Chapter 17

Thankfully, Hagane didn't have as hard a time getting his feet under him as he did the first time. The 'symptoms' he had described were alarmingly close to a person suffering a stroke, and I hoped it wasn't actually that serious. Then again, it wasn't like I could actually check on his 'soul'. I'd encased it in a ball of Ko-steel, and removing that would be nearly impossible without potentially breaking that little bit of magical glass.

By the end of the half hour, Hagane was at least able to pace around the limited space in the room without falling over. He was just finishing another circuit of the room when there was an authoritative knock on the door and a, "Permission to enter!"

Maki, who had passed out again, didn't even have her ear twitch at the noise, so I called out, "It's open."

The door swung open and I saw one of out two guards step back. Itami appeared a second later and stepped in, "If anyone interested in meeting the Commander would come with me?" A pause, "Ah, though, if we could ask the one in green to come along?"

"I'll stay with the kid." Aisha said, "And the giant metal cat."

"When I can move properly again, I will claw your furniture." Hagane grumbled.

So, Ryuu and I stood up. "Leave your weapons here please?" Itami asked.

Ryuu stopped part way in putting her sword in her belt, then just lay it on the nearest bunk. "After you then." I said, making no move to 'disarm' though, since I was technically just wearing armour.

We were led in the direction of the Gate, but then past it. The base, from what little I'd seen, seemed a bit overkill for the people they had been defending it against. Each section had its own walls, and all those walls were topped with barbed razor wire. It was almost like they were ready to make any part of the base a place for a 'last stand'.

Then again, I wasn't a master of siege craft. So maybe this was standard? But, I decided to ask. "So, I see all these walls, but this is your own fortification."

Itami looked at me, then shrugged, "Well, I think it's overkill personally. But we've had a few things try and sneak over the walls."

"Keeps the pigeons away." One of our escorts said with a chuckle.

"Pigeons?" Ryuu asked.

"Ah, he means wyverns." Itami said, "Flying lizards that can get large enough to carry a person or two, as a rider, or as food."

"Ah, we only have the 'as food' types back home." I said.

Suddenly, there was a series of heavy 'CLUNKS', and the area around us was lit up by diffuse bright light. All around us, over the various walls, I saw many more light towers light up.

"Ah, no need to worry. Just keeping the place lit up for security." Itami said, "Oh, okay. Huh, you aren't easily shocked, are you?"

"A nervous adventurer retires early." Ryuu said, squinting at the sudden increase in lighting.

We walked through one last gate in the walls, and spotted a solid looking concrete bunker, with minimal windows and a flagpole with the Japanese Rising Sun fluttering proudly... in the middle. A flag at half mast was usually a sign of mourning.

"Anything to expect?" I asked, "Should I pretend I'm talking to a dignitary or something?"

"Well, he is the one running the show." Itami shrugged, "But he flunked out of the diplomatic program."

One of our two guards couldn't stop himself from 'snrrk'ing, but had gotten his 1000 yard stare back in place before I'd turned my head to look. A moment or two later, we were in front of the bunker's entrance, and the two guards by the door swapped with the ones following us. The interior was just as functional as the outside, but at least had a few spots of personality. Mostly posters. Like the one with the kitten hanging onto a tree branch, 'hang in there!' (except in Japanese of course).

We passed a few doors. Records, communication, washroom, coffee room, and finally 'OPS'. But we went one room past that, 'Conference room A'.

Inside was a nice round table, and four people. There were guards at each corner, and two at the door. I couldn't tell if they were being paranoid, or trying to assert 'dominance' by a passive show of arms. To be fair, we 'shouldn't' have known what guns were, so... I dunno. And while they couldn't have known it, Ryuu and I were probably the ones who justified that paranoia.

So, clapping my mental hands together, I got ready for some non-punchy diplomacy.

Across from where we were directed to sit, was the Base Commander. In his 'natural environment' I almost wanted to call him 'dad'. Just struck my as the type to be a good father. Then again, he was in charge of the base, and if you didn't have at least a little in the way of a parent's instinct, you'd never be able to hold things together.

