My Players Are So Fierce

“What a hellhole! I can’t believe I fell for those bastards’ lies, saying we’d get sentence reductions and release after fighting in Transia? Bah! This place is worse than the sewers of North Fort.”

On the streets of Bataxin, a small border town in Transia, a man wearing a loose-fitting Nord military uniform sat by the roadside, eating hard bread mixed with sawdust. He stared at his surroundings with a cynical gaze, and the scars on his face combined with his fierce expression indicated he was not a kind and peaceful person.

The complex black tattoos with special meanings occasionally visible on his wrists revealed another identity beyond that of a normal person.

He was a “Mafia” member.

Well, that’s the high-end way of putting it. The low-end version would be an organized thug and bully.

These people’s tattoos on their hands and bodies weren’t randomly done, each pattern had its unique meaning. Few outside their circles could understand these complex messages, though Transia did have experts in this field, like Miss Dorothy, the leader of the Blood Rats Gang.

The tattoos on her arms, shoulders, and back indicated that although Dorothy was now just the comedic gang leader under Murphy’s command, she had previously held significant status in these “criminal organizations.” Though she’s reformed now, or from another perspective, joining a vampire clan and rising to middle management would basically count as a step up in the mafia world.

From this point of view, Dorothy’s luck was truly remarkable.

“Boss, there’s going to be an assembly soon. Should we go?”

Beside this guy were three other shifty-looking characters. Although they all wore Nord military uniforms, their thuggish demeanor was impossible to conceal.

One of them with a mohawk glared menacingly at anyone who came near them, as if trying to kill these annoying bastards with his gaze. He then spat on the ground and asked his boss:

“The officers escorting us said that once we reached Transia, they wouldn’t be responsible for us anymore. This is the last assembly, after that we’ll be free.”

“Free my ass!”

Another shorter and older guy said with a worried expression:

“The Transians want to use us as cannon fodder in the war, that bitch Wolf Queen sold us here as commodities, and those dog shit officers can’t wait to kick us away. They’re too lazy to manage us and just sent us here to die.”

“Why don’t we run? Lots of people escaped on the way here, and I didn’t see anyone specifically trying to catch them.”

“Bullshit, those who ran before reaching Transia are all idiots. They’d still be treated as prisoners if caught within the border, but once we get here, we can temporarily escape our past.”

The scarred boss who had been quiet until now stuffed the last bite of hard bread into his mouth. He brushed the crumbs off his hands and swept the surrounding street with his cold gaze. Any locals who met his fierce eyes would fearfully turn away.

He greatly enjoyed this timidity from others, so he stood up and said:

“Let’s go to the assembly. After those dog shit officers leave, we’ll find a place here to start fresh. I’ll see if I can contact Old Father John and expand the family’s influence here. The Transians have been at war for 10 years – though it’s poor here, there aren’t any other gang territories. We might be able to do something big here.”

“Hey, boss is right!”

The three underlings immediately followed, and the four of them walked down the street in a line, brazenly taking up half the road.

They paid no attention to the whispers around them as they headed to the military camp for their final assembly as members of the “Nordtov Border Defense Army Pioneer Corps.”

This so-called Pioneer Corps was only formed half a month ago, and its members were all “martial heroes” like these four. To be honest, to gather 6,000 prisoners for Murphy, the Wolf Queen’s officials really put in some effort.

This “war aid” reduced the prison population in North Fort by half overnight.

The officials were rubbing their hands together waiting for further news. If Murphy was satisfied with this model, then prisoners in prison systems across the country would be “blessed.”

With just this arrangement, Governor Murphy got enough manpower to deal with the Black Plague, the Wolf Queen fulfilled her political agreement, prisoners could get sentence reductions through participating in the war, and the North Fort police department could make their annual report data look better.

This was truly a win-win-win-win deal.

Sometimes you can’t help but admire these feudal bureaucrats’ “creativity” in these matters. As for whether these ex-convicts would cause trouble in the currently chaotic Transia… that wasn’t something the bureaucrat lords needed to consider, since they had no intention of taking these criminals back anyway.

It was clear they hoped Murphy would use this bunch of social scum as cannon fodder. This way everyone could be happy and relaxed, and no one would criticize it from a moral standpoint.

These prisoners who were half-forced and half-enticed to come to Transia also knew the trouble they faced, so these martial heroes like the ones before us had already made plans on the road.

Hoping they would reform and become good people was less likely than expecting a dog to do so, they had no intention of honestly following Governor Murphy’s orders.

They were just waiting for the domestic escorts to leave, then they could swim freely like fish in the sea and fly high like birds in the sky.

“Boss, look!”

As these heroes were walking, the mohawk underling suddenly exclaimed like he’d discovered a new continent, pointing ahead at the street side and giving a lecherous whistle:

“There’s a perfect one over there!”

“Hm?”

The boss, whose thoughts about how to expand and strengthen their presence in Transia were interrupted, felt annoyed.

