Julia: Mngh

  I sit up from my bed, my body feels so tired… I need a back massage so bad. I turned to look at the other side of the bed, to check if my dy was still asleep. To no one’s surprise she wasn’t there, I could tell it was pretty te in the day even though the curtains were drawn.

  I rubbed my stiff shoulders a bit before standing up and stretching some more. I am so hungry… How long was I asleep for?

  I hum a tune as I head to the dining hall below. I was about to pass by my dy’s study when the door opens

  Cressida: Ah, good to see you're awake and in high spirits. I take it you're thinking about lunch after nearly a full day's rest? Before that, however, I need to check your mana levels. Come with me.

  She starts walking back towards her (now our) room. She takes out that thick lens again and takes a step back before peering through it. Shock evident on her face

  Cressida: Dear stars…

  Julia: What? Did my mana reduce or something?

  Cressida: No it has increased… drastically.

  Her words put a smile on my face

  Julia: Really? How much?

  Cressida: I think your mana has tripled compared to st time

  I am pretty sure my mana drains with the weight of the stuff I summon, and the weight of the JLTV is around 6 tons, which was my summoning limit… That means I can summon around 18 tons now….. Not bad but not amazing. I wanted to summon a tank, but those things probably weigh around 100 tons. I can already imagine what my dy would say: “Julia, summon more of these and begin training the Bckwing troop on how to operate this– tank thingy”. I smile as I imagine her cute accent

  Cressida: Don’t celebrate just yet. Your summoned equipment is useless if you don’t train my soldiers in their proper use.

  Ah yes… I also have to teach them… Hell, I have to teach myself before teaching them, how the hell does one even use a mortar? Or a grenade uncher safely? I wish I had an instructor or the internet to teach me, unfortunately that's not possible as I can’t summon living things (yes I tried it) and obviously I can’t summon something abstract like the internet…………. I may not be able to summon the internet, but maybe I can…

  I have a sudden epiphany

  Julia: Yes, that might work!

  My dy looks at me curiously

  Cressida: What might work?

  Julia: Let me test it first!

  I jump onto our bed and summon a ptop, weirdly the ptop doesn’t seem to have any branding on it. I summoned a ptop with an internet connection but all I got was a ptop with a broken Ethernet cable sticking out of it. I turn it on, hoping there might be some magical connection to the internet from my world, but it did not show any signs of being connected. I should have expected something like this to happen… Now what?

  Cressida: What is that…

  She points to the ptop and was quite surprised by the ptop, her eyes remain glued to the screen

  Julia: This is a ptop, we use it to do calcutions, work, watch videos…

  Another epiphany hits me like a bolt of lightning! What if I summon USB sticks with videos on how to operate mortars and grenade uncher on it? That might work.

  I summon exactly that, making sure to word my wish properly, so nothing would go wrong. This was my st hope, if this doesn’t work I would have to learn how to use the weapons only using manuals and trial and error, which isn’t exactly safe considering I will be learning mortars and grenade unchers not how to start a car

  A bck unremarkable USB fsh drive suddenly appears in mid-air and falls on the bed.

  Julia: Moment of truth…

  I mutter as my dy watches me and the ptop intently. As soon as I plug it in a new window pops open showing the contents of the drive. AHHH! YES! Videos!

  I click on the first video, it seems like a training video for new recruits on how to operate a mortar

  Cressida: How… Will you expin what is going on?

  I pause the video and turn to the frustrated Countess who is gring at me. I scoot over and pat the space beside me, gesturing for her to sit.

  Julia: Please sit

  She takes a seat beside me. She is so close! Our shoulders touch as she leans to the side to get a closer look at the screen

  Julia: This device is a ptop. It's a… thinking machine. It can do big calcutions, help you in managing accounts, and in this case, it can help me learn how to use the weapons I summoned

  She has a look of confusion on her face

  Cressida: You don’t know how to use them? Weren’t you part of the military?

  Julia: I said I was from the air force, the weapons I have summoned till now are used by the ground forces or the army

  Cressida: I see…

  She thinks for a moment before turning back to the screen of the ptop

  Cressida: And what is that?

  She gestures to the screen

  Julia: It's a video– Which means it's a moment from the past captured into this stick

  I point to the USB stick and her face goes from confusion to shock and her eyes go wide.

  Cressida: A moment? Does that mean someone is trapped inside?

