Hayato and his companions are heading now to the town of Tienchuen, located at the western edge of the Qin Empire, where the basecamp of the UN Peacekeeping Forces is established. They are on board of the 『WL-03』, it’s tilt-rotor aircraft that performs vertical takeoff and landing.

– We haven’t reached the basecamp yet, even though it’s been a while since entering Qin Empire, huh.

Latia said, while yawning, looking bored.

It was late last night when they boarded the personal airplane with members of?Selections,?together with the staff and students of Little Garden that will support the Slayers which were gathered for the sortie of this operation.

It takes around 10 hours to arrive, so they decided to sleep in the bunk beds that were placed in the rooms prepared separately for men and women.

They slept for 6 six hours.

After they got up and ate the prepared breakfast, they went to do maintenance to their Variable Suits and their Hundreds.

Charlotte Dimandius, who’s the?main technologist?of Little Garden and Mei Mei, her assistant, aren’t accompanying them in this operation.

Nonetheless, two engineers belonging to the senior high school of Little Garden are on board, so the Maintenance Room is connected to Little Garden through a communication line.

Therefore, Charlotte and Mei Mei are also monitoring the data values, so if it’s about fine tuning or even tinkering with the molecule arrangement of the Hundred and the Variable Suit, there shouldn’t be any problem in particular.

Hayato and the others enter the equipment installed alongside the wall one by one, in order, and connect with the Variable Suit.

It measures their current vital,?energy?and mental condition and changes the molecular arrangement that composes the dedicated Hundred that is given in advance so to show off the maximum performance they can get with that.

The same is true for all the Variable Suits.

– It seems we’re all ready with this.

Fritz said, as the Variable Suit of Hayato came down from the device.

In this place, the freshmen group is gathered, with the exception of Shuemei who’s not wearing her Variable Suit and isn’t going to appear on the battlefield.

The president and the vice presidents and the other members of?Selections?have already finished the maintenance of their Hundred.

– Yes, Hayato.

It’s Emile who retrieved the Hundred that finished its maintenance and put it on the hands of Hayato

With this, everyone has truly finished.

– How much till we arrive?

– I don’t know but, the mountain on the direction over there can be seen.

Emile answers while looking outside of the window.

Hayato who also presented the question looks outside the window in the same way.

– Oh, it’s true. It’s very big.

– That’s Kunlun Mountain. Its altitude is of 7328 meters. Beyond that it’s Kongur Mountain, situated along the national border with the Republic of Ural, the Empire of Rasiya and the Empire of Mongolia.

That explanation was given by Shuemei, the guide.

She was quite nervous at the beginning, because she was surrounded by the seniors and members of?Selections, as well as the members of the Student Council, but she was getting very calm as time progressed.

– That means that we should be arriving to our destination soon?

– Yup, I think that it shouldn’t take more than an hour.

Shuemei replied the question of Latia that was thrown at her.

Next, Emile opens her mouth.

– Then, it’s time to change our clothes. We won’t be able to hang around the streets with this appearance.

As Shuemei said, around thirty minutes later, the personal airplane started to gradually lower its altitude and landed in Tienchuen plateau where the UN Peacekeeping Forces’ base camp was established satisfactorily.

– This place does really give a vibe that we are going to fight, don’t you think?

Fritz, who went down the ramp, whistled with a *Hyu* when surveying the base camp.

Hayato also thinks the same.

Near them they can see the helicopters with the flags of countries and the crest of organizations in various places, many tents are lined up, there are triangular ones that resemble the ones in venues of sports festivals, and simple accommodation stations, the place is so big, as if it was a mobile safari park.

In addition to that, they were able to see people with a variety of skin colors, wearing various kinds of uniforms.

– Yeah, it’s kind of exciting.

Latia muttered.

Again, Hayato agrees. He was a little nervous while feeling that he came to the battlefield.

– Hey hey, isn’t too early to be shivering with excitement? Because the operation starts tomorrow, you know?

– I-I know that, and don’t put your hand on my head!

