A Weapon and Deals

Darkness gleefully skipped. Yes, she skipped.

She hadn't skipped in a long time, but she hadn't had reason to. Her father's insistence on her getting a husband that was the antithesis of everything she wanted in a man had dampened her happiness for a long time.

But now…

She had actually killed something!

She hadn't just sat there and been Tanya's shield, absorbing insults about her lack of ability and attacks in equal measure. She'd actually killed something.

"Chris, can you believe it? I actually killed monsters. It's my duty as a Crusader of the Eris Cult, and I was actually able to do it!" she exclaimed, beaming at the Thief.

Said silver-haired thief was smiling along with her. She didn't say anything about how she had needed to immobilize them in order for her to do it. She was just complimentary of her ability to do what she did.

It was a bit different from Tanya, sure – Chris had made sure Darkness hadn't gotten hurt, and had refused to insult or look down on her for her choices – but it wasn't horrible.

It wasn't nearly as pleasurable in that regard, but earning experience on her own was a reward in itself.

"Do you want to go on an adventure tomorrow?" she asked. That gave Darkness pause, but then she started walking again.

"Sure! Tomorrow, we'll go with Tanya. I'm sure she's been released, since I told the knights about my parentage…" she said, murmuring the last part to herself. She'd told the knights her identity and shown them the necklace she'd worn around her neck since the age of five, and they'd let her go and gone to get Tanya. The other five knights had escorted Darkness out.

As she stood outside the prison, the worried expression on her face had faded as she talked to the silver-haired Thief. She had even offered to go on an adventure with her to take her mind off of her friend.

And she'd actually killed something!

Darkness looked around herself, and turned around the see that Chris had fallen behind. Darkness waited for the Thief to catch up. She did that sometimes.

Darkness continued to think about tomorrow. With Chris allowing her to kill things, and Tanya's insults, pitying looks, and baffled anger, tomorrow would be even better.

They both wandered into the guild. A quick stop at the receptionist's desk and they sat down in the eatery.

Darkness sighed. "I just hope Tanya is okay…" she trailed off.

Chris waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, don't worry. You don't need to think about her too much, right?" Darkness nodded her head.

Tanya was resourceful. She would be fine.

"May I take your order?" came a quiet voice from behind her. Oblivious to the incredulous face of the Thief, Darkness turned around.

She gasped.

It was Tanya. Wearing the clothing of one of the guild staff. Her shoulders were barred to the air, and her hair, usually allowed to hang about her face, was pulled into a very short ponytail.

"Tanya?"

Face red, the girl nodded slowly. "Please, miss. I have to take your orders," she muttered. A quick flick of her eyes towards the bar, and Darkness followed her gaze to the people sitting there.

A group of women, all wearing costumes similar to Tanya's, were giggling while looking and pointing in her direction. "Why are you… did the Blacksmith fire you?" she asked.

Tanya shook her head slowly. "Community service."

Darkness nodded slowly. A harsh penalty.

"By the way, do you have four hundred thousand Eris? Unless you'll also charge me interest," she stated, head still bowed. Darkness, however, had stopped paying attention.

She stood rapidly. "Tanya, I can't let this travesty go on! You must be released from this punishment, at once. Unfortunately, someone still needs to do the service. I will take your place!"

With that breathless sentence, she ran up to the counter, face bright red. Tanya watched, hoping that she'd pull it off.

She'd at least enjoy being harassed and stared at by everyone.

She looked at the other occupant of the table. "And you are?"

The woman smiled. It didn't seem to be a particularly happy smile, but at least it wasn't the lecherous grin that a number of other adventurers had leveled at her and regretted.

Luna might not have been able to tame adventurers due to a lack of power, but Tanya had no qualms about cracking a few skulls. Especially when she looked like she did and they looked at he like he had.

"I'm Chris. I helped Darkness out on an adventure today," she said. Tanya shook her hand. This silver-haired woman seemed normal, at least.

"Nice to meet you. Do you want anything?" Tanya asked. The woman nodded stiffly, and belted out an order. Tanya quickly wrote it down. "What kind of job do you have?" she asked.

The woman replied, "Thief. Most of the skills are based on your Luck stat, which means that the people who can become Thieves are very lucky to do so!"

