NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Pirates and Progress
I shot out of the ship's gravity catapult like a bullet, slamming into my seat by the rapid acceleration. Cruising at a modest 525 kph (326.22 mph) I managed to spot the motionless pirate vessels in no time. One was rather small, maybe 60M (196.85 ft) tops, shaped like a submarine with a pair of wings. The hull was largely wood, with steel along its flanks, lined with a dozen cannons on either side, and a wheelhouse on top.
The other ship was several times larger, with a length of at least 200M (656.17 ft) and was vaguely whale shaped. A green hooded snake with purple underbelly adorned the hull, I shook my head when I recognized the symbol.
As I approached the pair, I was spotted by one of the armors standing on the deck of the makeshift carrier. As the pirate flew up to meet me, his buddies on the deck turning to watch. As I was about to line up a shot, Luxion detected audio coming from the first guy's machine.
"Halt warrior! I, Michael Telinov of the Cloud Cobras will take the glory of killing you!"
I locked onto him and the other armors on the hull, before launching all four of my missiles. The pirate, Michael, started to fly backwards while firing at the randomly zigzagging missile with his pump-action rifle. He missed twice before a 40mm autocannon round punched its way through his machine's armor and exploded, ending the clanner wannabe. The others didn't fair much better, the missiles caught them by surprise and reduced them to scrap metal.
One armor managed to make it out of the explosion mostly unharmed, only to have to dodge a pair 40mm rounds. He spun towards me and fired his bolt-action rifle, I dodged the high-velocity round with mere centimeters to spare. This pilot was a step above the others, but still nowhere near the level of Iris and Beatrix, and I play dirty. I aimed my shield cannon at him and sent a 60mm airburst round right in his flight path, the blast stunning him long enough to put a 40mm round right through his chest, nearly bisecting his armor.
As the pieces of the pirate armor fell to the sea bellow, several other armors flew out of the makeshift carrier in a semi-organized mob. They made a beeline for me, intent on avenging their fallen comrades, while yelling about bondsmen and dezgra. I opened fire at the pirates beyond the effective range for their guns, deliming two machines, while destroying a third. As the pirates closed into effective range, I began to move erratically, dodging several shots from their primitive rifles.
Finding my self outnumbered five-to-one, I began abusing my earlier strategy by incorporating my shield cannon to knock the pirates off balance followed up with a precise 40mm shell to the cockpit. I managed to quickly down three of the remaining armors, before one managed to get close and swing at me with a hatchet. I turned my machine to the side, causing the hatchet to swing harmlessly by my, before hitting my thrusters, and body slamming him. The poor bastard didn't have time to stabilize, before my vibro-bayonet removed his soul from his mortal prison. I dispatched the last pirate with a direct hit from my 60mm cannon that blew him limb-from-limb.
After finishing off their knight armors, I called Serena on the coms. A second later she appeared on top right corner of my cockpit screen, with a cup of tea.
"Already done with the enemy armors, I presume?" She asked, with a quirk of her eyebrow.
I nodded. "Yeah. Enemy air support has been dealt with. Go ahead and send in the drone to clear the ships."
Her mouth formed a sadistic smirk. "Very good. I'll be sending a pair of dropships loaded with Spectres and one with Stalker units. These trash shall be dealt with quickly, and decisively."
"Just make sure they don't hurt any prisoners these guys had."
"Of course. What kind of tasteless butcher do you take me for?" She said while pretending to be offended.
"The kind with fiery eyes and a killer body?" I gave her my best smolder.
"Hmmmm. Good answer. If you can still flirt like this than I suppose you are doing fine. I'm relieved to see it." She gave me a dazzling smile that stunned me for a brief second before I realized what she meant. I had just killed almost a dozen people, but I didn't feel anything from it. I thought back to my company build to try and figure out what was causing this before remembering that my only template was of the Master Chief. I guessed that I must've received a modified version of the standard spartan inhibitor chip, it was the only thing I could think of that made any sense. I just mentally shrugged and moved on, deciding that it wasn't worth wasting my braincells on.
After picking up three new craft on radar, it didn't take long to seeing the trio of Razorback (COD: AW) VTOLs cruising towards the pirate vessels. The gunships unleashed a hail of 20MM AP rounds, raking the ships' gundecks before hovering above the disabled ships, unleashing their complement of emotionless killing machines on the unsuspecting pirates.
My com flashing a notification with a short message from Serena.
You forgot to disable the ships' weapons, it was a nonissue this time, but please complete all mission objectives before calling in the infantry next time. Additionally Beatrix is on her way to lead the assault, consider this your early notice.
