67

Chapter 67: Falling snow

Fuck it, I'm gonna post this anyway despite Pandora's laptop being broken (no beta from him)

But Landon helped out so it shouldn't be too bad :)

He is an awesome guy like that.

Just wanted to post something because my own computer is dying as well.

EDIT: 55555 Hits!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 67

Time passed in a blur for Tanya as she spent her days overseeing her freshly recruited fighting force and studying the nuances of Lugnica's internal politics. Such a task would have been far more daunting, however, had it not been for Reinhard supporting her every step of the way. He was apparently an exemplary worker in every field he set his attention on which meant that he had a large number of vacation days saved up over years of diligent service for the royal knights that allowed him to remain with her permanently.

She had been most pleasantly surprised by the information that this medieval society even knew the concept of flexible vacations. The more she discovered about this strange new world, the more she found herself appreciating it.

Naturally, Lugnica was not without many faults as well, but with the right direction, it could turn into a prosperous and progressive country.

Its biggest problems as far as she could tell were the systemic discrimination against demi-humans, its stifling border politics, increasing activity of the Witch's Cult and an overall decay in morale which resulted in corruption, loss of productivity or people turning to outright crime.

Not the best situation, but still leagues better than the Empire that was besieged on all sides in the biggest war of human history. Millions of capable men and women had been bled from the workforce and thrown into the meat grinder and huge swathes of the industry transformed into a restless machine solely focused on supplying the ever-hungry army.

Yes, as long as she could prevent another war from escalating in this world as well, Tanya was prepared to give anything short of her life.

And if Subaru was to believe then even that might not be off the table...

Glancing back at the training field she cupped her mouth and yelled:

"Come on, I expect more than this, you maggots! Are you already tired? Have I been feeding you too much so that you have all become fat and lazy? Well then, let me correct that. If any of you can't complete this exercise in time then you will be going to bed hungry tonight! How sad... I even overheard the chef saying he wanted to make some cakes, but you ain't going to get a single bite of it if you behave like children! So, get up maggots!"

Thanks to her sound amplifying formula every one of her trainees was able to hear her words and the results were obvious. Frenzied activity broke out among the ranks of sweating and panting recruits as they went beyond what their bodies told them was possible just to attain more of the sweet fruit cake that she had hooked them on previously. Food, sweets and rest were powerful motivators for those deprived of it.

In her periphery she noticed a servant approach her from the direction of the main building. The Astrea estate was so vast that even after traversing most of it she still could not recall every person under Reinhard's employ. There were just too many.

Choosing to not divert her attention from the field, she spoke to the sharply dressed butler without turning her head:

"Is it something urgent?"

"Yes, Milady. Sir Felix Argyle seeks an audience with you in the Red Salon. We deigned to grant him entrance as he is a good friend of Master Reinhard. We humbly ask for your forgiveness, Lady Tanya, should this displease you."

"No, no. It's fine. Thank you and please tell him that I'll be there shortly."

Everyone seemed to want to visit her for some reason. Hopefully the cat-eared knight wouldn't be dropping any huge revelations on her out of the blue, but Tanya had long ago resigned herself to being negatively surprised in the worst moments time and time again.

In the end, through their collective determination her 304 th earned themselves the right of one slice of cake per person. She left them to continue their non-physical studies. Two thirds of her recruits could neither write nor read and the rest were far from perfect. With the help of a few hired tutors this issue would resolve itself in due time.

Strolling up to the ornate doors of the Red Salon the youngest royal candidate inspected her uniform for imperfections before pushing inside with a purposely confident step.

"My apologies for the wait. It is good to see you, Sir Argyle. I trust you are well?" she opened the conversation, her arms spread invitingly.

"Please just call me Felix, nya. And the wait was just long enough to get a little nap in, hehe. Being a royal guard can be a tiring job."

He winked at her as if he was telling her a huge secret, never mind the fact that he looked completely alert and awake when she entered. Joksters who wasted time like that truly were the worst.

