Tanya cracked her knuckles and glared at Mary again. "Now, what excuse do you have, harlot? Last time I saw you, you attempted to murder me with those idiotic compatriots of yours, in addition to giving me a kiss and exploding my stuff. Not to mention your past attempts at killing me."
She leaned down and prepared to pick up Viktoriya, ignoring most of the 'threat' they presented.
She fought the urge to laugh. 'Threat.'
Chris couldn't break her Active Barrier with her Thief skills, unless she also had some of her skills from her time in Tanya's second life, but she would have used those during their last encounter if she did.
Darkness couldn't hit her barrier, much less break it.
If Cecily looked at Tanya wrong, she was blowing her head off.
Overall, only he might actually put up a fight, and he seemed more confused than angry for her insult of his newfound friend, so she would have some warning if he suddenly decided to attack.
Despite his abilities being worthy of praise, he tended to wear his heart on his sleeve, from what she could tell.
She hefted Viktoriya over her shoulder and then grabbed her bag. She might have liked to carry her in a more comfortable position, but Tanya had her rifle and her bag to carry. Still she took care not to rest Viktoriya on any of her bruises or wounds.
Tanya began to walk closer, dodging around the… pile of ashy dirt that had been Hoost's body. Chris, instead of looking concerned, seemed… smug, besides the brief flash of anger at the insults Tanya had hurled at her.
Tanya scowled. She was fairly sure Mary didn't believe she could take Tanya – she was just a simple Thief, after all, without a Computation Jewel to boot – which meant she thought she wouldn't be fighting her… or she had more minions to throw at her.
Darkness stepped forward. "Wait Tanya! Chris was the one who told us you were fighting Hoost! We wouldn't have gotten here in time if it wasn't for her."
Tanya fought the urge to glare at her even more.
This stupid Thief had ensured that one of the potential allies of someone in her situation had been killed. Just typical.
She stopped in front of the group of four, until she shook her head and trekked over to the survivors of their latest battle. They all seemed fine. Their wounds were bleeding a bit, but, hopefully, the Eris Cultists would-
She spun towards Cecily. "Will you fix them? I'll pay you, so-"
She smiled radiantly. "Oh, of course! I'd do anything to Heal up my favorite loli!"
Tanya glared at her as she cast Heal on everyone – including her – and the bleeding seemed to stop. She slung Viktoriya off of her back and into her arms to better assess her wounds, breathing a sigh of relief as the gashes on her legs and the bruises that covered her arms and face faded.
She made a note to get her new clothing – her pants and boots were ruined – and then she turned towards Sioux again, glaring. They had followed her towards the group of six sleeping adventurers.
Tanya shook her head. "Fine. She'll only be imprisoned for life instead of getting executed." She couldn't execute her for destroying a Demon without people wondering at her loyalties.
Darkness looked panicked, Mitsurugi seemed confused, and Cecily stepped forward. "Ah, please… though it warms my heart to see a… I mean, someone like you acting so strong, she did help us."
Tanya's unchanged expression showed that she didn't care, and Mitsurugi stepped forward. "Yeah. She did help us save you, Degurechaff. What could she have done to harm you?"
Tanya rolled her eyes. "She took great pleasure in arming unstable adventurers with weapons of great power in an attempt to murder me."
Chris, with her smug smirk receding into a nervous smile filled with… trepidation, shook her head. "No, you don't understand! I was under the influence of Demons! I didn't know what I was doing."
Tanya raised a skeptical eyebrow, but Chris didn't budge. It grated on her, as a Goddess, to claim to be so easily tricked, but she wanted to be near Darkness.
Besides, she needed to stay in Belzerg and look for those two Divine Relics that were in the capital. They might have moved around – though that was doubtful, considering they had been stationed in nearly the same place for quite a while – but they wouldn't leave Belzerg.
If she was reduced to running around at night and hoping that no one recognized her from wanted posters, things would take a much longer time.
Honestly, she would have rather not come with the Reincarnate Mitsurugi, but she didn't have a choice. He had asked her to lead them to the danger, not trusting himself with her directions due to his lack of knowledge about the town.
Tanya's glare softened into a pensive look, but her suspicion hadn't faded in the slightest. No, the look on her face was about as real as Mary's.
She sighed. Chris had picked out Hero Candidates specifically, and the Demon King didn't have any need to look in on…
Wait. Tanya had been in Axel. He might have sent people to kill her. But…
She shook her head. No, in all likelihood, he had sent Verdia and Ragcraft to identify who had arrived with two 'Divine Relics'. He wouldn't need to send anyone else, and sending a Demon that could control Hero Candidates to check on a backwater instead of helping man the front was the height of foolishness.
Tanya looked up at the group. She knew what this world's mental manipulation was like, too. People got distracted and vacant looks in their eyes, and they never moved with any amount of fluidity. They certainly didn't have the ability to fight.
However, she couldn't just declare that Chris was in the wrong. There wasn't any reason people wouldn't suspect that as a defense.
There wasn't any reason they would take her on, after all, and being under the influence of a Demon was a much more probable reason than being a traveller from another world.
Her gaze shot from the silver-haired Thief, who was starting to look panicked, to Darkness.
The Crusader blinked, and then blushed. "Ah… if Chris must still pay for her crimes, then maybe I could take her place? Yes, being forced to go to jail and being subjected to the gaze of the policemen would be wonderful…"
Tanya rolled her eyes, and then she blinked as she realized what she could do. "Darkness, you know that the police all know of your actual identity, so they wouldn't do that in fear of being executed. However, you did give me an idea."
She smirked and turned her gaze on Chris. "We'll just go to the police station and have you interrogated. If it is true that you were under the control of a Demon, then we'll easily know in just a few moments."
Chris nodded, smiling widely. That response put the Devil of the Rhine off – she was expecting hesitation or fear of being found out, but Chris was a Goddess of Luck.
She had one of the best poker faces in existence.
Degurechaff began to order them around, asking them to help carry people back. Chris was tasked with the bigger Crimson Demon, Cecily got Terry, Darkness got the smaller Crimson Demon, Mitsurugi got Sophie, and she took both of her party members.
They began to trek back. Mitsurugi offered to help Tanya carry her friends, but she refused. Tanya would do this, if for no other reason than she didn't trust any of them enough to let Lorelei or Viktoriya near them.
Meanwhile, Chris began to plan.
She was fairly sure that she didn't have any divine mana when she was in this body. Priests, and, unfortunately, this devil, would surely detect such mana and quickly come to inspect/murder her for resembling a deity.
If she didn't have any of it, then she would be caught in her lie as her… intentions of lying would be clearly reflected in the ringing of that bell.
Well, there was no way she was avoiding it, then. Darkness was on board, which meant she couldn't try and get her friend to waive this whole production without a good reason, and she didn't have any reasons she could voice. If she was going to be forced to leave…
She sighed. She would need a suitable distraction in order to run. The girl in her arms might be good for a projectile to throw at Mitsurugi, but for Degurechaff…
Chris didn't have many items, and her Bind would only slow her down for so long, thanks to the array of knives they apparently had on them at all times. She needed something…
Bigger. She was just a Thief though. She didn't have any smoke bombs, and those wouldn't work to hide magical tracking-
Her gaze darted to the Lucky woman that was being held over one of Tanya's shoulders. She could see an odd and conspicuous item hanging from that bandolier she wore. Chris smirked.
Perfect.
Cecily began to talk to Darkness. "Hey, I was wondering if you would enjoy converting? The Axis Cult allows for far more benefits for its members, especially since we don't have many Crusaders. We accept anyone, and someone with your obvious fetish might find the perfect man in our cult!"
Suppressing her growl of annoyance at the words of that airhead, she quickly activated her Lurk skill. Degurechaff was far too smart to fall for it for long – she'd use that same tactic of scattering dirt all over the place – but it would work long enough.
