Tanya grinned broadly as she walked into the guild. They walked towards where they could see Lorelei waving at them with a small smile on her face, ignoring the people that were there.
Tanya smiled. Things seemed to be looking up, finally.
All three of them had leveled up and gained Skill Points from that fight yesterday. Both Tanya and Viktoriya had been able to… resolve their ideas about the past and how much they should be talking about it. The receptionist at the guild had been impressed by their quick handling of the quest.
She looked down at her bandolier and smirked. Wiz had also sent her more explosive potions – a young adventurer had been teleported here with them, and he was being paid well to deliver them in the early hours of the morning – along with some of the special absorbent soil from the botanist.
Tanya had decided to make a few rudimentary grenades – that had a lot more power than her knives – with the stuff. They weren't anything to write home about, but Tanya very much doubted that she'd have access to a Blacksmith anytime soon. She might as well make what she could.
The Succubi had piggybacked off of Wiz's messenger and sent her a nice bit of cash, as well as an update on their situation and the search for Tanya's 'mysterious' item.
Thanks to all those adventurers coming in, they were getting more business than ever. They had to work longer hours and keep their work clothing on during all that time too.
Tanya had skipped over the next part of the letter for the most part – a 'ritual' that could be used to summon them if they needed to talk and she wanted them to be presentable before she brought Viktoriya over. Tanya would just give them a heads up beforehand; there was no need for some odd communication ritual.
The Mithril Foundation was doing fine too. They'd directly hired some people who wanted the work to help in the production of Tanya's products, and they'd helped others find more permanent jobs.
Along with the updates had been a list of magical items that the Succubi could acquire eventually. Despite the size of the list, not a single one had been what she was looking for. A hastily scrawled response and an order for the messenger to go back would tell them to keep looking.
She had even woken up to delicious, energizing, Viktoriya-made coffee and an equally energized Viktoriya, who had smiled at her, warming her as much as the coffee had.
Tanya sighed happily and turned to Viktoriya. "You know, I don't think anything could possibly go wrong today. It just feels-"
Tanya stopped her sentence abruptly, but not as abruptly as she, Viktoriya, and Lorelei stopped in their tracks.
And, none of those things stopped anywhere near as fast as the conversation around them decided to die, and the glares they were being sent told Tanya that they wished that Tanya, Viktoriya, and Lorelei would take a nice long walk off a short pier and over the Niagara Falls.
One jumped up and began to approach her, anger and desperation in his dark eyes. Tanya placed a hand on her pistol, in case he decided to act on the murder in his eyes, and he stopped in his tracks, now nervous eyes glued to her sidearm. He said something, but Tanya didn't hear it.
"I'm sorry?" she asked. His breathing became ragged, and he spoke louder.
"I asked… you to… repeat yourself."
Her eyebrows furrowed at his dangerous, resigned tone. She cast her gaze about, and found that all of the guild was staring at them. "…I just said 'I don't think anything could possibly go wrong today'. Does this place have some sort of bias against benign verbal statements?"
Apparently, it did, judging by the Absolute Quiet that had not yet abated. Tanya could have heard a pin drop, and considering the receptionist dropped a handful of money onto the counter, she might as well have.
Things were quiet for a single moment more, and then the entirety of the guild seemed to groan and begin to shout as one collective being. She looked around, nervously wondering what on Earth could possibly be so bad.
Before she could ask, the adventurers began to rise from their seats as one, readying themselves for battle by grabbing one last – or their first – drink, their weapons, and their friends.
"How could you possibly invite the possibility for attack?"
"Stupid nobles… should know better than to trigger flags like that…"
"I guess we're going to have to fight a battle then."
She didn't know what they meant by 'flags', but it sounded somewhat familiar. Maybe it was from her first life?
She shook her head; she didn't need to know what it meant exactly. Characters inciting the universe's wrath was a common enough trope in fiction, after all.
She turned around herself, staring intently at the hateful people of the crowd. "You all think that just because I said something about this being a 'good day' that the universe is going to bend over backwards just to prove me-"
The doors Tanya had just walked through burst open once more, and Tanya heard someone behind her begin to shout. "THE DEMON KING'S FORCES ARE ATTACKING!"
He stood there, panting for a bit. Then, his gaze followed the combined, annoyed and hate-filled gazes of everyone else in the room, landing on Tanya. He glanced between the crowd of adventurers and Hero Candidates and Tanya for only a moment, before groaning.
Tanya shrank back just a bit from the annoyed, expecting glares that no one had stopped leveling at her. "Well, that doesn't sound too bad-"
Everyone groaned again, and another messenger, just as tired and ragged as the first, jumped inside. "THERE ARE TWO GENERALS AMONG THEM!"
This messenger also paused, reacted much like the first, besides glaring at Tanya and muttering, "C'mon, I thought everyone knew better than to test Eris like that…"
As he finished talking, everyone continued to glare at Tanya, daring her to speak again for the small price of her remaining tattered dignity, and she sighed and hung her head. "I'll shut up."
Everyone began to grumble, but, one by one, they continued to get ready, gathering their teams and making their way out of the guild to speak with the messengers and follow the knights and guards that were running about outside. Tanya began to walk towards Lorelei, who was talking to the receptionist.
"Why do we have to fight? None of us are above level 25, and-"
He shook his head. "Sorry. You all came here, you need to defend the capital. We might have asked you to simply keep the peace inside the walls if we had the forces to spare but…"
He trailed off and sighed. "We don't."
Lorelei hung her head and her ears, and Tanya patted her arm, unwilling to put in the effort to jump up to her shoulder. "Don't worry. We're not going to let you get hurt."
She gave them skeptical looks, and even as Viktoriya nodded vigorously, Lorelei rolled her eyes. "That's what you said yesterday."
Both winced, gave each other an uncertain look, and then followed the beastman out of the doors. They'd need to do better today…
-OxOxO-
Tanya screeched as she tore through another wolf. They had some sort of official name, but to her, it just looked like a big, angry, annoying wolf.
She began to pant heavily. She turned around, and made sure that Lorelei was alright. She seemed to be fine for now, using her superior speed to avoid larger monsters and pick off weaker monsters, like Kobolds and Goblins.
Tanya's Active Barrier flared to life, and she snarled as she spun around, slashing at the thing that dared to touch her shield. This time, it seemed to be something smarter than an animal, if its vaguely humanoid form was anything to go by.
Vaguely, because even the green, over-muscled, animal-eared, towering Orcs that they'd run into on their way to the capital had looked more human than this thing. It was a light shade of blue, had odd wings on its back, and honestly reminded her more of a… hairless gorilla than a human.
Its attempts at banter, however, told her it was much smarter than a gorilla, unless it could only emulate human speech, instead of comprehending it.
"Interesting. New magic is always fun to play with…" it trailed off, staring intently at her. Tanya just rolled her eyes and leveled her rifle at the thing.
"Oh? A new type of-" was all it could say before Tanya put a bullet through its leg.
