Chapter CXIII – For he shall have a visitor without expectation.

11th of Autumn 5859
Castle Casamonu, Casamonu

Knock, knock.

Brown raised his head from the map that he had been intently staring at for the last hour. “Come in.” It seemed that he was about to be distracted again. Visitors had become much more common now that everyone needed help with this and that related to mobilization.

Ayomide entered the room, dragging someone in by their arms “Captain, this guy was really insistent on meeting you.”

“Young lady, don’t drag our visitors like that. That’s quite rude.”

The guy being dragged by Ayomide was freed, and he was certainly an odd and intimidating character, with dark skin that resembled ash and crimson eyes that towered over Brown. His clothes, a business formal suit and tie, made him look way less intimidating however. “Greeting, Mister Brown. You have met me before, if only through the written word.” The visitor pointed towards the M1 Garand that Brown had set on the corner of his office “I hope you enjoyed my gift?”

“Wait, you’re Nirmal?” Brown got up to shake the hand of the dark elf of gun delivery “I certainly have appreciated your gift. Come, sit down. Would you like some tea?”

“Sure, I certainly need some refreshment after travelling for so long.” Nirmal and Brown were seated, and Ayomide soon returned with a cup of tilia tea for everyone in the room. “Thank you.”

“So, tell me Mr. Nirmal… well, tell me everything if you could, since we haven’t been introduced.” Brown tapped at the map on his desk, quite curious as to who this mysterious Good Samaritan was.

“Let me start from the beginning then.” Nirmal took a sip from the tea to prepare his throat for a long speech “I was born in the forests of Zon’guldac, to the dark elves who hide in the deepest parts to escape from all the other elves. I don’t remember much since I was very young, except that one day my village was no more and I was left an orphan wanderer until I was captured by slave traders who were enticed by my ‘exotic’ features.”

“Goodness…” Brown shook his head.

Ayomide suddenly interjected “Similar to my youth then, though I remember my village was in a place that had few trees. The grass was… yellowish, the earth was red, and what trees I remember look very different than the ones here. I can’t describe it exactly. Those are all an indistinct blur to me now.”

“It’s very hard to remember something when you’ve never gotten a chance to see it ever again” replied Nirmal “I believe it has been more than a century since I’ve been back in Zon’guldac.”

Brown was shocked “A century?! You don’t look anywhere close to a hundred years old, Mr. Nirmal.”

“That’s just how elves age, Mr. Brown. Very slowly. I’ve been waiting for a very long time to get a taste of freedom. Kim did “emancipate” me and many others, only to make us work to the bone for his company to pay off our debt to him.” Nirmal took off his tie and laid it on the table “I gave my resignation letter a week ago. A bit late to be sure, but I had some unfinished business back on your planet.”

“‘Your planet?’ Do you mean Earth?” asked Brown. All this otherworlder stuff sure was confusing for a man in his sixties.

“Yes. Kim had a gate that he could pass through to get himself to and from Earth to Gemeinplatz. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring anything except the clothes on my back. I don’t have any possessions to my name save for what’s on me right now. That gate has closed now that Kim is gone, so I can’t go back either. I had to travel all the way from the capital to here after returning from Earth.”

Brown leaned forward, putting his arms on the table “Earth… What was the date when you left? It was 1859 when I had to take my leave.”

“It was 2023 when I left. I had heard your name, so I did some research on ‘John Brown’ before I left, as much as I could do on a public library computer anyways. You look just like the photos that I saw in my research, and you did die in 1859.” Nirmal didn’t need to add how odd it felt to see a dead historical figure standing right in front of him.

“Hmm? Is my name known well enough that you can do research on me two centuries later?” Brown, humble as he was, couldn’t help but feel proud.

“Yes. Your Wikipedia page is quite impressive.”

“…my what page?”

“It’s an online encyclopedia.”

“An on… ah, it’s one of those fancy computer things that Watanabe talked about. Apologies, I was apparently two centuries behind to ever see one of those.”

“Right, I don’t know too much about Earth’s history. I didn’t spend too much time back there. Most of my business was related to accounting Kim’s business on Gemeinplatz.”

