Assault Colossus of the Nemesis Warfront - Chapter 91

The Silhouette Base was visited by representatives of Benshin General Trading and an inspector dispatched by the Mercenary Association’s main headquarters.

They were brought over and will be sent back using the amphibious assault ship Aristides.

Aristides was only just registered. The other side should be kicking up a fuss about it now.

Kou left meeting with them to Jenny and the others, and he proceeded with the bricolage of new weapons inside Astraea.

「Unit 5 has now been successfully upgraded to its B version. Aimer’s personal machine has also been completed. This should do it for now.」

『The machine born from a borderline unreasonable sense of overprotectiveness has finally been completed.』

Astraea looked on in exasperation at the completed machine.

Kou treated Aimer as a precious daughter who Master left in his care. So he felt he absolutely couldn’t take any chances when it comes to her safety.

『But I think equipping a worker-type Silhouette with a combination of high-output electromagnetic armor and advanced armor muscles is a bit overdoing it.』

「Really? I mean, I just focused on safety as the first priority. Artificial muscles are necessary to perform work that requires precision control and movements. Its overall weight is quite heavy, and the amount of metallic hydrogen fuel required to power it is relatively immense, so it’s really not expected to deploy to the front lines.」

The culprit seemed to not realize how overprotective he actually was.

『It’s a worker Silhouette that’s based on the Lanius B-type, correct? I do believe the overall cost used in this one machine is already enough to manufacture 1000 Bears though.』

「There aren’t that many pilots, so I thought we had to at least try to ensure their safety.」

『That’s true. The general mass-production version of this machine is also equipped with high-output electromagnetic armor. And they will be supplied to Metal Iris members and sold to the A-Class Development Engineers. By the way, Kou. Are you aware of the term ‘restraint’?』

「I thought of having Marl and Flack pilot similar machines too. So please don’t grill me too much about it.」

『The Familiars are also worried about those children. Fine. I will admit that machines like that are necessary for you and the rest to fight without worrying too much. Let’s differentiate Aimer’s personal machine from those general units though and call it a high-performance version.』

Mass production started immediately. The new work machines will now be continuously produced in the underground arsenal.

「The problem is the next machine. The quadruped-type assault colossus. Is it fine to just call it the Quattro Silhouette for short?」

『Sure. But aside from the nickname, there’s another problem.』

「No matter how we go about doing a bricolage to create it, it will turn out with a higher performance than comparable regular humanoid machines, right?」

It was simply a matter of its basic structural form. Four legs are just more stable than two.

And since humans themselves eventually used four-legged creatures as mounts, this fact has already been acknowledged even in the far past.

「I’m afraid that it’ll result in needless jealousy. There have been situations like that in the past, right?」

『Nereids and Therianthropes generally have beautiful appearances and comparatively longer lives than humans. I will not deny that there were indeed such instances.』

「And if they also become able to pilot high-performance Silhouettes on top of those racial advantages, then…」

Kou let out a helpless sigh. He never thought he’d run into such a tricky problem when he first came up with the idea.

『The stability of a quadrupedal machine can’t be matched by a bipedal one after all. It also has more than enough power, and due to its design, its carrying capacity is also quite exceptional.』

「It at least can’t vertically run up the side of a building.」

『But its jumping performance is also excellent. In the first place, the disadvantages of a quadrupedal form is not being able to freely use one’s forelimbs when in motion and the greater consumption of stamina. Since there’s no need to worry about a machine’s stamina in the first place, a centaur-type robot is basically a cheat.』

「I didn’t know quadrupedal movement consumes a lot of stamina.」

『The actual disadvantage of the machine is that it puts a significantly greater strain on the Fennel OS, so its upgradability is limited. But it already has more than enough advantages as is, so it basically does not matter that much.』

「Just how can horses accelerate so much at full gallop……?」

『It can be said as the height of quadrupedal motion, and the ultimate culmination of a horse’s ages-old evolution. Even cantering is already quite fast.』

「I was wondering if a centaur-type would have problems related to air resistance though. It has a humanoid upper body after all.」

『Silhouettes can accelerate through the use of rocket engines and the like. And you’re worried about that at this point?』

「Yeah, I suppose. Err, you’ve been retorting a lot since earlier though. Did you get influenced by Astraea or something, Dike?」

『Actually, I’m supposed to be the original. Just why did that child turn out to be such a total airhead?』

「Beats me.」

The two produced three basic models of the Quattro Silhouettes.

A combat type, a general-purpose type, and an assault-type.

「The Quattro Silhouette will have these three models – a combat-type equipped with plasma armor, a general-purpose type for work and combat support, and an assault-type equipped with high-output electromagnetic armor. These are kinda like Aki and Nyanta’s personal machines though.」

『There is no problem with that.』

With this, the standard Therianthrope-use Silhouette has finally been completed.

The first ones to be rolled out are the two machines for Aki and Nyanta. Several more machines will be rushed into production in the underground arsenal. And before long, the technology used in manufacturing them will also be put up for sale.

