9. Chapter 8: Srung trap

CHAPTER 8: SPRUNG TRAP

Olva followed the figure of the hooded Velgard in front of her, a good distance apart as to avoid having someone think they were related in any way.

Of course, she had dispelled all the ice spikes around her as to avoid suspicion from the many civilians walking around them. Eventually, Velgard reached an area where one of the large glass towers seemed to be in construction. For now, it was only a skeleton of concrete, with all manners of yellow chariots and machines around. There was even an incredibly high steel contraption painted in yellow, which reached the top of the building. At the top, a perpendicular long walkway somehow stayed in one piece. The technological height the people of the new world had reached really impressed Olva.

She looked around to make sure nobody was watching, then pushed the translator through an opening in the fence surrounding the building site. Thankfully, for some reason no one seemed to be working today. That might explain the substantial higher amount of people she could see in the streets. She then followed until she caught up to Velgard inside the husk of the future building. The first floor had concrete walls already so they had made one of the rooms into their temporary hideout.

Ygar was sat in a corner and Gelt was watching through a hole which would probably be a window in the future.

"We're here, Ygar." Said Velgard. "She managed to escape just fine. See? I was right."

Gelt glanced at her before resuming his watch, while Ygar put his relieved stare on her.

"Good, good. But you weren't sure she would escape."

"You still owe me."

Grumbling about a month's pay lost, Ygar flicked a shiny suwani which Velgard caught and put in his purse with a grin. Olva couldn't believe the sight.

"Did… Did you really bet about my escape?"

Ygar raised his hands in defence.

"The plan was to free you at night, doing it during the day would have been too dangerous now that they know our faces. Velgard just wanted to find the right building so we could prepare ourselves accordingly."

Olva's face lit in comprehension, but it didn't calm her anger.

"Speaking of which, how did you find me?"

Velgard tapped his muzzle.

"The smell."

She looked at him with curiosity in her eyes.

"Right before we fled, I threw one of my potions at you. A mix of Galeru leaf pulp, oil, pepper, and spices. The smell is so strong that a Barghest like me could smell you from one side of Sadera to the other. Humans don't have a good smell, so now that time has passed and the smell dissipated, they shouldn't be able to find us back. Unless they have dogs or some kind of other animals. And by the way, bad news Ygar. They have dogs. I heard them."

Ygar balled his right fist into his open left palm.

"Damn it all! We'll have to leave sooner then. We don't have much time."

"What do you mean?" Asked Olva.

"We wanted to leave through the gate this night, just after freeing you. The longer we stay here, the more dangerous it gets. But now that you're here, we'll leave shortly. We just wait a bit to make them think we won't move, then we'll use Emroy's veil so they won't notice us. You still have it, right?"

She nodded. To lose such an artefact would cause a fate worse than death, and the first thing she had checked once away from the guard's post was to make sure it was still in her backpack.

"Well, we have some time then. Who's that human you brought with you?"

Everyone's attention came on Hakino, who had been awkwardly standing near Olva the entirety of the conversation. The sight of the wolfman hybrid in front of him was clearly terrifying him.

"He speaks Saderan."

Ygar had to do a double-take, Velgard froze for a second and even Gelt turned away from his watch to observe the newcomer.

"Say… Say again?"

"I was as surprised as you when I heard him, but it's the truth. He speaks Saderan. Hey you! Present yourself."

The man raised his eyes to observe the three men (two men and wolfman?) in front of him and raised his voice.

"I'm… I'm Touya Hakino. P-Pleasure to… Meet you."

A short silence followed these words. For a man of the new world to speak saderan opened many possibilities that had been impossible and laughable before.

"Where did you learn Saderan?!"

Gelt's question was met with a confused look.

"Wha… What do you mean Saderan?"

The centurion walked forward, while almost shouting.

"Saderan! The language we're speaking right now! Where did you learn it?!"

Intimidated, Hakino stepped back until he was stopped by a wall. Gelt was almost on him when he answered.

"In my youth, in the Sakura High School in Hokkaido!"

"Where's Ho-kay-doh?!"

"In the northern part of Japan!"

"Gelt…" began Ygar.

"What's Japan?!"

