Volume 25, High Booster

There was a city in the wilderness.

It seemed to be a city that had perished before its foundations were formed, and hence not a single bit of greenery was visible on the earth around her. The dry, cracked ground wasn't suited to the kind of vehicle she was riding.

Nina gave up on it, getting off her motorcycle.

"How is it?"

(There's no movement.)

The Psychokinesis flake sewn into the white fighting gear replied to Nina's question in a dry voice.

"How are the inspections of the interior?"

(The interference is very severe, so we can't get any useful information right now.)

"What about the surroundings?"

(Right. We noticed many traces of large moving objects, and they ought to have been left behind recently.)

"In that case, there's definitely someone preparing something inside."

(Yes, the teams are currently moving to the designated location. Commander, you....)

"I'm moving up."

Nina stopped the Psychokinesist from speaking and moved forward.

The city she could see in the distance was entangled with machinery that had gone out of control, and they had all withered. Extensive dry moss covered the decaying city like a canopy, as if to conceal this corpse.

But what if that veil wasn't just hiding the corpse of the city?

"Stupid Searcher."

Nina muttered quietly.

A meeting several days ago was the reason she had come here.

◇

It was sometimes referred to dramatically as 'The Night the Sky Fell'.

The world had started changing greatly since that night they had fought against that violent flame.

Some of the first changes that happened were the reduction of pollutants and the subsequent reduction in filth monsters.

Along with the stoppage of the autonomous moving cities (Regios).

The wilderness reclamation work headed by Karian Loss's Pioneering Group was affecting many cities and people. People quickly started leaving the moving cities.

At the same time, problems of territorial ownership occurred between people who lived on the unmoving earth and the moving cities that roamed the land, but those problems didn't stay for long and didn't become serious.

Because afterwards, the phenomenon known as the 'Budding' occurred, where the moving cities stopped.

It was confirmed at the beginning that the moving cities had stopped moving, but they didn't end up stopping completely. Organic machinery composed of dense plants rapidly proliferated as if out of control, and roots eroded the land of city and even spread to the surrounding area.

Not long afterwards, the cities became huge tree and regenerated the surrounding land. The various microorganisms and trees formed by plants penetrated deep into the ground, recreating the cycles of a natural world.

The people driven out of the cities by the Budding quickly adapted to their new environment thanks to the land's regeneration and the combined efforts of the Loss Pioneering Group and other pioneers.

And like that, humans returned to an unmoving ground.

Not long afterwards, the pioneering group formed a nation, and communication and transportation within the nation was gradually set up appropriately. Finally, a common calendar was produced.

Year fourteen of the New Earth calendar.

That was the current era.

The location where they had agreed to meet was a road called Euphter.

"Ugh...."

A landmark of the meeting place was a beautiful fountain statue. Nina tilted her head and looked confused in front of it. She checked the watch on her wrist and also checked the clock in the statue's arms.

The time was the same.

And the time of their meeting had already passed.

"She's usually very timely."

Nina looked at the road after murmuring this.

In the distance was a Regios, an expanding canopy of green.

Her chest throbbed when she gazed at the image of the moving city transformed into a mother tree.

The first to 'Bud' had been Ahasnahart. Nina had witnessed her determination first-hand.

The mother tree she saw over there wasn't Ahasnahart, but her determination had certainly become the foundations of the current era.

"We must change along with the times. That's true for all living things. It's just our form that is different from humans."

After leaving those words, the mother of the Electronic Fairies, Schneibel, had moved to become a mother tree.

"Speaking of which...."

Nina pulled her consciousness back to reality, as if to escape from her thoughts.

"She's not the kind of person to come late."

But the person Nina had planned on finding was a person she had been connected to in the past. She wanted to think about their friendship, but memories kept surfacing like bubbles.

Just when Nina was unsure how to deal with her feelings, reality called out to her.

She heard a quiet voice mixed in with the group of people.

It was the voice of a person.

A muffled wail.

The moment she heard that voice, Nina was no longer where she had been. The gust of wind that blew in that instant made the nearby pedestrians stop for a moment. But none of them were able to think of the fact that Nina had just been over there, so they continued walking.

