Chapter 831

"Looks like the friends over there have really gotten into their activities in this world."

"Since there's already a precedent. But of course, I didn’t just accept it right away. The reason I gathered the three of you here today is to ask about that..."

"Isn’t your appearance a bit too relaxed for coming to ask questions?"

"Ah, you really have dug yourself in, haven’t you?"

...Is that so?

Anyway, the reason the three of them were speaking like that wasn’t without reason. It was because my body had taken quite a...strange form right now. It wasn’t entirely voluntary, though. Three Mecha-Biyams were sticking to my limbs like human hand warmers.

Originally, we were supposed to discuss how the third Biyam raid was going to proceed, but unfortunately, it seemed that these three were more focused on how to keep me around longer than anything else.

The result of that was... what my acquaintances were calling "digging in" and my current state.

Aside from that, normally I would’ve just gone along with the "when there's nothing, make do with what you have" mentality, but recently, that hadn’t been the case. The involvement of my acquaintances in the combat had become quite important.

Of course, even if I weren’t there, we could carry out the operation relatively smoothly. A prime example being the last time with the Cartographer. Thanks to the training I gave them, even though I couldn’t follow through to the end of the mission, we still managed to achieve the result of destroying the Shield Generator.

However, despite that fact, as I mentioned last time, the presence of the manifested acquaintances still greatly influences the operation. Especially in situations like the third youngest raid, where we couldn’t easily twist the operation structure by ourselves.

Because I knew that better than anyone, my acquaintances hadn’t rejected the proposal and were listening carefully to my words.

"Since you’ve gathered not just one, but all three of us, I suppose Logan and Olivia must also show interest. At least that's the most surprising part."

"...I’m not sure what the version of me from that world was thinking, but it might not be completely incomprehensible. Didn’t we briefly visit Disney World last time? You all know how... boring that place was, for many reasons."

"That’s too much, Logan. The main entity and the second and third of you toured and even explained the surroundings, and I didn’t think it was that boring."

"You assholes, that’s not what I meant."

Seeing Logan flustered, this is a rare sight.

Everyone, except for the Mecha-Biyams and the polar bear, laughed, but I understood what they meant. The reason I had shown my face to the New York acquaintances was because I thought they’d be bored over there.

Infrastructure and entertainment had all disappeared. Moreover, unlike here, the shadows in their Savannah were handling almost all of the aftermath, so for the operators who had become addicted to the dopamine and adrenaline that combat brings, it was probably a hard time.

Even though they were receiving mental support from the Icarus Gear.

"If you’re asking us like this, it seems there’s more to it than just an ethical consideration. If we refuse, they’ll probably accept it without much objection."

"...That’s true. Though we said that, in the end, the initiative is in your hands. If there's no mutual agreement, they wouldn’t push it."

"Hmm."

They all sank deeper into their chairs, thinking.

It didn’t take long for the conversation to return to the point.

"When I first regained my memories, I never thought it would come to this. Maybe I should have chosen a more leisurely approach, rather than getting back into the unit like the youngest, taking things more relaxed."

"Well, that’s hard to say. Isn’t it because the pie the youngest is holding is too tempting, causing confusion?"

"...That might be true."

Logan, who had slumped onto the bed, added.

"Forget it. I keep thinking this way and that, but I’ve already made my choice. This time, I’ll leave it to them. I’ll be fine watching the video next weekend to see what happened."

"Hmm."

"And besides, at the end of this year, I might actually go and visit the youngest, so I’m fine with that."

"...Well, it’s not that different here. December is coming soon, and there’s a lot of stuff I need to wrap up. If I work through two weeks of late nights, I should have some time to meet the youngest at the end of the year... This issue is also something I’m leaving out of my thoughts."

"Olivia too?"

A brief silence.

Then laughter followed.

"I’ve got something to do in Paris in January. I’m focusing on that for this year. Though, I’ll stop by to see you before then, but it’s the same. This time, I’ll give them the chance. I’ll buy them something nice. Let them see the outside world."

"...Even though you’ll buy them something nice, going out is going to be difficult."

"Haha, that’s not my concern. You all have Icarus Gear, right? Take care of it yourself."

This guy, seriously.

If that cheeky owl was by my side, I would’ve poked him with that giant middle finger of his to punish him, but unfortunately, I couldn’t do that, and Olivia, knowing that, was giggling with her arm propped up beneath her chest.

Anyway, having received the approval from the three, this meant that soon, I would have to take the New York acquaintances to my house. Of course, I planned to bring the Mecha-Biyams as well. After spending so much time with these Mecha-kiddos, if I didn’t take them along, they’d surely pout.

The three, already aware of this, left a parting remark just before leaving the video call.

"Before doing the third raid, you better not destroy your house."

"Well, if you destroy it, that would be fun in its own way."

"If anything breaks, let me know. I’ve got a friend who’s an interior designer; I’ve got their business card."

"Are you guys just going to leave, spewing curses?"

These guys, seriously.

The next time I meet them in the States, I swear I’ll get back at them. While swearing, I shifted my focus to the pre-published raid map structure to calm my rising anger.

Whether I should be thankful for this, I’m not sure, but honestly, as I mentioned last time, the structure wasn’t much different from Operation Ouroboros. The plan was to destroy the four towers that supplied power to the mech, then defeat the weakened third.

The only difference was that while Operation Ouroboros was a linear structure, here, it wasn’t. We could decide where and how much of a force to place at each point before the operation started.

'The best choice here would be for me, Logan, Lorentina, and Olivia to each take a squad leader role.'

Five people per squad, twenty in total.

Considering that the time given for the third raid isn’t that much, we had to destroy all the towers as quickly as possible and shove a nuclear hammer into Mav’s skull.

Mav, squirming on my abdomen, seemed anxious, but I ignored it and quickly messaged the three who would participate in the raid. While those three hadn’t led users in breaking towers during Operation Ouroboros... well, they’d have plenty of chances to get experience.

Unlike the "Destruction Difficulty" of Operation Ouroboros, which was impossible to retry, this time, with infinite retries, everything would likely be figured out within a day or two. Of course, unlike the manifested people like me, we’d have to consider the stamina of the others, but...

Well, we could just keep swapping them out.

How much time passed?

An uninvited guest arrived.

—CRASH!

"Uwah…!"

"Youngest! What are you doing here! Get us over there right now!"

"How can you be idly playing with the Mecha-youngest here? We’ve been agonizing for hours about what gift to bring for the housewarming!"

"If you’re here, that means it’s fine to drag us over, right? Get up!"

"Ugh, no violence—!"

Of course, it had no effect.

More frightening than manifested people are more manifested people.