Chapter 6
"Remind me to never pick up a Harem in another world"
– 2nd Lieutenant Edward Philips, 2022
"Skill Issue"
– Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class Maki Nishikino, 2022
In a small patch of trees located some distance from Coda Village lay a small house. The house was roughly the size of a three-room apartment. There were two small windows in its walls which were designed to allow as much sunlight and wind as possible into the house, due to the Special Regions lack of glass.
The walls were made of sun-dried bricks, laid on top of each other and were covered in ivy vines. The light that filtered through the canopy above warmed the surrounding air, causing the house to have an elegant feel to it.
A wagon was parked in front of the house. The bed was buckling under the weight of a small mountain of crates, sacks and books tied together with twine. One might look at the mountain of luggage and the donkey hooked up to the wagon and ask if the donkey could even pull the weight.
In front of this heap stood a clearly troubled young girl, clutching a bundle of books to her chest. This girl with silver hair looked to be around 14 or 15 years of age. She was wearing a kantoi, the robe of a sorceress.
Maki along with Keiko would later point out that she was lucky the gate opened in the modern world instead of the mid 1600's.
"Master, we can't just keep piling things onto the wagon."
No matter what the two did, they simply could not keep cramming things into the wagon. The girl calmly stated this fact to the person inside the house.
"Lelei! Can't you think of something!?"
A snowy-bearded old man poked his head out from a nearby window, with a "I can't take this anymore" expression on his wrinkled face.
"It would make more sense to leave the Coam fruits and the Lochte pears behind"
The young sorceress called Lelei removed sacks full of the fruits from the wagon one after another. She placed her bundle of books into the space that was freed up.
Coam fruits and Lochte Pears were herbal medicines that were very effective against high fevers. However, these fevers were rare, and so they were not particularly necessary in the short term. And while they were rare, they were not unobtainable by any stretch, so the precious books she had just loaded up took priority over them.
The white-haired old man sagged his shoulders.
"The Flame Dragon shouldn't've woken up for another 50 or so years, why?"
The news of the Flame Dragons attack on the elf village had spread like wildfire. Normally, they would have dropped everything and fled, but since they had a warning in advance, there was, probably, still time to pack. As a result, the village was filled with activity as villagers prepared to evacuate.
The old man grumbled as he carried the sacks that Lelei had thrown off the wagon back into the small house. There was a secret door under the bed where he planned on hiding them. In the meantime, Lelei got the donkey ready.
"Master, you'd best mount up quickly"
"Ah? What are you saying? I'm not interested in mounting a little girl like you. Your big sister would be much better…. Oh yes, your big and bouncy sister…"
"…"
Lelei glared at the old man with the coldest look she could manifest before proceeding to solidify air into a lump and launching it squarely into the old man. The solidified air was still only about as hard as a rubber ball, but it still hurt when it hit someone.
"Hey! Stop it!" The old man complained "Magic is not a toy! Magic is not to be used for personal gain or enjoyment…Hey!"
"…"
"Although there's still some time, we can't play around like this. Let's move out soon" she retorted.
"I got it, I got it, no need to rush…you really can't take a joke can you?"
The old man gripped his staff in one hand and settled into the "Drivers Seat" next to Lelei. Lelei on the other hand glared at the old man and spoke.
"Jokes are meant for entertainment between friends, parents, lovers and other closely related people. However, once they start taking on a sexual nature, one must start taking the other party into consideration as well. For instance, it would be completely unacceptable to start making lewd jokes around a teenage girl. This might well irreparably damage the relationship with them. I believe this should be common knowledge for mature individuals, no?"
The wizard sighed deeply as his disciple lectured him.
"I'm so tired, why did I have to get old?"
"Objectively speaking, that is incorrect. I feel that master is as hardy as a cockroach"
"Now that's just plain rude. Is that how a disciple should be speaking?"
