I am close to finishing my grand design, but my enemies circle me like vultures. Undead and greenskins to the east, the solar alliance of dwarves elves and humans to the west. I just need a little more time, before the grand Salah'Din of the south or the void creatures to the north catch on.

-The Grand Scientist

The Reiter river is filled with military checkpoints, some of which actually have sub-water incursion protection. A small gem so helpfully provided by an imperial agent was all that was needed to pass any of these, and it was nice to know any additional pursuers would be greatly hampered by glorious bureaucracy. The imperial capital Beirlitz was quite the sight to behold for someone not used to the sights of Moscow. Security was also rather surprised by my entourage of mermaids entering through the Reiter directly into the city.

"Well, this is my stop. Remember to fill out that bucket list I have set out for you, Lychta." It contains valuable intel on how to deal with the locals at Quintillius after all.

"Lady Esstrey, are you sure you will be fine on your own?" Lychta sounds worried while she says it, clearly intimidated by the 'vast' city around her.

"Relax, everything will be fine for me as long as you all follow protocol, and keep up with your training of course!" Some mermaids shudder at the word 'training' as if death approaches. It really is just standard Spetsnaz training that I have been teaching them and the gang, though.

I take my wheelchair, crossbow and identifier gem with me along with a satchel of gold. Now just to find the academy. As I make my way through the capital, I get a lot less stares than I did back in Rivka, with a lot less hostility as well. That doesn't mean much considering a royal mermaid in a wheelchair carrying a crossbow is still not a daily sight, but the stares back then didn't hamper me, and these definitely aren't stopping me. This calm touring of the city is brought to a halt at the nostalgic sounds of people screaming in terror.

"HELP! THERE'S A MONSTER! RUN!" I see some stooges run out of an alley, which I quickly decide needs some more of my calming presence.

"What the fuck is going on here? Fuck are you sissies all running away from?" I try to bait some information from some of the fleeing men to no avail. These men can think of littler than saving their own pathetic lives right now. I keep moving closer into the alley until I make contact with what appears to be a woman in a maid dress turned away from me.

"Oi, you, do you know what has all the people so terrified here? Something about a monster?" I hope this person isn't as terrified as the earlier people. It would be annoying to have to keep looking.

As she turns around, I find myself staring into space. Not in the spacing out sense, but in the sense that the woman before me looks like a starry night sky. As I gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back, and blinks all the starry eyes while doing so. Her legs are all tentacles, and I'm pretty sure she has mouths scattered across her body. I quickly recover as the woman is wary of me being there.

"C'mon, someone with that many eyes has got to have seen what has everyone so fucking scared." The woman? Abyss? Thing? Maid. The maid looks around a bit confused, clearly not used to people asking her direct questions.

"I have not [gazed/beholden/seen] that which you seek. There is no [fight/combat/conflict] in this area." Some of the words spoken by the maid seem to travel directly into my brain. While not being in any language I recognize, they still seem to have little effort being understood.

"Well that's a shame, I was traveling for weeks, only being able to take potshots at the occasional bandit. Do you know where the magic academy is? I have an appointment there." The maid blinks her star-eyes while tilting her head.

"[Negative/no/refusal], but we can look together." The maid approaches me as she says this, and starts pushing my wheelchair.

"Well good, four eyes is-- uhm, yeah, that sounds good." Not wanting to sound racist, I cut that thought off. I'm not in a position or a mood to be picky about strange company. That, and with everything that happened so far, I'm sure this maid is as tired of odd looks as I am.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"I'll just ask because you seem like the type to only give information when asked. What's your name? I'm Esstrey, by the way." I really need to get more used to introducing myself. Furthermore, I barely know anyone by name.

"This one is [known/named/designated] as c̵̮̟̜̑͂̑̐́̄͒̂̅͘͠ţ̵͇̱̦̹̱͉̫̈̀̎͗͒̑̏̒͘h̷̙̹̗̏̄͘ỳ̵̠̻͕̳̤̥͚̯͚̥̮̓̚͜͠ͅd̸̨̞̱͎͎̖̹̅́̍r̶͍̝͓͓̩̣̩̓̇͊r̵͓̦̦̳̟̲̗͉̘̟͉͔̈́̔̐̀̔̃͗̚͝'̶̨̣̳̦̗̉̑̍́̈͗͛͝͝g̶̯̫͓̰͍͔̬̻͙͐̍͋̈́̌̄͛̀͗̉̃͊͜͠n̷͔̼̙͇͇̗͕̥̫̖͖̱̦̽̍͠ǎ̸̡̛̽͌̒́̆." As she says her name, it sounds like someone is trying to speak over radio with a terrible connection.

