Kitty Killer Isn't Very Cold

She pressed the integrated-function activation button on her watch Terminal. As dark golden lines flashed across her combat suit, Kitty Killer would now register as "nonexistent" to all radar and detection-type Originium Arts.

All preparations were complete. The mission began.

As the shrill roar of propellers passed overhead, a lookout on the Blacksteel Landship's deck glanced at the Columbia government aircraft signal on the communicator and curled his lip.

"Government departments think they're so great... They insist on passing through the Landship's air-defense perimeter. If it weren't a government aircraft, I'd have the action team shoot it down..."

[Control tower, report the situation!]

As an elderly man's booming voice sounded over the broadcast, the control tower employee who had just been muttering complaints immediately straightened up. Though no one could see him, he rose to his feet, saluted, and reported:

"Report! It is a government aircraft. It has shown no signs of stopping or slowing down and is heading directly toward Ticarondo!"

[...Ticarondo, is it? Understood. Continue monitoring, especially the sky... Ship Affairs Department personnel, keep watch on Catastrophe information. Notify me immediately of any developments!]

[Yes, sir--!!]

Listening to the spirited response over the broadcast, members of Blacksteel's biochemical protection specialist team were on standby in the lounge. Liskarm held a book while Franka lay across Liskarm's lap, playing Ursus Blocks on her phone Terminal.

"They're really fired up, aren't they? Liskarm, did you hear? That old captain refused to enter the Catastrophe zone now. It sounds like the boss had a fight with him over it... What do you think?"

"I think while sitting down."

With a snap, Liskarm closed her book and awkwardly tried to shove away the shameless fat fox clinging to her lap. But someone with pride could never beat someone without it. Franka remained comfortably sprawled across her companion.

Seeing that her protest had no effect, Liskarm could only sigh.

"Though this means missing the golden window for rescue, it is good for us, isn't it... After all, Franka, you inhaled Originium Dust in Ironforge City not long ago. Not entering the Catastrophe zone now would be good for you."

At the mention of the Ironforge City incident, Franka's expression stiffened. But the fox lady quickly recovered, lazily leaned against Liskarm, and yawned.

"So compared to disaster relief and our unit's reputation, I'm more important to you, Liskarm~ That makes me so happy..."

"Don't joke about that. You can see perfectly well how people with Oripathy get excluded in the unit... It's just that we don't know what our partners will think of us if the captain does this."

"Oh, they're called... Rhodes Island?"

"...How rare. Franka, you're actually remembering information about our partners..."

"No... I just happened to see it."

Following the direction of the fox's finger, Liskarm saw new words on the lounge's navigation status board: "Rhodes Island personnel awaiting boarding."

"Ah... they're here... Franka, let's go receive them."

Just as Liskarm stood up, Franka suddenly froze.

"Franka?"

"...Ah, it's nothing. I thought something just darted past outside the window..."

"Outside the window? What floor do you think we're on aboard a Landship... And we're moving right now."

"...True."

Franka withdrew her gaze, picked up her sword, and followed her partner.

"...Experts on Oripathy, huh..."

SP: Sob, sob, Little Horse

"Sob... Little Horse?"

PS2: My computer keeps crashing, and my train of thought keeps getting interrupted. The memory won't arrive until this afternoon, or perhaps even later... This is painful...

But the new memory sticks were supported by a reader... Thank you, Electronic Succubus K6, for your generous support... Once I install them, let's celebrate with a ten-thousand-word update if possible.

The Mystery of the 2nd Medic: 042 Perspective: Rhodes Island

The Blacksteel Worldwide Landship had originally been a decommissioned Victoria second-class armored battleship.

As a product of the old "all-round protection" doctrine, its walking mechanisms still retained their external streamlined armored domes, as well as the conical ram that best embodied the spirit of old-era Landships.

Although Victoria had removed its main bow gun before selling it to Blacksteel, to prevent it from potentially threatening Victoria's mobile cities, the twelve Victoria-made small-caliber secondary guns along its sides had been retained through its captain's negotiations... These eighteen-inch twin-purpose gun mounts still carried out vital duties today, including close-range defense, air defense, and fire support for friendly personnel in war-torn regions.

