Arming For War

After a long explanation, my brother learned about all the events that had happened to me. He knew how and why I came here; in short, he knew everything. At first, I didn't want him to think I was talking nonsense, but he was proud of what I did.

It was difficult to make my brother proud in such situations because he generally only thought about our people. Other descendants didn't interest him much. But after these events, I realized he had changed. He looked at me with a proud expression and said, "I'm sure Mom and Dad would be proud of you, Hiroshi."

"Thank you, brother. That means a lot coming from you," I replied.

"So there are still some of our friends alive," he said.

"Yes, thanks to Lena, we managed to save them from the third Epic," I explained.

My brother slowly lifted his head from the ground and gently put his hand on my shoulder. "I want you to promise me something, Hiroshi. When I'm done here and fulfill my promise, you will fulfill your promise to your friends. Then we will return home to our people."

"As our father used to say, the burn of a promise is harder than the burn of an ember," I said.

"Yes, our father said a lot of things, but we never heard him say anything wrong. He taught us well, and I'm sure that's what he would have wanted us to do," my brother replied.

My brother was very clear about that, and it made me happy. I was reunited with him after a long time and not only that; we had a chance to be a family again. I wanted to go back to our people and our home just like him because nothing is as beautiful as home. So my answer to my brother was clear: "I promise."

My brother stood up with a happy expression and a slight grin, shaking his head at me. "For now, let's stop talking. I'm sure Princess Yeli has finished her work and is waiting for us," he said.

At my brother's words, we soon arrived at the meeting room to plan for the battle with the princess. But when we entered the room, the princess was not the only one there. My fellow warriors were also waiting to discuss what to do with her.

Apparently, something had gone wrong; otherwise, I wouldn't have expected them to be here. I thought they were helping to make weapons for the people here, so I asked them.

"I thought you were helping to make weapons," I said.

Shou answered my question in one sentence, clearly hinting at their problem. "We're out of material," he said.

Lezlie, seeing my brother next to me, was curious. "Hiroshi, who's that with you?" she asked.

I had no intention of hiding anything from anyone, least of all my fellow warriors. "It's my brother," I said clearly. "I thought he had died a long time ago. He's the general here."

Everyone was a little surprised but still calm and optimistic. Without further ado, we returned to our original topic.

Due to depleted supplies, some of the rebels were still lacking armor and weapons, which could cost us dearly in battle. But I wanted to share my thoughts. "We know we're lacking arms and armor," I said. "But don't worry. The kings will come with plenty of ammunition, and I'm sure we can make up the shortfall with them."

Wedan pointed out that we had more serious problems than armor and weapons. "Even if we close the gap," he said, "we're forgetting the more important problem: how strong the enemy is."

Mila joined Wedan in discussing what we could do about the enemy. "Wedan is right," she said. "Even if Ryuu brings the dragon, each of the elite soldiers here is rumored to have the strength of an epic."

I turned to my brother for information about the enemy because he had stayed here longer than us and had made many observations. "Brother," I said, "you know more about the enemy than we do. Do you know anything about them? Anything at all?"

My brother had a thoughtful expression and a negative attitude. He seemed about to say something we didn't want to hear. "Unfortunately, she's right, Hiroshi," he said. "Some, if not all, of the elite soldiers here have almost epic strength."

"We just need to know what to look out for," I said.

"First of all," my brother explained, "compared to other kingdoms, there's no ranking of elite soldiers here. Instead, the Fourth Epic has a right and left arm. Compared to other elite soldiers, his right and left arms are quite strong—so much so that they're almost equal in strength."

My brother continued his speech. "The Fourth Epic's right arm is the samurai who destroyed our village and killed our family and Jesse," he said. "He has two swords that are very dangerous. The big one is on his back, and the normal one is always on his waist. When he holds both of them at the same time if you can't dodge the attack, you'll die on the spot—no matter who you are."

"He can also shoot fire from his mouth," my brother added. "That makes him a hybrid—a half-dragon. As for the left arm, the only thing we know is that we can tell from his movements that he's a ninja. But otherwise, he's very stealthy. His face is always hidden like a shadow, and his movements are as fast as lightning and very hard to follow."

"As for the other elite soldiers," my brother continued, "the third elite soldier—the general of the orcs—is physically very strong. He's also the next heir to the organs, but he's not very smart."

"What about the other two?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, they're both hybrids like the samurai," my brother said. "But not just any hybrids—they're quite powerful. One has both merman and death lineage powers, while the other is half-human and half-animal and can use the powers of the possession lineage."

"They're quite powerful hybrids," I said.

