Vol 4 Chapter 1 (1/2)
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 hi struck repeatedly
In all seriousness, Heivia Winchell wanted to check toproperly That was how heavy the rain constantly falling on his head was
“…Da stinks of mud Whatever happened to the coral ocean?”
The tiht
He was in cohts 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 hie Instead of a rifle, he carried a bag filled with explosives
“I thought ere supposed to have a chaanization’s Generation 1 Object Why are we going through thisout 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 dictatorshi+p in Oceania was destroyed and the area is in the process of being restored You know that ht?”
“Well, ere the ones to blow up the dictator in question”
Quenser recalled hearing so plenty of resources, so it could earnas the facilities needed for ht in
Little by little, Oceanian coal, steel, and platinudo 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 areout to the world”
“What does that have to do with us being neglected out here?”
“There will always be idiots who start scheht attack the transport shi+ps to steal the valuable resources”
“…What does that have to do with this?”
“The e 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 Magnuher ups view it asthan the specialized Generation 2s …So let’s just crush these island platinuet 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 ht make my skin a little too shi+ny and healthy…”
Without the tension of facing ene to take action
They regretted this soon after
The darkness was bloay 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 7up fro 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 beauns, and low-stability plasma cannons
They caht, but Quenser and Heivia were unable to leisurely watch the sight as if it was a show in a concert hall
“Ow!! da into my eyes!!”
“Rolling around on the ground isn’t going to et our job over with, Heivia!!”
Quenser and Heivia headed on whileat their eyes
The Baby Magnu an area about 5 kilometers ahere Hyena had a beach bunker in which arh-speed patrol boats were hidden
A thureat 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 c 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 co fronum’s bombardment
“(Quenser, get down! They’re co 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 tre 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, so
Foot soldiers would not affect the undergrowth to such a great extent and the Baby Magnu 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 pal his toes
“(That dae-breasted commandeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!)”
“I don’t think there is any job here where you canin coive 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 ht detect the lock Also, thethe tank in this forest”
Quenser clicked his tongue
Naturally, a normal rifle could not pierce tank arht close enough for the tank to be in range of the blast
Of course, the odds were good the tank would notice hih to throw it and then he would end up being un
“What do we do, Heivia?”
“I’d like to bring out so 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 pal information to the Object Its sensors are directly linked to the Object’s lock data, so the target caught in the trap has an al hit Let’s hurry up and set up that invisible net of lasers and blow them to pieces”
Part 2
By ht, Hyena had been successfully eliminated
“Sounds like Baby Magnum has finally ended its bombardment”
“I need so with ery pamphlets at the base?”
A few armored vehicles had been sent out from the site of the bonum’s laser beams The others had been destroyed by the mobile maintenance battalion infantry and ar the base
The tank Quenser and Heivia had bloay using a Cursor had been one of those
“I’ments blown off very nearly killed us”
“That explosive reactive arerous 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 trans data, so they could conquer the battlefield with overwhel speed
Even if it was borrowed power, it still led to al as they were able to borrow it
However, the inclusion of Objects in infantry and tank conflicts antic weapon was no longer there
As the two boys leaned against pal rain, a transmission came in from Froleytia
“Thank you for a job well done We have lowered Hyena’s nu 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 ti and weapons maintenance, Quenser And that includes the arhters 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’ate an enemy base after an Object blew it to pieces! Those nity from corpses!!”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a corpse that had dignity Do you want them to be decorated hipped cream and strawberries? But if you don’t want to, then coet 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 bleay 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 da 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 so quite valuable
“Did you hear that, Heivia?”
“It sounded toon 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 swie-breasted commander’s almost unairable swimsuit, Quenser!!”
“I know I know! I really like the idea of so way too much lately!! What’s with this huht 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 heardfrom all directions
The noises were co ai killer intent
Quenser and Heivia froze in place at about the “hoo” part of “hooray”
The leader of the local arroup said, “If you have free time, then come with us”
Part 3
The Legitidom, 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 as the clash between Objects that possessed overwhel firepower All other forces were used to keep the Objects running smoothly
The Legitidom was completely ruled by a monarchy
The Inforood 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 Oceanianused as a relay point for the resources being brought fro in the Loyauté district were hardly friends of Quenser and the rest of the Legitidom
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!? Das, weren’t they!? My mouth was so full of dirt I couldn’t breathe!!”
