"Alright, it is getting pretty late. Annie, can you take Elizabeth and the willowbear so you can wash up inside. It’s almost bedtime, and be sure to read her the story about the fortress and the pea." Annie quickly picked up on the signal and the three of them headed into the landraider, while Luna hastily put on her sunglasses.

The trucks were parked a good distance from them, and dozens of soldiers came out of the trucks. They wore Silvus uniforms, and the one who approached them seemed to be their leader, as he was the only one wearing an ornate sword on his hip.

"Hello there, nice night for a picnic, right?" The officer looked at Baldric, Luna, and then at the landraider as if looking for something else.

"Sure is." Baldric replied. "So do you need something?"

“Actually, we are hoping to borrow firewood. We decided to spend the night here in a rush, you see."

"Sure." Baldric stood up and gathered some from their pile. "If you want, I can carry your firewood for you. It would be a shame to see that uniform get barks and splinters on it."

"I don’t see why not."

Baldric then followed him towards their trucks.

Silvus soldiers were all humans and wore uniforms that were a mixture of red and black. The ordinary soldier wore a cap and red jackets with black collars and red cuffs on top of their white undercoats. Their legwear consisted of black trousers with white gaiters. The officers wore the same uniforms but had more ornate details, especially with their steel shoulder guards, long stylish black capes, and leather gloves.

As Baldric surveyed the group of soldiers, he saw in the distance that there were other trucks with more soldiers as well.

"So where are you headed?" The officer asked him as Baldric put the firewood down.

"Nowhere in particular, just taking the lady for a camping trip, you?"

The same. We are on leave and just camping as well." Both Baldric and the officer knew each of them was lying.

"Alright then, you all have a good night." Baldric then walked back to their camp. Luna sat around the fire and playfully stoked it.

"So how many?"

“Thirty I can see, but there appear to be another ten to fifteen hiding in the trees. They also blocked the roads, and they are fully armed."

"Heavy weapons?"

"Nope. Just two standard armored trucks. Heavy cannons on them though." Baldric said as he warmed himself by the fire.

"Let’s end this here." In the window of the landraider, a light flashed that got their attention. Annie signaled that Elizabeth was safe and that the landraider was combat ready.

"Baby gloves, right?"

"Yeah."

"Loser is on dishes at the next campsite?"

"Try to keep up then." Luna kicked some dirt onto the camp fire and snuffed it out. She sighed, but at least their streak of peaceful days ended with good times and a willowbear.

=0o0=

The soldiers waited for the cover of darkness. They surrounded the land raider completely, with even the cannons on their armored trucks aimed directly at it. Marksmen had climbed the trees in order to have a better vantage point. Thirty soldiers, all armed with rifles and carbines, quietly moved closer. They were unaware of the small metal balls that dropped and rolled from the sides of the giant vehicle. The roof of the landraider slowly opened without a sound.

"Ready the dynamite." The officer said softly.

As the soldiers aimed their rifles, the metal balls on the ground exploded, and blinding lights lit up the entire field. The men roared out in pain. From the roof of the vehicle, a flare shot high into the air and illuminated the whole area, which caused the marksmen in the trees to shield their eyes.

From his gun port, Baldric picked off the marksmen in the trees. Armed with his repeating rifle, every shot he took landed a hit on their shoulders, hands, arms, and legs. Even at a distance of nine hundred meters, he hit them with ease, and the soldiers fell from the trees.

"One, two, three, four…" Baldric counted as he loaded ammo into the cartridge like a machine.

The soldiers close to the ground slowly recovered. But when they looked up at the landraider, on top of it was a six-armed creature.

Annie wore fully iron-plated armor that covered her from head to toe in an impenetrable shell, with a mask that protected her face. Her armor had four giant mechanical human arms that were powered by a heavy engine at the back that roared and released a fog of hot steam that masked her movements.

She leapt down and engaged them directly while the soldiers opened fire. The engine allowed her arms to move with incredible speed and reflexes despite the size of her armor, and each mechanical arm lifted and slammed soldiers into the ground with ease. The bullets bounced off her armor as she got into range. Aside from her mechanical arms, she was armed with a giant iron wrench and knocked out the soldiers with powerful swings.

The fighters were so distracted by Annie that they did not notice the shadow that moved around them and struck them down one by one. Luna tested her new retractable staff and took down the soldiers Annie missed with lightning speed. The soldiers barely had any idea what was going on as one by one they fell to the ground.

"Nine, ten, eleven, twelve...” Luna counted as she knocked them out.

