Questing with Allies 2

As she stared at the three irate adventurers and the slightly apologetic drunk, she thought back to how her dealings with Dust had gone.

The amount of money Dust had owed the two men was disgusting – did the fool just drink away all of his earnings, and just how much of his blood was made of alcohol?

Nevertheless, she had helped them fix their relationship.

She'd given them some of the money he owed them, and they'd thanked her before grinning evilly at Dust. He'd stumbled behind her, trying to hide behind her petite form, and she had worked out a deal for them and him so he could pay up.

The two debt collectors had welcomed her help, and more importantly, Dust had promised that she could tag along with them on their next quest, observing their skills. He'd then promptly borrowed more money from the two and drowned himself in alcohol.

After helping him, she'd gone about her day. She'd taken a nice, easy quest being a physical laborer, enjoy a leisurely afternoon of strolling through Axel, looking for wherever magical equipment was sold. The day had seemed pretty good.

It had gotten better that afternoon.

When Tanya had returned to the Guild, the Blacksmith had been there. He'd treated her to a nice meal, and then offered to continue her training.

She'd turned his offer for apprenticeship down – she did need to get that wish, after all – but she had asked to have a part-time job.

He'd agreed, and Tanya, whenever she had free time, now had another way to earn a bit of cash. All she had to do was make equipment as he specified, and he would pay her for whatever she made.

She'd be able to get practice using the Smith skill, he'd get quality items, and Tanya would have easy access to whatever materials and tools he had.

After another night of restless scratching at old hay, she woke up ready to observe Dust's team at work.

Tanya had needed to remind him of their deal that morning, since he barely seemed to remember his debts being paid off, much less his grovelling in front Luna.

That brought her to right now, where Taylor, Lynn, and Keith were all glaring at Dust.

This would inform her of how she should interact with her own party. Was she a superior commander, a friend, or a partner desired only out of necessity?

Judging from how the group often got together and ate at the Guild, she was betting on the first of second option.

They, as well as most everyone else in the guild, respected Tanya for her Strength, as well as whatever else she had done that she couldn't remember due to the alcohol. That didn't mean they didn't speak of her in hushed tones, due to her choice of class and lack of team after over a week.

She didn't exactly have many options, if she wanted to keep her fighting style, so she ignored the naysayers. Plus, she hadn't met anyone who seemed to be willing to submit to the leadership of an Adventurer.

Their loss, really.

A belly full of food accompanied Tanya as she met the group at the front of the guild. All four of them seemed to be staring intently at her, while three were scowling at Dust. For his part, he looked only slightly sheepish.

Tanya smiled. It wasn't her fault if he hadn't told his fellow adventurers that she was tagging along.

"Hello, everyone! Thank you all for agreeing to have me!" she announced, bowing her head deferentially. They did have more experience adventuring, and she was there to learn from them, after all.

All of them greeted her in turn, glaring at Dust all the while.

Taylor strode forward. "We haven't been formally introduced, but I'm sure Dust has already told you about us, yes?"

Tanya nodded, but they introduced themselves all the same. Taylor was the leader, wore some armor and, strangely, a tie of all things. He seemed pretty level-headed, and she was interested in how similar their command styles would be.

Keith was the Ranger, and specialized in all things archery. He was, apparently, the closest to Dust in personality, and she had seen the two loitering around town often.

Lynn was apparently their Mage. A green jacket and a cape clothed her, while her hair was pulled pack into a ponytail. She was very good at Intermediate Magic, according to both her and her teammates.

How magic could be 'Intermediate,' she didn't know. She would probably find out, though.

"So, where are we headed today?" Tanya asked. Taylor held up one of the notices, taken from the quests.

"Since we're all going out, we agreed to take something a bit more dangerous. Apparently, someone out hunting spotted a Brutal Alligator. We're to confirm it exists, and either kill it and any others we can find, or simply report them to the guild," he relayed.

Tanya nodded. She didn't know much about Brutal Alligators, but the name alone implied that they would be something of a challenge.

"All right, then! What will I be doing?" she asked. All of them blinked, and then began to laugh at her.

She narrowed her eyes. What was so funny?

Keith, a small grin on his face, answered her unasked question. "You're just an Adventurer, right? The weakest class that doesn't learn any skills on its own? You can carry our supplies, I guess."

Tanya now raised an eyebrow. They were still underestimating her, it seemed. It might help in negotiating with Dust, but it seemed that their immediate reactions to her hadn't yet been dispelled by her feats.