Latia shakes off the hand of Fritz that was placed on her head with her own hands, baring her teeth.

Hayato and the others laugh, seeing the usual scene.

Thanks to that, they feel that the thread of tension became loose.

Latia seems to be tensionless already.

They guess that was the concern of Fritz.

Claire opened her mouth there.

– We are going to say our greetings to the Integrated Command Leader of the UN Peacekeeping Forces, who is commanding this operation masuwa. Each of the other members will have liberty of action until the time of the rally masu.

The rally is a social gathering and a dinner party where all the participating members of this joint operation gather together. They heard from Claire who was in the special aircraft that the rally will be held in three hours.

– Liberty of action huh, so what do we do?

Fritz asked a question to them, but everyone folded their arms, hung their head and sunk into silence.

It was because they weren’t thinking about what to do. Claire opened her mouth again, looking such state of Hayato and company.

– If you don’t have anything to do, then why don’t you head towards the hotel while being guided by Shuemei to the town? The hotel is also in the town, so I think it’s the best thing to do masuwayo.

– Considering the round-trip time to the town, we won’t have much free time*, so I’m in, what about you?

*TN: Meaning that it was better than doing nothing.

– I’m fine with that too.

Following Fritz, Latia also accepts Claire’s suggestion.

– Hayato, you are going too, right?

– Yeah.

When Hayato nods at Emile, Fritz gazed at Shuemei and,

– If that’s the case, can you guide us, Ryu-san?

– Yes, of course.

According to Shuemei who nodded, there’s a distance of 10 kilometers from this base camp to the town area of Tienchuen.

The only means of transportation to the city is by car——

So, after they said their goodbyes to the members of the Student Council, Hayato and co. were sent to the city by the soldiers of the UN Peacekeeping Forces who were in the base camp.

They were in front of a medium sized tractor that took them there.

They were placed on the load-carrying tray section of it.

It can’t be helped because there’s no other choice than this to be able to carry 5 people at the same time.

The tractor runs through the wilderness while cutting off the lukewarm wind.

– Don’t expect too much in Tienchuen, because it’s nothing more than a rural area, there’s nothing to see. There’s not even a train station. As you see, that also goes to the surroundings of the town.

Though they see buildings similar to residences, and things that look like silos once in a while, it’s just wilderness as far as the eye can see. Speaking of what’s noticeable, just animals and sandstorms that are welling up in the distance are in that category. After 15 minutes on the tractor, Hayato and the others arrived at the town.

Just like Shuemei was emphasizing a lot of times, certainly the sight of the town area of Tienchuen was of a rural town itself.

The roads are wide, and buildings are very scarce.

In the exact same way, they couldn’t see almost nobody.

However, the appearance of a resplendent building, having red as it main constituent like the ones of the Ryukyu Kingdom,* is fresh for all of them who visited this country for the first time, it draws a lot of attention.

– There are quite a few wonderful large buildings when looking at the site alone, but there aren’t many high buildings in this place, huh?

Latia murmured, looking restlessly around the town.

– There is plenty of land in the desert area, and the fact that I live in this area it’s because they weren’t agricultural people in the first place, but nomadic people. They have even less consciousness to settle down.

Of course, it’s Shuemei who explained so. She’s slightly knitting the inner part of her eyebrows with a little of sadness and continued her words.

– There are only children and old people remaining in this village. Most of the youngsters work away from home or find a job in urban areas or other countries, and many of them settle where they are.

– So, this is what is called an underpopulated area, right?

– That’s definitely the case here.

When Shuemei nodded, two voices called her out.

– Ah, it’s Shuemei-nee-san!

– It’s true, Shuemei-nee-chan!

– Bakuei and Mei Fan!

Looking at the two rushing over her, Shuemei makes her eyes blink in surprise.

Emile asked, looking at them.

– Who are these children?

– These are children in my neighborhood, and the group of kids I was teaching studies. As I said earlier, there are only a few youngsters around here..

In brief, the number of teachers was insufficient and the child in the upper grade taught the children of lower grades.

