“Impossible,” The Duke said to me.

I glared at him.

We stood inside the command tent with Hembree, Duke Reverie, Viscount Byron, and Renel. 20 minutes ago, I said I wanted to go in right now. Duke Reverie had begun to argue with me in regard to the feasibility of that action. Hembree and the Viscount had pulled all of us into the command tent to hash it out. We had already gone back and forth for 10 minutes. I couldn’t argue against his reasoning.

In fact, I too saw this now. Well, more so I couldn’t refute Hembree who backed each of the Duke’s and Viscount’s words. The three of us - excluding Hembree - were all on bad footing between our parties. The Duke from his first impression, and the Viscount because he had been at the briefing with the Duchess.

I bit my lower lip as I felt my cheeks burn. All I could do was glare at this point.

It was all I could do to not try and throw my nonexistent weight here. I leaned over the table and I could feel my anxiety manifesting. My leg would not stop bouncing as I tried to control my emotions. Stopping was not an option. I needed to go out there and finish this… This… What…?

… I was aware I was being unreasonable. I think they knew I knew this too. And the more I stood there, glaring at the duke and the map… Each second was another second of me making a fool of myself… Did… Was I the one with the chip on my shoulder here..?

I looked at the map once again. I tried to figure out how I could do this. I thought - maybe there was something I had missed. Unless I became a one-woman army, I wouldn’t make it. Or at least, I would be in deep shit at the end. Cyberware enhanced my capabilities, but that night on the ridge showed me that I was not some god. I had to rely heavily on Yang in this world. On A’s powers and luck.

Hembree broke me away from my thoughts. “Lady Mercy…”

I looked at him, and I saw… Pity? Concern…?

He continued. “I understand that missions from the gods are important. I too wish to help you complete your task. Give us a day. Let the troops rest, and we’ll go with you.”

[A: I agree with him.]

I looked at the tent’s roof and glared. “You don’t need to say it…”

“I didn’t mean to offend you, Lady –” Hembree started but I shook my head.

“It’s A.” I sighed. “She was listening.”

“A…?” He asked.

“The Goddess, Avery,” I answered. “I call her A because… Never mind, there’s too much to explain. Just know I can talk to her in my head.”

“Ah, I’m aware of how this works.” Hembree. “Priest Talmang had explained it before.”

“Well… I hope you guys are happy… She agreed with your guys’ assessment.” I said without being able to hold back the frustration in my voice.

[A: I only came in after you entered the tent.

A: I pieced it together from there.

A: They’re right.

A: They’ll need to sweep the valley as you go.

A: We also have a bigger problem now.]

I pushed away from the table, pivoted on my heel, and stomped out. Hands clenched and robot in tow.

“What now?!” I growled.

[A: … I think we can talk about it tomorrow.

A: You sound like you need to take a step back.]

“I don’t need anything!” I growled as I walked through the camp. “Just… Tell me what’s up…”

I noticed that I was attracting unwanted attention. I needed to get my emotions under control.

[A: … Fine, but talk to me later… okay?

A: A lot has happened and… I don’t think you’re processing it...

A: Promise me we’ll talk about it later.]

I wanted to scream at her. Tell her she just needed to hurry up and tell me what other wrench was going to be thrown at me. It wasn’t until I found myself looking over the eastern ocean. I hadn’t realized how close we’d been. We weren’t close enough to hear the ocean, but I could see it far in the distance. It was a slight slope down to it across several rolling hills. There was a village in the distance as well…

I took a deep breath, inhaling the cold winter air. Then I replied. “Fine.”

[A: Pinky promise me.

A: You’re not the first transplant to lose their mind here and…. ]

“Just. Tell. Me. What. Is. Happening… Please.” I chewed the words.

I didn’t need hers or anyone else’s concern. I was Mercy Xu, the Daughter of Zheng Xu. The man who escaped the Europe-Asian conflict. Landed in Night City and managed to set up an empire due to his good fortune and luck. Not to mention the ability to capitalize on other corporations’ failures.