"Ah… the perfect man, who would abuse me fo- Hey!" Darkness revealed her disappearance, but Chris didn't have to hide any longer.
She swiped the grenade from Tanya's adjutant's bandolier and threw the girl on her shoulder at Mitsurugi. He struggled to deal with the sudden new weight, and Degurechaff spun around, looking for her.
Chris smirked. "Sorry, Devil, but I won't be going to jail. My quest is divine, and I'll see you gone soon enough!"
She pulled the pin and flung it towards her. She activated her Lurk again and slipped away, already beginning to plan.
She would find some schmuck to hand Darkness a note from her, and then she'd leave. The Capital was her next destination, and then she'd work on her personal project of turning that Mitsurugi fellow into the perfect Degurechaff-slaying machine.
She'd already helped to plant the idea that they couldn't be trusted in his head, which had led to the delightfully perfect situation where he was worried they were Nazis.
Besides that, she'd continue to adjust The Atheist's Luck until she couldn't take a step without falling over and cracking her neck.
Tanya saw the grenade flying towards her and moved. The bodies on her shoulders were allowed to fall, and she snatched the object out of the air easily.
Taking hold of its wooden shaft, she flung the grenade into the air. She cast her gaze around, searching for Chris, but…
She sighed angrily. Chris was gone, but she wouldn't be out of Axel yet. She turned to Darkness, an eyebrow raised. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself? How the hell were you tricked by someone that took all of ten minutes to show her true colors?"
For her part, Darkness did seem rather saddened. "But… my vision…"
Twitch.
BOOM
Tanya rolled her eyes as everyone else flinched at the sound of the grenade going off. "And? Did you rely on your own consciousness to defend her instead of rightfully letting her try and come up with a half-decent excuse? You idiot!"
Instead of getting all worked up, as she usually did when she got insulted even tangentially, she lowered her head like a kicked puppy.
Tanya shook her head. "Well, it's in the past now. We'll put out a warrant for her arrest and wash our hands of her, right?"
The Crusader nodded glumly, and they made their way to the Eris Church. Tanya wanted her friends back, and she just didn't have the energy to Heal them herself.
-OxOxO-
Tanya was still staring at the people that Hoost had beaten. None of them had woken up yet, even though all of the Priests there – at the behest of Tanya's money – were working on them.
She was beginning to grow… worried.
She sighed. No, she would wait. They were alive and well, and they would wake up soon enough. She stole another glance at Viktoriya and nervously tapped her shoe.
Still…
Then she began to move, and Tanya lunged from where she had been nervously standing to see her eye-to-eye, leaning towards her and resting her knees on the ground.
"Are you okay? Does anything feel off? If those picky Priests did anything to you, I'll be sure to fine them into next week and recruit-"
Viktoriya cut off Tanya's rambling with a small smile. "I'm fine. What… happened?"
Her expression soured. "Just as I was about to let him go, Mitsurugi came in and killed him. Unfortunately, someone in my position might have to find a way to offer the Demon King compensation for his lost minion."
Viktoriya nodded. "Well, at least no one else died, right? We didn't really have many missions where no one got killed, in those last few years…"
Tanya's face felt a bit pinched at the reminder, but she nodded anyway. She slipped back into the language of Belzerg. "Yeah. Oh, 'Chris' also showed up. She got away though. Darkness is going to put up a-"
Tanya's expression quickly became concerned at the stormy look on Viktoriya's face. Viktoriya didn't often brood, but she certainly looked like a practiced hand at the act with the deep lines on her face.
Tanya nervously asked, "Uh… are you alright? What did I say?"
Viktoriya blinked, and then, blushing, she muttered something about being fine. Tanya just shrugged and turned to Lorelei as she woke up.
She shook her head, and though the Eris Priests had been reluctant to let Lorelei in on account of the ears and the tail, Tanya had forced the matter through. She sat up, and Tanya smirked.
"Honestly, I thought you'd take a bit more damage than that. Aren't you supposed to be a front line fighter?" She asked it rhetorically, looking outwardly unimpressed in the woman.
She sent a similar glare back at Tanya. "And I thought you were supposed to be a good Adventurer? To think you'd let me get beaten so early on. Does your magic even work?"
They continued to glare at each other for a moment, but they quickly broke down giggling. The others were also waking up, one by one, and Tanya took the time to reach into one of her many pockets to retrieve her Adventurer Card.
She studied it closely, trying to find what had changed to make her strength not her lowest stat, and then-
"Uh… Lorelei, you wouldn't happen to know how Luck is decreased, would you?" Tanya asked, making sure not to let any of her panic affect her voice.
Luck didn't affect anything other than your ability to win card games, right?
She blinked, but she did quickly jump into an explanation. "Well, it can go down depending on the job you take. Front line fighters usually see their Luck increase at a much slower rate than that of Rangers and certain Priests, but to lower your luck, you'd need to…"
Her face became puzzled, and she scratched her head. "Uh… I think that can only happen if you ingest certain potions, equip certain items, or insult Eris or Heaven. Why?"
Tanya licked her lips. "Uh… my Luck is now in the… single digits."
Lorelei was silent, for a moment, until she seemed to choke on her own tongue. Tanya voiced her earlier thoughts about Luck not affecting anything other than gambling and certain skills, and Lorelei scoffed while making motions to grab her card.
Tanya held the card away from her, and, with a huff, Lorelei launched into an explanation.
"Would the Eris Cult have so many followers if it only helped adventurers? It helps merchants the most, but it can also help out anyone, as long as your faith is strong enough." As she lectured her, Tanya's face began to fall.
Mitsurugi looked away from her, and the others mostly began to focus on the others that were waking up. Cecily was hugging an unresisting Megumin – again, Tanya would blow the bitch's head off if Megumin so much as whispered rape – as Yunyun looked on and Mitsurugi was talking quietly with Rex's team. Darkness was still looking between the three of them.
"Additionally, Luck can impact every aspect of your life. You'll get ripped off more easily with a Luck stat that low, and many ventures you attempt to carry out, such as relationships, will suffer."
Tanya's face, looking dejectedly down at her card, shot up to Lorelei's. She squinted at the beastman, who seemed to be staring at her… knowingly, for some odd reason. "How so?"
She shrugged and seemed to be looking at Viktoriya for some reason. "You'll get harassed on dates, hit with water from passing carriages, get bad food served to you, and generally find many of your endeavors impacted negatively. She isn't regarded as a love Goddess because her Luck can hurt you just as much as it harms you, but she'll help you out if you're a diligent adherent."
Tanya scowled, and then she mentally shrugged.
It wasn't like she'd ever been planning on getting married in her first life. Stuff like that cost too much money for too little return, back when she had been convinced that emotions could be forgotten as easily as phone numbers.
She was technically more open to the idea now, but she doubted she'd find anyone that she liked enough for any kind of commitment.
She looked like a girl, she had no desire to marry someone that was into traps or lolis, and this place was a Medieval backwater that probably thought homosexuality was caused by Demons or something, which left approximately no one that she would want to marry or that would want to marry her.
"Oh well. I wasn't exactly interested in getting married back in Japan, and the thought had never crossed my mind in the Empire," she said with a negligent wave of her hand.
Lorelei watched Tanya's gaze flick towards her as the girl said the word 'never'. Tanya then looked around the place, grimacing at the approaching Priest.
As that happened, Lorelei watched Viktoriya look at Tanya…
She tapped her chin thoughtfully. She wasn't looking at the blonde longingly, per se, but Viktoriya certainly seemed morose about something.
Tanya turned back to Viktoriya, and Lorelei smiled to herself as the other two began to talk in that language of theirs.
