Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 242: Arc 4, Act II, - 87: The Calm Before

October 10th. The Sun was barely even a beam of light in the distance, the dark skies taking on a lighter hue, minute by minute. Coffee brewed into the air while the last of the bugs singing their songs.

"Your majesty, we’re cutting all communications and switching channels. We’ve signalled the enemy and it seems they are prepared too. In five minutes, the Last Stand of Trailon begins," the Division General relayed.

Daiyu had her arms folded watching the west across the flatland. A deep breath, the cold breeze at four in the morning ticking to five; fulfilled by a morning meal and some coffee.

She did not even turn to the man, "No use in telling me. Start when you start, I’m your princess, but I’m not here to give orders. Just put me on the field. Let’s hope that the last stand is actually a ’last’."

"Understood. And we all hope so too. This victory-" the general looked to all the men and women in the thousands. Some laughing, some bracing themselves; even some shaking with deep breaths, soothed by others. "-must be achieved."

Every second had their toes tapping, every minute they remembered to breathe again. Asobi stared to reddish-orange flowers around the area, sprouting up with dark greens like paintbrushes.

The wildflowers, thistles of purple, grassy looking patches with tiny white specks blooming, the red flowers that drooped into bell-shapes; they all swayed... So quiet, so silent.

"Peeeewwwwwww... FFFFFss-fizzle." A bright red, smoky light was shot from below, flying into the sky so far away. It was followed by a bright red light in the sky from up northwards.

Then another sound, the same sound from the same direction. Going further north they could not see nor hear, but could assume the flares were being fired, one after the other.

From afar in the west, a little south? A little north? It was hard to tell, but a white flare was shot roughly in their direction. "So it begins," the general parted ways with the princess and marched to the companies of soldiers that had arranged themselves.

Orders were barked, boots stomped across the ground, trampling any flower alongside it. The sombre silence came to an abrupt end.

"They can’t tell where we are when we shot the big red fuzzy light into the sky, right?" Asobi twisted her lips.

"No," Fumeko faced the west, "Even we can’t tell exactly where that flare came from. They know the general direction, but that doesn’t really help them too much."

"Can’t we keep it secret?"

"Asobi it’s an organized battle. Prolonging it helps no one and besides, we know as much as they know now," Hotaru sighed.

Feyan wore his full medic’s uniform, complete with the helmet. "We had spies, but they could barely glean any information. It is safe to say, the Trailon Regime are sparing no effort."

Arabella nodded, a hand on the hilt of her sabre.

Jotou on the other hand, faced the east after the flare had been shot. The rising Sun, the fading stars; what Frost had said kept circling her mind, "All the more reason I think the elites will be here..."

_

’The generals went ahead with their plans, commanding the companies to divide and giving tasks, some to even manage the food and drinks.

Us? What did we do? Nothing. We were in essence, to stay away from the main frays. We were too valuable to risk this early and we don’t know how much our enemy knows; we could even be a surprise to them.

Maybe they don’t even know about Daiyu being here. Regardless, we should proceed as if they know everything and hope that they don’t. So the only thing we could do, was wait.

Night after night, hearing of injured soldiers returning, the sounds of static from radios, yelling and loud chatter by the mess tent where the food wasn’t amazing, but wasn’t particularly bad either.

And it all faded away, to be awoken again by the sounds of stomping boots and clanking rifles. I wonder what Kaleb would say if he were here. This place isn’t something that he’d be unfamiliar with.

Sure, he was just at boot camp, not in any actual war thing like this, but I feel like he’d have better wisdom than me or Daiyu here; mostly when it’s not the combat scenarios.

It’s like everything has an order; people give commands, others listen and don’t question... The word zombie is right on the tip of my tongue, but it sounds too wrong to even think.

If everything needs to work, then it has to have people that lead and people that follow. The simpler it is, the more complicated problems can be tackled. That’s not to say that the leader is ruthless and doesn’t listen to feedback either.

