- Location
- Somewhere
I...never quite thought of that. I mean, if you suddenly found a world of magic, someone saying they were reincarnated from our world may not be so outlandish anymore...
A Young Woman's New Life as an Imperial Princess (Youjo Senki/Gate Jietai Crossover)
- Thread starter Midas_Man
- Start date
Hexcalibur
Not So Ordinary Sword
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- It
I could have sworn that the story was further than this. Didn't Tanya already bought some of the Japanese slaves? Or was it another fic with the same premise?
- Location
- Somewhere
I think Tanya's estate bought one, but Tanya herself isn't aware of it?
- Location
- Salt Lake City, UT, USA
It wasn't Tanya's estate, but the Prince's. That's canon.
- Location
- Germany
I can see that happen.
Itami: "How do you speak Japanese?"
Tanya: "Learned it in my first life, I used to be a grown man in Japan."
Itami: "Can you prove that?"
Tanya, lists the modern HR-rules and points out where Itami can be reprimanded.
If you use fanon Tanya, sure. Like, peoples missed that she only lucky in canon that the events in YS were in parallel to the history she remembered, but unfortunately it wasnt 1 : 1 copy whci lead to its own consequences, and the peoples arent being stupid unlike other stories of isekais/people sent to the past and thus screw her reeallt hard on top of peoples just being peoples
The thing is, theres only so much can be explained away by "being genius". Like, really, a child that somehow "too smart" and "too mature" are eye-brows raising and rouse suspicions at some point, not just being praised only. And no, i dont meant have the peoples be the not!lergen, which is what often what fanfic writers is doing by limiting characters to be the "lergen" just to be contrarian for sake of being contrarian
Its both, though the purchase was done by the lower ranking peoples/middle management so neither would know cause why would the middle management would inform the upper hierarchy/boss for every minutia instead of just important matters?
Which, again, make me scream on where the fuck are the Imperial's intelligences like the shown "Emperor's Eyes" are, since this is the few only available sources of intels left of the mysterious enemy that cause a huge casualties of epic porpotions. And i said this since the combat casualties are over 30% , which is the standard what pre-industrial armies faced before broken and cause chain broken morale, if we want to use the Total Wars terms
Both. If i had coins for every Tanya fic that had this happen, i have two coins. Its two, but its happen.
Last edited:
- Location
- Somewhere
Basically, how I interpreted it was that Zorzal bought the slave, but gifted the woman to Tanya. The people of Tanya's estate/or whatever we're calling her private home/office accepted the woman in and started the usual procedure for new acquisitions that Tanya set up for slaves. However, they haven't actually informed Tanya of the purchase yet, and it appears Zorzal hasn't seen fit to bring the subject up to Tanya himself.
So to answer the previous person's question, I summed it up to simply yes Tanya's estate bought one without Tanya herself knowing. Didn't want to go explaining every minute detail of the event, especially since it had been the better part of a week since I read it and thus could have been wrong. Something I seem to have needed to do anyways.
- Pronouns
- They/Them/She/Her
Oh, I wonder what led to that, then.Midas_Man said:
A Hopeless War - II
Midas_Man
One of the Brightest Stars
Every time news of the war reaches my ears, the situation seems to deteriorate further.
Thousands of more dead with nothing achieved. Oh, there is some pearl clutching and finger pointing in the Senate, but nothing really changed after the most recent battle. The propaganda remains the same: setbacks are expected before inevitable victory.
Did no one understand the severity of the situation, or did they not want to understand it? Probably a mix of both. Stilicho and Victrix claimed they knew senators who both genuinely supported the war effort and those who supported it because it was expected of them. Any public counter argument against 'Saderan Victory' could be labeled as treasonous defeatism and result in being stripped of their seat in the Senate if they were lucky, and simply vanishing if not.
For my part, I was doing everything in my power to not end up lined up against a wall or seated in a courtroom for being associated with the obvious war crimes the Empire has committed.
Thanks to Gaius and Remus I've been able to track down fifty-two captives taken from Japan, all Japanese. The strangest captives were three young adults I found who were not taken as slaves but shut away in a villa outside the city, complete with servants and regular deliveries of food.
I even had to invoke my name a few times to get past the guards, who were more minders than wardens.
It took only thirty seconds after meeting them to realize what happened: they were cosplayers who the legionaries must have mistaken for Japanese 'nobles', set aside from the rest of the rabble and placed in accommodations befitting their 'station'. The plan was probably to ransom them back to their families. Of course, I'm not going to correct this 'mistake' because it means there are three less people I have to worry about dying from overwork or malnutrition.
The only small mercy, beyond the three 'nobles', was that no non-Japanese seemed to have been taken, or at least none of the people rescued mentioned being with a foreigner before getting captured. I can hardly imagine how bad the situation would be if a foreign national got caught up in all of this, or worse an American got taken.
Yanks with tanks were far more threatening than just the Self-Defense Force itself.
Scratch that. Even Dacia, with its outdated tactics and strategies even compared to its Great War contemporaries, would have more than enough power to overwhelm and conquer the Empire if given enough time.
And peacetime as it was, the JSDF was still a modern force. A modern force that hasn't fought an offensive war in most people's living memory, but a modern force nonetheless with appropriate armored, naval, and air power to project power with.
Speaking of modern, that was another thing that threw me for a loop. All the people taken through the Gate, that I've been able to speak with, say that the year is 2015.
Which is strange.
Strange because, while my memory may not be perfect, being twenty-six years after my first death, I think I would remember seeing something about a magical gateway opening up with a roman-esque fantasy army marching out on the news at least once. It would have been one of those 'where were you' moments in Japanese history. The fact that it's two years before my death in 2017, and I absolutely don't remember something like this happening in my first life, only reinforces a theory I've been building.
And that is that this Japan is not my Japan. If this was 'my' Japan, and assuming time moves at an identical pace, the year ought to be 2043. Thankfully, everything else seemed to line up about right: Great War, Inter-War period, World War 2, Atomic Bombing, Cold War, Post-War Economic Miracle followed by a crash in the 90s, etc.
Those last few questions got some really strange, but understandable, looks from the people I was interviewing. I'd probably have the same expressions of confusion if some random kid started asking me about my nation's geopolitical and economic policies when we apparently don't understand the concept of a car yet.
Still, even with an alternate variation of my original world, I have no doubt that by this point in time the Japanese Diet will have already enforced the Mutual Defense Treaty to bring their United States of America in to aid them. It's only logical that they would want the aid of the world's global hegemon to deal with an extraterrestrial (which the Empire is in the strictest definition of the word) threat.
While I hardly doubt a million Americans will come pouring through, a joint Japanese-United States deployment is probably underway already. Perhaps other nations are involved. Not China or Russia for obvious reasons, but New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, and so on. But that's highly speculative.
Regardless, with such military power opposing the Empire a conventional victory, by Falmart standards, is impossible. Given that I've heard from Godasen that he and his fellows are still trying to wrap their heads around guns, which they adamantly still call 'staves', I have little faith they will uncover a solution to modern combined arms warfare.
If by some miracle Sadera had access to some form of computation orbs, even those primitive clockwork behemoths from the Napoleonic Wars that were the size of unwieldy crates and crank operated, I'd give them a slight chance of victory. But even then, I'd only give them a 15% chance of victory; and that assumes a Vietnam/Afghanistan situation of a protracted war that revolves around turning public sentiment against the conflict.
But since the Empire launched a war of aggression, that is probably not likely. Experience has taught me that human beings are spiteful creatures when they feel wronged, worse still when such feelings are objectively legitimate.
The best thing I can do right now is position myself to have the best possible negotiating hand in the post-war government. There is a zero percent possibility Sadera will remain as is following its defeat (the Americans alone will have a field day over the 'slavery' issue) so if I want to maintain my level of comfort as is right now, I need to have my house in order before the drone strikes in the capital start.
This means as many people taken as slaves being located, shepherded to safety, and handed over to the JSDF as quickly as possible. Doing so will paint me as the peaceful moderate who just wants to end the fighting, and not face any war crime trials for technically owning slaves myself by the standards of the contemporary world.
Best case scenario from all of this is me keeping my standard of living and wealth, though I will concede that keeping my life is the highest priority. If that meant I would be forced to live in exile in Japan or America, and suffer the indignity of First World convenience and comfort, that would be a sacrifice I am willing to make.
--
--
"Your majesty, the war has developed in a direction not necessarily to Sadera's advantage."
"Speak plainly and dispense with the propaganda, Lucian," Molt growled, rubbing his temples, "this is hardly the time to be mindful of our words."
Between Molt and the Magister Millitum was a map of all Falmart. Laid across its length were wooden figures representing Sadera's legions and other military forces across the continent. Ships, vassal states, irregular detachments, axillaries, mercenaries, and so forth.
While bitter at the situation, Molt actually approved of Lucian's leadership of the Empire's forces for the most part. While so corpulent the man had to ride an exotic beast from the colonies as a mount rather than a normal horse, he had that wonderful mix of competence and pedigree that was required to run the Empire in any reasonable manner. And he has been ever faithful to Molt, and his father before him, that he would be hard-pressed to remove such a man unless this failure with Alnus was of his own design.
Though he doubts that his Praetorian Prefect, Regulus, had as positive an opinion of the man as his liege did. The praetorian saw knives and deception from every shadow. The man had confided in his Emperor that he thought the Magister, rather than the barbarians, was the cause of Sadera's defeats so far. If he'd have his way, Lucian would have been strung up and hung until death for those failings.
Not that Molt expected less, this was the primary duty of the guard to sniff out such things and encourage a certain degree of fear in the normal ranks. The man's presence at this meeting was designed to impress as such upon Lucian.
"As you say, your majesty," the man took a moment to wipe his sweaty face with a cloth. "If I may be frank, should our losses continue at this rate, the Legion as a fighting force will be spent by the end of the year."
"Ridiculous," Reglues growled. "This man should be made an example of as a warning to the others-"
"His majesty asked me to speak plainly, and so I shall,"
"Silence both of you," Molt raised his hand, giving a quick gesture to his Prefect that he had played his role masterfully. "Continue Lucian, what is the current state of our forces in Italica? How soon can we mount a new offensive?"
"Offensive? Not after the losses they've suffered," Lucian waddled his way to the side of the table and pointed to the figurines around Alnus Hill. "After the battle, much of what remained of the client states' armies returned to their own lands, leaving us scant few men to use. Combined with rampant desertion in the face of collapsing morale, our forces barely number thirteen thousand strong. A force ten times this size barely slowed the barbarians."
"If not fight, then what? Dig in and hold what we have?"
"Your majesty, the most likely path the barbarians will take is north," he tapped Italica on the map. "If our forces garrison the city and get caught in a siege they will be eradicated, leaving us with no forces in the region.
"So your plan is to cede an entire province to barbarian occupation?" Regulus scowled at the man. "Hide behind the walls of Rondel as the countryside burns?"
"Rondel? No," Lucian shook his head, moving the wooden pieces around on the map. "The safest option would be to retreat to Bellnahgo, many leagues north of Rondel. From there, they can be reinforced more safely."
"And when our forces are done running, what then?" the Pretorian pressed the Magister Militum.
The magister groaned at Regulus's proding and pointed across the map to the other blocks representing Legion forces. "Horselord attacks have escalated in the past fortnight, with no fewer than three whole cities being sacked, northmen raids have become more frequent along the northern shores, and banditry has become a significant problem across large tracts of the roadway as our garrions are stretched thin to patrol them. We don't have the manpower to attack."
"Then our first concern should be replenishing our manpower," Molt reasoned. "Tell me, Lucian, how many men do you believe will be needed to fight this foe?
Lucian hesitated for a moment, wringing his pudgy fingers together. "With your consent, I would recommend no fewer than two million men be called up to serve the Empire. Anything less, and I cannot guarantee the safety of even our core territories by the end of the year."
'Two million men?' Over half again as many men that already served the Empire. Gods, the thought alone made his stomach turn, not that he showed his discomfort. He looked over to his aid, "Can the treasury bear such an expense?"
Marcus stepped forwards, the quiet man hummed as he recalled the numbers in his head before nodding, "Yes, though it will dig deep into our coffers. Special war taxes, encouraging charitable donations, and selling some of the grain reserves can offset this by a certain amount. Though I am personally uncomfortable with the last option, given that the harvest in Italica will not be collected given the conflict."
"We have enough grain stored away and enough farmland further east and north to make up for the shortcomings," Regulus countered Marcus's pessimism. "And even if food becomes scarce, then I guess we'll simply have to make do with fewer peasants."
"And if the barbarians destroy civilization as we know it, I doubt it will matter if we starve or not," Molt looked to Marcus and nodded, "Make the necessary preparations and send notice to all the lords and senators of the struggle we are facing. Encourage them to give generously and deeply from their coffers for the sake of the Empire."
"As you command," Marcus nodded, making a note to execute the Emperor's will.
Molt turned back to the Magister Militum. "What else is there to do?"
"That depends on the barbarians themselves," Lucius cleared his throat, looking to Molt for a nod to continue. "The barbarians have only a handful of directions they may advance further. Ideally, we should hope they march south into the vassal states or west, into the lands of the Korinthean League," he tapped the map. "Smash through everything in their path, put the vassals to the torch, maybe even keep marching until they hit the tip of the Korinthean peninsula. Regardless of their foul magic, it will still take them time to subdue or eradicate the populations there and give the Legions time to regroup and provide us ample examples of how they fight."
"And the odds of this ideal situation happening?" Molt questioned.
"Too soon to say," Lucius mumbled something under his breath and moved several of the wooden pieces representing the barbarians on Alnus Hill. "My gut feeling tells me no, however. Our forces are in full retreat. It would be foolish, even for barbarians, to not pursue a fleeing foe to eradicate them before they have a chance to regroup."
"If they march north," the magister continued, moving the barbarian block to Italica, "the city will fall. It is inevitable. And with it, the main road networks and highways connecting the east and west of the Empire."
Molt grumbled to himself as he mulled over the full weight of what Lucian was saying. The Empire's greatest strength has always been its unity. Split it in two and…well…how can a house stand when one of its support beams is sawed off?
"What if they trek over the mountains," Regulus questioned, pointing to the long chain that separated Sadera from Italica and Alnus. "They'd be a stone's throw away from the capital."
"Apologies, but that is impossible," Lucian rolled his eyes. "One cannot simply 'trek' over the mountains. They're too steep and the paths too narrow for any invasion force to cross. The only way through the mountains is through these narrow corridors," he pointed to the collections of forts along the winding roadways. "All of which are guarded by fortifications centuries in the making."
"And by air?" Regulus proposed, looking at the pieces representing wyverns and other arial creatures in the Empire's employ. "They have those metal beasts, surely one, or a dozen, could fly over and wreak havoc."
"Technically, yes," the Magister begrudgingly admitted, "in such a scenario the barbarians could use creatures to fly over the mountains and raid the heartlands themselves, but they wouldn't be able to hold anything, superior magic or not. No one can sufficiently supply a garrison in the middle of enemy territory by air alone. Lighting raids, perhaps letting off some men to harass our supply trains, slaughter famers, loot for sustenance, but nothing more. Anything larger and they would lose the element of surprise necessary for raids."
"Could they attack the capital?" Molt questioned, staring at Sadera on the map. As Regulus said, they were but a stone's throw away.
"A distinct possibility, your majesty," Lucian noted. "Of course, any who partake would die in the assault, but the damage men can cause when they've accepted their own death's is truly staggering. Nevertheless, and moving to a matter I wished to get to, the defenses of the capital must be strengthened to deter such attacks. The walls are lined with ballista, an ample supply of munitions for our ranged forces, and the arial garrison must be expanded for the foreseeable future."
"See to it immediately," he didn't even look over the parchment when he issued the command. "What else?"
"Continuing on from before, the only other way they can march is to the south-east," the Magister gestured to the Blue Sea. "Build or claim whatever ships are at port, use them to harass our trade routes to the colonies, and even threaten our southern shores with invasion."
The meeting went on longer than Molt thought it would. Pessimistic projections, cold truths that would snuff out the fires of the most ardent jingoist, and all the other myriad of issues that came with war. Yet for all their planning and strategies one truth was hammered home: The Empire simply didn't know enough of their new foes to properly fight them.
Thankfully, that issue may be at an end soon enough. A cohort of praetorian speculatores were dispatched a fortnight ago to begin observation and reconnaissance of the barbarians. With any luck their findings may provide invaluable information on their dealings, and if there are any weak points to chip away at…
And then there were Pina Knights. While he doubted they would excel in the same way the speculatores would, there was always the possibility his daughter would surprise him. She has before, why not again?
--
--
"You're holding it wrong," I didn't even have to look up from my letter to know Gaius was holding the rifle wrong. Again.
"Are you sure, this staff feels good in my hands like this," Gaius replied, holding up the lone rifle the Legion had retrieved from the other side of the Gate. He held it by the stock and barrel, no attempt to even touch the grip. It was dented and scratched up, but it still worked. It only had a few rounds left in the magazine, which was not in the rifle for obvious reasons.
A staff indeed. Still, he was curious and I didn't really see an issue with letting him handle the empty rifle for a while, even if he refused to hold it correctly.
"Yes, I'm sure," I tried to not roll my eyes. "Remember, I said to try and hold it like a crossbow, not a spear."
"I've seen the force this thing has when you loose its munitions. If I don't hold it like this, how can I keep it from flying right out of my hands?"
"Use the grip," I must have shown him a dozen times, I swear…
"And that would be-"
"The thing that looks like a handle," I repressed a sigh. He doesn't know any better…
"If you say so…Ah! I see. You were right, it feels much better in my hands now," he still wasn't holding it right. While his hand was around the grip he propped up the stock above his shoulder, giving the impression he was holding a rocket launcher.
"…close enough," I pinched the ridge of my nose. Still better than Cordelia, who held the damn thing like a club.
And if babysitting my personal assistant who was fascinated by the military hardware wasn't enough to focus on, I had a recent letter from Myui giving me some unexpectedly candid information of what is going on near the frontlines.
A long, multi-page ensemble that basically boiled down to: her father was dead, the lands of Italica were being ransacked by bandits and deserters, a dragon of all things was burning down everything in its path, and she was being propped up by her sisters as the new head of the family because each one wanted to rule through her. Her letter was both a friendly message and a plea for not only political advice but also moral support.
Ugh…I was never good with children. Under normal circumstances, I would just write a boilerplate condolence and leave it at that. But given that I have no intentions of going close to the Japanese lines until I have enough tribute to give them in the form of freed citizens and useful intelligence, she was the only link I had to the battlefield right now. Unfiltered, and potentially misunderstood, as it may be.
I had to write more than just 'I'm sorry for your loss' and actually engage in a dialogue with her.
