Siege of Italica II

Even if Pina has such a plan...even for a dragonoid, it takes six hours, to get to where Soren is.

Only Soren can fly fast enough to make it two hours to her destination thanks to magic.

The dragonoid maid named Curli arrived at sundown. Tired and exhausted.

It was also when she smelled food being cooked, because sunset is dinner-making time, and two hours after that, is actual dinnertime.

Her stomach growled.

"Ahhh, I'm hungry...I missed lunch because of that hullaballoo..." she moaned as she flew staggeringly due to exhaustion for Soren's cottage...which was brand new, but stupidly-large? Why?

'Excuse mee...' she knocked tiredly on the door and Talas answered the door.

'Curli, what're you doing here?'

'Its a long story...' Curli sighed as she was let in. 'I'd like dinner too please.'

And she was like a limp noodle on the couch.

And so...

'How arrogant...and foolish.'

Were Soren's words of utter disappointment and contempt as she served dinner while listening to Curli's tale.

At around 8 am, a massive army attacked Italica that lasted until noon. By the looks of them, they were clearly the remnants of the Coalition Army sent to attack Alnus and the Japanese People. But lost horribly and for some reason, took to banditry afterward.

Breadmaking was best left to her, Birika and Wiekor for having no fur on their arms in their shared cottage. Heck, non-furries' jobs were bread-making. The others cook the rest on her instructions. Though she taught the beastmen the 'fine art of making flour the magical way' as the antiquated milling techniques is responsible for crappy bread in the first place, and better food processing and cooking techniques that they now enjoy, that they all have more time for 'everything else'.

'The first thing that princess should have done, was send a runner through unattacked gates to call for aid. A runner on a horse, can get to Sadera in five hours and report!' said Soren. 'The army gathered solely at Italica's East Gate, right? None at the other three gates? Yet the idea didn't even occur to that woman?' she scoffed in derision.

'In Italica, we are already aware of the situation of Italica's non-existent ability to defend itself no thanks to the trash I had to clean up with Birika. She should never have rested on Italica's laurels that nobody would be insane enough to attack an international trade hub lest the whole world starve, but alas, the impossible happened. Thus she was forced to use rusty retirees and townsfolk, even children to defend the Trading Town!'

'Its unsaid, but where there is fear, there is also contempt towards the superpower.' Soren continued. 'The army remnants are from other countries, not army under the Emperor. Molt never sent his army when he amassed that Coalition. He told everyone he would come, but never did and sent other armies to their deaths in the hands of Japan, to weaken the other nations to curb attempts to attack him in uprising as well as scoping out how strong Japan is by using them as a patsy. The remnants realized that and decided to weaken the empire in turn by attacking Italica, everyone's supplier of goods in a bid to starve the empire that tricked them to go to their deaths!'

The demihumans felt chill at her words as even they could figure that out in time, had they bothered to look into the matter further, but Soren realized all this with so little information?! Scary!

'If Princess wanted to rule, the first thing she should have thought of, was defense, supply, and building preparations in that order, but she was too relaxed...and arrogant of the Empire's clout whose coattails she rode on. Traits little lady must not take from her.' Soren continued. 'In fact, the first thing they should have done after we cleaned up three months ago, is to start recruiting and training with promised benefits that will appeal.'

'Promised benefits?' Gilda piped up.

'Yes. Countess Myui is eleven and a landlord shoved in into the job...and Princess Pina her legal guardian till she turns fourteen. To have vassals loyal to her, Princess Pina should have begun helping her recruit promising talents also at age eleven to sixteen. Since she was no sexist and accepts everyone and chucked male chauvinism out the window in contempt, she should have called for recruits, with a promised handsome salary to convince them to join the Italican Defensive Forces! And women, as much as I hate to say this, is the source of that army.'

'Raising salaries is the beginning. To have a comfortable life with a family of six or seven, a family's salary must be the minimum of 2 sinku per parent to have enough money to feed and clothe everyone, and afford taxes in time to convince families to have more children as what prevents them from having more kids, is financial problems.' Soren began.

'Then should the army recruitment begin, the salary promised should be 15 denari, two denari shy of a sinku! And should a family's child join the military, the family of that child will enjoy 10% Annual Tax Discount per individual. What family wouldn't want that? Given Italica's finances, that should have been easy-peasy from the start, and feasible for twenty years given Italica's current coffers, while the International Bank is at work to keep coining money to make up for the losses at Alnus Hill under the assumption that Japan took the money as spoils of war! And after two decades are finished, that arrangement can be continued indefinitely when millions of monetary denominations are coined after and distributed!'

