Needless to say, neither of them had gotten much sleep. With the sun peeking through the window, both were bleary eyed, and they'd taken twice as long to get ready for the day.
Viktoriya had, quietly, made the two of them coffee. Lovely smells had drifted through the air, and Tanya was reminded of the quiet and smaller portions of the war.
The portions when they had been travelling or waiting for orders to move forward. The portions during the winter when they didn't have to fight as much and they needed the extra warmth of her coffee to make up for the lack of food. The portions when things had been… better.
Tanya had almost thanked her for it out loud, and then she'd clamped down on her elation at receiving another cup her favorite coffee.
Instead, she had thanked her in a distant, polite kind of way, like she would have any old barista at Starbucks.
Viktoriya had responded in kind, and the rest of the morning had progressed like that. They'd help each other out or do things that had previously inspired amusement or a nostalgic reminder of the past, and then they would clamp down on anything other than professional greetings.
Tanya hated it, but she couldn't do anything about it.
If she admitted defeat, then she'd been wrong.
If she was wrong, that meant she'd have to talk about it eventually.
And she wouldn't do that. She'd willingly pray to Being X before that happened.
Tanya scoffed and pretended that Viktoriya wasn't pressed against the door to their room, wondering what she was doing. She pulled her shirt over her head and shook it soon after. Tanya wouldn't go that far…
Both left the inn they'd stayed at and asked a passerby for directions to the adventurers guild. They'd been suspicious, but they'd taken a single look at Tanya's hair, obstructed from view by her hood, and pointed them towards the direction.
Now they were there. It was certainly… different than Axel's guild.
Axel's guild looked like a tavern or some sort of administrative building from the outside. A large, well-to-do family might have even lived in it.
It had obviously not been built with the objective of holding off invaders, and there were many buildings that easily topped it in extravagance or in being defensible throughout Axel.
This one, on the other hand, looked like a castle in miniature. Flags and banners with the crest of the guild hung from every surface, declaring loudly to all that saw it exactly what it was. Its roof was still red, probably to help adventurers find it, but otherwise, it looked like a fortress.
Before Tanya went in, she turned her head slightly. "We'll not be taking a quest today. We still need to survey the town, since we didn't get a chance to yesterday, with all the running around," she said.
Tanya saw Viktoriya's face light up momentarily, before it quickly snapped back to an edifice of stone. A flash of both irritation and sorrow flashed across Tanya's face, until she snapped a mask of her own into place.
She turned back to the thick door and pushed it open.
The inside, unlike the outside, seemed just like the guild in Axel. There was boisterous laughter, conversation, and a din of happiness. Despite the apparently dire situation that the Kingdom was facing from its adversaries, it seemed like the inside of the guild was immune to that.
Alternatively, they could all be drunk.
Aerial mages weren't given an alcohol ration unless they asked for it, since flying with a bit of alcohol was worse than driving completely plastered, but most of the regular soldiers had been able to face the thought of death with a smile on their face because of the beer in their bellies.
Both of them strode forward, intending to skip the tavern and head for the front desk.
She tried her best to find a familiar face – whether from Axel in general, or 'Chris' or Lorelei in particular – but couldn't find anyone that immediately jumped out at her. She saw a few people from their trip over in the line in front of her, including the would-be rapists, but otherwise, she didn't see anyone particularly memorable.
She shrugged; she'd find their new partner eventually, and until then, she could contemplate everything she'd wanted to do to the schmucks that had threatened Lorelei. She strode forward, Viktoriya by her side, and stood in the line.
Unlike Axel, where every male – herself included – tended to favor lining up in front of Luna to watch her mountainous breasts wobble, each of the five lines were similar in length. She chose one, and sighed.
Hopefully, this wouldn't take long.
Thankfully, it wasn't. The line quickly dispersed, and Tanya studied the receptionist in front of her.
He wasn't anything to write home about – light brown hair with a set of thick glasses that must have weighed at least fifty pounds, and a truly outrageous amount of acne both marked his face – but he'd worked through the people in his line the fastest.
Hopefully, he was just a good worker and he wasn't skipping procedures.
Tanya strode forward, Viktoriya by her side, and introduced herself. "I'm-"
Before she could finish, he cut her off. "No need to declare yourselves. We only care about that when we get your information from the last town you were at. I assume you were with the group from Axel?"
Tanya nodded, and he waved her by. "You can accept any quest you want, then. Just make sure it's within your skill level."
Tanya nodded slowly, and walked from the counter.
Well.
She grinned maliciously. They could accept any quest, huh? She rubbed her hands together, wondering just how much she could earn. Before she could get anywhere, however, a voice called out from the crowd.
"Degurechaff? Is that you?"
She turned around, looking for the owner of the unfamiliar voice. It didn't take long – the rest of the conversation around them had died as people turned towards the outcry, while one person was moving.
Tanya's eyes widened as the figure dressed in bulky blue armor strode towards her. She put on a confident smile and pushed aside plans and her fears with Viktoriya. Maybe she'd get more advice?
"Mitsurugi! Nice to see you again," she said, pouring mana into a Reinforcement spell and shaking his hand. He seemed surprised by her Strength, and exchanged an even handshake.
Both of them found a nearby table and sat down, closely followed by their companions. Tanya ignored the glares that his companions were sending her. It seemed that they were still harboring the delusion that she was interested in him.
How idiotic. Who would assume that anyone within his vicinity was trying to bag him besides the incredibly vain?
"What happened to you? You left Axel without a word. Something about trying to find a Mage, right?"
He nodded and sighed. "Yeah. I traveled around a bit and tried to find a Crimson Demon outside of their village, but I couldn't find anyone."
She sent him a confused look, and he waved her concern away. "Crimson Demons are altered humans. They all have black hair, red eyes, supreme intellect, and an outrageous amount of magical power. I traveled to the village once, but no one there wanted to go with me."
Tanya's eyes closed, and then they snapped back open. Luna had told her about Crimson Demons a while ago, right?
"I couldn't find anyone, though. They don't seem to like leaving their village, I guess..." he said, trailing off dejectedly.
