So...

Before I begin

It's not that important, just wanted to use bold print.

It's been close to a month since the JDSF got raided by monsters. Various things have happened since then, so, like I've done before, I'm going to do a little show and tell. It's more to keep -everything- from being a surprise, and get people (that's you, dear reader) up to speed with how things are going.

Chapter 15

(Hearthstone manor)

Something Kodori had told Haruhime once, when teaching the various children here at the Manor, was that your technique was just as important in a class, as it was in the dungeon. Children were naturally curious, inquisitive, but also fun seeking. If you stayed on a topic too long, you risked the child's attention wandering, and in the end would waste both your time and theirs.

Kodori had also said Haruhime was a wonderful teacher. Though this may have been a little biased since Haruhime's wife was secretly a huge softy and would shamelessly compliment a person provided that they'd done well by her. Like say, teaching her the foundation of her magic those years ago when she'd just started adventuring.

Haruhime wasn't quite as confident in her skills as a teacher as Kodori was. And she wasn't actually a teacher right now. No, she was a student, sitting in the middle of their seven children. Using the Cross Dimension Occulus (CDO), and a little of Delly's illusion magic, her and the children were talking to Yasaka, and trying to learn more about being a Kitsune.

More than once she had to almost raise her voice to get the children to refocus themselves on Yasaka's words. But the introductions and preliminary demonstrations of what they could do already had been done.

"I am quite impressed, everyone." Yasaka said with a smile, "You especially Ha-chan. As... as a demon's blood thins, their other abilities become more distant, until all that might remain is a mark from your ancestors. Eyes, ears, a tail, maybe a single little trick you can do."

"Ko-san said it may be because of the tail she gave me." The original tail, all black with a new gold 'paintbrush' tip, flopped over her shoulder. The other three were being well behaved behind her. "But all Renard have a little magic." She gave all the children a headpat, "They were able to change shape almost as soon as Ko-san returned home, while I only learned recently."

"We get in trouble if we chew on things..." Chie pouted.

"Except Big brother Red and Blue!" Kei said proudly.

"They say that if we catch them off guard, we get a cookie." Toshi said quietly, "But... we haven't gotten any yet."

The two mothers sighed indulgently, "Shall we begin the lesson then? Little Kei? Describe how you did it the first time?" Yasaka smiled.

(I AM GANESHA)

Ganesha, GOD of the PEOPLE, was not running at 100 percent today. He was in his office doing paperwork, and thus didn't need to do any showboating. No, today, he was taking a day off. Sipping tea (from the Best patch of Moss Inc, what ever that meant) and sorting out all the things that needed to be done for the upcoming trip into the dungeon.

As the foremost Familia that helped the Guild, they were the only one exempt from the 'seasonal task'. The guild figured they had enough on their plate as it was keeping the city running, that they didn't need to prove themselves in the dungeon. That wasn't to say they didn't prove themselves, but it wasn't as important. However, this meant that when they did go into the dungeon to do something significant, it didn't have the foundation of regularity behind it.

First there was research. They were going to capture the biggest monsters they could. Fine. But then what? Well, they'd be moved to the jungles. But that meant they would need to be able to survive there. Okay, lower middle floors, around and under the Basin. Suitable candidates included things like Ligerfang, though they were generally found above the basin. Crystal turtles. But those were more aquatic than terrestrial. Viscum? No... The giant flower monster might just... become the jungle. Sure, it might solve the problem, but way overcompensate. Moss huge? Possible, if you could find one...

They already had the devil mosquitoes, though they were smaller than the ones in the dungeon. No need to inflict THAT on them. Bloodsaurus... well those were still on the surface in some places, but much weaker. A tough level one could kill one. But those were many many generations from their dungeon originals...

Unfortunately, much deeper than that, and his Familia would start to risk failure, injury, or death. Of course, even if they made it that deep, they would need to bring the monster up to the surface. That in of itself was difficult. Hard enough to fight, let alone bring a giant cage with you.

There was a tap at the door, "Enter." He said tersely. Only two people would knock at the door when he had specifically said he was taking the day off.

"My Lord." Shakti entered, closing the door behind her quickly, "We've gotten all the supplies we might need for the trip."

"This list of monsters you've put together... I am just not seeing a very good candidate."

She nodded, standing in front of his desk, "We also have to bring two of them at once. Aside from the plant monsters at least." She frowned, "And it's not always easy finding out exactly what gender they are."

"Have you contacted our friends?"

