Chapter Text
Ah, the sun was shining. The birds were singing. The kid refugees were playing in the courtyard. What a beautiful time to be alive–
"WAIT, WHAT?!" A voice exclaimed in shock.
And this confirms saying that will curse a group of people.
"You guys are the next group to go scouting–or should I say spying and UN would like for you guys to go now before spring starts arriving." A worker told the world powers about the news of the upcoming plans.
"In this type of weather?!" America exclaimed, "I almost freezed when I got to this office, and I'm usually fine during the winter!"
"It wasn't that cold-"
"Shut your ass up, you and your dad are practically immune to cold weather." America told the Russian to shut up.
"Jeez..."
"Shouldn't UN or the other organizations be the ones telling us this? Why are we going now when we're officially enemies with Shenli's father?" Germany questioned this choice.
"The other organizations are busy trying to calm down a protest that is occurring in Pangea and UN...well, he's taking a day off."
"STUPID FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!"
Yeah, UN is still crashing out from the whole attempted assassination and the loss of five thousand citizens. So, WHO took him to a rage room where he can release all of his anger and not snap at others. At this very moment, nearly everything in the rage room was broken. It was just a moment to release some pent up anger. Most of the time, UN is rather calm and knows how to control his anger. However, that incident was something else entirely as he had never experienced such a thing before.
The poor teenager who works there just to get some extra money just stood in horror at all of this. He had lost count on how many replicas UN had broken, but he has a feeling a lot more will be broken. At least UN was kind enough to wait patiently for a new round of replicas to destroy before going apeshit.
"I'm assuming the protest has something to do with the attack right?" China assumed why the protest was happening in the first place.
At the beginning of this whole "in another world that we might go to war with" incident, the public wasn't really complaining besides some angry tweets. However, when Sadan pulled a douche move and killed citizens with a surprise attack, it would make sense for there to be great civil unrest.
"Yes. It's mainly them wanting to start a full on war and assault on Arachnid, however the organizations are still holding onto hope there may be peace and the war will be unnecessary." The worker said, "Some caught wind Princess Shenli is present here and demand her to come out and answer their questions. For her safety, she and the others–besides the refugee kids, will no longer be allowed to enter Pangea due to potential assassination attempts. You know how people are during war. Extremists start rearing their ugly heads to try to take advantage of the situation." The worker added with some disdain at the potential actions that may occur in the future.
"Right, right...then what about this Hinkari person issue? Mine, Russia, Germany and Japan's parents have told us that Hinkari is a "do not interact" type of person." America mentions the potential issues that may occur due to Hinkari's existence.
"With you guys being the new scouts, they won't immediately notice that you're scouts. However, in order to actually convince you that you're regular travelers of Arachnid, you guys will have to travel via wagon, which will be a lot slower than a car. Adding on, China will have to pull it with his kirin form according to what UN said." The worker told them.
"W-What- why am I the one pulling the cart?!" The Chinese country exclaimed.
"You're the only one who can turn into a horse-like creature that can pull a cart. The others are either too small in terms of creature forms and I'm not sure if bears can be used to pull carts." The worker said, "However, a few of you will be animals to lower even more suspicion as I assume they're unaware that CH can be animals. I'm pretty sure Altaria can find a spell to boost your stamina up, keep you warm and allow you to talk despite being an animal."
"No! Absolutely not! I do not-"
"This is utter bullshit." China muttered as he and the others soon left the base.
He was forced to wear the stuff horses need in order to carry carts around, however he wasn't given a bite collar since it would look embarrassing. But, the worker promised to get him some exotic fishes once they come back as compensation for this. Fortunately, the spell Kato casted on China to keep him warm and get tired out from carrying the wagon should last for a while until they can find another mage to cast the spell on him.
"And why do I and India have to go out of all countries?" Brazil questioned how he even found himself in this situation.
He was just doomscrolling on his phone, probably about animal core shorts where half of them didn't even show them the correct animal, until Russia started spamming him on BRICS messages that they have to go.
"S.K can't make it, Saudi refuses to go which is very understandable, Britain and France already went and was probably traumatized, South Africa is taking care of Lesotho since he got sick, and the base needs some other world powers to stay behind. I'm here to ensure our asses don't die out here." Poland explained.
"Oh, and the fact America, Germany, China, and Japan have to be in their animal forms to lower even more suspicion and you're here to treat their animal wounds since you're one of the experts on that." Poland added.
"Right, so how are we supposed to explain our cover up backstory when someone asks about our origins?" India frowned, "Especially with mine and Brazil's human forms since our skin-tones are definitely not common here."
There was an awkward silence amongst the teenagers. None of them are the greatest at making convincing lies as they might let a few points that don't connect out on each other. They don't have Wifi either, so they can't resort to using Chat-GPT to make a very plain looking ass backstory. Sure, the people in Pangea will obviously know it's a fake backstory, but the people in Arachnid doesn't even know what AI is and will probably assume it's some prophet. It certainly didn't help that they didn't have the time to come together and discuss the fake backstories, so they had to pull something out of their asses before some person appeared out of nowhere and began talking to him.
"Okay, who here is the best liar out of us?" India questioned before mentioning something. "Excluding Germany, America, and Japan since they can't talk in their animal forms and they can't leave that form since some other travelers might appear out of nowhere."
"China, What happened between the days of April 5th to June 4th in 1989?" Poland deadpanned a question.
...
"Nothing, what are you talking about?" China denied any events that occurred between April 5th to June 4th in 1989.
"Boom, found the best liar out of the group. We all know what happened." Poland snapped her fingers at herself as she leaded back against the wall of the wagon.
"Whatever," China rolled his eyes, "I suppose that you're a group of friends, Pedro (Brazil) brought some animals he befriended when they were injured, and we're just roaming Arachnid."