Just then I saw a white trail coming in fast from the direction of our ship. I zoomed in the object and saw a humanoid mech, that I didn't recognize, flying at incredible speed. The mech came in fast and skidding across the hull of the makeshift carrier, leaving a path of wrecked wooden plank in its wake. Getting a better look at it, I realized that this must be Beatrix's mech from the Henshin Impact perk. It looked like her old MIG-27 did the fusion dance with the Phase One Clone Trooper armor from star wars. The armor looked like it offered excellent protection to her, well somewhat restricting her movement on account of the large shoulder pauldrons. The chest plate was angle back like a knight, no boob plate for her. The jump units were not on her hips like her old unit, instead mounted near her shoulder blades like a pair of wings. It looked badass in its full red camo, especially with the massive bullpup assault cannon she carried in her right arm. She turned a blew me a kiss. "How's my flying darling?"
I cracked a smile at her usual antics. "Your descent was a bit steep, and the landing was a bit dramatic, but considering the eye candy...I'm willing to give you a 8.5/10."
"Hmmm. That seems a bit low," she put her arm underneath her chest plate. "I suppose I'll have to makeup those last points...another way." Her husky tone sent a slight shiver up my spine, and put a smile on my face.
"Down girl, we're on the job."
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to finish these vermin quickly so we can continue this elsewhere." She turned and strode into the depths of the pirate vessel like she owned the place. I heard a pirate through her com unit yell "kill the dezgra bastard," before a series of gunshots rung out. I grew a bit worried until I heard Beatrix mutter, "I suppose that would it my turn." The distinctive sound of automatic gunfire rung out loud enough to be heard on the deck. The Sentinels followed the heavily armored Stalker units into the ship, clearing it of pirates, while Beatrix wreaked havoc with her new power armor. While that was happening, the razorbacks were going down to recover the remain of the pirate armor before they could sink to deep to easily recover.
After a while, I received a voice-only call from Beatrix.
"Leon."
"Yeah what's up?"
"You're going to want to see this for yourself." Her usual nonchalant tone clashed with the ominous message. I landed my Gundam on the ships hull, the mech coming to a knee. The cockpit seal hissed before the chest plate lowered to allow me to climb out, Mjolnir already equipped thanks to the custom enlarged cockpit. A Sentinel unit saluted me, before motioning for me to follow.
I followed the unit through several hallways and down a couple of narrow wooden stairs before the unit came to a stop in front of a solid reinforced double door. Pulling one open, I found myself in a storage room of sorts filled with cages. I wish I could say the cages were empty, but I can't. In each cage was a woman in various states of undress, a mix of bruises and scars covering each of them. They each cowered in the corner, looking at me with fear in their eyes.
In the middle of the room was Beatrix, towering over one of the pirates, shirt stained red from a shallow cut meant to inflict pain.
"Is he their captain?"
"You killed their captain, and the first mate. He is their navigator, I was trying to convince him to give up the location of the rest of their fleet. Sadly he's been uncooperative, but I'll make him talk."
The man glared at her before responding in a grunt. "Fuck you! You won't get anything from me! My Khan will avenge me."
"Unfortunately, you gave up your right to refuse when you became a pirate. Luxion?" One of Luxion dropped his active camouflage, his red eye shining. It held up a syringe of clear liquid. It approached the pirate and injected the liquid in his neck.
"This is a neurotoxin known as KWLR-93A. When injected into a human, the subject loses the ability to lie and will be compelled to speak. The Old Humans called it a truth serum. It proved very valuable during the great war, though early versions caused lethal hemorrhaging of the frontal lobe."
"How long will it take?"
"The average subject will be fully affected in 6 minutes; however, please note that the longest recorded time was 11 minutes and 37 seconds before the subject was compliant."
"Thanks Luxion, this'll save us a lot of time." I turned towards Beatrix. "I'll finish things here if you want to clear the other vessel."
She looked over at me lazily. "So you me to do all the work while you sit here playing hero?"
"Sorry, it just sounded like you had a lot of fun, so I assumed you'd want to clear the other one as well."
She started laughing at me while walking towards the door. "I was just teasing you darling. I'll leave you to clean up the mess."
After she left, I quickly called down some of Sentinels and Iris before freeing the women from the cages. The women seemed wary of me even after showing them I meant no harm, luckily it didn't take Iris to show up in her grayish-blue power armor that looked a lot like Beatrix's save for the addition of a shield and single-edged sword.
