Chapter 246 : Chapter 246
Chapter 246. Overloading (1)
"Okay! Back, a little more! Just a little more!"
A SIEG Industry worker shouted over the roar of the transport's propellers and their shockwaves, giving hand signals to direct operations.
Transports with jet-black bodies — each carrying a searchlight bearing SIEG's sharp triangular logo on an underside rope — lined up in a long row above the tall wall, making fine adjustments to their positions.
Enoch watched all of it from a short distance, his back against a wall.
When the searchlight being transported beneath a helicopter was slowly lowered and safely set on the ground, four other workers immediately rushed in to bolt the mount to the floor.
Elena, standing beside him, watched the work with what seemed like genuine excitement, fanning herself with her black fan.
A refreshing wind blew past with a whoosh, and Enoch, clutching his hair, turned to survey the scene spread out below.
Atop the enormous wall encircling the vast city center of Victoria Kazimieśi's 19th Outsourcing District.
Enoch had climbed to the very top of what amounted to a modern-built fortress city.
When he had last visited, the impression had been that of a scenic tourist destination — people moving between elegant old buildings under brilliant sunlight, and birds nesting atop construction sites still under development.
But now, no birds flew across the sky. Perhaps even the wild animals had sensed the Outsourcing District's fate and had all fled.
Enoch looked up at the sky.
The clouds hung in an ominous leaden hue, and the wind was picking up — weather that quite literally spelled gathering storm. With overcast skies like this, there would be no moonlight to hope for on the night the enemy's main force arrived.
"Still, I'm glad we managed to finish the work by sundown."
Enoch watched for a moment as Elena said this in a bright voice while looking out at the work site before them.
"I'm sorry."
"Hm?"
Elena widened her eyes and looked up at him.
"For all of this — providing all this equipment. You're already an unofficial sponsor, and I didn't think you'd invest this much……"
"Hmm, is that so?"
Elena tilted her chin up slightly, made a cat-like pout, and looked at him. Then she closed her eyes and fanned herself adorably.
"Well then, if you really do feel sorry, you could grant me one little request in return, couldn't you?"
"A request? What is it?"
Elena snapped her fan shut with a triumphant expression and leveled it at the tip of Enoch's nose.
"Become my friend! How about it?"
Enoch looked at Elena with a slightly sour expression, then snapped back to himself and replied.
"……I don't mind."
"Wonderful, then it's settled!"
Watching her beam as if she had been waiting for exactly that answer, Enoch tilted his head.
"Is that really enough?"
"Uhuhu. A sponsor relationship alone felt a bit lacking, or maybe a bit dull — either way, it wasn't quite satisfying, you know? Besides, I needed a friend."
"That's unexpected. You don't have friends?"
She placed a hand on her hip and nodded.
"Hmm, the truth is I haven't had many chances to make friends my own age. Even though I'm technically enrolled at an Academia, I requested private tutors at home, so there was practically no opportunity to make close classmates."
"If you wanted friends, you could've just gone to Academia classes. You requested private tutors yourself?"
"What a silly question. Between studying business and drawing up tactical blueprints, there simply aren't enough hours in the day."
"……So you needed a friend?"
"Mm, well, that's not the only reason."
Elena pressed her shoulder against his, rose up on her toes, and spread her fan beside her cheek to hide Enoch's ear and her own lips, whispering close.
"After all, getting close to someone who's clearly going to be big in the future — that's advantageous in all sorts of ways, wouldn't you say?"
Because of her posture, the soft fullness of her blouse-covered chest pressed firmly against him, and Enoch briefly averted his gaze with an expressionless face.
Watching his reaction, Elena hid her mouth behind her fan and chuckled in amusement.
"Anyway, escort me around. Consider it payback for the gratitude. Being personally guarded by the Direct Lineage everyone's talking about — quite the thrilling event, don't you think?"
"Well, if you stick too close, you'll be announcing the unofficial sponsorship to everyone around us."
"Such a worrier. It's just a stroll together. Besides, with an unofficial sponsorship, subtly letting others notice is kind of important, you know?"
Laughing, Elena set off with light steps, and Enoch slowly followed as they walked along the top of the long wall.
