kscans

Chapter 213 - Interlude: An Investment in the Future

Side: None

Somewhere in Saitama Prefecture. The former headquarters of Turohorse.

At the newly constructed Self-Defense Force base, located a short distance from the store that covered their Private Dungeon.

Three men walked inside.

"I apologize for the sudden intrusion during your busy schedule."

"Don't worry about it. You've been a great help to us in many ways."

Director Akasaka and General Marui walked at a brisk pace. Behind them, Yamashita Hiroshi followed, looking nervous.

An SDF member stood guard in front of the dedicated elevator leading to the basement. He immediately saluted upon seeing the general but showed no signs of opening the door himself.

Returning the salute, General Marui took a card key from his pocket. He used it to open the bulletproof glass door in front of the elevator and proceeded through.

"Th-this is some heavy security."

"Even this isn't enough. It was built in a hurry, so there are still many holes."

The general pressed the button for the basement as they rode the elevator down. Seeing this, Yamashita unconsciously tucked his tail between his legs.

"Um... is it really okay for an outsider like me to be entering a place like this?"

"We're about to make it so you're no longer an outsider. Assuming, that is, that I can convince you and the Walkers."

Yamashita shot a suspicious look at General Marui as he adjusted his square glasses.

As they were talking, the elevator arrived at its destination floor.

The moment the doors slid open, a deafening metallic clang and a scream echoed through the air. On instinct, Yamashita deployed his Arcane Gear and stepped in front of Director Akasaka and the others.

"What was—!"

"It's alright, Yamashita-san. It's nothing you need to be alarmed about."

General Marui lightly tapped the shoulder of Yamashita, who was warily holding his shield.

In the direction he was looking, a suit of 'metal armor' was lying face-down on the floor. A human groan could be heard from within it.

Ignoring the confused Yamashita, several SDF officers rushed over to the metal armor.

"Damn, another failure!"

"Hey, you okay?! Are you conscious?!"

"Ugh...! No... problem…!"

The fallen metal armor tried to push itself up from the floor with its hands. Its movements were slow, and the surrounding officers were desperately trying to stop it.

"This place is…"

Yamashita deactivated his Arcane Gear and scanned the floor.

It was a space with exposed concrete ceilings and walls.

The area was probably the size of several gymnasiums. Aside from lighting, air conditioning, and power sockets scattered across the walls, it was barely equipped.

There were no partitions of any kind, and in this wide-open space, metal armors were moving about awkwardly. Just taking a single step took about three seconds, and some couldn't even manage that, toppling over and letting out another loud metallic crash.

At first glance, it looked like a ridiculous scene. But they were all deadly serious.

The metal armor that had fallen near the elevator. It looked like a black racing suit with metal plates, different from regular protectors, attached to it. The wearer's ragged breathing was audible.

"Don't push it! You broke a bone last time you did that!"

"I can... still go…!"

"Shut up! How are we supposed to get data if you're injured?!"

"Let's get him out! Grab that side!"

The SDF officers and a 'man in a black hood' quickly began removing the strange armor with screwdrivers.

Once the suit was off, a young male officer with a short-cropped black haircut and a well-toned body emerged.

He was wearing nothing but a thin shirt and boxer shorts. He was drenched in sweat, and his right knee was swollen and turning a dark red.

"We're taking you to the infirmary. Can you stand on your left leg?"

"Yes... ugh."

"Doesn't look like it. Wait here, I'll get a stretcher."

"We still have potions, right...? If you treat me with that, I can get back to it right away...!"

"...Understood."

The man in the black hood took out a small vial and scooped out some of the ointment-like substance inside with his finger.

As he applied it to the officer's swollen right knee, a small groan of pain escaped the man's lips.

"This should have you moving again in a few minutes. However, using any more potions in such a short time is dangerous. This is the last one for today."

"Thank you...! Let's continue... the experiment…!"

"I said wait a few minutes! We'll adjust the suit in the meantime!"

One of the officers lent his shoulder and helped the man, who was dragging his right leg, to a nearby folding chair.