After Iris lead the women back to our carrier, I had Luxion record the interrogation of the navigator. With the drug running through his blood stream, he gave up everything with little to no resistance, including the fact he wanted to be a mermaid when he was a child, that drug is some scary stuff. I made a personal reminder to never piss off Luxion, never know what the vindictive AI could slip into my drink for petty vengeance.
After extracting as much information as we could from him, I pulled out my Magnum ended him. The 12.7mm semi-armor-piercing-high-explosive rounds made a pair tennis ball sized holes in his chest.
Within the hour, we set off for the meeting point that the pirates we heading to to meet up with the rest of their fleet. Iris and Serena got the women we saved settled down in the passenger cabins that were completed. Beatrix used the opportunity to drag me into her drag me into her personal cabin for "team bonding," oh how our bonds grew that night.
---
I was woken up by a zap, only to see Luxion staring at me with his beady red eye.
"What the hell Lux?"
"Mistress Serena told me to wake you and mistress Beatrix, as we are approaching the remaining Cloud Cobra vessels."
"Okay, and that translates to you shocking me how?"
"I tried several more subtle ways, but they unable to wake you. Thus a short electrical pulse was deemed the most efficient method."
"If you wake Beatrix like that, I'm not saving you from her wrath." I said with a flat look.
"Your concerns is appreciated, but ultimately unnecessary. Mistress Beatrix awoke 5 minutes and 27 seconds before you did, my lazy master."
I turned at looked over my partner, only to find her crimson eyes looking at me, filled with amusement. She was absolutely gorgeous, eyes like rubies shining in the dark, raven hair that flowed like silk down her flawless skin, and of course her massive breasts that seemed to tell gravity to fuck itself on the daily. Despite the months we spent together, my mind still had a hard time accepting that this beautiful women was mine. If only my older sister could see me now, sadly she a lifetime and a multiverse away.
Beatrix reached out with one hand and stoked my cheek, I enjoyed the feel of her calloused hands. I leaned in a kissed her soft and gently, there was no tongue this time, just the feel of her soft lips and the taste of her strawberry lipstick. She broke the kiss and looked at me, a small smile gracing her lips.
"I would love to continue from last night darling, but unfortunately we have work to do. First we need to find our clothes."
"Fair enough. Shall we go collect more flying piggy banks?!"
---
Royal Palace 3 Weeks Later
As the queen of Holfort, Mylene Rapha Holfort was required to handle all paperwork requiring royal approval since Roland wouldn't do paperwork if his life depended on it. Normally she would see reports on the state of the kingdom, requests for funds from the royal treasury for whatever wasteful thing capital nobles were into now, or requests military support from rural nobles.
Today though, she had a particularly interesting report to go over. In just ten days, three notable pirates fleets have been decimated by a group calling themselves the Iron blood Legion. Mylene took a sip of her tea, enjoying the delightful taste of rosehip before using the tea to clear her throat. She turned to her attention to the other individual in the room and spoke.
"Lucille?"
"Yes your majesty? How may I be of service?" Lucille Fia Greyfield responded from behind her own pile of paperwork. As one of two secretaries of the queen, part of her job was organizing the paperwork in accordance to their priority.
"What have you found out about this Iron blood Legion?"
The other part of the job is following on reports and gathering information for her majesty.
"Well your majesty, the Iron blood Legion was formed by four individuals, and lead by Leon Fou Bartfort."
Mylene quirked an eyebrow. "Him again? Was he not the adventurer who discovered a lost ship and a set of new islands?"
"That is correct your majesty. Due to his achievements as an adventurer, there was talk of promoting him to the same rank as his father Bralcus, baron of the lower sixth."
"Hmmm. In light of his new achievements, baron of the lower sixth might be too low. If he's their leader then he must be a capable individual, no?"
"Yes your majesty. According to the report of Viscount Morlaw, the knight armor of the Ironblood Legion have the ability to record their combat to be viewed after the fact. In the so called 'flight log' of Leon Fou Bartfort, the Viscount watched him destroy no less than seven pirate armors by himself."
She looked at Lucille in shock. "Seven?!"
Lucille nodded in acknowledgement. "Indeed. Supposedly it was his first real combat engagement, which makes sense as he just turned fifteen this year."
Mylene was in shock, how could she not be? He husband was considered the greatest knight in the kingdom, yet he only defeated three enemy armor in his first engagement! It was absurd! She took a deep breathin an attempt to calm herself.
