The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic
Magister Thorn hummed to Pachelbel's Canon in D Major as he carefully scribbled down notes and observations onto his notepad as he played around with the 8k ultra high resolution image of the Hero's artifact they recovered. He was frankly amazed by the level of detail of the image, as every nick and scratch was shown up clearly and sharply and he doesn't even need to squint his eyes nor wear what the hoomans called corrective glasses ...
He sighed and closed his eyes as Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 played next, letting his mind wander with the music for a while before he resumed his work. He tapped a few keys on the computer that the hoomans provided to him, which was as alien as it could be to him at first, but over time, it proved to be more useful in recording, retrieving and analyzing information rapidly.
"Hmmm?" Thorn suddenly straightened up, "What is this?" The computer dumped several matching runes and symbols to what was found on the surface of the artifact. He had all his books and scrolls carefully scanned into the computer and stored into the system with the help of his students. And the computer started beeping as its databased found similar runes or iconology.
Thorn frowned as he studied the information poured out on the screen, feeling confused and shocked at the same time. "My heavens! What is this?!"
-----
Far Harbor, Civic Center
Fleet Master Dijon stood facing the floor to ceiling windows, looking outside from the second floor down to the harbor where open topped wagons were being pushed by men, ladened with supplies towards the ships docked along side the pier. He gave a rapped against the clear glass and frowned, his merchant mind spinning rapidly. "This glass, is it done by your craftsmen?"
"Yes," The Princess replied while sipping some hot beverage. "All made here, by own our hands."
He turned back to the view outside, hiding his expression from the Princess view, as he digested the information. So far, all he saw was wealth and incredible workmanship everywhere, unlike the reports that they were defeated by the Empire and were on the run, before managing to fight off the persisting forces due to terrain constraints.
All these displays of wealth do not tally which them being on the back footing, it shows more like they are prospering instead of slowly being defeated. He looked at his ships, fully decked out and ready to intimidate and awe the rebels here, to force them into accepting whatever unfavorable deals or contracts with him, but instead the tables appeared to have been turned.
Or was all this just a ploy? To show that they are strong but actually, they are weak? He turned and observed the Princess, who sat upright, her long legs tucked under her dress, sipping from a delicate cup and saucer, seemingly at ease without any traces of worries or fear in her manner and deposition.
Dijon rubbed his stubble on his chin, and turned his attention around to the lavishly decorated room, taking in all the details, from the food, drinks to the decor. He could calculate roughly how much gold and silver was spent just to prepare all these for him and his Captains who were sampling and enjoying the food. Dijon grinned suddenly, well, let's put my sense of unease to a test, I shall delay as long as I can, and freeload with my men here, let's see how long the Princess can keep this pretense up!
"Ha!" Dijon gave out a sudden bark of laughter, making the Princess raise her fine looking eyebrows up. "Tell me how you defeated the Empire at the mountains! I am sure it is a tale worthy to tell and songs to be made!"
The Princess appeared lost for a minute before she nodded, and racket made by the rest of the Captains quietened down as they turned their attention to the Princess's words, hearing of their journey, chased by the Empire troops, and hounded by blood thirsty goblins and monsters in the Uncharted Forest and the brave battle they had at the Pass.
She purposely left out some details in regards to the hoomans abilities, and instead retold them as allies who helped saved them from the claws of the Empire. The Captains cheered as they heard how they won and cried when told how the dead were mourned and shuddered as they heard of the undead walking again.
They sat raptured by the tale, their drinks, and food in their plates forgotten as they listened to the strong soprano voice, lost in the wonder and action of her words. And when the story ended, the men wept for the lost souls who fought bravely against the Hero and gave a prayer to the gods to look after their souls in the afterlife.
Sherene wiped a tear away from her eyes, as she finished the story. Some parts of the story were left out, only those that were more common knowledge where told. She found her tea had turned cold and stood up to pour herself another cup only to find the whole group of rowdy Captains bawling their eyes out, and blowing their noses on napkins and sea scarfs.