It screamed as it fell to the ground, and Tanya moved forward, intent on finishing it. However, it moved out of the way, faster than she thought something that big could have moved, panting heavily and snarling.
It paused to taunt her, and its wings flared up, growing larger than its body. "Oh, you think-"
He was cut off again, this time by Viktoriya slicing its left wing off. It collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. The spectators began to fight each other again, and Tanya kicked an approaching Goblin in the face.
"Slash the back of his knees!" she shouted over the sounds of battle, and Tanya smirked as she heard the thing screech again. She guessed that it was a Demon – the Succubi's advice about Demon's being very weak to physical damage seemed to apply in this instance… though Tanya was sure most things that had arms and wings would react negatively to having them cut off.
Tanya grabbed the thing by its still attached wing, drawing out another scream as she dragged it across the ground to where Lorelei seemed to be dancing around a group of Kobolds.
It seemed she'd taken Tanya's advice and was now using her speed to her advantage instead of expecting her enemies to come towards her.
Tanya tapped Lorelei on the shoulder, and watched as she spun around, nearly dropping her sword. As it was, she fumbled the thing and was gripping it by the barest edge of its hilt.
Tanya shook her head, and then dropped the Demon. "Here. Kill this."
Lorelei blinked, and then crouched down towards Tanya, a confused look on her face. "What?"
Tanya rolled her eyes. "He's free experience, right? Slice off his head so we can get this over with."
She continued to stare between Tanya and the Demon, and Tanya growled as the Kobolds began to approach. "Come on. We don't have all day."
The thing whimpered again, and Tanya snarled as the group of Kobolds behind Lorelei decided to stop staring at the downed Demon and attack. "Hurry up!"
Lorelei still looked conflicted, but she raised her sword all the same. The Demon gave her a pathetic look, and Lorelei felt her face scrunch up.
It lowered its head in defeat, as if it were some orphan child in front of an uncaring executioner instead of a hulking blue Demon, and Lorelei… looked indecisive. Tanya groaned, jumped into the air with the aid of a bit of a Flight spell, grabbed a hold of Lorelei's arms, and leaned forward, plunging the blade into the thing's head.
Lorelei blinked in shock, but Tanya just scoffed as she spun the girl around to face the Kobolds. "Don't fall for tricks like that. One moment, it seems like the enemy is surrendering, and the next, they're escaping, your name embedded in their mind at the top of their shit list."
"That sounds very personal not-so-hypothetical situation. Are you okay?" Lorelei muttered sarcastically as she looked at the body, and saw that he had been reaching out his clawed hand.
Lorelei sighed as Tanya ignored her and ran off towards Viktoriya at blinding speeds. She suppressed the urge to look at her Adventurer's Card to see exactly what that thing had been; she could do that later, when she wasn't facing down Kobolds and an army of the Demon King.
Tanya ran towards Viktoriya, panting from the beginnings of mana exhaustion. Even if they weren't using Flight spells, using so many Reinforcement spells, Active Barriers, and Explosive Vaporization spells was starting to get draining.
"Damn it, there's too many of them, and we're running out of our ammunition. Suggestions?"
"Napalm?" she asked, slicing through the head of a Kobold.
Tanya shook her head. "Their forces aren't concentrated enough, and I don't trust the adventurers not to panic in the face of a spreading fire."
"The grenades?"
Tanya thought for a moment, and then nodded. That could work. "Alright. Throw two of them far behind their lines. With any luck, they'll think they've been encircled by a Mage or two."
Both retreated through the line of adventurers, ducking through shields, scepters, and armor. The regular infantry of the capital was off in the distance, slowly approaching from the side. With any luck, this diversion would kill a few of them and convince them that they were being surrounded from the front, back, and side.
Both withdrew one 'grenade' from their bandoliers and withdrew a lighter.
Honestly, they were more like dynamite than grenades, but Tanya hadn't the faintest idea as to how the internal fuses of grenades worked, and she was sure she would need to invest more into Smith if she wanted to make anything better.
"Light!"
Both of them brought their lighter towards the fuses.
Immediately, they began to burn, winding down towards the main body.
Tanya waited for it to wind down farther, and then gave the order. "Throw!"
Both of them lobbed the things. A normal infantryman couldn't have thrown them farther than 30 meters, and if the two of them had tried to throw them unaided, then it was more likely that they would have gone off in the middle of the clash between the adventurers and the Demon King's forces.
Thankfully, they had magic, and both of the grenades sailed far over the enemies' heads. Tanya lost sight of them, but she definitely didn't miss the explosions and the following cries of pain.
Tanya smirked, and then took the time to look over the battle.
The adventurers seemed to be making some progress. Tanya couldn't see either of the Generals that were supposed to be there, and the Reincarnates were holding up well.
Tanya looked towards Lorelei and saw that she was still fighting a much diminished group of Kobolds. It seemed that they were trying to flee when faced with Lorelei's apparent skill, but she wasn't letting them.
Just as she began to hope that maybe this would be over quickly, the sound of hearty, deep laughter reached her ears in time with the terrified screams of adventurers and Hero Candidates alike.
She turned her head and sighed. Yes, it seemed that Verdia was the one leading the attack. Honestly, it shouldn't have surprised her.
He was supposed to be one of the stronger Generals, and with him gone from Axel, it was a foregone conclusion that he'd be fighting somewhere.
Tanya turned to Viktoriya, who had been defending Tanya while she thought. "Go get Lorelei. We've got at least one General to confront."
Viktoriya jogged off, and Tanya made her way towards the clearing, fighting against the retreating adventurers and killing the occasional weakened monster.
Some adventurers seemed to complain about 'kill stealing,' but Tanya didn't care. Experience was experience, and if they couldn't kill something in a timely matter, that wasn't her problem.
Finally, she joined a ring of adventurers that was watching Mitsurugi and Verdia battle. On the other side of the ring, she could see monsters of various shapes and sizes watching intently, and Tanya cursed herself for not making that submachine gun already.
She could have cut down a sizable percentage of them before they even realized what had happened if she had one of those.
For a moment, Tanya thought about helping Mitsurugi in his battle against Verdia, but she decided against it with a shake of her hat-clad head. Getting to know Verdia's attacks could help if she had to fight him, should one in her position finally settle on Belzerg's side.
Tanya stood ramrod straight, watching the fight and recording it on the Type 97.
Both of them had stopped, for now, choosing to size each other up and trade barbs. Mitsurugi was panting, while Verdia looked calm.
"You seem to be an honorable fighter. I would hate to have to kill you," Verdia said, slowly bringing his sword up again.
Tanya couldn't see it, but she could certainly hear the smirk in his voice. "You won't be able to. With the Cursed Sword Gram by my side, nothing can defeat me!"
He charged forward, shouting as he went. Tanya watched as Verdia tossed his head into the air and gripped his sword with both hands, readying himself.
Tanya's eyes widened as a giant eye, constructed with blazing lines of fire, unfurled from Verdia's head. The area around him seemed to be bathed in a red light, and Verdia moved.
In an instant, Mitsurugi's attack had been deflected. He seemed to grunt with effort, but he shouted "Stance Change!"
