Chapter 20

Aside from Aisha getting a few good natured cheers from a few of the more bleary eyed soldiers, breakfast was just as simple as the day before. I didn't mind, I mean, it wasn't -bad- just simple. I could tell the chef (or what ever you called a military cook) was still getting used to the local plants and meats, but they were doing well so far.

After that, we all piled into Itami's Humvee.

"Ah, I see you adventurers recover quickly." Rory quipped as we met in the Motor Pool lot.

Aisha, without a hangover, and well fed, was all smiles now. So her reply was a cheerful, "A good sleep will cure just about anything for us." She put an arm around my shoulders, "For the things it won't, we have friends." She winked at me.

"Come on ladies, if we hurry we can maybe finish this up before noon." Itami said, getting into the driver's side, "Lelei is sleeping still, so we'll have a little less of the fancy magic this time."

"She works so hard." Tuka sighed, "Did you have to put a blanket on her again?"

I got in last, hugging my tails and carefully closing the back hatch. Itami replied with, "Nothing new. You should have seen the piles of notes she made."

"Oh?" Yao raised an eyebrow, "Ah, you got your enchantment working then, Kodori?"

"I did. She probably spent all night talking to our magical expert back home."

"Someone should give her a day off." Maki laughed, looking at me, "Sounds familiar."

The Orario team laughed, while I could only shrug. "So where are we going today, Itami?" Tuka asked.

"Just a little southwest of Italica." He said, turning out of the lot and driving towards the main gate. He leaned out of the window a little and called out, "We're going to go a little faster when we hit the trail. We have actual roads this time."

"Joy. Try not to run me over. You're wheeled box wouldn't like it."

It took roughly two hours to get there. But with proper roads, and some light conversation (that didn't include Rory, who had gotten into the passenger side), it wasn't so bad. Some of the topics however were kind of interesting.

"I noticed your bow, Tuka." I motioned to her, or rather, the compartment under her seat where her bow was stored, "We don't have bows like that where we're from."

"Oh! They call it a compound bow. It uses something called a pulley system to make the Hold easier."

The 'hold' likely referred to keeping the bow at full draw while you aimed. I was no expert, since weapons and I didn't get along, but I did take archery in my previous life. Holding a simple re-curve bow at full draw wasn't easy. You had to support the draw 'weight' constantly while you aimed.

"We just use simple re-curve bows. Occasionally composite bows." Aisha said, "To be fair, archers have it pretty rough in the dungeon. That bow of yours looks pretty delicate."

"You've mentioned the dungeon several times now. I'm curious as to what it actually is." Yao asked.

The Orario team looked to me, since I was the one who 'knew' the most. It would be more accurate to say I had 'deduced' and 'guessed' the most. But I was also the once controlling the information we let out into this world. But then I caught Rory looking over her shoulder at us.

"A little over a thousand years ago, the dungeon appeared in our world. From it, spilled an endless amount of monsters. The people, desperate to survive, fought back. But they weren't enough. The Gods, unwilling to see their Children vanish from the world, descended from Tenkai, Heaven's Realm, to help. They gifted us, their Children, a shred of their divinity, and together, we pushed the monsters back into the dungeon."

"She's gotten better at story time." Maki stage whispered to Aisha, who chuckled.

"When the monsters had been pushed back far enough. The Gods created Babel. A giant silver tower. This sealed the monsters into the dungeon, and for a time allowed us, the Children, to start rebuilding. The greatest city, Orario, was founded there around the tower."

"So now what?" Tuka asked, "You continue to fight the monsters?"

"Yup." Maki picked up, "Babel only sealed up the dungeon, but didn't stop it. If we don't continue to fight, the monsters may spill out again."

"Of course, the deeper you go, the worse it gets. Like those mosquitoes. The ones that spawn in the dungeon are much bigger." Aisha made a 'this big' gesture with her hands, "But the dungeon isn't the only place with monsters. Leave them long enough, and they'll breed like any animal."

"Yes. The place your Gate appeared in is once such wild place." Ryuu said, "But the more unreachable places of the world also have roaming monsters."

"Oh? Such as?" Yao asked.

"Harpy, with their ability to fly, usually roost in the mountains." I said, "The ocean is another place full of weird things. I've gone fishing twice, and both times came up with some sorta weird thing."

"Has anyone been to the bottom of the dungeon?" Tuka asked.

The Orario team shrugged, myself included, "Not that we know of. The strongest of the Familia have only ever made it to the fifty ninth floor." I said, "My best was the forty ninth."

