Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 5 - Chapter 4.3

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“What were you thinking, Vi? Can you stop doing that sort of thing?” 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! My apologies! It’s my fault that we let the Sand King get away…!” 

We finally finish patching everyone up after the Sand King’s escape. 

I’m lecturing Viper in the hideout’s conference room. 

“That’s not important right now! Look, Vi, do you have any idea how rare you are? You’re a ten out of ten, you have common sense, and you have no weird quirks to speak of! Your life is way more valuable than a bunch of Combat Agents whose numbers could honestly use a little thinning. Please don’t go eagerly running to your death!” 

“U-umm…” 

Viper looks troubled by my overly serious lecture. 

“Hey, do you think Six said all that knowing he’s a Combat Agent, too?” 

“Well, it’s a given that Ms. Viper’s life is more valuable than Six’s, but I still can’t go along with what he said…” 

The expendables are grousing as they eavesdrop on my lecture, but suddenly, Alice drops some documents onto the desk. 

“I know you’re exhausted since we just drove the Sand King off, but there’s no guarantee it won’t be back tonight. It’s best to get this sort of thing out of the way early. I’m going to summarize the plan for you goons.” 

Now that we’ve figured out the Sand King’s special ability, we have plenty of ways to deal with it. 

Given that it’s been doing as it pleases up until now, it’s our turn to do some damage. 

“As it says in the documents in front of you, the cost of training a single Combat Agent is this. Now, the advantages that’ll come from defeating the Sand King, when converted into money, is about that.” 

Alice speaks breezily, but I feel nothing but dread about where this is going. 

I mean, why would she explain how much we cost? 

“The plan is super simple. Everyone grabs a harpoon, charges, and after affixing the ropes, we cut off its escape and kill it. Calculating from its ability to swat away construction equipment, we’ll need to spear it with about fifty harpoons to hold it down. The expected number of casualties among the agents is…around three. The upsides more than outweigh the downsides, so there’s nothing to fear. Dismissed!” 

“‘Dismissed’ my ass! Come up with a plan where we don’t end up dying!” 

“You’re supposed to be a high-spec genius, right?! Please, Alice, I beg you—come up with something where there’s no losses!” 

“Don’t go putting prices on our lives in the first place! And for crying out loud, the number on this document is way too low!” 

As the expendables whine, I speak up for Alice. 

“Pipe down, you grunts! You’re Combat Agents! Your value exists in your ability to risk your lives on the front lines. If you’re so afraid of dying, then go ahead and quit, you cowards!” 

“Oh? Big words from the guy who was the first to flee today!” 

“You seem to be under the impression that you’re special, Six. You’re still a Combat Agent, you know! You’re gonna have to take up a harpoon and try to stab the Sand King, too!” 

They really do get angry too easily. But this isn’t the time to mince words. 

“I’m this base’s branch manager, remember? We are not the same! There’s no way in hell I’m gonna participate in a plan that dangerous, and even if I wanted to, I’m sure Alice would stop me. Understand the difference in our ranks, peons!” 

As I put the underlings in their place, they begin quaking in red-faced rage. 

Oh, they’re looking mighty aggressive today. 

“All right, you guys want a fight? Then come on. You’re all exhausted from taking on the mole, while I just sat there and watched for the most part. You know who’d have the advantage, right…?” 

Before I can finish, Alice interjects: 

“Six, you’ll be leading them from the front.” 

…… 

“I’m sorry, what was that?” 

“You heard me. You’re going to be the first one in. You’re still using the old-style power armor, meaning you’re the toughest one here, and you’ve got the highest chance of survival. While Combat Agents are a dime a dozen, if we can keep the losses to a minimum, that’d be preferable.” 

Wai—! 

“Hold on, my power armor’s nothing to write home about! You saw what happened! The Sand King tore through it like paper! Besides, I need to send my power armor out for repairs first…” 

“Leave the repairs to me. Power armor is something Lady Lilith created, so I can fix a suit in a single night, even with the facilities we have here.” 

Why is she so useful now of all times?! 

“C’mon, partner, come up with a safer plan, please! I know you can do it if you put your mind to it. Surely, there’s something that’ll work better!” 

“Stop whining, Six! Get it together!” 

“Yeah, show us what it means to be a branch manager, sir!” 

While thinking about how best to punish my comrades’ taunts, I hear a demure voice coming from behind me. 

“Um… In that case, I can charge in first…” 

The speaker is none other than Viper. 

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Vi! I told you to stop leaping into harm’s way!” 

“Y-yes, but…defeating the Sand King is the long-held desire of all demons. If the demons show they’re also willing to put their lives on the line to defeat the Sand King, that would likely help the kingdom of Grace feel a bit better about letting us settle here…” 

As ever, her logic is sound. 

Still, is there really a need for Viper, the former Demon Lord, to enter the fray? 

From the moment we first met, I’ve been getting a certain vibe from her… 

“…Well, fine. If Viper’s participating, I can’t allow her to get hurt, no matter how small the chance of that happening actually is. Looks like I’ll have to bring out my precious tiger cub.” 

Alice’s words throw me right off my train of thought. 

“…What was that about Tiger Man?” 

“I didn’t say anything about Tiger Man. He wandered off without telling us. Usually, going AWOL like that makes one subject to heavy punishment.” 

Yes, we still haven’t been able to find Tiger Man ever since the first Sand King attack. 

With that said, it’s not an unusual thing for Tiger Man to wander off when he feels like it. 

“Tiger Man has feline DNA. That wanderlust is part of his nature. He can’t help it.” 

“If we allowed mutants to indulge in their bestial natures, you would’ve been eaten by Spider Woman and Mantis Woman a long time ago.” 

She means that sexually…right? 

Rose is already one hyperliteral carnivore too many. 

…Just then. 

