Disclaimer: "Gate: Thus, the JSDF fought there!" and "Girls und Panzer" don't belong to me, but to their respective authors. This is a translation and possible improvement of my original fanfic "GATE: Thus, the tankery schools fought there!" and by no means I mean to have any monetary compensation by doing this.

The cover belongs to its author, whoever it may be.

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Chapter 2
Local Ties

War Room, HQ building, Alnus Hill [Occupied by the Academic Coalition]
D-Day +12

"Demoted... to a mere... recon unit... degraded... hahaha... sniff... hahaha..."

Inside the War Room of Alnus' Headquarters building were located some of the key officers from all the European academies, who were discussing an important, yet tricky, issue: the exploration of this new world called by the enemy prisoners as Falmart, something crucial for launching future operations. But...

When she entered, the state of the room was as follows: two commanders behind the desk at the back, some other commanders and a few officers scattered over there or leaning on a table, and one last officer with a kind of familiar face sitting in a fetal position in a corner with a dark depressive aura around him, all the while muttering things like "Demoted," "A glorious Panzer Akademie officer down to this," "I was one of those who led the final attack," among other gibberish that she couldn't understand.

Did she mention that at least half the people in the room looked as if they had just run a marathon for the last couple days? And wait, was that a purple eye?

"What... happened here?" Asked Miho after eyeing the place, standing near the door in case it was time to get away from there. With a hand gesture the commander of the academy to which the depressive officer also known as Karl Schmidt belonged, General der Akademie Derek Hermann, called her to ignore the people around them. Miho approached the table in front of the chair where the general sat, where she saw multiple papers with information regarding different units and their weapons, ammunition, and fuel, among others. In addition to those, there were some other papers arranged in a disorderly way but set apart from the rest, at the corner of the desk, with the one on top saying "Reconnaissance Teams".

"Getting directly to the point, Kommandant Nishizumi" the general began with a clear expression of tiredness, probably due to paperwork, as he started to check said papers at the corner. "We are creating autonomous exploration teams to explore this new world. The missions of these teams are to explore the land, send information back to HQ, create beneficial ties with the natives when possible, and study the local system's inner workings and their way of life, all of that besides being able to work as a whole unit when necessary and being able to give support to other troops when needed. Based on the enemy armies' structure, gear, and weapons, we can assume that they use a system between ancient and medieval, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right? We don't want any surprises." Miho nodded at his words, a bit distracted due to the two Russian officers who were limping out of the room in the meantime. Behind them, two British army men were sobbing their arms, with slightly prideful grins on their faces. Really, what happened in this room before she arrived? Hermann appeared to notice she was getting distracted and called her out on it. "Are you listening?"

"Ha-I mean, yes sir!"

Hermann gave her a side look before shrugging and going back to the papers with information. "Total's eight teams, consisting of four main teams, two light teams, one reserve team" Hermann nodded at her and Miho nodded back, getting the implicit yet-no-so-subtle message. "And one command team" this time he pointed to the still in fetal position German officer at the corner, who now was being comforted by his peers. Miho didn't know what to do with the sight of the same officer who almost got into a melee fight using a pen barely a month and half ago now reduced to a sobbing mess, so she respectfully turned back to the general. "Your team will me made of the tanks your school brought, a Japanese crew of another school whose leader insisted on being with you, and one European crew, whose commander will be there as a 2IC of sorts to assist you in all matters related to the European academies inner workings, functions and real warfare. Besides that, we'll attach a half-track with an infantry component for urban environments, overwatch and similar. Any questions?"

"None, besides when will I meet my team."

"Right. Well, first of all, here you have" Hermann gave her a small stack of papers, with the first one being labelled as "Reserve Reconnaissance Team". Eyeing their contents, Miho checked they were about the team's detailed composition, resources, reasons for its existence and so on. "You will meet you team tomorrow at 0900 hours at vehicle bay #9. That should be all, right...?" The general checked his things for a few seconds, seeing that everything was in its apparent place. "Yeah, that should be it. Well, Kommandant Nishizumi, you are dismissed."

Miho nodded one more time before quickly leaving, wanting nothing more to do with the weird command room. Sighing, general Hermann then turned to the no longer sobbing officer in the corner, whom he kicked up.

"Get up. I wouldn't give you a low position even if I wanted to... not that I can either way, but you get what I mean" he said, clearly annoyed, causing the officer to quickly get up and recompose himself. "I'll give you the leadership of the command team. That means, you will be in command of all recon teams. Is it enough?" The officer nodded vigorously, or what could be said to be his concept of vigorously, before fixing his uniform the best he could. After that the general called all the remaining officers and generals present to the central table, where they located around it.

"Now, let's finally address the main issue" the general's attention was drawn to the man, none wanting to be the one to resurface the topic that originated the heated topic from earlier. "Who will be the nominee to accompany the Japanese's Reserve Team?"

A deathly silence invaded the room. No one wanted to go with them, mainly due to the expectation that they would not get into much action, and that the lack of practice of the Asians would prove more of a burden than necessary. The issue had already taken its toll in the officer corps, the amount of people at the present quite a few numbers below the one that was there half an hour prior.

"I'd like to propose Russian tank officer Khoakin Petrakov of the Comrades Academy," Karl spoke, breaking the silence. The rest looked at him with a slight suspicion.

"For what reason do you want him to go with our Japanese assistants?" Inquired Scott, the general in charge of the Guards Academy. Most of the generals with more than a semester in their post were at least familiar with the infamy regarding said Russian officer, and the thought of putting him with unknown elements was obviously going to raise some eyebrows, at the very least.

"He has vast field experience and can adapt even when the group of misfits under his command increases by a large amount, as many here have witnessed. Not even infantrymen are saved from his dumb yet effective ideas."

"And the real reason?" Now asked the general of the Comrades Academy, general Isakovich. He, besides knowing the best the exploits of Petrakov among all the higher ranks, also knew that the German officer Schmidt and Petrakov had something of a rivalry going on, one that many times crossed the boundary to open hostility.

"Let's be honest here" he sighed. "Who among us wants to have him directly under our command while dealing with an entirely new world plus an unknown number of romans and a bunch of mythical creatures?"

The officers in the room began muttering comments on the truth of said statement, being interrupted by general Isakovich. "Alright, votes in favor of officer Khoakin Petrakov, commander of an IS-2 and member of the Comrades Academy, to join the Reserve Recon Team?" All officers present who weren't generals raised their hands. The field heads of the academies only nodded, not being allowed to vote on this matter. "Well then, by unanimous vote of this council, officer Petrakov will become part of the Reserve Reconnaissance Team, callsign Downfall-7. This meeting is adjourned."

As soon as he had said those words the door opened, showing the mentioned officer entering the room flanked by a couple other members of his academy. "Good afternoon, gentlemen. Sorry I'm late." The group of officers fixed their stares at him, causing Khoakin an uneasy feeling that he was, in fact, already screwed. "Fuck..."

