Chapter 6, version 3
1 Month Since Arrival
Tanya stayed for dinner and enjoyed a nice meal with the Lehrgens. She shared some war stories with the other Tanya, having sanitized some of the more gruesome elements and mainly focusing on the wonders of magic-powered flight. She learned from the other Tanya that they primarily sold staple foods such as rice. Of course, the child wanted to learn if it was possible to fly, in this world. Tanya sidelined the issue by telling the truth that she had yet to test her flight capabilities.
During the lively discussions, she learned that the wife Kayo had been the one to suggest using her name. She was unable to dig too deeply into that line of conversation though. They seemed embarrassed to discuss the exact reasons behind its usage. It was no skin off her neck so she let it go and just enjoyed the meal. They let her use a guest room for that night as well. She had a remarkably great night's sleep. The next morning Kayo noticed the issue of her clothing and offered her a spare of her daughter's old clothing. Some shorts and shirts were not exactly something she was fond of but she took it anyway and said thank you. She was not in a position to reject the charity after all.
It gave her something to wear when she contracted a local seamstress to fix up her uniform later that day. She was able to negotiate a reasonable price though she learned that replacement material was the most expensive component. Thankfully the woman had something that broadly matched the shades of her clothing and she said she'd have it done by the next day.
Having a day to herself not being able to move until her clothing was fixed up she rented a fishing pole and attempted to engage herself with the practice. She set up camp at a nearby river and tossed her line out into the water. She could theoretically have stayed at the Lehrgens' family home again that night, but it seems impolite to do so. She knew that if a former employee of hers showed up at her home, she would be a little bit put out if they arbitrarily decided to stay too long, so she resolved to just do a little camping. While she waited for something to nibble at the bait a worm pulled from the dirt, she wondered if she should go all the way to Central. She definitely made the right decision not staying in the 80s or the 70s for that matter but the 60s were turning out to be rather peaceful. Sure it was still unskilled labor but at least the conditions of the homes had improved greatly.
And the food output was remarkably better here, the pricing was reasonable and the diversity of it was better than what she'd seen in the 80s. But then again where was this food going? If the 80s had been the hinterlands the 70s slightly better and the 60s the farmlands then perhaps the 50s would have some form of trade work. It was worth considering and anything worth considering was worth investigating. She would have to travel through the 50s to get towards Central either way so why not check it out maybe there was something there that she could settle down with.
As her mind wandered She quickly found that she was no fisher. Her results were terrible: no fish caught and hours wasted. Sure it had helped her bring her thoughts into focus but that was not going to feed her tonight. Finally, near the end, she just decided to practice a little magecraft. She remembered something she'd seen once on television, one of the ways Americans fish so she took a medium-sized stone and using her dagger inscribed a simple artillery spell on the side before tossing it in the river.
A satisfying bang followed by a blast of water drenched her and a portion of her camp. The success rate for this particular form of fishing was much more worth it. All took were a rock and a small amount of spiritual energy and she had five whole fish that she found intact. Comparing that to her failure earlier she was not going to be spending money to rent a fishing pole again anytime soon.
She ate well that night and the next morning she returned the fishing pole before she picked up her uniform. Once she had it back on and felt respectable again, she cleaned up her camp and started back up on her march to Central.
She took a little time to say her goodbyes to Lehrgen's family before she left the town in the district behind. She noted that Kayo seemed slightly distressed to hear she was leaving; Erich seemed to reassure his wife before wishing her a good journey.
The march through the sixties was a quiet affair; there had been one or two attempted bandit attacks and a third one she thought may have considered it but backed off at the last moment pretending to be a fellow traveler on the road for a while before turning off. Overall her month-long travel through the 60s passed without issue.
And so she marched into the 50s expecting even fewer problems. Well, she was half right; towns in the 50s were remarkably larger. they still had that ancient Japanese architecture and feel. But they could pass for a modern town in their size. Which meant this was the first time she saw a real market in this world.
In a small town named Fujiwara the rivers of capitalism flowed as salespeople hocked their goods and services for coins and trade resources. The place unfortunately stank of animals. However, the atmosphere of trade was reassuring to her. If these small businesses on the edges of nowhere could find prosperity then she could find prosperity in whatever environment she found herself in.
