Meetings Good and Bad

Tanya stretched as she rose. Another day.

Hopefully, she'd actually get a team today. She'd left Taylor's after gaining experience with the whole concept, and after killing a Fire Drake yesterday, a few adventurers that didn't have parties would join her for sure.

Luna had told her she could just switch to being an Archmage if she really wanted teammates, and Tanya had, once again, spurned her advice. She needed the skills she had.

Blearily, she looked around her room. Everything looked like it had yesterday. Clothing left hanging on a clothesline, relics stashed under the patch of hay she was laying on. Everything looked normal.

But something felt…off.

She stood, and looked into the main area. Two adventurers were standing conversing. That seemed normal too.

She looked out her window, into the pastures just outside of the walls of Axel. Nothing.

She dressed hastily. She had once thought that feelings of foreboding were irrational, and while she still believed that…

They had also helped her in a surprising number of situations. She wouldn't ignore them.

She paced into the main area, and began to head out of the wide doors, rushing to find somewhere she could utilize her abilities if she was attacked. As she walked past the pair of adventurers, their mouths and hands, moving animatedly, stopped.

The hair on their head froze. Their happy expressions on their faces became fixed.

They had stopped.

The feeling of anxiety passed and a grin broke out on Tanya's face. Finally!

She'd been wondering how long it would take him to get in gear.

"Well, well, well. Finally found the time to speak to me, Being X?" she gloated.

The faces of the two adventurers, rookies like her by the look of their gear, changed from happy to grimaces full of loathing.

"My lost lamb, so far from her home. Still faithless, despite the new world you've come to inhabit. You need only pray in order to-"

Tanya cut him off with a ringing, frantic burst of laughter.

Shaking her head, Tanya began to speak. "Oh, Being X. You've tried so hard to 'redeem' me, to turn me to your side, it's honestly pathetic. In order for reform to take place, a problem needs to be recognized, and I have done nothing wrong. You on the other hand…"

She spat her last question at him, and she was shocked to see that both of the people he was controlling were looking down, as if… sad.

She shook her head, ignoring the ploy, and Tanya wiped the shock off of her face and grinned arrogantly. "Now, if you're here, I was wondering… should I simply wish you out of existence, or replace you?"

The pair of eyes trained on her narrowed, but Tanya simply raised an eyebrow, daring him to think that she was lying.

The eyes trained on her both widened. "Oh, don't think I forgot about that. Aqua was quite nice, telling me all about how I'd get one rule free wish. I thought about simply wishing to go back to either of my other worlds, but…"

Tanya trailed off, and she frowned. "The 203rd was almost completely dead by the time we settled in to drink at that pub, and I don't think the ones that did survive the initial bombings would wait around to keep getting bombed. Without them, there's really no point in going back to a place where I'll be in even more danger. My original life is an option, but for destroying my friends, I think I'll take some petty revenge. So should I depose you, or…"

Tanya giggled a bit. "Maybe I'll make you live out my lives? That would be interesting. Of course, if I wanted you to really experience pain, I'd just wish for you to be born as a slave. That'd teach you, right? You'll learn not to give people who despise you the means to kill you, at least. Or…"

She smirked. "Maybe I'll wish that you no longer believe in yourself? What would happen, I wonder, if you were to stop believing in your own infallibility?"

Both of the bodies he was inhabiting seemed quiet and contemplative. Tanya took a breath. She'd managed to shut the idiot up.

"It seems I am running out of time to use Eris's followers to speak to you," he muttered, giving Tanya yet more information. "Know this, Tanya. You are nothing more than an annoying fly."

Tanya just rolled her eyes. She'd been called every lowly creature under the sun, from 'worm' to, on the day she had been officially promoted to Major-General, 'amoeba.'

He seemed to not care that she wasn't exactly paying close attention to his long-winded speech, which was a change of pace. "Yes. An annoying fly. Luckily, I found the flyswatter."

With that, time resumed its normal pace, and the two adventurers shook their heads, before continuing their conversation. Tanya stared at the spot they had been frozen in, before turning back to the entrance and walking into the sweltering summer heat of the Kingdom of Belzerg.

He claimed to have a solution to her. That didn't bode well…

-OxOxO-

Gripping the rod she'd just purchased, Tanya walked into the guild.