XXXXXXXXXX

Hangar #9
Next morning, 08:45 A.M.

"... aaand that's basically how I ended up assigned to this team. As you can see, I'm not liked by many around here." Khoakin finished explaining his situation to Miho, who nodded while digesting the story.

"Well... at least you're not a total stranger. And an IS-2 would provide great firepower, even if it slowed down the march. We are supposed to be a reserve team, so it shouldn't be much of a hazard..." she analyzed while observing the papers with the vehicles of her group and their respective crews. "The half-track and the Tiger I are missing though..."

"Wait, a Tiger?" Khoakin looked bewildered. "I can understand the IS-2, as a heavy tank that has a decent enough speed could provide some maaaybe needed heavy firepower, but another heavy tank? What are we, recon or heavily armed frontline firefighters called to crush surprise attacks?"

"Then I better not tell you about the Tiger Porsche..."

"A Porsche? How is that thing even alive at this point? It's a given it will give us a headache sooner than later! I'm supposed to be the dumbass here, not the high command!"

"Well, three of our tanks are heavy ones, and the other three are one assault gun and two medium ones, so..."

"...you have to be kidding me. Give me that" without waiting for an answer, Khoakin got hold of the papers with the teams' details and started quickly reading through them. "At least we have fucking infantry with us. And they're Germans, that's good. They will hold the line, so we are not a lost cause if shit hits the roman fan while 'exploring.'" A noise made Khoakin check his side, rolling his eyes at the sight. "Speaking of the devil..."

A German half-track model Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251 with the number "231" painted at its side parked next to them, its cargo of grenadiers and crew dismounting in a matter of seconds. With the Germans formed up in a line with their weapons at their shoulders or fixed to straps on their uniforms, the leader of the group walked a few steps forwards towards Miho.

"Kommandant Nishizumi?" He asked in a cautious voice, receiving a nod for an answer. He took his hand to his forehead as his heels bumped against each other. "Unterfeldwebel Roth reporting in. The squad of infantrymen is ready to go, as well as the half-track numbered '231' for transport. As the report says, we have a light MG team and an assault team, and the half-track carries two panzerfaust inside in case of emergency," he informed. Miho took the chance to examine him: he had some back hair showing from under his helmet, and he easily had more than a head of height advantage over her. Other than that, the only comment she could do was how neat his personal presentation was.

"Isn't that... a bit too much? The two panzerfaust I mean," she asked, suddenly remembering the words spoken to her. Miho had already read that information in the report of the infantry component, but she didn't still understand why they needed all the extra firepower, considering they already had that of the tanks.

"Is a defensive weapon. It's supposed to allow my men to survive if a wyvern appears out of nowhere," replied the NCO, giving a tentative motion for shrugging given he was still standing still. Miho took notice of this fact.

"At ease, sergeant." Miho made a mental note to properly learn the rank of the NCO later. The military student nodded before relaxing a bit, going over to Khoakin.

"Never expected to be stuck under your command again, sir," he greeted the Russian with a certain tone of clear sarcasm. The officer whistled back before answering.

"Oh look, but if it is Unteroffizier Roth... oh wait, is Unterfeldwebel now, isn't it? Lemme just guess how many boots you had to lick to get into that rank, will ya?"

"I just did something called 'following orders', sir, something a vodka-addict potato-brain peasant like you would have a hard time understanding."

"Yeah, let's see how that plays out, because last time it paid out wonderfully, didn't it?"

Miho could only watch in between surprise and awe how the two Europeans talked in clearly not-friendly terms with each other. Looking around for something to distract herself with, she found one of the grenadiers approaching her lazily.

"Ignore them, ma'am. They just have a small grudge because of a past event and take full advantage of belonging to different institutions, that's all" he explained, still observing the exchange with entertained eyes. He turned his head towards Miho for a few seconds. "Name's Hans Dietrich, by the way, rank Obergefreiter. Call me Hans when off-duty."

"S-sure..." the awkwardness was still present, as the duo kept on watching the words thrown by the German and the Russian against each other. "Do you know what happened between them, Hans?"

"I don't know the details as I was sick at the time, but from what I heard and Roth himself told me, he and his unit were put under Petrakov's command for a joint exercise, and those two disagreed heavily on how to approach the situation. They managed to complete the ordeal, though, but there was some bad blood left between them."

The duo turned their heads to yet another source of noise, a Panzer VI Tiger that had just parked next to them. Taking his chance, Hans excused himself and went back to his squad. Miho just sighed internally, hoping that this one wasn't as weird as the other members of her reconnaissance team.

To her surprise, though, from the tank descended Maho, who ran to hug her sister.

"Onee-san? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be leading your own school's group?"

"Yes, but I asked to be in your team this time. I've already given myself too many freedoms taking care of you. I don't have the power to prevent you being here, but from now on I ensure by myself that nothing bad else happens to you" Maho assured her with a sincere smile, one rarely shown on her factions. Miho could only nod, surprised, at her sister's intention.

"Really? Her sister is in here too? Who made this team?!" Came the comment from Khoakin, who was at the side climbing to his IS-2. A quick search brought Roth climbing inside his team's half-track, several meters away.

"Do you have a problem with Miho?" The coldness in Maho's tone was palpable, but the Russian didn't give any sign of noticing or caring. "And who are you, in that regard?"

"Your European 2IC officer here, ma'am, and I don't have a problem with her but with the jackass in the HQ who made this team. Ugh, whatever. Make sure your radios are all in the correct frequency so we can get going soon," he ordered before disappearing inside his hatch. Miho gave a late nod before hugging her older sister and climbing to her own tank, ignoring the worried eyes of her crew.

"Saori-san, please confirm all our members are on the radio."

"Right away, Miporin. All units report."

"IS-2 here, callsign 7-2."

"Tiger 131 here, callsign 7-3."

"Hippo team here, callsign 7-4."

"Mallard team here, callsign 7-5."

"Leopon team here, callsign 7-6."

"Half-track 231 here, callsign 7-7."

"Panzer IV Leader here, callsign 7-1."

"Everyone is ready, Miho."

"Good..." Miho took herself a moment to see the exit of the fort. The structure wasn't finished yet, but it was already in decent shape. The guards had the gate open, and she wondered how many of the other teams had already left. A deep breath followed her thoughts. "Downfall 7-Actual to all units, Panzer vör!"

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XXXXXXXXXX

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2 hours later...

"Boring~!" Saori muttered dejectedly, lying on her seat inside the tank. Miho was still leaning out of the hatch, looking around through her binoculars. The other tanks were closed, with their crews probably allowing themselves to be a bit lazy until something happened. Behind the armor, the half-track slid silently: its crew had placed an awning on its top to avoid the nuisance of the sun but leaving enough space to shoot their weapons to the outside.

