Chapter 237: Iron and Blood (Part V)
Mikazuki raised his blackened, oil-stained hand and explained to Kudelia, "My hands are filthy, so I'd better not."
Only then did Kudelia realize how foolish she had just been. Her cheeks flushed bright red as she stammered, "Um… I—I'm really sorry about that."
"But that just means our relationship isn't equal, right?" Mikazuki's simple reply struck her like a fatal blow to the heart.
She stood there dazed, watching as Mikazuki walked away quickly, completely at a loss for what to do.
Defeated and dejected, Kudelia returned to the office, her face full of frustration, and forced herself to sit through Maruba's endless explanation of her itinerary.
Still, unwilling to accept defeat, Kudelia made up her mind in secret—she wouldn't go home tonight. She would stay overnight at the CGS base.
She wanted to experience firsthand the living conditions of these irregular child soldiers. Naively, she believed that by doing so, she might be able to bridge the gap between them.
That night, Kudelia tossed and turned on the hard cot—it was the first time she had ever slept on something so unforgiving. Her body ached from the rough surface.
"Kudelia, you can do this. A little hardship like this is nothing," she whispered softly to herself, trying to muster courage before closing her eyes and forcing herself to sleep.
Meanwhile, Mikazuki and Akihiro were still out on the training grounds, tirelessly running laps in their usual rivalry.
On the open square outside the base, Biscuit sat beside Orga, who was staring up at the sky in silence. "It's late, Orga. Can't sleep?" Biscuit asked.
"You're one to talk, Biscuit. What are you doing here so late?"
"It just feels… suspicious."
"Yeah. Even if that young lady seems like a bit of an airhead, her family and position are the real deal.
She's the kind of person whose involvement could easily make Gjallarhorn move on its own.
Why would someone like that come to a tiny company like ours? What a pain…"
"No matter what, we don't have the luxury of choice," Biscuit said quietly.
Orga's eyes hardened with determination. "Even if it's a trap, we'll just smash the trap along with everything else."
By the time dawn was near, Gjallarhorn finally made its move.
Orlis, Crank, and Ein led their soldiers in silence, aiming their rifles at the irregular child soldiers standing guard.
Under the cover of darkness, they took down several guards in a surprise assault. But just as they were congratulating themselves, one wounded child soldier, still barely alive, managed to fire a flare into the sky—alerting the rest of the CGS base.
Orga, Mikazuki, Akihiro, and Biscuit saw the flare and immediately rushed back to their posts, heading to the hangar to prepare their mobile workers for combat.
As the alarms blared throughout the base, Orlis, Crank, and Ein realized their assassination attempt on Kudelia had failed.
Without hesitation, they boarded their three Grazes and abandoned the covert mission altogether—opting instead to attack head-on and kill Kudelia outright.
At Orlis's command, Gjallarhorn's mobile workers unleashed a storm of missiles, rockets, and machine gun fire upon the mountain base.
Explosions erupted everywhere; the ground shook as though the earth itself was quaking.
Half-awake Kudelia jolted upright, terrified by the thunderous roar of artillery.
"What's happening?!" she gasped, turning to her maid. "Fumitan, what's going on out there?"
Fumitan shook her head, calm as ever. "I'm not sure, Miss Kudelia. I'll go check. Please wait here for a moment."
But Kudelia threw off her blanket, still in her nightclothes. "Wait! I'm coming with you!"
A deafening explosion rocked the building, forcing her to cover her head and shrink back into bed in fright.
Meanwhile, Mikazuki, Akihiro, and Shino's squad from the youth division were already in their mobile workers, rushing to intercept the attackers.
A few moments later, Eugene finally arrived, panting. "What the hell's going on here?" he demanded.
"You're too damn slow," Orga snapped. "Mikazuki and Shino's team are already out there. Akihiro's squad just launched from the second hangar too."
Biscuit tightened the Alaya-Vijnana interface connector onto Orga's back. "Okay, Orga—"
Before he could finish, the First Squad's leader, Hilda, stormed in with several subordinates. "What are you standing around for? Third Squad, you're all going to hold the enemy's front line!"
Beside him, Yasushi puffed himself up, "Yeah, you heard him! Move it!"
Completely confused, Orga asked in disbelief, "Wait—enemy? You actually know who the enemy is?"
That simple question caught Hilda off guard. He stammered, "Th-this… uh… whoever's attacking us, obviously! If they're shooting at us, they're the enemy!"
Trying to save face, he barked even louder, "Stop wasting time talking! If you've got time to ask questions, use it to drive them back! Now get moving!"
Eugene and Orga hadn't finished prepping their mobile workers yet, so the others had no choice but to launch first.
They took cover behind barricades, opening fire with their mounted machine guns and cannons at the approaching Gjallarhorn forces—whether they hit or not didn't matter; they just kept firing.
But as the battle dragged on with no progress, Orlis ordered a full assault.
From their vantage point, Orga and Mikazuki finally spotted the enemy emblems on the approaching mobile workers—realizing with shock that Gjallarhorn itself had come for them.
Inside the office, Maruba frantically scrambled around, stuffing valuables into bags while cursing under his breath. "Damn it! Gjallarhorn, of all people! Why are they coming after us?! Those bastards!"
"We don't even have that much to take…" He muttered while fiddling with the lock on his safe, failing the combination several times in a row.
"Damn it! I forgot the code!" he shouted, pounding the safe in frustration.
"Calm down, calm down… I remember it had something to do with the dog I had as a kid… Money… dog…" His eyes suddenly lit up. "Yasushi!"
Yasushi, still frantically packing crates, froze. "Huh?"