Prologue

It happens once every few years or every few

decades.
Surely you have heard that near-urban legend that
is announced again and again.
Yes.
I am talking about the idea that the earth's resources
will dry up in the near future.
But so far, it has never happened. In fact, humanity
would fall into ruin if it did happen. The only
question is how it would happen. Would people
continue to evenly divide everything up until the
storerooms were empty so everyone starved
together? Or would wars break out over the last
remaining resources causing humanity to destroy
itself before the resources actually ran out?
So why is it?
Talk of resources running out is quite common. It
even has a certain credibility to it. The earth is
slowly producing resources even now, but the rate
of consumption is clearly greater. There is no
avoiding the fact that the resources will
"eventually" and "surely" run out, but for some
reason it has not yet happened.
Even with the wars being waged using those
ridiculously huge Objects, the resources have yet to
run out. I am sure you know just how plentiful
resources are and how constantly they are being
consumed. The resources never seem to run out and
yet it is clear this planet we call earth has a limited
capacity.
So let me ask again.
Why?
Do these plausible announcements that keep
coming actually have no basis in reality? Or do we
keep conveniently finding a new mine of resources
just when the current resources seem like they are
about to dry up?
What I want to know is...
What do you think?
Chapter 1: What Should Have Been a Pure Blue
Ocean >> Unofficial Battle in the Loyauté
District
Part 1
The air was oppressively hot.
Buckets of torrential rain poured down on his head.
The large leaves of the tropical trees growing
thickly around him caused a rumbling similar to a
percussion instrument being struck repeatedly.
In all seriousness, Heivia Winchell wanted to check
to make sure his neck was working properly. That
was how heavy the rain constantly falling on his
head was.
"...Dammit. Everything stinks of mud. Whatever
happened to the coral ocean?"
The time was just before midnight.
He was in complete darkness. No artificial lights
were lit and the thick rain clouds above his head cut
off any light from the moon or stars.
As Heivia crouched down below a thick palm tree,
another boy dressed in the same uniform crouched
next to him. The other boy was named Quenser
Barbotage. Instead of a rifle, he carried a bag filled
with explosives.
"I thought we were supposed to have a champagne
party after the princess blew away the Faith
Organization's Generation 1 Object. Why are we
going through this mental training out here in the
rain?"
"Didn't you hear the additional radio
announcement?" asked Heivia in annoyance. "This
is the Loyauté district, an archipelago right next to
Oceania. Due to the multinational coalition attack,
the dictatorship in Oceania was destroyed and the
area is in the process of being restored. You know
that much, right?"
"Well, we were the ones to blow up the dictator in
question."
Quenser recalled hearing something about Oceania
having plenty of resources, so it could earn money
so long as the facilities needed for mines and
refineries were brought in.
Little by little, Oceanian coal, steel, and platinum
was scheduled to be taken to the Legitimacy
Kingdom, but that meant it was no longer just an
area requiring protection. It was an area that could
have business negotiations and enact trade.
"Well, the Loyauté district is being used as a
midway Object resupply base. For that reason, the
Oceanian resources are being brought through the
Loyauté district where they are moved to different
boats before heading out to the world."
"What does that have to do with us being neglected
out here?"
"There will always be idiots who start scheming
over this kind of thing. For example, some might
attack the transport ships to steal the valuable
resources."
"...What does that have to do with this?"
"The media is referring to them as Hyena. In this
age of 'clean wars' that use Objects, the higher ups
would lose face if they were done in by that analog
method, so they sent these orders down to our
unit."
"What does that have to do with this!? I don't know
anything about Hyena! This isn't a war; it's a crime.
They should send in uniformed police officers!!"
"These are our orders. And what clean freak police
officer is going to come to an unstable area like
this?"
"But we have Objects we could be using. Oceania
is right there. The coalition is still intact, so we
have plenty of Objects. I thought the Capitalist
Corporations' Deep Optical was dealing with
cleanup on the sea. Isn't it a brand-new Generation
2 that uses tons of laser technology?"
"Why are you grinning like that while thinking
about enemy weapons?"
"At any rate, this isn't our kind of job! It just
doesn't have the right sense of intelligence to it.
We're more suited for some kind of smarter
mission!!"
"I would like to get to sleep, too," cut in their
commander Froleytia over the radio. "But this is
the sad side of a Multi-Role Generation 1 Object
that is seen as a convenient tool for any job. The
Baby Magnum can fight people as well as vehicles,
so the higher ups view it as more suitable for this
kind of thing than the specialized Generation
2s. ...So let's just crush these island platinum
thieves and get to bed. You two, get down and
cover your eyes. It's about to begin."
"...Seriously? The ground is stickier than some
chocolate out in the summer sun."
"I think this much mud might make my skin a little
too shiny and healthy..."
Without the tension of facing enemy troops, the
two took a bit too long to take action.
They regretted this soon after.
The darkness was blown away by a flash of light as
an Object bombardment roasted the earth.
It came from the 37th Mobile Maintenance
Battalion's Generation 1 Object known as the Baby
Magnum.
The giant weapon had 7 main cannon arms
stretching up from behind and over 100 other giant
cannons covering its main body.
It had not just fired one of its main cannons. That
had been a variety of the other cannons attached all
over its spherical main body.
It fired laser beam cannons, rapid-fire beam
cannons, coilguns, railguns, and low-stability
plasma cannons.
They came roaring down like a shower of light, but
Quenser and Heivia were unable to leisurely watch
the sight as if it was a show in a concert hall.
"Ow!! Damn, the light is stabbing into my eyes!!"
"Rolling around on the ground isn't going to make
your sense of pain go away! Let's just get our job
over with, Heivia!!"
Quenser and Heivia headed on while meaninglessly
rubbing at their eyes.
The Baby Magnum was bombarding an area about
5 kilometers away where Hyena had a beach
bunker in which armored vehicles and high-speed
patrol boats were hidden.
A thumb-sized piece of stone fell at Quenser's feet
amid the great squall.
It was a piece of the bunker/hangar made of quick-
dry concrete.
(As usual, that is a level of firepower I do not want
to have as an enemy!!)
They were afraid to get any closer, but they had a
job they had to complete.
"Quenser, do you have that kit?"
"I can set it up in 7 places in 10 minutes."
"Well, hurry. Hyena will be fleeing in this direction
after being woken up by that horribly flashy alarm
clock."
And so Quenser pulled out a few devices known as
Cursors. They were cylinders 5 cm across and 10
cm long mostly made of reinforced plastic.
He checked the Cursors' frequency with his radio
and then bound the cylinders to trees in the area
using wires.
After setting up a few Cursors, he heard a few dull
noises.
They were coming from palm trees that had been
torn to pieces by the Baby Magnum's
bombardment.
"(Quenser, get down! They're coming to show us
their hospitality!!)"
"(Isn't this sooner than expected? I've only set up
half of them!!)"
"(You should know by now that this always
happens. Just get down!!)"
The undergrowth in the area trembled from
something other than the torrential rain.
(Is it Hyena?)
Quenser looked around as he hid behind some
trees.
Their job was supposed to have been setting traps
to take out Hyena when they ran off in confusion
due to the Baby Magnum's bombardment.
However, something else was happening.
Foot soldiers would not affect the undergrowth to
such a great extent and the Baby Magnum was
attacking a point over 5 kilometers away. Quenser
doubted they could have made it that far so quickly.
Which meant...
"...Look, Heivia."
"Wait, don't raise your head. Do you want me to
shoot you in the back of the head?"
"Is that thing noisily headed this way a tank?"
Heivia kicked the trunk of a palm tree without
thinking and then curled up, holding his toes.
"(That damn large-breasted
commandeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!)"
"I don't think there is any job here where you can
make a lot of money while remaining in complete
comfort. We'd just give up if there was."
"But pay is even across a rank!!"
"Heivia, what about an antitank missile?"
"That would be fine if a single shot could take care
of it, but its sensors might detect the lock. Also, the
missile would probably hit a tree before reaching
the tank in this forest."
Quenser clicked his tongue.
Naturally, a normal rifle could not pierce tank
armor. And Quenser's explosives would need to be
brought close enough for the tank to be in range of
the blast.
Of course, the odds were good the tank would
notice him before he could get close enough to
throw it and then he would end up being mowed
down by a light machinegun.
"What do we do, Heivia?"
"I'd like to bring out some beer and have a round
with them. This killing is wrong. The world should
be at peace."
"...Pacifistic ideals tend to come from the losers,
don't they?"
"Yeah, I guess they wouldn't go along with that."
Heivia sighed as he scratched at his soaking-wet
hair. "Then I guess we have no choice but to go
through with this. Quenser, what about that kit?"
"Cursor?"
"Yes." Heivia pointed at the device attached to a
palm tree. "It's an infrared trap that sends targeting
information to the Object. Its sensors are directly
linked to the Object's lock data, so the target caught
in the trap has an almost 100% chance of being hit.
Let's hurry up and set up that invisible net of lasers
and blow them to pieces."

Part 2
By midnight, Hyena had been successfully
eliminated.
"Sounds like Baby Magnum has finally ended its
bombardment."
"I need some eye drops. There's something wrong
with my eyes. Hey, Quenser. Do you think they
have Lasik surgery pamphlets at the base?"
A few armored vehicles had been sent out from the
site of the bombardment, but most of them had
been roasted by the Baby Magnum's laser beams.
The others had been destroyed by the mobile
maintenance battalion infantry and armored
divisions surrounding the base.
The tank Quenser and Heivia had blown away
using a Cursor had been one of those.
"I'm more afraid of friendly fire than a tank. The
armor fragments blown off very nearly killed us."
"That explosive reactive armor is dangerous. Once
it scatters around, the pieces are like land mines."
In that age, foot soldiers who had an Object on
their side did not play the traditional role of
infantry.
The soldiers could indirectly use the firepower of
those gigantic weapons by transmitting targeting
data, so they could conquer the battlefield with
overwhelming speed.
Even if it was borrowed power, it still led to almost
assured victory so long as they were able to borrow
it.
However, the inclusion of Objects in infantry and
tank conflicts meant that nigh unstoppable power
was lost if the gigantic weapon was no longer there.
As the two boys leaned against palm trees in the
soaking rain, a transmission came in from
Froleytia.
"Thank you for a job well done. We have lowered
Hyena's numbers enough that they should have
difficulty taking further action or even reviving
their numbers. Do a sweep of the area and then
head back."
"(Once we get back, it'll probably be time for the
debriefing and weapons maintenance, Quenser.
And that includes the armored vehicles and fighters
that people as low on the ladder as us never get to
make use of.)"
"Hm? If you want to kill some time, Heivia, I
recommend you search Hyena's base," said
Froleytia. "You can join the intelligence team."
"No, thank you!! I'm not gonna investigate an
enemy base after an Object blew it to pieces! Those
monsters are famous for taking even dignity from
corpses!!"
"I don't think I've ever seen a corpse that had
dignity. Do you want them to be decorated with
whipped cream and strawberries? But if you don't
want to, then come back. If you two hang around
out there, I don't get to rest either."
"(I think that's the real reason right there.)"
"Hurry up and come back," said Froleytia
resolutely. She may have heard that comment. "We
were supposed to be off duty once the princess
blew away that Faith Organization Generation 1
Object. I want to get the unit to Oceania's coral
ocean and white sand beach as soon as possible.
Those damn old men keep forcing this extra work
on us, but they refuse to push the final day of our
leave back when they do. In other words, every
second that passes is one second less we get off. So
hurry up and get back!!"
Froleytia ended the transmission, but Quenser and
Heivia did not look remotely upset.
They had learned something quite valuable.
"Did you hear that, Heivia?"
"It sounded to me like the entire unit is going on
leave."
"And in the southern hemisphere, December is
midsummer swimsuit season."
"..."
"..."
Quenser and Heivia exchanged a glance.
"That means...That means this is what they call a
swimsuit episode, Heivia!!"
"We get to see the wonderful collaboration of the
princess's plain but lovely swimsuit and our large-
breasted commander's almost unairable swimsuit,
Quenser!!"
"I know. I know! I really like the idea of some time
off. We've been working way too much lately!!
What's with this human vs. Object nonsense!? They
should give more thought before putting together
wrestling death matches!!"
"There's nothing wrong with chatting in the
classroom on occasion!!"
The two idiots began throwing their hands in the air
and shouting "Hooray!!" repeatedly.
However, they suddenly heard metallic noises
coming from all directions.
The noises were coming from rifles being aimed at
them by numerous people who were oozing killer
intent.
Quenser and Heivia froze in place at about the
"hoo" part of "hooray".
The leader of the local armed group said, "If you
have free time, then come with us."

Part 3
The Legitimacy Kingdom, the Information
Alliance, the Capitalist Corporations, and the Faith
Organization.
The clean wars of the modern era were skirmishes
between those world powers that each owned
several Objects. The core of these wars was the
clash between Objects that possessed
overwhelming firepower. All other forces were
used to keep the Objects running smoothly.
The Legitimacy Kingdom was completely ruled by
a monarchy.
The Information Alliance determined good and evil
by the amount and quality of information.
The Capitalist Corporations let economic activity
surpass even human life.
The Faith Organization controlled society with
religious faith.
The conflict between these new collective
organizations that appeared upon the collapse of
the UN showed absolutely no sign of ending. It was
unclear if this was due to no one knowing how to
bring it to an end or if there were those who did not
wish for it to end.
Now...
Since Hyena was active on the Loyauté islands
which had been used as a foothold for the
destruction of the Oceanian military nation it would
be easy to assume otherwise, but they were not
affiliated with any of the world powers that owned
many Objects.
They belonged to an area that barely had a
government. Such areas were commonly referred to
as blank areas.
As the area was not dyed in any of the colors of the
world powers, the coalition army had decided to
use it as a foothold.
In other words, even though the area had
cooperated with the destruction of the Oceanian
military nation and was being used as a relay point
for the resources being brought from Oceania as it
was restored, the people living in the Loyauté
district were hardly friends of Quenser and the rest
of the Legitimacy Kingdom.
With all of that in mind, Quenser and Heivia had
their hands bound behind their backs and their
heads stuck in burlap sacks as they were brought to
some unknown place.
The bags were taken from their heads, but they
could not tell where they were just by looking
around.
"Bhah!? Dammit, these bags were originally used
as sandbags, weren't they!? My mouth was so full
of dirt I couldn't breathe!!"
"You have guts to put a bag over our heads when
we aren't the type to put a woman's stockings over
our heads!!"
The two immediately lashed out vocally, but they
calmed down once they had rifle barrels jabbed into
their chests.
"Why the hell do we have to be captured while
we're on leave of all times?"
"I think we should just be grateful this is some
different organization from Hyena. If these were
the remnants of Hyena, we would have been treated
as outlets for their anger."
Dawn had come.
As soon as the sun came up, they were wrapped in
humid but cool air.
However, the rain had yet to stop, so they could
still hear a percussive noise coming from the
ceiling over their heads.
Quenser and Heivia were in a wooden house made
of logs and large leaves that was different from a
Western European log house. The two boys sat in
the center with a ring of swarthy-skinned men
encircling them. The men all possessed rifles of an
outdated model.
"If I'm gonna be surrounded, couldn't it be by girls
in palm leaf bikinis?"
"Open your eyes to reality, Heivia. Also, wouldn't
those hard leaves tear some delicate areas to
pieces?"
"Can we get down to business?" asked a quiet
voice.
A man who seemed to be their leader sat down
directly in front of the two idiots who had had all of
their equipment confiscated, from their weapons to
their disgusting rations.
It was possible the man was not their leader but
instead the only one of them who could speak a
language those of the Legitimacy Kingdom would
likely understand.
"We hope you can see our sincerity in the fact that
we have invited you here in one piece."
"If you're thinking of ransoming us, give it up
now," said Heivia immediately. "Unfortunately, I
am a noble where bloodline and honor trump all
else. If you try to ransom me, my family will
certainly abandon me. They will simply say I died
in the line of duty. So let's not waste either of our
time."
"I'm a commoner. I don't think I'm worth much
more than a 3000 Euro a month salary."
"We know very well who you are. And we know
how impudent you can be," said the leader
smoothly. Their comments had not bothered him at
all. "Quenser Barbotage. Heivia Winchell. You
both belong to the Legitimacy Kingdom's 37th
Mobile Maintenance Battalion and have destroyed
several Objects without using an Object yourself."
"..."
"..."
Quenser and Heivia sighed heavily because they
had a good idea what the men likely wanted of
them.
"Let me warn you: About 80% of what you read in
the newspaper and on the gossip sites are utter
lies."
"If all of that was true, it would mean we had
destroyed Second Generation Objects with nothing
but our clenched fists."
The leader continued nonetheless.
"We have one demand," he said flatly. "The
Capitalist Corporations have a Second Generation
Object stationed here in the Loyauté district. I
believe you call it the Deep Optical. We would like
you to destroy it."
Quenser's lips twitched.
He had wanted to get a look at the Deep Optical
once even if from afar, but he had not thought it
would turn into something like this.
"Wait, wait, wait," said Heivia to cut off the man.
"I don't know what crazy rumors you people have
heard, but we're just flesh-and-blood humans!! If
you just drop us in front of one of those monstrous
weapons, no miracle is going to occur. You aren't
mistaking us for androids made out of some kind of
special alloy, are you!?"
"..."
"Also, don't just assume the enemy of your enemy
is your friend!! And once you're taking on an
Object, you have a war on your hands! The two of
us can't just start a war between the Legitimacy
Kingdom and the Capitalist Corporations!!"
The leader snapped his fingers.
One of the men surrounding them pressed his rifle
barrel against Heivia's cheek.
"The enemy of your enemy is...?"
"M-mwy fwiend! P-pwease wet us do thwis!! E-eh
heh heh..."
Heivia was putting on the world's ugliest fake smile
and seemed to be completely useless, so Quenser
tried not to look at him.
The leader said, "The Deep Optical is a Second
Generation Object specialized for naval battles and
will likely become active around Oceania for the
Capitalist Corporations' own interests once its
current maintenance is complete. In other words,
you have a reason to defeat it now."
"...And what is your reason?" asked Quenser. "If
you just can't stand to have an Object stationed
nearby, you would have the same complaint with
our Baby Magnum. Why are you targeting the
Deep Optical first?"
"Blank areas have their own issues to deal with,"
said the man. "I do not care if you believe us or not,
but we have no reason to attack the Legitimacy
Kingdom or the Baby Magnum. That is why we are
asking for help. You can see our good intentions in
the fact that we are not simply ordering you."
(Asking, hm?)
If anyone truly believed they were being asked
while surrounded by a dozen men with rifles, they
were either honest to a fault or they had some kind
of fatal flaw in their personality.
"So has the Deep Optical done anything to make
you want to attack it?"
"Explaining it would be simple enough." The man
looked away from Quenser for an instant. "But it
would be even simpler to show you."

Part 4
The horrid squall continued outside.
When they exited the wooden building, Quenser
could tell they were in a cleared area of the forest
with several similar buildings.
From the barbed wire surrounding the area and the
wooden watchtowers, it was obvious at first glance
that it was no normal facility.
Quenser and Heivia were led across the wet red
clay and into a different building. They regretted
looking inside the instant they did so.
The leader spoke from behind the two boys.
"The Deep Optical's actions have certain side
effects."
The room was not exactly large and it was crowded
with small beds.
They heard groans.
They saw bandages that looked anything but
sanitary.
From the odd smell, self-grown medicinal herbs
must have been used in place of disinfectant.
"The Capitalist Corporations has been carrying out
missions within the Loyauté district in the name of
eliminating armed forces and defending its
maintenance base and infrastructure facilities. The
Object goes to areas of the ocean around the islands
and fires its cannons at the islands."
"..."
"We have heard that it is nothing more than an act
to give the illusion of tension so that their sponsor
company will provide them with additional national
defense funding. Unlike you, they are not working
to eliminate a clear enemy. They are merely firing
their lasers into empty areas to fulfill a quota," said
the leader plainly. "But it is firing lasers that belong
to an Object, the weapon that is said to be more
convenient and more powerful than a nuke. I hope I
do not need to explain how much secondary
damage is done by firing at a nonexistent enemy
with such a weapon. As I said before, it is simplest
to just show you."
Lying in the small beds were children with the
same light brown skin as the leader.
The youngest was around 10 and the oldest was
around 15. They had other aspects in common.
This was not a simple case of the children having
bandages wrapped around them.
They were not whole.
They clearly missed things that whole people like
Quenser had.
"We would like for you to stop this," said the man.
Perhaps because he could not resolve the situation
on his own, there was a sadness in the man's voice.
"Could you please help destroy the Capitalist
Corporations' Second Generation Object, the Deep
Optical?"

Part 5
Quenser and Heivia left the wooden building.
The storm showed no sign of letting up.
Heivia sighed as the bottom of his boots sank
uncomfortably into the wet red clay.
"Do you think we could run away now?"
"With guards carrying sniper rifles in those
watchtowers? Even if we slipped past the guards,
how far from the maintenance base are we? If they
went mountain hunting in an off-road vehicle,
they'd catch up to us in no time."
"I know. I just had to ask. I guess we have to just
wait for our huge-breasted commander. This group
doesn't seem to be that large. A group of 10 foot
soldiers armed with the latest weaponry and a
single attack helicopter for support would be able
to handle them easily."
"They're not going to give us the time for that. And
who knows if Froleytia will see ordering a search
as a top priority."
"Then what do we do?" asked Heivia.
Quenser fell silent for a bit before saying, "Have
you heard of the Capitalist Corporations' Second
Generation...Deep Optical was it?"
"Only our huge-breasted commander complaining
about it. Once this leave of ours is over, it might be
our next opponent. Officially, it is cooperating with
the restoration of Oceania, but it has begun to go
beyond that. Basically, it has begun to cause some
small conflicts around the area of Oceania," replied
Heivia. "It's completely unofficial, but our
intelligence division has already begun
reconnaissance on the Deep Optical. Of course, we
can't let anyone know that is who we would be
crushing next. They would be disciplined if they
were caught."
"So as long as we aren't caught, doing some
reconnaissance isn't an altogether bad idea."
"Quenser, are you serious?" asked Heivia in shock.
Some slight fear could be seen hidden behind his
expression. "This is an Object we're talking about.
They're telling us to fight that monster! And they're
having us do it at gunpoint!! I don't want to die for
something like that! We're just normal humans!!
We aren't super heroes who can shoot strange
beams from our hands! This isn't a difficult
concept. We may not know exactly what kind of
monster the Deep Optical is, but there is no doubt
in my mind that fighting it would be hell. So
wouldn't it be easier to survive this by using what
power we have to deal with this armed group!?"
"..."
"We don't even know if we can get anywhere near
this Object!! We aren't receiving proper support
here. This armed group's information may be
outdated and useless. They aren't going to have
much in the way of weapons and equipment!! We
won't have a strategy put together by an expert
commander based on all sorts of data from an
electronic simulation department!! And we don't
have the protection of the Legitimacy Kingdom, so
the theory of the clean battlefield does not hold
here. If we raise our hands in surrender, they'll
shoot us. If we're caught, the treaties regarding
prisoners of war will not apply to us. Do you really
understand what this means!?"
"I'm well aware this is not a normal situation."
Quenser brushed aside his wet bangs in irritation.
"But you saw that, didn't you, Heivia?"
"That isn't a reason." Heivia shook his head. "It's
true a tragedy occurred here, but that is no reason
to put our own lives in danger! I didn't join the
army to be some hero of justice. It was to gain the
valorous deeds I need as a noble. And you're a
student who is only here to learn about Object
design!! So shouldn't you be focusing your efforts
elsewhere!?"
"Heivia." Quenser sighed softly. "If you truly felt
that way, wouldn't you be working to escape on
your own instead of arguing with me?"
"I..."
Quenser looked around and spotted a guard in a
watchtower looking their way.
"Either way, we can't return to the maintenance
base zone right now. And we need to face the Deep
Optical eventually. So is it really that bad to get it
over with now? And we even have the precedent to
call it an unofficial recon mission."
"That may work for us personally," said Heivia in a
tone that made it clear he was still not convinced.
"But isn't that bad from the point of view of the
organization as a whole? This will still be a
military operation."
"I'm not a soldier, I'm a student."
"Tch. You always have that escape route that only
works for you. Just so you know, that excuse isn't
going to keep working forever."
"What do you say, Heivia?"
Heivia did not reply to Quenser's question for a
while.
He muttered some things under his breath and
hesitated for a while.
"I'll do it. God dammit, I'll do it!! But I'm not the
only one heading into this hell!!" After shouting
that, he lowered his tone of voice and panted as he
spoke. "After all, I don't see any other option. And
this is for those kids who lost an arm or a leg. I
joined the army to earn medals and honor. This is a
bit of a roundabout method, but a moving tale like
this might be useful against my family."
(Okay.)
Now that they had made up their minds, they only
needed to take their one-way ticket to hell from the
grim reaper.
"Quenser, let's start by asking them if they have
any weapons we can use. They captured us after we
had finished our normal work and some overtime.
Our equipment doesn't have enough ammunition
for another mission."
"Yes," said Quenser.
Rare of an idiot like him, there was a clear note of
killer intent in his voice.
"But first there is something else I need to ask
them."

