Of course, as much as she wanted to go rampage through those Orcs, the bunker needed to be investigated first. All she really wanted out of it was some kind of instruction on how the weapon operated, though she would be lying if she said she wouldn't also like some clarity on the mysteries surrounding the Crimson Demon Village.
"So you don't know the konami code? I guess you weren't much of a gamer, then?"
"As far as entertainment I choose to indulge in to recharge when I wasn't working, not very much. Reading is a much more worthwhile endeavor. History in particular."
"Hmm… Hey. You were fairly high ranking or whatever in your world, right?"
"Yes? How are those-"
"Are you some kind of military otaku? Is that why you did so well?"
She was silent for a moment, deciding if beating him over the head would be a better use of her energy than spelling out just how irritating what he'd just said was.
"Boiling almost a decade of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears to my being a nerd who gets a hard on looking at lines on a map move and pretending to know what war is like is so completely insulting that I'm going to choose to believe you said it out of some twisted sense of admiration or camaraderie, because you and I both know that I'm not above dropping you several hundred feet in the air if that was actually an insult, right?"
He'd fallen out of step with her and sped back up with a clearing of his throat and nervous agreement as they finally reached the entrance. "I am still mystified as to how good you are at being an adventurer considering how lackluster your life before coming here was," she muttered.
He rolled his eyes as he punched the code into the controller present below the computer screen. "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, A, B, Start!"
With a hiss and a burst of light, the doors opened, revealing a dimly lit stairway. He gestured forward and she leveled a flat stare at him.
"Put the code in again. If there is a weapon in there, sealing the door could buy us extra time."
He muttered under his breath about being ordered around, but he did as asked and the door shut again, looking just as it had before. She nodded and pushed him aside, inputting the code for herself to ensure she had it memorized.
She did, and she pointed him forward. He raised an eyebrow. "What happened to 'ladies first?'"
She rolled her eyes. "As hilarious as it would be for you to lock the door behind me, I would like to get out of here today."
While she was sure he'd say he chuckled, the giggle that he let out made her wish that she had been more into video games, if only to stop him from-
"Oh? Is there something you need to get to urgently?" he asked, barely suppressing his laughter.
She cut off whatever he was about to say – undoubtedly ridicule at the misunderstanding between her and Hyoizaburo, his family, and Darkness that she couldn't argue she hadn't earned, or poking fun at her yet-to-be consummate relationship – with a glare and a shove towards the door. It was pitch black, though she was able to get a sense for their surroundings thanks to the technique she'd developed when she'd gone on that quest through Keele's Dungeon.
Though it wasn't exactly energy intensive, she was feeling winded from just the walk here. Hopefully the side effect of her sex change would wear off before she got back to Axel.
As they crept down the stairs, Kazuma decided to fill the silence with more idle conversation. "So… how should I refer to you? And… should we keep your whole 'situation' quiet?"
Tanya sighed as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "I'm not sure at the moment. I haven't the slightest idea how the various groups that run Axel or the wider public would react to my change. Darkness could help with the former at least…"
She sighed again. "I'll decide once we get closer. Telling important people one-by-one and gauging their reactions before telling everyone would probably be best. There are a few nobles that might try to make a stink about it to get some concessions out of me, but I've got blackmail on them. The Eris Church might be a problem though." She frowned as she looked around the large rectangular room they had found.
Her readings weren't telling her whether there was a lightswitch anywhere – she'd have to work on getting the quality higher… although, with the skill points she would be getting soon and her method of getting more, learning the Farsight skill would be much more expedient – but she could clearly tell that there wasn't anything else in this place. Just a large, mostly empty room, barring a pile of objects in the center and some massive… thing piled against one of the walls. No doors, no containers.
"You could always pretend you've always been a guy."
"What? Oh, like the emperor's new clothes? That isn't the worst idea I suppose, but there are a great many people who rank higher than I in the Kingdom who wouldn't feel as pressured into conforming to popular consensus."
She began to walk around the pitch-black room while Kazuma stood by the door, nervously tapping his foot while looking towards the massive thing at one end of the room. She headed for the smaller pile in the center.
"'Popular consensus?'"
She held in a sigh, wondering why she tried to give him credit for being smarter than he was. Still, she gave him one last chance.
"Alright, what were you thinking of if not that fairy tale?"
"Well… you've clearly got girlbossing and gatekeeping down to a pat, which means that if you participate in a bit of gaslighting you've got the whole set."
He sounded like he was nervous about her reaction but also that he found what he was saying amusing.
She just sighed at what she assumed was an attempt at a joke. "Fuck, you make me feel old," she griped as she stopped in front of the pile of items. He squawked but she cut off whatever he was going to say.
"What do you see? I can tell that there are items in front of me, but not what they are. Plus, whatever's piled up towards that side of the room," she said.
"What do- oh, right, you can't see down here. Well, the thing that isn't the pile of items is a… giant snake robot."
"You're sure?" she asked skeptically. He confirmed what he was seeing and she swore. "Anything else? Any doors or storage containers?"
He shrugged helplessly. "I'm sure there's a skill that could help me detect those sorts of things, but I don't see any. As for those items…"
She heard him walking towards her. He bent down and picked up one.
"Huh… it's a Game Girl," he said, offering it to Tanya.
She nodded, mostly to herself. It did seem to be quite similar to the handheld gaming devices from her own world. "What else is there?"
"Eh… it looks like most of this stuff are gaming consoles from Earth. I see a few generations of Playscations and an Ultra 64," he said, some confusion lacing his voice. She raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to ask what was wrong.
He responded to just her eyebrow. "They all look pirated. Like, really pirated. As if an amateur forcefully crafted the shape of the console, tore it apart, and then glued it back together," he explained, looking up from the pile towards the snake robot piled on one side of the room-
"Oh! There's something over there," he said, pointing towards one of the corners of the room. He walked away and came back with some kind of rectangular object.
"Is that a book?" she guessed.
"Close. It's a notebook." He cracked it open. "It's in Japanese?" he said, confused, and he began to read aloud from it.
And as he laid out the thoughts of the person who'd made the facility they were sitting in, Tanya could feel her curiosity surrounding the Crimson Demons and the oddly modern buildings of their village shriveling up.
Kazuma felt much the same, if his flat tone as he finished the journal was anything to go by. "That's the end of it." They looked at each other and let out a sigh at the same time.