Oh, they totally wanted to date each other, at least. They'd sent so many looks at each other and taken excuses to be close, and Lorelei had been awake enough to see Tanya practically tackle Viktoriya when she stirred. Lorelei would need more concrete evidence for the Succubi, but…
She smirked and began to plan. She'd have to find some way for them to start dreaming of each other. Maybe they should have some sort of a day off after all of the hard work they'd been doing?
-OxOxO-
"GRAHH!"
Tanya tried not to pull her hair out – Lorelei had spent a good amount of time making it look more than presentable that morning, combing it and putting it back in a ponytail – but she was getting consistently hindered by the corruption of the guards and the lack of a good information network.
Her first problem was finding the Archpriest, who she was almost sure was Aqua, based on what little information she could get on her.
She and her party, as well as Rex's party and the Crimson Demons, had recuperated for the rest of the day of the battle against Hoost and, the very next day, they'd headed to the guild to ask Luna some questions.
After questioning Luna, she had learned that the Archpriest had been accompanied by a person that looked like a Hero Candidate.
He had 'dark' hair – which could mean anything from black to dark red, due to the array of bizarre colors that stained people's hair here – and dark eyes – again, as long as it wasn't on the rainbow, it was considered 'dark' here. He also had black and green clothing that she had judged to be similar to the stuff Hero Candidates often wore.
Luna hadn't labeled him as a Hero Candidate, however, because he didn't have any interesting ability or weapon, besides an abnormally high Luck stat. He'd even decided to become an Adventurer, like Tanya and Viktoriya had, after they had begged some old guy for money to join.
This convinced Tanya.
She herself had contemplated stealing Aqua away and making her come down with her, in an attempt to get carried by a self-proclaimed goddess and get that wish all the faster. She had chosen the Circlet on the assumption that she'd be delivered to an advanced society and not a Medieval one.
If she had known, she would have picked either of the other options. Aqua would have known things that Tanya didn't which would have allowed her to advance faster, not to mention how helpful she'd be against the Hero Candidates that had attacked her.
Tanya had spent the rest of that day looking for her. She hadn't, however, found her in any of the spots someone of her power should be working. She wasn't at any Church in the city, nor was she near the orphanage/school. She wasn't even loitering near the high-end, noble-dominated parts of the city.
The next day, she had then moved on to more unusual spots, where the Guild's announcement system didn't properly reach, which might explain why she hadn't heard the announcement yesterday, but even the most removed location any self-respecting arrogant toerag of a 'deity' would be hiding out at were within range.
They hadn't found anything, and Tanya now readily admitted that she couldn't think like jumped-up holy pretenders.
What a shame. She'd have to find some way to console herself about such a… tragedy.
After that, she had spent time running the town, signing paperwork, and addressing the concerns of people whose disputes went up the chain farther than any of the people she had appointed, in that week of work.
Then, yesterday, she and Viktoriya had decided to do something more productive than looking for Aqua and start asking the guards about Chris.
She had not been amused.
Apparently, one of them had let her out and ignored all of Tanya's new laws for a pitiful 10,000 Eris. Then, he had admitted that, to Tanya's face, and offered to give her a cut.
Tanya's response had been appropriate, considering her oldest enemy had slipped away to fight another day: she'd confiscated the money and ordered the police to arrest him. She'd then gone back to the mansion to write some letters.
None of them had been returned happily. The guards protecting the farther reaches of Alderp's previously held territory hadn't gotten the warrant for her arrest yet and had let her go, despite never getting a good reason from her about her travel beyond 'I want to travel a bit.'
She sighed as she thought back. Well, she had news for them. Her next round of letters had been sent out, even if her hands were aching and it wasn't even ten o'clock.
Maybe she'd invent a typewriter? It was just too much trouble to write everything out, even if some adventurer had already graced this world with pens and pencils. Although-
"Tanya!"
She shook her head and realized that Lorelei was staring into her eyes. She brushed her hands off of her shoulders and sighed. "Yeah? There's no need to yell-"
She gave her a skeptical look. "Really? You've been gnashing your teeth for too long. In fact…"
She turned her gaze to Viktoriya, who was now working at a separate and equally large desk. Tanya missed the woman's close presence, but this was more efficient, even-
"That's it! We're taking a break! No work, no worrying, no hardship! Just… let's have a bit of fun!"
Tanya raised an eyebrow. "You aren't required to work-"
She glared at her. "Neither are you! Most nobles would balk at the amount of care you are showing to people! You've codified that 'school' thing, are sending aid and adventurers to the outlying town, and have generally improved people's lives! A handful of nobles can be named that did that on purpose without trying to gain some selfish compensation."
Tanya rolled her eyes. "Hey, if this place's economy gets big enough, coffee will show up. I have plenty of reasons-"
Viktoriya spoke up now. "...to take a break. C'mon, we've been working for too long. Sure, we would have been lambasted for how little work we've done if we were on the Eastern Front, but we… we aren't there any more!"
She shouted the last part, and Tanya blinked as she considered the idea. They had been working diligently, and Tanya had been wanting a break for a while…
She smiled. "Alright. A bit of self-indulgence isn't horrible, especially for morale. A break would be nice…"
She frowned. The last time she had uttered that phrase, she had been marched onto the plane they'd just arrived in the Empire on to attack the Russy Federation.
She looked around the room, waiting for the filing cabinets or bookshelves to explode or for some similarly horrible thing to happen, but nothing did. She sighed in relief, and then smirked at Lorelei.
"Well, if you're so insistent that we relax…"
She turned to Viktoriya. "Wanna see some clothing from Japan?" Her adjutant's eyes lit up, and they both dodged by Lorelei's tall form to head towards Tanya's room.
Tanya quickly locked the door, and Lorelei's angry shouting could be heard through what Tanya knew was several layers of insulation. "Absolutely not! They might be integral to the defense of the Kingdom, but a Hero Candidate's clothing style is completely, absolutely, trash! They take the first opportunity they can to dump it! Their stuff is all low quality and looks like a particularly intelligent potato made it!"
Tanya just rolled her eyes and looked around her room. Her eyes landed on Viktoriya, who seemed to be… drooling for some reason.
Tanya revisited Lorelei's words, and then she groaned. "No, we are not getting potatoes. No, you aren't going to see if this world's rotten potatoes are somehow more dangerous than the regular ones, either from being more poisonous or from their ability to fight back, and you sure as hell aren't eating them."
Her unhappy expression caused Viktoriya to break out into giggling. Tanya soon let a smile mark her face as she reminisced about their past and trekked towards her closet. Viktoriya was looking around the room curiously.
Tanya didn't know why she was bothering with that. Her walls were mostly barren, which was expected, since they hadn't come to this world with anything, with the sheath for her Seitengewher being the largest of her additions to the wall.
She had a desk with several books laid out on it. Her translation work was going well, but she was getting stuck in a few places. She'd have them copied and ready to…
She frowned as she reached the closet. Did this world have the Printing Press? She remembered thinking that it must, if the Guild had paperwork, of all things, but it was entirely possible it was some kind of spell.
Then she shrugged as she threw her closet open.
The merchant was the one who was dealing with production, not her. He could have another problem to deal with instead of her, though Tanya was thinking about getting a typewriter of some kind invented regardless.
She brought out the clothes from Japan she had been able to find in the capital and sighed appreciatively. It wasn't much, and she was sure that a few of the shirts were references to things that had been invented in her absence, but it was nice all the same.
First were the jeans. They were, of course, men's jeans, because she wanted actual pockets. Then, she brought out a few shirts.
A thought struck Tanya as she stared at one of the shirts. "Hey, while we're on the subject of 'we're not on the front lines anymore, so we can relax a bit' warpath, could you stop calling me 'Colonel'?"
