Chapter 68 – Attack Battle
When Ne Toru first came to Unit 393, he noticed one thing while looking around the unit.
That is, the size of the base is quite large compared to the number of resident troops.
Did you just build a large base without considering the number of troops from the beginning?
No, it won’t be
It probably initially had a number of troops commensurate with the size of these bases.
Evidence of this can be seen just by looking at the photos inside the camp cafeteria. Anyone can see that there were more people in the photos taken in the early days than the current 393rd unit members.
Judging by that, before Rien came to the commander,
It was clear that Unit 393 must have had quite a few pilots when Lien was the former commander.
Besides, it wouldn’t have been made up of young kids like the current 393rd unit.
Anyway, the inside of the hangar, which was normally quite spacious.
Thanks to the reinforcements that had just arrived, it was quickly filled with holy cavalry. Perhaps it was because it was the first time I had ever seen a hangar full like this, but in the midst of feeling strange,
─···They look the same age as us?
─That’s right. After all, are the other units the same as ours?
Members of the 393rd unit watched the pilots from other units with curious eyes.
They say they are in the same area, but the eyes of the members of the unit looking at the pilots who came to support were close to watching outsiders.
Even if they had collaborated on a few operations together in the past, they wouldn’t have seen each other face-to-face. So, in a way, this is the first real meeting.
In this way, the meeting between the 393 unit members and the pilots who came to support was carried out briefly under the leadership of Lien.
Even if it’s impossible to get to know each other, you have to know each other’s faces and names in order to carry out the operation.
Fortunately, Lien led the meeting, and several members of the unit tried to talk first. And Chandler, who was watching it nearby, said.
“I am. Even the guys who came to support are all children. If they were going to come, I wanted them to come who were a bit older.”
Hearing that murmur from the side, Netoru nodded his head. As he said, most of the pilots who came to support had only young faces like the members of the 393rd unit.
Considering the average age, there is not much difference from this side.
Well, thanks to that, it seems that the members of the unit have become easier to talk to, but it’s not something they like.
“As expected, other units are no different from us…”
Netoru stared at Chandler as he clicked his tongue. As well as his stern expression, he doesn’t look very happy from the displeasedly squinted eyes.
Of course, he wouldn’t mean to insult the pilots who came to support. It was just that it was closer to lamenting over this somewhat absurd reality.
Did they send these guys on purpose because it was a different unit? The other units are just in the same situation as the 393rd unit.
Chandler, who had been watching young pilots of the age of girls and boys for a long time, sighed and asked Netoru.
“Netoru. How was the unit you were in before?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are there as many kids there as in our area?”
“…There were a lot of kids who didn’t reach adulthood, but they didn’t fight with core strength like here.”
“Isn’t that usually normal?”
It wasn’t that Netoru clicked his tongue for nothing after coming to Unit 393. It’s a troop with more kids than adults.
That doesn’t mean there weren’t young pilots in other units, but at least kids like Karen, Lin, and Ran weren’t fighting as a core force like here.
The young pilots were more of a backup power of sorts.
In fact, when carrying out operations, there were many cases where they were put in successively based on the situation rather than fighting in front.
From a common sense point of view, it’s not a good way to put power in order, but it can’t be helped to reduce the damage to immature pilots.
Too many veteran pilots die if they don’t get enough attention first. Because the combat power of the holy cavalry varies greatly depending on their skills.
If you are a veteran pilot who has matured to some extent,
He can do many times more with a single spell of the Holy Trooper than young couples like Kyokyo and Pera.
…And this was also the reason why Netoru attracted the attention of the bugs alone in each battle while forcing coupling partners such as Karen and Ceres.
To be honest, it’s more comfortable to fight alone in front of the kids than to take care of each and every one of them.
“… Seeing this, it’s fortunate that you came recently.”
“I don’t really like it when a grown man suddenly says something like that.”
“Hey… Please understand me a little bit. Do you know how much of a burden it has been since I was the only adult male in the base?”
Netoru laughed at his sincere, not mean-spirited words.
Chandler, this big guy was a man who couldn’t be particularly disliked in terms of personality, let alone ability.
Since he was the only adult pilot along with Ceres in the unit, the four Tohru couldn’t help but be curious about him.
It’s not for nothing that Chandler is loved by his men as much as Ceres is. He was a naive man despite his large and dreadful appearance.
“In Unit 393, being old is not good. Rather, it only puts a heavy burden on his shoulders. Do you understand now what I am talking about?”
“To some extent.”
“Well, it’s not like Commander Rien is forcing me to, but… Our reality is that we are elders and are forced to take on dangerous roles.”
I think I know what Chandler is trying to say.
Certainly, in a military unit with many children, if you are old alone, the burden of cuddling is bound to be enormous. It is not something simple to describe simply as responsibility.
“Thanks to you, Akane is also having a hard time… Actually, he is still young.”
Akane was Chandler’s coupling partner. She and she are Karen and a girl her age. But she said the other day her birthday passed and she officially became an adult.
Right around the corner, Akane was seen talking to pilots from other units along with members of her unit.
She was a well-groomed girl with thin-rimmed glasses and long hair that spread slightly.
Chandler was looking at his partner with a sorry but warm gaze.
…Looking at those eyes, it seemed that they had a pretty close relationship.
It wasn’t an ordinary look at a ‘coupling partner’. It was the affectionate eyes between a man and a woman, as if looking at something precious.
Chandler, who had been unable to take his eyes off Akane for a while, sighed softly.