"You say that like it's not impressive." Aisha laughed.

"It sounds like such a mysterious place!" Tuka said, "I wonder... if the Gate goes to your world, will we be able to visit?"

"Who knows?" I shrugged, noncommittal.

"So, you said this place we're going is Italica?" Maki, best little sister, did the topic change for me, "Said it was a trade hub right, Itami?"

"Ah yeah, it's a little more than that. But it was our first big connection here." Itami explained, "Trade, communication with the nobles, connection with the people."

"Sounds like an important place." Aisha nodded.

"The JSDF really turned the place around." Tuka said, "Though, I guess it was the least they could do?"

I gave Tuka a raised eyebrow, then met Itami's eye in the rear view mirror, "Sounds like a story."

Itami sighed, but started with, "Well, when we first arrived here, it wasn't to the warmest welcomes. A lot of the Empire's soldiers tried to push us back through the Gate, but well, they couldn't. Of course, when your leaders die, the soldiers wander off. My old team, the Third Recon, held off a group of bandits made up of former Empire soldiers. And it was just long enough for the Fourth Combat Unit could fly in and break the siege."

"That won the hearts of the people here, and Italica sided with the JSDF." Rory spoke up then, "Ah, that battle was so much fun."

"Speak for yourself..." Itami mumbled, "But anyhow, after that, we positioned a few people there as well, and really got involved with the locals."

"By that you mean..." I started.

"Politics." Itami sighed the exact same sigh I did when using that word.

"Oh it's not THAT bad!" Tuka laughed, "I mean, now you don't have fight the Empire! And almost everyone is on your side now!"

"Almost?" Maki asked.

"Eh, well, it took a while, but most of the old Empire no longer wants to fight with us anymore." Itami said, meeting my eye for a moment.

"Ah." I nodded, getting the hint that any more would be 'classified info' for outsiders like us.

"Not to be rude, but are we there yet?" Aisha asked.

"Well if you look out the window, you'll see the start of the fields surrounding Italica." He rolled down the window, "Making a left!" He called out to Hagane, who was still running alongside the Humvee.

"Understood." Came the reply, and I watched Hagane as he changed his pace to get behind the Humvee so Itami turn without hitting him.

It was a huge field that had so many craters, I wondered if I'd start walking over forgotten bodies or weapons. Of course, as soon as we got out of the Humvee, we heard the tell tail hum of insects that were larger than they had any right to be.

Of course, the dungeon monsters, and their descendants, couldn't have cared less about 'rights', and we had to swat our way towards the various waterlogged craters. A half hour into the work, we were joined by a couple more Humvee and the rest of Third Recon. But a half hour after that a small unit of armoured cavalry showed up.

"Hey Itami!" I called out, not even looking as I backhanded another mosquito out of the air, "I hear horses!"

"You have horses in your world too?" Tuka asked, her bow loaded with what could only have been called a Magic Arrow (no physical arrow, just a pure magic one).

"She gets along with them really well." Maki, who was the one who cleaned the ponds our little trio encountered, replied as she cut a mosquito in half neatly.

Itami, in his own trio of himself, Rory and Shino, called back, "That would be the Rose Knights! Good people!"

Wataru, who seemed to be a bit of a boxer with how he handled the bugs, must have overheard some of the chatter, "I wonder if Akira is with them!"

We continued our work for another couple of minutes, with me putting a hand on Maki's shoulder while she put the pommel of her sheathed blade into a half full crater, then turned it into a solid block of ice. To make sure everything in it was dead, she held the effect for a full minute. Just like normal eggs from almost anything you could name, if you froze them solid, you killed them.

While we held the effect, the horses noises had all but stopped, and I could hear a half dozen people in armour dismounting. Maki gave me a nod, and I took my hand (and mana) away, and we both got out of the crater.

To my surprise, though I didn't let it show, I saw the one from the reports Akeno had shown me, Pina Co Lada. The picture I saw didn't do her justice. She was quite pretty, with crimson eyes and hair that was maybe a shade and a half away from 'Gremory Red'. Next to her were four women, and one man. I didn't know any of the women from the reports, which meant Bozes Co Palesti wasn't here. But while I did know the Rose Knights did have men (mostly semi-retired knights who couldn't land office jobs) this one was a JSDF soldier.