"And what about the fact we're getting carried around by a fish horse?" India brings up the issue.
"Uh, one of you guys befriended me or something." China wasn't sure on how to explain that issue.
"Shouldn't we be concerned with this Arthur guy? He's like a mage and can easily use some sort of spell to pick us up and it's all over." Brazil brings up one "tiny" issue that they forgot to cover.
"Like as if he can discover we're CH." Poland scoffed.
Unfortunately, Hinkari being the cliche overpowered Isekai main character he is, he of course has the ability to detect who's a CH or not. However, such ability that the MC receives may not be ever used again and will be a thing in the past. So they just have to hope Hinkari conveniently forgets the fact he has the ability to see CH despite their human forms.
Things soon got a bit worse when there was a figure in the distance with horns. They do recall the FIBTS saying something about a girl named Tecqu or some girl with horns was with Hinkari, which sent alarms in their heads. They were like halfway the distance to Coda Village, yet Hinkari's group is already here?! What type of luck is this?!
"Okay, everyone act cool and don't look nervous."
Well, as if that is going to help with their situation.
As the figure was starting to close in, they expected a few more to follow the figure, but it turns out the girl was alone. In which this was rather strange as they don't feel a sudden urge to leave or quickly move on. So perhaps she wasn't a threat.
Though, it does lead to a question for another. Is this the same girl? If so, why is she traveling alone all of a sudden?
From the looks of her face, she seemed frustrated, a bit sad, and regretful. The possibility of her getting kicked out was increasing ever so slightly. The girl looked up after her mind finally processed that there was a wagon up ahead of her with a random strange looking drake. She definitely knows drakes don't have a horse like body with...antlers as a choice for horns. She also knows one of the eagles in the cart doesn't exist in this world, which could lead to this being a spy group belonging to the CH.
"Hey! You guys are CH, right?" The horned girl asked just when the group walked past her, throwing them off guard.
"What are you talking about?" Poland played dumb.
"You guys don't need to hide your identities from me since there are two obvious giveaways for me to know that you're CH." She said before introducing herself, "I'm Tecqu and would you mind if I stay at your guys' base for the duration of the war?" She added a question to the end.
"Damn, our cover sucks ass." Brazil admits under his breath, "Uh, do we have any communication devices with us so we can relay the message to them?"
"I think my dad and his group can confirm she's not a threat since she did save their asses a few times." Russia told Brazil that Tecqu should be in the clear.
"Are we all going to ignore the fact she knew that we have two things that expose our cover?" Poland brings up the issue, "That means this Hinkari person will just instantly know we're spies!"
"Well, for me since Drake-Tuy usually keeps us students in check on any variations of species and I know for a fact we don't have any brown and white eagles or this...fish horse looking thing." Tecqu pointed at the bald eagle (America) and then side glanced at China.
"I'm a kirin..." China frowned at this.
"And drakes don't talk." Tecqu added after hearing Kirin talk, before she leaned a bit forward as she noticed there was a fox in the wagon.
She managed to catch a glimpse that the fox had more than two tails, a total of seven in fact, which is extremely rare for one to get. So she decided to not added that to the holes in their disguises. At this point for the CH, they all just glanced at each other and realized how cooked they are if someone pays a little bit too much attention to the animals. They did not sign up for this shit.
"So we're practically dead." India states.
"Not exactly, but first, are those animals CH? I have heard that this one-eyed bear, black eagle, a fox, a dove, and a CH have been breaking into nobles' homes and leaving a massacre behind." Tecqu wants to know the answer to this question.
This seemingly caused the boy who looked rather identical to Soviet (Russia), the fox, and the black eagle to sweat. They're not sure on how they'll tell her about Operation Gullitone that is occurring since UN wants to avenge the deaths of the citizens from the surprise attack.
"Yes, the animals with us are CH. The kitsune or fox is Japan, the bald eagle is America, the black eagle is Germany–but not the same one who's killing nobles, and the fish with horse legs is China." Poland wanted to get things done and over with or else they'll start to freeze out here.
It wasn't snowing at the moment, but a blizzard could always hit at any moment. They all know what happened to Third when he tried attacking Soviet when there was a clear warning that a blizzard was approaching during WW2. Bastard was rightfully frozen.
"Hey! I'm a Kirin for fuck sakes!" China snapped at Poland, who only eye-rolled at him.
"Look, I'm willing to help cover up some issues that you may encounter on your way of spying on the nobles." Tecqu offered, "Do you guys at least have a backup story if a guard questions your background? They're starting to ask every traveler at city gates' for their background information ever since Britain, France, Soviet, Third, Imperial, and the guy that looks similar to France caused havoc when they were spying. Though, most damage was done by Hinkari."
"How do the people know their names?! I thought they kept it a secret!" America couldn't help, but barge into the conversation. Since she can't talk in her animal form, she turned back into her human form.
Tecqu blinked at this as she wasn't expecting CH to actually turn into animals. Sure, she did see Britain turn into a dragon a while back, but she'd had thought her mind was messing with her. However, she simply shrugs this shock away.
"I...I told Zelya about their names since I managed to get on their good side. She kept her promise of not telling the others about their names, however Basil became an eavesdropper since she has some sort of obsession with Britain, Third, and Soviet and told Hinkari. She just had to make the farewell party a bitter one as they all, but Zelya deem me as a traitor for trying to get your guy's side of the story of this whole mess. Hinkari must have sent news out regarding their names to keep an extra look out.”
This caused America to choke on air as Germany (still in eagle form) to have his jaw or beak drop. The others were equally as shocked.
"Wait, wait, wait! What level of obsession are we talking about?" America asked as her eye slightly twitched.
