Chapter 177. The Dragoons' Naive Girl (2)
Honestly, it was a bit of a bewildering thing to hear.
The sudden news almost made my palms sweat, but Enoch narrowed his eyes, composed himself, and asked back.
“Not returned, are you serious?”
[That’s right! Of all the Dragoon mbers assigned to the reconnaissance mission near the outsourcing district, for so reason, only one has failed to return to the unit!]
Aslin’s voice was colored with bewildernt. Anyone could tell she was extrely flustered.
To think a straggler (?) would suddenly appear at this juncture. Although getting left behind during reconnaissance isn’t an easy feat either.
“Have you found her whereabouts?”
[Well, this is sothing that probably shouldn’t be leaked from within the unit…! But there were no other orders regarding this, and since you, Lord Enoch, are an involved party, I will tell you the gist of it!]
Aslin shouted from across the terminal.
[Actually, about that mber who hasn’t returned! We’re also frantically looking for her right now! There were sightings of her just a mont ago—hyet-!]
Ah, she definitely bit her tongue.
Sure enough, Aslin's thin groan of pain could be heard through the terminal.
[Ah-heueulb…….]
…When Aslin had abruptly told a mber hadn't returned to the unit, speaking so urgently, I honestly felt a bit tense at first.
But sohow, all the tension just vanished.
For the color-bearer of the honor guard of the Dragoons, who had previously greeted with a sharp salute, this was a side that felt so different it made sigh.
At the very least, I could tell how flustered she was.
“So, is that why you called?”
[Yes, ye-es! I’m shorry! The unit is in a state of considerable chaos…. at the mont-sho!]
“……”
Trying her best to hide the fact that her tongue hurt, she soon cleared her throat with a ‘hmm, hmm’ and added awkwardly, her voice showing so relief from the pain.
[A-anyway! Even if Lord Enoch wishes to et with a specific Dragoon mber, it seems an interview is impossible at the mont. So I gave you an urgent call…!]
At Aslin’s words, my hand holding the terminal suddenly tightened.
The ti remaining was now a day and a half. I had expected the Dragoons to return around this ti, but for such a mishap to occur so suddenly?
What on earth could have happened to an elite mber of the Victoria army, a Dragoon at that?
Enoch briefly turned his head and scanned the city view spread before him, lined with quaint buildings.
Well, this was an outsourcing district. A city that had always been fraught with troubles from the start.
Thinking about it calmly, there was the commotion with the freelancer who turned into a magical beast earlier. It was possible she got caught up in so incident within the city.
Still, I was about to ask if they had any idea who had gone missing and why, when I heard sothing.
[…Ugh. To go missing in this outsourcing district of all places, where on earth is that kid and what is she doing again….]
Wait a minute, ‘that kid’?
The mont I heard that, my head tilted instinctively. Aslin’s slip of the tongue felt like a puzzle piece suddenly clicking into place in my mind.
What if my current guess was correct?
Indeed, it occurred to that if it was the ‘her’ Enoch knew, sothing like this might have happened.
She said it was an internal matter, but maybe I should try to probe a little.
“Then, are the Dragoons also looking for that missing mber right now?”
[D-don’t even ntion it! It’s a complete ss here! She’s the kid who wandered off sowhere during our last dispatch too, so if Colonel Shepherd finds out this ti, I can’t imagine what he’ll say…!]
“Listening to you, it sounds like this has happened before. Is the missing mber a habitual offender?”
[It’s a bit embarrassing, but yes, she is. The other Dragoons were always keeping an eye on her, but….]
“She should at least have a terminal. If there were sightings, she probably isn’t injured, so can’t the missing mber just find her way with a map?”
[Th-that’s. She’s from the rural part of the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain, so she’s a girl from a country farm family who’s extrely clumsy with machines like terminals, I an. A mber…!]
Enoch’s eyes widened for a mont.
Then, he glanced at the terminal held to his ear.
The pitch-black screen was off during the call. In its reflection, his own dark blue eyes t his, shining clearly with conviction.
“─You an a Dragoon girl from a farm family?”
[Yes, that’s right! She’s a complete klutz with machines and so clumsy. She has countless nicknas among the mbers, and we sotis tease her by calling her the naive girl….]
Her voice vividly brought to mind the image of Aslin sighing with her head in her hands, as if she was at her wit’s end. Enoch smiled faintly.
