Questing with Allies

Tanya sighed hopelessly, looking at the bulletin board quests. The quests that would allow her to meet her deadline in a week were rated too high over her level for her to do alone, according to Luna. The ones that were at her level, however, wouldn't let her earn enough money.

She had leveled up in the past few days, the number six replacing the one that had sat in the level box of her card. With those levels came Skill Points, which she had been saving up in preparation of her lesson, ignoring the temptation to funnel them into one of her other abilities she'd kept from her past life.

She didn't think anything he could teach her would take up more than twenty, but she'd saved the ten points she'd started with and the ten she'd earned while leveling up regardless.

In order to get as much money as she could, she'd taken a number of high level quests that were technically outside her ability that Luna had barely let her try. She had fought an assortment of monsters – groups of Horned Rabbits and Giant Worms, for the most part.

Those had been fairly easy. Nothing here could even scratch her Active Barrier spell, which easily withstood the force of unenchanted bullets in her last life. That shield, unsurprisingly, ate up a massive amount of mana, which meant she'd had to use it sparingly and in bursts.

Being able to fly higher than any of the monsters could reach was quite helpful as well, allowing her to wait while they tired themselves trying to get her. Things were becoming harder, however.

She needed money to make that deadline, so she'd stopped eating full meals and had sold her stolen sword for a smaller dagger and money. She probably looked like crap too, since she had even stopped going to the bathhouses to save money. She got disgusted looks from people as she passed, but she wasn't concerned. She just needed to get that skill.

She still hadn't come close enough, though.

She was off by a few thousand Eris, and today was the day she was supposed to turn up. This meant…

She needed a loan. A terrifying prospect, if it was worded in a way that could take advantage of her, but she was from a future where capitalism and the free market had reigned near supreme. How hard would it be to outmaneuver possibly nasty businessmen in a sometimes-backward fantasy realm?

Of course, she would need to find somewhere to get the loan in the first place.

Making up her mind, Tanya walked up to the front counter. Luna was giving the speech she'd given her to someone else new.

Sighing, she waited her turn. Soon, the person, dressed much more appropriately than she had been a week ago, finished their business, and Tanya walked forward, greeting Luna with a small wave.

"Hello, Miss Degurechaff. How can I help you?" she said. Tanya smiled. Luna's presence was nice to have, considering what she'd done for her.

She'd waived the level requirement on the easier monster hunting quests Tanya had asked for, after ensuring Tanya knew what she was up against. That was the only reason she was as close as she was to getting that lesson.

Tanya smile faded as she remembered why she was there. "I was wondering if you knew where I could obtain a loan, actually," she admitted.

Luna smiled. "Well, the guild will loan you up to one hundred thousand Eris," she relayed.

Twitch.

Luna began to stare at the top of her head, but Tanya paid her no mind.

She should have just come here in the first place? Gotten to eat something worthwhile, smelled better than the backside of a pig, and kept her sword?

Tanya sighed. She really should have just asked Luna. She had been nothing but helpful after all, and-

"For more than that, you'll need to see some of the debt collectors," Luna said, pointing to a dangerous looking pair of muscle heads that were standing in one of the darker corners of the guild. Since it was daytime, it wasn't very dark, but they still gave of an aura that made the area seem… sinister.

"I'm guessing they give you loans at some sort of outrageous price?" she asked, seeking confirmation. Luna nodded an affirmative, and Tanya shook her head.

"Well, I'll just take the guild's loan," she said. Luna nodded, bent down beneath the counter, and brought up a piece of paper that she laid out before Tanya.

As Luna explained the details, Tanya began to read the document. "You'll just have to give us a portion of all the earnings you make over a period of time."

Yeah, that was true. But they would also be looking to make money, and would probably charge her more the longer she took and the more she asked for.

Ah, there it was. They…

They'd only take a tiny bit extra? She shook her head and began to read the paper closely.

For every quest she completed during a specified time frame, they would ask for only a small bit of her earnings. If she opted for a quest-a-day timetable, they'd only earn two hundred Eris from each of her quest. If she opted for the price to be attached to one quest a week, they'd earn eight hundred.

It wasn't that much. In fact, she was fairly sure that charging so little money would have gotten a bank from either of her last worlds accused of being a front for some crime ring.

