... okay how in the actual fuck did I gain 50 followers with only 3k words? Thanks you all! (Even tho I really think I don't deserve it and now a sudden pressure is being placed on me kekw) Really didn't expect this story to get this many followers.
Also thanks for your input, ndjjdjsujsj. I'll be sure to keep your suggestions in mind!
So~ it's rather late for me to update the new chapter but things are getting busier for me lately. I have my college exams (need to study too cuz I'm dumb). Plus, I recently got my vaccine booster and of course, fever knocked me the hell out.
As much as I want to put my full effort into this story, this isn't exactly a good time for me. I'm not saying I'm dropping this story (no promises tho HAH), I just won't be able to give you guys a quick update on the later chapter, that's all. Hope you all have a nice day, unlike me chilling on the bed with fever killing my will to live ( -_-)
After revealing herself to those two, the slender guy was pretty astounded by her appearance while the other guy had little to no reaction. She can sense that the guy with the katana on his waist was analyzing her attire. Tanya had already expected that kind of reaction since her modern military uniform would probably be something he had never seen before. However, her current aim was to de-escalate the tension between her and the two thugs in front of her.
Yami simply frowned at the sight of Tanya, "What the... It's just a brat?"
The word 'brat' that the bulked man uttered pierced Tanya's pride like a 50-cal. Does this thug want a pick a fight or something? The last time someone ever called her a brat was when a recruit went against her words and she almost executed him for insubordination.
Calming herself down, she reminded herself that de-escalating the tension was her main objective. A civil discussion with a street thug might be a little difficult, but it's not impossible.
The other guy then chimed in, "Yami-san, don't make that kind of face. You'll scare the child."
Child-
The little girl closed her eyes for a short moment and recollected her wits. Calm down Tanya. Put yourself in their shoes, I am 'technically' a child after all, so their remarks are very understandable. Tanya assuaged her annoyance towards those two.
"Hi, there. My name is Langris and this guy over here is my boss, Yami-san. We're not bad people just so you know." Langris introduced himself and Yami to Tanya in a very friendly tone. "Did you get lost in this alley? Maybe we can help you find your-"
Suddenly, Yami grabbed Langris's shoulder, halting his approach.
"Don't approach her rashly."
"What? But Yami-san, she's just a child." The perplexed Langris told him that as if Yami taking things way too far.
Though, Yami ignored his words and began to question Tanya. "Oi, brat. Why were you spying on us?"
Straight to the point, huh. Tanya thought to herself before responding, "My apologies, I believe there was a misunderstanding."
Yami raised an eyebrow, "A misunderstanding?"
Tanya simply nodded when Yami repeated that word. "Yes, a misunderstanding. I was strolling around when suddenly that teleporter of yours appeared out of nowhere. I thought it might be some sort of an attack so I ran away towards the nearest place to hide. Truly, I didn't mean to eavesdrop on your conversation."
Now that she's in the middle of this whole explanation, perhaps she could dig up some info on that portal. "By the way, was that portal your doing, Yami-san?"
Langris who watched Tanya from Yami's back laughed awkwardly. "Ahahaha, you meant the spatial magic? That was me, not him. I'm sorry, you must've been so surprised back then."
So you're the caster. Tanya made a mental note after Langris unconsciously outed himself. A thought lingered through her mind that if she were to kill him, that should neutralize the portal threat, right? Well, killing might be taking it too far, perhaps knocking him unconscious would be the better way to deal with him. Besides, the worst thing that a person can do is murder, and she despised the very act of it. However, if push comes to shove, then she will have no choice.
Right then, Yami drew out his katana. "Brat, let me give you a piece of advice. Whatever you were thinking about, don't."
Startled by Yami's action, Tanya raised her guard up while still trying to reason with him. "Wait! Yami-san, I do not believe I have done anything for you to draw out your weapon-"
Finral also stepped in, "That's right, Yami-san! Calm down, you're pointing your sword against a child!"
Hearing that statement, Tanya simply nodded in agreement. "Yami-san, let's have a civil talk and sheathed your sword for now." That's what she said, but for some reason, she felt like this muscle-head would be quite difficult to knock some reasons into his head.At the very least, this Finral guy was the only reasonable and sane one here.
Being stopped by Finral, Yami threw a death glare at him, "Shut up will you? I'm trying to save yer ass right now."
