Yeah, Watch Your Back
Yeah, Watch Your Back
012.
- "Girls, grab your guns."
Vivian holding a pistol was strangely solemn out of nowhere. Second holding a rifle and Third gripping a shortbow lined up in front of the dining table. All three are [ Anxious ].
- "Eonni, mine is a bow!"
- "I-It's okay. Listen carefully. He said a raid party is coming. So since it's a mission given by Him, we must protect Him."
"Uh... That's not it, though."
I was leaning back completely opening a bag of snacks, but surprised by Vivian's overly serious attitude, I hurriedly sat up straight.
Crash Landing Protection Quest.
It's a quest the Empire occasionally gives, and it's the sweetest of sweet quests I know.
This quest begins when an airship crash-lands far away from the settlement. If you leave it alone, a raid party pursuing the ship soon arrives...
Originally, what the Empire requests is for us to help defend it together.
"Ehehe. Do I look like I give a damn?"
In this quest, the raiders just loot the crash-landed ship and leave. There's nothing for us to do. However, if ignored, goodwill with the Empire drops by -5.
"What are they gonna do if I just say we did our best?"
Instead, we can secure the airship parts they leave behind.
And for the price of just -5.
If this isn't a sweet deal, what is?
Kwaaaaang-.
Right on cue, an airship trailed black smoke as it plummeted from the sky. It was at the northern edge of the region, far beyond the hill from our house.
- "E-Eonni! It crashed! S-Shouldn't we go check it out?"
Third ran toward the door, and Vivian grabbed a medical kit as well. They were in full deployment mode.
"Oops, no you don't."
If they go out now, a sweet quest turns into a grind quest. I immediately pressed <Send Revelation>.
- Nobody go outside. Wait in the house.
[ Balance : 1,400pt ]
Vivian froze right as her hand touched the doorknob.
- "...Pardon??"
She stared up at the ceiling for a long while before displaying [ Panicking ]. It was Second who grabbed and shook Vivian.
- "Eonni? What's wrong? Are w-we not going out?"
- "H-He told us to wait for a moment..."
- "What? Where makes sense about that? Shouldn't we hurry up and go?"
However, Vivian soon displayed [ Regained Composure ].
- "N-No. Let's wait here. He has never spoken without a reason."
- "T-That's true, but..."
Munching on snacks, I panned the screen beyond the hill. Smoke rose from the wreckage, and something could be seen rushing in from the edge of the map.
Raiders.
"Okay. The laborers are clocking in."
Chijik- chijijik-.
Just then, the comms console on the dining table buzzed.
"Unit Seven... craft damaged... crew injured... requesting support as promised... nearby settlement, do you copy... requesting support..."
In front of the console, Vivian displayed [ Clasping Hands ]. Second readjusted her grip on the rifle, while Third's eyes darted back and forth between the door and the console.
- "H-Hey! Outer God! Y-You heard that, right? They're asking for help... Are we really okay not going out?"
Feeling nervous, Second yelled up at the sky.
Instead of answering, I locked the camera beyond the hill. From now on is the real start of this sweet quest.
Eight raiders arrived in our territory.
"Ooh, that's a lot."
Helping from the very start would be insane given our current situation anyway.
They ran toward the crashed airship.
Dwdwdwdw-.
- "Impudent bastards!!"
In front of the wreckage, two heavily armored Imperial soldiers were holding miniguns, spewing fire.
- "Aaargh! I-I'm hit!"
- "Scatter!! I said scatter!!"
The eight raiders scattered in all directions. Two charging straight ahead were shredded into rags and tumbled to the ground.
"Oh, Imperial soldiers have nice firepower, huh?"
However, the remaining six took cover behind rocks and bushes and began shooting from all sides.
Tang! Tang! Dudadada! Sparks flew off the heavy armor, and while the machine gun barrels could only swing in one direction at a time, several raiders dashed in to pounce!
- "R-Reinforcements!! Are reinforcements not here yet?!"
Just as the soldier's urgent dialogue popped up, one of the raiders displayed [ Pulled Grenade Pin ].
"Oh?"
Ttegureureu-.
Puh-eeeoong!!!
