novelElusive Financial Source >> Ice Breaking Bombardment at Africa's Cape of Good Hope (2)
| ← Ch.088 | Ch.090 → |
"Yeah, the fact that cup ramen tastes worse when made in the Andes shows up on quiz shows a lot. Marie loves those shows, but Wells always pouts his lips when she doesn't let him change the channel."
"You can tell us more about your wife and kid later. Those cup noodles are what matter now. That's because the boiling point for the water changes due to the difference in atmospheric pressure. Ice is the same. Apply pressure and the temperature at which it freezes will change."
"What? So are we supposed to look at this in reverse? Like dig down 4000 meters below the ground?"
"No, normal water turns to ice at around 7000 atmospheres of pressure. There's a professor at my safe country school that was always doing experiments related to that. Something about creating a holy bullet by making water molecules act like metal molecules."
"Seven thousand!? How are they supposed to do that, you idiot!? That's just unrealistic. This isn't a micro-level lab. It's the macro-level battlefield!"
"Oh, really? Objects are two hundred thousand tons. That's twice the weight of old aircraft carriers. It could easily supply that pressure by creating a press that focuses its weight on a single point like stepping down with some high heels. Take those four legs for example."
Kevin groaned, either at the crazy ideas Quenser could come up with or at the extraordinary specs of the enemy Object. Water froze at zero degrees. He never would have reached this point without first questioning that standard assumption.
Meanwhile, the student continued like normal.
"There's also a paper on applying one million volts of electricity to a meter cube of pure water to solidify it into ice. The Object's reactor can supply that, so that might act as a secondary method."
The student placed the thermos in the rubber boat's holder. When the boat folded up to the size of a suitcase, it would be safely stored inside the Armadillo.
"Anyway, it doesn't need a ton of coolant that way, so it can ignore that limit. Whether it uses pressure or electricity, it can indefinitely produce ice without turning the entire Object into a giant freezer."
"..."
Heivia and Kevin fell silent for a while.
Those conditions brought a troublesome problem to the surface.
"You understand, don't you? The Spectre Q&A isn't working with some other unit. It can create all this ice and block off the sea all on its own. No matter how much ice the Princess melts, it can fill the gaps back up. She'll be a bird in a cage the entire time."
"This is no joke. So we'll be getting slapped around by our own Object the whole time!? Even those water vapor explosions will kill us eventually!!"
"About those water vapor explosions, " cut in Quenser."Its main cannon is a laser beam using a dye laser, right? The unnatural ice and the screen of water vapor... They both interfere with light. If it was designed with both of those in mind, it might have some trickier tactics prepared."
Part 8
The Princess maintained her focus even as a white screen of water vapor covered everything and new ice flowed in below the Baby Magnum.
She had done nothing more than secure her means of passage.
The true earth-shaking battle between Objects was yet to come.
"!"
The locations of both Objects, the changes in the opponent's movements, the orientation of their cannons, the movements and creaking of their lenses and sensor heads, etc. All of the data taken in by the Object was ultimately analyzed by a human mind and she operated the Baby Magnum with the instincts of her fingertips. The Spectre Q&A fired its frightening laser beam main cannon a moment later.
She just barely managed to avoid it.
And instead of a straight line attack that flew at the speed of light, this attack had curved slightly through the curtain of water vapor.
"I already experienced a bending main cannon back in the Rio Grande District!!"
This time, a laser beam flew off in a seemingly random direction, collided with a hunk of ice, and bent at a sharp angle with some reduction in power. However, the Princess had predicted this as well, so she had moved her machine out of the way.
It was the same as a mirror, lens, or prism.
The Spectre Q&A was using some kind of technology to remake the icy land, reflecting its light with that ice, and bending it with the water vapor screen. But if one viewed the enemy Object as the source of the light and knew how the various obstacles would interfere with that light, it was not impossible to deal with.
Of course, this was the same as constantly doing the mental arithmetic to determine how a laser pointer would bounce around an amusement park's house of mirrors, and while the source of the light was constantly moving around at over five hundred kph.
But...
(I can do it. )
The Princess operated the control stick while placing some belligerence on top of her logical thinking.
Weak lasers in her special goggles read the movements of her eyes and sent her wishes to the machine.
(This isn't an unbeatable foe. Second Generations have a single point of specialization, so if I can bring an end to that gimmick, they aren't a threat. With my focus on the fundamentals, I have less excess weight and have lighter footwork!!)
None of that was wrong, but that did not mean it was entirely correct either.
Yes, where did the Spectre Q&A's name come from?
It retrieved samples and optically analyzed them to work out its enemy's weakness.
So the longer the battle continued, the more clues it had to make a comeback.
Part 9
"The discord between the Winchell family and the Vanderbilt family is concentrated inside this bottle, " said Azureyfear Winchell inside the borrowed aircraft carrier's command room.
Frolaytia mentally held her head as she sat in front of a laptop at a work desk. She was trying to directly command the Object that was currently in battle, but modern warfare's advanced digitization allowed her to do so almost anywhere as long as she had communications equipment. But unforeseen trouble was always a possibility, so she did not want to receive a message like, "The LTE antenna just died and there's nothing we can do. Tehepero." The entire battalion could be wiped out like an online game character after the player's signal cut out.
That was when the noble girl started speaking.
The girl's bewitching body looked a little pale and she held a small bottle of blood-red wine.
"Young lady."
"I'm not going to drink any. I only spray some on my clothes and hair like perfume."
She giggled and then her voice dropped in tone.
"That way I will never forget the centuries of hatred contained in this bottle. That is the Winchell family way."
"I see. Well, Blazer Bouquet is a very... unique brand that people often claim tastes like drinking perfume."
"My, my. So you enjoy it too, major?"
Frolaytia was always smoking her long, narrow kiseru, but for some reason, she coughed now. She may have been reminded of her safe country maids and tutors.
"Blazer Bouquet is made by mixing together several rose petals and allowing them to ferment and brew within quite a lot of flower nectar. As you mentioned, major, wheat or grapes are much better if flavor is what you seek, but a powerful impression is needed for a drink served at a celebration."
Azureyfear held the perfume-like bottle's lid between her fingertips and swished the contents around.