Yet everything I wrote just felt so stilted. Anyone reading it would know that I was just fishing for information. Three hours and a dozen sheets of paper later, I was no closer to writing a reply. I'm pretty sure every time I did get something down I realize it was just something I would have written to my Germanian troops to reinvigorate their loyalty to the fatherland.
Maybe I ought to get Gaius to do this. He has experience writing these sorts of things to people, moreso adults than kids, but I could check over what he wrote before sending it to make sure it sounds like something I would write.
Though speaking of Gaius.
"Please stop clicking that," I looked at the excitable man as he kept pulling the trigger to his 'staff'. It didn't do anything beyond making a clicking sound. It was like hearing one soft noise in an otherwise quiet room when you're doing work.
"Forgive me, I feel like a boy with a new toy," he put the rifle down on the table. "And you say all of the barbarians have weapons such as these?"
"Their soldiers do," I correct Gaius, "it's standard issue, equivalent to the swords we give our legionaries."
"If this is just a sword I'd hate to see what they consider a pike, or what their crossbow is like," he patted the weapon's frame. "May I ask a question, your highness?"
"You already have," I crumple up a wasted sheet of paper and grab a fresh one.
"Hmm, I suppose I did," his face turned serious. "In all honesty, how long do you think it will be before the Empire cannot fight back any more?"
"I thought Imperial victory was already guaranteed," I quote a message I heard from one of the news speakers out in the streets. "That our losses were but minor setbacks along the path to inevitable victory, and that we shall soon destroy their cities and sow their lands with salt."
"Children are allowed to have their fantasies," Gaius joked before he looked out the stained glass window. "But for the adults, we have to contend with cold reality and bitter truths. So, how long do you think?"
"…six months to a year," I gave him my honest opinion. "Less if we keep throwing our men a quarter of a million at a time."
"Dear god…" he mumbled. "Sounds more like a plague than a war."
"How long did you think it would last?" I question him back.
"A few years at least," Gaius ran a hand over his smooth head. "The Empire is simply too big to quickly subdue, but you make it sound like they'll be at Sadera's gates in a matter of weeks."
"They probably will," though I wonder if it'll be via airstrikes or a ground assault, maybe a mix of both. "But before that we-"
"Apologies, your highness," Remus burst through the door, the young man panting as held out a note to me. "A courier from the Order of the Rose caught me while I was out and asked that I deliver this to you."
I looked at the paper, Pina's seal still in place. "Did they tell you what it was about?"
"No," he shook his head, "just that it was from her highness and you needed to receive it as soon as possible."
I hummed, breaking the seal and reading through the message. It was short and simple.
I felt the onset of a migraine as I put the paper down.
--
--
Months in this world and Maki still couldn't decide if this place was a high fantasy or a low fantasy.
She was leaning towards low fantasy, but every time she was about to make a definitive decision something would surprise her and make her reevaluate. It had elves and beast-people, but they weren't that different from humans. Magic was a real thing, but only a few people could use it; like the kid she was working for now.
Actually, was she working for the girl, or were her parents paying for her to work for the girl? Maki never asked the other girls which was the case. Probably the latter. The high schooler didn't know any kid who could manage a small villa all by themselves.
For goodness sake, her cousin was a grown woman who barely kept her apartment together without her ex's help.
Speaking of other girls, it was so cool that a few were actually not human. Well, they looked human enough, but some had little animal bits on them that made them different. One of the girls helping Maki adjust to her current predicament, Reenes, even let her pet her wolf ears.
They were so soft~
Still, this whole situation was quite the adjustment. From the first world to a medieval one besides, there was also the language issue. The outfit she had to wear wasn't that bad, it didn't look any worse than what her friend wore while working at that maid café. The other girls were nice of course. They knew Maki was the 'new girl', so they helped her out wherever they could.
Maki doubted she'd be doing as good right now without their help.
They even helped her deal with the…panic attacks…and…
And…
It was so clear even now…the girls in the basement…lined up like cattle….who were-
Nope! Nope! Don't go there.
Stay here, now, in the present.
She wasn't going to end up like one of them. Chained up like some animal and…used…like the others….
No, she wasn't!
She wasn't!
She wasn't!
She wasn't!
She wasn't!
She wasn't-
'THUD'
The sudden noise made Maki jump in her skin, someone had just slammed a door shut on the floor above her. Footsteps came next, growing louder as someone descended down the stairs. Maki put her head down and back to dusting the bookshelf. Humming softly to herself, she did her best to just blend into the surroundings.
Nope. Nothing to see here.
"I can't believe her!"
Maki winced at the voice. Crooking her neck, she saw the young blonde rich girl march down the hall with two others in tow, a man and a human/animal hybrid. "Does she really have no sense of self-preservation?"
"Recklessness does that to a person," the man commented, they were speaking too fast for Maki to catch it.
"No Gaius, there's reckless and then there's stupid," the girl huffed. "She wants to prance around like some fairytale knight in the middle of a warzone. Do you understand the blow back that will ensue if she gets killed or worse, captured?"
The rest of the conversation went in one ear and out the other as she laid eyes on him. The cute wolf boy that every woman here was silently swooning over.
He wasn't a meathead like those other men she saw going about, looking more like a swimmer than a bodybuilder. Midnight black hair and crystal blue eyes. Sure, he might not be a cat boy (how the hell is Maki in a fantasy world and has yet to see a cat boy!), but those ears and that tail are so fluffy she just wants to touch them. And those eyes…She could get lost in how blue they were, like little gemstones.
Why were her cheeks getting so warm?
The wolf boy stopped and quickly turned around to where Maki was standing. Embarrassed that she'd be caught staring, she quickly dove into an open door to get out of sight. Bumping her head into a wall for her trouble.
"What is it?" she heard the older man, Guy-us, ask.
"I thought I saw someone," oh no, he even sounded cool.
She heard the man sigh. "Of course you saw someone. They're called the staff."
"No, I mean, it felt like someone was staring at me," Maki might be a tad out of the loop for the language, but she had picked up enough to know he did catch a glimpse of her.
"Well, were they wearing a maid outfit?"
"Yes."
"Well then it's self-explanatory why a young woman would be looking at you."
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand," she heard him mumble to himself. "….but at first it was just a few of them Now it seems like all of them are staring at me when I'm around and they think I'm not looking. Am I doing something stupid, something wrong, or are they just gawking at a demi-human?"
Maki heard the man take a deep breath and sigh, "…boy, I am going to sit you down later and we are going to have a long talk about this."
"Thank you Master Rax, hopefully I can clear up any misunderstandings with them, if it is something I am doing."
"Oh, I can assure you they mean you no harm…depending on what you consider harm I suppose."
"Master Rax?"
"Oh nothing, nothing."
As the pair walked away, she could hear the man, Guy-us, saying something to himself, but it was too quick for her to understand.
Ugh, why couldn't they just speak Japanese or even English if they had to speak another language?!
This whole new language thing was total immersion learning, sink or swim. While she was now able to understand it to a degree and speak it, she apparently had a very noticeable accent. Noticeable meaning bad, since whenever she asked the other girls how she sounded they just deflected and reminded her about how months ago she couldn't speak a word and now she could hold conversations.
She had to hammer in that her name wasn't 'Ma-Key', but Maki. It wasn't that hard to pronounce!
Then again, she made the same mistake with Miss Octavia (Oct-Aveya) and Reenes (Reen-iys).
Still, with the last of the last footsteps going away, the door closing softly behind them, Maki was left alone.
Well, back to work, she supposed. Wonder what all that fuss was about.
--
--
"You're going to the frontlines?" This had to be one of the dumbest possible decisions Pina could have made. Thankfully I managed to reach her Order's primary lodgings, the Jade Palace, before they left on this fool's errand.
Apparently, the Emperor was allowing Pina and her order to go to the Italica region for reconnaissance. Some few dozen knights against what amounts to an industrial military force.
What were they thinking?!
"I am," Pina replied, angling herself so her chest plate could be properly fitted. Did she really see no problem in all of this?
"Have you not heard of the mass casualties the Legion suffered?" Even the propaganda didn't pretend like we were winning, so there's now way for her to claim ignorance as an excuse. "A quarter of a million died in the previous battles, and you think you can change the balance of power by yourself?"
"It's because of that that I volunteered my order to aid in the war effort," she explained, tugging at her armor to see if it was properly secured. "I'm not going to win the war, but to uncover as much as I can about our enemy. Their greatest asset is our ignorance of them, their strengths, their weaknesses, everything. We don't even know what gods they worship. How can we defeat them if we don't know a thing about them?"
"But…"No Pina, their greatest asset is their modern military! But how can I explain the concept of it to a person from a medieval point of view who hasn't even seen any of these things? And your knights are a ceremonial unit under the personal patronage of the Emperor himself! There is no need for you to go out and look for battle!
There is wanderlust, and then there's insanity.
"Don't worry, I have no plan to fight them in a pitched battle," Pina said, attaching her blade to her side. "This is just scouting. No big battles to decide the fate of the Empire. We'll be back before you know it."
"But…" I really didn't know what else to say. Pina's knights were an official order, meaning only their leader or their noble patron could order them around. Since their leader was Pina, and their patron was the Emperor, literally no one could legally order them to not go.
Before I could get another word in, another started to speak.
"All preparations are complete, your highness," Pina's page announced. "We're ready to leave on your order."
"Thank you, Hamilton,"
"Just don't die out there, alright?" I don't think I can imagine a worse case scenario for the Empire than a royal getting killed in battle. Her death would inflame war support in the Empire, and make Sadera trudge along slightly longer than it would have without the death of a member of the royal family.
Also disheartening to see a young life wasted, but hardly the absolute worst thing that could happen to a woman on the battlefield.
"I promise," she replied.
She was on her horse and out the gates minutes later, her banner billowing in the breeze as her knights marched off to war.
An unwinnable war, but still a war.
She's probably going to be alright in any case.
If she encounters any Japanese unit, assuming they bother to have a translator on hand, they'll probably assume she's a noble's daughter and take her into custody. They might not even take her as a threat given the whole armor set up.
Still, the best case scenario is that she gains enough intelligence to convince the Emperor to end the war prematurely and sign a peace treaty. Save everyone a lot of death and destruction.
Most likely, her results will be somewhere in-between both extremes: something neither overly damaging or helpful.
If not…well
"What else could happen today?" I joke to myself.
I barely noticed Gaius awkwardly clear his throat, and awkwardly shuffle over to me with another note.
--
--
The day got worse.
Zorzal invited me to a dinner at his home for some good old 'Family bonding'.
And by family bonding, he of course meant 'you, me, and all of my enabling sycophants'. So I sat beside Zorzal at the head of a long table, surrounded by those very same people.
Actually, while I call it a gathering of sycophants, in truth it's a pointless waste of time. Even before sitting down I can chart in my head how all the conversations will go. Either Zorzal says something that everyone around him agrees with, or someone says something that they think Zorzal will approve of and much the same thing happens in turn.
It gets worse after they've had too much to drink. Then whatever filter anyone might have had just vanishes and the truly insane talking points crop up.
Such as 'what if we just killed all the non-humans?' or 'why do we even let other countries exist?', those sorts of things.
So why do I subject myself to such…torture? Simple: to nip the worst of these ideas in the bud. I've found that every time I refuse to come to one of these gatherings he does something crazy/foolish that not only embarrasses himself but, by extension, me as well!
Since he doesn't interact with any of our other siblings and the Emperor has seemingly written him off as a lost cause, it has seemingly fallen to me to make sure he doesn't do something stupid.
That fact that the staff, the menial staff that is, not the guards, for his palace are entirely composed of women in varying states of undress left me with no illusion of what must happen here when I'm not around.
"Those generals should be executed for incompetence," Zorzal argued, digging into his steak with all the manners of a wild boar. And of course, they were talking about the war. "Tens of thousands dead to barbarians? It's disgraceful!"
"Of course, your highness," one of his yes-men noble 'friends' agreed. "Our noble Legions have no place for such failures."
"Failure is an understatement," Zorzal agreed, chugging a mug of beer to wash down his meat. "Over a hundred thousand dead to barbarians? If I was in charge of the Legions our banner would be flying proudly over their cities. Their people would already be flooding our markets, and their lands riddled with salt to prevent anything from growing afterwards."
"Here, here! Such is the fate of any who would dare defy our Empire!" Some of the sycophants raised their mugs in a mock toast to Zorzal's 'sterling' belief.
Ah yes, how dare you defend yourselves and fight back…Ugh.
Everyone here was just feeding Zorzal's ego. Zorzal always had a holier than thou opinion of himself. His victory over the bunny warriors (ugh…I still feel it's a stupid name) only fed this and the private rebuke from the Emperor (as I heard nothing publicly, but Zorzal is seemingly not allowed into the palace without being summoned) only made him dig his heels in and say it was the Emperor who was a fault.
While the Emperor has seemingly taken steps to keep Zorzal out of any real power, that didn't stop him from using his own personal wealth and power to make himself feel strong.
"Actually, that reminds me. Tyuule! Get over here, I have a question for you!"
The men hooted and hollered as the former queen turned slave walked over to the head of the table. Her expression betrays nothing but serene calm and a soft smile.
"How can I be of service to you, my prince?" Her words sent a chill down my spine.
"Tell me, what would you have done if instead of me, those fools who lost Alnus Hill were the ones who invaded your lands?" Zorzal questioned.
"I can't really say, your highness, since I was defeated by your genius, I have no concept of a incompetent general," the slave queen replied, a serene smile on her face as she cheerfully explains her point.
This woman…
I still don't understand how Zorzal's falling for this 'submissive slave' charade the former queen is pulling off. From her body, or more specifically the bruising and marks all across it, I'm sure she probably gave him quite the earful in those first months. After that, she probably realized what she needed to do to get him to lay off on the abuse. Feed his ego and he'll essentially roll over.
The constant praising, agreeing with everything he says, the fawning over him, it would honestly be more believable if she just had a neutral expression all the time and followed his commands without a word. Silently going along with his orders rather than openly praising him at every possible opportunity. More believable than a woman who is seemingly in love with the man who slaughtered her people and treats her like trash.
Then again, the mask does slip on occasion.
"What about your own generals?" Zorzal countered, pulling the woman into his lap. "I can't believe you let those bitches lead your warriors into my traps over and over again! Their failures go beyond the excuse of merely being women."
And there it was!
Tyuule's carefully crafted mask cracked ever so slightly. Her pupils dilated and a small bit of her lip twitched, as if she had bit into it on the inside of her mouth to use the pang of pain to keep herself emotionally centered.
Then the mask was restored as quickly as it was moved.
"They only suffered such defeats to your forces thanks to the unparalleled brilliance of your own generalship," the woman smiled jovially to Zorzal.
"If that's true, why didn't you dismiss them?" One of the cronies questioned. "Did you keep them around for other reasons? All those women, not enough men, Hehehe~"
"I remember asking them at the time the very same question, and they told me they had never seen such unexpected tactics before in their entire lives," she continued, not raising to the bait.
Heh…unexpected where they?
"It caught them off guard, it caught me off guard," she explained. "In the end, stupid demi-humans like us were simply no match for the leadership of our glorious prince."
While she says that I see that glint in her eye as she hears the men laugh around her. I reflexively moved my seat slightly away from Zorzal's. The feeling I get down my spine always puts me on edge when her charade slips. It makes me want some distance so I can have enough time to raise a barrier or shield between us if she were to lunge at me.
"Fair enough! But don't sell yourself too short, I doubt any other general would have destroyed your forces quite so easily as I did!" Zorzal let out a laugh at that and smacked the woman on her ass, the sound echoing over the jeers of his 'friends'. The fact he held his hand there for a moment, almost grasping the thin strings called clothing he forced the woman to wear, made it all too clear he wanted to do much more than just smack her.
His eyes lingered on me for a second before pulling his hand back.
Guess this is one of the few times my age and gender worked in my favor.
"So, sister," Zorzal moved to change the subject. "What's this I hear about Pina taking her knights out?"
"What have you heard, exactly?" I questioned. I only knew about it since Pina told me.
"Only that she and her women have left the capital today."
"She went to father asking how she could aid in the war, and he sent her on a reconnaissance mission to Italica," I shrug, not understanding the decision all that much myself. "Nothing more to it than that."
"Ugh, has that man gone senile!" Zorzal slammed the table. "I'm a proven general and yet he sends women to battle?!"
"Reconnaissance…" I try to correct him, but the conga line of affirmations and sycophantic agreements started to roll in.
"Right you are, your highness! Women have no place on the battlefield!"
"Indeed! A women's place is at home!"
"Here-"
I loudly clear my throat. Zorzal looked like a deer caught in headlights, while the man who was about to toast quickly put his cup back down.
"Oh sister, don't listen to them," I yelped as Zorzal wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. "You're worth more than any of those baseborn women or lower-class harlots."
"Yes, her highness is the greatest and most beautiful princess in the Empire!"
"No man in our Empire deserves the right to wed her, she's simply far above any of them!"
"Princess Tanya is the example for which all women should follow!"
Weren't you the one who was just saying women belonged in the kitchen?
"Indeed, your highness," I flinch as a cold hand comes down on my head, the albino rabbit woman looking down at me with that fake smile of hers. "You are truly cut from a …different cloth then one would assume."
Why do I get the feeling she wants to twist my head off like a corkscrew?
"Actually sister, why don't you ever bring your bunny over with you?" Zorzal questioned. "I've said you ought to bring her over, show the boys here a matching set. Or even let the girl see her sweet aunt."
"I don't bring her with me because I'm pretty sure she'll try and kill you," as Cordelia has said and claimed she will do repeatedly and often. I groan as my warning seemingly fell on deaf ears as Zorzal laughed.
I could see Tyuule smirk, it looked more real than any smile she's ever given Zorzal.
"You should bring her anyway. She's more than welcome to try. I already made her supposedly great warrior queen aunt my bitch, I doubt a little girl would prove a challenge for me. And don't worry, I wouldn't kill her in the struggle since I know how fond you are of your bunny girl. I'll simply teach her to mind her manners the same way I taught her aunt."
My breath hitched as I felt sharp nails faintly push into my scalp.
"Oh, your highness, there's no need for that," Tyuule commented, her sickly-sweet smile on full display. "Cordelia is so much weaker than you that, with your great strength I fear you might end up hurting her beyond repair. It's better for all if she were to remain where she is, if only to not sadden her highness if you had to slay her companion in righteous self-defense."
"Like I would hurt my little sister's feelings like that," Zorzal looked like he was about to continue, but then a look of realization appeared. "Wait, Tyuule, are you afraid that I'll like your niece more than you? Or are you just jealous of other women getting attention from me?"
"Oh no, am I that obvious?" the former queen replied, concerned Zorzal had 'seen through' her 'act'.
Just another run of the mill family dinner.
Ugh, I feel like I need a bath.
Or three.
