HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 3

Status: Incomplete

2/15 parts completed

   

Chapter 3: Eyes of the Goddess Glowing Deep in the Darkness >> All-Out War in the New Caledonia District

Part 1

The theoretical idea had existed for a long time.

For example, an anti-ship missile fired from a submarine or guided missile destroyer would fly just a few meters off the ocean surface while travelling at speeds greater than Mach 5. It was created to slip past the Gatling guns and other close-in weapon systems, blow a hole in in the side of the enemy ship at the waterline, and ensure the ship flooded.

Just as mirages were used for fighters to escape anti-air lasers, those anti-ship missiles were the representative enemy the earliest Objects were designed to face.

If the missile was loaded with a small nuclear warhead, it was feared an Objects’ anti-air lasers and a satellite interceptor would be insufficient to protect a large city on the coast.

One suggestion put together as a countermeasure was to use mines or shells to produce tremendous pillars of water which would form a thick enough wall to knock the missile from the air. The liquid might seem soft to a normal person, but it became a tremendously solid wall to something flying at Mach 5. Striking the wall would tear the missile apart in midair.

Ultimately, getting the timing right proved extremely difficult and the idea was abandoned for a long time. Once improvements in parallel processing technology for anti-air laser targeting radars considerably raised the anti-ship missile interception rate, everyone forgot about it.

That unique technique was forgotten by the flow of time.

It should have ended there.

Should have.

“Agh, this is hopeless! There’s no way we can win!!”

A soaking wet Quenser flailed around while lying face up on a giant ship’s deck. The NTR girl named Mariage Nightcap was sitting nearby with her legs bent back to either side. Even if New Caledonia was in the southern hemisphere, they were still shivering from being soaking wet in the darkness of the night.

The pouring rain had stopped at some point, but that allowed them to focus more on the cold night air.

The Megalodiver was not there.

Once that New Model had retreated for some reason, Quenser and Mariage had been picked up by Legitimacy Kingdom hovercrafts. The innocent prisoners had also been collected from the containers they had been dumped into the ocean inside. All of them had then travelled back to the disguised cruiser known as the Scarlet Princess that Frolaytia was using as a flagship.

They had somehow escaped death, but it was not over yet.

They could not relax until they knew why the enemy had left (or rather, overlooked them) and the higher levels of the Legitimacy Kingdom military had decided to continue the attack, so they would be tossed in front of the Megalodiver again.

They had to find some way to defeat it during their short break.

“B-before even getting to the Tatami Shield, how does it detect things so accurately using only sound?”

“What?”

“Using sound to detect enemies is what submarines do, but that only works because sound propagates through water faster than air. Plenty of things can exceed the speed of sound in air and the Megalodiver needs to keep up with that supersonic world.”

“That thing isn’t evading after detecting the shells the other Object fires,” spat out Quenser while still lying on the deck. “It’s detecting the subtle noises of the targeting lenses and cannons moving and using that to predict where the shells will be fired. That’s how it can ignore the barrier created by the speed of sound.”

The situation would change if the enemy Object itself could exceed the speed of sound, but the Baby Magnum could not move that quickly.

“B-but! There are explosions everywhere! Both active sonar and directional microphones would be useless!”

“That’s the entire damn point! It can distinguish just the sound waves it wants out of the intense noise created from all those different waveforms colliding. I don’t know what kind of supercomputer it has installed to analyze that in an instant, but it’s definitely doing it! Crushing its ears would be difficult. We need to find a way to defeat it despite being detected, but I’m not sure anything like that exists! I’ve had enough of this!!”

A girl approached as Quenser began flailing around on the deck once more.

She was the Pilot Elite princess who wore a skintight special suit. The maintenance soldiers were working as quickly as possible to exchange the battered Baby Magnum’s parts, so the princess had nothing to do.

“Quenser, did you just say I’m weak?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Did your lack of screentime turn you yandere!?”

“You definitely said it. You said you have to do something about this because I’m weak. If you keep saying that, I won’t provide covering fire for you.”

“Hold up!! That’s a death sentence in the clean wars ruled by Objects!!”

Quenser frantically sat up, but an odd weight obstructed his movement. He looked over and found Mariage still had her arms wrapped around his neck and her ample chest pressed against him.

He had a feeling an ominous shimmering began to rise from behind the princess.

“And who is this Holstein in sheep’s clothing?” asked the princess.

