Hey, why are we being made to do something like this?
Even after we collared that bastard Flide...
All cancelled out by the many orders we've violated, I'm sure.
I see. So, you're fricken' telling me that Lord Havia is doing well?
Yes, well, he is the illustrious Winchell family's heir, after all.
We cannot send him to any truly dangerous front lines.
That is most excellent.
For my part, if he were to end up dead before the grand ceremony,
it would be a total fricken' loss for me.
Pardon my saying so, but aren't both the Winchells and the Vanderbilts
vehemently against your betrothal?
With these things, the greater the obstacle, the greater the passion.
You should fall in love for yourself, Miss Soldier.
So, can I talk to Lord Havia?
I can't put up with this!
Wars these days are conducted by Objects,
so what's the use of this kind of fussy work?
But doing this kind of detailed work is restful, don't you think?
No, it's not restful!
More like, isn't this a task that should be done by machines?
Huh?
Hey, man, Qwenthur. I found something incredible.
Treasure!
Hey brother ready for this fight?
It's go for broke, live or die
ichi kabachu gonna live or die.
To those days of being scared and just coping, bye bye bye
obi e tearu sukosu take no kimini bye, bye, bye.
Don't stop! Plowing through bullets falling thick and fast
Don't Stop! kimi shiki e ru tangan kake wake
Get up! Brilliantly nail that 2-step
Get Up! asaya kare kimero 2-step
Shut Up! Stow that whining and try, try, try
Shut Up! maki moto nan kumimeru shimai konna try, try, try.
Right now, even if everyone and anyone and everything and anything...
i mata remo karemo waremo koremo
Look away and make a break for it
mewo somu kemi kena shite ne
You alone, I'll never abandon
yusu temo shinai kimi temi wai
Let's go, One more chance! Let's change this darn scene
Let's go, One more Chance! kae tearo kono scene
Right now, tens of thousands of times if need be
mana retse na makai demo
It's just about showing that I can overcome
nori koete miseru dake
Overcoming even those tears and that pain
shono nami namo sono mitsa mimo koeteru
Going on to that next, as yet unseen stage
daro mino tsuki no sutejie
That's right, as many times as it takes, one more try!!
sousa naben date one more try!
Let's go, One more chance! Show them that spirit
Let's go, One more Chance! mushi tereo sono spirit
Right now, tens of thousands of times if need be
mana retse na makai demo
I can just crawl my way there
haitsu kubate i kari
We believe, right?!
shin ji ten da ro?!
That pain will someday become strength that's there for someone
moi tami wai tsuka tawa e kai yasu yosari
That's right, we can make it happen, one more try!
sou saka te genzo one more try!
We're not gonna walk away!
In an Obstacle Course Race, It's Normal to Get Covered in Mud
The Battle for Supremacy in Antarctica
All right!
Starting now, I, Mistress Jessica, the genius, know-it-all, female soldier,
will turn you raw recruits, shaking too hard in your boots to make a move,
into full-fledged men!
Now, everyone come at me all at once!
M-Me, too, Captain!
I can't take it anymore!
Out loud! More!
Could it be that you're the type
who likes to be put through the grinder by a superior female officer?
I just happened to find this thing. It's not about my taste!
But wait... What is this? The pace of my work is increasing.
Don't be such a baby!
Who told you that you could take a break?! Don't stop until Mistress Jessica says it's okay!
You're right. When you match the rhythm set by her voice,
the work goes faster!
Hey, my hands are moving on their own.
Somehow, out of nowhere, I'm feeling like I shouldn't take a break.
Quit your idle chitchat and move your fingers faster!
Don't let Mistress Jessica get bored even for one single second!
Yes, Mistress Jessica! I will be sure not to let you down!
Captain!
More!
Just what the fricken' hell are you doing?
Lord Havia,
there is a suspicious-looking package still sitting on the wooden box.
Who's that girl? A friend of yours?
I'll tell you all about it later, but she's a young lady of the Vanderbilt family.
I'm on duty. What do you want?
Can we not converse unless there is some business to attend to?
