Who Are You? (4)
The super-heavy cruiser Valkyrie.
Inside the officers' meeting room.
A 360-degree strategic forward hologram in the center of the meeting room.
The image of Elia in a rampage was being repeatedly projected.
“Consciousness seizure phenomenon… Is it related to PTSD?”
“That seems likely.”
Lora, Karina, and Erica were searching through the classified documents of the Aegis Integrated System, looking for clues about Elia’s past. While flipping through the documents, her mind was filled with nothing but worry for Elia.
“It seems I’ve investigated all the parts I can investigate with my authority. A bit of information about the biological disaster in Sector 09, and fragments of classified documents whose contents have all disappeared.”
Karina said with a sigh.
“Everything is deleted. But why are there so many classified documents?”
“Only the classified documents directly related to Sector 09 exceed 45,000 documents.”
“What? 45,000?”
“According to the integrated system’s records, that’s how it is.”
Elia’s arrogant and strong exterior was a disguise to hide the monstrous beast lurking beneath the surface. Each one of those XT-class classified documents contained apocalyptic-level risks—45,000 of them. Unable to even guess the size of the monster.
“What kind of thing happened…?”
“As you can see now, it must have been a horrific disaster that the Londinium Senate was desperately trying to conceal.”
And their concealment was successful. Most people living in Londinium knew nothing about the tragedy in Sector 09 and didn’t care. Even Lora, who lived in Sector 17, had never heard of such things.
~Sercus Era 4312, December 24~
‘15th anniversary of the Sigma infection termination in Sector 09, what remains there.’
December 24.
The eve of Erinius’s birthday.
What happened on that day?
“The Londinium Senate probably knew about the existence of the Unknowns for a long time. They were secretly conducting experiments related to the Unknowns’ parasites long before the formation of the Aegis Coalition.”
“Long before the formation of the Aegis Coalition?”
“Look at this.”
A new document appeared in the hologram.
~Sercus Era 4299, March 12~
‘Arekate Planet, the Londinium Senate succeeded. Development of a vaccine for responding to the Unknown parasite.’
“Vaccines for the remaining parasites except for the Sigma parasite were released right after the formation of the Aegis Coalition in 4299. At that time, the other nations probably didn’t even have sighting information about the Unknowns’ parasites.”
Lora stared blankly at the title of the newspaper article projected in the hologram. She bit her lip and exhaled with trembling breath. Why had she only learned about this information now?
“How many died in Sector 09?”
“Uncountably many. The rumors say that when the biological disaster occurred, the Senate completely sealed the sector itself so that not even a single ant could escape. The number of citizens in Sector 09 is estimated to be over 2 million. And….”
2 million.
An unrealistically large number that didn’t feel real.
“-The captain is the only survivor there.”
Karina nodded quietly.
“Hey, Captain. What do you think about Elia Edelvine’s relationship with the Edelvine family?”
“I don’t know. It’s clear that something is being hidden… but whether it’s out of goodwill or hostility towards Captain Elia is hard to say right now.”
“In what way?”
Erica asked.
“The current commander of Aegis, Luden Edelvine, was once a member of the Senate… but now he’s not. Rather, it seems he is in opposition to the Senate. The Senate probably wants to handle all the classified documents related to Sector 09. If they adopted Elia as an adoptive daughter to protect her from them, the hypothesis somewhat fits.”
Luden Edelvine. Former 6th seat out of 20 in the Londinium Senate. But after the tragedy in Sector 09, he resigned from the Senate.
“But there’s one thing that remains a question here.”
The profile record of ‘Elia Edelvine’ that appeared in the hologram.
“Why did the one who should have been protected suddenly appear on the battlefield?”
“That… is definitely true.”
“Normally, people who have had horrific experiences on the battlefield never want to return. And if the Edelvine family had decided to protect her, they wouldn’t have sent her here.”
Karina had accurately pointed out the blind spot. The reason a survivor from such a horrific disaster had to choose the battlefield again, where blood and death ran rampant. What was that reason? In Lora’s mind, Captain’s roar echoed endlessly.
“I killed them all, with my own hands!”
“Why are you delaying my execution?!”
“Kill me! Right now!”
“-Promise me, please.”
A gloomy pain that Lora had never felt before seeped into her veins.
“Captain.”
The mutter that Captain had been muttering echoed in her head.
“Swallow it. Eve, please, it’s a request. If I swallow this, something-”
Who is Eve? The only person in the world who understood Captain? Her heart throbbed in one corner. The despair that had been repeated countless times pushed its face again.
“…Captain?”
But now was not the time to quibble. If it could help her, she had to do her best without regard for water or fire. If she got pulled into the abyss, it would be over there. She knew. But was she a strong enough light to fight that distant darkness?
“-Lora, are you okay?”
Someone tapped her shoulder as she was lost in thought.
“Eh? Yeah. Fine…”
Looking to the side, Erica was looking at her worriedly.
“W-what? What did you say?”
