Tanya's Third Life as a Barbarian Queen, Chapter LI

I will have the chapter as links to download at the bottom of the post. As well as a link to the Google Document page.

Kontia Officers Billets.

Nalia of the Yutoi, Lieutenant of the 115th Company

I blinked awake to a faint wine induced pain at the back of my mind and a body entangled in soiled sheets and a faintly purring whore.

“You're still here.” I sighed as I peeled the barely conscious Felis off of my body as she groaned and tried to cling to me fruitlessly even with the claws at the end of her fingers. I walked over to the window and opened the shutters inviting the cool and crisp air into my ‘Officers accommodation’ causing a faint yelp from behind me as the woman bundled herself up in ripe blankets.

I opened my door and looked out in the hallway, it was long and wide with small ‘trolley carts’ placed next to most doors. It looked like more than a few of my peers were just as late greeting the day as I was. Names, ranks and company numbers were painted on each door and I knew the newly constructed buildings on each side of this one were the same.

Tanya had designated a strip of land east of Kontia, between the Saderan Legonary prisoner of war camp and the city, as the site of new accommodations for the ‘United Tribes Army’ the area was filled with tents mostly but huge rectangular buildings with many floors had been one of the first things built. 

They were like nothing in Kontia, at five stories tall with a flat roof accessible via a staircase and contained well furnished rooms for officers of companies to reside. They were built from red brick and saderan concrete with wooden shutters over the many windows that could totally isolate the room from the elements.

I reached forwards and took the handle of the trolley cart and pulled it into my room, closing the door afterwards and taking the crockery off of the cart and putting it on the table at one side of my room and taking off the lid. Inside a rich stew steamed with chicken, a thick gravy, vegetables and ‘dumplings’. Not piping hot anymore but still warm, I took the small loaf of bread from the cart and ripped a piece off to dip into the stew when a bundle of my blankets with a pair of cat ears and slitted eyes poking out the top ambled towards me.

“What?” I demanded as the woman huddled in the blankets shifted in place staring at the stew.

“I just...” She stared at the stew as I sighed and pulled the chair out for her before stalking over to the tub of water in the corner of the room, ignoring the overly saccharine “Thank you!” from Sabine as she began to gorge herself on my breakfast.

I took a cloth and a bar of soap and considered the items for a moment. The bar of soap, the cloth, the chairs and table and even the tub of water. All of them were newly made in months since we had taken Kontia. All of them, every single item had been specifically commissioned by Tanya... by the newly crowned High Queen of the Lepus.

Somewhere in what had once been the Saderan palace was a document, made by the High Queen, outlining the size, shape and production process of this bar of soap. It had seemed trivial, a pointless waste of time. Surely she could just tell a slave to make soap and it would be made. But not Tanya, no she had to formalise it, write it into paper, to destroy any ambiguity. This was how soap would be made, how it would be cut, how it would be packaged and exactly how much soap each officer and each soldier would be given every three months.

She did allow some consideration for the United Tribes Army having requirements that she had not yet met with her command of all the slaves in Kontia and the surrounding area. Each company and each officer was assigned their own budget paid into the Royal National Bank. From these funds we could buy things from the normal Kontian market rather than relying upon the cabals of quartermistresses who hoarded everything they could and demanded piles of paper for the most minor of requests. 

I hissed as I rubbed the soap into the claw marks across my back before washing the soap away with the cloth.

“Let me help you.” I glanced back at Sabine as she looked to have finished my breakfast at an absurd speed. Where that much food had ended up in the small woman's body only the gods knew. She had also put on one of my shirts from the laundry bin, the article of clothing looking ridiculously oversized on the felis.

“You might as well make yourself useful.” I agreed as she took the cloth from my hands and began to clean my back while I sat on a small stool next to the tub. “You are meant to be gone before daybreak.” I said pointedly to the whore as she hummed.

“My home burned down.” She replied.

“Oh.” Was all I could say as she took the soap and lathered up my arms.

“I decided I would just move in here.” She flicked her catlike ears and grinned at me as her tail curled around one of her legs. I had spent enough time with Sabine to know that meant she was nervous. I felt an odd emptiness in my lungs and looked away from the woman. 

“I won’t be paying you if you are living in my room.” I snapped. “I will take you as I please.” I warned.

“I will get our bedsheets laundered then.” She resolved, as she continued to clean me, taking time to run her fingers across the scars that had accumulated from a lifetime on the Steppe. I blinked at how little my warning seemed to bother her before I settled into place and let her work.

