Benzfield, local constabulary

Morning

For Alan the night went as seamlessly as most of his nights go. Initially he was thinking of traveling at night but then decided against it and stayed at an inn.

Admittingly due to being tired he initially did not notice that something had been wrong in the town.

Currently he found himself in front of the "Bounty board" as they call it, just as the name suggests it consists of notices with information about the available bounties including a magic induced sketch(a sketch made normally by an artist but then enhanced to look realistic by applying magic) of the supposed criminal but Alan wasn't interested in that, he was interested in the ones that didn't have a sketch, because that either meant that either the criminal had no eyewitnesses or the criminal wasn't a man...... or any intelligent race for that matter but a beast of the wild.

Such cases are often rare and almost non-existent once you go to the more urban areas. He knew that and it was part of the reason he had to travel a lot but he made sure that he took care of the bigger threats before he left.

Suddenly he heard footsteps from behind coming towards him, his superhuman hearing allowed him to distinguish between different walking patterns and he knew this one very well.

"Arthur Hawk? Outside Lefora? The sun must have rose from the west today" the man stood beside him now

"I too have my moments" Hawk said while looking at Alan

both shook hands and went outside catching up with each other

"So, you hunted an Imperial tiger this time? I have heard about them but never saw one myself I believe they are found a lot more west of here"

"This one took quite the time but it could have been worse. For one i only had my bow and arrows laced with poison I made in the forest myself and an army standard revolver just in case"

"Can I see it? the revolver"

Alan handed him the holstered revolver

"Looks like a cap and ball but.... this cylinder is not original. You got it converted?"

"Bingo! it was a cap and ball originally I got it converted to fire rimfire cartridges looked alot more practical"

"Where is your rifle, by the way? That one I mean"

"The Longworth? I still have it just decided to not use it this time wanted to get more time on my bow it wouldn't have made much difference anyway finding the beast was the hard part killing it wasn't"

"Ever tried a breech loader before? "

"I just bought a Speer's rifle a while ago' currently Its up for some modification to fit one of those 'telescopic sights' as Mister Huygens call it."

"Mister who?" Arthur was not familiar with the name

"He is the assistant professor of mathematics at the Royal academy. I got to know him back when I was working with a few zoologists from there something related to the migration of humming birds"

"I know about that, sir Humphrey's paper drew quite the attention at the time. perhaps the most elaborate paper on the subject. Anyway, how is your aim? with the rifle I mean"

"Not to boast or anything but I can hit everything up to 1500 yards with no sweat"

"Of course, you are just that good." He wasn't lying he had seen first-hand just what Alan is actually capable of

"That is an exaggeration but I appreciate it.... now that I think about it, what could be the reason for Arthur Hawk himself to be at the constabulary?"

"For How much time have you been here?"

"I arrived last night, hitched a ride with a merchant, why you ask?" he didn't tell him about the carpet, it was still in his room.

"You noticed something wrong here?"

"Some folks I talked too told me that arson...."

"A raid, the scumbags burned half of the market and the ware house almost took the whole staff hostage" those ugly rooster-(a relatively new gang of raiders run by Kimberly)-sonovabichs they have gone too far this time. After controlling his temper, he spoke again

"I was talking with the chief here getting all the details sorted out, you busy?"

"No, I was just checking seeing if anymore issue had come up regarding dangerous wildlife. Just going to leave for home soon"

"The news about the tiger will reach the city before you actually, I have to show you something when we get there"

"Show what?"

"Nothing special just pay a visit to my villa tomorrow i will show you then only"

"By the way what did the chief told you?"

"Let's walk, I will tell you on the way"

2 days prior

The commercial block

Hawk storehouse

Midnight

Gunther was sleeping the attic like any other night he was the in charge of security. Over the last couple weeks his worries had seen a sharp increase due to the raids by local gangs disrupting shipments. Although very unlikely, he was concerned that they may not be limited to just shipments.

Out of caution he had written to the local constabulary about this who were themselves confused by the sudden increase in gang violence around the town.

However tonight his worries would stand the test of reality

Outside the storehouse 40 armed raiders had arrived, they had made sure that no one had seen them coming. The group leader, a man with a cloth wrapped around his head and mouth ordered the men to quickly start their work, for they did not have much time "that fool better not be late" Connery thought to himself

On the other side of the town near the town square another group of raiders around 30 in number had arrived this time near the mayor's Residence. This group was led by a man named Kimberley or Kim as he was known. He ordered his men whom he had handpicked himself to wait on horse backs as he took a watch from his pocket, under the moonlit sky he smiled as if concluding a tale, he had been writing for so long. "Two minutes" he told himself

Coordination was crucial and every minute mattered, greatly so.