An idiot reincarnate covered up his embezzlement of Norse's Research and Development funding by claiming a bunch of video games were weapons that could destroy the world, got given more funding and responsibilities, covered up the failings of his magic-immune 'Mage Killer' by claiming he 'couldn't give it to humanity,' left it in such a state that it could only be used by a Chimera to create a living weapon because it would be 'really cool,' had surgery done to a bunch of screw-loose humans to increase their suitability for magic to the limit, named them Crimson Demons, got promoted again, and, to top everything else off, made the 'railgun (fake)' sitting in Chekera's yard which would probably break after being used a few times.
Who knew how long it had even been since the book had been made or when any of this had happened – she remembered Norse apparently having collapsed a long time ago, though she couldn't exactly remember where she'd heard the information.
"Well, now what?" Kazuma asked.
Tanya turned, pacing as she thought. They really did need to go home, but on the other hand, the giant metal snake almost sitting next to them was made of a material that could negate magic.
Considering she hadn't yet seen anything like that, it was rare or expensive.
She nodded to herself, striding towards the Game Girl now lying on the ground.
"First, do you think we can get these working?" she asked. He scratched his head.
"The handheld ones need batteries, and the larger ones need electricity. I don't think-"
"Got it," she declared as the screen began to shine. Smiling, she turned around to look at the great snake.
Her eyes widened. She'd get Farsight soon, because her spells hadn't informed her she was standing right next to its gaping maw. She shivered as Kazuma exclaimed, "How'd you get it working?"
"There's Mithril in this thing, meaning it can run off of magic in addition to electricity," she said, tossing the device to Kazuma. As he plugged a cartridge into the device, she saw a faint smile emerge.
"Let's go get a few bags for all of this junk. Then… we blow a hole into the open air, drag the Mage Killer into town, and have it broken apart and sold for the material."
"Hey! I didn't-"
"Oh, sorry. I thought you might want to help. Then I'll blow a hole into the open air, drag the Mage Killer into town, and have it broken apart and sold for the material and keep the money for myself."
Kazuma was quiet for a moment.
"I'm not sure they'll appreciate us destroying part of one of their tourist traps."
"Now you're thinking. And don't worry, we'll refill the hole with rocks. Not like it matters if any of the rocks fall in here since no one in the village can get in."
-OxOxO-
Somehow, blowing a hole in the concrete wall and then digging up to the surface wasn't the most difficult part of their impromptu plan.
After resealing the entrance actual entrance and filling the hole they'd made with stray rocks and some dirt before covering it with a boulder and dragging it to the village – and Kazuma bitched about how heavy it was the entire way, despite the fact that she was pumping them both full of Reinforcement spells – they'd seen by the NEET squad and most of the town had come to see them.
Of course, when they'd said it was the Mage Killer, and that they'd unsealed it to destroy it for its materials, quite a number of Crimson Demons had been upset.
Apparently, they were under the impression that the Crimson Demons had used some sealed away weapon to destroy the Mage Killer before reconstructing it as a memento and resealing it.
While that was something idiotic enough for the Crimson Demons to do, it was also false. She and Kazuma knew the truth of not just their creation, but of their creator, of the weapon they were struggling to drag around, and of the two mysterious facilities surrounding the town.
Naturally, they lied.
Or, Tanya lied, pacing in front of the metal monster as the gathered crowd watched. Kazuma just did his best to not look guilty while she laid out what they had 'discovered.'
"Please, be calm. I did not bring out this weapon to besmirch the efforts of your ancestors, or your efforts to showcase your prowess to outsiders with monuments to your grandeur," she began.
It seemed those trials were somehow coming in handy.
"First, as all good adventures, the start. During my stay in your town, I discovered the writing adorning the walls of that Mysterious Bunker and hidden throughout this town was not, in fact, an ancient dead language, but the language of my homeland, Japan!"
The crowd began to murmur curiously. "I found that that bunker was sealed by an intricate password that I could not hope to figure out… however, I knew that if anyone could figure it out, it would be Kazuma, the partymate of your very own Megumin!"
The crowd began to murmur excitedly, remarking on Megumin being smart even for a Crimson Demon. Kazuma continued to do his best to not look guilty.
"Using all of his guile and wisdom, he managed to figure out the passcode. Traveling through the depths of that place, we face many traps before coming to find this mighty beast, unmoving and inert. BUT, it is not the most impressive thing we found."
"No, we discovered a weapon that could destroy the entire world!"
Excited whispers broke out in the crowd.
"So it's true! The rumors surrounding that place are indeed true."
"I can't believe those stories that grandfather told us were real."
"You lied! You said that story was made up to scare children from playing around that place!"
Tanya held up a hand, and they stopped. "Indeed. The weapon is too horrible to even describe, though we were able to learn its name before we retreated with this replica in tow."
"It was called: Terror Bigae Mu."
She almost heard Kazuma's flinch, with how he jerked at her declaring the name of the fictitious weapon to be video game in Japanese, but she ignored that and the incredulous look he was sending her way and instead nodded as the crowd repeated her words.
"Luckily, inscribed in a notebook we found within, we discovered that this weapon can only function when it functions in concert with the Mage Killer. Using the weapon Chekera has been using as a laundry pole, your ancestors ensured this terrible weapon could not work the first time, only to unknowingly ensure it could be activated again by building this replica."
"Thus, we seek to undo their mistake, by breaking down this weapon for its component parts. Perhaps pieces could even be sold as mementos of the weapon that lies within?" she posited.
The crowd, thankfully, calmed down when all of this was explained. Kazuma and Tanya's party seemed to be giving them pointed looks, but they would be told the truth on the way back home – Viktoriya and Lorelei wouldn't tell out of personal loyalty, Megumin wouldn't because then her own secret would be leaked, Darkness wouldn't because she valued the safety of the kingdom more than the Crimson Demons' desire to leave a weapon they hadn't actually defeated lying around, and Aqua…
Well, she was the weak link. Hopefully, she could be convinced to hide the truth by reminding her of her shrine's relative equality with the other shrines in the village, instead of being given preferential treatment as she so obviously deserved.
After that, things began to happen quickly.
-OxOxO-
She worked a deal out with the blacksmith and Hiropon over how the revenue from the Mage Killers materials would be split. Most would be going to the village and a large portion would be going towards the blacksmith, while Kazuma and Tanya would be receiving a relative pitance.