“Fine.” I accepted while looking away from her and out towards the window. “I am going out soon.” When Sabine was finished with my arms and moved into my legs I reached over for a towel and dried off my hands before I took a small bundle of papers tied with twine from the trolley cart that had carried my breakfast. 

The first missive was a refusal marked with Major Lucia’s stamp. I had applied to reconstitute my company as an artillery company after the Wyvern Knight attack, along with dozens of other companies. It was interesting that Major Lucia had been the one to refuse me, if she had any authority on what companies where given cannons I would have to take measures to befriend the Tanaoi woman. 

The next was new training standards I was to apply to my company with the stamp of the High Queen herself. Spear and marching drills, dates for combined company formation training, even a day a week from now for ‘digging and trenchwork training.’ Who needed training to dig a hole? I sighed and put the letters to the side before I looked at the last one. It was sealed with wax, an unfamiliar stamp inlaid into the seal that I broke without much regard for the paper.

I read the paper and felt my mouth suddenly dry and my heart beat faster. I sat up and read the letter again, shifting uncomfortably on the stool as Sabine looked at me with a frown.

“What is it?” She asked.

“It’s from the Tanaoi Patriarch.” Nauda, oldest man of the Tanaoi and father to Tanya, it was a letter made in his sigil, and at the bottom, one of Tanya’s harem, one ‘Enna of the Tanaoi’ had added his own name to the missive. “It’s strange that they are offering this invitation rather than Tanya. Many say she is overly fond of menfolk however...” I muttered.

“Invitation?” Sabine prodded.

“For my ‘meritorious service’ I have been granted leave to carry a pureblood litter.” I grinned. It was surprising that Tanya was willing to have non-Tanaoi lay with the men of her tribe, but considering the circumstances it was obvious that this was necessary. “I have a booking for today.” I could scarcely contain my excitement as Sabine frowned at me.

“You are going to go and get pregnant?” She asked in a bewildered tone. “I thought you liked... Nevermind.” She paused to think for a moment. “Can’t your kind lay with any man and the result is more Steppe Rabbits?” 

“I am a pureblood.” I reminded Sabine, pointing to the sigil on my stomach. “If I want to have pureblood children it must be with a Lepus male, not the men of other races.” We had more than enough halfbreeds for all of the tribes. If we were to recover from the damage done by the Saderans more purebloods were required.

“What’s the difference between a pureblood and a halfbreed?” Sabine asked as I rolled my eyes.

“One of pure breeding has a superior continence, moral character and the correct disposition for leadership.” I explained. “In an emergency a half breed might be pressed into leadership positions” As Tanya had done with surprisingly capable examples of half breeds such as Delihlah. “But without a fair number of pureblooded warriors a tribe is doomed.” I pointed out.

“Right...” Sabine said while drying my thighs. “Well on the bright side I suppose we will have cute babies taking up space next year.” She said with a smile.

“Here?” I laughed. “No I don’t have the disposition for minding children, I am an Officer, a warrior and a commander, Sabine. The little ones will be raised in the creche with all the other children. Tended to by childminders and wetnurses.” 

“You don’t raise your own children?” Sabine said quietly as I slipped into some comfortable hose and put on a fresh shirt. 

“Of course we do, just... more as a tribe, a group thing. It’s easier to just keep all of the children together rather than expect everyone in the tribe to raise their own.” I pointed out as the Felis looked at me with an oddly compassionate expression.

“Did you know your parents?” She asked.

“My father was Taran of the Yutaoi.” I replied, pointing to my covered sigil.

“Your mother?” She asked and I replied with a shrug. “Did you ever meet your father?” She asked.

“I saw him a few times... why are you asking?” I frowned at her as she sighed and hugged me as I stared at the woman. “You are acting strangely.” I told her as she shook her head, her face buried in my bosom.

“No, you're the strange ones.” She said firmly. 

“If you say so.” I offered before I turned and tied my scabbard and sword to my hip and moved to leave the lodgings. “If you are staying here make sure you keep my room clean.” I said to her before I left.

“I will see you later.” She said, waving to me while still in my shirt. I rolled my eyes and made my way to Kontia proper.

-----------------------------------------

The walls of the city had been damaged in more than a few places during the Wyvern Knights attack. Slaves and cadets had erected scaffolding around the damaged sections and were taking the walls down. In places the walls would be repaired but High Queen Tanya wanted to use the stone for other ‘infrastructure projects’ and considered the wall itself to be of only minor importance. 

