Chapter 3: City-State of Nirico
[07/16/4517]
Kenichi sat in the doctor’s office. The room has a desk with chairs and filing cabinets. The window showed a bright day outside with people walking by. However, the wood the office was made with barely kept anything closed or intact. Kenichi got up and looked at the cabinet doors containing medical supplies. The hinges were loose and held up by nails. “Hmm… this could use some screws to secure it in place.”
Kenichi checked the chair. “This leg is a little loose. It just needs a little tightening.”
He also checked the desk. “The surface looks a little uneven, I’ll need the level to confirm this. A light sanding might work.”
As he pressed a nail on the window sill, the door opened. Sarina entered carrying her staff and a file. She watched Kenichi on the floor sliding his fingers along the wall. “This will need molding.”
“Mr. Yamamura?” Sarina said and Kenichi looked up at her. “I can get someone to fix the wall if you want.”
“Ah… sorry doctor.” Kenichi stood up and lifted his head up to look at Sarina. “You know I could fix this office up. I have some tools that will make this place look real nice and last longer.”
Sarina smiled with her hands raised up. “There’s no need to trouble yourself.”
“It’s no problem.” Kenichi smiled with his right hand brushing the back of his head. “It’s a side job I do. Here, look at these nails.”
Kenichi showed Sarina the hinge to the cabinet door. “These nails are very poor, plus screws are better suited to hold the hinge in place.”
“Screws?” Sarina tilted her head.
“You don’t have screws in this world?”
“I don’t even know what a screw is.”
Kenichi replied as the door opened again. “You’ll see when I get my tools.”
Maddox spoke entering inside. “You’ll do no such thing.”
“Maddox.” Kenichi saw the detective sit on the chair holding his head up. “How long have I been out for?”
Sarina spoke as she examined Maddox. “Two days.”
“Damn.” Maddox turned his attention to Kenichi. “How’s your progress?”
“I’m breathing and walking.”
“Good.”
Sarina spoke. “Detective, I just need you to rotate your feet and arms to check on the muscles and tendons.”
“Is it that serious?”
“An electric spell can leave some residual effects on the muscles like tightness or paralysis. It’s amazing that you walked over here.”
“My head is still spinning.”
“All part of the side effects. Estático is meant to slow you down, not kill you.”
Kenichi spoke. “Amazing.”
Sarina looked up at Kenichi as she messaged Maddox’ feet. “I assume you’ve never seen magic before since you got here.”
“Sort of…” Kenichi saw Maddox giving hand signals to watch he says. “Umm… Once I got down the mountain for the first time, I’ve only seen people turn on the lights or dispose garbage. I have yet to see an actual attack.”
Maddox crossed his arms. “And you shouldn’t. The last thing I need is someone killing you with magic.”
“I know, I know.”
Sarina stood up to her feet. “There you go detective, just walk regularly and your muscles will be back to normal.”
“Thank you.”
Sarina clapped her hands with a smile. “Now Mr. Yamamura, I have your diagnosis.”
Kenichi sat next to Maddox and Sarina sat at her desk. “You have oxygen poisoning.”
“Eeeh…?” Kenichi lifted his arms to check on himself.
“The oxygen in your bloodstream was very high.”
“How is this possible?”
“You came down from the Cartanga Mountains. Your body didn’t adjust to the oxygen levels.”
“That’s strange because when I was driving towards the mountains I wasn’t having difficulty breathing.”
Maddox nodded. “He’s right. When he arrived at Darius, he was perfectly fine.”
Sarina crossed her arms. “That is strange. He should have had oxygen poisoning upon arriving in our world.”
Kenichi looked up at the ceiling rubbing his chin. “Hmmm… I guess I drove so fast up the mountain that the poisoning didn’t have time to take effect.”
“What?”
Maddox waved his hands. “It’s nothing.”
Kenichi leaned closer to Maddox. “We may as well show her.”
“Are you crazy Yamaura? We’re risking her safety.”
“Her safety is already at risk after letting that brat stun you.”
“… good point, but it’s a veto.”
Kenichi and Maddox turned their attention to Sarina with a smile and Kenichi spoke. “So, how about you cast your spell to remove the poison so Maddox and I can be on our way?”
Sarina shook her head no. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“Eh?”
“Well first I practice muscular and skeletal medicine. I have basic knowledge regarding breathing, like resuscitation. However, you need to see a doctor who practices on lungs. Second, removing poison entirely has a dangerous side effect.”
“Which is…?”