She sighed, privately guessing that most everyone had been scared off by his two very… protective companions. "I'm sure you'll find a Mage eventually."
His eyes lit up. "Hey! You must have changed to a more useful class if you're here! Are you a Mage by any chance?"
Tanya rolled her eyes. "Of course not. Still an Adventurer."
He rolled his eyes right back. "Degurechaff, you really need to change your class. You can't survive here with-"
"Prove it."
He blinked at her, but Tanya just grinned confidently. She'd do what she did last time she'd arrived at a guild: beat people in some sort of competition to prove her viability.
His head tilted, but Tanya just smirked. "Prove it. You've got a Swordmaster class, right? If you can beat me in some sort of competition, I'll concede that changing my class is an idea."
He looked reluctant. "I don't think that fighting a girl is-"
Tanya groaned, but Viktoriya piped up. "Then have one of them fight us," she said, pointing a pair of fingers and an appraising look at the two women by his side.
Tanya spared them a look, and noted that both were still wearing what they had been in their last meeting – which is to say, practically nothing.
In fact, it didn't seem like either of them had upgraded their gear. Tanya supposed that it was possible they had very good equipment, but she doubted it.
They seemed to be very interested in Mitsurugi because of his power, not in any desire to defeat the Demon King. Tanya was sure that meant they let him do a lot of the heavy lifting, though how he hadn't caught on yet, Tanya wasn't sure. He seemed like a smart kid.
Both began to look nervous, but Tanya jumped on Viktoriya's idea. "Yeah. If you're so concerned about fighting a girl, then have one of them fight me."
Mitsurugi seemed to be thinking hard about it and appraising them. His eyes narrowed as he stared at them – or rather, above them – and Tanya was guessing that he'd just caught sight of their bayonets.
"What are those? Have you chosen to use spears?"
Tanya grinned widely. She could safely reveal the gun without fear of someone trying to track her down because of it – if he told anyone that could arrest her about the guns due to some problem with it, he'd have to explain to the people he was trying to tattle on her to how he knew she had such a dangerous weapon, and most people would think he was insane if he tried to say 'I'm from another world.'
She reached around her back to grab her rifle, but Viktoriya shot her a confused look, halting her actions.
Tanya spoke to her rapidly in Germanian. "He's a Reincarnate too. He'll understand the significance of the weapons."
She shrugged noncommittally, and Tanya felt a sharp pang of guilt. She pushed it down, and revealed the weapon, to the confusion of his companions and to his shock. "These are our weapons."
He blinked for a moment, and then shot to his feet. "You have GUNS!?" he screeched uncharacteristically.
Conversation throughout the guild died quickly, and a large crowd began to form around them. Tanya rubbed the back of her head nervously. She'd forgotten that most of the Reincarnates that had come to this world got a fast-pass to the capital.
There were loud exclamations from the people around them, and Tanya wondered if any advice he could give her would be worth the trouble.
"Are you kidding? You managed to make guns?"
"Don't ruin the fantasy setting! We have enough problems without having to worry about bullets!"
"Maybe this will turn the tide?"
Tanya tried to ignore most of the exclamations, but the ones she did hear sounded like an odd mix of anger, shock, and elation. She focused on Mitsurugi, who was reaching out a hand to touch the gun.
She swiped it away. "Hey! Don't touch it," she said, securing it to her back once again. She looked around herself, and realized that there had to be at least thirty Reincarnates around her.
She turned back to Mitsurugi. "So, do you want them to fight me, or will you-" she was about to ask.
Truthfully, this was more than enough attention, and she couldn't honestly say that she wanted to show off her weapon in front of such a crowd. She felt a certain amount of hostility being sent her way, some of which she was sure was due to anger that their quests were about to be completed at a breakneck pace.
"Are you crazy? No way I'd-" he began to say. Unfortunately for him, the people sitting next to him interrupted him.
"Of course he'll take you on! The Cursed Sword Gram is way more powerful than whatever stupid weapon you have!"
"That's right! He'll mop the floor with your stupid looking face once he breaks that stupid weapon!"
From the crowd, cheering was beginning to rise, though Mitsurugi was sending his companions a rather biting stare. Tanya could pick out a few of the more inebriated Reincarnates cheering him on, but most of the noise seemed to be coming from beyond the immediate crowd of Reincarnates.
Before either of them could back out, a voice rose above the crowd with the help out the magically-powered loudspeakers. "QUIET!"
The cheering quieted, and the receptionist that Tanya had been talking to was glaring angrily at them. "What's going on?"
Again, Tanya was beaten to the punch by Mitsurugi's companions. "They're picking a fight with Kyouya!"
Tanya shook her head. "No! We just wanted a friendly competition! Nothing like a fight!" she claimed.
If she was going to fight something, she'd rather her abilities be revealed while they were fighting against an invasion where she could gain the most renown, not in a petty bar fight.
He glared at them all, and then visibly brightened. "Oh, if that's all, then it's completely fine!"
"Really?" Tanya asked hopefully, wondering if maybe this could all be resolved peacefu-
"OF COURSE NOT!" he shouted, deafening the crowd and dashing her hopes. He hastily deactivated the magic item he was holding in his hand, and gestured to the back to the tavern/guild area. "If you want a 'friendly competition,' then go to the Pit!"
The crowd around them was quiet for a moment, before it broke out in raucous cheers. She turned to Mitsurugi. "What this Pit? And why does it sound so intimidating?"
He began to explain. "There are so many powerful adventurers here that, whenever the Demon King hasn't attacked in a while, people start to pick fights because they don't have anything to do. It isn't actually a pit, per se, but-"
He was cut off by the crowd, which began to push them out. Not wanting to get caught up in things, Tanya stayed ahead of the swell of people, and found herself in what she could only call a coliseum.
It was just like the big one in Reme – the capital of the Empire's Ildoan puppet state that had been set up in the wake of their declaration of war – the 203rd had visited, even if this one was a bit smaller. The adventurers began to fill the stands of the indoor arena, calling for a fight.
