Third Time's the Charm

by SugarcaneSoldier

Dying again was much more painful the second time for Tanya von Degurechaff, but what came after was intriguing, to say the least, and she was nothing if not opportunistic. Taking the opportunity presented by Aqua would expand her opportunities by much more than she could have dreamed possible… but why did the good have to come with so much insanity!

27. A Prince and a Quest

Tanya grinned.

It was just a little bit forced – she was, after all, being forced to meet some snot-nosed brat, if Claire's words to be trusted – but she didn't have to wear a dress.

She had insisted that, seeing as they were there as bodyguards and that wearing something frilly – and wholly unnecessary in Tanya's unshared opinion – would be disadvantageous, if a fight were to break out.

Iris had claimed that a fight wouldn't break out, and Tanya had asked her if it was impossible. She hadn't answered immediately, and Tanya took that bit of leeway and took it as far as she thought possible.

Viktoriya, too, was wearing her regular ensemble, and Tanya smiled genuinely at the happy and curious expression she wore as she looked around while they walked towards the castle in this capital.

It was nice to see that she could be so upbeat despite having to do this job.

Lorelei, unfortunately, wasn't there. She'd asked to go exploring the city and sell all the monster parts they'd accumulated, and Tanya wasn't going to insist that she attend this meeting with them if she didn't want to.

There was probably a limit to how high Iris's blood pressure could go without dangerous medical repercussions, and Tanya wasn't sure it could survive much more after seeing the confused and indignant expression she'd worn when she'd exited her room to see Lorelei come out of one room and the two of them come out of the other.

Now, however, after some of Viktoriya's coffee and a walk through the city, the Princess seemed much calmer. A bit frazzled, but nothing more than that.

Tanya shook her head and turned towards the looming castle. Where Belzerg's capital and castle had been built to withstand - very common – sieges, this one seemed to be built to show off its wealth.

It was taller than any other building Tanya had seen, and had more flags, paint, and glass than she thought could have been possible in this time period.

Tanya gazed at it dispassionately. Sure, it looked a bit nicer, but it also looked like an even easier target than the one in Belzerg's capital.

With how destructive magic could be, it was a wonder that the Demon King hadn't simply gathered a bunch of Mages together, trained them to use destructive spells, and then blown away the castle… and everything else in his path.

They reached the gates. Tanya looked around and found that no one was there to open them. She shrugged; if they wanted to insult them, then she had no problems getting revenge, if need be.

Iris stepped towards the gates, staring through them. "This might be my first meeting with the Prince, but I don't really feel that nervous because of you two. Thank you both."

Tanya shrugged. "It's no problem, Iris. I-"

"Geez, this is why Belzerg is so barba- I mean, making a fuss in front of a castle? Do you even know what etiquette is?"

Tanya gazed at the boy that had come out of the doors of the castle. He was taller than her – which was not exactly a hard achievement to acquire – he had a mane of red hair on top of his head, and he wore a small, golden crown that looked to be a bit uncomfortably small.

Freckles dotted his face, and a shrill, tiny voice exited his mouth.

There was, however, something odd shining in his eyes. Tanya peered closely towards the distant figure and his surrounding entourage, gauged their stiff statures and the way that he had more guards surrounding them than Tanya had seen in the rest of the capital so far, and judged that he was scared.

Tanya was unimpressed by his retinue. "I don't think you have any, considering you felt it was proper to point that out blatantly instead of, at least, subtly weaving it into conversation. Also, you used the word 'geez' when talking to a foreign delegation, so I'm surprised you can even pronounce the word etiquette."

Tanya felt both Iris and Viktoriya stiffen next to her, but before the Prince's face could get as red as his hair or Tanya could continue to insult him, Iris stepped forward, making her introduction.

Tanya tuned her out. Really, it felt kind of… mean to be bullying children that hadn't even hit puberty yet. Sure, she had killed… many people, but at least her usual opponents were somewhat aware of what they were dealing with.

Everyone around her right now hadn't the faintest idea of what she was. Besides Viktoriya.

"Are you the first prince of Elroad, Revi? I am the first Princess of Belzerg, Iris. I came all the way here to see you, so I'm happy that we were able to meet today." Iris spoke clearly, with a small, unassuming smile on her face and a voice that was mature for her age.

She bowed deeply, letting her hair fall from her shoulders and hang down.

"So, you're my fiancé? Although I heard that all the children from your family are militant muscle-for-brains, you look pretty pathetic. I thought I would see something cool today, but I guess not…"

He pointed down at Iris, only barely not glaring. "And so few bodyguards… instead of training your muscles so that you might look strong, maybe you all should train your minds to try and earn some money?"

He began laughing, and his retainers followed his lead. Iris was beginning to look pretty lost, and Tanya glared at the brat.

No one was actually stupid enough to insult someone so close to the power of another nation just because of how they looked, which meant he wanted an angry reaction out of them.

His laughter petered off, and he stepped a bit closer. The knights around him moved, as did his retainers. He pointed a finger at Tanya. "Your twin looks like she might be a bit stronger, even if the clothing she's wearing is complete trash," he said, turning to Viktoriya.

"It goes without saying that she's deplorable," he said with a flippant wave of his hand sneer.

He began to laugh again, and Tanya narrowed her gaze.

She heard Viktoriya make a sound that seemed like a groan, but she put it out of her mind. There was no reason for her to feel upset enough to groan; not as soon as Tanya talked a bit of… sense into the brat.

Smiling sweetly, she said, "Aren't you going to let us in, Prince Revi?"

The laughter stopped, and he raised an eyebrow. "I don't see why. If you all can't even open a gate, then-"

Taking his lackluster response as permission, Tanya cut him off by pumping mana into the Type 97, ignoring Viktoriya's whispered pleas to ignore him, and ripping through the chain holding the fence gate together.

Then, instead of opening the gate, she pushed the left gate inwards, into its hinges, bending bars of steel and making an opening. Then, she did the same to the right side, stepped through the hole, and bent at the waist, holding her hand out to her side to invite the Princess inside as if she were a menial servant.

Tanya wasn't looking, but she was sure that the Prince was reevaluating his maneuver to get them enraged.

Before he could open his mouth again, Tanya spoke. "Perhaps you should invite us inside the castle? I'm sure that we could stand here all day, but I think that your tiny heart might give out before the three of us so much as sweat."

An expression of rage surface, but he suppressed it quickly, gesturing to one of his retainers. "You will be invited inside, of course, but considering the… suspicious circumstances of our Prime Minister's death, we insist that you leave your weapons here."

All three of them strode forward. Tanya went first, took the bayonet off her rifle, and took off her gloves. Revi looked amused, but the knives that poured from them quickly washed that expression from his face.

Tanya stepped forward, but the knights stopped her. "What is that?"

Tana didn't even have to look at what they were pointing at. "It's a… staff," she finally said.

In this place, a long stick that channeled mana was called a staff, not a scepter like in her second world. She might as well settle into the change.

That didn't mean she was going to tell them it's real function, and if they assumed that is was just a staff, then it was there fault for not getting more information.

The knight turned a bit red. "I said all weapons-"

"Look, taking away the staff isn't going to impact my ability to do magic much," she said frankly. Tanya saw an eye twitch through the face guard, but he waved her through angrily.

Viktoriya came next, and she did as Tanya had, taking the bayonet off her rifle and taking the knives out of her gloves. Unlike Tanya, she also took a few she had stashed in her coat out, though Tanya attributed that to a mix of her preferring shorter gloves and still wanting to be as prepared as Tanya was.

Iris was last, and she took the shortest time, considering she had no weapons on her. Tanya nodded approvingly; even if she was powerful, they were supposed to be guarding her, and Tanya was sure that it would reflect badly on them if the Princess had more weapons than they did. Or any weapons at all, really.

Finally, they were inside. Just like the outside, there was opulent wealth everywhere, coating every surface, blinding everyone with working eyeballs and curing the blind thanks to how shiny everything was.

While Tanya might have thought that the last castle didn't have nearly enough art with how much it looked like a museum, this one seemed to be completely barren regarding anything that resembled security. Open windows, lots of area for invaders to overrun choke points…

Tanya wouldn't want to defend this place in any way, and she wondered how they planned to defend from the Demon King if he overran Belzerg because they wouldn't pay their dues.

Unless…

Contemplating the merit of the idea that had just come to her, they were dragged through the entryway and into a small antechamber with enough room for all of them. It was…

Well, it might barely constitute as a party.

There was certainly food, but Tanya had seen better fare in the one the Succubi had thrown her, and they didn't have the vast resources of an entire nation behind them.

The furniture and lighting were also present, but it seemed that it was intermittent, casting areas into shadow. With how open the other rooms had been, this one was surprisingly closed off.

Everyone sat down, and Tanya sighed at the hostile looks Iris was being sent. It wasn't like she'd done anything to offend them…

Tanya blanched a bit as she sat down. Right.

'Iris' definitely might have offended them by berating their Prime Minister, and Iris would be hard pressed to emulate what Tanya had said about economics if pressed to.

A bead of sweat formed on her forehead. What had those been thinking sticking her with duties so important, and why had she thought it would be a good idea to insult their Prime Minister as revenge?

Things were quiet for a moment, and then Tanya stood. She might as well act as an icebreaker, and she hoped it was some consolation to Iris.

"Seeing as you all are so… very warm, I suppose I'll get introductions out of the way. My name is Tanya von Degurechaff, and I'm a simple adventurer."

She sat down again, now followed by scrutinizing gazes. She had been faced with worse in her last life, though, so she didn't panic.

