Bandit Activity

"Captain! We have a problem!" the guard yelled when they were in an earshot distance.

"What is it!?" she shouted back at him while still hugging Wompa. Kies could see that she didn't want to let her go despite the princess trying to break free.

"The thieves! We found them!"

"You did!? Where!?"

"They just robbed a street market! They killed a bunch of people as well!"

"D*mn it, I asked where they were, not what they did!"

"It was somewhere on the east side of the city!" the guard answered.

East? Aren't they on the east side? Kies looked at Wompa and she nodded her head. She knew what he wanted to ask before he even asked it.

"Then what are we waiting for!? Gather the others and inform the other squads as well! We need to catch them before they get back to their hideout!" she ordered the guard.

"I already did! We're waiting on you!" the guard told her.

"Oh. Cr*p!" Nell let go of Wompa and turned to look at the two of them. "Well, you heard him. Let's move!"

The three of them followed the guard into the armory where Nell picked up a new sword and some armor. Wompa searched for a pair of daggers that she could use while Kies stood at the entrance waiting. After they finished, they left and went into the main building where they found the rest of the squad waiting for them.

"Took you long enough captain."

"Yeah, we almost chose to leave without you."

"You guys stand no chance against the thieves without me," Nell told them.

"That's true but-" the guard stopped when he saw that Kies and Wompa were behind her. "Wait, are they coming as well?"

"Yes."

"What!? They're just recruits, captain! Actually, are they even recruits?"

"No, they're mercenaries," Nell answered for Kies and Wompa.

"They're mercenaries!?"

"Yes, so what?"

The guards looked at each other before looking back at their captain. "No, it's nothing. Are you sure it's a good idea to have them come with us?"

"Yes. One of them won against me by the way. They're more than qualified for this mission."

"Wait, one of them did? Which one!?"

"Him," Nell pointed at Kies.

Kies waved his hand and then put it back down. The guards gave Nell a look like they were asking her to tell them that she was joking but she shook her head. "He did really beat me." Though it wasn't exactly a fair battle since Kies 'used a magic tool'(which was really his magic), he still won against her and that was all that mattered.

"Anyway, enough with the useless talk. They're coming with us and that's final. We got their location, so what are we waiting for?" Nell didn't understand why they were just standing around here for no reason.

"Oh right. Everyone, move it!" one of the guards yelled. He looked like he was the second in command of the squad since all the guards gathered their equipment and ran out of the building. Kies and Wompa followed them outside and found some of the other squads already outside waiting for them.

"Sergeant Nell," someone greeted her and her squad with a salute.

"Lieutenant," Nell greeted the man back, saluting him as well. The rest of her squad did the same. The man didn't look particularly friendly and he gave Kies and Wompa a suspicious look before turning back to Nell.

"Is lieutenant a higher rank?" Kies whispered a question to Wompa. She nodded her head yes. "Oh."

"There are a few squads who are still preparing. We will move out in five minutes. Your squad will act as the vanguard. Is that fine?" But even though he asked for her opinion, it sounded less like a choice she could make and more like a, "Am I clear?"

Nell pursed her lips and Kies could see that she didn't like the idea of her squad leading but she replied, "Yes sir," anyway.

"Good." The lieutenant walked off after telling them what he needed to and approached another squad that just left the building.

Kies looked around and saw that there were roughly a hundred people here. To be able to have this many guards get dispatched... Just how slippery or powerful were those thieves?

"D*mn it... Why did we have to be the vanguard again!?" one of Nell's guards yelled in frustration.

"Shh! Don't let him hear you!"

"That b*stard is just trying to get rid of all of us. Screw him!"

Kies saw that the guards weren't exactly on the friendliest of terms with the lieutenant. It looked like they had some grudge against one another.

"Did something happen between you guys and the lieutenant?" Kies asked Nell.

"It's complicated."

"Complicated my a*s! He hates you because you made it to sergeant rank at your age while he's been stuck at his rank for decades now," one of Nell's guards said angrily.

"It doesn't help that you're a woman too. That old guy hates seeing women in the army. Don't know why..." another guard added.

So the lieutenant was jealous of Nell and wanted to get rid of her... The classic. Kies had seen this happen so many times now that it doesn't even faze him.

"That sc*m hasn't even lifted his sword in years now. All he does is sit around and bark orders. And he's wondering why he's still not getting promoted..."

Yep, they really hated the guy. Kies watched as the lieutenant went to all the other squads and said something to them as well before leaving and moving onto the next. All the guards saluted him but it didn't look like he was well-respected by any of them. He could see the guards talking behind his back the moment he was out of earshot range. It wasn't just Nell's squad that disliked him. Most of the guards here also didn't like him.

"Can't you file a complaint about abuse of power for that?" Kies pointed out.

Nell sighed and explained, "Yes, but all complaints are sent to the person of the highest rank in the division. Unfortunately, he is the highest rank here. We can send it to central, and we have before-"

"Multiple times, may I add," a guard added before letting Nell finish.

"Yeah, that. And they haven't done anything about it. They're too busy doing other things like fighting the demons or whatever and can't address one little issue here."

"I see." In other words, the military system here is pretty flawed and huge parts of it are corrupted. They really did need to wake the queen up so that she could deal with this mess.

"Who's at the very top of the army?" Kies asked out of curiosity. "Excluding the queen." He knew that the queen held the highest level of authority. What he wanted to know is who is second in command and maybe even third in command.

"Going down the line, it's the queen, then the commander, then the generals, then... Yeah, you get it. It's by order of ranks."

"What about the prince and princesses? Where do they rank?"

"Oh, uh, they're... special. They don't have the power to command the army for political reasons."

"Such as?"

"Think of it like this, if they could command the army then they might end up splitting the army when fighting for the throne. And if that happens, Otane will fall into a civil war which we don't want."

"Oh, I see." That was a smart thing to have.

"But, they do have their own personal units for protection. They are allowed no more than one hundred soldiers of their choice to act as bodyguards," Nell told him.

"No more than a hundred?" That was hardly anything compared to the actual army.

"I think it's pretty fair. You can't do anything with those soldiers if you wanted to, but they're there to protect you."

Kies guessed that it was pretty reasonable. But didn't that mean that Iris and Wompa had up to two hundred soldiers serving them? It wasn't a number that could do anything against their opponent, which was the commander of the army, but two hundred soldiers are two hundred soldiers. Where were they? Sirks was probably one of them, but he can't be the only one. Kies looked at Wompa and she made a gesture with her hand, informing him that she would tell him about it later.

"Attention!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to face the lieutenant. "We will now head out and apprehend those criminals. Sergeant, move your men to the front. You will lead."

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