Chapter 27: C211: Evac (Part 2)

Chapter 211: Evac (Part 2)

Sarah's perspective

After getting up, Lt. Sitana nodded to me and looked around while pointing her crossbow on the street. During that chaotic situation, some WCA soldiers and WP cops managed to survive the previous attack. They were now either getting up to join to stop the attackers, or were lying on the ground, wounded 'cause the earlier stampede.

"We need to prioritize the people's safety!".  "Eliminate the enemy later, everyone!". - I screamed loudly to remind everyone, later I ran to Litra's position

"My Lord! My Lord, wait!". - All of sudden, those soldiers and policemen started following me, please stop!

"I'll be okay, save the people!". - After ordering them, I kept running till I got to her position 

"Give me the situation, SA".

"My analysis of their plan seems to be right like a stone".  "They're targeting you, so only wait for the right moments, not killing civilians without a purpose".  "It's difficult to know where they are now, seems like they're now rejoining the panicked refugees, to reset the plan". - Not good, there must be a way for me to distinguish them and the civilians

"They don't communicate by using their mouths...".  "Must be non-verbals, or something can be used to contact without speaking".  "I'm working on it, will surely report you if I hear anything suspicious, over". - Understood, SA!

"Litra, Litra! You okay?!". - I overturned my Advisor, later found out she was still breathing but only had a bit of consciousness, the previous stampede must be rough for her

"C'mon, I got ya".  "Arrghhh!". - I later carried her on my back and turned back to the area which had the soldiers and cops standing on it, later I sprinted as fast as possible to the place

"Two on your six, Sarah!".  "Head down, c'mon!". - 

"Arrrrghhh... urrghhhh!". - My back was doomed now! But I kept trying to lower my head as lower as possible while running to the safe zone 

"There! 12 o'clock, shoot 'em!". - While running back, I saw the soldiers and policemen pointing their crossbows at me so I was shocked but kept running to save wounded Litra

"Spurt! Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!".  "We're clear! Move up to protect our Lord!". - After shooting their crossbows, they ran upfront and formed their metal shields, while others reloaded the crossbows

"People are running around, gather them back, soldiers!".  "Watch out for these rats, they can attack any time they want!". - Meanwhile, Lt. Sitana led some soldiers with her to go to other sides of the street to find the civilians

"Revana, take that position!".

"Yes, Sir!". - Sgt. Revana later stayed in the position with other soldiers and cops, she must be the Commander here since Sitana was away 

"You're safe now, Litra... you are now...". - Later I put Litra on a wall, nearby Paula while checking for her wounds

"A group of civilians is on their way back, a possible enemy is among them".  "Careful, Sarah". - Roger, SA

"Good, no major wounds at all".  "Stay here, you'll be safe".  "Let me see you, Paula".  "You're bleeding... don't worry, I'll be back soon". - After checking two of my servants, knowing they had light wounds so I was relieved, but I was seeking a healer or a physician 

"Can you help me?!". - I asked a WP policeman who was crouching beside me, he was checking on the wounds of other wounded civilians who were brought here

"I can do it physically, not with magic!". - This man said to me while pulling out cloths from his handbag to bandage the man's burned hand - who he was trying to save 

"Got more back! Out of the way, out of the way!". - Suddenly, more WP cops returned and put some kids and adults on the wall, they were now among my servants

"Ummm... ummm...".  "Can you save them all?!".

"I'll try, my Lord!".  "I know to do it by magic, I'll do my best!". - In those three cops, only one could use healing magic

"Please save them!".

"I will!".

"We need more men for this medication shit... gather our wounded, they must join to work too". - The cop who seemed to be the leader of the medic group later ordered one of his men behind to go to gather wounded cops

"Anywhere else needs to be saved?". - I asked him

"Yes, my Lord!".  "Right side, on the street over there, some people we forgot to save". 

"I'll take care of 'em!". - After that, I wielded my M4 and ran in the street's direction the cop leader told me to have people need to be saved

"Be careful, Sarah...".  "That location seems to have many enemies, should rethink it". - Saving people was more important, SA! Just assist me with everything you got!