Tanya nodded, and looked over to Darkness. She was talking to Luna, and her body was no longer heaving. She'd probably been let down, then.

"Alright, then. Your order will be served soon." Tanya walked towards Darkness, unaware of the suppressed laughter of the person behind her.

"…Alright, here you go, then," said Darkness, as she handed over a bag of money to Luna. She accepted it gladly, and Darkness walked over to Tanya.

"I paid your debts," she said simply. Tanya's mouth was slightly agape. Why did she just have that much cash on her?

"Thank you, Darkness," she muttered. Darkness gave Tanya her order, and walked back over to her table, without another word.

Tanya sighed. That was one problem gone. Hopefully, the next three months of having to do whatever anyone wanted would pass quickly.

Maybe she could even supply extra money to Luna to have it waived?

Regardless, she could just avoid having to do the work by hiding out in the Blacksmith's shop, working on her weapon. It wasn't like people were annoying enough to interrupt her work, right?

-OxOxO-

"Wind Breath!"

Hand outstretched towards the fire, Tanya chanted this again. She'd learned this bit of magic for this moment.

Fresh air flew into the forge, heating it to yet greater heights. Tanya continued to pour mana into the spell, watching as the lead melted. Soon, it became liquid, glowing in the container the blacksmith didn't know she was using.

Hastily cutting off the flow of mana, she picked up a pair of tongs and lifted the container. Careful not to drop any, she began to pour it into the molds she'd made.

Making bullets and cartridges one at a time would be tiresome, so she had made many more molds. After this, the final phase could begin.

She glanced towards the tarp in the corner. The gun had been mostly done since yesterday, when she had found the time to finish it after her last free quest for the week. The spell she'd learned had helped with clearing the sawdust that had accumulated after hours of making a stock for the gun.

She glanced back at the mold. It was filled.

She moved on, moving down the line and filling each I turn. With the extra Skill Points she'd gotten from the insects, she'd gotten Wind Breath and improved her Smith skill. She was sure she could finish.

Pounding and bending metals – some of it unheated, since she could exert the needed pressure to change them using her Reinforcement spells – had taken longer than she'd wanted, but the Blacksmith was gone, apparently.

He'd said something about travelling to the capital, and Tanya had wished him luck. His absence was all the better for her – with all the time she'd spent in here, she was sure he would have gotten annoyed at not being able to use the forge himself.

Molds filled, Tanya set the container down, waiting for the metal to cool and casting nervous glances towards the front.

The sign might have said the store was closed, but one look at the billowing chimney would show that someone was there. And it wasn't like she had many places she populated.

The last four and a half days had been… demeaning. Everywhere she went, it seemed everyone knew she was doing community service, so people could request that she do things like work for them for free.

She was in high demand, for some reason, and people seemed to take pride in seeing her powerless.

Tanya frowned as she began to delicately pour small portions of 'gunpowder' – made from the soil the botanist had given her and soaked in the explosive potion she'd bought from Wiz – into the cartridges. This stuff was very reactive.

As the task became mechanical, Tanya began again to think of her community service. She'd had to scrub floors, carry packages, fix walls, and wait on more people than she could count.

Tanya clenched her teeth at the thought of everyone who had taken pride in seeing her deferential to them. Regardless of her figure, she was an adult in this world, so petty things like 'child labor laws' were likely nonexistent.

Tanya wanted to leave Axel as soon as she got her weapon, damn her level. The thought of the Reincarnates who had assaulted her, however, gave her pause.

If she left, they would be able to start out in Axel without any blockages. They'd be able to amass wealth, tactics, and become versed in using their powers. They'd become forces to reckon with, and Tanya doubted she'd find anyone equally powerful that would help her for what little she could offer them.

She would be stuck in this town for longer than she would like, waiting for the next Reincarnate to come through. She shook her head as the molds began to cool.

Using the tongs, she picked up each mold, pouring its contents into the large bucket of water, cooling each. A few minutes of seething at her punishment passed, followed by tediously plating each bullet in the brass she'd obtained from the jewelry.

A bit of mechanical force pushed each bullet into its cartridge, and they were finished.

