Chapter 75

This not only puzzled Nana's friends, but also made the A4 Squad members who came to say hello later secretly wonder.

Why does this team leader seem so unreliable?

Nana's old friends also want to know the answer to this question.

"... So what exactly is she doing? She's so secretive."

Having finished today's training, Huang wiped the sweat from his neck with a towel. The big cat picked up the untied hair tie and began to tidy up his hair, which was also matted together with sweat.

"It's only Little Cat you said Medic is working, otherwise, after not seeing him for so many days, I would definitely report him missing."

As Huang finished speaking, the Little Cat tilted its head, sensing from its Thought Chain Ring that everyone seemed very worried. Floating in mid-air, glancing at tonight's cafeteria menu, the Little Cat pointed to its lips with its finger, then swallowed hard, recalling:

"Nana- neechan was caught by Kal'tsit- sensei before..."

"Caught red-handed? What did she do?"

"I don't know. Amiya said it's nothing, probably not important... but Nana- neechan says it's very important. She leaves very early every day, and when she gets back to her room, she's so tired that she falls asleep immediately..."

Watching the Little Cat float in the air, its hair swaying, Su Sulo put away her pen-shaped medical staff.

"Then they're doing something serious... If Chief Kal'tsit is paying attention, then it shouldn't be something as dangerous as what's happening with Ticarondo and the Qilin."

As she spoke, Su Sulo finished disinfecting Jessica's knee; this tearful cat had injured herself again during training.

Then, Su Sulo looked at Durin, whose head was nodding slowly... because this operator had a congenital morbid drowsiness, and she was even very insensitive to whether she was injured or not, as if the important human protective mechanism of 'pain' had also been defeated by sleep.

The girl, who was shorter than him, was noticeably slower to react in training, whether it was physical fitness, magic, or even in magical coordination with Rosemary.

Aside from the members of the A4 Action Group who always believed that Durin could complete the training, Su Sulo had been observing from the sidelines for the past few days with the mindset of calling for emergency assistance at any moment.

After all, when Yato handed over the team files, he mentioned that Durin had been injured without realizing it in the past, which was her first time participating in actual combat... If it weren't for the old Ranger keeping an eye on this newcomer, her sleep that time might have been her eternal slumber.

Just as Su Sulo led Durin to lie down and began checking for injuries, and the others' conversation shifted from 'What mischief has Medic been up to?' to casual chatter like 'What's for dinner tonight?', a slight tremor in the floor caused Miss Yato, who always carried her sword even in the lounge, to furrow her brow with keen awareness.

"Rhodes Island... is slowing down?"

"... Have we arrived in Kazdel?"

Black Horn's quiet grumbling about giving the main space of the lounge to the girls was met with the same respect and consideration for the women in the group. The old Ranger, who had been reading children's books with Black Horn against the small partition wall, also put down his book.

"No, judging by our sense of touch, we should be in the wilderness of Kazdel... still quite a distance from our destination... It's not that I'm overthinking it, but I remember this terrain as a vast wasteland plain... stopping here, could it be that we've been intercepted by bandits?"

Although the old man spoke with a smile, this guess startled Huang Mao Mao... The black-haired big cat didn't have the leisure for this game of charades; the Elite Operator, genuinely worried that something might have happened to Rhodes Island, immediately took out her phone and began contacting her superior, ACE, the leader of E4 Action Group in the Rhodes Island Security and Defense Department.

"... Boss, Rhodes Island has stopped. Isn't this location a bit off? There was no announcement over the loudspeaker. Is security okay?"

[Ah, Huang... don't you know?] (Sobbing)

"Know what?"

[Wasn't the person who asked you to slow down and stop the ship your superior, not the Medic from the Emergency Medical Department?]

"Medical's request to stop the ship? Why?"

Seeing Huang's straightforward, "whatever I see is what I get" mentality, Franka, who had changed into dry clothes, imitated the Little Cat by shaking her head and letting her hair sway:

"It's probably related to what the captain did before... With her abilities, ordinary things probably wouldn't require her to spend this much time..." (Jiu)

"The question now is whether we should go over there. Since Mr. ACE said Captain Medic requested the ship to stop, he must be planning something, right? Should we call and ask if they need our help?"

Hearing Liskarm's words, Folinic took out the Terminal that had made the call and waved it in front of everyone. This 'assistant,' although mostly as quiet as a potted plant with a low profile, was clearly quite competent as an assistant, serving as a bridge between the team members and the captain.

