153 Soldier Problems

"Mn."

Mitsuna half-heartedly agreed with what the soldier in front of her said as she was preoccupied with her own thoughts.

"Listen up now, sniper."

The soldier interrupted her thoughts as he snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"What do you want? Don't you realize treating a lady like this is quite rude? I have stuff to do so let's just go our own ways already."

Mitsuna brushed off the soldier and waved him away as she turned around with a rather annoyed expression.

"We aren't done here yet, sniper."

The soldier said as he appeared in front of Mitsuna with nearly no delay as to the outside viewer he seemed to have teleported.

"I think we are actually."

Mitsuna replied with a small scowl as she raised her hand in front of the soldier's face and snapped her fingers just as he had done before. Unlike him, however, Mitsuna simultaneously gathered mana and used the sound element.

*SNAP*

Wind blew out as the sound generated from her fingers reached far into the capital city, gathering even more attention to her general location.

As the soldier ignored the sound and seemed rather unbothered except for the fact that a frown sat on his face, he was about to speak again before Mitsuna again attempted to snap her fingers, this time gathering much more mana.

Before Mitsuna could blow out the eardrums of every living being with functional ears within a half-kilometre radius, the soldier's frown deepened as he grabbed Mitsuna's fingers before she could snap and dispersed the mana she had gathered.

"Listen now, sniper. You will neither snap your fingers again nor will you leave without an explanation as to why a citizen such as yourself involved yourself with the previous battle."

Getting more annoyed than she normally would have been, Mitsuna frowned as she grabbed one of his fingers that he used to stop her snap and broke it with a loud

*CRACK*

The soldier took a single half-step back without moving his gaze off of Mitsuna as he raised his hand and snapped his fingers back in position.

"I don't think you know who you are talking to here, 'Soldier'. I can shatter each of your bones, puncture each of your organs and snap each of your muscle fibres before you realize what had even happened."

Mitsuna said threateningly as she dusted her hands off.

"Sniper. This has been an act of violence and threat against an acting General.

Currently, it seems you think you are humbling yourself for our sake, surely you know the consequences of such a transgression.

Killing me would result in an exile and bounty being placed on your head, continent-wide."

The soldier, or rather general said as he narrowed his eyes while fixing his posture and cracking his fingers that were now completely healed.

He emphasized the continent-wide part as he tried to pressure Mitsuna into calming down.

"I will forget these acts of aggression as long as you come with me and answer the questions that are in need of answering."

"I am."

Mitsuna stood with a straight back as she looked up into the eyes of the rude general.

"I am humbling myself to spare your pride as a general of this dog water country that, without outside help, will crumble to dust within the year.

That is what I am doing. Not what I Think I am doing."

Mitsuna stated as mana started to circulate at unprecedented speeds within her body.

"Hmph. It seems it is Your pride that needs to be put in check."

The general muttered as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes with a sigh, followed by a groan.

"Sniper, you said that you had yet to register, correct?"

Mitsuna didn't respond directly but seeing as the general was the one to give in first, she also opted to calm down considering the number of high-level soldiers that had suddenly surrounded them and hid behind rubble and corners with weapons ready just in case the situation had escalated further.

"I take your silence as confirmation. Then, sniper. I hypothesise that you still wish to join considering your relationship with our enemy doesn't seem positive.

I will make contact after you register as a soldier then. I hope you answer my queries at that time."

"And if I now choose to not register?"

"Then I will not stay quiet about your aggression towards an acting General Rank."

"Tch. Can I go now then?"

"You may, sniper."

The general nodded and watched Mitsuna walk away towards the city centre as she occasionally took glances towards the hiding spots of the Major Rank soldiers that had surrounded their area.

"Hmm. A troublesome talent."

The General muttered as he turned and signalled to the Lieutenant General that was standing a few metres away and was the one who had called for backup just in case.

"Don't bother placing any eyes on her, she will most probably notice anyway."

The General stated as he walked past the Lieutenant General and moved to check on the damage on the walls.

"Gather the mages and rune crafters that aren't busy from the surrounding cities, we need to study the damages and reinforce the wall so this situation will never repeat."

The soldiers nodded as they scattered like ants.

...

'Sniper. Sniper. Sniper he says. If the hidden idiots around and the guy himself weren't in the late stages of tier 4 and early stages of tier 5 then I could have easily taken out everyone there, maybe with the sacrifice of a few limbs but nevertheless.'

Mitsuna thought to herself.

'What the hell is with tier 5 people anyway, what the hell gives them such a stupid power boost? It was difficult to deal with the party of three in the dungeon and the 'General' seemed even more dangerous than the perverted sword swinger.'

Mitsuna racked her head as she clarified her thoughts to herself.

'Well, I am guessing here that the soldier and the triple dunces were all tier 5 since the power difference between the people at level 200+ that I've seen and the few people at level 250+ is like a puddle and the fucking sea. I doubt that the 4 were just geniuses I stumbled on since there isn't a way for someone with only some better potential to be just that much stronger than others with a mediocre level difference of 20 to 30, ignoring the possibility of unlocking bloodlines at super early levels and the possibility of aquiring unique skills or titles since they shouldn't be as common as that.'

