Summoned so the Soviet Conquers! (GATE Fanfics)

Chapter VIII - Trouble

"The sun sets on the SS"

--

Ianthe had walked the remaining miles into the expanding city on the slope leading to Alnus hill. She had originally had her traveling cloaks hood up, shielding her face, but found that doing that actually made her stand out more than not, so she put it down.

There were lots of men in green walking around, but more so, at least in the town, were nomadic peoples and Imperial citizens. Or ex-Imperial as the case could very well be. It wasn't like any town that Ianthe had ever been in though, it was too clean, smelled too good. There was no sewage, no readily visible garbage, and everyone looked remarkably clean, like they had all bathed that day and there were a lot of shops. All of which sold goods that had to have originated from their homeland.

Ianthe couldn't believe the laxity of the security though. Even a small city with only a few thousand people would have had guards search her and more than likely confiscated her sword that was currently secured to her waist beneath her traveling cloak.

The buildings were all brand new, made of wood, and looked as if they had been put together by professional carpenters with proper tools rather than simple villagers with no real idea of construction. The roofs were shingled with actual shingles and not thatched with straw or branches. One feature actually made Ianthe stare in wonder though.

She knew that the Soviets were rich beyond measure which explained why they had so much glass and of such high quality in addition to mirrors of such clarity that they could merely stick them anywhere they chose to. But these were mere villagers, how could they afford to put glass in their windows? To hire a glassblower and pay them to make this many windows would have cost a fortune and the quality of the glass spoke of a master glassblower who had done it.

Stiffening, but forcing herself to relax, Ianthe saw two of the dark haired green men walking down the street. Not necessarily towards her, but down the street she was on. After a moment she realized that she was staring and immediately averted her gaze.

Trying to look normal and blend in, Ianthe ducked into a store directly to her side, looking at various things without any real interest of buying them. There were lanterns overhead that gave light without flames. Luella had told her that those were lights that used electricity, similar to lightning to work, but it just sounded like more magic to Ianthe. They were similar to the ones on the wagons that the Soviets used, but different.

"Hi, can I help you with anything?" asked a cheerful voice. Ianthe turned and saw that it clerk who was talking to her. She was a nomad and clearly not human, but she was still running a store which was more shocking than anything Ianthe had seen today. Nonhumans worked in stores all the time, but in the back, out of sight and out of mind. Not acting as the shopkeeper.

"I am just browsing your wares thank you. I must ask though, where did you get all of these...goods?" asked Ianthe, picking up a writing instrument with switches that when pressed down put some kind of quill point down that was filled with ink. A pen Volkin had called them? Whatever it was it felt very cheaply made, not at all like the one that Volkin had used to take notes.

"Oh, well we get all of our wares from the SDF from the land of Japan and they employed me to run the store, can you believe that?"

"No actually," said Ianthe bluntly.

"I know right? I mean all I had to do was learn how to speak Japanese and now I'm learning how to write their language. Best part is, they pay me to learn it."

"They pay you to learn?" said Ianthe, half as a question, half as a statement of disbelief. It was common knowledge that you paid your mentor for their knowledge and experience to take the time to impart that onto you. For someone to pay you to learn how to work for them seemed almost inconceivable. Even the Skyraiders, when adopting orphans and training them how to fight were basically making an investment.