Fie had thought those moments when she was completely and utterly lost were behind her. Being a jaeger meant she had a pretty firm grasp on the reality of life and her guarded nature made it hard to catch her off guard. Learning to roll with the punches was one of the first things Boss had taught her, after all.
Unfortunately for her none of that training left her prepared for the crazy information that Emma dropped on them once they returned to the boathouse.
She was a witch. She used magic which was very much unlike arts. Celine was her talking cat familiar. Her sister was one of the head honchos of Ouroboros.
Emma had been in Crossbell investigating said sister while also looking into disturbances in the spirit veins beneath their feet. Such disturbances may or may not be responsible for the Magic Knights and cryptids they had been fighting all over the place.
"Are you guys keeping up with this?" Juna asked as the members of Class VII sans Altina watched the two members of the original class plus Altina chat back and forth about a whole lot of things.
"Not one bit..." Kurt agreed, "But I think it's important we try to grasp the situation as much as possible."
His thought process was remarkably different from Fie's, "...Do you think she used magic to make her boobs so big?" Rean must have overheard her as he began to choke on air. She ignored him to focus on her two classmates that were now staring at her, "What?"
"That's so stup-" Juna paused in her retort as she glanced across the table towards the witch in question who was blissfully conversing with their teacher. Her gaze lowered ever so slightly. The girl shook her head in amazement, "...Do you think we could ask her?"
"Why would you even bring that up?" Kurt asked tiredly.
"Dunno. Thought it might be interesting." Came Fie's cool reply, "Dunno what you're complaining about. You're a guy. You like boobs, right?" The Vander opened his mouth to retort, but Fie was ahead of him, "...You certainly seemed to like Juna's boobs on our first day."
"Urk!" Whether the dying sound from Kurt was because of her words or because the reminder caused Juna to fixate him with a deadly glare Fie would never know. It didn't really matter either way. Chaos had been created. Mission accomplished.
Except to her surprise after finishing Kurt off with her deadly glare Juna returned her focus back before shooting Fie a smug grin, "Why are you so focused on Emma's breasts? Is someone jealous?"
Yes! "No."
"Are you sure? I know I can't compare with her, but I'm pretty happy with what I'm carrying. Doubt you can say the same about yourself, can you?"
It was only thanks to her background and many years of keeping her cool that she didn't go full Sylphid murder rampage on her classmate. If Juna thought she could get under her skin that easily than she was sadly mistaken! "As if. Why would I want boobs like that? I've seen how much you struggle with climbing ladders. One of these days you're gonna get stuck in a vent and I'll be the first one to laugh at you."
"Aidios, kill me. Please." Kurt's pathetic whine went unheard as the two girls mock glared at each other.
"No can do, Kurt." Oh look. It seemed that Rean was done with his conversation, "Still, you've all done an excellent job today. All our tasks are complete, so let's head back to camp for the evening."
But before they could begin their trek back to rest and relaxation they were treated to the humorous sight of Kenneth returning with an absolute whopper of a fish, something which he offered to Celine. The magical cat tried to act all cool and aloof, but it wasn't long before she was happily munching on the fish that was larger than her. And yet somehow she managed to consume the entire thing in a matter of minutes.
Was that also some kind of weird magic?
With Emma and her gluttonous cat being offered a ride back to Crossbell with them Fie didn't need Altina to let her know the jaeger was riding with Juna again. All she could do was hope that by the next field study the branch campus will have acquired a few more bikes because this was getting annoying.
Even though she couldn't see Juna's face as she climbed up behind her she could sense the smirk, "I guess you're right. Lugging you around would be a lot harder if you weren't so flat."
Annoying indeed. She would need to make sure that Juna Crawford did not survive the night.
The trip back to Crossbell was entirely uneventful save for one incident near the city where they witnessed a pair of trains lugging around a bunch of absolutely gargantuan cannons. Fie had heard of Erebonia's famed railway cannons, naturally, but that was her first time seeing one in person. Massive unwieldy weapons that could completely demolish anything they set their sights on. Fitting for a country like this one.
