Armed Enlightenment Book 1 (Practice Story [My other stories are better])

Prelude to the Japan Arc

It was back On the road again. Going places that they've never been. Seeing things that they may never see again.

"Oh? Now that's interesting."

Zero's mutter while viewing his tablet piqued and annoyed Itami after being tired from the siege of Italica. The civilians and Apostle they've brought were out cold after spending a sleepless night and finished their trade; the Count has been returned to his county and defenses are being constructed by blue helmets, and designate is as a protected city with special permissions.

Loitering above the convoy was a single fast miniature drone keeping up with the vehicles' speed with IR and thermal imaging so it was easy to identify anything approaching them.

A group of horsemen raced down the road to the west, heading for Italica. Above them flew flags emblazoned with red, white, and yellow roses. The sound of many galloping hooves thundered beneath them.

Their polished breastplates and helmets reflected gold and silver light, and the waving flags and upraised lances surged forward at great speeds.

The knight at their lead was particularly noteworthy.

She was a spectacularly-dressed female knight whose golden hair swayed in the wind. She lashed her horse repeatedly. Her mount mutely bore the pain and threw itself forward in response. The countryside flew past the lady knight's eyes, but it was too slow, far too slow. She gripped the reins tighter and lashed the horse harder.

After a few short minutes, the dust cloud formed from the galloping of horses appeared and their figures could be finally made through the naked eye.

They were focused on the lady who seemed hostile. She rode a black horse, and her luxurious golden ringlets descended to her waist. The legendary drill hair.

At a glance, she was a beautiful woman who held herself like a daughter of nobility, and the way she looked down imperiously on them seemed to be someone who says the lines of every haughty noble daughter in almost every isekai after making a "Noblewoman's laugh." A stereotyped laugh used by women from aristocratic Japanese or pseudo-Japanese families, usually written "ホホホ" or "ほほほ" (ho ho ho), or sometimes "お~~ほほほ" (o~hohoho) representing a high-pitched, somewhat artificial form of refined feminine laughter (rather than the belly-laugh that "ho ho ho" represents in English, best expressed in many portrayals of Santa Claus). Typically associated with The Ojou character type, or haughty, stuck-up women.

These characters are most likely to exhibit this laugh in moments of arrogance or when contemplating how they'll humiliate their enemies. They frequently will pose holding a straightened palm vertically to the side of or below their mouth or holding a fan over their mouths. This comes from the custom that refined Japanese women don't expose their mouths while laughing.

No matter what, the Noblewoman's Laugh is almost always the mark of a bitch that is on par of being fired upon during times of standard rules of engagement.

If she actually does something along those lines, she is designated as a haughty cliche-class of female aristocrats.

The convoy was in full alert. Their fingers on the triggers, safeties off, and the MG locked and loaded to the incoming group. They were told by Itami to exercise rules of engagement and his HMV took over as the lead vehicle.

The convoy soon stopped and faced the knights. Seeing their response, the drill hair spurred her horse to the left side of the HMV and froze.

"M– M–"

Right as she stutters, she immediately stopped when the one sat on the front passenger seat placed her index finger to her lips.

"You're too noisy, Bozes."