Things were quiet, relatively speaking. The animals and vegetables made the occasional noise and the wagon sounded as rickety as ever, but Tanya and Viktoriya made no attempt to converse.
Tanya was designing yet another product – a pocket watch, this time – while internally marveling at how helpful the Smith technique was for this stuff.
She didn't mind that she couldn't make the very heavy armor that the more advanced Blacksmith skills unlocked, because she needed precision for these things, and that skill was not about precision.
She was even contemplating seeking out some of the Blacksmiths in the capital and trying to see if they had an upgraded version of Smith that allowed for even more precision. Tanya wasn't sure what the people here would use such a thing for – maybe artwork or sculptures? – but she was willing to try and find something.
Viktoriya was writing in what Tanya assumed was her newest diary.
Tanya hadn't seen the old, small, red book she had used for the same purpose back in the Empire, and she assumed that Viktoriya had left it in their last life. It was nice to see that she was just as dedicated to her old goal of keeping track of her life.
Lorelei, who Tanya made sure to keep throwing the occasional glance at, seemed to be confused about something, if the annoyed twitch of her ears or the way she was constantly sharpening her sword was anything to go by.
When Tanya had sent her a fifth look over the top of her drawings, the beastman finally seemed to have been pushed over the edge. She threw her blade at the ground – thankfully not crashing through the wood that made up the floor of the cart and breaking everything – and sent a glare at Tanya.
"Fine. What do you want?"
Tanya shrugged noncommittally. "A bit of conversation wouldn't-"
"No," she said, her eyes narrowed and pointing an accusing finger, "What do you want for protecting me? You obviously have some motive if you'd just help a Monsume you didn't know."
The reminder of what happened last night brought back other memories Tanya would rather forget, and she tried to take a calming breath.
She looked up at Lorelei, the earlier inquisitiveness that had been in her glances gone.
"I have something of a… personal bias against rapists," she said.
Though Tanya thought she had been remarkably calm, Lorelei's reaction said otherwise.
The look of anger on the face of the woman opposite of her faded, and fear replaced it. Tanya took another calming breath, and Lorelei cleared her throat.
"…What did you do to them, anyway?"
Tanya smirked, cast a look out of the small, closed doorway that lead to the front of the vehicle, and began to whisper. "While I would have liked to do more, I cast Sleep on them and moved them to their observation posts. With any luck, they've been fined heavily."
Lorelei looked alarmed, but Viktoriya shook her head. "We should have done more," she stated.
Lorelei looked at Viktoriya, confused.
Wasn't she supposed to be the one who reigned in Degurechaff? Lorelei hadn't paid the two much more thought than anyone else did, but if even Dust claimed that the other girl's arrival had seemed to… relax Degurechaff, then she was willing to believe it.
Why was she the one chomping at the bit for action?
Tanya rolled her eyes. "They deserve worse than a fine, but we couldn't do anything to them without other people getting suspicious."
Silence reigned for a moment, and only the sounds of the road underneath them and the wagon around them intruded on their thoughts. Lorelei quickly swallowed the awkward cough she had been about to let out.
She was quickly coming to the conclusion that those four people would probably have been murdered if the pair thought they could have gotten away with it.
Was that typical of nobles? Probably, but that didn't mean she wanted to get tied up in that sort of stuff. She gulped and decided that sticking close to them was probably not a good idea.
She'd need to get rid of whatever debt she owed them for having been 'saved' first, though.
She cleared her throat, and tried to sound somewhat normal. "The question still stands. What do you want from me?"
She didn't know what to expect.
Tanya was a noble, so she probably wouldn't demand something like money… unless she wanted a lot. Lorelei didn't think she had any equipment that would strike their fancy, even with how basic their equipment was.
Despite her lack of expectations, she was still stupefied by her request. "Were you born a beastman? One of those fuckers said that you got fused with a rabbit, and I was… wondering where you guys came from."
Tanya had bet that the beastmen as a whole were probably the result of some Japanese reincarnate getting frisky with some sort of magical creature… but that was her best guess.
Viktoriya had suggested that it might have been some sort of medical procedure, but none of the people they asked – beastmen or not – took the question seriously.
For her part, Lorelei scoffed. "You sure are lacking common knowledge." She looked down at the wooden flooring, and sighed tiredly.
This was better than having to walk back to Axel or having to give them her money or something, she supposed. Still, telling them…
She shook her head. No…
Obviously, she wouldn't tell them everything. Just enough to abate their curiosity, and then she'd leave the moment they got to the capital.
She breathed in and began. "As Mages, I'm sure you know how finicky magic can be?" she asked.
Tanya and Viktoriya shot each other a mirrored glance, and both turned back, nodding in unison.
Lorelei took a deep breath, and crossed her arms. "I was travelling to Axel in what was supposed to be a short trip to pick up supplies. Axel is… one of the smaller centers of trade, despite its distance from the capital and lack of major resources. I didn't want to take a week-long trip, so I splurged a bit by purchasing a teleportation to Axel."
She glared at the flooring. "That was the worst mistake of my life."
"Teleportation is magically draining, and with inexperienced Archmages, things can go… wrong. Maybe you only go half the distance, or maybe you don't go anywhere and the spell fails entirely."
"In this instance, a rabbit jumped in the circle at the last minute. Their concentration was disrupted, and I jumped back."
"When we got to Axel, I had been changed. My… hair is white, and I have rabbit ears."
She sighed dejectedly. Tanya got the feeling that that wasn't everything, but Viktoriya spoke at that moment. "I mean… is it that bad? It doesn't…" she trailed off as she looked to Tanya beside her.
