Isekai, meet Machine and Magic

[ComradeH]

An experiment of my own, testing my skills in new water. Criticism and constructive responses are welcomed.

I'm planning to write this story from 2 POVs, also the two main characters (one male junior intelligence/spec-op operative, and the other a sorceress). The synopsis is simple enough: a class of high school student is summoned to another world to "get rid of the dark forces". However, unlike other standard isekai WN/LN, the class is already aware of magic, courtesy of a Magical War taking place in the background (technology, or "Earth", won that war, albeit with heavy casualties). Furthermore, there are at least two members of the class being very well-verse in this matter, considering their occupation.

This story is inspired by "Finishing the Fight" (a Halo fanfiction with DnD elements), "Eodem: A rifle and sword story", "Gate: Thus the JSDF fought there"... and because I hate working on my project for the moment.

Please, enjoy.

The first chapter is posted in the next reply.

 

[ComradeH]

Chapter 1: So, Isekai?

{Operative}


The alarm went off and, through ingrained training, I woke up… or at least, I opened my eyes, turned off the alarm before grudgingly doing my morning routine. I just really hated waking up early in the morning; it was simply too annoying. But, I was a high school student so I still had to go to school. And, with that, I have to wake up early.


There was no one else in my house. Both of my parents had volunteered to join a space colonization program. Or rather, my dad was "kindly asked" to go because of some political shenanigans and my mom, who was completely smitten with him for more than 20 years, left on the second ship two years after. At least she was still sane enough to teach me how to take care of myself before, as well as leaving me a sizable amount of money for living expense. And just in case, she had also contacted her sister — a CEO of a very prestigious engineering conglomerate — in order to keep me fed and watered. It had been ten years already and monthly supplements were transferred into my account.


Not like I would need their money considering that I had one hell of a job. The eccentricities and insanity of my dad aside, he was a highly respected and fearful military commander. Before his critical injuries, his file of that period was covered in a ton of black ink. I had no idea how helpful it was in landing me a job with Security Bureau…


As it turned out, my dad had been at the forefront of the War even before it took place. Five years waging the war in shadow, he had crippled a good deal of the enemy force and was only stopped when he had lost all four of his limbs in a single op. Even that could not stop him from being a brilliant front-line commander in the war.


To say I had to walk in his shadow was an understatement. But five years within the Bureau and a few hiccups had helped me to forge my own path. Just like my dad, I would become a silent guardian of the Terran Federation, safeguarding humanity from the horror within and without. Especially within.


Munching toast while holstering a pistol around my ankle, I ran over the diagnosis of my tools. The smart-watch with direct satellites was on my wrist, and an arm-band opening up a small hyperspace arsenal was secured around my forearm. My backpack was equipped with a bulletproof lining, and I had a few simple survival tools stashed inside.


Time to earn my paycheck then.


Jumping on my scooter, I sped toward the house at the end of the block. And, right on time, Shinonono Yukino appeared through the door. She was my charge, and I was her guardian. And I was also her executioner if needed. It was a punishment that humanity dealt upon the magical kind. Harsh, brutal, but it was very effective. Mankind would push forward to help the mystic to integrate and hopefully be accepted in their society, but humans were also ready to deal with the "fifth column" in the most brutally efficient way possible.


At least the second part was not really necessary anymore; Yukino had already proved her loyalty to the Terran Federation, single-handily subdued five other witches planning for a mass summoning of demons. She saved my life in the process, and I took three lightning bolts for her. Just because.


Things were strange after that for us. High Command cleared her name, freeing more social liberties for her, but they also stuck her on me. Not that I minded, of course, she was quite cute and pleasant. A bit of a mama-bear when she found out that I had been injured —no one told me what happened after I had passed out— but she was pleasant enough to hang out with. In addition, she was quite intelligent and one hell of a lifesaver in Chemistry and Biology. It was a nice save for me because sometimes I just mucked them up.


It was being proved right now as she was quizzing me on Chemistry. More likely than not, the teacher would give us a small questionnaire today, and I hate having a bad mark on it. Yeah, it was a joke, a spy kid was afraid of having a terrible mark. But I had seen stranger things over the course of my training and career, and I had done worse too.


The two of us walked together to our classroom, pointedly ignoring the stares and whispers of every other student. Everyone thought that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, which was probably the farthest thing from the truth. Though, in their defence, the two of us were constantly staying with the other and had already turned down quite an amount of confessions already… And, in our defence, I was an intelligence operative and she was a witch. We did not do normal, even if we trying to.


Again, our class welcomed us with a series of smirks and scoffs. They were wondering why we had not proposed to each other yet… Yeah, it would be compromising. I had a job to take her down if she went rogue, being her boyfriend would be counter-productive. Being cleared or not, my pragmatic side demanded me to stay vigilant… even if my hormones were screaming otherwise. It was even harder after that freaking day, the day we first stood and fought back-to-back.


Well, the two of us had not jumped on each other for a hanky panky, even if in some of my nightmares —or wet dreams— shows it happening soon enough.


Normally, the day would go on like usual, with the whole class trying to survive the day, but it seemed God —Random Omnipotent Being, or something like that— had another idea. The moment our teacher stepped in, the floor suddenly lit up with a magical circle. It was large, covering every single tile in this room. I had seen only one magical formation as large as this one, and it was the one used by the group of five witches mentioned before.


That day was bad enough, and I had no doubt that this time it would be even worse. My watch was vibrating heavily, sensing the massive amount of mana being used to fuel this ritual. It was bad, an extreme concentration of mana could block the deployment of hyperspace arsenal, leaving me fangless. At least I was prepared for this already, having my handgun and my blade tucked under my pants, right around my ankles. Worst case scenario, I could break out…


But it meant leaving Yukino behind. And I hated doing that, and I was pretty sure it was not because I was infatuated with her…


The magical circle was getting brighter and brighter, almost blinding my eyes. This was one of the few times I hated my dad who refused to give me any augmentation. A bionic eye (the man had TWO!) would be helpful to restrict the flash, giving me the full view of what was happening. Too bad I was fully natural so I had no such luxury.


When my vision returned, the view surrounding me had already changed. The pristine white walls had gone, the lone tree seen through the window had gone… my class was not standing on the second floor anymore, nor we were still within Tokyo anymore. No, we were staying in some place like a chapel. Well, a chapel built in a circular shape, and its wall was reduced to some curving pillars. The air was blowing in from all direction, and there was no clear or distinct shape or symbol of religion, no statue or scripture of G-O-D or anything like that.


And then, one second later, I noticed something strange… Surrounding the "chapel" was a group of people with colourful clothes, styles of which ranged from nobility to religious and anything in between. There was one thing for sure though, I had never seen such styles, not in a history book, not on fashion shows, and luckily no intelligence report.


So, my class was not kidnapped by any rouge group of magical... Or any magical force that I knew of, at least…


Then, an elder man slowly stood up. He was old, probably mid-60. A robe screaming out "Catholic Pope" was being worn, but as far as I knew, it was not the real Pope's dress in the Vatican, partially because it was being held in a heavily secured display, and because the Vatican was destroyed in the War. In addition, he was leaning on a decorated staff, which was something no Pope had done. And last but not least, there was a crap ton of jewellery on him, further distancing him from the real Pope.


So, it begged an interesting question, who was he?


The man slightly raised his staff off the ground, and it suddenly started pulsing with light and magic. I knew this feeling: pure, powerful magic. I had never experienced such a feeling before, even the tests of friendly magical were not as strange as this. There was no doubt, this old religious man was a powerful mage.


But it led to an interesting question, while the Vatican did have an armed wing, using both technology and magic to counter hostile magical, Section XIII had been depleted and destroyed in the War, so how could they still field men of this calibre?


No, he was not Section XIII. There was no symbol of the unit anywhere within my sight.


So, it went back to square one – What the actual fuck was going on?


Then, the man gave me the answer:


"O' Chosen Ones, Angles of God's Justice, Heroes and Legends, welcome to America. May Lumina bless upon you. May you be glorious. May you be triumphant. Please, guide us to the victory of the War against Darkness."


Well… Isekai? Another world?


…


Fuck.

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Chapter edited on 24 March 2019 with Grammarly

 

[Rooster]

Seems like a good idea for a premise. Still even perfectly good premises can be wasted by poor choices. Actually the choice of deciding what will make the MC interesting is way more important than worldbuilding details.

 

[ComradeH]

{Sorceress's POV}

Vuong was shocked beyond his wit's end, but his training had already kicked in, forcing him to calm down and analyze the situation. His eyebrows knitted together in concentration, his breaths became lighter, quieter and deeper at the same time. That was his trick: if he could look calm, he would eventually get calm. Keeping his wit together was a must in situations like these. A lesser boy would break down instantly, but a man like him could do this with ease.


After all, he was Nguyen Minh Vuong, Level Two of Security Bureau, Section Six. He was my guardian, my love, and I hoped that he would never be forced to be the one executing me. On that day, he took three lightning bolts meant for me, thus buying me critical time to disrupt the demon summoning circle, and that was even after escorting me deep into a hostile castle without being spotted in the first place. He was brilliant, frighteningly brilliant, competent and immensely brave.


A standard, normal, by the book "good guy" would probably swear himself to eradicate the evil in this world and ask for a series of lessons in swordsmanship and magic. At least this class was sane enough not to do so. After all, they remembered their history lesson. Magic had a bad reputation in Terran Federation after all. I was pretty sure that within the War, more than 50 million civilians worldwide had lost their lives due to magic in non-combat situations. If one included the collateral damage caused by magic infighting, the number might rise to 70 million.


And that was just the dead, in total, the civilian casualty was something like 500 million.


Such a number was a very strong reminder for humanity why they should keep guard against magic. Even though I was a magical myself, I understood and accepted the sentiment. My ancestors had wronged the no-mag, and it was my job to cleanse that debt of honour.


Anyhow, I was getting sidetracked. My point was that my boyfriend was keeping silent. He had not uttered a single word and instead of spending time observing the surrounding, gathering what little intelligence available here.


From the sideline, I watched in amusement with the whole class trying to make heads and tails of the situation. The teacher was yelling out, something like blasphemy and violation of Geneva Codes of Conduct in Wartime. As expected, the Pope was trying to placate him in religious style, which was calling my teacher "child" and considering him as someone who knew nothing. Needless to say, it was counter-productive.


I cast my glance to the side, and Vuong's eyes caught mine. He nodded…


And people still wondered why I loved such a brooding man. Well, for a starter, I liked brooding men, especially ones that got animated being together with me. Two, he could read my mind. Well, not telepathically or something like that, but he knew he enough to know what was I thinking. So, what was I thinking? Simple, I was hoping to check out for the magical characteristic here. He could check it out with his own devices, but having an expert's opinion never hurt.


I smirked, Vuong was still single, not because he did not find a girl interesting – I had seen him watching the school's (and class's) idols a few times, and honestly, he really needed better browser passwords on his computer – but because I had subtly given the girls hints. He was mine and mine alone. No girl was good or competent enough to be his wife, no one but me.


After all, no one was better than him to be my romantic partner.


Speaking of that, what happened to the school bully proposing to me two months ago? He just disappeared off the face of the earth, not a single trace left… I just knew Vuong was involved somehow, but I had no proof. Mind reading and basic scrying were useless, considering the anti-magic level around, but not even the Internet could give me an answer. Women's intuition told me that the man was just jealous and he took matters in his own hands.


The main and leading female character of a shoujo and romance story would feel blissful knowing that. Or she would get aroused if the setting was erotica… Which brought me to the point here – why the hell was I feeling arouse? The last thing I wanted here was my yandere streak and obsession interfering with the work. In my defence, I would say that I was still sane enough to work at the same time.


Besides, the gestures of my fingers were almost second nature to me, I could practically check the ambient magical signals when I was still half-asleep… And surprise surprise, this was actually magic. Maybe I was not clear enough so I would say it again. The nature of magic here was the same on Earth, utilizing mana particles in the environments as well as within most living beings. There was a major difference though, the concentration of mana here was at least eight times the mean on Earth. Sure, there was a possibility that this was the exception, but Vuong also needed to know about this. It would be used for purely tactical and strategic thinking if nothing else.


Using the ruckus caused by the teacher and the Pope, I slithered toward the man and whispered quietly while trying to remain inconspicuous to everyone:


"Mana concentration is abnormally high, eight times to the mean on Earth."

"And twice the highest value on our home… we are really in another world, aren't we?"

"We are. So, should we stick together?"

"Of course, I still have to stop you from doing anything stupid or reckless here!"

"Me? Stupid? Reckless? So, who infiltrated a castle with a single blade, a belt-load of grenades, and a piece of chewing gum, to fight against five mighty witches in the first place?"


He twitched his eyebrows hearing that. Sure, I loved him, but I also loved shutting him down like that. After all, he was a male, and he still had much to learn in dealing with the fairer sex.


The two of us glanced at each other a final time before breaking off temporarily. Obviously, the most likely outcome of this would be having the natives driving us back to their accommodations, castles most likely. We could not leave our stuff behind, even if they were just books and pens, they were still valuable. A stereotype isekai story would have such a world like this stuck in the Middle Ages. Religion and politics were inseparable, zero development on science, technology and other comfort features of modern life, and wars were still waged in the stupid and inefficient manners.


Pens and widespread use of paper could at least reduce the burden… and knowing Vuong, he would definitely try to make some AKs here. He would probably complain about the stupidity and the naivety of the locals soon, but his dream of making AKs would be hardly stopped.


I wondered what I would be doing then… Probably dual wielding handgun and magic. I disliked assault rifles for being too heavy, and SMGs had too much recoil for me. Handguns were the best for me, light, versatile and concealed, not to mention they were much easier to make and use. Heh, I should probably convince Vuong to make them soon then.


------------


The Pope finally made a compromise with the teacher and the Class Rep. They would give us a hot meal for the night, a briefing for the situation, and a night bunking somewhere. The next morning, each student would give his or her answer. They could "join the force" and become a Templar, leading the fight against Darkness, or they could simply "discharge" and live like normal people.


There were only two options, which meant they were both craps, so Vuong and I had to find out a third, or even a fourth one. Fortunately (or unfortunately), we had them soon enough. The third option would be going AWOL, both of us would disappear into the night as soon as we know enough intel. With our skills and talents, being mercs would be very easy. The man had the training and Art of War within his muscles and his head, and the woman had centuries of mystic arts under her belt. Sure, both of us were just at "novice" level, but compared to the local, it should be close to professional level… hopefully.


The fourth option was more of a compromise. We both dislike becoming Templars of the Pope, being atheists and witches. But we also knew that this world had much more than just a theocratic country, so instead of serving under a bunch of zealous, we could fight with an Empire or Kingdom.


At least, we still had the night to discuss. For now, we ate, we listened, and we rested. Of course, we tucked some blades under our sleeves, no use getting killed this early in the story after all.


The intel revealed by the Pope and his underlings were interesting enough. Remember the comment about Middle Age above? It was spot-on, and I smelled some serious bullshit over the horizon. But we were just asking for a brief, weren't we? So, a short summary of each "good faction" was barely enough to satisfy my thirst for knowledge, and clearly, there was not enough for Vuong to build a contingency plan.


The map of the whole land looked strange. The area was blocked by the "Great Mountain" on the east and the "Giant Desert" on the south (the local really needed better naming sense) with three rivers cutting through it. All three rivers also began from a mountain range, called "Dragon Nest", and they ended up with a smaller sea of the sort, one that had a similar sentiment to the Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile, the north side was covered with Great Ice Ring, and the west had the Deep Ocean. It seemed suspiciously alike Europe, albeit with a different land shape.


The politics were quite a mess. Down south, just above the smaller sea, was the land of Pope. Sure, it had a much more proper name, but I did not like pronouncing it. From the look of it, the Pope seemed to have a great influence on everything, ranging from politics to the economy. In fact, half of the talk was about how great his land was, how great his God was, and how well the flock of other nations were following it. Just like a stereotype theocratic country, one of the major powers there was healing magic. Recovery of lives was impossible, but that was the only limit. Cuts and bruises could be treated even with low-grade healing magic, and a higher-tier one could deal with limb loss. At least the second part was theoretical.


The next major power was the Kraut, again, nothing against Germany or their equivalent in this world, I was just too lazy to remember their proper name. It was a highly martial country with a professional standing army, which stuck out like a sore thumb in the land of conscript and levies. Quite a large land under their control too, and if my hunch was correct, Vuong would pick this one. They had basic metallurgy and good offensive magic to complement that. Their aristocracy would be a problem, being somewhat warlike, but at least their army seemed to be sane enough to not launch a strike first.


Two more countries were standing in equal power, the not-Soviet Union and the not-Frenchie. Again, I was not that good in history, but I still knew that the Soviet drank vodka like it was water (and I was pretty sure that it also meant "water" in Russian), and the French had an unexplainable connection to white dress… Anyhow, the not-Soviet seemed to have the best close-quarter, non-magic fighter (think berserker) and the not-Frenchie had the most mobile units on the ground. Their nobles (aka snorting bastards ) seemed to be quite extravagant though. For some reasons, I had flashbacks to Vuong whistling a certain German folk song, something about a great king called "Fred".


Standing right behind them was the fourth power, the Red Coat. I did not even have to use the British analogue here, because they were literally wearing red coats! OK, some worn red and other worn blue, but that was not important, the part where they had the best Navy was. In fact, they were so good with their Navy that they were the only power capable of travelling through the sea undisturbed. Contribute to that was that they had the best water mages available. I wondered how long it would take for Vuong to introduce the concept of "Britannia Goddess" to them.


There were also a few more Europe-equivalent countries here… and I had to admit, it seemed my estimation of the Middle Age was wrong. They had the understanding of how to use their stuff equivalent to early Renaissance era. Sure, it was more on how to use magic and not science, but then, the equivalent was still there…


Speaking of that, how long had they been at this stage? Did the Pope just say something about "for the last two centuries"? Sure, the Middle Age on Earth lasted for five or six centuries, but the Renaissance was freaking rapid… By the end of the same century, nothing was the same anymore. So, it could be said that the locals were a bit slow in the development department. One of the most plausible reasons were magic. After all, who needed to build a dam when they could simply pay a water mage to divert the water away? The Terran magical suffered the same line of thought, and they were brutally rolled over when the non-mag found out that "sparkly stuff" had no effect on the composite armour of a tank.


There was also another probable answer – the Church. Here, they might involve themselves a bit too deep in internal affairs of the surrounding countries, mostly in the part where they forced everyone to play nice. In broad term, it would keep the peace and friendliness between countries at a tolerable level. In technical and political term, well, when there was no conceived enemy, there would be no pressing need to research and invest in military development, which then led to no product being released by the armed forces into the civilian market. In the end, it resulted in a stagnant environment.


I glanced back to Vuong, who was brooding over the newly received intel. His eyebrows were knitting together while his lips were pressed hard on each other. It was quite an arousing sight to me. I had to suppress the desire of licking my own lips, he just looked tasty while concentrating on some matter.


So, honey, what route would you choose?


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Edited on 24 March 24, 2019 with Grammarly

 

[XelianEmperor]

Fascinating work

The second part is expositio-ny without being expositio-ny if that makes sense

Anyway hope this story continues I could always go for some Isekai

 

[ComradeH]

Fascinating work

The second part is expositio-ny without being expositio-ny if that makes sense

Anyway hope this story continues I could always go for some Isekai

Click to shrink...

Thank you for your support

 

[ComradeH]

{Operative's POV}

If my old man was here, he would probably say something along the line he had heard, seen, and done worse. Considering that he had already replaced a third of his body mass to compensate for the damage in warfare, it was more of a statement than a boast. However, I was not my dad, I had neither the Spec-Op training nor the augmentations. I only had some basic regular force training and my own gut.


Sure, I was working for the Security Bureau, but not all positions of the SB were combat orientated. Heck, I had not even picked a speciality yet. I knew a bit of combat, a bit of engineering, a bit of CBRN, a bit of counter-magic, but nothing concrete. I blamed Yukino for that, three years ago, she dragged a clueless part-time intern into her mess…


Though I had to admit, the part after that was solely blamed on me. It was one thing to be dragged in, but it was another thing to sneak in a hostile compound with no support and training. At least I was able to cut down on my zeal of saving money and collecting the debts.


Anyhow, I must admit, I had no viable solution to deal with the situation on the ground. Hell, I did not even know how to properly with being kidnapped, let alone transporting to another world, and by magic no less! As far as the Federation knew, magic was synonym with "bad news", the only remaining question was "how bad". On this world here, I would put it like the early days on Eastern Front of World War Two for the Soviet. Doom was coming, and everyone was helpless to stop it.