Part 6
When Quenser and Heivia said they accepted the
request, the leader showed them to another wooden
building.
Several metal containers were kept inside.
"You can use equipment and firearms from the
Capitalist Corporations."
"?"
"The Deep Optical's maintenance unit is resupplied
by air. Containers are dropped down by parachute.
However, not all of them fall where they are
supposed to. When the wind blows them off course,
a third party can easily take them. But anything too
high tech is not well suited for us."
"I see."
"If it's Capitalist Corporations stuff, this would
be...damn...it's low-penetration 5.56 mm ammo.
Well, whatever. Let's take a pair of uniforms while
we're at it. I doubt it will completely fool them, but
we'll be less likely to get shot than if we keep on
these Legitimacy Kingdom uniforms."
"I hope we can find an explosive with similar
properties to Hand Axe."
As the two muttered to each other, they opened the
door of a container and pulled out the equipment
they needed.
Naturally, the light brown men kept their rifles
aimed at them the entire time.
However, there was a blind spot.
Specifically, behind the opened door of the
container.
A clay-like explosive could be attached in such a
way to send the fragments of the steel door towards
the men.
(In 3 seconds.)
"Did you really think we would overlook your
signs?" said the leader.
The surrounding men frantically adjusted their aim.
The leader narrowed his eyes and asked Quenser
and Heivia, "What do you think are you doing?"
"If I detonate this, you are the ones who will be
blown away. And yes, I have made sure that the
fragments and the blast will not touch us inside the
container."
"I asked you what you are doing," repeated the
leader calmly.
Even if Quenser and Heivia killed all of the people
there, plenty of guards surrounded the facility.
They would come running if there was an
explosion and the two boys would certainly be
cornered.
Quenser had no intention of running away by force.
"If I did not set up this farce, I doubt you would
have answered my question. Especially because I
want the raw truth rather than some disgusting
whitewashed answer."
"...What do you want to know?"
The leader had paused slightly before asking that.
He may have gotten a bad feeling about what the
question was.
Quenser spoke without hesitation.
"Your claim is that those children lost limbs due to
the Deep Optical's meaningless bombardments,
right?"
"Yes, and?"
"Like hell they did," replied Heivia clearly. "Not
even an old First Generation Object's bombardment
is that easygoing. If someone was hit by a stray
shot, they wouldn't even leave behind a proper
corpse. There's no way an Object would cause so
many injuries on a level that would cause pain in
others more than even a corpse would."
"I don't know if you intercepted some radio
transmission or you found out in some other way,
but you knew the Legitimacy Kingdom's 37th
Mobile Maintenance Battalion was coming to the
Loyauté district from a very early stage."
Quenser could feel his breaths growing shallow.
He was not controlling his emotions as well as he
thought he could.
"And so you made them yourself. You made the
materials you thought would get us to help you. If
those injuries were not caused by an Object, then I
can think of only one other cause."
He took a deep breath.
It did not help.
Even so, he continued on.
"You carved those children apart yourselves, didn't
you?"
"..."
The leader remained silent for a bit.
Finally, he took a deep breath and spoke.
"Yes, we did."
"Why?" asked Quenser quietly. His voice then
grew to a yell. "Were you that intent on having us
take on the Deep Optical!? We're nothing more
than a student and a foot soldier!! What value is
there in setting up the Deep Optical as some
horrible villain with some sob story!?"
"You understand nothing!!" shouted the leader as if
to drive back Quenser's voice. "We have our
reasons why we had to make this so simple to
understand! Do not claim to understand how it feels
to be forced to take a blade to the children who are
supposed to be the next generation!!"
"What possible reason could-..."
"In reality, it is much worse than that!!"
Even the air in the room seemed to come to a
standstill.
The leader continued speaking as he breathed
heavily.
"Just as you said, an Object's stray shot does not
leave even a corpse. But you do not understand.
You have not seen the true effect the Deep Optical
has been having on this land."
"So you made it visible because we couldn't see
it?" groaned Heivia. "You were dragging us up to a
level where we could discuss it by dropping it
down to a level we could understand? Do you
really think that justifies this?"
"Let me tell you up front. We never forced this on
them. That tragedy was put together out of
volunteers." The leader must have felt at least
somewhat guilty because he began speaking more
rapidly. "But there have been dozens or even
hundreds of actual tragedies. They are still
occurring even now in the Loyauté district. ...If
those wounds were enough to work up your anger,
then you should be even more enraged over what is
actually happening. Their atrocities have reached a
level well beyond that."
"Fine then," muttered Quenser. "We're going to
face the Deep Optical eventually. The only
question is whether it is sooner or later. Of course,
that difference could decide whether we get
rewarded or punished for it, but I will turn a blind
eye to that. Just don't think this is going to have a
happy ending."
"..."
"Whatever your reasons may have been, you did
what you did. Do not forget that the day will come
when you must pay for it."
Part 7
And so Quenser and Heivia were finally able to
leave that area of red clay surrounded by barbed
wire.
The two of them walked through a thick jungle
while wearing Capitalist Corporations military
uniforms and armed with Capitalist Corporations
weapons. The continuing squall had created small
rivers of water between the trees and they tried to
leave as little trace of their passing as they could as
they walked through those rivers.
"We aren't getting paid for this. There are no
beautiful women around. And yet we're being told
to go fight a Second Generation Object with
nothing but puny rifles."
"Yes, but our savings here will let us go nuts once
the day of swimsuits arrives."
After chatting a bit, the two boys lowered the tones
of their voices.
"What do you think?"
"They aren't just going to let us run off. They're
watching us from a distance. We could probably
spot a few of them, but we have no way of knowing
if we've spotted them all. The locals would
probably know better how to hide around here than
we would."
"They can keep an eye on us all they like, but if
they don't tell us where they are, we'll have to deal
with them as soldiers of unknown affiliation if we
spot them."
Since Froleytia was not watching over them,
Quenser had a relatively low-recoil 9mm
submachine gun hanging from a sling belt.
"What's wrong with that?" said Heivia who was
more used to the smell of gun oil than Quenser. "If
we make a mistake, we make a mistake. ...To be
honest, I have no intention of protecting them. If
we accidentally shoot one of them, I can only see it
as one less annoyance we have to deal with."
There was a great difference in the extent of their
actions, but Quenser and Heivia may have been as
much outsiders as the Deep Optical was.
However, Quenser and Heivia could hardly be
blamed for having a bad impression of the locals
from the beginning.
"How far until we reach the destination?"
"15 kilometers. But we have this torrential rain and
wet red clay to deal with. A normal vehicle
wouldn't be able to get through and something with
too much horsepower would make too much
noise. ...If only we had something with a powerful
electric engine."
"With the weather the way it is, the enemy
probably doesn't want to be out in it either. The
patrol routes are set in stone in the documents, but
the actual soldiers may not be covering them
properly."
"Let's pray they're watching a 3D porn movie or
something in the checkpoint log house. When it
isn't gonna get you paid any more, heading out with
the possibility of getting caught in a landslide just
to be on the lookout for enemy soldiers who
probably aren't even coming will do nothing but
earn you an early grave."
Their commander Froleytia would have hated to
hear that, but that was how people felt in the age of
the clean battlefield filled with Objects.
"Our goal is the Deep Optical, not the maintenance
base. We can't sit around here forever, so let's get a
move on. We can't spend too long on just the first
step."
"Heivia," said Quenser as he looked down at the
ground.
With a look of confusion, Heivia said, "What? Are
you worried about the footprints you're leaving in
the mud? Don't be so worried. They'll be washed
away 10 minutes from now."
"No, not that. ...I think I see some kind of box
sticking up."
"Ahn?"
Heivia looked back down where Quenser was
looking and spotted something made of plastic
sticking up from the red clay mud. It was a box
about the size of a computer's AC adapter.
"...Not good. Isn't that an anti-personnel landmine?
And it's one of the horrible nonmetal types. It can
escape detection by a magnetic mine detector."
"They didn't tell us about this! If there are mines,
they should tell us!!"
Of course, mines were meaningless if not hidden.
But if you did not set them up so that you knew
where they were, you would end up blowing your
own leg off.
That was why the trees would normally have some
kind of sign on them or the area would be divided
into a safe zone and a dangerous zone. However...
"It's this rain. Some of the mines must have been
swept away from the signs."
"So no one knows where they are? And we have to
walk 15 kilometers through this!?"
"It's probably not even worth reporting for them.
And that includes any legs that might be blown
off," said Heivia in disgust. "What ever happened
to the modern battlefield being a clash between two
Objects? Why are they using landmines that blow
off people's legs? Where did that clean battlefield
go?"
As he spoke, Heivia reached for the switch to the
sensors on his assault rifle.
Quenser frowned.
"I thought you said a mine detector wouldn't
work?"
"I said the magnetic ones wouldn't work."
"So we die when the sensor's batteries die..."
With Heivia in the lead, the two boys headed on
into the forest.
Thanks to the tremendous squall, there were few
bugs, but the chill of early morning disappeared as
time went on. All that was left was the horrid heat
of a bath with a broken ventilation fan.
As expected, the Capitalist Corporations soldiers
were not performing their guard duties with much
enthusiasm. Footprints might be washed away, but
the tire tracks of trucks did not disappear so
quickly. However, they saw very few of those.
"Everything is soaking wet. Who knows what areas
could crumble under our feet."
"With the risk of landmines and landslides, it's no
surprise they don't want to go out on patrol.
Everyone wants to shove any dangerous work on
the Objects and the Elites that pilot them."
Heivia looked down at a Capitalist Corporations
handheld device that contained only the bare
minimum of data.
"I think we just passed the defensive line for the
outermost checkpoint."
The area seemed more like a mountain than a
forest.
The slope of the ground made the rainwater flow
even faster past their feet.
Quenser pulled a clear bag out of a pocket of his
waterproof military uniform.
"Dammit, Capitalist Corporations rations are
actually good. This one tastes like Salisbury steak."
"Stop it. Getting too excited will just make it worse
when we get back. ...Wait."
Quenser and Heivia stopped moving and slowly
crouched down.
The trees of the forest and the pouring rain of the
squall made it hard to tell but there were some
figures hiding behind some thick tree trunks about
300 meters ahead.
From what they could see, there were 3 of them.
As they were all wearing the same uniform and
armed with the same guns, they were likely all part
of the same unit.
They were all women, but that may have had
something to do with their unit.
It was unlikely they would be able to hear him from
that distance, but Quenser still whispered as he
spoke to Heivia.
"(It doesn't look like they've noticed us. Are they
from the Capitalist Corporations?)"
"(No. Look at their guns. They're from the Faith
Organization. And those are short-range sniper
rifles...)"
"(Short-range sniper rifles?)"
"(They're for shooting robbers who have taken
hostages in an urban setting. Their penetrative
power is purposefully kept low so the bullet won't
cause any damage to the surroundings after hitting
someone.)"
"(If the bullet stays in the target's body, couldn't
you also say it's designed to make the wound as
bad as possible?)"
One of the distant figures turned its head in their
direction.
Quenser and Heivia could not move carelessly.
Even the smallest movement on their part would
cause a surprisingly large movement in the
underbrush around them. The squall was still
pouring down heavily, but an unnatural movement
would still stand out.
"(But where are they expecting urban warfare to
take place? In a safe country?)"
"(They must not be a military group. My guess is
they're some kind of police special forces. Maybe
they're the group known as Valkyrie. That's a
global divine punishment group that goes around to
various Faith Organization owned areas and
eliminates those who breaks religious rules. They
use specialized equipment and the group is entirely
made up of women.)"
"(Valkyrie, hm? It looks like they're wearing
something like a garter belt over their uniform...and
is that a shell cup bra? A bra that doesn't actually
cover up the breasts is kind of getting your
priorities backwards, isn't it? Are they wearing that
for some kind of ideological reason?)"
"(It's probably just the tastes of the higher ups.
Dammit, it's a shame they're from the Faith
Organization. That is one nice ass.)"
"(You should probably stop that. Valkyrie is
basically the enforcer of public morals in the Faith
Organization. I get the feeling they wouldn't
appreciate jokes like that.)"
"(That depends on their specific religious sect. If
they worship a god of fertility or a mother goddess,
they can be rather proactive about sleeping around
a lot. The stories about the Greek Dionysus are
pretty amazing.)"
"(...So they're police rather than soldiers, hm?)"
Soldiers left all the fighting to Objects while the
police often had shootouts in urban areas. This
meant it was entirely possible that a police officer
working in a safe country would be more skilled
than a soldier.
"(Why are they here?)"
"(Well, I doubt they're working with the Capitalist
Corporations. They wouldn't be sneaking around
like that if they were.)"
"(They do tend to not get along with the Capitalist
Corporations who try to use religion for nothing
more than to make money or the Information
Alliance who use the internet to publish scientific
analyses of traditional stories.)"
The woman who appeared to be the leader of the
three Valkyries had some kind of cloth wrapped
around her arm. It was possible they had already
had a few run-ins with the Capitalist Corporations
soldiers. Either that or they had other enemies.
Quenser calmly observed them.
"(But they aren't allies of the Legitimacy Kingdom
either. We could end up in a firefight if we aren't
careful.)"
"(It would be difficult to take them out here.)"
The three they could see already outnumbered them
and there could be more hiding. Also, gunshots
would likely draw in the Capitalist Corporations
soldiers protecting the Deep Optical.
Heivia slowly held up his rifle.
"(Hopefully, we can get past them without being
noticed.)"
One of the figures gave instructions to the other
two with a gesture.
The two subordinate women silently moved out of
a short thicket.
"(Slowly, slowly. Good, they're leaving. Damn.
Now the trees are in the way and I can't target
them.)"
After the two subordinates moved on ahead, the
third figure headed after them.
They were headed in a different direction from
Quenser and Heivia. They either had no business
with the Deep Optical or were circling around
using a different route.
"(Looks like they've gone.)"
Just as Quenser was wiping away some of the
rainwater running down his chin, one of the figures
stopped and looked back around the area.
"!"
"(Wait, Heivia!!)"
Quenser called out to stop Heivia as his trigger
finger twitched.
The figure remained still for a bit, but finally
disappeared into the forest.
"(Looks like we made it.)"
"(What is Valkyrie doing here anyway?)"
Heivia's question was a good one, but they had no
time to think about it.
Deep Optical was enough of an issue on its own.
Part 8
As Quenser and Heivia headed further into the
forest, the ground grew sloped. The water from the
pouring squall caused enough resistance to obstruct
their path somewhat.
"What ever happened to the blue ocean and white
beach?"
"You complained about that same thing back when
we were dealing with Hyena."
"It just pisses me off to think the rest of the unit is
having a nice vacation while we're trudging
through the mud."
As they chatted, a red dot of light appeared on
Heivia's chest.
It was the laser sight of a sniper rifle.
He held his hands up and the red light disappeared.
"...I guess that was a warning from our guards. God
dammit."
"Are they listening to us with the microphones on
their rifles?"
(Idiots,) thought Quenser in his heart.
In the pouring rain, the light of the laser could be
seen by the naked eye from the side as well as
straight on. It may have made the armed group
seem to be in complete control, but it also gave an
opportunity for a counterattack.
"We really would have been in trouble if they had
given us one of those warnings while Valkyrie was
nearby."
"We can only hope they're smart enough not to do
that."
While being mindful of the unseen gun barrels,
they continued on toward the Capitalist
Corporations maintenance base zone.
As they came to a spot that was more of a hill than
a cliff, Heivia realized something.
"Oh, crap."
"What?"
"Look down at the bottom of the cliff. There're
some Capitalist Corporations soldiers."
Quenser checked too while hiding behind a tree
trunk.
They were at the top of a cliff only a few meters
high and the Capitalist Corporations soldiers were
at the bottom. An electric armored vehicle was
stopped in an old dry riverbed that had a new
stream of muddy water flowing through it. Two or
three foot soldiers were gathered around it.
"It looks like they're delivering ammo or batteries.
The high energy use is a major problem with
modern equipment. I guess there are some willing
to head out into this squall."
"Do you think we can take them?"
"They don't know we're here, but it would still be
tough. But that armored vehicle worries me. Look
at all the sensors on its roof. After the delivery, I
bet it's going to head out on a patrol to do a
thorough scan of the forest."
"So we have to do something," said Quenser. "But
starting a firefight would just bring more soldiers
here. Blowing up the armored vehicle would be
even worse. Who knows how far the sound would
spread."
"Then we just have to do it naturally, Quenser."
Heivia pointed at the wet soil beneath his feet.
"Naturally."

Part 9
A Valkyrie member named Sarasa Gleamshifter
moved silently through the forest. The rainwater
that had gotten inside the cloth wrapped tightly
around her right arm was making the wound on that
arm hurt, but her expression did not change in the
slightest. However, she was on her guard. The
slightest scent of blood could lead carnivorous
animals to her and that could in turn gather the
enemy soldiers' attention.
Sarasa suddenly stopped.
She had heard the loud noise of a dirt wall
collapsing. She then heard various transmissions
being sent back and forth coming from the device
she was using to intercept Capitalist Corporations
radio transmissions.
"A landslide to the southwest. It seems a Capitalist
Corporations armored vehicle and soldiers were
caught up in it," reported her subordinate Rachel.
"I heard them," snapped back Sarasa.
Their objective was not the Capitalist Corporations;
it was an old man named Oldnick who had fled to
the area. However, they had not bothered getting
permission for their search, so a firefight would
break out should the Capitalist Corporations spot
them. For that reason, nothing could be better than
to have the Capitalist Corporations soldiers'
attention focused elsewhere. However...
Sarasa Gleamshifter did not simply give in to this
good fortune.
It made her feel uncomfortable and raise her guard.
She sensed the cause of this uncomfortable feeling
via her nose.
They were located downwind of the landslide.
"...I smell explosives," muttered Sarasa. "And this
isn't from gun ammunition. This is the smell after
some form of plastic explosive has been
detonated."
After thinking for a bit, Sarasa gave some
instructions via gestures.
They would determine the cause.
They were a Faith Organization special unit that
was sent around the world to deal with those
known as "enemies of god" who had broken the
rules of their religion. Due to the actions of their
target that had fled there, they had no choice but to
immediately pursue. The old man was trying to
spread twisted treasures throughout the world that
were in opposition to god's providence, so they had
to punish him no matter what.
And any irregular elements that got in the way of
their pursuit would be eliminated even if said
irregular element's actions had nothing to do with
the target.
The Capitalist Corporations soldiers had likely
gathered at the point of the landslide by then.
Valkyrie circled around that area as they headed for
the direction from which the explosion had
occurred. After about half an hour, they arrived at
their destination.
The Capitalist Corporations soldiers were
attempting to save their comrades at the bottom of
the cliff, while Valkyrie was at the top of the
collapsed cliff.
Sarasa crouched down and touched the dirt with her
hand.
(The surface is wet, but it is much harder deeper
down. And the quality of the dirt is even. A
landslide would not normally occur here.)
She could see no footprints in the area, but the
squall would have soon washed away any that were
there.
Sarasa Gleamshifter searched around for any other
traces and clicked her tongue when she spotted
something unpleasant about 10 meters away.
A Capitalist Corporations first aid kit was placed
among the tree branches such that it was just at
eyelevel. The plastic bag to an eaten package of
rations had been placed over it to keep out the
effects of the squall.
"..."
Sarasa looked down at her right arm.
She didn't know who, but someone had noticed
them. And whoever it was had caused that
landslide, so they were not from the Capitalist
Corporations.
After careful observation to ensure it was not a
trap, Sarasa confirmed that it was nothing more
than a first aid kit. This brought her anger to its
peak.
Leaving behind the first aid kit showed whoever it
was was looking down on her even more than
someone giving a piece of candy to a small child.
"Damn you!!"
Sarasa knocked the first aid kit to the ground and
searched further into the forest.
However, she spotted something else unpleasant 5
meters in.
It was a trap using wires.
It was a simple type that activated with a tripwire.
Sharpened wooden stakes were set on a well-bent
branch so that they would attack their prey with
tremendous speed.
However, there was an electronic fuse set at one
end of the wire.
The fuse was normally used to set off some other
explosive by causing an exceedingly small
explosion.
However, it could also be used to sever a wire
remotely.
"Shit...!?"
However, cursing was not going to stop the fuse.
This enemy would kill her if she made an enemy of
them.
They were not so benevolent that they would
continue to show compassion to one who had
turned aside their previous show of kindness.

Part 10
Quenser and Heivia were observing her through
their rifles' scopes.
"Oh, shit! She's still alive! Damn is she ever still
alive!! Oh, god. Why do girls' personalities change
so much when they're angry!?"
"So she didn't accept. Well, I doubt she can track us
down from this distance."
They had carried out the explosion that caused the
landslide after already getting a good distance
away. It seemed the Faith Organization's Valkyrie
was trying to hunt them down with a demonic
expression on her face, but finding them would not
be easy where they were.
However...
"...What is this indescribable chill? I get the feeling
we should start running away just to be absolutely
sure."
"A woman's grudge is a scary thing. If only they
weren't so bewitchingly beautiful."
After that sidetrack with a Faith Organization
opponent that had not been stated on any concrete
information, the two boys got back to their actual
mission.
After walking for a bit longer and crossing a small
mountain, they spotted their objective.
Over half a day had already passed since they had
left the headquarters of that armed group.
"So that's the Capitalist Corporations maintenance
base for the Deep Optical."
Instead of the convoy used for a Legitimacy
Kingdom base, the forest had been cleared out and
actual buildings had been constructed. The
buildings were mostly made of the thin, light metal
often used in prefabs.
"...I'm surprised they went this far. Just keeping the
area deforested must take a lot of work. The
vegetation around here is extremely fertile, so the
base would be overrun before long if they left it
alone."
"I see burned spots here and there, so maybe they're
burning it away."
In the base was a single building made of thick
concrete that was much, much larger than the rest.
It was likely the Object's maintenance building.
While taking a broad view of the base, Heivia said,
"I thought it was a Second Generation specialized
for naval battles. Why would they build the base in
the middle of the jungle?"
"It uses an air cushion, so it might be able to move
throughout the island while it's flooded from this
squall. We would have to see it ourselves to know
for sure, though."
"...I'd rather deal with it before it heads out again,"
said Heivia as he shed an unpleasant sweat that was
distinct from the squall's rainwater. "Even if it can't
move, it's still an Object. If it notices us, it'll aim its
countless cannons directly at us."
"That's what we're sneaking around to
avoid...although this is going to be a real pain."
As Quenser spoke, Heivia observed the area around
the maintenance base through his rifle's scope.
"It doesn't look like we can sneak in easily. The
guards near the base are actually doing their job. I
guess they're more likely to get caught with the
higher ups so nearby. I don't think we can sneak in
without anyone noticing."
"If that was possible, the armed group would have
already done so. They know the terrain better than
us."
Since the armed group had apparently never
succeeded, it must have truly been impossible.
"From what I can see, the guards in different areas
wear different color armbands. The guards outside
the base and inside it are wearing different
armbands. Even someone from the Capitalist
Corporations will immediately be suspected if
they're wearing the wrong color."
And of course, the armbands would be more than
simple pieces of cloth.
They likely had a magnetic tape or IC chip that
contained electronic information.
"It's possible the inside of the base is divided up by
sections that use different colors. If so, we'll still be
in trouble even if we get in safely."
As expected, getting in was not as simple as
wearing a Capitalist Corporations military uniform.
This was a base protecting an Object that cost 5
billion dollars. Plus, they were not on a clean
battlefield. This was an area with armed groups.
They would make sure not to leave any openings.
"That means..."
"We need to find an 'unseen opening'."
And so the two boys pulled out a directional
microphone.

Part 11
After sunset, Quenser and Heivia remained still as
the rain continued to pour down on them in the
jungle.
They were pointing a special microphone that was
shaped like a handgun toward the base.
With the headphone in his ear, Heivia moved the
microphone over toward the officer's rooms.
"That won't get you anything, Heivia."
"Ahn? But listening in on the officers would be
fastest to get information on the base."
"The people who know the value of the information
will make sure they aren't bugged. They'll have a
gap in the wall with a vacuum in it to keep the
sound from getting out and the windows will have
motors attached to vibrate them."
"Then what do we do?"
"If we can't go straight to the source, we have to try
a more roundabout method. We target the soldiers
on patrol."
"I doubt we'll get much information from what they
say."
"No, not from one. But that changes when we listen
in on dozens or even hundreds of them. If we bring
all the small pieces of information together, we
might gain some bigger piece of information about
the base as a whole."
And so they continued their remote bugging and
jotted down every little thing they heard that they
thought could be useful in any way. The rain
prevented them from using paper, and they had to
avoid using a handheld device because of the
backlight. They were forced to use permanent
markers to write the information down on the
insides of their waterproof military uniforms.
"If we don't hurry up, maintenance will finish on
the Deep Optical."
"Dammit. Capitalist Corporations rations really are
good."
While they occasionally quietly spoke to each
other, dawn came, the sun passed overhead beyond
the thick rainclouds, and darkness came once more.
All the while, they gathered small bits of
information.
"Hm, the maintenance building is ceramic
compressed using quick-dry concrete. An Object
cannon could easily handle it, but it could probably
stand up to four or five shots from a normal tank."
"God, these Capitalist Corporations rations are
good..."
"When the hell did you make a class change to a
gourmet character? And quit eating them all! Leave
some for me!!"
This lasted for about two days.
Quenser and Heivia took turns taking quick naps in
the pouring rain while leaning up against a tree
trunk as they continued to pick up on the faint
voices.
Before the second dawn, Quenser gave voice to the
fruit of their labors.
"The Shadow Code."

Part 12
All the while, others were monitoring Quenser and
Heivia.
These were the snipers of the armed group that had
asked them to destroy the Deep Optical. They were
hiding beneath ghillie suits created from old rags
sliced up with a knife and then covered with
multiple layers of different colors of spray paint.
They were getting tired of watching Quenser and
Heivia sit around doing nothing.
What were they doing?
That was the question all of the guards were asking.
The two boys had approached the maintenance
base zone well enough, but now they showed no
sign of taking even one more step.
The snipers had been impressed when the two boys
had dealt with the Capitalist Corporations armored
vehicle in the landslide, but they were getting
irritated since the two boys had accomplished
nothing since. The snipers wondered if they had
been overcome with fear upon seeing the
maintenance base zone.
The armed group knew bits and pieces of Quenser
and Heivia's past activities from news sites, but
they knew nothing of the methods used. They
simply assumed the two boys would head to the
battlefield and that would be that. They had
assumed the situation would be resolved within the
day once the two boys headed out. That was how
they had viewed Quenser and Heivia.
This was nothing more than the process that led to
people complaining about athletes simply "having
more talent". These people had no idea how much
hard work and effort the athletes had put into it all
because the people had merely seen biased and
summarized information of the athletes' results.
However, a further problem existed here. These
snipers had sniper rifles they could use to shoot
Quenser and Heivia at any time.
What would they do?
Would they continue watching or would they act?
The snipers of the armed group gave it careful
thought. It would be simple enough to decide that
Quenser and Heivia had chickened out, but firing
that close to the maintenance base zone could
easily bring danger to the snipers. And if they
killed Quenser and Heivia, the Deep Optical would
remain. The efforts of the "volunteer" children used
to create the needed situation would all be for
naught.
(Just a warning should be enough.)
A warning using the laser sight was relatively low
risk when compared to actually firing a shot.
However, they had used that method once already.
The more they used it, the less of a psychological
effect it would have.
What should they do?
As his patience wore down, one of the snipers
continued to think.
That may have been why he did not notice
something else.
A different shadow was silently closing in from
behind him.

Part 13
Quenser and Heivia sorted through the information
they had.
They had discovered a possible way in.
"Their commander has a certain item known as the
Shadow Code brought in through a separate route
from normal supplies. Well, I do understand why
he would be worried about that."
"This Shadow Code doesn't go through the standard
route. It isn't brought in with the other supplies, and
it isn't officially authorized. That would leave
behind data the commander would prefer not be
there."
"The secret transporters have an implicit
understanding with the soldiers of the maintenance
base." Quenser went over the conditions one at a
time. "That means the secret transporters can get
through the base without worrying about the
sections divided up by armband."
They knew what items they needed to sneak into
the base.
Just as Quenser and Heivia were about to take
action, they heard a rustling in the underbrush
directly behind them.
"!?"
But the noise came from too close behind them.
Quenser and Heivia frantically tried to turn around,
but the attacker charged over at Quenser's side.
"Quen-...!!"
Heivia cried out and tried to aim his rifle over, but
he froze in place.
He had noticed two short-range sniper rifle barrels
aiming at him from two different directions.
"You are not from the Capitalist Corporations.
...Your equipment is made to look like it, but I see
no reason why you would be hiding and spying on
your own base," said the attacker who was
straddling Quenser.
It was a low, female voice.
When he saw her, Heivia brought a hand to his
face.
"(Trade with me, Quenser!! Why is it always
you!?)"
"(Are you saying you want a knife pressed against
your throat!?)"
"That accent... So you're from the Legitimacy
Kingdom." The attacker let some of her weight off
of Quenser, but the knife blade remained at his
throat. "What are you doing here?"
"So was the first aid kit not enough of a clue to stay
out of this?"
"Shut it, kid. You may be trying to sound cool, but
it just makes you sound immature. Answer my
question."
"What about you? What reason does Valkyrie of
the Faith Organization have to let us live?"
Quenser was referring to the fact that they could
have simply shot him and Heivia from a distance.
No matter how many weapons the women had, the
fact that they had needlessly approached showed
that they were not all that intent on killing them.
And if they simply wanted to use blades to avoid
loud gunshots, Quenser's throat would have already
been slit.
"A slight bit of thanks." The Valkyrie woman then
got up off of Quenser. "That last one hurt, though."
"So what do you want?"
"If my judgment is accurate, you are about to attack
the Capitalist Corporations maintenance base."
The Valkyrie woman gave a thin smile.
It was most certainly not a smile of friendship.
"We are searching for an enemy of god that has
fled to this area. However, they are in our way. If
you are going to be causing them some trouble, we
can use that. We simply wish to know when it will
take place."
"You are willing to ask the Legitimacy Kingdom
for help?"
"You are better than the Capitalist Corporations or
the Information Alliance. The Legitimacy
Kingdom's ceremonies such as the coronation are
often based on religious ceremonies. ...But more
importantly, you are neither enemies of god nor are
you obstructing our search. For now at least."
"(Damn. I'm glad I didn't make a crude joke when
she climbed on top of me.)"
Even as Quenser felt a bit of quiet relief, another
aspect worried him.
Quenser and Heivia were being monitored by the
local armed group to prevent them from running
off. Making contact with a unit from a world power
could be seen as preparations to flee. It was
possible they would be shot from afar.
When she noticed Quenser's eyes racing around the
surroundings, the Valkyrie woman said, "You do
not need to worry about them."
"?"
"We eliminated the others. We will use those who
can be useful, but we have no reason to spare the
ones who are of no use or who will hinder us later."
Quenser heard a clanking noise.
The Valkyrie woman pulled out several scopes.
They all had broken lenses and a dark red liquid
splattered on the side.
"Would fingers or ears have functioned better as
proof?"
"..."
He had known the woman was bad news before,
but Quenser felt a chill run down his spine once
more.
No matter how he thought about it, they were
clearly enemies.
They would not be their allies.
He was also amazed at their ability to eliminate all
of the snipers who had been hidden in the jungle.
He started to wish he and Heivia had gone further
with the traps earlier.
"(Quenser. Hey, Quenser!!)"
"(What, Heivia?)"
"(If the guards from the armed group are gone,
can't we just run away now? We don't have to go
after the Capitalist Corporations Object!!)"
Heivia had a point.
With those guards killed, the armed group would
take some other action. It was possible they would
decide Quenser and Heivia had betrayed them and
send out an additional unit.
However...
If they did nothing about the Deep Optical, more
disasters on a scale too large to see would occur in
the Loyauté district.
That armed group might once more use children as
a shield in negotiations with someone else. And if
that did not work, they might do something even
worse
And most importantly...
"(Are we really free to leave?)"
"(What do you mean?)"
"(Do you think Valkyrie took the risk to approach
us for nothing? They're hoping to use us. So if we
refuse...)"
"Dammit," groaned Heivia.
The Valkyrie woman could hear everything they
were whispering, but she was letting it all go.
"So what exactly is your plan?" expressionlessly
asked the woman who made the decision to kill
based on whether the person could be of use to her
or not. "I do not care what you are trying to do, but
the bigger the disturbance and the longer it lasts,
the better for us. If you need anything, just ask."
"Well..." said Quenser as he concentrated on
keeping his breathing regulated. "We need some
bottles. I'll tell you the brand, but they can be
empty. You can probably find them in their trash.
Also..."
Not only was Valkyrie surprised at what Quenser
said, but so was Heivia.
Looking puzzled, the Valkyrie woman asked, "Is
that really all you need?"
"We don't have much equipment. We don't even
have that."
"Understood," she said, accepting his request. She
then lowered her voice. "But if you are captured by
the Capitalist Corporations, do not speak of us. If
you do, we will thoroughly research who you are,
infiltrate your safe country, and kill every one of
your relatives."
"You don't need to threaten us. We don't even
really know if you're from Valkyrie or not. We
aren't who our uniforms say we are either."
"Very well then." The Valkyrie woman gave a
wicked smile that almost seemed to be
blasphemous in itself. "You two do as you wish. If
we can make use of it, we will."

Part 14
Quenser and Heivia's strategy was not all that
thoroughly planned out.
They directly approached the small gate while
trying to stand out as little as possible.
"Wait a second. Stop. Yes, you two over there."
When they arrived at the gate, an amplified voice
called out from over 100 meters ahead. A giant
light near the gate shined on them and an off-road
vehicle equipped with a machine gun approached.
Two soldiers got out of the vehicle as it idled.
They wore the same Capitalist Corporations
uniforms as Quenser and Heivia and had the same
assault rifle as Heivia.
Quenser covered his face with one hand to block
the bright light.
"Hey, stop that. You're gonna give me a headache."
"Are you with the unit?" One of the soldiers stared
at Quenser and Heivia's uniforms. "What are you
doing here? It isn't time for the night shift patrols to
return. And where are your armbands? You should
have one on your right arm."
"We can't wear them since we're on a job that
doesn't allow it," replied Heivia quietly.
"What?"
The soldier frowned.
Heivia leaned in close to the soldier and whispered,
"It's in both of our interests to end this discussion
about the armbands. Surely you've heard of the
commander's Shadow Code."
"Oh, that..."
The soldier looked away from Quenser and Heivia
with a bitter expression.
He was looking over at what the two boys were
transporting.
It was a handcart.
The soldier used an LED flashlight to peer inside
the canopy. Quenser spoke up to him from behind.
"Don't shine the light on it too much. It's like tea in
that light can destroy the composition without even
opening it."
"Oh, I see. But...dammit." The soldier groaned and
turned off the flashlight. "So the commander is
ordering diet drinks again!?"
"He uses the ridiculous name Shadow Code, so no
one knows what it is. We have to work our asses
off all day while he's eating and drinking enough
that he has to worry about getting too fat. It pisses
me off, but that's just how the world works."
"Our 4WD vehicle got stuck in the mud. Normally,
we would have called for help, but we can't given
what we're carrying. Thanks to that, we had to stay
out this late trudging through the mud. We're
supposed to be part of the day shift, so I want to get
to bed already."
The soldier clicked his tongue.
He must have felt it would be best not to cause a
commotion, so he gestured to have the bright light
from the gate shut off.
"Understood. Head through. The night shift can get
a bit on edge, so try not to stand out once you get
inside."
"Will do."
"You aren't the only ones who will be in trouble if
that doesn't reach the commander."
The soldiers moved the barricade made of a metal
framework and barbed wire and then opened the
steel gate. Quenser and Heivia pushed the handcart
into the maintenance base while everyone watched
on.
"(What do we do now?)"
"(If we managed to get into the Object maintenance
building like this, we would be better off defecting
to the Capitalist Corporations and becoming
Hollywood stars. We need to head to the barracks
to borrow some armbands. We need to make sure
we won't look suspicious around the maintenance
building.)"
"(The armbands are divided up by color, right?)"
"(A beautiful woman's ass is one thing, but I
wouldn't spend dozens of hours staring at these
boring muscular men for no reason. I know what
color toothpaste they use.)"
Meanwhile, the two boys headed through a few
different sections of the base.
Occasionally, a powerful light from a watchtower
would move towards them and they would start
sweating, but the circle of light would humorously
move away the instant it touched their handcart. It
seemed the base truly did have an implicit
understanding.
They stopped the cart behind the barracks in a spot
the watchtowers could not see, but no voice called
out to challenge them. They then slowly opened
one of the windows lined up on the barracks wall.
Of course, the window would normally be locked
and would have sensors.
"All the information is proving accurate. When the
Shadow Code reaches the gate, they secretly unlock
one of the windows."
Just to be sure, they removed one of the diet drink
bottles from the cart as a good luck charm and
climbed into the barracks.
It was nothing but one of the empty bottles
Valkyrie had procured with filthy, germ-filled
jungle water in it, but no one was going to double
check the contents even if they found it suspicious.
People had a lot of complexes about diet drinks. If
the commander thought someone was giving it
undue attention, he could very well hold a grudge.
"Y'know, if we actually delivered them to the
commander, he might get food poisoning and the
base's chain of command would come crumbling
down."
"They would just stick someone else in charge.
Directly targeting the Deep Optical is still our best
bet."
The two boys chose a room in the barracks to enter.
They of course chose their target from the name
plate for the room.
All the data they had gathered was enough to know
what that person's duty was and that no one would
be inside at that time.
Quenser and Heivia quickly started digging through
the belongings inside to find the armbands they
needed.
"Each individual person doesn't have just one
armband! Counting spares, they're given three! We
just need to find the right color!!"
"Which color!?"
"Blue or green! Blue is for the guards and green is
for the technicians!!"
Given how Quenser and Heivia were dressed the
blue for a guard would be more natural. Also, the
person who stayed in that room was a guard.
"Maybe we should change out of these soaking wet
uniforms into new ones."
"We're not officers. You don't see regular soldiers
walking around with an umbrella. More
importantly, we need those armbands! Dammit.
Are we not just going to find blue or green ones
around!?"
Suddenly, Quenser and Heivia heard approaching
footsteps.
"(Shit. This is bad, Quenser.)" Heivia lowered his
voice to a whisper. "(We can't find the armbands.
It'll look suspicious to stop by here with a diet
drink! We're cornered!! Anywhere we go is a dead
end!!)"
The footsteps continued.
They were clearly headed for the room they were
in.
Quenser suddenly spoke up.
"(Heivia, hand me the diet drink bottle.)"
"(What?)"
"(We have nowhere to hide!! We just have to keep
doing what we've been doing, so just hand it
over!)"
Heivia tossed the bottle and Quenser caught it in
one hand. Quenser then wrapped a new uniform
jacket and the one he already had around the bottle.
The door opened without a knock as he was doing
so.
A middle aged man wearing an expensive-looking
uniform that seemed ill suited to actual combat
looked at them suspiciously. He had quite a heavy-
set build like the type of soldier that simply drew
arrows on maps. To be blunt, he was the type of
officer the bottom-rung soldiers would dislike.
"What are you doing here? Is this your room?"
"W-we're hiding. We have our reasons."
The middle-aged man clicked his tongue in
annoyance when he saw the item Quenser was
trying to hide
"If you've arrived, then hurry up and deliver them.
If they are on the base, we can't have the delivery
seen as incomplete. ...Also, even if this is the
Shadow Code, make sure to return what you used
for packaging."
Quenser and Heivia passed by the middle-aged
man's side and attempted to quickly leave the room.
He called out to them.
"Wait."
"...Do you need something?"
"Since you have it here, we can open just the one
now, right? We're just eating rations, so we need to
look after our health too."
Quenser almost jumped.
The bottle was filled with filthy jungle water.
"We..."
"We?"
"We aren't overweight enough for it to be worth
opening it."
"If you say so..."
"W-well, we'll be going."
The middle-aged man gave a slightly bitter smile
and waved Quenser and Heivia off like he was
shooing away a dog.
Heivia breathed a sigh of relief upon exiting the
room.
"...We're safe for now, but what do we do now?"
"Good question."
"We can't hang around forever with nothing but the
diet drinks. Also, that old man is in the room we
thought we could find the armbands in. Without
green or blue armbands, we can't approach the
Deep Optical's maintenance building. If we can't do
that, getting in the base was meaningless."
It was possible they could find the armbands they
needed in other rooms, but they had no information
to base it on. Searching over a hundred rooms
would take time and it would seem suspicious.
More importantly, they would be unable to avoid a
fight if they accidentally opened the door of a
soldier who was on break.
If that happened, they would never survive.
"If only there was a way to destroy the Deep
Optical without touching it."
"Ahn?"
"Heivia, let's go back over the information we
gathered with the directional microphone over the
past 2 days. What maintenance is the Deep Optical
undergoing?"
As Quenser spoke, they headed back to the window
with the security deactivated in order to leave the
barracks.
"If we know that, we might be able to find
something we can do."