"Nishizumi-dono, why don't you come in? You will insolate if you stay in the sun for so long" Yukari asked her tank and team commander. She gave a worried look at her leader: she was concerned that recent events and how quickly they had happened had deeply affected her. But even if that were true, Miho would have kept it to herself.

"You're right, Yukari-san" finally getting inside the tank, she closed the hatch and told Saori to activate the radio. "Tell onee-san to please keep watch through her hatch and to let me know if she sees anything."

"Understood" replied the radiowoman of the Panzer IV. Miho sighed slowly before relaxing on the space available in the vehicle. Soon she fell asleep, being lovingly watched by her crew.

XXXXXXXXXX

Unterfeldwebel Roth was, at the very least, upset. He hoped to see combat practically every day, or at least fight in combats of such magnitude that his desire for battle would be satisfied. Instead, HQ had sent him to an exploration team commanding two infantry teams in a half-track along with a group of tankers of which probably only one crew knew what they were doing without blowing themselves up. And even so, said crew one was led by the one and only Khoakin Petrakov, a Russian captain he wholeheartedly despised. Loved by the soldiers, hated by the officers, he was known for being, in a sense, a rebel, and acting many times on his own will while in combat. For the German and British academies it was an odyssey to deal with him, but for the wild Russian lifestyle he was the ideal officer: just accepting orders and doing whatever he wants as long as he gets results and doesn't piss of the wrong people. Or perhaps, in a second thought, he would be the perfect officer if it were not for his apparent madness.

"Unterfeldwebel, do you think we will see combat in this group?" Asked Hans, the second-in-command of the infantry component.

"I really hope so," replied the NCO, "it would get boring very soon if not."

"But still, what's with this set-up?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, after all, we're goddamn recon again. Is this some kind of joke or something?" Hans let out a clearly annoyed snort, turning to look at the countryside over the half-track's side. "At least we're in a novice team with armor escort for a change, but still, I don't like it."

"Shut it." Roth suppressed a grunt, choosing instead to hit Hans in his helmet. "That's in the past. Focus on the task at hand." He himself went over to the front of the vehicle, looking over the driver to the armored column they were closing.

"Well, they probably won't have AT guns hiding in ambush, right?"

"I really hope so." Roth sighed, taking his eyes off the road. "Anyway, that's enough for now. Our mission this time is basically miscellaneous: be a combat force in tight environments or without much mobility for the tanks, be the eyes in difficult terrain and to act as watchmen when we establish a camp. I do not expect much from the enemy, considering that they have lost about two hundred thousand soldiers between all the battles we have had so far." Roth gave himself to wonder a few things. "That number is almost the roman imperial army at its prime. The total number of enemies should be around that one, right?"

"Should be, although it's a fact that we do not have the same number of troops that they have if that's the case, not by a wide margin. In this world we have how many, ten thousand troops at most with the group from two days ago? A head-on battle without a noticeable advantage would be utter suicide. They would just overwhelm us in a truly 'Enemy at the Gates' style."

"Hopefully we won't have to do that battle, then. By the way, have you heard anything about any SOF units brought here to this mess? They may come in handy."

"As far as I know the British brought one or two Troops of their academic SAS, and the Eisernes Kreuz Akademie brought some Fallschirmjäger and Brandemburgers with them," explained Hans. "However, special forces and paratroopers must not exceed a few hundred people. Paras are in strategic reserve, clearly, but all info about SOF is, of course, classified."

"I wonder what job they could have. Except for paratroopers, who can move by air and therefore can go quickly from one side to the other, SOF must be very lucky to be able to operate without being discovered in a place where we have no clue about its people."

"Hopefully nothing excessively bad happens to them."

"Worry about us first. We are the ones doing first-line recon."

"We are exploring, not doing recon. Either way, I also heard that a Japanese school, in anticipation of a future match against us, prepared a combat unit of commando forces or paratroopers to have some ground elements. However, I don't know if they will be sent it to this mess of a war we have here," commented the corporal.

"A Japanese commando unit, huh... you know which school was? Those tend to be very thematic if I remember correctly."

"An Italian one, I think."

"Italian? Then they'll surely be based on those damned Arditi. Null intelligence and readiness for battle, but with a will to fight so damned hard to crack that they turned to be a pain for the Allies."

"Maybe they base themselves on the Folgore?" Suggested Hans, with his hand on his chin." They were a tough nut to crack at El-Alamein, despite their lack of equipment."

"Say no more. That was indeed a headache for the British. Four damned Commonwealth divisions and they could not break through one of Italian paratroopers."

"Either way, they won't be arriving here for a while. And I don't know if they'll form Folgores or Arditi either. It'll probably depend on third parties, like the ones who finance them."

At that moment, the column of vehicles suddenly halted, forcing the driver to stop abruptly due to the sudden of the maneuver. Muttering curses, the Unterfeldwebel descended from the vehicle and walked to Tiger I, where the tank commanders had gathered before he arrived by virtue of the half-track being the last of the column. Standing firm before his superiors, he asked about the situation.

"There's a town nearby, and we don't know if they're friendly or enemy. Perhaps neutral, as there's no sign of any action regarding any of the two. Several rural village houses, some quiet people and a few house animals is all I can see," Khoakin reported as he pointed to the direction of the town and passed him his field glasses. The German took them and observed the town sandwiched between the trees and a couple of not-too-tall hills, surrounded by a low wall.

"There are no legionnaires or armed men. Although, we do have a limited line of sight after all. I can also notice that there are more houses in the distance, so we cannot rule out the presence of enemy soldiers" the German reported. He turned towards his CO. "There aren't any other allied teams nearby, right?"

"None that we are aware of."

"Right. We must see what to do to get closer. If we go in with the whole group the chances are, they will at the very least be scared as hell," analyzed the Russian, one hand on his chin and the other inside his pocket. Miho analyzed the data provided by the pair of Europeans while thinking about what to do. She barely had any experience with anything other than sport tank battles, so she heavily took notice and input of whatever the two Europeans, people with a lot more experience than her, said or did.

"Any suggestions?" She asked, after running the data inside her head.

"I'd suggest a small group. I think Mr. Lickboots here will agree with me on this one." Pointed Khoakin, shrugging. Roth rolled his eyes and said nothing but nodded when Miho asked him with her gaze.

"I see... then, I'll approach with the half-track and my Panzer IV. That should not startle them much. The rest of you wait here, ready to react if anything happens" she ordered. The Russian officer raised his hand with a request.

"I ask permission to move my tank to the top of the hill over there" he pointed to the location with his index finger. "This way we will have a better observation line, a greater firing range, and if intimidation is necessary, we can say that we have them surrounded" he explained their motifs with a stoic face. Roth scoffed at the officer.

