Chapter 62 – The Lost Shiva (3)

The Templars wanted to go to the ruins immediately. But before diving inside the ruins, they wanted to make sure that they were armed and ready. Archie was given some of their equipment. He would have been fine but what he received made him frown. The designs of the rifles were the same as the rifle that Joshua designed.

“You already made them?” Archie said, examining the rifle. “I thought it would take awhile?”

The gunsmith looked at Archie then to the gun. “There were some complications, the lever used to switch the balls were hard to recreate. Luckily, the Lady of Alva gave us the designs. I’ve been able to recreate the rifle with that.”

“In just a few days?” asked Archie.

“Yes, because it was a good design that Justicar needed. Just rotate the lever and you can fire sixteen shots. How can we not recreate such wonder? Here, I’d give you a pistol too.”

“Generous.”

“I wouldn’t be giving this to you if it wasn’t for the Justicar authorizing it.”

“Fair enough, but thank you.”

“Take care of them. At least I know that you know to handle them.” The gunsmith shooed Archie away. Another Templar walked in and took the rifle and the pistol. The gunsmith was eagerly showing the Templar what and how to handle the rifle and pistol.

After taking the firearms, Archie went to where his group was. He saw Cassia sitting around with a rifle in hand. She caught a glimpse of Archie, then gesturing him to sit near her. “Got your guns?”

“Yeah, these guys are really single-minded. To think they’d be able to reproduce the repeating rifles and even make a pistol out of it.”

“I heard that they looked into his drawings. At least they credited the designs to belong to whoever Lorezoni is.”

“Yeah, but I am going to remember it as something Joshua introduced.”

“Mhm, I hope he’s fine.”

Archie frowned. “I hope so too. I’ve heard of the Lady of Dolce. The eccentric princess of the Alva’s whose change was rather drastic.”

“A brilliant woman turned into a miserable lady. How can you blame her when her father is a Sociopath who could order his men to die? You heard of the Siege of Alfan?”

“I heard of the Lord of Alva, using his own troops as a body shield to take out enemies from the Bali. Leading the charge himself, some say he’s a madman, some say he's just gone mad during that time.”

“Now imagine growing with a lunatic of a father. I can’t blame her for growing up twisted, but still, it doesn’t make right.” Cassias rested her chin on her palm. “I really hope that he’d do fine dealing with her.”

“I hope so too.”

Archie nodded with worry. He then sat quietly while waiting for the rest of the Templars.

Minutes later, the Templars arrived armed to the teeth. What surprised Archie was not the Templars. But the spheroid balloons that landed near the base of the Templars. There was a long wicker basket attached to the spheroid air balloon. The Templars looked at the balloon, approaching it while their rifles hanging behind their backs.

“Archie, I’ve enough flying up to the sky.”

“I thought you enjoy it.”

“Not unless Joshua’s piloting it. The thing scares me.”

“Then you could stay in the stronghold. Watch over the soldiers and get praised by the women around you.”

“I’ll pass. You might need my help and I don’t trust the Templars enough to leave you alone with them inside whatever ruin we are going to.”

“Thank you for this, Cassia. There are only a few I could trust to watch my back with.”

“Hey now, there is no other Captain that I would follow other than you. Besides, we’ve been through a lot. And you still haven’t given me that damn ring.”

Archie wryly smiled. “You really are adamant about that. I thought it was a spur of the moment?”

“Who knows? Who wouldn’t want a hero as a husband? Besides, you should be thankful to me.”

“Thankful for what exactly?” asked Archie.

“That I keep lusty women off your back. Oh, you can’t believe how many are hearts are beating for you.”

“I should thank you for that?”

“Yes, you should. At least I am not forcing you. But I might.”

Archie grinned at that. “Well, thank you for that Cassia. I really appreciate that.”

“No problem at all, Archie. No problem at all.”

Her grinned reached up to her ears. Archie could only sigh at that face. Then, the time for the two to board the spheroid air balloon finally happened. Along with the Commander of the Templars, the Balloon flew to the sky with the use of the runes that they scavenged from the airships they felled down. Seeing this, it made Archie realize that the reason the Templars didn’t really need to steal the runes especially when they can make things like these. He also noticed that the Commander that was in the air balloon having a box attached to the back of his waist. The box was connected by a tube that was attached to the left vambrace of the Commander’s arm. Archie wondered what that was for. But whatever that it is, Archie could definitely smell gasoline inside the box.

The air balloon glided through the clouds. Most of the Templars were aloof. They were busy admiring the view as the air balloon quickly traversed the outskirts of the city, flying straight to the deep forest where Archie could see a valley shaped like a seashell. The air balloon quietly approached the valley, and as it does, the Commander of the Templars spied the area with his spyglass.

Archie looked around this seashell-like valley. He could see the outline of some hills. He could see the green and bare trees covering the entire forest. There were signs of logging, and beyond the forest, Archie could see white smoke ascending up. The valley was rather eerily quiet. Archie was getting anxious and indeed his anxiousness wasn’t just simply paranoia.

Suddenly, the Templar commander halted the pilot. He told everyone: “Get down! All of you!” as a giant sparrow with little horns in its wings approached the air balloon with haste. The pilot quickly made use of the green runes to dodge the giant sparrow. The Templars didn’t waste time. They immediately pulled their guns up and shot at the sparrow, only to witness a group of them approaching.