Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume11 Chapter 1

In the middle of the desert, both the Baby Magnum and the Antlion were badly damaged.

The two Objects glared at each other even as portions of their armor were melting like ice cream.

The Princess had been listening to her allies over the radio, so she had a general understanding of the situation.

It was a bit of a violation of military regulations, but she spoke over an open bandwidth.

“I won this.”

“Like hell you did. I was twelve moves away from an absolute victory.”

“If I had fired my low-stability plasma cannon at the sand to turn the entire surface to glass, I could have negated your quicksand tactics.”

“Did you know I was taking advantage of your static electricity repellant that had soaked into the sand? If I sent the quicksand in to stir up the sand below you, your Object would have come to a complete stop for five whole seconds. I could have fired my main cannon twice in that time.”

“…”

“…”

A short silence followed, but the Princess finally raised her hands and responded.

“Sorry about all the trouble. (Bow)”

“That’s more like it. Your Legitimacy Kingdom started this drug war by sending Colorful Vanilla into the Capitalist Corporations. I’m not about to let that Home Treatment Proposal happen. If you don’t investigate this and deal with it, it’ll be a real war next time.”

After finally receiving a report from the battlefield by radio, Frolaytia let out a quiet sigh.

She left the command room, walked down the hall, and left the large vehicle. She lit her long, narrow kiseru with a match and her eyes met those of Black Uniform Special Platoon 15’s Lieutenant Meena Stinger.

“Hello, lieutenant. I could never say this in front of them, but it’s nice when they understand what I would want without being told. I have some excellent subordinates.”

“What are you-…?”

“On the other hand, ''your'' foolish subordinates failed. We safely retrieved the containers. My men have even suggested a way to use the ergot-infested wheat inside. It seems the ergot fungus can be identified from its genes, so a lab can confirm the infected wheat was grown inside the container and not infected from the oasis after the crash. …So it was Colorful Vanilla, was it? I’ve heard rumors that it’s reached nearly a third of their home country’s population. If the Capitalist Corporations leaders had passed that Home Treatment Proposal, it very well might have been a victory for the history books. Although it would have been there as a blot on the Legitimacy Kingdom’s honor.”

“…”

“Oh, and don’t bother confiscating it after rewriting the report to say the 37th was creating the Colorful Vanilla. We may have traveled around the globe for our various mission, but a test on the ergot fungus will tell us all where it came from. If it isn’t anywhere the 37th has been, we can easily clear up all suspicion.”

“…”

“And, lieutenant, I’m sure the Special 15th has traveled around the globe as well, but I hope that wouldn’t happen to match the origin of that ergot fungus. If it did, you could be in trouble. You’d be bringing unneeded suspicion onto yourself.”

“………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

The next thing Frolaytia knew, Meena Stinger’s face was covered in sweat. She was trembling and unable to move. Her previous confidence had vanished and she could no longer smile as she verbally sparred with the other woman.

“You understand nothing…”

“That’s just like asking ‘did you know’. There’s no way I’ll understand if that’s all you say. And do I really need to understand this? I’m quite busy, you see. Although I doubt it will be anywhere near as busy as you with the inevitable military investigation, court martial, press conference, and tearful parents.”

“Didn’t I tell you, major? The Special 15th specializes in the drug war. This is not a one-way fight. Just because one side puts down their gun does not mean the other side will. They will simply pull the trigger on you. If the Special 15 withdraws from the drug war, the product circulating the world like blood will not just vanish.”

Meena was breathing and sweating heavily.

She may have been arguing her case to an angel only she could see.

“Colorful Vanilla is the lysergic acid psychedelic that has worked its way into a third of the Capitalist Corporations’ home country’s population. The number of addicts has grown so rapidly that the hospitals and prisons can’t keep up. If the Home Treatment Proposal being discussed by 7th Core is enacted, it will be effectively legalized and pull the trigger on an international moral hazard. …But that isn’t all.”

