Volu 5, Epilogue
Due to Mariydi Whitewitch’s heroic decision and the many lives she saved as a result, her gold dal would be hers for all eternity.
So voiced the opinion that her dal should be stripped off her, but the above-ntioned decision was the final answer given and her results in the won’s shootathlon could be sumd up in the following words.
“She did an excellent job,” muttered Alicia Sloppyjoes as she stood along of one of the pedestrian pathways across the seven bridges of the Bifröst Arch.
She held a pile of docunts in one hand that contained all of the official records for the Technopics.
After Mariydi Whitewitch stopped its destruction, the competition continued amidst all the enthusiasm and profit. Digital values and results continued to be made.
Alicia spoke into the cell phone she held in the other hand.
“This has brought the publicity for the sponsor’s new rifle above the set value. Whatever the fate of Mariydi Whitewitch may have been, it did not bring any losses to us. In fact, we can even assu the beautiful story added to the gold dal brought about even more publicity than the original contract specified.”
Alicia was speaking with soone from the advertising firm she worked for.
They had expressed so concerns, but Alicia stood as tall as ever.
“It is true she took a few actions that are in violation of international law even if she only did so to resolve the situation. Using a captured Harpuiai to perform unauthorized military actions was especially bad. ...But that should not negatively affect the view of the new rifle. In fact, if Whitewitch is now taken down as the official athlete used to advertise the rifle, the people could easily interpret it as the sponsor trying to eliminate the athlete who fought to save so many lives. That would do more damage than anything else.”
The person on the other end of the call seed to think it over, but ultimately gave in.
Leaving the details to the main company, Alicia said, “So that is how we will deal with this. If we can keep these excellent results talked about, we can draw in new sponsors.”
Alicia then ended the call and looked out across the waterway beyond Bifröst Arch’s handrail.
Standing as tall as ever and as expressionless as ever, she said, “And now I must say farewell to you as well, Mariydi Whitewitch.”
Stacy Paltto the pharmacist was gathering her luggage in her hotel room.
However, her luggage included things like a giant industrial refrigerator. For her, “gathering” her luggage ant attaching numbered stickers to every piece of luggage so that workers could package it all up and carry it out.
“In the end,” she said into the cell phone she held between her cheek and shoulder while attaching the numbered stickers. “This was a failure. A complete failure. Was the problem that little Mariydi ca from a military background? I modified the doping so it would be pretty safe, but she still didn’t want anything to do with it. Yes...that’s right. That’s exactly what I an. Maybe I should choose a pure athlete next ti. One that doesn’t try to avoid like that.”
She was speaking with a contact from her parent company Drug Store Holdings. Pharmacists specializing in strengthening athletes for international events could only have so many clients. Businesses with small numbers of large contracts had very harsh ups and downs when done on one’s own. It was more financially stable to register as a division of a general drug store company.
In other words, Stacy had strategically allowed herself to be absorbed by the large company.
“Hmm. Maybe next ti I should advertise myself as soone who strengthens the mind along with the body by providing ntal care for the athlete as well. If I do that, I can add any little chat we have onto the bill afterwards. Eh? That would put in competition with the counselors and stress businesses from other groups? What does that matter? I just have to beat down any rivals.”
After attaching all the numbered stickers and making sure she had not missed anything, Stacy snapped her fingers. As soon as she did, the door opened and n wearing work uniforms noisily stomped into the room.
“Take care of it all like usual,” said Stacy as she grabbed her usual bag and left the hotel room. As she walked down the hallway, she continued the cell phone conversation. “No, wait. Don’t leave alone. Before long I’ll be off to help...what was it again? So basketball team, right? There really isn’t any ti between one contract ending and another beginning, is there? I don’t like having to renew my relationships like this. I like having so random person to talk to so I can trick my feelings. Especially given the circumstances this ti.”
Stacy pressed the elevator button and waited for the light to reach her floor.
The door opened with a soft electronic tone and she muttered, “Well, this is goodbye, Mariydi.”
Lucas Westernrose, the director from Catwalk TV, headed to Olympia Do’s sole international airport accompanied by caran carrying large caras. They had a single reason for heading there. They were going to film the famous athletes who had gathered there to return ho.
“Hello? Yes, yes, after the results these athletes have won, I doubt they will still have any issues with being fild, yes. In fact, the main problem will be, yes, having our position taken by other stations, yes,” he said within their vehicle. “Yes, yes, our competition will be trying to get rid of as many of our caran as possible to ensure the pri spots for themselves. The easiest thod to prevent filming is to destroy the cara, yes. Make sure to follow your target of course, yes, yes, but also make sure you do not drop your cara if soone tackles you from behind, yes.”
“Mr. Westernrose,” said one of the caran with a grin. “If that’s the standard, that ans we can do the sa to them, right?”
“...Yes, yes, as long as no one notices, yes, and it is done naturally.”
Lucas Westernrose gave his calm approval.
They fought in a world where people were ard with caras rather than guns. They had no reason to go easy on their competition while in their own field.
