Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume4 Chapter3 (section)

===The Story of a Certain Summoner and Vessel 02===

Who would have thought that a beautiful peninsula known as the Green Spearhead had stuck out into ocean there just a month earlier?

There had been a mangrove teeming with life and a coral reef out in the ocean. The surrounding islands had envied the ample aquatic resources. The mountains back on the land were mostly undeveloped, so it was effectively an isolated holy ground. It may have been slow to develop technologically, but that spearhead was so blessed it did not need that technology. Water filters and chemical processing were unnecessary. One could quench their thirst just by scooping up the water in the natural springs. That was the world that should have been there.

But there was no sign of it any longer.

The surface was covered by the color white. Pure white. It was truly monochrome. The sunlight was eerily reflected and it obscured the view like a blizzard, but it was not snow or ice.

It was sugar.

It welled up at one’s feet. It filled the forest, clogged up the streams, and spread past the beach and into a portion of the ocean. The smooth white sugar covered the ground so thoroughly there was nowhere else to stand. In some places, it had absorbed the moisture and baked in the sunlight to form a caramel film just like the surface of a pudding cooked in the oven.

The scene seriously looked like it would fatally raise one’s blood sugar just by breathing in the air.

A man in a military uniform covered his mouth with a handkerchief to make sure he did not breathe in the blizzard. This went beyond his mouth and nose. He even felt a strange pain in his eyes.

As he quickly escaped indoors, he was greeted by an oddly cheerful voice.

“Hey, Max! They self-destructed for us!”

A large corporation that acted as one of Government’s many branches had sent in this suit-wearing man as a local supervisor. He clapped his hands in delight.

How many times had Max been deployed now?

From the Antarctic to Toy Dream something-or-other, he had worked all over the globe for the convenience of the higher ups, but this one was somehow different.

Max Layard was in charge of protecting the corporation and managing the transportation of supplies, but he could not stand the view inside the synthetic tent base, so he ran out.

He saw horrifying things wherever he looked.

There was no hint of the complex ecosystem that had existed before. Sugar was of course a necessary nutrient, but it was only harmful in too great a quantity. Large mammals were collapsed all over the pure white land, lots of fish floated to the surface in the sludgy streams, and even the tropical forest was already turning brown. The massive quantities of sugar were killing the animals, robbing the corpses of their moisture, and then rotting away itself.

On the coast, something like a large castle was escaping out to sea to avoid the highly sticky and thus high-resistance sugar.

It looked like an 800 meter black coffin or giant squid made of Repliglass.

(A mobile fortress. Are they really going to stick to a wait-and-see policy with their secret weapon Pandemonium too!?)

The sugary hell had swallowed up everything.

Humans were no different.

Max covered his mouth with a handkerchief so he would not breathe in the sugar blowing through the air like a blizzard and he finally spotted the person he was looking for.

The cause of it all was collapsed in a pile of sugar.

“Why did you do this?”

He had been a wise person. That strange old man had spoken with the wind and the waves and seen the meaning in the shapes of the clouds. There was no meteorological grounding to any of it, but his predictions of sudden tornadoes and storms had saved them a lot. Max had been deployed to join the other troops in this land quite recently, but even in that short time, that sage man had showed many more possibilities to an assassin who had only thought of the Summoning Ceremony as a military tool and weapon.

He had gently narrowed his eyes as the children played.

He had celebrated when the young got wed and got drunker than anyone else at the wedding despite his old age.

So…

“You had to have known you couldn’t win, old man!!”

It must have absorbed the moisture and baked solid in the sunlight. The sea of sugar had hardened like caramel, so Max had to work to drag out the old man who was half buried in it. His skin and his throat had clearly lost a lot of moisture and he apparently could not get up under his own power.

“I wanted to protect it all…”

A cracked and fragile voice answered Max.

The old man’s eyes wandered and finally moved from Max to the distant scenery.

“I just wanted to protect it all.”

Gray structures cut across the mangrove and coral sea. That facility had been built for the large corporation from Government. The troops had been deployed to protect this area which had no technological means of fighting the rising sea level caused by global warming. They were to prevent the approaching sea from flooding the land with a giant seawall. It was a large project, but the work was simple. That meant the government and civilians colluded together and some foundation or other worked with some corporation or other to take as much government money as they could. However, the work had messed with the tides and a lot of damage had been done to the fishing grounds, the coral, and the mangrove. The Green Spearhead’s traditional lifestyle had come to an end and they would clearly be reliant on international online stores for all of their supplies.

