7

Chapter 7: Returning troubleNotes:

"Zeivira" your wish has been granted.

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

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

One hour later she had organized three carriages to transport her new recruits. It would be pretty suspicious if they all marched in a big group through the streets. Maybe even somebody would think of it as a possible attack and try to stop them!

All of the volunteers had been punctual, but to make sure she counted heads again.

"30... 31... 32... That should be all of them. Wait... 33? That is one person more than last time."

She called out loud: "The new person may come here please."

Her perfectly calm illusionary visage betrayed none of the surprise she felt when the newcomer revealed herself to be a familiar face. It was the thief-girl from the alleyway that had stolen the insignia.

"Hello there young Miss. Would you please tell me why you are here? I did not see you among the volunteers at the announcement."

The blonde raised her chin defiantly and exclaimed: "I just wanted to. There is nothing wrong with picking up a job that pays well."

"While that is true would you mind telling me how old you are?"

It would be problematic if she accidentally employed a child in these lands. Someone could sue her for mistreatment or something along those lines. (Not that anyone in the empire had ever cared that she had not even reached double digits when she joined the military.)

"Old enough." she pouted.

"That is not an answer."

"Fifteen."

"That is good. Below that age I would not have accepted you."

She turned to the watching crowd.

"What are you all waiting for? Hop onto the carriages and let´s get out of here!"

While everyone scrambled for a seat she held her hand up in front of the blonde thief.

"You are going to sit with me on the front seat."

"But..."

"No objections. I want to talk to you. Don´t worry. I won´t bite." smiled the false Reinhard.

When Tanya was about to climb onto the driver seat of the carriage she ran into a small problem. Due to her illusion overlaying her like a costume she was actually a lot smaller than the "Reinhard-facade". That meant that she would practically clip through her illusion if she moved too much. To circumvent the problem she cheated and used her flight spell when she was sure nobody was looking to get up the cart.

She gave the other two drivers a sign and the trip back to the Astrea estate began.

"So what´s your name?"

She couldn't always call her ´thief-girl´ in her head after all.

"Felt."

No last name? Probably a sensitive topic.

"So Felt... did the others tell you about the soul-crushing training you are in for if you accept the job?"

"Yep."

"You think you can handle it?"

"Yeah. Besides... it´s not like I have anything better to do."

Felt looked down at her hand with an expression of grief clearly displayed on her face.

"Do you have any immediate family or close friends that will miss your absence?"

Her expression darkened and her hands clasped each other so tightly that the knuckles turned white.

"No." was her only response.

She knew that look in someone´s eyes. It spoke of personal loss and deep sorrow. Tanya had seen it on hundreds of young soldiers and civilians faces.

"Did it happen recently?" she asked softly.

The girl besides her could only nod. Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes, but through sheer force of will she kept them at bay. Quite impressive in Tanya´s opinion. That girl knew how to handle herself.

It must have happened fairly recently; after the incident with the insignia probably. The Felt from a few days ago hadn't had that same dead expression in her eyes and had seemed relatively lively. So she took a wild guess.

"Was it after you lost that insignia?"

Alarm flashed up on her face and she turned her head so fast that her hair swirled around her.

"How did you know?" she yelled accusingly.

"I didn't. I guessed."

"I don't remember you being there." The blond thief still sounded suspicious.

"You were paralyzed when I came so you probably cannot remember my face."

Silence followed for a few minutes.

"I won´t pry, but you can tell me if you want. Maybe this way we will be able to bring the person who did it to justice."

In truth Tanya had no interest in a personal revenge quest, but it would help her understand the girl better and maybe form some sort of emotional bond between them. Who knew how teenage girls functioned? She definitely didn't.

"It... it was our client. She wanted the insignia and when... when I didn't have it she..."

Felt´s eyes had become moist again.

"she killed old man Rom. She was so fast I couldn't stop her and I barely escaped thanks to my Divine Protection. I was so weak... And now I have nothing. I don't know what to do..."

The last part was barely audible.

Emotional support was not one of Tanya´s strengths so she had absolutely no clue how to react. Coming too close was a bad idea, because that would reveal her illusion so things like headpats or hugs were out of the question. (Not that she would have done that anyway.) But what consoling words could help in this situation? Maybe something personal?