The meeting-room door opens, and a person carrying something on his back walks in. 

“Hey, guys! Sorrrry to keep you waiting.” 

With auspicious timing, the one strolling through the door is none other than Tiger Man. 

I don’t know where he’s been, but he looks pretty beat-up. 

“Hey, Tiger Man’s back! And get a load of him! I bet he was off training to get strong enough to beat the Sand King!” 

“I see. We can throw Tiger Man at the Sand King, then. That just might work.” 

As the agents all buzz around him, Tiger Man tilts his head. 

“What are you talking about? I had a pretty specific goal in mind when I left… Ms. Viper.” 

“Y-yes? Wh-what is it?” 

As Tiger Man addresses her with an expression so serious that he forgets his usual purring, Viper, who has been serving tea to everyone, looks up in surprise. 

“I have a purresent for you!” 

With that, he hands Viper an item that he pulled from his backpack. 

“…Is this a sorcerer stone? I’ve never seen one this big. It must have been absorbing magical energy for a long, long time. I can feel an immense power radiating from it…! But why would you give something like this to me…?” 

As she raises the question, Tiger Man gives his straitlaced reply. 

“This is a sorcerer stone I won from a mighty dragon. Ms. Viper, with this powerful artifact…could you possibly return me to my childhood?” 

“I’m sorry. I can’t.” 

The immediacy of her reply drives Tiger Man to a corner, where he curls up into a ball. 

“What’re we gonna do, Alice? Your tiger cub’s depressed!” 

“Dammit! Game over, man! Game over!” 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault, I’m so sorry!” 

The conference room descends into chaos, and Alice attempts to ease our panic. 

“Calm down, you morons. I already told you that when I mentioned my ‘tiger cub,’ I wasn’t talking about Tiger Man. Come with me, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.” 

Alice brings us to the mystery facility that was recently built near the hideout. 

No one knows what it is, and since it often sounds like there’s someone crying inside, we Combat Agents steer clear of the place. If there were ghosts about, there wouldn’t be a damn thing any of us could do. 

“Alice, leave this place alone. There have been reports of a sobbing woman’s voice coming from here every night. One rumor tells of a woman, driven to depression over her failure in love, killing herself and haunting this place…” 

“Every time I think you all can’t possibly get any stupider… The construction on our base was only recently completed. How the hell would those rumors even make sense?” 

Alice rolls her eyes at us and opens the door to the mystery facility. 

…As it opens, we hear a woman crying. 

With the rumors partway confirmed, we struggle to choke down our fear as we peer inside. 

Heine of the Flames, former pillar of the Demon Lord’s Elite Four, sobs as she produces fire from her hand. 

“This is the power plant for Hideout City. You noticed Mr. Destroyer resting next to it, yeah? Since we got acquired Heine in our recent deal, I built a thermal power plant to take full advantage of her abilities.” 

What an awful facility. Leave it to an android to be completely devoid of pity or mercy. 

Having noticed our presence, Heine continues making flames but turns to face us as she weeps. 

“I don’t want to make fire anymore! Help me, Six, please! I’m tired of spending all my time here boiling water!” 

Heine is so broken that she’s rejecting her very identity as a fire demon. 

“Oh, so this is where you were. Congrats! You’re being evaluated for your abilities, and not your sex appeal!” 

“Even a lewd job is preferable to doing this forever! …S-sorry, that was a lie. I lied, so stop looking at me like that…” 

Heine shies away from the hungry, predatory gazes of my colleagues. 

Oh, right, our electricity restrictions ended when Heine started working here. 

Thinking about it that way, maybe relieving her of this job wouldn’t be such a great thing… 

But as Heine complains, Alice offers a comment. 

“Shut up and keep generating. Once you’ve completely recharged Mr. Destroyer, I’ll let you take one out of every ten days off. And I’ll cut you down to fifteen work hours a day.” 

Those are some harsh working conditions, but for some reason, Heine’s expression brightens. 

“R-really?! You’re not lying, right? I’m choosing to believe you!” 

Heine’s delight at those heinous conditions is really bumming me out. 

…Wait, come to think of it, given that we risk our lives on a constant basis, don’t get any days off on long-term missions, and often have to scrounge for our own survival, a Combat Agent has pretty crappy working conditions, too… 

“So how much longer will I have to make fire before Mr. Destroyer is recharged?” 

“At this rate, it shouldn’t take much longer than a week.” 

And just like that, Heine crumples, her sliver of happiness lost to the void. 

However, an unexpected beacon of hope presents itself. 

“Um… Why don’t we have Heine use this…?” 

Viper then hesitantly produces the sorcerer stone that she received from Tiger Man. Upon seeing it, Heine’s eyes go wide with shock. 

“Wh-what a powerful sorcerer stone…! Lady Viper, where did you find such a thing…?” asks Heine as she takes the stone in her hands. 

“Tiger Man said he got it from a dragon…” 

“A dra—?! S-surely, you jest… Dragons are immensely powerful creatures that may even be mightier than the Sand or Forest Kings. How could he have possibly…?” 

Oh, right, I did kind of gloss over this earlier, but yeah—dragons are more or less the rulers of all monsters… 

…and any Kisaragi operative would know exactly how a mutant like Tiger Man managed to beat one. 

Mutants are able to become giant versions of themselves if they’re pushed to the brink of death. 

It’s a trump card that heavily depletes their own vitality, and it’s the reason why the Heroes started building stuff like giant robots. 

I guess Tiger Man really wanted to be a kid again. 

I can’t really sympathize in the slightest, but I do admire his dedication. 

“Lady Viper, thank you very much. With this, I can create some enormous flames… And, Six, I’ll show you the real power of a former pillar of the Demon Lord’s Elite Four!” 

Heine puts on a radiant smile as she burns bright with confidence.