“You have guts to put a bag over our heads e aren’t the type to put a wos 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 soanization from Hyena If these were the remnants of Hyena, ould have been treated as outlets for their anger”
Dawn had come
As soon as the sun came up, they rapped in humid but cool air
However, the rain had yet to stop, so they could still hear a percussive noise co over their heads
Quenser and Heivia were in a wooden house e leaves that was different fro house The two boys sat in the center with a ring of swarthy-skinnedthem The men all possessed rifles of an outdated model
“If I’irls 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 equip rations
It was possible the man was not their leader but instead the only one of thedom 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 ransoive 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 ho you are And we kno impudent you can be,” said the leader smoothly Their coe Heivia Winchell You both belong to the Legitidom’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 wouldbut 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 fro like this
“Wait, wait, wait,” said Heivia to cut off the man “I don’t knohat crazy rumors you people have heard, but we’re just flesh-and-blood humans!! If you just drop us in front of one of thoseto occur You aren’tus for androids made out of some kind of special alloy, are you!?”
“…”
“Also, don’t just assume the ene on an Object, you have a war on your hands! The two of us can’t just start a war between the Legitidom and the Capitalist Corporations!!”
The leader snapped his fingers
One of the ainst Heivia’s cheek
“The enemy of your enemy is…?”
“M-miend! 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 sa 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 Legiti for help You can see our good intentions in the fact that we are not si 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 sih” 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 sis
Fro 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 rooe and it was croith small beds
They heard groans
They saw bandages that looked anything but sanitary
Frorown medicinal herbs must have been used in place of disinfectant
“The Capitalist Corporations has been carrying out missions within the Loyauté district in the na its oes to areas of the ocean around the islands and fires its cannons at the islands”
“…”
“We have heard that it is nothing ive the illusion of tension so that their sponsor company will provide the Unlike you, they are not working to eli 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 howat a nonexistent enemy with such a weapon As I said before, it is simplest to just show you”
Lying in the sht 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 sies wrapped around them
They were not whole
They clearly s 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 stor 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 fro 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 coroup of 10 foot soldiers arle attack helicopter for support would be able to handle them easily”
“They’re not going to give us the ti 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 co about it Once this leave of ours is over, itwith 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 coence division has already begun reconnaissance on the Deep Optical Of course, we can’t let anyone know that is ould be crushi+ng next They would be disciplined if they were caught”
“So as long as we aren’t caught, doing soether bad idea”
“Quenser, are you serious?” asked Heivia in shock Soht fear could be seen hidden behind his expression “This is an Object we’re talking about They’re telling us to fight that unpoint!! I don’t want to die for so like that! We’re just nore 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 init would be hell So wouldn’t it be easier to survive this by using what poe have to deal with this arroup!?”
“…”
“We don’t even knoe can get anywhere near this Object!! We aren’t receiving proper support here This arroup’s infor to have much in the way of weapons and equipether by an expert commander based on all sorts of data from an electronic simulation departdom, 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 ill not apply to us Do you really understand what this means!?”
“I’m well aware this is not a nors 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 arain 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 ouldn’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 e can’t return to the ht 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 froanization 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 s under his breath and hesitated for a while
“I’ll do it God da 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 ar I joined the army to earn medals and honor This is a bit of a roundabout ainst my family”
(Okay)
Now that they had made up their minds, they only needed to take their one-way ticket to hell frorim reaper
“Quenser, let’s start by asking them if they have any weapons we can use They captured us after we had finished our norh 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 so else I need to ask them”
Part 6
When Quenser and Heivia said they accepted the request, the leader showed the
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 the 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 556 mm ammo Well, whatever Let’s take a pair of uniforms while we’re at it I doubt it will coet shot than if we keep on these Legitidom 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