A/N 1: By the way, I decided on posting the Omakes in a separate story. It's titled 'Charming Omakes,' and while the first one has little to do with Tanya, more will come that involves her.
-OxOxO-
Tanya, gun held in an iron-grip by her side, went back to her conversation. She then began to berate herself.
She might have gotten perfect knowledge of whatever language this place used – because she still hadn't gotten a straight answer as to what this place was called from anyone she asked – but her knowledge of Germanian was incomplete.
She had no idea what the word for 'Dullahan' was, or if there even was such a word.
She'd just used this world's equivalent.
She shook her head and kept her aim steady, trying not to show her panic. "How do you know I've made a contract?"
Darkness, blade pointed at Tanya, smirked. "I didn't. I said you've made 'contact.' You just told me that. Plus, Tranquility Girls wouldn't choose to come out and attract the attention of the guild while a general of the Demon King is here. "
Tanya's eye twitched, and-
She rolled her eyes and began to violently berate herself under her breath for thinking of Darkness as nothing but a masochistic Crusader and for panicking so much as to give away information. She turned away and sighed to herself.
"Darkness is clearly smarter than I gave her credit for…" she muttered. She resisted the urge to sigh again. Tanya needed to calm down.
Darkness squawked. "Hey, don't turn away from me! I'm being serious! You can't just ignore me because I haven't been able to hit anything."
Tanya resisted the urge to scoff at that – of course it did – but she shook her head. She deconstructed what was happening, and what might happen.
She would either convince Darkness, or she wouldn't. One option seemed nearly unbelievable, which meant…
She breathed in, and she waved a negligent hand and she ignored her words. "Fine. What do you expect this to do?"
Darkness tilted her head, and Tanya explained. "Why confront me?"
Darkness lowered her blade an inch and Tanya smirked internally, careful to keep a defeated and disgruntled expression on her face. Getting her to talk would give Tanya time to think. She wasn't the best at coming up with on-the-fly plans, but she could always go with the patented 'fly away' tactic.
"To free you. This woman has made you behave suspiciously. You've been making deals with Demon Generals, you get weirdly defensive whenever anyone says anything bad about her," she said.
"Plus, she's obviously evil. She killed seven Tranquility Girls, and even if others think that you pressed her into doing it, I have figured out the truth," she said, dropping her voice.
Tanya searched the eyes of the Crusader opposing her, and Tanya saw that she wasn't joking. "You have no proof, and you can't do anything anyway."
Tanya admitted to herself that she was really starting to dislike Darkness's smirk, especially with how persistent it was. "I don't need proof. She will be behind bars once I give them the word and explain that she's been controlling one noble and that the heir to the Dustiness family wants her there!"
Tanya stared at her incomprehensibly. "Dustiness family? Do you own a bunch of old artifacts that you never clean or something?"
She looked dumbstruck for some reason. Tanya couldn't imagine why that would-
"We – both you and I – are members of the nobility."
Tanya blinked once, doing a double-take to make sure Darkness hadn't suddenly burst out laughing, and found that Darkness looked just as serious as before, only now there was a hint of desperation.
Tanya waited, for another moment, for Darkness to double over laughing. And when she didn't…
"HAA!" Tanya blurted out. Darkness only grew more confused, and Tanya snorted uncontrollably.
Tanya doubled over laughing. She disregarded Darkness's blade, sure that she wouldn't be striking Tanya with the look of indignation that she managed to catch before she sank to one knee.
As Tanya continued to laugh, Darkness took one hand off of her blade, thrusting a hand inside of her armor. She dragged out the small necklace she had worn since she was a child.
Shaped like a stylized shield, the outside of it shone in the light of the day. Six lines jutted out from the centerpiece, a pair of wings. They formed what some members of her family called a heart and that others called an arrowhead, depending on whose writings she was consulting.
All of it was made of pure gold, and anyone with even a passing familiarity to it would recognize it for what it was: the crest of the Dustiness family.
Tanya looked up, and saw that Darkness was holding out a necklace. "This necklace bears the crest of the Dustiness family, grand nobles and close friends of the king. I, Lalatina Ford Dustiness, have worn it since I could walk."
Tanya stopped laughing for a moment, before she doubled over again. "That- That name! Lalatina? What kind of name is that?" Darkness went red, but before she could try again, Tanya calmed down a bit.
Letting out the occasional giggle, she wiped a tear from her eye as she managed to stand and speak. "Alright, Darkness. You… seem to think you're a noble, and you think I'm one too. I'll ignore how untrue that is, and listen to whatever hilarious explanation you have."
How she had come to the conclusion that either of them were nobles in this world was beyond her, but this would be good, regardless of her reasons. Tanya felt she could almost forgive Darkness for attempting to harm Viktoriya if this was humorous enough.
Instead of the righteous zeal and triumph she thought she'd be feeling, Darkness felt indignant.
"You look just like a noble! From the eyes and hair to your chin, you look like a noble," she said.
Tanya blinked. "It's kind of odd that you've noticed the shape of my chin. Also, by that logic, Luna and Dust are also nobles because they have blond hair too. I haven't seen many people with that color of hair, but I assumed no one wanted their hair to look bland, when you can get polka dots colored onto your hair."
Darkness faltered for a moment, but she carried on, even if she was a bit quieter. "You have three names. No peasant would dare take on three names."
Tanya paused as she remembered the 'von' that had been added to her name after the War College. She winced. That… kind of did make her a noble, didn't it?
"You have some sort of amulet," she continued, her voice rising slightly now that Tanya hadn't immediately shot her down. "You almost never take it off, except for baths. Just like mine!"
Tanya grimaced. She must have mistaken the stupid Type 95 or the Type 97 for something it wasn't. She suppressed a groan.
Being X continued to cause trouble for her with his curse, even if he hadn't intended it.
Darkness began grinning as she noticed the troubled expression on Tanya's face. She had to be fighting Serebryakov's control.
Darkness nodded to herself. She needed to keep going. Maybe Tanya would break out of whatever it was on her own?
"And Tanya, you're powerful. You can cast more Detonations in a day than any mage I've even heard of, except for a number of Demon Generals. You must be a noble."
Tanya tilted her head. "Why does being powerful mean I'm a noble?"
Darkness sighed. It seemed she wasn't making as much progress as she thought. "All nobles are powerful. Whether physically, magically, or mentally, all nobles are better than anyone. The power you have surpasses even the prowess granted to me by my bloodline. You're on par with some of the weaker rulers Belzerg has had in the past, with that mysterious staff and how much mana you have."
She tried to desperately appeal to the person she had known before that Serebryakov had rolled around, staring into Tanya's eyes.