“It’s called overhealing. It took hundreds of years of medical research to discover this. You see, when you get hurt or something happens to your body. Your brain basically activates adrenaline and other chemicals to start healing your body automatically. So, if I heal you completely, your brain does not realize your body was fully healed, and it continues to send signals to heal where your injured. This results in side effects like calcification of the bone, overdosing on adrenaline, physical deformities, and so on.”
“So I’m not free of oxygen poisoning.”
“No, you’re not in the clear. Mr. Yamamura, healing spells are like sutures… stitches… cautery. The spells are used to just close up holes and your body takes care of the rest.” She points to Maddox. “Just like how Detective Maddox’s muscles now have to heal itself of all side effects from Emma’s spell.”
Kenichi looked down as Sarina wrote on a notepad. “So what am I supposed to now? I can’t go to a hospital.”
“I understand.” Sarina ripped the page out of the pad. “Here is a referral to Doctor Harrison. He specializes in breathing therapy. He’ll give you all the help you need. I’ll take you to him. Nirico is a very big city.”
Maddox stood up. “Wait a minute. We need to keep him in hiding.”
“It’s all right. Doctor Harrison is a colleague, he’ll help you out. I was planning to visit him this morning, I can take you there myself.”
Kenichi spoke. “So I take it this friend of yours is on the way?”
“To where?”
Maddox shook his fist. “Yamamura!”
***
Outside, Emma looked around the corner carrying a sandwich. She saw Kenichi, Maddox, and Sarina exit the clinic. As they walked down to the market street, she took a bite of her sandwich and followed them. “I’m sure they’ll lead me to senpai. I hope he’s okay.”
When they stepped out into the market street, a humanoid drove a motorcycle passed them. He had a long tail like and cat-like ears just like Emma, except his tail did not have a split end. When he stopped and stood up from the motorcycle with deliveries in hand, his body hunched slightly forward. Kenichi spoke. “Lumo sapien.”
Sarina smiled. “How did you know?”
“I read it at the local library in Darius.” Kenichi looked at a tall man with long orange hair, wide hands, and muscles talking to a similar looking woman. “They are Kimo sapiens.”
Finally at a book store, there was a short humanoid with black and blue hair, with short stubby ears on the side. He jumped very high and hooked his curled fingers on the hanging sign above. He re-attached a chain to fix his store sign. “He is Namo sapien.”
“Amazing.” Sarina said with a smile. “You know all the sentient primate classes.”
Kenichi’s smile dropped. He saw a humanoid bear carrying mining equipment and stood before a bulletin board with job listings. The human bear took a job page and walked past him. Kenichi struggled to move when Sarina pat his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Kenichi pointed at the human bear. “That’s not possible.”
Maddox rubbed his hair. “Right, you’re not aware of the other sapient races from other parts of the world.”
“Amazing.” Kenichi said.
Sarina giggled. “A select species of mammals achieved spinal erection and stood upright. Come on, let’s not waste too much time. I have no idea when the oxygen poisoning is going to restart.”
Emma overheard the conversation and thought about the first time she learned about how mammals stood upright. Looking at Kenichi’s shock and lack of knowledge of this world, she wondered if he was telling the truth.
As Kenichi passed by a human couple entering a café, a couple of girls spoke to each over a cup of tea. They whispered about Kenichi.
“What strange clothes.”
“He looks Japanese. That must what they wear in Kyoto now.”
“They’re probably travelers clothes or for adventuring.”
Sarina whispered to Kenichi. “What’s Japan like on Earthworld?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
Maddox looked back at both. “Hey, we are going straight to Dr. Harrison.”
“Come on, we’re passing by the spot. I want to make sure everything is okay at least. I have no idea what happened since I passed out.”
Kenichi noticed the food stands lined up on both sides of the street. One stand sold spiked covered fruit, squared shaped fruit and berries. The next stand had purple colored mushrooms and large capped mushrooms that looked like umbrellas. When they reached an intersection, Kenichi noticed that the stands heading to his right all had fish and to his left, meat. Once they crossed the intersection there was one stand in particular that sold something he was really familiar with. Chicken.
Kenichi approached it realizing they were a little bigger than the usual chicken back on Earth. The eggs were a little bigger too. The stand sold raw chicken whole or in pieces. A closer look at the stand, he noticed a strange vapor pouring out. He placed his hands under it and it felt cool. Kenichi looked around the wood of the stand when the owner leaned over. “May I help you?”
“Oh I was just wondering how you have this so cold.”
“Huh?”
Maddox grabbed Kenichi by the arm. “Excuse us.”
Kenichi pulled his arm back. “Hey, I’m trying to learn something here.”