"This is how I was raised from childhood, and I was raised by my Master"
After she said as such, Lelei lightly struck the donkey with her riding crop. It did not move. The two started forward in silence for a second.
"Like I said, we're carrying too much"
"That was expected. Also, you were the one who said we could keep piling things on, Master"
"…"
Lelei quietly jumped off the wagon. She felt it would be better to keep walking than sit still in an immobilized wagon.
"Oi, oi! Lelei, You need to be more patient! If you're like that, nobody will want to marry you, and that would be a shame!"
As the old man said that he took up the goad and struck the donkey. Although it tried its best, the wagon refused to budge.
Lelei noticed that one of the wheels was embedded into the ground, about a third of the way in. If it was stuck like that, it was only natural that the wagon could not move.
"Master, I think you need to get off the wagon"
"Don't, don't worry. After all, don't we have this?"
The old man raised his staff in reply and Lelei sighed. Mimicking the tone of her master, Lelei repeated word for word:
"Magic is not a toy. Magic is not to be used for personal gain or enjoyment…"
The old man started to sweat profusely as he rushed to answer his own contradiction.
"We are magicians, we do not walk like the rest of Humanity"
However, he could not defy the glare Lelei was giving him. A glare utterly devoid of warmth or compassion. The old man's mouth opened up as if he were going "ah-", and began chanting the words he had not spoken for a long time.
"…"
His solemnity as an educator clashed with his other feelings in his heart. It would seem the old mans next move would take some time. After a while, he looked at Lelei with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
"I… I'm sorry"
"That's fine. After all, I know that's how master is"
Lelei was a child who did not sugarcoat her words. This much was clear. After using magic to lighten the weight of the luggage, the donkey could easily pull the wagon and its mountain of cargo, and so, Lelei and her master sat on the wagon and left the home they had occupied for many years.
As they drove the wagon to the center of the village, Lelei noticed many families with wagons full of things, much like herself and her master. It wasn't just wagons the villagers we're using, but Haywain's and plow harnesses, some people even loaded up their horses with saddlebags. Lelei looked closely at the other villagers, as if she were studying them.
Her master made a comment.
"You're an intelligent child. Everyone else must look foolish to your eyes.
"It's only natural that humans would flee with everything they could carry once they heard of the Flame Dragons approach."
"You said it was natural for Humans…does that mean they're foolish then?"
"…"
Lelei couldn't deny the words spoken by the old man. If they really valued their own lives, they would drop everything and run as far as they could. Stopping to take on and secure luggage itself would slow them down. It would be too late to abandon it when the Flame Dragon came.
To begin with, why did humans even struggle so hard to survive? Death was inevitable – It would happen sooner of later. What was the point in slightly prolonging one's life?
Lelei logically dissected the topic as she considered it, and the old man was agonizing over how to speak with her. When they reached the center of the village, the way forward was blocked by a line of wagons.
"What's happening up ahead?"
The column of wagons did not move, but Lelei's Master received a reply from someone in front
"Ah, it's Master Kato, and Lelei too. Ah, we're in trouble now. Someone upfront overloaded their wagon and the axle broke, and now it's stuck in the middle of the road and blocking everyone. We're all pitching in, but it'll be a while"
They would be bogged down by the wagons behind them, even if they wanted to turn around and take another route. This was what some might call a Catch-22. As her Master was talking to the villager, Lelei's attention was drawn by a group of mysterious men, who spoke a language she had never heard before.
"Right! Let's get fuckin' moving. Philips go ask the Village Chief for permission. Walsh, take Peralta and go find Wagner then deal with the downed wagon. Reed get Nishikino and O'Ward up here as well as alert the rear of our operations. Suzuki, we'll deal with the elf later, check and make that no one got hurt. Come on people"
At a glance, this group of people were all dressed in weird colors, some wore green and others wore grey, one of them was wearing a checked black and white shirt.