Later I ran into that street side and started walking along it with my rifle pointing around to search for the people. My back was still hurt so I must move lightly or the wound would get worse. Despite seeing nothing in my way, I kept moving forward while looking around. 

"Anybody here?!". - I yelled out loudly to ask if there were any people in this area 

"I spotted 4 dots ahead, one of them is an enemy". - Heard it, SA

"Sarah, remember to be always on high cautious".  "Only you on your own now". - What?! I thought behind me were some more men!

"Only you, Sarah...".

"Understood... but I cannot leave them alone, SA". - Despite being alone, I kept moving forward 

By the way, I didn't hear any screams while walking along the street. Maybe the attack had actually stopped since the enemy could not eliminate me, I hope it would not happen anymore. Now I must gather the people back or...

"Enemy spotted ahead".  "Keep your distance from the man, Sarah... he may be wounded but may want to hurt you, be careful". - Before I could see the man lying on the road ahead, SA had alerted me that he was an enemy 

"Save... save me... urrghh...". - The man looked to be innocent, his hands were burned, and now he was reaching them to the top, calling for help

"I don't think he's really that dangerous".  

"Use your mind, Sarah...".  "My sensor spotted him to be an enemy during the attack, not a wrong guy".  "I'm keeping you away from the dangers, stay away from the man or you'll be wounded".

"But...".

"Listen to me, goddammit!".

"Save me... please... please...". - The man saw me so he tried to crawl toward me, but he was slow and very weak, his wound seemed serious

"Stop weakling your mind... keep your distance...". 

"B-".

"You see the kids on the right side?". - SA ordered me to look at the right side so I glanced in that direction a bit

As I could see, that was just a corner that had three kids cowering, hiding in that corner. While beside them were the dead bodies of two policemen and 2 adults. Seeing it was strange, I raised my hand to let the kids see me to run out. But strangely those children just looked at me with their hopeful eyes, while staring at the wounded crawling man with their terrifying... why?

"Away from him, goddammit!".  "Ahhh!". - I was startled when SA yelled at me, when I looked back, the crawling man was just away from me less than 5 meters (16 feet)

"Bop!". - All of sudden, when I was falling on the ground while pointing my hands down to reduce the impact, the man's head bounced right in front of me, he later died... 

I was very bewildered at what just had happened. 'Cause the man's head was draining out blood, it was draining out from a hole on the right side... wait, what?

"Ahhhhh! Teacher!". - Those children suddenly ran to me and hugged me tightly as the man died, I was still very bewildered at what had just happened

"They tried to save us! My parents tried to save us, sobs! Sobs! Sobs! Sobs! Sobs! Sobs!". - Poor the children 

"Hey! We found the live ones here, go save 'em, people!". - While head patting these kids to comfort them, I realized that some WP cops were running behind me

"Negative on the enemy".  "This place is clear!".  "Checking the bodies". - After coming, those cops overturned the bodies of each corpse, they later picked them up, purposing to stash the corpses on the carts to join the evacuation 

"You alright, my Lord?". - A WP policewoman came to my position and crouched

"Nod...".  "These kids need help, can you?".

"I'll do my best, my Lord".  "Come on, follow me, kids". - She later looked after the kids while I intended to return to the previous position

"Our dad and momma, please save them, sis". - Poor kids, they kept asking the woman cop to help them to save their parents... thought they had now died... sobs... sobs...

But I managed to fight back my tears. Seeing nothing else for me to do on this street side, I returned to the previous position to check on my servants and other refugees. While walking back to the previous street side, I kept trying to move the most comfortable pose to make my wound not get worse, ahhh!

"Haahhhh... haahhhh...". - After returning, I put my hand on a wall, standing to rest while looking at the things forward to me

"Sarah, you hear me a bit".  "Earlier was a close call... you were supposed to be harmed by that time".  "Some mystery had saved us... as if someone was watching us".

"What do you mean, SA?".

"Someone had shot the man... from the distance".  "Must be a sniper... your big sis must be around here somewhere".  "But she's out of my sight, cannot spot her on my sensor... what do you think?".