"It all began several centuries ago. It was far before even the fall of the UN that is seen as the turning point between eras. This is a fairy tale about a princess who was pursued by an entire nation. Our Winchell family remained loyal and hid the princess even if it meant breaking the law, while the Vanderbilt family upheld the law and pursued the princess even if it meant betraying their loyalty. The princess tried to cast aside her name and position to live happily among the commoners, but they would not allow it. On the day of a secretly-held wedding, it was a bottle of this rose wine turned into a Molotov cocktail that broke through the chapel's stained glass window."
Frolaytia narrowed her eyes a little.
This was a delicate historical issue directly linked to ideology. If she said the wrong thing she would trigger the kind of harsh response that was willing to continue hunting someone down for one hundred years. She chose her words carefully as she responded.
"I had heard that story is merely a highly plausible theory, just like the big bang theory."
"Yes. When the rise of Objects brought the demise of the nuclear age, all sorts of storage media were turned to ash. There's no telling just what people threw into that figurative conflagration if they had any inconvenient truths they wished to rid themselves of. It must have looked like the most effective shredder imaginable. For one thing, no one even knows if the fall of the UN really was what created the Objects. Similarly, no one knows the truth of our two families after crossing that turning point."
The Blue Rose continued after kissing the small blood-red bottle.
"But if facts were intentionally erased, there was a reason for them to be erased. Even if the story contained within the Blazer Bouquet is false, something even more repulsive lurks even deeper within. Could you feed your baby some baby food that listed its ingredients simply as 'unknown'? Can you really rest easy just because you don't know? Really??"
"..."
"The very fact that it is listed as 'unknown' is suspicious. Thus there is no real reason to search any further. Even if the maker sent out a correction, you would never believe it. You would throw out all of the baby food and rely on a different maker, wouldn't you?"
She was already set in her ways on this.
It was not just the lack of a stairway to compromise. She had prepared arguments to justify not seeking compromise.
That was Frolaytia's honest opinion, but she of course did not speak that aloud.
Then an electronic tone sounded.
Her laptop was lending a helping hand at the best possible time.
"Major Capistrano, this is not quite an emergency, but the large-scale water vapor explosions among the icebergs have altered the weather over a wide area."
"Excuse me, young lady.... Is a tornado or downburst forming?"
"Nothing yet, but our Doppler radar is showing a definite supercell. Noise from the gathering storm clouds and surges of lightning might interfere with our transmissions. In order to stay informed of the changing environment, I would recommend coming down to the battle command station if possible."
She did everything she could to keep it from showing on her face, but Frolaytia was relieved and concluded she was blessed with some excellent subordinates. She had no problem with historical romance, but that changed when it had brought about hatred that still continued to this very day.
She folded up her laptop and stood from the large chair at the work desk.
"Allow me to see you to your room."
"No need. I would collapse from heat stroke in there. Might I stay here?"
That would normally not be allowed, but they were essentially "renting out" the entire small aircraft carrier. The command room had nearly been turned into a hotel room, so it only contained a change of clothes and the laptop Frolaytia held under her arm. There were no documents or equipment with classified information and the drawers were all empty.
So she could easily answer.
"Yes, that's fine. I will be posting a guard in front of the door, though."
"Please do."
After their formal exchange, only Azureyfear remained in the room.
She removed the small bottle's lid, attached a spray cap, and lightly sprayed some on the thick blood vessels on her wrists and neck.
She calmed herself as she enjoyed the rosy smell and then reached for the chest of her blue dress. She pulled out a small handheld device she had not informed the battalion she had.
She used a communications method based on a special detour to contact a certain someone.
"How do you do, White Lily of Vanderbilt? You seem to be investigating us, but did your lovely rat-like efforts turn anything up?"
"I can't believe you... This isn't passing through the military server. What kind of dirty magic trick is this?"
"Secrets are the ultimate luxury only afforded to the privileged. The common folk put all their effort into experiencing cheap imitations, but those of us at the top are of course laughing at their wasted efforts."
"And?"
"Just talking to myself, White Lily. I care not what the Whore of Vanderbilt does in her spare time. I will praise you for shaking that vulgar ass of yours to steal away a portion of our Winchell family as part of your plan, though"
The Blue Rose placed the word "but" on her tongue.
With one hand holding the handheld device, she used the other to spin around the perfume bottle of hateful wine.
"If you drag my brother into that pathetic hobby you call 'pacifism', you will wish I had only burned your face off with a Molotov cocktail, Bitch of Vanderbilt. I will turn every last hair on your head into dust."
She did not speak particularly strongly, but a strange pressure was hidden within her tone.
A commoner with no history behind their name may have fainted when that pressure struck them head-on.
But the girl she was speaking to was different.
The Legitimacy Kingdom's Vanderbilt family had been around for at least several centuries, just like the Winchell family.
The young lady of that family laughed as she replied.
"Oh, dear.... Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Don't tell me you think I forced Master Heivia to join me in all this."
"..."
"If so, I'm sorry to say I was only doing what he asked me to. I will, however, admit I had some spare time on my hands and continued my investigation after interpreting his request more broadly than he probably intended."
"You whore."
"Blue Rose. It isn't right to blame your brother's lover just because he isn't giving you any attention.... What are you doing? The Vanderbilt family has a countermeasure office dedicated to the Winchell family and you are hiding something that not even their network could detect."
"You will know soon enough."
Water splattered against the window
Dark clouds had rapidly filled the sky and rain was pouring down.
"Or should I say, it is already too late."
Part 10
It was raining.
Raindrops large enough to hurt on the cheek poured down like a waterfall.
The artificial rain shower created a great din. The previous water vapor explosions had caused this. The vaporized water had cooled in the air, solidified, and fallen as water once more.
"Is it just me or is the Princess the one kicking us around this time?"
"It's probably just you."
"No, it's because you were flirting with Azureyfear! Nothing good comes from pissing off the goddess of victory that holds all of our lives in her hands!!"
"You're blaming this on your sister again, you gloomy noble!? I'm sick of hearing that. That has nothing to do with the Princess's mental state!!"
"Are you on Colorful Vanilla!? How else could you be so clueless!? You're the real spoiled bastard here, so I think you're the one that deserves a fist to the face!!"