No, it looked like there was also two women among then. Some of them seemed to be wearing helmets that were the same color as what they were wearing, three of them were wearing weird hats of varying colors and two of them were wearing some weird things on their ears. However only one of them was wearing something over their chest, but It wasn't armor, at least armor that Lelei knew of. They seemed to belong to a group that Lelei didn't know of.
Although she wasn't quite sure what they were saying, the men and two women leapt into action under the orders of a roughly 25-year old man. From the looks of things, he seemed to be their commander. They felt like some sort of Military Organization, the kind that contained their violence with rules and regulations.
She told her Master that she was going to "check things out" and hopped off the wagon.
The wagon that was the cause of this incident was roughly fifteen wagons ahead. One of its axles had snapped, the wagon lay sprawled across the road. She could see scattered luggage, a fallen man, as well as a mother with her child. The horse had collapsed on the road, its mouth dripping with foam. It flailed its limbs as it struggled to get up, so the villagers who wanted to help it stand up were unable to approach.
"You, very dangerous, faster get back"
It was a man in grey. His words were unclear, but judging by his gestures, he must have wanted her to keep back. However, Lelei realized the fallen mother and child were injured. She brushed the man aside and continued on, ignoring the flailing horse beside her.
"Still alive"
The boy was a little younger than Lelei, about ten years old. After giving him a quick once-over, she found that he had struck his head, and his face and limbs were gradually turning pale. His sweat was flowing like a squeezed rag, and body was rapidly cooling. The mother on the other hand was unconscious, but her condition seemed stable. The child was the one in danger.
"Lelei! What are you doing? What happened!"
The village chief was yelling at her. Beside him was the man in the grey checkered shirt. He must have gone to inform the chief about this.
"Chief, I think the cause was overloading of the wagon and rot in the axle. The child is in great danger, but his parents should be fine. The horse is beyond help"
"Is Master Kato nearby?
"He's worrying his head off in the wagons behind. He let me come here to take a look"
As she spoke, a woman in green began her triage of the child Lelei had looked at. Her technique suggested that she had been medically trained. She could see a red cross patched onto the left sleeve of her shirt, above it was a weird patch of what seemed to be a grey flag with two chevrons pointing inward on either side, with the letters "FS" inside and two parallel lines on the top and bottom. The man in checkered grey beside the chief, roughly a year older than Lelei herself, began signaling to his team.
A Sudden cry rang out.
"Danger!"
"!"
The sound of a large explosion was followed shortly by a "zoum", and when Lelei looked back, half of the thrashing horse had disappeared, the bottom half lying motionless on the ground. It had missed her by a hair's breadth, but if it had come any closer, the full weight of the horse – Ten times that of a man – would have fallen on top of Lelei.
Lelei turned toward the direction of the explosion to see two women, one in a red and white checkered shirt with a large weird looking stick and another in green kneeling on the ground covering her ears, seeming to be complaining to her partner. Lelei didn't know what happened, but what she did know is that, if that women in red didn't do anything to the frenzied horse, her life would have been cut short.
The allied armies, gathered under the banner of the banner of the Sandrean Empire, vanished in the span of one night.
If this happened anywhere else in the world beyond the gate, it would be the largest news story since the dropping of the first nuclear bomb on Japan. The headline of the news cycle for months, on every single still running newspaper and even on the news tickers of Times Square. However, in this world, to the residents to the School District 14 Annex, the movements of the army were unknown to them. Even if they lost the war, they would simply exchange one set of rulers for another, and it would not affect their daily lives as much.
The reason why this was the case was because this country was contested territory. Sometimes one party would take it, and sometimes another party would conquer it. Since their rulers change so often, it was impossible for the people to feel any loyalty towards them. In this world, as long as one's home was not a battlefield and one's family was not conscripted to fight on such a battlefield the people could not care less about their country.
The issue is; however, this current conflict has greatly affected people's lives. The recent increase in bandits was the cause.
