A Witch and Her Weapons

(Adapted from the chapter Aurora E. Juutilainen in the manga series Witches of Aurora by Kyogoku Shin.)

"Aurora, it's early and you're already drinking?" Eila complained as she saw a couple of wine bottles on the table.

"Come on, don't be so harsh. We have the day off." Aurora E. Juutilainen was sitting at the café table on the balcony, enjoying her rare leisure time without a sortie.

"Say, what have you been reading, Aurora?" Eila noticed there was not only wine, but also some books, one of which was opened, but she could not see what was on it due to the shine on the pages.

"Just my album. Appreciating your old memories while having a drink, you know..." said Aurora, fascinated.

One of the photos drew Nipa's attention. It was a photo of Aurora back when she was on the frontline. A tall, slender young lady with shoulder length silver hair in the Suomus Army's bluish gray uniform smiled at the camera, giving a feel of reliability.

This photo carried Aurora back. She poured herself a cup of wine and started to share her experiences as a witch.

Back in 1939, a year every Suomi would never forget, the Neuroi set foot in Suomus' small territory after devastating the vast land of their neighboring country Orussia. Fortunately, Neuroi was afraid of water. Were it not for the glaciers, forests and lakes Suomus was known for, all the people of this "nation of forests and lakes" must have tasted what Orussians had suffered — death and homelessness. However, it didn't mean the Neuroi would let Suomus off the hook. They never stopped harassing its border. To make matters worse, Suomus didn't have enough weapons and witches at that time. Faced with a double shortage of men and tools, they were at an overwhelming disadvantage.

At that time Aurora was a member of the Gallian Foreign Legion fighting in Hispania. When she learned Neuroi had laid a hand on her homeland, she returned to Suomus as soon as possible to defend it.

One day, on a frozen lake, when a couple of traditional soldiers were having a hard time with a huge tank-like Neuroi, a bluish gray figure descended from the sky. A blink later, a land witch was seen crouching in front of this massive object, her eyes gleaming with sheer thirst for blood. The aura of viciousness around her not only held all the soldiers in awe, but also made the supposedly emotionless Neuroi shiver with fear — in the exact words of the witch in question, believe it or not. The witch greeted the Neuroi with a hand grenade, sending it into the waterbody, before she gracefully turned around, walked up to the soldiers and asked, "Is everyone alright?"

"Lieutenant Aurora...!" A coarse voice muttered to the figure in front of him.

"I have secured your retreat route. Run back to the forest and follow through to the main road. I will be the rear-guard."

"You? Alone?" asked a soldier in disbelief.

"You'll just get in my way. No more words! Just run!"

"But...even this is too much—" The soldier stopped mid-sentence as he spotted the demonic light in Aurora's eyes.

"This is my job now...!"

Aurora at this moment was just like a beast newly released from a cage after days of starving. Without looking into her eyes, just seeing the murderous look on her face from the side could send a chill down one's spine. At first the soldiers didn't want to leave her here alone because they could get into big trouble if she didn't return safe and sound. At this moment, however, nothing was more frightening than this she-wolf in front of them. The result of disobeying her would definitely be more horrible than that of disobeying any rule on the earth.

"Y-yes, ma'am!" All the soldiers tailed off like a rat.

There was more than one tank-like Neuroi now. Its fellows were gathering here.

In her left hand was a shovel; in her right hand was a Suomi KP/-31 gun twice the length of the shovel. Aurora exhaled deeply. A white wolf tail popped up from under the hem of her clothes, and made a shake. She muttered to her enemies twice her height, "Well then, shall we begin?"

She pointed her Suomi KP/-31 forward and fired a string of bullets.

One sound of explosion after another was heard. The impact sent the enemies into the air above the cracking surface of ice.

An enemy escaped the bullet, which didn't go unnoticed by Aurora's blue eyes. The witch lowered her balance, causing her body to lean backwards, before jumping into the air and throwing her KP/-31 at her enemies and serving each of them a hand grenade.

Again, a deafening sound of explosion echoed in the air, with blinding flames and heavy smoke about three stories high which could be seen even at a far-off point.

The ones on this side were done. Aurora turned around and shot off towards the enemies on the other side of the battlefield while howling.

The explosion was still going on behind her. Aurora grabbed the handle of her shovel, pulling it off the ice surface as she kept running, before she darted under the tank-like Neuroi and, with one push and one kick, sent it into the air at a height of one story or so. And, again, a boom was heard and the huge object burst into pieces.