That was the wrong thing to say, apparently.
She shot Viktoriya a look of bitter anger, but it cooled a bit when she saw that Viktoriya was honestly confused.
She shook her head sadly. "Geez, you two really don't know anything…"
She stared at them, sadness present in every feature of her face, and Tanya winced. "The moment we arrived, everyone around me recoiled. My contacts in the city refused to talk to me, or they set the police on me. Even the person I loved, when I sent him a letter pleading for him to help me, nearly threw up the moment he set his eyes on me."
"Maybe, maybe, these changes have helped me be an adventurer."
She clenched her hands into fists. "But I wanted to be a Tailor! One of the best in all of Belzerg! A single, tiny little misstep sent me into abject poverty and having to fight for my life on a weekly basis, at least."
She started at the ground again. "The worst part is that I don't even know what I did to get forsaken by Eris and get so unlucky. I went to church, attended and lowered my prices at festivals, and followed the rules to a tee. What could I have done differently?"
Tanya blinked at the girl.
Well.
She had… not been expecting that much. A simple 'teleportation accident' would have sufficed as an answer.
Tanya tried, for a moment, to contemplate what she could say that wasn't an insult against religion. Lorelei didn't seem all that hateful of her – former? – faith...
Then, Tanya began to think beyond the information.
Her eyes narrowed.
Tanya wanted, for a moment, to believe that she was oversharing in an attempt to get them to pity her and take her under their wing, but Tanya thought back to the way she'd treated them last night, or the way she had looked down at herself.
Tanya had recognized that look easily, and she could certainly empathize with someone who didn't particularly like the body they were currently using.
While Tanya was safe in her knowledge that Being X set her up, Lorelei didn't even have the consolation that there was nothing she could have done to avoid it.
Not that she'd declare her real gender out loud. If those Orcs could figure out her actual gender with a glance, then other people could probably put the facts together.
Helping them in that regard by giving them more clues probably wasn't a good idea.
"Well… do you want to party up with us?"
She looked up sharply, eyes wide for a moment and then narrowed the next. "Why should I?"
"Look," she began, trying to convince her, "I'm trying to be nice-"
"That's a surprise," Viktoriya said, cutting her off.
Tanya blinked, and then she scowled at the innocent-looking Viktoriya.
She smiled and glared at her at the same time. "Real funny, Viktoriya. Just the cutest little comedian on this rickety wagon," she shot back, turning back to Lorelei and smirking at the soft squeak she made.
Viktoriya was just as easy to tease with a backhanded compliment as always.
"Yes. Well, if you have a plan for when you get in the capital, then by all means, go about your business. However… if you'd like to join us, even temporarily, then I'm making an offer."
Tanya had no doubt that, if she was just trying to use them – she knew of them by name, after all, so she undoubtedly knew that they were successful – then her sob story would fall apart over time. If it was the real deal, then they'd stick together for a while.
Either way, Tanya and Viktoriya got a good teammate out of it for at least a little while. That couldn't be bad, unless she was working for Mary…
Tanya reached across the small aisle, an eyebrow raised to hide her true thoughts. Again, if it was a ploy to get close to them like Chris had, they would figure that out eventually.
Lorelei glared at Tanya's hand for a moment, until she sighed, and held out her own hand, shaking Tanya's.
Tanya smirked, and Viktoriya smiled. It seemed that they were up a party member, and they hadn't even had to get to the capital. It seemed things were going to go well, then.
Just as Tanya was about to go back to her work drawing, however…
"So. Are you actually a girl? Those Orcs seemed pretty interested in you."
Tanya stared blankly at her page, and then turned to Viktoriya, who was struggling to suppress her laughter. "Can we kick her out of this thing? I'm sure Mark wouldn't mind all too much."
-OxOxO-
Things had been nice after that. Conversation about innocuous things had followed – quests, skills, jobs, things most adventurers could find in common – and then they'd finally arrived.
The capital of Belzerg. Mark had announced it, and both Tanya and Viktoriya had leaned out of the back of the wagon and peered around the side of it to catch a glimpse of the city they were coming towards.
Walls loomed, and around them, farms flourished. They were passing through not an idle plain, but vast fields filled with crops. Tanya could spot farmers throughout it, while she was sure that she could see a slew of adventurers in the distance, fighting off a gigantic, bull-like beast.
The more impressive feature, however, were the walls. They were at least two times the size of Axel's, and instead of being a simple flat surface with pieces that jutted out of it for support and a piece of masonry that stuck out near the top, these walls seemed to be built to be quite… top heavy.
Tanya might have derided them for not looking like the ones she remembered from her last world, but the amount of stone that stuck out from the top told her that undead couldn't build themselves into a ladder anywhere near as easily as they had in Axel.
Over the top of the walls, Tanya could see a large castle stretching up to the sky. It looked decidedly European – there were none of the sloping roofs and typical signs of Japanese architecture she remembered from a short class trip to one back in her first life.
She sighed as she ducked back inside the wagon. It was all very… interesting.
The walls looked impressive, and the castle was majestic, and Tanya was sure that the thing had taken generations to build up… but her mind was pointing out just how easy it would be to destroy.
Artillery Shot spells meant that the walls of the city were more of a large target than a deterrent. The huge, towering castle was a sitting duck for aerial bombardment, from mages or planes. The closely packed houses that were likely to be crammed into the places would be wonderful tinder for a blaze that could burn the city to ashes.
Still, there was something about them that was… nice. At least aesthetically.
