Capitolo Terzo: Conquista (7)

Moscow was quite different from Saint Petersburg.

Sure, both were fit to work as capitals of the country, but the former had been deprived of this role for a few centuries now. Ever since Peter the Great saw fit to bring the capital ‘closer to Europe’, Moscow had turned into a major convergence spot when it came to trade and transportation between the European side of the Empire and the one that, through Siberia, reached all over Asia. While it wasn’t as renovated as the current capital was in terms of infrastructure, it was undeniable how the extensive presence of the middle to low class within the large settlement granted it a degree of liveliness that far exceeded the one we found in Saint Petersburg. Our arrival was seen just by a couple of peasants, most of whom rushed back in the city to bring the news to the rest of the people, but hardly anyone acted on this news.

Jonathan was instantly drawn to the few unusual architecture styles that were used for some buildings, some were important landmarks while most of those were just common houses within the city. It was massive, a metropolis close but failing short to be as big as London itself. I could see the point of his intrigue, especially since we had close to no documentation during our studies on how Russia’s cities were developed. It was indeed a fair reminder that places like Saint Petersburg couldn’t be seen as the older cities.

Especially when the entire place was a nest of various cultures hidden within the macro-culture known as ‘Russian’. Merchants flocked around by the squares to sell products that were localized primarily in Russia or from beyond the Urals. The people were pacing around with relative peace and calm despite the larger crowds strolling in the streets.

Some paused to see us moving around as a few individuals had seen the plane landing and were both curious and delighted by this unusual visit. It was clear that a good part of the people there were also looking forward to change, so I guess there was also that sort of magnetic pull towards me, a British Man that is known to bring positive changes wherever I went. I built a reputation (and kind of a cult in the US and UK), but none actually made some forms of ‘positive mobs’ to greet us.

Which I was glad for as I didn’t have the mental strength to wrangle a crowd from becoming a revolutionary march. That I really didn’t want to handle anytime soon. For now the main goal was get some food prepared to eat, get the vehicle refueled and then get back to our trip. Jojo was tempted to leave and check for places around, but he was confined to just wandering around with Hannah and Giorno to find a gift for Erina and Georgie.

He was fine with it, but he looked like a sad pup that was told he couldn’t go to his favorite park. And that didn’t do much for him as Hannah was too resilient to that kind of stuff for him to crack into her resilience. Giorno also pressed to check the local frozen riverline that people could walk on, but that was a ‘maybe’ situation I knew was going to be treated with utmost caution. Last thing we needed was any more surprises.

Meanwhile Santana and I were stuck handling the shopping meant to get the rest of the important stuff dealt with. Prices were affordable, even though I had to haggle for a few items due to some tricks employed to inflate the costs around the general expenses. It was a refreshing experience in some way as I took this chance to also buy a few souvenirs for the trip.

A matrioska, a fur hat and some recipe books I was planning to bring back home to see which dishes to standardize and ‘normalize’ relations with Russia with. I was looking through all that I needed when I was stopped by a noble-looking young man with a mousey-face and a couple (more like a dozen) of soldiers being his ‘guard’.

“Lord Joestar, you need to come with us.”

I blinked in surprise at that request, but I relayed the same excuse I used when I wasn’t ready for this stuff. “Your employer can send me an invitation before I leave, but right now I’m busy and-”

“The Governor-General said this is quite important.”

I was stunned for a moment, as I hadn’t expected for the ‘mayor’ of Moscow to actually demand my presence in his office just like that. It felt fairly odd since I was sure the city was devoid of any known issues which would warrant any expertise of mine. So, I was considering the circumstance and feeling it was more tied to a potential malicious plan. I was confused, and somewhat worried, but overall fairly confident I was going to be ‘persuasive’ enough to not get in too much trouble.

“Beg your pardon?”

“The Governor-General wishes to urgently speak with you, Lord Joestar. It’s best to not refute this invitation.”

Considering the diplomat was escorted by a noticeable group of soldiers, it was either an effort to show panic over a hidden crisis, or they were planning to ‘forcefully’ take me there. I had a feeling this was a setup, so I merely had the two helpers I had hired from the local post office bring the material I retrieved back to where the plane was while the Pillar Man and I handled this matter.

I just had this feeling that there was a lot more than these people were letting it appear to be.

--------d-d-d-d---------

Convincing Sergei Alexandrovich turned out to be much simpler than Grigori had expected.

The Governor-General was a very weak-minded individual due to the constant pressure exerted on him and his own malicious intentions manifesting in several occasions. A man that refused reforms at all costs, which made someone like Dio Joestar an enemy to him. It was all about suggestions rather than outright mind control, but the end result was nonetheless impressive. He would take care of the pesky bastard while Rasputin took care of the rest of his family.

That sounded like a brilliant plan, but even with that much advantage, the distraction he was going to provide wouldn’t have been enough to draw out his target in a most vulnerable circumstance. He knew Dio’s wife was equally dangerous, so he needed to find a way to distract her too while he took care of the kidnapping. And he just happened to find a way to do that.

Disillusioned soldiers were easy to come by take over through some mind-controlling spells, their grudges against the government’s conservative policies and the constant repressions of popular revolt set them in a state of mental numbness which was simple to exploit. They were soon encroaching on the trio they were ordered to tail, their disciplined coordination helpful on getting the trio isolated and then slowly approached. None of them suspected the chase at first, but it was becoming apparent they were getting the feeling they were being watched from multiple directions as they looked around a lot. Soon it became clear how they had noticed some unwarranted attention and tried to suddenly cut from their planned visits to get to where their strange contraption was sitting by.