Finral in return tilted his head, dumbfounded by Yami's words. Ignoring his subordinate's perplexion, Yami turned his attention to Tanya once more, "Oi brat, I don't like how you glared at my ride. It's brief, but I sensed killing intent from you. Admit it, you were considering harming him, am I wrong?"
What?! Tanya was beyond shocked by his words. How did he- Was that the work of magic too?
"No need to be surprised," said Yami before proceeding to explain. "If you're wondering how did I know, then it's a thing called ki. I can read the bodily energy that people give off from looking, the sound of their breath, scent, and even the movement of their muscles. That's how I figured out your intention and managed to detect you too earlier."
...Huh? Isn't, that total BS! That ability of his had certainly complicated the situation. The man in front of her wasn't someone she can underestimate. Although, he was 'kind' enough to explain how his ki works. Perhaps he was just confident against her that there's no need to hide his cards. Whatever his reason was, she couldn't care less as long as it benefits her.
From what she understood, it appeared that ki is bodily energy emitted through body language? Isn't that just cold reading or whatever they call it? Though, her concern was that she didn't understand the bodily energy part. Whatever, in that case, does he at least cannot read her mind despite figuring out her intent? Because if he can, he wouldn't have to question her in the first place.
It kinda pissed her off that Yami was very trusting of his gut instinct that he didn't give two shit to even trying to prove Tanya's intention of attempting to harm his comrade and immediately draw his blade out. There's no basis behind his reasoning.
Woah there Tanya, if don't control your anger, you might as well curse at him in front of him-
It then dawned on her. If he's reading her body language to figure out her intention, then all she had to do was suppress her own body language. Sure, easier said than done but it won't hurt to try. Besides, she had her own fair share of experience of hiding her inner thought.
With years of experience in the bag, she loosened her facial expression, stabilized her breathing, relaxed her body muscles, and softened her gaze. Tanya grinned internally at him, Don't underestimate the experience of an office worker and a front-line officer, you bump ass thug.
Tanya lowered her head in a dignified manner, "Forgive my impertinence, however, I beg for your understanding. If a child like me found myself confronting two strangers, isn't it normal to be at least be cautious? Though, I admit that I glared at Finral-san with a little bit of hostility, can you really blame me for that."
Ugh, speaking in this manner is really tough. Tanya thought to herself. She attempted to speak akin to a noble. Not that she had seen one yet in this new world, but through common sense, they should speak like this, right? Anyway, it would help her if they assume her as a noble and leave her alone. Even a street thug wouldn't dare to touch a noble... she hoped.
"Of course, of course, it's normal to think like that. There's nothing wrong with it." as Finral said that, he whispered to his boss, "Yami-san, don't be like that and sheathed that sword. It seems that she's a noble so we don't want to mess with her."
Yami on the other hand couldn't help himself but squinted his eyes in confusion. What's going on? Why is it getting difficult to read her ki?
There's only a handful of people that he can't read their ki and this child was about to be one of those handful people? Not only that, it was for a brief moment but her killing intent was real, something that a child of her age should've never emitted. His guts told him that she's not an ordinary child. Plus, the way she gazed at him gave off the same feeling as Julius. Cunning and calculating, the type he found it difficult to deal with.
Ultimately, the man sheathed his katana. "Where are you from? Judging from your unique cloth, it doesn't seem that you're around here." Yami started interrogating her.
With her unchanging expression, she can only curse at him in her mind. This was what she worried about the most. What kind of excuse she should say to them? Constructing a lie wasn't an option since she lacked knowledge about this world. Besides, there's the risk of her lies getting caught by this psychologist bastard.
Though... she might be able to get away with some lies by mixing in with some truths. She decided to test that hypothesis. "I came from a faraway land from here and I'm afraid that I cannot disclose my personal information to you two."
... No lies were detected by Yami as he inhaled his cigarette and puffed yet another smoke."Hmm, faraway land you say? So, when did you arrive here?"
A brief moment of silence ensued. It's such a stressful moment for her when she's forced to somehow answer his questions without actually lying. She only wanted to deal with them quietly without shedding any blood, so why was it so difficult to do so she wondered.
It took her a moment before answering, "Not long ago, I-"
"Short and specific." Yami retorted.
"... About 3 hours ago, may I ask why?"
"... Alright I've decided," Yami then pointed his finger to Tanya. "Come with us. If you be a good girl, I can give you some candy y'know."
"Eh?" Dumbfounded, Finral gave Yami a puzzled look while Tanya's stoic expression slowly turned incredulous as she was wrongly interpreting the meaning behind his words.
