Chapter 54: A Fresh Start
“What the heck is that!” Hikari scoffs at the metallic arch with a dark blue liquid-like substance flowing inside and disregarding all laws of physics as they stand inside a big empty warehouse inside the museum.
“Excuse my friend, she’s not familiar with vidya logic.” Mai steps up and elaborates to her friends. “This...is the portal to….the nether!”
“Ha. On the contrary." Kayla laughs pleasantly while raising a tablet to the girls to see. “This is a warp gate that will take you to the early 1500s. In other words, a different server.”
“So we’re not getting any history lessons?” Hikari sighs and crosses her arms. “That’s a relief. What are we waiting for...” Hikari walks past Kayla and steps into the liquid gate, disappearing before she can stop her.
“Hikari! Wait! Darn it.” Kayla shakes her head and rubs her eyes. “She’s going to be so lost. There’s something I have to tell you girls before you join the new server.”
“We can worry about Hikari, later.” Emi assured Kayla. “She's smart and independent. Right, Mai?”
“Uh…” Mai scratches her head through her messy blonde hair.
“As I was saying…” Kayla continues, scrolling through the tablet and presenting the screen to the remaining three girls of Armadillo Squad. It’s a brief diagram of various pikes, swords, crossbows, and firearms laid out in an exploded view with traces leading up to each weapon from one another. “You obviously won’t be able to keep your modern equipment and gear on the server. Your credits are not going to be of any use either.”
“So we’re going to start from scratch?” Emi asked.
“Precisely.” Kayla dipped her hand into her vest’s pocket and pulled out some antique silver and gold coins. These are going to be your lifeline in the mod. You’ll get a starting sum of about an equivalent of 500 credits, plus an assortment of gear that is suited to your biometrics.”
“Bio...metrics?” Chiara stuttered. “That’s a little...unsettling.”
“Mil-Sim Story already knows your biometrics, silly!” Kayla chuckeld. “It’s why you look so cute, Chiara! The game uses your headset to scan and collect your biological information to present your avatar accurately. Didn’t any of you read the terms of service?”
“No...I just accepted and…”
“Well since you all conscented, the mod will use that data from your biometrics to determine your in-game class, history, and starting equipment. Think of it like a DNA test but with some creative liberties thrown in that respect your heritage.”
“You’d be surprised, Mai.” Kayla suggests further. “The mod’s system looks deep into surname databases, migration patterns, and your DNA. From there, your history is generated and your starting class and equipment is determined.”
“Hah. So that means Hikari is probably some Samurai noble warrior if that’s the case.” Mai smirked. “Her starting equipment is going to be pretty good.”
“Just like I told Mai before.” Kayla continues, brushing her red hair from her face. “The battles are going to be decades if not centuries apart. You’ll come across other players but the matches are going to be PVE for the most part.”
“Player vs Enemy for those who aren’t enlightened gamers.” Mai adds. “Which means we’re going up against bots.”
“What for? Did this mod have trouble getting players?” Emi asked.”
“The battles are going to be larger in scale than what you are used to. Now, I strongly recommend you all stick together once you arrive. You’re going to be thrown into a small skirmish to get you accustomed to your new equipment and learn the mechanics.” Kayla swipes her tablet to a painting of armored soldiers fighting with melee weapons, some sporting an arquebus in the background. “Your first introduction to Early Modern Warfare will take you back to the start of the 1500s and from there you’ll go into more historically significant battles like the Battle of Ceriñola and so forth. Sorry to spoil it for you.”
“Wait...then that means...Hikari!” Chiara nudges Mai and Emi. “We have to find her. She might be in danger!”
“Relax, Chiara.” Kayla squeezed her shoulder with her hand. “You’re not expected to survive the first skirmish.”
“How is that reassuring?!” Chiara and Emi cried out together.
“It’s supposed to be a teaser...that’s all.” Kayla shrugged her shoulders. “Trust me, you’ll do just fine. You’ll get the hang of it.”
“And what about you, Kayla?”
“I’m kind of busy with the other history groups at the moment. I’m sorry I couldn't join you right now. But I’d love to play with you again, Chiara.” Kayla pulls Chiara into another suffocating hug. “We have a lot of catching up to do. I’ll check up on you all after your first skirmish!”
“Y...yeah. Totally.” Chiara says out of breath. Kayla lets her go and Mai waves over to Emi and Chiara at the front of the teleporter.
“Come on, Hikari is having fun without us! Let’s do this!”
Chiara stumbled onto the ground with a bit of force, landing on her palms and knees. Wild grasses, hills, and thistles, bordered by dense trees and shrubs on one side and rolling hills on the other. Chiara looks down at her garments, Her rolled up sleeves are mismatched green and white which lead to her black leather gloves Her chest bears and shoulders bear a crude currais and shoulder pads. Her skirt is stripped with red, white, and green strips of wool with white tights accented with a red bow. She gets up onto her feet, her little leather shoes feel flimsy. Right on the ground from where she landed, a long wooded pole, longer than Chiara’s height with a steel pike attached lays from her. “My...weapon?” Chiara picks up the pike, feeling the heft and weight of such a simple design. From the ground, she spots a small dagger, a Quillon dagger with bronze fittings to which Chiara restores back into her empty leather sheath by her waist side.
“Cute cap, Chiara!” Mai calls out from across the field. Chiara pats her head to feel a black beret like headwear on her head but when she sees Mai, her mouth clenches and can’t help but break into laughter.