'Er, did they?' Curli asked her.

'Hell no, my land has no use for empire money, unless they melt all that metal down and turn them into gold or silver bars to put them for sale...our money is in paper bills, y'know.' said Soren, conjuring illusions of the money she saw as a child, when her mother taught her about money. 'Well, that proud princess certainly took time to realize she bit off more than she can chew...and her idea of reinforcement, is her Rose Order? Imbecile!' she moaned in exasperation, smacking her forehead on the wooden table. 'What can a mere platoon do against the remaining battalion of hate? And as insurance she calls only ME instead of a regiment?! Somebody slap some sense! I need a fucking drink! What does she think mages are? Demigods?! A mere mortal, we are!'

'Even if we want to, we can't.' said Cabal dryly as Talas went to get some ale for the exasperated mage. 'That's tantamount to get executed.'

'At any rate, if things go to shit, Head Maid and the ladies will surely smuggle out Countess Myui and important documents and such to safety, taking advantage of the darkness of the night if its clear Princess will lose as the family servants hold no loyalty to the royal family.' she scoffed. 'After a good meal, to teach her a lesson that her arrogance is costly, I'll fly the slow way back. Curli will temporarily be here, replaced by Wiekor in the estate.' Soren decided. 'Until both recover enough to go back to their posts.'

'Yes ma'am.'

'So yes, let's take our sweet time.' Soren sneered. 'Besides, even Princess knows it takes six hours to get here, she's in no place to complain, so let's enjoy dinner.'

xxx

After a leisurely dinner, Soren flew to Italica with Wiekor as companion, that they arrived at around 3 am when the battle is ongoing. From the sky, they can see the battle.

'What are your observations, milady?' Wiekor asked Soren whose eyes glowed orange.

She compared the two sides.

'...on our side, nobody slept. Dinner yes, but no sleep nor rest like us who just came back from farm work and then fly here after making dinner.' Soren shook her head. 'The bandits have a psychological effect on our people, being more experienced with war than a princess playing at war. Indeed, they retreated in the afternoon to lick their wounds, but time is on their side.' she said.

'They have the power of 'when and where to attack'. And the paranoid princess in turn, kept everyone awake and on guard thus no room to rest nor recover between meals, all the while exposed under the hot sun baking soldiers in armor. Another form of stupidity.' she sighed when she noted some JSDF among the fighters...and Lelei. She frowned before looking eastwards...to see small red lights blinking and headed their way. 'I will aid my people. A small japanese group is here. Report to Countess Myui. Japan has sent war planes to make quick work of the army here. They'll be here by sunrise so until then, we'll have to hold on.'

'Yes ma'am!' and they parted ways, with Soren landing beside Itami Youji and conjured small fireballs that function as bullets.

'Whoa?!'

'I got called.' said Soren in her rusty and childish Japanese. To be fair, she was gone from her world at age six...but language aside, she was a frighteningly-competent mage, fighting wisely with energy conservation.

And given her outfit of choice as a mage, it was a form-fitting orange halter top with an a-line add-on white skirt that was knee-length at front but longer at the back secured with a light brown leather waist-wrap of sorts. She also has add-on sleeves on her arms. The style of the leather waist-wrap and sleeves were something he sees out of manhua in chinese girls. On her small feet were gladiator sandals with thick rubber soles. Her skin glowed in health and she was fair-skinned.

Her hair is also a variant of a hime-cut, reminding him of FGO Scathach.

She doesn't look fourteen, with a figure like hers. He's seen flatter girls at her age and she already has a full pair of Bs and most japanese women older than her have B-cups!. She was shapely-toned, considering she practices street fighting skills and can use a sword. Given her height and arm length, she wields a short sword strapped to her waist. But it seems to be a last resort, if she runs out of magic.

The invaders inside the walls were cleaned with her help.

The problem was the main force outside.

'Soldier-san, I see war planes headed our way, was that your responsibility?'