“In the red corner, Mariaaaaaaaaaage Nightcaaaaaaaaaaap!! I distinctly remember there being a detailed explanation during the pre-mission briefing!!”

“I want to know why she’s clinging to you like cheese toast!!”

“I’d like to know the same thing! What are you doing!?”

“Eh…eh heh heh. I still don’t feel like I was rescued. I can’t relax unless I do this.”

Mariage was essentially saying, “I’m afraid of the Megalodiver attacking if we don’t hide my heartbeat. I know I’m worrying too much, but I want to overlap our heartbeats.” However, the aura behind the princess only grew more ominous.

“Ahh, this really calms me down.”

“Quenser, you can go fight a war with nothing but two lumps of fat.”

“Wait. Wait a sec, princess! This girl is the type who’s pulled around by others! She’s the NTR type!! I already fell victim to that in the Château de Rouge! I know letting her manipulate me is not a good idea!!”

“But you still tore me away from that mean jailer in the very, very end.”

“…”

“That was to find a weakness in the Megalodiver, you backstabbing slut!! And I was caught between the jailors’ full-auto shotguns and that Object. Of course I’m going to kick a dirty old man in the face to survive!!”

“My policy is to cling to the strongest-looking guy in reach.”

“Then go join the Megalodiver! We’ll blow you away along with it!!”

“…”

“Oh, c’mon. If I joined the Megalodiver, you’d complain but still come to rescue me.”

“Like hell I would! Not this time!! And after this is over, I’m definitely reporting to the higher ups that you betrayed me at the end there. I hope you’re prepared to be thrown in prison for some weird crime or another!!”

“Saying ‘after this is over’ makes your hesitation plain as day. I can tell I’m on the safest route here.”

“………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Excuse me.”

If words had heat, the words that leaked from the princess’s mouth might have looked like flickering flames of phosphorus.

“The problem lies in this unique harmony between you two. Who do you think actually put her life on the line to stop the Megalodiver?”

“W-w-w-w-w-wait, princess! Stop climbing on top of me and shaking me by the collar!! My brain’s gonna turn to butter!! Gbh! U-ugh. I can’t even enjoy the lovely sensation sitting on my stomach like this!!”

“Hey, this is no time to be horsing around,” cut in a new voice.

The voice belonged to Heivia who had dragged Quenser and Mariage onto the Scarlet Princess’s deck. He was looking to the port side of the disguised cruiser rather than at Quenser, Mariage, and the princess.

“This isn’t funny. Our armed cruise ship is coming up alongside us. There’s no way this is going to end well.”

“ ‘Our’? You mean the Winchell family?”

Quenser looked over while working to tear Mariage from him.

A new majestic silhouette had appeared on the ocean to replace the Megalodiver.

The giant ship was just as gorgeous as the (seemingly) perfect and luxurious Scarlet Princess.

“That’s the Summer Vacation.” Heivia did not sound happy. “That must mean they’re onboard.”

The two ships were only about five meters apart.

The Summer Vacation had a happy-sounding name and looked like a luxurious cruise ship, but it had gigantic cannons and the Gatling guns of a close-in weapon system attached here and there. Unlike the disguised cruiser, this ship made no intent to hide the weapons. There was no sign of compartments to store them.

The watertight door on the side deck opened and a horizontal row of its crew exited.

They all had one distinguishing feature.

“Why are they all maids?”

“I’d rather not say.”

“Why are you doing your best to not look me in the eye? Don’t tell me this is related to some kind of conflict in your noble family.”

While Heivia grew oddly withdrawn, their own watertight door opened and Frolaytia walked out onto the deck with several bodyguards.

All the maids bowed, but Frolaytia did not salute in return.

“Private soldiers of the Winchell family? What are civilian bodyguards doing here?”

The oldest (using height and bust size for reference) maid who wore an eyepatch replied. The maid uniform did not suit her.

(It can’t be! I thought only cruel, scarred sergeants were allowed to carry those!)

“Yes, major. While on a sightseeing cruise nearby, we happened to learn that your unit had been forced into a difficult battle. I apologize for acting without permission, but we decided to lend a hand.”

Heivia started trembling and his lips were as blue as when he had been thrown in the pool the other day.

“Y-you mean it was your doing that the Megalodiver retreated? But how!? You’ve gotta be joking. You didn’t pay a new Object to fight, did you!?”

The maid narrowed her one eye like a dagger, turned toward him as if looking at a dung beetle, and gave a low groan.

“Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu are so filled with delusions I’m amazed you’re still alive. Not even a noble can directly own an Object.”

