Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 6 - Chapter 1.4

4

“Alice! Aliiiiice! Alice, help! My gun doesn’t work on this thing!”

I’m already regretting my decision to tag along as I take aim with my handgun.

“Hang on a sec. Leave critters like this to me. I’m having them send me a special Kisaragi-made vacuum cleaner!”

Having entered deep into the woods, we are being pursued by mysterious floating balls of light for some reason.

Well, technically they’re just following me.

For some reason, these floating balls of light are clinging to me.

“They’re wind spirits. They’re harmless, so no need to worry about them. They’re said to provide all sorts of benefits and are worshipped around the world,” says Viper, smiling as she watches the spirits chase me around.

“More nonsense… Great.”

After sending off her request for the vacuum cleaner, Alice grabs one of the glass jars she brought for gathering samples.

“Caught me a wind spirit!”

“Ms. Alice?!”

Alice captured a wind spirit in her jar.

“…Phew, thanks Alice. I’m fine against opponents that weapons work on, but I really can’t do anything to incorporeal creatures, like ghosts and spirits, when my weapons don’t work.”

“No worries, partner. We’ve each got our specializations. Let’s send this thing off to Kisaragi when we get back to Hideout City. It’s a rare life-form, so I’m sure we’ll get a good price for it.”

“Y-you can’t sell a spirit! They’re very sacred and precious beings!” insists Viper as Alice puts a lid on the jar.

I click my tongue and wag my finger at the protesting Viper.

“Vi, you don’t get it, do you? Are you sure you’re a Kisaragi leader? We’re an evil organization! We’re supposed to go out of our way to do bad things!”

“Ah! Y-you’re right! I’m a leader in an evil organization!”

Viper seems to come to her senses, then stares intently at the spirit inside the jar with a determined expression…

“…Heh. No matter how sacred you might be, we won’t worship you.”

“Vi, the wind spirit escaped.”

“What the hell? I thought it was just some sort of glowing bug… Well, if bullets go through it, I guess it can also pass through a glass jar.”

Viper, who was talking to the jar, turns beet-red and covers her face in embarrassment. Meanwhile, the wind spirit that escaped returns to floating around me.

“All sorts of odd things seem to like you. Do you emit waves that nonhuman critters like, maybe?”

“In manga and video games, spirits like people who are pure of heart. And if you bully the little ones like this spirit here, the big one comes to get revenge.”

We leave Viper to her embarrassment and the floating spirit to do as it pleases and take a look around the area.

Alice, who wants to secure a water source for industrial use, has brought us to the shore of a vast lake that stretches as far as the eye can see.

It is a lake so large that you’d swear it was an ocean. Its pristine, clear water speaks to how lovely the untouched wilderness is on this planet.

Off in the distance, there is a mountain range lined with peaks that are taller than Mt. Fuji, and the woods near the lake are populated by trees that must be hundreds of years old…

“Hey, Alice. When I look at beautiful scenery like this, I start to wonder if I’m really doing the right thing. We’re going to use this lake for the factories we’re planning to build, right? I wonder… Should we really be disturbing this land…?”

“It means you still have a heart, Six. It’s not something I can understand, being an android, but I do think those feelings have value.”

“Mr. Six…”

Alice and Viper watch over me as I study the lake…

“Alice, let’s hurry up and gather resources so we can expedite our invasion plans. There’s tons of lumber we can gather from the trees over there, so let’s build some log cabins along with the factory. We’ll build a nature retreat to have a cookout with the Supreme Leaders. And since we’re on a lake, I bet they’ll wear swimsuits…”

It only takes about two minutes for me to grow bored of the breathtaking landscape.

“Guess that’s the limit of your conscience. It’s reassuring to know you’re still you, Six.”

“M-Mr. Six…”

* * *

Several hours later, we’re wandering around the shore of the lake using the map in Alice’s head as a guide.

“…Hey, Vi, are you sure these things are harmless? Honestly, it’s a bit creepy to have so many of them around me.”

“H-how odd… I’ve never heard of anything like this happening…”

I’m being so swarmed by various types of spirits, I can’t see a thing in front of me.

“I mean, these things are clearly dangerous. I can’t see where I’m walking. There’s no way for me to know if there’s an enemy nearby, and that means I can’t run away, either.”

The spirits circle around my head, shimmering and ringing like little bells.

It’d be one thing if they looked like cute fairies, but there’s nothing nice about having bright balls of light fluttering near my eyes.

“Hey, Vi, it sounds like being liked by spirits can be a pretty powerful ability, but is it really?”

Often the main character in a novel, for example, is loved by spirits, fairies, and various demihumans.

“Let me see. Well, there’s a type of magic called spirit magic. Spirits are said to be the servants of various goddesses. Spirit magic works by beseeching the goddess to bring forth a miracle. One can also ask to borrow their spirit servants for the purpose of wielding magic, but…I’m told that people who are friendly with spirits can borrow their power directly. Doing it that way evidently lets them use magic with less cost than using their own magic or offering a sacrifice to the goddess.”

I had completely lost interest in magic since it seemed that earthlings couldn’t use it, but I feel a glimmer of hope at hearing the description of spirit magic from Viper. If spirits like me so much, why can’t I be a spirit magic user?

“So basically the goddesses are skimming magic off the top, huh? I guess that makes them spirit interpreters or something. Then if I can speak directly to the spirits in their own language, I can cut out the middleman goddesses, right?”

“You’re not wrong, but you’re inviting some divine punishment with that sort of thinking…”

I mean, I guess, but if they’re that easily offended…

“…Then isn’t Alice more likely to get punished? I mean, look at her. She’s spraying the spirits with pesticide.”

“Don’t do that, Ms. Alice! Spirits are sacred… Oh, but I’m a leader in an evil organization…”

Ignoring Viper’s struggles with her own inner contradictions, Alice shoos away the spirits.

I don’t think the pesticides will kill them, but they clearly don’t like being sprayed with random chemicals.

“So physical attacks do work on spirits. Maybe I should order some bug spray as well.”

“Please don’t! Spirits really are sacred!”