"We're in Japan!"

"Gelt!" forcefully shouted Ygar. His voice brought back Gelt to reality, who looked around. Ygar had his axe in hand, Olva was trying to pull him back from Hakino and Velgard was looking at the scene with amusement in his eyes. He didn't even notice it, but he had grabbed Hakino by the collar of his suit and was shaking him while getting his answers. A little bit confused, he stepped back. Ygar stepped in front of Hakino and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We won't hurt you as long as you answer to some of our questions. Is that alright?"

Hakino nodded with a trembling face.

"As you said, we're in the country of Japan. What is its military strength?"

Thankfully, as the tensions between Japan and China were getting worse, a lot of TV companies aired movies and documentaries about the Japanese army, and Hakino had watched one such documentary just a week ago. He remembered all the numbers. And besides, he had no problem telling public information, even if he didn't know who these people were.

"If… If I remember c-correctly, the Japanese army has about two hundred and fifty thousand s-soldiers…"

The number made Ygar go silent. Such a huge force… Even the Empire could hardly raise an army of over one hundred and fifty thousand. And even when it was done, the costs to feed and maintain such an army could bankrupt any kingdom in weeks if done without care.

"Are we talking a standing army, or a raised militia? Do they all have the black staves that shoot fire?"

"It's a… S-standing army. Black… Staves? D-do you mean RrrrRifles? Yes. Th-they all have one."

Ygar had witnessed what a civilian weapon could do, back in the house they raided. It was easy to figure that military models were much more powerful. If he could get his hands on one "rifle", then the reward would get exponentially higher. Olva pushed him aside.

"What about magic? What kind of magic the people of this world can cast?"

Hakino looked at her with a confused face. Was it a trap? A trick question? Then again, he did see her do things out of the ordinary. He answered with a little apprehension in his voice.

"Mmmagic doesn't… E-exist here…"

This time, it was Olva that looked at him with a confused expression. She didn't feel any magic at all here, but it didn't mean it didn't exist. Ways to hide one's magic to other magic casters existed back in Falmart, so that's why she had assumed that she couldn't feel any. But for it to not exist? At all? This was a foreign concept to her. She had been bathed in magic since her childhood among the snow wyches. So much of her culture depended on magic. To cast light, to feed, to drink, to work… How couldn't it exist?

"What about apostles?" Groaned Velgard. "What kind of gods do they serve, and how many are they?"

The question was sound. In another world, it wasn't strange to think that there would be other gods.

"Religion? W-well, There's the Pope who r-represents Christianity in the Vatican, I g-guess you can include the D…Dalai Lama for Buddhism, and many… Islamic leaders. They re-represent the three big-biggest religions in our world… There's al-also a lot of… different currents for… Each religion."

That was quite a lot. Each apostle represented the trait of their respective god to perfection. A good example was Rory Mercury. As the apostle of the god of violence, war and madness she was the perfect soldier, capable of incredible physical feats and never tiring. Mortar Mobkis, the apostle of Duncan the god of smithing, could craft tools, weapons and armor that reached such a quality that even a simple farming hoe forged by him was expensive enough to buy a whole town. If each god had an apostle… The different currents probably referred to the different means to worship a god.

"What are the traits of "Christianity" and "Buddhism"?"

Hakino sent Velgard a quizzical look.

"What… What do you mean?"

"What do these gods represent? Fertility? War? Maybe an art? Nature?"

The confusion only grew between the two.

"Well… I…I don't know wh-what to say… It's more li-like a… philosophy? C-code of conduct?"

Velgard scratched his head with a confused expression. He didn't know what "philosophy" was, but a code of conduct? Were these gods worshipped for… Politeness? Good behaviour? This conversation was going nowhere.

"What about Japan's allies? Are they strong?" Asked Ygar once more.

"W-Well, there's the Uni…United states… They have th-the strongest military in our w-world, and are probably th… The most advanced technologically…"

The more Ygar learnt about this world, the more he worried. First, there was the numbers. Then, there was the equipment. And now, such a seemingly overwhelming foe had as an ally the strongest military in this world? It was hard to believe. It was really hard to believe.

"Are you lying?" He asked, as he raised his fist. Hakino stumbled back.