– Nee-chan, the person standing next to you, is he the boyfriend of nee-chan?

– Stop, Bakuei!

Shuemei, whose face was bright red, grabbed in a hurry the index finger of the boy that was pointed at Hayato.

– Y-you guys, you know that they are the ones who are going to do the search-and-destroy operation of the nest of the Savage that is near here, right?

– Yes, we know. Because of that, Shuemei-nee-san came back from Little Garden to this town, didn’t she?

– Err, that’s correct but, my job isn’t that great..

Asked by the girl named Mei Fan, Shuemei shows a troubled smile.

Despite being dismayed with what’s up with them, Shuemei seems to have decided to introduce everyone.

– That’s right, they are my classmates and excellent Slayers belonging to Little Garden. They are thousands of times more amazing than me.

– Wow, is that so!? I’m also training to become a Slayer!

The gaze of the boy who’s looking at Hayato and the others changes to a look of envy.

Shuemei showed a relieved look and asked the children.

– Both of you will go to the dojo after this?

– Yes, that is correct.

It’s Mei Fan who answered.

– Come to see us later nee-chan, and tell us a lot of things, okay!? Thanks to nee-chan, we were able to have a dōjō in this village!

Following her, Bakuei said so.

– Yup, I’ll do it, I promise. Then, get going to the dōjō at once. I’ll also go see you afterwards. See you later.

– Yup, see you later——

– Please make sure to come!

The kids disappeared while waving their hands.

Shuemei took a breath, seeing off their backs.

– I’m sorry, those kids said weird things.

And, Shuemei apologizes to Hayato.

– No, don’t worry about it.

– Shuemei-san sure is adored by those children, isn’t it?

– No, that’s not true at all.

Shuemei laughed at herself and continued.

– When I was teaching studies, they never listened to what I said. They were always saying “useless elder sister, useless elder sister” to me.

However, after she got a sufficient value in the response test of the?Variable Stonereceived by coincidence, she says that it’s from there that they began to hear what she was saying.

– I’m sure it’s because of the Private Military Companies like Little Garden and Qin Empire that came to do the aptitude test to see if there were any talented children.

As a result, two Slayer candidates were discovered, and subsidiary aid came to the village, and so the dojo managed by the Qin Empire was built in this town.

– Besides, for these children, the Slayers of Warslan who fight the Savage, they are their yearning existences. That’s why I also want to be a proper fighting power of Warslan, so that I can be proud of myself, and for that I can’t give up, don’t you agree?

Shuemei suddenly clenched her fists in front of her chest, telling that to herself.

They walk for about five minutes and get to the center of the city.

Many street stalls are appearing, selling food among other things. They were able to see the likes of set meals and specials of the day, it was crowded with approximately the same amount of people as Central in Little Garden.

(.. wh- what’s this?)

Although the temperature in this place was quite hot, the moment when they passed by three people wearing robes with hoods, shivers run through the muscles of the back of Hayato, who stopped his feet.

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Their faces weren’t visible, but the skin visible from the sleeve is darkish.

(Maybe, those guys are..)

What it came to his mind is the gang of three.

– What is it, Hayato? Why are you not moving..? Did you notice something?

– N-no.. it’s...

They were already told that they might encounter them in this place.

But, were they really the hunters?

While he was thinking about that, he couldn’t see their appearances anymore.

(Maybe they were other people)

There were many aircrafts at the airport a while ago.

It shouldn’t be strange that there are people dressed like that and that have darkish skin.

– .. it’s nothing.

Hayato answered so and ran off to the side of Emile and the others.

Before long, the hotel they arrived at was relatively large in the village, it was a beautiful and magnificent building. It’s a two-storied building, unlike the other buildings, and its site area is quite large.

– This hotel was built recently, it’s even more smaller than a public lodging house, and something like sour smell comes out from the futons*.

Shuemei laughed as if she was self-deprecating.

That kind of lodging place is disliked by ambassadors of foreign countries, government officials and executives who came from the capital city, saying how such a splendid hotel was built in this way.

