Verdandi was hyped that her last diplomatic mission was about to end here. More would come at later date, but Verd was certain she could finally get a break once this here was over. She yawned seemingly exhausted from all the work she had been doing these past few days and weeks. Specifically, the refugee helps and camp had been of high taste for her, all other missions were somewhat weird or lacked a certain attractive edge to them.
Having spent the past day burning symbols and collecting Suna goods, Verd was no stranger to the nature of her second Kumo mission. She was paired up with the same squad once more. The civilian soldiers had forgiven her insistence towards returning all the looted goods instead of splitting a good part within them. She might allow herself to be seen as diplomatic mercenary of sorts, but not as a cheap thief or someone that would illegally take contraband and loot off the mission pot for selfish reasons.
Then again, Verd was aware that no many of the men in her squad had the riches she was already born with. The prospect of being raised as a princess in royal grounds was something almost no one of the people she met had shared with her so far. But it had to be allowed to be an oddball of sorts from time to time.
Verd moved onto the back of the cart as they were dragged off along with the caravan to their next target. They had been looting and destroying suna symbols since days now. Each of the men having their own speciality by now. The pyromancer was burning down the banners. The crazy one stole all toys related to suna, the big one smashed smaller aesthetics with his large two-handed hammer. The old one burned books but, to Verdandi's amusement, kept quite a lot of the history books in his own stash. If confronted by Verd, he'd claim that even if they were making new history, there was no particular reason to burn the old one without remorse.
The bunch of them easily crossed many of the last remaining villages on their list. The sweeping would be over for quite a while. However, Verdandi had dealt with a lot of elements here so far. She made suna people admit to turn refugees, she had intel missions and knew well about the villages, camps and settlements in the area, she helped evacuate them and bring them to safety and she even managed the refugee centre herself for a few in a large success one might say.
To now remove the last reminder of the suna nation would tie in somewhat well at last. Despite her personal distaste for it, it just meant that they would be able to focus on what Kiri had been here for. To scout out and eliminate the rogues and criminals of these lands. Verd might dislike the villages combined force into suna, but she at least had empathy for the job Kiri was assigned to, hunting and eliminating criminals was one of her most favourite day activities.
She sometimes doubted that her actions were just, but whenever someone attacked her first, she would always find reasons and ways to justify this action in her head as to be simply part of her self-defence. Hence why she rarely made the first strike unless stealth kills were necessary. It simply served her well to keep her mind clean of filthy, ill feels that could poison her. The psychological irony of her basically being a killer in revenge as well, wasn't lost on her either. But she was a born kunoichi that certainly loved her job. Verdandi moved along into what seemed like the last, larger village to be looted.
This last village however, wasn't empty. The village centre was filled with about a dozen men surrounding what looked like a pretty fierce mercenary. The would instantly see what Verd's squad was about and which job they followed suit. After a short introduction of the merc captain he insisted, that they had committed crimes to the people of suna and hence would now be judged and held responsible for their actions. He laughed. The merc was but a hired hand maybe, but they were all born and raised sunaan. It was easily visible from their taint and behaviour.
Verdandi wouldn't bother too much with guilt considering that these men were no better, they fletched their weapons and quickly moved in to take fight with the squad soldiers. Verdandi's attention would rapidly be claimed by the leader. He directly engaged her with his blade forcing Verd to unsheathe Wyrm's Fang and slice back at him. They started to collide in the middle of the battlefield. One of the lower soldiers thought it was a good idea to attack Verdandi from behind with his spear while she seemed occupied. Dandi slipped to the ground and slithered away from her main enemy. Passing past between the weakling's legs slicing into his leg before she came up behind him. Rushing her blade through his back up along his spine. Kicking his bleeding body forward against the merc leader and making them collide.
Meanwhile Verd had to witness how the old geezer in the group sadly fell victim to those spears. Impaled by them as the pyromaniac yet used the chance he could get. The old man would grip the five spears impaling him in a way to bind them. The Pyro would simply blast the now trapped men on fire, giving the old geezers death a certainly flashy touch. The sword master defended himself well but was taking damage too. The huge hulk of a man with his hammer smashed in his third head already and didn't seem to be bothered by the cuts on his skin.
The merc leader quickly shot multiple water gunshots at Verd and instantly followed up with a rather large, seemingly crushing water wave. Verd quickly activated her frost armor. Letting the ice slowly cover every inch of her body and swallow the damage of the water-based attacks. It also froze the water once in contact with the ice. Letting it crumble down to the ground. Verdandi was angry. She jolted forward and quickly sliced her blade with full power against the man. His own blade wouldn't take well with the impact and was tossed from his palms. Verd kicked him straight in the chest to make his body splat against the fountain behind him. Piercing her Hyouton tuned sword into his heart. The water of the halfway broken fountain would come in contact with the Hyouton nature of Verdandi's blade and her armor. Slowly freezing the dead corpse of the merc against the bricks and turning him into a mere reminder of his failure.
Verd quickly turned about and moved in to slice her way through the remaining soldiers of the mercenary group. There were just about two of them left by the time she moved in. The rest had been properly decimated by the squad soldiers. Verd was aware that most of them were wounded now. The old geezer however had passed away. They collected the bodies on a pile and pyro would set them ablaze. The geezer would be buried, some of the men would pay him their last respects before they jumped on the cart. Verd would take care of the transportation.
They had yet to move further into the village. Looting it as usual. However, they did so silently. The loss of their comrade and the face-off with the enemy seemingly left them lost in their previously loud and vulgar humour. Verdandi wasn't particularly mad at that, their behaviour was disturbing her anyway. Now they had seen where all the warmongering lust could drive them towards. She was actually even glad they ended up experiencing this. Showing them exactly what this was about. There was nothing noble within this job and they would just get over with it now as it is.
The last village certainly had a lot of good loot however. Maybe the reason why the merc's had been sent here. Some sunaan people might have wished to reclaim those treasures for themselves. But now they were lost to the intruding villages. Verd used a good bunch of water clones to help her out with the situation. Seeing as they were one man down and the loot was plenty and heavy. They loaded the carts and slowly dragged off into the distance.
Once back at the camp Verdandi gave a full report on the situation. The men would unload the cargo under supervision of the Kumo-nin. Dandi explained how they faced the enemy and killed them without hesitation but lost the good old man. It was seemingly of not much concern to the administration. Verd was just glad that her work was over now. In the end it had been quite taxing after all. It was time to return to the Kiri compound and get herself a break.
[EXIT]1520
- WC Usage:
1500 wc for minimal mission pay.