MTLNOVEL Chapter 18: Chapter 018
The initial plan had been to leave that night; sadly, circumstances required Kyoko and Nagisa to wait another two days while quietly watching guard patrol patterns and mapping out strategies for what Kyoko was dubbing the "Big Heist". It wouldn't do to just take a guard and run after all, the two girls needed supplies and they needed to do it in a way that wouldn't immediately tip Neloth off to what they were planning. And so the next two days continued as they had before, with knowledge that this would all be over one way or another within forty-eight hours, which gave Kyoko the willpower to see it through.
It was late when they struck; the two girls waited just outside the village waiting for the nearest guard to come closer. When he finally did arrive, Nagisa set off a small fireball into the air while she lay within a batch of trama root, the tentacle-like plant giving her a place to hide in the darkness. As he came closer to investigate, Kyoko appeared from behind and tackled him, rendering the elf unconscious. Their prize secure, the two girls proceeded to strip him, removing the strange and asymmetrical bug-like plated armor and underlying tattered leather so Kyoko could wear it. As Kyoko got dressed, Nagisa dragged the downed guard's body back over to the root fence, laying him right behind the nearest building—he'd be safe from what was about to happen, but was still isolated so no one would find him until this was all over
"…It's a little too big for me." Kyoko frowned, noting the baggy and misshapen appearance the suit took on with her form as she put it on—the downsides of being short.
"It'll be fine if you stay at a distance. It's dark out." Nagisa replied, handing the redhead the helmet, "Besides, you said yourself you won't need to pretend very long, right?"
Kyoko put the bug-like helmet on before wrapping a dark red scarf around her neck and mouth. Every inch of her body was covered; thin chitin plate armor protected her forearms, lower legs, left shoulder, and chest. The rest of her body was covered in thick but heavily-worn guar leather with a dull red tinge, including the torn skirt that extended from her armor's belt.
"With any luck, anyway." the redhead said, "…Hm. Not sure I like the helmet." She sighed, but there wasn't much she could do about that at the moment, "Okay, you remember the rest of the plan, right?"
Nagisa nodded eagerly as she resummoned her fire spell. With a grin, Kyoko did the same, and together the two began to set fire to the mushroom forest. Not all at once of course; they didn't want to get caught in the act. Instead they set up several pocket fires over a wide area, each just close enough that they'd merge very soon before backing away and heading to their assigned positions.
Kyoko ran back to Tel Mithryn just as the blaze began to burn out of control, "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" she shouted in what she hoped was a mixture of panic and authority. Thankfully, the fire outside was more than enough to speak for her, and very soon virtually every guard was making a beeline for the location of the "attack"-including, thankfully, the armory guards.
Nagisa had sneaked back into her and Kyoko's quarters to grab their existing supplies. Kyoko had already been spending the past week nicking food from the kitchen without arousing suspicion, and over the last two days had upped her ante, meaning they had one less thing to worry about now. Nagisa grabbed the pack of supplies they'd already prepared and headed for the guar pen.
Kyoko meanwhile, was ransacking the unprotected armory. She knew she had to be fast; any minute the guards outside would recognize the burning forest as an act of sabotage and not an attack by bandits or the dragon. Scanning the room, she quickly picked out a handful of javelins for herself which she strapped to her back, as well as a dagger just in case. For Nagisa, she hesitated. From what little she'd remembered of Nagisa's magical girl powers from the battle with Homura's witch, Nagisa had had a trumpet or something, right? What would be a good alternative? WAS there a good alternative? Grunting in frustration, Kyoko settled on both a short sword and a small crossbow before making her escape.
By the time Kyoko got out to the guar pen, Nagisa was fully bundled up and was already setting up the next phase of the plan. She'd opened the gate and was in the process of untying each guar.
"How do we get them to run?" Nagisa asked her as she approached, "I looked up some illusion spells for causing fear or panic, but they were all a bit too advanced for me".
Kyoko considered this for a moment, then realized the pens were made of wood, "…Well, when all you have is a hammer" she snapped her fingers, causing the air to ignite in her palm as if to give an explanation.
Nagisa paused, "…Do you know how to ride a guar?"
The redhead let the fire in her hand extinguish and looked over at what she could still only see as fat pig-dinosaurs, "…Sure, how hard can it be?" she said, before handing the younger girl the weapons she'd chosen for her. Nagisa slung the arrows and crossbow over her shoulder and attached her new sword to her belt before handing the supply pack over to Kyoko.
Thankfully, one of the guars still had a saddle attached—something that Kyoko had been very worried about figuring out on the spot, even if she hadn't told Nagisa. The redhead slung the supplies over said saddle, "Ready?"
Nagisa had finished freeing the guar and nodded back as she approached, "Ready".
Kyoko put her hand on Nagisa's shoulder as if to reassure them both, before helping Nagisa onto the creature. Making sure the younger girl was secure, Kyoko then hopped on herself and took the reins. She gave them a snap, and to her relief the guar began to move as per her directions.
"Okay." Kyoko said, maneuvering the creature close to the nearest pens, "Let'er rip!"
Both girls summoned fire into existence as Kyoko moved the guar forward, and very soon the entire guar pen ignited into open flame. Their own guar got spooked, which Kyoko took as a sign that that was enough. She pushed forward, ordering the creature (or at least, she hoped she was ordering) to charge. It didn't need much push in that regard, merely a direction, and its panic began to fuel the panic of the guar around it. The resulting chaotic domino effect resulted in the stampede out the gate that the girls had hoped for.
"LET'S FUCKING GO!" Kyoko shouted with glee as they charged out the gate behind the herd. Nagisa laughed in excitement, holding onto Kyoko's waist as tightly as she could as they breached Tel Mithryn's limits when their guar jumped over the knotted root fence and they vanished into the night. As they left, they could see some of the guards returning, trying in vain to catch some of the other escaping guar. Kyoko laughed; served those assholes right. She imagined the look on Neloth's face when he found out what had happened—her only regret was that she wouldn't be able to be there when it happened.
"Holy crap, I can't believe that actually worked!" Kyoko laughed in disbelief. She turned back to Nagisa as the two gave each other an awkwardly placed high-five, "Good work, you! How are you holding up?" Nagisa just giggled in response, hugging Kyoko tighter. The older girl smiled at that, "Okay, we're out of town and headed east. Do your thing!"
Nagisa nodded wordlessly and cast longstride. Immediately, the guar began to run even faster—twice as fast, in fact. Wind blasted past the two girls, but as they were completely covered up the cold ash-ridden air did little to damper their spirits. They were free.