Gate: Thus the Sorcerous Kingdom Fought There

CHAPTER 6: Battle Italica: Valkyries versus Demons

"You're here at last!" Pina shouted with joy.

The sound of something hitting the ground with a dull thud caught her ears. Opening her eyes, which were previously closed, Piña saw Rory, the Elf, the mage, the black-clad warrior, and his companion looking at a man who was collapsed in front of the door. His eyes had rolled up in his head, and he had lost consciousness. Immediately, the three of them stared coldly at Piña.

Gulping, Pina muttered, "Could it be... that... that was my fault?"

Her answer came from the whole group. The white-clad mage, the black-clad priestess, the legendary black hero and the blonde, and blue-eyed Elf nodded as one. But the strange gray exoskeleton wearing female, standing beside the black-clad warrior, started to laugh uncontrollably. "She just. Puff. Hahahahaha...."

Momon looked to his companion and sighed. "Please forgive her. She is like a child." He said to Pina.

Itami recovered consciousness after a moment. "Owie" He said as he rubbed his chin while opening his eyes. It was then that he realized the face of Rory now filled his field of vision. Her black hair grazed across Itami's face. It was a little prickly. Itami soon became aware of the laugh coming behind him. He looked back, and he saw the still laughing Raidyn. "Why is she laughing?" asked Itami while he looked at Raidyn with a dumbfounded expression.

"Ignore her," Momon said blandly.

He heard Sergeant-Major Kuwabara trying to reach him through the radio and pressed the switch on his lower chest. "Lieutenant, are you okay? I was worried." Kuwabara said.

"Kind of, yeah. I passed out for a bit." He replied in a lazy, slow tone. It seemed his brain had been damaged.

"If you had waited any longer, I would have ordered our guys to burst in." The Sergeant Major said.

Being able to avoid an unnecessary battle was a form of happiness. It would be terrible if they left behind casualties because if this. Kuwabara had waited so long because such thoughts were on his mind. The need to rescue a captured comrade and the need to avoid a needless firefight. It was hard for him to decide which to prioritize.

"I'll contact you again once I figure out what's going on. Stand by for now." Ordered Itami.

"Got it."

Putting his radio away, the Lieutenant stood up. "All right then, who's going to tell me what's going on?" Itami asked, addressing the people around him.

Rory looked at Tuka, Tuka looked at Lelei, Lelei looked at Momon. Momon shook his head. Piña stared at the still laughing Raidyn for a moment; then she turned her gaze around pleadingly to everyone around her. In the end, they all looked away, worried looks on their faces.

Rory and Lelei knew it was just an accident, so they did not blame Piña. Raidyn was finishing her laugh, wiping away her tears of joy and helped up Itami. "That was rich."

Was it lukewarm or confused...? Well, the best word for their mood at that moment might be "leisurely."

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Scene Change: JSDF base:

To describe the officers of the JSDF Special Region Expeditionary Force Headquarters, most of them were field-grade, and they were heatedly debating with each other. If things went poorly, it might even break out into a fistfight. Hazama looked at his subordinates and thought that they had probably held it in for a long time. Many members of the JGSDF Special Region Expeditionary Force were bored and restless. After all, there had been nothing for them to do after they came here. For example, there were the tasks they were doing now, which would be base defense, dispatching small recon teams to gather information for future planning, fine-tuning the unit's operational standards, all of which were primarily administrative tasks. As for base defense, there had only been a few live engagements in total, and the enemy's movements and strength were completely unknown.