"Eh... are all of you well?" She asked timidly, worried if it was the refreshments or the 'air-con' that had made them sick.
"Your story is so sad!" One of them cried, sobbing into his sleeves. "Your men are so brave!"
"Yes! That Dante! I knew he was no good!" Another yelled, "To think he would hunt and kill girls for their life energy!"
Even Dijon was affected by the story, as to them, being men who grew up sailing the rough seas, they were mostly out in the oceans for many months, and they know about the dangers and perils of life and death as it comes easily and swiftly out in the sea. And the sailors were quite romantic by nature and also view brotherhood and loyalty strongly, and when knowing that brave men sacrifice themselves against a godly foe despite the overwhelming odds, made their blood boil.
But he frowned, wondering how did they defeat the Hero in the end, "So how did the Hero lose?"
"It took the combined magic of all our mages to cast a level 9 spell that finally overwhelmed his shields," Sherene simply made something up, thinking that Blake is gonna to have to make up to her for a whole lot of lies and half-truths she spoke today.
Dijon nodded but did not push the issue, and Sherene mentally gave a sigh of relief. The other Captains refilled their plates and drinks and started to ask her more about the story she just told, asking about details on certain parts, and she did her best to answer.
Dijon took a bite out of the triangularly shaped bread with fillings and nodded to himself as the taste was better than he expected, and watched the Princess trying her best to answer all the questions asked by his Captains. There were several loopholes in the story she gave, but now is not the time to expose it all, let's see how long they can play this game, he smiled as he tried a piece of fried po-ta-to. "Hmm... Delicious!"
-----
Far Harbor, Police Station
Kaga sat with her back straight as she nervously twisted the hem of her skirt before the fierce looking soldier across the table from her. "That's all I heard..."
"So, there is a faction among the freed slaves that want to steal a ship from the Isles?" Lt Joseph asked to confirm again.
Kaga nodded, "Yes, I heard them talking about it the other day, and I wanted to find someone to report it to, but no one seems to take me seriously..."
Lt Joseph sighed, looking at the shy way Kaga was behaving. She looked like some kid around twelve years old, despite being way older than that. Her fluffy looking ears drooped downwards as she fidgeted in her seat. "Relax, I am not interrogating you, nor am I gonna arrest you..."
"If you say so..." Her soft reply came back, as she didn't dare look up.
"Come on," Lt Joseph sighed and opened the door, "You are free to go, I will investigate on what you had reported."
"Thank you..." Kaga gave a bow and left the room, led by one of the policemen out of the station.
"Sir?" One of the police officers asked, "Do you think she is telling the truth?"
"Yes, I believe her words," Lt Joseph nodded, "Go dig up on what you can on the description she gave us, and do it quietly!"
"Yes, Sir!" The officer saluted and left, leaving Joseph alone in the room.
"Damn," Joseph frowned and thought to himself, if those ex slaves tried to take over one of the Isles ships, it is gonna look bad to us, and the Isles might break all trade deals and relationships with us, which we desperately need the goods they can offer to us!
He stood up and walked out of the room and called his Platoon Sergeant over. "Spread the word, see who can find Sergeant Tyrier of the Hundred and First, if they see him, get him to come here to find me, I got something to talk to him with."
His sergeant nodded and saluted before leaving to spread the word among the troops while Joseph put on his beret and headed towards the Civic Center were the Princess and the delegates from the Isles were at.
-----
The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic
Magister Thorn paced around his table as he waited for Dr. Sharon to arrive, while periodically glancing at the montior screen which the computer was still analyzing the artifact.
He clasped his hand worriedly and nervously, before noticing his own gestures and tucked them into his coat pockets, muttering, "Come on ... come on ... hurry please...."
Someone suddenly knocked on the door of his office, and he yelled, "Come in! come in!"
Dr. Sharon entered with a briefcase and stood over his desk, "What is it that is so urgent?" She stifled a yawn as she sat down on the lumpy chair in front of the desk.