Though the city center was clean, dirty blemishes became visible when you walked around the city. Maze-like alleys, tall buildings that seemed to be jostling with one another, smells that accumulated in the shadows.... Humans had had managed their limited land well before, but after being granted infinitely vast land, that mentality had crumbled right away. People were quick to look away from the problems they created and start something new somewhere else.

The vast land gave people the illusion that it was infinite. The momentous changes to society and the expansion into this land led the brain to keep pushing the idea of 'development' forward, and the phrase 'maintenance' was forgotten.

This place was another area that had forgotten about the maintenance work.

Crime occurred readily because it had become hard to see.

The woman who was being taken away in front of her was a victim of crime too.

Three men ran holding the woman. Something like a bag was over the woman's face. Those people had attacked her from behind and rapidly covered her eyes and mouth with the bag, and then put her over their backs. The way the woman looked made the scene from back then appear in her mind.

"Hey!"

Nina took the initiative to circle around in front of them and called out to stop them.

Nina's sudden appearance made the men stop. Wails from under the bag reached her ears.

"Do you know who she is?"

A knife answered Nina's question.

Along with fast movements.

Military Artists.

Judging by how all three of them took out knives, the men were clearly residents of the streets. Knives were definitely better than swords as a weapon in this kind of narrow alley.

Their movements were quite skilled, to approach her at high speed in this narrow alley without bumping into each other.

But Nina didn't even hold a Dite.

After confirming that the woman had been released, she stepped forward unarmed, slipping through the gaps between the men like water and dodging their attack. Then she caught the woman.

Nina took off the bag.

"Guah! Ack, ugh.... Huh, Nina?"

"Are you alright, Leu?"

"B....Barely.... Uh, what happened?"

"You were kidnapped."

Nina turned around after saying this to the wide-eyed Leu.

The three men were all unconscious on the ground.

"If you were five kilomels farther, even I probably wouldn't have heard your voice."

"Uh, I wouldn't walk that far alone either."

Nina's words put a stunned expression on Leu's face.

After that, Leu checked the men herself.

"Are they dead?"

"No, I just put them to sleep. What should we do? Police?"

"No, they don't know anything anyway."

"Yeah."

Nina reached inside the pockets of one of the men, but there was nothing that could verify their identities.

"Don't worry about it. We're almost too late for our reservation, so let's go."

After fixing her messed-up hair with an expression of disgust, Leu looked at her watch and cried out again.

She wore a suit. There was no falsity in her words or actions - no expressions of weakness like trembling fingers.

"....You've become very strong, Leu."

"Don't look down on a negotiator."

Her back honestly looked very reliable as she bravely said that.

They made it to the place they had reserved.

This store of local Euphter cuisine was one that Leu had discovered, so it was very delicious.

"I said I was looking, but it's more like I'm having other people look. Well, it's basically gathering intelligence."

"Ah, I see."

"Right, how come you moved the Third to Nairomiro?"

"Ahh, that's a countermeasure against Searchers."

"What's your real purpose?"

"....It's the truth that there are Searchers."

Nina glanced around.

The store had prepared a booth for them. This area was deep inside the store, so their voices wouldn't leak outside. At least as long as there weren't any Psychokinesis flakes or listening devices.

Even if she listened intently, she couldn't hear any strange mechanical noises or the unique sound of Psychokinesis flakes.

No, as a wartime negotiator for the National Coalition, she wouldn't have made such a blunder.

"What a pain. I can understand why they want to station troops there beforehand, but that's why the other party's attitude became stubborn at such a strange time."

"There's no helping it. Humans were forced to hold their territorial wars and such for later."

"So you're admitting that those are unavoidable."

"Some people think it's just swapping out the Selenium mines we fought for during the city ear for territory. But I feel the same about keeping it from happening."

"In that case, I hope that you could move your troops to a less visible place. Waiting the National Coalition's Third Army commanded by High Booster over there is the same as an undisguised threat of mutual destruction."

"The other side was the one to miss the negotiation deadline."

"Well, whatever. Even with this, the ceasefire managed to achieve its goals."

"Honestly, that was great."

