In Berlin, members of Echo V were met by dark grey weather with thick rain and cold wind. The wind was strong enough for them to be forced to land at different airport, where weather conditions were better.
At the streets they could barely see any people, but there was a lot of cars instead, causing major traffic jams. Usually, such occurrences were not typical thing for this city, yet due to various circumstances, not only weather-related, it became common for people to make use of cars.
By the terminal, their German contact named Karl was already waiting for them. The man was standing just by the exit with a board including a handwritten text, which matched the password Ken received with his guild personal interface bracelet.
Karl was a tall, blonde-haired man wearing a trench coat reaching down to soles of his jackboots. There was an elegant flat cap on his and the man was holding several umbrellas, including his own - standing out owing to ornamented, wooden handle. All elements of his outfit, except for barely noticeable, white shirt, were black.
"Follow me" this was a short instruction he gave everyone when handing out the umbrellas.
First, they went into one of the side rooms, passing through the door with a big "Entry Forbidden" sign. When entering, they passed a man wearing a cap - seeing them, he bowed slightly, but said nothing.
"Your stuff" Karl pointed and suitcases lined up by the wall "I hope everything's intact."
Echo V members all took their respective luggage, carefully checking the contents.
"All looks fine" Ken confirmed after everyone was done with checking "Though, I must say your remark surprised me. Was there any chance something would be wrong?"
"We are in region where it's hard for our organization to operate. Our forces around here are weakened, because a single team has to handle a much bigger area than in, for example, France. It's due to the fact Perseus has a much better opinion around these parts than us."
"Then Perseus is stealing potential hunters from us?" asked Adrianna.
Karl nodded.
"In large part, this is how it looks, yes" he admitted "Problems are much more numerous though. Even before demons became known worldwide, we already had our own share of trouble. Not only underground operations were hard to handle, internal affairs of the country were also not helping. Obviously, it's become much werse right now, but it's a topic for a much longer talk for which we don't have time. After all, we need to send you further east."
Having the suitcases checked, the whole group was ready to move. Once again, Karl was leading, extremely cautious and carefully looking around as they were walking.
"So how's the situation in Poland?" it was Kyoko who asked a question this time.
Karl shrugged.
"Honestly, I don't know that much" he said bluntly "As I've said already, here in Germany a single team is responsible for areas way too big to handle them properly. We only have several full teams and continuously working to rebuild our ranks. With all the more important cases around here, it's unlikely for any of us to go there, unless there's a really big crisis to deal with."
"Wait, so does it mean we have no one there?" Stella was surprised.
The girl wanted to continue and mention Derrik, but Kenichiro quickly gave her a warning look - fortunately, she took a hint, so she bit her tongue and just waited for whatever Karl replies.
"I've never said that. From what I heard, there are some individuals around there, but no team or any kind of headquarters. Over here, we are trying to put everything back together for about four years now, because we could not operate for one whole year prior that, but Poland and several other countries in the region have a bit more complicated situation."
"Why's that? It's been so many years already, and we already had our people there."
Their guide sighed loudly.
"I can imagine there are still people previously associated with our organization living there. Unfortunately, Poland is a really specific country. People there don't trust others that easily, especially us, my countrymen, and I cannot blame them, given the history between our countries. Still, the fact stands that in general - they prefer to take care of things their own way."
"But they do use hunters' support, right?"
"Yeah, they have those from Perseus, though I would say they have more of their own, solo hunters, among whom many knows how to handle things."
"So, you are saying that most hunters there are locals."
"That's right, though if you do know their language, at least to an extent, even a couple of words, they may be a bit more open to you than to a regular foreigner. Many seem to be the type to like if someone who is not local tries to speak their language."
Almost everyone in Echo V smiled after looking at each other - except for Stella.
"Me, Kyoko and Ada already know the basics" Ken explained "Owing to our mutual friend."
"And I know only a single word" Stella announced and smiled only now "but it's not the nicest word."
Karl laughed after hearing that - first time since they met him.
"Of course, it's definitely better than nothing" he admitted "The fact you have someone you know over there can also help. Generally, Poles tend to be sceptical about hunters from abroad, even those from Perseus don't have it easy for sure."
Adrianna was really surprised when listening to Karl. She herself was originally from Romania and back in time when she was still not a part of the organization, she heard quite a bit about Poland, but not exactly what this man was saying.
"I always thought this was a really hospitable counry" she said "Why would their attitude change like that?"
"Aside from the fact every stranger is a potential dangerous demon for everyone? I'm sure dishonesty of pseudo-hunters is not helping. Besides, many such people are causing trouble at the borders."
