Chapter 7: Chapter 6: Intercepted
The smell of rotting iron and fresh blood fills the air as a group of bandits successfully raid a trading caravan, killing off its guards and claiming the riches for themselves. It just so happens that Idaina was somewhere nearby the recent massacre. He wakes up suddenly at the sound of footsteps approaching him, a lookout for the group of bandits that need to take care of any stragglers. The bandit looked down at the now conscious man, confused. For a trader or a caravan guard, the stranger has some really expensive looking clothing. And to add to that, the sword that's in his hand is a masterwork of a blade, and something like it could only be in legends or tales of chivalry.
But at the first sight of this strange individual looming over him, Idaina sprung to his feet with the sword in his hands extending the blade towards the bandit slightly as if to threaten him.
"Who are you? And what is this place?" Idaina asked, ready to thrust the tip of the blade into the man's chest if he does not comply.
The bandit simply raised his hands slightly out of fear, but he was just feinting it. He needed to buy enough time for himself and call onto his comrades so they can dispose of this stranger quickly.
"Calm down, sir. There's no need to be so hasty. You happen to be in the Grand Duchy of Opami." He stated as one of his hands slowly went behind his back, reaching for a dagger that was holstered in his back pocket.
Idaina looked past the bandit and onto the horrific scene that happened, corpses littered the road, wagons being looted of all the gold and items, and the spoils being equally distributed. It was enough evidence to him that the man standing before him was dangerous, and he might share the same fate of the once functioning caravan. Anger soon consumed Idaina, frustrated at how this is the very first encounter he has in this world.
"I guess you will let me go free if I gave you all of my coins?" Idaina questioned, probing the bandit if they are as money-hungry as they seem.
"That always depends, but I'm more interested in that blade of yours. Where'd you get it? Well actually, I'll be taking it off your hands now!" The bandit exclaims as he draws his dagger and attempts to stab Idaina in the abdomen. Which Idaina anticipated from the beginning, and backs away two steps for the dagger to not reach him. With the tip of his blade still extended towards the bandit, Idaina countered with an overhead strike to the bandit's head, thankfully using the blunter end of the blade and did not do any fatal damage. The bandit in turn being sent to the ground from the blow.
"D-Damn it! D-Don't kill me, please!" The bandit pleaded with a hand to his head, aware that he is no match for the man now looming over him.
But now the rest of the bandits were finishing up their pillaging and were suspicious of where their lookout went. A bandit spots Idaina and his downed comrade, immediately running over to them with weapons in hand. What soon transpired was almost unreal for both of the parties in the fight. There were 6 bandits, circling the lone Idaina. He felt a surge of adrenaline course through him, and it was not from the desperate situation, but it felt like all his senses were enhanced and he can read each movement his enemies will make in real-time as if he was seeing everything in slow-motion. The fight begins with a bandit behind Idaina attempting to strike at the general direction of his head with a mace. Time suddenly runs slow for Idaina, and he has free reign over the actions he will take in the next few seconds. He plans out a counter, ducking down slightly, turning around, and chambering his sword for a stab to the man's chest. In an instant, Idaina turns around and impales the bandit with his blade and taking it out in a rapid fashion. The man fell to the ground and was slowly bleeding out.
Another bandit, wielding a scimitar attempts an overhead strike to take advantage of the fact that Idaina slightly lowered his body, making it easier to land a hit and making it much more difficult to avoid or riposte. Time slows down again for Idaina, giving him more than enough time to plan a recovery. He stands up straight and reels back his blade for a diagonal slash to the assailant's neck. Once done visualizing the actions, he promptly executes it. What's seen is Idaina standing up and giving a lethal slash to the bandit, causing him to drop to the ground, instantly killed.
Now Idaina was feeling confident, overriding the power he can activate by this time taking advantage of the plummeting morale of the bandits. He charges toward a demoralized bandit, who was holding nothing but a buckler shield. He tries to raise it in front of him and brace for whatever strikes the swordsman has in store. But instead, Idaina reels back the blade, the pommel facing toward the bandit. And when he was close enough, Idaina sends the pommel crashing onto the temple of the bandit, knocking him out.