Half past Midnight

Gunther's sleep had been interrupted by the commotion outside immediately after waking up he looked outside the attic from a crudely carved window and at first, he couldn't believe his eyes "A sea of fire" as he would later recall the scene. The whole town seemed to have been engulfed by it

Immediately he picked up his short pattern musket and went down the ladder only to find the storehouse was full of thick smoke.

"Bailey! Bailey!" He cried out coughing navigating through the smoke but found the whole place abandoned. Thinking that everyone had made it out already made it out he hurried to the exit

Barely managing to get out safely he saw the whole neighborhood engulfed in flames with people running around everywhere.

A fire brigade company had showed up but they were too little too late. The police were also doing whatever they could, some people had even joined together in a chain trying to draw water from the nearest well.

Just as he was getting a read on the situation a young boy not even 10 tripped and fell Infront of him.

"You alright kid? Where are your parents?" He said helping him stand back up.

"Wait, I think I've seen you somewhere, aren't you the nephew of that crazy saloon owner?"

"He is not crazy! He is different!"

"Yeah whatever, why are you alone? Where is he?"

"He left a while ago with his friends i saw him leaving " the kid stuttered

"And you tried to follow him didn't you!"

"....." The silence was his answer

"Very well, its dangerous out here. Stay close and don't roam...."

"Gunther! Gunther! Oh, thank heavens! I thought you were definitely toast" Bailey came rushing against the crowd

"Bailey? Where the hell have, ya been? Where is everyone?"

"It has been an unfortunate night but don't worry everyone is safe thanks too...." Bailey looked at the kid

"Young Spruance? What are you doing here?"

"I am looking for my uncle" he replied

"Don't worry kid he is with us; you should come with us too"

"First mind telling me where is everyone? we have to make sure everyone from the roster is accounted for" Gunther said looking back at the Firey scene

"Let's get moving first the foreman and his company will arrive in a moment the police are bringing some volunteers with them too. I will explain everything on the way"

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Half an hour ago

Inside the saloon right around the town square 6 men could be heard talking laughing drinking way after the closing hours. The owner Claud Spruance had gone out and had told them he had to "see somethings" they didn't mind, their friend had been acting paranoid since the last couple weeks telling them that he had seen men out at night surveying down the block multiple times. He said they were "outsiders" and most likely opportunist thieves.

They never believed his words, for he had been this way ever since their old army days when they had served together many years ago and old Spruance had got into an incident where his party had used wrong maps and accidentally got raided by a local elf tribe at night on the frontiers thinking they were raiders. The whole misunderstanding left 2 dead and old Spruance paranoid.

As years passed the regiment was transferred to the north where they finally retired to this town of Benzfield but the paranoia never left him.

"It's been an hour where the hell is he?" Said the bald one

"This time he has surely gone crazy, it's a matter of time before he gets into trouble, I am telling you all," said another

"He is still our comrade" the bald one iterated

"Indeed, he is"

Just as they were moving on to another topic the door burst open

"They are here! Everyone!" Old Spruance said huffing

"Speak of the devil, calm down what happened?"

"Down around the 3rd block they are..."

"First breath properly you are getting old goddamit"

Spruance took a long deep breath

"Raiders, about 40 well-armed last saw em they were entering that hawk warehouse"

"The hell, you sure are not half asleep amirite?"

"More awake than you thorn" he said it with a smug face

"John, I want you to go wake the cops up. I have to go give our guests a warm welcome"

"Hey hey, you are getting ahead of yourself. Didn't you say around 40 raiders? How do you plan on facing that many yourself" said john with a worried face

"I don't know, but i am sure as hell not letting some Hobo raiders make a fool of me and raid my town with no consequences" Spruance was angry, for the past week he definitely knew something was wrong but nobody was paying any heed to his words and now he was going to make sure everyone knew

"Fine, I am going but don't say I didn't warn you" john stood up and left to call the police

Always the most sensible among fools he knew john wasn't a coward but knew better than to risk his life like that, as for the rest.

"Count me in" said thorn and the rest also followed suit

"But we would need arms if we are going to face them" said one of them

"Don't worry, that will be the least of our problems" he replied before going behind the counter

"What do you have there?"

Spruance removed the floor and reached under only to take out a crate and everyone could tell what that was

"Army surplus huh?"

"We might have left long ago but i still have connections with some gunnys to get my hands on the goods"

The crate might as well have been a pandora's box consider how impatient it got everyone. Inside it were several repeater Carbines

"This is as good as it comes"

"You had your hands on top-of-the-line repeater carbines and you never told us huh?"