"I don't know, but when she first joined our group, she had a nose bleed upon seeing them. Was willing to be exchanged as a hostage and was blushing a lot whilst doing so. Draw their wanted posters down to everything. Somehow exposed Britain when he was hiding his flag-like skin during a meeting with King Sadan. I think she's also trying to copy France and Imperial's hair styles." Tecqu counted with her fingers as she told them about what Basil was doing.
"Okay, so we're talking about the "keeps their hair strands taped to her diary" type of obsessive. How wonderful." Poland said very sarcastically as Japan (fox form) began hitting her head against the inner wagon walls.
She wishes that this world will just spontaneously combust now.
"Going back on topic on covering up some holes in your guys disguises, you guys can claim that America's animal form is a mutation of the black eagle as for China, you guys can claim that he's a young Elder drake that had a rare mutation." Tecqu suggested an idea the group can use to explain the animal situation if someone pays attention to their animals.
"Are you able to help us deal with the magic problem that we might face if Arthur uses his spells on us?" Brazil wanted to see if Tecqu can find a anti-magic spell.
"I'm afraid there is no spell that can deflect spells. The only way to avoid getting magic being used on you is if you were dead or reincarnated. So, you guys just have to pray that Arthur doesn't notice that you're CH." Tecqu told the disappointing news, earning Brazil huffing a "damn it" in response.
"However, as long as you don't slip up, it'll take them a while to notice you're spies." She added.
"Thank you, honestly I thought we were fully cooked, but now we're less cooked." America thanked Tecqu for her help before going back to her bird form just in case some third party arrives.
"No problem, though I have two warnings for you guys. The boys need to avoid Basil at all times and try not to worsen her state as I'm starting to get concerned." Tecqu said, "As for Hinkari..."
"I don't trust him and something about him makes me feel concerned for others."
With the cursed and unfortunate group that is with Hinkari, most things went back to normal despite the very bitter departure of Tecqu. To be honest, nothing really changed for the majority of them at the moment.
Besides for Zelya as she felt a bit more lonely. Tecqu was the type of person she'd like to talk to. Emma is too hyper and loud, Arthur keeps rambling about nonsense, Basil is too asborbed of her looks, as for Hinkari...he's a bit awkward and acting a bit too happy now that Tecqu is gone. At the moment, she was forced to help Basil out with her outfits as she had spent too much money at a few clothing merchant stands.
"Does this outfit look good on me?" Basil questioned as she was trying to see if the outfit she had bought made certain places look bigger. Though, it's quite revealing compared to her usual outfit.
"Uh, you do realize it's winter right?" Zelya points out that the weather won't be a fan of this outfit.
"So? You and Emma don't exactly wear winter clothing either." Basil frowned at Zelya's so call hypocritical statement, "You also look chubbier than usual." She just had to jab that in.
"It's because I'm a siren, so my body is more tolerable to the cold and my metabolism slows down during the winter to preserve warmth." Zelya had a slight frown at this, "Emma is a Fox Demi-human, so she's also a bit more tolerable in the cold. As for you, you're human, so I wouldn't advise wearing such clothing in the winter."
"And why do you want to wear such outfit in the first place?" Zelya questioned.
"It's for them~!" Basil claimed.
"You mean those three?" Zelya raised an eyebrow as she was implying Britain, Roach, and Soviet. Jeez, when will Basil know that the three are married to different people and show no signs of interest?
"Mhm~! Jealous?"
"What? No, you do realize all three of them had murdered someone and Third was one of the CH who took part in the Coda Beach Massacre?" Zelya tried to get some common sense into Basil.
"Eh, no big deal." Basil simply shrugs it off and now confirms that she'll be that type of girl to say a guy who is the reincarnation of Jeffery Damer shouldn't be imprisoned because he's attractive.
"You serious...?" Zelya's eye twitched.
"Yes, I'm serious!" Basil confirmed.
"But they have wives? Not sure about the Soviet guy though."
"I'm destined to be with them, whether it's with one or all three of them." Basil now has a parasocial relationship with them, "Though, I might need to change my looks to prove myself." She mumbled to herself as she started looking at the mirror again, in which Zelya heard what she said.
This made Zelya want to grab Basil by her shoulders and shake her vigorously to get some common sense into her dense lovestuck yandere wannabe head of hers. The three of them had shown no interest in them whatsoever, yet Basil is doing everything she can to get with them. Going as far as starting to sexualize herself just to get validation from them. However, this was starting to raise red flags about Basil's mental health.
"Basil, you don't need to change your looks for someone who isn't interested in you. I'm pretty sure there is a boy out there who'll be interested in you. What if you find someone more attractive than those CH?" Zelya told Basil about other possibilities she can face.
"Unless it's their sons that are above 18, my heart does not belong to them and they'll be mine." Basil stands firm with her choice, "I don't care what I have to do, but I'll do anything to get them."
Zelya felt uncomfortable with that information, so she began slowly making her way to the door to leave Basil with her thoughts. Just from that, she was afraid of pressing anything further in fear that Basil might get violent with her, so at the moment she decided to leave Basil with her thoughts and her diary that was full of disturbingly detailed drawings of the three CH male.
Quite frankly, she was quite concerned for Britain, Roach, and Soviet since they'll have to deal with her despite the fact that the CH are their enemies and the crimes they committed (mainly Third and Soviet's crimes). However, the question on will they even see that group again was rising as Hinkari has yet to catch any clue that the CH were there. Maybe if the group had left and Basil knows she won't be seeing them anytime soon, hopefully this Basil will vanish into the air.
She wanted to alert the others about the rising flags of Basil's behavior, Emma and Arthur will probably dismiss it as nothing. Connor looks like he wouldn't care and is only in this group to seek vengeance. As for Hinkari, she wasn't too sure about him. She still remembers how he was acting slightly inappropriately with Imperial and France when they unawarely first saw them. Hell, when they managed to capture the two, the two explicitly didn't want to be near Hinkari.