Watching Elena hum happily and pat each passing black searchlight as she went, Enoch quietly spoke.
"This place will be a battlefield soon. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Oh my, are you worried about me?"
Elena laced her fingers together with a calm expression and stretched toward the sky.
"True, providing this much materiel for free to what's essentially a war zone is no small loss even for our company."
"I wasn't talking about economic losses."
"Uhuhu, I'm fine. I have SIEG Industry's guard detail, and in a pinch the Direct Lineage himself will protect me, right?"
Enoch sighed softly instead of answering.
She really was one difficult young lady to keep from getting swept up by. Enoch shifted his gaze to the side, scratching the back of his head.
"Tell me how much the losses amount to. The Main House might be able to provide support."
"It's fine, it's fine. Even as a Direct Lineage of a Main House, the mission budget a 9th Placement gets wouldn't cover it even if you paid it back your whole life~?"
Elena waved the hand holding her fan dismissively, then slowly placed her other hand on a searchlight.
"That aside, all that's left now is waiting for the batteries to arrive."
"Batteries? The searchlights don't have batteries?"
"That's right. Since these were rush-ordered in bulk unlike off-the-shelf searchlights, it took a bit of extra time — they're currently en route on a separate flight."
"Earlier you said it was hard to pull in any more support. What about transport personnel?"
"Ah, no need to worry about that. As it happens, personnel from the Holy Sejour side said they were heading this way, so since they seemed to have hands to spare, I arranged the air transport in exchange for borrowing some of their people."
"The Holy Sejour……?"
Enoch's eyes widened at the unexpected name, and Elena turned to him as though surprised by his surprise.
"Oh? Don't tell me you didn't know? There was even news about key figures from the Holy Sejour moving toward the 19th Outsourcing District."
"You don't mean……"
"I do."
Elena snapped her fan shut and said,
"Your Follower Family — the elder of The Order's Twin Saintesses, Saintess Amelia!"
At that, Enoch recalled the handwritten letter from Amelia that he had found inside the wrapper of a recovery potion during the solo mission to destroy Indiviltal.
It seemed she truly intended to keep her promise to come.
Lost in thought for a moment, he noticed a gaze fixed on him from ahead, and raised his head to look at Elena.
She leaned in and poked his chest with her folded fan.
"So, how did you recruit the Saintess? And to think you pulled off something that remarkable without even contacting your sponsor — I'm a little hurt."
"Ah, right. You must've already heard."
"When I heard, I was absolutely stunned. How on earth you brought the idol of The Order into your Follower Family — my eye for talent really is spot-on."
Come to think of it, since his last meeting with Elena, many things had happened — including bringing the Saintess into his Follower Family — yet he hadn't exactly been in touch.
Thinking about it that way, the realization that his bond with Elena had stretched on quite long crept over him. Shaking off the thought, Enoch raised his head and murmured quietly.
"In the end, until the batteries arrive, what we need to do is intercept the aerial raid units before the main force gets here."
There was concern about whether the batteries would arrive before dark the next day, but as he hurriedly issued instructions for the preparatory tasks that needed doing, the anxiety gradually faded.
Enoch and his group summoned the remaining freelancers, briefed them on the operation, and began deploying forces.
The freelancers were clearly uneasy about having to fight around the Outsourcing District's wall — the very structure their contract required them to defend from approach — but no one raised objections.
Everyone was issued in-ear communicators for the internal channel from Elena's team and set about inspecting their equipment and magic gear.
Enoch's squad members, too, grabbed everything they might need from the supply crates SIEG Industry had provided.
Watching April resupply her spare ammunition and Nano stroke the drone floating beside her, Enoch turned his head.
The work to fortify the area around the wall would apparently continue through the night.
He pulled his terminal from his pocket and checked the time. Less than a full day remained.
This time, for better or worse, it was truly the end.
That thought made his hand tighten unconsciously around the strap of his sword bag. It was time to sprint toward the conclusion of this long, nightmarish 19th Outsourcing District.
But before that, there was something he wanted to confirm.
Scanning the squad members as they made their final preparations, he caught sight of long ash-brown hair sweeping past right beside him.
It was Alicia.
