21. Chapter 20: Checkmate?

CHAPTER 20: CHECKMATE?

They ran.

They ran as far as their legs could carry them.

They removed their armor as they ran, hoping to run just a little bit further.

And they only stopped when the horses fell from exhaustion, and the legs couldn't support the weight of the body anymore.

Duran fell on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Kelimel's horse couldn't support the weight of two full-grown armored men for long, and both had to continue on foot. Speaking of Duran's aide, Kelimel was currently on his knees as well, heaving as the exhaustion forced his body to reject his stomach's contents.

Just like his men, Duran had removed most of the pieces of crimson armor he usually wore. The only remaining piece of equipment was his breastplate and leg armor which he couldn't remove while on the run.

It took ten minutes of rest for breaths to come back to normal, and for minds to cool down. Well, as much as a mind that just suffered an attack by the Flame Dragon could.

"King Duran, are you alright?" asked Kelimel. Duran answered with a weary smile.

"As good as the day I lost my left eye, Kelimel. What about you?"

"Could be worse. Still… The Flame Dragon… I would have laughed if someone ever said to me that I would see it…"

The Lion of Elbe answered with a dark chuckle.

"Heh, just as I would have…"

Some time was spent in silence, as both inspected their surroundings. They were in a large grassland, at the border of a forest. Probably the outskirts of the Schwarz Wood. A small stream bordered the forest, from which a good amount of men was sating their thirst. Speaking of soldiers, this rout had been a disaster. It was chaos. Men hacked their way through friend and foes alike in their desire to flee, and many veteran soldiers died simply trampled by the hundreds of men running over them.

It was night, but the full moon gave enough light to see without torches. Well, see as best as a human could during the night. Scared by the night, terrorized by the Dragon and anxious about their very survival, Duran noted that his men were starting to gather around him. A circle of four or five meters in diameter was left around him and Kelimel out of respect, but the crowd was thickening with each passing minute.

The majority of them were Elbian soldiers, but the Lion noticed a few soldiers from other nations who had probably lost the main body of their army. But in all of their eyes laid a fear for their lives, but also a fear for everything they knew.

For if the Flame Dragon was awoken, then entire nations would burn.

They were looking for comfort, choosing to join the bravest person any of them knew: King Duran. Maybe they hoped some of that bravery would rub off to them. Maybe they just didn't know what to do.

Duran raised, climbed on a small rock nearby so that he could be seen by everyone.

"Men! We are going back to Elbe! In our current state, we can't fight anything! Prepare to move, gather your comrades and wait for my order!"

With a clear order given, the chain of command slowly came back to life as if nothing had happened. Sure, they were still scared about the dragon, but what could they do? Duran's order was a good first step to safety, as well as a step to normalcy.

As the crowd moved and surviving officers started barking orders, Kelimel approached Duran, speaking in hushed tones.

"My Lord, do you hear it?"

The Lion focused on his hearing, but he couldn't hear anything noteworthy.

"What is it, Kelimel?"

"That's it, my lord… We can't hear anything. Do you think the Flame Dragon is gone?"

"Or he's feasting on the corpses…"

Kelimel shuddered at the thought, but as a good soldier he didn't let it affect his mind.

"If I take a hundred or two soldiers, my lord, I can go check on the situation. Try to retrieve the equipment we left while running. And if the Dragon's gone, I can even retrieve supplies from the camp…"

Duran looked over his men and just like him, most of them had dropped their weapons and removed whatever armor they could. And an army without the appropriate gear was as good as a slightly better disciplined levy of peasants.

And in addition, they were still traitors among the ranks of the allied armies. Be it Molt who likely orchestrated the poisoning attempt, or whoever had ordered the mages to turn the meeting between the allied armies and the men in green into a disaster. Under-equipped and separated as they were, Duran's men made easy targets for anyone with ill intent. With a little luck, they had all fled the region after the Dragon's appearance but Duran didn't count on luck for his plans.

"Alright, do what you can, Kelimel. But remember, this isn't a suicide mission. If the Dragon's still there, take whatever equipment you can then go back. I'll wait for you at castle Tubet. I will stay under Count Watt's hospitality for two weeks. If I hear nothing of you until then, I will assume the worst has happened and head to the capital."

"Yes, my lord!"

Just as Kelimel left, another man came running towards the King. Duran put a hand at his dagger, the only weapon he hadn't discarded, before recognizing the uniform of his soldiers. This one had a pin in the shape of a bird on his left breast, sign of his station as a scout in the Elbian army.

"My king! My king! I have important information, let me through!" Said the man, pushing aside the men on his way.

As soon as the man came close enough, he knelt in front of his king.