"I hope she's safe". - If that was truly my sis, I hope she would be ok since she had disobeyed John's order to risk her life to save me

"I tried to call her myself but failed... maybe her SA is offline now, so cannot spot her". - Now keep your eyes on to assist me as usual, SA

"Rog".

After talking to SA through "SC feature", I returned to look at the things ahead. Right this time, I could see most civilians had been fully gathered by the WP cops and WCA soldiers. However, despite some being allowed to keep on the evac, some others were kept back to question, they seemed to be a group of 8 people, 5 men and 3 women.

"Here! What the fuck are you people going to say to excuse for bringing weapons here, huh?!". - Lt. Sitana was dumping the things inside their handbags, while the WP cops were taking away their weapons

"We told you people we're the adventurers so we have the right to carry weapons!".  "Our cards will prove our words, check on them!". - An adventurer man argued with the Lieutenant

"Then why didn't you people approach us at the beginning to report it, eh?!".  "Who knows you guys are tourists?!". 

"We're not tourists, we the Adventurers, we came from the Capital just to do some shit and stuck here!".  "We didn't show up in the first place 'cause all of us were scared the shit out that you people would shoot us!".  "About that old man, he just carried nails and some hammers and you ladies shot him that mercilessly!".  "Now return to us our w-".

"Stop being balls, hardass!".  "Everything of yours will be confiscated from now on!".  "When we reach the border, your weapons will be returned, that's the deal!".

"But we haven't even accepted the deal yet, how the fu-".

"Please stop arguing! We won't do anything t-". - A adventurer woman stepped between the two to stop them from arguing

"Shut the fuck up!".  "Now get out of our sight and let u-".

"People, please stop!". - I yelled at them to stop the argument

After hearing my yell, those people started shutting their mouths but just simply glared at each other. The adventurers later looked away while letting the police strip their legal weapons.

"Sirs, ladies... I'm sorry...".  "Please cooperate with them, I promise y'all will be escorted to the safe place with your weapons returned in the end". - To calm down the tension between both sides, I asked the adventurers to be patient

"We won't mind it, my Lord...".  "We'll sure wait till that time, we promise". - A hooded adventurer from the group promised to me, I only knew to bow before them to apologize 

After apologizing to the adventurers, I stopped glancing at them but the wall where I believed my servants were sitting in. Later I spotted Litra and Paula sitting among the wounded people. They seemed to have regained consciousness. Litra and Paula were looking around as if to find me while I approached them from afar, I was finally back to you two as promised!

"My Lord...?". - Litra called me while trying to reach her hand to me, I held it and stared at her, telling her to rest 'cause of her wound

"My... my Lord...". - Paula also tried to reach me so I also held her hand, her right side forehead which was bleeding earlier, had now been bandaged completely, I was so glad when she was fine

"Just rest... just rest...". - Later I picked up her broken glasses, maybe I should drop them, she was myopic but now these glasses would not help even if she wears them 

"I'll buy the new one, okay?". - Just knew to put her glasses on my Army uniform's pocket

"Hey, soldier...". - Later I asked Sgt. Revana who was guarding the wounded, 'cause I wanted to escort my servants to the castle to evacuate with other servants to Nalta earlier than others

"Yes, Sir?". - Though... I wanted to be fair for all... I wish I could evacuate all civilians to Nalta instead of saving my "VIP" servants 

"Escort them to the castle, later put them on the carriage to head to Nalta".  "If they don't want, make them go by force... they will be the VIPS".

"Roger".  "Girls, we need to move 'em out the safe line, let's out of the frontline now". - After receiving my order, Sgt. Revana ordered two other WCA soldiers behind her to join the escort

"Roger".  "On the way, over". - Those women soldiers shortly carried Litra and Paula on their backs, were ready to move out when ordered 

"Sir, we need to have the approval of Lieutenant be-".

"No need".  "My orders are no need to ask for her approval".