Revi scoffed. "A bold-faced lie. There's no way you two just happen to look so similar."

Tanya shrugged helplessly, wishing that she could shout 'You're right, not-god Being X did this!' and knowing that she'd probably get tossed in the looney bin by Revi and broken out by Viktoriya.

Speaking of who…

"I am Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov, friend of Tanya and also an adventurer," she also said this, bowing down and sitting quickly. Revi rolled his eyes, and Tanya narrowed hers.

He turned to one of his retainers. "Should I be worried about her?" he asked, whispering loudly.

Tanya raised an eyebrow, wondering just what he hoped to accomplish by making them so mad, unless they had a death wish.

From the way Tanya was gripping the table, they were certainly headed that way.

They shook their heads. "No. She's probably some kind of pack mule, considering how ugly she is."

Crack.

All of them looked towards Tanya, and she dusted off her hands, smiling apologetically. "I apologize for that. It seems that I don't often realize my own strength."

She ignored the look Viktoriya was sending her, because they both knew that Tanya knew exactly how much mana she needed to pump into her Type 97 in order to crack tabletops, wooden or otherwise.

She'd pulled the stunt a couple times near the end of the war when no one had believed her when she remembered a few wisps of information from her old world's history classes that involved Germany during the World Wars.

The General Staff had quickly changed their decisions whenever she did that to… highlight the infallibility of her logic.

Revi cleared his throat, and as one, they began to dig into the food. As expected, it was… food. Not particularly bad, but Tanya could probably make something just as good, if not better.

Considering her culinary skills hadn't been trained like the ones the chefs in the castle certainly had – she'd picked hers up second hand to make rations, of all things – that fact was concerning.

Through all the lunch, Revi only spoke in low tones to the people around him.

Nothing but disparaging comments about Iris and Belzerg flowed from him, but the few times that Iris had tried to bravely ask about the insults, his retainers wrote off her concerns as her not hearing correctly.

Halfway through the meal, a man burst in, bowed to the Prince, and sat down next to Tanya. He spoke to them briefly, apologizing for the 'aide' that had been sent in his absence, and then ate a small portion of food.

Tanya rolled her eyes as lunch ended.

An utterly baffling attempt at deflecting blame. Who would hire a Prime Minister that let his subordinates to claim to be him? Perhaps he was trying to insult their intelligence for not realizing something so obvious?

They finished their meager fare soon enough, and Iris began the main topic of this meeting. "Prince Revi, I was wondering if you would consider-"

"No. I have no need to speak to the barbaric Princess of Belzerg about something that has already been decided," he said, stiffly frowning. Slowly, the conversation that had been going on between his retainers quieted, and all attention was on him, the Prime Minister, and the three delegates from Belzerg.

Tanya suppressed the urge to glower at him, and then she suppressed the urge to sigh. She had seen the lack of defenses in the castle and in the town, and if they planned to stop providing defense funding and risk Belzerg falling, then…

"You see, my nation has no intention of opposing the Demon King's army. Thus, if we support you, we'll be opposing them," he said simply. Tanya sighed as Iris began to stutter.

She couldn't blame them.

Oh, she might be warming up to Iris personally, but she had no doubt that, if she needed to secure her and Viktoriya's safety among the ranks of the side that would win, she'd do what Elroad was doing.

Getting that wish would be nice, but surviving was more important than that. If Belzerg fell and she was on their side, she might get targeted by the victorious Demon King because of her association with them.

Iris finished stuttering out a confused reply, and the Prince shrugged noncommittally. "We have our own circumstances that supersede the alliance. We need all the extra cash we can get, and we don't want to incite the wrath of the Demon King's army. Also, while we're at it, let's dissolve our engagement. It was decided by my… parents, and I don't want to marry the barbaric, Orc-like Belzerg Princess."

Iris's face fell, and Tanya raised an eyebrow, wondering if the kid had even seen an Orc.

She wouldn't bet on it.

He added, almost under his breath, "When I found out that the ladies were stronger than the men, I decided that there was no way I would marry you."

Tanya looked to Iris, wondering if she would be upset. For a moment and no longer, it seemed she was happy.

Truly happy.

Tanya could relate a little bit. She shuddered to think of how she would feel if she were forced to marry someone she didn't want to, especially considering how she would be marrying a woman zero times out of a hundred.

Tanya stood, shaking her head. Iris had also stood, but Tanya began to talk as the Princess made her way towards the Prince.

"Honestly, Prince Revi considering…" Tanya trailed off, gesturing with a hand towards his general direction, "you… I would be surprised if you were ever able to find a woman that wasn't stronger than you."

The Prime Minister next to her seemed to be choking on something – Tanya couldn't possibly imagine what it could be – but before she was reprimanded, Iris gripped the front of the Prince's clothing.

"I don't care in the slightest about the marriage, but as for your complete refusal to support us…!" she trailed off, pouting and sniffling slightly.

He scoffed, whatever anger he felt towards Tanya and her insult momentarily forgotten. "The answer is no, and if you consider yourself a member of the royalty, then…" he trailed off.

Unlike Iris, he wasn't making a cute expression in an attempt to convince her, but one of panic as Iris's grip on his shirt tightened and she began to move him about.

The retainers quickly moved into action, prying her off. The knights moved to surround him as he recovered, a genuinely fearful expression on his face.

He began to speak again as Iris let her gaze fall to the ground, his earlier superiority gone. "What a barbaric girl! I was right to dissolve this engagement. Since you've said your piece, scram! And don't come back!"

Before Tanya could insult him again or attempt to get that dissolution in writing as a part of her deal with Claire, and before Viktoriya could move to stop Tanya from doing either of those things while tension still riddled the air, Iris sighed dejectedly.

"…I understand."

His distrustful expression faded a bit, and as he opened his mouth to say something, no doubt some platitude about being relieved, but Iris interrupted him.

"I'll come back tomorrow."

He seemed to jolt violently, but Iris puffed out her chest. "Yes. I'll come back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. I'll come back until I receive the support that we need!"

He glowered at her, and as she left the room, hastily followed by Tanya, Viktoriya, and everyone else, he began to shout after her. "F- Fine! Come back! You'll never receive that funding. A- And… don't bring both of them! Leave your twin home!"

She crashed through the front doors as he spoke and stepped through the hole that Tanya had made in the iron fence. Viktoriya hastily followed her, the weapons she and Tanya had given to one of the members of the Prince's staff in hand, but Tanya turned back around.

"Just to confirm, do you have that marriage dissolution in writing? There are interested parties in our capital," she said.

He glared at her, but he gestured to one of his retainers. They stepped forward, thrust a hand into a bag at their side, and withdrew a sheaf of paper.

"You'll find that the last shipment of money we sent was larger than others due to the annulment money we attached to it. You accepted, so the marriage is void," he said briskly.

Tanya turned to him an eyebrow raised. "Do you really think Belzerg's royalty will accept that?"

He blinked owlishly, and Tanya grinned. "Look, I respect you for your decision to keep your nation out of this senseless waste of a war, but I think I should warn you that, while Belzerg is distracted by the Demon King's army now, they might not always be. When they aren't, what do you think a nation as militarized as Belzerg will do with you stealing their money?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, sounding genuinely hesitant and unknowing instead of his insulting comments from earlier. Tanya rolled her eyes.

"A lot of that money you send us is the taxes we want to collect from our nobles. We can always ban them from travelling here and tell them to make do with casinos in other nations, if you won't be helpful."

He seemed shaken for a moment, but he rolled his eyes back at her. "We'll cut off trade. We have resources that you need."

Tanya just smirked. "You all are going through a recession, apparently. If you cut off trade, you'll be hurting yourself more than anyone. We'll just start trading with other nations. You don't exactly have many trade partners to go to, and with how… inexperienced your Prime Minister seemed last night, I doubt you have the knowledge of how to figure a way out."

"Of course," she added as she walked down the steps towards the gate, "Things don't have to be like this. Elroad and Belzerg apparently have a very good relationship. You don't have to throw that away on the bet that we'll suddenly lose a war that's been going on for over thirty years."

With that, she left, leaving behind an intimidated Prince and his retainers.

She was patting herself on the back. She had accomplished her auxiliary goal already, and Iris's insistence on coming back meant that she could try and use her economic knowledge to improve relations enough to achieve her main goal.

Suddenly, just as stepped through the gate, he called after her. "Ignore my order about not coming here."

She glanced back at him, staring at the Prince's rather… unreadable expression. She shook her head as she turned back around, supposing that that would help her get into a position to negotiate.

-OxOxO-

Tanya sighed as they walked towards the castle once more. Iris had been insistent that they leave the first thing in the morning, meaning that Tanya had no time to look through Viktoriya's things for that diary.

As it was, she hadn't had a chance to find it, even during the girl's ten-minute-long shower. That meant she probably had it on her body, or that she had hidden it in the room somewhere.

Tanya had been tempted to ask Lorelei to look for it while they were gone, but she wasn't confident that she would keep Tanya's request to herself. Maybe if she promised her that she'd forget about training her as hard as she could…

She shook her head as she trailed behind the other two, wondering why she was going along with this whole parade.

Then she remembered. She would be getting a house and money if she did this. Somewhere to make as many weapons and bullets and munitions as she wanted without oversight.

Steeling her nerves, she walked forwards and with the other two as they walked through the gate. The Prince was standing in front of the castle with several of his knights around him, ever vigilant.

She wondered if the old Prime Minister's death had shaken him that badly. The guards didn't look especially sure of themselves like the ones around the Princess had been back in Belzerg…

His regular arrogant smirk was back in full force, and he gestured to a side path around the side of the castle. They followed the path, and soon found themselves in a courtyard of sorts, surrounded by knights and adventurers that looked… hardy.

