Chapter 3

Somewhere in the Countryside near Berun

Two figures were meeting in a house, Modest size, like the average family home for a retired worker of the government.

"So, Pietro failed, what's next? Has Plan D been really greenlit?"

"Not yet, but the window is short, so I called the shot."

"You know that if that fails and they manage to get a clue-"

"-AS IF they will, I put Jacob to the task, he won't blunder like that Pietro!"

"HOPE you're right, That damn Devil can make even failproof plans collapse like they're made of Wet Pasta gone soggy."

The pair exchange polite cheers and down the Wine glasses they had been holding the whole talk.

Berun

I could swear working this Nation's government office was an actual hellish overwork torture job, but something in going at the Paper mountains that would make even the worst and helplessly addicted workaholics to flinch in hesitation was making me feel… happy? Whatever, focusing on this boring work while having to actually pay attention to each paper, report and request was still tiring, exhausting, endless work, but focusing on it kept my mind happily busy.

"I really am a workaholic? Or is this merely my brain wanting something to busy itself?"

On the Deputy Desk next to me, my Adjutant was peacefully doing her share of work, pausing for a moment, I stretch my legs and go get some Coffee, Black, nothing but the pure Bitter caffeine filled delicacy I love, walking around the room, taking short sips from my Mug, delicious, The grains were of my preferred kind, ground just right and then brewed with such skill I couldn't help but think Visha was who made-

And there, my mood suddenly got worse. I couldn't stop it, not if I wasn't busying myself with something useful and boorish, like Endless paperwork for running the Nation, It's 2099 for fucks sake, No one I know is alive, all anyone knows of me is Either the Church's teachings, some uncorrupted History Book writing or Some perpetuated Tale from their Great Grand Grandparents. The BND upholds whatever Elya Believed was my desire for Germania, The Military men who succeeded someone that held Position in My regime only knows of overly exaggerated accounts of my Great war achievements or my Military Genius during my chancellorship….. I had no one-

A warm feeling hugged me from behind, taking me off this depressive train of Thoughts, my Adjutant, Kaiserin, a Lookalike of me, but whatever it was, she could read me like a damn open Book, whereas o had a hard time reading her. She guides me to the sofa and Tea table present in the room for either less official talks or some short break from work, Me and her, side by side, with just a little adjusting our expressions, hardly anyone would manage to guess who was who. After a good Minute lost in my own inner thoughts, I let a deep and long sigh.

"Really? What's the point? Me back to the Holy Kaiserin Seat, running Germania again…. By the very Turn and coming of the 22nd Century…. Why?"

For once I see her make an Expression aside the perpetual stoic poke face, sadness? Worry? Both?

"There… There's nothing else."

"huh?"

A pained face, what was she talking about?

"It's Reincarnating you or Letting you cease for good."

"Then WHY? Why not let me-"

"Because the situation had no actual solution, Letting you cease would cause disaster, putting you in the wheel again would cause Disastrous damage…. No one had a way to solve the Mess Being X left with your case."

"SO… this is a stopgap?"

"no…."

"then wh-"

KNOCK KNOCK

The Door, only one person would knock here without Anya's informing me.

"I want the answer later, ok?"

She nods.

"Come in."

Mike enters, from the Looks, he had been doing some Active combat stuff.

"Fraulein! I bring news…. And gifts."

"Wunderbar, Spill the beans."

Some Minor laughing from him later, he pulls a folder from only he knows where.

"First, Cleanup of Magician interference is complete, second, Some prospective talents have been coming, Brit channels, so they can be trusted. Lastly, this."

He pulls from his windjacket pocket, something, looks like a Computation Orb, but Bigger, and more Steampunky in design.

"Some papers in a Lost Germanian Workshop call this an Operation Orb, tricky Bitch finding said workshop, but it seems to be an alchemy related item."

"Alchemy? Like converting one material into another? Or are you talking of FMA level BS?"

"FMA, but this little trinket seems restricted to stuff Any half decent Alchemist can execute, but geared for Warfare."

My eyebrowns frown in disbelief. WAR? FMA alchemy MASS PRODUCED for WAR? WHAT?