"S-stop that, you two. C'mon, you shouldn't fight."
The two idiots ignored the weak-willed middle-aged man and started grappling on top of the artificial ice shelf, but they soon realized they had bigger problems.
A flash of light much brighter than before stabbed into their retinas.
"Gh... ah!?"
"What the hell!?"
They curled up like lightning had struck nearby, but the light had not been targeting them. If so, they would have been vaporized already.
It was a laser beam.
It had grazed one of the Baby Magnum's seven main cannons as the Object continually dodged the Spectre Q&A's man cannons.
"Dammit! It didn't react that much before, did it!?"
"Wait a second. I think the Princess was shaken by that!"
The optical weapon had done more than tear at the thick armor. A tremendous explosion and shockwave followed. The half-melted main cannon had already been rendered useless, but it bent and strained like a fishing rod. The entire two hundred thousand ton mass seemed to be shoved to the side and it stopped moving.
The Spectre Q&A's main cannon moved carefully.
It fired the main cannon again and again. The Princess quickly resumed her evasive action, but it lacked life.
Heivia muttered to himself in the downpour.
"What was that? It didn't look like a normal laser."
"A dye laser. Damn, Frolaytia even mentioned it back in the pre-mission briefing!!"
"Wh-what is that, Quenser?" asked Kevin."How is it different from a normal laser!?"
"A dye laser has color added to the medium used to oscillate the laser. By switching between media, this almighty laser can theoretically create light with any wavelength, from ultraviolet to visible light to infrared." Quenser demonstrated the fruits of his studies to his awful friend."But dye lasers are pretty inefficient. Enough that a different type of laser is needed for the pumping... that is, adjusting it to a usable band of light. You could say that thing's main canon is a combination of different types of lasers, like a multi-stage rocket. Since it uses different wavelengths of light, it has to switch between different media like a color palette. And of course, the more complicated the system, the harder it is to maintain and the greater the risk of it malfunctioning. Normally, a dye laser isn't well-suited for use as a weapon."
"What are you trying to say, Quenser!?" asked Kevin.
"It's a really useful but really inconvenient laser! The end!!"
"Yeah, well that giant thing's gotten it to work. There has to be a reason why. Unless some shitty government official had some shitty plot to embezzle the people's shitty tax money."
"Heivia, how do lasers do damage in the first place?" asked Quenser."Setting aside some special cases, they transmit the energy of the light to their target and destroy it with that. That's the basic idea of a laser. That means efficiency matters. What wavelength of light will build up the most energy in the material making up the armor? What matters here is that the Spectre Q&A's dye laser main cannon can produce light ranging from the ultraviolet to visible light and infrared."
"Hold on. So that blast just now..."
"We already know it performs optical analysis on the stripped pieces of armor panels and the special gas floating in the air and puts together its tactics based on that. There are countless variations in Object armor. The expert craftsmen add in the fire-resistant reactive material almost by instinct and no machine can emulate it. But what if the Spectre Q&A's analysis has reached that level?"
"It can choose the laser that will have the most effect on the Princess's armor? That's what caused that explosion!? She took far, far more energy than from a normal laser!?"
"Yes, but it's more about efficiency than power."
"It doesn't matter. That isn't just a tricky-to-use optical weapon. Is it more like an explosive laser that destroys the material with all its built-up energy!?"
Kevin trembled in fear at what Heivia was saying.
Even now, the Princess was making quick evasive actions. Her footwork was as nimble as a mixed martial artist's, but the Spectre Q&A was sending in more drift ice. That artificial ice was created by freezing the sea water with great pressure. Once that stopped her, her enemy could get a definite hit in. The preparations for that were already underway.
"B-but it's still a laser isn't it? She already knew it was bad to get hit by it! So she just has to make sure she isn't hit! Then it won't explode, right!?"
"Weren't you listening, Heivia?"
Quenser rejected that optimistic view.
"Its dye laser can create any wavelength."
A moment later, several explosions erupted from the space around the Baby Magnum rather than the Object itself.
The noise alone was enough to not just pound on their eardrums but fill their heads with internal pressure. Heivia curled up and yelled while suffering from a dull headache.
"What is it now!?"
"It created the optimal wavelength for either the surrounding air, the low-stability plasma cannon gas floating around, or the static electricity repellant!! It's just like a laser space elevator. The air expanded to create explosive shockwaves that hold the Princess in place!!"
The laser contained enough energy to pierce through an Object which could survive a nuclear blast.
That pressure exploded in the air and scattered around.
The Baby Magnum was not at the center of the blast and was not destroyed, but entirely avoiding the surface of pressure created by the shockwave was not easy and that pressure approached from multiple directions at once. The fifty meter machine's movements were cut short and it could not keep up its nimble evasions.
The Spectre Q&A had no reason to rush.
It had the optimal game piece on the optimal square on the game board, so it could tease its opponent until they self-destructed.
With the drift ice interfering from below and the shockwaves from above, the Baby Magnum was losing valuable seconds and would eventually be fatally delayed.
Then the monster's dye laser would switch its palette and fire the most efficient attack for the Baby Magnum.
Whether opening a photo album or activating a voice recorder, Kevin curled up and muttered something while staring at his handheld device.
"Marie, Wells. Dad is doing his best on the other side of the globe. I swear I'll keep my promise, so let's have a blast at the amusement park. But... ahh, but if dad can't make it back... Wells, listen up. You need to support your mom. This is a promise between men, okay?"
"Oh, shut up you. Stop praying like that. More importantly, what are we going to do?"
Still curled up, Heivia clenched his teeth against the shockwave that was breaking apart the icy land.
"We were caught in this thing's web from the beginning! How are we supposed to win!?"
Part 11
A round lifeboat floated between the drift ice.
Inside were three blonde girls in red parade uniforms and the young man in charge of their care.
"Good, good. I was a little worried when the Legitimacy Kingdom melted the ice and triggered all those water vapor explosions, but we should be fine now."
"It's all progressing well."
"It feels like we're finally back on track, doesn't it?"
All three were facing each other with military handheld devices in hand as if they were children playing coop with handheld games. The young man was left out and he kept glancing out the round window at the intermittent light and noise.