Mari was sitting next to him, looking just as she did a little while ago, except in a proper uniform and not a lab coat. Next to her, was Roku. I was a little sad he wasn't wearing the nice snake skin coat, but regulations were regulations. Maybe I'd find him later and take apart the coat and make a nice hat for him?

On the Commander's other side, was Lelei. She was just a little different than the last picture I saw of her. But it'd been a couple years, and I think she'd be 17 or so now, not 15 when I saw her at the 'inquiry' over the Occulus. Itami finished the set, and sat down on Lelei's other side.

So, Ryuu and I parked ourselves in the 'all purpose' plastic chairs that were provided, and did our best to make ourselves comfortable. (Ryuu had no trouble of course, but I had to sit very far forward since most chairs didn't handle fluffy tails like mine.)

"Before we start." The Commander said, "Coffee? Tea? Water? Cookies?"

Ryuu and I settled for water and cookies, nodding our thanks as one of the guards went around the table with a cart.

"First, I will start with a thank you." The Commander said, "We thought our man lost when he didn't come back through, and of the six we sent, well, we have four." He put his palms flat on the table, and bowed his head to us. So did the others. Well, except Lelei. She just nodded her head in thanks.

"We are however concerned at his treatment while away, but we understand that wasn't 'you', correct?" He said after raising his head again.

"Ours is a world of several nations, and your man Roku there had the... mixed luck to be picked up by the Amazons. A race made purely of women, they bare no sons, so their only recourse is to either woo, or capture males." I said.

Mari, likely the medical CO? XO? Spoke up, "Only females? Are you sure?"

"We have one among our party." Ryuu said, "But it's common knowledge in our world."

Lelei spoke up, "You know you're in another world?"

"Kind of obvious. We've heard a language we don't know about. The Elves had differently angled ears. And the taste of the air is different." I said, "And Roku already said so. We are a practical people, and while we don't blindly trust things, we don't doubt needlessly."

"Speaking of language..." Itami asked, "I mean, a different world knowing Japanese?"

"We call it Eastern." Ryuu said, "It's... hmm..." She looked to me.

"Our world is run by two major factors. The Gods. And the Dungeon. A thousand years ago, the world was about to be overrun by monsters. Most of those came from a single place, the Dungeon. The Gods, not wanting to have us, their Children, wiped out by monsters, descended to the world. Instead of stepping in directly and just fixing things, they instead gave us, the Children, the power to overcome the monsters."

Ryuu picked up from there with, "Once the dungeon had been contained, the Gods used their own power to cap the dungeon with the Tower of Babel." She looked at the others across from us, "From there, the city, Orario, was founded. People and Gods from around the world live there, continuously suppressing the monsters in the dungeon."

I could tell that Itami and Lelei 'understood' the most out of that, while the other three were less... believing? "And these Gods share the same names as the ones from our world? You mentioned Hestia, right Kodori-san?"

I nodded, "The Familia, is what a God calls their blessed Children. The mortals they have given their personal gift to." I motioned to Ryuu, "Her Goddess is Astraea, and the Amazon in our party, Aisha, is Takemikazuchi."

They were all smart cookies, and the Commander replied with, "Ah, so Takemikazuchi taught his 'Children' Eastern."

"Just so." I nodded, "We've many languages, and many Gods. Ganesha for instance. Though I know only one word from his Home, Namaste."

Only Mari understood the word from what I could read on their faces.

"You seem quite familiar with the things we have in the base. But you don't seem to have advanced past the Iron age." Itami said, "And you have magic as well."

"Before the Gods, the many people's usually had some form of magic. Most relied on the environment." I motioned to Ryuu, "The elves respect nature a great deal, and some are quite strong with a spiritual magic. I looked behind me, my tails freezing in place to act innocent, "Mine all have some kind of minor blessing that is usually just for the individual, though in rare cases can be shared." I pondered, wondering just how much to share, "We've other races who can shape shift, ones who are elemental with a human shape... It's very diverse."

"And this 'blessing' the Gods give you?" The Commander asked.

This was getting into 'to much information' territory, but I decided to give them just a little more, "It grows with the deeds of the Child. Do nothing, gain nothing. Do great, become greater."