Tanya looked at Luna quizzically. "Why aren't you charging more?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you wanted to make money, then why wouldn't you charge progressively more the longer it takes?" she asked.

Luna gave her that smile that told her that she thought Tanya was every bit the inexperienced girl she resembled. "The Guild is here to help adventurers and protect the Kingdom. They can't exactly do that if they're in debt, can they?" she asked rhetorically. Tanya nodded, unsure.

It wasn't the best way to run a business, but if they were more like an extension of the government, then that wasn't necessarily their goal.

Tanya shrugged. Regardless, this would be better for her.

Like many forms that she had filled out in her first world, it asked a slew of questions about her, her plans for the money, and how much she'd need. Filling it out quickly, she opted to ask for 8,000 Eris. It would meet the threshold for getting that skill, as well as a few thousand Eris for herself.

Sure, it was a bit more than what she needed, but she also wanted to eat. She didn't know how long this process would take, and not eating lunch afterwards might actually cause her to pass out, with how hungry she was.

Finally finished, she signed her name at the bottom and pushed the document back to Luna, who smiled. She took the piece of paper and placed it in a shelf, where many other such papers seemed to be kept.

Before she could examine them more, Luna turned around again, money in hand. "I hope you spend it well!"

Tanya smiled, before giving the woman a perfunctory wave goodbye as she walked out the doors of the Guild. Sure, it was early morning and she hadn't eaten breakfast yet, but that didn't mean she couldn't get this done fast and then eat a big lunch.

Walking through the twisting turns of the city, Tanya relaxed. She wasn't out in the various farms that surrounded the city, fighting off pests or minor threats, nor was she anywhere near the front lines of this war. She could take a bit of time to enjoy herself.

Soon enough, she arrived at the Blacksmith's shop. Taking a step in, she searched the room. It didn't look like he was here, but it hadn't looked like he was here last time, either.

A steady gaze surveyed the room, before landing on the counter. A note, much like the last time, sat on it.

Not that she'd trust it, of course. She cast a quick glance at the ceiling, before walking towards the back and around the corner of the counter.

He wasn't behind it, it seemed. She picked up the note, and read 'In the back.'

She shrugged. He was probably waiting for her, since he would have closed the shop if he was making something.

She walked into the dimly lit area behind the counter, surveying what she saw.

A variety of tools lined the walls of the room. A sort of desk sat in the middle, covered in other such implements. What she assumed was a forge sat in the back, based on how it extended up to the ceiling and likely beyond, forming the chimney she had seen the edge of on the roof. An anvil and a large tub of water sat closer to the door she'd just walked through.

The Blacksmith wasn't there, though.

Before she could decide on whether to explore further in, towards the other door she saw, she was tapped on the shoulder.

She fought the urge to swing around her blade, instead only spinning her body around quickly.

The man was smiling, but the creases on his forehead told her he was confused. "What are you doing back here?"

Calming at the sight of someone familiar instead of an enemy, she undid the bag at her side, lifting the bag with her money out of the bag with the circlet in it. "I have the money, and wanted to get started early."

His eyes squinted, he appraised her. Tanya stood strong, holding out the bag. She'd faced much worse appraisals in the Empire's army from dubious officers skeptical of her achievements.

A smile broke the weak facade of scrutiny, and the man walked passed her into the dark room. "Alright, then. We'll talk about payment afterwards," he called, pulling out a few baskets from underneath the table in the center.

Tanya looked at them curiously. There were baskets of rocks, ingots, what looked like leather, and skinned animal hides.

Tanya looked up at the man. Why did he have all of this? Shouldn't most of this have been processed already?

Gesturing to the woven baskets, he began to speak. "Now, since this is a one-time deal, I think I'll teach you the foundation of most Crafting Type jobs," he declared.

He began to lay out a number of tools on a table. A mallet, sandpaper, sewing needles, cloth, and more joined the baskets. He lifted one of the ingots out of the basket, and walked over to the forge.

"Just watch me, little girl."

Tanya bristled at his description of her, but she stayed quiet and watched as he said, "Smith," and began.

The next two hours were interesting. He moved in a flurry, heating, shaping, cooling, and finishing his work.

She was amazed that it only took two hours. It seemed ridiculous to make a sword in that amount of time, but she had seen it for herself.