This world was ruled by soldiers and knights, but none of them acted to suppress the banditry. This was because the obligations of nobles and their knights did not extend to maintaining order. All they cared about was "Control". In truth, the nobles were no different from the bandits. The former robbed peasants and called it "taxes", while the latter didn't sugarcoat it. Both sides refused to accept any form of remonstration and responded to any refusal to pay with brute force.
Even when the nobles or knights rode out to hunt down bandits, they were like shepherds driving off wolves, which meant that they would stop once the bandits vanished from their sight. Frankly speaking, any good they did was merely a side effect...
Since desperate bandits fought harder than normal and might even manage to kill them by luck, nobles and their troops were not too fired up about cornering and finishing off bandits. That opinion was hardly rare. Even in Japan, there was a movie about seven samurai hired by the villagers to defend them from the rampant bandits, while the lord of the land did nothing to help.
That being said, the bandits preferred it when there were fewer nobles and knights around. Until recently, they had to skulk around in the shadows, but now they could move around freely.
A group of bandits are currently sitting around a campfire. Relaxing after a day of pillaging.
"Boss! Coda Village is about to make a move!"
Ever since the Flame Dragon appeared, scores of villagers had fled. Laden down with luggage, they could not move fast, nor could they fight back. Why not attack them? There was no reason not to. They would slaughter and pillage them. After hearing his minion speak, the boss laughed in satisfaction. It was a good idea, so they should go ahead and do it. However, as he thought about it…
"We don't have enough people"
It would be asking too much of his band of twenty-odd men to take an entire village at once.
"Why don't we get guys from around the area then? Bolster our ranks. We can bring in a huge haul together if that was the case"
This was also a good chance to recruit more hands. With enough people, they could successfully attack entire villages, and even towns. If he played his cards right, he – cast out by his lord – might even aspire to become a lord himself.
From bandit to lord. In a way, that sounded like a nice story – Too bad it was cut short as the nameless bandit chief's head popped off of his shoulders and rolled onto the ground.
Now, a detached head could retain consciousness for server seconds. If this was the case, then the last thing this chief ever saw was his body squirting out copious amounts of blood, and the black-haired female equivalent of the Grim Reaper, bathing in said blood.
The first thing anyone with a sane mind would think "black" as they saw this girl. Her skin was so pale it was nearly transparent, her hair and clothes were black, and her eyes were bottomless pools of obsidian.
She wielded a heavy halberd in her hands. It was a weapon that looked like someone had attached a heavy, slablike axe blade to a long shaft. It wasn't something a fragile little girl could swing like a matchstick. Nor was it something a girl in black lace should be wielding. That she could use such a weapon with her delicate, slender arms and her thin little fingers, as pale as white jade, was far beyond anyone's ability to imagine.
She rested the halberd over her shoulders and exhaled loudly.
Almost every bandit sitting around the campfire no longer had a head. The smell of burning flesh and hair permuted the air as the bandit chief's head cooked inside the campfire.
"Well, that was fun!"
She grasped the hem of her skirt and curtseyed elegantly. At a glance, one could mistake her for a 13 year old girl, and by judging by her beauty and refined movements, she could pass for a very well-bred girl. She had a brilliant smile plastered across her face, but that's all it was. That smile did not reach the endless abyss that was her black eyes.
"Thank you for offering your lives to me. I thank you on behalf of my god. My god is very pleased with your gift, and he says that I should enjoy myself with you"
"…What! What the fuck are you!?"
The first bandit to finally speak in over two minutes spouted those words. Fake courage going out with it. The man and the rest of the currently surviving bandits were frozen with fear.
"Me?" She asked innocently
"I am Rory Mercury. Apostle of Emroy, God of Darkness"
"I-is that the formal wear of the priestesses of the Temple of Emroy? One-One of the Twelve Apostles, Rory the Reaper!?"
"Ah, You knew? Correct"
The bandit who got his answer right received his reward. A dislocated head. The bandits scattered as they attempted to escape her.