– That means they don’t want normal people of the Qin Empire and distinguished guests to be mixed up using it, yes? That is, by employing very expensive accommodation costs.

– In short, we, and Shuemei of course, are lucky to be able to stay with the money of Little Garden today.

– Well, I’m not staying here today, because I’m going to stay at home. I also told the president about that.

– Eh, is that so? It’s a waste if we don’t use it.

– You may be right, but I can’t calm down, even though I’m not coming out to the battlefield, I don’t feel well..

– If so, what do we do till it’s time to rally?

The one who made that question was Emile.

– I promised them that I’ll make an appearance at the dōjō a little while ago, so I’m going to show my face to my home for a moment. You are welcome to relax in your rooms at ease, so don’t worry about me.

Hayato and the others checked-in at the hotel they were guided by Shuemei and headed to their respective rooms.

All of them are the same, a single room of around 8 tatamis.

– Then Hayato, see you later.

Separating from everyone, Hayato enters the room.

Both latitude and altitude should be higher than the vicinities of the Ryukyu where Little Garden was sailing recently, but the Qin Empire felt very hot.

As a matter of course, that goes for this room as well.

The military and family section of Little Garden have air conditioning control, with the exception of some areas.

Therefore, it’s a bit chilly unless wearing the coat of the uniform all the time, but that’s not the case for this town. His inner shirt was wet as a dust cloth. As the suitcase with change of clothes reached the room, he felt fortunate that he can change clothes.

(I should take a shower before that..)

Hayato decided so and took off his clothes in the dressing room and start showering in the bathroom.

Then, something like a singing voice was suddenly heard.

– .. hmm?

He twists the faucet and stops the shower.

He clearly heard a singing happy voice that matches a cheerful melody.

(No way, that voice is..)

.. it’s from Kirishima Sakura.

The hurrying Hayato jumped out of the bathroom.

The singing voice is flowing out from the uniforms’ coat pocket.

Rapidly Hayato takes out the PDA and checks the screen.

It was indicated that it was an incoming call from Kirishima Sakura.

(Between all people, it’s the person herself, huh..)

Hayato said, looking amazed, and accepted the call.

– You tampered my PDA, isn’t it?

The day before yesterday, when he went to the hospital room of Karen, Sakura was there, and he lent the PDA to her because she told him to lend it for a moment.

The reason was that she was going to install new songs in it, but not that she was going to set one of them as a ringtone.

『Ahaha, correct. Did it surprise you?』

– It did, and a lot. I’m glad that I was in the hotel, because if this suddenly rang in the street, then that wouldn’t be a laughing matter, you know.

『Then at that time you could say.”Kirishima Sakura is my woman” .. wouldn’t be nice if you emphasize it with a triumphant look?』

– Hey..

She laughs, saying so as if it was a joke.

But that wasn’t funny.

– So, how can I restore it to how it was before?

『I’ll restore it once you came back』

– Oh no..

Hayato sighed deeply.

『Hey, what’s with that reaction? We were immensely worried about you』

– Worried, you say? What do you mean?

『You promised Karen-chan that you would contact her as soon as you arrived at Qin Empire, isn’t it? And yet, knowing that very well, you didn’t do it. You said “hotel” now, so that means you already arrived in Qin Empire, right?』

– Wait a minute, how do you know about the promise between Karen and me?

『Ehehe, that’s because I’m right now with Karen-chan』

– .. you guys, what are you planning to do? Don’t blow strange things into Karen.

『I’m just helping with the rehabilitation of Karen-chan as usual. And a bit about the founding festival』

– Founding festival? What are you going to do there?

The founding festival is a festival for students and residents of Little Garden where they interact with the residents of Liberia once a year.

Speaking of Yamato’s schools, it’s also like a school festival.

『That-is-a-se-cret?』

Hayato sighed once again, hearing the answer.

– At least, don’t let Karen do unreasonable things.