"You just want an excuse to be the first to jump into the fight, sir," pointed out Roth, muttering under his breath. Khoakin made no remark, and internally the German gave a relief sigh. He was practically giving the Russian reasons to make his own academy punish him for insubordination.

"You can do it," Miho said after meditating the idea for a few seconds. "Take the Char with you in case something happens. Sodoko, you are with him."

"My name is not Sodoko!" The black-haired Japanese complaints fell on deaf ears as everyone left to do their work. The pair of tanks headed up the hill using a tender route on the other side behind the chain of hills, while the half-track and Panzer IV headed for the village entrance. On the outskirts of it they turned off their engines, hiding in the foliage of the plants.

"We will walk from here," reported Miho as she got out of her tank, an MP40 with a sling in one hand and her pistol in its holster at the side of her hip. "Roth, please go with me with the assault team. The rest stand guard here."

"Understood, ma'am." Giving orders in their native language, the team of five grenadiers armed with MP40's as well as the non-commissioned officer in command got out of their vehicle, leaving it in charge of its crew, before forming up next to the tank.

"Yukari-san, you're in charge. If you hear more than 3 shots in a row then accelerate and enter the town" Miho directed her gaze towards the half-track, getting the attention of the crew. "The same goes for you too" the group nodded, letting Miho turn back to her tank.

"Don't worry Nishizumi-dono. We will be ready for any sign" stated the smiling tank fanatic. Miho returned the gesture, before giving an order with his hand and heading to the town followed by the grenadiers. "I hope everything goes smoothly this time... I don't want to see more blood..."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Why isn't there a single roman around here? I'm getting quite bored and let us not forget that this is supposed to be hostile territory," commented a chestnut girl lying on her back on top of an IS-2. She had a bored expression on her face with her eyes closed and had campaign glasses resting on her chest.

A blonde boy with a slightly dark skin peeked out of the tank turret and turned to her. "Are you searching for hot single men in your area?" He gulped down a bit of spit when the girl in question cocked a bullet in her handgun. "E-either way, we have probably annihilated all the wretches around here. I don't know how you expect us to be attacked, honestly." From inside the tank came a muffled "Shut up, oxygenated hair!", which caused the aforementioned male to turn his head inside the armored vehicle. "Who was the clown?!"

"Yo' mother" Answered the chestnut, unloading her gun and straightening herself to insert the bullet back into the magazine. "Back to the question, I ask because I do not think it was a total annihilation. Surely there must be groups of stragglers and bandits around the place, this is like the Middle Ages. Not to say, we are a small group with wonder weapons far away from its bases or allies. Surely some will try to attack us when we are unprepared or isolated" she answered while opening her eyes, showing her heterochromatic eyes: the left, green, and the right, red.

"Anyway, the area is very large, and we don't know either distances or the location of settlements. I doubt if we'll meet an enemy group any time soon" spoke at that moment the dark-haired leader of the group, Captain Khoakin, who just arrived at the tank from his surveillance patrol. Climbing the armored vehicle, he sent the dark-skinned blonde to his post with one slight blow to the head. "Enough talking. I'm really bored too, but I'm complaining as a teenage girl about it like you are."

"I am a teen girl, though." Observed the chestnut, still sitting on the chassis of the tank.

"..."

"..."

"Ooohhh!" The rest of the crew mocked their commander from inside the tank, making a vein mark itself on the crazy commander's forehead.

"I wish I was a NKVD commissioner right now..." he muttered under his breath, gesturing for the brunette to re-enter the tank.

"Ehm... big bro, I think you should come to see this" placing his campaign glasses on his eyes, the officer watched as a column of armed people marched towards the town.

"Aren't they the village hunters? They shouldn't be a menace if they are so."

"Yeah, but think about it: if they meet the group below without any warning, they could attack them in alleged self-defense. I do not doubt that ours will win, but at the slightest gesture of violence the Germans will leave them as a strainer with machine gun fire. We would have a lot of trouble creating mutual bonds if that happens" mentioned the chestnut, still watching by her own glasses, ripping from the commander's memory an event from a previous war game with said Germans...

. . .

Western Russia
18 months ago...

He was negotiating a temporary ceasefire. The group of four tanks behind him was left exhausted protecting the infants in the village from the various German attacks, and they urgently needed to retreat to either a base or a hospital, whatever came up in their route first. As always occurred in those times a few years ago, some students were left wounded during the "simulated" fighting, and therefore there were field hospitals which the medical students themselves, either from universities or military institutions, attended as part of a war game.

A lieutenant, just like him, sat on top of the leading Panzer IV, listening carefully and with signs of boredom the conditions proposed by the Russian. Behind him, several German tanks and two panzergrenadier platoons with numerous panzerfaust at their backs awaited orders. In the distance, still smoldering from the fighting, one could see the town from where the Russians had just been evicted with heavy casualties, taking by far the worst part with them.

"In exchange for evacuating the wounded, we will surrender two tanks of the remaining ones. You can take the crews as prisoners of war."

He loathed surrendering. His own ideals dictated he fought to the bitter end, sacrificing everything to deprive the enemy of lives and resources. Those were, in fact, his original orders, which was the reason as to why he locked himself at that village where he was surrounded and hammered into practically surrendering by his enemies. But command was strict in their change of orders: he had to evacuate the wounded and save all the manpower he could at all costs. Only God knew what the hell happened at the rest of the line.

"Will the other two tanks evacuate the wounded?" Asked the German officer with disinterest. Unlike the Russian, he was bored with the verbiage. He understood the issue of the wounded, but it seemed ridiculous to him that the Russian had not forced an exit from the town with the units he had at his disposal before, instead of negotiating one now with far less numbers compared to an hour ago. Petrakov could bet whatever he wanted that said officer knew what was going on at the rest of the frontline, and for that reason was the first to approach with a white flag for a truce.

"Indeed. Once we get out of this area, they will need protection against other enemies," answered Petrakov as if it were obvious, which in effect, it was. They were several kilometers from the nearest hospital, and while an encounter with another enemy unit was unlikely given how deep they were in their territory, the chance of it happening wasn't zero.

"All right. Tell the chosen crews to get onto our half-tracks. We will take them with us."

"Right away."

As the officer descended from his tank, some German soldiers stepped forward to take care of the surrendering Russian tanks. But halfway the barrel of one of the T-34 roared, a shell hitting the land near the German officer who had just turned his back to the group and sending a couple of grenadiers flying around, both wounded. The rest of the soldiers prepared their weapons and pointed them at the Russians, who were caught in complete surprise and barely a few managed to raise their own before being held back by their superior. The German officer, who only managed to take a couple steps before turning back, again addressed the Russian officer, who was quickly thinking of an excuse.

"Who the hell fired the gun?!" Khoakin shouted, as to make himself heard among his men. The hatch of the T-34 opened, showing a student with caucasian features frantically waving his arms.