  I chuckle at her absurd assumption

  Julia: Oh god no! Technically it's just a lot of pictures drawn very fast which gives the illusion that the moments of the past are captured

  Cressida: Oh, I believe I understand. As a child, I had this little book, and if you flipped through the pages quickly, it appeared as though the person in it was moving. Is this simir?

  Julia: Yes exactly that!

  Cressida: Hm… Interesting…

  Julia: This man is an instructor, he is demonstrating how to use a mortar. But I will watch this ter. Right now I need food!

  I close the ptop. I gnce at my dy, she looks so beautiful even in this dark room. I avert my gaze when our eyes meet. The night when she ran away from me is still fresh in my mind. I decided to stop flirting and pushing her for affection that night. My words and actions are probably overwhelming her, after all it was clear from the start she was not bonding with me for romance or because she had feelings for me. I fear what our future holds, but I will try my best to make it comfortable for her, she has already sacrificed so much for my sake.

  Julia: I– Do you need lunch as well, my dy?

  My eyes again move to her, and she speaks in a low voice

  Cressida: Yes.

  Things feel so weird after that night. I pull the colr of my dress giving her easy access, I don’t move closer and just wait for her to bite me when she feels comfortable. Her hands gently grip my shoulder before her teeth sink in. I inhale deeply, feeling the cold canines sting my skin, and before I knew it, the pleasant pain of her taking my blood was over. I think she drank far less than usual. But I won’t push or question her on it. When and how much to take is completely her choice, I will always be here whenever she needs some nourishment.

  She wipes her mouth elegantly, at that moment she seems like the epitome of nobility. She is just what I imagine a medieval noble to be like. A blush slowly creeps up my face as I admire her

  Ah shit, I should stop staring. I look away and get up from the bed.

  Julia: If that's all then I will take my leave.

  I curtsy and leave the room. I can feel her eyes follow me across the room when I leave. I want to know so bad what's going on in that head of hers, but It's not like I can just ask her

  As I walked through the hallway I felt a hand brush mine. The sudden touch catches me off guard and I jerk backwards. My hand goes to the holster on the side of my leg, but there is nothing there. Fuck! I forgot to put the holster on!

  I turn to look at the person next to me hoping it's not an assassin or a kidnapper. My eyes instantly recognize the figure, it’s my dy. God, I hate how stealthy vampires are sometimes.

  Julia: My dy, you scared me!

  I put my hand to my chest to calm my racing heart. Her gaze drifts down to the ground almost in guilt.

  Cressida: My apologies for startling you–

  She looks back up

  Cressida: But I needed to tell you this—you must train the Bckwing troop on everything you summon from now on. While you were asleep, we lost two forts and a border town. Also, summon more of those ‘guns.’ We need every advantage we can get.

  Holy… I… They lost all that in a day? No wait, the communication here is very slow, it's probable that they used birds or horses to get the message of our losses here, which means we could be losing even more right at this moment. Whatever the case may be, it seems the Theocracy is ramping up its offensive, and we have likely lost even more forts and towns by now.

  Julia: Yes my dy! I will do it right away

  Cressida: No need to jump into it immediately. Have your lunch at least

  Julia: Y-yes

  I bow and she nods before walking away. Ah I keep forgetting that I need not bow to her any more. Ah whatever! As I enter the dining hall a butler bows and says

  Butler: Shall I serve lunch, my dy?

  Julia: Ah yes, and stop calling me that, “my dy” sounds too stuffy

  Butler: As you wish, Lady J-Julia.

  He turns around and leaves. I guess I can’t change their habits and culture. Still I don’t like being called that, it sounds so… wrong and formal. But at the same time calling my bonded “my dy” flows so smoothly

  I have my lunch and then watch the video on how to operate the grenade uncher. It doesn’t seem too hard… The hardest part seems to be zeroing the scope. Let's hope the uncher I summoned already has its scope zeroed

  I grab the uncher from the store room and fill the room with M4 rifles and ammo like my dy had instructed me and head out to the “gun range” near the manor, a few guards escort me since the range lies outside the manor. The Bckwing Troop are already there practicing their aim.

  Lilith: Good afternoon! You sure had quite the nap.

  Her eyes go down to the weapon in my hand

  Lilith: Is that some new gun?