『I know that. Karen-chan wants to talk with you』

『Hello, Nii-san?』

Following a few seconds of noise, the voice of Karen was heard.

– Are you okay? Nothing weird was done to you by Sakura?

『Why do you feel that I’m a sort of hostage? I’m fine. Because Sakura-san is very kind』

– It’s fine if that’s the case but..

『Besides that, I have an advice for Nii-san』

– .. an advice?

About what?

He felt a little reluctant about it, because the voice of Karen became serious in no time.

『It’s about the job of my brother in Qin Empire. I told Nii-san’s fortune using the Tarot, but the result is the inverted position of 《Balance》. This means that a confrontation may rise』

– A confrontation, huh..

『This is nothing more than a reference, but please be careful』

– Yeah, I’ll be careful. Thank you.

Recently, the fortune-telling of Karen has been very precise.

Particularly excellent when things go south, so rather than being “fortune-telling”, it feels more like a curse now.

——Confrontation.

Someone will have to fight someone.

Depending on the situation, it may change to organization vs organization.

『The fortune-telling of Karen-chan regarding Nii-san ended with this. I expect that Nii-san will come home safely. Now, should I hand over the phone to Sakura-san again?』

– No, it’s fine.

『It’s not fine!』

It seems like she heard his voice.

He hears the voice of Sakura once again.

『Let me say one last thing to finish』

– One last thing..?

『Hayato, I love you. Let’s get married once you come back』

– Huh? What the..

『Are you shaking? You shouldn’t rise a death flag, you know』

– Stop joking! You know what, I’m hanging up!

Hearing the laughs and giggles, Hayato finished the call.

– Really, how far can your pranks go..?

Grieving again with a “yareyare”, Hayato took a shower then changed clothes to new shirt and pants.

He knows well that he’s liked by Sakura.

But he doesn’t know how serious she is..he thinks.

– I got tired pretty fast..

When he lay down on the bed with a *thud*, wearing a shirt and shorts only, and while being like that, the PDA began playing the singing voice of Sakura again.

(..is she again?)

With that in mind, and when he got up and picked up the PDA, it wasn’t the name of Karen nor Sakura the one displayed there, but the name of Emile.

When trying to press the call button, *KNOCK* *KNOCK*, the door sounds, and the incoming call is interrupted.

– Hayato, it’s almost time for the meeting.. and, what’s with that music?

The voice of Emile that he heard was somewhat disgusted.

– I’m going to change clothes now, so please wait a bit.

Replied Hayato, then rapidly changed clothes and went outside, and he saw the appearance of Emile with a dissatisfying expression on her face.

– Sorry for, keep you waiting..

– Everyone seems to be gathering in the lobby. Let’s move.

Emile turned her face away and started walking towards the lobby.

Hayato also stepped forward, following her.

And after a silent time that lasted 10 seconds,

– .. hold on, Hayato.

– What is it?

– It’s about the ringtone just now——

– I knew you were going to delve into that matter..

– Why are you saying that? And Why Hayato has set the song of Sakura as the PDA’s ringtone?

– Well, that.. I lent the PDA to Sakura in the hospital room of Karen, so she set it under her own accord.

– Is that true?

Emile comes near him, pressing the question.

He saw that her eyes are slightly wet.

– I-it’s true! I don’t know why I have her song as my ringtone!

– Or is it something like a promise, or a symbol between you two? Because that’s how it is to me.

– I’m telling you, it’s not like that. If I return, then she’ll put the original ringtone. So believe me.

– .. fine, if that’s the case, then I’ll believe Hayato who says so.

Saying so, Emile presented her left hand.

– Lend me the PDA. I’ll put back the original one.

Hayato unlocks the PDA by fingerprint authentication and handed it to Emile. While walking, Emile changes the ringtone.

– It should be fine with this.

Hayato received the PDA from Emile.

Emile did a phone call as a test.

The sound that was returning was the default one.

Sakura’s the one to blame, so it can’t be helped.

He was positive that he was going to feel safe for now, so there shouldn’t be any problems if he gets an incoming call in public in this way.