“… Whew. Anyway, I don’t know how someone like me became the oldest in the unit. But when I first came, there were many people who were better than me.”
“When do you mean when you first came?”
“Well? About six years?”
“…Six years? Then, did you have your coming-of-age ceremony here?”
“What, right? Even so, there was a time when I was the youngest, like the other members of the unit, when I was kind of cute.”
Since Chandler was the youngest…
Netoru glanced at him once.
Height is around 185 cm. The thick breastplate and wide shoulder width are distinctly raised so that they cannot be hidden under the clothes.
His face, which looked much older than his actual age, made it impossible to imagine his younger days.
Did this guy have his youngest days?
Four Tohru, who had been laughing quietly, shrugged his shoulders.
“Six years. You’ve been in one place for a really long time.”
“I know···. It’s been a long time…”
The smile on Chandler’s lips turned bitter.
“Everyone died or became disabled and disappeared one by one. Then, in the end, I was left alone like this.”
What does it feel like to see the members of the unit you were close with disappear one by one?
Unfortunately, Netoru couldn’t sympathize with Chandler’s sentiments.
He wasn’t in a position to watch them disappear, but in the opposite way he was in a position to disappear.
In fact, in Netoru’s case, unlike Chandler, he had never been in a unit for more than a year. And he ended up flowing into the 39th area just like now.
Anyway,
‘It seems that only Unit 393 was special.’
After seeing with my own eyes the circumstances of other units, which were not much different even within the same district, I realized again that it was really a gutter-like place.
How long will I really stay here?
It was when Netoru suddenly had such a thought.
“Anyway, I’ll say it again, I’m glad you’re here. Because if I disappeared, Natsuo would be the eldest among men.”
Chandler’s calming voice awakens your thoughts.
However, the resonance contained in it is never light.
That’s why Netoru couldn’t easily open his mouth at that moment and had no choice but to be silent.
Is this guy safe now?
He said it wouldn’t be a problem even if he disappeared.
Netoru glared at him with his eyes narrowed.
“···Chandler. Now you say something as if it will suddenly disappear, maybe it’s not what I think?”
There are sometimes
Pilots who choose to return to normal life by artificially destroying their magical nervous system rather than being killed by bugs on the battlefield.
Of course, if the magical nervous system is damaged, a person becomes a crippled person. At least I can’t keep my body intact.
However, if you build up your own experience, you will be able to learn the ‘knack’. The trick to destroying the magical nervous system in a way that is as light on the body as possible.
Realizing what he meant, Chandler smiled cheerfully and shrugged his shoulders.
“Don’t worry. Because you won’t have anything to worry about. Besides, I can’t leave Akane here and do the same to me now.”
“·······”
…Even I can’t do that.
So, did other members of the unit ever do that?
Maybe it wasn’t for a simple reason that Chandler was the only grown man left here.
It was a place where he would surely die, so he ran away.
Even if he destroys his own body.
The moment the fear of death overwhelms the mind, people tend to become weak easily. So, making that choice was not understandable.
“Oh right.”
Then, as if to change the awkward atmosphere, Chandler suddenly gave a sly smile and poked Netoru’s side with his elbow.
“Netoru. Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“How on earth did you attack Ceres?”
“·······”
It’s an attack What is this all of a sudden? Chandler smiled awkwardly as I stared at him with ridiculous eyes.
“No, I’m just curious. Other pilots touched it a few times before and it broke badly. But looking at you, you seem to be different…”
“Exactly how?”
Other pilots…
It’s a bit of an intriguing story. So when I showed interest, Chandler continued excitedly.
“Hmm. If anything happened in the past…”
“I’ll stop talking about useless things there.”
But at that moment, Ceres’s low voice interrupted Chandler. As if startled by the voice, Chandler flinched and turned around.
There, Ceres, who had changed from the suit she had been wearing to work adjusting the holy cavalry into casual clothes, was walking with calm steps.
Is it because he knows his sin of trying to talk about someone else’s past? Chandler laughed awkwardly, as if he was noticing Ceres for his size.
“Ah···. Ceres. That is···. Haha.”
“Chandler, I’m just saying this just in case. You know?”
“···Of course. I know.”
“Then I will believe you. I have a lot of confidence in you, Chandler. I don’t want to be awkward with a unit I’ve known for a long time.”
Chandler nodded his head with a bewildered face, and Ceres smiled softly.
It was the gentle smile he always showed to his troops, but in fact, something creepy swirled silently inside Ceres’s purple eyes.
Then, passing lightly by the frozen Chandler, Ceres approached Netoru and said,
“I’m hungry, so let’s go eat lunch. Haven’t you been waiting for a long time?”
At her words, Netoru nodded his head. But she couldn’t contain her curiosity.
…What the hell is that?
Netoru was curious.
“Chandler just wanted to talk about something…”
“It’s a secret.”
But before she could speak, Ceres said that in a cold voice, and she turned her back.
2.
On the other hand, at that time, among the pilots who came to support, there was a man who was looking at Unit 393 with curious eyes.
She was a stout man with a bushy beard and intense red hair.
“…Is this the unit he was in?”
I never thought I would be recruited as a support force for that little boy’s unit as soon as he was discharged from the hospital.
It’s really funny for a coincidence.
Besides, hearing the story, it sounds like it will be a pretty dangerous operation… She cheated a little, and it seems that the commander is very angry.
Did you really think you were going to be moderately strict?
I think in my mind,
Carlyle, who was watching the members of Unit 393, smiled.
He happened to see a girl with short black hair who had been discharged before him.