Relative was the operative word, because the thing was worth five times its weight in gold.
The internals of the machine – though the Crimson Demons called it a golem because 'golem' meant just about anything that could move itself around, which meant dirt given life through magic and a giant mechanical worm were both technically golems – were complex and beyond her. There was debate about whether it would be melted down for the copper and mithril in the wiring or if pieces would be sold to tourists who visited the bunker.
Of course, even for something this big, the machinery inside wasn't worth as much as the exterior.
The blacksmith identified it as Pakhalon. It was a magical substance similar but inferior to something called Orichalum. The latter could negate any and all skills and spells used against it, while Pakhalon could 'only' negate all magic. The latter was also impervious to damage, while Pakhalon was only equivalent to iron or steel.
Despite this 'inferiority,' Pakhalon was superior in one respect only: people in Belzerg knew how to make it.
No one knew how Orichalum was made – the blacksmith spent ten full minutes talking about its supposed origins in either heaven or hell – but despite how difficult and expensive it was to make, Pakhalon could be made.
So. Even if she and Kazuma would only be getting a tiny fraction of the revenue, it was still a substantial sum.
Plus, they would be allowed to commission an item to be made from it, as long as they agreed to spread his name when they used it.
Tanya had turned right around and offered Chekera her share of the Pakhalon for the railgun (fake). He had agreed, on the condition that should the Crimson Demon village ever require her aid, she should return and wield the weapon in their defense.
She had cautioned that it might destroy itself if she had to use it before coming to their aid, but he had waved it off.
Of course, Chekera had inquired about the journal and she had told him what she told Hiropon: it had sadly been destroyed in their escape from the defenses around the world-destroying weapon.
Of course, after bidding Chekera farewell and one other thing, she had investigated the 'manual' Hiropon had mentioned existing for the sealed weapon hanging on the wall of the red prison. It was in Japanese, of course, and most people barely remembered its existence.
One trip to the Red Prison saw her staring incredulously at the wall.
"If that's a manual, I wonder if all these books are blank," she muttered as she looked at it.
Instead of something that explained the upkeep of her newest weapon, or what it was made of, or even how to clean the thing, it was three paragraphs of text already explaining things she had discovered about it herself!
Lorelei and Viktoriya patted her on the shoulders. "There there," Lorelei said, "I'm sure you'll be able to figure out some other way to destroy your enemies without needing a doomsday weapon."
Tanya shook off Lorelei's false pity. "Yeah yeah. Let's go pick up our equipment. We've got a quest to do," she said.
She was spending quite a bit of her newfound money to have their equipment improved while they were in the town – as much as she wanted to be on her way, it was much cheaper to have it done while they were there rather than send it across the country.
Lorelei and Viktoriya looked at each other as they breezed through the library. "We do?" they asked in unison.
Tanya nodded to herself. "Indeed. Pays very well, plenty of experience to earn. High-Moderate danger… or, there would be if me and Viktoriya couldn't fly."
Lorelei nodded, and though Viktoriya looked slightly suspicious, they were out of the library and back in town in no time.
-OxOxO-
With a flourish of her hooded mantle – hopefully the Crimson Demons weren't rubbing off on her too much – Tanya looked down at her improved equipment and her brand new rifle. It felt…
Satisfying, exhilarating, and irritating all at once, somehow, with the only thing she could compare it to being her personal improvements on a few of the spells taught to her during training.
She was irritated that she had been doing things so… inefficiently when a more elegant solution existed that seemed, in hindsight, so blindly obvious as to make you feel stupid for not figuring it out sooner; she was satisfied that the oversight had now been corrected; and she was exhilarated over just how much better things would be running from now on.
For all of Tanya's familiarity with her own weapons, she hadn't been a gunsmith in her first life. Showing the blacksmith of the Crimson Demon village her designs for her rifle and sword and asking for his input resulted in a long-winded speech about the inexperience of youth and ignorance of the synthesis of magic and metal.
In addition to remaking the entire thing out of higher quality metal, the barrel of her rifle had been enchanted to increase the muzzle velocity of her bullets. She wasn't privy to the exact mechanics, but he had said the magic was related to the limited flight that could be achieved with the Royal Carriages. The other metallic components of her weapon were made to never rust or dull.
However, the most important part of the gun was now, surprisingly, the wooden parts of her rifle. Apparently, the wood she'd used in her first one had literally no mana in it, and thus couldn't assist in casting her spells. Now it could.
And all of that was only the start. She had declined to have any magical gems or crystals set into it due to a lack of funds, but he'd left five small and one larger insets in the wood for her to have additions made in the future. His idea to make her bullets out of more exotic materials – Adamantite bullets that could pierce something like a tank without any spells or Mithril bullets that, if lodged inside of an enemy, would suck up their mana and cauterize the flesh they were lodged in – were shelved due to expense.
Additionally, she'd gotten a much better blade. As much fondness as she had for her Seitengewehr, the blacksmith was able to work wonders. An Adamantite blade with a core made of an ironwood he called Buolei ensured that while it wasn't as versatile as her Seitengewehr, it was able to more efficiently use mana thanks to the wood at its center and would be more useful should she use her rifle as a spear.
Her newly upgraded mantle had switched colors, with the highlights being green as an homage to her previous one and the majority of it being a dark reddish color, much like every other cape and cloak in the village.
She looked to her left to find Viktoriya playing with the hem of her new Adamantite chainmail to match Tanya's. She'd gotten a new rifle as well, though rather than getting a new cloak or cape from Chekera, she'd opted to have her jacket extended somewhat so that it went down past her hips to accommodate extra material and ensure a larger boost to her mana.
Viktoriya had also decided to get a simple wooden wand, just in case they ran out of their (many) other weapons.
Their boots, gloves, bandolier, belt, and jacket had all been made resilient to general wear and tear, as well as to shrapnel. Most of their clothes had even been restitched with magical fiber to give them a tiny boost.
She looked to her right to find Lorelei putting her ear rings back in, now enchanted to help her keep her balance. She'd also decided to buy a pair of Adamantite short swords and upgraded her breastplate to Adamantite. She'd said the second was to be a spare, but the contemplative tone of her voice made Tanya think she was planning something with them.
Still, as they got out of Chekera's place – with Lorelei shouting about writing him letters to keep up their correspondence – they saw that Kazuma's party…
Did not look significantly different.