“That tone!! No maid should be using that tone of voice!!”

Ignoring Heivia as he started crying, Frolaytia placed her long, narrow kiseru back in her mouth.

“I would like an explanation as well.”

“Of course, major.” The maid’s expression and tone instantly returned to normal. “The Object in question seemed to be frequently sending encrypted transmissions to a different unit, so we attacked them. That unit was likely used for supplies and maintenance. It would take a considerable amount of time just to prepare the inspection and maintenance of a fifty meter machine.”

Still soaking wet, Quenser looked up in realization.

“I get it. The Megalodiver was covered in lava by the submarine volcano and a few of its water intakes had to have been covered up. The Pilot Elite would have difficulty removing that lava alone, so he wants to get the maintenance done as soon as possible. That way they can revive the Megalodiver’s diving ability.”

The Megalodiver had decided to rescue the other unit despite lacking confirmation of Mariage Nightcap’s death.

They had spent three full days and used all the materials available to put together that makeshift maintenance base, so it was only natural for them to panic if it was attacked.

That had allowed Quenser and Mariage to escape the slaughter.

Heivia let out a sigh.

“Does that mean we can relax for now? With its supply line and maintenance cut off and its diving ability sealed, not even the Megalodiver can-…”

“Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu are…”

Before even hearing her out, Heivia covered his face with his hands and started sobbing.

Showing no concern whatsoever, the eyepatch maid continued speaking.

“Our bombardment and landing operation destroyed about 70% of that unit, but we were forced to leave once the Object drew near. They can most likely perform maintenance once it arrives, so we must attack before that work is complete.”

“I see.”

“Major, this may be presumptuous, but we can supply some related documents we acquired during the attack. The papers and photographs we gathered from their base would be useless in the hands of civilians such as us.”

“Were you worried about the Winchell family’s heir?”

“We have no business with that dung beetle. We were only fulfilling our duty as Legitimacy Kingdom citizens.”

The eyepatch maid verbally discarded him with a smile.

The noble boy had long since curled up on the deck, but Frolaytia simply breathed out a long stream of sweet-smelling smoke.

“I would like to thank you for your cooperation, but I cannot accept your offer to share intelligence. We deal in a lot of classified information and we cannot place any responsibility on the shoulders of civilians.”

“Why not view it as civilians supplying intelligence or confiscating documents from an unofficial operation? If the flow of information is in only one direction, you need not worry about classified information leaking to civilians.”

“That would be improper treatment of those who saved us.”

Frolaytia grinned and the eyepatch maid gave a thin smile of her own.

The silver-haired, huge-breasted major pointed to Quenser with her long, narrow kiseru.

“Quenser and…Mariage Nightcap was it? You two board their ship as civilians. A conversation between civilians is no business of a soldier like me.”

The way the two of them were treated as a pair produced a noise of anger from the princess, but that was none of Frolaytia’s concern.

(Oh, no. The princess is looking angry! She must be starving for entertainment and she must think this cruise ship is like a theme park!)

Quenser seemed to be perceptive yet was actually misreading the situation entirely, but he spoke up all the same.

“Heh…eh heh heh. I have an idea, Frolaytia. How about we let the princess join us on the- hot! O-ow! You just jabbed me with the end of the kiseru, didn’t you!?”

“Are you stupid? The Pilot Elite has her conditioning and all the tuning and tests needed for the Baby Magnum as its parts are replaced. Where in that does she have time to go play? Well?”

“Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot☆”

As Quenser writhed around at the hands of his huge-breasted commander, the princess remained perfectly expressionless with sparkling angry sound effects surrounding her head like the VFX of an Information Alliance idol.

Next, Frolaytia pointed the kiseru toward Heivia.

“Heivia, you go visit home. I’m giving you leave, so head over to the Winchell family’s armed cruise ship.”

“No!! I don’t want to be thrown to that army of cruel tutors!!!!”

Despite Heivia’s shrill protests, the line of maids simply turned cold looks toward him.

Having received his orders, Quenser stood up from the deck while still soaking wet.

“So what’s with those maids anyway?”

“I’ll explain later, so please keep quiet.”

Part 2

Quenser, Mariage, and Heivia transferred from the Legitimacy Kingdom’s disguised cruiser “Scarlet Princess” to the Winchell family’s armed cruise ship “Summer Vacation”.

They moved from ship to ship using an unreliable makeshift bridge created by leaning a ladder on its side. The pitch black sea visible below needlessly filled them with fear.