"We will see if these claims are true in time, for now, you mentioned that the Ironblood Legion was founded by four persons?"
"Indeed your majesty. In additional to the son of house Bartfort there are three female members."
'Abd here I thought he might be different from Roland,' thought Mylene.
"The most notable member is Serena Fou Holz. The second daughter of house Holz, she joined the royal army and managed to make it to the rank of captain before leaving rather abruptly.
The second is Dame Irisdina Fou Bernhard. She's the only survivor of a merchant family on the border. She joined the royal armor as a knight armor pilot and earned a knighthood before leaving."
Mylene put up her hand to stop Lucille.
"I see." Inside Mylene was thinking about how two promising talents from the royal army would end up working under a mere fifteen year old boy. She took a sip of tea before refocusing on the secretary.
"And what of the third women?"
Lucille made an uncharacteristically wry smile. 'That's doesn't look promising,' thought Mylene.
"Unfortunately we know scant little of the last member, one Beatrix Bremhe. We know she joined the royal army eight years ago, and earned a reputation for her brutally towards her enemies. She left the army five years ago after castrating a superior officer."
Mylene spit out her tea.
"She what?!!!!"
"According to miss Bremhe, the officer tried to force himself on her, so she dealt with the problem at its root."
Mylene was both in shock of the actions this Beatrix took, as well as, the circumstances that lead to the situation in the first place.
"What happened to her?"
Lucille gave her a wry smile.
"She was court marshalled for assaulting a superior, but she disappeared. No one has heard from her since."
'Between his own skills, and those of the girls who follow him, young Bartfort could prove to be quite the powerful asset, even if he is currently making the royal army look bad with his current crusade.' Thought Mylene.
"Lucille!"
The secretary flinched. "Yes your majesty?"
"Have some of our own to keep an eye on young Bartfort. We need to find out as much as we can, particularly his personality."
'Are you an asset, or an obstacle Leon Fou Bartfort.' she thought.
---
POV Bralcus
"He's okay, isn't he dear?" I looked down my sweet Luce, and held her a little tighter.
Every since Zola came to the house screeching about marrying Leon off to some cow...at least I think it was supposed to be a cow. Okay that's uncalled for, after all, cows are productive members of a community, and are able to stand on their own to legs. So I'm really not sure what to call that thing she wanted Leon to marry, but it ain't human.
Anyway, that bitch got all mad because Leon had already left just two weeks earlier. She started throwing a tantrum, saying that our boy is already dead, and now she'll lose credibility with her friends because of us.
"He'll be alright dear, I know it. The boy might be lazier than a noblewoman after lunchtime, but he's smart...and stronger than an ox." I felt her relax just a tad. I started to silently rub her back before I heard my youngest yell.
"Papa! There's super big airship outside!"
My gaze snapped towards where his little voice came from.
"What?!"
I ran out the door towards little Colin in order to check this so called airship for myself. I found him jumping around well pointing towards the horizon. I followed his gaze and felt my body go cold. With a metal exterior, eight massive barrels split between her ventral and dorsal sides, that wasn't just any airship...that was a warship.
I picked up Colin and ran back inside the mansion. I dropped him off with his mother before grabbing my rifle from the wall.
"Dear, take the kids and head to the safe room. Do not come out unless I say the phrase 'the wyver's wings have been clipped' got it?"
My darling Luce looked at me in shock before understanding crossed her face.
"Be careful dear, the kids and I will be waiting for you!"
I sent her off with one of our guards before gathering the other guardsmen from around the mansion, and heading towards where the ship look like it was going to touch down. The large vessel opened up a hanger on the underside. Instead of the knight armor he was expecting, two smaller airships, unlike any Bralcus had seen before, came out and headed right for them. Bralcus tightened the hold on his rifle, a mix of anxiety and trepidation running through his veins. 'Why would pirates attack us of all people?' Bralcus wondered. 'Its not like we have anything of value.'
Bralcus realized that their location had very little cover, but had to make do with what he had, not with what he didn't. He pointed at three of the guardsmen, "hide behind the wheat bails and line up a shot. Fire at the most important looking bastard you can see, when I tell you to."
The guardsmen responded with a chorus of 'yes m'lord."
The smaller airships stopped their descent around fifteen meters above the ground, then a voice rang out from the foremost vessel.
"We are the Ironblood mercenary legion. We request permission to land from baron Bartfort. Our commander wish to speak with you."
At that point Bralcus became incredibly confused and quite skeptical. 'Why would the Ironblood Legion show up here, and why would their leader wish to speak to me? Smells like a trap, then again, if they are pirates they could use that warship to take what they want anyway.' Thought Bralcus. 'At the end of the day, the choice offered is no choice at all.'
