Chapter 48: Baldy

The wind sweeping across the wasteland still carried sand, as always.

The hound model, with its mechanized left leg removed, crackled in the gusts as though it were barking.

Listening to that sound, I put on my headset and hat.

Tooth uses a parasitic organism that attaches directly to the brain to transmit signals immune to the influence of Tree Crystals.

I couldn’t bring myself to have something like that embedded in my head, so like the other human mercenaries, I let the creature latch onto my headset instead.

It felt different from the cold touch of the inorganic things I was used to. This was the warmth of a warm-blooded creature, constant and alive. If I listened carefully, I could even feel it pulse from time to time. To be honest, it was unsettling.

If Tooth, like Eevee, had been willing to wear human equipment, I wouldn’t have had to put up with this. But right now, I was in the minority. So I gave up and followed the majority.

And so we set out from the base camp.

Rikan and the others traveled by means of armored cars, bikes, and Monoz units they had parasitized and seized control of, as well as riding mounts. I followed alongside them in Horse Unit.

From what I could tell, the ones riding living mounts seemed to hold a higher status.

Rikan was among them. With his four arms like an Arm Lion, he rode something like a horse, though more like a Sleipnir with six legs. In the middle of its face were two eyes stacked vertically, and its mouth wasn’t really a mouth at all, more like a tube. But probably, yes, a horse.

That horse seemed eager to befriend Rudo, but Rudo wasn’t interested. Whenever it approached, Rudo would hide behind me, and if it pressed further, he would snarl for real, discharging electricity as he did.

The horse drooped, dejected. I tried to comfort it.

Along the way, we clashed with Ants.

I saw the horse drain the body fluids from an Ant completely dry.

I thought to myself, well, that was a waste of sympathy.

After that, I too began keeping my distance from the horse. Once more, it looked downcast, but it would just have to forgive me. Watching a predator feed like that was simply too terrifying.

We ran for about half a day.

That was where we were to camp for the night, with the real operation beginning tomorrow.

As Sheep Unit and Monkey Unit organized the camp, I caught sight of children—eyes like the stray dogs I’d seen back in a human village.

They had only a single battered Monoz with them, not even clad in a centipede.

One adult accompanied them, wearing a similarly ragged centipede—perhaps their chaperone. But that was all.

As usual, I tried to look away, pretend not to notice. But I couldn’t. So I stopped Rikan.

“You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, more or less.”

“Then spell it out.”

“They’re the manpower the human village provided for this expedition.”

In exchange, we distribute food, Rikan explained.

Children are made to work on the battlefield, while the adults—including that damned priest—stay in the village to do their work.

The right person in the right place. A fine phrase. The world should be that way.

“The job for those kids this time is—”

“Ratchet, you were Japanese once, weren’t you?”

“…That’s right.”

I answered, though an awful sense of foreboding stirred in me.

“You like it, don’t you? The kamikaze.”

“…I see.”

Rikan explained that the children’s role was to carry bombs into a Bubble Nest and go out in a suicide attack.

The right person in the right place. Lovely words. Children without even a centipede to wear could only be used for carrying loads—or for that. That’s how it was.

“…I think I might start to hate you.”

“Mm. Then we’re alike. I hate myself right now as well.”

Saying that, Rikan tossed me a leather pouch. Inside were rhombus-shaped crystals, the common currency.

“An order, Ratchet. Do something about the rot.”

“…I might actually like you after all. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to care about children of another race.”

“One cannot be kind without strength. I am strong. And with strength comes duty.”

Rikan folded his arms, gave a satisfied grunt of “Hrmph!” and nodded.

Good. A good man.

“Understood, leader.”

I struck a mock salute to him. Then I lobbed the leather pouch to Ox Unit and started walking at a slow pace.

***

By now, I felt it wasn’t right to leave all the construction work to Sheep Unit and Monkey Unit alone.

You too should do your part.

Come on then—time for practice.

On that pretense, I mobilized all the Monoz and had them put together a few earthwork pillboxes. I even helped, turning up the soil with a shovel to contribute materials.