Watching this out of the corner of his eye, the other officers and the black-hooded figure began comparing the discarded suit with the data on a laptop.

Similar scenes were playing out all over the space. Injured SDF officers would emerge from fallen or unnaturally frozen metal armors and receive treatment.

The most bizarre part was that the injured ones were the most motivated, trying to force the 'experiment' to continue. Their eyes shone with a light that was almost dangerous.

"Is this the testing ground for the 'new powered suits'?"

"It is. We finally got government approval. We built it in a hurry."

Yamashita turned to look at the impassive Director Akasaka and General Marui.

"Huh? Powered suits, like the ones in anime and movies…?"

"You can think of it that way, Yamashita-san. Though what we're aiming for is a bit special."

Director Akasaka said as he stepped off the elevator. The other two followed him onto the concrete floor and began walking along the wall.

"Originally, the military application of powered suits has been researched all over the world. In Japan, it was mainly focused on combining humans and heavy machinery."

"But what we're researching here is explicitly designed for combat. Not against people, but against monsters."

"...I've heard rumors. Something like 'the SDF will wear Golems to fight.'"

"Exactly, Golems."

General Marui nodded and turned his gaze to a metal armor a short distance away.

There, a Golem about four meters tall was sitting seiza-style, wearing armor. An SDF officer crawled out of its back, looking utterly exhausted as he rehydrated.

"Only Awakened Persons can enter dungeons. But there aren't enough Awakened Persons. There are so few that we can't even properly manage the dungeons in Japan, let alone dispatch the SDF to another world."

"So, the goal of this research is to find a way for non-Awakened SDF members to operate inside dungeons."

"Though we only got a proper budget for it recently."

"Well, it's not something that can be realized immediately just because the budget was approved."

A figure in a bizarre outfit of a lab coat and a black hood walked up. Yamashita did a double-take.

But he quickly recognized the person from their scent and voice, and his expression soured.

"Ah, Chairman. What's with the weird getup? Seriously, take off the hood."

"I refuse. There are people on this base who have seen my face. I absolutely will not take it off…!"

Director Akasaka gave a wry smile at the Chairman's emphatic refusal.

"Just try not to have an accident due to poor visibility, Chairman."

"Rest assured. This hood is specially made. It doesn't obstruct my vision from the inside at all, and in an emergency, it can also serve as protection against poison gas. Its only drawback is that it gets very stuffy in the summer."

"I see."

"No, its appearance is its only drawback."

Ignoring Yamashita's deadpan retort, the Chairman turned to General Marui.

"I apologize for keeping the hood on. And also for not being able to meet your expectations."

"Not at all. Without your cooperation, we wouldn't have even been able to create a prototype. We're counting on your continued support."

And their eyes turned to the experiment being conducted on the floor.

Once again, the sounds of clanging metal and a scream echoed.

"We are currently testing three main configurations. The 'Armor Type,' which involves wearing a special suit. The 'Piloted Type,' which involves getting inside an enlarged Golem. And the 'Piggyback Type,' where a Golem covers the user from behind."

"What are their respective features and progress?"

"The Armor Type has a relatively low production cost and doesn't take up much space. However, we're having trouble with the coordination between it and the 'mock Homunculus' or 'Homunculus' it's equipped with. Right now, it's just breaking the wearer's joints over and over."

The Chairman's gaze shifted to the suit that had fallen in front of the elevator.

That suit had once again fallen face-first onto the floor, and the surrounding officers and club members were rushing over in a panic.

"Next, the Piloted Type. It takes up space and is costly, but if successful, it can demonstrate power and defense that take advantage of its large size. Well, at present, it can't even move properly. The pseudo-nerves just won't take, since it's too big."

His gaze turned to the three-meter-tall Golem the three of them had been looking at earlier. The pilot had gotten in and activated it, but it couldn't even stand, collapsing onto all fours.

"Both the Homunculus and the mock Homunculus can only operate things that are relatively close in size and shape to their human creators."

"Exactly. Finally, the Piggyback Type. It's a cross between the Armor and Piloted types and is the most stable so far. However, that's only in comparison to the other two. To be frank, it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black."

