Horizon:Volume 9A Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Blocker During the Retreat

Not letting them through

Is our objective

And our method

But what about them?

Point Allocation (Rite of Passage)

●

Sakuma was the very first one to be alerted of the Azuchi’s approach.

She had the inherited name of more than one member of the Sakuma clan. One of those gave her the Urban Name of Retreating Sakuma and she did indeed excel at retreating battles, but when it was time to defend, she would move up to the front line and delay the enemy. She was currently performing recon for that purpose, but…

“Oh, c’mon. I was here patting myself on the back for noticing the Azuchi’s approach, but we already received an alert from the P.A. Oda divine network? We even got a guidance message for the Azuchi’s departure.”

“Wellll, it did arrive quite suddenly, Sakuma-sama,” said the girl on divine transmission duty on the Kariya Castle’s bridge. “Since this is an internal history recreation, P.A. Oda must not be sure if they should fully treat us like enemies or not.”

“No, no, no, no. This was definitely Shiba-chan’s doing. We need to be more careful.”

“You say that, but it’s already begun.”

Hearing that, Sakuma checked the image sent in from the front line.

“They aren’t even using their stealth?”

“Since it is primarily a land battle, I assume they will keep their ship outside the battlefield. That giant ship can be intimidating looming overhead, after all.”

“Then…then how about this?”

Sakuma decided to make use of whatever suggestions she received.

“Who cares if it’s intimidating? Yeah, let’s do this. We’ll launch an attack and delay them!”

●

Kiyomasa was cleaning when she learned Sakuma’s fleet had floated up on its own to intercept the Azuchi.

This was supposed to be a land battle, so until it was time to prepare to leave the ship, she had decided to clean the Azuchi’s interior.

She had been gone for about a month, after all. And in her room…

“Oh, dear. What a mess.”

It was so bad she sighed heavily enough for her track jacket to slip from her shoulders.

She had forgotten. She had been infuriated by her interaction with Fukushima, but she hadn’t wanted to lash out at anyone else. So instead, she had taken it out on the books, plates, boxes, bottles, lotion containers, miscellaneous items, and even the posters in her room.

Her bed was especially bad. Nothing remained. The bed and its mattress were still there, but she had tossed all the bedding into the air so that it fell down near the center of the room. And at the peak of that tantrum mountain was…

“The testament pillow.”

The pillow perfectly balanced atop the mountain looked like a piece of artwork to her.

That pillow had to be the conclusion. The last piece.

She finally recalled how excited she had been and how far she had subsequently fallen a month ago.

…And after I calmed down some, I did my best not to look at or touch that “mountain”.

She had known she had to clean it up eventually, but getting rid of the “mountain” had felt like admitting defeat. Even though she had gotten her hopes up on her own, been shot down on her own, and got mad on her own.

Repeatedly putting it off until she had calmed down had brought some peace back to her mind.

She had been in a great mood when she left for the training camp. Because it had let her escape all this. But it had all come rushing back when she had cried at Sanada’s entrance.

And here it was waiting for her.

“Hmm.”

What should she do with the “mountain”? A lot of it was still usable. She had only thrown it around a bit, so anything that hadn’t broken would be fine. But…

“This bowl was a souvenir of our trip to Mito.”

The bowl fallen behind a stack of documents was something she had gotten when they attacked at Mito after the Battle of Mikatagahara. They had gone to warn Musashi, defeated Musashi’s Vice Chancellor, and been forced to withdraw when Musashi’s 5th Special Duty Officer received some assistance. Kiyomasa had been injured then.

Fukushima had said a flat plate would be difficult to use with one arm, so she had asked for a bowl at the soba restaurant they visited on the way back. Kiyomasa had tried it and it had fit in her hand perfectly.

…Fukushima-sama unconsciously knew the size of my hand.

She sighed with a hand on her cheek. And…

“O-oh, no. I don’t have time for this.”