Iris's eyes lit up, and Tanya supposed that she was probably happy to wear her armor and bring her weapon today. She had argued to Tanya that the Prince, known for his love of gambling, might ask them to do some menial task for them.

She had seemed to be rather sure of it, and Tanya was tempted to force the information as to how she knew out of her, seeing as she was right.

She'd stayed her hand, however, and simply accepted her words. She was, after all, the Princess, and as a bodyguard, it was logical that she be allowed to be more prepared.

Revi grinned at them as if twenty knights – who were likely of poor quality, considering the rumors about this nation's military… prowess – and a few adventurers that looked weaker than some in Axel were anything to get worried about.

Tanya raised an eyebrow as Iris drew her blade. The Prince began to monologue. "I thought that our negotiations were over, but you guys said you wanted to continue, and…" he trailed off, sending a glance towards Tanya. She raised an eyebrow.

"Anyway. I like interesting things, so if you win against these elite forces, I'll listen to what you have to say."

Iris grinned and leveled her sword at them. Tanya felt something begin to lightly singe her chest and, she cursed the stupid contract.

Or, the newest stupid contract.

She stepped forward. "Allow me, Princess Iris." She drew her rifle from her back, and smirked at the knights, who began to look a lot less sure of themselves at Tanya's expression.

Iris made to protest, but Tanya shook her head. "The contract your retainers put me under asks me to make sure you don't suffer unnecessary harm."

She seemed conflicted, but she sighed and backed away. Revi grinned, and his knights began to quarrel about who went first. Tanya rolled her eyes and turned to the Prince.

"Hey, these guys all seem like weak trash, so how about I fight all of them at once, and in return, you discuss – not ignore – Iris's proposals in the meantime?"

The knights began to back up a bit, but Revi rolled his eyes.

"To think that you are so arrogant…" he trailed off.

Tanya smirked as she began to approach them, slowly, deliberately, placing a hand behind her back. "My 'arrogance' is justified by my strength, abilities, and mental fortitude. What excuse do you have?"

With that, she jumped forward, slicing into the leg of the closest man. He screamed in pain, but Tanya ignored the grating sound, pumping more mana into her Type 97 and pivoting towards the next man.

That's how it went. Her speed, increased with a Reinforcement spell, outmatched the knights. She had incapacitated them quickly, and she was left with the adventurers.

They seemed slightly more capable, if drenched in fear. She craned her neck towards the Prince, who was staring in awe.

She gave him one of her most terrifying smiles. "I'm not hearing a lot of discussion!" she sang.

She turned back to her opponents to find that one had shot an arrow at her, while two were advancing on her with swords. A Mage was in the back, chanting softly.

Tanya smiled, and relaxed her stance as their attacks came forward.

The arrow – easily rebuffed by a second of her Active Barrier, which could be mistaken for a trick of the light.

Both swinging swords – similarly ignored as she ducked underneath them with the help of her Reinforcement Spells.

The Mage – quickly incapacitated by a muttered 'Sleep.'

The other three looked at her in shock as their Mage fell to the ground, and she took advantage of that, slicing through the legs of both vanguards. They collapsed, and she took a single step towards the Archer.

He dropped to the ground voluntarily, tossing his bow towards her, and Tanya surveyed her work.

She extended a hand. "Heal."

Immediately, the groans faded, and Revi's discussion was interrupted again. Iris, too, seemed stupefied, while Viktoriya was smiling at her. Tanya bowed at the waist, and then walked towards them.

"You… are a Priest?"

She groaned. "No. I'm an Adventurer," she said, noting that all the downed men seemed to be in denial.

Revi walked towards the scattered men, ignoring the quiet protests of his entourage, a look of fear on his face as he glanced back towards them. He hung his head.

"Fine. I'll listen to you. How about… one-tenth?" he suggested.

Tanya ignored the look on Iris's face and stepped forward. "How about you give us more? How about… twenty?"

His fear forgotten, he glared at her. "No! While it would be a problem if we cut support all at once, you'll have to work harder for more!"

Tanya rolled her eyes, gazing into his blue ones. "It's called negotiation…" she said, trailing off. She sighed for what felt like the millionth time.

It seemed like she would have to do all of the negotiating on behalf of the inexperienced Prince.

"Fine. You seem to be interested in bets, right? If we win a game, you give us twenty percent. If we lose, then you give us ten percent," she offered.

"…What will the game be?" he asked with trepidation on his face and greed in his eyes. Tanya gestured to Viktoriya, who looked surprised to be called upon all of a sudden.

Tanya pulled a bullet out of a pocket in her bandolier. "If you can guess where she puts this, then you win."

He glared at the three of them. "I feel like I'm being manipulated…"

"Congratulations," she said as she layered as much sarcasm as she could into her voice, "you aren't completely brain dead."

His face grew red, and he drew himself up to his full height. Not particularly intimidating considering Tanya had hung out with Lorelei, Viktoriya, and the members of the 203rd for a long while, but he was taller than she was.

How adorable.

"How about the support funding goes to zero if you lose once? I followed through your selfish desire to continue 'negotiations' despite the risk, so I need to be reimbursed for my time."

"How much could you be doing? You're twelve, and your parents don't have the convenient excuse of fighting a war to distract them from running the country," she replied.

His face fell, and Tanya kept her face passive as a kernel of guilt bloomed at his dejection. She wasn't going to feel guilty for this arrogant toe-rag, especially since he could easily be faking it.

He closed his eyes and turned his face away. "If you continue this, then those will be the rules. Knowing my Luck, will you continue?"

Tanya smirked. People who believed that something as variable as Luck would stick with them forever were bound to get played by people smarter than they were.

Tanya was happy to be the one to introduce the sore loser to the concept.

"Fine."

She turned away, turning to Viktoriya and holding out the cartridge.

Since Luck was a measurable quantity here with a 'goddess' to boot, trusting in it was probably possible, for a little while. Viktoriya's Luck stat was much higher, and her's would hopefully offset Tanya's own terrible Luck.

"Hide this somewhere other than your hands, and then hold out your hands like you have it in one of them."

It took a moment, but the understanding and scheming expression that made its way onto her face filled Tanya with pride.

Tanya turned around, stepped away from Viktoriya, and gestured towards her adjunct. "Where is the cartridge hidden?"

Needless to say, the anguished screams that echoed from him were music to their ears.

-OxOxO-

And that was how the next two days passed. Tanya would search the room and Viktoriya's bags for the diary, consider bringing in Lorelei, have a quick breakfast, walk to the castle, and beat both of his challenges.

They'd had lunch with him as well, and then they'd leave, a promise to come back to beat him lighting his face up like a stop sign.

Then, they'd spend the rest of the day having fun in the town. Tanya had already found a location where she thought the Succubi would appreciate setting up another branch of both their shop and the Mithril Foundation, with how many people seemed to have fallen on economic hardship here.

Viktoriya had gone to the casinos with Iris once or twice, and after an attempt by the owner of one of them to get them to leave with hired thugs, Tanya had tried to fuss over her. The woman had shrugged off her worries.

They'd have dinner, go to bed, and be ready for the next day.

Unfortunately, Tanya's luck ran out on the third day. Honestly, she was relieved that it had held up that long, considering there was a so-called deity that ruled luck here.

Revi was in the middle of choosing one of her hands, when a light bulb seemed to have gone off in his head.

Or perhaps, saying a candle had ignited was more apt, considering the time period and person in question.

He glared at Tanya. "You… you tricked me!"

Tanya smirked at him, rapidly trying to come up with another idea to get the money. "What are you talking about? I asked you to find the cartridge. You haven't found it."

He bared his teeth at her. "Oh, it was a cunning trap, I'll give you that, but it could be anywhere on her body, not just in her hands!"

Tanya shrugged. "So? You assumed that it was in her hands. It isn't my fault you're tricked so easily."

He clenched his hands together, and Tanya felt Iris pull at Tanya's sleeve. She ignored the girl.

"As a member of royalty, do you have no honor?" he bit out.

Tanya laughed at him. "I am not a royal. I'm not even a noble. I was raised in an orphanage, joined the army, and I rose through the ranks through my hard work, not because my parents could just throw money at my superiors and get them to push me through the rules."

He sent one last glare at her, and then he turned away. "You will get eighty percent of the defense funding, and not an Eris more. Not unless you play my games."

He stated it with a certainty that Tanya didn't think the tyke had had in him, but his muttered afterthought raised warning flags. "It was the plans of the Prime Minister that called for us to cut off support, after all…"

She scoffed at him. "Why are you so set on carrying out the wishes of a dead man? He was the Prime Minister then, not now. Is it really so hard to find someone competent?" she asked.

She was aware that it was just a little bit hypocritical, considering she had left instructions for Weiss and the surviving members of the 203rd, but she had planned for her possible death.

She doubted this man had done the same.

He did have Belzerg between him and the Demon King, after all. What did he have to fear?

His anger seemed to grow. "Why…? He was the most able man ever put into office in this nation! He was completely incorruptible, he had no interest in gambling, and his knowledge of politics, economics, and anything else that could be expected of a perfect statesman were near limitless. His argument as to why we should leave Belzerg and stop antagonizing the Demon King, if not join him, was sound and appealing," he explained.

His head sunk. "Plus, while I don't think he ever considered me anything more than an annoyance that he had to go through for permission, I felt a sort of… camaraderie with the man," he mumbled. Tanya nodded to herself.

"What was his reasoning on abandoning… us?" she asked, wondering if she would find any more reasons that one in her position might use to justify breaking a contract.

