Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 7 - Chapter 2.4

4

As the sun sets, several of my colleagues return with Hiiragi tribesmen prisoners in tow.

Since Belial is nowhere in sight, it’s safe to assume that no one was able to keep up with her.

“...This is a problem. They let us borrow Lady Belial from HQ on the condition we send her back the moment they need her. I won’t have any way of making it up to them if something happens to her.”

Alice, having barged into my room, flops onto my bed, pattering her feet like the child she appears to be. She lets out a soft sigh.

We've sent out search parties, but so far, we haven't heard anything from them.

It'd be easier to track Belial if she'd just request food and water from Earth, but unfortunately, she’s got quite a bit of survivalist training, too, so she’s able to function for a long time without fueling up.

Although, with all that said, Belial’s from a rich family. Maybe she’ll want to avoid having to camp out and order a prefab cottage and supplies to be teleported to her once it gets dark.

“Lady Belial will eventually just come back without a care in the world. It’s all because this planet's a backwater without cellphone service. Let’s have Lady Lilith create a smartphone that can be used without cell towers.”

“...Well, I suppose Kisaragi’s most powerful leader isn’t going to struggle against any mere monsters. We'll continue with the search parties, but let's hope Lady Belial contacts us herself. If HQ asks for her, we’ll just have to find some way to hold them off.”

As though timing it perfectly with the end of Alice’s grousing...

A desperate scream echoes from our rarely used underground dungeon...

“Hiss! Hiss!”

In the dimly lit dungeon, a fired-up Little Bashin bangs on the bars with her hand ax.

The target of her intense hostility is a woman cowering at the far end of the cell.

"You can’t do that. Little Bashin. She's a valuable prisoner. We want their technology, so we can’t have you going around executing them willy-nilly.”

Little Bashin, who’s been trying to break down the bars to the cell with her ax, looks up at me when I intervene and slumps her shoulders.

Even though the scene should make me think there’s a crazed ax murderer trying to assault a poor woman in a dimly lit dungeon, I can't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the girl.

Alice turns to Little Bashin and offers reassuringly:

“I know you want to get revenge on your longtime enemy, which I’m happy to let you have, but it’ll have to wait until I'm done with the interrogation.”

“Wait, don’t be offering up lives like that! Isn’t this woman the head of the Hiiragi tribe?”

When Belial assaulted the village, most of the Hiiragi tribesmen escaped, but our forces managed to capture a handful of them.

So the plan became that we needed to have some answers about all the mysteries that surrounded these weird tribesfolk, and it progressed into interrogations, but...

“Our long-term objective is to move all of humanity from Earth to this planet. While there’s plenty of undeveloped land at the moment, this place will eventually be full of people from Earth. It wouldn’t be such a bad idea to cull the herd a little beforehand...”

“C’mon, that’s way too heartless, even for an android! ...Hold on a second. I thought I was sent to this planet to look for work opportunities for Combat Agents for when Kisaragi finished conquering Earth. Do we really need to bring everyone over from Earth?”

To my question, Alice responds with a simple smile.

“Well, yeah, we can’t let you Combat Agents get thrown out into the street with nowhere to go. Kisaragi’s a corporation that prides itself on taking care of its own.”

......

“Wait, what’s going on with Earth anyway? Is there something wrong with it? The heroes blowing up my apartment isn’t the only reason my requests for leave keep getting denied, is it?!”

“Come on, it’s time to get down to interrogating. Rejoice, Six—the chieftain is a woman. You love this sort of thing, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah, I don’t mind it, but answer my questions, dammit!”

Just then:

“The minds of savages are filled with such base thoughts.”

The Hiiragi chief locked up in the cell murmurs almost to herself.

Having been stripped of her mask when she was taken prisoner, the woman looks over at us with defiant eyes. They have a faintly feline insolence and ferocity to them, and her gaze makes it all too clear that she views us as inferior.

I’m told the chief fought as part of the rearguard during Belial’s assault, buying time for the rest of her people to escape.

“Are you calling us savages? Hmph. Well, never mind that. I didn’t realize you could speak properly. I was planning to make Viper interpret, but this saves a lot of time.”

“The Hiiragi tribe is far superior to you all. As such, we are capable of speaking your simple, barbarian tongue.”

Yes, we can understand her, but she kind of sounds like she’s going through one of those translation websites or something.

“...By the way, the member of the Bashin tribe over there also speaks your barbarian tongue on a daily basis. The markings on her body aren’t even permanent and can be removed by rubbing on them. She's simply pretending to be of a primitive tribal culture.”

“?1”

Little Bashin shakes her head furiously, rejecting the chief’s words.

“--!--!!”

“Okay, I get it, it’s fine. You don’t need to let us wipe at your tattoos to prove they're real. I believe you!”

I try to calm Little Bashin as she pushes a cloth toward me, as though trying to get me to attempt to wipe the tattoos away. As she watches our exchange, the chief suddenly breaks out laughing.

“Heh-heh-heh! Ajest! I’m only kidding. The Bashin tribe are known for being quite serious. Bah-ha-ha- ha!”

