Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

It’s been 2 hours since A Team departed from the campsite and we would be arriving near the location of the bandit’s hideout in about an hour. There have been no problems so far.

I suddenly received an alarm notification from the drone assigned to our team. Something was traversing the road at high speed and was quickly catching up to us.

I exchanged glances with Sharon. We could achieve mutual understanding through eye contact alone for some reason. It looks like Sharon doesn’t have any idea what it was either.

(D-2, perform reconnaissance.)

『Roger.』

I sent the drone to do some recon and a live feed was sent to my virtual HUD shortly. It wasn’t monsters. It was five men on horseback. They seem to be quite in a hurry. In addition to the horses they were riding, each of them brought two spare horses as well. I zoomed the image feed to get a clearer look.

Wait, that’s Walter and his men! Just why was Walter out here? Don’t tell me something happened to Alan?

No, if that really was the case, then we would have been notified by Iris already. If so, then I wonder what this actually means? They might have received orders from Alan to come after us, but I can’t think of any viable reason why he would do so. In any case, I should hear them out first. I raised my hand to stop our advance.

“Is something the matter, Captain Selena?”

“There is someone or something rapidly approaching us from behind. Let’s check what it is first just in case.”

After waiting in the middle of the highway for a few moments, Walter’s group finally came to view. It looks like they were pushing the horses hard after all. When they saw our group as well, they increased their speed further, as if they couldn’t wait any longer to catch up to us.

“Ria-sama! Captain Selena! It’s Alan-sama! We have to help Alan-sama!”

“What’s wrong? Please calm down first and explain in detail.”

Walter made an effort to catch his breath and started talking again after about ten seconds.

“We were attacked by a dragon on our way back from hunting Orcs. Alan-sama led the dragon away on his own in order to let the rest of us escape.”

“Alan did!? Is Alan okay then!?”

“We don’t know… I’m sorry, Ria-sama. We didn’t want to become hindrances to Alan-sama so… Please, Captain Selena. Please come back and help us rescue Alan-sama!”

Something’s strange. Walter and the rest should have already started escaping at roughly the same time as my regular report to Alan yesterday. But Alan didn’t mention anything when I got in touch with him.

“It’s Alan, so I’m sure he’ll be alright…”

“But Selena! The opponent is a dragon you know!? No matter how strong Alan is, he can’t possibly take one on alone! Let’s go back right away!”

“Please let me think about the situation first. As the captain of A Team, I will judge things carefully and decide our next course of action afterward.”

I closed my eyes to make it seem that I was thinking and secretly contacted Alan.

Oh, I got a call from both Selena and Sharon. I’ll make it a group call then.

(Alan! Are you alright!?)

(Hm? What’s up?)

(We heard that you were attacked by a dragon. Is that really the case!?)

(Oh, uh, yeah. But how did you two find out?)

(Walter and four of his men chased after us.)

(Eh!? Walter did? Did they run their horses ragged the entire night!? Damn! Why’d they do something so dangerous?)

(Enough about that! What about the dragon!?)

(Of course, I’m okay. Oh, right. Could you two activate your comm’s AR modes and come here for a bit? I want to show, uh, introduce a girl to you both.)

((I-Introduce a girl!?))

I want to quickly introduce Gloria to Selena and Sharon. Iris matched my gaze and nodded. AR mode communication that utilizes each person’s nanoms at the same time isn’t possible without Iris’ processing power.

(Yeah, that’s right. I want to introduce her to the two of you as soon as possible.)

((We’ll come over right away!))

Selena and Sharon soon appeared three meters away from my current location. Gloria saw the two of them as well and got startled when they suddenly appeared.

What Selena and Sharon are seeing right now is probably a combination of my and Gloria’s field of view adjusted via positional correction.

When the two of them saw Gloria, they got astonished and quickly pulled their laser guns out of their holsters and pointed them at her. Uh, I know it was just an instinctive response, but you aren’t really here in the flesh, so it’s useless to point those at the dragon, girls.

“S-So this is a dragon! Alan… Is it alright to be that close to it?”

“Yeah, of course, it’s okay. Let me introduce you to each other. This girl’s name is Gloria.”

“G-Girl…?”

“This is the girl you wanted to introduce to us?”

“That’s right. Uh, let me rephrase that a little. This is our imperial military’s new recruit, Gloria.”

“Re…”

“…cruit?”

“I just registered her as an official recruit of the imperial military earlier. She’s also made the enlistment oath as well. She’s now a Private 1st Class assigned to the Imperial Air Force.”

“Private? A dragon?”

“A dragon just became… a Private 1st Class.”

Was it too sudden? Both of them seemed quite confused.

I might have done something quite terrible to Gloria, actually. Even if its to facilitate mutual understanding, I was still reading her thoughts without regard to her privacy after all.

It might have been unavoidable since she already performed the ritual of surrender and was resolved to follow me in accordance with the tribal laws of dragon-kind, but since she’s already made a number of concessions, I at least wanted to repay her by granting her an official rank.

An imperial military rank might seem meaningless to Gloria, but it held great significance for me, Selena, and Sharon. From now on, we will not be treating Gloria as a simple monster, but as an intelligent creature of equal standing.

This is the only thing I can do for her. Or rather, this was the only thing I can do for now.

“From now on, you will be a subordinate of the two of them. Please take care of each other.”

“”Subordinate…””

Gloria lowered her head to Selena and Sharon and growled softly.

“‘Pleased to meet you both. I am Gloria. I have just joined the clan and am looking forward to working with you all.’ That’s what she said.”

Iris’s dragon language database seems to have significantly improved already.

“Oh, uh, Gloria still can’t communicate freely with us. The data collected is still too lacking. We’re still in the process of learning right now. But before long, we will be able to converse with her without Iris as an intermediary.”

The two put their laser guns back on their holsters. It looks like they’ve more or less understood the situation.

“Nice to meet you too, Gloria. I’m Ensign Selena Conrad.”

“I’m Sharon. Pleased to meet you, Gloria!”

After hearing their greetings, Gloria raised her head toward the sky and let out a happy cry.

“She is happy to be accepted by the two of you.”

After hearing that, a smile finally formed on the two’s faces.

“Amazing! A dragon really became one of our comrades!”

“It’s mostly due to a series of freak coincidences. Gloria’s pretty strong you know. She’s certainly a reassuring ally.”

Gloria acted even happier. Perhaps Iris told her about how I praised her just now.

“Ah! Someone’s calling my attention already. We have to go back now.”

“I see. I’ll contact you later then.”

Selena and Sharon’s figures disappeared from our sights as if they were erased from existence.

It seems it was Cleria who called out to me. When I accessed the playback, it seems she’s been worriedly calling out to me for some time already.

“I’ve thought things through, and I still believe Alan will be okay.”

“That’s… Please! Captain Selena! Please come back with us.”

“I also think we should go back, Captain.”

“Walter, Sir Dalshim. Both of you still do not know the extent of Alan’s true abilities. Even a dragon should pose no problem to Alan.”

“But… Selena. Even if it’s Alan…”

“Do you not believe in Alan as well, Cleria? It’s alright. There’s no need to worry at all. But even so, I guess we should still make our way back to Gantz as soon as we can. Let’s take care of the bandits as soon as possible, gather them up, and get back to Gantz before this day is over.”

“Oh! Thank you very much, Captain! Everyone! Please! Alan-sama needs us! We need to make it back to Gantz as soon as we can!”

“”Ou!””