Isekai-eh Chapter-18 (Patreon)

Part 3: Mean Streets of Vaskerville

Shortly after Metsa was finished cleaning her gun, they started in on the questions. It lasted nearly three hours, and neither Jed nor Metsa were satisfied. But Sotas had cut them off, reminding them both that it would be best if Jed started training to be a hunter. Grudgingly, they followed the big man downstairs to the hunter’s hall.

It was more organized and neat than Jed had been expecting. There weren’t even that many trophies on the walls. Sure, there were a few, but there’d been nearly as many in their hideout.

Which, Jed had thought more than once, wasn’t much of a hideout.

Behind the desk Metsa led them towards was an older woman who was sitting on a spindly metal chair, writing on a sheet of thick paper with what seemed to be a quill.

Jed stared blankly at the woman for several seconds, uncertain he was seeing things correctly. But sure enough, she even dipped it into a little ink pot then dusted the page with a dark powder before looking up at them, smiling a crooked smile. Jed counted three missing teeth before he stopped himself.

For some reason, he’d expected anyone who worked at the hunter’s guild to be like Metsa and Sotas, a little more than human, with all the perks that came with it.

“Hey Gerty, got a new kid. We’re gonna take him on personally,” Metsa said before the old woman could sneak in a greeting.

Gerty looked at Metsa for a second, then to Sotas before her eyes finally landed on Jed.

Which was when he saw she was a little more than human. Either that or some humans had adapted to have vertical eye slits. And second eyelids.

Gerty blinked at him twice, first sideways, then normally. “Thought you two were done with apprentices. If you’re back in the business, I’ve got this girl, real talented. Could use your special touch. Definitely a better choice than this piece of mold-bellied smooth skin.”

Jed couldn’t help but feel the corner of his mouth twitching upwards, but he fought it down as he said, “Not every day I meet a woman who rolled out of heaven only to land in the garbage dump and crawl their way out.”

Gerty, who’d already been going back to her paperwork paused as Metsa’s head smacked into her forehead.

“At least, that’s where I’m guessing you got manners like those. It’s where Pops said he got his,” Jed added.

Gerty blinked twice again, then shook her head slightly. “Least he’s not a complete blockhead.”

Metsa let out a long sigh, then smacked Jed on the shoulder. “Sorry Gerty, but we’re not looking for any extras. Just Jed here.”

Gerty nodded, hefting a heavy tome from beneath the desk. She opened it to a blank page, pulling the pen out of the inkwell again as she jotted down their names, what he was pretty sure was the date and then a number. Then she blew on the page, scattered more of the black dust and set the pen to the side. “That’ll be… hmm, ten thousand crowns for the registration.”

“That… seems like a lot,” Jed said, glancing over at Metsa whose brow had furrowed, and Sotas who was shaking his head softly.

“Because it is. That’s enough to buy one of those buggies you rode in yesterday. She’s trying to shake them down.”

“This kid means that much to you?” Metsa asked with a heavy sigh.

“Only way I’ll get her trained up well enough to survive if you two don’t take her on is to send her out of hex. And you know how expensive that is these days,” Gerty said, shrugging, entirely unapologetic. “One way or another, I figure you’re her ticket.”

“This does not have to be official,” Sotas said, crossing his arms. “We could train him without registry.”

“She’s not going to charge us ten thousand,” Metsa said with another sigh. “She just wants us to know how important this girl is to her.”

“Not registering him without the crowns… or without adding Gwen’s name to the training roster,” Gerty confirmed.

“And if we agree to train her, how much are you paying us?” Metsa asked, crossing her arms. “Or do you expect us to work for free?”

“Twenty thousand crowns, half right now, towards your fee,” Gerty said with her crooked smile spread wide.

“Ten thousand to train her? On record?” Metsa asked, sounding more surprised than when she’d discovered Jed was packing around one of the Empress’ archangels.

“On record,” Gerty said, still smiling.

“Damn, could’ve just led with that,” Metsa grumbled, shaking her head. “What’s the catch?”

“The catch is, you gotta go rescue her first,” Gerty said even as she pulled out her pen and started writing another name on the page.

Only then did Jed feel the faint pull of the warp with every brush of her pen. It wasn’t just recording her words on the page, it was reaching through the warp to copy them… somewhere else.

