TINK!
The cartridge case sprang up. What flew up along with it was an enemy's life.
—Situation over. Report damage status.
When even the last enemy had been shot dead, Captain Songha asked through the headset. Her dry, flat tone came down mercilessly on the heat of the battle that had been blazing a moment before.
—This is Tiger. One dead.
—This is Eagle... Owl's death confirmed.
—This is Wildcat. Wolf squad confirmed wiped out.
Well, it was not a particularly strange choice. A human thrown into a fight is bound to grow excited, and that excitement raises focus on the problem at hand while shrinking the field of vision for the wider picture.
From a commander's standpoint it was a point that had to be managed. A soldier consumed by battle excitement was the being most apt to stir up needless discord.
"This is......."
So Odysseus meant to answer calmly. FLOP. He would have, had the strength not gone out of his legs and had his soles not slipped in the bloody water.
THWACK!
"Ow."
He tried somehow to keep his balance, but to make matters worse the sniper rifle bore down on his body. The boy sprawled backward with the rifle on his stomach. The back of his head, slammed into the deck, stung.
—Porter?! Yul?!
—Magician?!
"Kid?!"
"Ow, ow, ow......."
That's going to leave a lump. Odysseus held the back of his head and pushed the sniper rifle aside. The helmet, which made his head ring all the more, came as a bonus. When he pulled it off as though throwing it, the hair he had tied tightly was freed from the helmet.
"This is Porter... one dead. No wounded."
—And that sound just now?
"I slipped."
A few hollow laughs burst out over the radio. Here and there someone spat a curse, roughly to the effect that he had nearly scared them out of their skins.
—Fine. For now, everyone gather near Porter.
Captain Songha, likewise holding laughter in her voice, gave the order. It was the moment the craft scattered in all directions gathered near the Air Boat.
VWOOM-
The first to reach the Air Boat was Captain Songha's Air Bike. Halting it with no connecting line, leaving only a suitable distance, the captain leapt across by leg strength alone.
The drop earring hanging from one of the captain's ears glinted yellow.
"Captain."
In any case, greeting a superior while seated made for a poor picture. Odysseus' hand braced against the ground, and he nearly sprawled over once again.
"Do not force yourself up."
"I haven't done anything of the sort."
"What you are doing right now is exactly that."
What? Me? Now?
Odysseus was dumbfounded at Captain Songha's remark. He had not forced himself up. His falling just now was simply because his expenditure of magic power had been large, absolutely not because something had gone wrong with his body—
"Shhh. Calm down. Everyone is like this after a first fight. There is no need to bristle so over the tension going out of you. You are safe now, and so it is all right to rest. I guarantee it."
Before the boy's thought had even finished, Captain Songha, who had come across, stroked his head. Though it was nothing, truly nothing of a gesture, his body stiffened and then went limp just as it was.
Laughably, Odysseus' flesh had been consumed by stress beyond his control without his own knowledge. And the moment it was certain the fight was over, the strength had drained out of his whole body in the aftermath.
"You did well enough."
"...I only did what had to be done."
Once he was conscious again of his body's condition, some strength returned. Odysseus' body haltingly straightened its back. It was far better than before.
"Yes. That's right. You fought for yourself, and for us. And truly splendidly at that."
Goddamn it, to those around him he must look like a whelp who had just been through his first battle.
Odysseus lamented that with all the battles he had fought and all the years he had lived, he had to make a display like this. The only one who may stroke my head is Penelope. That sigh, too, was a grievance that would reach no one else.
"So catch your breath now. The rest is our share."
"That's right! Our precious Magician should stay put! Gathering the spoils is the share of flunkies like us!"
"The flunkies would be you wild-beast bastards. How can our luring squad be treated the same as you lot?"
"What? What did that lowborn bastard just—"
"Enough! The wounded are treated on the Air Boat, and the bodies gathered in the corner. Anyone lightly wounded or better, gather the scattered spoils at once. Surely you do not want to leave the iron horses we finally won behind for lack of fuel?"
"Ah, of course not! Think what our kid went through to give us this gift!"
"Kite! You lot take that one! We'll handle this side!"
"You fucking bastard, I've only got one hand!!"
Still, being able to shove the salvage work onto others was quite nice.
Having recovered a bit more energy, the boy's body headed for the railing. He felt little indignity about dragging his legs along just to lean his back against something. He had seen far worse sights on battlefields.
"Don't forget to strip the marks, you morons!"
—Haha! No worries, Captain! As if we'd forget that!
—Idiot sons of bitches, kill marks and all, nothing but show.
—Leave them be. They will be working out their place in the palace of Hades.
The comms channel in the headset was very loud, though. Until a while ago the chatter had not felt this tiring, so he was evidently tired after all.
"Yul, did you use up the sniper rounds?"
"Yes."
"We will have to procure more when we get back."
"Buy plenty, please."
"...Right."
Rounds used in rifles did not matter. Horn and Odysseus both knew how to make those.
But rounds meant only for sniper rifles were different. Unlike rifle rounds, the method for making sniper rounds was far too expensive, and Captain Songha had chosen to buy the rounds themselves rather than that. It was why Odysseus was now pestering her to buy ammunition.
"Twenty rounds... no, will thirty be generous enough?"
"Spend a little more? I'd like to practice as well."
"Hah."
Of course, sniper rounds themselves were in a considerable price range. And he knew that unlike an automatic rifle, a sniper rifle tended to require the same kind of round for practice as for real use, which made the investment far from easy.
