The car shook violently as the driver fought to regain control. A series of loud booms accompanied by flashes in the sky made it hard to focus. The source moved too quickly to identify, but the chaos it left behind seemed familiar.
"What's hap-?"
"Eyes on the road!"
Veering at full speed to the side of the elevated road, the car was about to crash into a ditch. The driver glared at Tanya sitting in the back and got smacked up the back of his head by his colleague for not paying attention.
"If this is your doing, girl, I'll-"
"Brake! Stop the car!"
A jolt at the edge took the car airborne, hurtling towards the ditch. The MPs sitting at the front braced for impact, no seatbelt or safety device to soften the blow. The sea of crimson light that Tanya had filled the car with was about to materialise in blood.
While they shouted expletives, she channelled her mana to slow the car down to a crawl, resulting in barely a scratch on the bumper. The shaking, in the meantime, seemed to intensify. Leaves, bugs and other small objects picked up by the wind splattered across the windscreen as a dust cloud swept over the car. Tanya had experienced it before: the preamble to a deafening explosion. It was coming from the Elinium Factory's vicinity.
She put both hands in front of herself, ready to face the blast wave. Judging by the tremors it caused, she was in for another unintended equipment test. The sensitive Type 95 operation orb worked wonders for precise magic, but Tanya hadn't tested its defensive capabilities. She needed a barrier and it had to be as thick as the wall of a bunker to last.
Preparing for the task was gut-wrenching. Hastily segregating pieces of her mind to multi-task without fail caused physical pain that she could hardly manage while operating the orb. The magic stimulants she showered her body in to heighten her senses and sync up with the orb's four cores took a toll on her already diminishing ability to think rationally.
"That was not me. This is. You better apologise."
Tanya left an unstable power vacuum inside by casting her strength outward. If she did not snap out of this state soon enough, her mind would shatter along with her body. The calculations she ran through the operation orb showed no other outcome.
The irony, she thought. A weapon of mass destruction has to save the day.
Exhaustion came in waves, as did the blast. Lethal pressure gave way to flashes, followed by a tide of flame. Whatever it was, it was causing a chain reaction and Tanya was the only one capable of defying it.
Even as her face grew pale from the strain, she was exhilarated inside about the opportunity to pit her abilities against a real threat. Unlike Schugel's purposelessly terrible tests, this was a challenge worth rising up to. The event had taken her by surprise, but now she revelled in the havoc extinguished by the might of her will. The explosion was no match for her.
I am the immovable object!
The MPs couldn't decide whether to cover from the explosion causing ripples and cracks in the magical shield or the pale blond girl with crazy eyes. The overflow of agitated mana made it look like her pupils were swirling and sparking and, unlike the explosion, they represented madness by design. The sight struck fear as she focused back on them in wait.
"I'm not sure how long my power will hold," she said in an ominous tone. Tanya didn't want to waste mana on anyone unwilling to be saved, and an apology served as a good indication of willingness.
The driver crossed his arms and stared at the flickering lights caused by debris hitting the barrier. "I've nothing to apologise for to a freak like you."
She half-smiled at the response. Eager to test her skills and prove a point at the same time, she thinned the barrier down until debris started tapping at the windscreen. If another secondary explosion reached the car, it would be too late to boost the barrier to protect anyone but herself.
The passenger caved. He turned in his seat and lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Second Lieutenant. Please, be kind to us."
Tanya's smile melted away. As exciting as making grown men squirm for her protection was, she has had insufficient preparation to keep at it much longer without seriously hurting herself. Both arms put out in front, Tanya shifted to the right to position herself behind the passenger MP.
Seeing what it was leading up to, the passenger chastised his colleague, "Go on, logise-APO." The driver said nothing, so he appealed to Tanya again, "He's not himself today, Second Lieutenant. He's so sorry words fail him. Do you see how sorry he is?"
"If the devil kills me, I'll go straight to heaven."
A nervous tick broke past Tanya's composure at what she heard. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, shaking it disappointedly as she deliberated on the MP's motive. The corruption of Existence X was strong in him. She was sickened by how quickly he reached the state in which he was ready to sacrifice others for his own misguided benefit. It provided Tanya yet more proof about the evil nature of Existence X and religion by proxy.
"When you see Existence X, pass him this message for me." She showed him the middle finger and lowered her left hand, further weakening the barrier on that side.
