That Time I Got Reincarnated as an Overpowered Elf (Tensura x OC)

(OE1) Mission Report

"Ah man, all I had to do was find that idiot and drag him back to the base..." The woman muttered to herself as she skulked through the forest, lamenting over her recent failure. "But because I couldn't get to him before he got himself killed over his stupid murder spree, he's dead, the Captain's gonna be pissed, and the Boss is gonna have to bring him back, which is gonna get the Captain double pissed! The worst part is, she probably already knows!!!"

Despite her casual tone, it was clear from the sweat rolling off her forehead and the way she ruffled her own hair that she wasn't as calm as her voice would imply.

'Agh... Who was that kid, anyway?' She wondered to herself, thinking back to the white-haired Dark Elf that had apparently killed her target. 'I got the same vibe from him that I get from Otherworlders... And on top of that, the Boss seemed to take an interest in him... Wonder what that's about...'

She pondered over it more, trying to think up as many theories as she could while haphazardly walking through the forest, but she swept all that to the side once the area she had been searching for came into her range of perception.

'You know what? Forget it... I've already got a lot to get done today; worrying about the Boss' plans when he doesn't ask for me is just brain power I could be using for other things.' 

After dismissing her extra thoughts, she walked up to a particular tree, pressing her finger against the bark, charging it with energy to draw a set of runic symbols along its surface, calling out to nothing once she was done, "Hey, Amaruuuuu! Open up, I wanna get this report done. If the Captain's gonna kill me, I wanna get it over with!"

A moment after, the symbols on the tree disappeared, and beside the tree, a portal appeared, a distorted voice seemingly speaking out from it in response to the woman's call.

"You don't have to yell... Jeez..."

The woman stuck her tongue out with an annoyed grunt as she walked through the portal.

With a single blink as she stepped through, what was once a vast, flourishing forest around her, had now been replaced by a hallway, its walls and ceiling gleaming with strange wiring.

Moving forward in the new terrain, she walked along the halls, idly tracing over the lights in the walls as she went, until eventually, she found herself in a large room, which, unlike the hall she had just walked through, was full of people, moving to-and-fro for one reason or another.

However, what she was focused on was turning in her report, and to do that, she would have to find her commander. To that end, she turned her attention to the room's main use: a hub manned by robotic constructs.

Walking over to one of the counters, the automaton's eyes shone in response to her presence, a smile forming on its artificial features as it offered its greeting. "Hello, Jerico. How can I be of service?"

"Lookin' for the Captain. Is she in the base right now?"

In response to her question, the automaton paused for a moment, its eyes flickering for a few seconds before it responded, "Commander Evania is currently in her office. Would you like me to request a meeting for you?"

"Nope, thanks." She replied as she turned away from the counter, dismissing the automaton with a halfhearted wave, making her way to her commander's office and dreading every step.

Even with the distance between her superior's office and the base's main room, the walk still felt incredibly short, and she found herself standing outside the door before she knew it.

'Okay... You got this, Jerico. Head in, give the report, head out... Easy...!'

She raised her hand to knock on the door, hovering over it for a few tense seconds.

'But there is always the possibility of her murdering me over this...' but put it back down in the end.

She sucked on her teeth as she stared at the door. 'But... I mean, she wouldn't actually do that, right? The most she'd do is punch me a coupe times...' She raised it again.

'But the Captain's really strong, so I don't think even my Physical Attack Resistance would save me from that...' And put it back down again.

She raised it again, 'But with Pain Resistance, I wouldn't even--!'

"Jerico, quit hovering at my door and get in here!" However, before she could spend more time not opening the door, the voice of her commander boomed from the other side, spooking Jerico enough to swing the door open before she realized what she was doing.

"YES, MA'AM! SORRY, MA'AM!"

Sitting behind a desk with a map, alongside dozens of other documents spread out over its surface was a brown-haired, blue-eyed woman, her arms crossed and eyes trained on the subordinate that had just entered her office.

Needless to say, she didn't exactly seem pleased. Jerico, in spite of the clear annoyance in her commander's eyes, tried to make things less tense by offering a greeting, "H-Hey, Captain... How've ya been...?"

"Jerico..." However, as expected, the attempt fell flat, and she only got more tense as Evania closed her eyes and muttered her name quietly yet sternly, "Give me your report..."

With an audible gulp, she straightened up and started speaking. "Well... I followed Luprose's footprints away from the exit over to the west of the Jura Forest... I was able to catch up to him not too long after he left, but by then, he had already gotten marginally stronger with his Unique Skill. Enough to go head-to-head with me. At one point in the fight, he managed to catch me off-guard and knock me out for a bit. When I woke up, I got back to tracking. He had gone a pretty good distance away, so it took me a while to catch up, but by the time I did, he had been killed by this Dark Elf kid. Despite that, the Boss asked me to take him and his friends wherever they were headed, so I teleported them to Stinada, and that's about it..."

Evania nodded along as Jerico gave her report, sighing once she finished. "Yes, that last part is about in-line with what Lord Zola told me..."

With her report done, Jerico sighed, already mentally preparing herself for the physical and mental anguish that was soon to follow. But, surprisingly, her commander had something else in mind.

"However... For whatever reason, he also asked that I be lenient with you, so you won't be punished for this."

With that, the light immediately returned to her eyes as she exclaimed "OH!?" She knew better than to outright celebrate her narrow escape from punishment in front of her commander, but it was clear to Evania that fireworks were going off in her head, despite her poker face.

Evania sighed, as she watched her subordinate slightly fidget in place, but after a while and seeing her poker face turn more and more into a smile by the second, she couldn't help but chuckle herself.

"Don't get too used to it. This is just a rare occasion. If you fail your next mission, you'll be on toilet duty for the next two weeks; no excuses."

Evania couldn't keep the smile off her face as she saw Jerico excitedly salute, "Don't gotta tell me twice, Cap'n!"

"Good. Now, you have Luprose in your Spatial Storage, correct?" Jerico nodded in response. "Drop him off with Marali and have him preserve him. Lord Zola said he won't be back for a while, so it'd be best to keep his corpse fresh to make the already taxing job easier for the Master."

"You got it." With all said and done, Jerico practically skipped out of the room, closing the door behind her and celebrating to herself once she thought she was out of earshot of her commander, "Woohoo! My nostrils live to see another day! Suck it, janitor!"

Shaking her head at the antics of her subordinate, Evania turned back to the map on her desk, sighing, "...Now then, what's the next step to make with the Mutual-Aid Guild?"

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