Part 15
"The Deep Optical is a Second Generation Object
using a laser beam for its main cannon," said
Heivia as they left the barracks through the window
and hid behind the handcart. "But that main cannon
is a tricky one. Eight excitation lasers are used in
conjunction with a liquid prism for the stimulated
emission, but if the refractive index within the
liquid is off even slightly, the laser beam will tear
the main cannon apart."
"And the maintenance is related to that?"
"I think they're defragging the electronic control
program that automatically regulates the density of
the liquid in the liquid prism. It seems software
problems will crop up periodically. Their method
of dealing with that seems to be to perform
frequent maintenance of the memory clusters."
"..."
"Oh, but don't get your hopes up. There is
absolutely no way stopping this maintenance could
make the Deep Optical blow to pieces," said Heivia
just to make sure. "As I said, this is nothing but
software maintenance. If we interfered with work
on the JPlevelMHD reactor, even foot soldiers like
us might be able to blow up the Deep Optical, but
this is just the program controlling the main
cannon. It isn't enough to blow it up."
Of course, the Object had around 100 other
cannons at its disposal even without the main one.
Any one of those held enough destructive power to
obliterate a tank or battleship, not to mention a
flesh-and-blood human.
"Are you recalling what we did to the Water
Strider?" asked Heivia. "That was planting a bomb
on parts to be put in the Object which we
subsequently detonated. But we can't do that here.
This is software maintenance, so no parts are even
being replaced. Not to mention that we can't
approach the Deep Optical or even the area filled
with the spare parts."
"...Where are the spare parts kept?"
"At almost the exact opposite corner of the base
from these barracks. But it's too far away for the
diet drink excuse to work. The armbands there are
red. Not that it matters since we don't have any
color."
For the Deep Optical's maintenance building, they
needed blue or green armbands.
For the storage area for the Object's spare parts,
they needed red armbands.
There were no exceptions to that. Having the diet
drinks would not get them through. In fact, it would
seem even more suspicious.
"...What color armbands do we need for the storage
area for non-Object supplies?"
"Yellow. And we might be able to sneak into
somewhere like that. But what does it matter? We
aren't going to find Object parts in a normal storage
area. Even if we set a trap, it would never reach the
Deep Optical. It's meaningless."
"Not necessarily," said Quenser. "Basically, we just
have to make sure the Deep Optical can't fight."
"?"
"But there's a bigger issue. Heivia, I want to
compare my information with yours."
"What is it, Quenser?" asked Heivia.
Quenser carefully chose his words as he replied,
"Do the people of this maintenance base keep to the
standards of the modern clean battlefield?"

Part 16
A Capitalist Corporations commander named
Lieutenant Colonel Rockbelt Deansgate clicked his
tongue.
When the Shadow Code arrived at the gate,
specified soldiers were instructed to inform him.
However, it had not been that long since the last
Shadow Code delivery. This had made him
suspicious and the fact that the items had still not
arrived furthered his suspicions. After a quick
patrol, he had found the handcart abandoned behind
the barracks.
Rockbelt grabbed one of the bottles and brought it
close to his face. That was all it took to tell him
they were fakes. He did not even need to test the
taste or smell. He threw the bottle to the ground
and switched on his radio.

The bright lights turned to face inside the

maintenance base rather than outside.
As he pressed his back against the storage
building's wall, drops of liquid that were clearly not
from the squall appeared all over Heivia's body.
"Damn, they've caught on!! The entire area's lit up
brighter than midday!!"
"Just as expected. When the diet drinks failed to
show up and the soldiers delivering them
completely disappeared, anyone would realize
something was up. Once they checked the contents
of the bottles, they would know for sure."
"Was it really worth heading out to this storage
building?" said Heivia as he looked at the building
with an expression showing he did not think so.
"It's true that almost no one heads out to this end of
the base, so we could head straight here without a
yellow armband. But as I said before, there's
nothing related to the Deep Optical here! No matter
what sabotage we carry out, none of it will reach
the Object!!"
"We're not targeting the Deep Optical."
"What?"
"We may not be able to directly destroy that
Second Generation Object, but we can stop the
maintenance."
Some intruders had gotten in.
Rockbelt Deansgate immediately thought of the
maintenance building for the Deep Optical...or as
they called it, Charbetty. As he ran through the
irritating rain, he contacted the soldiers inside the
maintenance building over his radio.
"No, everything is normal here! There are no
records of any suspicious people entering and
Charbetty's readings are completely normal."
(I suppose it would be impossible to get within
those thick walls using normal methods...)
However, the same could be said about the
maintenance base itself and the intruders had
already made it inside the base.
Rockbelt himself was part of the reason for that,
but that fact never crossed his mind.
Suddenly...
"Wah!?" said the soldier on the other end of the
radio.
"What is it?"
"Charbetty's defragmentation speed suddenly
dropped. This is strange. We're using quite a large
computer for just this task!!"
"We don't target the Deep Optical itself. Who
knows if we could even destroy it with every ounce
of explosives we have. To stop the maintenance,
we have to target the large computer helping with
the defragmentation," said Quenser. "As long as we
know how the Deep Optical and the computer are
connected, we have various methods we can use. If
it's located away from the maintenance building,
we just have to dig up the underground cable or
jam the wireless signal."
"But they'll make sure there is as little opening for
sabotage as possible, right? After surrounding the
building with such thick walls, it would be safest to
keep everything necessary inside."
"Why has the processing speed dropped!? Is it
hardware trouble or could this be a cyber attack!?"
"The hardware used for the defragmentation is not
connected to the network! And it has no external
media attached!! It is most likely a hardware
problem!!"
(This is bad.)
They could not stop the defragmentation of the
main cannon's electronic control program. Doing so
would require redoing everything from the initial
settings which would take days to complete. If the
other world powers caught wind of it, other Objects
might very well attack.
"Should we continue the process?"
"Of course."
"The only possibilities I can think of are
overheating, external interference from powerful
electromagnetic waves, severed wires within the
machine, or simply an unexpected breakdown of
the machine."
"An electromagnetic attack sounds the most like
something intruders would do, but it can't be that. If
that was happening, we would hear some kind of
horrible static over the radio."
"To prevent damage to the data being
defragmented, I can distribute the work over
several processing systems. We don't have anything
else on the level of the large computer being used
now, but I can think of some pieces of hardware we
could use."
"Can you do so while continuing the current task
without interrupting it?"
"It will take a fair bit of acrobatics, but yes."
"Then..."
Rockbelt almost continued with "do it", but he felt
a chill run down his spine.
"...Are the subsystem machines inside the
maintenance building?"
"N-no." The soldier sounded less confident now.
"These other machines are not currently being
used, so they are being stored in one of the storage
buildings."
(So that's it!!)
"Listen, second lieutenant. Do not go ahead with
your subsystem idea. Continue the defragging with
the current system."
"B-but...!?"
"No matter what happens, do not open the door to
the maintenance building!! Even if it's me asking
you to! That is what the intruders are after. They
are causing this problem so that equipment and
personnel are brought into the maintenance
building!!"
"!?"
"Anyone coming in could be spies carrying bombs
and any computer you bring in could have
explosives hidden in it!! So do not open that door
no matter what!! As long as that door remains
closed, the intruders cannot do anything to
Charbetty! Do you understand, second
lieutenant!?"
"I do, lieutenant colonel!!"
Upon hearing his subordinate's response, Rockbelt
laughed quietly in the rain.
He had been planning to head into the maintenance
building himself, but remaining outside was safest
for the unit as a whole.
The maintenance base zone was large. However, it
was still a limited space.
The intruders could not hide forever.
Once the defenses of the maintenance building
were fortified, they just had to carry out a thorough
search.
Then it would be checkmate.
"But can we really get into the maintenance
building so easily?" Heivia was skeptical. "They
know that's the most important spot on the base.
Once something goes wrong, won't fortifying its
entrance be the first thing they do? We won't be
able to sneak in during the confusion or send in a
bomb-laden piece of equipment."
"True, sending in someone or something would be
difficult," said Quenser as he dug through the items
in the storage building. "But that just means we
have to use something that can pass through the
building's thick walls."
"Ahn? You mean we'll use some kind of
electromagnetic weapon?"
"No, nothing as over-the-top as that," said Quenser
as he left the storage building.
In his hand, he held...
"A gas burner to burn away vegetation?"
"Quick-drying concrete meant to withstand
explosions and compressed ceramic cubes will
resist heat. ...However, the heat will pass straight
through the wall if enough is accumulated."
Quenser lightly waved around the device that was
made up of numerous connected tanks and pipes.
"That is why I wanted to know where the computer
is. Even if it's in the thick walls of the maintenance
building, it will be kept against the wall so it
doesn't get in the way of their work, don't you
think?"
And their invasion began.
Quenser and Heivia were behind the maintenance
building.
Rockbelt and the others fortifying the entrance
would not think to look there. Even if an Object
cannon could destroy the sturdy walls, they could
not be destroyed by the amount of military
explosives a combat engineer could carry around.
Once you were sure no one could blow a hole in
the walls, your focus naturally stayed with the
existing entrance.
"How did you figure out where the computer is?"
"From the vapor coming out of that pipe on the
wall. That's likely from the cooling system," replied
Quenser. "As I said before, heat will pass through
the wall. The same goes for cooling. Basically, the
coolest spot will be where the equipment they want
to keep the coolest is. That means we just have to
check the temperature with our hands. Using the
burner there will be perfect."
Bluish-white flames spewed from the pipe-shaped
opening of the device Quenser was carrying.
When it first touched the thick concrete wall, the
moisture on the surface audibly evaporated.
Afterwards, the surface of the concrete turned
white...and then to the orange of heated stone.
This was the cause of the fall in the large
computer's defrag speed that Rockbelt and the
soldier had discussed.
The correct answer was overheating.
Quenser and Heivia had been heating the wall with
the burner the entire time.
Quenser and Heivia did not get to see the change
firsthand.
The first people to notice were naturally the
maintenance soldiers working on the Deep Optical
on the other side of the wall.
"What? Why is there black smoke over there...?"
"Shit! The computer's outer casing is melting!!"
"Stop, don't get near it! Wah!?"
A maintenance soldier who frantically attempted to
approach the large computer convulsed as if he had
been struck by lightning and then a roar as if the air
were being split reverberated throughout the
maintenance building.
There was an electric leak.
As soon as the maintenance soldiers realized that,
the monitors they were focused on became
wrapped in darkness.
Yes.
The monitors displaying the progress of their
Object's defragmentation.
And naturally, determining the cause was not
difficult once that result was seen.
Lieutenant Colonel Rockbelt Deansgate hurried to
the back of the maintenance building accompanied
by several soldiers.
"Freeze!!"
The intruders continued to fire the flames of the
burner into the concrete wall up to the instant he let
out that shout.
The one intruder finally switched off the burner and
casually tossed it aside.
He then said, "If you're in that much of a hurry, I
assume we managed to stop the defrag. You must
be pretty worried about how much the cluster
damage spread to the Object."
"Do you understand your situation here?"
"Do you?" asked the other intruder. "If this is a true
clean and safe battlefield, you are the ones in
trouble."
"This is the age of Objects. Victory is decided by
the Objects, so soldiers do not die needlessly," said
the first intruder, sounding as if he was enjoying
himself. "But when those rules are broken, it all
breaks down into total war. That means we throw
every military force we have at each other. And
which side is in trouble if that happens? Your
precious Deep Optical can likely destroy most
weapons without using its main cannon...but that
does not include other Objects. Not even a nuke
can destroy an Object's armor. The firepower of
another Object's main cannon is needed."
"..."
Rockbelt understood what the intruders were trying
to say.
They seemed to belong to a unit of one of the other
world powers.
(From recent developments, my guess would be the
Legitimacy Kingdom unit that crushed Hyena.)
"Are you telling me to let you go?"
"If you're fine with a deadly battle breaking out,
you don't have to, but keep in mind that we have
the upper hand. After all, we have a usable Object
and you do not. Surely you can see that your entire
base will be slaughtered if you don't go along with
our demands no matter how unreasonable they may
be."
"If you like, we can call in our cute princess. Oh,
and if you kill us here, the footage will reach the
Object. Are you willing to fight a pissed-off
monstrous weapon?"
"It would only take one shot." The first intruder
made a gun sign with his hand and held the index
finger up to his temple. "The decision is yours.
Take the shot if you like. But if all-out war begins,
you won't be able to use the white flag."
If both of their Objects had been in working order,
Rockbelt could have ignored everything the
intruders had to say.
But that was not the case.
It had been clear from the moment he had shouted
"freeze".
Once their Object had been rendered unusable, the
battle was over.
He could hardly admit it, but he had been looking
for a point of compromise.
(Fortunately, Charbetty was not completely taken
out. If we redo the main cannon's defragmentation,
she can head back to the battlefield. It is crucial
that I keep the damages here to a minimum.)
Rockbelt forcibly clenched his back teeth as he
forced down his anger as he said, "Fine then. We
will go along with your proposal."
"But!!" shouted the second lieutenant who worked
as Rockbelt's aide.
When the Charbetty's defragmentation had been
forcibly stopped, the second lieutenant had opened
the door to the maintenance building and joined
Rockbelt.
"They say this is a safe and clean battlefield, but
they are the ones that broke the rules first! They
have no right to force their demands on us!!"
"Second lieutenant."
"Just do it! No, I will do it!! If our information is
accurate, our enemy will likely be the Legitimacy
Kingdom's First Generation Object. Even when not
at full capacity, Charbetty's odds of winning are
greater than 0%!! We need to remain resolute
and-...!!"
Rockbelt clicked his tongue.
He pulled a handgun from the holster at his waist
and unhesitatingly fired a bullet between the
second lieutenant's eyes.
Rockbelt did not even hear a scream.
The man was dead before the gunshot had faded.
Afterwards, a silence that made one forget about
the squall filled the area.
"You do not stand up to them because the odds are
not 0%, second lieutenant. You quickly fall back
because the odds are not 100%."
Rockbelt sounded like he was spitting out the
words because the second lieutenant's actions could
easily have put the lives of the entire unit at risk.
Rockbelt had quickly dealt with the threat, but that
had not quelled his personal feelings.
It was the intruders who had created the situation in
which he had to do so.
"I will give in this time," said Rockbelt in a
frighteningly chilly voice. "But just this once. This
alone has created enough of a reason for our unit
and the Second Generation Charbetty to attack you.
Once you leave here and find some safe place, you
can curl up in the corner and think about what that
means. But it would be best to assume there is
nowhere safe."

Part 17
And thus Quenser and Heivia succeeded in
applying a certain level of damage to the Deep
Optical.
The Capitalist Corporations was desperately
attempting to hide the fact that the Deep Optical
could not use its main cannon, but the armed group
intercepted radio transmissions saying it was
headed for the Capitalist Corporations block of the
coalition troops in the Oceania district for official
repairs.
In other words, it had been successfully driven out
of the Loyauté district.
"Wonderful!! We had heard the rumors, but we
never really thought you would drive away that
Object!!" said the leader of the armed group as he
proudly welcomed Quenser and Heivia back. "Now
the Deep Optical will no longer wreak havoc on the
Loyauté district! The tragedy you saw and the
tragedies you could not see will no longer occur!!"
His words were completely truthful, but there was
one thing he failed to mention.
He had a hand behind his back in which he held a
large handgun.
Once their role was complete, he had no more use
for heroes.
He could not have the two boys asking for any kind
of a reward and they had seen too much of what the
armed group had done.
"Today is a day for drinking!! With the Deep
Optical gone, the foundation of our income should
return! This is a celebration of your success and the
better times on the horizon, so do not hold back!!"
"There is one other thing we must tell you first,"
said Quenser quietly.
The change in tone made the leader tense up. He
clenched the handgun behind his back
unnecessarily tight.
But that indescribable feeling was fleeting.
Before he could figure out what it was, a much
greater feeling drove it away.
He felt multiple gazes on him from the trees all
around him.
The leader frantically looked over at the
watchtower, but he could only see the guard's upper
body hanging over the railing with a gunshot to the
head.
In the next instant, explosions occurred at various
points along the barbed wire surrounding the base
and soldiers charged in.
They were Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers.
"I told you not to think this would have a happy
ending."
The soldiers moved quickly through the small base
and either shot the members of the armed group or
had them surrender. A few tried to take up
defensive positions and fire at the Legitimacy
Kingdom soldiers from blind spots, but each one
was eliminated by either a sniper's bullet or a
distant mortar.
Despite all this, the leader attempted to fight back.
However, he stopped moving shortly thereafter.
The reason for this was simple.
One of the Legitimacy Kingdom soldier's assault
rifles had a sensor attached to the end that was
oddly large for some kind of targeting assistance.
It was a Cursor that was linked with the Object so
the area the rifle aimed at would be accurately
bombarded by the Object.
The leader of the armed group had no way of
knowing this, but Quenser had asked one other
thing of the Valkyrie woman in addition to
acquiring the diet drink bottles.
If you have a long-range radio, give my ID number
to the Legitimacy Kingdom maintenance base zone
and tell them the following: We will be finished
soon, so come to get us at Point RN in 10 hours'
time.
And they had done so.
They had come to rescue Quenser and Heivia from
their kidnappers.
And to make the leader of the armed group pay for
his crimes.
It had been entirely possible Froleytia could have
followed military regulations and left Quenser and
Heivia for dead, but their risk was nothing
compared to that of the armed group and its leader.
The Elite princess that piloted the Baby Magnum
and Froleytia who gave the princess her orders both
had no reason to show any mercy to or hold back
against the armed group.
It was not an issue of Quenser and Heivia. The 37th
Mobile Maintenance Battalion had already shown
they would not allow such armed groups to exist
with their overwhelming suppression of Hyena.
"Whatever your reasons may have been and
regardless of whether they volunteered or not, you
still cut off those children's limbs to further your
goal."
The Object that was providing indirect firepower
finally became evident on the battlefield.
Specifically, its static electricity propulsion device
could be heard. How did that low rumbling as if
from distant thunder sound to the armed group and
its leader?
The large handgun dropped to the muddy ground
while his hand was still hidden behind his back.
He could have shot Quenser and Heivia in
desperation, but he dropped the gun instead.
That was how much awe-inspiring fear he felt.
That firepower could grab at the human soul in a
fundamental way as if the monstrous weapon stood
at a higher point on the food chain.
As he had faced Objects several times before,
Quenser knew exactly what kind of pressure was
squeezing at the leader's chest.
"And I also told you not to forget that the day
would come when you had to pay for this,
remember?"

Part 18
It all came to an end in no time at all.
The wooden building Quenser and Heivia informed
the princess of over the radio was the only one left
completely unscathed by the Baby Magnum. That
was where the children were kept. Everything else
was blown to pieces.
The Baby Magnum did not even need to appear
directly on the battlefield.
The princess merely aimed her laser beams at the
points provided by the foot soldiers' targeting
information.
She targeted people, equipment, and buildings.
As he watched things turn to black ash and be torn
apart and turn to red flames and disappear, Quenser
felt the power human beings used to support each
other fading away.
Most likely, what Quenser and Heivia had been
doing was nothing more than a game of cat and
mouse to the Baby Magnum.
With the power of those monstrous weapons that
could carry an entire war and influence the course
of history, that armed group would not have had to
rely on Quenser and Heivia or turn blades on their
own children.
Those weapons moved history.
They changed the flow of history.
There was a great difference between those that had
them and those that did not.
"He said those children volunteered," muttered
Quenser quietly. "Will those children hate us for
destroying the world they believed in that much?"
"How should I know? That isn't for us to decide.
Only those children can do that," said Heivia, but
his words were not very clearly spoken. He took a
deep breath before speaking again. "Hey, Quenser."
"What?"
"If I...If I really do gain control of the Winchell
family one day, I could use some extra money to..."
"And if I become an Object designer...No...that isn't
the way to do this."
"?"
"...We can start now. Even if it isn't much."
The squall of pouring rain came to an end.
One of the children shivering in the wooden
building walked out using a cane. He spotted two
shining objects.
They were sparkling in the warmth of the sun.
Would he ever realize what feelings were held
within those two coins?
Chapter 2: Christmas on a White Sand Beach
>> Furlough Garrison Battle (?) in Oceania
Part 1
The Oceania district.
With the dictatorship that had held a tyrannical rule
over that land destroyed, the coalition-led
restoration had accelerated.
The Legitimacy Kingdom's 37th Mobile
Maintenance Battalion's convoy made up of over
100 large vehicles was stationed there and a
"cityscape" had cropped up around it.
"We can't have everything spreading out like this,"
said Froleytia Capistrano as sweet-smelling smoke
drifted up from her narrow kiseru.
She was speaking with the old lady who led
maintenance on the Baby Magnum.
"Yes, but it is only natural for shops to set up in
areas where money is likely to change hands."
"We purposefully distanced ourselves from the
urban areas to keep the civilians out of any
unforeseen dangers, but we can't stop them from
setting up a market made up of tents and RVs.
Someone could easily use this to sneak in close and
fire a shell at the base."
"Even if we move the convoy away, they will
simply follow us. That is probably why they are
using shops that are so easy to set up and take
apart. If they make money, they will be happy. And
this will prevent the conspiracy theories
surrounding the secrecy over Object technology.
Just think of this as an advertisement in that
fashion."
Froleytia and the old lady were sitting on a sheet
spread across the sandy ground within the
maintenance base with a parasol stuck into the
ground next to them.
However, a hellish scene of sweat and tears existed
just 3 meters away from their vacation mood.
"Quenser, the water filtration devices come in sets
of 15 boxes. Once you have confirmed their arrival,
make an entry in the database and carry them all to
storage."
"...O...kay..."
"Quenser, that box is full of champagne bottles.
You can use the dolly if you like, but I will kill you
if they get shaken up. Also, make sure you do not
leave the cold room's door open."
"...Pant...pant..."
"Queeeeennnnsssseeerrrr, that one is my Japanese
sword and that one is my Japanese armor and
helmet. That one is my set of Japanese dolls and
that is my Japanese furisode. Be careful as you
carry them. We aren't often part of a coalition
force. I need to find all the best deals while the
market is in chaos."
Quenser Barbotage collapsed in the middle of the
sandy ground.
"...I-I can't. I can't go on. I've been doing nothing
but physical labor for three days now... I thought
this was supposed to be paid leave. We finally
managed to get back, so what happened to the
swimsuits?"
"What? Was Quenser, the boy who ignored several
war treaties to go off to fight the Capitalist
Corporations' Second Generation Object, just
saying something to me, the one who had to write
report after report frantically emphasizing the
damage to the Deep Optical and forcing a smile as I
put up with the jokes of those old men higher up
the ranks that are at least borderline sexual
harassment to somehow avoid having you court
martialed?"
"Gyahhh!! I'll do anything! I'll go along with
whatever you say for the rest of my life,
commander!!"
Quenser raised his sand-covered face and
screamed.
"...It almost looks like he's enjoying this," muttered
the old lady, but it seemed no one heard her.
As Quenser wiped the sand from his body, he
asked, "B-By the way, where is Heivia?"
"Cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the bath pipes,
cleaning the washing machine drums, and cleaning
the convoy's engine rooms. And that's for every
single one of the base's over 100 vehicles."
"Y-You're kidding! Nothing but cleaning!?"
Quenser could only raise a prayer for the different
sort of hell Heivia had been sent to as he still had to
deal with his own hell.
Froleytia paid him no heed and said, "Once you
finish that...Oh, I know. The Japanese paulownia
wood chest I bought yesterday should be delivered
to the base soon. The civilian deliveryman won't be
able to get inside the base, so bring it to my room
after its security check at the gate."
"I want a powered suit for this!!"
"After that...Oh, right. There is that other important
matter."
"I'll die. I'm really going to die!! Wait, I get it. The
final boss this time is my huge-breasted
commander!!""
"What, is it really that bad?" Froleytia calmly
breathed out some smoke. "The princess wants to
go swimming at the Great Barrier Reef, so she
needs some bodyguards. But if you would really
prefer to stick around the convoy and its stench of
oil and exhaust, suit yourself."
"Please let me go!!"
Part 2
Meanwhile, Heivia was also finally released from
his hell. He was currently relaxing outside the
maintenance base zone.
"God dammit. Everyone knew I was being used as
that huge-breasted commander's toy, so they all
forced their ridiculous demands on me too."
At a coffee shop made out of an RV, Heivia sipped
at an iced coffee that did not seem the type of thing
a noble would drink. With the double punch of heat
caused by the roasting sun above and the reflected
sunlight coming from the sand below, he could
hardly order a hot drink.
The "cityscapes" that developed around a
maintenance base zone during times like that were
quite a different thing from a standard safe country
city or an Oceanian city.
Not a single concrete building could be seen.
Everything was made to be set up or broken down
within half an hour. The Object and its
maintenance base zone could set up or move out
immediately to match the military situation, and
those making up the "cityscape" were hardly going
to let any chance to make money slip by.
As Heivia sipped at the iced coffee that no longer
had any ice in it, he heard a high-pitched girl's
voice.
"Welcome, internet viewers!! Welcome to the
Oceanian Live – Class A!! Oh ho ho ho ho!!"
He looked over and saw a 3D projector set up in
the store displaying an Information Alliance idol
concert that had been held a few days prior. It was
free to watch for a week after the event, but would
it really draw in any customers?
(Well, it looks more like the guy running the store
is the only one watching.)
The 3D image was not displayed on a screen.
Instead, the it appeared directly in empty space.
Quenser likely could have excitedly explained
exactly how it worked, but Heivia did not know.
He had a feeling it was something along the lines of
sending out light waves from multiple directions to
display the image with the increase and decrease of
the light waves' amplitudes.
The image only appeared 3D from head on. When
viewed from the side, the images for the right eye
and left eye were out of sync which made for a
dizzying sight.
"Diffracted waves are used to create the separate
images. This is the latest model," explained the
shop owner who must have been bored.
He seemed more proud of the projector than the
idol who was passionately singing a popular song.
(Why can't it just be the students who are proud of
their machines?)
With that thought, Heivia changed the subject.
"Do you like idols?"
"Better than other Elites at least. The Information
Alliance's idols seem friendlier than the patriotic
heroes and the million dollar players."
The idol dancing in the 3D image was tall, had
ringlet curls, and had G-cup breasts. As Heivia
watched, he decided the dance moves were
definitely designed to make her breasts jiggle.
Meanwhile, the shop owner stealthily added one
last thing to his comment.
"...And this one has big breasts."
"So that really is your reason!! Well, I can't deny
that I wish our princess would do this kind of
thing."
As Heivia spoke, the writing and patterns on the
dancing G-cup idol's special suit changed in real
time.
No normal material could do that.
A musical score made of ribbons appeared in
midair and wrapped around the G-cup idol's
bewitching body in sync to her singing.
"Class A sure is showy," said the shop owner. "The
A stands for 'augmented reality'. Most likely, the
actual idol is dancing in all blue or all green tights,
but it sure does look nice like this. Then again, the
completely fictitious Class V takes it a step
further."
"I prefer R for reality. All of Class A's panty shots
are prearranged, right?"
"You say that, but you can't seem to take your eyes
off her thighs."
"Sorry, but I prefer tits," said Heivia with a
perfectly serious expression.
The fact that the writing and patterns of the idol's
outfit could be freely altered also meant the figure
of the idol could be directly altered in the footage,
but Heivia's imagination did not seem to reach that
far.
Heivia brought the cheap iced coffee back to his
lips as his gaze was drawn to the chest of the 3D
image, but then...
"Oh, it's Heivia. If it isn't Heivia."
"Bff!?"
Heivia very nearly spat out the iced coffee because
he recognized the girl who had called out to him.
She was the daughter of the Vanderbilt family as
well as Heivia's fiancée. However, she was only
unofficially his fiancée for the moment due to
various circumstances. Normally, she would never
be seen outside of an inner room of a mansion
within the Legitimacy Kingdom's home country.
Heivia began to tremble when he saw that girl
wearing a dress covered in jewels that did not suit
that market that had a mixed and gray atmosphere.
"Y-You...? Why are you here...?"
"Why do you find it so odd? Oceania's military
regime was destroyed and the coalition invasion
has come to an end. This is a safe country now.
There is no problem with civilians coming here."
"(The resolution of the issue with the military
nation is now leading to skirmishes between the
members of the coalition to see who gains the most
power here, so things are actually more strained
here than ever.)"
"Did you say something?"
Heivia shook his head.
"Wait, where are your bodyguards? Don't tell me
you came here on your own."
"My family would not stop complaining about how
I was acting, so I gave them the slip."
"That just makes this worse!! Now I can't just get
back to my military work after chatting with you!!"
"Oh, but isn't it only because I slipped away from
them that we can have such an elegant chat? Right,
Heivia...or should I say Romeo?"
"Well, 'Juliet', I get the feeling your guards are
going to track you down and then shoot me when
they find me with you."
"Oh, dear. You do not seem very moved over a
chance meeting with your fiancée." The girl
frowned slightly. "I sincerely hope some horrible
woman has not gotten to you while I have been
away."
"Absolutely not!! In fact, every time a good
opportunity comes up the useless guy who is
always with me gets it!!"
"So you admit that some 'good opportunities' have
occurred."
"..."
Heivia's eyes swam to the side like two
synchronized swimmers.
The daughter of the Vanderbilt family gave a gentle
smile.
"Heivia, I am not an intolerant woman. You are a
noble man. You are free to have mistresses. That is
merely a type of status symbol." After a short
pause, the girl's voice grew cold. "However, if you
put anyone above me even for an instant...you
know what will happen, don't you?"
"Y-Y-Yes, I know very well. You don't have to
specify. Really, you don't."
"I will have to use the tower collection☆"
"But that's nothing but the whips, wooden horses,
and the like that tyrannical relative of yours used!!
Your family claims to only keep them around to
make sure you never forget the past that destroyed
your family!!"
A sense of intimidation of a different sort than that
given off by his large-breasted commander caused
a chill to run down Heivia's back.
His fiancée was a cute girl, but she unfortunately
seemed to have some "tsun"[1] and "yan"[2] to her.
[1] Tsun from Tsundere.

