Leviathan:Volume 5 Chapter 1
Chapter 1 - Inheritance Game
Part 1
It was the latter part of July with summer holidays just started.
Haruga Haruomi and several witches had visited Izu together on an impromptu expedition.
However, travels in July did not end there. A few days after returning to Tokyo New Town, the team was off on another journey. Not only that, the destination this time was not even within the country—
"...I've been seeing the sea a lot lately."
With a clear blue sky overhead, visibility seemed to stretch far above as though one could see all the way into space.
Naturally, they were surrounded by sea in all directions, because Hal and company were traveling on a JMSDF escort vessel, observing a military exercise from the deck.
Although Japan's climate was quite hot, this place was on a different level.
The sunlight shining from above was so bright that it was almost like violence. The temperature on the deck also kept rising. Hal's hair was hot from the sun. Parts of skin not covered by his t-shirt also felt scorched like being burned by fire.
After all, these territorial waters of the Solomon Islands were near the equator in the southern hemisphere.
"By the way, Luna, to what kind of TPO (time, place, occasion) do you owe your current attire?"
"What a way to put things, Harry. Kettle, please meet pot."
Faced with Hal, who was wearing a t-shirt, half pants and sandals, Luna replied with an unimpressed expression. As for the blonde witch herself, she was wearing a new swimsuit that she had bought prior to setting off from Japan.
"Don't worry. I am pairing it properly with military style."
On the previous expedition, Luna Francois had dressed in black as her usual motif.
But this time, her choice was camo print paired with a khaki pareo around her waist. That said, this was an escort vessel's deck yet unbelievably, she even had a flower wreath on her head.
Staring at Luna Francois' gorgeous appearance, Hal could not help but retort, "But I think you have to pick navy style instead of army style in this situation. Like a sailor uniform or something."
"Despite saying that, Harry, you're showing quite a burning gaze."
"......"
This could not be helped.
After all, she was bending forward while dressed in a bikini, approaching him as though to display her chest to him, emphasizing her upper body in a seductive cougar pose...
Despite his closeted traits, Haruga Haruomi was still a gentleman. Hence, he took exceptional care to avoid speaking his mind.
Nervously, he ordered himself to hurry and shift his gaze away. However, Luna Francois smiled blissfully while watching Hal's behavior.
"Fufufufu. I never knew it would feel this enjoyable to be subjected to the burning gaze from the boy I like. Hey Harry, could you look at me more, pretty please? Stare intently at me like this and don't look away, as though you're trying to drill a hole into me."
"Huh!?"
"Please. I'll throw a tantrum if you look away, Harry, okay?"
"E-Even if you say that, it's still our job to observe the military exercise over there, right?"
"Don't worry. Nothing should go wrong as long as Asya is present in matters of this sort."
Making eye contact with Luna's upward gaze, Hal felt even more unsettled.
On this day in late July, the Japanese military ship carrying Hal and company was not the only one to travel to the Solomon Islands. There were two other escort vessels and a submarine accompanying them.
—And now, even more ships had gathered in these waters.
From the American navy was a cruiser, four destroyers and a nuclear submarine.
The Australian navy had three light destroyers. Apart from that, one could see ships from various countries including Canada, Russia, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Chili...
This was a joint military exercise gathering all the member nations of the Trans-Pacific Defense Organization.
As a side note, the Americans had even dispatched an aircraft carrier whose homeport was Naval Station Pearl Harbor.
The military exercise was to last two weeks. Although it was not a live fire exercise, the participating countries had to follow the prescribed scenario and cooperate with allied ships in joint tactical maneuvers.
Hal and company were participating in the second day's schedule.
Normally in this type of exercise, the imaginary enemy—in other words, the dragons—would be played by fighter jets or unmanned drones. However, the "serpents" from various countries were taking part in the exercise today as the enemy role.
Swimming leisurely in the ocean was a gigantic sea serpent leviathan.
Other types included a white whale that one could call Moby Dick, a shark with wing-like pectoral and ventral fins, an ancient fish whose entire body was protected by armor-like scales, etc.
Furthermore, in the air—
There was a Garuda with golden feathers, a phoenix flying while enveloped in conflagration and others leviathans—
A blue wyvern's gigantic body was also flying in the air.
Naturally, that was Rushalka. In addition, she was in Queen Form, equipped with chest armor and arms of ruby, her entire body giving off magic more powerful than any other "serpent."
Suddenly, Rushalka began to ascend rapidly.