To begin with, it is more unnatural for a betrothed couple
to go even a fricken' day without an exchange of words.
Betrothed?!
But what in the world is that room?
Does the Winchell family determine its heir based on the moonlighting you do?
I've got a lot going on over here, too.
Though, a high society girl sipping tea in the Safe Nation might not understand.
The Safe Nation?
True, you are right about that.
I am visiting the vacation resort that is currently most removed
from the conflicts taking place upon our planet.
It is a place where the colors of flags do not matter.
Qwenthur, Havia. New job for you. You're coming with me.
--I will be borrowing him. --Certainly.
What? Wait...
Hey, hey, hey!
Do your best to put him through the fricken' grinder without killing him
and make him distinguish himself in battle quickly.
For real?
It's Antarctica, man.
Let me say that again. It's Antarctica.
Why did we have to get packed off to an icy continent
where there aren't even any Objects?
One of our Legitimate Kingdom survey aircrafts
that was flying along the Antarctic coast of the Ross Sea
was targeted by a surface-to-air missile.
By painting it with a lock-on laser,
it seems their intent was to hold its passengers hostage.
Fortunately, the survey craft was able to flee outside missile range, but...
There's no way it could've gotten away if it was up against an Object.
And Objects aren't equipped with SAMs to begin with.
That's right.
There's a good chance the enemy doesn't possess an Object.
In that case, the outcome is pretty much as good as settled at that point.
We can have our Princess's Object fire off a shot and boom!
No.
For our operation in Antarctica, we can't use our Object, either.
Huh?
It's a monster weapon that weighs over 200 thousand tons.
If we carelessly stick it on top of a continent made of ice,
it might break the thick ice and fall through, right?
Um...
We're an Object maintenance unit.
What are we supposed to do if we can't use the Object?
Naturally, the two of you are going to go ahead of the unit
to fight against the terrorists for us.
Ow! I mean, it's not cold, it hurts!
This is Antarctica. Some places can get to below 50.
Damn it all! If we had to go all Antarctica-ish,
I wish they'd make it a cute event with like penguins and stuff.
Going to all that trouble to set up SAMs here, where there's nothing...
What the heck are those terrorists doing?
Investigating that is your mission.
But even if you find them, there's no need to push to engage them.
Our most powerful Object is on standby in the Ross Sea,
so once you relay the location, we're set up, so the cute waitress
will blow them all up with long-range artillery fire.
Then, you didn't need to send us out on foot. Couldn't it have been taken care of
by having military satellites scan for them or something?
Though, I'm sure a senior officer sipping warm cocoa or something
and giving orders from the bridge of an assault landing carrier
might not understand our suffering as we freeze in the snowfields.
The situation is complicated in the Arctic and the Antarctic.
The stationary satellites close to the equator don't have the surveillance reach.
Polar-orbiting military satellites run into sovereignty issues,
so we of the Legitimate Kingdom can't use them.
The only things authorized for use
are communication satellites meant for scientific studies.
Wait, there was a slurping sound just now, wasn't there?! Slurping?!
Are you really having a cup of cocoa?!
The terrorists?!
Quit sweating the details!
Distance, 200. Seven or eight of them.
Can you get them?
What's with that spectator-like question? You get your gun out and take aim, too!
Uh, well, I didn't bring a firearm.
All I have are explosives, as usual.
What did you come all this way for?!
Well, I wanted to bring one, but...
I can't grant permission to hand a military firearm
to a student who hasn't finished his training.
Explosives are way more dangerous!
Wait, there was that slurping again, wasn't there?! Slurping?!
Why am I the only one who has to risk my life and return fire?!
What about the Princess's Object?!
At that location,
the shockwave and radiant heat from the bombardment
would end up mowing you down right along with them, but...
Would you be okay with that? Over.
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Shit!
This is bad.
Yeah, if we get surrounded, it's over.
No, that's not it. Penguins!
Huh? Penguins?
Baby penguins?!
No, Havia.
When dealing with Mother Nature, the rule is that humans don't interfere.
Yes!
There are no friends or foes in the face of Mother Nature!
Right now, our hearts are as one!