So, she's not sure how he'd react to this information. She doesn't want to write a letter to Tecqu just yet as she wants Tecqu to find somewhere safe before sending her one. However, she was close to Hinkari, so it was worth a shot informing Hinkari about Basil's actions. She heads outside of the inn they were momentarily staying to find Hinkari at one of the test dummy training grounds. The Inn was quite popular amongst wanderers or parties who were often out fighting monsters, so the Inn created an area where travelers can practice their skills. Earlier today, Hinkari discovered he got new powers (shocking) and wanted to test them out to see what he can do with them. As she approached the training site, one of the straw men was slashed in half by Hinkari. Of course he screamed on top of his fucking lungs, but this is an isekai world. Everyone is used to it.
"Hey Hinkari, can we talk?" Zelya asked Hinkari about Basil's behavior.
"Uhhh, what is it?" Hinkari oddly saw this as a different meaning as he assumed Zelya was going to confess her feelings for him. "Wait! No, I think I know what you're going to say!" He said with full confidence and a smile.
This caused Zelya to blink in confusion before responding, "So you're aware about Basil's behaviors? I'm starting to get concerned about her."
This caused Hinkari to mouth the words "oh" as his confidence was shattered like the author's motivation to write this in the past three months. He was hoping that the day one of them (not Arthur of course) confessing their love will arrive, yet his skull was too dense in terms of romance and him being less interesting than paint drying.
"O-Oh, yeah. She's been acting strange I guess." Hinkari dismisses his initial thoughts.
"She's trying outfits that are definitely not made for the winter to impress Britain, Third and Soviet and is rather obsessed with them." Zelya told Hinkari, "She's been looking at the mirror a lot and starting to worry about her looks."
"Oh, so those are the types of outfits she bought today? She asked me if she could use some of our money to buy herself some more clothes. I didn't see an issue with it and allowed what her heart wanted to do." Hinkari just simply shrugged at this as he saw no issue.
"Isn't this like feeding to her obsession about her looks?" Zelya got concerned and wasn't too happy Basil spent who knows how much money on some clothes.
"I'm pretty sure it's just some phase she's going to, but I'm happy if she's happy. Though, I don't get why she's so obsessed with those three criminals." Hinkari sounds a little envious at the end, "They killed people and ruined lives."
"Wasn't there a time where you tried turning said criminals into females with a gender bending potion that so happened to make the person lustful upon seeing someone?" Zelya deadpans, "That poor knight who got hit by the potion in the process will be haunted by that when he sleeps."
Hinkari nearly chokes on his spit and air as he pauses for a moment. "I- uh, it was just to weaken them physically! I didn't know lust was a side effect to the potion!" Hinkari denied.
Mhm, sure buddy. We all know what you are.
"Right..." Zelya had some suspicions, but chose to not press on it. She didn't want to invade Hinkari's privacy, "But should we put more restrictions on Basil in an attempt to help her?" She questioned.
"Oh, like suggesting she eats less?" Hinkari blinked, being the dumb overpower isekai main character he is.
"What?! No! Ever since she joined our group and we go to an Inn, I always noticed she doesn't eat a lot of food. Like she has a light snack for lunch and eats like half of her plate for dinner. I don't even know if she even eats breakfast!" Zelya exclaimed with slight frustration, "What I'm trying to say is to moderate Basil's behavior and make sure she doesn't do anything drastic to herself, you know? Don't let her look at the mirror or windows too much, don't let her buy clothes on her own, or take that diary away from her!"
"Why would you want to take her diary away?" Hinkari frowned at this suggestion, "Why are you choosing to take away a thing that she can put her thoughts into?"
"When we're not fighting or chasing people, she's always drawing the three CH men down to every detail or drooling at her diary. I won't be surprised if she has their hair there! I get that we're supposed to be their enemy, but this level of obsession is concerning! If we don't do something about it, someone could get killed!" Zelya stated.
"Can we like not talk about this?" Hinkari wanted to move subjects as he was getting annoyed.
Zelya just stood there in slight disbelief since Hinkari appeared to not even care about the concerns regarding Basil's behavior. She had hoped he would respond differently, but he just dismissed it. Was it even worth telling Emma and Arthur about this since they could just be as dismissive as Hinkari was.
"Anyways, I think something has changed with my sword as there is an eye on it now." Hinkari was eager to show the changes that had occurred onto his sword.
There was a purple like tint to it as there was indeed some eye located between the cross guard and rain guard, which was rather strange as his sword never looked like this before. However, Zelya's mood was not interested in the sword since she got upset on how Hinkari treated her concern over Basil's mental health.
"I can show you a new ability I just discovered-" Hinkari was cut off when Zelya began leaving the training area and back to the inn, "Hey! Where are you going?"
Zelya didn't respond before disappearing behind the doors of the inn.
"Did I do or say something wrong?" Hinkari became dumb as he awkwardly stood there. However, there was a slight eye twitch and his grip tighten.
With the CH, things were incredibly boring. Just them going at a snail's pace and hopefully they stumble upon some sort of village for rest. Even though some of them had brought their phones with them (including solar panel portable chargers), they couldn't doom scroll as any internet connection was futile. Unless they'd like to stare at the forever spinning loading screen.
"This is soooo boring." India complained as she laid back against the seat in the wagon.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Poland agreed with the Indian.
"At least you guys aren't the ones carrying the wagon." China huffed with annoyance. But he has to endure all of this for the exotic fishes the worker promised him as compensation.
As this very boring journey was going on, they eventually saw a silhouette of a town up ahead. They have no idea on how long they have been here since the clouds were blocking the sun or how long they have walked for. They did pass by the abandoned town of Coda Village, but chose not to go there as there was not even one single reason for them to go there. The pace was starting to increase as they wanted to get to the town as fast as possible. They just had to hope it wasn't New Haven.