That meant this power must have been able to speed up the rate at which swords, and perhaps other weapons and objects, could be made.

Somehow. Magic was an obvious answer, but even magic couldn't violate the basic laws of physics.

She blinked and looked down, thinking furiously. At least, her version couldn't. It was entirely possible that this world's magic didn't care what was possible according to physics.

He held the gleaming sword up to the light of the still-hot forge. "That is how you do it. You can learn the skill on your card," he said as he walked to the front.

Tanya quickly retrieved it from her bag, and stared at the newest addition. There, at the top of the exhaustive list of the numerous spells and techniques she'd learned in her last life, was a new one, glowing gold.

Just as the man had screamed, it was titled 'Smith.' Before she could work out how to get it, the man began to speak to her again.

"Now, this is the first skill that all Blacksmiths-in-training learn. It allows the user to shape materials into shapes they desire!" he said.

Tanya nodded, eyes fixed on her skill card. "Can I make any object?" she asked. That was the entire point of this exercise, after all, and he seemed to be in a much more talkative mood now.

He nodded his head. "Of course, as long as you have the materials and it isn't too big." Tanya looked up sharply. The ability to create whatever she wanted sounded nice, but she needed to know the limits. "Too big?"

He chuckled a bit. "You can't just make anything. Your Intelligence, mana, and the Skill Points you've invested in the Skill determine what you can make, and your Strength determines the durability of the object," he said.

"I don't have too much mana, which means I can't use the skill to make something as advanced as an entire set of armor. That's why I get more specific skills if I want to make anything very detailed or very strong."

Tanya nodded again, looking down at the card. "Just tap the skill you want, and then tap the picture of yourself," he said, watching her.

Looking at her card, she tapped the glowing word. It changed from green to red, and she lightly tapped the picture of herself.

Tanya's eyes widened. The card was glowing, and her hair was moving as if she were flying through the air on patrol.

That was, by far, what she was least concerned about.

There was something. She didn't know what it was, but all she knew was that this something was being changed. Somewhere inside her, her mana, or soul, or… something was being altered.

It ended soon enough, and Tanya shook her head. It hadn't been a bad feeling, per se, but she was wary of anything that made her feel good without a proper explanation.

The Type 95 felt good, but what she had to do to make it work and its additional effects were barely worth it. The Circlet had knocked her out for a few seconds from the abundance of mana in her system.

Looking back down at her card, she saw the gold skill had disappeared, likely buried underneath the list of her other skills. Along with its disappearance, a whole ten of her Skill Points had vanished, leaving her with the ten she'd started with.

She sighed happily. She'd be able to put points into other skills she had. She'd explore what she could improve upon later. She tucked away the card, and jolted as the Blacksmith spoke again.

"Well then? Give it a try!" he said, inches in front of her face.

Tanya backed up a bit, but shook her head. How he'd gotten so close to her, she didn't know, but she would be getting that discount and not paying 45,000 Eris.

Her penny-pinching was mostly because she wanted to eat, not because the skill wasn't worth it. It was completely worth the higher price, if she could use it to make a rifle.

She wouldn't have to buy clothing, weapons, or tools for a nice, long while, as long as she used enough Skill Points. She might just make about anything she wanted instead of buying it for herself.

That left the question of what she should make to avoid a higher price. She might have been familiar with a number of guns, but those would likely be above her current skill to make. Pistols would likely be out, as well.

Tanya grinned she knew something that might be simple enough for this.

Silently, she began to boost her Strength with Reinforcement spells. She did want this recreation to be as durable as the last one, after all.

Now one question remained. How did she activate the skill?

She thought about the feeling of learning the skill. Was that it?

Tanya stood there for a few more moments, waiting for something to happen. She assumed this was all she needed to do. What was she missing?

The Blacksmith coughed, and Tanya snarled, "Why isn't it working?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man's eyebrows furrow in confusion. Tanya whirled towards him. "What else do I need to do?" she hounded.

"Er… you know. Say 'Smith?"

Huh?

"What do you mean? That wasn't just for effect?" she asked. He seemed to become more confused.

"Well… duh. You can't add the ability to silently use a skill until you've used it a lot. I could, but you haven't even used it yet," he supplied, eyeing her skeptically.

Oh.