As a result, we had several empty pillboxes scattered around the perimeter.

The hardening agent was barely used, so they weren’t especially durable or tough, but more than enough to sleep in for a night.

“If you’d like, please use them.”

And so, I ended up offering them to the stray-dog gang.

“Thanks, man! Really appreciate it!”

At the moment, I was talking to their chaperone.

He was about my age, small but wiry and well-trained. An assault trooper. Bald—whether by choice or not.

From what he told me, he was a mercenary like me, but unlike me, he hadn’t been able to turn a blind eye. Originally, he’d been hired along with a mercenary company, but when the company abandoned the children and left, he stayed behind alone to look after them.

Here, real names didn’t mean much. And so—

“I’m ranked forty-third. They call me Vulture. Pleased to meet ya!”

“Ranked seventh. Ratchet.”

We exchanged the codenames Tooth had assigned us.

Vulture. Bald Vulture. Baldy.

Sensei, I want to say something.

I think bullying is very uncool.

…This is just too blatant.

I’d seen cruel nicknames before, but this one was on the level of “Pig Gorilla.” If we were still in grade school, it would definitely be a PTA case.

But if he was fine with it himself, then I had nothing more to say.

“Let’s get right to it, Vulture. Permission’s been granted. From here on, your unit comes under my command.”

“Understood! Vulture, twenty-three men under me, now entering Ratchet Squad’s chain of command!”

The shout was so loud I thought my eardrums would burst. The athletic, drill-sergeant type. Probably a good guy, but not my kind of person. With a strained smile, I eased a little distance between us and called for Rat Unit.

“I need to assess your combat strength. Go on.”

As Rat Unit rolled over and I ordered it to compile the data, I glanced again at the bald head.

“We’ve got one centipede, the one I’m wearing. One Monoz for the squad. The children’s weapons are—”

“Wait, Vulture. I said report combat strength. Only combat strength.”

I pressed the words hard.

I was telling him that the only real combat strength here is you.

I was telling him that the ones who’ll die are you and me.

“Yessir! My apologies! Combat strength is only myself, equipped with one centipede!”

“I see. …And weapons?”

“None, sir! I’m a grappler!”

“…”

First time I’d seen one. Honestly, I had no idea how to make use of it.

Well. Wonderful. You could probably beat up little Masashi-kun from the Miyamoto family. I tossed out that half-baked remark as I checked the skill data Rat Unit had received from him.

【Assault: 1】【Close Combat: 3】【Monoz Command: 0】【Counter: 3】【Powered Exoskeleton Aptitude (Strength): X】【Riding: 1】【Concealment: 1】【Stealth: 1】【Shooting: 1】【Optical Weapons: 1】

—Tch! A rare skill holder?!

I let myself be surprised. It really was unusual. Most skills could be learned after birth, but some were tied to one’s physical constitution. That was what【Powered Exoskeleton Aptitude】was.

It’s a skill that carries a contradiction: everyone has it, but only a few ever actually manifest it.

The DNA filaments used to operate a Centipede, produced from blood, if they happened to match with the artificial muscle of the Centipede, the skill would awaken. In theory, combining artificial muscle and DNA filaments would trigger it, so adjustments could bring it out. But the exact conditions weren’t clear.

So, sometimes you hear things like, “After tweaking the artificial muscles, I suddenly gained a skill,” or, “I changed the dilution of the DNA filament solution and the whole world shifted.” Supposedly, you’d be lucky to see one person manifest it in five years. That’s why it was marked with an X, impossible to rank.

Encouraging, at least. Thinking that, I went on with my questions.

“Monoz Command is zero?”

“Because I don’t have one right now!”

“I see.”

That stung a little. But there was no point dwelling on it.

I ordered Ox Unit to distribute food to the children, then sat down with Vulture to start a strategy meeting.

With the setting sun blazing behind him, Vulture shone bright in my eyes.

So, optical weapons, huh…

“…”

To escape the glare, I let my gaze wander a little farther away.