Argent Valley 1

It had become a certainty that the Empire would suffer defeat after an Alliance of Nations formed during the war between The Empire against the Communist Russy Federation. Kingdom of Albion, Unified States, and volunteers from the disgraced Legadonian and Republican armies all united in one objective, to defeat the Empire. My last-ditch hope that High Command would see the writing in the Wall and Sue for peace early was nothing but that, a Hope. Yet I am happy, a whole short life in nonstop war, one where my sole way to stay alive against crap odds or situations was a cursed Orb, courtesy of Fucker Mc Fucker Being X.

Yet even all that wasn't enough to make me bend, not a domino of unjustifiable attacks at the Rational Empire, not one suicide mission after another, not even that Berserk Legadonian Mage Mary and her horrible aim that killed her foes and allies by the hundreds every time we fought. Even the little time Post war after managing to flee Europa with what scant remains of the Kampfgruppe salamander wasn't peaceful. But my death was of all things, by an overly emotional brat, a Republican one, clearly his eyes said all, he hailed from Arene.

So now, back to this afterlife situation, Either Being X was about to do good on his threat of throwing my Soul off the reincarnation cycle for good, or maybe this is another Being at work, the area around me is pure black, not darkness, just a pure void where only I am, for the time being. Then I hear something, footsteps.

"Well, welcome, welcome, Fraulein."

Materializing in front of me, a handsome person, Bright Red hair in a messy style, but it worked well with him, the face was well sculpted, and his eyes were very dazzling, yet that smile of his was making me wish I had an Orb and a Rifle to shoot him. Unlike all other versions of Being X or his pals, he's wearing modern clothing, a Deep Blue Windjacket, Grey cargo pants and black sports shoes.

"Who're you? Being X?"

Still with a Smile on his face, he gestures and makes a face as if I called his mother a whore.

"Me? Being that CUCK? As if. Name's Mike, not a god or anything of such, just someone too damn good that I am stuck with a lot of work, one of which involves you, Fraulein."

"Me?"

That makes no sense, unless-

"Making things short, idiot overdid his BS on that world you last lived in, that little universe wasn't even his to begin with, He is about to get a very bad time. Your part in this is… something that would make shit more complicated than it should, so I was tasked of placing you in a world He and his pals cannot do any shit to worsen things."

"What exactly is this 'problem' that is tied to me?"

He ponders for a bit, then answers.

"Something even the Big shots in God inc. won't mess with, kind of a special system for handling of reincarnations… and make so no crap is done to the poor little souls without reason, Being X pushed things too far, so we're about to do some cleanup, meanwhile, your Third Life will be as free of superior entities interference it can be."

So it's my win in the end? Truly this is the best news ever. Hooray!

He pulls some papers, and the surroundings change into that of a HR office of my first life, a small stack is pushed at me, now sitting on the side that usually is on the receiving end of bad news. Picking that and reading, it was just a summary of WHAT kind of world I was about to enter. It was modern and had plenty of the amenities my first life had, that's good. Second good news was that the god of that place, Yoba, wasn't active anymore, with only what it did on that world remaining as proof, but there's notes saying there's some use for me, whatever, seems Yoba was kind of a reasonable entity, not demanding worship, and clearly Society advanced too much for his interference to continue.

"Anything not here I must be aware of?"

His side of the papers was done a long ago, so he was just playing a damn Mobile phone game, seems he is way too good indeed at his job to be so unprofessional on worktime.

"First, you'll be an orphan, second, your place of stay will be a somewhat remote area in the Ferngill Republic, lastly, you'll most likely HATE some of the people that live where you'll be at."

Great, the Orphan thing I can see some reasons for it, but my next questions will make me sure whether it's the case or not. Ferngill republic, the summarized data does tell me it's merely a passable nation to be a citizen of, but clearly there's some crap attacking the Free market, and it happens at small and big scales no less, damned be people that have no care for the Free Market. And if the last thing is true… yeah, odds are either the government guy or the owner of the only place to buy most daily necessities will be the kind of ones I hate.

"About the Orphan thing, what reason is for that?"

"Not in the mood to find you a family, and I doubt you would want another bunch of years as a baby and pipsqueak of a kid. So you will be more or less put there as a legal adult, and working something so the authorities won't suspect you would be more work than needed, hence you're from an Orphanage that has been struck early on when the war between the Republic and Gotoro Empire started almost a decade ago, and your papers just so happen to have been lost due to that."

"Either you did a splendid work for the sake of less work, or you're just the laziest person I ever met."

"I do good work to not do it again later, simple as that."