Carrying her polearm around on her shoulder she enjoyed the sights and sounds of the market for an hour or two. There was nothing much she wanted to buy when she entered. She did end up considering buying some material that could work as patches on her uniform. The color was a darker green than her uniform but otherwise would work well. She put down a few coins and purchased a small amount so the next time she needed to have her uniform fixed by a seamstress it would not be as expensive.
She then continued her wander through the town. It was a nice place, the economy of goods moving through the town was diverse and refined. Besides the average civilian wandering around she noticed a large number of what could be considered guards. They wore leather armor, and carried spears. And she saw that they mainly wore blue, though she noticed those in authority seem to have yellow sashes around their arms or torso, which she assumed to mean middle ranked, while those with red she assumed were the captains. For the most part, they seem to be pretty bored and their training seemed substandard. As they appeared to be more goofing off than watching for outside threats or local pickpockets.
Besides the defensive guards being substandard the town could pass for a place she could stay for a while. She had been burning through her money a bit much the last month or so and she had been told she'd probably only make it to the forties on what she got to begin with. So now was the perfect opportunity to job hunt for a short term work contract.
Of course, she was not interested in any of the hocking of wares or the production of refined resources. What she went looking for was a good simple white-collar job. Something with paperwork that she could easily earn a little coin doing. Her search was not in vain as near the north side of town she found what amounted to a trader's outpost. Goods came in and out of the town at a steady flow so of course they would need paperwork to keep track of these items. At least she hoped so as that was the first white-collar job she possibly found.
With a determination built on years of trying to find her place in the world, she entered the building causing a jingling from a chime above the door.
"If you're here to register you're good for transport to the left line. If you're here for quality assurance paperwork, the right line. And if you're here for a job interview we have plenty of labor unless you have your letters learned. I don't give a flying hell how strong you are." A 40 something man yelled from across a desk stuffed paper stacks. The building was a mess as there were several desks stacked with a collection of documentation and other paperwork nearly covered the room. The man looked overworked and tired, not even bothering to look in her direction as he finished whatever document he was working on.
He handed a young girl the paperwork and said "run this to Commander Goto Taneaki let him know that 50 lbs. of potatoes has gone missing from warehouse 3." The girl nodded and ran off.
Laying her pull arm against one of the desks near the doorway Tanya began. "I'm well versed in German and Japanese letters."
The man finally looked over at her, really seeing her for the first time. "Please tell me that uniform was a gift from your father and you didn't actually serve on the front of some God-forsaken war. I personally want to believe that humanity is better than sending children to fight."
"Well, the uniform was a gift from my fatherland, unfortunately, past that you won't like the answer." She offered.
"God I hate everyone who comes to this world who lived past the 19th century, I swear the 20th century was a poison to everything sacred in the world." the man said, shaking his head in deep disappointment.
He had a rather optimistic view of the world. From what she remembered everything that happened in the 20th century had happened before to some scale or another. In a way, there was nothing new under the Sun.
"Well, be that as it may, my work was primarily in the logistics department so I'm well versed in the handling of paperwork." A little white lie or a combination of facts if you prefer. She had been good at paperwork while a human resource officer in her first life and that was the reason she'd struggled so hard for a logistics job in her second life. Being x machinations in the general staff's continual need to find some way to put her in the front lines had seen to her never attending her preferred work environment.
"Just to be clear you can read and write" he has given her a thoughtful look.
"And calculate" she added increasing her employable worth.
"I'd be a fool not to sign you, however, I noticed a certain item on your side there. Let me guess you're heading to Central to try and get into the academy and join the Gotei 13." He pointed to the Zanpakutō.
"It is one of the options I am considering in central but at the moment I'm looking to stay in this town for a while." She said approaching his desk.
The man nodded and considered for a moment looking about the room. "I'd be willing to hire you for 3 weeks the pay will be five coins a day. I'm willing to cover your sleeping arrangements and I have a deal with a diner down the street that will make eating cheap. And I have two apprentices. I'm trying to help them learn their letters and basic math. If you're willing to give up some of your evenings I'm willing to double your pay those days."
It was not a bad deal and it would only lock her in for 3 weeks and it should give her enough money to reach Central with no more need for stops. The only real downside was if she taught his apprentices well enough he'd probably never offer her a job again. But she planned to leave eventually so it all evened out.
