Chapter 79: Walking the Battlefield

The makeup of our platoon was me, Shinzo, and one child each serving as squad leaders.

As escorts for this officer reconnaissance, it was decided that I, Kirie, and a girl named Touka would go along.

I did not know Touka very well. Part of it was that she was a much younger member of the opposite sex, which meant I had no idea how to interact with her. But part of it was also that she did not talk much. She was what you would call a cool beauty. Well, as you could probably tell from the fact that she had been assigned to me, she was also one of my hound candidates.

Kirie had twelve contracted Monoz, and Touka had sixteen. Add His Excellency’s Four Heavenly Kings and my Monoz to that, and we had a fairly large group. That gave us at least some room to work tactically.

“Kirie, Bravo. Touka, Charlie. His Excellency and I will be Alpha. You’ll retain command rights over your Monoz, and I’ll also assign Tiger Unit and Boar Unit to you. Spread out to the left and right and advance. Questions?”

“Use of Monocs?”

“Denied. We’ll proceed carefully. Leave as few tracks as possible.”

“…”

At that order, Touka silently pointed at His Excellency.

That thing is absolutely going to leave tracks. Is that okay?

Her ice-blue eyes were saying something like that.

“Listen, Touka. What happens at home happens at home, and what happens elsewhere happens elsewhere. Do not leave tracks. Understood?”

“Understood, Captain.”

“Yeah.”

After receiving one crisp reply and one languid reply, I turned around. Leaving babysitting to the Tiger Unit and Boar Unit, I headed toward the child under my charge.

“Your Excellency, are you ready?”

“Mm! I can go at any time!”

A very fine answer. It was good that he was energetic, I thought.

“…”

But…

But why was he not carrying a firearm? What was with the two swords on his back? Was that supposed to be fashion? Surely he did not intend to fight with those? Could he actually fight properly?

Such questions came to mind.

I felt something from the crystal on my left hand. A transmission. I displayed it on my terminal. Sergeant had sent over His Excellency’s skills. According to it…

【Monoz Command: 1】

That was all.

Well, for someone under ten, that was probably about right. He was still in training, so it could not be helped. The children back home were about the same. Looked at another way, I could almost feel that His Excellency was admirable for trying to stand on a battlefield even with skills like that.

I did not want to work with him, though.

“Dog Unit.”

I decided to place A1, Monkey Unit, Rooster Unit, and Dog Unit around His Excellency in addition to the Four Heavenly Kings.

***

The last time, we had waited for them and picked up information.

But this time, we had to move and go pick up information ourselves.

In other words, there was a chance the enemy would be lying in wait, just as we had done last time.

“…”

This was terribly hard to work with.

Since I had no choice, I arranged our personnel like an arrowhead. I divided the unit into four groups, with one at the front, two on the sides, and one protected by those three.

But separate from that, I sent the Snake Unit and Rudo ahead. One machine and one animal capable of stealth would go first and perform a rough reconnaissance.

Besides, Rudo was excellent as a scout. His inability to put things into words was the sticking point, but depending on the situation, he might even be better at enemy detection than the Rabbit Unit.

I walked with caution.

This was Insectum territory. Even if this was not an especially hot battlefield, enemy territory was enemy territory. We were the ones at a disadvantage. And since our objective was reconnaissance, being in a situation where they could trace a path back to headquarters would be bad.

“You are moving rather slowly.”

“We’re searching as we go. And we’re trying not to leave tracks.”

“Tracks?”

As he said that, His Excellency took one step. Since this was a cluster of tree crystals, even on what passed for a path, tree crystals ran along the ground like roots.

With His Excellency’s one step, those crystals cracked.

I silently pointed at them.

“M-My apologies!”

He hurriedly stepped back. He stepped on more. A cracking sound.

“…Please calm down, Your Excellency.”

“Mm, yes.”

No, no, it’s fine. While saying that, I looked at my watch. About thirty minutes had passed since we started walking. I, Kirie, and Touka could still keep going. But it might be fine to rest.

“Alpha to Bravo and Charlie. Short break, ten minutes. Over.”

“Bravo, understood.”

“Charlie, understood.”

End of transmission. Out. I operated my terminal and stopped the advance group as well. But I did not stop the forward stealth group. I kept them moving. Beep. Electronic tone. Incident report: notice of Labor Standards Act violation. A complaint came from the Snake Unit.

“…”

Getting sued would not be amusing either, so I approved a break.

“Let’s rest for ten minutes, Your Excellency. Ah, but please don’t sit down.”

“U-Understood. …You are being quite cautious.”

“This is normal. No, if anything, it’s a little sloppy.”

E.B. was incredible. She really was careful, and yet she moved forward silently, slipping along like a snake.

As for me, well, I was comparatively sloppy. Still, since I did earn my meals as a mercenary, I was much better than His Excellency, at least.

“I understand why you did not bring the staff officer.”

“…Since you are here, Your Excellency, I’ll wrap it in a polite layer, but he is an incompetent staff officer.”

“Isn’t that polite layer torn?”

“Would you like me to tear it off?”

That was me.

No, that is quite all right, His Excellency said with a shake of his head.

“Teacher attends the university affiliated with Abacus.”

“I imagine he’s smart. But he’s an idiot. Armchair theories, idealism, no understanding of the field.”

“He simply lacks experience.”

“He has no intention of making up for that. That is why he is an idiot.”

“The university affiliated with Abacus is prestigious.”

“I’m sure it is. But that doesn’t mean every single person there is competent.”

“I trust Teacher more than I trust you.”

“I see. That’s unfortunate. But for now, please trust what I tell you.”

“Hm?”

I smiled at His Excellency, who looked puzzled. Gunfire was already ringing out, and combat had begun.

“Rock and roll, Your Excellency.”

We had been ambushed.