"It was a mistake! Please don't shoot!" He yelled to the Germans, who were still aiming their weapons at the infantry. The tanks had started their engines, but the canons were yet to be moved.

"There is no guarantee that the shot was an accident." The German accused. The shell fired by the T-34 hit only few feet from the grenadiers, which made it a very suspicious accident if it was considered as such.

"Nor is there that it was on purpose." The Russian counter argued his German counterpart.

"When in doubt..." muttered the German lieutenant, "...always assume the worst. Aim!" Petrakov saw how the German soldiers confirmed their targets among his men, the vehicles aiming their weapons. A few Russian infantrymen managed to awkwardly raise their own to attempt a desperate defense. "Fire!"

Khoakin fell almost unconscious from a nearby tank shot. His group was taken out and the few survivors, the ones at the back, dispersed. He observed that those who remained were taken prisoner while the Germans walked past him, as if he did not exist, the occasional one giving him a look of pity. Finally, he was eliminated from the game, this time for real, by a coup de grace given by the German officer himself.

. . .

Present

"Captain. Captain. Say something." He was being shaken by his loader, Ivan Gorbachev. He was about to open his mouth to answer but got beaten by his underling. "Say fucking something!" And with those words he pushed him from the top of the tank, feeling himself land at his side. Muttering insults and snorts, the Russian officer climbed back on top of the tank and sat down at his post, not before giving a small blow to Ivan.

"Mikhail," he addressed his radio operator. How did an IS-2 have a radio operator was because he just modified his issued vehicle and stuffed it with another friend of his. "Contact the team in the village. Tell them a group of bandits has appeared and is heading to their position. Estimated number... meh, around one hundred."

"How do you know they're bandits?" The radioman asked. "They could be hunters from the village from what we know."

"It's true that there's no standard uniform and many lack clothes that they would wear if they were travelers, but their way of walking is one of soldiers and their weapons and gear appear to be military-made. See: all those swords are the same, they have several spears, and nobody uses helmets and body armor when hunting wild animals. The hunters would mainly carry bows and arrows and maybe a pair of spears, unlike the members of this group, who are armed like soldiers."

"Well, that's good enough for me." Mikhail said, taking the radio. "7-1, this is 7-2. How copy?"

"H-hai! This is Takebe here!"

"Takebe?" Mikahil turned to Khoakin, an eyebrow raised. "Who the hell is Takebe?" the radio operator asked, though both knew he had no idea. He didn't notice he left the channel open, though, so it was "Takebe" who answered.

"I meant 7-1, ok?! We receive you!"

The two Russians exchanged a look once more, both confused.

"Fucking jap' civvies I tell ya" whispered the captain before climbing the turret's hatch, going back to overwatch duty. Mikahil shrugged.

"Right, so, 7-1, you have a group of possible bandits approaching the village from the North-East, number is around a hundred. How copy?"

"7-1 copies all! Miporin left the tank, but we'll inform her. Thanks for the info. 7-1 out!" And the connection was lost. Mikhail could only stare at the machine, confused. Khoakin's head appeared through the hatch, once more with an eyebrow raised.

"Who the hell is Miporin?" He asked. Once again, Mikhail had no idea.

XXXXXXXXXX

Village
A few minutes earlier...

Miho peeked out from the foliage that covered the village. She saw some civilians, but not in large numbers. No one had noticed them yet, so she timidly decided to step outside the cover of the plants. Panic ensued in the town when her uniform was seen, and in a matter of a few seconds two pairs of men with swords emerged from a nearby house, standing protectively between her and the villagers. Miho only managed to raise her arms in a calm gesture, which managed to placate the guards in a certain way, before taking out a small book with some translated words the academies issued to the recon teams.

"Village. Chief. Speak." As it happened quite often when speaking another language that one is not familiar with, Miho's pronunciation was terrible, and she had to repeat the three words several times until he was understood. Before long, a short old man with a slightly fat brown complexion and a pleasant face appeared. As he approached, Miho gestured for the grenadiers to show themselves.

The sudden appearance of these men in gray uniforms and small metal rods alarmed the guards but through sheer fortune Miho managed to reassure them they had no ill intent.

"Greetings, travellers" spoke the old man, eyeing Miho and the Germans. "May I inquire about what your intentions are in the village of Coda?"The old man asked slowly, recognizing the almost null understanding of the language by the newcomers.

Roth could only blink a few times, confused. These were part of the Empire, right? Didn't they know they were at war with them? Perhaps HQ had overestimated the enemy's communication infrastructure and capabilities. That or they were in a pretty forgotten part of their territory.

"We. Explore. Land. We. Be. From. Across. Alnus. Gate." Miho kept speaking with difficulty. The old man seemed to understand the words, but then he asked, slowly again:

"Has something happened in Alnus?"

Now Roth could not bear his temptation and loudly slapped his face. The members of both groups looked at him like he was a weirdo, but they played it down in no time.

"Open door another world. We are that world." Informed the Japanese student, quickly looking for the words in the translator book. 'Learning German is easier than doing this,' she thought as she flipped through the pages, remembering the quick German classes she had to take in order to communicate with the expedition members before going to the other side of the GATE. Most of the Japanese who became high command had to take a basic course in Russian and German, leaving English aside as it was taught in schools and hoping it didn't come back to bite them later.

The old man's group became immediately alerted. "Are you enemies?"

"No, no! We be friends with you."

Somehow the conversation continued. Miho began to ask about the workings of the village and the surrounding area, while the grenadiers sat in a circle nearby and Roth assisted Miho in his conversation with the old man of the town, all of them with their weapons in sling carry. Thus, they learned that the village was called Coda, that it was a town of no more than six hundred souls that survived on the basis of agriculture, and that the system used locally was the feudal system. However, it had been just over a month since they last had contact with the lord of the land or any of his assistants. Secretly, Miho thought that the lord must have been one of the commanders of the Imperial Army during the battles against them in Flanders. Then she found out that there was another smaller town in a nearby forest, where they decided to head later, one inhabited by a humanoid species. Finally, they learned that the name of the nation that ruled the land was, in fact, Empire, and since its capital was called Sadera, also known as "Imperial Capital," and because of it the Empire was commonly referred to as Saderan Empire of Empire of Sadera.

"Speaking of original names," Roth muttered under his breath, but Miho ignored him, choosing instead to focus on the important stuff that came next.

"We fight Empire," said Miho. Immediately the guards became alert, the curious people who had approached moved away and the women sheltered their children.

"We won't hurt!" Roth exclaimed quickly raising his arms in a calm gesture, trying to do some sort of damage control on the diplomatic bomb Miho has just thrown on the conversation. Unlike the first time, their reaction to his attempt of de-escalation was of lesser effect. They lowered their weapons, but kept a respectable distance. 'As if that would save them from our machinepistoles' thought the NCO as he analyzed the new local formation, as he had been taught to do. Five men and the old man from the town in front, another five men behind, and in the second line the women and curious people who stayed to observe the development of events. Most of the men were armed with swords, a couple had old-looking spears. The tense moment was interrupted by the village elder, who asked something.