While the weapons themselves didn't bother her nearly as much as her companions – especially the one she was sharing a seat with – the implications of them being moved to the border with Calvard were painfully clear. Tensions between the two countries were slowly but surely ramping towards another war and this time she was likely going to be caught in the middle of it. Joy.
After that, however, the rest of the trip went smoothly. They dropped Emma and Celine off at an inn on East Street before making their trip back to camp. Sadly for Fie, her dreams of an early nap were dashed as Towa called to tell them that the entire branch campus was being asked to provide additional security detail for a special dinner being held for the inspection team that evening at Orchis Tower.
Protecting a bunch of VIPs wasn't her idea of a fun time, but at least the mission came with the promise of lots of free food. And what were the odds that a threat was gonna show itself to them so high up in Orchis Tower-
Fie winced. Her brain was trying to jinx it, wasn't it? It hadn't even been two years since terrorists landed an airship on the roof of the tower during that fancy trade conference!
After returning to the camp they were forced to clean up – something which sucked majorly cause the other classes had stolen all the hot water – and change before joining the other students in forming one big procession back to Crossbell. Why the others weren't complaining about the constant back and forth traveling they were doing she'd never know, but Fie was pretty certain she could traverse the entire northern half of Ursula Road while blindfolded at this point.
Retracing their steps from the beginning of the day the massive group soon found themselves back at Orchis Tower, where waiting staff were quick to usher them inside. Again they found themselves herded onto the elevators in small groups. This time, Fie noted, they were riding nearly up to the top, beyond those mysterious unknown floors.
It had only been a single day and her curiosity about the place was actually getting kinda insane.
With Instructor Michael going full military instructor mode on them she and her schoolmates soon found themselves standing in formation in a large waiting room. The purpose for that wait soon became clear when a nearby door opened and in strode the governor general. Alongside him, however, were all the VIPs they had seen on the screen earlier. Governor Regnitz, Chairman Reinford, Prince Olivert, Princess Alfin, and Rean's sister.
After sitting through a brief speech where the important people introduced themselves they were soon debriefed on their mission: Help set up the party before providing security during the event. Just as mundane and tedious as she had expected.
Luckily for her, however, was the fact that her teacher was a famous person in his own right. A few minutes after the brief he showed up and announced that all of Class VII – plus Tita – were to be excused from their duties in order to join him in meeting with the important people.
Fie had little interest in hanging out with royalty, but it certainly beat doing mindless grunt work with the others. She all but basked in the jealous looks she was getting from the other classes.
The first room they were brought to was that of the parents of Machias and Alisa. With them was Sharon. There she was forced to listen to the two drone on and on about taxes and something called an Eight Metropolis Plan. Important stuff, she was sure, but politics and taxes held absolutely no interest to the child soldier.
She was a little more interested, however, when the discussion shifted towards the railway guns they had seen earlier. Unlike the earlier models the new Dragunov class railway cannon which they saw earlier possessed surprising mobility for something that destructive. As a warrior she understood the purpose of powerful deterrents like that, but what would happen if the person being threatened wasn't deterred by the threat of mass destruction?
Once that meeting finished they were ushered down the hall a ways. Unlike the previous meeting Fie couldn't deny some interest in meeting the princess and prince. While Cedric had been a total loser she had heard a lot of fun things about Olivert, both from her classmates and public rumors. Anyone nicknamed the Debaucherous Prince had to be a little fun, right?
Happily for her, the rumors weren't a lie. What kind of moron whips out a lute at a first meeting and offers to play a tune for the fun of it?
The best kind of moron, naturally.
That the prince was so close to Tita didn't surprise Fie given she had heard the stories from her friend about the time they spent in Liberl. And given how close he was to Tita, Rean, and Kurt she felt confident in deciding that she liked the infamous prince, especially since according to her friend he was a pretty skilled fighter in his own rights.