She could think about all this later. They were on the way to the Battle of Shizugatake, but the Honnouji Incident was likely to begin at the same time. And if the Honnouji Incident was completed…

“It will mean this all mattered and also didn’t matter.”

In that case, she thought. She placed the bowl atop the “mountain” and bowed toward it.

“It doesn’t matter. I can throw it all away.”

Tidying up now would occupy her time until the Battle of Shizugatake, but she wouldn’t be able to finish it all.

There were always people who had nothing to do because they couldn’t participate in a history recreation. She considered having those people dispose of it all. But…

“N-no, I can’t let them see this.”

She grabbed the testament pillow from the very top and hugged it to herself while trying to think up a spot to hide it. And…

“Oh.”

Outside – outside the window, not out in the hallway – a deep rumble passed by the Azuchi.

A beat later, an alarm blared through the hallway.

“The Sakuma Fleet is firing on us from the front, port, and starboard. We are shifting into defense positions and should pass them by without issue, but please do not step out onto the deck to watch and please do not become suddenly worried that a rope on the outside of the ship is not properly fastened. I will not have time to spare to collect you. Shaja.”

●

Huh, thought Sakon. So this is what an Azuchi invasion is like.

“Onitakemaru-san, isn’t it great how much lazier you can be when you look formidable?”

“Kohime, surely there is a better way of phrasing that. And they literally just said not to go out on the deck!”

“But, but, I was already out here! Because I thought I could see Shizugatake from up here. Which is when you yelled at me for thinking I could, gave me an overly detailed lecture using maps and everything, and I ended up thinking you’d be a really nice and helpful person if you didn’t say such mean things.”

“Damn you. Why do I get the feeling you still don’t understand why you can’t see Shizugatake from here!?”

“What’s the point of remembering something that would never be useful again? Shouldn’t I use my brain for more important things?”

“Damn you!”

Sakon’s helmet started another lecture, so she held it under her arm and walked across the deck.

She was currently on the Azuchi’s 1st center ship. Specifically, on the mobile deck on the upper port side. Not even she was going to go up to the main cannon in combat readiness mode so she could touch it while exclaiming how big it is. Because I already did that before we left port.

And until a bit ago, she had been helping out with anything she could.

The Azuchi was a warship. With a battle coming up, a lot of supplies needed to be transported within the ship. On the outside of the ship, help was needed getting all the defense mechanisms set up, fixing the armor in place, and so on.

But there was one problem.

“Kohime! Get inside already!”

Artillery fire was already coming from the north. The shots were unexpectedly accurate, so the ether light of defense barriers had been spraying out from the 2nd ships more than the 1st. This was accompanied by a loud shattering sound, but that sound was gradually growing louder and more distorted. Probably because the Azuchi was picking up speed. But as more arcing shots passed by overhead…

“They’re aiming for the 2nd ships again? Why?”

“The rear ships are shielded by the front ships, so it’s commonly assumed you don’t need to use defense barriers for them. I used to place a defense ship out in front for the same reason.”

“Onitakemaru-san, that’s why you can never win any battles of note.”

“All that matters is that you win in the end!”

Now he’s making excuses?

But why was the enemy targeting the 2nd ships with arcing shots?

“Even if the 2nd ships are under attack, we still have to keep defense barriers active for the 1st ships. And this much fire going to the 2nd ships tells us they are targeting the 2nd ships, which means we must also keep defense barriers active for them even if the enemy stops firing on them. Do you understand what that means?”

“Onitakemaru-san, you can’t just start lecturing me out of the blue and then expect me to understand. You’re bad at communicating.”

“The fault lies in your refusal to learn!”

No, I think that’s a separate issue. But…

“What does it mean?”

“Huh? Oh. …Listen. If an aerial ship is forced to remain in defense mode, it consumes an absurd amount of fuel. Firing artillery only takes an instant, but the defense barriers must be constantly active. The Musashi is designed for defense and handles this quite well for such an old ship, but the Azuchi is a warship.”