"Are you not too young to go to war? "He asked with a curious but cautious look, hardly reflected in his kind features.

Roth hastened to reply. He didn't know what the Japanese system was, but he knew the fact that many graduates of the tank clubs in those schools ended up enlisting in the military for a variety of reasons.

"We military school. We exploring team," he told the old man calmly. Taking advantage of the time of the locals to decipher what he said with his bad pronunciation, he brought his right hand to the sling that held his weapon at his shoulder behind his back, ready to enter combat in seconds. Silently, he released the safety on the submachine gun and pulled the lever, leaving the historical gun ready to fire.

The local group seemed to discuss the truthfulness of the words spoken by the man in the gray uniform. While it was true that they were a small group and did not possess large or heavy weapons, if weapons at all besides the small daggers some of them carried, they were still enemies of the Empire. However, the decisive argument was the fact that, if they wanted to attack them, or had any other ill intent, they would have forced their way in in the first place, without bothering to talk with them.

"Alright, we believe you," reported the old man of the town, ordering the militiamen to lower their weapons. They reluctantly obeyed, resting the tip of their spears and swords on the ground but not releasing them. Miho sighed at the distrustful gesture. She would have to convince them otherwise that they were not hostile.

"Almost," Roth muttered. Miho nodded at him before turning her attention to the group of grenadiers. These had risen to their feet with the sudden reaction of the locals, but kept their weapons at their shoulders. They, however, had their hands on the slings, ready to take their guns out and engage in combat.

"A confrontation with them would be useless. Due to their poor communication system, and the fact they surely still believe in small rumors from farther away than the visual range, if we attack them they will spread the word that we are an aggressive and ruthless group of invaders and pillagers." Roth cautiously analyzed, his hand on his chin. The train of thought of the German NCO raised the tension in their group, one that was broken by...

"MIPORIIIIIN!" Saori appeared running through the foliage that surrounded the entrance of the town, shouting her nickname for Miho. The militiamen were put on alert again, but they lowered their weapons when they verified that the newcomer was dressed in the same clothes as the person with whom they were in dialogue. That sparked a wave of curious glances among the villagers. They said they were soldiers, but they were not wearing any armor. Was it because they were from exploration teams, or because they were only military students? There was also the question of their weaponry. Although a couple of them carried daggers with them, they all carried strange metal artifacts, which looked like rods of the mentioned material put together in a strange way.

"What? Saori-san? What happened?" Miho asked, an eyebrow raised, without understanding why her friend came running towards her at full speed. They soon came face to face.

"Bandits! There are bandits on their way to the village! We have to get out now!"

"Bandits? How many?!"

"About a hundred!"

Miho measured the danger immediately. There were only 10 militiamen, probably without combat experience, and the 7 military students, one of whom, Saori, was unarmed.

"We have to withdraw immediately. Go back first and tell everyone that we will meet two kilometers to the south from the entrance of the village. GO!"

Saori ran away as soon as Miho gave the order, the grenadiers on alert and the militiamen curious about the scenario that was unfolding in front of them in an unknown language. Miho turned to his men and gestured them to group up with her, which they did.

"What's up, Unterfeldwebel?" One of them asked Roth, who was as confused as they were.

"No idea Hans, I don't know fucking Japanese. However, I think the Kommandant Nishizumi will inform us now," he replied. True to his words, Miho started to address the team as soon as they got to her.

"Okay, listen. I've been notified that a group of bandits is approaching the village, about a hundred. We will retreat with the tank and half track and wait for the other vehicles to catch up before observing the situation and deciding what to do." She informed them of her plan, which many of them viewed with distrust. The grenadiers eyed themselves for a few seconds, before Hans raised his hand.

"Permission to speak, Kommandant."

"Go on."

"I wish to say, Kommandant Nishizumi, that your plan seems impractical to me if we evaluate the fact that there is a town of six hundred souls practically defenseless against a hundred bandits, bandits that may or not be well armed or former military. If we wait for the other vehicles to arrive easily half the town will be wiped out, and the large tanks will not be able to maneuver well in the narrow passages if we finally decide to intervene. Not to mention, if we decide to leave, then we would be condemning the villagers who survived the attack, and that's not considering the rumors of how we left a village that we ourselves told is not an enemy to fend for itself against a superior bandits force without even attempting to help them." Was the criticism of the Unteroffizier. His gaze was not only one of disapproval, but also of disbelief at Miho's passive plan.

"If I may speak, Kommandant Nishizumi," Roth spoke now. "Your plan seems incredibly similar to those of those commanders who had no initiative, depending on the micromanagement of their superiors a long distance away, and therefore condemned the men under their command and others who were unable to defend themselves." Miho opened her mouth to protest, but Roth beat her to speak again. "I am not accusing you of being one of them, but your plan seems stupid to me if we consider the strength that we have with only the seven of us here present."

"What strength?" Miho retorted, incredulous. "We are only seven foot-armed people against a hundred! There is no way to win with just us!"

"There can be, depending on the circumstances." Hans spoke again. "But the idea here would be to survive and hold them off until the vehicles arrive and finish them with more heavy firepower. They may as well run when a metal beast appears spitting fire and lead at several kilometers per hour. We would have more options with the fire team there, but we still have our submachine guns. However, they are more than enough if we only need to cut down a few of them until support arrives." He analyzed. Roth turned to Miho, backed by his men's arguments.

"Your orders, Kommandant? We are ready for anything."

Miho did not even hesitate this time, inspired by their underlings' words and ideas. "Form a line in the center of the village and wait for the bandits to appear. Offer them the option to surrender before engaging" she ordered. The grenadiers quickly moved away towards the center of the plaza, while the villagers found the behavior of the "men in gray" strange.

"I knew this would do," Roth muttered as he pulled a flare gun out of his uniform and shot it upwards. It was loaded with a flare that left a trail of blue smoke.

"Where did you get it?" Miho asked, curious as to where the NCO got one of those.

"Let's say I took it from over there while a quartermaster was distracted," he replied, shrugging. "Not like many care about this one in particular. Blue smoke is hard to see."

"And what does the blue smoke even mean?"

"According to the regulations of Task Force Flanders, it means..."

XXXXX

"... defensive zone, huh? So much for retreating 2 clicks to the south." Khoakin muttered as he watched the trail of blue smoke rise in the sky. Instantly he understood what the plan was, betting everything he had that Roth was the one behind it.

"Captain?"

"Mikhail, give me the radio." Once the radio operator linked his captain to the comms channel, the Russian veteran student spoke. "All units on this frequency, this is Downfall 7-2-Actual. By order of 7-1-Actual converge on the town as soon as any shooting starts to be heard. Keep vigilance on your respective sectors and maintain your position until that happens or any other orders are given. 7-2 and 7-5 will stay in the hills with overwatch duty. 7-2-Actual out."