"Your fucking joking! We can't fight a fucking Apostle!"
"Oh, no. No no no no no no. You can't run away."
Rory jumped, carrying the heavy slab of metal that seemed to weigh several times more than her. She pursued the fleeing bandits like a ferocious carnivore hunting down its prey.
The halberd cleaved its way through the heads of bandits, as if she was cutting playdough and the surrounding area was strewn with chunks of flesh.
"Ueh, abbah.. aiiieeeee!"
Rory towered over the fallen man. She swung her halberd lightly, sweeping it behind her legs before she raised it high above her head. Her snow-white skin was dyed with the blood of the evil.
"ufufu.. God said so, you know. The goal of all life is death. No human can escape it"
A pitiful scream rang out just as the halberd swung down.
Rory thanked the man for the dinner before setting her sights on the forest to her right. She pointed her Halberd in its direction.
"If you value your lives, you would show yourselves"
On command, seven figures appeared out of the forest. One man and six women of varies ages. Wearing outfits not seen before by the Reaper of Emroy.
"You aren't bandits, who are you?" She asked.
"Well, we're not actually of this world in the first place" the man of the group responded.
"That was not my question"
"I see"
Rory waited, throwing her Halberd back onto her shoulders.
"Captain Sakuta Azusagawa, Sean City Ministry of Defense Intelligence Agency, Office of Reconnaissance & Espionage, Special Operations Task Forces, Group Zulu, Mobile Task Force Zulu-3 'Rascal does not dream of a Bunny Girl Senpai' at your service"
"Why were you hiding?"
"We were tasked with clearing a route for refugees by a colleague of higher stature. We had been following this group of bandits for about five hours now, waiting for a moment to wipe them off the face of the earth. You however did it for us, so thank you"
The Captain uncharacteristically bowed toward the apostle. This seemed to have caught the other six members of this "Task Force" off guard before quickly recomposing, turning around a leaving.
Rory was left confused as this shadow group disappeared into the forest.
The Elf who lived in Koan forest, Tuka, the eldest daughter of Hodor Ray Marceau, still thought she was dreaming. With eyes which were blurred as if they were covered by a veil, she could see humans rushing about. Did something happen? Her mind wasn't working properly, only allowing her to watch and listen without introspection.
The clouds in the sky and the scenery before her eyes flashed by from time to time. Stopping and starting every once and awhile, rocking her body with the movement. She appeared to be in something similar to a carriage. It started moving and stopped, moving and stopped, over and over again/
What she saw from the windows of the carriage were the tired figures of the people carrying luggage, as if they were running away from something. The carriage laden with luggage creaked as it advanced.
It started moving but stopped moments later. The cloth covering the dim carriage was parted, allowing the light from outside to shine in.
How bright…
Suddenly her vision was blocked by a black figure.
"…"
There was someone conversing just out of her line of sight, but she couldn't understand what she was hearing.
"Suzuki, how's she doing?"
"Lieutenant Nexuls… She's gradually regaining her consciousness. She can even open her eyes slightly now'
Their conversation was nothing but meaningless noise to Tuka.
A highly skilled sculptor focused his strongest passion and moe spirit in order to create a beautiful girl with perfect skin. Right now, the girl is lying powerlessly on her side. Between her golden locks was her slightly opened blue eyes which were just like gems. Nexuls looked at the Elven girl as he considered his problems.
Her fever had subsided. He wasn't sure about her vitals, but they remained stable, so she was probably fine, at least that's what Suzuki said. However, they couldn't leave her alone yet.
"This trek of refugees is fucking slow; more and more problems keep occurring. The number of injured and drops outs also keep increasing. This escape is exhausting them"
Philips was just venting his complaints. For the 16-year-old State-sponsored playboy, this seemingly unending trek was just boring.
