Johannes Volkner bid farewell to a life without dealing with the eccentric. Staring down Juan Ponce de León himself, who was entirely too happy at their appearance here, he began to have a slightly sick and wrong feeling bubbling up in his stomach. The way the man grinned too wide, and excitedly shook his hand, reminded him of a used car salesman looking to con a would-be buyer. Rather, it frankly disturbed him, and just felt wrong coming from a figure hundreds of years in the past. Still, he took the handshake, before the Conquistador pulled back away, beginning to pace. "Good, good! Now, as you can see, the savages have attacked us directly. They come from a fortress further north, in a city these savages call Tenochtitlan."

  Immediately, Johannes saw a problem. If it was the Aztecs that had received the plug behind this Distortion, would taking it back from them really fix it? The Spanish would still become readily aware of Tenochtitlan and the Aztec empire dozens of years too early, right? He looked around, and his eyes met Wilhelm's, where he couldn't help but notice that Wilhelm had chosen to focus on more laboring than entertaining the governor. At least he was useful now. He let out a deep breath, before nodding back to de León.

  "Right, and I suppose that these Spirits being used by the savages are coming from the same city. I must warn you, so you are not taken aback. Many of our number are not good Christians, and we use such Spirits to fight Spirits. Knowing that, will you accept us?" Johannes decided to air it out immediately, and drop the most important pretense. Given the disposition of the Conquistadors, it was unlikely this would not come up over the course of this battle. Worse yet, if it came up mid battle, it could come to one of Heliopolis's Callers being attacked by their own so-called allies at an inopportune moment.

  "Se?or Volkner, I am all too aware. Worry not, though you are heathens, and many of you come from lesser races, you are ultimately within the possibility of being saved by God's grace." ...Johannes felt a sudden temptation to attack one of their so-called allies at an inopportune moment himself. Yet, ultimately, he would have to play nice. The fact that this man held despicable views did not supersede the importance of preventing a ritual that could potentially alter time itself, or a similar scale incident, seeing as how worried the Director herself was and the scale of the resistance put together to end it.

  Still, he swallowed his pride and gave the man a curt nod. "That makes sense to me. Is there any chance that you can provide supplies to us, in order for us to mount a more direct attack later? Many of our numbers rely on proper supply and logistics even moreso than an ordinary man, to be honest." The governor took a brief second, seemingly thinking it over in his head as he continued his annoying pacing. "We could perform as such, but our supplies are stretched thin as it is. Still, we will need to move to our other beachhead, this place is obviously not safe. As such, feel free to take whatever you can from the armory building, and encourage your men and womenfolk to do the same."

  Johannes tried to ignore the phrasing as he listened to the approval. "That will suffice, then. Thank you, will we be able to move out with your people in order to protect them? Or, should we take two different routes to prevent the enemy from landing a decisive blow?"

  As Johannes questioned the upcoming relocation plan, Ponce de León simply scoffed. "They have only been sending one of these Spirits at a time, but we have counted at least three different assailants in their number. They may have even more, to say nothing of their own actual warriors. Should they discover our other beachhead, they will likely wipe it out entirely. Similarly, they have a great beast in the sky, the color of wood and steel, flashing about. Your... people must take its sights off of our boats if we wish to relocate."

  A great beast, brown and silver in the sky. Did the Aztecs somehow gain access to a Spirit that took a form similar to a dragon, or some other ancient serpent? More and more, the situation seemed to be an instantaneous headache. An enemy who outnumbered them severely, and had enough Spirits to spare that they were able to strike from the shadows with a different one each time, preventing any given Spirit's strengths and weaknesses from being too easily analyzed. Boudica was already a powerful foe that had nearly caused severe losses, and yet she likely had cohorts just as strong as her, possibly even stronger than she was.

  Yet, this talk that made the entire task seem like more and more of a mountain dragged a particular onlooker. Yoshinaka had walked in, waving an arm. "A great beast, you say? I have long wished for the opportunity to prove myself and slay one, as Yorimitsu himself once did! Before that, though, my friend the governor, you mentioned we could take from the armory. Could we also have at the booze? I do find myself parched, especially with all the doom and gloom about."

  Johannes's jaw nearly dropped as he watched the man so casually chat about booze and glory with someone who barely even saw him as human. Was this really the demeanor of a legendary warrior? Though, looking at how Jill was when she lost control, he supposed that he couldn't find it too surprising either. Their discussion quickly shifted into an argument, and Johannes decided to make himself scarce rather than try to get between them, or watch and listen in like some kind of gossip. Instead, rather, he had someone he needed to check up on.

