*Gael*
“Looks like you made it out in one piece,” a large man said, looking me up and down.
Captain or one of the other higher ups must’ve briefed him via morse code keyboard.
I crossed my arms.
“Ya didn’t have much faith in me.”
The gray-haired man chuckled.
“So how did you escape from the officials?”
I grinned.
“I have my ways!” In truth, I just told them that I was a spy for Taahid.
It took some back and forth to finally convince them, but they bought it.
“That said, I think we should bail.”
Griff raised an brow at me.
“Why?”
“I ran into Prince Zephyros on the boat.
If he sees me, I doubt that I’ll be able to fool him.
I did shoot at the guy after all.”
Griff crossed his arms.
“That bad, huh.”
“Which is why we need to run as fast as possible.”
He scratched his chin.
“True.
But what about the mission?
Are we just going to abandon it?
I mean, infiltrating the raiders was your idea.”
I sighed.
“I know, but if the Prince catch us, he’ll have us executed.
He has no reason to believe we’re not working with the marines.”
Griff nodded as he glanced out of the dark alleyway.
“Let’s get going then.”
“Glad you understand, old man.”
Griff snickered.
I smirked as we stepped out of the alley.
The sun was blazing hot.
The air was dry to the bone.
I preferred the colder weather back home.
“There you are, Ga, Gri,” a sing-song voice called out.
A young man in blue smiled as he waved at us.
I’d seen him on the merchant boat as well.
Captain had kicked him when he tried to attack Milo.
Although, I don’t think he noticed me.
“Gil!” I said, smiling slightly.
The boy’s smile widened.
“I thought we were done for back then.
Good thing you escaped as well.”
So, he did see me…
I nodded.
“Ya seem to be doing better.”
He put his hands on his stomach.
“Princess Isme patched us up.” The boy sighed.
“Too bad we failed to take that merchant ship.
We lost a lot of people in the process too.”
I furrowed my brow.
The prince didn’t seem to care for the lives of his minions.
Gil tilted his head.
“But it wasn’t a total loss.
We found something of value.” He grabbed the bead necklace around his neck, transforming it into a crossbow.
“Two Kuroriku knights.”
My eyes widened.
Griff grabbed me by the wrist and transformed his glove in a bulky shield, tanking the arrows of wind the boy send our way.
I snickered.
“Seems ya figured out who I am.”
The boy scoffed.
“I always found you two fishy, especially you!”
Griff threw the shield, striking the boy in the side.
Gil’s eyes widened as he staggered back.
Griff ran over to him and struck him in the stomach with his fist.
Gil fell into the sidewalk.
I looked down at the unconscious boy and smiled slightly.
“Nice!
I’m glad I paired up with you for this.”
Griff snickered.
“If you had paired up with Milo, you would’ve been discovered almost right away.”
I laughed.
He had a point there.
Milo sucked at keeping a secret.
Even more than I.
Griff transformed his shield back into a glove.
“Let’s leave him.”
I nodded and took a step forward, only to feel a tug on my robe.
“W-where do you think you’re going, Kuroriku scum?” Gil asked, gritting his teeth as he held his stomach with one hand.
I crossed my arms.
“Isn’t it obvious?
We’re going back to Kuroriku.”
“Like Cianio ya are!”
I grinned.
“Too bad, boy.”
“Prince Zephyros is going to be pissed.
I need to show him I’m still his number one confidant.”
I smiled and transformed the tiny hammer hidden in my clothes into a pair of silver guns.
“Then you’ve chosen death.” I grinned as I shot two ice bullets at him.
The boy screamed as he was shot in the chest and legs.
Griff glanced over his shoulder at me.
“Let’s go before more show up!”
“Hey, careful!
Struggle too much and your body will shatter!” I yelled.
The boy’s eyes widened.
He looked horrified.
“I’ll never…forget this…you two.
I’ll remember…this pain…and come…and get…you later.”
I snickered.
“Sure thing, kid!
I’ll like to see you try!”