He seemed to gain some sort of speed enhancement, and he readjusted his sword like lightning, preparing to bring it down on Verdia once more. The Dullahan's laughter echoed across the battlefield.
"That won't work!"
Verdia moved just as fast, jumping back and avoiding his attack and preparing to hit the Reincarnate once more. His sword connected with his stomach, and he was sent flying into the crowd.
Verdia caught his head, and a dark chuckle emerged from the depths of the helmet. "Who's next?"
Tanya decided that she'd seen enough. The moral of the Hero Candidates seemed to be falling, if the way she was now at the head of the crowd of adventurers was anything to go by. She raised her rifle and aimed at the head that Verdia was holding above his shoulders.
He seemed to see her just as she pulled the trigger. "Degurechaff?"
She smirked and pulled the trigger. Immediately, a bullet sped towards the helmet, striking just where she'd aimed.
His head was sent spiraling by the intentionally glancing blow, flying out of his hand and over the heads of his army.
It seemed to be screaming, judging by the faintly dwindling sound it was emitting, and the heads and eyes of everyone, opponents and allies included, followed the quickly vanishing object.
She turned around. "Alright, let's go. He'll have to spend at least a few hours looking for his head and directing his body towards it. Seems like a job well done to me!"
Just as she heard muttered incredulity from the adventurers around her, she turned around and faced their enemies again. She shot a Kobold, and she turned back around once more as its head exploded.
"I don't suppose you all want to end up like that?" she shouted, hoping they'd be intimidated.
They were. One by one, the various monsters began to retreat, fleeing towards the distant forest.
Tanya shook her head as the people around her broke out into cheers. Honestly, all she'd done was shoot her rifle two times to end things.
If that was all it took to send an army packing, then she wasn't sure why this war was taking decades years to finish.
Although, if that was all it took to end things on her part, maybe she should fight the Demon King and wrap things up?
-OxOxO-
Once more, Claire and Rain were visiting the guild. Rain did not really like it all that much. She had better things to do than interview receptionists.
Iris had ordered them to lead the investigation into the rumors of someone that had looked like her, though, and neither she nor Claire had been able to find hide nor hair of someone trying to impersonate Iris, thus far.
The grand nobles, being as difficult as always, had eventually told them that their resources knew nothing of an impersonator in the capital, and even the nobles that were considerably less affluent had not heard anything.
A few of the more mercantile nobles had said something about scandalous rumors about a noble girl hanging out with a Monsume, of all things, and both of them had ignored those obviously false pieces of gossip.
No one trying to impersonate the Princess would be caught dead with one of those things, since the very idea of a noble directly dealing with a beastman in any way that was equal was unthinkable.
They had heard much more concrete rumors today. The commanders of the capital's garrison had seen a petite girl in the Demon King's latest attack and had asked a few adventurers about her.
Some claimed that they were a Mage, capable of using Detonation magic. Others had seen her wielding a spear and slicing open the throats of Gray Wolves.
A few of them had even reported her using Priestly healing magic on adventurers and the few soldiers that had seen combat.
Obviously, some of the details of the stories were false; no one had all of those skills, and if a class allowed for that, they would have found it long ago. Everyone, though, had been able to tell them that there was a noble-looking adventurer who had greatly helped in the fight.
So, here the two of them were, staring down at the group assembled before them. One Hero Candidate, one receptionist, and the manager of this branch of the guild. All of them seemed somewhat nervous, but Rain supposed that that was expected.
She and Claire were nobles, after all.
The receptionist stammered. "You… you know we're not supposed to give up information about adventurers without an allegation of crime… right?"
Claire scoffed, but Rain stopped her from speaking.
Conversing with the lower class was her forte, between the two of them. Rain shook her head and sighed as if tired. "And we told you, there will be one if we suspect her to be an impostor."
The manager shook his head. "Just tell them and get this over with. We don't have time for this."
The Hero Candidate stepped forward. "I'll tell you something about her."
Rain smiled happily, and an expression of deep nervousness overcame his face. "I wouldn't fight her for anything."
Both Rain and Claire tilted their heads, but he shrugged. "She's powerful, and more than that, she could easily kill most any of us if she wanted to. She doesn't seem like the type that would, but still…"
"You wouldn't fight her for anything? Money, wealth, fame? A noble title or two?"
The Hero Candidate shook his head. "Nope. I haven't survived as long as I have without assessing risks, and going anywhere near her without Adamantite everything, if not more, would be a one-way street to death."
With that, he sat down again, staring down at the table. Both Claire and Rain looked at the receptionist, who nervously glared at the Hero Candidate.
Claire rolled her eyes, and brought her necklace out from under her suit. "Do you recognize this?"
Both the receptionist and the manager took all of two seconds to glance at the thing, before they gasped in shock. "Shinfornea!?"
She smirked, and Rain pouted. She'd tried so hard to get them to speak willingly, and now they were going to tell them everything at the flash of Claire's medallion.
Rain had given up on not feeling jealous long ago. There was just so much that separated her and the other woman who could claim to be one of the Princess's retainers.
Trying not to feel jealous of Claire's family was an exercise in futility, and she just hoped that, should her family ever reclaim their lost wealth, the feeling would subside a bit.
The receptionist hurriedly ran towards the counter and grabbed a sheaf of papers from just inside. He ran back, and bowed his head. "To tell you the truth, after you asked us about the possibility of someone that matched that description, we were on the lookout. She showed up, and we've been wondering who she was. Until today."
He set down the papers, and Rain caught a glimpse of them. She couldn't make out what they said, but she had no doubt that they would be given an identical packet once they were done talking.
"We just got them today, and she wasn't supposed to show up until tomorrow. Her journey from Axel was sped up though the usage of enhancement magic, according to a few adventurers who were in the same caravan," he explained, detaching the top paper form the rest of the stack. He opened his mouth, and then paused.
"Before you hear who she is, you need to understand that everything is true. These documents aren't forgeries."
Both Claire and Rain nodded, wondering what could be so shocking.
He held up the first piece of paper in the stack. "Tanya von Degurechaff is the girl you were looking for. She'd a top rate adventurer, who always completes her quests quickly and is even willing to do more… unsavory quests, like killing Tranquility Girls."
Rain's eyebrows creased together. "What are those?"
Claire nodded, and the receptionist with the paper began to explain. "They are… plant monsters that lure adventurers into dying next to them. Using a variety of means, the adventurer slowly wastes away next to what appears to be a girl who is, in actuality, a monster."
Claire and Rain both scowled. What kind of noble would be willing to do such work?
"She is highly recommended, and receptionists from Axel claim that they would gladly have kept her and given her every possible accommodation to get her to stay."
The manager swiped the piece of paper from his hands, and muttered, "They don't need a life story. Get to the good bits," as he skimmed it.
The manager turned to the two nobles. "She was last reported as having one other companion, a brown haired commoner. She's also taken to hanging out with a beastman recently…" he said, trailing off with a scowl.
Rain turned to Claire. "So those rumors were about her?"