She heard Viktoriya make a sound of confusion. "Huh? I mean, I guess…"
Tanya rolled her eyes as she looked at the shirts. "You don't have to, but people might wonder why you're calling me by a military rank, and I don't want anyone to think we deserted. That might not reflect well on us. Besides, if you're going to call me by any rank, just use the last one I got…"
Tanya continued to look at the shirts as Viktoriya thought her words over, eventually deciding to put the t-shirts away. It was beginning to get closer to winter, and it might get cold, even if the weather she could see through the large window overlooking the front ground was sunny.
"What's that one say?" Tanya jumped at the unexpected voice, and then glared at Viktoriya, who had crept up behind her.
"It just says… 't-shirt'? I don't know why, but I'm sure it means something to someone," she said. She was confused as to why a t-shirt would just say t-shirt, but she didn't claim to be some omniscient being that knew the answer to her every thought.
Tanya took a few more moments before picking out a few options and laying them out on her bed next to the jeans.
Her bed was a four poster dressed up in the colors of the Empire – more out of nostalgia than any real loyalty – and Tanya gestured towards the various options.
"Take your pick. I think they'll be fine in this weather, but bring a jacket just in case." As Viktoriya looked at them, Tanya decided she'd go with the yellow shirt that said 'I 3 Tokyo' in a mix of English and highly stylized kanji. She also picked up a pair of jeans, when Viktoriya began to speak.
"Uh… Tanya, it's a little out of the blue, but you don't have any tampons, do you?"
Tanya blinked at the sudden onset of that question, and she felt her face begin to brightly shine red as memories rose behind her eyes at the reminder of just who and how she had been instructed in the usage of such a… device.
And no, it hadn't been Viktoriya. It had been the doctor assigned to their unit…
However, it was Tanya that had managed to invent the thing.
A broken conversation with some of the women in her Kampfgruppe had led to her remembering the basic formula for one of the things from her last life.
A year later, and she'd been put through her own period, which was…
She shuddered. Well, it had been wildly uncomfortable and terrifying, considering they'd been fighting on the Eastern Front and she had thought she'd been hit with shrapnel. Viktoriya had also panicked, and, when they'd landed, Viktoriya had quickly realized what was happening, and she'd taken her to their doctor.
Who had explained what was happening to her body.
In detail.
Tanya shuddered.
And, of course, what had that woman pulled out besides a slightly improved version of the thing Tanya had proposed to those women in her Kampfgruppe?
Being X was no doubt laughing at her due to the fact that she'd end up as widely known for that invention as for any of her exploits.
She shook her head. After that talk, she had emerged from her tent shaken and not covered in bandages. The rest of the 203rd had been able to guess what had happened. They averted their eyes from her and blushed, and, when she had snapped at them irritably, they had quickly made themselves more scarce than usual.
Later that day, Viktoriya – after some pointed questions Tanya wished she had lied about – had taken the time to give her the talk her aunt had given her and explain… everything. As if she were really a fourteen-year-old who didn't have the memories of a different life in her head.
Tanya had wanted to dismember Being X more than ever after that, and she had thanked her short stature and stressful life and lackluster diet for once, as her periods happened much less often than was technically healthy.
Of course, she had been having them much more regularly in this world, with her regular diet and lack of regular life-threatening violence. They were just as horrible as always, but her Smith ability had allowed her to help with the problem a bit.
Mutely, Tanya reached into one of the dressers by her bed and pulled out one of her latest inventions: Packaged tampons.
She'd made them when she'd been forced awake by a nightmare after beating Hoost. She had been unable to fall asleep afterwards and, not wanting to really wake anyone else, she'd deconstructed a pillow and fiddled with it until she'd created the tampon.
That dream had heavily featured the Type 95, which was…
She shook her head and banished the memory of her dream and looked at the thing in her hands. The packaging was made of dark blue paper instead of plastic – something she couldn't recreate with Smith, no matter how many materials she assembled.
The only reason she hadn't yet pitched selling them to Wiz was because she would be mortified explaining the process and usage of the things to her.
Come to think of it, when had tampons been invented? What had those women done before they got them?
Tanya quickly forgot about the questions she really didn't want answers to. Viktoriya smiled at her as she unpacked the thing, and she turned her back to Viktoriya as Tanya began to hurriedly change. "Eep!"
Tanya rolled her eyes and turned around after finishing. "Honestly, even if I am a man, we're done this too much. I'll still turn away, of course, but it isn't anything you haven't seen before," she complained quietly.
Viktoriya was silent, staring down at the clothing, and Tanya's expression softened. "If you don't want to wear any of it, that's fine. I'm not going to be offended that you feel no connection to a place you haven't visited before."
She paused, but Viktoriya shook her head. "I… no! I want to do this! I'll wear…"
She trailed off again, and picked out a pink t-shirt with a cute little cat on it that said 'neko neko nii.'
Again, Tanya didn't have the faintest idea of what it was supposed to mean, but it looked cute and Viktoriya seemed happy with it.
Tanya turned around to let her change, and Viktoriya stifled the urge to tell her it was alright. Sure, they had already seen all of each other, but Viktoriya wasn't…
She rolled her eyes. Alright, she was totally fine if Tanya saw her, but Tanya probably didn't want to feel like a pervert for looking at her. She sighed and began to change.
It took her a few minutes, but they were both ready to leave. Tanya gave Viktoriya a quick glance and gulped.
Well, she certainly looked nice. It didn't hug her figure or accentuate anything or some other drivel like that. She looked…
Relaxed. It was different, and Tanya was happy she seemed to be looking forward to their break.
Tanya shook her head and pushed the doors open. "Lorelei! Come on, we've got to go!"
They scanned the hallway, looking for her. She couldn't be seen, however, and-
"HA!"
She jumped out from behind one of the doors to Tanya's room, rushing towards them and glaring. "Like I said, it's garbage! What are those squiggly lines supposed to mean? This cloth is absolutely coarse compared to what you could be wearing, considering how rich you are, and-"
Tanya just raised an eyebrow. "Then we should head to the Tailor, right?"
Lorelei paused at that, and Tanya took her silence as agreement. "Wonderful! Let's get going! I'll just threaten the guards real quick, and then we'll be off!"
Lorelei watched Tanya's eyes flick towards Viktoriya and, as the girl rounded the corner, Lorelei watched Viktoriya's face begin to blush violently.
She smirked in clear view of the woman, and Viktoriya raised an eyebrow towards her questioningly.
Lorelei's smirk deepened. "Oh, it's nothing. It's not like you're wearing your feelings on your sleeve, or anything."
Viktoriya blinked, but she shook her head and sighed, calling up an impressive poker face. Lorelei just giggled, and leaned down to speak into her ear.
"If you want to hide it from her, you've got to try a bit harder. It's honestly quite obvious." Before the woman could respond, Lorelei skipped down the corridor.
Part one was complete. While she was completely right about that horrible stuff they were wearing, Lorelei did admit that the only way for them to leave less to the imagination was to dress like a Thief, thanks to how ill-fitting their clothing seemed to be.
That would work for Lorelei, however. Over the course of the day, she would remind them of each other and the looks they sent each other when they were sure the other wasn't watching.
With her influence, they would have dreams, and she'd invite a Succubus or two in to determine if they did like each other.
-OxOxO-
Tanya raised an eyebrow at Lavendula. She was glaring at Lorelei, whose whole body seemed to have deflated upon being glared at.
Tanya rolled her eyes. She really needed to get around to training the beastman up a bit, if she was cowed by a single weak glare. Artillery fire would be helpful, but since she didn't have access to that, she would come up with… alternatives.
Tanya stepped forward. "Lavendula, how nice to see you. I need you to do some things for me and my friends."
She emphasized her last word in order to drive home that yes, they were both her friends. Viktoriya was looking around already, and Lavendula cast a cursory glance at both Tanya and Viktoriya before scoffing. "What, like get you out of those hideous costumes?"
