Chapter 78: Together with His Excellency

The headquarters where His Excellency resided was a tent, but the standby area we had been given had a simple bunker built from mixed-in earth.

The reason they had gone out of their way to build something like this for an operation that assumed we would withdraw was simple.

It was for the training of the children and their Monoz.

This job had been requested at platoon scale.

A platoon consisted of four squads. And in general, a squad consisted of one or two humans and the Monoz contracted to them. As a result, two children from the campsite had come along on this job.

“Welcome back, Captain Touji. How did the report go?”

The one who greeted me when I returned was one of those children. He must have been on watch. He was walking with an AK in hand and Monoz in tow.

His name was Kirie. He was one of the children we had rescued from the human village in Rican. He had real combat experience, and with his good eyes, he had come to this battlefield as one of my hound candidates.

His black hair, sun-browned skin, and the whiteness of the teeth that showed when he grinned left an impression.

“Well, it was about as bad as expected. Where’s Shinzo?”

“He came back a little while ago. He’s inside eating right now.”

“I see.”

After saying just that, I entered the bunker. Shinzo was eating at the table.

“Yo!” he greeted me.

And raised one hand. No voice came out. His mouth was stuffed full of food.

I raised one hand in reply. I sat at the table piled with food and picked up a tomato. The tomatoes had been grown from seed here on the battlefield through hydroponics using a nutrient solution colored a thick, fluorescent blue, a color about as far from appetizing as it could be. But regardless of the color of their nutrients, the tomatoes themselves had ripened a bright red.

I bit into one. Mush, came the watery sensation. I wiped away the juice nearly spilling from the corner of my mouth with my sleeve. Ah, I was still wearing the Centipede. Now I had dirtied it.

Taking it off completely was a pain, so I only removed the upper half. Still in my tank top, I opened a can of corned beef. The white fat visible inside the trapezoid-shaped block of meat gleamed under the room light.

“How’d it go?”

Shinzo asked as he held out a glass of water to me.

“No good. Japanese doesn’t get through to them. Bring out the translation konjac, Shin-emon.”

“I know what you’re parodying when you call me that, but that one sounds enough like an actual name, so knock it off.”

My apologies.

As I said that, I bit into the block of meat and then into the tomato. Its juice moistened my throat.

“I’ll go first,” Shinzo said. “No problems on our end. The mission is still supply transport, and we’ve secured the route too.”

“Mine is terrible thanks to an idiot. Apparently, when we discover an enemy, we’re going to scout them again.”

“Officer reconnaissance?”

“In this case, the officers are blessed with incompetence, so there’s no point. Prepare to withdraw.”

“Got it.”

“Also, I’d like you to come with me on the next reconnaissance if possible.”

“That part’s impossible.”

Without a word, I held out the half-eaten corned beef.

“…No, I don’t want that.”

“Why not?”

If the route had been secured, then it should be fine. I had His Excellency and the Operations Staff Officer coming along under the pretext of officer reconnaissance, you know? There was no way I could look after them alone.

“I’ll send the trainees with you.”

“I super don’t want them.”

“It’s to give them experience.”

Ehh…

I made a blatantly annoyed face.

Yuri, Master, and myself as well. It was strange to say this about myself, but we were all genius types. Unfortunately, we were not suited to teaching.

***

The sound of machinery echoed from the thick armor.

It was the sound of a fan spinning. The cooler must have been running.

Arawn Company’s enhanced exoskeleton, Charlotte.

That enhanced exoskeleton, made for the upper classes, was something like a Mercedes-Benz if you compared it to a car. Hard, sturdy, and comfortable. Even in this hot, humid climate, it was probably comfortable.

“Now then, shall we go?”

The Operations Staff Officer swept his hair back with a flourish.

Vwooom, went the fan. Each step he took was heavy.

“…”

This was where it differed from a Mercedes-Benz.

A Mercedes-Benz was excellent as a car, but Charlotte had flaws as a Centipede.

There was no problem if he was just lounging around headquarters, but in a situation like this, where we were heading out to scout, it was nothing but dead weight.

“…”

I thought for three seconds.

Taking this thing with us was absolutely impossible. I very much wanted help. I desperately wanted help.

When I looked toward Sergeant, he nodded. Apparently, even he had no intention of making me take this thing along.

“I’m counting on you, Hound!”

“I will do my best, though I have little to offer.”

Even so, I could not stop His Excellency from coming with us.