Chapter 1 (1/2)
Chapter 1
Part 1
It was an early suht in June that smelled of exhaust
A shaking ate and entered a port
The back of the truck was cradoentlemanly than muddy potatoes”
As usual, a certain two idiots were ae and Heivia Winchell
“They say chicken is healthier than beef or pork, but that’s a lie Booot a weird marker on my health examination, Goddammiiiiiiiiiiiit!!”
“That’s because you were acting like the people who drink light ht from the bottle You ate way too ood for you Howour week of leave?”
“Shut up And for that matter, what did you do?”
“Returned home toa strike atcontrol of the school building back and forth frouns were being shot all over the place, so it was a bit of an adventure”
“You’re the kind of guy that never takes a break from work, aren’t you?”
During it all, I ran across a girl as grazed by an attack so perfectly it only tore off her clothes, I had to escape an explosion by juirl, and I had to hide under an upperclass skirt to escape the enemy It was just awful I don’t care whether it’s a battlefield country or a safe country I just want peace”
“Why the hell didn’t you call e of plenty!?”
When Heivia started grabbing at his awful friend, the other soldiers grabbed the rich noble boy’s collar and beat hi trouble when they were all crammed into the back of the truck Their own actions were an exception, of course
After they had taught hi out an old sack
“Bh…bffhh… I just res work in the army”
“More importantly, look over there, Heivia It’s the Princess The Baby Magnum’s already arrived at the military port”
“More importantly? You have issues too”
The idiot’s complaints did notas he poked his head out from the back of the truck’s canopy
This was a vast gray land Not even the mountainous piles of containers could hide the colossal weapon that could not be destroyed even with a nuke It was over fifty meters tall, it had seven main cannons attached to its sphericalthe surface of the sphere, and it used a reverse Y-shaped static electricity propulsion device
It was the Baby Magnudom
“That giant thing really is aht now I’d never get to see a treasure trove like that if I holed up in a safe country school like a good little boy damn, I bet there’s a ton I could learn if I saw it up close, but those containers down below are in the way!”
“Ahh, ahh I’lad to see you’re the sa a hunk of steel like it’s the women’s bath?”
Meanwhile, the truck circled around the large grounds and stopped near the barracks The soldiers stepped down to the asphalt of the s that looked like ss They looked exhausted because they had all started at different parts of the globe and changed transportationat this relay point
Frolaytia Capistrano, their busty, silver-haired coainst the front of the barracks with a long, narrow kiseru in her hand
Heivia frowned
“Why is the greatto welcome us muddy potatoes? Heh heh Could you not wait to see me (and maybe do even more), my kitten?”
“You’ve gotten fat”
“Ghhh!! That hurts irl says it!!”
“The inside is a no s class rep type is co in there I do have to wonder why the current coh”
“It’s been a while, Frolaytia I brought you a souvenir There’s a Wagashi+ shop nearcalls Dorayaki They apparently have custard and blueberry inside”
This greeting she obediently accepted and Quenser handed her the somewhat mistaken Island Nation treats
“How’s the Princess doing?”
“Let ets any real time off? She’s been holed up in the cockpit this whole ti the ultimate shut-in life”
“Oh, damn! What a waste! If I could’ve done that, I would’ve learned so much!!”
“Even if you don’t really need anything, try calling her,” said Frolaytia with a s her “She hasn’t had anything to do for the last few days, so she ht let some technical information slip if you prod her a little”
“We can see that h once we’re out on the battlefield! More ioodbye to proper food, proper entertainirls!!”
“(And now Heivia has crushed any chance he had with the Princess while also creating a se)”
Frolaytia adjusted the kiseru in her mouth and prayed for his happiness in the afterlife When Objects ruled the battlefield, getting on the bad side of the Pilot Elite was an uniht as well have already had vultures circling overhead
Meanwhile, Quenser showed no sign of bringing the conversation back on track In fact, he too rushed away from his own chance with the Princess
“More importantly, where’s the battlefield this time?”
“More iet yourselves killed by a ‘misfire’ from an upset Princess, leave the rest of us out of it”
“?”
Frolaytia winked while scratching at her silver-haired head
“It’s in Africa The Antsiranana District to be exact It’s coascar”
Part 2
The Antsiranana District was a battlefield country
It wasthe eastern coast of Africa and it was even larger than Great Britain It had no official affiliation, so it was a “hot potato” location that the Legitidom, Inforanization ruthlessly fought over However, the Faith Organization was currentlyits presence known there The area had once been known for its unique and isolated ecosystem that made it a treasure trove of aniround rollers, but it had recently becohtly different: a treasure trove for the biological resources business
“Welcoascar”
Heivia spoke in a sole
“This is as insane as always We’re in Africa! Hohts! So why are we covered in special suits while carrying around these seven spy tools!? We’re covered from head to toe!!”
