Isekai-eh Chapter 23 (Patreon)

“That… huh,” Gwen said, her eyes looking over the blue words, immediately recognizing several of the structures that were displayed there.

She’d dealt with Written before, both while working as her gram’s assistant and the last couple years as she apprenticed to any hunter who would take her.

What was floating before her wasn’t either of the types she’d seen before. Her first thought, before seeing what was displayed, was that he’d been marked by the marshals.

The fact he hadn’t been imprisoned, had impressed her for the half-second it took her to realize it wasn’t that kind of mark. For one thing, those written couldn’t simply touch their chest and have the words flicker into existence. Second, they didn’t have designs for entire buildings project from their chests.

“Is that one of the ward towers?” Gwen asked while inspecting the glowing forms.

“I think so, though I haven’t seen one up close to check,” Jed said.

“Oh good,” her mentor mumbled from where she had her face buried under her long time partner and lover. “We’ve moved on to the world shattering portion.”

Gwen didn’t see what was so worrying about being able to project an image of a building in the air. She had a device that could do similar, though it was a little flatter and she had to delete old images to store new ones these days. Expensive, since she could’ve bought all the gear she’d been lacking if she’d been willing to trade it in, but hardly world shattering.

The next question from the man she’d been training alongside answered what her mentor had meant.

“I was thinking, wouldn’t one of these be a good way to repay you? Pretty sure we could fix one up.”

“Ha, called it,” Metsa said, burying her face again as Sotas chuckled.

“Is that a yes?” Jed asked, glancing over at Gwen who simply stared at the man in consternation. Was he being serious?

“A suitable reward, for all the trouble, I think,” Sotas said with a wide grin. “But I do not know where we would put it.”

This earned him an aborted laugh from his lover, who waved him off as she finally pushed up from the couch, brushing her ringlet hair back over her demon-warped ears.

Those ears were nearly as famous as Metsa herself, which is why Gwen assumed her mentor heard anything said within a hundred feet of her.

“You serious kid?” Metsa asked after righting herself. “You think you can repair one of these?”

“I mean, we’ll need to see how bad the damage is, but yeah,” he said, running his hand beneath his shirt and causing the entire building to expand as his hand swept inward.

Gwen sat in a daze as she realized how thoroughly she’d underestimated what she was seeing. He didn’t just have a surface view of the beacon, he possessed images of its insides and… she’d worked with drawings of the Hunter’s Hall before, when helping her grams assign new residents their homes. This looked a bit like those, except with higher fidelity.

And it was fully three dimensional, of course.

Jed was standing, walking through the design as he talked, as if having glowing warp-fire play over his skin was nothing to be concerned about. Glancing over at Metsa and Sotas, and their relaxed postures despite sitting so close to it themselves, Gwen forced herself to relax.

It was fine. The lines weren’t real warp-fire. Obviously. Otherwise she would’ve been diced into pieces when he expanded it.

Gwen wasn’t capable of following most of the terms Jed was using, but she thought she recognized some of the parts he was highlighting. And a lot of the math.

“He really does get absorbed in it, doesn’t he?” the warp-demon asked as she settled onto the couch next to Gwen. “I think it’s cute, even if I have no idea what he’s talking about.”

“I mean… I don’t get all of it, but he’s basically saying we can scrounge for parts at one and use them in another,” Gwen said, jumping slightly when Jed spun to point at her.

“Yes. That’s what I was trying to say. Sorry, got a bit excited. You know how it is, eh?” Jed said, turning back to Metsa and Sotas.

“So, do a scavenger hunt and maybe reclaim one of the shadow districts, huh?” Metsa asked, eyes closed as she leaned against Sotas’ chest. “What do you think, big man. Worth trying?”

“We can train only so long, before a test, I think,” Sotas said, rubbing his chin. “And this will be a good test. And if successful, good for city!”

“I mean, I was hoping to pay you guys back with it,” Jed said, causing Gwen to roll her eyes.

“Kid, appreciate the thought, but being responsible for an entire district is more trouble than it’s worth. There’s a reason hunters leave that sort of thing to the admins,” Metsa said, opening her eyes just long enough to wave him off.

“If we do this thing, more than repaid your debt will be,” Sotas said. “Vaskerville is home.”

Gwen was nodding. “Yeah. And taking it back from the demons? That’ll buy us a lot of good will.”

“Right. Well, we still have to investigate. Won’t know if it’s possible until we see what we’re working with,” Jed said, smiling at all of them.

Gwen nodded along with the others even as she stared at the man wondering what other secrets he was hiding. Yep, that was the only reason.