The three sisters (who actually wanted to show off to him) were a little displeased with that, but they refocused themselves.
"I didn't think you would accept this job, Dry."
"Eh? Why not?"
"Because this request for help came from the Laser Cracker 001. Y'know, the one suspected to be involved in that drug war. That may be efficient, but isn't it disgusting?"
The sensible young man's shoulders gave a start as he stared out the window.
The triplets (mistakenly) concluded they could gather his attention with this topic, so there was no stopping them.
"He's not some money-obsessed drug dealer. In a way, he is taking part in the drug war, though."
"Huh? Then wat is he doing?"
"The Laser Cracker 001's Elite uses the internet to send his designer drug recipes to the enemy maintenance base, but he doesn't do it to sow confusion in their maintenance or command structure."
"Ohh, I get it now."
"He wanted a bad example. Something like a poster hung up in an infirmary."
"Right, right. Just like any other type of war, there's offense and defense in a drug war. You attack by sending your products to the enemy nation and earning money. You defend by blocking the products from entering your own country and secretly spreading awareness to make the youth afraid of using the products. A bad example is the best for that. Like showing pictures of paint thinner addicts' teeth or the torn-up skin of addicts after they tried to scratch at the hallucinations of bugs crawling all over them."
"You can't use your own people for that bad example."
"And even if it's an enemy nation, you don't want to destroy the people in a safe country."
"So he used an enemy nation's soldiers. If the news runs a story on the sorry state of the soldiers after abusing drugs on the battlefield, no one will try to use that 'cool and artistic key to the gates of heaven'."
"Even drugs are about brand name and image, aren't they? You can see that pretty clearly when a legal drug becomes an illegal drug, when the illegal drug starts being called an herb or something, and when it's finally known as a dangerous drug. That's a different sort of defense."
"It leads to rumors that the filthy soldiers on the battlefield were caught in a national conspiracy, have their teeth falling apart as if from cavities, have their noses constantly running, and get hallucinations that lead to chewing their own fingers to shreds. Of course no one's going to try to use it after hearing that."
The young man was reaching information overload and had completely lost track of who was saying what. Oblivious to that minor change yet hoping to attract that normal person's attention, the three genius girls continued their complicated discussion.
"But what does that say about the current incident?"
"Yes, that ergot alkaloid lysergic acid derivative."
"Colorful Vanilla."
"He's the one in charge of producing that, right? That seems out of character for the Laser Cracker 001. He usually takes the defensive side of the drug war to reduce the damage done."
"There's a reason behind it."
Alisa Martini Sweet smiled thinly with the kind of cruelty unique to a genius.
"This is but the tip of the iceberg."
Part 12
"Heivia, Heivia."
"What is it, goddammit!? My ears are hurting too bad to hear you properly!!"
As the repeated explosions and shockwaves gradually cornered the Princess, Quenser grabbed Heivia's shoulders and shouted loud enough to not be drowned out.
"We need to pull up the rubber boat that's still in the water! We need the Armadillo's help. Heivia, you and Kevin help me out!!"
"What are you even trying to do!? Wouldn't jumping down to the boat be the faster way out of here!?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Quenser glared at the distant Spectre Q&A that was firing its explosive laser main cannon that made use of a dye laser.
"We're going to do something about that thing. I can't let it keep bullying the Princess. And if it gets away, the drug war affecting safe countries will continue. Colorful Vanilla will be spread without end while some government official's wallet gets fatter. That would leave a bad taste in my mouth, so we need to do something, whether that means capturing the Pilot Elite or analyzing the drug."
"You're... right. It seems to only be targeting the Capitalist Corporations for now, but they're still targeting safe countries. I don't want to leave any chance of that being spread anywhere near Marie and Wells."
They used the synthetic rope to pull up the boat. Once it was up on the ice, they let out the air and it automatically transformed into the suitcase-sized Armadillo.
"Let's turn this around before they reach checkmate. Come on, Heivia."
"Are you kidding!? We have to run through all those explosions and shockwaves!?"
The two idiots and the middle-aged man crouched down and ran along the cracked ice land with the small power supply Armadillo.
As they felt vibrations that seemed to beat all of their skin like a drum, Quenser spoke over the radio.
"Princess, can you hear me?"
"What is it, Quenser? I'm a little busy."
"Turning down people's invitations on the pretext of being 'busy' is a warning signal when it comes to interpersonal relations, so be careful." He twisted his lips in a smile as he joked."Can you move from the point you've been concentrating your fire on and move the primary battlefield elsewhere? I want to set up a trick while you do, so you'll have to make sure the Spectre Q&A doesn't notice."
"You don't like giving easy requests, do you?"
"If you can't, the situation will only get worse. You know you're being pushed around on the chess board, right? You'll only be cornered if you let more time pass."
She replied through her actions rather than words.
The Baby Magnum veered to the side. Laser beams and low-stability plasma cannons blew away the surviving portion of the artificial ice shelf, clearing a new path with water vapor explosions. She was running off.
"Let's go, Heivia! You too, Kevin!!"
"I know, you bastard, but can you at least tell me how many times you're planning to get us killed today!?"
In the area where the Objects had been fighting, the thick ice had either melted or was full of cracks in a web-like pattern. It was not a ship designed to float, so it could capsize at any time. It was quite thrilling, but the two idiots and the middle-aged man got as close to the "cliff" as they could.
But then short bursts of gunfire reached them.
"Wah!!"
Kevin curled up on the spot and Heivia dragged him back behind the suitcase-sized Armadillo.
"What!? Why are soldiers showing up now!? Are those Information Alliance!? I thought the Spectre Q&A worked on its own!"
Heivia used his large knife as a mirror to check on the situation from behind cover. He saw four or five frogmen in pure white wetsuits, so they may have been planning to fight on the ice. They were about two hundred meters away. There were more cracks on the seemingly pure white surface, so they had likely crawled up from the ocean rather than appearing from thin air.
"Seriously, what is this!? I have no idea what role they could be playing."
"It doesn't matter. If we don't take them out and keep moving, we can't help the Princess! She'll be bullied to death by the Spectre Q&A!!"
Part 13
Inside the round lifeboat, the three girls in red parade uniforms clicked their tongues in unison.