Claire nodded and sighed. "It seems that she isn't some kind of impostor. But then why…"
Rain didn't need to know the rest of her question. Why did she look so much like Iris?
The manager turned stiffly towards the receptionist. "You're sure this is real?"
He nodded quickly. "Yes. It has all the right paperwork filled in, and I triple checked it."
The manager sighed, and then turned to the two nobles. "Obviously, I can't order you two around. I'm just a manager. But you can't tell anyone about her."
"Why not?" Claire scoffed. Rain winced at her dismissal, but she was wondering why the man thought they shouldn't do that.
He held up the piece of paper. "She killed an Amalgamation. Nearly on her own, if the reports are accurate."
Claire's eyes furrowed, but Rain stopped wondering why she had thought they couldn't tell anyone.
That spell was reason enough.
"You are sure? Absolutely?"
The receptionist nodded gravely, and the manager sighed tiredly. "Yes. And not one of the puny, half-insane ones. This was one of the more powerful ones I've heard of."
"What's an Amalgamation?"
Rain turned towards Claire, shaking her head. "'Abomination' would be a more prudent name. They are the absolute worst type of undead."
Claire tilted her head. "But I thought Liches, Vampires, and Dullahans were the strongest undead?"
Rain nodded. "That is because they are some of the few with powerful grudges, power, and sanity. These things have only power, and quite a lot of it."
"Those that try to summon them are killed. The people around them are killed. They can bathe entire towns in blood, and the only reason that they aren't considered the strongest is that they cannot strategize and they cannot stay together for too long. Eventually, the lack of a grudge will degrade them, and without additional mana from the Necromancer, they'll fall apart."
Everyone was silent, and Rain bowed her head towards the manager. "We thank you for your time."
With that, they took the rest of the papers – copies of the quest's she had completed and other such records – and made to leave.
Rain suddenly had a thought.
She, Rain, and nearly everyone else in the capital wouldn't ever be able to get near the girl without her realizing who they were. They needed someone who could be much more…
Subtle.
She turned around, standing in the doorway and ignoring Claire's questioning gaze. "I was wondering if you had any adventurers that would be willing to do a bit of work for us? We need people that don't stand out too much that can be relied upon if we want to gather more information on them."
Again, the receptionist looked somewhat conflicted. The adventurer, however, nodded. "I know just the guys. They just arrived in town, and besides the one black mark on their records they're fine men."
Rain nodded and looked to the guild manager. He shrugged and clapped a hand on the receptionist's shoulder. "He'll show you to them tomorrow afternoon."
Rain nodded her head, ready to report her findings to Iris.
-OxOxO-
Iris nodded her head as she listened to them explain this 'Tanya von Degurechaff.'
"Have either of you heard that name before?"
Both looked at each other, and shook their heads. "Never. She could be from Elroad, or…"
Claire trailed off as Iris's expression soured. Elroad.
Elraod had stopped sending them money. Without that money, they could not pay their conscripts and they could not pay the nobles to keep committing their resources to the fight.
It was maddening, but it was also not the purpose of their current discussion.
Iris stood there, wondering how she could meet this noble. It was quite clear that she was powerful, so she was sure to have a few stories.
And… Iris could imagine herself doing these heroic things, running away from her responsibilities and instead saving the people through her power.
"Can you write her a letter? We obviously can't send it to her house, if we don't know which family she's from, but if we send it to the guild, they can pass it along, yes?"
Iris would have liked to send Claire and Rain to invite her like they normally invited adventurers, but if she was a noble, then certain formalities needed to be adhered to.
If Iris assumed this noble had the time of day to meet her and had no prior commitments – as if a noble wasn't always either busy working or busy scheming – this Degurechaff could interpret that assumption as an insult.
Rain nodded quickly. She was now just as interested in this noble as Princess Iris was.
No matter how hard she tried, her memories couldn't find a single difference in looks between the girl she'd seen in the streets and the girl standing in front of her. Why did they resemble each other so much?
Claire also nodded, after a moment more of thinking. The possibility of this person being an impostor was lower now, and Claire was melting on the inside at the thought of having a copy of Iris.
Iris smiled warmly. "Great! We'll ask her to come to a meeting in… one day from tomorrow? That should give her enough time to get her affairs in order, right?"
Both paused, for a moment, and then nodded. Even if she hadn't brought along respectable clothing on her trip here – which wasn't as ludicrous as they might first think, considering she was an adventurer – she could surely find some kind of dress to wear.
Rain left the room, considering the wording of the letter, while Claire left, intent on exploring the wondrous world of Iris's clothing again, wondering how much of it would fit on the new Iris.
Iris was thinking of what kind of story her look alike would tell her of her adventures. Hopefully, it would be more interesting than her usual fare, because she needed something entertaining to think about while she traveled to Elroad in search of money.
-OxOxO-
Today, Tanya and Viktoriya walked into the guild cautiously, wisely keeping their mouths shut.
Tanya was tempted to try to say what she had yesterday about nothing going wrong – just as an experiment – but the glares that some people were sending her convinced her that some of them might try and kill her, regardless of the consequences or disparity in power.
Luckily, nothing happened. They walked in, ignored the glaring adventurers – whose elation at her ability to defeat Verdia had been tempered by reminders of who had 'caused' him to show up in the first place – and straight towards the bulletin board.
Just as she was beginning to think everything was fine and they could take a quest, the receptionist called out to her. "Degurechaff!"
She snapped her head around, glaring at the man. He shrank back, holding out a letter in his hand. "You have a letter."
Tanya blinked owlishly. She did?
Swiftly, she walked towards him and snatched the letter out of his hand. She opened the letter, noting, with a small amount of worry, the quality of the paper.
She didn't think that the Succubi could afford to waste money on paper this good, and Tanya would beat Wiz over the head if she dared to waste money on such a frivolous thing when she could hardly make ends meet as it was.
Hopefully, it was from Darkness. She was the only rich person Tanya knew here, and if someone else knew of her and had the money to waste on good paper, then things were about to get… complicated.
She grimaced. It might even be a missive from Mary, meant to mock her in some way.
She noted that it was sealed with wax, broke the thin, and opened the letter. Viktoriya peered over her shoulder, and both read what it said, spirits dropping as they did.
Dear Lady Tanya von Degurechaff,
You are invited to join Princess Iris Stylish Sword Belzerg for a cordial lunch and afternoon meeting.
You are a new adventurer, so we will take the time to explain that which you may not know.
The Princess is particularly fond of the stories of adventurers. While Hero Candidates would usually be called on, we received word of the deeds you performed yesterday, and thought that asking you to come instead would be a good change of pace for the Princess.
Rest assured, you are in no way obligated to attend, but all of us would love it if you would meet us at the front of the Royal Estate tomorrow at twelve o'clock sharp.
Most sincerely, Claire Entil Shinfornea.
Tanya looked up and met the eyes of Viktoriya. "Fuck."
Both quickly retreated into one of the corners of the guild, slipping into Germanian so that they weren't overheard.