Considering how trivial it was for the Wyverns to bypass the walls I had to agree with her. The only defence that worked against Wyverns was a dart from a cannon or a powerful magic user.

I made my way to the main gate, taking care not to dirty my clothes on the lines of slaves in remarkably good cheer as they passed into and out of the city. There was still work to be done dismantling burned buildings in the city and in some places Kontia itself looked hollow. Walls surrounding empty plots of land cleared out and the rubble dumped outside of the walls to be processed into materials for new buildings. 

My hand found the hilt of my sword as a pair of tall Lepus, both over seven feet tall with steel gauntlets blocked my path. Green and blue paint on their faces marked them as part of one of the ‘Guard’ companies. Companies that High Queen Tanya favoured more than others, totally loyal to the Tanaoi Queen.

“Lieutenant Nalia of the Yutoi.” A brute of a woman deadpanned as she loomed threateningly. “The High Queen demands your presence immediately.” She kept her voice low but even still some of the slaves glanced over.

“I am to meet with the Tanaoi Patriarch.” I said though gritted teeth only to be met with a blank stare.

“It is not a request. Come with us now.” I felt a threatening presence behind me and glanced back to see six more women from Tanya’s pet companies behind me.

“Very well.” I said, taking my hand off of my sword as the women instantly moved forwards to take the weapon and to take formation all around me.

“This way.” The woman said simply as I was marched through the city to the palace. There was no waiting, I was taken into the palace, though the winding corridors that had some signs of damage were still present even if the Palace itself had suffered little from the Wyvern Knights attack.

Eventually I was led to a set of ornate wooden doors that opened to an office, a large room that was packed with books and papers, tables had been moved into the room to carry more of the Sorceress Queen who was obsessed with writing down everything of even trivial importance. She glanced up at me as I was led into the room and nodded to a chair situated in front of her wide and ornate desk.

“Please, sit down.” Tanya said, picking up several documents from her desk and putting them to one side as she brought out a pile of papers from a draw and settling them down in front of her. I glanced back at the pair of bodyguards behind me before I pulled out the chair in front of the High Queens desk and settled into it.

“I would like to get directly into this.” Tanya said, looking through the paper in front of her.” Several days ago I received a complaint about inappropriate behavior being conducted by your company. The one-hundred fifteenth.” She looked at me, likely gauging my reactions before she passed a paper forward. I have investigated the claims and have gotten direct confessions from persons in your company who clearly did not understand the gravity of the situation.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” I began as I felt my foot tap against the floor and my muscles tense.

“Several weeks ago you approached a fishmonger contracted by the crown to supply fish to my recently formed education institution. An offer was made for the supply of fish to your company and you took offence to said offer and proceeded to engage in intimidating behavior in order to extort the fishmonger.” I opened my mouth to speak but she held up a hand and I grit my teeth as she continued. “You have since that encounter been supplied with fish at well below the market rate, you have stockpiled some of the fish in storehouses owned by your company while the rest of the supply you have been selling to other companies for a profit. I have ascertained this series of events with fourteen confessions from your co-conspirators, via financial documentation from the Royal Bank you have used to facilitate these transactions and from testimony from persons employed at the fishing wharves. As well as evidence located in your company storehouses. You may speak now.” She did not have any particular tone as she explained why I had been brought before her. I took a moment to look back at the guards by the door who were both watching me.

“I don’t understand what the problem is. I got more food for the army. You can see all of them Orcs, Humans, they haggle a lot, it’s not my fault that some Orc got scared of me while we were haggling, I never said I was going to do anything to them.” There was no sense denying at this point. Gods knew how many people she had spoken to before she had brought me in to confront directly.

“Tell me Lieutenant, what do you think is going to happen if a fisherman cannot make a living catching and selling fish?” Tanya asked, leaning back and taking a sip from a small cup of tea.

“I don’t know.” I said with a sigh. “Probably do something else.” 

“Exactly, the fisher has living expenses, needs to pay for things like lines, nets, their boat, rent, they need clothes and food and innumerable other things in order to facilitate them going out and catching fish. They need to then sell said fish for enough Denari to cover all of their expenses as well as a little more in order to build up savings. When you intimidate them into selling you fish for less then they are worth you are making fishing itself not a viable way to live. Your shortsighted actions could destroy the Kontia fishery economy. An important source of food for Kontia and our people, Nalia.” She planted both of her hands on the table as she spoke.