"Form up!" Itami ordered, the three nearby trios (myself, his own, and three others from the second wave of JSDF) formed up around them to make sure they didn't need to worry about any bugs. "Pina." Itami greeted in that 'formal lazy voice' he'd mastered.

"Lord Itami." She greeted in Japanese,"The embassy told me you would be here, helping us with this insect problem."

Itami looked at Akira. He was a slightly older gentleman, maybe thirty years old, with a poof of spiky hair, wide shoulders and solid build. "I suggested they could maybe get some exercise and be good neighbours." He said, "Though..." He looked at Maki and I.

"They're from out of town." Itami said easily, "They know all about the monsters and have been helping us clear them out."

The fact that he wasn't outright telling Pina that we were from the other side of the Gate made me wonder, but Akira figured out the doublespeak easily enough. So, "I'm Kodori, this is Maki." I motioned to myself then Maki, "We deal with stuff like this all the time. Our other three friends are..." I looked around, then spotted a small green flicker of magic, "Ah, over there."

They were way over at the other end of the field, but it was hard to mistake the big metal cat, "Well, if you can find use for us, we'll help." Pina said, "The people of Italica will be glad to be rid of these pests."

"If you want to give them the short version, Kodori?" Itami asked.

"Sure. If you're confident with your sword, aim for the body. If not, a good backhand will do..."

Another pool down, and it looked like we were almost done. Itami was actually on point with his time estimate, and it was almost noon. "You seem happy." Maki said as she once again turned another crater of water into an ice block.

"Did you see their armour?" I asked, counting to a slow sixty in my head, "Five women, all of them in actual armour."

"Probably a bit thin for the dungeon, and that cloth over their gut probably won't stop a blade, but yes. It's not bikini armour."

Tuka looked at us, "Bikini armour? You mean, like a swim suit?"

"Armour that covers what a swim suit does, and nothing more." I said, "It's a weird thing I've seen, and I have no idea why it's popular."

Maki looked at Tuka, who was wearing a tough pair of JSDF pants and long sleeve shirt. "I mean, sure, you're not wearing armour, but you're an archer. Gotta be fast and mobile right? Yao as well."

"Metal armour just sounds uncomfortable." Tuka frowned, "I'd much rather wear what you are, Kodori. Though, isn't that too warm?"

"Part of being my own armour smith, is that I can do what ever I want to my equipment. Like add in a cooling enchantment." I pulled my coat open and showed her the beginnings of the Norse enchantments I'd stamped into the leather.

"Ohhhhh, that's pretty neat. Have you shown Lelei?"

"Not yet. I want to get our mission done before I give her any more distractions."

"Hey, I think we've run out of pools." Maki interrupted us.

Our job was done just a little after noon, and unsurprisingly, Itami suggested we dodge the long drive back in favour of a quick visit to Italica. Since we were on the JSDF's yen so to speak, my party and I shrugged and we all got into the Humvee or mounted up on the horses.

Itami was playing tour guide for us as we drove towards the walls of the city, "Our little town around Alnus is probably the most modern in the world, but Italica is far more exciting. They've got everything, except more of it. Ahhh, you're not um..." The Japanese politeness stalled him for a moment, "You don't mind seeing the beast races do you?"

Even Ryuu laughed (though it was a little 'fu fu'), "No, no problems there." I said.

Maki added a pleased sounding, "It's actually really neat. It's something we're working towards back home."

That drew some attention, but Maki waved it away. Aisha did comment with a, "Next time the Boss tells a story."

"Okay, good. We've worked hard to keep things civil between the JSDF and the less savoury customs here, and thankfully, some of those customs are losing ground." Itami continued.

"Sex and Slavery?" I guessed.

My blunt words made Tuka blush a little, though Rory laughed. Itami just (heh) soldiered on, "Yes. Mari was head of the efforts here to clean up one, while the rest of us did our best to abolish the other."

Akeno had told us about how the JSDF won over most of the doubters in the Empire's capital by essentially beheading one of the major crime families and giving the other two a very polite 'be on your best behaviour' talk. This was a little more detail though. They must have done similar things here in Italica.

"We're about the same back home." Aisha said, "Our medicines are easy to get, and the closest thing to slavery is the equivalent of doing dishes to pay for a meal you tried to skip paying for."

"Oho? Quite civilized sounding." Rory said, "No prisons or executions?"

"After a point, an adventurer is strong enough to make prisons useless, and murder of any kind is frowned upon very heavily." I said, "The Guild, the people who do all the paperwork and money handling in the city, can levy crippling fines on Familia who have criminals in their ranks."