"Understood...".  "Nod".  "Soldiers, let's move out". - Sgt. Revana later nodded to take the order, she and her soldiers got up with my servants on their backs, started running back to the castle to get them evacuated 

While getting carried by the soldiers, Paula and Litra kept trying to say something to me, but failed. Their appearances shorty blurred out of my sight, and I was now alone. Let's hope that both of them will be evacuated to Nalta shortly, and safely. Though... I wished I could evacuate all civilians to the safe zone till this time but... I wished I was kinder and fairer... why I cannot do that to them but to my acquaintances...?

"Don't regret it, Sarah... you had done your best". - Had done the best for my acquaintances but not my people, SA! I was just an irresponsible leader whose people's trust was shattered!

"Being kind in life is difficult, but you did it well enough". - But I from the start till the end just want to be kind! 

"Arrrrrggghhhhhhhhh!". - Being regretted what I had done, I held my hair tightly while walking to nowhere, my mouth was howling like a crazy when I felt so guilty 

"Arrrrghhh!". - After howling and walking for a short time, accidentally bumped into something on my way so I fell, managed to get up without any scratches 

As I got up, I realized that I accidentally bumped into a broken cart that had some corpses fall outside. It must have been damaged due to the previous explosion attack. Soldiers and cops were all busy taking care of the wounded people so only I was alone here. I decided to put the corpses on the broken cart until they were all full. 

"Ahhhhh!". - I was startled when seeing... Milia's corpse, she was now joining the others, even her daughter and her illegal husband there, died a family

"Sobs... sobs... sobs... sobs...".  "I swear... no one of you will be left behind... I swear...".  "Sobs... sobs... sobs... sobs...".  "Rest in peace... all of you".  - That sad scene made a big impact on my emotions, my tears naturally came out without stopping, I'm sorry when cannot protect all of you!

After stashing the bodies on the cart, I looked away and walked to somewhere else that I believed to make me feel better. Somehow I coincidentally got to an area that had many dead bodies placed around, not from the civilians, but the enemies. Some cops were throwing an enemy's corpse at the others on the ground. They were all overturned many times, to this side to these sides, to check for fake death possibilities.

"Found only books and papers, Sir".  "Fatherfucker, these guys must be very loving to read and write when their souls were still in their bodies".  "Died but still have a bunch of books in their bags, see it strange, lads?".  "Holy shit, should we bring these folks with us too? I hope not".  "If our Lord let us do whatever we want with these sons of bitches, I'd kill them again to revenge for my mom!". - After throwing down the body, those WP cops returned to their buddies and started chatting, showing their aggression toward the dead bodies 

"Wait a minute, Sarah...".  "Those books, tell them to be cautious on them". - Why, SA?

"You know how expensive is a book in this world?".  "How the hell can they?!". - Wait! 

"Wait a bit, policemen!". - Hearing SA's suspicious on the books, I according to what he said to ask those WP cops 

"My Lord?".

"You said those enemies had books in their belongings?".

"Yes, they did have them... if not a book then it would be a paper, just bullshit drawings with dumbass characters".

"Did you people ever read those things or look closely at them?!". - Not good! The current refugee group had been on the evac road for a while, the enemies could have made an ambush if we come to join the people, not good!

"No... some of us are illiterated... and we don't care much".  "What's wrong, my Lord?".

"They must have contacted through the papers and books!".  "Stop the refugees and separate the suspicious individuals now!". - After hearing my words, those cops immediately startled and looked at each other in their confusion

"Immediately!".

Another yell. This time, all of them seemed to be terrified so they ran straight to Lt. Sitana to report. While observing the WP cops and WCA soldiers quarreling about the new intel I found, I realized that no one moved the cart. Surely it was left in there, some individuals must have pulled their duties away, how bad.

"Hey, people!". - After looking around, I managed to re-fine the adventurer group - they were now still here, so lucky!

"What's the problem, Lord...?". - Those people's weapons had been confiscated, but I'd surely make a win-win deal

"Can you guys help me to move this broken cart?".  "Dead people also need to be evacuated, I never want to let anyone of them be separated from their families".

"Then you mu-".