Flames swallowed the space in front of the wreckage. Three raiders standing too close were caught in their ally's grenade blast and blown away together, and the two heavy armor soldiers went completely silent.
[ Raider : Deceased ]
[ Raider : Deceased ]
[ Imperial Soldier : Deceased ]
[ Imperial Soldier : Deceased ]
[ Raider : Deceased ]
[ Raider : Deceased ]
[ Raider : Deceased ]
The survivors were three raiders.
- "Haa... haa... You crazy bastard! Why'd you throw it from so close!"
- "Shut up! We won, didn't we?!"
"Ehehe. Is it almost cleaned up now?"
Eight became three. The important part starts now.
Normally I'd send our girls in around this point, but something was different from the vanilla game.
Very obligingly, the guys soon latched onto the wreckage. They began dismantling the airship.
[ Machinery Components ] x 6
[ Airship Engine ]
Eating snacks, I burst out laughing.
"Good, good. That's heavy, so watch your backs."
Maybe because of mods, these guys even dismantle the ship for us. Even better.
Dismantling wreckage is normally a time-consuming grind. Those three are doing it voluntarily and for free right now.
But just then, the guy who finished dismantling the airship paused.
- "Huh? Hey, there's a live one here!"
The three gathered near the wreckage, soon displaying [ Smirking ].
- "Oh? A woman? A crew member? Should we have some fun first?"
"...Huh? Look at these assholes?"
My hand chewing snacks stopped. I was planning to let them carry the loot closer to the settlement before jumping them.
So I was going to leave the dying crew member alone, but I hadn't checked the gender—turns out she was female.
Seems this mod pack included adult mods as well. I was going to go for full idle neglect play, but I changed my mind.
No rape on my land.
I immediately pressed <Send Revelation>.
- Move out, girls. Stick behind the hill. Second, get on top of the rock; the rest hide below.
[ Balance : 1,300pt ]
As soon as Vivian received the Revelation, she sprang up.
- "N-Now! He says to move!"
- "N-Now? He told us to wait earlier!"
- "That's why now is what He meant!"
The three rushed out together. The path to the hill was already fully calculated. From the angle where those bastards had their snouts buried in the wreckage, it was the maximum range for a bolt-action rifle.
'I need to handle this delicately. They must not get hurt under any circumstances.'
[ Balance : 1,200pt ]
I used Send Revelation to issue exact coordinates once more.
Soon, the three sisters completed their deployment just as I desired.
Second, lying behind the rock, mounted her rifle, while at close range just in case were Vivian with her pistol and Third with her shortbow.
Meanwhile, over by the wreckage. One guy was dragging the unconscious crew member out by her collar.
- "Hehe. Stand her up, let's see her face."
They were exchanging disgusting dialogue.
"Yeah, great. Keep using both hands, that's real nice."
Let's check their status.
One had both hands occupied holding the crew member, one was groaning while hugging the engine, and one slung the sack of parts over his shoulder.
In that state right now, they weren't raiders—just three porters. I hurriedly pressed <Send Revelation>.
- Tell Second to shoot the leg of the guy holding the crew member first.
[ Balance : 1,100pt ]
Upon hearing my message, Second displayed [ Catching Breath ]. Then her mumbling popped up in a box.
- "...Wait, wait. This feels familiar."
- "Huh?"
- "Telling us to wait, letting them fight amongst themselves, letting them pack up all the loot, and only now telling us to shoot?"
Second displayed [ Pupils Trembling ].
- "O-Outer God-nim!!!! This is exact same as with the rhino!!"
"Keukkeukkeuk. You noticed?"
It feels like Second and I are slowly getting on the same wavelength.
- "D-Delphine, stop talking nonsense and focus!"
- "O-Okay!"
Soon, Second displayed [ Holding Breath with a 'Hmph' ].
She aimed at the enemy with the bolt-action rifle, which had the longest range in this game prior to the sniper rifle.
Tang-!
The gun spat fire.
- "Aaaargh!! My leg!!"
Maximum range. Second with [ Shooting (★★) ]. Her shot grazed the leg of the guy holding the crew member.
- "E-Enemy attack!! There are more of them!!"
But there was no time for them to prepare. Second immediately displayed [ Holding Breath with a 'Hmph' ].
