1.3

Ah ah ah, I love you very much, Doraemon~

The smell, it was simply maddening. The small Amish village, drenched in blood, with no one left alive. The girl huddled in a corner, waiting the inevitable, surrounded by the stench of death. Then from the fog arrived the devil, a being so evil it couldn’t be human. It reached out toward the girl, the red right hand placed on her head.

You can run, you can hide, but you can never escape from the Killer Queen.

“Aghhh” The girl was violently woken up by the nightmare, the memory. It had been years but the sights, the stenches of corpses still lingered.

“Are you alright?”

The old lady, Mara, was still awake. She doesn’t reply, outside it was still night. Her watch showed 2pm, which was obviously wrong.

“You want some tea, Doraemon” Mara asked.

“Ugh”

So the name stuck after all, curse that guy. The girl had intended to turn it down but then she caught a glimpse of Mara’s worried expression. Doraemon accepted the cup of tea and held it with both her hands, blowing on it gently.

Life was sure full of surprise. Just yesterday, the girl was partying in the seedy alleys of London and now, she was in some sort of fantasy land.

Of course, Doraemon had entertained the thought that this was some sort of VR experience. That the real her was sitting somewhere drooling like an idiot. She sure hoped that wasn’t the case. Though being here to ‘save the world’ didn’t help to dispel that theory. Huh, what kind of idiot would still write a script like that.

Doraemon took a sip and found herself stunted as the taste sunk in.

How long had it been since she last has tea? No not the kind spiked with all kind of boosts that the youth drunk. The kind made out of genuine tea leaves and all that. The answer was years ago, when she was in that Amish village.

So that explained it, the smell of tea must have given her the nightmare. That and a spreading sensation, was that thing here as well, Killer Queen! No, that didn’t seem to be the case, but she couldn’t help but wait in fear. The girl felt like it could appear at any moment.

Suddenly, a pair of hands gently clapped over Doraemon’s own and in that moment, she could feel peace.

“Don’t touch me!”

The girl immediately swatted the concerned old lady’s hand away. The tea cup fell to the ground and broke into pieces. Mara simply sighed slightly and kneeled down to clean up the mess. It took her quite a bit of effort with that missing leg.

Nevertheless, Doraemon stormed out, leaving the old lady and a still-sleeping Fleur behind.

Outside the wind was blowing strong, the girl could feel her face’s freezing. How long had a hoodie been a thing and no one had figured out how to keep one’s front from cold. At least she could change its pattern with ease. After some contemplation, she finally decided to settle on a new design. A wave ran down the hoodie, filling its surface with the Union Jack.

After even more thinking, Doraemon had decided to keep the ears.

“Now that is convenient”

A voice rang out, it was Eikichi, who had been near for god know how long.

“Why don’t you move somewhere else, I am enjoying the view here”

Doraemon really didn’t want to put up with this guy at this moment. Right now, her heart was starting to tighten, her breathes becoming shallow. This attack came every time after a nightmare, which meant quite frequent.

The girl tried to hold it back, not wanting Eikichi to notice. Luckily, he didn’t seem to see it, or did he. The guy, despite his attempt of making a mockery out of himself, was frighteningly competent.

In the end, not wanting to be near Eikichi any longer, the girl returned back inside. Mara was still trying to pick up all the pieces for the broken cup.

“Good grief”

Doraemon decided to give the old lady a hand. She really didn’t want to but there was nothing else to do. Going off by oneself didn’t seem like the best idea and that Eikichi was lurking outside.

Mara looked at the girl and said “Thank you” Her voice filled with gratitude.

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Ugh, those eyes. Doraemon looked away, the girl couldn’t look back into those genuine eyes.

Oh well, at least this Mara didn’t seem to ask questions.

Meanwhile, there was that beautician, still sleeping somehow. As the two finished sweeping the floor, they could hear a faint knock on the door. It was one of the locals who had founded them, Alva. She was here for Doraemon specifically but Mara could tag along. The beautician, meanwhile, could continue being oblivious.

The old woman grabbed a makeshift crutch and Alva propped her up. Doraemon looked at the two, the girl felt annoyed, by what she couldn’t tell.

They arrived at the dinning room where Alva’s companions were eating noodle.

“So what do you need for me for” Doraemon asked coldly, not wanting to be around any more than she had to.

“Why don’t you guys sit down and have some as well, this is good”

Cassian beckoned and Mara and Alva agreed. The girl sighed, it seemed like whatever matter will have to wait. Maybe in the meantime, having some noodle might be prudent.

“This is amazing, it is as good as the soba in the capital”

So these people had heard of soba before. Not that surprising, the Divines, were apparently from Doraemon’s world as well. Still, this was miles better than the girl had ever expected. She looked up to see Eikichi leaning at the door with a pink apron wrapped around his sizable frame.