The Dragoon girl walked with her head bowed, devoid of energy — a far cry from her usual vitality, her eyes clouded with conflict.
Guessing the reason without difficulty, Enoch quietly addressed her.
"Alicia."
"Huh? A, ah! Direct Lineage!"
Sure enough, Alicia had been lost in thought. She whipped around with a startled expression.
"There's something I want to ask."
Enoch stepped close to the wide-eyed Alicia, glanced around to make sure no one was listening, and whispered softly.
"When you said you'd persuade your superior to bring the Dragoon members into the fighting force — honestly, is that possible?"
Alicia lowered her head slightly, averted her gaze, and clenched her fists.
"I'll do my best, but it won't be easy."
As though trying to hide her helplessness, she gripped her trembling shoulder beneath her uniform with one hand.
"Colonel Shepherd has been immovable on this until now. And unless something unexpected happens, Aslin will still see my attempts as nothing more than stubbornness."
Alicia, having given the answer he had expected, looked up at him squarely and smiled gently.
"But it's okay! Once I return to the unit as contracted, if persuasion fails, I promise I'll find a way to slip out and join the operation. You don't need to worry about that!"
"Are you sure?"
Alicia clasped her hands before her chest as if holding onto something precious.
"Yes. What matters in the end is never giving up — that's what you showed me during the last mission, Direct Lineage."
Something from before flashed through Enoch's mind.
During the previous solo mission, when Alicia had tried to sacrifice herself to stall the magical beasts, he had overridden her stubbornness and taken her along.
So that was how she had taken that. With that thought, Enoch looked down at Alicia and quietly nodded.
"You seem resolved."
She gripped the Lance in her hand and nodded.
"Yes. Until Aslin comes and I have to return to the unit, I'll do my absolute best here. To fulfill the soldier's duty I believe in."
Just then, a short electronic tone sounded from the communicator in his ear, and the channel activated.
[— All personnel, alert from the detection unit! Enemy flying-type magical beasts are currently airborne in pairs with ground-type beasts! Confirmed as aerial raid forces!]
Enoch urgently looked up at the sky.
The freelancers gathered before the wall, just about to scatter after receiving their deployment orders, also stopped in their tracks and looked up in unison at the sound of the transmission.
There, a multitude of enemies were approaching.
From far away, the enemy's aerial force was advancing in formation, several hundred meters above.
Filling the red sunset sky with black, the shrieking cries of the flying-type magical beasts, swarming like locusts, pierced the heavens and shook the earth.
A rough estimate put them at over three hundred. It seemed they had swelled their numbers yet again during the fighting.
Against that — this side had a mere seventy remaining.
But conversely, these were seventy freelancers who had survived this hellish maelstrom and were still fit to fight. Enoch raised his head and calmly issued his order.
"To your positions. Move out."
No freelancer called back in response to the order, and none raised a battle cry to boost morale.
That was not the way of the Outsourcing District's pack of dogs.
One man in a leather jacket silently raised his mechanically designed staff high, then the next moment settled it on his shoulder and stepped forward.
The worn combat boots on his feet struck the ground with a small sound.
The next person, and the next after that — footsteps answered Enoch's words in succession, men and women alike, countless feet moving across the ground.
Seen from ground level, it would have been the sight of boots, dress shoes, and combat boots all stepping forward in answer, one after another.
Like that, the freelancers silently raised their guns, staffs, and other weapons overhead as they filed past Enoch.
No rousing war cry, no proper formation — just free, unbound footsteps heading forward.
Enoch quietly watched them.
From the ones gripping their magic gear with a crooked smile, to those wearing no expression at all — each freelancer, eyes alight in their own way, began to move toward the sunset.
Enoch felt a strange emotion and gripped his cloth bag tightly.
The realization seeped deep into his chest — that he had arrived at a future where he stood before the freelancers and led them, rather than the fate of withering away in the Magic Empire with his talent unspent.
And naturally, the future that lay ahead would also be pried open by his own will.
Just as it always had been.
At the center of the freelancer corps' last and final elite forces walking toward the enemy.
Feeling his squad members approach silently from behind, Enoch raised his hand to the communicator on his ear, his eyes cold.
"Operation 'Piercing Thrust' — commencing now."