Of course, this one was also inside, for some reason. Tanya guessed that it had to do with keeping magic in some place where it couldn't fly off and cause massive damage.
As she was pushed into the center alongside Mitsurugi, she decided, amid the increasingly loud cheering, that no advice he could give her was worth this.
She groaned. She'd just wanted a friendly little arm wrestling match, or maybe a game of chess. Something small and simple. Why did she have to do this?
She searched the stands, and found that Viktoriya was sitting in one of the stands, resolutely staring forward. Tanya sighed, and turned around to see an equally uncomfortable Mitsurugi.
He didn't strike her as the kind of person who liked this sort of thing, but it seemed that he accepted his position.
She shrugged; if a veteran adventurer wasn't going to protest, she probably didn't have a chance of getting out of this without losing face. She withdrew her rifle once more, fiddling with the clasp on her hooded mantle.
He became infinitely more nervous. "I'm not interested in trying out if Adamantite can block bullets, so how about you don't shoot at me?" he asked.
Tanya shrugged. "Offer an incentive."
It wasn't like she wanted to hurt the Reincarnate, but showing off her gun's abilities and her corresponding abilities with magic would certainly impress the crowd.
She was, however, human, and she responded to incentives just as anyone else would.
He drew his ridiculous sword – which was longer than she was tall – and made it glow. "This can shoot beams of power. I won't use that skill if you don't fire at me."
Tanya nodded. "That's fine. Is this a battle to first blood, or…"
He shook his head. "We can all afford Priests; this gets… pretty messy."
Just as he started to lower himself, she held up a hand.
The seated, roaring crowd around them groaned collectively, but she ignored it. "So, to recap: we fight until we get bloodied up, no one from the crowd can interfere, and anything besides bullets and your skill goes?"
He shook his head. "The crowd is allowed to help, but the crowd can also retaliate against anyone in the crowd who does so, turning this one on one into a free for all."
Tanya sighed. Well, Viktoriya couldn't help her win without earning the ire of every other adventurer.
Of course, it wasn't like she was going to help her anyway-
She cut off that thought with a snarl, and then she lowered herself down, casting Reinforcement spells through her Type 97.
At least she'd get a good idea of what the Reincarnates were like here. She didn't discount the possibility that Reincarnates that had been tasked with killing her – or even Mary – might tell everyone that she'd deprived their countrymen of their relics and skills.
Figuring out just how powerful they were would give her insight into just how many she might be able to take on before taking to the air and retreating.
Both of them stood there for a moment. Tanya guessed that he was sizing her up. She pointed her rifle.
He flinched away ever so slightly, and she smirked. "Explosive Vaporization."
A ball of light flew from her rifle, impacting the ground next to him. He jumped away from it quickly, ducking into a roll and standing back up to watch as it exploded.
He sent her a stern gaze, and she returned a flippant smile and readjusted her aim. He began to run towards her, and Tanya smirked; he'd fallen for the ploy.
He thought she fought from a far distance. It wasn't a bad assumption, of course; she had a gun, and he'd just seen her use magic. Both of those things were the makings of a ranged fighter who wanted others in between them and monsters.
He did, however, know that she was an Adventurer, mind the capitalization. He really should have expected her to be smarter than that.
She whipped off the cloak she had loosened and gestured with an outstretched hand. "Wind Breath!"
The cloak flapped away from her, crashing straight into Mitsurugi and causing him to trip. The crowd made an uproar, but Tanya jetted forward, feeling the rush of adrenaline and she raised her rifle.
He tore the cloak off of him, ripping through cloth and leather, and raised his own sword up, preparing to block her strike. Just as she'd done in her first fight against a Reincarnate, however, she subverted his expectations.
Unfortunately, he did so too. His eyes widened as he saw her foot lash out, and he shouted "Stance Change!"
His body moved like lightning, and he blocked the kick with his sword. Tanya was sent backwards, cursing.
That must have been some sort of skill from his job.
The Reincarnate had the gall to gloat. "Would you like to concede? I am aware of my power, and-"
She narrowed her eyes, and silently cast another Explosive Vaporization, this time behind him. He dodged it, as planned, but the edge of the blast caught him, sending him sprawling, for a moment.
Tanya poured mana into an Agility Reinforcement spell and into sharpening her blade. Hopefully, his armor wouldn't be too damaged.
She lunged forward, aiming for his armor, and again, he surprised her. Her blade impacted his armor, yes. but it did nothing. Tanya could see that it had left a small hole, and that he might have a very shallow wound, but nothing else.
This Adamantite seemed… absurdly good at its job.
Before she could try again, this time closer to one of the gaps in his armor, he kicked her in the stomach. Tanya didn't feel much pain thanks to her spells, but she was sent flying away, crashing into the ground.
She rose and stared at him, mentally adding Adamantite weapons or armor to her growing shopping list.
He stared back, still brandishing his sword.
Neither moved, and Tanya was trying to think. The last time she'd won in a situation where she couldn't use bullets against a Reincarnate with a sword, she'd managed to trick the fool into tiring himself out.
Tanya grinned; don't fix what wasn't broken. She could do the same here.
He began to run towards her, but she simply backed up, using the space of the coliseum to her advantage to stay well away from him. He continued to run towards her, and she continued to back up.
She continued to mirror his advance, step for step.
Eventually, he caught on to what she was doing. He slowed, and backed up a bit. She slowed and stepped forward a bit. He stared at her, but she only grinned. She'd just had another idea.
That armor seemed pretty heavy, and Tanya doubted that he'd managed to fit an air conditioner in there.
"Napalm!" she shouted. A point in front of her gun began to spew fire, coating the ground near Mitsurugi with fire that Tanya knew would burn far longer than this fight would last. He began to back up, but Tanya matched the distance, spraying fire everywhere near him.
She poured mana into an Oxygen Conversion spell – one that hadn't seen much use at all until the 203rd proved that they could exceed the normal height ceiling of mages – to make sure she wouldn't inhale any smoke.
