The green city was loud and crowded. Much like the capital, the streets near the shopping districts were stuffed to the gills. However, there was a different mood to the provincial city. The people here were happier, friendlier. Part of that had to be the fact that most of them were dwarves. But even the Cyclops and Orcs seemed to be in a better mood than the people Luke had just left.

  Their friendliness didn’t extend to him. He looked like an injured elf and people took care not to bump into him. On average the elves had a higher station in this culture, so no one wanted to anger him.

  The train station was his first stop. Although he hadn’t set up a meeting spot with Kruro, it only made sense to find her there. She was expecting him to come in with the next train.

  He circled the complex first, not wanting to go through security yet. There were only so many times he could bluff his way through the guards. There was a ten foot tall bramble fence around the train station and Luke stopped at several points to peek through it to the large station inside.

  There wasn’t a hover train lined up there right now, and it looked half deserted. Apparently it was only busy once a day when the train came through. Luke didn’t see any naga hanging about so he turned to leave.

  Something caught his eye and made him turn back. On the northern edge of the train station, closest to the outer wall, were storage crates full of trade goods. One of them had its tarp half open and a bit of black poked through. It was a familiar furry black.

  He moved along the fence further to get a better look. Once he was close enough he checked again. Yep. That was his mech. He could sneak in there and grab it whenever he wanted. It was about five or six hours until night, he could just wait until then. Even if they had some security, if he had enough time to repair his armor, he would be fine. He hadn’t seen anyone too powerful in the green city. With his Black Mamba, he would be unstoppable.

  He shook his head. He couldn’t get too confident. The viscount had sent mercs after him, he had to play this smart. There were endless classes, he only needed to be caught by the wrong one to be completely helpless. There were a half dozen train station employees in the area around that crate. Any one of them, or even all of them could be mercenaries out to get him. If he wanted his mech, he would have to sneak in and out instead of going in guns blazing.

  It wouldn’t be easy getting in there and stealth had never been his strong suit. He also needed enough time to repair the Black Mamba before he headed out. If Repair Armor was as good as he thought, it shouldn’t take too long. But the power armor had been pretty wrecked. It might take two or three mana pools before it was fully repaired.

  He cursed Past Luke for not fixing it before sending Kruro away with it. At the time he had been thinking he didn’t want his mech designs to fall into the wrong hands, but now he was left with an additional complication.

  With a sigh, he turned away from the fence. He would have to meet up with Kruro and see if there was a way for her to get the mech instead. It wasn’t a good sign that she didn’t have his mech with her, but maybe she wasn’t worried about it getting stolen. He turned to a nearby dwarf.

  “Excuse me. I haven’t been to the green city before. Where is the naga neighborhood?”

  The dwarf gave him a weird look. “There’s two naga dens in Vedastine, both of them nearby. There’s one right there, and the second one is on the other side of the train station on Praxede Road.”

  Luke turned to see something that looked like a subway station entrance. It was a ramp leading into the ground with a sign above it with an unfamiliar script. There were railings around the ramp sides and a wooden railing leading down. Dim lights shone below. “Ah, yes. I knew it was around here somewhere. Thank you.”

  The dwarf kept giving him a weird look, but Luke ignored him and hurried over to the naga den entrance. The ramp leading in was made of stone and ended in a grate to catch rain runoff. Past that it was all dry and dusty dirt.

  A young naga had been playing at the bottom but when she saw him walking down the ramp, she turned and slithered away at high speed. Luke ignored her and walked into the underground dwelling. From what Kruro said there was a communal living situation here. He should be able to ask around to find her. He paused to let his eyes adjust once he was fully underground.

  There was a short corridor ahead that branched into three different hallways. A large and muscly naga slithered up from the left one. He wore studded leathers and a metal skirt. He held a spiked club and smacked it into his hand menacingly. Luke tried not to roll his eyes. If the naga didn’t have a class, there was no way he could hurt him.

  “Your kind aren’t welcome here. Piss off or we’ll be in our rights to eat you.”

  Luke held up his hands calmly. “Calm down. I’m here to talk to my friend, Kruro. She’s a naga that came to town maybe a few days ago. Do you know her?”

  A shorter naga slithered out from the enforcer’s shadow. She was wearing a simple purple dress and an exasperated expression. “Are you Luke of Machines? Of course you are, I see your leg.”

  Luke took a step back. Were these people after him too? He dipped his hand into his bag and grabbed the bent stun baton. It wouldn’t work well, but at least his Variable Ammunition still activated with it.

  “Kruro said you were bold but I didn’t think you would ignore all the customs. I hope no one saw you slither down here. Come, follow me,” she turned and slithered down the hallway.

  “Wait. Who are you? I’m not following someone I don’t know into the dark. If Kruro’s here, have her come out and meet me.”

  She turned and looked at him just past the armored guy’s body. “Kruro isn’t here and that’s the problem. She’s been captured and it’s all your fault. Come with me and we can discuss how to rescue her. Or don’t and her blood will cover your eggs.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  The naga turned back and slithered away. The guard naga scratched the back of his head and looked awkward.

  Luke stood there in confusion for a moment. What was that? Why didn’t she answer any of his questions, provide a single word of reassurance? Was it some mercs trying to use reverse psychology? Trying to act like they didn’t want him to fall into their trap?

  It was working.

  If Kruro really was abducted, he had to rescue her. It seemed like he was always rescuing her. After she was safe on Earth, he would have to have a talk with her about letting herself get into trouble. He gripped the stun baton tighter and walked forward.

  He gave the guard a wide berth and followed the naga in the purple dress into a side room. There weren’t any doors in the whole complex, but each room had a curved entrance like a public bathroom back on Earth.