"You guys haven't won in over thirty years, and that was with the support of Elroad, the successor states of Norse, the free cities in the south, and every other nation around you. If we stop supporting you, you'll probably lose. If we keep supporting you, we'll only drain our resources more. It's better to roll over and submit," he said tiredly.

The guards around him seemed to wilt a bit at that.

Iris mirrored her former betrothed, but Tanya just shook her head. There was some justification, but…

"What makes you think the Demon King will forgive you for thirty years of helping his enemy? He could easily come here and put a puppet in your place if he won," she pointed out.

Viktoriya nodded to her left. "That's right! He'll sweep in here after your former friends have lost and do whatever he wants with the population! Do you care so little for your people that you'd hand them over just because your finances are strained?"

He glared at her, angrily muttered, "Strained is an understatement…" and then took a calming breath.

He looked up, glaring at Iris. "While Ragcraft was sparse about the details, the journal he left at the scene of his murder told us that the Demon King wasn't nearly as bad as people think he is."

He probably expected them all to be shocked by the accusation of murder, but Tanya was frozen for a different reason.

She brought a hand to her face, attempting to conceal the realization that she had just had.

Ragcraft?

As in, the doppelganger of the Demon King?

One of his most trusted informants?

The guy she'd sat near while talking with Verdia, the Dullahan of the Demon King?

That Ragcraft?

She cleared her throat. Maybe it was just a common name, like Johann or Kaito. "This Prime Minister… how long had he been such?"

Revi shrugged. "He had only been the Prime Minister for five years, but he had been in various departments of our administration for a total of thirty years, slowly climbing the ranks and showing his worth compared to the vast majority of our nobility that is obsessed with gambling."

Tanya nodded along, internally cackling and crying. If nothing else, she could reveal Ragcraft's true allegiance to the twerp to put him off balance and use the information – and the fact that only Darkness was aware of it – to blackmail him.

She did, however, want to preserve the peace a bit, so she'd use it as a last, final resort, if he wouldn't listen to her reasoning.

The Prince continued. "We might be having a bit of trouble contacting the Demon King due to our… subpar replacements, but Ragcraft brought us splendor and stability, both things we're lacking now."

Before Tanya could interrupt, Iris sighed dejectedly. "I… understand."

This time, Revi didn't sigh in relief. Apparently, he was right to hold his breath. Iris stepped forward again, bringing her close to the boy.

"Since the founding of the Kingdom of Belzerg, we have often been financially unstable. Whenever we have needed more money, or we needed to accomplish something of great importance to cement the alliance between our nations, we have come here with an offer."

She put her hands on her hips and loudly declared, "Tell me about the most troubling monster in the Kingdom. I will eradicate it without fail!"

She smiled happily, and everyone around her broke out into nervous muttering to shocked gasps. Tanya was closer to the last group and strode towards the Princess to make that known.

Viktoriya reached her first. "What are you doing? You know that Tanya and I will have to fight it, right?"

Iris's eyes widened, and Revi began to grow pale. "You… you say that you'll slay the mightiest, most dangerous monster in all of Elroad? Don't joke around!"

Tanya jumped in front of Iris. "No, we'll have to fight it, because-"

Iris pulled on Tanya's mantle, and she whirled around.

The Princess tapped the tips of her fingers together and glanced at her, a sneaky expression masking her face.

"You know, since I have to do this to get the money, if I got hurt… it would be a necessary harm, right?"

Tanya blinked once. Huh.

She was pulling the trick Tanya had contemplated using on her when she'd ditched her to have fun with Viktoriya…

Tanya sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Fine. If you want to try, we can all fight it together."

Iris nodded, smiling again and looking back at Revi, whose face seemed to be attempting to compete in some kind of weird sport with how fast it was moving.

It seemed to settle for anger. "I don't care if you're volunteering! Despite your obvious flaws, we've had a few conversations, so it would leave a bad taste in my mouth if you died!" he screamed, red-faced.

Tanya rolled her eyes at his sentimentality. Obviously, he had probably gained an interest in Iris's fate, since they discussed topics of nobility over lunch and seemed to get on well. His comments about her being barbaric had become somewhat endearing in the past few days.

"I won't let her die. I'd probably get killed by the contract if I did that," Tanya said.

His right eye twitched, and he stepped towards Tanya. "Contract? What contract?"

"The one detailing how we're supposed to protect the Princess," Viktoriya said. Tanya nodded, and the Prince seemed to calm down.

"While the most powerful monster in Elroad is the Dragon in the gold mines towards the west, I still-"

He was interrupted by a loud cacophony of metal that began to sound from the inside of the castle. Revi's face began to sink with his heart, while Tanya and Viktoriya readied their rifles.

Slowly, knights began to pour out from the front gates, rounding the corner and forming up in front of the area where Revi had been bringing them. Iris placed a hand on her sword, and Tanya began to prepare the Type 97.

She hadn't thought he'd be stupid enough to try a trap, but-

His resigned voice echoed from behind them, practically reading her mind. "Stop. It's not a trap. It's…"

The knights began to part, and from in between them, two regal figures emerged.

Flaming hair as red as Revi's adorned the head of the woman, along with a small crown.

Freckles even more pronounced that the ones on Revi's face adorned the face of the man, while short blond locks drifted down passed his ears.

They screamed wealth. In fact, the gold chain around the man's neck literally said 'wealth' in this world's language. He had a bottle of… something alcoholic gripped in one hand, and a bag of money gripped in the other.

Despite how wealthy the pair looked, Tanya could sense a faint air of… apathy from them both.

They seemed annoyed by the presence of their knights, who had likely been stationed around them in response to Ragcraft's 'murder,' and their eyes seemed to glaze over Tanya, Viktoriya, and Iris in a moment. They did, however, settle on Revi, and Tanya saw greed come to life in their eyes.

"…my parents," Revi finished lamely.

His mother, who gazed around hungrily, clapped her hands together. "My son! How are you-"

Revi batted away the hands of his mother, shooting them both a dark glare. "Mother. Father. I'm in the middle of something."

The king stepped forward. "Now, now, son. That's no way to talk to your parents."

He rolled his eyes. "Let me guess: you both want more money?"

They nodded, apparently pleased with what seemed to be a rather rehearsed conclusion. He turned to one of his retainers, who, after a look of worry, handed the king a slip of paper. The rulers of Elroad grinned, and Revi waved them off.

"That's the combination to the vault. Take your allowance, and nothing more," he ordered, leveling an oddly knowing glare at them.

Seemingly unconcerned, they both bowed and made to retreat.

The king said one passing comment as he left. "I heard a bit of your conversation. Princess, you can go kill that annoying Dragon. It's decreasing our profits by occupying our mine, so I give you full authority as the King to do as you wish."

Her face lit up, and Revi's seemed to sink further into a mix of anger and worry. They left, and Tanya turned to Revi.

"How are you giving them an allowance?" she asked, perplexed.

He sighed. "They were both a drain on our resources, so the first thing Ragcraft did while in power was have them declared senile and pass power down to me. They accepted because they never liked ruling anyway and just wanted to gamble, and I accepted it because I do want to see the nation prosper."

Tanya nodded hesitantly, bumping Ragcraft up on her list of threats.

Being X, The Demon King, and Mary occupied the first three spots, while the Demon King's Generals occupied most of that list, as did the Reincarnates and Belzerg's royal family, but she had assumed Ragcraft's lack of physical or magical power put him below many others.

Not so. If he'd managed to outmaneuver the king and queen, the nobles who probably profited from them being massive gamblers, and whoever else wanted an absolute idiot ruling the country, then he was much smarter than she thought possible.

Shaking her head, she found that Iris and Viktoriya were leaving. She quickly followed. They had another monster to kill.

-OxOxO-

They had gone to the guild and asked for directions to the mines, been laughed at for a few minutes, and then been given a map by a very worried receptionist.

Tanya had picked up Lorelei, who had been restlessly staring into a window with clothing, and then they'd gone back to the inn to suit up.

Tanya also used a few Skill Points to increase her Reinforcement spells, her Flight spells, and even spent a few getting a spell she hadn't seen a need for before.

Sure, Lightning might not help her much compared to some of the other things she could do damage wise, but her having electricity on-demand could help her create more things to sell.

Viktoriya, too, had done the same, getting Create Water instead of Lightning.

She might have been able to make water by melting the ice created by Freeze, but just using Crete Water was faster and more efficient. It meant they didn't have to worry about locating drinking water as long as Viktoriya had mana, and the two of them could use the two skills in tandem to electrocute a target.

Not that Tanya thought anything in this world wouldn't be destroyed by their regular attacks, but it was always a good idea to have a backup plan or twenty.

After their preparations, they had assembled in the foyer of the inn.

Viktoriya told Tanya she had on that chain mail shirt she'd bought in the capital, while Lorelei was wearing heavier armor on her chest and arms, with nothing more than her long, flowing pants on her legs. Like Iris's and unlike Darkness's, Lorelei's chest armor didn't have a ridiculous bulge to contain her assets.

Then, they were off, trekking through the wilderness.

Tanya wished she could just fly there, but revealing one of her best and most valuable skills to Iris seemed like the fastest way to be dissected, even if they did have something of a friendship forming between them.

Not that she wouldn't massacre thousands before she got to that table, but even she would run out of mana eventually.

They stopped after a few hours of stomping through the wilderness. Tanya and Viktoriya activated a few Observation spells, while Iris conversed with Lorelei.

"You know, it's so nice being out here. I never thought that I'd be able to experience something like… this," she said.