Tanya was stumped. Darkness didn't strike her as the kind of girl who would do this to play an elaborate prank on her, and she certainly seemed to have convinced herself that Tanya was a noble.
Scowling, Tanya pinched the bridge of her nose. "Say I was to entertain your fantasy that I'm some kind of noble. What do you think would happen?"
Darkness's expression fell a bit, but she began to explain what would happen now. "Well, you'll let me take Serebryakov into custody, and-"
"No."
Darkness seemed shocked. "What do you mean? You're a noble. You must see that she's-"
"Better than I am."
Darkness was silenced, and Tanya decided she'd need to tell her a bit about her past.
"You are right," she admitted softly, "that I am a noble. However," she said, glaring at Darkness until the triumphant look on her face died, "I earned my title. I was dropped off at an orphanage at a young age, and I grew up there for a few years. I learned the language by three, and joined the army around eight or nine."
Darkness stayed silent, waiting for more. "I fought a war for years, went to college, and graduated with a high enough score to get given a noble title, and nothing else. No land or privileges were granted to me, besides the 'von' in my name."
"Throughout the war, it has been that woman," she said, gesturing towards with her gun, "that has helped keep me sane enough to keep fighting. A desire to… flee from the fighting and become a paper-pusher behind lines certainly motivated me for a large portion of the beginning of it, but Viktoriya and the others I met helped show me that surviving is not living."
She shook her head, ignoring the dismayed expression on Darkness's face. "I strongly advise that you stop trying to convince me that Viktoriya is to blame for my behavior."
Darkness looked conflicted, and Tanya began to speak again. "You knew me for what, five, six weeks? I've known Viktoriya for years. I know who I would choose if I must, but Darkness, I don't want to choose."
She held out a hand. "Come on. I can explain a bit more, if you'll just stop."
Sweat had been forming on Darkness's forehead, and Tanya sighed as she watched Darkness grip the sword in her hand tightly, and then take it up with both again. "No! Chris told me how suspicious she was. But…"
Darkness looked panicked. "If this is you, then I'll have to take you in anyway."
The panic drained from her face, replaced with a nervous calm. "If your family has done something like ally with the Demon King, or if you've so much as talked to a General, I'll have to take you in. But-"
"Dehydrate."
A sickly orange light shot from the slightly raised tip of her gun, crashing into Darkness and sending her sprawling.
She didn't like that spell; it felt more than just a bit inhumane… but at least it wasn't her most inhumane one.
Tanya shook her head as an image of Darkness, foaming at the mouth as eyes bulged. No, this spell was not the most inhumane one the Empire had developed by far.
She picked up Viktoriya on her shoulder, and began to walk slowly towards Darkness. She was writhing on the ground, resisting it. Instead of a dried husk, like a piece of stretched leather, she looked surprisingly healthy for how much power Tanya had put into that.
Tanya had expected to be surprised. She's said something about the 'power of her bloodline,' and with how fast she'd woken from her slumber, Tanya hadn't really thought she'd be killed.
"Goodbye, Darkness."
She sent a quick Heal towards the girl as she took off sprinting. A cloud of dust followed her, and soon, she rose into the sky. Darkness couldn't see them, and she very much doubted she was in any position to try to.
As she readjusted her hold on Viktoriya, she hoped that Darkness would come around eventually. Her final words had sounded like she still thought she was part of this country's nobility.
If Darkness wasn't listening to her, and she thought Tanya was a threat…
Until the Crusader believed her, leaving Axel might be necessary.
-OxOxO-
Chris strolled into the guild leisurely. She had been training with those Reincarnates all of yesterday, so she thought today, she'd earn a bit of money and donate it to the Eris Cult.
She looked around, intent on finding Darkness and the other two at the usual table, but she was mystified when she found it empty.
She cast her gaze around the guild, and almost gasped. Darkness was at the bar, surrounded by empty glasses. All of them had alcohol in them, and none of it looked like it was the same stuff.
She crept up behind the blonde, and nervously tapped her on the shoulder. "Darkness…?"
Darkness swung her body around, and Chris had to fight to keep both of them standing as the Crusader threw herself onto her. "Chhhriiiissssss…"
She patted the Crusader on the back, and put her back on the stool. She turned to an amused looking bartender. "Has she paid?"
He nodded stiffly, and she put herself under the Crusader's arm.
They walked, lurching out of the guild and into a nearby alley. "Geez, you're getting heavy."
Darkness, who had been muttering about leaving all that alcohol behind, suddenly began to bawl.
"I'm not! My muscles aren't made of adamantite!" she whined, and Chris finally could take no more, and both of them sank to the ground. Chris took a moment to catch her breath, trying to ignore Darkness's wailing.
"What happened? You're a Crusader, right? How much could you have drank to overpower your resistances?"
Darkness ignored her question, and Chris sighed and leaned against the wall, supposing that Darkness would speak after she had a cry.
Twenty minutes later, Darkness had finally been reduced to sniffling. Chris turned to her, an eyebrow raised. "Do you want to talk about it, or do you want to keep crying?"
Darkness sent a shamefaced stare in her direction. "I'll talk about it."
Chris nodded, sitting up straight and leaning away from the wall. Slowly, Darkness began to talk.
"I… found out some things about Tanya. She's… not what I thought she was."
Chris nodded sadly, making sure to keep the euphoric joy she felt off of her face.
Oh, Darkness was torn up about it now, but she would look back on this fondly when she realized just how horrible that devil was.
She nodded sympathetically. "Was it Serebryakov?" she asked, making sure to keep up the fantasy she had spun. Darkness sniffled a bit, before hesitantly shaking her head.
"I… I don't know. Tanya's done some things that I don't think could be accomplished while under another's dominion, but I don't want to believe she could do them on her own…"
Chris nodded along, fighting to keep a grin off of her face. Darkness would have to accept the Atheist for who she was, soon enough. It would just take a bit more evidence.
And she knew just how.
"Darkness, I think I might know a way to break her out of whatever's controlling her, if that is the case," she said softly, and Darkness's eyes filled with hope.
As Chris explained her plan, she felt a warmth begin to build up inside her. It was so nice to help her followers and accomplish her own goals at the same time.
-OxOxO-
Two figures moved about. One would have preferred to be hooded, but the other pointed out that they might stick out more by looking suspicious. So, both tried to look normal, as if one of them didn't have a contract with one of the Demon King's Generals.
They traveled quietly, slipping into the backdoor of the place they'd been frequenting most often. If the customers in the front realized that both of them were in the building, a concerning amount of people would pay to see them dressed like the people who handed out the paper forms that nearly littered the place.