Damn it all! So, the harmony lasted all of one second?!
What's the use of checking the map now?!
There's no support coming from the Princess either way, right?!
Never mind that. Just keep blasting away. Keep the enemy in check for us.
Damn it!
What are you doing with that thing?!
Augh! It didn't reach them!
I told you, didn't I?!
It's fine. That's exactly what I wanted.
Get down!
Uh...
Straight up, what just happened?
Where they were standing was on top of honest-to-goodness ice.
It was thick ice covering a rocky V-shaped cliff.
It was hollow beneath.
So, that's what you were checking the map for.
Good thing we had bombs, too, right?
The Legitimate Kingdom's unmanned observation post is just a little farther.
Calculating backwards from the targeting laser-- that's where the SAMs are set up.
I'm sick of Antarctica already.
I mean, it's damn cold!
Is global warming really happening?!
Without knowing the average temperature of Antarctica,
it'd be hard to say.
I'm sealed in and the heat building up in here is making things stuffy,
so let's hurry up and wrap this up.
Qwenthur, you messed up the A/C adjustments during maintenance, didn't you?
Damn it, the Princess's castle seems as comfy as ever.
It's so hot.
No one's watching, so maybe I'll take my special suit off.
There probably isn't going to be any high-speed combat anyway.
Is that your way of considerately trying to raise our body temperatures
by feeding our imaginations?
So that's the unmanned observation post.
Or more like, isn't this place kind of warm?
Is the Princess's imagination effect working?
This area is a volcanic zone,
so there's heat temporarily coming from the ground.
Hey, take a look, Qwenser! It's a hot spring!
This is Antarctica, but there's a hot spring coming out of the ground!
Well? Have you found the SAMs?
We found the hot spring.
That just leaves the pretty babes.
Huh?
That just leaves what?
And some things that look way more dicey...
Spare rail guns meant to be equipped on Objects?!
Damn it! Why do they have something like that set up?!
Qwenser, down!
Sheesh. This is no joke.
Never mind that. The worst problem
is that there's a reactor here that's powerful enough to run those things!
Hey, does that mean...
Son of a bitch! Terrorists, my ass! Does that mean the enemy has an Object?!
Don't worry.
There's no sign of anything like that anywhere.
I can't not worry!
Hey, Qwenser, can't you do like with the terrorists earlier
and break the ice to drag them all into a collapse?!
Unfortunately, the ground around here composed of solid bedrock.
Baby Magnum, can you get your artillery fire to reach this far?
There's a mountain between us, so I can't directly target anything.
If I set the coil guns to fire in a broad arc,
I can clear the obstacle, though.
There's no time to neatly take them out one by one. Here's grid-based directions!
With coordinates 000212 as the reference point,
W11, J18, G26, M19, L27, B20, R12!
With those locations, even if I fire on them, I don't think I'll hit the enemy gun batteries.
Never mind that! Hurry! That'll end this thing!
Send the colossal rain of coil gun fire right this minute!
Damn it all! It didn't work!
--What're we going to do?! What's going to happen to us?! --It'll be okay.
How do you figure?!
What just happened?
The rail guns used by Objects produce such strong recoil
that to fire them normally on the ground, you need to fix them in place with anchors.
I rendered the anchors jabbed into the ground useless.
Strictly speaking, I cracked the ground itself, and not the anchors.
Investigating, focusing around the unmanned observation post.
No personnel or Object
believed to have operated the rail guns have been found.
Continuing to search the surrounding area again.
Investigating, focusing around...
But still, I wonder why the terrorists used SAMs. No personnel or Object
believed to have operated the rail guns have been found.
Hell if I know.
This is way too comfortable. I'm getting sleepy.
Hey, let me say, "You'll die if you fall asleep."
--I'm actually a bit enamored with that... --Whoa, I just spotted another nasty something.
Is it Mistress Jessica again?
No!
Is it a probe robot?
Yeah.
I can't tell if it's for civilian use or scientific use, though.
Hey, it's doing something all on its own.
Who's operating it? The terrorists?
Qwenthur! You sure it's okay to just mess with it?!