It felt surreal to Idaina as if his movements are not his, and that the blade itself is guiding his body to move. Startled by how easily their comrades were defeated, the bandits break their circling movement and make space with the swordsman.
Now it was time for Idaina to make his move, earning the right to boast for a bit. "Who wants to die next?!" He exclaimed with a sly smirk, having some knowledge what's so special about this sword. The sword gives him an insight into exactly what's going to happen and giving him enough time on how to promptly counter it. He just does not know when it will happen and will have to anticipate it and wait for time to slow down.
The bandits look among themselves and are pretty much thinking the same thing. There's no way they can win to someone like Idaina, who they thought at this point was a noble or an elite knight. Instead of risking their lives further, they disperse and retreat from the general vicinity, leaving behind their assigned lookout and wounded comrade.
The former lookout, knowing it was useless to either fight or save his comrade, runs off to the general direction to where the rest of the bandits fled to. Now the area was silent, which Idaina didn't pay attention to examining until now.
The landscape around him was plains, but beyond the horizon, hills and mountains can be seen. And situated on the highest mountain is what can be recognized as a castle. That must be the capital of this Grand Duchy. Or at least an important place in general. But before he can proceed any further, he takes a look at the ground to where he woke up and saw a book. It was plaid brown and was situated beside him when he woke up. He picks it up and takes a look at the contents.
Unfortunately, it was empty. He flipped through the pages over and over but there was not a trace of writing or printing. But he figured it would be best to keep the book for now.
Before Idaina can even decide on what to do next, he hears a girl's laughter right behind him. He immediately turns around and sees a woman mounted on a horse, laughing as if she was amused by something. She had blonde hair tied into a ponytail, she was protected by leather armor over a field dress, and a cavalry saber was holstered on her right hip. Alongside her, two cavalrymen with fully plated armor remained on guard, they had a helmet so Idaina couldn't see their faces.
"Ohohoho! That was quite a fine show, good sir!" The woman laughed in a way that most people would expect royalty would act, dignified and composed, even her voice tone was dignified.
Idaina was now confused. Was this a setup by the bandits, or something else completely? He couldn't even sense their presence earlier, but it was understandable since he was pretty much fighting for his life at that moment.
"Excuse me? Who exactly are you?" Idaina asked, assuming that these people were either outlaws or soldiers that were passing by.
With that, the blonde finally stopped her laughing fit and dismounted from her horse. She had a wide grin on her face as she spoke, "You should be honored in my presence, but not even the best of my men could take out a brigand in a blink of an eye."
"Honored? Am I facing nobility or something? If so, please pardon me, your highness. I thank you for the compliment." Idaina lowered his sword and bowed slightly. He knows more than enough to not anger or disrespect anyone from the nobility; at least in the situation he's in right now.
"Raise your head, there's no need for formalities in the open field." The woman said as she then gestured over to the sword and book he was carrying. "You're a mercenary, aren't you?" She asked.
Idaina raised his head and responded, "Unfortunately not, I'm but an adventurer that found myself in a place like this." He lied, hurriedly thinking up a convincing enough cover story for him to not draw any unwanted attention his way.
"Oh? So are you a refugee from Ventia?" She asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.
"No, not really. Erm.." Idaina knew almost nothing about this world except for the current location he's in, The Grand Duchy of Opami. "Today was my first day adventuring past the safety of my town's walls, ma'am."
"I see, I see. But that display I saw was not the movements of a complete rookie. And that blade... One of the finest I've ever seen. You must be lying. Let me see that book." She motioned for Idaina to hand over the book he was clutching with his other hand.
"This? It's empty." He stated, handing over the book to the blonde.
"Emp—ty?!" She exclaimed as she flipped through the pages of the book and find out it was indeed empty. "How have you survived this long without knowing at the very least your adventurer tier?!"
At this point, Idaina did not know how to respond to what the noblewoman was saying, and he couldn't do anything but shrug. "I don't know."