However, his voice was not traveling by vibrating the air It was picked up by a h the two of theh to literally kick each other’s ass
“We have no choice The Object this time apparently detects people from the noise It can locate us not just fro of our joints and cartilage too These are walking rubber soundproofed rooree they aren’t a lot of fun They feel like the suits meant to protect people from viruses”
“And they can still hear us stepping on the grass”
“This is the jungle, so there are tons of anirass We just have to make sure none of our sounds are noticeably human”
“Whatever the reason, I feel like I’oing to be absolutely covered in athlete’s foot tomorrow, am I?”
“Maybe if you didn’t talk so antly, ouldn’t need these soundproofed suits”
Soreen light, low-in-the-dark paint
In the lead, Heivia raised his hand and formed a fist
“Stop, stop! Here it comes!!”
A single tone seemed to continue forever in every direction Quenser and Heivia pressed their backs against a thick tree trunk or dove into a depression in the ground and then froze in place as if playing Red Light, Green Light They coertip
Finally, Quenser slowly turned his head and spoke inside the jungle
“Did we…avoid detection?”
“If they’d noticed, the Object would’ve fired a shell I don’t see how sonar detection could work very well in this thick jungle, so we can only pray I’”
Heivia’s gulp reached Quenser over the radio
“Of course, this won’t be all the Faith Organization is doing They’ve set up parabolic antennae all over the place and the patrols will be carrying mics Just don’t make any noise Don’t step on any sticks, don’t touch any leaves, don’t splash any arter belts soo”
“I’m most worried about that last one”
Quenser was a student without any real training, so he could only follow Heivia who at least pretended to knohat he was doing
After ain
Quenser crouched down lessly and asked a question while only barely hidden by the grass
“What is it now?”
“Quiet, idiot There’s a sentry It’s one of those patrols I mentioned”
The Faith Organization must have decided they did not need to worry about noise because pointing ain the darkness
However, Quenser and Heivia did not frantically dive to the ground The jungle provided true darkness where even theto see anything even if they strained their eyes, so it would be erous to make any noise
The two idiots crouched down as gradually as a housewife doing yoga for a diet
Beyond the grass, four or five soldiers passed by only a few meters ahead
“Good, they don’t have a dog They only have cheap night-vision goggles and microphones We can hide Or rather, we have to or we’re in trouble”
“…You don’t sound too certain”
After hearing the rustling footsteps and chatting voices fade into the distance, Quenser and Heivia began ain
“This really is insane Just because our Princess’s skinny ar doesn’t ainst a cutting-edge Object”
“That’s just how dangerous an ene it to a direct shootout, the higher ups want us to uard down”
After a short burst of static, a transnum
“It’s not that dangerous an enemy”
“Then can I go back to bed in the barracks? Why is the infantry out on the frontlines and the Object hanging around the maintenance base? That’s completely backwards”
“…Mhh”
“Wait, Quenser Please don’t say anything that’ll lose us support from the Object”
Heivia sounded annoyed
“What was the ene but the kitchen sink built in?”
“The Second Generation Trinity Style Yeah, I don’t want to get into explaining this one The list of specs goes on way too long You just need to know that we couldn’t win in a direct battle”
“Again, that isn’t true,” cut in the Princess “I could totally win”
“Yes, yes And we’re supposed to do so about that with our seven spy tools? What the hell are they expecting from foot soldiers who are only paid 2000 euros a month!?”
“I can hear you, Heivia”
The delinquent soldier clicked his tongue when their busty commander’s voice arrived via radio
He gently stroked the devices attached to the back of his soundproof suit
“I knoe’re supposed to be providing laser guidance support for an ultra long range shell, but it’s over one hundred kilometers from our base to the farthest reaches of the enemy territory Can the Princess’s shi+tty cannons really reach that far?”
“What did you just say, Heivia?”
The Princess’s e fast, but Quenser was too focused on the technical side to notice
“Not to worry She’s apparently using a new type of ablative shell”
“Abla-what?”
“Ablative shell It’s one of the giganticadded on”
“Like added chocolate sauce to unsold cookies? What good is a little plastic!?”
“It’s the sa the atmosphere, the plastic is intentionally allowed to melt in order to absorb the heat Simply put, it’s tech that lets the shell surpass the limits of air friction to fly really, really, really, really far”
“Seriously? A little plastic does all that? Won’t this coe the Princess’s tactics?”