He looked toward a suit that was walking like a penguin.

An SDF officer wearing a suit similar to the Armor Type had a Golem latched onto him from behind. The Golem's abdomen was connected to the human's back.

The Golem's limbs were on the outside of the human's limbs, covering the hands and feet.

It wasn't falling, but its movements were extremely slow. It was trying to pick up a steel pipe that had been set up, but it misjudged the distance, and its fingers grasped at empty air.

"Frankly, none of them are at a level where they can be deployed in actual combat. They're iron coffins."

"Even so, we've seen a glimmer of hope. That alone is something to be grateful for."

General Marui adjusted his glasses at the Chairman's words.

"Hope, you say. It's true that the officers cooperating with the tests are unusually motivated, but…"

"The ones still in the force are either those with nowhere else to go or those who have made their 'resolve.'"

The general spoke dispassionately, but with his fists clenched.

"That's why they've gritted their teeth every time they've seen off their comrades or civilians heading into a dungeon. They took up arms to protect, yet they're not even given the right to fight. It was frustrating."

A faint creaking sound could be heard from his fists. Yamashita looked back and forth between the general's fists and his face with concern.

"If I were ten years younger, I would have volunteered for the experiment myself. If my wounds can be healed with potions, I'd break my bones as many times as it takes."

"...Potions aren't quite that omnipotent, you know."

The Chairman shrugged his shoulders slightly, then straightened his back.

"I understand your resolve. But this is not something that can be completed overnight. You're running out of time, aren't you? In that case, you should treat this as an investment in the future and come up with a different plan."

"Time…?"

As Yamashita tilted his head, the Chairman looked at Director Akasaka.

"You haven't told him yet, my friend?"

"No. I was just about to."

"Um, what's going on…?"

"Yamashita-san."

Director Akasaka turned to face Yamashita with a serious expression.

"Right now, at the Prime Minister's Office, the Chief Cabinet Secretary is making a 'public' announcement about the cause of the dungeon closures and our future response."

"Uh, yeah. My executives are probably watching it on TV, and we're recording it, but…"

"I'll skip the fine details since they're written in this document."

With that, Director Akasaka handed a USB drive to Yamashita.

"If things continue as they are, Japan will be destroyed."

He announced the end of the country with startling casualness.

"...Are you serious?"

"Yes."

As cold sweat trickled down Yamashita's cheek, the Chairman asked him a question.

"What's this, you're not as shaken as I thought you'd be, Yamashita-kun."

"Well, yeah. If you look at the recent situation with the dungeons, that's what you'd think."

"The reasons aren't just limited to the dungeons... we'll talk about that later. To avoid this destruction, the Self-Defense Force must 'eliminate the red and white dragons' and 'dispatch forces to the other world' as quickly as possible."

"...You're not going to say they have to be done at the same time, are you?"

"I am. They need to be carried out almost in parallel, or we won't make it. In fact, for the dragon subjugation, we will likely have to request the cooperation of adventurers."

This time, Yamashita was genuinely flustered by Director Akasaka's firm declaration.

"Hey, that's impossible! No matter how you look at it…!"

"If we don't, Japan will end."

"Honestly, I'd rather just flee the country…"

The Chairman sighed under his hood, and Director Akasaka gave him a broad smile.

It was a rare, beautiful smile for the perpetually stressed man.

"Even as you say that, you and the Vice Chairman are willing to share my fate. You're both good people! I'm truly grateful for your 'friendship'!"

"Yes, friendship, my friend…!"

Police Superintendent Honda, also known as the Chairman of the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club, trembled with his shoulders hunched.

For a moment, Yamashita felt sorry for him, but he quickly decided 'he brought it on himself' and abandoned him.

"Ahem! My friendship with Director Akasaka aside, this plan to 'enter a dungeon by wearing a Golem' is still going to be difficult."

"However, 'a person wearing normal magic items will pass right through the gate.' We were only able to enter the dungeon and operate inside it when we were covered by a Golem."

General Marui's brow furrowed deeply.