It was galling honestly, for Tanya to have such careful consideration for the lives of some recently conquered orc. She was harsh and demanding of her peers within her race while she was kind and considerate to the weak and lowly. Why was she entertaining complaints made by a pack of orcs to begin with? Where she not in command of so much knowledge and power this woman would truly be a weight around the neck of our people. 

“If they don’t want to fish just use slaves.” I pointed out.

“Do the slaves know how to fish? We would have to train them to do so, we would have to pay for every single expense, they would only do the bare minimum required in order to meet their quotas. Free fishermen will have a natural desire to improve their efficiency, to catch the most fish possible as quickly as possible for the least possible work. Because that fisherman will directly benefit from any innovation, they directly profit, the amount of wealth they have increases with the amount of fish they catch. You have compromised that incentive with your actions.” I stared at Tanya for a moment before shaking my head.

“So they should be able to demand anything from us because it makes them more wealthy? This is stupid. We conquered them! You have done nothing but let them walk all over us. They live at our mercy but you would take the side of a pack of orcs over your own race?! Why should they get rich! We are the victorious ones and yet they profit! They should pay tribute to us, I should not need to facilitate this, any of this, I should not have needed to demand the fish you should have demanded when you took the city.” I argued as Tanya gave me an incredulous look.

It was so frustrating, this entire mess, over fish of all things. Such a petty thing, but Tanya was obsessed with petty things. Her mind was focused, honed in on things that lesser people should concern themselves with, what Queen spent gods know how much of her time investigating the petty extortion of fish to the point that she had a small pile of documentation on it.

“They already pay taxes.” She said with an exacerbated sigh. “They pay taxes on their income and pay a fee when using any of the marketplaces we have established. The more money they make the more they pay in taxes to us Lieutenant! They are already paying more than a fair amount of ‘tribute’. I have no interest in just extracting wealth from them. Every copper piece we extract from the economy makes the economy weaker, it makes the entire economy poorer. We need to take a small amount to support our administration of Kontia and fund our armed forces but we should be careful to minimise all of the money we take out of the economy. The more wealth the people of Kontia have the more they will use that to generate more wealth. More wealth that we can then tax, that is why the money we take out of the economy should be put back into it in some way. That is why you have to pay a fair amount for the fish Lieutenant, that money, the money your company is given for its budget is taken from the taxes, from the fishermen and women!” After her outburst she lent back and opened her draw before pulling up a bag of silver coins. “I have looked into your finances and determined exactly how much wealth you have extracted from your stunt. You are going to meet with the woman you have intimidated with my guards, you will apologise and you will pay her what she is owed and you are forbidden from contact with her, or anyone working in fishery, again. Am I understood?” 

“I am booked to meet with Patriarch Nauda.” I said as Tanya steepled her fingers.

“You will be rescheduled. I will inform my father that you are busy. There are plenty of other women who will be delighted to learn that they are moved up the waiting list.” She said icily.

“So if I don’t do what you say I don’t get to meet with men?” I grit my teeth in frustration.

“No, if you don’t follow my orders I will publicly execute you.” The High Queen said almost casually. “The reason I am offering you a chance to save face in this matter is how embarrassing your behaviour has been. Now, you are dismissed.” She dropped the purse on the desk in front of me as the two guards stepped forwards to loom over me menacingly.

I waited a moment before I took the purse and got to my feet without a word.

“Are you forgetting something?” Tanya asked as I was about to leave her office. I turned about and stood at attention before offering her the Tanaoi salute, earning a nod before I turned and left with her guards at my heel.

Another setback, but that could have gone far worse.

-----------------------------------------

Nalia is an interesting character to write, I view her as something of a tragic figure honestly. The world she has in her mind does not exist anymore if it ever did. And she herself is a product of the time she lives in, she has adopted a lot of Tanya's ideas even as she rails against them. She has looked into the abyss and the abyss is looking back at her talking about quarterly earning reports and standardisation.

The world that Nalia would build should she have the power to do so would not be the one in her mind, it would be something new. Because the things that pass into history will forever remain there.

Well, at least a catgirl decided that she was going to live with Nalia. Life is better when you have a cute catgirl with you.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10nUdscTE0OafbPTPB3eJpCQC3jg0oa8VtR_UVbOOdsE/edit?tab=t.0