Intercepted Confederate transmission.

Decryption using known ciphers.

Glory xx the Tyrant

Wertford captured x - day ahead of xchexxle. Procexx xx north coast in xx xxx. Request Sky xxight suport.

Alxxxx arxx fexx to xxxx and massed near Crizania-Norrinth border. Encirclement in xxxxxxx.

-Rutherford Baxxinger

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Intercepted Confederate transmission.

Internal communications captured post decryption.

Glory to the Tyrant.

Section Leader Warlock Voight reporting results of investigation.

Primary targets escape. Primary source captured. Request reinforcements. Primary targets too potent.

-Warlock Voight

________

Intercepted Confederate transmission.

Decryption keys insufficient. Attempting cipher inferred from captured device.

Glory to the Tyrant.

Casualty report. Engaged hostiles within secured territory.

Dead: 5. Injured: 12.

Requesting replenishment and reassignment.

Armoured reinforcements received damage. Four units disabled and in need of minor repairs. Request clarification of orders. Pursue or hold?

-Chief Storm Leader Dussel

_______

Intercepted Confederate transmission.

Internal communications captured pre-decryption. Actual transmission sent by agent.

Warlock Voight. Capture and contain if possible. Otherwise detach and report to hq after replacement arrives.

-T

________

Intercepted Confederate transmission.

Encrypted. Decryption using captured device. Partial success.

Glory to the Tyrant.

U Vs to continue hunt. Clear Inner ocean and Sea of Tempests of royal shipping.

Target points: xxx-xxx, xxx-xxx, xxx-xxx.

_________

Encrypted transmission from agent E. Matthews, K. M. S. to Lindorn command.

Decrypted using standard KMS key.

Archon,

Source of anomaly found. Observed through the astral. Anomalies are foreigners. Will attempt contact and diplomacy. Requests clearance to infiltrate Confederate region and support for extraction.

-E. Matthews.

_________

The breeze across the lake hit Yuriko with the stench of fish. Dead fish, rotting guts, and…er, who knew what else, wafted into her nose, and made her sneeze, which also prompted a giggle from Saki. A murderous glare at her Shadow Guard had the woman cross her eyes innocently.

The village was built in a small valley between two small hills that extended all the way into the water as far as Yuriko could tell. There was a black road leading away from the village, and went along the lake’s shore. A couple of docks stretched out into the water, with several wooden posts that had fishing boats moored into them. The fisherfolk were bringing in their catch of the day, but even from atop the ridge, Yuriko could see that their nets weren’t exactly bursting with fish.

There was an oddly disproportionate number of women compared to menfolk, about three to one, and most of the male villagers were either elderly practically children. There were some adult men, but she could only see five of them out and about. And of those five, four were wearing the same uniform as the warriors who had attacked them.

As they crossed the ridge, they were immediately visible to those uniformed men. Yuriko stared fitfully at them, not wishing to start any trouble, since if they fought, those common folk would be implicated, too. She felt their gazes latch on to her face, but inexplicably, they moved from her to the men.

They were armed with those pseudo Plasma Casters, which were slung over their shoulders with straps. Thankfully, they’d left their visible weapons with the others, who had made camp a few hundred paces away, hidden from the road behind a small rise.

As they came closer, one of the uniformed men approached and called out a greeting. He was focused on Sheamus, who nodded, smiled and returned a wave. The man nodded back, but seemed curious and wary. He thumbed his weapon, then actually held it by the grip and put a finger into the trigger guard. The others perked up, and did the same. Then, he barked a few more words at Sheamus, gestured furiously and pointed the weapon’s muzzle at him.

Yuriko bit her lip. Were they doomed to fail here? Would they have to shed blood everytime they encountered these warriors? If they fought here, there was little doubt that they would prevail, but the villagers wouldn’t be in any shape or disposition to trade anything. And no matter what happened, she wasn’t about to condone stealing anything from commonfolk.

Tension rose as the uniformed men gathered and readied their weapons. The villagers nearby noticed it. They hurried away from the potential conflict, but a few kids peeked from around corners or through windows.

Yuriko absently noted that the buildings were all made out of stone, brick, or concrete, and the roofs were slate or sheet metal. There were a number of strangely shaped landcraft parked on the streets. She noticed a flag hanging from the rafters of one of the buildings at the edge, a field of red with three yellow lightning bolts held by a metal fist in the center.

She began to ready herself for battle, thinking that she could leap into their midst and knock them all out before they could use their pseudo casters. But then…

The edge of her perception aura finally encompassed them, and something strange happened. The first man lowered his weapon, looked at her blankly, then shrugged. The other four followed suit, but only after they came into her perception range. Her aura wasn’t visible, of course, as it was as thin as she could manage it. But…her Mien?

The reaction was strange, especially when the others before hadn’t reacted in the same manner. The earlier hostility had faded away like mist against the noonday sun, and the lead man gestured towards them and spoke welcoming words. Well, she assumed that, but she still couldn’t understand what they were saying. From the looks of the others, none of them could, though Sheamus looked like he was trying hard to understand.

The uniformed men called out to the villagers, and soon, the tense atmosphere disappeared. There was that familiar glazed look in their eyes, but it was somehow shallower than what she’d come to expect.

Sheamus tried to converse with them through pantomime. He made gestures that suggested putting things into his mouth, and into his bag. He pointed towards the fish, then he pulled out a shekel coin. The men blinked at that, spoke several more words, then pointed towards the fisherwomen.