Lorelei raised an eyebrow. "What? Waiting in this heat, getting bitten by all kinds of bugs, sweating, and ruining your clothing?" she asked.

Iris shot her a glare, and then she began to giggle at the feigned innocence on Lorelei's face

"I was thinking more about going on an adventurer in something like a party, but that too."

Tanya and Viktoriya both said that nothing had shown up on their scans, and they continued marching forward.

Tanya licked her lips. Now was probably a good time to ask Viktoriya about that diary.

Tanya was sure she kept it in her clothing – she'd searched their room and Viktoriya's things while she was out with Iris at the casinos – unless she knew that Tanya was looking for it and was changing its location.

"Hey Viktoriya," she asked. She gave Tanya a quick glance, and then continued to trek forward.

"What, Tanya?"

"Why do you keep that diary of yours?" she asked, trying her best to sound innocent without her usual flavor of meanness whenever she was taunting someone.

Viktoriya's face lit up like a string of Christmas lights, and Tanya grinned internally.

Good.

There was definitely something in there that Tanya could use to get her revenge on her.

She shook her head. "Uhm… you know. I want to keep a record of what I've done. The old one probably burned up in... Dresdun, but I managed to get this one," she said, pulling the small book out of one of the pockets in her jacket.

Iris spoke up from behind them. "What do you write in there?"

Viktoriya nearly jumped a foot off the ground and whirled around to look at the curious Iris. Tanya mentally thanked the girl, even if she didn't know she was helping Tanya.

Iris shrugged at Viktoriya piercing stare. "Usually, if people have the time and ability to write in a journal, they publish them as a biography."

Viktoriya blinked rapidly, and then spun back around, staring purposefully at the ground with a bright red face. "No, I don't think I will…" she muttered quietly.

Iris shot a curious stare at her back and then shrugged.

Meanwhile, Tanya smirked to herself. Oh, she had no doubt that there was something in the diary, but if she'd written something that had made her look that embarrassed, then Tanya would definitely be getting reparations for being forced to act like Iris for a few hours.

Tanya wiped whatever scheming expression had wormed its way onto her face and instead raised an eyebrow to look curious. "Oh? Why not? It's not like there's anything bad in there, right?"

Tanya did want to embarrass the girl, but if she had written something about their past lives, then she couldn't threaten to release it to the public or anything.

Woodenly, Viktoriya turned to Tanya, stopping their forward motion. "Define bad."

Tanya raised an eyebrow. Was there something that bad in there?

The brief thought that Viktoriya had some sort of deeply peculiar kink entered her mind – was she similar to Darkness, or did she like more conventional BDSM stuff, like chains and whips and leather and – but she threw it out quickly.

Tanya would know if Viktoriya was some sort of deviant. She'd known her for years and years, after all.

Tanya shrugged, trudging forward. Viktoriya made to keep up, and Iris and Lorelei followed. "I don't know. Something about… the Empire, I guess."

Viktoriya breathed an audible sigh of relief. "OH! I thought… I mean, there's nothing like that in the book. It's just feelings I've had since we got here and my ramblings at attempting to figure them out."

Tanya nodded, inwardly smirking. She could use it then and get her petty revenge, then. There was nothing strategically compromising in it.

As Tanya opened her mouth to continue speaking, the trees around them began to rustle violently. All conversation stopped, and Tanya grabbed her rifle.

Viktoriya was only a second later in getting her's out, as she had needed to store her book in a pocket. Lorelei had grabbed her sword off her waist, and Iris was gripping her own blade.

Tanya looked around them and snarled. They were in the forest. While the trees provided them with a bit of cover, the information the guild had about the Golden Dragon said that it would have no problem barreling through both trees and bodies.

Tanya grabbed onto Iris, and Viktoriya grabbed Lorelei. They cast Reinforcement spells on them, and they sped off, retreating towards the clearing they had paused in an hour ago.

Behind them, the angered roaring faded a bit. It was, however, ever-present. And it seemed to be gaining on them.

Tanya grit her teeth and smirked at the sight of the clearing. Fast as lightning, they spread out in a semicircle facing the sound of the roaring.

Tanya began to speak. "Iris, being charging up one of your attacks. Viktoriya, you and I will shoot at it. Aim for the membrane in its wings. Lorelei, don't get too close. Even Heal has limits."

All of them nodded, and then jolted in surprise as the Dragon barreled out of the trees, already heading straight for them.

It was… massive, for a living, breathing land animal. It seemed to be at least as big as some of the many tanks Tanya had seen during her last life, and it looked even more metallic, sparkling in the diffuse light streaming down through the leaves of the forest.

Claws, horns, and spikes jutted out from it head and claws. It stood there, eyeing them for a moment, and then it roared challengingly, speeding towards the closest pair of humans.

Tanya wasted no time and began shooting at the thing. She saw holes open in its wings, and it paused, beginning to snarl at the pain.

It wouldn't be as damaging as if they'd hit an eye, but Tanya was sure that this thing probably propelled itself at such speeds in the same way that the Succubi flew on their tiny wings by using magic.

It turned its attention away from Iris and Lorelei, and instead gazed at Tanya. Its eyes, despite their similarity to other reptiles, looked bloodshot and angry. Tanya pointed her rifle, preparing to filter mana into the Type 95 if things began to go horribly.

Iris, however, made that action rather pointless.

Light began to shine from her sword, and Tanya could feel the mana crackling underneath the surface of the girl's skin. The air began to whirl about the girl. Tanya briefly thought that this must be what she looked like whenever she used the cursed Type 95.

The Dragon turned away from Tanya for a moment, staring with wide eyes at Iris. Tanya smirked at its mistake.

Tanya fired her rifle, pouring mana into enchant her bullet and watching in satisfaction as its wing was further damaged. It looked like it might have even twisted the thing out of place.

It turned again to Tanya, but Iris finally opened her eyes, and the light pouring off her became completely blinding and she slashed forward with the sword.

"SACRED EXPLODE!"

And just like the name implied, Tanya watched, impressed, as her sword moved through the air.

Although a relatively slow swing compared to some of what she had seen, as she dragged it through the air, a great roiling mass of mana was left in its wake. Before the Dragon could so much as blink, the great slash of light and mana sped towards it, cleaving its body in two neat slices and exploding against the ground behind it.

As Tanya congratulated the girl and helped Lorelei begin to take most of the more expensive parts, she bumped Iris up on her mental list next to Verdia. She could easily match him in power, if not experience.

-OxOxO-

They had arrived back to… nothing.

There was no cheering in the streets, and no one was waiting to give them a reward. When they'd shown up at the guild, the adventurers had been happy for a moment, but they'd settled back down quickly.

Not even Tanya's offer to buy them all drinks was met with more than a half-hearted cheer.

Apparently, Iris and Lorelei suspected that something was amiss.

Tanya and Viktoriya hadn't really realized it, but the slaying of a Dragon was supposed to be some sort of great achievement, which made logical sense, but they weren't exactly sure what was supposed to be powerful.

Considering the Princess they were supposed to be guarding had killed it in a single blow, Tanya didn't give herself many complaints for their inability to properly judge what was strong.

Regardless, the city was supposed to be celebrating. That the city wasn't doing that concerned them.

Tanya was tempted to write it off as the economic recession the city seemed to be going through.

It seemed that Ragcraft had been doing a lot of good for the country, so she was content to assume that the country was really doing that badly.

Besides, Tanya was much more put off by the reaction of the newly stationed gatekeeper. He let the two of them pass through with a small exclamation of surprise at their survival and nothing more, other than a muttered warning to 'be open-minded.'

They had all glanced at each other at that. What had happened? They hadn't been gone for more than ten hours of walking around and fighting monsters and the dragon.

Soon enough, they were brought into the castle. Instead of being ushered into the room they had met in, they were told to wait in the foyer while Revi came to them.

Tanya had a hand on her rifle as they waited. She wasn't sure what was going on exactly, but she hadn't sensed any magical disturbances with her Observation spells. It was unlikely that something like that had happened anyway, considering citizens of Elroad weren't scurrying about in terror.

Thoughts about what had happened quickly slowed as Revi walked in, surrounded by his retainers. They looked rather upset and worried.

Upon seeing Revi, she wrote off the concern she had felt for his retainers. Compared to Revi, they glowed with happiness.

His formerly neatly combed hair was more like a ball of tangled wire than anything else. His clothing was no longer immaculate, and he was wringing his hands nervously, no longer letting them rest by his side.

The biggest change, however, was in his face. It wasn't concealing anything; it didn't show any signs of superiority or anger or disgust.

He just seemed… sad. Distraught. Emotionally torn to shreds.

He looked up at them from where he was looking at the ground. He raised an eyebrow momentarily. "It's surprising that you… four seem to care more about me than some of the people I'm supposed to rule…"

Iris stepped forward, reaching out to the Prince, while Tanya and Viktoriya drifted closer to Lorelei. Tanya was cursing herself for bringing her, but if the beastman had forgotten to ask to be left out, then she probably didn't mind too much.

The Prince shook his head. "The Dragon's horn is enough proof that you killed it." He stated this simply, and for a moment, his expression seemed to light up in wonder as Lorelei brought it out.

The retainers that had been looking down on them seemed to be evaluating their opinions and their validity, but the Prince's despondent sigh brought their attention back to their charge.

He snapped his fingers, and a bulging bag was brought out by a pair of knights. Iris's eyes began to grow wide.

"But… the funding! We need the defense funding, and I was hoping to ask for funding to be used to fuel attacks…"

She trailed off as the Prince shook his head. "I'm sorry. That is… all that was left in the treasury."