With the prince was the princess, of course. Although she at least put forth a token effort in presenting herself as royalty, given the mirthful expression on her face Fie had a suspicion she was closer to the elder prince than the younger. It would have been fun to chat with her in a less professional setting.
Also it seemed like Altina hadn't been exaggerating the stories she told them earlier the day that much at all. It was pretty obvious to Fie that Princess Alfin really liked the time spent as the damsel in distress in Rean's arm.
And lastly, but perhaps the most interesting to Fie despite the lesser status, was Elise Schwarzer, Rean's younger sister. She definitely fit the bill of a young noblewoman with her mild demeanor and polite words, but it was impossible to miss the pride and happiness on her face whenever she looked at her brother. The girl damn near worshiped her elder sibling.
And as it so happened she was probably the one who knew the most about him, "Got any funny stories of Rean when he was a kid? The stuff so embarrassing he wouldn't be able to show his face in class for a while?"
"Hey!"
"Oooh! Yeah!" Juna nodded excitedly, "C'mon. A guy like that has to have had all kinds of dumb mishaps!"
"...I too would be interested in hearing about Instructor Rean as a child." Altina intoned with the tiniest hint of interest on her face.
The flustered teacher tried his best to get his students under control, but his efforts were for nothing as Princess Alfin clapped her hands together, "Oh, my! That sounds like a wonderful idea! I've already heard plenty of juicy gossip about your teacher, naturally, but Elise has always kept the good bits close to her chest."
"I find myself in agreement." Olivert added eagerly, "I have little doubt that young Rean must have been a most precocious child. Ah... How I would love to hear those stories."
The four students, two royals, and one sibling all shared amusement as the topic of conversation buried his head in his hands and groaned miserably. Sadly, before they could pry any such stories from Elise they were interrupted by a bodyguard informing the assembly that it was almost time for dinner to begin. What a letdown.
Fie's mood shifted when she noticed Princess Alfin wink in her direction before mouthing the word 'later', all but confirming her suspicions that the princess was just as much a being of chaos as she was, albeit only when the public spotlight wasn't on her.
"Ah, yes. One final thing-" The princess spoke just as they were about to leave, "Regarding that girl with the mint-colored hair..."
What a weird question. There was nobody like that in Class VII. In fact the only person in the building at the moment that fit that description as far as Fie was aware of...
"Are you talking about Musse Egret."
Yeah. That one. Thanks, Rean.
"Musse?" Elise asked as she shared a look with the royal.
"Yep. A manipulative pain in my-" Fie found herself unable to finish as her teacher rudely shut her up with a hand over her mouth. Did he really think that speaking frankly to these royals would be an issue? It definitely couldn't have been protectiveness over that other student as she knew for a fact he had been a victim of Musse's actions in the past.
Again Elise and Alfin shared a look, this time with amusement on their faces as they worked to suppress giggles. Obviously the duo – and an interested looking Prince Olivert – knew something about the girl, but none of them seemed willing to talk as the princess waved off the question before allowing the group to leave.
Great. Even when Musse wasn't around the girl still managed to be a headache.
With reluctance she and the rest of Class VII left the cool royals and began making their way back towards the elevator, but they were ambushed at the end of the hall by the opening of a door. From it came the governor general himself.
In Fie's eyes that was way too convenient to be a coincidence. Had the guy really been standing on the other side of the door for a while waiting for them to pass? It was a funny thought, if nothing else.
As little as she wanted to be near the dangerous man, she couldn't help but be curious when he requested Rean meet with him privately. Unsurprisingly the teacher accepted and told her and her classmates to go on ahead without him before following Rufus into the office. She was sorely tempted to listen in, but given how good the teacher was at detecting her decided against it. Too risky.
She was gladdened to discover that the others had finished all the work while they had been in meetings. Instead she and the others were given the critical mission of munching down on some ridiculously expensive looking food while remaining on standby for the party taking place on a different floor. Even as she lived up to her namesake as Sylphid by darting off towards the delicious spread of food faster than anyone else she was aware enough to notice a troubled-looking Rean reappear before moving to stand alongside the other teachers.
