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Chapter 2: Justice served

Notes:

Please forgive the grammatical errors. I always get impatient and upload as soon as I finish the chapter.

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

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

Would she gain anything from stopping the thief? Possibly. The girl was sprinting so fast that whoever followed her must be nearby. If she apprehended her then the rightful owner could arrive soon after and Tanya would gain a massive favour by helping them out. It was also an action that could easily be excused with "doing the right thing" as thiefdom was a universally illegal practice. Being a morally upright human being was hopefully not too suspicious.

The opposite was also true. What if she was blamed for letting the thief escape or even framed to have actively helped her? She was a newcomer to this land. Undoubtedly the people here would not treat her fairly. In that case she would have to reveal her power and flee what would make her a wanted criminal. She would not let that happen.

With one swift motion she had moved to intercept the potential criminal.

"Halt right there young lady. Whom are you running away from?"

Her Japanese sounded a bit off, but that was a problem for a later time.

The girl did not bother to answer and instead tried to move around Tanya which she prevented by tripping her and pinning her to the ground. Melee was normally not her forte, but that was when she was fighting against fully grown men at speeds that normal humans would find impossible to follow. A mere child was no opponent to her.

"Let me go! What do you want?" screeched the girl.

"I stopped you because I suspect you to have stolen something."

"Yeah? And so what?"

"I would like you to hand over whatever it is you stole."

"No!" she pouted like a little child.

"Unfortunately for you, I don't see that you have much choice in the matter considering I have you pinned to the floor at the moment. The original owner will surely come any second now and I doubt they will be as friendly as I am."

The thief seemed to think about that and was just opening her mouth to answer as Tanya was struck by a heavy fist from behind. After a stunned second she turned her upper body and savagely backhanded the man into the wall where he fell down with the audible cracking noise of a fractured jaw.

He was one of the two she believed to have incapacitated earlier, but it appeared as if the small thug had managed to wake him from his head-trauma induced sleep. It was a critical mistake to leave the tiny robber conscious as she now realized. When she had turned her focus away from him in favour of apprehending the thief-girl she had honestly doubted he would be able to do anything in his shock state, but she had been wrong.

In general, she should have used more strength to force them out of action. The only reason she did hold back was because she didn't want to kill them. In hindsight that would have been not too terrible of an outcome.

It only was a short moment in which her attention shifted, but the damage was already done. The girl beneath her used her inattention to roll Tanya off with surprising strength began to sprint away with even more unexpected speed. Did she use enhancement magic? No normal human should be capable of producing wind currents that strong by simply running. No time to find out either way.

Tanya threw her combat knife so that it would impact the running girl with the grip end in the hope that this would knock her out, but the thief jumped in exactly that moment to the side of a wall and leaped across the street to the next.

Only seconds remained before it would be too late so she had to go all out now. Magic crashed through her veins and her eyes began to noticeably glow with ethereal light as she kicked of the cobblestone street in a large dust cloud. With nearly the speed of a bullet she impacted the fleeing girl and knocked the air out of her lungs mid jump.

Something small and shiny flew out of her hand, but capturing the criminal had priority. A small shock-formula that disrupted her central nervous system turned her into putty in her hands when she softly touched down and laid the girl to the floor.

Suddenly there was movement behind her.

"Greetings. May I ask what happened here?" asked a startlingly handsome redhead in a polite tone.

She did not let that disarm her. The man was obviously well built and carried himself in a manner that showed that he probably knew how to use that sword that was strapped to his side. Not to mention the white uniform he wore which identified him in all likelihood as a member of the local law enforcement. He was a potential threat, in spite of what his dazzling smile and relaxed posture tried to tell her.

"Ah, some simple criminals you see. These two there tried to rob me and I retaliated. The third one unfortunately escaped."

With slight frustration did she notice that the small thug was noticeably absent from the scene. At least she had to give him credit for being somewhat smart and fast on his feet.

"And the girl there?"

He nodded in the direction of the motionless thief on the floor.

"I saw her running away with something she had stolen from someone and I stopped her so that the rightful owner can catch up with her. By the way, what is your name Sir?"

"Ah, my manners. I am Reinhard van Astrea, but just call me Reinhard please."

All of the sudden the redhead stepped to the side. A split-second before another girl would have stumbled into him. Impressive perception.

Radiant silver hair and an incredibly pale skin tone were the first noticeable features of the girl (or was she a young woman?) Her expensive white and purple dress clearly marked her as a member of the upper class. This was perhaps the victim of the theft.

A theory that was confirmed when she breathlessly spoke:

"Have you seen a little, blond girl coming through here? She is... oh."

Her sentence trailed off as she noticed the girl in question lying on the floor.

"Has she stolen something from you?" asked Tanya. She wanted to bring this whole affair behind her as quickly as possible and go undercover again.

"Yes. She stole my insignia."

What in the Kaiser´s name was an insignia? Did that thing qualify her for something?

She went over to the place where she had tackled the thief to the ground and began searching for the small, glittering object she had seen earlier.

It was a shining black stone with an intricate gold pattern. Curiously it began to glow red when she touched it, but that probably only meant that that it was magical in nature.

"Is that the insignia?" she said as she held the stone high so that the silver-haired girl could see it.

"Yes. Thank you so much."

The poor creature was close to tears when she took it. Such a stone must be extremely valuable if she was so emotional about getting it back. Now Tanya nearly regretted it that she had given the item back. She could have used the money.

Masking the disappointment in her voice expertly she tried to get away as soon as possible:

"If that is all then I will take my leave now."

"I am afraid that that will not be possible. If I may be so bold as to enquire for your name Lady...?"

What was that now about? Had she done something illegal? Should she use a fake name? No, nobody here knew it anyway. Lying would only lead to problems later on.

"Tanya. Tanya von Degurechaff."

"Very well Lady Degurechaff. Would you do me the honour and accompany me to my family home please?"

His tone did not leave room for arguments. Fleeing now would make her a wanted subject and she really did not need any more attention! She had no other choice than to play this little game for a while longer.

"I see. Please lead the way Sir Reinhard."

This was going to suck.

Notes:

Have I made Tanya a royal candidate? Heck yes.

Why:

1. It´s epic

2. It will lead to more suffering (It´s a Re:Zero crossover. The more suffering the better.)

3. Who doesn´t want to be ruled by her?