"Bless you, devil!"
The explosion burst through the left side of the windscreen before the MP could finish his yell, surprising him at the last moment that it wasn't Tanya to land the finishing blow. A sharp piece of debris thrust itself in his open mouth together with broken glass and pebbles accelerated like bullets. He was decapitated in the blink of an eye.
Tanya raised the barrier in full as soon as his head knocked a hole in the rear window. The explosions died down seconds later. She was victorious.
When the coast was clear, she didn't have the energy to gloat or consider what she has just done. Her arms flopped down as she breathed heavily.
The remaining MP stared at her wide-eyed, still recovering from the shock of being saved by a little girl.
She clicked her dry lips. "I don't feel so good." The lump in her throat kept getting worse and she had an idea of what could be coming next.
The MP scuttled to get her out of the car. She was too weak to walk on her own, so he helped her go behind a burning bush, where she could have some privacy. The gagging and regurgitation sounds didn't concern him at all. Any kid would have felt sick after pigging out on that many sweets. The physical strain and stress she had to overcome to withstand the explosion must have been too much for her to stomach in that state. It would have been more troublesome had it happened while she was projecting the barrier.
He lit up a cigarette on a burning branch as he waited for Tanya to stop vomiting. The fact there was a dead MP in the car didn't seem to concern him. The fires and smoke spread across the rural landscape were likely to cause more casualties.
"Khu. Why did I not see this happening…" Tanya grumbled, sitting in front of a puddle of her own sick. The sweets looked much more appetising before she had eaten them.
The MP came up to her with another handkerchief.
She looked at it dismissively, pulled out the one she was given at the start of the trip and wiped the remaining gunk off of her face. "Thanks."
"You saved my life! How will I repay you?"
Tanya handed him the soiled handkerchief as she limped past him. "Can you drive?"
He nodded, happy to see such a low price named for his salvation. He wasn't as happy when he saw what ended up in his hand, though.
Continuing the mission was easier said than done because he had to dispose of his colleague's body. It had started leaking while they were preoccupied, so taking over at the wheel neither looked nor smelled like a pleasant experience. On top of that, the MP had to pilfer his colleague's bloodied uniform to retrieve the papers outlining the assignment. Without the documents they would be turned away at the first security checkpoint.
Tanya watched him labour over the deceased comrade. Dead bodies often appeared heavier than their living counterparts and work had the tendency to slow down as soon as the dead were introduced.
She could have helped. Annihilating the body and any stains it left behind was easy, but the MP deserved a lesson in humility for making fun of her earlier. Besides, she was curious of how a regular MP coped with the loss of a comrade. As stupid as that comrade was, spouting nonsense about going to heaven, he deserved a proper burial. It was military tradition.
The MP instead opted for leaving the headless body in the ditch. Tanya nearly burst out laughing when she saw that. It was poetic justice for a true fan of Existence X to be denied the rites. She acknowledged that it was improper for her to find the MP's misconduct humorous, but her relationship with Existence X superseded any obligations she had to the military. The MP acted on his own initiative, so her hands were clean.
The one favour she committed to in the end was piecing together the broken windscreen. The MP acted like he had never seen a Mage in action before.
"Second Lieutenant, you are amazing!"
It wasn't flattery because it was true, yet Tanya also remembered the less cordial things she had heard from this MP, making her doubt his sincerity.
"If I wanted you to lick my boots, I would have said so. You're lucky I didn't feel like walking there."
She let the last bit sink in. Their situation was a force majeure and it would have been no surprise for the higher-ups to find the vehicle blown to pieces or on fire like much of their surroundings. In such dire straits, only a seasoned Aerial Mage, the bearer of the Silver Wings Assault Medal would make it out alive.
Tanya didn't need the car anymore, either: it was needed to discretely get her out of the testing facility. Taking flight would have been easier and it didn't involve the sickening smell she had to deal with.
The new driver was silent for a good minute on the increasingly bumpy road. They were definitely getting closer to the epicentre of the explosion.
"Umm, you realise that there might be a change of plan?"
She had thought of that. Schugel's truck should have made it to the Elinium Factory before the explosion took place. If she were an optimist, she would have assumed that both were destroyed. Somehow, she was sure that the opposite applied.
"Since it's Schugel we're talking about, he must be alive and prepared to rack up the body count."