"Iffy Bitch honestly, That one was labelled a Type 1 Orb, The Device can make and run circles of Magnetism to make Projectiles not harm the user, Turn special Silver ammo into mini Artillery shells and if the user was tangentially good enough, run a Strength Alchemy to boost one's Physical capacity to manage weight or throw some heavy sucker punch."

"Hah? And HOW useful would that be?"

"Vs a Mage? Magnetism probably would mandate Napalm spells or an Artillery spell airbursting next to target. Vs a Magician? Orb loses 100% of cases, you know how FMA alchemy is a Bitch about environment conditions."

I accept the Orb…. And on further inspection…. Why I feel this is VERY familiar? Before I realize, it's alive and suddenly running the circles, setting into the Magnetic formula to deflect projectiles. Focusing some, it's a complex, annoying, and very much a damned terrible little thing that it's one Miscalculation of the formula running for the temporary Superconductor shell that should stop a bullet from having me as a solid in-between the start A to end B to just let it go through anyways. Wonderful, maybe training with this Awful work of the Devil will keep my brain busy enough, Last time I let my idle mind keep going, I ended becoming a pile of mushed blankets like a NEET brat, one that took Kaiserin and Mike both to drag me out of.

"Whatever you want with it, it's yours anyways. But you know, Sh-"

"Yes, yes, I know. Just… just let me take my time…."

Having a master at reading people, you being no exception, is something that current me find both a Blessing and a Bother, Blessing because being honest when it's just we three stops the worst of my Bad trains of thought, a Bother since I can't hide anything from either of them. One last stretch of work and I was done for the day, Back home, one look at my Adjutant and she just waits in the Living Room.

"I guess you still need to talk about something to US."

Kaiserin takes a deep Breath.

"You're all too damaged by the abuse from Being X…. If you're split…. Nothing good…."

"So WE are in this for good? Just fucking GREAT, not."

"There's no other choice…. I swear! One look back then and the situation was clear."

I sigh, something WE as a whole agreed wholeheartedly. Feeling keeping the topic would just worsen Our mood, the talk is pushed to a tangent.

"And what of you?"

"Me?"

"WE DOUBT you having such lookalike appearance is mere coincidence."

"it's…. complicated… I don't want to talk about it yet."

"Fine."

Going for a bath, washing both the Physical exhaustion and the Mental stress, I for once decide to fully enjoy the Bathtub in full, taking a deep soak in water at just the perfect temperature, just wonderful, truly a good soak soothes mind and body….

"So…. WE accept that? Stuck as WE are forever?"

The young Girl speaks, not in a nice Mood.

"What else we do? Have them Split us and whatever forced them to Keep us as is Destroys us one by one?"

The Salaryman retorts, Time and all those damned Lifes had soured him so much more, still, pragmatic ship bailer as always, but the sane kind.

"Whatever it is, must be worse than WE can even imagine."

My answer to the question.

"So WE ACCEPT such answers as fact? Have YOU gone senile?"

Took quite a while for the GIRL to become such a Rebel phase person.

"And what else can WE do? A Lookalike that clearly feels guilt over OUR situation, a Bastard WE need VERY MUCH, and a Situation related to THAT, who else can we even trust?"

OUR situation is pretty much as it has been since Salaryman got fucked by Being X and OUR second Life, Three entire different people in one Body, One life, honestly, I can't even reason WHY I got shoved into this Absurd equation, but what happened is set. Had it been just that… me and The GIRL would simply shrug once our Lives went the split way…. But Being X HAD to be a Petty asshole to WE ALL….. and after the fourth time, WE just accepted our situation.

"Not saying we should fully trust, but the situation is clear, can YOU say we aren't HURT? DAMAGED? After what WE went?"

Salaryman has a Point, I give that.

"Anyways, WE are all stuck in this, whatever reason, this won't change, so why not? There's no more Bitch X, right?"

Truth be told, MY opinion is this is just as likely to end a fucked messed life as any of our previous ones.

"Fine, but MORE sweets then, we aren't in a fucking world war or Impoverished Ghetto hellhole anymore."

The GIRL demands.

"Fair, but Better Coffee and OUR Hobbies as well."

SALARYMAN demands.

