By the time the cleanup of the remnants of Saint Nephthys was complete, Saki was looking at Hoshino with a mix of awe and disbelief. Her combat style, tough to the point of being savage, was something Saki hadn’t witnessed in their last encounter with Vina.
While Hoshino had shown some similar demeanor in the video observed on their first day in Abydos, it was still shocking to see her not even flinch after getting hit by a tank shell, surviving the blast of a landmine.
Hoshino, weaving effortlessly through enemy lines, embodied the pinnacle of disregarding the SRT’s manual. She was no mere student as per the Gehenna intelligence reports of potential threats. Taking down a single tank by herself, she utterly decimated half the enemy forces in mere minutes.
“Uhe~ After a while of pushing my body, my back’s killing me. This ol’ guy can’t handle intense workouts now, no way. Let’s get back in the vehicle and move to the next point.”
Just like that, it seemed like she flipped a switch, returning to a slumped demeanor immediately after the battle ended. The two Rabbit Squad members exchanged baffled glances.
“Huh? What’s with the stares? Am I, like, greasy or something…?”
To the two girls who had just seen Hoshino’s true prowess, her current attitude came off as far too insincere.
After wrapping up the short battle and getting back into the vehicle, news soon arrived that Mika’s team had been ambushed.
“Hoshino, do you think they need our support?”
“Hmm? Nope, not at all. Instead of worrying about useless things, we just need to keep moving to our destination. Mika-chan and Hina-chan? Unless they’re facing a heavy defeat, those enemy numbers are just like a post-meal jog for them. Going purely by strength, we’d actually be much weaker than them~”
“I don’t particularly want to admit it, but… both Mika-senpai and Hina’s strength is far superior to ours. While we might leverage firepower somewhat in our favor, regardless, the gap in strength means our defeat is practically guaranteed.”
Barely a moment after Hoshino and Miyako shot down the teacher’s concerns, news broke that Mika’s group had taken out several enemy troops. Assuming they encountered Vina and no longer needed to worry, the teacher’s group received word that they had already arrived at that location.
“Uhe~ Hey, teacher. It seems like we kinda pushed ourselves, huh?”
Hoshino dropped that line precisely ten minutes later.
“Hmm…”
Had Mika’s prediction been off? The teacher suddenly heard a familiar voice as she pondered whether they were simply going back to square one.
[Teacher…! The cube you have is resonating. It’s actually a compass pointing to the ruins!]
At Arona’s words, the teacher rummaged through her belongings and brought out the cube, which vibrated gently and responded differently than before.
[It seems this cube resonates when getting closer to something of the ruins. From now on, I—Arona—will assist in amplifying that function!]
Arona’s halo glowed red, sprouting spikes as her powers activated, causing light to stream from within the cube.
Then, the light shot from the cube, revealing what lay beyond the horizon, hidden by darkness and sand.
“Uhe?! Teacher, what the heck is this…?”
“Not entirely sure, but for now, let’s follow that light.”
“Okay!”
Leaving the GPR device behind, the group dashed towards the light, revealing a wondrous sight once they crested a hill.
The endless desert lay before them, but beneath it rested a massive inverted pyramid structure that seemed to defy the laws of physics as it pierced through the sand and scattered light. It was unmistakably the landmark they had all been searching for—the ruins.
However, the ruins were already occupied. Near the entrance, there was a military force camouflaged to blend with the desert. They were in a state of confusion, having spotted the light emanating from the ruins, but the sheer numbers were overwhelmingly unbalanced.
[Whew… Teacher, this should be enough help, right…?]
“Yeah. Thanks, Arona.”
With a defeated sigh, Arona’s halo returned to its original form. The teacher pushed aside the weariness as Arona laid her head on the desk to nap, just as the teacher saw the light from the ruins starting to dim. The light emitted by the cube had also decreased to a soft glow, prompting the teacher to tuck it away.
[RABBIT 1 here. We’re requesting coordinates for our current location.]
[Understood. Was there any significant outcome?]
[Yes, we’ve confirmed the ruins are located about 1 km northeast of our current position. The cube that Mika-senpai provided has proven to be a key in locating the ruins. It might even have been arranged by a former student council president of Abydos.]