Tanya raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said my idea to have everyone upgrade their equipment was a good idea?"
Kazuma himself did look somewhat different. His mantle was the same as always, but she noticed it looked bulkier, which hopefully meant there was a mana-enhancing cloak beneath it to enhance his meager magical abilities.
"Well, I offered, but-"
"The only way my equipment could get better is if they were heavily enchanted… and enchanting Adamantite is very expensive. I'm better off waiting to find someone desperate to sell or for a noble desperate to curry my or my father's favor to offer a discount or to find a set in a dungeon," she explained.
Tanya almost believed it, too, except for the fact that for all the armor she did have, she was not wearing a full set of plate armor because that would mean she'd get hit less.
Tanya raised an eyebrow at Aqua, who turned up her nose. "As if I'd alter my image in any way!"
Tanya just shook her head. "Why not get a staff, at least? I know you're convinced you're a goddess, but even you must…"
She stopped her building tirade as she saw the stares coming from Megumin and Darkness.
Twitch.
She raised an eyebrow at them. "What am I missing?" she asked, patient and not at all annoyed.
Darkness seemed to be trying to figure out how to say something politely. "You know Archpriests can entrust their items to their Goddesses, right?" Megumin asked, not caring about being polite.
"What?" she asked, baffled, not sure exactly-
But then, Aqua did a pose and a beautifully made white staff with a closed flower bud on the head landed in her hand at a great speed. She twirled it around and smiled cheekily before catapulting it back into the sky where it… kept going… until Tanya couldn't see it anymore.
She looked between the spot she had last spotted Aqua's staff and the woman herself. She did so again. Then she just shook her head and muttered explicatives under her breath in Germanian.
She looked at Megumin who shrugged. "I gave most of my share to my parents and bought a small potions kit now that we have the mansion to stay in and I can keep it there."
She looked back to Kazuma, finally noticing the weapon on his hip. She just raised an eyebrow. "Do you even have any skills to use that?" she asked as she pointed at the bow strapped to his side. He shrugged. "I've been planning to pick them up once we get back to Axel."
He whispered something else under his breath, but she pretended not to hear him mutter 'among other things.' Whatever he was planning, she'd prefer not to be involved.
With a shrug, she brought out a tiny potion in a vial that looked like shiny brass. "Your money is your own to spend. I would like to test out our new weapons, however, and picked up a quest to do so. Would you all like to come with us?" she asked as she toyed with the potion.
"A quest? Does this place even have an Adventurers' Guild?" Kazuma asked. Tanya shook her head. "No, but quests are still issued and kept on a quest board in the town hall – which is the mayor's house," she explained as she palmed her potion and brought a piece of paper out of her bag.
"We're destroying the Orcs," she said without preamble. Everyone but Viktoriya chuckled at least a little, except her expression hadn't shifted one bit.
"You're not joking," Kazuma said flatly. Tanya nodded. "Of course not. They are formidable opponents, but they aren't actually likely to be able to kill us-"
"Speak for yourself," Kazuma muttered. Tanya just rolled her eyes. "I may be feeling a bit under the weather because of what I did last night, but I am doing this. I can't think of a better opponent to test our capabilities on."
It didn't seem like the others shared her opinion. "What? You all aren't nervous about fighting something strong, are you?" she asked, directing her words more towards Kazuma's camp than her own as they drifted away from the blacksmith's shop and began to amble around town.
Megumin shrugged. "What's the wording of that quest again?"
Tanya raised an eyebrow and read through it again. "Exterminate the Orcs living in the Scarlet Forest," she said, looking over the paper at Megumin. She nodded again. "Mmm. They aren't exactly easy to kill, and we can't just fly around like you can," she replied.
"Plus, that's a quest from the capital. We… or, the village doesn't actually target them. We don't bug them and they won't bug us."
Tanya blinked, her eyebrow ratcheting up even farther. "I suggested the idea to your father and his friends when we met before the trials, but you don't actually trade with them, right?"
Megumin shook her head. "Of course not! We just… naturally counter each other. They resist magic and are strong physically, but if they try to raid us for men, we can just teleport away. We don't get along with them, but with how many strong monsters there are in the forest, every target they have is less sweat off our backs."
Tanya narrowed her eyes… and then shook her head. For how much she had grown to dislike Orcs, there were good reasons to avoid fighting them.
For the Crimson Demons, anyway. Her safety was all but guaranteed in a fight against the Orcs, and her safety wouldn't be impacted by the consequences of their removal. She didn't live in the area and the Crimson Demons, while they might get mad if she removed them, certainly couldn't take that anger out on her directly since she was completing a quest.
She looked at the other three. Aqua didn't want to risk her safety when she didn't need to. Kazuma agreed with her… especially considering their likely interest in him after he left one of them on the brink of death on their way into the town.
Megumin said she might come, depending on her plan.
Darkness was despondent that male Orcs were all but gone, but she agreed to help as well – Orcs were a particularly heinous monster according to the Eris Cult and the quest was from the capital, which meant it was endorsed by the royal family.
Tanya smiled and opened her mouth and began to explain her plan. "First-"
"Tanya? Could we… talk about this?"
Tanya blinked, looking to her left and right to find that it seemed her teammates were even more conflicted about the quest. She sighed again and turned to Viktoriya, motioning for the others to go on ahead. Kazuma and his party shrugged and continued walking, while Lorelei followed behind them, glancing back at Tanya and Viktoriya as they slowly began to walk again.
"Yes? What's… wrong?" Tanya asked, concerned.
"Tanya… why do you want to do this?"
Tanya answered quickly. "We need to test our equipment. You felt just how… different holding our new rifles is. We need to see how much better we are now. I don't imagine you'll want to… pause in order to test them out once we get back to Axel?"
Though Viktoriya shook her head, the speed with which Tanya had answered seemed to have triggered some suspicion if her slightly narrowed eyes were anything to go by.
She held up the potion. "Additionally, I need to test out if my skill point grinding technique works."
Viktoriya looked confused, but Tanya waved away that concern. "I'll explain to you all on the way there."
"Alright," Viktoriya said. "But why the Orcs specifically? There are plenty of monsters around here that are strong that we could test them out on."
Tanya looked into Viktoriya's eyes… and, for a moment, she found herself lost in their intricacies, mapping out the black and blue and white and…
She shook her head. "I… I could tell you that we've fought them before so we have some personal experience with their capabilities, but… that wouldn't be everything."
