truth is Darling doesn''t like to give orders"
"She does it only in extreme cases when someone''s life is in danger."
"The only one who has restrictions is Lisa, and even then they are very punctual things"
"...."
"If you want to leave, you are free to go and tell her, I can assure you that she herself will take you to the sea so you can leave."
"...."
"But why don''t you wait a bit and see what it''s like to be with Darling?"
"Despite all the crazy things that happen all the time, it is always fun and joyful"
"Wouldn''t you like to be part of a family that accepts you no matter who you are before?"
"...."
"Elise has tried so hard to make it all work despite the problems she has."
"She doesn''t say it out loud, but she''s been suffering enough, and yet he keeps it all to himself just so she doesn''t bother others with his problems"
"And what do you think I should choose?"
"I don''t even know what I am anymore, a mermaid or a shattered human?"
"Is there something for me in spite of that?"
"The decision is not up to Elise or me"
"You are the only one who can choose what you want to be"
"If you want to be a mermaid, you can be a mermaid, if you want to be treated like a human, you can be a human too"
"The others will treat you like a normal human if that''s what you want."
"But the choice is yours in the end"
"So why did Elise let me live?"
"If she doesn''t want me as her toy, then why didn''t she kill me like the rest?"
"Most likely...."
"It was probably out of selfishness."
"She probably wanted to rescue herself, thinking that maybe this would be a way to apologize"
"I''m sure deep down she thinks she''s responsible for what happened to you, she thinks it''s her fault that you were kidnapped and they transformed you into a mermaid"
"It was Father who separated me from my mother"
"But not in Elise''s eyes"
"Hey Tamamo!"
"Can you help me with this for a moment"
"I need you to help me get the fire going for the barbecue"
"I''m on my way Okasan!"
"...."
"Just don''t think about it too much, just make the decision that you think will make you the happiest"
"Darling will respect whatever decision you make."
"Although personally, I would like to continue to have the opportunity to keep talking to you"
The girl got up and ran to help, leaving as cheerfully as she arrived. Although she was also a slave, she seemed more like a free spirit. Someone who could get along in almost any situation, always smiling. She didn''t really seem like someone who was under the control of a tyrant. Were all of them really all okay with their situation?
When I turned my gaze back to the ocean I got a terrible shock. It was the girl with horns, she was just inches away from my face, with her dark crimson gaze that seemed capable of stealing souls.
"Grrr"
"...."
"You know, this family is everything to me"
"These people are the only ones I consider my allies"
"Darling, my great love, is my last chance not to fall into the eternal darkness of regret in which I found myself"
"My daughters Kazumi and Charlotte are extremely important to me, for they are the proof of my love"
"I will not let someone who does not want to be with us ruin this"
"My last bastion"
"I don''t want this family to be destroyed by you, Levia"
"Now, since it was Darling who saved you and brought you here, then I will accept it"
"If you want to be a part of this family I will accept you just like he did"
"Just remember to make Darling as happy as possible and that way we''ll get along as well"
"Easy to understand right?"
The blue girl did not wait for my answer, she simply turned around and walked away, carrying several fish still alive between the claws of her fingers. She took them to where the food was being prepared.
Everyone else on the beach gathered their things and started heading to where they were starting to grill the food. Elise went straight to the others, but the golem girls said something to her and then came to me.
"So you are our Mother Levia."
"We are Kazumi and Charlotte"
"Electronic Warfare DOLLS"
"But we like to be known more as daddy and mothers daughters."
"Nice to meet you" they both greeted me in perfect synchronicity.
I was surprised to hear them both speak the way they did, as it was something I had not expected.
"We know that our family is quite strange and difficult for others to understand" said the girl on the left.
"But it is quite funny and nice"
"There is always something amazing going on" added his sister to the left
"Even though we are all so different we all get along pretty well"
"We are grateful to all of them because they treat us with love"
"Even though we are just a couple of androids, everyone treats us just like any other human"
"I know you don''t know everyone yet but I''ll try to give you a little overview of everyone else"
"Mother Tamamo is the tall fox girl, she always acts cheerful and a bit silly. But she''s actually quite intelligent and understanding, she''s a very loving and kind mother"
"Mother Lisa is the girl who looks like a villain, she is quite unpredictable. She tries to do things with good intentions, but her own personality betrays her, she tries to control herself and not go completely crazy. But she''s the person you always want to have around when there''s trouble"
"Mother Momo is the glass girl, but don''t tell her because she doesn''t like to be reminded of it. She is the weakest physically, but she is a technical genius, there is no piece of technology that she can''t fix or modify. She is very good at assisting dad whenever a problem arises"
"Mother Tifa was the newest of the group. She is quite shy with everyone except dad but tries to help where she can. She is quite afraid of a lot of things so if you see her around you should remind her to protect her"
"There was also someone else, Mother Nanami, she was the first one, but we don''t know her. We don''t know what happened to her, but dad is very sad for her. If you see him crying it is probably because of her, don''t panic when it happens, usually mother Tamamo takes care of him so he stops crying"
Each of the sisters was talking right after the other with perfect coordination, it was as if they were talking to only one person. But the thought of them scared me. What were they, and why did they put so much emphasis on Elise as their father? Plus having them as my daughters? I was just another broken person, I didn''t know how to take care of myself, on the surface I am so useless that I need help from others to live, how could I be prepared to have two daughters and share them with several other girls?
"I''m sorry but I don''t think I''m a good mother, I don''t think I can be the mother that you want me to be"
"I''m not ready for this kind of responsibility, I''m so sorry"
I told them sincerely, responding to the trust they had placed in me in spite of my origin.
"Don''t worry too much Mother Levia"
"We know how rare this family is, but we still love it"
"You don''t have to try hard, it''s the thought that counts, we appreciate that you have been honest with us from the beginning"
Both sisters took each other by the hand and started walking towards the place where the food was being served. Even though their faces hardly moved I could not help but think of the joy their words conveyed as they spoke to me. Although perhaps I was more surprised to see how they also began to eat without problems despite being golems.
Adelis walked towards me carrying a bag with something inside. She was one of my most important targets, Father would have killed for me to have this opportunity to get close to her and sing, but that didn''t make sense now, it wouldn''t do any good.
"All right, I brought you the food"
"I don''t know what the mermaids eat or how much food you need, so I''d better give you the bag of food and let you choose for yourself"
"There is everything, beef, ham, vegelates, fruits, cookies"
"Does it feel good to see fish cooked? Does a can of tuna make you feel bad? You don''t have to eat that"
"Please let me know if you need a lot more food, I can try to find more."
"Many fish eat from other fish"
"that''s how the food chain works"
"Mermaids are not an exception"
"So ....."
"Does that mean you also want grilled fish or should I hide it?"
"Yes, I can eat fish, there'' s no problem"
"Although I think this will be my first time eating something burned by fire"
"As for the amount of food ...."
"....."
"I have two stomachs, one is that of a human"
"And the other one is more or less around here, it''s much bigger but it has the same function"
"I don''t really know how it works, but I do know that the food down there lasts much longer"
"It''s mainly for storing food in times of famine"
"So if I eat regularly I shouldn''t have any problem"
"I can live on the same food that a human would eat"
"Oh how fortunate, then you will be able to enjoy the fish that Lisa caught."
"I''ll bring you one"
"Not to brag but they were delicious."
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation."I was also worried about how to eat well, but it''s a great comfort to know that you eat the same as the others"
"I just thought that since you are almost like three humans combined you must eat a lot"
"....."
"What''s the matter?"
"Why the sad face? Are you feeling well?"
"Are you okay giving me food too?"
"Aren''t you mad at me for what happened?"
"You don''t have to be nice to me, I know I''m your enemy, it''s normal for you to be mad at me for what I did"
"Well, I''d be lying if I said I wasn''t upset"
"But ...."
"You did all that knowing what you were really doing, the damage you were committing?"
"I thought it was fair"
"I thought it was because of the humans that my life was miserable"
"I did it thinking that with my actions I would be helping my allies"
"But it all turned out to be a deception on Father''s part"
"And now that you really know the harm of your actions"
"Would you do it again knowing that it is wrong?"
"No"
"I don''t want to hurt anyone ever again"
"I don''t want to be the person who separates families from their loved ones anymore"
"I don''t want them to end up like me, used and broken"
"So then I forgive you"
"I forgive you for what you did to my daughter and for the terror you gave me"
"!!!!"
"Really?"
"You don''t hold a grudge for what I did?"
"Wouldn''t you like to hurt me for what I did against your family?"
"My children are the most precious thing in my life,"
"I am very grateful to all these girls because it has been thanks to them that my family has managed to stay together despite the difficulties we have gone through"
"If there is someone who is indebted to them, it is me"
"...."
"If you want you can also be part of this family if you have nowhere else to go"
"And if we want to be a family, everyone in the family must get along, we can''t be having anger and rejection all the time."
"I can''t hold a grudge against someone who has decided to change to try to be a better person"
The lady brought me the food she promised me, it was cooked fish along with vegetables and some kind of sauce. It was quite tasty, it was the first time I ate something cooked, but I still didn''t feel any problem eating it. But the other mermaids hated this kind of food, from time to time some ship would drop its food into the sea and we could take the opportunity to taste the food of the humans, all of them always said that it tasted horrible and poisonous, but for me, I didn''t seem to suffer from that problem. Was it because I was part human? Was it that part of me that allowed me to enjoy this food? This is another proof of who I was originally supposed to be.
When everyone had finished eating they lay around enjoying the sun. Everyone except Elise, who seemed to be more affected by the sun because she was white, in almost 20 minutes when she arrived it seemed that her skin had changed to red, so she was most of the time under an umbrella and putting something on her skin. Adelis'' daughter came towards me, it seemed that she wanted to talk, although in the distance I could see how the dark girl was watching me, watching what I was doing.
"How was your day?"
"Have you been enjoying it?"
"Do you need me to bring you anything? Water maybe?" She said without taking her eyes off my inferior body.
"I''m fine, thank you"
"I can be on the surface without problems"
"...."
"I usually went to the island crags to sing most of the day"
"Really?"
"How fortunate, I was getting worried that maybe you were getting dehydrated out here" Said the girl, with a face quite similar to her mother''s.
"I...."
"I''m so sorry for what happened...."
"I made you suffer because of me"
"My allies tried to separate me from your mother and used you against your will"
"I am so sorry"
"All right, it''s all right."
"Everything turned out all right in the end, didn''t it?"
"I''d actually like to apologize for what my brother did to you"
"I''m sure that was much harder"
"Besides, thanks to you I was able to be special too for at least 3 days!"
"Kazumi took a picture of when I came out of a wall, it was so cool!"
"Too bad I can''t remember it, I wonder how it would feel to be able to do that" Said the girl with a big smile on her face.
"Is everything okay with your body?"
"No side effects or residual effects?"
"Yes, everything is fine"
"Tamamo checked me first and said that they are completely human again"
"But my brother wasn''t completely convinced so he took me to other angels to be checked out as well"
"Now I am just another ordinary human again"
"...."
"Although the truth is that I would have preferred to have something left"
"I really wanted to be able to walk through walls, Lisa always does it and it seems so useful and fun"
She was standing in front of me, drinking something from a bottle. Although I was much bigger than her, I had to see her from below, as my tail did not allow me to move on the surface. So I had an inner doubt, what would have happened if I had not been transformed into a mermaid?
"Tell me..."
"...."
"How does it feel to have feets"
"How does it feel to walk on the ground?"
"...."
"Not as surprising as you think it is"
"...."
"I used to be a very sick person, so I spent a lot of time in a hospital bed"
"I was a lot like you actually, I always needed someone to help me to get to the different places with doctors"
"I also wanted to be able to walk"
"I was in a wheelchair for a long time, but I am glad that unlike me you are completely healthy and don''t hurt all the time"
"...."
"Eventually, my brother saved me, I began to heal and the time came for me to relearn how to walk again."
"It was hard, it took me a long time, but then when I finally did it was amazing, I felt like I was capable of doing anything"
"...."
"But eventually you get used to it and think it''s no big deal."
"...."
"Wait, I think I said it wrong, I should have said it differently"
"Well what I meant was don''t worry about it, you are you."
"Even if it''s hard for you to move you can ask for help from everyone else"
"I wouldn''t mind being the one pushing the wheelchair this time"
"It''s ok"
"I think I understand what you meant"
I looked at my tail, sadly reminding myself that I was supposed to be like her, to have feet and walk on land, but now I was destined to this, a dead weight, to be a nuisance to others every time I was out of the water, in the place where I was supposed to belong. It is now that I see how stupid the idea of dominating the surface was, out of the water we were just immobile animals. If we couldn''t even defend ourselves on the surface, how were we supposed to dominate the skies? If there was one thing Elise was right, it was that Father was an idiot, and it took me until his death to realize it.
"Hey!"
"Can I ask you a similar question"
"May I know how your mermaid tail works?"
"Is it true that you can lose it and it will grow back?"
"It looks so cool!"
"It''s not as good as you expect"
"Out of the sea, all my tail is useless"
"I''m too big and heavy even for myself"
"Well, I think that''s normal"
"But what is it like underwater?"
"Can you breathe water? How do you do it?"
"How fast can you swim?"
"You''re huge down here, is this where your heart is?"
"That''s a lot of questions"
"Yes, I can breathe underwater just like you do up here."
"As far as I know, I have four lungs, two up here like humans, the other two down here, all of them for the surface"
"As for breathing underwater, that''s what gills are for"
"They are these here" I told her, taking off the piece of clothing that hid them, showing only a couple of hard-to-notice lines.
"They close and seal when I come to the surface to allow my lungs to inflate and breathe."
"As for speed, I''m pretty fast, I could go as fast as a human speedboat in the open sea, but accelerating and braking took me a long time"
"I also have two hearts, one human and the one in the tail."
"...."
"You know, better just think of me as a human who got attached by the waist with a big fish, I think it''s easier that way"
"So you have two pairs of organs of everything?"
"Almost everything"
"Interesting!"
"What about magic!? Can you use it?"
"You''re a fantasy creature, aren''t you?"
"Well, yes"
"I can use a little magic, but it''s not my forte"
"The mermaid wizards never wanted to teach me"
"I can control water a little bit"
"Maybe raise a small ball of water"
I tried to lift some water from a bottle, but despite my efforts to control it, it exploded soon after.
"Awesome!"
"Maybe with practice, you could do much better"
"You don''t have to pretend to be shocked"
"I know that was pathetic"
"My strongest suit is singing, that''s what got me into trouble in the first place"
"You are right!"
"Mermaids have magical songs that enchant people!"
"Can you do it? Can you sing now?"
"No"
"I can''t do it, I can''t sing anymore"
"Elise has forbidden me"
The girl looked at me thoughtfully and then spoke to me again.
"My brother would never have forbidden you to do that, he is not that kind of person"
"Surely you are confusing the order he gave you."
"Probably what he forbade you to do was to use your singing to manipulate people"
"Have you tried singing for the sake of singing for fun?"
"Without any bad intentions behind it?"
Was that really possible? Was it something so simple that would make a difference? I was so focused on it being a toy now that I never thought about doing anything in the first place. I had to try, to see that there was still something left.
I started humming just for enjoyment, to try to cheer up this little girl that I had hurt. And the sound started to come out of my mouth, a joy-filled me, and the voice followed. She was right, I could really sing.
But a cry interrupted the singing. It was my own tears, seeing that all was not lost, I still allowed myself to do what I most enjoyed doing. I felt it just like this girl in front of me described it, I thought I was capable of anything if I tried hard enough. Maybe even enjoying life again.
"But how beautiful you are"
"I would like to record a video of you singing on those stones over there?"
"Do you think you can do it for me?"
It was the first time someone asked me to sing for them. Someone really wanted to hear me sing, and not because of magic, but because they really appreciated me. I accepted by shaking my head because my voice could not hide the desire to cry from the emotion I felt. Maria tried to lift me on her own but it was too heavy for her, but right after Lisa appeared, she could move me to the place without any problem, she didn''t even complain about my step. I was well settled and then the young girl took out one of those human tools and gave me the signal to sing.
I sang from the bottom of my heart because my small audience was happy to hear me, they did it because they wanted to, and I could not disappoint them. It was the first time that my voice brought joy and laughter, all because this time it was born from the desire to improve and make amends for the past. To prove that even without magic my voice was loved. Time went by and my spectators were more and more, all of them were the people who brought me here, they were Elise''s family, but they came to hear me sing. Tamamo the other fox girl asked me to sing something that expresses my feelings of joy at the moment, and when I started to do it she took out a metal fan and started to dance a very elegant dance, she followed the rhythm of my voice even though she didn''t know my lyrics, but it was beautiful to see how her body moved to represent my joy. She looked like a priestess of a shrine trying to heal a wound in the world, with the beauty of her dance and the hope in my voice.
The afternoon of the day passed and everyone left to start packing up and heading back to the car. But the two Golems stayed with me until the end, listening attentively to every song I showed them, their faces didn''t say it, but the look on their eyes let me know they were delighted with what I was doing. When night fell they lit a fire and began to eat by it. I was now in the wheelchair, this time it was Elise who approached me to talk to me, a little further away from the others.
"I just wanted to tell you that I am very sorry for everything that happened underwater"
"I know what I did must have been horrible for you, I hurt you terribly and it may never heal"
"You don''t have to forgive me for what I did"
"I just wanted to say it because I thought it was the right thing to do, that I owed you an apology"
"Well, you are not a mermaid by your choice, you were forced to be one, because of a mistake I made"
"I''m sorry for the pains you have suffered in your life because of me"
Said the one who yesterday was a proud and powerful Ruler, now showing a sign of apology, lowering her head in front of me.
"...."
"I don''t know what to think about this"
"..."
"On the one hand I love them because I grew up with them, they were my friends, my family"
"But on the other hand, we were all used by that man who was only looking for his personal benefit and not for all of us"
"I did terrible things for them, and at the same time they lied to me and never revealed my true origin"
"...."
"Is it really right for me to feel almost nothing in this situation?"
"Do I have the right to be angry at you, or should I feel glad for telling me the truth?"
"..."
"I don''t know"
"...."
"...."
"Is there someone who you believe was innocent as well?"
"Someone who you think didn''t deserve what happened?"
"My friend Edra, she was the one who always accompanied me when I swam to the island to sing"
"She probably knew about my origin but never told me so as not to hurt my feelings"
"Now I understand the sad face she used to have from time to time when she talked to me"
"Then I apologize for Edra."
"I know it''s nothing to ease the pain you feel, but I''m truly sorry that things couldn''t have worked out better for everyone"
A horrible silence fell between us. None of us knew how to proceed. But it was Elise who took the first step.
"Tell me, what would you like to do now?"
"Do you plan what to do from now on?"
"Do I really even have the opportunity to choose?"
"Am I just your toy right?"
"Didn''t you want to take me away to enjoy destroying me as you did before?"
"This collar you put on me makes me your slave, doesn''t it mean then that I don''t have the right to resist your command?"
"Why bother to listen to what I have to say about this?"
"Well, you''re right about that"
"But I still want to give you the right to choose."
"You can go back to the sea if you want, you can live with us to learn how humans work and then go live on your own later, or if you want you can be part of my family and live with us forever"
"Whatever your decision is, I will respect it, you have my word."
"Just choose for yourself what you want to do"
The little girl stared at me waiting for my answer but made no gesture. From where I stood I could see both the sea, now dark, and the rest of the girls eating by the fire, enjoying themselves and laughing. The choice before me was important, to decide whether to live a completely free life in the sea, but as the only one of my species and alone for the rest of my life. Or stay with them, with an uncertain future, but accompanied by people who seemed to be quite kind to each other. I tried to think of myself in every possible scenario, what would happen if maybe this, maybe that. But among all of them, there was one thing that gradually caught my attention more and more.
What was it like to live with humans?
After all I was supposed to be one of them for real, but because of my body now that will never be true. However, this family doesn''t seem to mind that and would like to treat me as one of them too. Being with them would be the closest thing to being a human. Maybe the mermaids were wrong about them, maybe we were the bad guys, but that was something I would not find out by being alone in the sea. I had to try, the risk was worth it, maybe my real mother would have wanted at least this for me.
"All right, I agree to stay"
"But it is because I am now your slave, your trophy, your spoils of war, not because I want to!"
"What the hell was that?"
"Are you trying to sound like a tsundere?"
"I hate tsundere''s."
"New order, you are forbidden to act like a tsundere.
"I''m too much of an idiot to talk in innuendo"
"Just say what you want to do straight out!"
"Moron"
"I wanted you to call me pretty!"
"I wanted you to see me as a treasure to you!"
"You idiot!"
"I can''t believe I''m going to say this ...."
"It''s ok, I''ll stay, it doesn''t seem like being your toy is so bad"
"The others are having a good time and I wanted to keep enjoying happy moments too"
"I''m your possession, are you happy now?"
"Just don''t torture this now slave of yours too much"
"Once a week I think is enough right, even if I can regenerate, I need time to heal my mind."
"What the hell are you talking about!"
"I''m not the kind of person who enjoys torturing people!"
"That''s Lisa!"
"Your tastes are similar"
"With what you did to me that day, I didn''t get that impression"
"My new arms still hurt a little"
"....."
"Now back to being serious"
"...."
"I''m so sorry for what happened that day"
"...."
"Calling you a breeder was really rude of me"
"I won''t do it again."
"...."
"Now I understand that what really matters is to see what is beyond the body and see the person for who they really are"
"That''s why even though I''m a mermaid I want to be treated as just another human"
"And in turn, even though you are a breeder I will treat you like a human too."
"Thank you...."
"Thank you very much..."
"...."
"On behalf of Nanami, I thank you...."
"I''m sure she would be happy too for you also being able to see her for what she really is..." Said the white girl with tears in her eyes.
"A person..."
Ch131: The Regular Nonsense
The Regular Nonsense
After the day at the beach, we went back to the hotel and left the next day back to Japan. Unfortunately, we didn''t have time to visit my old house, I would have liked to show all the others our original house, the one my father bought when he was young, and although it is still on our property it has been unoccupied for quite a while now, so it would take a lot of time to clean it up. Surely it can wait a couple more months for when we have time to go and make it as good as new.
The flight was again in a military plane, there was not much problem in letting a US military plane land on our territory, as it was only a transport plane and our country has very good ties with them, after all, most of the tourists that maintain our country are from the United States. With them, it was easy to take us to Levia without many questions from anyone. Although what made me most nervous during the flight was the discomfort. Since I was so deep underwater, and unlike my body with respect to Levia, going to such a high altitude in such a short time could even be lethal for me, due to the pressure sickness, but fortunately, nothing like that happened. What I had no luck with was the weather, we left Costa Rica on Thursday morning and arrived in Japan on Saturday night due to the long trip and the time difference, I had lost a full day flying and the other day simply disappeared because of mathematics.
When we arrived at the house there was still a lot to do so we were not able to rest from the long trip. First, my mother hadn''t worked much with the Alliance due to her week of vacation and Maria''s unforeseen event, but also the cafeteria was without its staff for most of the week, so there was a backlog of orders and the poor Saeko was stressed to the point of collapse. There were also problems in the house because it wasn''t until Levia''s arrival that we realized that the house was not made for someone with a disability. Momo and I set to work to try to improve the house and make it a place where the mermaid could have a decent life. The main problem? the bathroom. The door was not wheelchair friendly, and even with that Levia is so heavy that having handrails won''t work, plus it''s so big that its glue stuck to everything. I had to knock down part of a wall to make the bathroom entrance bigger, we had to use a curtain until the new door arrived. On the bright side, she did fit in the tub and wanted to sleep in it, so to avoid having to make a room for her we decided to have Levia sleep there at night.
As for the new girl, well her fate is a little different than the rest of us. She can''t really move by herself unless she is in a wheelchair, but even then she can''t do anything by herself, things such as going to the bathroom, eating, or sunbathing, she needs someone else to do a lot of things. Unfortunately, there are only a few people who can lift her, Tamamo and Lisa can do it completely, then there is me with great difficulty and short times, finally, my daughters between them can hold her. She was sad about all the inconveniences, but we told her that it wasn''t a problem, just another one of our adventures and that it was okay for Levia to depend on others to live, after all to some extent all humans went through the same thing in one way or another. Many people don''t produce their own food or need a doctor. Helping each other was a key characteristic of humans. Maria was particularly interested in helping the mermaid. Despite what she had done to her my sister was the one who was watching over the mermaid whenever she could, surely to some extent seeing her reminded her of when she was in the hospital and also needed others to keep her going, it seemed to be her way of repaying the kindness of them all.
One particular story was that when she arrived we started to bathe Levia so that she would stop smelling like a fish. The smell was a consequence of never having had a bath before, as I knew that mermaids didn''t really give off any smell. She was so big that she could not reach beyond her waist. So we all got to work and washed her so much that she almost lost her scales. My mother brought a lot of sea-scented soap because apparently, a mermaid must smell like the sea according to her.
And speaking of my mother, she was the happiest about Levia''s integration, as she spared no expense to help her in everything she needed. Then I realized why, since the mermaid is basically a girl in a wheelchair, she wanted to use her to see how accessible the cafeteria was using her as a reference, after all, if she could handle it surely the others could too, and because of our previous work she put Momo, Levia and me in charge of the project again. We closed the coffee shop much earlier because of the remodeling and started to make everything accessible. The counter was a little smaller on one side, we put a ramp at the entrance, and once again we had to install a bigger door in the bathrooms, in general, make more room for the wheelchair, then my mother proudly put a handicapped accessibility sign at the entrance, even though she was rushing us with the work. But that wasn''t all, Adelis had already planned well enough what to do with the mermaids regarding the job, we were still finishing the final adjustments when a truck arrived making a new delivery, and not of ingredients. It was a huge fish tank, lighting equipment, and a huge stone, she wanted us to set up one of the corners to have all that and prepare a stage for Levia to sing for the customers. The idea was great, but the work to make it happen was a challenge.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The idea is quite simple, Levia would work in the coffee shop providing entertainment to the customers and singing from time to time. She would mostly be in the water swimming and playing games with the customers, things like playing simple games like tic tac toe or rock paper scissors, but coming up for air constantly to hide the fact that she could actually be there indefinitely. Twice a day she would come to the surface and sit on the huge rock where she would sing for the others, so Momo mainly took care of setting up the microphone and tuning the sound. Oddly enough the hardest job was to make the entrance to the fish tank, as it had to be easily accessible for Levia, but it had to be small to compensate for the space spent in the store. When the receipt for the expenses arrived in Saeko''s hands she almost fainted again. My mother is betting big with Levia, I think it''s no exaggeration that the future of the store depends on her success for the next few months.
