Chapter 1: In the Werewolves’ Forest

Chapter 1: In the Werewolves’ Forest

CHAPTER 1

IN THE WEREWOLVES’ FOREST

The Legion force heading for the Revich Citadel Base changed course soon after the base was retaken. In response, the United Kingdom’s reinforcements weaved their way through the enemy’s advancing forces and reached the base a little over a day later.

The Legion offensive was currently being delayed thanks to these reinforcements… A delay was all they could manage. They couldn’t counterattack, force the Legion to retreat, or even hold the line. In other words, neither the Eighty-Sixth Strike Package nor all the forces of the United Kingdom’s 1st Armored Corps would last on this battlefield.

Regrettably, the Revich Citadel Base would have to be abandoned despite the Strike Package’s and the Sirins’ desperate struggle to reclaim it. The relief unit’s white transport truck and the Strike Package’s steel-blue heavy transport vehicle left the base behind, solemn as a funeral procession.

As she sat in the tightly packed passenger compartment of one of the heavy transport vehicles, Lena stared out over the bleak snowscape through the bulletproof-glass window.

She gazed at the precipitous cliffside base—the site of their woefully short-lived respite from the battlefield, the base they’d fought against the Legion to reclaim and ultimately failed to keep. Her attention shifted to one corner of the cliff, where the remains of the siege road were just barely visible.

Those Sirins and their Alkonosts, who had willingly sacrificed their mechanical bodies to form that gruesome bridge, held prized United Kingdom state secrets. The Sirins especially so, since the makeup of their neural networks would be exceedingly valuable to the Legion. The United Kingdom tried to recover what they could in the short amount of time that they occupied the base, but what was left over would have to be completely destroyed with explosives.

They gave their lives for the sake of humankind but wouldn’t be mourned as humans.

The Eighty-Six, whose service during the Revich Citadel Base operation was no less instrumental, also suffered heavy damage. Battle-hardened though they were, they still had to fight for their lives in harsh, snowy weather conditions they weren’t accustomed to. And even with the odds stacked against them, they ultimately succeeded in pushing back the Legion. But from a tactical standpoint, their efforts bore no fruit, and they walked away from the mission with next to nothing. None of them had said a word since leaving the base behind. The sense of defeat lingered in the air like a heavy smog.

The siege route made from the wreckage of the Alkonosts as well as the Sirins’ broken bodies was easily the most haunting element of the battle. The dead filled the moats, forming a mountain of ruin that allowed the Eighty-Six to scale the cliff. It was a massive gravestone marking the place where the human-shaped dolls were crushed and trampled to death, laughing all the while.

Seeing it broadcast on a screen was ghastly enough, but the Eighty-Six had watched it happen before their very eyes. And they then had to walk over that road, knowingly treading upon those girls’ remains, acknowledging their sacrifices as they pressed onward.

Their mental anguish was immeasurable.

Shin, now sitting opposite Lena, had been there, too. Lena frowned, recalling the expression he had made as he beheld the mountain of the Sirins’ remains. He had looked like a lost, confused child who could’ve vanished into the snow at a moment’s notice. Even Shin, who had survived the horrors of the Eighty-Sixth Sector with certain death hot on his heels every day, had made such an expression…

Turning her attention to the rest of the compartment, Lena watched the Processors slumbering silently, half-sunk into their seats. None of them seemed like they would be opening their eyes anytime soon. Shin similarly leaned against the firm backrest, with arms crossed and eyes closed. He wore his usual, almost overly calm expression, but he was visibly pale. He still hadn’t shaken off the several days’ worth of fatigue he’d built up during the siege battle.

He’s asleep, right…?

Lena gingerly reached out and grabbed the blanket that had been tossed to his side. A person’s body temperature fell while they slept, and the heavy transport vehicle was air-conditioned, so she imagined he wouldn’t get much rest if he was cold. Struggling against the cramped space of the compartment, she slowly unfolded the blanket. But just as she moved to cover him up with it, Shin’s crimson eyes fluttered open.