"Glad to hear that you are really stretching your limits then. I won't keep you for long then or else I might rob you of more precious sleep. What brings you here?"

Instantly his posture straightened and his tone turned serious.

"It's about Subaru."

Ah. Of course.

"Oh? And why do you come to me then?" Tanya asked with a raised eyebrow.

She was not his liege, so why would Felix inform her of all people? It was clearly urgent, but that only made this situation more suspect.

"Nya, my Lady sent me. You seemed to care for the boy a lot and he speaks highly of you, so for the sake of the good relationship between our camps she deigned to inform you. You really should be thankful to her, nya!"

"Well, we will see how grateful I am after you pass on your message." she responded drily, ignoring his disrespectful tone.

"Right. Subaru got a letter from that elf girl, nya. And apparently, it got him so riled up he promptly left with the blue-haired maid. I haven't even finished healing him and that idiot runs away with barely a word to my Lady."

Why would he have left so suddenly? And especially without informing her or Crusch? Something was definitely not right here.

Felix shook his head in admonishment.

"Anyways, my Lady thinks that something might have happened to Emilia and since you can fly really fast, who better to check up on our mutual ally, right?" grinned the demi-human.

Tanya pursed her lips.

Crusch was making a powerplay here by literally spelling her plot out to her in the most overt fashion. Either she went and submitted to the duchess's desires, lowering herself to an instrument of her will or she resisted and wilfully disregarded the possible peril of her ally.

The decision in itself was a challenge of authority.

There was only one option:

Play right back.

"If Lady Crusch is this anxious I may as well do her a little favour. I couldn't possibly leave her to dreadful uncertainty." Tanya smiled with all the grace of a sleepy cat sparing a mouse's life after feasting on their entire family.

Now this errand job – while still beneath her station – was framed as a generous act that the duchess would need to answer in kind, lest she be indebted to another royal candidate.

Felix obviously caught onto that, but his grin did not shrink in the slightest.

"That's very nice of you, Lady Tanya. Would you kindly knock our dear Subaru on the head for me if he does something stupid again, nya?"

"I'll see what I can do if the situation calls for it." she replied dryly much to the amusement of the demi-human.

Maybe her knight could help her make sense of his conundrum.

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Reinhard was gripping his chin in an uncharacteristic display of uncertainty.

"This is troublesome. As much as I would normally advocate for investigating this oddity, without a formal call for aid we would be intruding uninvited upon Margrave Mather's territory. Despite the alliance between our camps that would not look favourably for us. If Subaru had invited you directly then things would be different..."

"I understand." she assuaged his unspoken question.

Protocol needed to be followed and hurting her reputation again so soon could end disastrously. Politics were annoying, but ultimately those rules were the backbone of any society.

"Furthermore, as much as it pains me to say... Bringing the Sword Saint anywhere with you could potentially be misinterpreted as an act of war. I am seen similarly to a... 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' as you called it, Milady. The people might panic if news of this happening were to spread."

Reinhard was a very reasonable, well-mannered and soft-spoken individual so in a way, Tanya was able to understand his frustration for being judged solely on his martial prowess. In the short time she knew him the red-haired knight had become indispensable to her.

She herself was familiar with that feeling of near omnipresent prejudice, although in contrast to Reinhard she had deliberately used it to strike fear in her enemies. While the details were foggy she recalled her snarling face on foreign propaganda posters with grim satisfaction.

"You don't think following Subaru is worth the cost."

"I did not say that, Milady. There could be any number of explanations of why he suddenly returned to Emilia's side and many of them wouldn't be enough reason to warrant intervention from our camp."

"But you are worried about my safety." she pointed out.

"Indeed, Milady. I am still not comfortable letting you go unprotected outside the capital again. Last time you did, you encountered two Sin Archbishops and the White Whale. I dread to think what the future could hold in store. I do not wish to see you hurt in any way, Tanya."

As he reached down to grip her hands, there was deep sorrow in his blue eyes.