The noblewoman hands back the book to Idaina. "You will be coming with me. You are not from here. Even the most illiterate outlaw knows how to check on their tier. Our headquarters isn't far from here, get on my horse." She instructed.
"Yeah, sure." Idaina complied and got on the free space behind the noblewoman.
"You two, scout around this perimeter and track down those brigands." She looked over to the two mercenaries beside her. The two mercenaries then scatter and went to the last known direction that Idaina saw the bandits fled to.
Idaina and the noblewoman meanwhile started heading to the supposed 'headquarters' the blonde was talking about.
"What's your name, anyway?" She asked curiously.
"Idaina Senshi." He stated, not seeing any point in lying to this woman.
"Quite a strange name... There's nowhere I can think of that has people with that kind of name." She commented.
"Then what's your name, then?" He asked, finding it fair to know her name as well.
"Elise Von Kastanienbraun. Quite a mouthful, isn't it?" She said with a chuckle.
"A name befitting a noble, I suppose. Do you own any land or holdings?" Idaina asked further.
"None at the moment. The holdings of a few towns will be passed onto me once my father steps down from his role as count." She responded.
On the horizon, an encampment could be visible. It was protected with stone fortifications, watchtowers watching the approaches from the four corners. As they got closer, a guard stationed in a watchtower calls for the gate to be raised for Elise and Idaina to enter.
Once the horse and the two enter, Elise directs it to the stables and Idaina gets off first.
"Who do we have here?" A guard approaches Idaina looks him over to examine him. "With that attire, there's no way he's from here. Elise, why'd you bring this guy here?"
"For now, I'll be questioning him. It's like he's from a completely different planet! He does not even know what tier he is for crying out loud. Come on Idaina, this way." Elise explained and leads Idaina to what looks like the headquarters' war room.
Elise takes a seat on the conference table and Idaina takes one right across her.
"So.. You, Idaina Senshi, went up in that exact spot next to the road and fought off those bandits." Elise started, putting both her hands on the table.
"I woke up in that spot." Idaina corrected her.
"So are you telling me that sword and book just appeared with you?!" Elise asked in frustration and surprise.
"I wish I could say otherwise, but that's the truth," Idaina answered with a sigh. But he was lying about one thing. The sword was forced upon him when he had to go through that mysterious, dark place he was in initially. And he figured Elise would find him crazy if he talked about that place too.
It took a moment for Elise to properly process all of the information that was dumped onto her. She does not have much of a choice but to believe what Idaina is saying. As shown earlier, he has next to no knowledge of what goes on in this world.
"There is one thing I know you can answer, however. How do you know how to use that blade so skillfully? Wherever you came from, you must have trained extensively to scare away a couple of brigands, right?" She asked, wanting at least an idea of his training.
"Oh, well, I was never really trained that hard, but I know the basics and some advanced techniques here and there," Idaina answered, not mentioning that the only reason he easily won that fight is due to the 'power' that it gave him. Elise did not ask for anything related to it, so it must be fine, right?
"Basics?!" Elise blurted out.
"Just believe me this once, please. Look let's get back to the greater issue for me. I need someplace to stay for a while-" He was cut off.
"You will be working under me. You can have food, water, all the essential things and stay in this encampment. But you will be part of my bodyguard." Elise said with a pleased look on her face.
"Yeah, I was going to propose that- wait, personal bodyguard?" Idaina raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"You heard me right. Whenever I have business to attend to in cities, you will be there to accompany me." She explained further.
"Why not just one of those guys from earlier? Aren't you a noble lord, able to levy up troops as you please?" Idaina asked, wondering why she needs a bodyguard considering her position.
"Ah, I forgot to mention. I may be a noblewoman, but I am part of a relatively smaller house in the Duchy. I don't have a grand retinue of soldiers that serve me. That's why I founded a mercenary company." She explained as she leaned back on her seat.
"Ah, okay... What's the name of the company exactly?"
"Das Nebel Söldnerfirma!" Elise exclaimed with glee.
