Operation: New World

While she was relieved to see the town prospering, whoever it was that saved them, she could not take her mind off of what would happen if she let the Alliance cut all ties with humans. Einfeld was run by mostly humans, with minimal presence from other races, and, up until now, it was a ransacked wasteland half of the time, and a dying town the other half. This alone is enough to prove to her that humans are yet to be capable of independence from the other races in this world.

If she didn"t stop that anti-humanity group within the council from forcing humans off all seats, then the situation at Einfeld will be happening to all human run kingdoms across the Cinfreid Region, possibly the world even. How the sun slowly set behind the gra.s.sy hills, she leaned back on a chair placed by the balcony, letting the crisp summer night wind drive her off to sleep as well.

Suddenly, after what felt like a mere 2 hours of rest, screams rang out in the streets, shooting her awake. As she shot up from her chair, she noticed that a fire has broken out at the north entrance of the town, as black figures were pouring in like locusts.

"Kaito! Wake up!" Franciska yelled out frantically, dragging him out of bed, "We"re under attack!"

"Gah, Sergeant! Please save the salmon ones!" Kaito yelled out loud, still dreamtalking.

"Hurry up and grab your gun or whatever you call it, we have company!" She yelled, dragging him out the inn, as the two tried to a.s.sess the upcoming threat.

Having served in the fields himself, Kaito knew that the safety of innocent citizens were at the top priority in this situation, so he quickly scanned the area for the safest possible place to hunker down people at.

Luckily for him, the bright flames engulfing the broken down gate provided just enough light for him to see that most people were already running to a safe location: the town hall. Guess they must be used to this sort of thing happening, as some of the citizens are actually keeping their cool, and helping up others who have fallen over, like they"ve been through this sort of stuff dozens of times.

"What are you idling around for!?" Asked Franciska drawing her sword, "Provide me with backup, we have some enemies to take out!"

As the enemies came into view, it became to Franciska who their enemies were. The blue, leathery skin and tusk like teeth leave no other option: Ogres. Unlike their Orc counterpart, Ogres are far more feral and ferocious, sacrificing their intellect and any ability to form a functional and cooperative society in exchange for raw, predatory instinct and power. For even an experienced B rank adventurer, defeating one of these beasts takes preparation. However...

[Swordsplay 3rd Form: Mantis]!

Franciska wasn"t a mere B rank adventurer. In mere moments, the Ogre was diced into ribbons. Kaito, watching this from afar, gazed at her near ballerina like movements, and applauded in amazement.

"Thank you, thank you all..." Franciska bowed, before realizing what she was doing, "Wait, what is this, a stage play!?"

Suddenly, behind her, a second Ogre emerged, raising it"s spiked club in the air, ready to split her head open like a melon. Seeing this, Franciska"s blade let out a faint glow.

[Swordsplay 12th form: Leopard!]

Twisting her body in a way that would impress even contortionists, Franciska dodged the Ogre"s swing, slicing it"s hand off in the process. The Ogre, recoiling from the pain, was then taken out with a bullet to the head.

"Nice moves, Fran!" Kaito exclaimed, running in, "I"m amazed, you seem to be able to hold your own rather well!"

"Vincent has trained me in the past." Explained Franciska, "Most n.o.bles need to learn how to wield a sword when their young, girls are no different."

"Well, glad you"re not gonna hold me back like last- wait, if you could fight like that, why didn"t you help me fight against [Dagger]!?" Said Kaito, realizing the untapped potential he was missing.

"Well excuse me! I wasn"t exactly armed back then!" Franciska retorted.

"You had a knife!" Kaito exclaimed.

"I can"t do [Swordsplay] with a knife!" Franciska yelled back.

Just then, more screams rang out, cutting their conversation short.

"s.h.i.t! The townsfolk!" Exclaimed Kaito, "The Orcs are breaking into their town hall!"

"Then we got to go save them!" Franciska replied, as the two ran at where a huge amount of Ogres were gathered.