Quenser scratched at his wet blond hair.

“Hi, I’m Quenser Barbotage.”

“I-I’m Mariage Nightcap.”

The eyepatch maid gave a frightening first impression, but she replied softly and with a smile.

“Welcome, you two. I am Karen I Winchell. Please feel at home during your short visit.”

Once she saw Heivia behind them, she blatantly clicked her tongue and spit over the handrail.

“Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu need to learn to introduce yourself without being asked.”

“I have to introduce myself!? As you well know, I’m your master, the great Heivia Winchell!!”

“Huh?” Mariage tilted her head. “That maid and the soldier are both named Winchell?”

Once she mentioned it, Quenser realized it was odd for a member of a noble family to be wearing a maid uniform.

But Heivia shrugged.

“My family has a custom of granting the name of Winchell to servants or cooks who give especially exemplary service. They’re adopted into the family, but adopted family has no legal rights in the Legitimacy Kingdom where bloodline is everything. They can’t inherit the family, so it’s nothing more than a title or a badge of honor. Speaking of which, the I of her middle name stands for Imitation.”

Karen I Winchell ignored the dung beetle and gave a splendid smile.

“The Winchell family has a custom of granting its name to servants who provide especially exemplary service. They are adopted into the family, but they have no legal rights in the Legitimacy Kingdom where bloodline is everything. I am well aware of my position as a maid. Oh, by the way, the I of my middle name stands for Imitation.”

“I just explained all that!! What is wrong with you!? Do you have a filter in place that keeps you from hearing what I say!?”

“The Summer Vacation is one of the Winchell family’s seven armed cruise ships. It is similar to that disguised cruiser, but the two ships deal with pirates differently: the cruiser is a military ship made to look like a cruise ship while this is a cruise ship with the weapons of a military ship added on. Rather than lure in enemies, we intimidate them into staying away.”

“Now you’re ignoring my protests!?” shouted Heivia.

The topic seemed to appeal to Quenser’s mechanical heart because his eyes began sparkling.

“That’s a huge gun over there, but how many centimeters is it?”

“It is 50cm. The Island Nation warships had 46cm guns, so this might be on the upper end of what is installed on ships. It is a far ways off from an Object’s weapons, of course.”

“It’s so huge that it all looks top heavy. How do you manage damage control?”

“This is a cruise ship, so a high center of gravity is unavoidable. However, the ship has a unique float structure, so it is sturdier than your average heavy cruiser.”

“M-more specifically! How does that technology work!? Pant pant!!”

“The entire outer shell is covered with small, honeycomb-like air tanks. In addition to acting as a simple float, it also reduces the effectiveness of chemical warheads that make use of the Munroe effect or metal jets.”

“Defense using air!? D-damn. So it’s made sturdy by faithfully following the standard of floating the ship with air. This has advanced in a different direction from the Objects that hold everything back with thick armor!! B-but wait. If I could overturn the idea that the two can’t work together, it might lead to a new Object design.”

Karen I Winchell tilted her head slightly and Mariage Nightcap had long since backed away.

“Um, excuse me, Mr. Barbatoge. Are you what is known as a geek?”

“N-no!! I may be interested in high-level technology, but it’s only because I want to become a dashing and productive member of society!! Y’know, the kind of person who the beautiful young lady in the neighborhood asks to hook up her recording equipment!!”

“Understood. So you are a geek who is not aware he is a geek.”

It seemed the maid had reached a strange conclusion.

As Quenser began protesting that she did not understand at all, a dark smile appeared on Heivia’s lips. The look in his eyes was telling Quenser to join him on the receiving end of the abuse.

Quenser knew being dragged down by that loser would not end well, so he began an attack in a more positive direction.

“Can nobles really own something like this? I’m not just referring to the weapons. It must take over one hundred specialists to run something like this.”

“We are nothing more than civilian maids trained in self-defense techniques. We may have acquired a few special international qualifications, but anyone could attempt to do the same.”

Heivia gave a piercing comment to throw cold water on Karen’s perfect smile.

“Don’t act like you’re not a monster of a woman who can kill a bear or a tiger barehanded.”

“What was that?”

Karen glared at him and he let out a shriek much like a tea kettle that had reached a boil.

Frolaytia gave a comment of her own over the radio.