"Sounds complicated." Yao muttered, "And needlessly cumbersome. Simply cut away the rotten flesh."

"The dungeon trumps all." Ryuu said, "If too many adventurers are killed, the efforts to suppress the dungeon would lessen."

"Aside from this 'power' you mentioned, what other draw is there to fight?" Rory asked.

"Fame, fortune, treasure, fun? Lots of reasons. Money is probably the biggest one. Though that reminds me." Aisha fished about in her pouch, "Here you go kiddo. Pulled it out of your leg and put a string on it."

Aisha tossed a cruelly curved fang about as long as my thumb across the cabin. It had a thin leather cord wrapped around it and had been polished to a gunmetal shine. "Oh! Thank you. Hmm." Maki eyed it a little then tied the cord into a loop and put it around her neck.

"I would have given it to you yesterday, but someone challenged me. Or I challenged them. I only remember that I won." She grinned, while Rory pouted in the front seat.

"Itamiiii... She's teasing me."

"Well earned I'd say. OW!" Itami nearly lost control of the Humvee as Rory kicked his shin.

As with most cities, the roads got much better the closer we got. Soon, the wagon rutted road changed to super compact dirt, and our ride smoothed out considerably. Looking over the wall of the city, I could imagine how a siege might play out. Nice heavy stone, walls high enough that I could only just barely make out the rooftops of some of the buildings, and sensible round towers at regular intervals to allow for lookouts and signal torches.

Of course, I could jump over the wall if I wanted and had a little bit of a run up. I think only Maki might have had a problem getting through it, unless she just used her actual magic and faded from sight.

But then I thought about how the JSDF might break a siege here.

"Cold?" Tuka asked after I shivered a little.

"No. Just thinking. Say, what's behind the city? Forest?" I pointed to what looked like densely clustered trees that were just peeking over the walls, but a long way off.

"No. Italica is built next to a small bluff. They mined a ravine through it, and it guards a bridge that leads on to the capital." Itami explained.

"Not bad." Aisha nodded, "A choke point to hold off enemies if you lose the city."

"Thankfully, it never got that bad." Tuka said, "Oh! Itami! Can we visit the markets? I want to look for something!"

"Sure. We've reported our mission as complete, so unless someone missed a spot, that should be the last of the work for the bugs." Itami nodded, looking over his shoulder for a moment, "That means your job is also done, and you can get paid. Hopefully the Commander doesn't get lazy about it, and you'll get some spending money at our base here."

"Sounds good." I nodded, "Just so long as we don't have another drinking contest, right?"

Aisha shook her head just enough for me to notice, while the others chuckled. Well, except Rory, who went back to pouting.

Entry into the city was pretty easy. Three Humvee, half dozen horses, one nightmare cat. We were waved through by the guards at the gate as soon as we appeared. We didn't however get to skip ahead. We had to wait for a couple of wagons to pass through first. Whoever was running the city probably had a strict set of rules in place.

But, when we did clear the gate, all I could see were happy people. It reminded me of Orario, if you took away the randomly armed adventurers. The JSDF caravan got a few waves, the Rose Knights who were riding ahead of us got a LOT more. Pina was indeed popular. Her, or her knights, probably both.

"Now to tell Akira he's still on duty..." Itami said as he tapped the horn twice.

Ahead of us, the only mounted JSDF soldier looked over his shoulder, then tugged the reins to the right. He said something to the knights, who all waved at him, and he continued to lead the Humvee caravan down another street.

The buildings here were pretty uniform. Whitewashed brick and sloped red clay rooftops seemed to be in fashion here, but there were a few buildings that stood out as 'new'. But, from what I'd heard, the city had a rough time with those bandits, and something was sure to have gotten knocked down. Even then, it was white and red, just cleaner.

"This place seems rather bland." Aisha commented, looking out of the window nearest her head, "I mean, its nice and clean, the people are happy, but there's no personality!"

"Not every place can be like Orario." Ryuu replied quietly, then for the 'natives' expanded with a, "People and Gods from all over the world come to challenge the dungeon, and they bring their own sense of style with them."

"Well, when we helped fix the place up, we were asked to 'fix' it, not to 'change' it." Itami shrugged.

We followed behind the guy on the horse for a little while, then made another turn. It was just a turn however, since he stopped almost right away in front of one of the larger white/red buildings. He dismounted, and someone in, of all things, a maid outfit stepped out to lead the horse away. Not only that, it was a cat girl with light purple hair and a pair of tiny glasses on her nose.