Not only was she increasing her altitude but also her speed gradually.
Rising from dozens of kilometers per hour to hundreds, then subsonic speeds, she soon broke the sound barrier, ascending rapidly with explosive noise and sonic booms, penetrating the clouds within the blink of an eye, disappearing from the view of Hal and the others.
At the same time as this sudden and rapid ascent—
The jet fighter squadron and many "serpents" also withdrew from the sky above Hal and company.
They must have received orders to retreat through communication devices. Apart from that, the "serpents" and their partners had keenly sensed it. Terrifying magical power of great density pervaded the area and the source was above.
This was the magical power radiating from Rushalka, who had disappeared to a super high altitude.
A minute or two after all irrelevant personnel in the way had gone off...
Rushalka began to descend rapidly. However, because she was in supersonic flight, it was impossible to capture her majestic flying form with the naked eye. The blue gigantic figure fell rapidly through the clouds to the tropical sea surface in a straight line, accompanied by sonic booms, making an emergency stop just before crashing into the sea—Everyone witnessed this astounding aerial mobility.
The blue wyvern's performance was not over yet.
Ruahlka invoked Water pseudo-divinity while hovering at a height close to the sea surface. In the next second, the sea around Rushalka rose up in succession. Breaking established rules of physics, the huge amount of seawater towered into the air.
Literally pillars of seawater, there were unbelievably eight of them.
With Rushalka in the center, the water pillars had rose up in the eight directions of north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west and northwest respectively, reaching heights of almost three hundred meters.
—In a realistic sense, this performance was completely pointless.
It was like wasting a fighter jet's mobility on fancy acrobatics.
This was pointlessly wasting Asya and Rushalka's magic power, the Queen Form's energy and pseudo-divinity.
But at the same time, this was also a fantastic feat that no other witch in the world could imitate.
Even though Luna Francois and Glinda possessed the same level of ability, what they held was the attribute of Gravity, so logically speaking, they could not exhibit the same technique. One could safely say that the image of "the spectacular revival of Europe's former Shootdown Ace" had been carved into the minds of every country's military participating in the exercise.
Furthermore, the same went for "the potency possessed by the mysterious power known as dragonbane."
"Impressive as always, that's Asya. Don't you think so too, Harry?"
"Yeah. This was the aim in coming here, after all. This performance definitely did not betray expectations. Give her my share of navy curry later—Okay!?"
In the middle of responding, Hal jumped in surprise.
Dressed in a swimsuit, Luna Francois suddenly pressed against him, Her massive bust was weighing on Hal's back. If he had to express the impression in words, it would probably include "s-so soft" and "big and round like rubber balls with plenty of elasticity."
However, Hal stood his ground and spoke as a gentleman in a trembling voice, "A-Aren't we a bit too close...?"
"Being closer is only natural, isn't it? Because you keep looking at Asya, I'm jealous. It won't do if you won't look at me more."
"B-But Luna, you're behind me, right!? I can't see you like this at all!"
"Then hurry and turn around. Just embrace me from the front, Harry."
"Embrace!?"
If he turned around right now, the situation would turn into a passionate embrace with Luna.
Sweet temptation, like pouring honey and gomme syrup over candy, was making Hal's heart pound intensely. Just as he was about to turn around reflexively—At that very moment...
"What the hell is going on, you two!?"
An unexpected guest arrived suddenly.
Still with Luna hugging him, Hal forced his head to turn around.
Behind him, a silver-haired witch was standing sternly, glaring at the two of them sharply. Of course, her name was Anastasya Rubashvili—the girl nicknamed Asya.
"Good grief. I can't believe you were cavorting around in this kind of place while I was on the bridge to direct Rushalka... You two are outrageous!"
"Asya, 'cavorting' would be a little crude to be coming from a lady's lips."
"The one who was pressing her boobs against a boy has no right to say that to me."
Hal looked alternately between the angry Asya and the indifferent Luna while using his soup spoon.
Inside the mess hall at the escort vessel, the three of them were having a late lunch.
It was after 2pm at local time. The place was packed with people in SDF uniforms sitting around them. With the conclusion of the morning events for the second day of the joint military exercise, the crowd naturally gathered here for lunch.
Dressed in the same uniform, eating the same food.
It was like a scene from a school lunch. Being a high school student as well, Hal felt almost like he was sitting in a student cafeteria.
