1.2

The summons of Saragarhi

If anything happen, they were supposed to retreat back to Saragarhi. But to Johann surprise, he could see a tent not too far away. Outside stood the bald man, leaning at a tree keeping watch. He raised a hand at Johann, speaking in broken English.

“Hello”

The man looked around before shooting his arm out, catching something out of the air. The hand opened and Johann can see a fly very much still alive flying out. The young warrior gave a single nod and entered the tent, he needed to know what was going on. Inside was a grisly sight indeed.

A makeshift table was propped up, on it was the teen, his costume folded nearby, with blood all over. Over him were the old lady and Alva, nervously holding up a torch. Despite not knowing what was going on, Johann realised he shouldn’t interrupt the two.

Fortunately, they were done here. The old lady finally took out a small piece of metal drenched in blood. She put it in a small tray full of similar items.

“That should be the last”

Before Johann could open his mouth, Alva looked at him.

“The others have gone to Saragarhi already but he is too injured to be moved”

“I kind of guessed that”

“Are the two summoned with you?”

“… No”

“I see, then we must move now before they catch up. Just leave the tent behind. Jo, help me carry him please”

The normally carefree Alva had seemingly taken charge, not that Johann mind. He carried the teen over his shoulder and left. The bald man propped up the old lady and away they went.

“Alva, why didn’t you heal the guy”

“I tried, the normal method didn’t work”

“What about Ayurveda?”

“That… I have never used it on a live subject before, I didn’t want to risk it. Luckily, Mrs. Singer here is familiar with the wounds” She turned to the old lady “Apparently it is caused by something called ‘gun’”

“Ohh, ‘gun’, pew pew pew right”

The bald man interjected with his broken English. He made his free hand into a curious shape with two fingers sticking out. Johann took out a translator out of his pocket and threw it at the man. He looked at it for a bit before putting it in.

“What language do you speak?” Johann asked, still in English.

“Me? Japanese, I’m Japanese”

“Like this right?”

“Wah, you are really fluent”

“In what?” The old lady asked curiously.

“In Japanese, what else”

“But he had been speaking in English all along, and why does your English has become so good all of a sudden… Don’t tell me” She reached for her ear, Alva had already given her an earbud “This can translate in real time”

“Wow!” The bald man seemed excited about this as well “Who are you people?”

“Good grief” Commented the young warrior “Oh, we are Johann and Alva von Brandt, the rest I will explain when we get to safety”

“Oh, I haven’t had an introduction with you yet, I am Eikichi Kira. Nice to meet you”

“I’m Mara Singer”

That was it for introduction, the group then hurried up for Saragarhi. Although from the look of it, they weren’t being followed, or that was what Johann thought.

___

The townsfolks were of course cooperative. The fours were directed to a big house on the edge of the town which Cassian and the rest were. It also served as the clinic for the local healer.

As soon as they opened the door, Johann was greeted with the pointy end of a rusty katana. The wielder soon recognised them as not being a threat and back off though. It was the woman with her small bag, she was still clutching the sword, trembling slightly.

Eikichi walked up and disarmed it easily.

“A genuine article, where did you find it?”

“It… It was on the ground near me at the tree”

The woman seemed rather relief to have the weapon taken away, she soon handed Eikichi the wooden sheath as well.

“This must have come with that boy, he seems Japanese. Come to think of it, where is he”

“The doctor takes him further in for some check ups”

“I see. Come to think of it, I don’t we have been properly introduced yet”

“Oh right, my bad”

“Um, it isn’t exactly a problem…”

“My name is Fleur Guillard but you can just call me Fleur”

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A beautiful woman no doubt with short and wavy brown hair. She was still scared and very much confused about what was going on. Her clothes seemed to be around the era of Eikichi and Mara. According to the old lady, the woman was apparently conservative but fashionable.

The rest also introduced themselves, except for the unconscious teen of course. They were later joined by Cassian who informed them of the condition of the final summoned. The boy was, as he looked, malnourished, on the verge of dying of starvation even. The local healer was tending to him, however, and his situation was sure to improve.

Now was the time for them to recoup as well, or not. Eikichi looked around and suddenly declared.

“We were followed”

“What! By who” Questioned Johann.

“Dunno”

“How do you even know we were tailed” The young man was sure that there was no one behind them. The Fallen also avoided normal citizens as well so they tended to stay away from residential areas like this.

“I just know, I can feel it in my gut. Maybe it is one of the masked dudes, I am sure that guy in here with us” Eikichi was confident about this.

Before Johann could shot that idea out, Cassian jumped in “Well, maybe we could look around” And as usual, the young man couldn’t turn down his childhood friend. He begrudgingly agreed. The girls stayed back as the three went snooping around.

“Why did you even humour that guy” Johann asked as Eikichi walked out of sight.

“Just my gut I guess”

Unlike his friend, Cassian had quite a high opinion of the bald man in tacky suit. After all, he did witness it, that insane stunt. To divert a spear with one’s teeth, now that was absurd.

The search came up blank, however, there was no sign of any intruder.

“Now that was a waste of time”

In the living room, Fleur seemed to be much more comfortable. She was showing Alva a bunch of items for make-up. Apparently, before coming here, she was a beautician. Truly, how could one be expected to save the world without looking fabulous.

“This is strange, I am sure there is someone” Mused Eikichi, who was standing in the corner.

Johann was too tired to say anything back. Today had been a taxing day for him, both physically and mentally. He had left two summoned behind, such a failure.

Meanwhile, Mara decided to join the girls “I can’t remember the last time I put on make-up, it’s just too troublesome”

“How about some light powder and lipstick, I’m sure you would look great!”