"What kind of trouble?"
"It's mainly about transporting equipment. In Poland, there is no such thing as free access to weapons, even in current circumstances, thus everyone needs to get necessary permit which is not na easy task and it takes time. Besides that, every hunter needs to register and obtain a license. Border pass areas are currently a pure chaos."
"But the border between Germany and Poland was open..."
"That's true, it was, but it's no longer the case and in the past now. Poles made a decision to close it out in order to have control and regulate the influx of unwanted individuals. Obviously, it's about demons mainly, but also hunters have it heard. Speaking of which, this is the exact reason why you were sent to Berlin first, instead of going directly to Poland, according to what I was told. We don't have connections at airports in Poland anymore, therefore we need to transport weapons with other means."
"How do we get there then?" asked Kenichiro.
"You'll go by the train" Karl explained "We have our own people in the crew, so there should be no trouble. We took different scenarios into consideration before your coming herem including possible delays. You arrived on time in the end" he looked at his watch "so you have slightly less than three hours before the departure."
Stella made a surprised face, her eyes wide open.
"That long?" she grumbled "What are we supposed to do during that time?"
Ada waved her head in disbelief hearing the words from here teammate, murmuring "not this again" under the nose.
Kyoko poked both of them and, once they turned, she said with a moderately sinister smile"
"Maybe it's time both of you stopped embarrassing us?"
Ken was grateful for her handling of the other two, which allowed him to ask Karl about more details.
"Do we have any lodging secured at our destination?"
German shook his head.
"You will be on your own once you get there. The place you are supposed to reach first is quite small town and, to my knowledge, there's no hotel. Of course, you will have a credit card with a decent budget."
Kenichiro was disappointed, yet not really surprised by this turn of events, especially taking into consideration everything their current guide told them over the time they spent together.
"Since we have so much time, how about we go and grab something to eat?" Kyoko suggested "Karl, you are local, right? For sure you know a good place to eat at peace."
"Indeed" man nodded in confirmation "I think know the most popular and best ones around here."
"You guys don't mind that, right?" Kyoko took a moment to check with others and once she got them to at least nod, she said to their guide "Please, lead the way."
The group just reached a spot where two black Mercedes cars were waiting for them. These models were several years old already, but definitely a premium class limousines.
"That's kinda what I was expecting" Ada commented "When you talk about cars from this country, that's the symbol you usually recall."
"Because it's an our export pride" this was yet another moment Karl smiled lightly.
Everyone got in and limousines slowly drove down the road. A moment later, they were already passing through the city streets, passing by numerous shops and pedestrians hiding from the rain under umbrellas or at the bus stops.
"The city appears quite calm" Ken pointed out, looking at this peaceful scenery "Are demons not a problem in Berlin?"
"Nothing much happened recently, specifically in these parts, but you didn't see this place few years back" Karl was observing the landscape through the window he was sitting by "The weather is not best right now, so you cannot see that many people, but when I look at them, how they stroll around, I recall how many more you could see in the past, even in such conditions. And I must tell you that observing those outside does not give you that much of a context as walking into a shop, pub or restaurant. It's about places where you would usually encounter bigger crowds. Only then the scale of problems can be noticed, how badly businesses were hurt due to people fearing for their lives. What we see now is still nothing more than an attempt for regaining the former life, yet no one knows when, or if at all, these times ever come back."
The cars began to decelerate and stopped by the two-stories, several decades old looking building, which only distinguished trait among neighboring buildings was its classic shape.
Once they entered behind Karl, the man guided them towards the stairs leading to an underground area below the street level - bottom part of the windows was located slightly above the pavement and the room looked like wine cellar, including several wooden barrels turned into seats.
Despite the time of the day and weather conditions, there was barely any lighting turned on, thus inside of the room was rather dark. Inside, they noticed only several clients, among whom some were looking at new guests with curiosity, while others seemed scowling.
"Karl, what kind of place is this?" Stella asked with an insecure tone.
"You hunt demons for a living and yet you are scared of some drunks?" Ken commented on her reaction with a silly smile.
The girl looked at him with eyes squinted from anger.
"Demons I can slay, but some filthy scumbags sticking to me not necessarily" she told him, visibly pissed "It's something I absolutely abhor."
"Easy now, no one here is dangerous" Karl ensured them "Their looks may be misleading and the place itself is quite good actually. They have great food, and beer... it's the best in the world!"
"Thanks, but I will pass on the latter. You never know what we can encounter on the way, so I prefer to be sober."
"And I definitely want to check it out" said Ken.