Previously in NWC-
Reno decides to step up his training. He employees the help of Medusa, teaching her how to hold her punches and getting her to try punching him while he attempts to dodge. He does this for the remainder of the time before the Celebration of Life, which he only remembers because some farmers were getting hay from the barn in which he is staying. He works out a plan to go to the bonfire with the village, then return and have a smaller fire with Medusa and Luna. After arriving to the beginning of the celebration, Reno quickly finds out that the village is full of pyromaniacs as they begin pouring alcohol on the bonfire. However, as the village enjoys the start of their festivities, bandits watch them from the tree line...
In the celebration, alcohol ends up getting spilled on Reno. The mayor lets him break off to go shower and change using his clothes. "Dammit, that stuff smells so damn strong! I'm glad I don't really drink alcohol, cause just smelling this stuff is making me tipsy." Reno enters the town hall, quickly getting in the shower.
While Reno was off showering, the bandits make their move. The emerge from the woods and surround the villagers. They all stop what they're doing and look around at the bandits. Seeing as this was a regular occurrence for the villagers, they watched with annoyance more than fear. "You damn bandits won't let us have nothin'!" The mayor, beyond pissed off, tosses his hands in the air. "What the hell, you little rats! You can't let us be happy for one damn day! One day, Mixzys is gonna' return and smite y'all to hell!" As the mayor is talking, the bandit leader approaches the mayor.
"Enough! Your annoying blabbing is pissing me off!" He shoves the mayor to the ground, all the villagers holding themselves back.
At this point, Reno had returned from the shower, stopping and hiding behind the wall to watch the scene unfold from secret. Kent, however, sees Reno for the split second, and looks around slowly, making sure nobody was watching him. He signals Reno with one hand next to his waist a couple of times before Reno finally sees. After getting a visual confirmation from Reno, Kent makes a trigger squeezing motion with his fingers. Reno understood the assignment, slowly backing away from the wall and running to Kent's shop. He begins rummaging through everything, desperately trying to find the guns. "Fuck! Where the fuck are they?!"
At the bonfire, the mayor stares in disgust as he slowly stands up, holding his right hip as he does. "You damned bastards! The whole lot of ya' are gonna' rot in hell!"
"Shut the hell up you damn old man! I've had enough of your little bitching! One more fuckin' word and I'll kill you right now! Listen the hell up! Our employer's goodwill has finally run out! You'd better start praying, 'cause we're killin' the lot of you!"
Finally, the villagers begin to panic, with select few seemingly unfazed. The mayor scoffs, "Like hell you will. You try this crap once a year! Come in here saying you're gonna kill us, but then you just rough up a couple of us and call it a day then take our stuff!"
"Unfortunately, this year, our boss has decided this town is his, so start praying!"
Back at Kent's, Reno finally finds the four muskets with a small bag of ammo. There was just enough for seven shots each. He grabs the pouch with bullets and the four small bags of gunpowder. He does his best to balance stealth and speed with his movements. He takes the guns and hides behind the wall again. He slowly peeks his head around the corner, trying to find the best path to Kent. Unfortunately, he's spotted by one of the lackeys. Fortunately, Reno hid fast enough that the bandit wasn't quite sure what he saw. He slowly makes his way to the gate, creeping closer and closer to Reno. "(Shit, shit, shit! He's coming this way; I can hear him! What do I do?!)" As Reno was turning to try and run, his hand bumps his sword. Reno stops and looks down at the blade sheathed at his side, sighing. "I can't just run away… I've been training for this exact moment… I have to fight!" Reno hardens his resolve, setting the rifles and bags down, grabbing his sword and preparing to fight. As the man comes closer, Reno raises it, waiting for him to turn the corner. As the bandit's head pokes around the corner, Reno slams down his sword as hard as he can, right on the bandit's head, knocking him out cold. "Oh, fuck. I forgot to unsheathe the sword… that's gonna hurt like hell when he wakes up." Reno drags the unconscious bandit around the corner, hiding him from sight and slowly looking around the corner. Finally, with no eyes on him, he inspects the scene. The mayor was standing right in front of the bandit leader who had his hand on his sword. The other 30 bandits had their weapons drawn and pointed at the villagers, encircling them to give them no escape. The villagers, roughly 100 total, were staring in fear and shock at the declaration that the bandits were going to kill them today. As Reno expected, Kent, Deb, Lyn, and the mayor didn't seem to be shaken up by this. "I gotta give them a gun… how the hell do I do it?!" As he's busy with looking at the civilians, a bandit turns around and spots Reno. Reno slowly looks left then right, noticing that he's been spotted. The bandit who'd spotted him was a younger male with black hair, staring at Reno with wide eyes. To Reno's surprise, the bandit didn't call him out or point him out to his friends. Reno, not quite sure what to do, stares at the young man, slowly putting his index finger to hip lips and tapping it twice. Reno shake his head left and right and waves his finger. The bandit is extremely confused but simply turns away.
"(I don't know who that guy is, but he needs to get the hell out of here!)" The bandit who spotted Reno turned out to be the one who expressed dissatisfaction for attacking Bambadale repeatedly.
"(No fucking way that worked!!)" Reno hides behind the wall again, his heart racing more and more by the second. "If I don't act fast they'll start killing people! Dammit, I wish Medusa was here… what the hell do I do?!"
The bandit leader begins pacing around the mayor, looking at him with irritation. "We've let you annoying rats live for longer than you deserved simply because we were being paid to keep you alive. But now, the big boss has lost interest in the lot of ya'. So, who wants to die first? I'm a nice man, so I'll let you rats choose who dies first!" The villagers begin looking at each other with fear, nobody wanting to volunteer. Kent's heart begins racing more and more as he wonders where Reno is. The mayor's blood pressure shoots through the roof, realizing that this wasn't just a scare tactic, but in fact, a do-or-die situation. "No one wants to volunteer?! Fine, I'll choose my goddamned self!" The bandit leader angrily grabs the mayor's shirt and holds his dagger to the mayor's throat. The villagers yell and shrill cries echo throughout the night as they watch the mayor be man handled. "Since you wanna' act all tough, I thought I'd start with you!" The bandits sneer and chuckle as they listen to the protests of the villagers, begging for their lives and asking for them to spare the mayor.
Reno's eyes shoot open as his body begins to move on it's own. He quickly begins loading the four guns as soon as the bandit puts his hands on the mayor. He curses over and over again as his hands shakily load the guns, barely able to hold anything still as his heart races, Reno feeling like he was on the verge of a heart attack.
"What a terrible mayor you are, dying before your precious little citizens. I've wanted to kill the lot of ya' for ages now, and now that I can, we're gonna take this shitty little place over and make it into our own little home!" The bandits cheer and raise their weapons in unison, chanting for their leader to cut the mayor's throat.
The mayor sighs, looking at the bandit with annoyance. "You aren't gonna' hear me beg for mercy. I ain't giving you that satisfaction. You can kill me all you like, but Bambadale ain't gonna' be taken that easy." The bandit leader sneers with annoyance, pressing the dagger tighter against the mayor's neck. The villagers begin to become rowdier, yelling and cursing- about the only thing they can do.
TO BE CONTINUED...