Chapter 40 - Preperations

With only a few days remaining until the planned strike on the workshop, Tetsuo needed to finish his preparations. Thankfully, Veera had been able to retrieve the unsealed Ficium weapons and sigil chalk he had asked him for.

“Hehe. ‘Twas no easy task. The weapons were easy. But th' chalk, well. One of our ‘finest’ ‘s gonna be seein’ stars for a while.”

This still left Tetsuo with very little time to prepare the weapons they needed for the raid. He began drawing sketches of loose concepts, planning how he was going to neatly scribe the required sigils for the weapons.

A soft knock at the doorway caught his attention.

“Hi Honey!”

Tetsuo shuddered. He knew what that sweet tone meant. She was going to ask him for something completely unreasonable.

“So I know you’re busy with getting these weapons ready, but…”

Tetsuo shook his head and sighed. He extended his arm out to her and she gave him a rolled up piece of paper. He spread it out over his desk, before looking back at her in disgust. “Bianca this is a–”

“I know! It’s genius right? They’ll never see it coming.”

Tetsuo sighed. “Bianca, this feels like we’re opening Pandora’s box here.”

“It’ll just be a one time thing! We need all the advantages we can get.”

Tetsuo looked back at the blueprint before rolling it up again. “If there’s time, I’ll see what I can do.”

Bianca leaned over and planted a kiss on Tetsuo’s forehead. “Thanks honey, this is why you're the best.” Bianca strutted out of the room.

Tetsuo wondered if this would have been a good time to practice choosing his own wants. Unfortunately, she did have a point. With how little information about what they were up against, they needed every advantage they could take.

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“Tomorrow, we’ll strike at noon.”

Tetsuo dumped the weapons he had finished inscribing onto the table. The contents included a longsword, a large battle axe, and a short knife. Bianca, Alon, and Veera were all seated around the pile waiting for his explanation.

“These are all unsealed and tested. We’ll practice with them a bit before tomorrow, but it’ll have to be subtle, so we don’t risk giving away what they’ve got coming to them.”

Tetsuo turned to Veera and asked, “Are you sure you want to join us? We’ll likely be going up against your daughter.”

Veera nodded. “I can’t sit around and let all you youngsters take on all the responsibilities. Besides, she’s probably dyin’ of boredom down there. A visit from her pops’ll lift her spirits.”

“Well, I am glad you’ll be there Veera,” Alon suddenly piped in. He spoke with a beaming smile, seemingly making Veera uncomfortable.

“Er… right boy… Whatever you say.” Veera looked at Tetsuo with confusion, but Tetsuo was equally lost as to why Alon was acting so bizarrely.

Tetsuo shook his head and gathered his thoughts. “Anyways, half of the guards should be on a lunch break at that point, meaning we’ll have an easier time if we have to fight our way through.”

Bianca raised her hand interjecting. “Isn’t that kind of stupid, attacking right in the middle of the day?”

Tetsuo tutted, annoying her. “Almost all rebel strikes have happened at night. A strike in the capital during broad daylight will be what they least expect. In fact, if we play our cards right, we won’t even have to fight.”

“And how’s that going to work?”

Tetsuo smirked. “Please, in case you’ve forgotten, we’re three Alvanian knights. Wouldn’t the kingdom be oh so grateful if we brought in the leader of the rebel force.”

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“Tetsuo, of all your weird schemes this might be one of the worst,” Bianca whispered to Tetsuo as he pulled her along the road. They had placed a cloak over her to try to minimize the amount of attention she’d be receiving. Her hands were bound together with rope, but the knot he used meant she’d be able to slip out easily if she needed to. Tetsuo had borrowed a spare set of leather armor Alon had, on account of how he tore the Alvanian crest out of his own.

“Trust me. This is my best plan yet, no factor was left unaccounted for.”

“Tetsuo, I love you, but these plans have literally only ever–”

“Silence, criminal! You’ll speak when I tell you to!” Tetsuo interrupted. He tried to hold his laughter back, although Bianca’s tired expression told him she may not have found it as amusing.

“Can you guys quit it with the flirting!” Alon loudly whispered back to them. He was walking ahead with Veera to try to draw the attention to them rather than to Tetsuo and Bianca. “We’re trying to keep a low profile here! Last thing I want is to get found out ‘cause you two wanted to be cute with each other.”

“Sorry…”

“Sorry.”

Bianca kicked Tetsuo in the leg, he did the same back.

As they walked through the streets, more and more people were staring. Given his time around them, Tetsuo would often forget that Veera and Alon both had quite the reputation in the kingdom with how capable they were. Compared to them, Tetsuo couldn’t help but feel a little too weak. Which reminded him of something important regarding Bianca’s weapon.

“Bianca,” Tetsuo whispered. “Remember what we talked about regarding that.”

She rolled her eyes in response. “Yes, I know. I’ll be careful.”

“If you can, don’t even use it. Seriously, when this is done I’m melting it down and making sure no one ever makes anything like it again.”

The four of them arrived at the entrance of the courtyard, where they found two knights standing guard. Through the gateway, they could see that within the courtyard there were a total of eight well armed soldiers. The tents set up within the courtyard implied that they had been residing here, standing guard day and night. An alarm bell was now installed on the side of the workshop building, with one of the soldiers leaning next to it asleep. Any last doubts Tetsuo had of where they needed to strike were quelled. Whatever Eleanor and Alvania were hiding was inside.

One of the guards at the entrance, marched up to their group and saluted Veera.

“Captain Veera. It’s my honor. May I ask what business you have at the workshop. Currently, it’s designated as a restricted area. We can’t let you in without Eleanor’s permission.”

Veera chuckled to himself. “Well, y’see we managed t’ capture the rebel leader, so we’re bringing ‘er in. Pretty good eh?’

“Captain, respectfully, this is the workshop, not the dungeon.”

“Ah well… So it is…”

The guard stared at Veera vapidly.

“Ah well, lyin’ ain’t ever been a part o’ my nature.” Veera grabbed the guy's head and slammed it into his knee, incapacitating him immediately. Before the other guard could even react, Veera swung the flat end of his axe into his stomach, knocking him into the side of the entrance way. The other guards enjoying their lunch, watched in shock as Veera strolled in, axe at the ready. Alon walked behind him and drew his longsword. Bianca pulled apart her binds, and rubbed the cuffs of her hand, before patting Tetsuo on the back.

“It’s alright honey, it was a great plan.”

She walked into the courtyard readying for battle. As Tetsuo watched the three of them prepare to fight, he could only wonder if there’d be a day where one of his elaborate schemes would finally pay off.