“What difference does that make?”

“Each of the Musashi’s defense barriers is light. That also means they are weak, but the ship’s high-level control system lets them be instantly duplicated and reinforced. I saw this in action in the records of the Battles of Mikawa and Mikatagahara. They are making good use of their three decades of experience. But each of the Azuchi’s defense barriers is heavy. That also means they are strong, but do you know why that is?”

“To stop big shells.”

“It does that too, but no.”

“if it does do that, then how is it a no?”

What was that thing about sufficient versus necessary conditions? Was that what this was about?

But the helmet under her arm said “whatever” before continuing.

“With defense barriers strong enough for a single one to stop a powerful blast, you don’t need a high-level control system. Because you don’t need to activate multiple layers or accurately track the enemy’s location. You can face the enemy and only deal with the attacks coming head on. That’s how warships do it, but…”

“We’ll be wasting a lot of energy if we keep doing that here?”

“Right.”

“We’re just letting them pummel us. Why don’t we fight back?”

“Fighting back requires energy too and compensating for recoil is a pain. But more than that, ordering everyone to counterattack stations would break up the personnel arrangement set up for the land battle.”

“So it’s better to take the hits and pass them by than to fight back?”

“See, you do understand. That’s exactly it.”

“I see,” said Sakon with a nod. She knew firsthand that some things weren’t worth fighting even if they hurt.

And if this way was beneficial and served their objective, then it was far better than when she did that. But, but…

…All that stuff I went through led me to Onitakemaru-san, Mitsunari-sama, and the others, so maybe my old pain was worth it after all.

Her classmates often said she was “soft”. They told her to shape up and focus more. But if I do that, I’ll do more than just hurt people.

“Why are you smirking, Kohime?”

“I-I am not! How rude!”

But she did understand the current situation.

“Then the Azuchi will just have to hurry up. Is the point to charge deep into the enemy formation so they can’t fire on us without risking friendly fire?”

“Exactly. …I’m impressed you figured that out, Kohime. Well done.”

“Well, I had a good teacher.”

“Ho ho? Did you now?”

“Testament. I did. You were very thorough about all that information that won’t be any use after today.”

“Damn you!!”

You shouldn’t be louder than the artillery fire.

That aside, she understood what was happening.

But when she looked back, she saw the artillery fire focused on the 2nd ships. Even though the Azuchi was picking up speed.

“Why are they concentrating their fire back there?”

●

In the Azuchi’s god of war hangar, Koroku considered where to position Genbu.

Genbu could move autonomously, so she was seated up on its shoulder.

“Should I help defend things up top?”

She crossed her arms in thought and Genbu moved toward the main upper hatch for her.

“If I rush on down now, I’ll be hit first and foremost.”

The hatch opened to the rear, so it would protect her from the artillery fire coming in from the front. But she couldn’t hide there forever and she had to protect the workers up on the deck.

Boarding time and arrival time were the most dangerous for a god of war.

That danger was exacerbated by the dense artillery fire. Koroku tended to be on the cautious side, but this was a bad bet even taking that into account. So…

“The hatch won’t work.”

Genbu slowly stopped when she said that.

The people working below looked up as Genbu changed direction.

It was now headed past the upper hatch to the aft hatch’s launcher.

That was used to launch materials nearly vertically so they could drop along a precise trajectory, so it was meant to transfer materials between ships or for emergency transport during battle. And Genbu was heavy enough for the launch to work.

“This sounds fun.”

Genbu sped up. But something about this bothered Koroku.

“What happens if the enemy artillery hits us mid-launch?”

Even if she defended against it, the force of the shell’s impact would still have an effect. If she was blown away from the Azuchi, it would take time to return to the battle and she couldn’t assist the workers.