I clicked my tongue in annoyance. The only good news was that none of us was being brainwashed at the moment, or at least, any detectable mind magic was being used. Many of my classmates only knew about fixed emplacement of anti-mind-magic technology (read: sufficiently analysed mind magic rune-based devices), but Yukino and I had better devices: portable and disguise items. Sure, they were not as powerful as the ones used by the "stereotyped" operatives, but they made due, not to mention that they were not trustworthy.


So, with both devices reporting none of the known mind-control magic being used, there was not much worry for me to be turned into a mindless drone. However, knowing the human's history, such a thing was not guaranteed. After all, the Crusade of Middle Age was a prime example of this – a mix of religious zealotry, charisma, death threats and gold was more than enough to create "textbook paragon heroes".


In translation: idiots who would charge ahead and die because of their own recklessness and stupidity, their strength and valour be damned.


At least they had good food, like very good food. Not as tasty as a five-star restaurant, but it was quite good and tasty, and each serving was definitely large enough to be two counts in such a restaurant. Worry aside, each and every one of us took the meal with gusto. It was not every day when there were real, honest-to-God maids serving us food with some bards telling tales as entertainment. To be fair, I preferred watching some exotic, mysterious, and Arab-like dancers showing their art. However, I did not think Yukino would appreciate it.


At least the maids were cute enough. While they were not anime-like (translation: black and white frilly dresses and skirts), they were certainly beautiful and charming. Their tone was definitely respectful, and I was pretty sure that it was borderline on worshipping. Needless to say, they did one hell of a job on the imagination of a young and hormonal boy like me. At least Yukino was not aware of some of my fetishes. I would not be alive if she did though.


I had to suppress a chuckle at that. I was not blind to the shenanigans taking place around me, especially when it concerned the girls. I knew clearly that I was in love with her, and I knew that she was also in love with me. And as much as I wanted to propose, I knew that doing so was stupid and reckless. I was an operative of the Security Bureau, proposing to my own charge was simply unacceptable. The higher-up would definitely send someone to replace me, and they would give me a seven-point-sixty-two headache soon enough.


However, that was on Earth, or rather, within the Terran Federation, and I was pretty sure that we were not around there anymore. We were on a new planet, one riddled with magic and fantasy. This was a brand new world, fresh and ripe for my taking. There would be no rule to bind me, provided that I was strong, fast, and cunning enough to defeat, outrun, or give the ones hating me a merry chase. If I was just alone, I would have ditched the party already. However, I was brought here alongside my class… alongside the girl I loved. Making sure she was safe was the least I could do.


Besides, sword and magic seemed to be the king and queen here, and I knew none of them. It was probably better to wait and learn something before going my own way. Knowledge was power, that was the motto of the Ministry of Education, and surprisingly enough, of the Security Bureau. Of course, the SB had a few more mottos, none of them was official, but the point stood. Knowledge meant power.


The intelligence comprised by the Church was a real boon. Yukino and many of my classmates would miss much of the important stuff, but not me. The information load here was nothing compared to the Chemistry lessons I must revise for the last final exam.


First off, the continent here was named "Ashka", "Great Land" in their ancient tongue, or as they put it the "Language of God". As expected of a late-Middle Age and early-Renaissance era, their maps were more "artistic reference" than actual geography record. Still, if their claim of "needing three continuous years to travel from the north to south on foot" was correct, I would say that this continent was quite large indeed. Its distance of north to south would be at least equal to Europe in length from west to east, and the gap east-west here would be something like 50% longer than that. Quite a large land, but it was nothing compared to the whole America, or even Asia for that matter.


Second, everything here gave me the vibe of Earth's Europe, especially in politics and geography form. Sure, the names were off, and the shape was not precisely the same, but it was the feeling that mattered. The Mediterranean was reincarnated as "Tiska", or "Tears of God" with "Ashka" at the northern shore and "Soska" (Sand of God) on the southern shore. Who controlled the sea routes here would dominate the political landscape of the southern side of the continent.


And the one being able to do that was the Church, or as they called themselves, the Esschiliary. No Kingdom, no Empire, just plain Ecclesiarchy, just like how the Vatican addressed themselves back in the old days. Needless to say, the Pope was effectively the Head of State and Government. He seemed to be a nice enough guy, even though it looks like he just considered other people as "children". Worst case scenario, he would be the ones pulling strings behind every other political entity here. Considering human's history in this equivalent period, it was nothing surprising.


Besides, having a large cache of "magical weapon" under their basement never hurt, neither. From the Pope's own words, they were the ones supplying magical weapons for the whole continent, the quality was just a few steps away from magical allies' races, like Elf and Dwarf (and yes, Elves and Dwarfs were real). From a gameplay perspective, the Church would be an elite faction, focusing on high-tier units with high value, while having a crap economy. They relied on tributes from other countries (or "hush hush" and "protection money"), after all. I wondered if my contribution of artillery and guns would change that. It was worth a try, and if my Church ramped up their magical weapons, well, I knew how to enhance my weapons with basic magic from Earth.


If the Church was the big shark in the field of religion and diplomacy, then the Empire of Gorgonia was the big shot of military and bureaucracy. They were the only one here maintaining a full-time professional army, one that dedicated to attacking and defence. It looked like they had been able to crack the code on mass-producing iron and steel because both the absolute and relative amount of steel amours and weapons here completely dwarfed other countries. Sure, they might be the elite formation, and their stuff was not that solid in the first place, but it was the ability that made them stand out.


Furthermore, unlike a few other countries, their delegation of the aristocrat was actually competent and friendly. They totally acknowledged our shocked state and they did not even try to dump us information, but simply gisting them into bite-size chunks. I did not know about others, but they had already got my respect and preference for doing so. Their magic training was behind others, but instead of flashy and powerful moves, they utilized the basic and pragmatic spells like fireballs or stitching the scars. They were lower-tier magic, but they worked beautifully.


Good, they had learned the lesson of their future counter-part on Earth: quantity had a quality of its own. I wondered if I should really work for them…


However, the Empire of Gorgoina was besotted on two sides by two not-so-friendly Kingdoms, the Kingdom of Volba on the East, and the Kingdom of Versaillie on the West. Sure, there were a few smaller dukedoms dotting the landscape between them, and the said lands also sent their representative here, but I tuned out their appearance. Strategically speaking, they had no important resources, and they were stuck between giant players. Poland knew the game well enough, they were once a power to be reckoned with, and then Germany and Russia/USSR/Russia took it as an offence. Meanwhile, Vietnam, the home country of dad, was able to dance on the line, they knew how to balance between martial and diplomacy, and then they were still a force to be considered.


Speaking of the other two kingdoms, they spent more money on cavalry as well as mages, probably to counter the advantage of infantry, support, and defence emplacement of the Empire. The Volba invested in heavy cavalry, supported by Ice Mages, while the Versaillie raised rapid raider-like units, supported by Potions for stamina and speed boost. Furthermore, the Versaillie was blessed with many luxury items, such as milk, cheese or cloth (which was used as a part of the payment for the officers). The Volba was much more conservative, though the amount of bling quite a bit much.


A worse part was that the leaders of the two delegations were not precisely… friendly. Sure, they smiled and showed their respect to my class, but the respect was quite fake, and I believed they were just scheming behind our backs. It was lucky that none of us had said anything about our common-folk origin, my class had seen what they had done to the maids and the guards. The last thing we wanted on the first night was setting them on our own arses.


At the fourth position, and it was only "forth" because the combined power of the Volba and the Versaillie was too great, was the Kingdom of Albion. Unlike all other countries focused on the ground force, they invested heavily into Navy as well as auxiliary raiding forces. It was expected, seeing them to be an island in the first place. Who controlled the ocean ruled the land. It was a pity that the number of sea monsters was abnormally high, stopping them from projecting their power any further. At the moment, they collected naval protection fee from all countries who wanted to launch sea trade, and their grasp had already reached Tiska.


They were a perfect balance between arrogance and self-confidence. There was little respect held for other countries, especially the Versaillie, but there was a reason for that. The two countries had waged wars against each other a few times, and the Frenchie only won once or twice. To think those victories were pyrrhic at best, even when the Red Coats were outnumbered by five to one and their enemy had total naval support.


There was also an on-going joke on what would be more powerful – the defence of Gorgoina or the fleet of Albion. Luckily, they were friends, and more with their Emperor and King married sisters of the same family.


Meh, I had seen and read worse then.


Down south, across the Not!Mediterranean was a collective of tribes as well as many other non-human entities. Little information was known about them, mostly because their delegation teams had not arrived. The road was too long and the ritual must go on or they would miss the chance. However, from the grimace of every other representative, I must assume the tribes were bad news.


Something like Israel to the surrounding Arab countries, both sides hated each other (or even disliked at best), but the Jews were simply too tenacious or too dangerous to defeat. Maybe the tribes had powerful fighters or their own shaman magic? Possible. At least, the Class Rep was able to convince them in a series of beautifully constructed words, striking awe into the eyes of Albionians and surprise into her classmates.


She had royal blood in her vein after all, and the classical was always classical.


So, in short, for friendly forces, we had the Elves, Dwarfs and Beastpeople. That was when things got interesting. The Ecclesiarchy hated them, showing clear racism and xenophobia the moment they were mentioned. The Pope even mentioned something about cleansing Ashka from corrupting elements. God created men in his image, and the others were not, so it was "duty of mankind" to preserve the purity of earth. Or it was something like that, I tuned out his rant somewhere in the middle.


At least his disciples were more… restrained, as in they did not rant out anything. However, that did not mean they did not share his sentiment. A girl referred to as "Saint Lumina", answered our question with a seemingly neutral tone. However, it was very easy to realize the passive-aggressive as well as the snarks in her lines. It was quite awe-inspiring, attracting my own attention on her pale skin, blue eyes and blond hair. The white pristine dress and veil, in combination with her angel-like appearance, added extra seriousness as well as comical features into her words.


I paid extreme focus on her until my thigh was pinched by Yukino. The sudden pain dragged me back to reality… Yeah, she was pouting with the flushed pair of cheeks. Her gaze toward me was part-anger, part-shy, part-nervous, and totally jealous. I had to use every single bit of my will to suppress my smirk, and then I just utterly failed at that.


"What? Are you jealous?"

"Hpmh!"


She just scoffed, and then turned away angrily… Ah, tsundere at the finest. It was also… lucky (?) that Yukino also had a few more personality traits, the kuu-, where she suppressed and controlled her emotions, the dan-, where she was quite shy, and even a yan- part where… yeah, let's not talk about yan-dere then. Still, I just loved teasing her sometimes.


"So, should I just keep watching you from now on? Or should I propose to you right here and right now?"


Many people would think it as a joke… but they had no idea how serious I was when talking that line. After all, this was the new world, the laws and rules of the Terran Federation did not apply here, and the reach of Security Bureau had not arrived. I could safely marry the girl I love without any major trouble.


"Stupid! You should pay attention to the setting! THE SETTING!"


She seethed through her mouth, which allowed her to keep the whole thing from blowing up sky high. Talking while others were doing so was quite impolite after all. The "Saint Lumina" eyed upon me, but I had already turned my sight forward again, being unflinching under her gazes. Unseen by her was my hand intertwining with Yukino's.


Her information was also interesting, to say the least. The Elves were powerful, even the weakest among them could fight off at least ten grown and trained men single-handly. They were also highly specialized, with swordsmen, bowmen, shield bearers, and mages, especially their mages. They were elites among elites, but their number was also very small, courtesy of both their biology as well as their doctrine. Elves took a long time to reproduce, and even longer time to fill in their ranks of warriors. Fifty years minimum to train a swordsman or archer, and even a hundred to have a mage.


To put it in respective, among Terran Federation, even the harshest training regimen needed only four years to have a combat-ready operative. For the regular forces, the time period was less than one year and a lot less intense.


It was no wonder why on Ashka and Saska, Elves were only a second-rate power…


Dwarf, like human's imagination, was master of the forge. It was unknown if they had cracked the code of mass production, but it was explicitly said that they had cracked the code of iron and steel. It was unknown if they were able to do it on an industrial scale (ie a blast furnace) or they had access to a nearby volcano. Either way, it was not important for the men here, what they needed was high-quality weapons and armours from the forges of the Dwarf. Those were sold by the short people at a cutthroat price, and even then, there was not enough supply to satisfy the demand. I wondered if I should give them a middle finger by showing the blast furnace operation here…


The last group was no one else than cat girls, dog girls,… And I really should not read beast girl hentai the night before. I had almost imagined Yukino wearing Japanese-anime maid with some animal ears on her head and calling me "master" this morning. At least she was not able to detect my lustful gaze… Anyhow, back to the topic, Beastpeople. As the name implied, they were a cross-over between normal being and beasts. They had more strength, stamina and other sensory power compared to normal human beings. They were also quite an analogue to the Elves, strength and endurance verse speed and agility. However, unlike other people, the Beast people had not been able to form their own collective force, and instead, there were only tribes, not cities or states. Worse, they were living a nomad lives and lack any residence place.


Still, the vibe of a cat girl (and a dog girl, and a tiger girl, and… you knew the drill, right?) was quite toxic for a boy like me. Hell, it was the same for many other boys in the class, if their dreamy face was a reliable proof. Needless to say, the girls were… not very enthusiastic about that. A few girls had already slapped their boyfriends on the back of their heads, and Yukino pinched me again on my thigh. It was totally worth it though.


The intelligence briefing quickly ended after that, with the class mitigating over the whole compound. My class needed time to digest the information, there was simply too much for them to chew down at the moment, and the teacher, as well as the Class Rep, needed to negotiate for more benefits. Like it or not, only Yukino and I were trained and baptized in fire. The others were not hardened enough to deal with the burden, and throwing untrained conscripts blindly into the gutter when there was no pressing need to do so was stupid.


At least my class got quite a few hardened figures. Apart from the sorceress and me, we also had the Class Rep, a descendant of British royalty with training in diplomacy, "Commissar", who hailed from certain intrigue and political background, or "Dealer", who was well-versed in underhand tactics as well as reading the body language and tone. Together, they were a nice supplemental to our teacher, who was nothing more than a normal one.


Hopefully, they could delay our deadline for response by a few weeks, or a few days at least. We needed local training and more knowledge, and even basic training took time. I wondered if we could make a dent on the front line of the upcoming war. Well, the war would not begin within the next years, so a year and a half were more than enough to train us to regular force level. Even after that, we would have half a year more before the regular forces of the darkness arrived. So far, it was manageable.


I sat down on a piece of rock on the edge of the camp, watching the whole scenery with a sigh. The "summoning site" here was too far from any nearby town or cities, with the nearest one two days away on a fast march on horseback. It would be five days for us who travelled on foot or sat within the wagons. So, with a distance too large, we had no choice but to sleep outdoors, within some tents.


And those tents were a disgrace, mostly because they were not equipped with any magic to regulate temperature or humidity. Section Six of Security Bureau was originally an anti-magic task force, but they were also pragmatic enough to use magic when it suited them. After all, in small-scale usage, magic was still more efficient and user-friendly than technology. Those self-contained tents were extremely nice to sleep in, considering the environment inside was set at the user's preferences.


Still, I did not comment that out loud, it would be too impolite and too high-key after all. At least, none of the locals found my desire to be alone for a while strange. They just thought that I had yet to get over the shock and surprise… How wrong they were, I had already done that. I was just plotting and planning. I was just one person, my hyperspace arsenal had many "wonder weapons" (for the locals, at least), but those were for emergencies, so the quantity would be low. Five battles and I would be dry up. I needed to secure my own supply lines, after all, masters talked about logistic.


From my own view, the Empire of Gorgonia was probably my best bet. My knowledge vested heavily in engineering and warfare, which would benefit them greatly. However, there was no guarantee that they would use my ideas for good. Humanity on Earth was the prime example of that, too many bright ideas had been perverted into killing machines. If I instructed the locals on how to do something, then it was also my duty to teach them the moral in using them. The risks were too high…


There was someone approaching me, causing to turn my glance. Unsurprisingly, it was Yukino, with a pair of escorts from Ecclesiarchy behind. At least they recognized who she wanted to meet, and they quickly departed, leaving some privacy for us. Even though it was dark, every corner of the camp was still lit up with fire, allowing me to watch her beauty clearly.


Still wearing the uniform of the high school, she sported a white shirt tucked inside a green skirt, one just ended just above her knee. Her slender, yet baring a hint of muscles, legs followed up, which swayed with each and every step she took. The long black hair was breezing behind her back, courtesy of the chill wind in the night. While her figure was not drop dead gorgeous like any idols, she was certainly well-balanced in every department. She curved out where it needed to be curved out, and she curved in where it needed to be curved in. In short, she was quite cute. Just her appearance alone was enough to make me having a crush on her, let alone being extremely competent.


She stood in front of me with her eyebrows quirked up, as if asking a silent question. Me? I just wordlessly inched a bit to the side, leaving enough space for her to sit down. The spot was quickly taken by Yukino, and she wasted no time before leaning on my body. My brain quickly reported the soft sensation tingling all over my side, not to mention something very "fulfilling" around my elbow.


Yeah, it was just wonderful to have a girl loving me then.


"So, honey, what would you do then?"

"I'm planning to…"


Then, my brain suddenly froze.


What did she just call me? Was it "honey"? That word was reserved for couples only! Hang on, if she called me so, did it mean that she was proposing to me? Seriously, it should be MY JOB!


"Yes, honey, you have it right. So, let's me ask again, would you want to be my boyfriend?"


---------


Edited on 24 March 2019 with Grammarly

 

[ComradeH]

{Sorceress's POV}

The first night passed peacefully enough with my class dividing ourselves into the tents. Luckily, there were a lot of tents, more than enough if each of us took one for ourselves. However, none of the kids was (in)sane enough to sleep alone, so they packed up in groups of three to six. Most of the group was single-sex, though from some strange reasons, "Commissar" was tasked with guarding "Nazi" and "Miko".


And yes, I learned the habit of naming others by nickname through my boyfriend, who had been sleeping in the same tent as I did. Yes, Minh Vuong had accepted to be my boyfriend, almost jumping at the fact. He sealed the deal with a French kiss while bending me backwards. The feeling there still sent shiver upon my spine. Clearly, the time he spent watching porn and reading hentai had paid off, even if he failed to recognize that I had pulled his favourite girl proposing scene to him. Still, he was a boy, and a boy had little to no understanding in such fine romance matter.


Waking up in the morning was quite hard. The ingrained biological clock told me that it was seven-ish, but my own emotion feeling had told it to fuck off. I was blissfully sleeping in the warm and sturdy arm of my new boyfriend, and there was little that could pry me of it. Heck, even waking me up every day had been hard and risky enough already, and only Vuong was (in)sane enough to do so. Of course, the part where I loved him also helped a bit, not like he needed to know that.


My body stirred slightly, craving for more of his warmth and his scent. Sure, the Ecclesiarchy gave us some blankets woven with high-quality fabric, but they were still nothing compared to basic thick cotton ones in a heated closed room. Still, I had to make do with what I had, and there was only so much one could do for a field tent. Besides, Vuong was a good boyfriend, who quickly offered his body heat to keep me warm. Like any spoiled and new girlfriend, I accepted it a bit too hurriedly.


However, this did not lead to that and we did not have sex. We just enjoyed each other's company, especially when our love for each other was known and confirmed. Besides, I had the absolute proof that Vuong was no impotent, and he was as interested in making descendants as I did. Too bad, both of us were too clinically critical and smart, we knew the risks of having babies in a strange new world. Besides, we were just seventeen, there was still time for us to do hanky panky later, more and heavier hanky panky stuff. Now, all we were doing was to enjoy the last bit of each other's warmth.


"Are you awake?"


The calm and light voice of Vuong was raised, sound very assuring in my ears. He was my rock and my minder, as much as I was his moral support. Without turning back, I somehow knew he was still completely still, yet also wildly awake.


"Yeah, just did then… It seems like you are used to getting up early."

"Well, I have to factor in the time to wake you up every morning, so…"


I just "hmph" him, he should not have spoken that. A lady always had to protect her image after all. Sure, there were only him and me knowing this, but the point stood. There was no way in hell I would let my children with him knowing that their mother was a sleepy-head when she was younger.



The embrace around my sides turned tighter a bit, and Vuong held me firmer against his body as if taunting me a little. His upper body may appear sleepy, but his lower was anything but. To be fair though, the lower body of males was rarely lazy. I suppressed a chuckled at that. He would make very very fine husband in the future then, competent enough to earn a good job, smart enough to be profitable, strong enough to keep his check, and passionate enough to keep my gaze on him and on him only.


"Yeah, laugh on my libido all you like, you would not have such a chance after wearing the white dress."

"Oh,, really honey? I guess I would laugh even more, after all, the sisters would be jealous of your passion on me."

"Sisters?"