“You’re drawing attention to yourself. I don’t even know why you’re wearing these clothes. I bought you this world’s wardrobe back at Darius.”
“The outfits you guys wear in Ironguard make me feel like I’m in medieval times.”
“I’m wearing a business suit.”
“And where did you buy it at?”
“Eiberia.”
“Right, the one place I can’t go to get normal looking clothes.”
Sarina spoke with a smile. “I know a tailor who could make your outfit similar to Detective Maddox.”
“Where is he at? Let’s go.”
Maddox spoke. “Hey, we don’t have much of a budget to work with here. We only have money for food and hotel.”
“Skip the hotel and stay in the truck.” Kenichi saw a weapons shop. He hurried to the window and saw pistols lying on cases with fabric lining. They were all six shooters in different sizes. He looked to the side and saw a shotgun on display. However when he looked up at the swords hanging above the guns, there was a sign that read ‘All swords half price’. “This is strange.”
Maddox and Sarina approached him from behind. They noticed that Kenichi was disappointed. Maddox spoke. “I thought you would be happy to see familiar things from Earth like the gun and chicken.”
“It’s nice. However, I thought this would be a world of swords and sorcery.”
“You’re not missing anything.” Maddox patted Kenichi on the shoulder. “This world needed to advance. Unfortunately, shipping guns across the continent has been tough because Eiberia closed their borders and blocked most of the river routes.”
Sarina looked into the window. “Guns still can’t compete with magic though.”
“How come?” Kenichi and Sarina followed Maddox back along the street.
“Guns have a limited amount of magic caps to fire with. If you fight a spellcaster with a gun, you better hit your target, because we don’t run out of ammo.”
“I see.” Kenichi looked up at the street lamps with the teal covered metal discs attached at the top.
“It’s no different than a taking a bow and arrow to a magic fight. You’re asking to lose the battle of attrition.”
Kenichi placed his hands in his pockets. “Hmm… so this is an age of guns and sorcery.”
As the group made their way down a slope, Emma stopped by the window and looked at the weapons thinking of what Kenichi said. She looked at her right hand making a spark of electricity. Emma followed the group down the slope. She passed by three men. They noticed her. The middle height man lifted up his sword. They nodded to each other, and followed her.
At the bottom of the slope was a seaport. Large sailing ships were docked. Sailors were loading or unloading food and goods. As the group passed by a pallet of boxes hoisted by two bear men and a human, a large sailing ship just finished docking. It was a ferry and stagecoaches arrived stopping before the boat. The stairs were lowered onto the dock. Tourists, patients, and students disembarked. The students were young adults dressed in school uniforms, all human. The carriages they approached had an emblem written in this world’s text.
“Do no harm.” Kenichi read and caught Sarina’s attention.
“Amazing. You can read Ingirian.”
Kenichi placed his hand behind the back of his head with a smile. “Y… yeah. I had help.”
“Detective Maddox, you did great.”
“Uh…” He looked back at Kenichi waving at him to not say anything. “Yes, I taught him well.”
Kenichi watched the students board one of the carriages and it rode off. He turned his attention to the hill further into the city where there were buildings all along the cliffside. It was like a castle with town homes and a hospital. “Is that where the students are going?”
Sarina nodded as they approached a warehouse. “That is the Nirico University of Medicine. It’s where I graduated from. It’s very hard to get enrolled in. You have to have high scores to get accepted, but it’s worth it.”
“I wonder how Ichigo is doing in Princeton right now?”
“Ichigo?”
“My daughter. She is attending university now.”
“That’s great. What is she learning?”
“Geography and astronomy. She loves maps and the stars.”
“Amazing.” Sarina stood before a large warehouse and saw the large entrance. It was closed and locked. She noticed Kenichi and Maddox walked around the corner and followed. “Why are we going this way?”
“We have to go to the back entrance. If we open the front now everyone will see what’s inside.”
“I see.”
Emma stopped at the large entrance. She looked back at the next set of students boarding the carriages and thought of what Kenichi said. “Ichigo… I heard that name before.”
As Emma continued following the group, she was lost in thought over what she heard from Kenichi. It caused her to not watch her surroundings as the three men followed her.
The short man spoke. “What is in there Boss Jon?”
The tall man answered. “I don’t know Den. There must be something in here.”
The middle height man spoke. “Should we ignore the girl?”
Boss Jon answered. “Yeah, Kin. From the way that one guy was dressed, I say he has something worth a lot money.”