"Yami-san! Your choice of words is very dangerous you know that!" Finral quickly turned his attention to Tanya, "Don't misunderstand, we're not that kind of people! We're magic knights you know, we would never do that alright!"
"Magic Knights?"Tanya's incredulous face returned to normal after registering the word 'knight' from Finral's mouth. To be completely honest, if he didn't say anything, she was VERY much considering beating them to a pulp. Thank goodness she managed to not snap before Yami could pick up her animosity. Honestly, having such thought was a bad move since that Yami can figure out her intent with his ki thingy. Tanya noted herself to be more careful in the future.
"That's right! We're magic knights from the Black Bulls. Yami-san over here is the captain. No need to be so suspicious, alright. We just-"
Yami then interrupted him, "We just need you to meet a certain someone, that's all."
"And who's this certain someone? And how can I trust that you two are truly associated with the Magic Knights?" Tanya questioned their credibility.
The Captain of the Black Bulls simply sighed, "You sure are making things harder for me. My task is to search for anything suspicious in the city, doesn't matter if it's something or someone. Usually, I won't even lift my ass to do this kind of task but it's an order from Julius-danna himself."
Tanya raised an eyebrow in curiosity,Julius-danna? If he addresses him like that, he must be his superior or someone important or perhaps someone he respects... or maybe all of them.
"May I ask who is this Julius you're speaking of?"
"Julius Novachrono, the current Wizard King of the Clover Kingdom. You don't know?"
Wizard King? Is that what the ruler in this world called? Tanya thought to herself. Assuming that they were telling the truth, then why does she have to meet with this 'Wizard King'? It's more logical to think that these two were simply deceiving her about them being knights. However, that doubt of hers quickly wavers as she received unexpected guests.
"Yami, any progress on your search?"
Hearing that voice from behind, Tanya turned around only to see two silhouettes approaching them. When the light shone upon them, Tanya saw a gorgeous woman wearing a set of armor, accompanied by a tanned girl wearing a tube top.
Finral exclaimed out loud, "Captain of the Blue Roses?!"
"Yo, Prickly Queen." Yami raised a hand in greeting. "Great timing by the way, can you convince this brat that I'm a Magic Knight?"
"Hah? Why should I- No, what are you even doing in the first place?" asked the unamused woman with her arms crossed.
"Ignore them Nee-san! Hmph, men, so unreliable. Even though the Wizard King issued a direct order to the Captains, look what we got here. Captain of the Black Bulls is slacking off, picking on some random child. How low can you men be, right Nee-san."
"Sol, call me Captain."
"Yes, Nee-san!"
Captain... huh. Apparently,the blond-haired woman is a Captain like Yami. Black Bulls and Red Roses, perhaps those names represent which group they belong to. Although judging from their attitude, it seemed like they weren't close. Perhaps there was some sort of rivalry between the two groups?
"Oi, I ain't slacking off this time alright."
Yami's voice suddenly got deeper and by the look in his eyes, he was serious. "Charlotte, it's just a hunch but I think the kid got something to do with the time distortion thing that Julius-danna mentioned earlier. This kid said that she arrived here 3 hours ago, coincidentally it's the same time that Julius-danna sensed something was amiss and immediately contacted the Captains that are available in the capital to investigate."
"Hold on, aren't you being a bit too hasty to conclude that I have something to do with whatever you just mentioned?" Tanya spoke up.
Finral then added, "Actually, the reason why we're investigating this vicinity is because spatial magic users such as myself sensed an irregularity in the vicinity. Spatial magic users can manipulate space and the thing was, I sensed a space distortion around 3 hours ago too."
"You get what I'm saying right, Charlotte? And unfortunately, you checked all the bucket lists brat."
Hearing those words from Yami, Charlotte's eyes widened while Tanya was flabbergasted with the current situation.What kind of accusation... It then clicked to her, if what Yami said was indeed true, then the cause of the 'space and time distortion' that he mentioned might be Tanya... or more accurately, Being X's work.
It wouldn't be a surprise if that kind of thing happened when transporting someone into a whole new world. She can understand the space distortion due to Finral's explanation but time? For someone to notice it, just who was this Julius guy that Yami mentioned.
Although for Tanya, the real question right now was, what kind of action will these Magic Knights take? Not to mention, Tanya still didn't know whether or not they were enemies. Heck, she didn't even know whether or not they saw her as an enemy. The line here was gray as for this moment and she needed to decide whether to paint them in black or white.