"Of course. They're happy to help as well." She nodded, "It might actually make our job easier... though more dangerous."

"Ah yes. Spawning more monsters at once increases the chance for an irregular." Ganesha nodded, rubbing his chin.

"I've thought of another source of manpower for this as well." Shakti said, "They would probably enjoy a little time off from their vacation."

"I hadn't thought of that. No harm in asking. I'll allow it, and we will offer them the usual rates." He smiled, "I will admit, they seemed so... strange to me. But they have proven themselves to be interesting People to know."

"Those two would likely work for free." Shakti said seriously, "But yes, I will talk with them."

Ganesha nodded, "Perhaps contact that amusing little one, Odds. She and Kodori have been working together a lot, and she seems one of the few in the city who can keep up with he new ideas."

"A good idea My Lord." Shakti nodded, "Still no word?"

"No. But I'm not sure if they've even arrived there yet. I don't travel much, and never to that place." He shivered a little, "I will love that particular People, from a safe distance." He laughed, a little of his 'idiot' persona showing.

(Odds and Puuf Fabrications)

"oh hi, Master Welf." Puuf, the Cloud Spirit (easily confused with an Air spirit, but they were almost literally air headed) greeted Welf. "been expecting you." And yes, even though Puuf was over two metres tall he had this weirdly quiet voice. He never needed to repeat himself however, something of a unique talent of his.

"Hey Poof." Welf gave the Cloud Spirit a mock salute, "Hope I'm expected?"

Puuf nodded, not bothering to correct Welf about the pronunciation of his name. Hardly anyone could hear the difference between Puuf and Poof. "this way. odds, he's here."

Since meeting Kodori and working with her on the various 'marvels' she'd 'brought back' with her from Earth, Odds had gone from a room and a half hut in the Artisan's quarter to a double warehouse. She had many employees now too, mainly from the Hephaestus and Goibniu Familia, but also citizens with a knack for hands on work. Many of the products Kodori and Odds had made were in huge demand. Like the fridge and iced cream maker.

Her success with templates had practically revolutionized the way 'common goods' were made as well. Nails, cutlery, door hinges, window latches... All this and more could all be made cheaply, and in sets, for a reasonably low cost. There was actually a bit of resistance to this from the various crafters in the city, but when they found themselves spending less time making a hundred nails, or a dozen spoons, or whatever so they could work on more important things, that quieted down.

Another huge invention, that was totally Odds's idea, was the 'modern workbench'. Yes, she'd seen what Kodori and Welf were using, but Odds had made an 'all in one' version herself. It measured, it did angles, it had places where you could brace wood and use a saw, it had a vice on the side... it really did just about everything.

And now, she'd called in Welf, to help solve one of the issues the upcoming trip Ganesha was taking.

"Welf!" Odds shouted over the noise of a dozen people working on almost that many different things, "So glad you're here! Come over into the drawing room!"

Yes, she also had a quiet place. Where she could think, draw diagrams, and occasionally have a nap. Welf walked without Puuf, who went back to what ever it was he was doing before opening the door for him.

Closing the door behind him, Welf looked at all the chalk boards of... ideas... "Wow... You've been thinking."

"Well yeah. It's what I was paid for." She grinned, getting up on a step stool so she could look Welf in the eyes without straining her neck, "Did you bring her?"

"Of course." Welf reached into his 'delicate items pouch' and took out a palm sized object of glass and plastic. "HIDA?"

It vibrated a moment, then lit up, a serpent wrapped around an apple appearing on the screen for a moment before a cute little high poly model of Delly appeared, "HIDA is awake! Oh! Are we there?"

"Yup. This is Odds's special room." Welf said, turning the screen to face Odds.

"Ohhhhh. Well, if I'm here, and you're here... It means you have a problem you can't figure out?" HIDA-lite deduced, "Oh, I get to be helpful!"

Odds nodded, "Well, here's what we need..."

"So, you need a way to get monsters from the dungeon out of the dungeon, but you don't know what those monsters are yet, so size may vary..." The mini-Delly paced back and forth on her little screen.

"We're really stumped on this one." Odds said, "We have the materials, but this time they're going to the deeper floors. They've never done this before."

"Well..." HIDA paused her pacing and a little light bulb appeared over her head, "Do you know what a ratchet strap is?"

"Oh! Yeah yeah, we have that in our shop." Welf nodded, "We strap Hagane to the ceiling so we can work on him sometimes."

"Okay! In that case..." HIDA smiled, a little pointer stick appearing in her hand, "How about something like this!"

