May 2nd, 1925
Waking up at four o'clock in the morning was different than usual for Tanya. She felt something strange on her back as she rubbed her eyes and noticed she was not in her tent. Cuddled right next to her was Cara Uriel, Meiyo, sleeping, covered only by a blanket. They were both naked. If Tanya was honest, she never thought she would do something like this in this world, much less so fast. But here she was, the girl next to her had her body covered in hickeys and bites, they were lucky the uniforms could cover all that. Tanya didn't have many like her lover. The hard part was the fact that Meiyo's uniform was now ripped to pieces and useless thanks to her and the attacks.
"Tanya?" the blonde looked at the one who called. Please, she needed to stop looking at her that way or they were not getting out of there. "Good morning..."
Taya only stroked her hair sighing deeply "Good morning..."
Now she needed to ask for clothes for Meiyo without sounding suspicious. Thinking about it now, she had just slept with her captain, not only that, one that came from an alliance... the princess of said kingdom. If Tanya was still a man, she would have lost her little friend by the hand of the nurses and soldiers from the sorcerer kingdom.
"Get dressed, Tanya, everything is gonna be alright." How the fuck did Meiyo even know what she was thinking?!
"What about you?" she was asking a stupid question as she did what her lover asked, her long-sleeved blouse now on.
"Lieutenant Solution will be more than happy to help" answered the ravenette with a smile, sitting up. "And no, they won't hurt you. Believe me."
Tanya kissed her as she buttoned up the top of her uniform. It was harder than she thought to separate from her lover. Lover, it was something nice to think. She arranged the last buttons and her cristal, it didn't take her long to find Solution and her squad of four.
"Mini-major!" said Solution with a wide grin. Tanya gulped quietly, able to hide whatever nerve-wracking emotions were inside her. It was time f-"Did you have fun?"
Tanya stopped mid-step. Before she could even say anything, the other blonde of the group began to laugh.
"Yea, she did! The discretion spell didn't even vanish until dawn!"
"Congratulations on your consummation," said the cat-eared girl with a serious expression.
"I need to bring her clothes," said Tanya deciding against answering that.
"Here ya go!"The black and red-haired girl said excitedly as she gave Tanya a new nurse uniform. She noticed these had been altered to look more like theirs. But the concept was the same. It still had a white apron, only this time it didn't really cover the chest, it was yellow like the one they wore with red details. The major only nodded.
"Before you go" An arrogant-sounding voice made Tanya turn around, it was the albino girl who had rescued Meiyo. "You should be more careful! What happens if next time she only has her head!"
"Second liuetenent Weiss Schnee! That is classified information!"Solution sounded serious, firm, something Tanya wasn't used to hearing in her voice. She also noticed the other three changing to that demeanor as well, meaning this was something important that they were hiding, whatever it was, Tanya was going to find out, even if they didn't want to.
"Who are you?" asked Tanya a bit confused and trying to dissolve the tension.
"Right, we haven't told you!" said the busty blonde with a military salute "First lieutenant, Solution Epsilon one of the Pleiades, in charge of the fifth land exterior group of Nazarick. Species, Slime."
"Second lieutenant Ruby Rose, as well as second in command of the fifth land exterior group of Nazarick." said the dual-haired girl with a gleeful grin "Species, Shinigami."
"Second lieutenant Weiss Schnee of the fifth land exterior group of Nazarick. Remember that insolent humans" said the arrogant albino "Species, Yuki Onna."
"¡Second lieutenant Yang Xiao-Long of the fifth land exterior group of Nazarick!" said the second busty blonde "Species, Dragonborn shifter."
"Second lieutenant Blake Belladonna," Said the last black-haired one with cat ears "Part of the fifth land exterior group of Nazarick. Species, demihuman, Nekomata"
"Pleasure, Major Tanya Von Degurechaff" she made a military salute and then laughed a bit. The group seemed confused.
"Is something the matter mini Mayor?" asked Solution.
