Chapter 2: Project Ark

Shuuichi Arakawa’s Point of View

I made my way toward Miki’s room in the under-construction Hakone base. I descended in a large elevator from level 1, which was just about completed, and passed through level 2, where storage rooms and the weapons storage region were located. The elevator continued on to level 3, which was accessible only to a limited number of personnel. Finally, the elevator stopped at level 4, where I’d find Miki.

A soldier greeted me as I stepped out of the elevator. “Thanks for your hard work, Commander.”

Levels 4 and below were guarded by my own people. They were no longer wearing the United Nations uniforms that they’d grown so used to; their uniforms were those of the private military department, supplied to them by Noa. On the chest of each uniform, there was an eye-catching emblem with the letters “T.M.N.” and the name of the soldier’s unit embroidered over a pair of wings.

Though my subordinates had been pleased by how cool the uniforms looked, I was reluctant to tell them that T.M.N. stood for “Team Muscle of Noa,” which was the real name that Miki had chosen for our unit.

To avoid a protest, I told them that T.M.N. stood for “Team Mercenary of Noa.” Clare had been the one who’d come up with this alternative interpretation. Mercenaries of Noa seemed a fitting way to describe us.

“Miki, I’m coming in!” I called.

I entered without waiting for a response, and there I found Miki looking troubled as she operated a large-scale terminal. At times like this, she wouldn’t listen to anyone other than Kouki, so I waited patiently.

At last, she registered my presence. “Oh, I didn’t notice you there.”

“I’ve been here for about half an hour. There’s something I want to ask you about,” I said, extinguishing my cigarette. “Shortly before I left the United Nations, the nuclear submarine Tolstoy went missing en route to the Antarctic. The top brass sent out a search party, but they found nothing and concluded that the submarine must have sunk in some unfortunate accident. When I was in Africa last, while visiting a port belonging to Noa, I saw a submarine that was identical, except it had a Noa emblem instead of the UN emblem. Do you know anything about that?”

“Oh, that was the Tolstoy. It’s the submarine that cooperated when Kouki was saving Alice. They asked us to give them asylum after I started Noa.”

“Why’s a United Nations ship asking a private corporation for asylum?!” I exclaimed. “That was one of their cutting-edge models of submarine! Did we just take one of their best submarines? Wait, don’t tell me this is related to the recent accident in which a new model of plane mysteriously crashed!”

“Do you mean the aircraft that was carrying the paratrooper unit? They asked us for asylum. It caused us a lot of trouble! I had to quickly make a similar-looking unmanned craft and have it crash.”

“That can’t be right!” I objected. “They were elite soldiers. Unlike my nameless Ghost Unit, those soldiers were well-respected. Why would they fake their own deaths to join with us?”

This was getting me worked up, but Miki remained calm and explained it all while gazing off into the distance.

“It’s all because of Kouki. The crew of the Tolstoy and the members of the paratrooper unit were saved by Kouki during Alice’s rescue. One of the destroyers from the United Nations Space Forces also asked for asylum so they could protect Shingo. It’s their way of thanking Chabane.”

“And you believe everything these people have told you?”

“There’s no need to worry,” Miki said. “Eve gave me a device that reads their surface level thoughts. I didn’t want to use it, but I did to make sure there was nothing for us worry about.”

Then I guess it’s okay, I thought. Kouki really is incredible. He just has to spend a little time with people, and they want to be on his side. I guess this is what they call charisma?

Neither Miki nor I could be considered ordinary people. But somehow we’d raised Kouki to be a respectable and level-headed young man. It made me even less forgiving toward those who wished to disrupt our peace.

“I almost forgot why I called you here, Shuuichi,” Miki said. “If we count those who’ve asked for our protection in addition to those who were already with us, there are now more than 100,000 of us. Everyone is currently housed in the Hakone base or one of our other bases, but we’ll be at our limit before long.”

She’s right, I noted. We might not have to worry about food, but living space is limited.

“That’s why I’d like you to scout out a particular world that my research department discovered by searching for 24 hours a day using the interdimensional scope. I’ll leave it up to your military department to decide on the equipment and rules of engagement. Please use minimal force.”

“Understood,” I nodded. “I suppose I should ask the research department about the details?”

“Exactly.”

I felt enthusiastic about having a mission for the first time in a long while. Just as I was about to leave Miki’s room, I stopped. It was great that we had people seeking asylum or asking to cooperate from so many places, but I was worried about how we were managing our intelligence. I wasn’t too concerned about our efforts to migrate to another world leaking out. Anyone making such claims would immediately lose credibility in the eyes of any government. But if a government institution ever identified the world we were migrating to, it would all be for naught.

Miki gave me some reassurance. “You don’t have to worry about that. I haven’t talked about migrating to another world to anyone who isn’t officially part of Noa. I’ve told everyone that the reason we’re buying equipment and developing technology is for use by our private military department. I do know what I’m doing. I’ve left the essential information management to Clare in the PR department. She’s incredibly talented when it comes to managing information. We’ve only given out information we wanted to give out. We haven’t revealed any information unnecessarily. I’m glad she’s on our side.”

I never thought of Clare as anything more than a highly competent secretary, but it seemed she was more amazing than I’d given her credit for. For Miki to praise her like that, Clare had to be quite talented.

**

I took Louis’s Squad B with me to the engineering department in preparation for our reconnaissance mission in the other world.

We were greeted by a man. “Welcome. You must all be from the military department. I’m the lead researcher, Ozaki. First of all, I’d like to talk to you about the world we’ve discovered. Please look at this.”

The researcher named Ozaki showed several photographs and a graph of some numerical values on a large screen. He explained them to us while pointing out specific parts with a pointer.

“This photograph was taken by one of our spy planes. As you can see, it found plants resembling those on Earth. The data we collected also suggests that the composition of the air is roughly equivalent to that of Earth. We therefore believe this world is habitable, but we’re unable to make a conclusive decision without more detailed data. It should be us researchers who go out there, but we don’t know what danger might be waiting for us. That’s why we’d like to have professional soldiers survey the area.”

I interrupted to ask a question. “Not that I mind going, but couldn’t you survey the entire area with spy planes first?”

“Indeed. We have considered using spy planes, but in this new world, which we’re calling G-88, time doesn’t pass in the same way as on Earth. For every hour that passes in this world, approximately one day passes in G-88. Using unmanned drones means we can’t easily adjust our approach once they’re deployed.”

I see. If we spent an hour making preparations to recover a spy plane, a whole day would pass. That could be enough time for the existing residents of G-88 to discover evidence that we’ve been there. We can’t take that risk.

The difference in how time passed did have one advantage. If we sent equipment into the new world, the people on the other end could have things up and running while we were still preparing our new equipment here. In that regard, it was a big advantage.

“I’d like to ask that you accept a mission of reconnaissance spanning several days,” the researcher said. “I’d also like you to launch a reconnaissance satellite. Only half a day will pass here, but we’ll assist in any way we can. We’ve already arranged an emergence point for everyone on an uninhabited island with nothing nearby, so you’ll be able to take plenty of resources with you.”

“Understood,” I said. “I’ll discuss this with my people before deciding what resources we’ll take.”

“Please contact me on an internal line when you’ve made arrangements,” Ozaki said, then bowed and left.

If this had been the United Nations, the resources would have been managed by idiot researchers who looked down upon us as warmongers. By contrast, Ozaki left it all to us. I was keen to reward his faith in us by making the mission a success.

“All right, listen up!” I told my subordinates. “It’s time to show these clever researchers what we can do. Other than food, what do you think we should take? Let me hear your thoughts.”

My subordinates were politely sitting until I was done speaking. They soon became less orderly and got into more relaxed positions to exchange their ideas.

“It’s obvious that we need weapons and ammunition,” one of them said. “I think we should take some medicines, too.”

“It’s another world. We’d better take the big guns because we don’t know what’ll be out there.”

“They said it’s an uninhabited island. Is it too soon to build ourselves an outpost?”

I sat and listened to my subordinates as the discussion continued to jump from one idea to another. They weren’t the sort of soldiers to care about rank in this situation. They were simply exchanging ideas. Doing that with no consideration of rank increased the solidarity of the unit and gave us a shared understanding. That was the kind of thing that increased our chances of survival.

I let them continue until Louis was done collecting everyone’s ideas.

“I’ve summarized everyone’s ideas in writing,” Louis told me. “It’s handwritten, but please check the contents.”

I looked over the papers that Louis handed me.

“Enough powered suits for everyone.” That sounded sensible. Powered suits were the most effective form of personal armor on Earth, so we’d need plenty of them.

“Lots of weapons, ammunition, and medicines.” What do they mean by “lots”?! That was Cote’s suggestion. He was quite sketchy at times, but that was just how he was. I’d have to come up with precise numbers myself.

“As many tanks and aircraft as we’re permitted to use. Missile launching installations and anti-aircraft guns.” I’ll have to talk to Ozaki about that.

“Resources for establishing a simple base.” We’ll need this for our defense and future operations. It’ll be worth the trouble. “Large-scale weapons for erasing our traces.” If the conditions aren’t right, we certainly will need to erase our traces when we withdraw. But this method might be a little crude. I’ll have to talk that over with Ozaki, too.

“Your son.” Come on now!! Are you saying my son’s a resource?!

“Louis!” I barked. “I don’t care if you’re joking—stop treating my son like a resource. I’d laugh about it, but do you know how mad Miki would get?”

“I may not have expressed myself very well, but it’s not a joke,” Louis said. “I genuinely think we’ll need your son.”

“What? Why would he be necessary?” I demanded. “I’d rather avoid taking Kouki to dangerous places.”

“I heard that your son understood the language of an unknown race who built the relic on the moon,” Louis said. “Someone with that level of intelligence is sure to become useful in another world. Do you think you could ask him to come along?”