Maybe it was the relatively easy life she'd had living in this world talking to her?
She didn't know.
They soon reached the impressive gates, where the Guards did a check of the interior. They seemed shocked to see Tanya for some reason, but the four of them were hurried through quickly enough. Tanya didn't even have to answer any awkward questions about her weapons.
Mark got to his drop off with the rest of the merchants, where he waved goodbye to Tanya, Viktoriya, and Lorelei. He seemed confused to see the three of them walk off together, but none of them particularly cared.
Tanya turned to the other two, gesturing around the area. "So, you two have anything you want to do, or should we head to the guild and introduce ourselves?"
Lorelei seemed amused that Tanya thought they should introduce themselves, but she nodded her head. "Yeah. I should probably go find an inn that will take me."
Tanya frowned in concern, but she nodded regardless. If the woman wanted help, she would either ask. And, if she proved too prideful, Tanya would help her if she ever got in over her head, as long as they were teammates. "We'll meet up at the guild tomorrow, right?"
Lorelei nodded, and turned to leave. Tanya turned to Viktoriya, a smile playing at the edge of her lips. It was nice to finally stretch their legs. "What about you?"
Viktoriya shrugged. "I've got no problems going to the guild, as long as we can look around the city afterwards."
Tanya nodded her head. "Good point. We should figure out where all the important buildin-"
Tanya stopped in her tracks.
Frozen in a position of carefree conversation with an arm outstretched and her eyes half-closed. She was aware, in the back of her mind, that she probably looked ridiculous, standing in the middle of the street and not moving.
She wasn't even covered in gold or silver paint, to pretend to be a dazzling statue.
However, that was only in the back of her mind; much, much, much, much, much more important matters occupied all of her thoughts.
Viktoriya turned around, and looked curiously at Tanya. Tanya didn't react; she was trying to place something she had caught the barest hint of a smell from something she hadn't smelled in almost three months. Something… familiar.
Was it carnage and death? The smell of decaying bodies and blood? No, she had smelled those familiar things not more than a week ago in Axel.
Was it the smell of a wide open sky, unaffected by trees and the ground, high above the earth with the wind whipping passed her head? No, she had smelled that in between when she and Viktoriya had fought those Tranquility Girls.
Was it the unrelenting smog of industrial progress, cloying to and blackening every surface it touched, lungs and buildings alike? No, she'd smelled smoke in the Blacksmith's forge, and this smell wasn't bad.
This smell was… good.
It was very good. Tanya caught a whiff of it again, and her eyes widened in delight and desire as she realized what it was.
"Viktoriya," Tanya said, whipping her head towards the girl who had been considering dragging Tanya towards a nearby shop so that she wouldn't be in the middle of the street, "do you smell that?"
Viktoriya tried, for a too-small moment, but she shook her head. Tanya just grinned wider. "Viktoriya, I smell… coffee!"
She grinned maniacally at Viktoriya, whose eyes widened in dawning understanding.
Of course Tanya could smell coffee where literally no other human could have.
Immediately, Tanya set off, choosing a direction and checking the stalls and shops as they went.
She had managed to survive so far with a simple tea as her morning drink, but she hadn't been able to find any coffee.
Or, rather, any good coffee. She had found very, very cheap coffee powder, but she wouldn't touch that stuff for fear of it being contaminated with dirt or… anything other than coffee, really.
Even Viktoriya hadn't been able to transform that stuff into something palatable, which told Tanya all she wanted to know about trying to ingest it.
As they went, the smell of coffee grew stronger, as did the signs that they were approaching an area where food was sold; supply shops became restaurants, the goods people were holding changed from weapons and clothing to food, some wrapped up and some already made into meals, like fast food.
Then, Tanya found it. The wonderful – dare she say it, heavenly – smell of freshly brewed coffee was caressing her entire body.
It was a small shop, to be sure, considering its entrance was smaller than even the door to the Succubi's shop, but the materials it seemed to be made of suggested that it was either popular, or that it catered to a very rich clientele.
Tanya couldn't deny what she saw.
Tanya resisted the urge to barrel through the door and try to buy the shop outright and instead pushed on the door end entered the shop.
A small, gangly man was manning the counter, while everything that Tanya could think of related to coffee – bags of coffee beans, coffee presses, jars filled with coffee grounds, cups of all shapes and sizes, even a small stack of paper filters – lined the shelves.
She strode over to the boy, and slammed her hands down on the counter. He jolted up, but she paid it no mind.
Fighting to keep her voice level, she asked, "How much?"
He blinked at her dumbly, and managed to get out a stuttered "What?" in response to her. She narrowed her eyes.
"I said: how much? How much is a cup of coffee?"
"Five thousand Eris."
Tanya paused. That was… expensive.
She scowled after doing a few calculations. Actually, scratch that; expensive didn't begin to cover it. She sent him a slightly disbelieving look, but he just shrugged.
"It's very hard to import this stuff from the south, no matter how much the nobles here like it. Five thousand."
She glowered at him, but she pulled out the bag of cash that the merchants had given her for her protection of the caravan from the Orcs. "I'll take two cups of coffee, and," she said, turning around towards a mostly silent Viktoriya, "anything that she wants to buy."
Viktoriya looked up sharply, slightly confused, but Tanya continued to grin. "What, you thought you weren't making me coffee anymore? If you want, I'll pay you, just… please, make me coffee!"
She finished her sentence by jolting forward and grabbing Viktoriya by the shoulders, her face uncharacteristically pleading. Viktoriya's expression became panicked, and she nodded. "Alright! It's fine Tanya, I… don't mind! At all!"