As Boss Jon, Den, and Kin followed Emma around the corner, Kenichi, Maddox, and Sarina arrived at the back of the warehouse. The street they were on was wide and a dead end. The entrance to this end of the building was large but the not as large as the front entrance of the building. A rat stood up over by the corner. It was as large as a house cat. Maddox reached for his gun in his trench coat and Sarina raised her staff, but the rat scurried off into a hole in the fence. The look on their faces shocked Kenichi.
Sarina spoke. “That was close.”
Maddox let out a deep breath. “The worst thing Earthworlders brought to our planet.”
Kenichi stood frozen unable to move. “That rat was too big to be from Earth.”
“Well it’s here.” Maddox used a key to unlock the entrance. He slid the large door to the side and pulled Kenichi inside. “Get in here.”
***
Inside, Maddox placed his hand over a teal metal disc. “Luz.”
The entire warehouse lit up revealing crates and boxes stacked on top of each other. He led Kenichi and Sarina through the area. “Doctor, stay close or you will get lost here.”
“So where are we at in the warehouse?”
“This is a smuggler’s hold. An old friend of mine let’s me use this when I need to get clients off the continent into hiding as a last resort. If King Elmond does not get Eiberia under control politically, then Yamamura and I are going to get off continent with his Earthtech.”
“But Mr. Yamamura needs to see Doctor Harrison about the oxygen poisoning.”
“We’re here for a while since Yamamura’s Earthtech is too big to move. So we have time to deal with his breathing condition, but that has to be resolved fast.”
“I understand.”
As Maddox led Kenichi and Sarina further inside, Emma peeked out from behind a column of crates. She walked the side of the crates leaning around the corner where everyone turned. Emma saw them turn left one more time. She proceeded forward unaware of the men behind her until she reached a small path and saw something. She chose to walk this path rather than risk being seen.
Emma approached a crate where she saw an opening. The path was like an alley. It was very difficult to turn around. She tripped to the ground and caught herself before landing on her injured arm. When she sat on her knees to check on her arm she heard Sarina from the other side of the crate.
“Amazing.”
Emma lifted her head up slowly and her eyes grew wide at what she saw. The red truck towered over Kenichi, Maddox and Sarina. Her heart raced as her memories of her past flooded her mind. She remembered driving down a highway passing by cars and other trucks.
“That’s… a truck.” Emma said as she watched Kenichi open the door and climbed inside. As soon as he sat before the steering wheel, she started to climb over the crate in a hypnotic state. “Please… give me my life back.”
Her voice caught Sarina’s attention. Emma stretched her arm out to get the doctor’s attention, but a large hand covered her mouth and pulled her away. She watched Kenichi climb down the truck, approaching the side compartment. As he opened that door, she struggled to scream. The truck moved further away from her with each struggle. With enough strength, she kicked a crate.
“You annoying brat.” Boss Jon said and turned to Kin and Den. “That looked like Earthtech in there. It’s a big haul. First tie her up so she won’t alert them.”
A crate from above fell next to them revealing gold. He and his partners looked at each other and smiled at the riches before them. While distracted, Emma pulled her head away from Boss Jon’s hand and bit it. He slapped her causing her to land on the floor on top of her injured arm. She screamed from the pain.
“Oh great.” Boss Jon said.
Kin spoke. “Boss I think she alerted them.”
Den approached Emma. “I got her.”
As soon as Den grabbed Emma’s arm, a fist flew right into his face. It connected with his left cheek and his head turned to the right. Everyone watched his teeth fly in the air. Once he fell to the floor, Emma looked up. She saw blood drip off a set of connected silver metal rings worn on a right hand. Kenichi stood in front of her staring down her kidnappers holding a long cloth containing something inside with his left hand.
“Are you all right?”
“I think my arm is broken again.”
When Kin drew out his sword, there was warping sound from the blade. “Sonic Sword Earbleeder.”
Kenichi took off his metal knuckles and handed it to Emma. “Stay there.”
“Wait,” Emma reached out to stop him. “That sword is enchanted.”
Kenichi walked toward Kin untying the cloth container. He slid the opening down revealing a metal pipe with an elbow attached at the end.
Sarina arrived and tended to Emma while Maddox checked on the knocked out Den. Maddox noticed the Kenichi approaching the bandits. “Don’t fight them!”
As Kenichi tapped the pipe on the palm of his hand approaching Boss Jon and Kin, Emma tried to remember what that was. “I know its name.”
Sarina aimed her staff at Emma’s arm. “Let’s focus on healing.”
Kin spoke. “What kind of weapon is that?”
“You’ll know soon enough.”
“My sword is enchanted, I’ll shatter it and make you deaf.”
Kenichi walked closer.
“I’m serious.”