Tanya rolled her eyes. "No. In fact…"
She turned to Viktoriya and pointed towards a corner of the room. "Get all of the stuff from the Hero Candidates. It would be a waste to let it all rot in here."
She spun around to see that both Lorelei and Lavendula were glaring at Tanya. "Now, I don't know what they want," she said, gesturing to both Viktoriya and Lorelei, "but I want my measurements taken."
The Tailor lit up, but Tanya made sure to shoot down any hopes she had of making a dress. "No, I don't want you to make me anything. I'll be having a… personal Tailor doing my work for me, thank you."
She frowned at that, but she did as asked, beckoning for Tanya to come closer to the backroom where Tanya had gotten her clothing way back in her first few days here. She followed her as Viktoriya and Lorelei looked through the clothing.
Lorelei was eyeing the clothing Viktoriya was looking at. She was sticking more to the kind of shirts she already wore regularly – clothing that wasn't too revealing and that was snug as well, mostly in lighter colors. She picked up a shirt that looked almost identical to the shirt she adventured in.
Lorelei grinned. This was another chance to get them thinking about each other. She smoothed her features out and forced it back down. "No, choose something a bit more adventurous. How about…"
She steered her away from the more bland, closed shirts and towards more open ones. "I don't exactly know much about the place you guys came from or about your past lives, but it seems like they didn't exactly favor openness. Since you're in Belzerg now, why don't you try something different, see if you like it?"
She seemed indecisive, for a moment, and then she nodded. "Sure! I guess this would be nice to wear on my date with Mitsurugi…"
As she walked away, Lorelei continued to stare at the spot her head had occupied.
What? Who…
She scowled. Mitsurugi!? She was thinking about him?
She took a deep breath. Maybe… she fought for both sides, men and women?
But… the looks she'd been sending Tanya definitely meant more than just simple attraction.
She frowned. Well, if she was thinking about someone else, then Lorelei would have to focus her efforts on Tanya. That was…
That was very daunting, to say the least. Lorelei had been hoping to get Viktoriya interested first, so that Tanya would be dragged along. It seemed, however, that she'd have to do this the hard way and hope that Tanya would be more open to suggestion, without the distraction of anyone else.
She kept to herself, after that, choosing a pair of pants that, while just as flowing as her usual clothes, were a bit shorter.
"Uhhhhh…"
Lorelei looked over her shoulder to see that Tanya was back. She looked the same as when they'd left. She had her usual black pants and boots, bandolier, belt, cap, and her 'pistol' weapon was hanging from her belt. She still had that awful 't-shirt' on, too, but she was also holding a set of papers that probably contained her measurements.
Tanya was also staring at… Viktoriya, who looked quite a bit different.
Not much had changed. Her pants and boots still looked identical to Tanya's, as did her belt and bandolier, though the latter was wrapped around her waist like a second belt.
Tanya quickly shut her mouth as she studied her adjutant's… change. Instead of the white t-shirt with kanji on it, she was wearing something… different.
Tanya cleared her throat. "That's… certainly nice." She wasn't sure if she could provide much more intelligent commentary than that without whistling… appreciatively.
Her shirt was… well, it wasn't nearly as large as her other one. It didn't quite hug her figure, per se, but it was certainly made to… accentuate her assets.
Tanya heard Lorelei cough off to the side somewhere, and she shook her head and covered up her stupid attraction to a girl that couldn't love her with a encouraging smile. "You look… nice. Do you have anyone in mind?"
Lorelei leaned forward, perhaps-
She gave Tanya a small smile. "Yes, I suppose. I was going to try to ask Mitsurugi out. We aren't really at war anymore, and I, for one, want to move our lives towards something more… stable than back in the Empire."
As Viktoriya ducked back in the changing room, Lorelei caught a bare, flickering look of regret on Tanya's face before she smoothed it out and began to discuss the price with Lavendula. Lorelei nodded to herself as she began to look for something interesting for herself.
Maybe getting Tanya to have dreams about Viktoriya might be easier than she thought?
"Hey, pick out some materials you want to make my new clothing." Lorelei's head snapped up from where she'd been absentmindedly looking at the assorted jackets. Her eyes then drifted down to Tanya.
She raised an eyebrow, and Tanya gave her an unamused look. "I want a replacement for my dress," she said. She dropped her voice down an octave and said, "I want a suit. I don't particularly care about how it looks, I just want it to look good. Got it?"
Lorelei shook her head. "Fine, but the dress I got you was perfectly serviceable. Honestly-"
Tanya cut her off again. "Considering you knew that I could have been wearing a suit and that you neglected to inform me about that fact, even after witnessing my dislike for the dress, I don't care."
Lorelei winced, but she did as she was told. "I better be getting paid for this…"
Tanya scoffed again. "Of course. Why-"
She was cut off by someone tapping her on the shoulder. Tanya whirled around to find Viktoriya looking at the jackets. "Tanya, you should get a jacket. It's getting close to winter, after all."
Tanya rolled her eyes and picked out an unassuming black and red one. "There. I don't need it for any other reason than keeping warm, so this should be good. Let's get going."
-OxOxO-
It took another five minutes for them to get out of there, most of which was consumed by Viktoriya and Lorelei going over various colors for Tanya's newest clothing. Eventually, they settled on traditional white and black colors.
Tanya didn't mind. She was currently thinking about what Viktoriya had said.
As they walked through the streets of Axel – Tanya had on her newest jacket, while Viktoriya was carrying bolts of Lorelei's cloth, her own new shirt, and the bargain bin of clothing from the Reincarnates – Tanya was contemplating Viktoriya's words about the passing of time.
"Hey, Lorelei, what's the current month?"
Lorelei blinked. "It's the 3rd of Horizontal Line, obviously. Geez, I thought you nobles were supposed to be smart, but-"
Tanya and Viktoriya were giving Lorelei twin looks of complete confusion, and Lorelei shot that look back at them. "What? Why are you looking at me like I'm the idiot?"
Neither of them exactly liked that insinuation, but Tanya ignored it. "Is… 'Horizontal Line…' like, the name of the month?"
Lorelei blinked at her. When their expressions didn't change, Lorelei's did.
Her blank, confused look shifted into one of mirth as she broke down into a fit of giggles. "You- you two don't actually know? I mean, I thought that I was unlucky, but for you two to not know the names of the seasons-"
Both of them put up with her laughter, and then, as she calmed down, Lorelei cleared her throat. "So, I guess you guys have different names for your seasons too?"
Both nodded, and she began to explain. "Well, the first month is Upside Down Pentagon, and then it's…"
She went on to explain a… decidedly odd array of names, saying their name and if they started the next season. Tanya found out that the month she had gotten here – June in her last world, Square here – was the end of spring and the beginning of Summer.
They continued to absorb the information, but around the ninth month…
"...Inverse Dot is the ninth month and the start of Fall. Horizontal Line, this month, is-"
Lorelei's explanation was cut off by Viktoriya's gasp and subsequent teary-eyed look. "Colonel! We forgot your birthday…"
Tanya blinked. "Oh yeah. I guess I'm… seventeen now." Honestly, nothing really felt all that different, and-
Lorelei came up behind the two of them. "Well, when's your birthday, Viktoriya?"
The woman blinked, and then said, "Well, if this month is after Se- I mean, Inverse Dot, then mine will be… the twentieth of next month, I think."
Lorelei nodded sagely. "Well, that's in a little over seven weeks. We could have a belated birthday for Tanya in three, so that we have time to get presents and arrange things."
Viktoriya seemed on board, but Tanya held up a hand. "Hey, I'm not all that interested in having some big party. Really, it-"
Viktoriya pouted. "But… you said that you'd let… us throw you a proper party once the war was over."
It took her a moment, but she did eventually recall that conversation. She had turned sixteen – the legal drinking age in the Empire. Unfortunately, everyone had held her away from alcohol until they'd been given leave in Dresdun, since, as always, resources were scarce on the eastern front.