When it was time to go back to school it was again a horror. Once again I hadn''t been there all week, exactly the week that Xi''an had the idea to drop off homework. I just arrived and everyone was carrying models of the solar system. But the real problem this time was my appearance, as I am an albino, the sun affects me much more than the average person, normally it is not much of a bother as I spend a lot of time indoors and wear clothes to protect myself. But during my adventure, I spent 3 days under the sun on the beach. I got so tanned that my skin was no longer white, but light red like an oxidized apple instead. But my hair was still as white as ever, on top of that, I was so mentally tired from the job that I left my cap at home and didn''t realize it until class started, so I left my fox ears and the tail in plain sight for all to see. I became a stranger on sight unintentionally that I look myself like as some time ofa Ganguro as it is called here in Japan. A subculture of gyaru, a group of young women, usually refers to women too childish. But mainly associated with delinquent and rebellious problems. A problem girl basically.
Haru had her mouth on the floor when she saw me coming through the door, and just imagine, your quiet friend disappears for a week and when he comes back he looks like he belongs to a heavy metal band. When I explained my reasons for my appearance, she burst out laughing at how she saw me just for forgetting a stupid umbrella for the sun. Damn, my family is originally a farming family! Being in the sun is already a factory default. Using an umbrella without hail rain is a disgrace to my ancestors.
The rest of the teasing from the girls in the class at least shifted focus, it was no longer my boobs that were the talking point. Kyouko kept teasing me by reminding me how stupid I look as if I didn''t already know that. But the one who was most upset was Yuko and her group, the real Gyaru, and her associates, because I had beaten them at their own stupid game just by existing, she thought I was challenging them and trying to steal their boyfriends. First, they bother me because I am lesbian and now they say I''m looking for men in a hurry. If you''re so insecure and worried about losing your boyfriend so easily you should be looking for someone who wants to be with you in a normal way instead of just being a bitch looking for a dick as quickly as possible.
To end the day, as could not be otherwise in my life, something else happened. I went with Tamamo back to the occult club room, only to run into Haru and a new member of the club. She joined exactly the week we were absent, Haru told her that we were still starting and still didn''t have much. They were bored all week reading books and waiting for our return to see what to do. The new member is called Asuka, and unfortunately, I knew her a little bit before. She was the friend my sister had made and the one she had mentioned so enthusiastically. She was in our same year but in another group, but the important part is that I knew that she came from a Japanese temple and that she is a Miko. Which put me on my guard as to what her true intentions were in joining a club like this, were her parents in agreement?
At this point I was so married to being alive that I simply walked over and greeted her, she offered me her hand and I shook it without even thinking about it. In her hand, I felt that there was something strange. She then went to Tamamo and did the same, she thought it was strange because normally Japanese people don''t shake hands to greet each other. When she finished greeting us she looked at her hand and there I could see that what she had was a Christian Rosary rolled up in her hand. A rather strange object for a Japanese priestess. She looked at it in disappointment and then exhaled in disappointment. The fact that she was expecting something to happen was what caught my attention. She apologized saying that she read on the internet that it was a way to discover bad intentions in other people and wanted to try it. But that technique was not to see bad intentions, it was to reveal demons. I knew it because it was a technique used by the Vatican hunters to find their enemies posing as humans, and that they tried to keep secret for the same reason, to catch them by surprise. Is this girl scheming something?
Ch132: Second Council Meeting
Second Council Meeting
***************
Adelis POV
***************
"I want to talk to the manager of this place!"
"Ma''am, I told you, I am the owner of this place"
"Don''t lie, you are a Mexican immigrant! I want to talk to your superior!"
"I can''t do anything else, I''m sorry but I don''t know who you want me to call"
"I am the boss, I am paying to have this store here, the papers are in my name."
"The title deed is there on the wall, it says my name on it"
"That''s in Japanese, I can''t read what it says there!"
"Don''t fool me!"
"Ma''am, this is Japan, Japanese is the official language here and yet my name is in Latin letters, you can read that, can''t you?"
"I don''t speak Taco Taco!"
"Ma''am, please, it is closing time, I just want to go home."
"If you want, you can file a complaint with the Ministry of Health or the Consumer Ombudsman''s Office"
"This is disrespectful!"
"You are appropriating foreign culture by selling Mexican food in this restaurant!"
"It is racist for you to charge for food stolen from oppressed minorities!"
"I am going to review this place on social media! This is not a safe place for minorities!"
"Ma''am, the food we sell is mostly desserts"
"The new additions to the menu are foods from my native country, it is optional and it is to fit even more with the fantasy theme of the restaurant"
"You are also calling me Mexican, which I am not, as well as racist against Mexicans, foods that are not from there"
"Besides calling me an immigrant when you come from the United States."
"The immigrants are the Taco Taco natives, my people are tourists!"
"We pay your salary! "
"Call the manager of this place! I have to complain to him for selling minority food here"
Sometimes I understand Lisa''s position of wanting to kill someone by nailing them to the wall just because you don''t like them.
You know what! Screw it!
I''m tired of her!
"Lisa!"
"Lisa come here for a moment"
"A damned good time, stupid Mexican"
"It was so hard to understand that I want to talk to someone in power"
"Yes Adelis"
"Do you need anything?"
"The lady here is having trouble finding her way out"
"Would you be so kind as to escort her out of the store?"
"Don''t worry about the method, you have permission today"
"Make her remember properly"
"Immediately"
Lisa grabbed the annoyed lady''s hand and started to push her towards the exit. As expected this made her angry, which made Lisa angry too. Seeing that the lady didn''t want to collaborate Lisa grabbed her by one hand and lifted her up in the air, taking her to the exit. The lady was thickly hitting her and yelling at her in response. Until Lisa had enough and transformed her body into a real horrible monster, deformed, dark, with many eyes. The lady now with a cardiac arrest in progress ran out herself and out the door as fast as she could. Lisa returned to her usual form after finishing her mission. That lady has a lot to learn about the mysteries of this world. After seeing Lisa that way at night several times every time I go to the bathroom I saw it as normal. I have no idea what will happen to the poor thief that tried to rob my house.
"What the hell did that girl want?" asked Lisa, while she was still transformed to her usual form.
"I have no idea"
"Maybe she was looking to make someone more miserable than her?"
"...."
"How is it that you can transform into that horrible thing but not into a normal human?"
"Isn''t it essential for a succubus to appear human to their victims?"
"I don''t know"
"I have tried but I can''t"
"The process must be different, but I don''t know how to do it."
"I could spend a lot more time with Darling if I was able to do it."
"I could even go to school with him!"
"And then walk with him every morning, back and forth."
"And at recess eat lunch together"
"And do homework together"
"And hang out on the roof together"
"And play sports together"
"And go to karaoke together"
"And"
"I got it, thanks Lisa" I interrupted her before continuing to speak for the rest of the week.
"Adelis, I''ve finished doing today''s closing"
"I will leave the documents on the table in the staff room for you to review"
"..."
"Also thank you for closing earlier today"
"My son will be happy to go to the baseball game tonight"
"It''s nothing"
"It''s quite useful for me too, I have a lot of work to make up from the office."
"Good night Saeko, thank you for your hard work as always"
Just as my friend left the store Tamamo appeared, next to her was a small bag, which I didn''t have to see to know what was in it. It was Tifa who was inside, she had come to help me with my paperwork and also to participate in the meeting. What meeting? Well, the meeting of the girls who are with Cesar. There are now two new members so the group decided to bring them up to speed by holding their second summit. Since today was going to close early they decided to do it here since Cesar was left alone in the house playing video games on the computer.
Each of the girls took a chair and sat near the aquarium where the mermaid is and took turns speaking into the microphone. The truth is that their conversations seemed more like a stand-up comedy than a girls'' meeting. I really enjoy listening to them talk, to know what they think about my son. It makes the massive list of documents I have to review much more bearable. Even the fairy has trouble with the weight of the folders.
Hell, there''s no end to this thing! To make matters worse, they are already making security preparations for the coming of President John. After the attack in New York they are not going to calm down with the usual. The other members of the Alliance have even asked me to take care of the security check personally. I accepted as the pay is very generous and will help me to continue my coffee shop even if Levia fails to attract more customers. Although it is still too early to tell if it was a good idea, at least the customers are very excited about her.
"So I don''t know how this should work out"
"...."
"Well, Elise is a pretty nice person to me."
"But she''s a big person, and I''m a fairy."
"Isn''t that a lot of difference with our sizes?"
"Is she okay with me? Even though I''m smaller than her?" it was the little fairy turn to speak.
"Elise is already the smallest, apart from you"
"Literally everyone else is taller than her"
"I don''t think she cares about the size of the others if you think about it"
"She only reaches up to my hips"
"Her tail was taller than she that time she came from hunting ghostbusting"
"I once saw her sitting motionless in the bed and I swear I thought she was a doll"
"Answer me Tifa, in spite of what happened, you didn''t seem to be against the slavery magic either"
"Were you waiting for it to happen to you too?"
"You''ve been hiding it all this time, haven''t you?"
"What!"
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no"
"The reason I am so calm is because my situation hasn''t really changed from what it was before, if she hadn''t found me I would have been dead already"
"I didn''t expect this to happen, but if it should, I am happy that she is my Owner."
"I know she loves me, so it''s easier to just accept it and move on"
"He probably sees you as one of the figures he used to collect in his old bedroom"
"Seeing you thinks you are the girl from his favorite anime is real" as always it was his sister who made the most devastating statements.
"She''s in love with you"
"Why don''t you just leave it at that and accept her love"
"But we are both girls!"
"Wait!"
"You still don''t know?"
"No one has told you yet?"
"How did you go so long without noticing?"
"Haven''t you noticed how they call him Cesar in the house?"
"Cesar is a name?"
"Isn''t it the Roman title of Emperor?"
"According to the internet, that means right?"
"I thought it was the same as saying King, a title of nobility"
"It is both!"
"Although in my son''s case, it''s his first name"
"I named him that because he was born during the hurricane Cesar that hit the country before he was born"
"Not very original I know, at that time I couldn''t think of anything and I thought it was a nice name"
"Son!"
"But I''ve already seen him naked when we took a bath together and he doesn''t have his..."
"We already know!"
"Is he a man?"
"Why didn''t anyone tell me!"
"How does that work!"
"His body is a girl''s, what happened to him?"
"And that''s all"
"Thank you very much Tifa for joining us today, but there are more people who also need to talk."
"Okasan also needs your help"
"...."
"Ok, next on the list is Lisa"
"...."
"Do you need us to bring you the TV again?"
Said Tamamo, interrupting the shock that the fairy was suffering, who was flying near the microphone but without moving at all.
"Don''t worry, today is a much shorter topic"
"What a joy, I''m not good with numbers"
"Maria, if math is so hard for you, why don''t you stay with the twins so they can teach you?"
"If in the next exam you fail, I will punish you by not leaving the house until you improve"
"Mom!"
"But I can finally go to school!"
"I have to make the most of my youth while I can!"
"Ok, here I go"
"Hello everyone my name is Lisa"
"I''ve known Cesar since before everyone, but I''m the third one to marry him due to some reasons I don''t want to....."
"WE ALL KNOW YOU ALREADY!"
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work."You don''t have to introduce yourself as if it were your first time at a meeting"
"Okay, so here I go"
"...."
"I need help with my date with Darling!"
"...."
"I don''t know what to do"
"...."
"I''m happy with almost anything, but I want it to be the best date possible for Cesar!"
"I thought about taking him to a doll store and making him lots of cute outfits, but then I thought about maybe taking him to a candy store and buying him lots of candy that he likes, or I could take him to this colorful superhero show that is so popular with the kids, the other day a kid was super excited with his mom to meet the one in red."
"There was also this super huggable stuffed animal store that I saw the other day on TV, I want a giant bear that smells like Caesar, I''m going to make it white and put it on my bed and sleep with it every night and hand wash it with a brush and a soft brush and then I''m going to put it on my bed."
"Mission Control to Demon one"
"Earth to Demon one, please respond"
"We have an unauthorized takeoff"
"I Repeat, unauthorized takeoff."
"Turn around and come back before you leave orbit"
"And then we will get married in that church in Italy"
"With his salary in the office it will be difficult for the first years, but we will save up"
"When we finally get our house we will be able to plan how many children to have"
"I already got the list of the 500 names I want for my children"
"I chose the best ones from around the world"
"I will also learn to sew to make their clothes and diapers"
"I was thinking about going on vacation to Disneyland when they are all at least 10 years old, so they will remember them"
"We will rent out the whole park that day"
"Then I will come home and take a picture of me and Darling that we will put by the fireplace and it will be our special memory"
"Hey! Wait a minute! Who are these people!"
"That picture is completely distorted!"
"At what point in that history did he become a man again?"
"And why do you look human? And where did the horns or the blue skin go?"
"If my brother ever wears a necktie, it will be to hang himself from the ceiling"
"Oh my goodness"
"She''s already planned every day for the next twenty years"
"Thank you Lisa for your time here with us"
"Your fantasy novel was beautiful"
"I hope someday you can publish it and make a movie out of it"
"We will all pray for your success"
"...."
"...."
"Next on the list please try to summarize it a bit"
"Well, if you want to go fast, why don''t you take your turn now?"
"Surely you can talk a little, can''t you?"
"Me?"
"But I have nothing to talk about"
"...."
"At most I''m upset that Darling didn''t want to be with anyone today"
"I mean, he''s not banned from coming and listening to us talk at our harem meeting."
"...."
"Is it really okay for him to be alone in the house while everyone else is here?"
"I think you are worrying too much Tamamo" felt the need to intervene this time.
"Cesar may not look like that, well Cesar doesn''t look like a lot of things."
"He is originally antisocial by nature, has been this way since I was a child"
"He really doesn''t like to be around people all the time"
"Sometimes, some days, he needs time to himself, alone, and do what he likes to do like playing video games all night long"
"It is as if he has a social battery, and as he is with more people it drains until it is empty"
"When this happens he just wants to be alone to recharge it"
"...."
"It''s nothing bad, he''s just tired of people, for now, he''ll get back to his old self, it''s not like he''s tired of being with all of you."
"Just think about it, how many times has he been alone these last few months?"
"Ah, is that so?"
"What a relief"
"I thought it was a sign of something worse"
"..."
"You are right, there are times when men like to go alone to the mountain and come back with a deer on their backs, hunted by themselves"
"That analogy sounds a thousand years out of date"
"Next on the list is Momo"
"With her topic...."
"The colored light shoes..."
"We haven''t had this conversation before?"
"Yes about that, I wanted to announce that by mistake I dropped and damaged them on the way so I won''t be able to show them to you today"
"Instead I wanted to announce that I''m almost done with my costume 2.0!"
"This time I based it on a lot of people who cosplay"
"There are a lot of anime characters that wear pretty big clothes or wear masks"
"So I thought I''d make a similar one, so that if I go with someone holding a camera I can pass as a relatively ordinary person"
"The costume will be pretty similar to the ones Levia wears, but I thought about colors like black with white"
"It''s big enough to hide the ruffles on my arms, as the sleeves will be much longer and will cover my hands"
"For the head I thought of using a cofia headpiece all over except for the face, almost all black except with white borders"
"I will also wear a metal mask but with space to see but no one will be able to see my face"
"..."
"Something like this image"
"That''s a nun"
"Nun"
"Nun with extra steps"
"A penguin"
"Really?"
"I thought it was pretty!"
"Maybe with them I could hide better that the light can pass through me."
"Does really look like a nun?"
"Well, it kind of goes with you, doesn''t it?"
"I mean, if a real nun saw you, wouldn''t she pray to you?"
"...."
"Although is it illegal to impersonate a religious organization to commit a crime?"
"Why would I commit a crime?"
"Lisa, Cesar, Adelis'' work, Lisa"
"Kazumi, Charlotte, Lisa"
"Lisa, Xi''an, Lisa"
"Lisa"
"Cesar gets in trouble most of the time, Lisa"
"But in particular Lisa"
"..."
"You are right"
"...."
"What if I reverse the colors?"
"Or should I use light pink and brown?"
"Thank you very much Momo"
"I am glad to see that you have improved your presentation even more."
"Last but not least I am glad that our newest member also had the opportunity to speak as well"
Said the lady of the moon, handing the microphone to the mermaid who was still swimming in the gigantic fish tank of the store.
"Who me?"
"But I don''t know what to talk about"
"In fact, this meeting caught me by surprise."
"I have nothing prepared"
"Don''t worry, this is more like girl talk"
"Just say something you want to say or ask"
"I don''t know, something good happened to you recently, a memory you''d like to share? A question about Darling that you''d like the rest of us to answer?"
"...."
"Well if so...."
"...."
"How much pain is Darling capable of causing someone?"
"Did it hurt you a lot? Did it make you want to faint in the middle of it?"
....
....
No one even blinked.
Even I stopped what I was doing when I heard the question.
....
....
"Just, why?"
"Well, I wanted to know if he waits to get excited before hitting someone"
"It''s been almost a week since we met but he still hasn''t tortured me again so I thought maybe he was looking to do something special?"
"Or was my punishment not to receive punishment? Do I have to earn it?"
"How do I get him to punish me again?"
....
.....
.....
"That are you not going to help me?"
"Tell me what I have to do to be punished?"
"When will he hit me again? I''m getting impatient"
....
....
....
"Tell me, Tamamo"
"Should we help her in the first place?"
"Personally I think it''s wrong not to help someone in need, but I also think it''s wrong to help her with that as well" asked the confused angel.
"I don''t know."
"I''ve never seen anyone behave like this before"
"Is it a new trend that emerged while I was a rock?"
"I can beat you!"
"I am creating new metal spikes that I want to test."
"They should be able to create 20% more pain compared to the previous model"
"I call it the X25-A men-killer"
"I think Levia is similar to the guys who visit Lisa every day"
"But she''s on the higher level"
"Although she doesn''t know the term I''m sure she''s a real masochist"
"Maria!"
"You know he won''t do it again, don''t you?"
"She promised you herself"
"She really won''t do it again?"
"I really don''t care if she does it again"
"I thought it was part of the deal of being a slave"
"I was even thinking about how to work without an arm"
"...."
"Well then I''ll ask another question."
"How did you all end up loving a breeder?"
"...."
"Sorry! I didn''t mean that!"
"I mean how come you''re dating her in spite of what she really is, you know, her body?"
"As a legitimate curiosity, no offense intended"
"I just wanted to know"
....
"Breeder?"
"What is that? "
"Is there something wrong with her body?"
"Is it dangerous?"
"What is a breeder?"
"Are you sure you should say that?"
"Doesn''t that sound like an insult?"
"How, don''t you know?"
"A breeder"
"The girls who create the low-ranking people"
"The labor force, the lower warriors, the builders?"
"I''m sorry but humans don''t use the same caste system as mermaids."
"Up here things work differently"
"Sorry"
"It''s just that since Elise is a breeder I thought things were the same"
"...."
"But if there are no casts then why is Elise a breeder?"
"What is this breeder?"
"What does it mean?"
"It has something to do with her body, doesn''t it?"
"Is it dangerous?"
"No, it is not dangerous"
"..."
"Instead uncomfortable would be the correct word."
"If you think my body is difficult to move, well, then you have no idea what Elise will become"
"Can you explain further?"
The mermaid started to explain what a breeder means. Tamamo was listening attentively to every letter Levia said, memorizing every detail. Lisa just had a strange smile on her face, was it anger? Was it lust? Joy? with her for sure all of them at the same time. I also stopped to listen to the explanation. How the mermaids had several of them to try to grow fast in numbers. How unhuman their destiny was, how they were treated as objects. How when they reached a certain age their bodies simply exploded the size of their breasts. The terror of being trapped in their own bodies. But most disturbing of all. Elise knew all this and said nothing? She was hiding it so as not to bother the rest of us. That wouldn''t be strange coming from him. Nanami then must have been one of them too, she must have told him at some point, and my son still loved her, the person inside, not the body.
"I guess it wouldn''t be strange if she had been truly designed as a breeder, by her father''s request"
"Her father''s idea was that she would be a primordial and fertility goddess to give birth to the rest of the gods of the mythology he wanted to create"
"Maybe that was the part that destroyed the rest of her body design and caused the failure" reasoned the angel.
"Even if tomorrow his body would explode I would still love him as always"
"He is my savior, my love, my husband, whatever her body size may be" Said Tamamo, with the resolve of a lady clan leader ready for war, Even on her metal fan the kanji word "loyalty" was written.
"I will continue to love Cesar even if it is a single cell" Said the demon looking at her own hand.
"But still, it is quite strange"
"Nanami''s body was abandoned for millennia if not millions of years"
"If it could explode, it would have happened a long time ago" The glass girl spoke again.
"You''re right."
"But Darling''s body also has really been growing"
"Sideways as usual"
"...."
"Plus he tends to eat a lot, not the kind he eats for 4 people but way more than his body size should require"
"...."
"...."
"Now that I think about it, it actually makes sense"
"Darling eats a lot, but if we look at it from the point of view of him"
"A tragic warrior who has been starving most of his life"
"Who doesn''t know if every meal will be his last"
"In Costa Rica, he could eat all he wanted, but of the four days he was there he only ate on the last one, basically the day he was on the beach"
"...."
"So yes or no? she''s going to burst out in boobs?" asked Maria to Tamamo
"I don''t know"
"Maybe"
"...."
"Only time will tell"
"Fuck!"
"Another thing about Cesar that nobody knows again"
"..."
"Is there anything we really know about him?"
"..."
"How strong is he even?" Said the annoyed sister.
"Tamamo is a goddess, Lisa a demon, Stella an angel"
"All of them have been beaten by Caesar, but at the same time their fights have never been important.
"How strong he is when he really fights hard"
"I really have no idea"
"Avalon is a formidable sword, but incapable of delivering victory on its own"
"So his victories must come from elsewhere" said the goddess.
"I''ve seen Cesar fight hard"
"But not at the level needed to defeat Overlord"
"But I did see his corpse at Elise''s feet minutes after his defeat"
"...."
"What I do know is that when Cesar speaks, even the mountains obey his command"
"..."
"The only reason he doesn''t dominate the world it is because he doesn''t want to" Said Lisa.
"All the angels in the Celestial Security Section have orders to obey Cesar without any chain of command, but we don''t know the reason for that either."
"I haven''t really seen why everyone is afraid of him in Heaven either" Added Momo.
"Well, it''s not like an accountant''s daughter has seen the front lines of the battlefield" Lisade said again, but her voice did not reflect malice, but advice.
"No one has seen him fight but still agrees that he is strong?"
"How does that work?"
"Easy"
"Do you think you can beat a battle tank?" Said the demon explaining.
"Of course not"
"Level 5 dragons opened the armor of a tank with their claws"
"Level 6 dragons used them as their minions"
"Level 7 saw them as food"
"What chance do you think they had against a True Dragon?"
"None"
"Well, your brother defeated 6 and fucked the Overlord, their leader"
"Something so fucking dangerous that the gods was afraid of him"
"Where do you think that puts him on the food chain?"
Ch133: The Flu Mystery
The Flu Mystery
***************
Haru POV
***************
The day starts quite early at my house. Since my grandfather works supervising rookie police detectives, he likes to go to work early to review the previous day''s work and see what mistakes his trainees have made. I get up earlier than him to prepare breakfast for him because although my grandfather is a very independent man, it is also true that he is not very good at housework, so I promised him that I would take care of it. After finishing breakfast my grandfather takes me in the car to the entrance of the school.
At first, it was no big deal, since my grandfather is a pretty important person so you could say that I would come to be an Ojou-sama, the girl of a prestigious important family, so it was normal for me to come this way. But since my mother died my grandfather has taken my safety much more seriously, to the point that I''ve even seen him make sure he has his gun loaded before getting into the car. To make matters worse, earlier this year his biggest fear happened when some masked guys kidnapped Adelis, my grandfather''s friend, and me on my way to karaoke with Yukiko. I don''t remember much about what happened next, I think I fainted and woke up in a hospital with my grandfather by my side, he told me that the Adelis guards managed to rescue me without any problems. Since that day I am not allowed to move around much without being accompanied by someone. Normally it is my grandfather or some policeman under his command, but for some reason, he also sees it as valid for me to be with Elise and her girlfriend because apparently they are "adopted" by Adelis and quite reliable.
Once I left the car, the doors of my school, Amari High School, were waiting for me. It is one of the most important private schools in the country, here come the children of a lot of important people, so many parents send their children to make friends with those who will probably be important people in the future. The classes are mostly conducted by the best professors in their fields, even the nurse is a renowned professional doctor so after class, she has to go to the hospital to continue attending to people. Most of the people who come here are quite professional, including the students, because they also take very seriously the classes, exams, and the status of their families, resulting in a very competitive environment, everyone wants to be number one among their peers, a very tiring environment. Everyone except for Elise and her girlfriend Tamamo, the two of them always seems to take everything very lightly with everything that happens in class, as if it doesn''t matter, for the most part, they don''t get stressed by the homework they leave us, and when they get a regular grade they don''t seem to get depressed by their setback, once I even saw Elise rejoice when she got a 75 on a test, the minimum to approve. Tamamo on the other hand I have no idea how she does it but she gets perfect grades even though she never seems to be paying attention in class, she is almost always doing something else, even making flower arrangements during class, but her grades are so good that the other teachers let it pass. Being with them is a lot more fun than being with the rest of the class who just hang around talking about their parents and the latest thing they bought. Especially compared to the girls, who are almost always talking about boys or makeup. Instead, Elise and Tamamo spend time talking about their adventures, about how last week they went to Costa Rica and went to the beach, or how they were in New York the day of the attack, they are somewhat similar to some of the stories my grandfather tells me.
But being with her has also caused some friction with the rest of my classmates. Yukiko, a friend I''ve known since pre-school even got mad at me because I''m not fighting with Elise unlike the rest of the girls in the class. It seems like a lot of them have differences with them because of how she dresses or acts, but if they would just get over what they have to go through maybe they would understand how hard these girls have had it in their lives. Not everyone has had the opportunity to be born into a golden bed like most in the room. Of all the class, who Elise has the worst confrontations with Kyouko, because curiously although they both seem to like girls, they can''t stand to be near each other, the only time I''ve seen Elise angry was fighting with her when even Tamamo had to intervene. But The fact that Tamamo and Elise have come so far is really admirable, but few give the opportunity to get to know that side of them. My grandfather doesn''t think much of it either, since he seems to know enough about the two of them to know that the others are the ones who are wrong.
The course of the day seemed to follow the usual rhythm. Even the two girls mentioned before were late as usual, but today there was something different about one of them. The white girl had a medical mask, also you could see in her look that she was quite tired, besides the cold she had, because the coat she almost always wears around her waist was on and buttoned today, when she had not done that even when it was still almost winter. I asked her what happened to which she replied that she had caught a cold after falling into a giant fish tank the day before, but how did that happen in the first place? What was she doing?
During the course of the class, I could see how Elise made efforts to continue in the day. It was really amazing to see the tenacity that the girl possessed, for coming to a class where she is bullied daily and with such strong flu to see how even though she was an albino her face turned alarmingly red, or maybe it was normal red but the lack of color made it look more serious than it was. But she still refused to go to the infirmary, and it wasn''t until Tamamo, tired of insisting, took her by force when her girlfriend almost fainted in music class. When classes ended I also went to the infirmary to check on her health.
