It’s here.
I didn’t want to tell an outright lie if I could avoid it. This relationship is already built on ignorance, and the mont Jonathan learns the truth, it will collapse.
I didn’t want to pile more deception on top of that.
I typed my reply slowly.
[When I was young I learned from soone who cared for . He has already passed away, so I don’t know from whom he learned.]
There wasn’t a single lie.
While I waited for his response, I skimd through all the ssages I’d received so far.
It had been a month since the live broadcast, yet I still received calls from unknown numbers. So ssages had no aning I could decipher, others were obviously from news agencies or broadcasting companies, but I hadn’t read a single one of those.
Instead, I searched through the mountain of ssages for the ones that ant sothing.
[San : omg I finally cleared that stage!]
[Claudio Winter : I want to renew the cider contract for next year. Are you brewing anything else?]
[Bobby Winter : Aren’t you thinking about starting SNS?]
[Spitfire : Recently, that fellow has been leaving quite a lot of traces. Your face appearing everywhere seems to have stimulated him ^^ I think the next target is the Commander.]
[Caller ID restricted : Don’t rush. The more ti passes, the more the advantage is on our side.]
[Bad blood : I’ve silenced the noisy ones, so they’ll behave °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° for a while.]
This is insane.
I quickly replied to San and the Winters, then glared at the Elders’ ssages.
Yekaterina’s and Colton’s ssages weren’t as distressing. Sukhoi had said similar things to right after the live broadcast aired. Her point was that I shouldn’t thrash around trying to catch Kyle imdiately.
The longer we endure, the more advantageous it is for us.
Colton’s ssage was also easy to understand.
The malicious friend who orchestrates things so the dia doesn’t erupt into a wildfire.
I narrowed my eyes and moved my fingers.
[I’ll try.]
After replying, I opened Erich Erhart’s ssage window.
I rubbed my face a couple of tis, hesitated, then pressed the call button.
[Ah, Protheus. Good morning.]
“Sorry for calling in the morning.”
I apologized with a voice still husky from sleep, even though I didn’t an it at all.
“Do you have a mont to talk?”
[Even if I said no, I’d have to make ti if you wanted it.]
Sa as ever.
But I was desperate enough that I couldn’t afford to react to his remark.
“Thank you. I’m overwheld to receive the favor of soone so skilled. As you probably guessed, I’m calling because of the ssage you sent.”
[I figured. This ti he seems to want to act personally.]
“I want to hear as much as I can.”
Spitfire told more than I expected.
You’s whereabouts were still unclear, but he had left traces in the places he passed through. Through various channels he was investigating Yehyeon. Yehyeon’s ho address. Yehyeon’s public schedule.
The routes of his public schedule, and the state of security.
[Even if there’s security, none will be directly attached to Yehyeon, so he’ll be easy to touch.]
I couldn’t stop myself from sighing.
[If I see another interesting movent, I’ll let you know.]
He certainly wouldn’t give the crucial information.
He wouldn’t tell which public event would be ambushed or how. Because that would be less fun for him. If You succeeded, Erhart would be delighted more than anyone.
A man who gives a handful of hope to the unfortunate, loving their desperate struggle for life.
I thanked him and ended the call.
He had given as much as he would give. From here on, I had to move myself.
***
A little past dinnerti.
I was drinking with Yun inside the vinyl do on Yehyeon’s rooftop.
Thankfully the alcohol was vodka and whiskey. The snacks were cheese and yukhoe.
The weather was cold enough that even a coat struggled to help, but the vinyl and heater ward our bodies. We sat in plastic chairs and tilted back our glasses.
My ntor, as always, didn’t talk much. When I relayed Erhart’s information, he sharpened his focus, but since there was nothing to do imdiately, the topic changed quickly.
For a while we drank without saying much.
Good whiskey.
I was fairly satisfied with the drinking session when Yun suddenly spoke.
“What’s your alcohol tolerance?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never gotten drunk enough to lose control.”
Kyle and I were known as heavy drinkers even in the Empire.
I wasn’t well known because I didn’t enjoy drinking, but Kyle was especially famous. Those proud of their tolerance would visit Kyle from ti to ti to challenge him.
Of course, every match ended with Kyle’s victory.
Drinking vodka, I asked back:
“What’s your alcohol tolerance, sir?”
“About the sa.”
“What about drunken habits? You do drink, so you must get drunk at so point.”
“My movents get a little slower.”
If that counts as a drunken habit, then he’s a monstrous drinker.
“You?”
“I laugh a bit for no reason.”
“For this year’s year-end party, take care of Ami.”
So that’s what he wanted to say.
I smiled faintly and refilled my empty glass.
“You’re not attending this year’s year-end party, sir? Is there a reason you’re skipping?”
“That damned portal issue still isn’t solved. The spatial-shift thing you ntioned. Your insane kin is weighing on my mind too. I’ll keep researching while keeping an eye on Yehyeon. So you collect the rampaging Choi Ami.”
