Armed Enlightenment Book 1 (Practice Story [My other stories are better])

Dovahkiin incident

As night fell on the Papaldia Empire with a sea of hellfire, a recurring number of deaths from the higher echelons of the government has intensified in the Capital City. The wails of common folks, marching of soldiers, and burning buildings only kept the night alive as martial law begins.

While the Japanese dealt a severe blow to Papaldia's military and morale, in Falmart, the Third Recon Unit wakes up in their second day of escorting the villagers in Coda. Command believed that using an act of kindness such as escorting them safely to the closest settlements was a good counter-move to antagonize the saderan propaganda machine and in order to win the hearts and minds of the locals and tell their stories to others.

With the fire dragon threat, the only current aircrafts available were rotor-wing aircraft and the recent arrival of Terran air volunteers with their disassembled Gripen Cs. A very capable aircraft built to take-off in the absence of proper tarmacs.

"The trek is slowing down and not making progress, more and more problems keep occurring and the number of injured and dropouts keep increasing. This escape is slowly exhausting them." Itami vented.

For Itami whose motto was 'Eat, sleep, play, repeat, life is everything in between', this seemingly unending trek was just suffering.

It has only been day two and they were already feeling the burn. The fact that a fire dragon was flying somewhere around Falmart was a contributing factor that all the more reason for them to run to the point of desperation and waste their energy during the first day. Hence, the sluggish pace.

The villagers wore depressed expressions. They finally felt the effects of their first day during the trek. Fatigue, hunger, thirst... The piercing wails of babies abandoned by their escaping parents permeated the air that alerted Negev's humanitarian role and took them in unless she can convince their parents. Road accidents and injuries as the sun glares heavily on their backs only add to their struggle. The worst part for the villagers, however, was all the mud.

There was a carriage that couldn't move because of the mud, so the family sat beside it. However, even if they wanted to, the villagers couldn't offer them a hand. They could only abandon them with blank faces. They didn't have the will or energy to spare. The family pleaded to the passing carriages to help.

Dropping out from the caravan meant death. The saying that sharing is caring was nonexistent between unrelated families. They lacked food or water to sustain themselves, and would most likely fall victim to wild beasts and bandits. It was natural to abandon. It was natural to be abandoned. It was every man to themselves. This was the line between life and death, the law of nature. The difference between the values of old and new. To help and struggle with them or not to help and leave them to die and survive. That was their common sense.

Praying for salvation was a great demand for the gods. The gods would not offer salvation. They would not come to help, and would simply stand there and watch from above and only nudge things towards a certain direction where it will either succeed or fail. It was not out of their worthless existence, but in order for them to reform themselves as mortals. There was no sacrifice too great until they finally realize their flaws. That's what it meant to evolve as better beings.

"Someone... Someone, please help." The husband pleaded as his family's carriage gets stuck in the mud because of its weight.

Like tyrants, the gods ordered them to die. That was why the only ones who could save man were his fellow men. The men wearing green gathered before the immobile carriage while the woman in white controlled the flow of traffic. If it was just the wheels stuck in the mud, they could still help.

"Alright, we are going to push!"

"Give it all you have got, show me what you're made of!!!"

On command, the team pushed on the carriage with all their strength. After recovering the carriage stuck in the mud, they didn't bother to receive thanks or demand any compensation before returning to their vehicles.