Right, I forgot, he was a boy. A highly competent, deadly, baptized-in-fire, but he was still a boy nonetheless. Without warning, I suddenly flipped my body back, lying face to face with him. That forced him to open his eyes, and he was definitely wide awake when my hand grabbed the budge of his pants firmly. I did not know if it was normal to have the budge twitch and get slightly larger though.


"This is another world, isn't it? And it would be a matter of time before multiple girls flocking to you, vying for your love and attention. You are a hero from another world, summoned to get rid of Darkness, so you WILL a fairly large harem soon, and remember…"

"I have you already, so I was in no rush to make a harem."


He replied with a slow but deliberate and firm voice, and he wasted no time to untangle his arms before lifting my chin up and sealing my lips with a greedy kiss. My hands had departed from his groin moments ago, and now they were grabbing onto his back. His tongue jerked a bit within my mouth, no doubt he was feeling pain from my nails digging into his skin… well, pain and pleasure. I could never understand boys in this matter though. They seemed to cherish both being painful and dissing out the pain at the same time.


Not that I minded, of course. He was mine, as I was his. That was enough.


Suddenly, someone called from behind my back:


"My Lord and L…"


His line was cut short with two very irritated teenagers staring daggers at him. It was a terrible experience for him, a junior officer by the look of it was about to suffer the wrath of two VIPs.


It was… lucky for him that I was not an emissary from Darkness. I would love nothing more than skinning him alive while having sex with my boyfriend right in front of his deranged eyes. But alas, I was a good girl, and Vuong hated excessive renegade activities. A bit was alright, but the excess was heavily frowned upon.


"My apology, I would be coming back later."


Still, he was smart, I had to give him that. It was unwise to cockblocking a bunch of horny teenagers, especially ones knowing how to kill.


Vuong grunted, clearly annoyed with the rest being cut short. However, at his core, he was still a trained operative of Security Bureau, Section Six. A junior operative with no specialization yet, but he still recognized the signs of summoning from superior. He slowly untangled my hold while caressing my body before finally sitting up. His undershirt was crumbled, but still serviceable. It took little effort and time for him to get dressed. It was enthralling to watch him doing so. The whole process was a nice balance of classy and badassery, it promised both friendships and raw savagery in the same package…


And then he handed me my clothes, which I promptly put on my body. Of course, I gave him a full alluring show of me wearing my uniform back. It was one thing to embracing me wearing nothing but my underwears, and it was another to see me getting dress. For obvious reasons, I found out his buttons via his not-so-well-hidden folders on his computer. The lust and hunger appeared in his eyes were more than enough to be a prize for me. I would love to counter them, but alas, one thing at a time.


We checked our gear one last time before walking out, and Vuong quickly sported his game face. It was full on business then, my "seals" were still intact, and his hyperspace arsenal was still 100% functional. We were good to go.


He stepped out of the tent first, clearing the way for his girlfriend. I felt there was something missing though, it was not dangerous, but it was something nagging in a corner of my mind… Then I heard snickers and chuckles, along with some feminine whispers. Right, I forgot this part. A female and a male sleeping together usually meant they had sex or at least deep skin contact. Vuong and I were somewhere in between, it was a sensual night, but not sexual (despite our frustration at just being so). I glanced toward the most likely culprit, "Commissar", who shared the tent with "Nazi" and "Miko".


There was a shit-eating grin on his face and deep blushes on the two girls' cheeks. Then I realized, it should be "groin-eating" for it to be something literally happened.


Boys.


"So, Vuong, how was your night? A gale of the blizzard? Or two? Three?"

"Meh, only one."


Vuong was goading his opponent into a trap, I just knew it. The ass-suffering smirk was barely hidden, and I was the only one knowing it.


"So, what is the first thing your girlfriend does to you this morning? These two lovely ladies here just keep grabbing on my biceps."


That was a jab. "Commissar" was one of the most muscular and fittest boys in the class, if not the most. Meanwhile, despite his training, Vuong was gearing himself to be a stamina- and speed-based fighter, not a strength-reliant one. His muscles were toned and firm, but they were less pronounced compared to "Commissar".


"Oh, she just keeps moaning and whispering to me, something about Don't stop."


It freaking nailed it. I just knew it from the beginning. Vuong was someone introvert, rarely speaking, but there existed a high likelihood that he could shut anybody down with a single line. This time it was not an exception. And I blushed heavily, wondering if he could possibly do what he had just claimed. It would be very passionate to have such a night. The activities that we could possibly do on such a night would be limitless.


My class quickly showed their support, by which I meant the boys were howling with laughter and the girls were grinning at me. It made me blushed even further. They just had no idea that it was because I was dreaming, not because it was the reality. I had no intention to correct them obviously, let them draw their conclusion.


Shortly after that, the Pope arrived with his escort, which also included "Saint Lumina". She was dangerous, I could tell it just by watching her. She paid special attention to me and Vuong the day before, most likely because she noticed us whispering to each other. However, it simply did not explain why she watched me like a hawk the night before. Still, it was not important, Vuong was mine, and she had to know that.


Sparks formed between me, the hidden sorceress of another world, and her, the saint of the local land. Of course, it was not a literal spark, it was simply an imaginative one, but it still told much about the unexplainable hostility between the two of us. One wrong move, we would unleash our spell arsenal. Though I had to admit, I was at a disadvantage here, the seals applied on my body blocked a good deal of magical power and my magical vein. However, I had a boyfriend, who doubled as my bodyguard (or a bodyguard tripled as my boyfriend and my executioner, but it was not important). He could not defeat everyone here, but he had enough skills to stop that Saint dead in her track if she meant me harm.


Literally "dead in her track". The hyperspace arsenal was not there for a show. It was used as a place to store as much weaponry as possible, and humanity was extremely brilliant in making deadly weapons.


I smirked, tempting the saint to come and attack me. I had no idea why she was watching me and Vuong, but it was not important. She was very irritated. And I hated irritation. Borrowing Vuong's muscles to take her down was one of the most cost-effective plans I had. Too bad for me (and good for her), my boyfriend had seen something wrong, and it did not take much time for him to deduce and step in the line of fire.


It was only then that I broke my visual contact with the so-called saint and paid attention to the words of Pope. Huh? Strange. He was saying something about training my class in the usage of magic. That was strange, the proportion of people able to use magic on Earth was very small, something like one in ten thousand. The probability for a magic user with meaningful magic was even smaller, about one in every a hundred. The Pope just said it, as if every single one of us had magic running in our veins already.


It was puzzling, but I did not comment it out loud. After all, it was me that did not pay any attention. Such action was highly… impolite.


"You didn't pay attention, did you?"


Vuong asked me after the Pope's delegation had left. There was no anger or annoyance in his voice, there was only serene acceptance. He had gotten used to my quirks, it seemed.


"Correct."


A not-so-silent sigh was heard among the whispers of my class. We were still standing in our place, which suggested that we would receive our instructors soon. I wondered if they would look like…


"… As it turned out, we have magic, or rather, we are given magic."


That got my attention. Humanity, for all their knowledge, had tried to make artificial magic before. I did not know the full details, but it seemed like the project had failed spectacularly. Since then, giving magic to an originally no-mag person was seen as "highly risky".


"Clarke's third law?"

"Possible. I'm putting my finger on genetic engineering or something like that. The point is, we should have magic."

"Should?"

"Expected ratio is one in five awaken."

"Power rating?"

"Among every ten, it seems like three to four at D rank, two at C rank, one to two at B rank, and hopefully one or two at A-rank."

"Seem powerful. I'm only a B-plus myself."

"But ranks are bullshit and you know it."

"Touché."


Silence reigned. It was a fact that everyone knew about. The ranking was a purely empirical measurement of raw power. That was all. Just pure and raw power, not tactical and sensible thinking, not how well they used it. Just pure and pure destructive power. The magical had learnt a lesson when a Nigeria private was able to kill an A-plus-rank sorcerer as the final spite. He was killed, but the powerful mage was no more.


To put it in respective, an A-rank magical had equivalent power to an under-a-kiloton nuke. In other words, he was highly volatile and dangerous. It made sense for the Terran to keep an eye on all the magical around.


"This is Operative Drakon-5. Serial number Delta-Lama-30-04-75. Authorization code Victor-Charlie-02-09. Restraint levels one to four are disabled."


Vuong whispered at my necklace, causing me to jump up in surprise. Hang on, since when had he been able to move behind my back? And why did he release my restraints? Still, those questions had to wait a bit, I was feeling a bit lightweight due to the rush of magic. It was exotic, almost as good as me watching my boyfriend sweating after exercise.


Well, almost.


And before I asked him my questions, he had already pre-empted that and given me the answer:


"Take names, kick arses. That is my request, can you do that honey?"

"The real question here is can you catch up with me?"

"Oh? So who snuck in my embrace like a kitten last night?"


He playfully asked me, which caused me to ruffed up… just like a kitten. Yeah, he could totally catch up and defeat me if he wished for it. He was the son of the Dragon after all. The magical like me still had an uncontrollable shudder whenever that name was spoken. My boyfriend had inherited much from his father, the tenacity, the stubbornness, and above all, spite.


I lightly kissed him once more time, the temptation of dancing with a sleeping tiger like him was too much to ignore. Besides, it was also a gesture of good luck.


The instructors had already arrived.


========================================

This society valued magic greatly. That was my conclusion when the day ended. In fact, they went out of their way to satisfy the needs of their magical, even when it went against common sense. There was nothing about dodging or running, just casting spells. The British wizards and witches had the same idea, and their regular forces were mauled within two hours. And that was before the involvement of Artillery.


Anyhow, it was just the first day, so the Ecclesiarchy was probably trying to see if we can use magic or not. Translation: they were checking to see which ones they should kowtow to and which ones they should sneer on. The second part was well hidden, but not well enough. Their body language had spoken much about it already. They were little better than the old Confederate of Wizards, a bunch of sexists and racists.


At least, they were still civil and polite to us, especially when a third of our number had shown signs of magic power. "Miko" and I were on top of raw power, and we were followed by a few more others… The second group worried me the most. They seemed to be drunk on the exotic power the moment they were able to draw it. Most of the mages could control it quickly enough, and usually, we would show little signs of drunk or high by the third time we drew magic. These boys and girls… they pushed their bodies to feel the ecstasy for ten times in a row.


Vuong and I were extremely worried. They could totally lose their control of magic, releasing the whole power into the environment. At the moment, their power was equivalent to a short artillery barrage, each, already, and there was no sign of it being stopped. Worst case scenario… no, I did not want to think about it…


At least, I had seen great signs of progress. Unlike "Miko" who spread out her magic over a wide area, I channelled and focused my magic into a single strike. Total power was the same for each of us, but we used it in a different way. She would be deployed for crowd control and suppression, while I would be fit for storming into an emplacement. Blame Vuong for my sniping style, he preferred being a dagger over a warhammer. It ran in the family, I guessed…


Anyhow, from my trainers' comments, it looked like my control over magic was abnormally high. I heard a few words, like prodigy or genius. Heh, I wondered what they would think when they found out that I had a lot of practice before. For some reasons, none of my class had mentioned the use of magic on Earth, and no one had even attempted to change the situation. They all knew the value of information then.


Meanwhile, "Miko", well, it was not like she was not able to finely control her wind and fire. She could do so, but for some reasons, she just ramped up her magical output for an area spell. I glanced to the side, and to be fair, I was not surprised in the latest. "Commissar" and "Nazi" were struggling with their training, being unable to call out an ounce of their magic. The two girls might have shared the same tent with the boy the mutually loved the night before, but it did not mean that they had become friendly.


For obvious reasons, the trainers' group being fully staffed with males did not comment it out loud. Sexist or not, they knew how to stay sane and happy after marriage.


My teacher from Earth was also a part of the training session, he spoke something about being able to protect his students. None of us denied him that chance. However, just like others, he was still failing in producing any magical power. At least he was not the minority… Vuong was also among the two-thirds being unable to awake their magical power too. As if he needed to be awakened, he was talented enough already. However, my heart still ached when the dusk came and he had yet to show any signs of power. Not because he had no magic, but because the trainers of the Ecclesiarchy had already shown contempt.


They were lucky, Vuong had already signalled me to stand down. If not, they could have been pasted on the ground already. Still, the faces they were making when they realized the two of us were kissing were wonderful. That would shut them up for a while.


My class let out a hearty cheer. For them, seeing anyone kissing was a piece of good news, especially when the parties involved were their classmates. No one had tried to pry anything from us, they knew that we were deeply in love with each other. The question was when not if, we would propose and proclaim our love. Rumours said that "Nazi" had made a killing on it, she bet on me proposing to him at night, after some emotional trauma.


That sounded suspiciously specific. But then, that was all betting about.


The dinner was trouble though. The Ecclesiarchy had already shown their attitude, two tables were set with the same food and drink. But one had definitely more food for each seat with better decoration, and the whole set looked a lot more luxury and beautiful. The other one, well, it had less food per head and the view toward the entertainment was seriously blocked. Discrimination at its finest.


Anger boiled in my vein, and I was ready to blast that arrogant Pope away. He even had the gut to say that the scriptures had written that the ones with the gift were allowed to have a better treatment. Everyone in my class knew that it was bullcrap. Multiple religious texts suffered the same, the ones who actually wrote them matter. The untarnished truth was secondary.


While most of my class loudly protested that, a fraction of my class gleefully accepted it. Unsurprisingly, those were the ones getting drunk on magic earlier today. They gave little cared about their less lucky classmates. No, actually those traitors even dismissed us, saying something about the superiority and the better. They seemed to have forgotten the painful lesson of World War Three already.


The rest of our class took the "lower" table in spite. The elite group scanned around the room… Yes, the elite group was comprised of the best ones in my class, Vuong and I, Class Rep and "Dealer", "Commissar", "Miko" and "Nazi". Our teacher was also considered as part of this group, purely because he was the elder and the voice of sanity and reason here.


The Ecclesiarchy regarded us little, the Pope and his Cardinals were pampering over the traitors and singing praises over their power. It seemed like their definition of the ones worthy, other than having magical power, was to bow down to their God. In this case, it meant following the words of the Pope. The only VIP of theirs doing something different, unsurprisingly, was the saint, "Saint Lumina". However, I could not decipher the feeling in her eyes, and Vuong had again positioned himself between the two of us.


Other countries, well, not this was the kicker, was trying to hide their reaction. But their levels of competency were a bit lower than the deceitful Terrans of the late 21st century. The Versaillie and the Volba were still their arrogant selves, though some less important figures in their delegations seemed to be more… apathy to our situation. The most important thing, however, was that the Empire of Gorgonia seemed to be bubbling in anger. Sure, they were hiding it with a façade of calm, but they were too calm for such a situation like this. Not to mention that their knuckles were cracked white.


They knew they were powerless to stop it. We knew we were powerless to do the same, but now I knew they had an apathy to our situation. For diplomatic and politic situations, that was enough. I signalled the noticeable figure to the Class Rep, who would try her damned best to get out some concessions from them. Her magic ability was low, but it was still enough to force the locals to pay some respect.


Of course, when I said "low", I meant compared to the horrific war that humanity had seen. Within the ranking of the local, she was right smack in the middle, not too powerful, but not a weakling neither.


The bards had come again, standing in the middle of the room and telling the tales of the wars passed. The group of magic junkie had fully enjoyed the attention they had, ignoring their classmates at their back. The Ecclesiarchy wasted no time to pamper their needs…


A rift had been made already. The Pope needed martyrs, not soldiers, not officers, not engineers and planners. Our class eyed them in contempt, knowing very well what would happen if one invested too heavily in front line army without bringing up the support to the desired level. However, none of us made an effort to tell the Pope that, he would just ignore us anyway. Besides, just like the elite group, everyone else was considering joining forces with another kingdom or empire. The prospect of working for the Ecclesiarchy was getting worse, while the idea of fighting with the rest was getting better and better.


I did not know about the other, but the idea to work for the Pope died that night. He had pulled back the protection detail around the camping sites, around our tents. Sure, the servants were still there, but there was only a tenth of them left, and they were within the worse spectrum. In addition, well, there seemed to be a staggering amount of religious symbols and scriptures scattering around the site, something about being the worthy…


Vuong was mad, I could see it. He never tolerated treachery, turncoats and traitors. Sure, he was an intelligence operative in the first place, but such a position was the place where loyalty was held as a badge of honour. Seeing his classmates turning their backs like that…


I pitied them. The rift they were accidentally (?) making would not be enough to save them from retribution. Nothing lit brighter under the darkness like humanity's vengeance.


-------

Edited on 24 March 2019 with Grammarly

 

[RusselsSilvrware]

There is one glaring, omnipresent flaw here: you just don't have a sufficient grasp of English grammar to be writing anything longer than a tweet. I'm honestly not sure whether it's an exaggeration to say that every single sentence needs rephrasing. If you could find a beta who was willing to rewrite the entire story one sentence at a time, the resulting product would be very good, but as it is, the mere act of reading it is a chore. Sorry.

 

[ComradeH]

There is one glaring, omnipresent flaw here: you just don't have a sufficient grasp of English grammar to be writing anything longer than a tweet. I'm honestly not sure whether it's an exaggeration to say that every single sentence needs rephrasing. If you could find a beta who was willing to rewrite the entire story one sentence at a time, the resulting product would be very good, but as it is, the mere act of reading it is a chore. Sorry.

Click to shrink...

Damn. Thanks for your advice.

Is it possible for you to sample the portion with worst grammatical mistake (or any part, if my work is equally shit everywhere)? I had no idea on what and where should I improve here ("English grammar" is a wide topic after all).

Thanks for your support.

 

[methor]

What they mean is this:

The alarm went off, and through ingrained training, I woke up… or at least, I opened my eyes, swipe and swiped off the alarm before grudgingly doing my morning hygiene. I just really hated waking up early in the morning. It was simply too annoying. But then, I was still a high school student, so I still had to go to school, and with that, waking wake up early.

Click to shrink...

First you make the verb tenses and aspects agree.
Then you work on words that have the wrong associations.

The alarm went off, and through ingrained training(awkward phrasing), I woke up… or at least, I opened my eyes, and swiped off the alarm before grudgingly doing(awkward word) my morning hygiene. I just(minimizes impact) really hated waking up early in the morning. It was simply too annoying(makes the main character sound immature, which may intentional). But then, I was still a high school student, so I still had to go to school, and with that, wake up early.

Click to shrink...

 

[ComradeH]

- snip -

Click to shrink...

Thank you for your input

 

[ComradeH]

{Operative's POV}

The days that we had to sleep outsides had ended, and the short period of "proper rest" inside a town had begun. Well, proper to a degree only. A full inn was reserved for my class, most of us had single rooms, and the less-luckier had to share. Of course, it went without saying that the magic junkies were able to receive better treatment. Instead of inn rooms, they had a full villa for themselves, one that got borrowed from the local noble.

I had no idea what it really meant, and I had no desire to dig deeper. I lacked the equipment to successfully investigate it and get away in one piece. Besides, I was not trained for infiltration, getting in a basic house was easy enough (providing there was a distraction), but getting in a well-guarded villa without being spotted was impossible for me. So, in short, I decided to drop the matter, it was much more productive to use that time for training.

My class's opinion was mixed on that. Most of them wanted no part in the fighting, especially when they had no personal stake. Actually, it was more like the entire class, sans the Zealous, were like that. We hated fighting, the Third World War left an imprint too heavy on us. War was simply too terrible to endure. However, some of us still made the decision to fight, not because of some stupid "heroes' ideal", but because to protect ourselves.

The elite group knew that it was quite likely that the local people would silence us for being useless. Worse, they would make us martyrs of religion we were no part of and then shit on our history. We must gain a foothold here, and it was probably for the best to have some fighting alongside the local. For obvious reason, the elite section would deal with that, dealing almost exclusively with the military. The rest of the class would work and assist behind the scene, they asked to be away from the fighting so they would give rear-echelon and non-combat duties.

After all, wars were not won by blades, guns, or tanks, but by logistic and morale. If those guys were unable to hold a rifle, make an artillery gun, or drive men to the front, they could cheer up the folks at home. Of course, what jobs there were or what they should do precisely was another story. However, for the elite, military training was more important at the moment. And guess who was the only bastard with some sort with military training?

Yeah, me.

The whole fuck of this class shoved their assignment on me, asking on what they should do. Well, it was one hell of a headache, mostly because there was a very large difference between the local countries and the armed forces of the Terran Federation, attracting attention from the local military personnel. For a starter, the based tactics and doctrines were vastly different for each side. Earth favoured the mechanized units with rapid advance tactics, destroying the enemy and/or their command and/or their support before they even were able to know what was going on. In contrast, Ashka seemed to have no doctrines at all. Sure, they knew how to fight, but they had not known how to co-operate with each other.

