Lance returned to The Portsmouth, at least what was left of it. The ruin of the fortress and damaged manor, in combination with the number of unwanted casualties on the Portsmouth, just add the remnants of what used to be the main trade port.He walked around the town while carrying his HK416 on his hands and M249 LMG on his back. He wore a Navy BDU with a black helmet, he also wore an IMTV without the additional protector like the groin, elbow, etc.
He looked around at the rubble of a building, the citizens were surrounding the remnants of their houses and their workplaces. Some of them were crying because of their houses while the others were crying on top of their love ones. Anyone can clearly saw the mourning aura from everyone around.
The middle of the streets, which was used to be full of carriages, now full of ma.s.sive cremation of the dead bodies. The alleyway that was used by the pirates to extort him and Amara now were buried under the burning rubble of the building. The seagulls were eating on the dead bodies of the pirate.
The happy place had changed into a sad and sorrowful place. However, things were made way worse by the presence of the Soulisphate soldier that sometimes got into hot and almost deadly verbal arguments. Well, almost everything was under control, Almost...
"MOVE THE WAY FOR THE PRINCESS!!!" A knight in front of a carriage shouted.
"I beg your pardon, sir, but traffic is not allowed in this road. Please take a detour either to the left or right," The soldier said politely.
The soldier was a member of the Marines. He held his M4 and wore a green beret. Lance clearly can see the badge Raider on his clothes, he was not an ordinary grunt. Lance approached him and asked, "Soldier, let me handle this. Sir, can I talk to the princess?"
"Do you know who you are talking to?" He shouted because he was a knight, and Knight is a n.o.bility status.
"Do you know who you are talking to? Let me meet the princess," Lance said as the 125mm smoothbore gun of the M1A2 Abrams was turned against his head. "This thing will shoot your princess until no remnants of her are left," Lance threatened.
"You!!!" The knight rambled, but he did his job, which was calling the princess.
The princess came down from the carriage. She wore a very white dress and wore black shoes.
She approached Lance, "Who are you?" She asked him.
"Princess Isabella, Don"t you think it"s a coincidence?" Lance said as he took off his sungla.s.ses.
"Well, well, well. Rising from the grave, huh? Mr. Sharrington, let"s talk to somewhere more privately, shall we?" She asked as she walked to the nearest back alley, followed by Lance from behind.
"Princess, don"t do that," The knight said, but his hand got grabbed by the Marine, "Sorry pal, but this is our turf."
After Lance a.s.sured that n.o.body followed them, Lance grabbed his Five-seveN and put the tip of the barrel at the back of Princess Isabella"s head, "Nice try, but I won"t be fooled the third times in a row." Isabella tried to turn around, but "Any sudden movement and I blow your head clean off with as much mess as if you are a helpless pup."
"Mr.Sharrington, what the f.u.c.k?" She said.
Lance retreated and changed the weapon into the HK416, and aimed it at her head again, "Strip!"
"Are you nuts, Lance? It"s me, Isabella, don"t you recognize me?" She asked.
"Now!!" Lance shouted as the princess surrendered and stripped her clothes one by one, starting from her shoes and then her clothes and so on. Lance was right since there was a hidden dagger on his shoes.
"Well, it looks like you are clean, so Isabel, what do you want to talk about, or do you want a special service of putting you on the ground right now?" Lance asked.
"Lance, what the h.e.l.l? What do you mean?" The princess said while wearing his undergarment, only, which was Victorian underwear.
"What do you mean?" Lance shouted angrily. "Marking my family as a traitor and killing them wasn"t enough?" Lance said.
"Traitor? What the h.e.l.l? I don"t f.u.c.king know. It"s all the count"s doing, not us. I know you are killed, and I felt sorry for that, but there was nothing I can do," She shouted back.
"Then, who? Give me a name!" Lance shouted again.
"I don"t f.u.c.king know," She shouted as loud as she can before she dropped on the ground, and she started to cry. Well, as expected, although she was drafted as well, she never saw the front lines like Amara and him.
"A NAME!!" Lance shouted back and grabbed the princess by the neck, and used his combat knife to hold her up. The princess furthered cried, and Lance let her go since she was crying.
"Gee, I never thought that you will be broken this easy. Ok, I will ask politely, does the kingdom got involved in my a.s.sa.s.sination?" He asked.
"No, It"s just the count and his allies. My father doesn"t get involved," She said.
"That"s all I need, dress up," Lance said as the princess stood up and started to wear her clothes again. She left him after she slapped Lance right in the face. She ran back at her carriage, and the convoy returned to the city gate.
"Sir, are you ok?" The Marine asked him.
"I"m ok, thank you, corporal. Clean this mess, please," Lance said as he left that roadblock.
However, not everything was bad in the town. For example, the amount of crime in the city is way lower than it was. There were no more pirates and no more bandits. Although the lack of help from the Soulisphate, there were several public kitchens that were set up by the Navy.
The citizen was lining up on the tent and enjoyed their food at a nearby bench or table that was put by the Navy. For the taste, well, the Navy was famous because of its food.
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Lance headed for the ala folks bar, the bar now was the only standing building on that block. The tavern itself was broken with a lot of shattering gla.s.s and broken walls.
"Morning," Lance said as he opened the door, but it fell off the moment he opened it.
"Morning Lance, we are closed now," Amara said as he was sitting alone in a broken table near the window.
"I just want to pay a visit, have you grab a meal at the public kitchen yet?" Lance asked as he went for the booze at the bar stall.
"Not yet, maybe later. So, Lance, this is your epic comeback, huh?" Amara said as gla.s.s fell off from the broken table.
Lance took a seat in front of Amara and said, "Sorry."
"Sorry? For what? You should do this the moment you arrive. You put a blank canvas on this city, though thing looks worse now, some of the other merchants including me feel better without the Soulisphate tax collector," Amara said to him with a pause, "Lance, bring back the glory of your family ok. Your family will be so proud up there."
"Yeah," Lance said as he got out of the bar and continued to take a walk on the city. The dead bodies were burned in a pit near the town. The black smoke rose as high as it can.
The gloomy city got more gloomy as rain fell down in the city. The sewer began to be filled by reddish water. The drop of water began to wet Lance"s uniform.
The emergency tents that were built by the Marines, now full of refugees ranging from child to a very old person. The children were playing around the tent; meanwhile, their parents were eating the meal that the soldiers gave.
"New things for them, huh?" Lance thought as he looked at the happy children that were running around the tent. "Our journey hasn"t finished yet. I must search the perpetrator until the very end and make him pay. This will be a tough long way for me, but I will gladly enjoy it. Lance, please, leave the rest for Grandpa here. Let"s put aside our foolishness first."