They finally reached the lobby and not only the members of the Student Council, but also Latia, Fritz, Shuemei and the other Slayers of Little Garden, as well as the people heading to the rally were gathered already there. According to the president, pickup cars are already in front of the hotel.

As they moved to that place, they could see three hired cars similar to the one that was in the Zwei Islands.

The members of the Student Council, Shuemei, the four Slayers of the?Selections?team and three other Slayers get into the cars.

– Come to think of it, where’s this meeting?

– I heard from the President-san before that it seems that is a venue built at the base camp of this operation that arrived in a personal airplane.

Fritz answers Emile’s question.

– Oh, that’s right. Is there going to be food of this country? I’d be happy if that’s the case. I like the food of Qin Empire.

– .. you have cooking of Qin in Gudenburg?

– Yeah, there is.

Emile nods.

– The cooking of Qin has a strong flavor compared to the lightly seasoned cooking of Britannia. And I found them very tasty. So, I’d be happy if there’s cooking of Qin Empire.

They reached the base camp, the venue of the rally meeting that also served as a dinner party in 10 minutes.

The number of helicopters increased in comparison to when Hayato and the others came to this place.

It seems that there are going to be intervews, since they were able to see vehicles of TV stations.

– Oh! Looks like the venue of the rally is over there.

Latia looked towards the space that was surrounded by many tents.

A number of round tables were installed there, and a lot of Slayers and people who seem to be authorized gathered there too.

– Let’s go.

Everyone started walking into the noise.

There were still 15 minutes until the rally started, and around 100 people were gathered in the venue.

Including those who are getting ready, there will be 200 people in this place. The population density is high enough to make it impossible to see those who are at the other end of the venue.

Because the tables in the back were already crowded, the group of Little Garden decided to stand around the tables near the entrance of the venue.

– How many countries are participating in this operation?

– There are 15 participating organizations in total.

Erika replies to Hayato’s doubt.

– However, twelve organizations are dispatching Slayers and those are: Liberian Army, Fran?ois Army, Rasiyan Army, Weimar Army, Britannia Integrated Army, Indica Army, Guernica Integrated Army, the Qin Empire Army, then come us, the Private Military Companies: Palladian, which is mainly active in Asian countries, Al-Salaam, which is mainly active in the Middle East and we, Little Garden, operate around Liberia and are the Slayers of Warslan headquarters.

Incidentally, Yamato, the country from which Hayato comes, is said to be participating in the operation. However, they didn’t dispatch Slayers. It seems they are performing transport of materials and medical treatment of injured people as logistical support.

– Oh, but if it isn’t Fritz?

While they were talking, one of the two young men with a western-style outward appearance suddenly called him out.

Because the national flag on their uniforms belongs to Liberia, apparently those guys are of the Liberian Army.

Fritz gave a loud voice as soon as he looked at the two.

– Michael-senpai, Kane-senpai! Are you both participating in this operation?

That tone of voice sounded as if they were very close, that’s what they could immediately understand*.

*TN: In fact, Fritz speaks in a formal tone, so I’m not sure if they are that familiar though xd he normally speaks in an informal way.

– Yeah, that’s right. After coming out of the dōjō together with Kane and entering the Slayer troops of the Liberian army three years ago——we finally reached the point where we were dispatched to large scale operations like this. By the way, we even slaughtered a lot of Savage already.

Saying that, the blonde hair white young man Michael showed proudly his white teeth. Next, the man with dark hair and dark skin that stands next to him, named Kane, opens his mouth.

– I heard from sensei that you enrolled in Little Garden, so there’s no doubt that this year has been the prime of your life, hmm? And going quite early to the battlefield too. Looks like Little Garden is running low of talented people and that their true strength isn’t that much either.

Tapping the shoulder of Fritz with one hand, Kane laughs loudly.

– No, that’s..

Maybe that was one of his jokes. Fritz couldn’t understand so. But the cheeks of Fritz twitched. Because Claire is nearby. He also takes a look at h-->>

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