"I'll surely return to y'all the weapons, please!". - After saying out the deal without a positive reply, I glanced at the cops who were keeping their weapons

"Don't trust people that easily, Sarah!".  "They may also disguise t-". - I don't care, people need help right now!

"Return weapons to these people!".  "Immediately, quick! Do that now!". - I yelled at those cops, later they rushed to the adventurers with their confiscated weapons

"Is that enough for y'all?!".

"Then we'll take the deal, la-".

"Thanks!". - I rushed to hold the adventurer's hand - who I considered the leader, shaking it to pay my respect for his promise

"Soldiers, Peacekeepers! Follow me to save the people".  "Move move move!". - Shortly, I ran like a crazy with my rifle always raised high, honestly I don't want to see bloodshed, but I must protect the people!

"Sarah, even if you run, do that with people around you".  "The assassins are targeting you, the way you go alone, the way you easy to die". - Now I only care about saving the civilians, just assist me, SA 

After running for a moment, which to me it was quite a long to keep up with the refugee group. Now I reached the group but kept running like a crazy, purposing to stop the bad things that were about to happen if I didn't notice. 

You are reading story Before F.R.O.N.D.E.R: Epilogue at novel35.com

"Peacekeepers, soldiers! Stop the refugees now! Stop the refugees now, immediately!". - While running along the evac road, every time I went past the WP policemen and WCA soldiers in my sight, I always yelled as hard as possible to ask them to stop the refugees 

"Everyone! Stop! Stop! Stop!". - I also ran straight, across and along the refugees while raising and waving my hands high to ask them to stop

"Haaahhhh... haahhhh...".  "Haahhhh... haaahhhh...". - After a short moment doing it, I ran out of breath so I lowered my face, touching my knees while trying to breathe steadily to take in the oxygen

"What the hell happened?". - The refugees were quite confused about what I was doing earlier, so lucky that most of them stopped moving

"Everyone, stop the evac right away, things are serious!". - Finally, Lt. Sitana's group and other WP police managed to get here on time 

"People, we know this order is very abrupt but we need all of you to be cooperative".  "From now on, every one of you step here with your belongings".  "Waiting for us to check on there carefully, if we see nothing, you can go with your things returned".  "That's simple... the check-in progress may be long but it's the best way for all of us to make sure...".  "That you're the civilians... not the enemies". - Lt. Sitana, Sheriff Ranton and other cops and soldiers were joint walking around while announcing to the civilians the new checking progress 

"How can it be possible?!".  "Stop making hard things for us! You people want to shoot us like what you did to that old man again, huh?!". - The people were pissed off

"No! We won't hurt anyone!".  "Listen, people... we won't do anything to harm you and others".  "We just want to make sure that all of you will be sa-".

"Shit! Their movement gets started, Sarah!".  "Hang on!".  "Many movements at the same time, it must be the last wave of the attack!".  "Get out of there immediately!". - Then I must alert the people first!

"Everyone, get on the ground n-".

"Arrrrrggghhhhhhhhh! Arrrrrggghhhhhhhhh! Arrrrrggghhhhhhhhh!". - All of sudden, behind the civilians we were standing suddenly had yellings, later the people panicked and started running around

"People, please get down!".  "Arrrrghhh! Urrrrrgggghh!".  "Arrrrrggghhhhhhhhh!". - I pointed my M4 forward but later got in a collision with the running crowd, later in the second stampede

"Urrrrrgggghhhh...".  "Ahh...". - After getting crushed by the mass wave of people, luckily that when the stampede ended but I could not get up yet, it was still very hurt

"We need backup! Now!".  "Arrrrrggghhhhhhhhh! Urrrrrgggghhhh! Ahhhh! Yarrrrghhhhhhhhhh!". - In my unclear view, I could see and hear the beatings, the WP cops and soldiers were forming shields and beating the running civilians with their weapons

"12 o'clock! They're joining the running civilians, Sarah!".  "It's unpredictable, you must shoot them if you want to survive!".  "Do it now!". - SA yelled at me, despite being wounded, I kept holding my rifle and pointing it in the direction she told me to

"Yarrrrghhhhhhhhhh!". - As my vision could see, a massive wave of people was running toward us, I could even see some individuals could be the enemies, they were using human shields while running toward us from afar

"Shoot 'em now, Sarah!". 