"Now that's a colour you don't see often." Maki said, "And I'm starting to wonder about maid outfits."

"Me too." I said.

"So it's not just me? Good to know." Itami said over his shoulder, "That's Persia. The previous lord had a thing for... diversity. You might see more inside, depending on who's stationed here today... Anyhow, everyone out."

Our little convoy stopped in front of the house, but since this seemed to be just a wide 'back street' we weren't taking up the whole road. We piled out in an orderly fashion, then went through various 'sitting too long' stretches in a chaotic one. We weren't the only ones. The rest of Third Recon were all doing the same.

"I am surprised my presence doesn't cause any concern." Hagane commented as we sort of gravitated towards the building's nice double door.

"You are walking beside the JSDF. That alone eases suspicion of your intentions." Yao said, giving Hagane a headpat, "Oh, pardon." Then stopping when she realized she was doing it.

"It's fine."

Off to the side, behind almost everyone else, I spotted Takeo saying a few words to Persia, then giving her nearest ear the lightest of brushes. She didn't mind either, her long tail curling around his leg for just a moment before she took a half step away and adjusted her posture to that of a perfect maid.

"Oho?" She said, her voice sounding almost like Arnya's. She adjusted her tiny spectacles, "I see new faces. Sir Itami, are you gathering more women to your side?" Her Japanese was a little rough, but it was clear she was speaking it out of politeness.

"Persia." Itami nodded, "These five have been helping us with the giant mosquitoes. Unless we missed a few, they're all gone now."

"That is splendid news." She gripped the sides of her long dress and bowed to us, then said something in the local dialect.

"Pardon, but we understand Japanese." I said, bowing exactly five degrees forward, "But if you said, 'My name is Persia and you were pleased to meet us' I'm sure we got the idea."

"You'll be speaking the local language in no time then." Shino laighed.

"You speak the..." She paused, then shook her head, "Please, come in. You are all expected, and a late lunch has been prepared."

That was all the Third Recon needed, and in a nice orderly group we made our way into the building. Inside, it was... fancy. Not nearly the 'Gremory' levels of casual wealth, but considering the local 'tech level' of this world, it was quite posh. Fine wood panelling, nice sturdy wood floors (that didn't creek), well dyed red carpets, high hanging glass chandeliers with brightly burning smokeless candles. This had the air of nobility, but it seemed homely enough not to be stuffy.

But then there were the marks of 'JSDF' presence. That solid no nonsense functionality imposed on the otherwise rustic nobility of the place. First there were the armed guards. They stood nearly statue still in the four corners of the entry room, rifles at port arms. Then there was the sign over the left archway that said 'Office', and the right that said 'Recreation'. And most importantly, ahead of us, where a pair of stick figures (one of which was in a dress).

"Italica is one of the few places in the Empire with any sort of plumbing." Shino said as she spotted me looking at the obvious 'men/women' sign.

"Itami!" someone called out from the Office, "The Commander left a message for you."

"Hold on! Squaring away our guests!" He called back, then looked to us, "Follow the others, and I'll get back to you in a few minutes. Hopefully, he isn't going to just yell at me. I think we did pretty well for a couple days work."

The four of us nodded, while Hagane just kept his head still while random JSDF walked by him towards the Rec room and gave him headpats. I was starting to wonder if this world had a thing for cat shaped people. Or if that weird effect of his worked like a Jedi Mind Trick. (You will pet the cat. This IS the cat you are looking for.)

"I dunno about you, but I'm going to use the Head first." Maki said, following a couple of the others towards the bathroom.

We nodded and followed the rest towards the other room, "Ah, welcome back!" Another maid, this time a Warrior Bunny. Bright orange hair (yes, like a carrot) and red eyes. She greeted the soldiers walking by warmly, executing the perfect maid bow.

"Who else is here today Mamina-chan?" Takeo asked, "Just you and Persia-chan?"

"We have a few of the usual staff, but otherwise, yes." She smiled, "I thought Persia was all you needed? Were you trying for more?"

Takeo looked panicked for a half second, "No no. We have guests you see, and I wanted to show you all off."

She 'spotted' us, "Oh my, ah pardon," And once again, we were mistaken for 'locals'. But, when we didn't reply, she looked to Takeo, then back to us at a bit of a loss.

"We are with the JSDF. We understand Japanese, but not the local language." Ryuu said.