“…”

“Narcotics, stimulants, psychotropics, organic paint, and plant and animal toxins. Major, do you know just how many products are circulating this world? We have 405 varieties registered in our database alone and that number grows more than tenfold if you include the variations from designer drugs and selectively bred herbs. Just like cyber warfare, if we do not constantly update our database to deal with the viruses changing and evolving on a daily basis, we will be the next ones under attack.”

“But has a security company ever created a virus themselves and spread it to their customers? Oh, and spare me the ridiculous urban legends about spreading viruses to increase their sales.”

“Don’t joke. Lose control and the distortions of the world would rush to the Legitimacy Kingdom. What you have done is the same as shutting down the firewall protecting the country. You have saved the Capitalist Corporations and Information Alliance while infecting the Legitimacy Kingdom women and children.”

“Oh, now we’re going the ever-popular ‘women and children’ route, are we? The military and the government love using that one when they’re in a bind. And when that doesn’t work, you’ll probably start placing the sick and the elderly on the chopping block. But I’m sorry to say the faucet to my tear glands seems to be made a bit tighter than average. If you want to bring me to tears, you’re going to need a great masterpiece on the level of Shakespeare.”

“The drug war is just one gear in the giant contraption known as the military. Major Capistrano, you insist it is some distant gear, but you cannot ignore it when the music box connected to it begins playing. For one thing, the funds we have raised do not enter our own pockets. The destination has been obfuscated via a series of bank accounts, but it all leads back to-…”

She was unable to complete her complaint.

The next action came from an entirely different direction.

Meena Stinger’s head blurred to the side as if she had been hit by an invisible hammer.

A flower of blood blossomed.

A few small drops reached the busty silver-haired commander’s cheek.

Before wiping it off, her body moved on reflex.

Before the Black Uniform could completely fall to the hot sand like a broken doll, Frolaytia hid behind the giant vehicle. She held her breath behind a tire taller than she was.

(A sniper? But where!?)

The maintenance base zone seemed built to move anywhere in the world using the large vehicles, but they actually paid careful attention to where they positioned the more than one hundred vehicles. The area around the command room in particular had a large number of vehicles around it to supposedly cut off any line of fire.

Except…

(It’s a lot like threading a needle…but there is a path.)

She gulped.

(But they would have to be 1500 meters away. How skilled a sniper would you need to take wind and gravity into account, slip through the slight gap between vehicles, and accurately hit the lieutenant’s head at that range!?)

On his way back with Heivia and the others, something seemed strange to Quenser.

That girl in the blue dress.

Azureyfear Winchell.

The Blue Rose of Winchell.

She had saved him, but now that he thought about it, it was odd.

He was willing to set aside how she had shown up on the front line with the Capitalist Corporations. Something else bothered him even more.

How had she known who the target was?

Everyone at that crash site had been wearing the Legitimacy Kingdom uniform. Azureyfear had not known the situation, so they should have all looked like allies. Quenser had only realized who the true enemy was after checking the inside of the container, concluding the Legitimacy Kingdom was trying to erase the evidence they were involved in a drug war, and seeing who went for the containers growing the ergots used to make Colorful Vanilla.

However, the Blue Rose had made the judgment immediately.

She had omitted all that work and instantly caught up to Quenser’s understanding.

And without him telling her anything.

(No…)

“I guess that isn’t possible.”

“Hm? What is it, Quenser?”

“Nothing.”

“By the way, you did a hell of a job back there. Even if it was at short- to mid-range, you shot all eight of them in a row. See, you can do it if you try! Then again, the credit really goes to me for handing you those Legitimacy Kingdom accessories when it really mattered! Hah hah hah!!”

“Ha ha ha…”

The boy laughed weakly at what his awful friend said.

That was not possible.

It could not have been that.

On a dry sand dune, a pale girl with blue eyes and a blue dress removed an anti-materiel rifle from her eye.

The hunter whispered to herself with a thin, thin smile on her lips.

“Even a wild rabbit would struggle to live more than this. How boring.”