At this point, it was certain.
—It’s her.
“Then I have a proposal.”
[Ye-yes?]
Startled by Enoch’s sudden words, Aslin’s voice ca back in a questioning tone, as if I could picture her eyes widening in surprise.
Enoch didn’t miss the mont of her agitation from across the terminal and brought up the main topic.
“So that we can be of help to the Dragoons. How about my squad joins the search for her?”
***
After we all ca down from the hill that overlooked the area, we entered a secluded pronade near the freelancers' gathering place.
As he walked, Enoch calmly surveyed his surroundings.
It was an unexpected search for a missing person, but frankly, it was a very important matter for us.
In fact, with the Dragoons’ commander being the reclusive and rigid Colonel Shepherd, the fact that the ‘her’ I was looking for was separated from the Dragoon unit could be a very good opportunity.
It was plausible he would set a strict ti limit even for a formal interview.
“Ah! Direct Lineage mber!!”
Just then, Nano, who was walking beside , turned to Enoch and asked, her eyes sparkling with anticipation under the visor on her head.
“By any chance, are you thinking of recruiting a companion here-mka? Such a heart-pounding developnt is a cliché, isn’t it-mka!!”
“A cliché, you say.”
As I answered, a bit dumbfounded, April nonchalantly chid in to support Enoch’s words.
“Umm. Well, I don’t know what the leader, the Direct Lineage mber, is thinking. But I don’t think it will be that easy.”
Nano’s eyes widened in confusion as she looked back at April.
“Ah? Is that so-mka?”
“Well, freelancers who have tead up to co this far are usually from the sa office, or at least have a relationship of trust among themselves.”
She glanced at a group of five or six freelancers passing by and shrugged.
Following her gaze, I saw they were all wearing modern tactical robes of the sa design.
The sa symbol was stamped on the side of their arms, indicating they were all from the sa office. April watched them for a mont and added.
“It’s obvious, but even rcenaries don’t entrust their backs to just anyone.”
Nano tilted her head and summarized the point.
“Aah! So you’re saying it’s hard to find a new companion easily among the freelancers here-mka?”
“That’s right. Actually, a freelancer from my office accepted the request and ca here too… They’ve probably already ford an interim among themselves and are mixed in sowhere over there.”
Nano tilted her head and asked.
“Oh, by any chance, are you not on good terms with the freelancers from your office-mka?”
“…Ghk! That is?”
April was so flustered she almost bit her tongue. She then averted her eyes, twirled her finger in the air, and her voice went up at the end of her sentences.
“In the f-first place? I’m employed by the Elsyde Direct Lineage mber, you know? And for a very high price, too~?”
She lifted her chin proudly.
But soon, she averted her gaze again, her eyelashes lowered as she muttered softly.
“…And well. In the first place, we are from the sa office. But they’re not people I particularly want to get involved with during an operation.”
Enoch briefly glanced at her. Was she talking about the friction with the axe-wielding man from the sa office earlier?
Nano also seed a little puzzled, tilting her head and scratching her white cheek with a finger before asking again with a bright, cautious smile.
“Oh, what do you an by that-mka?”
“Umm. Well, you know. It just ans there are freelancers and then there are freelancers, right? Ahaha, why don't we talk about such boring things later?”
“Aah! I don’t really get it, but I’ll keep that in mind for now-mda!”
Nano then replied imdiately with a bright smile, as if it didn’t matter either way.
Perhaps feeling uncomfortable that Nano might ask again, April smiled with a slightly troubled expression and pointed at Enoch.
“More importantly, who we’re looking for now is sothing you should ask the leader right here, not !”
“Ah! That’s true too-mda!”
Then, Nano abruptly turned her head towards , her blue eyes shimring faintly in the sunlight as she asked.
“Direct Lineage mber! So who do we have to find now-mka? I’m excited that they’re joining our squad-mda!”
Sirocco, who was walking beside , also glanced this way with her sharp eyes, which were shining.
“…Hey, the one you’re looking for. Is it another female?”
“Yes. I told you before.”
“Hmph. I get it.”
Sirocco whipped her head to the side.
For so reason, her luscious, furry red tail was gently swaying back and forth behind her.
While Sirocco’s emotions were said to be honestly expressed through her ears or tail, I was slightly perplexed about how to interpret such a reaction.
Still, I had to do what needed to be done first.
