POV: Drake
It was the morning of day 12. He’d had difficulty going to sleep. Was it 1.6 miles in a kilometer or vice versa? He’d helped Lily with it over the phone when she was in 6th grade and both the memory and the solution nagged at him. He’d run in charity 5k races, there should be some scale of distance in his mind, and it wasn’t there. What else had he lost over the years?
The night was otherwise peaceful. Drake had to hand it to the castellan, the man had not skimped on price. If he could wrap his head around the idea that it was smart to send four people as an intercepting force, then they had been sent out well-equipped.
The air sled, when stationary, could generate a dome that acted as camouflage, a proximity alarm, and a modest barrier about as strong as a sheet of plywood. Someone inside the carriage could stick anything outside, the opposite was not true. Saved the effort of even clicking a window button.
In the morning they did a brief test of each other’s capabilities with a hapless pine sapling as a target. Drake only fired one round slowly to hit the target and show off. His aim and speed were both still trash. Sayaka had glowing daggers that returned when she threw them. Runa blew it up and Drake had to jump in with his sword to cut through a few small trees before the fire spread.
The sword impressed the hell out of Sayaka. When he let her borrow it briefly so she could try it out, her skill was obvious. Drake was impressed.
“Hey, that was outstanding. It really shows you’ve been using weapons for six hundred years.”
“No, Kai. I’ve been fighting for six hundred years. I trained for an additional hundred.”
“Oh.” Training longer than most people had been alive was daunting. “What did you do before then?”
“Housewife. No more questions.”
They spent the rest of the journey on the air sled, discussing safe topics like her daggers and his gun, then they both drifted into quiet. Drake watched the scenery roll by. It was farmland, and he thought he could see rice paddies in the distance. The cows here were smaller and hairier than what he’d seen on Earth, with no sign of the difference due to evolution or breeding.
It took him a while to realize it was December and there shouldn’t be any crops at all. Once he looked closer he saw a slight translucent covering over the fields. Different technologies come up with different solutions. He’d have to keep that in mind. Especially since he was sitting next to an ancient housewife who could kick his ass.
After a few hours, Runa stuck her head out of the coach window and yelled, “Baggage says a town is coming up. Past heroes have stopped there for supplies.”
Drake nodded. “Let’s do it,” he said to Sayaka.
The town was hard to miss. There was a lookout tower, where a man stood waving to them. That was fine, Drake didn’t bother waving back.
The buildings were two stories. Sayaka said it was common for people to live above their business. And that’s mostly what the town was, businesses to support the farmers. Millers, smiths, woodworkers, and whatever it was that magic users did. A small nearby waterfall turned a water wheel and led to a lake. There was a small dock and a few rowboats. Perhaps fishing?
What really drew Drake’s attention was a large banner between two poles that read, “Welcome Hero!”
There was an excited crowd gathering underneath the banner. Word had gotten out quickly, it seemed. A man in the center was smiling while busy straightening his cravat. Drake disliked him on sight then dialed his reaction down. Was this guy any different than himself eight years ago? A senior manager would be doing the same thing if a company executive walked in on short notice.
Drake jumped off the air sled and held the door open for Baggage and Runa to walk out. Baggage paused before exiting, nervously looking around before accepting Drake’s goodwill. Well, it was performative and out of character, it wasn’t like she was wrong to double-check.
“Which one of us leads the presentation?”, he asked her in a low voice.
She blinked rapidly and didn't move. Not the best response. He tried again.
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“Baggage, wake up.”
“Right. Yes. Sorry, Drake-deno. It’s supposed to be my job. But I don’t mind if-”
“You’ll do fine,” he said curtly. He knew that was poor encouragement. If he were back in consultancy, he’d have a brief word for a manager-level person who behaved as he had in public.
Private chastisement, as he had done at the castle, was different. Though he’d probably have gotten a call from Human Resources about how he’d handled Baggage there. It looked like he’d have to work on his ‘soft skills’ when he got back to Earth.
Baggage took a breath and gathered her confidence before addressing the crowd.
“Good citizens…” she paused. Was she flaking out?
“…of Lakeshire!” Baggage made a nice save there. Not bad.
“A hero has arisen once more to save us in our time of need! He is not just a hero to a few, but to us all. Please come to him with your concerns. Tenka needs strong men for our armies and the hero knows light hearts make strong men.”
Drake knew no such damn thing.