The lounge fell silent instantly. After a few beeps, the call connected quickly, and everyone heard that long-unheard voice... the weariness seemed to travel through radio waves and sound waves; Medic's slightly hoarse voice blended seamlessly with the howling wind outside the ship.

[Folinic?] Three

"It's me, senior... Um, Senior ACE said it was you who ordered the ship to stop..."

[It's me... Hmm, I think I know why you guys called me... Although Kal'tsit and her men, along with myself, can basically handle it, this matter concerns everyone. If you're willing to wait for the next lunch at the cafeteria just for this 'airport pickup,' then come to the Second Hangar... Our partner is arriving.]

"Partner..."

"Picking up from the airport..."

While everyone was still confused, the Little Cat suddenly said with its eyes shining:

"Car!"

[Ah... um... yes, the car that took us to find the Little Cat, it's back.]

Hanging up the phone, Nana reached out and tucked the strands of hair that had been blown by the wind behind her ear, looking towards the horizon... The main reason she didn't look at her boss, Feline, who was like a green bonsai plant beside her, was that she was also occasionally hallucinating '16 million'.

Good heavens, 16 million is not a huge number in world-class companies or social organizations. For example, the cost of training, deployment, and death benefits for each Columbia professional soldier, who can use power armor, is basically about 2 million Columbian Dollar.

As both currencies are based on the gold standard, the Columbian Dollar and the Lungmen Dollar have maintained a nearly 1:1 stable exchange rate for a long time... So, 16 million Lungmen Dollar is equivalent to the price of eight elite Columbia soldiers.

However, 'value' and 'price' are two different things, and life is not an investment that can be completed with money... If it were true that as long as you spend 16 million Lungmen Dollar, you could reliably train eight high-level agents like Nana, then Kal'tsit would probably be squatting in Columbia all day long shouting 'shut up and take my money' to those companies.

In fact, there aren't many people in this land who are worth investing two million... but machines costing thirty million are starting to appear in sight.

Kal'tsit wasn't bothered by Nana suddenly adding a large bill to her account. Sixteen million might not be a small amount for Rhodes Island, but it wasn't worth nagging about for so many days...

Kal'tsit rarely saw Nana like this. Her reaction—her ears and tail stiffening and standing up high at the same time when she heard the price—was simply too amusing.

Kal'tsit only suggested a few possibilities, and the kid immediately jumped right in and started trying his best to reduce the cost of using that car for Rhodes Island... His simple, hardworking spirit was quite endearing.

Watching Nana frantically contact the Eternal Constant and try to obtain internal discounts using her high-level agent privileges these past few days, Kal'tsit found the concept of 'interesting' quite rare once again.

But if you had known this would happen, you idiot, you should have stopped immediately after buying the insulation layer... If we continue with this criticism, it seems we'll have to go back to the issue of how consumerism in Columbia is harmful.

Did Nana's efforts pay off?

Those familiar with Miss Assassin's style probably already know the answer from Nana's current tired appearance.

Contrary to Nana's intuition that her country's civil servants would spend less money repairing national assets, her agent pointed out something completely counterintuitive to Nana —the cost of repairing and modifying the car in the name of the Security Bureau was actually higher than that in the name of Rhodes Island.

The reason is simple: Rhodes Island can leverage the Contingency Contract and the previous incident in Ticarondo to gain favorable international public opinion and obtain discounts from those companies... They will use these discounts to tie themselves to Rhodes Island's current glamorous public opinion chariot.

Therefore, both logically and emotionally, Rhodes Island's current prices are already discounted... but this is something the Security Bureau shouldn't even consider.

The Polar Exploration Vehicle is essentially a project similar to a special small Landship. The research and development costs, when factored into the selling price and modification projects, inevitably mean it won't be cheap... After learning that TDD's 'Mechanical Hunter Carrier' cost as much as 40 million Columbian Dollar per vehicle, Nana stopped complaining to her agent about why it was so expensive to buy equipment from her own company.

Even now, she can still hear the Echo of Kal'tsit kicking open her office door and uttering the furious "Sixteen Million" from time to time.

Nana just wants to know if, after an agent has a uniform custom-made for them, their superiors also get their doors kicked open and yelled at, "Your employee's uniform costs 600,000? You're out of your mind!"

In the past Nana would just ask her manager for whatever she wanted... The range of items was from potted plant fertilizer to suits and uniforms made of various fabrics to all kinds of weapons. Because Nana usually made these requests after completing a mission, Nana didn't even know that her life was actually quite luxurious in the eyes of others in the Security Bureau.

The fact that she is actually a decadent and dissolute person has made Nana somewhat depressed recently, which is why Nana has been working so hard lately.