The old man and the rest of the village elders had not wanted to attack Government and drive them away.

They had been fighting something much larger.

They had been fighting the entire planet or the flow of time known as global warming.

Just like most of the Pacific, this coastline spoke of a famous sea dragon with an 8-letter name that began with T. That Divine-class was related to the creation myth of the vast ocean and the legends claimed it had created the land and the islands. The old men were not insolent enough to ask for a new world. They simply prayed to their god and asked for the Green Spearhead to be lifted up just a few dozen centimeters so they would not need the seawall or a new world.

That was all.

And yet…

“The Blood-Sign method is full of safety measures. Did you not know what you would find if you took even a step outside that? Of course you did.”

Max clenched his teeth while holding a body that looked like a dried twig.

The god’s power to bring “blessings” had been activated in error. It was the same as how too much happiness corrupted the human soul. That was the identity of this sugar-filled hell.

“You can’t make that kind of mistake just because you’re feeling trapped, you idiot!! They’re divided into the Regulation, Divine, and Unexplored-classes, but the Divine-classes really are gods. Humans can’t hope to do anything at that level!! You had to have known that! Your people had been worshiping those spirits and gods all this time, so you had to know better than anyone how helpful yet fearsome they are!!”

“I was not fighting because I thought I would win…”

The old man’s expression did not change.

No, he lacked the moisture to change it. He could not shed a tear or even move his face as he saw the unrecognizable state of his home.

“…I was fighting because I could not afford to lose.”

Max had not known.

He had not been born into wealth or poverty, but he had never once been left wanting. He had had food to eat, a place to sleep, a chance to learn, a chance to play, friends, and lovers. The rails had been laid out before him like normal and he had even found those normal things to be boring. Even when he had heard about the hidden side of the world from his uncle in the military and then actually taken a step into the world of the Summoning Ceremony, it had been more about breaking free of the boredom than about reverence. And he had found life there was not all that different.

He had become Government Award 501, Perfect Game.

Even there, he had gone by the name of an expert in the losing battles no one else wanted to deal with because he figured the competition would be relatively light when it came to preparing for withdrawals. He would take those unwinnable battles and turn them into a victory. The individuals would come to a compromise somewhere and he would find a way to lift up the entire unit. Even if they were deep in the red strategically, he would put them in the black locally to hide it in the paperwork. All’s well that ends well. Everyone wanted to get home as soon as possible. Their families and lovers were waiting for them. It was all done to help others. He had come this far with that outlook. He was not going to die on the battlefield. He would find a battle he could win or set one up that way. Quite a few vessels had gotten fed up with his self-indulgent pace and left, but he had not felt enough motivation to chase after them. After all, he had not known if he could get them to stay. That meant it was not a challenge he knew he could win. That was how he had viewed life.

And so he had not known.

Just like half of the world was like “this”, the other half was like “that”.

Just like there were those who could win like it was normal, there were those who would lose like it was normal.

“…Wait for me, old man.”

The next thing he knew, Max was shouting in the old man’s ear.

“You can’t afford to lose, right!? Then don’t you close your eyes until I get back. It isn’t over for you yet. You haven’t accomplished anything yet!!”

The situation was worse than he thought. At this rate, he could not even treat the old man. Max checked over the damage to the village, counted the number of people needing assistance, calculated a rough estimate of the type and quantity of supplies they would need, and then returned to the Government tent base. Everything he needed would be there.

He could already picture the next stage beginning.

The sugar could do more than take lives. It was a great source of nutrients. Would it begin to rot, draw in a sandstorm-like swarm of flies and roaches, and spread disease? Or would the fermentation of the microbes transform it into alcohol, creating a white world where not even the insects could multiply? Would that burn, would the fermentation process rob the area of its oxygen, or would it produce toxic gases? Or would the mountain of sugar become a great landslide once it began to rain? Several different simulations ran through his head, but all of them only made the situation worse. And that alone was correct.