Raising his gun, Kaito fired two shots, downing one Ogre, as Franciska used the beast"s fallen corpse as footstool, leaping a solid 5 feet into the air, her blade, reflecting the light of the moon and the flames, blinding the nearby Orcs, before descending on one of them, slicing them clean in half.

However, another one came charging in, hitting Franciska with a shoulder tackle, as she flew back several feet, hitting a wall. The Ogre, letting out a feral roar, then came charging at her at blinding speeds.

Franciska, unable to get up in time, rapidly shuffled back, narrowly avoiding an overhead swing, as the Ogre continued it"s savage chase. Unable to outrun it, Franciska ended up getting grabbed by her ankle, as the Ogre swung her upwards, attempting to smash her into the pavement.

However, upon flailing her into the air, Franciska used her blade to slit the Ogre"s wrist, causing him to let go, tossing Franciska into the air, as she descended like an arrow, lodging her blade deep into the Ogre"s skull.

However, before she could retrieve her blade, a sharp pain was felt in her sides, as a ma.s.sive swing from a wooden club sent her flying into a stone wall, smashing against it, as she felt warm blood flowing down her face.

The hit ended up shattering the sword as well, as the swinger of the club walked up to her, smiling in contempt, as it reached out, attempting to grab her. Franciska, eyes fiercely glaring at the Ogre, was ready to lunge in and stab the beast with the stub of her sword, when Kaito ran in, pointing his handgun at the Ogre"s temple.

"Hasta la vista, baby!" He said in a deep voice, blowing a hole through the Ogre"s head.

As the Ogre collapsed, Kaito helped Franciska up, looking at her wounds.

"They messed you up really bad there." Said Kaito, in a worried tone.

"My, what medical expertise coming from you." Replied Franciska sarcastically, spitting out a wad of blood, as she tore off parts of her sleeve to use as a makeshift bandage for her head injury, "How many are left?"

Kaito, turning around, make her a nervously forced smile.

"Around 50." Replied Kaito.

"And how many more bullets do you have?" Asked Franciska.

Kaito took the clip out of his handgun, and then searched his pockets.

"5." Said Kaito, "After that, the next best thing is my combat knife."

Hearing this, Franciska let out an exasperated sigh.

"Well, let"s just pray for a miracle." She said, as the remaining Ogres surrounded them, cutting off all means they have of escape, "Because something tells me these guys are not willing to negotiate."

As the Horde of Ogres got closer and closer, and Franciska and Kaito were slowly backing into one another, they prepared for what could be the last fight of their lives. However, just then, Kaito noticed that the lighting felt off.

Sure, there was a fire at the north entrance of the town, but there was a light source coming from the South as well. The town itself doesn"t really have streetlights, meaning the only possible light source coming from that direction would be...

"Another fire!" A random citizen yelled out, pointing to the south and catching the attention to all the Ogres.

Looking at what the man was pointing at, the Ogres" eyes widened in shock, as a ma.s.sive fire seemed to be raging in the woods of the south.

"That"s where the Ogre"s nests are! They must have retreated there when their settlement fell!" Said Franciska.

"So someone was hunting down the remaining Ogres while there guys are attacking the city?" Asked Kaito.

"Looks like it!" Replied Franciska.

Seeing this, a smile returned on Kaito"s face.

"Alright, now"s our chance! While they are demoralized and distracted with their nest burning, we attack the three on the left with all our might, then, we make a break fro it!" Said Kaito, quickly devising a plan.

Without even waiting for a response however, Kaito knelt down like an Olympic sprinter, ready to run the 100m.

"3...2...1...Go!" He yelled out, unloading all of his bullets, but only taking down one, as the 4 more, seemingly more p.i.s.sed them before, surrounded him from all sides.

"Nice blue monstrosities?" Kaito laughed nervously, pleading for mercy.

The Ogres raised their club, as Franciska ran in in panic, trying to save him.

"Kaito!" Exclaimed Franciska.

Just then, the whirs of tires became heard, as the sound of a vehicle moving on dirt road became closer and closer. Franciska, weirded out, looked around, finding a strange object approaching them at high speeds.