Iris blinked, and Revi raised a hand to the back of his head. "Yeah. It seems that without Ragcraft's tireless work, I couldn't do everything. Traitors slipped into the guard…"

He sighed at their confused expressions. "The people of my Kingdom call me an idiot whose only care is the gambling that his country can provide."

"They think that I don't care for politics, that I could walk by any of my citizens on the street and laugh at their misfortune." He shook his head, and a low chuckle escaped from his lips.

"Those were absolutely nothing compared to the insults delivered upon my parents."

He seemed to grit his teeth, and he walked past his retainers and knights. They seemed to protest, but he shook off their concerns and outstretched arms meant to block his movement. "Stop. If they wanted to kill me, they could have. I don't think I'd mind, at this point…"

Ignoring the concerned stares of the four of them, he stepped closer to Iris. "My parents have been called drunkards. Hedonists. Drug addled. Gambling addicted. Inept. Bastards. Dickheads. Whores. NEETs. Even in noble circles, they could be insulted by any and all of the nobles around them and they'd shrug them off and turn their attention to the food and entertainment."

"They weren't, however, completely stupid. They can see that the country is beginning to decline and that without Ragcraft they'd probably get replaced by a powerful noble and locked in a dungeon, if they were lucky. They took their guards, the Prime Minister, most of his staff, and carted off as much of the treasury as possible, leaving only that bag of money for your payment."

He took another deep breath, and Tanya could see pinpricks forming at the corners of his eyes. "I'm truly sorry that we can't give you more than eighty percent of the defense funding. We just… can't. Taxes on the peasants are too high, and the nobles won't pay. We- I just…"

The pinpricks began to turn into tracks running down his face. "If Ragcraft were here-"

"He would have sold you out to the Demon King."

He froze. His retainers froze. Iris froze.

Tanya froze.

She whirled around, her eyes wide. She had forgotten that Viktoriya knew about Ragcraft – Tanya had told her all about him during her meeting with Verdia – but…

Why the hell-

"Wh- What?"

Tanya turned around to find that his sadness had completely faded into pure panic.

Tanya sighed and put aside questions about Viktoriya's actions for later. She needed to try and do some cleanup. "Yes… Ragcraft was a Doppelganger. He worked for thirty years to infiltrate Elroad and faked his death, throwing your nation into confusion," she admitted.

That seemed to be the last straw. Slowly, he began to sniffle, muttering under his breath. "Then… then…"

His retainers made to step forward, and Tanya sighed.

Rushing forward, she gripped the boy by his shoulders. "Get a grip! Your nation needs you!"

His tears stopped suddenly, and Tanya glared at him. "Are you going to stand here and cry before the delegation of your neighboring ally? Are you going to stand there as your people turn on the most visible target of their hatred, ransack your capital, and attempt to get their revenge on you?"

His upper lip wobbled. "But… we thought that Belzerg had assassinated Ragcraft because he wouldn't send the payments. You're going to use all that information as blackmail to get what you want, right?"

Tanya smiled.

"Obviously."

Iris and Viktoriya both shouted, but Tanya held up a hand.

"We will help you, though," she said softly, watching as his devastated expression recovered. "We don't want to have to fight another war, and our other neighbors wouldn't appreciate the aggression. We want the money, so we'll help you recover."

His eyes widened, and he tried to brush Tanya's hands off him. "I'm fine," he muttered, and Tanya let go.

He turned excitedly to Iris.

"You have a lot of experience, right? And you… uh, 'dressed down' the first Prime Minister we sent to you with a bunch of economic terms! You must be knowledgeable."

Tanya smiled nervously, and Iris shook her head, pointing at Tanya. He turned his head, confused, and she shrugged. "Iris wanted to explore the town, so I dressed up as her."

He turned away from Iris completely, now looking hesitant. "But… if you're actually not a noble, somehow, then how would you know how to fix the economy?"

"I learned some of the stuff a long time ago. Ragcraft obviously wasn't even human, much less a noble. He got educated, and so have I," she said, cracking her knuckles and grinning.

It was time to earn her pay.

-OxOxO-

"Why did you tell him that?"

Tanya shouted over the rushing water in the shower. It was created with magic, and Tanya had been more than happy to use it earlier to wash the grime from their quest to slay the Dragon.

Now, however, while Viktoriya was in there, it wasn't just a nice way to clean herself.

It was an asset that drowned out the sound of Tanya's search.

Again, she had exhausted every option in the room for a hiding place, and after being summarily rejected by Lorelei in her help for a 'prank,' she was now attempting to find it in her clothing.

Tanya was hoping that the steam, her questions, the running water, and whatever embarrassment she felt due to Tanya's insistence that she was a gentleman and wouldn't peek at her would be enough to distract her while Tanya searched.

She wouldn't take the journal yet, of course; she would do that when she had more time to read it, like the next time Viktoriya got injured or when she was put asleep by Tanya's spells.

She didn't trust that Being X, Eris, or whichever other beings claiming to be a god wouldn't sabotage her the moment she tried to read it. Luck or no Luck, they didn't like Tanya at all.

Tanya heard a lengthy sigh from inside the shower. "Well… it's like one of those band-aids of yours, right? It's better to remove them quickly instead of drawing out the process."

Tanya gave a noncommittal sound of agreement as she finished searching her coat. The boots came next, and Tanya found nothing. "I guess. We could have waited until a more opportune time, though."

Tanya smiled at the fond groan of disgust that came from the shower as she rifled through her friend's pants. Still nothing.

She moved on to the bandolier, found no additional pockets, and then lifted the shirt from where it had rested.

Something fell from it and impacted the ground. Tanya raised an eyebrow at the locket that she had bought in Belzerg's capital and lifted that up to her face.

"We could have, but he'll probably appreciate that we didn't," Viktoriya muttered. Tanya mutely nodded her head as she opened the locket.

She gasped softly, and then tried to quash her rising embarrassment. It was…

Her. In Viktoriya's arms, smiling goofily and nearly passed out drunk.

Tanya glowered at the shower. Of all the pictures…

And how had Viktoriya even gotten a picture of this? She didn't have anything resembling a camera, so it must have been her Type 97, but…

How she had managed to get that developed into a photograph, Tanya had no idea, but she'd be bringing this thing up when she found some dirt in her diary.

Speaking of which…

She opened the left breast pocket of Viktoriya's jacket and found the little red diary. She smirked, and then cursed as the water suddenly cut off.

She stuffed both back where she had found them, and then retook her seat by the door that was facing the wall. She heard Viktoriya giggle behind her at the sight of Tanya stiffly staring at the wall, and Tanya felt her face light up.

She scoffed at her own ridiculousness.

It wasn't like there was anything weird about this.

Just two women in a room, five feet apart and separated by nothing but hot air.

Nothing wrong with that.

Of course, one of the women actually had the soul of a man inside her, and both had killed dozens and dozens and dozens of soldiers in the service of an only slightly warmongering nation in an attempt to survive the first world war of their reality. With magic.

Okay, maybe things were just a bit weird. On that note…

Tanya bolted upwards, swinging open the door and slamming it shut, leaving behind a blushing and relieved Viktoriya, not that Tanya could have seen anything through the steam.

Viktoriya tried to crush the annoyed thought that she wished Tanya had seen something, but as with anything concerning the small woman, she just couldn't.

It wasn't in her nature to stay upset at her for long.

She sighed as she dried her hair. She hoped that Tanya found happiness once they had their revenge on Being X. She couldn't imagine her being happy to simply sit by and let life pass her by… but she had seen a lot of odd and wonderful things in this new life that neither of them had experienced before.

Shaking off water and the errant thoughts that a thing between them would be less weird than many of the people and concepts they'd run into so far, Viktoriya prepared herself for the night and what was sure to be an informative day tomorrow.

-OxOxO-

Tanya was panicking.

That wasn't an altogether odd occurrence. Tanya panicked at least a little bit about anything and everything that didn't go to plan, which meant that she'd panicked often in her many, many years of life.

What made this instance interesting wasn't that she was pulling at her hair – she did that privately while she wondered how the hell she'd managed to pull everything off – or that Viktoriya was also worried at the wild expression on Tanya's face – Tanya didn't mind acting out a bit in front of Viktoriya.

No, what made this instance interesting was the audience.

Tanya tried to hide her feelings as much as she could, and raging at the stupidity of the idiots around her in front of Iris and Lorelei could definitely be counted as showing her feelings.

She was, of course, justified. Revi wanted more.

Tanya had drawn a few graphs, made a few pages of notes, and given him a bit of economic advice based on what little she remembered from her economics classes.

You need to drive up your aggregate demand by decreasing taxes, giving people more money to spend, and by increasing government spending on infrastructure projects. Asking the central bank to perform monetary actions would also help.

What does any of that mean?

Well, aggregate demand was the relationship between spending on domestic output and the average price level of that output. Basically, it was the amount of money the population spent. Decreasing taxes would give consumers more money to spend on products, dragging it closer to the long-run aggregate supply.

If you increase the quality of your resources by spending government funding on locating more and better resources, then aggregate demand would rise.

The central bank was the government-backed bank that the banks went to when they needed to store money or if they needed a loan. They could increase the supply of money by buying bonds. Doing so would lower the interest rate, increase investment, and increase aggregate demand.

Where would he get all this money? Sell bonds to merchants and nobles.

Also, the nobles didn't pay much in the way of taxes, so increasing their taxes and restricting their access to his new ideas might help them earn more money.

What's a bond? A bond, also called a security, is a promise to pay you back loaned money at a future date that you pay them a percentage of every year.