Was that why everything had seemed to be taking so much mana? This world had a different and nonsensical rule where you had to say a few esoteric words out loud to make things happen?

Cheeks tinged red and eyebrows creased, Tanya turned back to the forge, muttering "Smith" as she did so.

Tanya blinked rapidly as information surged through her mind, and her earlier embarrassment was forgotten. She knew now how to shape metal, leather, and a variety of other materials and how to use the pieces and processes she now knew to make weapons and armor.

Most importantly, Tanya also realized just how inadequate the materials around her would be to make her gun. Instead, she settled on the idea she'd had earlier.

Back in her last life, no one was given swords anymore. Not for actual fighting, and only rarely for ceremonial purposes. The Empire had discarded the practice as a remnant of a bygone era and claimed that they didn't need blades in the modern age.

That they didn't have the resources to spare to make anything beyond bayonets was conveniently forgotten in the reports on why they weren't awarded, but Tanya could read between the lines well enough.

She had earned that medal above Norden, however, and she'd even been given a second name. They'd decided to treat her and have a nice propaganda tour to complement her promotion to Colonel and to hammer in to the population just how important the fabled 'Mith-'

She grimaced, and she bit the inside of her cheek once more. She wasn't thinking about that she wasn't wasn't wasn't wasn't-

She sighed and focused back on what she wanted to make as she began to gather materials. Instead of getting some parade saber that wouldn't see actual use, she'd put in a request for something much more… practical.

Tanya worked, ideas about how she'd ever make a gun rattling around the back half of her head.

She hadn't expected to be nearly as fast as him. He had much more experience, after all.

Despite her slower pace, It was still grueling. The forge was hot, and the room wasn't well ventilated, beside the small hole the smoke pushed through in the chimney. Constantly banging, banging, banging a hammer into burning steel was a lesson in monotony.

But Tanya had learned that lesson several times over, watching for the smallest movement on the front or cleaning every last piece of her guns, so she learned to ignore the ache in her muscles, dulling any pain with Reinforcement spells.

Soon, but not soon enough, the blade was mostly done. She still needed to finish it, but her mana was running low. Perhaps…

She shook her head. No, the Type 95 wasn't an option. She honestly had no idea what would happen if the Type 95 was turned to any other task than dismembering her opponents, and while the Circlet would reduce her strength, she only needed it for a few moments.

Gritting her teeth, she flicked a small bit of mana into the Circlet of Greatness, hanging at her side, and she felt her mana reserves replenish.

She blinked it wasn't nearly as much as it had been last night. Perhaps not wearing it on her head reduced both its benefits and costs.

She shrugged. She would finish this and worry about that later. Renewed, she laughed as she funneled over half of the magic into her Reinforcement spells to continue hammering the metal, winding and molding leather, and grinding the blade with the files the Blacksmith had.

In just over three hours, it was finished. She ripped the mana from the Circlet and almost collapsed. She managed to stay standing, however, and Tanya held it up to the dim light still present in the cooling forge.

A shallow saw blade on one side, a sleek, study edge on the other; the foot-and-a-half blade of her specially made Seitengewehr bayonet shone. The engravings on the side, wings and halos the last time she'd had it, had been skipped – she didn't have the skills, and she hated that addition to it anyway.

Along the hilt, a dark leather covering the metal underneath that matched the sheath, were the initials of her friends, meticulously recreated from memory.

Viktoriya's stood prominently on the base of the hilt, and Tanya smiled in remembrance.

Tanya might not have liked how close she had to get to her enemies, but that didn't mean that she wasn't good at it. So when it came time to pick what she wanted as her 'official' blade…

Well, this had been nice then, and it was nice now. It even had her name inscribed on the blade.

Of course, it wasn't perfect. Most of the little ornamentation, like the gold-leaf version of her signature, was no longer present. Now, that signature was gone, with just her initials in a different colored leather. It showed ownership, and she preferred that it wasn't as flashy.

The man behind her, forgotten as she remembered the ceremony where she'd received the thing, whistled in appreciation. "Very pretty. And maybe better than making a simple sword." He smiled, and Tanya smiled right back, happy to have this new power.

She wouldn't be able to get a gun for a nice long while, sure, but it was nice to have a piece of useful memorabilia from her last life.