"No! No I'm not!"

"I don't believe you! Now tell the truth!"

"It's the t-truth I swear! Please don't hurt me ! » He fell on his back and protected his face with his arms. "I'm not lying! I b-beg you! I have a f… Family! It's the truth!"

From behind his arms, sobs sounded in the room, periodically cut by a quiet "I'm not lying" and "I beg you". This was the pathetically lowest a man could go. And because of that, Ygar made his decision. This wasn't the face of a man trying to fool you. This was a man who feared the unknown, and begged for his life. He was telling everything he could to save himself.

This wasn't the behaviour of a liar.

Ygar dropped his arms along his body and stepped back.

"Ask him anything you want, we're leaving soon. Olva, give him something to drink first."

He replaced Gelt and took the watch, while the three Falmartians took turns to ask questions about this mysterious world. From geography and politics to technology and religion, no theme was spared. Of course, it was only surface information, but it helped to paint a representation of this world. Most importantly, Hakino also taught them how to use the maps they had stolen. He told them where they were, where the Gate was and what the important landmarks were. Olva took careful notes of all that, as it was precious information for the empire.

When the sun moved and was at its highest in the sky, Ygar clapped his hands.

"Alright, we're leaving! Professor Hakino is it? I thank you for all the information, I thank the gods for our meeting. Unfortunately, we'll have to tie you up. Don't want you to go blabbing about us too soon. Velgard, you do that. Olva, prepare Emroy's veil. Gelt, see if the way out is clear."

It seemed as if the imperial was about to say something, but then left the room to accomplish his task. Given how things had ended last time he had refused the orders, he wasn't about to complicate the situation. A few minutes later, all things were ready and the quatuor under Emroy's artifact. Time was now to leave.

Unknown to the mercenaries, Olva had been followed the moment she had left the police station. Two officers dressed with civil clothes had been tailing her, and when it was confirmed they had stopped at a construction site, four civil cars each with two officers inside had come, one on each side of the site. Each police officer had an app on his phone that tracked the GPS tracker Kanamori had placed into Olva's bag.

They had been watching the site for close to two hours now, and nothing of note had happened. All the angles of the construction site were being watched, so she couldn't leave without being spotted. The two original officers who had been trailing her on foot had noted that she was following someone else. Along with the various witnesses they had heard, they had confirmed that the murderers were a group of four.

"Of course, they had to do all of that on a Sunday… I was supposed to go hiking with my wife today…" Said one of the officers. Along with his partner, they surveyed the southern side of the site.

His partner raised his eyes from the screen of the phone and looked at him sharply.

"Two of us died, six are wounded and two of those are between life and death. You mean to tell me you think so little about fellow policemen? What about the oath you took when you entered service?"

"No that's not what I-"

"We're not doing this for the pay. It's not "just a simple job" anymore. One of my best friends is currently in a hospital room because of them. A whole family has been murdered for no reason. I'm not about to let go away a group of…"

He didn't finish his sentence, as he couldn't find a swear word expressing the amount of hate he had for the murderers. His partner had understood it as well, and felt shameful. A heavy silence settled in the car, only broken by the occasional sound of drinking or finger tapping against a phone screen. It was at 1PM that things started to move.

"I'm seeing movement on the GPS tracker, they're coming in our direction! Focus!" Said the officer watching his screen. His partner focused on the iron fence hiding the construction site, and sure enough one of the panels moved.

But no one came through.

"Are you sure this thing is calibrated properly? There's no one here…"

Both policemen watched the street with confusion on their faces. The GPS was showing that the targets were leaving. One of the panels had even moved, as if to allow passage. But no one came through. One of them activated his radio.

"Car 1,3,4, you're watching the GPS tracker? Do you confirm that they should have left the construction site?"

The positive answers left him even more confused. Could it be that the application they used had a bug? Or the GPS tracker placed in the woman's bag didn't work? This possibility was pretty low. The equipment used by the policemen were checked weekly as their use could save lives. In this case, only a single possibility remained. The officer activated his radio once again.

"HQ, car 2 here. GPS seems to be malfunctioning. Cars 1,3 and 4 have confirmed. Target seems to have left, but no one saw them leave. No blind spots. No underground passage. Permission to check the construction site by ourselves?"