With the support of this colossal vessel, two thousand meters long and six hundred meters high, Blacksteel Worldwide had risen above the many mercenary groups and now occupied an international niche far beyond that of its competitors.

It could be said that this ship and its captain were the guardians who had protected Blacksteel and its members all the way to this day.

Through the front windshield, ignoring the dust kicked up by the surrounding walking mechanisms, Su Sulo watched the immense battleship open its lower platform and lower its boarding ramp... Her expression was conflicted.

Having seen this land-going machine, already nearly the size of a mobile city, she had grown increasingly unsure about the task Medic had entrusted to her.

After all, from a doctor's perspective, the size of a Landship should directly reflect the strength of the organization behind it... If Closure had been here, she would surely have scoffed at the old thing before them, which required more than five hundred people's careful maintenance just to remain barely operational. Then she would have thoroughly explained to Su Sulo what automation was, what informatization was, and the difference between a ship operated by five people and one requiring five hundred.

But unfortunately, with no engineering personnel present, the Rhodes Island squad seemed to have had its momentum crushed by the Blacksteel Landship's sheer scale the moment they met... Much like how every mission was bound to succeed whenever the Blacksteel Landship's captain ordered the vessel into a disputed region.

In that silent atmosphere, Blaze stepped on the accelerator. The little vehicle bearing the Rhodes Island emblem, which could only barely ensure supplies while traveling through the wilderness along mobile city routes, charged up the boarding ramp.

Like an enormous whale opening its mouth to swallow a shrimp, the entire process was completely obscured by the dust from the walking mechanisms... Rhodes Island had no presence at all.

However, once the vehicle entered the battleship and the gates closed again, shutting out the deafening noise... the pressure of the gigantic vessel vanished. Looking at the smiling PMCs before them, everyone from Rhodes Island finally remembered that they stood aboard a partner's Landship. The two sides were not enemies by nature.

"Welcome, everyone from Rhodes Island. Welcome to Blacksteel Worldwide... Boarding while the Landship is in motion must have been difficult. To apologize, we will have your vehicle cleaned... Free of charge... May I ask if there are five of you in total?"

"Ah... yes... five..."

Before Su Sulo could react and found herself being led along, the boarding area gates were violently pushed open.

"Hey, hey, hey, where are you taking my partners?~"

Seeing the two women stride over, the woman who had just taken out the security inspection checklist helplessly adjusted her glasses.

"...Franka, the boarding procedures aren't finished... No, they haven't even begun! Can't you wait?"

"How can BPRS work wait... Besides, why do you think they rushed all the way here? They boarded even though we didn't stop the ship. Doesn't your Ship Affairs Department have any idea what that means? Given our position, it's far too cold-hearted to be this rigidly bureaucratic..."

Listening to the fox lady's argument, the bespectacled Blacksteel woman troubledly rubbed the corner of her eye. Fortunately, the small Vouivre who had followed behind came to her rescue.

"If it's just the boarding procedures, it's fine to wait a little... Franka."

At Liskarm's words, Franka raised an eyebrow but said nothing more. Yet through their partnership's tacit understanding, Liskarm followed Franka's gaze and saw the Ship Affairs personnel closing several switches... At that moment, Liskarm suddenly understood Franka's look: They'd better only be handling procedures.

Clearly, the Ship Affairs Department had intended to conduct a thorough inspection of Rhodes Island's boarding. By procedure, that was normal. They were traveling within a Catastrophe zone, and conducting comprehensive inspections of outsiders was part of their job.

But... the Blacksteel Landship was currently carrying out the captain's orders, and everyone knew why Rhodes Island had come. If the boarding inspection procedures became complicated, they could indeed delay matters, perhaps even prevent the Rhodes Island group from seeing the captain himself for three days.

But doing that would be a devastating disaster for Blacksteel's reputation.

The BPRS members had stepped in precisely to prevent such a situation... In fact, it seemed this had become more than merely office politics between BPRS and the Captain's Faction aboard the Landship. It also involved the complicated question of whether the Contingency Contract would be honored...