"Look at this!" Thorn excitedly snatched up a piece of paper printed out with a jumble of text and pictures.
Dr. Sharon scanned through the paper and the notes scribbled on it and frowned, "Wait is this what I think it is?"
"Yes!" Thorn nodded, "The computer has found some matching text in the database and translated it out."
"Hummingbird on the Left?" Dr. Sharon rubbed her tired eyes as she re-read the notes. "What kind of name is that?"
"That's the best translation the computer gave!" Thorn said, "Also some of this I managed to find out." He started to click on some files on the computer and turned the screen to face Sharon. "Look!"
"Deity of war, sun and human sacrifice?" Dr. Sharon tiredness appeared to vanish as she read the scripts that Thorn had dug out in his research. "So this God that the Hero worshipped, isn't just the Sun god, but also of war and human sacrifice?"
"Yes!" Thorn said, "Remember what the little girl told us in the hospital? She said she saw how the Hero absorbed the female's life force he was in bed with!"
"So that was a form of sacrifice?" Dr. Sharon frowned. "But where did you get this from?"
"Now, that's where it gets more strange..." Thorn spoke in a low voice as he stared at Dr. Sharon in a very serious manner. "This data did not come from any of my books, scrolls or from my knowledge. Neither did it come from any other mages here."
"The inscriptions here that the computer translated as 'Hummingbird of the Left', came from an ancient language, and that is from you... hoomans..."
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Far Harbor, Dockside Pier
Specialist Sergeant Tyrier with the rest of the Claymore One on tow looked at the two lines of colorful stalls, lining alongside the dockside, all filled with goods and different types of food. He adjusted his stiff uniform collar, feeling slightly uncomfortable in uniform as he hasn't worn it in months.
"Look!" Hitsu exclaimed while excitedly pointing at one of the stalls, "I heard that stall serves good 'bu-girls'! I'm hungry!"
"Yea, let's grab something to eat," Tavel agreed as he wiped the sweat off his cap, "Don't know why they sent us here for."
Tyrier looked around, seeing large groups of Islanders gawking at the wares displayed and sampling food offered from the stalls and nodded, "Alright," He looked at the large clock tower on the roof of the Civic Center and said, "Buy what you want to eat and drink and meet up here again in half an hour's time."
"Yes!" Hitsu grinned and looped his arm around Young's shoulder, dragging him along, "Come on! Let's go! FOOD!"
The stalls lining around the streets where specially set up for the Islander's visit, like a special bazaar with all manner of products and food currently being produced by the city. In a way, this allows the Islanders to see what goods are tradable and also allows the sailors from the Isles to unwind and spend some of their money.
Glassware, metalware, even what appeared to be toilet rolls were on display from various stalls. So far the most crowded stalls were those selling weapons, as large groups of Islander sailors, hanging around the stalls were the weapon and armor samples while anxious looking police officers hovered at the side, trying to act normal but were clearly worried that some fights might break out.
Hitsu ordered a few sticks of barbecued meat, and a couple of hot dogs from one of the barbecue food stands, adding a generous amount of ketchup and mustard sauce. He briefly wondered why buns with sausages were called hot dogs, does that means the hoomans use dog meat for the sausages? He gestured with his elbow to Young who had a cheeseburger and they went to join in the commotion at the weapon stalls.
The group of sailors was interested with a repeating crossbow, that uses a crank mechanism to load and reload, allowing a user to rapidly fire off dozens of crossbow bolts in a minute. They gathered around a fenced off area, where a straw dummy was the target, wearing a battered Empire chest plate and helmet. The sailor testing the crossbow looked slightly uncertain at the seller who gestured how to fire and load the crossbow before he pointed the crossbow at the straw target and worked the crank as instructed.
The first shot went wild, hitting the boarded up wall and the rest of the sailors jeered. The red faced sailor appeared to want to give up, but the seller encouraged him to try again and to hold on to the crossbow more firmly. The sailor gave a shrug and gripped the crossbow tightly, pointing at the dummy set at fifty meters away.