One of them opened her mouth.
"Our white frog bodyguards reacted. They may have gotten unexpectedly close."
Part 14
Dry gunfire echoed across the icy land.
However, the enemy had the upper hand. The three guys were crammed in behind the suitcase-sized cover and unable to move, plus Heivia was the only one who could return fire. There were not that many Information Alliance frogmen, but they still worked together to corner their enemies.
Heivia realized the situation was not going to improve, so he made a suggestion.
"Hey, let's let Kevin escape. If we drop him and the Armadillo into the water, he can escape with the boat."
"If we don't keep moving, the Princess will lose! Then the entire battalion will be wiped out!!"
"That's why we'll stay here! Quenser, pull out those bombs you love so much. I'll throw a smoke grenade to block their vision, so let's stack up the blocks of ice to create a new shield. You can blow up a nearby mountain to get the ice. I don't see how we can fight back otherwise."
"It's risky, but it's looking like our only option."
Quenser gulped and agreed, but middle-aged Kevin looked nervous.
"W-wait. You're going to build yourself a pyramid in the middle of all those bullets? Even with the smoke blocking their vision, they're still going to be firing. You'll be killed if you're hit!!"
"You don't need to worry. On my signal, fall back with the Armadillo. You meet up with the rest of the battalion!!"
"But why just me!?"
"Shut up! I don't want to protect a greasy old man, but you've got a wife and kid, right? You promised to take them to an amusement park when you take leave next, right!? If I let you die here, they'd hate me forever. I'm not about to let that happen!!"
"Say hi to Marie and Wells for us. Have enough fun for us all."
It was not that Quenser and Heivia were used to this.
The two idiots' faces were covered in unpleasant sweat.
But they stuck with it.
They stared at the Information Alliance frogmen who had come from who-knows-where, but Kevin's face crumbled as he looked at those two.
And he made a confession.
"It was..."
"Hm? What!? I can't hear you over the gunfire, Kevin! And just get going already!!"
"It was all a lie!!"
Kevin shouted over the deadly din this time.
"I made up the marriage!! I was ashamed of not being married at my age, so whenever anyone asked about it, I said I was. And as I kept lying, it got more and more detailed. Next thing I knew, it was like this. I don't have anything. You'd be wasting your deaths if you covered for me! So let's think of something else!! Something that doesn't require risking your lives for someone who'll spend his leave going to strip clubs alone and eating cup noodles in his tiny apartment!!"
"..."
"..."
It was a lovely confession.
All expression vanished from the two idiot's faces.
They removed their assault rifle, backpack of Hand Axe plastic explosive, and other equipment. Then they equipped it all on Kevin instead. In no time at all, he had evolved into a snowman-like Full Weapon Kevin. It even looked like he would have trouble moving with all that on.
"Eh? Eh? Wait. What is this?"
"It's simple. Your job is simple: Run, kill, and come back. It's the standard job for a Legitimacy Kingdom soldier living off of the people's taxes."
"Wait a second! I forced myself to make that confession because I didn't want to lose anyone! I wanted us to find a solution where everyone survives!!"
"Don't worry. This is the best option."
Quenser and Heivia both placed a hand on Kevin's shoulders, brought their smiling faces in close, and spoke in unison.
"It'll be fine. There's no way a guy like you would die."
Part 15
"Wah, wah! That's gunfire! Wh-what do we do?"
The young man let out a shout as he looked out through the round lifeboat's window. The three girls of the Martini series continued relaxing and reached for a radio.
"Yes, retreat, retreat. All you white frogs need to find a good point to escape! Don't be stupid. They'll send reinforcements if you kill them and they'll continue the investigation even if you die. Having some unknown people disappear for some unknown reason is perfect!! The Object is still making a mess of things up there, so the birdbrained Legitimacy Kingdom will forget about you pretty quickly. Just! Do! It! You need to make sure they don't find us here in the ocean!!"
Part 16
And finally...
"Wow, Kevin actually survived."
"From now on, he can be our shield. Let's just follow him around."
The white frogmen (probably) from the Information Alliance were gone. Kevin's suicide charge had not actually killed them all. They seemed to have retreated into a crack in the thick ice.
"What was that about?"
"Who knows. This might just have been their landing point."
Meanwhile, Kevin was angry.
He was gasping for breath and throwing his hands into the air on the pure white land.
"Hurry on over here! Hurry uuuuuup!! What was that, you pieces of shit!? Why would you send me on a suicide charge!? I thought we were friends!"
"What do you think about that?"
"He decided for himself how close we were and then got mad when it didn't turn out that way. I can see why he isn't married."
At any rate, the direct danger had passed.
If they did not get back on track, the Baby Magnum would be defeated by the Spectre Q&A. They needed to collect what was scattered across the paths – or rather, the area – the two Objects had passed through during their fight.
Quenser crouched down and focused on something glittering on the vast icy surface.
"Found it."
"What is that?"
Heivia was asking about a ten centimeter wide disk that looked like a crushed dome. It had deviated so far from its original form that he had trouble picturing it.
"This is one of the Baby Magnum's armor panels. It was completely melted and then re-hardened after pouring down on the ice. It's shaped like a drop of dew on a window, right?"
"Then did the Spectre Q&A take this in to analyze the Princess's structure?"
Heivia glanced over at the Armadillo.
"That busty commander gave us some decoy armor and special gas, didn't she? We might be able to confuse it if we scatter them around."
"It's too late for that now. It's already finished its official optical sample analysis, so it'll be able to tell those are decoys now. Fortunately, we don't have to do that."
"?"
"They don't have to be decoys." Quenser waved the disk around a little."One or two isn't enough. Heivia, Kevin. Let's split up and search for the Princess's armor. The more we have, the better."
"Dammit. I feel like a kid searching for unexploded ordnance for some money."
"Ugh. I risked my life for trash like this?"
With that, their battlefield scavenger hunt began.
Quenser, Heivia, and Kevin gathered the scattered armor fragments and placed them on top of the Armadillo.
"The Princess is going to be stripped bare before long. Can you tell us what we need to do now?"
"This should be enough. Princess!!"
"What?"