She grit her teeth and pushed down the urge to lash out. She needed to pay off her debts to the guild and get experience.

She gave them a glowing smile. "Alright. I should be thankful for whatever work you give me."

-OxOxO-

Chances to prove herself had been less than forthcoming. They had spent most of a few hours walking in relative silence, passing plots of land where farmers were working hard tending their fields.

Trailing behind the group of four, Tanya had broken the silence after half an hour of discomfort with a question.

"What's with the tail?" she asked.

She wasn't a part of another race – not that Tanya had seen many of those or could tell the difference. It must have been some sort of accessory, but Tanya couldn't tell what it could possibly be for.

Lynn turned around, an eyebrow raised. Tanya didn't move to add to her question or back down from the skeptical look. She really did want to know.

Sighing, the woman put a hand behind her cape, and held up the tail. It seemed to be a generic, ringed tail, from what Tanya could see, besides the clip on the end.

"This is a tanuki tail. Whenever I'm wearing it, I get a slight increase in Agility and Magic-Power," she explained. Tanya just nodded.

She wouldn't know better, and it did make sense in this world. Magic had obviously been the focus of advancement, instead of science like in her last one. She'd seen several things run by magic, like the box that Luna put her card into to see if she'd killed those Horned Rabbits.

It was like a credit card reader or an internet history in function, verifying if she had done what she said she'd done.

"I'm not some beastman," she added hastily. The others chuckled, and Tanya just felt her eyebrows furrow at the questions that created.

"Where'd you get it?" Tanya asked, filing away the term 'beastman' for later.

She wanted a scepter, and if Lynn had gotten it somewhere cheap, she might be able to get something to channel her mana through, if it was some sort of magical general purpose store.

"It was a special purpose item I bought in the markets. Tanuki aren't all that common these days, and items like this usually get discarded if someone can get a better item," she said.

Tanya sighed again. She'd already searched the open markets, and no one had any scepters on sale. At least, none that were in her price range.

It seemed she was destined to go on more quests, forever trying to pay for the next trinket she needed.

Certainly different from life in the military, constantly doing what you were told and then some in search of advancement and just fighting an enemy. You didn't have to really worry about resources personally, not at the level she had been at. She just did the best she could with what resources had been allocated to her.

Lynn had presented her with a wonderful opening to ask her a bit about how what magic was available in this world. "So Lynn. What kind of magic do you like?"

The girl puffed up, and she slowed her pace to stride next to Tanya. "Oh, you're thinking about actually getting a proper job, then?" Tanya smiled indulgently.

Let her think what she would. Tanya wouldn't disabuse her of the notion, not when she was getting free information.

"Well, I skipped a lot of the Beginner Magic to move onto Intermediate Magic. I didn't have the money or support to get the Skill Points to learn Advanced Magic, but what I have is good."

"What's the difference between Beginner and Intermediate?" Tanya asked. It seemed like a bad idea to skip the basics. She hadn't been one of the best Aerial Mages to start with, after all.

The woman squinted her eyes, annoyed. Tanya just raised an eyebrow. She didn't know, and if she was going to act annoyed because she didn't know something, then she was going to be annoyed at a lot of people in her life.

"Well, it mostly has to do with cast time, how long you have to chant to invoke the spell, power, and mana requirements. Beginner Magic requires the least investment, consumes the least mana, and takes few Skill Points to learn," she explained.

"Appropriately, all of it has very little power unless you pour a lot of mana into them. And to get basically the same effect, Intermediate Magic costs less."

Tanya nodded, all the while remembering that these people didn't know everything. Just as the mages of her last world had thought Aerial Mages should function similarly to planes – she'd proven them wrong with the maneuvers she had done that no plane could have tried to do – who knew what Beginner Magic could do in the right hands.

"Advanced Magic packs a lot more power than Intermediate Magic, but it costs so much that most people just don't have the magical power to complete it."

Tanya nodded along. Already, this idea to pay off Dust's debts was bearing fruit.

Tanya soon asked what Lynn could do with magic. Names of spells had drifted through her head, most of which, like the rest of this place, seemed straight out of a video game.

But nothing even resembled her Flight spells, not even in name. As the girl talked, Tanya also looked at her adventure card, noting that none of the spells the girl had described had appeared.

Well, it was as the Blacksmith had said about his skill. She'd need to witness some of the spells in action before she could learn them, apparently.