Night City was a nest of vipers, but also a city where you could rise like a phoenix from nothing.

All it took… Was the right circumstances and choices.

[A:... Yeah… Of course..

A: To the problem.

A: I checked ahead but I can’t see the dungeons anymore.

A: I know they’re still there, but something is blocking my view.

A: Just be careful - we might lose communication inside too.

A: Rest till tomorrow. I’ll have to look for solutions.]

“Yeah… You also got stuff going on…” I ran my hands over my face before I took a deep breath. “We really can’t proceed.”

“Lady Mercy,” Hembree called out from behind.

I sighed and turned. “Yes?”

He still had that concerned look. All I could do was note my lip to try and not snap at him… For the briefest of moments, his eyes became black pixels. I blicked and they were normal…

“I wished to check on you.” He said in a soft voice. “I arranged your tent for tonight. Also, do not worry about the Duke. He… Also wishes we could move tonight.”

I nodded. “I know…”

No other words were exchanged that night.

----------------------------------------

The morning brought with it fresh snow and fresh troops.

Three ‘houses’ had assembled their men. With them came almost 200 soldiers before I awoke and another hundred after breakfast. Less than 50 adventurers had arrived. Mostly F and E ranked with one D ranked. The highest ranks here were the Snow badgers who were all C-Ranked. So at least 550 with change.

“Lady Mercy,” Duke Reverie approached just before I went back inside my tent.

“Duke,” I greeted him with a respectful nod. Not because I respected him - but because I was the one who should have chilled. “How can I help you?”

“I’ve come to let you know that we’re ready to move on the valley.” He said.

I noted that he was in armor as well. It was ornate and polished to a shine. “And what does that mean…?” He looked at me as if I should have known some unknown implication. I was just still mentally drained from yesterday. I sighed. “Look, Duke. We both have different social cues and whatnot. It’ll be better if we both just speak our desires.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Oh… I was just saying that we’re ready to move…” The Duke’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“Dear lord…” I heaved the words out. I was reading too deeply into this man’s words for no reason.

[A: Don’t say my name in vain…

A: :3.]

I wanted to scream.

I gathered my equipment, mainly my bag and Yang, and followed the Duke. He ordered everyone to prepare. It took less than 30 minutes for everyone to get together. All of them formed five large formation blocks of 100 people each. The adventurers mulled about in the back.

“As you all know, the Dungeon here has been overrun.” The Duke yelled. “Today, we will retake the valley. Beware! While they’re goblins, they can still kill! Since there are a lot, there may be variants! There are confirmed orcs as well!”

He went on to say a few more things that I blocked out. I checked my pistol and checked the rifle. I held it now as I asked for a large shield to be given to Yang. It was a wooden tower shield. It was a spare from the Badgers. I decided on a new approach to combat.

The man ended his speech with a brief explanation of their formations:

Five wedge formations. The largest of them being the road wedge. Two wedges for the forest on each side to move with the terrain. It was projected that the road formation would move faster, but it would go as Goblins could set up camps on the sides of roads if they were brave enough. Since there was no scout.

Which reminded me that I had a UAV that could assist in that department.

I opened my inventory and pulled out both tablets along with an electronic headset for hearing protection. As I did so, the Duke was assigning officers their duties and left them with some words. Hembree stuck with me throughout it all. He looked at me with interest as golden particles came together and formed a small BX50 Pelican cargo box. I opened it, and pulled the tablets out before shoving them into my backpack where I can access them immediately. The headset got wrapped around my neck.

I then attached the backpack to Yang as the box disappeared.

With the Badgers and the soldiers here, I planned on keeping him as my shield and mule. The backpack also had the ability to hold external pouches, but I didn’t have enough points to purchase a decent set. If this worked, I wanted to see about hiring the Badgers, or someone trustworthy, to be my vanguard. Or maybe, if I got another HIA, they could work as my up-close-and-personal unit.