“You know, your grams seems like a rather interesting woman,” Mythlyn said as the others started talking about the schedule for visits the next day. “Especially that prosthetic. You don’t see many hunters with imperial grade surgery arrays fused to their backs.”

Gwen started, looking over at the archangel. It was disconcerting seeing such a mythical being biting neatly at the fruit on the end of a small steel fork. Only one of the many fruit she’d stacked on her drink. After a second, the words registered and Gwen nodded. “It was a gift from a former imperial doctor. He does work near the barrier peaks. Grams saved his village a few years back. He couldn’t pay but offered her the array.”

“And this is common knowledge?”

“Well, no. Grams doesn’t talk about her hunter days much, especially with other hunters,” Gwen replied. “But it’s not a secret either.”

“Hmm. Perhaps we will visit this former doctor. Such a prosthesis could have several uses,” Mythlyn said, gaze distant.

The words sent a shiver down Gwen’s spine. She could imagine the sorts of things the archangel of death might use a surgery array for, and none of them were good.

…Isekai-eh…

Jed was feeling great.

They’d revealed both his status as a Written and Mythlyn’s existence to Gwen and while she’d been a little unsettled, she hadn’t gone running for the hills.

Or worse, her grandma.

Metsa was still keeping an eye on her, though she was apparently being subtle about it.

They wouldn’t be headed out that day. Metsa and Sotas would go out and scout several of the deactivated beacons, and only after they took care of the worst of the warp demons were they planning to bring Jed and Gwen along.

Gwen had objected, but Jed had been glad to hear it.

While they were doing that, he and Gwen were staying behind to do training in the obstacle course warehouse.

She’d just lapped him - though it had taken her until his fifth lap, instead of his first - when a solid ‘thwump’ tore through the air, causing him to nearly drop directly onto the balancing log at the start of the course. Instead, he just barely managed to fall to the side, scraping his leg as he twisted.

Glancing back, he saw the sealed doors for cargo, which they normally kept shut, wide open, with brilliant blue lights shining into the interior space.

Floodlights to blind them, he realized. Slipping on the goggles from around his neck, he was able to make out several forms streaming into the warehouse.

He cursed as he glanced over at the rack where there weapons and Mythlyn were sitting. He had the holsters and rifle case on with the replicas in to simulate the weight, but the weapons were left out for safety. He was effectively unarmed.

Wherever Gwen had disappeared to, she was the same.

The people at the entrance were following a man’s orders, and after a second, Jed realized he recognized the man’s presence in the warp. It was the angry marshal from the Down ‘n Dirty.

Cursing softly, he kept his head low as they spread out near the entrance.

“You might as well come out. We know your protectors are off in the city,” the man called. “Come along nice and quiet, tell us what you did with the boosters, and no one has to get hurt.”

Somehow, Jed doubted that.

As one of the marshals came around the climbing wall, Jed smashed them in the jaw with the replica rifle. They dropped like a sack of potatoes, and Jed immediately went for the gun they’d been holding.

He wasn’t sure he was capable of shooting someone, but at least he didn’t feel quite so naked.

While he’d been busy, his actions apparently hadn’t gone unnoticed as several impacts sounded out around him.

“Right. Just cause I don’t want to shoot them doesn’t mean they have the same reservations,” Jed grumbled to himself. “Six!” he yelled out, letting Gwen know he’d downed one of them and giving her the number he’d spotted, as Sotas had trained them.

The shots cut off as rapidly as they started.

“Taking out one of my people. Not a friendly move, skyfaller,” the man said as his pacing echoed back and forth.

“And smashing in the door of our training warehouse and then shooting at me is?” Jed called back, hoping to at least keep them from realizing Gwen was there. If nothing else, he hoped she’d be able to escape.

She hadn’t even been involved in the heist.

“Had to get your attention. And couldn’t afford to have you slipping away,” the man said, stopping.

Jed could hear someone else moving up next to the climbing wall. But by that point he was already in one of the ditches that ran along the floor, pushing through netting that was there to tug on anything not properly secured.

A few seconds later, another volley of fire tore apart the climbing wall followed by a shout, “Target’s not here.”

The man near the entrance cursed. Jed was having some doubts about how much the man wanted to question him. Was hard to ask questions of a corpse.

Considering the ease with which they were trying to take his life, Jed found it a little easier to take aim with his stolen rifle. Fortunately, it seemed to be a lower caliber than his own demon hunting rifle.

With caution, Jed ascended the rope incline, careful not to jostle the rope too much. Once he was up, he wedged his legs in place, arm wrapped around the rope as he steadied himself for the shot. The man was still standing next to the floodlight, apparently confident in its ability to hide him from the occupants.