Tanya grinned, and turned back to the storekeeper. He had a ceramic mug grasped in his hands. Tanya took the cup from him, and brought it up to her lips.
She managed to drink it all in one gulp, not particularly minding that it wasn't anywhere near the quality of the stuff in either of her past lives.
As long as she had something, it was better than tea.
She sprung out into the middle of the street, ignoring the look of bafflement the shopkeeper and fondness Viktoriya sent her, and spun around herself, to make sure that she took in everything.
After this, they'd be checking out the rest of the city. Besides the obvious need to make sure they understood the area on the off chance they had to fight the Demon King or Belzerg's own forces inside the city for some reason, Tanya was hoping they had more luxuries.
Coffee and chocolate were at the top of her list, but Tanya could think of a number of things she hadn't experienced in years in the Empire, thanks to the rationing near the end.
Coffee? A hilarious joke.
Chocolate? Not even all of Tanya's connections in the Empire could get her that.
Meat? Unless you enjoy eating stuff that would have become leather outside of a war, don't even think of it.
Bread? Sure, here it is. It's 50% sawdust, but it's what you get, so shove it!
While she had lovingly embraced some kinds of food once more, she was very keen to reunite with Visha's coffee and chocolate.
-OxOxO-
The noble stared dejectedly at the ground, slightly happy that, in the capital, no one made much note of nobles walking down the street. They were more common here, after all, and most of them had jobs they needed to do to keep the Kingdom and its war effort afloat.
Despite the small bit of happiness that fact provided her, Rain's glum expression told any who cared to look that she wasn't particularly enjoying her walk through the capital.
And why should she? She'd been separated from Iris, the one she was supposed to be serving.
Oh, it had been framed in polite terms, but the noble heading the meeting between Iris, Claire, and a number of nobles from the surrounding countries had essentially told her 'you aren't good enough for us.'
That had stung, and Rain was sure she'd seen some spark of resistance shine in Iris's eyes. However, she hadn't wanted to weaken Iris's position. She'd gracefully taken his suggestion to go about the capital and survey the guards and knights.
She wasn't doing that, of course; that was, technically, Claire's job, and Rain wasn't feeling particularly interested in doing such a monotonous task.
On the other hand, maybe she should have; it would take her mind off of her family's financial troubles and relative lack of status among nobles.
"This is the life!"
A noise rose from the general conversation going on around her. It wasn't particularly loud, and it wasn't very crass.
The voice was, however, very recognizable. Very familiar…
Rain looked around frantically, and then she shook her head. What would Iris be doing outside of the castle, when there was supposed to be a meeting?
She readjusted her hat, straightened her skirt, and moved her staff to her other hand. She began walking again. Maybe some inspiration would give her a good idea for getting her family out of debt?
She might not have liked their spending habits, but her family was her family; she'd try her best to find a way to get tens of millions of Eris. Then, they'd be considered proper company, and she could be seen with Iris instead of being regaled to the fringes of her meetings and parties like a common dog.
She looked around. Coffee houses, produce stores, bakeries; anything that Rain could imagine was consumed, she could probably find it here.
Rain shook her head. Iris wouldn't ever leave the castle, and even if she did, she'd never come to the shopping district. If she wanted something, one of her servants could easily find something of much better quality inside there than out here.
"Honestly, these people don't know how good they have it. Actual medieval people were probably never this well off."
Rain whirled around. Again, that voice…
Besides it being ever so slightly deeper, it was… Iris's voice. Rain whirled around, wondering why Iris would be outside of the castle.
Rain didn't hear the march of the kingdom's knights accompanying the voice, which meant that… if Iris was out here, she didn't have her guards.
She tried looking around again, and found nothing. There were just too many people, and Rain quickly realized that Iris would be too short to be spotted among the crowds. She quickly went to one of the shops and climbed up its steps, searching the crowd for a shock of blonde hair.
It took longer than she had thought possible, but Rain, ignoring the thought that she had just imagined the sound, found that shock of blonde hair.
When she did though, Rain wished that she'd just ignored the voice.
She took off down the steps, pushing through the crowd, begging Eris that it wasn't true.
Iris was a proper Princess, who wouldn't dare be out here, looking like…
She broke through, and found herself staring at Iris in abject horror.
Her beautiful, long hair was completely gone. It was supposed to fall down to her waist, but Rain wasn't sure that it even touched her shoulders now. None of it was braided, it looked unkempt, and Rain wasn't sure she'd even kept the cloth ties that went in her hair, unless she'd them under the atrocious looking hat perched on her head.
If the fact that she didn't have her hair wasn't enough, she wasn't wearing a dress.
She had a green cloak on, grey, bulky evening gloves that almost matched Rain's, and a simple white shirt. Her legs and feet were clothed in drab pants and boots. Rain couldn't get a glimpse of her front, and Rain hoped that the foolish girl had kept her jewelry at least.
To top it all off, an inelegant and peculiar spear was strapped to her back while she clutched bags of goods in her hands.
Rain shook her head, storming forward. The thought that it might not be Iris entered her mind, and…
Iris stopped, for a moment. Iris wasn't so free-spirited that she'd abandon such an important meeting, and it wasn't impossible that there was another noble that looked similar to her…
She began walking forward again. Rain would be able to confirm it easily.
If she got a good look at their face, that would settle the matter. If they spoke like Iris, were the same height as Iris, and even looked like Iris – disregarding the clothes – then it was almost assured that it was Iris.