Another half an hour of idle chit chat passed, and then they were there.

This forest didn't seem much different than any other one Tanya had been in. Trees moved with the wind, low plants and grasses covered the ground, and an animal or two could be spotted occasionally.

Nothing felt particularly intimidating.

And nothing should have. This forest had had most of the monsters in it exterminated. It was, however, the third farthest forest from Axel.

The first one had been cleared several decades ago, and the next farthest one had been cleared two decades prior to today.

This one had been mostly cleared too, but its distance from Axel meant that no one had reason to encounter the monsters in it, since few people lived this far out.

The peace was shattered after nearly another half an hour of waiting to find something when the five of them were nearly trampled to death.

Not by anything as logical as a Brutal Alligator, either. A wave of small woodland creatures had fled past them, fleeing from the general direction of the area the five of them were supposed to be heading to.

The others had decided that the best way to figure out how many Brutal Alligators there were and to take a few out.

They needed to get them out of the pond in order to figure any of that out, which required bait.

Cue her unexpected volunteering.

They had all looked at her, confusion painting their faces. Keith was their Ranger, and he was the fastest of them there. She had promised she could move faster.

Which was technically true. While he could probably beat her in a leg race, she could fly faster than any human would dare try and run.

Not openly, of course. Flight was starting to seem like a very rare ability, if anyone had thought of it at all. Instead, she would hover a centimeter of the ground and pretend she was moving her legs as if she were running.

She sighed as she strolled into the small clearing. She would have preferred to be out of danger, but she'd signed up for this job. She would prove that she wasn't useless, and they would spread knowledge of her ability at the same time.

Actually…

"Hey guys," she called back to the rest of the party, who had been conversing off to the side of the overgrown path. "Does anyone use this thing for fishing?"

None of them seemed to think so. Tanya grinned. This would be much easier, then.

She started up an Observation spell, but then, she whispered "Observation." Like the Blacksmith had claimed, she had to give up much less mana to use the spell if she vocalized her intent to use it.

She shook her head. How ridiculous.

Regardless of the bizarre rules of this world, she watched as a small screen bloomed to life in front of her.

The spell, in addition to testing if the Blacksmith was right, also tracked the active usage of magic in her last life, and if she was lucky…

Nope. Nothing in there. Tanya tutted, but nodded all the same. It seemed that these beasts weren't magical, at least.

Wondering, Tanya searched the ground for something to throw in the water. A small stone at her feet caught her eye, and she grinned.

Perfect.

"Enchant pebble: Artillery Shot."

A bit excessive, to use an artillery spell on a small pond? Sure. But this would certainly draw them out.

Tanya grimaced as the mana drained from within her, but watched as the pebble in her hand began to glow. This would be stronger than any Explosive Vaporization Tanya could muster, and it cost only twice as much as if she had used a Computation Jewel.

Considering an Artillery Shot should have been impossible without one, she was very content to be able to use it without one at twice the cost.

"Reinforcement spell: Strength," she chanted. With that done, she wound up her arm, and threw the pebble into the water.

Nothing happened, for a moment, and Tanya worried that giving names to her magic had broken it somehow.

The large plume of water that erupted told her how wrong that idea was. Turning to her comrades, Tanya grinned. "Are you guys ready?"

All four of them looked shocked, for a moment. Then terror overtook their features, and they turned to run.

With the sound of angry reptiles behind her, Tanya sped off. She wasn't going to do something stupid like turn around and get distracted. She knew exactly what was coming.

She was quickly gaining on her fellow adventurers and making doubly sure that it looked like she was running. It felt a bit odd to work her legs like this, but appearances had to be kept up until she confirmed if people were supposed to be able to fly here.

She soon gained on her fellow adventurers, and passed them. "What are you guys doing? Fight them!" she yelled, panicked.

She wasn't scared because of the alligators, or anything. She was flying, and she could get out of their range easily.

She was more scared that they would die, and since low-level adventurers amounted to pest control, she didn't really want to have any deaths associated with her.

That could be embarrassing.

As soon as the command left her mouth, they turned, as if a switch had been flipped. Lynn leveled her hand at the group of alligators, muttering under her breath, while Keith stood in front of her, unleashing arrow after arrow.

Taylor and Dust, meanwhile, were running around, now acting as bait for them. Tanya sighed in relief.

It seemed they wouldn't be dying after all.

Soon enough, Lynn shouted, "Lightning!"