The villagers wore depressed expressions. They felt fatigue in their bones, hunger in their stomachs and thirst in their throats. The piercing wails of babies abandoned by their escaping parents permeated the air. People bleeding from accidents on the road. The sun glared heavily on their backs adding to their struggle. The worst part for the villagers, however, was all the mud. Mud which coated the ground and caked their pants and shoes which they had no time to shake off.
There was a carriage that couldn't move because the road had turned into mush, so the family sat beside it. However, even if they wanted to, the villagers couldn't offer them a hand. They could only abandon the dropouts with blank faces. They didn't have the will or energy to spare. The father carried his child, pleading with the passing carriages to at least save his baby.
Dropping out of the caravan meant death. They lacked food or water for subsistence and would most likely fall victim to wild beasts or bandits. It was natural to abandon. It was natural to be abandoned. This was the line between life and death, the law of nature.
Someone please help.
Such players were meaningless.
Someone! Please help!
The gods would not offer salvation. They would not come to help, and would simply stand there and watch from above.
Someone…Someone please help.
Like tyrants, the gods ordered them to die. That was why the only ones who could save men were other men.
A group of women in green and grey gathered before the immobile carriage. If it was just the wheels stuck in the mud, they could still help.
"Alright! We're gonna push ladies!"
"Give it all you got!"
On command, the small team of three pushed on the carriage with all their strength. After recovering the carriage stuck in the mud, the women didn't even wait to receive thanks before returning to their amazing carriage that was not pulled by horses.
The villagers wondered just who they were. They were not soldiers of this nation or residents of this village.
They informed the village about the impending danger and then immediately offered their aid. Rather than simply being generous, these foreign people wore unbelievable smiles and were overly kind. This impression was left in the heart of all the villagers, but when a carriage couldn't bear the load and broke down, they became cold-hearted. The man in the grey checked shirt and the village chief approached the villagers standing stunned before their luggage.
Next the chief would convince them to take only the luggage they could carry on them. The villagers never considered abandoning their luggage. It was the food they lived off and their wealth. How would they survive if they lose these? But the chief still made them abandon their luggage, and the luggage. With their belongings burned, they had no choice but to go on. What about tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? With no hope in sight, they could only take one step at a time in tears.
The group was divided into these wagons and those walking. With time, the wagon group gradually grew smaller.
Suzuki asked Philips as he re-entered Jeep "why are we setting fires?"
"Right, so, imagine for a second Suzuki. You're evacuating from a coming hurricane, and you take everything you can carry, but suddenly your car breaks down, would you leave your belongings behind?" Nexuls responded instead.
"No…"
"So, you set that shit on fire and burn it all, allowing you to move on and get the fuck outta dodge" Nexuls then paused before turning around sheepishly "but I can't force them to do that, so it falls on our two heartless Liaisons"
Philips was about to retort but Suzuki spoke first.
"Okay, but in that situation, FDPW would be running Emergency Management, no? Can't we do the same and request additional transport?"
When the current Air & Ground transport abilities of the States Protection Coalition, they could easily move all this cargo. However, Nexuls understood the difficulty.
"Unlike FDPW, we are behind enemy lines. Even with our five-vehicle convoy we might be pushing shit. They might be ignoring us for now, but the enemy will one-hundred precent react if we send a larger unit or even an air unit deep into enemy territory. Any accidental engagement, unplanned expansion of the SPC front line, and committing more forces, without needing SCFT reinforcement, are exactly what we want to avoid. The sudden escalation of war could drag the villagers into all this…Just thinking about that hurts me"
Suzuki gave the two lieutenants a wryly smile in response.
"That's why we gotta help where we can" Philips finished.
Suzuki had no choice but to nod in agreement.
"and also! I'm not heartless Cameron!"
When the refugees from Coda Village reached this area, the sun was at its peak. Leading the wagon train was the Jeep of the Third Deep Reconnaissance Platoon. However, it was moving at a walking pace, since the villagers behind were on foot, along with mules and farm horses pulling the wagons.
