Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume1 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 17===

War was taking place all over the world, but at the very least, the intense fighting that had been spreading through Alaska had come to a close. Both armies’ Objects had been destroyed and (rare for that era) a fight between flesh-and-blood soldiers had broken out. In the end, Quenser and the others’ unit had been victorious.

Quenser, Heivia, and the Elite girl had returned from Alaska to the home country.

They were from different places, so they parted ways upon leaving the maintenance base zone.

However, they had one last chance to meet.

A special awards ceremony was being held.

The one who had saved their army from a hopeless situation after their Object had been destroyed had not been a professional soldier. It had been a mere student who had been with the unit to study Objects. The news that flesh-and-blood people had destroyed an invincible Object had spread around the world and they were being honored with medals.

Quenser was within the waiting room of the party hall of a giant hotel the likes of which he had never set foot in before. (He had actually planned on visiting them quite often once he got rich as an Object designer.) The feeling of the unfamiliar dress clothes bothered him and he was continually adjusting the position of the high-quality necktie. However, the sight of Heivia after so long made him forget that feeling altogether.

“I thought you were supposed to be a noble? I’ve never seen someone who looked worse in dress clothes than me.”

“Shut up. I lost the feel for this kind of thing while chasing deer in Alaska. And they don’t look too bad on you.”

However, he was from a noble family, so he was not overpowered by the atmosphere of the party hall even if the dress clothes did not seem to suit him. His body was not unnecessarily tensed up like Quenser’s was.

“So what battlefield are you headed to next, Heivia?”

“Are you stupid? I was only killing time at a military base in order to have enough achievements to be my family’s successor. Now that I’m publicly known as one of the people who blew up an Object, I have no need to stick with the military. Now I can live the rest of my life richly and comfortably. …Although that sounds like it has its own annoyances.”

“I see. So you’re heading straight for the ‘successful career’ path.”

“You’re doing pretty much the same thing, right? I heard the military took an interest in you and gave you the special right to look through the country’s database. Now you can see as many Object blueprints as you want without having to head out to the battlefield. With so many samples to study, your learning speed should be overwhelmingly faster than those around you.”

Hearing that, Quenser pinched his cheek.

It had yet to seem real to him, but it seemed he had succeeded in getting a head start on his own successful career.

“What’s the princess doing?”

“Well, the Elite that pilots an Object obviously can’t leave the front lines so easily. For us, destroying an Object was enough of a miracle to get public recognition, but for our Elite princess, it’s the norm,” said Heivia, casually showing just how different a world the Elite girl lived in.

Quenser thought once more on the burden those who piloted and fought with Objects had to bear.

Meanwhile, Heivia continued to speak.

“She’s waiting for her next orders inside an improved Object developed from the same line as her Object that was destroyed in Alaska. I hear a giant Object like that would take three or four years to develop from scratch, so it seems there had already been a plan underway to switch over to this new one. …Well, don’t you think that princess must like the battlefield if she willingly chose a place like that to wait?”

“After everything we went through, I can’t understand how she could possibly want to go back.”

“Maybe it’s ''because'' of everything we went through. She may have been given a chance to seriously think about the value of the lives of soldiers like us.”

Suddenly, a knock came at the waiting room’s door.

A beautiful secretary who worked for a high military official poked her head into the room and asked them to head to the party hall because the preparations for the ceremony were complete.

As they left the waiting room and headed down the passageway to the party hall, Quenser had a sudden thought.

“Oh, hey. Did you get an email from the princess?”

“You idiot. That’s another special right you alone have. After all, you’re the one that first grabbed a rifle and went running after her back then.”

“…I was hoping to meet her while we were here.”

“Well, we’re parting ways once more after the awards ceremony, but let’s make this more about celebrating our departure than mourning our parting.”

They opened the double doors to the party hall and were greeted by applause and the flash of cameras. Guided by the voice of the master of ceremonies, Quenser and Heivia slowly headed up onto the stage where they were greeted by distinguished members of the military and had medals on ribbons that were probably more valuable than an Olympic gold medal placed around their necks.

At the end of the ceremony, the master of ceremonies gave one last remark.

“Now, a round of applause for these two who defeated an Object without the assistance of an Object of their own. Let us see them off to their next battlefield while praying that their special and excellent strategies can continue to benefit the world in the future.”

(…Eh? What did that idiot just say?)

While standing on the stage, Quenser frantically looked over at the various high military officials, but they were simply applauding with clearly false smiles on their faces.

Their eyes alone were serious.

Objects were synonymous with war. A silent pressure beat down on Quenser telling him that the officials were not about to let go of the kind of soldiers that could destroy an Object and turn around a war.

“(…Hey. Listen up, hero. It looks like this is no joke. I just heard that fat one over there talking. I know where we’re being assigned next!)”

“(…Where we’re being assigned? That’s already been decided!?)”

“(…Apparently, we’ll be working along with the princess’s Object! It seems they’re thinking that, since we managed to destroy an Object on our own, we might be able to damage an enemy army even more efficiently if we have an Object working with us!!)”

“(…Are you serious? So we’re going to be facing those monstrous Objects again!?)”

As the unexpected strength of his relationships with certain people made him dizzy, Quenser looked down at the medal hanging from his neck.

(Please tell me this isn’t going to end up being no different from a posthumous promotion.)

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