Chapter 88: Displeased Maximum Firepower

His Excellency’s family paid out a fairly generous bonus.

Even so, once I spent it on twelve Monoz bodies, my left leg, and, because it seemed cruel for only one of us to get nothing, a cheese stick for Rudo, there was not much left in my hands.

The Monoz bodies were the biggest burden. There was no question that they were the key to war. Nor was there any doubt that their performance equaled our combat strength. So spending money on them was not wrong.

I understood that.

I did.

But still, I could not help thinking it.

“…Abacus would have been fine.”

Sitting on the bed in my room at the campsite, I muttered the words without meaning to.

They had offered the biggest discount.

Their performance was not bad either.

Most of all, the change in Suen’s expression when he came to get the order had been pitiful.

Suen had arrived in high spirits and left with his shoulders slumped. Only one unit body had been ordered from Abacus.

And even that was something I had forced through.

At first, not a single Monoz had said they wanted to use Abacus.

Considering our future relationship with them, I thought that was a bit much.

So I had Rat Unit, Rabbit Unit, and Dragon Unit, whose skills seemed compatible with certain bodies, draw lots, and we decided to offer up one unit as a sacrifice. As a result…

“…Rat Unit, where’s Dragon Unit?”

I asked Rat Unit, who had changed into Mercurius, an Arawn Company body specialized for information warfare. Like the Aesus he had used before, it was made of silicone and pleasant to the touch.

Beep!

Answer: Still depressed.

“Is it really something to hate that much?”

Answer: It directly affects survival, so yes.

“The performance isn’t bad.”

Yes, the performance was not bad. Its compatibility with Dragon Unit, who mainly used optical weapons, was not bad either.

Abacus was even stronger than Arawn Company when it came to communication under tree crystal interference.

Making use of that strength, their Monoz bodies came equipped with a mechanism for using small drones that could be called wingmen. Rabbit Unit’s small ball drones were an example. In RPG terms, they would be somewhere around summoners.

I had learned something from the last job.

War was numbers.

The side with more hands won. And “hands” meant simple numbers, but also the number of options available.

In that sense, small drones were a move that could simply increase our numbers. So I did not think it was that bad of a move.

Or rather…

“What exactly does he dislike so much?”

Apparently, Dragon Unit did not feel that way.

A white, Abacus-made large Monoz body, Milia.

It had already been three days since he was installed in it.

For those three days, Dragon Unit had stopped coming near me, as if in protest.

Even now, he was peeking only half his face, or whatever counted as one, in through the doorway and watching me.

“…”

He was large, so he was completely visible.

I thought Dragon Unit should become a little more aware of his own size.

Then Dog Unit rolled over. As always, he had the black-painted Dom style, so visually, there was no change when it came to him, Rooster Unit, or Monkey Unit, but they had changed into new bodies too.

Beep! went the electronic tone. A message came to my terminal.

Question: Does our friend trust Abacus?

“Of course I do.”

Proposal: Then why not change our friend’s left leg and Centipede to Abacus-made models as well?

“Compatibility matters. Abacus Centipedes are more suited to someone like Primula-san. The Hound Model fits me better.”

Question: What about the left leg?

“…”

Question: What about the left leg?

“…”

Question, strongly emphasized: Our friend, whose current leg is adjusted for wearing the Centipede and whose feet are different heights when barefoot, what about the left leg?

Follow-up: What about the Abacus prosthetic leg, which can adjust between three settings: wearing the Centipede, barefoot, and boots?

Follow-up: What about the Abacus left leg, which comes with high-performance springs that seem far easier to use than jet propulsion our friend cannot handle?

“…They multiplied.”

Rooster Unit and Monkey Unit had joined in.

I wished they would stop launching a verbal Jet-Stream Attack together with Dog Unit. Thinking that, I looked away.

“…”

My eyes met Snake Unit, who had been waiting right where I looked. My terminal vibrated. A message from Snake Unit.

What about it?

“…”

I silently blacked out the terminal.

“…”

I took one deep breath. Then I looked up and found every Monoz in the room staring at me.

Apparently, I had no allies.

How sad.

“I just… don’t really feel like using one.”

I told them honestly. The four small units, Rat Unit, Rabbit Unit, Snake Unit, and Rooster Unit, rammed into me as if protesting. My freshly replaced left leg clanged and banged.

After being attacked for about five minutes, I devoted myself entirely to getting Dragon Unit back into a better mood.

In the end,

“It looks cool, like the Nu Gundam.”

That one line somehow fixed his mood.

Why Dragon Unit knew about the Nu Gundam, I did not know.

At this point, it was too late to wonder.