(JSDF Base, Alnus Hill)

After the 'incident' of the failed Gate opening, it had been just... one long string of minor unfortunate events. Each one alone would have been fine. Even commonplace. But they'd hardly dealt with one, before the next happened.

First, of course, were the monsters that came through the Gate. Cleanup from that was still going on, most of a month later. They'd had to sweep the entire area for left over monsters, and they were still losing people to them. Giant mosquitoes... Normal ones were bad enough, but a dozen of them could kill a cow in minutes. They died easily enough, but it was obvious they were breeding... someplace. Aside from that, they were still finding the occasional body down stream in the nearest river, but, they were reasonably sure now that problem would be resolved in a day or two.

Next were the repairs to the base itself. That was going well, until some of their machines started failing. At first, it seemed like normal wear and tear. The collection of back-hoes and bulldozers they used had gone through a lot of hard use, and were showing age. But then they started to break down when they should not have. The Engineer team was making noises about sabotage, and the base commander was starting to agree. All heavy machinery was now on lock down when not in use, and no civilians were allowed to drive them. The only exceptions were Lelei, who seemed to be able to do anything once you showed her how. And the old lady who used to run a produce stall in the town.

Then... well, the quartermaster's triple checked report on the various stockpiles was... off. During the attack from the Gate, a group of someones had made off with a fair amount of gear. A few rifles, a bunch of ammunition, a pair of rocket launchers, and a few random seeming things. It was clear that whomever raided their depot knew when to strike, but not what to grab. Some of the ammunition went to weapons that weren't stolen. And the 'random objects' included things like toothbrushes, MRE, and a half empty toolbox.

Medical was still up to its ears in problems. The attack had caused problems, sure, but supplies that were supposed to last a year under 'normal use' had seen 'heavy use', and they had to ration out aspirin of all things.

And those were only the problems in the base...

The Nobles who supported them were starting to waver a little. Nothing grand, but their Foreign Affairs bureaucrat Sugawara had reported a 'general unease' with just how bloodied the JSDF's nose had been with that attack. Typical non-com vote of non-confidence. That was fine.

Except it wasn't. There had been a string of 'accidents' at the various mining sites they had set up on some of these Noble's land. Failed equipment, wild animals, a partial cave in, people wandering off and not returning... Even with the soldiers on duty and the modern methods they'd set these mines up with, there were too many unfortunate events happening to be coincidence.

The base Commander could see what was happening, but, there was little they could do to stop it. These were guerrilla tactics, and they'd only gotten better as time went on. Yes they'd caught several people in the act, but once they had, another site would start having issues. They didn't know where they were coming from...

Well no, they knew where, but diplomacy dictated they couldn't just bomb them to make them stop. None of those who were captured admitted anything, even after locking them in a room with Rory and coming back after lunch break. Fanatics.

The Commander picked up the stack of reports, gave them a tap on the desk for even out the edges, and stood up. All this ruminating about their problems was making his eyebrow twitch. He was just about to reach for his coffee mug (made with the very first harvest of Special Region coffee beans), when the ground, and the coffee mug, jumped a little under him. Then he heard a distant explosion that rattled the windows of his office.

A moment later, the base alarm sirens started wailing, and the intercom went off. "North section of the base is under attack. North section of the base is under attack."

The Commander arrived on site at the northern most 'point' of the base. It faced the nearby mountain range and was, strategically, the hardest place to attack from. No commander, even one from this world, would dare try an assault from this side, since they'd have to come over the mountain. There would be no retreat from such an attack.

Except now, there was a very wide gap in their outer perimeter wall, and a smaller one in their inner defensive wall. Between them where one of their pill boxes used to be, was a wide crater.

"Sir!" Before he could even demand someone tell him what was going on, a soldier dashed up to him and stood at attention, "We've contained and locked down the site. There were minimal fires and they are under control."

"What caused this?" He demanded, walking past the soldier and motioning him to follow.

"Best guess is-"

There were several sharp CRACKs as riflemen from the nearby towers fired. The Soldier's comm set crackled to life for a moment, "We've spotted a group manning a... I'm not sure, is that a trebuchet?"

"Confirmed. Trebuchet spotted. Three crew down, one fleeing. Range three hundred..."

There were several more shots fired, then, "Four down. No movement."

"I want a team out there, now." The Commander said.

The soldier took off the microphone of his comm set, "Commander wants a team to that site."

"Yessir."