She snapped back, jumped up from her seat, and bowed to Karina in apology.
“…Shall we rest a bit?”
ⴕ
Officers’ rest area.
Lora stared blankly at the stars outside the window.
“Captain, here.”
Something flew from behind, and Lora startled and caught it. From the drink can that looked like it had just been taken from the vending machine, a cold chill emanated.
“Thank you, Captain Erica.”
“Are you really okay?”
“…I-I'm fine. So….”
“Captain Lora is always like a mom, but when it comes to this, she’s like a kid.”
Erica ruffled Lora’s hair and said.
Her touch gently stroked Lora’s heart.
“Sigh. Look at the dark circles under your eyes.”
“Sorry. For this pathetic appearance….”
Lora trailed off.
Perhaps because she hadn’t slept well for the past few days.
But that was fine, after all.
Lora asked Erica.
“Captain Erica. Why is Captain still on the battlefield?”
Erica stopped her hand from opening the can and answered after a while.
“I don’t know. I can’t even guess.”
“I can’t even guess.” Lora couldn’t agree. But whether it was her own will or not, it would definitely bring about a bad result. If Captain woke up, what should she say first?
“But Lora. Elia is strong. Stronger than anyone I’ve seen.”
Suddenly, Erica placed both hands on Lora’s slumped shoulders.
“So think about how to help her going forward.”
With strength in both shoulders, her mind focused on her.
“First, finish drinking what you have in your hand and think more. Okay?”
ⴕ
Meanwhile, in the now quiet meeting room, Karina was flipping through the documents again to check if she had missed anything. Extreme fatigue clung to her shoulders. The sleep time she had taken in the past two days was only 3 hours. The horrific fatigue blurred her consciousness, but she read the documents carefully again, thinking of Elia.
[Captain, sorry for the interruption. Urgent communication from my 03 hangar.]
“What is it?”
Suddenly, a radio from the adjutant came in.
[Requesting to see the command control officer of the Obelisk.]
“Chloe Lieutenant? No, right now the Obelisk has no captain’s representative other than Chloe Lieutenant since Captain Elia and Lieutenant Lora are absent.”
When Captain Elia and Lieutenant Lora are absent, the captain’s representative is only her. But why did she come here abandoning her duties as captain’s representative?
“That is….”
“Is there something difficult to say?”
“The ‘Maria’ Captain from the Counterintelligence Department came with us, but since the purpose of the visit is unclear, I was hesitating whether to report it.”
Counterintelligence Department? That’s unusual. Did they come to interrogate about the use of strategic weapons on the Obelisk? If it’s a captain-level, it would be under the executive department. Maria, Maria Captain…
“Wait, you said Maria Captain?”
“Yes, that’s right. Do you know them?”
“Please guide them to the meeting room right away.”
ⴕ
A few minutes later, in the officers’ meeting room.
“Chloe Lieutenant, welcome.”
“Captain! May the Shield of God (Aegis) be with you!”
“Greetings are done. And this side… is it Maria Captain?”
“Hello, Commodore Karina.”
Maria Captain smiling faintly while looking at her.
“Chloe Lieutenant, please step aside for a moment.”
“Understood.”
It had come as expected.
“I expected it.”
“And Lieutenant Lora and Lieutenant Erica will be returning here soon. Please control their entry for a while. I have something urgent to discuss with Maria Captain.”
“Understood.”
“And you….”
Standing next to Maria, the cat beastkin.
Obelisk’s uniform. Rank: Captain.
But who is it?
“This kid can stay as is, Captain.”
Maria said while stroking Cecil’s head.
After Chloe saluted and left, the atmosphere in the room changed.
“Then tell me, Karina.”
“Maria.”
“Maria Edelvine.”
Classmate from the academy days.
Maria was the top, Karina the second.
A bitter enmity.
“What the hell is all this? My little sister being brought here.”
“First, sit down. We need to explain from the beginning-”
Before the answer was finished, Maria, aiming the gun barrel at the ceiling, pulled the trigger without hesitation. The gunshot in the enclosed space shook the meeting room.
“No, no need for that. I have one question.”
Maria said this and laughed with a grin. The gun barrel with gunpowder smoke rising was again aimed at Karina.
“Where is my sister?”
“…She’s in my room.”
“Oh my, why is my sister in your room?”
Maria kept the gun barrel fixed on Karina and leaned against the back of the chair, crossing her legs.
“I issued Command 21 to summon her.”
It was a short moment, but a chilling anger concentrated on herself. In that chilling anger, there was even a hint of killing intent. Karina focused all her mind to not be overwhelmed by her.
“So?”
“…An unexpected accident happened.”
Karina took a breath and continued.
“Her mana circulation loop in her heart has collapsed by more than 30%. Fortunately, the surgery was successful-”
“What? No, wait. Ha? What did you just say?”
Maria couldn’t believe the words that came out of Karina’s mouth and was on the verge of her brain exploding. With an expression of disbelief, the anger like lava rising from the bottom was preparing to explode.
