The Karmanu Salvation War - Part 5
We handed the captured Aindiums over to the military. Of the two pilots whose machines bore the national emblem on their shoulders, one was dead and the other was in and out of consciousness. The remaining three pilots kept their mouths shut. From what I heard, Alitus had sent a formal warning to Karmanu under the pretext of detaining invaders who had crossed into their territory. The message had gone to both Line and Rubens.
“Even though the real culprit is someone else entirely.”
Not many people would be fooled after seeing the Aindiums that had been so blatantly decorated to look like they belonged to Line’s forces, inside and out. The Alitus military was far from incompetent, so such a sloppy disguise would be exposed in no time. Still, there was no concrete evidence to blindly accuse Rubens’s side. The perpetrators had erased every possible connection between themselves and the pilots with almost obsessive thoroughness.
From Alitus’s perspective, supporting Line lacked physical proof, while backing Rubens would mean ignoring their strong suspicions. So they had simply sent warnings to both sides because they couldn’t afford to take either one’s side. But incidents like this border violation would undoubtedly continue. After all, it was difficult to call either of them the sole culprit.
The evidence I had secured could become the decisive factor here, yet I was hesitating to make it public. The true culprit held a rather unique position, and I still didn’t understand why they had orchestrated this.
If there had been clear proof that this was Rubens’s doing, Alitus might have intervened directly, and we could have ridden that wave. Instead, things had become hopelessly tangled.
The paper in my hand crumpled slightly. I must have gripped it harder than I realized. I set the newspaper down on the table and stood up.
We were using the tallest five-story building in the lower village at the foot of the mountain—an area the civilians had already evacuated—as our temporary base. I washed my face with cold water in the bathroom and tried to organize my thoughts.
Considering the ripple effect the information I held would cause, it seemed wiser to deliver it to Line’s side first rather than Alitus. To prevent any further damage, the sooner the better.
I decided to contact the headmaster.
“Yes. I assume you’ve heard the news?”
“Indeed. They say you performed admirably.”
“Rendel-senpai did most of the work, really. Um, Headmaster, I have a favor to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“Is there any way I could speak directly with my sister or send her information very quickly? It’s extremely urgent and important.”
“…Hmm. I’m sorry, Princess. After our last communication, she has been constantly relocating her position, so we’ve lost contact. We’ll have to wait until she reaches out to us.”
“What about a letter?”
“We don’t even have a confirmed location for Her Majesty. All we know is that she’s been moving between active battle zones lately. The front she’s responsible for is simply too vast for letters to travel back and forth efficiently. If the information is truly critical, couldn’t you relay it through the operations department on her side?”
“Ah… the content is a bit sensitive for that.”
The headmaster seemed to grasp the nature of the information I possessed. He fell silent for a moment, deep in thought. After nearly ten seconds, he spoke again, choosing his words carefully.
“In that case, there is only one option left.”
“What is it?”
“You should speak to Her Majesty in person.”
“…Pardon?”
“You already received permission from both Karmanu and Alitus, didn’t you? Wasn’t that prepared precisely for a situation like this?”
The headmaster chuckled as if it were the simplest thing in the world. But Line’s side would have to initiate contact first. If we just showed up unannounced, there was a chance they might attack us on sight.
“There is no problem. I have a method prepared.”
“You just said you couldn’t reach her.”
“That’s because I cannot enter Karmanu myself. You, however, will be going in person. That is why I prepared something special. If I send it by today’s train, it should arrive within two days.”
I had no idea what it was, but at least there was a way. Now all that remained was convincing Rendel to come with me. There was no way I could handle what was happening inside Karmanu on my own.
Originally, Rendel would have entered Karmanu anyway—whether sooner or later. Chasing off the occasional border-crossers until the end of break couldn’t possibly be his only role. After all, the name of the battle in the last episode I remembered was the Karmanu Salvation War. Probably.
I also recalled that the title of the next episode preview had been “A Distant Battlefield.” Since the major battles inside Karmanu would take place quite far from the border, it matched perfectly. No doubt about it.
Still, I had no idea under what circumstances Rendel would head to Karmanu, or how I was supposed to persuade him.