If only my second life had been like such…

"Time to go, one last thing."

A Circle forms under me, before it sends me however, he calls me.

"To keep those assholes from tracking you, a lot in you will have changed, but I made sure you would have all you had in those two lives available, now, good luck, fraulein."

Before I could even answer it, the circle lights up into blinding levels, the next moment, I find myself facing a beautiful blue sky with nice and soft looking white clouds sparsely covering some spots. First thing I do is take account of my surroundings, nothing truly surprising, a forest that clearly needs some thinning if just to ensure nothing bad happens, or so were my Environmental classes from highschool on my first lif-

"Since when my memory was THAT good?"

So that's one of the things he meant by making my first and second lifes be available for me. Wel, thank you so much, I will try keeping myself out of trouble with deities as much I can, both for my own safety as well as to not load more work on him.

Second was that there was a barely livable cabin present, taking account of my surroundings, this was once either a Spot someone made for vacations in the wild or to hunt wildgame, those were my guesses. No time to waste however, the structure as a whole was firm, hopefully sturdy enough to serve as a roof for me instead of an overcomplicated coffin when the storms come.

"Door is locked…."

A bummer, looking around, in the bushes near the house, the remnants of a rug at the door, nothing, putting my hands in the pockets of my pants, the keys…. Guess this place was my destination for reasons. The inside was… rather clean, still a worn and void of furniture except for a Stove that uses Wood or Charcoal, worst comes to pass, I can just use it for the Cold periods. Inspecting things further, it was a paradoxical state of affairs, the place was evidently in disrepair and disuse, abandoned even, but there's been a presence that worked on it at least for a week before my arrival.

"Whatever, from an asshole Being X to whatever that Mike is, this life seems to be one I have a chance at living like I aimed."

Basic tools were ready for me, the area wasn't fit to make even a farm to sustain myself, and I doubt that this area will be feasible for me, a piece of half used charcoal was all I needed to measure my height, better than last life, but just by 10cm, a routine self diagnosis gave me a basic idea of this new body.

"Just around average female height, small but present major and secondary feminine traits, and a body fitting such. Farmwork would be a pain in the ass with such a body."

With not much of a choice, first day would be making a rudimentary sleeping bag and what basic things were lacking in the house, Axe and pickaxe slung on my back with the ropes available, it was a day of chopping trees and cracking small rocks. Whatever this world is, seems there's a natural effect in play, as every tree and rock I got done turned into a weird basic component form, guess this is part of Yoba's so-called handiwork still in effect.

"He said I would keep all I got those in both Lifes, so I probably can do those as well."

Focusing, it was like second Nature, Mage spells do need understanding the basics of one's Mana, so the very first lessons are learning basic control, in no time I find my own pool of Mana, it…. became even larger, whatever, study comes after. The most important and valuable spells were memorized because I really needed to raise survival odds back then.

"Hm, not like I wanted…. Oh well… time to do the Trial and error."

[Five Hours Later…]

Night has come, truly, Magic in this world operates in a different manner, but with some effort and a long process of refining the new formula, I got a Mage blade to get fiber for what amounts to a sleeping bag that just barely does its job, uncomfortable, pricks my exposed body parts and the insulation is hit or miss here and there, even the Empire's end of War times bags weren't so crappy.

Diner was some foraged vegetables, Special mentions were the Leek and Radish, but hopes that the time when I can get some meat isn't so far away. Tired and hopeful that now this will be the Life, sleep comes in no time.

…

While She sleeps, many things happen in the outside, while this world truly is far more peaceful, Threats of the most diverse kinds do exist, including somewhat fantastic in nature ones. Yet nothing matches what had since the start keeping a keen watch on her. Animals and Slimes wisely back off in fear, while the many Golems that naturally spawn in the wild, too dumb and lacking natural instincts, met their ends before making even a step into the world.

…

[When Fall comes…]

I KNEW IT! Surely this new life was looking far too good to be true, and it was too good. Nothing against Mike, rather, he even had left a card with a number to get in touch with him or his people, and the few times I REALLY needed that kind of help, it came, at a price of course. But anyways, this world isn't a utopia or whatever, sure, but for fucks sake, really? Of all things to be an issue, it had to be THAT?

"FUCK YOU BEING X! FUCK YOU DAMNED LOCALS ADDICTED TO VEGGIES! I WANT MEAT!"

Things were so great, peaceful life, a roof I can work myself to improve, no useless or bothersome people to hinder my own work… and the food was also good and not yet more of Central's Cafeteria Reminiscent of the Battlefield with their terrible food, bad enough to make Albion's horrid cooking have a run for their money. And the list of dishes has variety even, Fish even. But how come these bastards have issues consuming FUCKING MEAT? When they have FISH in their diets?