Instead of worrying about that, however, she found herself chatting away happily with Sandy and Freddie while she and her club comrades sampled all the different offerings. Being friends with a skilled cook like Sandy was really handy when it came to identifying all these dishes that Fie had never seen before, and even Freddie proved to be helpful as the strange guy was able to identify a lot of the natural ingredients just by tasting the food once. Even though her own knowledge of the subject paled in comparison to her peers she was at least able to remain a part of the conversation by chatting about some of the dishes they had seen in the City, including the time spent in Juna's kitchen making sweets for the bakery.
"Aww. I really wish we could get some of this Armorican Honey for ourselves." Sandy lamented as the three of them munched on an absurdly sweet dessert, "Just think of the things we could do with it!"
"I wouldn't mind getting my hands on the bees that created something this tasty." Freddie agreed with a slurp of his tongue, "I bet those suckers would be really-"
"No more bees!" Fie countered immediately. She did it once and she vowed to never do it again. When her club mate looked to her in confusion she opened her mouth to give her reasoning, but paused. What kind of explanation would work for a guy like Freddie?
Lacking answers she turned a pleading look towards Sandy. The girl let out a giggle before placing a finger to her mouth thoughtfully, "Well, I heard that Armorica Village's fields suffered a lot of damage during the independence crisis. I'm not sure they have the bees to spare at the moment..."
"Ah! That's right!" The unkempt boy's eyes widened in realization, "I heard about that too! Good on you for reminding me, Fie. Don't worry, I'm a patient hunter. I know when it's time to let the prey roam free to repopulate."
Silently Fie exhaled her breath. Whew. That was one crisis averted-
"...I wonder what cryptid meat tastes like?"
Hurriedly she turned to her friend in an effort to make it seem like she just didn't hear the guy, "I'll see if I can buy a jar of honey during our missions tomorrow. Plenty of vendors were selling it in the city."
"Fie!" Further conversation was put on pause as the rest of Class VII approached, Juna at the head, "It's almost time for the party to end. We're looking for Instructor Rean. Have you seen him?"
She blinked at the question before turning to where he had been. Sure enough he wasn't there anymore, "He seemed pretty troubled after his meeting with the governor general. Guess he must've stepped out. I'll help you find him."
Waving goodbye to her club mates she and her friends exited the room. What ensued was a long and difficult search across the vastness of Orchis Tower... that lasted for all of three seconds as their teacher was standing not far from the room.
What was interesting, however, was the company he had with him, "...Ash and Musse?"
"We just met up by chance." The teacher informed them, a little too quickly. Given the way Musse was pouting by his side and how interested Ash seemed at something Fie definitely didn't buy it. Still, she held her silence as Juna repeated to him what she told her about the party, causing the teacher to nod in agreement before turning to the two outsiders, "Right. You two should get back to your classes-"
Rean paused before grimacing. It reminded Fie of the times he nearly succumbed to his strange power. That alone was enough to put her on edge. Something was wrong. She didn't know what it was, but deep down she knew it to be fact.
The muffled sound of an explosion above them confirmed those thoughts in the worst way possible.
As one the group hurriedly ran back to the waiting room as it was connected to the tower's security network. Unsurprisingly Towa was already hard at work accessing the terminal while everyone crowded around her. Fie couldn't help but lament her short stature as it was a pain finding a spot where she could see the feed as it was pulled up.
On the roof was a burning airship – the likely cause of the explosion – and two very relaxed looking individuals. One appeared to be little more than a kid, but one that she found to be quite unsettling. The other one, however, was enough to cause all her instincts to be extremely wary of.
Even from a video feed she had a strong suspicion that the fire-themed guy might be the most dangerous person she has ever seen in her life. And given the life she's lived, that was saying something.