Tanya vaguely heard a voice in the background shout for the Mages to use wind spells, but she didn't mind; if they didn't want to deal with fire in a confined space, they should have built their arena outside.
Or they could have at least put in a sunroof.
She continued to advance, stalking forward. Soon, he was surrounded by flames.
Tanya, however, didn't gloat. She was smarter than that. Instead, she began to cut off the spell. No more fire appeared, but considering half of the place was filled with it, Tanya doubted that he was very comforted.
She began to send spells towards him, exploding what little ground he had left to maneuver in. He was dodging them, but Tanya could tell that he was tiring. Inch by inch, his reactions were becoming more delayed.
Tanya was beginning to feel the drain of her mana, but she ignored it. She hadn't even fought for half an hour; she could keep going.
He seemed to have come to the same conclusion. He was looking around himself and looking worried. Still, he seemed very cocky. He was grinning, and…
Wait. Tanya narrowed her eyes.
He wasn't sweating profusely.
Tanya glared coldly; considering everything else she had encountered in this world, it was entirely possible he had an item that protected him from extreme temperatures.
She grit her teeth; fine, she'd just use a dehydration spell on him. Even he couldn't resist that for long, no matter what kind of trinkets he had on him.
She poured mana into a Passive Barrier and jumped through the fire, apparently surprising him.
He raised his sword, preparing for an attack. It seemed he thought she would be fighting him with her bayonet. She played into his ideas, rushing towards him and raising her blade again.
It seemed he expected it. Instead of guarding, he was betting that his own attack would be faster and be able to slice her. She just laughed internally, and applied a bit of a Flight spell to herself so that she twisted in midair and flew over him.
His blade missed, and Tanya thrust her spear forward.
A direct hit.
She'd managed to slice into his arm. He cried out, but kept a hold of his sword and began to bring it around to slice at her again.
She ignored the ridiculous thing, and reached out a hand as she hit the ground behind him.
"Dehydrate!"
She watched in satisfaction as he collapsed. Desperately, he tried swinging his sword, but she just backed up, continuing to point and ready to cast the spell again.
She cast it twice more as he managed to rise to his feet once and twice.
"Do you give up?" she asked.
His cheeks had visibly sunk in a bit, and his eyes looked more prominent. He sighed, and shot her a warm smile. "I give up."
Before Tanya could comment on that – why on Earth was he smiling at her? He'd lost without even getting a good hit on her – the crowd around them erupted into cheers.
It seemed that their earlier… partiality to Mitsurugi had evaporated in the face of her victory.
Tanya smirked, but before she could bask in the sound, a shout of "Freeze Gust!" extinguished most of the still raging fire.
Tanya turned to the voice, and began to run towards her.
Then she stopped, and stood ramrod straight.
Right, she couldn't hug Viktoriya in jubilation that she'd won.
They stared at each other for a moment, and then Tanya turned to Mitsurugi, who was being helped to his feet by his friends. Both were struggling to lift him, no doubt because he was heavy, or the suit of armor had heated up, or both.
"Here, let me help." She stretched out a hand, but his sidekicks spoke first.
"Leave Kyouya alone, you cheating coward!"
"Yeah! You used dirty tricks to win."
Tanya rolled her eyes and cast a spell anyway. "Heal."
He shuddered, for a moment, before he stood quickly. He turned to Tanya, looking honestly shocked. "Thank you!"
Tanya nodded quickly, and then turned to Viktoriya. Her smile became stiff again, and both of them left the arena without another word. Both ignore the congratulations and scorn they were receiving.
"I suppose that Lorelei must be here by now, right?"
Tanya looked over her shoulder, and she saw Viktoriya nod stiffly. Silently, she strode over towards the doors, making sure that she didn't slip out or something. Tanya turned forward, and looked around the rapidly refilling room.
There. She was leaving the entrance to the arena among a long line of others, looking rather dazed.
Tanya ran over, guessing that she must have been close to the fire.
Tanya tapped her on the arm, and she jumped, clearing Tanya's height with a single surprised shout. She fell to the ground just as quickly, angrily staring down at Tanya. "Who-"
She stopped herself, and sighed as she looked at Tanya. "Oh. What do you want?"
Tanya pointed back at Viktoriya. "We've decided that we're going to be exploring the capital for today instead of taking a quest. Would you like to join us?"
She glared at Tanya quizzically, but before she could answer, someone from behind Tanya poked her on the shoulder.
She turned around and leveled a glare of her own at them. Couldn't they see that she was speaking to someone?
It was Mitsurugi, as well as his two cohorts. Both looked dejected and hung their heads, but neither were glaring at Tanya, which was new.
She let her glare lessen, and the Reincarnate seemed to collect himself.
"I- no, we- were wondering if you two would like to join our party."
Tanya leveled an amused gaze at him. "What happened to becoming a Mage? I thought people like me wouldn't last two seconds without taking a more 'professional' job?"
He shrugged uncomfortably, pointing nervously at her back. "If you've got magic like that and guns, then I think it wouldn't exactly be smart not to ask, right?"
Tanya thought about it for exactly as long as she thought the offer warranted, which was all of three seconds.
She wasn't about to trust her life to a pair of people that thought she wanted to bang Mitsurugi, and beyond the obvious safety concerns, their glares from earlier convinced Tanya that she would get an hour of sleep around them before she 'mysteriously' disappeared.
"No thank you. We'd be adding three more people to your party, and-"
It seemed that the two people behind Mitsurugi had had enough. "No way! We're not teaming up with some hideous Monsume trash! Come on!"
With that, the one with the blue scarf grabbed Mitsurugi by the back of his armor. She tried to pull, but she didn't move. She glared at her counterpart, and together, they managed to start dragging him away.
He shot her one last look, but she shook her head firmly. Shrugging, he straightened up, and began to walk towards the bulletin board of quests. Tanya sighed.
It seemed that those two were pathetically weak compared to Mitsurugi. If he just kept defending them against any foe they faced, they'd never level up.
She hoped that her fight with him taught him that he couldn't protect them forever, but he didn't strike her as particularly open to having his ideas refuted. Besides, they would likely deny any and all claims that they were weak, and Mitsurugi seemed rather… inclined to believe them.