The cavalry units of the Versaillie enjoyed rushing forward, showing disdain for the foot infantry even when they were being rescued. The Gorgonia army was segregated between the common-born and the nobles. And that was only two among them, I was too depressed and shock to continue asking the army delegations team. It was one thing to be brave, but it was totally stupid to charge against without support.

Clearly, the self-claimed arrogance of the mage units did not help much.

So, I proposed a new idea. Instead of fighting for the local, we would fight with them. And before that, we would jump-start their industrial evolution a few centuries early. One should remember that the military was more than just making guns and shooting, there were also the logistics and engineering factors.

Speaking about steelmaking, anyone with a good memory capacity was called upon to draw up the design for a full process of steel making. Yeah, it may sound stupid and strange for the Terran Federation. For them, "steel" was dirt cheap material, coming in bulk. However, for the local, massive production of steel might actually worth its weight in gold.

The process was long and actually much more complex than anyone had expected. First, iron ore had to be dug up, then it would have to be transported to the refining sites, where it would be put through the furnaces. The next step would be putting the molten steel into desirable shapes… Each process could take a student at least a few years of studying to be proficient at. Therefore, I just focused on the middle part where steel was made, at least it was taught in the high school Chemistry curriculum. Besides, my girlfriend was able to remember the process much better than I was, so…

Of course, the part where we cuddling with each other while writing down the notes was simply a side benefit. I was a cheapskate, sue me.

Thanks to a lack of electricity and technology to drive a photocopier, we had to write the papers down by hand. It was tiring, but we had more time for cuddling. My handwriting was abysmal, which meant Yukino had to scold me a lot, forcing me to re-write quite a number of times. I was annoyed at that – as long as my notes were readable, it should be fine. Right?

I kept my grumbling within my mind though, I was not stupid enough to voice out my complaints. Actually, I did that once, and she instantly kicked me out of the room and forced me to spend the night on the ground floor of the inn where there was no bed. My training as an operative had yet to cover this part, so it was understandable to see me being humbled on the next day… At least the inn owner was understanding enough to lend me some blankets for the night, even if he had to hide it from his wife and daughter.

I sighed deeply. Life was much much simpler when I was single on Earth. I woke up at zero-six-hundred and went back to sleep at twenty-two-thirty. Of course, to ease myself to sleep, I usually took some hardcore Math and Physics study, or some patrols around the area. It worked wonderfully to build up my stamina. My finance and supply were well stocked, giving me little to worry about. In fact, I only had to keep an eye open for any strange reading on the sensor net. As far as I knew, the sensor gave the all clear report for the last few years consistently.

Now, I had been transported to a new world and got hitched with a girl I loved. Normally it would be a dream came true for boys like me, consisting of beautiful maids, cute anime girls, adventure and zero oversight. However, just for the sake of it, I got stuck in this political mess with no guns backing me up. Even for an adult, it was a nightmare already, and for a kid like me… I hoped I could stay alive for the next five years or so.

Just in case, I had whispered to my classmates, sans the Zealous (and the boys and girls crushing too hard on them), about the prospect of making guns. When I spoke "guns", I did not mean basic muskets for Ashka, I was speaking about the early assault rifle models, the German StG-44 or the Soviet AK/AKM. Those two were proper automatic weapons that had a reasonably high degree of ergonomics, allowing even untrained personnel to use it correctly. Especially the AK/AKM, its easy-to-use ability was legendary already.

Worst case scenario, we could break away with these weapons. Muskets and arrows would be no match for well-placed bursts of automatic guns. For them, 100 steps (about 100m) were "long-range", but for us Terrans, that was "close-range". The elite group was extremely pleased with that backup plan, and I instantly transferred the designs of the StG-44 and AK/AKM to their personal computers. It was done under the cover of me sharing the designs for the furnaces for steel making.

The local people might be proud of their heritage and power, but they were already 1000 years backwards compared to the might of the Terran Federation. We might not be the elites of our home, but we still knew how to wreck shit up.

Still, there was a major difference in logic. Us Earthlings relied heavily on combined arms, coordination, and support. The people here promoted and praised personal heroism. Sure, I had seen equivalent propaganda on Earth, but by the end of the day, it was still about teamwork and not some solo heroes. Well, one more thing I had to solve them…

Now, what was the problem about the Gorgonia delegation? Yukino had spoken something about political internal struggles.


==========================


Per pre-arranged plans, Yukino, a few more others, and I accepted the invitation from the Empire of Gorgonia. With the military theme from the NOT!Nazi, the people involved in the Terran delegation were quite military-aligned. Of course, we also had a few wannabees in the midst, I would weed them out in short fashion. A week or two of Hell training would show me clearly who had the guts to stay and who not.

Though it might not be necessary after all, and I did not mean it in a nice way. The reports from Yukino was worrying. The Gorgoina group had split into two, one would go back to their home with us earlier. Normally, it would not raise any alarm, but my observation spoke otherwise. The group stayed behind was filled with old men, elder and religious men to be precise. They showed an alarming degree of pious and clear obedience to the Ecclesiarchy, going as far as dismissing and disregarding the youngsters of the first group. It was in a patronizing manner, precisely like an elder shoo-ing a youngster away due to his/her insufficient knowledge. However, it was quite easy for me to feel the hostility underneath the tone…

A normal person would stop there, but my intelligence training suggested the likelihood of assassination. When the young group had two people in the line of succession and the other supported other figures, I believed the chance of assassination was high. A glance at the map simply confirmed that suspicion. There was a nice warm spot for a large scale assassination attempt without being stopped or spotted early enough. It was clear that the whole convoy must die, so it was the only spot viable for them to strike.

All conditions were met… The hostile had the means, the drive, and the chance to pull it off. They would kill the "youngling" group, and by extension, us. I did not know about others, but I was in no rush to die. So, in order to stay alive, I picked up the training with gusto.

Seeing me pushing harder did not come as a surprise for my classmates, they knew that my father was a military man. However, they had no idea that I was preparing for a worst-case scenario and a backup plan. I was preparing my classmates for survival when under a sneak attack under the guise of "dealing with potential cowardice and unhonorable attacks from the Dark". The elder Gorgonias hid it well, but they had no idea that such "cowardice and unhonorable assassinations" was the bread and butter of Security Bureau...

While I was drilling my classmates hard and helping them to not throw up anymore, Yukino was dealing with diplomacy and politics. She had given a degraded design of the furnaces to the older group of Gorgonia delegation, per my request. Sure, making steel was still possible with that design, but both quality and quantity were much less than the full variant. It was underhanded, yes, but it was simply payback for the potential assassination attempt on us. Besides, it was simply the deposit for the accommodation and support that they would pledge to us. Considering that the Ecclesiarchy had given up on us, I had little expectation on what they would give us. Just say a deliberately weak design was a simple counter-offer.

For obvious reasons, if they were able to give me good stuff, I would gladly return the favour. For now, though, it was better to keep my cards close to my heart.

I would love to deal with the politics shenanigans myself, but the training here took too much of my time. The classmates who would go to Gorgonia with me had to realize their mistakes. The military was never sunshine or rainbow – they were forced to run an obstacle course for the whole day. I did not let anyone rest unless they passed out or broke some bones, none of which had happened. So the track was literally covered in vomit.

They were lucky, my father even trained the recruits with dead pig meat scattered around the track while shooting blanks over their heads. Oh, and let's not mention Uncle Boris's artillery unit or Aunt Tanya's Paratrooper training… I shuddered when thinking about those two, my dad was slightly quirky, but they were completely insane. How they earned their ranks as Colonels was beyond me.

I took another sigh, seeing a girl breaking down and crying. She was a full fan-girl with some small potential in magical power. Having studied in the same school with many "hot boys" of the military and watched too much propaganda/promotion videos, she was enthralled with the armed forces. Normally, I would stop and help her out. The problem was that I had done so a few times already in the past exercises. There was a limit to everything.

Of course, I gave the team the signal for a quick and short break on the spot. They were not allowed to take off their training weights, but they were allowed to lean on the trees as support. They earned their quick and short break already.

"Stand up trooper."

I spoke in a cold and calm voice. Yeah, it was like an arsehole, but then I was the arsehole that keeping them alive. It would not be long until they knew why I was doing what I did. Besides, the girl here needed to see the truth of military state – there was simply no place for slackers.

"But~ I'm tired~."

She spoke between her pants, to which I simply grabbed her collar and hoisted her up. That attracted attention from everyone. For the past few days, my normal reaction was to split her baggage for everyone and to alternate the task of carrying her between the people. They were expecting me to do the same this time, unfortunately for them, my honeymoon time had finally ended. I leaned closed to her face, and it was extremely clear that I did not use any mouth refresher for the last few days.

"I don't care. Either you finish the training or you quit. Your choice."

"But this is too brut…"

"Do you even know who my father is?"

"Yes…?"

"So do you know what his standard drilling procedure is?"

"… No?"

"He wakes up recruits at precisely midnight with a flashbang, forces them to march, squat, and crawl over a muddy field, a river, and a jungle scattered with burnt meat from animals. Oh, and he would occasionally shoot blank rounds over their heads, assuming he did not booby trap the whole route in the first place."

Technically speaking, he only did that after the mark of two weeks for regular recruits, and even the Spec-Op would not have that during the first three or four days. But the girl here did not need to know that, she just had to know that it was always tough shit to get into elite forces – and to think she had the gut to dream about a member of 174th Powered Exo-Suit Regiment… My father's regiment.

"… Is that even humane?"

"Probably not, but it was more humane than sending pampered and stupid fangirl bitches like you to the front. You will get every single one here killed, so I suggest you either quit, or drop your bitchy attitude, or I'll make you."

"How?"

"Don't ask questions that you may not like the answers."

It was implying the probability of me killing her, probably with a blade slitting her throat or a gun at the back of her head. I had to admit, the chance for that to happen was actually larger than zero percent, but doing so was simply a waste of time, consumable resources, and manpower. That, and I hated killing my own classmates when their only crime was stupidity and naivety. Too bad, she was too spooked to know and comprehend that logic efficiently. Not that I blamed her, of course. Every single one of them knew what would potentially happen if I used that tone.

The last time I used it, the dudes bullying Yukino were hit by a car and stuck in the hospital for three months. The main problem was that it was actually a genuine accident, I was planning to ambush them with sleeping gas at the next intersection… Of course, I would neither confirm nor deny that I had never seen the car before…

Anyhow, back to the topic here, the girl here had probably taken enough. She instantly collapsed on the ground the moment I released her. Tears were pouring from her eyes amidst the sobbing. I just stood there silently, not showing any emotion. Sure, I felt my own sympathy to her, but if I showed weakness here, the whole crew would crumble. The ones lacking guts would drop out, and the ones with enough determination would lose some of their motivation…

"So, lass, what do you choose?"

"Quit! I quit!"

Good for her. She knew her limits… but it would be better if she surpassed her own. Still, I could not always ask for diamonds served on a silver plate. Sighing out, I bent down and picked up her backpack.

"Fireteam B-1, RTB."

"Aye aye, sir."

Squad Bravo was the group selected as representatives in the Empire of Gorgonia. "Bravo", because it was the second group (the first was led by Class Rep). Among this squad, five of them volunteered to fight, a bit too heavy for a fireteam, but nothing that I could not manage. Besides, with my drilling, one or two would drop, freeing rooms for more efficient training and commanding.

I was also in charge of training others too, but these boys and girls were specifically trained by me. They knew more about running and crossing obstacles than others in the class, but it also meant that they were dead tired every single day… Some would say I was heartless, but ones who knew would say I was pragmatic and had no other choice. They had to man up for the war brewing over the horizon.

The risk was especially high with them. Fireteam B-1 would travel on the same route to Gorgonia with me, meaning that they could be caught in the potential crossfire. It was a dilemma for me as a student. But as an intelligence operative, as an agent of Security Bureau, Section Six, I knew the solution already. After all, it was a part of my oath – I would protect them from any harm coming from magical. Sure, it would mean breaking my own cover, but then, this was another world, so the rules from Terran Federation did not apply.

Besides, I was pretty sure there was a Code (or two) allowing an agent breaking his own cover to save civilians' lives.

I kept my silence and mulled on my plans on the way back to the inn. The Fireteam was dead tired, none had the strength left to even talk. That, or they were simply sane enough not to talk out loud. The last time they annoyed me with their chattering, I had sent them on a forced march in the middle of the night. Two laps around the town with full backpack loading, so make it… around 10km with a 20kg on their backs. They had learnt their lesson since.

Of course, this time, I had no desire to do that. Once was enough. Besides, I had more pressing matters than to punish them. The boys and girls should be in their top shapes (possible) in the next few days, so serious and heavy training was out of the question. It would explain why I had no plan to make harder runs for them, even if they had grown used to the current hellish march. They would still have to push, but they would have no risk of physically breaking down anymore.

Emotionally though? That was another story, I had put them through a lot more grizzle stuff to compensate for the decrease in training load. Instead of just a peaceful march, I had deliberately placed a few burning stacks of rays along the road. Needless to say, the kids' eyes were all watery very soon. They were lucky, I had yet to decorate the path with mud, blood and half-burnt flesh. Even without them, I managed to break one down very soon.

The trek back to the inn was quiet and solemn, none of the kid spoke anything, and the local had their order to stop themselves from blocking us from the training. They might question why I just had my men running all the way, but that was not their place and their job to ask. Good for them, arranging accidents would be hard and tiring…

A while later, we arrived back at the inn, just enough time before Fireteam B-1 collapsed on the ground. The sobbing and broken girl was guided away by her friends while the others were stowing their backpacks away. They would have a nice long hot bath for the night, I made sure it would happen. I might be a hardass drill instructor, but I was not a jackass one. Treating my men right was one of my top priorities.

Using the distraction caused by my just-free fireteam screaming for freedom, I sneaked back into the room… and I was instantly ambushed by a kiss. It was Yukino, she had already been back from the meeting with the Gorgonian elders.

"Honey."

"Sweetie."

"You don't mind the smell?"

"Sweetie, I once got off from your scent, so I felt nothing wrong with your body now."

Yeah, we were slightly unhinged from the norm, but considering that we were not the normal students, so it was expected. Besides she was just joking there, I knew she would not get off from the scent of my sweat and dirt…

Probably. I hoped.

"Ohhh~ sweetie, you like it?"

Too bad, my hormones rarely agreed with my brain, and for some reasons, Yukino was able to spot it very fast. Of course, she was, she was caressing her body upon mine after all. A normal boy would blush heavily, but not me. I had already seen her in underwear and I had already slept next to her with very little clothes, a bit of arousal was not enough to defeat me. Sure, it meant some awkward close encounter, but nothing I could not handle. So I simply continued her game with a soft kiss on her lips.

"You are as lovely as usual honey."

"Of course. I'm your girlfriend after all."

"So how was your day?"

As expected, she made a largely exaggerated sigh before laying down on the bed, her two legs were dangling in the air as if their owner was very annoyed. It was quite amusing, I knew how tough my girlfriend was, she was just (trying to be) girly here. Not that I mind, of course, having some childish moments was good for health… I was just leaning on the door with my arms cross, amused by her antics.

"Well, the old men accept our token of friendship, though they seem to be a bit miffed about the fact that we also share it to other countries."

"Politics, I assume?"

"Perhaps, and they are not too keen on the proposal of us forming an independent unit neither."

"Have you told them about the vastly different doctrines between two sides?"

"Yes, and they say that they had seen much more than we have, so they know more."

"How about…"

"About the fact that Earth human's history is filled with wars? Yes, I have told them that. But remember, we only have a recorded set of history for 5000 years and real proper record for half that number. The people here boasted a consistent set of history for 6000 years."

"Let me guess, those old men do not take into account the rapid advance of technology and science?"

"They don't even know what those two words mean. And they make the Republican party of the old US of A looks very progressive."

"How about the young nobles and the princesses?"

"They are impressed with the images from home, though they are a bit alarmed at how much we know. For them, thirty years of study would make them a sage, for us, the same time would just push the boundary of our knowledge by a bit."

"Any hostility detected between the young and the old?"

"Yes, but not much. Either you are overly paranoid, or they are that good in hiding their emotions."

"Let's assume I'm properly paranoid then…"

"Weapons check?"

"Yeah."

We glanced wordlessly at each other before throwing up magical jammers. She deployed a spell of her own to counter all known forms of scrying while I set up a device to counter all magical listening bugs. The locals might or might not spy on us, but it was always better to be prepared. Yukino's spell and my device were set up to simulate the same fake scenario: we would be cuddling and mumbling together. The spies would assume we were warming up while we were actually planning on how to kill them.

I activated my magi-tek armband, one that doubled that as a hyperspace arsenal. Two large cases were popped out, one for me and one for Yukino. My girlfriend picked up her trunk, which looked just like an old treasure box, with wood and cast iron. However, the look could be very deceptive. I knew it firsthand… She was pulling out her gears, her magical weapons, mostly so that she could give them a proper maintenance check. I let out a chuckled upon seeing her face. She was dead serious about this.

Look like I had to earn my own paycheck too. With practice motion, I picked up the metal one and opened it up. Guns, ammunition, explosives and other tools neatly filled up the whole container. There was enough weaponry here to fight two proper battles. And if applied properly, the explosive was more than enough to bring down the whole villa, killing the whole bunch of Zealous. It looked precisely like a wet dream of geeks, and I had to suppress my own giggle here. I could not simply afford to lose my own cool and mature image here.

I picked up the first handgun, and in a fluid motion, I disassembled it, checking over every nook and crane on it. Each and every gun must be in perfect combat condition, for they would make the difference between life and death. The cover was removed first, then the firing rod, the springs… it was a boring job, but it was necessary.

The elders thought that they could catch us with our pants down. Well, I respectfully disagreed with them.

The princesses and the nobles believed wars were about honour, and fighting must follow a form of etiquette. Well, I would prove them wrong soon enough.

-----
Edited on March 24, 2019, with Grammarly

 

[ComradeH]

Originally, I have no plan to finish this chapter this week. However, recently, Vietnam football team has just won the AFF Suzuki Cup against Malaysia. So, what was special about it? Simple, the last time Vietnam was able to reach the final round was TEN YEARS AGO. After ten long years of waiting, we are finally able to raise our banner.

How important is this AFF Cup? The first time we reached final round was in 1998, and we suffered a defeat then. The second time was in 2008, and Heaven blessed us this time, giving us a cup. But then, scandals and low-quality training hit us hard, and it took us 10 years to actually get in the final round again in 2018.

And we won.

More importantly, this cup marks a highly successful year for Vietnamese football. And when I say "highly successful", I mean

• Asian Football Championship U23 with the second position this January – and no one, including us, have ever dreamt of something this big before
• Asian Games Football 2018 – Forth position
• Second AFF Cup after ten years of waiting

So, if the Vietnamese football team(s) had been able to achieve such an outstanding achievement, there is no reason I have to accept my own writer block.

This is my new chapter, my own way to honor Vietnamese football team. Thank you, my heroes.


"Đầu xuân lấy BẠC đất Thường Châu
Tuyết trắng sương rơi pha mái đầu
Hạ qua thu tới ĐỒNG không lấy…
Sang đông lấy VÀNG có sao đâu."


[In spring they got SILVER in Changzhou
Snow and mist white all their heads
Summer passed and autumn came with no BRONZE…
But it ain't' a problem, for they got GOLD in winter.]


Chapter 6: The Trial of Fire
{Sorceress's POV}


Fireteam Bravo was occupying a side of the central campfire, while the two princesses and their "close attendants" were taking the other. Looking from afar, nothing was strange, the royalty was just trying to understand the summoned heroes better, and vice versa. Technically, it was the truth. Well, technically, my boyfriend was deliberately playing the stereotype of a military kid at the moment. A lot of vulgar jokes were told, and unless one knew history clear enough, they would miss his message.

Luckily, we were an elite class, and the upper brass of the Terran Federation might be eccentric and slightly incompetent, but they knew the value of history. Within five minutes, every single classmate of mine was riled up and ready for combat. The local princesses were none the wiser, they just thought that my boyfriend was just retelling the history. Technically speaking, they were correct. But this was not only about history.

After all, even the dumbest in our class would be able to realize the true message when their smartwatches lit up with aerial photos, the ones showing clear positions of our would-be assassins. Yeah, as it turned out, Vuong was just careful, after all, it was not paranoia when there were actually people out there after our blood.

These assassins were good, they used both mundane and magical camouflage, in fact, it was practically impossible to spot them unless one was looking for a very specific magical signal. Besides, they were just unlucky to meet us, the people who had live through a war against the worst of the magical. Such disguise and camouflage were little more than the standard by end of the conflict. Of course, Vuong was smart (and/or insane) enough to hint about it in his talks to the two princesses, even if he had to talk in a roundabout way.

For some reasons, if one wanted to talk about World War Three, he must begin with World War One.

"But isn't hiding in the trees cowardice?"