Twenty cartridges, each filled with an experimental explosive powder, gleamed in the light of the dying forge. Smirking, Tanya picked up the scepter in the corner.

She had had to go back to using her fingers since the Festival, which was worrying. Darkness, during the higher difficulty quests, had spared her a worried glance between all of her provocative moaning.

And she was right to. If Tanya could destroy a scepter using magic like that, what would happen to her hands?

Which was why she had stayed up late trying to finish her gun and bullets. Now that they were done…

Tanya grinned. Testing how well modern weapons stacked up against monster from a foreign world seemed to be a grand idea.

-OxOxO-

Darkness stared at Tanya in shock.

This was weird. It was weirder than when Tanya would finally give up on trying to get Darkness to hit something. It was weirder than seeing her working in a Blacksmith's forge. This was even weirder than whenever Darkness caught sight of her doing menial labor.

Why she didn't just pay off the rest of her community service using her family's money, Darkness didn't know. Maybe she was running from her family and was using an assumed name?

It was the most plausible conclusion she had come to. Her father still hadn't found anything about a 'Degurechaff' family, and the only person who even vaguely matched the description Darkness gave her father was Iris, of all people.

For obvious reasons, Tanya wasn't the Princess. Darkness was probably going to give up on it. Tanya would tell her in her own time, she supposed…

Darkness shook her head, focusing back on her rapidly approaching teammate. It was odd.

She wasn't brooding, she wasn't dejected, and she wasn't even angry or haughty. No, she seemed positively…

Happy. She seemed to be strolling up to the bulletin board, rising up on her tiptoes and not shooting a scowl at her legs. She picked out a quest, and walked up to the receptionist.

The look of mingled amusement and confusion on the receptionists face told Darkness all she needed to know. Tanya was happy.

Tanya, seemingly happy about what she'd been told, began to walk over to Darkness. A faint tune reached Darkness's ears.

…Was Tanya whistling?

Unaware of the confused or shocked looks coming from the few people who weren't talking with their comrades and from her own teammate, Tanya sat down with a contented sigh.

"Good morning, Darkness!" Tanya exclaimed. Darkness said nothing back, just staring.

The leader of their group said nothing in response to Darkness's silence, simply ordering from the shocked maid that Tanya had been glaring at hatefully only yesterday.

Had she gotten rid of her community service, or had something else happened?

"Er… Tanya. What is this? Are you okay? Are you sick?" Darkness asked. Tanya glanced at her, actual innocence shining in her eyes for one of the only times Darkness had ever seen.

"Whatever do you mean, Darkness? I'm alive and have a relatively easy job, we're taking on a quest today, you're here, and I have a scepter."

At the last line of Tanya's speech, Darkness above the woman's head for the first time.

It seemed that she had gotten a new staff, and it must have been the reason for the joy Darkness had seen.

It was unlike anything Darkness had seen, though.

Her blade was in its normal place, of course, jutting out from the top of the staff. That was odd, but Darkness didn't fault the woman for wanting to be able to protect herself. Her ability to sharpen her weapons helped out in that regard.

The staff it was attached to was bizarre. It looked like a piece of tubing she might have in the mansion, or that carried water into the city. That was all she could see of it, considering it was strapped to back.

Tanya noticed her gaze, and took the thing from her back and placed it on the table. It seemed even more foreign up close.

Part of it seemed to be made out of wood, but most of it seemed to be made of metal. It wasn't straight, with it bulging and jutting out in random places. Most of the length of it seemed to be dominated by the smooth, metal tube she'd seen.

Darkness glanced up from the staff at Tanya's triumphant face, eyes closed and smirking. Darkness looked back down at it.

She shrugged. "If you think it'll work, then I guess it's fine," she said, digging back into her breakfast. Tanya opened her eyes, shock present.

She shook her head, pitying the woman. She didn't know what it did.

Tanya dug into the meal that was placed in front of her. She'd get to show it off soon enough.

Minutes later, Tanya would receive the reaction she was looking for. "Wha- What's that?" came a stuttered half-shriek from behind Tanya.

She turned around, and saw that Chris was standing behind them, finger shakily pointing towards the gun on the table. Grinning, Tanya beckoned the girl over. "This, Chris, is a special type of… scepter from my homeland called a Mondragon Rifle!"