It didn’t look like the place had a central marketplace. But then again, there were less than fifty buildings comprising the town. Where did they trade food and other stuff then?

They walked down the main street. There weren’t any others, actually, just the alleyways between the houses. It looked like the uniformed men wanted to follow her around, but she pulsed her desire for privacy through her Mien, and that seemed to work. They waved goodbye, and returned to loitering around their building.

“The lack of ambient Chaos must affect the Mien, too,” Saki whispered.

“It looks like it,” Yuriko answered brightly. From what happened, it was clear that direct contact with her Anima was now needed to affect people with her Mien, meaning all she had to do here was to retract her Anima. Her perception aura would disappear, but it should be a good trade off. At least when they were in a populated area. She retracted her aura now, keeping only the condensed aura as well as her Animus storage out. By now, it was easy to shift hues so that the golden light was no longer visible, though it took some focus on her part. If something hit her aura, the golden light returned, so it wasn’t worth concealing her light during battle, but for everyday life…

Soon enough, they gathered a gaggle of chattering children. Each of them were dressed well, with the girls in skirts and soft shoes, while the boys wore pants and some sort of rubber boots. A girl ran up to her and tugged at her sleeve, all the while yapping away. Their language sounded harsh and stilted, with hard tones and sharp notes, but with a child, it was actually pleasantly melodic. The boys were practically screeching.

A few of the adult women scolded the kids, and they ran off. Then, they were left with the suspicious gazes of the womenfolk, who were hardeyed when they looked at her. Why, though?

She looked around, and realised that no woman wore trousers. Each wore a dress, with long skirts that covered their ankles. Their blouses were long sleeved, too, but that was probably because of the weather. It was pleasantly cool, even discounting the fact that she was never too cold or too hot anymore.

The standoffishness disappeared as soon as Sheamus flashed the Shekels. The coins were mostly made of gold and silver, and Yuriko could swear that their eyes changed to match the metallic hues. One enterprising fisherwoman gestured to a basket of freshly caught fish, then yelled at one of the kids, hers probably, who ran into the house behind her and came back with an assortment of knickknacks.

Braden approached one of the other fisherfolk, who shooed him away in favour of Sheamus, at least until he also showed a handful of gold and silver coins. Then, he, too, was swarmed. Yuriko left them to their haggling and observed the town. Well, she stared out at the lake waters too.

It looked cool and inviting. She strolled towards the shore. There was a small beach near the docks, but she wasn’t about to go wading while Sheamus and Braden haggled. The water felt cold when she extended her aura into it. Its source probably came from snowmelt too. A brief flare of Enhanced Sight allowed her eyes to penetrate the lake’s depths, which was deeper than she thought. A hundred paces away and the lake’s bottom was probably close to fifty paces deep. She saw a multitude of fish and other critters swimming about.

Well, that meant that trying to cross the lake without a boat would be dangerous. Well, no doubt she could swim across easily…hmmm, now that she thought about it, she could probably drag everyone across with little trouble. Something to consider then.

Seeing the pristine water made her remember that she hadn’t been able to bathe in a long while. She glanced at the houses and wondered if one of them would allow her and the others to borrow a bathroom.

Ah! They needed toiletries. She walked up to her hagglers and told them about that need, and both of them tried pantomiming a bath. Which prompted the fisherfolk to gesture towards their homes. Huh.

Those poles with lines connecting each other ran through the town too. And now that the sun was setting, some of the villagers began to light up their homes with lights that looked like they were from Animus panels. The fact that none of them showed any Animus usage baffled her, and she could only conclude that the bulbs drew power from something else.

They finished haggling, and paying for the goods in short order, and from the satisfied smirks, it looked like Sheamus and Braden got fleeced.

Still, the six of them carried several baskets with them back to their camp. Yuriko eyed the uniformed warriors, but other than waving at them, they showed no aggression.

It turned out that they got a glut of dried and smoked fish, as well as some sort of food preserved in cans. Of course, the two boys forked out more than a dozen gold coins each. But they also got bars of soap, some candles and fire strikers, as well as rolled up sticks of paper with some kind of leaf within. She thought she saw the uniformed warriors puffing on the things while the ends were smoldering, so some kind of recreational thing?

Anyway, they settled for a few hours rest before heading out. She planned that they would circle around the lake towards the south and head north once they were around. Perhaps they should follow the roads too, or maybe they could have purchased those landcrafters. But she wasn’t sure if they had enough coins to buy enough of the things to carry all of them.

They travelled through the latter half of the night, slept when dawn came, and were off again come noon. They covered about four or five leagues then, and more importantly, Yuriko didn’t feel that peeper from the north but there was a different sensation of someone watching her that replaced it. It felt markedly different, and that one came from the south, towards the mountains.

Another day and night passed with nothing much happening. But the countryside they crossed wasn’t as deserted as she expected. There was always a farming village within a day’s walk of each other, as well as numerous farmsteads that dotted the plains. The people that lived in Siderious used landcraft for their farming, and the first time she saw one dragging a plow behind it, she couldn’t help but stand and stare.

Then, on the fourth day that they were traveling northwestward, she felt the familiar sensation of a peeper. But this time, she could clearly pinpoint where it was coming from. And that was on a roofless landcraft that was speedily coming closer on the road they were on.