Everything has a beginning and an end.
But stories that are supposed to have ended happily-ever-after don't actually simply end there.
In reality, these things are always dogged by the aftermath.
Making repairs to damaged barracks is one of those things.
Political negotiations with hostile nations are also part of the aftermath that has to be dealt with.
This was supposed to be one of those carefree aftermath missions.
Yes, it was supposed to be...
On this mission, we would end up being made to pay through the nose for the things we'd done up until now.
As for "the Prince and the Princess lived happily ever after"...
When did we stop being able to believe in such fairy tale endings?
Don't wanna die before we see our fire inside so...
We can fight!
In the distance, where your mud-covered expression is facing,
doromamire no sono hyoujou ga misueteru saki e
We can fight!
Our sweat that drips down, even knowing that everything will come to a futile end, Will still never forget how to fight!
nagareo chiru asa ga subete muda ni owaru to shitemo
tataku koto dake wa wasure wa shinai darou
You're so strong - able to smile in any situation, And no one has ever seen you cry...
itsudemo waraeru tsuyoi kimi no nakigao wa daremo shiranai kara
But that just leaves the bruises in your heart unhealed.
kokoro no aza wa kienai kedo
But now we'll laugh to the ends of the Earth! That's right! Get Up, Get Up, Get Up!
dokomademo waratte sousa, Get up, Get up, Get up!
We just gotta blaze on through!
kake nukere bai
A Requiem for the Flowers Blooming in the Field
The Battle to Destroy the Baby Magnum I
Whoa. This is incredible.
A field of flowers as far as the eye can see...
You see it described all the time, but it's my first time seeing the real thing.
No kidding.
Now, if only there weren't two whole Objects in our field of view, we could get into the picnic mood for reals.
But this mission is a hostage exchange meeting, right?
The Objects come out to pose and ostensibly pin each other down, but they say it's ultimately a formality.
I guess.
Then, there's no need to be that nervous, is there?
Well, that's true.
Ever since I've been teamed up with you,
I’ve picked up the bad habit of being suspicious of everything.
Right back at you.
A hostage exchange meeting?
Yup.
Between us and the Intelligence Union, trading a hostage we took prisoner for fitting compensation.
We'll mainly be trading for technological intel and the like.
What we're offering is Guru Klondike.
Guru?
I've heard of him.
If I remember right, isn't he a monk who believes in nonviolence, civil disobedience, and nonresistance?
Correct.
He was originally a prominent figure in the Faith Organization.
Not only that, but he has great international influence
and actually has quite the following that transcends the boundaries of the four great powers of the world.
Huuuuuh.
What the guru teaches is more like ideology than religion.
It's closer to philosophy.
But because of that, he didn't fit in on his home turf in the Faith Organization.
Th-That makes sense.
Which is why, for the Faith Organization's part, they don't especially want him in their own country.
But he's a popular leader, so outwardly, they want to be seen protecting him.
Conversely, any country the guru gets into doesn't want the bother of him spreading his ideas,
so their first step is to detain him, but...
Killing him would create an international incident,
so they just want him to leave for another country as soon as possible.
Exactly.
And in this way, the guru has been getting passed around all over between the four great powers.
I know a game like that.
Me, too.
It's called Old Maid.
Correct.
And this time, the Intelligence Union is willing to draw the "old maid".
Why would they bother?
Who knows?
At any rate, for our part, we have no complaints with the Intel presented as compensation,
so there's no way we're not taking this trade.
With that being the case, for this hostage exchange meeting,
the Faith Organization also has an Object observing from a distance.
And with three of the great powers gathered here,
it seems the Capital Enterprise has also sent an Object here and is paying close attention.
One old religious figure geezer and the four great powers all come together huh?
That doesn't make me happy.
Everybody coming together like that doesn't make me happy at all.
If we carry this out as planned, there's fundamentally no danger.
Stay appropriately alert and carry out your mission.
Stay appropriately alert, huh?
What are you doing?
Oh, I'm using CVD to treat the replacement mirrors for the optical targeting system of the secondary guns.
CV...?
Yup.
In particular, the ones near the main guns
take the full brunt of the intake and exhaust when they're fired, right?
Which is why they need to be exchanged more frequently than ones in other places.
Here, watch.
CVD stands for chemical vapor deposition and like this, it takes the powder used for the coating...
...and turns it into plasma, depositing it on the surface.
It can turn pretty much anything mirror-like.
Wow...
Let me see that.
It's for you.
Remember?
The mirror on the compact you take with you into the cockpit...
You said you broke it, right?
If it works for you, use that until your replacement arrives.
Is this...
...a present?
I just made it from stuff I had on hand, so it's nothing that big a deal, though.
I'll use it with care.
Yeah?
It was worth making it to hear you say so.