Tanya turned back around to find Lorelei frowning at the ground. Tanya rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to them. You look fine."
Suddenly, she had a very tall beastman leaning over her, peering down questioningly.
Tanya blinked.
"Why?" she asked, leading Tanya to simply tilt her head.
She growled, and pointed towards the rapidly retreating reincarnate as her impatiently tapping foot continued to tap. "Why wouldn't you team up with him? He's a much more powerful adventurer than I am, and moreover-"
Tanya shook her head. "Lorelei, there's more to a team than power. If every battle was won with power, I would have been killed at least once, maybe two or three times."
After her and Darkness's… 'debate' about Tanya and Viktoriya's jobs, Tanya had put thought into the idea of working in a small team, where everyone had temporary roles that depended on the specific enemy they were fighting and each team member's skills, health, power, and relationships.
Part of teamwork was, of course, routed in morale and everyone's ability to work with each other. While Tanya might be able to get anyone to work together after enough training – the 203rd had never had any complaints about each other, after all – she wouldn't be the leader of that team by a long shot.
Meanwhile, Lorelei was just staring at the small noble in front of her.
From what she'd seen, Degurechaff was… exceedingly powerful, if she could beat an undead monstrosity and contend with a Hero Candidate. If she'd almost died…
"The ability to work together is especially important in a team. Among other things, those two obviously wouldn't have been able to work with you, and from the angry looks they sent me and Viktoriya, I assume they would have tried to kill us to keep Mitsurugi to themselves."
Lorelei tilted her head as she looked at Degurechaff. That was… a very blasé way to put it, especially if she was a noble. Usually, nobles got very panicked when even the thought of being killed was entertained by those beneath them, but she seemed unfazed.
Lorelei almost brought it up, but… she refrained. She didn't want to lose her-
She shook her head. No! She wasn't getting attached to another party! They'd dump her if they ever saw what else the teleportation had done to her, and they'd do so anyway once they got through with her.
Before her thoughts could continue, Tanya flicked her head. "Earth to Lorelei. Are you there?"
She shook her head. "Yeah. Sure."
Tanya brightened up. Lorelei obviously hadn't been paying attention, so Tanya would pretend that she had asked Lorelei to come with them into the capital and that she had agreed while she was distracted.
Tanya needed to seem less like that 'Princess Iris' that weird noble lady had kept calling them. Running around with a beastman would hide her better than a hood ever could, if the reaction of those two buffoons was anything to go by.
"Wonderful! Come on! We're burning daylight, and we have a very expansive city to map out on foot. Besides, I need a new cloak!"
Tanya waited a moment, rolled her mantle-less shoulders, and then smirked as Lorelei followed behind her. They met a stony Viktoriya at the door, and Tanya felt herself stiffen at the memory of what had happened last night.
She shook her head. She'd try and ignore it and pretend that they hadn't said what they had.
They were supposed to have something that resembled relaxation today – mapping out a city and 'seeing the sights' instead of fighting monsters. Tanya wouldn't ruin it, and she hoped that Viktoriya would extend the same courtesy.
Lorelei just shook her head; why Tanya thought those two girls following the Hero Candidate were angry, she didn't know.
Those two were obviously jealous of Tanya's noble status, or maybe even her looks.
She sighed, settling in for a day of scornful stares, passive-aggressive comments, and overpriced goods. The capital was undoubtedly no different than Axel, and with how few normal adventurers they had, they were probably worse.
-OxOxO-
Tanya eyed her enemy warily. One wrong move would see her put into a stranglehold, and she wouldn't get outdone, not when it came to something so important.
They moved as one, their disgusting pseudo-net between them.
Tanya knew it was just a feint; both could throw it away and wrestle her to the ground, if she didn't use magic.
And she couldn't.
The owner of the clothing store had been very clear on that, when the two of them had eyed a small dress and shot an identical look at Tanya. She wouldn't wear it, though.
"Absolutely not! I didn't wear one when I met the fucking Kaiser, Viktoriya. You're not getting me to wear one now!"
Viktoriya's eyes narrowed, and she stepped forward purposefully. Tanya cringed back, and she glared at Viktoriya as a smirk grew on her face.
Tanya grit her teeth, and continued to maneuver around racks of clothing, wondering how long that clerk would take to ring up their purchases.
Both Tanya and Viktoriya had insisted on surveying the walls, tallest buildings, strongholds, forts, and pretty much every defensive position they could find in the city. All of them had sworn not to buy anything until they'd finished.
Lorelei found the whole thing humorous, but she had gone along with it anyway.
It had only taken an hour of looking around for them to cave, deciding that they could duck into the occasional shop as they surveyed the city.
Viktoriya had been the first. She'd seen a photography shop, gone in, and purchased a simple metal locket that was supposedly enchanted to never be lost.
Tanya had tutted at the purchase and obvious lie.
When Viktoriya had demonstrated the effectiveness of the thing by tossing it in the air and then pulling it out from around her neck, however, Tanya had just wondered what else could be enchanted and exactly how it was done.
Tanya had gone into a different merchant's shop and checked out his wares, hoping to find something else that was enchanted. Among the knickknacks, items, staffs, wands, pieces of armor, and everything else, to her immense shock, was a knickknack or two from Wiz's shop.
They were all expensive, of course, but Tanya realized that maybe she should have checked her shop for items besides her explosive potions.
When she had asked about anything that was enchanted, she had been shown a variety of rings that were supposed to provide various protections from magic, wounds, and even poisons.
Tanya had glossed over most of those; she had her Active Barrier and Heal if she was truly in danger from something like that. While she had looked at them rather disinterestedly, the merchant probably thought that she wasn't interested because of the price.
He explained that creating magical equipment consumes Skill Points, and that only the isolated Crimson Demons could afford to make large quantities of magical items.
He'd assured her of their quality being the reason for the price tag, though she had still remained interested for a while.
Then, one had sparked interest in her. Or, rather, it had ignited a fiery desire within her to own the object before her.