'Yup.' Itami grinned as he reloaded his rifle while she kept on shooting that her kill count is skyrocketing because she aims at the face, the only place not armed as even if she put a piercing property into her fireballs, its not enough to go through armor. It makes good sense, Itami thought as their situation is different from anime you know! Physics in real life don't work the same way as anime. Not even a plasma cutter can pierce instantly like bullets can. 'I plan to teach that princess that while we're not bad guys, we are also the kind who should not be messed with.'

'Our bandits know that too well.' said Soren with a snort. 'They are a traumatized bunch set on unleashing their anger on the Empire through this trading town. For if Italica falls, everyone starves.'

'I see. Gotta add that to my reports later...'

The fighting continued well into sunrise, by the time the Aerial Unit arrived...and all hell broke loose.

Rescue has come. While the Japanese and Coda Refugees were long used to the sight, as planned, it instilled fear in Italica.

Soren chose that time to show why she was summoned...and all the JSDF can think, was...

'HOLY SHIT.'

Because she let the JSDF have their way with a psychological attack, what she did in the end was restoring Italica's walls like nothing happened and healed the injured with a large wave of magic.

'Wow...that's our japanese mage for you...' Kurata whistled, amazed. 'That's an Area-Wide Healing and Repair!'

'Well, she's not a scholar for nothing.' said Kawamoto. 'Can Lelei do that too?'

'I can, but only one at a time through sai-ko-me-to-ri.' Lelei admitted. 'Soren has a unique talent that enables her to see through and see all. She taught us but no matter how we try, we can't replicate it. We lack what she has.' she told them as she recalled memories of her past. 'See her glowing orange eyes?' she pointed at Soren's glowing eyes which the soldiers looked at. 'When she does that, nothing is hidden from her. Not even what's inside our bodies. Its something only she can do.'

'Heee...'

'Well, its over at least and we survived.' said Sasagawa. 'That's what matters.'

xxx

Sunrise...

Countess Myui did not sleep.

How can she with what was going on, plus Wiekor's report.

All she was learning so far, was politics and manners other than general education a noblewoman is expected to have. But really, after three months, it was really something they should have done since she sent an army out...ugghh...

Well, what would she know about ruling and military affairs, that was Princess Pina's job to teach her...and they haven't even gotten THAT far yet...things happened too fast for her to catch up with, darn it!

But she would have to rebuild Italica first before she puts that to work...

She spent the whole night talking with her people to make that work somehow.

'Madam, the battle is over.' Wiekor reported, entering the dining room through the window. 'The iron birds that fired explosion magic utilized by the Japanese made short work of all else.'

'I see...Soren?'

'I know how madam thinks by now...she decided to make her people do most of the work instead of her blowing up the brigands as planned to teach the empire through Princess Pina her people are not to be angered.' said Wiekor grimly. 'The most she did was use healing magic and repaired the city walls and gate, and assist her people in rounding up prisoners.'

OK, the walls and gate are spoken for. She just needs philanthropist efforts now...

'Alright. Well prepare breakfast. Sir Itami's team would surely need some as well.' Myui instructed. 'Head Maid and I made plans last night, we'll act on it as soon as the needed people and materials are assembled.'

'Yes ma'am.'

And so...

Breakfast was basically, eating out at the gardens while in the case of the rest of the aerial unit, their breakfast had to be outside of Italica.

Everyone got a large, thick sliced piece of rye bread and a bowl of soup which was accepted graciously.

'Its a little strange seeing a car again when I haven't seen any in years.' said Soren as she ate outside with the soldiers.

'Well Sawada-chan, we're glad you're here because other than helping Lelei-chan out with selling Wyvern Scales for money, we're supposed to persuade you to go home.' Kurokawa told her. 'Your parents want you back.' Soren froze mid-slurp.

'...what.'

'The Japan beyond the gate is your Japan.' Kurokawa reassured her. 'Kurata, take out the photos in your jeep.' she ordered Kurata who quickly scampered to do so. He went back shortly with photos and gave them to Soren.

Soren looked at the photos and shook.

Her parents.

And...a pair of twins who were clearly mixed like herself.

'...twins?'

'Your mother wasn't the same when you never came home from school.' said Kurokawa. 'Your father pulled friends he knew to help look for you but you were never found...they were heartbroken.' she said softly as Soren shook hard as she looked at the photos. 'Seven years it took them to heal to try again, only this time, your twin siblings were homeschooled until Junior High School and were trained in martial arts out of paranoia.'