"Number I – The Almighty Conflagration." Rean muttered loud enough for all of them to hear. Figures. Of course it had to be Ouroboros. But what could two individuals – no matter how powerful – do against a building filled with a bunch of really strong people?
Rean seemed to think so too as he backed away from the terminal and placed a hand on his tachi, "Towa, Randy! Check on the students and the inspection team! Major Michael, can you get in touch with the security forces?!"
"Got it!"
"The elevator's out of commission! Use the emergency stairs!"
"Understood!" Fie barely had time to blink before her teacher was away. Was he seriously going to intercept the two enforcers by his lonesome? Sure she could freely admit that he was a lot more impressive than she had first given him credit for, especially with that weird but uncontrollable power of his, but the former jaeger didn't like the situation one bit.
She glanced towards Juna. The Crossbellian nodded, a look of determination on her face. Kurt didn't say anything, but his hands were hovering near his blades, already prepared for the battle to come. As for Altina...
Altina was already running towards the door.
Hurriedly she and the other two followed suit, quickly catching up with the smallest member of the class. Fie was sure they would be getting an earful for this later, but right now she didn't care. Let the others play guard for all the VIPs. She was always one to favor a more aggressive defense.
They were only a few seconds behind Rean, and even if the teacher was faster than everyone in the group except her she was confident they would catch up sooner rather than later. That belief lasted until they reached the stairwell and were suddenly assaulted by a group of small archaisms.
...How the hell had they managed to slip past Class VII's teacher to attack them? Either way, it probably meant they wouldn't be catching up anytime soon.
Still, these ones looked a lot less dangerous than the archaisms they fought in Sutherland. Fie drew her gunblades and darted forward...
...But was forced to roll out of the way when a bladed chain flew past where she had been standing before wrapping around and shredding the unsuspecting machine. Luckily for her none of the other robots could take advantage of her surprised dodge as a barrage of bullets quickly drove them away from her.
Neither of those attacks came from her classmates. In fact, even without turning around she knew exactly who had just tried to skewer her, "You could have hit me, you ass."
"Eh." Ash Carbide shrugged his shoulders as he retracted his weapon, "Figured you'd dodge it if you were half as good as you liked to act, Jaeger. Not letting you have all the fun this time."
Writing the punk off as a lost cause she and the others turned to the far less abrasive newcomer, "Ash I get..." Juna said, "...but why are you here, Musse?!"
"Teehee. I just thought it might be fun to come help you out." The mint-haired girl didn't seem at all fazed by the group of archaisms that had recovered from the surprise attack and were now wheeling towards them again as she aimed her orbal rifle with a deliberate elegance that had no place on the battlefield.
Even if the assistance was unexpected – and rather unwelcome given who the guests were – Fie couldn't deny it was helpful. With numbers no longer against them she was free to observe the newcomers even as she worked to carve up the archaism she had picked out for herself. And all things considered she was pleasantly surprised.
Ash was about what she had expected given his weapon and personality – A heavy bruiser. Still, the Class VIII student acted with a subtle skill guiding his seemingly reckless strikes. The openings created during his wide swings weren't nearly as vulnerable as they first appeared thanks to his skilled footwork and control of his chain. He lacked the controlled ferocity of career jaegers like Randy, nor did he possess the graceful skill of Laura, but she couldn't deny that he wasn't bad. For a punk.
But it was Musse that really surprised the agile jaeger. Obviously Fie knew the girl was insanely smart based on their prior interactions, but she wasn't expecting that intelligence to carry onto the battlefield like it was. When Kurt released a wave of energy with his swords towards an archaism the mint-haired girl was already releasing an arts attack right where the machine was evading into. When another machine prepared to fire a rocket towards an already engaged Altina it was forced to abort violently as a pair of hastily aimed shots nailed the volatile missiles before they could leave the launcher.