He thought these underlings picked up on the road were all inexperienced brats who hadn’t even experienced the style of North Fort’s red-light district’s luxurious brothels – what would they know about “perfection”?

But he patiently glanced in that direction, then his eyes widened.

Well damn!

It really was perfect.

Right in front of these heroes by the roadside, a woman wearing an Avalon Church nun’s robe was buying food with a group of noisy children.

The children gathered around her chattering away, while the woman’s figure was so exaggerated that even this boss who considered himself “worldly and experienced” stared dumbfounded. He vaguely recalled when he was still in the family, hearing his godfather occasionally mention that in other planes there were female demons who seduced men with their beauty.

He hadn’t believed such things before, but in this moment he did.

This woman, tsk tsk.

Seeing the boss staring intently, the three inexperienced underlings immediately grinned and stepped forward to block the path.

Lady Aqua, who had been struggling to converse with the street vendor in not-quite-fluent Transian, turned back in surprise to find a big bald man with a scarred face trying his best to display some “masculinity” before her.

Lady Aqua blinked.

Hmm, so this is the legendary “forceful abduction of women”?

Her precious husband always scared her with such things, always saying that if she went out alone she might get kidnapped by bad guys and forced to be a bandit’s wife, using this as an excuse to hire several bodyguards for her.

Who would have thought he’d actually be right.

Wow, how exciting.

“My lady, I suddenly have great interest in the Avalon faith, so, could I invite you-”

Though the boss was thinking about assault in his mind, he tried to act cultured, but before he could finish, Lady Aqua gracefully brushed the dust off her hands and said with a bright smile:

“Sure, shall we go to the alley over there? Let’s not frighten the children.”

“?”

The boss who had committed his share of assaults was stunned.

This was his first time seeing such a calm soon-to-be-assaulted beauty. Looking at her smile that could enchant all beings, he suddenly shuddered, feeling as if the “perfect” woman before him had somehow grown two little demon horns in that brief moment.

About 15 minutes later, Lady Aqua returned to Silver Moon Pride’s temporary base in Bataxin city with the chattering children. Several carriages were already prepared for departure in this specially rented courtyard.

When the girls first arrived in the small city, they found that even without their reminder, the Bataxin Chamber of Commerce had already begun gathering refugees in the Kafhoka region. Lady Palen particularly praised the Silver Moon team’s assistance.

More than 30 refugee families eager to resettle in Transia had gathered in this small city, with the number including children successfully exceeding 200 people. As long as they brought these people back to Crimson Citadel, they could get their first construction points in the “100-Day Grand Construction” activity.

However, children can never keep secrets, and after they returned, news of Lady Aqua’s earlier encounter quickly spread throughout the courtyard.

Upon hearing about the situation, Lumina immediately rushed into Lady Aqua’s room, exclaiming: “You were harassed on the road? Damn why didn’t you call for help? They didn’t take advantage of you, did they? Say something, don’t just keep grinning stupidly, we’re done for if your husband finds out about this.”

Faced with her concern and questioning, the voluptuous Lady Aqua seemed to recall something amusing and laughed heartily, then nodded seriously and said:

“I must say, Transians’ prejudice against Nords is still quite deeply rooted. At least in my experience, those Nord gentlemen were quite courteous. See the food I brought back?

They paid for it all voluntarily. They couldn’t bear to see refugees suffering in a foreign land so they even donated all their extra money to these children in need.

They were really very enthusiastic.”

“Huh?”

This plot was quite different from the “forceful abduction” Lumina had imagined. She asked suspiciously:

“Then what did you give in return? You didn’t really trade your virtue for it, did you?”

“What are you talking about!”

Lady Aqua snorted, tilted her head making a cute expression while poking her cheek thoughtfully, then said with a beaming smile:

“Would four basic human charm spells count as my contribution? Grandma Marianne said I had real talent for this magic when she taught me.

This was my first time using it, but the effect was surprisingly good!

They willingly did whatever I asked them to do, even ridiculous requests like jumping into the river outside the city for a swim in this already cool weather, those Nord gentlemen agreed with bright smiles.

Oh right, those gentlemen were quite wealthy too.”

Lady Aqua took out a bag full of gold coins from her spirit bag and tossed it to Lumina, saying:

“People really can’t be judged by appearances. That scarred gentleman had a face that wouldn’t survive one episode in an anime, but surprisingly he carried over 1,000 gold coins with him.

Tsk, these Nords are really rich.”

“You got over 1,000 gold coins from one trip out? You really went rob- I mean, even robbery doesn’t make money this fast! Wait, there’s a letter in this bag, let me see.

To the Godfather of the Snegov Family… hmm, this seems to be a letter from a North Fort gang family to another gang family in the Kafhoka Plains region. It says they plan to take advantage of the Nords sending prisoners to join the army in Transia to transfer some family members here to ‘expand business.’

So, is this a side plot created by the development team imitating the mafia?”

“They’re breaking in! They’re breaking in! Sister Lumina, bad guys are breaking in!”