"May I see the contract for this job?" She asked wanting to be sure of the things she was agreeing to.
"Contract," he said, confused.
"Yes, this is not a summer job we're talking about here."
"All right all right I'll have it written up but assuming that you agree to the paperwork are you interested in the job?"
"Of course, the one question is how thoroughly do you want your apprentices trained."
"If you can knock an education into those two idiots with your fist I'd let you. But their parents would not be happy with that so just get them to be able to read and do basic math and I'll be happy. I'm too God damn busy to do it myself, with all of this!" He threw open his arms to indicate the room.
"Noted. I'll do my best," she said before she put her hand out and said "Tanya von Degurechaff."
He extended his hand. "Yonezu Morinaga."
Sitting at a table at the local diner she enjoyed a very good cup of coffee. Looking out at the market square where goods were sold and traded in abundance, a happy smile graced her face as she enjoyed the charming town's atmosphere. Her left hand played with the pommel of her sword at the edge of the table as she ran a few formulas to train her spiritual energy while she brought a cup of coffee to her lips with her right hand.
The three-week settle down had turned out to have been the best in the long run, it gave her some time to consider her options. During which time she was able to make quite a penny teaching trade office master Morinaga's apprentices how to do simple calculations and read at a substantially higher level. The kids Yamada and Mine weren't terrible but their education was severely lacking. With some hard work, she felt she had them at an acceptable level within two weeks.
They were children but rather driven to learn. It was not hard to see why after a few conversations with them. She learned that they were from the lower class, and they hoped by getting a decent education with the trade office master they would be able to improve their and their family's lives. The noble goal of self-improvement was something to be fostered. And as a result, she tossed away her worries about getting another job in this town after the contract what's up. She could always move further into the 50s and find another town to work in if she decided to stay out here.
When not teaching the children she was helping Morinaga clean up the absolutely terrible mess his office had been left in. Most of the paperwork was simple requisition forms; others were contracts that had been fulfilled and just been left out. And there was a spattering of other paperwork subjects mixed in with all the other stuff. With a little bit of elbow grease and hard work she arranged all pieces of paper into categories and then filed them in the desk where they belonged. It took an entire week to clean the mess up. By the end, the office looked presentable and not like a hoarder had been living there.
Morinaga was relatively pleased with her output and gave her some bonus money. This bonus money of course went to funding her coffee habit. As the diner where she got a relatively low-cost meal was one of the few places in the 50th that had a contract for coffee. And it was thanks to this contract that she was able to find out where the coffee even came from. Apparently, it came from the southern fifties and it was mostly sold to markets in central. Some rare shipments got sold out to the outer districts, which was why coffee was rather expensive out here compared to what someone would find in central.
Curious, she asked some of the contacts she had grown since she arrived in the town if there were any sources of chocolate and learned that that came from the Western 50s. It was rare for anything like that to get to the East.
An unfortunate situation but not an insurmountable problem. So far her time in the town had got her quite a bit more information about this world than most of her travels. She had an understanding of how the trading system worked and she knew that there were jobs that were relatively comfortable to do. And though the guards seemed lazy and incompetent they did their job as since her arrival she'd not seen any real crime maybe one attempt at a pickpocket by a kid but the guards had caught him and returned the items that had been stolen.
If she wanted to, she could make a life here. The pricing on an apartment was not too terrible; the food prices could easily be covered by her wages. She had access to coffee, safety and a home. Those were all the things she needed to have a successful retirement. Though she'd not found many modern creature comforts she figured she could attempt to push for the creation of some of the items. If she worked hard and made some investment capital she was sure she could start a modernization program. Hell her lifespan was now measured in centuries; most of what she considered modern technology had been created in 200 years. That time scale existed when no one knew if what they were working on would work. She would have an advantage in knowing what would work and what wouldn't. Granted she didn't have the technical knowledge to build the items in question. But with how many people die every year she was sure she would find someone who had that knowledge and they would just need the capital to start construction.
She could build herself a little technology town out here with enough hard work producing modern tech for this medieval world. And that thought was most enjoyable but to accomplish that goal she would need to gather money and influence. So she would need to have more contacts than just the trade masters office and the local diner owner.
Perhaps she should approach the local guard captain to offer remedial lessons for his troops. Improve their style training so the guard was less lazy could never really be turned down right? And from there she might be able to get connections with the mayor and local elites, having friends with deep pockets who could help fund some of her ideas could improve the chances of her success.