"No!".

"Spurt! Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!".  "Holy shit! They're all suicidal shit!".  "Is this the crazy tactic of her homeland that our mama told us about!".  "Spurt! Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!".  "Danger close! Danger close!".  "Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhhh! I'm burning!".  "Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahh! My hand! My hand! My hand! Help!".  "Spurt! Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!".  "Spurt! Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!".  "Stop reloading, they're very slow!".  "They will be coming in hot, prepare the swords and clubs to fight back!".  "Use magic too if we need them, understand?!". - Many crossbow shootings, dying yellings and screamings all around my ears, while the running people in front of me were slowly falling down due to getting shot 

"Bop! Bop! Bop!". - While hesitated to shoot the people, some people ran toward me without getting shot, still fell on the ground... my sis was around here to shoot them right?

"Sarah! Keep your eyes open!".  "One after you!". - Later I realized that I was losing my concentration, I looked at the massive wave of people again, realizing a man was running toward me with a broken bottle 

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!". - Attempted to shoot the man but failed, he was now about to get me!

"Arrrrrggghhhhhhhhhhhh!".  "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!".  "Die! Die! Die! Die! Fuck!".  "Spurt! Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!".  "Keep going, men!". - Later many screamings and beating sounds occurred, 'cause the people went to hit the soldiers and cops

"Urrghhhh! Urrrrrgggghh!". - This time the man was trying to stab me with the broken bottle, I managed to dodge the attack by rolling but now was impossible to do it

"Urrrrrgggghhhh! Urrrrrgggghhhh!".  "Ahhhh!". - And now I was using all of my strength to stop the man's wrist from pulling the broken bottle closer to me

"Bop!". - The man suddenly had his head bounced, he later died, his head lay on my chest and blood came out from the right side forehead's hole

"Sarah, watch out!". - SA alerted me once again

"Bang! Bang!". - I saw two more people running toward me so I shot them with my M4, they later fell 

"Lizara, these people are just forced to beat us!".  "Get over there! Use the "explosion" to wipe them all!". - Suddenly, I heard a voice from an adventurer, a light green cloak-hooded woman later stood before me, looking at the next incoming wave of the people

"You too Tatta!". - Shortly, a bald bearded man stood alongside the hooded woman, both of them were wielding long sticks that had a pointy tips on their tops, looked like a sharp crystal 

"Calm down, you cops!".  "These people are just victims, they are the decoys, the real ones are over there!". - The adventurers behind me were asking the police to stop beating and shooting the previous people... so we just had harmed the people previously?! 

"Everyone cover your ears! Next incoming will be very loud!".  "Cover your ears!". - Meanwhile the couple from upfront was targeting the running people by using their long sticks... those were "magic sticks", right?

"Wait wait wait wait!".  "Please stop! Stop it a bit!".  "Maybe still have civilians in there, we cannot shoot 'em!". - I tried to get up myself while yelling at the couple adventurer, asking them not to shoot 'cause there might be a chance civilians were trapped still among the attackers

"Everyone, cover your ears!".

"No!".

"Booooooommmmmmmm!".  "Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!".  "Arrrrghhh! My ears!".  "Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!". - The explosion sounded right in front of my eyes, it was so loud that my ears seemed to be nearly deaf, now my hearing ability was quite struggling

I realized I fell on the ground once again so I got up and walked past the adventurer couple to watch the scene before me. Later realized that many bodies lying all around on the street, most of them lost their limbs and blood stain was everywhere. Surprisingly, some people were still alive after the explosion. But they were either walking or crawling around weakly with their lost limbs, some of them could be seen screaming painfully but my ears were having problems so I could not hear how much of their suffering.

After that explosion, many WP cops and WCA soldiers were cheering alongside the adventurers. They were now running and hugging each other, some just crouched down and stared at the dead bodies, seemed pale to me. Some WCA soldiers and WP cops weren't enjoying the "bloody victory" at all. They approached the dead bodies forward and dragged them here, the wounded survivors were all escorted to another area, not in my observation.

