9

Chapter 9: Intricate plansNotes:

I am still unsure about the direction of the story. Please vote down below.

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

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

The next morning began with Tanya challenging the three strongest members of her battalion to a duel. She was unarmed and the three who attacked her simultaneously had all knifes. Needless to say, she won without a scratch. This humiliating defeat served as good motivation for the rest of the bunch to train their blade techniques for the rest of the day.

In between the sparring sessions against her or Reinhard they would further train their skills with a crossbow. One day was not much, but Tanya could already notice the slightest improvements. Up next she showed them how to most effectively sneak up on people and how to slit their throats without causing unnecessary sound.

Some seemed not very comfortable with the prospect of ending a life in such a way which she mentally vowed to rectify as soon as possible. The rest of their stealth training would have to wait for a while. Like camouflage or how to conceal their footprints.

It was already evening when she deemed the exercises finished for the day. Now it was time for them to learn the arguably most important skill of any soldier: Communication.

"To know how to defend yourself is critical, but fighting is not what you are going to do the day after tomorrow. Instead you will be patrolling the surrounding streets and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. How do you tell me if anything strange happens when I am inside the royal palace? Well that´s a good question I definitely heard you all ask right now."

She created a semi-transparent projection of the building in question with an illusion formula.

"This is layout of the palace from what I have gathered so far. Their security is clearly lacking, because nobody even noticed me when I flew nearly straight into the throne room. Do you see these windows here?"

She gestured to some stained glass windows near the ceiling of the great hall.

"They are in a position that allows easy surveillance without the risk of being seen. Eight of you will be watching the whole ceremony from either side of the room. These lucky eight will be Kurt, Hemila, Dorgo, Sebastian, Heva, Secca, Heinrich and Lutmil. You all possess the best skills with the crossbow from what I have seen. Only on my order will you interfere. Am I clear?"

"YES SERGEANT DEGURECHAFF!"

Their exceptional marksmanship had not been the only reason why she chose them for the job. Heva and Secca were two demi-human sisters who both had incredible hearing abilities thanks to their big fluffy ears. These two would notice almost everything that was being said inside the throne room.

"But not only will you fill everything with holes that I tell you to attack, no... You will also have a far more important role to play. Look at this tower over here."

Her illusionary map zoomed out and showed the nearby blocks surrounding the palace. A few streets away from it a comparatively small tower stuck out from the cityscape.

"The owner of this delightful little estate is allegedly too old to climb the stairs of his precious tower anymore so we will have it all for us. Two of you, Anselm and Kasim, will stand guard at its top from where you have a direct line of sight to the four people on the west side of the palace roof who are now called Alpha Squad."

While she described this six bright, red dots appeared in the hologram to show their positions.

"Then with small mirrors that I will provide you are going to blink different messages across the distance. Like so..."

Tanya pulled out a hand-sized mirror and reflected the sunlight at a few faces who yelped in shock at being blinded so suddenly.

"Should this not work for whatever reason then you are going to use flags in different colours that I will explain soon. Anselm you will have the task to signal to Alpha Squad while Kasim watches the ground below the tower and the rooftops around you. Together you are the Beta Squad."

Some murmurs erupted in the crowd.

"Good to see you all have questions, but everything will come in time. Now be patient!"

At the end her voice gained a freezing quality that could have cut glass. Silence reigned once again.

"So after Beta Squad transmits a message via the mirrors or the flags to Alpha Squad what do they do? You will put one of these cards into the left corner of the second window on the west side. Don´t worry I will see it."

She produced different coloured pieces of paper from another pocket.

"Green signifies that everything is peaceful and quiet outside. Yellow means that something suspicious is going on, but I don't have to actively look out for it. Red indicates that danger is imminent and I should stay alert."

A hand rose out from the crowd. To no one´s surprise it was Felt´s.

"Yes?"

"How will Beta Squad know if there is something to report?"

"Excellent question. Like I said Kasim is going to watch the ground and the rooftops in his vicinity. That is where the rest of you come in. Felt and Gana are light and fast enough to traverse above the street level. They will observe the city folk from on top of the houses in this area."

A circle appeared inside the projection and marked the region around the castle.