I made sure to make it clear in my voice that that was my final word, for the moment, on the topic. "You said you wanted to talk to me?" Lelei rescued them from an awkward silence.

"The Gate on our side has basically wiped out a thousand years of carefully tended wild land. I could see evidence of you having dealt with that, so it's clear we can't fix it by pushing them back through the Gate." I carefully reached into my pocket, taking out my Tarot of Fels, but only putting it on the table in front of me. "We can probably fix things on our side, but the Gate has to go."

"If the Gate were to open again, it would risk having our efforts to restore the Jungle simply walk through, to this place, again." Ryuu said.

"Why would you even want to fix a place like that?" Roku asked, "I mean no disrespect. But that jungle was the roughest, meanest, most dangerous terrain I'd ever had the displeasure to survive."

"The dungeon is the single largest source of an adventurer's power. The monsters we kill there, contribute to our growth, so that we can continue to progress and achieve greater feats." Ryuu said, "But, the Amazon do not live in Orario. Their nation is very strong, but only because of the wild monsters they have left in their jungles and the careful culling they've done over the last thousand years."

"And when the Gate opened, the greatest of those monsters came through, and were killed." I finished, "Now, I place no blame on you for dealing with them. None at all. But the deed is done, and needs to be fixed."

"And to do so, you start at the root." The Commander nodded, "Very well. Do you have an idea on how to fix the problem?"

"Our most magically minded," I tapped the Tarot on the table, "Needs to talk to the one who locked the Gate. From there, I don't know. I'm not him. But I will likely end up being his 'hands' while I'm here and the two of you hopefully come up with a solution."

"Commander?" Mari started, getting a nod from him before continuing, "While this happens..."

I looked at her, and felt kind of like a bully for doing it, but said, "Adventurers are basically volunteer monster hunters. We get payed like any other person."

I think it was in that moment, that the people in the room understood that we weren't intimidated at all by the guards, the weapons, or the fancy high tech stuff around us. I still felt bad, since I'd just made Mari pout a little. But it needed to be done at some point.

"As professionals then. Could you assist us in dealing with the aftermath of those monsters from your world?" Mari asked, "We have many wounded still, and the area around us still has many problems with the insects that came through."

"We can negotiate prices later. Yes. Though, this reminds me." I looked to Roku, "I don't know your views," I did, but you know, mysterrrrrrious Kitsunnnnne stuff, "on slavery. But technically, I bought Roku's freedom. The price isn't owed to me, but the ones I rescued him from."

The commander grimaced, but I could see that he knew he was trapped between 'patriotism' and 'diplomacy'. "What's your price?"

"His weight in refined iron. The stuff you clad your 'Hum-vee' in will do." I replied.

The Commander blinked, then looked to Roku. "Ah, yes, the Amazon I was... under the care of, seemed to have almost no metal in their city. Most things you'd use metal for were either bone or wood. Metal weapons seemed a status symbol of sorts as well as functional."

"Huh. Very well." The Commnader nodded, "Considering some of the things we've had to deal with here, that seems reasonable." He took a pen from his pocket, scribbled something down on a bit of paper in front of him, and tucked the paper and pen back into the same pocket. "My Chief Medical Officer..."

Aha, CMO, not MO or CO. That was going to bug me all day...

"Will have my authority when speaking about our base's medical needs and her negotiations with you about them."

Mari gave us both a little wave. "It's a long list, but I hope we can come to some sort of agreement."

"Itami is our bridge to the locals, for the most part, and tomorrow, if you wish, he'll take you into town." Itami nodded, but didn't wave. "I would like to keep some of this under wraps. We are having enough trouble recovering from the last opening of the Gate, that we don't want to disturb the peace any more than necessary."

While he said 'would like to' I was sure he meant, 'going to'. But here I was being diplomatic, "Understood. The less entanglements we have, the easier it will be to leave. From my understanding, you expected the Gate to open up someplace else?"

Itami had a momentarily pained expression, probably because he wasn't expecting 'his girl' to let that slip. "Yes. Like you, we aren't native here either." But the Commander surprised me by admitting that freely. "But the natives are under our care, and we've been trying to keep the peace here."