"You know, I find it incredible that a creature like you could get sick from a simple cold"
"Of course, I can get sick, I am more human than fox, and even foxes can get sick." Elise said in a funny voice due to her stuffy nose.
"Speaking of which, you''re not going to turn into a fox by any chance now that you''re sick"
"Where did you get that idea?"
"Ah, ah, ah"
"ACHOOO!"
Just as she finished speaking, Elise sneezed so hard that her tail lifted up violently, throwing the sheet off the bed. Tamamo quickly picked it up and put it back in place before anyone else noticed.
"Well, it looks like you can''t involuntarily transform by catching a cold"
"I''m glad something more dangerous like dragon claws didn''t come out"Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing, forget it."
"...."
"You know, I really think I''m getting worse."
"I''m sorry but I''d better go home, I don''t want to be this bad in this place"
"Sure, of course"
"I hope you get better soon"
"I''m sorry Haru but I''m also going home with Darling, I need to take care of her, especially in the subway"
"I won''t be able to go to the club meeting today"
"Sure, no problem"
"I understand perfectly"
"Please take care of her"
"And good luck"
After that, I went to the club room to let Asuka, the other club member, know that today''s meeting would be canceled due to a lack of members. Especially since my grandfather will surely come to pick me up early as soon as I told him that Elise left early today.
"Are they really not coming today either?"
"That''s a pity, I have only been able to see them once so far"
"I don''t think we''ve had a single real club activity yet"
"Well, we don''t really have a lot of ideas of what to do right now ,either"
"Most of the time we spent talking about other things and figuring out how to decorate the room better"
"I was thinking about practicing with that magic trick set"
"You know, just out of curiosity"
"Do you really know Tamamo and the other girl?"
"Of course, I know them!"
"They are my friends after all!"
"Sorry, I think I asked the wrong question, let me rephrase it"
"How long have you known Tamamo?"
"She is one of your childhood friends, isn''t she?"
"Well, I haven''t really known them that long."
"I met them at the beginning of this year when they came to our class."
"...."
"But my grandfather has known their mother for a long time, so it''s not like we''re complete strangers either"
"You could say that it was only until now that I had the opportunity to talk to them with what should have been my group of friends from the beginning"
"Or something like that"
"...."
"So you''ve only known them for a short time"
"..."
"Did your grandfather really never even take you to her birthday party?"
"How old is Tamamo?"
"Oh no."
"That would have been really difficult though."
"They are not from Japan, they come from America, in truth is surprising how well they speak Japanese"
"...."
"Although now that I think about it I think I heard that Tamamo was from Kyoto before going to America"
"So they are foreigners?"
"How did your grandfather meet her mother then?"
"Isn''t your grandfather the chief of police or something similar?"
"Well yes, but it was only recently that he became a police officer again"
"He spent a lot of time working in the foreign ministry if I remember correctly"
"He spent a lot of time traveling abroad."
"It was only now that he is taking care of me that he finally decided to stay in one place"
"Interesting"
"So your grandfather was not only a policeman and Tamamo claims to have a mother"
"Well, something like that"
"She''s currently living in the same house as Elise, her girlfriend, it''s kind of complicated relationship."
"!!!!"
"Speaking of my grandfather, he''s calling me, I have to answer him!"
"See you later Asuka!"
"Okay, see you later"
My grandfather''s call was to tell me that something had happened at work, another strange case , so it will come out quite late again. Since I told him about Elise''s condition he wanted me to go to the White Moon cafeteria and stay there until he came to pick me up, so I gathered my things and was on my way.
It had been a while since I had been to Adelis'' coffee shop. I knew they were remodeling it quite a bit lately from what Elise was telling me, so I was anxious to see what it looked like now. And I was quite surprised, the walls now had many more decorations, several swords, and spears, there were also several leather bags ,armor parts quite dented and leather clothes is being exhibited on a wall in the background, I think that by the shape it is clear that Elise was the model for the suit, which was a strange choice really, especially knowing that Tamamo and Lisa were available, they have a more standard body. Also, the place had been arranged better for people in wheelchairs, as there was much more space near the counter and some of the tables, which in fact an elderly lady was using one of them right now. There were also more plants now, as there are even pots on the ceiling, they are beautifully decorated and real, I have no idea how they keep them all looked after too, as it looks like quite a lot of work. Finally, I managed to see what had been the most radical change in the place so far, because at the bottom there was now a giant aquarium from which a rock came out from the ground to the surface of the water, now I understood where Elise caught a cold. Inside was a huge girl, she was dressed as a mermaid and was playing with a boy making funny faces underwater. Her performance was really convincing, as even the movements of her tail seemed to carry the weight that her size would suggest. With her, the new arrangements, and the new food, it was certainly now as close to another world as you can get.
"Just go and die already!"
"Get out! You fucking maggot!"
That must have been Lisa, who must have just charged a customer to he can leave. The boy that came out of the door shortly after with a happy face must have been him.
"Oh hello Haru." Said Adelis waving as she attended to someone else.
"!!!!"
"Hi Haru, welcome"
"If you want, go to the back table as usual."
"That one is always reserved for the family"
"Look out for the model warship Darling was building, it''s in the box on the table" Said Lisa, attending to me with a smile.
"The one next to the mermaid?"
"Yes, that''s right"
"Let us introduce her to you"
"Haru this is Levia"
"She is the new member of our group"
"Levia this is Haru"
"She is the daughter of a good friend of Adelis, she is also in the same class as Elise"
"She is a close friend"
"Hello Haru"
"As you were told my name is Levia"
"I would like to shake your hand but I think you''ll have a hard time getting up here" She said as she climbed onto the rock.
"Wow!"
"That''s incredible!"
"How are you able to do that?"
"Isn''t the costume too uncomfortable on your legs to be swimming for that long all days?"
"...."
"Well it''s not that hard..., once you get used to it."
"Ha..., ha.... , ha...."
"???"
"You have the same guilty look on your face that Elise had when I told her about her ears"
"...."
"!!!!"
"Wait, is it possible that you really are a...!"
"Haru!"
"What do you plan to order!" Lisa interrupted me.
"Come on, don''t worry."
"She''s trustworthy, you can tell her the truth Levia."
"Didn''t you want to meet more humans?"
"This is your chance!"
Maria appeared next to us by surprise as well, this time wearing a blonde wig and clearly fake pointed ears.
"And what are you supposed to be?"
"Elf" said disappointed.
"Your costume is pretty bad compared to the others"
"I know, that''s the idea"
"Remind people that the maids here are in theory wearing costumes"
"We had a problem last night when an otaku wanted to kidnap Levia and Elise had to intervene"
"Because of that, she ended up catching a cold"
"Which is surprising because she is really heavy, but he somehow almost makes it" added Lisa.
"So, is she really one?"
"A real mermaid!?"
"...."
"Well yes"
"I am Levia the mermaid and slave"
"I wanted to get to know the world of humans and that''s how I ended up here."
"I''m Elise''s toy number 6"
"???"
"Toy?"
Ch134: Dreaming The Dream
Dreaming The Dream
It was a journey of several hours on one of the few magnetic trains that still worked on the route to Remshys. When I arrived it was already night, the huge moon behind the city confirmed it. The city still had a strong barrier still functional and its anti-aircraft turrets were still operational, it still had inhabitants, so this city that was close to the front became the logistic center for our army, from here ammunition and food were sent to the troops at the front, using the train mentioned above. The city was located in the uppermost part of the lower half, outside the mainland, between the sky and the sea.
The view was simply beautiful, and majestic, contrary to the hell into which this godless kingdom was plunged. The streets were still clean, the light crystals were working, people were living in the houses, blacksmiths were hammering metal, guards were patrolling, the last vestiges of an era that was almost extinct. Memories of calm fill this place, now inhabited mostly by warriors taking a rest before continuing their long journey. I had come to this city for two reasons, the first was to recover from my wounds suffered at the front, since the city was relatively safe it was a good place for worn-out troops to rest for a while before continuing, the other reason is that I received a letter from someone who found out I was coming here and wanted to see me.
It took me quite a while to find the inn they had reserved for me previously, it was in the outer part of the city, hard to get to and even harder to find, but the place was nice, as with the rest of the city. The place had been paid for in advance so they would not ask any questions about me. But despite my wounds, I had no time to rest yet, with my uniform still on I picked up my messenger bag and my walking cane to help me walk and returned back to the city.
On the other side of town, there was a path leading to a really big tree. It was just a work of art, nothing particularly strange in these lands. But that was not my destination. But the road itself, because it was here where they were waiting for me.
A silhouette hid in one of the trees when she noticed me walking by, but she confirmed my identity and then came out to wait for me impatiently. It was Nanami, who despite trying to hide her identity, her silhouette gave away her identity. Her clothes were black and relatively simple but still adorned to reflect her potion. It was actually her sleeping clothes, she didn''t even have sandals on, a sign of the importance for her to come no matter what.
"Late! You were ten minutes late!"
"Sorry, I''m so sorry, the cane really slowed down my walk."
"But look on the bright side, I came prepared this time and brought you my sneakers"
"Footwear of the earth!"
"For me? Thank you so much!"
"I always wanted to see what it felt like to wear them!"
"It was worth escaping from the city palace today!"
"Well, I think they''ll be too big for you, but you can keep them"
"It''s not like I have much time to wear them anyway"
"I also brought you this army cape, it will help cover you up, plus the Atlanteans are less likely to stare at you with it."
"Oh, using the contempt of these people against the common soldiers to help me hide!"
"Well done Cesar! Very clever of you!" she said patting my head.
"And Well?"
"Where do you want to go today?"
"There aren''t exactly many places with few people in this city"
"Oh!"
"Don''t worry, there''s a kiosk up ahead."
"I asked The White Banisher to keep an eye on it and scare the other people away"
"We should have a moment of privacy there, what do you think?"
"After you my dear"
"Oh what a gentlemanly husband I have"
"You still behave like a man even though you can barely move around"
"Let me repay your kindness by helping you walk"
She tried to put my hand on her shoulder to help me, but due to her size it was much more difficult to walk than it already was, but even so, I supported it and said nothing, enduring the pain that I suffered from being in the position I was in. But just as she had said, a little further ahead there was a kiosk much more illuminated than the others, in it there was a table and a couple of benches, so when I got there I could finally rest.
"So, well, did you manage to bring it?"
"What do you have for me this time?" said the girl in front of me impatiently.
"Well, no such luck this time,"
"I tried to search everywhere, even among the things abandoned by the others, but it was really hard."
"In the end, I found another guy, he was a sniper, but he had lost a couple of things in his last mission"
"I managed to trade him one of them in exchange for a watch I had found before"
"Sorry I couldn''t find anything better but this is all I could get"
I said as I put the book on the table.
"The happy prince?"
"It''s a children''s story, I''m sorry it''s not very long"
"But look, each page has a big drawing!"
"Besides, this one contains the whole story, unlike the manga who are in volumes"
"Well, since it''s so short, how about reading it together?"
"You don''t mind, do you?"
She came to my side with the book and we both began to read it, one page each. Nanami had improved a lot with her studies in other languages because now she could read the book without any difficulty.
The story of the happy prince told about how a swallow stopped to rest on a statue of gold and precious jewels as eyes that was in the middle of a village, he was adored by everyone in the village, because the prince always smiled, never cried, the prince was looking down on everyone, as it was the tallest structure in the city. The state had been created in honor of the happy Prince, who lived in the Mansion of Carelessness, where the pain is not allowed to enter, where happiness was the only thing he ever knew. But when the little bird was there under the statue, drops of water began to fall on it, but it was not rain that was falling, but tears, because for at night the happy prince cried inconsolably. The little creature asked the statue why it was crying, to which he replied that it was the happy Prince, where during his life he saw the happy life in his castle, but now that he was outside he could see the real misery in which its inhabitants of his city lived, although now his heart is made of lead, the only thing he did was cry. Near the square lived an old weaver woman, with a starving child to whom she could only give water because she had no money for anything else. The prince, full of compassion for them, asked the swallow to take the jewel from his sword and give it to them, the bird, seeing the sadness of the statue, agreed and did exactly as he was asked. The next day, the statue asked the swallow for another assignment, this time to a poor worker, who in winter had no money for coal and hunger had exhausted him, but he continued to work for his employer. This time he no longer had any jewels to give, except for the rubies in his eyes, so he asked to pluck one to give to the weary worker, and as such the bird agreed, for she wanted to make the prince happy. The next order came soon after as well, a ragged girl from a poor family selling matches was to be beaten by her father, as she had dropped them in the mud and they had become useless. The prince asked his messenger to pluck out the other eye and give it to the girl. The swallow agreed, but sadly, for now, the prince had been blinded by the loss of his eyes. The swallow faithful to the prince began to fly around the city to tell the statue everything he could see, trying to replace the lost eyes. The bird told him how the rich rulers held banquets in their palaces while orphaned children lived under bridges, hugging each other for warmth in the cold of winter. The prince crying once again asked his faithful companion to tear off his gold sheets and give them to the poor, the swallow immediately set to work and worked all night, distributing the gold sheet by sheet of the statue, until it lost its golden color, that night the poor sang that they would eat bread. The swallow continued to accompany her lover after that, because she promised him that they would stay together forever, until one day, when the winter cold had no compassion for the poor creature, she froze to death while giving the prince a kiss as her farewell gift. A sound broke the silence of that night, a rustling sound, the prince''s leaden heart had been broken. The next day the mayor found the swallow and wondering where the bird could have come from he looked up and looked at the statue. Now a ragged beggar, because he had lost his golden color and his jewelry. The mayor of the city thought that an ugly statue had lost its purpose for existing, so he had the statue melted down to build one in honor of himself. While smelting the stake, the smiths could not destroy the lead core, no matter how hot the flames got. So they threw it in the garbage, where the dead swallow was also located. Not long after God gave a test to one of his best angels, exam, the angel was to bring the two most beautiful things he could find in that city. The angel went on his search, which did not last long, he brought back the leaden heart and the dead swallow. God congratulate him greatly for his work, because he had chosen well, in the garden of Paradise this little bird will sing forever, and the Happy Prince will praise forever in the Golden City, where the two of them will be together forever.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Nanami closed the book and hugged it, and without saying anything, she snuggled her head against my chest. I couldn''t say anything either.
"Do you think you could be the swallow in my story?" she asked slowly.
"I am your faithful companion, I will accompany you to the end of your story, no matter what it is"
"Thank you, my love"
"I hope my ending is at least a little happier if your god can forgive me of the sins against him done by my family"
"Being together is already the greatest happiness I could imagine, he will surely understand"
After a while, we gathered our things and set out to walk some more. We walked around the outside of the city, where most of the common human soldiers were, those who had never seen Nanami, those who would not recognize her. They were trading things, and among them, I saw a chocolate bar, a rather strange object in these lands. I did not hesitate for a second to exchange my gun for the chocolate, because its rarity was worth it, and I immediately gave it to the girl who accompanied me. She didn''t hesitate to call me an idiot either, I simply replied that if at least trading a gun was worth a little happiness I wouldn''t hesitate to give any and all of them. When we arrived at our new destination, a lookout tower from where we could see the port of the city, the little girl broke the chocolate and shared it with me.
"This place is so beautiful"
"So full of color, so full of tranquility"
"Of peace"
"...."
"It is ironic that if it were not for the war I would never have had the opportunity to leave the Palace in the clouds and experience the beauty of the world."
"Or meet you, my love"
"I would have simply been locked in my room and forced to have children non-stop for all my life, just like the breeder my father wanted me to be"
....
....
"Tell me"
"Would you still love me if I had a different body?"
"If I was a normal girl from your world, taller, less just a pair of boobs walking and more like a real person"
"..."
"Would you still be with me?" she asked looking me in the face.
"Nothing would have changed, I would still love you whatever your shape is"
"I still would have come to you that day"
"I would have kept you company, kept saying yes to your confession"
"...."
"But if you had been a normal girl ...."
"Would you have behaved differently with me?"
"Would you have seen me as just an average guy if everyone in the palace treated you like a normal girl?"
"Would you be just another Atlantean who despises ordinary men?"
"What would separate me from the rest?"
....
....
"I do not know"
"The two of us were not destined to meet in the course of our lives, even less love each other"
"Things just worked out this way and it was a surprise for both of us"
"...."
"Maybe the only good thing about this tragedy, this hell"
"The only thing I am thankful for the people of Atlantis"
"Is that it gave me the opportunity to meet you, Darling"
"And I wouldn''t hesitate to go through it all over again if in this way I would meet you again"
We stayed hugging each other at the top of that tower for much longer. We talked about everything we had been through when we were apart, catching up with each other. Until midnight came, it was time for Nanami to return to her room before anyone noticed her absence. This time we took the most direct way, passing through the middle of the city because by this time there were very few people, mostly regular human soldiers sleeping in the streets, as they did not find any place to welcome them even though the houses were mostly empty.
When I got to the outer wall I had to help the little girl so she could sneak back inside the castle. I took a couple of stones and threw them at the guards near where Nanami had to pass to get to her room. Once I accomplished my goal of attracting attention the guards started to run towards me, I started to run too, but with my wounds and needing the help of a cane to move I didn''t get very far and it didn''t take long for them to capture me. I was taken to the castle prison, the same one where higher up in a tower Nanami was supposed to be, but I was happy with my fate, knowing that I had helped her. I didn''t spend much time there either, because shortly after my capture I met The White Banisher, who used his authority to take me in his custody and took me back to the city, he had helped me once again, I was so happy for that day and even invited him for a beer in a bar he found.
....
.....
....
....
"Darling, are you okay?"
"Do you need some more medicine?"
"You are crying again"
Tamamo''s voice roused me from my sleep. It was still dark and I could see the goddess doing her thing again as I saw the massive amount of moonlight through the windows that were filling the room when it should have been a new moon. She was worried about me again, she had been hugging me while Momo went to the kitchen to make me tea.
"Yes, don''t worry"
"These are not tears of sadness this time."
"They are of happiness"
"Because today''s dream had reminded me of something I treasured very much"
Ch135: Day Off
Day Off
The bathroom in our house was unusually busy today. Today there were three of us trying to use it at the same time, for no particular reason really. First, there was me, I was still sick, so I had taken the day off today and didn''t go to class, so this time it was Tamamo alone, she already knows how the world works nowadays so I don''t think she will have any problems. In front of me, I had Charlotte, who was sitting while I was trying to wash her head with soap, while Tifa the fairy was sitting on the shelf where the soaps were, waiting for the bathtub to be filled.
"Dad, I''m a robot, I can''t get sick, it''s a waste of time to bathe me"
"No buts!"
"Remember that you promised to behave like a human, that includes baths too!"
"For a supposedly personality-less robot, you''re putting up quite a fight against bathing."
"Mom! Help me!"
"Dad won''t let me leave!"
"You heard your father"
"Promises are meant to be kept"
"Besides, even if you can''t get sick, it doesn''t mean that people around you won''t get sick because of you"
"Besides hot water feels so good, why are you against it?" Tifa said as she washed entirely with a single drop of soap.
"Wow, you''re getting better at being a mother"
"And to know that you were so afraid of your own daughters" I said as I heard the little girl''s voice.
"Not really, I''m still afraid of them"
"It''s just that I know they won''t hurt me, so I try to endure it"
"But what are they afraid of her?"
"Just look at her, she looks like an innocent giant doll"
"Yes, that''s exactly what I''m afraid of!"
"Just look at her face! She really looks like she''s not alive"
"Oh come on you are exaggera...."
"!!!!!"
"Oh my God, Charlotte! please close your eyes before the soap gets in."
"Doesn''t that irritate you?"
"But this is the best way to clean my eye sensors"
"They are also protected by a thick protective layer, a little soap will not damage them"
"Wait a moment while I wash that off with water"
"And please close your eyes next time, you can''t believe how scary they look like this"
"It''s like looking at a statue crying blood"
After we finished bathing Charlotte we switched places. This time she was washing my head while I was washing my tail. Tifa while she was waiting for us sat on a rubber duck.
"You know"
"It''s ironic, but it''s more believable to see Charlotte as your older sister than for you to be her father"
"She''s bigger than you"
"You are right"
"If only his mother who says that wasn''t the size of my hand"
"...."
"We have to face it, she''s bigger than both of us, and this competition is disappointing"
"Why does your tail soap have a dog picture on it?"
"You should use human shampoo right?"
"Soap is soap!"
"This one is much cheaper and has strong flea protection"
"...."
"Also my mother hit me when she noticed when I used her special shampoo"
"Anti flea?"
"Have you had fleas before?"
"....."
"....."
"!!!!"
"Seriously!"
"And how did that happen!"
"How did you get rid of them?"
"I was in a war"
"So didn''t see the bathroom for months"
"By accident, I set myself on fire with jet fuel"
"I never had hair again after that"
"I do not recommend that technique to anyone"
When the three of us finally finished, we finally got into the bathtub, which was big enough for the 2.10 people and a foxtail that was using it.
"Levia is really lucky to be able to sleep here"
"The hot water is so relaxing, I never want to leave"
"That''s easy to fix, just fill that cup there with water and you''re done"
"I can leave it on your shelf every night"
"However, the water will get cold over time"
"And if the cup falls over and the water gets watered my mother will scold you to death"
"Does the water here get cold?"
"Yes"
"Even when Levia fills it with hot water to sleep, by the next day it will be quite cold"
"And how does she manage to endure so much cold and not get sick, unlike you yesterday?"
"She is a mermaid, besides she lived in the depths of the sea"
"Where the sun was never even seen"
"Her body is quite resistant to low temperatures."
"..."
"Charlotte it''s been more than 5 minutes"
"Take your head out of the water now, an ordinary person would have drowned by now!"
"No!"
"You''re going to attack me again with that sponge!"
"Ordinary people don''t talk underwater without problems either"
"And the sponge is to finish washing your joints"
"With your behavior today I no longer trust that you are washing well"
"What if something gets stuck in there? We can''t trust momo to always have the tools she needs to fix you"
"Of course, we wash well!"
"Kazumi always takes care of the joints!"
"You two are the same artificial intelligence in reality"
"Don''t think I''ve forgotten that!"
"If you don''t like bathing then neither does your sister"
"TCH!"
"You remember that but not the subjects for your exam"
"Must be early signs of dementia"
"!!!!"
"Auch"
"If I had dementia right now, I would be in jail, to begin with"
"Scientifically speaking, you are just one step away to have dementia"
"Ordinary people don''t wake up crying in the middle of the night or paranoid fear of the dark"
"You haven''t been caught that''s all"
"Ok, so today you want to play rough?"
"All right, I''ll play, I''m very good at it."
"I''m sorry, I''m so sorry"
"Dad, I''m sorry!"
"Not the screwdriver please!"
When we finished bathing the three of us went to my room. Since I was cold because of my cold I simply lay down on my bed. Tifa worried about me and put a wet cloth on my forehead. Soon after came Momo, which was successful in going to the mini-supermarket to buy our lunch. Charlotte put on the TV an old DVD that I had been wanting to watch and we all started watching it. Who knew that the only thing I needed to have a quiet day was just not going to school. But if Cesar doesn''t look for problems, problems look for Cesar.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Suddenly without warning the door of my room opened wide, while we were all lying on the bed under a blanket. It was Haru, the one who just came in, followed by Tamamo, who had a sad face for not being able to stop her in time. Both were still wearing their school uniforms.
"Hello, Elise!"
"Since you didn''t go to school today, I came to visit you today"
"Here I brought you Dutch Orange ice cream with chocolate and almonds"
"Fine and expensive ice cream!"
"I want to try it" Said the angel next to me under the blanket.
"Haru!"
"What are you doing here?"
"Shouldn''t your grandfather have come to pick you up today?"
"Oh come on, there''s nothing wrong with that"
"A friend of mine was sick and I came to visit you"
"Grandpa was sad about the news and he was the one who asked me to bring you the ice cream"
"Well, thank you very much for your gesture"
"I''m going to the kitchen to make you some hot tea" Said Tamamo running away from what she knew would be a long series of questions.
"Which movie are you watching?"
"...."
"The Barbie in the nutcracker?"
"Wow, I thought you were watching a different kind of movie"
"You know, you act like a tomboy all the time, so I thought you''d be more into action movies"
"No, I was actually watching the Max Steel one"
"But the DVD comes with two movies and I was just too lazy to switch"
Besides, I was watching the movie with Momo and Tifa who were right under my blanket.
"By the way, what language is it in?"
"Their voices seem pretty weird to me"
"I don''t know what they are saying"
"Well, it is in Spanish after all"
"Why are you watching a movie in another language?"
"Exactly! I''m not!"
"I''m not watching the movie in another language, that''s you!"
"Ah, yes, you are a foreigner"
"So it is in Spanish, isn''t it?"
"Well, yes"
"But could you ask me while talking to my face and not while looking through my closet?"
"Why do you have a Dakimakura with your image in the closet?"
"That''s not mine"
"It''s Lisa''s"
"It''s what she bought on internet when she got her first paycheck"
"And this game console?"
"That''s mine this time"
"Did you just come to check my house again?"
"There are many mysteries in this house and I intend to uncover them all!"
"For example, why do you look like you''re in bed with someone else?"
"It is the sculpture of the angel"
"I slept with her because I was lonely"
I don''t care anymore, there is no lie that works in this situation or with her. It''s easier to just tell her the truth and let her lie to herself..
"But what are your detours with that angel?"
"That''s a pretty weird fetish you have"
"How does Tamamo support this side of you?"
"Well, things happened"
"Why are you always keeping secrets from me!"
"I am your friend! You can trust me!"
"I won''t tell anyone!"
"And why do you say that while going through my desk!?"
"You''re the kind of person who gets into trouble all the time"
"I''m sure you''ve got something hidden in case any trouble comes up"
"...."
"Or many troubles"
"Oh shit!"
"Put that down! Don''t touch it!"
"Damn, that''s dangerous you know!"
"It''s a weapon, not a toy."
"These things are made to take lives" I said, jumping out of bed to push the girl away.
"How did you get those things?"
"Work"
"I didn''t buy them"
"I just got them"
"..."
"Damn, this was locked"
"How did you get it open?"
"These are much more modern than the one my grandfather has"
"He just uses an old revolver"
"Your grandfather use a 460 Smith & Wesson nicknamed the big iron in America"
"That thing could take down a plane"
"The mine is a toy compared to that."
"It''s frightening how much you know about it, Elise"
"Well, you didn''t say you were a locksmith either"
"if I want to be a detective like my grandfather I have to learn the necessary skills"
"I have a locksmith kit in my house and I spend some time practicing from time to time"
"The only ones who learn that are the thieves"
"A cop will first get a warrant, then take things into evidence, and once at the station call a locksmith and film the process"
"I repeat"
"It''s frightening how much you know about the subject Elise"
"In a past life, were you a police officer by chance?"
"Perhaps"
"Maybe a pilot, maybe a king"
"Which answer would keep you quiet?"