She sent a look at the people ahead of them, paranoia that she'd be overheard and somehow understood warring with the pang of guilt she felt at the idea of lying to Viktoriya about this. "I… I want closure."
"Closure?"
Tanya nodded. "Yes. I've got my dick back. I want… to put it behind me. To put… Loria behind me."
Viktoriya's understand gaze quickly became concerned. Tanya sighed, "Yes, dealing with my… trauma surrounding my experience by beating in the heads of rapists doesn't sound like the healthiest way to go about things."
Viktoriya sighed. "As long as you acknowledge it."
She trailed off, quiet. Tanya looked at her, concerned. "Is there anything else?"
Viktoriya looked conflicted, for a moment. "It's… these Orcs. Wiping them out, exterminating them… it feels wrong. Like back then."
"Back… ah. Right."
Tanya became quiet, her mind focused on back then.
Arenne was not the only time civilians were classified as enemy combatants for the sake of bringing an end to the war… except the excuses her superiors found for that label became flimsier and flimsier as the war went on. Once they got out of the majority minority areas that the Empire had managed to incite rebellion in by promising them freedom, the excuses stopped coming entirely.
That was partially a problem with their suggestion that they turn the war in the east into one of liberation: what was to be done to the Communist Russy oppressing the poor, innocent minorities within their empire-by-another-name? The General Staff had been fighting about it the moment they pushed past the majority minority areas, and without a clear directive from the higher ups, it fell to those closer to the conflict to figure out something that worked while those in Berun bickered.
Tanya did her best to keep them as clean as she could according to international law, but it really only papered over their usage of the Chemical Conversion Formula and the subjugation or destruction of any and all obstacles in the name of victory.
Tanya sighed. "The Orcs aren't like that-"
"No, instead of the crime of 'being communists' or standing in the way of the invasion, they're easy experience and rapists," Viktoriya snapped.
Tanya was silent once more.
"I… I'm sorry."
A moment more of silence. The laughter and shouting and conversation they'd heard ahead of them had tapered off.
"I'm tired of fighting, Tanya."
Tanya nodded. "Me too."
Viktoriya took a deep breath. "It feels like a justification, calling them rapists and saying they give easy experience and that the kingdom has said we should do it. Except this time, we're not being ordered to do it. It's just us."
Tanya thought, for a moment, about trying to make it an order.
"We were not obligated to follow those orders. They would have gotten someone else to do it. I would have even done it myself-"
"We'd never force you to do it alone."
Silence, again. The sun was probably high in the sky, and their surroundings were bright, despite the overcast clouds.
"I wish the world were simpler."
"Me too." Viktoriya replied.
"I-" she said suddenly. "What do-"
"If I might interject?"
Both of them looked up to find that Lorelei had stopped on the side of the road to wait for them to catch up. Tanya nodded slowly, and she began to walk alongside them. "I'm also… conflicted about this. I know that they're Orcs, and from what Megumin's told me about them and what I heard about them growing up and in Axel, they deserve to die, but…"
"There are plenty of people that feel that way about Monsumes," she said. "I didn't when I wasn't one… but I also didn't care about what happened to monsumes. Orcs… they're reprehensible for killing people and aiding the Demon King and raping people, but… killing them because they want to continue existing doesn't exactly feel right."
Tanya shook her head. "No, that… they might not have many options," she argued, "but they could do what Monsumes have done. They could fight against the Demon King. They could earn money and hire prostitutes if they felt the need. They could… even offer to execute criminals. Hell, they could do something like what the Crimson Demons have done. Turn their village into a mercenary outfit and rent their experience out to the royal family to help against the Demon King."
Lorelei shrugged. "Maybe. But it'd be even harder for them to succeed, and monsumes don't exactly have it easy already."
Tanya conceded that with a nod, but she… she wasn't budging. She wanted closure, she needed to test out her equipment and her skill point grinding technique, and though Orcs weren't part of Belzerg's society, they interacted with it and knew the likely consequences their method of reproduction was likely to invite.
She conveyed most of that to Lorelei. "Alright," she agreed, "but… give them a chance to reform. You like to talk about becoming a productive member of society. Give them a chance to do as you suggested they could. I doubt anyone else has."
She narrowed her eyes, and then-
"KAZUMA!" she shouted. The pair next to her jolted as Tanya ran ahead towards the group that suddenly stopped. He raised an eyebrow as they ran towards him and Tanya began to explain Lorelei's concerns and her solution.
"Alright… and how do I figure into this?" he asked.
"You're the one who almost got raped by that Orc. Do you think they deserve a chance to reform?"
Kazuma blinked rapidly, looking between her and Lorelei, baffled that he was being asked about something like this.
"I… well, she didn't actually do anything to me, so I guess?"
Lorelei beamed at him, and Tanya nodded to herself; she'd expected as much. Aqua turned up her nose at them planning to give leniency to monsters, while Megumin simply looked to Tanya. "So. What's the plan for this?"
Tanya took a deep breath. "It'd be easier to simply fly over their village and bomb them, but… if we're giving them a chance, we'll have to talk to them, and we'll need some way to confirm they'll actually try to reform…"
She looked around their group, going over them with a discerning eye. "Kazuma, Aqua. You said you'd rather sit this out?"
They both nodded slowly, and Tanya nodded back. "Alright. I'll give you each half a share of the reward if you remain on standby in case something goes catastrophically wrong."
Kazuma opened his mouth to agree. "Ha, giving us money just to stand around? You have nothing to fear with I, Aqua, around to protect you! If you promise to pray to me-"
Kazuma smacked her on the head. "Now something's definitely going to happen, with you setting off flags," he groused. Still, he agreed.
She turned to the others. Lorelei and Viktoriya agreed with some hesitation, while Darkness confirmed she would go immediately. "I'm honestly surprised you two are so hesitant about this. Even… even if they aren't male," she murmured for a moment, "everyone knows Orcs are just as monstrous as any other. They hurt Belzerg, and even if they don't directly answer to the Demon King, they're still empowered by him."
Megumin and Lorelei nodded, the former more surely than the latter, but Viktoriya and Tanya stared blankly. Darkness too was confused, for a moment.
"Right, different country," she said after a moment of realization. "Demon Kings increase the power of all the monsters around them as long as they aren't fighting them."