“Hello? Let us go over this again. We will be targeting the entrance to the airport terminal, yes, the fifth moving walkway, yes, and the immigration control gate. Yes, yes, stay in constant contact and make sure to film each of the athletes on the list for more than 30 seconds at so point or another. Yes, make sure not to miss any of them, yes.”
As mbers of the Information Alliance, they were always greedy for fresh information. As all the new data was produced, older information would be covered over in no ti at all and would begin to fade away. There were factions that worked to ensure such information would not fade away, but Lucas and the caran gave no thought to such issues as they constantly worked to release new information. It could be seen as the difference between eating fresh grapes right away or letting them age so they could be drunk as wine. It was only a matter of taste; neither side was good or evil.
Yes.
The stage at which he had pursued Mariydi Whitewitch was over. And he had already put everything in order so he could truly view it as over.
One of the caran smiled and said, “We didn’t actually get much we can air, but it was a great job for having stories to tell.”
“The best jobs are those you can view as a hobby, yes, yes. But a fair amount of money is needed for that type of job. Yes, yes, so we must also do less interesting jobs, yes, to prepare an environnt where we can do what we want, yes.”
The vehicle stopped.
Lucas Westernrose opened the door and stepped out into the international airport.
“Hello? I am reluctant to say it, yes, but it is over now. Goodbye, Miss Whitewitch.”
The bodyguard arrived at a storehouse on the outer portion of Olympia Do.
It was not actually part of their job, but he and his n were inspecting the site. They were working with a team from Olympia Do to check the number and type of weapons in the storehouses so that specific values could be put in the annoying paperwork.
But it was obvious the bodyguard was not very motivated since this was not actually part of his job. He held a cell phone in one hand.
“Yes, that’s right. Can you just stop with the requests for a written explanation? I understand. My job was to protect Mariydi Whitewitch. And we all know how that turned out. I do understand, so just stop. I will prepare the proper paperwork. Just let finish the work I get to actually move around with first.”
The bodyguard looked over at his n who were using specialized machinery to gather fingerprints and dust.
“What? Why don’t I pass the bla to Whitewitch since she was the one that took action on her own? No, I can’t do that. I just can’t. She is seen as a hero who saved millions of lives on Olympia Do. It may only be a few weeks before the gratitude wears off and people forget about her, but the timing still works against . I would take less damage if I just submitted my written explanation like normal.”
After finishing the investigation of the building, they began carrying out the weapons being used as evidence. There were small items like machineguns and explosives, but also large items like armored vehicles, helicopters, and even a fighter.
Yes.
A Harpuiai fighter.
It was the sa model as the one Mariydi Whitewitch had flown. But it went further than that.
It was the exact fighter she had flown.
“You certainly have so luck,” muttered the bodyguard. And then he gave a slight smile. “But that managed to just barely keep us from getting fired.”
And...
Mariydi Whitewitch held the dal she had won in one hand inside a room in the Technopic Village resort hotel. She held the ribbon that would hang from her neck between her fingers and brought the pure gold dal up to her face.
“And there were rumors I was the ace pilot least likely to earn any dals.”
With that casual comnt, she tossed the dal into her open suitcase. To Mariydi, an honor given to her by soone else was worth nothing more than that. It was those from the Legitimacy Kingdom who were most desperate to win that kind of honor, but she doubted she could ever co to a compromise with those haughty nobles.
Mariydi placed all her belongings spread throughout the hotel room into her suitcase and thought back to what had happened.
Mariydi had taken action to stop the weaponized laser fired by the Ocean Substation, but she had of course never even considered flying her own fighter into the expected path of the laser.
She had fired every single one of her air-to-air missiles and detonated them along the expected path of the laser.
That had created a massive amount of heat as well as tal fragnts of the missile.
The temperature change and tal fragnts had slightly bent the laser, preventing it from hitting the Adisshmi.
Due to the great distance between the firing point and the target, even the slightest error could throw the laser off target, but she had not known if it would work. If the temperature and humidity of that area had been slightly different, the result may have been different.
But Mariydi had won her bet.
And so she had been able to return alive with sowhere to return to.
“I guess that’s everything.”
With all of her belongings inside the suitcase, she locked it with various thods. Pieces of the tag attached at the airport still remained, but she was already headed back to the airport to get on another airplane.
She was returning to the Northern European Restricted Zone.
She would once more be participating in those long-drawn out wars as the ace pilot of a PMC air force.
The room now lacked any sense of livelihood like it was a model room. That emptiness combined with the slight sll of life remaining gave her a sense of loneliness. However, her working environnt would not allow her to extend her stay here. In fact, she had completely forgotten about the idea of paid vacation. She had no idea how much ti she had stocked up.
Mariydi rolled the suitcase toward the room’s exit.
As she did, her cell phone vibrated slightly.
She stopped to check and found an advertisent email from a health device company. Mariydi deleted it without reading it, but her fingertips stopped suddenly right afterwards.
A few new nas had been added to her address book.
They belonged to the people she had t at Olympia Do.
“I didn’t think this was a productive job, but I suppose I did gain sothing.”
Mariydi gave a thin smile as she put away her phone.
She seed to be saying those nas were more valuable than the pure gold dal.
And she finally opened and closed the hotel room door.
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