As implied by the name, a jet of electricity flew from her glowing palm towards a group of the alligators. Two at the front fell, knocking down others in the back. Still, a few of them were upright.

"Should we retreat?" asked Keith, who grasped at the empty quiver by his side. Taylor, who had stopped acting as the bait, seemed indecisive.

Tanya shook her head. They needed orders, and it seemed Taylor was conflicted and unable to give orders. While caution was a good trait to have, when half a dozen Brutal Alligators were chasing you, not having orders could mean death.

"Let's retreat. We'll still get paid if we bring back information, right?"

The others turned to Tanya, looked back to Taylor, who nodded.

"Dust, let's go!" he called.

Dust, who had been running in front of the hole where a pond had been, ran over to them, looking rather winded. The others made to run, while Tanya lingered.

The alligators didn't look particularly fast, but she wouldn't risk it. She soon ran after the others, shouting "Explosive Vaporization!" over her shoulder.

Mana rushed passed her ears, and another explosion, smaller than the one before, sounded behind her.

The party ahead of her flinched, but continued running. Tanya glanced over her shoulder, and grinned. A large cloud of dust now obscured the path they were taking through the forest. Hopefully, the alligators would go back to what was left of their pond and let them go.

After another minute of sprinting, and another five of hurried jogging, they reached the exit, and soon stood in on an open plain.

They all collapsed. Tanya included.

She hadn't been running, but using those two spells and moving her legs like she running and pouring mana into her Flight spells meant she was almost completely dry.

The others didn't seem to be faring much better, either. Dust and Keith had collapsed, sitting against each other's backs. Lynn was lying down, while Taylor was leaning against a tree.

A minute passed, during which they panted and waited to hear the growling of the Brutal Alligators. The growling never resumed, and a collective sigh of relief was released.

Lynn looked to Tanya. "Why didn't you say you could use Detonation and Blast? Those are like… some of the most advanced magics possible!" Lynn asked, panting between every word.

Tanya, now recovered, tried to find an excuse. "Well… you all never asked. You assumed that I was weak because I chose the Adventurer job, even though I could arm wrestle everyone in the guild."

Slowly nodding, the rest of the party seemed to accept this. Tanya, for her part, was satisfied.

She'd shown that she was a valid teammate, and they'd probably tell everyone at the guild about her skills.

Or Dust would anyway. He was drunk nearly every time she saw him, and he wasn't likely to keep anything in his mind secret.

Digging in the bag at her side, she brought out her Adventurer's Card. She'd also learned –

One. One skill.

Right. In all the excitement, she hadn't actually seen anyone use their skills, besides Lynn's usage of Lightning.

She walked over to the recovering Dust, who had begun to rise from the ground. "So Dust. I wanted to learn some skills from you all. Lynn was the only one who demonstrated any," she said.

"You didn't pick a difficult quest where everyone would have to run and avoid fighting in order to ensure I didn't learn anything, right?"

Judging by the panicked look that flashed across his face, duping her had definitely been his intention.

He masked it quickly, though, putting his hands on his hips and staring down at her. "Why would I do that, Tanya? We made a deal, after all."

Tanya smiled. "I don't know. Maybe you want me to keep paying your debts? I don't actually care," she explained, tone light. The fearful look that had engulfed his face disappeared just as fast as it had appeared, replaced by a curious one.

"You don't?"

Tanya chuckled darkly. "Of course not. I'll just start fighting you, and when you show some skills to avoid death, you'll be free." She explained, cracking her knuckles.

His cheeks puckered, he began to walk back towards Axel facing Tanya, fear screaming in his eyes.

"Until then," she continued, grinning savagely, "I hope you like eating Detonations for lunch!"

With that, she began to chase him, waiting for him to give up.

He never did, running for a good fifteen. She decided, as her barely recovered mana screamed at her, that she'd given him enough time to imagine what she would do to him. She rushed forward, and grabbed him by the back of the collar. Sputtering, he was dragged back to his disapproving party.

-OxOxO-

Biting into a piece of lizard steak, Tanya contemplated her long day. The trip with Taylor's party might not have gone perfectly, but at least she had some supplementary skills.

Apparently, she'd killed a Brutal Alligator with her initial spell that had disturbed the water, so their reward had been larger.

Killing a total of four alligators – Lynn got two, while she and Keith had each gotten one – as well as confirming that they had infested the forest had netted their party a total of sixty thousand Eris, after deducting the cost of transporting the dead alligators. Not terrible, but not all that good, either.