Kou, who was finally done with the bricolage, returned to the Cimon-class mobile assault base.

It seemed that the Aristides was already in the middle of sending back the Benshin representatives and the Mercenary Association inspector.

「Jenny, Rick. Thanks for the hard work. How did things go?」

「It was utterly stressful. The Mercenary Association didn’t conceal their desire for the Silhouette base though.」

「How scary.」

If they could, they’d probably confiscate the base with the excuse that it’s beyond Metal Iris’s means.

Rick merely shrugged off such a worry.

「Under the current circumstances, they probably desire it even more. But even the Mercenary Association can’t disregard Asia’s opinion. After all, the Stones are actually in the middle of openly recruiting mercenaries affiliated with them.」

「Yeah. I would have wanted them not to accept such people in the first place.」

「They struck a nail in advance. But since the Mercenary Association is an organization under the direct control of Okeanos, there are things that ultimately can’t be helped, and the confidentiality obligations are strictly adhered to.」

「I guess that makes me a little relieved.」

「Information about our exact location is kept thoroughly confidential. Even if the enemy eventually makes a conjecture about our rough location, they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint our exact coordinates.」

Kou then remembered about their other guest for the day.

「What about the trading company? Did Fuyuki-san accompany them back in the Aristides?」

「Fuyuki is handling Benshin smoothly. All transportation expenses will be shouldered by us, so he does hold a lot of sway in the negotiations.」

「As expected of a highly skilled salesman. That’s something completely impossible for someone like me.」

「It’s a big deal for the other party as well. And it’s a chance to secure relations with a new rising organization that might make them a lot of money, so they’re also desperate to close a deal with us. They warmed up to the idea even more after seeing this place. They even offered a condition favorable to us in the matter of setting up a branch office here in the Silhouette Base.」

Jenny was unusually acting all proud.

「What sort of condition?」

「The staff of the branch office will be centered around Nereids and Therianthropes.」

「Haha. That’s great. It looks like they’re expecting a lot from us.」

「To a somewhat scary degree, to be honest.」

Kou then scanned the supply provision list.

「It looks like the procurement of supplies is going well.」

「The raw material list prepared by Asia was handled directly by Okeanos after all. The trading firms will only handle everyday necessities and food.」

「After sending the company representatives back, next in the agenda would be receiving the first batch of the units we requested from Yunlan-san huh.」

「Right. It seems the successor unit for the Pheasant still isn’t done yet though!」

「It looks like they’re planning to make use of an additional backpack to turn the unit into a transformable fighter. I thought that instead of me designing a machine for you, it would be better to leave it to Kelly and the others. They did say they’re mostly done with the design. But it’ll take a bit more time to manufacture and adjust the actual components.」

「A transformable machine! How exciting!」

「Haha. You’re just like a little kid, Jenny.」

「It’s all thanks to you, Shadow Boss. Before we knew it, you already arranged for the addition of a food plant and a general manufacturing facility for daily necessities to the base. Construction machines suddenly sprang up from somewhere. The power of the Shadow Boss is really scary.」

Jenny teased Kou with a wide grin on her face.

In order to construct the additional facilities, Kou mobilized the unmanned machines inside Astraea and the Cimon-class Aristides.

There were also the Silhouette-sized autonomous robots like Arges, so construction went pretty smoothly.

The sight of swarms of unmanned flying machines coming out of the sealed area seemed to have given off an intimidating air.

Kou was becoming more and more of a feared and unfathomable existence to the rest of the Metal Iris members day by day.

「It’s all thanks to Asia, okay?」

Kou wasn’t exactly lying. He did merely ask Asia for help after all.

「Right.」

The other two seemed to have already guessed part of the situation. Rick also simply laughed it off.

「More and more facilities will be added later. We’re gonna be even more busy compared to now.」

The other two exchanged gazes after hearing Kou’s words.

「Hm? Did I say something strange?」

「We’re just kind of scared of what’s gonna be added from here on out.」

「Seriously. Just how many secrets are you still hiding?」

「It’s nothing that amazing, okay?」

Kou frantically made excuses after seeing the two’s reactions.

Two days later, the situation suddenly changed.

An SOS signal was sent to the Silhouette Base.

The location of the signal was the D281 Defense Dome. The first thing that came to Kou’s mind was Kurt.

The Dome should be sheltering many of Kurt Maschinenbau’s employees.

「Are they chasing after Kurt-san?」

「It’s possible. Mr. Kurt is regarded as MIA, but the enemy should still be looking for him.」

Rick answered Kou’s question.

「They sent us a rescue request, right? Perfect. We’re carrying one out. We can make it this time around.」

「It’s finally time for our combat debut using the Cimon-class.」

「We’re already in the middle of preparing for sortie. We’ll be ready soon.」

「The nerves are getting to me guys. Can I really handle being a captain?」

「Relax, Bob! Deep breaths.」

Everyone proceeded to encourage Robert.

In order to prepare for a full-scale combat operation, various weapons were loaded into the Cimon-class.