"It's not a bad idea. If you really can't do it, I will."
The one who broke the silence was Edith.
"In our current situation, whatever we do on our own, the odds aren't good enough. If we want to raise them even a little, we have to try anything we can. Don't we?"
Saying it firmly, Edith shot up from her seat as if she were about to carry out the plan that very moment.
Flustered at the sight, Henriks got up awkwardly and stopped her.
"No. I will do it. I must be the one to carry out this mission."
"...Once all this is over, everyone will get to see a bright future anyway. So just hang on for a little while. All right?"
"Very well. I will do my best to persuade them."
"You only need to pick those who volunteer. There's no need to force anyone."
There probably wouldn't be many people taking part in this operation.
A similar event had happened in the game too.
Back then, too, not many had volunteered.
But a brave few tend to lead the many.
How many more people would join by the day of the operation depended on Henriks, and on the residents of Adeban.
"Then while the residents draw their attention, how are we getting inside? Are you actually planning to punch through a wall?"
"No, we'll go in through an entrance."
"A head-on fight? Even if the mechanical soldiers head out into the city, there'll still be dozens left. That's impossible."
"No, instead of the main gate, we'll ride in on an ore wagon coming from the mine and enter through the back gate. You've worked as a miner before, Mr. Crock, so you can ask for help."
"That's no problem, but a mechanical soldier always escorts the wagons. If a wagon shows up without a soldier, they'll definitely get suspicious."
Come to think of it, I hadn't shown them my abilities yet.
"Mr. Enon will take care of that, so don't worry. How do you think he got into the Iron Factory last time?"
I looked at Edith, who'd been taking my side completely for a while now.
At my gaze, Edith shrugged and answered with a smile in her eyes.
After carrying out missions together and even finding the traitor, I'd built up quite a lot of trust.
The same went for the other comrades.
When it came to my suggestions, they only brought up variables and practical problems; no one was actually opposing them.
'They're practically treating me like the leader.'
Even Henriks, the real leader, was listening closely to my suggestions.
But thanks to that, I could put forward my ideas without holding back.
"...And I'd like an explosion near the mine too. If I say I've come in a hurry to report it, getting in will be easier."
"At that rate, we might as well turn the whole city into a fireworks show."
"Could you do that?"
"Are you serious?"
"If they're real fireworks, there shouldn't be any harm in it."
"I don't make toys. I only make the real thing. Go ask a toy store for that."
"Then I'll leave the preparations to you, Mr. Crock."
"What?"
Gradually, more and more of them were actively joining in on shaping the plan.
"Then what do I do?"
"Mr. Paul, you'll head to the core with Miss Edith and me. Please clear the way on the route to the core."
"Then what shall I do?"
"Mr. Henriks, please turn the whole factory area upside down with Mr. Crock. There'll be plenty to blow up with bombs and flamethrowers."
"Looks like the real fireworks show will be inside. Sounds fun."
"Once you've caused enough of a commotion, retreat right away. We won't be able to back each other up."
After passing each comrade their mission, I told them the last part of the plan.
"I found the route to the core when I infiltrated last time. The route isn't hard, so we'll get there quickly."
In truth, I'd never seen it with my own eyes, but it was true that I knew the way.
The elevator leading to the core was right inside Victor's room.
I'd already roughly figured out where Victor's room was, so there was no problem.
"Finally, we blow through the reinforced wall guarding the core with bombs, then use the remaining half to destroy the core, and that's it. The plan succeeds."
"If it goes according to plan, bringing down the factory is only a matter of time."
"Let's hope so."
All I could do was hope the plan would succeed.
And the day of the plan arrived before long.
***
On the night of the decisive battle, my comrades and I had taken up position in the mine's worker area.
"How many volunteered?"
"...I am sorry it fell short of expectations. Not even ten."
Henriks wore a dumbfounded expression.
In the game, he'd never shown himself looking that gloomy, and seeing it in person, it really didn't match his face.
"It's fine. That many will be enough."
I believed in the courage of this city's people.
Because for 5 years, they'd always made the same choice.
'This plan will turn out the same way.'
Right around the time the wagon that would carry the ore was ready, Crock came over to us, hauling his small frame along.
"Where did you disappear to all of a sudden?"
"You said you'd like an explosion at the mine too, right? I got it ready."
"We agreed the explosion would come after we'd set out."
"Once or twice, it doesn't matter. Right? Let's just get ready to get in the wagon. The workers said they'd set up spots inside for us to hide."
With that, Crock showed us the detonator in his hand.
And then Crock's thumb pressed down hard.
KABOOM!!
An enormous explosion rang out, loud enough to deafen us.
"Isn't that dangerous even for the tunnels?"
"Relax. It's just loud; it isn't that powerful."
Now that I thought about it, Crock's lore was that he was a pyromaniac drunk on explosions.
Crock looked satisfied as he gazed at the mushroom cloud covering the sky far off.
"Let's move quickly."
In the chaos, we jumped into the wagon due to be hauled.
CRUNCH.
The mechanical soldier guarding the wagon was stabbed straight through by Paul's steel knife and split in half.
Something I could only do after lowering its defenses, he'd done by stabbing it through with strength alone.
That innate strength of his really was Paul's ability.
After clearing the mechanical soldier's parts somewhere out of sight, I stood in its place and transformed my body.