The woman's pale skin turned even whiter, and Tanya continued to talk on, not noticing the slight shake that had overtaken Chris. "With this, I'll be able to cast more spells than ever before! Nothing will be able to stop us now!" she declared.

Chris attempted to make herself look normal – if The Atheist realized something was amiss, she might be attacked – and tried to speak to Darkness. "Darkness, what do you think about going on a quest today?"

The woman's eyes lit up. "Yes! With all of us here, we'll be able to take on even stronger enemies!"

Chris rubbed the back of her head nervously. She had wanted to spend more time with Darkness, but Heaven had come knocking. At least The Atheist had been doing so much community service that she hadn't been able to do any quests besides the ones the Guild mandated she complete.

Darkness, finished with her own food, turned to Tanya. "Is there anything else this… interesting from your homeland?" Darkness asked Tanya. She seemed to think for a moment.

"Sure. I haven't made anything else, but using those Smith skills just to make this seem like a bit of a waste…" She trailed off. Chris was praying that she didn't get any more ideas.

Introducing a weapon like a gun to this world could be disastrous. The violence it had caused in other, similarly advanced worlds had been enormous, and the presence of magic, other Reincarnates, and the Adventurer's Cards meant that the advances offered by Tanya would be horrible.

She feared for her people. Tanya finished her own food, and swiped the gun off of the table. "Alright," she said, a fake smile playing at her lips, "time to adventure!"

-OxOxO-

As they trekked through the plains, walking along the worn dirt road, Tanya considered Darkness's words.

Making things from her past two lives – both to help in adventuring and to sell to the wider world – wouldn't be a terrible idea, and they would certainly provide another steady source of income.

She shook her head as she watched Chris and Darkness converse, laughing happily together. With her rifle by her side, she was sure to be able to take on anything this backwards world had to throw at her.

"What's our quest, anyway?" Darkness tossed back to her.

Tanya brought out the piece of paper she had taken down. "We're to kill a group of Slimes," she provided.

Tanya hadn't played many video games in her last life, but she knew that Slimes were supposed to be easily killed. However, this world had surpassed anything the medieval age was supposed to have, with lighting and police and bureaucracy, all without the aid of industry.

She had taken the high danger rating on the thing seriously.

Darkness stopped in her tracks, spinning around. "Slimes? Aren't those dangerous?"

Tanya nodded. "Apparently, but we can take them. They have some sort of core at the center and can resist physical attacks, right? I can take care of them," she said, waving off the woman's concern.

Darkness turned back to the front of the road, muttering under her breath. Tanya stared at the woman dejectedly, thinking for a moment that she was upset about not getting to fight, and only sighed when Darkness moaned when she caught sight of Tanya's pitying gaze.

She should have known better.

Chris, by contrast, seemed deep in thought. Tanya left her to her thoughts, focusing on her plan for the Slimes.

Soon, they arrived at the forest they were rumored to be in. The Guild usually left them to their own devices, considering they rarely left the deeper parts of it.

However, with how many insect monsters had been killed, monsters were beginning to venture out farther, threatening the people who used the safer parts of the forest and the surrounding area and growing fat off of the weaker prey.

"Alright. I should be able to take them out from a distance, but if they survive, I want Darkness up front distracting them while I try to finish them off. Chris, you aren't likely to be able to help them because your defense is too low. Just hang back," she commanded.

Chris pouted, while Darkness began to drool as a far-off look appeared in her eyes.

"Why do we need to listen to you?" asked Chris.

Darkness glanced at her curiously, while Tanya scoffed. "You are a part of our team, of which I am the leader. If you have something against Adventurers, you'll probably want to find a new team," she said, glaring unmercifully.

Darkness looked upset at that thought, while Chris made to apologize to Darkness. Tanya didn't say anything else as she watched the tree line. She meant what she said.

She needed the assurance that the people under her command would listen to her. If they didn't listen to her…

Well, in her last life, she had just reassigned them to another group or punished them, if they were part of the 203rd. In this life, with her lack of official authority, she would just ignore them and refuse their attempts to join a party. It was much more direct, but Tanya didn't really mind.