XXXXX

"What is going on?" Asked the village's elder, confused.

"Bad people close. Go protect village" Miho managed to mutter, again flipping through the book. The old man took a while to react, but when he did, he ordered the women and children to take refuge in their homes and the men to step before them, however, some stayed to see what was happening, although further away than before. Despite that, none knew very well what was going on.

The tension and silence that surrounded the place were suddenly broken when a group of around twenty armed people entered the plaza, picking up their pace. Miho tried to yell at them for surrender, but as soon as she opened her mouth an arrow almost found its destiny on her body. The villagers grew scared and many ran to their homes, some surrounding the women and children too paralyzed with fear to be able to flee. More bandits were soon revealed from the foliage, complementing the initial group until it reached the hundred members they were told there were.

The grenadiers simultaneously grabbed their weapons, aimed, and released a rain of lead and death on the approaching bandits. The first dozen fell like grain skewed by a sickle, more of them soon following behind. Their breakthrough turned into a massacre, where bullets went through, found their mark, and massacred them. Within a couple seconds of shooting Miho joined in, not before instructing the villagers to run to their homes. These, impressed by the damage caused by the foreigners and the sudden apparition of the bandits, decided to obey them for the most part and disappear from the place, leaving only a few brave men and the militia who would defend their town against the bandits.

The attackers soon realized that attacking head-on would not work and decided to scatter through the thickets that surrounded the town, out of sight from the men in gray in the plaza. Miho acted on the matter immediately, recalling her experiences in urban tank battles.

"Spread out across the border of the square! Take up any coverage you can find!" As an example, she ran and covered herself on the porch of a nearby house. The soldiers scattered each on their own, covering themselves behind the fountain or on the porch of another house, a couple crouching close to the group of militiamen.

"Fire at will!" Roth ordered lately, just now getting the time to think. "Individual action! Defend the area!"

The bandits went against the soldiers and militiamen again, this time from different directions. The war students opened fire on them, each volley taking out one of them, sometimes even two. Despite that, soon what Miho predicted was made evident. Even with the firepower they had, the dispersion of the enemies and the reduced visual range erased much of that advantage. A bandit was about to kill the village elder with an attack from the back, but a grenadier slipped under him and jammed the muzzle of his gun into his stomach, pulling the trigger and unleashing lead and death upon his enemy. Another attacker decided to go through a house to ambush Miho from the back, but when he came out, he was received by several shots, courtesy of Roth. Another student took a grenade and threw it into some thickets behind him, getting exclamations of pain from its detonation.

Finally, after a few more seconds of struggle, the vehicles appeared. The Panzer IV arrived terrifying the bandits with its machine guns and cannon, while behind it the half-track fired its two machine guns, and the fire team did its work by exterminating the bandits with the light MG42 and Kar 98k's. Before long, the remaining bandits understood the suicide of continuing the attack and decided to flee the town. But as soon as they reached the outer fields, tanks in the hills opened fire on them, erasing from existence those who attempted to run despite the calls for surrender. Within fifteen minutes of the bandits entering the village of Coda, only four of them remained, all prisoners. Almost a hundred corpses were left in or around the town. On the other hand, the town of Coda and its defenders had no casualties, besides a couple militia with arrow wounds. The villagers themselves were greatly surprised by the power of those whom they almost dared to challenge, looking at them with a mix of fear and respect.

"Assault team, tie those who surrendered! Fireteam, scan the surroundings, we don't want more surprises! Mallard and Hippo teams go explore the nearby fields and watch out for more bandits!" Miho quickly ordered. The assault grenadiers tied up the prisoners on the half-track and negotiated with Coda's elder a place to leave them until they could pick them up, while the two Ooarai tanks set out to explore the area. Roth had a short chat with the villagers, assuring them that they would be calm and would not harm them. Then, he went to interrogate the prisoners. Miho, instead, made her way to the other teams to discuss their status for their next moves. For their part, the Panzer IV and the IS-2 came to find themselves together at the entrance to the village, their jobs finished.

"Now you can't say that we had no action," the Russian officer declared to his little sister as he opened the hatch of his tank's turret. Seconds later another hatch of the tank opened.

"Action? That was a turkey shot at best, it doesn't count as action. I remember that time back during the Battle of Flanders when the enemies tried to pierce the tank with swords and spears and stop it with shields. That was an action!" The brunette replied, grinning at the memory.

"Though I guess it's time for introductions" muttered the captain as he turned to the weary crew of Panzer IV, also grinning. "Just look at them. Scary cats, all of them."

"This is like, what, their third time in a real combat?" Sasha asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Second time, actually. Command didn't want them at the frontline during the Battle of Alnus. Too unreliable, I've heard, but I'm sure numbers and ego played a part there too." The answer caught the attention of the Japanese girls, who approached the two Russian siblings.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Khoakin turned to face a redhead girl. 'Redhead? That's more like... orange hair?' was his thought. Her legs were trembling and struggling to keep her standing, given not only the fact that the Russian officer was more than two heads taller than her, but also he was still on top of his tank.

"What do you think I mean, miss..."

"...Takebe. Saori Takebe."

"Well, miss Takebe, I mean what I said: Command didn't want you on the frontline of that battle, for whatever reason they thought of. Definitely not on my paygrade to ask or care."

"Ugh... I know we may not be military, but we still can do something! ...I guess?"

"As I said, not my thing to decide."

Silence ensued for a while, the rest of Khoakin's crew left the tank to stretch their legs around the village, without their officer noticing. After a few minutes, Saori went again towards Petrakov.

"M-may I ask your name? I don't think we have really presented ourselves, and since we will be in the same team for some time..."

"Well, aren't you the kind one, are ya?" Despite the annoyed look that Saori gave him, Khoakin only chuckled before descending from his tank, his sister following suit. "Khoakin Petrakov. Rank of Kapitán, or captain in English. I'm but an honest military student fond of history and little bits of not-relevant trivia knowledge." He finished with a mocking bow, still grinning. "By the way, don't leave me alone with just a bottle of vodka. Roth already knows what becomes of that."

In another part of the village, Roth sneezed.

"Sasha Petrakov here, sister of, for my misfortune, Khoakin." The heterochromatic chestnut said, still above the chassis of the IS-2. "Nice to meet you."

"N-nice to meet you too!" Replied Saori, still a bit nervous. A raven-haired girl then stepped forward, partially shielding the frightened redhead.

"Hana Izusu, pleased to make your acquaintance" the black-haired floral artist kindly introduced herself, bowing slightly.

"Yukari Akiyama, a pleasure meeting a fellow history fan." Despite the words of the short-haired brunette, her attention seemed more directed towards the armored beast of the IS-2 than to its present crew members.