The second shot fared better and hit the 'leg' portion of the dummy, making the others laugh and cheer. Soon there was a bet ongoing on whether if the next shot would hit the chest plate. The embarrassed sailor looked like he was about to walk away, and suddenly someone pushed through the crowd, and everyone hushed up.
Hitsu swallowed a large mouthful of hot dog and saw a female sailor clad in tight leathers and silks. She yanked the repeating crossbow off from the other sailor and tilted the weapon left and right, admiring its workmanship and design. She suddenly snapped the crossbow against her shoulder and cranked it repeatedly, sending bolt after bolt towards the straw target till the bulky box magazine on the top of the crossbow ran dry.
She tossed the crossbow back to the seller who looked at her with awe on his face, and the crowd went wild. "ANNA! ANNA! ANNA!" They chanted as she swept her tri-cone hat off and a thick mop of luscious golden red locks spilled out over her shoulders and she gave a bow to the men who laughed and whooped before she walked up to the straw target and examined the results of her work.
Hitsu mouth remained wide open as he stared at the golden red hair sailor strut her way down the range. He suddenly choked when Young slapped his back, as he saw Hitsu glazing at the female and piece of a hot dog stuck in his throat making his cough.
"Hahaha," Young laughed as he watched Hitsu's antics. "Hey, I thought you have two girls already? Why are you ogling at another one here?"
"AAH.. wh-what?" Hitsu thumped his chest, forcing the piece of hot dog down his throat, "What girls?"
"Heh, that Billy and that crazy mage girl?" Young winked at Hitu.
"WHAT?" Hitsu nearly dropped all his food as he started to deny any involvement with those two girls. "Serious?"
"Hahaha," Young laughed as he finished his burger. "Everyone knows you like little girls.."
"..." Hitsu wiped the ketchup and mustard sauce from his mouth. "You got to be kidding me..."
"Hahahahhaa," Young laughed, "Anyway, that chick, she looks way out of your league."
Hitsu sighed and finished up his food but as they were about to leave, a clear and boisterous voice called out to them. Turning around, they saw the earlier female sailor standing there with her arms on her hips and walking towards them with a few other sailors in tow.
"You two!" The female sailor gestured to them both with a jerk of her head. "Your uniforms look different from the rest. Who are you?"
"M-me?" Hitsu stammered as he stared at the heart-shaped face covered by a golden red crown of hair. "Ah-hh.. I-I am H-Hitsu!"
Young on the other hand, nearly face palmed himself at the sad display Hitsu was giving. "We are part of the Hundred and First.
"Hundred and First?" The female sailor frowned and looked at the rest of her sailors with a confused expression. "You carry yourselves different from the rest of those black shirts and those grey shirts!"
Young looked down at his grey dress uniform, similar to the Marines, except their pants were trimmed in gold instead of red. He gave a shrug, "We are just simple soldiers."
"Soldiers, eh?" The female raised one of her eyebrows up, "Than care to explain how that 'repeating crossbow' works to this poor sailor?" The rest of the sailors laughed and giggle among themselves.
"Eh, you are?" Hitsu shyly asked.
"My name is Anna, Anna Boony. First mate of the Man 'o' war, Talon." She proudly raised her chin up, "So tell me, how does those crossbow work, soldier boy?"
"Erm," Young looked at Hitsu and scratched his head, "Well, you work the crank, it drops a bolt down from the box and at the same time, it pulls the string back and locks the arms into place. When you pull all the way to the back, the string is released and the bolt is thrown out and you crank it again to repeat."
"Hmmm, such an ingenious way of firing rapidly. It that how you defeated the Empire?" Anna asked, her eyes boring deep into Young who coughed uncomfortably.
"Yes, 20 men armed with a repeating crossbow is as powerful as a regiment of crossbowmen!" Young explained, "But of course, compared to a regular crossbow, it has a weaker penetrating strength and range."
"Interesting, soldier boy," Anna gave a wink and walked off, "Be seeing you again."
