Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume4 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 5===

Quenser and Heivia left the wooden building.

The storm showed no sign of letting up.

Heivia sighed as the bottom of his boots sank uncomfortably into the wet red clay.

“Do you think we could run away now?”

“With guards carrying sniper rifles in those watchtowers? Even if we slipped past the guards, how far from the maintenance base are we? If they went mountain hunting in an off-road vehicle, they’d catch up to us in no time.”

“I know. I just had to ask. I guess we have to just wait for our huge-breasted commander. This group doesn’t seem to be that large. A group of 10 foot soldiers armed with the latest weaponry and a single attack helicopter for support would be able to handle them easily.”

“They’re not going to give us the time for that. And who knows if Froleytia will see ordering a search as a top priority.”

“Then what do we do?” asked Heivia.

Quenser fell silent for a bit before saying, “Have you heard of the Capitalist Corporations’ Second Generation…Deep Optical was it?”

“Only our huge-breasted commander complaining about it. Once this leave of ours is over, it might be our next opponent. Officially, it is cooperating with the restoration of Oceania, but it has begun to go beyond that. Basically, it has begun to cause some small conflicts around the area of Oceania,” replied Heivia. “It’s completely unofficial, but our intelligence division has already begun reconnaissance on the Deep Optical. Of course, we can’t let anyone know that is who we would be crushing next. They would be disciplined if they were caught.”

“So as long as we aren’t caught, doing some reconnaissance isn’t an altogether bad idea.”

“Quenser, are you serious?” asked Heivia in shock. Some slight fear could be seen hidden behind his expression. “This is an Object we’re talking about. They’re telling us to fight that monster! And they’re having us do it at gunpoint!! I don’t want to die for something like that! We’re just normal humans!! We aren’t super heroes who can shoot strange beams from our hands! This isn’t a difficult concept. We may not know exactly what kind of monster the Deep Optical is, but there is no doubt in my mind that fighting it would be hell. So wouldn’t it be easier to survive this by using what power we have to deal with this armed group!?”

“…”

“We don’t even know if we can get anywhere near this Object!! We aren’t receiving proper support here. This armed group’s information may be outdated and useless. They aren’t going to have much in the way of weapons and equipment!! We won’t have a strategy put together by an expert commander based on all sorts of data from an electronic simulation department!! And we don’t have the protection of the Legitimacy Kingdom, so the theory of the clean battlefield does not hold here. If we raise our hands in surrender, they’ll shoot us. If we’re caught, the treaties regarding prisoners of war will not apply to us. Do you really understand what this means!?”

“I’m well aware this is not a normal situation.” Quenser brushed aside his wet bangs in irritation. “But you saw that, didn’t you, Heivia?”

“That isn’t a reason.” Heivia shook his head. “It’s true a tragedy occurred here, but that is no reason to put our own lives in danger! I didn’t join the army to be some hero of justice. It was to gain the valorous deeds I need as a noble. And you’re a student who is only here to learn about Object design!! So shouldn’t you be focusing your efforts elsewhere!?”

“Heivia.” Quenser sighed softly. “If you truly felt that way, wouldn’t you be working to escape on your own instead of arguing with me?”

“I…”

Quenser looked around and spotted a guard in a watchtower looking their way.

“Either way, we can’t return to the maintenance base zone right now. And we need to face the Deep Optical eventually. So is it really that bad to get it over with now? And we even have the precedent to call it an unofficial recon mission.”

“That may work for us personally,” said Heivia in a tone that made it clear he was still not convinced. “But isn’t that bad from the point of view of the organization as a whole? This will still be a military operation.”

“I’m not a soldier, I’m a student.”

“Tch. You always have that escape route that only works for you. Just so you know, that excuse isn’t going to keep working forever.”

“What do you say, Heivia?”

Heivia did not reply to Quenser’s question for a while.

He muttered some things under his breath and hesitated for a while.

“I’ll do it. God dammit, I’ll do it!! But I’m not the only one heading into this hell!!” After shouting that, he lowered his tone of voice and panted as he spoke. “After all, I don’t see any other option. And this is for those kids who lost an arm or a leg. I joined the army to earn medals and honor. This is a bit of a roundabout method, but a moving tale like this might be useful against my family.”

(Okay.)

Now that they had made up their minds, they only needed to take their one-way ticket to hell from the grim reaper.

“Quenser, let’s start by asking them if they have any weapons we can use. They captured us after we had finished our normal work and some overtime. Our equipment doesn’t have enough ammunition for another mission.”

“Yes,” said Quenser. 

Rare of an idiot like him, there was a clear note of killer intent in his voice.

“But first there is something else I need to ask them.”