"If this is New Haven, I'm going to throw something out of this wagon." Poland threatens.
"I think you should have saved that when we encountered Hinkari." Russia responded to Poland's threat.
"No, I'm going to kill someone if that happens." The Polish country stated as it sounded more like a promise.
After who knows how long it took for them to finally reach the gates of the city, it was fortunately not New Haven, but was some nearby city. As they approached, there were guards standing at the front and was just doing some side talk.
"Say, how long will Theodore be gone for again?" One of the knights questioned the other.
"Probably for a few weeks. His mother has gotten sick and needs to tend to her until a healer arrives." The other knight responded, "Due to the damn CH attacking the nobles and the winter, healers have been spread out too thin and the mages in this village have yet to master their healing spells."
"Doesn't Hinkari have a mage in his team that is staying at the Inn?"
"That boy will cause a virus to heal someone considering how clumsy he is. He mainly specializes in defense spells, not healing nor anything else." The knight gruffly responded.
"He needs to get more men in his team if he wants to stand a cha- Holy shit..." The other knight cut off his original sentence when he saw the approaching wagon of totally not CH in disguise.
"What in the Eulina Animalia is that?!" Knight A exclaimed as he saw the very strange dragon that was apparently carrying the wagon, which is totally not a CH.
"Hello, do you know what town this is? Me and my friends are just trying to find a place to stay for a few days." The Russian felt slightly awkward saying this as he wasn't a conversation starter. If only America wasn't in her eagle form and did all of the talking, "We had lost our map and were relying on our dragon friend for guidance."
"This is Pumville, though I don't recall seeing this type of dragon." The knight frowned as he observed the Kirin that is totally not China, "Unless this is a new variation of a drake and it is being so willingly to pull a wagon for people."
"They nursed me back to health when I was gravely injured, so I returned the favor by pulling their wagon and taking them to places since their horses were killed by some bandits." China totally didn't lie there, catching the two knights off guard.
"It's an elder dragon as well!?" One of them exclaimed.
"A young one to be exact, so he's peaceful as long as you don't provoke him." India added to the lie.
"Hmm." The knight hummed with slight suspicion as he began approaching the wagon, which sent small alarms in the CH's heads.
"What are you doing?"
"Checking the insides of the wagon to make sure there are no suspicious items in here due to the potential threat of CH spies. Nobles have been getting murdered by those creatures." The knight said as he climbed into the wagon to get a better look.
The other knight stood by as he awaited orders from the other if he had found anything suspicious inside the wagon. He began checking the crates to see if there were out of the world items inside since that would be a massive indicator this wagon is full of CH. However, inside the crates was just clothes, normal traveler food, coins, and supplies. So, suspicions were lower, however the occupants might raise a few eyebrows.
The first one was the fox. There have been tales from the villagers from Coda Village that there was a girl who had seven white and red tails. Given that Britain had turned into a dragon and breathed literal fire. However, it could be just a mere coincidence and it was an actual fox with the seven tail mutation.
The black eagle was fine, but the eagle who was white and brown had a few eyebrow raises. It was quite larger than the black eagle, which meant that the strange eagle was female as the other was male.
"Is this another mutation of the black eagle?" The knight questioned with an eyebrow raise.
"Yes, it's a variation we had adopted since she was a chick." Brazil answered.
"Ah, so you're planning to breed these two then?" The knight assumed.
Hearing that sentence alone made the group uncomfortable. This also gave America PTSD from that one time where some crazy AVE (Anarchists but more violent) scientist named Lawrence, wanted to have her and Russia do a ritual that summons a baby for the name of science. Fortunately, that scientist was eaten by some sort of creature that kills and replaces the victim. In which, said creature is totally not a fusion between a Mimic from Vita Carnis and an Alternate from Mandela Catalogue. Nobody knows what Lawrence was cooking.
"No..." Russia said uncomfortably as he too was getting PTSD from the Lawrence incident.
"Hm, I see." The knight mumbled as he stared at both Brazil and India, which made them confused. He stared at them for a bit before saying, "You guys must have been in the sun a lot." He said before moving on.
This caused the two countries to share a quick glance of "well, that was lowkey racist" at each other. They're not sure if they should be surprised or be offended as they kinda saw it coming. The knight soon began staring at Poland, who began staring at the knight back out of annoyance.
A staring contest began between the two, in which their eyes ever so started squinting a bit more and making a sound that is similar to a muffled growl. Just think of it as two dogs growling at each other to assert dominance or something. The victor was then decided when Poland made a louder one, causing the knight to flinch back and probably let out a whimper for comedic effect.
"Yeah, that's right." Poland frowned at the knight.
It took a minute for the knight to recover from it before he cleared his voice, "You guys are in the clear, you may proceed into the village." The knight informed them that the group was in the clear as he got off the wagon.
"Oh, uh, thanks?" Russia wasn't sure if he should thank him. Fortunately, the knights didn't catch on with the hesitation.
The knights soon stepped to the side as the wooden doors to the city opened, allowing the group to go through. However, as soon as the doors were opened wide enough for the villagers to see who was entering the city, they immediately noticed the strange dragon. Which makes it extremely awkward, but they have to press forward in order to not expose themselves.
"I'm going to hate this..." China mumbled under his breath as he began pulling the wagon through the gate doors.
Now this is where the torture begins. He had thought pulling the cart through piles of snow in the middle of nowhere was bad enough. Now he has villagers staring at him like an animal (even though he's in his animal form), which was rather uncomfortable. He has a feeling traders and thieves might begin rearing their ugly heads out of the crowd and target them. He just has to play it cool and not crash out by going into his human form and beating the shit out of someone.
They managed to find a spot where they could hide their wagon to avoid it getting stolen. It also allowed China to have more movement since he's been pulling that wagon for who knows how long. However, America and Germany hitched a ride on China's kirin antlers since walking in their eagle forms would be too slow and funny.