For the small celebration of her sixteenth birthday, she had gotten a lovely fur coat – taken from some nameless communard – on behalf of the entire battalion, as well as two whole bars of chocolate from the higher officers of the 203rd. Those had been luxurious, since she hadn't had chocolate in over five months at that point in time.
She sighed. "Fine. For them, I'll let you throw me a party. I promise."
Tanya immediately regretted her decision as they stared at each other. "I'll talk to Darkness and the Police," Viktoriya began. Lorelei soon followed up. "I'll handle decorations and clothing and food and-"
Tanya latched onto that idea. "Food sounds wonderful. Let's get lunch."
If they continued to plot while walking behind her at a distance that just barely let her hear that they were plotting, but not what they were saying exactly, she didn't tell them. She had a very good feeling that she would regret promising anyone that she'd have a party…
-OxOxO-
They stopped at a small place owned by a former adventurer that had spotted Tanya walking by and offered to serve them anything they wanted for free. Tanya had been skeptical, but…
"Are you kidding? Without you, we might have gone out of business!" He continued to usher her inside, spouting off about her efforts to stop Verdia and bring back the monsters so that adventurers could pay for food again.
The other two seemed interested, and Tanya agreed that the place did look good. Still…
As they were seated, Tanya gave a look to the man that had ushered them inside. "We'll still pay full price. Like you said, we're not broke anymore."
He quickly left them alone after that, and they were quiet as they read the menus. Drinks were first, of course…
Tanya was reminded of a question she had had during their week of work, and she turned to Lorelei. "Say, do you think coffee would grow near Axel? I've been wanting some, but the stuff they sell here is garbage."
Well, it wasn't completely horrible. They'd been given worse stuff in the final years of the war, but if the capital had the good stuff, then she wanted some as well.
Lorelei shrugged. "I guess it might in the summer, but Axel's just too far north for that sort of stuff to survive for long in the winter. Besides, those plants are really tough for novice adventurers, with how fast they are."
Tanya nodded mutely. Right, food fought back in this world. She hadn't considered that a factor, but she supposed that, just like climate, the strength of adventurers determined what kind of food you could grow in a given area.
Eventually, she just decided to order tea. She didn't like the stuff, but it was better than nothing.
She was still thinking, even as she looked at the food. Was stronger food harder to come by, with how many adventurers had to be dragged to the front lines to fight against the Demon King?
A waiter came back with their drinks, and Tanya decided to order first. "I'll have the cabbage-"
The waiter gave her a pained smile. "Ah, actually, we're currently out of cabbage until they start their migration."
Tanya scowled and let the others order. When it was her turn again, she lowered her menu. "I'll have the corn-"
THWACK!
"Oh no! Someone, catch that corn!
The next ten minutes were filled with the hurried, desperate apologies of the chef and the waiter about the corn that had just flown out from the kitchen to land squarely on her face, breaking her nose and covering her newly purchased clothing.
She was fine afterwards – Heal once again proved itself useful – but Lorelei's subdued laughter and Viktoriya guilty smile hurt more than the vegetable had.
As they finally finished apologizing, Tanya just ordered some meat dish. When they left, Lorelei finally began laughing in earnest.
"Yo- You have such bad Luck! I've never heard of someone being attacked by food outside of battle! I mean, really, you should probably hang it up somewhere. A mighty Greater Demon can hardly scratch you, but a piece of corn can almost beat you!"
Tanya weathered the laugh-filled rant.
Her Luck was horrible, and it wouldn't improve anytime soon, thanks to the fact that some self-proclaimed goddess controlled the Luck of people in this world.
She was fine with that. As long as she eliminated every possible chance for Luck to matter, she wouldn't be caught in the machinations of one of Being X's lackeys.
The other option, besides trying to mitigate the chance for Luck to matter, was to eat Dragon meat.
During a short break in between her attempts to teach him how to lead, she had complained about her Luck when he had beaten her at rock-paper-scissors twenty times in a row.
He had mentioned the fact that Dragon meat permanently increased someone's stats, though when she had tried to ask why every noble with money to spare didn't just eat it, he had blanched.
It's meat was tough and tasted like eating shoe leather, according to him, and, since nobles were fine with eating other high-quality food to gain experience, the demand for that kind of meat wasn't high.
Still. She'd look into getting some, if it wasn't too expensive.
Revi had never actually eaten shoe leather, after all, while the 203rd had been forced to scavenge off the land and eat cow and horse hide during a particularly dire two weeks away from the supply lines on the eastern front.
She could stomach anything, if it meant avoiding a so-called goddess's wrath.
She glanced speculatively at anyone could enjoy something everyone else said tasted like shoe leather, it was Viktoriya.
The food did eventually come out, at which point Viktoriya glared at Lorelei for her continued attempts to poke fun at her. "Tanya doesn't need any Luck! Besides, are you really one to talk about having bad Luck?"
Lorelei froze, while Tanya's jaw was left hanging. She looked to Viktoriya to see that she was already wincing. Lorelei, meanwhile…
Tanya blinked. She had expected her to be...not bawling, but certainly upset. Instead, she was just glaring at Viktoriya with a single eyebrow raised.
Tanya elbowed Viktoriya. "Hey, I think that was a bit uncalled for," she said, holding up her hands when Viktoriya's gaze shifted to her, confused and indignant.
"You were right that I don't need Luck, and she did tease me for too long, but-"
"Yes. I think you might want to apologize, unless you want me to talk about what I saw this morning," she interjected. Before Tanya could wonder what that could be – she and Viktoriya had woken up around the same time – Viktoriya began to blush.
She lowered her head. "Ah, I… I'm sorry, Lorelei. That was a bit uncalled for, and-"
"A bit?" she said. Her mouth opened, and Viktoriya's panic only seemed to increase. "A lot! It was totally uncalled for and out of line and please don't say anything!"
She peered at Viktoriya for only a moment longer before laughing again. Tanya was looking between the two of them before deciding that she probably didn't want to know.
When the waiter came by to take their plates, offering to get them something portable to eat on their way to wherever their next destination was, Tanya took all of ten seconds before deciding immediately.
"I'll take the chocolate bar. She'll take the cheese sticks," she said, pointing to herself and Viktoriya. Lorelei quickly told him her own preference – an apple – and they were soon out of the door.
Tanya broke her bar in half and took two of Viktoriya's four cheese sticks. "Wonderful! It's been a while since I've had some good cheese!"
Viktroiya nibbled on her own food, looking at Tanya in confusion. "But… I thought you said you didn't like cheese?"
Tanya turned to her. "What? Since when?"
"After Tiegenhoff, during our two month assignment to garrison duty in the Republic's lands. You said that you didn't like any of the cheese." She explained.
Tanya blinked in astonishment. "Viktoriya, that was over four years ago. How did you remember that? Besides…"
She felt her cheeks flush the tiniest bit. "I, uh… I might have lied? I, um… thought that cheese was associated with the Francois, so I said I didn't like it to see more… patriotic."
Viktoriya just stared at Tanya for a moment before snorting inelegantly. Tanya's cheeks, now blushing in earnest, told both Viktoriya and Lorelei what she thought about that. "What? Francois and cheese is a thing, right? We didn't exactly have a lot of cheese in Japan. I was kind of… lactose intolerant." she said, switching into Germanian. "A bunch of people in Japan were. I couldn't eat it without-"
Lorelei interrupted her with a violent shake of her head, looking bewildered. "That's it. There's no way… whatever language you're speaking is real. What could laktoseintoleranz possibly mean!?"