While Jed was doing his best to study the effect, Gerty told Metsa their destination.

“What the hell is a fresh hunter doing in the shadow districts?” Metsa demanded, leaning over the desk towards Gerty.

“Trying to prove to hunters like you that she’s worth training, I’d imagine,” Gerty said, shrugging, her spindly metal chair creaking beneath her.

“And how did she get it in her head that hunters like us might be impressed by that sort of idiocy?” Metsa asked, leaning against the desk and fingering her gun.

“One of life’s great mysteries,” Gerty said with another shrug. “If you don’t want to crash the deal, you’d best be on with it. Now.”

“Gonna remember this one,” Metsa grumbled as she stomped away, Sotas and Jed following behind her.

“I take it she’s not usually like that,” Jed said, directing the statement towards Sotas.

“Gerty has been here long time, more even than Metsa,” Sotas said, shaking his head. “Seldom is her mood so strange, yet seen it before, we have.”

“And it’s always a bad sign when we do,” Metsa said as she led them to a different lift than the one they’d arrived in.

A short time later they came out in the parking garage, and Metsa stomped her way over to where Cella was parked. Her mood seemed to level off the second she saw the buggy, talking to the machine as she walked around it, inspecting the underside and armor panels.

“You’d think she had the same relationship with that car as we share.”

Jed nodded, silently waiting alongside Sotas as Metsa finished her checks. After a few minutes, she let them climb aboard.

“Was expecting a bit more urgency, if we’re performing a rescue mission,” Jed said as he climbed into the passenger seat again.

“If she can’t survive the few minutes it takes to make sure we’re prepared to extract her, she’s already dead,” Metsa said, pulling her door closed and firing up the screens, half of which were a lot more distorted than they’d been the day before. With a solid percussive thud on the dash, the displays flickered and Metsa had the image cleared up. “Was probably dead before Gerty even started talking.”

“Wow,” Jed said, surprised at the blase attitude.

“Look, we’re gonna do our best to get her out without getting ourselves killed in the process,” Metsa said, ringlet hair shaking along with her head. “But the kid chose to go into a shadow district. Those are closed off for a reason.”

“And that reason is?”

“Ah, right. Keep forgetting how much we have to tell you,” Metsa said, grunting as she moved the buggy out into the street. She wasn’t going nearly as slow as she had the day before, laying into the horn to clear the street.

Most people leapt aside instantly, though there were a few who simply made rude gestures back.

That only lasted until Metsa revved the engine, causing the front wheels to lift off the ground and a growl to fill the streets.

The objections died for a few blocks after that then the next block there was no more foot traffic to block their way, at which point Metsa continued, “So, shadow districts, as the name implies, are districts that have gone dark. Power doesn’t flow there anymore, the magic of the ring doesn’t keep out the warp demons and only the most psychotic or desperate live there.”

“Wait, you have warp demons in the city?” Jed asked, staring at Metsa like she’d… well, like she’d told him there were demons living in the city.

“The Empress’ failures mount. I wonder what excuse she has for abandoning these people?”

“Yeah, though they stay in the shadow districts, so there’s not much call for hunting them,” Metsa replied, slowing the buggy as another vehicle passed by, an armored bus with smaller wheels but a nasty plow on its front with far more hooks than could be practical.

“And since the wards are down, more slip through, even if you hunt them,” Jed said, nodding.

“Pretty much,” Metsa said as she put the buggy in gear again.

It wasn’t much longer before they arrived at an old hotel, with Metsa giving him a quick rundown on the types of warp-demons they were most likely to encounter.

“-shriekers love to play in small rooms like these. They’re not too dangerous, long as you don’t get knocked out by the noise.”

Even as she said it, she handed Jed a pair of heavy ear pads attached to a wide brimmed hat.

“Right. Shriekers are disorienting, and Screachers explode?”

“Yep. Any other questions?”

“What’s the hat for?” Jed asked as he inspected it.

“Keeps sun out of eyes. Also good for rain,” Sotas said, patting Jed on the shoulder.

Chuckling, Jed pulled the hat and ear protection combo on.

Drawing Mythlyn’s revolver, he followed Metsa into the hotel. It was an old wooden building, like the construction he’d seen leaning up against the outside of the walls on the way in, though it looked like it might’ve been high quality once, based on the fancy chandelier laying in a pile on the floor just inside the entrance.