"Nothing, it's just a bit interesting that your superiors or wherever you are from have a fascination of having non-human effective" explained the blonde fixing her hat. She didn't understand why she laughed genuinely, but it didn't bother her much, usually, she made a fake one or a psychotic one.
"Ah, that was decided by the supreme beings," said Yang shrugging "We could say that humans didn't really treat them well before and they wanna avoid having them around"
"Don't forget they try to steal stuff all the time! Who do they think they are?!" the albino was very hot-headed in Tanya's opinion.
"I understand. But, if you are going to work with us... The best option for you is to get to know our battalion, though every one of my soldiers is male. Serebryakov and I are the exceptions." commented Tanya "And some forget their self-control and discipline."
"¡No worries!" said Ruby happily "It has been fun working with them! Though they do seem to fear us a bit."
"Lieutenant Solution helped with a mission," said Blake calmly. "A slime consuming enemies is something humans can't tolerate."
"It also helps that they leave the homunculus alone!" before she could continue her rant they heard Visha and Meiyo arguing.
Silently, accompanied by Schnee, Ruby, and Yang, Tanya made her way towards the pair. The brunette seemed to be glaring at the younger girl defiantly, Meiyo seemed to have the same expression. Yet, something told Tanya that the raven-haired was hurt, insecure, scared. It was instinctual.
"Why should I leave the Major?"
"I'm her secretary..." said Viktoriya trying to look intimidating. Though she really looked like a wet cat trying to scratch its owner. "I'm part of the same fatherland as her!"
"That doesn't change the fact that we are part of the same battalion. But, if you wish to go with ranks, mine is higher than yours"
"That mare..." she heard Schnee say, she decided to call her by her last name to avoid confusing her.
"Weiss, calm down..." whispered Ruby.
"I'm not scared of you!" Visha was firm in her conviction. "J-Just don't try to make our Major do the wrong things!"
"And could you please tell me, lieutenant Serebryakov, what things do you think Captain Urial is doing or telling me?" the blonde's interruption made both girls turn around saluting.
"Major Degurechaff!"
Suddenly the sky turned dark. Red spirals formed in the sky causing everyone present to panic and stare in confusion.
"The waves have begun," said Meiyo who turned towards Tanya.
Tanya closed her eyes, she had heard that one of those had happened when she was born. They brought chaos and destruction, people claimed that demons appeared. This wasn't as difficult as fighting with titans. Now, as a major, her responsibility was to train her soldiers and prepare for whatever this was. Before they could begin, Meiyo pulled the blonde towards a hidden place giving her a kiss, relaxing Tanya a little. She kissed back, placing her hands on the other's shoulders, when they separated the major saw her Elenium in Meiyo's hands. Before Tanya could stop her, the ravenette had broken it to pieces.
"You have another one on, you don't need to pray to him anymore," said Meiyo with a smile. Tanya reached towards her best, and indeed, there was another one in its place. She could feel her energy stabilize, and noticed it was much more than she recalled having. "It's time for your orders Major Tanya Von Degurechaff"
The princess turned away, perhaps to leave, yet, Tanya grabbed her by the wrist and kissed her again.
"You have no idea what you do to me"
"You'll have to show me later." Tanya nodded, both of them making their way towards the chaos as fast as they could. As they got closer Tanya could see the fighting style of the enemy was more archaic than she was used to seeing. There were no gunshots, only some explosions from some spells. She could also notice the enemies were monsters, no humans were against her people.
"Evacuate the civilians ASAP" ordered Tanya.
Every company separated and obeyed her command.
"This would've been faster if we had a more advanced vehicle. Such a pity helicopters haven't been invented yet..."
"Major! The civilians have all been evacuated!" informed Weiss.
"Well done Lieutenant Weiss," said Tanya through the com "Let's finish this! N-5, situation!"
"It's goblins! Shadow goblins, if they are destroyed ashes remain! The head is their weak point!"
"Major" it was Meiyo "Knights at seven o'clock found escorted by a man called Naofumi Iwatani, A.K.A. the shield hero. He is accompanied by a raccoon demihuman and a filolial queen. Nonhostile. Hailing from Melomarc, their mission is believed to be to destroy those shadow goblins."