Closest to what I wanted was so called Bug meat… and sorry, but that tastes as if someone thought they could make Soy and Dry tack biscuits into something resembling Meat. There's no replacing it. I. WANT. MY. FUCKING. MEAT!

"But noooo, Asshole and Corrupt Mayor cannot let me do hunting in the surrounding woods, Enviromental laws he says, Wartime laws prohibits owning guns he says…. GO POUND SAND You purple underwear cretin."

Life with the community was some lame joke, I can appreciate the somewhat isolated nature of the place, but fuck the local store guy, asshole can't even stay humble, always claiming what he sells was his own thing, good riddance a Store chain decided they wanted to try in here, no love for the Megacorp nature of Joja. Same with that awful like Being X of a Mayor, what he thinks Taxpayer money is? Pocket money to make as he wishes? And then he complains how the community isn't like before in the good times.

"And he has the audacity to demand I supply something for their potluck at the Summer, heard the Governor had a stern word with him after he got knocked into sleep because of my contribution, a Spatsa mushroom, heh."

In honest terms, seems the people tolerate my presence since I do give my share of contributions, thankfully that bastard of a mayor understands he shouldn't be playing stupid games with taxes with me.

Sadly the situation remains as is, craving meat that not even that damn Black-Market smuggler has, and the general situation with me and the community isn't superb, and for the latter, my opinion is to let it be as is. But Meat is non-negotiable, no choice then, plan D it is. With some effort and using Magic to apply a Mage blade on some tools, I managed to make a small area near the cabin into well isolated and protected Workshop, one where a few of my "Special" Projects have been going.

"Let's see, you should be in the Metal bench… yes, there you are."

Picking it, a functional but very crude Rifle, thanks to having been put into Contact with Mike's specialty merchants, I got the books, tools, and materials to start a crude gunsmith workshop, for now, my go to project had been this simple single-shot bolt action Rifle, replacing the Springfield Trapdoor model whose design had been supplied with all my purchases. My aim was to manage adding a Magazine, hoping I could one day have a Semi-Auto model.

"Still a far cry of the Ferngill's Army Automatic Rifles."

Most Gun shops in the Republic went bankrupt with those stupid laws that passed due to the war, but a large enough number ended going the Black-market route, but that was a dubious and dangerous path for a gun, authorities were always on the lookout for those meetings, and chances were high the best I would ever get was a close to breaking firearm. Even when having a gun was possible, laws and requirements were a pain in the ass, all for what were mostly .22LR peashooters or a few single shot Hunting Rifles in some 7mm variation.

Military guns were a no-go, and my aim for now was simple, get some wild game for meat. Leaving the workshop, the sturdy door closed shut, my wardrobe changed, from my T shirt, Work shirt and thick jeans, to a camouflaged jacket, cargo pants and Military style Boots. To finish, in my neck was the most recent acquisition, through painstaking effort, a Computation Orb, or more accurately, a tool to perform the same role one has in using Magic like mine. I begin flying, once high enough, a simple scan and a direction is decided, flight was uneventful.

The area was deep into a forest, far from Pelican Town authorities, and likely from any other regional one for the matter. Landing, safety still on, but gun loaded always. Search for game begins in earnest now. Thanks to my constant working on new and improved sources of attack power, I learnt how to cross forests in effective and concealed ways, now for finding trails of potential prey…. Always a first for anything.

[Two hours later…]

Luck or just coincidence, matters little in this situation, a Deer was found, looking through the scope, a simple 4x zoom model, the size overall is on the big side, guess this one's fair game then, would suck if the mayor got ideas with striking me for hunting an animal too young or whatever. Distance was where I had my doubts a hit was feasible, while my ammo expenditure training marksmanship was above what my whole life in the Imperial Army ever amounted to, the kick still screws my accuracy, curses my body still not being fit for handling this 8mm bullet. So with practiced steps, slowly my position inches closer, tens of minutes later, a good new position was found, after trailing it a bit no less. Safety off, stock in my shoulder, my face moves to aim, cheek glued in the rest on the stock.

Calming down, slow breaths, aim steadies, I hold my breath, fully stabilizing the aim.

BANG

Kick like a mule, the scope goes off target for a moment, then refocusing, that deer started running away, but went just a few meters away before the bullet did its Job, a hit straight in the Heart, bullseye, cycling the bolt, a new shot is loaded before I holster it on my back. Once there, the animal didn't turn into loot or drops, never been the religious or superstitious kind, but if anything, good work has to be given praise, both mine for the good shot and Yoba, for at least making a functional world and not being an overbearing existence for the inhabitants, I like my Deities as such if one is to exist without being a capital G "god".