Kenichi did not stop and Kin charged at him with a roar. The sword swung downward and created ripple in the air. The sound built up affecting Emma first and began to work its way to Maddox and Sarina. Then there was a soft clank. Everyone looked up and saw the pipe blocked the sword. The enchanted part of the attack disappeared without unleashing its spell property.
Sarina spoke. “The spell is countered.”
Emma stared at the pipe. “No way.”
“Impossible!” Kin looked at his sword unaware of the pipe swinging at him. It struck the side of his head and he fell over.
Kenichi started walking towards Boss Jon pointing his finger at him. “You’re up.”
Boss Jon ran and Kenichi followed. When Kenichi got outside, Boss Jon had his hand up with a spark of flame gathering at the palm of his hand. It was small but the flame already had an intense heat wave around it. Kenichi started to breath heavily, but he kept his composure.
“Bola de Fuego!” The fireball launched.
As it flew through the air, it grew larger. Kenichi shifted his body and held the pipe like a baseball bat. As it got close, the trucker swung the pipe. It connected with the fireball creating sparks that flew past him. The ball soared into the sky and landed in the ocean where it turned to steam. Kenichi breathed hard. He saw Boss Jon ready to cast another spell, when Maddox stepped outside and fired a shot from his gun.
The bullet struck Boss Jon’s hand covering it in ice. As the bandit screamed and ran, Maddox checked on Kenichi.
“Maddox, I overheard him say he saw the truck when I arrived.”
“Damn.” Maddox chased after Boss Jon unaware of Kenichi slumping along the wall and flames building up. They both made their way out in the open. Maddox aimed his gun at Boss Jon’s back. However, there was a crowd in the way. He lowered his gun with a growl and yelled out. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”
Maddox’ yell caught two bear men’s attention and saw Boss Jon running towards them. They tackled him as the police whistle rang in the air.
Back at the alley, as Kenichi grip his chest struggling to breathe, he heard Sarina and Emma calling out to each other. He looked back and saw flames high up in the air. Sarina dragged out Kin with Den over her shoulder. Emma followed watching the roof above. When she pointed up, part of the roof collapsed blocking their escape. The flames were so large it was like a wall.
With all his strength, Kenichi stood up. He slowly approached the flames as his breathing sounded like a saw. He reached into his right pocket and pulled out his smartphone. He pressed his thumb over the screen and a red circle appeared. It changed to green with the words “Thumb print cleared” and the screen turned on. He aimed the screen towards the fire. Two red circles appeared on screen, one inside the other with two red squares inside intersecting each other. “Red… Water Cannon.”
“Cañón de agua.” She said aloud and the drawing ejected out of the screen firing a geyser of water. It struck the flames drenching the surface it was feeding on freeing everyone who was blocked.
As Kenichi moved his arms redirecting the water onto all of the flames on the walls, Sarina carried Kin and Den out of the area with Emma following her. He took a long deep breath as he tried to get the whole area soaked in water. His knees buckled causing the spell to stop. Kenichi dropped to his knees but Sarina caught him. He pocketed his smartphone as the doctor checked on him.
“It’s okay Mr. Yamamura. I’m here.”
Emma looked at the whole area soaked in water and turned to Kenichi’s pocket. She bumped into Kenichi’s pipe. It turned to its side revealing an inscription in Japanese. Despite being written in Japanese, Emma’s memories did remember what the inscription said. It read, “An action committed in anger is doomed to failure.”
“You’re Ikaruga.” Emma whispered as she heard Maddox call out in the distance. Looking at the brass knuckle in her hand, she leaned against the wall.
“Is everyone okay?” Maddox arrived with firefighters and police officers. He pointed to Kin and Den for the police officers to arrest. The firefighters walked towards the waters soaked buildings. “How?”
Sarina held her staff over Kenichi and spoke. “Mr. Yamamura cast a spell.”
“You’re supposed to keep that hidden.” Maddox patted the Kenichi’s shoulder and smiled. “Good job.”
“Did you catch that tall man?”
“I had a little help from the dockworkers.”
Medics arrived with a stretcher and Sarina waved them over to help Kenichi. As the doctor and crew tended to Kenichi, Ikaruga slid over to Maddox’ feet. He picked up the pipe and realized Emma was gone. “Where’s Rosado?”
Sarina looked around the crowd. “She’s gone.”
“Damn.” Maddox looked at the pipe again. “Why didn’t she take this?”
Kenichi spoke. “She got my brass knuckles. Very small to carry in her pocket.”
The detective’s eyes grew wide and he growled. “Damn!”
To Be Continued…