"See, there you go again keeping secrets!"
"I have no idea what to believe when you speak"
"With you, I don''t know what can be a lie and what is true!"
"With you, I can''t have a quiet day either so it''s a draw"
"Come on, a couple of answers at least!"
"Yesterday I went to the coffee shop and met Levia, so now I have a lot more questions"
"How many girls are you dating? From what I''ve been told You''re creating a real harem"
"Are all the staff at the store your girlfriends?"
"How did you manage to talk them into dating all at once?"
"How annoying you are, seriously"
"I don''t hang out with the whole store....."
"Just most of them."
"Besides, I was very clear with them from the beginning but they were the ones who decided to create a harem anyway"
"Wow, quite a playboy or playgirl in your case"
"And how many are they? Tell me the number?"
"......"
"Is it below the five girls?"
"....."
"Six"
"Nine my whole family"
"Even counting your sister, your mother and you, it doesn''t balance out"
"Who are you hiding!"
"I did not count them"
"You"
"Tamamo, Lisa,Levia"
"The robot girls too right?"
"Three are missing!"
"Where are they?"
"No comments"
"None of them are human, right!"
"Where are they, what race are they!"
"Where are you hiding them!"
"I won''t leave until I find them!"
"You won''t believe me anyway"
"Besides, why so much enthusiasm?"
"I will solve this mystery!"
"I will not rest until I solve it!"
"...."
"You''re counting the glass statue, aren''t you?"
"There''s another one, isn''t there?"
"What if I told you she is really an angel and also alive?"
"Apologize of course"
"Do you swear to me that you will remain calm?"
"Oh my God, are you serious?"
"Haru, meet Momo, one of the girls" I said as I lifted the blanket.
"Momo this is Haru, a nuisance"
"Hello"
"We''ve met before ha ha ha ....."
"Why did you do this? She believed the lie perfectly the first time."
"!!!!"
"I am so sorry!"
"I didn''t know you were a real person"
"I''m so sorry for bothering you, besides what happened the first time I was here" She said, striking an apologetic pose.
"You don''t have to be so formal"
"I''m not that good with manners anyway."
"Besides, no one believes me that I''m alive the first time either"
"I''m used to it"
"Not really, but let''s leave that for another day"
"Ok"
"Who else do you have hidden!"
"A dragon, a lamia, a centaur..."
"A cat girl!"
"She is very shy and nervous so please keep your distance at all times?"
"???"
"It''s on the shelf"
"It''s the fairy"
"Elise!!" shouted Tifa.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
"....."
"The figure moved!!!"
"!!!!"
"Wait it really is a fairy!
"AMAZING"
"It''s PRECIOUS!"
"She looks so innocent"
"Come here I want to hug you!"
"Why did you do it!"
"HELP ME!"
"RESCUE ME!"
"YOU PROMISED ME!"
"TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME!" Said the fairy flying to my hands seeking protection.
"Oh come on Tifa"
"It''s just shock therapy"
"If you face your fears head-on you will overcome them!"
"But you can''t be killed with a single clap!"
"Can I borrow her?"
"I can hold her in my arms for a moment"
"I want to take a picture of her!"
"Sorry"
"Tifa suffers from trust issues with humans"
"She will have to be the one who wants to approach you instead"
"Find a way to gain her trust"
"How many species live in this house?"
"I thought the other world was the cafeteria, but the real mystery is here."
"Almost everything can be a clue!"
"Like this pillow here, for example"
"Why do you sleep with two separate pairs of pillows?"
"Elise likes to rest on her face down"
"But she has such big boobs that she puts some pillows under them so she can be comfortable"
"Tifa!"
"We are hand in hand, aren''t we?"
Today Haru was so excited that she really didn''t want to leave until she talked to all of us together. And to make matters worse she got her wish when her grandfather called and said he would come later to pick her up, so she stayed until the evening when the store closed and everyone came. We still didn''t reveal much to her, like the fact that I was a man or Nanami. Haru sure was super happy to ask so many questions in one day. I just hope she''ll leave me alone now, I''ve had enough of this girl. The only good thing is that now the risk of creating misunderstandings must have gone down to zero.
Ch136: Overtime Work And Family
Overtime Work And Family
Alliance Office Japan, Akasaka Press Center, Minato, Tokyo.
May 25
***************
Adelis POV
***************
I couldn''t believe that it had been almost 3 months since the New York attack. The news was still going on every day about it, and had even overshadowed a lot of other important news like the upcoming Japanese government elections, or how the US defense minister had been replaced by the confrontation between his wife and the President over the phone that fateful day. It didn''t help that the whole Alliance was still stuck in an endless loop of paperwork, but at least I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I had to work a lot of overtime because the cafeteria orders were also behind schedule, but thanks to everyone''s help I managed to get by. While I was working I heard a TV on.
"The President of the United States confirmed this afternoon that he will visit Japan despite the emergency in New York because, in his own words, "It is a great nation with great relations with the American people and discuss issues for better future security cooperation between the two countries"
"President John Smith will meet with the current Prime Minister as well as some of the politicians of the main political parties"
"He also intends to visit the U.S. military base in Toyko, which just three months ago was attacked by a radical opposition faction and where three soldiers lost their lives"
"The citizens of Japan have grown dissatisfied with this installation in recent years because they believe that a permanent Army presence could have created the country''s capital as a target of the Empire, as happened with Norway, an almost neutral country that was attacked last year without any warning, where its capital was captured and the country was under control for 6 long months"
"Caroline''s report from the White House"
"Wilson, can you turn off the TV?"
"I''m already too busy with my work to listen to it in the background anymore" I said to my assistant.
However, Wilson did not do as I asked, he was still sitting at his desk, looking at something on his smartphone.
"Wilson?"
The man began to cry as he continued to watch something with the device in his hands, it seemed that he was remembering something that made him sad because his look was quite similar to the one Cesar had from time to time.
"Wilson?"
"What happened? Everything ok?"
"!!!!"
"I''m so sorry ma''am"
"I didn''t mean to disturb you, I''ll get going right away!"
"...."
"Excuse me, can you repeat what it was?"
"Is everything okay Wilson?"
"Nothing you want to talk about?"
"You look like you need to"
"No ma''am"
"I am fine"
"Come on, there''s no problem at all"
"You can say it, I''m not going to laugh or get upset"
"If it is something that is affecting your day-to-day life it is best to talk about it with others and see what can be done"
"...."
"Sorry Ma''am"
"...."
"It was just my friend, Big-T"
"His son called me yesterday, he told me Big T died in the attack on New York"
"...."
"He was a good friend of mine, from the neighborhood"
"He and his brother took care of me from The Yellow Cobras, the ones who were looking to take over the neighborhood"
"The older one died trying to get me out of a problem with them"
"...."
"And Big-T was the one who got me out of the neighborhood by helping me join the army."
"He was the one who lied for me on my exam so that I could get out of there"
"...."
"It looks like he was one of the four hundred of the resistance"
"He died while trying to take over the airport, trying to rescue several civilians"
"...."
"If it wasn''t for him or his brother I would probably still be on the street"
"Oh my gosh."
"I''m so sorry, if only I would have done a better job than day maybe..."
"Don''t worry Ma''am"
"I know very well what you did that day"
"If it hadn''t been for you it probably would have been his son too."
"..."
"I''m sure Big-T is grateful to you for saving his family"
"The boy is going to go live with his mother."
"Big-T took the boy to get him out of the neighborhood too"
"His mother still lives there, so I''m looking for a way to get the boy out"
"...."
"I owe it to Big-T after all"
"Ok, I agree."
"If you need any help or ideas I''d like to hear them."
"After all, the Army also owes it to one of the four hundred heroes"
"Thank you very much Mrs. Adelis"
"Mrs. Adelis?"
"May I have a second of your time?"
"What do you need Xi''an?" I said as I continued writing.
"...."
"Yesterday when you left I received a call, a bit peculiar"
"It is the Japanese national Onmyoji association"
"They would like to have a meeting with you, so they asked if they could arrange a day for such a meeting"
"Onmyoji?"
"And what is that?"
"...."
"They are a group of Shinto priests"
"..."
"It''s like saying the equivalent of the Catholic church but for Japanese"
"They are in charge of taking care of the temples and blessing things and breaking curses"
"A religious group?"
"...."
"But we are a military base, what the fuck do we have anything to do with them?"
"That''s exactly what I told them"
"But they insisted that it was important and they wanted to meet with you specifically"
"It seems they want to talk about something important"
"...."
"If it is for our soldiers most of them are Christians and we have a church with a priest near here"
"Our people go there every Sunday"
"Now if it is for something like publicity for the Japanese neighbors tell them to contact the base relations department, give them the number"
"I''m sure they would like to do something to lower the tension with the neighbors"
"That''s what I told them!"
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon."But they really want to meet with you, Mrs. Adelis"
"Xi''an"
"Right now I am working on the New York reconstruction plan"
"The President is coming to visit us and has put me personally in charge of security for his trip"
"Commander Phillips has been recalled to America because he is being replaced"
"Every day some Japanese senator calls me asking for help with his political campaign for re-election"
"The President of Russia has asked me to keep a close eye on a new insurgent group"
"Germany is waiting for investment from international banks to start producing again"
"And when I get back to the cafeteria I have to prepare a birthday party for a client who paid me in advance"
"Do you think I have time to meet with anything less than a prime minister?"
"Tell them if they want preferential treatment first build a World Superpower and then call me, otherwise the waiting list is 3 years"
"So it''s a no?"
"Exactly"
"Unless you want to end up in a preschool nursery school"
"Agreed!"
"I''m so sorry to bother you"
As it sounded, the rest of the day was just as stressful as it sounded. I had to continue writing various supply requisitions, budget sheets, and begin to organize with the Secret Service the various branches that would be present for the security of the President''s visit. All non-critical work had been put on hold until further notice, which included requests from other smaller spices and some technology companies that were hoping to receive money to continue their research and development. I don''t think my work will affect them anyway, after all, there is already an established command, I''m just a shortcut for them and I see to it that the most important work gets done first. Something like a new tank model can surely wait another 6 months, unlike the families in New York who were left homeless on the day of the invasion, and now sleep in tents under bridges.
Even at lunchtime, I was still working with my laptop in hand. One of the androids, Kazumi, could use my computer from home, so I just talk and she fills in the boring parts. They helped me speed up my work a lot, but I still had to supervise it. During lunch Cedric came again, you could see on his face that he was coming to ask me for a favor again.
"Mrs. Adelis?"
"How much money?"
"!!!!"
"But I haven''t spoken yet!"
"Not today"
"These last two weeks yes"
"Did you fight with your father again?"
"It was the banks"
"They are still asking for money, but summer is just beginning"
"We haven''t finished planting the seeds yet and it will be months before the harvest"
"We can''t make any money before then, my sister is working day and night to calm them down a bit"
"But my parents still refuse to sell the farm!"
"I tried to intervene but they need me to come personally, but my work here is the only thing keeping them at bay!"
"..."
"It''s an endless cycle!"
"Cedric, my dear"
"You already have the medal of honor, believe me, the banks have already been quite permissive with your family"
"But the loan your father took out to buy more land was a really bad idea, even though we all warned him about it"
"What the farm needed was more workers, not more land, he just made the problem worse"
"The same thing happened to my father once."
"I know you hold me in high esteem but I can''t do much in your case if the solution is so simple, just sell the land they bought"
"My father flatly refuses"
"The only part they want to buy is the one where the house is."
"For him, it''s a matter of pride!"
"And at this rate pride is going to kill you all from exhaustion at work."
"If just one of you falls, the bank takes everything"
"Let''s go! Please!"
"There must be something you can do!"
"...."
"An advance pay!"
"Let me take my next month''s salary in advance!"
"I can survive on instant noodles and walking to work!"
"Cedric, you''ve been doing that already!"
"You already have a month''s pay in advance right now!"
"One more!"
"Please!"
....
....
"Hell, for a war hero to be begging for money doesn''t look good at all"
"The newspapers will laugh at us because of your father"
"...."
"Tell me who''s coming to replace Commander Phillips and I''ll put you on my restaurant staff"
"A Part time job"
"You''ll get the salary and you''ll only have to show up occasionally on days when there''s an event"
"All that for just giving away that old man"
"Sure! It''s easy"
"He already told me about it in fact"
"His replacement is going to be Commander Mark"
"The same guy from the aircraft carrier Essex!"
"Mark!?"
"Really?"
"Correct"
"It seems that the new Minister of Defense assigned him personally to take charge of this base"
"Since you worked together it should make things a lot easier for him"
"Or that''s the idea"
"...."
"I don''t doubt Mark''s ability as a leader"
"..."
"But that''s why I find it odd to appoint Mark as the commander of this facility."
"Someone like him would surely do better in a more important position"
"The entire government applauded the fact that he made it back to New York on the day of the attack with his aircraft carrier"
"...."
"From what I hear, it looks like the carrier is coming with him too, but for what?"
"Well, the aircraft carrier USS Cherokee is also old, so it would not be unusual for it to be decommissioned now that it is no longer needed"
"But the USS Essex is a different matter altogether"
"Why?"
"I''d like to ask but for now I just don''t have the time."
"!!!!"
"In fact, I should get back to my office!"
"See you later!"
I had to return to my desk and continue working with my team. Both Xi''an, Wilson, as well as Kazumi from home to try to get all the necessary documents done as soon as possible. But it was really exhausting all that had to be done. It even got to the point where I felt sick, so I stopped for a moment to go to the bathroom, but just as I entered I felt my thoughts fail me. However, a helping hand surprisingly grabbed me and prevented me from falling.
"Lisa!"
"What are you doing here!"
"Didn''t I ask you not to follow me to work these days?"
"I need you in the White Moon"
"Well, Darling is worried about you so he asked me to keep an eye on you"
"He ordered me not to disturb you at work so I just went into your shadow and kept quiet"
"He also asked me to check the security of the place"
"I''m glad I can report to you how much it has improved"
"Are you even able to keep quiet?"
"Well, as I said before it was an order"
"I couldn''t really talk no matter how hard I tried"
"But since I helped you first it means I can talk again!"
"Well, I''d like to ask you to keep quiet until we get back to the coffee shop"
Just when I finished talking my cell phone started ringing, since I wasn''t doing much right now I decided to answer it at once. Whoever spoke on the other end had a clear, deep, masculine voice.
"Hello, Mrs. Adelis"
"It''s me again, how are you?"
"Hello again Inspector Yamamoto"
"I''m fine, what''s the reason for your call this time?"
"Well, it seems that it happened again today"
"So I was wondering if there was no problem if Haru could go to the cafeteria again and be there so that I can go pick her up again?"
"No of course not, it''s never a problem"
"Well, she and Ces..."
"I mean she and Elise can go together when she gets out of school so it''s safe"
"...."
"But again?"
"I don''t want to get into your work, but don''t you think you''re working too hard lately?"
"Remember that you are not at the age to work non-stop anymore"
"It seems like your workload has increased a lot recently"
"Well, the truth is that yes"
"..."
"Lately more remains have been appearing in the mountains."
"The last of them was a mountaineer..."
"..."
"As the body was found it looked like a bear attack, but it''s the third one in just a week"
"Even a hungry bear would have stopped"
"...."
"I have a suspicion that it might be Jiro Iwasaki, who came out of his hideout again"
"Okay, but please take it easy"
"Haru still needs his grandfather"
"Please take it into consideration"
The rest of the day managed to continue without many more surprises. After work, I immediately went to the store to prepare for the birthday party to be held in the evening. My son and Haru also helped me. The celebration was a success as Tamamo had the idea to complement it with magic tricks, or rather real magic. Together with Levia''s show, it made everyone happy enough to attend.
Ch137: Classes And Games
Classes And Games
Ok, here I go again, just take it easy, just don''t kill anyone no matter how much you want to, it''s just going to be a stupid 8 hours locked up in here with these people. That''s what I said to myself in my mind before I opened the classroom door. I had already had a couple of days off due to a cold, but unfortunately, that was over and it was time to go back. When I walked in no one paid any attention to me, which was a good step, the girls were gathered around talking about makeup while others were talking about which guy was the best looking. The men instead were spread out in smaller groups, the typical anime protagonist near the window, his idiot friend in the front seat, the titan of the group who is good at sports but not the smartest, the weirdos playing cards in the background, the smart guy with glasses carrying a book alone and in silence. While Haru had not yet arrived, even so, I was disgusted to know that in reality, the one who was strange in the classroom was me, because even Tama who was usually next to me sometimes separates and starts talking to other students about girls things, I, on the other hand, I am not attracted to any of those things, I am so white that wearing any makeup makes me look like a clown, I do not like men so I pass to talk about which I find more beautiful, and I hate the karaoke, why the hell are they so popular here?
"Argh"
"The dwarf came again"
"At least it''s good to see that you can still walk"
"Kyouko, you''re still alive!"
"It''s good to see that you weren''t mugged and raped in some alley in the middle of the night, but for that to happen you would first have to be appealing"
"Have you managed to find your father or has he already established a family that he really wants to be with?"
"Fox"
"Bitch"
"Cow"
"Table"
I was already tired of the daily routine of this place, I was running out of polite insults I could use with that annoying girl, but before I continued to phase two Tamamo stopped me and took me to our places. And speaking of routine, when Haru arrived again by car she caused a commotion again because this time it wasn''t her grandfather who came to drop her off, but a limousine, I have no idea why but she didn''t say anything about it either so surely it was nothing important. After all, I think she trusts me enough to tell me the problems she has, I mean, after all, she already knows almost everything about my family now.
Classes continued as normal for the rest of the day. Social Studies was pretty easy and I''ve improved a lot in history lately. Chemistry class on the other hand was crazy, as some idiot somehow almost managed to make a dirty bomb, it was Tama who managed to warn the teacher in time to stop the experiment. Biology was quite curious as the teacher focus the class by saying why mermaids could not exist according to science to make it interesting. After all that it was time for lunch, as usual, Tama and I brought food, since Kyouko and most of the annoying girls went to eat in the cafeteria I decided to stay by eating in the classroom because I was a little nostalgic about how I used to do it the first time I went to school. Haru needed to go to the bathroom so she asked Tamamo to go together, why do women always go in groups of two to the bathroom? Even I don''t know yet.
"Quickly now!"
"Use the powder kegs!"
"That should distract him long enough to set the electric trap!"
"I can''t!"
"I have no more stones left to ignite the gunpowder!"
"Use the attack potion instead and wait for him to stumble to attack!"
"Impossible!"
"The monster has a very tough skin, my katana bounces back with every attack"
"Your hammer is the one that should be doing the damage! I''ll take care of support!"
The conversation between the two guys was starting to attract my attention. One of the guys was Nobusawa Takehide, the typical video game-loving guy, the truth is he had been calling my attention to what he was playing, but it wasn''t until now that I noticed what he had been playing all this time. The other guy, I think, is Muranaka Yasunobu, actually, I don''t know what he really is, I think he''s a man because he wears a male uniform, for now, because even that I think I''ve seen him change, there''s nothing in him that says that, even his voice sounds like a woman''s voice, this guy has long and mushroom-shaped hair, he wears a huge suit and seems to be always one step away from crying or being upset about his identity, he really seems to be a Trap or femboy or whatever it''s called this year, this person really bothered me, because in a way he reminded me of myself and my current situation, however, he seems to be good at video games too. They both seem very focused on the video game, the one that came out at the beginning of the year, the one about hunting huge monsters, but just listening you can tell that both of them are real rookies with no solution, not to brag but I had about twenty years of experience hunting monsters on both sides of the screen so I was a bit of an expert myself. Their conversation was quite agitated but their strategies were so bad that it got to the point of irritating, it was surprising how little they knew about the mechanics of the game, I felt the need to intervene, I had to do it or else I would have nightmares.
"Weakness disgusts me"
"It''s just pathetic"
"How you have managed to get so far by being so bad"
"You are doing everything wrong"
"For starters, the Katana is the broken weapon of the game."
"The Hammer must be hitting the head consistently to create an opportunity for the katana"
"Their weapons bounce because you must use weapons of fire to break through the hardness"
"!!!!"
"And what would a girl like you know about this?"
"Your plans to ridicule me won''t work on me!"
"Go back to trying to be pretty like all the other girls!"
"Take-chan!"
"She is Elise"
"Remember we promised Haru not to make fun of her!"
"You could try to talk more like a man Yasunobu"
"It''s because of things like that that everyone makes fun of you"
"I had enough misunderstandings with my family because of the way you behave"
"Come on, I was just trying to help two idiots who clearly need help"
"Instead of carrying rocks, use your weapon to hit him and ignite the powder"
"If you lure the monster to where the river is, he''ll run into his natural rival and they''ll start fighting"
"You can take advantage of this to cause damage while he is distracted"
"Also in the same area there is a huge branch about to fall, if you manage to hit it so that it falls on the monster it will be unconscious for a while"
The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon."Also you already upgraded your armor? it''s much cheaper than making a new one all the time"
"Seriously!"
"What a joy, this armor enchanted me as it looks so I didn''t want to change it yet."
"By the way, do you think that hammer matches my armor?"
"Nobu!"
"Behave yourself!"
"You''re bothering her, you''re not seeing it!?"
"If you''re taking out weapons and armor to look pretty, you''re going to be in trouble"
"You have to be changing equipment depending on the monster so you''re going to be changing it quite a bit"
"The best thing to do is to get through the game and unlock the tailor"
"He will make costumes that go over your armor, so you can look the way you want while wearing armor with good stats"
"You are lying!"
"Our villages are at maximum!"
"We have spent hours farming to improve them!"
"Prove that it can be unlocked!"
"Okay, I can do it"
"But please keep your manners when you see what true power means" I said as I pulled out my handheld console with the same game.
"Admire a true professional"
"Is that your village?"
"It looks pretty strange"
"You''re also wearing that Maid armor, but it''s one of the lowest in the game"
"And to top it off, you''re using the giant sword! That weapon is super slow!"
"You, wait and listen little padawan!"
"I will educate you quickly"
"This is not a rare village, it''s the third one you unlock."
"You don''t know this because you are still stuck in the first one, as you said yourself, reaching the maximum"
"But it was much easier to keep going and with the materials, before the harder levels you could improve the first one"
"Maid''s armor is just a cosmetic, the real armor I use is this one, these are her real stats, for now, it''s the most powerful armor in the game"
"I use the maid cosmetic to annoy online so that newbies like you will be surprised when I kill a monster with two hits"
"And the giant sword is THE WEAPON of the game, it teaches you how to measure your attacks, and defense and rewards you with the most damage for really knowing the monster you face!"
"Wow!"
"It''s really amazing!"
"The sword even has a pretty cute color"
"I want one just like it, I think it would look better with my armor than my hammer!"
"Hey, do you think you can help us with this monster then?"
"I need to defeat it so I can unlock the next village you say exists."
"Sure, no problem"
"I just need five minutes to finish him off"
"I''ll even capture it for you so you have a trophy to decorate the house!"
Since they accepted my help we made a group of 3 and started hunting together. I was helping them as much as possible but also giving them space to try things out. The monster that had given them so many problems was not a problem once they put into practice everything I mentioned. In a short time, I managed to form them from victims to warriors, so I hope that with this they will at least survive the long and tortuous road that awaited them in the videogame.
We were still playing, taking advantage of the fact that there was still time to spare when someone appeared by surprise in our classroom. It was another student, from his uniform you could see that he was from a higher year, with his hands still in his bags and walking like a bully he approached us until he stood next to the one called Nobu , the trapboy.
"Hey, how are you?"
"Dude today you have to give me money again"
"I lost a bet yesterday and I need to take my girlfriend to the movies"
"You know how it is, do you think you can give me your wallet once and for all, I''ll give it back tomorrow if I remember"
"Fuck, I think that''s the worst personification of a bully I''ve ever seen" I said without fear because it was usually guys like this that ended up getting robbed at the school I used to go to.
"Eli-chan, don''t make him angry!"
"Hey, hey wait a minute!"
"Who gave you permission to call me that?"
"Also show that you have balls when you have to, otherwise you''ll keep getting mugged"
"Well no offense, really, can you decide what you are? It''s getting on my nerves not knowing if you''re a boy or a girl"
"hey brat!"
"I''m talking to him!"
"If you have any problems we can solve them easily!"
"I have no problem receiving money from two kids!"
I was planning to scare him away by showing him the knife I had in one of my bags, but someone else intervened instead. Through the same door through which the thug entered another guy approached, this one was a real titan, muscular, huge and so wide that I think I could sit on one of his shoulders, he seemed to be older than he really is, a real machine, the poor guy who was annoyed looked like a broom next to him.
"Is there a problem here?"
"Can you stop so I can get through the door without hurting anyone?" Spoke the man with a voice of thunder.
The bully was about to tell him to get lost but when he finished turning around and had to look up to see his opponent''s face he realized he would lose his teeth. Umesaka Kojiro was a man of few words, for it was those few words that people would not see as a threat coming from someone like him. I was about to ask him if he had gone to visit Egypt after his mother got sick or if he had killed any vampires with his fists lately.
"It''s nothing, I was just leaving!" Said the idiot.
"Yare yare daze"
"People like him should dedicate themselves to trying not to flunk better"
I KNEW it, I''m convinced it''s him!
"Thank you very much Kojiro"
"Things would have gotten ugly if you hadn''t intervened" I said congratulating him while patting him on the back.
"Stop it, Eli-Chan!"
"Don''t bother Kojiro, he could send you to the hospital with one hand if you make him angry!"
"I told you not to call me like that!"
"Use my full name!"
"I''m disgusted by the sound of the way you say it!"
"You could learn a thing or two from him you know!"
"Look, even though he didn''t say it, he just saved your ass!"
The big guy was surprised that I had noticed his gesture, but still, he just went on his way and sat back down in his seat, where he pulled out a book and a calculator to continue writing whatever he was calculating. He had gotten bad grades on his last exams so it looked like he was pretty busy making up for his studies as soon as possible.
"Look Yasunobu"
"I''m not saying stop cross-dressing or whatever it is you''re doing"
"I don''t really care about that"
"What I''m saying is that you should learn to stand up for yourself and start standing up for yourself."
"If you keep this up you will be the victim of people like the idiot before you all your life"
"You don''t want the money that your parents work so hard to get to end up in the hands of people like him, do you?"
"You have to learn to be able to say no to him"
"I have told him but he never listens to me" Said Takehide, his friend.
"What!"
"You are crazy!"
"I''m not strong"
"I hate fighting, he''ll tear me apart if I don''t give him the money"
"And who said you had to confront him head on?"
"You can report him to a teacher, talk to your parents about the problem."
"Pay another bully for him to take a beating."
"Poison his food or make it look like an accident."
"The options are many"
"Why do you say scary things like that?"