"I guess we can lend them a hand since we're at the border" Tanya sighed. "Let's go!"
She really didn't like it, but she had no other option but to lower herself. "Destroy only the ugly green men. Those are the goblins" ordered the blonde.
"Roger!"
The soldiers did as told, Tanya almost prayed by impulse, but it wasn't necessary. She found Meiyo on her way, both floating towards the knights and the other mentioned allies. Now she could see a town clearly. Where the fuck had that town come from?! What town even was it!? Well, it didn't matter, it seemed from the empire, therefore, her responsibility.
"Welcome to the border ladies and gentlemen!" said Tanya. "Nice to know I won't need to hack your visa since you're being such good samaritans to the civilians!"
"Who are they?" whispered one of the knights.
"They come to help," said a black-haired young male, whom, Tanya supposed had to be Naofumi. The shield stuck to his arm with that gigantic green gem was a telltale sign of his title of the shield hero. His hair was messy, his slanted eyes green and filled with frustration and distrust. The blonde major supposed this had something to do with him being brought here and fired to fight. She sympathized with him in a way.
"What else would we do? Our camp is close by, it's our duty. Plus, it's kind of our fault we destroyed some of your defenses... insurrections and stuff" Tanya joked, she saw her soldiers cooperating with the other knights around this town.
"Thak you!" said a raccoon-eared brunette girl. She dressed in red and beige, a sword sheathed at her side and a tail-wagging a bit. She was a cute demihuman, not Tanya's type, but cute anyway.
"And the other heroes?" Asked Meiyo. "Shouldn't you be together?"
Tanya just stayed quiet, as if she knew what they were talking about.
"You're right," said Naofumi. "I have no idea what they're doing, they should be ending this wave but it seems it has been almost two hours"
"It's decided" Tanya turned on her radio. "Lieutenant Weiss, Lieutenant Grantz, your people will stay to aid the knights, don't leave any enemies alive" then she turned towards Naofumi. "We'll escort you and your team to your destination. The fatherland is in danger"
"Fine"
Tanya and Meiyo were both flying at Filo's sides, a gigantic white bird Tanya supposed was a filolial. She also learned the name of the demihuman was Raphtalia. The other teams, besides Grantz', Weiss' and Solution's, along with the nurses in each followed Tanya at each side and at the top, at a distance of five meters horizontal and vertical.
"So, you're telling me your comrades are not working as they should."
"I was falsely accused, but nobody believed me. We could say that being the daughter of a king and that the church hates your symbol doesn't help much" stated Naofumi. Tanya nodded, she had had to manage that type of thing in her other life as someone of human resources. Some were fake, some were real. It was complicated.
"Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia interrupted.
"Flying ship, four o'clock!"
There had been no need for Visha to let them know what everyone could see. Tanya almost thought she saw an octopus navigating that thing with its tentacles. She also heard the voice of a young guy giving out orders. He couldn't be older than Naofumi or Raphtalia. They were archers shooting at the ship. Only one of them was looking a bit special, the bow encrusted with similar crystals to Naofumi's shield. The one holding it was a seventeen-year-old blond boy who was using it.
"Where are the others?!" asked Naofumi. The blond with the special bow turned towards him.
"On the ship!" he answered. "I told you if they attacked the thing on there it would reveal our enemy. But no, they didn't want to listen.
"Evangeline" Meiyo turned towards a blonde girl wearing a white veil and qipao decorated with a golden dragon. "They didn't believe the information you studied and investigated?"
The girl shook her head.
"What do you guys know?" asked Naofumi. Tanya was irritated, she had no answers and without that, there was no way of defeating the thing.
"The shadows, the shadows are what will bring out our enemy," answered Evangeline. Tanya turned towards Naofumi, communicating only with their gaze. "Do we attack?"
"Let's go"
Both nodded, and with that their squads, along with the shield hero made their way towards the ship.