"Hsss! Hrrr...!”

Little Bashin resumes bashing on the bars with her ax, prompting the chief to back up just a smidgen before she waves her hands tauntingly at the girl.

“It will take a great deal of time to break the bars with that ax! Keep going! Keep going! Bah-ha-ha-ha- ha! This taunting is retribution for your continued resistance and interference in our activities! And it appears to have caused the Bashin individual quite a bit of distress!”

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

As Little Bashin angrily smacks the bars with her ax, Alice quietly hands her the key.

“We’ve got a few more prisoners we can question. So you can do what you want to this one.”

“Hrrrrmph! Hiss!”

“Bashin girl, cool your head! My apologies for the taunts! However, our peoples have long been hostile to one another! Try to understand our feelings on the matter!”

The chief sobs apologetically to Little Bashin as she takes the key and tries to unlock the cell.

“...Listen up. I’m sure you’ve realized this by now, but unless you give serious answers to my questions, I'm going to sic her on you, got it?”

“Understood.”

The chief’s face twitches nervously as Little Bashin waves the key to underline the fact that she’s the one in control.

“Then why don’t we get the fun started? Heh-heh, Lady Chieftain, you do understand what happens to women who get captured by an evil organization, don’t you?”

“Come to think of it, we do owe them payback for attacking us with solar rays and interfering with our construction. Let’s get her to fess up about how they managed that little bit of terrorism.”

The chief pales as Alice and I let out malicious chuckles, prompting an eager round of applause from Little Bashin.

Given that they commonly bash people’s heads in, the Bashins appear to have no real aversion to this sort of violence.

“I’m Alice Kisaragi, the de facto leader of this joint, and this is Combat Agent Six.”

“A pleasure to meet you. I am the chief of the Hiiragi clan, Miyabi Hiiragi Archylicia...”

As the chief introduces herself, I whisper into Alice’s ear:

“Alice, her name’s way too long. There’s no way I can remember that. ”

“You’re right. It’s a hassle to even bother learning it. From here on out, you’re just Savage A.”

“...I am now Savage A. I acknowledge this designation. Alice Kisaragi, what do you wish to learn from Savage A?”

There’s a bunch of things we’d like to know, but...

Savage A sits on the ground, holding on to the bars of the cell as she looks quizzically at Alice, prompting the android to squat down and stare directly at the captive.

“First things first, tell me about the solar ray attacks. Given that there aren’t any satellites in orbit, where are you firing those things from?”

“We send the coordinates to the floating fortress in the sky and request support fire from them.”

...Floating fortress.

“Oh, that’s right. When we were parachuting down from the upper atmosphere, there was no sign of that castle, yet the thing appeared out of nowhere while we weren’t looking. Where the hell did that thing sprout from?”

“The castle did not sprout; it was always there. That fortress is the main headquarters of the Hiiragi Agency of Order. It’s usually protected by an optical shield keeping it hidden from savage eyes. That is why you were unable to see it.”

Alice and I exchange glances at Savage A’s words.

“<Hey, Alice, she just said something about an optical shield. They seriously have technology’ that’s on par with ours, don't they?> ”

“<The fact that she understands what a solar ray is must be proof that something is off. Some elements of their technology are actually ahead of Earth’s. > "

As we exchange whispers in Japanese, Savage A just chuckles confidently.

“The Hiiragi Agency of Order is truly remarkable. I have no doubts that their might will overwhelm you. That being said, things will go more smoothly for you if you treat a Hiiragi affiliate like myself with respect.”

Seems like our exchange has given her the confidence to take the conversational offensive.

“Hey, there was another thing I wanted to ask. That officer, Adelie. She has a giant cat as a pet, right? Does that mean you guys are the ones who created the Sand King and the Forest King?”

“That is correct. The Hiiragi Agency of Order created the Sand King. But you are also incorrect. The lizard-type mechanical life-form guardian was created by a faction hostile to the Hiiragi Agency of Order. Most of the organic monsters were created by Hiiragi, while the mechanical monsters were created by the enemy”

Savage A is evidently enjoying showing off Hiiragi’s technology and continues to lecture us with a confident smirk on the differences between the monsters.

“Hey, this is getting even more complicated. So the giant monsters that are living creatures are Hiiragi products, and the mechanical ones are made by an enemy faction? But where’s the enemy group lurking around?”

“Remember that underground facility that the lizard robot known as the Forest King was protecting? I’m betting that was the enemy faction's base or research facility...”

Little Bashin, unable to follow our conversation, begins theatrically sharpening her hand ax.

“Soon you will be met with divine judgment. That is because Hiiragi has embedded a royal family with an anti-Demon Lord gene marker. Indeed, the so-called Chosen One gene will soon become active and wipe out the Demon Lord and the demons. Once that is complete, the next target will be—”

“The Chosen One’s missing in action and the Demon Lord’s switched employers.”

“?!”

...The only sound in the dungeon is the steady scraping of Little Bashin’s ax against her grindstone. Alice then continues as though nothing happened.