--
--
Life had changed a lot for Itami. First there was the attack in Ginza, then the Battles of Alnus Hill, getting his own Recon Team, and now saving a village from a rampaging dragon. If he hadn't actually lived through it all, he'd say this was the perfect set up for an isekai story.
But real life is a bit more boring than what light novels or manga will tell you. After all, you see the main character and his party save the day, but you never see the after-action reports they have to write or the dressing down they get from their superiors afterwards.
Well, maybe the latter, but not the former.
And no less than a day later he and his team were about to travel boldly where no man (from Japan) has gone before. Lelei, the blue haired mage they picked up from Coda Village, had proposed using the scales of all the wyverns they killed in the prior battles of Alnus Hill to help provide funds for the refugees. Beyond the scales taken for research purposes, it seemed like General Hazama was fine with that.
So Recon Team Three's destination was a large trading city to the north, Italica. They were hardly taking all the scales at once, just two bags to show any potential buyers what they had and get an estimate for their sale value.
But just as they were all about to head out, Itami remembered that thing he wanted to question Lelei about.
"Hey, Lelei," Itami glanced over to see the blue haired girl getting into the Humvee, thumbing through some book he lent her. "Can I ask you something?"
"Certainly," Lelei replied, still amazing Itami with how fast she was learning Japanese. And he thought he picked up the imperial language fast, meanwhile Lelei was already speaking near fluent Japanese.
"Well, when we were rescuing the people from Coda Village, there was a guy that everyone seemed like they were avoiding." He recalled, scratching his chin. "And even back at Alnus, if he sat down at a table, everyone would just up and leave him. So, is there something that happened with that guy beforehand or am I missing something?"
"I don't believe so, or at least I'm sure one of the townspeople would have told me if he was a criminal when we evacuated Coda Village." Lelei hummed to herself. "If I had to guess, I would say the man is a monotheist, so their aversion is understandable."
"A mono-what?" Takeo questioned, taking the words right out of Itami's mouth as he got into the driver's seat.
"A monotheist," the blunett repeated.
"And those are?" Itami asked leadingly, wondering if this was going to be one of those super obvious things that even kids here knew and he was going to look like some meathead for not knowing it.
"Monotheists are those who refuse to worship any god but their own," the team's resident demigod, Rory, explained, taking a seat next to Lelei in the back. "Some even go a step further and outright deny the gods exist, claiming their own deity as the sole divine presence in the world."
"But those other gods do exist, right?" Takeo waited for Tuka to get in before starting the engine up. "Like, aren't you some kind of priestess to one of them or something?"
"Of course," the gothic lolita replied with a smile. "And not just 'some priestess', but an Apostle of Emory himself; the god of war. I am his chief instrument in Falmart, carrying out his will across all corners of the world. But beyond that, the Gods do interact with the people of the world in the form of providing blessings to their faithful. For example, for being a follower of Ral, her blessing is the reason why dear Lelei here was able to so quickly learn your language."
"Wow, so you just follow a god and you get super smart? Wish it worked like that on Earth. Would've converted to Ral-isim if it meant I scored better in high school!" Takeo joked as the rest of Recon Team Three got into their vehicles.
"You'd hardly be the first. Many in academics, student and teacher both, seek out Ral and Elange's blessings to further their education," Lelei shrugged, not offended by Takeo's casualness with her faith.
"But those mono…mon… those people don't believe they exist," Itami gave up saying the word, he'd check the manual later to see how to properly pronounce it. Still, he tried to work through the logic of people in a world with literal gods claiming that said gods didn't actually exist.
"Not that they don't exist, merely that Emory, Ral, Hardy, and the other deities are not gods, but merely god-like beings," Lelei answered.
"Isn't that the same thing?" Takeo quipped.
"No," Lelei shook her head. "A god-like being implies massive power but no divinity. Monotheists believe that their One God is the sole divine figure in the world worthy of worship.
"So, when are you going to expel him from your base," Rory interrupted, almost gleefully. "I'd be more than willing to assist."
"I'm sorry, what?" Did Itami hear that right? "Why would we expel him from Alnus? He's a refugee."
"He's a monotheist," the gothic Lolita corrected. "His mere presence will soon cause discontent amongst the Coda Villagers, and any others who venture to this new settlement you're building. Best to send him away sooner rather than later."
"I'm sorry Rory, but that's not how we do things," Itami told her in as serious a tone as he could muster. "In Japan, we have laws protecting freedom of religion. So long as he stays in Alnus, and doesn't break any laws, those same laws will protect him as well."
"Freedom of religion?" the demigod looked as if she swallowed something sour. "What does that mean?"
"It means the freedom to worship as one pleases without restrictions," Lelei answered, poking her head up from a book. "It also extends to protecting the lack of worship, if an individual declines to worship anything at all."
"Really?" Rory sounded surprised. "And your world's gods don't have any issue with that? Letting apostates run about and do as they please?"
"Well, they're a lot quieter than your gods seem to be," he wouldn't deny it was a little awkward for an irreligious person like himself to be talking about gods. "But Lelei's right. So that means so long as he isn't breaking any laws we aren't going to kick him out because of his religion. That's just how we do things."
"And if I were to force the issue," in a blinding motion, Itami found himself face to face with the flat side of Rory's halberd taking up the space between the driver and passenger seats.
"Hey, hey! Don't go swinging that thing while I'm driving!" Takeo snapped, straightening out the car that veered slightly to the side out of shock.
"What then?" Rory continued, smiling. "Are you saying the JSDF would be willing to fight an apostle, a god even, over a single man?"
"It's the Defense Force's duty is to protect the people from threats of violence, it's the whole reason why we're here in the first place," the lieutenant grabbed the pole of her weapon and slowly pushed it back towards her. Or more accurately, she was letting Itami push the weapon back since he'd seen how strong she was. If she wanted to keep the halberd in place, there was nothing he or Takeo could do about. "So I suppose if you or your god pushed the issue then yeah, I guess we would be willing to fight back."
Rory stared into his eyes for a second before sighing and pulling the halberd back. "Fine. I suppose I can overlook his presence so long as he is under your charge. Or any other monotheist that crawls out of whatever rock they hide under. But I would keep an eye on Lelei here, after all, monotheists tried to burn Rondel to the ground not so long ago."
"Wait, really?" the Takeo asked.
"It happened hundreds of years ago," Lelei countered, not looking up from her book. "And it wasn't the whole city, just the Great Library. Nothing of the sort has happened since though, so I'll defer to your laws and customs on the matter."
"Oh dear," Rory gave a mock expression of shock. "I wonder what your Goddess would say if she heard one of her followers talk about the burning of her city with such casualness?"
"I would think she would ask that I continue my studies into Japan, to learn, then to focus on past events," the mage quipped back, not taking the bait Rory was putting out.
"Eh, most likely," the apostle gave a soft chuckle, seeing she wasn't going to be getting anything more out of the bluenett.
Tuka, bless her soul, was quietly sitting in the back throughout that whole incident. Poor girl didn't seem to know what to say, and seemed shocked by the use of force Rory was threatening to use.
After all, what's the worst that could happen during a simple visit?
-----------------------
-----------------------
AN: Ah yes, things are certainly picking up. Gate Japan is not Tanya's Japan, and Tanya does more Tanya-ing. Great success I say!
To preempt any words on the issue with Tanya and Japan, no she doesn't defect or anything. She 'wants' to, because she's assuming it's a very rational Japan (like the one she grew up in). Heheheheh, she'll learn better soon enough.
And remember kids, the best defense against slavery when a fantasy roman empire comes rolling in is to just cosplay~
Thousands of more dead with nothing achieved. Oh, there is some pearl clutching and finger pointing in the Senate, but nothing really changed after the most recent battle. The propaganda remains the same: setbacks are expected before inevitable victory.
Did no one understand the severity of the situation, or did they not want to understand it? Probably a mix of both. Stilicho and Victrix claimed they knew senators who both genuinely supported the war effort and those who supported it because it was expected of them. Any public counter argument against 'Saderan Victory' could be labeled as treasonous defeatism and result in being stripped of their seat in the Senate if they were lucky, and simply vanishing if not.
For my part, I was doing everything in my power to not end up lined up against a wall or seated in a courtroom for being associated with the obvious war crimes the Empire has committed.
Thanks to Gaius and Remus I've been able to track down fifty-two captives taken from Japan, all Japanese. The strangest captives were three young adults I found who were not taken as slaves but shut away in a villa outside the city, complete with servants and regular deliveries of food.
I even had to invoke my name a few times to get past the guards, who were more minders than wardens.
It took only thirty seconds after meeting them to realize what happened: they were cosplayers who the legionaries must have mistaken for Japanese 'nobles', set aside from the rest of the rabble and placed in accommodations befitting their 'station'. The plan was probably to ransom them back to their families. Of course, I'm not going to correct this 'mistake' because it means there are three less people I have to worry about dying from overwork or malnutrition.
The only small mercy, beyond the three 'nobles', was that no non-Japanese seemed to have been taken, or at least none of the people rescued mentioned being with a foreigner before getting captured. I can hardly imagine how bad the situation would be if a foreign national got caught up in all of this, or worse an American got taken.
Yanks with tanks were far more threatening than just the Self-Defense Force itself.
Scratch that. Even Dacia, with its outdated tactics and strategies even compared to its Great War contemporaries, would have more than enough power to overwhelm and conquer the Empire if given enough time.
And peacetime as it was, the JSDF was still a modern force. A modern force that hasn't fought an offensive war in most people's living memory, but a modern force nonetheless with appropriate armored, naval, and air power to project power with.
Speaking of modern, that was another thing that threw me for a loop. All the people taken through the Gate, that I've been able to speak with, say that the year is 2015.
Which is strange.
Strange because, while my memory may not be perfect, being twenty-six years after my first death, I think I would remember seeing something about a magical gateway opening up with a roman-esque fantasy army marching out on the news at least once. It would have been one of those 'where were you' moments in Japanese history. The fact that it's two years before my death in 2017, and I absolutely don't remember something like this happening in my first life, only reinforces a theory I've been building.
And that is that this Japan is not my Japan. If this was 'my' Japan, and assuming time moves at an identical pace, the year ought to be 2043. Thankfully, everything else seemed to line up about right: Great War, Inter-War period, World War 2, Atomic Bombing, Cold War, Post-War Economic Miracle followed by a crash in the 90s, etc.
Those last few questions got some really strange, but understandable, looks from the people I was interviewing. I'd probably have the same expressions of confusion if some random kid started asking me about my nation's geopolitical and economic policies when we apparently don't understand the concept of a car yet.
Still, even with an alternate variation of my original world, I have no doubt that by this point in time the Japanese Diet will have already enforced the Mutual Defense Treaty to bring their United States of America in to aid them. It's only logical that they would want the aid of the world's global hegemon to deal with an extraterrestrial (which the Empire is in the strictest definition of the word) threat.
While I hardly doubt a million Americans will come pouring through, a joint Japanese-United States deployment is probably underway already. Perhaps other nations are involved. Not China or Russia for obvious reasons, but New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, and so on. But that's highly speculative.
Regardless, with such military power opposing the Empire a conventional victory, by Falmart standards, is impossible. Given that I've heard from Godasen that he and his fellows are still trying to wrap their heads around guns, which they adamantly still call 'staves', I have little faith they will uncover a solution to modern combined arms warfare.
If by some miracle Sadera had access to some form of computation orbs, even those primitive clockwork behemoths from the Napoleonic Wars that were the size of unwieldy crates and crank operated, I'd give them a slight chance of victory. But even then, I'd only give them a 15% chance of victory; and that assumes a Vietnam/Afghanistan situation of a protracted war that revolves around turning public sentiment against the conflict.
But since the Empire launched a war of aggression, that is probably not likely. Experience has taught me that human beings are spiteful creatures when they feel wronged, worse still when such feelings are objectively legitimate.
The best thing I can do right now is position myself to have the best possible negotiating hand in the post-war government. There is a zero percent possibility Sadera will remain as is following its defeat (the Americans alone will have a field day over the 'slavery' issue) so if I want to maintain my level of comfort as is right now, I need to have my house in order before the drone strikes in the capital start.
This means as many people taken as slaves being located, shepherded to safety, and handed over to the JSDF as quickly as possible. Doing so will paint me as the peaceful moderate who just wants to end the fighting, and not face any war crime trials for technically owning slaves myself by the standards of the contemporary world.
Best case scenario from all of this is me keeping my standard of living and wealth, though I will concede that keeping my life is the highest priority. If that meant I would be forced to live in exile in Japan or America, and suffer the indignity of First World convenience and comfort, that would be a sacrifice I am willing to make.
--
--
"Your majesty, the war has developed in a direction not necessarily to Sadera's advantage."
"Speak plainly and dispense with the propaganda, Lucian," Molt growled, rubbing his temples, "this is hardly the time to be mindful of our words."
Between Molt and the Magister Millitum was a map of all Falmart. Laid across its length were wooden figures representing Sadera's legions and other military forces across the continent. Ships, vassal states, irregular detachments, axillaries, mercenaries, and so forth.
While bitter at the situation, Molt actually approved of Lucian's leadership of the Empire's forces for the most part. While so corpulent the man had to ride an exotic beast from the colonies as a mount rather than a normal horse, he had that wonderful mix of competence and pedigree that was required to run the Empire in any reasonable manner. And he has been ever faithful to Molt, and his father before him, that he would be hard-pressed to remove such a man unless this failure with Alnus was of his own design.
Though he doubts that his Praetorian Prefect, Regulus, had as positive an opinion of the man as his liege did. The praetorian saw knives and deception from every shadow. The man had confided in his Emperor that he thought the Magister, rather than the barbarians, was the cause of Sadera's defeats so far. If he'd have his way, Lucian would have been strung up and hung until death for those failings.
Not that Molt expected less, this was the primary duty of the guard to sniff out such things and encourage a certain degree of fear in the normal ranks. The man's presence at this meeting was designed to impress as such upon Lucian.
"As you say, your majesty," the man took a moment to wipe his sweaty face with a cloth. "If I may be frank, should our losses continue at this rate, the Legion as a fighting force will be spent by the end of the year."
"Ridiculous," Reglues growled. "This man should be made an example of as a warning to the others-"
"His majesty asked me to speak plainly, and so I shall,"
"Silence both of you," Molt raised his hand, giving a quick gesture to his Prefect that he had played his role masterfully. "Continue Lucian, what is the current state of our forces in Italica? How soon can we mount a new offensive?"
"Offensive? Not after the losses they've suffered," Lucian waddled his way to the side of the table and pointed to the figurines around Alnus Hill. "After the battle, much of what remained of the client states' armies returned to their own lands, leaving us scant few men to use. Combined with rampant desertion in the face of collapsing morale, our forces barely number thirteen thousand strong. A force ten times this size barely slowed the barbarians."
"If not fight, then what? Dig in and hold what we have?"
"Your majesty, the most likely path the barbarians will take is north," he tapped Italica on the map. "If our forces garrison the city and get caught in a siege they will be eradicated, leaving us with no forces in the region.
"So your plan is to cede an entire province to barbarian occupation?" Regulus scowled at the man. "Hide behind the walls of Rondel as the countryside burns?"
"Rondel? No," Lucian shook his head, moving the wooden pieces around on the map. "The safest option would be to retreat to Bellnahgo, many leagues north of Rondel. From there, they can be reinforced more safely."
"And when our forces are done running, what then?" the Pretorian pressed the Magister Militum.
The magister groaned at Regulus's proding and pointed across the map to the other blocks representing Legion forces. "Horselord attacks have escalated in the past fortnight, with no fewer than three whole cities being sacked, northmen raids have become more frequent along the northern shores, and banditry has become a significant problem across large tracts of the roadway as our garrions are stretched thin to patrol them. We don't have the manpower to attack."
"Then our first concern should be replenishing our manpower," Molt reasoned. "Tell me, Lucian, how many men do you believe will be needed to fight this foe?
Lucian hesitated for a moment, wringing his pudgy fingers together. "With your consent, I would recommend no fewer than two million men be called up to serve the Empire. Anything less, and I cannot guarantee the safety of even our core territories by the end of the year."
'Two million men?' Over half again as many men that already served the Empire. Gods, the thought alone made his stomach turn, not that he showed his discomfort. He looked over to his aid, "Can the treasury bear such an expense?"
Marcus stepped forwards, the quiet man hummed as he recalled the numbers in his head before nodding, "Yes, though it will dig deep into our coffers. Special war taxes, encouraging charitable donations, and selling some of the grain reserves can offset this by a certain amount. Though I am personally uncomfortable with the last option, given that the harvest in Italica will not be collected given the conflict."
"We have enough grain stored away and enough farmland further east and north to make up for the shortcomings," Regulus countered Marcus's pessimism. "And even if food becomes scarce, then I guess we'll simply have to make do with fewer peasants."
"And if the barbarians destroy civilization as we know it, I doubt it will matter if we starve or not," Molt looked to Marcus and nodded, "Make the necessary preparations and send notice to all the lords and senators of the struggle we are facing. Encourage them to give generously and deeply from their coffers for the sake of the Empire."
"As you command," Marcus nodded, making a note to execute the Emperor's will.
Molt turned back to the Magister Militum. "What else is there to do?"
"That depends on the barbarians themselves," Lucius cleared his throat, looking to Molt for a nod to continue. "The barbarians have only a handful of directions they may advance further. Ideally, we should hope they march south into the vassal states or west, into the lands of the Korinthean League," he tapped the map. "Smash through everything in their path, put the vassals to the torch, maybe even keep marching until they hit the tip of the Korinthean peninsula. Regardless of their foul magic, it will still take them time to subdue or eradicate the populations there and give the Legions time to regroup and provide us ample examples of how they fight."
"And the odds of this ideal situation happening?" Molt questioned.
"Too soon to say," Lucius mumbled something under his breath and moved several of the wooden pieces representing the barbarians on Alnus Hill. "My gut feeling tells me no, however. Our forces are in full retreat. It would be foolish, even for barbarians, to not pursue a fleeing foe to eradicate them before they have a chance to regroup."
"If they march north," the magister continued, moving the barbarian block to Italica, "the city will fall. It is inevitable. And with it, the main road networks and highways connecting the east and west of the Empire."
Molt grumbled to himself as he mulled over the full weight of what Lucian was saying. The Empire's greatest strength has always been its unity. Split it in two and…well…how can a house stand when one of its support beams is sawed off?
"What if they trek over the mountains," Regulus questioned, pointing to the long chain that separated Sadera from Italica and Alnus. "They'd be a stone's throw away from the capital."
"Apologies, but that is impossible," Lucian rolled his eyes. "One cannot simply 'trek' over the mountains. They're too steep and the paths too narrow for any invasion force to cross. The only way through the mountains is through these narrow corridors," he pointed to the collections of forts along the winding roadways. "All of which are guarded by fortifications centuries in the making."
