The little things

Muki stared down at the unconscious Kirikatta then back up at the orcs. 

"Say, this mark upon her cheek, is it not Kirikatta of the Aarlord tribe?" Eezuzu gasped.

The orcs all gathered around Kirikatta for a closer look. 

"It's true. I've seen the mark so many times. I know not why she's bald- OH! Is this her form of proposal!? I Accept!" Eecheka gushed as she giddily slapped a collar around Kirikatta's neck.

"What's that?" Muki asked. 

"A smoo smoo collar. When placed upon an elf, it turns them into the cutest of pets." 

"She's always wanted to turn this one into her pet, but could never fell her in combat. And you presented her to us like that. Human..."

"Erika Eiko."

"Erika, you may marry my daughter and we the orcs shall pledge not to harm your strong city," Boree proudly declared.

"This is the best day ever! Oh, let's make you nice and cute," Eecheeka giggled as she pulled out a knife. 

Monika watched in horror as the orcs shaved off all of Erika's hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes. Then once the deed was done, they left with her, the cows, and Kirikatta. Monika quickly ran out and checked the pulse of the farmer, realizing he had long since died.

"Muki... You really did have Erika chipped. YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Monika shouted out at the air. 

...

At the karaoke room, Muki let out a sigh as she tapped away on her tablet.

"It seems you made a deal with some orcs. What will happen now that you're relinquishing control of your victim?" Jenna asked. 

"I'm still in control. And to ensure Erika doesn't ever regain her personality, I'm utilizing the terra chip's complete override feature to put her in horny orc love mode."

"So she's effectively dead and doomed to spend the rest of her days as the bride of an orc princess."

"It's for the city. Last thing we need is those orcs stealing all our cows, then there goes beef and dairy, and I'm not gonna have that! Plus I can still take control over her and see what she sees. It's just I'll have her personality on autopilot."

"And if word gets out on this?" 

"Monika's the only one there. I can easily write her shit off as deepfaked and make up some reason for Erika's absence, heck, I could even use an AI likeness of her for the news. No one would know the difference."  

"You'd make Big Brother blush." 

"He's already my husband. Anyway, I wasn't expecting that speedy elf to get conked out and dragged off by the orcs, so there's another win. Now we gotta focus on the two in the south," Muki scowled as she flipped to footage of Shalala and Harajuku raiding a convenience store. 

...

Shalala and Harajuku rudely munched on fried chicken as they waddled through the streets of town, shoving aside all in their path. 

"Where do you think the airport is?" Harajuku asked. 

"We could just fly up and take a look. Where would we fly anyway?" 

"How about Evendale?" 

"Don't they have bounties on us?"

"But I wanna yank out their giant crystal and use it as illumination for the pond."

"You remember how big that thing was last time we were there?"

"500 years ago. Things change."

"Think we could beat Hougen if we tried again?"

"No, but the great sky puma? I thought of something good..." 

High above atop a building, Piranharoo watched as crowds parted way in fear of Harajuku and Shalala. "They already lord the place. Wish they'd be more destructive instead of having to be goaded into it," he thought as he leapt away. 

...

At the southern edge of town, the dwarves all marveled at the the train engine lying just outside the town. 

"So we can build a line from here to Buvaria, but it needs to accommodate this baby?" Steamly asked. 

"That's the commission. Two lines from here to Buvaria. It doable?" Machiko asked. 

The dwarves all unsheathed their pickaxes and began digging a tunnel straight away. 

"We brought some stone for the rails with us, so we'll lay the tracks down as we build the tunnel. Should take a few days, but if we can bring that train with us, we'll just sleep in it down there," a dwarf stated. 

"And you're more than welcome to. Don't forget to stock up on snacks though."

"Worst case scenario, we just put together a cart and blast back."

"And what will you do?" Machiko asked as she turned to Borferd and Durell. 

"I need rest," Durell grumbled. 

"I want to find someone else to fight," Borferd growled. 

"Well have fun then, you two." 

"I'll be excusing myself too then," Nagako bowed. 

"Us as well, unless you want to stay here, Rosa," Sana shrugged. 

"For now, I think I need rest too," Rosa sighed. 

"I'll travel with you then," DaVinci stated. 

"Please do. I'll be heading back to the lab," Sana waved. 

...

Nagako looked up as she noticed Rosa and DaVinci sitting next to her on the train. "You still want my guidance? Look, there isn't much else to tell you."

"But maybe if I observe you more, I can see what I'm lacking," Rosa sighed. 

"Well I guess if you want to see me bow my head, come along. I'm heading back to the airport to set things straight with that employee."

"Why?"

"Because things have calmed down, so it's time to take care of the small stuff. Who knows how bad she's trembling, and the last thing we need is an easily preventable suicide. that's why I need to make sure she's fine and calm her down if she's not." 

"You pay so much attention to everyone. You memorize everyone's names, take note of their preferences and personality, you're in a completely different league from me. I never even bothered remembering anyone's names aside from those I constantly interacted with."

"Your opponent back then probably remembered names, but you didn't, right?"

"Yes..."

"No wonder you lost. If people don't feel you care about them, they won't vote for you no matter how good your words or resume are."

"Even if I ran the exact same campaign as Takuto did?"

"They'd see it as insincere. It's always the little things about you that determine an election."

"You're right. that's why you're so incredible." 

"If I was incredible I wouldn't be apologizing like I'm about to." 

"What do you mean? The fact that you're willing to apologize-"

"And I'm saying if I was incredible, there'd be no need for an apology because there'd be nothing I'd need to apologize for," Nagako scowled. 

Rosa quickly went quiet and stared dejectedly down at her sneakers. "Mayor Fuukuro again... As much as I respect her, I don't think I could ever truly emulate her. She's just... too wild and out there in action and personality."

"You and me both, but we gotta make due with the hand we have, so better to spend our time sharpening our blades then staring at our reflections in them."

...

The two arrived at the airport a few minutes later, but were not expecting the sight before them. 

"We wanna fly to Evendale, s get the plane up and running, or we destroy everything!" Shalala threatened as an energy ball began to glow from her hand. 

"My, my. My check's just getting fatter, isn't it?" Nagako chuckled as she slowly strolled over. 

But before she could take another step, Piranharoo suddenly crashed through the glass ceiling and landed right before her. "G'day, sheila. Looks like you're lacking meat on them norks of yours. Damn Bisento lied to me," he grinned.