"Your Highness, it is technically cowardice, but it is also pragmatism. Besides, by our time, cowardice is defined as shying away from duty, not hiding under the bush. In fact, hiding is considered a good and ideal way to fight."

"It is strange… Why would they not advance in rank and file, welcoming the assault of the enemy? That is true bravery and honour, such should be the way of the noble and the prestige."

"Your Highness, you would be correct… if there was no way to kill on a mass scale in a short period of time. Advancing in ranks is no longer considered as brave anymore, it is simply stupidity."

"How much of a "mass" scale are you talking about?"

"Eighty thousand men on both sides."

Was that the Battle of the Somme? It was probably the last time where a mass frontal charge of infantry was launched… At least the last time where infantry was no supported by combined arms tactics. World War Two was still made of such charge, but the inter-service fire support was also introduced, greatly reducing the overall and absolute scale of the carnage.

"Well, it was not too bad for a full campaign. I have heard of my mother leading a punitive campaign against the Versaille, the war took seventy-five thousand men in six months."

"You are wrong, your Highness. It was not eighty thousand casualties over a few months, it was eighty thousand killed and crippled within a single day. Oh, and the whole war lasted for a total of five years with a total death count of… ten million, I think?"

That shut the princesses up totally. I thought that the total population count of their country would not even reach five million, so ten million was, well, a cataclysm. To be fair, the Great War was also considered like that on Earth.

"Oh, and then shit got better, your Highness. And pardon my language, but you must know that the idea of hiding was a real need in war."

Vuong gestured towards Fireteam Bravo and other "volunteers" within the class. Some people stood up, approaching the guards and asking them in hushed tones. The remaining of them was sitting still in their spots, but they were quietly packing up. I recognized this pattern, my boyfriend was about to launch a decapitation strike, and he would baptize Fireteam Bravo at the same time.

They did not need to fight, of course. But being near the action and carnage in a controlled environment would be more beneficial in the long run. That being said, the assassins still had to be brought down – and that was where the drone and the guards were for. Thanks to his political background, Vuong had an extra tool in his arsenal, a drone equipped with the magi-tek weapon. A gemstone was installed within the structure, giving him the ability to cast down some pre-loaded spells on an area. While there was a very limited set of spells and charge count, he could use the value of shock to his own end.

"What are you doing hero?"

"I'm illustrating my point, your Highness. We had ten million died in the Great War, which was also the war I just told you about. We thought we could not have another war soon, it was too terrible to bear… Then we actually have another great war, called World War Two this time. It claimed the lives of more than 100 million people."

If the ladies-in-waiting of the two princesses were not shocked before, they would be now. After all, the echo of World War Two was so great that even a century after that, people were still talking about it. After all, it led to the Cold War, and that was definitely a shitty time to live. Who could sleep peacefully when there was a real chance that every day might be the last day of Earth?

"Within World War Two, a league of evil and renegade countries banding together, forming their own block and silently dividing the world among them. They were winning and winning… even a few successfully counter-attack of their enemies failed to bring them down. Then, it was the Battle of Kursk, the most infamous country of that evil league planned to wipe out a salient of their most dangerous enemy. Eight hundred men were gathered for a total flanking manoeuvre. Do you know what happened then, your Highness?"

"It was a great struggle?"

"It was a struggle, your Highness, it was a great battle. But I'm not sure if it was a great struggle. For one, the evil empire failed to detect a massive amount of defending troops. They assumed their enemy had about 1500 iron elephants, this number was in fact 5100. They assume their enemy had something like five hundred thousand, I think… the real number was one million more than that. From those two numbers alone, you could see how well the battle was for them."

"Hang on, that was seriously underestimating the enemy, how could the scouts not know about… Oh…"

"Yes, your Highness, oh. The defenders had already mastered hiding and camouflage tactics by then. They made the evil empire to pay for their mistakes by blood, literally. And after this battle, the evil empire totally and forever lost their initiative on the battlefield, they could no longer launch any attack. Their only option left was to defend, and hoped for the best. That was the supreme power of hiding, your Highness."

"So what does it have anything to do with your action just now? You said that you want to illustrate something for me, didn't you?"

"Yes, your Highness. The battle I just said saw a total defeat for the spies of the evil empire, and I will show you how it happens here, right now, again."

Vuong just flick his wrist, and just a blink of an eye later, explosions were seen dotted around the perimeter of the camp. There were eight of them in total, and the power after each was definitely lethal and hazardous for health. The two princesses and their ladies-in-waiting were shaken up, but the bodyguards were simply raising their eyebrows at us.

Let's be honest, how could Vuong pull off that trick without telling them first. He could be dramatic and horny sometimes, but stupidity was never a part of his package. If he had not told the bodyguards, they would have simply assumed him as hostile and killed him in the process. "Blue on blue" was probably something he hated having on his tombstone.

The screen on his wrist was lit clearly, showing troop movements on the ground. Peaking over his shoulder, I observed the chaos unfolding. There were eight locations tagged and eight groups of friendly guards were sent after the assailants. Each would-be assassins had to deal with more than twenty counter-attack force, and Vuong simply distributed Fireteam Bravo and the volunteers in those numbers. Sure, it was a bit of a dick move to simply outnumber the assassins, but then, it was war, and everything was fair in war.

A few more buttons were pressed, and a new wave of explosive spells was launched. The few stubborn assassins were attacked again, this time, their magical shields went down for good. On the other prongs, the garrison had been able to kill or capture three assassins. Two more were being chased real hard in the jungle…

But one assassin was cutting his way into the centre. OK, he had not even reached the camp yet, but the arrow waves launched upon him had little effect in slowing him down. If no one did anything, the assassin would be able to reach the wall, and there would be a massacre afterwards.

"Yukino, you have command."

OK, he was… What? He was putting me in charge? Seriously, that was simply wrong on many levels. For one, I was supposed to be his ward, and putting me in charge was against the principle of "keeping me down". Besides, I had no experience in leading men. Hell, I even had a single battle only – and that time I was so livid and depressed that I did not even plan my escape. It almost ended with me and Vuong dying on that day.

"Honey, you are the only one thinking like me here. Besides, these two princesses need to know about our way of war."

"But…"

I was worried, he was deliberately risking his lives here. Hell, every woman would feel worried when her men went to the front. Vuong was competent and dangerous in his own right, but nothing was guaranteed on the battlefield. Besides, the Terran armed forces prioritied combined arms doctrine for a reason, and even the Security Bureau taught their agents to be cooperative. Yet, Vuong was neither a full-fledged soldier or agent, he lacked the training of both. It meant that the risk of him being injured, or worse, was even eve higher, so how could I not get worked up? We did not even have sex with each other, and we were both VIRGINS! I was pretty sure that there were few deaths worse than being a virgin…

Then, I suddenly felt something tender on my lips… Vuong kissed me… Then it sank in me again: Vuong had kissed me. He was a quiet and shy, rarely showing any kind of emotions, yet, he was here, publically showing his love and care to his new girlfriend. It was practically his way of saying he was deeply and totally in love with me, which sent a surge of adrenaline and other happy hormones straight to my brain, waking me up. Well, that, and the sudden distraction from the dread helped a lot.

"Wait for me, and I will come back."

He just wordlessly sent me the control over the drone before dashing away, right into the thick of the action. The girls were squealing, madly jealous, or both. The boys were dumbstrucked, though I was not sure because of which – the part where he kissed me, or the part where he pulled out a gun from nowhere. Right, he had not told anyone about his part-time job.

Yeah, he was a student, and he was a part-time intelligence operative. I felt like there was a joke or two over there.

"What… what is he doing?"

The elder princes hesitantly asked fear and doubt were evident in her voice… Right, I forgot how gingerly I became every time we held hands, and more recently, every time we kissed. I thought I had already passed the main stage of puberty – turned out I had not… damn my hormones. And I thought I had spent too much time with my boyfriend because I simply did not say anything, I simply activated my holographic projector and showed everyone the feed from the drones.

Vuong had already reached the perimeters of the camp where the archers were stationed. They had been reinforced by the magicians, but there was little progress there. The assassin was still standing tall and strong against the onslaught. Sure, he was slowed down, but he was still advancing. Even a sudden explosive spell from the drone barely had any effect, so I withheld from attacking. Clearly, a sudden strike at his weakness was more effective than just peeing on his shield.

The distance between the assassin and the wall was just two hundred meters. It was already outside the effective range of ordinary bows and arrows, and the archers here had to use the enchanted ones to push the limit. Even then, they were still pressing the limit because of the extreme range and the sheer brute strength of the assailant. The low light condition had little help here, and I had no way to show the night vision to every defender. Tsk. Speaking of low-tech…

Then, Vuong made his move. He used the wall as a support for his gun before snapping a few quick bursts at the target. With no tracer ammunition used, I could not see any "light streaks" on the screen. However, the effect of the attack on the shield could be seen easily… By which I mean we were in great trouble. Standard ammunition set up failed to penetrate a magical shield after more than fifteen rounds?

Yeah, that was either bullshit, or we were in another world. I grimaced, I had no idea how to counter that, short of building an anti-magic zone… but it would take time and resources, both of which were not available.

Suddenly, the assailant was peppered with explosions of light… Was that exotic ammunition? Because if not, there was no way that such a result could be achieved. On the one hand, using "exotic" ammunition was banned by Geneva Accord (revised), on the other hand, Security Bureau had legal means to get around the problem, and well, this is another world. The most important point was simple enough: his tactic worked.

It was simply brutally effective. The assassin was stopped dead in his track, and if my eyes were not deceiving me, I had seen Vuong using his gun to tear down his target's limbs. Some gagging sounds were heard around, and I was pretty sure that the two princesses were not the only ones affected. My boyfriend was getting a bit enthusiastic here… or he was simply using shock therapy to force his classmates to face reality.

Either way, he had stopped the most dangerous assassin around, effectively saved everyone here. It was just in time too, all other seven assassins were either captured or killed. Among eight attackers in total, three was killed, four were captured, and the last one was about to die soon.

The fight was quite anti-climatic, barely two minutes long in total. Many people were hoping for a more action-packed move, but then, this was real life. Or to be more specific, this was how military operated – 99% boredom and 1% of "What the fuck is going on?". The modern armed forces had departed from the model of attrition warfare. Sure, they knew the way to fight a prolonged war, but they hated it. So they made was as efficient as possible, the shorter it took, the better.

It might be boring to an outsider – just a tiny flash of light in the darkness and not a full array of Erika Multiple-Rocket Launcher System… But it was practical. War was wasteful in the first place after all.

Then, Vuong had surprised everyone again – he ordered the drone to zoom in on him approaching the assassin… and everyone had a clear view of him trying to save the attacker. Well, trying was a word a bit too strong. Saying he eased down the pain was probably more correct. Still, the part where he lifted up the assassin on his back and picked up the cut off limbs was a surprise to everyone…

Everyone was relieved, the worst had already been over. I did not think so. I had no idea what the fallen assassin had spoken to Vuong, but he was pissed… No, it was probably an understatement, he was mad.

And shit would happen if he was mad.

Like, for example, why was he asking me to gather everyone around the main campfire, along with the prisoners? I had a bad feeling about it.

I had not even reached the destination, and the commotion had already reached my ears:

"What are you peasants doing? Do you know who I even am?"

"Put your hands off me you filthy pig! This hood of mine is worth five of your sisters!"

Remember the part where I said I had a bad feeling? I changed it to "I just killed John Wick's dog" now.

The four captured assassins were forced on their knees. There were little injuries seen on them, minus a cut or two. The soldiers were keeping them on the ground, refusing every single chance of the captured to stand up. Clearly, the assassins were thinking about some special privileges that were granted to them. I had some nostalgia about that…

From the corner of my eye, I saw Vuong silently and wordlessly stepping in. Behind him was a small escort group, about six people in total. They were the same people rushing out with Vuong after the last assassin was brought down. Again, just like Vuong, they looked extremely mad. And somehow, every other soldier instantly knew the reason why.

My boyfriend gently laid down the crippled assassin next to tree bark, letting him facing his teammates. His hood was then, again, gently removed and… HOLY SHIT! Was that a girl? I was shocked, though I was not sure which part should I feel shocked about. The part where a girl could become this talented in the age of early Renaissance, where sexism still ruled the day? Or the part where she was very beautiful?

Her flocks of curly blond hair stuck to her round and pink cheeks because of sweat. The suit, soaked with sweat, dirt, and blood barely hid the well-endowed figure of her body, even if she was missing a leg and an arm now. And her eyes… they were blue, crystal blue, filled with both pain, sorrow, and for some reasons – relief.

"Hero, what y…"

"My name is Nguyen Minh Vuong, Agent Level Two of Security Bureau, Section Six, of Terran Federation. As my authority of highest ranking personnel of Terran security force in the area, I'm declaring this case fell under the umbrella of our jurisdiction. Do you have any objection, Your Highness?"

It was bad, really bad. Vuong was getting formal and utterly void of any emotion. He only became like that when he was extremely pissed off, and the only thing stopped him from massacring was his grip on reality. I was pretty sure it was slipping quite fast. Of course, he may not notice this, but all of my classmates within the group travelling to the Empire of Gorgonia had gasped. Well, like any good wife, I would deal with the minor problems so that he could focus on the big picture.

"S… Sure, go ahead, hero."

"Thank you, your Highness."

Wordlessly, he just flicked his armed again, and this time, he pulled out a small black box… within it was four syringes filled with some kind of transparent pink liquid. A short and crisp order saw the soldiers around restraining the captives before he plunged the syringes into their blood. As usual, he gave no fuck about everyone else.

"I want answers and I can use torture to force the answer out of you. However, I lack the gut and the skill to do so, therefore I use this, truth serum. Don't worry, they are not poisoned, and because of their severity, they were both fast acting and fast fading. If your will is… sufficient, you would be able to resist some of it. Probably."

He stood up and walked to Fireteam Bravo, and his voice was still emotionless:

"Last chance, anyone wants to back down? Remember, if you are in, you are in. War is hell, and I gladly take that baggage down to Hell with me if I have to."

"Is it true? Are the rumours about our assassins true?"

"Yes."

"Then we're in."

How? How could the news reach them so fast? The two princesses, their ladies-in-waiting, along with a few others and I had no idea on what was going on. Of course, by the look of it, I had a few hunches, none of which was pretty. After all, it took a lot to shook a well-composed guy like my boyfriend.

Vuong reached the row of captives, who were getting sedated at the moment – the truth serum had finally reached their brain.

"For the record, speak your name and your position."

Then, the interrogation began in earnest. All four captives were in fact nobles, they were not on the top of the food chain, but they still had their own weight in the court. They believed that because of their titles, they could not be trialled – at least by "commoners". While they paid respect to the two princesses, they did not really respect them because their mother, Third Consort, was originally a commoner. So why did they plan to sneak in and assassinate the princesses? Well, technically speaking, it was not them to kill the princess… it was the slaves.

Yes, "slaves". All four other assassins were just slaves, originally very bright commoners being tricked and/or kidnapped into this fate. Yes, even the powerful assassin, the one that was anti-climatically brought down by Vuong, was also a slave. It would explain why he did not immediately execute (or killed) her on the field. She had no choice on this matter, the "slave magic" forced her to carry out the order, no matter what. According to the plan, the corpses remaining behind would be the "proof" the nobles needed for more rights and powers. It was a classical trick, but then, it was still highly effective.

Of course, even when busted, they still believed in the power of the nobles. Case in point, they were planning to enslave the common-born summoned heroes, practically all of us. And they had the gal to admit it out loud without a single trace of guilt. It might explain why Vuong was so pissed. No one touched me and got away in one piece, it seemed. I was a magical myself, I knew what kind of fucked up shit a slave would have been forced to do. Keeping it short, it was not pretty at all.

A lot more details were unearthed, and interestingly enough, Vuong was able to make them confess a few more crimes. The list was quite… comprehensive, and it could be summed up in a single word: treason. They did send classified and sensitive information oversea for money, after all. Vuong could not dig out the name of their fellow crime partners – the effect of the truth serum was already fading away – but the confession of guilt was completed.

And that was what mattered.

They were found guilty by Terran law, though I was pretty sure that Vuong was just shitposting on the "section – subsection" part. He had a good memory, but the Criminal Code was not something he could remember so easily. Even then, the judgment was clear. On the account of Terran Federation's Law, these nobles were found guilty, punishable by death. The two princesses, sensing pressure from their own court, accepted the verdict. The only group having trouble was a bunch of ladies-in-waiting. A glare from Vuong was more than enough to shut them up.

Of course, by this time, the nobles had already woken up from the truth serum, and they were crying out for injustice and inequality. Their cries were ignored by everyone in the camp… Vuong just turned to the dying blond assassin, and all he received was a nod and a bitter smile. She had already faded away, but at least she had seen her vengeance carried out. The ones who enslaved her would have to face death, and there was simply no way around it.

A soldier closed her eyes and wiped the blood sticking on her face away… To be fair, she looked peaceful, just like an angel getting sleep. Too bad that her mangled limbs and the collar broke that image. These… nobles had said it. She was originally a bright and prospect commoner student, and she was forced into slavery simply because she was too bright. Her owner was bragging about it now, the shit he had done to her, and the shit he would do to us because us "filthy peasants" dared to hurt him.

A blade suddenly plunged right into his neck, abruptly cutting off his rant. Vuong was standing right next to him with the right hand right around his neck. The bastard quickly collapsed under his own weight a few seconds after that. This time, everyone was stunned. It was one thing to judge someone guilty of death, but it was another thing to actually carry it out.

"My original plan was to shoot you fucks in the back of the heads. It would be quick and painless… But then, as this pig has proved it, you guys were not worth the price of a bullet, which was a small breakfast by the way… No, you guys will die by the blade. Do you guys even know that back in my home, the healers have found out that even after being cut off, the head is still capable of feeling?"

That scared off the nobles, they tried to stand up, but the soldiers were quicker and forced them down again. Besides, how could they run well when being tied with ropes? What happened next was carnage. Vuong jumped in the middle and quickly stabbed their necks with his knife. It took him less than a minute to kill every single one of them.

Blood of the nobles splashed on his body, sticking on everywhere, on his hand, his suit, and even his face. Yet, among that much of red, his face was still hard, utterly clear of any emotion. Heck, he even calmly wiped his blood-soaked blade on the robe of a dead noble before silently sheathing it back. He then just stood there, watching the carnage he just made.

Everyone thought they were watching a demon. But I knew it better. He was just a salty cynical guy, he did what he must, and he took no pleasure in killing those men. Sure, he might kill them in a highly brutal manner, but then, one should remember that he was a part of the Security Bureau. They were the ones standing guard and sacrificing their own innocence to protect others. The truth of the matter was hitting Vuong very hard. His right hand was shaking, and it was pretty evident when he had to use his left hand to hold it afterwards. He might be able to fool others, but not me.

He threw a grenade – with its safety on, obviously – to Fireteam Bravo

"That is a thermite grenade, capable of generating a lot of heat, enough to burn a few bodies clean. Don't ask how and if I had tested that. After looting the corpses, pull the pin and drop it on the bodies, turning them into ash. Traitors do not deserve proper graves."

Then, he simply walked out, without speaking anything else. He looked just like a scary Blood Knight… When he had disappeared after a tent, the elder princess turned to me and asked with fear clearly evident in her voice. She knew who I was to Vuong, and she had just seen what he had done. Being afraid was extremely normal. Still, I would be… mindful if she actually felt aroused for multiple reasons.

"Is he always that bloodthirsty?"

"Actually, your Highness, he is not bloodthirsty. He simply does what he has to do. In fact, he hates this one a lot, and he is actually in shock now."

"How do you know?"

"This is the first time he personally kills and executes someone at this close. And if you want to know how much shock he is in now…"

I raised my hands off, showing all five fingers, then I silently and wordlessly counted down with my hand only. The moment my last finger closed down, there was a thump, and it was quickly followed by the sound of something crashing. A quick check had confirmed my belief: Vuong was lying unconsciously on the ground.

He had fainted already.

"Remember one thing please, your Highness, he hates his job, but he stills follows his oath to protect his people to the end. That is his honour, nothing more, nothing less."

"But how comes he takes such a brutal way to… execute those fallen nobles?"

"Simple, because it is his trial by fire. If he cannot pass it, how can he trust himself to support your empire in the upcoming wars?"

-------
Edited on 24 March 2019, with Grammarly

 

[ComradeH]

Chapter 7: Honor and Nightmare
{Operative's POV}


The first sensation I had was warmth and coziness… There was something soft and squishy very close to me, and suddenly I had a desire to cuddle it, which I did. My brain was still stuck in the sleepy mode and unable to comprehend any external stimuli. Heh, I had been a sleepy-head for a while now, getting out of bed was actually the hardest part of the day. After all, I always studied hard the night before, and last night…


Oh… SHIT!