They were all quiet for a moment, and then Megumin burst out, "Hey, I don't remember agreeing to go! What's with the assumption-"
"Megumin," Tanya said. She glared at her.
The glare was momentary. "When are you going to get the chance to use Explosion on something the size of a village again? Think of how much cooler you will (definitely) sound when you can claim to have wiped towns off of the face of the planet?"
Megumin opened her mouth to respond… only to mutter to herself for a moment and then-
"Although it sounded as if you muttered something unflattering under your breath while you were convincing me, I am still convinced! Oh rival of mine, today, you shall demonstrate just how good the finest equipment the Crimson Demon village is… before being thoroughly outclassed by me, Megumin, the greatest Archmage in all of Axel!"
"Wonderful."
They were quiet for a moment. "Hey," Darkness said, "you could always pray for their souls to find peace if you're so concerned," Darkness suggested.
Tanya fought the urge to cuss her out, Viktoriya said she'd do just that. Quiet, again.
"Megumin, does this town have a police station?"
-OxOxO-
Getting to the village proved to be a harder challenge than they had expected, which was none at all. Tanya was looking pointedly away from a very smug Megumin, who had been trying to warn her about possible enemies on the way to the village but had been ignored.
"You were saying something about skill points?" Kazuma asked, his eyes moving constantly. Tanya nodded.
"Right. As Adventurers, what is the one thing we can do that no other job can?" she asked rhetorically.
Kazuma rolled his eyes. "You should've become a politician with how much you love hearing yourself talk. We can learn any skill." He said both statements back to back, not giving her much time to retaliate if she wanted the conversation to stay on track.
"Yes. But to learn a skill, we need to have it taught to us, and we need to have the skill points to learn it. Considering the job's increased rate of growth, that isn't the worst drawback, but it is a steep one considering other jobs get boosts to their chosen specialty."
"Alright," he said as they ducked past one last tree and onto the open plain they'd come in on. "So what?"
"You said something about having a method of 'grinding' for skill points?" Viktoriya said. Kazuma's gaze traveled between the two of them. "Really?"
Tanya nodded and once more flashed her brass-colored vial. "Indeed. Now, you earn skill points whenever you level up, but it takes a lot longer to level up as time goes on. But," she said, pausing to gulp down the vial she'd shoved into her bag and promptly forgotten about in her rush to get monster-attraction potions to end the scarcity of monsters around Axel, "what if you had an item or potion that could reset your level?"
Darkness's gaze snapped towards her. "You can reset your level to go through the pains of early-levelhood again?! Where did you get it? Tell me!"
Tanya winced, remembering the reason she'd bought the potion from Wiz in the first place. "Yes. Now, resetting my level might be dangerous in the short term, but if I were to put out quests for Mages to Paralyze monsters and bring them to me so I can kill them and get their experience…"
She smirked, and she saw Kazuma's own eyes widening in glee. "Infinite skill points means an infinite number of skills, as long as someone teaches them to us. Such scumminess… this is an exploit for sure… although I don't feel particularly motivated, such knowledge…"
Kazuma's tone was reverential and Tanya smiled… only for her expression to change as a lone figure appeared on the horizon. "Looks like we've found one."
Indeed, as it approached them, they all went on guard. Before it could say anything, or even run away in the face of superior numbers, Tanya stepped forward. "Orc. We want to go to your village."
That stopped it in its tracks. "…Really? What kind of person must you be? Do you know that we Orcs send those who come to our villages to literal Heaven?"
Tanya's glare narrowed. "Yes. We want to offer you… a chance."
"A chance? A chance at having your children? You… I recognize you, and I heard of the man to your right. He managed to take down Ravenaki on his own, while you and that woman behind you can fly… our offspring would be-"
"That's enough," Viktoriya cut in, stepping forward with the truth-telling device present in Axel's police station that they had grabbed from one of Megumin's friend's father, a magic item artisan.
Her grip on it was as white-knuckled as Tanya's grip on her rifle.
"Would you ever swear to never rape another man again if given a chance to have your crimes forgiven?"
It stopped, suddenly confused. "Would I… of course not! I am an Orc! We have become strong by taking the best traits from other races and combining them with-"
CRACK!
Tanya's rifle sounded, and the Orc stumbled for a moment, looking down at its leg. "You broke my leg."
Tanya smirked. "Indeed."
That seemed to only encourage it, as it turned around and fled back towards the forest, screaming about 'strong, breedable' males. They took off in pursuit. "Remember, if we need help… well, it will probably look obvious, but I'll shout for you in case it isn't."
"Yeah…" Kazuma huffed and puffed as they ran. "We'll scream for your help if we end up in trouble too," he said. Aqua squawked, but Tanya just nodded as she and Viktoriya flew ahead of the others as planned.
They trailed behind the Orc Tanya had shot through the leg, flying deeper and deeper into the forest, and Tanya could only marvel at the feeling of her mana as they flew. It felt…
Odd. She knew how much mana she needed to put into the spell to fly forward, knew the calculations she had to perform in order for it to function, but even as her Type 97 completed those calculations, she knew they were… off.
Despite her not even using her new rifle, the amount of mana she needed was decreased, and the rate at which it was decreasing was slower than usual – the effects of her new mantle and her restitched clothes. It would take time to adjust, but the amount of mana she was saving…
Megumin had claimed that a staff could increase the power of one's spells by 100%. It wasn't that much, but considering she wasn't using her rifle, perhaps the increased efficiency would reap even greater dividends?
She shook her head as the trees began to open up to a clearing. She glanced at her adventurer's card to see that her level had indeed dropped back down to one. They landed in the center of a group of hunched over hovels made of large stones. They were centered around the clearing, with the center completely covered in leaves. The Orc was shouting about invading men, which led to everyone coming out, a fight in their eyes.
They floated above them, ignoring the jeers that they fight like men. Tanya only rolled her eyes and drew in a breath.
"SILENCE!"
Her voice echoed around the clearing, and the Orcs obliged for a second. She gestured to Viktoriya and the item held in her hands. "This item can tell us the truth. If any of you can swear before us that you haven't raped anyone before, or you promise never to do so again, we will let you live."
They were silent, and she saw more than a few incredulous stares aimed up at them. She continued to speak for as long as they would stay quiet. "For as deplorable as you all are for choosing to rape people to continue your race, you are strong. Forswear raping and I'll even give you some money to start trying to do something, anything else besides what you currently do."