"Best guess then?" The Commander asked.

"Black powder bomb." He replied.

"Lucky shot if they hit the pill box..." The Commander sighed, "So much for a day off... Bring the report to my desk ASAP." That tick over his eye had come back.

"Should I call on our Special Talent?"

He of course meant Itami and his 'certainly not, in no way, no how a harem' group of girls. "Yes. Demolitions wasn't my forte, but this seems too large for a home made explosive." He started to walk away, already dreading the amount of visits he'd have to do, explaining why his soldiers didn't return home.

(Telskyura, Ground level)

"About time you dragged your butt out of bed." Amani grumbled, "To think, not even food could wake you up."

"I see no need to wear myself out by waking up before the sun." Shinkage said, stepping out of the wagon in her super cute (non-frilly) PE uniform. "I may be cold blooded, but the humidity is terrible."

There was a pause, "Wait, you're cold blooded?"

"Yes." Shinkage watched Amani get a little closer, "Don't you-"

And then she was getting a hug. "You are! You feel so good!"

She had to suffer through getting her cheek rubbed, her body squished, and the general indignity of being glomped. Amani however didn't 'squee'. Weine was bad for that sort of thing. "Is this really necessary? I thought you were my rival?"

"This is this, that is that." She did however let her go. "I got some food going. No one in the line it seems."

"After you scared everyone off with your cooking last night? I am not surprised." Shinkage sighed, "But yes, I am hungry."

After settling themselves by the little fire pit and getting a bowl of 'what ever they had around' stew, Amani said, "Oh! Kodori called over the... occulus?"

Shinkage -might- have been upset at the late message, since this was 'important business', but with the humidity and general lack of energy that came with being a dragon for all those little details, she simply asked, "And?"

"That you would know what it means when she said, 'it's time to head back'." Amani said.

"I see." Shinkage nodded, "Well, time to hire a team for a return trip."

They ate in silence for a moment, "You're going home then?"

"Yes. I will have to send word back. But yes, I doubt I could get this back myself." She looked back at the wagon. "Could you find Brisid for me? If they are still supposed to bring monsters back, now would be the time to go get them."

"You're sure they can figure out what to do with that Gate thing in the jungle?" Amani asked, "I mean, it seems impossible."

"And that's why I think they'll do well." Shinkage smiled slightly, "I'll do the dishes, things are on a time limit now."

(Fels's laboratory maze.)

With their last, near panicked conversation still hanging in the air over his half of the Occulus, Fels started to organize his thoughts. It wouldn't do for Kodori to do her half of the work, and have nothing to show for himself. But what to do... The Gate seemed to be an effect of someone reaching into their world. This was fine...

Well no, it was honestly terrifying. Fascinating, but terrifying. The Gods of this world were supposed to be just that. Gods. All powerful when in Tenkai. But to think that some other being from outside their world could effect it. At least it wasn't so devastating as the removal of parts of the dungeon.

"I believe I have just the thing." He mumbled to himself (the most intelligent conversation in the room). "Provided her fight with Ottar didn't destroy it completely... yes... oh this will be most interesting research."

(JSDF Base, Alnus Hill)

"Itami reporting." Itami knocked on the Commander's office door before letting himself in and closing the door behind him.

"Good, on time for once." The commander grumbled, "Have you and your squad uncovered anything?"

"Yessir." Itami replied, not riling to the 'on time' quip. "As ordered, we did a sweep of the site, and proceeded to follow what ever leads we came up with. Lelei found traces of magic at the site of the trebuchet. We followed those traces as best we could, but were ultimately unsuccessful in uncovering who it was."

"Unsuccessful?" The commander frowned, "Did you find anything useful, at all?"

"It's not good news Sir." Itami said, "Lelei, Yao and Tuka have puzzled out the effects of the magic that was used. Our enemy was using a..." Itami paused, reached into a pocket and took out a bit of paper, "A combustion effect, coupled with an air effect to guide the object on its flight. This gave them greater accuracy and range, as well as a larger explosive effect."

"That is troubling." The commander sighed, "If our enemy has mages, skilled ones, our usual methods will need to be modified."

"I also have a report from the nearest mining site, if you wanted to hear it Sir?" Itami pretended as if he hadn't heard the Commander's last comment.

"Go ahead."

"Rory wasn't interested in the other mission, and took it upon herself to investigate the site of the most recent accident. The local Noble running the mine was allowing anyone willing to work, to work."

"Not unusual. But I can see where this is going..." He motioned for Itami to continue.