"And average foot soldiers wouldn't have done me much good back then either." she countered more to fill the heavy silence than as an actual argument.

Reinhard merely sighed and broke their slightly unprofessional skin contact.

"I know. And I will not stop you, Milady. One of the first things we learned as knights was to gauge which rumours to trust and which to ignore and this one seems to hold true. Felix would never lie so brazenly about something. That and my Divine Protection of divination tell me that something important is going to happen."

"Since when can you see the future?" Tanya asked, flabbergasted.

He never mentioned that before!

"Since just right now. I asked for an ability to help me discern more about what is to come, however it is only a basic sense of those events. Nothing concrete; more of a feeling you could say." he grinned lopsidedly, but it did not reach his eyes which were still full of worry.

"Good to know."

"Nonetheless... I might have an idea to minimize the risk of chasing after our troublemaking friend. If you were to deliver something of great importance like a personal letter then that would suffice for an excuse."

"Yeah, I figured as much. Crusch did the same after all."

"By flying high up in the air you would stay out of sight, thus avoiding any possible conflict until you reach the Mathers Estate. I pray that you may find no ill tidings there. Conversely, should you detect a threat to your life – no matter how minor – then as your knight I am sworn to protect you and will be required to rush to your side. For me to leave the capital under such circumstances would be completely justified, even in the stern eyes of the council."

"And how exactly am I going to notify you from all the way out there?"

"Please give me a minute, Milady and I will fetch what I need to explain the process."

Tanya waved him to get on with it, moderately curious what trick he was going to demonstrate to her. Long-distance communication would be quite the advantage! Telephones were one of the greatest inventions of all time!

He returned with a painfully expensive-looking box. Gilded inlays and diamonds decorated the black wood in embellished floral patterns that managed to appear elegant and gaudy simultaneously.

Opening it revealed two plain gold rings.

"These are the traditional Astrea wedding rings." Reinhard explained, "They are magically linked. If one holder were to die, the other would sense it. Consequently, destroying one of them should render the spell on the counterpart inert."

Oh. He was telling her to destroy a priceless family heirloom just like that, huh?

"Are you sure you want to give up something so valuable?"

"Nothing is more valuable to me than you, Milady."

As he put the magical artefact on her finger, her cheeks reddened the slightest amount in embarrassment as she thought about the implications of wearing a wedding ring for the first time. 

Did he really have to say these kinds of things to her with such an earnest face? Her knight was completely shameless! Nonetheless, she vowed to repay his kindness someday soon. There could be no taking without giving in a healthy work relationship. Tanya was not a parasite after all.

Maybe she could go on a longer tour through the country together with Reinhard as her bodyguard, so he would finally be able to see and experience more places? Hopefully he was going to appreciate that...

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Flying for the first time this week restored a bit of peace to her mind that she didn't even know was missing. To glide above the land and embrace the total freedom that came with it would never fail to be at least a tiny bit thrilling.

Here she didn't have to worry about enemy radar or hidden artillery trying to take her out. She was the sole predator of these skies, unchallenged and free to drink in the view of green hills and healthy forests. No smoke or gunfire marred this beautiful scenery and if her ally's fate wasn't dangerously uncertain then Tanya would have certainly quite enjoyed her flight.

She once again halted mid air and compared her surroundings to the simple map that Reinhard had given her. Subaru had had a head start of multiple hours on her, so she could not afford to waste time by accidentally getting lost.

A cold wind blew towards her, crinkling the paper. Tanya noted that as opposed to roughly ten minutes ago the sky was now completely grey and overcast by thick clouds that made discerning the exact position of the sun impossible. If she had forgotten to bring her field compass then that could have made determining her position needlessly complicated.

Slowly, a single white fleck floated down from above which was soon joined by many more, landing on her outstretched palm. In the time it took for it to melt on her glove she recognized the delicate little patterns of the snowflake.

Snow? Why was it snowing during summer?

How weird.

Notes:

Man I have been waiting for this Arc for a looong time...