Chapter 62: Declaration

The worm-people have probably been wiped out.

But, well… probably.

To make sure, the fighters—Rikan and I included—are scheduled to go on patrol. The children we took under our protection were in the way.  

In that case, I should just send them to the safe zone I’ve temporarily secured.

However, we haven’t confirmed the worm-people’s annihilation.

Which means they’ll need an escort.

Since patrols tend to turn into clashes on contact, I’m not really suited to them. For that reason, I initially meant to skip patrol and, as one of their own, act as their escort.

That’s where a problem arose.

The children are afraid of me.

Well, I can’t really blame them. Even if it came from making them pay for their usual behavior, I’ve made my hostility toward their side perfectly clear.

I did, in fact, tell them and their families:

Die.

In short, a single “Thanks for saving us” event wasn’t nearly enough to restore their approval rating of me. It can’t be helped.

“A1 Leader to C1 Leader. From there… let’s see—have someone like Kouko-san escort you and bring you to me. We’ve secured the children from the human village.”

—Beep!

The terminal chimed, and Tiger Unit responded with an acknowledgment.

“So that’s how it is. Rikan, I’ll stay here.”

Leaning my weight against Ox Unit, I used it as a chair.

“You came up with quite the convenient excuse, Ratchet.”

He gave a sly grin and said, “Do your job well.”

I gave a small wave and saw Rikan off.

***

Kauko and the others arrived at the same time as A2.  

It seems that, on Rat Unit’s judgment, they were merged in partway as an escort detachment. A good call.  

Rudo—his four white-socked legs smudged with soot—spotted me and came trotting over. I rubbed his head and gave his shoulder a light pat. “Hff!” He looked quite pleased.  

“Hm? What is it, Rat Unit? Did everyone come?”  

That was when I noticed: all of my Monoz were present.  

It was fine that A2, which I’d sent out as a skirmish detail, was here, but even C1, the standby unit—was that really wise? That crossed my mind.

—Beep!

Report: Transfer of command of the staging area complete. Designee → Rank Four, Schwantz.  

I see. So that’s why they were free to move.

“Sir Ratchet.”

“Ah—sorry for calling you in.”

“Not at all. The children?”

“In front of the church there, Tiger Unit and Monkey Unit are on guard. I’m counting on you.”  

“At once,” said Kauko. She jogged over to the children, lowered her gaze to their level, and spoke to them. She looked just like a kindergarten or elementary school teacher.  

Suddenly, I noticed a boy draped in a centipede, with a large Monoz in tow.  

He was the boy who served as the organizer for the children I’d taken in.

I had asked for an escort, yes, but seeing him here was a little unexpected.

AK in hand, he took in the scene in front of the church and the children from the human village who’d been safely secured, and he seemed relieved.

A little unexpected, really.

“…Normally, wouldn’t you hate them?”

I wasn’t expecting an answer.

So I made an ambiguous sound that could be heard or not heard—something that didn’t matter either way.

“There were days like that. Especially the nights someone died. I swore I’d shoot them dead, I really did.”

Still, a voice answered. It was the same kind of voice as mine a moment ago—speaking as if to someone, and yet almost muttering to itself.

“We used to get along, you know. After we were thawed out and finished our training as soldiers, my master bought me as his guard for that guy. But… I don’t know. We lived together like brothers.”

He said the other guy was weak but quick to get touchy, so teasing him was amusing.

“So you were the older brother and he the younger?”

“Who knows. Which way around, who can say. I gave him trouble too. We helped each other, at least a little. But—”

Then everything fell apart: the emergency, being taken prisoner by Tooth.  

“If it’s Rikan you mean, I could punch him once or so…”

How would that be?

“That’s fine. The young master—well, it’s not that we don’t resent him, but he treated us okay, for the most part.”

“I see.”

“Ratchet, are you… okay with being used by Tooth?”  

“This is business. It’s my theory: fighting for justice or ideology makes you weak. Doing it for money is best.”

Simple is best. Stay true to your original aim. If you have an unshakable reason, that alone makes you strong.

“…I didn’t really want to hear that.”

“Listen up. You’re the leader, after all. Money is power. No money, you die.”

“And besides, what Ratchet says doesn’t carry much weight.”

“Is that so?”

“It is. I mean, look at you now—you’re doing things that won’t make you any money.”

Really? Maybe. Could be.

I shouldn’t have tried to sound cool and preach my theory. Oh well.

“I’m at that age where I want to act bad.”

My favorite reading is Weekly Shōnen Jump. In short, my heart’s still that of a kid—pubescent. That middle-school edginess never goes away.

That’s the situation.

***

They had been standing guard properly—or so I’d like to say, but that would be a lie.

We’d grown careless. That was the real cause.