"Literally walking would be faster than this!" Master Sergeant Peralta complained from the driver's seat.
"I haven't driven this slowly since driving school"
If he pressed too hard on the accelerator, he would leave the wagon train behind. Peralta moved by using the inertia of the auto gear, simply holding the steering wheel without stepping on the pedal. Reflected in the rear-view mirror was a child grabbing the driver seat from behind and looking to the front. The Jeep was full of children and the injured who couldn't walk anymore. It was the same for the Huskey TSV behind the SC19002 Humvee, it's seating area filled with casualties and pregnant women. Nexuls had to split the dangerous weapons, ammunition and food between the Humvee and the SCMODIA Military Police Land Cruiser.
Sergeant Major Walsh was studying the terrain map made from aerial photographs, Nexuls was scanning the horizon with his rangefinders. He then conferred with the XO the terrain with their current position, calculating the distance they had travelled and how much further they had to go before making it back to Starfall-Providence. Nexuls also made sure to record road conditions and its steepness as best as he could. These weren't the only things he recorded. The flows of rivers and vegetation in the area were also written down.
"Huh, what are ravens just circling over there?"
After replying 'Good question' to Peralta casually he turned back to his XO, Philips took his own rangefinder out and looked forward. He suddenly grabbed Peralta's seat forcefully and shook it. He had discovered the cause of the ravens.
"There's a little girl in the road!"
This got Nexuls attention who turned away from his XO and scanned the road ahead with his rangefinder.
"What the fuck is she wearing?" was Nexuls response.
Philips keyed his shortrange "Maki, Keiko, can you come up to the front, Code 3?"
A siren could suddenly be heard in the distance getting closer as the MP Vehicle from the middle of the villager train rode its way to the front vehicle. Peralta was ordered the holt and he did. Philips hopped out of the back to meet his Secondary Liaison Officer and the Police Officer. The girl in the road stayed put as she watched this unfold.
Maki and Keiko shut off their siren as they pulled alongside the stopped Jeep and hopped out to meet Philips who handed Maki his rangefinder and pointed down the road.
"Oh, it's a goth loli… Wait what the fuck?"
Maki had seen these before – Actually one of the members of Mobile Task Force Juliet-11 "My Little Sister Can't Be This Dangerous", a Corporal Ruri Gokō – From what she was aware, there were many different views on what Goth was, but Maki was certain that the clothing style of the girl was that of what Corporal Ruri wears – Goth Loli.
She was between twelve to fourteen years old. She looked fairly attractive by Sean City Federal Territory Standards, enough to rival the most beautiful girl in the Territory, Minister for Student Safety Mayden Maple.
A girl like that was squatting at the side of an empty road, her black jewel-like eyes staring this way without even blinking.
"So, prior to fighting with the" The young Senator from Redwood paused.
"The Flame Dragon" Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class Maki Nishikino finished for her.
"Yes, that, you met up with another member of the Territory's reconnaissance forces?"
Maki shook her head "No, we met up with her"
She then pointed to the Goth Loli in question who was sitting next to Lelei and Tuka at the far end of the table. Originally, the three local girls who had become attached to Third Recon were not part of the summons by the Diet, however Maki had pushed for them to be allowed to come so that she could prove a point. One she had yet to prove.
"Yet you just said-"
"I said that she looked like a MTF colleague of mine, I didn't say that she was"
The young female Senator's face contorted in anger as the 18 year old Warrant Officer cut her off.
"Senator Katie"
The girl spun around to look at the chairmen of the Diet, SCFT Council Board Member Raynard Fabian.
"Please, allow them to finish their retelling of events before you begin questioning. Others and I are getting tired of your constant butting in. Please Chief"
"You think it might just be a life size doll?"
Philips asked after a bit of observation on the unmoving girl.
"No, definitely alive" Maki replied pointing back towards the girl.
"Right, can I have you two go check it out then?" Nexuls called out to the two LEOs.
