chapter 195

POV: Four Leaf Station Security Officer, Second Rank Lieutenant Dan Erhord

We felt another jolt as one of the side engines keeping us hovering in the air misfired for a moment.

“Another one. I tell you, one day we’re going to fall from the sky,” my partner said to me, as he always did. He liked to complain, but he did whatever stupid thing we needed to do, no matter how hard or difficult, even while complaining about it at the same time. Never had a better partner.

Another red notification rolled past at the central console. Clicking the current red count showed 482 malfunctioning camera sections. The sections themselves were quite small, but were big enough to hide any wrongdoing.

The camera system was master-crafted, well-built, and something that had lasted for nearly 1000 years. It didn’t malfunction; everyone knew that. The only way something like that happened was if someone was deliberately messing with them.

Our job was to check those out, but we couldn’t be too proactive, otherwise the four Dukes would find ways of making you have accidents. Those bastards, I honestly wished someone would kill them, but they were needed to keep the peace amongst adventurers.

All of us who joined wanted to change things, as this couldn’t be the best way of running anything, but once you had enough years under your belt, you started to see the truth. Absolute chaos was unacceptable, but peace and utopia would always lead to exploitation.

You needed some struggle. That way, you could keep your edge when something really went wrong. We were here to make sure that no one crossed the line.

“Want to choose randomly again, or should we select something that’s close to a good food hole?”

My partner thought for a bit, but before he managed to answer me, we both noticed one of the red alerts disappear, which wasn’t uncommon, but then it appeared almost immediately once again. Both of us leaned in, as that was something troublesome.

“Someone is fighting back,” my partner said, and I agreed almost immediately.

Shit, that could get bad. “Central control, this is patrol vehicle 7887 responding to a possible flicker in sector 855, requesting backup at that location.” As soon as I finished reporting our destination, we hit the accelerator and lit up the sirens.

Other patrols near us responded to our call surprisingly fast. It seems we weren’t the only ones to have noticed, so some were already heading toward the location that would most likely become a headache of paperwork.

We could exceed the air speed limit while rushing to a location, but even then, we had speed limitations pushed into law by the dukes to give them more time to wage their secret wars.

My partner was trying to see something from the nearby cameras of the other sections, but none of us expected anything, as none of the ones that mess with this camera system would miss something so obvious.

“Hey, look at that,” my partner said, pointing at one camera that seemed to have a red tint. So there might be active skill use. That was bad.

“This is central. In sector 855, recorded footage shows a known associate of the Green Duke, a middle-of-the-pack leader in charge of an intimidation squad, a speedster. Sending further details.”

Taken from NovelPhoenix, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The file popped open, showing that scaly bastard. I’d had a few run-ins with him, and he is trouble. Then the realization hit me. I looked toward my partner, who did the same, as we both understood that whoever was up against him was capable enough to fight a speedster.

We weren’t the only ones to realize this, as five more patrols called in, and a personnel carrier was sent as well, although it would be some time before it reached that location.

The cameras on the vehicle zoomed in as we got close enough so we could get a visual on what was happening. We saw a line of the Green Duke’s men stretching from one side of the street to the other.

The speedster I could recognise immediately, and he was currently down, probably being healed. Against all of them stood a singular person. He was wearing black armour that looked like the one they used in mana-saturated worlds. It had crimson glowing runic patterns all over it, but the most dangerous thing was the sword in his hand.

“The sun take me, is that a plasma light sword?” my partner said under his breath. It most definitely was. Damn it, he was either rich or strong, or both. He also managed to take down the speedster. This was going to be a bureaucratic shitshow.

On the centre console, a pop-up appeared. It was a properly submitted recording from a registered recording device. The sender was the sword wielder opposing the Green Duke's men.

“By the authority of the Four Leaves Station security, cease all hostilities,” I announced through our loudspeaker. My partner was scrolling through the video evidence sent, and not only that, but the cameras here weren’t constantly down like they should have been. They seemed to match what the sword wielder sent.

What we had was sent to the central command, which would process everything. To my surprise, no one tried to continue the fight. The sword wielder made his helmet pull back, and for a moment, I thought he was an elf, but those ears were wrong.

Our systems identified him a moment later. His species seemed to be human. I think I remember something about them in a report a few months back. Aaa right, the danger classification was pumped up. Looking back at the sword wielder, I could understand why they pumped it up.

We landed, so we separated the two parties, and already there were two other vehicles closing in. Almost immediately, the Green Duke’s forces started spinning a tale.

“That dangerous individual has broken the law by changing what the station’s cameras capture. He has some skills to control cameras, if not more. We request a full investigation.”

That just meant that they wanted enough time to either kill that human to make the problem disappear or make a deal with him.

“I would like to request an expedited trial, as this is a clear-cut case of coercion using deadly force,” the swordsman—no, Captain Remi Graves—said. That was clever of him. The Green Duke’s spokesman seemed stunned and immediately started calling bullshit, but they were missing one key detail.

My implant communication device crackled to life. “This is central command. We verified the footage. There is no denying the Green Duke party’s wrongdoing. Recommended course of action: expedited trial.”

My composure almost broke as I wanted to laugh at the misfortune that had fallen upon this group of bastards. But I now looked towards Remi Graves and hoped he wouldn’t push them too hard or allow the other Dukes to get their piece of flesh, as that could backfire even onto us.

When everything was revealed, the speedster was barely containing his anger, while almost everyone else in the Green Duke’s employ had ashen faces.

In three hours, longer than it normally should’ve taken, we were in the District of Judgment in one of the courtrooms. There was a swarm of the Green Duke’s lawyers here, all of whom were showing different signs of panic depending on the species.

My partner and I both seemed to take way too much joy in that, but we were also starting to get a bit worried, as Captain Remi Graves seemed to be pushing them quite hard. He did reveal some things that shocked almost everyone, like how much of him was actually not biological. That explained how he could even be a verified recording device that he registered himself as only a few hours earlier.

“To us it seems quite suspicious between the two time frames of him registering himself as a recording device and the incident,” one of the Green Duke’s lawyers argued, but was cut off by Captain Remi.

“It shows how necessary it was, doesn’t it?” While he wasn’t a brilliant lawyer, in this case, he didn’t have to be, as he was clearly going to win.

They tried to do everything possible to dismantle Captain Remi’s credibility, but nothing worked. Especially because it seemed like, while he wasn’t a well-known space adventurer, his record was exceedingly clear, even going out of his way to go to the most recent black portal that was close to here.

If he had not gone, they could have used this against him heavily, but instead, he turned it to his advantage. Recess was called.

“I really hope he doesn’t push them for too much. I’m seeing at least four of each of the other Dukes’ representatives waiting to talk to him.” I nodded, but our job was not to advise or help; it was to answer questions when someone called us to the stand.

As everything resumed, one of the Green Duke’s representatives spoke up. “We have reached a settlement.” That surprised absolutely everyone, including me. “We officially recognise the wrongdoing of our side and apologise for everything that happened. In exchange, the aggrieved party agrees not to press any further charges.”

Absolutely everyone’s attention turned to Captain Remi Graves. “I accept the apology and would like to withdraw any further grievances. Let the past be in the past.”

That couldn’t be so simple, only an apology, no way. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I used my skill that allowed me to see from any part of my body, like I was viewing it with my eyes. The judge and both parties were signing papers, and then I saw it: there was also compensation listed.

Well done. You ended any future problem, not just with the Green Duke, but with the others as well, coming out with a large compensation for your troubles. It was nice to see something like this happen, and I wish you all the best, Captain Remi Graves.