Chapter ninety six

From the information I got from the priestess , there were no more obstacles in my path down south to Germany, but that all changes when I got there. In a sort of reverse history the predominantly French sisterhood was occupying the majority of Germany, but they were unable to breach Berlin. The rest of the country wasn't under complete control either , the Germans were fighting the occupation using guerilla tactics. The rest of the country was a volatile mess where the forces of the church and the forces of resistance that were based in Berlin randomly meet and erupt into battle. The battle lines were always shifting and a town under control of one side might be flying the flag of the other the next day.

As I flew south with Jules quickly leaving Norway and passing it's southern shore , I started to wonder if the world would be a better place without the church of Sofia. They seem to be a collection of controlling and uneducated extremists who didn't seem to give any religious guidance except to denounce what they believe to be heresy. The only good thing I have ever seen them do was when Lidia was running the orphanage, but even there she was obviously being pressured to stop. Are they doing any good in the world? Probably, but I think it was outweighed by the mountains of evil they have committed and continued to commit.

While I was pondering this issue , it seems I had crossed the North sea without even noticing and the northern shores of Germany came into view. What I saw wasn't reassuring, there was smoke rising up from the direction I was heading to. As I got closer I saw that there was a decent sized port town that would have looked quite nice , with sturdily constructed houses and well maintained roads, if it wasn't on fire. I could hear the screams of women and children as the flames hungrily devoured their homes. I quickly started to spray as much foam around the town as possible to stop the flames while the fire proof Jules simply went through the flames and rescued people.

We weren't the only ones trying to help people,there were a bunch of knights in bulky armor that had steam coming from it and seemed to be moving using hydraulic pistons and giant gears, they were also going around saving people. When we crossed paths we didn't even communicate, the one in the largest armor and seemed to be their leader saw that we were helping people and simply nodded at us and continued his own efforts to save people.

In the end I was able to put out the fire before it destroyed the city although 35% of it was just charred rubble. Most importantly between me , Jules , and the knights we were able to save almost everybody. I set up a tent on the beach to give treatment to injured people, Jules was the one actually providing the treatment using bandages and equipment she made from her very own flesh since she could shape shift it into whatever she needed, to help her I just kept a constant flow of mana going to her body so that she wouldn't run out. After I was sure that she had more than enough to treat everybody I left the tent and came face to face with the man in the armor that was twice my size. The moment I saw him I clad myself in invisible armor just in case, I didn't use the demon armor because they were saving people just like us and I had a feeling they were the dwarves I was looking for, the last thing I wanted to do was spook them by wearing the demon armor.

We just stood there sizing each other up when Jules said in my head," John, his armor is really weird. The metal seems to be blocking mana. Mana passes through everything John, whatever that armor is made of , it is the first time I've seen anything like it."

I was now almost a hundred percent sure I was looking at a dwarf, he didn't look like he was going to speak first so I started the ball rolling,

"Hello, my name is John. Nice to meet you."

"You speak German very fluently, but I doubt you are one of us, where are you from and what is your purpose in coming here?"

"Oh , I'm not actually fluent in German, I can talk like this because of an enchanted item. I'm an enchanter from the burrows looking for my friend Walter in Berlin . who am I speaking to?"

"Wait, your John, that John? An enchanter from the burrows, it can't be a coincidence. If you are telling the truth then what did you give Walter to make you his friend?"

"Orichalcum metal, why ? There isn't a problem is there? He is OK right?"

The back of the giant metal construct opened and a blond haired man came out, his features were nearly identical to Walter.

"So you are the reason my brother is now living like a prince with everybody kissing his ass. Hello I'm lieutenant Ansell , friends call me ace , the ones behind me are my unit , the reavers . The witches call us that and it sort of stuck. We are happy to meet you John, and I want to say thank you on behalf of every German citizen for what you have done for us, it was your actions that turned the tide of the war in our favor."

Now I was very confused, I didn't remember doing anything to help them. I wonder if he was talking about the orichalcum I gave Walter.

"Ah, so you don't know? You see this armor? You see the blue black metal? The witches call it devil steel, we call it sentinel steel. Whatever name you may give it, it's most important property is to block magic. Without this we would have been wiped out hundreds of years ago. The process for making it isn't very difficult but it requires a very rare ingredient, orichalcum. So again I say to you, thank you. When your friend is finished with the injured , we will personally escort you to Berlin ."

It seems my actions had unintended consequences.