“Liking the soba?” The man asked.

“Until you arrive that is” Doraemon answered.

“That hurt, this took me a while to make you know!”

Wait, this oaf actually made this delicate treat.

“I even make dessert if anyone wants some”

He brought in a tray full of small chocolate cupcakes. They were freshly baked, the smell was enough to make any connoisseur drooled. As much as Doraemon didn’t want to admit it, these were some good cupcakes.

___

After the light meal, it was time to talk business, or not. Johann was strictly against talking when the table was still a mess. And so Doraemon had to sit around for some more as the others cleaned the place up, which included the kitchen as well. Mara tried to help but she was turned down for obvious reason, the old lady sat back at the table, looking a bit dejected.

‘What a busybody, so this is the ‘hero’ these people are relying on. What a riot’ Doraemon thought to herself, looking at Mara.

Finally, after much delays, it was time to talk business.

“So now what, are you going to teach us magic or something” Eikichi asked.

“No, that’s for later” Johann replied.

“So we will be learning magic then”

“You can say it like that, just talk to Alva, she can relay the basic”

As he finished that, his fiancée waved at everyone cheerfully. Johann immediately glared at her to stop, this was serious business.

“We are currently in Saragarhi, the biggest town in the area. Some time before, a nearby settlement called for help as their place was being threatened by a monster”

“So we are minster-slayer now” Said Doraemon mockingly.

“I’m not sure I could be of help” Mara muttered.

“No, it’s not that, the beast was vanquished and that is the problem. Us three are the only detachment here that are capable of such task. No, the monster was killed by a group of travellers from another town altogether. Using their victory, those guys urge the people of Saragarhi to host this little festival”

“Maybe they are the masked guys” Eikichi mused.

“No, those Fallen can not converse. But yesterday they spoke to me, all of them with the same voice riddled with distortion. So the people above those Fallen have finally shown themselves. They maybe the one to fell the beast, but what for, I have no idea. One thing we are sure of is that those people want you all dead”

“That’s just great”

“Hm, and here I think we are in hot water here, Doraemon” Said Eikichi.

“That was sarcasm, you dimwit”

“Enough!” Johann slammed at the table “To be frank, the situation is dire. We can sure that these new enemies can use mana, the thing you people still have no idea of. It is possible that they organised this festival to flood Saragarhi with people so that strangers can blend in and strike when we let our guard down. That is why I asked you specifically to come”

That last part was directed toward Doraemon.

“So, what do you need, dear prince”

Her attempted to get a rise of him fell flat. Johann just looked at her intensely “It is not possible for us to depart just yet, out in the open, we will be slaughtered. But eventually they will get to us here. No, we need to root these people out, your cloaking ability maybe useful for that purpose. I suppose you wouldn’t object, seeing that your life is also on the line here”

“Are you threatening me, hillbilly prince!”

“Why is he ‘hillbilly’?” Questioned Eikichi.

Doraemon proceeded to ignore the man “… Anyway, I want to help you as well but this, I will sit out of this. I know next to nothing about this world, how am I supposed to find anything out of the ordinary. Besides, you seem to have no idea as well what these people are capable of yourself. What if they have some crazy spell set up to detect, I don’t know, an invisible net, that wouldn’t be funny”

Come to think of it, she still had no idea how Eikichi found her out. Talk about that guy, he was raising his hand like an eager snotty student trying to impress the teacher “Oh me me!”. Johann let him speak.

“Why don’t we set a bait then, one of us could go out while Doraemon here could shadow that person”

“It’s too risky” Cassian immediately objected “What if they strike that person down faster than she could alert us!”

Eikichi suddenly turned around and pinched at Doraemon cheek before she could react. The girl jumped back while hurling razors at him. The man simply catched all the small blade without fail, including the ones aiming at his crotch.

“For that duty, I volunteer”

Johann was going to say something but was interrupted as Eikichi flung one of the razor straight pass him. The young warrior couldn’t even react, the blade was too thin to even see. And yet, this bald man in white vest and a stupid tie managed to catch five of the things. Cassian seemed to trust this person ability, Johann could start to see why.

This plan was still too rushed, the meeting here was supposed to be more of a discussion to draft up a better one. But somehow, in Johann there was a small ember of hope lighting up.

“Maybe this could work”

“Bollock!” Doraemon immediately reacted “If that is the case, then I can handle this by myself”

And with that, she stormed off. Eikichi whistled “What a tsundere”

“What is that?” Mara asked.

“Well, people like her” The man also took his leave, he was stopped by the old lady though.

“Earlier, that girl… she was shaking. Please look after her, Mr. Kira”

“Anything for you miss, and please, call me Eikichi”

With that, the bald man left, leaving behind a worried Mara.