Chapter 178. The Dragoons' Naive Girl (3)
The sun shone down from the blue sky where white clouds floated.
The drone, which began a circling flight, gliding freely alone towards the high heavens, had soon risen to a height from which it could overlook the entire outsourcing district at a glance.
At the center of the drone’s mechanical body, formed in a cross shape with a thin, circular metal frame as its support.
The precise wide-angle lens located there began to shine, bathed in the brilliant light of the sky.
The lens, which at a glance looked like the drone’s single eye, scattered a faint blue light and switched to high-performance camera mode.
Below it, the distant scenery of the neglected city was already passing by.
The higher it rose into the sky, the more the vast landscape of the city stretched out below. The drone, as if intoxicated by the fact that it might look like a small dot from the ground as it soared high into the sky, vibrated slightly and accelerated, increasing its output.
Thus, with its wingless body, it spiraled upwards towards the even higher sky.
Following the instructions of its owner, Nano, it zoomed in on the scenery spread across the ground with its lens, scanning it.
In the middle of the city, densely packed with quaint Victorian-style buildings, people swarmed like ants, and outside the city, the boundary line of the endless forest stretched far into the center of the distant horizon.
The drone, having risen high, suddenly captured in its lens the image of a black-haired boy on the ground, looking up at it blankly.
And that boy was its owner. He was turning his gaze to the girl with white-gold hair fluttering in the wind and was about to open his mouth.
“Nano, how is it? Do you think you can find her?”
Enoch, who had been checking on the drone disappearing into the sky, turned his head to look at Nano beside him.
“Umm, Direct Lineage Member! This is harder than I thought!”
Nano placed a hand on her hip and stared intently at the drone’s field of vision shared on her visor, as if deep in thought, before finally reaching a conclusion.
“Harder than I thought! I can’t see well-mda!!”
“What do you mean? Is there a problem with the drone?”
“Ah, that’s not it-mda! Bzz-Bzz is fine-mda!”
Nano replied, then pushed the metal visor that half-covered her eyes up onto her head and looked around with a slightly troubled smile.
“Because of the freelancers gathered in this area and the festival preparations in the town square, people are too concentrated in specific areas-mda!”
So that’s why she couldn’t find her easily. Enoch, who had looked around with her, could only nod.
The conditions were the worst possible: festival preparations in the central plaza of the city, and freelancers swarming the outskirts near the border.
With so many people concentrated in one part of the city, it would be nearly impossible to find a single person with just one drone.
“…Well, with a crowd this size, I can see why.”
“Umm, if I had known it would be like this, I should have added a facial recognition filter function when I installed the reconnaissance module.”
To Nano, who was scratching the back of her head with its long, whitish-blonde hair hanging down, looking disappointed, Enoch looked around and asked back.
“Then is there no way to find her with the drone at all?”
“That’s not the case-mda!”
Nano answered promptly and looked up at the drone spinning in the sky.
“I can send Bzz-Bzz as far as my mana can reach, but its output increases when it’s close to me! To increase the resolution and find someone in this huge crowd, I need to walk a little behind the drone-mda!”
Come to think of it, was that why she had followed the drone when she was half-joking with Sirocco earlier?
“So if we follow the drone and search, we can find her, even if it takes some time?”
“That’s right-mda!”
Enoch slowly nodded as he looked at Nano, who was adjusting her visor with a cool smile.
It wasn't a convenient search, but rather one that required us to wander around, but it couldn't be helped.
In the original work, Nano had controlled not one, but two drones, and their performance was versatile enough to be called all-purpose, unlike now.
But it seemed that 5 years ago, it wasn't quite at that level yet. Enoch slowly nodded.
“Then we’ll have to search while following the drone. It’s better to look from the sky than to just walk around on the ground.”
“That’s right-mda. But there’s one problem-mda!”
“What’s the problem this time?”
As I was about to ask, slightly puzzled, Nano put her hands on her hips and looked up at the flying drone.
“To do the delicate work of finding one person in a crowd this size, automatic recognition won’t work yet. In other words, I have to move while sharing Bzz-Bzz’s vision through the visor I’m wearing-mda!”