It was a well-known fact among experts and Awakened that dungeons were filled with a high concentration of mana, and if a non-Awakened person entered, they would be lucky to Awaken. More likely, they would die. And the probability of the latter was generally said to be higher.

"That makes sense. A Golem is a body for a Homunculus. If the dungeon were to reject what's inside its stomach, Awakened Persons would have to leave their internal microorganisms and what-not at the gate every time. The mages of Atlantis, or whatever they were called, seem to have configured that aspect quite well."

"A while back, an SDF officer who swallowed a live snake whole entered a dungeon, and the snake wasn't ejected. I wonder if they experienced the same thing…"

"...This is the first I'm hearing of such an experiment."

"Unfortunately, it wasn't an experiment. That officer did it of his own volition."

Director Akasaka, who had been listening beside him, got a distant look in his eyes as he recalled the face of a 'certain officer' in the SDF's strongest Awakened unit.

"In any case, there isn't a one-in-ten-thousand chance that we'll be ready in time for the operation. As the chairman of the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club, I'd like to suggest that we focus on providing support with potions and the like."

"Please wait, Chairman."

Director Akasaka interrupted the Chairman with a bold smile.

"What is it, Director Akasaka? Let me tell you, I'm frustrated, too. My pride has been greatly wounded. We've already tried every idea an amateur in alchemy could come up with."

"Indeed. I am an amateur in alchemy. Frankly, I don't even understand the principles behind what's happening."

"Then—"

"However."

Director Akasaka's smile didn't falter as he faced Chairman Honda, whose scowl was palpable even under his hood.

"On the condition that copying, photographing, transcribing, and any other form of magical duplication or removal are prohibited, I would like to show you a certain document."

"What is it? Did you recover something from a dungeon?"

"Its origin is still unknown, but when you hear the name of the person who brought it, you won't be able to ignore it."

"What? ...Don't tell me."

"Yes."

At the name Director Akasaka mentioned, everyone who had been listening to his story widened their eyes.

"Professor Arisugawa Eva. It's a present from 'The Professor.'"

*

"What is this… What is this…!"

"You've gotta be kidding me! We spent so much time trying to verbalize this theory here…!"

"Amazing… It's so easy to understand. Only the Chairman and Vice Chairman properly understood this theory before…"

"Hey, go back a page! You're reading too fast!"

"Chairman, the Vice Chairman passed out from excitement!"

"Pour a potion on him! Wake him up!"

"Hey, don't take out your camera! The 'contract' will activate and it'll burn up!"

In a conference room at the base, the members of the club were swarming around a bundle of papers spread out on the table, making a racket.

Yamashita, Director Akasaka, and General Marui watched the scene from a few steps away.

"I can't believe they had something that would surprise them this much... What kind of organization is the Invisible Ninjas?"

"Who knows. It might be related to the unique skill of their ace, Yagawa Kyouta... but if we dig too deep, a powerful curse will activate. It's better not to pry."

"...'The Professor' really is terrifying, isn't she?"

Yamashita broke out in a cold sweat and tucked his tail between his legs.

They didn't know. They didn't know that this document was just an excerpt from the book in Kyouta's Arcane Gear, containing only the parts related to 'Golems.'

And they didn't know that the professor had approached Akasaka with this offer based on a simple hunch from experience—'The government will probably team up with the club for something Golem-related soon'—and was surprised when he took the bait with such incredible eagerness.

"At this point, the professor's motives don't matter. What's important is the possibility that this document can save the country."

"I understand what you mean, but I don't think it's something a General should be saying."

"Think of it as a division of labor, Akasaka-kun. I'll leave the politics and conspiracies to you and the politicians for now. I want to focus on creating a situation where our fighting men and the citizens don't die in vain."

Director Akasaka shrugged at General Marui, who was staring with gleaming eyes at the fired-up members of the club.

"Um... this is a question I should have asked earlier, but."

"What is it, Yamashita-san?"

Yamashita whispered a question to Director Akasaka.

"At this point, shouldn't we just forget about our debts to other countries and ask for help...? Japan can't handle this alone."

"It's true that mutual aid is important. However, there are two reasons why we can't do that."