"A new species of monsters?" Thought Franciska, ready to fight.

However, as the beast came into view, something peaked her attention. Sticking out the top of what now looked like an iron carriage, was a person. Suddenly, a series of loud bangs were heard, similar to the ones that Kaito"s gun makes, but much louder, as the Ogres nearby exploded into splatters of blood.

Upon hearing the sounds of the Ogres getting ma.s.sacred, the civilians came charging out of the town hall in cheers and joy.

"It"s them! The heroes that saved our village!" They cheered.

"They"re the ones?" Asked Franciska, before turning to Kaito, "Kaito, they"re also using guns, are they people you know?"

However, Kaito didn"t respond. Instead, tears ran down his face.

"G-Guys?" He uttered out, as he watched his squad"s Komatsu wipe out what was left of the ogres.

"Kaito?" Franciska tried getting closer.

"GUYS!" He called out, running in front of the vehicle.

Upon seeing him, the vehicle stopped, as its pa.s.sengers exited, coming out to meet their old partner.

"Hatori-san? Is that really you?" Asked Rumiko, "You"re alive!"

"d.a.m.n right I am!" Kaito exclaimed, jumping into their arms.

"Kaito! What a pleasant surprise." Said Fuyumi, "We thought we lost you when you went flying out the vehicle after the fall.

"I knew you had it in ya, kid!" Congratulated Sergeant Watari, "Now, the whole squad is reunited!"

"Uh, excuse me?" Franciska ran in, "Kaito, you... know these people?"

"Woah there!" Yuuto exclaimed, "Kaito, don"t tell me you actually scored while we were away! I mean, looking at her... Oh la la."

"Yuuto! It"s not like that!" Kaito exclaimed in an embarra.s.sed way, "She"s just... trying to reach the capital! I"m just here to help her!"

"Well, whatever you"re doing, I"m sure it"s for a n.o.ble cause." Said Watari, "You did a good job fending off the Ogres, we were actually kinda confused when we showed up at their den only to find a few dozen Ogres at the encampment."

"Yeah, thanks for leaving me to do the hard work guys." Kaito grunted, "No no, you guys didn"t need to come, really, I almost had them with my 5 BULLETS!"

"5 bullets?" Asked Yuuto, shaking his head in a somber tone.

"W-What"s going on guy?" Asked Kaito, realizing their worried looks.

"Look Kaito, truth is, we"re actually also running low on resources. Our car can only drive another 50 km before running dry on gas, and we aren"t doing too well on the ammo department either." Explained Yuuto.

"Defeating those Ogres nearly drained us of nearly all known resources." Said Watari, "I"d give us 2 days tops before we start relying on our combat knives for fighting."

"Then we must start getting used to medieval style sword fights from now on is what you"re saying?" Asked Kaito.

"I-I"m afraid so..." Replied Fuyumi.

Upon hearing this, Kaito started to feel unease. There was still a group that"s after Franciska at large, and now his guns, the only leverage he had against them, is gonna soon become unreliable. How could he possibly protect her?

"Excuse me?" Asked Franciska, "I couldn"t help but overhear you people"s conversation. So you"re having a fuel and supply dilemma?"

"Yes!" Replied Watari, "Is there something you can do?"

Franciska, looking at their vehicle and weapons, thought for a bit.

"There"s a city about 1 day"s travel from here called [Gureom]. The place is predominately inhabited by Dwarves, the finest engineers of the land. Apparently, the place is a festering hive full of monsters, so many Dwarves would travel there to test out new inventions and weapons. Perhaps they could help you resupply." Explained Franciska.

"Yeah, but a day"s drive..." Said Watari.

"Sergeant, people here use horse drawn carriages to travel, so a day"s travel is probably not that big a distance." Explained Kaito, "In fact, Havirn"s distance to here was 2 days worth of travel and was just 60 km, so I"m sure we can reach there just fine!"

"Is that so?" Asked Watari, "It"s decided then, men, let"s go! Our next destination will be [Gureom]!"