Oh, the nobles resented having to pay taxes? Well, give them tax breaks if they use the education they receive as part of the upper class to help run the country or train other nobles or commoners to do so in their place. Otherwise, they should shut up and pay up.

They might embezzle money or try and rebel? Promote wealthy and learned merchants, lawyers, and others to important positions that you can't afford to have traitors in. Otherwise, increase the power of the judiciary to discourage them from breaking the law.

There wasn't a central bank? Make one. You needed one. Probably.

While you're at it, make sure to start using paper money, since it allows for more flexibility. Sure, people might be skeptical, but even with the mine they had just opened, it would be hard to make more money because of how much skill had left with the former king.

Also, manufacture money, but not too much. Money was only as valuable as people thought it was, since it was just a medium of transaction. Even gold was only valuable because people thought it was.

You couldn't eat or drink it, and while some nobles might think differently, you can't really cloth yourself with it or build buildings out of it. Therefore, print some, but not tons of it.

And that was where they had ended things, closing in on midnight. The four of them had left, and Tanya had dragged a confused Lorelei, a skeptical Viktoriya, and an awed Iris back to their inn for showers and sleep.

They had woken up near ten, bleary eyed and still sleepy, to find that the Prince was asking for more economic lessons, and Tanya was trying to rack her brain for more. She was, unfortunately, running low on information.

Which was why she was panicking. Viktoriya meekly raised a hand, and Tanya whirled around. "Why can't you remember?"

Tanya stomped her foot down and broke a floorboard.

She looked down and sighed angrily. "The reason I wrote all of that stuff down and buried it was so that I wouldn't have to remember it. How was I supposed to know that all that stuff would be more valuable on my person, where it could be burnt to cinders, instead of in the ground, safe for whenever I or another member of the 203rd needed it?"

She did, eventually, remember a few more graphs, Loanable funds and FOREX chief among them, but not much more.

Would he be satisfied with so little? She didn't know… but hopefully, it would be enough to achieve her main objective.

She didn't dare try and remember any of the math, though, because if she got it wrong, they could begin to use faulty calculations in their estimations, which might make things much worse.

She looked less than totally calm when she was brought before Revi and a gaggle of others.

His normal retainers were completely absent, and Revi introduced the group of merchants as some of the ones best known for being trustworthy, if not always profitable.

Additionally, they'd never missed a payment, had connections, and hadn't met nobles before that day.

They were dressed formally – something that looked like an odd cross between a suit, a toga, and some… thing that was very flashy and from some fashion store – and seemed confused by the presence of Tanya. Most of them soon ignored her, though, more intent on looking at their surroundings and gaping at everything.

"And this," he said as he turned to them, gesturing towards Tanya, "is our salvation."

Tanya sent a confused look at the back of his head. "Salvation? I've just introduced a few economic ideas to you!"

He shrugged. "You're the most capable person to advise me yet, besides…" he said, trailing off at the thought of Ragcraft.

He gestured to the table that had been set up in the receiving room, and Tanya sat at the head. Viktoriya, Lorelei, and Iris looked somewhat out of place.

He glanced towards them. "Err- you all can explore the castle. Or whatever. I don't mind. Just don't go anywhere you shouldn't," he said with a flippant wave.

Iris elected to stay and observe, citing a desire to learn as well. Tanya shrugged to herself as she stood, feeling somewhat out of place.

Oh, she had no qualms about teaching others. Her instruction of the 203rd showed that she could do so if needed. She doubted, however, that her usual style of teaching would go over well with the Prince.

Beating the information into their heads was probably out of the question here…

As long as he continued at more than a snail's pace, of course.

Tanya tried to take a more lenient approach, looking at Revi. "Have you already given them what I taught you?"

He nodded. "Yes, and-"

One of the merchants jumped up, his beard waving as he did so. "Some of these ideas are outrageous! We can't postpone the coronation."

Tanya raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" she asked, unsure of why it was so significant. They were just putting a crown on the kid's head, right?

He glared at her. "The people need stability! If we are without a king, or some kind of central authority, they'll begin to think that the situation is truly untenable!"

Tanya didn't immediately dismiss the idea, and then she began to grin. "I suppose you're right."

He puffed out his chest while Revi glanced at her curiously.

"We should use it as a chance to increase consumer confidence, make a profit, and introduce some of the economic measures then and there. Good thinking," she continued.

The merchant seemed confused by at least half of what she'd said, but Tanya quickly moved past it. If he thought he was getting what he wanted, then he wouldn't object to some of the things she added on.

That was how things progressed for over an hour. Absent from the discussion yesterday, they'd try and pick apart what she had taught as being 'far too radical' and 'unattainable.'

Then, she put her foot down when they suggested that people should just tighten their belts and wait out the storm. Tanya knew that that wouldn't work; both the graphs she remembered and history in general showed that that was, summed up, a stupid fucking idea.

She needed some other way to convince them that her ideas had merit besides the words of the Prince, who was suddenly looking unsure at including the merchants. Tanya had given the boy a few sympathetic glances, but she didn't regret including them.

She didn't have practical knowledge of what the economics or even what the average consumer was like in this country, and they needed the backing of wealthy patrons in order to pull off some of this stuff.

Since they needed to tax the nobility, and the few books and Wikipedia articles she had read about this time period in her last two lives said that the nobility began to fall out of power around now, she felt that they were the best source of the money they would need.

However, they were just too stubborn and interested in gambling. Their biggest concerns seemed to be about gambling and how…

Her head shot up as she remembered some anecdotes that had been used to explain economics to the less well-informed.

Then she remembered how those anecdotes could be extended to some other topics.

She smirked.

She rose from her seat, staring at the merchants once more. "Alright, I'll try and introduce a new idea to you."

They looked up, slightly interested. The Prince seemed to be one of the only ones who still had enthusiasm, and Tanya nodded at him.

"You all like… betting, right?"

That got their attention. She smirked at the way they transformed. None of them slouched, and all of them had their eyes glued to her.

If she didn't know better, she could have been sitting at a table with more Doppelgangers, considering how similar they all looked.

She began to weave a basic illusion. "Companies are a group of people pooling their money in order to take fewer risks. If, say, you sponsored a trade caravan to travel to Belzerg and it was attacked by monsters and nearly everyone was killed, you'd lose a lot of money, right?"

They all stared at her, and one of them scoffed. "That's an understatement. We'd be lucky to just lose money. We might lose our homes, livelihoods, and clothing if we're unlucky enough."

She gazed around and saw a similar set of faces: mostly saddened and depressed. Obviously, this was some sort of nightmare for them.

Smirking, she continued, replacing the illusion of a train of caravans with five smaller ones. "Why spend so much on a single caravan, then?"

They all looked at her curiously. "Instead of sponsoring a single caravan with your own money, get together with your friends and pool your resources to sponsor five. If one fails, then you only take a fifth of the losses. You might learn less money, but you also lose less."

All of them were coming to a dawning realization. She helped them along. "It's the difference between betting on finding a specific card in a deck versus finding a card of a single color. You might earn less, but you won't become destitute from betting wrong."

The Prince, instead of seeming interested and desperate, now seemed to be enjoying himself. All the merchants were grinning now, and their expressions of intense scrutiny had faded into nothing but dust, instead replaced by admiration and greed.

Tanya didn't mind their greediness.

She could use that, and if she used gambling anecdotes, they would enjoy learning about everything she had to offer.

The business cycle, insurance, bonds, stocks, loanable funds; it seemed that she'd finally be able to impart what little she still had.

As the merchants began writing what she had said down on the pieces of paper Revi had provided at the beginning, she wondered if she could extract some sort of consultancy fee from them.

She was, after all, basically advancing their knowledge of economics far past whatever they currently had. She had to be earning a bit from that, right?

-OxOxO-

He watched the scene in front of Him eagerly. Finally, finally, someone was taking that annoying bitch of a water goddess away.

Oh, He would have preferred it to be someone who was more devoted to Himself, but this Kazuma Satou did acknowledge that there were Gods, even if he didn't offer them any devotion.

That was enough.

He didn't care, though. Aqua was being taken away, floating up into the inky darkness of the portion of the black box where Aqua processed her souls, screaming as the boy laughed.

Then, they were gone. He smirked, and then He sighed happily. One less thorn in His side, which was necessary, with how much Eris was suffering.

Sure, it might take away a lot of mana to send her down, all of their powers included – especially the mana He had been saving up for the Anniversary – but the water Goddess would have probably tried to leave during the Anniversary anyway.

He knew that she greatly enjoyed everything that was available to the Gods, from manga to television, but even she would get fed up with everyone belittling her for reincarnating The Atheist.

She would have left, He was sure.

Settling down in His chair, He looked in at the reincarnation project and everyone under Aqua's employ. He would need to find a suitable replacement for her, after all.

Suddenly, He heard a knock echo around His room. He furrowed His eyebrows.

With a thought, He opened His room to the outsider. A sad grin overcame His face, and He stood from His chair.

"Ah, Eris. How nice to see you. I was just wondering if you would like to take over for Aqua?" He asked, smiling.

Her expression showed that she was feeling queasy, but she didn't immediately reject it. Internally, He began to wonder if He should move some stuff around and get her a few subordinates of her own to help while she was suffering from a Break.

She blinked, for a moment, and then shook her head. "Um… I don't think-"

"Nonsense!" He shouted, clapping her on the back. She struggled to stay standing, and He winced.

"Sorry… but you might have some reservations about abandoning your current goal of finding artifacts, but we need someone to take over for her, and you are a perfect fit."