"Yessir. It is highly probable that those accidents were caused by a worker who is aligned with our enemy."

"You would think I'd never miss paperwork. But if they knew how to keep a proper roster..." The Commander said, "I will have a chat with Sugawara. We can't allow this to continue as it has been."

"Umm..." Itami started, getting a mild glare from the Commander, but a wave to speak what was on his mind, "All the nobles are like that. Since we straightened the Empire out, many of the soldiers are out of work."

"Of course..." The Commander mumbled, "They don't have things like retirement packages, or veterans care... With the 'war' over for now, those soldiers are either looking for work, or revenge."

"Yessir." Itami nodded, "If it were me though..."

The Commander couldn't doubt Itami's skill. He was lazy, self serving, sloppy, and liked to skirt every single rule. But he was sharper than most people realized. "At this point Itami, I'd consider almost any suggestion."

"Well, before you stuck me with 'extra special' recon, we did a lot of back and forth around Italica. Most of the roads there are trash tier. If you could get Sugawara-san to convince the nobles to... I dunno... redo some of the infrastructure... It would keep people busy, and it would be a lot harder to screw up than a mine shaft."

"And how would you attract them to the job?"

"Pay a little more than the mines. Way I figure it, the safer, better paying work will attract more people. You'd only get real miner types sticking to the mines, crazy people who love danger, or..."

"People wanting to cause trouble." The Commander finished, "I'll send a memo to Sugawara."

"Is that all Sir?" Itami asked.

"Ye-"

The intercom crackled to life, "Sir! The magic barrier on the Gate is reacting to something!" A pause, "It's... Morse code Sir!"

The Commander and Itami had already left the office and were basically running by the time the comms guy had said 'It's.'

Quickly switching their personal radios to the base frequency, the Commander switched it on and asked, "What's it say?"

"F-O-R-1-3-0-S-E-C-O-N-D-S."

Itami switched his own radio over a channel, "Lelei? Get to the Gate, on the double."

"Message loop! R-O-K-U-H-I-M-E-N-O-M-S-S-C-0-0-4-O-P-E-N-G-A-T-E-F-O-R-"

"Already there, Itami." Lelei's voice said over Itami's radio, "I can open it, but?"

The Commander nodded, grabbing Itami's radio "Do it. That's one of the soldiers we sent over before this mess started."

And they were outside. At a dead run they made their way towards the Gate. Many other soldiers were on the way as well, weapons in hand. From someplace nearby they heard the motor pool rumble with the noise of multiple Humvee revving up. If this was a joke, or a trap, they'd meet it with 50 cal at the ready.

There was a flash of light as Lelei undid the barrier loop around the Gate, opening the door between worlds. And for a little under sixty seconds everyone had their rifles at half ready, braced to the shoulder, but not looking down the sights.

(Kodori)

We ran through that dark blue/black impossibly long hallway, knowing we were on a time limit. "We don't want to be caught between places!" I said, "Who knows what might happen!"

Everyone nodded, save Maki (who was starting to go into shock in Aisha's arms) and Hagane, who in true metal cat style, didn't care.

Didn't care, or had his mind occupied? "Kodo...ri..." And with a sudden faceplant, the ton and a half or so of metal nightmare cat screeched to a stop, the sparks casting a weird light in the tunnel.

"Keep going!" I said, halting, turning on my heel, and picking Hagane up. It took a quick second or two to get his massive body balanced over my shoulders, but aside from 'awkward' I only had a little trouble getting back into a quick jog.

"When we get there. Make no sudden moves." Roku said, "It might cause a misunderstanding!"

"We have a method to this." Ryuu said, "Leave it to the expert."

"Yeah. The show is yours when we get there, Mister Roku." Aisha laughed, "Hang in there kid."

"am hanging." Maki said, "feeling a little giddy, but not faint."

With me bringing up the rear, our running formation shuffled a little. Roku took point while Ryuu and Aisha took his rear left/right. Just as we finished that shuffle, the black/light blue of the tunnel switched lighting, the black receding and the blue becoming brighter and brighter, until we stepped into the daylight.

Roku had his hands up, making 'pushing' motions, like he was trying to direct traffic. Aisha and Ryuu stopped suddenly, my sister putting her hand to her sword, but out of an obvious reflex instead of aggression.

Then I arrived behind them, my footsteps heavy as I bled off the momentum of the extra mass over my shoulders.