Okay.
Come on, it's almost time.
Baby Magnum needs to prepare to mobilize.
Well, see you later.
Sure.
Then, shall we head out as well, Guru?
I'm sorry to be saying goodbye, sweet Frolaytia.
You grabbed my mic so passionately and satisfied the desires of these old bones with such intensity!
I'll never forget about last night.
What?!
Guru!
You said all sorts of things, but Miss Frolaytia, don't tell me...
That's what you're into?!
That's not it!
I was stuck keeping the guru company at karaoke all night last night!
It was a night filled with passion.
Whoa...
I guess looking after grand old men is an officer's job, too.
Getting promoted isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Oh? Might you be Qwenthur Barbotage?
Uh, yes, but...
I heard there was a hero, who fought in the flesh and destroyed Objects, so I'd long been curious...
We're not really heroes or anything.
That's true.
When you destroyed those Objects, if you could've also saved their Elites,
you would've been perfect as heroes, though.
Us being able to stop those Objects was a result of us desperately struggling to survive!
Are you another one of those people who think nothing of sacrificing one life,
if it can save the lives of a couple thousand or tens of thousands?
That's...
Anyone can do that subtraction.
Mm, indeed.
But don't you think it's precisely that cold subtraction that's the reason why the world never ceases to war?
Will there come a day when you two are able to become true heroes?
Please.
I'll be looking forward to seeing that.
To the Legitimate Kingdom Object.
As of now, we will enter into Red Alert mode.
If you take any suspicious action, we will strike back immediately, so consider yourself warned.
To the Intelligence Union Object, roger on the warning.
We'll enter into Red Alert as well.
You again, is it?
Such an odd fate we share.
I could say the same. Your Object was captured.
You must be glad that you didn't get the boot.
That reminds me, is that gentleman here today as well?
Yeah,
He gave me a present today.
A present?
A handmade accessory.
Is that right?
That's right.
"Ohoho".
I would ask that you not imitate me!
All I did was laugh.
"Ohoho".
Are you mocking me?!
Good grief.
Hey, they're at it again, gentleman.
The new Rush...
It looks about the same, but I doubt they'd bring out the same exact model that got captured by us...
There must be some big modification somewhere...
Hey, gentleman!
Qwenthur!
Huh? What is it?
If the mission were not what it was, I would do you the favor of blowing you to smithereens.
I'd turn the tables on you.
My, my, you are ever so confident, even when you are in that antiquated thing.
Hey, hey, Princess, what are you doing?
She was trying to provoke me, so I accepted the challenge, that's all.
No, no, no.
This is a peaceful mission, remember?
No helping it then.
If you insist, I'm okay with letting it go—
Princess?
Hey, Princess?
First Lieutenant Milinda! What's wrong?
Miss Frolaytia, I just lost contact with the Princess out of nowhere.
We're confirming the same.
It's not just audio.
All telemetry transmissions have stopped as well.
A malfunction?
That seems unlikely...
We've ascertained the reason.
It seems someone is interfering with the Baby Magnum's link right now.
The obstruction is a result of that.
Interfering?! Who?!
Unknown.
The Princess should be trying various means to eliminate the obstruction,
but we have absolutely no idea what's going on inside, either.
What we do know is that the source of the signal is a quantum key-enabled radio tower
belonging to a resort town about 15 klicks to the southwest, that's all.
For the moment, there's no real damage except for the obstructed communications, but you never know.
I want to deal with this as quickly as possible, but if we move troops carelessly under these circumstances,
we may stir up more excitement than we need.
So...
I understand.
We'll go.
Please do.
Let's go, Havia.
What? Hey, hold on!
You just casually dragged me into this, didn't you?!
What're we going to do if we're up against some massive army?!
The exchange meeting goes up in smoke and we end up as corpses, maybe?
Well, something like that.
Son-of-a-bitch!
Are you sure you're not an aspiring hero, after all?!
Hey, hero, as I recall, an Object's communication system uses 8th gen encryption with quantum keys, right?
So, how can someone interfere with that?
I can't figure that out and that's what's bugging me.
I have a really bad feeling about this somehow...
This is Qwenthur.
We'll be arriving at the target location shortly.
You, it has been a long time.
I'm most glad that you're alive and well.
It's Charlotte Zoom.
The black uni armpit?!
Armpit?!
Hey!
The oversight lady we met at Kamchatka.
Oversight?
Ooh, scary!
Uh, um, I appreciate you calling me, but unfortunately, I'm on a mission right now.
I know.
That's why I called.
I heard that you're currently in the middle of dealing with a cyber attack on the Baby Magnum.
There's a chance that this attack includes the involvement of former Councilor Flide,
whom you two once helped to arrest.
Oh, that's the cardboard geezer who escaped.