I bolted up the moment the implications of last night rushed back to my head. Heck, the simple part of "what I had done" even sent a batch of metallic air right up to my nose. It was frightening, knowing what I could do and had done. I had killed people before, but I did not personally present when they met their demise, nor I got up close and personal. No, years ago, I only ambushed the witches and their henchmen via traps and long-range weapons. This time, I personally executed those filthy nobles. Worse, I even did so right in front of Yukino!


She would regard me as some kind of demon! After all, only demons took pleasure in ending other lives with such a brutal manner. Besides, the Security Bureau had a terrible reputation of being heavy-handed and brutal, though it was not without reason. What I did last night was simply adding fuel to a raging fire, just like the KGB did during the Cold War to their own people.


Then, I suddenly felt something soft and warm drapping over my chest. The jump-started process of waking up had already flushed enough adrenalin into my brain, and I was very tempted to strike back at the source. After all, whoever did this had been able to surprise me, and in general, it was a bad idea to play prank on anyone with military training. At least, I had military training. My brain was able to catch up with the environment, and I had finally recognized who was hugging me.


It was Yukino, my girlfriend.


First, I was relieved, after all, she was unharmed. I did not tell the full story of what the nobles had planned for her yet, mostly because it was pretty fucked up. The hidden part was actually the one that pushed me over the edge… and then it came, the fear and the dread of her considering me as a monster. I recoiled in her embrace, struggling to break free. However, my girlfriend saw it as a vindication to hug me tighter.


"Yukino, please, I'm…"


Then, she suddenly kissed me. The rush of hormones was able to freeze my brain for quite a few seconds. What? It was not fair! How could she take advantage of a stricken-with-emotion youngster and simply snog the heck out of him? Ok, to be fair, I did the same to her last night, but I was a boy! This should be a privilege reserved for boys to calm their girlfriends down. Of course, I had no problems with the part where her tongue was dancing in my mouth, massaging the inside of my cheeks.


I lost the count of time, but I was damned sure that by the time we broke off, we both had to gasp for air and my face was flushed red. And what did we do after we take a break? We simply jumped on each other for another lengthy kiss. This time, we were less physically intimate, but the kiss was no less passionate than the last time. If I had been a poet, I might have spouted out a dozen lines of flattering lines. But then, I was not, so all I could think of was that the second time was more akin to a timber compared to the raging fire of the first time.


"Hm… Heroes? Are you done yet?"


A hesitating voice on my right caught me off-guard… Hang on a fucking moment! We were not alone? I shifted my sight to the side and primed myself for a termination mission. Ok, it sounded a bit extreme, but one should note that I was a part of Security Bureau, we would plan for any eventuality that might happen. Thinking about that, I wondered if they had considered the scenario where both Yukino and me falling hard for each other… Meh, they probably did. They simply failed to consider the ridiculous notation of an isekai event. To be fair, the intense snogging session just then could see a termination on my own arse.


Anyway, back to reality. The moment I turned to the side, I had been able to recognize the one speaking up. It was no one other than the elder princess. From the look of her face, what we did was seemingly some scandalous shit. The younger princess was having her eyes shielded by a lady-in-waiting, and another was flapping her fan, covering the lower part of her face. Of course, being scandalous topic, they were all torn between looking away and watching with rapt attention.


I coughed a bit to recover my composure, using the brief lull to check on my body. Considering that I just woke up from Yukino's laps, perhaps it was a good idea to make sure I was presentable. At least my clothes were good. Sure, they were the one I wore last night, but they were still clean enough. Translation: I did not smell anything too strange or too terrible. It was a wonder how I could make Yukino fall for me…


"Yes, Your Highness, we have finished… for now."


I took a deep breath and calmed down. My own mind was still in turmoil, but at least I was able to shove it to a corner of my mind, or at least, tried to. I failed at that with my fingers still twitching and my glances were constantly thrown at my girlfriend, looking for a sign of approval or comfort. The two princesses and their ladies-in-waiting (including maids) must have recognized my own problem, but before they had any chance to speak up, Yukino had already held my right hand. It was the very same hand that had dealt out blood the night before.


"Heroes, aren't you afraid of the repercussion from my Empire?"

"Ah, your Highness, you have forgotten it already, haven't you? You have already yielded the control of the battle to him. What he did last night was quite… immoral, as in he killed them in a brutal way, but it was perfectly legal."


My girlfriend instantly defended me before I had the chance to do it myself. Well, color me impress. She knew the lie I made, yet she still followed through with it. Yes, I lied the night before. While I was in fact an Agent, my rank was simply insufficient to request a local dignitary to yield the case to me. The sheer political shenanigan part was reserved for Agents with Level Five and above.


However, if I had not done that, the nobles would get away scot-free. The common-born soldiers had told me about it. Here, on Ashka, the nobles practically had the absolute power, each of them was a king in their own realm. More often than not, they had magic, which they used to keep the commoners and peasants down. The soldiers did not told me much, but it seemed things were "pretty bad". From their tone, it was normal for a noble to demand a young beautiful but poor peasant girl from a family, all to see her disappearing soon afterwards. And to think it was the tamer side of the whole issue.


It fit right in with what the nobles told me last night. I had read some after-action reports during the war, I was quite privy to some classified information of Security Bureau, I knew for sure that there was simply no innocence on either sides. Yet, less than a month here and I had heard something even more fucked up. During the war, many magical felt that was a bit too much, but here, the magical considered it as "normal". To think they dared to think of doing that with Yukino, my Yukino…


I had to quickly reign down on my anger. They had been properly punished, and there was simply no use dwelling on the topic. Trying to keep a passive face, I listened to the conversation unfolding in the carriage… Yeah, Yukino pulled me onto her lap so that I could keep sleeping on the ride – go figure.


"But they are nobles, they are entitled to have their own judgment dispensed by the Emperor. Surely it is the same on your home?"


They were somewhat correct. The Terran Federation had its own noble class, the elites. But then, even under the eye of law, they were all equal to the commoner. They might have money and resources to have access to the best lawyers, but even then, it could not save them from the fate if they had practiced slavery. In fact, no self-respecting lawyers would even accept the contract to protect those criminals, even the demons had their own standard.


Speaking of the matter, it took quite a while to convince the two princesses and their girls that the Terrans had no need for slaves. After all, a slave was simply too inefficient compared to a machine, not to mention the much higher production cost. They did not buy it until I showed them the images from home. Of course, I did not show them any metropolitan like Tokyo or New York, it would be too scary. A small town might be more appropriate…


Obviously, my definition of small town was vastly different from theirs. For me, as long as the population was under a million, it was "a town". For the princesses, the same number could stand for a country. Seeing their faces watching a normal grocery store was quite enlightening, especially once Yukino told them that everyone could buy from the stores with their basic salary. Perhaps for the princesses, they had never ever seen such a diversity of food in their lives. Oh, and once they were told that it was "a small town", they practically fainted.


OK, it was one lady-in-waiting that fainted, but after me showing them some landmarks of skyscrapers… Yeah, they were all speechless. Yukino seemed to have a sadistic trait forming in her when she told the others that such skyscrapers were normal – and NONE of them were built with magic in the first place. Too bad for me, the mention of that magical phrase (pun intended) was the breaking point, one that led me to the very beginning of the problem. Specifically, they wanted to know why I was over-enthusiastic in executing those nobles.


It would be a pretty cold day in hell when I told them the real reason why I slit their throats. Of course, being an intelligence operative, I could use the half-truths. After all, those reasons were probably enough to drive me to such frenzy state… even if in reality, I still needed a personal one to nudge myself into that direction. It was not actually that surprising. In Vietnam War, a good portion of VPA (Vietnamese People's Army) joined to avenge the deaths of their relatives in combination to fulfilling their duty to Motherland – communism was at the far back of their mind. In World War Two, both sides of the war saw their men joining the fight to protect their loved ones, in addition to "being men". Then, in World War Three, there were simply no shortages of reasons to join the armed forces…


No, World War Three was a mess too big, not to mention that it was a war against the magical, and the two princesses (along many other nobles) were magical. Telling them "we would love to kill you in a thousand ways" was simply… impolite. My mind ran different scenarios, trying to find the best compromise. Then I remember it, I had already told them about the opening of Battle of the Somme of World War One. Now would be a good time as ever to tell them the full story of the war. A war where too much was loss but too little was gained.


Ten minutes into a brief showing – thanks to a documentary – the local ladies had been highly agitated. First, they watched the parade with rapt attention, soldiers were marching in neat ranks and files. From their comment, even the "Imperial Guard" would have great troubles in simply matching that level of discipline. Then, they took turn admiring the commanders, from a newly minted Lieutenant to an old and regal Colonel. However, their attitude did a complete 180 once the fighting began.


They saw men were sent in droves just to die. They watched the earth rumbling for days and nights with artillery barrage. The barb wires and the mine fields went completely what they had been imagining about war. Then, the mud and the water came, revealing the dirty secrets of war: decaying bodies. While the carriage was well ventilated, I was pretty sure that they were able to smell something.


The documentary kept rolling on, showing the horrors of war. Dirt was splattered when a large caliber round from an artillery battery hit the ground. Traces of light were seen when machine gun posts were trying to hold off a night attack. The crows were flying over an eerily silent battlefield, on that was littered with incomplete dead bodies. The barb wire entangled on the No Man's Land, warping its coiled form around a few unfortunate souls…


Then, there were mud and rains. The whole battlefield was soaked with water, every step was a risk for the soldiers to be caught up in the wetland. Then, men were simply pounding on each other. It did not matter if he was a young and promising Lieutenant or an old and wise Sergeant. They were all bleeding in the carnage where there was simply no "honor" – even with the early-Renaissance era's definition. They were dying in mass number, and more often than not, their bodies were not recovered. The poor souls were just left there, rotting in the mud and under the rain. Meanwhile, the generals and colonels had a few more shiny medals on their chests and their bellies became stiff with luxury food.


When the simple documentary finished, the two princesses were sobbing. They were crying for young men they had never ever met, and they would never do. The sheer scale of the killing was staggering for them, going over what was told in the stories and legends. Thousands and thousands of men in a charge were considered as a normal occurrence. Blood was shed in absolute brutal manner. Yet, for all that loss, too much was loss for too little gained.


"Ho… How could you people become such bloodthirsty?"

"I don't know, your Highness, the philosophers back in my home are still trying to figure out the answer."

"Those soldiers, did they finally have their honor respected?"

"Your Highness, they would probably scoff at the idea of honor. For them, the so-called honor was little difference from nightmares."


The two princesses became silent after that, trying to understanding my answer, or rather the lack of it. Of course, philosophy might have little to do with this, biology might be the key. After all, Charles Darwin had said it already: "survival of the fittest". On Earth, war was a constant, a norm, and the more we fought, the more we strived to limit it. Here, on Ashka, the people simply loved fighting, and they had to gut to soldier it on.


The carriage was getting back to its original silence. Both Yukino and I were not talkative type, and the local nobles were simply too shaken up to form a coherent talk. It suited me fine, I had a few plans before I was rudely interrupted… Though Yukino was still holding my hand, so perhaps they were not really necessary anymore?


"I don't care honey."


The sweet melodic voice of my girlfriend caught me off-guard, and it seemed the ladies sharing the ride suffered the same as me. She was still sitting comfortable on the couch and looking straight at the princesses. Her eyes were hard to decrypt, though it was not very hard to notice that she was still holding my hand tightly.


"Even if the… girls here say you are a coward, a cur, a rowdy, a dishonorable bastard, to me, you are still my beloved. You simply want to protect others, and as long as you do that, you are a hero in my own heart."

"But…"

"Seriously, what is honor in the first place Vuong?"


…


Her question caught me off-guard. To be fair, it was a good question. The princesses here claimed me as someone "dishonorable", the ladies-in-waiting probably had a few more unflattering words for me. But even then, in order to call me a cur, they would need to find a definition of the term "honor" first.


I glanced out of the window. There was little change in scenery for the last few days. It was simply a path going through a forest… ok, it was more than "just a trail". The path here, even if it was simply dirt, was pretty even and well-maintained. Both sides of the road were clear of trees, and the nearest distance to dense tree line was around 150 meters. The density of plants and vegetables was also pretty low, as long as I kept my standard of tropical rainforest as the based level. May be because it was the main path connecting two countries together that it was in such a good condition?


Perhaps…



"Do you remember a poem from our home Vuong? It was… old. I think. And I only know the first two lines. And do you also want to listen to that your Highness? It might also contain the answer to my question previously."


As it turned out, Yukino was referencing a poem about honor and shame.


Honor and Shame from no condition rise
Act well your part, there all Honor lies.


It was apt, thinking about it. Honor was simply a social notion, so the changes in society would lead to the change in its meaning…


"Just look at the road here, your Highness. Who paid their sweat to make this trail? Who toll on the forest to cut down the trees, allowing us safe passage? And who would patrol around to make the whole trip relatively risk-free? Do you think those are the acts of honor?"


Yukino had a point. Honor, in Terran Federation, was simply understood as taking the job and finishing it well. No if, no but, and no crying – those were for the weak and incompetent. Just try as hard as possible, and one could be sure that one day, all of his hard work would be honored and respected.


The same concept also extended to military, where honor was usually associated with bravery. It took guts for a military unit to jump out of a plane, paratrooper-style, with just a few days of training. Their job? To deliver help, support, and reinforcement to an isolated area wrecked by landslide. It was honor and prestige for young city-dwellers volunteering to become teachers so that the kids in remote and poor areas could combat illiteracy.


And then, during combat eras, the phrase honor was bounded even more tightly with bravery. A Russian officer called an air strike on his own position, knowing that he was the last man alive and he could not break out of the surrounding. A team of US Marine held off a magical zombie charge for three hours of non-stop fighting, so that civilians could be safely evacuated. There were simply more and more such tales on Earth, and telling them all could last until the end of time.


Honor was not blindly rushing forward, but accepting the duty and following it through. I knew it already, but it took a special occasion to know how deep it was.


I was acting as an Agent (Level 2) of Terran Federation's Security Bureau. My job was to protect the citizens of the Federation and maintain the peace, whatever it took. My execution last night could be seen as brutal, but in the end, it was only to protect my friends and especially my love. I was simply doing my job, and Yukino had already considered me as being honorable. After all, all I did was doing my job.


Fireteam Bravo and the remaining of my classmates also accepted that. Though perhaps, it was more correct to say they were torn. They knew that they stood for a risk of being enslaved and I was the one stopping that. On the one hand, they despised slavery, so they had no qualm of seeing those nobles being killed. On the other hand, they only grudgingly accepted my way of execution, mostly because they were still green. In the end though, they agreed with my way, they knew that I would do whatever it took to protect them.


The two princesses here took a lot more persuasion power. They were too shaken by our vastly differently defined "honor". At least, they were able to finally chalk it up to us coming from another world. They were shaken enough with our blunt showing of warfare and the synonym to "nightmare", so they refrained from asking us more about topic. Apparently, they were about to join a "War College" of sort, and the idea about honor made them a bit too high.


I had no idea if what I did was right or wrong, showing them the images of World War One… But considering what the Pope had said, it was perhaps better for them to know about this beforehand. A war was coming, and war was hell. For a war against demons and darkness itself? Heh, I might have reservations on those two words, but I had read too much hentai to not-care about their eventual fate.


Yeah, at least I would have the chance to control my impulse and my lust here. With no hentai and porn, more chance was available to me to keep check of my own desires. Besides, if all failed, I still had Yukino left – and I was pretty sure that she was thinking the same…


Speaking about honor, there was another aspect of it – being good guys. And like any other nice guys, I switched from the cold dark reality of war into something friendlier, the cultural and scientific advancements. Of course, even if I was cynical, I would not tell them that sooner or later, those two would find its connection to warfare.


At least the girls were impressed enough with the sights of science already. Who knew that they were actually impressed with Chemistry? I made a grimaced – I could understand the basic principle, and I could deal with the math on a practical assignment, but Chemistry was never my hobby. I preferred Physics, which might be the result of my parents. They both studied Mechatronics engineering when they were young, and they simply loved to put me through a quiz…


To be fair, seeing an old hyped man making a giant fireball out of nowhere was interesting and entertaining enough. It was further intriguing when Yukino and me confirmed that there was no magic involved, and anyone with sufficient study and preparation could do that.


"Do you know, your Highness, that this is another form of Honor?"

"What? Where is honor in being some measy entertainer?"

"First, he is not some measy entertainer, he is a full-fledged teacher. It took him at least 40 years of constant study and research to earn his title. And two…"

"Hang on? Forty years? That would make him a Sage!"

"Yes, so your Highness must have realized how intelligent and how knowledgeable he is now. And two, well, he is only using entertaining trick to teach better. This could earn immediate respect from the students… Then, for him, that could be considered as his Honor."


The noble ladies began to look comprehensive after that. It looked like they had reached something intangible. May be, they had been able to get a glimpse of what we Terran called "honor". Heh, it would be a long way for them to truly grasp it, after all, even on Earth, we were still having troubles agreeing on a single definition of "Honor".


The carriage got back to its silence again with the princesses decided to take a nap. Some of the noble ladies were also dozing off, though I was pretty sure that two of them were just faking it. The corners of my mouth quirked up a bit, they understood the concept well. Honor was simply doing what one must do, those two girls were bodyguards, and it would be a damned cold day in hell before they neglected their duty.


Well, it looked like my job of fighting with them would not be impossible after all. With some of the local being on the same line of thought, the work load will be much easier. The only job left was to teach them how to overcome their own nightmares… I did not know about others, but I had found my own way.


Yukino was beside me, and for me, that was enough to ward away the nightmares.

 

[ComradeH]

Sorry for the late update. I was caught up in rea-life issues and (another) wave of low mood hit me like a ton of bricks. At least my vacation has begun and I have free time now...

Even if what awaits me immeidately after the vacation is a new exam.

*********************

Chapter 8: Politics, Diplomacy and Intelligence are connected

{Operative's POV}


In hindsight, killing those nobles was a bad idea.


I had no idea what Dad felt when he was given the stars and bars of a Colonel, but then now I knew his emotion. It was a terrible thing done in a rush moment with long-lasting consequences, and none of us had the choice to do it differently. He was too competent to be kept at Major, and I had to make my point across. His work led to his "exile" from Earth (which then led to Mom hopping up after his arse), and my work made me a prime target for the local nobles.


So how did the nobles know I killed some of their own, even with the righteous reasons? Simple, the two princesses told them. Where and when? In the middle of the court, on the first day after our arrival in the capital. Let me speak that again, they announced publicly that I had personally executed four nobles right in front of other nobles.


Sure, they did mention that those nobles were planning on assassinate them first, but then, the damage was done. I felt the stares of the whole court pinning on the back of my head… Oh, right, and because I did not kneel neither. Yukino and others quickly followed my lead, they did not enjoying the feeling of having to submit to anyone else, and because they did not know how to kneel too.


At least I still saluted him, military style. The reason for that was very simple. Security Bureau, Section Six was originally a military and intelligence task force, and some shit just carried over. All personnel were considered as part of the Terran Armed forces. Me? I was also listed as a part of Reserve Cadet Training force. I had no idea how that worked, paperwork was one hell of a bitch


The Emperor was a bit displeased, and that was putting shit mildly. But it was nothing compared to the court, or at least, half of it. One half of the court was made up of military officers, the other with nobles. So far, only the nobles (and a tiny section of the military) showed their agitation while the rest was keeping silent, watching me carefully. The same thing could be said about the Queen and the Consorts, a.k.a. the Emperor's harem. They were just sitting quietly and nicely on their own throne, watching the scene unfolding with some amusement. How much of that amusement and friendliness was real was another story.


"Your Majesty, please! Please make him pay for trespassing against the Empire of Gorgonia!"


It was a noble-woman, one with a highly fancy dress. She was about mid-thirty, I thought, with a lot of make up on her face. Her high pitch voice was punctured with sobbing and coughing, though I had no idea if it was because of her own health situation or being dramatic about the executions. Her dress can probably speak much about her rankings. It was dyed in a fairly deep shade of purple – and please excuse me about my abysmal vocabulary on color shades, I was a boy. If I remember correctly, this dyeing agent cost a fuck ton of money in the old age…


To think the woman here had a ridiculously deep shade of violet. She must come from a rich and wealthy family then. A paper fan was closed and squeezed tightly in her right hand, and I had to suppress my own discomfort due to her heavy scent of perfume. Well, at least her face was quite pleasant. While there were a lot of make-ups, they were not clashing on each other – though they almost did… It almost made me feel pleasant about her.


Almost was the key word. She glared daggers at me, and it was not hard to feel her contempt on my own common-birth.


"Countess Anatasia is right, your Majesty! While they might be heroes, they had killed our own upstanding pillars of society. This… this aggression cannot be forgiven!"