I had to admit, I was a little intimidated by what met us at the Gate. Roughly fifty soldiers, four Humvee, a troop of 'armed and armoured natives' and Itami's girls. Every single one of them had their rifles ready, but not up, but a single word from Roku would change that I was sure.

And there, at the back, running beside a grizzled veteran, was Itami himself.

Thankfully, the first words out of Roku's mouth were, "That's everyone! Close it! Situation was hot on the other side!"

I felt a huge shift in the magic around me, and I turned a little to watch a half dozen huge magic circles twist into existence around the Gate building, before linking together and compressing into the same one we saw on the other end. Turning back, I saw Lelei lower her staff (a very pretty but far too obvious 'wizard staff'), and sigh as she wobbled a little and stepped down from the top of a pill box that had not been there when I'd seen the aerial pictures Akeno showed me.

Gate closed, everyone relaxed just enough so that the tension in the air wasn't edible anymore. Roku then said, "We have wounded! Medic!" He then turned to us, "I'm not qualified to say it officially, but welcome to Alnus Hill."

"Hagane?" I shrugged my shoulders to try and wake up the metal cat, "Please tell me you're still there?"

"thinking is... difficult."

One of my tails went to swish over his metal head, the contact feeling pleasantly electric. "Master Sargent Roku." The Commander stepped up to us, "Welcome back."

"SIR!" Roku snapped to attention. A little silly looking considering his Road Warrior outfit. All he lacked really were a pair of aviator shades. "It's good to be back Sir!"

The commander looked past Roku to us, then back, "And these are?"

"Natives to the world that we connected to, Sir!" He said, "Ryuu. Aisha, Maki, Kodori, Hagane." He pointed to each of us in turn. He was also speaking loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"Medic coming through!"

Two soldiers with red armbands, and one lady (who I knew was also a soldier) in a lab coat, were running towards us. The one in the middle, I knew from the pictures as Mari Kurokawa. Last report from Akeno said she was Itami's recon squad's medic.

"Hagane..." The Commander looked past Roku to me, and the 'Hagane Cat'.

"Ah, yessir. Permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead."

"It's like I'm talking to my great grandma. But we won't have the same problem communicating with them. They call it 'Eastern', but it's basically old Japanese. Early Edo period or so is my guess?"

"Make way!" The medico's arrived, the two in uniform setting down a stretcher, while Mari stepped up to Aisha.

"Set her down please?" And she pointed to the stretcher.

"Fox?" Aisha looked back at me.

"A doctor, I'm guessing." I said, then to Mari I said, "Please, as bad as it looks, it will cause more trouble if you do more than stop the bleeding."

"May I accompany her?" Ryuu asked, looking at the Commander.

Knowing that we all understood what was being said, the Commander spoke directly to Ryuu, "Disarm first. You, you, escort." Then as a general question to us, "Do you have a leader?" Aisha then placed Maki on the stretcher, and my little sister was carried off, Ryuu and two extra escorts beside her. She did however lend Aisha her sword before she left.

I shrugged my shoulders again, "Kodori Haruhime. Hestia Familia. But please, just Kodori." I looked around, "I speak for my party, that we will be proper guests. But please, I am starting to feel a little nervous."

I wasn't joking either. I had no idea at all how I'd fare against modern weapons. And honestly, I didn't care to find out.

The Commander looked at me, then the rest of us, and nodded, "Very well." He then took his radio and spoke into it, "Stand down alert. Return to your positions." Then back to us, "Once your friend is squared away, we will talk about what happened." He looked to Roku, "Get cleaned up and get back into uniform. Debrief in an hour."

"SIR!" Roku saluted, looked around for a moment, then walked off. On the way I could see some of the withdrawing soldiers gravitating towards him, probably very curious about what had happened while he was gone.

"As for you." He looked to us, "Do you have any immediate needs?"

"I would like to put my friend down." I said, "And a bath wouldn't be unwelcome."

"Understood." He nodded, looking behind him, "Itami!"

The lazy ant of the JSDF perked up at his name being called, then realized exactly why. "Yes sir." He sighed. Because once again, he was being called on to handle a bunch of 'native women'.

NOTES!

There we go! Lots going on here. Bits and pieces coming together. Background things happening. And poor Itami once again having to deal with 'the women'. Thankfully for him, these women don't need much in the way of attention.

But who's to say things work out as planned? Pfft! That would be borrrrrrrrrring.

Five days, etc etc.

Daeore on Ko-fi, Inkitt (were too?).

Thank you for reading. :)