Either way, it reduced the amount of weight I had to carry. There were still supplies like food, spare socks, and the emergency blanket. I felt like I was missing something important though… If I didn’t remember, then I guess it wasn’t important.

“What are those?” Hembree asked as I finished doing a once-over of the backpack contents.

“What are what?” I asked as I zipped the back to the right - the side I would stand on.

“Those small squares.” He said. “They look… Expensive.”

“Well… If you consider the full price, yeah.” I chuckled. “Super expensive. The squares are called tablets. They’re personal computers in essence, but the two are loaded with too support functions I suppose. Those are the more expensive parts.”

“How expensive?” He asked.

“Well…” I opened up the store and checked. “The tablets are around 200 each, but the support functions for them are… Yeah, let's just say one is worth a few suns and one is worth a lot of platinum moons…”

His face paled and he leaned in. “So… They’re magic tools…?”

I nodded. “Something like that. Well… If you think about it, modern science is akin to magic. So yeah, totally like magic.”

He nodded. “Don’t tell anyone else what you have. You can generally trust most people with meager things, but things worth more than a moon are enough to attract many people.”

I nodded. “Thanks, but they’re both one-time uses. And I’m sure I’ll need them both today.”

He nodded and looked around. There hadn’t been anyone near us. Even the Badgers had barely finished packing their wagon. Which, I was pretty sure they were taken by the looks of it. It took another ten minutes before everyone go into position. The Duke took the lead and led us all behind the blockade.

Everyone had to watch their step through the craters left from the first day. Beyond that, the wedges entered the forest while we continued on. As I thought, the Badgers brought their wagon to follow behind. They’d paid one of the workers to be their coach, so it brought up the rear. The other adventurers were scattered between the formations, acting as free agents to move as they pleased. So long as they kept with the formation.

Well, aside from the Badgers who took up the Duke’s request to be at the front of our wedge. It worked for me because I was at the front as well with Hembree. Who, by proxy, was accompanying the Duke.

“How many subjugations requests have you taken?” The Duke called out to me.

Well, I think he was talking to me. But since he didn’t specify me, I didn’t respond. I walked next to Hembree while the Duke rode his horse. Yang walked in front of me and Hembree since he was my shield for today.

“Lady Mercy,” Duke Reverie repeated himself louder. “I asked how many subjugations you’ve done.”

“None,” I replied curtly.

Renel, who walked next to me, raised her voice in surprise. “You’ve never done a subjugation request?!”

I shook my head. “The only thing close to subjugation I’ve ever done was buying companies that were hostile to my father’s company. He had a right-hand man who did a lot of the dirty work - you know, the stuff normally involved in Corpo shadow fights. He’d normally send me in after to broker a peace deal or a question.”

Hembree nodded his head. “So your father is a powerful man?”

“Was,” I answered, a little crestfallen. “Before I was… Forced to leave my homeland, he was on the way to leading a world-renown arms corporation… Life and politics happened. I don’t think he’s alive anymore.”

I looked at Hembree. He looked to be in contemplation or something. I looked to Renel, whose eyes watered.

“So, you’re like a fallen noble house after a war.” She muttered. “I’m the same as well… When… When did this all happen?”

“A few days ago,” I said.

Somehow, that killed the conversation there.

We continued on for an hour before we hit our first goblin camp.

“Goblins!” Soldiers began to scream to our right.

I immediately pulled up my headset, flicked it on, and pulled the AR’s charging handle. I readied myself behind Yang as we both moved as one towards the right. The Badgers were quick to pull up on my left as if to wrap around the camp.

The goblins were slower to react. Their camp had a poorly built wall between the trees. Probably from clearing the brush and pushing it outward. Three goblins lounged lazily outside a large open entrance. They hadn’t detected us until our side began loud. The three scrambled for make-shift spears.