"Why the fuck does she want to meet us?" Tanya asked, gesturing violently with the letter and wringing a hand through her hair.
Great. Now, they would have to meet the Princess of the nation and try not to feel guilty about the fact that people in their situation were contemplating switching sides.
Their conflict with Verdia had brought the matter to the front of her mind, but it had been there since the idea had first come to her.
Sure, they couldn't get that rule-free wish if they switched, but if Belzerg was losing, there wasn't exactly a lot they could do to fix the situation.
They were, after all, just two people. Strong people, yes, but even they needed to eat and sleep. Doing either of those things was hard if you were an enemy of the state.
By contrast, Viktoriya seemed to have calmed down somewhat. "Is it really so bad? If we don't switch sides, then this will be very good for gaining favor. And if we do… well, we'll know a bit about how the enemy thinks, right?"
Tanya grumbled, but she supposed that the woman was right. "I guess so… and Verdia's notes say that if we want to understand the war, we'll need to get close to the royal family…"
Oh, Tanya wasn't engrossed in the idea of finding out why they were even fighting this war, but she hadn't had the freedom to choose her side in her last life. If possible, she'd like to figure out as much as she could about the situation before she committed to one side or the other.
Tanya sighed. "I guess we'll go, then…"
"Go where?"
Both of them jumped, hands on their pistols, but it was only Lorelei, leaning down to look at them. Tanya shook her head and began to check that her pistol was secure as Viktoriya began to explain.
"We've been invited to visit the Princess, apparently," she said. Both were quiet after that.
Tanya turned around and saw that Mitsurugi was staring at them, smiling mysteriously. Tanya could see his crazy followers behind him, trying to kill Tanya by glaring at her.
Thankfully, she was immune to such pitiful attempts on her life. She turned her attention to Mitsurugi, who was shaking his head with mirth shining in his eyes.
"Congratulations! Iris is a real treasure. She'll ask you to tell her a story from an adventure you've been on and then send you on your way," he explained.
"How would you know?" she asked him.
He shrugged and raised an eyebrow. "I am a hero candidate. Most of us get invited to tell her a story eventually."
His happiness seemed to fade away when Tanya sighed dejectedly.
She hastened to explain. "I don't even know what to wear. The last time I met royalty, I just wore my uniform…"
He shook his head. "Don't do that! Her retainers get very… touchy if you don't come wearing something nice. Pretend you're meeting your boss's boss's boss."
Tanya shrugged helplessly. "Exactly. I showed up to a party in my uniform, and everyone made a big fuss because of it."
He rolled his eyes. "Just… find a nice dress to wear," he said flippantly, ignoring the hatred that flashed across her face to lean back and imagine her in a dress.
A concerned look crossed his face. "Now that I think about it, you look… similar to Iris…"
Tanya hardly heard him. She would have thanked him, but she was currently dreading the look of the other two behind her.
Slowly, she twisted around, and chuckled nervously at the expressions on Lorelei and Viktoriya's faces.
She tried to play it off as she began to gather mana. "What is it? Is something wrong with my hair?"
Both shook their heads in unison, and Tanya backed up a step. They advanced forward.
Lorelei spoke. "You know, we really should get a dress."
Viktoriya nodded along with the beastman's words. "Yeah. I don't imagine that we can show up wearing these things," she added, gesturing down to their current clothing.
Tanya's eyes widened, and she jumped back just as the two tried to grab her. She pointed an accusing finger at them, ignoring how it was shaking and watching from the corner of her eye as Mitsurugi backed away. "Never! You'll never get me to wear something as degrading, horrible, and feminine as-"
Both of them gave each other a look and jumped at Tanya again. She dodged Viktoriya easily; she had trained her and recognized each and every movement of her body.
Unfortunately, Lorelei had sprung far beyond where Tanya had thought she would be, and the beastman was now struggling to keep her hold on her.
Tanya snarled as the beastman began to speak in a torrential downpour of words. "Come on Tanya! We'll get your measurements, and use every last Eris you have to make a dress! You'll look so cute, especially when I get a hold of you…"
She tried to break out of the beastman's grip, but she was very strong. Thankfully, Tanya could just use her-
"Reinforcement spell: Strength."
Tanya's spirits plummeted as she saw Viktoriya hold out a hand towards the beastman and saw Lorelei's brown eyes dilate. Tanya began to pour mana into her own spells, fighting to break free.
Viktoriya shook her head slowly. "Sorry, Tanya. We do need to put our best foot forward, and that means you need to wear a dress."
She poured mana into her fists, attempting to smash Lorelei's face, not even bothering to apologize to her internally. She would not-
Nothing. She didn't so much as flinch, and the very demented look in her eyes hadn't faded the slightest.
Tanya turned around in the beastman's grip as much as possible, looking towards Viktoriya as all three of them left the guild. "Viktoriya, come on! I don't have to wear a dress. I didn't have to wear one for the Kaiser."
Viktoriya shook her head. "That was the Empire. Your reputation for professionalism meant that even if people were shocked at your refusal to wear a dress, they understood. Here though? People might be upset."
Tanya glared at the back of her head. "Sure, they could be. However, I could build up my reputation with this meeting-"
Tanya felt Lorelei's ears smack the back of her head as the beastman shook their head. "I may not be a noble, but even I know that you need to wear something more appropriate than a uniform. Many nobles are knights, after all, and they don't wear their armor."
Tanya shot her a murderous glare, but it seemed that her desire to dress Tanya up was greater than any fear Tanya had instilled in her.
She did flinch, but then she continued to walk along after Viktoriya.
Tanya growled, and mentally told herself to put this beastman through the hell the 203rd had gone through. She whirled back around, craning her neck to see Viktoriya. "Come on! You said I wouldn't ever have to wear a dress if I didn't want to!"
This time, Viktoriya stopped. She turned around, emotions warring on her face. She sighed, and bit her lip, giving her that stupid, unconquerable puppy-dog stare. "Do you really think we can't wear dresses?"
Tanya felt her resolve disintegrating in the face of Viktoriya's… face.
She tried to look away, but Lorelei had adjusted her grip so that Tanya couldn't look away from Viktoriya's slightly-sad, slightly-pleading look. She tried to run through formulas in her mind.
Nothing could withstand that look.
She sighed dejectedly, and entertained the errant, traitorous thought of what would happen if she walked in to a meeting with the Princess wearing adventurer's clothing or anything less than what was expected of her – or more accurately, what was expected of a woman in a Medieval era.
She groaned. "Fine." She glared at Lorelei again, and the beastman gingerly released Tanya.
She hopped down to the ground and glared at them both, crossing her arms and hunching her back. "Fucking… fine. I'll wear a stupid fucking dress, and whatever else you can put on me."
Both of them smiled broadly, but she turned to Lorelei stiffly. "You. I'll be putting you through the same hell I put my battalion through once we finish with this stupid meeting and I get some time."
She turned to Viktoriya, who had built up an immunity to Tanya's glares and grinned through Tanya's promise that she would figure out a way to get her back.