Another man stepped out of line from the noble column and quickly kneeled down. He was a bit older than the woman (now identified as "Countess Anatasia"), around mid-forty or so. He was… fat. Well, not obesity-fat, but he was definitely over-weight. At least the front of his suit was well-made to cover his own belly. His cheeks were a bit swollen with fat, and even his back side showed clear cumulative of fat.


His suit was quite a combination of the stereotype noble dress (in Renaissance-era) and modern blazer (think the outer-most piece of a three-piece suit). Again, in pure noble style, it was dyed purple, though this time, there were also dashes of red and yellow, ones that simply hurt to look at. At least the frilly "collar-thingy" around his neck was white, something never changed.


Again, I should really update my vocabulary on fashion and color. But must I really do that? No, that was what a cute and cuddling girlfriend was for. She would fill in the blank for me regarding this issue. While it was a guarantee that she would demand more kisses and cuddling time, it still worked out well for me in the end. So I would have no problem doing that in the first place.


The court was still mumbling among itself, and it did not take long for the noise to be amplieifed. Among all of that, the Emperor was still passive, and if it was not for his eyes, I would say he had already fallen asleep. That pair of eyes was still scanning over the whole hall, they drank in the bickering nobles, they watched over the silent officers, and finally, they landed on me. I stared into that eyes, and instantly ramped up my mental defense. I was simply paranoid, though considering what had happened, I would describe it as "sufficiently prepared". It was a very brief moment, like iron met stone, and I thought we came to an understanding.


"Don't fuck with me."


Or something liked that. At least, that was what I sent to him. The Ecclesiarchy had spoken about an upcoming war, and the two princesses had most likely told him about my warfare knowledge. It might be dishonorable in their eyes, but it worked, and it was simply destructive. He might have the power of a full empire at his beck and call, but my knowledge and presence could totally destroy it.


Suddenly, he slowly raised his hand, silencing the whole hall without having to speak a single word. Everyone held their breath, waiting for his judgement.


"Interestingly, none of you speak of the part where my daughters were target of an assassination."


Yeah, that was the part where I also found quizzical. Just the part where the princesses were targeted was enough for a political shit storm, and then some of the nobles seemed to be shying away from that fact. It was quite… suspicious, one might say. Add in the part where their mother was a common-born, and voila, that was the recipe for a conspiracy. If my hunch was correct, it should be a rouge attempt from the nobles to curry favors with each other. Their method to cut the loose ends also supported this theory…


Too bad, I lacked the proof and necessary political pressure to find out the truth. Still, I kept my silence. Sometimes, it was better to do nothing and let one's enemies making their own mistakes.


"But Your Majesty, surely there must be a misunderstanding. We nobles have sworn our loyalty to the Throne. We would never betray you, there must be a mistake somewhere."


For a standard isekai hero, he would take those lines at face value. However, most (if not all) of such heroes had no military or intrigue training, and they lacked the necessary knowledge to show the proof. Me? I followed the principle of Trust, but verify. Until there were solid proofs, I would not believe them… at least, I would not totally trust them.


The nobles may know much about honor and chivalry, but commoners understood the concept of preparation and horrors of war the best. I knew that if I could not prove my own words in front of the court, I would have trouble facing them in the future. So during the execution, I had the local soldiers filming the whole process. They were told that the "cameras" were some magical artifacts of high importance, ones that could elevate their social standings if used correctly. In the end, I did not have to disappoint. The quality was magnificent, and by the look of it, the whole court had no choice but to accept it.


"How… how can that happen?"

"They are insane to even dream of attacking the Royal!"

"How dare them stooping that low!"

"What wou… would the Majesty do?"


Whispers quickly spread along the hall, and it did not take long before things went berserk. The two nobles criticizing me earlier had turned white. And it was only from the confession of the fallen nobles – I had already cut off the execution segment, gotta keep the whole debacle PG-16. They might be wondering if their effort to protect their own fellow was worth it in the end. After all, their "friends" had just confessed their plot to kill the Royal Princesses.


The Emperor then suddenly stood up, and the whole hall became quiet. It was highly impressive, not even the toughest teacher in our school could command such dread and fear. Then again, my school was not exactly the most draconian place on Earth. Students were still given quite a few leeway, the same thing could not be said about the court here. After all, a murder almost took place, and the almost-victims were regarded as VIPs.


A political shit-storm would be an apt description of what about to come.


"Duke Muller? Please investigate the nobles in the… magical record immediately. I want their titles, lands and power confiscated at once. Their wives and daughters are to be sold as slaves. Thei…"


A shadow stepped out of the nobles' rows. He was quite unassuming, with pretty normal and standard clothes (at least for a noble). At first glance, everyone would think he was an off-the-mill count from some place, but closer inspection revealed other details. A well-built figure was hidden under the clothes. Something was covered by the long sleeves on his coat. The front and back of the suit were strangely flatten. And above all, his eyes were completely still. A feeling of dread suddenly spread around the hall, as if Death himself had pronounced the presence.


If my hunch was correct, he was the equivalent of the Director of Security Bureau here. Within the context of an European kingdom from a long time ago, his power would be practically second within the whole Empire, just after the Emperor himself.


This. Was. Bad.


One the one hand, I had no problems with taking the power of those nobles away, the slavery part was… extremely uncomfortable. It would be a stain upon my honor. Part of the reason why non-mag fought in World War Three was to prevent slavery, and if the victor exploited that system, it would be simply hypocritical. Of course, this was not Earth, but it was the thought that count.


"… On behalf of the Empire of Gorgonia, I, Emperor Frank the Third, for your gallant, bravery and honor, would bestow upon you heroes the land and titles of those fallen nobles. What say 'thou, 'o venerable heroes?"


This. Was. Even. Worse.


Fuck you Frank. I was here to solve the shitty legal problem, and now you gave us even more problems to deal with? Nah-ah, fuck you, I had enough of this shit.


I glanced to my friends, who were all being shocked to the core. It was nearly half a minute before someone able to gather enough wit to respond. To be fair though, it was more like a whisper to me from Jake, the self-promoted NCO of Fireteam Bravo:


"Shit… we need to talk boss."

"We all need to talk… I'll delay the answer."

"Roger."


I turned back to Emperor Frank, who was raising an eyebrow as if asking me what the heck had just happened. In response, I simply bowed a bit, showing some respect for the ranking monarch. After all, I was about to bullshit my way through, so some politeness was always better to have.


"We humbly thank you for your generosity your Majesty. Being bestowed with such gifts is simply an unprecedented honor, even back on our homeland. However, as you can see, we were simply… kids. We are simply too incompetent to run a single inn, let alone a territory. If we accept our gifts now, it would not take long before we squandered it. Those same prosper lands would soon be stricken with grief, poverty and hunger. It would be a stain upon your honor and your reputation. We would like to delay our acceptance of the gifts until we are well-trained enough to receive such a responsibility."

"I can always send instructors to teach you. It would only take you a few years to train you up to the required standard."

"Your Majesty, again, on behalf of my friends, I humbly thank you for your offer. However, I'm afraid that if we simply accept the offer in haste without careful consideration, we will make a mess out of it. That would be simply unacceptable. I sincerely implore you to have the territories being put under the management of someone talented. We would gladly offer a generous boon and hold the said person in the highest respect possible once we felt confident enough to take the job."


It would take a bit more of bullshiting, most of which was just social niceties, the Emperor had agreed to "delay" the handing of territories and titles. Of course, he still gave us a crap ton of money and a full mansion as "temporary" housing. Our participation within the court was over, and we departed the hall for some resting. My crew had already complained about the "stingy" atmosphere… but I knew better. The previous discussion was simply for show, the real deal had yet to come.


Of course, it did not mean that I had to keep up my game face. Acting in front of the whole court was taxing upon my own mental, so I needed a period of re-charging my energy pool. A warm meal and a soft bed sounded nice to me… For some reasons, I just knew this was just a respite. The Emperor would have a talk to me soon, and it would not be pretty.


At least, the big-E had already given each of us quite a pouch of money, and rules of economics said something about stimulating local trading… I let my friends free to roam around, as long as they travelled in groups and had (preferably) hidden guards. In addition, they also had to activate their own locator. The face-off against the nobles told me that it was better to be prepared, there was simply no way to tell what they would do…


Worst case scenario, I could use the drone to temporarily hold the ground or follow up the trail before finally deploying the hammer. The four nobles were the only ones staying on the business end of Terran martial skills so far, and they were all dead. The nobles of the capital had yet to see and experience it, so they had no fear. As my Old Man had said it, only the sight of coffins could make them shedding tears.


Despite my… cordite-filled intention, there was no "first-strike" plan in my mind. Enough hiccups had been done against the local here, and more would be done in the near future. What I needed was a new branch of olive, not a batch of arrows. Furthermore, the "temporary lodging" was spacious and beautiful, responding to it with hostile intent was bad manner. Sure, it could belong to the "fallen nobles", but I had no definite proof.


"You know honey, this starts to look like a xianxue novel. The protagonist shows up, kicks arses, and then he receives one hell of a boon."


Yukino seems amused by the whole situation, somehow. A normal boy would be blushing madly somehow, but I had read enough to be worried. Most of the time, the said protagonist had (accidentally, mostly) charmed a few ladies and was in the process to build his own harem. It would be a health hazard to me, Yukino was… quite possessive. Another competitor meant that she would be glad to kill the said girl.


On a good day.


And I had no idea why I suddenly felt my pants tighter thinking about it. Perhaps it was due to my hormones again. So, I did what no protagonist had ever done before. I put an arm over her side and pull her tight while putting a kiss on her cheek.


"You mean the part where I become the boss and make you the most protected girl around here?"

"Hmmh… More like the… uhmm… part where more girls fall for you."

"Honey, please stop purring, or I cannot control myself. Besides, it is one thing to have girls falling for me, and another to have me to return the feeling."

"Good, I'll hold you for that. Remember, I'm yours alone as much as you are mine alone."


Perhaps a shrink would find some problems in that statement, but I was not one, in fact, I had not met any so far. May be it was due to the sensitive nature of my occupation, my upbringing, or my current assignment, or a combination of them. I just knew I had some mental problems, but I hoped they were not serious enough to impend me from my duties.


Besides, a full villa was reserved as temporary lodging for us, so everything else was just secondary.


Translation: it was not paranoia if everyone else out there was after my own little lily white butt.


Sure, I was glad and happy to have such luxury, but I did not trust the Emperor fully. He could be thankful as I had saved his daughter, but since when royal politics was cut and dry? Besides, this sounded suspiciously like Case #32 in Terran Intelligence Handbook. The villa was expected to be fully bugged, and the staff there was actually spies. The only question left was that for whom they were spying for.


It did not matter in the end, and it took both Yukino and me a full day to clear the room. As I expected, the villa was bugged. Every room was placed with at least one scrying spell, the bathrooms and toilets were the safest, with only the audio being transmitted. The worst part was perhaps the bedrooms, where more than five sets of rune were used. To be fair for the local magical, what we would do was perhaps premium-graded porn for them… I had no idea if I should feel concern or happy at this.


Our progress was slow down by the staff, who was clearly well-trained and well-paid for both domestic and surveillance duties. And with the scrying runes found, perhaps it was safer to assume that they were some low-ranking nobles or highly talented commoners in the field of subterfuge. Well, at least the Emperor, or "Duke Muller", was being competent here. Trust, but verify. My fighting doctrine and skills were vastly different from theirs, so it was understandable for them to be on guard.


Still, there were many things missing. Sure, I was simply nit-picking and I was used to late 21st century technology. But even then, I had to curse out loud for the lack of hot shower and flush toilet. May be these two would be the first "gifts"? But both of them would required good plumbing, which in turned implied the development of material. In turn, it meant a massive amount of steel and abundance of workforce, both of which could not be achieved without a sufficient supply of food…


Fuck. Life.


It was extremely obvious that the protagonists of the standard isekai light novels had it easy. They only needed to fight, here, I had to consider every single factor just to stay alive. They could brute force through with the "god cheat", here, the only thing I had was consumable resources. They had socio-political support, I had to carve it out from the stingy local nobles. Probably it would be the best if I had a colonization fleet at my beck and call, the amount of talents and resources would be enough to mitigate the issues.


Apparently, I should get chummy with the Emperor soon. My idea and plan needed a tremendous amount of political will and support. Even the goodwill of me saving Imperial Princesses would not be enough to cover that. Speaking soft and carrying a big stick would not work, because I just had a small stick…


What should I do?


"Your father was one of the most badass men in the whole Federation. What would he do if he was in your position?"

"He would try to focus all of his power in one direction to break through, failing that, air strikes and artillery barrages."

"… To be fair, it sounded like him."


Our friends did not come back for the meal, something about a good restaurant within the Citadel and private time for us… I though they wanted us to officially get hitched. Yeah. Getting pregnant on another world… It was an idea as good as it sounded, which was a way to say it was a terrible idea. Just from a health perspective, it was a nightmare: lack of anti-biotics, vaccine, clean rooms, experienced doctors…


On the other hand, anti-pregnancy would be easier… Probably. I should investigate this soon, because I was still a virgin. And it was bad luck to die a virgin. That was what my Dad said in the beginning of my domestic Sex Education before getting his head bang off by Mom.


However, I still got a job to do, a secret meeting with the Emperor. After nightfall, a carriage arrived at the gate of the mansion. Yukino and I took turned watching it through a binocular. With a (very) spacious garden, it took a while for the carriage to finally arrive at the door, enough time for us to observe the details. There was no doubt about it, it was the same carriage used to ferry the two princesses.


Yukino smirked:


"Well, what did I say? You have friends in the high place already."

"Do you still remember that I have sworn to take you as my wife, my only wife, and my wife only?"

"Yes, but this is a separate matter… You know what? I would not mind them getting close, as long as they follow my rules."


I honestly did not want to know what she meant. Perhaps, for the remaining of my sanity, it was better if I never found out.


At least, Yukino did not have the chance to tease me. The guests were not the princesses themselves, but rather their guards and handmaidens. And as I had suspected, they came with an invitation from the Emperor himself. He asked me over for a friendly chat. That was precisely why I geared up for a confrontation. A bullet-proof vest was worn under the shirt with handguns and knives tucked inside. To counter magical attacks, I had an amulet. And just in case things went tits up, well, I had already sent up the drone. Worst case scenario, Yukino would bombard the scene with magical charges and fled with my friends.


Trust, but verify. Besides, I was not a standard isekai protagonist. They were simply wish fulfillment of some lazy wibu. Sure, I was an otaku of sort, but I was an otaku armed to the fucking teeth and espionage and combat training to boot.


Time to face the music.

 

[ComradeH]

Chapter 9: A wife's job
{Sorceress's POV}


Vuong had already left on the carriage with the princesses' henchman, leaving me in the mansion alone. Well, not precisely "alone", there were other servants within the mansion, but I disregarded them. They were not sufficiently important and/or closed enough for me to even care about them. Vuong would be concern if I got rude to them… So I had to play nice. At least they had accepted the part that I preferred to be alone for the moment.


Then, I found a problem: I had nothing to do. Normally, I would pass the time by reading or listening to music… or on the days when my mood really pressed me, I would stalk Vuong with my magic. Too bad, he was too paranoid and skillful sometimes, I rarely had the chance to sneak in his house or capture the image of his abs. I knew I had yandere streaks, and I simply accepted that – it would be worse if I suppressed my own feeling and had it blown up right in my face.


A while ago, my boyfriend had told me to go to bed early, but it is unlikely that I would simply comply. I had problem finding the urge to sleep. That, and I disliked being told what to do, and Vuong was not an exception. Sure, I would pout at him, but for others, it would be somewhere between a death glare and a punch in the face. Everyone said that I was a stubborn girl, and that was an understatement…


I would not follow his words, not a single chance. There was no school, no homework, no deadline, and definitely no warm hugging pillow. For obvious reasons, the last one was the most critical to me. The last few days sleeping together had already made me addicted to his body scent and warmth, well, not as bad as some drug addictions, but quite close. Still, even with that, I would have trouble sleeping without him nearby. Perhaps I should have some light exercises? Meh, I hated having sweat.


I wondered if I should send a message to the two princesses. They seemed to be very interested in making an alliance and companionship with Vuong. Perhaps it was not clear enough that he was mine, and mine alone. Still, he would be disappointed if I got reckless immediately, something about low profile and PR. I got lost halfway during the pillow talk due to his exotic feeling that night…


Meh, after all, what could possibly happen? I got in a jealous mood and bitch slap an elf princess who was here for negotiation?


It was a depressing thought though, so I should probably cheer myself up. Maybe I could dream about what I wanted Vuong to do with me when we were completely alone in a sound-proof room? His laptop was a real trove of treasure, who knew he was that kinky? He was good in hiding his porn stash – a five-level folder structure, with two as decoys, hidden view setting and a few other tricks. Well, I was better at digging in his computer, and he took my birthday as his password. To be fair, he was a hormonal teenager… and the last time I checked, I was the same. Well, it would just make our romantic life much more interesting, but it would be way longer than in the future.


Was I getting a bit too passionate here? Well, it was not a real excitement per se, it was rather the opposite, boredom. With Vuong around, I could always find something to do, either plotting our advance, building up an army, or simply just cuddling. He was a pleasant company to stay around… Now, with him being absent, I should probably find something else to pass the time. Going to bed early was a chore, and it was simply a selfish desire of mine to greet him when he got back. I could totally drop in an invitation to the bed though, just like some Japanese girls on his laptop's videos: "What would you like first? Bath? Dinner? Or me?"


I just knew that he would claim me for himself, some heavy and intense snogging sessions would be made soon… It was a pity that Vuong would only stop at that, he would not have sex with me, at least, not now and not soon. How he was able to control his own demons was a mystery to me, though I would not be surprised if it was a combination of his own discipline and, well, self-release. Boys would always be boys, and he had zero idea on how keen my nose was.


Chuckling, I called the maid to make me a teapot. Nothing was better than a warm cup of tea in one hand and a good book in the other. Maybe I should really start my training as a "Lady of a Mansion". She would be refined, elegant, well-versed in home economics… and probably she was capable of kicking the Master over the yard and back. My classmates had already accepted the fact that Vuong was their leader and I was his girlfriend, so it would take little to convince them to be henchmen and underlings.


"My lady, what kind of book would you like?"


The serving maid asked after putting the tea tray on the table. She was good, even putting biscuits and some other snacks in it. Well, this was a luxury life after all, and it was good to be rich and powerful.


"Actually, I have not learnt how to read with your alphabet. Would you mind teaching me with a simple book for kids?"

"What do you mean My Lady? Books for kids?"

"Yes, ones with colorful pictures and simple phrases. Don't you have them?"

"Unfortunately not My Lady. Papers are very expensive, and books are extremely valuable. They are only used to records the wisdom of God and Sages, and I'm afraid that there are no books for youngsters."


Blyat. Vuong had his suspicion on this matter, but I had no idea that it was this bad. The literacy level of this world was low, probably non-existent. A normal boy would care more about swords and magic, but not Vuong, who would hate to kill with such inefficient manners. He would build guns and artilleries, and such weapons could not be useful without tactics, which would need input from an literate force.


Perhaps it was due to the expensive cost of paper and books, or it could because of the imperial (and/or the church's) policy, something about keeping the people stupid and hungry. Classic tricks of keeping power in their own hands. This led to a rarity of books… Now, with no book within reach, how could I relax and find solace? And more important, how could I learn new cuisine? How could I keep my boyfriend exclusively mine? He was still a young man, one that baptized and trialed under fire, but still a young man nevertheless. With no oversight and no Damocoles blade, he would quickly let himself loose. Considering his status as a Hero and he was getting chummy with the Emperor…


I would NOT let him build a harem.


I sneered, which then made the maid tensed up… Crap, I lost control right there, which was a big problem. The Lady of the Mansion could not simply lose her composure over such a trivial matter. She would be able to keep calm, being a stable and trustworthy base for the Master to focus on his own work. Besides, there was simply no benefit in scaring my own personnel in the future.


"Sorry, that's my mistake. Reading is a hobby of mine, and I cannot simply stand being unable to have a book on my hand."

"My Lady, you know how to read?"

"Yes, literacy is a given right back on my home. No one, and I really mean no one, has the right and power to keep anyone from school."


The maid was surprised after that, which was not that surprising in the first place. Girls were not that respected during the ages of old. Even a princess was little more than a bargain chip for political marriage. It would not be an exaggeration to have just a single "outstanding" woman for every two or three hundred men…


"Then… your home must be a nice place to live in, My Lady."


Terran Federation could be described with many words, but "perfect" surely was not one of them. There were still too many problems left standing, and surprisingly enough, the sentiment of World War Three was not the biggest concern. However, my homeland surely sounded like a paradise to this maid – no more hunger or starvation…


"For you, it would sound like heaven. But for us, it is a duty to make our home better."


She just nodded at that, too stunned to make any meaningful response. Ignoring her, I reached out and picked up the tea cup… while secretly using my magic to check the drink. Called me paranoid, but recent events had shown that it was always better to be prepared. The result came back clean, which was a good sight at first glance. However, my knowledge on magical poisons was low though, and I had to take the risk that I failed to detect them.


The risks were plentiful, and a painfully slow death was just a tiny part. There were also poisons and artefacts capable of rewriting one's personality after prolonged exposure, there were also magical meth, and I had heard about "flesh-eating drugs".


If that was the case, Vuong would avenge my death in the most spectacular way possible. I had faith in him.


So, for now, a leap of faith…


To be honest, the tea was good. The aroma accompanied the brown crystal liquid gave off a pleasant feeling. The warmth and the sweetness eased down the agitation in my heart. The biscuits were not only good-looking, but they also tasted well. There was less butter and milk compared to what I knew, but I preferred them that way.


I should give the maid a commendation. She was quite helpful already, it took skills to make a tea tray this good. Even the stereotype British Royal would have troubles meeting this challenge head-on. Besides, as far as I knew, there were no poisons in the drinks and biscuits, and it was good enough for me. However, life never went the way I wanted. The moment I turned my head towards her, the door flushed opened:


"Why do you lowly girl serve her such a lowly dish? Do you have any shame at all?"


The maid instantly tensed up, but it was nothing compared to me. I had already stirred up my magical storage, ready to unleash my attack if needed. The tone of the newcomer, a middle-aged male, was definitely not friendly. There was no guarantee on the part that he would be co-operative… Still, why did I have the feeling that I knew this voice somewhere else?


The door had finally opened, and the figure revealed himself. It was no one other than the butler of this mansion, and he was a low-ranking noble by himself, a baron, if I remembered correctly. He was such an upstuck to rule, and it was not that hard to see how much he valued magic. The moment he knew that I had it in my blood, his attitude shifted one-hundred-and-eighty. From sneering, he became extremely obedient to my wishes and my wimps, from a distant noble, he had became little better than a crawling coward.


I hated such people, they would be the very first people to switch side when things got hairy. With such a high degree of unreliability, it would be a bad idea to keep such people close, especially when Vuong was about to shift the balance of power very soon. Best case scenario, he would delay our work, and in the worst case, he would be the one who sabotage it so that he could "protect the nobility of magical power". Things were getting progressively worse, and I should ask for a new butler soon.


"But… but…"

"No but, no if. You should serve her with a feast, not some dry and tasteless peasant's bread like this. How long have I been teaching you that?"

"The feast woul…"

"I don't want to hear your petty reason, silly girl. She is a mage, she deserves special treatment. Surely you are aware of what would happen when you make her, and by extension me, unpleasant?"


I should intervene quickly. The poor maid was about to bust, and the butler had already switched for lecturing to outright sneering. Granted, I had no idea about the power dynamic here, but they should be informed about a single fact – it was me to be the Lady. If they had trouble with that, well, I always had enough strings to pull.


"It is me who asks her to arrange this for me. Is there a problem, butler?"


The man instantly stopped his tirade and looked at me with a ridiculed look. Apparently, he did not believe that such a meal was fitting for me.


"My Lady, such a meal was not befitting a woman with a status such like yours. This is just a peasant's meal, not for a noble to enjoy."

"So? What is the problem, I'm neither noble nor a peasant, and I like this meal."

"My Lady, you are a magical, that makes you a noble."

"And my fiancé, one that has no magical power, has been protecting his home for more than five years. He even risked his life once to save more than three million people. Does that make him a noble?"


That question caught him off guard. In his mind, he believed in the supremacy of magic and disregarded the value of brain and brawl. Many magical back on Earth had made the same mistakes, luckily, most of them died before they were able to rectify it.


Besides, I was pretty sure that no lone mage was able to save a few million people here on Ashka. From that alone, Vuong was already better than every single one of them combined. From the look of both the maid and the butler, it looked like I had made my impact.


To further infuriate the bastard, I picked up my cup of tea, which was now empty. The maid, seemingly being able to catch on, quickly filled it up. I kept my eyes on the butler, observing his reaction. The man was now trying hard to control his jaw, which was slagging further downward with each second, especially when he found no fault with the graceful action of the maid. And to top it up, I even calmly sipped the tea and took a small bite over a biscuit.


"Let me repeat it, it is me who ask her to arrange this for me. Is there a problem with that?"


That line had pretty much shut him up already. A confirmation explicitly came out of my mouth, which was used to protect the maid standing diligently next to me. He would have no ground left to reprimand her, or as I suspected, he would not be able to punish her anymore.


Knowing the defeat, he quickly bid a retreat, but not before throwing a dirty eye at the young girl. I knew that look, it meant "things were not finished yet". That look meant troubles, and troubles were the last thing I wanted here in this mansion. I glanced out of the windows toward the faint traces of the palace under the night sky. There, Vuong was using his wit, his raw talent and perhaps his cynical view of politics to earn support from the Emperor. Normally, it was a challenge big enough, but he would not do it in the conventional way of the local but using foreign ideas and techniques. It would make the problem even more challenging. The last thing he wanted to have was more burdens on his shoulders.


As his wife, it was my job to keep this from happening. I would take care of the home front, I would deal with the staff here, just to make sure he had a nice place to sleep and relax. The incident just now made up my mind – I would do whatever it took to keep the staff here friendly and homogenous. It was simply unwise to have the butler being hostile to the common goal, or at least, being obstructive.


May be, it would be a good idea to recruit more common-born people. It was a challenge, but to keep Vuong focused on his main duty, I had no choice but to do it. Taking a deep breath, I turned to the maid by my side with the first question being already on the tip of my tongue. It was a challenge, for sure, but it would be nothing compared to a complete overhaul of war doctrine like what Vuong was planning to do.


Let the Master focus on external matters, and the Lady would deal with the internal matters. That was a wife's job, that was her duty. And that was my job.


"So, girl, tell me, what's your name?"

"Alicia, my Lady."

"And it appears that you are a… peasant-born. Am I correct?"

"Yes, my Lady. Both of my parents were poor farmers, and they had to sell me to the Empire because they were too poor. At least I was treated well with warm food and a roof over my head."


To be fair, the definition of happiness was sometimes that simple. It was even more correct for people of early Renaissance era. Food was still scarce and civil engineering was not for normal people. Vuong would launch a few programs to fix that on large scale, but he would need a pilot first.


And what was better than this his own mansion? I would have to cut off a few legs – but it would still be profitable in the long run.


"Please take a seat. This will take a while."

"MY LADY! That… that is highly improper!"

"But it was not as improper as this meal. Trust me, just take a seat, you and I would have a long talk, and I prefer you being relaxed to tired."

"… A question, if I may, my Lady."

"Speak."

"Why do you want to help me?"

"Because, little girl, it is a wife's job."

 

[ComradeH]

Chapter 10: A wife's job (part 2)
{Sorceress's POV}

Yukino described what she was doing as "a wife's job". Technically speaking, she was not really wrong, because her future mother-in-law had been doing that for a long time. Being the second heiress of a giant conglomerate had its perks, especially connections with the politics and the underworld. There had been cases where Vuong's mother supported his old man with intelligence bought and battered from those deals, and there were also cases when she was played and duped. Instead of asking her husband for support, she took matters into her own hands so that he could focus on the battlefield.

While Vuong's father had no definite proof about this, he simply knew. It was then a simple matter why he was so in love with her. Many famous and beautiful ladies had shown interest in him, yet he simply pushed them to the side, uncaring about the whole fiasco even if there were more than two hundred cameras pointing his way. He knew that his wife had done an exemplary job, and he must honour that result.

Vuong had learnt much from his father, including the part of loving the woman who had been extremely supportive and helpful. Granted, he had loved Yukino longer than that, but the point stood. The more she protected his back, the deeper the love between the two. Besides, was that not something a wife should do?

Now, she was sitting outside, at the balcony with the maid on the other side of the table. They were just trading small talks, trying to break off the ice between the two vastly different cultures. On the one hand, Yukino was a magical, a discriminated section of the humanity of the technophile Terran Federation, on the other hand, she was just a peasant sold by her own family due to hunger and poverty in a society where magic reigned supreme. Their views could not get any more contrast. Yet, for some strange reasons, they got along quite well.

"Really, my Lady? Master didn't have the faintest clue that you like him?"

"Correct, he's smart and intelligent, but clearly, he had little wisdom here. It forces me to take drastic measures to show him the light."

"What did you do, my Lady?"

"I call him sweetheart… Don't look at me like that! Even with drastic measure, I will never be the one explicitly say that I have fallen in love first. That is the job for the boys."

"Well said, my Lady, well said. I wonder why those men could never be able to understand our emotions and our feelings, after all, they are not that complicated."

Almost every single man would find the last line disputable. However, there were no male guards within the earshot so there was no disapproving voice being made. Even if there were any though, it was unlikely that they would speak up. No male was insane enough to say it directly to the women. After all, Hell hath no fury like women's scorn.

The two girls kept chatting with each other despite the night was getting late. The pot of tea was still warm thanks to Yukino's magical power. She was a witch, and it would be a waste to make new teapot from the beginning. Technically speaking, the Terran Federation had a little problem of not using magic in the first place, but then, people were lazy so the ability to keep food and drink warm was strongly welcomed by the populace.

This part also surprised the young maid, who had never seen such an application before. To her, a mage was a powerful figure who used his magic to annihilate his foes or to unravel the mysteries. Keeping a teapot warm seemed to beneath him. Well, that did not even mention that such a mage would have a lot of servants, whom he would punish because the teapot had cooled down.

Yukino almost sighed for the stupidity of the local magical. Magic was a highly versatile tool, and there was simply no benefit in overly specialising it. Ashka had accidentally made a crucial mistake. It was not deadly, but this would simply wedge open the rift between the ones having magic and the ones who not. Given enough time, the magical would lose touch with the no-mag, leading a whole new can of worm. World War Three was one hell of a wakeup call for the sorcerers on Earth, they were no longer the top dogs, they were simply mortals like everyone else.

Well, one problem at a time then. She did not have the operational or strategic thinking like her boyfriend, so she had no idea how to deal with the arrogant mages when guns were introduced. She only knew how to use magic, for both combat (not really great) and home economics (very good), that should be able to keep Vuong well-fed and well-rest for a while. Well, it did not matter much, she was the wife, it was her honour-bound duty to help her husband.

As long as he stayed faithful, that was. At least Vuong had said that he had no intention to build a harem for himself. Good, Yukino hates disposing of the bodies of her rivals, mostly because she preferred spending time cuddling with him.

"My Lady, it's getting late now, and the nights here are pretty cold actually. I humbly suggest that you should move indoor in order to avoid getting sick."

The advice cut Yukino off from her musing. To be fair, the maid was right. Talking to her had taken too much time, much longer than she had originally expected. Everyone had gone back to the mansion for sleep, but Vuong had yet to come back. This made Yukino worried, wondering if there was a problem going on at the palace. No, that was the wrong question, she should be asking what kind of problem was going on.

"Don't worry, My Lady. Master would be going back soon. The Emperor is wise and benevolent, there shouldn't be any problem."

"Should, not will."

"My Lady?"

"That is my husband's belief, or rather his father. Both of them believe that there is no such thing as an easy day, and everything must be earned through guile and strength."

Actually, that was not Vuong's motto, it was something like never tempt Murphy, but Yukino was too lazy to explain that concept to the local. Besides, it was better to make Vuong look like a paranoid demon less. It would do wonders for the domestic relationship.

"Then it would be even better, the Emperor usually says something to that effect. A commoner can get knighted simply by showing bravery on the battlefield or by discovering answers to any mysteries. In addition, you can also ask for lands, titles, money, as long as it is reasonable."

What an ideal. It sounded like a perfect world. Too bad, Europe had that ideal for quite a while and things did not work out well for the aristocrat in the end. In addition, the foiled assassination the day before was a major point disproving that idea. But how frequent was that? A lot? Rarely? Yukino had no answer… Therefore, she must find it out.

"But how frequently does that happen? When is the last time someone receiving that honour?"

The maid suddenly had a shadow cast over her eyes. It was very brief, but Yukino still took notice. The girl's skill in poker face was simply insufficient for someone who had been hiding her magical power for years constantly. Besides, the imagination on Ashka was lower than on Terra, it only took Yukino a few brief seconds to put things together.

Such things happened, but it did not take place that regularly. The existing nobles would do whatever they could to stop the commoners from being aristocrats, failing that, framing and stabbing in the back were totally possible. Even then, they may not be satisfied with the result, they would derive new ways to exploit their power. Capturing talented commoners as slaves were perhaps just one among many ways.

Things could only go progressively worse. It might sound pessimistic, but for many common-borns of Ashka, that was perhaps apt.

"Not many, yes?"

"… You are correct, My Lady."

"Don't be so down, because, in the end, all of that shame and loss shall be avenged properly."

"How do you know? The nobles here had a monopoly on magical education, they have arms and power. How can we commoners protect ourselves?"

Yukino wondered if she should tell the tales about the French Revolution of 1789 but then decided against it. The risk of fallout was too great, not to mention that she could not totally trust the girl. Years of hiding her own identity had made her highly suspicious of others. She always kept an eye out for the escape route, and if things went really south, she would not be hesitated to use it. Right now, she was keeping watch over the balcony railing and the tree lines behind it. The maid here was either really an honest peasant girl, or she was a good actor. Yukino knew better than leaving things to fate.

And even if she was just a normal girl, Yukino would not tell her anything. Information was power, and, well, her boyfriend was an intelligence agent.

Of course, there was still some information that she had no intention of hoarding. For example, the return of her boyfriend.

========================

It was quite a scene, the Lady of the House ran out of the staircase, hugging the Master right at the doorstep. The man was also quite capable himself, he quickly put his arms around his lover's hip before spinning her around. The scene was partially lit with the torches at the door and by the stars and moon above.

Yukino quickly laid her head onto her boyfriend's shoulder, sniffing his scene. Sure, he was sweaty, and his smell was no easy for an average girl. In fact, it was quite pungent for an average teen girl. But then, no one had ever regarded her as a common female teenager, or a sane one, neither. At least, her raging hormones were quite the norm…

"Have you eaten yet honey?"

"No, I was waiting for you."

"… 'Kay."

It looked like her boyfriend wanted to admonish her for not eating properly, but then he had already swallowed his own words. Just like many wives, she would patiently wait for her husband to arrive her before sharing the meal together. What the meal comprised of was not important, it could be instant noodles or even a pack of cookies. The crucial part was that they shared it together, just like a husband and a wife.

"You stink, honey. Take a shower, then hot food will be served."

"Sure, but what's for dinner?"

"Steak and vegetable soup, with myself as dessert."

It was classical of a hook, line, and sinker in rom-com harem animes, which had made many protagonists getting flushed up. But Vuong was no ordinary boy, he had seen a lot and he had already slept together with his girlfriend. A bit of teasing like that would not be enough to make him worked up. He just planted a kiss on his girl's lips before disappearing into the mansion. A few seconds later, Yukino was seen rushing towards the kitchen, she wanted to have the meal ready by the time her boyfriend got out of the bathroom.

Luckily, time was on her side. She had instructed the servants to prepare a large hot tub, which her boyfriend deeply enjoyed. He would not step out after soaking himself for at least half an hour, probably more if the water was kept hot or warm. Plus five to ten minutes of getting in and out, she should have enough time to prepare it.

Standing in the kitchen was the chef, and just like the maid, he had to accept the fact that she wanted to cook a meal personally for her boyfriend. Still, it took Yukino more time to convince him. It was probably due to the fact that the kitchen was his holy site… well, at least he was letting her cook this time. She still considered this as a "win".

The food's names were a bit different from what she knew on Earth. Sure, the basic like "beef" or "chicken" remained the same, but many of the food here were capable of raising magical capacity. It was quite a problem when Vuong had no meaningful magical power to speak off, so Yukino had to resort to normal food, which was an uphill battle by itself. They were not exactly "noble" food, so it took a lot of skills and efforts to convince the chef to let it be...

Well, it was more like Yukino ordered him to help her cooking, or fuck off. And that was the more polite version. Of course, she would not retell how she did that to Vuong, all her boyfriend had to know was that she had cooked him his late meal.

Humming a tune she knew, Yukino rolled a cart carrying the two dishes of steak up to the dining room. Escorting her was the chef and the maid she likes the most, both of them were torn between annoyance and amusement. On the one hand, it was very late at night already, on the other hand, she acted exactly like a teenage girl madly in love. Sure, she was the Lady of the Mansion, but she was only at the age of the chef's daughter, so it was his right to laugh and grin as he liked.

Not to mention that she was rude to him earlier, so this was simply paid back.

Opening the grand door made of wood, the three moved into the dining room, now being half-lit with candles and torches. The chef was fairly impressed with his new Master. He knew that none of the servants was actually capable of setting such an intimate background. Being nobles, albeit low-ranking ones, they were used to grand and extravagant set-ups. Yet, the scene in front of his eyes was simple, mundane, yet warm and welcome at the same time.

There was also no other people, other than three female common-born maids, standing ready. Considering all the unknowns, it was highly likely that the new Master had made this arrangement by himself. If he, a common chef, had noticed this, surely his Lady, a witch, could also realise this issue, and more.

"Such a lovely setting... And they say you are incapable of understanding romance."

"Well, if I really put my mind into it, I can do what I want for my girl."

Even with a cool and calm appearance, Yukino's face cracked a bit, and she felt her cheeks getting flushed with heat and embarrassment. It led to some stammering, which she really hated. Seriously, between the two of them, she had no problem changing clothes right in front of his eyes. But the moment there was just another person, that façade of sexiness, mystique and alluring crumbled down. She would be no different from a normal girl.

Or at least, most of the time. If she was sufficiently overwhelmed by emotion, she would have no problem giving him a kiss in the public. Just like a few moments ago when her boyfriend got back from work… Maybe she should train up her resistance and maturity?

She blushed heavily while putting down the dishes of steak and potatoes down on the table, realizing that Vuong wanted the two of them to sit opposite to each other. The cart was quickly moved when the table had been set and the two teens were watching each other's face with love and passion. The maids and the chef glanced at each other before beating a quick retreat.

What happened next would not be their responsibilities.

Yukino considered giving them a raise...

"Open your mouth, honey."

Of course, she had forgotten her boyfriend. Despite his tough and emotionless appearance, he was actually more cuddly than a cat. He really loved spoiling his girlfriend, which Yukino had no problems with. Of course, she loved being spoiled rotten... The two of them kept feeding each other food and whispering honey and sugar into the other's ears. That scene could give the most deredere girl diabetes, she knew for sure. But then, she did not even care for it. Vuong was hers, and that was all she needed to know.

"So, how are things going on."

"Sufficiently good, I suppose... The Emperor gave us a boon. A big one."

"How big?"

"The territories of the four fallen nobles. Their lands are nearby, about four hours on carriages, and right next to each other. We have the right to use it however we please."

"And what is the catch?"

"I have to tell him how to make steel and beef up the agriculture. Probably I would also have to lead the army from the front too."

He was tired, Yukino saw it. The Emperor must have asked for more, but Vuong would not budge on those details. The tense negotiation quickly drained him down... It must be hard for him to maintain his class's benefits. They had nothing, and the locals held too many advantages.

"We will claim our land tomorrow, I hope that by noon, we will have our own offices... Then I have to set up the bureaucrat systems, clear out the moles and the old guards, set up the industrial... Yeah, I need a lot of help..."

Vuong was exhausted, she could see it clearly. His eyes were half blood-shot and half-closed, he was even too tired to chew his food properly. Heck, only his love for her kept him awake now. But it was just barely, and he could collapse any moment now.

Wordlessly, she stood up and hugged him from the side, laying his head down on her breasts. Another time, it would be sexual, but this time, it was not. She was just trying to calm down her boyfriend, not hype him up for foreplay.

"Easy honey, easy. Just take deep breaths. No need to get agitated. I'm always here with you, don't be afraid."

"Hmm~ Hmmm~"

Searching through her memory, Yukino picked a melody that she liked the most. It was not a lullaby, but it could be used in such a pinch... It was more like a love song, telling about a girl standing side by side with the boy she loved. While there was no hell or high water, her love was shown through common activities. Just a meal together, a date at the cinema, a study session at the cafe, but it was sweet and mundane, fitting for everyone.

Her boyfriend had already fallen asleep half-way through her song, and he just rested right there, on her breasts. If it was any other boy, Yukino would castrate him, but this was Vuong. He was her boyfriend, her man and he was the only one she let getting close to her.

He was her husband, in all but name:



"If you are tired and depressed, Vuong, remember, I'm always here."