It was then Charlotte made her first move by approaching Tanya. Half-expecting an inevitable attack, Tanya readied herself to activate her flight spell while not making it obvious as to not alert that bulked guy, Yami with his body language reading ability.
Contrary to her expectation, Charlotte lowered herself to match Tanya's eye level instead of forcibly restraining her.With her gentle voice, she asked, "What's your name?"
The little girl was reluctant at first but eventually cave in as she's interested in what the Captain of the Blue Roses actually has to say, "It's Tanya... Tanya von Degurechaff."
"Tanya, would you please come with us?"
"... I need some compromisation on whether or not it is safe for me to follow you,"
Tanya spoke boldly despite believing that she's in no position to do so in her current situation. However, she deemed that the bold stance was necessary to figure out their nature.
Sure, they can force her to follow them, but if they're truly a knight,then the probability would be quite low. They are law enforcers, thus upholding the law is naturally the duty that falls on them.Therefore, forcing someone to follow them without any sort of warrant would be the same as tarnishing their duty as knights.
"I understand, in that case... In the name of Captain of the Blue Roses and House Roselei, I, Charlotte Roselei swear upon my name that I will not nor let you get hurt under my supervision... is that enough?"
That was... a bit unexpected, even for Tanya. She did suspect that the woman in front of her was from a noble lineage by her looks but the way she said it was like she's some sort of big shot. Tanya wondered if she unconsciously struck a gold mine.
And with that, the basis of trust had been formed. All claims from all sides were aligned with each other, thus erasing Tanya's doubt about them lying being a Magic Knight. All that's left was to peacefully comply with the law enforcers.
"If you're that insistent, then I concede."
First, she needed to deal with whoever this Julius had to say to her. Perhaps she should make a connection along the way since he's the Wizard King, the ruler of this Kingdom she assumed. Not to mention, she's already made a connection with the Captain of the Blue Roses. Tanya may not know how influential the House Roselei was, but it's better than nothing.
Out of the blue, Tanya found herself lifted off from her feet and was bearhugged by Sol with her superhuman strength. "Aww aren't you a cutie?! So gruff! Ah- don't get me wrong Nee-san, you're still the cutest in my eye," said Sol as she beamed a wide smile while Tanya was suffering due to lack of oxygen.
"Ekk! Air, need-"
"Sol, let her go. It wouldn't be funny if she were to pass out right after I gave my vow to her." Charlotte interjected.
"Ah! Sorry-" She immediately released Tanya from her strong hold. The poor Argent desperately panting for air. She noted to herself to distance herself from this girl. Her brutish strength and lack of respect for personal space could be the end of her. Treat subject named Sol with extra precaution in the near future.
It wasn't long until Tanya managed to get herself on her feet, feeling alive once more.
"Nice work Prickly Queen, never knew you're good with handling a child."
Receiving a compliment, Charlotte's face suddenly flushed red. "I-I-It's not like I do it for you anything." she stuttered while avoiding eye contact with Yami.
"That's right!" Sol loudly exclaimed.
Tanya who quickly picked on Charlotte's reaction stared at Yami and Charlotte back and forth before piecing it out together. Tanya was actually quite... overwhelmed by the woman's taste but hey, it's not her place to stick her nose on Charlotte's choice. Perhaps she could offer her some advice about the opposite sex since she helped her out today. Judging from how she reacted to Yami, she can tell that Charlotte was an extremely shy person so a bit of advice may help her a lot. Oh well, that's for another day for now.
Now that the problem was solved, Yami gave the signal to Finral. Without wasting any time, Finral deployed his spatial magic, thus opening a portal. "You all can enter." He gestured at everyone else to enter first.
"Wait, where's this portal lead us to?" inquired Tanya.
"To the Magic Knight Headquarters," Yami answered nonchalantly before stepping into the portal.
Tanya was a bit taken aback by the fact that she was about to enter the heart of the organization itself. She ultimately reminded herself that she still can't fully put her trust in the Magic Knights yet since their goal was still unknown to her. To find out their goal is, a direct conversation with the head of the organization would be the fastest way. As long as their goal does not involve her, then she could care less about anything after that. Still, it would be wise for her to stay cautious and try to avoid making enemies out of them.
With a deep breath, Tanya took a step and entered the portal to meet the Wizard King, Julius Novachorono. She wondered, what kind of man was he. Only time will tell her.