There was applause from the crowd. Drake smiled and waved as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Baggage turned to make way for him and saw his face. Her eyes grew wide. She spun back to the crowd quickly, the beads on her braids clicking against each other as they collided.
“But!” Baggage declared abruptly. “This hero is unlike others before him! He will fight the Demon King with all haste. So, please, um, keep that in mind. Please.”
And that save was much more awkward. The crowd didn’t seem to notice though. The people here were all on the young side, it had been that way at the castle too. Odd.
The first to step forward was the guy Drake thought of as the mayor. He was probably a decent level-headed guy. “Brave hero! We rejoice at your arrival! When this village was founded-”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Drake needed to set this moron straight. He clenched his fists and took a breath through his teeth before beating the shit out-
“Thank you, mayor!” Baggage interrupted. “Now, good people come forward!” Baggage earned herself another ‘nice save’ award. Drake was still pissed off at the mayor though. Baggage had literally just told him they were in a hurry.
Then things really went to hell.
“My tavern has rats, could you kill at least ten of them?”
“My house needs repair.”
“If you’re going to the next village could you deliver some grain?”
“I need help with the cows.”
“I can’t find my cat.”
The voices of the villagers washed over him, pouring out banality with every word.
Baggage stood next to him, covering her face with her hands as the requests kept coming.
“Are these people fucking serious?” he asked.
She nodded her head, still hidden by embarrassment.
One man pushed Drake’s patience to the limit. “If you want to buy anything from the merchants, you’ll need money. I’m willing to give you a stick and twine to use as a fishing rod and I’ll buy any fish you catch. You can pay me if you want a better rod.”
Holy shit. Did he really just say that? Was he supposed to fish? Pay these people anything for the privilege of saving their asses? Fuck that.
Baggage’s voice was rushed and higher-pitched than normal, “Drake-dono, this builds goodwill. More men will volunteer for the army. Please don't hurt-”
“!” Drake roared.
“Yes, Drake-san?”
His voice became a growl. “Hit the lake.”
Wind picked up and became strong, whipping in circles around them all. Clouds gathered from nowhere to block the sun. Market wares fell off the stands. Thatch was blowing off roofs. The smell of sulfur was carried by the wind. People screamed or demanded to know what was happening. Above the lake, five large glowing red circles of different sizes appeared on top of each other over the center of the water.
From behind him, Drake heard Runa’s voice above all the commotion.
“ECKSPLOS-”
Bright light blasted over the town. Violent thunder hammered the air. Its echoes reverberated throughout the valley. A grim clarion call to those who stood in the hero’s way.
A false rain fell as water from the lake returned to earth. Fish, weeds, and rocks from the lake followed, littering the village. The skies parted to let the sun through once more. A rainbow stood as ironic testimony of the power demonstrated to all.
Drake’s ears were ringing from the noise. The villagers were silent, none dared to speak. The would-be fish merchant had dropped to his knees. Drake walked over to the man, whose eyes were wide, and only able to make nervous gurgling noises.
“There’s your fucking fish.” Drake snarled. Then looked at his team, “girls! Take what we need. Everything is free. Right, mayor?”
“Y-Y-Yes, Hero-dono.”
Drake surveyed the crowd. A small boy clung to his mother, her arms sealed around him.
Shit.
His fault for letting Runa off the leash. He didn’t let his feelings show. It wasn’t good. Tonight, he’d decide whether this had been a fuck-up or not. In the meantime, he had to move on.
Drake yelled, though no one else dared raise their voice. “Get word out to the other villages. I will be at the Demon King’s citadel in twelve days. I want every man in the army. If I don’t see you assholes there, you damn well better hope the Demon King kills me, because I’ll be back.”
The ‘Welcome Hero’ sign fell over.
“You don’t want me coming back.”
He got on the air sled. Patriotic volunteers helped Runa and Sayaka load up with what supplies they needed.
“Thank you for your hospitality, good people of Lakeshire!” Baggage bowed. “We hope that our humble display of gratitude… um, I mean, our humble display has moved you to aid Tenka.”
Her goodbye speeches must not have accounted for this contingency.
They sped off leaving a stunned town in their wake. From behind him, Baggage poked her head out of the coach and said, “Drake-dono? Just in case it matters, the volunteers are supposed to report to the castle, not meet at the demon’s citadel.”
Looks like Tenka would be doing things differently this time around.