[2] Yan from Yandere

Part 3
The princess swimming in the ocean.
The princess in a plain but lovely swimsuit.
From the moment Froleytia ordered him to join the
pilot Elite's bodyguard unit, the driving force
running Quenser had entered an odd mode. It was
similar to running a gasoline engine on rocket fuel.
He had not slept for three days, but his sleepiness
gauge had circled all the way around and he no
longer felt like sleeping at all and felt a bit uneasy.
With his good fortune having finally reached its
peak, he may have subconsciously wanted to burn
every last instant of it into his mind.
"...Quenser, you are joining my bodyguards?"
asked the princess.
"Seems that way, miss swimsuit!!"
"?"
"Let's go let's go let's go! The beach the beach the
beach! You know what is expected of you, right,
miss swimsuit!?"
Quenser eagerly pushed at the princess from behind
to get her into the backseat of the military 4WD
vehicle.
While the beach was close to the base, it was still
outside of its defensive range. Their 4WD vehicle
was at the center and two more were placed to the
front and to the back. Also, an armored vehicle
protected them on either side. This was commonly
known as a sabre formation.
The formation could only be used in the desert
where, unlike an urban area, the width of the road
could be ignored. While it would stand up to a
sudden attack from an anti-tank missile, it would be
of no use against an Object.
"So you wanted to go to the Great Barrier Reef?
That's the world's largest coral reef, right?"
"I do not care where. I just want to swim in
something other than a bathtub."
The princess pinched at the special suit clinging to
her body and tugged as she spoke. The suit was
supposed to be perfectly air conditioned, but it
seemed she still found it somewhat uncomfortable.
The small convoy reached the beach without
coming under attack.
The beach was covered in smooth, white sand that
was clearly different from earthen color of the
desert. Just looking out at the sea that looked like
blue and green dissolved together was a wonderful
sight and the richly-colored tropical fish below the
surface would be yet another type of heaven.
However, Quenser ignored it all.
"Okay, miss swimsuit!! The time has come for you
to show us your majestic form!! If you're going
with the standard, it will be a plain but lovely one
piece swimsuit. But if you want to push the
unexpected angle, it could be a revealing bikini! Or
even a custom-made one-of-a-kind sexy swimsuit!!
So what is your answer, princess!? Give me your
answer!!"
He may have been there in the name of protecting
the princess, but Quenser's muscle tone and level of
equipment was clearly lacking compared to the
other bodyguards. Heaven had answered his
prayers and he had been rewarded with the duty of
looking at a slender girl in a swimsuit, so he had no
intention of focusing on anything else. If an Object
attacked right that instant, he would likely have
completely ignored it.
Meanwhile, the princess was completely oblivious
to his expectations.
"?"
"Oh!! But this isn't a properly maintained beach!
There are no motels around here, so there is no safe
place to change! I guess you'll have to hide behind
the 4WD vehicle and blush with embarrassment as
you use it as a changing area! What is this? Just the
swimsuit would have been more than enough of a
reward, but it seems the feast begins even before
that!!"
Quenser's seemingly endless excitement was
partially fueled by the princess's normal outfit.
The special suit was completely skintight, so it was
not all that bad. However, its defenses were too
tight and he never had a chance to see her soft skin.
And it was her uniform, so she wore it year round.
That ultra-perfect wholesome defense ensured that
Quenser never saw anything even remotely
approaching a glimpse of her panties. With the
thought "Isn't it about time you moved on to the
next step, boy?" in his mind, Quenser's brain had
gone a bit crazy at the chance to see her in a
swimsuit where various odds were greatly changed.
However, the way he was acting could all be filed
under the category of "it can't be helped".
"Okay, miss swimsuit!! Your answer! It's time for
your answer!! I'm ready. Right now, I'm willing to
accept pretty much anything. Nothing but large
bandages would be fine. So what is your answer,
miss swimsuit!? Please give me your answer!!"
"What is a swimsuit?"
...................................................................................
...................................................................................
..................................................
In that instant, it was not just Quenser who froze in
place. The bodyguards who were spread around the
area seriously carrying out their duties secretly did
as well.
That was a bad start.
With that thought, Quenser frantically tried to keep
the situation from switching over to a different set
of rails.
"P-Princess...? You shouldn't answer a question
with a question."
"I did not bring whatever a swimsuit is with me."
Hearing that response, Quenser's eyes opened up
wide.
He was intent on keeping things pointed in the
direction of bare skin even if he had to force it.
"So you're going nude!? I see, I see. I certainly did
not expect your answer to go that far!!"
"I am going to swim like this. An Elite's special suit
is made to withstand any environment, so there is
no problem with swimming in it."
"No!!!!!" Due to the Japanese comedy routines he
had seen in Froleytia's officer room, Quenser's
shout had an odd intonation to it. "You, um...can't
do that!! That special suit is wonderful. I can't deny
that! But wonderful though it is...this isn't the place
for it!! This is a scene for something out of the
ordinary!! Just as we would be really pissed if an
Object showed up now, you simply can't choose the
special suit here!!"
"?"
"No, don't tilt your cute little head to the side like
that!! Wait, it's not too late! If we head back to the
market around the base, we can find all sorts of
cute swimsuits, sexy swimsuits, and even sexier
swimsuits!! Let's go, princess. I am perfectly fine
with having to start from the stage of you blushing
in embarrassment as you choose a swimsuit!!"
But as soon as Quenser grabbed the princess's hand
and tried to run off, the entire bodyguard unit
aimed their guns at him.
They seemed intent on preserving the initial time
schedule.
"...I really don't think there's anything wrong with
wanting to at least get a school swimsuit here."
The bodyguards agreed with him there.

Part 4
"Oh, ladies, are you from the Faith Organization? If
you have any dietary restrictions, tell me now,"
said the owner of a restaurant of the type that could
be found anywhere in Oceania those days.
A tent made of waterproof cloth created a simple
roof under which a large metal plate, a few chairs,
and a cooler full of seafood were set up.
One of the customers showed a thin smile that
completely failed as a polite smile.
She was Sarasa Gleamshifter of Valkyrie.
"No, our doctrines require no such restrictions."
"We can chow down on octopus and squid."
"We're more used to wild boar, though."
Her subordinates, Rachel and Maria gave their own
opinions. Maria's response was more halfhearted as
she was watching a 3D image of an Information
Alliance idol Elite.
The restaurant owner smiled and said, "Then I don't
have to hold back. Since you've come down to the
southern hemisphere, you might as well make some
memories by choosing something more unusual."
"We will be paying in the Faith Organization
method. Is that okay?"
"Let's see, the Faith Organization puts more focus
on precious metals than paper money, correct? The
exchange rate with foreign currencies is set using
platinum and diamonds as their value is more fixed,
I believe. I'll have to call in an appraiser which will
make this take longer, but I can manage."
"No, we will be using Faith Organization paper
money," replied Sarasa. "Unfortunately, we cannot
rely on platinum at the moment."
Sarasa paused briefly before that last comment, but
the restaurant owner did not seem to notice.
"Well, the conclusions of an appraiser can easily be
argued with. Real money that is accepted around
the world is best."
The man prepared some small fish of a coloration
Sarasa had never before seen and then placed them
atop the heated metal plate. She had no idea what
he intended to do with them, but he did not gut
them. He placed them in a small bowl with some
strong seasonings and mixed it all together.
Cooking on a metal plate like that was a type of
show.
As the restaurant owner cooked the tropical fish in
a skillful manner that functioned as a form of
entertainment, he gave a bitter smile and said, "I
would have a wider variation of dishes if I had
beef, but it's just too expensive."
"Come to think of it, the natural balance in Oceania
has yet to be restored," commented Rachel as she
was caught up in watching the food dance across
the metal plate. "The dictatorship was pushing the
extreme forestation while the local tribes resisted it
in favor of the original desert. Because the
environment was so radically changed again and
again in some areas, the coalition has to carefully
regulate the quality of the soil. There are a lot of
restrictions on grazing land to prevent the balance
between vegetation and desert from collapsing."
"Yes. Thanks to that we have to rely on importation
despite how large the country is. But lately
platinum mining has really grown. Rumor has it the
Information Alliance is bringing in tons of domed
livestock facilities and container-shaped animal
feed factories. If they can do that, it doesn't matter
if the entire area's a desert. The local tribes won't
like the imported feed, but it shouldn't be too much
of an issue as long as it all stays isolated within the
containers. If it all works out, solar power
generation can be used to create a huge sterilized
farm in the middle of the desert. The food shortage
will be resolved in no time at all." After delightedly
explaining all that, the restaurant owner suddenly
realized something and added an additional
comment. "Oh, do people from the Faith
Organization oppose that kind of technology that
creates manmade food sources? Y'know,
genetically altered crops and the like."
After all, the Faith Organization was well known
for accepting the theories of evolution and the big
bang yet insisting that a nonhuman supernatural
trigger had to have caused those scientific
coincidences.
It was true that they were not fond of manmade
recreations of natural works.
But Sarasa readily shook her head.
"The Central Religious Assembly's conclusion on
the 89th issue regarding food sources resolved any
such issues. Also, the Faith Organization is not as
unyielding as others seem to think."
"Is that so?" muttered the man vaguely as he
continued to move his hands over the metal plate.
Sarasa went on to say, "For example, let us say
man has created a material that does not exist at all
in the natural world. Do you think the Faith
Organization would find fault in this?"
"...Well, yeah. Don't you say that denies god's
providence, or brings an impurity into the world
god created, or something like that?"
"We are not so sensitive as to take up arms over the
creation of plastic." Sarasa smiled lightly. "We
compromise. If you use oxygen and hydrogen to
create water, the materials you have used were
taken from the world that god originally created.
For that reason, the water you have created is
nothing more than a derivation of what god has
created. You have not brought an impurity into the
world god created. The same reasoning can be used
to permit plastics and carbon nanotubes."
"I see."
"We do not start conflicts because we wish to. If
we are able to compromise, we will do so to avoid
needless conflict."
At that point, all expression suddenly disappeared
from Sarasa's face and she muttered something
under her breath.
"(But when people set foot into a territory that
allows for no compromise like that old man, we
will assassinate them no matter what.)"
"?"
The restaurant owner did not seem able to hear
what she had said.
With the conversation ended but the man's focus
still on them, Sarasa changed the subject and asked
a question.
"How about by boat?"
With that alone, it was hard to tell what she meant.
However, the man immediately replied.
"I wouldn't count on it. Recently, you probably
could have gotten away with poaching fish, but
there aren't many boats now. Of course, that means
I have plenty of customers from those large groups,
so I'm not complaining."
"...How about by air?"
"Are you trying to transport people or goods rather
than fish? That could be tough. This is Oceania.
Multiple world powers have Objects here. If you
send out a helicopter of unknown affiliation, it will
be shot down by anti-air laser. And if you get one
world power to allow you through, a different one
might not allow you through."
After thinly slicing the cooked fish, the man added
a sauce that smelled strongly of blood. Sarasa
stabbed her fork into the slices and asked a
question.
"You said a boat would have worked recently.
What changed?"
"The Legitimacy Kingdom," replied the restaurant
owner as he pulled a sea cucumber out of the cooler
and sliced it up with his knife. "An Object of
theirs...the Baby Magnum I think it's called...is on
leave near the beach, so the layout of their
surveillance network has changed a lot. From what
I hear, the routes connecting Oceania with nearby
islands are cut off. But as I said, the military brings
in a large group of customers, so I'm welcoming
them with open arms."
"So cargo from the Loyauté district cannot get
here?"
"Exactly. Honestly, it's scary how quickly Objects
can be deployed. An area that was completely safe
yesterday can be the front lines today."
"..."
Sarasa narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched
the metal spatula dance in front of her.
They had failed on that island.
That meant her target was now...

Part 5
It had been one hell of a day.
By the time Quenser and Heivia met up near the
maintenance base zone, it was nearing evening.
"...How'd things go for you?"
"...How about for you?"
From that exchange, it was clear they had both had
a large catch get away from them.
Quenser sighed and said, "Where did I go wrong?
The setting should have been perfect. So what was
it...? What went wrong...?"
"After returning a rich girl ignorant of how the
world works back to her guards, I had those same
guards chase me around with handguns for 3
hours..."
Those two weary souls suddenly felt their handheld
devices vibrate as they received an email.
"I don't want to read it!! That has got to be the sign
that Froleytia's ridiculous demands have begun
anew!!"
"Quenser, I'll lend you my handgun, so will you
please shoot me in the leg?"
That was how far they were ready to go in order to
get out of more work, but they found something
else entirely when they actually read the email.
I want to have a Christmas party to give us all a
break, but I can't let a civilian bartender into the
maintenance base.
 For that reason, all but the bare minimum
required for the current shift are to meet up at
point YI.
Let's go nuts drinking tonight.
"..."
"..."
Quenser and Heivia exchanged a wordless glance.
They then silently but strongly clenched their fists.
"We still have a chance!!"
"Wait, wait, wait!! This is a Christmas party with
the princess and our huge-breasted commander.
And December is summertime in Australia!! We'll
never see a normal Santa Claus here!! This'll have
bare skin, miniskirts, bare thighs, and bouncing
breasts!!"
Point YI was not far away.
There was no way congested traffic would make
them miss it.
They may have missed out on any swimsuits, but
the chance still remained for a sexy Santa.
The two idiots named Quenser and Heivia
immediately took action to get to that heaven of
changed odds.
A bright red bus and a blue taxi stood before them.
"I'll take the red bus!!" said Quenser.
"Then just for fun, I'll take the blue taxi!!"
And thus their fates were divided...

Part 6
When Quenser arrived at point YI where the party
was located, he glanced around.
He was not inside some shop.
Due to the "cityscape" being made up of mostly
tents and RVs, there were no shops in which one
could leisurely sit around.
A portion of the market was opened up into a plaza
and a large number of tables covered in food had
been carried in. The free mobility of the shops
making up the "cityscape" was a major advantage.
They had likely opened up the space to
accommodate such important customers.
(Looks like Heivia hasn't arrived yet.)
Soldiers wearing the same uniform as Quenser had
already begun to partake in the food and alcohol,
but Heivia was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, there's the old lady."
"What? Shouldn't you be speaking with someone
younger at a party like this?"
"I thought you would be on standby in the
maintenance area in case the Object had to be
scrambled."
"The princess is off duty, so there wouldn't be
much point. This is a coalition force, so other
Objects are taking care of defense. ...But wouldn't
this be a perfect opportunity for you to observe the
Object?"
"There isn't much to learn when no one is working
on it. I need to see it when it's actually fighting. If
I'm just going to stare at its surface, I might as well
just go to a military magazine site."
"What a boring person. Your ideas lack style.
You're the type of person that wouldn't ask for a
souvenir from someone heading overseas."
"I'd take some platinum as a souvenir of Oceania. I
hear they've been mining a bunch of it lately."
"I see you're pretending to be some wealthy
merchant again. And platinum is old news. The
days of it having a stable value are over. Research
is progressing in ways to mass produce industrial
platinum."
"Eh? They're using the platinum for industrial
uses?"
"It's used in Objects, too. You need to study some
more, student."
As the two spoke, Froleytia approached them from
behind with a cocktail glass in hand.
"Oh, you two haven't started eating yet? Who
knows when we'll have another chance to eat
anything but those flavorless rations. You should
eat some while you can."
"Then can't you do something about those ratio
—...bfh!?"
Quenser had a good reason for freezing in place the
instant he turned around.
Major Froleytia Capistrano had become a miniskirt
Santa. Also, her upper body was covered in nothing
but a bikini-style piece of clothing that had very
little surface area. Her cleavage and midriff were
on full display.
After facing postponement after postponement with
the princess's swimsuit feint, Quenser very nearly
lost control of his emotions at all that bare skin.
"A surprise projectile attack!?"
"I have no idea what you mean, but those military
uniforms are hardly suited for the desert."
"Honestly, it's going to get cold once the sun sets.
You have no one to blame but yourself when you
catch a cold after dressing like that," said the old
lady in exasperation, but there was a hint of
amusement on her face.
With a confused look, Froleytia asked, "Wait,
where is Heivia? Is he not here yet?"
"That's the thing..."
Just as Quenser started to respond, a small
electronic tone came from his radio.
(Who could that be? Someone from the
maintenance base?)
Quenser moved away from his commander and hit
the switch on the radio.
"It's me!! It's me!! It's Heivia!!"
"Where did you get off to? I'm already at the party.
You should have chosen the red bus..."
"I've gotten caught up in some kind of incident!!
Tonight, I'm gonna be the hero!! But I have one
request for you!"
"If you want help, you can forget it!! I'm not taking
a step away from this party!! And if you want to
know why, it's because there's a well-endowed
Santa right in front of me!!"
"That's fine, that's fine!!"
"?"
"I don't see how I can avoid a firefight in the
middle of the city. But we aren't in a battle right
now, so this is technically a job for the police. ...To
be blunt, we could be in trouble if that huge-
breasted commander catches wind of this!!"
"No, not 'we'. I'm not part of it this time!!"
"After what happened in the Loyauté district, this
would be a third yellow card!!"
"Have we really gotten that many yellow cards?"
"At any rate, we'll be in real trouble if we get any
more!! I'll take care of this issue on my own, but
you need to buy me some time!!"
"...Hm? It's rare for you to be so motivated. The
problem is that your motivation isn't always a good
thing."
Quenser's long radio conversation must have
seemed suspicious because the Santa that was
likely going to give him some wet dreams frowned
and asked, "Quenser, who are you speaking with?
Almost everyone is here."
"Eh? O-Oh, um..."
"Just distract that huge-breasted commander!!
Don't let her realize I'm not there!! We're in real
trouble otherwise. If I don't deal with this, the
Oceanian civilians will be the ones in danger!!"
(Wait. If Heivia is enthusiastically working at
something rather than coming to the party, this
must be a major issue on an unprecedented level. If
an Object shows up, I really am just going to ignore
it.)
At any rate, the situation had gotten troublesome.
For one thing, Quenser did not see how he could
defeat Froleytia Capistrano via any ordinary means.
"Quenser, answer my question. Who have you been
speaking wi—...cough."
Some sand must have been blown in by the wind
because Froleytia held her throat.
(This is my chance!!)
Quenser grabbed a glass filled with a clear liquid
from a tray held by a civilian waiter passing by.
"Are you okay, Froleytia? Here, have some water."
"Oh. Thanks, Quen—...bbhhh!!!???"
When the miniskirt bikini Santa gulped down the
contents of the glass all at once, she let out a noise
that Quenser had never thought he would hear from
her.
The reason was simple.
"Que—... You!! This is vodka! And straight vodka
at that!!"
"I'm sorry, Froleytia!! I must have grabbed the
wrong glass! Here, this one is oolong tea!!"
"Honestly I can't believe you—...ugbh!? Th-That
was malt whisky!!"
"Oh, no!! Froleytia, I won't get it wrong again! This
time, it's mineral water!!" said Quenser as he
handed her a cup filled to the brim with tequila.
(C'mon, get drunk!! Get dead drunk!! If she keeps
drinking these drinks with such high alcoholic
content at such a high rate, even a heavy drinker
like her has to get drunk!!)
"...Hic."
After a few more cups, Froleytia was silently
hanging her head. Beads of sweat were trailing
down her bikinied chest and her skin had grown
rather red. The core of her body had grown limp
and she was swaying back and forth even while
standing still.
(Was the plan a success!?)
Quenser was celebratory at first, but another
thought then entered his mind.
(Wait, what happens once she's drunk?)
That question then started eating into the boy's
mind.
(This is bad. This might be really, really bad!
Froleytia is a complete tyrant when sober, so what's
going to happen now that all her limiters have been
removed by alcohol!?)
"...Qwensher..."
The low tone and drawn out way that she called his
name frightened him.
As an unpleasant sweat began flowing down
Quenser's entire body, he could do nothing but
stand at attention.
"Y-Yes!? What is it, commander!?"
For a while, Froleytia said nothing.
She was already quite close to Quenser, but she
silently yet unsteadily drew even closer to him.
He seriously thought she was going to grab his
collar.
And then...
Right in front of him...
Froleytia Capistrano opened her mouth to speak.
"Sob. Why are you always so mean to me,
Quenser?"
"?????"
Quenser's thoughts completely stopped for an
instant.
That was not the role of the cruel commander
known as Froleytia. That was a line suited for a
timid childhood friend who always carries around a
stuffed animal.
But he realized what was happening shortly
thereafter.
"I-Is she the type that gets sad when she drinks!?"
"Are you mad, Quenser? Are you? I'm so sorry I'm
such a terrible commander. I'm sorry I always need
you to save me. I know it isn't right. If I did a better
job and used the princess to her full potential..."
"Wait, wait!! You can't get like this in front of
people!! This is where people will half-jokingly
take cell phone pictures, so you need to have some
self-control!!"
"...Are you mad, Quenser?"
"Gyaahhh!! Don't press up against me like that!!
Don't wrap your arms around my neck!! Have you
forgotten how you're dressed!?"
"...You're mad..."
"I'm not!! I'm not mad!! Dammit, I have no other
option while in public like this! I wouldn't really,
but if we were alone I could probably get away
with all sorts of things!!"
"You really aren't mad?"
"I'm not!! Really! Trust me!!"
"..."
Froleytia pressed her large breasts forcefully
against him and brought her face in so close he
probably could have kissed her had he simply
pursed his lips, but she fell silent and did nothing
further.
This all placed a tremendous mental burden on
Quenser, but Froleytia finally spoke once she had
worked something out in her mind.
"Quenser...you're something like a big brother to
me."
"You're a little sister character now!?"

Part 7
Meanwhile, Heivia Winchell was running through
the "city" as the sun began to set.
The situation was as follows:

While the blue taxi waited at a simple traffic signal

of the sort used at construction sites, a middle-aged
man dove in from the side with enough force to
break the window.
"What the hell? Why do things like this always
have to happen to me!?"
Thinking the man might be a robber, Heivia pulled
out a large handgun from the holster at his waist,
but then the man spoke while bleeding from the
face.
"You're a Legitimacy Kingdom soldier, right!?"
"What?"
"I have something to report! I've run across some
terrible information. You need to do something!!"
"Wait, wait, wait. No!! The peace of Oceania is for
police special forces to deal with, not the military.
This isn't my job! And more importantly, I'm on
my way to see a huge-breasted Santa!! This is no
time to be dealing with—...!!"
"The Legitimacy Kingdom is their target!!"
"Seriously!? But it's still not my jo—..."
"And the ones chasing me will be here soon."
"Tell me that part first!!"
Heivia frantically pulled the middle-aged man out
of the taxi and fled into the congested traffic. Just
as he did, the blue taxi was turned to Swiss cheese
by gunfire from multiple submachine guns. The
driver had fled the instant the middle-aged man had
jumped in so he was not hurt, but Heivia still did
not like it.

As they ran, the middle-aged man said, "You can

call me Royce. I'm an Information Alliance
journalist."
"No, don't introduce yourself!! That almost
guarantees I'll be forced into getting involved in
this!! Also, I don't want to be on a first name basis
with someone I just met when it's a guy!"
"I would like to hand this off to you and get back to
my normal life."
"If you try to force this onto me and run off, I will
ignore all war treaties and shoot you in the back!!"
It seemed Royce's pursuers were following him in a
vehicle. That gave them speed, but prevented them
from making tight turns among the crowds of
people and impromptu buildings. They realized the
disadvantage the vehicle gave them and got out, but
Heivia and Royce had gotten quite a ways away by
then.
The two decided they had lost the enemy for the
moment, so they exchanged information.
"So why is an Information Alliance journalist
here?"
"Both for business and private reasons." As he
spoke, Royce lightly touched the cell phone
hanging from a strap around his neck. "My
daughter was deployed here. I wanted to see what
kind of place it was for myself."
"Deployed? So is she in the military?"
Heivia looked skeptical, but he then recalled that he
himself was a minor out on the battlefield due to
the situation in his noble family. The average age
of those in the military had dropped, so it was not
too surprising.
The reason Royce was subconsciously toying with
his cell phone may have been because he had its
background set to a photo of his daughter.
"Yes, and she hasn't even entered junior high
school yet. She may be a bit too skilled," said the
self-proclaimed journalist. "At her age, she should
still be dreaming of being a princess of the
Legitimacy Kingdom... The adults around her egg
her on just for fun which has led to her
domineering speech patterns and laugh. The way
things are going, she will keep laughing loudly on
top of the stage forever. I have no idea how she acts
within her unit, though."
"Does that have anything to do with why you are
being chased?"
"No, the current situation has to do with my job."
"What were you doing?"
"My original goal was to do some civilian level
research into whether the Information Alliance
military is performing its duties suitably. That said,
all I can really do is intercept radio transmissions."
Hearing that, a bitter look appeared on Heivia's
face.
"Did you pick up someone else's transmission?"
"It wasn't from any of the world powers. It was
from an anti-establishment group. It seems they are
opposed to the overwhelming firepower of Objects,
and my curiosity got the better of me. I analyzed
the signal and located a base of theirs. They noticed
me when I was observing it from afar. And you can
see where that got me."
"An anti-Object group," muttered Heivia in
annoyance.
He knew people with those views existed all
around the world and he could hardly deny that the
destruction of the Oceanian military nation had
caused such sentiments to spread. Also, Quenser
and Heivia...or rather, the stories of them
destroying Objects had pumped vitality into the
anti-Object groups whether the two boys wanted it
or not.
"So these people want to destroy an Object, and
they just so happened to choose our Legitimacy
Kingdom Object as their target?"
"If the information I intercepted is correct, yes."
"How do they plan to do it?" asked Heivia.
"Destroying an Object is easier said than done.
Even if they attack it while it sits motionlessly in
the maintenance area, they aren't likely to even
damage it. Even if they hit it directly with a large
H-bomb, they can't get through that armor. How
are they going to destroy that monstrous weapon?"
"There is a way," cut in Royce. "If there wasn't, I
would not be working this hard to stop them...and
they would not bother hunting me down to stop
me."

Part 8
While wearing her usual special suit, the princess
had headed to an impromptu arcade a bit away
from where the party was being held. A tent had
been set up to create a roof and several arcade
machines were lined up underneath.
She had intended to spend only 10 or 20 minutes
there to kill time until the party began.
However, the game she had chosen turned out to be
a one-on-one multiplayer action game with an
Object theme. Among all the Objects of various
affiliations, the Baby Magnum had unfairly (or so
she felt) low parameters in the game. Also, there
was something about her opponent sitting at the
machine opposite hers that bugged her. As such,
the princess was unable to stop playing.
Because the two competing machines were facing
each other, she could not see her opponent's face.
That meant her opponent could not see her either.
However...
"Oh ho ho!! Oh ho ho ho ho ho!! It seems you truly
cannot stand up to the Gatling 033!! The specs of
the original model and – more importantly – the
view the people hold of it are simply that much
greater!!"
"This game was made by the Information Alliance,
so it is not surprising that the parameters would be
skewed in their favor!! In fact, you should be
ashamed of being unable to step into the ring
without such handicaps!!"
"Oh? I have no idea who you are, but you must be
truly unrefined to support that unrefined
Legitimacy Kingdom Elite! Oh ho ho!!"
"I have no clue who you are, but no sane person
would give any praise to that Information Alliance
Elite!!"
The Legitimacy Kingdom and Information Alliance
bodyguards hiding around the area using the two
arcade machines as their defensive lines sensed that
a firefight could break out at any moment.
Nevertheless, both sides had the same thought in
almost perfect unison.
...I don't care who wins this game, but please end it
so we can be freed from this job.

At the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Lendy

Farolito of the Information Alliance held a video
camera in one hand as she filmed the back of her
unit's Elite who was giving that arcade game her
all.
The silver-haired, brown-skinned woman had
completely lost her usual look of a formidable
tactician.
"Oh, dear. 50 wins and 53 losses. Is she finally
losing her focus? Ah. It looks like she lost interest
in the game and is walking off. No, stop shaking
that cute butt like you're a baby duck. You're going
to fall, you're going to fall. Ah! You fell. Oh,
dear..."
A female subordinate of Lieutenant Colonel
Lendy's cut in with some advice while making sure
to stay out of the frame of the video camera
footage. (She knew getting caught in frame would
lead to a truly horrible fate.)
"Umm, I know this is something like being a doting
parent, but you should not be filming her even if
you are her commander. The Elite herself is
considered valuable information by the military."
"What are you saying? Looking after the pilot
Elite's mental health is part of our job. We cannot
peer into people's hearts, so we have to gather that
information from their everyday casual behavior,"
replied Lendy without hesitation. "By the way, why
are you wearing a maid uniform?"
"Because I am a Capitalist Corporations mercenary.
I do not want to have to carry around a sign all the
time."
The blonde-haired, brown-skinned "mercenary" girl
also had cat ears on her head.
However, Lendy was too focused on filming the
Elite to look over at the "mercenary".
When the target of her filming headed off and hid
behind something, she finally stopped filming.
"Huh? Where are you headed?" asked the
"mercenary".
"Somewhere where maids and mercenaries are not
needed."
Lendy Farolito pouted her lips, but still acted based
on the information she had collected beforehand
like anyone from the Information Alliance would.
"I am a bit upset with that Legitimacy Kingdom
unit that keeps taking advantage of that poor girl."