A weird feeling comes on me, rifle ready, I do a 360 scan of my surroundings, nothing, but what I felt was…. disturbing to say the least. Looking at the deer, one last apology to it, then the work to skin and drain the blood begins. The little I experienced in the Eastern war of this kind of work was with the Kampfgruppe, when hunting for some food got obligatory due to worsening Logistics as the war grinded the empire's forces, but it was all very small game, not a hundreds of kilos Deer, the work was… suboptimal, painfully so. But I soldiered on, once what had no immediate use was piled, using a Napalm spell in a hole for the task got rid of it, after that I closed it before making the Trip back home.

The sky was at the stage before the orange of the sunset sky took over, setting the campfire, I made a few skewers, the strips I fried to taste test were good, so now I put some salt and simple seasonings on the skewered meat, then let it cook, wait wasn't long, they god ready, salt alone was enough for just skewers, but this was the first piece of meat in ages, even Ham or sausages ceased to be part of Rations menu the last years of the war, things had gone that bad truly. But that's the past, why the hell am I reminiscing so much of that neverending war life?

"Guess I miss them… Espirit de Corps, right?"

Of all from the 203rd mage battalion and of the Kampfgruppe mixed units, Visha was the only I can say with certainty I took a liking to, but there's a kind of bond between us all, something only experiencing the misery of war long enough as a Unit creates.

Stomach filled, the used skewers are thrown into the campfire, what remained of the day was spent enjoying some coffee and a sketch book, drawing again a character based off the appearances of me and Visha, she's like an imperial, so the name became Germania-Chan. By 9pm, the campfire was extinguished and inside I went, in no time I did what few last things needed doing, then to the bed.

…

Time in this world sure flies fast, unsurprising given the "Year" seems to be merely the four seasons split in four 28 days long months. A year is that, but people still seem to grow and age like those from my two previous lives, here that part is called a cycle…. 4 anniversaries for one cycle. Inspecting myself, I feel very much like anyone else, aside the fact this body has an obvious unnatural pristine beauty, one that doesn't suffer lasting injuries whatsoever, getting used to the cutting tools such as the Axe, Sickle and the Hunting Knife came with lots of accidental cuts, luck be me that nothing worse than some slightly deep cuts ever happened, but this body clearly can recovers from injuries in record speeds and leave no traces of those injuries.

My stay here was on its first Cycle, Mike was generous to have me pop in this world on day 1 of spring, since that, this once barebones livable cabin was now a cozy and back to pristine state, the workshop also grew in size and quality, last Winter was when I finally had a working and reliable Rifle, took going to the many monster infested Mines for the minerals and a hellish grind for wood, since sadly the Petrol Industry of this world has yet to develop more than the rudimentary Fields located in the distant Uhr Alliance, a Middle East style alliance of several smaller nations, they however export little of that Oil, more so to the Ferngill Republic that's two whole seas away from their continent.

This rifle is a Lee-Enfield chambered in 8mm Mauser, I like the punch of the Imperial caliber more than the 7.7mm of the Original, but it has a weird modification, a gas block system that turns this once Bolt-Action into a Semi-auto Rifle. Took me doing lots of business with a few Merchants Mike put me in contact with a year ago, but for once I now had something better than a Single shot or Bolt-Action. The Pistol I was making do with was a weird mix of a 1911, Makarov and Walter P38 in design, ugly, but it works.

My own little private projects aside, socially… It's going, but I clearly came to have a hate bone for the Mayor and Store Owner of the small town, those two are very much peak scummy assholes, the rest are… tolerable at least, amusing at best. The Wizard, the weird guy in the tower at the forest far south from my home, given my Opinion of him, he is in the tolerable side, but damn if he LOVES to give me some lame ass stern lecture on my use of Magic…. And the once-a-year hunting of Wild Game for meat, maybe if he gets too annoying, I will have him be the test dummy for the new weapon being worked on.

…

My private work seems to have attracted the business interest of the Merchants that made my guns possible, they have asked if I was interested in setting channels with them, living of my own efforts is nice, but I guess some work to make more than just what I need to survive would be nice, the coffee intake was a bit insane, guess this was the Workaholic in me screaming for something to do. So I accepted. Today was my delivery of a batch for one of them.

"There it is, Mr. Merchant, four Boxes of SE M92s."

"Thanks! Great Business as always, Stranger. Hehe."