Yes, she'd caved and finally decided to spend her hard-earned cash on a scepter. The possibility of Being X trying something meant she couldn't afford to take the extra effort casting magic through her fingers would incur.

So she'd bought something simple. It wasn't a gnarled stick, which was its only saving grace.

She smiled to herself as people around her took notice of the scepter. She was an Imperial Mage, after all.

She wouldn't be using something like that to channel mana through.

A long rod of polished, dark wood half of her height, the… scepter was topped by a pair of metal claws grasping a red orb. The shop owner had assured her the type of crystal – or gem, she could care less – enhanced the effectiveness of fire or heat-based spells, which was helpful, if true.

Tanya didn't particularly care. She just wanted to ensure her fingers wouldn't explode from too much concentrated mana. Hopefully, she could make an attachment that, after paying the Blacksmith for the materials, allowed for her Seitengewehr to be attached to it.

Walking in, it didn't look like everyone there was out to kill her. That was good. Hopefully, Being X hadn't decided to plant suggestions in their heads that she was untrustworthy.

She walked up to Luna, who seemed to be talking to some of the other adventurers. She spotted her, and made to finish with them. They gave her a cordial goodbye, and then began to converse with Tanya. "You finally decided to switch, then? I can't tell you how long I've been hoping you wouldn't get yourself killed while playing at-"

"Actually," Tanya interrupted, preparing herself for another lecture, "I didn't. I'm still an Adventurer."

The genuine smile that had lit up Luna's face quickly decayed, becoming stiff. "Well. As you know, the Guild recommends that you change your job, since you have the stats for it. If you couldn't, I wouldn't badger you so much, but since you continue to act so willfully…"

Tanya rolled her eyes. "Right. Well, I just wanted to say hi. Has anyone checked out my request?" she asked, looking towards her request for a team.

It seemed to have been buried under yet another layer of requests for monster clearing and help with harvesting vegetables. She'd have to rescue it, and maybe put it in the more sparsely furnished corners. It might only be buried under scorn instead of having a heaping pile of paper on it as well.

"No. No one is desperate enough to party up with an Adventurer."

Tanya sent a glare at the woman, before marching up to the board. She perused them, for a moment, before her eyes hovered over one.

…it had to be a joke, right?

Who would pay that much to have squirrels exterminated?

She picked it up, and walked over to the counter. "Hey Luna. This one is a joke, right?"

Luna glanced at it, glanced at Tanya's face, and then shook her head. "Foreigner, right. They might not be a big deal where you come from, but Squirrels are dangerous. Their barbs can rip through cloth, so you need armor, and they attack in large packs, so if they swarm you, you could be turned into mincemeat."

Tanya tried very hard not to let her lower jaw hang too close to the floor. Barbs?

Tanya sighed, and then checked the paper again. It said you could take the quest regardless of level.

Tanya informed Luna of that fact, and she gave Tanya a slightly more hostile smile than normal in return. "While that is true, I wouldn't recommend it."

Tanya merely raised her eyebrows, and Luna sighed, letting the permanent smile droop ever-so-slightly. "Fine. You've surpassed everyone's expectations so far. Just pray that you'll survive in one piece."

Tanya clenched her jaw and continued to smile. Just for that, she'd make sure she came back without a scratch. They were squirrels, after all. How hard could they be?

Tapping her foot impatiently, Tanya hurried passed the next person in line with her quest in hand. She bumped into the next person in line accidentally, and she spat out a quick apology as she hurried out the doors. She had a job to do.

-OxOxO-

Tanya scowled as she thought back to her fight, taking a moment to rest in between the hills that lined the path back to Axel. They were tougher than she had thought, for sure.

They were as fast as Squirrels from her last two lives, which was slightly intimidating when there were twenty of them and were all the size of bulldogs. Still, she'd assumed they couldn't touch her in the air.

Like with the Giant Toads, they proved to be more resourceful than she gave them credit for. They'd tried jumping at her, and, when that failed, the chestnut trees they ransacked became springboards.

She had, of course, evaded them. Mostly. One had managed to land a scratch on her Active Barrier spell, and had cut through half of the mana she'd supplied it.