-OxOxO-

Tanya snacked happily on nice, juicy Giant Toad leg. Not an entire one, of course. Those were too big, even for the voracious appetite of a former Aerial Mage.

She'd been able to negotiate a price of 35,000 Eris with the Blacksmith. Giving the man the knife she'd been given when she'd sold her stolen sword, she'd been able to haggle for that price.

He'd even given her a scrap of paper that she could use to name the thing, officially.

She hadn't seen the need for it – it was just a blade, after all – but she'd done as he suggested and named it.

'Seitengewehr' wasn't original in the slightest, but it was just a blade to her. He'd been pleased by the fanfare, for whatever reason.

After that, she had come back here and spent the rest of her money on a proper meal, instead of the rather bland fare she'd treated herself to over the last week.

As she wolfed down the food, she began to plan her next steps.

She needed some sort of scepter, until she could make a gun. Using her fingers was fine, but using some sort of equipment, regardless of how antique it might have seemed to her, was better on the off chance she lost control of a spell.

Besides, even if she could make something that looked and functioned like a gun, she would still need bullets.

One thing she had never taken too much time to dissect, bullets were going to be tricky. She knew the basics of a cartridge: put some sort of powder in a casing, a metal cone on the top, and a primer on the bottom.

Simple, sure, but she didn't know what materials she would need, besides lead and copper. There was something about sulfur in gunpowder, she was sure, but besides that, she was at a loss.

She needed to find some sort of suitable replacement for her gun, until she could replicate it and figure out how to make a bullet. Losing some gnarled stick would be better than losing a hand, after all.

Using her blade as a scepter was also an option, but channeling mana through something so irregularly shaped would be much more tricky, and if her blade exploded…

Well, she might not need to worry about finding a gun anymore.

She licked her fingers and continued to think. She'd need some sort of hat, as well, to cover up the circlet. Keeping two bags and having to open both to get to her money was just a bit tedious, and having something else that resembled something from her last life would be nice.

With this skill, she wouldn't even need to reveal that she was hiding anything in her hat to anyone. She'd just purchase the materials and make a hat herself.

Suddenly, commotion from the other side of the bar caught her attention. It appeared Dust was groveling again.

She swallowed her mouthful of food and chuckled as she remembered her last meeting with the man. He'd accosted her during the week, begging her for a bit of the money she was saving up. She'd shot him down, of course. But now that she had a bit of extra cash…

Well, she could take him up on his offer to observe his party for a day, and she would try to learn as many skills as she could.

He'd said something about her being desperate, and she hadn't contradicted him. She might get a better deal if he thought she was just as desperate as he was.

Not that she expected to need many of them, but that girl who she hadn't been able to guess the job of was a Mage. Tanya wanted to compare the magic of the two different worlds.

She quickly scarfed down the last of her food and walked over to him. He seemed to be begging Luna for money.

She arrived to hear the receptionist speaking down to Dust. "Dust, I would like to help you. You haven't paid back the guild, however, even when we gave you a loan above our usual amount," she said to the figure that had collapsed on the counter.

"Please Luna! I just need a bit more money, to pay back them!" he slurred, tossing a glance over his shoulder at the intimidating looking gentlemen in the corner. They seemed to be amused by his situation, if the subdued laughter was anything to go by.

Tanya shook her head. It seemed that the man was drunk, if the way he was unabashedly gripping the sides of the desk and not staring at her rack like he usually did was anything to go by.

She looked towards his usual table and saw the half full mug of beer Keith was carrying and sighed.

Drunks. She didn't like how wasteful they were, but they were so very easy to trick.

Tanya swooped in, prying Dust off of the counter. "Come on, Dust. I'll help you pay off your debts. For a price."

Dust whimpered, and looked at the two men in the corner like he would very much enjoy whatever they had to offer him than what she would want.

She had thrown him into a wall, after all, but he also deserved that and much worse for calling her a loli.

As she dragged him away, she saw Keith talking to a figure clad in blue armor and pointing at her.

She narrowed her eyes. He certainly looked impressive, if the cape and his self-assured look were anything to go by. It might be nice to be noticed by important people, but her promotion to head the 203rd showed her that being noticed wasn't always a good thing.

She filed away the man's oddly familiar features for later as she marched Dust towards the men.

-OxOxO-