That couldn’t do.

Troops moved to ‘arrest them’, but they were easily dispatched by the woman when they started to get handsy and not provide any motivation for that situation. It didn’t help that the people around, already feeling motivated to cause a revolt, joined her side. Still, the dark-haired noble woman actually managed to move too fast for their guns to have much of an effect on her, her physical attacks disabling numerous soldiers at once. Surprising, and kind of alluring, but the man bolted after the two escaping targets as the unknown man and the child were leaving while the woman delayed the bulk of the troops. Rasputin knew they were more important for this mission, so he ditched his intrigue for the woman for a later time. He had a boy to kidnap.

The man proceeded to summon imps to aid his approach, the small monsters rushing towards them at high speed and coming close to assault them the moment they all entered a peculiar alley near the main streets. Where it looked like the boy was soon to be captured by one of the devilish critters Grigori had summoned, a new surprise unfolded before the magician’s eyes.

The seemingly-normal man who had joined the small family suddenly appeared between the kid and the little monster, proceeding to smack Rasputin’s demonic minion away with a powerful punch. The attack not only repelled the attacker, but also shredded it into pieces. The others attacked too and, just as easily as the first one was dispatched, they were decimated by this frustrating defender. What really left the sorcerer perplexed was how this man was using a power similar to the one used by the main threat he had to move away from yet… weaker.

“You are not taking my nephew, foul monster!”

He spoke in a heavily-accented tone, but Rasputin was still amused by the overall grasp of Russian this unusual piece was showing to him. It was going to be difficult, but not as impossible as before. He had a chance, and he wasn’t going to waste it for anything.

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“That’s for fate to decide, mongrel,” Grigori replied flatly, shifting a knife in his hands and approaching with more of his minions. “I hope you are as fun as you appear to be~.”

He wasn’t a glass-cannon. Training in dark arts had left his body harder than anything ever seen and… he wasn’t going to fail.

Not again.

---------d-d-d-d----------

I was surprised when I finally arrived at the office and the soldier that let me in crumpled on the side the moment he stepped inside.

A quick look into the room provided me with the source of that unexpected circumstance, and I eyed the amused red-haired woman sitting by the desk with a guarded glance. The Governor-General was asleep too, resting on his desk while the cause of all of this slowly shifted off her initial seat. She didn’t come too close, but took two steps towards me.

“I finally met you after so long,” The woman hummed. “I suppose you have questions.”

“Yes,” I replied flatly, anger boiling as I could tell this was a trap. “Who are you?”

“I’m someone that doesn’t wish to be your foe, Dio Joestar… or do you prefer Dio Brando?”

I gritted my teeth. Who the hell is this girl and why the hell is she unnerving me so much? My instinct was just screaming she was trouble, and yet I couldn’t perceive how or why. I just remained put, seeing no reason to attack her yet. Santana was just as tense, but he was more composed in that regard. He looked incredibly calm- ‘too calm’ for anyone that knew how muscles worked as one could perceive the tension coming from his tendons, ready to push him forward at head-snapping speed.

“Joestar. That’s my family’s name.”

“I see,” The redhead commented. “Then, I’m what many Russians would call Baba Yaga. Not my name- I guess I learned to love it as mine after centuries of hearing it thrown my way.”

The name was quick to gain my interest and immediate concern. Renowned witch that was normally a ‘helpful’ figure, although her help was never without a price at times. In this situation, I saw no reason for her to need to grant anyone help. In fact, she looked ready to do the opposite of that.

“Why did you bring me here? What’s your end goal?” I questioned more, taking a step forward. “What do you want from me?”

“From you? Answers. I’m a seeker of knowledge after all and at times I let my curiosity get the best of me when it comes to… situations like yours~,” Baba Yaga inquired playfully. “Alas, I wasn’t the one to cause ‘this’.”

She finished by gesturing to the scene we were introduced to.

“Well, for the most part, of course.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Baba Yaga smiled. “I wanted to talk, but I would have found a better way to do that… except my associate decided to ignore my request to restrain from his previous mission-”

“Your associate was the one behind the previous attacks?” I asked angrily and the redhead gave me an apologetic look.

“Yes.”

“How can I tell you are not just trying to use him as an excuse to get close enough and do damage?”

“Hmm, fair point,” The witch admitted. “I guess I can make it easy on you. How about a magic oath?”

“...What?

“A magic oath. You and I form an oath where I will not lie to you regardless of the circumstance.”

“And how can we trust that,” Santana finally spoke. “Right now you warranted no reason to retain that much trust.”

“How about you are allowed to try and kill me if I lie, big guy?” The redhead rebuked jovially. “Of course, the choice is yours.”

She finished saying that while reaching out with her open palm. I stared at it, numerous questions flocking in my head and… I knew I had to know what was going on. I felt my Hamon was ready to enter in action in case of any tricks, so I went for it.

I shook her hand, and felt magic binding us temporarily as she began to speak. Not everything that I was hearing left me pleased, and the more I learned, the more I felt upset about a few things. Of course, I was blissfully unaware that Baba Yaga had yet to tell me the worst, or what was going on with my family as his associate had attacked them mere minutes earlier.

That- that was indeed the biggest surprise I didn’t need to receive out of the blue and this late.