I looked to Lelei, and decided, (just to be a bit of a jerk really) to ask a native. "And how are they doing so far?"

Now, from the little I knew about her from the various reports from Akeno, I gave it a 50/50 chance she'd answer. But she said, with a calm even voice, "They've done their best to show that it's in everyone's best interest to be a good neighbour to them. Places that have positive relations with them do well."

Okay, so a 100 percent chance to answer, but a 50 percent answer. "Fair enough." I nodded, "You can give me a history lesson or something later. Can we get started as well?" I tapped Fels's tarot again.

"Yes." Lelei answered before anyone else could. Ah, she only sounded quiet. She certainly felt 'empowered' to speak, even here. Good.

"Yes. Dismissed. The day starts at sunrise here. If you need anything, ask Itami."

Most of the way back to the dorm, with Lelei walking beside Itami this time (along with the ever present guards), I said, "Lelei?"

"Hmm?"

"For this to work, at least, for best results with what I have, I'd like you to hold this." I handed her the Tarot, but kept hold on it for a moment, "Don't turn it over yet."

"Does this need any special... I dunno... environment or something?" Itami asked.

"Sitting down, with a little back lighting is best." I said. "Unfortunately, this form of communication needs..."

"Ah. It needs two specific people on either end." Lelei said, "It is very personal."

It shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. Lelei had already figured out the limitation of the Tarot. There were exceptions to the 'rule' with that, like being familiar with the one trying to talk, or being connected to them on a spiritual level, like Akeno was to me when she talked to Haruhime. "Exactly that." I nodded.

"Okay, ah... this one is empty." He stopped at another dorm room, "Should have... ah good."

It was a bunk for two, not four, but it had a small table, chairs, and a desk lamp under the only window in the room. "Ryuu? You can head back, I'll be... well, I have no idea. Might take a while to get the Occulus working."

"Occulus?" Lelei asked before Itami could.

"The Tarot use a more spiritual connection, and have less issue working over distance. The Occulus may need other steps to get working, but are less personal." I explained, "Business first."

I almost felt my heart stop when she pouted at me, but nodded.

"Just lock the room up when you're done. Call if you need anything." Itami said, "I'll be in the mess for the next hour."

"Okay, Itami." Lelei said, sitting down, card still in hand but the picture still face down.

Now alone with the girl, I poked at the desk lamp, moved it to one end of the table, and turned it on. While I set up the lighting, I explained, "What you have is something that started with what I called a 'memory stone'. Well, okay, everyone else called it that, though it's never been made of anything else but metal."

"Convenient names sometimes take precedence over factual ones." Lelei nodded with a frown.

"To see the memory, you just have to close your eyes and hold it with both hands. It's just a memory, so it can't harm you."

She closed her eyes, but kept mumbling, "It creates a magical circuit that feeds the memory in the card through your senses while taking no actual magic to activate..." mumble mumble, "If one adds power to it, it...maybe? No?"

"Gently." I said picking up the chair she was in so I could get myself, and the lamp on the table, behind her, "Adding power allows it to cover more distance, but doing it wrong will heat the metal and scald your hands."

She went silent until I'd actually sat behind her and put my arms under hers to take hold of the card. "Ah, um..." She had been so lost in the effect, and magical 'discovery' she hadn't noticed me.

"Turn the card over." She did, "I need to be here, so you can join the call. He won't be able to see more than a shadow of you, since he will be holding -my- card over where he is. But he'll hear you just fine."

"Okay. But how does it work?"

Her quiet voice was hiding the eager question, and I found it rather cute. But I resisted giving her a headpat, "Hold the corners like this, let the memory in the card fill your mind, and look into the background behind the person. Then, just call his name." I followed my own instructions, "Fels."

"That's not part of the memory..." She mumbled.

"No. But if you are holding one of these, only two people in my world would have handed it to you." I explained, feeling the beginnings of contact, the metal of the tarot getting cooler, "Fels." I repeated.

And there he was. Behind him was the gentle blue glow of magic stone lamps, and on the very edge of the 'frame' was, I think, a glass bottle. "Ahh, Kodori. I was pouring something. I was beginning to wonder if you'd call tonight or not."