They did plan on buying supplies or probably spying on some knights or nobles for information, however traders immediately said otherwise since they immediately swarmed them.
"Sir, how much for the horse?!" One trader exclaimed to Russia, "I'll trade my entire cart for it!"
"He's not for sale." Russia answered.
"Then what about the fox with seven tails? Those mutations are rare!" Another stated.
"None of the animals are for sale! Goodbye!"
This had no effect on them as it fell on deaf ears. They just kept screaming their sacrifices they'll make just to buy one of the animals, not knowing they're actually CH. Maybe it's the disguises they're wearing that makes it look like they're traders. As Russia's introverted ass was swarmed, the others just stood to the side.
"Well, at least our sanity is spared." India states.
"Yep, though I have a feeling that they're not swarming us due to certain factors. One of them may or may not be racially motivated." Brazil mumbles on the last part.
"How much for the Demi-Human?!" A barely disguised Demi-human slave trader yelled out.
"What?" The russian blinked at this.
"The one with the deer horns! How much?" They clarified as they pointed at Poland.
"Why would you think she's up for sale?" Russia deadpans at this.
He of course denies this for three reasons. One, he has morals. Two, why would he even want to sell a CH for some money that will be useless in their world? And three, Poland will gladly put all of her pent-up anger towards his father and onto him since he is his (Soviet's) son.
"I'll kick you in the balls with a knife if you try grabbing me." Poland threatened, though it sounds like she'll make that threat into a promise.
This causes the crowd to go silent as the person who asked if Poland was for sale scurried away like a little cockroach. In which, the Russian country took this as a way for him to slip out of the crowd to escape the traders. However, things didn't go according to plan when the crowd suddenly departed to both sides, exposing the group. Why did the crowd depart, you may ask? Well, it turns out the knights from earlier had informed the noble that mainly runs this town, who just so happens to be an exotic animal collector. Looks like the noble was intrigued by the fact some travelers with strange mutations on animals were in his city, so he was eager to find them and drag some knights with him for protection. Oddly, he wasn't on a horse or anything.
"My, my, I have never seen such unique animals before. Especially a juvenile elder dragon being willingly to pull your carts." The noble announces his arrival whilst slowly clapping. There was even an eagle that was sitting on his shoulder, "How much were the other animals?" He questioned.
The noble looked rather old, most likely around his late 50s. To be quite honest, he looks like a generic old noble from those isekai shows, so why bother explaining what he looks like? Hey, wait a minute, isn't this an isekai world?
"Uh...it's been a while so we forgot?" Brazil awkwardly smiled.
"Ah, understandable. Prices change every day so it must be hard to keep track of the original price you got." The noble had a small laugh at this before introducing himself, "I'm Lord Ferro and this is my pet hawk-eagle, Raptor." He said as Raptor flew to the horns of the strange dragon (China) to sit next to the strange eagle.
It appears Raptor had...uh... an interest for the white and brown eagle that happens to be a female. Little did Raptor know, it was a CH in disguise. America side glances at the eagle, who was doing one of those cartoonish licks on their hand and drags it backwards on their hair to make themselves look polishable. But in this case, it was Raptor's wing and feather. Oh dear, it appears that animals in Arachnid can't sense it when a CH hybrid is in their animal form. Raptor leans in for a cartoonish kiss, defining the logic of beaks, but was meant with a casual wing side punch by America that sent him off the horns. Feathers slowly fell down at the spot Raptor was at for comedic effect. Germany was just confused by the whole ordeal.
"Huh, looks like my Raptor has already entered a one-sided relationship." Lord Ferro noticed that the female eagle didn't take Raptor's advances kindly.
"Yeah...tough luck?" Russia went along with this, feeling awkward that an animal tried hitting up on America.
Oh man, this whole interaction is just straight up uncomfortable. That one trader wondered what price Poland was. Having to worry about Hinkari's group rearing its ugly head. Getting swarmed by traders upon entering the town with traders wanting to buy the animals that are actually CH. The bird is trying to hit up America for some reason. What else could this interaction offer?
"Say, would you and your group like to have dinner at my castle and perhaps stay the night? I do have some exotic creatures that you and your friends can take care of." Lord Ferro unexpectedly invited them over for dinner.
"Excuse me?" Poland raised an eyebrow at this as she immediately grew suspicious. Does Ferro know who they are and is attempting to imprison or poison them?
"Oh, can I have some roasted chicken? I can't have beef or pork related food since I'm allergic to it." India asked.
"But I thought Hindus can have pork?" Brazil whispered to India.
"Having a brother (Pakistan) whose muslim had its side effects on me even though I hate him." India shrugged as she whispered back.
"Uh, sure?" Ferro wasn't expecting someone to be allergic to pork or beef. She must be missing out on so much food.
"Wait, wait, why are you suddenly inviting us to your castle for the night? We're just ordinary travelers who got here and just stopped by for some rest." Russia questioned.
"You have befriended an Elder Drake with a rare mutation, something that was deemed impossible to do due to our relations with the Elder Dragon. The only Elder Dragon that was ever friendly to us humans was Quinx Zenith. Though, he has been long since dead due to Alis Morth being forced to kill him as he was corrupted by Discordia ent Tenebrae." Lord Ferro said with genuine admiration, "And as a firm worshipper of Eulina Animalia, I'd like to welcome you as honored guests."
Well, that was rather comforting in a good way. Just based on Lord Ferro's tone, he genuinely doesn't sound like he has ill intentions. Maybe this can be a chance to get a lord on their side? Their CH awareness isn't screaming at them that this man has ill intentions. Though, it'll be best to proceed with caution just in case Ferro's act of being nice is so good, it doesn't make their awareness go haywire and sound alarms of red flags.