Flicking off the safety, I aimed for the far left one. They were less than 50 meters from me. I fired 3 times. The first shot hit the left upper chest, the second missed, and the three ripped through its neck. My headset dampened the concussion waves of the shot - lowering it to a dull bang rather than an ear-splitting pop.

I moved on to the next and fired another 3. The first 2 missed as it scrambled away. The third shot ripped into its abdomen but it continued to charge. I fired another 3 shots and all of them ripped into its upper chest, sending it flying back. The third one was less than 10 meters away when an four arrows struck it down. They came from different angles.

Beyond the dead ones, the camp was wide and build into a downward-sloped clearing. There were a lot of goblins. I didn’t count as they began to scramble out toward us. I continued to squeeze the trigger one after another. Arrows flew past me as well from behind, and from the front. I stepped behind Yang for a moment once I figured my haphazard firing was not helping much.

After a moment I stepped half out - just enough to peek the barrel past Yang’s side. He was a robot, so I didn’t need to worry.

The camp was closer to 75 meters away and the goblins were closing the gap quickly. I started to fire down range again, this time - only when the sights were aligned perfectly back in the direction I wanted it, rather than the general direction.

After about four seconds, the bolt locked back and the rifle clicked when I tried to fire. I growled as I dropped the magazine. I tried to load in another, but I missed the magazine well. Then I missed it again when I overcorrected. I got it on the third three after I slowed down and twisted the rifle enough for me to see what I was doing.

When I brought the rifle back up, the goblins were less than 10 meters away. I cursed and stepped back for some reason, bumping into Grimes - the Snow Badger’s Ranger. He cursed at me as I knocked his arrow to the ground. That brought me back and I stepped back up to Yang.

The goblins crashed into soldiers who’d set up in line with Yang. Spears jutted out from our side, killing the first line of goblins. Yang didn’t react as they collapsed on him, but instead, kneeled and allowed me to fire over him. The soldiers on either side stabbed at the goblins, but that was futile, so I ordered Yang to go on the offensive.

Yang rammed the shield against the small horde. They gave way against his weight and strength. Once he’d gotten some clearance, he discard the shield by throwing it like a frisbee into the crowd. Several goblins fell in its wake. Yang’s repaired mantis blades jutted out and everything within its reach was cut down. He managed to clear a nearly ten-foot radius around him as he moved side to side.

Some goblins lost their heads, some were cut in half at their abdomen, while a few were cut down the middle.

He was a dealer of death, and I followed in his wake.

At this range, I didn’t need to aim. I focused only on his right, pulling the trigger as fast as I could. The goblins tried to scatter, as the smoke from my barrel filled the air. My bullets tore through them as if they were paper. They had no way but up the valley now as the Duke’s men cut off their way down.

One brave goblin tried to fight back. Maybe because it figured it had no chance at survival, it would spite me. It lounged at me as I dropped my third magazine and was loading the last one from my belt. It managed to grab ahold of me and sandwich my rifle between the two of us. Its frenzied face screamed into mine. It probably could have done some damage, but all I could see at that moment was desperation.

For a brief moment, I hesitated…

Then, it was gone. It had been pulled away and thrown to the ground where Hembree finished it off with a stab to the chest.

I could only stand there wide-eyed before he pulled me back into the fold. The goblins broke completely and fled up the road. All the while being shot at by our archers. Soldiers chased after them with the Duke before stopping almost 30 meters ahead. They’d killed all but a few.

Hembree shook me before he ripped my headset off my head.

“That was fucking dangerous!” He yelled. “You shouldn’t have rushed in after Yang! You froze there! If I hadn’t been there, you would have been dead!”

I didn't know what to say. He… Was right in a way. Renel and Grimes returned. They too chastised me for being reckless. Yang also agreed that I shouldn’t have pushed after him. He was a machine, I was flesh…

For five minutes, stood there and held my tongue. Not because I was scared or meek, but because the three of them looked scared for me. Not… Angry…

After that… I realized I’d dropped my rifle somewhere…