Enjoying her mental activities she sat back in her chair and put her cup down on the table trying to decide the best way to begin her path to success in the fifties. When a woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a black and white outlined outfit of some kind with a pink scarf sat down in front of her. For a moment she wondered why a woman of the night judging by the plunging neckline at the front of the outfit was sitting at her table. That was until she spoke.
"Hey there Blondie, that's a cool Zanpakutō you've got there." the woman said brushing her hair to the side to better frame her face.
Her eyes moved from where they had been looking down to the strange woman's side and realized a sword was poking out from behind her where it had been strapped onto her back.
"You've also got a large amount of spiritual pressure leaking out for just a plus, especially one who looks so young as yourself, how old are you?" she asked with an inquisitive tone.
It took a moment but that moment was all she needed to start putting all the pieces together. The woman sitting in front of her was not just an average woman of the night. She'd finally found one of the elusive soul reapers or to better put it one of the elusive soul reapers had found her.
Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto wished she was back at central enjoying a night on the town with a good drink. Or at least keeping Captain Isshin Shiba up to date on his paperwork and not slacking off. She hated paperwork as much as anyone else but at least she finished it on time. However, that was not what she got to do today. There had been reports of hollows in the 50s east, one hollow invading the soul society was bad enough of but more than one, invading all the way to the 50s. That was a disaster in the making. And abnormal, hollow usually did not invade that deep and never in organized numbers, oh sure it happens but only when someone with high spiritual energy was leaking like a sieve.
Well, whatever had happened to draw them out, she was here to clean up the mess before it became a problem. A girl from the 13th was also being assigned to this operation, but she wanted to get this done and over before she got here. The sooner the hollows were purified the sooner she could celebrate with a drink.
Walking through the local market doing a bit of eye shopping on the clothing, when she was forced into a dead stop. Someone was leaking spiritual energy into the atmosphere of the market. Following she found a rather large amount that seemed to be seeping out of the nearby diner. This was an unexpected turn in her investigation so she wandered over to see what idiot member of the court squads was turning this town into Hollow bait.
Opening the door she looked around, finding no one else in the black shihakushō of Gotei. With her eyes failing her she let the energy guide her finding a teenage girl playing with a Zanpakutō in one hand and sipping coffee in the other. The oddity did not end there as she wore a green military uniform with red highlights along sleeves and on the front. There was also notable silver metal hanging off her pocket. On the chair next to her sat a dark gray overcoat and green peaked cap with a red band just above the brim.
The girl looked completely at home as sat there channeling excess power into the Zanpakutō as she watched the market. 'Did she know what she was doing or was she unaware of the issue she was making?' Rangiku wondered before moving to take the seat across from the girl.
"Hey there Blondie, that's a cool Zanpakutō you've got there." She said getting the girl's notice and watching her reaction was interesting. The girl's eye locked on her chest for a solid moment. Plenty of men had that over years but few women. Noting the girl's underweight look she decided the girl must have breast envy. Her eyes then wandered down her side before locking on to her own Zanpakutō.
"You've also got a large amount of spiritual pressure leaking out for just a plus, especially one who looks so young as yourself, how old are you?" she poked, hoping to get more of a reaction out of her. She noticed the spiritual energy was dropping as the girl got more focused on her surroundings.
The girl cleared her throat and finally responded "I am Former Lieutenant Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff of the Salamander Kampfgruppe and 15 years old"
German? Well, that was a rare sight but not unheard of. "Well pleasure to meet you Lieutenant Colonel Degurechaff, I'm Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto of the 10th Division. Mine if I ask why you were just flaring your spiritual pressure like that?"
"I was running formulas and practicing control of it," the girl said, eyes focused on Rangiku with intensity.
"Ah well, you may want to keep practicing at a lower level. I could sense you halfway across the street and I'm not the best at sensing that kinda stuff," she joked in hope of getting the girl to unstiffen.
Tanya seemed ready to fight or flee at any moment with the way she sat up straighter the moment Rangiku sat down. "Noted. I will endeavor to be less noticeable in the future."