A rustling in the forest caught Tanya's attention. It sounded as if something was coming towards them. She smirked cruelly. Finally, a bit of target practice after a month of not having access to her gun.

As large as a truck, the thing moved out of the forest slowly. It seemed to be sizing them up. Tanya just grinned. Finally.

"Incoming target," she relayed to the others. Chris stopped her apology, and both took up fighting stances. Neither of them was rushing forward.

Tanya let a low chuckle escape her throat. Finally!

"Enchant bullet: Explosive Vaporization. Enchant Bullet: Penetration. Guidance." She let the spells flow from her lips, giddiness welling up inside her at finally being able to take care of enemies with the same ease as she had in her second life.

The thing seemed to think it could take them, rushing towards them as fast as it could. It was a large pile of something that was almost a liquid, so it was moving perhaps as fast as a regular human. That meant it was much too slow to avoid anything she could throw at it.

Gun shaking slightly from the adrenaline, Tanya's finger depressed the trigger, and out the front of her gun a bullet arced through the air. To Tanya's enhanced senses, it was almost beautiful. To the two women behind her, they probably only caught a glimpse of the light radiating from it.

A spent cartridge was ejected from her gun, and the bullet slammed into the Slime. It traveled into it for a moment, pushing through slime like it had pushed through the air.

It was only stopped by the core of the Slime, where it promptly detonated.

The thing seemed to swell, for a moment, as if it was trying to resist the explosive forces that had gone off. That moment ended quickly, resulting in billowing, fiery smoke and a wave of heat to escape it, the explosion was larger than anything she could do without the gun – she was too close to do things like that anywhere near her own body.

Tanya deactivated her enhancements, basking in the shocked gasps of the two behind her. "That, Darkness, is why I was so happy this morning. Nothing as simple as having a good night's rest could do this. Now, I'm set for life!"

Turning around, she saw that both of them seemed to be frightened. "What's wrong?" she asked them, confusion and Amusement fighting for her face. They weren't…

"What was that sound?" asked Darkness. Amusement won out, followed by a small chuckle. They were scared of the gunshot!

Tanya soon came up with an explanation. "At its most basic, this scepter shoots a piece of metal using a miniature explosion," she explained. Tanya turned away from them, searching the ground.

Since she was the one paying for the bullets, recycling the cartridges was a necessity, whenever they were doing routine work like this. It was just another measure she'd use to save money and pay back Darkness and the Guild.

Picking up the cartridge, she let her gun hang from her shoulder as she cast a quick 'Wind Breath' at the metal tube. It was still warm, but the spell was helping to cool it down. Tanya gazed at her fingerless gloves, making a note to get something a bit more suitable, once she had the money.

Tanya looked at both of them again. Now that the initial fear and confusion had passed, Darkness looked… disappointed.

Tanya sighed, disgusted. "Are you really that set on being abused?"

The woman's eyes lit up, as she nodded despite her rapidly reddening face. Chris gazed at her with fondness, and Tanya sighed again. "Fine. We'll find something you two can fight, alright?"

Darkness seemed much more cheered by that, as did Chris. Suddenly, she took off into the forest, shouting something about finding something they could fight. Tanya just shook her head. What a teammate to have…

Suddenly, something pinged on her Observation spell. She enlarged the screen and began to inspect her surroundings though it. She'd had that thing focused on the Slime, but it seemed it had picked something else up.

She cast a probe out towards the two, and two pings showing normal humans appeared on the screen. They seemed to have found something, if the sounds of Darkness's moaning were to be trusted.

Tanya cast it about herself, frowning. If it hadn't been them, then…

She gasped as she passed over the direction of Axel. A large, contiguous pillar of mana signatures was dissipating, larger than many things she had even done. That had to mean…

Another Reincarnate. Tanya glanced down at the gun that was hanging from her shoulders and grinned. She was fairly sure she'd be able to convince anyone from her last life that wasn't terminally ill to do whatever she wanted them to.

Hearing the sounds of laughter echoing from the forest, Tanya smiled a bit as she sped off towards the pair of adventurers. Reincarnates could come later. For now, she was going to enjoy the friendship she had built with the Crusader and the company of the silver-haired Thief.

-OxOxO-