11 - The kingdom of Engir

"Ah… is there anything better than hearing a 690 horsepower V-12 Maybach engine roar?"

The loud roar of the 5 panthers deafened Jane so she yelled back

"What?"

Merlin showed a wide smile and exclaimed and spread his hands out wide as if wanting to run over and hug the 5 Panther tanks and he would have, if not for the fear of burning himself on the exhaust

"That's right Jane! It's hearing 5, 690 horsepower Maybach V-12 engines roar!"

Merlin was clearly on cloud 9 as he observed the Panther tanks, Jane that stood next to him sighed, then she walked back into the camp as if fleeing from the noise of the Panthers V-12 Maybach engines roaring, Merlin eventually gathered himself, eventually, before he climbed onto the Pather named Drei before he drove off towards the highway of death, in the evening he returned back to camp, the Panther tanks looked fine, except for Ein that had been driving first was covered in slightly purple blood on the front end and in the tracks were bits of ground meat, Jane looked at the tank and asked

"What happened?"

Merlin shrugged from the commander's cupola or the top almost-360-viewport that the could be opened in the top where the commander could from a tactical overview, most times with the help of binoculars, anyway Merlin offered a simple explanation to the bloody Panther tank

"Something stood in the way on the way back, something got ramed by a 44.8-ton tank going 35 kilometers per hour"

Jane quickly formed a mental image of what that would look like before she shook her head, clearing the disturbing image from her head before she showed a smile

"That aside… Welcome back"

"Yeah, I am back"

On the other side of the forest of death lay the Engir kingdom, a relatively small kingdom with its fair share of political problems, through its king, Edwin Theodor Engir was known far and wide as a wise and benevolent king to his people and a scheming, ruthless, and undefeated king to his enemies, he had over his 14 years reign made great progress in rooting out the long list of political problems, both foreign and domestic, these problems were including but not limited to the growth of a criminal syndicate, political factions, and the theocratical empire of Helga looming right next to the borders of Engir after having annexed it's oh so recent neighbor now know only as the former republic of Man territory and thereby now breathing down the neck of the kingdom of Engir. These were all problems that plagued the king but these were far removed from the minds of the common people, well most of them were anyway.

The border city of Jera, or as it was called by the locals 'the last stop before no return' due to the high amount of failed expeditions into the forest of death that lay just a few hundred meters away from the southern walls was currently quiet, it's been about 3 months since the last failed expedition into the forest of death so the population of foreigners was low, if one looked past the constant influx of adventures that would throw away their lives in search for the natural treasures found within the forest of death, that influx of adventures seemed to be on the uptick, the locals knew this pattern all too well, it was time for a new expedition and as such, the city was going to get rowdy in the following days.

"Gods above, please watch over these foolish souls in their search for gold"

Inside the local church, a sister was kneeled down in front of the altar as she prayed to the almighty above, as she prayed a figure entered her mind, she was bright and talented with her burning red hair and fiery eyes she always had a smile on her face, even as she faced down the strongest opponents, the sister slightly shook her head as she muttered

"God, please help me make peace with the past, Jane isn't returning…"

The sister soon found her peace again as she continued praying, her prayers, however, was soon interrupted by a loud knocking on the door to the church, she sighed and stood up before she walked over and opened the door with a calm expression on her face as she prepared to speak the same lines she had so many times before and sure enough the party of adventures that stood outside seemed to be looking for the same thing that the other 3 parties that had been knocking on the door to the church earlier as the swordsman that had been knocking showed a smile and asked

"Sister, I heard that there's an excellent ranger here, is she still available?"

The sister kept her calm expression as she shocked her head and spoke

"She went with the last expedition and… Haven't returned yet"

The swordsman's expression soured instantly as he sighed deeply and complained

"So it was old information after all…"

Then without saying anything else the swordsman turned and walked away along with the rest of his party, the sister sighed before she closed the door to the church again and went back to praying, the ranger that the earlier party of adventures were talking about referred to a person familiar with the forest of death, having an excellent ranger as a member of the party would boost their survival chances a lot, a shame that the ranger known as Jane hadn't returned from the last failed expedition into the forest of death, the sister sighed and looked towards the South as she spoke a prayer

"Jane… Please return home…"

Just as the sister had turned around and was about to shut the door to the bustling street a roar sounded out in the distance, she stopped and quickly turned around as she recognized the creature that made the roar

"L-Lesser dragon…"

The entire city quickly went into emergency mode as the common people hurried back to their houses while the guardsmen and the adventurers hurried to the walls where they awaited the creature that just had roared… But even by evening, the monster had yet to show up and the drafted adventures were allowed to leave by the Captain of the guard that looked towards the forest of death and muttered

"What kind of monstrosity could make a dragon roar out like that..?"

Merlin woke with a set, he didn't need a clock to tell the time anymore, he simply needed to glance at the eastern viewport and see the light that passed through it to guess the time, from the soft blue light that passed through the viewport he knew he had a few more hours to sleep, so he turned over and curled up under the tank commanders jacket that functioned as his blanket, he was currently laying in the bottom of an M4A2 Sherman right on top of the main ammunition storage that was stored on the floor of the fighting compartment, just before he fell asleep again he heard a soft knock on the driver's hatch, just as he was about to command a full sweep of the camp he heard a soft voice

"Merlin, are you awake?"

Merlin sighed before he spoke

"Yeah I am up, one moment"

Merlin opened the diver's hatch and watched as Jane squeezed into the tank, she moved past the driver and reached the spot where Merin was sitting, in the dark Merlin could see her slightly apologetic smile as she spoke

"I had a nightmare… So… Do you mind if I spend the rest of the night here?"

The last of Jane's speech was barely audible as a full blush spread across her face, Merlin, however, was none the wiser since it was completely dark inside the tank so he simply nodded his head and spoke

"Sure, no problem give me your hand"

Then he reached out and fumbled in the dark for a few moments to find Jane's hand, from there he moved her hand down to fell the floor of the Sherman tank and spoke

"Right over here can you lay down"

"Okay…"

Merlin laid himself down on his side and closed his eyes as he listened to Jane shuffling around next to him for a bit until she managed to find a somewhat comfortable position to sleep in and quieted down, then Merlin suddenly felt her hand on his back, though it hurriedly pulled back as she spoke slightly embraced

"Sorry, I was just---"

"I don't mind"

Merlin was just as surprised at how he had blurted that out as Jane, but after thinking it though for a few moments he spoke again

"I don't mind Jane"

"Then…"

Jane didn't embrace him as he was half expecting and half hoping, instead she laid down with her back facing him, though they were so close that their backs were touching, for a bit the two of them simply got used to the new sensation before Merlin once again closed his eyes and muttered

"Good night Jane"

Jane felt a certain warmth from his voice which she had not felt before and showed a smile as she closed her eyes

"...Yeah good night"