5. Chapter 4: Grand discoveries

CHAPTER 4: GRAND DISCOVERIES

Velgard pulled in the hood covering his face as a group of teenagers passed him. He had thought he would be discovered quickly, but it turned out he wasn't the only one dressing so shadily. He had seen a few humans with a hood on and a white burning stick in their mouth. If one didn't pay attention to his feet that didn't share the same anatomy, then he was just a high and bulky human.

The smell of the burning stick assaulted his nose, reminding him of some herbs some people liked to burn in pipes. But at least, these herbs didn't smell like death.

"The ideal would be to find the enemy stronghold…" whispered Gelt at his side.

The wolfman looked around him.

"This is a maze of rock and steel, it could take us days… "

The imperial silently nodded. So far, they had found what kind of weapons the guards used here as well as some bits of information here and there, but nothing that could really help the empire to invade.

Their task wasn't made easier by the fact that people here stayed so late outside. Didn't they have work to do tomorrow? Maybe they simply had bad luck and went into this new world as religious celebrations took place? It reminded Gelt the festival of Miritta and Warehun which happened each year in the empire. It was a period of festivities as spring came which lasted five days.

That said, it was less bad than the night of the first day they had come here. That day, people had stayed in the street way past midnight.

"Do you see that?"

Gelt's train of thought was interrupted by Velgard and he looked at what he was showing him. Small paintings, but of extremely high quality, by the dozen. These cards were all stacked on a shelf in a nearby store, all with breathtaking sights on them. Some of them displayed a city, probably the one they were in, while some others displayed incredibly detailed buildings. Temples, towers so high the top couldn't be seen, bridges, scenes of night life... One of them even showed what looked like a building entirely made of gold resting in the middle of a small lake. While these people didn't seem like warriors, they seemed like incredibly skilled artisans. A worthy prize for the empire.

If there was one thing that Velgard had learned in their career, it was that items spoke more than a thousand words. A local lord might ignore you if you said you saw a group of orcs in the forest. But bring a tusk or an ear, and suddenly the entire local garrison is dispatched to get rid of them.

These pictures could prove extremely interesting to show to the senate and the Emperor. Unfortunately, Ygar had kept what remained of the currency they had stolen. Velgard was about to tell Gelt to abandon the thought, when another sight made him freeze.

Maps.

Loads of maps.

Some were on smaller scale, some showed an entire island while some others dwarfed the island to show an entire world.

Maps were incredibly useful military tools. Planning an ambush or a path to pass through a mountain range could be done, but by having a map the chances of survival increased drastically. Part of the empire's legendary military might was thanks to the fact that the Emperor himself always made sure to have a map of every country and every city in the imperial library. Accurate military maps were hard to come by, and having them fall into enemy hands was disastrous.

They simply had to get their hands on them. There was no way around. Velgard noticed one of the maps displayed smaller versions of real buildings that could be seen on the cards at different places, confirming his suspicion that this map in particular was the one of this very city.

Bringing it back might raise their reward, maybe even double it. There was no way around now, they had to obtain it. Unfortunately, all they had just seen was through a large glass, meaning people would see them if they tried to steal it.

"Gelt, we have to get them." Whispered Velgard.

Why such important objects were freely displayed escaped the imperial's mind, but he couldn't help but agree.

"Let's wait until there's less people…"

Both of them entered into a nearby backstreet. The place was cramped, stunk of human wastes and was filled with trash, but it was the ideal place to hide until there were less people in the streets. Additionally, it was right in front of the store they aimed to rob.

They didn't have to wait for long. The moon moved just a little in the sky before the streets emptied, and the man who was seemingly the owner got out and pulled an iron fence over the store front. Checking that the street was indeed empty, Velgar was the first to act. He crossed the street in seconds and grabbed the man as the iron fence was half-pulled. He immediately ducked under it and entered with Gelt behind him.

The store owner was probably too surprised and shocked to even react and didn't even try to avoid as Velgard violently hit his head against a bookshelf corner, rendering him unconscious. Gelt had given one last look to the street before closing the door.

Velgard raised his snout, loudly sniffed the air and scowled. A puddle of human wastes had formed under the slumped form of the store owner.

"Let's hurry, I don't want to stay here too long." He said.

"It is a wonder you aren't used to such smells. Don't dogs relieve themselves outside?" responded Gelt with a grin on his face.

Velgard's answer was immediate. From the folds of his vest he took out the knife he had hidden and thrust at Gelt. The imperial jumped back just at the last second, avoiding a certain death.

"Don't. Ever. Call me. A Dog. Again. Understood?"

His growl certainly added weight to his threat and the madness in his eyes forced the imperial to stand down. He knew how much soldiers the imperial army had lost when assaulting Barghest fortresses, and he didn't want to fight one alone. Clearing his voice, he grabbed a cloth bag nearby.

"Let's get these maps…"

Velgard looked at the imperial with anger in his eyes, then grabbed a bag and did the same. For a few minutes, the store was only filled with the sound of paper being wrapped. As soon as everything that seemed important was taken, both left the store.