"Of course, Lieutenant"
Keiko replied before scrambling back into the driver's seat of the MP Vehicle, Maki right behind her and driving off. Philips hopped back into the Jeep and watched the progress of the two from his rangefinder as Peralta was ordered to continue driving.
Keiko flipped on her lights and parked the Police Cruiser in a wedged position. Philips watched as Maki and Keiko attempted to converse with her. Despite Maki's slight proficiency with the language of the special region, they seemed unable to communicate with her. Like watching a Child Error who was out after Elementary School Curfew ignore the questions of two rookie Anti-Skill Officers.
When the wagon train finally reached the girl, she stood up as if she had been kept waiting, dusting off the dirt from her dress, easily picking up her huge halberd and walking alongside the Jeep. The two MP's gave up on trying to do anything with the girl.
"I tried" was the only words to come out of Philips shortrange as Maki and Keiko returned to their vehicle and fell back in place in the middle of the refugee convoy.
"Hey, where did you come from, and where are you going?"
The girl was in fact speaking the local language, so how Nishikino was not able to communicate with her was beyond Philips. Nexuls turned to his Liaison in a plea for help, to only receive a shrug in reply.
Nexuls, Peralta and Walsh couldn't converse fluently with the girl and Philips wasn't even going to try. They could only squeeze out a few sentences after flipping through the book of phrases which took the place of a dictionary for this world.
It turned out that Philips wasn't required at all to fill in the gaps in their conversation as a young village boy around 7 who was sitting in the center console between Nexuls and Peralta was doing it for him.
"We are from Coda Village, big sis"
"Hmm~? What about these people in the strange outfits?"
"I don't really know, but they are nice people helping us"
The girl walked a circle around the Jeep that was moving at a walking pace.
"So, they aren't forcing you to go along?"
"No, a Flame Dragon came and they're helping us escape"
The group inside the Jeep simply listened to the exchange with uncertain expressions. Philips wanted to speak but couldn't until the boy and girl stopped conversing.
"I wonder how this thing moves?"
"I'd like to know as well, but I don't understand what they are saying… but riding in it feels much better than a carriage"
"So- riding in it feels good?"
Before Nexuls could stop her, the Goth Loli bordered the jeep from his passenger side. She strode over Nexuls knees. Despite the Jeep having doors, she opened it with ease. The Jeep could seat 10 adults. The seats at the front faced forward, while the back seats faced the center. There was enough space to storge equipment in the center. If they ignored common traffic laws, It was possible to load twenty children in.
However, there was already plenty of luggage, children and elderly on board. Along with a casualty. It was as packed as a District of Prominence Tram during morning rush hour. The girl who entered while saying 'excuse me' wasn't helping any-none. The villagers especially didn't seem happy about this situation. Even if they didn't state it openly, their expressions were clearly uneasy.
"Hey, it's cramped, big sis"
"Ah- wait a moment"
It was already a tight fit, and on top of that, she had brought something so long in with her. The halberd was long and heavy. No matter how she positioned the weapon, the halberd would touch someones head or face causing them to shrink away. As a result, it was placed on the floor of the vehicle.
She then looked for a place to sit, but there wasn't any space. With no other choice, she climbed on top of the other Lieutenant in the jeep and placed herself in his lap.
"Wait Hold on!"
Philips was dumbfounded that he was the choice for the Loli. He wanted to stop the black-clad Goth Loli, but if he touched somewhere dangerous, it would 100% be painted as sexual assault, and god forbid the two attached MP take even a second to think about the situation before slapping cuffs on him and throwing him in the back of the Cruiser. Despite his armature proficiency with the local language, protesting was not taught to him. So, his English protests like "Move!", "Don't touch that!", "Don't reach for my pistol! And stop playing with the Long range!", "Get out first!", "What the hell is that thing!?" were completely and utterly ignored.
The girl had chosen and had refused to move, and Philips was forced to make peace with the situation.