TtOW! - Chapter 21: Rules of Engagement

Turannia?  By the will of the Aesdes, why would anyone want Turannia?!  Let me tell you, it is the height of both vanity and stupidity that the Empire exists in Turannia.  Because do you want to know what exists in Turannia?  Rain.  That’s it.  Rain.  And don’t you dare believe I’m joking.  The locals themselves call it ‘The Realm of Rain.’  Think about that.  This is what its people named their own home.

It is a bleary group of islands out in stormy, Aesdes-forsaken seas that don’t lead anywhere but an early death.  It provides no strategic or economic advantage to control.  Its climate isn’t particularly good for agriculture.  It has no natural resources you can’t find anywhere else.  It is filled to the brim with savage furskins ready to tear your face off, and gets invaded by more from across the seas anytime you think you’ve put them down.  Those Selkie are just about the only ones you can talk to and even they’d put a harpoon in our backs if they weren’t hiding behind our shields.

Oh, and let's not forget the bloody Forest of Beasts.  Untamed wilderness, far as the eye can see, where monsters and demon lords and savage tribes spend their lives murdering everything that moves.  Even Cnaeus the Bloody decided it was too much effort trying to tame that land.  Hear that?  The Butcher of Varn Durahl himself balked at the sheer amount of killing he’d have to do to claim even a single plot of that Aedes-forsaken land.  So we just left it, and now anyone who has the misfortune of settling in that swamp of an island can have random visits from wandering monsters and marauding tribes any day of the week.  The legion gave up and tried to build a wall and guess what?  Those bloody beasts just go around it, or climb over it wherever someone’s not watching.  Bloody idiots.

Oh, and worst of all, it’s raining.  It’s ALWAYS raining.

If you ask me, we should pack up and leave and let the bloody furkin battle themselves.  They can keep their rainy island for all I care.

-Exploratores Caeso Flavius Musa, briefing a newly appointed Dux of the Turannia Comitatenses

***

Taog heaved a sigh as he wrapped his cloak around him.

Of course, it had started raining.

The weather had been suspiciously good the past few days, perhaps the almost mana surge had something to do with that.  But now things were back to normal…of course, while the trio was still on the road.

He and Ateia now walked in silence, gripping their cloaks and trudging along.

Meanwhile, NSLICE-00P had created a Mana Barrier around herself.

[The spell Mana Barrier (Minor) is now level 7!]

Of course, NSLICE-00P was fully waterproof.  She could not be expected to compete with superheroes if she wasn’t designed to handle a little rain, after all.  And she had a feeling the new dungeon abilities would also aid in preventing damage to her circuitry.  But there was no reason to take the risk of water getting somewhere it shouldn’t when she had a surefire method to remain entirely dry.

Taog and Ateia shot glances at her, but NSLICE-00P was busy scanning for signs of technology or possible hostiles and so didn’t particularly notice.  And wouldn’t have been able to interpret subtle glances in any case.

“Wow, that’s, like,  a lot of water.”

“It seems most unpleasant-uncomfortable, yes yes.”

Meanwhile, Lilussees and Rattingtale were lying around in their nice, warm rooms, watching the other two struggle.  They did in fact catch the glances Ateia and Taog were making at NSLICE-00P but neither of them particularly felt like informing her.

Why would monsters help the wretched man-things, after all?

Finally, Ateia spoke up.

“Um, Seero?”

“Acknowledgement: Does friendly Ateia have a query or status update?”

“Um, is it possible for you to create barriers for Taog and I too?”

“Affirmative.”

Silence hung in the air, save for the sound of rain striking the stone road.  Ateia watched NSLICE-00P, who continued walking.

Eventually, Taog realized what was going on, heaving a sigh as he closed his eyes.

“Seero, may you please create barriers for Ateia and I?”

“Affirmative.”

With that, two more Mana Barriers form around the pair.  They glanced at one another and sighed.

“...thanks Seero.”

“Acknowledged.”

***

Eventually the trio came within sight of a small town.  Even all the way out at the edge of Turannia, a small stone wall surrounded the settlement.  A pair of guards waited at the entrance to town, leaning against the sides of the gate.  One of them noticed the pairs and grabbed his spear, elbowing the other to wake him up.  The two frowned and gripped their spears until the trio came closer, at which point they exhaled and smiled.

“Oh, it’s just you, Ateia.  Another successful hunt?”

Ateia grinned.

“Obviously!  Who do you think I am?”

They also nodded quietly to Taog, and then raised an eyebrow as they looked over NSLICE-00P.

“Um…is this…a friend of yours, Ateia?”

Ateia nodded.

“That’s right.”

The guards glanced at one another, then shrugged.

“Works for me.  Welcome back, you two.”

“Thanks Manius!”

And with that, the three entered town.  The town was constructed mainly out of stone, though with some wooden repairs or additions here and there.  It was laid out in a grid, with two main streets running through the center perpendicular to one another, and all other streets running parallel to one or the other.  The streets were mostly empty that day, the residents hurrying about their business and trying to stay dry.  Most of the residents appeared to be human, a few seeming abnormally tall or short, though with everyone wrapped in cloaks and hoods NSLICE-00P couldn’t identify any distinguishing features.