The main course was navy curry, a traditional menu offering passed down from the days of the Imperial Japanese Navy, plus a deep-fried chicken cutlet. Well, except that Hal's chicken cutlet had been forcibly confiscated by Asya as "an apology for all sorts of offense taken from his inappropriate behavior"...
As a side note, Luna Francois had changed back into her usual black dress.
"But even if you say my behavior was inappropriate—" Hal spoke between spoonfuls of curry.
"If I think about it more carefully, Asya, I don't think I've caused you any trouble, have I?"
"Of course you have! Witnessing you and Luna's indecent behavior, Haruomi, causes mental shock against my pure and innocent soul, which progresses to produce emotional turmoil. If that kind of scene was shown on television or in a movie, the sponsors would have protested long ago!"
"In that case, you didn't have to come along..." said Luna quietly, unfazed by Asya's angry complaints. A smile was hanging on the corners of her lips of her refreshingly beautiful face.
"According to the original plan, only Harry and I were supposed to come, you know?"
"A-Allowing you two to go out to sea alone is the kind of atrocious act that I forbid even more!"
Luna Francois was born in Oregon of the United States of America.
As a witch, whose activities were centered around the American west coast and Hawaii, she was also the Trans-Pacific Shootdown Ace. With such accomplishments under her belt, she had built up an intimate relationship with the TPDO.
She had never missed the biennial joint military exercise held at the Solomon Islands, not even once.
On this occasion, she had invited Hal to take part together. Naturally, the purpose was not "to go out to sea alone."
By exhibiting the power of dragonbane on this kind of stage, their plans would surely reap profits in the future—
Hal agreed with Luna's view.
"Tokyo New Town would be left to Hazumi-san, Orihime-san and Asya to protect, while Harry and I use this military exercise as a public relations event with the future in mind. The distribution of roles was clearly assigned this way..."
"Personally, I'd prefer if at least one of you, Asya or Luna, could stay in New Town."
"Don't worry. If an emergency comes up, I'll tie you onto Rushalka, Haruomi, and deliver you back to Japan with priority supersonic flight."
The Solomon Islands were roughly five thousand kilometers away from Tokyo New Town.
To carry out such a long-distance voyage at supersonic speed would be an amazing feat rivaling the now discontinued supersonic passenger jet. However, it was definitely possible using Asya's magical power and Rushalka's Queen Form.
Even so, Hal could not help but mutter, "Then I'll have to endure the g-forces of supersonic flight the whole time? With a body of flesh and blood?"
"Don't worry. Given how you are now, Haruomi, you'll definitely withstand it!"
"Although that's probably true, I have to say no thanks!"
Haruga Haruomi possessed resilience allowing him to remain unscathed even when trampled by a gigantic dragon. Apart from that, he was also capable of guarding his physical body with imperishable protection, hence Asya's idea was quite feasible.
Nevertheless, as long as he still regarded himself as human, Hal would resist to the very end.
Moreover, the crew of the escort vessel was having lunch in the surroundings.
These SDF officers had generously accepted the three high school students who were dressed in casual clothing.
It was commonplace for those involved with witches to be exceptionally young. Furthermore, after the frequent commotions caused by dragons in Japan recently, Hal's group had become widely known among the police and the SDF as the frontline combatant witches and the "mysterious consultant" who had stepped up to resolve matters.
Perhaps due to this reason, they were received by the escort vessel's crew with much cordiality.
Today's lunch was no exception. Although Asya had not made any demands regarding her navy curry, they still treated her to a small mountain of curry and rice on a plate twice as large as normal with three times as many cutlets layered on top.
While savoring the crew's hospitality, Asya remarked with emotion, "Although I've spent time with various national militaries all over the world, the SDF's thoughtfulness in 'providing service without the other party asking' truly takes the cake."
"Just the fact that it doesn't feel stifling here actually makes it more comfortable than classrooms at school."
Compared to the space called the school, this place was closer to the world of Hal's childhood life.
Hence, that was why he found it more comfortable. That being said, they were going to return to Japan in a few hours.
Having made a striking impression on all the nations participating in the joint military exercise, the purpose of their journey would be considered accomplished. It would be best to hurry back home so as to reassure Orihime and Hazumi who were in charge of holding the fort.
"I wonder if there are any good souvenirs to buy around the Solomon Sea?"
After muttering to himself, Hal suddenly felt a bit perplexed.
There was a something unusual about his comment that prompted him to recall a forgotten memory—
"Hmm?"
Speaking of which, the name "Solomon" had been brought up last month.
Part 2
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Part 3
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Part 4
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