"I'm about to give you the Armadillo's control frequency. Um, it's model number... S... 12... A! Use its location for this! Listen, I'm only going over the plan once!!"
Part 17
The Legitimacy Kingdom called it the Spectre Q&A.
The Information Alliance called it the Laser Cracker 001.
That Second Generation Object's Pilot Elite had already perfectly drawn out the pathway to victory. The Object had a press-style icemaker that used its massive weight to harden the seawater into artificial drift ice. It also had a laser that created giant explosions and shockwaves using the special gas floating in the air. Those factors gradually dulled the Legitimacy Kingdom First Generation's movements and reduced its freedom of movement. Once that passed a certain point, the enemy would be immobilized and he could fire the most effective explosive laser.
Piercing straight through the center would break it apart like a giant firework.
But then something odd happened.
The outdated Legitimacy Kingdom First Generation put up an unnecessary struggle.
Water vapor rose from below the Laser Cracker 001. It was a massive white curtain that made it look like a cumulonimbus cloud had formed on the ground. However, the Pilot Elite was unfazed. The Laser Cracker 001 used an amphibious air cushion, so the ice melting away was not a problem. Its many sensors could still detect the enemy's position through the white curtain. Most importantly of all, randomly destroying the game board was pointless. To anyone who knew the rules of chess, an amateur moving without giving it any thought only seemed to be placing the noose around their own neck.
That was why the Elite's path to checkmate was shortened by twenty moves.
Weak lasers read the movements of his eyes and the enemy was accurately targeted through the curtain. He chose the recorded wavelength for the enemy's armor rather than the special gas and switched the main cannon's color palette.
One attack.
It would only take one attack.
The Pilot Elite did not hesitate.
His thumb stroked across the button at the top of the lever and he pressed it.
A moment later, the screen before his eyes filled with the color white.
Part 18
They had not had time to leisurely put some distance between them.
Quenser, Heivia, and Kevin were caught in the middle of a giant water vapor explosion and collapsed onto the pure white ice shelf.
"Dammit! Son of a bitch!! What was that!?"
"I-I won't die here. I'll be just fine! After all, I have gifted blood!! My brother's an astronaut!!"
"That's as useless as a blood type horoscope, you dumbass!!" Heivia shouted in absolute desperation."There was a huge explosion right next to the Spectre Q&A! Did its main cannon screw up or something!?"
"No, " corrected Quenser."It was the Princess's armor fragments we gathered. We placed them on the ice and had the Armadillo's radio signal act as a guide. The Princess blasted them and caused a water vapor explosion, so the melted and vaporized armor turned to spray with the water. So what do you think happens if someone fires into that curtain with an explosive laser designed to efficiently transmit its energy to the Princess's armor and explode?"
"Oh... ohhh!!"
"That's what happened, Princes!! The Spectre Q&A was hit by the shockwave from that point blank blast. Finish this before it can recover from the knockback!!"
The Information Alliance's Second Generation had a powerful main cannon and the unexpected damage created a short lag before it could recover.
The Princess was not about to overlook that.
The revolver-like turret at the base of her main cannon turned to select the low-stability plasma cannon out of the multiple options. As the Spectre Q&A wobbled and seemed to lack life, she did not hesitate to target the center of its spherical body.
A bright light and an explosive sound surged out.
The blast pierced the vital point, destroying the reactor, and the Second Generation seemed to swell out. So much energy burst into the outside world that it caused an unbelievably large explosion. It seemed to wear away the lifespan of their retinas and eardrums, but they felt a strange high in addition to the pain. The disconcerting pressure hanging over them was eliminated, their safety was assured, and they were overwhelmed by an instinctual elation, much like staring into a flickering flame.
This feat was known as dragon slaying.
The sight seemed to easily break the floodgates of human rationality.
Kevin raised a frightened yet strangely excited voice.
"W-we did it!! I didn't die!! I'm not gonna let myself die single!! Ohhhh!! Let's get back to the base zone where love and romance await me!!... H-huh? Why don't you look happy?"
The two idiots ignored the middle-aged bachelor as they stared blankly into the distance.
"Hey, what do we do now?"
"About what?"
"We can't figure out who's behind the drug war using the ergots without either that Pilot Elite or the Object itself, right?"
Part 19
Frolaytia was holding her head back in the aircraft carrier's battle command station.
Destroying the Information Alliance Second Generation, clearing the unnatural ice blocking the Cape of Good Hope, and securing the safety of the sea were all desirable results, but now they had lost their chance to determine who was behind the drug war.
"It's better than getting wiped out because we were too focused on that, but I still want to punch them later."
Meanwhile, Frolaytia received a report from a young operator with the courage to speak to her when she was clearly in a bad mood.
"We just received an external communications request. A civilian one. It seems to be from the young Vanderbilt lady."
"Not a problem. Put her through."
She had it routed to her laptop and a familiar face appeared in the video chat window.
However, something was not right.
"Major Capistrano!? There's a Second Generation Object there!"
"I can't discuss details of military operations with you, lady. But I can tell you the Information Alliance threat is gone and your secret lover is just fine. But just this once, okay?"
"No!! Vanderbilt's countermeasures office has finally tracked them down. The threat is not an Information Alliance Objec-..."
Severe static filled the transmission, but the answer arrived before she could question it.
"... a Legitimacy Kingdom Object! Azureyfear has you in her deadly sights!!"
At that same time, Quenser, Heivia, and Kevin were picked up by the other Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers taking part in the mission. They were stuffed inside a rubber boat made from an Armadillo as they and the Baby Magnum made their way back to the aircraft carrier fleet.
"Anyway, is your brother really an astronaut?"
"He's probably lying again."
"I-I am not. You might not believe me, but that one's true!"
At that exact moment, a deafening noise filled the world.
The next thing they knew, more than two thirds of the hundred-ship fleet, including destroyers and early-warning ships, was broken apart. Their relief at finally returning vanished in a heartbeat and their minds went blank. There was nothing they could do as a giant wave sped their way. Unable to maintain its balance, the rubber boat flipped right over.
"Bwah!"
"Just grab on! You'll get caught in the sinking ships! And what was that!?"
"Ah wah wah wah wah wah."
"Kevin! Grab onto the boat if you don't want to die!!"