“You mean manual work?”
“Yep! And that’s actually the problem-mda! I have to make my way through this huge crowd of people while wearing this visor-mda!”
Enoch couldn't help but nod at her words.
Of course, given the design of Nano's visor, which only covered her eyes, it seemed possible to move around somehow if she walked with her head held high.
But naturally, to walk through this violently large crowd, it seemed out of the question to do so while wearing a visor that practically blocked more than half of her vision.
“……”
For a moment, Enoch seriously considered the option of tucking Nano under his arm and carrying her like a piece of luggage.
It might have been the most efficient way, but the thought of the attention it would draw made Enoch discard the plan the moment it formed.
In front of him, Nano smiled brightly and exclaimed.
“Actually, there’s one best solution that the Direct Lineage Member and I can do-mda!”
“A solution? What is it?”
Enoch tilted his head and asked.
Nano spread her white arms and stretched them out towards me, her white cheeks filled with a bright smile as she exclaimed.
“My hand! Will you hold it-mka?”
***
The first thing that hit me as we followed the drone was the savory smell of various meats, bread, and fried foods.
It seemed some of the street vendors preparing for the festival had changed their target to the outskirts where the freelancers were gathered. Stalls and booths lined the streets.
On the opposite side, under the rectangular tents set up here and there in the outsourcing district’s border area, freelancers in tactical robes were gathered in broad daylight, eating among themselves or checking their weapons.
Some of them, seemingly trying to grasp the operational area, had the map of the border area around the outsourcing district displayed on their terminals, which they had obtained from somewhere, and were meticulously analyzing it with their interim teammates.
Next came the smell of gunpowder.
A sharp beep of a firing range signal, along with fierce shouts. When I thought I heard the occasional ear-splitting gunshot and turned around, I saw weapon merchants displaying various magic gear, including firearms.
They were in the middle of their sales pitch, recommending test shots of their firearms to the gathered freelancers and explaining their lethality and stopping power.
Besides them, all sorts of restaurants, hagglers, and loan sharks had set up crude stalls, something more than a simple display but less than a proper shop, and were chattering among themselves in a long line.
In a clearing clearly visible from a distance, two attack drones, almost the size of fighter jets, were hovering in the air, each controlled by a different freelancer.
And around them, freelancers from the same interim were seen looking at their terminals and having a serious discussion, seemingly to inspect the massive drones.
“That! That! It’s the latest fighter jet-type drone made by Red Devil Inc.!! It’s said to be able to blow away even giant magical beasts in one shot with its precision guided missiles…!!” yelled Nano excitedly, her eyes sparkling under her visor, as Enoch sighed and dragged her by the hand.
By the time we reached the main street of the outsourcing district, it was so crowded it was hard to even pass through. I felt like I was getting sick from being pushed around by people.
“Holding hands was definitely the right answer-mda!”
And Enoch was walking, holding Nano’s hand.
As I was walking cautiously, since I didn't know when Nano might fall in the crowd, I suddenly felt a tremendous number of stares and turned to the side.
There, for some reason, Sirocco was walking alongside me, her arms crossed.
“Hmph, what is it.”
“What do you mean, what is it.”
“So you just go around grabbing a female’s hand like that?”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s necessary.”
“Ah, I see.”
Sirocco narrowed her eyes sharply and glanced at me for a moment, then disappeared off somewhere, swishing her tail.
Her reaction was strangely unlike her, so Enoch watched her back for a moment.
On top of that, April, who had looked around in disgust and said, “Well, I’ll follow you then, there are too many people around here. Ugh.” also disappeared off somewhere, leaving Enoch and Nano alone, holding hands.
But whether that happened or not.
Nano, walking beside Enoch while holding his hand, seemed excited and focused on the image projected through her visor, reporting in a bright voice.
“Ah! It seems the person the Direct Lineage Member is looking for isn’t in this area, according to the scan from above-mda!”
“Alright, let’s go somewhere else then.”
I nodded and continued the search.
Walking through the crowd of passersby while holding Nano's hand felt a little strange.
Normally, this would be a place I would despise and avoid, but with so many people around, was it a blessing in disguise that they didn't have the leisure to recognize my face?
