Rauni left the store carrying the box under his arm with a relaxed but firm step, getting into a gray and smelly maze of buildings which were either closed or abandoned businesses. He looked for the way back to the main street where he had parked his vehicle and following his distracted nature, he decided to cross the street without paying much attention. Cluelessly, a man on a motorcycle with wide tires and covered in a plate body almost ran over him. By dodging it, the man shouted a rudeness at him in a foreign language.
"Idiot..." said the blonde and sighed.
The main avenue was made up of several buildings of no more than five stories of cold colors, worn by the passage of time and the carelessness of people. Most of them remained empty and in dire condition, especially if it was further and further away from the central area of the drevokov. Dozens of old posters, broken light signs, murals and graffiti decorated the environment, leaving a depressing feeling when walking through those streets. People who managed to live in Ranthal and didn't have much money had no option but to settle in an overcrowded area in the first level of the tower. So it was not uncommon to find an unpromising and otherwise dangerous scenario.
Rauni thought for a few seconds that he had taken the wrong path but he finally managed to get out onto the main avenue and this time he decided to look both ways before crossing the street. The street that made up the avenue was a lot different and a little more active. People walked on both sides of the street at a brisk pace, avoiding the street vendors who offered their wares at tempting prices. As for the vehicles in the area, not many passed by since people did not have the need to leave the drevokovs. Going up in the tower was usually the only option. Rauni, who used to oppose popular trends, had his vehicle parked in the direction of the exit of the gigantic tower-shaped city.
The vehicle, clearly out of date, was a black van decorated with two horizontal red lines that seemed to divide the sides of the vehicle in half. It had off-road tires and black iron head guards with additional lights. Above the driver's window, it had four lights that could surely illuminate a fair amount of night terrain. On the right side it had a sliding door that Rauni avoided opening for some reason, while at the back two doors could be opened wide. Only the cabin had windows, and through it you could see a black-haired young man, lost in thought on a tablet in the passenger seat.
Rauni opened the driver's door, tossed the box containing the sword behind the seat no matter where it fell and with an annoyed expression, climbed in and stared at the almost empty road.
The co-pilot jerked upright and raised his voice.
“Half an hour? Really?” the young man exclaimed.
The boy was dressed in a navy blue jacket with pockets and zippers throughout, black cloth pants, and old dark boots. However, what was most striking about Louhi's appearance was something not very common in Namurova. It was a metallic implant that covered part of his right face, extending to his ear, which was also part of the device. This prosthesis channeled the visual information from his right eye through a circular lens very similar to a camera. A reddish light indicated the level of process the device was performing, although Louhi had learned to modify it for certain occasions, as when he added a closing function, which covered the lens every time his brain gave the order to blink or close his eyes. As for his ear, there was nothing to mimic it having only four diagonal grooves you could see if you took jet black hair out of the way, something a bit difficult for anyone. He combed it to the right side of his face so no one could look at it.
"Leave me alone, for the love of The Celestials. I have the sword, that's what counts. Are we leaving or will you scold me like a mother all day?” Rauni quickly replied.
"Just ..." Louhi took a deep breath and sighed heavily "Just start driving, will you?" The boy crossed his arms as he looked towards his window.
"Yes, Mom ..." Rauni started the van and the vehicle drove down the street, slowly moving away from the suburbs.
As he made his way down the old highway, the buildings got smaller and smaller but at the same time, the carelessness became more apparent as did the presence of empty land littered with trash or debris. Few people walked through these places, a lot less compared to the place that the mercenary had parked his vehicle. The desolation of the place was understandable because everything was located near the central tower. The vehicle was moving at a speed between 60 and 70 kilometers per hour while it was still in the city, but when he was able to cross the abandoned entrance control, Rauni immediately changed gears and accelerated reaching 100 km/h in a few seconds.
"I don't know why I keep letting you drive, you're too sloppy," Louhi grumbled, thinking that Rauni probably wasn't even approved at driving school.
“Because I remind you that this preciousness is mine. Isn't that right, my love?” Rauni stated with a proud smile on his face. He honked twice and looked at Louhi. “See? She loves me.
Louhi shook his head in disapproval and went back to his tablet. It lit up and a hologram was appeared on the small metal plate that the brunette was holding. By selecting a couple of options, a map expanded upwards in a three-dimensional way. Louhi had swapped his position icon for a vehicle and he could see that they were slowly making their way down the road outside Ranthal.
“On a different matter, according to the GPS we should be there in a little over than an hour. And by the way,” he added "don’t you think it's about time you told me what this work is about?” Louhi said as he fiddled with the map, turning it from side to side. “You just told me to look for the location, I don't even know what the hell is there.”
The mercenary was going to make a joke about it, but glacing out of the corner of his eye at his companion, he realized that it was not the right time to do so. He lowered the volume of the music a little and decided to answer to his friend.
"Do you remember the star we saw a while ago? The one that we joked about it falling down.”
"Of course I do, it was about a month ago. Not much was known after that and not even the black market media knew anything about it. Wait ... " he looked at him expectantly "Don't tell me that the rumor about it being a meteorite was true.”
Rauni nodded.
“I knew it!” Louhi exclaimed excitedly. “Many people commented on the possibility that an object from space had fallen to Earth, but that hasn’t happened in centuries. Falling stars are common but we have never heard of one that actually fell to our Earth. There are even people who say that meteorites are part of mythology.”
"Well, that's precisely our loot. I have no idea what the hell is it or why they want it, but apparently there are many scientists who desperate for having it even for a few minutes.” He paused. “It’s what I imagine, at least.”
“And? What’s the trap?” Louhi narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“T-trap? What are you talking about?” Rauni hesitated and even released the accelerator pedal for a second.
"Point one: it’s meteorite that fell in our country.” he held up his left index finger and continued with each point he mentioned. “Point two: the government and the media gave a false public statement regarding this and also, they revived an absurd conflict so that people's attention was diverted; no one cares at this point about collusion on UniNet services. Point three: there are no mercenaries or hunters even mentioning the meteorite, which means it is so valuable that it is not shared with anyone or, in fact, no one has any kind of information. Point Four: You bought a new sword, which means there will be trouble; from the location of the target I assume there will also be beasts. And finally, your contact is too suspicious. So, the moment of truth has come. Who is paying? The boy turned off the hologram on the tablet and stared at Rauni's nervous expression.
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