"Oh! Pardon me then." She maid-bowed, "I said, 'It's a pleasure to meet you'. And... are you an Amazon?" She looked up at Aisha, "You have to be!"

"I am." Aisha grinned, "Wait..." Then a whispered, "Fox?"

One of my tails swished at her, a clear 'talk about it later'. But when my tails moved Mamina's eyes went wide, "Oh my... I thought they were part of your coat..." She stepped forward slowly, hand reaching out, "So fluffy..."

Of course, the bunny girl (whom I assumed had a bunny tail) would have tail envy. My tails however, evaded her near hypnotized motion, "They're a little shy around strangers." I said, "These are my companions, Aisha the Amazon, Ryuu, and... my little sister Maki." Maki appeared just in time for the introduction, "And my name is Kodori, a Kitsune."

Maki, like the best little sister she was, added a "And this is Hagane." Then asked, "I was told there would be food?"

The question snapped the poor maid back into gear, and she nodded, "Pardon honoured guests, please come this way. It's past the room with the... 'pink ponk' tables."

If this place had electricity, I could easily see the JSDF setting up a small arcade or something here. But no, it was more 'hot spring resort' levels of entertainment. Ping pong tables, a card tables, a single pool table and even a chess board. Low tech fun in a low tech world. In neat military fashion, everything was exactly where it should be. But that, if at all, would be later. We followed the rest of the JSDF and one of the maids towards the growing smell of food.

The last room, surprised me. It had been converted into a kind of mess tent setup. Plenty of seats in neat lines, and off to the side a place to line up for grub. They even had a stack of wooden trays to put your plates on to take back to a table.

I wasn't sure if I should be impressed, or offended. I mean, with the maids (all well dressed and cheerful, but human) it seemed improper to have it look so military. But then my stomach reminded me that I was an adventurer and had been feeding Maki large amounts of mana. I'd decide if I was offended or not after I'd eaten.

"What do our new guests think of the food?" Mamina asked from behind us as we nibbled on... you know, I wasn't sure what it was. Brown sugar and Mustard... something. It wasn't ham, which was a recipe I'd seen, but never tried. Not quite beef, not mutton..."

"Well, she's trying to figure out what it is." Aisha said, since yes, many of my tails went to visit her while I thought about it. "However, I like it. What -is- this spice?"

"The JSDF man who taught us called it 'mustard'. Too much of it doesn't agree with me, but I find it quite tasty in small amounts." Mamina said with a smile, inching closer to see if she could maybe attract a tail.

"We don't have anything like this back home." Ryuu said, looking at me.

"True, we don't." I agreed, "What kind of sugar do you use?" It almost tasted like maple sugar...

"If I told you, it might upset the cooks." She said, "But I hear it's something local that one of Itami's team pointed out."

Maki's only comment was a happy, "sho tashtee!" while her tails swished back and forth.

Itami came by a moment later, his own tray looking freshly loaded, "Well, I got good news." He started, taking a bite of food to build tension. "The Commander, with Mari's compliments, has issued you all a bit of money." Another bite while we all nodded, "It's not the world or anything, but certainly enough for something in the market. Clothes, snacks, jewellery, that kind of thing."

"Ah, something to remember the place by." Aisha nodded, "I doubt we'd find anything useful though." She tugged at her (still somehow sexy looking) overall. "Except maybe a replacement for this."

Itami laughed timidly, (you know, the kind of laugh that you do when you have overprotective women around you), "And, he has the payment for your rescue of our man Roku." He looked over his shoulder at Hagane, who was simply sitting like a good Catto statue, and collecting the occasional headpat from anyone passing by with a free hand, "Compliments of the Motor Pool crew."

"Good. I honestly don't care about paying his captors, but I said I would." I replied after I'd finished my mouthful, "Did Mari mention anything about the medicine we made?"

"Aside from 'quite pleased with the results', no." Itami shrugged, "But if it clears people out of her beds, she's happy."

Ryuu spoke next, "What of the people injured in the attack?"

"Well... Some of them, there's no helping with what we have." Itami sighed, "Aside from making them comfortable until they can move around again, or at all." He looked to Ryuu, "You can use healing magic, right? Were you thinking of trying?"

"Our own supplies are limited, but for some things she might be able to help." I said.

"I will certainly try. Anyone who fights a monster deserves the help of another adventurer." Ryuu nodded.

"You sound like you're quoting a book." Itami said.