"Huh? If that's in your language, can you translate it for me?" He asked, taking note that the language Elise used was German in his world.
"Oh, I suppose you don't know Opamish. It's The Nebel, meaning fog or mist, Mercenary Company in Common." She stated.
"So everyone around here knows Common at the very least?" He asks.
"Correct. It is the language that brought most of the countries together and allowed for commerce and trade to initiate." She trailed off,
"It is so universal that even in official paperwork or important documents can be written in Common. It is better to do so sometimes, since if some fraud or scandal happens, and the document is linked to a certain country by name or language, it would not end very well for them."
"I see. I'm going to have to read up on the history of this world." Idaina nodded but changes topics quickly. "So about your offer. I will gladly take it, considering I have nowhere to go. I'll help in whatever I can in exchange for just barging in here." He stands up and extends his hand to her.
"Well then, Idaina Senshi, I am looking forward to working with you." She extends her hand and shakes his hand firmly.
She lets go of his hand and walks over to the corner of the war room, suddenly tossing a practice sword over to Idaina, while getting her own. "So the first job I'll be giving to you now will be this. Beat me in single combat, rookie."
And before even Idaina can get into a basic defensive stance, Elise charges him with her practice sword's blade pointing towards his chest. At that moment, time did not slow down. Idaina could not figure out the situation in the safety of an extremely slow time. This forced Idaina to throw a panicked slash in Elise's general direction. She was planning to pin Idaina on the table and restrict his movements greatly. But Idaina gets out of this by forcing her to defend herself. She promptly deflects the slash and wants to riposte it, but Idaina shoves her out of the way with his free hand and makes some distance between them.
"At least count down first." Idaina adjusts his stance to a more offensive one, with the blade being easier to rechamber and thrust.
"Wanted to test your reaction speed, dear Idaina," Elise responds with a smirk.
"I'll be testing you a bit as well, then." Idaina closed the distance, his sword still pointed at the noblewoman. Instead of making any slashes or strikes, he instead opted to rapidly kick the woman's shins. This forced Elise to shift stances and try to protect the leg that's currently being assaulted.
"That's not how you treat a lady!" She huffed as she went for a kick of her own. Idaina was surprised by this and took a few steps back, trying to lure her into a trap to attack. Seeing that her opponent lost some ground, Elise seizes the moment and throws a flurry of rapid overhead and diagonal slashes. Being in a better position this time, Idaina easily deflects and staves off the attack. And now that Elise was getting tired from her relentless assaults, Idaina started with his counterattack. He goes for a single well-placed thrust into her abdomen, resulting in her dropping the sword and leaning onto the conference table.
"I-I yield. With just one swing of the blade as well..." Elise panted from exhaustion, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"One wrong move, and it'll cost you gravely. Most of the time, your life." Idaina stated as he picked up the dropped wooden sword and places them back in the corner.
"Good work on the job. You've earned yourself some rest. It will be a long day tomorrow, and there's a lot to be done. All the rooms up the stairs from this room are free. Pick one, just as long as it's not taken already." Elise explains as she regains her composure.
"Got it. Good night." He said simply as he got his sword and book and headed out of the war room, up the stairs, and found himself an empty room where he could rest up for the night. Once he enters, he sets down his sword in the corner, placing the book on the side table of the bed, and headed back out to the dining area to get some food. It wasn't the best food, but he could not complain. After eating and letting the food digest, Idaina heads back into his room to reminisce for a while before heading to bed.
He thought about the possibility that his friends got transported into this world too. It couldn't just be him, right? And if they are somewhere out there, trying to get by in whatever way they can, can they possibly link back up and tackle the dangers of this world as a team? It would be quite fun, and maybe too easy.
And the bigger concern was, how were they going to get home? He bets that everyone that they know and care about back home is looking for them. They must be worried sick. And if there is some way to get back home, can all 4 of them get back, or is it a one-time thing? The young man could only ponder as he slowly drifted to sleep.
It's going to be a long, long day.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone