The situation wasn’t fully resolved yet, but we decided to leave the hangar and move toward our target point.

Honestly, it didn’t seem like Aru was too pleased about abandoning our mission midway. Surprisingly, she accepted it fairly easily.

Putting everything else aside, it felt like the initial bombardment had been quite effective here.

As we moved, the conversations we had naturally cleared up many of my lingering curiosities, like the connection between the teacher and the Heungsinso.

I had found this part quite puzzling, but hearing it, it turns out the office that Heungsinso found is not even 100 meters away from the Shalle building. As it stands, the kids from Heungsinso seem to frequent the convenience store located on the first floor of Shalle.

Through this process, by going through the teacher’s main role of student counseling and occasionally bumping into each other and chatting, their bonds deepened considerably.

Besides that, there was the mystery surrounding Kayoko, who was nowhere to be seen, but it seems she went to find a Kaiser side executive to ask about the mission. So, it sounds like if we continue toward the target point, we might run into her.

“By the way, you.”

“Yeah?”

While moving, Aru caught my attention and I glanced over. After looking around for a moment, she clicked her tongue in disbelief and asked:

“What’s the reason for such a large-scale attack on Kaiser Corporation? Do you have a grudge or something?”

“Hmm… If anything, I do have a grudge. Of course, that issue has been resolved. But reason? Normally, you don’t really need a reason to do what you should do, right?”

I really like this Kivotos that I am a part of, living and breathing together. And it’s only right to punish those who threaten such a precious place.

“If you’re saying it that strongly, it seems like Kaiser isn’t just casually plotting something.”

“Hahaha… That’s right. Knowing that Kaiser was preparing for a military coup isn’t exactly shocking news, is it?”

Upon hearing my words, Aru nodded immediately. Among people who know Kaiser, it’s understood that he could do anything.

When she heard that the Kaiser side was trying to use them as pawns in a government change, Aru’s expression shifted.

Rumors about Kaiser being bad are indeed bad, but that doesn’t justify rejecting their normal requests. However, trying to exploit them arbitrarily is a different story.

Though the content of the request itself might not be problematic, the outcome is where issues arise. No student wishes for the current structure of the Student Council to be shattered.

Oh, and it seems the teacher’s presence played a significant role as well.

Unless someone is really out of their mind, opposing the teacher isn’t an easy task.

As we resumed our movement, the relatively intact automatons nearby surged toward us like a wave. Naturally, the newly joined kids from Heungsinso took on the role of guarding the teacher.

There wasn’t really any need for them to participate in combat directly, as the combat prowess of the three present was considerable. Even if we abandoned the mission, sending them into battle might be an insult to Heungsinso.

As before, Azusa and Saori stood on either side, dispatching enemies in remarkably similar manners.

Watching them disable foes with speed and precision made me realize they truly were sisterly.

Naturally, I charged straight ahead. With no need to measure anything, I had left my body bunker back where it was. While there wasn’t a significant difference in combat prowess, I did feel a slight loss of the psychological stability that came from not feeling pain.

Naturally, to take as little damage as possible, decisive battles were the answer, which slightly, but surely, affected my fighting style, making it a bit more aggressive than before. Just a tad, though.

The sight of automatons being swept away like fallen leaves provided a thrill in itself—heh. Indeed, that’s why one should keep their distance from violence. It’s far too easy to change your temperament if you get swept up in it.

“This is Shalle. There was a bit of a delay due to some variables, but we’ve arrived at Point Echo. Yes, we will now be entering the underground.”

Amid various good news coming through the communication, we also managed to arrive at our target point, albeit a bit late.

[I did my best to ensure the impact of the bombardment wouldn’t reach here, but we can’t completely rule out the possibility of ground disturbance. Be cautious.]

“Okay.”

Well, I understand the concern, but… I doubt that the ground of the excavation site constructed while Vina traversed the desert would simply collapse due to this bombardment. Especially if it wasn’t a direct hit.

Once we descended underground, the number of relatively intact automatons increased significantly. And it wasn’t just the automatons that grew in number.