Maki nearly choked on a bit of food, but hastily drank a bit of tea before recovering and pointing at me, "See! Write the book!"

"So what's next?" I asked, ignoring Maki's accusing finger.

"Well, Lelei left a message, and... I'm not saying it here. But it's not a negative."

The four of us nodded, "Good to know." I said, "You know, I'm going to have seconds..."

After lunch, most of Third Recon followed us to the markets. It wasn't far so we didn't bother getting into the Humvee, or taking horses. Yes, they had a stable attached to the house, but only the end stall had horses, the rest of the space had been converted to a garage of sorts. I will note, that the horses here were not the bored looking 'Shire' horses from Orario, but something a little smaller, but just as muscular. They also gave just about everyone a 'you are food' look when we walked by them. War horses for sure... Destrier I think they were called..

It was, just as the town next to Alnus, a pretty happening place. It wasn't however as... varied. Humans dominated the population, and only a handful or two of demi-humans were wandering around. Now, they were wandering around freely, and happily, but there just weren't many of them. There was one thing I did notice though.

"Hey Shino?" I asked the closest JSDF soldier who's name I knew, "What's the deal with the Warrior bunnies? I've seen-"

"Former slaves." The sharp looking soldier said bitterly before I could finish, "Some did it willingly, others had it done to them. But the one ear being cut in half like that..."

"Rather unpleasant business that." Yao said, "The Empire was rather ruthless with the beast races. Those that didn't hide were made to submit. But not all those who bowed to them did it willingly... at first. The Warrior Bunnies were one who resisted almost to the last."

"The elves?" Ryuu asked.

"We are all more comfortable in the wilder parts of the world, deep forests, mountains, swamps. So we simply avoided the Empire and kept to ourselves. Tuka's village was the same, before it was destroyed by the Fire Dragon."

We all soaked that in, then Maki asked, "I'm guessing that some of the other races were just too few to bother with?"

This time it was Wataru (who loomed over everyone including Aisha but only just), "Not always. Some were useful to have around. Many of the races are stronger than your average human, but didn't bother fighting back. The Voldaren, like the smith you went to see, willingly joined, but were never given any real power. Orcs, trolls, goblins, they all joined the Empire too. But from what I hear they've all wandered off."

"Wandered off?" Maki asked, "Pardon, but the only orcs, trolls and goblins I know are mindlessly violent."

Shino nodded, "Not much different here. But when we beat the Empire, they were mostly used for shock troops. Disposable fodder. So the ones who were left just... wandered off. We've seen a few, but they'd either settled down to something meaningful, or were at Alnus to trade, then leave again."

Another bit of the puzzle clicked into place for me. I'd wondered about all those other races that I'd seen in the initial invasion footage when all this happened. Seems they took their ball and found a new home. Good for them.

"But enough of that." Wataru rumbled, "We're here."

The markets, like any town, was a really lively place. People would be shouting out about their wares, chatting happily with customers, showing off goods... Even if I couldn't understand what was being said, it seemed to be the same in every world.

And that actually made me happy. It was nice to see that some things are just... normal where ever you went. Different world or not.

"Someone's having a good time." Aisha mumbled into my ear in exactly the right way, "And it's not even behind closed doors. What would Hime think?"

"She'd probably giggle very quietly and hold my hand a little tighter." I said, tilting my head and twitching my ear at her to tickle her face. "Oh, I know that sound."

With ears like mine, I heard the very delicate, but very distinct sound of metal being tapped. Not hammered, that was further down the road. Maki's ears were twitching towards the sound as well. "Hey Boss." Maki looked back at me, "That sounds like a jeweller working with silver."

The JSDF and our little band of adventurers had split up a little over the course of the next half hour. We'd all gravitated towards the things we were interested in, and there were enough of us that we covered most of the market lane. Of all things, Rory and Aisha had wandered off together, but when I saw them mumbling to each other, with Aisha tugging at her overall, I stopped worrying. Itami and Tuka had meandered around almost aimlessly, the henpecked officer likely just being dragged around. Maki and I had ended up with Shino, the extra sharp JSDF tomboy.

"You know." She said, perusing the short but deep table of shiny trinkets with us, "I never really saw the appeal of this stuff."

"Oh, we agree on that." Maki said, "I tried to do a bit of jewellery for myself, but it's not very comfortable." She scratched at an ear.

"It also gets caught on things when you fight." I nodded.

Shino nodded, "Right! I mean, earrings? That's like putting a target on something to get ripped off in a brawl!" She motioned to her ears, which weren't even pierced, let alone decorated. She looked to Maki, "Comfortable?"