"This looks like one of those used by the cavalry nowadays" another noted

However, Spruance wasn't listening he was busy pulling out another crate of what looked like more iron

"Thats.... what is that?" Asked thorn

"This is a Hilbert rifle"

"Another repeater?"

"You bet, even the whole army does not have this standard issue many are still using precession cap muzzle loaders" he said proudly

"Then we should move quick who knows what they are up to we might already be too late"

Reaching the warehouse, they were met with the same fire and cursing their luck thinking they were too late. Finally, they made their way to the end of the block hoping to catch some stragglers and as luck would have it, two raiders just Weren't able to keep it in their pants and had to resort to looting abandoned homes.

Laying low the six of them followed the two all the way to the outskirts of the town.

Connery was getting worried; it was the first time an operation this big had been done and for how little faith he had in his men it might as well have been a miracle that everything was going according to the plan "if only that fool hadn't screwed something up already".

Waiting for the last of his arsonists he knew they had gone too far this time, Kim had done it harassing hawk was one thing but burning half the town and kidnapping employees? (who were also residents of the town). There would be hell to pay but Kim wasn't concerned about it and neither was he they both had agreed subconsciously to never again see each other's faces.

The ground was moderately covered with bushes which made for good concealment for the six of them. He had told everyone to spread out as far as they could while still having a clear view of the raiders.

"Now that changes things" Spruance said after noticing the hostages.

"Get your hands off me! You stupid scum!" Screamed Bailey

"That voice I think I know this one" Bailey used to come at Spruance's Bar frequently and one time made some ruckus with a drunkard

"The guy from the warehouse"

One by one around 20 hostages were hoarded on the carriages together like livestock

Spruance was bold and even crazy but he was not stupid he initially thought that these men were heavily armed but on further realization they only had those older brass muskets a few had dragoon revolvers but by the looks of things they were very careless and their conduct was nowhere professional.

Hence, he was going to overwhelm them, his guns had a much higher rate of fire but the enemy didn't know that, did he? They would think that they were facing a much larger force.

He sometimes wished that he too knew a spell or two, it was hard especially for humans to even use the simple ones like lighting a fire, they were not easy so there were not many humans who used Magic extensively moreover the expertise needed for such endeavors just wasn't available in the union, but there were always exceptions. Army used them extensively from communications to combat to even logistics. While serving on the eastern frontier he had seen all kinds of tribes most humanoid, many friendly some hostiles especially close to Jericho-range (referred to the unofficial border separating the Union from the holy Kingdom of Jericho)

Conner was getting more nervous as the time was passing, he wanted to leave as soon as possible but some of his men had gotten busy looting even though he had explicitly told them not to "hurry up we have to go!"

Spruance saw the man riding a horse with cloth wrapped around his face shouting orders, this made him the leader. Aiming his Hilbert rifle right for his head, if he could take their leader that might create chaos among them, he thought.

"Just a little bit more"

On the other side of the town the scene was no different the mayor and his family were not at their Residence but had been out of town for 2 weeks Kim knew had known this and part of why the apostle had ordered him to burn it in order to send a message but he didn't care politics wasn't his friend chaos was.

Their horses treaded the streets struck with chaos, they shot women, men and children alike. Kim was one of those people for whom life meant as little as the energy it took to utter the word itself and that made him unnecessarily cruel part of why the Radicals had recruited him he had no greed and ideology in exchange for the operational freedom and resources he got he did what the apostle ordered him.

But raiding small shipments in the jungle and hiding satisfied his sadism no longer he wanted more, perhaps burning down a town would satisfy him but the radicals would never approve it he knew, it would harm their reputation but when the plans were being drawn up for raiding the storehouse he proposed raiding the mayor's Residence simultaneously his rationale was that the mayor of Benzfield was an avid supporter of the feds-(MPs part of the pro federalist/ Monarchist faction)-so they were killing two birds with one stone.

On the other hand, the Hawk Conglomerate were more than just supporters they were a part of the feds the hawks and the royal family knew each other well. The conservatives-(main opposition of the federalists)-were believed to be weak by the radicals who had a different approach to the problem and the solution they came up with was in the simplest of words Terrorism

A bullet went past Kim and hit the raider right behind him, the man died instantly from the head wound. This shocked him up to now he had not faced any resistance whatsoever and had gotten too careless his advancing column was stuck in a narrow street and backing out now wasn't an option.

"Shit, I missed" John was peaking from the top of the single-story establishment down on the group of raiders. The existence of a second fire near the town square had confirmed his doubts about the town being raided. It was matter of luck that he spotted the men responsible.