As she brooded behind the two, she hid a smirk. Viktoriya had that diary, right? Tanya would go through it and find some – mostly – harmless way to prank her.
-OxOxO-
Tanya was on the verge of crying.
She'd been through hell on the battlefield, fought against the best of what Being X could throw at her, and even managed to make it this far in this nonsensical fantasy land where mackerel grew in the ground and watermelons were caught in the sea.
Very few things had nearly brought Tanya to tears, and she could confidently add this experience to the list.
Oh, the clothing looked wonderful, from an outside perspective. Lots of white, very few frills, and a dress that dipped down to her ankles. She'd even been given evening gloves that were made of higher quality fabric than her new black ones.
It didn't even come with a corset, something Tanya was very thankful for. Because, if someone had dared to try one of those on her – whether she had served nearly eight years on the front line with them or only met them days ago – she would likely have ripped anything that they tried to constrict her breathing to shreds and then fed said shreds to the idiotic dressers who dared to try something like that.
Despite what was good about it, Tanya still hated how it looked on her. It was too white. She would have preferred to be dressed in blues or greens, but Lorelei had shaken her head and muttered something about 'purity' to the woman making the thing.
It didn't have anywhere for her to put weapons. She could strap her pistol to her leg, but that was about it.
It hugged her body in an attempt to accentuate assets that Tanya wished she could cut off.
Lorelei asked for a reason as to why in the name of Eris they'd wouldn't try and make it seem that she was at least a bit more desirable, and Tanya had countered that no men would be at this little get together. Lorelei had just rolled her eyes.
It didn't let her stash her Type 97 in her clothing. She'd have to wear the thing around her neck in full view of everyone, and the only reason she also wasn't wearing that stupid circlet was because Tanya hadn't told Lorelei about it.
Still… despite her hatred of the dress, all of it paled in comparison to her hair.
Tanya had thought, after they had purchased the damn dress, that they'd go home, and Tanya could contemplate using all her mana so that she'd wind up sick the next morning. Instead, Lorelei had dragged them to a hairdresser. The man had tutted at Tanya's messy, short hair, and put more work into Tanya's hair in those two hours than she had in her life.
Then they'd gone home. Tanya had been exhausted and angry. Viktoriya had enjoyed her dress much more, and Lorelei had seemed energized by the entire experience.
They'd gone to bed, and Tanya had woken up to the sounds of Viktoriya making coffee. It tasted good, of course, but the dread she was feeling made it taste just slightly too bitter.
Viktoriya had dragged her out of the inn, they'd met up with Lorelei, and then they'd gone and done it all again, except this time…
Tanya resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands as they walked through the streets of the capital.
They were outside.
And, everyone that cared to was looking at them, gawking at them, and generally calling attention to the nicely dressed women walking through the streets towards the looming castle.
She glared behind her at Viktoriya. She was smiling and waving at the occasional onlooker, a smile of mixed nervousness and appreciation gracing her face.
Tanya gave her a look over, turned around and grinned to herself. Well, Tanya might not have liked all the white and gold on herself, but it looked… quite nice on Viktoriya…
She shook her head and tried to be angry at her adjunct.
Tanya didn't care what she thought of the experience; Tanya was going to find out some dirty little secret in the girl's diary, and then confront her about it.
Maybe she'd even tell others about it? Tanya couldn't really see her getting embarrassed if it was just Tanya. They had shared too much for that.
After making sure Viktoriya wasn't looking, Tanya rolled her eyes. Viktoriya didn't mind undressing in front of Tanya before she'd learned the truth of her origin; of course she'd have to tell other people before she got embarrassed.
Finally, they got the gates of the castle. It was majestic, imposing, and a big fucking target, as far as Tanya was concerned.
She turned to Lorelei, a question on her lips.
It died as she realized that she wasn't wearing a dress, and how she hadn't participated in the… beauty pageant of last night.
Tanya might have wished Lorelei to have experienced the same indignity, but the woman seemed to appreciate dresses and clothing far more than Tanya did. "Why aren't you wearing anything?"
She snorted. "I don't think that the guards would trust me enough to let me walk inside alive, let alone meet the Princess."
Tanya spun back around and ground her teeth.
She let out an angry breath, and spun around again. "Do you want to come in?"
The beastman blinked rapidly, and then tilted her head as she thought about it.
She probably hadn't even considered the thought, judging by the look on her face. She shrugged.
"I don't mind staying out here." She didn't cave when Tanya sent her a questioning glance, so Tanya sighed and turned around.
"Fine. Just remember: you'll be surprised at what I'm going to make you live through."
Tanya smirked as the gates opened and a girl walked out. Lorelei walked away slowly, wondering if getting to handle fabric again was really worth whatever she would be put through.
She smirked to herself. Yes, getting to experience even a portion of her old life was worth it. Besides, Tanya was just joking.
Right?
Behind the retreating Lorelei, Tanya slightly inclined her head towards the girl. "I don't suppose you are Miss Shinfornea?"
Rain smiled nervously. That dress was expensive. Even the commoner she'd brought along with her was dressed up nicely. The necklace that hung from her neck looked more like a piece of art than something someone would dirty by taking it out from behind a pair of guards and thick glass.
That she wore it anyway spoke of wealth comparable to a noble at least more wealthy that Rain was.
Just… lovely.
"I'm afraid not. I am Rain, a noble form a… lower house, one of Princess Iris's retainers, and her teacher," she said, nervously touching a piece of her hair. Tanya nodded.
"Well, I suppose you'll be taking us to meet the Princess, Miss Rain?"
Rain nodded, for a moment, and then began to blush and waved her hands. "No, no- Well, I mean I will be taking you to the Princess after a tour of the castle, but there is no need for you to address me so formally, Miss Degurechaff!"
"Alright, alright," Tanya said, attempting to placate her. She sighed, and began to walk forwards, following behind her beside Viktoriya.
She took the time as they walked passed the gates of the castle and inside to study her current host. Her clothing was…
Remarkably sensible. A dark skirt that crept from just above her thighs up to above her waist was the main feature, but the small piece of blue cloth that hung from around her neck and encircled the middle of her arms wasn't unnoticeable. A small beret-like hat topped her head, and thin gloves went up her arms and passed her elbows, disappearing underneath the cloth.
Tanya could see rings on each of her fingers, and Tanya guessed that they were like the one Tanya still had on that was supposed to deter mental attacks.
She was holding a staff and Tanya could honestly say that she looked… somewhat normal. Sure, maybe her possessions was made of high quality stuff, but it didn't seem like it would be out of place in the guild.
Tanya sent a glare towards her companion, who smiled nervously. If it turned out that wearing this stupid thing wasn't even necessary…
She rolled her eyes and tried to focus on what the pseudo-tour guide was saying.
"This castle has been improved upon by generation after generation of kings and queens – Confirmed Heroes all of them. As such, differences in architecture can be seen throughout the castle, with different areas being built to the tastes of the monarchs who built them."
