8. Chapter 7: A way out

CHAPTER 7: A WAY OUT

Yuna Kanamori quickly came back, holding a plastic cup of water in her hand. The woman, Olva "Of the snow witch tribes" didn't seem to move and just waited with a grin on her face. Why such a person would have a smile in her current situation eluded Yuna's mind, but she chose to ignore it. It wasn't rare for rich kids to expect to never get in trouble with the law thanks to their family connections. Maybe she was such a person?

She put the cup on the table, and returned to her position, near the door. Taketa waited, tapping his finger on the table with frustration. As Olva didn't seem to move, only carefully looking at the glass he got impatient.

"Tell her to drink that damn cup since she wanted it so bad, so we can go on!"

Professor Hakino told her in latin, but she ignored it, this time closing her eyes. Her mouth was opening and closing, as if she was speaking but no sound came out. Taketa's patience had come to an end. He brutally got up, punching the table with his fist.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" He roared. "EITHER SHE ANSWERS NOW, EITHER I'M GONNA PERSONALLY MAKE SURE SHE WON'T STAND UP EVER AGAIN!"

Hakino gulped, and quickly translated. Much to Taketa's surprise as he didn't expect her to actually say anything at this point, she answered shortly. The professor's face was painted with surprise and he turned to face Taketa.

"She said… Well, she said that you're a fool…"

"Wha-"

Taketa's answer was cut short as a weird feeling assaulted his senses. He looked around, but everything had seemed to stay the same. But here was the key word. "Seem". Something was definitely wrong here.

Kanamori and Hakino seemed to be in the same situation, as they looked at the ceiling and the walls with anxiety in their eyes. And when Taketa put back his eyes on Olva, he froze.

She was looking straight at him. With her white eyes, her black retina seemed like a well ready to engulf his soul. Her smile had changed to one of a mother, which was deeply disturbing considering the situation.

"What is she doing? Tell her to stop!"

"But I-"

Hakino's sentence was cut short as suddenly dogs started barking. The whole kennel was barking, whining, and howling. The kennel was the building just next to the jails and the interrogation rooms, so the noise was very loud. And the weird feeling only grew stronger, every second.

Suddenly, ice blue light poured out of Olva's hands. Taketa immediately stepped back along with Hakino.

"What the…"

A strong gust of wing came from her, and objects started floating. The clipboard Kanamori had dropped. Hakino's glasses. Tiny bits of concrete from the ground. The light from Olva's hands congregated on the cup of water in front of her, and the water slowly floated up, forming a sphere the size of an apple in front of her. Then, it separated into two and with an audible crack suddenly turned into ice, each roughly the size of a finger.

Taketa couldn't believe his eyes. What was… that ?

She was still looking at him, and along her almost unbearable glare made a few finger movements. One of the ice spikes suddenly came down at a breakneck speed and crashed on the table. A quick observation revealed that it had pierced roughly half the thickness of the table.

It had pierced two centimeters of reinforced steel. It was easy enough to imagine what it could do to human flesh. The picture of his heart or his brain being turned to mush came up for a second, before he forced himself to forget it.

She spoke something, and Hakino quickly translated.

"She asks… No, she demands for the things that were taken from her to be given back, and to be set free. She also says that she won't hesitate to… Hum… To kill me, mister Gennosuke."

Taketa watched with horror as the last spike slowly floated just above Hakino's head. His face was one of pure terror, and he clearly was seconds away from crying his heart out. As much as Taketa hated her with all of his being, he didn't want to be the cause for another death. He took out a small key from his pockets with febrile movements, clearly showed her what the item was then slowly unlocked the handcuffs.

"Kanamori, as much as it pains me to do this, open the door and bring what was hers."

Yuna left the room in a hurry and Taketa kept watching her, wary of any sudden movement. She just sat here, with her insufferably smug expression.

"Tell her she won't get out of here alive if she goes on."

A short conversation in latin ensued.

"She says she doesn't think so. She knows how you operate, and even if she were to be hurt by, hum… the Fire crossbow? I believe she is referencing to your guns, she said that if she loses her focus the magic will go loose and… Kill me anyway…"

Hakino's speech was cut by sobs, but the point was driven clearly. She wasn't "activating" the magic. She was "Holding it back". Of course, she could be lying, but for obvious reasons this was the first time in history as far as Taketa knew that magic came to reality. For now, he had to trust her explanation.

Kanamori came back with a leather bag in her hands, and the first thing that Olva did was to grab the staff with a relieved expression. At the same time, the objects which had been floating around her dropped to the ground.