Mitsuna sighed as she now sensed that no group or individual was staring at her back anymore.

"Christ. I need a drink and a nap."

'And Yet. For that, I need cash money.'

Gathering mana at her fingertips, she swiped her hand as space slightly warped in front of her.

'Better go get that hunt done. The reward is good so one or two assignments after that should give me enough money to rest well for a few days.

Until I no doubt have to register for the army and deal with the General idiot.'

Cracking her neck with a tired expression, she wondered if she was that annoyed because of finding out that Natash could be on this continent, which confused her, since shouldn't she be happier that she finally found her and that her revenge was closer at hand? Currently, she only felt on edge and annoyed.

'Am I skilled enough to beat her in any way at present or will the fight that will undoubtedly come be the same as last time?'

She wondered as her thoughts floated around the idea. Mitsuna had already teleported to the Western side of the capital's wall as she jumped down from the staggering height and watched as the vast desert of stone spikes and cherry blossom trees grew smaller as the sand dunes blocked her from seeing the horizon.

'Don't feel like teleporting around, especially now that I know that space magic sealing items or skills exist. I don't want to know what happens if I'm during a teleport and the magic is forcefully deactivated or sealed.'

Tapping her foot on the ground, the sand morphed around her feet as she tried to learn what amount of control her earth magic could have over sand at its limit.

Creating a simple spell that moved sand below her feet in a rotating motion, she started to skate on the sand as she slowly got used to the movements she needed to do with both mana and her body.

Increasing the speed to the most she could handle, she approached a sand dune as she skated up it and jumped as she reached the top, increasing her speed further.

"Fun. But maybe I should have brought horse with me, hope he isn't in any trouble back there.

The gunshots probably scared the soul out of him."

Mitsuna muttered to herself with a small giggle as she thought about a situation where a horse would be following evacuation procedures.

Jumping down from another large dune, sand was pushed into the air like a wave as Mitsuna continued her skating practice.

...

On the other side of the desert, in front of a square kilometre-sized campsite sat a girl with cat ears and short light violet hair, her purple eyes and sharp black pupils that more so fit a predator reflected the rays of the sun as the girl looked over at the distant horizon.

"What are you sitting there and moping for this time?"

The voice of the girl's best friend rang from inside a tent behind her as it echoed across the desert.

The blond-haired girl named Alle had walked out of their tent with a faint smile and a look of worry spread across her face.

Approaching Natash who sat on a dune a few metres away, drawing on the sand occasionally, Alle crouched down.

"I'm thinking."

Natash said as she looked down and swiped away the drawing that she had etched in the sand with her finger.

"About~?"

Alle asked teasingly, the worry on her face being replaced by an expression ready to tease.

"Nothing much... Mn. The sands seem turbulent for some reason. Has the surrounding area been checked by the tamers and mages?"

Natash asked as she scooped up some sand before letting slowly fall out of her hand, being carried away by the faint wind.

"Trying to change the subject now, ey?

Well, fine. As I told you this morning and two hours ago, the info is the same. Nothing weird to report about the surrounding area.

Trap spells have been placed in a rather big radius around the camp so stealth and aerial attacks from machines and people alike will both be dealt with with minimal issues.

Happy to hear it?"

Alle rolled her eyes as she asked her question.

"Mhm."

"You still seem a little down in the dumps for whatever reason. Is that 'feeling' still lurking?"

"... Yeah."

"I'll tell you again and again until you start believing it too. It'll be fine Natash."

Alle pet Natash on her head.

"Right."

"Now how about we get your mind off of it and go craft a few more of those bullets with Magnus, you like him don't you?"

"... I don't dislike him."

"Yeah, yeah. Maybe he's found some more info on your element. Besides, I hear a platoon will be coming our way in a few days. A special force was pushed back from behind the front lines. I hear the platoon attacked the enemy capital you know? They even used the bullets you and Magnus made apparently."

"I hope they helped as a distraction."

"I'm sure they did. Why not go make some more? I'll come with."

Alle and Natash walked off as Alle took another glance at the horizon.

'We're inching closer and closer to the front lines by the day. I hope no 'monsters' show up in the battles to come.'

Alle turned back and followed Natash.

'Death' was approaching the front lines where it would again encounter it's uprooter.

Estimated time till the first encounter with the enemy on the front lines: 38 hours.

...

Back in the territory of the Old West, Mitsuna scanned the desert as she skated over dunes and the sun began to set.

Breaking into a drift by using her free right hand to slow herself down as she reached the top of a rather tall sand dune, she narrowed her eyes as she stared into the distance.

"Finally."

She stretched both hands and legs as she said with a slightly relieved voice.

"Thought the monsters were hiding from me. Hopefully, I'll get a level or few this time.

The enemy snipers didn't give me anything except for being okay practice targets."

Grabbing her gun from her back she loaded it with the few magical bullets she had as she activated a wind spell and surfed off with incredible speed towards the enemy scorpion-shaped golem.

"Money~ here I come~"

She mused as she aimed down her sights.

The golem had a shiver run down its core for an unknown reason as it had no idea that death was approaching with ferocious speed.