She grabbed Iris by her shoulder and spun her around. Some of her bags hit the ground, and Rain noted that a cup of still-steaming coffee had hit the ground, but that didn't matter. Rain had gotten a single look at the person in front of her and confirmed the truth.
It was definitely Iris.
Her eyes were a very specific shade of light blue, like pieces of the sky. Everything from the most common blonde hair to the exceedingly rare shape of her head – among nobles, anyway – told Rain that the person in front of her was Iris.
Rain stood up straight and began to lecture to Iris admonishingly. "Princess Iris, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in a meeting, not… dressed as an adventurer!" Rain declared, quickly figuring out the truth.
Iris was very fond of the stories that adventurers and Hero Candidates told them. It seemed that she must have rushed the meeting in order to partake in a bit of adventuring herself while Rain was gone.
As she took the girl's heavy hat and threw it on the ground, she nodded to herself. She must have given Claire some job that she'd love doing – like 'guarding' her clothing and undergarments – and snuck out of the castle.
As she reached for Iris's low-level mantle, two hands gripped her outstretched arm. Rain blinked in confusion, before tracing both arms back to their origin. One came from a rather irate looking Iris, while another came from…
Rain backed up reflexively. A commoner.
A commoner had grabbed her arm and tried to stop what she was doing. Before she could say anything, Iris spoke up.
"Just what do you think you're doing?"
Rain blinked, and then edited her assessment. Iris seemed to have blown passed irate and right into furious territory. Trying to make her tone placating, Rain began to speak.
"Princess Iris… I know you like your adventurer stories, but that isn't any excuse for doing a half-rushed job of things with the grand nobles and distracting Claire. Now, come along."
She tried to move her arm, and then realized that she was still being gripped by the commoner. She turned to them, trying to suppress the urge to tell them off.
Rain's family had neither the money to assault commoners regularly nor the influence to sway judges to turn a blind eye to such affairs.
Besides, she was supposed to be more down to earth. She would try being polite.
Before she could even speak, she was interrupted.
"Reinforcement spell: Strength," Iris muttered. Rain eyebrows came together for a moment – she didn't know that Iris had learned a new skill – before they widened again in pain.
Her arm was in pain, and Rain knew that she'd be receiving bruises at least. Her widened eyes looked at Iris in shock. "What-"
"I think you have me confused for this 'Iris' person. Please leave us alone."
She pushed Rain away, and Rain almost felt herself lose balance. Fortunately, one of her magic rings kicked in, and she stabilized herself. Her confused gaze lasted only a moment as it looked at Iris and her apparent companion.
The commoner was wearing very similar clothing to Iris.
She was wearing a jacket instead of a mantle, and she didn't have a hat on her head, though she had grabbed the one Rain had thrown off Iris's head. Other than those things and her height – she was at least a foot taller than the Princess – they could have been mistaken for the same members of a party.
Rain shook her head. "Iris, that's enough. You have work to do, and you're causing a scene. Such tomfoolery is below you. Commoner," she said, addressing each in turn. The brunette raised herself up from the aggressive stance she'd taken in front of Iris, pointing to herself.
Rain nodded, mentally apologizing to Iris for making her the center of attention.
She didn't hate it, but she had told them that it was draining. "You stand next to the Princess of Belzerg, Iris Stylish Sword Belzerg!"
Immediately, the crowd that had been forming a loose ring around them jumped back in shock.
Both of them seemed rather surprised, and Rain nodded. It seemed that her companion was as unaware of that fact as the crowd had been, judging by her confused expression.
She would hand Iris over and beg for forgiveness. What else would a commoner do?
Both of them looked at each other and the surrounding crowds, for a moment, and then nodded in unison. Before Rain could understand what they were doing, they moved, and an explosion engulfed them.
Rain was knocked back by the heat and force, and she felt her ring struggle and fail to right her stature. She hit the ground, and the crowd reeled. Smoke drifted into the sky, and neither of them were to be found.
Rain fought the urge to curse, and waited as guards and adventurers alike arrived on the scene, pushing through screaming crowds of the capitals common folk. She didn't see any Hero Candidates, but she could definitely these people to find her.
"Everyone! Search the area for… a small noble girl and a tall, female commoner. They're both wearing similar outfits."
While Rain didn't have a lot of pull in noble circles, she was still a noble. The group spread out and began to search the street, while Rain stayed in the center, describing them as best she could to the highest ranking guard she could find.
She couldn't say that it was Iris – that would reflect badly on the Princess, if she had caused such a ruckus – but she could give a good enough description, even without using her name. They would be found, and-
She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. She sighed in relief as she saw a concerned and stressed Claire standing behind her.
Rain nodded; with her here, they'd find them soon enough.
"Rain? What happened? I heard the explosion, and Iris called off the meeting so that I could investigate it. Is there an infiltrator running about?"
Rain opened her mouth to explain that Iris had somehow slipped out of the castle, when Claire words brought her up short.
Iris was… at the castle?
She leveled a stern stare at the guard, who left quickly. Rain, eyebrows knit and feeling rather confused, said, "What do you mean, Iris ended the meeting? She was just here, wearing an adventurer's clothing and carrying a number of odd purchases."
She gestured to the cup lying on the ground, along with a few pieces of clothing. None of it seemed to be up to Iris's level of wealth, but some of it might have adorned a wealthy merchant's daughter.
Claire's head tilted. "What do you mean? Iris wouldn't do something like that. She's perfectly well behaved, besides her fascination with the stories of adventurers."