"They are," my brother agreed. "The merman is undefeated in water and can easily take down a ship single-handedly. The other is as strong as a gorilla in size and physique, and the creature he summons is quite dangerous."

As my brother continued to talk, our hopes for the battle seemed to dwindle. The fourth kingdom was indeed a difficult battle to fight. But we had no intention of going back at this hour. Shou stepped forward to contribute at that moment of despair. "I know the enemies here are quite strong," he said. "So I asked the old man to arrange a few things for you."

At Shou's words, the door opened and an old man entered with a wheelbarrow full of goods. His wings were wrinkled, and his skin was wrinkled like his wings. He wore glasses and entered with great excitement. He stopped the wheelbarrow in front of the table and suddenly started to analyze the people around him without permission. He was still quite fast and energetic for his age.

Shou called out to the old man. "Old man, are the things ready?" he asked.

The old man put the things on the table one by one. "Yes," he said. "I tried to do something like you asked me to."

He first took a strange stick in his hand and handed it to Lezlie. "I think you must be a witch," he said.

"How do you know?" Lezlie asked.

"You're dressed very much like them," the old man replied. "But don't worry—this stick is perfect for you. It may look like a long stick on the outside, but it's actually a very nice stick that doubles as a wand. You'll be able to cast your spells better with it."

"Wow," Lezlie said.

"Not only that," the old man continued, "there are spells in the folds at either end of the stick—spells that are opposite to your own. Using your spell control, you can make the stick lighter when you want to lighten it or heavier when you want to hit an enemy. There's an extra spell in the stick that can make it disappear or return it to your hand whenever you want."

Lezlie was amazed and impressed. She knew how useful and powerful the thing she had received was and looked at the old man with great joy. "I don't know what to say," she said.

The old man interrupted Lezlie in a funny yet optimistic way. "For our warriors, always," he said.

Judging by the concentration of weapons on the table, it looked like the old man had made weapons for everyone here. After giving Lezlie her stick, he gave Wedan a large and heavy hammer-like weapon that could blend with ice to make his attacks stronger and faster. Strangely enough, the hammer had two heads—one at the top that was quite large and another slightly below it that was medium-sized.

After Wedan, it was Mila's turn. The old man not only improved the bow that Mila had but also made a flask with a water magnet attached to the top. Whenever she opened the magnet, the flask would fill with water, and Mila could use her water power unlimitedly.

Finally, apart from giving Shou a few exploding shuriken, the old man also gave him a new weapon: the KusariGama. It was a special weapon used by ninjas with sharp scythes on both sides. He could enhance the two weapons with his sword so that whenever he moved them, they would interact with each other and shoot electricity directly at the enemy without solar energy.

When the old man saw one of my guns, he spoke to me as if he suddenly remembered something. "Where did you get this gun?" he asked. "I made it a long time ago. I remember it fired poison bullets."

"So you're the one who made it," I said.

"Yes, I was," he replied. "And it looks good on you."

The old man looked at my hero's gun and began to examine it for a moment. The gun attracted his attention more than other things. He made me an offer. "The gun seems to be quite durable," he said. "If you want, come to my workshop for the gun. I can arrange something for you."

I knew the gun belonged to my hero, but I agreed that a few parts needed to be replaced. Otherwise, the gun had started to rust a lot—especially when I put the bullets in the magazine again. Accepting what the old man said, my brother and I followed him to the workshop.

When we arrived at the workshop, the old man was true to his word. In a short time, he not only improved the weapon but also refurbished it from scratch and added different features to it. He even gave me magical leather gloves to use with the new feature of the weapon. Whenever I put on the gloves and came into contact with the weapon, I could control the bullet outside the weapon for a limited time after it fired. The bullet was going where I wanted it to go, and I was sure that this limited time would gradually increase as I got used to it.

When we finished at the workshop, I wanted to ask the old man something before we left. After all, he had lived in the fourth kingdom for as long as my brother had and might be able to give us some useful information about the enemy for the coming battle.

"Tell me, old man," I said. "Do you recognize the Fourth's left arm?"

"Actually, I didn't," he replied. "But I didn't know him until I spoke to Shou today. I don't want to bore you guys with the details, but from our conversation, I realized that the left arm was Kai."

"Who's Kai?" I asked.

"Once upon a time, he was like a brother to Shou," the old man said. "But Kai betrayed their master and killed him. Not only that—he caused Shou to be the way he is. I thought he was dead, but now I know. Kai is the Fourth's left arm in the shadows. Although the metal armor I made saved Shou, he wants to avenge his master more and more every day. And you guys seem to be his hope."

We thanked the old man and left.

After so many promises and oaths, the only thing left to do was to wait for the day of battle and win the war.