Between the new additions, the usual skill exhibited by Kurt and Altina, and Juna who seemed to be fighting with extra determination to protect her home, the battle was over in a matter of seconds, with no damage to report on their side. But they couldn't celebrate their victory for long as the sounds of combat and the mechanical sounds associated with archaisms sounded from up the stairs.
That was where the battle was, which meant that that was where Class VII and helpers were headed.
Between the six of them they made quick work of all the archaisms that tried to intercept them as they ascended the tower. Along the way they passed other machines that had already been smashed. Most seem to have been dismantled by large slash attacks presumably from Rean's tachi, but there were others that seem to have been destroyed by smaller blades.
Was someone else with their teacher?
The answer presented itself as soon as they reached the top of the tower and exited onto the roof. Had it been any other time Fie might have taken the time to admire Crossbell City at night from that height, but as it was her eyes were fixed on only one thing: Rean and Sharon were squaring off against the two Ouroboros Enforcers.
Rean however didn't seem to appreciate their arrival, "Stay back! These two are genuine monsters!"
Honestly? Fie would have loved to do just that. She was no coward, but the feeling she was getting from the two Enforcers – the fiery one especially – was no joke. She wasn't sure if all of Class VII could beat one of them.
...So there was no way they could let Rean fight both with only Sharon as support.
But before the teacher could argue that unspoken point the green-haired kid rendered the discussion pointless by teleporting away from their teacher before appearing in front of them. At least it wasn't the one known as McBurn, but given how casual the Enforcer was looking Fie couldn't help but be worried. It was as if he didn't see the six of them as a threat at all.
"Class VII, Musse, Ash! Begin two-pronged offensive!" Rean yelled out even as he began his own battle, "Here are your orders: Survive! No matter what it takes!"
If she wasn't already feeling wary about the situation then that would have made her nervous. Not exactly a lot of positivity with that speech.
Oh well. Even if they were outmatched Fie had no intention of going down without a fight, and that was something she was confident she shared with her friends. Best to approach the unknown the way she approached everything else: With all the speed that earned her the title of Sylphid.
And yet even as her initial strike closed in the boy didn't seem fazed nor did he attempt to dodge. Instead his smirk grew even wider as her gunblades drew closer and closer. But just as Fie thought she was about to strike the Enforcer down there was a puff of smoke and her attack failed.
It failed because she no longer had her gunblades.
In fact she didn't have arms either.
...Nor did she have the rest of her body. Fie could only stare with eyes unable to blink as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing.
Why was she a giant pepper!?
For the first time in what felt like ages the former jaeger lost her composure in a fight and let out a horrified shriek. Or at least she tried. It seemed that as a pepper she no longer had a mouth.
"Haha! That's a great look for you, Sylphid!" The enforcer taunted before being forced away by Ash's switchaxe. Fie would have been impressed at her comrades ability to keep fighting after whatever was done to her were she not so busy freaking out.
Or at least most of them were fighting. The sentient pepper found herself dragged away from the battle by Musse, "Relax." The mint-hair girl soothed, "I'm pretty sure this is merely an illusion. You need to calm down and remember who you really are."
R-Right. For once Musse was being serious and her advice sounded pretty damn good. Even if her current form couldn't breathe she still managed to calm herself by taking the mental equivalent of a deep breath.
She wasn't Fie the Pepper. She was Fie the badass former jaeger turned student. She wasn't green, she was silver. She wasn't a giant fruit, she was a lithe girl with a body built for speed – and not at all jealous of the bustier girls around her! She was...
She was back to normal.
"R-Right. Thanks, Musse. That's not something I want to experience again. C'mon. We need to get back there and-"
"Wait a second." Her mischievous comrade called out, "Look at that."
That being the ongoing battle. At first Fie wasn't sure what she was referring to, but understanding dawned on her as she witnessed Juna's attempts at hitting the annoying green-haired guy nearly end in disaster as with a flash of light Altina found herself standing where he had previously been. It was only thanks to Claiomh Solais' automatic defenses that the little girl didn't get completely destroyed by friendly fire.