"What is it, soldier?"

The man didn't immediately answer Duran's question, choosing to take a few seconds to catch his breath instead. Then, he spoke in ushered tones, in a way that only Duran could hear.

"The imperial army is on the move, my king! They attacked surviving members of the allied armies while they were disorganized!"

"WHAT?!" Shouted Duran, before realizing he brought too much attention. He continued in a quieter tone.

"Are you absolutely sure about this?"

"Yes my king! While Count Kagrimm's troops were reorganizing, imperial troops engaged them and judging by the numerical advantage, I have no doubts the count's army will be wiped out…"

"What about the other monarchs?"

"I have no news, my king, but I saw many signs of Imperial ambushes in the entire region around Alnus Hill…"

Duran sighed wearily. Another problem to add to his already long list.

"Fine… Go then, keep watching Molt's army…"

The Lion watched with apprehension in his heart as the scout left. Finally, he understood Molt's plan. From the beginning, the Emperor knew about who was on the other side. From the beginning, he knew how hopelessly outmatched Falmartians were to the men in green. And now, he knew that it was Molt who orchestrated the poisoning, in order to sow distrust among the allied monarchs. It was Molt who had ordered a few rogue mages to infiltrate the armies, and who ruined the contact attempt between them and the men in green.

He seriously doubted it was also Molt who commanded the Flame Dragon, for if he commanded such a powerful being then he didn't need vassals in the first place. He could have just sent the beast to raze any country against him to the ground. The beast had probably been attracted by the noise of the men in green's weapons, unfortunately for the two parties involved.

And now that the allied armies were battered, disorganized, scared and helpless, then the imperial legions fell upon them, wiping them out like leaves in the wind. Duran didn't know what would happen to the men in green, but it was a question for later.

And once most of the damage was done, then Molt would invade the virtually defenseless countries. And with their numbers lowered so much, then the remaining allied kingdoms would never be able to face the Emperor's army even if they all came together in a grand alliance.

However, not all hope was lost. Not until the Legion marched on the Elbian capital. And not until the position of the men in green was confirmed in this conflict. The idea of a capitulation loomed on his mind. Would he surrender? It would likely avoid village and city sacking by the Empire, but Molt would also likely make sure to do everything in order to avoid another revolt, which would lead to repression on the civilian population.

It was a tough choice to make. What was sure however, was that he needed to make it back to safety in Elbe. Until then, he had to consider himself into enemy territories.

With such thought on his mind, he made his way to the stream to satisfy his thirst. He would wait a while for his men to find back the main body of the army, then he would force march back to his homeland.

A few days later, back on earth.

After Japan's decision to go to the other side of the Gate, an international turmoil began. Nations began to desperately scramble whatever team they could on the short notice, recalling the best experts they had at their disposal.

The special region was a goldmine. Of that, there was no doubt. The Japanese government told everyone of the battle that happened, and of the conditions in which it started. Many Japanese citizens started immediately protesting over the few casualties and the military involvement, but it was too late.

The entire world wanted eyes on the other side. And Japan had taken the most risks to ensure they could. A few protests wouldn't stop the hunger of billions of eyes.

Each nation that wanted to send a delegation to the other side had to contribute financially to the operation in order to pay for all the buildings that would house the scientists, diplomats and government representatives. And while it wasn't said officially, the Japanese government accepted bribes in order for other countries to send more than the allowed limit of thirty members per country and amount of material to bring with them.

Based on the first footage (The Japanese government made sure to avoid sending in footage from the battle, while the bodies of said battle were being buried in massive unmarked graves unknown to the public), it was safe to say that life on the other side was carbon-based. Like earth. And if it was carbon-based, then it was a safe guess to make to think that petrol, gold, minerals, plants and wildlife was similar. It meant that those resources could be gathered and sent back home. However, the existence of magic was also revealed.

Most country leaders stayed cautious of such a statement, for they had trouble believing it without a proof. But on the other side, they knew the Japanese wouldn't make such a statement without proof.

For that reason, it wasn't rare for up to half of the delegation to be composed of scientists dedicated only to the study of that new… Energy? Material? They didn't even know what it was or how it looked.

The countries which agreed to send people to the other side were numerous. Of course, the United States, Russia, China and Japan would. The richer countries of Europe, South America, Asia and even Africa, almost everyone wanted a piece of the pie. The only ones who didn't were those that didn't care about the special region, or couldn't. Even the countries that had execrable relations with Japan such as China or South Korea were allowed, although at a higher price.

Some were skeptical, about all of this, some even feared the possibility that just like the Gate appeared out of nowhere, it would disappear one day, trapping all the people sent to the other side. But the greed was stronger.