Not as impressive as what she could do, but it was scary that these things could pack as much punch as some guns.

Armed with her scepter, she'd quickly rained a pair of Explosive Vaporization spells down on them. Most of them had perished, and the few that hadn't had been quickly taken care of by her Seitengewehr.

Tanya adjusted her officer's cap as she walked back to Axel through the heat. The hat had originally been made with the intention of never leaving the battlefields of Europe which was, on the whole, much less warm than it was here. Her usage of less synthetic materials didn't exactly help ventilate it all that much.

The whistle of the air was the only warning she had. Instinct took over, and an Active Barrier was silently thrown up and shattered in an instant.

Still, whoever attacked her had paused. That was all Tanya needed.

Her blade rang as it exited its sheath as fast as Tanya's pain-dulled, mana-reinforced body would let her swing it. And as hard as she had hit, the attack was blocked by a sword longer than her own arm.

Thankfully, physics helped her, and her own attack, bolstered by magic, carried through. The opponent's blade was sent flying, along with its owner, down the trail.

"Reinforcement spell: Agility!"

Tanya smirked, ran forward, and slammed her assailant with the butt of her staff. A muffled grunt left their body as they hit the ground.

Tanya snarled, and pulled back her blade. Her attempt to skewer the fool were parried, but she didn't let up.

A slash, a slash, a stab, and a swing of her blade were all repulsed, and Tanya let go of her agility buff as she prepared another strike. Expecting the attack before it came, her attacker overextended their own blade.

Tanya grinned.

Swinging both her weapons, the top of her scepter hit them in the knee while her blade pierced his arm.

No scream rang out, and the opponent took advantage of her shock at their lack of reaction, swinging their sword in a wide circle. Tanya dodged back easily, chuckling internally.

They'd had the opportunity to attack her, and they'd gone for a flashy and useless move to create space?

At least her opponent was hardy, if they could still fight with a hole in their arm. She'd take the time to study them when they weren't a threat.

"They were right, you are strong. But I will prevail. I figured out what you were doing, and I laid in wait. As th-"

Tanya cut off the monologuing fool with an Explosive Vaporization. As much as she would have liked to take to the air and wait for the blood in his body drain from his arm, her fight against the squirrels had drained her. This needed to end fast.

He tried to dodge, but the ball of fiery light followed him, hitting his blade. It seemed to shrug off the hit, and Tanya grimaced.

"Hey! I was talking there. You shouldn't interrupt me; it isn't honorable."

He let his sword tip drop past his slacks to the ground, entering a clearly non-threatening stance, and Tanya shot him a confused look. Honor?

Tanya shook her head. What a fool. However…

"I am sorry. Could you please carry on?" she asked sweetly. He smirked, and then began to speak again, brandishing his sword to and fro.

Tanya chuckled. She had no problem utilizing the idiocy of honor bound fools to her own advantage.

"As I was saying… as one of the Goddess Aqua's chosen, I'll defeat you, the hated Atheist, claim your relics for my own, and go on to defeat the Demon King! It was a mistake for you to brush passed me this morning; I might not have recognized you otherwise."

Tanya merely smiled sweetly at him, eyeing his wounded arm and cursing herself internally. Blood was beginning to pool around his right foot, staining his leather shoes. His unhealthy pallor was becoming even whiter. She just had to keep the idiot talking.

"What does your weapon do, oh noble hero?"

Seemingly oblivious to the blood running down his arm, he gestured to his weapon proudly. "It increases all of my stats, gives me an unparalleled ability in swordsmanship, and make me immune to pain! It is clearly the best weapon for one working to defeat an evil entity in a game-like world!"

His shouting became strained, and his breathing, labored from his fight, was now labored for a different reason. Raising his blade again, he said, "Now, prepare to-"

"Flight!" she cried.

Tanya cut him off, flying higher than she had when fighting the squirrels, scepter in hand. She raised it above her head, and her opponent raised his sword to block it. The sword would have deflected her hit, and, after she had launched herself into the air using her Flight spells, she'd be too fatigued to fight him off.

Of course, she wasn't planning on swinging her scepter. A quick adjustment of her Flight spells shot her to the ground, faster than gravity ever could, and she kicked him in the stomach, underneath his blade.