Kal'tsit had no intention of recovering the 16 million in renovation costs, and all Nana could do was urge the Columbia side to handle the matter properly.

I wonder what it's like for Raythean Industries to have such a demanding client like Nana, but in any case, Nana's tormenting behavior, which is also tormenting herself, will end today.

In the distance, a massive, Columbia -marked flying wing transport plane with a wingspan of over a thousand meters, used to transport parts for Landship, slowly landed... As it flew over the Landship, the instantaneous contrast between the two made Rhodes Island look like nothing more than a cub under the wings of the other.

But transport planes aren't proper Landship, and to fly, they can't be packed with cargo like Landship... Carbon and high-strength graphene materials make up the body of this large bird, specially designed for transporting valuable goods, as its landing gear, composed of dozens of huge wheels, leaves deep marks on the wilderness of Kazdel... To deliver these 16 million modified items, the Columbia dispatched a fleet of aircraft that might be more than ten times more expensive than the car.

This is why Nana needed Rhodes Island to stop in the wilderness of Kazdel... After all, if they continued deeper into the wilderness and someone saw Columbia's strategic transport plane landing in Kazdel, it would be impossible to explain themselves.

The people inside the aircraft seemed to be fully aware of this.

As the hatch at the tail of the giant bird opened, the pilot took the cargo manifest and found Nana was quite conspicuous because of the group of people gathered together... As for why it was Nana and not Kal'tsit, it was probably because Nana was so impressed by the grandeur of the giant man-made object that she unconsciously took a few steps forward and was perceived as the leader.

In any case, the pilot, who had no Columbia military insignia on him but whose every move exuded the Colombian Military air, quickly completed the handover with Nana.

"Sir, we've delivered the goods. We've fulfilled our mission."

"Thank you for your hard work... That's it..."

Following Nana's wistful gaze, and guided by the tiny but energetically waved glow sticks of the staff members, the Exploration Vehicle, about ten meters wide and tall, slowly drove out...

"... Three years ago, whether boarding or using the vehicle, it was either obscured by the hangar's stairs or its presence was too obscured by the brightness of the Catastrophe Cloud... Now, looking at it from this angle, we realize that this vehicle is such a massive behemoth."

"After all, this is Exploration Vehicle that can speed across the deserts of the far north, including the Yinfey Icefield and the Scorched Windlands... My colleagues still prefer to call it the 'Landship'."

As he spoke, he handed Nana a thick stack of operation manuals, and the pilot, who appeared to be a military aircraft pilot, quickly said as if he were in a hurry to get off work:

"This 'Base Walker' has been fully modified, Originium Steam fuel tank and other consumables for the vehicle, such as antifreeze, should be fully loaded... at least that's what the people from Thor's side told us. It's ready for use at any time..."

"Also, the officer codenamed 'Puff' refilled your vehicle with supplies, although I suspect he might have been taking the opportunity to destroy the battlefield rations that the army vehemently hates, but I have no proof... In any case, you might need to check the warehouse again and decide whether it would be better to add fresh food to the cold storage."

"Finally, the weaponry and equipment—two small turrets and the related spell keys—are all recorded in the documentation... Enjoy your hunt, we won't disturb your preparations any longer."

With a slight bow in salute, the pilot immediately departed, and the well-trained personnel around the vehicle quickly returned to the cabin... The giant bird, large enough to blot out the sky, took off again and turned with the rocket thrusters on its side. Soon, the abrupt shadow that had previously loomed over the land was replaced by Exploration Vehicle with the paint still on.

While Nana was still marveling at the magnificence of the enormous man-made structure, the group of people she hadn't seen for a while suddenly appeared behind Nana... As for Kal'tsit, after seeing Nana sign for the vehicle, she took Amiya back to Rhodes Island.

"It seems... Nana, you're rushing the project really fast. The shop that's refurbishing our vehicles hasn't even removed the stickers yet."

"... Is this really our old car? Are there some extra things on it?"

"Car! Sister Nana, aren't we going over? Can we go up?"

Seeing her teammates around her reminiscing about the past while commenting on each other's work, Nana couldn't help but show a slightly nostalgic expression... But soon, Folinic's words reminded Nana that the Rhodes Island hangar had been cleared out half an hour ago. If they didn't drive the car back soon, Nana would most likely start grumbling about the resentment of those who worked overtime.

"So... Liskarm? Do you remember how to drive this car?"

"No problem, Franka, Huang... come and help me with the Scar-Dissolving Miracle Doctor (Part 3)."

"Like before, right?"