As it was, Tanya was sure that more people out there thought of her or Viktoriya dressed up like Succubi – or in even less – than she would like – a resounding zero.
She couldn't police people for their thoughts, though, so she'd just take solace in the knowledge that she was one of two women who was in on the secret of the shop.
She sighed in relief as she got into the shop. In the few days since their encounter, Darkness hadn't spread word of Tanya's deal – as far as Tanya could tell – but she was still paranoid about it. Every wayward glance in her direction set her on edge.
Both walked through the hallway and into the Succubi's locker room, and placed her heavy cloak inside. Viktoriya put her own jacket in the one to her right, and both walked through the hallway and into a back room that the adventurers outside were too horny to even think about, much less contemplate its existence.
Tanya greeted one of the Succubus, and she smiled. The charity was beginning to take shape.
A line had formed and Tanya sat down at the desk. It was like the ones outside, except older. They'd probably replaced it with all the money they had been earning.
"Tanya, what kind of books should we use for the school?"
Tanya thought, for a moment. With all of the money she'd donated, they'd decided to splurge a bit on what they could start by doing. Tanya had, during their discussion during her first meeting them, suggested they start up a school so they could portray themselves better.
They had taken the idea and ran with it, and were close to starting something. They'd already asked the matron of the local orphanage if they could use their building, and once Tanya had shown up, they'd bent over backwards.
"Find… a selection of books, try to figure out which is the most accurate by comparing them, and buy that one," she finally said.
She wasn't very familiar with what this world had, and letting them do the work would probably get them what they wanted – the ability to represent themselves to the impressionable youth – much better than Tanya could by guessing.
That Succubus retreated, and as the next began to question her, Tanya thought back to her encounter with the matron of the orphanage.
Now that Darkness had it laid the power of the nobility before her, she realized that a lot of the respect and fear she'd been getting – both from that woman and from… everyone, really – was probably because they thought she was some sort of noble.
It was annoying to realize that, comparatively, she'd been able to get where she was because of an intrinsic bias in her favor, instead of just through her skills.
Of course, she wasn't going to shout to the world that she wasn't a noble, since she'd already used her perceived position to get the charity recognized as an entity, legally.
Predictably, the church had opposed it, since the Succubi would be giving out handouts for nothing instead of helping the poor in return for piety, but Tanya had pushed through their complaints with gusto.
Tanya smirked as she told Loli Succubus that she could use her relatively childish looks to try and convince people to donate more to them. That this was hurting the Eris Cult's membership made her feel satisfied.
For an hour, she helped solve problems while Viktoriya rushed to fill out paperwork with a pair of Succubi at her side. The faithful woman had been skeptical of the 'literal Demons,' to use her words, but once Tanya had explained that they helped Axel by distracting their patrons from finding more violent ways to spend their time, she'd seemed relatively fine with the idea.
No doubt, Viktoriya was more okay with it since none of the Succubi were wearing their 'work clothing' and instead wearing sensible clothing that anyone in Axel could be seen wearing. They blended in easily when they walked around in these clothes, and the…
Tanya grimaced. The Mithril Foundation was becoming well known, despite how new it was.
When they had asked for a name, Tanya had decided that using her detestable – horrible disgusting terrifying fear-inducing – nickname on something other than her would be a good idea. No one in this world knew of that name, and since Tanya would never let anyone call her that name if she had the power to, no one would ever know.
The line was almost gone. Tanya sighed; she would usually stay here for a few hours, answering questions and helping, but today, only ten Succubi were helping here.
Yesterday, they had explained that they needed to conserve energy, since adventurers weren't making enough money to even visit their shop. She said she understood, but she wondered how much longer the town could survive without monsters.
Tanya was jolted out of her musings by a request.
Tanya knit her brows. "You want me to what?"
The blonde-haired bombshell of a succubus cringed away. "Well, some of the parents in the area have expressed a desire to have their children join the orphanage's school, but they want their children to be escorted through Axel. We're not especially powerful, so…"
Tanya raised an eyebrow. "There's enough crime for that?"
The Succubus shook her head. "Ah… not exactly. They're worried that they might be caught outside when the Demon King's General finally decides to attack, and they want assurances."
Tanya sighed at the question and began to think and wish she could just tell them to figure it out on their own.
No matter what she did, the Succubi tried to get Tanya more involved with the charity. She might have suspected they wanted to do something convoluted, like bring the charity down and tank her fame with it, if Tanya wasn't convinced of how genuine their thanks was for taking care of those Tranquility Girls.
About to refuse, Tanya tried to think of anyone else that could do the job. Dust was in jail, would demand a salary, and no one with a brain would trust their children around him. Most other adventurers would demand a salary, Luna was always busy, Darkness was…
She smirked as she remembered someone she could ask. "I told you, I might need to leave the town at any moment, but I think I might know someone who could help."
Tanya began to explain, and the Succubi nodded as Tanya and Viktoriya left to visit Wiz.
-OxOxO-
Wiz greeted them happily as they walked in, and they returned the greeting.
Wiz rushed behind her counter, ducking down and bringing up a rack of five potions. "Your explosive potions are ready, Tanya!"
She smiled, but she moved them aside. She wanted to ask some questions before she began asking favors of her. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something."
She looked curious, and Tanya smirked. "How's life as a Demon General?"
Her pupils shrank back, and she began to stutter out a reply. "I… I don't…"
Tanya waved her off. "Don't try and deny it. I spoke to Verdia and Ragcraft four days ago. Said something about being annoyed and working around you, but they gave me this-"
Wiz had frozen, her gaze furious. "What do you mean, 'working around me?'"
Tanya shrugged noncommittally, turning around and pacing towards the shop's window. "Well, I was asking about all the bodies they have, and they told me you had tried to stop them. The pair of adventurers and the noble that went missing were apparently working with them, or something."
She turned back around, and her eyes shrank as she saw Wiz get angry. The air was cooling, and a very intimidating, wasteful light – likely caused by unformed mana – was coming from her. Viktoriya walked towards Tanya, one hand on her rifle.
"Uh… Wiz? Are you okay?"
The cool air, slowly, began to recede, and the light around her faded. "Yes," she bit out.
"What's so bad about them using the bodies?" she asked. Wiz sent a furious glare at her, but it softened as it saw the genuine confusion on her face.
"Tanya… how…"
She just shook her head. "Normal undead seek out Priests in battle because they seem more like the thing they oppose, and because they desire to be purified. Only undead with a particularly strong resolve can resist, but most swarm Priests in an attempt to seek salvation."
Tanya's eyes widened.
She'd helped chained dozens of souls to a life they'd seek release from.