"Being diplomatic." I said, "Do you see her?" Then I mumbled, "Do you see him?"

Lelei nodded, while Fels replied with a, "Ah, greetings. My name is Fels, and I am... the local authority when it comes to magical affairs. Please, forgive me for not taking off my hood."

"Lelei La Lelena." She replied, "I am the one you wanted to speak to, the one who locked the Gate."

"As usual Kodori, you've come through. Lelei, I must ask, do you know why this Gate arrived here in this world?"

She was silent a moment, but I said, "You can't let go of the card. But please, try and explain?"

"Ah, I think it is because your world got between ours, and the one we wanted to connect to." She said after a moment.

"As..." I looked over Lelei's shoulder with a glare, and Fels cut himself off and simply nodded, "I see. Our own bad luck then. Is it at all possible to remove the Gate from here?"

"The Gate itself should never have become permanent. It is something one of the Gods created on a whim, and was meant to appear for short time, then vanish again. The Empire's mages created a more solid anchor, and it has had many side effects." Lelei explained, "When we asked the Goddess about it, she showed no interest in removing the Gate, and said we were on our own."

All three of us sighed the exact same 'silly gods' sigh.

"Very well. Then we will deal with it." Fels said, "Kodori? Have you tried the Occulus yet?"

"No. I thought it better to have the two of you talk first. I am at their mercy for any and all materials, so it will be on her say so that I get anything I might need for enchanting." I shrugged, "If she said that 'yes it was possible', we'd be back home tomorrow."

"Fair. Very well. Miss Lelei, please assist Kodori in getting the Occulus working. Once done, you and I can collaborate on moving the Gate from where it is, to someplace less likely to cause anyone problems."

"I will help as best I can." She said with a nod, "Ah, the feedback of magic is building up in the metal." She said.

"I'll contact you as soon as I get a little more to work with. Tomorrow evening if all goes well." I said quickly.

"Very well. Good luck." Fels nodded, the card going dark, the hooded figure on the Tarot going still.

I plucked the card from Lelei's fingers and waved it a few times to cool it down. Lelei wiggled out of my tails (who had wrapped around her just because she was sitting still for so long in front of me, naughty tails), stood, and turned around, "What would you need? Are you an enchanter as well? You made this? And what is the Occulus?"

I resisted a 'squee' moment. She was just so curious! "I am, though my methods are a little less formal, and more instinctual. I'm going to need a brush, and a forge. But that can wait for tomorrow." I stood as well and put the Tarot away, "Thank you in advance for helping."

"We'd like you to help with the monsters too." She said as the two of us walked towards the door.

"No problems there. That's our real job, no matter where we are." I opened the door, watching the two guards snap to attention as Lelei passed, then fall in line behind me as I walked down a few doors to the room we'd been given.

After a brief report to Shinkage, Ryuu and Aisha (but not Maki since she was still quite thoroughly toast), we got ourselves sorted for bed. Just to keep Shinkage company, I tried making a little fox, and thankfully there was no issue in doing so. Not only would it keep him company (since I knew he liked all the cuddles he got, even if he was some kind of metal nightmare cat) but just in case he actually slept, we'd have a watcher.

Not that I expected any foul play from the JSDF. But old habits are hard to break.

"What... is that music?" Aisha grumbled as 'Reveille' started playing over the PA system. "Sounds dreadfully cheerful..."

Ryuu, Maki and I were already awake, and had been since dawn started to claw at the night sky. Maki had refrained from doing any serious stretches with Ryuu and I, but was dutifully making sure her leg was actually healed and not pretending really hard.

"A military does almost everything together." I said quietly as I bent at the hips and put my palms to the floor, "Wake up at first light. Make ready in ten minutes. Eat breakfast in twenty minutes. Attend duties until lunch. Clockwork efficiency."

Maki continued with, "Training is also the same. You do drills until you can do it blindfolded. One person failing means you all do it again. Discipline too. One person breaks a rule? Everyone is punished."

"Huh." Aisha rolled out of bed and started to shake herself out a bit, "Suppose you do that enough, and you'd get really unpopular with your team. Sounds similar to how a Room works at least, except the ones who don't follow orders generally get tied to a tree and hope the hunters kill the first thing that gets curious."