Tanya nodded along with her words, taking a bit of time to look around. The place was certainly better than anything Tanya had been exposed to during this life, and she could honestly say that the number of knights she'd seen inside the thing acting as guards was impressive.
She had seen more, however. Her meeting with the Kaiser had taken place in a room filled to the brim with all kinds of wealth, from art to sheer gold.
She'd even been given the honor of exploring the entirety of Versailles.
This place was, by comparison… hollow. Sure, there was gold and carpet and chandeliers everywhere, and Tanya could count the seconds that they hadn't seen a weapon or a piece of armor on one hand.
However, there was very little other than overt wealth and weapons.
She had seen very little art. Artistry was present in every square inch of gilded metal and walls, of course, but paintings or statues or even drawings couldn't be found.
It was a bit disheartening to not be able to see this world's culture through its art, but she supposed that the lack of art said something just as important.
Tanya cut off her musings and refocused on the entrance to their supposed dining hall. Rain had run through to prepare the Princess, leaving Tanya and Viktoriya standing in the hall.
"Did you see the things that the maids were wearing? What kind of maid wears something like that? If they're maids, why weren't their clothes dirty? Do you think they're just for show or something?"
Tanya didn't respond, for a moment. She contemplated telling Viktoriya that those people looked like they were wearing something made for foreplay instead of cleaning. Before she could declare that, however, a smile crept over her face.
She turned to look at Viktoriya, very deliberately run her eyes over her body, and began to chuckle. "No, I didn't take notice. Now that you mention it, however…"
Viktoriya's curious expression quickly became one of dread. "T- Tanya? You wouldn't…"
Tanya just chuckled to herself. "Oh, you'd be surprised what I'm willing to do as revenge for this dress."
She had meant to continue the thought, but the doors in front of them opened. Wordlessly, the two of them straightened themselves, walked through the doors, and looked around the room.
Tanya would later look around and note that this area seemed to be more tasteful. The wealth wasn't blinding, and it seemed that everything was just a bit more sensible. There were even a few paintings of battles lining the walls, depicting various heroes of legend battling towering monsters.
Tanya, however, couldn't focus on much of that, however.
Because, seated across the room at the head of the long dining table that was laden with an assortment of delicious foods, was…
Tanya von Degurechaff.
Tanya blinked, and tried to find fault. She couldn't, so she stepped into the room, peering at her double in an attempt to find a flaw.
The same eyes, the same mouth, chin, nose, ears, even her body seemed to be identical. The clothes she wore actually helped differentiate them – it showed off more of her arms and shoulders than Tanya's did, and she wasn't wearing any necklace.
Her hair was longer than Tanya, and what looked like grapes – not that Tanya thought someone would actually wear food in their hair – adorned her head.
Still, everything kept circling back to the girl's face. The same face that she had woken up to for sixteen years.
"An identical Iris?!"
"Tanya's twin?!"
Tanya didn't have to guess who said the last statement, and she didn't care who'd said the first. She was busy trying to suppress her virulent, growing anger.
The chances of someone looking so… identically like her were slim to none in a rational world, especially considering how… distinctive Tanya looked as a sixteen-year-old orphan girl who'd been in the army as long as she had been outside of it.
The people across from her were likely confused as to how this could happen – some idiotic fiction about a lost twin or a bastard? – but Tanya could count on exactly one thing to have caused this.
Being X.
Being X had made someone look exactly like her. Superficial differences existed in their hair style and dresses, but no one could possibly be given all the facts and conclude that that idiotic thing that claimed to be god hadn't intervened.
Tanya sighed as she walked along the side of the able towards the three people opposite of her.
Well, the moron had proven himself wrong again. There was absolutely, positively, no fucking way that god had the time to come down to a planet and facilitate how a king and queen fucked so that their child looked like someone.
It just wasn't possible. Yet another point against the…
Tanya almost shook her head. Calling him a dictator, devil, or monster didn't really fit. The only word she could think of was…
Doofus. Being X was a doofus.
She suppressed the urge to sigh and instead strode forward, coming to a stop in front of her double, staring down at the girl. Tanya could see that she was trying to put up a mask of blankness, but the wideness of her eyes gave away her surprise.
Tanya resisted the urge to introduce herself in one of her old ways.
In her first life, she might have shaken hands and exchange pleasantries.
Usually, she hadn't needed to; anyone who she had met that she wasn't already familiar with was usually about to be fired.
In her last life, she hadn't often needed to introduce herself to many people.
Those she had, she would salute, if they were a higher rank, and then she would give off her rank in the 203rd.
Neither was appropriate, so Tanya instead bent at the waist, bowing her head until she was facing the ground. "Your highness. I am Tanya von Degurechaff."
Iris inclined her head, tossed a glance back at Viktoriya, who was also approaching. The girl inclined her head slightly and spoke. "Understood. I am the First Princess of Belzerg, Iris Stylish Sword Belzerg."
Tanya nodded her head, absently wondering if that was really her middle name and noting that the girl's voice was much higher pitched than Tanya's. That was unfortunate for a sixteen-year-old, but Tanya couldn't do anything about it, so she'd say nothing.
Tanya was sure that she was probably insecure about it, considering Tanya was mildly annoyed about the pitch of her voice, and she had a lifetime of growing up as an abnormally tall Japanese man to fall back on.
Viktoriya walked forward and bent as low as Tanya had moments earlier. "Your highness. I am Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov."
Suddenly, the girl's curious eyes became cold, and Tanya found that her resemblance to the face Tanya conjured up in a mirror even more familiar. She turned to the suited girl to her right and began to whisper. The woman stepped forward, looking at Tanya while speaking to Viktoriya in a very distant way,
Twitch.
"Her Highness Princess Iris thanks you for the introduction. She desires that we eat a light lunch before the stories are told."
Viktoriya and Tanya both inclined their heads and sat down next to each of the two retainers. Tanya was trying not to glare at the Princess for snubbing Viktoriya like that.
On one hand, Tanya knew that she was royalty and that there was definitely some set of royal procedures for meeting people below her status. On the other hand…
Viktoriya.
Tanya cast her gaze to the other occupants of the room. They weren't talking, and they might not have seemed to stand out much from their surroundings, but various servants seemed to be arrayed around the room, ready for orders.
Tanya turned to Rain. Tanya didn't often get petty revenge that didn't involve ordering her subordinates to do something menial and below their skill, but almost anything was permissible when someone insulted Viktoriya.
She smiled sweetly at the woman.
She would be easiest to exact a reprisal, if her earlier nervous attitude was anything to go by.
"Rain, was it?" she asked the girl. She looked up suddenly, eyes trained on Tanya.
Tanya smiled, as if benevolent. "I'm sorry I didn't say so earlier, but it was you that accosted me and Viktoriya a few days ago, yes?"
She jerked minutely at that, and Tanya saw Viktoriya stiffen out of the corner of her eye. She had been upset that someone had tried to attack Tanya within the first few hours of their arrival and gone on about it while they had found a dingy alley to lie low in.
