Chapter 18: Chapter 18
"Report later! Get to the repair room first!"
"What? Ah, um... It's not that bad."
I decided I could hear their report and explanation later and sent the two of them to the repair room first.
"W-What... This much is fine—"
"Stop being stubborn and hurry up."
Sati and Ariel tried to decline, insisting they weren't hurt badly enough to need it, but I forced them toward the repair room anyway.
The repair room.
One of the many facilities in the Under City, a place where damaged Replicas could be repaired.
Originally, it was a facility where, after a failed operation, you could come before the damage became too severe and spend time restoring them to their original state...
Since, according to the setting, it could even restore Replicas that had been almost completely destroyed, I figured minor damage like this would be easy enough to fix.
"I told you it's nothing serious."
"You worry too much."
Once Ariel and Sati entered their repair pits, they each left me with a comment, but I paid them no mind and silently checked the timers on the pits they had entered.
[Time Remaining]
[00:15:43]
[Time Remaining]
[00:09:48]
They had been assigned sixteen minutes and ten minutes respectively.
That was a much shorter time than the twelve or twenty-four hours it took to repair Replicas that had been nearly destroyed.
"What happened?"
Only then, once I had confirmed they weren't seriously hurt, did I let out a sigh of relief, scratch the back of my head, and ask.
"It's all Ariel's fault."
"Urk."
The instant Sati heard the question, she moved only her arm from inside her pit, pointing at Ariel in the neighboring compartment as she spoke.
It was an unusual sight: Sati throwing Ariel under the bus.
Apparently Ariel had nothing to say in her defense either. She was briefly left speechless, letting out only a small, "Urk."
"Why? What happened?"
"W-Well..."
Ariel hesitated before beginning her story.
This was what had happened, according to the account I heard.
Not long ago, at Ariel's request, I'd taken out and prepared a standard-issue cannon weapon from the warehouse—practically junk loot.
The problem was that Ariel had absolutely no idea how to use any weapon other than her exclusive weapon.
As a result, while trying out various things, she mishandled the controls and the cannon's dedicated round struck the ground at her feet before exploding.
In other words, she had indirectly blown herself up.
So that was why Ariel's repair time was strangely long.
"Then it was just an operational mistake?"
"That's right."
"Haah... Thank goodness."
Sati's confident answer to my brief question made me release another short sigh of relief.
I'd been terrified that the monsters from the original stage had suddenly become insanely strong.
"It's not a good thing."
"Hm?"
At my relieved sigh, Ariel suddenly sulked, puffing out her cheeks as she insisted it wasn't a good thing.
"I want to master other weapons too!"
Maybe she didn't like that the repair room had been activated for the first time because of her mistake. Inside the repair pit, she began thrashing around and making a fuss.
But even if you try other weapons, the one that gives you the best performance is still the one you've always carried, you know?
It was good to see her motivated, but I hoped she wouldn't pour effort into something so misguided.
"By the way, since we've activated the repair room anyway... could we activate the testing room too?"
While I was briefly troubled by Ariel's words, Sati, who was being repaired beside her, made a request as well.
Since we had activated the repair room anyway, she wanted me to activate another facility too: the testing room.
"The testing room..."
I knew what that was.
A facility with a lone object that had infinite health, where you handed weapons to Replicas and watched them fight.
Really, it was just a facility for combat testing.
Besides, the two of you are already at your final build.
"What are you planning to do there?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Unable to understand their request at all, I tilted my head and asked. In response, Sati grinned confidently as though she couldn't believe I even had to ask.
Having brushed it aside with an "obvious," Sati merely wore a sly smile until her repairs were complete.
And that "obvious" thing the two of them meant was...
"Practice with new weapons!"
"Ooh!"
They put down the weapons I had already given them as endgame gear, then hauled fully upgraded junk weapons out of some remote warehouse and practiced with those instead.
As soon as I set up the testing room, I watched the two of them brimming with enthusiasm and scratched my head, uneasily conflicted.
I guess I have no choice but to let them do as they please for now.
Was this what the saying about pouring water into a bottomless jar felt like?
No matter how well they learned to use other weapon types, they were standard weapons. They could never put out the same firepower as their exclusive weapons.
Maybe Ariel had been shocked that she couldn't even properly use a commonly employed standard weapon, because she seemed especially diligent.
Sure, cannons were decent weapons for clearing stages, since they could hit multiple enemies...