  An excited voice joins us when Lilith says that

  Excited man: Can I try it? I love your weapons! Please let me try it

  Julia: I–

  Excited man: Pleaseeeeee!

  Julia: Sure…

  Excited man: Yes!

  Face tattoo man: Hey, let me try it first!

  I remember this man, he is the guy who didn’t have any faith in my weapons. Looks like he has changed his tune. I like his tattoos, makes him look like someone straight from the Vikings

  Excited man: Well get in line

  The face tattoo guy huffs and leaves. I summon some training rounds for the grenade uncher. I roughly expin to the excited guy how to shoot the thing. The uncher is called the M-32 Multiple grenade uncher. Looks like a juiced up revolver to be honest

  Face tattoo man: Those are some big bullets

  The guy switches off the safety and takes aim at the distant target. Everyone in the Bckwing troop had stopped what they were doing, watching us intently

  Julia: Fire!

  I command him and the round hits the side of the human shaped hay target in the distance. Ok seems like the scope is already zeroed for this weapon. The round pops spraying orange powder.

  Lilith: That’s all? Just some colour?

  Everyone looks pretty unimpressed with the show and goes back to practicing with their guns

  Excited man: Wait! I know, the orange dust is poison

  Lilith raises her eyebrow in surprise

  Lilith: That’s actually impressive. That’ll put the fear of the stars into those Theocracy–

  I raise my hand stopping them from making up any more baseless theories

  Julia: It's not poison. I don’t think it's even deadly. The round you fired is just a training round. It can’t do any real damage

  Lilith gives me a smug look

  Lilith: We are hardened soldiers, one of the best in Cowper County if not the Kingdom. We don’t need to train on ‘training rounds’. Give us the real stuff

  Julia: I am pretty sure “hardened soldiers” still die when their heads explode

  She shuts up when I say that. I had a feeling vampires can’t survive their heads being blown off. I guess we still have to fire live rounds eventually. I take the uncher from the excited man and test it for myself

  *pop* *pop* *pop*

  3 training grenades explode at 3 different ranges, the farthest one seems sufficiently far and it isn’t even the best round. I heard from the video that there are high velocity live rounds which can go up to 800 meters. The devastation this thing can cause with those rounds is mind-blowing. In fact even I can’t wait to try those out.

  Julia: Let's try some live rounds

  Lilith: Live? Are the real bullets alive?

  Julia: What? No! Live means real rounds that will be used for combat. They explode instead of spraying that orange powder

  She gets a curious glint in her eyes

  Lilith: I have to see this

  I summon one high velocity grenade round

  I put it in and aim the uncher at an angle. I wonder how far it will go.

  *pop*

  The recoil is much stronger compared to training rounds. The round travels for a few seconds through the air before nding around 600 meters away and exploding. The explosion startles everyone including me.

  Lilith: By the stars, give me a little warning next time, would you?

  Lilith: Also, let me have a go next.

  Face tattoo guy: Then me

  Excited guy: Me as well!

  A queue starts forming as everyone wants to use the new weapon. So these guys like explosions and loud weapons…

  Julia: *sigh* fine…

  ---------------

  The grenade uncher has been officially inducted in the Bckwing Troop, I just hope they don’t blow up each other or our allies. The ammo is pretty heavy so they only carry 2 unchers between them with 12 high explosive rounds. I have also started training them on how to drive JLTVs and use the mounted machine gun. They absolutely love the mounted machine gun and its 50 calibre bullets

  Currently, my dy was sitting across from me as I ate breakfast. She already had my blood in our room when we woke up.

  Cressida: Your “grenade unchers” are truly something. I got to see them in action earlier, and they did not disappoint.

  My dy has been working non-stop to clear up the work that had piled up when we were gone for our bonding. I could only help her for part of the day since she told me to focus more on training the Bckwing troop with the new weapons. The Bckwing troops were in turn going to train other soldiers near the front lines

  Julia: Thank you my dy. I have already summoned more of them for other troops

  Her lips curl up in a pyful smile

  Cressida: Look at you, catching on so quickly. Should I be worried you’ll take over my job next?

  I chuckle

  Julia: I don’t think I could do that even if I wanted to. Your job will remain safe

  Ah this is nice, we haven’t sat down and talked like this in some time. I missed our daily breakfast chats.

  Julia: Now I just need to figure out how to aim that mortar

  Cressida: That’s the big dark pipe, isn’t it?