“Ami... rampages?”
“She runs when she’s drunk.”
Oh no.
No wonder Yun attended last year’s party so reluctantly.
I nodded and accepted the request. It wasn’t a big deal anyway. This year everyone’s attention would be on the rookies, so I’d be able to relax, and I could help handle the drunken sses of others.
I also had to keep an eye on Kairos. I didn’t know his tolerance or drinking habits.
I should ask him while I’m at it.
I picked up my phone while chewing cheese, planning to contact Kairos.
Then both my phone and Yun’s rang at the sa ti.
[Deserter detected]
What the hell.
[Deserter : Doug Clark]
“A Black Badger from Center Core?”
“It ans if you find him, apprehend him. It doesn’t an run out imdiately.”
Unlike , Yun stared down at the screen with a bored look.
I lifted my head briefly, then looked back at the phone screen. I narrowed my eyes and stared.
The phone, after making a ridiculous loud alert, displayed the photo and information of soone I’d never seen before.
A closely shaved head and deep brown eyes. Deep eye hollows.
Physical age 26. Disappeared with one month left of his leave. No record of leaving Center Core.
Height 177, solid build.
Not carrying weapons.
....
Information continued like that.
I hadn’t known we could take leave.
Thinking that, I studied the man’s face. Then raised my head.
Yun answered before I even asked.
“For various reasons, soone can take leave, but people like this who desert during leave pop up often. It’s a problem.”
“Who catches a deserter? It’s clearly an ergency.”
“DP. Usually called the Executors.”
“There’s a separate unit for military-deserter capture?”
I asked casually, expecting the answer to be yes.
But Yun just smirked.
A strangely chilling smile.
“Leonard and Sylvia.”
Ah.
“Outside the Core, deserters are captured, go through procedures, and then a decision is made. Inside the Core, it’s capture or kill.”
“You could just say kill.”
“Even a rat bites when cornered. You have to at least pretend they have a hole to escape through.”
I understood my ntor.
I didn’t question the Black Badgers’ policy of summary execution. If I were Yehyeon, I’d give the sa order.
I had once executed a fellow knight who killed his comrades and fled.
I looked again at the picture on my phone.
“So they’re chasing him, and the rest of us should capture or kill him if we encounter him.”
“Yeah.”
The chances were low, but I should rember.
I drank and scrolled through the personal info.
Then Yun suddenly said sothing out of nowhere.
“If Ami offers you a ride in a fighter jet, decline appropriately.”
“Excuse ? Why?”
But I want to ride one.
Blinking in confusion, I watched Yun raise an eyebrow.
“Why that face?”
“Because I really want to try it. Honestly, I’ve wanted to for a while. Can’t I?”
“No special reason. I just said it because she flies rough.”
Ah.
Well, considering Ami’s personality, she probably enjoys aerobatic maneuvers.
I chuckled low and said it was fine, and Yun added dryly:
“The fact that you want to try one is funny too.”
“Why? I think lots of people would want to. There were aircraft I followed with interest.”
“Like what.”
“U-2, B-29, TU-95....”
I murmured while drinking whiskey.
I was a bit tipsy. With my senses dulled, everything felt more relaxed and comfortable.
I wondered if my silly laughing habit would start showing soon.
“Hey.”
Yun called, snapping out of it.
“Yes.”
“All of those are nuclear-related reconnaissance planes and bombers.”
My ntor set his glass down and squinted at .
He didn’t bother hiding his “this is unbelievable” expression.
“Why were you interested in those?”
I gave a low laugh.
To hide the laugh creeping out, I picked up my glass again. I breathed in the pleasant scent and brought it to my lips.
Old mories resurfacing.
With a faint smile, I answered.
“In the past, I was interested in everything related to nuclear weapons.”
I had read nearly every related book.
“I even knew the locations of nuclear test sites around the world, and the hangars where nuclear bombers were stationed.”
Though in the end, I lost.
Because I couldn’t find every hidden nuclear device humans had stored, nor all the buttons that would detonate them.
Eventually, I raised the white flag and decided to blend into human society.
But that doesn’t an I didn’t fight. I tried my best.
So of course I was interested in the things I once searched for madly, trying to destroy them.
“You crazy bastard.”
Yun let out a flat laugh, then drank again.
I answered with a gentle smile.
After that, we emptied our glasses without much conversation.
***
The day after Yun drank with Hilde.
While he was away for research.
A call ca to Yun’s station.
A wired call — a Black Badger deploynt alert.
Clack.
[A Creature has appeared near HQ!]
The problem was that the person who picked up the phone was John Mühlen.
A genius scientist who’d been implanted with an enhanced body, but still couldn’t do more than thirty sit-ups.
A giant of academia who becos utterly stupid when the subject isn’t his field of research.
[Imdiate deploynt required!]
“.......”
John Mühlen went out to subjugate the Creature.
***
The day after Yun and I drank.
I received a strange call from Hiroshi.
“Hilde! Mühlen is dying!”
...Huh?
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