“If he’s willing,” I said reluctantly. “Though we’ll have to make Kouki’s safety our number one priority before I can allow this.”

“If it comes to it, we’ll act as his shield,” Louis assured me.

That was enough for me. I stopped worrying about my son’s safety. Now Kouki himself just has to agree...

I forgot about that for the time being and called for Ozaki so I could get permission to take these resources.

Ozaki soon re-entered the room. He looked over the handwritten notes and simply said, “Understood. I’ll prepare everything.”

It wasn’t just me, we were all surprised.

“Is something wrong?” Ozaki asked.

“Why’d you give approval so easily?” I demanded.

“You’re all soldiers assigned to Noa now, but you were official soldiers of the United Nations until recently,” Ozaki said with a smile. “I’m sure you’re not the kind of people who’d recklessly start a war or wipe out the native life forms. I’m sure everything written here is a genuine necessity.”

We didn’t know what to say. It was true that we were fighting for the sake of peace. But even so, we’d been branded killers on many occasions. And yet, Ozaki had unconditional faith in us, and he’d promised to give us whatever resources we needed. He seemed to hold us in high regard.

We held back our grins as we all saluted Ozaki.

“Noa infantry unit ‘T.M.N.’ promises to use our full strength to accomplish this mission!”

I haven’t given salute with so much passion behind it since I first joined the United Nations, I thought as I headed to Kouki’s room to ask him to come with us.

**

“Kouki, can I come in?” I called.

“Yeah, sure.”

Kouki was watching an animal documentary by himself when I entered the room.

Why isn’t he with his friends and his girlfriend today? It seemed strange that his usual friends weren’t around, so I asked him why.

“Alice and the rest are visiting their homes with security teams,” Kouki said. “They’re preparing for the move before they start living in the base. I think Kon is with the academy principal. He seems to have taken a liking to the principal’s office lately.”

So they’re preparing to move. If they won’t be back for two or three days, then now is the perfect time. I sat down beside Kouki and wondered how I was going to ask him to come with us to the other world.

Kouki looked away from the TV and asked me, “It’s unusual for you to come see me, Dad. Do you need something?”

“Y-Yeah.” For a moment I was taken off guard by his intuition. “I’m going to scout the other world together with my unit. I’d like you to come with us. We’ll keep you safe, of course.”

After some thought, he asked, “Will there be any strange creatures?”

It made me remember that he’d always had a liking for wild animals. Although I hadn’t been able to go because of work, Miki had taken him to the zoo when he was very young because he was always happy to see animals on TV. He’d always been a quiet child, so I was surprised to hear how excited he’d gotten at the zoo. He hadn’t wanted to move away from the Japanese wolf enclosure.

Afterward, Miki bought him a Japanese wolf toy, one that could have passed for a taxidermized wolf. I remembered her telling me about how he’d smile as he held it as if it was something he treasured.

“Well, it’s another world, so I guess so,” I told him.

“Then I’ll go.”

I sent the message to Louis saying I’d gotten Kouki’s agreement. Then I told Kouki we needed to go to the weapons storage region to prepare.

He stood up and smiled wryly. “Dad, you should try to plan things out a little more. What if I had something important to do today?”

Sorry, Son... Your mother is always saying the same thing.

I gave the same response as always: “I’ll try harder in the future.”

I grabbed Kouki by the arm and dragged him off to the weapons storage region.

**

We arrived at the weapons storage region. The team who’d be going to the other world with us was waiting in front of the entrance.

I was worried that Kouki might be scared off by this collection of mean-looking faces, but he didn’t seem bothered at all.

He even smiled at Cote, who had the meanest-looking face of all, and said, “You’re the one with the cat.” And then he talked happily with Cote as though he’d somehow known about Cote taking care of the stray cat.

“Listen up!” I called. “It’s time to choose your weapons and powered suits! Remember that Kouki is the only one who can wear the eighth-generation model, so don’t choose that one.”

“Wow, Dad... you really are a commander in the special forces. Mom had told me, but I still thought you were just some muscle man.”

My son’s words made me smile. “Kouki, do you know how amazing commanders are? You should have more respect for me.”

Elise soon interrupted our happy moment. Clare wasn’t available, so Elise would be head of intelligence for the reconnaissance team. I was about to introduce her by saying, “She’s the twin older sister of that girl Clare, who you like,” but Kouki said something that surprised me.

“Are you Clare’s older sister?”

“Wow! Kouki, you can tell Clare and Elise apart?” I asked.

I could barely tell them apart despite always being in the same unit with them, yet Kouki had distinguished them in an instant. Kouki responded with an incredibly accurate way of describing the two of them.

“Yes. Clare’s beauty is in her style and grace. Elise’s beauty is in her soothing cuteness.”

“Commander!” Elise cried. “Kouki can stay in my room in the other world!”

I can’t authorize that. She clearly has something immoral in mind. But Kouki really made that easy to understand. When I look at Elise, I really can see how her beauty is in her cuteness. How strange.

My subordinates were also impressed, and saying things like, “Amazing! He can tell them apart.”

We need to get on with choosing our weapons and preparing for our trip to the other world...

“Everyone! The gate is about to open. Don’t run; take your time while choosing your weapons. Be civilized about it.”

If I didn’t warn them beforehand, there was no doubt they’d run around like children in a toy store. I wanted to nip that in the bud.

I checked they were lined up properly before opening the gate. But the moment I opened it, they all charged in like idiots.

“Awesome! These suits are advance production model sixth-generation suits!”

“Hey, I saw that flamethrower before you did! Keep your hands off!”

“Where are the 80-millimeter anti-materiel rifles? That’s what I want.”

I sighed and knitted my brow. There was no getting through to them now. Feeling defeated, I told Kouki to go choose his weapons.

Kouki tilted his head and told me, “I don’t have any training, and I’ve never even fired a weapon.”

“That’s fine,” I told him. “They’ve added a firing control system to your suit’s control module, so you just need to line the weapon up with the displayed reticle and fire. Though, I’m not letting you take any handheld weapons.”

Kouki ran off with incredible energy to join my subordinates.

I should have known he’d also be the type to get excited about choosing a weapon.

For myself, I chose a 20-millimeter rifle, a grenade launcher, and a shield for defense. I decided I’d take some reliable small weapons since my subordinates were loading up on the big flashy ones. While I was studying the weapons and thinking about how I’d use them, Kouki returned.

“Dad,” Kouki said, “I want this one and that one.”

“Hmm? Which ones? Do you even know what that— Actually, I’m sure you know all about it.”

Kouki was grinning and pointing toward the prototype 180-millimeter rail gun and the gunpowder pile bunker. The rail gun could only be fired while the suit was in a kneeling position, but it was a monstrous weapon that fired 180-millimeter shells at a speed of 6.9 km/s. A weapon like that would obliterate almost any target it was fired at.

The pile bunker was a short-range weapon with incredible power. I never used one, but it was easily capable of penetrating a three-meter-thick plate of metal. If we mount these things onto Kouki’s eighth-generation suit... I shouldn’t think about it. It’s not a healthy thought.

“Just promise me you’ll warn us before you fire, and you shouldn’t use them carelessly,” I told him.

“I know that.”

I wasn’t sure he understood, but I wasn’t going to argue with Kouki about his choices. It looked as though everyone else also made their choices and installed their weapons to their own suits.

All that remained was to prepare the vehicles we needed, and then we’d head to the gate installed on the lowest level: level 5.

I asked Elise to reserve the large elevator that we used to move our equipment.

Once we finished our preparations, everyone lined up before the gate.

Behind me was an expanse of pitch-black space. Anyone who passed through it would be taken to the other world. Unsurprisingly, my subordinates were somewhat fearful at the sight of this mysterious object they were seeing for the first time. I urged Elise to say a few words to increase morale.

Elise considered this a sort of ritual as she began a heartfelt speech to inspire courage. “Gentlemen, we’re about to head out to an unknown world. I can’t tell you what kind of difficulties and enemies await us there. However! We’ve been through countless difficult missions to get here, and nothing is impossible for us! Have faith in the soldiers fighting by your side, and have faith in the allies who are supporting us. If you can do that, you’ll certainly return alive. We don’t abandon our family! We don’t betray our family! Got that? I want everyone to come back. Reconnaissance team, move out!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

I watched the courage return to the faces of these brave men. And then I was the first to step through the gate.

August 1, 2102, 10:30 AM. The 93-person reconnaissance team of Noa’s mercenary unit, T.M.N., were deployed to a world the people of Earth knew as G-88.

They carried with them 93 powered suits, three tanks, four aircraft, three anti-aircraft guns, 30 cruise missiles, two gravitational collapse bombs, materials for constructing an outpost, and 12 special-purpose vehicles.

**

I felt a sensation that I couldn’t put into words as I stepped through the black gate. It might have been best described as a feeling of passing through a thick syrup. In the same moment, a grass plain leapt into view before my eyes.

It was just as Ozaki had described: an isolated island surrounded by steep cliffs, in the middle the sea.

“Looks as though some birdlike creatures are living here,” I commented.

Through my suit’s camera, I saw large birds resting their wings here and there on the grass plain. I checked that the oxygen levels were high enough and that there were no toxins in the atmosphere before opening the door to my suit cockpit and breathing in the outside air.

“Feels good... The air’s so clear.”

I took a cigarette from my pocket and lit it. I exhaled a cloud of smoke as I waited for my subordinates to arrive. The space behind me became warped, and a clouded figure slowly came into view. It must have been the effect of there being a time lag compared to Earth. I watched the space distort and wobble as a powered suit began to emerge. It wasn’t a pleasant sight.

If someone following right behind me was taking this long to appear, that meant we’d be waiting until tomorrow before Kouki was transferred to this world. I’d smoked three cigarettes by the time just their upper body finished transferring. Clearly, expanding a company interdimensionally had its own unique problems.

**

“It’s been three hours since we began entering the gate. A total of 20 personnel have transferred...” said Louis absentmindedly. He’d followed right behind me, and now he sat on the grass plain with his suit removed.

If it hadn’t been for Kouki’s advice—“If this is going to take time, you’d better have some resources sent through soon after the first group of people”—we’d have wasted an entire day.

A truck, with several powered suits clinging onto the top of it, began making the transfer.

“Louis, what’s in that truck?” I asked.

“I believe those are the materials for setting up a base.”

That means we can get started on building the outpost.

My subordinates became scattered across the plain chasing the birds like idiots while shouting, “Let’s try roasting one!” I ordered them to gather and get ready to begin construction work.

Some of the men had explored the surroundings of the island while chasing the birds around, and they reported that the island was a roughly-40-kilometer-long ellipse. It was nothing but grassy plains with a wooded area full of short trees on the southern side.

What to do now...?

“Louis, build the outpost in the center of the island,” I ordered. “Let’s make it a 600-meter-long square. Surround it with reinforced defense walls and set up an anti-aircraft installation in the center. Put the gate on the northern side.”

“What should we do about lookouts?”

“Deploy teams of two facing north, south, east, and west. Make sure they’re equipped with sniper rifles and floodlights. And make sure no one fires without getting permission first. Instruct them to withdraw if they spot anything.”

I helped Louis unload materials from the truck once it had finally completed the transfer. Once construction was completed, we’d have to launch the satellite and construct some spy planes. We’d also have to think about deploying the tanks.

While unloading the truck and thinking about the work awaiting us, I realized that there were a lot more people here than there had been just a moment ago. I couldn’t understand why, so I asked Louis.

“Your son gave out an instruction while we were on the other side of the gate: ‘If we all go separately, it’ll waste time. Grab onto the truck, and head through the gate with it.’”

I see. That’s helped us secure the area here, so it was a good call. I should have instructed that from the start... I’ll have to thank Kouki.

Cote had already assembled the observation satellite. He told me he was making preparations for the launch.

Things were going too smoothly. Experience told me that we were bound to hit major problems at a time like this. As expected, I soon received an urgent message from one of the lookout teams.

“This is the eastern lookout team. A large, flying creature is approaching from a bearing of 0-9-3. Altitude is 80 meters. Distance is 2,500 meters. Low speed.”

“Does the creature appear to be intelligent?”

“That’s unconfirmed. However, I wouldn’t expect a creature looking like some kind of undead monster bird to have any intelligence.”

Louis demanded confirmation from the lookout team: “Does it have intelligence?”

“Probably not,” they responded.

Now what? I asked if the creature noticed them.

“It appears to have noticed us.”

If it noticed them, it was already too late to avoid contact.

First, we should try using our floodlights to send a signal, and see how it reacts. Though, that leaves some risk of it coming into contact with us... Perhaps we should also fire a warning shot once it approaches to within 900 meters.

I asked for Louis for his opinion before making a decision. I got his agreement before giving my orders.

“Signal to it with the floodlights. If it continues to approach, fire two warning shots into the sea below the target once it approaches to within a distance of 900 meters. If it still continues to approach... you have permission to fire on it once it’s within 300 meters.”

“Yes, sir.”

Having given my orders, I ended our communication to allow them to concentrate. Others who must have overheard the discussion gathered to see what was happening and were holding their breaths.

I can’t blame them. Our unit is about to enter into our first combat in another world.

I received another transmission: “Target has been shot down.”

“Understood. I’ll send someone to relieve you. Head back to base.”

Our first contact with life in another world reached an unfortunate conclusion. I headed to a newly constructed command post to hear a report of the combat from the returning lookout.

**

“Was the 80-millimeter anti-materiel rifle you used effective?”

“It had more than enough power. I believe the target could have been shot down by infantry carrying a 20-millimeter caliber weapon.”

A video recorded by his suit showed a flying monster bird being taken down with a single shot and falling into the sea, just as he’d explained.

In terms of its basic form, the creature wouldn’t have looked out of place on Earth. But when Miki analyzed the video that Kouki recorded when he’d been transported to another world, she found that something called a magical barrier, which was like a bullet-proof wall, was in use in that world.

Could those barriers also exist in G-88?

“When the shell hit, did anything appear to resist it?” I asked.

“Resist the shell? I don’t know what you mean... Actually, I did feel there was a sort of lag right before it hit the target. As if the shell was penetrating something.”

It seems I was right to suspect that we might find barriers in this world, too. Miki said, “It might seem like magic, but it’s more likely a ball of energy, so hitting it with greater energy should be able to nullify the barrier.” The energy of the rifle shell must have been enough to win out over the energy of the barrier protecting the monster bird.

I shared my conclusions with my subordinate. The question was whether or not the 5.56 millimeter caliber weapons that our soldiers normally carried would work.

It’s not like we can shoot at this world’s inhabitants for the sake of an experiment. We’ll have to leave this problem until another day.

Louis entered the room and told me, “Commander, we’ve launched the reconnaissance satellite. We’ve also finished assembling the VSTOL craft we brought. It’s ready for a test flight.”

“All right. Begin collecting information once the reconnaissance planes have finished their test flights,” I instructed him before lighting and smoking a cigarette.

I realized I’d started smoking a lot more recently, but it was hard to stop.

Construction of the base and the barracks is completed. I suppose we just need to wait until we’ve gathered some information. I can’t think of anything else to do, and I’m not sure what our priorities should be right now.

Just as I was regretting not having Elise go through the gate sooner, there was a knock at the door and Elise entered.

“Elise Dauntless, reporting for duty.”

“I’ve been waiting for you! We’ve done everything that needs doing for now. What do you think we should do next?”

Elise adjusted her glasses using a single finger. She looked terribly angry as she said, “Everything that needs doing? From what I’ve seen up until entering this room, I get the impression that we’ve merely constructed the base. Do we have work schedules? Have rooms been allocated in the barracks? Have we arranged meal times and canteen hours? Have we setup recreation facilities... or even showers? I see you’ve collected a lot of cigarette butts in your ashtray. What have you been doing, exactly?”

I’d forgotten that the biggest difference between Elise and Clare was Elise’s sharp tongue. Clare would have thought those things without saying them, but Elise was always frank and outspoken. And the listener simply had to listen and endure her disheartening remarks because she was always too right to be argued with.

“Sorry. I’ll leave it up to you to manage the facilities.”

“Yes, sir. Your talents will be more valued on the battlefield. Might I start by releasing the birds caught by Idiot Squad A and Idiot Squad B? I don’t want to eat ‘roast bird.’”

I gave her approval; I didn’t want to eat that, either. Elise began rapidly giving out instructions to my subordinates using her terminal as she continued making complaints. When Elise was asked to manage facilities like this, she proved even more capable than Clare. But there was no avoiding the strict order she’d impose on everyone.

Although I was supposed to be the commanding officer here, instructions from Elise appeared on my terminal, too. I kept my objections to myself and got to work.

**

While I was taking a short break to eat dinner during the meal time that Elise had quickly arranged, a message appeared on my terminal: “Please come to the command post, ASAP.”

I headed there with my plate still in my hand.

“Commander, forgive our rudeness. We can wait 20 seconds, so please, finish your dinner.”

Elise was scowling and I didn’t want to anger her further, so I ate as quickly as I could. Those 20 seconds passed before I could finish, and Elise began to explain the situation without waiting any longer.

“The pilot of a reconnaissance plane returned with some information. Based on our data analysis and his oral account, we’ve identified no man-made structures or settlements within a 400-kilometer radius. The only man-made structure we’ve encountered is a building that appears to be a lighthouse, 500 kilometers to the south. We’ve concluded that some life form in this world has some seafaring ability. It’s not a problem for us if they have technology on that level.”

“So they’re not on the level of what we’d call ‘primitive man’?” I asked after finally finishing my meal.

Everyone nodded.

Now it was Cote’s turn. He brought in a portable screen.

“These are images from our reconnaissance satellite. At present, the satellite is more or less stationary above this base. From our analysis of the images, we’ve determined that this world is a planet floating through space, and the laws of physics are more than likely the same as those on Earth. At the very least, we can be certain that the ground beneath us isn’t being carried on the back of a giant turtle.”

I see. This isn’t some strange world where the seas flow off the edge of the world into some abyss like in myths. But the continents of this world are so different from Earth’s... It looked as though there were about eight independent continents. Which one are we on? I wondered. Then I urged Cote to continue.

“We’re currently here, on an island at the upper left of the continent in the center,” he said. “For convenience, we’ve named it Noa Island. From our satellite images, we’ve identified a large city located 920 kilometers south of Noa Island. Given the size of the other cities in the area, this would appear to be a capital city.”

We were only around 1,000 kilometers away from the capital city, but they had no planes they could scramble to fly at us, so the level of their culture appeared quite low. I wanted more detailed information, so I asked Elise whether she had anything to add.

“Louis is currently analyzing the images,” she told me.

For now, I’d have to wait for Louis. The pilot was still in his flight suit, so I had him leave so he could eat while I waited for Louis. I waited for about an hour before he came running into the room.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I can show you images recently captured by the satellite. Please take a look.”

Everyone looked in surprise at the images Louis brought up on the screen.

“Is that... a horse-drawn carriage?”

“Yes. It’s being pulled by a creature similar to an armadillo, but it’s more or less a horse-drawn carriage. The light is from torches rather than electrical lighting, though some of it comes from luminescent spheres that are unlike anything we’re familiar with. I believe that this is the “magic” that Mrs. Arakawa was talking about. We’ve also learned from the analysis that this planet is roughly 4.5 times the size of Earth.”

So in summary... G-88 is a similar environment to our world, Earth. However, despite being 4.5 times the size of Earth, the gravity is somehow roughly equivalent. The life here is also different from that of Earth, and the culture is equivalent to our medieval period. We’ve also found that our weapons are effective against the native life forms, and the nearest man-made structure is 520 kilometers to the south.

I knitted my brow while I thought it over. What kind of orders do I give out now?!

Miki told me, “Please handle things gently,” but this wasn’t what I’d been imagining. I was expecting that any cultures we might encounter would be on the level of the 19th century. I thought that they would be the ones to reach out to us. “What do you think we should do now?” I asked my subordinates to get their opinions.

“Perhaps we should try making contact with the nation we’ve identified after your son arrives?” Elise suggested.

“I agree with Elise’s idea. To be ready for the worst-case scenario, we can have aircraft equipped with gravity collapse bombs on standby overhead to offer direct support. If it came to that, it would be safest for your son to leave at high speed without us.”

So we’re counting on Kouki, after all. Kouki was expected to arrive the next morning. For now, we started working on detailed plans for how we might make contact with the nation we’d discovered.

**

The next morning, I waited for Kouki’s arrival.

An hour on Earth really was equivalent to one day here. Those who’d arrived most recently were shocked when they saw the base already completed. To them, it was as though I’d only stepped through the gate 50 minutes ago.

As I was thinking this over, the space began to distort before my eyes. I waited for the eighth-generation suit worn by Kouki to start making the slow transition through the gloopy space... but... He’s not slow at all! He was appearing incredibly quickly. As I watched Kouki transition into this world with incredible speed, I realized that I needed to warn everyone.

“Stand back from the gate! Hurry, or you’ll be hit by the shock wave! Kouki just went through the gate at the speed of sound!”

A few seconds after my warning, Kouki finished the transfer with a roaring shock wave before he took to the air at high speed.

I made a call to Kouki using my terminal so I could yell at him. “Are you stupid?! Why would you go through the gate at the speed of sound?! Someone could have been killed.”

“I’m sorry... I had instructions from Mom. She said I have to hand over this letter right away.”

That wasn’t enough for me to forgive him for not checking if it was safe here. After Kouki landed, I knocked some sense into him with my clenched fist before reading the letter.

It said: “I expect you’ve already begun a full-scale survey. If the results of the survey suggest that negotiation is necessary, temporarily withdraw and contact me. Under no circumstances should you attempt to negotiate and form any agreements yourself.

“P.S. If you use armed force to suppress any newly discovered cultures, I’ll divorce you.”

I’m not that brainless! And if we did get divorced, who would get custody of Kouki? I looked up from the document and saw Kouki looking back at me.

“If you get divorced, I’m going to live with Mom!” he declared.

My subordinates were trying to suppress their laughter. Elise went so far as to tell Kouki, “That’s a smart decision,” before patting him on the head. The scene left me feeling a little disheartened as I told Kouki our plans.

“I’m planning to scout out the area where our satellite found a man-made structure. If possible, I’d like to make contact with a nation we’ve discovered. I’ll be taking 30 fully armed personnel with me. We’ll be moving in a circular formation with you at the center. If anything happens, you’re to retreat by yourself at high speed. That’s an order.”

The whole time I was talking, Kouki had been sneaking glances at the birds. I smiled wryly and told him, “Go do whatever you like until preparations are made.”

Kouki smiled and ran off. I put Cote in charge of his defense before heading to the barracks to make preparations for our outing.

Two hours later, my subordinates were lined up in front of a large VSTOL aircraft. I went over our plans one more time.

“We’re going to be heading to a continent 520 kilometers south of here. Our goal is to make contact with a nation located on the coast of the continent! If this proves impossible, we’ll withdraw after we’ve gathered as much information as we can. We’ll land on the continent by approaching the coast in a transport plane before descending from overhead. Once we’ve landed, we’ll hide ourselves using optical camouflage. Then our first goal will be to head toward their fort while traveling at our suits’ cruising speed. The information from our satellite suggests that the fort also acts as a checkpoint, so we should be able to make contact with a government official there and begin negotiations.”

I gave my subordinates time to digest the information before giving further explanation.

“Next, let me explain our rules of engagement. No one is to open fire for any purpose other than self-defense. I also forbid the use of chemical weapons. We’ll be moving in a circular formation. Keep Kouki in the center and make his safety your top priority! I’ll leave everything else up to your individual discretion. You are probably tired of hearing this, but open fire if you think it’s necessary. If you think there’s danger, run. I’ll take responsibility, whatever happens.”

“Commander, isn’t that how it always is?” one of them asked.

“Well there’s no point in me explaining tactical activities or specific tactics to you!”

No good would come of explaining such things to people who could dodge a bullet from a sniper using just their animal instincts. Having everyone act based on their individual discretion would lead to the best results.

I decided to handle this like I always did, and I ordered everyone to board the transport craft.

**

Sometime after boarding, the pilot sent a transmission to the passenger area. “Information for all passengers. This aircraft will soon be arriving at the descent site. Please take care not to leave any belongings behind before leaving the aircraft. We also ask that Mr. Cote pay up sometime soon to cover his losses in yesterday’s poker game.” The pilot gave his transmission in falsetto and spoke as if we were paying customers.

I knitted my brow and began giving out instructions. “When that lamp turns green, those of you in the first row descend! Don’t hesitate. Let’s show Kouki what we can do.”

“In that case, I’m going to make my descent cooler by rolling in mid—uggh!”

I kicked the soldier saying stupid things through the descent hatch and followed behind him. I explained to Kouki that he should follow after us by flying down normally, so that wasn’t a problem. While we were descending, Kouki matched his speed with mine while flying around me.

“Dad, your unit is full of interesting people.”

“Kouki, please don’t turn out like these idiots. That’s my biggest worry.”

When Kouki and I landed on the beach, a subordinate came running over to give a report.

“The reconnaissance team has advanced 5 kilometers to the south. They’re checking that the area is safe.”

It seemed they’d taken the course of action they thought best without waiting for instructions from me. I was glad I allowed them to make their own decisions. That gave me some free time to ensure we had a reliable communication line between the recovery point and the aircraft on standby above.

Kouki was running off somewhere chasing a rabbit-like creature, so I told Cote and Jonathan to keep an eye on him.

The reconnaissance team contacted me once they finished their work. “This is the reconnaissance team. We have spotted a group engaged in combat 12 kilometers south of your position. We are currently observing.”

That’s the last thing we need. Could they be bandits? It’s possible, since this world is on the level of the medieval period.

“Tell me more about the situation,” I transmitted in response.

“There’s what appears to be a group of 100 knights protecting a carriage carrying a rich-looking princess. The knights are fighting with a ridiculously big earthworm.”

The description was sketchy, but it was easy to understand. Helping them out could be a good first step toward our target of making contact with their nation. I told the reconnaissance team to hold their position and gave instructions to my subordinates waiting on the coast.

“The reconnaissance team has found a group of nobles or royalty that are being attacked. We’ll rescue them if we can! Activate your optical camouflage and move out.”

We formed a circular formation with Kouki at the center, and headed for the area where the reconnaissance team was waiting. There, we saw the battle that was taking place. There were three giant earthworms and what appeared to be a group of knights who’d taken considerable damage.

“Ooh, that’s an elf!” Kouki said as we watched the battle. “The enemy looks like your basic sandworm.”

“You already know about these things?!”

My subordinates were also asking questions like, “What’s an elf?” and “Is sandworm the name of that monster?”

Why would Kouki know about the creatures living in this world? I guess I’ll worry about that later. What I need to worry about right now is whether or not we can take them down with the weapons we’ve brought. I asked Kouki what he thought.

“An elf is what you’d call long-eared people, like the ones being attacked,” he said. “I think that big earthworm is a sandworm or something similar. They’re pretty tough, but I think a rifle will be enough to take care of them. And I’m quite sure they’re not intelligent.”

The earthworm certainly didn’t move like an intelligent creature. Its fighting style was more like that of a bug. I was surprised that Kouki stayed calm enough to notice the ears of the people under attack while the battle was going on. He’d only witnessed combat twice: once when he saved Alice, and again right now. I had to respect him for being able to keep his composure.

“Squad 1, target the worms with your rifles! We’ll fire on them until they stop moving. Squad 2 and Squad 3, defend the perimeter. Fire!”

On my order, the ten powered suits assigned to Squad 1 began firing their rifles.

Adrienne’s Point of View

As we were on our way back from having inspected a major port named Flonne, we encountered a giant sandworm—a creature with an A-class threat rating. The 120 platinum knights defending me were all we had to fight against it. Although they were elite platinum knights, there were far too few of them for a battle against a sandworm, and our defeat seemed inevitable from the very beginning.

“Princess! Please leave us here and make your escape!” one of the knights called to me. “We can’t hold out much longer!”

“I’ll do no such thing,” I retorted. “None of you are able to use supporting magic!”

If I abandoned these knights, the supporting magic I was using to boost their base strength and magic would become ineffective. The battle would quickly turn into a one-sided massacre.

Just as the situation seemed hopeless, numerous holes appeared in the side of the sandworm. This was followed by sounds from somewhere far off. Booming sounds like ceaseless rolls of thunder.

“Something put holes in the sandworm...” I murmured. “Such a feat is beyond even an SSS-ranked adventurer. What could be happening?”

“I don’t know,” the knight said worriedly. “But it could be the work of a demon. Please stay behind me.”

A demon would never come to our rescue. The knights were confused and didn’t know how to act. The sandworm that had been such a problem was now lying lifelessly on the ground.

It can’t be... A great hero has appeared to save us? This is the stuff of legends...

“On the hill! There’s something there!” a knight shouted.

I looked to where the knight was pointing. A figure had abruptly appeared out of thin air. It was a creature I had never seen before. Then more of them appeared. They appeared one after the other until finally thirty of these large creatures stood on the hill. I realized that one of the creatures had begun to walk slowly toward us.

The knights immediately adopted a defensive formation to protect me, but only fifty of them were still capable of standing.

Any creature capable of subduing those sandworms had to be capable of annihilating us with a single blow. When the distance between us and the creature had been reduced by half, it stopped and placed what appeared to be a weapon on the ground before slowly turning 360 degrees to show us its back. Now it began to walk with its hands raised high. These were the actions of a surrendering soldier. It seemed to be telling us that it intended us no harm.

“Please don’t attack, whatever might happen,” I told the knights. “I believe they are trying to communicate with us.”

None of my knights went so far as to lay down their weapons, but they did seem less tense. That was a relief to see.

The creature walked toward us agonizingly slowly before stopping twenty meters away from us. It pointed to its body as it dropped to its knees. The area it was pointing to then began moving upward so as to reveal an opening.

A man with a face covered in scars emerged from the opening before climbing down and walking toward us. I realized we were looking at a knight who had been wearing something resembling armor.

The man spoke in a language that was unfamiliar to me. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I couldn’t understand him, so I used hand gestures to inform him that I was not about to attack, and then began using translation magic. I took care to keep my movements clear to him the whole time. Then I spoke slowly. “Can... you... understand... me?”

“Yeah, I can,” he said.

I felt relieved. The translation magic was effective. The man’s face was fearsome, but he was capable of rational discussion.

I began by expressing gratitude to him for saving me. “You’ve done me a great service by rescuing me from danger. You have my gratitude.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m guessing you’re some sort of noble. Is that right?”

What does he mean? I wondered. Could he have saved me expecting some reward?

That wouldn’t be a problem. I’d been intending to repay him from the start, but I wasn’t fond of people who requested money so shamelessly.

I replied to the man with clear displeasure in my voice, “You are correct. I am Adrienne, fourth princess of the Holy Merkava Kingdom.”

Perhaps this man will reassess his attitude now that I’ve told him I’m a princess. I hated myself for succumbing to such petty thoughts. I waited for the man’s response, and was surprised when his reply was far from what I was expecting.

“A princess? That’s perfect. We’re Noa. We want to negotiate with your kingdom.”

I just stared at the man. What in the world should I say to that?

**

Although I understood what the man from Noa before me was proposing, I felt at a loss.

The man suddenly pressed his hand to his ear and began talking to himself. “I’ve made successful contact. Now, what exactly— Huh? Your son? Understood.”

The man looked back at the rest of his group, shrugged his shoulders, and then spoke to me once again. “Before talking about specifics, we want to help your wounded. Can you use healing magic or anything like that? If not, we’ve got some medical supplies.”

They are offering to help the knights of a country that they’ve never heard of? I thought, amazed.

It was understandable that they’d want to place me in their debt before beginning diplomatic negotiations, but they would have been wiser to allow us to lose some knights in case negotiations broke down and it led to war.

This man said something about medical supplies. Is this group so well-provisioned that they can use valuable medical supplies on the knights of another country in place of healing magic? I need to find out more before I can judge them. Though I can’t simply allow my knights to go on suffering...

“I can use healing magic, but the most I can do is close their wounds,” I said. “Are your people familiar with painkillers?”

“Got it. I’ll get them to you right away. Do you mind if I call over my friends waiting back there?”

“By all means.”

In the end, I decided to accept the offer made by the people of Noa. I wanted to help the knights who were suffering, even if there was a chance I’d regret accepting their offer.

The man put his hand to his ear once again. He spoke two or three words, and then more of the armored soldiers waiting on the hill began to move toward us. The largest set of armor remained still, though. It appeared to be protected by other suits of armor at either side.

Could it be that their leader is being cautious? I wondered.

Another man emerged from one of the suits of armor that were arriving one after another. “Nice to meet you, princess. I’m Shuuichi, the commander of this unit. Sorry to be hasty, but could you have your knights put their weapons away before we treat your wounded?”

I urged my knights to put away their weapons. The majority were already eager to welcome these men after hearing that their companions were about to receive treatment. They put away their weapons without hesitation.

After the commanding officer named Shuuichi saw this, he put his hand to his ear and began to speak. It seemed they were using some sort of magical item to communicate over long distances. “Kouki, we’ve made sure it’s safe. You can come over now.”

The moment the commanding officer finished speaking, the large suit of armor standing on the hill rose into the air. I’d seen supporting magic used to strengthen the legs so that one could jump over long distances, and I’d seen wind magic used to make people float, but flight was only possible for creatures with wings.

The suit of armor slowly flying toward us from the hilltop was the color and size of a demon.

“A demon...” I whispered as I watched it fly.

The atmosphere became tense. The people of Noa smiled in spite of their hard faces as they offered to help our wounded. But now they were scowling angrily. My knights became noticeably fearful when they saw those smiles disappear.

They were both looking at me. I eventually realized that I’d said something incredibly rude. I desperately searched for the words to apologize, but the commanding officer spoke before I could.

“Princess,” he said in a low voice. “I’ll forget what you just said. But I’ll have to ask you not to use the word ‘demon’ in the presence of that suit.”

I nodded in agreement so forcefully that I almost injured my neck. The commanding officer was so angry. That armor... what they called a suit, could only be carrying a noble to whom they’d pledged their lives. Perhaps if that noble was accused of being a demon, he would kill them all in his rage.

The noble wearing the suit then flew before me and spoke to me from inside the suit. “Nice to meet you. My name is Kouki Arakawa.”

“I’m Adrienne de Merkava, fourth princess of the Holy Merkava Kingdom.”

I greeted him with the most elegant courtesy I could manage. He had given a surname, which meant he was at the very least a noble, if not a prince. I was pleased with myself for having made the correct decision earlier. But then the captain of my platinum knights said something that almost made me faint.

“Have you no manners?! How dare you address our princess without removing your armor?!”

You’re the one being rude here! I thought frantically. Try to understand the situation we’re in! They just wiped out those A-class monsters so effortlessly, and now they’re liberally using their medical supplies on people from another country. They are clearly from some great nation. Even on our own continent, our kingdom is treated as a small nation. They are so much greater than we are. You bring shame on your kingdom by speaking so rudely to the nobility of a great nation!

I trembled at the thought of inciting the anger of the people of Noa. But then the suit dropped to one knee and its chest opened.

“Forgive my rudeness. Allow me to introduce myself once more. My name is Kouki Arakawa.”

“Uwah...”

“Muh...”

The captain and I simultaneously gasped in surprise at the sight of the boy who appeared from within the suit.

After the boy named Kouki had repeated his self-introduction, he formed a right angle with his right hand and raised his fingers to his forehead. It was the most elegant gesture and a striking display of refinement. I fell in love instantly. The next thing I noticed was the clothing he was wearing.

There wasn’t a patch of dirt on his clothes. He was wearing ceremonious-looking clothes that were whiter than any I had ever seen, and his shoulders were adorned with gold and black. On his chest there was an emblem of wings adorned with text, which was most likely his national flag. Even his buttons sparkled as though they were made of gold.

I would have believed it if he told me his clothes were made by the gods themselves.

“How are your knights?” he asked.

“Hah? Ah... Yes! The analgesics you have given us are most effective. They are able to stand and walk again.”

“I see. We call that analgesic morphine. You shouldn’t overuse it. Please have them receive treatment from a medical professional once they return home.”

Medical professional? Treatment? It seems as though his country doesn’t just have doctors that care for the royal family; they have a system where doctors will even care for ordinary knights.

When ordinary knights were injured in our kingdom, they would be nursed by other knights or taken care of by healers dispatched from the church. This meant that they didn’t have a very high survival rate after being badly injured. It would have been incredibly expensive for the kingdom to take care of all injured knights.

Could Kouki’s country be big enough to afford such a burden?

“If you’d like, I could call our field medics?” he added.

Once again, the boy named Kouki said something surprising and hard to comprehend.

If they have a specialized team of medics, that puts them far above the level of our kingdom! I can’t allow us to become further indebted to Noa. Perhaps we should return to the fortress?

The fortress was where the iron knights—the strongest knights in our kingdom—were stationed. They’d be able to deal with whatever situation might arise. Moreover, it would be necessary to contact the capital before we could enter into diplomatic negotiations.

“Might we return to the fortress first?” I asked hesitantly. “Could we also postpone your proposal until we have been able to visit the fortress? I’ll need to contact His Majesty...”

“I’m fine with that. I think that would be in our favor, too,” their commanding officer said.

I was relieved to hear they were willing to accompany us to the fortress. I asked my knights to load the injured into my carriage, and I climbed onto a free horse.

**

Kouki Arakawa’s Point of View

As we were traveling toward the fortress, Dad spoke to me via a video call: “Treating their knights is one thing, but did we really need to bring our field medics?”

“Making a good impression now will give us an advantage in the negotiations later,” I said. “And I don’t like the idea of letting their people suffer.”

My dad was a military man, so he was used to seeing this kind of thing, but I couldn’t just stand by and leave people to bleed and suffer. And these were knights who’d been willing to give their lives to defend their master. They deserved to be treated as heroes, in my opinion.

My dad’s response to this was, “If you say so.”

It was probably hard for someone in the military to understand these feelings. More importantly...

“Dad, the clothes you gave me before we set out... I know it’s a little late to ask, but what’s with this outfit?! Why do I have to wear a military uniform? And why did I have to greet with a salute?”

“Don’t you think it’s cool?” he asked. “That’s T.M.N.’s formal uniform. It’s based on what the US Navy call ‘full dress whites.’ By the way, it’s a rule that only commanding officers and above can wear that uniform. The uniform even shows your rank. You and Alice will be treated as special major generals!”