Once he returned to the tent base, he found the idiots were already partying with mugs of beer in hand.

“We did it, Max! If they recognize you for your role here, then you’re going places too! This is the end of our life as Repliglass soldiers without vessels. We’re sure to get new vessels now! From what I heard, a charter plane should be arriving soon for the pre-celebration. So straighten your collar and comb your hair! We’re gonna be fighting over those vessels. You did a hell of a lot more than anyone else, so you need to argue your case!”

“What…what are you talking about!? Have you not seen the disaster outside!?”

“That’s just a weird little natural disaster. Who can be blamed for that? And the truth isn’t going to get out. They don’t have smartphones or even optical landlines here, so they won’t be sending out a single 140 character comment,” said the suit-wearing supervisor while chugging his beer. “More importantly, we were never looking to bring happiness to the Spearhead. The locals don’t matter. This was ‘philanthropy’ work. All that matters is that we fulfill the ad agency’s quota and bring a tear to the eyes of the housewives in their living rooms back home.”

He thought his back teeth would break.

They had selfishly stormed in, dammed up the sea without explaining the risks, and made a mess of the traditional life there. Did they not understand who it was that had put the people here in such dire straits? And this had all started with global warming, which could hardly be blamed on the Green Spearhead which did not even use electricity. The area had been contaminated, intruded upon, and remade without permission. Could this really be called a good deed or philanthropy? Was this what Government should be doing? On what basis could they take pride in their work?

But Max was wrong.

It went beyond even that.

“Max, humanitarian aid is a new form of war.”

He heard something unbelievable.

“There are areas our alliances don’t allow us to interfere with, but we can still build bases there in the name of providing aid. And material transportation bases are especially nice. Harbors and airports allow us to expand our effective sphere of control to the west and east and into the northern and southern hemispheres. They’re all one thrown switch away from becoming naval bases and air bases. When it’s about disaster relief, we’re at the mercy of the fickle god in heaven, but global warming is a great excuse! Rising oceans and growing deserts. If we choose the locations properly, we can easily move our chess pieces forward!! If we keep this up, we’ll be building bases like crazy and the entire globe will be covered by our flag!!”

“What…?”

“According to the military analysts in the White House, this area of sea is going to be real busy pretty soon. The higher ups decided to build several frontline bases in advance to surround a wide area of sea. So! That’s why I’m saying you’ve earned enough points to get a standing ovation from Congress. Max! Let me say it again: it’s all thanks to you. Great work!!”

He had not known that.

He had never heard anything about that.

He had simply accepted the ridiculous claim that they were deploying troops for a righteous cause, but he had still believed it would help people. He had believed it would create, protect, and spread smiles. He had believed philanthropy and humanitarian aid would allow him to avoid aiming a gun or a Blood-Sign at anyone. He had believed that was what the flags were for, what Government was here for, and why all of those goddamn soldiers had been deployed. But what was this guy saying? They had always intended to storm into the Green Spearhead, remake the foundation of life there, and build a military port or airport while registering it as a civilian facility? How was that philanthropy? What about that was aiding anyone? This was nothing more than an indirect invasion!

“But man were those old guys stupid.”

The red-faced supervisor’s lips may have been loosened by the beer because he spat out a finishing blow.

“''Or maybe I should be praising the Company’s forgery skills. They wanted to make sure it would fool a spectrum analysis, so they actually dug up some BCE era rock to fake that wall painting.''”

A terribly thin thread was drawn tight deep inside his mind.

“Max!! The ‘package’ you had them safely carry in made all the difference! It would’ve been an international incident if we had pulled the trigger, but no one can blame us if they wiped themselves out. This Spearhead is ours now. I really hated the jungle humidity, so I feel like levelling all those trees and springs to turn it all into a year-round indoor ski resort. The Green Spearhead? Hah! Am I supposed to believe it’s an emerald? A blade is useless if it isn’t made of polished steel.”

It broke.

It snapped and burned through.

“But we’ll get paid a tip at the very end, so that’s fine! With all these collapsed people, we get the added bonus of the medical aid. And the double-whammy of a mystical secret leading into disaster is sure to get us a ton of donations from bored housewives and from IT startups that want to stand out. Not that we’re actually going to save them. If they suffer and suffer and suffer some more, we can drag out how long those commercials bring in the money.”