“Nano, just as you said. It’s true there’s soone I’m looking for. But I have to find her within the ti limit.”
Enoch looked directly at Nano and added.
“I need your help right now. Will you help ?”
As soon as she heard the request for help, Nano’s face broke into a wide smile, and she nodded her head briskly.
“Ah! Just give the order anyti-mda! There’s nothing and this Bzz-Bzz can’t do-mda!”
Nano was the key card to solving this problem. It wasn’t for nothing that I had recruited her, an engineer who handles drones, for this squad in the first place.
“So, what can I help you with-mka?”
In response to Nano’s question, Enoch pointed to the cross-shaped multi-purpose drone floating gently in the sky beside her.
“That drone, doesn’t it have a reconnaissance function?”
I knew very well from the original work just how fearso the utility and combat performance of her drone was.
And one of its myriad functions was reconnaissance.
Especially a drone built with Nano’s technical skills and controlled by her was a powerful, all-weather artifact that could secure a view of the sky where the enemy’s eyes couldn’t easily reach, or even into narrow crevices.
I clearly rembered the description in Nano’s character sheet— 「The reconnaissance function ‘Sky Eye’ cara was installed from the earliest version of the multi-purpose drone and was used effectively」.
Sure enough, Nano’s eyes widened, and she nodded her head towards .
“Ah! That’s right-mda! Are you thinking of using that-mka?”
“Yes. You know about the long, black Bombardnt Lance, right? It’s a gunpowder-firing magic gear used by the Victoria army’s Dragoons.”
“Yep! I’ve seen that magic gear in person before, so I know it well-mda! So, should I fly Bzz-Bzz to find the person who has that magic gear-mka?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
As expected, it was great that the genius gearhead was a quick study.
A Dragoon mber stranded here would definitely be carrying a Bombardnt Lance. Since it was not a common design for a magic gear at all, it would be very easy to find.
Just as Enoch was thinking that far, Nano’s cheerful voice suddenly rang in my ears.
“Ah, but I’m a little confused, so I’d like to ask sothing-mda!”
“Huh? What is it.”
When Enoch asked back, Nano briefly placed a finger on her chin and tilted her head slightly, as if thinking about sothing.
As Enoch, sensing sothing was off, was wondering if he had made a mistake.
“Umm. Sothing is definitely strange-mda!”
Nano stared at for a mont, then suddenly ca closer, thrusting her head forward and looking up at .
Her white-gold hair cascaded over her pale cheeks, sparkling in the sunlight.
For a mont, her ample chest, revealed above the deeply U-cut t-shirt, approached undefendedly, and Enoch almost averted his gaze from Nano's direct stare for no reason.
“Strange? Is there a problem?”
“Well, I added the module related to the reconnaissance function system to this drone just before we ca out to see the festival earlier-mda! I’m sure I haven’t told anyone about it-mda!”
At that question, a chill ran down Enoch’s spine.
“Did I, by any chance, tell you about that, Direct Lineage mber-mka?”
Perhaps because my mind was racing, I realized a little too late that I had made an uncharacteristic mistake.
It happened because I was trying to find the person I was looking for as quickly as possible by mobilizing all the knowledge I had.
To Nano, who was speaking with a half-doubting expression as if she couldn't quite rember herself, Enoch shook his head as nonchalantly as possible, trying not to give anything away.
“No, it’s not that. I was just thinking about how I would have used that drone if I were an engineer. I just naturally inferred it.”
“Ah! Is that so-mka!!”
Fortunately, she seed to be easily convinced by that explanation, as Nano smiled brightly and nodded.
Then, the chanically designed drone made of cross-shaped panels flew in from behind her.
Nano caught it with both hands, then spread her arms wide towards the sky and released it like a bird.
The drone, which floated in the air without any propellers, circled the area once before beginning to fly up into the blue expanse where the sunlight poured down.
As I was staring blankly at the drone ascending freely into the high sky of the outsourcing district.
Right next to , Nano put down her visor with two fingers and gave a bright smile.
“Then! Comncing the search for the missing person as per the Direct Lineage mber’s order-mda!”
…A missing person, she calls her.
Expressing my condolences to the search subject who was getting a strange label attached to her even before her appearance, Enoch quietly nodded his head.
Since the most important thing wasn't just finding a person, but finding them in ti.
Now was the ti when Nano, and no one else, had to play her part for certain.
Reviews
All reviews (0)