Frolaytia cut in over the radio to reject that idea
“Even if it’s made from plastic, it still takes crafts More importantly, it’s still at the experimental phase and there are no facilities to mass-produce theescale external capacitor when using it, so she can’t e burden on her main cannons Simply put, each shot is ridiculously expensive, so the research will probably end if it doesn’t produce any results here”
“Wait! We’re along for the ride with a test firing!? I’ my life out here, you know!?”
As they spoke, the tall grass caed
However, that was not because they had stepped on a landmine
Looking down revealed so relatively common in rural areas
“There are wheel tracks here…”
“Wait, wait This is bad, Quenser!”
“?”
“We’ve stepped out onto one of their patrol routes And wouldn’t you know it? The purass! Hurry!! Get your head down and don’t move!!”
Quenser could barely hear the engine, but the sight of the bright headlights squeezed at his heart It was probably a hybrid vehicle The two idiots slowly hid in the tall grass so as not to be found
A four-wheel drive truck slowly drove up
A soldier’s upper body stuck out fro around a device that coht, a microphone, and some other clearly specialized equipment
A less transmission arrived from Frolaytia
“Just to warn you, on’t support your escape if you’re caught there”
“Hurry up and go, you idiots Just go Don’t stop to take a leak Getting pissed on here would be the worst”
“I hope they don’t notice our footprints”
“Only you would ! It really is, dammit!!”
What looked like a ht to see anything past the grass They heard the truck’s suspension creaking and a few doors opening and closing The ene people out to investigate
If they did a thorough check of the grass, it was all over
Heivia’s un at his waist
“This is awful If we start a firefight, we’ll be cut off on both sides We’ll lose our way back to the maintenance base and be stranded here”
“That just means we have to find another way”
“What? What is that you’re holding there?”
“The seven spy tools”
Part 3
A shrill bell-like noise rang out
A young Faith Organization soldier frowned as he stuck up froun into the grass The ht, a microphone, and other tools, but the le at night
He received no reply when calling out over the radio, so it wouldn’t be any of his colleagues shi+rking their duties for a roll in the hay
He had followed regulations by calling in a report, followed regulations by having the truck stop, and followed regulations by asking for a further investigation, but then so happened
A loud sound of chirping bugs caht on
However, they would never have a chance to relax if they let that surprise them The soldiers moved with practiced ease as they used their assault rifles to part the tall grass and check through it
“Nothing here”
“Nope, nothing”
“There are so disturbed, but it was probably an aniibbon or old world s”
“They’re called leret it later if you don’t memorize the protected species in the manual If you accidentally eat one in a bout of outdoorsiness, it’ll cause an international incident”
The soldier on the roof doubted that could actually happen, but he was s on the devices than in his comrades’ report
However…
“If there was a local kid, an ene here, they would’ve had to run away pretty quickly and this mic would’ve picked that up”
“If there weren’t any unusual readings, it means it wasn’t human”
“You dairlfriend”
There was a hint of venoues’ jocular tone
Still, the soldier on the roof tilted his head
He continued tilting it
Part 4
“Did we lose them!?”
“At the very least, the spotlight isn’t following us”
Quenser and Heivia spoke to each other while noisily rass
Yes, noisily
There was a simple reason why they hadn’t been found despite the noticeable movement
“I can’t believe you would do that on the fly Picking up the sound of the crickets chirping with theit with that handheld speaker is crazy!”
“Oh? Doesn’t that come with a few preset sounds?”
“Yes, but live sounds are best, Frolaytia We just had to make sure they couldn’t hear us, so that leaves two methods: hold our breath and desperately hide all sounds we make or play some really loud sound to hide our own That caency ht?”
“Hey, I know this isn’t so, but do you think she really has that set up? That would require y, so I assumed it was one of her unfunny jokes”
“But that would mean it’s finally et started”
“Really, we’d be in a lot of trouble if they weren’t willing to help at least that-…!? Oh, no!!”
“The light’s turning this way!!”
They quickly crouched down, but the powerful light still stopped right on them It had not been randomly swept over their way Someone was focused on them specifically
“da to cut it!!”
“One of theht here, right?”
“That’s right The goingback would be the tricky part We’d be isolated out here, so we need to lose them somehow!”
“Does that only leave the eency method?”
“Are we seriously going to ask for that!?”
“I don’t have any other ideas”
Part 5
“That da this time!!”
“Calm down We need soet rusty if we never use the your skills”
“Whatever’s fine, but does he have to point the light this way? The bugs are swar us!!”
The Faith Organization soldiers complained and showed no intent to hide their voices or other noises They effectively ruled this area, so they were confident they would maintain the upper hand no matter what happened
They roughlyaround the microphones attached to their assault rifles like bayonets
“There’s so?”
“You sure you’re not picking up your own breaths?”
“Doesn’t look like it It h”