(Season 4 Shield Hero, Motoyasu.)
(Season 2, The Eminence in Shadow, Cid.)
(Post Season 1 Tanya the Evil, Tanya.)
The new group, abhorrently monikered as 'Naofumi's group' by the denizens of Nazarick, was now stuck in a new reality. A tall young man stepped forward, donning a red sleeveless tunic with a short hood that had feathers at the seams. He gripped a spear with his right hand and squinted his eyes at the thick foliage, scanning for any threat.
A large, heavy mist hung near the ground; a soft step would disperse it momentarily, but it would not dissipate.
The forest, if it can be called that, was populated with tall, humongous birch-like trees. Their trunks were almost the size of an adult torso, and with an even thicker canopy from up above. The ground was slightly loose, outright muddy in some areas. The sky was hardly visible; a layer of fog covered it.
A small, young child floated forward, her expression both frustrated and exhausted. She was wearing a baggy, thick flight uniform. A huge red box with a black cross and a red background was strapped to her, and the brace was attached to her left leg.
"We should head back! My father-in-law is in grave danger! We must save him!"
Motoyasu Kitamura pleaded, looking at the small female child in front of him, already aware of her abilities, seeing her as a capable companion. Motoyasu, in some way, respected the small, young lady, crass as she was, thinking she must be some filolial with a heavy past.
"Are you out of your goddamned fucking mind?"
Tanya Degurechaff cursed, grimacing at Motoyasu's words. She was both creeped out and also frustrated by her remaining ally, a strong meat shield but an impossibly difficult one to handle. She didn't underestimate him, considering he has the highest kill count of undead skeletons.
"Hey, you, Shadow boy, where are you?"
Tanya said before cutting herself off. The young man who saved them, another difficult young man to converse with was gone. A man named Cid stepped in to help during a tough losing battle, then departed silently without saying a word.
Tanya growled at the absence of their savior, knowing it meant she was stuck with a spear-wielding madman. She cursed under her breath; if Motoyasu had been the one captured, things would have been far easier.
With Naofumi captured, their small group had dwindled to just two members.
"You little shit! You fucking listen to me."
Tanya cursed, floating above, talking to Motoyasu at eye level. She was out of supplies and running low on ammunition; she had enough for one quick engagement, and after that, she would resort to her steel spade and magical enhancements for combat.
"We have to leave now! Your father-in-law bought us time to escape, and we should honor his goddamned wishes to escape."
Tanya shouted, although still confused about the father-in-law thing.
"I cannot leave my father-in-law! Filo will be disappointed and mad at me; she will never forgive me for leaving Naofumi behind! We have to save him!" Motoyasu pleaded.
Tanya aimed her rifle, the staple rifle of the imperial mages, a Mondragon Battle Rifle. She had already claimed many lives with that rifle; if she pulled the trigger, Motoyasu would not be the last.
Motoyasu raised a brow, unintimidated by the rifle trained on his forehead. For a moment, he saw an angry, beautiful child staring back at him, but the vision quickly shifted to a frightened, weeping girl with barely visible wings behind her, desperate to escape.
He then screamed, as if struck by flash of eureka. "AHHHHHH"
"Guh! How could I not have seen this!? Another filolial is asking for my help, and I was about to lure her into danger!"
Motoyasu cried out, instantly shifting his serious expression into a melancholic mood. He kneeled to the ground and punched it, letting out a single tear. His punch displaced the mist below.
He instantly stood straight, looking straight at Tanya's eyes. For him, Tanya was no longer angrily frustrated; she now resembled a puppy-eyed filolial pleading with Motoyasu to flee, her wings barely visible behind her.
(Motoyasu-sama...) The imaginary version of Tanya pleaded.
Motoyasu stood up. "Father-in-law is fine! I know this is just one small problem for him. There is no problem that my father-in-law can't solve or power his way through!
He shouted, flicking away the rifle with a backhanded slap. He stared at Tanya with a sense of filolial longing. Tanya was disgusted by Motoyasu, an undisciplined, perverted brute; she could only click her tongue at his presence.
"Let's go, Tanya-chan!" Motoyasu huffed and looked straight ahead.
There was a clean, straight path, and it probably led somewhere. Tanya flew straight forward, following the path, leaving Motoyasu behind. To her surprise, Motoyasu was easily keeping up with her speed while carrying a spear in his right hand.
Tanya looked straight ahead, then at the sky. (I can't fly up ahead and scout; the visibility is horrible, and knowing what kind of place this reality is, there's probably danger lurking somewhere around.)
(It's best to stick to this path.) Tanya thought as she stole a glance at Motoyasu. He noticed her glance, and he winked at her, disgusting Tanya even more. (This fool can buy me some time if those undead things discover us.)
Tanya heard her stomach rumble, so she took a biscuit out of her pocket and ate it. Before she had arrived in these endless realities, she was supposed to be on leave. She had already destroyed those factories, changed the outcome of the Western Front, and even given the incompetent command a victory they shall never forget.
However, the moment she collapsed onto her bed to sleep, she suddenly felt a small earthquake as the walls and floors turned green. She thought it was Being X again, with their usual 'belief in God must improve and spread' schemes, then her entire room fell straight through the floor.
The theory that this was all Being X's doing was still credible. This sort of reality shift or manipulation was well within Being X's abilities. The insecure and thin-skinned god gave her another challenge.
(What a pathetic god.)
The two continued on their path, nothing but endless rows of thick, heavy trees and mist. There were no landmarks; it seemed like they were traveling in a loop, but they weren't. She let out a low growl. Her patience was thinning; she had been stuck in this wretched kind of reality for almost two weeks now.
She was supposed to be leading the tip of the empire's spear. The infamous Imperial 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion, with her as the youngest Wing Commander. But now?
She was running for her life.
(The next chapter is Reinhard's camp.)