"I can't let them past here" right past this street was the residential area the police was busy down the market block so he had gotten a few adults to evacuate families away to the west part of the town. Now what lay between them and the danger was he and his army standard cap and ball.

Bang! Bang! He took 2 more shots each found their mark. It didn't come to him as a surprise he had been one of the best shots in the entire regiment.

As he peaked for a 4th shot a bullet went right past just scraping by his shoulder

"Fuck that was close too close for comfort" he got cocky there whoever made that shot was a good one

Kim found himself in a precarious situation 3 of his men were dead not that he cared its just that it caused chaos among his ranks many fired blindly "idiots if you are going to die you die running around will only hasten it" he thought just then he saw a head peaking over the roof right Infront of him instinctively he drew his gun as fast as he was loosed a round. It missed that hadn't happened in a while.

John stayed put, no sense in exposing himself to danger for nothing after all he just had to buy time and every minute counted.

Kim rallied the raiders forward past the narrow street they were using a special sort of chemical filled in small glass containers to set fire he didn't knew the specifics but the supplier had told him that it caught fire when exposed to air.

It had gotten way past the time he was supposed to retreat but he didn't want to a voice inside his head kept telling him to keep going just a bit more. He did not knew about the surprise waiting for him around the corner.

As he moved around his column faced another group of men they wore Red which was worn by the armed forces of the Union but the blue arm band on their arms suggested they were part of the Special purpose militia-(part of law enforcement called upon in cases of extreme violence also known as the reserve Division or special division)

This was not at all expected, his intelligence source never mentioned any increase in police personnel let alone a special unit. He knew there was no way in hell his force of amateur men who barely knew how to fire a gun could withstand against them. For the most part his men were there purely for the visual effect they had no coordination whatsoever, no sign of discipline and were cowards of the highest order many had already broken ranks and where looting abandoned houses for valuables, in simpler words they were expendable goons, they knew nothing about their employer, their only concern was how soon they got paid.

What was strange Kim noted that the militia men did not fire immediately they just stood watching menacingly the street lamps lit their faces just enough sensing the danger he and his men started to back off but it was

"Thats enough! Everyone break off" he gave the order to retreat but it was too late among the militia center they had hauled up what looked like some sort of mechanical contraption on two wheels but it didn't come to him that he was looking at a gatling gun.

The rounds started flying everywhere and panic ensued Kim who already anticipated this fled to the back line

John couldn't believe his luck that amount of firepower was exactly what he needed, so enthralled was he that the question of where they had come from never came to him. Quickly he noticed that the man who had shot at him was trying to escape

"Not so soon" he aimed his revolver and let loose the last 2 rounds in the cylinder one hitting him in the lungs and the other pierced his right eye socket killing him instantly.

Spruance let loose the first shot right at the man with the covered face the bullet went through his shoulder and the impact made him fall from the back of his horse dropping the torch he was holding.

That first shot was a signal for the rest to open fire and the sheer volume of lead put up by just six men astonished even them. No wonder chaos between the enemy, some fled at the first sign of danger some fired back some outright surrendered, the lack of organized resistance convinced that these raiders were not professional but random hobos.

Soon the police arrived and a head count was done in total 35 men had been caught the hostages were in a state of shock but safe and sound none the less, one of them a man named Bailey, Spruance noted ran in hurry because one of them had been left behind in a fire.

The gatling gun had been fired for a measly 5 seconds and the men started surrendering in droves it also helped that Kim the supposed leader was laying dead on the ground bullet had torn up a quarter of his face his pinfire revolver still in his hand.

The militia men were impressed with how accurate that shot was, the officer began to introduce himself as lieutenant chamberlain who explained that a week ago the Benzfield constabulary had requested additional assistance related to extreme gang violence, they had guessed it to be a glorified watch duty but they never anticipated how desperate things actually were until they saw the town square ablaze.

Present

They stood Infront the warehouse.... or what was left of it

"I have seen forest fires albeit small ones but even they weren't this bad" Alan remarked

"Apparently they used a chemical solution"

"What kind of?"

"It is called white phosphorus and kept with carbon disulfide as solvent, when thrown of the something the CS2 evaporates leaving the white phosphorus exposed to air it burns extremely hot and cannot be put out by just water even the army is researching it in order to make some kind of incendiary munition"

"That explains this I guess"

"I have to talk with a few people including the mayor"

"What do you think could be the motive?"

"It's a political move some radicals want to threaten my father and they figured the best way to do it by attacking me his son in the north I am not scared though I have a few ways of dealing with this but first I need all the information I can get"