Both of them stared at her and then at each other with a knowing glint in their eyes. "Well, I guess it's surprising that you like cheese, but that's a bit far, isn't it? To limit yourself just to appear more patriotic? And you ate plenty of cream, which always struck us as kind of weird, but…"
Tanya shrugged. "Maybe it was weird, but I wasn't exactly willing to take a risk." Viktoriya just sighed exasperatedly, while Lorelei was glaring at the two of them.
"Do you have anything like that? Stuff you're allergic to? We haven't exactly talked about stuff like that, despite the years together," Tanya mused. Viktoriya nodded absentmindedly.
She shrugged. "I'm allergic to cats, actually. I always wanted one as a child, but my relatives knew that I would get very sick if we ever got one-"
Lorelei, finally able to understand her, jumped in. "What? Since when? Wouldn't you be allergic…"
Viktoriya shook her head. "No. It's just cats, oddly enough. None of my family members have it, but…"
Viktoriya shrugged, Tanya nodded sagely, and they continued on, making small talk all the while.
It was different to the usual discussions of war and battle and magic she had had between battles in her last world. It was also much more enjoyable.
-OxOxO-
They had been ambling around Axel for a good time. Storm clouds were beginning to coalesce over the town, signaling the coming of a storm, or at least some cold. They were all fine – their jackets were comfortable and warm, even if Tanya's coat needed to get her blood cleaned from her jacket.
They eventually found themselves in what amounted to a merchant district. Tanya knew it was such, and not just because of the various people hawking their wares to passersby.
It was designated as such under the newest tax laws she'd laid out. The northwestern part of Axel would have the greatest tax breaks for merchants that wanted to set up shop.
Of course, taxes were only collected at one time of the year, but the Kingdom of Belzerg had a surprisingly well-designed system, despite how much of it relied on the nobility to remain truthful about who they were selling the food and products produced on their land to.
Of course, considering how most nobles were allowed to travel abroad to skip out on their taxes, perhaps there was some sort of unspoken rule or law that let them run off if they were truthful about the merchants they had sold most of their products to…
She shook her head. Regardless, the ideas of simply not taxing people if they did something you wanted seemed oddly foreign to the nobles that abused said ideas.
Tanya had even begun drafting plans for another ring of defensive encirclements if Axel even outgrew its current boundaries. She didn't anticipate it, but Darkness seemed to want them around anyway.
All in all, now that she only had Axel to focus on, instead of an area the size of a smallish country, things were going much better.
They were all mostly window shopping, gazing at the food and clothing and weapons being sold, but Tanya did eventually see something she wanted to check out.
"Raw Adamantite! Currently unsmelted, it's going for quite the cheap price here!"
A middle aged man was currently brandishing about various ores and stones in front of his stall. She quickly strode closer, throwing up the hood of her jacket.
Viktoriya followed her, but Lorelei said something about wanting to go examine a clothing stall. Tanya waved her off, wondering why she hadn't just got the stuff back in the shop they'd visited earlier.
The man smiled at her and jumped behind his stall. "Hello, wonderful little lady! May I perhaps interest you in some gems?" he said as he practically shoved a set of jewels under her nose.
She was about to protest, when she thought better of it. She had several things she wanted to make right now, and gems would help with one of them.
She nodded uneasily, and asked him what they were. He grinned. "Wonderful! Here, I have a wide selection of gemstones for every occasion! Any fine Blacksmith could create a crown fit for-"
Tanya cut him off with a wave of her hand. She was fairly sure she knew what she wanted, if Alderp's books were to be trusted.
"I want amethyst, bloodstone, lapis lazuli, moonstone, ruby, white diamond, and any Coronatite you have on hand. I'll be making two rings, both in… gold, I suppose. I also want to see any Adamantite you have."
He seemed floored by the specific request, but he paled as she said the word 'Coronatite'. "Hey, I can't just-"
Viktoriya spoke up. "He has some. It isn't much, but the magical signature matches what was described." The man blanched, glancing between them nervously.
Alderp's library contained many books he described as 'useful.' She hadn't read all of them, especially the ones that were about seduction – she had no desire to know about what his 'tactics' were if he thought that switching bodies with a Prince he hadn't spent more than an hour with was a good idea – but he had recommended this one in particular to her.
It was twenty times as useful as he had made it out to be. It was titled extravagantly – 'A thousand different components for any enterprising Archmage' – but she grudgingly supposed it deserved the title.
It contained thousands of pages about the particulars of the importance of various metals, herbs, gems, and anything else that was even vaguely magical.
Usually, she wouldn't have bought into such snake oil so quickly, but various examples of gems, metals, and plants being used that were included with the book were convincing, and Alderp swore on his life – literally – that it was all true.
He claimed it had been written by the Crimson Demons – not that Tanya was all that swayed by that, considering the ones she had met thus far.
What was important was that it told her the uses of various metals and gems, which was why she was buying what she was.
The thing she wanted made, a ring, would be of the utmost importance. It would feature the lapis lazuli, the Coronatite, and the white diamond.
The first gem was heavily associated with truth, and it was the original reason Alderp had suggested the book.
Lapis lazuli was what gave most of those truth-detecting devices their power. Chunks of lapis lazuli were adept at sending out magical signals whenever lies were told near them, and those were used in the creation of those bells.
He'd suggested that she get a jasper amulet, carved with the image of a stormcloud on it in order to hide her lies.
She had no need for something like that, however.
She wouldn't let one of those things get within a hundred yards of her, especially now that she had taken a good, long time to read through the extensive legal laws affecting Belzerg as a whole and Axel in particular. She wouldn't ever have to sit in front of one with the loopholes that she could exploit.
Not that she planned to ever be in a situation that would require one, but she wasn't a fool who thought that the unexpected would never happen.
The next gem, Coronatite, could hold massive amounts of mana, and enable anything it was used to power to last for ludicrous amounts of time. It was rare, and it was legendary.
In this case, the word legendary just meant 'highly illegal.'
Because of how dangerous it was, some forgotten King of Belzerg had declared that it would never be allowed in the nation. The book had unabashedly noted that 'no faraway King could stop the Crimson Demons!'
You couldn't carry much – it was just that noticeable to people, even if they didn't have Observation spells – and she was hoping to get most of this for a very fair price by taking whatever tiny flecks of it he had on him.
The last, white diamond, was tough, pure, and would supposedly absorb 'bad' energy.
With those three combined, she was hoping that she could find someone powerful enough to make her a mental protection ring that blew her current one – a simple gold band – out of the water.
The second ring she had in mind was a bit more… superfluous, but she hoped it would help quite a bit.
Amethyst was supposed to help prevent one from becoming drunk. She was hoping that would help with her alcohol intolerance and bring the total number of drinks she could have without getting completely wasted up to, maybe, five.
Moonstone was supposed to increase Luck and, specifically, help you find your way.
The ruby and bloodstone were supposed to help with preventing blood loss, which would greatly help prevent her bleeding out in battle. Also…
She smiled as he eventually brought everything she had asked for forward. Those two were supposed to help with easing the pain of menstruation.
She turned to look at Viktoriya, who was staring intensely at the man. "Actually, I'll take more of the amethyst, moonstone, ruby, and bloodstone." He silently brought out more, eyeing them both nervously.
Tanya looked over the gems, running weak, invisible Observation spells over them. She was wondering if she should talk to either of the local Crimson Demons to find out if they could recommend her to someone who could make her what she wanted.
She couldn't do it – Bill had told her, in no uncertain terms, that making magical equipment with Smith was impossible – and she remembered some merchant in the capital telling her that you had to use Skill Points to make that kind of equipment.
Tanya had… none. She had used the last of her Skill Points to level up her Smith enough to get a proper grenade.
Besides, she didn't have the faintest clue as to how to convert Skill Points into items without a skill.
She was hoping that Wiz might know of a way around that particular limitation, but if not, she might have to figure out where the Crimson Demons lived and pay them a visit.