Today's partner was a man in a thick cloak with an Oversized bag, the way he spoke English was of a non-local, Spanish? Or Ispagnian? Whatever, he pays well, and sometimes he lets me get some good shit at a heavy discount, my stockpile of RPGs and Rockets have been steadily increasing. Just in case I may need to Nuke a Mary "Bitch" Sioux 2.0.

"Before I leave, Government seems antsy, make sure they don't find this nice 'workshop'."

"I see. Thanks for the advice."

So the influx of Black-Market guns has the authorities feeling anxious. Their problem, all this time in this world, one thing I was sure, the Republic was honestly a poorly run Democratic Republic, one glance at how Big Joja is in this Nation says all, even the Platia Federation, a very corrupt 'Democracy', has kicked them down a few steps. With over 70% of the Market in here having a Joja presence, so called 'Lobbying' must be in play, Monopolies are never a good thing, Guns are one thing, but I managed to see a prolific Black-Market for EVERYTHING almost, even goddamned farming tools. When the alternative markets are THAT diverse, then it's on the ones crippling the Free Market that're at fault.

Once he is off to do his business elsewhere, I enter the Workshop again, on a more isolated spot, reserved for the Accounting and keeping track of the scheduled deliveries or meetings, the Calendar has the dates noted, one check and I know what I need to work on next, the other Merchant that operates mostly on the Gem Sea nations, the Duke. Inputting the recipe on the machinery, the resource storages are connected, and they begin their work, smelting and then refining the metals, the resulting ingots are then sent to be processed into the base components such as stamped or Milled parts or Pins and Screws.

Automation of this whole gun manufacturing thing took a lot of work and diving into the Mines for the metals, but once done, all I needed to do was go into the Mines or Bulk Purchase some raw materials, all from the Black-market, no way I would be able to disguise such massive purchases, but the Mine diving was for some rarer than unobtanium stuff, things like Radioactive ores or Prismatic Shards, the former fuels the "Magically" stable Nuclear reactor that powers this whole factory, the latter is for my latest projects. The rest of the time not spent keeping these machines in working order is spent on keeping my "Surface" business, that's, the self-sustaining Farming and foraging, and annoying the wizard with my monthly Wild animal hunting for meat.

Hiding such a huge ass operation took a lot more work than I initially expected, the cave had to be dug even deeper, to hit an underground water river no less, a bit of exploration did reveal it ended in a Lake past the Zuzu desert, an area that had forests again instead of the pocket of desertic climate before it, all that for a reactor to keep the whole thing operational even that deep underground, the work was complicated by needing to install lethal security measures such as Sentry turrets. Thank be for the 11 PhDs guy that sold schematics for that kind of weaponry, even if the redesign was a pain to make them fire the bullet instead of throwing it whole at the targets, 66% more bullet my ass.

But since starting this whole thing, I got happier, and I wasn't putting as much rose-tinted glasses on the hellish time my second life had been, I still miss the guys from the Battalion, Kampfgruppe, and Zettour, Ruddersdorf sadly… had to be dealt with near the end of that messed up war, that soured me on him unfortunately.

Back to my "normal" actvities, once I made sure the Elevator gate was locked and the access tunnel for it was hidden again, back to the cabin I was, half an hour later, Mayor Lewis… and the Governor from Zuzu City had come, and my passive magic scan spell did warn me that "Extras" were following covertly, thankfully I made sure to make the tunnel entrance use both an Optical camouflage spell as well as an illusion barrier to block it without looking unnatural, yay for magic gems to let me do that even when not there.

"Good afternoon, Tanya."

Lewis greeted, voice clearly with a displeased tone, not surprising, we were like Water and Oil, not my fault he was such a dipshit with a shitty attitude of a corrupt government official.

"Good afternoon, what kind of business you and the Governor have with me?"

For now, let's keep as if I wasn't aware of the guys sneakily surrounding the cabin area.

"Sorry if we interrupted something important, but we came here to ask some questions, have you seen the news lately?"

"Sadly not. Something important happened?"

Thankfully the Governor was the one doing the talking, guess that he understood how bad me and Lewis were with each other.

"Nothing on the scale of national need, oh no, but a person, a Zuzu city local, went missing for a while already, and a few went missing before that, we came to ask if you may have seen anything weird or suspicious these last weeks."

Mysterious disappearances? Nothing odd given this world has so much in the fantastic, though for those not well aware of it even being a thing can be worrisome. Or maybe yes, there's a damn Criminal doing some crazy shit. Whatever, nothing weird, mysterious, or suspicious happened around here, or wherever I went by lately.