A few seconds passed in silence before the radio came to life.

"Car 2, HQ here. Permission granted. Car 1 and 3 are to do the same. Car 4 follow the GPS tracker."

The officer acknowledged the order, then passed the bright orange "POLICE" armband on his right arm. His partner did the same, and the two of them left the car, as Car 4 passed by them to follow the GPS.

They had little in the matter of equipment. A flashlight, a Nambu M60 revolver with twelve rounds each, a police baton and handcuffs. It wasn't much, but they hadn't been expected to have to use them at all. The original plan was just to wait for an occasion to save the hostage, then arrest the murderers.

One of the officers opened the trunk of the car and took out a heavy bolt cutter. Carefully watching the opening in the fence, they chose a place about twenty meters away and cut the chain holding two metal panels together.

Gun in front and finger twitching over the trigger, they burst in the construction site. Far on the left and in front of them, on the other side of the site the two other teams were doing the same.

The frame of the building was already done in concrete, but it was only the skeleton. Only the first floor had concrete walls. Many construction vehicles were parked around, along with a huge crane which towered above the site. A quick search revealed that the outside of the building was empty.

With only the inside left, all the teams gathered and it was a team of six that entered in the concrete hallways. The place wasn't very large, only the outer walls and the bearing walls were already there. They had stopped to listen for a moment, but it only revealed silence.

Eventually, the search ended when the last room revealed the hostage, Touya Hakino, gagged and bind. One of the officers freed him by cutting the rough rope and taking out the gag. The first words coming out of the hostage's mouth were those of gratitude. His eyes were still red because of the crying after all.

"Thank god you came! The Gate in Ginza! They're headed over there!"

Hello there, author here

I'm uploading this chapter a day early because I'm going on a short vacation this weekend.

Kirov of the USSR: That's it, I'm calling the exterminatus.

Mail Lambong: About continuing the story: To be honest, I'm not sure. This is how I lost the drive to finish my last story. I wanted to keep writing it, and at some point I realized I wasn't writing it because I enjoyed it, I was writing just for the sake of writing, and I found myself just looking for ways to finish it the fastest way. I don't want that to happen to this story.To be clear: it's not that I don't want to continue. I do, a lot in fact. But I don't want to continue it only to find myself in the middle and not having the drive to write anymore. Thus betraying the people who liked my story.

And about your second comment: The mercenaries didn't really have time to settle down and consider things. You have to remember that they know the Empire can field tens of thousands of soldiers if needed. And all they've seen so far of the new world is what? 40? 50 policemen? a 100 soldiers maybe? Hakino's revelation is what opened their eyes.

Dreadcraft: Nuclear weapons are only a last resort, I doubt any country would use them unless some kind of eldritch horror came through the gate, hehe.

Dilangp1999: Thank you! And it's not that mercenary mages are stronger, it's just that in my opinion mages are stronger on a smaller scale. Toss a fireball at a group of bandits, and when five of them die in seconds then they flee in terror. Toss a fireball at an army, and its impact on the outcome is close to 0. It's all a matter of numbers too. If I understood correctly, mages are pretty rare in Falmart. The empire simply can't field entire formation of mages because of many reasons. However, if the Empire had the means to field let's say 500 mages on a battlefield, I'd guarantee you that the outcome of the battle of Ginza and Alnus Hill would have been much different (at least I would have written it much different).And about the plot armor? Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't give them any, but I had to find a way for people who know nothing about technology somehow not be noticed as cosplayers and taken photo of.

Kiyone4ever: You have to remember that Falmart is a world where the last time the empire was defeated was 250 years ago. For Ygar, Olva, Velgard and Gelt the empire simply never lost in their lifetime. It's why they think so arrogantly. It would be like telling an American today "Hey, tomorrow you're gonna get invaded and all will be conquered in 10 days.". The american (and pretty much everyone on earth) will scoff at you, because that's so absurd.That's the same for the Falmartians. A reality where the Empire loses to anyone is completely absurd.

The Lieutenant: Hehehe, I like your thinking!

And for all the other who support the story, a big thank you!

See you next publication!