He cried out in pain, and collapsed to the ground. Tanya landed, and kicked his sword away from him. As soon as his fingers left the grip, he began to scream. Tanya ignored it, grabbed his sword, and tossed it.

With her strength, that meant it cleared the hill, landing on the other side. He'd never get it.

"What… did you do to me?" he cried, grasping his arm. Tanya didn't respond. She looked at him, for a moment, and then let her scepter fall to the dirt as she grasped the handle of her blade in both hands.

Her shadow obstructed the sun, just starting to dip down in the sky, throwing the person's face into clarity. Tanya winced slightly, but continued her motions.

"Wait… please…" he gasped.

Tanya shook her head slowly, and plunged her sword into the kid's neck.

Because that was what he was. His uniform, the now paper-white flesh on his face, and the glasses he was wearing all pointed to that fact. He was a kid, in over his head and high on the idea of a real-life video game.

Grimacing, she gazed at his body for a few moments. "Really? You'd stoop to sending children after a soldier?" she said, speaking to the wind. Being X could monitor her, and she hoped he was.

She looked towards the sky. "I thought you couldn't sink any lower. It is hypocritical of me, I know, for killing them when I so deplore the waste, but why would you do this? It's wasteful, and just a little bit sickening that you'd force people who haven't even graduated from high school to fight a soldier twice their age, mentally speaking."

She glared at the sky for a moment longer. Then she set to work.

A quick search of his pockets found a few items: a wallet, a few pieces of gum, and, most importantly, his contract.

Like her own, it was titled 'Contract of Reincarnation and Opposition to the Demon King' in bold lettering. Unlike her own, a smaller line underneath the title said, "and The Atheist."

The Atheist. Tanya raised an eyebrow. That was the best name Being X had for her? He could have at least followed her naming sense and called her 'Heretic X,' or something.

She skimmed the table of contents and flipped to the pages dealing with her. Both of Tanya's eyebrows rose.

A picture of her, eyes glowing gold, glared at her from the pages. A short description of likeness, personality, and abilities followed.

For all the detail they had captured her likeness with, the way they described her personality was warped. They didn't even say why she'd decided to oppose them, just that she had and that she was dangerous.

The description of her abilities was equally lackluster. It went over what she could do, but didn't give any specifics.

She raised an eyebrow at the last line. Among the other strategies they suggested – most of which boiled down to 'get out of Axel and fight her once you've leveled up' – they told them to use mental warfare by mentioning the one she… loved.

Tanya fought down the faint blush she could feel radiating off of her cheeks. Viktoriya was not her 'love.' She was… no, she had been a close confidant, and nothing more.

And… even if Tanya did harbor some feelings, Viktoriya would never return them. There was no way someone raised in 20th century Europe would be like that, and if Tanya tried to delude herself, she'd just set herself up for failure-

She blinked. Why was she still thinking about it?

She shook her head, staring down at the piece of paper. She had gotten very… distracted by that. And she had only just read a single, throwaway line of text in a mountain of legal documents.

She scowled. She'd just have to watch herself. Getting tripped up by unrequited feelings was dangerous, and it wasn't like they even mattered.

She sighed sadly. Viktoriya had probably perished, like Tanya, in whatever fire bombing run the Cordiale had been doing to Dresdun. There wasn't a chance that she would see her again, especially now that she was… here.

As she continued to look through, Tanya just wondered why they hadn't done this with the Demon King. There weren't any pictures of him, a description of his abilities, or anything in her contract.

Shaking her head, she flipped through, wishing this path had been lined with trees for shade. This thing also promised that anyone who killed her would get her relics.

Tanya blinked, and then scanned the document again. Yep. It was official.

Being X, for all his power, was the stupidest thing she'd ever met. The contract said they had to fight her, a war veteran with more knowledge on how to kill her enemies than anyone they could choose to Reincarnate.

Tanya growled. This person had obviously not taken the time to try and get prepared, but if someone who was more practical – perhaps a weasel might have more forethought – got reincarnated…

She could get beaten. Theoretically. She would need to prepare for the possibility of a fight on the scale of the one with the younger Sioux, at least.

Speaking of reincarnation, however…

Tanya gazed down at the person's body. How was she going to explain this?

-OxOxO-