"No, nothing of the kind came to my mind, is that all?"

"Is that so? Anyways, be on the lookout, Rumors from the people who do some forest trekking or live in Pelican town have been running around that someone or something has been roaming the forest of this specific area for a while."

"I see, worry not, there's some security measures around my house, but thanks for the warning."

A Silent warning came to my Necklace gem, a replica of the Type 97 in design, but without the orb parts aside the gem, one of the aforementioned security measures was tripped, did they bring damn amateurs not used to Forest or jungle trekking? Had been me, those idiots would be having to dodge some Artillery fire by now…. Or extra supplementary lessons.

"Say, did you perchance brought others? One of these devices I told about got tripped."

The two stiffened, as I point to a post near the cabin's entrance, one of the many small flags was lowered, indicating one tripwire triggered.

"Ah, Yes, Sorry for not telling, worry not, they're here just to keep a watch just in case, they'll be with us as we leave."

Sweating bullets, the Governor gave what felt like a hurried excuse before giving a goodbye and leaving, my Magic scan did tell those same sneaky failures were also backing away, guess the tripwire scared them if their aim was something else, and while we three talked here, my Scan really revealed what those dunces were doing in the surroundings, trying to find something, most likely the workshop, damn, will have to amp security, last thing I want is that asshole Mayor to have a reason to be a dick openly to me before throwing me to the authorities, or blackmailing me.

X-X-X-X

Mayor Lewis and the Governor hurriedly walked away from the Cabin, a lot of the work on this entire area, the path to the area included, was her work alone, quite a hard worker, if a bit hard to deal with, maybe she hates corrupt government officials, if what happened to the Orphanage she originated from wasn't lost to the war but to some sleazy asshole, not an uncommon occurrence, especially in backwater or economically poor regions of the Republic, which made both of them nervous, Lewis was more of angry at her than worried, given he was terrible at keeping his corruption hidden.

"While the disappearances are a worry, you sure trying to find a damn UMA for money is a wise idea? Even I would think of a better thing to try getting money from on the side."

Lewis obviously didn't want to deal with Tanya, given she not only put his dirty laundry to the public, quite literally in one instance, but there's no small number of times she may have played some terrible prank on him that left a mark for a week if not a month, though she was a hard nut to crack, no evidence ever came proving she did what he was sure only she would do.

"What? You expect someone like her to somehow be running a damn Gun smuggling operation? Anything else that's been flowing around the Black-Markets would be pennies at most if we were to blackmail the smuggler. Stop thinking that a boonies place will have someone like that Cronidia United Cider Kingdom bitch that goes by The Butcher in the smuggling rings."

The Governor was skeptical, of all things that Mayor of an insignificant Town believes the two would find such a valuable source of hush money on their shared turf? He wanted to laugh loudly on his delusion. Anyways, the two soon were at the Train station area, a place few would even bother coming even if this was where the Town's Communal Spa was located, waiting a little at the station, soon the men they hired to scout that damned forest joined with the pair.

"I thought you guys were pro at this kind of Job, what the fuck? Failing to notice an alarm trap?"

The leader of the poachers, an infamous group known to do contracts for those willing to pay, stepped forward.

"Our bad sir, but truth be told, she may have a lot of experience, me and my boys only noticed she had trapped the place once we were way too deep."

Lewis snorted.

"She? Experienced? You must be joking, she looks no older than 22, at most."

The poacher face was… complicated.

"With all due respect, we have a lot of experience on this kind of thing, so please trust us when we say she has experience."

The Mayor wanted to retort, but the Governor wisely decided to stop that useless talk.

"Understood, maybe she had to live off foraging and catching some wild game in the past, anyways, that changes little, if possible go to that patch of forest again, and see if you can find tracks, clues or the Mysterious thing itself, be careful though, she must have a gun since she seems to go hunting for animal meat at times."

The warning put the group of Twelve on maximum attention, gun ownership had been made illegal in the Republic since the war with the Gotoro Empire started, last thing they wanted was going to the Hospital and having to explain why the hell they suffered a bullet injury, sure that woman would be pissed at the Authorities coming after her, but would be bad for them as well since their poaching operations would come to light as well, MAD was assured.

"Understood, we will enter those woods when she is sleeping."

With that, the two groups went their own way, the poachers went to a small camp they prepared in the area for the job, while Lewis went back to his town and the Governor to the Bus station so he could get back to his office in Zuzu city.

X-X-X-X

"Alright, this should be enough."