“Major generals? Are you crazy?! What are you thinking? You only have 300 soldiers in your unit. Why would you need to give out ranks as high as major general?!”

I give up, I thought in disgust. I thought I had my dad all wrong, and I’d even started calling him “Dad” again. I should have stuck with “Macho Man.” Actually, maybe “Macho Gorilla” is more fitting?

“What are you talking about?” he asked. “There are 100,000 people making up Noa right now, and 80,000 of those are part of our military. We haven’t actually given you the authority to give commands during combat, but on paper, you can command a force on the scale of a brigade. You’d probably be good at it, so maybe we should give you your own independent mixed brigade sometime soon.”

You ask me what I’m talking about, but you’re the one talking nonsense! I thought indignantly. How could we have gotten so big? Last time I spoke to Mom about it, she said there were about 20,000 of us. How could we grow so quickly? Also, I remember Macho Man bragging, “I’m the administrator of general military affairs and the supreme commander of T.M.N.!” But how can a supreme commander casually run off into another world? Shouldn’t he be back on Earth overseeing things from a comfortable chair?

At least now I understood why Clare had been lecturing me on the correct way to salute recently. They were getting ready to force the role of major general on me.

“I’m curious,” Macho Man said. “How do you know about these ‘elves’ and ‘sandworms’?”

The answer was simple, but not something I could explain. What I may have called a “subculture” before my reincarnation didn’t exist in this world. In particular, there was no “otaku culture.”

When I first met Shingo, I’d asked him, “Do you ever watch anime?” and I was shocked when he’d replied, “Buh hee? Why would I watch kids’ shows?”

Manga was virtually nonexistent, which was one of the main reasons I’d drawn pictures in my spare time as a child. Things like elves and dragons were only of interest to people who liked complicated myths, so most people were only vaguely aware of them.

Now what? I’ll be sent to get my head examined if I say I remember it from a past life, and I can’t think of a good excuse. Maybe I can just brush it aside like Mom would...

“Don’t worry about it, Dad. Do you understand? Don’t worry about it.”

“R-Right.”

Macho Man must have seen something of my mom in my smile. His response was instant, and he smiled as if he was staring death in the face.

As always, I couldn’t remember anything related to myself, but I did remember a strong sense of enjoyment from my past life. I didn’t know what it was that I enjoyed so much in the past, but I was sure that I lived a blessed life.

Just as I was becoming sentimental, my thoughts were interrupted by the video call.

“If you don’t want to tell me about the experience, that’s fine,” Macho Man said with a sympathetic look on his face. “But your knowledge is valuable. It might even be something incredibly precious that only you have. So don’t look so down because of it. Hold your head up high.”

For the first time in a long while—a great long while—Macho Man actually said something you’d expect to hear from a good father. I decided not to call him Macho Gorilla for now. My mood improved as the fortress came into view and I imagined what might be waiting inside.

**

Once we reached the entrance to the fortress, a group of knights noticed us, and we had to stop while they questioned the princess about us. I thought that having such a high-ranking individual with us would be enough to get us into the fortress; I was wrong.

“Princess!” a knight announced. “These people can’t be allowed to enter the fortress unless they lay down their weapons.”

“Please, you must make an exception,” she pleaded.

“I can’t do that,” he retorted. “Things may be peaceful right now, but I’m sure you’re aware that our kingdom is preparing for war. And we certainly can’t trust someone wearing such demonic-looking arm—mgh.”

Adrienne... Maybe I should call her Addie for short? Addie was quick to cover the mouth of that knight, I thought. I wonder why. It’s probably my suit that looks demonic. This exterior design that Shingo and I came up with is pretty cool, if you ask me.

My suit’s thrusters were carefully positioned to make the suit resemble a demon named “Satanachia” from my memories of my past life. I was proud of how it managed to be both cool and yet strangely menacing.

We weren’t making any progress, so I transmitted a suggestion to Macho Man. “Dad, why don’t we remove our suits? We could take just our handheld weapons with us.”

“That might help. I’ll talk to them about that. If we do go into the fortress without armor, make sure you stay near Cote and Johnathan at all times. They’ll be better fighters than me if we have to fight indoors, so they’ll keep you safe. This may require a bit of acting. Keep your mouth shut and leave it to us.”

It was hard to imagine that Johnathan was a good fighter because he was the quiet, scholarly type. I was sure Cote was a strong fighter because his face was so covered in scars, though.

I remembered Cote laughing while telling me, “I ran into a grizzly bear while I was out fishing one time. It was a good thing I had my knife with me.” I was sure that anyone who could get into a knife fight with a bear and live to tell the tale could handle an attack from some elven knights.

“Looks like this is causing an argument,” Macho Man said as he opened up his suit’s cockpit. “How about if everyone who’s going inside takes their suit off first?” he suggested to the knights with a smile.

“I’m sorry about this,” Addie said to him. “Thank you for cooperating.”

“That’s not good enough! I need them completely unarmed!” yelled the knight behind her as she was bowing her head.

I hope we’re not causing her too much trouble. We may have arrived fully armed, but all we want to do is send in a delegation to start diplomatic negotiations.

“I understand where you’re coming from,” Macho Man said to the knight in a low voice. “If you’re sure you want to turn my advance team away, then that’s fine. We’ll just return to the main unit and tell them, ‘We were able to make contact with them, but we’ve had to come back because one of their knights turned us away.’ At the end of the day, whatever ‘judgment’ the main unit makes regarding your country, that’s not my problem.”

I guess this is what he meant by acting. It’s not quite gunboat diplomacy, but he’s really putting pressure on them. We can’t actually use force because Mom has tied our hands, but from the knights’ point of view, we may as well have said, “Well, we’ll be seeing you. Don’t blame us if this turns into a war.”

The knight was looking noticeably pale.

He did say they’re preparing for war, so there must be some sort of conflict going on somewhere. Now he’s worried that he’s about to earn his kingdom a new enemy. If I was him, I’d be wetting myself right now.

Macho Man delivered the final blow: “Prepare to withdraw! We’re returning to Noa Island. Princess, I’m sorry but we will have to leave you.”

The rest of the unit understood what was going on and began preparing to withdraw. I played along by igniting my thrusters and rising into the air. That’s when the knight, still looking pale, reluctantly changed his mind.

“Gah... If it’s just five of you entering, I might be able to allow you to carry weapons. I’d like the rest to wait outside. Please understand that we must consider the princess’s safety.”

Now I understood. These knights were no different from the knights who’d fought the sandworm: they just wanted to protect Addie.

I felt a little guilty as we entered the fortress.

**

On our way into the fortress, we were asked to remove our suits in the center of a large area that looked like a plaza. We did as we were told.

As soon as I was out of my suit, Cote and Johnathan quickly came running to my side, holding bullpup style rifles to ensure my safety. It was a little embarrassing.

“Four of us are armed,” Macho Man announced. “The one wearing the white uniform is under our protection, so he’s not. We’ve made a lot of compromises here. Is this enough?”

“Thank you for your cooperation.” The knight had become a lot more hospitable. “I’d like to apologize once again for my behavior.”

I responded, “We’re sorry, too.”

Addie guided us into the fortress. It was like something from a fantasy novel. Knights carrying spears that looked like battle hooks were standing in strategic positions along a corridor.

Are all those things actually usable? I wondered. To me, they looked more like ceremonial weapons. I made sure to get a good look at everything as we walked.

Finally, we were led into an extravagant room where we were asked to wait.

“Please wait here while I make contact with the capital,” Addie said. “A maid will soon arrive to serve tea, so please take this opportunity to rest.”

“All right,” Macho Man said gruffly. “But my men will worry if I leave them waiting outside for too long. Is it okay to send out a messenger every once in a while?”

“Yes. Please ask the knight behind you whenever you want to send someone out. His name is Crovence. He’ll guide you outside.”

With that, Addie left the room.

So this knight watching over us is named Crovence? I looked over in his direction and saw him standing motionless like a statue with his arms folded. He looked as though he was all muscles and no brains, kind of like Macho Man, except Crovence made it look good.

After I was done sneaking glances at him, I decided to kill some time by asking Macho Man something that had been bothering me since we first arrived. “Hey, we saw some villages before we got here, right? Why were they so far apart from each other? Wouldn’t transport and trade be more efficient if things were concentrated in one place?”

“You did well to notice that,” Macho Man replied with a grin. “Those weren’t villages. Those were military installations cleverly disguised as villages. They’re probably similar to disposable pillboxes used to buy time during a battle. There were way more guards than you’d expect to see in an ordinary village. They did say that they were preparing for war. I think those installations are part of it.”

“Ahem.” We heard Crovence behind us clearing his throat after he heard Macho Man’s explanation. It seemed he was uncomfortable at hearing us openly discussing his kingdom’s secret affairs.

We waited in silence until there was a knock at the door and a maid entered the room with a tea trolley.

It was exciting to see a real-life maid pouring our tea. She loaded six teacups onto a tray and carried it toward us.

Why six cups? I watched, baffled, as Crovence moved to stand before the table.

“Which one?” he asked.

“This one, please,” Macho Man said.

At Crovence’s request, Macho Man picked a cup from the tray at random and passed it to him.

Oh! It’s a test for poison! If he’ll drink from a cup that we’ve chosen at random, it suggests none of them are poisoned.

Crovence gulped down the tea until the cup was empty. “Please enjoy the tea,” he said before returning to his position.

That was amazing. Is this kind of thing standard practice? It’s actually pretty cool how Macho Man... how Dad knew exactly how to handle the situation just now.

I was looking at my dad with admiration when he suddenly gave orders to Cote and Johnathan, who were standing directly behind him.

“Cote! Johnathan! Move your fingers away from your triggers. Put your weapons behind your backs and stand ready for inspection.”