[Mimicking the 'Mechanical Soldier' form.]
"...So you really could transform, huh."
Once my comrades had climbed into the wagon, Paul took the reins, and I kept watch beside him.
And so we set out from the mine and raced toward the Iron Factory's back gate.
"Could you go a little slower? It's so cramped in here, I keep banging my head."
"Just bear with it. We're on a mission; does that really matter?"
"I'm saying because a bomb might go off if things go wrong."
"...Let's go a little slower."
Racing along like that, we reached the outskirts of the city.
And then.
Bang! Ba-ba-bang!
A hail of countless fireworks could be seen bursting over the city.
BOOM!
And the occasional sound of bombs, too.
"I can hear my money going off."
"You bought them with your own money?"
"Yeah. Then I asked the kids to set them off when the time came."
Sure enough, there were always those who joined the mission one way or another.
Whoever they might be.
"We'll be there soon, so everyone keep quiet."
Before long, the wagon reached the Iron Factory's back gate.
Slowly losing speed, the wagon soon came to a stop in front of the entrance.
"Beep-beep. Today's Adeban mine cargo. An explosion has just occurred at the mine, and an emergency request for assistance has come in."
I spoke the machine language as naturally as I could.
"Beep-beep. Confirmed. An explosion has occurred in the city and many mechanical soldiers are dealing with it, so assistance will be delayed. First, I will inspect the cargo."
To avoid suspicion, I personally lifted the cloth that had been covering the ore to show it.
"Beep-beep. Verifying quantity...."
The mechanical soldier began scanning the ore.
Meanwhile, the back gate was opening halfway.
But just then.
"Beep-beep. Object other than ore detected. I will check it."
So we couldn't just slip through from here after all.
I sent a signal to Paul, who was disguised as the driver. And then.
Click.
In an instant, Edith's sniper rifle appeared from inside the wagon and took aim at the mechanical soldier's head.
BANG!
Before it could even react, the mechanical soldier collapsed on the spot.
Paul dealt with the other mechanical soldier guarding the entrance.
Dropping the mimicry, I jumped straight onto the wagon and drove the horses.
The wagon raced for the half-open gate, passed straight through the entrance, and came inside the Iron Factory.
I drove the wagon without hesitation, racing toward the factory building's entrance.
"Everyone, get off!"
At my signal, my comrades hiding in the wagon all leapt out of it at once.
After confirming they'd taken cover, I unhitched the horses from the wagon.
Last of all, I barely managed to jump off myself, right before the wagon crashed into the building's entrance.
"Now!"
BOOM!
The moment I finished speaking, the ore transport yard the wagon had rammed was engulfed in an explosion.
Luckily we weren't caught in the blast, but it wasn't time to relax yet.
Because mechanical soldiers who'd grasped the situation were swarming in from all around.
"Now it's our turn. Here, take this."
I slung the bombs Crock handed me over my shoulder.
"I'm counting on you. See you after the mission."
From here on, it was the time for the two of them, Henriks and Crock, to step up.
"There is no time, so hurry! What matters most is not us but you!"
"We'll just play around a bit and pull out anyway, so get up there already."
I saw their resolute expressions and gave a small nod.
"Let's get going too."
Edith put her hand on my shoulder.
"All right. Follow behind me."
From here on, it was a race against time.
Last time I'd moved through the main gate, but the internal structure wasn't very complicated. The factory's first floor was built to watch over the dolls hauling ore below, anyway.
All we had to do was cross the steel bridge above and head for the middle.
Maybe because of the explosion a moment ago, a commotion was breaking out among the dolls working below.
Apart from a few toy-soldier dolls managing those dolls, there were no other mechanical soldiers in sight.
Thanks to that, we could get on the elevator going up to the upper levels without much trouble.
"The mine workers said they'd seen dolls a few times, but it was actually true. What a brutal place."
Seeing the reality of the dolls for the first time, Paul snorted as if he couldn't quite believe it.
Soon the elevator's doors opened, and we broke into a sprint again, climbing floor by floor.
Just as I'd thought, since they'd gone out as reinforcements, there weren't many guards.
And even those were all dealt with in an instant by Paul and Edith's sniping.
'The Resistance's top fighters, all right.'
Even with bombs strapped to each of their bodies, they moved without strain.
Thanks to that, it didn't take us long to reach the floor where Victor's room was.
"Let's move stealthily from here on."
From here on, there was a chance of running into Gloren.
So we had to move carefully so as not to be spotted.
Following the route I'd memorized before, step by step, I moved down the hallway and soon found a door at its end.
That was Victor's room.
"For all the things he does, he sure lives neatly."
A warm fireplace, a plush sofa. A luxury bed and all kinds of high-end furniture.
It was no different from a typical noble's room.
"So we have to find the door to the elevator in here?"
But there was no wall or space around that you could call a door.
"His taste is really twisted. Mr. Enon, you said there was a way up, right?"
"Yes. The first method is to search everything in this room and find the trigger that opens the door."
"...Are you serious? This entire room?"
"Of course we won't use that method. So let's go with the second method."
"Then what's the second method?"
"The second method is...."
Just then, the door of the room we'd come in through began to slowly open.
Creak.
"Wh-What is this? How did you get into my room—"
Here it came. The second method.
"Let's have a little chat, shall we?"