Once the annoyances were clearly away, I reset the two tripwires, camouflaging them again, and even set some new ones in different positions just in case, along them, a few traps to scare away anyone stupid enough to try looking around the area for my workshop, though I cannot ensure they will survive the Swinging Log ones…. Or the Spiked pendulum log either.

Sun was setting and darkness would soon cover the forested area too much for any further work, so I called it a day, the small farm and other things had been taken care of already, so once at home, the campfire was lit and I enjoyed my Diner by the warm light of it, a small cooking pot was hung above it just so I could boil water for the last mug of coffee of the day, at least this place was far away enough from heavily urbanized zones enough that the sky could be seen in all its Starlit glory, something that wasn't so enjoyable in the previous Life, but something that nowadays is such a nice thing to have. I still do seek for modern amenities of my first life though.

"Truly, that asshole wasted a whole world into a stupid war just to try to bend me… Not that those irrational idiots waging war against the Empire weren't at fault."

This idyllic peace, even if the Nation itself is at war with another, is very soothing, a bit hard to this me so changed by that Eight year long great War to relax, but truly something all those that fought alongside me do deserve, though I doubt that's the case, Bitch X seemed way too adamant of trying to prove how the absurdity that emotion driven Irrationalism was the actual way to go for Humanity, just Pray to his holy Anus and let Emotions rule the way. A part of me feels bad for the Rational Empire for being the target of such thing, even though part of it was their failure of understanding the Clausewitz of wars not being merely the result of logical thinking.

But that's the past, best this me can do is give some self serving "Good Luck" Wishes. Diner eaten and got my fill of this beautiful night sky, so I went inside to wash the dishes, clean a few things that could be done before sleep and get today's Diary entry written before sleeping, a very ordinary Life outside my "Job" if I am to say.

…

X-X-X-X

Josh's life as a Poacher had begun when the Government had begun to push for rather unpopular laws, many which doomed several Businesses, the small shop he worked at went under in Zuzu city due to said laws, his experience as an amateur Forest Trekker got him a spot on this group of individuals who all lost their stable jobs due to those very laws, for the group members, the Government was hated more than the war itself.

The moment he had stepped into this specific part of the woods in the afternoon, a terrible feeling refused to let go of his mind, many would scoff at such illogical fears or feelings, but not him, his life wasn't a smooth ride in any way, for a while, during his college time, he had lived in a rented apartment on a rather unsafe area of the city where his college was, the number of times he had almost ended in trouble wasn't a handful, but enough for a lifetime. That much danger made him understand there's value in trusting one's gut feelings, especially when it's the kind of dread only life of death situations bring.

Even though he wanted to tell his boss that it's dangerous, the clients offered a generous proposition, a nice cut of the profits in case of success, Jimmy, another member that joined shortly after him, needed some money badly for a medical procedure his sister needed, so no one there was feeling like giving up just yet, and so, once night started to come, they all went back to those woods, darkness there was very much near pitch black already, the Trees formed a net that blocked a lot of light, but more than that, it seemed that light wasn't allowed in as night approached.

For a brief time, they all took a very wide detour to steer as far from that Cabin, knowing that lass was likely to have a Hunting Rifle made all wary, last they wanted to deal with was getting one or more of them to the Hospital and explain why they got a bullet injury. The campfire was lit, the valley was something to enjoy, no wonders, and Josh would say that the Starlit sky was a sight to behold, but the distance between them and the cabin only allowed them to see the faint orange glow of that campfire. Setting a small spot to rest and wait a bit, it was a bit more than an hour for the light to die and a few more to be sure she went inside to sleep.

"Well, all's good now, right?"

One of them whispered.

The Most hellish night of theirs began shortly after.

…

Josh's feeling had been spot on, it had been 15 years since he last ignored his gut feelings, and like that last time, he and his pals were paying the price of ignoring it. Lights such as Torchlights and portable lamps were a no-go, same for those special rings that allowed a degree of light centered at the wearer, but the darkness had become frighteningly thick, so with careful use, they all had to use it to look where they're going, it wasn't long until one of them ended tripping one of those surveillance wires, or so they thought, it went out the window right after the one who tripped it was hit by a log, one with several spikes. The poor sod was lucky to die quick enough to not suffer.

Spiked log pendulums, Horizontal swing logs, even trap holes with spikes at the bottom, in less than half an hour, over half of them had been Killed or knocked, the few that survived though, would need a hospital. So the few still able to do something quickly went to those alive to carry them out of the place. And like a predator sadistically waiting for a good time, 'It' appeared.