The number of worm-people had dropped, and the main threat we’d been wary of never came. In the end, it seemed my fears were groundless—just needless worry, or so I’d thought.

Then came the sound.

A roar.

A blast.

Behind me—among the children gathered around Kauko—something fell. Baggage scattered. Screams rang out.

“Combat formation! Rescue the escort targets!”

I shouted, drawing the automatic pistol from my hip holster. Smoke? No dust. And within it, a human silhouette—

I fired. The shot deflected with a metallic clang. Not an Insectum. Not Tooth. And certainly not a Bubble. Then—human. A human wearing a reinforced exoskeleton, draped with a centipede.

Tiger Unit spun and lunged. With a sharp iiiin of cutting wind, the dust cleared.

The humanoid struck its fist against the ground.

No eyes. No mouth. No features. Sleek, yet somehow rounded in design—a faceless thing.

After Tiger Unit’s leap came Monkey Unit, and then Dog Unit.

The slasher swept past, creating an opening that the biter took advantage of. It caught the thing’s leg in its jaws. Dog Unit twisted. The humanoid’s leg shrieked and tore away.

I saw what was inside—something I’d already seen too often these past few hours. Flesh-worms.

Which meant—

“…The real one.”

I muttered it.

Its movements were different. Its intent was different. There was a clear scent of extermination.

The faceless one snatched up its severed leg and jumped back.

It pressed leg to leg, forcing them together. At the torn edge, worm-flesh writhed, and the limb fused back into place.

“…Lately, this kind of range keeps happening.”

A sharp click of the tongue.

I scanned the area. There were casualties—no helping it. It must have been Kauko. She’d shielded a child. She was still breathing. Still. But barely.

“Horse Unit, recover Kauko-san. The rest of you—move. Get the word out.”

Four close-combat types—Tiger Unit, Monkey Unit, Dog Unit, Boar Unit—and Rudo took the front line. In the middle were the three best suited for support and precision fire—Rooster Unit, Snake Unit, and Sheep Unit. The information team, Rat Unit and Rabbit Unit, along with the high-firepower Dragon Unit and the less combat-ready Ox Unit, stayed in the rear with me.

“…”

I holstered the pistol and switched to the sniper rifle.

This wasn’t the right range. Not for this weapon. But the pistol hadn’t had enough power.

Standing position. Stock against my right shoulder, the humanoid fixed at the tip of the barrel. Seeing that, the humanoid began to move.

Step. Step. Step.

Smooth, fluid motion.

I pictured it—an invisible thread stretching from the muzzle to the target. The thread connected us, so—

Step. Step. Step.

My barrel moved with it, following every shift.

“…”

Watch the movement. Follow the movement.

Don’t close your eyes. Don’t look away. Don’t lose sight.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The second hand of a clock echoed in my head.

I won’t let it advance. Not another step forward.

I won’t let it slip behind me. Not past where I stand.

Just a little longer. That’s all I need. Until the children get away. They’re already behind me—all of them. I only have to hold out a little longer.

That’s what I thought. What I believed.

Then, beside the humanoid, something among the scattered baggage—something I’d thought was debris—moved.

A boy wrapped in a centipede, shielding another child.

The humanoid saw that, and—

“Run!”

The faceless face smiled.

I shouted. Too late. The blow was coming—straight, driving, aimed for the living one. A thrust meant to pierce through flesh as if it were nothing. The front line couldn’t make it in time.

I pulled the trigger.

It was a large target. I aimed for the torso. That was my mistake. I should have gone for the joints, as I had with the other abominations.

A gaping hole burst open. Wet and squirming. Worms writhed. Then the hole closed over.

“—!”

My eyes went wide. Regret hit me.

The hand blade pierced through.

Soft flesh—living child.

No—

“…Why?”

The one it pierced was the boy who had shielded him.

“Cover! Ox Unit, to the front!”

I slashed, rammed forward, and tore the living child free from the humanoid’s reach.

The humanoid leapt back again and, as if discarding an inconvenience, flung aside the limp boy in its hand.

“———”

I drew in a breath, and let it out. Breathing. Deeply. Deliberately.

I don’t lose myself in rage. That’s not my strength.

So I killed the emotion. I composed myself. I had to. And I did.

“Marche.”

『Yes, yes, you called, Toji-sama?』

The mechanical voice came from the humanoid before me. I’d suspected it—but yes, they had been watching. Listening.

“This one’s yours, then? The real one?”

『Indeed, yes, that is correct. This product… let’s see, since it lacks a name, we’ll call it a Doll for now. Delivery of the Doll to the Libere, along with the foundational technology and public demonstration of this product, that is the purpose of our operation.』

A Doll. How unoriginal.