Rain shook her head. "Claire, I swear to you that the person standing before me was Iris. The exact same face, build, and height. Her hair was cut as short as mine, and the only way I'd be able to tell them apart is their clothing."
Claire looked troubled. She brought a hand up to her chin, rubbing it as she thought.
Then, in a rush, her eyes widened. "Could it be some sort of infiltrator? Perhaps even a Demon?"
Rain sighed, and began to walk back to the castle with Claire. She needed to see for herself that Iris was fine.
She mulled the question over for a moment, and then began to speak again. "Possibly. However, I offered to bring her into the castle…"
Rain grimaced. If it had been an impostor, then she had almost made a blunder of epic proportions.
She'd almost brought an enemy into the castle. "She denied that she was Iris, and if some sort of Demon had the power to shapeshift and was intent on infiltrating the castle, she'd have taken my offer up immediately."
Claire grabbed hold of Rain's attention by striding forward. "Well, we can solve this easily enough. We'll go ask the Guild if they've seen anyone that matches her description, and then ask Iris if she's been out of the castle"
Rain nodded and supposed that that was the best course of action.
The guards would try their best, but searching the entirety of the city for two people wasn't exactly easy, especially if that commoner was a Thief, or an Advanced job above Thief. They could just remain hidden until the heat died down, and Rain may never see them again.
-OxOxO-
In a grand bedroom that was filled with all manner of items, clothing, and ornaments – not that she liked even half of them – the Princess stood in front of two people as cool nighttime air blew in from the open windows.
The peasants and commoners would think of them as nobles, not understanding their precise standing but acknowledging their power regardless.
The various knights and nobles that visited the castle would call them her retainers.
Her father and brother called them her most trusted retainers, and Iris did too.
Publicly.
In her mind, and when she could, she tried to show them that she thought of them as friends as well.
Which was why, in the wake of the small explosion and their story about a possible impostor, Iris was conflicted. Part of her wanted to believe Rain, and if Claire had confirmed the sighting of someone that looked like her from the peasants, then it was possible.
If someone had been able to replicate everything about her, however, that meant that there was a traitor in the castle or among the nobility.
No one else was able to get close enough to her to replicate everything about her otherwise, which meant that… one of her friends might be a traitor.
It hurt her to think of them in that way, but she was the Princess. She had to be pragmatic.
In another part of her, small and towards the back of her mind…. she wondered what she would look like wearing adventurers clothing. Something that wasn't tailored to her exact specifications, that itched occasionally, and that couldn't be thrown away at the smallest sign damage.
Iris shook her head. She was the Princess; such thoughts were unbecoming of her. Still…
"You are sure the Adventurers Guild hasn't heard of them?"
Both nodded. "They were annoyed at being woken, but once they realized what was going on, they hastened to assist us. They have not heard word of a new adventurer like that, and told us that they would not be getting any at all for a few days," Rain explained.
Iris tilted her head. "Why would it take so long?"
"Most adventurers cannot afford teleportation, and some that can feel that the possibility for failure or mistakes isn't worth the gold and saved time. They travel with merchants and provide them with protection. The next batch will arrive in just a few days, and not until then."
Iris nodded and then sighed. They really needed those adventurers, and every moment they took to get here was another moment that portions of the capital's defenses were weakened.
Claire stepped forward. "What would you have us do, My Princess?" she asked, eyes shining.
Iris tried to appear completely blank – this was a more formal meeting between the three of them, after all.
On one hand, she didn't want Claire and Rain to be distracted from running the castle and defending the capital. Things were precarious enough, and adding in her own selfish desires to the mix wouldn't help matters.
On the other hand, letting an impostor run around in the city, potentially causing havoc might be worse. And if they weren't an impostor, but instead someone who looked like her…
Iris looked up. "Please, try and find this person. If you have too much to do, then you can delegate it, but-"
Claire immediately spoke up. "Yes, My Princess! We will not stop until they have been found and we have received your praise!"
With that, Claire dashed out, followed by an amused and exasperated Rain. "Make sure to increase security around the castle and near the city walls, too. If they mean to harm me, then it would not do to be lax," Iris added.
Rain gave Iris a sidelong glance, nodded, and walked out of the room. She shut the doors behind her softly, and then…
Iris was alone, the only company she had being the dolls she'd been given when she was a child and the stars that hung above the city.
She left her room and walked onto the balcony, looking out across the city. The tallest buildings were clustered around the castle or towards the west, where the other nobles made their residences. Smaller buildings were everywhere, but one in particular caught her attention.
It wasn't particularly tall, and its red-tiled roofs didn't scream wealth. All the same, Iris looked at the Adventurers Guild with a sense of longing.
To be able to do what she wanted, fight for the good of the people, and find someone she could love on her own was a secret she'd told no one. The outside world was in front of her, but she could never reach it.
She thought of the possible impostor. Were they some disgusting minion of the Demon King, sent here to infiltrate the royal family? Or were they a noble who just happened to look like her, who'd somehow become an adventurer, ignoring their duties to do what they wanted?
She sighed and went back inside. Such fantasies shouldn't distract her. The meeting with a few of the closest grand nobles had gone well enough, but they had refused to give more money or soldiers without yet more promises that she couldn't make.
She just wasn't old enough yet.
Since they wouldn't help, that meant that she was out of options. She bit her lip…
If things were better, and the entirety of the front line – besides the area her father and her brother were holding – weren't being pushed, they could wait to beg for help. Instead…
She'd have to travel to Elroad and plead with her betrothed for more funds. Despite her misgivings and reluctance, they'd have to leave the capital, depriving the defenders of motivation, resolve, and, at the least, two people who could be trusted to defend Iris.