"Well, I suppose we can't decline an offer from a noble since no noble has offered us such an offer before." The Russians went along in a way that makes them look like actual travelers from this world.
Though, they do have to worry about their human disguise cooldown and their flags slowly starting to reappear. It would be over if a maid or worker so happens to walk in on them hiding in a room as they wait for their flags to disappear.
"Isn't Hinkari's group also here? How come they're not honored guests?" One of the knights next to Ferro questioned him. However, the knight was met with the "you should know why" look from Ferro.
Just from that alone, the CH couldn't tell if this was an actual ambush or if Ferro had some negative opinions regarding Hinkari's group and perhaps King Sadan himself. Though, this caused them to become worried about the chances of being exposed since Hinkari was here.
"Splendid! Would you mind telling me your names so that you can be in the clear once you approach my castle? I must have been so rude to not ask you this after I introduced myself." Lord Ferro requests.
"Uh-"
"This is Richard (Russia), Hugo (Brazil), Lakshmi (India), Penelope (Poland), and I'm Zhao-li." China quickly said their names as he wanted to get out of this area just in case Hinkari came to investigate the crowd.
"What about the two eagles and the fox?" Ferro questioned.
"Lèsè (America), Ǒutù (Japan), and Greyson (Germany)." China quickly said their names. Though, two of the names look like he just pulled it out of his ass just to poke fun at them. In which both America and Japan looked at him with confusion.
"Very well then! I'll inform the guards about your names so that you don't have to worry about explaining the invitation to them." Lord Ferro smiled, "Have a good day and I'll see you tonight." He said before he turned around to walk away, with the knights following him.
Very soon, the crowd dissipated as they went to focus on other things and apparently, Lord Ferro's presence has scared off all of the animal traders that was once swarming them. Unfortunately, the crowd was the only reason why they managed to remain hidden despite China's kirin form sticking out like a sore thumb. And they just so happen to enter the vision of Hinkari.
"Hey, what is that?" Emma questioned as she spotted the strange dragon that was standing there.
"Eh? Is that a new version of a drake or something?" Arthur was unsure if he's seeing a new variation of a drake.
They observed the group near the dragon talk to one another. Though, one of them had the misfortune of having a turning their heads to the side, exposing their face. Just from that, Basil IMMEDIATELY, had the nose bleed momentarily and fainted. Looks like Russia is the next target.
"Basil, are you serious?!" Zelya exclaimed as it appears the pale blonde hair man was her next obsession target. Though, that man looks rather similar to Soviet's human form, but it could be a mere coincidence
"Yes, I'm serious!" Basil was quick to answer as she got right back up as if nothing had happened.
"Is she always like this?" Connor raised an eyebrow with disappointment. How can she be an archer if she's going to be drooling after every man she sees?
"Unfortunately." Zelya sighs, which causes Connor to rub the sides of his face out of frustration.
"Well, I think Lord Ferro had talked to them about something. Should we talk to them?"
"I mean, it wouldn't hurt to." Hinkari saw no problem with this as he was secretly eyeing up Poland and India.
With the CH, they suddenly sensed that another CH was nearby. Could it have been the Axis and Yugoslavia? Afterall, they're still on their noble killing spree since UN has yet to cease Operation Gullitone. They could have been just spying on their conversation to get a rough idea on if Lord Ferro is a King Sadan supporter. However, it was rather strange that they're sensing it now instead of earlier, which made some assumptions that Digital, the little hologram gremlin might have brought someone here to create some drama.
"You guys stay here for a second, I'll go investigate it." The Russian said before momentarily departing from the group and entering the alleyway that was rather close to them. Which meant he was momentarily spared from Hinkari's group that was gradually approaching their location.
As he got deeper into the alleyway and made a left turn, he had a feeling someone or something unexpected would happen. As if he would get hit by a chair-
PHAM!
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Russia did indeed get hit by a chair, causing his flag to get exposed.
The wooden chair in question comedically turned into pieces after it was slammed into Russia. Though, he can't get too mad as he did indeed throw a chair at her as a prank a month ago.
"Payback Сука." A female voice huffed, in which Russia instantly recognized.
"Ukraine, what the fuck are you doing here?!" He exclaimed with frustration and some confusion.
"Digital wanting to stir up drama." Ukraine simply stated, "She was kind enough to give me a disguise outfit and hid my flag before teleporting me here without my consent."
"Ah, of course." The Russian deadpanned, "Doesn't she realize you might end up as a target for Hinkari?"
"He can't be that bad." Ukraine wasn't really aware of what Hinkari was capable of as she wasn't at the base majority of the time.
"He literally flirted with Imperial out of all people and made HER uncomfortable. And may or may not have tried turning dad into a female for that harem of his." Russia deadpanned.
Ukraine was too stunned to speak.
"Let's just get back to the group, I'll make sure Hinkari doesn't do anything weird to you." The Russian changed subjects as he hid his flag.
"Oh wow, you're actually caring for your little sister?"
"Shut up."
When they came back to the group, they stopped dead in their tracks when Hinkari's group was talking to the others with side talks. Of course Hinkari's first action was to talk to India and Poland since they so happened to be women. This caused the two slavic countries to find a reasonable excuse that they can pull out of their ass to make them not look suspicious.
"Uh, who are these people?" Russia questioned and pretended he didn't know who they were. Though, he doesn't recount his father telling him that there was a ginger in Hinkari's team.
"Oh, um, this is Hinkari's group, Richard. They just came over to ask some questions about Zhao-li and what Lord Ferro was talking about." Brazil explained before "reading" Russia's mind, "You found your sister rather quickly." He knew it was Ukraine due to similarities and that she has blue eyes.
"Oh, yeah I did. She was just returning when I set off to go find her from a shop." Russia went along with the lie.
