Editing HEAVY OBJECT:EX Chapter 7 (section)

===Part 2===

It was pouring rain.

Thick and dark rain clouds covered the entire sky.

It was supposed to be the dry season in the Antsiranana District, but that did not matter. According to the satellite, the rivers were more than full and the land was flooded as far as the eye could see. The maintenance base zone’s location had been chosen based on geographic factors, so it had escaped the flooding, but waist-high muddy water could be found not far outside the base. And it continued all the way to the horizon.

“This is what they call heat pollution, isn’t it?”

Silver-haired and busty Frolaytia toyed with her bangs in annoyance while holding her long, narrow kiseru in her mouth.

“The industrialization of the mainland across the ocean has raised the upper atmospheric temperature by two or three degrees. As their operations pick up, the atmosphere grows unstable.”

“What’s the situation?” asked Quenser.

Frolaytia breathed out some sweet smoke and looked the other way.

She looked to the Baby Magnum having its armor and weapons swapped out in the center of the maintenance bay.

“The Faith Organization is sure to have noticed the approaching transportation fleet of submarines and hovercraft. But they’ve chosen to tolerate its presence. They must be waiting for us to finish our maintenance.”

The base’s vehicles were mostly just a pile of rubble, so new ones had been sent in for an almost wholesale replacement of the base.

“They must be monitoring us. They’re only overlooking this because the materials are flowing in and not out. If we tried to evacuate the officers or the classified servers, they would attack and give the fleet a watery grave.”

“Could we not evacuate in time with some emergency submarines?”

“That might work for a VIP or two, but there are too many of us. Besides, the Trinity Style is made of countless Dvergr work robots, so it can change shape whenever it wants. The area is flooded so badly we can’t see the ground, so it will almost certainly be using an air cushion. That means it can head out to sea, so attempting a game of tag would be too reckless.”

“But then why are they doing this?”

“Why are they prepared to respond at a moment’s notice and yet giving us this chance? Have you forgotten, Quenser? The Trinity Style…no, Skuld’s rampage began when she pretended to be defeated in order to defeat our Princess more easily.” Frolaytia smiled darkly. “If their military is willing to protect her despite all the problems she causes, she must earn them a ton of money. But I bet opinions are growing much more split within the Faith Organization. So they want a way to test Skuld’s loyalty. Or perhaps she needs a purification ceremony to clear her name.”

“She’s making up for all this by crushing the Baby Magnum? She wants to shift all the blame to the Princess?” Quenser sounded disgusted. “And just like they wanted, we chose to stay on Experimental Battlefield Madagascar.”

“Well, the higher ups wanted an early withdrawal to bring back Skuld and all of her classified information. Now that we can’t do that, we’re back to the original plan: kill the enemy. When you think about it, it’s a simple order.”

“But…”

Quenser started to speak but trailed off.

Frolaytia nodded and continued for him.

“I understand. It all looks like we’re under Skuld’s control. Two world powers are working together to supply a hunting ground for a young girl’s hobby. It’s pathetic. In that way, maybe she is a genius. A serial killer who just kills people will be caught before long, but the truly dangerous ones understand society well enough to blend in despite their abnormality. She has the right instincts to mess with things beyond her reach and bring the current trends and public opinion to her side.”

“…”

Quenser heard her out, but he actually disagreed.

He doubted Skuld Silent-Third had thought any of this through.

Too much of this had been unpredictable: the battle with the Baby Magnum, the insect swarm, the Legitimacy Kingdom’s defeat in the second battle, the rescue operation, and her capture by Verdandi after trying to kill Quenser during that rescue operation. It had all been adlibbed and none of it could have been planned out.

She was simply snatching up the delicious-looking dessert she saw, as if she had happened across a food stand. She was not even worried about how much was left in her wallet.

And yet she had made it this far.

It was all so solid that it seemed to follow a single line throughout.

It was a blindfolded tightrope walk that could have met disaster at any moment. She was insane enough to continue laughing throughout. She had had no plan for success and she would have been thrown to the ground if she made even a slight misstep. That was all Skuld was doing.

If she was a genius, that was the important point.

She planned nothing, she only adlibbed, and she always made the choice that would lead to the most deaths in the moment.

That was all she had done, and yet she had thoroughly manipulated two world powers at once.

It was almost like some kind of goddess was embracing Skuld Silent-Third from behind.

But was that a goddess of fate, a goddess of victory, or a mysterious goddess of death?