"I think I heard you say Cathy in there somewhere, so I'll just call you that if that's cool with you." Because I am not gonna bother trying to say that name. No matter how much I am lacking in the introduction department.

"That is indeed [ice/nitrogen/absolute zero] with me." Gee lady, I just said cool not fucking Pluto no need to get all excited.

My opinion on her excitement mellows quickly, as the stares of people that see me getting wheeled around are clearly pointed at Cathy. The same terror in their eyes as the men running from the monster, and if I wasn't here, I'm sure these morons would be even more scared. Thankfully, the sight of someone getting pushed around like a grandmother dims their fears. I think it's actually going rather well until Cathy jerks and speeds me into an alley.

"Esstrey has a [meeting/appointment/fate] with someone through this alley." I do? Well she is either fucking with me, or more likely is actually right, and would make one hell of a secretary.

Coming out of the other side of the alley, I spot a dark elf walking alongside....HER. I make visual with primary target as Cathy accelerates me towards my goal. I load my crossbow, knowing that at distance it won't do anything. Twenty meters. Fifteen meters. Ten meters. Minimal civilians in my sectors, target has not noticed my approach yet. Target has one bodyguard, low probability of problems coming from him. Five meters. I ready myself to leap, and just as I leap at two meters, Cathy stops the wheelchair. I launch on the back of the target, who lets out a yell of surprise. Her bodyguard tries to interfere, I put a stop to his plans by planting a bolt in his kneecap, he goes down screaming in pain.

I bring my teeth to the neck of the target, who is screaming in incoherent fear at this point. Just before I am about to bite down, a metal object gets lodged in my mouth. No matter, my teeth are stronger than most metals on this paltry planet. Before I bite down on the metal to destroy it, I feel something... familiar about its texture. I pause my assault on the woman before me for a moment to inspect the anomaly in my mouth. It has a thick wooden handle, the end of it is flat with sharp edges. I remember this, it is a Spetsnaz shovel.

I remember something about the shovel. Something tied to who I was. I remember the drill sergeant yelling at me. "GODDAMMIT PRIVATE <#$($^%@$> THIS HERE SHOVEL IS TIED TO YOUR LIFESPAN!" The sound of the shovel whistling through the air as the drill sergeant threw it at a practice target. The dummy was hit right where the skull would be, falling over completely destroyed. I remember someone else telling me how and when to dig fortifications. My old CO S-1... no, Dominik Lebedev of the Russian Spetsnaz. He taught me that it doesn't take long for a determined man with a shovel to dig himself to safety. So the power to alter the land should never be underestimated.

I snap back to reality, and find myself getting light shined into my eye. "She's back!". A guardsman steps away from my wheelchair, and I see a dark elf getting a nasty kneewound getting tended to. The demon Queen sitting next to him with a blanket, and a mug of hot something while looking like a disaster victim. I look behind me, and find Cathy still standing there as if nothing has happened. She looks uncomfortable with the guards all looking at her in distrust.

"Well, this is awkward." That redirects the staring towards me, the guards looking at me as if I'm crazy, the dark elf looking at me like I just won first prize puppy kicking contest and the Queen looks like one of those puppies was hers. I take this moment to get an actual look at the oh so great demon Queen. Other than her signature horns sharp tail and bat-like wings, she also has silver hair, and silver eyes. Her stature betraying her age, she can't be older than twenty-two. There is no demon lord looking to overrun humanity here. Only a sad little girl thrust into a world much bigger than her. I notice that the presence of the guards isn't calming her at all.

"Quit fucking gawking, you tin-buckets! Show us where the hell the magic academy is already!" The guards are surprised by my anger.

"We still need a report of what happened here." These guys aren't taking the hint. I take out the little gemstone identifier.

"No." The Queenling needs distraction, the dark elf looks like someone else would be better in tending to him, and Cathy.... is just fine, actually.

The lead guardsman gives me an exasperated sigh, but with none of the involved parties speaking up, he can do nothing. He only gets a glare from me in response.

"We will keep an eye on you." He is obviously trying to sound more intimidating than he is right now.

"Sure you will."