For now, wanting to focus on finding the person, Enoch casually asked Nano, who was walking beside him.
“So, it seems we’ll have to keep wandering around until we find her. Is there no other way?”
“Ah! That’s right-mda.”
At Enoch's response, Nano tapped her white cheek with her finger, looking contemplative.
“Umm, if we at least knew where to look, we could focus our search on that area-mda.”
“You mean you need a general search location?”
“That’s right-mda! Isn’t the Direct Lineage Member in a hurry too-mka? When I overheard your call earlier, it sounded like you wanted to meet her before the operation starts-mda!”
“That’s true.”
Just as Nano said, this way would only be draining, and it would eat up time as well.
Just then.
The small LED indicator on the outside of Nano's visor blinked, catching my eye. Noticing it, she hastily adjusted her visor and exclaimed.
“Ah, there are a lot of artifact-type radio waves in the area, so Bzz-Bzz’s response signal seems to be getting messed up-mda!”
“Then let’s go somewhere with fewer people for a moment.”
“Ah! It’s, it’s okay-mda!”
But perhaps too engrossed in the drone’s screen, Nano let go of Enoch's hand in a trance and walked on, waving her arms in front of her half-blinded eyes.
“I just need to go up somewhere high for a moment, recover the signal, and focus on it…!”
As Nano said that, her eyes fixed on the visor screen in front of her, she was about to precariously climb the stairs leading to the building next to her.
“Uwaaah!”
Suddenly pushed by a passing stranger, Nano’s visor flipped up, she stumbled, and fell straight towards Enoch.
Thanks to being on guard, I was able to react instantly.
Without a moment to think, Enoch reached out and caught the falling Nano. The moment the incredibly soft texture of her skin touched his entire arm, Enoch’s eyes widened for a second.
It was because he felt a sense of déjá vu from somewhere.
And the biggest problem was that it was surely not just Enoch who felt it.
Sure enough. Right in front of him, Nano’s blue eyes, with her visor pushed up, were wide open. She was staring blankly, her lips slightly parted.
“Ah……?”
Enoch’s heart almost sank.
It might have been because her beautiful face was suddenly so close in the unexpected situation, but more accurately, it was a problem in a different sense.
This was practically a déjá vu of when he first met Nano in the outsourcing district as a freelancer.
The two of them were speechless for a moment, then Nano tilted her head as if something was strange and asked.
“Huh? This arm, have I been held like this somewhere before…?”
“I wonder, it must be your imagination.”
But despite the nonchalant dismissal, Nano seemed to find something strange and was staring at Enoch up close with wide eyes.
Pushing down his own guilty conscience, Enoch looked around and changed the subject.
“Anyway. There are more people than I thought.”
“Ah! You’re right-mda!”
Fortunately, Nano seemed interested in the change of subject and her eyes sparkled. She jumped up, looked around, and added with a bright smile.
“It’s nice to see so many people-mda!”
“Nice to see? The fate of the outsourcing district is at stake right now. I don’t think it’s such a good thing.”
Nano nodded.
“Of course I know that-mda! But there’s a festival too, so I thought it’s better than everyone looking gloomy-mda!”
“That may be so, but it doesn’t seem good for the drone’s connection. Let’s go somewhere with fewer people.”
“Waah!”
Enoch replied curtly, and to restore the drone's signal first, he took Nano's hand and led her to a side street to take refuge.
They entered a deserted alley between a restaurant and a gun shop, and he stood with his back against an outdoor unit protruding from the wall.
Then, they took a short break and waited for the drone's signal to reconnect to Nano's lowered visor.
Wondering when the drone would connect, I glanced at Nano. She was standing next to Enoch, slightly lifting her visor with one finger, taking a deep breath, and then smiling brightly.
“There’s a really delicious smell around here-mda!”
“You say you have to watch the drone’s view, yet you talk so easily.”
“Ahaha, multitasking is a basic skill for a genius engineer-mda! No problem-mda!”
The buildings on either side of the alley they were in were tall, providing plenty of shade and making it cool, so they had a moment to rest.
As I was watching the bustling street with its open stalls next to Nano, a question that had been nagging me from a while ago resurfaced.
“By the way, what on earth is going on here?”
At the sudden question, Nano glanced at me from under her visor.
“Ah? What do you mean-mka?”
“With all this commotion, the rumors about the magical beasts must have spread to the residents of the outsourcing district by now. Yet everyone is acting so normal.”
Indeed, freelancers from outside were gathering in large numbers and preparing for battle, and the Victoria army, which would normally never set foot in the outsourcing district, had also entered.
The city was in a desperate crisis, on the verge of being breached by a huge number of magical beasts, and there were very few reasons for optimism.
And yet, here were not only gun shops and liquor stores, but even a self-proclaimed genius engineer girl right in front of Enoch’s eyes, fearlessly offering to support the battle.
I couldn't understand why they were all flocking to the outsourcing district, openly doing business or preparing for a festival.
“I don’t know, but is the outsourcing district always like this?”
“Umm, I don’t know how to say it-mda! I’m not very good with words-mda.”
She chose her words for a moment, then looked back at Enoch and smiled brightly.
“I think it’s probably hope-mda!”
“Hope?”
“Yep! The outsourcing district has both non-mages and mages mixed together. It’s natural that everyone wants to live together! So maybe they believe that the freelancers and the Victoria army will win-mka?”
“……”
Isn't that too optimistic? Enoch was about to say so but held his tongue.
Well. Perhaps it was better than being endlessly mired in despair.
For some reason, just as that thought crossed my mind.
Enoch stepped in front of Nano, shielding her, and asked coolly.
“Who’s been in there since a while ago?”
“Ye-yes?”
Nano looked at me with a surprised expression for a moment, but Enoch just stared into the darkness.
From the deep, shadowy darkness inside the alley where he and Nano were, he had been feeling a presence for some time.
“H-hiiik……!”
As expected. Small figures in the darkness flinched in surprise, then glanced at each other and whispered.
“H-hey. Is it okay to approach them?”
“Yeah! Y-you said you would go and talk to them, big sis!”
Since they didn't seem hostile, I stood still. Then, children emerged from the inside.
Next to me, Nano let out a small gasp as she saw them.
“Aah! You guys are…!”
They were the kids April had saved.
The non-mage children from the Underground. The girl who looked the oldest, about ten years old, approached cautiously and spoke.
“Um, we’ve been watching you two for a while.”
“Watching us?”
“Ye-yes. We really wanted to thank you for saving us earlier.”
Enoch shook his head lightly. The person who should be thanked was someone else.
“I’ll accept your thanks, but we weren’t the only ones who helped you.”
“Ah, I know. You mean the pretty older sister with pink hair and the older sister with red hair and wolf ears, right? We wanted to go and thank them too, but there are too many people around here….”
“I see. Then I’ll pass on your thanks.”
As Enoch said that, the girl, who had trailed off for a moment, seemed to have made up her mind. She tugged at Enoch’s uniform jacket and looked up at him, asking.
“By the way, mister. It seems like you’ve been looking for someone for a while. Am I right?”
“You are.”
“By any chance, is the person you’re looking for an older sister with a really big cone-like magic gear on her back?”
Enoch was a little surprised for a moment and his eyes widened.
“That’s right. How did you know?”
“I saw her on my way here, and I remembered her because she’s not from our outsourcing district. She looked like she was in a lot of trouble.”
So, since Enoch was also not from this outsourcing district, did she guess that if he was looking for someone, it would probably be that same stranger?
“S-so.”
The little girl, though hesitant, seemed to be trying to muster up her courage. She clenched her fists and asked cautiously.
“I-if we can be of help, can we perhaps guide you and the older sister to that area?”
Enoch met Nano’s eyes and nodded. They were just in the middle of discussing how to find her, so if they could know her location, he couldn’t ask for more.
To think that April’s good deed of saving the children earlier was paying off right here, Enoch smiled faintly without realizing it and nodded.
“That’s exactly right. Can you guide us right now?”
The girl, along with the other children from the outsourcing district dressed in rags, turned around and smiled faintly.
“Yes! We’ll guide you then!”