"He's toying with us." Fie pointed out with narrowed eyes as frustration bubbled up inside her. First Shirley made a mockery of her, and now this guy was toying with all six of them!
"He is," Musse confirmed grimly, "but I think there's a pattern to his switches. I think I should be able to predict where he goes next." The girl raised the rifle in her hands before shaking her head, "Sadly, I'm not as quick a shot as you are. Think you can handle that?"
So Musse wanted her to trust her to the point where she was to shoot at one of her comrades without hesitation in hopes of hitting their enemy right after he reappeared. Oddly enough? "Yeah. I got it." ...She did. The combat link she formed with the Class IX student only reinforced that surprising trust.
Fie began prepping an overcharged shot even as the two girls watched their friends move to reengage the cackling enforcer, dodging balls of energy in the process. The one positive of him toying with them was that he was launching attacks on a whim and not actually trying to defeat them in detail. This left him open to be surrounded with Kurt sprinting in, blades at the ready-
Musse didn't speak, but her instructions came through the link as clear as day. Without hesitation the silver-haired girl trained her guns and fired...
Straight into Ash's back.
Or at least it would have had their enemy not swapped just as Fie released her shots, "Yowch!" The enforcer staggered back as the bullets impacted him, "That actually kinda hurt. I'm curious, how did you know where I would be?"
Despite the situation she couldn't help but let out a shrug, "Lucky guess. Either I hit you or I hit Ash. Both are wins."
"Hey!"
Sorry Ash, but there was no way she was gonna let the guy know that somehow Musse was able to figure out his patterns. That was their only ace in the hole at the moment.
Or at least it would have been had the enforcer wanted to continue the fight, "How fascinating! Say, would you like to join Ouroboros' elite enhanced jaeger corp? I'll happily make you a regimental commander."
"Yeah. No thanks. Not interested in joining any weird organizations with Shirley in it." Plus the idea of joining any jaeger corps not named Zephyr didn't sit well with her, even if being a regimental commander was a pretty big promotion.
"A pity. I guess I'll have to keep settling with my current toy. How dull." The hell did he mean by that? "Ah. It seems the battle is ending."
At first she was confused as to what he meant, but the answer became obvious once she looked towards the other fight. Sharon was on her knees with a really nasty looking burn while Rean looked like he was struggling to remain upright. Their opponent looked to be completely fine.
...So Fie wasn't surprised at all after everything that had happened the past two months when unexpected reinforcements suddenly arrived. Although seeing Machias, Alisa, and Emma appear by some sort of teleportation magic was a nice twist to the usual script at least.
Privately the student wasn't sure if the three of them alone would be able to turn the tides, but at least they bought them some space with their surprise counterattack. Plus Emma was able to use her magic to put out the burning airship, which had apparently been an illusion the entire time.
But before her worries could be put to the test even more reinforcements arrived, this time in the form of Randy, Prince Olivert, Governor General Rufus, Instructor Michael, and even Towa. That was enough competent bodies for Fie to relax... slightly.
That brief relaxation lasted about as long as it took for the two Ouroboros agents to summon their final ace in the sleeve – an aion just like the one they fought in Sutherland. Except instead of a massive hulking machine this one was light and fast and seemed to fly as it obliterated the hapless airship with ease.
Fortunately it didn't seem as if their enemy was willing to stick around for another fight, as the enforcer they had just fought – who had revealed himself as Enforcer number zero, Campanella the Fool – waved cheerily, "We wouldn't dream of getting in the way of your inspection or your field exercises. So ta-ta for now-"
"Shut the hell up!"
Fie's eyes widened in surprise. Not because someone had finally heard enough to tell the annoying enforcer off, but because that someone was standing next to her, "Juna...?"
"I've sat here and listened to your nonsense long enough!" The girl yelled furiously, "This is our country... and you think you can come in here and do whatever you want! And now to top it all off... you bring that thing back with you! I can't... I'll never forgive you!" For a second Fie worried that her friend was about to charge into hopeless combat on her own, and given how both Randy and Rean reacted they probably had the same worry.