But compared to Manu, who could strike every enemy with an area-wide attack, it would only differ from her original weapon by a few seconds at most.
The curse of knowledge kept making me want to say something, but I didn't want to douse that fiery atmosphere with cold water, so I held back the words bubbling up inside me.
"Do I have to do that too?"
"...No. Those two just got fired up on their own."
Manu, who had stepped away from the two's passionate training, asked quietly. I firmly shook my head as I answered.
Well, it was good for them to kindle a competitive spirit, but...
I just hoped they wouldn't keep working so hard in such a strange direction.
Despite my concerns, their "secret special training" continued.
"Aah! The round's right in front of me!"
"Aagh! W-What's with this recoil?!"
Every single day, immediately after their operations ended, the two of them visited the testing room without fail and tried out all manner of weapons.
Of course, it didn't seem to be going well.
The cannon shells wouldn't travel as far as expected, or they would use massive sniper rifles that didn't suit them at all.
Thankfully, the testing room was supposedly made of nearly indestructible metal. If it had been an ordinary building subjected to the realism patch, more than ten buildings would have collapsed by now.
[Time Remaining]
[00:51:29]
[Time Remaining]
[00:49:30]
Their enthusiasm never waned.
"Aah!"
"Not yet!"
[Time Remaining]
[01:13:59]
[Time Remaining]
[01:00:47]
The next day, too.
And the day after that, and the day after that.
Then the day after that, and even the day after that...
The more intense their training grew, the longer the repair times displayed for them in the repair room became with each passing day.
And eventually, their repairs were still unfinished by the morning an operation was set to begin.
"Don't you two think you're taking this too far?!"
Even someone with as little standing in the Under City as me had no choice but to say something.
"Mm."
"Urk."
The two of them happened to be undergoing repairs in their pits at the time, unable to move a muscle.
Even Sati, who normally would have held the floor, must have felt too ashamed to speak. She kept her mouth firmly shut and turned her head away.
"It's fine to practice as much as you want! The repair room and testing room are facilities in the city you restored with your own hands! I acknowledge that you're using them properly, for their intended purpose too."
I wanted to ban them from using the repair room and testing room over this, but they were the two who had contributed the most. I couldn't bring myself to do that.
I decided to stop at giving them a suitable scolding.
"But you can't let it cause problems the next day too, right?!"
"...Yes."
Ariel quietly wilted at the reasonable rebuke born of sound judgment and answered.
"Sati, answer me too!"
"...Ugh, okay."
When I demanded an answer from Sati as well, who had kept her mouth clamped shut, she uncharacteristically answered obediently, her spirits thoroughly deflated.
"Phew."
I let out a short sigh.
Since I had reprimanded them over this incident, I decided to offer them one piece of proper advice in my capacity as Leader.
"It's not that wanting to improve is a bad thing, but you don't need to become good with every weapon."
It seemed Ariel had been inspired by Manu's performance, while Sati wanted to keep up with it, but...
As I'd said before, their exclusive weapons were the assault rifle and sniper rifle they were using now.
Even if they tried to make cannons their main weapons, they could never achieve the same kind of performance as Manu's wide-area bombardment.
"I assigned you the weapons you're using now because they suit you two best in the first place."
In the end, I let out the words I had been holding back because they were so motivated, my body going limp in exasperation.
"Huh."
"W-What... That's what it was?"
"Yeah. I was waiting for you two to realize it."
I expressed my regret to the simultaneously flustered Ariel and Sati as they received their repairs.
"...Pfft."
Manu, who had not joined their bizarre training, followed me out of the repair room and snickered.
"Hey! You just laughed at us, didn't you?! Get back here!"
Sati immediately began thrashing around furiously in her repair pit.
How had she even heard that tiny sound?
You've certainly got good ears.
Anyway, those two running wild had thrown our schedule into disarray.
"Haah, do you want to just rest today too?"
Scratching my head in distress, I sighed and briefly asked Manu, who was walking alongside me.
"...Yeah."
Manu answered readily, without the slightest hesitation.
Maybe fatigue had built up inside her. It was striking how she answered my question about resting without a moment's thought.
Just as we were about to return to the Leader's room...
A hand gripping the nape of my neck lightly stopped me.
"Urk...?!"
Startled by the unexpected restraint, I turned around as my throat tightened, only to find Manu standing there with a faint smile on her face.
"But together with me."
She said that we should rest together.
Her unexpected kindness made me strangely shrink back.
Was she originally this assertive?
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