She had profited the most, by far. She had earned a level from killing one of the alligators and had learned One-handed Swordsmanship from Dust, burning through two Skill Points to make sure the skill was better than just a basic understanding.

She could even learn Lightning, if she ever had the Skill Points for it. Lynn had also unknowingly informed her of what magic she could use in front of others without arousing suspicion, and she had told her where in the markets she could go to find scepters.

She thought she'd need it, since scepters helped reduce the amount of mana used in a skill, or could help boost their power, according to Lynn.

Lynn claimed not to need one, since she didn't have any advanced magic, but she had espoused their apparent helpfulness on the way back.

Upon receiving her cut, Tanya had looked through the ones at a few of the rinky-dink markets near the guild, and hadn't found any she liked. Mostly because they were expensive and she had very little money.

Long days shouting 'Smith' were undoubtedly ahead of her.

Dust had been the next best off. She'd paid his debts, and all he'd needed to do was suffer scathing glares from his friends. That wasn't too bad, in all honesty.

The others had only got their share of the sixty thousand total, which amounted to twelve thousand each. Not terrible, but not great, either.

Tanya adjusted her new hat as she ate. It was an outwardly faithful recreation of the officer's cap she'd worn whenever she wasn't in the air. For all intents and purposes, it looked like the standard issue caps that nearly every officer of rank wore in the Empire.

She'd gotten the red and green cloth from Lavandula easily. The woman wondered what she was doing with it, and Tanya had easily explained that she wanted to try and make something using 'Smith.'

Lavandula had laughed, and handed her ten times the amount of cloth she asked for. Tanya had been bewildered, but she had explained, "Smith works poorly on cloth. You'll need it, unless you want to learn something from me?"

Tanya had declined and made a hasty retreat at the enterprising look in her eyes.

The leather was also nearly free, since she'd gone to the Blacksmith to work for a few hours. She'd simply taken a number of strips of leather that he usually saved for the grips of his swords.

It was a bit different than her old one. Synthetic materials that she did not have access to were easily replaced by bits of leather or metal wire to hold its integrity, but no one could really knew the difference. The largest difference was what it would do.

Instead of declaring her rank – no one here would recognize military clothing from a world they'd never been to – it hid her circlet.

Hidden in the lining of the cap that was perched on her head, she could just press down on the top of the hat. The circlet would sink down with it, and it would be around her head instead of resting above it within the hat's lining.

Thankfully, unlike the first time she'd been given an officer's cap, this one wouldn't sink down her small head and over her eyes. She had grown up a bit.

It only slid past her eyebrows now.

She sighed happily, despite her hat still not fitting her completely. Having ready, easy access to the other relic was reassuring, even if there were drawbacks to using its full power. Finishing her meal, she stood up to leave.

Only to be stopped. A field of blue obscured her vision, so she tried to back up and glance upwards.

Soon, she found the face of the man who'd talked to Keith. He seemed to be looking at her, confusion marking his narrowed eyes.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Despite her neutral expression, she was jumping for joy inside. If she could integrate herself with someone so obviously wealthy, she could advance faster. Hopefully.

"Yes. Why are you adventuring, little one?"

The hair on the top of her head danced in annoyance under her hat, but Tanya quickly wiped the expression of anger from her face. He hadn't called her a loli, at least.

"I need to. Why does anyone?"

He nodded, the genial smile that had tried to mask the confusion in his eyes matching his furrowed eyebrows. "And I had thought…"

He bowed at the waist. "I apologize for interrupting your afternoon."

He turned to walk away. Well, she might as well. Getting to know strong, rich, and/or advanced people like him would be instrumental in her defeat of the Demon King.

She grasped at straws in an attempt to draw him back. "What's your name, anyway? It seems a bit rude to just ask me questions."

He paused, and turned back around, a somewhat amused smile marking his lips. "I am Kyouya Mitsurugi. And you?"

"Tanya von Degurechaff," she answered, her mind already racing beyond the conversation.

Was this a… Reincarnate? The other people here she met – Lynn and Keith and Taylor and Luna – had very western-sounding names. At the least, she'd never met a Japanese person named any of those things.

If he had this type of name…

He began to walk away, and Tanya's eyes narrowed.

"An odd name, Mitsurugi Kyouya. Wherever did you get it?" she said, testing the words of her first language for the first time in years.