They had no time to flip the boat right-side up, so the soldiers grabbed on and witnessed what happened next.
There was a giant iceberg that looked like two mountains stuck together.
"What!? What is that!?"
"You've gotta be kidding me! It's that tits iceberg!!"
It crumbled, melted, and shattered from within.
Something far too large was slowly revealed.
It had a spherical body fifty meters tall. In addition to the air cushion directly below, it had upside-down Y-shaped insectoid legs with boosters covering the sides. It had a single main cannon on the very front and it lacked the countless secondary cannons that usually made one look like a sea urchin or chestnut burr. Instead, some strange devices that resembled peacock feathers were disconcertingly moving on the back.
Quenser spoke in utter shock.
"An... Object... ?"
"But who does it belong to? Was the Information Alliance hiding another-... !?"
Heivia trailed off, so Quenser looked over to his awful friend.
"Hey, what is it?"
"You're kidding, right?"
Heivia cried out like he was having a nightmare.
"Why the hell does that Object have the Winchell family crest on it!?"
Part 20
The three Martini sisters clapped their hands with joy inside the round lifeboat.
"Yay!"
"Success, success. Losing the Laser Cracker 001 was a shame, but this was our top priority. I'm just glad the surprise wasn't accidentally revealed while they were melting all that ice."
"In this day and age, completely hiding from radar and satellites is impossible. Even the best stealth can only reduce the radar cross-section so much, so completely disappearing isn't easy.... The best way to hide is to provide a reason for the large dot on the screen that everyone will accept. For example, icebergs may look small on the surface, but they continue for hundreds of meters below the water."
Only the young man was staring out the window like he was seeing the end of the world.
"Y-y-you mean you intentionally sealed an entire Object inside the artificial ice? That way it could be carried in by the ocean current without anyone noticing!?"
"Good job! You figured it out on your own! Let me reward you."
"Hey, stop that, Dry! But I take it that means the higher ups authorized this."
"Because they knew they would get something even better in return, " said Alisa Martini Sweet as she laughed and joined the fight over the normal man."They knew they would get something worth handing the Legitimacy Kingdom a Second Generation built in one of our factories. We get to watch as a true celebrity in an enemy nation disgraces herself by starting a civil war as the greatest sacrifice of the drug war. It's the ultimate negative campaign."
Part 21
The Cape of Good Hope region was instantly transformed into the Bermuda Triangle or Sargasso.
A great number of ships sank into the ocean or tilted and just barely remained floating. There was no recovering though, so the crew used the time limit until the inevitable sinking to escape on the lifeboats.
Meanwhile, a girl in a blue dress ignored the lifeboats and stood tall on a broken fighter wing with her arms crossed.
As Heivia desperately clung to the upside-down boat so as not to be sucked in by the current of the sinking fleet, he stared blankly at his sister.
"I believe I forgot to ask before: how do you do, brother? What do you think of Second Generation Destruction Fes that I have received? Don't you think it has the coolest shape, truly befitting the Winchell family crest?"
"What are you... saying?"
"Do I have to spell it out?"
Azureyfear pointed her thumb back over her shoulder to direct his attention toward the dreadful fifty meter form.
"That is my personal possession. It took some doing, though. Even for a noble, owning an Object is a bit of a hurdle for a private force that is not part of the military. I even had to cross borders to have it constructed in an Information Alliance factory."
"That's impossible."
"I never said it was easy. We built the control system, but the Information Alliance found so many things to complain about and refused to hand over the Object itself. I was a little worried when they delayed it until today, but they have confirmed receipt of the money and it arrived in time for its launching ceremony."
"Objects aren't that simple! You need more than the five billion dollars it costs to construct! There are usage and maintenance costs! And since the Information Alliance is involved, there would need to make sure you can't betray them with it and make sure their data isn't leaked to the Legitimacy Kingdom!!"
"Oh, dear. But you've already seen the alchemy used to raise those funds. A rotten yet sweet sort of war that brings unlimited riches to whoever runs it."
This time, Heivia Winchell felt his mind go entirely blank from that casual comment.
Instead, Quenser responded while clinging to the same boat.
"The drug war... So you were the one running it on the Legitimacy Kingdom side."
"But... she's a noble!" shouted Kevin as he grew pale."Why!?"
Nobles were a symbol of law and order. The commoners trusted them enough to leave politics to them and they seemed so far removed from common life, but Azureyfear nodded with a wicked smile on her lips.
"How many manors outside the watchful eyes of the noble and royal councils do you think the Winchell family owns? Transforming a few of them into ergot plants was hardly difficult. Plus, the Information Alliance was willing to handle the production of Colorful Vanilla and use it to attack the Capitalist Corporations. I could have done that on my own, but they were kind enough to help."
"Then the one who finished off the Special 15th Black Uniforms in the Rio Grande District was... ?"
"They were useful pawns, but I couldn't have them talking there. Although I only needed to keep it hidden until today, so I ended up using a fairly sloppy method of silencing them."
A powerful wind roared through.
They were not the only ones who could not remain silent. The Princess in the Baby Magnum had begun rushing toward the unknown Object as if to say she refused to allow any more damage to be done.
But Azureyfear calmly pulled folding neckband-style headphones from the chest of her dress, unfolded them, placed them on her ears, and spoke three simple words.
"That is useless."
Even at a distance, Quenser and the others could not tell what had happened.
An unknown explosive sound filled their minds.
Quenser's thoughts were flashing in and out as he realized the Destruction Fes bearing the crest of the Winchell family had used some kind of weapon. He could not gather his thoughts. He could not tell front from back, left from right, or even up from down. If he had not wrapped a rope on the side of the upside-down boat around his wrist, he might have drowned.
His inner ear had been taken out.
But even if he had been in a normal state of mind, would he have been able to follow that with his eyes?
If the Baby Magnum's movements were like the footwork of a mixed martial artist, the unknown Object's were like lightning. It moved so sharply that the Princess could not keep up. She had been the one charging toward it, but it moved up to her and they glared at each other from less than ten meters away. For humans, it would have been close enough for their lips to touch. And even that close, the unknown Object moved around behind the Princess.
It was like grabbing a delicate girl from behind and gently kissing the nape of her neck.
