Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume3 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 14===

Quenser helped support the Black Uniform named Charlotte. She had a broken arm and a sprained ankle. Quenser had a few choice words for whoever it was that had said Objects fought clean wars.

“Did you hear?” asked Heivia as he walked up. “The Indigo Plasma’s 24th Mobile Maintenance Battalion has made an official declaration. The Councilors and the Sovereign Parliament are still arguing, but it’s more or less decided. Our next enemies are fellow Legitimacy Kingdomers.”

“…I don’t like that. It reminds me of Councilor Flide.”

“Oh, oh. That damn old man who used an Elite little girl as his pawn? I remember him.”

As Quenser and Heivia casually gave out insults, Myonri cut in from the side.

“D-don’t be so calm about this. Don’t you understand? This is a civil war.”

The shadow over Myonri’s face may have been because she was recalling Cookman and Westy, her two lost comrades.

Charlotte remained silent.

She did not say a single word.

As a Black Uniform in charge of barrier duty wherein she investigated the military and gave out punishment where needed, she may have been ashamed of the current situation.

As Quenser continued to help her along, he said, “What are we even fighting for?”

“It isn’t for peace or justice, that’s for sure,” spat out Heivia. “I’m fighting to inherit my noble family and you’re fighting to become an Object designer. That hasn’t changed. We know the 24th is our enemy, so let’s use them as a stepping stone to our goals.”

A distant middle-aged lieutenant shouted over at Heivia in a deep voice. He was being called over to help with some kind of work.

“Damn. Snow shoveling again? Now I wish I had lent my shoulder to the beauty.”

“It’s first come first serve.”

“I know that, dammit. Hey, let’s go, Myonri. I can at least have a cute young lady working with me.”

“Eh? Eh?”

Myonri blinked as Heivia half-dragged her over toward the middle-aged lieutenant. Quenser focused on getting Charlotte to the large rescue helicopter.

Charlotte had remained silent up to that point, but now she sighed with her arm wrapped around Quenser’s neck.

“…Honestly. This is not my job. I am a Black Uniform in charge of barrier duty.”

“True, but I’m a battlefield student.”

“You are the one that destroyed the Wing Balancer.”

“You give me too much credit. Without the Baby Magnum, I would have been blown away when the Wing Balancer landed. And against a foot soldier like me, the Wing Balancer’s many cannons would have been enough even after the legs were taken out.”

“Still,” said Charlotte after a pause. “You contributed to the unit’s victory in that emergency situation. You might be awarded for this. I would think you will be given the Special Individual Medal for Victory.”

“Eh? I thought that was only for official members of the military?”

“That one can be given to civilians as well. You received a public commendation after the destruction of the Water Strider, remember? It is the same as that.”

“…Really?”

“Really.” Charlotte’s lips relaxed slightly. “To be honest, I was a fan of yours. So I would not lie about this.”

“?”

“At a bar I frequent, the bartender creates a new celebratory cocktail for every Object you and your partner destroy. Due to that, I cannot help but be interested in your actions.”

“I’m not sure you could call that being a ‘fan’…” said Quenser in shock.

But then he heard the sound of something small falling to the ground. It seemed something had fallen from a pocket of his uniform and onto the snow. Quenser looked down at his feet and froze in place.

It was a rubber box about the size of a cigarette carton.

The latch on the cover came off and some of the contents spilled out.

They were clear grains.

They were the ores commonly referred to as diamonds.

“…You.”

The voice of Charlotte Zoom, a Black Uniform in charge of barrier duty, grew ultra icy.

Quenser’s immediate thought was: Laughing is my only option.

“Ha…ha ha. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

“Did you know that there is a means of immobilizing the neck with just this arm I have around your shoulders?”

“I give! I give! I bgh-!! St-stop! Squeezing like that only presses your tits into my face!! And I happen to like the armpits of beautiful women, so keep this up if you want my inner self to awaken!!”

“Tch.”

Charlotte had grabbed the collar of his uniform and begun to constrict his carotid artery, but she loosened her grip just before Quenser lost consciousness.

“This injury gives me a serious disadvantage.”

“A-are you overlooking this…?”

“I have no choice,” said Charlotte in annoyance. Her shoulders relaxed even further and she placed even more weight on Quenser. “I only have jurisdiction over official soldiers and other combat elements cooperating on the battlefield. I have no authority over a civilian student.”

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