That thing, not even glancing at the child it had discarded, shifted into stance before us. Empty-handed. That was its fighting style.

“What happened to that talk about purchasing me?”

『It’s still in progress. Yes, the product development department is currently in conference with us through the monitor, discussing how to handle you, and what kind of product to make you into.』

“My impression of you couldn’t be worse.”

『That’s quite all right. We hold you in high regard, and we think very highly of your potential.』

“…”

I see. Disgusting.

I want to kill them.

“You mentioned PR earlier?”

『Yes. As promotion for our new product, we intend to capture footage of an entire settlement being wiped out.』

“…Is that just this one unit?”

『Hmm? Yes, that’s correct. Once we’ve gathered data on you, the settlement will be destroyed.』

“You’re underestimating me.”

『Oh, not at all. Unfortunately, at this range, your specs simply don’t allow you to match a Doll, no.』

That confident voice made me laugh in spite of myself.

Still smiling, I spoke.

“I’ll make sure your favorability drops.”

『Meaning?』

“I’ll destroy this defective toy in one shot. You’ll get a hell of a good scene. Don’t stop the cameras.”

『My, my…』

A derisive laugh.

The humanoid took that as its cue, lowering its center of gravity, ready to leap.

“Just now, you see… I figured out how.”

It moved. And the instant killing intent surged, I shot it through the knee. The humanoid, caught mid-jump, lost its balance and crashed to the ground.

In the same instant, Rudo’s lightning struck, and the front-line Monoz closed in with their blades.

『—Well, well, is that as far as it goes?』

“—Yes, this is as far as it goes, you know?”

『Reading the killing intent and dodging. Suppressing the killing intent and firing. We are well versed in the techniques of those you call masters, matching one’s actions to the killing intent, is that the idea? Wonderful. Wonderful, Touji-sama. You are our Abacus’s next flagship product, Eng—』

She babbled on. I ignored her.

“Stop. Finish it.”

At my signal, countless bullets poured into the humanoid, and at the end Dragon Unit’s laser incinerated it. The head rolled free with a soft clack, but I did not watch; I walked on.

It could dodge ordinary bullets.

But there are timings it cannot evade. The moment it leaps, the stored power in a kicking leg—those are the timings.

Lately I’d been fighting at close ranges; I had been thinking about how to fight at this distance.

In combat, the thing I trust first is my own marksmanship. So even if the distance changes, I should trust that. Trust the one shot. That was, roughly, my answer.

Feeling some validation in that answer, yet sensing something more, I walked on. Ahead of me was only one boy.

“I abandoned him.”

The boy held something that had been a boy and was crying.

“I abandoned him. When Father decided to send him to the battlefield, I abandoned him. I said nothing. I knew what he was going through! I knew his comrades had died! I knew he was wasting away, that his eyes were changing. …I knew. But I did nothing. I did nothing at all. And yet—”

The boy looked up at me.

He was sobbing. His face was ruined: snot ran, his mouth twisted, his shoulders heaving as he hiccupped and wailed, eyes fixed on me as he cried and screamed.

“—Why did he shield me?!”

“He called you like a little brother. He also said you were like an older brother. Well, there you have it.”

“—!”

Ignoring the boy’s hiccuping sobs, I turned back.

I removed the head armor, revealed the face, and rolled the fallen humanoid’s head with my foot so its eyes stared at the sky.

“Are there still any of them around?”

『Yes. We still have a clear view of your area.』

“If you can communicate, does that mean they’re nearby?”

『If you mean “are they here,” then—』

“I’ll answer: I’ll kill them.”

『Oh my, how frightening.』

A light laugh came, contradicting the words.

“They’re under the influence of the Tree Crystal. They must be close. Where are they? Answer.”

『No, they really aren’t nearby. Yes, it’s our technology. Hey, Touji-sama? Why does the Tree Crystal emit radio waves?』

“How should I know?”

I spat the words out.

Maybe I should think about it. Maybe it was a clue. But in my frayed mood, I had no desire to do so.

『Bravo, correct answer. …I think I hear crying. Is something the matter?』

“There’s a child who’s lost a friend. That’s all.”

『How sad… My condolences. Hmm? Could it be, Touji-sama, that you are angry about that?』

“Of course not. I had no particular connection to the one who died. I can’t cry.”

『I think that is a good thing.』

It was genuine praise, and to my surprise, I found myself thinking it was “a good thing” too.

I see. I must fit their preferred mindset quite well. I felt sick.

“But you will atone. A life is a life. One for one. You understand? I’ll spell it out for you if you want.”

I drew a breath, leaning my weight on the machine as it pressed its left foot down on the humanoid—

“I’ll kill you.”

Without waiting for an answer, I crushed it.