“Are you enjoying this?” Griff asked as we ran.
I lowered my guns and chuckled.
“Sure, why not?”
Griff sighed.
“Aren’t ya supposed to be my ally?” I asked.
He laughed.
“After you shoot someone in the leg?”
I grinned.
“You can’t blame me, old man!
He tried to kill us first.
Plus, you can’t honestly be this squeamish about killing after being in this job for as long as you have.”
“The military is a civilized organization, not a mercenary group.
I won’t let you kill someone in the middle of the street.”
I shrugged.
“Fair enough.
But hey, it’s not like he’ll die.
I just froze him in place.”
Griff grumbled.
“Still, we shouldn’t let our guards down.”
I sighed.
“Okay, okay, old man.
No more freezing people to the point their bodies might snap.”
He smiled slightly.
“Thanks, Gael.”
“How did you get into the military anyway, old man?
You don’t seem to have the heart for it.
Oh, do tell me ya don’t have a crazy past.”
He snicked.
“It’s nothing like that.
I know it’s a bit hypocritical to say this after saying we’re not mercs, but I joined for the money.”
“The money?
Why?”
He looked forward.
“My family needed the money.
I blinked.
“You guys fell on hard times?”
“No, it’s wasn’t like your situation.
My family was poor to begin with.
My father worked hard as a mechanic in Shirayuki’s outer ring, but that wasn’t enough to pay the bills.”
“So, you entered the military to help feed your family and to pay off debts?”
He nodded.
“How did you manage at first?
I mean, privates don’t make a lot of money.”
Griff sighed.
“I had to live in a shady area, one more so than the part where I grew up, of Shirayuki to survive.
That’s where I met my wife, Reza.”
“You were living in a slum?”
He shook his head.
“No.
Well, technically yes.
I mean, it was pretty bad, but not as bad as the ones in the capital.”
I scratched my cheek.
Kaguya did have some pretty seedy places.
“How did you meet Reza?”
“We moved into the same apartment on the same day.”
I blinked.
That sounded like the plot of some cheesy romance novel.
“I’ll tell you the rest later.
We need to get out of here before the prince’s men find us.”
I sighed.
I would’ve liked to hear the rest, but I didn’t want to get caught either.
We sped up and neared the hotel that Kisara said Saffron and the others were staying in a couple days ago.
Hopefully, they made it back to base camp safely.
“Two raiders out in broad daylight?” a silky voice called out.
A red haired woman smirked at us, twirling a pair of handcuffs around.
She dressed like a cop, but didn’t give off officer vibes at all.
Griff narrowed his eyes and held out an arm in front of me.
“Stand back, Gael.
This woman is dangerous.”
I crossed my arms.
“I get the same feeling.”
The woman smirked as she clasped her handcuffs.
Griff transformed his other gauntlet into a arm-cannon and fired.
Some onlookers stopped and turned around, while the rest watched in morbid fascination.
“Silver Barrage First!” he yelled, unleashing a barrage of metal mana.
She jumped out of the way, landing on top of a building.
With a snap of her fingers, her handcuffs transformed into a grappling hook.
Griff dodged as the hook flew at him.
“Not bad, faker!” she said as the grappling hook pulled her toward where it landed.
I stepped back and turned around.
A wall of fire surrounded us.
“You’re not getting away.”
“Not today!” I yelled, jumping over the wall.
The woman laughed as the flames extended upward.
“Icy Shield!” I yelled, forming a spherical shield of ice around me as I’d done against Zephyros.
The fire licked the ice, turning it into steam.
Quickly, I condensed the water vapor back into ice.
“What?” the woman yelled as her flames began to freeze as well.
She grunted.
Her flames grew brighter and brighter, melting through the ice.
I clicked my tongue.
‘Hurry up, Old man.
Run while you can.’
Griff rushed the still frozen parts of the firewall.
“Flame Burst!” The woman yelled as she swung her hook like a flail.
Each of the “teeth” began to sprout flames like a water fountain.