If that was it, she wouldn't bother calling us about it.
Isn't that right?
Naturally.
I've been pursuing a certain case for a long time now.
That has no direct bearing on you two, but Flide is involved in this case of mine.
And in the process, I ascertained that there was currently some sort of plan underway.
When that led me to track his movements, I found proof that he's in that region illegally at this very moment.
Damn it! This is the worst!
Worst? Why?
You see the problem?
Flide ran the Elite training facility.
He's bound to have had the chance to access top secret data on Milinda Brantini and the Baby Magnum as well.
If a guy like that were to try to hack the Princess's Baby Magnum now...
What's he after?
What's this case of yours?
You're not authorized to know.
But from what we can surmise, his goal is to take over an Object, make this hostage exchange fail,
and trigger the worst scenario possible.
Right now, in the vicinity of the border where you are...
the four great powers have their Objects all pointed at each other.
It's the same as a powder magazine full of exposed fuel and ammo.
Strike just one match and who knows what might happen!
I'm stepping on it!
I'm counting on you.
You're not going to tell them about the List?
Be quiet.
The plan is safely underway.
It'll all be over in just a few more minutes.
Or perhaps I should say, it'll all be beginning.
I do appreciate your cooperation, my friends.
For warmly reaching out to me when I'd become penniless.
Cooperation?
That is called extortion.
You had better know the meaning of what you've done, you bastard.
Of course, I'll take responsibility.
At any rate, this should safeguard the ideal held by my confederates, who placed their names on the List.
After experiencing this quagmire war that's about to be sparked
in a free-for-all between the four great powers, the world should have a fresh appreciation.
Of just how clean the wars were when the Object count determined the outcome even before the fight.
I understand it well, though, having become enthralled myself.
There's no holding back true hatred.
With wars, the sweet spot is when they're slightly rigged.
Roger that, sir.
We will immediately complete the hostage exchange.
We're going forward with it?
But we still have no word from the ground that the signal source is under control...
The brass made the call.
I swear...
Guru, please accompany me.
You got it.
Don't move!
Hey, there.
Long time no see, my dear boy, Havia.
You, too, my dear boy, Qwenthur.
But you came just a little too late.
Damn it! What did you just do?!
The fault lies with you two.
War is a primitive instinct that humans have.
That's exactly why it must be controlled with rationality.
Wars controlled digitally by Objects, which symbolize power, aren't in fact wars at all.
They're a system for safety.
To a world such as that, you two are poison.
The worst kind of poison.
And nothing more.
Go get a good dose of exactly what it is that you've been doing.
Huh?
What happened to me?
Baby Magnum, are you all right?
Yes.
Thank goodness.
I'll send someone over now.
Stay right there, no matter what.
That's an order.
Baby Magnum. Roger.
Is there some trouble?
Not to worry.
We just resolved—
Artillery strike called in by Frolaytia.
Confirming coordinates.
Strike called in?!
Wait, Milinda!
What are you...
That direction is...
Both of you, get away from there right now!
You're going to be bombarded!
Bombarded?!
Damn it!
We're running, Qwenthur!
You bastard!
You two go.
The place the Baby Magnum is targeting is here.
Hurry, Havia!
He plans to burn up the hacking equipment along with himself!
Stop this, Milinda!
That's an order!
Hold the attack!
It's okay, Frolaytia.
Target destroyed.
I will now eliminate the enemy Object.
What in the world is the Legitimate Kingdom thinking?
Unknown.
Don't let them kill the guru.
I'm authorizing you to return fire.
So, even this paradise will be touched by fire.
Get down!
Adjusting for errors.
Damn it!
Notifying all units!
The Baby Magnum and the Rush are currently engaged in battle!
Is this for real?
We're going back, Havia.
Right.
The Baby Magnum has gone out of control?!
It seems the hacker has died and the Mirror of Truth has been implemented.
The cognitive intervention program made for Elites, developed in the Intelligence Union.
It intervenes in the cognitive and thought processes,
and deliberately induces a state of distorted perception with a specific slant.
You bastard!
You knew and you...
For example, there's the phrase "extend them every courtesy".
Other than its literal meaning, there's the slang usage that can mean "beat them to a pulp".
Right now, she's in a mode where she interprets all information as the latter, in a negative direction.
And it's not just words.
Data. Visuals.
All incoming information is converted in this arbitrary direction by the intervention.
The key that undoes the intervention was likely lost along with Flide.
She can't be restored now.
The fuse has been lit.
Now, with the bomb, which is the death of the guru, the powder magazine is sure to go up in a huge explosion.
If you want to stop this, you'll have no choice but to destroy the Baby Magnum.
Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who will be the one to kill Snow White?
A Requiem for the Flowers Blooming in the Field
The Battle to Destroy the Baby Magnum II