She looked down and… didn't see much hope. Lots of derision and anger, but a few seemed only skeptical-
"And what about the rest of us?"
"Yeah, the punishment for rape is death, ain't it?"
"I'm not abandoning my clan just because some human says I should! I'll have your kids though."
They started to broil, and Tanya sighed tiredly. "Alright. MEGUMIN!"
She popped out of the treeline and pointed her staff forward, her chant already done in the safety of the bushes. "EXPLOSION!"
Tanya and Viktoriya flew back only looking back after Megumin's spell had gone off to see that… they…
Tanya felt her eyebrows creep up her forehead. The explosion, in addition to only blowing away only those Orcs at the center of the crowd, had blown away all the leaves, revealing a series of trenches going between the many houses surrounding the former center of the town.
Those that were left had ducked into the trenches and were popping back up with ropes and nets, launching them towards Tanya and Viktoriya.
Tanya's eyes widened. It seemed they had been preparing for them.
Her Active Barrier sprung to life, but the nets still landed on top of them, and Tanya found herself fighting against the pull of not just gravity but several dozen Orcs at once. She aimed her rifle towards the nearest group-
Only for her aim to be sent wide as they decreased their pull on the ropes, skewing the force acting on her shield. She narrowed her eyes.
"Napalm."
The ropes quickly burned away to nothing and the Orcs swore. Tanya flew upwards, finding Viktoriya had reached much the same conclusion.
If nothing else, that Napalm spell confirmed once again that their rifle were much better than they had been. She'd needed 80% of the mana she usually did.
She nodded, even as she saw them preparing chains below them.
She aimed downwards. "Enchant bullet: Artillery Shot!"
As always, it was not as flashy or impressive as Megumin's spell, but her use of her explosive spells was much more precise.
Despite calling them trenches, they were not sophisticated things like those on the western front, but closer to actual holes in the ground. She hardly wanted any of them to get away, so they started with the outskirts and continued to shoot closer and closer to the center, drifting through the air and darting to a new position every so often whenever it seemed like they were getting close with the ropes and chains.
They were both silent as they continued to box them in, closer and closer to the crater Megumin had caused in the center of the town.
"Alright. Let's go in and finish them off." Even she could get tired, and firing off a few Artillery Shots could do that, though it almost went without saying that she wouldn't be capable of trying such a thing without the extra mana her newfound efficiency granted her.
-OxOxO-
"Napalm!"
Darkness and Lorelei watched as they finished off the boxed in Orcs, who were still fighting doggedly, though now it was with the ferocity of knowing this was their final battle. Both had been on standby to ensure that none of them managed to escape but…
Darkness put a hand to her head as the Orcs went up in flames, screaming all the while. "I… I didn't think…"
They smelled like a mix of the burning of inedible monster meat she'd seen once or twice in her life… and bacon.
Lorelei had already turned away. "Let's… go check on Kazuma and Aqua and Megumin. It doesn't seem like they'll need our help much."
Darkness nodded, muttering a prayer under her breath as she-
"TANYA! DARKNESS! LORELEI! VIKTORIYA! HELP!"
They ran away. "Kazuma, what-"
They blinked in unison. Kazuma and Aqua were hiding behind a shakily standing Megumin, while a humanoid golem faced them down, shouting at them. It sounded…
Lorelei frowned as she raised her sword. It sounded like it was speaking Japanese, actually.
"I- It's the Bomber Majin Moguninnin," Megumin shouted. It-
Lorelei's eyes widened as it seemingly disappeared. She spun around, as did Darkness, searching for-
"KUH!" Darkness collapsed behind her, and Lorelei swung around, swinging her sword towards the beady, red eye in the middle of its head.
It deflected her blow with an arm and tried to lunge forward, only for Darkness to grab onto its legs. "I… can't let my friends… you'll just have to punish me~"
It stopped, motionless, and then it bent down and tried to pry Darkness off forcefully.
It wasn't working very well.
While it was busy trying to get her off of it – it was now punching her in the face repeatedly – Lorelei backed towards Megumin and the other two. "What is this thing… and why are you hiding behind her?"
SMACK SMACK SMACK!
Megumin quickly explained, shouting over the roaring flames, Darkness's moaning, and Aqua blubbering. "It's the Bomber Majin Moguninnin, a mysterious golem once found inside the mysterious facility. It hides in the depths of the Scarlet Forest, it never harms Crimson Demons, it utilizes Detonation magic, and it attacks men, especially those with dark hair and dark eyes-"
SMACK SMACK SMACK!
Kazuma cut her off. "It was made by the crazy idiot who made the Mage Killer!" he shouted as it continued to punch Darkness in the face. Lorelei shook her head. "No clue what you're talking about. It looks like it's going to knock out Darkness. What do we do?"
SMACKSMACKSMACKSMACKSMACKSMACK!
Maybe her adamantite sword would cut through it? She hadn't fought many golems, though, so she wasn't exactly sure-
It finally pried Darkness off of it and began to shout at them, pointing accusingly at Kazuma.
His face scrunched up. "Oh god, it's cringe."
Lorelei didn't have time to decipher what that meant. It sped towards them, and Lorelei swore. "Hurrying Hare! Hare-trigger Senses!" she shouted just as if reached her, and she felt herself speed up. She rolled to their left and sprung back to her feet, her sword gripped in one hand.
It ran towards her.
Left midsection strike. Kick to the chest. Haymaker towards her head. Knee to the groin.
She dodged the first, deflected the second, ducked under the third, and took a hit to her new chestplate for the fourth, using the momentum to back further away from it.
It continued advancing, throwing punches and kicks without any time between each strike. Its torso spun around and around, its hands becoming a spinning cyclone of blows.
She parried each strike as best as she could, taking painful blows on her free arm when she couldn't. It disappeared for a moment, and she had to jump back towards Megumin and the others as it tried to jump on her.
She growled as she rose, noticing that she wasn't doing any damage beyond superficial scratches in its exterior. Another punch to the head, its hand snaked towards her face-
"SURGING STRIKE!" she shouted, her sword moving towards its body and sending it flying towards Darkness's moaning body for a moment. Panting, she tried to figure out what her companions were doing, because she could not do that much longer. "Bounce Back! I think we should-"
"STEAL!"