I couldn''t answer him because just then the bell rang, signaling the end of recess and back to class, so everyone went back to their seats. The next class was English, so no problem either. By the time the classes were over I was completely tired, we had no club activity on the day of doy so I was thinking of going straight home and finishing building the battleship model. But once again Haru appreciated saying that once again his grandfather would be working late, so he accompanied us back to the cafeteria. Where at least being together with the other girls he would leave me alone to finish my ship. But still, how much was his grandfather doing, because it seemed that he was really on something very important to be working hard like this.
Ch138: The Test In the Forest Part 1
The Test In the Forest Part 1
Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
The road to Kitamoto town was completely blocked, disturbing the daily life of people who passed through here every day. The reason was quite obvious, several patrols had blocked the entire access to the street, a criminal investigation was underway. Police were searching the surrounding road and the mountain relentlessly, looking for anything that could bring them one step closer to the person who committed the crime.
A car arrived at the scene as well, its driver presented his badge to an officer and was allowed to pass, the car continued a little further and then stopped. Three men got out of the car, three detectives, all three from Tokyo, had come to a place outside their jurisdiction because this crime seemed to be strongly related to the national fugitive Jirou Iwasaki, whose whereabouts were still unknown. The first of them was inspector Yamamoto, who was the head of the police investigation section of Tokyo, his job was normally to supervise that the detectives followed the procedures established by law, but his job today was different, he was here as an investigator because the importance of this case required it. Dojima, a man who was actually younger than his face suggested, had been working with the police for some time, his private life had been in serious trouble since his wife''s death some time ago, and the loss still affected him, so much so that he used his work as an excuse to distract himself, he had been Yamamoto''s pupil a long time ago so he was a man the inspector trusted. The third man was Adachi, a fairly new detective, this was only his second case, he was under the orders of Dojima, as he was responsible for the rookie to learn things and not to make mistakes, but the new detective was not a very sharp man so the calls of attention were frequent.
The three men walked a short distance into the forest, where the first victim was found: the remains of what appeared to be a man nailed with metal stakes to a tree, all his limbs cut off and nailed in no orderly, unnaturally violent fashion. The rookie began to take pictures of the victim, the other two began to read the preliminary report.
"Male"
"43 years old"
"No identification"
"Cause of death, well, becoming a human puzzle"
"Time of death 5 a.m" Dojima explained.
"A bag with various items of little value"
"His clothes are quite torn and dirty"
"Her shoes are completely worn out"
"No belongings, no identification"
"Probably a local homeless man"
"...."
"But what was he doing here?"
"Maybe he was just looking for things to pick up"
"Scrap metal, and came across something he shouldn''t have"
"He got in trouble with a Yakuza business and they did this to him" Adachi said in a mocking tone, trying to hide the fact that he really was serious.
"No"
"Homeless people usually look in the new garbage"
"That would be Monday and Thursday nights normally"
"At 5:00 a.m. they are usually asleep"
"Besides the Yakuzas do not benefit anything by killing a homeless person"
"It would only get them in trouble like the police"
"Much more if they do something as violent as chopping up and nailing someone to a tree"
"Organized crime wouldn''t do something as dumb as this."
"Just someone completely insane looking to send a message" Yamamoto said correcting the rookie and remembering a little of what a friend told him.
"This is only the first one"
"There is a second victim"
"It''s closer to the street"
"This one seems to be much more interesting"
"He was the one we found first" Dojima added.
The three returned to the road, where only a couple of meters from the street was the second victim, which had received a similar treatment to the previous one, the body was much more complete because only one arm was missing, in the same way, compared to the previous one, this one had much fewer metal stakes.
"Male"
"57 years old"
"Sugiyama Kenta"
"Cause of death, loss of blood due to severed arm"
"Time of death, also 5:20 am"
"A Witness was walking around and he heard the cries for help here, then he says he saw a huge figure doing something weird to a tree, he ran out and called the police right after, a couple of minutes later our officers arrived at the scene and discovered this, then they went around the perimeter and found the other one." read Dojima again.
"Another homeless man?" asked Adachi.
"No"
"The vest is brightly colored and the sleeves have a camouflage pattern"
"Safety hunting clothing"
"...."
"The knife in his pocket has a mystical inscription"
"Maybe he is a Matagi"
"But the hunting period is over"
"Also, where''s his weapon?"
"Matagi?" asked the rookie.
"A traditional type of hunter"
"They are from the north of the country"
"During the winter they go up to the mountains to hunt bears and prevent them from attacking villages"
"The difference with normal hunters is that they follow religious traditions when hunting"
"A part of their prey is offered to the mountain and a ritual is performed before and after hunting
"Unfortunately it is a tradition that has been disappearing little by little because the new ones only want to learn with professional hunters who give more money"
"...."
"Normally the Matagi hunt with a Murata rifle, it is an old weapon from the Meiji period and a single shot"
"But it doesn''t seem to be around here"
"Correct"
"Sugiyama Kenta had a hunting and gun permit"
"He does indeed have a Murata rifle in his name"
"It''s in evidence right now."
"It was there, at mark number 2"
"The gun had only one cartridge, it had already been fired"
"He probably shot his pursuer but it didn''t work"
"He tried to defend himself with his ceremonial knife, but it wasn''t enough" Dojima added.
"Well I don''t think a bear knows how to hammer so it must be a human"
"But why do it?" Once again Adachi asked.
"Well, that''s our job."
"The drifter is probably from the area"
"The hunter on the other hand is a long way from where he lives"
"What was he doing here in the first place?"
"...."
"...."
"What time was the alert call made?"
"5:45 according to emergency services"
"Two minutes later patrol car stopped, no suspect found"
"And the time of death is correct?"
"According to the forensic experts, yes"
"The full autopsy is still to be done but the approximation is quite accurate"
"But the homeless man was the first to die."
"The hunter died sometime later"
"Twenty-five minutes after the time of death, but he was still alive when he found him."
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."..."
"But the witness indicated that he saw someone else next to the hunter''s corpse"
"Was he with him all that time?"
"The witness is Shiba Tetsuya"
"He is a Shinto priest, an Onmy¨ji"
"He lives in the temple near here"
"Okay, I want to talk to him about this discrepancy"
The three of them got back into the car and set off, it was not a long trip, as Dojima mentioned that he lived quite close, so they were able to walk instead. The temple today was empty, only one man was sweeping the entrance to the temple, he was a relatively young man, he seemed to be in his twenties or thirties. When he noticed the car approaching he made a sign of greeting since he already knew more or less what the discussion with his visitors was going to be about.
"I presume you are Shiba Tetsuya?"
"It is correct"
"How are you, everything all right?"
"I am Inspector Yamamoto, with me are Detective Dojima and Officer Adachi"
"Sorry to bother you, but we came to ask you a few more questions about what happened this morning"
"Do you have time available?"
"Well, I have to prepare everything for the funeral of the two men"
"It will take place tonight but I doubt it will take that long, right?"
"That''s right"
"We have more or less read the report but we still had a couple of questions that we hope you can clarify"
"According to your testimony, you mentioned that you found the victim, Mr. Sugiyama Kenta, still alive when he called for help"
"However, according to the phone records, the call was made twenty-five minutes after Mr. Kenta died"
"May I know why this happened?"
"Well, the memories are a little fuzzy"
"It was a person dying in my arms, I don''t have a watch to keep track of what happened at what minute"
"Maybe I just made a mistake"
"However, you don''t seem nervous enough to have seen someone die this morning"
"Of course I am"
"Don''t you see me cleaning? I never really do this"
"Usually one of my daughters takes care of it"
"..."
"I have nothing to hide if that''s what you think I''m doing"
"I''ll even tell you that I was supposed to meet with Mr. Kenta this very morning"
"But don''t get me wrong, I didn''t really know this man, he called me a couple of days ago mentioning that he would take care of hunting a couple of mountain vermin"
"Although foxes are beautiful and revered creatures, I have a plague of these animals, they have already caused enough damage to my house and temple"
"I pointed out my problem to the national Onmyoji association and they were the ones who sent Mr. Kenta, who was supposed to hunt them down"
"This morning he told me that he just got off the train and I went out to meet him, that''s when I found him in the tree"
"..."
"If I was a suspect, do you think I would tell you all this?"
"Interesting"
"Did you also know the other guy?"
"The homeless man?"
"He is one of several in the community"
"From time to time they come to ask for food or water"
"I help them as much as I can but money is not infinite."
"I don''t know all of them, but if you talk to their leader you might know more about it"
"Thank you very much for your input"
"Adachi, what do you think about it?"
"!!!"
"Me!?
"..."
"Well the leader of the homeless is probably lived somewhere near the river, so I should start looking there"
"Interesting proposal"
"Dojima?"
"Come on old man, I''ve been working for a while now"
"It makes no sense for you to keep asking me questions"
"I just want to make sure the alcohol hasn''t erased your memory"
"I don''t drink as much as you think, old man"
"Because your salary is not bigger"
"Okay, okay, okay"
"Then Mr. Shiba Tetsuya, I need you to cooperate and come with us to the station" Dojima said as he put the handcuffs on the priest.
"Arrested?"
"Me?"
"Excuse me but there is a big mistake!"
"I am the witness! I warned the police, I didn''t commit any crime!"
"I didn''t even go near the scene of the crime!"
"Excuse me boss but can I also know why we are doing it?"
"Adachi, if only you had spared yourself that question I wouldn''t have to lower your grade in your ranking"
"Now the old man is going to scold me too"
"Adachi, you have to learn to think for yourself and quickly"
"If Mr. Tetsuya didn''t approach the crime scene, how did he know there was a second victim?"
"One that was discovered long after the hunter?"
"How did he know it was a homeless man?"
"Sorry, it slipped my mind"
"!!!"
"You are making a mistake!"
"I didn''t do anything! I am not to blame!"
"I''m just another victim" Said the priest as he was handcuffed by Adachi and taken to a patrol car.
"You know he is not the killer"
"What''s there to gain by doing this, old man?" Dojima asked.
"That man has never been in trouble before"
"Being in a cell will scare him so much that he''ll be happy to answer all our questions later"
"We''ll let him go for the afternoon."
"..."
"However, it''s also a fact that he was at the crime scene."
"Tell forensics to look for signs of altered evidence and send someone to check the temple and the priest''s house"
"All right, what do we focus on in the meantime?"
"What do we focus on in the meantime?"
"I want to talk to the local homeless people"
"We still need to identify the other victim"
"For now I think the hobo is the original victim, the hunter was on the mountain hunting foxes and saw what was happening"
"He tried to escape but was hunted down and ended up near the street"
"..."
"Mr. Kenta is a professional hunter, so you can assume he was a good aim...."
"It is likely that he managed to fire his rifle and hit his pursuer"
"I want you to search the hospitals as well, the suspect will probably require medical assistance due to the wound"
"Someone managed to dismember a person, nail him to a tree, get shot by a rifle, be able to catch up with a professional hunter, tear off his arm and nail him to a tree and then quickly leave the place without any evidence"
"We are still looking for a person, right?" Dojima thought about the bizarre nature of the case.
"What I wonder is how all this is still linked to Jirou Iwasaki."
"The man has been living in the mountains for months but we haven''t been able to find him"
"Besides, didn''t a gang leader die this way too?"
"Maybe it''s just a continuation" Adichi added his opinion as well.
"....."
"I doubt very much that this is Jirou Iwasaki"
"...."
"If he knew he was wanted the last thing anyone would do would be to continue to draw attention to himself"
"...."
"An admirer maybe"
"Or someone who wants us to think it''s Jirou Iwasaki''s doing to cover his tracks"
Inspector Yamamoto said as he remembered who was the person or rather monster that was capable of doing such a thing. But he also knew that she was not, as she was under the care of Adelis, her friend, and he knew that if she had been responsible the police would never have found the bodies in the first place.
"Jirou Iwasaki seemed to be just a loser man"
"How is it possible that we seem to be looking for Rambo?"
"The deaths, in this case, are too violent."
"Five victims in these two weeks is too much, people are nervous." Dojima added again, nervously remembering his daughter.
"And that''s why we''re not going to stop until we find the person responsible this time"
"This time the suspect made a mistake, he was spotted!"
"Before that, we only found the bodies the next day"
"Right now he is prone to make mistakes that he wants to cover up"
"Like the priest for example"
"When he sees him leaving in a patrol car he will see that he is in police custody, which will make him much more nervous and he will make a fatal mistake"
"And we are on his heels so that when he falls, we can bring him to justice and give peace to the people"
"We have to work quickly, we have to find someone who can quickly identify the first victim"
"Dojima you drive, I''m afraid that Adachi will end up running someone over"
The three detectives returned to the car, now with a clear objective in mind and an unwavering motivation: they would try to bring justice to the victims and uncover the truth. But this was only the beginning of a long day for them.
Ch139: The Test In the Forest Part 2
The Test In the Forest Part 2
Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
The three detectives had spread out in the surrounding area in order to get some additional information. You could understand the differences between the detectives just by seeing how each one handled the situation. The rookie Adachi was talking to people walking around, but none of them could help him because they had not been there the day of the incident or were not aware of what was going on, so he got nothing. Dojima knew that the best way to get information was to ask people who had a fairly fixed pattern that could tell when something was wrong, so he went to talk to the employees of several stores nearby, some of them mentioned that with the latest attacks the mountain is considered dangerous so people have stopped going even to the temple, like last week there was activity but almost nobody went, other clerks replied that sometimes homeless people would come by to help recycle the garbage or take it to the appropriate depot, and in return, they usually got food or a little money, but many of them were never seen again, which was quite strange considering their potion. Yamamoto for his part already knew more or less what to look for, so he went to a bridge near the river where he found the house of some of the homeless, to ensure their cooperation the inspector had bought some food in a nearby mini-supermarket which he would exchange in exchange for the information. The same ones informed him that with the last attacks, going to the mountain had become very dangerous, so their leader had forbidden the entrance to it for several days, nobody usually deserved it, so it was strange that one of them went there without a reason of force first, they also mentioned that they could not recognize the victim, but they indicated him where the leader of the homeless was because he probably did know.
After a while, they all met again and shared the information they had received. The next step was clear, to talk to this supposed leader, although Adachi mentioned that it was simply a waste of time, which earned him a scolding from his superiors, as it was a serious mistake for a detective to dismiss something in his investigation. When they finished their journey, they managed to find the person they were looking for.
"The collectionist, right?"
"Sorry to bother you but do you think you can spare us a moment of your valuable time?" Said the old man to another old man, showing his police badge.
"Of course, how can I help you Mr. official"
"Would you mind having a game with me while we talk?" He said pointing to a checkerboard with all the pieces ready.
"It looks like you were already expecting visitors, I hope it wasn''t ours" Yamamoto said as he sat down to accept the invitation.
"I used to play with a friend once a week"
"He was supposed to show up yesterday, however as you can see nothing on the board has moved yet"
"Did something happen yesterday with him?" The inspector moved the first piece.
"This will get us nowhere" said the new guy arrogantly.
"Adachi, if you keep moving your mouth, you''ll be out of a job"
"Why don''t you just listen and learn as you should?" Dojima quickly corrects his partner.
"Come on gentlemen, calm down"
"It is natural for the young to make mistakes"
"And the old man to correct them"
"...."
"But it is also up to the young man to see if he heeds the advice of the elders who have gone before him."
"I fear that my friend is part of the latter fact and his mistake of terrible consequences" Said the wanderer while responding to the inspector''s previous movement.
"Was your friend by any chance the owner of these clothes?" The inspector showed one of the photographs of the scene of the crime.
"...."
"He was an ambitious and healthy kid"
"He didn''t end up on the streets because of addiction like most people"
"He told me how he ended up here because of his father and how he lost his mother"
"He was saving money to get a haircut, buy clean clothes and try to get a job at a mini-super and start building from there"
"...."
"It is disappointing to see how his story ended"
"Because of the way you spoke about him before I thought he was a risk taker"
"Well, I also said that ambitious"
"He wanted to get money fast and get back on his feet as soon as possible."
"He gave up safe jobs like recycling and went to riskier ones like watchman or messenger"
"Any particular company?"
"The one that will pay the most"
"Guard the rival house, then ask for a job guarding the first house and receive money from both"
"I don''t know how he managed to keep both sides happy and stay out of trouble for so long"
"Some of us were waiting for him to tell us his secret"
"So it is not a surprise what happened?"
"If so, why also a hunter in the photos?"
"If it was a surprise, well, I''m sure it wasn''t because of that."
"About two weeks ago in one of our games, he told me how he had given up all that and found something simpler and safer"
"The courier one"
"And how does a messenger end up hugging a tree upside down?"
"I don''t have the details"
"But lately more and more of them are appearing"
"At the beginning of the year there was hardly anything, but more and more are appearing"
"Word of mouth rumors are coming in"
"They''ll take just about anyone"
"Just deliver this package to the other side of town"
"You don''t have to know anything"
"The money is guaranteed"
"But there is nothing good in this life, is there?"
"Despair and necessity are a cruel enemy"
"Making mistakes can kill anyone in our life, and these bad companions are not good advisors"
"Some of my idiots took the package but didn''t deliver it"
"They thought they''d get a better price somewhere else"
"So they came to me to grade its potency"
"...."
"But the packages were not drugs as we imagined"
"They were simply packages of dough, flour"
"Needless to say it was super weird, so that''s when we recommended not to go with them"
"But there is always the ambitious and the needy to do what others would not do"
"Good move there sir"
"Thanks"
"As I kept saying, they were super rare these things"
"But they did pay for them, so they had a motive"
"The only clue we got was that after going through one of the packages we found one with something pretty strange in it"
"A piece of tech equipment, some of our guys say it could be a locator because of its antenna but I have no idea"
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site."I got it in that bag over there, covered with aluminum foil"
"I was hoping to get a good price with which to split the profits"
"You know, life is hard and nothing is free"
"The living have to eat"
"Sure, it''s no problem to help a collaborator"
"But I would like to hear the end of the story to think how much would be a fair price to pay for it"
"Of course, I also want to make this a good business"
"If everything goes well for you, everything will go smoothly again, and that will also benefit us"
"..."
"Nobody knows who are the people behind the packages"
"Our people say that they are just told to go to a certain place and the package was already there, usually abandoned on the ground"
"They take it to the destination and put it back on the ground, usually the money is already waiting there with no one in sight"
"Once we watched but only another homeless guy from somewhere else picked it up and took it away"
"I think to make another delivery with the same package"
"This does not help me much in my work" Yamamoto replied, now turning his attention to his checkers game.
"Well, that''s because I''m not done yet"
"My guys and I don''t like to get into things that are too shady, because we''ve had enough of that"
"We''re just trying to improve the community and get back to real life"
"But lately we have had some outsiders from other places"
"They are few but they have come to us as their old groups have left and run out of members" The old bum took advantage of the fact that he had just finished his turn in the game to smoke a pipe.
"Fewer members?"
"I think there are only two ways to leave the life of the streets" Yamoto moved a piece without much thought.
"And you are right, all of them seem to meet the bad one"
"According to these people, the package jobs also came to their communities"
"Everything was going well, but as the days went by, some just stopped coming back"
"They disappeared"
"Others happily mentioned that they had found work"
"Only to not be heard from again days later"
"...."
"Life for us is hard, things happen and one day you can be there and the next day you dont"
"..."
"But it is bizarre that so many things happen so quickly"
"..."
"The usual mobsters don''t seem to be either as they can''t win from mugging those who have nothing"
"I''m trying to warn my guys to keep them away from this" Taking advantage of his opponent''s carelessness, the wanderer skillfully moved his pieces to camouflage a devastating attack.
"Okay, good story"
"Where are these refugees you took from?"
"What are the places that have already had disappearances?" The policeman remembering that he had to play moved another piece quickly.
"To the west, on the other side of the river, in Kitamoto, it seems that they were the first ones"
"But then we got people from south of there"
"That is the territory of the Toyashi Clan"
"I think there was a report that they had gained control of those areas recently"
"They also match the areas of these people''s disappearances" Dojima added.
"But still the victims are from the northern areas"
"The hunter and the homeless man are the most southern victims" Adachi said, looking at the map on his smartphone.
"And Kitamoto in the center"
"The Toyashi Clan may not be related but they should know something at the very least"
"I don''t think they would let someone deliver what everyone thinks are drugs into their territory without permission"
"Well since you are about to leave then I guess it''s time to make my stellar move" The old man began to capture several of his opponent''s pieces.
"I still had one more question to ask you."
"I wanted to know if you knew Jirou Iwasaki, he was in your group, wasn''t he?" Inspector Yamamto counterattacked using his last piece to finish off all of his opponent''s pieces in a single turn.
"But how .....!?"
"Iwasaki has managed to evade the police almost perfectly"
"He was an ordinary man, it is impossible for him to know how to stay under the radar"
"Someone had to teach him how to do it, a good teacher"
"Maybe his teacher just taught him how to stay out of trouble and Iwasaki listened"
"Isn''t that right, collectionist?"
"You''re right, it''s my fault for responding to my nickname without giving it much thought, I deserve the wake-up call"
"Well, I have to keep the business always"
"But my agents are ethical, if there is a madman like him among them I myself would be the first to bring him to justice.
"We only deliver the tools we are asked to deliver, we are not in charge of what customers do with them"
"Iwasaki was the one who stole one of the packages"
"He disappeared after that, I never knew why"
"The surprise was mine when I saw him on TV as a figitive"
"It is really sad what happened to his ex-girlfriend, I feel guilty for what happened to her"
"But the Iwasaki I knew didn''t seem like the type to do something like that"
"He was shy but he loved his ex-girlfriend, he never wished her ill, he is also working to recover from his situation"
"But it seems that I didn''t know him as well as I thought I did"
"It was with him that I became suspicious about the packages"
"It''s OK."
"If you stay calm as you are now, nothing will happen"
"...."
"Could you also get me one of these packages?"
"Try not to touch it too much to check it for fingerprints"
"I''ll deliver it to you at the station then"
"I hope you have good luck in your search, I don''t want to run out of workers"
With the new information, the law enforcement officers returned to the car and began driving in no particular direction to discuss what their next move should be.
"The Toyashi Clan is a group based in Tokyo"
"But due to problems with other gangs, they have had to look for new places where they can expand their business in a safer way"
"Kitamoto could be one of these places" Dojima said as he drove.
"Still, it''s too strange."
"The flour packets, the disappearances, the dead people nailed to the wall"
"Why do some packages have signal transmitters?"
"Adachi, can you take this to be checked later?" Said the inspector.
"Yes of course, no problem"
"...."
"Excuse me boss, just one question, but who is this guy the collector?" Said the young man while writing down everything he said on a laptop.
"He is the head of a gang of weapons dealers"
"Many guns that end up on the street pass through his hands"
"The man we spoke to was their leader"
"Arms dealers!"
"Isn''t that dangerous?"
"Shouldn''t we have stopped him?"
"And if it''s so important, why is he a homeless man?"
"Adachi, you still have a lot to learn"
"Not everything in life is black and white"
"People who do bad things sometimes do it because they have no other choice"
"And others do it because someone worse could do the job they do"
"The collector is actually a man who tries to help the homeless because he was once one himself"
"He wants to see them get off the streets"
"Their jobs are not clean, but who else would give these people a chance?"
"No one likes to see the homeless or the poor, to the common citizen they are invisible men."
"And invisible men is just what is needed to move things secretly"
"The government does nothing for two reasons"
"One is the lack of evidence, at least in a public way."
"The second is that they have often brought too many more interesting things to the government to let them pass a sin or two" The old man replied
"The government lets it happen?"
"Isn''t that against the law?"
"And the law is there to protect the citizen"
"What if they manage to bring something to the authorities that are important to national security?"
"Thanks to the collector Japan has managed to be safe during times of war."
"He has brought us very valuable things for this country"
"So what should I do?"
"Just shut up about what I saw?"
"Just think that you will arrest him when the government asks you to, not before."
"Those who get into trouble that doesn''t concern them are the ones who leave first"
During the entire conversation, Dojima did not say a single word. He knew that many things that happened were not for ordinary people like him. The best thing to do was simply to do what was expected of his job but nothing more. Adachi instead felt disturbed by what he was hearing, for his sense of justice was as incredible as that of his favorite hero. Still, he also knew that Yamamoto was an old man from a profession in which people died young, someone who is from a neutral country and old of age went to war and came back to be immediately chief of police without any questions, clearly policeman was not his real old job. Still, if he retired from that to become a policeman, it means that he was something worse before. , if anyone knew things that should not be known it was him. Even an idiot like Adachi could understand it.
Ch140: The Test In the Forest Part 3
The Test In the Forest Part 3
Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
The day continued without waiting for anyone, the sun was about to give way to the moon, and the golden sunset filled the sky completely. Three detectives were taking a break to rest, the day had been quite busy carrying out the initial investigations and organizing the facts, even so, they still had a lot of work ahead of them, but normally there is only so much a body can do without rest. Inspector Yamamoto took out a bento wrapped in several cloths, it had been prepared by his granddaughter, both for love and health, the old man felt honored to have such a luxury for his life. Detective Dojima in his place had returned from buying food, it was fast food, several hamburgers with fries, and his traditional coke, for him it was a matter of time, he simply did not have it, it was not the healthiest but it was the necessary trick for days like these. Adachi, on the other hand, was a disaster in cooking, he had tried it several times but it had not worked, to make matters worse, he was a very poor person financially, he could barely afford the expenses of his daily life, so his food was reduced to instant soups until the good times came if that would happen.
"The results of the electronic chip are here"
"Looks like it''s a Lion Saber tracker"
"Top-notch military equipment"
"It is normally used by the U.S. military to keep track of supplies dropped on airplanes" Dojima said eating while reading his phone.
"Military equipment?"
"A drug gang wouldn''t use something so valuable and so easily lost"
"Much less leave it near defenseless people"
"Besides, the Americans are very careful with their equipment, I doubt it would be an unintentionally lost item" Said the old man, it seemed that the news did not surprise him at all, as he continued to eat as well.
"I really hope that this clue and the mystery packages really lead us to something"
"As much as I think about it I can''t find the connection between these packages and the victims of the past few weeks"
"...."
"What if we are making a mistake and looking in the wrong place?"
"At the moment it all looks like circumstantial clues, nothing that we can really use to know what happened"
"Besides, something like that must be pretty expensive"
"Maybe they stole it and don''t know its real value or maybe they have so much that they don''t know what to use it for" Adachi said without thinking too much just to add to the conversation.
The two older men even stopped eating for a moment in order to process the first and probably the last correct conclusion the young man had made that day.
"As much as I would like to finish cases like these stories sooner, the reality is that they are the ones that take the most work"
"We are not dealing with a simple supermarket thief who doesn''t even know how to use a knife"
"We are talking about a criminal right out of a comic book."
"Someone or a group that is doing very specific and calculated actions"
".... Or at least so far"
"We don''t know why they do it, but they do have a purpose"
"We have to find out what it is and we can catch them" Dojima spoke again.
Yamamoto was silent and thoughtful, he had not yet finished eating, but at the same time, he kept looking at the half-full plate. Dojima looked at him and understood what was going through the old man''s mind.