"Ah…" she muttered, trailing off. He sent a questioning look at her, and she shrank away from Him. "My inability to take the post is literal. With her employment contracts, she isn't slated to be replaced for another decade at least, and she'll have to renounce her job if she were to give it up early. So… we can't… reincarnate… anyone else…"

Eris further shrank away from Him as He began to vibrate. A vein or three seemed to pop out of His face, and she prayed to herself that she wouldn't be destroyed.

Her question about being given more leeway in her search for the divine relics forgotten, Eris fought to stay standing as God raged at His own foolishness in not reading the goddamned fine print.

-OxOxO-

A/N 1: So. We are gathered here to remember two.

The first, is, of course, the Crown Prince of Elroad, Revi. Tanya fucking murdered him, and even Thanos felt bad for him when he was balancing the universe. Press f to pay respect.

The second thing we are remembering is my free time. You will be missed, but I apparently have a life outside of writing. I'll find whoever made that a thing and bury them under the pages this thing would take up if some mad lad printed it all out.

Anyway.

Sorry about being late again… the usual suspects are at fault, but on another note, I'm changing upload days to Tuesday, since watching Isekai Quartet gives me the energy to edit – and don't I have some truly wacky ideas for that near-fanfiction…

Anyway. Stuff's been happening fast, yeah? Tanya's met Revi, taken down that dragon, and is helping to get his country back on track. She's trying to get that diary.

Is it too fast? I felt that Tanya would be way more efficient that Kazuma would, and, of course, Aqua and Kazuma are coming in soon. We're going to get a little bit of a calmer chapter next – some day to day relationship building things that take place before Aqua and Kazuma touch down.

Oh, we also see my interpretation of Revi's parents. Like Iris's, we haven't seen them in the LNs yet, and it seemed very odd that he was the one Ragcraft went to for permission instead of his parents. If you're familiar with the original, did you like my interpretation?

Also… it's finally happened! Aqua and Kazuma are on their way down to the world below.

We're not going to see them for a bit anyway – Tanya's still in a different country – but we might see more of the original cast soon.

Other than that… please, continue supporting the story as long as you enjoy it!

A/N 2: Oh, and about the economic advice she gives…

This was written around… ten months ago, which means I haven't taken that high school economics course in that much time. Please don't roast me for not understanding basic economics, because I'm not going to relearn all that just for, like, ten paragraphs of information that doesn't really matter too much, beyond outlining just how much Tanya's changing this medieval land.

A/N 3: Also, because I have no real social media to share my revelation, I decree:

Buddhism is just an enternal, religious Isekai.

That will be all.

A/N 4: Responses to Reviews on this website:

reihangima: Not to fear, I'm not going to drop this, no matter how sparse the updates become. Thank you for the encouragement.

Pyromania101: Rest in Peace. I'm sure that I'm going to enjoy the movies he directed when I get the time to sit down and watch them, so I'll thank him preemptively too.

Thank you for understanding the inconsistent schedule.

AnimeA55Kicker: Well, you might have something there… though the arrival of a certain duo might make her regret making Revi so reliant on her.

Fictional Fanatic from Fimfic: Alright, I'll spill. It's- *SOUND OF A NEWLY BOUGHT CERAMIC MUG BREAKING*

Alright, that's been happening more often. So… like I said, an event in chapter 20 (the first scene) might give you a hint. Also, your current guesses aren't on the right track. Think… along the lines of other breaks, like the Protestant Reformation.

I'll tell you right now that the Cults do have something to do with the racism, but not everything. You'll have to wait for an explanation, unfortunately.

Otherwise, thank you for the support!

Navarone2013:

CH 001 Comment: Thank you for taking the plunge and giving the story a try! I'm glad you liked it.

CH 002 Comment: That timeline is COMPLETELY made up, so I guess this is AU? I needed to space some stuff out – the campaign in Africa, the movie, and my own interpretation of how it might turn out – for a number of reasons, one of which is that I would like Tanya to be at least physically seventeen before things start… heating up between her and Viktoriya.

CH 003 Comment: The idea about Luna is a good one, but my view is that she's read so many of the same one – peasant who needs to make ends meet – that she glosses over them out of habit. Might make an Omake later…

As for your second question…

Well…

Shit. This is the third time. Despite all my attempts, I've managed to miss something so obvious that I need to listen to the video 'Slow Clap' on repeat. Again. FUCK!

Alright. My excuse is that I didn't think of it and I didn't have a name picked out then. There will likely be an in-universe explanation as well somewhere along the line.

CH 007 Comment: I am aware of the graveyard inconsistency – someone got to that one earlier – but mostly, I just wanted her to meet Wiz, and this was a good excuse.

CH 005 Comment: Ok, new plan. You get to write the story, because I missed something else she could have easily done as a replacement.

CH 008 Comment: The feeling I got from the KonoSuba LNs was that Aqua was at work for a long time before she decided to pick on Kazuma. There are a lot of mentions of other Reincarnates, even if Mitsurugi is the only other one we see. Presumably, she was at work since the early days of the war, or people like Verdia would have plug walked all over Belzerg by now.

CH 009 Comment: Thank you very much! I was taking my high school macroeconomics course when I wrote this, so that helped, and I try to keep things consistent – even though I've forgotten a lot, my learning lives on in this fic!

…damn, that sounded stupid…

CH 010 Comment: Remember, she had been trying to make a rifled barrel in an earlier scene, so while I don't show everything, she has been experimenting. And, she did take meticulous care of her equipment, as well as the oddity that is the Smith skill – Kazuma uses it to make things from his first life, even though he probably didn't know how they originally worked.

CH 011 Comment: As the movie and LNs constantly show, Explosion is, as always, completely, disgustingly overpowered compared to any other single spell. Tanya will have conniptions when she faces against that monstrosity.

Or will she? She has, after all, accomplished much the same with the help of the 203rd, and there are more impressive explosions that she has heard of.

CH 012 Comment: Yes, you will. Though, the wiki says that Mithril is another variation of the 'White Silver' second name thing, though I decided that having it be something… different might be interesting.

CH 013 Comment: Viktoriya… is into Tanya. Man or woman, she's ready to ride or die (emphasis on the 'ride' part) for her for the rest of forever.

CH 015 Comment: As explained… earlier, to another reviewer, the way the relics work is inconsistent. Mitsurugi's weapon works for no one but him, so if he were to die, no one could use it. On the other hand, the sixth LN of KonoSuba and onward make it clear that they still have power, in a limited sense.

I've decided that that means that they lose a lot of their power when their true owner dies, but that they still retain just a bit of what they had – at least, that's the case with these relics.

CH 016 Comment: Remember, there were the reincarnates that came before the timeskip – fire and ice staff, no pain lance, and shield breaker lance. Turns out that leaving those for anyone to buy wasn't the wisest idea.

CH 017 Comment: Ding ding ding! You are right! It does indeed involve chemical weapons that might not be banned by any treaties if they're created using magical chemistry.

CH 022 Comment: It is a very sad fact of Tanya's life that she often ignores that which she thinks of as insignificant in the grand scheme of things – emotions for part of her second life, religious matters for a good chunk of all three – but she does remember what Darkness told her a few chapters ago.

CH 021 Comment: Yeah, I think that the Orcs scene could have been handled better, but I've already revised it once, and while she could kill more, they are stronger than most everyone else in their caravan. She knows that numbers can overcome even magic, given enough of them.

CH 024 Comment: I wouldn't be so sure about Kazuma and Aqua. Being X was able to change the ability of Reincarnates to take Aqua, after all. She might decide to change some things of her own.

CH 025 Comment: If you read the companion series to this – Charming Omakes – I'm going to make an Omake on exactly that subject.

CH 026 Comment: No, I have not. I'll probably fix it before too long.

How do I think I would do…? Uh…

Well, if I'm honest, not very well. I don't like the idea of killing people in something as senseless as war, and I probably would have tried (and failed, thanks to Being X) at waiting out the war to grow up and move to America. Otherwise…

Well, I might try and copy what she did and try and avoid the misconceptions she falls into to stay somewhere safe, but, if Being X knew that I knew about what he'd done, it would probably turn into a 4D chess game, and I'm no world champion at regular chess.

Also, while Tanya is a cause of the big change, there are other people in the story. One of them – or someone we don't even know the name of yet – might be working towards their own goals a la Martin Luther.

Father Chaos: Yeah, I have a lot of trouble keeping physical descriptions clear sometimes. Particularly, whether or not Tanya is wearing a hat, because if she is, then her Ahego twitching isn't exactly striking when under a hat.

Also… yeah, it's starting to get confusing with four different women. I'll try and do better as far as differentiation goes.

Quaver Ava: Yes. Rest assured, I have plans for Being X.

Interesting plans.

As for that diary…

Ok, the actual thing will probably be a buzz kill, but the alternate, Crack Omake version? Pure motherfucking gold. I am so fucking ready to unleash that into the world, I just have a few more chapters…

'Or two' lol.

DNWorks: No. Remember, something has to be a catalyst for extreme change, and the Axis Cult is… uh… well, let's say 'set in its ways' and leave out all the stuff besmirching Eris. Though, you have given me an idea for worldbuilding and later revelations…

setokayba2n: There is a charm spell – according to the wiki – however, it just makes the user appear more attractive and appealing…

Hmm…

Hmm…

Remember, I don't have a fucking clue what the real endgame will look like – besides a few choice scenes – so, if you suggest something, you might just see it.

Remember, they don't exactly 'sign' anything when they agree. He'll be in whatever contract exists the moment he gets reincarnated, no matter how much or little of it he reads.

Well, yes and no. You might say it breaks a bit, you might say it breaks her, and one might say that it works better than ever, if that one was Being X.