Bralcus calmed himself before stepping forward, and shouting.
"I am baron Bralcus Fou Bartfort, only one of you're ships may land."
A tense couple of seconds passed, Bralcus wondering if he had just caused the destruction of his territory before the voice spoke again.
"Understood baron Bartfort. Our commander offers his thanks." Then the foremost of the two strange vessels began descending as the other spun around and began flying back too their warship.
The strange vessels extended a set of wheels from its underside before landing directly on the field! The sides of the vessels slide back, and several men and women wearing strange green and brown armor, face obscured by a black mask, each carrying a rifle of unknown make.
Upon seeing the weapons, several of Bralcus's men tensed up, but they didn't fire. Instead they lined up on either side of the door, and stood at attention as a massive figure adorned in green metal armor stepped down from the vessel. Now Bralcus was on of the larger than almost anyone else he'd every met, but the figure approaching him towered over him like a titan of myth. The armored figure stopped a mere meter from Bralcus before removing removing their helmet, causing Bralcus's eyes go wide in shock!
---
POV Leon
"It's good to see you old man," I said with no small amount of amusement. Throughout my fifteen years in the world I have never seen my old man make such a flabbergasted face and it was priceless! Before he could get his bearings, I swept him up in a bear hug, though I had to be careful of how much pressure I put into it, on account of the added strength of my Mlonjir armor.
"So, did ya miss me?" I asked with a chuckle.
In response he stepped back before winding up and slugging me in the face! I could've dodged, but I decided that it couldn't hurt to let him vent. Turns out, it did hurt to let him vent. The old man might not be a genetically engineered supersoldier, but he sure as hell could hit one!
"You idiot, do you have any idea how worried your ma and I were! That's not even mentioned Colin, little guys has been worried sick for ya!"
I chuckled a bit in response. "I suppose that was deserved, but on the bright side, I made enough money to pay our house's debt fifty times over! So you don't have to worry about trying to secure loans anymore to keep the family afloat."
I watched my old man stop in his tracks, eyes wide. "Really?"
I nodded. "Really, really."
His body seemed to deflate as much of the stress vanished. He looked ten years younger in an instant. He then turned his headed and nodded towards my troops, still holding a somewhat rough parade stance.
"So where did ya find all these folks?"
"A decent of them are people we rescued from pirates, the rest are a mix of adventurers and former soldiers who signed on with us due to my ship's advanced medical facilities, which is so advanced it can make the advanced robotic prosthetic limbs."
The began rubbing his forehead in anxiety.
"Kid let's go back to the house before ya give your old man a stroke."
I gave a sarcastic salute. "Aye, Aye cappy!"
As we walked to the house, I regaled my father with the stories of my adventures, from finding multiple islands, to my crusade against flying piggy banks(pirates). He found most of it hard to believe, which I didn't blame him for. Entering the house, we made our way down to the safe room. Dad knocked on the metal door and uttered, "the wyvern's wings have been clipped."
I heard a loud clunking sound from the lock, before the door swung open. My mother two of our guards came out first, rifles at the ready. They immediately lowered rifles when they saw the old man, a little sloppy in my opinion, but at least they used a password instead of of just listening for his voice.
After the guards came my mother, with little Colin around one leg, and Finley a step behind. Colin looked at me, then launched himself at me like a missile. "Leooon!" I lifted him underneath his arm pits, and swung him around, Colin's giggling was a balm for my weary soul.
My mother was crying as she left into my arms, desperate to ensure that I was in fact there. I rubbed her back smoothly while looking as my younger sister. The mouthy little thing just said, "so you didn't die? That's good I guess."
I pulled her into a hug that she definitely wanted...not.
"My beloved sister, O how you must've suffered in my absence! Worry not for I shan't leave again! I shall remain at your side evermore!"
I watched her physically shudder at the thought. "Gross, you're gross! Let me go you monster!"
In response, I unleashed the most terrifying weapon of older brothers everywhere...the noogie!
She countered with a string of profanities that were unbecoming of a proper lady. Funny enough, Jenna and Finley were hardly what I would call proper ladies.
As we brought our conversation back upstairs, another Razorback flew out from the Virtuous Splendor. It made its way to the front of the mansion, and three women stepped out.
As we left they house, I turned to parents. "Mother, old man, there are three people in particular I would you to meet. They were the first ones to join up with me, and I wouldn't have made it nearly as far without their help."