She honestly wondered what Hexagone Française did about this for their gods of war. After the Siege of Bitchu Takamatsu Castle, they had been surprised to see her (“That little thing was piloting that big black one!?”), but she should have asked them some questions instead of just glaring. This regret was quite late in coming, but what was done was done.

…There were so many good games out during summer break.

The paranormal phenomena had stopped partway through the break and each mysterious phenomena exorcism team had taken credit for it, but she didn’t know who actually deserved the credit. But just to be safe…

“I should avoid the launcher.”

She did feel a little bad when Genbu stopped and slowly changed direction again.

6: “Takenaka, what should I do?”

Kuro-Take: “Oh, perfect timing. Can you come up on the front deck? They’re ramming a transport ship into us there.”

6: “Now you tell me!”

She felt really bad when Genbu dashed over to the main elevator.

●

Sakuma was really into it. After all, this was the grand finale for her old friend Shibata.

For better or for worse, he was prepared for what was to come in a way she wasn’t, so she had nothing to tell him and didn’t feel like stopping him. This was his ending, so it was his decision.

If she stopped it prematurely, he might very well go with the original suicide. That was the kind of guy Shibata was.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it’s not a bad thing.”

That was what made Shibata such a tough Vice Chancellor. No one could break through his defenses.

But that was also why so many people had relied on him.

…So what now?

She was looking for that answer tonight. She was asking the question as part of his forces. The answer would come from the Hashiba forces. The Shibata forces were to be destroyed here. So…

“What now!?”

While Sakuma viewed the Azuchi up ahead, the corner of her eye caught a speedy hunk of metal racing ahead in the sky left of the bridge.

It was a transport ship. The ultra-heavyweight high-speed ramming attack invented by Hashiba was now being sent straight toward the Azuchi.

“Go, go, go! This is where it truly begins!”

●

The people who had taken up position atop the Azuchi to take observations or manage the defense barriers saw it coming.

A black transport ship flew in from up ahead and Genbu rode the elevator up to meet it.

“It’s already in defense position!”

Genbu shouldn’t have been able to see the ship yet or know when to time its defense, but it already had its right arm raised and was dashing forward.

The transport ship was mere moments away from colliding with Azuchi’s bow.

But Genbu wouldn’t allow it. It stomped its feet and used the edge of the deck to leap forward before the elevator had fully risen.

The black god of war leaped along a trajectory that took it just barely below the slightly upwards-angled cannon.

It thrust its right arm out with all that momentum intact.

“Launch…Excessive Jab.”

It struck. Something happened at the end of its outstretched right arm.

A gravitational tremor. The attack produced a ring of light that shimmered like heat. It was a shortrange attack, but the very tip of its secondary effects passed over the deck and beyond the bow.

“Got it.”

Koroku was exactly right.

The shaky blow struck the incoming transport ship on the keel.

It was a solid hit.

The ramming transport ship’s bow seemed to bounce upwards before it split in two.

●

Yes, thought Koroku.

The transport ship continued to split apart in front of her. Yes, Excessive Jab’s power would not vanish right away. It lingered in space, but it also remained inside whatever it hit, spreading across the entire structure.

As long as the initial blow was solid, the gravity lingering in that space and the enemy’s charging speed would automatically continue the split. And the gravitational tremor added a twist to the severed port and starboard halves, so they would…

“Scatter.”

The ship made of hardened wood and metal groaned, split, and broke apart all on its own.

The wreckage writhed and scattered through space as it passed Koroku by. The ship’s own momentum caused it to scatter its pieces when it collided with the wind. And…

…The defense barrier.

It crashed into a defense barrier opened by the Azuchi, further smashing the pieces until nothing remained.

Only the wind seemed left. But…

“Azuchi!” shouted Koroku. “Respond!”

●

Sakuma saw the result of her handiwork.

She had sent in a transport ship to ram the enemy. It had been destroyed. So…

“Hey, hey, hey. You forgot the entire point of transport ships, didn’t you?”