However, it was way too early to celebrate.

"Tch, I'm surrounded!"

Before she could give it a second thought, up from the sky came a set of bullets and hit all the Neuroi which had just appeared.

Aurora raised her head and saw several contrails in the sky.

"Aerial support? Dunno who it was, but thank you!"

A couple of logs laid a few feet ahead on the ground caught Aurora's attention. She strained to lift one of them and carried it horizontally on her back. "EAT THIS—!" She shouted as she yanked it at a Neuroi, sending it to the further end of the forest. With a thud, that Neuroi hit the surface of the frozen lake and sank underneath.

"Told ya, didn't it? Everything in Suomus is my weapon," said Aurora to the Neuroi, which was already out of sight, while she was carrying the log under her armpit in her arm.

At the same time, in midair—

"Maybe we should've helped her a bit more," said Elma Leivonen the lieutenant unsurely.

"No. We still have our mission to fulfill. Doing it while on our way took enough time already." Tomoko Anabuki, a Fuson witch in miko clothing, denied the suggestion.

"And anyway, that land witch is no small fry."

They were the Suomus Misfits Squadron, or officially the Suomus Independent Volunteer Air Squadron, the first anti-Neuroi regiment consisting of witches from multiple countries.

Aurora, of course, had no idea that Tomoko had just commented about her, as she was on the ground. She wouldn't know who saved her, either.

Another group of Neuroi appeared from all directions.

'At this rate I will end up exhausted without a way to fight back,' thought Aurora to herself. 'It can't be helped. I'll have to use that.'

Throwing caution to the wind, Aurora made a bold decision.

Somewhere in the forest, the soldiers who were waiting for Aurora were also fearing for her safety.

At this point Aurora had got dust all over her clothes and shoes. Also, there were several tears on her leggings, through which the icy chill of the air invaded her anatomy.

"Good grief. Chasing down and surrounding a frail lady with this many people is a disgrace to men, you know?" said the witch as she pushed the shovel into the surface of the ice, rest one foot on the top of the handle and said in an oh-so-hospitable manner, "As a reward for your stubbornness, I'll give you a feast! This is my treat, so feel free to drink to your heart's content. Now, enjoy yourself!"

With a stamp of her foot, the witch sent the whole shovel down the frozen lake.

The ground under her feet started to crack. A number of cracks extended from where she stood. Finally, the vast icy surface completely broke. Liquid waterbody replaced the solid structure. All the huge Neuroi sank in.

All enemies killed. Mission complete.

"Told ya, didn't it? Everything in Suomus is my weapon." Aurora winked, making an eye at a non-existent audience like a film star.

However, immediately, Aurora received the payback for this mighty method — She sank into the lake alongside those Neuroi.

The ice wouldn't refrain from cracking for her.

"This and that happened too..." muttered Aurora as she sipped her wine.

Eila and Nipa sat still, dumbfounded.

"Oh? What? Are you so impressed by my feats that you've been rendered speechless?"

"Of course not!" Eila rejoined. "It's so crazy we don't even know what to say!"

Eila and Nipa asked Aurora why she didn't wear a Striker.

"Hm? But I told you. Back then we were short on a lot of stuff, especially the land units. They were all so rubbish. Mine was gone breaking only once. Karlsland started producing the good ones just recently, you know?"

Eila and Nipa fell into silence. Indeed, the land units were minor equipments, compared to the aerial units. After all, without a Striker, an aerial witch couldn't even fly while a land witch could still walk. As a result, it was natural to give priority to the aerial ones rather than the land ones when it was pressing for money.

Nipa asked Aurora what happened after she fell into the lake.

"Of course I came back. On foot. I was completely drenched so I was afraid I'd catch a cold."

Eila and Nipa were thoroughly held in awe. It proved that she was not human at all…

"So you walked home with your soaked clothes on?" Asked Eila.

"Of course not! I'm not that stupid! I took off my top. I literally almost froze to death. It was a miracle that I didn't catch a cold."

"You removed your top… How about the undies, then?"

"Bullshit. Of course not! Of course I didn't take off my undies! Are you thinking about something really rude about me, MY LITTLE SISTER?"

Aurora uttered the last three words with a pressed, threatening voice before she put each of her fists on each side of Eila's head and rubbed her tempers heavily, causing Eila to scream in pain.

"Ouch...I'm not… I swear I'm not...Aurora!"