"And by air?" Regulus proposed, looking at the pieces representing wyverns and other arial creatures in the Empire's employ. "They have those metal beasts, surely one, or a dozen, could fly over and wreak havoc."
"Technically, yes," the Magister begrudgingly admitted, "in such a scenario the barbarians could use creatures to fly over the mountains and raid the heartlands themselves, but they wouldn't be able to hold anything, superior magic or not. No one can sufficiently supply a garrison in the middle of enemy territory by air alone. Lighting raids, perhaps letting off some men to harass our supply trains, slaughter famers, loot for sustenance, but nothing more. Anything larger and they would lose the element of surprise necessary for raids."
"Could they attack the capital?" Molt questioned, staring at Sadera on the map. As Regulus said, they were but a stone's throw away.
"A distinct possibility, your majesty," Lucian noted. "Of course, any who partake would die in the assault, but the damage men can cause when they've accepted their own death's is truly staggering. Nevertheless, and moving to a matter I wished to get to, the defenses of the capital must be strengthened to deter such attacks. The walls are lined with ballista, an ample supply of munitions for our ranged forces, and the arial garrison must be expanded for the foreseeable future."
"See to it immediately," he didn't even look over the parchment when he issued the command. "What else?"
"Continuing on from before, the only other way they can march is to the south-east," the Magister gestured to the Blue Sea. "Build or claim whatever ships are at port, use them to harass our trade routes to the colonies, and even threaten our southern shores with invasion."
The meeting went on longer than Molt thought it would. Pessimistic projections, cold truths that would snuff out the fires of the most ardent jingoist, and all the other myriad of issues that came with war. Yet for all their planning and strategies one truth was hammered home: The Empire simply didn't know enough of their new foes to properly fight them.
Thankfully, that issue may be at an end soon enough. A cohort of praetorian speculatores were dispatched a fortnight ago to begin observation and reconnaissance of the barbarians. With any luck their findings may provide invaluable information on their dealings, and if there are any weak points to chip away at…
And then there were Pina Knights. While he doubted they would excel in the same way the speculatores would, there was always the possibility his daughter would surprise him. She has before, why not again?
--
--
"You're holding it wrong," I didn't even have to look up from my letter to know Gaius was holding the rifle wrong. Again.
"Are you sure, this staff feels good in my hands like this," Gaius replied, holding up the lone rifle the Legion had retrieved from the other side of the Gate. He held it by the stock and barrel, no attempt to even touch the grip. It was dented and scratched up, but it still worked. It only had a few rounds left in the magazine, which was not in the rifle for obvious reasons.
A staff indeed. Still, he was curious and I didn't really see an issue with letting him handle the empty rifle for a while, even if he refused to hold it correctly.
"Yes, I'm sure," I tried to not roll my eyes. "Remember, I said to try and hold it like a crossbow, not a spear."
"I've seen the force this thing has when you loose its munitions. If I don't hold it like this, how can I keep it from flying right out of my hands?"
"Use the grip," I must have shown him a dozen times, I swear…
"And that would be-"
"The thing that looks like a handle," I repressed a sigh. He doesn't know any better…
"If you say so…Ah! I see. You were right, it feels much better in my hands now," he still wasn't holding it right. While his hand was around the grip he propped up the stock above his shoulder, giving the impression he was holding a rocket launcher.
"…close enough," I pinched the ridge of my nose. Still better than Cordelia, who held the damn thing like a club.
And if babysitting my personal assistant who was fascinated by the military hardware wasn't enough to focus on, I had a recent letter from Myui giving me some unexpectedly candid information of what is going on near the frontlines.
A long, multi-page ensemble that basically boiled down to: her father was dead, the lands of Italica were being ransacked by bandits and deserters, a dragon of all things was burning down everything in its path, and she was being propped up by her sisters as the new head of the family because each one wanted to rule through her. Her letter was both a friendly message and a plea for not only political advice but also moral support.
Ugh…I was never good with children. Under normal circumstances, I would just write a boilerplate condolence and leave it at that. But given that I have no intentions of going close to the Japanese lines until I have enough tribute to give them in the form of freed citizens and useful intelligence, she was the only link I had to the battlefield right now. Unfiltered, and potentially misunderstood, as it may be.
I had to write more than just 'I'm sorry for your loss' and actually engage in a dialogue with her.
Yet everything I wrote just felt so stilted. Anyone reading it would know that I was just fishing for information. Three hours and a dozen sheets of paper later, I was no closer to writing a reply. I'm pretty sure every time I did get something down I realize it was just something I would have written to my Germanian troops to reinvigorate their loyalty to the fatherland.
Maybe I ought to get Gaius to do this. He has experience writing these sorts of things to people, moreso adults than kids, but I could check over what he wrote before sending it to make sure it sounds like something I would write.
Though speaking of Gaius.
"Please stop clicking that," I looked at the excitable man as he kept pulling the trigger to his 'staff'. It didn't do anything beyond making a clicking sound. It was like hearing one soft noise in an otherwise quiet room when you're doing work.
"Forgive me, I feel like a boy with a new toy," he put the rifle down on the table. "And you say all of the barbarians have weapons such as these?"
"Their soldiers do," I correct Gaius, "it's standard issue, equivalent to the swords we give our legionaries."
"If this is just a sword I'd hate to see what they consider a pike, or what their crossbow is like," he patted the weapon's frame. "May I ask a question, your highness?"
"You already have," I crumple up a wasted sheet of paper and grab a fresh one.
"Hmm, I suppose I did," his face turned serious. "In all honesty, how long do you think it will be before the Empire cannot fight back any more?"
"I thought Imperial victory was already guaranteed," I quote a message I heard from one of the news speakers out in the streets. "That our losses were but minor setbacks along the path to inevitable victory, and that we shall soon destroy their cities and sow their lands with salt."
"Children are allowed to have their fantasies," Gaius joked before he looked out the stained glass window. "But for the adults, we have to contend with cold reality and bitter truths. So, how long do you think?"
"…six months to a year," I gave him my honest opinion. "Less if we keep throwing our men a quarter of a million at a time."
"Dear god…" he mumbled. "Sounds more like a plague than a war."
"How long did you think it would last?" I question him back.
"A few years at least," Gaius ran a hand over his smooth head. "The Empire is simply too big to quickly subdue, but you make it sound like they'll be at Sadera's gates in a matter of weeks."
"They probably will," though I wonder if it'll be via airstrikes or a ground assault, maybe a mix of both. "But before that we-"
"Apologies, your highness," Remus burst through the door, the young man panting as held out a note to me. "A courier from the Order of the Rose caught me while I was out and asked that I deliver this to you."
I looked at the paper, Pina's seal still in place. "Did they tell you what it was about?"
"No," he shook his head, "just that it was from her highness and you needed to receive it as soon as possible."
I hummed, breaking the seal and reading through the message. It was short and simple.
I felt the onset of a migraine as I put the paper down.
--
--
Months in this world and Maki still couldn't decide if this place was a high fantasy or a low fantasy.
She was leaning towards low fantasy, but every time she was about to make a definitive decision something would surprise her and make her reevaluate. It had elves and beast-people, but they weren't that different from humans. Magic was a real thing, but only a few people could use it; like the kid she was working for now.
Actually, was she working for the girl, or were her parents paying for her to work for the girl? Maki never asked the other girls which was the case. Probably the latter. The high schooler didn't know any kid who could manage a small villa all by themselves.
For goodness sake, her cousin was a grown woman who barely kept her apartment together without her ex's help.
Speaking of other girls, it was so cool that a few were actually not human. Well, they looked human enough, but some had little animal bits on them that made them different. One of the girls helping Maki adjust to her current predicament, Reenes, even let her pet her wolf ears.
They were so soft~
Still, this whole situation was quite the adjustment. From the first world to a medieval one besides, there was also the language issue. The outfit she had to wear wasn't that bad, it didn't look any worse than what her friend wore while working at that maid café. The other girls were nice of course. They knew Maki was the 'new girl', so they helped her out wherever they could.
Maki doubted she'd be doing as good right now without their help.
They even helped her deal with the…panic attacks…and…
And…
It was so clear even now…the girls in the basement…lined up like cattle….who were-
Nope! Nope! Don't go there.
Stay here, now, in the present.
She wasn't going to end up like one of them. Chained up like some animal and…used…like the others….
No, she wasn't!
She wasn't!
She wasn't!
She wasn't!
She wasn't!
She wasn't-
'THUD'
The sudden noise made Maki jump in her skin, someone had just slammed a door shut on the floor above her. Footsteps came next, growing louder as someone descended down the stairs. Maki put her head down and back to dusting the bookshelf. Humming softly to herself, she did her best to just blend into the surroundings.
Nope. Nothing to see here.
"I can't believe her!"
Maki winced at the voice. Crooking her neck, she saw the young blonde rich girl march down the hall with two others in tow, a man and a human/animal hybrid. "Does she really have no sense of self-preservation?"
"Recklessness does that to a person," the man commented, they were speaking too fast for Maki to catch it.
"No Gaius, there's reckless and then there's stupid," the girl huffed. "She wants to prance around like some fairytale knight in the middle of a warzone. Do you understand the blow back that will ensue if she gets killed or worse, captured?"
The rest of the conversation went in one ear and out the other as she laid eyes on him. The cute wolf boy that every woman here was silently swooning over.
He wasn't a meathead like those other men she saw going about, looking more like a swimmer than a bodybuilder. Midnight black hair and crystal blue eyes. Sure, he might not be a cat boy (how the hell is Maki in a fantasy world and has yet to see a cat boy!), but those ears and that tail are so fluffy she just wants to touch them. And those eyes…She could get lost in how blue they were, like little gemstones.
Why were her cheeks getting so warm?
The wolf boy stopped and quickly turned around to where Maki was standing. Embarrassed that she'd be caught staring, she quickly dove into an open door to get out of sight. Bumping her head into a wall for her trouble.
"What is it?" she heard the older man, Guy-us, ask.
"I thought I saw someone," oh no, he even sounded cool.
She heard the man sigh. "Of course you saw someone. They're called the staff."
"No, I mean, it felt like someone was staring at me," Maki might be a tad out of the loop for the language, but she had picked up enough to know he did catch a glimpse of her.
"Well, were they wearing a maid outfit?"
"Yes."
"Well then it's self-explanatory why a young woman would be looking at you."
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand," she heard him mumble to himself. "….but at first it was just a few of them Now it seems like all of them are staring at me when I'm around and they think I'm not looking. Am I doing something stupid, something wrong, or are they just gawking at a demi-human?"
Maki heard the man take a deep breath and sigh, "…boy, I am going to sit you down later and we are going to have a long talk about this."
"Thank you Master Rax, hopefully I can clear up any misunderstandings with them, if it is something I am doing."
"Oh, I can assure you they mean you no harm…depending on what you consider harm I suppose."
"Master Rax?"
"Oh nothing, nothing."
As the pair walked away, she could hear the man, Guy-us, saying something to himself, but it was too quick for her to understand.
Ugh, why couldn't they just speak Japanese or even English if they had to speak another language?!
This whole new language thing was total immersion learning, sink or swim. While she was now able to understand it to a degree and speak it, she apparently had a very noticeable accent. Noticeable meaning bad, since whenever she asked the other girls how she sounded they just deflected and reminded her about how months ago she couldn't speak a word and now she could hold conversations.
She had to hammer in that her name wasn't 'Ma-Key', but Maki. It wasn't that hard to pronounce!
Then again, she made the same mistake with Miss Octavia (Oct-Aveya) and Reenes (Reen-iys).
Still, with the last of the last footsteps going away, the door closing softly behind them, Maki was left alone.
Well, back to work, she supposed. Wonder what all that fuss was about.
--
--
"You're going to the frontlines?" This had to be one of the dumbest possible decisions Pina could have made. Thankfully I managed to reach her Order's primary lodgings, the Jade Palace, before they left on this fool's errand.
Apparently, the Emperor was allowing Pina and her order to go to the Italica region for reconnaissance. Some few dozen knights against what amounts to an industrial military force.
What were they thinking?!
"I am," Pina replied, angling herself so her chest plate could be properly fitted. Did she really see no problem in all of this?
"Have you not heard of the mass casualties the Legion suffered?" Even the propaganda didn't pretend like we were winning, so there's now way for her to claim ignorance as an excuse. "A quarter of a million died in the previous battles, and you think you can change the balance of power by yourself?"
"It's because of that that I volunteered my order to aid in the war effort," she explained, tugging at her armor to see if it was properly secured. "I'm not going to win the war, but to uncover as much as I can about our enemy. Their greatest asset is our ignorance of them, their strengths, their weaknesses, everything. We don't even know what gods they worship. How can we defeat them if we don't know a thing about them?"
"But…"No Pina, their greatest asset is their modern military! But how can I explain the concept of it to a person from a medieval point of view who hasn't even seen any of these things? And your knights are a ceremonial unit under the personal patronage of the Emperor himself! There is no need for you to go out and look for battle!
There is wanderlust, and then there's insanity.
"Don't worry, I have no plan to fight them in a pitched battle," Pina said, attaching her blade to her side. "This is just scouting. No big battles to decide the fate of the Empire. We'll be back before you know it."
"But…" I really didn't know what else to say. Pina's knights were an official order, meaning only their leader or their noble patron could order them around. Since their leader was Pina, and their patron was the Emperor, literally no one could legally order them to not go.
Before I could get another word in, another started to speak.
"All preparations are complete, your highness," Pina's page announced. "We're ready to leave on your order."
"Thank you, Hamilton,"
"Just don't die out there, alright?" I don't think I can imagine a worse case scenario for the Empire than a royal getting killed in battle. Her death would inflame war support in the Empire, and make Sadera trudge along slightly longer than it would have without the death of a member of the royal family.
Also disheartening to see a young life wasted, but hardly the absolute worst thing that could happen to a woman on the battlefield.
"I promise," she replied.
She was on her horse and out the gates minutes later, her banner billowing in the breeze as her knights marched off to war.
An unwinnable war, but still a war.
She's probably going to be alright in any case.
If she encounters any Japanese unit, assuming they bother to have a translator on hand, they'll probably assume she's a noble's daughter and take her into custody. They might not even take her as a threat given the whole armor set up.
Still, the best case scenario is that she gains enough intelligence to convince the Emperor to end the war prematurely and sign a peace treaty. Save everyone a lot of death and destruction.
Most likely, her results will be somewhere in-between both extremes: something neither overly damaging or helpful.
If not…well
"What else could happen today?" I joke to myself.
I barely noticed Gaius awkwardly clear his throat, and awkwardly shuffle over to me with another note.
--
--
The day got worse.
Zorzal invited me to a dinner at his home for some good old 'Family bonding'.
And by family bonding, he of course meant 'you, me, and all of my enabling sycophants'. So I sat beside Zorzal at the head of a long table, surrounded by those very same people.
Actually, while I call it a gathering of sycophants, in truth it's a pointless waste of time. Even before sitting down I can chart in my head how all the conversations will go. Either Zorzal says something that everyone around him agrees with, or someone says something that they think Zorzal will approve of and much the same thing happens in turn.
It gets worse after they've had too much to drink. Then whatever filter anyone might have had just vanishes and the truly insane talking points crop up.
Such as 'what if we just killed all the non-humans?' or 'why do we even let other countries exist?', those sorts of things.
So why do I subject myself to such…torture? Simple: to nip the worst of these ideas in the bud. I've found that every time I refuse to come to one of these gatherings he does something crazy/foolish that not only embarrasses himself but, by extension, me as well!
Since he doesn't interact with any of our other siblings and the Emperor has seemingly written him off as a lost cause, it has seemingly fallen to me to make sure he doesn't do something stupid.
That fact that the staff, the menial staff that is, not the guards, for his palace are entirely composed of women in varying states of undress left me with no illusion of what must happen here when I'm not around.
"Those generals should be executed for incompetence," Zorzal argued, digging into his steak with all the manners of a wild boar. And of course, they were talking about the war. "Tens of thousands dead to barbarians? It's disgraceful!"
"Of course, your highness," one of his yes-men noble 'friends' agreed. "Our noble Legions have no place for such failures."
"Failure is an understatement," Zorzal agreed, chugging a mug of beer to wash down his meat. "Over a hundred thousand dead to barbarians? If I was in charge of the Legions our banner would be flying proudly over their cities. Their people would already be flooding our markets, and their lands riddled with salt to prevent anything from growing afterwards."
"Here, here! Such is the fate of any who would dare defy our Empire!" Some of the sycophants raised their mugs in a mock toast to Zorzal's 'sterling' belief.
Ah yes, how dare you defend yourselves and fight back…Ugh.
Everyone here was just feeding Zorzal's ego. Zorzal always had a holier than thou opinion of himself. His victory over the bunny warriors (ugh…I still feel it's a stupid name) only fed this and the private rebuke from the Emperor (as I heard nothing publicly, but Zorzal is seemingly not allowed into the palace without being summoned) only made him dig his heels in and say it was the Emperor who was a fault.
While the Emperor has seemingly taken steps to keep Zorzal out of any real power, that didn't stop him from using his own personal wealth and power to make himself feel strong.
"Actually, that reminds me. Tyuule! Get over here, I have a question for you!"
The men hooted and hollered as the former queen turned slave walked over to the head of the table. Her expression betrays nothing but serene calm and a soft smile.
"How can I be of service to you, my prince?" Her words sent a chill down my spine.
"Tell me, what would you have done if instead of me, those fools who lost Alnus Hill were the ones who invaded your lands?" Zorzal questioned.
"I can't really say, your highness, since I was defeated by your genius, I have no concept of a incompetent general," the slave queen replied, a serene smile on her face as she cheerfully explains her point.
This woman…
I still don't understand how Zorzal's falling for this 'submissive slave' charade the former queen is pulling off. From her body, or more specifically the bruising and marks all across it, I'm sure she probably gave him quite the earful in those first months. After that, she probably realized what she needed to do to get him to lay off on the abuse. Feed his ego and he'll essentially roll over.
The constant praising, agreeing with everything he says, the fawning over him, it would honestly be more believable if she just had a neutral expression all the time and followed his commands without a word. Silently going along with his orders rather than openly praising him at every possible opportunity. More believable than a woman who is seemingly in love with the man who slaughtered her people and treats her like trash.
Then again, the mask does slip on occasion.
"What about your own generals?" Zorzal countered, pulling the woman into his lap. "I can't believe you let those bitches lead your warriors into my traps over and over again! Their failures go beyond the excuse of merely being women."
And there it was!
Tyuule's carefully crafted mask cracked ever so slightly. Her pupils dilated and a small bit of her lip twitched, as if she had bit into it on the inside of her mouth to use the pang of pain to keep herself emotionally centered.
Then the mask was restored as quickly as it was moved.
"They only suffered such defeats to your forces thanks to the unparalleled brilliance of your own generalship," the woman smiled jovially to Zorzal.