Probably. Her speech to them about raging against the Priests might have cured that particular aspect of their being…
Tanya winced. Yet another thing she could be tried for in a court – or that would cause any of the likely dozens of plucky hero types to try and murder her – should she get caught. She doubted, though, that that would happen.
If she couldn't save herself – however unlikely that was – Viktoriya would, just like…
She shook away her memories desperately, distracting herself by smiling at Wiz. "Well. I suppose I probably shouldn't ask, but could you do something for us?"
With a curious and cautious tilt of Wiz's head, Tanya cleared her throat and launched into her explanation.
"The Mithril Foundation is a charity that wants to improve the poorest people's lives. Recently, they've run into a problem," she said.
"They've set up a school for the orphans at the edge of town, and are planning to begin schooling them. Parents of children in town have expressed some desire to have their children learn from them, for free, instead of having to hire tutors or allowing their children to go uneducated. They want someone to escort the children to the orphanage."
"Unfortunately," Tanya said, letting out an annoyed sigh, "I can't do it. I'm planning to travel outside of Axel soon, but I thought that maybe you'd want to do it?"
Wiz's face had lit up from the beginning. "Of course I'll…"
She stopped, an apologetic frown on her face. "I mean, I'd love to. But from what you said, Verdia and Ragcraft will probably try and steal more bodies as soon as they can. I need to start patrolling as much as I can, and I can't leave the shop unattended with how low sales have been."
Tanya cursed internally, wondering what she'd do now, when Viktoriya spoke up. "Well, what if we bought some of your stuff to make up for the drop in sales?"
Immediately, Wiz's face lit up as she trotted over to a wall of her shop, while Tanya's emotions bickered about what a bad idea this was. She wanted to get Wiz to do this, but buying a piece of defective junk didn't seem to be a good idea.
She brought them a selection of potions. "You seem to be interested in potions, with how many of those explosive ones you buy, so I present to you: the Forbidden Potion Series of potions!"
Tanya gave the woman a smile, but the shopkeeper didn't seem reassured. It wasn't that Tanya wasn't interested; it was that she had a very specific idea in mind when she had begun buying the Explosive potions, and she had no idea what she'd do with what was likely junk.
"Could you tell us about them?" she asked, trying to seem interested.
Her acting worked well enough, and Wiz nodded, apparently encouraged. She brought out a simple looking black bottle. "This potion will raise your levels!"
Tanya looked interested, and then narrowed her eyes at the Lich. She hadn't bought much from Wiz, but there had to be some sort of side effect. Almost anything that granted instant power, like her relics, had some sort of drawback.
She gave them a small smile. "It also reduces your mana to zero?"
Both of them shook their heads simultaneously, and Wiz nodded. "Of course not, both of you have lots of mana. You probably don't want to alter your fighting style. In that case, how about this one?" she asked, holding up a potion bottle that looked to be the same color of human skin.
Ba-bum.
Tanya and Viktoriya backed away as it throbbed in Wiz's hand, and Wiz shook her head at the wary look they both sent her. "Don't be put off by its appearance! It will greatly increase your Magic-Power, and has the slight effect of also killing all of your hair follicles."
Wiz handed it to Tanya, and she set it aside, much too unsettled by how it felt like glass and looked like a tube covered in skin. She would buy that if Wiz had nothing else – sacrificing all of her hair for more power was interesting, but she didn't really need more of it right now.
Well, she could always purchase the thing and then never use it, right?
Wiz pointed to another one, which was tiny. "This potion will reset your level to zero!"
And another. "Viktoriya," she said, motioning towards the one shaped like the classic caricature of a heart, "despite your age, you still haven't been seen despite your availability and attractiveness. This potion will attract the opposite gender, at the cost of making you smell like a goblin."
Tanya's nose scrunched up at the thought of someone smelling like a goblin – they were somehow able to smell worse than the members of the 203rd after days on the ground in the East – and then she went over the rest of the woman's words.
"Hey!" she shouted, indignant on Viktoriya's behalf, "don't insult Viktoriya. She'll find someone she likes eventually. No one in this town is worthy of her anyway, and…"
Her eyes narrowed. "If it was so good, then you would have used it by now, wouldn't you?"
As Wiz's face began to grow incredibly sad, Tanya thought about the subject of Visha and marriage and-
She shook her head. Tanya knew she wasn't going to be bedding Visha anytime soon – the girl had been raised in 1900s Europe, which meant she was definitely not homosexual – so Tanya would do her best to help her, whenever she wanted to find someone.
Wiz backed away slightly, and Viktoriya, politely, placed it back in the rack. "No thanks."
Wiz was about to point to another one – this one looked mostly normal, but the label on it had a picture of a puppet with its head removed. She didn't even want to know what that was about. "Why are these called 'Forbidden' anyway?"
Wiz tapped a finger against her cheek. "Well, the person who sold them and the rights to them said they're all very good. The only reason they're bad is because most people won't want them… and they're all illegal to make."
Tanya sighed. It seemed like all of these potions appealed to very select groups of people, which wasn't very good for business. If you wanted to sell something, you would try and get as many people to buy it as possible.
She picked up the level reducing one – if Darkness found out about it, she'd buy it so she'd get a good time from anything and everything, including grass.
Wiz looked sort of disappointed as Tanya set it down on the counter, so Tanya pointed to a tall, skinny, bronze-colored bottle. "What's that one?"
Wiz looked at it, and shook her head. "This one is… pretty useless. If you drink it, you'll attract monsters to you for the rest of your life. I don't know of a way to remove it, so you'd be stuck as monster bait forever."
Tanya picked it up. Darkness might like it to drink it, but Tanya wasn't dealing with monsters forever, whenever they reconciled. Tanya might not have been on any quests that required her to sleep in the wilderness, but she wasn't going to defend the camp all night because the Crusader wanted to get hit.
She looked at it, eye studying it idly. It attracts monsters, huh?
A small smile played on her face as another idea came to her. "Hey Wiz. How powerful is this attraction?"
She shrugged. "I don't know exactly, but that's only because it exceeds all other measures of how powerful something can be when warding off or attracting monsters. Why?"
Tanya let the small smile on her face grow. "I've got an idea on how to increase sales. Want to hear how?"
Wiz blinked. "You aren't really going to take over from the Demon King when you kill him, are you? You look really scary right now."
"Yeah~," Viktorita sighed. Tanya missed her former adjutant's forlorn sigh as she continued to grin at the potion and plan. She knew just how to fix a great many of her problems at once.
-OxOxO-
"All adventurers, report to the guild! We have an emergency quest!"
Dust grumbled as he heard the speakers sound again. That was the third time in five minutes they'd sounded.