It won't suddenly blow up or anything, will it?
That's the least of our worries. It looks like this probe robot
is being controlled from a remote lab via a communication satellite.
It looks like the terrorists' aim was that communication satellite.
What do you mean?
They're trying to hack the communication satellite
to fire the laser that's equipped on board.
The laser? But it's for burning the surface of asteroids in space
to collect data, right? Even if they fired that towards the surface,
it'd get attenuated or scattered and wouldn't reach, right?
If their target is Earth, yeah.
The terrorists' target
is the vacation resort of the privileged class on the moon.
On the moon?!
To be more precise,
it's the Blind Net, set up as part of the terraforming experiment on the moon.
The Blind Net?
Is that the thing called the optical secondary atmosphere or something?
If that gets destroyed...
They'll be bombarded with direct sunlight and the entire resort area
will be exposed to extreme temperature differences.
Just the formation of a crack would cause the people inside to die in the hell of vacuum.
Long story short, you don't have to worry.
According to the estimated firing point of the laser,
the target is Rock Castle's VIP,
the great major general of the Capital Enterprise Army, Buffa Planters.
Even the Legitimate Kingdom has tried
to assassinate him a couple times in the past and failed. A real big shot.
If the terrorists are going to go off and kill him for us,
we'll stay here and turn a blind eye.
I feel kind of drained all of a sudden.
More like, what have we been fighting for all this time?
What's wrong? Let's hurry up and get back.
Hey, the girl you're betrothed to...
If I remember right, didn't she say she's at the vacation resort
that's most removed from the conflicts taking place upon our planet?
Don't tell me...
My! How rare for you to be the one to call me, Lord Havia.
Where the hell are you right now?!
Where else?
The vacation resort on the moon called Rock Castle.
Fuck!
Wh-What is this?! That was far too straightforward a demand!
I-I would not say I fricken' dislike such proposals, though...
You don't fricken' dislike it?
So, what?
The military's higher-ups want to waste
the major general of the Capital Enterprise Army so badly
that they're willing to embroil the only daughter of a noble family?
I doubt Miss Frolaytia knows.
If she knew there were other civilians,
I don't think she'd have given that order the way she did.
What are you fricken' whispering about?
What?
Make it like, "Whoops, my hand slipped!" And just do it.
Bastard! Do you even know what you're saying here?!
Hurry it up. We have less than 30 seconds until the laser fires.
Oh, fine, I'll do it!
But don't complain to me about it later!
Whoops! My hand slipped!
Idiot! Heivia, not that one! There!
--What? Which one? --The other one!
This one?
That one! There!
Oh, okay, this one?
That!
Talk about fricken' creepy.
What in the world have you been up to over there?
Being a duo of heroes!
And pretty modestly prepared to face risking life and limb while we're at it.
Well, you were lucky that this was an unofficial extra operation.
The operation was never supposed to have existed in the first place,
so even to hold you responsible-- it couldn't be done in an official capacity.
If it weren't for that, you'd be behind bars right about now.
Yeah, we hear you.
Damn it all. We fought to save the heroine,
and what we're left with is this lecture, huh?
So?
How did the young lady in question respond?
She seemed super happy.
I see.
Then, I suppose there's no need for any further questions.
Feeling a bit less flustered, at least?
Yes, but...
Why?
Why what?
I understand that succeeding as the head of the Winchell family
is no ordinary fricken' task. But even so...
You saying that what I'm doing here is too dangerous?
I saw what seemed to be a glimpse of it today.
My Winchell family and your Vanderbilt family
are noble families so hostile to one another that we each wish to destroy the other.
Yes.
But even so, we feel that we don't want to be at the mercy
of a stupid altercation like that.
You still feel that way, right?
Yes, but...
Even so...
That's all I need to know. No matter what I have to do,
I'm wresting away the right to succeed as the head of the family
and putting an end to the stupid bickering between the two families.
So, wait for me until then.
If it's to do that,
I'll even fight against super-large-scale weapons called Objects.
Power supply cables...
How was it moving around in secret?
An Object with submersible capabilities?
Don't tell me...
Stealth?