Seeing the three women standing in front of the Razorback, my mother gave me a teasing smile. "Oh? Are they perhaps your girlfriends?!"
I smiled before calling my three human partners over. Beatrix wore her usual smug face, Irisdina wore a beautiful smile, and Serena looked very noble, especially in her white uniform. As they approached Serena and I looked into each other's eyes before a downright sinister grin crossed her face. 'I got a bad feeling about this.'
Serena stepped ahead of Beatrix and Irisdina before kissing the back of my mother's hand like a fairytale knight. My mother and father were completely taken back by her her actions. She then bowed, and ten looked my mother dead in the eye.
"I am Serena Fou Holz. It's nice to finally meet you mother-in-law." She gave such a brilliant smile, it seemed to completely blind my mother.
Beatrix stepped forward and stroked my mother's cheek, like the seductress she is.
"Beatrix Fou Bremhe, a pleasure mother dearest."
Irisdina decided what the hell, and decided to add fuel to the fire.
"Irisdina Fou Bernhard. It's a pleasure you mother-in-law, father-in-law." She said as she curtsied to each of them.
My folks were both gobsmacked, but mother recovered first. She hurriedly wiped the dirt off of her dress before bowing in response. I could see that much of the confusion she had was replaced with excitement, most likely at the idea of potential grandchildren.
She gave the largest smile I'd seen from her, since Colin was born.
"Welcome to the family!"
---
Two Months Later
Daniel Fou Durland was many things, but right now he was desperate. He threw his machine to the right, just in time to protect his cockpit from the incoming rifle round. The round slammed into his machine's thigh, causing it to leak a grey fluid and hang limp.
The bum leg through off his movement considerably, causing him to frantically try to reoriente his machine. Before he could fully recover, a round slammed into his back, his screening going black with two red words 'YOU DIED.'
"Yeah, no shit." He said to himself.
He sat for a second, digesting the fight, no fight was being too generous, the massacre he just participated in. Had it been a real fight, he'd be dead for sure. Lucky for him, it was just a 'sim pod' as the Ironblood folks called them.
He crawled out of the pod, only to be offered a canteen by the very man who just gave him the whooping of a lifetime. Lieutenant Joseph Kallon used to by a knight armor pilot for the royal army with a promising future, but then a pirate captain managed to rob him of his left arm. Daniel took the water a started chugging.
"Someones thirsty I see." Chuckled the older man, his metal arm hanging leaning against the simpod wall.
Daniel wiped the water fromhis mouth then returned the canteen to the lieutenant. "Yeah well, I was sweating up a storm in there. I mean how the hell are you such a damn good pilot?!"
Lt. Joseph huffed in amusement. "If you think I'm good, then you should either of the commanders. Those are some damn good pilots. Though a word of advice, if a beautiful black-haired women with red eyes asks you to train run like hell."
"Why?" Daniel asked, while images of a buxom women in a skimpy uniform floated through his mind.
"Because that women is Captain Beatrix Fou Bremhe, commanding officer of the Werewolf battalion. That woman will break every bone in your body, before forcing you to take a two day march through a swamp."
Daniel could feel the fear in the Lt's soul. Daniel just nodded, "got it. If I see her, I'll find the nearest cellar to hide in."
The Lt put his organic arm of Daniel's shoulder. "Good man. Now, you managed to last longer today than you ever have before, so I'll treat you to lunch at the Drunken Charlatan. What da say kiddo?"
Daniel smiled. "Sounds good to me, thanks Joseph."
As the two of them walked down the road chatting about Joseph's experiences in the army, Daniel started thinking about how much things have changed in the past few weeks.
When the Ironblood Legion first showed up in the Durland barony, Daniel and his father were skeptical at first. 'I mean a mercenary group offering to provide protection and technical assistance seems pretty suspect, but I can't deny the results. Between the power grid, the infrastructure renovations, the agriculture equipment, and the extra security, it was a pretty good deal in the end.' thought Daniel.
Across a number of border territories, a similar story was playing out.
---
AN: Okay I firstly wanted to apologize for the radio silence. I had a bout of depression which caused me to stop writing, followed by getting a new job. Thanks to leaving my old job, I'm in a better place now, and AI have a one hour lunch break that is super convenient for writing!
I hope you all enjoy this super sized chapter! I tried to cover the rest of the setup I wanted to, but I also tried to speed it up like many people suggested.
As always, I'm happy to respond to the questions you guys put in the comments, so don't be shy!
Lastly I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!