Part 9
Three men carrying submachine guns with a caliber
of over 5mm came to one section of the
"cityscape". They were there to eliminate Heivia
and Royce who had fled.
The "cityscape" was primarily a collection of tents
and RVs, so it contained little that was sturdy
enough to use as a shield in a firefight.
However, there were some exceptions.
For example, the area the trash was collected in.
A number of mining dump trucks made of steel
were parked on the outskirts. For a fee, the trash
from the area was gathered there. Afterwards, it
was taken to a proper incinerator in one of the
actual cities.
As the dump trucks were the type usually used for
mining, they were as tall as a three story building.
The tires were taller than a person and a twisting
staircase was needed to reach the driver's seat. With
a number of them lined up, the area was essentially
surrounded by steel.
In the midst of it all, repeated short gunshots rang
out.
The garbage men ran off, but the three men paid
them no heed.
"(Kicker, Nexa. We need to escape afterwards, so
we can't spend more than 5 minutes here. We need
to finish this!!)"
"(But that guy has a rifle. His range is too great!)"
"(I'll fire like crazy to keep him in place. You two
circle around behind the dump truck and shoot
him!!)"
Suddenly, the sound of the gunshots coming from
behind the dump truck changed. The noise was
much higher-pitched and more cheap-sounding
than before.
(He switched from his rifle to his side arm?)
As soon as they came to that conclusion, the three
men moved forward to take the offensive.
"(He's out of ammo! We can overwhelm him
now...)"
A strong, deep gunshot rang out and Nexa's head
was smashed to pieces.
"Wha—...?"
While still in shock, two more bullets blasted into
Kicker's gut and chest, knocking him to the ground.
The gunshots had most certainly not belonged to a
handgun.
They had been the louder gunshots of the rifle that
had supposedly run out of ammo.
(Shit! Did he purposefully switch over to his
handgun despite having rifle ammo left to throw us
off our guard!?)
The last remaining man tried to fall back, but it was
too late.
With the advantage of numbers lost, the range and
power difference between an assault rifle and a
submachine gun was just too great.
Heivia Winchell silently drew closer without
allowing even the slightest chance of a
counterattack.
"You were right," said Heivia to Royce as he
looked through the contents of the handheld device
he had found in the armed men's belongings.
"They've prepared a chemical combustion warhead.
It's a bomb that mixes together naphtha, various
fuels, and some chemicals to create flames that
cannot be put out with water and spreads those
flames 3 to 5 kilometers in every direction."
"It's basically the same thing as a Molotov cocktail.
I've seen videos of it online."
"The warhead appears to be handmade, but the
cruise missile it's loaded in and the mobile launcher
are both Oceanian. The military regime had tanks
and fighters deployed to areas around the country
excluding where they had the Generation 0.5, so
there was no lack of such items."
"The Craft Salamander III?"
"Sounds like some bland convenience store cream
pasta, doesn't it? Well, weapon names have to be
brought down to a level where even an idiot gets it.
The point is to show off your obvious hostility,"
said Heivia as a cruel smile came to his lips. "The
maximum range should be 1500 km. I believe it has
a terrain calculation guidance system."
The one remaining question was how they planned
to destroy an Object with it.
Even a direct hit from a large hydrogen bomb
would not destroy an Object's armor. Also,
chemical combustion warheads were anti-personnel
weapons. Heivia did not see how one could destroy
an Object.
Royce answered that question.
"Most likely, their target is not the Object itself."
"What?"
"Basically, they just have to make the Object
unusable. And they can do that without attacking
the thick armor of the Object. They can accomplish
their goal by targeting the much more vulnerable
human beings."
"...Are they after the Elite?"
It was not entirely impossible, but Heivia was still
skeptical.
Anyone could tell there was a danger of an Elite
being targeted when outside of the Object. That
was why they always had a special unit of
bodyguards with them and were constantly
accompanied by an armored vehicle with a
perfectly air tight interior in case of firefights,
explosives, or chemical and biological weapons.
Even if a cruise missile loaded with a chemical
combustion warhead was headed straight for the
Elite, she simply had to climb aboard that armored
vehicle the instant it was detected. That would
negate any damage from heat or smoke.
"No," replied Royce. "Their target is the
maintenance soldiers. It does not matter if they do
not have any particularly important duties or
information. The chemical combustion warhead
can cover several kilometers in every direction with
flames. If the maintenance soldiers are gathered in
a single place, a large majority can be eliminated. If
hundreds of maintenance soldiers are lost all at
once, the Object can no longer function. Even if it
still has a pilot and a commander, the Object cannot
function without those at the bottom who keep it
running."
"So they're stopping it by destroying the Object's
surroundings rather than the Object itself, hm?"
However, something bothered Heivia about that.
(That isn't too different from our idea to destroy
that computer in the Loyauté district.)
That gave Heivia a bad feeling, but he continued
the conversation.
"The crucial Elite and commander are one thing,
but the unit can hardly have bodyguards for every
single maintenance soldier. They might actually
have a chance if they really are trying to crush them
all at once." Heivia thought for a bit and then
changed the subject slightly. "Since they prepared
the mobile launcher and cruise missile, they are
probably planning to detonate it in midair."
"I would assume so. If it is not detonated in midair,
its effects would not spread as far. ...But I only
know what I was able to find on military websites."
"The Craft Salamander III," said Heivia. "From the
range of the missile, and the locations of the city
and the maintenance base, they will most likely be
targeting the maintenance base zone and the
cityscape spread out around it. ...Hah. It seems they
aren't directly targeting anyone from your
Information Alliance."
"So? What I must do remains the same."
"Why would you help protect a Legitimacy
Kingdom military facility?"
"I have both business and private reasons for that."
Royce wiped sweat from his face. "As a journalist,
I cannot simply sit by doing nothing as a threat like
this approaches the people of Oceania. If spreading
information would increase the danger, temporarily
holding it back is good manners, but that does
apply here. However, spreading the information
now would not give people enough time to
evacuate, so I feel I should use the information I
have received in a different way in order to avert
this catastrophe."
"And what is your private reason?"
"I told you my daughter has been deployed to
Oceania, remember? Preserving the concept of the
clean battlefield will help preserve the safety of my
daughter. I cannot have that concept lost due to
some terrorist attack."
"I see," muttered Heivia.
He could trust a real reason like that much more
than some sterilized "for the greater good" reason.
"We need to find out where the launcher is
located," said Heivia in a low voice. "If we know
that, we can try to attack before the missile is
launched or intercept it if it has already launched."
"Fine, but we have no time," said Royce to make
sure Heivia understood. "From the fragments of
information I picked up over the radio, their attack
is going to begin soon. It is probably because the
majority of the group is preparing the attack that
we had so few pursuers."

Part 10
After wasting more time than she had expected at
the arcade, the princess walked along the tent-filled
"cityscape" on the way to the Legitimacy Kingdom
party.
The Legitimacy Kingdom bodyguards were still
spread out around her and an armored vehicle also
accompanied her, but she still decided to travel on
foot.
The unorganized layout of the tents and forceful
flow of pedestrian traffic prevented the smooth
travel of the vehicle. She felt she would make
better time on foot.
The princess recalled the exchange she had had
back in the arcade.
To the very end, she had never seen her opponent's
face.
(Honestly. I do not know if that was some sightseer
from the Information Alliance or what, but the way
they control all information about Elites and treat
them like idols is like some kind of creepy
brainwashing.)
The Legitimacy Kingdom treated their own Elites
like patriotic heroes and rallied support from the
people by spreading doubtful stories about them
being part of legendary bloodlines that stretch
hundreds of years into the past. Both were
completely ridiculous ways to treat them, but it is
hard to notice how odd the environment one has
been immersed in all one's life is. It was similar to
not noticing the smell of one's own house.
As the princess walked among all the tents and
RVs, she suddenly stopped.
Her bodyguards all thought "Don't tell me there's
something else!?", but the target of their protection
had the right to choose what she did.
The princess looked over at a store filled with joke
goods.
Due to the season, it contained a lot of Christmas-
themed trees, wreaths, and red boots. It also had
some Santa Claus costumes for sale.
(...)
When she had gone swimming earlier that day,
Quenser had seemed incredibly disappointed for
some reason.
She still had no idea what he had been hoping for,
but it seemed wearing her work outfit while on
leave was not the right thing to do.
She guessed it had something to do with everything
having a proper time and place.
"Santa Claus... Santa Claus," muttered the princess
as she headed into the store.
The tanned shop owner seemed especially
courteous because she was wearing the special suit
of an Elite. That meant she was the representative
of a nation which in turn meant she would have a
lot of money.
He was not wrong in that line of thinking, but the
princess had no interest in money and so she had no
idea how much money she had in her bank account.
The princess's bodyguards starting showing an
interest in her actions as they secretly began to
wonder, "Oh, is our princess finally awakening to
her sex appeal?"
"Could you put together a Santa Claus outfit for
me?" she asked.
What she got in return was an overly standard
Santa Claus outfit made up of a baggy red shirt,
pants of the same color, and a fake white beard.
"Don't go with that boring thing!!" shouted the
bodyguards in their hearts, but that expressionless
girl was not going to absorb the ideas of Japanese
moe so quickly.
However, the look in the princess's eyes changed
when she glanced over at a 3D monitor that used
diffraction sitting in a corner of the tent.
It was playing footage from an Information
Alliance idol Elite's concert from a few days ago.
"Yayyy!! This may be a bit early, but I think I will
give you the gift of a night of dreams about a sexy
miniskirt Santa!! Oh ho ho!!"
It was unclear how much of the footage was real
and how much was VFX, but the image underwent
a dazzling change. The blonde ringlet curl, G-cup
idol shook her body while wearing a red and white
Santa costume that appeared to be a modified Elite
special suit.
For a while, the princess's expression grew even
more expressionless than usual, but she finally
pointed at the screen and spoke to the shop owner.
"Give me something that outdoes that."
After being transformed into a miniskirt Santa for
the tropical southern hemisphere, the princess
headed to the Legitimacy Kingdom party.
(This does not seem like a very practical outfit.)
The princess looked down at her clothes.
(Well, as long as Quenser likes it. But will he really
like this???)
The party seemed to have already begun. The
Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers had divided up into
groups where they chatted as they drank and ate.
Everyone's eyes turned toward the princess and
they subsequently did nothing but stare at her. The
princess could not tell if it was a good thing or a
bad thing that they were acting like they had seen
something they could not believe.
(Where is Quenser?)
After glancing around, the princess spotted the
person she was looking for at one end of the party.
However...
"It's not the same!! My actual siblings may try not
to hurt my feelings, but they never say anything
against how my family treats me!! You're the only
one that does, Quenser!! I was saying that you're
the most like a big brother to me!!"
The princess froze in place when she spotted
Froleytia dead drunk and Quenser being held
tightly by that large-breasted commander.
Also...

At that time, Lendy Farolito arrived at the party.

The mood of the Legitimacy Kingdom party was
naturally ruined at the arrival of an enemy officer
accompanied by Information Alliance soldiers. It
was a potentially explosive situation, but they were
in a cooperative relationship due to the coalition
and the party was not located within the Legitimacy
Kingdom base.
They had no legitimate reason to turn her away.
Lendy herself had not hesitated to head into the
party because she was well aware of that.
An Information Alliance commander had arrived.
How would the Legitimacy Kingdom commander
react?
Naturally, everyone's attention turned to Froleytia.
"I won't let you have him!! Quenser is my big
brother and I won't let anyone else have him!!"
"Remember your position here. I'm the small, cute
one."
A large-breasted miniskirt bikini Santa and an
expressionless miniskirt Santa were fighting over a
single boy. Lendy Farolito froze in place when she
saw the Legitimacy Kingdom major who was
otherwise occupied.
And then...
"Outta the way!!"
"Oh, man. This catfight will make an excellent
gamble!!"
"Yeah, it's not like any of us would ever have a
chance with beauties whose positions and ranks are
so much higher than ours."
A portion of the Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers who
saw the fight as a chance to make some money
quickly moved to the center of the disturbance and
circled them. Lendy's path to the other commander
was lost.
(I took a risk and tried to contact her in a way that
would garner as much attention as possible, but
they aren't paying any attention to me!!)
The Information Alliance found value in the
authenticity of information and in the methods used
to disseminate and acquire such information, so
that was a regretful turn of events.
When Lendy realized the person Froleytia had both
her arms latched onto was the very same combat
engineer boy that had secretly drawn the attention
of a certain Information Alliance Elite, Lendy's
emotions quickly reached their limit.
"Y-You womanizer!!"
"Now someone I don't even know is giving me an
incredible title!! If I ever get business cards made,
I'm definitely putting that one on there!!"
Froleytia then realized Quenser's attention had
turned toward someone other than herself.
"Who the hell are you? ...I won't let you have
Quenser! He's my big brother!!"
"I do not wish to have him!!" shouted Lendy while
just barely managing to remain civil. "One of your
men has been taking advantage of our Elite, so I
thought I would stop by in the name of scouting
him while actually having some fun throwing your
human relations out of order. I never thought he
was this dangerous, though... I must report this. I
need to have a family meeting with that girl tonigh
—...cough cough!!"
Lendy started choking a bit from yelling too much
and reached over for a drink, but no civilian waiter
was walking nearby.
Froleytia grabbed a glass filled with a clear liquid.
"Here, have some water. Honestly, can't you do
anything for yourself?" she grumbled.
"Hm? That glass..."
The combat engineer boy being held by Froleytia
seemed to realize something, but Lendy had
already gulped down the contents of the glass.
And...
"Cough!? Cough cough!! Th-This isn't water! It's
vodka!!"
"What!? How dare you refuse to drink the water
my big brother prepared!"
"Damn you. You have some nerve to do this to an
officer from the Information Alliance where the
truth and untruth of information is directly linked to
right and wrong..."
The expressionless miniskirt Santa then passed her
another drink.
"Calm down. Have another glass to wash the bad
taste out of your mouth."
"Oh, excellent idea. I think I can actually trust yo
—...bbhh!! Th-Th-This one is shochu!? Hic."
Her complaint suddenly trailed off.
Just as Quenser started to get a very bad feeling
about what was to come...
"And another thing!!" shouted Lendy.
"Wah!?"
"What are you thinking!? You're tearing down the
framework of the Information Alliance and
Legitimacy Kingdom for that poor girl!! Do you
understand how much of an incredible tragedy this
is for her!?"
As Lendy Farolito approached with long strides,
Froleytia seemed to sense some kind of danger.
She squeezed herself against Quenser even harder
than before.
"I won't let you have my big brother!!"
"I didn't say anything to you!! I was clearly
speaking to that womanizer!"
"Don't look at her, Quenser! Look at me!!"
"Out of the way, drunk!! I need to lecture that
womanizer!!"
Despite their words being directed at Quenser, the
two drunks were looking only at each other.
"..."
All the while, the princess increased her wordless
and expressionless intimidating presence.
A veritable storm was brewing.
Quenser could clearly feel it coming, so he tried to
come up with a way to have the situation settle
down. With how the princess looked subtly
displeased while secretly entering dangerous
territory, Quenser doubted she fit into any exiting
category of Japanese moe, but he had to do
something about the danger before his eyes instead
of focusing on that.
"W-Wait, you two. Why don't you calm dow—..."
"I hope you're prepared to fight!!"
"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!!"
With that exchange that seemed more a form of a
greeting than the beginning of a fight, Froleytia
Capistrano and Lendy Farolito began glaring at
each other at extremely close range.
That was when the soldiers of the Legitimacy
Kingdom and Information Alliance witnessed a
bizarre phenomenon.
They could not explain it with any standard means.
The boy who had come to the battlefield to study
Object design had his head disappear.
Or to be more accurate...
His head was completely buried in the large breasts
of the two women grabbing at him.
Part 11
Given the situation, Heivia and Royce had to act on
their own, but they had no real reason to keep the
information to themselves.
As they took action, they contacted the police
special forces and a Legitimacy Kingdom Object
other than the Baby Magnum and its Mobile
Maintenance Battalion. They made a request for the
Object to prepare its anti-air lasers. If Heivia had
gotten Froleytia to do that, it probably would have
gone a lot smoother though.
And then...
They heard a major change to the situation come in
via a radio transmission.
"Speed Killer is ready. We can use the anti-air
lasers at any time. Even if a cruise missile is fired
at the city, we can intercept it with 97% accuracy."
"Wait, wait!!"
"According to the satellite, the mobile launcher is
located 20 kilometers northwest of where the 37th
Mobile Maintenance Battalion is stationed. If we
know the starting point and ending point, we know
its flight path. There is no way it will slip past us."
"Is this information correct!? Are you sure their
cruise missile is targeting that convoy of some
VIPs travelling 30 kilometers southeast of here and
not the maintenance soldiers scattered throughout
the impromptu cityscape!?"
"It seems they are conversing over cell phones that
use a civilian satellite as well as via normal radio.
However, we have people with special devices to
intercept those signals. We got the information
from there. There is no mistaking this."
"And..." Heivia chose his words carefully. "Is there
also no mistaking the fact that the Object's anti-air
laser defense is set to shoot down the cruise missile
halfway through its flight?"
"Halfway? ...That would mean it's right above the
impromptu cityscape!" shouted Royce, but Heivia
had already figured out what they were after when
he had asked the question.
The commander in charge of the Speed Killer
replied, "The convoy being targeted is carrying a
lieutenant general and a brigadier general. That
chemical combustion warhead must be shot down."
"..."
"A chemical combustion warhead only has its
intended effects when the proper materials are
mixed together and mixed with the air upon
detonation at the proper altitude. If it is shot down
by an anti-air laser, there is almost no chance of a
large, several kilometer explosion occurring."
"But there is still some chance, right?"
"Even so," immediately replied the commander.
"The Elite and commander will have airtight
armored vehicles accompanying them that can
withstand biological and chemical weapons. As
long as the bare minimum is protected, that is all
that matters. And of course the Object itself will
not be destroyed by anything of that level. Also, I
am putting you under a gag order to prevent a
panic. Any further communications are—..."
Heivia clicked his tongue and switched off his
radio.
Royce then shouted at him with such force that he
almost grabbed at the boy.
"What is going on!? Are they planning to let
everyone in this city die? And if those airtight
armored vehicles can withstand the heat and
flames, what does it matter if the cruise missile
directly hits that convoy!?"
"Don't ask me. He was probably forced into this
decision by those higher officers. ...And I get the
feeling this is exactly what the ones using the
chemical combustion warhead want."
"?"
"They used the satellite cell phones to purposefully
allow the military to intercept the transmissions. As
they expected, the military plans to set up a
defensive line to shoot the missile down halfway
through its flight. ...And that is in the perfect spot
to roast all the maintenance soldiers in my unit as
you predicted."
"It can't be...But that means..."
"If you simply shoot a cruise missile in Oceania,
one of the many Objects will shoot it down before
it reaches its target. But that just means you have to
create a plan based on the assumption it will get
shot down."
"But that horrible commander said the odds are low
a large explosion will occur if the cruise missile is
shot down with an anti-air laser!"
"If they know it will be shot down, they can change
those odds," Heivia searched through the handheld
device belonging to one of the armed men he had
shot. "I saw this diagram of the warhead before, but
now that I look closer, something is off about it.
The different chemicals are packaged separately. If
it reached its target like this, nothing would
happen."
"Wait, you mean the chemicals will only be mixed
together in midair if it it's shot down?"
"From this design, I'd say they want it shot down.
The chemicals are stored under high pressure
which I guess is to ensure they scatter everywhere
when the container bursts. If we leave this to the
Object's anti-air lasers, this city will be swallowed
up in a sea of flames!!"
They knew where the enemy's mobile launcher
was.
Without getting permission, Heivia borrowed a
Legitimacy Kingdom off-road vehicle that was
parked on the road with the key in the ignition.
Royce shouted, "What are you going to do!?"
"Isn't it obvious? We came this far on our own, so
we just have to finish it that way!! Royce, if you
want to help, fill that drum up with gasoline!!"
Royce followed Heivia's instructions, but he still
had questions.
He climbed into the passenger seat of the off-road
vehicle and they drove out of the impromptu city.
"I know we have to stop this, but do you really
think we can destroy that mobile launcher!? We
had enough trouble with just those 3 pursuers.
Their main force is going to be concentrated around
that launcher!!"
"Shut up! We don't have time!!"
A cloud of sand blew into the air as the off-road
vehicle drove off into a dry wasteland.
They were still 20 kilometers from the mobile
launcher.
The armed group would have its firepower
concentrated around that launcher. Also, they had
no reason to wait. They would be launching the
cruise missile as soon as possible.
"Shit! That light!!" shouted Royce.
A bright flash of light could be seen beyond the
horizon and a signal flare-like point of light shot up
into the night sky. However, the distances were
simply too great. A signal flare would not produce
enough light.
"They fired it!! That was the cruise missile loaded
with the chemical combustion warhead!!"
"Tch. Can we make it in time!?"
Heivia slammed on the brakes and drove in an S-
pattern as the tires slid. In the end, he finally
managed to stop the off-road vehicle safely.
He then jumped down onto the sandy ground.
"We weren't on our way to attack the armed group
and destroy the launcher!?"
"I never thought we would make it in time for
that!!" shouted back Heivia, bringing a look of
shock to Royce's face.
Royce then thought Heivia must have been running
away before the explosion to save himself, but
Heivia headed to the back of the off-road vehicle.
"As long as we keep the missile from continuing on
its intended course, we can prevent the impromptu
cityscape and the maintenance soldiers from being
sacrificed! If it flies off in some other direction,
their plan involving the anti-air laser will fail!!"
"Are you planning to jam it?"
"The Craft Salamander III's guidance system uses
terrain calculations. It measures the ups and downs
of the terrain it passes over to determine what
corrections need to be made to its course. As long
as it has 3-5 pages of documentation on the terrain
between the launch point and the arrival point, it
can aim itself quite accurately."
"Does that documentation come from satellite
photos?"
"Normally. Simple aerial photos should work just
as well. But in that case, the documentation cannot
be updated in real time, so it all has to be
researched beforehand and the launch location
cannot be changed," explained Heivia. "Naturally,
if aerial photos to determine its course are inputted,
no communication is needed after launch. While
GPS navigation requires a constant exchange of
information with the satellite, this method has no
risk of being stopped with jamming."
"Then what can we do!? How are we supposed to
oppose a cruise missile flying at supersonic
speeds!? Don't tell me you plan to aim your rifle
into the air and shoot it down!!"
"I'll be doing something a little flashier than that."
Heivia used both hands to pick up the drum filled
with gasoline that had been loaded in the off-road
vehicle.
He opened the large metal container, tipped it over,
and spread the gasoline around the wasteland.
"Be mindful of the wind. It can carry vaporized
gasoline."
"What are you doing? The cruise missile is already
in the air!! It will pass by overhead before too
long!!"
"As I said, the Craft Salamander III's guidance
system uses terrain calculations. It periodically
compares the data held in its chips to the actual ups
and downs of the terrain below it to correct its
course." After the last of the gasoline had left the
drum, Heivia casually threw the empty container to
the side. "That just means we have to make sure it
can't compare the two sets of data."
He then pulled out a cigar lighter from the driver's
seat of the off-road vehicle.
He glanced out at the hot, red ground.
"We just have to do something like this!!"
The instant after Heivia threw the cigar lighter, a
giant explosion filled a portion of the wasteland.
In an instant, a massive amount of light and heat
was produced along with a shockwave.
Afterwards, black smoke rose up into the night sky.
The black smoke filled the entire area the explosion
had encompassed.
A white point of light shot by above their heads
with tremendous speed.
"What? That isn't the right direction."
"The flash of light and the smoke prevented it from
checking on the terrain," said Heivia as he held a
hand in front of his face to protect his eyes from the
orange light. "If it can't correct its course, there's
nothing to worry about. Now we just have to wait
for the Speed Killer to deal with it. It doesn't matter
if the anti-air laser brings the chemical combustion
warhead down over empty desert." He collapsed
into a sitting position and wiped sweat from his
brow. "I can get things done too when I don't have
to face one of those monstrous weapons."

Part 12
After saving the Oceanian people and the rest of his
mobile maintenance battalion, Private First Class
Heivia Winchell finally made it to the Christmas
party.
"I made it...I finally made it to utopia!! Thank you,
me!! The great Heivia is simply too powerful!!
Now, time to eat, drink, and enjoy the view of a
huge-breasted Santa!! We're gonna have some fun
tonight and maybe have some enjoyable incidents
to keep as memories!!"
But...
The large table that should have had plenty of food
lined up on it was covered in nothing but large,
empty plates. The plates had a bit of red sauce on
them, but the waiters were in the process of
removing them from the table.
No food or drink could be found.
Heivia refused to accept that truth and shook his
head.
"Don't tell me it's already ov—...No, no, not yet!!
The most important part is still left! Santa's time to
shine is after all the good children have gone to
bed!! There has to be one around here somewhere.
After overcoming all that danger, there has to be
some reward for me!!"
Heivia searched around the party area with his eyes
as wide as plates, but he found nothing but waiters
cleaning up. Every single one of the soldiers who
had surely been celebrating there had left and a
huge-breasted Santa was nothing but a dream
within a dream. Heivia could not even spot a single
waitress.
For an instant, Heivia's face lost all expression.
But in the next instant, his face twisted as if he was
about to cry tears of blood and he shouted, "This is
a desert!! This is nothing but a dried-up desert!!"
It was at that moment that Heivia spotted Quenser
Barbotage trudging toward him with legs just as
unsteady as Heivia's. Seeing his companion's face,
Heivia brought up his guard.
"Don't tell me you had to head through a battlefield
of your own. No, wait!! I was the hero tonight! I'm
the most exhausted! And that's why the biggest
reward should go to me!! I won't give any of it up
even to you!!"
However, Quenser was too far gone to hear him.
Before he made it over to Heivia, Quenser
collapsed down onto the hardened sand of the
ground. Heivia approached in confusion and
Quenser tried to speak with his mouth moving open
and closed.
"Ti..."
"What is it, Quenser? 'Ti'? What do you mean 'ti'!?"
"...Tits village..."
All strength left Quenser's body and his face grew
even paler. Heivia let out a cry of lamentation.
"What kind of dying message is that!? There's too
much deep meaning there!! What happened? Hey,
Quenser!
Quenseeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!"
Chapter 3: The Treasure of the Sea Dyed Deep
Red >> Defensive Battle in the Solomon District
Part 1
His name was Cardinal Roybelz Oldnick of the
Faith Organization.
"So he was the idiot that made those problematic
statements," muttered Froleytia as she looked at the
photo displayed on her laptop while distracted by
her hangover headache.
While she was alone in the officer room, she was
not speaking to herself. A voice chat application
was running on the laptop.
Instead of someone from the military, she was
speaking with the aide of a politician who dealt
with diplomatic issues back in the home country.
Basically, the situation had grown complicated
enough that a politician like that had to get
involved.
An elderly voice spoke over the voice chat, "The
Faith Organization began by advocating any and all
religions. The religious power that lost the most in
that deal was the Christian church. After all, when
religions of an older era are revived, the amount of
land and number of people they have effective
control over will become further divided. It was
only natural that some spoke up in fears of their
power weakening."
In reality, they were not having their power taken
away from them. Instead, the balance of power was
being restored to how it had once been. However,
after 2000 years had passed, they no longer saw it
that way.
Froleytia put her long, narrow kiseru in her mouth
and said, "So this cardinal who feared losing his
power took control of the military and went nuts.
He caused a civil war with a Greek power and
ended up being utterly defeated in a counterattack."
"It sounds simple enough when you put it like that,
but over 5000 people died in the process. The
conflict did not fall within the boundaries of a clean
war. A lot of civilians from safe countries charged
into the battlefield based on some inappropriate
remarks he made."
"Yes, and Oldnick says he merely said the words
and he cannot be held responsible for how people
interpreted them. What a joke."
The words of those with power would spread and
therefore those people had to be more responsible
about the things they said.
It was clear what would happen if some idiot who
did not understand that repeatedly made careless
statements during a time of war.
Oldnick was a truly dangerous speaker. He had
made repeated inappropriate off-the-cuff statements
which had led the military and civilians to take
action. Many had died from this, but Oldnick only
made worse and worse statements when he tried to
explain away his previous statements and escape
any blame. It all continued to escalate like a
snowball rolling down a hill.
For someone with no power, the statements would
have been nothing worse than an old man finding
fault with a baseball player while watching a game
on TV, but things changed when it was someone
with the power to move an entire nation.
"The Christian power within the Faith Organization
insists the entire incident was Cardinal Roybelz
Oldnick's individual actions, but they are primarily
saying this to avoid further investigation from the
central power of the Faith Organization. Oldnick
has already been excommunicated from the
Christian church, and they agreed to send Valkyrie
after him as the central power suggested."
"And now this old man has started shouting even
more nonsense now that he is in real danger."
"At the very least, he wants to avoid being
assassinated by Valkyrie. That is how he has been
acting ever since the Loyauté district."
"Does anyone really believe this nonsense about
the Legitimacy Kingdom being an ally of the
Christian power within the Faith Organization
because the ceremonies for royalty and knights
have Christian elements to them?"
"If any idiot truly believes that, they need to be
taken to the hospital immediately. However, there
are plenty of people who will claim it is true to take
advantage of the situation. These people think this
skirmish is an excellent opportunity to attack some
Objects."
Even in a clean war, a battle between Objects was
still expensive.
Part of war was striking a balance between income
and expenditures. If that could not be done, the idea
of the clean war would come crumbling down.
The elderly voice said, "We do not wish for people
to head to war based on the nonsense coming from
this cardinal. Even if a conflict with the Faith
Organization cannot be avoided outright, we would
like for it to be based on something with more
value to us."
"So..."
"We need you to quickly silence this problematic
statement emitter. You have three days. How you
eliminate him does not matter so long as his
identity can be confirmed via DNA."