"Wow, did she wink at me?" Hitsu sighed, "My poor heart can't handle it!"
"You and your damn nonsense," Young shook his head, "Come on, we need to head back to find the rest."
"Damn, she is hot!" Hitsu sighed again, looking at the disappearing back of the first mate of the Talon.
-----
"Tyrier!" Lt Joseph quickened his steps as he spotted Tyrier near a food stall. "Just nice, I was looking for you!"
"Hey Lt, what's up?" Tyrier swallowed the sweet bread roll, that the stall owner called it a 'donut' and he finished it off with a gulp of 'Root beer', some drink made out from the essence of some root or bark of a tree.
"We need to talk, I need your help," Lt Joseph said, will pulling Tyrier to a quiet corner. "We might have a small security problem."
"Why me? Can't the police or the security guys handle it?" Tyrier frowned, "We are supposed to be on R and R now." (Rest and Recuperation)
"Well, it's those ex slaves," Lt Joseph said in a low voice, "Some of them wants to run and take over one of the Isles ships."
"What?" Tyrier cursed, "Are they stupid?"
"Well, since you guys actually had fought together and they trust you more," Joseph continued, "I like you to talk them down."
"Talk them down?" Tyrier asked, "I wanna beat them up! Who is coming up with such a silly idea?"
"So the guy's called, Cesar." Lt Joseph took out a note from his breast pocket. He hands it over to Tyrier to glanced at its content.
"Oh, this guy?" Tyrier frowned, "I remember him, quite the whiner."
"Think you can do something about this guy without hurting our relationship with the Islanders?" Lt Joseph asked as he watched a group of Islander sailors trying some hot dogs from the food stall.
"Well, depends on how you want me to fix it?" Tyrier asked, "Quietly or verbally."
"I'm guessing this guy will be trouble in the future," Lt Joseph said, seeing the sailors buying another round of food, this time cheeseburgers as they enjoyed the hot dog. "Quietly and out of sight."
Tyrier nodded, "Do you have his position?"
"He was last reported at the back of the hostels," Lt Joseph gestured towards the right, where rows of bungalow like houses were constructed for the Islander's stay. "I got a tail on them."
"It is official or...?" Tyrier narrowed his eyes as he asked his question.
"What do you think?" Lt Joseph turned and looked back at Tyrier in the eye.
Tyrier nodded, "Got it, I will send word once it is done."
"He should have one or two accomplices, deal with them and this problem goes away," Lt Joseph added as Tyrier walked off, waving.
Lt Joseph watched Tyrier disappear into the crowd and sighed, "The things we do for the greater good..."
-----
Far Harbor, Back alley of Bungalow Row
Four men were crouched behind some large empty wooden crates, one of them spoke while placing some items on the ground. "I managed to grab some of these while the stalls were busy and distracted."
The one speaking held up a couple of short straight tipped steel daggers. "There are too many guards around and I don't dare to steal more!"
"Good work, that's a start at least," A thin yellow faced elf grinned in the shadows, "Asther, What did you find out about our future ride?"
"Looks like we will be going on board the Ocean Dreamer," the man called Asther replied, as he played with one of the daggers. "Its a transport and there was word that the Islanders might stay at least for a week before leaving."
"A week?" Cesar looked surprised, "I thought they will only be here for three days?"
"Well, I overheard the sailors saying they will be staying about a week before leaving," Asther shrugged. "Everyone in the docks heard them."
"See my friends? These so-called rebels are tricking us, telling us to trust them but yet something as simple as departing from this lands, they can't even give us the truth!" Cesar shook his head in sadness.
"When we return, spread the word," Cesar smiled, "Let the rest the truth, this way we can gain more supporters!"
"My, my, what a gathering you guys have here!" A voice suddenly spoke over them, making them jump up in shock.
"Now, that I have your attention, I believe, its time for you all to... disappear..."
Advance chapters are available on Patreon (18 Chapters Ahead)
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All the plot twists!
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