Chapter 26: Benjamin.
Within the large and crowded halls of Buchai’s central railway station a silver haired man with glasses in a black suit and tie marched his way towards platform five. The flashes of countless cameras flanked him from both sides, as he walked he constantly endured the irritation of numerous microphones and audio recording devices being shoved in his face.
Countless people pushed past each other to speak to him, some threw insults and others complimented him. Either way it didn’t matter to the man as he had endured situations like this countless times before. He snapped his fingers and Before long eight bodyguards had formed a circle around him pushing away anyone stupid enough to get too close. A pregnant woman was thrown to the ground, an old man fell as one of the guards shoved their way past him and a man was punched in the face when he spat at one of them. The man and his entourage passed through a long ticket barrier that prevented the crowd from following him further. Of course there were still hundreds of people ahead of him but none of them bothered him having learned from seeing the group brutalise several people already.
He gazed across the wide underpass in front of him, eyeing the various staircases leading up to the platforms. Once he had located the staircase leading up to platform five he headed straight towards it, his security team following closely behind him.
back on the crimson duchess, Okimodo observed from the roof as the man and his bodyguards ascended the staircase. On the platform below many people reacted with immediate surprise upon seeing the man.
“Looks like the prime minister has arrived.” Okimodo spoke to himself as he held an ornate smoking pipe above his head. He carefully angled its tip against the dangling overhead wire before an electric shock lit it up. Smoke sizzled up from within the tobacco pipe and Okimodo took a deep puff before entering the guard cab.
At the same time Benjamin Norton entered one of the middle carriages and immediately began the search for the compartments that he had booked. “Where the hell is seat number seven hundred? Don’t tell me these dumbasses gave me a seat at the back of the train.”
“It’s at the back of the train…” One of the eight bodyguards, a woman named Hiruru spoke up sheepishly.
Upon hearing her words Benjamin turned to face her. His dark bloodshot eyes had deep dark bags underneath them and his forehead was bulging with veins. “So they’re already trying to kill me? If I survive this journey then the imperial railway can expect a nasty letter and a lawsuit.”
“So… are we going to the back or…” One of the other bodyguards, a large lumbering man asked.
Benjamin squinted at the bigger stronger super resonator, it was as if he was looking at a person dressed as a retarded clown.
“I’m sorry…” he quickly apologised upon seeing his employer’s visceral reaction.
Before any more words could be spoken, a young staff girl ran into the carriage hastily.
“Greetings Benjamin Norton sir.” The young woman who looked to be only some twenty years old was barely able to mutter her words.
Benjamin gazed down through his glasses towards the girl. “If you wish to greet me properly then take a bow.”
“What?” The woman appeared stunned as if she had been whacked in the head. “You’re joking right?”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“No, I’m serious.” Benjamin’s voice grew darker with every new word. “Just like how they did back in the Coronation empire, like they do now in the Ukosyranian empire. There they know how to properly live in submission.”
“Crap.” Hiruru moaned. “He’s gonna go on and on forever.”
As Benjamin began to speak further he worked up a sweat that trickled from his forehead down into his undershirt. “How much conflict is there in life because people don’t know how to simply bow to just authority. How many people die pointless deaths when they could have just kept their heads down and kept on living.”
“Sir I didn’t mean to offend you?” The woman trembled as her expression became a mixture of confusion and fear. “If there’s anyth-“
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Benjamin sneered in a beast like manner, a tear of spin hung from his bottom lip and his hair grew disheveled. “This is the problem. This… this, this lack of a fear of god. Get the fuck out of my sight you bitch.”
Around them several heads popped out from the compartments as numerous people sought out the source of the disturbance.
The woman quickly took several steps back and was about to leave. In that moment she couldn’t have been happier to leave the carriage.
“WAIT!” Benjamin yelled.
The woman’s two feet stopped moving forward as terror reclaimed her body for itself. She slowly turned around and asked “What” hoping that this interaction she would have never asked for in a million years could end.
“I’m sorry my dear.” Benjamin took an elaborate bow before snatching her hand and kissing it. “I’m so sorry my dear.”
At that moment the woman’s spine felt as if it were alive and trying to free itself from her skin. After being stunned for a second she yanked her hand back, no longer hiding her disgust towards the man.
“Don’t look at me like that…” Benjamin stood stiff and spoke in a flat tone. “Empty this carriage and send all of these people to the back of the train now.”
“What? I can’t do that!” The woman immediately protested in disgust.
“Than get someone who can and tell them that this fucking train isn’t moving forward until this carriage is empty.” Benjamin demanded.
The woman left and before long an uproar had been kicked up on the train as carriage number three was stripped of it’s passengers.
Benjamin was now seated in the centre of a compartment couch with six of his bodyguards sitting around him. Outside the compartment Hiruru and Ishik were stationed at either end of the carriage holding the gangway doors shut to keep out the enraged passengers.
“This Benjamin man is a real bother.” Ishik sighed to himself as countless people roared at him from the other side of the door.
Inside Benjamin’s cabin one of the six bodyguards asked. “Why did you do that?”
Benjamin who was now reading a book in his lap spoke without raising his head. “You’re fired go home.”
“What?” The next thing that bodyguard knew he was back out on the platform flipping through a newspaper in search of a new job.
Back inside the train Benjamin sat back down before falling into deep thought. He cursed his current situation as he realised that his bodyguards were a bunch of fucking imbeciles. First of all whenever trains were attacked, either by bandits, train robbers or assassins, they would always attack by entering through the rear carriage while the train was at speed. Since most people who attempted such things were super resonator’s they could easily out run top of the line express locomotives. This maid climbing into the rear carriage an effortless feat. By moving a large portion of people to the back of the train Benjamin had assured that any enemy would have to get through a loud and terrified meat shield. This would allow for him to hear news of the attacker before the attacker themselves reached him.
“What the hell is going on.” Lyon leaned out of his compartment to observe the enraged passengers lining the corridor. Behind him the red eyed woman lay taking a nap and the man next to her simply kept on reading his book indifferently.
In the guard cab a strong smell of marijuana filled the air. Okimodo sat on the floor with his back against the wall. His eyes were bloodshot and a fin trail of smoke drifted up from his mouth.
Shipo was down by the stairs peeking at the enraged crowd through the half opened door. “What the hell is going on?”
Okimodo felt an intense desire to take a nap. With Shipo there he could basically just do nothing since one shang rokai was already enough to deal with a bunch of low class resonator assassins. He got up leaving the tobacco pipe behind and sat on the couch before turning his body to lay on his back.
The carriage shifted suddenly as the huff and puff of a steam engine roared from the front of the train. Slowly but surely it began its departure from Buchai central station.
End of chapter 26.