The simple golden band was supposed to grant protection from a variety of psychic attacks, from mind reading to delusion to possession.
He had tried to get her to buy a more normal ring, explaining that those kinds of attacks were very rare, but she had ignored his advice and bought the ring anyway.
She… hoped the thing could work on Being X. It was a long shot, of course, but even if it only worked a tiny bit… then it would be worth it.
She didn't really want to talk to him, and she didn't want Viktoriya to be touched by that bastard if she could help it.
The merchant, unfortunately, didn't have more than one ring of any kind, so figuring out how to make one – one for Viktoriya and Lorelei and Darkness and anyone else that associated with her – would be important.
Lorelei, after being told that she could get whatever she wanted since the two of them were paying, had jumped into a Blacksmith's shop and bought a sword that looked to be of much higher quality than the one she had.
On Tanya's behalf, Viktoriya had asked if they could use his forges. The man had laughed at them, and then, in between breaths, explained that no capital Blacksmith would ever let anyone into their forges unless they swore oaths of secrecy and became apprentices.
Soon after that, they'd finished surveying the city, realized how late it was, and hurried into the first clothier they could find. Everything had gone fine, and they had been about to leave, when the clerk had pointed them towards a selection of dresses.
Tanya spun around at the sound of Lorelei's muttering, and glared at the 'cute' red and white dress that she was clasping in her long fingers with a maniac look in her eyes.
"This dress is made of one of the smoothest fabrics in the world. While I can't wear it, you can. Come on, just put it on. It will look so cute, and-"
She was cut off from her ramblings by the store clerk. "All right, I've charged you for your purchases w-"
Before he could finish, Tanya had jetted over to the counter, picked up their things, and run out of the door, panting heavily. She turned around quickly, ready to bolt if either of them came out with that damned dress.
Both came out, seemingly serene. Tanya glared at them, but they just smiled at her.
She turned around sharply, and began to march down the street muttering and glancing behind her occasionally.
"Stupid women deciding that I need to wear a dress. I don't. I never will without the threat of a direct order. I won't wear one. That would be admitting I am that, which I am not. I don't want periods, I don't want tits, and I don't want to wear dresses."
Both of them were talking behind her, and Tanya shot them a paranoid look every now and then. From the looks they'd been shooting her, they were probably going to come back here when her back was turned and get every dress they could carry and turn her into a doll.
She shuddered as she remembered when Viktoriya had braided her hair and tied it into pigtails on the one day they had been waiting for transfer from the Francois's former African holdings to the Empire.
Those were more reminders of her forced femininity that she would avoid at all costs.
Soon enough, they reached what amounted to the residential district, where all of the housing for adventurers and the inhabitants of the city was clustered. Tanya spun on her heel, glaring at them both.
She rutted though the bag of stuff, and she pulled out what Lorelei had bought, which amounted to some thick pieces of leather clothing at the clothier and even a breastplate at the blacksmiths.
She hefted them towards her, along with a cloth bag filled with more casual clothing the beastman had purchased, and then she continued to march back to her and Viktoriya's inn.
Tanya stopped, and she gave Viktoriya what she'd bought.
Her former adjutant had decided to get a bit of chain mail to wear under her clothing.
Tanya had been tempted to do the same, but she'd decided to wait until they'd managed to work out a deal with a Blacksmith or get their own tools. Mitsurugi had said his armor was made of Adamantite, and getting chain mail made out of that stuff would be better than iron or steel, if he thought that the stuff might have even a chance of being bulletproof.
She'd also switched out her gray evening gloves for a much shorter black pair. Tanya would figure out how to get the explosive knives she'd made in them eventually, but for now, she'd just have to live with having them on her belt.
Tanya hadn't bought much from the clothier – a new green mantle that had black highlights where the yellow had been, enough cloth to where she could make another hood, and a few more pairs of shirts.
To her surprise, she'd found some clothing from Japan. Like in Axel, the clerk had mentioned that the Hero Candidates often dropped off that stuff. It wasn't popular, but Tanya had guessed that from the pricing. She happily bought a couple pairs of shirts and actual jeans.
Lorelei had given her a disparaging look for what she considered 'nonsensical, brightly colored drivel', and Tanya had taken a few of her more so-called 'acceptable' suggestions of clothing to wear, until the dress incident.
As Tanya and Viktoriya began to walk away towards another night of stifled conversation and walking on eggshells, Lorelei smiled to herself, not even feeling like trying to suppress her happiness.
They'd walked with her. They hadn't asked her to walk twenty feet behind them; they'd stood by her side, braving the distrustful and angry glares of pedestrians with her.
They'd defended her. They didn't accept that when people mistreated her, which was inevitable; they openly questioned anyone who came near them and tried to abuse her, physically or verbally.
They'd haggled for her. When that Blacksmith had tried to overcharge her, Viktoriya had hotly asked why he would do that, while Tanya had pointed out that he'd scare away customers like that.
The threat of a noble reporting on him badly had shaken him, and he'd even given them a small discount.
She sighed wistfully; if only her last party had been that kind. She could have just stayed in Axel, instead of having to try her luck here.
She shook her head, and tried to fight back stinging tears. Her last party…
As she came towards the dilapidated building, she tried not to make any sound that would clue the other occupants of this building in to her thoughts.
These two would get tired of her, just like her last party, or they'd figure out just how not-human she really was.
They'd abandon her, and she'd be stuck at square one.
Again. Or…
Would they?
She tried to shut down the traitorous thought; of course they would. She was a Monsume, abandoned by Eris to become a freak of nature. They weren't allowed to be anything other than adventurers, fated to die at the hands of an enemy, starve, or be sacrificed for those that weren't freaks.
Or worse.
Lorelei rushed to her room, ignoring the other beastmen and crashing into her room. Just as with Tanya and Viktoriya, Lorelei wouldn't sleep very much.
-OxOxO-
Tanya grunted with effort as another group of undead was scattered. Limbs, flesh, and just about everything else associated with bodies went flying. Despite the gore, more undead continued to push towards them.