With an incredible rage boiling inside him, Taketa led the way to the outside.

It was with an incredibly pleased sigh that Olva grabbed her staff. She didn't show it to the guards around her, but using magic without a staff or any catalyst was very straining to the mind.

A staff was like a key which controlled the amount of magic power one wanted to use. Some rare mages preferred to not use one for various reasons, but having one made casting magic ten times easier. Casting magic "by hand" was like trying to fill a cup made of cloth rather than using a cup made of wood, steel or glass. The reason objects had started floating around Olva was because of the excess of magic power she couldn't control affecting her surroundings.

The headquarters of the guard was quite a large building, and as she followed the guard to the exit she carefully observed her surroundings.

Many guards seemed to be working, all with these blue uniforms. It was like a anthill, with people running around holding stacks of papers, talking in small black bricks, some were shouting, some laughing… This kind of effervescence she had only seen in war camps, usually just before the battle took place. And even if these guards didn't seem like warriors, right now she had the feeling she was in an army camp. It was mostly thanks to that activity that all the blue-dressed guards seemed to ignore her. Most of them at least. Subtly, she noted how a group of them which was becoming larger and larger was following them.

This in particular made her wary. She was certain that she wouldn't be shot until she let the hostage free. But she then remembered a golden rule that Ygar had told him when she had joined him and Velgard as a mercenary: "There is no certainty, always prepare for the worst."She couldn't simply ignore the possibility of the guards ignoring the hostage, so she looked for any opportunity, and she found it quickly.

There was a white rectangle, with a tube peeking out of it. One of the guards was filling a cup with water from the tube, the water seemingly coming from a large transparent bottle on top of the rectangle.

"You there! Tell them to give me that bottle" She said, pointing at the curious contraption.

The man who somehow knew how to speak Saderan had a short conversation with the guard in the lead.

"He says he can't, it's- HIIIIIIIIIIIIIII"

The man's sentence was cut by the pike of ice suddenly accelerating, and stopping just above his head. His scream motivated the guards more than enough who quickly brought the bottle in front of her. Now that she had her staff, she conjured the water to transform into a large ball of ice floating in front of her. Many surprised and shocked expressions followed that action, and she heard many steps back as with another finger movement she commanded the ball to separate into a myriad of small ice spikes. She then positioned them all around herself, pointing in every direction. That way, if something were to happen literally everyone around her would die. And given the expression of the man who had interrogated her, he understood it all too well.

So far, things had been going for the better, but it wouldn't last. As soon as they passed the glass doors leading to the outside, she found herself surrounded by a circle of guards. These ones had a black uniform which looked like proper armor, large helmets with a glass front protection and holding the particular black weapons of this world.

They had formed a half-circle around the entrance to what she could only assume to be the guard's post, and those at the front had what seemed to be a shield made of glass. But it was safe to assume it was made from another material, much more durable. Those at the back were pointing their staves at her, and she even noted two on top of the building in front of her, but they were too far and she couldn't see what they were holding.

The sound of the glass door locking behind her was like a hammer, sealing her fate. There was now only her, the translator and the guard which had interrogated her. By listening to the conversation and the translation, she had come to understand he was named "Taketa".

He took out his weapon from his belt and pointed it at her. He then spoke, and the translation came quickly.

"That's your last stop. Either you surrender right now and free the hostage, either you die. Your choice."

"Taketa, was it? I made a mistake. You're not a dog. You're less than a dog. You have no honor. Even pigs are useful, but you?..."

She knew too well the irony of her words, considering what she had done in this world. But currently, she was completely trapped. She needed to create an opportunity to escape, and angering this "Taketa" might be one. Even if she left her ice spikes loose, there would be more than enough enemies to turn her into mush on the ground.

"And you're a coward. You kill innocents, for what reason I do not know yet. But I will find out, and you'll pay for that. Be it from this world or from the other side of the gate, law applies with no difference. I'll personally take care that you're sent to the worst prison of japan. That you'll be given almost no food and water. That you'll suffer eternally for the lives you've stolen…"

Olva had stopped listening to the translation of what was being said to her half-way, as she had spotted something very interesting. All the guards in black armor were turned toward her. The guards in blue uniforms keeping the civilians away were also looking at her. In fact, every law enforcer of the area was probably watching her, ready to shoot at any moment. And she could see a figure sneaking behind them. A large figure, wearing a hood. She quickly recognized the clothes.

Velgard was here!

She didn't know what his plan was, but she needed to make sure every pair of human eyes in the vicinity were pointed straight at her. And for that, she had an idea.

