Assault Colossus of the Nemesis Warfront - Chapter 97

Presently, everyone was having their lunch beneath Arges’ feet.

At first, only Kou and Voy were having a meal while chatting with Arges.

Kou was eating rations while Voy was having a honey-infused drink.

But before long, Aimer came over with a sandwich, and eventually, Aki and Nyanta sniffed things out and joined in as well.

They decided to eat together, and that led to the current situation. Kou thought it was important for everyone to spend time together like this, so he welcomed it.

Ponko took care of all the arrangements and the meal proceeded smoothly. She brought over a serving cart filled with a variety of dishes.

Arges also stopped working to join in the fun this time around. He was mostly silent, but he did participate in conversations from time to time.

「So we have onigiri today huh. Whoah, we have tamagoyaki and karaage too!」

「You really love eating those two dishes huh, Kou. Just you wait. I’m gonna be able to make them for you soon!」

「I’ll definitely try them out once you’ve made them.」

「I’ll make some too!」

「I’ll try my hand at it as well nyaa.」

「Great. I’ll try all of your cooking, guys.」

Everyone ate and chatted happily.

Aki and Nyanta immediately mastered how to use chopsticks. Aimer struggled a bit, but she’s made good progress and can handle them fine already.

Rather, it might be Kou who’s the least skillful with chopsticks, ironically.

「Metal Iris’ large-scale recruitment drive will be conducted in a Fortress Area, right? I bet it’s gonna create a lot of buzz.」

Voy stated as he ate honey with a spoon.

「I still haven’t decided on which Fortress Area we’re gonna conduct it in though. I’m planning on recruiting via the Mercenary Association. But it’s still a ways off though. I want to hold it in a Fortress Area with a lot of Therianthropes and Familiars if possible. It looks like we’re getting invitations from a lot of Fortress Areas around the planet though.」

「Their area administrators all want to get along with the current Metal Iris after all.」

Even in Voy’s eyes, the current strength possessed by Metal Iris was already pretty high.

They’ve already mass-produced weapons incorporated with plenty of previously lost technology after all.

Furthermore, it was now even possible for them to have the Therianthropes serve as Silhouette pilots (something previously unthinkable) and join the workforce.

「I don’t really care about those guys’ motives. Anyway, let’s go shopping together when we come over to the city area, okay?」

「Yay!」

「Is it really okay?」

「That’s great nyaa.」

「Uh, I think I’ll pass. It’s gonna take a heck of a lot of time if ya go shopping with ladies.」

Voy frowned as he muttered under his breath. He was acting like he’s reminiscing something.

「Haha. Can’t really deny that. You can look after this place then, Voy. But you can always come over if you feel bored.」

「Ou. Leave it to me. I’ll go and help out if ya need me.」

「Something like that won’t happen.」

「Right. We will go where Kou wants to go.」

「You’re always together with Kou anyway, Voy. Let us spend time with him as well nyaa.」

「Gotcha. Ya guys can string Kou along as much as ya want.」

After having their fill and chatting around lightheartedly for a while, Kou finally stood up and addressed everyone.

「I’ll go ahead and head back up, guys.」

「I should be goin’ too.」

「I’ll go and help out Ma-chan.」

They were referring to the Silhouette Base above ground. Kou and Voy headed to the elevator.

Aimer also stood up and headed for the maintenance facility.

Ponko collected the used tableware and brought them away for cleanup.

Aki and Nyanta stayed behind and chatted with Arges.

「Arges, I’ve never seen you go so far for a human.」

Aki addressed the usually taciturn giant robot.

「The arc blade — something that surpasses even the ultrahard carbide blade used during the Interplanetary War era. To think you would actually go to the trouble of conducting trial and error experiments just to produce such a thing.」

「There were many humans who’ve ordered me around arbitrarily in the past. But this was the first time a human offered to join me in making something.」

「Yeah. That happened to us too.」

「We failed a lot of times. It would be fine even if he’d scolded me. But Kou didn’t do that. Instead, he used what he knew to think about possible solutions together with me. He watched closely as I did my work. I cannot express just how encouraging that was, and just how happy it made me. I’m just a production robot you know.」

「Kou doesn’t think so.」

「Exactly. He doesn’t think of me as a mere manufacturing machine. He stays by my side, sees the same things as I do, and tries to accompany me in the truest sense. That’s why I decided that I won’t treat him as a regular human as well. That’s simply how it is.」

Arges delivered his words with a distinct robotic tone. But his words still somehow managed to convey his goodwill.

「It’s you guys who are having a greater time. Quattro Silhouette. Calling it a revolutionary step in technological development is still selling it short. It’s nothing less than an evolution.」

Nyanta closed her eyes and nodded in satisfaction after hearing Arges’ words.

「Yes. Just as you say, it’s definitely an evolution. We were given the same functions as humans, yet they also greedily made us adopt the functions of animals, and in the end, we were rejected by the Fennel OS.」

Nyanta talked while reminiscing about the past.

「And with the birth of the Nereids who were able to pilot Silhouettes unlike us, our reason for existence became solely to help increase the human population. To put it badly, we were just treated as a means for breeding. Honestly, ours was a far too half-baked existence.」

「Just how much did our fellow Therianthropes worry about their position in society? We were lifeforms who were neither Nereids nor Familiars……」

Aki spoke out next. She remembered the time she referred to herself as an unneeded existence in front of Kou.

「I– I and Nyanta probably won’t be able to part from Kou anymore. Every time we pilot the Quattro Silhouettes… No, every time we see them, we’d get reminded of just how they came about. Kou made them for us. All for our sake.」

「The essence of a Silhouette is not being a weapon but a way to expand human possibility. The Quattro will definitely do the same for us Therianthropes…… Through us, Kou will give the Therianthropes a new reason to live. A true sense of existence.」

The two, no, three persons were of one mind at this moment.

「Therianthropes. We half-baked existences. Has there ever been any other person who’s taken us so seriously?」

「There were none. At the very least, there was no one like that around us two in the past.」

「I’m really glad to see you two acting so animated. Honestly, I want to thank Kou for this as well. Especially in your case, Aki.」

「Keep it a secret from Kou, okay?」

「I understand. Besides, I also find the Quattro very interesting. That’s because there will be a need to make weapons that can’t be equipped by regular Silhouettes.」

「That lance was really effective against those new Keres models!」

「Alright. Let’s go ahead and talk about our main concern for today, shall we? Please tell me your impressions about the attitude controls of the Quattro Silhouette. I want to use them as references for the development of close-combat weapons.」

The three of them specialized in weapons development after all.

Hence, the three very naturally discussed making even more new Silhouette weapons and equipment with Kou none the wiser.