"Of course. If not, it would be impossible for me to eat with you so casually without bodyguards."

"You say that, but you're still pretty mad."

"Because I don't like the way it was ended. Stubbornly denying other opinions from start to finish can only lead to a short life. Nina, if it were you, you'd be able to say something to those higher-ups, right?"

"I don't want to see them."

Nina frowned at Leu's words.

"Why?"

"They're really talkative right now. If I as much as walk up to the higher-ups, there'll be gossip about it."

"Uwah, then do they think dispatching the Third Army until reconciliation occurs is all just Zuellni's show of force?"

"That's actually pretty much what they were working with."

"Ahh, how annoying!"

"Let's not keep talking about that, it ruins the mood."

"Honestly."

They had finished eating the food during the talk. But perhaps their topic hadn't been conducive to the mood, so she hadn't been able to taste anything.

Leu seemed to be the same.

"Ahh, honestly, might as well order more."

Leu called the waiter over to get a menu. It seemed like she had given up.

"How youthful."

Nina murmured with mixed feelings as she looked at Leu.

"Hah?"

Leu showed a clearly detestful expression upon hearing this.

"What does that mean, are you insulting me?"

"No, that's not it...."

"It's a bit weird for a high-ranking Military Artist to mention something like age."

"My bad, my bad."

Nina knew she had misspoken, so she couldn't muster any opposition. She decided to surrender immediately.

"Don't be ridiculous, alright? How much work do you think it takes to maintain my figure and looks? It's just today that I can indulge myself. Ahh, those stupid geezers make me so mad, to think they would show an expression like 'what, it's you again'! I can't let those other female assistants steal the spotlight. It's so annoying.... Are young girls really that good?"

"I was wrong! Honestly, I was wrong!"

Also, it seemed like she had made Leu think of something unrelated.

Nina could only apologize continuously as the food was being sent to them.

In the end, Nina took care of almost all of the food.

"Well, what do you think?"

The location hadn't changed. The food on the table had disappeared, and the two of them held glasses in their hands.

"About what?"

"The guys just now. Don't forget about them."

She wasn't drunk, but Leu asked this with a completely straight face. Nina felt stunned at this.

"After all, it's been the same feeling everywhere recently. Every faction is very strong, so I end up getting put through a lot of trouble as the one responsible for negotiations."

"Then was it retaliation by some faction?"

"....Hmm, that's very improbable. There's a different possibility that's more likely."

"What is it?"

"They planned on using me, Nina's good friend, as a hostage to make you and the Third Army retreat from Nairomiro."

"What?"

"It's the Searchers. Do you know what those guys are like?"

"I got information that they were occupying an abandoned city."

"Do you know anything about that abandoned city?"

"No.... Do you have any clues?"

"I'm not sure either. But I said before that I didn't like the way negotiations ended this time, right?"

"Yeah, you did."

"Though the pressure from the Third Army also had an effect, it seems like one reason was to keep us from putting our focus on the abandoned city near Nairomiro."

"What?"

"I feel like they were fighting more to occupy that abandoned city than to occupy Nairomiro. They were also making a fuss about the area during territory division negotiations.... though both sides were trying to hide their focus."

"How did it end up being resolved?"

"It was turned into a buffer region of the National Coalition, isn't that obvious?"

Leu put on a proud smile after she said that.

After leaving that information that Nina couldn't understand, her good friend took an escorted car back.

Nina felt like that look suited her very well.

Leu had negotiated several conflicts between nations so far, and she was respected by many for being able to maintain her calm.

At the same time, she was envied by many.

That was why she couldn't even spend a minute of her life without bodyguards.

"I really feel sorry for her."

If Nina had been attentive, she could have had the pleasure of walking alone on the road where she had protected Leu from the unfamiliar men in the brief period of time before their meeting.

Though Nina had never had such a considerate personality, she felt like her awareness of others had faded recently.

"I have to be careful."

historical

After murmuring this, the Commander of the National Coalition's Third Army started walking without any guards by her side.

The information Leu had left her was in her mind.

As a negotiator, Leu knew detailed inside information about various nations. If she didn't even know, it would be impossible to dig up information with any political means.