"Shinkage?" Ryuu finished her stretches and knelt down to administer headpats.

"I think I have control over everything again." There were a couple of internal clicks, "Left hip, right hip, left shoulder, right shoulder..."

"Well, today we get to visit the town." I said, "Maki? You good?"

"Well, I don't want to dance, but I'm pretty sure I can give this back." She motioned to the crutch she had used. "Mari seemed really... almost desperate for healing magic of some kind..."

"Without magic stone, or some kind of citrus berry or fruit that has absorbed a lot of mana, I can't do it." I shrugged, "Don't get me wrong, I want to help. It would even be a very fast way to earn a little money." I looked to Ryuu.

"I don't mind, but my magic does more for fresh wounds." She admitted, "The older the wound, the less efficient it is. Scars are just a waste of mana to try."

"I wonder why there's no healing magic here." Aisha said, "I mean, I'm not the most magically inclined by a long shot, but even I can feel it in the air."

"Maybe Lelei will know?" Maki suggested.

"Good idea." I nodded, "Well, lets go see what the mess hall has for breakfast..."

Itami met us in the mess hall, or rather, found us in 'the chow line'. There were a lot of people in the tent this morning, but the ladies behind the counter were serving people with lightning efficiency and a smile.

"Daring the chow line?" Itami asked, not bothering to ask if he could cut into the line, but not getting a so much as a glance when he did from his fellow soldiers. "Didn't want to wait until you got to the town?"

"Eat breakfast when it's served." I said, "Never know when lunch is."

"What are they even serving..." Aisha mumbled.

Itami sniffed, "Ah, sausage, eggs and... mashed potatoes. If you like ketchup, you might want to try this world's version. Something about how they make vinegar makes it taste much better than back home."

"Ketchup?" Ryuu asked.

Itami facepalmed, "Ah right, its a thin tomato sauce mixed with vinegar to preserve it. Sweeter than tomato paste."

"Ah, we call it something more literal. Sweet tomato paste." Ryuu nodded.

"So Itami." Aisha leaned over just a little, "What's the plan?" Her wearing the overall hadn't taken away any of her charm, and Itami still backed up a little.

"Well, after you guys eat, we'll hop into a Humvee and head to the bottom of the hill." He said, "Lelei said you needed a forge? You're a smith?"

"I am." I nodded, "Among other things. I made everything armour related that you see on us. But I need a bit of iron so I can get started on a bit of magical communication stuff."

"No problem." He nodded, "The Commander told me you have a bit of pocket change available, until you get started on the -other- problems."

"I'm guessing we're going to see someone about those too?" Maki asked.

"Yeah. My old team has probably got all the info put together by now." Itami nodded.

After eating and collecting Shinkage (who was sitting like a good catto next to the Mess Tent like some kind of guard) we were escorted back to the motor pool. The Pit Boss was there, but that was no surprise, he struck me as the kind of man who would need to be dragged away when he retired.

"I told you I would be back." Were Hagane's first words before Itami could even start talking. "I can't do autographs." He continued when the Boss and the two nearest mechanics basically stopped what they were doing to marvel at the nightmare cat.

"I was right..." The Boss mumbled, kneeling down and squinting at the various moving plates that moved and mimicked actual musculature, "But what moves it all?"

"Magic." I said, "Magic and pure willpower." I corrected myself.

"And this tai-" Ryuu, who was closest, told hold of the Boss's wrist.

"My tail is very sharp. You're liable to lose a finger if you are careless."

"Boss! You should try this. It's weirdly satisfying." One of the other Techs commented, giving Hagane a headpat, "And look at this jaw. Is that hydraulic?"

"Similar. The stouter jaw and the rails its on help prevent things from just ripping his jaw off if they are tough enough to survive the teeth." I explained.

"Wait... things can survive that? What does he eat? Tank armour?" The other Tech asked.

"I bit a turtle with a shell made of crystal once. It was unpleasant, and very hard to remove." Hagane then (carefully) turned his head in my direction.

So, I looked to Itami, who perked up and interrupted the fun, "Ah, Boss? Is it ready?"