  I nod as I take another bite of my meal

  Julia: Yup. Ish preddy deadly if you ushe it proberly.

  Cressida: Julia, please. Do not speak with your mouth full. You’re not a commoner any more, try to carry yourself with a bit more dignity.

  Julia: Shorry *swallows*

  She shakes her head in disappointment but has a small smile on her face. Did she find me cute just now? At this rate romance between us might develop naturally in a few years… or a decade… or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.

  Cressida: Let me see its documents, I might be able to make sense of it.

  I think she means the mortar’s manual. But her? Really? Aiming that thing requires some pretty complex trigonometry and math… Wait, I shouldn't put her down! She is my wife– I mean bonded! Not to mention she has been reading those physics, maths and chemistry textbooks dutifully every day before bed

  Julia: Ok…

  I summon another training manual for the mortar

  Julia: Here. But don’t worry too much about it, I will figure it out in a week or two

  I hand her the manual, and she skims through it.

  Cressida: Hm… Interesting…

  She closes it and keeps it aside

  Cressida: How’s the Bckwing troop handling the training for that armoured carriage?

  Julia: Everyone except Lilith is doing great

  She raises an eyebrow

  Julia: Lilith kind of has a fear of cars.

  Lilith drives extremely slowly and carefully, I think I have seen 80-year-olds drive faster than her on roads

  Cressida: I never imagined hearing that brave Lilith would be scared of horseless armoured carriages.

  Julia: I don’t think it has to do anything with the carriage being ‘horseless’. I think she fears controlling a heavy enclosed carriage. She drives very slowly whenever we train.

  She chuckles

  Cressida: It’s funny, really, she’s the Captain of a team built on speed and ambushes, yet here she is, moving like a tortoise

  God, her ugh sounds so sweet

  Julia: Hey! It's not nice to ugh at people’s fears

  I reply to her smiling, I do agree it's a bit ironic. Aside from driving I don’t think I have ever seen Lilith being afraid of anything, not even the Countess herself. She is respectful towards my dy but not afraid of her.

  We continue to talk till I finish my breakfast. I hope these rexing conversations of ours happen every day, I love them, it makes me forget all my problems for a little while.

  -----------------

  *Next day*

  Cressida: I think I’ve figured it out.

  I look up from my book filled with practice calcutions on how to fire the mortar. This thing is very confusing.

  Julia: What?

  Cressida: I’ve figured out how to use that ‘mortar’ you mentioned yesterday. I must admit, the mathematics behind it is absolutely fascinating.

  Wait, really? She figured it out before me?

  I get up from my desk and walk up to hers

  Julia: Please do expin

  I lean down and observe her notebook. It's filled with trigonometric calcutions and scribbles.

  Cressida: Ok the mortar has a path very much simir to the catapult. The only two things we need are the azimuth and elevation…

  She starts expining the basics of mortar which I already knew, but then she starts expining how to actually aim it and how the elevation and azimuth can be calcuted. Hell she even started to expin how to correct the firing position if the shot missed.

  I stare at her in shock when she finishes her expnation

  Julia: You… My dy… are you a genius?

  She smiles smugly

  Cressida: My parents always cimed I was rather clever.

  This woman is probably a prodigy, to be able to learn and understand all this modern math in just a few days… She really is something else

  Julia: Are all vampires as smart as you?

  If all vampires have a knack for math then I might be able to summon many Howitzers after all

  She waves her hand

  Cressida: Oh no, most vampire’s intellect is merely equivalent to that of humans. Anything else would hardly be fair.

  True, having superior strength, speed and senses already makes vampires so overpowered. I can’t imagine what this world would be like if they had higher intelligence too.

  Well at least now I know that I bonded with a genius. Suddenly, all the work we do every day feels… underwhelming in comparison.

  Julia: Ok! I will try this ter and see how it goes

  Holy moly, my bonded is a genius, a noble, rich as fuck and the most gorgeous being I have ever seen. I think I might have used up all my luck in meeting her! Whoever dropped me in her path, thank you!

  I walk back to my desk and my eyes hover over the user guide, a few pages had turned due to wind. A particur sentence had caught my eye “Note: With the new upgrades to the mortar, all aiming calcutions are now automated, eliminating the need for manual computations by the user”

  WHAT THE FUCK! Why can’t they put this BEFORE all those long ass formus! I can't believe I wasted so much time learning and understanding those long brain numbing equations.

