10. Anna Loop I: How Lose A Follower (1/4)

Anna's Perspective.

"Fuck off, girly-brat. You obviously ain't worth a spot in our military. Take your weak and thin, thin weak, and tiny self and get some muscle out of my damn sight!" His words were full of disdain that made rage flow through my very bones. The fact that he says this means he doesn't even know how magic works and has no idea how the body can be enhanced by training. He might assume that I was somehow improperly trained. I know that my muscles only show visibly when I am moving in combat or doing something strenuous, but I was a young lady in a fancy kimono approaching a military recruitment location and entering the samurai track.

Normally a person without training wouldn't even know about the samurai track and go for the soldier track.

Shouldn't this situation give him pause?

This was the exact way the old lady had told me would get me accepted by simply approaching with this appearance.

Weak.

Tiny self.

Out of my damn sight.

Aint worth…

I knew his words were worthless and ignorant but they stung like a slap across the face and forced me to grind my teeth in rage.

I was foiled by the incompetence of the person in front of me and not by my own ability.

I glanced at his instructor badge and his beer gut and grimaced. There is no possible way he earned that badge.

My fingers clenched around the hidden hilts of my scimitars, pondering if it was worth it to untie them from my arm-holsters.

This ignorant oaf refused my entry into the military for the fourteenth loop in a row.

Two sets of seven loops of time that I wouldn't be getting back.

I purchased the kimono to give the appearance of someone who can afford training, learned how to apply to be a samurai and not just a soldier, and all I received in return was disdain.

Technically I would get the loops back, painfully, but it's the principle of the matter!

The thoughts I had and the contemplation of murder of this walking example of nepotism and stupidity in Sarui City.

The irritation that I felt that moment eclipsed the logic I prided myself on.

I would have to die seven pointless deaths in order to reset the loop this time.

I would have to try a different approach next time, but dying hurts!

The thought was as appealing as a mouthful of week-old shit.

It's a good thing I kept all my objects and strength upon death, otherwise this would all be pointlessly tedious.

I wasn't interested in cutting retorts or insulting banter this time.

I decided that, yes, it was worth it.

I would focus on just cutting.

I have him a serene smile that matched my supposed age if not my words.

"Sure, Mister, I sure will carve my name into your bloody corpse, show you how weak you are, ensure you know how much nepotism gets you! I'll even let you live long enough to regret pissing me off. Then I'll find whoever put you in a position of power and turn them into a piece of cow shit! Maybe pig shit even? Oh! But both of you already are! I wonder if pigs will even eat their own refuse if its in the shape of a person! Lets find out!"

His eyes begin to widen with rage, but I wasn't interested in a retort.

With a twist of my wrists my weapons of choice slid out of my sleeves, and moved towards the ground.

I kicked them into my waiting palms as they twirled with the hilts landing squarely within.

I charged forward and cut into his neck with barely an effort.

He was weak and clearly wasn't able to counter or even react for that matter.

Not that being much more skilled would let him react to a movement that I was sure could kill any single person without Ki.

I was more than worth his place and could do his job a million times better.

I wanted a position of combat, though, not a desk job.

I stepped forward and tore his coin pouch from his hip and decided to gather some resources from some reprobates.

They would be reset anyway. I knew they were real but their reality was temporary. Their life was irrelevant in the grand scheme of the world.

I had decided to reset, but it wasn't time to do it right now.

Why did those words feel wrong?

When did I start viewing people as worthless?

When did their deaths become a means to an end?

I bolted and as I swapped my Kimono's colors.

I heard shouting.

I had a witchery expert of enchanting help me a few loops ago to get an enchantment onto the cloth and a few other trinkets.

I had asked her to make it repair itself on damage when fed cloth, clean on dirtying when given water along with color and pattern changing.

A tailor then stitched it together and this work of art was finished.

It only took me a few turns through alleys and I had lost the military based pursuers.

I swapped to an amulet with an enchantment to disguise hair color.

It changed my hair color to red from my natural light violet.

I exited the alley into the streets and looked around.

The city stretched before me as a sprawling labyrinth of cobblestone streets along with many two, three, and one story buildings.

There were the rare few four story towering buildings, but they were usually government owned or belonged to large merchants or businesses.

I moved towards the market and soon arrived after bumping lightly on a few money pouches- sorry, people.

The marketplace teemed with life, sights, sounds, and smells.

As merchants hawked their wares enthusiastically with their voices raised in sales pitches that would make only the most moronic mark approach and buy a 'bread-loafer' I ignored the cacophony of shouting and vying for attention.

No one noticed an extra hand or a missing purse before it was too late.