"I lost many of my valued comrades on the battlefield. One moment they would stand beside me laughing and cheering and in the next they would lie dead on the ground. Life can be a heartless and cruel thing; I know that very well. Only a few days ago I said goodbye to all of my closest friends and left them in the knowledge that I would never see them again. We will never be able to laugh and drink together and we will never be able to say each other things we maybe should have said years ago."

Visha´s beautiful face smiled in Tanya´s memory and she felt a tinge of sadness tuck on her heartstrings.

"But do you want to know how I handle all that pain? Still smile in this brutal, uncaring world? I don't forget them. Their lives, their memories have meaning, because there are those who care! We are the ones that will not let them die, because we can still remember them. Through our care they become a part of us that stays with us ´till the end of our lives. All humans must die, but that does not mean that we will surrender to the inevitable. We fight! Like you. You have already started to build a new life for yourself. You show your friend that you will continue to struggle and fight for your place in the world, because that´s what humans do. He will always be with you, right by your side if you hold onto his memory and live. Look forward to all the wonderful ways you can show him that you are a person worthy of his respect. That even without him to physically support you, you are not weak. So that you can honour him by being the best ´you´ you can be."

Well that escalated quickly. She hadn't meant for her speech to devolve into sentimental platitudes, but the words had simply sounded right to her ears. For a short moment she had actually believed what she had said. How strange.

Felt looked at her with an unreadable expression before turning to the road again, obviously deep in thought. Tanya meanwhile was glad that the conversation was over. At least for now. Shortly thereafter their little caravan arrived at the gates of Reinhard´s estate. Phase 3 of her plan could begin.

She jumped of the carriage and motioned for an already present servant to take over the reins. Tanya then went around a corner and sprinted off to the newly prepared servant quarters while making a small detour to remain hidden. While running she let her illusion fade and concentrated instead on a communication spell that she linked to a spare earpiece which she had given to her knight.

"Do you copy Reinhard?"

"If by ´copy´ you mean understand Milady then I can hear you perfectly. Truly an impressive feat of magic you accomplished there, but that is to be expected from my Mistress."

She ignored the compliment, because she never really knew if Reinhard meant all the nice things he said or if it was just flattery.

"Can you come to the servant quarters please? The plan we spoke of comes to an end. You won´t even have to say much if everything goes as envisioned."

"Right away Milady."

Tanya only hoped that he wouldn't mess up and raise suspicion. It wouldn't be good for her subordinates trust if they discovered that she had only impersonated Reinhard.

When the purposefully delayed recruits arrived at their destination they still looked mostly in awe at the apparent wealth of they were surrounded with. Not a single one of them had ever been allowed to get near something so expensive.

To draw their attention Reinhard (the real one this time) cleared his throat loudly.

"Ahem."

The crowd´s eyes shifted to their presumed employer.

"This is the Astrea estate owned by my family. I am Reinhard van Astrea, your host. It is a pleasure to have you all here."

His politeness! Sometimes it was irritating. But now was her turn.

"And I am Tanya von Degurechaff. I will overlook your training and will prepare you for your first task in three days. Please address me as Drill sergeant Degurechaff or simply Sergeant Degurechaff. We all will spend a lot of time together." she smiled sweetly. Her gaze travelled over to Felt who looked at her with abject horror written on her face. It seemed like she still remembered her.

"As for the rules. You will be given a room. Take care of it. I will personally inspect them every week and I want to see them in exactly the condition you received them in. That means: clean, orderly and most importantly intact! If you damage anything out of sheer stupidity than the repair costs are going to be subtracted from your wage. Is that clear?"

A few murmured confirmations reached her ear. Not good enough.

"I said, IS THAT CLEAR? I want to hear a loud and resounding ´Yes Sergeant Degurechaff´!"

"YES SERGEANT DEGURECHAFF!" was the answer.

This was going to be fun.

Notes:

Just a fun question: Who in the Re:Zero-verse would you ship with Tanya?

(I don´t think I will write anything like that. Just curious.)