  I sigh and sit down, my dy notices the frustration on my face

  Cressida: What’s wrong? Are my calcutions that bad?

  I turn towards her and rest my head down on the desk.

  Julia: Learning all of this math was for nothing

  She furrows her brows

  Cressida: What do you mean?

  Julia: Apparently all of these calcutions are now automated. Which means they are done by a computer, and we didn’t need to do it.

  Cressida: That makes things simpler, doesn’t it? Most soldiers will be able to handle it much more easily now that they don’t have to deal with all that mathematics

  Julia: *sigh* Still… Sorry for wasting your time my dy

  She walks closer to me and pats my shoulder

  Cressida: No need to fret. This was a nice break from my usual duties. Now, let’s bring this to a close, shall we? I’m quite hungry, and the smell of your blood is only making my appetite grow.

  --------------------

  *Few days ter*

  I am craving some deep-fried chicken. Unfortunately, this world doesn’t seem to have the concept of frying, most of the food I have eaten here isn’t deep-fried. My mouth starts watering thinking about all the cooking I used to do…

  Ok! Let's go teach the manor chefs some American dishes!

  I start heading to the manor’s kitchen, it’s pretty weird I have never seen the kitchen after living here for months. My eyes go wide when I enter the massive kitchen. There are 6 people working there; one of them was Helen. She cuts vegetables on the isnd at the center of the kitchen. Everyone turns their head when I enter, their eyes quickly dart towards me

  Maid: My dy—

  Julia: Don’t worry about me, please go back to work.

  The surprised maid nods and returns to cooking. I walk up to Helen who is still gazing at me with curiosity

  Helen: Is there an issue with the food? Or are you simply here to watch me work?

  I give her a wide grin

  Julia: I am here to cook

  Her eyes went wide in surprise before she furrows her brow and scolds me

  Helen: You? The Countess? Cooking?

  Julia: Mm-Hm

  I fold my arms and nod.

  Helen: If Lady Cressida knew you were cooking, and we just stood by, I’m fairly certain none of us would survive her wrath.

  Julia: Oh rex, I will expin everything to her tonight. In fact, she was the one who asked me to take the day off to rex

  She puts the knife in her hand down and pushes me towards the exit

  Helen: Then why don’t you rex in the dining room and leave it to me, I’ll cook up whatever you’re craving.

  I turn around again

  Julia: I am pretty sure you don’t know the recipe for the dish I am craving

  Helen: You’d be surprised. Try me.

  She puts a hand on her hip

  Julia: KFC style crispy deep-fried chicken and some corn dogs

  She furrows her brows

  Helen: Um… What?

  Julia: Those are dishes from my country. Don’t worry I’ll teach you

  Helen: *sigh* Follow me

  Helen brings me to an empty wooden stove with a table next to it.

  Julia: Ok first things first, let's summon the ingredients

  I summon some high quality Peanut oil, cornfkes and tell Helen to bring me some chicken. Everyone in the kitchen had stopped what they were doing and stared at me. I am pretty sure most of the manor staff haven’t seen my summoning ability in action. I give them an awkward smile and continue summoning all the necessary ingredients and utensils

  Julia: First. We need to make some marinade…

  *Few hours ter*

  Julia: Andddd done!

  Helen: That is…

  Julia: It only took so long because the chicken wasn’t marinated!

  Helen: I was thinking more along the lines of ‘unnecessarily difficult’

  Julia: Difficult? Really? It's pretty simple compared to some other recipes my mother used to make

  Helen: If this is supposed to be simple, I don’t want to see the complex ones.

  I chuckle

  Julia: Americans love their food. Now let it cool down a bit then try it

  A few minutes ter she grabs one piece of chicken and bites it with a soft crunch, surprise and satisfaction are immediately reflected in her eyes

  Helen: Mmm.

  She savours the bite for a while before taking another

  Helen: Wow, this is good! I never thought I’d have crunchy chicken that isn’t burnt to a crisp!

  I wanted to make some corn dogs, but I am too tired already. Guess that will have to wait.

  Julia: Gd you liked it

  Helen and I were too hungry from the cooking and ended up devouring the whole pte of chicken in the kitchen itself. By the time the st piece of meat reached our bellies, both of us were left extremely satisfied by the result of my cooking.

  I need to do this more often