He looked back into his cell from where he was standing on a chair he'd been given, staring out of his window. It wasn't like he had much to do anyway.
It wasn't like this place was horrible; sure, the food wasn't up to its usual quality, and the hay in his room hadn't been changed out since he'd got there, and his time in the recreation center had been restricted, but it was better than being outside of it, with no money to buy food or to pay for a room.
He was getting bored though, and none of the female police who watched him were very fun.
They'd promised to beat him within an inch of his life if he harassed them, and after he'd tried doing it anyway and gotten beaten, he hadn't tried again.
Tanya had delivered on her promise that he would be watched by the female police officers, and he hadn't figured out a way to get out yet. Maybe this would work?
He stepped down from the chair, and banged on the door. A small slit at the bottom allowed food to be pushed in, and otherwise, the door was completely flush with the surfaces surrounding it.
Not that he'd try and break out. He'd get put in here for much longer, and he'd rather sit through the month quietly. The sound of clanking armor reached his door, and a voice sounded from the other side.
"What do you want, delinquent?"
He tried to sound agitated. "Didn't you hear? They want all adventurers, and that means I get to leave."
He heard the pause, and he allowed his hopes to rise. Then her snicker destroyed his hopes. "They alert us about these things in advance, you know. They needed police help this time, and they told us that you can stay in here, unless…"
His hopes rose again. "Unless?"
Her tone hurried, the knight began to explain. "If you do what they want, you'll get five free drinks, regardless of size, every night."
His eyes popped out of his head. "You'll receive an allowance from them, and they'll be indebted to you for years to come."
Dust pressed himself into the door. Those sounded too good to be true. "What do I have to do? I know I'll get out of here in a few weeks, but getting those terms seems like a dream come true!"
She then explained what he would have to do, and then Dust's hopes fell.
No way would he do that.
He told her as much, and she sighed as well. "Yeah, knowing you, you'd never be that self-sacrificing. You'd be more popular if you were willing to put your life on the line, you know."
He chuckled a bit. "I'm not coming out of here."
He heard her click her tongue, and Dust smirked at having detected her attempt at reverse physiology. He heard her steps fade away, and went back over to his chair, looking out the window again.
How they thought they'd convince any rational person to become super monster bait for the rest of their lives, he didn't know.
-OxOxO-
Tanya stared around the room. People – from the most bland looking humans, to people who claimed to be elves and dwarves who seemed to be just a bit taller or shorter than average, to the 'beastmen' that gathered in one of the dingier corners of the guild – were dressed in as little as a scarf around their neck and a few strips of cloth covering anything that might be considered risqué to as much as full plate armor, stared towards the front of the guild, where Luna was sitting in front of the door, or looked around the room, bored.
Wiz sat next to Luna, chatting about something. Tanya couldn't make out what it was over the din of the conversations around her, but she guessed it had to do with either the potions or some other adventurer-related thing.
Tanya had spent most of the rest of yesterday getting the Succubi to Wiz's shop and then helping Wiz direct them to make the five racks of ten potions next to Luna.
She might have cared about getting permission to make the illegal potions, but the Succubi were well-known among the police, who would understood that they wouldn't be able to prosecute the Succubi for their crime without implicating nearly half of Axel in their ring of sin.
As soon as an hour had passed since Luna had sounded the alarm, she stood from where she'd been seated next to Wiz and a bunch of other workers at the guild. "Everyone! We're going to be telling you what you need to do!"
The conversation that had been going on quieted, and Tanya and Viktoriya rose, walking towards the bar area. No one was there, and anything that resembled a glass or cup or alcohol had been removed.
Both of them stared out and watched as Luna cleared her throat. "Everyone. You all know what the problem plaguing Axel is: the General of the Demon King, Verdia!"
Terrified murmurs rounded the room, and Tanya took the time to seek out familiar faces in the crowd. She saw that Lynn, Taylor, and Keith were seated relatively close to Luna. Darkness was looking determinedly away from Tanya , and Chris sat by the Crusader's side, glancing towards Tanya occasionally.
The Reincarnates she had divested of their weapons were scattered into three groups. Four of them sat near the front door, while another pair sat close to her own position. She could make out one last head of black hair close to the counters where people talked to the receptionists, which had been shut behind wooden paneling that was placed there every night when Luna left.
Tanya was sure that she had taken care of ten of them since she'd had her nearly fatal encounter with the Shapeshifter and the Lancer, which meant some had either moved on, or they'd died.
Luna's speaking cut off her thoughts before they could continue to a place she didn't want to contemplate. "Simply put, we couldn't beat Verdia if we tried. However, something must be done about how few quests we can assign, yes?"
Luna had been shocked at Tanya's proposal, but she'd heartily endorsed it.
Another murmur, this one of agreement, went up. No one had much money, and almost all of them had taken out loans from the guild. The whole system – and indeed, a large portion of the town – was only functioning because the capital was sending them money, according to Luna.
That money was only coming in because Axel provided an excellent source of new adventurers, with how the monsters weren't wiped out wholesale. If new adventurers didn't begin joining the main forces in the capital and along the cities fighting the Demon King, however, those funds would be cut off.
"Thankfully, Wiz has found a solution," she said, gesturing to the 'woman' behind her. The Lich waved a little, and many adventurers returned her greeting… energetically. She didn't seem off put by the wolf whistles, though.
Tanya stood straight from where she'd been leaning against the bar, slowly walking through the crowd. She was floating on half an inch of air, to ensure her steps were silent.
Luna gestured to the potions on the table, holding up one. Everyone stared towards the skinny, tall, bronze-colored bottle Tanya had been shown yesterday. "Using her knowledge, as well as funding and help from the Mithril Foundation, she made this potion, and the ones on the table, that attract monsters."
The guild was quiet for a moment as people digested her words. Then, applause began, followed by cheering and calls of hallelujah to Eris. People rose from their seats, clapping and cheering. They were moving towards the table, eager to earn money by taking out some monsters.
Tanya made no noise, quietly moving around tables and people as she made her way towards her target. They wouldn't be celebrating in a moment.
"However, there is a drawback," Luna continued, motioning for crowd to quiet. It did so, and only a few hushed conversations continued among the standing adventurers.
Tanya began to gather mana in her Type 97. "In order to activate, someone must drink the potion. And monsters will be attracted to whoever drinks it for the rest of their lives."
All of the quiet commentary ceased. No one was especially interested in sacrificing themselves, except for one person.
And, as Darkness began to raise a shaking hand, blushing furiously, eyes pinpoints as she imagined how much she could be ravaged with something like that and her Decoy, Tanya stopped her fantasies.