The Boss, in true 'been working here longer than you've been alive' fashion was rather grumpy with his reply, "Yes. We had to redo the suspension, again, replace two of the tires, again, and the windshield, again. But it's fixed."

Itami sighed, but did at least make an attempt at an apology, "I can't help it. The roads here suck, and most of the time, there aren't even roads. And we had to hunt and kill a... I have no idea what it was honestly. It decided to use its face to ram bumper! Tuka almost had it fall in her lap!"

The Boss squinted at him, but then hooked a thumb towards the big open parking lot, "It's over there. You can paint it yourself."

Itami gave the Boss a salute, then waved us over, "Come on."

Now, I wasn't really a military nut like say, Maki. But, I knew the basics of 'Humvee anatomy'. There were several of the blocky, no-nonsense vehicles in the parking lot. But one of them stood out. For starters, it was 'well loved'. The formerly green paint had been scoured away in more than a few places, burnt off in a few more, and there looked to be a couple of thin streaks of shiny metal cut into it, sword slashes maybe? The front cab had some kind of cute fuzzy animal hanging from the read view mirror (instead of fuzzy dice). There was a hula girl (not an actual hula girl, but some anime equivalent) standing on the top of the dashboard. The back cab however was the literal 'biggest feature'. Compared to the half dozen other Humvee around it, it looked to have been extended. The back 'cargo space' or what ever you called it, was half again as long as the others. Clearly meant for extra cargo, or an entourage of magic girls.

The other thing that made it stand out? Lelei was already in the driver's seat, and I could make out at least one pair of elf ears in the window of the 'cargo space' in the back.

"This, is the Toyota High Mobility Vehicle. Though, I suppose that means nothing to you, or most people. So we call it the Humvee." Itami said, standing by his 'well loved' chariot, "My team and I generally get sent out the farthest, so we meet all kinds of... problems."

"Has character." Aisha said, squinting and giving one of the tires a kick, "What is this stuff? Rubber?"

The question caught him off guard, but her nodded, "Basically. You have rubber where you're from?"

"Eh, we make chew toys and pipe seals with it. Basically all it's good for." I said, "So... do we sit on the roof?" I asked.

"Ah, no, hold on... oh, um..." He looked at us, noting Aisha's two handed sword and bone 'short sword', then Ryuu's 'stick of Yggdrasil' and Maki's spell blade. "Oh... um... How fast can you run?" He looked to Hagane.

"I've never hit top speed. But I'll admit to being a little lazy."

"Sorry... I don't think the roof would support you, and we'll have a full cab..."

"It's fine." Hagane shrugged as best he could.

Itami looked relieved, then opened the back of the 'cab'. He then stopped looking relieved, "Ah, suppose you'd all meet eventually."

Of course, sitting in the back, across from Tuka (who's ears I saw) and Yao (who's head didn't have a window behind it, and thus wasn't seen) was Rory Mercury. She was, as before, still wearing the nice and frilly Goth Loli 'uniform(?)' of her religion, though, it didn't quite match the one I'd seen her wearing at the press conference. To be fair, that was a couple years ago, and if she liked fighting as much as it looked like she liked fighting, she'd have gone through a few of them by now.

"You sound like you're embarrassed to know me." Rory said with a totally fake pout. "So you're the bunch who've been keeping Itami away from us."

Her weapon, at least, the wrapped up bundle on the floor of the cab, was taking up a lot of the floor. But, we all noticed that nobody was stepping on it, so, we all shuffled into the back of the Humvee, finding seats where we could, while not stepping on the silly plank weapon.

"Orders are orders." Itami said (in such a way that he'd probably said this A LOT to her). "This, is Rory Mercury. Apostle of Emroy, Goddess of Darkness, War, Violence and Death." This was also said like a 'cookie cut' introduction by someone getting paid less than minimum wage.

It was obvious that this overblown introduction was supposed to get some sort of rise out of us, but adventurers don't impress easily. Even less so when we already knew this was coming.

"Kodori, Hestia Familia."

"Maki, Hestia Familia."

"Aisha, Takemikazuchi Familia."

"Ryuu, Astraea Familia."

