Chapter 9: Culling

  “I’m sorry,” Aeskell said, “I put you on the spot like that and I didn’t even ask if you wanted to use a gun,” she said with slight regret.

  Tanya looked up at the tall woman. She was slightly confused by this. After all, she herself didn’t really get any levels from the action, yet her father’s second wife seemed sad.

  “Aeskell, why are you apologizing to me? I pnned on going into firearms ter. Sure, I wanted to grow more of my arcane skills, but this is fine,” she said, and Aeskell pced a hand to her chest.

  She stood up from her leaning stature. She seemed a lot more calm now that the dragon lord was dead. If one could call such a sorry excuse for a dragon a lord. He didn’t even have any wild magic in his veins.

  “It’s just that I didn’t, and don’t want you to take any levels that you don’t want to take,” she expined, and Tanya nodded her head, parenting stuff was to bme.

  “That’s fine. Like I said, I was pnning on using guns ter,” Tanya said as the conversation drew to a close.

  It was then that Wictoria walked back over to them, as Erika rubbed her brows with her hands. The older triplite seemed exasperated. Wictoria, meanwhile, seemed utterly happy at their current heading today.

  After all, she was spending time with her commanding officer to whom she had, and was now, her sister. It was purely out of her self respect that she didn’t hug her all the time. Tanya simply looked inquisitively at them, tilting her head to the side.

  Erika looked up and pierced her sister with a stare. Tanya recognized the look. She wanted a breather, and some time to think. Though, she still didn’t have the context for what happened.

  “What has you so happy, Wictoria?” Aeskell asked with that sincere and motherly smile spread across her face.

  She had actually heard that her own smile looked like the Automata’s smile. Tanya herself couldn’t see it. Yet she herself saw only her biological mother’s smile in her face.

  The skin stretched rather thinly over her cheeks. It was truly strange the first time she saw it on Albedo’s, and then her own face. Her own teeth matched the overseer’s teeth as well. Yet that was a story for a different time.

  She looked slightly expectantly at her half-sister. The slightly younger girl was now scratching nervously at her cheek. It was obvious that she had messed up slightly.

  “Well, I just mentioned that practice also levels things, so now dad says we have to hunt the dragons in the castle with shotguns loaded with paralyzing shells,” she said nervously, as if the extra work was a hassle.

  Tanya simply shook her head with slight exasperation. It was truly a mystery on why Erika, and now Wictoria, thought that this was a chore. She had long since pushed that practice makes perfect into Wictoria’s head when she was Visha back in the other life during training.

  Yet, it seemed that that lesson was gone. At least for now. Right now, she was going to have to force it back in. Along with teaching Erika that same lesson.

  “Now girls, don’t fight each other on such trivial things,” Aeskell said in her deep and motherly tone she reserved for teaching, “this is a rather simple thing.”

  As she said this, she pulled a shotgun from her inventory. The gun itself was a weapon that she recognized right away. Wictoria seemed to recognize it as well, yet she said nothing as she took the weapon as it was offered. The trench gun that she had been handed seemed happy in her grip.

  “Erika, I’m assuming you will want use a firearm as well?” she asked, and Erika nodded her head.

  Tanya and Erika also stayed silent as they were handed a shotgun. The one that Tanya was handed seemed to be a particurly worn gun. Its wooden furniture was old and worn. The heat shield was stained dark from heat, the metal unable to be polished away. The metal scars across the surface told her that this one had been well used and cared for.

  She then decided, upon seeing how much care this gun was given, to not voice her grievances with the idea of a shotgun. After all, Aeskell seemed like the type of person to consider the power of a twelve gauge a mercy. She also didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a lecture.

  “Now kids,” Aeskell said as the girls looked at her expectantly, “Ainz has had the Hanzos close up the entrances and exists. This way, no dragon will leave, and you can hunt them all in this pce. Sound like a pn?” she said with a warm smile upon her face.

  The girls looked at each other, then looked back and nodded their heads. This was going to be rather fun, or annoying judging on how well the dragons hid. Tanya gnced at the three corpses of the frost dragons. She hoped they would collect that ter, the uses of a frost dragon were many, and she didn’t want to waste them.

  …

  Torangealit hid, it was all he could do. Monsters were hunting him and his kindred. He would have fought back. He could have done so. he could have killed them.

  At least, that was what he told himself. After all, he was pretty sure that they were children. Yet, when he made a move to do so, he felt like he was about to die suddenly. It was as if he was being watched.

  The feeling didn’t leave him, even after he ran away. The sounds of little feet going, pitter patter, across the floor was a haunting thing. It filled him with dread. The weapons they wielded were strange, and loud. They simply pointed them at his brothers and sisters, and they fell with the noise that followed.

  The halls were silent now. The only noise that one could possibly hear was the sounds of his lungs pulling in air. The day had been going great. He had been flirting with his sisters as there was no one else to flirt with, and then suddenly, the girl fell over with a flinch of pain.

  It had gone downhill from there. It was going to continue to do so unless if he found the exit. The room he was in was rge. The high ceiling provided excellent room for him to hide in. The blue-grey walls hid him well, at least he thought.

  Yet when he poked his head outside of the doorway, he spotted one of them. Their back was turned, this was his chance. He could kill this one quickly.

  Yet when he rushed out of the room, they turned around and hit him with their weapon, and his sight and body froze. Later that day, he would know no more.

  …