It took a few minutes, but a figure soon revealed itself. It was a woman, silently crying. She walked out from behind the counter, where she had crouched behind and stood still as soon as she saw the assault on her boss.

She stopped the recording on her smartphone. She had made sure to record the best she could from her position. She made sure her boss was still alive, then pulled him away from his undignified situation. As soon as he was outside and in a proper position, she called an ambulance and the police in quick succession.

The case wasn't advancing. At. All.

Gennosuke's work was being a police detective, but the more clues were found on the murder scene of the Fuyu family, the less it made sense.

There was still no explanation for the father and son who had been found frozen. No chemical substance, no trace of any machine and the bathtub hadn't been used recently before or after the murder took place. The refrigerator was free of any clue too.Just like the forensic scientist who had answered him first, it was literally as if the temperature had dropped to an incredible degree on this precise place, despite the fact that there was no way for it to happen scientifically.The autopsy had been given priority given the seriousness of the case, but it only confirmed the death by frostbite.

There was no explanation for the fact that strands of grey fur had been found and analysed as the family had no dog or cat, and confirmed to be Caucasian wolf fur. The neighbours had confirmed as well that the family never had a pet animal. This raised the question that maybe the attackers had brought an animal for the attack, but no other traces except for the fur had been found.

The study of the ballistics in the father's bedroom and confirmed his suspicions that he had only managed to shoot once, and all clues of the target were a few dark blue scales that had been found, no blood at all. That meant that somehow the target had been wearing something with dark blue scales, but again, it made little sense. Why would someone who wanted to kill sneakily wear something like scales? Simple dark clothes or at most a bulletproof vest would have been more than enough. A sample of the scales had been sent to a specialist, but there were no results yet.

Sighing, he buried his face in his hands and rubbed his temples. He had stayed all day at his desk at the police station to think about it, but the more he thought the less he understood. He wasn't the only one put on this case. On desks nearby were four other police officers, making phone calls and research on the internet.

So far, they had confirmed that the family had no trouble with criminals or a cult, and no neighbour had any mental disease. His four colleagues were as clueless as he was, and he could see it in their eyes.

"Everyone, let's take a pause…"

The four others sighed and followed him into the break room. There, he grabbed a coffee from the coffee machine and looked through the window. Behind him, one other officer sat and sipped on a cup of coffee as well, while the three remaining started a heated discussion about the "New world".

It had been a shock to the whole earth. Another plane. Another civilization. New forms of life. Each of these words rolled under everyone's tongue with mixed feelings. Most were excited. Adventurous. They wanted to learn all about it. Others saw opportunities for a new life. Others saw a world of dangers, and it was understandable.

The live everyone had watched on TV was fascinating. Most of the otaku population was on fire, having seen a real-life monster girl. That fox shepherdess had stolen a lot of hearts, and many artworks representing the "Fox shepherdess and her guardian dog" had sprung on the whole internet. The diplomat had tried to speak with her, but she ran away before he could say anything. For some time nothing had happened as the soldiers took various samples to be studied later. However, the live had ended in the most spectacular way.

One of the soldiers had spotted something flying in the air, going straight in their direction. Night vision goggles first warned the soldiers to raise their rifles. When it came close enough, the camera picked it up as well.

Dragons.

Damned dragons.

It was as if all the fantasy representations had come true. Each the size of a car with dark scales. A figure had been spotted on top of each dragon. Finger twitched on the trigger of each rifle as they flew, circling above. The atmosphere had been tense, and a question had been asked by one of the dragon riders towards them. Obviously, they couldn't understand the language. Sugawara tried to answer in multiple languages, but with no result. The same figure shouted something, and… Fireballs started raining on them.

There was no better term to explain it. The dragons started breathing fire on them, each fireball exploding on contact with the ground. Gunpowder spoke as the soldiers fought back, but in the total confusion no kill was confirmed.

Because of the lack of any cover or support, everyone packed in second military car as the first one was already aflame, and the driver sped back into the gate, back on earth. Fortunately, the only injuries were limited to second-degree burns that could be healed in any hospital

The whole world was in turmoil after that, and you would hardly find a single place where it wasn't discussed.

Of course, Gennosuke had watched the live as well with his family last night. But he was one of the few that saw danger in this world. Civilized or not, these dragon riders had attacked only after asking one question. As a man of the law, he couldn't oversee that as "self-defense".

No. These dragon riders had attacked without waiting for the answer of Sugawara's group. It seemed the Japanese government had come to the same conclusion as policemen were replaced by soldiers around the gate and the yellow police tape had been replaced by sandbags, machine gun nests and even a tank and two anti-air vehicles. And all of this just an hour after the group came back.

When coffees were drank and minds rested, it was time to go back to work. The detective and his four helpers spent the rest of the day studying recent crime reports on their computers, hoping to find similarities that may bind a report to the mysterious killers of the Fuyu family, but to no avail.

A bank robbery, rape case, a thief, blackmailing attempt… He studied every case paying attention each time ice/cold, cultist or yakuza was mentioned but ultimately these cases weren't his job, he only looked for similarities, unfortunately with little to no result.