She sat down and began to write a letter. Arriving unannounced could mean scandal, so she'd send it via teleportation.
They needed funds more than ever, and Iris was ready to do her duty.
-OxOxO-
Tanya settled into her own bed, relishing in the comfortable cloth. She'd never take beds for granted again after her time on the front.
Not that these sheets were especially comfortable compared to any others Tanya had slept in. They'd actually checked into a cheaper inn than the one in Axel.
There were still two beds inside the room, and there was a small chest for storing things. Otherwise, however, there wasn't much.
Tanya didn't mind, though. They needed to save money on the off chance they could find a Blacksmith that would let Tanya use their equipment. She still needed to remake a lot of tools after Chris had managed to destroy them.
Tanya sighed.
She and Viktoriya now had limited supplies. Their Computation Jewels would function for a month before the wear and tear meant they'd begin to malfunction. Their guns could be maintained for a long while, but even their rifles would need repair eventually.
Most pressing, however, were their cartridges: they didn't have tons of them. Tanya hadn't been able to make many without her tools, but they had enough for two weeks, possibly… four. If they were very conservative with what they had left.
Tanya turned her head, expecting to find that Viktoriya was asleep.
She wasn't, and was instead staring worriedly at Tanya in the dark.
"Are you alright, Colonel?"
Tanya nearly scoffed.
Why did she insist on calling her by that rank? She had called her by her name plenty of times, and if she had to call her by a rank, couldn't she at least call her a Major-General? She'd climbed that high, after all…
Tanya didn't reprimand her or say anything, though. If Viktoriya took some sort of solace in what they had once been, she couldn't blame her.
Tanya stared up at the ceiling. "Yes, Viktoriya. How about you?"
She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then she sighed. Tanya's eyebrows rose in the dark. Viktoriya always seemed upbeat, but it seemed that she'd been decompressing a bit.
"Fine, I suppose… I was just wondering how much we're going to tell Lorelei."
Tanya sighed. "We can't tell her much, obviously, if we don't want her to run away screaming. It seems like she's had a pretty… unhappy past, if what she told us today is truthful. I think if we don't ask, she'll extend the same courtesy to us."
Tanya nodded, more to herself than Viktoriya, as she stared up at the dark ceiling.
This room might have had a window, but it was dark out. It seemed that even the capital didn't have enough money to put street lights everywhere, and the road this cheap inn was on didn't warrant any. It was a small reminder of Axel, but it was a reminder nonetheless.
"Are you sure we can afford to? I mean, we didn't tell Darkness all that much, and she thought that I was evil and trying to manipulate you…"
Tanya was silent for a moment, until she groaned. Yes, Darkness had been one of the reasons for Tanya's battles in and flight from Axel, and if the Crusader had known more about what Tanya and Viktoriya were trying to do, she might not have tried anything.
"You're right. As always, you seem to be able to find problems I'm just not able to."
She made a sound of shock, but Tanya shook her head. "No, no. It's true! You've done a lot to help me find things like that. You were the one who helped me come up with that idea to incite rebellion in the Russy Federation, remember?"
While the woman protested, Tanya thought back.
Tanya had been invited to a meeting of some of the big shots on the eastern front with the Russy, to help brainstorm ideas. None of the General Staff's plans were working, and even… those spells were only able to slow them so much.
The Kaiser had declared that they'd include as many prominent officers as possible, even those that weren't part of the General Staff. Tanya had been invited for her previous achievements and her ability to fight the Bloody Valkyrie. She had thought it was a sort of litmus test to determine if she could ever hold that kind of role permanently.
Ha. What a joke…
She shook her head. She hadn't been able to come up with anything.
Viktoriya, on the other hand…
Viktoriya had. She'd told Tanya that her family had told her how much trouble the ruling classes always had keeping down the minorities – Polish, Lithuanians, Finnish, and almost anyone else that wasn't near the heartland that had also been marginalized or exploited.
It hadn't been an idle remark, either. She had come up with the idea, entirely. Tanya hadn't had any input, besides in a few details.
Tanya had suggested it and referenced Viktoriya numerous times, and within the month, the Russy had been paralyzed by internal riots. The Empire's scorched earth policy had also meant that they were struggling to find enough food to eat.
Only the entry of the Unified States had slowed the Russy Federation's fall, and even then, it had seemed like the Empire would end the war at any time…
Tanya's thoughts. The end of the war… the Russy Federation… Grantz… Neumann…
Tanya fought to keep her breathing calm and push back those memories. She didn't even-
"Tanya!"
She snapped her head to the side and saw Viktoriya. She blinked rapidly, and then sighed tiredly. Those stupid memories still wouldn't just… leave her alone.
Tanya tried her best to look calm, but she doubted it worked very well. Viktoriya wasn't good at gambling and card games just because she had a poker face like no other.
Still, Tanya pretended that she wasn't being scrutinized. She laid on the bed, hoping that sleep would claim her before Viktoriya tried to continue the conversation.
A voice came from her right. "Do you… want to talk about it?"
Tanya's hair laid deathly still. Talk about it? About the end of the war? About it? About-
Tanya's head snapped to the side again, glaring murderously at Viktoriya.
Unsurprisingly – and wasn't that annoying – the woman's resolve held, though, and she just stared at Tanya and allowed the question to hang in the air.
Tanya resolved to shoot that question down as quickly and brutally as she could.
As if it were an Aerial Mage.
"No."