"Hagane. Oddly satisfying to pat nightmare cat." Hagane said from the window behind Tuka.

"Oh! You're feeling better?" Tuka turned around (while Rory had an incredible pout at us being unimpressed).

"Yes. Thank you."

"Hmm." I looked at my tails, then the narrow seats, "I'll just sit here." I hugged my tails around to my front, and Itami closed the door, while I sat just in front of the back door. "Good morning Lelei."

Even in park, she had this weird hyper focused look, but it relaxed a little when she turned and nodded to us. She did however, roll down the window and reach out to give Hagane a headpat, before returning her attention to what ever was in front of the Humvee. Itami entered a moment later, closed the door, and gave the Anime Hulu Girl on the dash a little nudge, "Okay Lelei. Take us into town."

"Anywhere specific?"

"Forward base next to the pub. If they've done their work, we might be able to deal with the bug problem. Or get started on it at least." He replied.

"Okay." And with a deft manipulation of controls, she got the engine started, and the Humvee rolling.

A moment later, after we cleared the parking lot, Yao looked over to me and my wealth of fluffy tails, "It seems rather inconvenient to have so many tails."

The Orario party chuckled quietly while I replied, "They are far from ornamental, but it makes chairs a little difficult. Brushing takes forever too." I flicked a hand through my hair, "It's why I keep my hair this short."

"Maki? You have two? But they're shorter..." Tuka commented, making to pet one, but stopping.

"Ah, I'm only distantly related to big sister." Maki said, reaching around to hug both her tails, "I dunno what I'd do if they were as long as hers."

"Trip over them?" Aisha laughed.

"You know, I've never had that problem." I said, "Even with so many." I hugged my tails tight, but didn't say they were good tails (though they were). "Hey Itami?" This 'causal' form of address got a frown from 'his girls', but I didn't care, "Don't suppose we could visit a smith first? Rather get the hardest part done first before we forget."

He looked over his shoulder, "Ah, sure. After seeing Roku's new knife, I'm kinda curious about what you can do."

"Ehh, that wasn't really 'work'. All I did was flatten one side so he could use it like the knife he had." I shrugged, feeling the Humvee stop. "Huh?" I looked ahead.

"Oh, no worries, checkpoint." Itami said as Lelei rolled the window down.

"Good morning Lelei." The guard on her side greeted as he gave the inside of the Humvee a look, "Ah, trip into town for our guests?"

"Business and pleasure." Itami said while leaning over a little, "Heading to the forward base by the pub for some work too. Could you radio ahead? See if any of them are on site?"

"Sure thing. Drive safe now." This was said like one might to a daughter. Lelei was quite popular it seemed. Of course, I wanted to give her all the headpats after having half a conversation with her, so I understood. "Oh..." He looked at Hagane, "You're with them?"

"Yes."

"Right, move along!"

"So, this town? What's it about?" Aisha asked as we got underway again.

"Well, the base is located on a site called Alnus Hill. After the JSDF came and occupied it, they started helping the surrounding area." Tuka explained, "After a little incident with a really big dragon, a bunch of refugees came to live here."

"The JSDF has been mostly impartial with whom they've helped, so the town reflects that." Yao added.

"Mostly?" Ryuu asked.

Rory, still pretending(?) to be offended by how unimpressed we were with her, answered, "Do you make a habit of helping people who attack you? Those who have tried to go against the JSDF have either paid reparations, or perished."

Poor Itami sighed, probably thinking that Rory was going to make the JSDF look bad or tyrannical or something. But the Orario team nodded, "Seems fair." Maki shrugged, "From what little we've seen and heard at least."

There was a minute of silence as Lelei made a few easy down hill turns, and the view in front changed from 'fortified military base' to 'wood and stone buildings'. In the first thirty seconds, before my ears twitched at the very distinct sound of a hammer hitting metal, I saw no less than a dozen different races, and at least that many different styles of clothing. This, I could tell, was a very Happening place.

NOTES!

Well then.

I know I know, its a little slow going, but I have to do a little world building. I mean, I could just skim over details, but not everyone has seen/read GATE, and that just isn't what I do. We'll have the ball really rolling soon though.

Party on, and see you in five days. :)