“Hm, might as well”

“Jo, what do you think~”

Alva jumped up in front of Johann. The girl was already a beauty, as befitting a von Brandt. But the make-up had turned her into someone truly stunning. The girlish pink cheek, that glossy red lips. Well, it was not like Johann cared much.

“Well, you look good”

“That was dry… Oh well, what do I even expect from you”

“You look lovely, Alva” Cassian commented.

“Oh my, thank you Cas. You could at least learn some manner from him, ignoring your fiancé like that!”

“Eh, you two are engaged!” That attracted Fleur attention.

“Yup~”

“Ah, so that’s why you are both von Brandt, I thought you two are relatives”

“Well, we are” Said Alva “Jo here is my uncle”

“Eh…” Fleur went quiet, her mind was running the numbers. Even Eikichi, who had been quiet, let out a “Dayum!”

“What’s wrong about that?”

“Well… in our place, relatives marrying isn’t really common… Different culture I guess, heh… heh” The woman turned back to finish Mara make-up “Done, you can take a look now, Mrs. Singer”

“It’s Ms” The old lady took a mirror and looked at herself “Oh my, you have done a lovely job, thank you dear”

Johann was on the verge of leaving to have some rest before noticing a big grin on Eikichi’s face. The man mumbled to himself “I see…”

“I SEE! How could I have been so stupid!”

“Um, what’s wrong” Questioned Fleur, who was incredibly confused.

“We are all from different time, how could I let that slide for so long!”

“Well, your fashion sense is certainly straight from the 80s” The beautician muttered.

“I am, what’s wrong with it” Eikichi replied “From that, I could guess that you and Singer-san and me aren’t that far apart. But that guy with the giant sword must be ancient”

“Just cut to the chase!” Johann stepped in, he had enough with Eikichi’s antic.

“Nothing really, I just realise what happen if there is another of us. Someone from such a different time that I didn’t even realise, maybe from the far future!”

With that, the man suddenly pounced at the air behind Mara, grabbing on to something. Then to everyone surprise, an ‘ouch’ rang out from empty space.

“You can decloak now”

Eikichi said confidently and he did receive a reply.

“And you can let go of me now, pervert old man!”

From the of it, the man was slapped by someone invisible, that person soon revealed herself. It was a female wearing a hoodie and short pants, the rest of her legs were covered by boots and stocking. The face was opened, underneath was a teenager with red lipstick, red eyeliner, red hair and red eyes as well for that matter. She also had three small piercings under her mouth.

“First of all, I am not a pervert! And secondly, I am still young!” Eikichi retorted.

“First of all, you look like a hipster in his thirties! And secondly, you touched my chest!”

Johann could hear Fleur mutters “Yep” for the first part.

“No way, I didn’t feel anything at all!”

“AHHH!”

The girl twisted her body and delivered a kick straight at Eikichi’s crotch but the man immediately closed his legs, locking her own leg.

“Now that isn’t nice, young lady”

“How about this for being nice!”

The girl raised her hand and from the wrist, four tiny darts shoot out, her bracelet had a built in taser. Eikichi simply grabbed them mid-flight. Just like with the fly earlier, Johann thought, such speed and accuracy.

"What kind of freak are you…”

“One who is going to teach you about manner”

Before the girl could react Eikichi dashed behind and grabbed his arms around her. He then bended back sending her straight to the ground.

“NOOOO!”

The girl in red yelled out but finds her head barely stopped before touching the ground. Eikichi had put down an arm to stop the throw.

“You really think I am going to suplex a girl”

“Why don’t you take a look at yourself then!” The girl broke away from him.

“Still so feisty, I give up. Why don’t you introduce yourself then”

“Why should I!”

“Or else I will give you a nickname”

“I don’t care!”

“Alright, Doraemon it is then” After no time spent thinking at all, Eikichi settled on that.

“Wait, what” It seemed like she cared after all.

“Well, you are from the future and that hoodie has cat ears so I figure”

“What is a Doraemon even!”

“Huh, you don’t know ‘konna koto ii na, dekitara ii na, anna yume konna yume ippai aru kedo~’” Eikichi ran a tune, the language foreign.

“What are you singing even…”

“Your theme song, Doraemon!”

“I told you already, I don’t know what this Doraemon is!”

The rest watched on as the girl exploded in frustration and anger. Johann had to admit, it was quite an entertaining scene. He looked to side to see Alva staring at him with a wide grin on her face.

“What’s your deal” He asked, irritated.

“Nothing, it’s just rare to see you smile like this, Jo~”

“Tch, go mind your own business” Johann waved the girl away.

“Sure, sure~”

Cassian felt relived seeing his companion this relaxed. It had been a tough day for both of them. The young man could feel someone pulling on his sleeve though. It was Mara.

“Um, can I ask you something”

“Of course” Cassian, being himself, tried to be as helpful as possible.

“How come when Mr. Kira sang, it isn’t translated”

“If I remember correctly, the earbud is set to keep singing in the original language”

“Then how does this earbud even differentiate between singing and talking expressively?”

“Now that you say it… I have no idea” The young man wondered.

Meanwhile, the girl had drawn out a butterfly knife and was stabbing at Eikichi with surprising speed and accuracy. The man was completely unconcerned; however, he simply dodged all of them while continuing with his song.

“An an an, tottemo daisuki, Doraemon!”

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh at the scene, well except Mara. The fact that a young girl was actively trying to kill a senior hadn’t escaped the old lady, all the stabs were aimed at vital. For someone this age so ready to kill. At least this blatant attempt at murder didn’t succeed… comically.