‘We need to meet Line immediately, so let’s go to Karmanu.’
That sounded incredibly suspicious no matter how you looked at it. If only I had read the entire original story before coming here. Why did I have to arrive at such an awkward point?
Ah, I really wanted to read the original. Preferably the revised storyline where Ruwina had been active as Luna, all at once from beginning to end.
Since there was obviously no cheat function like that on the fan bulletin board, I pushed the currently updating board aside.
As I walked down the empty hallway of the temporary base, I remembered the headmaster’s earnest warning right before we ended the call.
‘If you wish to participate in the Karmanu battlefield, you must obtain Her Majesty’s permission without fail.’
In the end, the hardest part—convincing Line—would have to be done in person. And Line didn’t even know I was here yet.
I was sighing deeply when Rendel and Carson, who had been having a serious conversation a short distance away, approached.
“Luna. Is something bothering you? We already fixed Limpy, didn’t we?”
“I’m not worried about Limpy…. Carson-senpai. If I asked you to come with me to a dangerous battlefield, would you go?”
“A dangerous battlefield? Luna, you’re not thinking something weird again, are you?”
“N-no, of course not?”
Carson was surprisingly sharp. Maybe he caught it from Muri.
“I’ll go anywhere with you.”
Rendel spoke with an utterly serious expression. Huh. Maybe I could just ask him straight?
“Um, Carson-senpai.”
“Got it. I’ll go check if the other kids are patrolling properly.”
Once Carson left, I grabbed Rendel’s wrist and pulled him into a nearby empty room.
What do you mean “ㅗㅜㅑ,” you bulletin board ghosts? I closed the useless board that never gave any helpful information, stood in front of Rendel, and looked up to meet his eyes.
“Senpai. Would you like to go on a little Karmanu sightseeing trip with me?”
“Karmanu sightseeing? All of a sudden?”
“Yes. I learned about an incredible ‘source’ during the last battle, and I really need to deliver it to Lady Line.”
“Source” was slang for critical information that required strict confidentiality. It had appeared occasionally in the original story, and since I had confirmed that operator cadets used the term, I hoped Rendel would understand.
“…That kind of source, huh? Hmm. Something Lady Line would like?”
“Yes. She’ll be very pleased.”
Rendel already knew I had obtained something from the enemy Aindium, so he seemed to catch the hidden meaning behind my words.
“While we’re at it, let’s also take a look at the hottest spot in Karmanu right now.”
“Understood. When and who?”
“Probably the day after tomorrow. Just the two of us.”
Rendel nodded quietly and left the room. I waited a few minutes, confirmed no one was in the hallway, and stepped outside.
**
Two days later, after carefully loading the item the headmaster had sent into the cockpit, Rendel and I left the base. The headmaster said he would handle any issues with the military, dispatched cadets, or supervisors, so I set those minor details aside. For now, our focus was crossing the Karmanu border and making contact with Line.
The data I had obtained revealed a truly unexpected truth.
The current regent of Karmanu, Ainel Edelstia. She was the aunt of Line, Ruwina, and Rubens, renowned as a virtuous religious figure. After the sudden successive deaths of the previous king and queen, she had taken on the regency until Line, the eldest daughter, came of age.
She was the mastermind behind this Alitus raid incident.
In Ruwina’s memories, “Aunt Ainel” had been a good person. She was kind to everyone, mediated between her quarreling younger brothers, and had been endlessly affectionate toward her nieces. Having devoted herself to religion and earned great respect, she returned to secular life when the royal family suddenly lost its elders and assumed the regency on behalf of the young Line.
Last year, once Line reached adulthood, Rubens had rebelled, yet Ainel still retained her position as regent.
What Units 2 and 3 had found were fragments of deleted communication logs buried in the remaining data scraps. There were records of communications between the pilots and Regent Ainel. The contents were far from ordinary and provided clear proof that Ainel had instigated the attack on Alitus.
And those pilots belonged to the very force that had attacked Alov—the one we had been searching for. That, in turn, could be used to tie this to Rubens. It wasn’t decisive evidence, but it was still significant.
