Chapter 15

The first thing I saw was Lucian jumping away from the rodentia’s overhead strike. Its improvised weapon in the form of a chair smashed into the ground and splintered into pieces.

Between the shelves stocked with all manner of bottles and test tubes, Lucian stood up and charged. Unfortunately the creature was faster than it looked and quickly recovered from its previous wild swing.

I carefully watched the ongoing battle, doing my utmost to keep myself from running in there. The two seemed evenly matched, even if the doctor was the only one wielding a real weapon. I had to wait for the moment when I could deliver a killing blow.

The laboratory, what with all the shelves, chests and, presumably, alchemy equipment around made any available space for stabbing quite scarce. My longsword would be especially cumbersome there.

“Orokana ningen, daring to barge into this one’s lair!”

A soft “what?” involuntarily left my my month before I could stop myself. Was…was that Japanese?

Why does the abomination know Japanese?

“Dramatic like the rest of your wretched kind.” Said Lucian as he cornered the rodentia, sword pointing at its throat.

The rodentia sneered, but Lucian continued unperturbed. “Now, I have some questions about your activity here and you will answer.”

The rat man scoffed. “ Hmph, baka, you think your pathetic posturing is going to intimidate me?

Lucian was obviously displeased with the whole situation. Also, he was not a patient man to begin with. He wasted no more words as the tip of his sword flew upwards, searching for the rat man’s neck.

Some part of me thought that it was a bad idea to kill our source of information. But, apparently, the doctor believed killing the rodentia was a better option than trying to interrogate it any longer.

A split second later, that belief was proven right as the creature swiftly turned, not managing to completely dodge the strike, but enough to have it pierce its shoulder instead of its neck.

The movement was enough to throw Lucian off balance and for the rodentia to place a swift kick in his stomach.

The doctor was not the most solid man around so the strike managed to, not only throw him on the floor, but make him lose grip on his shortsword as well.

Seeing how bad the situation turned, I wasted no more time and came out running. My surprise appearance startled the rodentia who was halfway into picking up Lucian’s sword. Still, there was enough time for it to process what was happening before I reached him.

I had no hope to begin with that I would deal a swift sneak attack. The laboratory was built in such a way that I could be easily seen coming inside. No, my hope was to quickly overwhelm it before it had the chance to set the pace and, hopefully, finish it off with the doctor’s help.

The rodentia aiming for the shortsword was not ideal, but my plan remained unchanged as I dashed forwards.

“Tsk, meiwaku.”

Unfortunately, the creature did not wish to humour me. It quickly backed up, ignoring the sword. I had no idea what it intended to do, but I was already too close to back out now.

I pulled back the sword, ready to pierce it. Even with the tunnel vision I had, I still managed to catch the rodentia’s arm coming back from the nearby shelf with a bottle in its hand.

I prayed that I was faster and stabbed it before it managed to do what it planned to.

I wasn’t.

The bottle shattered on the stone floor, instantly engulfing both me and my adversary in a thick, green, cloud of smoke. My eyes were immediately rendered useless, but my attack continued unperturbed.

Unfortunately, its abrupt stop, the loud “ding” and violent vibrations I felt meant that my blade had hit the stone wall behind the intended target.

The ratman was no longer there, I panicky realised. Even so I was lucid enough to understand that the smoke was not normal either. My eyes stung and the quick build up of tears made my vision even more unfocused. My next mistake was breathing in the smoke. My throat instantly dried and I felt as if thousands of needles were driven through it.

I let out an involuntary groan, making my throat feel even worse. I heard Lucian screaming something, but my consciousness was already beginning to fade. Some more sounds of a struggle were heard before I was completely consumed by darkness.

I don’t know how much time I had spent unconscious. What I do know was that my awakening was probably the direct opposite of how you would normally want to come back from dreamland.

Pain, shouting, horrible smell and an all around soreness in my limbs.

My eyes cracked open a bit, my mind more murky than a swamp after a storm. I had a hard time remembering where I was and what was happening. My vision was blurry, allowing me to perceive only the shapes of various things.

I realised I was lying down. I saw a human silhouette slowly standing above me. It crouched and, by the way it stood, I was certain it was looking me right in the face. A second later and I heard it speak.

“Wake the f*** up, samurai. We have a city to burn.”

What?

“What?”

*Smack*

“I said get up, Reginald! We’ve got ourselves in heaps of trouble!”

The blow across the head actually managed to freshen up my mind. My vision also returned to its normal state. Now, I could see the doctor standing over me, dishevelled and with blood staining part of his clothes. His expression was also one quite far from pleasant.

Also, he was glowing.

“Why are you glowing?”

“I’ll get to that. First off, how many fingers am I holding?”

“Umm, some of them?”

*Smack*

“The number, you fool!”

“Ouch! Three! You’re holding three fingers! Stop hitting me, damn it!”

The doctor did a few more quick tests on me. A couple of minutes later, when he was satisfied with my answers, he began explaining the situation.

“Thankfully, the gas was not anything lethal. Just a mix of Rock root and some other simple chemicals.”

That was good news actually. I had no desire to get myself poisoned, even if I had the good doctor with me. I was lucky it was a simple knockout gas instead of something lethal.

“Now, as for our situation… we ran out of luck.”

Ah, that can’t be good. “What do you mean? What happened to the rat man we were fighting?”

“The blasted thing managed to escape. However, I was quick enough to make sure it does so with a price.” He said while nodding towards a nearby corner where a furry arm was sitting in a small pool of blood.

Thankfully, the doctor was in one piece and so was I. Still, the fact that the rodentia escaped could only mean one thing.

Lucian must have seen the growing horror on my face as he let out a tired sigh and confirmed my fears.

“Yes, it is just like you think. The rodentia got outside and managed to alarm the entire kobold camp of our presence.”

“H-How are we still alive?” I managed to squeak out. Already imagining an entire army of dog men coming for my life.

Lucian pulled on his collar a bit, revealing an elegant silver necklace with a small cross hanging from it.

“I spent half of my annual salary on this. A sound investment on my part. It’s capable of creating a barrier anywhere I choose to and nothing short of a bloody dragon is capable of piercing through it. I sealed the entrance using it.”

A relieved sigh escaped my lips. Thank whatever god there is in this world. I didn’t have to go through some last stand kind of scenario. The cave had only one exit and I’m pretty sure kobolds could not muster up the strength of a dragon. So we were safe.

“Unfortunately, it only lasts for about half an hour with my reserves.”

“...”