"Some of us are gifted with the ability to change shape." I said, once again trying to limit information, "But things like earrings and the like tend to hurt as the body shifts around."

Maki, now that I'd given out a 'secret' elaborated a little without giving out more, "Big sister has to be careful about her ring."

Shino looked at me, then at my left hand, but of course I was wearing my gauntlets. "Wait... You're married?"

"I am." I nodded, deciding to drop another little hint, "Think she would like this, Maki?" I leaned down and squinted at a very nice spiral seashell pendant with a perfectly placed bit of green crystal covering the opening. Whoever made this didn't glue that in place, but very carefully heated up and melted the shell to hold the smoothed bit of crystal in place. The hole in the top was also drilled perfectly, just big enough for tiny metal ring.

"Oooo, tiny, unassuming, but very pretty." Maki nodded.

"Wait, She?" Shino, who was obviously not interested in shiny things like we were, latched on to my words.

Still leaning down, I turned my head to look at her, "What? It's both more complicated than you are thinking, but also very simple." I smiled, then added, "I think I'll get this one." I pointed to the little seashell pendant.

Maki chuckled, and the merchant, even without knowing what I was saying knew the motions I was making. He said something to Shino, who snapped out of her confused moment then spoke something back to him, then told me the price. This world hadn't come up with a 'universal' metal for currency, but it did have 'copper' 'silver' and 'gold' for its coins. So, I handed the man two silver, but then held up five copper and pointed to a thin silver chain for it.

We then spent a moment or two of making hand gestures, waving coin around, and chin scratching before we settled for two silver, eight copper for the two items. Once done, we shook hands, gave each other a pat on the shoulder (like we were old friends, or people who understood the fun of bartering) and exchanged money/goods.

"You're a fox, not a wolf." Maki sighed, "She does this all the time back home."

Shino laughed, "Okay, I'll admit, that was pretty amusing." She watched me as I put the trinket away in my delicate items pouch, then looked at her wrist. Unsurprisingly, she had one of those small sport watches that advertised as being indesructable, "We should start regrouping soon."

"I'm feeling kinda peckish." Maki said, "And there's a bakery just over there." She tapped the side of her nose, then pointed, "Reminds me of home."

I saw a couple other JSDF there, one of them making light conversation with a matronly looking woman in a nice apron and bonnet. "Sounds good." I nodded.

The two JSDF saw us coming, and both gave Shino a respectful nod, "Ma'am. We are procuring unsalted pretzels from the baker." He was smiling, but his tone was serious. "If time permits, these may be used for later after acquisition of beer."

"Sounds good soldier." Shino nodded approval.

Maki and I were chuckling at the serious act. "I like the setup here." I said, "And the smell, it does remind me of home." I gave Maki's shoulder a pat.

The scent coming from the bakery was exactly how you'd imagine it. They weren't a small operation either. Looking in, I could see several ovens of different styles (large flat stone similar to a pizza oven, a kiln style for making crusty bread, and a smaller one for pastry). On the other side of the room I saw the 'prep' area, where a pair of people (husband of the woman in front of us, and a daughter maybe?) worked dough in various bowls. And in the corner, as far away from the ovens as it could be, and still be close to the prep area, was a solidly bricked room with a thick wooden door.

The congregation of five JSDF (three and two specialists if you wanted to be picky) seemed to attract a couple other soldiers, and a citizen or two, and the nice old lady at the counter clapped her hands and shouted something.

It wasn't hard to guess what it was when the two soldiers and Shino started to form a line. I got behind our escort with Maki beside me, while the newcomers got behind us. This lady was popular, and knew how to control her customers for sure.

Then someone opened that heavy wooden door, and I saw that it was the storage room. Sacks of what could only be flour were stacked neatly on the shelves, and the person exiting the room (the son maybe?) had one sack under an arm, and one over a shoulder. He said something to the daughter(?) who started to move towards him.

Then I felt a tingle of magic behind me.

NOTES!

Yes, cliffhanger is cliffy! I was getting bored anyhow! Only bread made by Weine is worthy of survival!

See you in five days (unless something bad happens.)

Daeore on Ko-fi, if you want to see Kodori art (still nothing new yet, poor artist is having issues) and maybe toss a coin to your writer.

Daeore on Inkitt, if you want to read my book, Were too?

(quietly puts up a vote as well...just cause I can.)