Gun Girl from Another World

Gobsmacked

"I knew this was going to happen! I told you!" I brandish the letter like a threat of violence.

Ayre seems more embarrassed than intimidated. "I am certain your ability to foretell the future is very sharp, Remmi. Please stop swinging around an imperial missive like a club."

That gets Leuke's attention, however. "Rem can see into the future?!" His innocent face practically screams, Otherworlders are amazing!

I sigh and shake my head. "No, not like that, Leuke. I just had a feeling I was going to get roped into this business one way or another." I shrug. "Honestly, I thought it was going to be the Lord Mayor who dragged me into it. In a way, I suppose he did, but this isn't how I expected it to go down."

"Ahem." The sound comes from the doorway as Captain Anara and Lord Mayor Oshu emerge from the meeting-turned-interrogation room. It had been the Mayor, himself, who made the offended noise.

"What other accusations are you laying against me, Hero Lee?" he asks, putting on his best peeved expression.

"Oh, nothing against you, specifically," I clarify, holding up the letter. "I just got an imperial missive with new orders."

"Well, then, perhaps you shall cease to be a thorn in my side." He's certainly grown more sour toward me over the lengthy questioning period.

His cousin swoops in to scold him. "Remember your manners, cousin," Lady Regent Noya reminds him. "She is a Hero, after all. If you've done nothing wrong, then perhaps it was a mere misunderstanding that led to this investigation."

Oshu sighs with a displeased expression still on his face. "You are right, of course. All of this could have been a miscommunication. I must remember as a noble to be more understanding of the minds of children. Nevertheless, it has wasted a great deal of time, and I have tasks that I will soon be late for if I do not leave immediately."

"Oh," Ayre sits up with surprise, "is the questioning finished?"

"Lord Mayor Oshu's is, yes," the Captain replied. "I apologize to everyone for the length of time involved. I do hope I can count on the Lady Regent and Master Guire to be more forthcoming with their answers, else we will be here well into the evening."

"Hmph, watch your tongue, Captain," he reprimands back, "you're still in dangerous territory. Just because Heroes are present, that doesn't mean that station shouldn't still regulate your manners."

Servants are already sliding a coat over his shoulders, and another has a hat in hand, ready to pass it to him. "Now, if you will excuse me, my dealings with uncivilized rabble haven't concluded just yet. I still have the Huohi barbarians to contend with yet today."

I step forward at that. His attitude has put an unexpected spring in my step over the news I've just received. "Well, if you hate dealing with them so much," I chipperly inform him, "then this should be a weight off of your shoulders!"

He entertains me with the wary stare one gives a hissing snake. "What are you talking about now?"

"Those new orders," I reply, twirling the letter again. "By the authority of the Throne, I'm now the duly appointed diplomat for the discussions with the oni."

His stare changes to one that suggests he doesn't understand the words leaving my mouth, then to one of stark, gobsmacked disbelief. "Unfathomable! Let me see that!"

He grabs for the letter, and I let him have it.

Lord Oshu pours over it for several seconds, as if verifying its authenticity, before he begins reading the relevant part aloud.

"Effective immediately, you are empowered to do whatever necessary to take over mining negotiations with the Huohi Tribe of Giri Village, and said Village is to extend to you every diplomatic courtesy, in addition to those due to you as a Hero.

"You are advised to be cautious with collateral damage while within Giri Village and surrounding land. While you retain your immunity to litigation for damages incurred during the course of your duties, Giri Village, specifically, has been removed from the reimbursement program, leaving it subject to any and all costs from its own coffers. Neither the Throne nor the Regent shall reimburse their expenses."

The more Lord Oshu reads of the letter, the more outraged he becomes until his voice is raised in fury and he's gripping the edges of the paper in white knuckles.

"I'll be imposing on you," I say once he finishes the section, "to show me to where the meeting is taking place, and to introduce me to the people involved."

Lord Oshu lowers the paper as he glowers over the top of it at me. "I should have you killed where you stand for the indignities you continue to heap upon me!"

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

I reach down and pat my pistol. "Do you really want a list of all of the reasons that's a bad idea, Lord Mayor, or are you just venting?"

He growls some more, but turns and snatches the hat from the servant with enough force that he nearly yanks the poor girl off of her feet, then slams the garment onto his head as if it wronged him.

"Come along," he hisses through a clenched jaw, "let us get this farce over and done with …"

In contrast, I put a wide smile on my face. "Right behind you, Lord Oshu!"

I grab Ayre by the arm to the elf's surprise as I pass by. "Oh, Captain," I call back, "you can do without the two of us here, right?"

Anara arches an eyebrow. "Two guards and one Hero should be plenty," she assures me. "I don't expect any further trouble."

"But Remmi," Ayre protests. "I'm not a diplomat!"