Before Lumina and Lady Aqua’s conversation could finish, a panicked little girl with braids rushed in clutching an apple, crying out in fear:

“A group of Nord ruffian soldiers burst in! They’re trying to catch a witch! They say the witch stole their money, quick come look!”

“Which bastards dare break into our Silver Moon Pride team’s base? So arrogant! Eat my bullet!”

Little Ashina’s scream and sharp gunfire rang out from outside, followed by chaotic shouts and roars along with the sound of weapons being drawn.

Lumina painfully covered her eyes, if Fatal Orchid Huahua hadn’t needed to return home today and couldn’t log in, she really wouldn’t have arranged for Little Ashina to handle “guest reception.”

“Um… did I cause trouble for us?”

Lady Aqua asked in a small voice with an anxious look. Lumina immediately comforted her:

“It’s not your fault. These bastards were serious criminals released from prison by the Nords specifically to be cannon fodder in Transia. The most important thing is that you weren’t taken advantage of. Let Little Ashina deal with those bastards.”

After speaking, Lumina walked out of the house and contacted Sister Pomegranate through the computation bead to quickly come back and “save the day” from wherever she was wandering. Seeing bullets flying and blood flowing in the courtyard didn’t scare her. When she saw a bald brute trying to sneak attack Little Ashina with a hand axe, she immediately drew her sword and flashed forward to join the battle.

In the house, Lady Aqua maintained a subtle expression as she lightly tapped her left hand, saying:

“Sigh, why can’t I control my hands? Not handling things cleanly from start to finish, now I’ve caused trouble for others.”

As she spoke, she took out the exaggeratedly-styled Soul Reaping Scythe that Little Ashina had custom-ordered for her from her spirit bag and leaned on it. Then, like the most standard clergy member, she closed her eyes and chanted:

“Merciful Avalon, please forgive this small chaos I caused today, but I think one as wise as you can see that teaching these ruffian soldiers a lesson will help Transia’s cause develop better and more smoothly.

This killing is for a higher good, this is killing that must be carried out for the sake of the highest good…

Of course if you still want to blame me then do as you please, if you can’t even see this much, then it proves you are neither all-knowing nor all-powerful, and even less worthy of receiving so much support and love from so many people.”

After finishing, she patiently waited several seconds but saw no divine punishment descend from Avalon, so Lady Aqua understood that the deity she had chosen to worship in the game had tacitly approved of her actions today as a legitimate clergy member.

See, what an enlightened deity!

——

“What did you say? 30 men went AWOL from the camp and still haven’t returned?”

Several hours later, at the temporary military camp outside Bataxin city, the Nord officer responsible for escorting the prisoners received this bad news. Already slightly drunk, he hurriedly got up, adjusted his appearance and entered the city with his attendants.

He needed to find the Blood Vulture vampire currently in charge of receiving prisoners in Bataxin to get this matter cleared up, while Maxim, who was overseeing things here, gave a very direct answer regarding this issue.

“Missing soldiers so you want to search Bataxin city? No! I do not allow it. This is not within our agreement.”

Maxim, wearing the Blood Vulture robe, continued processing the roster of armed Blood Servants on his desk without looking up as he said:

“Moreover, according to my subordinates’ reports, no wandering soldiers of your side were seen in the city today, though they did catch a group of thugs who were violently attacking people with knives in broad daylight, about 30 in number.”

“Yes, that’s them.”

The officer cursed internally before responding:

“You need to hand them over to me, though you can also choose not to. After all, once midnight passes today, they’ll be your soldiers.”

At this point, Maxim stopped his quill pen and raised his head, looking at the Nord officer eager to shift responsibility with a subtle gaze.

After several seconds, he said:

“I can only return 23 people to you.”

“Why?”

The Nord officer asked curiously. Maxim shrugged and led him out of the office to the courtyard in the back.

23 bodies swayed in the wind on a row of gallows, their loose Nord military uniforms now looking particularly eye-catching.

Next to them lay seven black body bags.

Under the officer’s horrified gaze, Maxim sighed softly and said:

“The 23 intact bodies you can take away now, but you must understand, sir, Bataxin is just a small city. The doctors here have limited skills and really can’t piece together the remaining 7 bullet-riddled corpses for you in a short time.

I suppose you’ve heard that we Transians can sometimes be a tiny bit violent, and your soldiers unfortunately encountered a group that’s considered wild even among Transia’s barbarians.

I’ve looked into the cause and effect.

My subordinates handled it appropriately without any disrespect, so regarding this matter itself, all I can express is regret.”

“You… doing this will make those criminals explode!”

The Nord officer stepped back, shouting:

“I have no way to control them.”

“But dealing with those thugs was never your responsibility…”

Maxim’s gaze swept over the hanging bodies as he said in a low voice:

“You brought those guys to Bataxin, so you’ve completed your glorious mission and heavy duty to the Wolf Queen. Let us take over from here. I hear Nordtov criminals are very good at talking with their fists?

What a coincidence!

We Transians are the same.”