All like a well-oiled machine. Ideally it should be like this... Maybe I’m just seeing one good battle. This is possibly one of the most important battles in the history of this world; victory means a lot. No one wants to screw around.

I’ve never felt more useless. When would we be needed? Who knew? We talked to each other, came up with plans, got some practice in with magic, but never really chatted about anything important.

Some jokes, some sarcasm sure. Having shared tents... Ai, ai, ai, did it make it difficult. I haven’t even kissed her in a while. What am I thinking? This isn’t the time to be fooling around as thrilling as that sounds given the circumstances.

Still, somehow three days felt like a week. Not because we had been productively rushing day and night; but because we could count every second passing by.

Although, the soldiers seemed delighted to see the princess around. Daiyu had to still put on a bit of a mask, but it was more herself. Arabella helped the soldiers that wanted a little bit more training, but her main objective was clear—protect the princess.

Asobi’s tricks were more than welcome as well. Every night there was a show alongside dinner. There’s no reason a little fun can’t be on the menu. Our tent had a deck of cards sitting, a chess board still never used.

It was mostly just Fumeko and me going in and out of the tent... I just hate the heat. Even so, I needed to do something and observing could at least keep my brain running.

There was a route the soldiers would take to cross the giant chasm towards the west; it was a sheer drop otherwise. The paths they took circled around it. Two companies went around south-westwards, another two north-westwards in heavy reconnaissance.

If the soldiers spotted activity, a battle would ensue and backup would move out. And when some return, they carry the wounded back, leaving Hotaru and Feyan with their hands full.

No other affinity users were kept in this division. No point in putting all our magic users in one basket.

The north was more flatland with islands of rock and bridges of earth to the other side. The south though, descended down slowly but surely, eventually leading to the bottom of the massive chasm; an opening into it at least.

A pair of binoculars and a little trek southwards later, from what I could tell, that’s where it lead into the invasion border as per the map of our plans. Still, you can never really feel a distance till you see it I suppose.

Reports said there was indeed a Trailonian base in the direction. The terrain was sloped; meaning ranged weaponry from above would be good... if this was my old world...

They were too inwards, muskets or tanks couldn’t reach. We’d have to engage by going down ourselves. The terrain wasn’t a carroty mesa, more so a white-yellow desert plateau, making camouflage way harder to spot.

Some reports from a division up north on the other hand say there was some offensive caster who was killed and they’re celebrating it. Though, I doubt it was any of the elites if Frost is supposed to be the weakest... It was probably at most some expert level.

Regardless, it’s the 14th of October now; technically anyway. It’s like five-thirty in the morning. It’s a bit quieter today, a lot of soldiers were already out, stationed and fighting elsewhere.

Wearing the same clothes, I haven’t even gotten a chance to shower. Apparently field showers are only allowed once a week. I feel disgusting, but Hotaru says I’m overreacting.

I barely got enough sleep, I woke up. I couldn’t get comfortable in this bed any night; problem with sleeping in a palace for over a month. You start getting really picky even if you don’t want to.’

Jotou stared to the ceiling, the darkness of the tent only illuminated by the yellow lights from outside. She grunted, swivelling her head on her pillow to get it to press into the back of her neck.

"Really thought something would happen by now. I’m gonna die of boredom," she yawned. She pursed her lips, "Will you be comfortable for once you stupid bed!? Gah!"

She jolted up from under her covers. Her blade sheathed within the coat she had set aside; she was left only in the whites and blacks of her attire.

She yanked the blanket off and threw it to the ground, taking the pillow in her free hand and slamming it down. She rolled out of the bed. Her golden blonde hair ending in black fanned completely out as her face impacted the pillow.

"Ow, boobs," Jotou flipped over and looked up again, both hands under the pillow. "Way comfier," she glared to the bed from the blanket she lied on.

The Thundering Blade of Kria had flopped over onto the ground, in an empty tent. "Jotou?"

The blonde groaned all the way up, "Yes?" she peered.