Griff’s eyes widened as he stepped back, dodging it.
The woman smirked as she swung the fire flail at me.
I ran under it and then jumped over it as it turned back around.
“Stay close to me, Gael!” Griff yelled as he ran past me.
“Right, old man.”
We continued to dodge the flaming flail for several minutes.
The woman snickered as she aimed her hook at me once again.
“Dancing Ice Bullets!” I yelled, shooting several bullets of ice at the weapon.
While I could’ve dodge, it was risky to have that thing coming so close to the spectators, some of who still weren’t running for whatever reason.
The woman grunted as the ice bullets turned the hook into a snow globe.
She continued to swing it as us.
I gritted my teeth.
‘How long is she going keep this up?’
I had to think of something.
If this kept up, we would run out of stamina.
We couldn’t fight her either.
It was bad enough that we fought the second prince.
But at least he was dressed as a raider, so we had an excuse.
But the same couldn’t be said about this “official”.
“Ice Wall!” I yelled, shooting more ice bullets.
The woman clicked her tongue.
She slammed her hook at it, shattering it.
“Damn!” I cursed.
Griff turned around and fired another barrage of metal mana at her.
“How many are ya planning on firing?” the woman yelled as the shots impacted the ground behind her as she avoided them.
I aimed my guns and shot, freezing her arm.
“Ah!” she screamed.
Griff sturned around and fired another blast at her.
She was thrown back a few feet, landing on top of a car.
I sighed.
‘Finally.’
Griff gritted his teeth.
“We’re lucky the car was empty.”
The woman shook her head, growling.
The arm I froze began to unfreeze.
“I won’t let you two escape.” She shot up into the air, causing the car to blow up thanks to the flames coming from her.
Griff’s eyes widened.
“That lady is nuts!” I said, trying to run faster.
If only we could take to the skies, but that would’ve just caused a whole bunch of other issues for us.
The woman landed in front of us and smirked as she twirled her angel tool.
I aimed my guns at her, but she knocked them out of my hands with the hook.
“You’re finished now.” The woman grinned as she swung it again.
Griff switched back to using his shield and blocked the hook.
“Supreme Ice Storm!” I yelled, shooting at the the woman.
She shrieked as she was blown backward into the air where her body turned into ice.
Her ice statue shattered, splashing crimson blood in all directions.
“Sorry, Griff.
I know you told me to not be so bloodthirsty, but I had little choice,” I said, sighing.
Griff gritted his teeth.
“I understand, Gael.
I’m sure this person wasn’t a normal officer.”
I glanced at the crowd, hoping that the bystanders took the carnage we caused as some kind of performance.
The ground rumbled.
The shards of ice floated into the air as the blood soaked back into them.
The body of the red haired woman reformed.
“That didn’t do the job!” Griff yelled.
I laughed.
“I don’t think she’s a normal person, Griff.”
The woman smiled as smoke rose from under her feet.
This lady was a djinn.
But if that was the case, who was the wielder of her angel tool?
“You really thought you would escape,” Gil said, smirking as he appeared behind us.
A wall of flames surrounded us.
“I’m Prince Zephyros right hand man and chief strategist.
It would’ve been stupid of me to not have made back up plans.” He waved his hand up and down.
“Like the electro bombs on the ship, that was my idea.”
The woman flew over to the boy and put her arms around him.
“Did I do good, Sir Gillard?”
He nodded as he took hold of the grappling hook.
“Yeah, you did great, Anim.”
She grinned as her fiery eyes glowed hotter.
“Now, how would you like these Kuroriku scum cooked?”
Gil smirked as he raised the hook close to his lips.
“I want no ashes remaining.”
I gritted my teeth.
Should’ve killed the brat while I had the chance.
Although, his djinn would’ve still been able to act upon her own accord even if I had done so.
But still!
That arrogant smirk of his pissed me off!
Thoughts on Gil and his djinn?
Also, I am going to be taking tomorrow off to build up some more chapters (and for story quality reasons).