Not wanting to linger too long, in case someone spotted him and moved to ventilate him, Jed took aim and fired. This time he hit the leg he’d been aiming for, though he would’ve forgiven himself if he’d hit the head. He let off another shot directly into the floodlight before loosening his grip and sliding down the rope.

The resulting ‘thwump’ as the light exploded almost tore him free of the rope. While he kept his grip, it did result in depositing him directly atop one of the men who’d been searching for him.

A situation neither of them had been entirely prepared for. More shots rang out around the training warehouse, though he thought he might have detected the sound of a higher caliber weapon amongst them.

That was background information. For the moment, Jed was slipping back into his old skills. Men were, as it turned out, considerably easier to wrestle into submission than grizzlies using a choke hold.

So much so, Jed was shocked when the man passed out.

Pushing to his knees, he grabbed the man’s rifle as well as the one he’d originally purloined, moving towards the side of the warehouse.

“You two, go around and pull her down,” the angry man called. “I don’t care. Shoot her if you have to. Self-defense. She shot an imperial marshal.”

Jed couldn’t see the source through the jungle of obstacles, but he did see several people running towards the end of the warehouse where he’d last seen Gwen.

Raising the first of his stolen rifles, he started shooting in the general vicinity of their legs. After three shots, the gun clicked empty, so he threw it to the side then darted forward as he pulled the other one from the carrying case on his back.

Except it had gotten wedged in place, since the case hadn’t been designed to fit the smaller weapon.

Cursing to himself, Jed pulled the whole harness off, trying to get the gun free. Of course, one of the marshals poked their head around the corner in the middle of the process.

Once more, Jed shot for the leg, hitting the man in the foot, the case barely affecting his aim.

Even as he winced at the way the other man started dancing in place, Jed charged forward, knocking him over. He retrieved the man’s rifle just in time to use it to partially block the swing of another marshal’s saber.

Jed hadn’t even known they had sabers.

When he looked up, he realized it was the angry man who attempted to solve the problem with steel instead of lead. “I don’t know what you did that’s got the Imperial Guard so wound up, but I’m not going to let you-”

The angry man didn’t get to finish, suddenly hunching over as Jed dropped the rifle then punched him in the chin. Shaking out his hand, Jed kicked the sword away and grabbed the rifle. The angry man scrambled towards the sword, but Jed raised his voice, “Uh uh.”

“You’re finished. Killing marshals is an imperial offense. After today, the Guard will track you down themselves,” the angry man said, glaring at Jed.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Jed said, thinking back over his actions. “Probably.”

“Your partner did,” the man spat blood to the side, giving Jed a vicious grin. “Guilty be association.”

“No witnesses solves that nicely,” a woman’s voice said.

The angry man turned, eyes widening as Mythlyn drove her hand through his chest, the revolver held in her other.

She twisted her arm and he slumped, body going up in a burst of purple-black warp-fire. Sighing, she looked over at Jed and shook her head. “I tried to let you two handle it.”

Another shot rang out from nearby, and then the warehouse fell into silence.

“Gwen, you okay?” Jed called as he looked at the pile of ash that had so recently been a man. “Zero!”

“Jed? Oh thank the Empress, I thought they got you,” Gwen called back, barely audible. “Zero.”

A loud thump sounded a few seconds later.

Jed saw Gwen approaching in the distance, though his gaze went back to Mythlyn who was walking up to each of the marshals and digging her hands inside them before turning them to ash.

“I… I should stop her, shouldn’t I?” Jed asked when Gwen got near, though it was already too late.

“It’ll make it look like a warp demon was responsible,” Gwen said, face twisted into a scowl as she watched Mythlyn work. “Which Metsa probably has the right to keep around caged. Some of the upper tier hunters have crazy rights.”

“So… this will just get shuffled off and forgotten?”

“Not a chance. Seven dead marshals? Imperials will send a Sniffer, at the very least. Plus their family won’t care about a Hunter’s rights,” Gwen said, shaking her head. “We’ll want to talk to my grams and Metsa. Either way good work, partner. You kept them off me long enough to get in position, then kept drawing fire. And getting the light was huge.”

“Thanks partner,” Jed said, giving her a weak smile as he looked around the slightly more used training gym. “Think Metsa’s going to be upset they wrecked her gym?”

“Definitely,” Gwen said, looking down at the pile of ash. “They’re lucky they’re already dead, cause I’d hate to see what she’d have done to them.”

As the last of the marshals went up in a cloud of ash, Jed found himself nodding in agreement, Mythlyn turned towards them, a gentle smile on her face, her wings and arms extended beside her. In that moment every inch of her looked the part of the archangel of death. “And lo, I am become death, destroyer of worlds. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”