"You're my assistant and advisor and friend," I counter, and I nod toward one of the purple-sashed personal bodyguards for the Lord Mayor. "It's just like I told the guards when they first found us. You go where I go! Besides, who else am I going to ask if I'm about to do something stupid?"

That pulls a defeated sigh from the archer, who stops resisting and falls in alongside me. The guards seem more annoyed at me for dealing so casually and dismissively with the mayor than they do at the extra head, walking still armlocked with me like Ayre might change his mind and dart off without warning.

The meeting place for the territorial discussions is on the outskirts of the city, where the normal architecture typical of Imperial houses and buildings shifts noticeably into a more rural style, highlighted by more rough wood and thatched roofing.

The people here are different, too. Their clothes are simpler, often nothing more than robes and sandals. Their skin is predominantly a ruddy, clay red, their eyes are slitted like a cat's or a lizard's, and their foreheads are adorned with a number of horns. Some only have one, most have two, and a narrow number have three or more.

It's not hard to tell that we aren't dealing with humans anymore. These are the Oni. Still, aside from trending a bit taller than the average for Imperial humans, they remain otherwise surprisingly humanoid in appearance. Their nails are a little sharper, most of the men stand a head taller than the mayor, and overall, they seem built for strength, male or female, but it wouldn't be hard to overlook the minor details, especially with a hat, and just see a person, like anyone else.

A few of them give our retinue dirty looks, but most of them just go on with their business. Still, the air of reception is more that of chilly dismissal than ignoring tolerance. If this is the state of human-oni relations, then negotiations really aren't going well.

I can only hope that I can undo the damage Lord Oshu has done quickly. After all, one of the big reasons the Throne put me in charge was to bring this to an end, interfering as it was with my mission to purify the dungeons. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to skip doing it right, either. This needs a peaceful, proper resolution, or nothing is going to go back to normal. A hasty, one-sided agreement could even make things much, much worse.

Lord Oshu and his guards lead the way to the largest building in this village within a village, a wide, low longhouse with antlers mounted over the double doors.

"This is the Huohi Chief's estate," he explains to me as we approach. "They don't call it that, but it's the equivalent. It is both his home and where all tribal business takes place."

"I'm betting it's also where the tribe's noncombatants would take shelter if the village were attacked," I guess.

He rubs his chin thoughtfully, then gives a nod. "Yes, probably. They have no wall of their own, though we've offered to include them in ours for generations. Even those that move into Giri proper say the walls make them feel too enclosed." He follows this with a shake of his head and a mutter of, "Barbarians …"

I frown at the racism. "You know, Lord Mayor, I live outside the walls of Dabun Village. The only thing between my home and anything is a forest. In fact, back home, we haven't surrounded our cities with walls for hundreds of years."

"Yes, well, you're an exception," he huffs. "You were raised outside of the Empire entirely. No one can expect you to be as civilized as a native. The Huohi have been part of the Empire for generations upon generations. None of them alive know the hardships of true uncivilized living, yet they continue to insist on celebrating savagery."

My frown deepens, not that he seems to notice. "They seem peaceful enough."

"Peaceful! Yes, peaceful enough when surrounded by the soldiers of the Empire," he continues his little rant, "but look at how they live! Archaic housing! Dirt roads beaten into the ground by their feet! We teach our children numbers and letters, they teach theirs that the land is an actual spirit they need to worship and serve!"

"I'm starting to understand why negotiations haven't gone anywhere."

Of course, he doesn't catch the dig, just scoffing. "Of course not! How do you reason with people that think the ground's going to get offended if you step on it wrong?"

I shake my head, as much in disbelief at his density as in offense from his bigotry. It's a different world, I tell myself. I'm not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Well, I wasn't in Kansas before, but I'm allowed to make pop culture references in my head.

"Is there a special procedure we have to respect in requesting entrance?"

He shakes his head. "I'm still Lord Mayor of this place, whether they're pretending otherwise or not. All of the land belongs to the Throne, and I am its local caretaker. There is nowhere I need permission to enter."

It occurs to me that I have no particular reason to stay polite with him except out of simple manners. I nearly tell him on the spot that the more I hear him talk, the more I dislike him, but my grandmother always told me when to say nothing at all, and I hold my tongue.

The guards move forward, push the doors open for him and announce, "Lord Mayor Oshu!"

I feel torn between feeling like they should have announced me, too, and being glad they didn't. I decide on the latter. Best that I make my own introductions, though I have a hunch that nasty article probably spread here, too.

Instead, I walk a step behind him and off to the side as he walks into the building like he owns the place. I try to be a little more humble, but I'm sure it goes unnoticed before his bravado.

"Alright," he announces to the assembled oni, "let's see if we can finally get you to see sense today!"