The mercenary sighed.
"Is it... the government? Do you want to work for the government? Rauni, I think we had talked about…” The mercenary cut him off.
"Worse." The word seemed to baffle the young man. And since he didn't say anything else, Rauni continued. “Mariah.”
There was a pause, until Louhi reacted.
"Oh for the love of The Celestials, Rauni! Mariah? Are you serious!?”
"We’ll steal the meteorite from the government and deliver it to my contact for an absurdly high sum. We’ll be able to buy a better vehicle and we can become the best equipped mercenaries in the whole country. They would hire us on any important job!”
A new silence settled down among them for a few seconds. All the noise that could be heard was the engine and the music played on the radio. Rauni, uncomfortable by the long moment and the expressionless face that Louhi had adopted, decided to press.
“Nothing? Aren't you upset?”
"At this point..." he rubbed his face with his hands and adjusted his hair. “I already expected it to be something that absurd, risky and stupid, otherwise it wouldn't be you.”
"And... won't you say anything?"
"If you want me to be honest, I'm really upset because you think I'd back down with something like that. While you know I don't agree with taking risks this big, we've been doing illicit work for years. And it bothers me a little bit to work with that fucking witch of Mariah; she is an unreliable old woman, even by the black market standards. However, am I be upset about that? Or is it because part of me thinks you're a greedy rat who wanted all the loot for himself?”
A chill ran down Rauni's spine and he gave a nervous laugh, but he breathed calmly again when he looked at Louhi's confident face full of expectations for the challenge he was going to face. The eye that was still human was shining with an intensity he had not witnessed for a long time.
"I didn't want the loot for myself. I just thought it would be very dangerous. I know we’ve done some shady stuff, but this is on a whole different level. If they discover us, we’ll be considered traitors and due to the seriousness of the crime I’d expect nothing less than an execution” Rauni explained, as if it was the obvious.
"But they won't. We’ll go there and find a way to enter without being detected, as we’ve done several times. We’ll steal the meteorite and sell it as soon as we can.”
"You sound too confident to be true. What’s your trap?" Rauni narrowed his eyes and a thin smile appeared on his face.
"I'm interested on the money. Great risks bring great rewards. How much are we talking about?” Louhi took a bottle of water from the floor and started drinking from it.
"Well, just 30 million kuramas" said Rauni as if it were a smaller sum.
Louhi spat the water forward soaking everything in his path, including his clothes, the glass, his tablet, and the dashboard of the vehicle. Then he coughed a couple of times and looked at Rauni who laughed for a good couple of seconds.
"30 million!? You could buy yourself a damn mansion with that amount and you are only thinking about buying a new vehicle! Now I'm really upset!” The young man shouted and hit the driver's right arm.
"Come on, don’t you think you are exaggerating?"
"I’m not. You were going to this by yourself and you weren't going to tell me at all! You're such a…” Louhi growled under his breath. "I’ll be helping you, so I’ll be waiting for those 15 million.
"I know, I know, you don't have to tell me."
The area located several kilometers beyond the south exit of Ranthal was considered one of the most beautiful places left in the world because of its abundant vegetation. The fertile land of southern Namurova gave way to vast grasslands, boreal forests, and vegetation of all kinds. The road had different unpaved exits that led to modern farms with tens of hectares of space where livestock, mainly made up of aegaboses (animals with mixed characteristics of creatures previously known as goats and cows) which enjoyed freedom far from civilization. Other animals that remained over time, such as chickens, pigs and horse were also part of the terrain, but in general the areas were divided for the comfort of each being. All these creatures belonged to level 100 in terms of danger, because they were considered docile species. In that regard, plants were similar as they were also kept in separate productions due to the fear of possible modification of species which was very easy for some of them. For that reason, it was not uncommon to see farms that produced only one type of vegetable or fruit. In fact, the farms south of Namurova specialized in maize (a gigantic one) and various green fruits.
Rauni and Louhi's first half-hour drive showed the meadows around Ranthal. The only mountains were towards the coast hundreds of kilometers from there, where no human settlement had managed to complete due to the absurd number of creatures level 15 and downwards. The road past the farms gave way to lush forests and wide plains, where wild animals could be seen running around, always far from the road. At least, that was how it was in most cases.
After passing through an extensive tunnel that felt like an eternity to both of them, they managed to reach another meadow where they finally spotted in the distance the place that the geolocation marked; the place where the meteorite had actually fallen.
"Houston, we have a problem" said Louhi, focusing his gaze on the place. Then he added, thinking of the phrase his partner had taught him. “Who the hell is Houston?”
"No idea" he answered, activating the parking brake.
At a distance of 5 kilometers, in a relatively flat meadow on the left side of the road, there was a unknown structure to them and with no sign of having been marked on the map. They discovered that the meteorite was walled within large concrete walls, about 6 meters tall with the shape of a hexagon. They were gray and completely smooth, impossible to climb without equipment. Each part of the structure had the logo of the nation and under it they had the inscription of the National Guard. Surrounding the wall, there were soldiers at each point guarding the perimeter, each one carrying a plasma rifle, something unusual for the Guard. In general, any situation was handled with electromagnetic weapons in order to avoid serious or even lethal injuries, but if there were plasma weapons involved in the matter of the meteorite, it meant that it was the highest priority of the government at that time and that no matter what or whoever interfered, the order would be to annihilate the target.
Despite the size of the vehicle, Rauni managed to hide it completely from the view of the soldiers, locating himself in a small forest on the right side of the road. At this distance, unless they were on patrol rounds or they had snipers, it was impossible for them to be seen. However, Louhi could and immediately got out of the van, leaving the door open. He brushed his hair off his face and started looking through his mechanical eye.
"Walls, chambers, and soldiers with plasma rifles. Rauni, this is big” said the young one, studying the area. “We should probably ask for a little more than 30 million.”
Rauni lowered the glass and began taking note of all the details that his partner was giving him. There were a lot of variables to deal with, but it shouldn't be that difficult. At least, he believed that. When Louhi finished enlisting, Rauni moved to the back of the vehicle and turned on a light hanging from the ceiling and amid the mess the mercenary took out a piece of paper and a pencil. Louhi got back in and this time closed the passenger door. He turned the seat backwards with a mechanism and stared at his squatting partner smiling as he scratched the paper.
—To win a lot you have to risk a lot, as you said. Let's do this.
Comments (5)
See all