Hotaru walked into the tent, flexing her fingers, "Finally finished with my work. What’re you doing?"

Jotou glanced at her from boots up, "Trying to get sleep. It’s been pretty crummy and I’m just trying to get comfortable."

"With the rock-hard ground?"

"It’s better," Jotou’s head fell back.

Hotaru’s eyes had darted elsewhere. She crouched down and kneeled at Jotou’s feet, "It’s not exactly been comfortable for me either. Mind if I join you?" her fangs glistened.

Reds scattered from the blonde’s nose to her cheeks. Jotou did not have time to give permission as Hotaru crawled up her legs, one hand after the other, till her head emerged above the blonde’s chest.

"It’s been a while," Hotaru planted her chin firmly down, tilting her head as her ears twitched. Crimson strands draped over everything else. "Shameless," she poked the soft flesh of her breasts.

"You wanted me to get some decent sleep with a bra on?" Jotou squinted.

"You’re so vulnerable though," Hotaru grinned, poking deeper, tracing across to find the right spot.

Jotou pouted, "It’s not like they’re bouncing all over, my armour’s meant to take bullets and concussions you know."

Hotaru shook her head and moved further up, "Is your best defence being a smart-ass?"

"Thought you knew me," Jotou could only attempt to resist the allure, the lightly fading scent of sea dandelions, her face right above hers, peering down like she owned the blonde. It was almost ritual for her not to give in too quickly.

The redhead leaned down pressing a long needed kiss for the both of them. Hotaru held the hands of the other, bringing them up to their heads as her body weighed down the blonde.

Jotou let out a little whine before flipping around and pinning Hotaru down on the ground. Hotaru winced and opened her brilliant blue eyes, but the woman above pressed the attack.

Her tail went to one side, but she smiled in the kiss; as if to mock her endeavour. Hotaru slid her knee in between them, pushing the blonde up.

Taking her chance, the redhead flipped her back over, taking the same position as before. Jotou’s brows knitted, their lips still locked; the blanket crinkled with not much surface left, but enough for the two.

She tried again to push Hotaru, but Hotaru instead simply lifted off and parted from the kiss, causing Jotou to flip on her side. However, before Jotou could land back, the redhead kept pushing Jotou.

The blonde lied now on her side and Hotaru had hands on her back. "Hey," a soft voice protested.

"Stop being a bad girl~"

Jotou blushed deeper and in her fluster, Hotaru easily pushed. Jotou’s face fell into the pillow, while she felt the other’s weight climbing atop her back.

Hotaru moved the blonde strands and kissed the back of the blonde’s neck before giggling. "You still want to keep trying?" she got up and straddled her ass.

"I’ll never surrender," she sided her head to peer out of the corner of her sparking eye.

"You can push me off, can’t you~?" Hotaru began running a finger down her shoulder blades, causing a light sigh to escape from Jotou.

The blonde relaxed, muscle by muscle. She tightened her lips, every line Hotaru drew across making some part of her body twitch. "Too heavy."

The wolf-girl paused... Her eyes narrowed and her ears pricked... "You little-" Hotaru fell down atop her. Jotou felt breasts against her back and flinched.

Hotaru shifted the blonde strands and white collar away before planting her lips into the back of her neck. She sucked her skin lightly. Jotou let out a moan, her hands held down by the other.

The redhead’s hips began to rock back and forth gently, despite the leather of her skirt. "Jotou!" Fumeko rushed into the tent and searched- "..."

Jotou’s head pushed Hotaru’s face away as she looked up and to her right. Hotaru pushed her crimson strands away and fell off on the other side, propped up by an elbow.

All of them stared with bubbles for eyes for a solid few seconds... Fumeko went red in the face, that only intensified in shade with every crease of her brows. "Uh..." she gawked.

"W-what is it!?" Hotaru’s voice went high. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The brunette shook her head, "There’s a... Eugh! There’s been an elite soldier spotted near the south, so stop screwing around!"