"Oh…"

"The first is money."

"Money."

The word was so mundane that Yamashita couldn't help but repeat it.

"Japan is already massively in debt to other countries. Many times more than before the Day of Awakening. We have to create the advantage of being 'the first country to go to the other world,' or future negotiations will be impossible. Our country could be carved up as collateral for our debts."

"I-it's that bad…?"

"Right now, we're being treated as a 'chestnut in the fire' because of the dungeon problem, so no one has taken a knife to us yet. They're watching Japan, waiting at the dinner table for the right time to eat. All while considering who should be the one to pick us up."

After saying, 'Well, we're so in debt that it can't be helped. We can't really blame other countries,' Director Akasaka's eyes narrowed sharply.

"And more importantly… separate from those movements, the U.S. President is secretly inviting various countries to a 'football game.' The stadium, of course, is Japan."

"Huh? ...What?!"

For a moment, Yamashita tilted his head, not understanding what he meant, but when comprehension dawned, he shouted.

Football—that's what the U.S. government calls the briefcase containing what's needed to launch a nuclear missile.

Yamashita's loud shout went unheard by the excited members of the club. General Marui had his back to them, pretending not to hear.

"But why…!"

"There had been talk of it before, but President Fudge Valentine suddenly steered in that direction. The man who had been so passionate about the 'frontier' before, it's like he's a different person…"

A wrinkle formed between Director Akasaka's eyebrows.

"Until now, I thought we could negotiate through mutual interests. Even if Japan ended up taking a big loss, I thought we could get America's help. That we could let bygones be bygones. But he…"

"...I can understand now why the Chairman said he wanted to flee the country."

"Now, now, don't say that."

The director smiled and handed Yamashita a different bundle of papers from the one the club was looking at.

"Huh, this is... a list of materials?"

"These are the materials needed for the Golem experiments currently being conducted at this base, and what will likely be needed in the future."

"...These are all unpopular drop items."

"Yes. Which is why there aren't enough of them on the market."

"And it's a huge amount. Don't tell me…"

"Yes. We'd like the Walkers to collect the items on that list."

"...And the reward?"

"At the market rate."

"No, no, no, no."

Yamashita's cheeks twitched as he shook his head vigorously.

"This amount, for these materials, at the market rate? That's a huge loss. You've got to be joking, Akasaka-san. There's a reason unpopular drop items are unpopular!"

"Now, now, now."

"Now, now, now, now."

Director Akasaka and General Marui firmly gripped Yamashita's shoulders from either side.

He was a 'combat-capable Awakened.' Shaking them off would be easy in a physical sense, but difficult in a social one.

"It would be beneficial for you to remain 'friends' with us in the future, wouldn't you?"

"The Self-Defense Force would be very grateful to the Walkers for their cooperation in this matter. I can't say for certain what form that gratitude would take, but…"

"Ha, hahaha... C-come on, you two. This is a bit much."

"Please, Yamashita-san. To save this country, hm? Hm? ...Seriously, if things continue like this, the rights of Awakened Persons will become a matter for the UN, led by the U.S. You need Japan, don't you?"

"I hear discrimination against the Awakened is getting worse overseas, Guild Master Yamashita. To be a bridge between the Awakened and non-Awakened, it's best to start with Japan, I think."

"E-even so, I need the consent of my other members."

"If negotiations are necessary, I'll help! I'll make arrangements that everyone can agree to!"

"Akasaka-kun managed to negotiate with the club as well. Besides the Chairman and Vice Chairman, they were initially opposed to cooperating with the SDF, but now they're all on board."

"...Not using those negotiation skills on me, is that your way of telling me to 'become an accomplice'?"

"...Well, well."

"Well, well, well."

"D-don't mess with me! I won't give in!!"

Fsssh! Yamashita hissed, shaking off the hands of the two older men.

As the head of his organization, he couldn't agree to such a deal.

For the record, a few days later, Yamashita, the light gone from his eyes, and a beaming Akasaka would be seen meeting with the executives and branch managers of the Walkers, but we'll skip that part.