He turned around in a moment, eyes wide. Speaking her first language had apparently gotten his attention.

"You're a Reincarnate as well?" he asked slowly, in Japanese as well. Tanya grinned.

A possible ally had been found. Both were getting odd looks from the adventurers around them, but Tanya paid them no mind.

"Yes," she replied. Both stood there, not knowing how to proceed. Then Mitsurugi spoke again, apparently decided on something.

"Nice. Would you care to continue our conversation?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. She nodded, and sat back down at the table she'd just vacated. A moment later, he also sat down.

They sat there again, waiting. Then Mitsurugi chuckled a bit. "This is pretty crazy, right? Being reincarnated by a Goddess into a fantasy world straight out of a video game to fight a Demon King, and everything else that comes with it."

Tanya winced at the mention of 'goddess', but nodded along. If he wanted to get duped, that was his problem. She wouldn't declare every being of power a god at the drop of a hat.

She'd fought too long to do that, to give up.

"Pretty crazy. You have any advice for a rookie like me?" she asked, strategically rubbing the back of her head to look unsure. Any advice would be good, and building an amicable relationship was her first goal.

Appearing to be wouldn't hurt either.

He chuckled a bit. "Well, I wouldn't suggest spending all of your money, but treating everyone in the guild to a drink is expected if you receive a windfall. Just get the cheapest stuff."

Tanya nodded. She would have never done something like that, since she needed every bit of money she could get. Being ostracized could be worse, though.

A ruined reputation would not do her wonders.

He seemed to think for a moment more, before snapping his fingers. "Right. You'll need a party, soon enough. They can really cover for any deficiencies in whatever job you've chosen."

Tanya nodded again. They talked for a bit longer, and then he stood, stretching. "You'll probably want to choose a class that takes advantage of your relic. I have the Cursed Sword Gram, so I became a Swordmaster."

Tanya chuckled nervously. "I chose the Adventurer job."

A silence stretched on, before he burst out laughing. "Right. Well, you'll want to change that as soon as you can. You need boosts that an actual class can provide," he lectured.

Tanya smiled, but discarded that advice. "Why do you assume my skill doesn't work best with the Adventurer job?"

He blinked, for a moment, before shrugging. "Your funeral."

He didn't know that she had tons of skills and magic from her last life. She wasn't giving any of it up. "Thank you very much, Mitsurugi."

He nodded as well and stood. "If you need any more advice, talk to Luna. She gives out information, and won't blink at any 'weird questions.' She'd met enough foreigners that nothing really fazes her," he said as he walked away.

He spun around again. "Unless… are you set on being an Adventurer? If you change to a Mage or Archmage or Priest, I'd have no problem accepting you into my party. I was passing through here looking for one, but none have really suited the party. I took a trip to a village supposedly full of them, but none of them really matched my team. If you would like…" he trailed off, leaving the promise of an easy way to become part of a party dangling in the air.

However, she knew what she needed to do, and no amount of temptation would get her to give up what she'd learned in her last life.

Tanya gave him a small smile. "No thanks. I need to be an Adventurer." He shook his head bemusedly, and shouted goodbye as he left. Tanya breathed a sigh of relief. Networking was always a chore, but she would benefit from the relationship.

He'd provided good advice, after all. Who knew what else she could get from him?

Suddenly, two girls sat down at the table he'd vacated, glaring daggers into Tanya's face. Tanya just raised an eyebrow. More people?

"What do you think you're doing, talking to Kyouya like that?" Tanya just tilted her head in confusion. Like what?

The other one slammed a hand onto the table like a hammer. "That's right. Are you trying to seduce my Kyouya?"

Tanya colored rapidly. "Wha- Why would-?"

The one on the left snarled savagely, like a cat, and leveled a glance at her compatriot. "You can't trick us! Anyone would love to be the lover of my Kyouya!"

…Perhaps, instead of calling either of the cat-like, a better description would be bitches in heat.

Both seemed to glare at each other for a moment, but neither let up in the unfriendly gazes sent Tanya's way. Tanya shook her head violently. "I would never try to do something like that, you crazy girls. Leave me be."

With that, Tanya left the Guild, heading for the exit and readjusting her hat. Really, the nerve of some people…

Both seemed to be bickering with each other, ignoring Tanya. She felt relieved. She'd profited greatly that day, and hopefully, nothing would ruin that while she tried to assemble a team and make her weapon.

--OxOxO--