“The beasts are here!” a voice shouted close to where Tetsuko and Faela were. “Get ready to kill those monsters!”

Shouts of men and women ready to face danger followed, along with the sound of dozens of heavy footsteps on stone. The next moment, almost 50 soldiers came around the corner, running with their weapons raised.

When they saw all the beasts were already dead, they slowed down until they stopped. All the high spirit and battle-ready hard expressions vanished from their faces. Only then they noticed Faela, standing next to the headless body of the monstrous dog. It took a moment, but a moment later, they understood what had happened. And then they couldn’t believe.

“What’s going on? Why did you all stop? You can’t be scared of those monsters! They’re just mad animals!” shouted someone from behind the troops. “It’s our job to kill them!”

“T-they’re all dead already, captain,” someone managed to speak; most were still too stunned to talk.

“What? How?” The captain pushed his way to the front of the soldiers.

Faela clicked her tongue and pulled her hood back to hide her face. As discreet as she could, she tried to retreat to the alley where she came from. Before she could find the safety of the shadows, the captain appeared among the front soldiers and saw the scene.

“You there, answer me! What happened here?” he demanded, pointing to Faela.

Tetsuko didn’t need to feel her wielder’s energy to know; it was plain the swordswoman was fighting to hold her anger from her voice.

“The animals are dead,” she said in an as-matter-of-fact voice, her tone slightly lower from usual.

Like forcing your voice is gonna hide your identity, Tetsuko thought.

“I can see that for myself!” the captain shouted, a vein popping on his forehead. He took a deep breath to hold his anger before speaking in the same commanding voice, “I ordered you to explain to me what happened here, citizen.”

Tetsuko sighed in her head when she felt Faela’s energy stirring even more. All the trouble of coming to the city in disguise is gone.

“Lucky for me you can’t order me, soldier,” she replied, not hiding her desire to enrage the man.

The soldiers behind him sniggered. Then they looked away when the captain glared at them.

“Do you know you who I am? I’m not a simple soldier! I’m the captain of this city’s guard!” he was shouting again, his face reddening. “When I order a citizen of this city, they must obey!”

“Lucky I’m not from this city,” she said, pulling off the hood of her cape.

The man took a step back. Instead of red, his face became pale. “F-Faela… Y-you’re back from the expedition…G-glad you’re alive…”

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“Yes, I am back, Sergio. And what a great job you’re doing guarding the city.” The swordswoman lanced at the monsters. So did the man.

“Y-you don’t know anything! These… monsters started attacking out of nowhere! And they’re strong! It’s hard to fight them!”

“Yes, I can tell. Even my sword had trouble cutting them.” Faela glanced at Tetsuko with a snigger before turning around. Sergio thought the mocking was to him, and his face became red again.

“Stop right there! It’s true I can’t order you, but you can’t simply walk away like this. I need to you answer a few questions for the report!”

“That doesn’t matter now.”

“I say what matters! You can’t tell me how to do my job!”

“Your job is to protect the people. Master and your brother should’ve taught you that. And right now, the report can wait. But lives can’t.”

Sergio looked around. Some of his people were talking to the soldiers who were here before them, but most were raising broken wood and pieces of stones to look for those hurt by the monsters.

Faela walked into the alley before the captain could say anything else. She entered one of the houses that were hit by the tail of the monster dog.

Apart from the gash where the tail had passed through, the outer wall was intact. However, the inside was a mess. The tail had it an inner wall, which had crumbled down, bringing part of the upper room with it.

“Can you sense anyone?” Faela asked as she looked around.

There, Tetsuko answered, moving her energy slightly to the right so her handle shook in the direction. Underneath all the rubble, the soul in the sword could feel a person still alive. It’s a man. He’s not in any danger but his leg is hurt and trapped under a beam.

Faela cleared as much of the debris as she could with her hands. Underneath all, there was a man, just like Tetsuko said. He was unconscious, but as the swordswoman worked, he breathed in dust and coughed, waking up.

He blinked and looked around in confusion. He tried to clean his face, but his dirty hands only made everything worse. When he gave up, he then realized his leg was stuck and screamed in pain.

“It’s okay. I’m here to help,” Faela said in a soothing voice.

It worked, to some degree. Though the man still looked in panic, and his breathing was still fast, taking in more dust and coughing, but he stopped screaming. He tried to pull himself, and only added to his pain.

“Don’t move. Your leg is stuck and it might be broken.” Faela tried to move, but the wood beam was too heavy for her. “We’ll have to cut it.”

“No, please! Call someone! I can’t live without my leg!” he begged, desperate trying to pull his leg free again. He winced with pain but didn’t stop struggling.

Faela put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “It’s okay. It’s not your leg I’m gonna cut.”

As the swordswoman drew her sword, Tetsuko clicked her tongue in her head. I’m not a carpentry tool to be cutting wood. Despite her anger, she flowed her energy, channeling along her edge.

Faela touched the wood with the sword and pressed it. To the man’s astonishment, the blade slowly went through the hard wood as if cutting butter.

The wood fell apart and the man’s leg was free. With Faela’s help, he got out of the house and limped back to the main street.

“I think his leg’s broken,” she said as she handed him to a soldier.

The woman nodded, placed the man on a stretcher and carried him to the church with the help of another soldier.

Faela touched the handle of her sword as her eyes searched the area. Even though it hadn’t been long since the beasts showed up, the destruction had been too big. Even with over 50 soldiers helping, they still had barely covered half of it.

“Tetsuko, please sense if there’s anyone else trapped under rubbles or anything like that.”

Though the soul in the sword didn’t like to be used as that kind of tool, she still complied with her wielder’s wish, expanding her energy to sense the area.

I’m beginning to think you see me more as a convenient tool than a sword, she complained.

Faela flashed a wry smile. “Multi-use sword.”