"Are you still thinking that?"
"Keep going round and round in circles will get you nowhere"
"....it was an accident, nothing could be done"
"I thought the same thing, I did my best but I couldn''t find anything"
"I''m sorry" by surprise it was Dojima who was now speaking out trying to help.
"????"
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you have any major suspicions?" Something that all this is related to? Adachi asked, unaware of what the other two were discussing.
"What?"
"No, it''s not that"
"It''s another topic"
"A personal one" The inspector replied nervously, something very out of character for the old man.
"Yamamoto lost her daughter at the beginning of the year, just on January 1st."
"She and her husband were returning from a job near Mt. Haruna in Takasaki, Japan"
"They had a traffic accident, their car went off the road and fell several meters, and they were not found until the next day"
"When I heard the news, I immediately went to investigate on his behalf because he was out of the country"
"But no matter how hard I investigated I could not find anything, I could not find an answer to what happened" Dojima explained to the new man, trying to say it as tactfully and conscientiously as he could, but he was not very good at it.
"Really!?"
"I''m so sorry"
"Something like that must have been terrible"
"The day before she called me to give me New Year''s greetings."
"She said she was in Tokyo with her family that day"
"She was not a liar"
"What happened made no sense at all"
"I am sure there is something else" replied the inspector, more to himself than to the other two.
"What was her job?"
"She was an artificial intelligence programmer"
"Lines of code and stuff"
"Her husband worked for the ISC as a medical researcher but was laid off so he was starting to work in a clinic in Kitamoto, near here" Dojima added again.
"Geez, it seems like all of us have lost someone"
"I lost my father when I was still in school"
"He was also a detective, a pretty good one, once helped catch a gang of bank robbers"
"...."
"However he died one day, robbers broke into the house on his day off, he couldn''t do anything about it"
"When I got to the house that day there were a lot of patrol cars everywhere"
"...."
"My family has always been related to the police, so I thought I would carry on the tradition"
"I''m glad I did it, my dad sure is proud of me"
"...."
"If at least I managed to keep the job." Said Adachi also sharing his past
Yamamoto''s phone began to ring, the tone it had was quite lively, contrasting with the ever-present seriousness of the old man, which as soon as he heard it he hurried to answer immediately, it was his granddaughter, who had called him worried about the work of his grandfather, he replied that everything was fine and that he was finishing eating what she prepared for him, she replied happily to the fact, both satisfied to know how the other was hanging up afterward. Although as a cheerful gesture, his granddaughter sent several pictures of where she was right now, it was once again the same place as always, in them you could see Haru with several girls in costumes, each one crazier than the previous one. They were all workers at that place that he already knew a little bit, they were the friends he had made there, and they looked like they were trying to bake some kind of cake between all of them.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Dojima was seeing a golden opportunity to change the theme to something much more cheerful than the one they had before, as he managed to see a bit of the photos that were sent.
"Nice pictures you got there, old man"
"Isn''t that the coffee shop you usually go to after work?"
"So is that one of your secret tastes? Some love came to the surface again?"
"What?"
"No"
"It''s just my granddaughter showing me where she is"
"The cafeteria belongs to a good friend of mine, so most of the time after school Haru goes there to hang out with her friends"
"Oh right, White Moon Cafe"
"..."
"However it is a maid cafe themed right? Something like fantasy"
"The girls who work there are dressed as maids and everything else, cat ears and all that"
"The place must be popular with the youngsters, but you go there quite often too"
"I heard they recently got someone to play as a mermaid"
"Really?"
"That''s incredible!"
"It''s really catching my attention"
"May I know where it is? Maybe I should stop by and see what it looks like" Adachi showed genuine interest in the topic.
"You seem to know a lot about it too, Dojima."
"May I know from where?" said the frustrated inspector.
"Well my daughter discovered the place when she went to one of her friend''s birthday party"
"She was fascinated by the place and was telling me a lot about it"
"She wants her party there too"
"It looks like it''s amazing what they managed to do" Dojima said smiling for the first time during the day.
After finishing their meal, the cops got back in the car and headed for Kitamoto, the place where the Toyashi Clan was now residing. The rookie was worried for his safety as he thought what they were about to do was quite a risky idea. The other two, although also concerned, were less tense, because even though they were in theory rivals it was very likely that they would even want to cooperate to find the culprit of what was happening. In any case, there was not much the yakuza could do either, for killing policemen, especially someone with Yamamoto''s reputation alone would be nothing but suicidal, as the government would be interrogating even the rocks looking for those responsible. This would only be a casual meeting between groups, a simple exchange of information, there should be no problems.
Up the mountain road, the detectives came to a large estate, so large that even after passing the entrance they had to drive a little further, it didn''t seem that a group that had been expelled from the capital would have the money for something like this, perhaps Yamamoto had underestimated them, even Dojima thought.
When they arrived at the house, something was wrong, several guards were smashed at the entrance, their bodies mutilated, it seemed to be recent because the guards at the entrance had not noticed it yet. Seeing this, Yamamoto, with his well-known seriousness and calmness, got out of the car and began to search the place and the corpses, not even bothering to take his hands out of his pants pockets. Dojima took his gun with a steady hand and looked around skillfully, searching for the source of the threat. Lastly, Adachi was frightened by what was happening, this was his first time in trouble, he also had his gun in hand and ready to fire, he didn''t want to be a loser but in his mind, he was already thinking about how his adventure had only lasted so far.
The attack seemed to have been quick and deadly, so with the violence that the police were investigating, it all seemed to be a terrible coincidence, but it stopped being so when shots were heard inside the big house, there were several, but just as quickly as they originated, just as quickly they stopped. The inspector is thinking to himself about what was going on and trying to compare it with his past adventures. This had happened before, once before in Korea, when someone was trying to erase important evidence from an investigation. Yamamoto followed his hunch and thought that something similar was happening right now, the Toyashi Clan was about to reveal important information and they were being attacked, hence the brutal and unplanned nature of the enemy.
The old man still without taking his weapon went to the door and entered the place to try to stop the destruction of the evidence, Dojima followed him helping his companion, Adachi only followed them because he did not want to be alone.
Screams of wounded men filled the place, one stiff monster filled another. The young man was convinced that there was a horrible monster lurking, the detective tried to calm him down, as he did not want to get shot by the new one, but the inspector did not stop walking, more and more sure of what was happening, someone was tying up loose ends with whatever was going on. They went to where the leader of the Yakuza was, but found him dead, in the hands of his assassin. A horrible huge monster, more than two meters tall, black face and covered with hair all over, it had human form, but also that of a canine. He was standing next to the body trying to nail it to the wall with the stakes from the bag he had on his back, he didn''t even use a hammer, only his hands. When Adachi saw it, he got scared and shot as fast as he could, wasting all his magazine and ran away without thinking twice, the monster did not seem to flinch from the damage, but when he saw something running away he woke up again his hunter instincts, he got on all fours to start running. The other two policemen, seeing the beast approaching, walked backwards and closed the door to distract it for a couple of seconds, seconds in which the inspector took the opportunity to grab Adachi''s arm and pull him out of the way, saving his life. Dojima also fired his gun after the creature passed through and destroyed the door, but although his gun was more powerful than his companion''s, it did not stop it, nor did it flinch. The three were impressed by the monster''s resistance, which had already easily eaten about forty shots. The demon turned its huge body with the same difficulty due to its size, returning to the charge soon after. Dojima, calling out to Adachi who was in a panic attack, dragged him back to the room where the yakuza boss was, leaving the immediate sight of his enemy. Yamamoto did not move from his place, he was right at the door of the long corridor, looking his enemy in the eyes, thinking about how to stop him if his plan failed. He calmly watched the animal run straight at him, took out one of his hands, grabbed his powerful revolver, and fired a single shot at its face.
But the beast did not stop, instead the brutal damage it inflicted caused it to lose an eye, but its fury was too much to stop at the pain, and its speed increased, even more, it wanted revenge.
Despite the fact that his faithful weapon and plan had failed, the old man remained serious and calm and coldly began to carry out the second plan he had drawn up if this case happened. He still had 4 shots left in his huge revolver, three of them were spent again in the face, but still not enough to stop the brute force of the monster. In the last shot, knowing that it would lead to the same result, he used it in a different way, already only a few meters between the two rivals, Yamamoto shot at one of the front legs of the animal, which completely destroyed it and from the pain it slipped in a course already planned by the inspector, avoiding it with a simple step backwards. The beast was still alive and now furious about the damage. The inspector took advantage of the moment to reload his revolver with perfect mastery, five new shots would be enough even against a truck, and the only thing he needed to do was to deliver them first.
The old man smiled, it had been a long time since he had enjoyed the thrill of a fair fight, he felt he had returned to his glory days.
But life had other plans, for his dream would not be granted. As the monster rose to resume his attack, a single hiss came from his chest, only to explode later without any further warning. Just a big red spot was all that was left of that demonic thing, where just a second ago it was and now it was not. Yamamoto kept his surprise to himself, while the other two detectives came out of hiding wondering what the hell had happened.
Ch141: The Test In the Forest Part 4
The Test In the Forest Part 4
Kitamoto, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
The tall man presented his identification so that the guards would let him pass, not that he really needed it because if he had wanted it he could have done it easily, but if he wanted to keep his job he had to get along with his colleagues, even if he didn''t know them at all. Ahead of them, there were several offices with staff, he ignored all of them and went to the last one of the place, the biggest one, where the man in charge of the whole investigation and his assistant were waiting for him. When he saw his guest approaching Brandon stopped what he was doing and invited him to sit down.
"Mr. Gomez"
"It''s a pleasure to see you back so quickly despite what happened in Russia"
"Have you been all right over there?"
"Negotiations are tough, but I''m tougher"
"It will probably all work out later on"
"...."
"From what I''ve heard again they''ve gone back to sounding like nailed down people again"
"That''s why I''m here again I guess"
"Well, it is true that this mode of operation has been reintroduced"
"But its nature this time is completely different"
"Although the first attacks affected us I thought I would use it to our advantage on this occasion"
"According to the police, a gang fight led the serial killer to kill people in this cruel way"
"So I thought it would be an excellent way to get the attention of the police again"
"If not for a serious problem then I''m afraid my services are quite limited"
"I don''t know what you are planning but I am sure you will find capable people without having to call me personally"
"Oh, but it wasn''t me who asked for your help"
"It was Mr. Damien who contacted you to help us again"
"He believes that your experience and skills are outstanding, so he thinks you are the best person to make this go smoothly, just as our boss wants it to"
"Okay, then let''s stop dragging it out."
"Can you give me the details in the short form please?"
"Yes, of course"
"We recently had a visit from Senator Yoshida, he is still in favor of the project, but he wants to greatly increase our funding, which is good news"
"But one of the conditions is to present a working model to the Japanese Minister of Defense"
"If successful, the completion of the project is almost guaranteed, so Damien is anxious for good news"
"Then there are serious problems if I am listening to this conversation, right?"
"It was Senator Yoshida himself who advised us to make something that works on the surface"
"It doesn''t have to be a fully functional model"
"My main problem is that the monsters do not obey complex commands"
"Their lifespan is quite limited outside of laboratory care"
"And depending on the endowed abilities their aggressiveness varies greatly"
"I have created some temporary countermeasures against these problems while I try to solve them in the long term"
"I have managed to put an exoskeleton on one and managed to hide it by growing hair to cover it, so it can be remotely controlled to some extent"
"The short life thing I can solve by selecting someone new with a specific date so that on the day of the demo it is at full strength"
"But I''m afraid the wildness is the hardest part, at the moment there''s nothing I can do"
"I think the answer to that last one is much easier and more economical"
"Simply train the test subject prior to its transformation"
"This way he will behave in a predictable way for the test day"
"Wasn''t this subject, Jirou Iwasaki, able to show human rationing even after his transformation?"
"...."
"As for the demonstration itself, is there anything you have planned?"
"Mr. Damien himself has proposed a plan that is quite risky but with great rewards, if we can pull it off"
"What the Ministry of Defense wants is to have their own version of super soldiers, one capable of rivaling the DOLLs or the Arksuits"
"We plan to prove to them that our product range is capable of delivering just the next generation of super soldiers to them first through their sponsorship of the project"
"...."
"Coincidentally, the President of the United States will soon visit the country for a diplomatic visit"If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
"I hope he is not your target, because there is no benefit if you can''t spend the money in the first place"
"Of course not"
"But the security team will"
"A visit of such an important leader will have only the strictest security measures available"
"...."
"Although we don''t know what armed forces they will bring, there is one in particular that I know will make an appearance without fail"
"The white girl, Project Valkyria"
"I''m sure Adelis kept her after the war as her personal guard"
"Several attempts to get rid of her failed due to the unexpected interference of the white girl"
"We also know that she also interfered in New York where Adelis and the president were meeting"
"They will undoubtedly meet again during this visit, so I am absolutely certain that she will also be part of their defense forces that day"
"If I can show him that my supersoldier is capable of engaging in combat on the same level as her, I should be able to secure his cooperation"
"After all, it is only an early prototype"
"I don''t even need that thing to win, just to resist and be able to show it"
"I will erase the evidence with the self-destruct system, so they won''t be able to link us to the attack they suffered either"
"Okay, I''m starting to see why I''m needed here"
"I need you to set up the details for this plan, I will send you the chronogram as soon as I receive it from the Senator"
"Find a suitable place and time to attack."
"I''ll be in charge of getting the creature ready to use"
"Also take care of any loose ends if they appear, after all, that''s your expertise isn''t it?"
"One of them, yes"
"But there are still things I want to see first"
"I need to gauge the reaction of the local police, how they will handle the case before the white girl shows up"
"I don''t think it will do us any good if the monster is killed before reaches its actual rival"
"I would also like to find out how they would investigate a similar case in order to establish countermeasures to prevent us from being identified as the perpetrators of the attack"
"If so, then I have very good news for you, as the same doubt had arisen before"
"So I organized a small test to be able to observe and qualify local police"
"I used a local gang, it was pretty bad, it was almost at the end, but I gave them money in exchange for distributing packs among our raw material"
"With this data, we can see where to farm more test subjects"
"Then I made a couple of flashy attacks with the metal stakes to attract the attention of the police"
"This morning I released one of the monsters that were reaching the end of its useful life, the same one with the exo-armor, and sent it to kill one of the homeless"
"A problem arose when a hunter looked into the matter, for some reason that I don''t understand I tried to hunt it, but the animal managed to kill it too"
"There was one more witness, but that one was useful for me to warn the police so I let him go"
"It seems that the police took the bait, as I was able to confirm that Inspector Yamamoto was also checking the crime scene"
"Right now Akane is closely investigating their progress to see if they will be able to get anything important"
"Sir, we have a situation"
"The detectives are arriving at the Toyashi Clan house" said the girl near Brandon looking at a tablet.
"Wow, so they did manage to find them"
"Can you put the drone video on the screen please"
Akane nodded her head and a large screen came on, showing live as the detectives were talking to the guards at the entrance to let them in.
"Was this among what you expected?" asked Mr. Gomez.
"I didn''t really expect them to get that far"
"Surely they were able to see that the packages were distributed by those crooks"
"It doesn''t matter anyway"
"I can use this opportunity to get more data from the investigation"
"Akane, order the beast to start attacking the facility"
"Let''s see how the police will respond"
Once again the girl used the tablet to do what she had been ordered to do. From the monitor, they could see how the creature came out of the back of a delivery truck and entered the private property. Several guards saw it and immediately opened fire, but could do nothing to stop him. Both men watched closely as the situation unfolded: Brandon to find flaws in his design, while Gomez watched the cops'' actions to plan the real test. The real threat that Agent Gomez, Damien''s right-hand man noticed was the old man, Inspector Yamamoto, as he demonstrated calmness and a cool head to face something as unfamiliar as a monster, so much so that he seriously harmed it all by himself despite his age.
"The integrity of the exoskeleton is compromised."
"The logic unit is offline"
"I have lost control of the test subject" said Akane.
"It appears that the Inspector used a large caliber revolver"
"From the sound, it could be a .44 Magnum or similar"
"5 powerful shots, characteristic of the Smith and Wesson 460XVR model"
"Probably got through the armor easily" It was Gomez''s quick analysis of what happened.
"The armor of the logic unit was only kevlar so it would make sense"
"I''ll use something better for the next one."
"Akane, you can use the self-destruct now"
"I don''t want them to know what happened"
The girl obeyed again, and just by pressing the tablet, the life of the evidence subject had disappeared without a trace for the policemen who saw it live.
Ch142: Problems Can Come From Any Side
Problems Can Come From Any Side
***************
Maria POV
***************
The bell rang, ending the class, and I felt the energy return to my body. It was the last class of the day so it was time to go home, but just as I was picking up my things Asuka, my friend approached me quickly, it seemed that she wanted to ask me something.
"Maria!"
"I was thinking of going to the karaoke with a friend but she won''t be able to go, however, I had already made a reservation so I wondered if you would like to go to wouldn''t lose it?"
"I think it''s near your house, do you think you could show it to me?"
"I am curious to see what a western house is like"
Asuka was once again curious about me being a stranger. I wanted to accept to try to increase my relationship with her, but there was no way for me to explain to her all the things that happened there, the only thing I could do was to make an excuse for her.
"I''m sorry but today I have to help again at my family''s restaurant"
"Another day would be better, how about Saturday? so we can go to more places instead"
"Really? It''s a pity"
"..."
"By the way, I noticed that lately, you come with those two weird girls from the other section"
"I guess they live near you"
"Do you know anything about the tall girl? Tamamo?"
"Tamamo?"
"Well that''s weird, people tend to ask more about the little one for obvious reasons"
"If they live nearby, we usually come together for safety, there are a lot of perverts everywhere and stuff"
"But why do you want to know that?"
Just at that moment a funny rhythm appeared, it came from Asuka''s skirt, she noticed the call from her cell phone and rushed to answer immediately, a rather rude gesture for a Japanese so I understood that it was a serious matter.
"Yes, Dad?"
"Where have you been!? Do you know how worried I was!?"
"It''s been a whole day!"
"When I returned there was no one in the temple, I had to call another priest to help me with the funeral"
"..."
"What do you mean in prison?"
"What happened?"
"..."
"..."
"A misunderstanding? But how?"
"...."
"...."
"And that''s why they always tell you not to talk too much"
"I was worried that maybe a demon had appeared or something"
"...."
"...."
"The matai what !?"
"...."
"...."
"If it''s ok, I''ll be right there, just don''t talk anymore"
"Is everything ok?"
"Do you need help with anything?"
Asuka stared at me in a rather strange way, seeming to be impressed by what I had just said.
"A yes, you are a foreigner"
"It''s normal where you come from"
"...."
"I appreciate the gesture but it''s not necessary."
"It seems that yesterday something happened near my father''s sanctuary and somehow he started acting suspiciously in front of the cops and they ended up locking him up"
"He''s at the headquarters so I''ll go there to pick him up I guess."
"..."
"Looks like that karaoke is not going to happen today anyway"
"See you later"
Asuka left right after I spoke so I couldn''t say anything back to her. My brother and Tamamo had an activity at their club today so they wouldn''t be coming home early, so I had to go home alone. I had to get ready to go to work at the cafe but first I had to leave my things at home, so I decided to go there first and then to the cafe. However, things got quite complicated just after I passed the door of my house because Tifa came flying as fast as she could to get help.
"Maria!"
"Quick, I need help!"
"It''s Levia, she fell several hours ago and she''s still on the ground!"
"This way!"
When I heard this I ran after the fairy to see what had happened. Arriving in the living room I found the mermaid lying on the floor, near her was the wheelchair she used to move around the house, near her was the crystal box that Momo had gotten for my brother, the crystal was near Levia, finally, there were also several packages of cookies and a small bottle of water. The disabled girl when she heard me raised her head and looked at me trying to smile.
"Levia?"
"What happened? Are you ok?"
"Oh, this"
"It was just a little miscalculation that I made"
"...."
"I wanted to see this nice crystal closer but I couldn''t reach the top of the fireplace, so I stretched to reach it but I lost my balance and that''s how I ended up like this."
"Then I tried to get back to the wheelchair but I couldn''t and I ended up getting tired so I was resting before I continued"
"She spent the whole morning trying to get back in the wheelchair"
"Since she couldn''t even get to the kitchen, I brought her some food"
"It was the least I could do for her in this situation" Said the fairy.
"Did you try to take Luna out of her box!?"
"Oh my god! Quick let me pick this up quickly!"
"It takes guts to touch my brother''s third daughter"
"Third daughter?"
"This gem?"
"It''s a hundred, you haven''t been here long so you don''t know it yet"
"It''s a complicated subject as always"
"This gem is a memento of a girl Cesar knew"
"She was raised by him but was killed by a group of dragons"
"The gem was the only thing he has of hers now"
"He has a lot of respect for her so he doesn''t let anyone touch it unless it''s an emergency"
"Another daughter?"
"So she was his oldest daughter?"
"More or less, I think" I said as I finished putting the glass box back in place.
Now it was time for the real challenge, to get this girl back in the wheelchair and get her moving again. I don''t even have the strength of a normal person, let alone the strength required to lift a mermaid about 5 times my size. But what was worse was that all the people who could lift her were busy right now. Cesar and Tamamo were still at school, Lisa was probably with my mother again since I hadn''t seen her in the cafeteria when I passed by, and the twins are helping Saeko because even though the cafeteria in the mornings doesn''t need so many people, by this time is when more people start to show up. Levia is able to move very, very little, but if she says she is tired it means she can''t move at all, besides, her arms would not support the weight of lifting her tail, it must be difficult to have such a useless body out of the water. I had to do it myself, but how could I do it? this was a challenge of ingenuity rather than of strength.
I can''t lift with brute force, nor is there any tool with which to lift her up enough so that she can sit back in the chair. I can''t lift it high enough to get it back in the chair. Even if I could get something a forklift wouldn''t go through the front door. I think I could drag her if I put something underneath her first so she could slide, but what, borrow a skateboard? It wouldn''t break easily.
"You don''t have to worry so much about me"
"I know you want to help me but I''m aware of how heavy I am"
"I can wait here until tonight for someone who can help me"
"Go change your clothes and tell the others I''m taking the day off."
"That should keep them from worrying about me in the meantime"
"No, don''t worry"
"We are a family, we have to help each other"
"I want to do it, I want to find a way to help you"
"I know I can, I just have to figure out how to do it"
"If only I was as big as a tall person I could help"
"Maybe between the two of us we could have lifted her up"
There had to be something that could be done, but I had to get more creative with the solutions. Maybe I could use a rope to tie her to something and lift her up, something like the pillar between the kitchen and the dining room! No wait and then what do I keep her there while I get her into the wheelchair? I can''t tie her to anything else, Tifa won''t be able to hold her and maybe the rope won''t be strong enough to start with. The carpet is quite big, I can put it next to Levia and ask her to roll on it, with that I should be able to at least drag her on the floor of the house, but how to return her to the wheelchair?
"To make matters worse, it looks like it''s going to rain soon"
"There are still clothes outside and I can''t pick them up"
"It will be your turn to pick it up too, Maria"
"I''m sorry for being so useless" Said Tifa, almost sadly
"Well, this wouldn''t have happened in the first place if I hadn''t fallen down"
"...."
"We are both so useless really" Said the mermaid in the same tone.
I turned to look back at the backyard to see what the weather was like. It looked like it was close to rain. But because I was looking at the sky I forgot the bleacher that was there and ended up losing my balance and falling too.
"!!!!"
"Maria!"
"Are you ok?" the fairy came flying to ask me.
"What happened?"
"Did Maria fall too?"
"...."
"I can''t even go to see what happened"
"I''m sorry" said Levia.
"Don''t worry, I''m fine"
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there."It was just a silly fall, nothing serious"
"See I''m fine, nothing happened"
"It was just the fault of this stupid step"
I looked at the origin of my fall, and it was then that an idea occurred to me.
The space between the step and the ground outside the house was not very big, but with the difference in height the wheelchair was underneath enough for Levia to be able to sit in it, she just had to bring it up here using the carpet, then she would just go around the outside of the house and take it to the entrance where the wheelchair ramp is and that''s it, problem solved!
"That''s it!"
"Thank you very much, Tifa!"
"Thanks to you I know how to help Levia!"
"In a moment you''ll be back in the saddle as if nothing happened!"
"...."
"Well, you better wait a little longer, if I don''t get the clothes in the house before it rains my mother will cripple us all!"
It took me several minutes to get all the clothes in. Although there were many of us living here, we didn''t wear as much laundry as you would think. Momo and the twins wear clothes once in a while, most of the time they don''t wear anything. Lisa only wears those strings so they don''t last very long to dry. Tamamo never gets her clothes dirty no matter what, but still, because they are quite fine and expensive kimonos, so she has them washed at a store that specializes in washing kimonos, but only once in a while. Tifa washes her clothes herself. The only people who wear normal clothes are my mother, my brother and me. The maid''s clothes from the cafeteria are sent to a store to be washed as well and are included in the store''s expenses.
After picking up all the clothes it was finally time to put my plan into action. I put the rug next to Levia and she rolled on it. I tried pulling on her arms but I couldn''t move her, then I tried to push her but I lacked grip on my feet, I had my bare feet, and pushing with a great force I was able to move her a little. Although it was only a couple of meters the trip cost me a lot of time and energy. When she was already next to the step I went for the wheelchair, I put it right at the bottom next to the step also and put the brakes on, although to avoid more problems I also borrowed a couple of large stones to press the wheels and prevent them from moving for any reason. Then it was just to finish pushing her and she managed to hold on to the chair herself, finally sitting on it.
"You did it!"
"Thank you so much, Maria!"
"I can''t tell you how much I appreciate your help"
"I would have been there all day if it hadn''t been for you!"
"No problem"
"I just helped as anyone would have done"
"In any case, I regret that it had to be this way and not something more normal"
After I finished settling Levia in, I walked her around the yard and went back into the house through the ramp. Since I had already spent a lot of time with it, I quickly got ready to go to the cafeteria to work. I also carried the siren all the way myself, as it was much easier to move her around in the chair. When I arrived my mother was greeting Saeko, she had just come back from working in the office, Lisa took Levia and brought her to the aquarium without any problem. The rest of the day was much calmer, although just like the previous days Haru arrived again, this time she came in alone, without the company of my brother or Tamamo. She herself came to the counter to talk to me.
"Coming alone? That''s really strange"
"Where are the others?" I mentioned.
"Actually, I came along with Elise and Tamamo as usual"
"But for some reason, it seems that Elise suffered an anxiety attack"
"Elise said she felt short of breath and dizzy, her hands were shaking and she started to cry"
"Tamamo took her to the park to rest and said she would take her to home later"
"It was quite a strange thing, did something happen recently?"
"Was she sleeping before that?"
"In the subway?"
"Yes, how do you know that?"
"Well, that explains it all"
"From time to time these things happen to her"
"Some things happened in a dark subway and other things like that"
"I''m sure she had another nightmare again"
"...."