“Not every noble owns an armed cruise ship. It costs 200,000 euros to run one of those for a full day. Taking a seven or eight day cruise around the world costs as much as a brand new stealth fighter. Unless you’re talking about the Winchell family, the Vanderbilt family, or another top-level noble family, they wouldn’t be able to keep a ship like that running even if they could purchase it.”

“And the Winchell family has seven of them? Huh? But why are maids riding around on something that eats up money like that?”

“It was originally a birthday present for some little sister or another, but she grew sick of it and now they ride around on it. If you don’t use machines periodically, they’ll break down, so the family turns a blind eye.”

“Uheh,” groaned Mariage.

However, Quenser latched onto something else entirely.

“Wait. Wait just a minute, Heivia. Did I hear that right? You have a little sister. And not just one! You have enough that you can’t keep track of them all? And on top of that, you have a beautiful maid as an adoptive older sister?”

Seeing his horrible friend nod, Quenser brought his radio to his mouth.

“Death to the bourgeois!! All who agree, raise your hand!!”

A thundering roar of voices reached them from the neighboring ship. Despite being past midnight, the lonely soldiers were full of energy. They likely had pent up energy after having nothing to do.

“The reality is nothing like what it sounds like!!” lamented Heivia.

“What!? Is this that theory about families with a real little sister having no dreams whatsoever!? I won’t allow it!! This is a crime of luxury!! What era of nobles are you from, dammit!?”

“I’m a real noble from this era!! Got a problem with that!?”

The two idiots began grappling, but Karen I Winchell intervened. Specifically, she sent a full-swing slap…no, strike with the butt of the palm into the noble’s cheek and sent him spinning through the air for several meters.

“Bbgh!! Bhbbh!!”

“Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu need to stop crying like a pig. Have you forgotten how to be polite in front of guests?”

All the blood drained from Quenser’s face as well.

“J-just the head? Y-you sent him several meters with a hit to the head? Just the head???”

“Do not worry. A strike from a slipper is not enough to kill a dung beetle.”

Mariage tugged on Quenser’s uniform with tears in her eyes. The look in those eyes said a further attack would kill Heivia if they did not change the subject.

“A-anyway! Miss Karen, I can think of you as part of the invincible maid unit that protects the Winchell family, right!?”

For some reason, the tall cool beauty’s face grew a bit flushed and she fidgeted while averting her gaze.

“I-I do not like that title. It is embarrassing.”

(Oh, this is working.)

Quenser decided to press on like this.

“Um, then what’s your actual title? Noble Maid probably applies to about a hundred maids on this ship.”

“I would fall into the Milk Maid category.”

“What kind of sexual title is that!!!???”

“Where are you looking and what are you imagining!?”

Karen’s entire face grew as red as a tomato and she covered her chest with her hands.

(I’m definitely on the right track!!)

Quenser gestured to his horrible friend, but Heivia did not see it as he lay limply on the deck.

Mariage tugged on Quenser’s clothes and whispered to him.

“U-um, isn’t a milk maid a maid on a rural farm that milks cows and makes butter?”

“N-not in this case, honey.” Heivia finally rose unsteadily to his feet. “She’s a legit combat type that directly controls the security of detached Winchell land such as manors or plantations.

Don’t think for a second that she’s some naïve maid who milks cows.”

Karen loudly clicked her tongue and Heivia grew desperate.

“There’s a custom of sending noble heirs to an area with clean water and air as soon as they’re born. That meant she was in charge of breastfeeding me, but you wouldn’t believe how that turned out!! The policy is meant to protect the heir from pollution and allergies, but the next thing I knew, that eyepatch maid kept trying to kill me!!”

“That was a part of your advanced education.”

“You mean that nonsense about a noble needing to be prepared for attempted poisonings or other assassinations!? You can imagine the disasters that led to!”

Quenser was on the verge of giving a groan of sympathy, but then…

“I also prepared you for the seductive techniques of female spies and marriage scam artists, dung beetle.”

“I’m going to encase you in concrete and throw you into the ocean! Get over here!!!”

“She wouldn’t have gone through with it!” shouted Heivia. “I knew it was a trap and she threatened to chop it off if I gave in!!”

Despite his protests, Quenser began beating him with clenched fists. He used the extra strength one gained in a crisis to do quite a bit of damage despite their usual division of roles.

Meanwhile, Karen I Winchell smiled.

“If you are finished preparing to execute that toilet beetle, how about we get down to business? Thanks to our attack on the Megalodiver’s supply and maintenance unit, we have information on that Island Nation Object. The documents are stored inside the ship, so please come this way.”