“When you all kept attacking our Hideout City every time we completed it, what were you trying to accomplish? Do you have a claim to the forest or something?”

“Our role is to destroy buildings created by savages that have forgotten their station and gotten too uppity. The destruction of such buildings is a signal to the Hiiragi Agency of Order to come down from their floating fortress and begin managing the affairs of the savages.”

It seems this subject triggered something in Savage A, and she stands up, raises her arms and begins to preach.

“Once, humanity prospered upon this world. They used advanced technology to sustain advanced ways of living, and all enjoyed the fruits of civilization. But humanity outgrew its environment! It was then beset by all sorts of problems: food, living space, declining marriage rates...”

"Don't turn this into some sermon. Keep it as short and simple as you can. Look at them. They’re so bored, they’ve just started doing their own thing.”

I sit down next to Little Bashin and begin working on my knife. Savage A gazes over at us longingly, as though she wishes we'd listen.

“...A long time ago there was amazing technology that made the population grow. That caused problems like food shortages, global warming, lack of land, environmental pollution, and all of those problems combined resulted in a war. As a result, some really awful weapons were used, making most of the land uninhabitable.”

...Huh.

“<Hey, Alice. Doesn’t this planet’s past sound a bit like Earth’s present?> ”

“<Yeah, Earth’s got some serious problems because of overpopulation. Even if Kisaragi hadn't started its conquest, the countries of the world would’ve ended up at each other’s throats soon enough anyway. Guess civilizations pretty much burn out the same way, no matter what world they 're on.>”

That's depressing. This is supposed to be a strange new world, and instead we’re getting the distressing realities of our old world in a different form.

"The enemy faction created genetically modified seeds to restore the wasted land. They’re the ones who planted the great woods, and the guardians who protected it. Then they went underground to wait.”

“...? I mean, restoring the land is good and all. But the woods have taken over most of the planet at this point, no? That'd be fine if it was just a normal forest, but as far as we can tell, it’s an incredibly hostile environment.”

“It was a mistake. They went too far with their genetic engineering efforts and were unable to stop the spread of the woods.”

Hey.

"Hiiragi created the Sand King in their own effort to restore the lands and to stop the spread of the forests before retreating to the skies.

“...? The Sand King was created to restore the land? That thing was doing the opposite! It was turning perfectly good land into desert."

Well. I mean, sure, it was facing off against the Forest King, I guess.

“Another mistake. The research division heard that moles helped make land more fertile and arable and just decided that if normal moles could do that, then a giant one would do an even better job.”

“You and this ‘enemy’ have several screws loose. This is the sort of stuff evil organizations are supposed to do.”

Alice turns to quiz Savage A, as she seems unfazed by my criticism.

“All right, we get your history. But what’s the deal with destroying anything ‘beyond the civilization’s station’? Adelie was insistent that they were on the side of justice and righteousness.”

“The great people of Hiiragi once said that the wars and pollution were a product of savages obtaining technology that was beyond their ability to use responsibly. Thus, the great people of Hiiragi came to the conclusion that it was best to leave savages as primitive as possible.”

“Hey, Alice, these bastards are evil! They’re obscurantist elites!”

Put simply, obscurantism is the act of restricting the available knowledge to the people, steadily eroding their level of education to ensure that the masses are too ignorant to question the political status quo. It’s such a dangerous piece of governing policy that Kisaragi rejected it after a series of heated debates on the subject.

Evidently offended at being called evil, Savage A grabs the bars and shouts insults in our direction.

“You savages reproduce like rats if left to your own devices! Then you consume all the resources! The ignorant masses need to be managed by the elites in order to prevent the world from being destroyed!”

“Shut up, you moron! If I ever get married, I’ll breed every day of the week! You think it’s your business to manage people like that?! I’ll singlehandedly solve the crisis of declining birth
rates!”

“You savages are as crude and uncouth as expected! Idiots like you will be the first to be purged once Hiiragi takes over the world!”

This bitch...

“Try it, I dare you! You don't seem to understand your predicament. Evil organizations have no reservations about putting prisoners in compromising situations!”

“Actually, we do have rules against that.”

I give Alice the side-eye at her comment, then unlock the cell door and enter.

Savage A's imagination does the hard part for me, and she starts backing away, holding her hands in front of herself to ward me off.

“I take back what I said earlier... You’re a very handsome savage. I will now grace you with a dance of apology.”

“What the hell is a dance of apology? Are you messing with me?! Heh-heh, it’s too late to grovel. Now, what shall I do with you?”

I let out a creepy little chuckle and approach slowly, when Alice interjects.

“Hold it, Six. I want to see this dance of apology. It actually reminds of the whole ‘dancing before the solar ray fires’ thing. Why do you do that? Are you using the dance to communicate the attack coordinates?”

Oh, that’s right. The Hiiragi tribe did always dance before an attack.

Maybe Alice is right, and the dance is a means of communicating a target to the fortress...

“That dance is a dance of victory and taunting, to tell the target that they are about to be destroyed.”

"RAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Little Bashin, who had somehow snuck into the cell, pounces upon Savage A after hearing her ridiculous response.