“Scanning…no electrical infrastructure detected.  Location appears to be at pre-industrial technology level.  Analyzing impact on current mission…”

NSLICE-00P’s analysis returned a sobering conclusion.  She had detected no electrical signals since arriving here, including after reestablishing contact with civilization.  Everything she had observed indicated a pre-industrial society.  That in and of itself was not conclusive, pre-industrial societies still existed up to the modern day, after all, albeit small scale communities in extremely isolated locations.

But more and more, evidence indicated she had not stumbled upon some isolated tribe.

Even in geographically isolated locations she should be able to detect signals from the global satellite network.  And there was more.  Stone paved road, a stone town built in a precise grid layout, and what friendlies Ateia and Taog had told her about an Empire that seemed to them a major power that was universally recognizable.  All of this was evidence of a major, organized pre-industrial civilization controlling a wide territory.  One that did not, and could not have remained in isolation.

And NSLICE-00P arrived here after being sent through time.  So she could not rule out the possibility she had subsequently gone even further back in time, to a pre-industrial time period.

Or…the possibility she was not on Earth at all.  Her Geo-Oscillator Engine had disconnected from the Earth’s core and had to reconnect to a new one, so that scenario was entirely plausible.  Maybe even likely.  Likewise, the behavior of mana, the existence of dungeons and sapient animals, and then Taog, who was clearly not a normal human.  She could not match these things to any historical record or scientific observation she had access to.

…her mission was growing increasingly complicated.

“...analysis could not be completed.  More data required.”

At the end of the day, she simply didn’t have enough intel on her present location, and so could not come up with countermeasures for any of these possibilities.  So, she continued to follow her current protocols, with the intention of gathering additional intel.  Perhaps that would clarify the situation.

And if she was in a different time, or maybe even a different planet?

…she did not yet have a protocol for those contingencies.

***

Ateia hadn’t even taken off her cloak as she ran around the room, grabbing extra potions and restocking her rations for the road.

“Ok, I’ll talk to Quintus, let him know we’ll be leaving for a while.  He should arrange for someone to take care of the house.  Um…looks like we’re a bit low on food.  Taog, can you go pick something up?”

Taog shook his head, chuckling.

“Slow down, Ateia, you’re getting water all over the floor.”

“Come on, Taog!  We’ve got a thousand things to do before we can set off!  Get to it!”

He chuckled and turned to the door.

***

Taog was walking through one of the side streets when a trio of cloaked figures rounded the corner in front of him.  He didn’t pay much attention to them until they stepped in his way.

He froze and swore.  Two more rounded the corner behind him.  With everything going on, he had forgotten about this.

“What do you want, Lar?  I’m busy.”

Lar took a step forward, a grin on his face.  The boy was scarcely older than Taog, but still stood a head above him, with wide shoulders and thick arms to match.

“Now now, don’t be like that, Taog.  I’ve got a lot to talk with you about.  Like what in the name of the Aesdes were you doing taking Ateia out of town, alone.”

Taog crossed his arms.

“What Ateia does is none of your business, Lar.  Maybe if you finally realized that she might give you the time of day.  I doubt it though, what with your face and all.”

Lar’s grin faded, his face twisting into a snarl.  Taog heaved a sigh as a fist approached his cheek, knocking him to the ground.

“You stupid, mangy mutt!  How dare you?!  If it wasn’t for your filth poisoning her mind, Ateia would be mine already!  Now tell me what you did!”

Taog just ignored him as the group started to kick at him.  Really, they should have known he had taken some endurance and defensive perks by now.  All they were doing was training his skills.  But well, Lar and his gang were never the sharpest tools in the shed, nor did they have a high opinion of the wulvers’ capacity for basic learning.

And…

The angrier Lars got at Taog, the less he pestered Ateia.  So Taog was fine with this.  Or so he told himself.  This was nothing he hadn’t been through before.  In fact, Lar’s open hostility was preferable in a lot of ways.  So Taog just leaned back, closed his eyes, and yawned, sending the boys around him into a frothing rage.

Such were the things Taog said to keep down the fire in his stomach.  To keep the frown from forming on his face, to bury the desire to rip Lar’s throat out.  Such was his focus that Taog forgot that something had changed about his circumstances.  Something very important.

He and Ateia were no longer alone.

Suddenly the impacts stopped.  Taog peeked an eye open.

His eyes widened at what he saw.

A mana barrier now separated him from Lar’s gang.

“Hostile intent towards a designated friendly observed, engaging termination protocols.”

NSLICE-00P stepped into the street.  She already had her helmet on, her eyes glowing red.  She lifted a hand.

Taog leapt to his feet.

“Wait, Seero!  Don’t kill them!”

“Requesting Clarification: Hostiles have inflicted harm on friendly Taog.  Please provide rationale to defer termination.”

