The city of Bothal was an odd city. Situated between the basin of the mountains, with its districts completely divided by mountainous hills, it was hard for one to travel between the different sectors of the city.
That is, if not for the underground railway system. The tro they called them, a term directly adopted by the book that Venkatraman wrote before his death. A book that has knowledge of the technological intricacies of modern humanity on the other side. And by deciphering it, the dwarves were able to mimic it to so extent.
When the Technology in their hand was mature enough, they developed their own railway system that ran on electricity and not the old coal trains that would have made the underground inhabitable by all the smoke it might have produced. With a high chance of many of the passengers dying, just like many of the dwarves died during dark days of mining in deep mountains and using up the oxygen in it.
But none of it was an issue anymore, the railway system of Bothal was very much mature, it also acted as a high-class defensive spiderweb used in case of ergency to transport troops.
For now, Max was using the very sa tro, along with Sheva, who appeared a bit insecure as so of the dwarves looked at her.
"Is sothing bothering you?" Max asked her in a hushed voice.
"Nothing, I am not used to riding in the tro too much. It’s the first ti I left the Factory district."
"Then you haven’t seen much of Bothal, that was just the outskirts, there are a total of four more layers till you enter the central area of Bothal, now that is a beautiful place." Max was natural, he didn’t appear as soone that has killed two people and taken out the eye of another.
His broken arm also appeared normal as he had crossed them and appeared stoic to the n here.
As for his reason?
The target that accidentally survives would probably end up explaining how bravely he fought off the enemies and then point out where he had crushed the arm of one of those assassins.
Which would force the police to look for people like him. As for Sheva, she was pretty much safe. No one in their right mind would see her as anything other than a Knight. She was over 6 feet tall while he barely reached 5’2. Making him appear smaller for his age, but this was a problem caused by his malnourished past.
Which was not very odd in this world, even though I had such a past after my mother died and... I don’t.
Anyways, in short, our hero was short in size.
Getting off the train, Max acted as Sheva’s partner, and with a hand in her hand, he left the station. And when he climbed out of the stairs, the world that appeared in front of Sheva surprised her a bit.
"It’s pretty much the sa, but more empty."
"Of Course it is, the factories were ant for the Blue Mountain district, but the farrs refused to sell causing the industry here to be incomplete... then so more things happened, causing many farrs to abandon their land."
"One can even say, if not for the farrs, this district would have been renad into Blue Mountain."
"Blue mountain?"
"Too much history, let’s go to my safe house first."
The Blue Mountain district was nad after the tribe of dwarves that used to call this ravine their ho, specializing in the dyes that grew on the mountain. The Indigo dye that was extensively used among the dwarves, before the introduction of chemical dyes.
This caused the clan of Blue Mountain to go extinct as they couldn’t match the production rate of the chemical dyes with their own, nor could they match the variety of colors the chemical dyes brought them.
Which ended up barring the production of the indigo plant, as it was harmful to the land, causing the once blue mountain to turn barren. And now deed a historical site by the Dwarves.
Of course, in the absence of the Blue Mountain tribe, so old families who claid to have connections to the original Blue Mountain have popped up and occupied this land.
But that was it. It still remained mostly empty due to the influence of so factories that regularly dump their waste products into landfills.
*****
It’s been a day since the little incident in the factory district. An Officer Nirnori Bloodtooth, read the report on last night’s murder of three important figures.
"A total of two?" The only surviving dwarf hadn’t woken up yet.
By the ti they arrived on the scene, the bleeding from the hollow eye had caused too much blood loss, causing the unnad dwarf to go into a coma.
"Boss, a new report just ca... and it’s a bit weird."
"What is it?"
"Well, it’s a bit odd... from the reports, the victim could have escaped the car, if not for its engine explosion."
"Yes..."
"Well, it’s better to see this yourself." When Officer Nirnori read the report, an absurd expression appeared on his face. "Rats?.. Rats stuck in exhaustion?"
"Yes..."
"They clogged up the exhaust, causing pressure to build up and hence the explosion." Rats don’t do this, and not at such an opportune ti.
This ans only two things.
Either, one of the two perpetrators could control the rat, or there was a third person involved.
But from all the info from the scene they had inferred till now, there were only two. One sniper and one assassin.
’Mages... are they onto us?’
******
After Sheva had taken a bath and found herself a place to rest, Max knocked on her door.
"Co in."
It was ti to get on the topic.
"Sheva, do you know why I suggested we work together?"
"Our enemy is strong?" Sheva asked, looking at the dried-up farm, before continuing. "I had faced worse on the battlefield, at least here I have the cover of the buildings."
"A single mage can easily kill you."
"But there are not many mages here." Sheva replied before directly asking."Just speak, what is your reason?"
Hearing this question, Max’s fake smile crumbled for a bit. Before he took a seat. And explained. "The dwarf we just fought was of red dragon lineage. Dragons are already considered sacred among many of the old dwarven clans, so the Knights that hail from it also belong to those old clans."
At those words, the eyes of Sheva flickered for a bit, a thought slowly popping into her mind. "The city is mostly run under those families."
"Conglorates, it’s what they call themselves. Companies that are at the forefront of technology. It’s them that the Red Dragon Knights protect." Sheva knew that she had fought so fearso foes before, but then, she was able to use her ignorance to generate so false sense of courage.
But when she heard who her enemies really were, she didn’t budge. Her face remained the sa. "Doesn’t change much. I still hope to put bullets in their heads."
"With what? That handmade sniper?... it was already a miracle it didn’t break during the war before. Otherwise, it would have been your death."
"Then give better weapons, just like that small dagger of yours. Now that seems pretty special."
"Hmm, so you noticed? Rarely do people are able to see it.’ With those words, Max took out his crystal dagger. "It’s an artifact, and all it excels at is being unbreakable and nothing much."
"As for your weapon, it’s pretty much breakable. So I suggest you make this attempt of yours last." Max said, picking up the rifle that Sheva had built and breaking it in two without much effort. Causing the body of Sheva to shake for a bit, before calming down.
"So this is why you suggested we work together? So that I can co here?"
"I never intended to work together with you. I just didn’t wish to see another person die on this path. Just live your life and keep waiting for the results. I will finish this job easily." If Max had let her go before, she would have disappeared and repeated her attempt once again, and this ti without his help.
He can already imagine her fate if he was not here. Sheva got lucky. It won’t happen again.
So it’s better to let her face reality and change her mind.
"Doesn’t matter, I built one, I can build so more. And better ones at that." Sheva said, picking up her bag in which there were still so explosives left and then turning toward the gate. "Leaving before our discussion ended?" Max asked, before shaking his head.
"Just stay here and think it through. There is no need to go back and put yourself in danger." Max said a few more words and then left Sheva to her thoughts.
Who after so thought, didn’t let emotions dictate her rationale and chose to stay as well. Which was a bit unexpected, as I had assud the two would break up and then et up once again on the battlefield.
But no worries, things never go as expected.
Which was the joy of life.
"Are you really going to let her go like this? A help like her is hard to co by... and it seems she is good at tinkering as well." I spoke my mind, letting Max notice things he might have ignored.
But he just shook his head. "If you want her? Why not contact her yourself? She is doing what you want without any fee... much better than ."
Reviews
All reviews (0)