"It's you I owe my life to, Second Lieutenant, not him."
The impromptu admission piqued her interest. He sounded serious about it and Tanya wouldn't be Tanya if she didn't find a way to milk his sentiment for personal gain.
"Glad to hear that we understand each other."
"As long as I'm alive, you can consider me your colleague."
Not feeling friendly yet? I see.
He stood by what he had said before the explosion. Despite the shocking experience, the MP put a finite value on his gratitude for being saved. This simplified the matter in that his gratitude could be treated like a business transaction: he would give her more than the required minimum courtesy until his debt was repaid.
Referring to her as a colleague was the equivalent of a down payment. MPs held authority over soldiers, a relationship similar to that between regular police and civilians. The organisational structure of the Military Police was entirely independent from the military almost to the very top, where both connected under the Ministry of War. In essence, this MP relinquished his authority over Tanya, an unusual and potentially dangerous act that Tanya was sure to exploit.
"As long as you're alive, you can give me some water. I'm thirsty."
"Uhh, it should be-" He reached for the glove compartment, but was unable to open it quickly enough; he had to swerve off the road to evade a fallen tree.
Tanya took matters to her own hands by jumping to the passenger's seat in the front. "Got it!"
"Aren't you too young for this?"
She shrugged as she popped the cap and drank up. "Ah! I'm old enough to be a soldier…and one of Schugel's playthings."
"Please, Second Lieutenant. Don't say that!" He shuddered at what he imagined Tanya had meant. "You're not a plaything…"
Tanya expected pity to come next. She didn't want his pity. After all, he was providing her a service on behalf of Schugel, acting as a private chauffeur, despite ranking higher on the organisational chart.
"Oh? What does that make you? I don't see why the Military Police suddenly acts as one Engineering Director's errand boy."
"Our situation is different. You're more of a guinea pig and I… I used to work at the Elen coal mine before he came."
She meant to wound his pride and sink the knife deep to make him easier to deal with, but the MP demonstrated that his new status as her colleague implied they were on the same level; he pushed back when she wanted to place herself above him.
Even if she were a guinea pig, she took care not to let her tongue slip and the MP made a big mistake by picking up Elin's unofficial name favoured by local vandals.
"Elen?"
"Elin, sorry. When the brass discovered there was something more valuable then coal in there, they seized the mine and gave everyone a raise big enough to think about early retirement. This kind of news travels fast… You can imagine what happened next."
The discontent and clinging to the past were rooted in the locals' inability to compete with an influx of economic migrants. It was ironic for the mine that put the town on the map to decimate the indigenous population. The war merely fed into the issues that were already there.
In Tanya's book, the town got what was coming to it for failing to adapt. The government played a part in this by distorting the labour market with a wage increase, but the town would have been fine, had the locals provided a proportional increase in labour productivity.
"You dropped out of the competition…"
"I didn't want to compete. Elin used to be a peaceful mining town. It stopped being so when all these scientists came. Now it's just quiet. Since they figured that it's easier to haul in temporary workers from other territories than deal with the locals' worsening health, it will stay quiet."
The government's intervention had irreversible side effects. Normally, a salary increase for doing dangerous work would offset any healthcare costs for sustained injuries, but, if the MP was to be believed, the working population's health declined too much for the money to balance it out. The government then threw in the towel and let the problem solve itself by appealing to superstitions like hauntings and curses while the afflicted died.
Medical science in the Empire was not as advanced as Japan's and effective cures for most maladies were not yet developed. The militarised use of magic made it impossible for Mages to work in civilian roles, too. Tanya's own talents may have benefited the world better if she got the choice to become a doctor, but the Empire preferred sending Mages to the front.
Attributing the town's current state to laziness alone would have been a mistake. Laziness was there, Tanya was sure of it, but so was ignorance and the government's determination to get its way without regard for wasted human capital. It was natural to assume Schugel's involvement.
The MP continued, "The few that are still able to work do what it takes to make ends meet and any arrangements between the testing facility and the authorities are a part of that. People come and go, but everyone needs local knowledge."
"Local knowledge…"
Tanya levitated a creampuff out of her briefcase of goodies and wolfed it down as she pondered. A local who passed the training required to join the Military Police and a regular at Schugel's venues was sitting next to her. This roused Tanya's appetite for something other than creampuffs, information.
"Tell me. How did Schugel become a part of this picture?"