"Don''t think too much about what happened"
"Tamamo usually takes care of those things"
"Just don''t ask her what happened, just forget about it and don''t bring it up"
"What happened before?"
"...."
"Difficult to explain and classified"
"If she won''t tell you I can''t either, it''s a delicate matter for her"
"Another secret?"
"But how many does Elise have?"
"I ask myself the same question"
"Maria, is there any type of popular dessert that is about to run out?"
"Do we need to make more of anything?" Momo asked, coming out of the kitchen, wearing her new set of clothes and metal mask.
"A nun?"
"Who is she?" Haru asked as she saw her approaching.
"She?"
"It''s Momo, Elise introduced her to you before, isn''t it?"
"Is it Momo?"
"Oh, I see, that makes sense"
"It looks fun to wear those clothes and the mask but I understand why you''re doing it"
"At least it doesn''t stand out from the rest of the cafeteria"
"At least?"
"I was hoping that with this I could go out to more places!"
"I sewed it myself! It took me 2 weeks to make it and a month to wait for the mask to arrive in the mail!"
"Well, it will certainly attract attention, but knowing what you really look like is a big step"
"I don''t think you''ll lose as much attention if you go somewhere with a group of friends"
"..."
"By the way have you always been working here?"
"I''ve never seen you before, what do you do?"
"I am a kitchen assistant"
"I help keep track of the ovens, peeling fruit, washing dishes, inventory, taking out the garbage, etc"
"I also take care of the maintenance of almost everything and build the things Adelis asks for"
"Although now I''m trying to get Saeko to teach me how to cook"
"Oh, quite interesting"
"Hey, glass bottle"
"We are almost out of chocolate cakes, we need to make more" Said Lisa approaching us as well.
"Oh, Hi Lisa"
"How are you?"
"More or less"
"Unfortunately, the group of weird morons continues to grow."
"If this keeps up I''d rather be the one doing the cooking"
"Well, Lisa is a pretty attractive girl, so it''s normal that men want to talk to you in one way or another"
"And that''s the biggest problem!"
"I hate them!"
"Why don''t we segregate customers by sex?"
"We leave the nice area for the women, the bastards with dicks can go to the bathroom to eat ...." Lisa stopped talking when she saw that my mother was watching her out of the corner of her eye, waiting for a mistake to end her life.
"???"
"You also have a necklace"
"..."
"But Maria does not"
"..."
"I thought it was part of the uniform"
"But now that I see it is the same as Tamamo, Momo also has one, and Levia too"
"...."
"Wait the ones with the necklaces are the same girls who are close to Elise?"
"Oh, this"
"Yes, they are Slave collars, they are quite nice aren''t they"
"They''re so big and heavy, a single big piece of metal"
"It''s impossible to forget it''s there"
"Just thinking about it almost makes me feel like getting wet"
"Lisa, if you don''t want to have to walk around with a limp, I suggest you refrain from talking like that at least inside the store" Said my mother as the only warning.
"Slave collar?"
"What is that? Does it work like in the manga?"
"Yes, just like that"
"Those who have them cannot refuse any order from their master."
"That includes our lives, we are Elise''s property, her toys"
"If she orders us to stop breathing, the same thing will happen to us, whether we want it to or not"
"Our bodies even move on their own to carry out her orders"
"It is so sexy to know that you can die any day just by the changing will of a single person"
"Elise can decide what my last day will be if she wants to"
"Just thinking about it makes me feel like I''m going to get we... work better" Lisa stopped talking for a moment and then continued while massaging for no reason one of her legs.
"That''s scary!"
"Lisa, stop scaring her!"
"It''s not as extreme as you think"
"It''s more of a security measure"
"How do you think so many fantasy creatures are living here without causing problems every day?"
"Well although I can''t deny that they have the magic as she says"
"But Elise is a good person, if you want to ask the others and they will tell you that they don''t mind."
"Do you agree with that?"
"To be treated this way?"
"In what way?"
"As a family? Having a job, a house"
"Being able to be able to buy the things I want with the money I earn"
"Most of us would be lost if it weren''t for Elise" surprisingly it was Momo who responded, with an angry tone.
"...."
"Well if they agree then I can''t do anything"
"At least Elise doesn''t seem like a bad person"
"Although I understand the part as a security measure"
"I don''t want to imagine what Lisa will do without that collar" Said Haru.
"Kill all the men in this place"
"Don''t doubt for a second that I wouldn''t do it!"
"That one over there I''d slit his throat, the one next to him I''d rip his skin off"
"The fat bastard I''d sew him in oil, then feed him to pigs"
"Lisa, shut up"
"...."
"Wow, you really hate them so much"
"...."
"I mean aren''t you supposed to be a Succubus?"
"I thought seducing men was your specialty?"
"How are you going to do it if you behave like this"
"That''s what I have Elisenium for"
"That''s all I need to live"
"Really?"
"I thought succubus fed on sex with men to live?"
"You do it with her instead, you have slept with her"
"Are you a virgin right?"
"!!!!"
"...."
"...."
"Not me ...."
"..."
"Please don''t!"
"Don''t touch me!"
"Stop, no!"
"Please help me!"
"Help me!"
"Lisa, are you all right?"
"You are worrying me" said Momo.
"Don''t come any closer!"
"Stop it!"
"Don''t touch me anymore!"
"I don''t want this!"
"Help me!"
"Somebody stop him!"
"Stop it!"
"Get away from me!"
"..."
"Help"
"...."
"Waaaaah"
Lisa ran frantically to the door, which she opened with a bang on her shoulder, and continued running in the direction of the house, without stopping for anyone, even knocking over a lady who was walking on the sidewalk.
"What just happened?"
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Haru"
"For a detective''s granddaughter, you''re pretty dumb, anyone ever tells you that?" I was honest and straightforward with her.
"Just think about it, a Succubus who hates men"
"Doesn''t that sound weird on its own?"
"I don''t understand the relationship of one thing to the other."
"...."
"Don''t ever ask her anything like that again"
"...."
"We believe Lisa is a rape victim"
"Or at least an attempted one, so it is a rather sensitive issue"
"...."
"It''s since then that she''s been bad in the head..."
"..."
"We don''t know because she always gets like this and doesn''t say anything"
"...."
"Obviously she''ll lose one more screw if the subject comes up again"
"Oh, I''m sorry"
"I didn''t think something like that had happened, especially someone like her"
"It seems that no matter how strong someone is, everyone has their own difficult battles"
"It was my mistake"
"It''s amazing"
"You managed to make two of our best warriors cry in one day"
"That''s quite a feat considering the track record of those two"
Without a doubt, Haru had ruined that day for everyone else. My brother didn''t come to the cafeteria, and Tamamo didn''t come either because he was taking care of him and then adding Lisa, I imagine he had a hard time trying to calm them both down. Adelis herself went outside the store to apologize to the girl that Lisa threw away while she was running. The rest of the day was quite gray, since Momo, the twins, and I had to keep working because of the missing waitresses, and Levia sang to entertain the customers because of the long waits, Haru had to sit alone all day.
Ch143: One Warning Only
One Warning Only
The lock of the house turned, two of the family members had arrived. One of them was Asuka Tetsuya, the other was Shiba Tetsuya, her father. The man was quite tired because he had spent a long time in a cell and had not rested at all, so his daughter took him to the living room of his house, but by surprise, she found more people in it, the young woman was his mother, it was normal that she was at home, what was not normal was the other man who was there, he was another Shinto priest. The mother saw her husband and ran to him, indicating that she would take him to his room, so Asuka could talk to her guest, the girl accepted a little upset.
"All right, it''s been a while since your last report"
"What have you managed to get?" Said the man in a deep and serious voice.
"I have managed to get close to Maria a lot, however, she is quite suspicious about her private life."
"She reveals almost nothing, neither where she lives nor where she works."
"She doesn''t want people to find out about it for any reason"
"Have you been able to establish contact with Adelis?"
"No sir"
"As I said before, Maria keeps her private life very private"
"What about the target?"
"Is it possible that she could have achieved it?"
"...."
"...."
"I haven''t confirmed it yet..."
"But personally I think the possibility is extremely high"
"She is also close friends with Haru, Inspector Yamamoto''s granddaughter"
"This last one I can confirm completely"
The man was astonished to hear these words
"Oh my God"
"The probability that it is the real thing is really high"
"Tamamo-no-mae is really trying to get back into politics"
"And with a foreign force no less"
"This we would not have foreseen"
"She is covering her tracks very well so as not to be found yet her power in the government is not high"
"...."
"If only the cursed stone that contained her had not been broken in two this would not have happened"
The girl, listening to the man''s laments, remained pensive, for she still could not really believe that the girl she had been talking to for several days could even be such a powerful and mysterious being.
"An evil goddess on earth"
"...."
"!!!!"
"There is still something else, another girl"
"She is also a kitsune, she is small and white, is almost always next to the other one"
"She seems to be the one who gives the orders"
"Another Kitsune, a assistant"
"Probably a common fox that Tamamo-no-mae gave her a part of his power"
"Her tasks are probably to help her master and to act as a decoy for demon hunters"
"Don''t pay attention to her, she''s just a distraction"
"...."
"...."
"We can''t just sit around and do nothing"
"Urakaze gave her life trying to leave us a better future"
"As his descendants, we cannot let his sacrifice be in vain"
"We must act immediately as it is not yet a serious threat"
"It must be resealed again"
The man took out a small wooden box, it was packed with holy talismans, a demon would never be able to touch something like this. It was a little worn but it looked very important only because of the protective measures it had.
"What is this?" asked the girl.
"A mystical magnifying glass"
"It was given to us by the European Inquisition as a reward for Urakaze trying to hunt an entity like the evil goddess Tamamo-no-mae, which although she did not defeat it, the wounds she managed to inflict on it were what made the humans win"
"For your cooperation in the hunt, we were given this magnifying glass to help us better hunt the demons hidden among humans"
"With it, you will be able to distinguish humans from monsters, as well as to measure how strong they are"
"Take it, investigate better how powerful it is"
"If you see it capable of attacking and doing damage do not hesitate to do so"
"Sir, I am only one hunter"
"Urakaze faced her and lost"
"What chance of success can I have?"
"None"
"But the possibility of damaging an enemy is much more important"
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings."If you manage to damage it so that we have a chance in subsequent attacks you will have fulfilled your role well"
"You will be welcomed with open arms in the house of your ancestors" The man was honest and straightforward with her.
The girl was surprised to hear what the man had just said, but she also understood why he was doing it. The threat to Japan was enormous and there were very few people capable of facing an entity like a goddess. If her death could save the lives of several more people, it was a price she was willing to pay. Asuka took the box with the magnifying glass, accepting the duty that fell on her family.
The man left shortly after speaking. When her parents came downstairs, the girl explained to them what she was about to do. Both were saddened by the task their daughter had to accomplish, but at the same time gave her words of support, for her task was important for her to continue to exist tomorrow. During the night a ceremony was held to bless their daughter from the impending danger, of the approaching battle. Her father brought out the family weapons, the same katana that Urakaze had used to hunt the mighty beast, a bow and sacred arrows blessed for generations, and the armored clothing that every Onmyoji hunter received.
As part of her preparation, the girl was left alone inside the temple all night to meditate and prepare herself, for after all an important battle was approaching with each passing hour.
"Cold place for a young lady to spend the night"
"The task set before you is an impossible one to perform"
"Reject it before the consequences are greater than anyone could have imagined"
The girl, hearing another voice she did not know, took her family''s katana and raised it against her unexpected guest. She was a snow-white girl, her hair short, her eyes red as fire. Her form of movement was dignified, she wore white clothes, and she looked like the manifestation of an angel, however, bruises were also seen along her body, a cast covered her hand, they were clearly brutal battle wounds, which was what the young hunter thought.
"Who are you?"
"How did you get to this place without anyone noticing?"
"Please don''t worry, I''m not here to hurt you"
"My name is Stella, the details of my background are not necessary for you to know"
"You can take me as an important advisor to the demon hunters"
"I have come here today to inform you of the grave mistake you are making if you continue on the path you are on right now"
" Advisor?"
"You are a foreigner, aren''t you? What do you know about the danger I face?"
"Do you work for Westerners or Arabs?"
"Your word carries no weight here"
"Let me warn you that you are about to make a big mistake by trying to pursue Tamamo-no-mae"
"Our relations with an important Allied faction of ours are too strained and the consequences of her being attacked will only make it worse"
"You expect me to let the existence of an evil goddess pass because you don''t want to upset someone!?"
"The Goddess does not matter at all"
"Her companion is the true monster"
"One who does what he wants because nothing can stop him"
"Touch the Goddess, and this misfortune will fall upon you with impunity"
"Companion?"
"the white girl? The assistant?"
"What she can do"
"He is known as the Ultimate Predator"
"Beings more powerful than this goddess have tried to stop him before."
"However, it was not their names that went down in history, because the tales of their victories do not exist."
"For those who have seen his true fury were hunted down like animals and never saw the light again"
"If this beast is so powerful, why has no one ever heard of it before?"
"Why does no one know about it?"
"Because he is not a beast, he is a Ruler"
"A wise King who prefers anonymity, for he knows that powerful beings draw the attention of those undeserving of his throne"
"A beast that will fight until his last breath to defend his treasure"
"A being so powerful that the world in which you live is already his"
"There is nothing you can do against him, except try not to be his next prey"
The girl grew more and more fearful, with every word her visitor said she realized that she had made a mistake even though she had not done anything yet. She could not understand what level of warnings she was receiving, but they were all quite clear. Don''t you dare disturb the monster lurking in the shadows. The young girl, trying to come to an agreement, spoke again.
"If it''s so dangerous, why am I the one getting the warning?"
"If you tell my superiors this you wouldn''t have had to talk to me in the first place."
"But they have already been warned and have disregarded it"
"By setting you as their innocent sacrifice to test the waters"
"To test the patience of a foe they underestimate"
"Ruin falls without fail to the Emperor''s enemies"
"Urakaze has asked me to intercede for her to warn her family of the foolishness they will commit"
"The destiny of your family depends on the decisions that you take because you are already warned"
The girl wanted to ask one more question, but the figure in front of her quickly disappeared.
Asuka opened her eyes immediately, had she fallen asleep while meditating? Had the warning been a vision? She thought it had all been a bad dream, a product of the nerves that filled her body. But when she saw that the Katana, her family''s important treasure, was unpacked near the door, a cold chill ran through her body. He stood up to take it and return it to its place, but next to the sword he also found a sheet of paper. What must have been an amulet bore the same clear warning.
Ruin falls to the Emperor''s enemies.
Ch144: Try To Catch Up With The Fox Tail
Try To Catch Up With The Fox Tail
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
The girl went to school as planned, but her mind was not ready. Her head was full of thoughts about the events that had brought her to this point. How it all began in Nasu when the Sessho-Seki, the sinister stone in which she had succeeded in sealing the Evil Goddess Tamamo-no-Mae, had split in two only a short time ago. With her unleashing panic in the national association of Onmyoji, who rushed to investigate what had happened, the terror did not dissipate afterward either, for they realized that there was no trace of magic left in her, the goddess had escaped from her confinement, with most likely revenge as her main objective, she would destroy all of Japan in a fit of fury, just as some seers had predicted centuries ago. Every priest, helper, and family had thrown themselves into the search for this being supreme and incomprehensible to simple mortals like humans because the survival of their people was at stake now.
The surprise was worse when the first reports came in about how the kitsune had been identified, for they did not come from national soil, but from a village deep in the mountains of neighboring China, an old woman named Xiang Fan, a mysterious sorceress feared and respected in equal parts, called to exchange information, among the topics discussed she said how a demon-possessed a house in Midorigaoka had been purified by a group of first-time fans with the help of one of her incredible tools. Monster hunters are few in number and usually consisted of clans, families dedicated to the eradication of evil, so the appearance of new prospects with which to increase their ranks was good news, so researchers were deployed to identify them and try to add them to their ranks. But the investigation not only revealed the presence of foreigners, but also strong hints of ancestral magic, one that humans could not even dream of using, a command order from a God, but not just any God, but one personally signed by Tamamo-no-Mae. With the huge clue they followed the footsteps, as they had come to see how Haru Yamamoto, the granddaughter of the Tokyo police inspector had been involved along with several classmates, two of whom were clearly not human, as they looked as if they were challenging their pursuers and did not even bother to hide their animal features, The Evil Goddess had been found. Searching further it turned out that the Kitsune was not only hiding among the humans but had also been increasing her political influence, being as clever as her race implied, knowing that influencing the government of Japan would have led to her being discovered quickly, she had gone to foreign forces.
Adelis was a Latin American mother, officially she had come to the country on a personal adventure to open a coffee shop, but that was only on the surface, for she was actually quite a powerful person in international politics, secretly people and whole countries were always looking to her for help, she somehow always found a way to fulfill requests, but the price to pay was curious, for she expected future collaboration for something else. The few who thought of taking advantage of more and not paying were quickly subdued by her long and extensive power, a person who had friends everywhere, great or unknown. She had come to the country to play more of these long political games, and the Goddess somehow discovered this and used it to her advantage. Most likely Tamamo-no-Mae managed to do something to please the foreigner and collaborate with her, Adelis believed she could get help from the girl, not knowing that she was the one who was actually being used.
It was right here that Asuka''s story began, just after the national Onmyoji association tried to convince the government to let them meet with Adelis alone to confirm their fears. But the government flatly refused, as the woman was backed by the United States, arresting her for no reason would only create huge international tension without any benefit. Then they tried to talk to her personally, but it was just as impossible, for as her job informed them she was extremely busy, and meeting with her without knowledge of the cunning fox was impossible outside of when she was in her office on a U.S. military base. So they went to other, more subtle methods. Asuka was a descendant of Urakaze, one of the hunters of the Goddess, although she was not of the main branch, she had been trained by her parents to be a demon hunter as well, she was also at an age similar to Maria, the daughter of Adelis, so if she was transferred from school and put in the same class as the girl, Asuka could get close enough to investigate Tamamo-no-Mae much better and find some weakness to exploit.
Unfortunately, the plans were quite affected by several reasons, like when Adelis had to leave the country for almost 2 weeks due to some mysterious situation, or like her daughter Maria, despite being quite friendly she was quite closed to her family matters or the people around her. At first, Asuka thought that Maria was under some spell of the Kitsune, but she couldn''t find anything, the girl didn''t say anything because she herself did it voluntarily. She also tried to make various excuses or situations to visit her target''s house, but this never worked, so she went for other things. Summoning up the courage like her ancestors, she decided to face the demon head-on and joined the same club that had been formed by Haru and of which Tamamo-no-Mae was a member. She thought this was where her opponent was preparing something but was disappointed to see that it was Haru who was taking the lead and that they didn''t really have any activity as such, it was just a decorated room to talk about any topic and eat.
Finally, he also remembered what happened yesterday, and how a representative of the main family of the Urakaze clan told him that he should try to do as much harm as possible because even if it cost him his life it would be for the benefit of others. But the conversation with the mysterious being from yesterday had put things in a different perspective. One where she mentioned that the evil Goddess, the one who almost destroyed the country the first time was not the one they should really worry about, but the girl who was almost always next to her, the white kitsune, because it was this one who was the real danger and power. But what could be stronger than a Goddess? What kind of power did she have that it was simpler to let her pass and let her do whatever she wanted? These questions, although important, were not the ones that really worried her, but the fact that according to the vision she had, the main family knew about it but were hiding it, they were using her life to measure the strength of this new enemy? to test how far she was able to tolerate their anger, and whether she would be capable of destroying her entire family, the ones important to her, her father and mother. Asuka since that night was quite resistant to what she was ordered, trying to find out if she was being lied to or not.
A call interrupted her thoughts, and quickly the girl picked up the phone and answered. It was again the representative of the main family, he had called to inform her that there was a team waiting for Asuka''s report or that if she thought of attacking they would enter combat a few minutes later. She asked again about the white kitsune, if they knew anything about her, as a vision the day before told her it was a bad idea. The man was silent for almost a full minute, only to reply that it was not necessary to be distracted by minor matters and to focus on the real mission. His words only increased, even more, the girl''s suspicions.
Asuka had arrived at the school, still quite early, much earlier than her targets. On the way to her classroom, she met teacher Xi''an. She knew that the teacher was somehow related to Xiang Fan, the sorceress who had helped them find Tamamo-no-Mae, so she thought she would try to get her cooperation in dealing with this threat as well. He managed to find a more private place and talked to her to team up to fight together, which the teacher refused, stating that she did not want to hunt demons and only wanted to have a common work. Asuka kept insisting, this time informing her that one of her students was the legendary Kitsune and that they should join forces to fight her, even going so far as to give her proof of their suspicions. But just when she finished speaking, the teacher began to act strangely, because her head started to hurt so much that she even screamed, and shortly after she fainted. Asuka noticed how a great magical concentration was coming out of her, so she placed a barrier around her, something hit, but thanks to a talisman made by her father that she had, nothing happened, the minutes passed and nothing else happened. Xi''an stood up as if nothing had happened and walked herself back to her living room. Asuka tried to talk to her again but saw how the teacher did not remember anything of what she had just said, thinking that surely her enemy had already foreseen that and left Xi''an under the effects of a rare spell, so she decided not to bother her anymore.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Asuka returned to the classroom and waited for the classes to start she went back to check the items she had brought with her, because this time her suitcase was full of objects to help her in her hunt, a katana and her talismans with spells, as well as her Miko uniform, which would help her to protect herself better. The door opened and another girl entered, it was Maria, so the girl quickly put everything away so as not to raise more suspicions. But no matter how hard she tried to pretend it too, the girl''s nerves were impossible to hide, Maria, looking at her face, quickly found out and asked her friend if she was all right. Asuka using all her wits thought of an easily believable excuse, "I have a doctor''s appointment later, it''s quite important" she said, doing her best to calm herself down.
When it was time for lunch Asuka went to the classroom next door, with the excuse of talking to Haru she managed to approach without arousing suspicion among the rest. At one point Haru was called by another classmate to explain a math subject to her. This was the opportunity that Asuka was looking for, she quickly took out the mystic magnifying glass that had been given to her and looked through it at the elusive Kitsune.
| Name: |
Tamamo-no-Mae |
| Race: |
Mythological Kitsune |
| Job: |
Goddess of the Moon |
| |
|
| Hp: |
??0???/?????0 |
| Strength: |
???0?? |
| Intelligence: |
?99??? |
| Speed: |
???0?? |
| Agility: |
?????9 |
| |
|
| Skills: |
| Goddess command |
Magic Wise |
| Curses expert |
Shapeshifter |
| Actress |
|
| Titles: |
| Moon Goddess |
Loving mother |
| Magic creator |
The Wise |
| Astrologer |
Carefree mind |
| Skilled actor |
Curious |
| Joker |
Lost in love |
| Member of the Harem of T??3 ?r??90? 0? ?4r |
Slave |
Asuka had to put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. It was a monster she was seeing, a powerful being that saw humans as insects living among them trying to carry out a personal vendetta. The girl was nervous and desperate, but remembering her training she quickly came to herself and analyzed the situation. Since she was a Goddess it was normal that her statistics were not easy to measure. Among the abilities she had, there were several to take into account in combat: Command of the Goddess was what a superior being could force inferior beings to obey, but it was difficult to understand because no human knew how it worked, normally it was related to actions to nature and spirits, because its effect on humans was limited. Magic Wise and Curses expert were expected to find, one was the one that allowed her to understand and use any magic, and the other was for research in curses. Shapeshifter was for her to be a kitsune that could do it, the stories in which these beings took human forms to perform pranks or revenge were already known, but it was strange that the Goddess did not use her full strength, leaving her ears and tail uncovered, as if mocking her enemies. Actress was undoubtedly another quite natural for a Kitsune to have, because you have to be a good actor to pass for other people.
The titles on the other hand were completely irregular from what anyone would have expected. Some were easily understandable, Moon Goddess, Astrologer, The Wise, Curious, Joker, Actress. But four were too strange: Loving mother could only mean that she had become a mother, which meant bad news because it meant that the dangerous monster had left offspring. Slave was even worse because it indicated that there was someone above her who could give her orders, but what being could be the master of a goddess? Finally, the final title seemed to be damaged, as only half of it seemed legible, the rest was hidden or full of letters and numbers, perhaps the mystic magnifying glass had been damaged? It was quite strange this last one.
Asuka was prepared for many things, but it was clear that something was wrong here. Something was clearly not right, something was hidden somewhere. And remembering the fear that had been implanted in her, she decided to use the magnifying glass on the only other thing that was out of place, the white kitsune.
A simple message appeared. One that indicated that the subject of his observation was simply beyond the capabilities of the mystic magnifying glass, the same one that had revealed much of the powers of a Goddess. So simple, so frightening. It was indeed possible that she was the dangerous monster, the hidden and forgotten emperor according to the words of the vision of the previous day.
The girl had had enough, she left the room and immediately called her superior, she had to report how strange everything was becoming. But the man was only startled by the information regarding Tamamo-no-Mae. She also reported about Elise, but the man dismissed it by saying that it was a lie, for it was impossible to escape the accurate judgment of the magnifying glass, a clearly incomplete judgment it should also be remembered.
The girl was more concerned about the situation than her superiors were. They were clearly only interested in one subject and not the other, or perhaps they were feigning ignorance, one that they knew would cost Asuka her life just to test the strength of this enemy. The girl herself told them that she would not continue unless they told her what they knew about the white girl, but they replied that the only thing they found out about her was that she was someone who appeared in the battle of New York leading a part of the 400 heroes. But far from calming her, this only worries the girl, for it also indicated that she was a warrior, one with real combat experience and strength, something she really lacked.
Seeing that the girl was hesitating greatly about the mission, he reminded her of how her family had a duty to save humans from the monsters that lurked in the darkness, and how their lives were for the benefit of others. How Urakaze, knowing he was up against a goddess, decided to continue his fight to make the world a better place. How many of his ancestors had met their end in a similar honorable way by bravely facing the enemies of humans. And as their sacred profession was one of the most ancient, hidden, and respected in the world, for no matter what civilization they were from, there were always family clans entrusted with this divine task, they were given strong powers to fight and so it was their duty to do their part to hunt down the demons.
The talk had worked, for the man was a good speaker. The girl with her faith in her mission renewed decided to continue. The man trying to give her advice recommended her to use Maria and Haru as hostages, as part of the Evil Goddess''s plan was based on political influence, so she would be quite a hindrance with the death of the girls, turning them into excellent shields. Although Asuka was not in favor of the dishonorable of this strategy, she decided to listen to him, as her rival was not an ordinary one. So she went to prepare everything for a quick and strong assault. She was ready to die quickly and bravely, in a blaze of glory, so that her life would be remembered as that of her ancestor Urakaze.