Hashiba took everything too seriously. When they rammed someone with a transport ship, they used to it like it was a giant artillery shell. They would sometimes put a dragon line reactor in one, but that was only to secure victory in a history recreation.

That wasn’t what this was. The ultimate victor wasn’t what mattered.

Not for Retreating Sakuma, anyway. For her, all battles were retreating battles. The ultimate victory wasn’t the point there.

The enemy always had the upper hand. She couldn’t hope to be the victor.

She had to escape, protect something, or survive. An inconclusive ending was the best she could hope for. So what really mattered was…

“The very first turn, Hashiba.”

If you got in a good hit right away, escaping was a lot easier. If you broke the enemy’s front line, your odds of survival improved. So she would make her big move on the very first turn.

“See, see, see!? They’re spreading out!”

She saw a cluster of light. That transport ship had been loaded full of cargo containers.

Which contained spell charms.

…I borrowed this trick from Tres España!

“Eat explosion spells!” she shouted as the night sky up ahead was lit as bright as day.

The light turned from white to yellow and then red and black like a fruit’s skin peeling away to reveal the flesh within. The sky was saturated with explosive flames.

The sound arrived later.

●

Niwa watched the light in the southern sky from her southern position within the Shibata Fleet’s fortress-like formation.

She was up on the deck of one of the ships making up that fortress.

“Sakuma-san is really going at it.”

This set a mood that made her want a drink. And her subordinates…

“Okay, everyone. I had the cargo opened up, so it’s all-you-can-drink. Use some drinking substitutions to earn yourself some Blessings for the battle.”

“Shaja! Thank you!”

Niwa heard cheers down below along with the sounds of people running through the ship.

“Hurry! I need some of that Super Chogoro!”

“I’ve got my eyes on the Iconic. Y’know, the Russian shochu with a Tsirhc icon for a logo!”

“Then I call dibs on that Russian specialty called Lost Temper!”

It was good to know they were all happy. It felt best to think of this as a kind of festival. Sakuma had probably chosen that big explosion because she understood that.

In other words, the festival had begun. But…

“Sakuma-san.”

“Yeah, yeah. I see it. I know.”

Sakuma’s smile was obvious even in the audio-only divine transmission.

“The Azuchi isn’t playing along! I didn’t get a direct hit!!”

●

Sakuma saw something break through the explosive flames.

It was the Azuchi. That enormous warship. The top of its six ships carried a city to support the personnel needed to run a warship of that size. Its massive form approached through the sky, wrapped in black smoke and red flames.

Everyone on the bridge cried out in surprise.

“The Azuchi received only light damage! It’s practically unscathed!!”

A large insha kotob opened on the bridge and checked the Azuchi’s status. The check focused on the ship’s ends and large surfaces, but…

“Hmm. Sakuma-sama, I checked to see if we missed anything, but we didn’t!”

“You don’t need to rub it in!”

Why is my crew like this? she wondered with a tongue click. But she also crossed her arms.

“The damage isn’t what matters. We’ve achieved one of our jobs.”

“Shaja! That’s true!

“Because,” said the navigator, removing her headphone insha kotob now that her auditory scan was complete. “I heard the Azuchi’s cannon fire! They used a blast of their main cannon against our spell charms! That means the Azuchi has entered combat mode! Now they need to make some internal changes before they can begin gravitational acceleration!”

The bridge crew cheered but then exchanged a glance and spoke as one.

“But what happened to the shell they fired!?”

It hit them.

●

“Azuchi” was up on top of the 1st central ship’s bridge. She used to remain inside the bridge, but that had changed after Houjou’s surprise attack on their way to Kantou.

…I was unable to respond adequately while inside.

She could blame her lack of experience, but now that she had that experience, she would make use of it. There wasn’t much equipment on the open-air rooftop, but she had prepared enough to manage simple command and communication functions.

Now she only had to stand up here, receive data from her fellow automatons and the Azuchi itself, and process that data.