Tanya fired another Explosive Vaporization, again cursing herself for leaving Axel so quickly. Without the Blacksmith, their ammunition was limited. She and Viktoriya had to conserve as many bullets as they could for particularly tough enemies.
"Freeze!"
Behind her, Tanya felt a gust of small air. She didn't need to turn around; she knew what Viktoriya had done.
The sound of a swinging blade reached her ears, and Tanya nodded. These undead didn't have any commander, and mostly just shambled towards them, occasionally sprinting forward when they thought they were close enough.
That meant that Viktoriya's usage of that spell to cover the ground had most of them sprawled out on the slippery ice. While they floundered, Viktoriya and Lorelei would slice the heads off of as many as they could.
Lorelei had balked at the quest in the guild. She had shown up mostly to inform them that she wouldn't be coming because it was a Sunday and she wanted to do a bit more shopping, but Tanya had convinced her to come by pointing out that they had first pick of the quests and she'd get more spending money if she did a very good one.
She'd agreed tentatively, and then she had almost regretted it at what they suggested first – facing dozens of Zombies in the middle of a forest seemed suicidal, especially without a Priest – but Tanya and Viktoriya had mandated that she needed to raise her level a bit, if she was going to join them on harder and more rewarding quests.
So Tanya watched their backs, killing stray Zombies that managed to stand, while Viktoriya and Lorelei killed the ones that slipped. At this point, all of them thought it was a bit monotonous.
Or, Tanya assumed the others thought that. Things had been… quiet. Viktoriya and Tanya still acted professionally, of course, but Tanya knew that even Lorelei had picked up on the frostiness between them.
She'd asked about it earlier, but after the twin glares they'd sent her, she had wisely retracted her statement and joined them in silence.
Tanya knew it was affecting their teamwork. She knew she should just swallow her pride and admit she was wrong.
She knew that she should.
She couldn't, though. She wouldn't talk about what that thing had almost done to her.
Almost done to her…
Something it had said swam through her mind, and Tanya closed her eyes and fought down the flash of anger she felt towards the General Staff.
They had known that that bastard had been in command of the Russy's forces.
They'd known about his disgusting fetish.
They'd told her nothing.
Tanya had been contemplating dropping out of the military as soon as the war ended. No cushy behind-lines job was worth the planned disinformation they'd given her and what she'd almost experienced. The promotion to Major-General had soothed her anger somewhat, but even then…
A yelp behind her caught her attention, and Tanya spun around, firing at the Zombie that had leapt upon Lorelei. She jerked at the sound of Tanya's weapon, and the Zombie's head rained gore around them.
She spun back around.
"Aren't you going to apologize for that?"
Tanya spun towards Viktoriya, fury in her gaze. She looked at the one who'd spoken, glaring at her former adjunct.
"Excuse me?"
Viktoriya scoffed. "You almost shot her. She could have been hurt. Isn't that enough reason to apologize? Or are you above that?"
Tanya glared at her, but Viktoriya glared right back. Grunting, Tanya turned to the beastman, regretting ever telling that Russy woman how to effectively glare at people.
"Sorry about that. Even though I planned for you to duck, I suppose something could have gone wrong."
She spun back around. "Happy?"
"No," she bit out, spinning around to slice at more Zombies.
Furious, Tanya also spun around.
She scowled at her mana levels. It seemed that she'd need to do this the hard way if she wanted to conserve anything.
"Sharpen Blade."
With that, she began to run towards the Zombies. It was somewhat cumbersome to do so with the awkward attachments to their shoes that allowed them to stand on the ice, but she managed.
One, two, three. She sliced through the oncoming opponents without a care in the world, relishing in the one thing she seemed to be able to do without fail.
Unfortunately, Tanya got overconfident. It was expected, with how slow the things moved and how quickly she could cut through them, but Tanya hadn't really been expecting to be punished for her hubris when facing corpses.
She was. She kicked one that was lying on the ground in the chest, and was surprised when it turned over suddenly. Her foot, her leg, and her body were dragged with it, flung onto the ground.
She gasped in pain, and grit her teeth as she was flung across the ice. She managed to lodge her blade in its head, and shakily stood.
She glanced behind her, and saw that some Zombies were approaching. She glared at them.
"Heal."
The pain and swelling of her ankle subsided, and Tanya spun to face them. They were already gone.
Viktoriya was standing over them, sighing in relief. Tanya directed a glare at her. "What was that for?"
"You looked injured, so-"
"I was fine!"
"You were limping. Clearly, you weren't."
"Hey guys?"
"Well I was! Maybe you should learn to read to mood a bit more!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hey guys!"
"WHAT?"
All of their annoyance and anger melted away as they looked at her. All of the Zombies had congregated around her.
Her tall stature meant that Tanya could see her upper chest, head, and ears, and Tanya winced at the panic in her fast, jerky motions that were so unlike the hesitant but smooth motions from earlier.
Without Viktoriya constantly casting Freeze, the Zombies were beginning to use the corpses of their fellows to move around.
Both rushed forward, slicing into the Zombies and berating themselves. Limbs and heads flew free of their places, and corpses collapsed as their legs were sliced into.
Tanya growled angrily, trying to get to Lorelei. There were too many. For every one she cut down, it seemed like another two would replace it.
Tanya blinked as she began to understand, and then she cursed. "Viktoriya, use a Flight spell, do a bit of reconnaissance. I think that there's something more in the area than just Zombies."
Tanya began to survey the surroundings. Hordes of Zombies weren't exactly uncommon, especially considering how many soldiers both sides of this conflict had gone through, but Zombies simply weren't smart enough to surround a group of living.
They would come at them piecemeal from different parts of the location they were in, sure, but there were never this many without some kind of intelligence behind them.
Tanya activated Observation spells, and snarled as mana lit up her screen. She flew towards it, uncaring of the gasping she could hear coming from Lorelei. They would have had to tell her about their particular brand of magic eventually, if they had ever agreed on keeping her around long term.