"Maybe I have stolen lives, mister Taketa…" She began "But with what will happen later, you'll quickly forget about me. My world is one of magic. We bend reality to our will…"

She noted how Velgard had stopped behind an inert iron chariot, and was tying something to the end of some of his arrows.

"You can move chariots without animals pulling them. You can fly iron dragons… We can do it at the mere thought. Look at that…"

Weaving her will into magic power, she commanded to one of the many ice spikes around her to fly. It departed to her right, executing complex flying maneuvers. As this world didn't know magic, the show caught everyone's attention. The grip on their weapons didn't falter, but their attention definitely did.However, her magic show had a second purpose. As she guided the spike through the air, she watched behind it, looking for any way out.

The front of the guards's post was enclosed by a stone wall, with a place seemingly designed to put inert iron chariots in front of it. White lines on the ground delimited designated places, and in each place an iron chariot lied. This area was delimited by an iron fence.

To her right, a small iron gate was closed. It was only large enough for a single person. This would be her way out, once whatever Velgard was planning would be accomplished. If it was necessary. After all, she still had the upper hand in the negotiation.

"Listen here", she began, "I will get out, and you won't stop me. In fact, you will follow me to the exit. If a single one of you as much as makes a suspicious move, I'll end both you and the translator instantly. You will stop at the gate, and I'll keep going with the translator. If you do that, I'll promise that by the end of the day I will let him go unharmed. And of course, no one is to follow me. My magic will tell me if someone even leaves this building in the next hours."

The last part was completely made-up, as she only knew ice magic and rituals. Granted, the could make a Ritual of Surveillance that would warn her if someone with ill intents came close, but it required resources and time she didn't have.

The guard that had been doing the talking in front of her was clearly struggling between two choices. At the same time, a woman came close. Olva recognized her as the one had had taken her out. Anger flashed inside her, but she didn't say anything. She was tempting fate currently, and she didn't want to push it too much.

The woman came slowly, bringing her hands up to show she was unarmed. She spoke a short sentence to Taketa's ear, then slowly went back the way she came.

"All right. I agree to your conditions."

A little surprised, Olva let out a pleased sigh and made her way to the large iron gate leading outside, followed by the translator and Taketa. On the other side of the street, she could see that Velgard was leaving as quietly as possible, so she walked slow to give him some time.

The encirclement of black armored guards opened for her, and all watcher her leave in a deadly silence. As she disappeared in the corner of a backstreet, Taketa put back the revolver at his belt and watched as the members of the SAT (Special Assault Team) put back their gear in the trucks they came in. A set of footsteps sounded behind him.

"Do you think they know what a GPS tracker is, Kanamori?"

His aide came at his side.

"I hope not, Gennosuke-senpai."

He lightly chuckled.

"You know I don't like it when you call me like that. Just Gennosuke or even Taketa is enough."

"Yes sir."

A moment was spent, both silent. Around them, the police officers got back inside the station, preparing to track Olva on their computers.

"I have a long career in law enforcement, Kanamori. But I have to say it's the first time I'm dealing with criminals from another world."

Yuna nodded. After what they had heard and seen, there was no denying that this Olva woman and her companions came from another world. And with the gate that had opened in Ginza, it was obvious where they came from.

"But to see that magic exists… I'm a practical man, but I wouldn't have believed it without seeing it. Send the video footage of everything that happened to commander Keisuke, he'll know what to do with it. And us, we have work to do. Come."

Both of them got back inside the station, oblivious that what they were about to do would shake humanity's very foundations.

Hello there, author here,

For the end of this chapter, I wasn't sure if I wanted Olva to escape "diplomatically" or with action. As you read, I chose the peaceful way out. I figured that if my story was just a continuous set of action scenes, it wouldn't be very interesting.

Kirov of the USSR: Is that heresy I hear? *cocks boltgun*

ceroxon: Well, sorry you don't like it, but the "part with the stupid spies" is literally everything my story revolves around.

last admiral: Well, when the last contact japan had with the other world was wyverns who were invulnerable to small arms fire, I don't think they're that raring to go without confirming 100% that they can send troops safely.

rmarcano321: What motivated me to write was being tired of reading, as another commenter said, "my fave military goes to wonderland" stories. I wanted something else. I'm tired of reading for the fifth time the "attack on ginza", the "battle with the fire dragon" and the "battle for Italica". And the theme? I didn't really think of one. And I'm not sure I can really give one.In the end, as much as "Japan discovers the other world" happens often, I wanted to write a "The other world discovers Japan" story.

As usual, I can't thank everyone enough for the support!

Have a good day, and see you next publication!