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I had finally returned after a long time of struggling with hearing problems. Now everything seemed to be under control, no attack from the disguising enemies anymore, the evacuation progress was stable, for now. Due to the previous attacks, our evac progress had been slowed down for hours, very deadly. This time was now 1:39 PM according to my watch, we were all at Nalta border right now, very safe. 

"Sir, they said the bodies must be evacuated the last". - Lt. Sitana and Sheriff Ranton still survived in the last attack, they were now in front of me

"That's so...?".  "Understood... at least they accepted taking the bodies, that's good enough for me, I can surely wait". - Afterward of the last attack, many dead bodies were stashed in the carts 'cause we could not identify who were the enemies who were the civilians

So I decided to evacuate all, in order not to separate any families in this hard wartime. Even when the dead enemy's bodies were alongside the civilians, that was also alright since the dead never harmed the living. Till this time, I was still blaming myself for not being capable enough to protect all the civilians during the previous evacuation. 

Saying no one would be left behind... but the living would have to be separated from the dead. Even when their bodies were found and brought with the survivors, there was already a distance between the dead and the living...

"Return to your duties... now I want to be alone... please...". 

"Ro-". - Before they could say anything, I walked away and walked to an empty ground which had a tree standing over there

After approaching the tree, my eyes looked behind to see the entry scene. The lines of refugees were very long on the dirt trail, those poor people were all waiting to have entry to get inside Nalta with their families. Standing beside the tree while seeing that scene, it only made me sadder every time thinking about the dead civilians. Feeling depressed, just only know to press my face to the tree, trying to fool myself to forget everything.

"Sarah... you had done your best... please don't regret it". - I could have saved more, SA! Those people were supposed to be saved and be together with their relatives instead of being evacuated with their corpses remained 

"History never repeats... you had saved too many people than you could count".  "You even succeed in evacuating the dead and the living to not let them be separated... you had done your best after all, General". - But they could have been saved more! I was just an irresponsible and incapable leader after all! I should not be sitting on the chair in the first place!

"My Lord, my Lord! Are you here?!". - All of sudden, while pressing my face to the tree, a very familiar voice sounded to my ears, that was Litra's

I was both surprised and happy to know she was safe and sound. So I looked back and realized she was now walking alongside Paula, approaching me from afar. Seeing them still alive made me feel so happy so I ran straight to them with my tears going out.

"Litra! Paula!". - As I reached them, I hugged the two of them in my happiness

"My Lord!". - Both of them seemed to be still wounded but not so serious, they were all happy to hug me

After hugging each other for a short moment, we stopped and stared at each other. Actually, all of us were very pale after going through many tragedies of that 4 hours evacuation. Instead of seeing each other by smiling and happiness, now we only had faces of paleness... or a bit better were the tired faces.

"I could have saved more!".  "From the start if I was more cautious, I could have saved more by now!".  "Sobs! Sobs! Sobs! Sobs! Sobs! Sobs! Sobs!". - I hugged my servant again and sobbed in their arms and hugs, I could have saved more people from the start! 

"You had done your best, my Lord! You had done your best!".  "Look around you, look at us too! We're still alive here because of your kindness for not leaving us!".  "Sobs! Sobs! Sobs! Sobs!". - The three only knew to cry while hugging each other

A short moment later, we managed to hold our tears and looked at each other once again. This time I realized that I should not be sitting on the leader's chair anymore, someone else was more capable and kinder than me. From the beginning to the last, I was just a United States Army soldier. I was not from this world, I should hand the chair to someone else more capable to look after the people, and that was not me.

"Litra, promise me that you have to do my last favor!". 

"Say it, my Lord!".  "Say it...".

"Please replace me to be the new Lord...".  "From the start, I'm just an irresponsible and incapable leader... I should not sit on the chair anymore".  "Please help me, to take care of the people!".  "Only you can do it for me! You're the most capable here... please do it for me, Litra... please become the new Lord, and save them...".

"My Lord... but...".