Students with backgrounds in the labor market and general delinquents popped up in between. Whether it was because they hadn’t fully experienced the bombardment or were too fearless, or simply hadn’t grasped the situation, they seemed quite bold.

Whichever it was, we couldn’t afford to cut them some slack. Without an ounce of mercy in my hands, I tore through the battlefield alongside the two beside me.

The place we eventually reached, of course, was the core area of this excavation.

It was where Kaiser Corporation had unearthed an ancient superweapon.

“Whoa—”

As soon as I arrived in that vast space, I couldn’t help but let out an admiring gasp. And I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t hold back their admiration.

“Whoa! What is this? I don’t know what it is, but it’s huge!”

As Mitsuki said, I honestly couldn’t tell what this object was. However, given that the Kaiser President had unearthed this massive structure and immediately launched a full-scale assault against the Student Council, banking everything on it, it was easy to conclude that it was no ordinary item.

And absurdly, the Kaiser President stood here striking a pose while appreciating this ancient superweapon. Unfortunately, Kayoko was nowhere to be found; it seemed she had gone elsewhere.

“Ah, you’ve arrived. I have been waiting, T-party host.”

The President spoke calmly, but I couldn’t read his emotions as he turned to look at us. After all, he was a robot made of iron instead of flesh and blood.

But it was clear that he was oozing bravado. That fact stood out, without question.

“You are truly… exceptionally skilled at obstructing our Kaiser Corporation’s path. I never imagined you’d interfere in our plans like this.”

“Hmm… Well, slowly, isn’t it time to know your place? If you had just done your own business neatly, there wouldn’t have been such troubles. Yeah, if you just run a decent business like everyone else, it would be a bit… foolish to keep causing issues, wouldn’t it?”

“To run a decent business… that could’ve been true. However, the weight of my ambition cannot be so light. Even if the prospect of ruin beckons, I cannot easily retreat. It is far better to attempt a life-and-death gamble to overturn things rather than, in an endlessly unfavorable situation, vaguely hoping for an uncertain tomorrow.”

“Hahaha. You seem to be explaining the foolish deed you’ve committed very elaborately.”

“You may not understand, but you… yes. If it’s the teacher from Shalle, you can understand. What do you think, teacher? Isn’t a man’s ambition always like that?”

Suddenly put on the spot, the teacher blinked.

“Well… historically, there are very few men blinded by ambition who managed to avoid ruin. Most who failed either never had what it took or faced opponents they couldn’t handle. As for you, Kaiser President—I’m sure you know where you stand.”

“…Yes, I do.”

The President sighed deeply in response. If robots could age, he would likely be far more haggard than when I first laid my eyes on him.

“I didn’t expect you to launch such a bold preemptive strike. Given your nature, that shouldn’t be surprising, but the very situation of information leaking was completely unexpected. I had managed all information analog-style because I had learned from previous failures. Was it leaked by an external collaborator?”

“Well, that’s correct. I understand the reasoning behind recruiting collaborators, but it seems my influence might be larger than you anticipated.”

“…Ugh. To say such things while being able to realize your own objectives without breaking a sweat—you’re really something else.”

“…Huh? Me?”

“Haah. Had it not been for last year’s incident, there would’ve been no need to recruit external collaborators—no, I suppose that’s a meaningless assumption. I never would’ve imagined the company I built my entire life would collapse in just under a year… Ugh, how truly pathetic it is to accept such a disheartening defeat.”

The Kaiser President readily accepted his defeat more quickly than I’d anticipated, perhaps because he truly had no cards left to play.

By the way, Iroh’s contribution to this situation is immense. If Kaiser had gathered their forces and taken the offensive, who knows how messy things would’ve turned out?

Mitsuki’s futile dreams also end here, and now with Abydos’s burdens lifted, we could truly focus on rebuilding. It’s a bonus that we no longer need to worry about Kaiser Corporation scheming.

And now with some unknown ancient superweapon in Shalle’s grasp… if it could turn out to be a weapon prepared for any future descent of some sort, then that would be incredibly helpful. Hmmm.

But what does it mean that I can realize my objectives effortlessly?