Tanya had a strange way of speaking. It was not just the accent she seemed very professional, for a teenager. "Well, no worries. Just thought I better see what pressure was about. So, nice sword, where did you come by it?" The sword in question was definitely bound to the girl, which was odd. Usually, something like that happens at the academy. Having a Zanpakutō outside the Gotei 13 was not unheard of; the current leader of the 11th division Zaraki had come to Gotei 13 with one, but there were rumors he never really bonded with his weapon. In the case in front of her, the bonding had taken hold deeply. The fitting of the handle had begun to take on a more western look, and she swore a knuckle guard was starting to grow out of the shortened handle. It looked like it was becoming a merging of standard katana and a western-style saber.
The girl looked at the sword then said. "Lawfully acquired war trophy from my time in the 80s, I was wondering if the soul reapers would be wanting it back? I had heard they used these blades in some form of sword-based magic. If so, I would be willing to return this weapon for a reward."
Is she willing to give up her Zanpakutō? That was strange. She should have noted that her soul was bonding with the blade. Did she fear that soul reapers would take it by force if she didn't? She said she had come from the 80s and that did tend to give folks a wierd idea about soul reapers, better to set her straight. "No worries, Degurechaff, there are no laws against you having it. As long as you didn't kill the Shinigami who used to have it no one will care, though I will say with the level of bonding you've got going on there, you are a shoo-in for the academy."
The girl's eyebrow rose in thought before she asked "Tell me, Miss Matsumoto, is my assumption correct in saying that Gotei 13 are a military force? And if so, what exactly does it do?"
Odd question but she had nothing better to do so she said, "we hunt monsters and keep order, as well as help spirits from the world of the living cross over."
"So you're more peace-keeping force with humanitarian operations?" the girl asked.
"Well yeah?" she responded; though hunting hollows did not seem to vary peace keepy to her it was what they did.
"When you are not on peacekeeping patrol though outer districts or helping souls cross over what do you do?"
"Paperwork and training, on my off time I like to get together with a group of friends and enjoy a night on town or go shopping," the girl was very inquisitive it seemed.
"How's the pay? And Hazard benefits?" Or she was looking for a job.
"Well I get enough to afford a home in district 10 and never really had to worry about money issues since I joined up," she said honestly though she left out she often got others to pay for her drinking habit.
"Interesting… well I would like more details on the pay. I will say the prospect of a humanitarian desk job is very enticing," Tanya said with a smile.
Score! The girl was now considering joining the divisions. This would be the second kid with high energy Rangiku had brought into the fold. Tōshirō being the first and everything had turned out well that time. She was sure things would go well this time as well and there'd be a new member of the 10th division.
The girl began gathering her things and pulling her coat on before saying "although I have 3 days left on a current work contract so any final decision will have to wait till then. See you around Lieutenant Matsumoto," before she walked out of the diner.
Well, that was unfortunate. She should have the hollow problem solved well before 3 days so she wouldn't be able to help the girl get to Central. 'I could fudge some dates on when I killed the hollows to make sure the girl is at least heading in the right direction,' she thought before she ordered a drink from a waitress.
Author's note
So remember Tuesday when I said I have 1300 words… yeah I cut half of those words because I realized my idea for the chapter would be better served if I split the idea up. This is why the chapter may feel a bit like a part one of two. On the pulse side, I already have 600 words for chapter 7.
Welp, I worry about this chapter, from a content view it may have similar issues to chapter 2 it also may not play up the Tanya miscommunication because I decided to do miscommunication from another person's point of view. But then again this chapter is part of a long-standing miscommunication I have been doing that should come to ahead next chapter, so I will see how it goes.
Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…
Betaed by TimEd, FinalFan
EricFreak:.. didn't I just do Lehrgen ah well I have a list of known names for members of Tanya battalion so I am considering when to use them, was going to use two of them in chapter 8... that not happening now. as for mary why should she show up it is not like I created lose enough set of rules in chapter one that would allow her to show up... though I don't think ill use that loophole. I'll keep the flashbacks in mind recently had a friend read chapter one he enjoyed it greatly but he knows nothing of bleach or youjo senki which reminded me I have to keep that in mind. there will always be one guy who never read one or both sources so you need to give the details.
Lord Xantos A. Fowl: it is kinda weird but I guess we kinda just assume all souls start in the soul society
Belomor: Fixed thanks for the heads up I was just using what I found on the wiki.