Vol 4 Chapter 1 (2/2)

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 ould 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 ill be bloay And yes, I have ments 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 co 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 so ashed answer”

“…What do you want to know?”

The leader had paused slightly before asking that

Heabout what the question was

Quenser spoke without hesitation

“Your claim is that those children lost liht?”

“Yes, and?”

“Like hell they did,” replied Heivia clearly “Not even an old First Generation Object’s bo 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 sodo to the Loyauté district froe”

Quenser could feel his breaths growing shallow

He was not controlling his eht he could

“And so you et 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 e 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 roaned 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 edy was put together out of volunteers” The leader an 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 evenTheir atrocities have reached a level well beyond that”

“Fine then,”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 et 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 the Capitalist Corporations military uniforms and ar 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 woht 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 the if we’ve spotted them all The locals would probably know better how to hide around here than ould”

“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 theing fro belt

“What’s wrong with that?” said Heivia as un oil than Quenser “If we make a mistake, we make athem 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 blainning

“How far until we reach the destination?”

“15 kilometers But we have this torrential rain and wet red clay to deal with A nor with too much horsepoouldwith 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 docu them properly”

“Let’s pray they’re watching a 3D pornhouse When it isn’t gonna get you paid any ht in a landslide just to be on the lookout for ene 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 et aon 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 so up”

“Ahn?”

Heivia looked back dohere Quenser was looking and spotted so 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 nonnetic mine detector”

“They didn’t tell us about this! If there are mines, they should tell us!!”

Of course, less if not hidden But if you did not set them up so that you knehere they were, you would end up blowing your own leg off

That hy the trees would norn on theerous zone However…

“It’s this rain Sons”

“So no one knohere they are? And we have to walk 15 kiloh this!?”

“It’s probably not even worth reporting for theht be blown off,” said Heivia in disgust “What ever happened to thea clash between two Objects? Why are they using lands? 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 netic 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 tres, but the chill of earlydisappeared 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 perforht 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 knohat areas could crumble under our feet”

“With the risk of lando 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

“Daood This one tastes like Salisbury steak”

“Stop it Getting too excited will just et back …Wait”

Quenser and Heivia stoppedand slowly crouched down

The trees of the forest and the pouring rain of the squallbehind some thick tree trunks about 300 meters ahead

From what they could see, there were 3 of them

As they were all wearing the sauns, they were likely all part of the same unit

They were all wo 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 froe 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 da 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 se movement in the underbrush around the 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 uess is they’re soroup known as Valkyrie That’s a global divine punishanization owned areas and eliious rules They use specialized equiproup is entirely made up of women)”

“(Valkyrie, harter 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 soical reason?)”

“(It’s probably just the tastes of the higher ups Daanization That is one nice ass)”

“(You should probably stop that Valkyrie is basically the enforcer of publicthey wouldn’t appreciate jokes like that)”

“(That depends on their specific religious sect If they worshi+p a God of fertility or aaround a lot The stories about the Greek Dionysus are pretty a)”

“(…So they’re police rather than soldiers, hm?)”

Soldiers left all the fighting to Objects while the police often had shootouts in urban areas Thisin 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 Legitiht if we aren’t careful)”

“(It would be difficult to take them out here)”

The three they could see already outnuunshots would likely draw in the Capitalist Corporations soldiers protecting the Deep Optical

Heivia slowly held up his rifle

“(Hopefully, we can get past the noticed)”

One of the figures gave instructions to the other tith a gesture

The two subordinate women silently moved out of a short thicket

“(Slowly, slowly Good, they’re leaving daet them)”

After the two subordinates ure 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 iping away soures 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 froh resistance to obstruct their path somewhat

“What ever happened to the blue ocean and white beach?”

“You co with Hyena”

“It just pissesa 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 frouards 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 froht on It roup seeave 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 sh not to do that”

While being un barrels, they continued on toward the Capitalist Corporations maintenance base zone

As they came to a spot that was

“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 h and the Capitalist Corporations soldiers were at the bottom An electric armored vehicle was stopped in an old dry riverbed that had a new streah it Two or three foot soldiers were gathered around it

“It looks like they’re delivering ay use is a uess there are so to head out into this squall”

“Do you think we can take them?”

“They don’t knoe’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 soht would just bringup the armored vehicle would be even worse Who kno 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 h the forest The rainwater that had gotten inside the cloth wrapped tightly around her right ar the wound on that arhtest However, she was on her guard The slightest scent of blood could lead carnivorous aniather the enemy soldiers’ attention

Sarasa suddenly stopped

She had heard the loud noise of a dirt wall collapsing She then heard various trans fro to intercept Capitalist Corporations radio transmissions

“A landslide to the southwest It seems a Capitalist Corporations arht 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 perht would break out should the Capitalist Corporations spot the could be better than to have the Capitalist Corporations soldiers’ attention focused elsewhere However…

Sarasa Gleaood fortune

It uard

She sensed the cause of this unco via her nose

They were located doind of the landslide

“…I sun ammunition This is the smell after some form of plastic explosive has been detonated”

After thinking for a bit, Sarasa gave soestures

They would determine the cause

They were a Faith Organization special unit that was sent around the world to deal with those known as “eneion Due to the actions of their target that had fled there, they had no choice but to i 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 eleot in the way of their pursuit would be eli 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 atte 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 Gleamshi+fter searched around for any other traces and clicked her tongue when she spotted so unpleasant about 10 meters away

A Capitalist Corporations first aid kit was placed a 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 knoho, 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 confirht her anger to its peak

Leaving behind the first aid kit shohoever it as looking down on her evena 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 so 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 nor an exceedingly small explosion

However, it could also be used to sever a wire remotely

“shi+t…!?”

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, shi+t! She’s still alive! dairls’ personalities change so ry!?”

“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 see to hunt the 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 wo If only they weren’t so bewitchingly beautiful”

After that sidetrack with a Faith Organization opponent that had not been stated on any concrete inforot 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 arroup

“So that’s the Capitalist Corporations maintenance base for the Deep Optical”

Instead of the convoy used for a Legitidos had been constructed The buildings were ht metal often used in prefabs

“…I’ the area deforested etation around here is extre if they left it alone”

“I see burned spots here and there, soit away”

In the base was a single building er than the rest

It was likely the Object’s

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 le?”

“It uses an air cushi+on, so it hout 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 e’re sneaking around to avoid…although this is going to be a real pain”

As Quenser spoke, Heivia observed the area around the h 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 her ups so nearby I don’t think we can sneak in without anyone noticing”

“If that was possible, the arroup would have already done so They know the terrain better than us”

Since the arroup had apparently never succeeded, it must have truly been impossible

“Frouards in different areas wear different color ar different armbands Even someone from the Capitalist Corporations will i color”

And of course, the armbands would be more than simple pieces of cloth

They likely had a netic 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 si a Capitalist Corporationsan Object that cost 5 billion dollars Plus, they were not on a clean battlefield This was an area with ars

“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 thele

They were pointing a special un 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 inforap in the ith a vacuum in it to keep the sou