The unknown Object tapped its main cannon against the back of the Baby Magnum's spherical body.
It would be too late by the time she turned around.
A point-blank blast would vaporize the princess before she had a chance to eject.
"The inertial Gs a Pilot Elite is exposed to are said to occasionally exceed twelve Gs. A normal fighter has an acceptable limit of 9. 5 Gs, so that range cannot be exceeded without creatively taking a step beyond standard anatomy."
Azureyfear made it sound so simple as she brushed back her golden hair and let dark joy fill her voice.
"But my Destruction Fes is entirely remote-controlled by a great number of personnel, so that human limit of inertial Gs can be entirely ignored. No one can capture the Destruction Fes now that it has been freed from the yoke of gravity. It will simply evade, simply rush in, and simply strike a fatal blow. It is the ultimate ultra-mobile combat Object. A sluggish manned model cannot even hope to touch it. This is not something that can be overcome with effort. It is built into the design."
Part 22
"But it's actually working pretty well."
Orsia Martini Dry gave a whistle as she spoke.
The round lifeboat rocked calmly in the waves.
No, at this point, it may not have mattered who was speaking.
The triplets functioned as a single unified problem-solving device. The process mattered less than the single answer they reached while chatting.
"Even as she used us, that girl is missing the main point. The Destruction Fes is indeed a major threat when viewed altogether, but the Object itself is little different from a First Generation built with existing technology. The only difference is all the extra boosters added on while ignoring the safety side of things. The main point is that it has no one on board and is remote-controlled, so it can break the limit on inertial Gs. In other words, recording and gathering the data alone will do little damage to the Information Alliance."
"What matters is the Orchestra System that lets ten thousand normal people pilot the Object, right? That global remote control system is made up of fifty to one hundred stealth submarines and countless satellites. Without analyzing that, the Object itself is useless. And our full AI control still isn't enough to deal with the constantly changing battlefield."
"And destroying that system wouldn't be easy. Not only would it take time to find the submarines, but the system can continue its remote control even with about half of them destroyed. Just how far will the damage spread while you're wasting time on that?"
"Does it matter? This is a civil war based on an old Legitimacy Kingdom grudge. That has nothing to do with us in the Information Alliance."
"And we've acquired an excellent bad example. The nobles are symbols of justice who are meant to protect the commoners, yet this one got into the narcotics business. What better 'infirmary poster' could we get?"
"But we aren't going to end this here, are we?"
"Of course not. Of course not. We even used our Laser Cracker 001 to help out this Legitimacy Kingdom civil war, so we need take much, muuuuch more in payment."
"What mental structure does a Legitimacy Kingdom noble have and how exactly will it be distorted?"
"Gaining data samples from the enemy isn't easy, but it worked out well this time."
"Perfect Browsing... We need all the sample entries we can get to build that giant system that will guide you to any answer with a simple search."
"And..."
"We might just get a look at a mental structure much, muuuuch greater than a noble's."
Part 23
Feeling dizzy after his inner ear was taken out, Quenser did his best to hold onto the upside-down boat.
He looked up at Azureyfear as she crossed her arms atop the broken main wing of a fighter, he suppressed the urge to vomit, and he asked a question while trying to catch his breath.
He did not know what was right and he did not know what good buying time would do.
Nevertheless, he ignored Kevin next to him and simply moved his mouth in a daze.
"Even so, why would you go this far? Why would you try to... no, why would you actually betray the Legitimacy Kingdom to acquire a Second Generation?"
"Betray? Betray!? Me? Oh, dear. I am simply trying to remove the pus as a proper member of the Legitimacy Kingdom. My brother should know exactly what I mean."
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
Heivia yelled and pulled his handgun from its holster, completely ignoring the situation.
He did not hesitate to aim it at his own family member, but Azureyfar's expression did not change.
She snapped her fingers and the earth seemed to transform below them.
The sea split directly below her and a giant black form appeared. This time, it was not an Object. It was a stealth submarine that resembled a large ship made of origami.
It was a one hundred meter strategic weapon.
There was nothing Heivia could do as the waves tossed him around.
The handgun slipped from his grasp and he could only manage to hold onto the boat for dear life.
Meanwhile, the girl in a blue dress laughed as she stepped elegantly onto the submarine.
She grabbed her long skirt in both hands, bent her knees a little, and lowered her head.
"Now, let us end this long, fruitless history of conflict, brother."
She held what looked like a perfume bottle in her hand.
It contained Blazer Bouquet. Centuries before, a princess had been pursued by a nation after a revolution. At her small, small wedding, that same brand had been thrown into the chapel as a merciless Molotov cocktail. That hateful wine was made by mixing together several rose petals and allowing them to ferment and brew within flower nectar.
Azureyfear's eyes glittered as she sprayed that scent of revenge on her neck and wrists.
"I believe I will start with the Whore of Vanderbilt who has manipulated you, brother. I will crush the false buds of reconciliation, dialogue, and peace and use that solemn result to whip the lax Winchell family into shape. And before the Vanderbilt family can recover from the shock, I will settle this once and for all. And with the Destruction Fes at the lead!!"
She spoke of a nightmare.
But would it really be a dream when she had that ultra-mobile Second Generation that was freed from the yoke of gravity and could escape the grasp of any other Object in the world?
That girl had reached for the stage setting that could grant her nightmarish dream.
The look on her face made her seem possessed by a vengeful spirit.
Namely, the vengeful spirit of the history that tied together the Winchell and Vanderbilt families.
"This is a war for peace, brother."
"Dammit..."
"I will bring glory to the Winchell family as the hero who removed a seed of global destruction from this planet!! What greater desire is there!! If this is not the duty of any with Winchell blood in their veins, then what is!? Heh heh heh. Hee hee. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!"
"Goddammiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!"
There was nothing they could do.
Azureyfear, the Blue Rose of Winchell, was retrieved by the stealth submarine which dove back down before their eyes. This "duel" ignored all international law and war treaties and no one could stop her from sending in the cruelly powerful strategic weapon that had brought an end to the nuclear age.
Her target was in the Atlantic Ocean.
Her target was the pacifist young lady who was enjoying the world's greatest fireworks festival from her luxury cruise ship.
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