"Yeah, yeah…. Time to Enjoy OURSELVES….."

I wake up from my Hazy innertalk, not good, a good Soak is nice and dandy, but I can't go getting myself to faint from enjoying too much, I exit the bathtub, take a quick cold shower and finish my bath.

For the Person called Tanya von Degurechaff and the Three Souls that make her, this time, this life, SHE WILL have her Life as she wants, that is what was decided.

Berun, Safehouse somewhere in the City

He knew there would be no turning back if he continued with the Job tomorrow. Not one soul would grief for him after what he would do. But he didn't care, he had a Mission, one backed by the one and true Lord, by his Countrymen beliefs. Tomorrow, the Devil returns to Hell.

Next Day

Today was less Paperwork intensive, but because most of my day's Agenda were some Due meetings, with the Ambassadors of the Asian Federation, USNCA and the Persian Alliance. The Asian Federation was as CSR milktoast it can go, empty talks, promises and the whole Commie playbook of false friendlyness. USNCA was somewhat more eager, what with their Loss of the Entire golden STARS generation, including one defection to Japan/Akitsushima, my guess? They realized Magicians weren't a good Military asset and had restarted their Mage program, unlucky them, most Mages that survived WW3 and the sneaky purges during it had Germanian ancestry, that or saw better prospects here even without my presence, it was a 50/50 even with the BND ever so proven Preussian efficiency.

The Persian Aliance, a bloc currently led by the Reunified Bharat government, it was initially the Bharat Peninsula Alliance, but two years ago the Persian alliance, their western neighborhoor, entered a negotiation to merge the two, so far, neither side had a fallout of the deal, most Likely because the Asian Federation was getting a bit too active to the Bharatians and the growing troubles in the North of the Persian Alliance alongside the ongoing Aegyptus inner disputes to their left put both in a situation where an Alliance was a good way to boost their ability to keep both sides problems away, for now that is.

Talking with the representatives of both blocs was as nice and productive as I had always made even back in those heydays of my Chancellor career, much talk, little set as actual promisses. I and Germania had no time to focus on time old allies that far away, OZEV's revival was about to be formalized, except with Lothiern, Alsace-Lorraine and now even Legadonia as members, entry level members, but still members. Legadonia was probably wanting a stable and powerful Guardian, my study of what went on after my death revealed they got trampled THRICE by the RUSS during WW3, only the Geography, Insanely costly Guerilla and their Humiliating defeats against the Germanian coalition on the Pullska front, alongside growing threats of a FIVE front war and risk becoming a sliced salami sandwich split among the Many waging the war kept Legadonia as a Nation, The total absence of Albish help soured them for good in continuing their pacts, but without any Nuclear or Big power player to supplant their lackluster Military and Government, meant the Threats were always Looming at them.

The other two were simply the Economy being complete shit and the only options were Germania, before me a Paul level government at war with itself, or the Francois, stuck in a La Revolution groundhog day loop for the last years. No soon I popped back and retook the reins, all Three saw a Saviour. The Agreements were generous, but they still were obliged to pit in the expenses of the Bloc and the Mutual trades.

End of my work schedule, the sun hadn't even began to set, calling it a day by 17:00? That's some record breaking news, the Handling of the OZEV rebirth, as many were cheering it as, mean most of what I would like to work on would just end in the Pile of queued work for each related department, no use doing work if the results will still only come at a delayed date anyways, so me and my adjutant walked around, Berun hardly changed, but what did was like Day and night, Traditional or early 21st century buildings next to Sterile, blank and bland Modern mass production aesthetic ones. And then came the Tanyaism Churches…. THOSE were VERY sore thumb levels of not mixing with the Aesthetics of either, Very Stylistic architecture, but modest material usage and a very humble overall structure. Modern Materials and construction, an austere and to the Point design of the building for its purposes, yet a very striking and attention grabbing architecture aesthetic.

Children were in front of the Church, a large group, the "sister" if she can even be called that, given she was Blonde, short, Blue bright eyes and oh so much like me over a century ago. A tug on my Blouse, looking down, a girl, no more than eight.

"Howy Kaisewin!"

That got all of the kids to look at our direction, the sister…. Oh for Mike's sake! No need to come to me!