"DATE ME!" Basil suddenly invaded Russia's personal space as she grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Excuse me?" Russia blinked as he tried to process this, but he knows damn sure he's uncomfortable, "Oh shit, isn't this the same girl who tried hugging my dad a while ago?" Russia thought as he sweated at this.
He tried stepping away in hopes of getting free, but Basil refused to let go, which caused him to freeze after taking a few steps. He has never dealt with this situation before and doesn't know how to respond to this without making a scene.
"Please! Give me a chance!" Basil begged.
"He's not interested, so you're not getting a chance." China stated harshly, causing Basil to jump and let go of his shoulders as she was not expecting the strange dragon to talk.
"What?" Basil frowned at this.
"You heard me, back off from my friend." The Chinese man or dragon in this case frowned.
He just had to step in as he immediately got flashbacks to...no...it's best to not remember it. The incident. All he knows is that this is just a stepping stone to...that.
Basil didn't move until Zelya pulled her back whilst profusely apologizing for her behavior. However, Ukraine just can't let that go without an insult.
"If that is how you approach men, you have no chance at all." Ukraine rubbed salt on the wound.
"Oh, shut up you stupid bit-"
"Hey, hey, let's not get violent now! We just got called as honored guests by Lord Ferro, and we shouldn't be stirring up drama!" India interrupted Basil by bringing this up to her group, whilst flexing a little towards Hinkari's group. She just had to rub it in.
"Wait, wait, how come you guys got the honor guest treatment and not us?" Arthur raised an eyebrow at this.
"Yeah, how come?" Emma noticed.
"It's because we befriended a young Elder Drake that had a mutation to cause it to look like this. In which he says that we have done something that was nearly impossible to do." Brazil explained the lie.
This caused some confusion and slight envy amongst Hinkari's group. They have fought monsters, dragons, stopped crime, and are actively trying to find these CH who are murdering the nobles and the FIBTS. Yet, these travelers came out of nowhere. Who so happened to befriend this strange dragon, gets the special treatment?
Absolute nonsense if you were to ask them.
"So, uh," Hinkari tried changing subjects, "Did you buy Penelope? She looks like she was from a rather abusive Demi-Human trade place." He gestures at her scar.
Wow, what a great way to change the subject. This mentally made Germany want to facepalm out of disappointment.
"Why does everyone think I'm just some slave that can be bought?!" Poland was pissed off by this, "This was caused by a fire! Not some abusive shit ass place!" Poland nearly yelled at Hinkari's ear.
"She was always our friend and was never bought, so I don't know why you assumed that." Ukraine frowned at this.
"Well, at least you guys don't support that cruel system. It was fortunate that I managed to get Emma for cheap, saving her." Hinkari states so casually.
This just made the CHs go silent. Hinkari doesn't support the whole slave system, yet contributes to it by buying Emma and then claiming he saved her. Saving her would have been busting through the door, attacking the slave traders and freeing her at the cost of nothing besides traders' blood. This makes America facepalm with her wing due to her eagle form as China wants to bash his skull against a wall multiple times.
"Good for you then?"
"Um, it was nice talking to you guys, but we have to go to buy some stuff from some stands and make sure our wagon wasn't looted! Bye!" India wanted to get her group out of this situation quickly and began ushering the others to follow suit.
In which, all of them agreed and dipped out of the conversation.
"Wait, don't go just yet!" Basil cried out for Richard (Russia), however she was met with this:
"Shut up!" Ukraine's voice could be heard, causing Basil to pout.
"I guess we're at fault?" Emma awkwardly guessed.
"Eh, they do have the right to worry about their wagon getting looted." Arthur understood their stand point.
...
"Connor, are you alright? You've been quiet ever since Richard arrived with his sister." Arthur noticed that Connor seemingly had zoned out.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just not a talker and ran out of things to talk about I suppose." Connor snapped back to reality, but in said reality he was mentally hating himself.
Why did he immediately catch feelings for Richard's sister?! Alis Vitae damn it! He doesn't even know her name yet there he was. Standing there like a love struck idiot and was just focused on her. He was Atticus's son for Alis Vitae sake! He was meant to be with Shenli and his heart belonged to her.
"This is probably some stupid phase that decided to strike me at this moment." Connor frowned at himself for this as he shook those feelings off.
With Zelya, she was frustrated with Basil's actions as it was probably the reason why the group had left so suddenly.
Why would Basil immediately assume she and Richard would have just clicked and started dating just upon Basil asking him to date her?! Just straight up idiotic! Now this is just fuel for her obsession and she might be adding Richard to that diary of hers.
Hinkari didn't even do anything about it as he was probably too busy staring at Penelope and Lakshmi as he was talking to them majority of the time. Which caused some doubts to stir in her.
Does he truly love her like how she loves him? It's not like they're together or anything, but she feels like her feelings are just being neglected or played with. Well, she wants to confess, but Hinkari either doesn't pick up on her obvious hits or is too busy looking at other women. This also included Emma, Basil, and Tecqu when she was still there.
She was there when he was at his lowest, when she had stumbled upon him in a field unconscious and seemingly just entered this world. Could these be signs that Hinkari is just not worth going for?
He claims he cares about the group, yet is not concerned about the things Basil is doing. Hell, he might be encouraging this behavior! He just wants to show off his powers and is just so fixated on the CH instead. Especially with the FIBTS.
Though, parts of her believe he's just acting this way due to power getting into his head or he's just stressed out due to the fact nobles are falling left and right. Hence why he was so bitter towards Tecqu when she left the group. Hopefully, he returns to his old self when he first arrived here.
As for the group, she had a feeling those so-called travelers are actually CH spies. Richard looks too identical to Soviet, or an exact replica of you excluding the height, the hair style, and the eyepatch. Along with Richard's sister.
Could they be his kids?