But did it make sense for the number of rounds usable in real combat to stop at a mere ten? It was just as well the enemies had been few; otherwise he would have had to take up the bow again with a worn-out body. Tiring just to imagine.
"Yes... I will think about that part."
"Please think about it in a favorable direction."
"...Right."
In the end Captain Songha accepted his complaint. Whether it would actually be reflected was a matter for later, but for now it looked positive.
"More to the point, that makes three on luring duty dead this month already. And five in the harpoon squad... tsk. I did not think this one would go too."
Now that money was involved, other things had apparently come into view as well. The captain immediately counted the dead and the lost equipment. Before her eyes were bodies just now collected and carried to a corner of the Air Boat's deck, and the wounded receiving treatment.
"The Air Bikes too... no. I should count it fortunate that we only lost one. And manpower can run on two shifts until it is replenished......."
The only equipment rendered unusable in this battle was the two-seat Air Bike the Wolf squad had used. Unluckily its engine had been destroyed and it had crashed, so recovering it for use was impossible as well.
Had the engine not been struck by a bullet, the Wolf squad might not have been wiped out.
—Reporting to Command. Everything is hitched.
"Good. Fuel?"
—Plenty.
"Good. Then we return home."
Before long the seizure work was finished.
At that Captain Songha crossed back to her own Air Bike, and doing with a smile a thing that could easily send her straight into the sea was a talent in itself. Her nerve was truly thick.
—Moving out!
In any case, the Air Boat and Air Bikes, with things strung one after another to their tails by hook and line, headed for the city.
"But Captain. Is this... all right, towing them along like a wagon?"
—It is not safe. But it is better than hitching all ten-odd of them to the Air Boat.
Odysseus recalled the Trojan War.
The chariots the generals of both sides had ridden had gone about with two horses hitched in front, roughly in that fashion... these horses were made of steel, and what was hitched behind was lighter than a chariot, so perhaps it was fine?
KRRSH.
Just then the headset let out a bit of static. 「The comms channel has been changed.」 The notice presently displayed over his goggles read as follows.
—Can you hear me?
"Yes."
—It is a private channel. The others cannot hear.
"Oh......."
A private channel only the captain could operate. He knew well that it existed. It was simply that until now there had never once been occasion to use it.
"Is there something you're curious about?"
If it were something everyone could hear, she would have asked on the existing comms channel. That she had gone to the trouble of opening a new one... meant it was either that important or not a thing others should know.
Odysseus asked on that judgment. Captain Songha's breathing came briefly over the headset.
—You. Do you know how to use consciousness acceleration?
"......?"
At first the boy's head was full of the thought, 'What is that?' Naturally. How was he to understand a concept, or more precisely a word, he did not know, thrust at him out of nowhere?
"Ah......."
But 0.1 seconds later, Odysseus' clever head split the two words apart, grasped the meaning of each, and through that worked out the implication of the concept as well.
Consciousness. Acceleration. Literally accelerating the consciousness, or knowing how to accelerate it. What Captain Songha spoke of now had to be a technique of that sort.
"So this is what you call consciousness acceleration?"
Having guessed that far, the matter was settled. Odysseus answered while tapping the headset as though making light of it. A smile had already risen at the corner of the boy's mouth.
—Ha, hahahaha!
And Captain Songha laughed hard enough to burst her lungs. So heartily that Odysseus had to adjust the headset volume for a moment.
—Since when have you known how to use it?
"Hmm, put that way, I don't know how to answer."
—Hah, hahah. Yes! Of course!
Still, it was not bad. No, it was rather good. Ordinarily he could have offered no excuse at all for his marksmanship, but with Captain Songha bringing it up first, he now had something to explain it with.
'In practice I only used consciousness acceleration with the gun, but.......'
If he did not say so, Captain Songha would not know. And following common sense she would naturally assume his archery too had been helped by consciousness acceleration. A perfectly complete excuse.
—All right, our adorable magician. Do you want your spoils in kind or in cash? For reference, if you choose in kind you will pay a storage fee separately, and cashing out will have a commission deducted.
"Mmm, this takes some thought."
Odysseus, delighted at the unexpected windfall, rolled the offer the captain had extended over his tongue for a moment.
"Leave me one Air Bike, the one in the best condition, and sell the rest."
—Understood. Anything else you are curious about?
"No."
The captain would surely do well by him. Odysseus let that inner sentiment show faintly as he ended the conversation. Naturally, the reason he was at ease did not lie in Captain Songha's character alone.
"Were you talking with the captain?"
"Ah, yes."
"Don't worry, I couldn't hear properly over the wind."
Even in the age of the gods, warriors at the height of being able to accelerate their consciousness had not been common. And judging by the captain going to the trouble of asking on a private channel, 'consciousness acceleration' or whatever it was called had to be a fairly uncommon concept here as well.
Add to that the rare attribute of being a magician and he became by no means cheap talent. Which meant he was too valuable a being to whittle away his credibility by lying about something she could find out if she set her mind to it.
"I'm not worried."
So it was fine. Captain Songha was not a fool blinded by small things and unable to see the large ones, and even if she skimmed a little, it would be no great loss to him.
'Since I am not leaving Expedition Team: Freedom any time soon, coming out generously beats being persistent over trifles for cementing an impression.'
Well... that Yul, shut-in wreck though he was, held wicked grudges and was a foul-tempered rabid dog was a story everyone in Expedition Team: Freedom knew... but still, better than being rabid about money matters too, no? And as it happened, Yul's foul temper was only exercised on the bastards who treated him badly.
This much, he judged, could still be made up for. Oh yes, indeed.