Although the Ship Affairs Department itself stood with the captain's side, matters had gone beyond an ordinary factional game. Franka's words ultimately made the woman sigh and wave her hand, simplifying the long list of procedures into the abbreviated process appropriate for a partner.

After simply registering their names and affiliations and issuing visitor electronic keys for the ship, Franka replaced the original Ship Affairs personnel as their guide.

"Then~ Liskarm and I, members of BPRS, will first lead everyone to the lounge. This way, please..."

Watching the inscrutable fox and her model-student follower lead the guests into the Landship, several Ship Affairs Department members looked at their captain-supporting team leader and scratched their heads.

"...So, are we really going to wash their car?"

"Yes. They may have come to give the captain trouble, but they are still our partners... And they made a special trip through all that dust, driving here from the outskirts of the Catastrophe..."

Looking disdainfully at the dirt coating the Rhodes Island emblem, the bespectacled woman helplessly put on a dustproof respirator.

"We can't let a vehicle that may be contaminated with Originium Dust stay here. Cleaning incoming vehicles is also our job. It has nothing to do with personal positions."

As she spoke, the isolation barriers unfolded and high-pressure water cannons activated.

They decided to do their own jobs properly first.

"Thank you both so much just now. Otherwise, things would have suddenly become troublesome..."

"Ahaha~ We're the ones dealing with troublesome matters here. Your purpose is clear enough, isn't it... It's different on our side. Everyone is still arguing over whether we should go to Ticarondo."

As they discussed the heavy subject, Su Sulo tilted her head at the fellow Liberi before her... Was it her imagination, or did Franka seem to have an inexplicable fondness for them?

Before Su Sulo could think further, Franka had already led everyone to an office marked BPRS—Biochemical Protection Response Specialists.

"Doctor Franlo is waiting for you... Hello~ Jennifer, can we come in?"

For some reason, Su Sulo thought she heard a sigh from behind the door before an answer of "Come in" followed.

Entering what should have been BPRS's exclusive office, Su Sulo curiously looked around. It did not seem much different from Medic's office... If she had to name a difference, it was much larger, with huge portholes and excellent lighting.

The director of Blacksteel's biochemical defense specialist office, a middle-aged Liberi woman in a white lab coat who looked more like a researcher than a PMC, sat behind the desk.

"Franka, Liskarm, thank you for bringing our guests here... Let me introduce myself. I am Jenny Franlo, Blacksteel's primary representative responsible for the cooperation agreement with Doctor Kal'tsit of Rhodes Island... You have all come from far away. Thank you for your hard work."

Looking at the exceptionally capable woman before her, Su Sulo slightly adjusted her state of mind and decided to get straight to the point.

"...I assume you know why we're here."

"Of course. Blacksteel is still arguing endlessly over Ticarondo... Everyone knows what refusing the Contingency Contract means, but... there are also many people unwilling to put themselves in danger."

As she spoke, Jenny pulled out half a cigarette from an ashtray full of cigarette butts and lit it. She had clearly been troubled by this for a long time.

"Being a PMC is only a job. There is no need to throw your life away for it... I can understand people who think that way, but when that thinking gathers under one banner and overwhelms Blacksteel's true nature, turning a military organization into something like rival warlord camps facing off internally... things become very troublesome.

"The captain knows this perfectly well, yet he still did it..."

"Is it because he truly wants to split Blacksteel apart?"

At Blaze's speculation, which sounded rather conspiratorial, Jenny gave a bitter smile.

"Quite the opposite... He simply believes that taking action could inflict severe losses on the Blacksteel Landship, which is why he refuses to act."

Jenny tilted her head back in thought for a moment before pointing toward the ceiling.

"Do you know the current assessment of the Ticarondo Catastrophe? Unlike the snowstorm ten years ago, Ticarondo is facing an extremely rare yet highly destructive Active Originium Disaster this year... Landships were designed specifically to combat Catastrophes. Their bow rams can break through glaciers, their broad tracks can cross ground fissures, and this two-thousand-meter Landship can travel through nearly every kind of harsh environment... except an Active Originium Catastrophe.

"What it must fight is not something 'natural' like gale-force winds or lightning... but Originium itself.