"Sleep. Reinforcement spell: Strength."
The woman slumped over, and Tanya held onto her by her shoulders. Chris looked alarmed, but Tanya shook her head, warning her off.
The Thief looked indecisive, for a moment, until an odd smile overcame her face and she turned back towards Luna, who was still brandishing the bottle.
Tanya had secured Darkness's immunity with Luna.
Tanya had also pointed out that Darkness would likely get herself killed. Luna acted confused, and then she'd thought Tanya was lying when she'd told her about the Crusader's fetish.
Tanya shook her head. Apparently, no one else had ever caught her being a masochist yet. Memories of her first quest with the woman reminded her that everyone thought she was a model knight, charging off into danger and soaking up damage.
Luna had, after Tanya's explanation and a single plea to believe her, agreed that Darkness would only be considered a last resort. Tanya wasn't sure if Luna understood that Darkness really was a masochist, but she didn't have the energy to try and convince her of that.
She sat down at a table, placing Darkness in the seat next to her, and watched as Luna looked around. Everyone, too busy eyeing the exit and windows of the guild, remained quiet to the plea Luna was making with her eyes.
Luna drew their attention back to her. "Please! You'll be compensated with free drinks and an allowance, in addition to whatever work you do! We'll be indebted to you for years! You'll get a large amount of cash!"
Still, no one spoke up. Luna sighed, and she snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, the windows of the reception counter burst open, and police began to pour out. From the rafters, unseen by all, more police officers began to drop down, hanging onto pieces of rope that had been placed there. A flurry of motion passed, where they positioned themselves around every window and door. The rest of the guild staff had come in through the front doors, helping the police officers shut them.
Before anyone could blink, the room was locked up tight. The adventurers around her were beginning to panic, while Viktoriya slipped into the seat across from her. A young voice jumped out of the crowd.
"Why?"
Luna shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, but Axel is in real dire straits. If we don't start bringing in monsters soon, the nobles will soon become unreasonable. They might force you all to fight Verdia with the aid of their guards, just to see if someone could do it."
The adventurers were getting antsy. If Dust had been there, he might have done something stupid, like provide everyone with the idea that they should just destroy all of the potions.
Thankfully, there wasn't anyone moronic enough to suggest something like that, so the adventurers waited for a minute. Conversation began to break out, mostly from younger adventurers.
They asked the older adventurers to be spared.
None of them looked particularly inclined to be merciful.
Tanya sighed. Fine, she'd use the last card they had. They could keep the adventurers in here for as long as they wanted, but they'd never get anyone to volunteer by starving them.
So she'd try something else that even Luna didn't know about.
"Male adventurers. Please come this way."
She said this two more times, and they began to come towards her. She walked to a corner of the guild, which 'conveniently' had no policewomen near it.
She turned to them. She could spot Keith and Taylor, and the new kid that had asked Luna 'why' was there too. She didn't see any of the Reincarnates, however.
She cleared her throat, and then began. "What do you all think the shortage has been doing to Axel?"
Most of them shrugged noncommittally, but Taylor stepped forward. "It's been bad for the people, right? We can't provide monster parts, and we can't spend our money getting our things repaired. They've been going out of business and having to move."
The other adventurers nodded slowly, some of them remarking about the quests for helping people move to nearby villages or even farther away, like other cities and the capital.
Tanya stared around the rough grouping of people, casting one last glance at the females scattered around the rest of the guild. She then turned her gaze back to them. "What do you think will happen to businesses if Adventurers don't do business?"
No one answered, and Tanya pressed forward. "Axel is unique; its police are lenient, the guild is lenient, everything is more relaxed because everyone here is supposed to be a new adventurer. If Axel get wiped off of the map because no one can do business, however…"
"A business that some of you enjoy will soon be forced to disappear. Forever." She finished her last sentence with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. None of them understood, for a moment.
Then, they began to put things together. A man in full bronze-plate armor gasped. Keith began to choke on his own spit. A bronzed man with horns on his helmet whimpered. A few of them didn't realize the truth, but Tanya knew that enough of them had.
They probably wondered how she'd found out about the Succubi's shop, but none of them were dumb enough to say that out loud.
Some of the more… 'innocent' among them might seek to turn them into the police, and uncover the whole operation.
Smirking, she held up a slip of paper. "This is a coupon. The first five people that drink the potion will be able to go to the wonderful shop of their dreams, and partake in their services for five years."
They stared at her incomprehensibly. "For free."
All of them paused for a moment, and then they made a mad dash towards the front, fighting to be the first there, visions of just how many dreams they'd be have dancing inches in front of their faces.
They were too late, however. To Tanya's wonder, someone was already there, sipping on one of the five racks of potions.
Her long black hair dipped passed her shoulders, and most of her clothing was as black as her hair. A black cloak, a black dress, even her staff was a solid black, with the only spot of color coming from the top of her staff, which held a simple, blue orb.
Tanya might have described her as physically beautiful, but the miasma of disrespect and general apathy she gave off was almost visible.
She smiled at them. "Hello! I've already finished off one of the racks; you'd better decide which of you will get the other four before I take those too!"
Tanya watched as the male adventurers who so greatly desired her tickets devolve into fighting, clawing at each other's throats.
For her part, Tanya was just staring at the Reincarnate.
…Hadn't she given that staff to Chris?
-OxOxO-
"Maybe I should look into poisons…" she muttered under her breath.
They were heading to a vast field just outside of Axel. Everyone who had been trapped in the guild had been let go the moment the last of the potions had been consumed, and they had decided to head out, to see if this would work.
Tanya was walking with Viktoriya. Darkness was still asleep, and Chris had volunteered to stay behind at the guild.
Tanya had smiled at her and thanked her, privately wondering how Chris was arming the Reincarnates.
She didn't particularly care about the why. Some of the 'Divine' Relics still held a bit of latent power. Tanya had wanted Chris's skills, however, and she had thought they would be sold to the General Store and never seen again.
Back in the guild, when Tanya had looked around Chris, she had switched her train of thought when she'd noticed that a number of the other Reincarnates were also staying behind. Thoughts of how best to skewer the Thief had instead began popping up in her head, like daisies in the spring.
Tanya was silent for only a moment longer – to make it away from the sight of the gates – before she turned to Viktoriya. "Chris is a possible threat. I'll tell you more when we get back."
The woman blinked, digesting the information. She nodded unerringly, and had stared ahead, walking along with the rest of the adventurers.
The five who'd drank the potions – the Reincarnate, the bronze-plated adventurer, a heavily bearded man with heavy armor on his arms and not much else, an older fellow with streaks of gray running through his short hair, and a small, unassuming Thief – were in the center, being guarded by the rest of them.
No monsters had jumped out yet, but they'd heard rustling in the taller grasses as they'd walked to the field. Nothing had come out yet, but many were finally hopeful.
Another thirty minutes of walking placed the five of them squarely in the center of the field. Everyone else was standing far away or had concealed themselves, waiting with bated breath for the monsters. Tanya and Viktoriya, under the cover of Tanya's Lurk skill, had taken off into the air. Just in case.
Then, something happened. The ground began to shake, quake, and rumble. Tanya and Viktoriya, concealed by Tanya's Lurk, looked around themselves, Observation spells shining brightly.
Soon, from the distant forest, figures began to gather near the tree line. Then, the grasses surrounding the plain began to quiver. Portions of the ground, bumpy and uneven, began to disappear as slimy surfaces revealed themselves.
Everything seemed to pause for a moment, before it all began barreling as one towards the five adventurers in the middle.
Tanya could see all manner of beast – One-hit-Kill bears, Slimes, Squirrels, Frogs, insects, Worms, Rabbits, Wolves, and even a goblin or two. And that was what she could name.
Just as they had revealed themselves, the Adventurers did too. Thieves dropped their Lurks, and they met the beasts head on. Soon, pockets of adventurers were being surrounded by monsters.
However, Tanya wasn't worried. All of the adventurers, from what she would see, were greatly enjoying their time, happy to finally be able to fight after weeks of inactivity.
Everyone was cheering, or they were shouting the spells and skills. Except for exactly seven people.
Two of them were, of course, herself and Viktoriya. The four males who'd drank the potion were watching the others who were fighting with envy, while the Reincarnate was laying on the ground, her hat covering her eyes.
This tactic of lying in wait and using the monsters' fixation on the five of them to kill the things while they were distracted would only work if none of them moved away.
The whole thing was based on the predictability of the monsters movements, and Tanya could honestly say she was impressed by everyone's collective ingenuity. She hadn't even contributed that much.
Slowly, Tanya floated down from the sky, softly landing next to the Reincarnate. She dropped her Lurk, and waited for them to notice her.
When none of them did, she cleared her throat. The four males made shocked sounds, but the girl just smiled.
"I suppose you're her to ask me about this?" she asked, shaking her scepter above her head. Tanya nodded, and she sat up.
"Buzz off, bozos," she shouted, and the other four backed up. She stepped closer to Tanya and Viktoriya, and before she could ask what she was doing, she threw out a Fireball.
It touched down in only a few seconds, clearing an area and ensuring that they weren't about to have a conversation on top of a monster. Aya turned to them as she walked backwards towards the spot she'd cleared.
"I don't like bugs," she said. Tanya blinked, and then followed her with a scowl at the waste of mana. Viktoriya trailed behind as the woman in front of them…
Tanya blinked at the sight of a shining orange barrier.
Slowly, the other four, who had been watching them closely, clicked their tongues at her and turned their backs, mumbling. Tanya felt the urge to leave the woman alone too, but she fought it when she realized that it was the barrier attempting to mess with her head.
Mess with her head…
"Hey." The girl's word broke Tanya out of her trance, and she stared at her.
The girl smiled. "It's not a force field like I was promised, but it works well enough that, should things get messy, the other four will die before I do," she said, smirking and looking knowingly at Tanya, expecting some kind of a reaction.
Tanya nodded. "A good plan. Can I buy it?" she asked, keeping a straight face and trying not to smirk.
The girl sighed. "Jeez, you're not very fun, are you? But that's fine, I wouldn't expect you to be, not with the sob story you have for a past."
Tanya bristled at the reduction of the horrors she'd been through, but the woman didn't care. She sat back down on the ground, patting the rough circle that had been cleared with her Fireball spell. Tanya sat and, after a moment, Viktoriya followed.
The woman took off her outer cloak, and considering the heat of the sun, Tanya couldn't blame her. She gestured to her scepter. "I got this back from the silver-haired Thief in your party. Don't trust her."
Tanya glared at the ground, and the woman chuckled.
Tanya looked up, and the girl spoke, mostly to herself. "Yeah, I'm glad I backed out of that deal."
Tanya sent her a questioning eyebrow, and the woman shrugged. "Four of them – and that Chris girl – think that they can take you on. They really want you dead, for whatever reason. Myself and two others thought differently, and we've decided that fighting you isn't worth the trouble."
Tanya nodded. "A wise decision, Miss…"
She smiled. "Just call me Aya."
"Aya, then. The other two who sided with you are…"
She smiled, handing out the information freely. "Shizuka, the one with the wand, and Takashi. He's-"
"The one who had the skill," Tanya finished for her. He had been the one she'd managed to save, and she'd taken care to remember his name.
Aya nodded, and Tanya asked her last question. "Why tell me all of this? You don't have any obligation to me."
Aya frowned briefly, and it surprised Tanya that the woman could care enough about something to frown about it. "My death wasn't a nice one. I was thankful to be given another chance, but I wasn't going to fight in a war I knew nothing about just because they told me to. I wanted safety, more than anything else, but I was also interested in seeing something new."
She sighed and looked into Tanya's eyes. "You could have taken away that second chance, robbed me of everything I had, and left me to die. You could have even killed me yourself. Instead, you gave me money, allowed me to carry on, when I could," she said, gesturing to her scepter with a nod, "become a threat again. Regardless of whatever else you've done and promised, you allowed me to live."
She let her hat fall back onto her face. "Plus, you found this potion. Thanks to that, I got what I wanted: a life free from actual danger with tons of people that'll fall over themselves to help me. By giving you this information, I don't feel indebted to you, and you won't feel like you can boss me around because you spared me."
With that, she settled down, using her cloak as a pillow and curling up on the ground. Tanya stood up, gesturing to Viktoriya. It was time to help out.
They could take care of the treachery later when they got back.
-OxOxO-
He tried to get away. He knew that he probably shouldn't be out here – he'd recently come in from his backwater village. He had been the only adventurer there for many years, defending the village from monsters when the guild in Axel couldn't be called upon in time.
Once here, he'd been praised as a natural and taken an advanced class. Then, not a week into arriving here, the beautiful woman at the front of the guild had been surprised at how strong he was. He just wanted to prove himself to her and everyone else that said he was strong.
Now he realized just how outclassed he was.
He turned around, and gulped as he stared down his enemy. Fur as black as night and heavily built, the Rookie Killer's yellow, feline eyes seemed to stare into his very soul. He'd tried fighting a group of goblins, and had been able to take out a few with his two-handed blade.
