Hesta's gaze swept across the faces of the young people before her.
"It seems I hit the mark."
"Don't be so full of yourself," one of them met Hesta's eyes again. "We're just here to carry out a mission. As for why we're doing this, the higher-ups don't need to explain it to us—and how we, the entire Deep Anchor, are closely bound together... I don't need to explain that to you either."
"That's precisely what's making me a bit uncertain right now," Hesta said. "A hardline faction among you has crossed swords with me, and I nearly took the life of one of them—they know what I'm capable of. Yet tonight, they sent you four rookie reserves over... It's hard to say whose life they actually wanted."
The young people didn't understand Hesta's meaning at first, but once it dawned on them, they were gripped by a mixture of shame and anger. Yet the disparity in strength between them and their enemy was so vast right now that straightforward annoyance would only further highlight their own incompetence. Some of them turned their heads away, some let out a low sneer, and some were still silently shedding tears, acting as though they hadn't heard the conversation at all.
"Do you know who I am?" Hesta said softly.
"You're Jane Hesta," the oldest reserve answered, "the newly appointed Inspector of District 12—"
"I entered the Reserve Base in the spring of 4623, when I was eleven years old. From 4624 to today, I've participated in a total of 27 extreme-danger operations and 41 medium-danger operations, including three salvage missions," Hesta said softly. "The Quicksilver Needles who originally brought me into the base was also my later guardian. Her name is Chiba Masaki—perhaps you've heard this name too? Because her Bullet Time