She turned over, even as Viktoriya continued to talk. "Tanya, you need to talk about it with someone-" Viktoriya began.
Tanya cut her off.
"No, Viktoriya. I'm not talking about what Lor- what he- what it did. Almost did."
Hate and anger and – it wasn't fear it wasn't it- wasn't it – welled up in her chest, and she turned back around to stare Viktoriya in the eyes.
"…unless you'd like to talk about what you did too?" Tanya spat out.
Viktoriya's eyes widened in shock. "Tanya…"
Tanya turned to the side, facing her back to her adjunct and ignoring the shame burning on her face.
She knew that that hadn't been necessary, and that it was more than just petty, but she would not talk about what had almost happened.
She hadn't had enough time to forget it… and Tanya didn't think she ever would.
Tanya tried her best to ignore the sniffling coming from Viktoriya, and she hoped that Viktoriya was giving Tanya the same consideration.
Tanya wasn't budging, though.
Eventually, all of her problems would be things of the past.
Or, she'd blow them up.
One or the other always happened.
-OxOxO-
A/N 1: So that ended on a rather… sour note. Still, it isn't like the only reason they've stayed together this whole time is because they were forced to by, say, their rank in the army or something, right? Absolutely no chance that one does something rash to try and resolve things.
And things had just started to look good, too…
Tanya got her coffee back, the 'Iris Arc' or 'Royalty Arc' (as I'm calling it) has started off with the head honchos of the Kingdom – besides the King and his son and Darkness's father, of course – wondering about the resemblance between Iris and this other girl.
I will not lie, when I first read Vol. 6 of the Novels and saw Iris, I immediately knew what I was going to do when Tanya got to the capital.
Oh, this will be good.
A/N 2: Replies to reviews:
Father Chaos: Believe it or not, they subverted Kazuma's expectations too, when he first met them!
rotuxxd: I do respond to comments in other languages, though keep in mind that I just slap it into Google Translate and hope that works well enough.
And to answer your one question: yes. If you go back and read the A/Ns and responses now that you're all caught up you'll get hints as to how it will be accomplished, but Tanya's gettin' her dick back, and for how much she'll be giving up to get it, it won't have any unfortunate side effects.
Now, while I agree with you that part of her essence is being a man unfortunately trapped in the wrong body, but Tanya is more than that. You know, with the tactical brilliance and the struggle with Being X and the murder and constant misunderstandings, among other things.
Besides, doesn't she deserve to overcome one of her problems for once? And it isn't as if this won't cause her just as many problems as it fixes.
Tanya will explain her thoughts on the subject more completely in chapter 30, but that's my take on it.
Prometheus-42: I am also upset that Darkness is staying behind. Unfortunately, with the suggestion Being X planted in her head kicking at the end of chapter 19 rattling around and pushing her to leave quickly, Darkness's responsibilities to her father and Axel, as well as a need to have someone with a positive opinion of Tanya to keep Kazuma, Aqua, and Megumin from doing something rash, she had to stay.
Considering this fanfic is going to end up well over 500k words, if not closer to 1m, we'll get plenty of time for them to interact later.
Although… you have given me an idea for another Omake…
Xpparda: Is she jealous…
Sort of? Visha's been telling herself that she doesn't have a chance with Tanya, so while she does, for a moment, contemplate if Tanya liked the kiss – and, by extension, if she would like more of that – she quickly buries the notion that Tanya would think of anything but the practical application of using unorthodox tactics in the heat of battle.
Lord of Moons: Living up to your name, I see?
In all seriousness, I hadn't considered it. I'll add it to the growing list of 'things people smarter than me have suggested so she can offload a whole bunch of stuff on Wiz'.
They do have glasses, actually. Sena, in the second season, constantly wears them. As for whether eyes could be healed…
Probably not. Heal can't do anything for disease, as shown by Darkness's cousin in the later volumes. If even Aqua's Heal can't fix a weak immune system, then it's likely that a limit is birth defects.
Naruto de Libra: Don't worry, I am aware that they're just suggestions. There will be infighting among the deities at a later date – if Wolbach being on the Demon King's side doesn't already count.
AlternateReality:
People are not exactly willing to talk about Being Raped, and trying to push people who have been through trauma like that – especially when they are stubborn and combative – has consequences.
As this chapter demonstrates.
Now, as for the romance, I did once change the tags to Hurt/Comfort when someone pointed out that the Romance wasn't there yet. I now realize that that is also too much, for a little bit.
The events of Konosuba take place on a much smaller timescale than the ones in Youjo Senki – absolute maximum is 4 years, and I'm not confident the timeline breaks three, without Megumin's backstory being added in. If I went at the usual pace of the postwar!Tanya fics, this thing would have been over by now.
I want more out of this than that.
It might be taking a while, but we will get there, and if you want something more fast paced, check out 'You Thought that THAT was Hard?' Tanya literally asks Visha to marry her in the second chapter. It doesn't get faster than that.
tl;dr *Insert incredibles meme about getting there when we get there*
Manuel: Thanks!
GremlinJack: I'll update the fight scene in the last chapter soon.
Pyromania101: I'm gonna be honest, I didn't get what half of either of you said because I've spent way too much time obsessing over, like, 7 fandoms and nothing else.
REGARDLESS, your point about Yunyun is not just good, but correct, when her interaction with the creep that Megumin scares of in Ch 2 of the 3rd Explosion spinoff LN, as well as her desire for friends to push her into considering using her future power as chief to domesticate monsters so she can have a friend…
She still has more friends than I do, though!
Anyway, thanks for putting the story on alert, and see you next time!