"Holy Kaiserin! What a Honor!"

Thankfully she didn't got on her Knees and began praying, or maybe she is, why is she holding a wooden statue of a girl…. Oh yeah… those wooden girls.

"No need for so much, sister, we were just walking around, seeing the… changes."

Her smile was Genuine, talking a little more, Seems the kids were being given a Tour of the Church alongside some History Lessons on Kaiserin Degurechaff's Life. I was never good with people, my Second life was mostly one I grew to have people I cared about, but my Social ineptudes never failed in keeping that number well within a small number, one small benefit of having to handle Mike, learning how much of an awkward social ability one may have, my reading of people got better, my communication and capacity to understand them? You will have better chances with betting that K-Brot will one day be good food sooner than that. Interacting with the Kids, anyone can manage for a very short time, it takes either Patience of Joan D'Arc, Being an Adult KusoGaki or a master Social Chameleon to last more that that short time.

"Alright Kids, we need to return! Form up!"

The Sister clapped her hands, some extra work later and all of the kids were grouped neatly to wait for their Parents to come, Those Churches, according to the sister, were pretty much the best landmarks for meeting points. Me and Kaiserin were about to walk back home when a figure suddenly rushed us, Male, using the oh so subtle and TOTALLY not suspicious Hoodie jacket. But I felt it, Danger, Enough Living in shitty Lives and Life Threatening Careers makes one unable to EVER miss a feeling of dread or potential threat. And seriously, a Normal person going after me? Whose pedigree is of the RETURN of the MOST POWERFUL MAGE? That only means one thing, Suicide Bomber. FUCK.

"DEEEEVIL! TODAY IS YOUR DEATH!"

Left hand, a Detonator, and I expect very much a remote failsafe one as well, along a Deadman's switch, the bulkyness, sluggishness…. Shit. Whatever explosive it is, no way I can make a shield strong AND big enough to keep me and those innocent safe…. CURSES, FUCK OFF FROGS! What does a Woman DEAD FOR a CENTURY has to do about your damned incompetence? Fucking Mike, truly, is there's not ONE SOUL able to remain even modestly sane and not ready to set the world ablaze in hatred, scorn and fury?

Just stop…. Stop it….. JUST FUCKING STOP SUCH MADNESS!

He triggers the detonator….. and nothing, before he can even remotely try anything else, even changing his stupid smile, Four Escort guards, who kept their distance until necessary, seize him and even dislodge his shoulders and arms, whatever happened, the detonator unit in the explosives failed it seems, not even the other failsafe triggers worked. But more important that that…. This… Mana…. Just… what?

The return to the Chancellery house was a daze for me, I had my Bath, ate dinner with Kaiserin, and now sat in the bed, still stuck with…. That suicide Bomber…. Stretching my left arm, a little focus and with way too much ease, a Ball of light, fancy trick, so long you didn't touch this. I had Pride in having honed My Control of Mana, Knowledge about it and applications of it, and most of all, how that sublimated into my Aerial Mage capacity, but this is WAY past al that. A Mana created Fusion reaction, just the Number crunching to theorize it would mandate a Schugel level Genius to even break it into readable Magecraft code, and here I am holding one made in a moment….. without any problems despite Mana supply, How disastrous this will be if it destabilizes even for a second or the fact the Magical code to make this happen HAVEN'T EVEN been properly cracked into usable formula yet.

The mana answer is simple…. And I HATE it…. Even now…. A weird form of Mana is coming to me, with so many child voices, of prayer, thanking me for saving them of such a Disgraceful Frog….

"A Goddess…"

Kaiserin is quietly letting me morose in that, Little dumpling Balls of fiery destruction and all.

"Please… Why? Just what did i…"

"Sometimes, It just Happens… You did a LOT of things… a Lot of it got people to believe in you. More than in 'god' at times…"

"…. I just did my Job…. i… don't deserve such worship, much less Prayers."

"Maybe just let it be then…."

"Sure, can't force people to do what I want, we all are Free to do what we so want…. And reap whatever we sowed in the due process…"

That night, sleep came after a good twelve bottles of wine…. Never once I thought being a lightweight would been better.