I had handed this data over to Alitus. I felt that Ainel’s involvement needed to be reported to Line first. Therefore, it was perfectly natural for us to fight against Rubens’s forces. After all, the group that attacked Alitus had officially been labeled as Rubens’s faction. There was no use complaining about it being unfair. The moment Rubens turned against Line, he had already made enemies of the protagonist’s group.
But why would Ainel do something like this? Maybe Line knew the reason.
White Fang was currently painted the same matte black as Limpy. It helped the machine blend into the darkness, and since White Fang had become internationally famous after facing Line in the finals of the Four Nations Tournament, we needed to conceal its identity.
“Kirie-senpai is going to be shocked when she sees White Fang.”
“I doubt it. Until last autumn, she was always doodling something on it whenever she had the chance. She stopped once it started appearing on TV and became famous.”
“Really?”
The early-to-mid first-year period wasn’t covered in the original story, so I hadn’t known. But Kirie did have a surprisingly fancy side. Maybe she really had drawn something on the Aindium. The image of White Fang covered in cute animal drawings made me smile faintly.
We hid the Aindiums and rested while the sun was up, then traveled through empty mountains and wilderness once night fell. It took us several days. Although the straight-line distance was only two hundred kilometers, moving covertly made the journey much longer. If Kirie hadn’t sent the Ellydium cloak she had made for the Bivald-class, we might have ended up fighting Karmanu’s forces or their Aindiums by now.
“Is that the place?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
We finally arrived at the low mountain that was our destination. We reached it in the middle of the night, activated the signal beacon, and took turns resting. Just as the dawn light began to break, I heard Rendel’s voice waking me.
“Luna. They’re here.”
“Mmm….”
Rubbing my eyes, I started the engine. On the screen, several Aindiums were approaching with their empty hands held out, clearly showing they had no intention of fighting.
“Ah.”
And at the very back, I saw a red machine.
Line’s Ardent.
I hadn’t expected her to come in person.
“Senpai, I’ll handle the conversation.”
“Got it.”
I moved Limpy forward. The Aindiums stopped several hundred meters away. The condition of Line’s machines didn’t look very good.
It was the voice of a fairly young man. Not someone Ruwina knew. She had never been particularly interested in Aindiums or pilots.
“Are you the volunteer forces from Alitus?”
“Correct.”
“We welcome you. For confirmation, please exit your Aindiums and meet us in the center. Is that acceptable?”
“Yes, understood.”
I put on the heavily tinted helmet and stepped down from Limpy. Rendel gestured for me to remove it, but I pretended not to notice and walked forward.
Ten pilots stood facing us. Line was supposedly too busy maintaining the front lines to spare any attention, yet this seemed to be the very center of it all. She must have scraped together whoever was available and come here herself.
One of the pilots stepped forward and looked in my direction. Then he spread his arms toward the red machine behind him.
“Ahem. Do you know who this person is?”
From the voice, it was the same man who had spoken earlier. So I really didn’t know him.
“She is Lady Line Edelstia.”
“Then wouldn’t it be proper etiquette to remove that helmet?”
Why was this young man speaking so formally? Was it because he was in front of his lord?
Line had been tilting her head and staring at me for a while now. Having spent over a decade together as sisters, she must have sensed something.
I slowly removed my helmet.
“!!”
The expressions on everyone’s faces—except for Rendel standing beside me—were quite a sight to behold.
“Princess Ruwina!”
Everyone except Line dropped to one knee before me. Ah, now Rendel’s expression was even more entertaining.
I closed all the bulletin board windows that filled my vision and gave a slight bow.
“It has been a long time, Sister. I hope you have been well.”
“Ruwina.”
Line let out a short sigh, shook her head, and turned around.
“We’ll talk about the details later.”
She raised her finger and pointed toward the horizon. Dust clouds were rising in the distance.
“Prepare for battle!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
As Line’s pilots rushed back to their Aindiums, Rendel approached me cautiously.
“Should I… call you Princess Ruwina now?”
“No. I am still your junior, Luna.”
At my words, the tension in Rendel’s face finally eased.
“We’ll need to talk later, too.”
“Yes. After the battle is over.”
And so, my first battle in Karmanu began.