But all that was wanted wasn't only research. Some people had other ideas. For example, ideas about how access to what was on the other side. Obviously, Japan would have an enormous advantage over what would go back to earth, be it by taxation or simple refusal to allow the goods through. And it didn't sit right with them.

And those people had means and ways to obtain what they wanted, when they wanted.

The Japanese Ministry of defence in Tokyo was where all the military matters of the country were managed from. And obviously, that also meant all matter concerning the Gate and the Special Region.

A list had been sent by each foreign government who wanted to go in, and then carefully discussed by a committee of experts in order to estimate if the equipment sent along a country's delegation was to be allowed through, and if it posed a threat to the operation's security.

But here lied a problem. There were a lot of lists to analyse, in a short period of time. The time at which the foreign delegations would be sent was one week after the initial JSDF force went in. That meant that a lot of the lists were just quickly read over by a government employees who had a list of expert's phone numbers to call at any moment if there was something they didn't recognize. The amount of information was huge, so small mistakes from time to time could be excused.

Two guards in the ministry did their usual security check, walking over the portion of the buildings that had been assigned to them. As per their usual duty, they checked the hallways, the bathrooms while the other rooms were locked from them. They had a few master keys closely monitored back at the ministry's armory in case they saw or heard something suspicious inside a closed room, and those master keys were always in safe hands. Each duo of guards had one in case they needed to investigate a place.

It was late in the night and the building was empty, save for the flickering of the guard's lamps who swept over the corridors. Even the usual late workers were back home at this point.

As they neared over the server room, both checked their surroundings, making sure they were alone, then got to work on the locked door. While one of the guards kept watch, the other did one final security check before getting close to the numerical pad of the door.

He swiped the master key in the form of a card over the numerical pad, waited a few seconds, then it glowed green and the sound of the door unlocking echoed in the empty hallway.

He smiled. He pushed the heavy door with some struggle as it was more of a bank safe door than a simple door. The over-cooled air of the server room washed over him, making him shiver a little.

According to the information sent to him earlier today, the place he needed to go was the server 47-D. He walked in the rows and rows of humming machinery until he found the right row, then the right server.

He had to be quick.

He unlocked the glass pane covering the server with a key conveniently "forgotten" by another employee earlier in the guard room, then took out his phone and plugged it to the server. The server room was closed of from the public internet or any type of connection, but thanks to the smartphone now it was.

Thanks to the hacker assigned to their team, the cameras of the entire ministry had been tampered with today. The official reason was that the camera system was getting upgraded because the JSDF were afraid someone would try to steal intelligence from the special region. The irony of the situation was killing the guard. The unofficial reason would likely never be known. And the camera supposed to be surveying his precise place conveniently stopped working.

The guard waited for a minute, before the screen of his phone glowed blue once. Immediately, he unplugged his phone, closed the glass pane and made his way closer to the wall of the room and the camera. Just as it turned back on, the feed on the security room showed the guard pulling something small out of a ventilation vent.

He calmly made his way back to the entrance of the server room, closed the door then resumed his watch with the second guard. He would be likely suspected if anything of this was ever found out, but thankfully he would be fully out of harm's way once that would come. He was part of the "expendables". Agents sent to other countries to work their way up (sometimes for years) to useful stations, do one action then immediately be brought back to the homeland to work in internal national security.

By tomorrow morning, he would be in a plane going back home, to his family.

Officially, the guard came in the server room because he heard a noise. He searched the room, before finding out a screw from a ventilation vent had come loose, and was repeatedly hitting the fan bringing in fresh air into the room.

Unofficially, the hacker who he helped get access to the files changed the number of trucks to be sent to the Special Region from the nation they served from five, to eight.

Hello there, author here

I have exams next week, so I'll be focusing more on those than on writing. Because of that, next chapter will probably be in two weeks.

Roblu321: Well that was the allied armies' plan but the fireballs and the dragon happened.

MadClawDragon: I'm not sure if that's a compliment or if it's sarcastic, but I'm going to take your comment as the former, hehe. Thank you! I'm trying to do my research right.

Guest01: The Flame Dragon isn't exactly a thinking being, but it's not stupid either. Think of it as an extremely crafty predator.

last admiral: The lack of ptsd from such a massacre (and not just one, multiple times) was one of the first things that struck me in the anime. I'll incorporate it, but I have to warn that I'm not a soldier, neither a psychologist. I can do my research, look up the symptoms and victim witnesses but I can't guarantee it'll be 100% true to reality.

Major Simi, HyperionATLAS, DownTownAlpha and everyone supporting me: Thank you! I'm repeating this each chapter, but those are what keeps me going!

See you next week!