Tanya then picked up the chunk of Adamantite. It was good, but…
"I'll take two more like this." She wanted to make a piece of chainmail to protect her body, on the off chance that her Active Barrier was ever brought down.
It wasn't likely that such a thing would save her. If she didn't have the mana for an Active Barrier, it was likely that she was out of mana and about to die. However, no precaution was too much, considering this bizarre world.
Maybe she would run out of mana, but still have all her energy or something. She didn't know, but more protection never hurt.
Tanya nodded. "Good. This is all, of course, expensive, but the presence of Coronatite, an illegal and dangerous material, is, obviously, illegal and dangerous. However, I'll be willing to take that contraband off your hands for only 100,000 Eris. I'll even pay for your other suspicious goods. At half price."
In the end, he didn't dare haggle much. He thought Tanya had power – though he assumed she was a noble instead of the Governor – and he respected that assumed power enough not to try much.
Then, it came time for the hardest part. Viktoriya probably thought they were done, but…
"I… would also like to purchase all of your Mithril, at full price." He named a figure, and while she didn't like it, she wasn't going to steal the Mithril in order to get what she wanted.
She took a hunk of the stuff from him, and she felt a pull on her mana…
She was shaking and wearing handcuffs and there was red and yellow and a disgusting monster-
Tanya took a deep breath as Viktoriya placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She thanked the man for his business and then walked away. She needed to get this stuff stored, and then they'd go see Wiz and ask-
"Emergency Quest! Emergency Quest! We need all able adventurers to assemble at the front gate! I repeat: all able adventurers, assemble at the front gate at once!"
Tanya sighed tiredly. "Just shove this stuff under the Japanese clothes. Let's go deal with whatever the hell this is and then go home."
-OxOxO-
It took them a while – they had to stop to make sure that the bag wouldn't tear, but stuffing all the stuff inside the t-shirts made sure that the first thing to tear would be the shirts – but they did eventually get to the front gate.
People were panicking in the streets, and while Tanya was tempted to think that the Undead Mage was back, their exclamations gave her different ideas. Most, while upset, seemed aware that this was coming sooner or later.
The Undead Mage wasn't close enough or powerful enough to cause monster shortages, so that wasn't it either. Tanya was hopeful that this would be over with in a few short minutes.
As they drew closer, Tanya almost wished they hadn't come. She could see people bringing large baskets, and she had also seen some kind of cage being brought towards the gates.
It was probably some kind of quest involving getting some kind of flying fruit or vegetables. There was, however, a good reason for coming.
Luna had used the emergency announcement system for this. While Tanya didn't think this counted – it was fucking cabbage, not the Demon King – this announcement would reach absolutely everyone in town, and it would probably carry into the plains for a while, too.
Lorelei was there too, looking quite pleased. Tanya looked her up and down, her eyebrows soon creasing. "Where's your stuff? Didn't you buy anything?"
Tanya's innocent question caused a sweat to break out on Lorelei's forehead, and Tanya sighed. "Whatever. If you want to do something else, we're not going to stop you."
Lorelei looked at the ground mutely. She had informed the Succubi of the ring that blocked them from seeing Tanya's dreams, but it looked like this quest would interfere with them having any saucy dreams…
She sighed. Well, the most she could do was make the dinner they had in the evening as suggestively romantic as possible. After that, the Succubi would either have to wait for another day or try their Luck anyway.
They reached the front gate. The melee was already at full throttle – adventurers were…
Tanya groaned. How were people losing to cabbage? It was a vegetable. She was also aware of the fact that no less than twenty of the male adventurers in town were over level 25, thanks to the Succubi.
Just as she was about to seek out Darkness, she spotted someone off to her left. She hurriedly gripped her pistol and tapped Viktoriya on the arm, and she did the same.
Standing just feet away was, without a doubt, Aqua.
She was…
Tanya blinked. She was filling the cages that were probably supposed to house the cabbage with water, as well as a few cups. She was then…
Twitch.
She wasn't trying to poison the water or convert the people she was giving it to, she was just… being helpful.
Tanya shook her head. No, she was just luring them into a false sense of security. At any moment, she'd begin attempting to convert them to whatever ridiculousness her religion subscribed to. It-
"Uh… are you guys okay?"
Both of them spun towards Lorelei, who jumped back at the terrifying glares on their faces. "Uh… ah, well, if you've got some sort of vendetta, don't let me stop you…"
Tanya turned back around. Well, Lorelei was right, that Tanya would probably get a vendetta against Aqua. However, they didn't know who she'd already snatched up in her net. They needed…
They needed to know more, which meant not immediately blowing her away. Besides, they didn't have their rifles, since this should have been a quiet, easy stroll through Axel.
"Hold back. We'll observe her first. If her… first friend is like any of the others, I know just what kind of bullshit to say to him in order to get him to dance to our tune." Viktoriya nodded wordlessly, and Lorelei half-groaned, half-whimpered. "I was joking about the vendetta…"
Tanya took the time to begin assessing the rest of the adventurers attacking the cabbage. It didn't seem all that different from the last time she'd fought against monsters.
Aya, Shizuka, and Takashi were all together, as were another two teams of only men. The cabbages were being drawn to them the most, as was the function of the potion they'd drank months ago. Meanwhile, other adventurers got between the cabbage and the main focus. She could spot a few familiar faces, as well as-
Tanya face palmed. "Darkness…"
Indeed, the Crusader was getting beaten up by a flurry of Cabbage. She was taking blows directly to her armor, and was seemingly immune to the glare Tanya was sending at her.
Other than that there wasn't really any-
Tanya snarled, and then began to march towards the buildup of mana. Her hood was up, so Aqua and whoever had dragged her into this wouldn't recognize her.
"Darkness shrouded in-"
"Sleep."
THUMP!
Tanya stared down at the idiotic Crimson Demon, taking a deep breath. She then spun around to march towards Luna while dragging the idiot.
"I told you not to let her out of the guild if she accepted a quest within a mile of Axel. Why are you letting her do this? She still has a massive debt to pay off, and I won't hesitate to throw her in prison if-"
Luna held up her hands. "Please! Those things are sort of true, but she already paid off her fine, and she dumped another million Eris into the Guild to be allowed to continue to use Explosion close to the city, so…"
Tanya's anger hadn't diminished, and she took a deep breath. "Luna. Fines aren't limits for poor people and the price of doing things for rich people. They are, as of last week, tailored to your income. If she can afford it now, fine her for more. She shouldn't be using such a dangerous, destructive spell anywhere near Axel! Do you know how much extra-"
Tanya was aware she was making a bit of a scene, but she didn't mind. Everyone was too focused on getting Cabbage right now to-
Thunk!
Tanya was hit with a Cabbage and sent flying towards the front gate. She felt something impact her head from the ground, and she groaned, even as Viktoriya, Luna, and Lorelei crowded above her.
"Stupid… Luck… Heal!"
She hoped that that spell would keep her away from the Church, because she wasn't going. Really, today had shown her that if she tried to go out, she'd get more than she bargained for just because of a stupid idiot that lived in a different dimension.
She'd make sure her breaks were more sedate than this next time…
-OxOxO-
A/N 1: And there we go! Chris didn't stick around long, the Cabbage quest has occurred, I made a dumb reference to an anime meme, and Tanya's horrible Luck continues to manifest, as do effects of the Type 95.
And of course, the main three continue to grow closer together, having a bit of fun. Don't worry, we'll get back to the more exciting stuff in the next chapter, which will include a downright UNFORGIVABLE cliff hanger.
A/N 2: And yes, I did manage to work in a Steven Universe reference. While lapis lazuli is associated with the mind, and jasper, being rather soft, was inscribed with images and used as a sort of defensive talisman against all sorts of things, mentioning them both in the same area makes it rather obvious.
A/N 3: Responses to reviews… will arrive eventually.