"Stay on the move and avoid being seen. At least Felt has already good experience in this field. The others will patrol as part of the crowd down below. Blend in and just look normal. People will treat you like you are nothing. They will ignore you. But exactly that is your greatest strength! Use this invisibility to your advantage and nobody will ever notice you! You don't need fancy magic to disappear, because you already do."

That got a few of them to look thoughtful all of a sudden. They finally realized the potential that came from their social class.

"Above all else, stay in two-man teams! Don´t lose sight of your partner, for it could spell your doom. A separated agent is easy prey for exactly the kind of people we are looking for. Do you understand?"

"YES SERGEANT DEGURECHAFF!"

"Wonderful. When you see a lot of people with weapons or long hoods that obscure their faces you go to the tower and signal Kasim. If you hear ominous noises or see strange magic being used you go to the tower and signal Kasim. In case your partner suddenly disappears and you can´t find him after you searched for him you go to the tower and signal Kasim. Should you overhear anyone talking about an attack or other nefarious plans, you do what?"

"WE GO TO THE TOWER AND SIGNAL KASIM!"

"Exactly. I trust you enough that you can assess the danger level for yourself without me needing to hold your hand. The units on the ground are all called Gamma Squad. Now the final piece. My trump card. My ace in the hole. Teli, Gerol, Winfred, Reimus, Paul, Kelo, Tarinna and Ussel. Your special potential has been noted by me so you are going to be part of the Delta Squad. You will receive the special, incredible, unfathomable honour to spend your time for the duration of the mission... in the sewers."

Her grin was too frightening for anyone to complain about the shitty job.

"It may sound bad, but trust me it is important. Today, while you all were having a nice relaxing training session, I embarked on a journey into the bowels of this city. And let me tell you, it was not pretty. But what I found out was of tremendous worth."

Tanya simply loved to keep her audience on tenterhooks when briefing them for the first time. It was a touch unprofessional, but she rarely got to have fun in her job.

"Some stupid architect decided it was a good idea for the sewers to run directly beneath the royal palace. All that prevents someone from sneaking their way in that way are a few metal gates that I destroyed easily. I have drawn you a map that will lead you exactly beneath where I calculated the throne room to be. Should anything happen there that I and Reinhard need to escape from then I am going to blow a hole through the floor and together we make an escape. Has everybody understood the general gist of things before I go into more detail?"

"YES SERGEANT DEGURECHAFF!"

The briefing continued for a few hours before everybody knew exactly what to do. Some people would wonder if such intricate safety measures were really necessary, but Tanya knew better. It was almost guaranteed that an attack would happen when all leading figures of the country were present in one room. And she would be damned if she did not prepare.

All she hoped for was that the distraction caused by the rookies would last long enough for her and Reinhard to escape.

(I was bored in class today so I wrote a poem. It´s not necessarily canon to this story.)

Bonus: Daughter of Ash and Steel

A third chance, a third life,

in unfamiliar lands,

a world of misfortune and strife,

in our heroine´s hands.

The silver goddess arose,

from mud and blood and dust,

and she was who people chose,

to lead them stongly and just.

No enemy could stand against her,

and no army could hope to prevail,

the corrupt would shrivel and wither,

and villains got culled without fail.

No mercy was given to those,

that did not submit to her rule,

unherard went their pleas and their woes,

they called her bloodthirtsy and cruel.

But for her faithful believers,

all dreams of change were fulfilled,

she freed them from the deceivers,

and secured the peace she had built.

To all that followed her loyal,

through bloodshed and steady reform,

her soul was undoubtedly royal,

when she took Lugnica´s hearts by storm.

All hail the Argent Queen,

who´s reign was greater then was ever seen.

Notes:

Final poll:

A = Subaru appears in the story as a major character.

B = Subaru does not appear, because Tanya replaces him completly

EDIT: C = Subaru does appear as a character, but is just a regular dude with the same personality. He was not "isekai´ed" but instead was born in Lugnica. He knows Emilia for a long time.

EDIT 2: 10B and 20A at the moment.

EDIT 3: If not at least ten people vote for B then I am going to assume that A is the chosen answer. I am sorry to all those who wanted no Subaru, but this way will be best for Emilia´s character development. And no. He is not going to be the Pride If version. (Not now at least. Maybe later)