“Mai! What on earth is that?!” Chiara takes in the details of her outfit while trying to control her laughter; a brown belted tunic with a white fluffy collar around her neck. Her sleeves are intentionally torn with two types of fabrics of a maroon and white coloration and wears white gloves on her hand which wield a crossbow. She has puffy looking shorts, accented with white tights and her shoes have a little fluffy white ball on the tip, almost like something a clown would wear. But the most outlandish part of Mai’s outfit is her hat which was floppy, crooked, and had a big red feather.
“Speak for yourself, you look like a Christmas Tree.” Mai snarks, standing at ease with her crossbow. “At least my outfit feels fancy. I have never worn materials this nice before.” Mai takes off her floppy hat and admires it. “They really don’t make them like they used to. I feel...fab.” She spins her hat and slips it back onto her head. “I don’t know why I spawned in with a crossbow, But it looks like you’re a pike soldier, Chiara.”
“Is that what you call...this thing?” Chiara holds up her pike which she has to rest the blunt end on the ground. It towers over her and Mai. “It’s so long, how the heck am I supposed to use this? And then I have this little sword…”
“Dagger...Chiara?” Mai corrects her. She draws something from her scabbard which is wielded in the front of her shorts. Unlike Chiara’s, Mai’s sword like weapon is rounded at the tip, almost as if it was some kind of defect. The hilt and guard are anything but crude as the materials and design of the guard are exquisite. “Mine is bigger than yours and it feels good to swing around.” Mai waves her Katzbalger around in the air like she’s fighting a ghost. “Although I don’t like how this sword looks like a...well you know…”
“Know….what, Mai?”
“Heh..nevermind.” Mai shakes her head and returns her arming sword back. “Wierd how I got a crossbow as my primary. Aren’t you more familiar with this weapon from the vanilla game?”
“My crossbow had a red dot sight and is a lot more modern than...that thing.” Chiara pointed out. “Isn’t there supposed to be…”
“Guns?” Emi interjected from the side. Unlike the others, Emi was kitted in steel plate armor with a morion helmet. Her clothes are more constraint compared to Chiara and Mai, with a beige upper tunic under her steel plate armor and blood red trousers padded with more steel plates. She appears to have a rapier sword by her side and is looking at the rather crude pistol in her hand. It looks nothing like a conventional pistol with a pommel-like grip with a round bronze bolt attached to a string lanyard. Where the trigger would typically be is instead substituted by a long metal lever which is attached to a hammer like device which looks like it is supposed to be holding something on it. The barrel is crudely attached with iron bands and the muzzle is flared out, being the only distinctive part of the pistol. “Can you call this… a gun?! What is this?”
“That’s a matchlock pistol.” Mai informs Emi, causing her to frown from her answer. “You need a lit match to set it off. But not before adding some gunpowder to the pan, putting a patch and round in the muzzle, ram it home, adjust your match on your cock…”
“Excuse me?” Emi scoffed with her eyes raised.
“That’s what the hammer thing is called. Don’t look at me like that, Emi. I didn’t come up with the terminology.”
“This is ridiculous,” Emi muttered, turning the crude, awkward pistol over in her hand. “Where am I supposed to aim? It doesn’t have sights.”
The three are alerted when they hear a ruffle coming from behind the trees. Chiara struggles to lower her pike in front of her, Mai loads a bolt on her already cocked crossbow, and Emi, unable to figure out her matchlock pistol, draws her rapier at the ready. A figure comes out running frantically from the woods. A girl with a white silk headdress, and a short simple kimono, her bare legs exposed to the elements and holding a rustic looking katana in her left hand.
“Hikari!” Emi calls out to her, waving her sword. Hikari falls onto the ground in front of them, trying to catch her breath. Emi helps her back on her feet. “Where were you and what are you wearing?!”
“I don’t know!” Hikari whined. “All I got is this lousy katana! I’m being chased by weirdos speaking in duh vuh mon.”
“Chased?” Emi looks over to the trees from where Hikari ran from and sees a group of figures approaching them.”
“Oh no…” Mai raises her crossbow. “It’s...the French!”
A troop of soldiers, in contrasting outfits and gear emerge from the trees. Two of them are armed with long arquebuses which they position on top of a shooting post placed on the ground. Two others are wielding two handed long swords and one is completely covered head to toe in thick armor wielding a poleaxe in the center. One of the soldiers, wearing a large round hat of blue and yellow calls out to the girls, the soldiers accompanying him with arquebuses have their barrels aimed directly at them.
“What the hell do they want?!” Hikari groans in desperation.
“They want us to surrender.” Mai translates to the team. “But I doubt that’s going to be an option for us...this is supposed to be a skirmish.”
“Do we have to fight them?! Look at them! We’re outclassed! I’m outclassed. Why are my clothes so…” Hikari feels her fabric with her hand. “I’d wear this to a bathouse...not a battlefield.”
“Of course we do. And if we win, you can loot their gear off them.” Mai’s suggestion creates a look of disgust from Hikari. “Looks like you didn’t spawn in with anything useful other than that Katana...but we’ll make it work.
“You seem so sure of yourself…” Chiara muttered while her shaking hand held the pike in front of her.
“I’m actually not, but I wanna know how this ends. Hey!” Mai waves at the French soldiers. “Ta mere!”
The Frenchman with the funny looking hat has an offended look on his face. His moustache twitches and he raises his double handed sword towards them. “Feu!”