I'm Not Crazy, Am I? (1)
Obelisk, officers' meeting room.
Unexpectedly, all the Chainstalkers had been summoned.
“-My operational briefing is off, Rora.”
“The Captain's combat ability was that bad...”
Rora couldn't continue her sentence after Erika's shocking briefing.
“Rora, there's no helping it. You have to steel your heart.”
Chloe said. Then she couldn't help but feel immense sadness. They had thought they could safely restrain the Captain without any issues.
“I want to at least... escort him back without any wounds.”
“Hmm, 'without wounds'. Honestly, I'd like that too. I don't want to hurt Ria-Ria.”
Erika twirled the plasma knife in her hand a few times before it landed back on her palm. After repeating the throwing and catching a few more times, she continued speaking.
“Well, of course, if Rora follows my words and willingly gets restrained, then we wouldn't even need to be having this conversation here. But I'm saying this in case it doesn't happen. And the probability of that is actually high, isn't it?”
Rora nodded silently instead of answering.
“First, the five of us entering the Captain's quarters must brace for injury.”
“All five Chainstalker members... is that so?”
“Ah, speaking of which, Rora hasn't seen us training with Ria, has she?”
Erika crossed her legs on the desk from her seated position.
“Hmm, shall I give an example of close-quarters combat training? Ivan?”
She pointed the knife's tip at one of the seated members.
“Yes, ma'am!”
“I'll explain briefly.”
The member named Ivan stood up abruptly. Before explaining, he raised his fist neatly to his left chest and saluted Rora.
“Rora, Deputy Commander. Deputy Chief of the Chainstalkers, Warrant Officer Ivan Redevov. I'll explain. The close-quarters combat training held three times a week, in the match against the Captain, no Chainstalker member has won so far. Additionally, in the past, the Captain personally suppressed four Corps pilots simultaneously with bare hands in hand-to-hand combat. That's all.”
After the short and clear explanation, a long silence followed for a while. A small body around 150cm, easily surpassing the 190cm basic height of the Corps pilots, and winning against four of them simultaneously. It was an unbelievable fact, but he was the Deputy Chief of the Chainstalkers.
“But Warrant Officer Erika Lewis, I heard you won the mock battle against the Captain last time.”
“Ah, that? The rumor spread like that? Interesting.”
The reason why Erika Lewis was the only one allowed to call the Captain 'Ria-Ria' in the ship. Apparently, she had won the duel bet with the Captain.
“I did win, but-”
The smile that had been floating at the corner of her mouth disappeared in an instant.
“-I won under the condition of enduring the Captain's attacks until the time limit.”
“Erika Lewis, Lieutenant Colonel.”
Who was she? In terms of combat ability alone, among the Aegis Special Operations Command, she was one of the top five. A warrior who received the honorable title of 'War Leader' from Dyphelheim, given only to 10 people every 50 years. In the Aegis Federation, she held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, but in Dyphelheim, the 'War Leader' based on pure merit was equivalent to a Staff Sergeant in power. Yet, it was said that even with all her might, she could only endure the attacks.
“Um... Special Operations Officer Erika.”
Chloe, leaning against the wall, raised her palm and requested a question.
“It's fine to call me Erika, so what is it?”
“What is the success probability of the surprise restraint?”
“First, the restraint itself will definitely succeed considering the members' injuries. But as I said, if it's a 'surprise', the story changes. Right now, it's 0%, close to zero-”
“-Zero?! How can that be!”
Chloe was startled and cut her off.
“It might be hard to believe, but I know. But the word 'surprise' itself means nothing in front of Ria-Ria. Rora, you know, right? About 10 days ago, in the engine room.”
Rora's mind flashed with a memory.
10 days ago, Obelisk's engine room.
Inspection of the magic engineering engine compartment with the Captain.
“Wrong. Wrong, Lloyd.”
“What part is wrong, Captain?”
Lloyd, the veteran maintenance control officer, asked in a calm voice. He was a magic engineering engine designer who once shone in Hyperion, a Dwarf nation, and was scouted as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Aegis Federation. And above all, he was one of the few Dwarves who could brush off Elia's rude remarks with a hearty laugh.
“You mean you didn't hear this sound?”
All that could be heard was the enormous noise of the engine.
What sound was that supposed to be?
“Hmm, I think it's time for me to consider retirement.”
“Hahaha, teach this old man a lesson.”
“Follow me.”
The magic engineering engine compartment of the Obelisk was as tall as an 8-story building. In this vast and noisy place, capturing any sound was nonsense. The Captain climbed the long iron stairs following the engine and stopped abruptly at the middle height where the noise was the worst.
“Can you hear it here?”
“Umm... Even this old man's ears can't hear anything but the engine noise.”
“Damn it, Rora.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Great noise. Rora could barely guess from her mouth shape that she was being called.
“You can hear it, right? This water droplet sound.”
“Ah, um... Sorry, Captain.”
“This place is the heart of the Obelisk. Who is supposed to be responsible for this battleship if you can't hear it?”
She spat out cold curses and continued walking towards the center of the engine. The mechanical noise of the magic core, the center of the engine, grew louder as she approached. The sound was so loud that the iron railing she was standing on vibrated.
“There it is. Look.”
A narrow passage barely wide enough for one person to pass through.