Josh wanted to flee in a mad dash, and in five minutes, that desire won over trying to get Jimmy and flee with him. The poor guy's scream as he ran away, not caring about stealth or even staying away from that cabin, whatever this specific patch of the local forests is home for, he rather just tell that Mayor and Governor that if they want to catch it, they should be the ones to go, with Army guys instead of poachers whose best weapons would be a pocket knife from their scout boys days and a few blow darts coated in an anesthetic drug.

Then he tripped, no, the pain that came only a moment after told all, he lit his torchlight and saw it, a sharp wooden stick, closer to a lance but still short, that had been the final straw, the pain, and all the stress and horror of the night alone broke what remained of his mental resilience, his mouth opened, and before the little of his consciousness retained control could stop, it came.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRGHHHHHH-"

…

He hadn't realized his running ended with him just a few meters away from the fenced area that indicated Tanya's Cabin.

X-X-X-X

"-RRRRRGHHHHH-"

What clearly was a scream woke me up, my internal clock hinting at just an hour after I entered the bed, for fucks sake, that Mayor and Governor really want to sniff any solid evidence of my Workshop. Under my Pillow is always a loaded pistol, tucking it on the Holster that was in a hidden compartment of the drawer next to the bed and now hanged on my hip, the Rifle, stored in an armored safe hidden in the bedroom, got out, loaded and safety off. I use an Active scan spell, no one around the house? Whatever, no time to lose, using the passive scan and carefully clearing my house first, only after being fully sure it was clear I moved to the front Door, the sole "Way" in or out the house, a chute for the trash and a hidden trapdoor were the other ways out, albeit last thing I want is to use the trash cute.

Door is swung open with gusto, with well trained motions, I'm looking to the outside, scanning things with the gun sights, the stars gave some light, but only enough for the Night Vision Spell to be of use without needing me lighting something, Magic still has limits compared to what a technological NV googles would offer. What I saw just past the fences was… bloody, but kids play compared to what shit my service time in the Empire got me to see. The little that remained of the corpse was human looking, but given Golems and slightly humanoid species do exist, maybe it wasn't a person wandering carelessly here. Next to the lump, her…

"Really? What the hell?"

Gun lowered, but still ready to be fired, before going there, I quickly fire a basic ember spell at the campfire and it is lit, the light now making the NV spell have a very easy time, and oh man…. The fuck she did? Went full Bare fist Bloody carnage on a bunch of Demons? She's redder than the best red pepper ever harvested in history.

"And this is…"

"…Poacher…"

A rather monotone voice, I was used to it, whatever reason, since day 1, she had been keeping a very dutiful watch over me, keeping me safe from the looks, since the time I almost ended screwed in the Desert mines, named Skull caverns, she suddenly just appeared and obliterated everything, given that both the Wizard and that oddball guy called Qi fear her, I guess that it's good she's friendly with me? Well, for safety at least, given everything else is me who has to do the whole work.

"Poacher? What they're after?"

She tilts her head.

"I guess…. Me?"

Great, the poachers thought a super rare and fantastic animal or creature lived around here, near the corpse, was a blowgun and a few darts for it, the glint on those indicated some drug coated them, I shiver thinking if them or just some of them had bad thoughts of kidnapping me, a bit annoying, but this body had quite the looks, wouldn't be surprising if someone would want me no matter what method was used. But anyways, can't go dismissing the idea the Mayor and Governor hired those idiots for one thing, but wanted them to come with hints of my Workshop, I better make sure they get a message to stop prying here.

"Well, thanks anyways, uh… want to wash yourself?"

"Un."

Before that, Kaiserin, or so she likes being called, got all the remains of the poor sod that became mushed meat near the path, got the blood-soaked dirt buried with fresh and blood free soil, and I guess took those remains to a pile where it would be eliminated without risk of being found, for long enough that is. That done, to the Bath she went. There're a handful of moments I saw her without those Flecktarn camouflaged clothes or her Imperial Green Wind jacket with Red, Silver and Golden Stripes and Matching Cargo pants. In short, she's a Greek Goddess beauty, and that annoys me just because her face and hair look so much like Mine.

Washed and with clothes not dyed Pepper red from all the Blood, last thing before leaving was… hugging me? It made me feel things I thought went missing since being given two Lives in a row as a Biological Woman, her pair of Ballistics was so soft, she's Braless no less, and that Hug felt… rather passionate.

"Hm. Good night."

Keeping a gentle but firm grip on me, she gave a peck on my cheeks, then in no time disappeared into those woods that somehow hide anything within in pitch black darkness at night, maybe it's Magic? Still a bit flustered from that peck, I put out the campfire and went to sleep, tomorrow would be a pain, with my sleep messed up.

…