'They have an altar for you at home and suddenly, years later, thirteen captives revealed who saved them...and the police searched for your family and things matched.' said Tomita. 'They were happy to know you're alive and were waiting on word for when they can pick you up to come home. They know you're looking after a Beastman Village though.'

'I...see...' Soren mumbled softly. She made up her mind as hope she thought she lost lit up in her heart again. 'Then, there's two things you guys can do for me.' she piped up.

'What is it?'

'Due to my unfinished jobs, I can't go back permanently yet. I gotta settle all my affairs before I can go back home...and considering my Japanese sucks compared to yours, not to mention no education...' Soren twitched in utter chagrin. What she means by 'it sucks' means her childish japanese as opposed to ones used by even third graders. She speaks like a kindergartener which she finds embarrassing.

'I have to make full use of my divine blessings to learn an entire elementary school curriculum in a really short time. I need a tutor willing to live with me in Beastman Village until they all popped out their babies after four more months before I can live in Alnus with everyone to continue my studies, not to mention I have to watch over the herbs until fully-grown for market use...'

'Yeah, speaking of herbs, the government wants samples.' Tomita reminded his companions. 'So bringing home seeds and actual plant of new medicine species will go a long way.'

'Ah...right...'

'We'll arrange for tutors in Japanese, English, Math, Science and Social Studies.' said Kuwahara. 'For all subjects in schools, exams are always in those five subjects only in midterms and for finals, four more are included: health and physical fitness, home economics, music and art. But for now we'll prioritize the all-important five.' Soren nodded. 'What's the second?'

'I want to bring home a butchered whole ma nuga...kinda like the equivalent of wagyu beef and its kinda huge, so my family might need to temporarily rent an extra freezer. Can clearance be arranged? Ma Nuga has no contagious livestock disease unlike chicken, beef and pork back home...'

The 3rd platoon grinned.

'We'll we'll try to get that processed.' Kuwahara told her. 'Scientists would want to study it though so it'll be up for discussion for now.'

'OK.' and Soren stood up. 'I'll go back to the farms now. Lelei-chan can handle the rest.' she stated as she flew away on her staff, using it as a broom at high speed.

'Whoa! That's awesome!' Kawamoto exclaimed in awe. 'She can fly!'

'That speed is normally impossible for humans...maybe she found a way to make that level of flying harmless to the human body...' Kurokawa croaked out as normally, speeds Soren used will be really bad, especially for the HEART...

'We better notify Colonel Kengun since they'll be home first.' said Kuwahara.

xxx

Three hours later...

Commander Hazama listened to Colonel Kengun who relayed Soren's request.

'Hummm...we have to find a willing volunteer for that from the Department of Education, one who has high level in subjects and willing to live in Beastman Village and its living standards. No lightbulbs, no internet, no aircon, etc...and I hear the Sawadas have a home tutor, maybe they can recruit one?' he wondered. 'As for bringing home Ma Nuga meat...that's another thing...I gotta talk to the right people about that...'

He then reached for his phone and dialed a number.

xxx

'Yes?' Reborn answered the phone.

/Oh Reborn-san, You're the tutor hired by Sawada-san right? How soon does he get one who's willing to live in Beastman Village till after New Year with no modern day conveniences, before they move to Alnus Base?' Hazama asked Reborn who answered the phone. /Sawada-chan said she cannot go back yet until her remaining jobs are done before she can fully-quit magehood and come home to Japan for real since seeing the pictures the 3rd Recon Team showed her convinced her to come home./

This, Reborn took note of.

'Alright. I'll inform my client.' Reborn promised Hazama. 'Once we get our tutor, we'll have to do legal-processing to get him through.'

/His name?/

'Gokudera Hayato. He's in Italy right now and he's a mix-jap like Soren. He's the same age as her had she grown up in our world but alas, time on the other side is slow. And we're still troubled with her records. 21 here but 14 there in time and body.'

/Ahahaha go with as she is now, 14./ Hazama chuckled jovially. /We'll have to arrange citizenship due to her special case./

'That'll be an interesting discussion.' said Reborn wryly. 'I'll talk to the missus.'

/Mm. Send the guy's files over directly to Alnus Gate when its all set and I'll do the legal processing. Then I'll call you guys so we can escort the tutor to the other side./

'Thank you very much. Ja.' and Reborn put his phone down. 'Hmm, I better make good arrangements indeed.' and he took out a satellite phone to contact CEDEF first.

Things are getting interesting.