[That’s a relief…]
“Hmm. So, does this mean that Saint Nephthys was also eyeing these ruins?”
“Seems that way. The real issue is figuring out how they found out about the ruins and what prompted their exploration.”
“…There’s something odd about this. According to Mika-senpai, the former student council president of Abydos believed Vina to be a guardian of these ruins. Then how does their military force end up stationed there?”
As one question unraveled, several new ones emerged, leading the teacher to issue an order.
“It’d be wise to retreat for now. Hold on, let me contact Mika… Mika, what’s the situation?”
[Oh, teacher. We just arrived at the final point. But there’s a vehicle of yours left unattended here… Is something wrong? Are you in combat?]
“Not quite. Thanks to the cube we received earlier, we discovered the ruins, but we’re facing an issue. The forces of Saint Nephthys stationed here are considerable, so I think it’d be better to head back and resupply.”
[Hmm. If that’s your judgment, I trust it. Either way, things are proceeding smoothly, so that’s what matters.]
Just as the teacher got Mika’s agreement and was about to order a retreat—
RUMBLE rumble rumble—
Vina suddenly appeared, launching a surprise attack on the stationed troops of Saint Nephthys.
Upon realizing this, the teacher paused to consider taking advantage of the chaos Vina was causing and inflicting damage on Saint Nephthys’ forces.
“…Nope, let’s just fall back for today.”
Given that Saint Nephthys had set up camp there not just to confront Vina but also to deal with the guardians inside the ruins, inflicting damage now wouldn’t significantly impact the overall situation.
Since Vina likely possessed a self-recovery ability, there’s really no point in trying to hurt them. Wasting more time here would be pointless; it was better to head back, rest, resupply, and regroup.
Not to mention, the teacher really needed to apologize to Hina and Mika, who had cleared their schedules to come and assist.
*
By lunchtime the following day, the party returned to Abydos, with some relatively unscathed members teaming up with Mohe to gather supplies delivered by the SRT.
In the Committee Room, teacher cautiously shared his speculation regarding the motives behind Saint Nephthys’s actions, sitting next to Nonomi for some reason, while Hina and Hoshino dozed off with their heads on their laps.
“It’s likely that the resumption of the desert-crossing train business by Saint Nephthys isn’t being driven by good intentions. Like Mika predicted, the military industry they are involved with has allowed Saint Nephthys to prepare the power to confront the guardians inside the ruins and Vina, aiming to fulfill their own objectives…”
“Certainly, if they were operating with good intentions, they would have prioritized conversation over attacking us with no hesitation. Plus, they declined my request for a meeting… There’s definitely something suspicious there.”
“This raises another question. While they might have discovered the location of the ruins by chance, why are they so fervently exploring the ruins? What exactly motivates that?”
“Definitely a valid concern! Assuming they don’t know about the OOPArts (Out of Place Artifacts), it seems odd for them to care so much. If they do know about the OOPArts, how could they possibly have found out?”
“I want to presume that they know the OOPArts exist. If not, there’s zero reason for a business pursuing profit in a failing autonomous region to engage in a railway project like that. Furthermore, I’d like to present a new hypothesis.”
“Hmm? A new hypothesis?”
What the teacher proposed was a perspective previously unconsidered.
“If we look beyond the simple conception that the OOPArts in the ruins are the root cause of this situation, doesn’t it raise questions about the nature of these OOPArts and their functions?”
“…Um, teacher, we defined the function of the OOPArts based on the information given to us.”
“True, but the student council president who passed on that information has never actually seen the OOPArts in person. It could be inaccurate. So really, the function of these OOPArts might not just be limited to inducing desertification, but perhaps they could affect broader climate conditions and belong to a much larger and more dangerous category. That’s the kind of hypothesis I wanted to suggest.”
If even a sliver of the teacher’s theory turned out to be true, it would make perfect sense that Saint Nephthys would go to any lengths to seize the OOPArts.
A ruined autonomous district could be revived using the OOPArts. If a single group could manipulate the climate at will, the influence they wielded could even surpass that of the Student Council at times.
All the teacher could do now was wish that the OOPArts would remain merely an object that caused sandstorms.
