File 01 - Our Last Crusade or the Artist of Fire
1
“We’ve blown our budget?!”
The Imperial capital, Yunmelngen.
In the metropolis of the largest military power in the world, Commander Mismis wailed, “What?! How did this happen, Iska?!”
“Shh. This’ll be a disaster if a commanding officer overhears us.” Iska held his finger to his lips in an attempt to quiet the commander down.
They were in an Imperial forces conference room, so one of their superiors could walk right down the hall at any moment.
“B-but how did this happen?!” Commander Mismis placed her head in her hands. Despite her childish behavior, petite appearance, and baby face, she was a full-grown twenty-two-year-old. “Iska, I just need to ask again. Are you sure that our unit blew the budget? You don’t happen to mean your spending money?”
“Why would I blow through my money? I meant the 907’s annual budget.”
“The one that HQ gives us each year as a lump sum?”
“That’s it. The funds we use for procuring bullets for training, maintaining our guns, purchasing other equipment, and receiving medical checkups when we get injured. We blew through it all.”
“Isn’t that money super important?!”
That was exactly why he’d reported it to her.
Iska let out a sigh and pointed at a pile of documents on the desk.
“Well, just take a look at all these,” Iska said. “We have a mountain of claim receipts.”
“Since when?!” Mismis gingerly picked up one sheet from the gigantic pile. Then she stared at it so intensely, Iska thought she might bore holes right through the paper.
“What’s this?” Mismis had no memory of submitting the claim in her hand. “Did you ask for this, Iska?”
“It wasn’t me,” Iska replied.
“Hey, do any of you know where this Derrick-made GAX22 new Gatling gun came from? I don’t remember ever ordering this…”
“That’s mine,” Jhin, the silver-haired sniper, said. He was leaning back in his seat in a corner of the room. “It should come in next week. And we paid for it in one lump sum. You ordered it, boss.”
“Jhin! This cost three months of our entire budget!”
“A soldier needs weapons.” Jhin was flipping through the pages of a firearms catalog. He was considered a first-class sniper, and he made it a habit of checking out the latest guns available. “We’re always trying to scrimp and save, so we can afford to splurge every once in a while.”
“B-but I have more to say!” Mismis held an even more extravagant expense request in her hand. “What about this mono-channel wireless system Ebolba-made PQ9 tank? This is yours, too, isn’t it, Jhin?!”
“Nope, I didn’t order it.”
“Huh? Then who did?” Mismis looked around the room. “Iska, you didn’t…”
“Don’t look at me,” Iska said.
“But if it wasn’t you or Jhin, then…then that means…”
“Uh-huh, yup! That’s mine!” In another section of the room, a red-headed girl named Nene vigorously lifted her arm up as she trained with weights.
“Nene, this costs half our annual budget!”
“Aw, but…it’s the super-popular new model, so there was only one left.”
“Ugh… How could you all splurge on this stuff…?” Commander Mismis let out a small sigh.
Just then, Iska happened to look at the receipt at the very bottom of the pile. It appeared as though someone had tucked it away, so it would be out of sight.
“What’s this one?” he asked.
“Ah! No, you can’t, Iska!”
“‘Full barbecue course for a meeting’? Huh? I don’t remember any of us having a meeting at this place. Commander Mismis, do you know anything about this?”
“Urk!” She flinched.
Jhin, who had approached from the side, pulled out another receipt from a second barbecue restaurant.
“Hey, this one’s from yesterday. What’s going on, boss?”
“Oh. Um… It’s not what it looks like…”
“Were you going around using our unit budget on barbecue places?”
“I—I was just…um…hungry and…”
“So you were?”
“I’m sorry!”
They’d caught the real culprit.
Jhin and Nene’s expenditures had drained the budget close to depletion, but Mismis’s daily barbecue binge had dealt the final blow.
“Everyone, listen! Nothing good will come from self-reflection! What’s done is done. So we should look ahead and start saving up to make up our budget!” Mismis said.
“No, I think this does call for some self-reflection.”
“I have a great idea!” Mismis ignored Jhin and plowed ahead, pulling out a part-time work agency magazine. “Ta-dah! We just need to get jobs!”
It just so happened that the Imperial forces allowed moonlighting. In fact, headquarters highly encouraged their soldiers to contribute to the rest of society.
“We could help people move heavy luggage or work as lifeguards at a pool or the beach. Or even teach people how to pitch tents for camp. There’s tons of stuff we could do.”
“Those won’t net us enough cash.” Jhin peered at the magazine. “We couldn’t even pay back your barbecue bills with jobs like those, boss. Iska, have you found anything promising?”
“The best one is, uhhh…‘Daiban Atelier assistant recruitment campaign.’ I think that pays the highest.”
In other words, they would be helping out at an artist’s workshop. Famous artisans usually had apprentices, so it seemed unusual that this studio was requesting part-time assistance.
“Why not?! This is it, Iska!” Mismis excitedly said. “It pays the highest, after all!”
“But we’d be helping an artist. Are you sure amateurs like us should apply…?”
“It’ll be fine. Besides, beggars can’t be choosers. We need to save up enough to pay off these expenses!”
“I think we should discuss how much of our budget you spent on barbecue, boss…”
“So make sure your days off are free for work, everyone!” the commander declared, clutching the magazine.
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