"Well, well... Aren't you a spirited one? I take it you're a local. But really... what are you going to do about it? Just going to take all that righteous rage and charge in alone?" It didn't help that Campanella was trying to goad her into doing just that.
"If that's what it takes, then yes!" Thankfully, despite her words Juna made no inclination to attack, "But I'm not the only one who calls Crossbell home! The Special Support Section will fight, too! There's no way the SSS will let the likes of you run free!"
The Ouroboros clown let out a mocking laugh, "The Special Support Section, hm? Well, they certainly would be quite the opponents, but... I believe they're a bit tied up at the moment courtesy of His Excellency, the governor general."
All eyes turned towards the man in question, but the only answer he provided was a dark chuckle. It was the Class IX instructor that put the pieces together first, "Wait... Mishelam is blockaded, so does that mean...?
From all accounts Mishelam was in a pretty isolated place with the lake on one side and many selge of wetlands on the other. If they had somehow managed to get all of the SSS and everyone affiliated with them to that location it would be nearly impossible for them to escape undetected.
"Don't misunderstand." Rufus replied with a smile at seeing understand dawn on their faces, "It isn't as though we have them chained up or anything of the sort. We've simply turned Mishelam into a 'birdcage' to keep Bannings, the Zero Child, the Divine Blade of Wind, and Yin out of our business. Military police affiliated with the SSS were also given orders that took them to Mishelam. Isn't that right, Major Michael?"
"Yes," Came their head instructor, "including Speaker MacDowell and his granddaughter."
"Wh-Why..." The fire that had previously fueled Juna was gone, leaving nothing but hurt confusion on her face, "Why would you...?"
Again Campanella laughed. Oh how Fie wanted to get strong enough just so she could punch out his stupid teeth the next time he did that, "Don't you get it!? It's so they can't go and save the day! The Special Support Section, the heroes of the past, are now nothing more than a nuisance to the Empire!"
"But they can't charge them with anything and lock them up, because that would anger all the dear little citizens! So they're just going to stop them from helping. Making them slowly fade from people's minds... until they're completely forgotten!"
It sucked being a bystander as this entire drama played out. Juna looked completely devastated. She didn't even respond when the two enforcers and giant aion finally made their departure.
"Well, the immediate threat has passed, but..." Rufus spoke as if he was talking about a particularly bothersome passing rain shower, "I suppose it's time for our hero to get to work."
So that was it. The Erebonian Government had gone out of their way to sideline Crossbell's heroes so that it would be up to Erebonia's reluctant hero to resolve this crisis in their place. And Rean would do it given how much worse the alternative would be.
It was official: There weren't many people that Fie genuinely hated, but Rufus Albarea was quickly adding his name to that list, right next to the likes of Shirley Orlando and Campanella the Fool.
"Why?" All eyes were drawn to the owner of that weak voice, "Why... Why are you all trying to take away our pride? And now our light... Our one last hope..."
The pink haired girl approached Rean with a desperate look in her eyes, "You occupied us, dragged us into your war with Calvard... Brought those horrible cannons into our country..."
To his credit Rean didn't say anything or try and defend himself as the girl glared up at him. He understood that nothing mattered to the distraught girl in that moment. He wasn't to blame, but he was one of the biggest symbol's of the Empire's occupation, and the only one available to the broken girl at the moment.
"Give it back! Give us our Crossbell back! The free city where anyone could dream! Give it baaaaack!"
Fie wanted to do something to help her friend. She truly did. But there was one major issue that kept her mouth and her feet rooted in place...
...How was she supposed to help the now-sobbing Juna cope with the loss of her home when she had absolutely no concept of a home to begin with?
When I was planning this chapter I was originally gonna have Musse get turned into a pepper instead of Fie just so I could call her a Cayenne Pepper, but then I remembered that nobody knows about that yet. I was so devastated.