บท 545: Asian Rambo

Michael and the others soon depart from Takashi's territory in the city to go see how Kohta and Saya's parents were doing.

They chose not to go there immediately via a teleportation gate since they had no idea how much the Takagi estate would have changed, making it possible for them to teleport inside a wall, or accidentally destroy a vehicle depot or something equally stupid.

They weren't left without transport however as Tiffania summoned some mounts via Conjuration magic... Indeed, she was one of the only people left who could use it to its full utility, her Void Attunement allowing her to bypass any and all barriers.

The beasts she summoned weren't native to Tamriel either, instead looking like the mythical beasts called Nightmares, large black horses who flickered with ghastly blue fire, leaving flaming imprints with each step.

Riding them wasn't an issue as everyone, even Megumin, had received training for it. Still, the Nightmares were difficult creatures to ride, even while suppressed and under Tiffania's control.

Regardless, they made their way through the ruined remnants of modern civilisation, they took their time to explore the place, showing Tiffania and Megumin various aspects of modern life that they couldn't learn by reading books or playing video games.

They did have to stop this though when Saya spun a roundabout in a park with magic... While Megumin was sitting on it... Stopping the subsequent argument from destroying half the city was a tiring affair, to say the least.

Some survivors did try to attack them, but quickly fled once they realised that their horses were literally on fire... Zombies they could handle, but strange-robed people riding mythical burning horses took the cake.

Soon enough, the group spotted the Takagi estate in the distance... Except, it had been more heavily fortified than when last Saya had seen it. Military vehicles lined a gated area which seemed to serve the purpose of protecting people from zombies while unloading vehicles.

The walls had been reinforced with metal plating that'd been stripped from buildings, vehicles, and whatever else they could get their hands on. There were also watch towers liberally placed around, each manned by two or three armed people each.

Not far from the estate was a huge blackened area with piles of ash within, a place where the dead were gathered and burned it seemed.

"S-stop! S-stop or I'll shoot god damn it!" a warbled voice exclaims.

A slim man in military garb was standing at the side of the road and aiming a modern rifle at them, sweat dripping from his forehead, face and neck.

The Nightmare below Tiffania stomps on the floor in irritating and loudly sniffs, causing a belch of flame to leave its snout. The guard's eyes widen at this, and his grip on his weapon tightens enough that he was at risk of accidentally firing the weapon.

"Who are you? And who do you follow?" Saya asks, wondering if anyone would recognise her. Her pink hair was pretty recognisable after all.

"I-I'm Kazu... Who are you and what the hell are those things!?"

"I'm Saya Takagi, these are... Horses...?"

...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"DAUGHTER!" Souichiro Takagi and Yuriko Takagi exclaim as they see the group being led into the compound. They both march over and envelope the girl in a hug, while they did have some questions about her strange clothes and even stranger-looking staff.

"Mama! Papa!" Saya smiles, returning it. She'd spent long enough apart from her parents to get over her feelings of abandonment... While the wounds hadn't quite closed, she could say she was happy that her parents had survived til now. It wasn't like she was going to remain in this world either, so she'd enjoy the limited time they had together.

While Saya goes off with her parents, Michael, Tiffania, and Megumin are approached by a muscular Asian Rambo, Kohta Hirano, who'd they'd seen in photo's Takashi and Rei had shown them.

"Look who it is! Michael and his elf wife!" he happily greets with a grin.

"Man you're different... What happened to the timid fatty who was scared of his shadow unless he had a gun in his hand?" Michael asks, jabbing a finger at Kohta's flat and ripped-as-hell abs.

Kohta grins, opening his jacket and revealing the entire interior lined with various weapons. "That's the trick, I've always got guns on me now! And my extra weight? You guys try running constantly with an M60 and multiple feet of ammo wrapped around you without losing some weight!"

Megumin crooks a brow, "M60?"

"A big-ass gun, Megu."

Kohta looks Tiffa and Megumin over, "So what're you all here for? I saw Takagi-san go off with her parents so, taking a break in this peaceful world of ours?"

"Guessed it in one, call it a vacation, there's a war going on back at home, plus dragons and other annoying shit? This place actually looks less stressful... We did meet Takashi on the way here, he had some 'things' to say about you..."

Kohta grins, "Oh him? Yeah, I can imagine. You know he got mad at me for sniping a guy who was aiming a gun at his head? Said he could've convinced them to do things peacefully, whatever that meant... I thought he was good but it turns out he's just a limp-dick loser, mind you, these guys were also threatening to rape his girlfriend..."

"Huh... That explains why Rei seemed to be looking for the door. She was practically drooling over me, right in front of him too!" Michae chuckles.

Kohta laughs along, "So... You guys wanna shoot some guns? I'm sure your lady friends haven't tried it before." he focuses on them, "Trust me, it's a blast!"

Michael snorts, "You're saying this to a living nuke and a potential world-ender... I'm not saying no though."

"I wanna try it, it looks like fun in the games we played!" Megumin smiles eagerly.

"Nice, I'll have the 'moving targets' put in position and we can get started." the gun-otaku says with a thumbs up.