Gate: Thus the National Revolutionary Army fought there

Chapter 7 On Leave

I never thought I would have to face this my entire life. A high tension scenario with a language barrier preventing any attempt to defuse the situation. I can't let them in or they will wreak havoc on my troops but I cannot have my troops firing on them for fear it will escalate. Pina will not be happy if this occurs.

Y/N: Keep an eye on them, if they use a bow, shoot their horses! Stay calm and keep the gate shut at all costs!

The best option is to hold the stalemate until Pina and Adonis get here. One of them, a girl with blonde hair shouted to us.

???: What are you bandits doing here?

We kept silent and I could see a few of my men were becoming more nervous.

???: Answer us!

Not long after, the whole group began shouting at us and grew more hostile as they raised their weapons. My troops were shaking in distress and could fire a shot in a panic. Without thinking I fired my M1911 in the air, shocking them all into silence. Seemed they got the message seeing how they lowered their weapons. At least Adonis arrived faster than usual.

Adonis: I heard shots, what happened?

Y/N: There was a commotion, I fired a shot to silence them. Now we take our leave.

Pina: What about my troops?

Adonis: Don't worry, no one died, just shocked into silence. We will leave as we agreed.

Pina: Wait, can I see your leader?

Adonis: That's not up to me or him to decide.

I turned to Pina to give her a stern warning. A warning that will prevent deaths and waste of bullets

Y/N: Do not follow us to our base. It is a death trap, like the thousands of your soldiers that marched to their deaths and never made it back alive.

Adonis: He said for your troops to not follow us back to our camp. If you do, it won't end well.

Y/N: Open the gate, let them in. We're leaving.

As I was overseeing my troops preparing to leave, the girls came back with a sack, peeking inside was... coins? Is this money? Where did they get all this? Come to think of it, I never saw them after the battle.

Y/N: What is hell this, money? Have they never heard of paper money?!

We loaded up our men and began our return to Nanjing Fortress. I took one last look at the people, saluted, and signaled all vehicles to move. She seemed to understand my warning as no one followed us back to the fortress. As usual, General Gu summoned me to his office.

Zhutong: So I see you are late once again. But I'll excuse this since you got attacked by bandits. Now, have you got intel as you were ordered to?

Y/N: Yes, more than we expected.

I took the envelope out of my helmet and handed it to him. General Gu opened it and began reading.

Zhutong: hmmm, what are these marks?

He stared at the crosses I marked. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

Y/N: Those are either unconfirmed or merely rumors. We're unable to confirm them at the time.

Zhutong: What are mages and this Pina with her "Rose Order of Knights?"

Y/N: Pina is the leader of the garrison of that city. Fortunately, we were able to defeat the bandits at the cost of over half the able-bodied men that made up the militia. The Rose Order of Knights are her troops, luckily for us, we never clashed with each other despite high tensions. I don't know what a mage is.