"You at Rhodes Island are experts on Oripathy, so you naturally know the violence of an acute Oripathy flare-up, when Originium inside a patient multiplies and gathers until it bursts through the body's surface... Scale that up proportionately, and you can imagine how terrifying an Active Originium Disaster is.

"First, Originium Dust in the air absorbs energy and lowers the temperature. Negative pressure forms terrifying storms. Then the activated Originium multiplies and gathers high in the air, turning from dust into fist-sized chunks of raw ore that fall from the sky in flashes of yellow light.

"When unstable Originium hits the ground, it explodes immediately. The impact and intense heat stimulate the Originium Dust to absorb energy again, repeating the process... until the dust gathers into huge rocks that no longer remain active.

"But that final wave is the most dangerous. Originium Crystals more than a hundred meters, even a thousand meters in size, fall from the sky... With a total weight that may exceed ten thousand tons, they crash through over a thousand meters of air and strike the ground... or the ship itself.

"Even the sturdiest mobile city might suffer severe damage in such a Catastrophe, let alone the Blacksteel Landship, which cannot move quickly and is fundamentally just a retired warship... That is the captain's main reason for firmly opposing entry into the area during the dangerous period.

"After all, if the vessel is hit within the Catastrophe zone, not only Blacksteel itself but also Contingency Contract personnel and supplies, allied forces, and valuable employees could all be lost in the accident... Forget subsequent aid. Blacksteel itself would probably go bankrupt and disappear because of this incident."

At that, Jenny looked toward the silent Su Sulo.

"And as far as I know, Rhodes Island's attitude toward its own Landship is the same as the captain's... When there were only signs of the Catastrophe, Rhodes Island had already left Ticarondo. 'What right do people like that have to demand we put ourselves in danger?' That is also the refusal faction's main excuse."

"...That..."

Su Sulo could not say it. She could not give a reason, as a third party, to demand that Blacksteel sacrifice itself for them... After all, Kitty Killer and her manager had already reached a conclusion on a similar question. Any argument that demanded Blacksteel give itself up for others from the standpoint of a third party was untenable.

As an upright physician, Su Sulo naturally could not spend others' generosity... But thinking of her companions still at the center of the Catastrophe, thinking of Amiya and Little Cat, Su Sulo still could not give up.

Su Sulo awkwardly stroked her chest before lifting her head with renewed determination.

"...The captain's choice is the same as that of our own ship management personnel. It is only natural... Before leaving, our team leader also said that it would be fine to wait for the Catastrophe's intensity to lessen before entering the scene with this ship... But... but even if we have no right to ask, I still want to speak properly with that captain... We all know that waiting outside may be the correct choice now, but if entering earlier means reuniting with our companions sooner and doing something sooner, even if it is only saving one more innocent life... then even if we must pay a considerable price, I think I would accept it."

"You mean that if the discussion does not go well, you will leave this ship first and charge directly into the Catastrophe?"

"...I don't know... I haven't discussed this idea with my companions yet... Perhaps some of them will disagree, but that's fine. I don't think that way of thinking is wrong... At that time, I may leave those unwilling to come with me aboard this ship... If you are willing to help look after them, that would be a great help."

Seeing Su Sulo speak more and more smoothly, and seeing that she did not appear to be lying, Blaze tightened the weapon case on her body. She had wanted to say something... but after considering it, she kept quiet.

In any case, she certainly would not be among those staying behind.

As for the newcomer who had not even signed a work contract... perhaps she really would need this partner's care.

Just as Blaze nodded in agreement, though she did not know whether she agreed with her own thoughts or Su Sulo's, Meli nervously clutched the ends of her hair.

"I-I-I-I-I'll follow you too!"

"Meli?!"

"...Of course..."

Ignoring her companions' strange reactions, the girl with peach-gold hair clenched her fists. "Who needs a reason to help others!? If there is anything I can do, please give me the order! Even if I'm not yet an official Rhodes Island employee, I'm still a member of the Leithanien Sled Rescue Team, so don't underestimate me!"

As Su Sulo suddenly froze, the two white-haired boys exchanged helpless looks, then stepped forward as well: