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The Rising of Tanaka – 23 Part 2

Pasifista

「I don’t need your thanks. They attacked us, so we killed them, simple as that. I’m Sergeant. This neat-looking person is Lance Corporal, and that buff guy over there is Corporal.」

Tanaka flippantly replied as he matched her greeting. The other two, who were introduced by Tanaka, also greeted her in an appropriate pose.

「…. ni, nice to meet you.」

Taisa was overwhelmed by the two’s distinctive personalities, but still managed to greet them back.

「But still, it’s quite a feat to be a Colonel at such a young age.」

Tanaka decided to first offer her some praises.

「Huh?」

「Hmm?」

And splendidly failed. An awkward air quickly drifted around them. Before long, more people arrived there as they were stuck in such a situation.

「Big brother.」

Someone, who seemed to be Taisa’s big brother, had arrived along with a few guards around him.

「Big brother. I told you to let me handle this.」

「You know that it doesn’t work that way.」

The man, who was called big brother by Taisa, then turned his attention toward team Tanaka. The man was quite a handsome one, so Tanaka’s hostility instantly increased by one.

「I am Taisa’s older brother, Shosa (Major). I am acting as a commander in the Western National Alliance. When our troops were attacked by the dragons, it appeared that you guys were the ones who saved us. Thank you.」

「As I told Colonel-dono earlier, we were merely defending ourselves, so there’s no need for you to mind it. But still, the big brother is a Major, while the little sister is a Colonel, huh…. You must have gone through a lot of hardships, Major-dono.」

Tanaka became a little bit warmer to Shosa. Shosa was puzzled by Tanaka’s sudden kindness, which he didn’t even understand. However, at the end of the day he was still a man, so Tanaka finished his greeting briefly.

「U, um Mister. I have a few questions I’d like to ask you about, do you mind?」

Even as puzzled as he was, it didn’t prevent Shosa from  trying to inquire Tanaka about some matters.

「No, I don’t mind. As long as it’s something that I can answer, that is.」

Tanaka appealed his broad-mindedness with a crisp look on his face. Of course, he didn’t forget to send Taisa a sidelong glance. Taisa shot him a what’s with this dude gaze, but it failed to reach Tanaka. Shosa immediately reorganized his thoughts and proceeded to inquire team Tanaka.

「The Western National Alliance is currently in war against the Gokuri Republican Army. We have no intention of turning into your enemies, but I’d like to ask you to inform us what your intention is.」

「We have no intention of turning anyone into an enemy, either. As long as they don’t bare their fangs at us, that is.」

Shosa nodded in relief at Tanaka’s answer.

「I’m relieved to hear that. I personally don’t like the idea of fighting against those who can easily slay dragons, after all. Next is, I wonder if you could tell us why you guys appeared on the battlefield?」

Tanaka explained their situation appropriately that they simply got lost and happened to be passing by there. While he was at it, he also casually inquired about where they were right now. In his mind, he couldn’t help but admire his own quick wittedness, before falling into despair upon finding out where they were right now. He came to realize the fact that they had casually jumped over Purin Kingdom, and landed on a certain area on western side of Gokuri capital. Right then and there, Tanaka firmly vowed in his heart that he would only opt to transfer magic as his absolute last resort from then on.

As the conversation continued to digress further, they learned a lot regarding the Republic of Gokuri. They previously knew next to nothing about Gokuri other than the fact that it was in the middle of civil war, so team Tanaka were grateful for the information they had obtained.

They were surprised to know that the Taisa and Shosa in front of them were actually former royalty of Torochi Kingdom, which was annexed to the Republic of Gokuri. The two apparently escaped during the chaos brought about by the civil war, but it seemed that their parents and big sister were still in the hands of the Republic of Gokuri.

Hearing all this, Tanaka’s intuition was ringing furiously. He couldn’t help but wonder if there were anyone out there who would casually tell strangers, whom they had just met, so much about themselves… For the time being, he concluded that he had to first find out whether their big sister was a beautiful woman or not, before putting the discussion to an end.

「Well, you can stop there. To put it simply, you want us to lend our power to the Alliance, am I right?」

「W, well, sort of. What do you say?」

In Tanaka’s mind, the wheel was rotating furiously as the hamster was frantically sprinting on it. The high-speed rotation eventually led Tanaka to the answer. Lending them a hand as well as saving the beautiful princess. In addition, there was also the beautiful little sister, Taisa-chan. It was a totally cliche-like event he had been wishing for.

「I understand that you guys are propelled by a great cause. And I do think that there’s nothing wrong in seeking independence, either. Moreover, I believe that saving beautiful women in distress is an absolute justice.」

「Oh, you’re going to lend us a hand?!」

「But I refuse!」

If it were Tanaka from a little while ago, most likely he’d have jumped in with joy. However, Tanaka was an evolvable character. His intuition was ringing alarm bells. That this was without a doubt another trap laid down by the world for him to jump in….

Team Tanaka departed the place in high spirits, leaving the stunned siblings behind.

「Mufufu, even if we were to join the war to save the princess, we’d definitely be overshadowed by the mobs. Moreover, even if we leave them alone, it seems that the Alliance army is going to have an easy win, so it’s best for us to head ahead by ourselves first. As they are in the middle of losing the war, we’d jump in and coolly save the princess during the ensuing chaos.」

Tanaka couldn’t help but sing praise about how brilliant he had been that day. As Tanaka was walking while brewing his thieving at the scene of the fire plan, the delusion of the princess going ‘So cool! Embrace me!’-like scenes began to float in his mind, before long his head was occupied with nothing but such a thought. Neither Suke-san nor Kaku-san were bothered by Tanaka’s dubious soliloquy, as he was simply operating in his usual manner. Tanaka was overcome with excitement, as they headed to the Gokuri capital to save the princess.

However, he didn’t know. That the siblings’ request was supposedly and exactly for team Tanaka to move ahead and save the royal family on their own. As well as the fact that that decision of his had made him miss the event to increase the likeability of the little sister….