She was doing so now.

She was glad she had come outside. That had given her a direct view of the ether reaction when Hidamari Genbu smashed the transport ship sent in by Sakuma.

She had fired the main cannon on her own discretion. So…

Azuchi: “Takenaka-sama, I apologize for my presumptuous action. Shaja.”

Kuro-Take: “Don’t. It was a good split-second decision. If it had been up to me, I think that would have been one of the options I considered.”

Azuchi: “Thank you. The next time I have a chance, I would like to use the full power of the Azuchi to convince you this was the only option. Shaja.”

The only damage from the blast was the equipment on the ship’s surface that wasn’t tied down. The ship’s armor had groaned, but the stress was far less than when they used gravitational cruising.

…The only problem left is the power system.

She had fired the cannon because she wanted the blast to scatter the explosion spell charms.

Fortunately, the 1st center ship’s #1 main cannon had been angled upwards to allow Genbu’s attack to pass below it. That directed the blast upwards and pushed the center of the charm cloud upwards. But a divine transmission arrived from a subordinate automaton.

“ ‘Azuchi’-sama! The reduction in power is minimal, but our preparations for gravitational acceleration were interrupted! We have to redo it all from the beginning! Shaja.”

“I have the Azuchi’s course and the Sakuma Fleet’s position. Calculate an estimated time of contact and send that to Takenaka-sama. I will continue firing the main cannons. Shaja.”

“Eh!? You’re not done? Shaja.”

“Shaja,” replied “Azuchi”. “Rework your power acquisition. We must begin the countdown to gravitational acceleration while also firing the main cannons. It will take longer, but the ether can be pooled. Needless to say, we do not have time for another failure, but we can still turn this around if we manage to accelerate immediately after firing. Shaja.”

She knew what she had to do.

“Main cannon gunners, target the Sakuma Fleet’s weak points. Make sure you hit. Shaja.”

●

“Azuchi” gave her command and then confirmed that an exchange of artillery fire had begun.

Several lernen figurs appeared by her hands and then vanished. The status of the Azuchi’s ether conduits, the accumulated recoil from the cannon fire, and more were being calculated in real time.

But the buildup of power for gravitational cruising was again underway. Some internal points were adjusted and reset.

“ ‘Azuchi’-sama, we will be adjusting each ship to release the stress. Shaja.”

“ ‘Azuchi’-sama, this is the shipboard Tsurugi Shrine. We are beginning Hirano-sama’s divine protection retuning. We are ready to reintroduce power to the 32 linked torii engines, so we are prepared for gravitational acceleration. Shaja.”

“Shaja,” replied “Azuchi”. Then she gave them all a command. “All hands, once your preparations for gravitational cruising are complete, enter ground battle standby mode. Shaja.”

As soon as the “Shaja!” reply entered her shared memory, she heard a scraping sound overhead.

The Sakuma Fleet was firing.

…So they finally “missed”.

It only took reaccelerating and then firing. Based on the hits to the Azuchi’s defense barriers, the Sakuma Fleet’s “retreat” was a combination of defensive alignment and artillery accuracy.

This was different from the Battle of Novgorod. Then, they had effectively formed a wall of ships positioned front to back and defended against Sviet Rus’s numbers with multiple defense barriers while also returning fire, but this time they were arranged side to side and slowly descending while firing.

There was likely a strategy to it, but that was not what “Azuchi” was interested in. She only had to send the data to Takenaka and rely on Takenaka’s decision.

●

Kuro-Take: “Ero, ero, ero, ero, ero, ero.”

The Boy: “A-are you alright, Takenaka-senpai!? Everyone is getting their provisions in the cafeteria right now, aren’t they!?”

Kuro-Take: “Yeah, it’s just that we suddenly lost speed from the artillery fire and now we’re picking up speed in preparation for gravitational acceleration. The interior air pressure keeps changing and everything keeps shaking, so the smell from the kitchen rushed in at me. Yeah, it’s like the god of ero is telling me to do ero things.”