  Walking to Jill's operating table, he could see that her hands were soaked with blood. Thankfully, whatever seemed to trigger that psychosis of hers didn't include blood, and she seemed remarkably stable, looking at the patients she'd treated. The slightest smile was on her face, despite all the carnage that the people of the village had faced. Despite the hellish burning and the bloody scene around them. "Jill, are you alright? I've been putting a lot on you today, I feel." He would've pulled up a chair to sit with her, but he quickly realized that there were none nearby, and instead just stood a few feet away, looking her over. The aged wooden table she had been using was covered with all manner of torn sheets and bandaging, each soaked through with blood.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "It's no worry, this is what I'm good at. But, I'm better at deliverin' babies than patching up wounds, y'know?" She looked up at him from where she'd been seated, checking her tools over again. "It's a little exhausting, but Spirits take a lot more to get tired than regular people do, y'know. It's not like I've got achy hands or nothing!" He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, though he was unsure if he could really trust her words. If she didn't know about, or was actively hiding, her ripper self, that psychotic episode that could resurface at any point... Then how could he trust her to be open with any other possible issues? How could he work with a Spirit he had no way to trust, one who was a mass murderer of young women?

  Fighting beside her was the easy part, at least. She was almost uncontrollable, so the real issue would be matching his own movements to support her attacks. Given he had one week before their supposed next battle with Boudica, he needed to prepare. "That's good to hear, Jill. Then, can you come with me? I was hoping to take stock of the armory, and see what's worth putting together a sled or cart to move with us as we make our way to the other beachhead."

  She gave him a simple yet peppy nod, clearly happy to be included in his work even after all she'd gone through in one day. Her endless enthusiasm was its own form of charm, he supposed. After asking one of the locals she'd patched up to direct them, she led him to the village's armory, and they swung the door open. Inside, he had been expecting an old time barracks, racks of generic muskets and swords and suits of mediocre armor, but his eyes couldn't help but light up at what was really in front of him.

  This armory was clearly not managed by one of the regular soldiers. Rather, though it seemed that the governor had tried to disguise this fact, there was at least one mage among their numbers, who had painstakingly worked to magically enhance several of the items in use. Alchemically treated gold, silver, and other riches, no doubt taken from the natives before being tinkered with, littered the armory. They could be useful on their own, but what really attracted Johannes's eye were the weapons in stock. There were several muskets which seemed to gather magical energy to fire behind a bullet, allowing for repeating without knowledge of the proper mechanisms used in a modern firearm. No doubt, some of the Callers gathered among them could be armed with these muskets to contribute even against enemy Spirits.

  Yet, one of the swords, a thin blade almost like a half-way point between the rapier and the longsword, caught his eye. It was well balanced, with a gemstone hidden in the pommel, helping to store and provide energy that could thrum up the tang before release as a ranged blow. Johannes, frankly, knew very little of swordsmanship, but what young man was not enthralled by a beautiful, magical sword? Perhaps more impressive was the suit of armor beside it, full plate that was just beginning to be phased out by many of Europe's armies, no doubt meant to act as an ace in the hole for the landing forces, before being further alchemically bolstered for increased toughness. Even a cannon made from what seemed to be a golden alloy was among the arms gathered there, and he knew that they would have to take everything that they could get their hands on.

  If they wanted to be able to have the Callers help perform in battles alongside Spirits, these would go a long way in making up the difference. He called Wilhelm over with a shout, and showed him the trove of powerful weapons before them. Yet, Wilhelm didn't seem impressed at all, picking up a few pieces, looking them over, and simply shrugging. "Jojo, they're nice, but I think I prefer my knife and pistol. Besides, Yoshi's supposed to do most of the fighting." Jill had been playing with one of the small gemstones in the workshop, seemingly taking an interest in having it for her own. Whether because of that interest, or because she didn't care for the conversation at hand, she didn't comment as Johannes tried to parse Wilhelm's thinking. "Your knife and pistol? Are they alchemically treated, or blessed by divinity or something?"

  Before he could get his answer, yet another familiar face burst into the room. Pádraig's eyes were shining even more brightly than Johannes's own as he looked over the weapons, with continuous outbursts of 'hell yes', 'that's so cool', and similar. Johannes was pretty sure that he heard Pádraig call one of the thin blades a '+1 sword' at one point, though he was unsure what that meant. In the end, though, his eyes fell to one thing in particular. The thick, heavy suit of armor. "Hey, Jojo, can I have the armor? The swords are super cool, but I'd rather use mine. She and I have a bond that's way more important than a cool gem, and the armor might help me fight with Tada!"

  Johannes couldn't help but grit his teeth as the onslaught of nicknaming only got worse. He had a feeling he'd have to hear a lot of it from both of them, but annoyances were better than running off like a certain Caller had done. Admittedly, he'd wanted the armor for himself, but it made sense to let Pádraig have it in the end. He would get far more use out of it, whether Johannes put runes to it for various increased functionality or not. Johannes took one of the swords for himself, and took one of the guns so that he could pry out the ruby that seemed to be used for its power core. "Sure, take the armor, but help me load the rest up on a sled. Especially that cannon, if we use it right, I'm betting we could take down an enemy Spirit with it, wholesale."

  While the two stronger men began to gather up the weaponry, and the materials for the sled in question, Johannes worked on cutting in grooves to the wood so that the planks would fit together, and some salvaged cart wheels would help to make it easier to pull around. Even for a Spirit, pulling a cannon would eventually get tiring. Yet, within under an hour's work, they were ready to leave, and it was clear that the Governor had taken the time to board all the citizens among one of the expedition's ships, not that Johannes could tell which ship it was by name or appearance.