It seemed to be wary of the adventurers around it, but it seemed to notice that they were busy with others.
He grimaced. Of course it knew that. Rookie Killers were some of the smartest monsters around, despite their inability to talk like more dimwitted monsters, like Goblins.
Sword shaking, he raised his blade. If he was to die, he'd do it fighting.
It seemed to wait a moment, before it moved. He could hardly keep track of it, but he was able to see that it had raised its paw high, aiming to slash down on him. He raised his own sword, praying that he'd be spared-
"Sharpen Blade."
Suddenly, the beast was gone. Only a whoosh of air told him that the thing hadn't simply disappeared. He looked around himself, and gasped in awe.
A woman had run her blade through the beast's head, her oddly shaped spear pointing through its left eye. The thing didn't seem to have even been able to react to the woman's attack.
She turned around. "Are you alright?"
He didn't respond. He was too taken aback.
She had short blonde hair that stopped just above her shoulders – though some of it also hung lower – and a green cloak that seemed to swirl around her. She had on gray gloves that concealed her hand and forearm, and she was clutching the odd spear in them.
She asked again. "That cut looks pretty nasty. Are you okay?"
He shook his head, and touched his nose.
Wet.
He lifted his fingers in front of his face, and noted he was bleeding. "I- I don't feel it…"
The woman sighed, and said, "Heal."
He felt the wound closing, and he marveled as he touched his face again. He could feel that a scar had been left, but not much else.
The woman stood up straight, looking around herself. Just as it seemed like she'd be leaving, he blurted out, "Who are you?"
The woman turned to him. "Tanya von Degurechaff. And you?"
"Rex."
She nodded. "Well Rex, I'd suggest that you should get yourself a party. Having people you can trust help you in fights like these is important."
With that, Tanya left, leaving a star-struck man to contemplate what he was doing with himself. He began to look around and spotted another pair of people – one tall male with dark blue hair and a female with some armor and a spear – and hastily made his way over to them, thoughts focused on the woman who'd saved him instead of his surroundings.
-OxOxO-
Verdia looked out at the legions of undead.
He shook his head. Well, legions was a bit of a hyperbole.
He had a few hundred undead under his employ now, and thanks to Degurechaff, he'd managed to get quite a few undead of superior quality.
When he just stood around and attempted to bully them into rising again, the best he got were simple Zombies, Undead Knights, and, with the occasionally angry Mage or Priest, a Zombie Maker.
With her instructions on how to appeal to their grudges, however, they hadn't spawned a single Zombie. All of them had become Knights, Zombie Makers, and even a highly coveted Undead Mage had risen.
An Undead Mage was smarter than many low-tier undead, and Verdia had been wanting one for quite some time. They didn't compare to beings like himself or Wiz, but they were powerful enough to resist a Priest's attempts to exorcise them.
Despite the good success, Verdia couldn't help but be annoyed at the Reincarnate. He'd been hoping to stall his attack on the town by saying they didn't have enough forces, but with these undead, he could take out the town in no time.
Plus, he wouldn't have to attack it and kill a bunch of people that couldn't really even be called opponents. The town, from Ragcraft's reports, was on a steady decline. They wouldn't have been able to be considered a town in a few months, with the damage his presence was doing to their economy.
Suddenly, the faint sound of burrowing reached his ears, and Ragcraft, in his Giant Worm form, popped out of the ground, shook a bit of dirt off of himself, and then began to stalk towards Verdia, wearing his human form again.
He sighed tiredly, but he gestured to the seat next to him. Ragcraft threw himself into it.
"We have no more bodies."
Verdia felt an eye twitch. "Why not?" he asked, keeping his voice level. He could guess, but it was best to-
"Wiz. She figured out our plan, and was at the graveyard when I showed up. And get this: she said that the corpses are technically 'non-combatants' and that she would abide by our taking them anymore."
Verdia chuckled. That was an audacious claim, but Wiz wasn't interested in what they thought or the letter of their contract with her.
If they touched them, she'd try and kill them.
Verdia looked at his forces, numbering over six hundred, and noted that he didn't think he could take her, not even with the undead around him.
"Well, I suppose we'll have to-"
Ragcraft cut him off with a smirk. "No. I slipped in and retrieved a letter from our king. We're to both report back, and you're to explain why you made that deal with Degurechaff. And before we leave, you're to begin an attack. Don't use all of your forces, but he's ordered you to remind them of how fearful they should be feeling with a Demon General so close by."
Ragcraft stood still, glaring triumphantly, and Verdia sighed. The reminder of how he was technically failing in his mission by not finding either the Double Blessed Reincarnate or by destroying the town irked him. He sighed. He supposed he might as well attack it.
If this Double Blessed Reincarnate were there, they would have to come out and fight him. If they weren't he'd be fine.
Maybe… a comparison to Norse? They were supposedly very technologically advanced, and claiming that Degurechaff might be able to do more damage in the long term than even the Mobile Fortress Destroyer might get him to see his view.
-OxOxO-
A/N 2: Finally, things are coming to a head. Tanya has to abandon Darkness, and she realizes Chris really doesn't like her for whatever reason. Verdia is beginning to come to Axel, and it looks like Chris might try something soon.
Another mystery gets brought up – Tanya refers to an inhumane spell worse than forcibly dehydrating someone. It's probably pretty easy to guess what it is, so why don't you leave your guesses in the reviews?
In other news, Rex, another one-off character – this time from the Megumin Spinoff – gets introduced. Aya, an OC Reincarnate, gets a bit of time. Luna, Wiz, Dust… honestly, almost everyone gets a bit of time in this chapter. Really happy about that.
The next chapter will come out some time next week, but if you want it early…
If this story gets 500 follows or favorites by Wednesday next week, I'll give you the next chapter early. If I get 500 of both by then, you get the next two by then. Sound like a good deal?
A/N 3: Replies to reviews on this website:
cj1of4: Tanya will help Wiz out right before she decides to leave Axel for a while.
DNWorks: If she joins him, Tanya would probably kill people if given the order – she was a soldier and had no problem with it in the Empire – but she would also probably try and end things in a less wasteful way than simply killing everyone. She has had to deal with quite a lot of death, and if she can find some wiggle room in her orders, she'll exploit it.
SurplusTime: Thank you for the support! As for your questions… yeah, his quiver being on his back was a 'this is fantasy so of course that's how it works' moment, I'll change it.
Darkness does have a high magic resistance, but as Megumin's mother shows in the 5th LN or in the KonoSuba movie (presumably, I haven't seen it yet) that resistance can be overpowered. Darkness's quick recovery is this resistance in action.
OmegaRaguel: You are correct, and the change has been made.