Vol 2 Chapter 4 (1/2)

[Dawnbringer v2] 04. The End of the Vacation

It's the end of a book! What kind of adventures will Lezirth and his crew get into next? What new things will we learn about how Lezirth came to be? How long will Narane take to translate it?! See for yourself in the next twenty years to find out!

Translator: Narane

Editors: MadTix

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[The coup at Critik had ended with the Alliance, after their promise to back the operation, ma.s.sacring the population. The leader of the rebellion, Kasik, was killed. Kasik’s mentor William Mayer was arrested by the Federation police on the charge of creating dissent among the population.]

The television displayed the news.

I turned off my PDA and looked out the window. On the other side of the observation deck of the cruiser’s lobby was the sun setting on Critik-4.

Or, I guess, the sun’s coming up on the other side of the horizon, while the sun’s setting on this side.

There had been a lot of happenings in the short time that we were here.

I smiled bitterly as I looked upon the surface of Critik-4 from the observation windows. Sergeant Aroha was watching with me, though while receiving a glucose drip to recover from overexertion. And I was receiving an IV drip myself from the ma.s.sive blood loss that I had suffered earlier.

It was almost funny how we looked, being a slave to the IV pole together.

“Aroha, this is the planet that you saved. You should feel proud for that.”

Ensign Meihowa handed her a cup of coffee. She handed me a cup, too, and smiled.

“Is that so? Then, can I get back down to the surface and take everything from the big name brand shops?”

“I would like to do that myself, but neither of us will likely get to use any of them for a while.”

The battle in the Oden system had grown worse, so we were going to be back in the heart of the war. While we were on vacation, the Federation army operations had relocated Ensign Meihowa to a different place.

The Thirteenth Special Forces Brigade.

It was a new group created by the survivors of Oden and the Kis.h.i.+n Ladyhawk.

The “special forces” name alone sounded fancy, but in reality, it represented the will of the Command to put us through whatever difficult task they need solving at the moment. That is, it was the brigade to throw into any dangerous battle!

“And now, we’re joining that brigade.” Admiral Luise said, Rabbitte in her arms. If she had wanted, then we may have all been transferred to a different platoon, but she must have not done so. I never thought about escaping the heat of battle, regardless.

And beside her was a silver-blonde girl, tracing her footsteps without daring to catch anyone’s eye along the way. She was wearing a man’s uniform, but... wait, hold on. Isn’t that Kiske?

His eyes were darting around the room like a scared animal’s, s.h.i.+vering in his unfitting uniform. Understandably, he was in the middle of the enemy’s army, so he was right to be scared. And even though he was wearing the smallest size of the uniform, his sleeves were still too long and flapped around as he moved.

“He’s Kiske Risner. Private. He’s in our brigade from now on.”

Kiske became distressed at Admiral Luise’s introduction. “No, wait, I...!”

“If you don’t like it, do you want to go to the army prison instead?”

Kiske shook violently as Admiral Luise asked. Of course, a lot of bad things were bound to happen if you put a guy who looked like that into prison.

I shrugged and sighed. “Princess Riznah will be after us as long as she lives if we have him around. Are we just going to return him when she finds us?”

“Yes! U-until then, I’ll cooperate with you people! But I’ll never lend my hand to killing another Asa!” Kiske shouted, confidently.

I sighed at her-- I mean, him. “When am I ever going to need your help?”

“I-- uh... nngh.” Kiske held his fists in frustration. But it was the truth-- according to Sergeant Aroha, an Asa, the male Asas couldn’t use the traditional magic, and their only ability was of the dirty kind.

And to think I’ll ever need that help...

Hm.

No, absolutely not! I’ll have none of that!

And as I thought to myself, Private Pencolt entered the break room. The short vacation had put back fat on his body, returning him to his old looks.