Then....?

(Commander, it's about time.)

It was a scheduled contact from a Psychokinesist of the command center.

"Yeah, I'm going back soon. Oh, one thing."

(Yes?)

"Prepare means for international communication for me."

(Understood. How strong should the security be?)

"It doesn't need any, I'm just looking for someone."

(What?)

Ignoring the confused voice, Nina vanished into the nighttime road.

After returning to the Third Army barracks, Nina got the necessary means for communication from the Psychokinesist group, then returned straight to her living quarters.

The person she had contacted just now was already standing in front of the room given to her.

"Fufufufu, I'm from E&E Pizza, thanks for your order."

Nina hadn't interacted much with her in Zuellni. In the end, she had just been a friend of Felli.

But after graduation, Nina would run into her once in a while, and their relationship had developed to the point where the two of them would now visit each other at a moment's notice.

"You're still the same as always."

Eri held a pizza box in front of the door. She had a youthfulness completely different from Leu's spirited youthfulness or Nina's vigorous youthfulness. It was as if time had stopped for her.

She seemed bewitching - that kind of description seemed very appropriate.

But Nina didn't spend any time asking about anything like that. She currently realized that was undoubtedly just a waste of time.

After inviting Eri into the room, Nina opened the pizza. After giving Eri a drink, Nina told her what Leu had said while holding the pizza.

"Nairomiro, huh? Uh, that's pretty far."

Eri said leisurely.

En - that was a means of movement by Electronic Fairies. It seemed like that kind of spatial leap that Nina had experienced before was different from Eri's methods.

Well, that was completely irrelevant.

The more you know, the more you feel like you know useless information - a good friend of her had said that.

"Well, what do you think about this?"

"Fufufu, well.... Can you get me a map?"

Eri tilted her head slightly and Nina pulled out a map for her.

"Nairomiro is here."

"Ehh.... Ah, we're here. Uh, and.... Ahh, it's Zuellni. Fufufufufu, how nostalgic."

"....Hmm, they're still staying independently autonomous as an Academy City over there."

"Nina-senpai, are you supporting them too?"

"I'm doing what I can."

"How incredible."

"So, how about it?"

"Well."

Eri repeated similar words as she looked back and forth across them and chatted about her memories.

But this wasn't because her focus was broken. Eri was judging exactly Nairomiro was based on the positions she remembered on the map. That was how she calculated distance, Nina had realized after many years of interacting with her.

So Nina stayed as patient as she could with Eri while making sure to keep her from straying too far from the topic.

"Ahh, I got it."

Then, Eri finally clapped her hands.

"I see, I see, it means there's a gathering of Searchers."

"What? What did you figure out?"

"Fufufufufu, good news."

After she said this, Eri erased the normally-gloomy expression from her face, smiling cheerfully.

"Those people are coming back."

The next morning, Nina led a team to that abandoned city.

◇

And now, Nina was here.

(The interference is too strong, so I can't interpret the situation in side at all. Commander, keep your distance for now.)

"I can't do that, since our time here is limited."

(In that case, please order the other teams to conduct reconnaissance. Commander, if anything happens to you....)

"Your missions are to keep the Searchers leaving the city from escaping, so you don't need to leave your initial positions."

(Understood.)

As the conversation ended, Nina reached the legs of the abandoned city.

Nina deliberately approached slowly, but no hostile movements occurred up through that point.

But Nina confirmed with her own eyes what the Psychokinesists had noticed - traces of large moving objects.

Nina's nose also smelled the scent of living organisms.

"They're here."

That was the only thing she could confirm.

Nina leaped up to the top of the city. Of course, there was no sensation of an air filter. Even in the current era, where air filters were unnecessary, it felt very lonesome to not sense that slight resistance.

The outer area was swallowed up by withered vines. They fell apart easily as soon as she stepped on them.

Internal Kei variant - Levitation.

Nina counteracted her body weight with Kei of a special nature and advanced over the vines.

Judging by the structures under the vines, it seemed that this place had been a region that accommodated foreigners.

"This is...."