"Please do it for me!".

"...". - Litra lowered her face for a moment and then looked up, stared at me without blinking, also tried not to cry

"Understood, my Lord...".  "Sure... I will surely be the new leader... to bring happiness to the people...". 

"Thanks... I will miss you two a lot...".  "Sobs... sobs...".  "Please be safe... we will meet again... when the war is over". - I made a fast hug on both of them and later ran away, running back to the forest, purposing to go back to Veta by myself

"My Lord! Wait! Wait! Wait!". - Litra and Paula kept screaming to call me back, but I kept running away, hoping they and all the civilians would be safe in this wartime, and survived till it ended

After running back to the forest for a while, I stopped as I saw no longer seeing my servants' appearances searching for me anymore. Later I kept on walking on foot in the forest, hoping positively I would be in Veta in no time. 

"Got movement in front of you, Sarah... that's ours...". - All of sudden, SA notified me someone or something was ahead so I was a bit nervous

After a short time walking straight on the forest's dirt trail, I spotted a ghillie-suited person on the road ahead. That was my older sister, she was wearing her strapped M21 Sniper rifle with a suppressor on her shoulder, she even brought with her a tall brown horse.

"Sis...?".  "Ahhh... thanks...". - As I was about to reach her, my sis suddenly ran in and hugged me tightly

"I'm sorry...". - She apologized to me without any explanation, maybe she regretted letting me here alone to take care of the evac

"You came here to pick me up through Commander's order, sis?".

"Nod...".

"Thanks, sis...".

After thanking my sis, she left her hands out of my body and mounted on her horse. She later looked at me and reached her right hand to me, as if asking for my sit on her horse to return soon to Veta.

"Thanks, sis...". - I grabbed my sis's hand and she pulled me up, she would be the horse rider while I sat behind her

"Hug me... Kanna wants you... to sit tight... to start the ride". 

"Kanna?".

"Her name...". - She tapped at her horse's head, so this horse was named Kanna, what a good name to be called

"Alright, sis...". - I hugged my sis's belly as hard as she wanted when both of us were on the horseback 

"Movement detected from behind you two, Sarah...". - SA suddenly notified me she spotted movement from behind

My sis seemed to be cautious about it too, she knew it so both of us looked behind while waiting for the appearance of someones. Later spotted 4 horses running on the trail, every two people on a horse, they were the adventurers who I used to fight together in the previous evacuation.

"Ohhh, you're here, Lord?".  "See you again that suddenly...? Well...". - The man who seemed to be the group leader was surprised to see me, so did I

"Where are you going...?".

"Back to the Capital... we were doing shit in that place and it got shitted".  "We haven't finished our quest yet, Nalta doesn't have a guild so we decided to return there to keep the job, that's the adventurer's life...".

"Watch out, General...".  "I've not loosed my analysis yet, they could be the agents who set up this scenario to follow you, just watch out for me". - But they seemed unharmed, just their talking style was quite rude, SA

"Why didn't you people run from Nalta to return...?". - My sis suddenly asked those adventurers

"What do you mean, lady?".  "If we ran from there, it would take us a lot of time, from checking cards for entry and preparing stuff".  "That was lucky for us to own these horses after the entry over there to keep our journey...".  "Stansa is now an empty place, no one is around l, so we can go faster and even have more free, not wasting our money...".

"...". - My sis later went silent

"Can I hire you people...?".  "To assist us to defend Veta?".

"Like mercenaries?".

"Nod...".

"Yeah... but have to give us quite much... you know...".

"I can do that for you all...". 

"But wait, sis... they a-".

"It's not a big deal, Lord...".  "We're adventurers, our lives are low from the start and full of dangers... so we just look like mercenaries".  "The difference is we come from normal people, not military wankers".

"Good... names?".

"Starka".

"Lizara".

"Tatta".

"Zulura".

"Killira".

"Tankara".

"Mizzie...".

"Poila".

"Y'all are allowed to join us".

"Let's move...". - After hiring the adventurers to fight for us, my sis looked to be ambitious on something, while was about to run our horse 

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