…

———

“And don’t forget that sea dragon! We’ll need something even greater to calm that Divine-class. That means an Unexplored-class. And right now we can do whatever we want on this Spearhead as long as we claim it’s for humanitarian aid and disaster recovery!! The group breaking in Pandemonium is probably itching to get started. And since we’re already planning for a lot of losses, we can easily work in that kind of powerful project. Ah ha ha ha ha!!”

A loud sound burst out.

A Blood-Sign made of ski material gave a roar as it was held upside-down. It took Max a moment to realize the close-range blunt weapon disguised as a stabilizer had smashed the foolish man in the face.

He did not regret his action.

The supervisor was knocked from the table and all of the bastards trying to enjoy the party turned around at once.

The collapsed man in a suit held his broken cheek and gave an unintelligible shout.

He likely meant “Who do you think you are?”, so Max Layard immediately answered.

“Go to hell where you belong, you demons. I am Government!!!!!”

That sounded cool enough, but it was no use.

He was punched and kicked from every direction. Some idiot went too far and drew a handgun, so a scorching heat pierced Max’s side. That was when they all came back to their senses, said something about the alcohol getting to them, and dumped Max behind the tent base. The great disaster had left their unit with a fair number of rotting corpses as well, so they must have thought he would not stand out much. People were hesitant to freeze an honorable soldier and ship them like blocks of meat, so if they respectfully wrapped the body in the national flag and called it a burial at sea, he would be shark food. There would be no chance of an autopsy.

He could see an unhealthily clear blue sky up above the sugar-covered ground.

And then someone’s face appeared in Max’s fading vision. A brown girl of only about 12 was peering down at him. Her clothes looked like a combination of a Western European witch and a Native American, but who was she?

“What a pain. Even a warrior with a raging bull and chicken totem would show more caution. You should have known this would happen before it even began.” The glasses girl sounded exasperated. “A summoner is meant to summon. Why did you even think of fighting without a vessel?”

“…”

He doubted she was from the village.

Her clothing had native symbolism, but it did not seem to be that of a coastal people. And it was because she belonged to neither side that his honest thoughts slipped out.

“Don’t be stupid. I wasn’t fighting because I thought I would win. I was fighting because I couldn’t afford to lose, Miss Eagle.”

“Hmph.” The impertinent girl crossed her arms and breathed from her nose. “What is your Award number?”

“Government 501.”

The chocolate-colored witch with swimsuit-shaped tan lines laughed fiercely.

“I see. That barely passes. I don’t know if that means you have a weird sort of luck or if I’m just too nice.”

“…?”

Max was confused, so the girl continued.

“You’ve lost a shocking amount of blood, so dip your finger in it and stick it in my mouth.”

“What…?”

“I’m telling you to bind the contract. You have a Blood-Sign, but how’s your stock of Incense Grenades? If you don’t have any, I can make some for you.”

She spoke of a nearly superhuman feat as if it were child’s play.

“Once the protective circle is set up, the summoner is distanced from any internal or external causes of death until the battle ends. As far as I can tell, the bullet isn’t lodged in your body and your organs and major blood vessels are fine. And luckily, there are plenty of spectacular idiots here, so a Chain will be simple to keep going. If you buy some time and stop the bleeding between battles, you still have a chance of survival, don’t you think? And more importantly,” whispered the witch. “Don’t you have a battle you can’t afford to lose, summoner? Then get started right this instant.”

With new power…no, with the power he should have already had, a summoner stood up while carrying something he could never compromise on. There were two things he had to do: get that piece of shit corporation out of here and calm the Divine-class that continued its rampage here. He could ignore Pandemonium for the time being. Once things had recovered, they would decide the area was no use as an experimental ground and leave on their own.

This time, he would protect that old man, everyone in the village, and the Green Spearhead as a whole.

“Now that the contract has been bound, I will temporarily seal away the name Amplifier 500. As the vessel, I will leave you in charge. What should we call ourselves, summoner?”

“My name is Max Layard. As for the two of us together…”

The world police. Government.

He answered while looking to the role those drunk idiots had entirely forgotten.

“You can call us Government Award 501, Perfect Game.”

And “they” began their first battle.