Too tired to do anything else at the end of the day, he bid farewell to his colleagues and made his way home.

He was absentmindedly munching on his breakfast, still thinking about the murder case. He simply couldn't get it out of his mind. Even in his dreams last night he had nightmares made of ice, cultists, blood and worse things. It showed on his face.

"Something wrong, honey?"

At his wife's voice, he blinked his eyes and faced her smiling.

"Nothing wrong Aya, just… I can't think of anything but-"

She put a finger on his lips and smiled as well.

"No work at home, dear. We're all here for you, just relax."

Realizing the importance of her words, he looked at his daughter. A girl twelve years old, looking at him with worry in her eyes. Slapping himself mentally, he passed a hand through her hair and chuckled as she giggled.

He forced the case out of his mind and focused on the breakfast his wife had prepared, enjoying the family meal time. After dinner was eaten and the plates washed, the three Gennosukes sat in front of the TV (the whole family had a habit of waking up early, so they still had a lot of time to prepare for the day) and watched as the footage of the "new world" was passed over and over and more "experts" than stars in the sky gave their opinion.

At some point, as Taketa was playing with a hair lock of his wife, the voice of his daughter took him out of his reverie.

"He's speaking in latin…"

He had to do a double-take. The screen showed the now so-called "fireball bombing", so that meant the scene just before was the dragon rider asking a question to diplomat Sugawara. His wife clapped and a large smile appeared on her face.

"How do you know, sweetie?"

She excused herself and came back after a few moments with a notebook in her hands. In bold letters was written "LATIN LESSONS" on the front. Taketa felt quite ashamed as he had completely forgotten how his daughter was passioned by archaeology, she had already decided what she wanted to become later, and had asked her parents lessons in ancient languages in order to do that.It was now her third year studying latin. She waited for a few minutes and as the footage showed once again the dragon rider asking a question, she noted something in the notebook. Then, she took a few moments to flip through the pages and then showed them the translation. It was written "You're on imperial territory, foreigner, state your business or die."

He was frankly impressed and joined his wife in clapping as the little girl beamed with pride.

"How do you say it, sweetie?" he asked.

"Imperii vestri 'a peregrino, moriatur aut statum vestri negotium » She answered.

He couldn't be prouder of her right now. But as he thought about it, the words… Reminded him something. Something he had watched yesterday, at the police station. And then as he thought harder, it came back. It was one of the minor cases he had checked, one that concerned the robbery of a Tokyo souvenir shop (which for some reason the robbers had only taken all the post cards and the maps)…

He bolted straight up, surprising his wife and daughter. Both of them looked at him with interrogative eyes, but he rushed wordlessly out of the room. He came back with his work computer and turned it on, then feverishly entered the password, silently cursing when it didn't work the first time.

As fast as he could, he went into the "clues?" folder and rolled his finger until he found what he was looking for. A file in which was the detailed report of the souvenir shop robbery, the testimony of the witnesses as well as what he was looking for: the video one of the store clerks had managed to shoot while hiding.

"Akari, I need you to watch this video, and translate for me what they're going to say, alright?"

His daughter looked at him with uncertain eyes, but then firmly nodded and focused on the screen of the computer. The video started, quite blurry as the person who took it was trembling and in a bad position to record. But it didn't matter. What mattered was the sounds, and Akari closed her eyes to focus on her hearing.

It took twenty minutes and many video re-watching, but in the end she had managed to translate. And in front of him, on a mid-schooler's notebook was the answer he was waiting for all the time.

"Ygar and Olva should still be by the river, let's join them."

"Let's go…"

Almost with tears in his eyes, he grabbed his daughter and hugged her the strongest he could without injuring her.

"YOU'RE AN ANGEL AKARI!"

His shout had probably woken up the neighbours as muffled blows sounded through the wall, but he didn't care. Not wasting any time, he took out a map of Tokyo from his work files, marked the position of the robbed shop and then of the closest river.

Still under the curious look of his daughter and wife, he put on his coat and work shoes, then left despite still wearing only jeans and a t-shirt. While running to his car, he took out his phone and dialed up to the police station.

"Commander Keisuke! The Fuyu case, I know where the murderers were last night! I need patrols around the Ara river, and I'll investigate the Yaruichi bridge!"

As soon as his commander confirmed that he would send patrols where he asked to, Taketa turned on his car and made the engine roar as he sped to the police station. He needed to get his pistol before investigating, as it might reveal useful today…

Hello there, author here,

I'd like to say one thing: it's normal if most of the chapter is focused on Taketa Gennosuke and his investigation. The scouting done by the mercenaries could be written as well I guess, but I don't want to write just a list of:

Mercenaries discover a new place/thingThey are awed by the impressive feats of technology, wondering how it was doneRince and repeat

I mean, I could write that. But I don't think it would be interesting. Maybe that's just me, so if you think a particular place could be interesting to write being explored, please write it in the comments.

Next chapters shall be more focused on the mercenaries :)

I'd like to say that the support I'm receiving from everyone helps a lot, so thank you everyone!

See you next publication!