Part 2
"So even our Christmas break went exactly as the
higher ups had planned."
Quenser and Heivia were speaking within the Baby
Magnum's maintenance area.
The princess was listening in with as little
expression on her face as ever.
"This Cardinal Oldnick had contacted Hyena from
the Loyauté district. Some data we found in their
headquarters after blowing them away made that
clear enough."
"But why? I would think a cardinal would insist on
keeping things clean. Would he really contact a
group using the restoration of Oceania as a chance
to rob people?"
"We still don't know what he's after. He's causing
quite an uproar, but we still can't figure out what he
hopes to achieve in the end. It's possible he's just
fleeing to save his own skin," pointed out Heivia
offhandedly. "It's possible he wanted to use them
against the Faith Organization's Valkyrie. Those
grim reapers are quite something, but they're still
flesh-and-blood soldiers. There is a chance he was
planning to use Hyena to deal with Valkyrie."
However, Quenser and the rest of the Legitimacy
Kingdom had eliminated Hyena before they and
Valkyrie could cross paths.
Since Oldnick himself had not been turned to ash,
he must have detected some kind of harbinger of
the bombardment and fled.
"We know Valkyrie was lurking around the
Loyauté district, but I guess he must have escaped
them."
"He must have. After escaping the island, Oldnick
likely tried to escape to Oceania where he could
slip in amongst the confusion of restoration. With
the coalition force confusing everything, a single
organization has a harder time moving around than
elsewhere. He probably hoped to escape to
somewhere else of his choosing after losing
Valkyrie in Oceania," said Quenser as he leaned up
against a large piece of machinery. "But before he
could, our unit came to rest at the north end of
Oceania...and that was exactly where Oldnick was
expected to land. That meant he couldn't land
without being blown out of the water, much less
disappear into the confusion. Since we had already
crushed all of Hyena after he contacted them,
Oldnick would have been cautious about
approaching us. Just as the higher ups hoped, he
had no choice but to head north by sea."
Roybelz Oldnick was currently using a civilian
charter boat to head to the Solomon district which
was north of both Oceania and Loyauté.
"The reason he isn't using an airplane is likely that
he is afraid of being targeted with anti-air lasers,
but that changes little. Objects can travel at over
500 kph on the sea. Even if the charter boat is a
high-speed hydrofoil, he can't escape."
The princess then cut in.
"By the way, Quenser."
"What?"
The princess pointed at one wall of the
maintenance area and asked her question while still
expressionless.
"Why is Heivia writing curses on the wall while
speaking with you?"
"I honestly couldn't tell you..."
"Like hell you don't know!!" shouted Heivia while
he glared at and grabbed Quenser. "I heard what
happened!! I know what you were doing while I
was struggling to save Oceania and our unit! You
were keeping all the best parts to yourself!! Why
do I keep hearing about a huge-breasted miniskirt
bikini Santa!?"
"...That was a type of hell in its own way."
"You and your damn 'let them eat cake' attitude!!
You monster!! Are you asking for a fight!?"
Heivia then realized that all the yelling in the world
would not get rid of the empty feeling within him,
so his mood dropped to a point three times lower
than before.
The princess also seemed slightly miffed, but those
two idiots were completely oblivious to that fact.
"I honestly think I was the hero this time. I was
shining in the spotlight. That cruise missile
targeting the maintenance soldiers was similar to
our idea of destroying the computer in the Loyauté
district to make the Object unusable. The Deep
Optical's unit from the Capitalist Corporations had
to be behind it somehow, so I felt like I was
opening the first page of some grand epic of a
story!! But now that I think back on it, something
wasn't right about the whole thing! Why wasn't
there a single beautiful girl in that story!! All I got
was some middle-aged guy named Royce! What
the hell kind of miscasting is that!?"
Suddenly, an electronic tone came from one of
their radios.
However, it did not come from Quenser or
Heivia's.
It came from the smaller, more expensive one used
to inform the princess it was time to scramble the
Object.
"What?"
"The situation has changed. Our plan was to
intercept that troublesome old man as he headed
north through the ocean in the Solomon district, but
a Capitalist Corporations Object has appeared
cutting off our route."
Quenser and Heivia exchanged a glance.
"It is the Deep Optical, a Second Generation Object
from the Client Security company. I had a feeling
we would be engaging it in the near future, but this
timing is odd. It is possible Roybelz Oldnick has
some connection with them."
"What exactly is the change to the plan?" asked the
princess.
"We had planned to simply have you pursue
Oldnick, but we will now have you face the Deep
Optical. A separate group will head after Oldnick,
but I will explain it all in more detail at the pre-
mission briefing."
Quenser had a question, so he simply asked it.
"Froleytia, do you think the Deep Optical is
standing in our way for more than a personal
grudge against us?"
He then heard an odd clattering noise come from
over the radio.
It sounded like Froleytia had tried to draw back
from the radio but had failed as she was sitting
down. As a result, she had fallen back in her seat.
"...Qu-Quenser...You were there?"
"Um, Froleytia? Is there a prob-..."
"No!! Don't say anything!!"
For some reason Froleytia shouted back at him
before he could finish speaking.
"Forget everything that happened yesterday!! I
don't remember a thing, so I have no idea what I
may have said, but I can tell it was something
horrible from the reaction of those around me!! So
don't say a single thing about it!!"
Something had been said that was causing Froleytia
to blush out of delighted embarrassment. When
Heivia heard that, his self control finally reached its
limit and he punched Quenser.

Part 3
Quenser used the short time until the pre-mission
briefing to skim through a science magazine.
The old maintenance lady walked over in
annoyance.
"If you have time to read that, how about you learn
about a real Object?"
"I've been feeling some desire for infidelity lately."
"?"
The old lady looked confused, but Quenser showed
her a page of the science magazine.
"This is about the Capitalist Corporations' liquid
prism technology. The Legitimacy Kingdom still
hasn't developed that tech far enough to make a
practical weapon. They say the end product ups the
output of laser beams by quite a bit."
"The Legitimacy Kingdom is carrying out research
on this. They are a standard component of laser
space elevators. They are used to send lasers fired
from multiple oscillators in the same direction."
"Eh? So we do have the actual technology?"
"Yes, but only when it does not have to stand up to
the high speed battles Objects go through," she
replied. "Liquid prisms are created by filling
transparent containers with a special liquid. The
inside of the container is covered with electrodes
and electrochemical control of the chemical
interface is used to artificially alter the
concentration of the liquid. Differences in
concentration are used to bend the light."
"I see. But what does that have to do with high
speed battles?"
"Sudden turns cause high G forces that will disturb
the liquid within the liquid prism. The artificial
alterations to the concentration of liquid within the
container will be undone, bringing the liquid back
to an even concentration. That is why it is difficult
to put liquid prisms on an Object that makes quick
movements and shakes with the firing of shells.
Another problem is that the high temperatures
created when the laser passes through will agitate
the liquid as well," explained the old lady. "The
key to the Capitalist Corporations' technology is
not the liquid prism technology itself. It is the
shock resistance technology and temperature
countermeasures used to prevent external
interference with the liquid prism. For example,
they could use laser vibration detectors, fast-acting
coolants, or cartridges. But even with all those
technologies, an Object with a liquid prism aboard
will have limited combat options. It will avoid
making quick movements like our princess does.
That means liquid prism technology has limited
uses for Objects. Or at least it does not match the
needs of our unit."
"It's a shame the technology doesn't fit in more
nicely than that."
"If there was no risk to using it, Objects around the
world would be using them. Also, that science
magazine will only have the information they see
no problem with letting the public know about. I
would say there is more value in watching
maintenance on an actual Object rather than
reading that thing."
"It's in my nature to try to find a shortcut."
With a grumble of complaint, Quenser stood up.
Once again, it seemed his only option was the
standard path.

Part 4
The pre-mission briefing began.
A projector displayed a map of the ocean in the
Solomon district. Froleytia spoke as a few arrows
were added on top.
"Our primary target is Roybelz Oldnick who is
travelling north through the Solomon district sea.
Do not forget that every action during this mission
should be taken in order to carry out that
objective."
However, a giant shape had interposed itself
between the north of Oceania and Oldnick's boat.
"But the real danger lies in the fact that the
Capitalist Corporations' Deep Optical has been
deployed in order to cut off our path. Unless we do
something about it, we cannot finish off Oldnick
before he flees. As such, the Baby Magnum must
engage the Deep Optical."
Heivia asked a question.
"Are we to remain on standby until our princess has
sent the Deep Optical to rest on the bottom of the
ocean? Or are we going to head after Oldnick by
taking a large detour around the Object while the
princess is drawing its attention?"
"That would be the best option, but we do not have
time." Froleytia added an arrow pointing to the
west of Oldnick's boat. "An unidentified submarine
has surfaced. We do not know if it belongs to the
Deep Optical's unit or if it belongs to the remnants
of Oldnick's military force, but this could become
much more difficult if Oldnick's boat rendezvouses
with the submarine."
"So we have to crush him before that happens.
...But how?"
Froleytia's shoulders stiffened a bit at hearing
Quenser's voice, but her self control won out.
"As I said, the princess will engage the Deep
Optical." Froleytia added another arrow heading
right along the arrow indicating the shortest route.
"But there is more to the ocean than the surface. A
different group will head straight there while
travelling deep under the ocean. Currently, we have
no other way to catch up to Oldnick."
Froleytia drew a large circle around an area of sea
even further north of where Oldnick was.
"One other thing. Just north of the operation area is
an precious metal ocean mining plant financed by
the Legitimacy Kingdom. Simply put, small filters
are used to collect the metals dissolved into the
ocean water and the metals are then condensed.
The higher ups fear that valuable tungsten deposits
will be lost in this battle. Make sure you do not
forget that."

Part 5
After the naval battle floats were installed, the
Baby Magnum travelled north from Oceania and
through the Coral Sea.
The Capitalist Corporations' Deep Optical was
waiting at a point that cut off its path to the
Solomon district where Oldnick had fled.
This was a true battle. It was a fight to the death.
And like the battles in the many wars of the past,
the girl piloting the Object exchanged no words
with her opponent. She did not even know if the
pilot of the enemy craft was male or female.
In a way, it was a clean battle. In a way, it was an
empty battle.
The two faced off at a distance of about 10
kilometers.
"The intelligence group has carried out unofficial
reconnaissance operations concerning the Deep
Optical, but we still do not have any complete
information. Do not get carried away in attack.
Keep evasion a priority at all times."
"Understood," replied the princess.
In the next moment, the Deep Optical began to
move.
They were 10 kilometers apart.
The Object fired a brilliant white laser beam at that
range.
"...!?"
The princess just barely managed to evade by
predicting the action from the subtle movements of
the targeting lenses and other equipment.
An explosive noise followed the beam of light.
The laser beam roasted the dust and moisture in the
air which produced a massive amount of heat,
causing the air to expand explosively.
The Deep Optical had a very unique shape. Eight
legs spread out directly below its spherical main
body. All eight of those legs functioned as air
cushion engines so it could remain accurately level
even amidst waves.
For a main cannon, the Deep Optical had a giant
laser beam cannon on its upper right side. Also,
eight thick cylinders were attached to the spherical
main body with the base of the main cannon at the
center as if they were the face of a clock. The
energy produced by those eight cylinders was
likely collected for the main cannon.
According to some footage the princess had seen
during the pre-mission briefing, it had two giant
parts attached to the back. They were thought to be
cooling devices.
It also had countless lenses unnaturally positioned
on the front of the spherical main body like some
kind of crop circle. The Object gave an overall
ominous impression.
"Do not falter. The enemy's main cannon is a laser
beam! Its strength is attenuated with distance, but
its speed remains the same. Approaching will only
put you at a disadvantage!!"
"I know that!!"
After somehow managing to avoid the first shot,
the princess forced the Baby Magnum on forward.
At the same time, she moved the main cannon
arms.
The Baby Magnum could change what type of
main cannon it used to match the situation. The
backs of the barrels rotated like revolvers to choose
laser beams just like the Deep Optical used.
The princess fired without hesitation.
The Deep Optical reacted immediately.
But its evasion speed was slow. It moved at only
half the speed the Baby Magnum had. The princess
saw no way it could avoid the laser beam like that.
However...
"What...!?"
"..."
As everyone watched on, the laser beam the
princess had fired suddenly changed trajectory. It
headed off into the empty sky rather than to the
Deep Optical.
"The heat produced by the laser altered the
refractive index of the air!!" concluded the
princess.
"Not good. Are they calculating it out using a super
computer?"
The back of the seven barrels rotated once more as
she chose the coilgun.
As she was directly firing a metal shell, the heat of
the air would have minimal effects.
All seven main cannons fired in unison.
As before, the Deep Optical's evasion speed was
low. It only moved far enough out of the way to
protect half of its body.
However...
Bright white beams of light burst out.
"Again!? The Deep Optical altered the course of
the shells just before they hit!"
"It must have focused its smaller laser beam
cannons on them. By gouging holes in the side of
the shells, air resistance would cause them to fly off
course!!"
Simply put, it was a type of laser parry.
It was a stunt only possible with dozens of weapons
that travelled at the speed of light.
The princess fired the coilguns several more times,
but the laser parry was very accurate. Even at the
close range of 1 or 2 kilometers, it proved difficult
to do any damage with metal shells.
All the while, the enemy's tremendous laser beam
cannons fired back at the princess.
As this intense battle progressed, the princess
calmly continued to analyze the situation.
Suddenly, one of the giant coilgun shells deflected
by the laser parry landed in the ocean right next to
the Deep Optical.
(Does it not have accurate control over what
direction they are deflected in?)
Just as an explosive splash of water threatened to
flip the Deep Optical over, something strange
happened.
The Object regained its balance with an unnatural
movement. It was as if its center of gravity was
located in the wrong place like with a self-righting
doll.
"We detected high power lasers coming from the
side of the spherical main body when it recovered
its balance. It must have a system to explosively
expand the air and use the momentum to forcefully
right itself. It can likely right itself even when
tipped as far as 70-80 degrees to the side."
With that in mind, the Deep Optical seemed to be a
craft that was designed with a focus on stability.
It would stay in one place and fire its accurate and
powerful laser beam cannons. Speed was sacrificed
to ensure its main cannon would not malfunction. It
seemed to be designed to have the upper hand
when it came to the speed of its weapons rather
than the speed of the entire Object's movements.
(If Quenser saw this, he would probably get
excited.)
"That must mean the Deep Optical does not have
much in the way of quick bursts of speed."
"Its top speed probably is not too bad, but it may
only be able to reach those speeds via smooth
acceleration. Laser technology can be delicate. It
may have to be careful in order to ensure that it
does not destroy itself with the G forces created by
its own movements."
That meant...
"I can defeat it by drawing in close and firing
relentlessly!!" shouted the princess as she
accelerated the Baby Magnum forward.
She knew the enemy could interfere with the laser
beam and coilgun options for her main cannon, but
the Baby Magnum still had one trump card left.
The low-stability plasma cannons.
She could avoid the Deep Optical's main cannon by
monitoring the subtle actions made before firing. If
she could fire her seven main cannons again and
again while not getting hit herself, she could sink
the Deep Optical.
Or so she thought.
(Huh?)
Doubt came to her mind.
The princess was taking evasive actions based on
the subtle movements of the enemy's sensors,
lenses, and cannons. With an enemy like the Deep
Optical that used laser beam cannons, it was
impossible to evade if the princess only detected it
once the cannon had fired. To do that, she would
have to overturn the theory of relativity.
But that was exactly why the princess found
something odd.
She was evading the main cannon and the other
laser beam cannons perfectly well. She was reading
the subtle movements of the lenses and sensors just
fine. And yet...
The crop circle-like group of lenses on the front of
the Deep Optical was not moving at all.
Unless they were simply malfunctioning or they
were just a bluff, the enemy still had some kind of
trump card remaining.
It was at that time that all of the lenses on the front
of the Deep Optical moved at once.
(Here it comes!!)
The princess focused every nerve ending in her
body.
By her estimation, it was likely a system to
drastically raise the enemy's accuracy. For that
reason, she concentrated more on taking evasive
actions than on attack.
However, her estimation was incorrect.
No sound was made.
And yet the Deep Optical multiplied.
(What...?)
There were exactly ten of them.
When the princess saw the many Deep Opticals
that suddenly appeared in a line, the princess's
thoughts stopped for a moment.
(No, the Deep Optical has not multiplied.)
"Is it using 3D images!?"
A simple fake image would be meaningless. The
Baby Magnum could use several methods to
perform a lock, so she merely had to use her
infrared sensors or her ultraviolet sensors to see
which one was real.
However...
(The lock cursor is reacting to all 10 of them? I see.
It is also manipulating infrared rays and ultraviolet
rays to fool my computer!!)
In the next instant, the image blurred greatly.
Only one of the Deep Opticals was real.
The trick was especially insidious because they
moved like the real one would and a virtual image
was created to cover the location of the real Deep
Optical as well.
The trick used high level 3D images and optical
interference to confuse the other sensors as well.
The princess determined the situation outside via
her monitor, so this trick had the same effect on her
as some mysterious ninja technique.
And...
(Oh, no. I can't just sit here!)
Even if she should have taken action sooner, the
loss of data to base her decisions on put her at a
serious disadvantage regardless.
The princess frantically moved straight to the side
while ignoring the intense Gs this put on her body,
but the Deep Optical's main cannon blast still
struck one of the Baby Magnum's main cannon
arms. The laser beam created from combining 8
main cannon-class laser beams blew away the Baby
Magnum's main cannon arm like it was a sugar
sculpture.
Part 6
"Damn. Is it using diffractive waves to create 3D
images!? The principle is used in commercial 3D
projectors, but they've altered the naked eye 3D
image to work on an Object's lenses!! As it is
creating diffractive wave image data to match the
number of lenses used by the Object, you might be
able to cause a flaw in the image by cutting off a
portion of your lenses, but they can simply detect
which lenses are active from their subtle
movements and immediately recreate the image
accordingly!!"
Merely listening to the military radio frequency
was enough to grasp the complexity and depth of
the problem.
"My infrared and ultraviolet locks are being fooled
as well!!"
"Use a radio lock! Do not rely on optical data!!
Determine the truth using radar!"
"The radar is not functioning right either!! The
number of blips is increasing!!"
"Dammit. In a broad sense, both light and radar are
electromagnetic waves, so are they dealing with
them all at once!? And your directional microphone
and sonar will be obstructed by the wall of air that
explosively expands whenever they fire their main
cannon!!"
As he listened to the transmissions on a small boat
stopped in the sea to the south of the operation
area, Heivia naturally looked over toward where
the Baby Magnum was fighting...and then he
started to feel dizzy.
He brought his hand to the handrail and said,
"Ugh...dammit. Does that really look like a realistic
3D image to her? From here, it looks like some
twisted aura you would expect to have coming
from Cthulhu."
"Just like the normal 3D images which are created
using diffractive waves with an image for both the
right eye and the left eye, the various images
simply become chaos when not seen from the
princess's vantage point. Also, that is not meant for
the naked eye. It's creating images for all the many
lenses on the Object, so it just looks like a mess to
humans like us."
"The Information Alliance idol Elite I saw in
Oceania was a hell of lot nicer than this."
"I kind of want to see a strip show displayed on this
scale."
However, Quenser and Heivia had more important
business to take care of.
They were part of the separate group that had
changed out of their normal military uniforms and
into black diving suits. The rest of the group was
jumping out of the small boat and into the sea one
after another.
They would dive down below the area in which the
two Objects were fighting and pursue Oldnick.
"Dammit. I know bringing a large submarine this
close would get noticed by the Deep Optical, but
Oldnick's boat is over 20 kilometers from here.
That isn't a distance flesh-and-blood humans
should have to swim."
"Yeah, and there's nothing pretty about a bunch of
filthy guys swimming through the ocean."
Quenser and Heivia had oxygen tanks on their
backs and plastic fins on their feet. However, that
was clearly not enough for them to reach Oldnick.
For propulsion, they had aqua scooters. Simply put,
they were something like kickboards with giant
motors attached.
Supported by that electric power, the group of
about ten including Quenser and Heivia travelled
through the sea.
During peaceful times, that clear blue ocean water
with tropical fish poking their heads out from the
gaps in the coral would have been a wonderful
sight to see, but they had no time to focus on such
things.
Even with the electric propulsion, the long period
of time spent underwater seemed to rob them of
their sense of time.
They could not actually see their target and they
had nothing but their compasses to tell them they
were even headed in the right direction.
Also, this was no calm rest in a cradle. The clear
risk of death was pressing against their backs the
entire time. They felt a silence that seemed like it
would drive them mad if it continued for too long.
All the while, giant shadows would occasionally
pass over them and block out the light of the sun.
Needless to say, those were the Objects. As the
Deep Optical used air cushions for its propulsion
device and had no shark anchors, it did little to
disturb anything but the very surface of the water,
but a sharp trembling still wrapped itself all around
their bodies. The bombardments above the water
also caused slight vibrations to spread throughout
the ocean water.
And...
"Shit!! The princess has those naval battle floats
and shark anchor attached, doesn't she!? She's
agitating the water like crazy!!"
"Continue on! If we turn back, our fate will be no
different from a plastic doll that gets swept into the
drain!!"
Quenser and the others continued their desperate
pursuit of Oldnick even as their ally seemed more
likely to kill them than their enemy.
The Deep Optical could not capture humans under
the water because it was a Second Generation
Object specialized for fighting other Objects.
"I beg you. Don't fire any stray shots this way. If all
the water around us suddenly boils, we'll have no
way to escape."
"These vibrations in the water aren't going to
destroy the oxygen tanks' valves or the aqua
scooters' motors, are they?"
Suddenly, the Deep Optical fired its main cannon
while moving above them at high speed.
Laser light could not actually be seen by the naked
eye when viewed from the side. However, it
roasted the dust and moisture in the air which was
not something one wanted to look directly at.
For that reason, Quenser and the others kept their
heads down and looked toward the depths of the
ocean like someone in a swimming race.
And yet the brilliant white light stabbed into their
eyes nevertheless.
"Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?"
Quenser let out a meaningless cry as he felt an
intense pain as if his eyes and even his skull had
been pierced.
He lost his sense of up and down.
It did not matter if he looked at it directly or not.
Even the light that could find its way around was
enough to rob a flesh-and-blood human of his
senses.
"Quenser...Don't let go of your aqua scooter!!
Focus on that feeling!!" shouted Heivia.
Quenser grabbed the aqua scooter tighter as if he
was clinging to it and his numbed head finally
began to feel gravity once more.
"Damn. We're only 100 meters away. That is way
too close to a monster with that much laser
technology."
"If you can see, help me with the others. Some
unlucky idiots were looking straight up at the
surface. They have their oxygen tanks, so they
won't drown right away, but we still need to give
them support."
At Heivia's urging, Quenser grabbed the arm of a
middle-aged woman who had started to sink
towards the bottom of the ocean. She must have
been in pain because she was screaming, but
Quenser had already shut off the personal channel
on his radio. Listening to it would do no one any
good.
And the Baby Magnum and Deep Optical's battle
continued on above the surface
"I'd rather not have the side effects of their battle
crush me any further. If we can just get away from
them, the negative effects of the optical weapons
will lessen. We need to get away from this area of
sea as quickly as we can."
Quenser and the rest of the group somehow
managed to escape the area of intense fighting as
they trembled in fear.
However, they did not head up to the surface even
then. They were not about to underestimate an
Object's sensors. At the very least, they had to get
far enough away that the enemy Object's focus on
the princess would take precedence.
"Look, Heivia. Isn't that Oldnick's boat!"
"Tch. He's gotten pretty close to the sub!!"
The two decided they were far enough away and
rose to the ocean surface.
They removed their goggles and took the oxygen
hose out of their mouths, but the submarine's hatch
had already been opened and a crew member had
just stuck his head out. An old white man jumped
down from an expensive-looking charter boat, but
messed up his landing. However, he managed to
climb up onto the submarine just as it looked like
he would be swept away by the waves.
"The end is finally in sight!"
"Let's finish this with a hole in one."
But the distance was too great.
The submarine was about 1500 meters away.
"Damn, I can't shoot him with my rifle at this
range!!"
"Heivia, what about an anti-tank missile!?"
"I thought it might come to that. A hole in one
might be tough, but I can try for an albatross."
"Aren't albatrosses actually harder?"
"Yeah, but people get more excited about a hole in
one."
As they spoke, Heivia pulled out a large tube that
was inside a clear plastic bag that had been sealed
with duct tape. He tore apart the packaging and
threw it away. That sort of weapon was not too
affected by a bit of water, but that could change if
water got into the targeting computer or the path
for the combustible gas. At the very least, it did not
hurt to keep the water out.
Heivia rested the missile launcher tube on his
shoulder as he treaded water.
"Shit! I can't aim right with these waves!! Quenser,
hold me in place!!"
"No!! I don't want to embrace a guy in this blue
sea!!"
"I don't want you to do it either!! But if that
troublesome cardinal reaches the submarine's
hatch, we'll be getting a bogey rather than an
albatross! That'll just get us another lecture from
our huge-breasted commander! If you don't want
that, then help me!!"
Quenser seriously thought he would much rather
have that beauty's boots digging into him, but the
situation required some sacrifice. Since a position
behind Heivia would get him blasted by the
missile's blowback, he supported Heivia from the
side.
"Here goes! Hold on tight to make sure I don't get
knocked over!!"
"Just get it over with!! ...Oh, god. I need to find a
way to invite the princess out swimming so I can
blot out these memories."
With the roar of compressed air searching for a
path out, the explosive shot towards the submarine.
The submarine was designed to withstand extreme
water pressure, so something like that was not
about to sink it.
However, they had made a mistake in opening the
hatch to let Oldnick in.
When the crewmember saw the projectile, he
frantically attempted to close the hatch, but the
missile struck the wall just below the hatch before
he could. A shockwave burst out along with an
explosive roar, but the metal hatch survived the
blast. However, the intense force pushed the hatch
closed even though the crewmember still had his
upper body leaning out of it.
Heivia winced slightly when he saw that human
body being "eaten" through the sight. However, he
did not have enough of a conscience to regret his
actions.
"I got lucky!! I hit with the first shot! Heivia, the
genius, beautiful, and rich noble, is just too
amazing!! It looks like that bastard Oldnick was
knocked off. He fell into the ocean."
"The sub is leaving."
"They must have decided it isn't worth sticking
around. ...Damn that old man!! The lucky bastard is
still moving!! Quit finding fault with Heivia, the
genius, beautiful, and rich noble!!"
"I guess an albatross was too much to hope for. I
hope we can at least make par."
Oldnick waved at the submarine in hopes that it
would save him, but the black ship showed no sign
of responding.
The cardinal continued waving for a bit, but he
finally gave up. He then desperately moved his
arms and legs to take him in a different direction.
"What now? Is he just swimming off in
desperation?"
"No, isn't there a precious metal ocean mining plant
financed by the Legitimacy Kingdom just north of
here? It uses various filters to draw out and
condense the tungsten dissolved in the ocean
water."
"Not good... Not good! That place is like a bunker!!
And if it gets caught up in the battle, that huge-
breasted commander is going to completely
erupt!!"
"Heivia, can you directly target that old man with a
missile?"
"I can't reload in the ocean like this." Heivia
reequipped his goggles and oxygen tank, and then
grabbed his aqua scooter. "Life isn't always that
easy. Our only option is to get close and shoot him
with a normal bullet."
"I suppose this is still better than having the enemy
Object head this way. Getting out of the bunker
isn't going to be easy, but we may still be able to
get an eagle."
Part 7
Froleytia gritted her teeth in her officer's room.
The higher ups had hoped to deal with Roybelz
Oldnick in the same way they had fought Hyena,
but things had ended up being completely different.
She had no idea how the old man had arranged it,
but now that the Capitalist Corporations' Deep
Optical was involved, the problem had turned into
a war.
On top of that, the Deep Optical had a special
blinding weapon that interfered with their ability to
take evasive actions.
It had created a number of clones of itself.
It created images using diffractive waves and used
optical interference to disturb the various locking
sensors.
Froleytia and the others back at the base constantly
received information from the Object, so they
understood what the princess was seeing.
Froleytia opened a line to the electronic simulation
department as she tried to think up a
countermeasure.
"Do you know how that blinding weapon works!?"
"It can freely emit 70 types of light waves at once
and it can change the wavelengths as needed!! By
simultaneously sending several wavelengths at one
point in space, the normal light waves and the
diffractive waves come together to create the image
that is viewed as three dimensional. At the same
time, it interferes with the infrared rays, ultraviolet
rays, and every other optical device used to make a
lock and the electromagnetic data from radar and
the like!!" explained the operator from the
electronic simulation department. "The angle of
emission and distance are unknown! But with
enough distance, the diffusion of the light waves
would interfere with each other, so it should be
within a few kilometers!!" The operator was
practically yelling. "Also, a normal 3D image
brings together footage for the right eye and the left
eye, but this is using enough images for the number
of lenses equipped on the Baby Magnum and is
regulated by the diffractive rays. Intentionally
cutting off a portion of the lenses should cause a
disturbance in the image. That could be used to
determine where the real one is, but..."
"They can immediately determine which lenses are
active from their subtle movements and recreate the
image to match, right?"
"The time until that happens is getting shorter! If
the parameters of the 3D image continue to be
changed liked this, even that slight 'out of place
feeling' could disappear!!"
For the moment, the princess was not fooled at all.
It was partially due to the fact that she would never
believe that a single Object had suddenly become
10 Objects. The princess was seeing through the
false footage and continuing the battle.
But...
"With 1% of doubt, you lose the ability to trust the
remaining 99%," commented Froleytia.
"The false images are obviously false for the
moment, but if a false image that is harder to tell
apart from the real one is mixed in once she grows
accustomed to these, the risk of the princess being
caught off guard grows!!"
And the time spent with the false images continued
to grow.
Being able to see through the false images was
important, but looking at the false images for too
long was a problem too.
"Right now, she is just barely managing to take
action in advance because she knows her sensors
are being interfered with, but if she does not make
it in time, she will take a direct hit..."
The blinding weapon displayed its greatest effects
within a range of a few kilometers. In that case, the
princess could escape the threat by falling back
further than that and beginning a bombardment
from there.
But...
(No. The first shots from 10 kilometers were easily
thrown off course. That 5 kilometer range is the
best range for the princess to defeat the Deep
Optical. Also, I doubt the Deep Optical would let
her leave. If she tried to, it would do whatever it
could to stop her.)
"What if we link the foot soldiers' cameras and the
satellite to the Object to provide different points of
view!?" suggested the operator.
"Those would have a slight lag and some noise.
She wouldn't be able to keep up with the high
speed of the battle while relying on those!!"
They had no options.
This was not an offensive cannon or defensive
armor. The 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion's
predicament was caused by something else entirely.
But then...
"...?"
Froleytia frowned.
The Deep Optical should have been drawing in and
attacking repeatedly, but it was merely sitting in
place and only occasionally firing. It was clearly
overlooking an opportunity. In fact, it was actively
moving backwards away from the princess
whenever it had a chance.
Its actions seemed completely meaningless.
(What? Why would it abandon its advantage here
and begin to retreat...?)
What was behind the Deep Optical?
What was to the north?
What lay beyond the battlefield?