"If that's true, why didn't you dismiss them?" One of the cronies questioned. "Did you keep them around for other reasons? All those women, not enough men, Hehehe~"
"I remember asking them at the time the very same question, and they told me they had never seen such unexpected tactics before in their entire lives," she continued, not raising to the bait.
Heh…unexpected where they?
"It caught them off guard, it caught me off guard," she explained. "In the end, stupid demi-humans like us were simply no match for the leadership of our glorious prince."
While she says that I see that glint in her eye as she hears the men laugh around her. I reflexively moved my seat slightly away from Zorzal's. The feeling I get down my spine always puts me on edge when her charade slips. It makes me want some distance so I can have enough time to raise a barrier or shield between us if she were to lunge at me.
"Fair enough! But don't sell yourself too short, I doubt any other general would have destroyed your forces quite so easily as I did!" Zorzal let out a laugh at that and smacked the woman on her ass, the sound echoing over the jeers of his 'friends'. The fact he held his hand there for a moment, almost grasping the thin strings called clothing he forced the woman to wear, made it all too clear he wanted to do much more than just smack her.
His eyes lingered on me for a second before pulling his hand back.
Guess this is one of the few times my age and gender worked in my favor.
"So, sister," Zorzal moved to change the subject. "What's this I hear about Pina taking her knights out?"
"What have you heard, exactly?" I questioned. I only knew about it since Pina told me.
"Only that she and her women have left the capital today."
"She went to father asking how she could aid in the war, and he sent her on a reconnaissance mission to Italica," I shrug, not understanding the decision all that much myself. "Nothing more to it than that."
"Ugh, has that man gone senile!" Zorzal slammed the table. "I'm a proven general and yet he sends women to battle?!"
"Reconnaissance…" I try to correct him, but the conga line of affirmations and sycophantic agreements started to roll in.
"Right you are, your highness! Women have no place on the battlefield!"
"Indeed! A women's place is at home!"
"Here-"
I loudly clear my throat. Zorzal looked like a deer caught in headlights, while the man who was about to toast quickly put his cup back down.
"Oh sister, don't listen to them," I yelped as Zorzal wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. "You're worth more than any of those baseborn women or lower-class harlots."
"Yes, her highness is the greatest and most beautiful princess in the Empire!"
"No man in our Empire deserves the right to wed her, she's simply far above any of them!"
"Princess Tanya is the example for which all women should follow!"
Weren't you the one who was just saying women belonged in the kitchen?
"Indeed, your highness," I flinch as a cold hand comes down on my head, the albino rabbit woman looking down at me with that fake smile of hers. "You are truly cut from a …different cloth then one would assume."
Why do I get the feeling she wants to twist my head off like a corkscrew?
"Actually sister, why don't you ever bring your bunny over with you?" Zorzal questioned. "I've said you ought to bring her over, show the boys here a matching set. Or even let the girl see her sweet aunt."
"I don't bring her with me because I'm pretty sure she'll try and kill you," as Cordelia has said and claimed she will do repeatedly and often. I groan as my warning seemingly fell on deaf ears as Zorzal laughed.
I could see Tyuule smirk, it looked more real than any smile she's ever given Zorzal.
"You should bring her anyway. She's more than welcome to try. I already made her supposedly great warrior queen aunt my bitch, I doubt a little girl would prove a challenge for me. And don't worry, I wouldn't kill her in the struggle since I know how fond you are of your bunny girl. I'll simply teach her to mind her manners the same way I taught her aunt."
My breath hitched as I felt sharp nails faintly push into my scalp.
"Oh, your highness, there's no need for that," Tyuule commented, her sickly-sweet smile on full display. "Cordelia is so much weaker than you that, with your great strength I fear you might end up hurting her beyond repair. It's better for all if she were to remain where she is, if only to not sadden her highness if you had to slay her companion in righteous self-defense."
"Like I would hurt my little sister's feelings like that," Zorzal looked like he was about to continue, but then a look of realization appeared. "Wait, Tyuule, are you afraid that I'll like your niece more than you? Or are you just jealous of other women getting attention from me?"
"Oh no, am I that obvious?" the former queen replied, concerned Zorzal had 'seen through' her 'act'.
Just another run of the mill family dinner.
Ugh, I feel like I need a bath.
Or three.
--
--
Life had changed a lot for Itami. First there was the attack in Ginza, then the Battles of Alnus Hill, getting his own Recon Team, and now saving a village from a rampaging dragon. If he hadn't actually lived through it all, he'd say this was the perfect set up for an isekai story.
But real life is a bit more boring than what light novels or manga will tell you. After all, you see the main character and his party save the day, but you never see the after-action reports they have to write or the dressing down they get from their superiors afterwards.
Well, maybe the latter, but not the former.
And no less than a day later he and his team were about to travel boldly where no man (from Japan) has gone before. Lelei, the blue haired mage they picked up from Coda Village, had proposed using the scales of all the wyverns they killed in the prior battles of Alnus Hill to help provide funds for the refugees. Beyond the scales taken for research purposes, it seemed like General Hazama was fine with that.
So Recon Team Three's destination was a large trading city to the north, Italica. They were hardly taking all the scales at once, just two bags to show any potential buyers what they had and get an estimate for their sale value.
But just as they were all about to head out, Itami remembered that thing he wanted to question Lelei about.
"Hey, Lelei," Itami glanced over to see the blue haired girl getting into the Humvee, thumbing through some book he lent her. "Can I ask you something?"
"Certainly," Lelei replied, still amazing Itami with how fast she was learning Japanese. And he thought he picked up the imperial language fast, meanwhile Lelei was already speaking near fluent Japanese.
"Well, when we were rescuing the people from Coda Village, there was a guy that everyone seemed like they were avoiding." He recalled, scratching his chin. "And even back at Alnus, if he sat down at a table, everyone would just up and leave him. So, is there something that happened with that guy beforehand or am I missing something?"
"I don't believe so, or at least I'm sure one of the townspeople would have told me if he was a criminal when we evacuated Coda Village." Lelei hummed to herself. "If I had to guess, I would say the man is a monotheist, so their aversion is understandable."
"A mono-what?" Takeo questioned, taking the words right out of Itami's mouth as he got into the driver's seat.
"A monotheist," the blunett repeated.
"And those are?" Itami asked leadingly, wondering if this was going to be one of those super obvious things that even kids here knew and he was going to look like some meathead for not knowing it.
"Monotheists are those who refuse to worship any god but their own," the team's resident demigod, Rory, explained, taking a seat next to Lelei in the back. "Some even go a step further and outright deny the gods exist, claiming their own deity as the sole divine presence in the world."
"But those other gods do exist, right?" Takeo waited for Tuka to get in before starting the engine up. "Like, aren't you some kind of priestess to one of them or something?"
"Of course," the gothic lolita replied with a smile. "And not just 'some priestess', but an Apostle of Emory himself; the god of war. I am his chief instrument in Falmart, carrying out his will across all corners of the world. But beyond that, the Gods do interact with the people of the world in the form of providing blessings to their faithful. For example, for being a follower of Ral, her blessing is the reason why dear Lelei here was able to so quickly learn your language."
"Wow, so you just follow a god and you get super smart? Wish it worked like that on Earth. Would've converted to Ral-isim if it meant I scored better in high school!" Takeo joked as the rest of Recon Team Three got into their vehicles.
"You'd hardly be the first. Many in academics, student and teacher both, seek out Ral and Elange's blessings to further their education," Lelei shrugged, not offended by Takeo's casualness with her faith.
"But those mono…mon… those people don't believe they exist," Itami gave up saying the word, he'd check the manual later to see how to properly pronounce it. Still, he tried to work through the logic of people in a world with literal gods claiming that said gods didn't actually exist.
"Not that they don't exist, merely that Emory, Ral, Hardy, and the other deities are not gods, but merely god-like beings," Lelei answered.
"Isn't that the same thing?" Takeo quipped.
"No," Lelei shook her head. "A god-like being implies massive power but no divinity. Monotheists believe that their One God is the sole divine figure in the world worthy of worship.
"So, when are you going to expel him from your base," Rory interrupted, almost gleefully. "I'd be more than willing to assist."
"I'm sorry, what?" Did Itami hear that right? "Why would we expel him from Alnus? He's a refugee."
"He's a monotheist," the gothic Lolita corrected. "His mere presence will soon cause discontent amongst the Coda Villagers, and any others who venture to this new settlement you're building. Best to send him away sooner rather than later."
"I'm sorry Rory, but that's not how we do things," Itami told her in as serious a tone as he could muster. "In Japan, we have laws protecting freedom of religion. So long as he stays in Alnus, and doesn't break any laws, those same laws will protect him as well."
"Freedom of religion?" the demigod looked as if she swallowed something sour. "What does that mean?"
"It means the freedom to worship as one pleases without restrictions," Lelei answered, poking her head up from a book. "It also extends to protecting the lack of worship, if an individual declines to worship anything at all."
"Really?" Rory sounded surprised. "And your world's gods don't have any issue with that? Letting apostates run about and do as they please?"
"Well, they're a lot quieter than your gods seem to be," he wouldn't deny it was a little awkward for an irreligious person like himself to be talking about gods. "But Lelei's right. So that means so long as he isn't breaking any laws we aren't going to kick him out because of his religion. That's just how we do things."
"And if I were to force the issue," in a blinding motion, Itami found himself face to face with the flat side of Rory's halberd taking up the space between the driver and passenger seats.
"Hey, hey! Don't go swinging that thing while I'm driving!" Takeo snapped, straightening out the car that veered slightly to the side out of shock.
"What then?" Rory continued, smiling. "Are you saying the JSDF would be willing to fight an apostle, a god even, over a single man?"
"It's the Defense Force's duty is to protect the people from threats of violence, it's the whole reason why we're here in the first place," the lieutenant grabbed the pole of her weapon and slowly pushed it back towards her. Or more accurately, she was letting Itami push the weapon back since he'd seen how strong she was. If she wanted to keep the halberd in place, there was nothing he or Takeo could do about. "So I suppose if you or your god pushed the issue then yeah, I guess we would be willing to fight back."
Rory stared into his eyes for a second before sighing and pulling the halberd back. "Fine. I suppose I can overlook his presence so long as he is under your charge. Or any other monotheist that crawls out of whatever rock they hide under. But I would keep an eye on Lelei here, after all, monotheists tried to burn Rondel to the ground not so long ago."
"Wait, really?" the Takeo asked.
"It happened hundreds of years ago," Lelei countered, not looking up from her book. "And it wasn't the whole city, just the Great Library. Nothing of the sort has happened since though, so I'll defer to your laws and customs on the matter."
"Oh dear," Rory gave a mock expression of shock. "I wonder what your Goddess would say if she heard one of her followers talk about the burning of her city with such casualness?"
"I would think she would ask that I continue my studies into Japan, to learn, then to focus on past events," the mage quipped back, not taking the bait Rory was putting out.
"Eh, most likely," the apostle gave a soft chuckle, seeing she wasn't going to be getting anything more out of the bluenett.
Tuka, bless her soul, was quietly sitting in the back throughout that whole incident. Poor girl didn't seem to know what to say, and seemed shocked by the use of force Rory was threatening to use.
After all, what's the worst that could happen during a simple visit?
-----------------------
-----------------------
AN: Ah yes, things are certainly picking up. Gate Japan is not Tanya's Japan, and Tanya does more Tanya-ing. Great success I say!
To preempt any words on the issue with Tanya and Japan, no she doesn't defect or anything. She 'wants' to, because she's assuming it's a very rational Japan (like the one she grew up in). Heheheheh, she'll learn better soon enough.
And remember kids, the best defense against slavery when a fantasy roman empire comes rolling in is to just cosplay~
Hexcalibur
Not So Ordinary Sword
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- It
Is this a rewrite? Because I remember reading how the maids ogle the wolf boy from either Tanya's POV or Gaius and Gaius saying the same thing to the boy.
I know my memory isn't what it used to be, but it has really been bothering me.
I know my memory isn't what it used to be, but it has really been bothering me.
Karyis
procrastinating as we speak
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's a crosspost. I double-checked, and it's the same on SB. You might be remembering a different chapter? Either that or Midas_Man edited it in the time since. I feel like I recall this being the same when I first read the chapter, though.
Endymion
An Operator will be with you shortly.
You most likely read it on QQ without remembering, that is about two chapters ahead with this chapter originally posted back on 9/11/22 over there. SV/SB are behind the QQ releases as Midas cleans them up to comply with forum rules. Same with their other stories.
Last edited:
Fellow Human
Verified Roado Rolla
While I appreciate there is no nonsensical hiding she can speak Japanese that is common in Tanya crossovers, it doesn't matter that a language is easier than "magic", there's a quantity to learning it. She can't learn other languages instantly without even hearing them first, can she?
No way she will admit that to the Empire. She can claim a blessing by knowledge goddess or something.
Last edited:
The problem was that, how the hell all this happen without anyone tipping off given the sheer dangerous security threat potential? Like, this is like somehow some bleeding heart noblewomen go freed bunch of enslaved germanic tribes warriors that were defeated in the "Avenging Varrus" campaign, tldr basically give mercy to enemy that could stab in the back. On top of that, what with the focus on the Warrior Bunnies there when theres other races?
like, this is rather approaching to marry-sue level here.
the problem with that was given the rather lacking of such thing in canon, no it wouldnt fly.
seriously, it come to my attention that a lot of this rather riding a lot on the falmartians/locals cannot even tie a shoes without either Tanya or JSDF hold their hand(or am i too spoiled by fics like that ASOIAF/Honkai SR fic where the westerosi handle the new stuff with calm and sensible suited to their skills, field of expertise and position instead of being cliche' 'mouth foaming morons' ).
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- They/Them/She/Her
From the sound of it, someone more familiar with Gate canon would already know what you mean. Since I don't, I get to have it as another discovery about the story.Midas_Man said:
Fellow Human
Verified Roado Rolla
So what if they call her out? Nothing they can do or prove against such a semi plausible claim, and it doesn't really matter. She knows a language, so what?
Gate fanfiction is pretty bad, aside from this fic, Soviet Russian one and Sky Full of Fire. I would describe a generic fanfic there as foaming intensifies, they're gonna foam against Zerg, Protoss, Terran, Overlord, transhumans from billion years in the future...
Last edited:
Cause the only one that know Japan in any significant degree(currently), is only Hardy knows of the JSDF and Japan. and thats because she see what Japan are and look at it, and have the Gate open to that because of that specific reason.
The most prominent example I remember is Lelei. iirc she has a blessing that makes it easier to learn stuff (such as languages). But she still does have to learn Japanese, like had to go to japan language classes, have the books, and being taught. Knowing it immediately would be either a very big red flag or a tipoff that Tanya's in contact with Japanese the enemy(especially since people somehow forgot about the captured slaves or they somehow fall off the radar). which, you know, making secret contact with enemy is pretty much a treason, atleast half-way to it.
beside, Tanya wants to be in the rear. Even if everyone believes the blessing, she will be put in the Frontlines, with a high rate of death, and a lot of questions from Japan.
Last edited:
ExNihilo
SPACE!
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Y'know, my first thought would have been a chariot or a wagon if you're too fat to ride a horse, but perhaps they aren't sufficiently martial or imposing for a proper general. And if you're a general of that rank in the Fantasy Roman Empire, you can afford an elephant or whatever.
So, what's up with this Japan to make it not a good fit for Tanya, I wonder? "Just" the fact that it was written originally by a right-wing imperial apologist and thus wants to take over the Special Administrative Region for themselves? That would be enough, probably, but I wonder if it's more. From what we've seen from the brief scenes of Japan, the captives, and Itami, it's clearly not some hyperdystopian nightmare, but who knows.
My god, I've forgotten how stupid Zorzal was. Tyuule is barely trying, and is more or less outright mocking him, but only Tanya notices. I guess that's what you get when you surround yourself with sycophants.
So, what's up with this Japan to make it not a good fit for Tanya, I wonder? "Just" the fact that it was written originally by a right-wing imperial apologist and thus wants to take over the Special Administrative Region for themselves? That would be enough, probably, but I wonder if it's more. From what we've seen from the brief scenes of Japan, the captives, and Itami, it's clearly not some hyperdystopian nightmare, but who knows.
My god, I've forgotten how stupid Zorzal was. Tyuule is barely trying, and is more or less outright mocking him, but only Tanya notices. I guess that's what you get when you surround yourself with sycophants.
Fellow Human
Verified Roado Rolla
Imperials don't know that their gods don't reach Japan and thus Ral doesn't have knowledge of that world so she couldn't possibly grant it. I know that Lelei has to learn, I'm saying it's not much of a twist Tanya being granted full knowledge, who are they gonna confirm with, apostles who are who knows where and don't serve any nation?
They may doubt but no one bears a grudge against her to investigate.
Tanya was born and raised in capital as a belowed princess, they would have to be braindead to conclude that knowing enemy's language = treason, not to mention have the balls to accuse a princess.
She could say that she learnt Japanese from a slave, buy one and convince them to corrobate on the lie. There is small risk in being caught on the lie, but it's not like they have KGB and track her every interaction.
There is no way Tanya is going on the frontline even as a translator in the back, even if it reopens. The emperor wouldn't order her to go with his idiot son. We know Zorzal is the only one dumb enough left to charge against the windmill, he may take his fanatics with him but not Tanya.
So what if Japanese have questions and if she decides to go with the lie of "slave taught her", then said slave tells the Japanese nuh ah, she can freely say she's reincarnated. The danger is only in admiting reincarnation to the empire.
Last edited:
- Location
- Somewhere
Yeah....hard to imagine that myself, and I am an American. We are all way to different from each other to really get a good consensus down. Best generalization I can think of, smart enough not to try and fight the sword wielding crazies while in the middle of their slaughter but too dumb or impatient to wait months for attempting an escape or minor uprising. And that's not even taking into account how America the nation would respond. Very unpredictable that one. You wouldn't get a Japan lead assault into the Special Region, that much is for sure.
I thought I heard that real world militaries tended to not have swords as standard issue, due to the costs of metal. The amount of metal used for a spearhead is less than that of a sword, and wood is cheaper than metal, thus it was easier to equip your soldiers with spears/pikes than swords. And had better range to fight off enemies with too.
Someone with better historical knowledge want to weigh in on that?
ExNihilo
SPACE!
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Roman legions were famed for giving their soldiers swords, for their sword-and-shield legion formations. Earlier on, they tended to be shorter Gladius swords, later becoming longer Spatha swords. While Rome did use spears, they were mostly throwing spears and javelins by the time of the Empire. But yes, Rome was unusual in this regard.