Kazuma's outstretched hands were filled, one with a metallic object, and the other with-
Darkness groaned in her unconsciousness, and Kazuma quietly dropped his pilfered undergarments while holding up a ball of misshapen metal. "It's a machine, so if I steal pieces of it, it should-"
It tried attacking again, and Lorelei managed to land a few blows of her own. He must have stolen something important, and she targeted its limping leg-
Only for its hips to turn around 180 degrees and for the leg she was trying to hit to smack her in the leg.
"ARGH!"
Her leg was definitely broken, not that she cared about much beyond the pain. Eris, the pain. She never should have become an adventurer, she hated pain, the pain of a broken leg, the pain of having her body fused, the pain-
She opened her mouth to scream, but-
"FREEZE!" "HEAL!"
-And then she felt fine and jumped back up, shaking from the memory of the pain despite how much better she felt.
Kazuma's attack served to stop it for only a moment as the thin layer of frost on the thing disappeared with a flex of its metallic limbs. "Use Steal again!"
"Megumin said it can heal itself-"
"Then just hide behind Megumin and outdamage its healing!"
She heard Aqua shout buffing spells behind her and surged forward, smacking the golem in its arms. The scratches were beginning to eat past the exterior if the sparks dancing across its surface were anything to go by.
It jumped away again, looked between them all, and then it started to retreat, limping. They watched it run for the few moments it was visible and as it finally disappeared…
"Guuuh…"
They all collapsed. "That… was exhausting."
"I'm ready to go home."
"K- Kazuma, that robot was scary looking… even if its words were super lame."
"If I see one more thing that guy invented…wait a minute, Aqua, did you ever give someone the power to create things?"
"Please, come back… step on me more…!"
"One day… I will claim your title!"
They continued heavily breathing and talking for all of five seconds until-
"Alright, we're done here. I got ten levels from that, and the rifle has increased our efficiency by around twenty percent. We need to get back to the village though, I think our window for the Teleportation is coming… what the hell happened here?!"
-OxOxO-
As the world around them coalesced into light and Lorelei paid Aqua some spare change for the spells buffing her luck, Megumin looked down at the paved roads of Alcanretia.
"I can't believe… you lied to everyone so easily," Megumin muttered. Tanya just rolled her eyes and breathed heavily as she readjusted her grip on Chekera's former laundry pole.
…She was honestly having difficulty figuring out what to call it. The most technical name she could think of was Improvised Mana Compressing Anti-Material Rifle, but she couldn't think of any good acronyms.
The others chimed in with their own opinions – Viktoriya and Lorelei thought she should just call it a railgun, and after rejecting Megumin's first suggestion of 'Hikyuzoro' and explaining what an acronym was, she came up with IMPRESSER while Darkness thought of IMPEDANCE.
Of course, the other two also had their own ideas – if she called it a Mana Compressing Rifle, she could call it a MACE, MAC, MANOR, or an ACME Rifle. She had decided she'd figure it out later when the other four began to chime in with their hilarious suggestions – ISAAC, IMP, MEMO, and IMAM being the first four she could stand – and had shut down their suggestions by explaining what had actually happened in that bunker.
"Are you sure we should have left that Bomber Majin thing just walking around," Lorelei muttered as she walked away from Aqua – who was wearing an elaborate outfit Tanya could only describe as being 'something a belly dancer would wear' that she claimed followers of her's 'across the ocean' wore.
Tanya rolled her eyes as Viktoriya began to arrange for their transport back to Axel. "If we'd gotten back any later, we would have been late, meaning a higher fee or having to wait another day. Which I am unwilling to do."
Lorelei backed off.
"Oh? Is there some reason you need to get back to Axel?"
Kazuma did not.
"Take a wild guess."
He opened his mouth, probably to do just as she'd suggested, but Viktoriya walked over to them, looking worried.
Twitch.
"We… can't get teleported."
Twitch.
Her eyes snapped to the apologetic looking man standing at the edge of the designated area for commercial teleportation services in Alcanretia. "Why not?" she ground out.
He wilted under her glare. "I take it you haven't heard?"
Tanya's head shook stiffly. "Well, something is… wrong with Axel."
"What, exactly, is wrong with my town?" she asked.
"No one who Teleports in has come out, and the merchants that usually travel between us and them also haven't come back in over a week. I even heard tell that the adventurers sent to gain information only see some sort of border checkpoint at every road into the city… but despite that, none who go further manage to come back."
Twitch. Twitch.
She opened her mouth to order him to teleport them in anyway, but he cut her off. "Miss, please. We got word from the capital just yesterday that no one else is to enter. People have been sent in to try and determine what is wrong…"
Tanya ignored the rest of what he was saying. It was as she had feared – Iris was keeping a close eye on just how she was doing running Alderp's former lands. If she found out that something had gone wrong and Tanya wasn't even there to address the problem, much less her inability to do anything, she'd look massively incompetent!
Sure, she didn't need the job – she hadn't even wanted the job to begin with – but if her reputation was damaged, Iris might be forced to have her replaced. If she was going to be paying people to capture monsters for her plan, she could certainly use the extra cash that came with administering the town.
Regardless of what had happened between the Mobile Fortress Destroyer being destroyed and now, there was only one thing to do.
"Then it is time for us to save our town!"
Kazuma coughed at how corny the line was, but Megumin supported her… which meant it really was that corny.
She took off, headed for the bridge they'd come in on during their first stay. They could either wait until tomorrow to leave and get to Axel the day after, or leave now and hopefully arrive sometime tomorrow – a horse pulling a cart and a group of people carrying what they could on their backs traveled at around the same speed over long distances, surprisingly.
Flying was also out – she wasn't ready to blow that secret, even in the name of Viktoriya's birthday.
"Wait, wait! What about supplies? And the monsters? We can't just charge off-"
"You don't carry around a week's worth of MREs just in case?" she asked Kazuma, and he rolled his eyes at her paranoia.
"One hour. We've been walking around all day. One hour to rest and plan."
Tanya's eyes narrowed. She could just ditch him… but he and his party were powerful and would be helpful in fixing whatever was wrong with Axel. If she ditched him, they'd stay with him in Alcanretia, even if just for a day…
She looked between him and his party, and, specifically, Darkness…
She let a grin stretch across her face.
-OxOxO-
A/N 1: If you'd like to donate to support me monetarily, search for Sugarcane Soldier on the website of the Patrons.
A/N 2: Thank you to WarmasterOku and Afforess for supporting this story and everything else I write.