“Regardless, your business with Kim is over now, and the Republic could use a good accountant or two. I’m sure Dr. Rabanowicz would appreciate having more time to work on her scientific work rather than crunch numbers. What do you say?” Brown extended a hand towards Nirmal.

Nirmal shook Brown’s hand with the excellent formality of a well-seasoned office worker “Of course. I didn’t place myself in all that trouble to deliver that rifle for nothing. Kim paid me basically nothing anyways, so you can’t do much worse than him.”

Brown retracted his hands after the shake, and smiled at his new coworker “Our plan isn’t to ‘not do much worse’, our plan is to do much better, may Providence guide us there. Ask Dr. Rabanowicz for what she needs help with. She should be back in the castle by lunch.”

“Actually, captain, I saw her screaming joyfully this morning while waving a huge piece of paper around.” Ayomide looked out the door of Brown’s office “I believe she’s still out there somewhere.”

“What was she screaming about?”

“About having managed to get a working copy of a printing press.” Ayomide shrugged. She didn’t care much about the odd paper-marking machines that everyone seemed so obsessed about.

Nirmal looked out the door too, though he found only the empty corridor outside “She seems like an… interesting woman, to say the least.” He rose up from his seat “I’ll go looking for her. Glad to be working with you, Mr. Brown.”

“Glad to have finally met you, Mr. Nirmal.” After Nirmal left, Brown dug himself back into his maps, while Ayomide left to do her job as a captain…

11th of Autumn 5859
Courtyard of Castle Casamonu, Casamonu

Knock, knock.

In front of Ayomide was fresh meat: the 2nd Infantry Division. As a captain of the 1st Infantry Division, formerly known as the League of Gileadites, it was her duty to command the training of the newcomers today. The 2nd Infantry Division differed much from the 1st, mostly from the fact that these recruits were rural peasants and not emancipated slaves. To Ayomide, they were as alien as Martians and the concept of Mars.

“Good morning, people. I welcome you to the fine army of our republic.” She could feel snickering as she approached the soldier-candidates who were much taller than her. Some were focusing on her ears, some on her tail, and Ayomide wished they’d focus on her sword which she was debating whether to bonk one of them with to make an example. She decided on a much less violent example. “Okay, are there any volunteers to take me on in a no-weapon duel? Whoever falls on the ground first loses.”

After a bit more laughter and banter, a particularly large farmhand stepped up. “Miss, you can surrender now if you’d like. I wouldn’t want to hurt a lady.”

“Yeah yeah, spare me the talk.” Ayomide rolled up the sleeves of her uniform. “Come on, don’t hold back.”

The farmhand charged at her directly. Ayomide simply stepped aside, letting the man lose his balance as he tried to grapple on to air. As he tried to regain his balance, Ayomide kicked him right on the shins, causing him to topple down face-first on to the ground. “Okay, anyone else? I’ll tell you that I’ve gone through a fair amount of scuffle before I came here. I didn’t survive for this long by being a meathead. That’s the first lesson.”

Another contender entered the ring, a fellow perhaps as large as the last one. This one managed to grab Ayomide’s arm, only to be poked in the eyes and lose his grip. Then all Ayomide had to do was kick him on the stomach and watch him fall down. “Hey, that’s not fair!” cried out the fellow who had his eyes poked.

“Second lesson: We’re not fighting fair here. Chivalry is for bluebloods, we’re all a bunch of nobodies. Poke out everyone’s eyes out if you need to. Anyone else willing to challenge me?”

It took a good few minutes before anyone stepped up. This time Ayomide’s opponent tried to poke Ayomide’s eye out. It didn’t go well as it was obvious what they were trying to do. Ayomide grabbed their two fingers reaching for her, and then twisted them a bit to cause her opponent to fall on the ground wincing in pain “Third lesson: Be quiet. Don’t make it obvious what you’re planning to do.” She turned back around to her audience, which had gone quiet out of respect.

“Now that I’ve gotten your attention, are you ready for some actual training?”