It seemed that she would be sticking with them from here on out, however. Tanya wasn't letting someone that knew the truth of her power anywhere outside of her purview, even if she would be seen as an insane lunatic for saying Tanya could fly.
The Hero Candidates might believe that sort of thing more easily than anyone else, and they were one of the groups most likely to attack her.
She dodged trees, and eventually found a group of what she had suspected: Zombie Makers.
They seemed to be panicking, but Tanya couldn't care less. "Napalm!"
Fire erupted around them, and the corpses were soon burnt to a crisp. "Freeze Gust!"
Tanya turned to see Viktoriya shouldering a wounded Lorelei and gesturing towards the fire with her rifle. The fire was smoldered by the frigid magic, and Viktoriya quickly stomped out the rest.
Tanya finished healing Lorelei, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, now that that's over…" she said, trailing off as she looked towards the Zombies that were slipping on the ice. Without the Zombie Makers, they didn't have the place of mind to stand on the other corpses.
Just as Tanya was about to walk back into the clearing, Lorelei jumped in front of Tanya. "What… was that?"
"You'll have to be more specific," she said, trying to think of an excuse as to how Viktoriya could fly.
"Don't play dumb. She can fly?" Lorelei asked, pointing an accusing finger at Viktoriya. She looked up at her, giving her a small smile. Tanya shrugged.
"Yeah. I can too," Tanya said, flying up to the same height as the towering beastman. She stepped back, confusion evident in her eyes.
"Why? How are you so… calm?"
Tanya shrugged again as she walked towards the other Zombies. Now that they weren't being led by the Zombie Makers, they were honestly sort of pathetic. They couldn't run anymore, and they weren't even trying to stand on the ice.
They'd trip and try to crawl across, and Tanya would take off their heads.
She didn't doubt that the Zombie Makers could take over other Zombies or corpses, but considering Tanya's ability to flambé them, she doubted they stuck around.
"It was actually expected where we came from," she said, bending down to check the corpses. Any good equipment was usually corrupted or rotted by their being, but some stuff was still salvageable.
Lorelei seemed to be rather pensive, so Tanya would let her think. Viktoriya was helping Tanya, beheading corpses and relieving the Zombies that managed to continue to fight after that of their arms.
Tanya sighed, and began to think.
Not only was it monumentally stupid for the two of them to be arguing in what amounted to a battlefield, Lorelei had nearly gotten hurt because of them.
They'd promised her that they wouldn't let her get hurt during the quest – one of the reasons she'd even accepted their desire to go on such a quest without a Priest – and they'd failed in that regard.
They had also revealed their powers. Another source of information on them that Tanya would have to keep extensive track of.
And it wasn't like the tension between Tanya and Viktoriya would just go away, leading to more breaches and mistakes…
Unless one of them admitted that they were wrong.
Tanya turned away from the corpse she'd been checking, sighing. She ground her teeth together, and then turned around, facing the back of Viktoriya.
She strode forward, glaring at her. Tanya knew that her adjunct was right, that she really did need to talk about… it. And everything. And that if she did talk…
She might feel a bit better.
She knew that intellectually. Inside her heart, though, she was…
Tanya was…
She was afraid. Terrified of admitting to herself what had almost happened. Scared that something like that could happen again.
Tanya was, however, a being of logic. At least, she tried to be. She'd suck up her pride, apologize for what she'd said, and honestly think about speaking to Viktoriya about the matter.
Tanya tapped her… friend on the back. She jumped up, one hand already on the rifle that was hanging from her shoulders. The hardness of her eyes faded, for a moment, and then it was back in full force.
Tanya winced visibly, and she saw confusion bloom on Viktoriya's face with a single raised eyebrow. Tanya took one last deep breath, and then sighed.
Why was this so hard? She'd faced enemy after enemy on the battlefield, and this probably felt worse than a majority of what had happened to her.
She shook her head. "Viktoriya. I… I am sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did, and I know that I should talk about it. I…" she trailed off again, and mentally cursed herself for the blush she felt rising on her cheeks.
"I'll honestly consider talking about it instead of just brushing off your concern. You're too important to me to just ignore your suggestions."
She looked away from Viktoriya, saying the last part and looking down at the ground. Tanya waited, and then heard Viktoriya sigh.
"It's… fine, Colonel. I won't push you to do it, but I really don't think keeping everything we did locked up inside is really healthy. You felt better when you told me about… what happened before, right?"
Tanya nodded to herself; she had felt better when she'd let off steam over how much she had changed from her first life. Tanya looked up, and smiled softly at Viktoriya.
"Now. We aren't going to do something stupid like fighting in the middle of a battle, right? We work best together."
She nodded quickly, and both bent down to continue looting the corpses. Instead of stony silence, small conversations about what they found filled the silence.
Hopefully, they could go back to how things were. Tanya hoped for at least that much.
-OxOxO-
A/N 1: And things are getting better! Mitsurugi's getting more screen time – and expect that to continue for a bit – Lorelei is explaining things, and Tanya picks up another magical item. This time, it doesn't even have any built in nastiness!
It would be a shame if someone threw a wrench in all of Tanya's plans, wouldn't it?
Also, Tanya is finally thinking about opening up, too. We're getting there, just like I said.
A/N 2: Responses to reviews on this site.
Pyromania101: While a war with the Orcs would be fun, I don't believe they have a nation-state to call their own. The LNs give off the vibe that they have a few villages scattered about and not much else.
Of course, that doesn't mean that Belzerg might eventually decide that they've been left alone for far too long…
Also… when I said I have a backlog, I mean that I've got the backlog… and not much planned concretely beyond that. Yunyun is definitely an option to add to the main team, though. And, while Komekko would be just… great on so many levels, Megumin's parent's (probably, Megumin's mom is… ruthless) wouldn't let her run off, even if Tanya gave them a boatload of money.
Tuisyo: hey buddy, you hacking into my documents and reading ahead?
In all seriousness, quite a number of people are going to be unable to look past the resemblance. Hehehe…
DschingisKahn, SoleReclaimer, Sprengkamp, Imperial warlord, and simple405, thank you all for the continued support! Expect more to come soon!