“About 30% of her mana circulation loop has been completely burned out.”
“Shut up, Karina. Before I kill you.”
Maria raised one hand as if not wanting to hear anymore. Uncontrollable killing intent exploded from her bloodshot eyes.
“My fault, but listen. My sister’s-”
Maria stood up from her seat. Karina, startled by the momentum, almost took a step back, but she stood firm with her two steel legs. With her mask broken, she poured out her anger in a crumpled expression that couldn’t find her usual face.
“Before I kill you, shut that mouth! How dare you make my sister like that and keep talking about a cracked mouth!?!”
A shout like thunder and lightning erupted. The gaze that seemed to split her in two from this place didn’t fall. Maria took a few deep breaths and muttered in a self-deprecating voice.
“…Ha, yeah. My fault for wanting something in this damned place. With this incident, I understood more clearly. The dark and the light can never mix. Everyone is cursing Elia from the shadows, and even the ones on the same ship don’t know where she’s getting treatment.”
Maria’s arm pointing at Karina’s chest was trembling.
“Things I’ve experienced in less than an hour since I came here. How long has Elia been here? A day? Two days? A week? Ha, I feel sick. Disgusting light people.”
I knew the overall atmosphere of the fleet. But no matter how much Karina was, she couldn’t sense the atmosphere inside the Obelisk.
“Elia is being taken by me from today. It’s a decision.”
Now the gun barrel came close and shook.
“I can’t allow that-”
When she tried to turn around, her shoulder was grabbed, and with a bang, her vision flashed. The side of her right arm where the bullet grazed was torn, and blood dripped from Karina’s arm. If the gun barrel’s direction had been slightly different, she would have lost her arm.
“-Kueh…! Are you going to leave that rotting wound as is?!”
Suppressing the pain as much as possible, Karina barely continued. Maria couldn’t understand what she was saying. She only thought about taking Elia out of here as soon as possible.
“That is not something you need to worry about. I’ll handle it all myself.”
But Karina was unfazed. From the two steel legs of her approaching Maria who turned her back to leave, cold metallic sounds rang out.
“Stop! Look at me properly, Maria!”
With the hand from which red blood was flowing,
Karina grabbed Maria’s collar.
Red blood seeping into the white uniform.
“I’ve disliked you from the beginning! You or your sister, your personalities are disgustingly the same! Trying to handle everything alone and arbitrarily deciding everything! The arm you lost! The leg I lost! And the dead Rifa! If it weren’t for that stiff personality from the start!”
Rising painful past.
Academy training process.
“Why?! Why does the damn top always make the right judgment? Why do you only watch me make the same mistake in front of you? No! I don’t think that!”
The upper entity of the Unknown encountered at the training site.
The symbol of annihilation, Queen’s Knight.
Maria blocked the entity to buy time.
All students were busy taking the opportunity to escape.
But two students stood to help her.
Among them was a student named ‘Rifa: Melphis’.
The kid Maria hated the most.
The kid whose head was always a flower field.
The light kid.
“Ha! You say the light and dark can’t mix? Okay, let’s give you a hundred percent allowance. But you have no right to say that! Rifa, Rifa died for you that day! The Rifa you hated the most was a light person!”
Rifa gave her life,
Karina gave both legs,
Maria gave one arm.
“Will you make the same mistake again? Will you regret it after dying again?! Without knowing anything about my sister, just letting time pass like this… If we repeat the same situation, what do you think will happen?!”
They survived like that.
Even as Rifa took her last breath,
Maria wanted her to smile.
“This is a battlefield! Sending your precious person to the battlefield with such half-hearted resolve?! The sister you cherish so much was sent because she wanted it herself! Then, isn’t it something you have to desperately find out more than anyone else?! Again, using the excuse of ‘I can’t understand the dark’, are you trying to distance yourself?!”
Karina’s face distorted with anger.
“Shut your mouth, Karina. Last warning.”
“Fine, keep talking. Then, let me ask one thing to the great top. Did you know about my sister’s PTSD? Did you know?! You sent her here knowing that?! Of course you didn’t!”
PTSD? Hidden until now? Lies.
I thoroughly investigated everything about Elia.
Her background, her achievements, her precious adoptive mother.
But PTSD? It can’t exist.
Elia must have hidden it from me,
Hidden it…
“Shut your mouth, it’s all lies, all lies-”
“Maria Edelvine!”
Karina’s shout tore the air.
“When Rifa died, you said the same thing.”
Karina felt her consciousness finally giving up as she couldn’t overcome the fatigue and pain. Her vision was spinning. The spinning world soon became a tunnel and was sucked somewhere. She staggered while losing her center and thought this.
“We made the same mistake-”
She completely lost control of her body and collapsed. Someone caught her falling. With warmth in the hugged body, her heart calmed and pain lessened. Before letting go of the consciousness string, Karina gathered all her strength and said this.
“Never repeat this.”