The woman touched the tips of her fingers together nervously as a faint blush touched her cheeks. "Ah, well, that was in fact me. I… incorrectly assumed that you were actually Iris. Honestly, it was a stupid mistake. Iris wouldn't ever leave the castle unattended."
Tanya hummed as if surprised, took note of the slight shift Princess's posture, and waited a moment more as she saw the servers beginning to bring out food. Perfect.
"It is fine. Obviously, the mistake is easy to make, although I wonder at your dedication if you would think that something so obviously unattainable could be the truth."
As her cheeks reddened more thoroughly and that Claire girl seemed to fight down some sort of choking noise, Tanya hid her smirk behind the bowl of food a servant was lowering.
Tanya began to dig in, stopping only momentarily as Rain apologized for not being able to find Tanya's family.
She shrugged. "It's fine. If you could have found my family, I'd be surprised, considering I'm an orphan" she said, making sure to keep the condescending tone out of her voice this time. She'd exacted a bit of petty revenge, and if they didn't insult Viktoriya, then she'd keep things amiable.
"Really?" asked Iris. Tanya nodded.
"Yes. No mother, no father, and dropped off at an orphanage before I could walk."
The woman in the suit – presumably Claire Entil Shinfornea – spoke up this time. "Nonsense. Some noble family must have adopted you."
Tanya rolled her eyes. The urge to try and make up a backstory entered her mind, but she discarded it. She had enough trouble keeping her last two lives out of general conversation; she didn't need a fake life to keep track of too.
Honestly, trying to juggle a half-dozen lives seemed like a very tiring task. Tanya didn't think even a million dollars and a half-dozen companies – one for each identity – would be worth it. Honestly, what kind of shit would Being X have to pull for that to happen?
She shook her head and glanced enviously at Viktoriya, who was currently enjoying what looked to be some kind of bird. Tanya hadn't tried it yet on account of the inquisition.
"No. I stayed at that orphanage for a long time," she said, digging into the fowl.
The conversation began to stiffen, and everyone began to dig into their food.
Even if the dress was embarrassing, and if these people were about as meritocratic as a communist dictatorship and looked down on the 'suspicious people who know more than how to farm' just as much, she would find something about the day she could enjoy. Hopefully, it would be the food and the way Viktoriya looked.
They quickly finished lunch – apparently something called Onion Duck that was high in experience – and Tanya could tell that the little girl in front of her was bursting with questions. Tanya fought the urge to roll her eyes.
"What kind of stories would Your Majesty like to hear?" she asked as their plates were taken away and getting to the reason the letter had asked them here. Viktoriya gave the woman taking her plate a thank you, and turned back to Tanya, interest sparkling in her eyes.
Iris seemed indecisive, and Rain spoke up for her. "Please, tell of us of your time in Axel, Miss Degurechaff. We understand that you recently arrived from there?"
Tanya felt her eyes narrow, but she rolled her shoulders and leaned back in her chair as she tried to think of an appropriate story from Axel.
Viktoriya spoke up. "Could you tell us about your first quest? You haven't gotten around to telling me what you did…"
Tanya smiled thankfully at Viktoriya. Tanya had been telling Viktoriya about what she'd done in this world so far since they'd set out from Axel. Tanya hadn't realized it, but obviously Viktoriya was trying to ease her into telling her about the much more…
Tanya gulped. The much more… trying experiences they'd had during the war.
She breathed in deeply, ignoring the questioning looks from their hosts. "Fine, I don't mind. My first quest involved a very small pond full of alligators and some… unpredictable teammates."
-OxOxO-
A/N 1: ALL RIGHT! Firstly, to those of you that read this before I finished: I am sorry.
I got my first job recently, and I've been reading Harry Turtledove books provided by Christmas, things got away from me, and I posted it before it was done being edited. Again, I apologize.
As for why I put it out before it was edited… I did promise to post chapters every Saturday or Friday, and not posting felt… wrong.
Anyway… Tanya invokes the wrath of Eris/the universe by daring to say something so horribly cliche as 'nothing could possibly go wrong.' Aqua proved just how much a horrible Luck stat can be for you, and Tanya continues the tradition.
Also, Tanya and Iris meet, and what do you know, they do look alike. Honestly, I've been imagining this scene for quite a while, and I'm glad to finally share it.
A/N 2: Yes, Tanya does remark that her having multiple identities is outlandish, which is a direct reference to how Tanya doesn't often imagine how different her life might be if something happened just slightly to the left, like with A Young Girl's Delinquency Record.
A/N 3: Responses to reviews on this website (from before January 4th):
eggyeggygoo: Have no fear: Mitsurugi will not remain your standard isekai harem pretty-boy forever. I have a plan for him that borders heavily on crack and that I might be able to spin as plausible and believable anyway.
Lord of Moons: Congratulations! You're the first person to speak a positive, obvious god damned positive word about Tanya transitioning. Thank you very much, I recently forgot that I should give the trolls and flames as much care as Tanya does Dacia's entire military, and your comment helped me to remember that.
As a reward, I'm mentioning the telescope explicitly when Tanya gets around to it, and I'm gonna work more of Astronomy/Astrology into The Anniversary than I planned. If you have any more plans, please mention them.
Acerman: Yeah, I was kind of… unhappy with her breaking her promise so soon too, but even I do want to move the story along a bit. Besides, nothing's saying she can't… delay talking about it by making sure Viktoriya is distracted.
And as I told eggyeggygoo, I have a plan for Mitsurugi… hehehe…
Pyromania101: You all spoil me with the ideas you give me! But…
Hmm, actually, while I did have a plan for a… 'secondary party' if you will – that I can't speak any more of because spoilers – I might do something inspired by A Young Girl's Delinquency Record in order to handle the influx of characters…
cj1of4: It is a funny gag, and while she seems to gain more friends than she realizes – especially with the various spinoffs to consider – putting her in a permanent team would be good for her growth.
Nihil Asara: I haven't read much of the manga either. I don't think any rape actually occurs in any of the canons – it's just something Loria dreams of.
As for your curiosity, wait and see! All will be revealed eventually, one way or another…
Quaver Ava: Thank you for the encouragement. Tanya is probably going to keep the same name – changing names mid-story is confusing, in my experience, though she might… I don't know, change her middle name from 'von' to something different.
As for my chapter size and speed, remember: I still have a backlog until chapter 37. After that, I'm going to have to slow way the fuck down. Until then, though, enjoy weekly updates!
Amatsumi: lol
SoleReclaimer: If, by blow up, you meant, Tanya ruminates on just how ungodly Being X is, then yes!
Xpparda: She'll start regularly calling her by her nickname… eventually. My outline only extends so far before becoming a mess of unconnected future scenes.
last admiral: If you remember Kazuma's first foray into this world, he was quite upset by a lot of things that didn't match his expectations of your average isekai – from his teammates being worse than expected to stuff that was weird, like watermelon being caught in the river. I imagine that this happened with just about anyone familiar with the genre, if to a lesser degree thanks to their cheats.
And, as always, thank you to Imperial warlord, simple405, Sprengkamp, and everyone else who continues to read this story! See you all later!