The Boy: “Someone! Someone please! Does anyone understand what Takenaka-senpai is saying!?”

Azuchi: “Um, excuse me. I think this is all ultimately my fault. …Shaja.”

●

While using a lernen figur to send Takenaka data on the situation outside, “Azuchi” viewed the night out ahead.

The exchange of artillery fire produced several splashes of ether light in the distant sky, but the shells were only hitting the defense barriers. The two sides were just too far apart. And…

“Oh.”

She noticed a change to the scenery. There was a forest on the ground below, but it suddenly became a lot more white.

“We have entered the northern harmonic territory! Shaja!”

The color white blew across the Azuchi.

Her lernen figur showed the outside temperature plummeting. It had been around 20 degrees, but it dropped nearly to 7 all at once. And a report came in from the bridge.

“I have determined the exterior temperature is around 3 degrees Celsius! The chill is reaching the interior ventilation system through the surface vents. I am taking action to prevent the wind from freezing the ship’s surface! Shaja!”

That was the provisional border with Sviet Rus for you. The Sakuma Team and Shibata Team had taken data on Hokuriku on their way to the Battle of Novgorod, but the stress of the cold regions had been considerable.

…Which is why I wanted to fly through it all at once using gravitational acceleration.

Based on the air temperature, the interior of the harmonic territory was already close to winter conditions. But for them, this had to be “end of summer” weather.

“Ha.”

When “Azuchi” used her mouth to expel her interior heat, it turned white in the air.

She was again glad she had gone outside to command.

Inside, the data was little more than speculation, but now she could literally experience it herself. Everything she felt here was what the ship was feeling, so she felt like she herself was a sensor.

Her body was contributing to their navigation and their understanding of the battlefield. Nothing could be more wonderful as an automaton.

“Shaja.”

…Standing outside reveals so much more.

She had always been the indoorsy type, but she had found everything to be so different once she tried going out. She could understand the sky full of wind, explosions, and scattering ether as something literally surrounding her.

And she understood something else as well.

This was what the Azuchi’s crew experienced on the battlefield.

She hadn’t done this for long, but she could see the warriors and the workers moving around while looking out for incoming shells. But as an automaton, their reactions tended to look excessive and they also often failed to notice certain sounds and lights.

On the bridge, all the data was scanned and sent to her, so she had always concluded the crew made a lot of unnecessary actions and overlooked a lot.

She had, of course, understood the situation outside forced them to do so.

But she hadn’t really understood. Noises sound very different depending on the environment and the battlefield was a mess of many different sounds overlapping and drowning each other out. Even if the light reached someone’s eyes, it could look different depending on their position, their equipment, and so on.

Everything was a confused jumble and that was the entire point. The scans she had received were something simple extracted from the whole, but…

…They omit a lot.

When a shell hit, a voice called for assistance. Of course, the bridge crew knew there was no need to send additional personnel there, but the people who heard the call for help would feel worried or even consider going to help.

If it was possible to rearrange personnel to answer the call for help, should she do so?

She should.

It would hasten the repair work in that location and it would improve morale.

But that decision could not be made from the bridge.

She could only make that decision while outside where she could see the people’s reactions.

“So the time has come when even automata must go outside. Shaja.”

It had not been long since her birth, but what she had been taught as basic knowledge was already changing. That thought brought a feeling of great unknown, and…

…Oh?

She had begun calculating the extra space in her memory, suggesting she had high expectations for this new age. Or perhaps she was experiencing something akin to resignation.

She wished she could ask “Musashi”, the Musashi’s manager, about it.

And while she thought about all this…

“Oof.”

Hands suddenly grabbed the edge of the roof and a tall form climbed up. The newcomer was illuminated from behind by the light of an explosion.

“Sakon-sama!?”

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