  There were two other naga in the dirt room she led him to. Another heavily armed naga and a much older woman. She was wearing metal tinged robes and had cloudy white eyes.

  The older woman croaked out, “I’m assuming this is Luke of Machines?”

  “Yes, Broodmother,” purple dress said.

  “And who are you all?” Luke said, not leaving the doorway.

  “Who we are doesn’t matter. I will tell you my name anyway since I can tell you would argue otherwise. I am Broodmother Kreskas. Your friend Kruro told us of you when she was here for mating last night. She said she thought she was being followed and asked me to help you free her, should she get caught.”

  “So someone abducted her? Where are they keeping her?”

  “No one abducted her. Soldiers of the Empire arrested her. They are keeping her in the train station main building, west of the entrance. They have one obvious guard, and several hidden ones. It is clearly a trap, probably for you. Ventro has prepared a map.”

  The burly naga handed him a folded scrap of paper. Luke unfolded it to see a detailed map of the three buildings inside the train station, with notes on what guards they had seen and where they suspected more soldiers were hiding.

  “Thanks. So, what’s the plan?” Luke asked.

  “What plan? Did you forget that these are soldiers of the Empire? Don’t be ridiculous. I will not give the lives of this den for your folly. Giving you the map is the extent of our assistance.”

  “That’s it? A map is all you can do to help your fellow naga Kruro?”

  "I fully expect you and Kruro to both die in this rescue attempt. But there is one final thing I must give you that may help." The broodmother reached back and pulled out a bag.

  The burly naga held up his hand and said, “Please, broodmother, don’t give him that.”

  She slashed her hands down. “It is not ours to take. Wealth cannot be exchanged for glory. Once we break our word it is gone forever.” She held out a bag to Luke and said, “This is yours, Kruro was keeping it for you. Now that you have it, there is no reason for you to be here. Please leave and never return.”

  Luke looked into the rough canvas bag. It was full of cores, all of them high tier. These were the ones Luke gave to Kruro when he sent her ahead. It was worth millions of dollars. All three naga turned their backs on him.

  Luke stood there in shock. He couldn’t believe they gave him his wealth back, but they weren’t going to help him save Kruro. Their morality was baffling to him. They gave up so much money because they made a promise to give it to him, but they won’t help him save their friend. After he was sure they wouldn’t be turning around, Luke walked out. He felt unbalanced while he thought about the problem. Then a thought occurred to him.

  He tsked. The infuriating part was that soldiers had taken Kruro. He had known it was possible that those sent after him were soldiers, but he had convinced himself they were mercenaries instead. The difference was stark. Instead of him having one enemy that would run out of money or mercs soon, he was now the enemy of the state.

  It must be about that damn book. They had sent dozens of soldiers after him because he had the combat runes book. It was probably mostly about the shield rune. Both sides had efficient methods to attack, but only one had an effective defense. The shield rune would be a game changer.

  The fact that they had sent soldiers after him made it all the more important that he got home and gave the government the shield rune. If they were this desperate to keep the information secret, they were probably gearing up for war. Those rumors were seeming more and more likely now.

  The smart thing to do would be to leave right now. He could avoid the trap entirely and head straight home. Too bad he wasn’t going to do that. He was going to rescue Kruro before he left, despite the danger. It was the right thing to do.

  He firmed his shoulders and looked around. If he was going to go on a valiant mission to save the damsel in distress, he needed to be prepared. He was going to go on a shopping trip before night fell and he moved in.

  ???

  The orc commander grunted as he walked past the cracked open door. “Look alive, soldiers. Estimates have the target arriving in town tomorrow morning at the earliest, but that means we’ll get an inspection sometime before then. Anyone that falls asleep tonight will be reassigned to culling duty.”

  The obvious guard in the central room stood up straighter and there was the sound of shuffling deeper inside. Luke was laying on the ground outside the fence, listening in to the conversation. He had augmented his already impressive perception with a jerry rigged helmet. He had added vision and sound boosting runes to the bucket helm. It wasn’t nearly as good as his usual standard, but he was rushed.

  He waited until the commander had left the complex before kicking off his plan. Not for the first time, he wished that Jinx had agreed to come with him to the city. Her natural stealth talents and class granted skills would be perfect for this mission. Sadly, she was a cat and cats did what they wanted to.

  Since he didn’t have her stealth skills, he would have to lean into his own skills. He made sure his bond with his prosthetic leg was active for the class buff, then he got started. Carefully, he sliced through the thorny fence surrounding the complex. He used a chainknife that he had created from scratch, the inscribed knife slipped through the thick branches with ease. The vibrating runes on his chainknife sparked and died when he was almost done, but he finished cutting with the mundane edge.

  Once inside, he ran through the plan one more time in his head and took a deep breath. He could do this. He was Luke Moore, adventurer extraordinaire. He let out the breath he had been holding and picked up his third of four purchases. It was a long thin tube with a capped end, entirely free of the runes that covered everything else. It looked unimpressive, but it was central to his plan.

  He aimed down the barrel and activated Variable Ammunition. At one point during his journey through the wilderness, he had discovered something fun. His skill could recreate bullets from Earth. They weren’t as damaging as the other spells he could choose from, but it did have one great advantage. Bullets were loud, and near invisible.

  He fired off a few rounds into the front gate. The conjured bullets pinged off the metal gate and rattled it a bit. He waited for the alarm to be raised and for people to start running towards the front gate. Then he turned towards the opposite side of the train station and aimed at the crate holding his broken power armor. The idea was for them to see the armor move slightly and think that there was someone invisible trying to get into his armor.

  Instead, the crate exploded in a huge fireball. Luke flinched before running forward again. They must have rigged his mech with explosives in case he ever came for it. Damn. They were serious about this. Time for him to get serious too.