Fujimoto took the practice spear, the one that he always let the kids use instead of the one that he own, and headed for the entrance of the village.
'If they really have more than twenty guns then we cannot fight at such an open space. We need cover.'
When he got close to the front gate, all men that he and the village chief had gathered was already in a state of chaos while being fired upon by the bandits at the distant.
"What should we do?!"
"They aren't getting any closer but three of us are down already!"
"Someone drag them away from the battle, quickly!"
It was largely a battle of psychology. Only the occasional whiffs of bullets flying pass could be heard, the bandits are just firing at the villagers to intimidate them. An appetizer to the full course meal.
Unlike arrows or magic, guns are a relatively new invention and so not many knew of its existence, let alone know how to avoid it. And because of it's loud sound, it is extremely intimidating.
"Get under something to cover yourself, people! Don't stand out in the open, hide where the bullets cannot hit you!"
The men quickly scattered around, hiding behind buildings and pillars - anything that can act as cover.
"Fujimoto-san, I'm glad you're finally here! The men are in total disorder without the chief leading us, we didn't know what to do!"
"Where is the chief? And here I thought I was late, that geezer is even slower?!"
"I don't know! Just like you, he gathered all the guards and armed men around the village and told us to come here, but he also said he needed to talk with the priest to plan on the escape route."
"I know! It's just that it isn't supposed to be taking so long."
'Pew!' One of the stray bullets struck right above the vilager's head, causing the two to flinch.
"I swear these things will be the end of me!"
"Calm yourself down young man, nothing will hit you if you hide behind something."
"Hey, do you think the chief abandoned us and escaped with the women and children?"
"Not a chance in hell, he is still a general at heart, he have his honor."
"Then why is he so late?! There can't be any other reason."
"We'll just have to go along with the flow now."
Fujimoto saw a piece of mirror on the ground - something that is unusual in a village because mirrors are expensive.
Nonetheless it's useful for now, so he took the mirror and used it to peek out from his cover.
Because it is night time, he could clearly see the amount of torches light up by the bandits. They are a huge bunch, he cannot tell how many but it is simply so large that they won't be able to defend the hill with measly 70 farmers.
But the information he was looking for isn't on the number of the bandits, he wanted to know how many gunmen there were.
1... 2... Only about 5 or so repeating muzzle flashes from firing guns. And only a few shots were even hitting close, let alone when a chance to hot it's target.
"Interesting, I thought they had a lot of guns?..."
He further thought about what the messenger told him.
He said there were a twenty gunmen... even assuming he's grossly overestimating and in a panic, it's still a number far too large from this.
There's no reason for these bandits to hide their true strength either, they could just walk right into the village with brute force alone....
Or so thought Fujimoto.
"Fujimoto-san, what are you mumbling about?"
"Something isn't right with the situation..."
A gunshot to the leg... Telling us to run by the forest... And... riding a horse from the next village?
I don't remember seeing a stable anywhere nearby, and certainly not at the next village either.
"...Shit."
"What happened?"
"The messenger is a rat. The chief along with all the women and children could be in trouble."
"But how did you know? And we can't just leave the battle and let the bandits approach!"
"If my guess is correct, even if they do outnumber us they are not actually that well armed and organized.
If they truly outnumber us by so much, they would've brute forced their way in now. Why would they stay at such a great distance?
They are waiting for something to happen in the village. I have a feeling that says so."
"But all of this is just what you're saying, you don't have any proof Fujimoto-san."
"I know that it may sound like I am talking out of nothing, but think about it - what's the safest option here?
If we retreat now to go and meet up with the retreating group, then the worse that can happen is that I'm wrong and they're already out of the village.
But what if I'm right? Do you want to see the bandits lay their hands on your wife and daughters?
And if they decide to attack from the shrine then it'd be a pincer attack. There'd be no escape."
"You do have a point..."
Fujimoto grabbed his spear, and shouted to everyone.
"The chief is in trouble, we must retreat and go help him at this moment!
However there is a dillemma. If we leave this post right now, those mongrel robbers will march right into the village and kill us all while our backs are turned."
"...." (?x) As the sounds of bullets grazing by keep on sounding, no one spoke anything because they knew the gravity of the situation.
"The Chief is probably captured and held at the shrine by a thief, a traitor, and we have to help him.
I cannot secure the shrine alone. I need some men to come with me to the chief's aid... But we cannot leave the gate open to intruders either.
Some soldiers will have to come with me while the others will stay and fight an uphill battle against even more bandits and buy us time.
It is suicide, to put bluntly, if you decide to stay."
"....I will stay, Fujimoto-san. If we all go to the shrine and the bandits decides to attack us from the back then we will lose regardless and fail to protect our family.
Someone has to stay and make sure nobody interferes when you're freeing the hostages."
"...Me too. I have an old mother, and a family to take care of. If they're in danger, then I'm willing to stay here to make sure they're able to make it out.
But promise me you will protect them in my stead."
"I will protect them, you have my word."
"I will stay as well, Fujimoto-san."
"Me too!"
"Yeah count me in!"
Amidst the 70 farmers, 40 will stay to defend the entrance while the remaining 30 will return to the shrine and make sure the retreating group is able to make it out of the village safely.
"...I understand that I am asking a lot out of everyone here. I have two kids to protect as well, and for this reason I will forever be indebted to the sacrifices of everyone here.
Don't throw your life away, when the bandits starts to overrun this gate you must retreat! We only need about 20 minutes of time, once those time has passed all of you must retreat immediately.
I wish you all the best of luck. Now the second party, let us go and free our loved ones from those mongrel bandits!"
"Yes sir!" (?x)
____________
"Hah... I'm exhausted Haru...."
By the time we ran all the way to the shrine, I was already out of breath. It doesn't help that I'm carrying such a heavy glaive...
"Hah... Me too... Let's take a breather...."
I dropped to the glaive to the ground, a loud clang sound was heard.
The shrine is built on the tallest side of this hill, we have to take a flight of stairs in order to reach it. At the back of the shrine is where the perimeter of the village ends, and where the forest of cursed spirit resides.
That's why we are so tired, and we still have a bit more of the stairs to climb before we reach the shrine.
"Hah... Hah..." (2x)
"Who goes there?!"
Suddenly a shout could be heard from above, at the platform where the shrine is built on. It's the sound of a man.
"...Take cover Shiro!" Haru silently yelled to me.
"What? Why?"
"Just do it!"
We both jumped to the bushes at the sides... we ended up hugging each other, our face right besides each other, hiding in the bushes.
I could feel his heavy breath on my neck, and it's hard to breathe when he's crushing me.
"Get off me...!" I whispered.
"Shh! I'll do it when it's safe!..."
Haru then peeks over the bushes, and waits...
The voice of the man could be heard again.
"Why is this thing just lying on the ground?..."
Then footsteps were heard leaving. He must've lost interest and thought nothing of it....
"He went back up." Once the man left, Haru quickly got up again.
"Here." He reached his hand out to me, and helped me back on my feet as well.
"...Who was that?"
"I haven't seen him around before... and he had an axe on his hand."
"...Are you sure you haven't seen him before?"
"This village isn't large by any means. All the men works at the rice fields so I'm sure I've seen all of them in here.
I am sure that guy isn't from this village."
"Then that means the retreating group was caught by the bandits?"
"I guess so... But I can't tell."
"Then what should we do? We have no where else to run to...."
"I don't know either..."
"...."
"Hey, I have an idea."
(Chapter End)