Part 8
Even though it was funded by the Legitimacy
Kingdom, the Solomon district had long been
treated like a blank area due to the confusion over
the tyrannical regime in the Oceanian military
nation. In other words, it was not defended by a
dedicated Object. An Object was deployed to the
precious metal ocean mining plant in times of
political unrest, but it did not have a unit stationed
there for its defense.
That was where Roybelz Oldnick arrived at the end
of his swim.
The plant itself was similar to a cultivation facility.
The entire facility floated in the ocean. Over 80%
of it was made up of 10 meter square frames. The
frames were made of reinforced plastic and they
floated from the multiple drums that were attached
to them. The insides of the frames had hundreds of
filters hanging into the ocean. Those filters would
gather the tungsten dissolved into the seawater.
"Cough...cough!! Cough cough!!"
Oldnick had arrived at one of the frames at the very
outside of the facility.
A man working in the plant hesitated over whether
he should help him or report him, but he was
unable to even let out a scream when Oldnick held
a handgun out toward him.
"Do you have a helicopter here?" asked the old man
with bloodshot eyes. "Or a motorboat. Anything
will do. Do you have any kind of transportation!? I
need to get away from here as quickly as possible.
This is a blank area. If I can lose them here..."
Suddenly, a high-pitched gunshot cut off Oldnick's
thoughts.
A bullet hole appeared in one of the drums keeping
a nearby frame afloat.
From 500 meters away in the ocean, Quenser
shouted, "You suck at this, Heivia!!"
"I can't brace myself or aim properly when treading
water in these waves, dammit!!"
Their target seemed to have resolved himself to
shooting the worker who could get in his way.
Quenser pulled some Hand Axe plastic explosive
out of the bag on his back and shouted as loud as he
could.
"Jump in!!"
The worker immediately dove headfirst into the
middle of one of the frames, but Oldnick moved to
fire a bullet after him into the ocean water
regardless.
After stabbing an electric fuse into it, Quenser
chucked the Hand Axe toward the old man.
As Heivia had said, he could not brace himself
while treading water. He had tried to throw it in a
long arc, but the explosive did not even make it 50
meters.
He hit the switch on his radio regardless.
A loud explosive noise rang out and Oldnick got
down on the ground despite being well out of range
of the blast.
However, it had been meant as a psychological
attack in the first place.
Oldnick did not seem like the type of person who
was used to running through the battlefield. He had
no idea what the range of danger from an explosion
was, so he seemed to have frantically chosen retreat
from just the slight pain on his skin and ears from
the shockwave.
He looked over at the two boys and fired an
occasional shot from his handgun (knowing he
could not hit from that range) as he jumped from
frame to frame. As there was no cover to be found
in that area, he felt the need to make some
preparations before a real firefight occurred.
While 80% of the plant was made up by those
frames, the remaining 20% was different.
"When we climb up onto land will be the most
dangerous part. Even if he just has a handgun,
we're goners if he targets us while we're
defenseless."
"We have our oxygen tanks and aqua scooters.
Let's dive down and use the ocean water as a
shield."
Quenser and Heivia moved stealthily through the
water. The outside of the square frames was made
up of thin pieces of cloth one meter wide and a few
dozen meters long. With all the frames lined up in a
grid, those cloths stretching down looked
something like rectangular pillars. They stretched
straight down despite the slight rocking of the
waves, so they must have had some kind of weight
attached to the bottom.
"(Amazing. Is that stuff glittering like aluminum
foil all tungsten? It looks like you could make all
the construction equipment for a mid-sized
automobile factory with just one of those filters.)"
"(Heh. It's almost as dazzling as my sexy face,)"
commented Heivia.
"(Man, I kind of want to take a souvenir home with
me.)"
Meanwhile, Oldnick ran down a pathway on the
exterior of the frames and entered a facility made
of steel. Even that facility was built atop the type of
large float that was commonly used for floating
airports.
(My odds are not good in a straight fight.)
The former cardinal came to that conclusion.
After all, he was up against a professional military
unit with the backing of a world power. They had
better equipment and more ammunition. A soaking
wet old man with a single handgun could hardly
hope to oppose them.
He had also been abandoned by the submarine.
As a cardinal, he was supposed to be a symbol of
the holy and just, so something was wrong from the
moment he had to stretch out his arms in a
desperate attempt to grasp any means of escape.
(I have always been right. I have always been on
the right side.)
And yet he had shaken hands with Hyena, a group
that had no problem with attacking civilian
convoys and facilities that distributed cargo.
(If nothing was done about the expansion of the
Greek power, the Christian Church would have lost
its land, funding, people, and culture, one after
another. I stood up to protect those things.)
To escape Valkyrie, he had shouted to the
Capitalist Corporations that the Legitimacy
Kingdom was Valkyrie's ally and had brought
about a real war in the sea to the south.
(My actions will shine brilliantly within the history
of the Faith Organization! Everyone will sing my
praises and revere my name! That is how it should
be. Anything else would be nonsense! Yes, utter
nonsense! It would be unjust! No one is looking at
this properly!!)
However, Oldnick had been abandoned by his
allies' submarine, he had aimed his gun at a civilian
worker of that plant, and had fled through the sea to
save his own skin.
But the old man did everything he could to avert
his gaze from that pathetic reality.
His hopes had not yet been completely destroyed.
He still had a trump card. So long as he had that,
the Capitalist Corporations' Object was on his side.
Oldnick arrived at a piece of equipment that was
likely used to help with air traffic control for
helicopters. He set the frequency on the large radio
to contact the Capitalist Corporations military.
Of course, he was using a civilian piece of
equipment that could not encrypt the signal, so
Quenser and Heivia could easily intercept it.
The two boys recognized the voice that came in
response.
A bit of age could be heard in the voice, but it
maintained a core of discipline.
It belonged to the commander they had run into in
the Loyauté district.
"Cardinal Oldnick. Do not use that device. Our
transmissions must be properly encrypted. We gave
you a radio to contact us with."
"If I could use that, why would I be using this
roundabout method!?"
Quenser and Heivia had already arrived at the
bottom of the plant. They were now searching for a
point they could safely surface and climb out of the
water at.
"Send the Object this way as soon as possible!! I
thought you were going to cut off the path of any
Legitimacy Kingdom pursuers! How did these ones
get through? Also..."
"You want to know why that plant you are in has
yet to be destroyed, cardinal? Not all operations go
precisely as planned. We are currently working to
fulfill our quota."
Quenser and Heivia exchanged a glance while
underwater.
That comment had made it sound like the
destruction of the plant had been part of the plan all
along.
"Listen." While too worried to even think about the
possibility of his soaking wet state putting him in
danger of electrocution, Roybelz Oldnick shouted
into the radio microphone with an almost hysteric
tone to his voice. "If I die here, you cannot acquire
what you are after. Do not forget that!"
"And don't you forget that just knowing the method
does not allow you to produce it. Keep in mind that
no one will give you better terms than us."
After deciding on a point to surface, Heivia
removed the scope from his rifle and poked it out
of the water like a periscope in order to check for
any guards.
While listening to the radio, Quenser muttered,
"Platinum."
"What do you mean?"
"Oldnick first came into contact with Hyena. They
were stealing the Oceanian made platinum. And
now he's targeting a plant used to acquire tungsten.
I can only think of one reason." Quenser seemed to
hesitate before continuing. "I've heard of a project
that is attempting to create platinum atoms by
artificially combining carbon and tungsten atoms.
It's called the Treasure of Electron Mathematics.
It's a technique in which an atom with an unstable
number of electrons is stabilized by combining it
with another atom. The old lady said research was
being taken into mass producing industrial
platinum, so I searched the military database for
information on it."
Basically, it was the technology to create incredibly
valuable platinum out of 2 completely different
types of atoms.
"Tungsten is classified as a rare earth, but it still
isn't as valuable as platinum."
"While they are creating as much synthetic
platinum as they want, they also want to drive up
its value by obstructing any other means of
producing it. The destruction of the tungsten plant
is likely a means of keeping others from using the
same method as themselves."
While sending out his transmission from the
control equipment, Oldnick started audibly
grinding his teeth. He then reached out for the last
thin life line remaining for him.
It was a connection made out of nothing but
money.
The old man knew how risky that was.
However, no card was more effective in dealings
with the Capitalist Corporations military.
"Once the system for producing platinum is in
place, I will once more be able to stand on the
center stage. A single Object costs more than 5
billion dollars, but that means one can start a war
after gathering that much money. I will recover my
territory from the hands of that Greek power."
"Do you wish for a comeback that much? I thought
the church council had yet to come to a definitive
decision over whether this method of production
was in violation of divine providence or not. I
thought there was a danger that this constitutes
bringing impurities into the world created by god."
Most religions believed that god had either created
the world or was largely involved in its origin and
therefore all materials would have been unable to
exist without having been created by god.
In that case, was it acceptable for humans to create
materials that did not exist in the natural world?
Would that not be nothing more than bringing
unnecessary impurities into the world god had
created?
Many had whispered of that problem, but the
central authority of the Faith Organization had not
spoken out against the creation of things like
plastics.
Creating water from oxygen and hydrogen was
nothing more than rearranging a portion of the
world god had created. The central authority felt
that was nothing more than an extension of the
world god had created and it therefore did not
violate providence.
"But that reasoning does not apply for the Treasure
of Electron Mathematics. Instead of combining
atoms to create a molecule, the number of electrons
between atoms is manipulated to create a different
atom when two atoms are combined. That is
different from simply using the atoms as building
blocks."
And that was not the only problem.
The created atom was not some brand new
material. The fact that already existing platinum
was being created was key.
"Even though this material is created by combining
a tungsten atom with a carbon atom, it is exactly
the same as a natural platinum atom. This foreign
atom is completely indistinguishable from the real
deal. Not only is an artificial substance being
brought into the world created by god, but this
artificial substance fits right in without any
problems whatsoever. That may have caused the
church to oppose this much more strongly than
simply creating some toxic new substance."
This was different from artificially recreating a
natural environment to create an artificial diamond
out of carbon.
This was a case of taking two non-platinum atoms
and creating a single platinum atom.
It was not merely creating a different form of
platinum that was seen as blasphemous.
It was the exposure of the vulnerability of the
universal system of atoms and molecules that was
seen as blasphemous.
However, Oldnick responded immediately.
The instantaneous response made it seem like he
was only focusing on what was convenient to him
rather than speaking from a deeply-held conviction.
"I will reclaim the land, assets, and people those
savages stole. There is no valid reason to criticize
me for that."
"Even if you have the money, there are many other
barriers to producing an Object."
"It does not matter if I do not reach my goal of an
Object in the end. Did you know that the Faith
Organization's exchange rate has been fixed? In
order to deal with the exchange rate of the world
market, transactions using diamonds and platinum
are growing more common than those using our
own currency."
"Yes, but economic analysts have called that a
roundabout method of dealing with it."
"Greek's primary exchange rate is tied to platinum.
If its value crashes, their culture will fall into
chaos. My true desire would be to personally send
an Object in, but it does not necessarily have to be
me who fills that role." Roybelz Oldnick gave a
cunning smile. "They expanded their influence
through rather forceful methods. That has earned
them a lot of hatred. Once their momentum has
been slowed with the chaos over platinum values,
others will tear into them."
Quenser and Heivia approached the facility through
the sea in that old man's blind spot.
They double checked the point and then grabbed
onto the edge of the giant float, but then a high-
pitched gunshot rang out.
The edge of the float burst open slightly.
The two boys frantically let go and hid in the ocean
once more.
"What the hell was that!? That wasn't Oldnick! It
came from the wrong direction!!"
They could not see far through the moving ocean
surface. However, sticking their heads above the
surface would bring the risk of being shot.
A bullet ripped apart the ocean surface and shot by
Quenser and Heivia while accompanied by
something like a spear made up of air bubbles.
"It looks like they don't know exactly where we
are." Quenser and Heivia swam away from that
spot while thinking about what to do. "Have some
comrades of Oldnick's arrived?"
"Or have some guards from the Capitalist
Corporations been sent out here?"
Heivia floated up near the surface and poked just
the scope of his rifle out of the seawater.
Using it like a periscope, he checked around the
area.
"Not good. I don't think those are Capitalist
Corporations soldiers."
"What do you mean?"
"It's Valkyrie. Some of those Faith Organization
elites are clinging to one of the plant's frames!!"
Quenser moved up next to Heivia and took the
scope from him.
He checked for himself.
Sure enough, some women wearing familiar
uniforms were there. Valkyrie was not running
along on top of the frame. They were aiming their
short-range sniper rifles with their elbows pressed
against the frame for stability.
"It seems they're as aware as us that there is really
nowhere to hide."
A small submarine could be seen sticking up above
the water a bit away from them.
Quenser handed the scope back to Heivia.
"But why is Valkyrie here? Since they're from the
Faith Organization too, is it related to Oldnick!?'
"If so, this could be even worse than running across
some Capitalist Corporations' soldiers. But at the
same time..."
Heivia trailed as more gunfire rang out.
The two boys hunkered down, but the bullets were
not headed in their direction.
"What? Are they targeting our other comrades?"
"No, they aren't... They're firing at the giant float
Oldnick ran onto!!"
"Why!?"
"That's their standard job. Valkyrie is a global
divine punishment group that executes any
'enemies of god' who have violated religious rules.
They're targeting Oldnick as members of the Faith
Organization!!" Heivia reattached the scope to his
rifle and then checked to make sure it was working
right. "But we can't assume the enemy of our
enemy is our friend. Valkyrie is after the same
target as us. At this rate, we can't avoid a conflict!!"
They were targeting the same person, but any
argument between them could provide Roybelz
Oldnick with a chance to escape. And any extra
time spent gave Capitalist Corporations' troops
more time to arrive to defend him.
"..." Quenser thought for a bit. "Heivia, hand me
your rifle."
"What? You've never had any marksmanship
training. How the hell are you going to be of any
use here!? Do you think they can't hit us at this
distance because they have short-range sniper
rifles? With their skill, they can hit us easily!!"
"No, not that." Quenser shook his head. "I know a
more effective method than bullets."
When he told Heivia what that method was, Heivia
expressed his disapproval just as Quenser had
expected he would.
"That's crazy. I already told you, the enemy of our
enemy is not our friend! We're after the same
target, so..."
"Just leave it to me." Quenser knew it would make
the contents unusable, but he opened his survival
kit underwater. "As with everything, it depends on
how you do it. So just hand me your rifle, Heivia."

Part 9
Valkyrie member Sarasa Gleamshifter clicked her
tongue while clinging to a tungsten plant and
commanding a small number of subordinates.
(I never expected to run into the Legitimacy
Kingdom at this stage.)
Roybelz Oldnick's reckless comments were the
same as ever, but she got the feeling he had
intentionally gotten the Legitimacy Kingdom
involved in order to help him escape Valkyrie.
He had intentionally disrupted the flow towards
checkmate by causing a conflict between the
Legitimacy Kingdom and the Faith Organization so
that he could complete his escape to somewhere
safe.
Normally, making a direct enemy of an Object was
suicidal, but he could just barely get away with it
by having the Capitalist Corporations eliminate it
for him.
(We were deployed because those impudent ideas
of his reached a level where they violated our
religious rules. But our reasoning means nothing to
the Legitimacy Kingdom. We cannot avoid a
conflict here.)
"Maria, Rachel." Sarasa gave instructions to her
subordinates over the radio. "We must finish them
off quickly. Prepare your 50 mm mortar. I will
intentionally fire well off target. Once they know
we are using short-range sniper rifles, they will
assume we cannot hit them at this range and grow
negligent. Fire at them once their heads surface.
"Understood. We can hold the mortar one-handed,
so the setup takes no time at all."
"If we don't take care of this quickly and get out of
here, we might even end up with that Object
pursuing us."
After seeing Maria and Rachel dive under the
water, Sarasa peered through her scope once more.
She then noticed something strange sticking up
from the ocean surface
It was the standard issue assault rifle of the
Legitimacy Kingdom.
She would have understood if just the barrel was
sticking out, but for some reason, it was sticking
out with the portion of the stock that pressed
against the shoulder up. Also, some kind of white
cloth was tied to the stock. She had no way of
knowing, but the cloth came from a survival kit.
The cloth could be used as a bandage for a wound,
as a sling for a broken arm, or to hold a sprained
ankle in place.
(Is that supposed to be a white flag?)
Sarasa frowned as she could not determine what
they were trying to do.
When she looked at the rifle sticking up out of the
water once more, she noticed something written in
permanent marker on the white cloth.
It was a number several digits long.
She thought for a second and then pulled out her
radio.
"What is the meaning of this? Are you trying to
determine my location from the signal?"
"Thank goodness you have plenty of curiosity."
When she set the frequency, she heard a voice that
clearly did not belong to anyone in her unit. For
one thing, it was male.
The voice likely belonged to a Legitimacy
Kingdom soldier.
"We are also targeting Roybelz Oldnick. However,
only one of us can kill him. That issue could start
an unnecessary firefight that will just give Oldnick
a chance to escape. ...Am I right in assuming you
see this the same way?"
"It seems you are not an idiot." Sarasa gave a thin
smile. "I assume you are not thinking the enemy of
your enemy is your friend. Valkyrie will eliminate
any enemies of god no matter what. We have no
intention of giving you his head. I do not like that
he set this up, but we cannot avoid a conflict over
this."
"You can have his head," replied the Legitimacy
Kingdom soldier immediately. "We just need to get
DNA evidence. After Oldnick is dead, we'll give
you some time. You can chop of his head, but leave
the rest of him for us. We'll retrieve that."
"..."
Sarasa thought for a bit.
"I will deem that an official proclamation. If you do
anything that works against our interests, we will
officially register you and your unit as enemies of
god. It does not matter if it is intentional. If a single
stray bullet hits me or my subordinates, the Faith
Organization will pursue you for all eternity."
"That's fine." Whether he truly understood what it
meant to make a promise with Valkyrie or not, the
Legitimacy Kingdom soldier did not hesitate. "Our
orders were simply to confirm that Oldnick is dead.
Unlike you, it does not matter to us who kills him.
Also, I'm not about to fall into our enemy's trap and
get into a pointless firefight during this age of clean
battlefields. The fewer corpses in the end, the
better."
Part 10
Valkyrie of the Faith Organization aimed toward
the giant float and fired their short-range sniper
rifles again and again. They did not use full auto,
but this was not in order to raise their accuracy.
They wanted to be constantly firing, and so they
wanted to lower their rate of ammunition
consumption.
As could be seen by the fact that they were not
particularly concerned with accuracy, Valkyrie
were not trying to hit their distant target.
They were providing cover fire for Quenser and
Heivia as they climbed out of the water and onto
the giant float.
They were ensuring that Oldnick would not shoot
the two boys during that dangerous period by
preventing him from coming out from behind
cover.
"Shit!! They're firing pretty intensely!! Are you
sure this is cover fire? They're not actually using
this as a chance to kill us, are they!?"
"They can't aim too accurately at this distance with
those short-range sniper rifles. Of course, that isn't
exactly reassuring even if they aren't intentionally
targeting us."
Quenser and Heivia climbed aboard the giant
floating plant and headed for the control equipment
while keeping low to the ground. Quenser pulled
out a clay-like bomb, attached it to the center of the
metal door leading into the facility, and stabbed in
an electric fuse.
That was when Oldnick noticed them.
He aimed his handgun at the door and fired several
times.
Quenser and Heivia frantically leapt out of the way.
"Shit! Let's get away from the door, Quenser!! That
way you can blow it out of our way!!"
"I hope this kills him!!"
While remaining down on the ground, Quenser hit
the switch on his radio.
With an explosion, the steel door was blown off its
hinges and into the room. It did not hit Oldnick
directly, but the shockwave seemed to have hit him.
They saw him thrown forcefully against the
communications equipment inside.
Heivia fired his rifle into the now-doorless entrance
and sparks flew from several devices within. But
Oldnick moved his unsteady legs and ran towards
the staircase further within the facility.
"That persistent bastard!!" shouted Heivia as he ran
for the stairs after Oldnick.
Repeated gunshots rang out.
They did not come from Heivia's rifle; they came
from Oldnick's handgun.
When Heivia arrived on the 2nd floor, he leaned up
against a corner in the passageway. Oldnick was
periodically firing his handgun, so Heivia could not
carelessly poke his head around the corner. When
he did take a peek around the corner despite the
danger, he saw that the old man had knocked over
all the furniture along the wall of the passageway to
create a simple barricade.
"What a pain in the ass." Heivia brought his radio's
microphone to his mouth. "Quenser. Hey,
Quenser!! Give me one of your electric fuses! Toss
one up to me right away!!"
"Why? And what about the explosive?"
"Just toss it up the staircase!!" shouted Heivia.
Quenser did as he was told and tossed the pen-like
fuse from the bottom of the staircase. Heivia
crouched down to pick the fuse up from the ground,
and pulled out the spare round for his handheld
anti-tank missile launcher. He then stuck the end of
the electric fuse into the connector on the side.
He could now detonate it remotely.
"Just fucking die already!!"
While drawing back from Oldnick's gunfire, Heivia
stuck just his arm around the corner of the
passageway and threw the explosive.
Heivia immediately pressed his back against the
wall and used his thumb to flip the panel off the
switch on his radio.
He could detonate it at any time.
Even if Oldnick survived, the barricade between
the two would have been blown away. Heivia could
easily finish off the enemy while his movements
were dulled by the shock.
Just as Heivia was about the hit the switch...
"Wait! Wait!!"
The old man's voice suddenly came from down the
passageway.
Heivia could not peer around the corner. He
preferred not to be shot between the eyes.
"I can give you information on the Capitalist
Corporations Object!!" said Oldnick. "You aren't
from Valkyrie, are you!? You must be from the
Legitimacy Kingdom then. You need information
on the Capitalist Corporations Object you are
fighting, right!?"
"Planning another slip of the tongue, are you?
Sorry, but our primary target is you, not the Deep
Optical. You really need to learn how to keep your
mouth shut. Also, without you, the Legitimacy
Kingdom and Capitalist Corporations have no
reason to continue fighting."
"This time, maybe. But you will meet again on the
battlefield someday. Wouldn't it be better to learn
how that Second Generation Object works now?"
(Tch. He knows where we stand. Has he gotten
some information on us from somewhere?)
"Also, the information could be used in developing
your own Objects. It uses a liquid prism to safely
combine multiple laser beams and it uses laser
vibration detection to help absorb any shocks.
Information on those technologies could help make
them exclusive to the Legitimacy Kingdom."
It was true that information on Object technology
could earn someone massive amounts of money. A
hopeful designer like Quenser might even drool at
the thought.
Oldnick continued speaking as Heivia remained
silent.
"Stay your hand here. I will wait here for things to
calm down. I do not wish to make an enemy of the
Legitimacy Kingdom. All I care about is destroying
Greece. And if that means I must oppose the
entirety of the Faith Organization, it could work to
your advantage."
"...I see."
Not only would he hand over information on some
Object technology, but he would also destroy a
major power within the Faith Organization.
After thinking on it, Heivia came to his conclusion.
"Then I think you need to die."
"Shit!?"
Just before Heivia unhesitatingly pressed the button
on his radio, Oldnick leaped to the side in an
attempt to get as far away as possible from the
explosive. When he landed, he slid across the
ground like a baseball player sliding headfirst into
base.
With an explosive noise, dust was blown into the
air.
"Gaaaahhh!?"
"Tch. So he can still scream!!"
The type of explosive and distance from the
explosive were also important factors, but Heivia
had seen a report saying the deadliness of an
explosive blast differed by over 70% depending on
whether the target was standing or lying down.
Oldnick tried to pull up his hurting body, but it
would not move the way he wanted it to. The old
man could only breathe heavily as he lay on the
ground.
"You...idiot. Do you not know a good deal when
you see one!?" said the old man.
"It's true that nothing could be better for us than for
the Faith Organization to weaken itself with
internal conflicts." Heivia carefully walked out
from behind the corner and kept his rifle aimed at
the old man. "But you aren't distinguishing between
the battlefield and the safe countries when you say
you are going to destroy this Greek power. I have
no intention of helping someone like that."
"...!?"
Meanwhile, Quenser remained in the room filled
with large communications equipment on the first
floor of the facility.
(Dammit, Oldnick. I know you don't want to die,
but where do you think your goal is here?)
Quenser searched for a map of the facility to see if
there was a heliport on the rooftop.
A handheld device sat atop the control panel. The
plastic exterior was cracked, but the display was
still lit.
(Is this Oldnick's?)
Quenser picked it up.
(It might have some information on him. If we
know the scope of his power and what exactly he is
after, we can figure out what to do next!!)
He found external links and collections of
encryption codes, but the device's wireless
functionality was broken, so he could not access
any information stored on external servers.
However, he did find a few temporary files still on
the device. Quenser worked for a bit and finally
found a way to read those temporary files.
Changes in the Value of Platinum
How to Use Tungsten
The Treasure of Electron Mathematics
He found a few fragmentary titles, but he could not
access the full documents they linked to. Quenser
clicked his tongue and called up more information.
Oceania
Domed Livestock Facilities = Information Alliance
Made
The Food Supply Situation
Self-Sufficiency and Importation
"What...?"
Quenser frowned.
He found some data on Oceanian agriculture. Yet
he had thought the Capitalist Corporations and
Oldnick's connection was based on the Treasure of
Electron Mathematics that created manmade
platinum using tungsten. He saw no connection to
agriculture or the food supply.
(No, wait...)
The Unstable Balance of Oceania's Natural
Environment
The Impossibility of Future Dairy Farming Based
on Grazing Land
70% of Meat Imported from the Capitalist
Corporations
The Effect of Manmade Livestock Facilities
Supplied by the Information Alliance
Quenser audibly gulped.
"Due to the unstable balance between vegetation
and desert in Oceania, grazing land was banned.
This meant they had to rely on imported meat
which mostly came from the Capitalist
Corporations. But Oceania plans to use the funds
from the platinum mined there to purchase dome-
shaped livestock facilities from the Information
Alliance. That means..."
A certain world power did not want Oceania to use
artificial livestock facilities.
They wanted to drive down the value of the source
of funds for those large-scale dairy farming
facilities.
To do that, they had to destroy the value of
platinum.
It was in the Capitalist Corporations' interests to
cause a crash in the value of platinum using the
Treasure of Electron Mathematics.
However...
The Information Alliance-made livestock facilities
were needed to improve the unstable food supply
situation.
Robbing them of that option meant...
The Negative Effects of Cyclones
Worries Over the Possibility of Import Routes
Becoming Blocked
Severe Food Shortages
Estimated Starvation Levels of Over Half a Million
Up to 750,000 Could Die Before a Solution is
Found
"Those monsters!!!!!"
Just as Quenser very nearly crushed the handheld
device in his grip, a staticky voice came in over the
large communication equipment that had been
partially damaged in the firefight.
"Oh, right." The speaker must have thought he was
still speaking with Oldnick. "Cardinal, there is one
last thing I would like to make clear. It is about the
method of creating manmade platinum you call the
Treasure of Electron Mathematics. The truth is, we
do not really need it."
"..."
"Basically, we just need the price of Oceanian
platinum to plummet. The thing about the market
is, an expected crash is enough to cause a panic
even if there was never any real threat."
Quenser knew what the man was trying to say.
His face paled as the man continued to speak.
"And so we do not actually need to learn the details
of the method from you, cardinal. We just need it to
be known that we worked with you in some way or
another. In fact, if you are captured or killed by the
Legitimacy Kingdom or Faith Organization here,
some might decide you never actually managed to
give us information on the Treasure of Electron
Mathematics. That would be a problem."
"Heivia!!" Quenser brought his own small radio to
his mouth. "Get out of here now! Now that Oldnick
is cornered here, the Capitalist Corporations is
going to-...!!"
"In that case, wouldn't the best way to keep those
useful doubts alive be to turn you to ash there?"
continued the man.
Quenser had no time to wait for Heivia's response.
He ran out of the facility as quickly as he could and
leaped into the sea. Seawater got in his mouth, but
he did not care. He covered his eyes with his right
arm.
In the next instant, a great flash of light exploded
out. It seemed like the light of welding multiplied
several dozen times.
Even with his arm covering them, the light stabbed
into his eyes. He could not even calmly deduce that
the light came from a massive laser beam burning
the structure away.
In all seriousness, Quenser went blind for a bit.
That violently bright light was the proof that it was
an attack from a ridiculously huge weapon.
It was a Second Generation Object.
It was the Deep Optical.
(Uuh...!?)
"Cough!! Cough cough!!"
His vision started to come back, but an afterimage
remained as if a film was being draped over his
eyes.
Quenser started to panic. He completely forgot
about the tube right next to his mouth leading to the
oxygen tank on his back and headed for the ocean
surface for air.
When his face breached the surface, the change to
the environment became abundantly clear.
The giant, lightly-colored float had been polished
like a silver mirror.
Except that was not what had happened.
(A portion of the steel facility was vaporized!?)
The metal had turned into a hot vapor, had been
sprayed across the giant float, and then had cooled
and hardened there. That made the surface of the
float shine like it had been silver-plated.
(God dammit...)
As always, Object cannons were in a league of their
own.
Quenser knew he had escaped the blast, but fear
still filled him from the tips of his fingers and toes
to the very core of his body upon seeing those
effects. He could not feel any relief over having
avoided it. He had to use his intellect to its fullest
in order to come up with a plan to survive, but he
could feel his thoughts falling to pieces in the face
of his emotions.
That was when the upper floors of the facility fell
to the ocean because the middle floors had been
destroyed.
The sudden waves this caused tossed Quenser
around, but he managed to not drown thanks to his
oxygen tank.
When he surfaced once more, he spotted Heivia's
head sticking out of the water nearby.
He had likely jumped out a window just before the
laser beam struck.
"I almost died! Dammit, I almost died!! I can't
think straight and I can't feel pain properly!! I still
have all my arms and legs, right!?"
It seemed Heivia had begun to panic.
Quenser then heard a female voice come in over his
radio.
It was from Valkyrie.
"Hey, we saw what just happened! What happened
to Roybelz Oldnick!?"
The reply came from Heivia who had been
pursuing the man up to the very last second.
"How the fuck should I know!? That old man was
acting like he had all the answers while talking
about liquid prisms and laser vibration detectors,
but he sure got blown away with the entire 2nd
floor easily enough!! I doubt there's enough left of
him to feed a single fish!!"
"Tch!!"
Quenser heard someone click their tongue and then
the radio transmission cut off.
Quenser tried contacting them again a few times,
but he received no response.
"I think they ran off..."
"I want to join them!! Our huge-breasted
commander told us not to let anything happen to
the plant, and look what happened!! How many
yellow cards is that now!? Can you even stock up
red cards!?"
Quenser ignored Heivia and muttered to himself to
gather his thoughts.
"Valkyrie was after nothing but Oldnick from the
start. They have no reason to stick around to help
with the Capitalist Corporations or Deep Optical."
But Quenser and Heivia were not so lucky.
The Deep Optical was fighting with the Baby
Magnum. If the princess lost that battle, Quenser
and Heivia at the very least would be persistently
pursued if not the entire mobile maintenance
battalion.
After all, they had given the Deep Optical enough
of a reason to focus its fire on them with what they
had done in the Loyauté district.
They had no idea when the Object's main cannon
would be fired at them in the name of destroying
the plant to drive up the price of tungsten.
"As always, we have to charge through the heart of
hell in order to survive."
"Oh, what the hell! Why is it always an Object in
the end!? We're getting a little too close to actually
ending up in heaven here!"
While cursing their luck, the two boys reequipped
their goggles and the mouth pieces for their oxygen
tanks, and then dove down once more.
They were headed for the Capitalist Corporations'
Second Generation Object.
They would not leave alive unless the Deep Optical
was destroyed.