Nina noticed a sign near the entrance. Vines had hooked around it during the proliferation of organic machinery, so it had fallen down. Nina pulled the sign, which still hadn’t rusted, away from the vines.

"Sky Spider City Terachda.... is it?"

A name she hadn't heard of before.

But since it had turned into this, it had definitely already been abandoned before its 'Budding'.

What exactly had destroyed them? Was it filth monsters, or exhausted Selenium mines? Neither of them was a threat anymore.

Nina sped up her steps and advanced into the depths of the city.

"So, when will they act?"

She advanced with unguarded movements and without even drawing her Dite, provoking the opponents to act.

Just as Nina expected, the opponents finally acted.

The quiet air became disturbed.

Nina stopped.

A disturbance had appeared in the air. But the opponents hadn't shown up yet.

The vines beneath her feet had been thrown into a mess. It seemed like the opponents had no intentions of camouflaging the interior of the city.

But the opponents still hadn't shown themselves.

What were their plans?

"No...."

Nina strode forward again.

With every step, the tension in the air became stronger. Was it because the opponents were thinking about how to keep her from continuing to approach?

Or was it because Nina was in the jaws of death, unwittingly stepping into her enemy's trap?

"Whichever it is...."

The situation would progress as long as she strode forward.

In that case, all she needed to do was advance.

Nina waited for the opponents with that mindset.

The situation changed with the next step Nina took.

The vines covering the ground below her feet floated up together.

No, that was wrong. It wasn't the vines that had moved.

The ground had twisted.

The abruptly-lowering ground left the vines in the air.

Along with Nina.

"Ugh!"

Nina was offsetting her weight with Kei to move on the vines, which was why she was able to descend to the ground instead of falling.

"Are they making their move? In that case, what's going to show up?"

Nina was speaking of the lowered ground.

As the disturbed vines withered and tangled together, a wriggling presence appeared in the depths of the dark hole.

Was this a trap to make Nina fall down? If that were the case, had the opponent believed they could kill Nina just by making her fall? That way of thinking surprised Nina. A trap of this level wouldn't even kill a normal Military Artist.

Also, the Searchers had already accumulated a great deal of battle experience against Military Artists. Even if their numbers had decreased, they probably wouldn't use such a simple trap.

"Something's there."

Nina already sensed that presence close to her.

After all, the downward movement had stopped part of the way through. Judging by that, she could confirm that there was something hiding there.

The sound had vanished.

The earth that had been the cover crumbled and fell. Then, the sound of crashing that ought to have occurred afterwards vanished partway through.

Something that had made the sound disappear was hiding in the depths of that giant hole.

Would that thing whose first strike had failed continue hiding?

"Is it coming?"

A new quake shook the abandoned city.

Something was about to crawl out of the giant hole dug in the city.

Nina stopped the hand that was reaching for her Dite.

She thought of something.

"Fufufufufu, I'll give Nina-senpai a divination."

"What is it?"

Eri had said this when she was about to go back.

"Don't destroy the city too severely and you'll get good luck."

Eri hadn't ended up explaining what that meant.

Even if it had already become an abandoned city, Nina didn't plan on treating an autonomous moving city (Regios) and a former home of men too roughly.

That being said, considering Nina's current destructive power, she had to be careful with where she swung her iron whips.

"How irritating!"

After impatiently shouting this, Nina raised her head to look at the thing that appeared.

Black mist - a gaseous object that looked like this appeared from the giant hole.

However, even if such a thing existed, it was very strange for the large-scale crumbling noise to have completely vanished.

This wasn't an ordinary gas.

The black gaseous body ignored the roaring wind and stopped in place, and a change came over it.

Countless holes opened in the gaseous body.

No, they weren't holes. They were eyes that were opening.

Eyes appeared.

In addition, countless protruding teeth appeared all over the gaseous body. The sound of their clashing together made the surrounding air ominously shake.

"I've confirmed the Searchers."

Nina said this to the Psychokinesis flake, but there was no reply. It seemed that the Psychokinesis interference was still continuing.

"I hope they don't act too recklessly."

Starting a battle when the Psychokinesis communication network was broken made Nina worry th-->>

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