“…Lena?”

“Eep!”

He blinked a few times and then looked up at her in a daze. Realizing how close they were, Lena reflexively jumped back. She let go of the blanket in the process, and it gently fell onto his lap.

“…? Did something happen?”

“N-no. No, er…”

Lena sat back down in her seat with an unusual swiftness. She then straightened her back and placed her hands on her knees in an excessively formal fashion. Finally, she spoke, while turning her flushed face in a random direction.

“I thought you were asleep. So I…”

“Oh…”

His reply was lackluster, and his reaction was still a bit sluggish. Lena anxiously furrowed her brows.

“You must be tired. Go ahead and get some rest.”

“Not yet. We’re still in enemy territory.”

Shin shook his head gently, knowing he wouldn’t be getting any sleep.

“The United Kingdom’s reinforcements are handling patrols and combat. Their numbers are more than sufficient, so you don’t have to push yourself, Shin… It’s fine. This isn’t the Eighty-Sixth Sector.”

This isn’t the lonely battlefield where all the fighting and the death is left for the Eighty-Six to endure alone. This isn’t the Eighty-Sixth Sector, where the whole world is against you.

“I know you might consider it human nature for people to sacrifice others to save themselves. But it’s also human nature to fight to protect one’s home and the people they hold dear. So…it’s fine, really.”

“………”

Shin said nothing. He just hung his head and looked at the floor. His blinking had slowed down, as if he was withstanding the urge to let his eyes close. His gaze was unfocused, too. He was likely exhausted.

“…Lena, you…”

The words that left his lips didn’t feel like they were directed at her, but at himself.

“…You can still say that…? Even after seeing that …?”

Lena blinked once at his question but soon nodded when she understood what he meant: the words she’d once told him.

Is this world beautiful?

This world… Its people… Could you learn to love them?

“How can you be so…?”

His question was curt yet felt so oddly imploring that Lena couldn’t help but crack a faint, sad smile. He’d completely given up on this world, and to him, the sight of the siege route the Sirins had made with their own bodies felt like the symbol of all the world’s malice gathered into one place.

That bridge of bodies represented the bitter truth of the world.

And Lena didn’t want to believe it, but maybe that was true. Still…

“…You’re wrong. I… Even I can’t help but think that people can be despicable.”

There were times when she couldn’t help but shiver with disgust at the maliciousness of the world; at her homeland, which felt no shame in persecuting the Eighty-Six; at the way her reports constantly went ignored; at the way her complaints were misunderstood; at everyone’s apathy; at the sight of her subordinates, whom she knew by name, dying in droves.

Not to mention the piles of corpses of the unnamed many who had perished in the large-scale offensive.

She also felt disgust at herself—for never asking anyone’s name until she was admonished for that very act of negligence; for never even thinking it strange.

The world and its people weren’t all beautiful and kind. There were some who were so unsightly that she couldn’t even bring herself to face them directly.

And still…

“But… It bothers me. If that’s really how the world is, everyone is… No, I am…”

Before she could lay her heart bare at the height of despair, she stopped herself and shook her head. He was no doubt exhausted. His body and mind must have been screaming for respite.

“I’m sorry. We should finish this chat later… Forget about it and relax for now. If you can’t fall asleep, just rest your eyes.”

She reached out for the fallen blanket and drew it up to his shoulders this time… This, of course, brought her hand near his face. The back of it brushed against his cheek, and she quickly banished all thoughts of how cold he felt. Instead, she stuffed the edges of the blanket between Shin’s back and his seat so that the vehicle’s vibrations wouldn’t cause it to fall off.

She then returned to her own seat and watched him. Abiding by her words, Shin closed his eyes, and before long, his body grew limp.

He had been so exhausted that he could hardly keep his eyes open, so Lena couldn’t imagine he would stay awake much longer. The heavy transport vehicle’s seats were hard, and sitting in them was by no means a comfortable experience. But even so, Shin was able to lean back and fall asleep in no time at all.