As the trio of veteran drivers approached the Exploration Vehicle with nostalgic smiles, Nana glanced at the A4 Action Group members, whose mouths had been agape since they saw the vehicle, unable to utter a word:

"This is the campsite I'm entrusting you all with its maintenance and operation. We'll likely be staying here for quite some time... Any difficulties? If there's anything we need, please let us know before we depart... Of course, we'll have some time to troubleshoot afterwards, so don't be too nervous."

Although Nana said that, Black Horn, seeing Yato speechless with his mouth Yato due to the exceptionally good mission environment, gave Nana a thumbs up on behalf of his captain:

"I think it's fine, there's no problem!"

"Although I've gotten used to life on Rhodes Island, this is my first time riding on a small special-purpose ship... Haha, I'm starting to get curious... I've heard that the living environment of the Exploration Vehicle is better than that of the main ship of Rhodes Island. I wonder if that's true."

The Ranger's slightly polite remark seemed to remind Durin, the Durin girl looking at the enormous vehicle uneasily for a long time... Was it because she had never maintained such a large piece of equipment before? Nana could sense the blonde girl's unease, so as she handed the maintenance manual to Durin, Nana also bent down slightly and whispered, affectionately but with a hint of worry, "..."

"I know you're not feeling well, so if you're really not feeling well, you can tell someone else about the problem, and we can all work together to solve it... Ah, maybe I'll get complaints from Huang for saying this, but... well, I really do hope that we can overcome this difficulty together as much as possible."

"... So, if necessary, you'll still act independently, right?"

Su Sulo, who was cuddling the Little Cat, suddenly said something that made Nana blush. Afterwards, the assassin had to start repeating, "It's for the sake of the collective," and "By combining strength and various factors, only I can complete the mission with the least cost." To those who don't understand, this might sound funny, but those who know Nana well know that Nana only considers herself as a cost in the calculation.

Durin only knew that the girl in front of him Feline, had made outstanding contributions to Rhodes Island, but Durin didn't know how she had done it or why everyone was so worried about her.

She wasn't the type to gossip and delve into everything around her... Her constitution, even more fragile than that of the average Durin, left her with little time to pay attention to her surroundings. Although she appeared to be sleeping, this was actually a Durin physical defect, a congenital disease...

For this blonde girl, a good partner is one who doesn't look down on her at work.

Durin smiled absently, and after realizing he was smiling, he noticed that Yato and the Ranger were both looking at him... their eyes seemed to be asking if he could accept the mission.

In response, the young girl from Durin slightly raised her head and glanced at the enormous Exploration Vehicle that had just started up and was covered in spray paint and stickers as it drove overhead:

"Hmm~ No problem..."

Just as they opened their mouths, the vehicle, as tall as a building, suddenly started and drove towards Rhodes Island. The tall chassis certainly wouldn't hurt the people on the ground, but the huge dust kicked up by the wheels immediately engulfed everyone.

Just as Yato instinctively wanted to help Durin, he discovered that the Medic captain, who had been absent from training and meetings and had been missing almost everything lately, reacted even faster than him and picked Durin up first. She used her clothes and body to create a space where the frail girl could breathe.

Just like habitually picking up Little Cat, Nana instantly forgot that she was holding an adult... Durin, on the other hand, didn't realize the embarrassing sight of his ears turning bright red.

"Alright, let's go back to Rhodes Island first. We can talk about it there."

Um... could you put me down first?

Durin rested his head against the other's chest, but ultimately didn't say those words.

Why couldn't I refuse properly?

For now, let's just use the excuse that Medic smells like Yato to get by.

The blonde girl remained in that position as she drifted off to sleep...

P. S.: However, a person's chest can't be this perky when lying down... Durin probably stuffed some kind of steamed bun or other food supplies into his chest. (laughs)

PS2: A tiny bit of fast forward... We're currently in Kazdel, Nana is about to head to the Snowfield Force after meeting with the Doctor...

3rd This Land: 076 Arrival in Kazdel

As the massive Exploration Vehicle entered Rhodes Island, Nana's team finally made way for the Instructor Corps' specialized training grounds for practical combat drills...

Rhodes Island is now getting closer to Kazdel every minute. In order to help everyone quickly get along with each other, become familiar with the equipment, and cooperate in maintenance training, Nana simply had the two groups live in the car.

Compared to three years ago, when Nana and the others were on high alert during the Catastrophes codenamed Black Edge, and their most restful time consisted of taking naps while strapped to their seats with seatbelts, Nana and the others are now finally experiencing the comfortable living space of the Polar Exploration Vehicle.