Keep in mind that Yanai specifically made Zorzal be like this for the purpose of providing easy bodies for the JSDF to "mightily" gun them down. when, you know, he had no reasons to be part of the shit shows that Molt started, and IRL rulers had been toppled down for less than what Molt had done.
it just that right now it rather worrying that writer somehow make it worse than canon just for sole purpose to make Tanya had less issue to replace him.
similarly as i said before, the "sycophants" were only there just because any that had more than two braincells would 1. Gave JSDF problems, 2. then the local characters dont have to need to be carried by Tanya and would had their own agency
.............the issues was that the elephant are 1. expensive as hell, 2. not exactly helpful when horse are much faster and can blend in with other cavalry units
This was due to several factors. Romans military mights were actually primarily in their formations, organisations, logistics, and such. Early Republic Legions by the time of Punic wars and before were Manipular system, where it consist of landed free people, who are more than enough have their own cash thanks to their ownerships of enough lands(which was necessary of the citizenship and being able to voting) since the people need to buy their own equipments.
Added that with the Roman habits of incorperating useful stuff and the standard Iron Age technologies(which Rome had the advantages, which its superior metallurgy compared to other civilizations of the time period) lead to the gladius. Now, most of the time the Romes had to fight a much superior martial peoples, such as Gaul that are much taller and stronger than your average spaghettis-eaters. This is where the infamous roman organisation some in; the gladius+formation+training = your average barely trained legionaries recruits can kill a single veteran celt/gaul warrior with decades of experiences(basically a tiger tank may kill one, but others sherman tanks will take place). A single stab of gladius had much better odds for lethal kill than swinging it, on top of the formation and training meant that eve if a single warrior can disarmed or defeat a legionary, another can step in to deliver the blow before step beck in safety.
Now, this is during iron age period, before the cavalry had its evolutions sufficient enough to be the key components of the battlefield which lead to the likes of cataphracts and knights. So when the Rome go with Marian Reform, the sword still there as it instead paid by the state instead of soldier themself, because since it work theres nothing to fix or change.
As to why they still just change to spatha swords as the world move on, cause the formations that roman works with work with swords, not spear, due to the shield. The shield is important because to offer protections where the armour failed and cannot. You would see why shields got smaller and smaller as we goes to renaissance and beyond because armour techs and metallurgy were sufficient to protect the soldier and thus not necessarily need the extra weight burden of a shield. Now back to the legions; by the time of the legions armed with Spatha swords, Romes are in economic, financials and populations problems, which meant, they had less resources to spend at the military, and thus not enough to fully cover every legionaires with good armours(on top of the metallurgy and armour techs were sufficient enough ) that they can just ditch the huge shield. still, the romans do later on incorperate spears in their standard armoury as the cavalries became more important lynchpins of warfares and more common.
Of course, this thrown into the wind when we are talking about fantasy world with fucking demihumans with all these power/aura nonsense on top of their atrributes, while the falmartian human still squishy like earth human instead of isekai's "random red shirt adventurer that barely join can be thrown to wall with no problem, wrestle a bear and can do athletics feats like olympian athlete"
Of course the Imperials dont know about Hardy know, but i think you missed my word here, where Tanya somehow had impeccable fluency of enemy language when the Imperials barely know what-the-fuck is the enemy is in the first place cause apparently basic intelligence agencies and their informations networks somehow dont exist(despite JSDF had their men go around meeting the nearby locals to ask stupid questions like democracy on top of not even make effort to hide who they are) . The point is, people will and should questioning Tanya. It doesn't matter if she's a slave or a princess either I should add, everyone is gonna be surprised that you know the enemies language, and would be suspicious of that. Being suspicious about Tanya isnt and shouldnt be limited to not!Lergen. Imagine if roosevelt started speaking japanese the day after pearl harbor.
Last edited:
Fellow Human
Verified Roado Rolla
Well luckily only one senator has heard her and Tanya is the master of not voicing the unpopular opinion. She'd be in trouble if she spoke against war and how hopeless they are. She can simply claim she learned Japanese to learn enemy's weaknesses.
A Hopeless War - III
Midas_Man
One of the Brightest Stars
The situation is changing rapidly.
Japanese forces not only advanced further into the Italica region, but they even fought off a large bandit army besieging the capital of the region. All the while coming to the aid of Princess Pina and her Rose Order of Knights, and securing the good will of the populace.
At least, that is how Myui describes the events in her recent messages.
It was a lot more flowery than that, but that was the gist of it.
She described the Japanese 'banner' as white with a red disc at the center and how it now fluttered beside House Formal's own banner. Going into exceptional detail about the Japanese 'iron Pegasus's' raining death from above, their magical 'thunder weapons' killing scores of men from a distance, and heaping all sorts of praise upon the valor shown by one 'Sir Itami' and his companions in the battle against the deserters.
It's all very heroic of them.
How very selfless and noble.
Going out of their way to save one of the major cities of the Empire and to secure a stretch of the Imperial Highway that leads directly to Sadera itself. And by saving the city from all the 'gentleness' of a sacking, they have ingratiated themselves with said population and appear as guardians rather than invaders, ensuring a reduced amount of partisan activity behind their lines.
And now, they were in a prime position to roll back the Empire's lines all the way to the Imperial Heartlands.
But therein lies a catch: if they advance too swiftly without recon, the results could be devastating. Yet the longer they delay, the more defenses will be arrayed against them.
But if they rush, their supply lines could be exposed to partisan attack. It was all give and take. Even a modern military would be hard pressed to keep up secure logistics with a combative population.
"Quite the catch twenty-two." I muse aloud.
"A what?"
"Just a saying I heard before," I tell Gaius, obviously he doesn't know modern colloquialism. "It means a situation where there are multiple, equally bad options at one's disposal. I think that best describes the situation."
"Hmm," Gaius nodded. "I suppose in that case, we are 'catching twenty-two'."
Close enough…
While many senators and policy makers of the Empire seems happy to join the national suicide pact to hurl themselves into the war with Earth, I asked Stilicho and Victrix some time ago to get me a list of senators who were more open minded to the possibility of a 'cessation of hostilities'.
Not surrender of course! You can't say the 'S' word out loud these days. Even wealthy citizens were getting strung up from lamp posts these days for even contemplating surrender. While I doubt such a severe punishment would happen to me, I still rather not be chastised and lose what creature comforts I had.
But back on topic, the pair managed to deliver a list one hundred and thirty names long.
The pair had done their part excellently. Judges, ministers, clerks, record keepers, and other middle rank bureaucrats and military officials who had enough of a picture of the war effort to know just how badly it was going.
Most came from Victrix's own Populists, but a number mingled about from the other groups as well. Civics concerned with how this war could destabilize the whole nation. Militarists aghast at the death tolls of prior imperial engagements. And other groups still.
Sadly, war was still on the rage, at least publicly in most circles.
Though I had it on good authority that the mood in the Senate is shifting since word of Italica's 'fall' reached the capital. No official announcement to the public yet of course, but it was only a matter of time everyone knew.
With that information I was being fed now, I was able to create a very generalized overview of the Empire's military forces. It probably didn't account for everything, but it was a good starting point for me to figure out how long this whole war was going to last.
And as of right now, looking at the little display I had Giaus and Remus setup, I could see the distribution of the Empire's forces was akin to a bagel or doughnut at the moment: little in the center, strong on the extremes. The cost of losing most of their forces in the interior I suppose.
Now, if I combine this information with what little I was able to glean from Myui's letter on the Japanese forces, at least one company of airborne forces from the sound of it, I had some idea of what was going on.
And from what I saw, I'd give them three months tops before they reach the capital. That assumes they stop for a time to get the lay of the land rather than do a blitzkrieg style offensive to smash apart what little internal defenses were left in that region of the Empire.
Though speed was hardly an issue given the disgusting disparity of power.
But still, the Heartland regions had their legions intact, but they were a far cry in size compared to the invasion force, and follow up forces, that were already routed. At this point, from what I've seen from admittedly second-hand sources, the Emperor was seemingly recalling all legions that were in the process of being redeployed to the fringes of the Empire to reinforce the core.
But if you bring in the legions on the borders, you suffer further incisions. And none of this takes into account all the increased activity along the borders: nomads, Vikings, civil unrest in the south, to the average person it might look like the world is coming to an end.
"And where does all of this leave us?" Gaius spoke up again, probably wondering why I was just staring at the map. "Beyond a severe disadvantage."
I sigh, leaning back I look out the window to the capital proper. Of the crews working to stud the wall with uncountable numbers of ballista, of the wyverns flying constantly patrols above, and the lines of legionaries , and of the palace at the top of Sadera hill that was going to be the biggest target in the city.
Yet something seemed…off.
Not the defenses or anything on my side, this was a doomed defense at best, and a waste of time at worst. Far better to arrange a ceasefire and negotiate an end to a war long since decided months ago.
No, something else nagged at me.
Throughout her message and recounting of the events, Myui failed to mention any other nationality alongside the Japanese regulars. No officers, or even comments that other nations were fighting alongside Japan.
Which is beyond strange.
Outrageous and strange as an attack from another world might be, Japan would have been well within its rights to invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States. The Americans ought to be flooding the airspace of Falmart with all manner of UAVs and planes to say nothing of the ground commitments they would be providing.
And yet not a single one has been seen.
I can concede that maybe Myui just didn't mention them due to brevity, but Americans are not the sort to sit quietly in a corner and not be seen at one of the first official meetings between Imperial and Earth sides. Even if they didn't partake in the operation around Italica, they would absolutely want a seat at the negotiation table just for the sake of it.
And they would not let Japan take a leading role in negotiations, let alone the sole role in it.
No matter how much I want to just write all this off as me overthinking the words of an eleven year old, I just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong.
"Your Highness?"
Right, Gaius had just asked me a question and my reply so far was just silence.
"There is going to be a lot of work to be done," I finally admitted, still looking over to the city. "A lot of things to fix, and even more to build back up," I can already imagine the nation building that will follow after the end of this war. The emancipation of tens of millions of slaves, the restructuring of the Empire's political system, repatriations, renegade generals, separatist movements, riots, oh it will be a mess in the short term. "As far as I can see, there are two paths for us: reform or death. Stagnation or change. However you want to call it, the way things are going not cannot be allowed to continue."
Or more likely reform and death, once the Empire finishes this doomed war and the proper Western pastime of nation building begins.
"I…" I could feel Gaius's gaze drift from me to the capital as well, then a heavy sigh. "I think I understand, Your Highness. But what you are saying….it is not a simple matter."
"Which one do you think the people of the Empire will choose: their pride or their lives?"
From personal experience I knew there would be no end of people who would rather let everything burn to the ground out of sheer spite than admit someone else does something better than you. I wish I could use a witty retort to claim that was the motto of communism in the face of the economic prosperity capitalism provides, but I suppose the thought can apply to anything really.
My old homeland of Germania included.
"…You are correct, Your Highness," the eunuch, bowed. "With your leave, I will begin making what preparations I can to set in motion these changes of yours to come."
I wave him off, letting the man leave to do his things. Part of me is a bit sad. I'm basically turning Gaius into a quisling with all my doom and gloom and how we need to be ready to accept occupation, but I am pretty sure he'll thank me later when we aren't the ones sitting before a judge for war crimes.
And assuming Pina's trip goes well, a line of dialogue can finally be established to put an end to this pointless war.
--
--
The last few days had been a whirlwind for Itami.
He and his team went to a city near Alnus Base, Italica, to see if they could trade some of the wyvern scales they had to give the refugees some money to work with and establish trade ties with the local communities.
What they got roped into was a massive battle, a meeting with the enemy princess, and a Diet hearing to examine the events of the battle with the Fire Dragon.
So yeah, quite the series of events.
While the girls came over to see Japan with the rest of Recon Team Three, and to show the Princess and her companion that they weren't the monsters they thought Japan was, the first stop on the trip was being dragged before the Diet to give his testimony.
While it started alright, with Lelei giving the senators an account of the Special Region, and the mage translating for Tuka whle she did the same, it all started to change when the Opposition senators started to ask their questions.
He'd honestly rather be put up against another horde of Imperials then have to deal with all the political crap.
The biggest sticking point for members of the opposition were the one hundred and fifty dead civilians from the Dragon Incident. They needled and picked at what Itami and the SDF as a whole, did wrong, rather than look at what went right.
Why didn't he do more?
How could he let all those people die?
One senator even went so far as to ask if he thought the troops in Alnus were too inexperienced or unqualified for their mission.
That was the question he almost lost it at.
They acted like fighting a fire breathing lizard capable of shrugging off small arms fire is something any military ought to be expected to train and prepare for! These senators did realize the Special Region was a fantasy world with magic and monsters, right?
Evidently, given the constant questions, they either didn't know or, more likely, didn't care. The senators had their opinions before he and his team even sat down, and they were going to stick to them, facts be damned.
One lady even went so far as to try and portray Rory as some child refugee in mourning from the failure of Itami and his team to save more of 'her people'.
He'll admit, he felt quite amused when the demigod in question shut her down and called her out for what she was doing. She even did it without Lelei translating for her, confident in her own grasp of Japanese to speak for herself.
The senator fell back into her seat looking like someone just told her she had cancer, utterly defeated and humiliated.
And that should have been the end of it.
However…
"Miss Mercury," another senator from the Opposition, a man with slick black hair seated beside the woman from earlier, stood up to speak. "You are a priestess of sorts in the Special Region, correct?"
His question amused the gothic Lolita, "not 'of sorts', but Emory's apostle."
"For the sake of my colleagues, and those watching at home, could you please explain what being an apostle entails?"
"Certainly, young man," Rory smiled at the chance to talk about herself. "Apostles are demigods who serve one of the Gods of Falmart as an instrument of their will. We are given powers beyond mortals, and after a thousand years of service, we are raised up as gods in our own right."
The admission of ascension drummed up a great deal of whispers, but the senator pressed on undeterred. "Your god, if I may be so bold to ask this, what are his domains?"
Something was up, Itami could feel it.
"Emory is the God of War in Falmart,"Rory replied with a smile.
"But that's not his only domain though, is it?" the senator pushed up his glasses and thumbed through a packet. "I seem to recall- ah here it is. Yes, it says here, and by your own admission according to your interview at Alnus, that your deity is far more than a simple god of war, no?"
Rather than answer, Rory let out a low chuckle at the man's questioning, her smile turning predatory. "So that's what you were trying to lead this to."
"Um Rory?" Itami looked to the Apostle.
"You're smarter than the other woman, I'll grant you that much," the Apostle shrugged, ignoring Itami's question. "But don't go thinking you're the first to try this little trick."
"For those not aware," he continued, not acknowledging Rory's retort. "The God Miss Mercury serves is not simply a war god, but a deity of numerous fields." He shook the papers in the air to emphasize the point. "The areas he oversees include no merely war, but a number of baser things: violence, death, insanity, crime, and even execution."
Rory ignored the gasps and mutterings from all around her. "I'm sorry, young man, but were you asking a question or making a statement?"
"I simply want all my colleagues here to understand the gravity of my actual question," he pulled his glasses down to clean the lenses. "Miss Mercury, what would convince a servant of such a being to align itself with our Self Defense Forces?"
Itami swore to himself as reporters and Diet members alike began mummering amongst one another in an almost feverish manner, all the while cameras flashes incessantly or zoomed in on the demigod.
The room, perhaps the nation, waited anxiously for an answer.
Itami was worried she was going to give them what they wanted, bait her into lashing out. He could only imagine what the media would run with if they saw her break out her halberd right in front of the Diet.
But she surprised him, and perhaps everyone who read her dossier.
She locked eyes with the senator, and just sighed, "I am done with this."
"Miss Mercury?"
"This whole dialogue is nothing more than an attempt to twist my words to fit whatever narrative you are spinning. Worse, you are attempting to demean your own warriors for carrying out their orders to the best of their ability. And your sycophantic peers who support the JSDF are no better, trying to cloak themselves in battle honor as if they were the ones who shed blood for it. You, all of you, are unworthy of any more of my attention."
"Miss Mercury you cannot simply-"
"There are very few things I cannot do, young man," she glanced at Itami, switching back to Falmart's language. "I'll be outside when your done with…this farce." With that, the demigod made her way to the door to the backdrop of gasps, muttering and the continued flashing of cameras.
"Miss Mercury, this hearing is not yet over," another opposition senator spoke up, the man from before quietly sitting down with the faintest hint of satisfaction on his lips. "Servicemen, please escort her back to the podium."
As a guard reached to grab her shoulder, Itami could faintly make out her saying something to them. "Do you really wish to die for this man's ego?" Looking back, she flashed a grin, and addressed the assembled senators. "If you, or anyone, really wants to stop me, then stop me~"
Oh shit…
Thankfully, the guards let her pass without issue, despite continued calls to bar her way.
The remainder of the session was spent in some whirlwind of attempts to censor Rory, officially drag her back in, have her held in contempt, and a dozen other things besides. Nothing came of any of it, because each proposal and discussion always led to the same question at the end: "who could actually stop her?"
Still, it all ended better than he thought it would.
And true to her word, Rory was waiting for him and everyone in the hallway. Apparently spending her time looking at some magazines.
"About time," she perked up seeing them walk out, "I was starting to think they'd never let you out."
"You could have been more diplomatic about that," Lelei admonished the demigod in her native tongue, though the mage clearly was no less thrilled about the grilling they all suffered.
"That was me being diplomatic," she let out a short snort, tossing the magazine to an empty chair beside her. "Besides, if I did anything, it would reflect badly on not just us, but the JSDF. Those vultures would have gorged themselves to their heart's content from a single drop of blood."
"Probably," Itami nervously laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't-Sorry" , he stopped realizing how his words were coming out.
"Sorry? For what?" Rory asked, following the group out of the building.
"No I mean-….You don't really seem the type to just," how was he going to phrase this without possibly insulting her? "
"Oh," she blinked. "You thought I was going to kill him?"
Itami coughed into his hand as the eyes of several security guards landed on the group following the demigod's comment, the apostle switched back to Japanese for that last bit. "Uh…I wouldn't go that far. I was worried you'd show off your weapon and cause some sort of incident. I know you're not some bloodthirsty murderer, no matter what they were trying to spin this as, but you've always struck me as the type to "
"I wasn't lying when I said he wasn't the first senator to try that little stunt," Rory commented. "And I will be the first to admit that I was far less restrained than I am nowadays when it happened."
Well, lucky them, Itami guessed.
He just hoped he wasn't jinxing himself by preying this was the craziest thing to happen to them during their visit.
--
--
"What the hell was that Kohara!?"
"I- How was I supposed to know the thousand-year-old monster was the little girl!?"
"It was in the briefing!"
"Which was a little vague on that point!"
"It explicitly said she had the appearance of a young girl!"
"Just like the other two were! How could I expect it was the literal child!"
"By reading more than the first two sentences and just looking at her! Did you just ignore the oversized weapon that had the entire security detail on edge!?"
"I-..I mean I-… It could have been the magic staff that-"
"The mage was the first one to talk!"
Asahi sighed at the display of 'opposition unity'. Party Leader Sarutobi was really ripping into Kohara. All right in front of the party just to add more salt to the injury. Well, not just her, each senator whose questions made the United Democratic Party look ridiculous were getting an earful.
He was pleased to not be among their number.
Maybe Sarutobi was just venting the frustration that's been building up since the Gate threw a wrench into everything. Before the Gate, the Democratic Constitutional Party was on the verge of collapse. Poor job numbers, inflation, and other economic issues threatened to sink their coalition with the Innovation Party.
But then the Gate happened and a wellspring of support flooded to the DCP giving the government a second wind. Sure, the sitting PM had to resign, but the party was still in control.
Seeing as how he didn't have anything to worry about, his question was among the few that were well received and seen by the public as genuine, even catapulting him into the public spotlight.
Still, the majority of the feedback was overwhelmingly negative to the Opposition's bungling. In particular people seemed to be tearing into the ridiculousness of a military preparing to fight a dragon. Some even comment how Kohara ignored the fact that if the SDF didn't escort the refugees, then all of them would have been dead and she'd be complaining about that at the hearing.
Ugh, the hearing.
The whole thing was a circus performance as far as he was concerned. No DCP senator was going to say a single negative thing about the conduct of the Self Defense Force, just as no UDP, NCP, or PEP senator was going to find anything praiseworthy.
Yes, the deployment of the Self Defense Force to the Special Region was a unanimous decision in the Diet, but that was because it was political suicide to say otherwise. It was expected of all members, of both chambers, to rally behind the defense of the nation. Hundreds were dead, an unknown number taken beyond, fear was rampant across the nation.
But now that the dust has settled and the full capabilities, or lack thereof, of their enemy is now apparent the next question on the table was what to do with these virgin lands.
A vast region that Japan had sole access to, filled with material and mineral wealth, and held no peer rival to check its ambitions is simply too intoxicating a proposition to let go of once the primary mission of bringing the perpetrators of the Ginza Attack to justice was said and done.
Prime Minister Motoi Shinzo and his Democratic Constitutional Party wanted to make the Special Region Japan's colonial playground. Relive the 'good old days' where Japan's military was a force to be looked at with awe and respect, while simultaneously achieving complete self-sufficiency from the outside world.
Credit where it's due, that was more concert of a plan then the Opposition had. Which was essentially, simply going against anything the DCP wanted.
The Prime Minister claimed that since the Imperial attack originated from within Japan's borders (in the most liberal use of the phrase), and that therefore the attack was a domestic terror attack rather than an attack by a foreign power as an excuse to not invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty. Of course, if any domestic figures asked him about the situation, he would say the foreign affairs office was still deciding what to do with the Empire and what a peace with it would look like.
Such mental gymnastics: the Gate was a domestic issue to the international community, but an 'international' issue to domestic audiences.
Personally, Asahi would have leveraged Japan's monopoly of the Gate to extract concessions from foreign entities, be they national or corporate, who wished for a slice of this new world. Perhaps going as far as to form some sort of International Mandate to oversee the exploration and exploitation of the Special Region.
With Japan having a leading say on all matters of course.
Let other nations and corporations sink both the money and manpower to set up their endeavors, all the while gaining benefits from simply keeping the door open. And if they wanted to keep fighting the Empire, just ask for a few Americans to go through the Gate, wait for some Imperial to so much as sneeze on them, and let the Yankees roll in. Every setback could be blamed on them.
But no. With the SDF as the sole force in the Special Region, it also bore the brunt of every setback and outrage.
Speaking of setbacks, and on the matter of the civilians, the whole point of the hearing, he honestly didn't care one way or the other. He personally had no issues with how the SDF had conducted itself so far in the Special Region. Hell, he'd even go as far as to say they have acquitted themselves expertly given the extraordinary situation they are in, as heretical as it might be to say on his side of the party lines.
But that was irrelevant at the moment.
For now, they, the Opposition, needed time to lick their wounds and allow the incident in the Diet to drift from public memory.
A few months at most he mused. Maybe less given the attention span of the general populace. And then, when everyone has seemingly forgotten Kohara's idiocy, they make do with what they can.
In short, they would need proper ammunition.
Body bags, exploitative practices towards the indigenous populations, civilians caught in the crossfire of battles, poor conduct by the servicemen, anything and everything to discredit the purely military admiration in the Special Region.
Not hearsay, not some report that showed failure in spite of victory. No, they needed genuine failure to have any hope of chipping away at the DCP's grip.
And when the next election came around, they shove every single incident into the public's face, every failure, every mistake, and remind the public of which party 'endorsed' such 'militarism', showed such 'poor judgment', and who in particular stood opposed to them.
But again, that was some ways off.
--
--
Erik swore as the biting freezing wind tore through his furs. The cold was always worse in the dead of night. Thankfully the streets of Storheim were deserted at this hour, most people had more sense then to stray outdoors at this hour, allowing him to reach the castle in little time.
The guards let him through with little issue, he was expected after all.
When your king summons you, you obey. Even if the summons comes the very moment your feet touch dry land from a long raid. He wasn't even given any time to see his wives or children, the courier was very clear that his presence was needed now.
Winding his way down stone halls and blazing hearths, he reached the main hall. Shields lined the walls above blazing fires, which rested alongside various suits of armor. Woven tapestries depicting great deeds and awestruck moments hung proudly from the ceiling.
And at the far end of the chamber, past the housecarls, the Thanes, and the priests sat his king. Atop a throne of bone, elevated from the ground, and fashioned from the jaw of a great dragon slain by her hand, sat the King of all Northmen and Blessed of the All-Father Himself: Ivar Grimsdotter.
The Orphan Maker.
The Widower.
The Reaver.
The Monstrous.
And a dozen other titles too tedious for Erik to bother recalling. But one did stand above all others.
The Boneless.
A jab meant to humiliate her in youth, for choosing to become a shieldmaiden, now spoken with hushed tones and respect.
She earned her crown not from some southern concept of inheritance, or voting, but through strength alone. Ivar challenged the previous king for the crown, and won, cementing her rule by right of conquest.
The fallen king's son refused to acknowledge her ascension, claiming the crown was his by right, and even rose up in revolt. It was short lived, and as punishment Ivar ordered the boy nailed to the side of her longship so he might see firsthand the prosperity and wealth she would bring to their people.
More revolts came, assassination attempts were plotted, but none succeeded.
Despite her displays of authority, Erik had to admit she certainly stood apart from what one would consider kingly: slight where warriors were strong, small when one ought to be tall, and rather than wizened and wise she had the guise of a girl of fifteen summers.
Some whispered she was cursed to remain a child for some hidden hubris they were not privy to.
Others claimed she was in fact blessed by the All-Father Himself, to remain a perfect maiden till the end of her days.
Though claiming she was a 'maiden' was a stretch, since she was well into her seventies with a brood of children and grandchildren to call her own.
None questioned her right to rule or the power she wielded. Or the bite her ax had on those who did.
It didn't take long for Ivar to notice him entering her hall.
"Cousin!" she shouted over the rancorous noise of her hall, shoving aside one of Thanes to embrace him in a firm hug. "It's damn good to see you."
"You as well, cousin," he replied, embracing her in kind.
King or no, the woman was still his cousin on his father's side.
"You had good pickings I hope?" she asked in relation to his raids.
"Slimmer than usual," he admitted. "More patrols then normal, and the Imperials built some smaller forts along the coastline to huddle up in. We barely got anyone!"
"Well, what'd you think they were going to do after you sacked that temple of theirs and shagged all its priestesses?" Ivar laughed, hitting him on the back. "They're soft, not stupid."
"Those holy women should be thanking me then, me and my men got them to swear to their gods more loudly then any boring service would have roused them," while he smiled and joked with his King, he was mentally kicking himself for overdoing that particular raid. Sure, it made him and his reavers wealthy beyond imagining when they filled the markets of Stromheim with comely slaves, fine silks, and all the precious metals their ships could carry, but it also made the local Imperials redouble their defensive works. Making future raids more difficult.
Though he'd be lying if he said he wouldn't do it all again, even knowing the end result.
"So," amused as he was at his King's antics, he might as well get to the point of this meeting, "what is so important to summon me at this hour?"
"I've got something big planned," Ivar grinned, strolling back up her throne. Her golden eyes shining like small fires admit the shadows of the room. "Spectacular even."
"Does it have anything to do with them," Erik glanced over at the small collection of small, hunched over figures desperately drinking in the fire's warmth as they shivered even in their thick cloaks.
Hobgoblins.
A strange people who worshiped the All-Father in their own, equally strange, way. He's had dealings with them in the past, mostly to restock supplies while on his way to raid the Imperial Colonies. But he's never heard of them venturing this far north. He didn't even think they had boats to sail to Stromheim!
"In a manner of speaking," she propped up her head with her arm. "Tell me: how many men do you think you'd need to take Karpets?"
"The Imperial city?" though that damned place was more a fortress than a city. Rings of walls, a strong naval element, and interlocking canals that let it receive supply through its river rather than solely on land.
"The very same," she crossed her legs, "so, how many?"
"We would need hundreds of longships, with thousands of warriors, at the very least," he mulled over the numbers in his head. "With luck, I suppose we smash their defenses apart quickly and be out in a few days-"
"That's not what I asked, cousin," Ivar interrupted him, still grinning. "I asked how many you would need to take Karpets, not sack it."
"Are you serious?" he looked for any sign this was some sort of joke. "We don't have the numbers to take and hold any imperial land for any real length of time. The Legions will descend upon us-"
'That's not going to be a problem," Ivar again interrupted him.
"Not a problem? You think the Imperials will just let us take a city from them?"
"I think they'll have other concerns on their minds then a city at the edge of their world," the King explained, "I saw it in a vision,"
"A vision?" From the All-Father went unsaid. As one of His Blessed, the All-Father impart visions from time to time so that she may lead their people to greater glory.
"Yes," she closed her eyes. "In my dream I saw a boar painted imperial purple. It was an old thing, gray and white, bleeding from hunting spears to the gut beneath a blood red sun, its piglets squealing a demandable screech, and serpents slithering about waiting to gorge on its warm flesh. All the while dragons circled above like vultures. Even before I went to the priests, I knew what the All-Father was telling me: The Empire of today is a far cry from the Empire our forefathers warred with. It is a dying thing."
"So then…" Some of the symbolism was evident even to him.
"And they," she continued, pointing to the hobgoblins, "had similar visions from their own priests. It's obvious what the All-Father is telling us. He wishes us to join hand in hand and strike down the Empire, bringing an end to its degenerate existence!"
While Erik did not doubt the validity of his cousin's claims, he did question the fervor in which she was championing it. The story tellers say it was similar fervor that drove their first war with the Empire two centuries ago, and that failed.
But then again, the war didn't have the support of other faithful. Just the Northern peoples. Maybe with more aid…
Try as he might to keep his mind centered and reasonable, Ivar's giddiness was infectious. All-consuming even.
"So I will ask again," She looked down at him, her eyes holding an almost hypnotic quality to them, dragging him into a similar fervor she was showing. "How many men would you need to take the city in our God's name?"
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
AN: and there it is!
What a chapter, Tanya deciding to 'Tanya' and accidently make it sound like she wants to take over the Empire, a diet hearing where someone actually had a brain (with the set up of a competent antagonist for the JSDF on the Japanese side), and Vikings getting ready to storm south with the Hobgoblins! Glorious!
Japanese forces not only advanced further into the Italica region, but they even fought off a large bandit army besieging the capital of the region. All the while coming to the aid of Princess Pina and her Rose Order of Knights, and securing the good will of the populace.
At least, that is how Myui describes the events in her recent messages.
It was a lot more flowery than that, but that was the gist of it.
She described the Japanese 'banner' as white with a red disc at the center and how it now fluttered beside House Formal's own banner. Going into exceptional detail about the Japanese 'iron Pegasus's' raining death from above, their magical 'thunder weapons' killing scores of men from a distance, and heaping all sorts of praise upon the valor shown by one 'Sir Itami' and his companions in the battle against the deserters.
It's all very heroic of them.
How very selfless and noble.
Going out of their way to save one of the major cities of the Empire and to secure a stretch of the Imperial Highway that leads directly to Sadera itself. And by saving the city from all the 'gentleness' of a sacking, they have ingratiated themselves with said population and appear as guardians rather than invaders, ensuring a reduced amount of partisan activity behind their lines.
And now, they were in a prime position to roll back the Empire's lines all the way to the Imperial Heartlands.
But therein lies a catch: if they advance too swiftly without recon, the results could be devastating. Yet the longer they delay, the more defenses will be arrayed against them.
But if they rush, their supply lines could be exposed to partisan attack. It was all give and take. Even a modern military would be hard pressed to keep up secure logistics with a combative population.
"Quite the catch twenty-two." I muse aloud.
"A what?"
"Just a saying I heard before," I tell Gaius, obviously he doesn't know modern colloquialism. "It means a situation where there are multiple, equally bad options at one's disposal. I think that best describes the situation."
"Hmm," Gaius nodded. "I suppose in that case, we are 'catching twenty-two'."
Close enough…
While many senators and policy makers of the Empire seems happy to join the national suicide pact to hurl themselves into the war with Earth, I asked Stilicho and Victrix some time ago to get me a list of senators who were more open minded to the possibility of a 'cessation of hostilities'.
Not surrender of course! You can't say the 'S' word out loud these days. Even wealthy citizens were getting strung up from lamp posts these days for even contemplating surrender. While I doubt such a severe punishment would happen to me, I still rather not be chastised and lose what creature comforts I had.
But back on topic, the pair managed to deliver a list one hundred and thirty names long.
The pair had done their part excellently. Judges, ministers, clerks, record keepers, and other middle rank bureaucrats and military officials who had enough of a picture of the war effort to know just how badly it was going.
Most came from Victrix's own Populists, but a number mingled about from the other groups as well. Civics concerned with how this war could destabilize the whole nation. Militarists aghast at the death tolls of prior imperial engagements. And other groups still.
Sadly, war was still on the rage, at least publicly in most circles.
Though I had it on good authority that the mood in the Senate is shifting since word of Italica's 'fall' reached the capital. No official announcement to the public yet of course, but it was only a matter of time everyone knew.
With that information I was being fed now, I was able to create a very generalized overview of the Empire's military forces. It probably didn't account for everything, but it was a good starting point for me to figure out how long this whole war was going to last.
And as of right now, looking at the little display I had Giaus and Remus setup, I could see the distribution of the Empire's forces was akin to a bagel or doughnut at the moment: little in the center, strong on the extremes. The cost of losing most of their forces in the interior I suppose.
Now, if I combine this information with what little I was able to glean from Myui's letter on the Japanese forces, at least one company of airborne forces from the sound of it, I had some idea of what was going on.
And from what I saw, I'd give them three months tops before they reach the capital. That assumes they stop for a time to get the lay of the land rather than do a blitzkrieg style offensive to smash apart what little internal defenses were left in that region of the Empire.
Though speed was hardly an issue given the disgusting disparity of power.
But still, the Heartland regions had their legions intact, but they were a far cry in size compared to the invasion force, and follow up forces, that were already routed. At this point, from what I've seen from admittedly second-hand sources, the Emperor was seemingly recalling all legions that were in the process of being redeployed to the fringes of the Empire to reinforce the core.
But if you bring in the legions on the borders, you suffer further incisions. And none of this takes into account all the increased activity along the borders: nomads, Vikings, civil unrest in the south, to the average person it might look like the world is coming to an end.
"And where does all of this leave us?" Gaius spoke up again, probably wondering why I was just staring at the map. "Beyond a severe disadvantage."
I sigh, leaning back I look out the window to the capital proper. Of the crews working to stud the wall with uncountable numbers of ballista, of the wyverns flying constantly patrols above, and the lines of legionaries , and of the palace at the top of Sadera hill that was going to be the biggest target in the city.
Yet something seemed…off.
Not the defenses or anything on my side, this was a doomed defense at best, and a waste of time at worst. Far better to arrange a ceasefire and negotiate an end to a war long since decided months ago.
No, something else nagged at me.
Throughout her message and recounting of the events, Myui failed to mention any other nationality alongside the Japanese regulars. No officers, or even comments that other nations were fighting alongside Japan.
Which is beyond strange.
Outrageous and strange as an attack from another world might be, Japan would have been well within its rights to invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States. The Americans ought to be flooding the airspace of Falmart with all manner of UAVs and planes to say nothing of the ground commitments they would be providing.
And yet not a single one has been seen.
I can concede that maybe Myui just didn't mention them due to brevity, but Americans are not the sort to sit quietly in a corner and not be seen at one of the first official meetings between Imperial and Earth sides. Even if they didn't partake in the operation around Italica, they would absolutely want a seat at the negotiation table just for the sake of it.
And they would not let Japan take a leading role in negotiations, let alone the sole role in it.
No matter how much I want to just write all this off as me overthinking the words of an eleven year old, I just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong.
"Your Highness?"
Right, Gaius had just asked me a question and my reply so far was just silence.
"There is going to be a lot of work to be done," I finally admitted, still looking over to the city. "A lot of things to fix, and even more to build back up," I can already imagine the nation building that will follow after the end of this war. The emancipation of tens of millions of slaves, the restructuring of the Empire's political system, repatriations, renegade generals, separatist movements, riots, oh it will be a mess in the short term. "As far as I can see, there are two paths for us: reform or death. Stagnation or change. However you want to call it, the way things are going not cannot be allowed to continue."
Or more likely reform and death, once the Empire finishes this doomed war and the proper Western pastime of nation building begins.
"I…" I could feel Gaius's gaze drift from me to the capital as well, then a heavy sigh. "I think I understand, Your Highness. But what you are saying….it is not a simple matter."
"Which one do you think the people of the Empire will choose: their pride or their lives?"
From personal experience I knew there would be no end of people who would rather let everything burn to the ground out of sheer spite than admit someone else does something better than you. I wish I could use a witty retort to claim that was the motto of communism in the face of the economic prosperity capitalism provides, but I suppose the thought can apply to anything really.
My old homeland of Germania included.
"…You are correct, Your Highness," the eunuch, bowed. "With your leave, I will begin making what preparations I can to set in motion these changes of yours to come."
I wave him off, letting the man leave to do his things. Part of me is a bit sad. I'm basically turning Gaius into a quisling with all my doom and gloom and how we need to be ready to accept occupation, but I am pretty sure he'll thank me later when we aren't the ones sitting before a judge for war crimes.
And assuming Pina's trip goes well, a line of dialogue can finally be established to put an end to this pointless war.
--
--
The last few days had been a whirlwind for Itami.
He and his team went to a city near Alnus Base, Italica, to see if they could trade some of the wyvern scales they had to give the refugees some money to work with and establish trade ties with the local communities.
What they got roped into was a massive battle, a meeting with the enemy princess, and a Diet hearing to examine the events of the battle with the Fire Dragon.
So yeah, quite the series of events.
While the girls came over to see Japan with the rest of Recon Team Three, and to show the Princess and her companion that they weren't the monsters they thought Japan was, the first stop on the trip was being dragged before the Diet to give his testimony.
While it started alright, with Lelei giving the senators an account of the Special Region, and the mage translating for Tuka whle she did the same, it all started to change when the Opposition senators started to ask their questions.
He'd honestly rather be put up against another horde of Imperials then have to deal with all the political crap.
The biggest sticking point for members of the opposition were the one hundred and fifty dead civilians from the Dragon Incident. They needled and picked at what Itami and the SDF as a whole, did wrong, rather than look at what went right.
Why didn't he do more?
How could he let all those people die?
One senator even went so far as to ask if he thought the troops in Alnus were too inexperienced or unqualified for their mission.
That was the question he almost lost it at.
They acted like fighting a fire breathing lizard capable of shrugging off small arms fire is something any military ought to be expected to train and prepare for! These senators did realize the Special Region was a fantasy world with magic and monsters, right?
Evidently, given the constant questions, they either didn't know or, more likely, didn't care. The senators had their opinions before he and his team even sat down, and they were going to stick to them, facts be damned.
One lady even went so far as to try and portray Rory as some child refugee in mourning from the failure of Itami and his team to save more of 'her people'.
He'll admit, he felt quite amused when the demigod in question shut her down and called her out for what she was doing. She even did it without Lelei translating for her, confident in her own grasp of Japanese to speak for herself.
The senator fell back into her seat looking like someone just told her she had cancer, utterly defeated and humiliated.
And that should have been the end of it.
However…
"Miss Mercury," another senator from the Opposition, a man with slick black hair seated beside the woman from earlier, stood up to speak. "You are a priestess of sorts in the Special Region, correct?"
His question amused the gothic Lolita, "not 'of sorts', but Emory's apostle."
"For the sake of my colleagues, and those watching at home, could you please explain what being an apostle entails?"
"Certainly, young man," Rory smiled at the chance to talk about herself. "Apostles are demigods who serve one of the Gods of Falmart as an instrument of their will. We are given powers beyond mortals, and after a thousand years of service, we are raised up as gods in our own right."
The admission of ascension drummed up a great deal of whispers, but the senator pressed on undeterred. "Your god, if I may be so bold to ask this, what are his domains?"
Something was up, Itami could feel it.
"Emory is the God of War in Falmart,"Rory replied with a smile.
"But that's not his only domain though, is it?" the senator pushed up his glasses and thumbed through a packet. "I seem to recall- ah here it is. Yes, it says here, and by your own admission according to your interview at Alnus, that your deity is far more than a simple god of war, no?"
Rather than answer, Rory let out a low chuckle at the man's questioning, her smile turning predatory. "So that's what you were trying to lead this to."
"Um Rory?" Itami looked to the Apostle.
"You're smarter than the other woman, I'll grant you that much," the Apostle shrugged, ignoring Itami's question. "But don't go thinking you're the first to try this little trick."
"For those not aware," he continued, not acknowledging Rory's retort. "The God Miss Mercury serves is not simply a war god, but a deity of numerous fields." He shook the papers in the air to emphasize the point. "The areas he oversees include no merely war, but a number of baser things: violence, death, insanity, crime, and even execution."
Rory ignored the gasps and mutterings from all around her. "I'm sorry, young man, but were you asking a question or making a statement?"
"I simply want all my colleagues here to understand the gravity of my actual question," he pulled his glasses down to clean the lenses. "Miss Mercury, what would convince a servant of such a being to align itself with our Self Defense Forces?"
Itami swore to himself as reporters and Diet members alike began mummering amongst one another in an almost feverish manner, all the while cameras flashes incessantly or zoomed in on the demigod.
The room, perhaps the nation, waited anxiously for an answer.
Itami was worried she was going to give them what they wanted, bait her into lashing out. He could only imagine what the media would run with if they saw her break out her halberd right in front of the Diet.
But she surprised him, and perhaps everyone who read her dossier.
She locked eyes with the senator, and just sighed, "I am done with this."
"Miss Mercury?"
"This whole dialogue is nothing more than an attempt to twist my words to fit whatever narrative you are spinning. Worse, you are attempting to demean your own warriors for carrying out their orders to the best of their ability. And your sycophantic peers who support the JSDF are no better, trying to cloak themselves in battle honor as if they were the ones who shed blood for it. You, all of you, are unworthy of any more of my attention."
"Miss Mercury you cannot simply-"
"There are very few things I cannot do, young man," she glanced at Itami, switching back to Falmart's language. "I'll be outside when your done with…this farce." With that, the demigod made her way to the door to the backdrop of gasps, muttering and the continued flashing of cameras.
"Miss Mercury, this hearing is not yet over," another opposition senator spoke up, the man from before quietly sitting down with the faintest hint of satisfaction on his lips. "Servicemen, please escort her back to the podium."
As a guard reached to grab her shoulder, Itami could faintly make out her saying something to them. "Do you really wish to die for this man's ego?" Looking back, she flashed a grin, and addressed the assembled senators. "If you, or anyone, really wants to stop me, then stop me~"
Oh shit…
Thankfully, the guards let her pass without issue, despite continued calls to bar her way.
The remainder of the session was spent in some whirlwind of attempts to censor Rory, officially drag her back in, have her held in contempt, and a dozen other things besides. Nothing came of any of it, because each proposal and discussion always led to the same question at the end: "who could actually stop her?"
Still, it all ended better than he thought it would.
And true to her word, Rory was waiting for him and everyone in the hallway. Apparently spending her time looking at some magazines.
"About time," she perked up seeing them walk out, "I was starting to think they'd never let you out."
"You could have been more diplomatic about that," Lelei admonished the demigod in her native tongue, though the mage clearly was no less thrilled about the grilling they all suffered.
"That was me being diplomatic," she let out a short snort, tossing the magazine to an empty chair beside her. "Besides, if I did anything, it would reflect badly on not just us, but the JSDF. Those vultures would have gorged themselves to their heart's content from a single drop of blood."
"Probably," Itami nervously laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't-Sorry" , he stopped realizing how his words were coming out.
"Sorry? For what?" Rory asked, following the group out of the building.
"No I mean-….You don't really seem the type to just," how was he going to phrase this without possibly insulting her? "
"Oh," she blinked. "You thought I was going to kill him?"
Itami coughed into his hand as the eyes of several security guards landed on the group following the demigod's comment, the apostle switched back to Japanese for that last bit. "Uh…I wouldn't go that far. I was worried you'd show off your weapon and cause some sort of incident. I know you're not some bloodthirsty murderer, no matter what they were trying to spin this as, but you've always struck me as the type to "
"I wasn't lying when I said he wasn't the first senator to try that little stunt," Rory commented. "And I will be the first to admit that I was far less restrained than I am nowadays when it happened."
Well, lucky them, Itami guessed.
He just hoped he wasn't jinxing himself by preying this was the craziest thing to happen to them during their visit.
--
--
"What the hell was that Kohara!?"
"I- How was I supposed to know the thousand-year-old monster was the little girl!?"
"It was in the briefing!"
"Which was a little vague on that point!"
"It explicitly said she had the appearance of a young girl!"
"Just like the other two were! How could I expect it was the literal child!"
"By reading more than the first two sentences and just looking at her! Did you just ignore the oversized weapon that had the entire security detail on edge!?"
"I-..I mean I-… It could have been the magic staff that-"
"The mage was the first one to talk!"
Asahi sighed at the display of 'opposition unity'. Party Leader Sarutobi was really ripping into Kohara. All right in front of the party just to add more salt to the injury. Well, not just her, each senator whose questions made the United Democratic Party look ridiculous were getting an earful.
He was pleased to not be among their number.
Maybe Sarutobi was just venting the frustration that's been building up since the Gate threw a wrench into everything. Before the Gate, the Democratic Constitutional Party was on the verge of collapse. Poor job numbers, inflation, and other economic issues threatened to sink their coalition with the Innovation Party.
But then the Gate happened and a wellspring of support flooded to the DCP giving the government a second wind. Sure, the sitting PM had to resign, but the party was still in control.
Seeing as how he didn't have anything to worry about, his question was among the few that were well received and seen by the public as genuine, even catapulting him into the public spotlight.
Still, the majority of the feedback was overwhelmingly negative to the Opposition's bungling. In particular people seemed to be tearing into the ridiculousness of a military preparing to fight a dragon. Some even comment how Kohara ignored the fact that if the SDF didn't escort the refugees, then all of them would have been dead and she'd be complaining about that at the hearing.
Ugh, the hearing.
The whole thing was a circus performance as far as he was concerned. No DCP senator was going to say a single negative thing about the conduct of the Self Defense Force, just as no UDP, NCP, or PEP senator was going to find anything praiseworthy.
Yes, the deployment of the Self Defense Force to the Special Region was a unanimous decision in the Diet, but that was because it was political suicide to say otherwise. It was expected of all members, of both chambers, to rally behind the defense of the nation. Hundreds were dead, an unknown number taken beyond, fear was rampant across the nation.
But now that the dust has settled and the full capabilities, or lack thereof, of their enemy is now apparent the next question on the table was what to do with these virgin lands.
A vast region that Japan had sole access to, filled with material and mineral wealth, and held no peer rival to check its ambitions is simply too intoxicating a proposition to let go of once the primary mission of bringing the perpetrators of the Ginza Attack to justice was said and done.
Prime Minister Motoi Shinzo and his Democratic Constitutional Party wanted to make the Special Region Japan's colonial playground. Relive the 'good old days' where Japan's military was a force to be looked at with awe and respect, while simultaneously achieving complete self-sufficiency from the outside world.
Credit where it's due, that was more concert of a plan then the Opposition had. Which was essentially, simply going against anything the DCP wanted.
The Prime Minister claimed that since the Imperial attack originated from within Japan's borders (in the most liberal use of the phrase), and that therefore the attack was a domestic terror attack rather than an attack by a foreign power as an excuse to not invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty. Of course, if any domestic figures asked him about the situation, he would say the foreign affairs office was still deciding what to do with the Empire and what a peace with it would look like.
Such mental gymnastics: the Gate was a domestic issue to the international community, but an 'international' issue to domestic audiences.
Personally, Asahi would have leveraged Japan's monopoly of the Gate to extract concessions from foreign entities, be they national or corporate, who wished for a slice of this new world. Perhaps going as far as to form some sort of International Mandate to oversee the exploration and exploitation of the Special Region.
With Japan having a leading say on all matters of course.
Let other nations and corporations sink both the money and manpower to set up their endeavors, all the while gaining benefits from simply keeping the door open. And if they wanted to keep fighting the Empire, just ask for a few Americans to go through the Gate, wait for some Imperial to so much as sneeze on them, and let the Yankees roll in. Every setback could be blamed on them.
But no. With the SDF as the sole force in the Special Region, it also bore the brunt of every setback and outrage.
Speaking of setbacks, and on the matter of the civilians, the whole point of the hearing, he honestly didn't care one way or the other. He personally had no issues with how the SDF had conducted itself so far in the Special Region. Hell, he'd even go as far as to say they have acquitted themselves expertly given the extraordinary situation they are in, as heretical as it might be to say on his side of the party lines.
But that was irrelevant at the moment.
For now, they, the Opposition, needed time to lick their wounds and allow the incident in the Diet to drift from public memory.
A few months at most he mused. Maybe less given the attention span of the general populace. And then, when everyone has seemingly forgotten Kohara's idiocy, they make do with what they can.
In short, they would need proper ammunition.
Body bags, exploitative practices towards the indigenous populations, civilians caught in the crossfire of battles, poor conduct by the servicemen, anything and everything to discredit the purely military admiration in the Special Region.
Not hearsay, not some report that showed failure in spite of victory. No, they needed genuine failure to have any hope of chipping away at the DCP's grip.
And when the next election came around, they shove every single incident into the public's face, every failure, every mistake, and remind the public of which party 'endorsed' such 'militarism', showed such 'poor judgment', and who in particular stood opposed to them.
But again, that was some ways off.
--
--
Erik swore as the biting freezing wind tore through his furs. The cold was always worse in the dead of night. Thankfully the streets of Storheim were deserted at this hour, most people had more sense then to stray outdoors at this hour, allowing him to reach the castle in little time.
The guards let him through with little issue, he was expected after all.
When your king summons you, you obey. Even if the summons comes the very moment your feet touch dry land from a long raid. He wasn't even given any time to see his wives or children, the courier was very clear that his presence was needed now.
Winding his way down stone halls and blazing hearths, he reached the main hall. Shields lined the walls above blazing fires, which rested alongside various suits of armor. Woven tapestries depicting great deeds and awestruck moments hung proudly from the ceiling.
And at the far end of the chamber, past the housecarls, the Thanes, and the priests sat his king. Atop a throne of bone, elevated from the ground, and fashioned from the jaw of a great dragon slain by her hand, sat the King of all Northmen and Blessed of the All-Father Himself: Ivar Grimsdotter.
The Orphan Maker.
The Widower.
The Reaver.
The Monstrous.
And a dozen other titles too tedious for Erik to bother recalling. But one did stand above all others.
The Boneless.
A jab meant to humiliate her in youth, for choosing to become a shieldmaiden, now spoken with hushed tones and respect.
She earned her crown not from some southern concept of inheritance, or voting, but through strength alone. Ivar challenged the previous king for the crown, and won, cementing her rule by right of conquest.
The fallen king's son refused to acknowledge her ascension, claiming the crown was his by right, and even rose up in revolt. It was short lived, and as punishment Ivar ordered the boy nailed to the side of her longship so he might see firsthand the prosperity and wealth she would bring to their people.
More revolts came, assassination attempts were plotted, but none succeeded.
Despite her displays of authority, Erik had to admit she certainly stood apart from what one would consider kingly: slight where warriors were strong, small when one ought to be tall, and rather than wizened and wise she had the guise of a girl of fifteen summers.
Some whispered she was cursed to remain a child for some hidden hubris they were not privy to.
Others claimed she was in fact blessed by the All-Father Himself, to remain a perfect maiden till the end of her days.
Though claiming she was a 'maiden' was a stretch, since she was well into her seventies with a brood of children and grandchildren to call her own.
None questioned her right to rule or the power she wielded. Or the bite her ax had on those who did.
It didn't take long for Ivar to notice him entering her hall.
"Cousin!" she shouted over the rancorous noise of her hall, shoving aside one of Thanes to embrace him in a firm hug. "It's damn good to see you."
"You as well, cousin," he replied, embracing her in kind.
King or no, the woman was still his cousin on his father's side.
"You had good pickings I hope?" she asked in relation to his raids.
"Slimmer than usual," he admitted. "More patrols then normal, and the Imperials built some smaller forts along the coastline to huddle up in. We barely got anyone!"
"Well, what'd you think they were going to do after you sacked that temple of theirs and shagged all its priestesses?" Ivar laughed, hitting him on the back. "They're soft, not stupid."
"Those holy women should be thanking me then, me and my men got them to swear to their gods more loudly then any boring service would have roused them," while he smiled and joked with his King, he was mentally kicking himself for overdoing that particular raid. Sure, it made him and his reavers wealthy beyond imagining when they filled the markets of Stromheim with comely slaves, fine silks, and all the precious metals their ships could carry, but it also made the local Imperials redouble their defensive works. Making future raids more difficult.
Though he'd be lying if he said he wouldn't do it all again, even knowing the end result.
"So," amused as he was at his King's antics, he might as well get to the point of this meeting, "what is so important to summon me at this hour?"
"I've got something big planned," Ivar grinned, strolling back up her throne. Her golden eyes shining like small fires admit the shadows of the room. "Spectacular even."
"Does it have anything to do with them," Erik glanced over at the small collection of small, hunched over figures desperately drinking in the fire's warmth as they shivered even in their thick cloaks.
Hobgoblins.
A strange people who worshiped the All-Father in their own, equally strange, way. He's had dealings with them in the past, mostly to restock supplies while on his way to raid the Imperial Colonies. But he's never heard of them venturing this far north. He didn't even think they had boats to sail to Stromheim!
"In a manner of speaking," she propped up her head with her arm. "Tell me: how many men do you think you'd need to take Karpets?"
"The Imperial city?" though that damned place was more a fortress than a city. Rings of walls, a strong naval element, and interlocking canals that let it receive supply through its river rather than solely on land.
"The very same," she crossed her legs, "so, how many?"
"We would need hundreds of longships, with thousands of warriors, at the very least," he mulled over the numbers in his head. "With luck, I suppose we smash their defenses apart quickly and be out in a few days-"
"That's not what I asked, cousin," Ivar interrupted him, still grinning. "I asked how many you would need to take Karpets, not sack it."
"Are you serious?" he looked for any sign this was some sort of joke. "We don't have the numbers to take and hold any imperial land for any real length of time. The Legions will descend upon us-"
'That's not going to be a problem," Ivar again interrupted him.
"Not a problem? You think the Imperials will just let us take a city from them?"
"I think they'll have other concerns on their minds then a city at the edge of their world," the King explained, "I saw it in a vision,"
"A vision?" From the All-Father went unsaid. As one of His Blessed, the All-Father impart visions from time to time so that she may lead their people to greater glory.
"Yes," she closed her eyes. "In my dream I saw a boar painted imperial purple. It was an old thing, gray and white, bleeding from hunting spears to the gut beneath a blood red sun, its piglets squealing a demandable screech, and serpents slithering about waiting to gorge on its warm flesh. All the while dragons circled above like vultures. Even before I went to the priests, I knew what the All-Father was telling me: The Empire of today is a far cry from the Empire our forefathers warred with. It is a dying thing."
"So then…" Some of the symbolism was evident even to him.
"And they," she continued, pointing to the hobgoblins, "had similar visions from their own priests. It's obvious what the All-Father is telling us. He wishes us to join hand in hand and strike down the Empire, bringing an end to its degenerate existence!"
While Erik did not doubt the validity of his cousin's claims, he did question the fervor in which she was championing it. The story tellers say it was similar fervor that drove their first war with the Empire two centuries ago, and that failed.
But then again, the war didn't have the support of other faithful. Just the Northern peoples. Maybe with more aid…
Try as he might to keep his mind centered and reasonable, Ivar's giddiness was infectious. All-consuming even.
"So I will ask again," She looked down at him, her eyes holding an almost hypnotic quality to them, dragging him into a similar fervor she was showing. "How many men would you need to take the city in our God's name?"
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
AN: and there it is!
What a chapter, Tanya deciding to 'Tanya' and accidently make it sound like she wants to take over the Empire, a diet hearing where someone actually had a brain (with the set up of a competent antagonist for the JSDF on the Japanese side), and Vikings getting ready to storm south with the Hobgoblins! Glorious!