Sotas and Metsa led the way, checking each entrance before moving past.

Jed did his best to copy them, but quickly realized he had no idea what they were even looking for.

Still, he wasn’t useless.

His warp-sense told him that above them someone had just killed a warp demon.

When they got to the stairs, Metsa and Sotas started debating about where to go next. Gwen had clearly been there for a while, based on the number of times her footprints had crossed back and forth through the area.

“She’s upstairs, three stories,” Jed said, not sure if they’d heard him, since he sure hadn’t heard himself. The ear protection was impressive.

Metsa glanced back at him, but Jed wasn’t about to explain. He knew nothing about this trainee and their senses. After everything else Metsa had drilled into him not to mention outside the hideout, he figured it was best not to mention his warp-sense.

“There are three warp demons up there too. Not sure how big, but they’re all moving towards her,” Jed added as they started up the stairs. Metsa just nodded while Sotas grinned, pulling a heavy looking hammer from his back.

While Sotas had ‘prepared’ for this excursion, those preparations had been limited to him donning a vest with the aforementioned hammer and an equally large rifle.

Jed thought he’d been doing a good job keeping up with the hunters, but as soon as Sotas had the hammer in hand, they rocketed up the stairs.

Metsa seemed to no longer be bound by gravity, gliding up with such featherlite steps, Jed wasn’t sure if she was moving.

Sotas was… less graceful. He used the walls to redirect his momentum, cracking them as he went, roaring out a battlecry that rattled Jed’s ears even through the hearing protection.

If the big man had been trying to get the warp-demon’s attention, it worked, since Jed could sense all three of them shift direction. Splintering came from above as Jed did his best to mount the stairs.

There was a few faint sounds of impacts, and a horrific shriek, and then… silence.

By the time Jed arrived, huffing and out of breath, the warp-demons were all dead. One of them had been a Shrieker, a bat-like creature with a round mouth as large as Jed’s head and no eyes.

The other two were snake-like things, with jagged spines running up and down their length.

“Stranglers,” Metsa said when she spotted Jed. “Don’t let them get their hooks into you or you’ll be pulling out barbs for weeks.”

“That isn’t true. I could simply incinerate any such barbs.” Mythlyn said, warmth flaring in his hands as if to emphasize her point. “Still, it would be unpleasant, so best to avoid it.”

“Right. Don’t get caught be the Strangler. Feels like that’s already in the name,” Jed said, lowering the pistol and nodding towards a door on the far side of the hall.

“Gwen?” Metsa called out, not moving towards the door. “Gerty sent us.”

“What’s that old hag want this time? I didn’t take anything that wasn’t mine,” a rough scratchy voice called back. A creak from a nearby wall had Jed wondering if maybe they shouldn’t move this conversation somewhere sturdier.

A thought he did his best to voice through the ear protection, only thinking to take it off after having done so.

“We’re here to collect you for training,” Metsa said, waving Jed off. “Though the kid’s right, we should talk about it somewhere that has less holes in the walls.”

Jed looked to the side, realizing the building was even more torn up than he’d realized. He could actually see the top of the buggy from where he was standing. Not reassuring, considering they were on the fourth floor.

“Told her, there’s only two people in this city who’re worth training under and they don’t…” The voice not nearly so scratchy without the earmuffs. She cut off as she rounded the corner, rifle held at the ready, though it lowered a couple fractions of an inch when she caught sight of Sotas. Then her dark eyes moved to Metsa, going wide. “I… uh, you came to get me? Personally?”

“Looks like it,” Metsa said, grunting. “Outside.”

“Right, right. I’ll just… Empress above,” Gwen said even as she walked towards them, eyes shifting back to Sotas.

She didn’t even seem to realize Jed was there, eyes slipping right past him. Then Sotas suddenly hefted both her and Jed over his shoulder and leapt out the hole Jed had looked out not half a minute earlier. As they bounced down and to the side, the building behind them creaked once more.

A second later, it shifted, collapsing inward.

At the same time, Sotas reached the ground, driving the breath from Jed’s lungs. Good trade for not getting crushed, he figured.

The large man set both of them down next to each other.

Jed held out his hand in greeting, about to introduce himself when Gwen raised her rifle in his direction, aiming down the sights as she asked, “Who on the dark side of the ring are you?”