"... Mako Reizei ..." came a calm, muffled voice from inside the vehicle. A couple seconds later, another raven-head appeared on one of the hatches, waving her hand slightly before returning inside the vehicle.

"As you can see, the rest of my crew is..." the Russian stopped in his tracks, looking around. "But where in the frozen bloody hell did this motherfu-" the Japanese students proceeded to distract themselves as to not hear the numerous insults that came from the Kapitán's mouth. "-sons of their unholy mothers went?" He looked at Sasha, who simply shrugged. "Well, they're the ones not getting vodka later."

"...you finished?" The question of Hana gained a nod from the siblings, returning to a civilized use of words. Before long, Yukari found herself discussing history bits with the officer, while Hana and Saori watched bewildered how Mako, of all people, started a conversation with Sasha about vehicle-driving techniques. The exchange lasted until Miho returned, aboard the half-track and giving radio orders to regroup.

"Everyone aboard your vehicles, we're leaving. We still have to go through the woods to the next village before heading back to Alnus, so at best we would be arriving back to the base by tomorrow noon."

"Really? Can't you just, like, relax a little? We have time, quite the lot in fact. It's not like the Empire has any troops left to attack us with" Khoakin complained, before saying to himself, "I hope, at least..." Roth gave him a disgusted look before speaking.

"The prisoners said that after the massacre of the Allied Army in Alnus, many of those soldiers deserted and became bandits to loot nearby villages. They are not a threat to the Alnus Base, not to any big unit in fact, but they are a danger to us because of our numbers, and our best option is, by far, to camp in the open or in plain terrain. Our weapons are unknown to them, so long distances would be ideal for our guns to sniper them from afar and break any raid or attack before it becomes dangerous."

"And there you have, ladies and gentlemen, the pussy that does whatever he wants: Unterfeldwebel Roth!"

The glares the Russian tank officer and German infantry NCO were sending each other were enough for the rest to see sparks come out of the point where they crossed each other. Clapping her hands, Miho quickly took control of the situation.

"Come one, we're leaving. I want to the near the forest by nightfall."

""Yes, Kommandant.""

XXXXXXXXXX

True to Miho's words, it was starting to get dark when they got to see the forest they set as an objective. Great was their surprise to see it set on fire.

"What the hell? What was the fucking arson rabbit that started this fire?" Roth asked while observing the magnitudes of the fire with his campaign glasses. Perched on a small hill that gave them great visual range, the group watched the flames consume the entire forest with different levels of awe.

"Why is that bad joke, if I may ask?" Hans spoke this time, giving Roth a side glance. Khoakin gave him an affirmative nod, supporting the question, before looking back again at the heights reached by the flames. The Japanese girls, less used to such destructive things, watched from the safety of their vehicles the event, overwhelmed by the show.

"Well, humans are said to cause 90% of forest fires. Therefore, the other 10% must be some arsonist rabbit over there or some other weird-ass bullshit." Roth replied, still scanning the border of the forest. Hans and Khoakin looked at each other with neutral faces.

"Kapitán Khoakin, I request permission to shove a grenade to the Unterfeldwebel Roth where the sun doesn't get to shine."

"Permission granted, Obergrefeiter Dietrich. Make sure the safety is off."

Roth rushed his way to the safety of the half-track before convincing the pair of soldiers he would stop with his bad jokes. The three Europeans joked a bit more, but in the end Khoakin simply shrugged and sighed.

"Well, I guess here ends the fun. Time to get to work."

"Why do you say that, if I may ask?"

Instead of answering, the Russian pointed Hans to their commander, who at that instant took a steps back and shouted in horror.

"What happened, kommandant?" Hans approached while still looking at the forest. Seconds later Roth widened his eyes, muttering a curse that drew the attention of the rest of the group.

"There is a village in that forest. The old man from Coda told us."

"Oh shit..." was the answer from Hans. Miho gave immediate orders to the group to go into the forest, driving through the night evading flames and trees red practically made of charcoal and ashes with their hatches closed and with handkerchiefs

They arrived at dawn; the image of the place overwhelming them. Burned corpses, ashes of huts on the ground, remains of smoking structures and pieces of scattered bodies. Some charred limbs poked out of the ruins, like asking for help or trying to escape.

"More than a forest fire, it seems that something or someone had attacked them with an incredibly hot flame. Nothing is left standing. Although it is true that it is hot, I do not know if it was enough to create a fire of this magnitude," Khoakin informed Miho. Sasha, flanked by some Ooarai students, was checking the surroundings of the road where the armored vehicles had parked, while the grenadiers had dispersed in pairs to check the skeleton of the village. Hans and Roth's pair were the last to appear, and after sharing details with their partners, they approached Miho to give her their report.

"There were around thirty houses in this town, and several of them seemed to have been in trees. Despite that, we have only confirmed twenty-three bodies, all of them far from the center. The rest should be trapped under tree debris or within the ruins of homes. Assuming an average of four per house, we will have about a hundred or more deaths. That, if no one escaped, which doesn't seem very likely."

Miho bit her lip. He knew that their old tanks probably could not have withstood the heat of the fire enough to drive directly to the village, but she blamed herself for not having arrived earlier. It could have been that, by chance, she could have saved one of them if they arrived earlier. Her thoughts were interrupted by the shout of a grenadier, who was pointing to the end of the well at the center of the town.

"There's someone down there! Bring a rope, quick!"

. . .

10 minutes later...

After a risky operation, more than anything due to the deplorable state of the walls of the well whose walls threatened to collapse at each step taken by the soldiers, the team of grenadiers managed to retrieve the individual who was floating in the water. After retrieving the rope from the half-track, they laid it on the ground, and they took the time to examine it. What they found turned out to be a young blonde woman, around twenty years old.

"Look at those ears."

"Is she a goblin?"

"Of course not, you idiot, she's an elf. Blonde hair and green clothes should confirm this. Dude, have you ever read fantasy?"

"Make way you pair of idiots."

Khoakin reached the blonde and took her wrist. When not feeling anything, he stuck his ear to her chest and brought two fingers to her neck. Closely behind, the brunette known as Mikhail approached while looking at his watch, talking in low voice in Russian with his superior. Many seconds passed until, shaking his head, the brunette patted his captain's shoulder. The latter, repeating the gesture of shaking his head, separated himself from the elf and removed his military cap, muttering the phrase feared by all those present, who later imitated him by removing their helmets and hats.

"She's dead. We arrived late."

. . .

Skirmish in Coda
Preliminary Report

Academic Coalition
Forces: Downfall 7 (38 men), Coda's Militia
Casualties: 2 wounded militia

Bandits
Forces: Around 100 bandits
Casualties: at least 94 dead, 4 prisoners

.

.

.

EDIT: The date of the flashback of Khoakin was changed from three years prior to eighteen months prior.