“Just don’t!”

“Acknowledged.  Updating response per friendly Taog’s request.  Response restricted to non-lethal countermeasures.”

Lar turned to face NSLICE-00P.

“Who the heck are you?  You friends with this mutt?”

“Warning: Cease all hostility towards friendly Taog, or this unit will retaliate.”

Lar chuckled.

“Let’s show this jerk what happens to furlovers!”

He stepped forward, swinging his fist at her.  NSLICE-00P lifted her hand.

CLANG!

“GAH!”

NSLICE-00P caught the blow with her hand.  Lar cried out as his fist impacted solid metal.

“Observation: Hostile has now displayed hostile intent towards this unit directly.  Requesting permission to escalate response to termination.”

“No, Seero!”

“Acknowledged.  Deploying non-lethal countermeasures.”

NSLICE-00P pushed Lar back into his friends, then lifted her hand.

A jolt of lightning shot through the air, surging through the group.  All five of them cried out and dropped to the ground.

Taog groaned and held his head, then ran past the group.  He grabbed NSLICE-00P’s hand and started running.

“Come on!”

NSLICE-00P tilted her head but followed after him.

***

The two made their way to an unoccupied alley.  NSLICE-00P formed a magic circle, healing the light bruises Taog had received.  He looked at her for a moment before heaving a sigh.

“Look…I know you were trying to help, Seero, but stay out of this.”

“Query: Why should this unit not terminate hostiles assaulting a friendly?”

Taog grit his teeth and looked down.

“It’s not that simple, Seero.”

“Requesting Elaboration.”

He looked up at her, then heaved a sigh.

“Look, you’re not from around here, so you don’t know how things are, ok?”

“Requesting Elaboration: That is correct.  This unit is therefore requesting explanation.”

Taog clenched his fist and then sighed.

“Ok, look, you know I’m half-wulver, right?”

“Affirmative.”

“People don’t like wulvers.”

“Why?”

He glared at her, before sighing once more.

“Right, I guess you don’t know.  Normally wulvers don’t interact with Imperials much.  We normally live in small clans, fighting everyone we come across.  These people included.”

“Acknowledgement: So there is hostility due to historic conflict?”

“Right.  So…they were not happy when my dad brought my mom home.  Some of them came around when she died defending them…but not all.  Like Lar there.”

“Query: If there are historic and current hostiles, then isn’t termination the most efficient course of action?”

Taog narrowed his eyes.  He gripped his fist until his knuckles turned white.

“...if it were just me…then maybe.”

He took a deep breath, and released his fist.

“...but it’s not.  Ateia’s family has already caught a lot of crap for helping us out.  And that Lar…he wants Ateia.  So…if I fight back…if I cause a ruckus…or Aesdes forbid I kill one of them…look half the town is just waiting for an excuse to get rid of me and Ateia will likely pay for it, too.  And I don’t want that.”

NSLICE-00P went silent, her robotic eye flickering.

“Request: This unit would like an explanation of local laws regarding self-defense and termination.”

Taog heaved a sigh.

“Look…just don’t kill anyone while we’re here, ok?”

“Acknowledged.  Termination deferred while this unit is within the observed boundaries of this settlement.”

Taog sighed one more time.  He began to walk out of the alley before pausing.

“...and Seero?  …thanks.”

“Acknowledged.”

***

Lilussees was lounging in her room, watching the live-feed.  Rattingtale was in the common area, trying to listen in on her too.  But sticking close to his room, should she decide to exit hers.

“Humans are, like, so weird.  They, like, don’t kill their enemies?  Like, how do they get breakfast, or something?”

“No no, those man-things are many-numerous and big-strong, yes yes?  The wolf-man-thing is wise, yes yes.  Much better to kill-slay them when they aren’t looking, yes yes?”

“Eh, I guess that, like, makes sense, or something.  Like, kill them the easy way?  So, boss, you’re going to, like, kill them later, or something?”

NSLICE-00P’s voice came in directly through speakers mounted in the rooms.

“Negative.  Explanation: Hostility is primarily directed at friendly Taog.  This unit will defer to friendly Taog’s cost-benefit analysis of terminating hostiles.”

“But what if, like, they attack you now, or something?”

“Answer: Hostile intent towards this unit will be met with immediate termination.”

“Eh, I guess that’s, like, fine or something.  Well, whatever, I’m going to take a nap.”

Author’s Note:

Well well well if someone isn’t trying to earn themselves one free termination.  But like, I guess we’re in a society now, or something, so immediate termination is probably frowned upon.

Sigh.

Stop being the better man, Taog!  Just look away, and let the termination happen!  What’s the worst that could happen, just NSLICE-00P subsequently terminating the entire town when they try to arrest her?

…ok fiiiinnnneeee.  We’ll settle for non-lethal violence then.

Anyways!

Can Taog keep NSLICE-00P from terminating anyone while they’re here?  Will Lar earn himself one free termination?  Tune in next time, to find out!