Baldric finished first, when cannon fire hit the landraider. But it barely made any dent in its incredibly thick armor. He changed positions and manned their cannon. He counter fired and landed direct hits on the trucks. Once he had destroyed two trucks, he saw more soldiers that climbed out of the wreckage. He changed positions again, picked up his rifle and picked them off.

"Clear!" Luna yelled out once all the soldiers around the landraider were all on the ground, unconscious or wincing in pain. She signaled to Annie to secure the soldiers.

"Clear!" Baldric yelled out once he finished scanning the area. He then got down and helped restrain the prisoners.

He realized they didn’t have enough rope. So instead of wasting resources, he just proposed that they bury all the soldiers up to their necks in the ground. And thanks to Annie’s arms, they finished quicker than expected.

Once they found the officer, Luna got a vial from her pocket and uncorked it. She put the vial close to his nose, which woke him up. He struggled and panicked when he realized all of them were buried in the ground.

"Who sent you?" She asked.

The officer quickly gritted his teeth and bit down hard. Baldric bent down and showed him a single fake tooth.

"Looking for this?" He smiled at him.

"Who sent you?" Luna asked again, but the officer spat at her and almost hit her boots.

"May I?"

"All yours." Upon hearing Luna’s word, Baldric bent down again and whispered something into the man’s ear. In a few seconds, his defiant face suddenly changed into a face of pure terror.

"I am sorry ma’am. I have acted rudely towards you. I will talk. I swear." Luna could see that the man was visibly shaken and sweat started to form on his forehead.

"State your name." Luna ordered.

"Rannon Furnim ma’am." He answered.

"Where are you from?"

"State of Uskop Ma’am, Northern Region."

"State your rank and legion."

"Staff sergeant. Tenth legion scout group."

"So you are legitimate Silvus soldiers?"

"Yes ma’am."

"What are your orders? Why did you attack us?"

"We are not after you specifically, ma’am. Our only order was to retrieve a child, a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Numerous reports from the nearby towns said that she was travelling on an iron land train. We were also ordered to kill anyone escorting her, but under strict orders not to harm the child in any way."

Luna clenched her fist tightly.

"Why? Why are you after her?"

"I can answer that." Baldric and Annie just finished rummaging through the soldiers' belongings and returned with a piece of paper. It was a poster with a rough sketch of Elizabeth’s face on it, along with specific orders to not harm the child in any way. But the one that got her attention was that there were no other details on it.

"Who put this up?!" Luna roared at the officer. "Where did this come from?"

"From high command ma’am, it was sent to every detachment of soldiers and enforcers in the eastern Silvus states." The three of them exchanged glances.

“Why are you after her?!"

"We do not know, ma’am. But our orders also involved looking for a crippled woman as well." Luna looked at Baldric, who was just as confused as she was.

"Do you know who we are?" Baldric was the one who asked.

"Bounty hunters, sir."

"Do you know which guild? Or our names specifically?"

"No, sir."

"Good." Luna hit the officer square in the face so hard that he immediately fell unconscious.

They completely destroyed all their equipment, took all their valuables, and gagged all the soldiers. Once they were sure they could not escape any time soon, they quickly left the campgrounds.

=0o0=

While Annie, Elizabeth, and the willowbear were asleep in the housing quarters below the driver’s compartment, Baldric and Luna stayed awake. It was midnight, but both of them were wide awake as he drove and Luna charted on the map what routes they should take so they could backtrack out of Silvus territory.

"Asterion set us up. They used us right from the start." Baldric slammed his fist on the controls. "Right from the damn start, I knew it."

Baldric cursed as he repeatedly struck the controls.

But Luna stopped him. "Hey, hey, you didn’t know. We didn’t know. We both got ourselves into this." Once he calmed down, she continued to write on the map. "We did not know any better."

He did not reply.

"But I have to admit, this does make things incredibly complicated." Luna finished the map and joined him near the controls.

"One thing bothers me, though. The soldiers don’t know that Elizabeth is a mage, which means that they are after her for another reason. We need answers from the kid, Luna. This is big if the orders came from Silvus's high command."

"I’m just afraid Elizabeth might not tell us the truth. I tried asking her who she was, but I couldn’t get a straight answer. She did mention she had a former shadow as a bodyguard, so my best guess is that she is a high-ranking aristocrat."

"Do you want me to make her talk?"

"No. It won’t come to that. We can get a straight answer from her. Trust me."

"Always do Luna." Baldric said as he looked ahead. "I always do."