Ch145: Not Even A Fight
Not Even A Fight
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
The lessons were already finished today, Tamamo and I were in the class because we had been assigned the cleaning task today, when we finished we were going to go to the club room too, I think we were wasting our time because we still had nothing to do, I was even thinking of watching a movie instead. But our plans changed enormously from one moment to another, because while I was sweeping I saw how in a matter of minutes the sun went down quickly and it became night, I barely had time to get to the light switch to turn it on, I did not know what had happened but it was clear that it had been magic. I went to Tamamo to try to get at least some information because she would be the only one who could know something for now, but she was still standing without moving in the slightest, she also saw the window, in her face, I could see that she was agitated, worried, almost about to cry from what she was seeing with her eyes, a very strange behavior coming from the usually cheerful Tamamo.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Do you know what''s going on?"
"Is it serious?"
She turned her face to hear me, but she didn''t seem to look me straight in the eyes
"It seems that I have been found again"
"It''s them again, they''re after me"
"I''m sorry, I didn''t think they would still be looking for me after all this time"
"This is all my fault"
"I didn''t mean to involve you and your family"
"????"
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you know what''s going on?"
"Someone is chasing you?"
"Who is it?"
"It''s the hunters!"
"They have just erected a barrier to lock us in"
"They''re not going to stop until they lock me in again"
"They''re going to do the same thing they did last time"
"They''ve come to hunt us down, What are you going to do?"
In the reflection of her eyes, I could see how a pair of red lights lit up nearby, they were my eyes too, I could feel how I was pouring my blood, I was even smiling unconsciously thinking how he would destroy the idiots who did not think of the consequences of having me as an enemy. But then analyzing the last thing the girl in front of me mentioned I could understand that she was what she wanted to hear as my answer.
"As if I would let my wife be attacked by some idiots"
"Just relax, I''ll protect you no matter what"
"Let me take care of everything"
Tamamo stopped acting as if she was afraid and took again a very formal pose, in an explosion of smoke she changed her clothes for her traditional Goddess kimono, the one that was supposed to be used only for important acts but that was also the one she used the most, her hair was shining with the same intensity of the sun as when we met for the first time, her now calm eyes showed the beautiful blue that I had fallen in love with. She raised her right hand and put it on her cheek, partially covering her face with the sleeves of her fine clothes, she pretended to be looking in another direction, but at the same time every two seconds, she moved them to look at me.
"I know you''re not good at choosing what words to say, but you could have tried to say it in a more theatrical way as if we''re in a tragic drama period novel"
"...."
"But don''t worry, you still got it right"
"You''re exactly the person I''ve ever dreamed of falling in love with"
"Hell, I can''t believe it took me a thousand years inside a rock to hear that"
"How foolish I was in the past to think that idiot was the right one"
"I''m so ashamed of myself" Said the goddess returning to her usual cheerful tone.
"You got what you wanted, can we stop playing now?"
"How many are there?"
"Just a shinto miko hunter"
"She doesn''t look very good, the barrier is weak, but I think she''s doing it on purpose to conserve energy for the battle"
"Nor does she seem to be more dangerous than a petty thief"
"..."
"I really don''t understand her idea, facing a Goddess head-on and alone."
"It''s as if she''s trying to commit suicide"
"Maybe a scout, measure the opponent''s strength and report back to the main force"
"...."
"What about the school? Are there more students?"
"Are they willing to take collateral casualties?"
"No, the barrier has been created to separate spiritual beings or selected people and put them in a "pocket dimension" where the damage to this world will not pass into the real world"
"It''s like that superhero movie, the weird stuff that Doctor Stange did, but without the whole world becoming a puzzle"
"If you give me a minute I can look to see if there are more normal people"
"Of course, go ahead"
Tamamo gradually became more and more transparent, until it reached the point where she completely disappeared from my sight. It was that power of hers to see people like the true goddess she was, the same power that had fallen into disuse, since our daughters could use hacking video cameras, monitor them all at the same time and show them on some nearby screen for the rest of us to see, making the latter much more useful than her mother''s power. I for my part took out my pistol and replaced the empty magazine with one with bullets, preparing myself just in case. The fox girl reappeared in the same manner in which she left only a moment later, keeping her word.
"Do you remember Asuka?"
"The girl who joined the club the week we weren''t here?"
"Maria''s friend?"
"Yes, the same one."
"As it turns out, you were right, she was the hunter."
"..."
"And speaking of Maria, she''s here too"
"!!!"
"Really? Where!"
"Next to Asuka"
"She has her tied up near her, on the soccer field"
"I think she wants to use her as a hostage"
"You know, I really don''t know what to say in this case, I''ve killed people for a lot less"
"A couple of weeks ago I wiped out the mermaid race because I didn''t like them"
"But if she insists"
"I don''t think your sister is in danger, it is easy to see what the intention is"
"I''m sure Asuka is taking her as protection, she knows that we don''t want to hurt her"
"Haru is here too, right now he is in the club room using the computer"
"She thinks she doesn''t have internet because she got disconnected"
"Asuka is looking for her too before fighting with us"
"Okay"
"Looks like an easy job, it shouldn''t take us long"
"You go and protect Maria, I''ll distract Asuka by attacking her directly".
"All right"
"See you later, take care"
"Don''t worry about it"
"Let me take care of everything"
"You just sit back and enjoy"
We both left the classroom at the same time, but each went in a different direction. I don''t know what plan Asuka had in mind, but she was an idiot in every way, I was thinking of stopping her before someone really got hurt because of her stupidity.
Two girls were walking down one of the corridors of the dark school, one of them was walking nervously watching her surroundings for any sign of danger, and the other was following her closely, more out of obligation than desire, but despite the tense situation in which the first one thought she was, this one was much more critical of the situation, not to say that she was talking non-stop.
"This is largely my fault for not seeing it coming"
"It was obvious that this had to do with Elise"
"I don''t know why I thought you''d be a normal person too" Maria kept saying over and over again.
"Be silent!"
"Can''t you see that I''m saving you"
"Those girls you know are not human!"
"Which one?"
"You need to be more specific, do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"There are more!? How many!?"
"Oops, I messed up, didn''t I?"
"I didn''t say anything, I don''t know what you are talking about"
"Damn girl"
"You''re under their control too no, you''re under their spell too"
"You don''t even know what I''m talking about"
"I don''t think so"
"Elise would be very upset if that happens"
"Talking to you is a waste of time"
"Wow, that''s strange"
"My brother often tells me the same thing, have you talked to him too?"
Asuka realized that Maria was just playing her for a fool, she was just distracting her from what was going on. It was surely a trick that Tamamo-No-Mae had put on her, just as it had been with the teacher, a way to buy time while she put her real plan into action. Feeling the need to hurry as well, Asuka hurried her pace to get to the club room as soon as possible, where upon arrival she found the person she was looking for, Haru, who was sleeping on several pillows. Asuka quickly took out a pair of handcuffs and put them on her, then lifted her from her place, waking her up. Asuka was in such a hurry to complete her plan that she did not see the many holes she had, for example, Maria saw a little brooch that Haru had on her shirt, near her neck, a golden brooch in the shape of a fox running, a very important gift that his brother had ordered for her wife, a wedding gift one could say, the same one that had a very important meaning, so much so that when Maria saw it she smiled to see and know immediately that Cesar had already won, how Asuka had lost in such a simple and foolish way.
Asuka thought about returning to the soccer field to have her battle in a favorable way because the foxes were cunning and preferred to fight in favorable situations for them. But as she continued walking down the dark corridor she saw out of the corner of her eye how in an open door a devilish grin was waiting for her in the middle of the pitch black.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
*Clang*
Two swords met in the middle of the night, the blow of both illuminated for a second the darkness, revealing the white girl over the hunter trying to hit her. Asuka parried the attack of her rival using her katana skillfully, she thought she had managed to thwart the plans of her enemy by rejecting the surprise attack, but when she saw better she was furious, seeing that her rival was mocking her because what the white fox had was not a weapon, but only the metal stick of a broom. The blow had been thrown specifically to create the great backing of sparks, for the stick broke in two right afterward. But this did not stop the real monster, for she herself, still with a smiling face, quickly returned to the darkness where she disappeared as quickly and chillingly as she had arrived. Asuka immediately cast a talisman that created a flame that illuminated the place, however, there was no trace of where she was supposed to be.
During the small encounter, Maria saw how her brother''s face lacked her characteristic crimson eyes that appeared whenever there was trouble, but her usual color lacking blue eyes. With this she quickly realized that Elise did not see the current situation as a threat, but that she was simply playing with her victim, just making fun of how seriously Asuka was taking the whole thing. Maria held back her laughter as a sign of respect for her friend.
"Tch, I lost sight of her"
"How the hell did she do that, where did she go?"
"What is going on"
"Why are you guys fighting?"
"We need to get out of here and see what''s going on" asked Haru, who was still tied up.
"This has nothing to do with you"
"This is a dispute between my family and the demons."
"Especially that Kitsune named Tamamo-No-Mae and her white daughter."
"I have to stop them before it''s too late!"
"I think you are confusing the relationship between the two of them" Maria said.
"There is no other way"
"If she doesn''t want to come out and fight head-on, I''m going to make her do it!"
Asuka took Maria by the hand and put her in front of her, threatening her with her drawn katana.
A sound came from near another classroom, one just in the opposite direction to the one Asuka was looking at, a chair had moved, a mistake on the part of her rival just gave away her position. She took the advantage presented before her, took the initiative, and went straight to the source of the sound, quickly opened the door, a blow came at her with rapid speed, it had hit her hard.
"Come on, that was pathetic"
"Didn''t you realize how easy it is to fake a mistake so that you''d come right where I wanted you to?"
"You''re fighting a fox, remember"
"You have to be much smarter, you can''t fall into silly tricks like that" Elise said mocking the girl.
"You are underestimating me!"
"On the contrary, I overestimated you, I genuinely didn''t think you would fall for that."
"I will try to be more careful with you now"
"Damned bitch"
Asuka took several talismans from her pockets, she was thinking of making the girl in front of her pay for what she had just said. Within a second she unleashed a terrible flurry of different spells one after the other, a fireball followed by a flash of lightning, then an ice stake or a cutting wind. It was one of the cards Asuka had reserved for the evil Goddess, but seeing that the assistant was quite troublesome she didn''t hesitate to launch such a strong attack.
But none of them hit their target, because the little girl had protected herself behind a giant sword, the same one that just a second before was not there, one so big that it seemed impossible that she would have been able to move it at all. As payment for her attack, Elise charged with the sword from her place towards the source of the spells, and just before hitting the girl, she lunged to the side and hit her with two metal sticks, the remains of the broom that had been broken earlier, further angering Asuka at how underestimated she was being without stopping. But when she recovered ready to put up a fight with her katana, the white girl ran off into the darkness again and was just as easily lost from sight as before.
"Stop doing that! It''s stupid!"
"Stop being a coward and fight head-on!"
"Like a man!"
"I think it''s silly to expect a kitsune to fight head-on" Haru said rather cleverly for her.
"Well, I think you''re right about that"
"It''s a mistake on my part to expect a fair fight from such vile creatures"
"Can I ask you a quick question?"
"Why are you fighting them?"
"They look pretty innocent if you ask me" Haru continues to point out.
"They are not innocent at all!"
"A Matai hunter has already died a couple of days ago"
"Besides, we are talking about Tamamo-No-Mae, a Goddess so cruel that she almost destroyed the country once for pleasure and she will do it again in her revenge"
"Urakaze, an ancestor of mine died trying to hunt her, she managed to hurt her enough for others to finish the job"
"And today I plan to honor her by doing the same"
"So, you don''t plan to return home alive?"
Asuka did not answer this time, partly because it was true, partly because she was concentrating again on trying to figure out what her enemy''s next move would be. She had already attacked twice by surprise, it was clear that she would do it a third time. She found her chance when she noticed the huge white tail at the end of the dark corridor, now she knew where it would be approaching. She cast a special spell against the ground, after it hit the ground it disappeared in a strange way, it was a trap, then she cast another one to make the fox come out of its hiding place, an electric lightning bolt due to its speed. The same did not hit directly because by bad luck his friend moved at the last moment. But seeing that her plan had failed, the kitsune came out of her hiding place and ran to her enemy in a straight line, passing through the same place that had been predicted, stepping into the trap.
A huge flame engulfed the creature, one so fast that she did not have time to protect herself, a fire so large that it covered the corridor, a heat so intense that the nearby glass broke, metal began to melt, a flame so powerful that it was no longer its usual red hue, but blue. No scream of pain was heard, instead, a step was heard, followed by another one, little by little it was seen how the white girl came out completely unharmed from the fire that was wreaking havoc right behind her as if it were an action movie.
"How the hell did he do that!"
"The fire is too intense!"
"Why aren''t you full of wounds!? You can''t be!" Said a shocked Asuka at what she was witnessing.
"Why should I be afraid of my wife''s fire?"
"I have full confidence that she would not harm me in any way"
"You what!?"
"Do you really have that kind of relationship with her?"
"!!!!"
"I am not her daughter!"
Elise responded quickly as she realized what she really meant, so angry that she saw her eyes change color to red for a moment before returning to their usual pale blue. This scared Asuka, who thought she had run out of a way out, completely breaking with her plan, she now only sought the survival she was supposed to have left behind. She charged her magic to make a big attack that would allow him to escape from the place, but because of how desperate she was in combination with how rushed she was, the magic quickly got out of control. It was about to hit Maria who was the closest one.
But there was no fear on Maria''s face, she simply slid behind Haru, who was hit from the front, but nothing happened, because her hands avoided any damage. Asuka was so unprepared for what she had just witnessed that she didn''t see how Haru quickly approached her and electrocuted her enough to paralyze her. An explosion of smoke filled the place, the place where Haru was just a moment ago was now covered by another girl, revealing that Tamamo had been standing next to her the whole time.
"You know, this is really your fault"
"You really should have seen this coming from the moment you saw the stats I revealed to you"
"How did you plan to fight a Goddess who is an expert at shapeshifting and acting and not use it to her advantage?" Said Tamamo, also mocking the girl.
Asuka finally understood how she had lost the battle from the beginning, how Maria was never nervous at any time despite being a threat, or how she herself never suspected the lack of the other fox girl, and with them, she also understood the most important part, she herself never thought clearly about the situation in which she found herself because the white girl was in charge of bothering her and making her angry constantly, blinding her of the obvious, that she was surrounded by her enemies at all times. Her fault for expecting a fair and heroic battle.
"Where is Haru by the way?" Elise asked
"Oh her?"
"She''s outside the barrier in the club room"
"I sent her there before she realized what was going on and pretended to be her"
"Why did you do this Asuka?"
"I thought you were my friend!"
"Why did you attack my family!" asked Maria angrily.
"What do you mean, why?"
"It''s my job!"
"They are demons, they are not human!"
"Don''t you see"
"Of course I know!"
"I live with them!"
"What I don''t understand is why you attacked!"
"They haven''t done anything!"
"They just want to live in peace!"
"They only want to have you by their side because your mother is a dangerous diplomat!"
"They just want to use your mother''s power to their advantage!"
"They are using you!"
"This is not true!"
"In any case, it would be the other way around in reality"
"You know, speaking of being used"
"Is that the same thing that happened to you?"
"They sent you on a suicide mission to see what would happen?"
"Who are your superiors?" Elise interrupted the conversation between friends.
"Nobody! I work alone!"
"The katana is blessed by a lower god, it was created to defeat yokai in mind"
"The clothing is from a follower of Abe no Seimei"
"The talismans have the magic power of at least 3 different people"
"The magnifying glass you used before was western"
"This is not the work of one person, you have received help" said Tamamo, quickly and intelligently analyzing the equipment.
A phone started ringing quite loudly, it was Asuka''s phone.
"Ha, actually you were right!"
"I have more partners, the whole Urakaze clan is after you!"
"Right now there is an elite group on its way to battle"
Elise took it out and answered the call and put it in a loud voice.
"I think I regret to inform you that the reinforcements that Miss Asuka is talking about will not be able to arrive"
"Right now they are quite busy in a very important trial for them" Said a girl on the other end of the phone.
"Stella!"
"I''m glad to hear that for the first time you are doing your job!"
"See, it''s not that hard!"
"This call was to tell Miss Asuka that right now she is going to be out of work for a while"
"In fact right now I have another person next to me who wanted to talk to her, so if you will excuse me"
"Hello? Asuka?"
"How are you? I doubt you know me, but let me introduce myself anyway, my name is Urakaze, I think you''ve heard it somewhere before"
"I just wanted to inform you that I can tell the main branch that if they keep playing like children pretending to be adults I''ll go out and hunt them down myself"
"Elise and Tamamo are pretty important friends of mine, they even had a big party at my place and I would like to stay on good terms with them and their family"
"Especially after I managed to get my papers back after losing them"
"But that is a story I will tell you hopefully in a long time"
"Unfortunately some of your relatives are with me right now because they were planning to misbehave so badly and had to leave early"
"Well, I think that''s all so far"
"If you want you can ask her the truth of this message with the code: Ryokan Oriente 6 20% off Urakaze debt free"
"...."
"And by the way now that I remember, don''t believe everything you hear about me either ok, you know I didn''t have children, I died quite young so some people took advantage and took my name to gain status and fame." said before the phone turned itself off.
" Hey brother, what I am hearing is...?"
"A message from the afterlife?"
"Yes"
Asuka was completely terrified by what she was hearing, her whole world had just turned more upside down than an analog clock. Although she didn''t believe it, someone claiming to be the real Urakaze had called her to talk to her, and although she didn''t really know until she asked if the code was valid, she was afraid of the implications of all the revelations she had just received in such a short period of time. She saw with different eyes what she considered her enemy before, now she saw them as a hero to follow, she looked for a way to ask for forgiveness for what she had done, but she only received it because Maria insisted on being forgiven. Elise accepted the apology, but in return, Asuka would now have to inform her about the movements in the demon hunter''s world.
Ch146: Dispute Reconsilation
Dispute Reconsilation
When the classes were over almost some students still remained in the classroom, most of them talking about some unimportant subject, in this case, I was not an exception either because I found myself in the middle of a heated discussion with two other subjects who did not want to recognize they''re wrong.
"But I already told you!"
"It''s not stupid if it works!"
"A small $100 dollar drone and a grenade are effective against a new generation tank any way you look at it!" I said a little angry
"It is idiotic to expect it to work more than once, the anti-missile system should be able to detect and intercept it." Takehide replied.
"Those things only detect objects at high speed or infrared markings"
"The defense system believes that a drone is the same as a party balloon because it is so slow"
"Plus it can be used from anywhere and operated by infantry"
"You know, the ones who are risking their lives and are the most interested in destroying enemy tanks"
"The adrenaline of the moment makes you want to make things work well" was my counter-argument
"Are you saying that modern armies should then use outdated and low-tech equipment for combat?"
"Go back to using WWII weapons because everything else is a waste of money?"
"What about the current rifles? or the f-35 fighter is still superior to any variant used by the empire during the war!" Takehide continued to insist
"There is no denying that modern equipment is impressive and brutally effective"
"But you are not seeing the obvious flaw that they are so advanced and expensive that they are produced in such low numbers that they are such a valuable resource that they are only used at very specific times during combat."
"When things get ugly like the continental war the armies start using the old reliables, trenches and Guerilla warfare were the name of the game the last 10 years as their clash of fancy gadgets and high-tech soldiers were drawn out into a war of attrition"
"I can assure you that Germany used old mg42s during the defense of their southern cities."
"The f-35 fighters were better than those of the empire, but they cost 50 times more than their rival, can''t you guess which side had more planes all over the place!"
"In Italy, the Alliance lost almost half of its air force, by the simple fact of numbers"
"The new alliance rifles also gave problems because they jammed easily and did not have enough penetration against the armor of the imperial soldiers"
"The problem was so severe that some soldiers began to carry their personal weapons instead"
"The United States had to revert to using the m4 for example"
"Instead the Alliance''s regular infantry body armor was so useless during the beginning of the war that soldiers preferred not to wear it in order to have more mobility"
Most of what I said I knew from my personal experience. Like when I had to use a real ww2 Mg42 from a trench while helping in the defense of Dresden or my now famous plane crash in Italy. The new weapons like the Arksuits or the Dolls were really deadly, but also so incredibly expensive and difficult to maintain that they were only used in the most important moments of the war, that''s why they are not so well known outside of the important people or people who saw them first hand.
"You are just a girl who has lived in your parents'' house all your life"
"What can you know about things like war!"
"Modern equipment is so much better than it was a hundred years ago, it''s impossible for old and obsolete weapons to be used by anyone who is halfway intelligent!"
"Your stupid drones are not going to beat a fighter jet like the f-35 or a Su-57"
"A grenade can''t beat a new combat tank like the German Leopard 2"
"New my ass!"
"The Leopard 2 is from 1979 and was designed for the defense of Germany"
"It needed strong infrastructure to be carried to the front because they are very heavy, and yet they do not have high armor because they specialize in open field speed"
"Use them in the city and they are just metal coffins"
"The f-35 from 2006 is fucking expensive and is built between several countries, several of them European, when the war started there were not enough parts to repair them"
"Su-57 is from 2002 and is a superiority fighter, to fight against other aircrafts only"
"Its construction stopped when the factory where its engine was produced was attacked"
"The Eurofighter Typhoon is much better, it does everything and it is much cheaper"
"It has been so well overproduced that new ones can be made from downed aircraft"
"It is able to take off even from roads in the middle of the forest"
"See! you don''t know anything!"
"Eurofighter Typhoon is even built-in more different countries than the f-35!"
"And if it''s so good, why did France develop the Rafale?"
"It is able to take off from an aircraft carrier, which makes it much more available around the world!"
"Or the Swedish Gripen! which has been sold all over the world! And guess what, it can take off from ordinary roads!"
"The rafale was created because France needs to protect more territories away from Europe, so it needs to work from an aircraft carrier, they were also in the Eurofighter Typhoon project but they needed another completely different aircraft, that''s why they went to create their own, also their carrier was damaged during the war, leaving that advantage completely useless"
"And the Gripen is much less powerful but that is because it is an excellent low-budget fighter, buy it for its price and performance, not because it is the best!"
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site."It is the good, beautiful, cheap"
"That''s enough for both of you!"
"First of all, it''s a cooperative game of airplanes, everyone can use their favorite one!"
"Elise-chan, for starters you are using a fictitious plane that doesn''t exist, you painted it red and you call yourself Hunter 2-2"
"And Take-Kun, you are using the A-10 warthog, your targets are the ones on the ground, not other planes"
"Elise-chan and I have to protect you from other planes, it''s normal for us to choose other planes different from yours"
"Exactly!"
"And with this plane with two integrated drones, I can fight 6 enemy fighters at the same time!"
"I don''t have to carry cluster bombs if I''m only going to fight fast jets!"
"You call the drones Kasumi and Charlotte!"
"Why did you spend real money to name two drones attachments to an airplane?"
"All you do is use that plane regardless of the mission!"
"Because you dont stop dying at the hands of other planes!"
"Learn how to use the flares noob!"
"Excuse me, Elise"
"May I have a moment to talk to you?"
Asuka appeared behind me, this time she seemed quite shy, unlike the first time I met her. Since I still had the key to the rooftop that Xi''an gave us the first time we came to the school, we went there so that we could talk better without being disturbed.
"I can''t believe it! Yesterday''s call was real?"
"Urakaze talked to me directly! She knows about me!"
"I went to ask about the code she gave with the main branch"
"But the surprise was huge when even Divine Providence in the Vatican gave a positive answer! but why did her code look like a discount for a weekend at a hotel?"
"Right now they are having an assembly discussing the audio of the call before deleting it, because it made a lot of people angry "
"Even the National Onmyoji Association is analyzing what happened because no one expected this"
"They did not expect to be attacked for doing their job properly"
"But how did it happen? Who are you? Why were you protected by the C.S.S?"
"Well, we had an agreement with them, to say the least"
"They don''t bother me, I don''t bother them, usually"
"But you being hunters and going after us is a breach of contract"
"That''s why they decided to intervene before things escalated"
"They are normally quite subtle, but if they went to such extreme measures it was because they were necessary and all else failed"
"What about you and Urakaze? How did you meet?"
"How did someone like her end up being friends with Tamamo?"
"That happened by chance."
"Due to some things that happened I got lost and she ended up helping me by giving me a place to sleep for a while"
"It turns out that the place where she was was a place where there were several people prepared in case Tamamo escaped"
"By the time I got there they were already friends, I don''t know how it happened"
I said stretching the truth, but there was no need for her to get over what really happened or what Urakaze was really involved in because it would certainly give her a headache.
"If she and Tamamo were friends that still doesn''t answer how the stone broke in the first place"
"I''m sorry but that''s something I have no idea what happened either"
"I''m sure I was already next to her long before the stone broke"
"I really don''t know what caused it and I''m sure Tamamo doesn''t either"
"I see..."
"...."
"So to finish you really won''t do anything against my family despite what I did?"
"Unless you guys do something first, you have my word, I''m not going to do anything"
"Let''s just leave it at that, nothing happened, okay?"
"Also Maria was hoping to be friends with you so I''d appreciate it if you could follow up on that"
"There''s also Haru, she doesn''t know what happened so there''s no need for you to tell her anything either"
"You wouldn''t believe how much it would help me if you could do that"
"Oh, no no"
"I can''t in just that"
"You''re not really getting anything from me."
"I have to repay your forgiveness somehow!"
"Yep, that''s right, I''m fine with that"
"Well, if you can pass me the information about what''s going on among the hunters, that''s more than enough"
"I would like to know in advance if any other group is preparing something fun for me again"
"Yes, of course"
"I will inform you immediately if something like this happens"
"....."
"....."
"Now what?"
"What else do you want to ask"
Asuka stopped talking from one moment to the next with a doubtful face as if trying to hide something she wanted to do.
"When I checked her statistics, Tamamo said that she showed me the ones she wanted, but still the magic magnifying glass partially worked, like she was a Goddess"
"But with you it didn''t work at all"
"Seeing that she respects you greatly and several of the titles she had referred to you specifically...."
"I wanted to ask, what are you?"
"...."
"Well, part of my relationship with the angels includes that."
"But I''m just somebody, nothing more"
"Oh, that''s a pity"
"But I''m not going to elaborate either"
"I''m sure it will escalate to something like "I''ll have to kill you and your family if I tell you."
"Which is why I''d rather you didn''t."
"Well, then if you''ll excuse me"
"It''s getting late and I promised someone I''d do the grocery shopping"
"See you later"
When I returned home things were as usual, for the most part, my mother has been busier and busier lately with the visit of President John, these days she hasn''t even been going to the cafeteria and is still working when she gets home. It seems that several things are getting complicated regarding the collaboration between the secret service, the united states army, and the Japanese police, mostly things of no real importance like who will guard which place, since the president of the united states should always be surrounded by his country''s forces, but the Japanese insist on leaving complete areas of the agenda to them, also according to what I heard he is also planning to visit the military base but without foreign guests, just him and his people, which upset several people. Basically, the typical boring part of politics that nobody wants to do but has to be done anyway.