Part 11
As Quenser and Heivia headed through the ocean
with their aqua scooters, the bombardment from the
Deep Optical continued. Naturally, the
bombardment was targeting the tungsten plant.
"Shit!! Our huge-breasted commander just won't
stop yelling! We didn't manage to retrieve
Oldnick's body and now the plant is being attacked.
This is getting worse and worse!"
"If I have to choose between becoming fish food
and being treaded on by a beautiful woman, I will
always choose the latter! So let's focus on surviving
this, Heivia!!"
The Deep Optical was unsuited to high-speed
movements, so its strategies focused around
deciding things quickly with its giant laser.
However, it was now attacking the plant while
holding the princess's Baby Magnum off almost
casually.
It was clear which Object had the upper hand.
The Baby Magnum had not been directly hit by the
enemy's main cannon, but it continued to just
barely avoid it. The side effects of the giant laser
had to be doing damage bit by bit. That Deep
Optical seemed to have nothing to worry about.
But...
"How odd. They're only targeting the giant float
with that facility on it while completely ignoring
the frames that make up the majority of the plant."
"They just want to make the entire plant unusable.
Afterwards, they can retrieve the filters and take
the tungsten for themselves. It's a very Capitalist
Corporations way of thinking."
The one piece of luck was that this strategy kept the
rest of the group meant to pursue Oldnick from
being targets as they helped the civilian workers
evacuate via ship.
However, they could hardly relax.
"Either way, only one fate awaits us if the princess
loses. The rest of the unit might survive, but we
have given them enough reason to hunt us down."
Quenser was of course referring to the incident in
the Loyauté district.
Sounding annoyed, Heivia said, "I know we have
to do it, but how are we supposed to oppose that
monster?"
"It's specialized for naval battles, so it uses an air
cushion propulsion device. Its armaments are
centered around laser beams. That gives us a few
starting points." Quenser let his body float in place
thanks to the buoyancy provided by the program-
controlled oxygen regulation inside his diving suit.
"The air cushion propulsion device keeps the craft
afloat using the power of air, so the situation
between the floats and the ocean surface can
greatly affect its balance"
"Yeah, it remains stable by keeping the air between
two large flat surfaces."
"And it loses its balance if that is destroyed," said
Quenser. "Luckily, this is the ocean rather than
solid ground. That gives us a chance. We need to
take a large chunk of the ocean water out from
under the Deep Optical. If we do, it will capsize
and sink. ...A few years back, a Second Generation
Object specialized for naval battles was sunk by a
freak wave."
"But we can't just cause a freak wave," said Heivia
in disapproval. "Freak waves are large enough to
sink tankers and they occur unexpectedly. The
exact conditions that cause them are unknown. It's
true that they're like the grim reaper to ships on the
sea, but how are we supposed to cause one when no
one knows what exactly causes them?"
"That was just an example. Also, the Deep Optical
has laser beam emitters on its side that it can use to
detonate the air and recover like a self-righting
doll."
"What other 'starting points' do you have?"
"That high power laser beam. Its main cannon
indirectly helped us out in the Loyauté district. It
gathers the energy of 8 laser beams and fires it all
at once. If something goes wrong with the control
of that energy, it might blow itself apart."
"What, are you going to climb up onto that main
cannon?" Heivia shrugged within the seawater.
"Even if it's a relatively slow Object, it still moves
at over 200 kph. If we tried to grab onto it, it would
rip our arms off."
"Can we interfere with it from a distance?"
"There's no way we can get a hole-in-one firing an
anti-tank missile down the barrel of the main
cannon."
"What about interference with its programming?"
"If that was possible, the electronic simulation
department would have tons of medals."
Quenser fell silent.
Heivia had plenty of negative opinions, but he was
good at viewing the situation rationally (when it
meant saving his own skin). Quenser had plenty of
positive opinions, but he was bad at seeing the risk
when he thought he had a way of winning.
Quenser was thankful for those characteristics of
his comrade in arms. Your personality was not
something you could change even if you were
aware of its negative aspects.
Quenser suddenly stopped his thought process and
spoke once more.
"Then there is one last thing we can rely on."
"Ahn?"
"Just to double check, Oldnick mentioned a liquid
prism and laser vibration detectors before he died,
right?"
"Yeah, he made it sound like the liquid prism was
used to combine the 8 lasers and the laser vibration
detectors were used defensively."
"...I see." Quenser thought for a bit. "In that case,
we might have a chance. We need to think up a
way to get up on that thing."
"What could you possibly do on top of it!?"
Heivia's eyes opened wide. "Even if you climb up
on top of the Object's spherical main body, the pilot
Elite is hardly going to open the hatch to the
cockpit. And the puny guns and explosives we have
can't damage that main cannon!! Those monsters
are specifically designed to keep that from
happening!!"
"With its focus on lasers, the Deep Optical likely
cannot keep its defenses up to the level needed in a
real battle just with thick armor. Laser beams are
delicate enough as they are, but they've combined 8
of them together. That main cannon is filled with
delicate parts. It's like building a pyramid of cards
higher and higher."
"So what!?"
"We can use that." While underwater, Quenser
pulled out his handheld device. "We overheard tons
of information related to the Deep Optical before
heading into the maintenance base in the Loyauté
district. We can use some of that data here. But to
use it, we have to get up on the Deep Optical first."
As he spoke, Quenser held a hand out toward
Heivia.
"Hand me your knife, Heivia. The tiny little
cooking knife in my survival kit isn't going to cut it
here. I need your pointlessly large combat knife."
"What are you going to do with a knife!?"
"Get us something to use in place of a rope. The
tungsten filters should do the trick. They're several
dozen meters long and are more than strong enough
to support our weight."
"Are you serious? Are you seriously thinking of
using a rope to climb up that Object as it moves
around the sea at over 200 kph? You'll just end up
looking stupider than someone wiping out while
water skiing!! And even if you do get up on it, the
Deep Optical will just fling you off when it makes
a wide turn!! This is not an environment conducive
to rock climbing!!"
"I never said I was going to do that." After
checking on the information he needed, Quenser
put his handheld device away and pulled his radio
out in its place. "We can just take the elevator."

Part 12
As the Baby Magnum moved around at high speed,
the Deep Optical moved at much slower speeds,
parried with its various cannons, and bought time
with its blinding weapon. All the while, a
tremendous exchange of shells continued.
But then a change came over the Baby Magnum's
actions.
All seven of its main cannon arms had been using
the low-stability plasma cannon option, but one of
them rotated like a revolver and switched over to
the coilgun.
Amidst the many low-stability plasma cannon
shots, a single giant metal coilgun shell was fired.
It was not targeting the Deep Optical itself. If it did,
it would just end being deflected by a laser parry.
The princess was targeting the ocean surface below
the Deep Optical. A crater several dozen meters
across was created and a spray of water that was
closer to an explosive blast than a wave dyed the
air white.
The Deep Optical floated in the air using its air
cushions, but it could still be greatly affected by the
condition of the ocean surface.
As more and more metal shells were fired, the
Deep Optical very nearly capsized.
But it managed to recover.
It fired a large number of lasers from its side to
cause an explosive expansion of the air beneath the
falling side of the spherical body. This pushed it
back up. This momentum was used to force the
craft back up from an almost 80 degree tilt.
How did the Deep Optical interpret that attack?
Had the Baby Mangum been attempting to slow the
Deep Optical's evasive speed by destroying its
footing?
Had the Baby Magnum been trying to damage the
delicate equipment within the Deep Optical by
shaking the entire Object?
Many ideas must have passed through its pilot's
mind.
But all of them were wrong.
What the princess had been instructed via radio to
do was...

Part 13
Quenser and Heivia stood near the very top of the
Deep Optical's spherical main body. The filter cloth
was bent in a U shape around one of the relatively
small cannons. It was supporting them in the place
of a rope.
"Shit!! The surface is wet so I keep slipping! If we
fall from this height, even the ocean is deadly!!"
"You should be thanking your luck that there's
seawater here to slip on! If the residual heat from a
laser firing was still here, we might have been
turned into human torches!!"
The two had not simply climbed up the side of the
spherical main body.
They did not have the time for that and even if they
had attempted it, the magnetic sensors and other
sensors would have detected them and they would
have been immediately shaken off.
They had taken a simple shortcut.
"I can't believe you would think to wrap the filter
around a cannon on the top in the instant the Deep
Optical lost its balance. As always, your ideas use
our lives as collateral!!"
"But thanks to that, we could use the Deep Optical
righting itself to pull us to the top all at once."
The princess's attack had brought the Deep Optical
down by 80 degrees. In other words, it had very
nearly fallen horizontally to the ocean surface.
There had only been just over 20 meters between
the ocean surface and the top of the spherical main
body. With a weight on the end of the filter, they
had been able to throw it that distance.
"Anyway, we need to hurry to the main cannon!
When the Deep Optical has had to right itself like
that previously it has focused on evasion and
disturbance tactics, and does not use its main
cannon for a few minutes. But once its automatic
scan is over, it will begin the fight anew. If that
happens with us here, the radiant heat will roast
us!!"
"What exactly are we going to do!? The main
cannon is covered in thick armor. Our rifle and
explosives can't damage it!!" shouted Heivia as he
headed after Quenser.
Quenser arrived at a portion of the main cannon's
base to the upper right of the Object. He pulled
some Hand Axe plastic explosive from his
backpack, tore off a small bit, and stuck it on the
side of the base. Once he was done, he stabbed an
electric fuse into it.
Heivia brought his hand to his forehead.
"That's nowhere near enough to get through Object
armor!!"
"You help too, Heivia!!" shouted back Quenser as
he tossed a package of explosive to Heivia. "We
don't have time!! We need to set up 20 more just
like what I did here!!"
"God dammit. This isn't going to do anything!!"
swore Heivia as he moved up next to Quenser.
As he continued the work, Quenser said, "Make the
explosives small. Don't make them too big. That
would be pointless."
"What? Don't we need them to be as big as possible
to have even the slightest chance of doing any
damage to the armor?"
"I'm not trying to break through the surface."
They heard a metallic creaking noise.
The Deep Optical's main cannon was starting to
perform minute adjustments to its aim.
"Time's up, Quenser!! If we don't get out of here,
the heat'll kill us!!"
"Just 7 more!!"
"We're gonna get roasted!!"
"3...2...Okay, done!!"
Quenser stood up and immediately started running
down the side of the spherical main body. In other
words, he ran down a steep slope heading to the
sea.
Heivia lost his cool.
"You have got to be kidding me! You don't have a
gentler means of escape!?"
"Hurry!! If that main cannon fires, we'll be burned
more horribly than a newlywed wife's home
cooking!!"
After seeing Quenser run off ahead, Heivia
followed suit while half in tears.
The slope of the spherical main body gradually
grew steeper and Heivia's feet eventually got
tangled up on each other. He just barely managed
to get the footing to take one last step and leap
towards the sea.
He jumped from a height of over 30 meters.
He felt weightless for a few seconds, but an
unpleasant pressure soon filled his stomach.
He struck the ocean surface in the next instant.
Heivia felt a shock more powerful than if he had
run full tilt into a sheet of plywood.
He very nearly passed out in the ocean, but a pure
white flash of light that seemed to crush his eyes
forced back his consciousness.
The Deep Optical had fired its main cannon.
"Cough!! Cough cough!!"
"Heivia, you have your oxygen tank, right!? Don't
panic and use it!!"
Heivia heard Quenser's advice over the radio, but
he could not respond. Quenser then reached a hand
over from nearby and brought the mouthpiece to
Heivia's mouth.
Once Heivia had regained oxygen and calm, he
wrapped his hands around Quenser's neck.
"Die!! This is why I never want to go along with
your horrible plans!!"
"Stop it, Heivia!! Are you in such a panic you want
to cling to a guy!? Our job isn't over yet! If we do
nothing, the Deep Optical will defeat the
princess!!"
"But what can we do with those tiny explosives?"
asked Heivia as he finally removed his hands from
Quenser's neck.
Quenser pulled out his radio and said, "Remember
all the information we gathered on the Object in the
Loyauté district? The Deep Optical is a mass of
laser technology with unbelievable firepower, but
that also means it contains a mass of delicate
equipment inside. They have to worry about shocks
to the outside and even the G forces created by
high-speed movements."
"And?"
"Just making the armor thick isn't enough to protect
that delicate equipment."
Quenser moved his thumb repeatedly, and each
time an explosive noise reverberated through the
water.
The princess aboard the Baby Magnum heard every
radio transmission between the two boys and could
see the explosions.
And she probably knew the exact numbers
involved better than the two idiots who had set up
the explosives.
That level of explosion could not so much as
scratch the Object's armor.
In fact, it was not even enough to blow up your
average tank.
(What are they after? I hope that is not all they
have. If so, I wasted my time helping them do it!!)
She then heard Quenser continue his explanation
over the radio.
"That is why it has devices installed to
electronically absorb the shocks. They keep a large
gap in the armor and any shocks to the outer layer
are sensed with laser vibration detectors. They can
then counterbalance the shockwave running
through the armor and cushion the inner armor. The
shock will transfer through the countless pillars, but
the lasers are faster. By cutting off any shocks that
exceed the allowable limit, they can protect the
delicate equipment."
"That just means their armor is more of a pain to
deal with than just a thick wall, right? That just
means the explosions will do even less damage!"
"Not necessarily," replied Quenser immediately as
he continued the seemingly meaningless
explosions.
The princess frowned as she zigzagged the Baby
Magnum around.
She still could not tell what he was after.
"The laser vibration detectors are meant to detect
vibrations coming in from outside, but it is best not
to move around too much if you want to up the
accuracy. In other words, if you have it reacting to
every little vibration, you run the risk of a delayed
response to a larger shock you truly need to deal
with. To keep the accuracy high, the shocks too
small to have any negative effects on the delicate
equipment are overlooked."
As the high heat caused when the lasers passed
through ran the risk of disturbing the liquid, it was
likely that either a fast-acting coolant was used or
the liquid prism itself was divided into cartridges.
But what if vibrations came from somewhere the
designers never expected?
"The explosives send just a slight shock into the
armor. By pumping in small shocks like that
repeatedly, we can shift the position of the delicate
equipment bit by bit. It may not even amount to a
hundredth of a millimeter."
"What good is something on a level only a
craftsman cares about?"
"Plenty. The liquid prism collects the optical
energy for the main cannon. The light is bent by
intentionally altering the density of the liquid inside
the container by electrochemical means. By
sending repeated vibrations into it, the
intentionally-altered density will become uniform.
And that means..."
Each individual shock made it to the prism.
And the result was as follows:
In the next instant, the Deep Optical's main cannon
became wrapped in a brilliant flash of light and
disappeared.
At that moment, the energy from 8 carbon dioxide
lasers within the Deep Optical's main cannon was
being gathered at the base of the giant main
cannon.
Lasers were emitted by exposing excited electrons
to external light. The stronger that light, the
stronger the emitted laser.
In a way, the Deep Optical's main cannon was a
laser beam weapon that created a massive
stimulated emission by pumping in the optical
energy of 8 standard main cannon laser beams.
A mere mirror could not be used to gather the
energy from all eight.
It required a device called a liquid prism. A special
liquid inside a clear container that had its density
intentionally altered electrochemically so that the
light was bent like a sugar sculpture.
The liquid prism could freely bend the light with
changes in the liquid's density, but without an
irregularity to the density in the clear container, it
could not function properly.
What would happen if a set shock was continually
applied to that clear container containing a liquid
with an altered density?
The answer was simple.
The shaking of the container's contents would even
out the density of the liquid that was supposed to be
of irregular density.
And without that irregular density, the light would
no longer be bent.
The light that was supposed to be bent would pass
straight through it.
And this would tear the Deep Optical's main
cannon apart from the inside.
The light of the explosion assaulted Quenser and
Heivia's eyeballs even through their closed eyelids.
"Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?
"
Quenser shouted in pain, but he breathed a sigh of
relief at the same time. His plan had worked. The
Deep Optical's main cannon had been blown off,
and the energy of the explosion had to have done
serious damage to the Object as a whole. Even if
the entire Object had not been destroyed, it was no
match for the princess without its main cannon.
But...
"What...?" muttered Heivia in confusion.
The Deep Optical tilted to the side. The energy
from the explosion was pushing it to the side and it
was beginning to capsize. Not only had the main
cannon been torn apart from the inside, but it had
completely melted and the armor of the main body
had been torn up near where it had been.
There was no way it could continue fighting.
In fact, it was entirely possible it was too damaged
to use its lasers and right itself.
And the Deep Optical did not even try to recover
from its tilt.
It simply rotated around.
...Almost as if it was switching to another mode.
"Wha-...!?"
Its silhouette changed. The two large parts on the
back of the spherical main body opened up and
spread out like curved wings. It was still hovering
above the surface of the water, but it was no longer
using air cushions; it was using nothing but the
power of lasers. Lasers were reflected between the
ocean's surface and the bottom of the craft to
explosively expand the air. The ends of the portions
that had functioned as "legs" up until then opened
up and lenses for laser weapons could be seen
within.
While staring in blank shock, Heivia shouted, "It
transformed!! What the hell!? Are the reactor and
cockpit installed like gyroscopes!?"
"Dammit."
They had thought it was finally over.
They had thought they could return to the
maintenance base zone and continue their vacation.
But...
"Does this mean we've only now made the Deep
Optical get serious about this!?"
They had finally reached a turning point.
The Capitalist Corporations' Second Generation
Object began its counterattack.

Part 14
When Quenser and Heivia fought an Object, they
were usually entirely ignored as actual threats by
the enemy.
If the Object took actions to kill them from the very
beginning and kept them in the center of its sights
as a priority target, there was no way flesh-and-
blood soldiers had any hope of winning.
They would be unable to run away or evade even if
they tried. No cover would be of any use.
But...
Even if the Deep Optical had escaped any trouble
by transforming, it was unlikely to ignore the
people who had destroyed its original main cannon.
"Shit. Here it comes. That monster is headed this
way, Quenser!!" shouted Heivia, despite the fact
that there was nothing the two of them could hope
to do.
One of its new main laser beam cannons turned
toward them. Without hesitation, an orange beam
of light flew directly towards Quenser and Heivia.
Just before it did, the princess's Baby Magnum
interposed itself between them and the beam.
"Quenser!!" shouted the princess.
"Can't you be worried about me, too!?" complained
Heivia, but it was hardly the time for that.
The overall impression given off by the Deep
Optical had changed.
While creating great explosive noises, it slid back
and forth and fired laser beam after laser beam at
the Baby Magnum. Its speed had undergone a great
change. Before, the Deep Optical had been unable
to move faster than about 200 kph, but now it was
dancing around the Baby Magnum at speeds 4 or 5
times greater. It was easily handling the Baby
Magnum which had proven it could handle your
average Generation Two in the past.
"Shit!! What is going on!?"
"Those C-shaped wings on the back of the Deep
Optical are used to reflect lasers. It uses those to
intentionally detonate the air and give it quick
bursts of speed. This gives it acceleration you could
never hope to get with rocket boosters!!"
"I thought it avoided sudden movements because of
the delicate equipment in the lasers!"
"It must want to overcome this situation even if it
ends up destroying its own main system! These
main cannons are likely solid-state lasers that use
YAG. That's the very first optical weapon ever
developed and it therefore has the simplest design."
"Solid-state lasers have high outputs but can't be
fired for long, right?"
"Yes, and as you can see, it can't put out as much
heat, so the princess's armor can withstand a few
hits. When the previous lasers roasted the dust and
moisture in the air, it created a pure white beam,
but this has fallen to orange." Quenser calmly
analyzed the situation. "Most likely, it fires
repeatedly similar to a machinegun in order to
make the best use of the short firing time. If it fires
at the same spot repeatedly, it might be able to tear
open the armor. However, the armor can hold up
for a while if the princess makes sure it hits at
skewed points."
"But either way the princess will be taken out
eventually!! And once our shield is gone, we're
dead!!"
"..."
Quenser thought for a bit and then took out some
plastic explosive.
"Princess, how much time can you buy us against
the Deep Optical?"
"Not enough to call it anything as cool as 'buying
you time'."
"Just give us 10 minutes," said Quenser as he
breathed a sigh of relief that she was calm enough
to joke about it. "That should be enough."

Part 15
The first to notice the oddity was Froleytia
Capistrano as she monitored the Baby Magnum and
the battlefield as a whole.
"What?"
She could hardly be blamed for being confused.
An explosion had suddenly occurred amongst the
frames that made up a large portion of the plant.
And the explosion did not spread out evenly. It was
vertical. A few of the frames were blown to pieces
and a pillar of water shot a few dozen meters
straight up into the air.
"Is there anything explosive there?"
"N-no! Most of the plant is filled with filters meant
to collect tungsten from the ocean water. Gas
turbines are used to draw in the filters, but an
entirely different machine does that. It is not
normally attached to them. There should be nothing
explosive there."
As Froleytia received that report from the
electronic simulation department, a second and
third explosion occurred.
"Explosions from within the sea..."
"Even if the Legitimacy Kingdom funds it, that is
essentially a civilian facility in a blank area. I have
never heard of any sea mines being placed in the
ocean around it. We are performing a satellite
search to determine whether it is an enemy UUV or
fish robot!"
Froleytia had a bad feeling about what it might be,
so she opened a few new windows on her laptop.
(I need the test firing report lists for official
Legitimacy Kingdom armaments...)
She called up a diagram displaying the test results
of various explosives.
It contained data on the spread of the blast,
fragmentation, heat, and other effects when
detonated under various environments, in different
forms, and under different conditions.
(How does the blast spread when the Hand Axe
plastic explosive is detonated underwater?)
When she set those search conditions, detailed
numerical data and a simple diagram of the spread
of the blast appeared on the screen. It seemed the
diagram would change in real time if she entered
the amount of explosive and the depth under the
water.
When Froleytia saw it, she felt a bit dizzy.
It was almost exactly the same as the pillars of
water she had just seen.
"Those brats... Why in the hell are they blowing up
the plant they're supposed to be protecting!?"

Part 16
As Quenser detonated the plastic explosives from a
safe distance, he spoke to Heivia who was looking
through his rifle scope.
"How high were those!?"
"The first one was 27.1. The second was 30.5!
That's just barely there, right!? How are things
going on your end!?"
"Well enough. Now it's just up to the princess."
"Hey, Quenser. Our huge-breasted commander has
been screaming at us over the radio for a bit now.
What are we supposed to tell her?"
"You're still connected to the channel? I cut it off a
while ago."
"Sometimes I am truly in awe of your guts..."
As they spoke, the two boys moved on to the next
step.
Even then, the Deep Optical was trying to attack
Quenser and Heivia, and the Baby Magnum was
taking the hits to act as their shield.
The princess used her brilliant talents (that she had
been artificially given) to keep the lasers from
hitting the same spot too many times, but the entire
spherical main body had begun to glow orange.
They had no time.
"Heivia, you dive down and remove the weights
from the bottom of the filters! I'll cut off the filters
with the knife!!"
"Tch. I'm not gonna get decompression sickness am
I!?"
As the filters were cut loose, the cloth floated up
near the surface of the water. Quenser cut loose
several dozen, so they quickly spread out amongst
the surrounding water.
Quenser contacted the princess via radio.
"I've scattered some filters packed full of tungsten.
Don't pass over them!!"
"How are you going to destroy the Deep Optical
with filters?"
"Isn't it obvious? The shiny surface of the filters
will reflect the lasers."
However, the Deep Optical was covered in various
sensors.
It had surely noticed the large number of filters
floating near the ocean surface.
It made quick movements back and forth to avoid
the filters. And it did so with its propulsion device
that detonated the air using lasers.
The princess gasped and said, "It's no good. They
have noticed them!! You cannot interfere with the
lasers keeping the Deep Optical afloat!!"
"Those aren't the ones I'm after," said Quenser as
he reached for the switch on his radio.
Yes.
The switch that sent the detonation signal to the
electric fuses for the Hand Axe plastic explosives
attached to the filters.
"I'm targeting the giant wings it uses for quick
turns!!"
As he shouted, several plastic explosives detonated
simultaneously. Instead of spreading in every
direction, the underwater explosions shot pillars of
water straight up.
And they brought the shattered fragments of the
filters with them.
Some of them made it within the C-shaped wings
on the back of the Deep Optical's spherical main
body. At the same time, powerful lasers were being
reflected around within the wings causing the air to
explosively expand.
The tungsten that was blown into the middle of it
all threw the reflection of the lasers out of order
which in turn caused a massive error in the angle of
the Object's turn. And this was at the same time
that the Deep Optical was making repeated small
curves to avoid the filters that it had mistaken for
sea mines.
In the middle of one of those quick turns, it lost its
balance.
The entire Object tilted far to the side.
Before, it had used reflected lasers to detonate the
air and recover, but it could no longer use that once
it had transformed.
That left only one fate for the giant weapon.
It had to sink.
It could not right itself and it could not rotate 180
degrees and transform.
While sending a great spray of water into the air
like someone wiping out while water skiing, the
Deep Optical attempted to recover.
But then one last strike finished it off.
This strike came from a low-stability plasma
cannon equipped on the Legitimacy Kingdom's
First Generation Baby Magnum.
And it exploded.
With a brilliant flash of white light, a great shock
rushed across the surface of the ocean.
It was not clear if it was caused by the Deep
Optical sliding across the ocean surface or if it was
caused by the giant explosion that occurred
afterwards, but a tremendous wave spread out
across the area. And the wave did not just affect the
surface. Quenser and Heivia had dived down below
the surface, but they were still tossed around like
ice in a glass being shaken.
"Cough!! Cough cough!!"
Quenser had a stable source of air from his oxygen
tank, but the sudden loss of any sense of up or
down confused him so much he felt like he had
forgotten how to breathe.
"Is it over?"
"We still haven't gotten the white flag signal from
the Capitalist Corporations. It seems they still wish
to fight," replied the princess.
"Sink their lifeboats or something. They'll change
their minds once they see firsthand that nothing but
a watery grave awaits them if they do surrender
here."
With that comment, Quenser headed for the bright
ocean surface.
He could not think of a single reason to stay in the
dark depths any longer.
Epilogue
While soaking wet, Quenser and Heivia were
recovered by a Legitimacy Kingdom motorboat.
When they exchanged information on the incident,
Heivia frowned.
"So the Capitalist Corporations unit controlling the
Deep Optical was trying to intervene in Oceania's
food supply problems?"
"Due to the unstable balance between vegetation
and desert in Oceania, grazing land was banned.
Almost all of their meat was imported by the
Capitalist Corporations. The Capitalist
Corporations didn't want the Information Alliance's
artificial livestock facilities to rob them of that
source of money."
But in reality, a serious risk of widespread hunger
existed if natural disasters like cyclones did large-
scale damage to the farms and cut off the air and
sea routes. Simulations showed as many as half a
million people starving to death.
"Was that ever resolved?" That seemed to be
Heivia's primary question. "We may have blown
the Deep Optical to pieces, but that does not solve
everything. As long as that unit and the backbone
they set up remains, they can still interfere with the
food supply, right?"
"That would certainly be a problem," admitted
Quenser. "But if this was a Capitalist Corporations-
wide project, don't you think a few more Objects
would have been sent in as reinforcements? The
battlefield was right next to Oceania where plenty
of Objects are stationed as part of the coalition.
And that of course includes Capitalist Corporations
Objects. And yet only the Deep Optical was
deployed for this."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning the interference in Oceania's food supply
will all come to an end with the Deep Optical and
its unit out of the picture."
"But how do we pull that off? Don't tell me you
think the two of us should head off on our own to
attack the Capitalist Corporations' maintenance
base zone."
"...Do you think we could do it?"
"No for two reasons," said Heivia simply. "First,
they are still an entire battalion even if they have
lost their Object. Super heroes though we may be,
it's reckless to think just the two of us can take on
1000 soldiers. And second, think of our position
here. We are the winners with the Object while the
Capitalist Corporations unit is the loser that had
their Object destroyed. If we go in for a further
attack now, international society will see it is an
unrelentless and merciless slaughter. We would be
making enemies of the majority that want to
maintain the concept of the clean war."
"But there is always an exception."
"?"
"If someone becomes enough of a problem, there
are special forces to assassinate that target. This is a
case for a police-type force, not a military one.
Luckily, we met some of those and we know how
to contact them. That Capitalist Corporations unit
joined forces with Roybelz Oldnick for their own
profit. That should be enough to make them a
target, don't you think?"
"You mean Valkyrie? Do you really think they
would help? Are you sure they aren't going to
attack us because we didn't hold up our end of the
bargain?"
"We made a deal with the local fishermen,
remember? If we're lucky Oldnick's DNA will
show up in a fish's stomach."
"...The fishermen really didn't seem to like that."
"Please respond," said Quenser once he set the
frequency on his small radio.
His attempts to contact them earlier had failed, but
they had to at least recognize the frequency.
"Hey, Quenser. Do you really think the Faith
Organization will act on this?"
"The unit's interference with the food supply was
expected to leave to over half a million dying in the
case of an irregular cyclone. ...That would include
people from the tribal religions native to Oceania,
so they can't exactly refuse."

Quenser and Heivia had ended the battle in a

decidedly cool fashion, but a slight problem arose
when they went back over the information.
They had been unable to bring back the body of
their target Roybelz Oldnick, they had damaged the
Legitimacy Kingdom-funded precious metal ocean
mining plant, and serious damage had been done to
the Baby Magnum as it acted as a shield for them.
Also, there was no guarantee that any of Oldnick's
flesh would turn up in a fish's stomach.
"Th-this is bad. We have no good to cancel out the
bad!! I don't see a single oasis in the middle of our
huge-breasted commander's lecture!!"
"Well, it can't always conveniently even out to
nothing. But that also means the plus side might
come out on top someday. We can't give up."
Quenser and Heivia spoke as they headed down the
path to the execution room (aka Froleytia's officer
room).
"But y'know, this had to do with platinum,
tungsten, the Treasure of Electron Mathematics,
beef, and artificial livestock facilities...It was all
resources, resources, resources. It makes me sick."
"And you could say we're human resources," said
Heivia with a grin. "In a certain island nation with
an aging population and a low birthrate, children
are a valuable growing resource. Just like wine and
art, their value goes up if you let them age. A
company will create prestigious schools under its
direct control and search out the most gifted
children to raise the most valuable people to
contribute to the company in the future.
Meanwhile, rival companies will try to either
abduct or kill anyone they think will become a top
class contributor in order to do damage to the first
company's future."
"What's so great about dividing everyone up by
their grades?"
"That is what the companies need for now," said
Heivia. "The days of heating up a pot with charcoal
are over. But once activated charcoal began being
used in water purification systems, what counted as
'cutting-edge technology' took a step back. There
are no absolutes when it comes to dividing up
resources. And that is why we have yet to run out
of oil despite everyone always saying we are about
to run out. How we use it is changing almost daily,
so the relative value we use against the absolute
amount of remaining deposits is constantly
changing."
"And does that also go for the food supply and the
people who eat that food?"
"If someone wants to use it, anything can become a
resource. That's what it means to live in a world of
greed. ...In a world like that, even the value of the
life of a soldier could change. It all depends on how
we use soldiers and if that changes."
They arrived before Froleytia's officer room.
Quenser and Heivia gave a hesitant knock, opened
the door, and prepared themselves for a hellish
lecture time.
The first thing their commander said to them was,
"Whatever you do, don't drive down your value as
a resource any further. If it drops any more, I won't
be able to cover for you."
Afterword
If all goes as planned, this should be Volume 4.
When writing multiple volumes at the same time, it
can be a little unclear which one will be released
first…
This is Kamachi Kazuma.
Swimsuits!!!!! No, actually this was a Christmas
story.
The theme was resources. You could even view
Chapter 1 as a story that begins with the human
resources named Quenser and Heivia being stolen.
In the world of these novels, they have a few
different methods of acquiring food and rare earth
elements. The Treasure of Electron Mathematics
method of creating artificial platinum is based on a
similar technique that actually exists, so check it
out if you are interested.

As all of the Objects so far had been based on high-

speed battles, I wanted to have a Second
Generation Object that had all sorts of abilities
allowing it to function without using high speed
movements. The Deep Optical here is even slower
than the Tri-Core from Volume 1.
The laser weapons themselves have no issue with
speed. In fact, you would need to break the light
speed barrier to be faster than them. The real
problem was that I had to add on several
weaknesses to keep it from being too overpowered
to play its role in the story.
Just like a railgun, this weapon is not just some
fantastical piece of technology. It is a type of
weapon that could very well become standard one
day, so perhaps it is our role as fiction writers to
have several countermeasures stocked up.

I give my thanks to my illustrator Nagiryo-san and

my editor Miki-san. …As always, I get the feeling
the backgrounds and small details make this a
difficult story to work on. I am truly grateful they
have stuck with me this far.
I also give my thanks to all you readers. I think it is
due to all your support that I was able to have an
entire chapter filled swimsuits and not a single
Object. I am truly thankful.
And so, I think I will end this here.
I lay down my pen while hoping this book will
remain in your heart in some way.

Are the heroines a type of resource for a novel?

-Kamachi Kazuma