Cote and Johnathan looked ready to fire their rifles, but now they stood to attention. I could hear their boots against the floor as they both adopted a precise pose. They looked every bit as cool as Crovence behind them.

“Those are well-trained elite soldiers,” Crovence commented. “Few armed men in this kingdom could respond so quickly to an order. The knights of my kingdom could learn from them.”

“I’m proud of these men,” Dad said. “That said, the knights of your kingdom seem quite well-trained. I saw those... do you call them sandworms? You’ve got some troublesome creatures in this kingdom. It’s no small feat to be able to carry out a mission if it means that every single knight has to hold their ground against those things.”

Crovence and my dad were praising each other’s soldiers.

Is this what a political discussion looks like? I wondered.

I had nothing to add to the discussion. I just hoped that Addie would return soon.

**

We must have been waiting for about two hours. Addie entered the room out of breath.

“I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting! I have just finished contacting the capital.”

Dad and Crovence had been enjoying a friendly conversation until Addie entered the room. Now they wore more solemn expressions. Likewise, I swallowed as I listened to what Addie had to say.

“It has been decided that the Merkava Kingdom will hear your country’s proposals. However, this cannot happen immediately. You have been invited to attend diplomatic negotiations in the capital at a later date. Please use that opportunity to discuss the specifics with His Majesty.”

“That’s fine by me,” Dad said. “Can you give us a more specific time?”

“Could you return to this fortress in thirty days’ time?”

Thirty days? Well, I guess that’s all right.

I gave Dad a look that said, “I think that’s all right.”

He seemed to understand and nodded to me before replying to Addie. “Got it. We’ll see you in thirty days.”

Dad immediately rose to his feet and said, “Excuse me, I must contact our main unit.”

Crovence guided him outside.

I hated to up and leave as soon as our work was done, but it was hard to do otherwise because we were being cautious. I quietly followed behind.

Dad spoke to Addie about our next visit while he was putting his suit back on in the plaza. “We’ll dispatch a messenger before our next visit. The messenger will tell you exactly how big our delegation will be. Is that all right?”

“Yes, that’s fine. We may not be particularly large nation, but we are quite capable of acting as a host to your delegation.”

“Well then, we’re off,” said Dad. “See you soon.”

Dad finished the conversation quickly and then ordered the entire reconnaissance team to withdraw. Unlike when we arrived, everyone except me was able to travel at their suit’s top speed. I thought we’d been rude to the kingdom, so I sent a message to my dad to warn him.

“Dad, don’t you think we were a little rude? We should have talked to them more...”

“Kouki, negotiations are your mother’s job. We’re hurrying home!”

What’s he talking about? The negotiations aren’t for another thirty days, so why are you getting so fired up already?

“You idiot! Your mom is on Earth! Thirty days will be up for her in thirty hours from now. Now that you understand, you should be flying back to Noa Island and hurrying through the gate by yourself. Now’s the time to break the sound barrier.”

“Ooooh! Got it!”

I quickly pushed the red button to the side of my operation panel... and broke the sound barrier.

As I rapidly accelerated my suit, I began to wonder...

There was a fifth person from our unit standing behind Cote and Johnathan. Who was that? He was like a ghost.

**

Adrienne’s Point of View

After the people from Noa had returned, I called Crovence, the captain of my iron knights, to my chambers. Crovence was looking stern as I asked him to take a seat.

“What do you think of these people from Noa?” I asked.

“I would rather we never have to see them again.”

“That’s unlike you. Did something happen?”

“There are three reasons.”

Before explaining himself, he got up to check that no one was listening outside the door.

“Firstly, they all appear to have received a high level of education. There’s nothing in the way they look, act, or talk to suggest that they’re from a small or uncultured nation. I’m quite sure that they’re from a great nation.

“In addition to that, there was the young prince dressed in the white military uniform. He was looking around the fortress with great curiosity from the moment he stepped inside. At first, I thought he must be one of those princes who’s never set foot outside, traveling with delegation to see something of the world. However...”

“That guess was wrong?” I asked.

I didn’t suspect that I was wrong to think he was a noble on the basis of his uniform, but I hadn’t gotten the impression that he was particularly strong. He didn’t appear to be trained, nor did he appear to have a high level of magical power. He allowed his guards to make contact with us as if they were pawns while he waited on the hill. It had made him seem cowardly.

“He was looking at our guards,” said Crovence. “He noticed the positions of them... and then he took note of the types of weapons they were holding. He was assessing the power of this fortress. That is beyond doubt. He even saw through our outer defense stations. This leads me to believe that he has received an unusually high level of military training.”

“They know about those?!” I exclaimed. “But... how?”

“I’m not sure. But I do know they’ve learned how many guards are guarding each village. I heard it straight from their commanding officer himself.”

I took great care to ensure that our route back to the fortress hadn’t taken them through any of the villages. How could they have seen through our trick? I broke into a cold sweat as Crovence continued.

“The second thing is their healing technology. Three of the platinum knights fighting the sandworm had lost legs. The bleeding had been stopped while they were being carried home. The priests we dispatched from the fortress thought it best for them to simply rest in bed. However, the medics from Noa said, ‘Where are their dismembered legs?’ which was at first taken for a joke. But when a recovered leg was given to the medics, they set up something like a transparent tent, gave the knight drugs to make him sleep, and then... cut into his wounds with small knives.”

Imagining such a scene filled me with shock and outrage. Only men from the most barbaric of nations could think to further humiliate a wounded knight that had fought bravely!

“Here’s the shocking part. After they’d cut open the wound, they spent a long time sewing the leg back onto the knight’s body. Once they were finished, the blood flow returned to the leg, and the knight was able to move his toes to some extent. Before leaving, they waited for the knight to awaken and told him, ‘It’ll never be like it was, but with training, you’ll be able to walk again.’”

The revival of a dismembered leg would be a difficult feat even for the great wizards from legends.

“Could these people be capable of raising the dead?” I asked Crovence, half in jest.

“I asked the same question to my men in jest, much like you, Princess. Their response was vague: ‘If the heart has stopped for only five minutes, we can probably fix it with an AED.’ I suspect what they meant was, ‘it’s possible, but a matter of military secrecy.’”

“This is making me feel dizzy...”

“Me, too,” Crovence replied.

If all of this was true, we would be forced to negotiate with a nation beyond our imagining. It seemed unlikely that the conditions of any agreement between us would be in our favor. Even the most idiotic of our kingdom’s nobility would have to understand that. But if the agreement proved unworkable... Would we have the slightest hope of winning such a terrible war?

“Could we defeat Noa?” I asked shakily.

Crovence bit his lip before he responded to my question. “That’s the third reason. Their medics abruptly materialized in front of the fortress. I therefore believe that Noa are capable of deploying forces wherever they please. The biggest problem is that... unlike the traveling formations of the demon lord’s army, we cannot predict the movements of Noa. We can’t know how far they’re able to move. It may be that they’re capable of simply placing their forces in the center of the capital. In the event of war, our situation would be hopeless.”

It was laughable. Their soldiers were capable of defeating an A-class monster. If just one of those soldiers entered the capital, the damage would be incredible.

We had thirty days until the next delegation came to visit. I would have to talk to His Majesty and my older sisters to form an effective plan.

**

Kouki Arakawa’s Point of View

I returned to Earth by hurrying through the gate as soon as I arrived at Noa Island. After removing my suit, I ran to the lab where I’d find Mom.

I knocked on the door to the lab, and out stepped my mom, looking sleepy. “Mom! Mom! Listen.”

“Kou, what is it?”

“We’ve agreed to talk with a kingdom in the other world. It’ll be in thirty days. Thirty days!” I said, frantically trying to communicate the details.

Mom put her finger to her jaw and said, “Mm. Mmmm. I see. You’ve made contact with a nation in the other world, and there will be talks in thirty days’ time. But in this world, that’s in thirty hours, so you had to hurry back?”

Geniuses are amazing! She understood even though I was struggling to get the point across.

“But why were you in such a hurry to get back?” she asked. “There’s no point hurrying when you’re in the other world. If you save an hour over there, that’s just a few minutes here.”

“B-Because Dad said I had to hurry!” I stammered.

She was right. There hadn’t been much point in me hurrying back at top speed. But it was too embarrassing to admit my mistake, so I put the blame on Macho Man.

“Ah. It was your dad’s idea. That’s disappointing... I know he’s not the smartest person, but I thought he could at least do basic math.”

I didn’t realize, either! But let’s forget about that; we need to talk about the negotiations.

Although we made successful contact with the kingdom, it hadn’t been decided who’d attend the talks. We could have just left it up to Macho Man, but leaving those things to our fighters was probably not the best idea.

Mom agreed. With a smile similar to the one she used when punishing Dad, she said, “Of course. Negotiation is what your mother does best. It’ll be me, Clare, and Elise.”

I had a bad feeling about this. I’d been getting on well with Cote, and he told me that those three were known as the “three witches” of the Hakone base because it was a big mistake to make any of them angry.

I never made them angry myself, but I did remember how Macho Man once collapsed in the corner of the room like a worn-out old rag after receiving a punishment from Mom. That was when I was three or four years old. I decided to never make Mom angry.

“Do you want to come along, Kou?” she asked.

“No!” I said hastily. “I’ll just wait on the island. I want to look at the birds.”

I didn’t even want to see my mom during a serious discussion. It would probably make me relive my past trauma. The only reason I agreed to go to the other world in the first place was so I could see the unusual animals on Noa Island.

“What language did they speak?” she asked. “Could you understand them?”

“Someone there was using translation magic. The language wasn’t a problem.”

“Magic... If we can’t understand the actual language, I won’t be able to check that the translation magic is accurate. I don’t mind learning their language, but I’m not sure how I’ll find the time...”