In that passage, the Captain's cane pointed upwards.
“Whoa, what's that?”
Cooling water dripping from a pipe near the ceiling. Upon closer look, one small screw was half-loosened. Everyone stared blankly at the spot in confusion. Even though the Elf's hearing was sensitive, this wasn't that kind of thing. In an instant, Rora's whole body broke out in goosebumps.
“Does the Captain hear this sound now?”
“Strange question. Then what other sound do you hear?”
“Hahaha, hahahaha! Truly amazing!”
Although it was just a small mistake that didn't even affect the defect list, Lloyd seemed strangely happy to be pointed out. With his hearty laughter, Rora was pulled out of the memory.
“I went to the engine compartment after hearing that sound and did some experiments. But instead of the water droplet sound, I couldn't even understand one of our kids yelling 'whale whale' or something. Yeah, surprise, right? If we get surprised instead, that would be fortunate. If she had such transcendent hearing, the moment she steps one step into the Captain's quarters, which no one can enter currently, it would be considered a failure for the surprise.”
As she said.
“Well, Ria is...”
Erika tilted her head slightly as if thinking about something.
“-Sometimes she looks like a monster.”
“What do you mean...?”
“Unknown's Queen's Knight.”
“Queen's Knight?”
She muttered unconsciously, and Chloe flinched and asked.
Queen's Knight (Queen's Knight).
The only humanoid biomechanical creature of the Unknowns. A top-tier predator boasting overwhelming strength and intelligence. Unlike other Unknowns generally under the Queen's control, these move with their own intelligence and are estimated to have command rights over some subordinate units.
“It just gives that feeling.”
The triangular sharp head had three pairs of red eyes collecting forward vision information in millisecond units, and the entire body was covered with unidentified black exoskeleton. The sharp biological blade on the right arm was sharp enough to easily tear through Alpha-Misril composite armor and Hexa barrier of a Titan tank, and the biological shield on the left arm absorbed and reflected various bullets and laser weapons. Its appearance was like a knight holding a shield, hence the name 'Queen's Knight'.
“I once faced it directly 30 years ago on the planet Ravenhook that was destroyed. Well, at the time I couldn't fight and just ran away.... The aura from Ria feels quite similar to that. Damn, what am I saying? Getting senile.”
Although it was an out-of-the-blue remark, when such words came out from Erika's mouth, it carried a different weight.
“Anyway, Rora, if Ria-Ria resists with all her heart, then we have no choice but to fight with all our hearts too. If we hold back...”
She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone could easily guess what was coming next.
Elia Edelvine.
An existence far beyond the bounds of common sense.
To catch such an existence within the bounds of common sense.
Even unreasonable requests had limits.
“What should we do... how...”
Harsh reality. The surging sadness became a huge iron hammer pressing down on Rora's chest. Is there really no way? She wanted to run to the Captain's quarters immediately and kneel. But would the Captain accept her request so easily?
“No matter what happens, I hope he doesn't get hurt.”
She said with a cracked voice, struggling.
“I know, it's unreasonable. But that person is a hero. No matter what the Admiral's order is, we can't take him away in such a rude manner.”
Rora's eyes grew moist. On the night the Nightmare Gate was destroyed. In front of the firmly closed Captain's quarters door, she had waited endlessly. Waiting, and waiting again. Hoping that her Captain would open the door and come out at least once.
“I waited in front of the door. But, but...”
Finally, a tear fell from Rora's eyes, unable to overcome her sadness. Her tightly clenched fist, white as if bleached, trembled on her knee.
Unwanted memory of yesterday.
The firmly locked door of the Captain's quarters. From beyond that door came faint groans. Each time a low groan came, as if she was forcing her pain to endure, Rora's chest sank. She pounded on the door with all her might. She yelled to call the Captain. Even with just the thought of using F.A.C.T.S to open the door, she could open it simply. But the Captain didn't seem to want to do that. In the end, she crouched in front of the door until the Captain's groans completely stopped, staying up all night, and only then could she return to the room.
“Even on the day everyone was cheering, the Captain was alone. Alone in the room, swallowing the pain of the seizure. Lonely person. Too lonely, I wanted to be by his side. I wanted to be by his side, but I couldn't. It hurts... ugh, my chest hurts so much, where should I start fixing it, what should I do-”
“...Rora.”
Chloe held her hand tightly, forcing her to speak while crying tears.
Erika looked at the scene and thought. There are people who worry like this, and I compared them to the Unknown's monster. Was I too much? Feeling guilty, she scratched the back of her head and stood up abruptly from her seat.
“...Well, since it's also Rora's request, shall we do something unusual?”
She turned to the members and shouted.
“Hey, you kids! Order! Don't let even a single hair of Ria-Ria's body get hurt! Everyone except me is to forbid attack, only allow defense! Be prepared to break a few places, got it?!”
“Yes, ma'am! (We receive the order, War Leader!)”
Resonant reply.
“Haha, sis! Is this the operation to drive the troublemaker princess all the way to the carriage? I like it!”
“Hold on tight, Deputy Commander Rora! If we can't even succeed at this level, how can we say we're Chainstalkers?”
Captain restraint order.
Confirmed for dawn execution.
“Ugh, maybe fighting the Unknowns would be a hundred times easier.”
That's how Erika thought.