"Hit him clean this time, Second."
Taang.
Second's second round immediately pierced the leg of the guy holding the crew member.
- "Gaaah!! Fuck, where are they shooting from?!"
- "N-No good! R-Run!! Leave everything and bolt!"
Raiders usually suffer a morale break and run away once their numbers drop below a certain threshold. Two raiders abandoned their fallen comrade and fled.
"Clap clap clap. Good work, girls."
Calling it an engagement would be embarrassing.
Vivian hurried over to check the crew member. Second, in the middle of climbing down from the rock, shouted up at the sky.
- "Hey! Outer God! I mean, Outer God-nim! If you were going to do this, you could've just told us from the start! My heart almost dropped earlier!"
Our sister AI characters are still soft-hearted.
Meanwhile, Vivian knelt in front of the fallen crew member. [ Checking Breathing ] popped up, which soon changed to [ Relieved ].
- "S-She's alive! Girls, let me move her to the house first."
Then, Vivian was seen checking the corpses and wounded scattered around.
She paused for a moment and looked up at the sky.
- "Reroll-nim... Your command to wait was truly a command to save us. Foolishly, I didn't even realize Your intent..."
Watching that dialogue, I scratched my head.
"Well... I mean. I just did the best I could."
There's no need for us to get hurt just to help someone else, right?
"You guys might be AIs too... but still, I don't like seeing you get hurt..."
Us not getting hurt is the best outcome.
I muttered, not even knowing why I was verbally explaining myself to AIs who couldn't even hear me.
"Khee. Shall we do a tally?"
The three sisters made several trips moving the field's harvest to the settlement.
[ Machinery Components ] x6
[ Airship Engine ]
This much was obtained effortlessly, thanks to the raiders who very obligingly dismantled the airship.
[ Submachine Guns ] x2
[ Stack of Ammo ]
[ Prisoner ]
Everything piled up in the open field became entirely mine. By the way, the guy abandoned with a hole in his leg is now Long-term Service Unit 2.
On the other hand, what I spent on this quest: four Revelations, 400pt.
"Hell yeah, super sweet."
Meanwhile, over in the back room. Vivian had laid the crew member down and was treating her.
Her condition was a mess with burns and shrapnel wounds, but perhaps because the medicine box bought from the trade caravan last time was already paying off, our Emperor of Bandaging had no trouble at all.
Meanwhile, in the room next door.
The raider prisoner with a bandaged leg was bound in twine, trembling furiously. Third was dealing with him.
- "W-Where is this... D-Don't tell me, the W-Witches of the Frontier...?"
- "Shh, be quiet. We treated you, so stay still."
- "T-Treated? Why? W-What are you going to do to me!! N-N-N-Not my legs!!"
"Hmm..."
I didn't really know why the AI prisoner was reacting like that. Did some weird rumor spread?
Chijik- chijijik-.
Just then, the console buzzed.
- "Imperial Command calling Reroll Sector. Communication with Unit Seven has been lost. Can you report on the situation at the scene?"
Vivian stopped her hands mid-treatment and walked over to the console. She looked up at the sky once, then pressed the response button.
- "...The soldiers have passed away, the raiders were judged and dispersed with one captured. Also, we rescued one crew member and are currently treating her."
- "...What? J-Judged? O-Outer God?"
The other side of the radio went quiet for a moment.
- "Hey! Check these coordinates again. Huh? Under Theodore-nim's jurisdiction? What kind of place is this? T-The Witches of the Frontier?"
The sound of them muttering among themselves leaked through the radio.
- "...R-Recording. Outer God Reroll Sector. Personnel will be dispatched to the scene immediately to retrieve the crew member. State your reward to said personnel. Thank you for your cooperation. Out."
Chijik. The transmission cut off.
"Hmm..."
I scratched my head. Why does everyone keep calling us witches?
Right on cue, the crew member stirred in the back room. She seemed to be waking up from unconsciousness.
Vivian went over to check on her.
- "Hi-ik...!! A-A witch!!"
"Come on."
It was clear that our image had spread to the outside in a somewhat non-positive light.
Vivian, seemingly displeased as well, displayed [ Eyes Narrowing ].
Managing Vivian's first impression seems to have gone down the drain.