Mom started mumbling to herself when the conversation turned to translation magic. I stayed quiet for a while. It seemed she wanted to confirm what people actually said in the other world was the same as what the translation magic converted it into. She was casually talking about learning the language herself, but I couldn’t see how she’d have time.

Could anyone besides my mom pull it off? Actually, I do know someone...

When it came to languages, there was a teacher with long, straight blonde hair named Miss Roberta. Aikawa told me that there wasn’t a person on Earth who could learn languages faster than Miss Roberta. I put this to the test by teaching her Russian, and she mastered it within twenty minutes. It was terrifying.

The really mysterious thing about this teacher was that the main subject she taught was music.

I told Mom about her.

“And this teacher is exceptional?” Mom asked.

“Yes, she’s a monster.”

“I’ll ask for her cooperation,” Mom said, accepting that.

It felt a little good to have Mom find my opinion useful for once.

There was an announcement as Clare’s voice played throughout the entire base: “Could Mrs. Arakawa please head for the gate on level 5... ASAP. The brainless gorillas returning from the other world are about to break the gate.”

I guessed that Macho Man and the others were returning from Noa Island all at once. They probably hadn’t given any thought to the time lag, and were creating chaos because of the difference between the speed at which they entered the gate and the speed at which they left.

A blood vessel appeared on Mom’s temple as she told me, “I’ll be back soon, so please wait here,” before turning to leave.

“Wait!” I shouted after her. “We had to fight with sandworms in the other world. The worms are big and kind of scary, so I want to take something besides a suit to protect me.”

“It looks like your dad got into a fight while you were there, despite all the warnings I gave him. I’m going to strangle him later... What did you want to take?”

There was a grassy plain around the fortress, so there’s probably a similar environment throughout the rest of the kingdom. That means I can use that thing! I realized.

A while back, I asked my mom to create the most awesome weapon.

That thing is so big and the armor is so thick and sturdy. It’ll be the safest thing to use.

“I want that thing. I want to take the tank you made recently!”

“A tank... You can’t mean?! Are you serious? Well, if you think you need it... I understand. I’ll make preparations, but we’ve only completed two units so far.”

I nodded, and Mom ran off to the gate with a look of disbelief.

I planned to force Mom to ride in it to keep her safe. I’d never seen the real thing myself, so I was trying to imagine it as I walked over to the residential area to get something to eat.

**

Miki Arakawa’s Point of View

I borrowed a bulldozer from a construction department before heading to the gate, and then I ascended to level 5 in the elevator.

When the elevator doors opened, I found a few dozen powered suits that had become stuck together in one great clump. I pressed my right foot to the accelerator with all of my strength.

I lowered the bulldozer blade to the ground and rammed it into the powered suits to move them all against the wall. I didn’t know what the shock would feel like for the people in the suits, but I knew it wasn’t enough to kill them. Right now, the gate was more important than those idiots.

“This’ll do for now,” I said briskly. “I expect Elise will be arriving last, so I leave it up to her to deal with you. It’s her responsibility to keep you idiots in order.”

I climbed down from the bulldozer and approached Clare with a smile.

“Clare, let’s move to phase 2 of this operation. Please tell all the bases belonging to Noa to enter the other world using their disposable gates. Have them move their resources to the other world, too. Especially the large supply of food and makeshift barracks we’ve prepared in the Russian base.”

“How much personnel, firepower, and resources should we have them transfer?” Clare asked irritably.

I mustn’t have said it very clearly.

Clare probably wanted to say, “I have no idea how much you need, so please be a little more precise.” But she misunderstood what I meant.

“Everything. Every base other than the Hakone base will be sealed off within 78 hours. After each base has been relocated, have the gate technicians head for the Hakone base after they’ve destroyed all evidence. If intelligence agencies from other countries become aware of what’s happening and try to prevent them from leaving, we’ll come to their aid. They should make the transfer as soon as the large weapons, the Tolstoy, and the space destroyers are ready to move over.”

“But we don’t know what’s going on at the other side of the gate,” she objected.

“I’m not worrying about that,” I said. “We know that our island is secure because the reconnaissance team has been able to contact a nation within the other world. And the island must be big enough if Kouki wants to take that thing there. Now we just need to use the time lag to construct our base there while moving the resources over. It’s going to take some time, but we’ve prepared simple residential facilities to deal with that problem.”

That was enough to satisfy Clare. She began dispatching instructions to each base.

“What is this thing that Kouki insists on taking with him?” Clare added.

I suppose I better show her it. The second unit was named after her, in fact.

I told Clare to come with me and we headed for the special technology region.

**

Clare was clearly excited as we boarded an elevator that only engineering staff with special permission could ride under ordinary circumstances.

“Are you nervous?” I asked in as friendly a voice as possible.

“Yes. This area is guarded by a group that the commander oversees personally, so I’ve never visited it. We’re careful with sensitive information even within our own unit, so I know nothing about it, and now I’m really nervous.”

It seemed that Shuuichi never told her about this region, even though she was his adjutant.

It took some time to reach the region because we had to construct it somewhat far off as a precaution against accidents. I told her exactly what it was we had constructed here.

“Some time ago, Kouki was assigned to the Creation Program to freely produce a weapon of his own imagining. Later, I was shocked when I saw the creation files.”

“What did he design?”

“It was a large-scale tank with a mass of approximately 35,000 tons, a length of 290 meters, and a height of 30 meters.”

“Wha?! A tank that big won’t even be able to move. It’ll sink into the ground.”

I initially thought the same thing. I laughed and thought that such a thing was beyond even Kouki. But he remained serious as he explained the plan to me.

In one of my workplaces known as the Next-Generation Scientific Research Institute, we were developing new, lightweight metals in our new metal research department. Despite working there, even I’d forgotten its existence. It was a small department with only thirteen researchers. It was unclear if the department was worthwhile because the development of their new metals was expected to take another ten years. But Kouki suggested that I give my full support to the department head.

In truth, I was happy to see Kouki pursuing something purely for the sake of his own interest. I handled the research costs by personally supplying funds to the department head, who hadn’t expected any increases in their financing.

After receiving cover for expenses that were twenty times their yearly operating costs, the researchers were filled with new enthusiasm and successfully developed a new metal within a single week.

It turned out they hadn’t been pursuing their research seriously after being looked down upon and being denied the funding they required. Yet they’d only been a short way from achieving their goals. Kouki realized this in a short amount of time and with minimal information, and his support for the research department led to him obtaining the lightweight metal that he’d wanted.

Those researchers had now been transferred to Noa, but uncharacteristically for technical staff, they joined Noa for Kouki’s sake.

All of this was a surprise to Clare. “So, did they complete it?”

“Yes. Thanks to the new metal, the structure was made far stronger than it would have been.”

The elevator reached our destination, and the doors opened. I could tell Clare was holding her breath as she gazed at the massive object lying in a large-scale dock.

“This is the large-scale multi-weapon tank that Kouki proposed. This is Unit #1. It’s the ‘Alice-type ground unit,’ or ‘Alice’ for short.”

The Alice-type ground unit... Even when Kouki had been explaining it all to me, I wanted to ask him what on Earth he was planning with this thing. It weighed approximately 7,500 tons, had a length of 311 meters, was 28 meters tall, and could use a snorkel while partially submerged. There were two mounting positions for three coaxial 26-centimeter cannons and 40 vertical launch system missiles installed at the rear.

In addition, groups of four coaxial 20-millimeter anti-personnel and anti-aircraft cannons were installed here and there, making the thing look like a hedgehog. It could carry 30 powered suits in addition to the ordinary crew.

When I tried using my terminal to determine how well it would perform, I concluded that it could easily obliterate an entire Ground Self-Defense Force division. I then decided that I didn’t want to think about it further.

“I hate to surprise you like this, Clare, but the name of the second unit is ‘Clare.’ It seems Kouki gives them the names of women he knows. He did say something like, ‘Giving a ship the name of a woman is good luck.’”

“M-Me?! But why?”

Don’t ask me. I can understand why he’d want to name the first unit after Alice, but the second unit should have been named after me! If he tries to name the third unit Elise or Roberta, I’ll... Oh, I’ve totally forgotten. Didn’t Kouki advise me to get the cooperation of a teacher at the academy named Roberta?

Now that I remembered, I raised the subject with Clare.

“Roberta from the academy?” replied Clare, looking at me strangely. “You mean Roberta Scarlet?”

“That’s probably right. Do you know her?” I asked.

“I know her,” Clare replied with a sour expression.

Did something happen between them? Even if something did happen in the past, I need her cooperation right now.

“I expect she’ll cooperate,” Clare said. “But... I hope you realize she won’t come cheap.”

“I don’t mind. I’ll just consider it a necessary expense.”

Clare began to prepare a message using her terminal.

If she wants money, I suppose she’ll demand payment before she arrives. I’m fine with that. As long as she works for the money that she’s paid.

“Robby?” Clare said as her call connected. “It’s Clare. Are you sleeping? It’s noon already. Get out of bed.”

It seemed Roberta had been asleep. Even though it was summer vacation, I was a little unnerved to hear that a teacher was sleeping so late on a weekday.

“I want to tell you about a job opportunity,” Clare said. “Wait! Don’t hang up. What about one of those cakes from the French confectionery place? I’ll give you the whole thing... Okay, fine, wine, too. What? Okay, meat, too. I’ll come to meet you so be prepared for my arrival.”

It seemed this person wasn’t interested in money; it was food she wanted.

“Well that’s quite cute, isn’t it?” I said to Clare with a smile.

“Robby eats and then she eats,” Clare replied crossly. “She can eat enough food for five people in a single meal. And then she doesn’t get fat. I can’t stand her!”

If there was time, I would have to thoroughly examine Roberta once she arrived at the Hakone base.

With that decided, I headed back to my room with Clare to take care of some remaining business.