Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 3 - Chapter 2.4

4 

Settling the frontier means a struggle against the natives. 

Watching the forest from atop the construction site, I shout a warning. 

“Alice! We’ve got more barbarians incoming!” 

It’s one day later. 

Although we’re eager to see an end to our camping-out status as quickly as possible and working on building an impenetrable fortress, we encounter a group of barbarians different from the Bashin tribe. 

“Doesn’t look like they’re armed, and given their numbers, I’m sure Snow and Rose can handle them. Six, let’s have you stay on watch duty. If we stop every time we’re attacked, we’re never going to finish this damn thing.” 

Alice says this from the operator chair of a crane, moving construction equipment into piles. 

The group before us have tattoo-covered bodies, each member wearing only a wooden mask and a loin cloth. 

Since our cross-dressing Chimera exploded the other day, we’re down to four people at the construction site. 

Still, this batch of barbarians doesn’t appear to have any obvious weapons. 

Like Alice said, Snow and Rose should be enough to chase them off. 

As I’m pondering this, Snow, wearing a hard hat and wielding a pickax, looks up and comments, “Wait, that’s the Hiiragi tribe! They value harmony and coexistence with nature! They use odd powers that are different from magic! They’re not very dangerous to people, but they’re extremely aggressive against invasive structures!” 

“What do you mean ‘odd powers’? Everyone on this planet is weird, if you ask me… Eh? What are they doing?” 

It doesn’t look like the tribesmen are going to attack the fortress I’m standing on. They’re just observing us from a distance. 

Retrieving drums and flutes, they then begin dancing to a mysterious tune. 

“What should we do, Alice? They’ve started dancing. Should I go with the flow and join in?” 

“What good would that do? Still, what are they doing? …Wait, there’s an excessive amount of sunlight shining in from above.” 

Light begins raining down upon the fortress from the sky. 

Standing in the middle of that light, I feel like I’m being worshipped by the natives. 

As soon as they see this, Snow and Rose toss aside their heavy pickaxes and start running for some reason. 

“Wow, I’m totally shimmering. Hey, Alice, I feel like a god! Should I bestow some words of wisdom upon them?” 

“Stop rambling like an idiot and get out of there. Everyone retreat!” 

My legs begin moving before I have time to think. 

Just as I frantically make my way out of the fortress— 

—a shaft of light comes down from the sky, blowing off the top of the structure. 

“Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” 

Shielding my face from the debris, I see the Hiiragi tribesmen retreat toward the forest. 

Alice stares up at the sky, head tilted. 

“Was that a solar ray–style energy weapon? Odd, we didn’t detect any satellites around this planet when we landed here.” 

“I bet that’s just divine power of some sort! It’s retribution for our blasphemy! Oh, gods, I’m so sorry! I’ll stop robbing your collection boxes! I’ll even reduce how often I harass your priestesses!” 

As I pray, Alice begins sorting through the wreckage. “They usually use lightning for divine retribution. Look, some of the wreckage is melted. Safe to assume it’s a heliostat of some sort. We can take precautions against that.” 

“C’mon, stop it! That’s gotta be divine retribution! What do you plan to do if we keep blaspheming and get punished even worse?” 

Just then… 

“Oh! They’re trying to run off with Mr. Russell!” 

“W-wait, dammit! Despite his looks, he’s a guy!” 

I turn to see the Hiiragi tribesmen carrying off the unconscious Russell like he’s the spoils of war. 

Rose and Snow retrieve their pickaxes and give chase. 

A few hours later. 

I don’t know exactly what happened in the forest, but Rose returns looking exhausted and carrying Russell and Snow, who are both out cold. 

Settling the frontier is a struggle against nature. 

In the middle of a giant sandstorm, Alice uses me as cover and yells, “Hey, Six! Pull harder! We’ll lose the tent!” 

In between repelling the attacks from the Bashin tribe, the Hiiragi tribe, monsters, and mokemokes, we’ve been steadily fortifying our base… 

“What the hell is wrong with this planet’s climate?! Not a cloud in the sky one moment and a giant sandstorm the next… Gah! Snow just got blown away!” 

Snow, who had been barely weathering the intense gusts, is being carried off by the wind. She had initially taken off her heavy armor to make her construction work easier, but that apparently made her too light. 

“Hey, Alice, I don’t see the cross-dressing Chimera. Where’d he go?” 

“Him? The first gust blasted him away, and now he’s stuck in one of the trees. I’ve sent Rose to retrieve him. At any rate, forget about the tents, Six. We won’t need them once the fortress is completed anyway. So long as you keep that stupidly heavy power armor on, you’ll be fine. Let’s get back to work,” Alice remarks while operating heavy machinery. 

“You sure we can keep working under these conditions? Whoa! Alice! The storm’s blowing some dangerous stuff our way!” 

Just as Alice jumps out of the cockpit, the partly constructed base and construction equipment explode. 

The blast from the explosion and the sandstorm send an intense gale our way. 

I look at the wreckage of the heavy machinery. 

“Hey, Alice. If we keep spending Evil Points at this rate, I’m going to get arrested before we finish the hideout.” 

Currently, I’m only allowed to spend Evil Points for equipment and materials needed for the base. 

Which means that I’ve been building up my Evil Points balance with steady effort every day after work, but… 

“Just how are you earning all these points anyway? All this construction material and equipment. Did you end up committing some massive misdeed?” Alice asks the question as though it’s been bothering her for a while. 

“You worry too much. I’ll tell you how I’m doing it once the hideout’s complete. I can at least tell you I’m not doing anything dangerous.” 

“…Well, I already know you’re not capable of anything too heinous, so I’m not worried about that…” 

I’ve been pretty fond of infiltration missions lately, making use of the hard-won experiences from countless battles. 

Basically, I’ve been sneaking into the castle every night to earn more Evil Points. 

“It may not seem like it, but I’m pretty good at espionage…” 

“Oh? Sounds like you’re up to something a little more impressive than your usual misdeeds. I’m looking forward to learning more.” 

As Alice savors the thought, I give the order to retreat. 

Really, at this pace, I have no idea how long it’s going to take to finish this. I wanted to keep all the credit for my unit, but that’s no longer a luxury I can afford. “Guess we may as well put all our effort into this. Let’s recall some of the agents deployed to the front and focus on getting this base done first. Should be easy once we properly commit Kisaragi’s efforts to it.” 

“You really do love tempting fate, don’t you…?” Alice mutters with an exasperated expression as I gain confidence in our chances of victory.