To find the Southern Allied Forces, all you had to do was find the Southern Front base.
It sounded absurd, but it was true.
Simon had told me so himself.
The Southern Allied Forces’ base was within sight of the Southern Front base.
They just never opened the entrance under normal circumstances, so he said we absolutely had to contact them first.
The Southern Front base was easy to find by sight.
“Is that it?”
Because there were flags hanging there.
They weren’t imperial flags.
The imperial family didn’t use flags much.
The nobles, on the other hand, actively used their family crests.
Of course, I didn’t know what the Sinis family crest looked like.
I didn’t need to.
If there were two flags hanging, that was the Southern Front base.
One was the Sinis family crest, and the other was the Otto family crest.
I could zoom in to check the crests, or get closer.
Still, I didn’t bother.
If I approached, the Southern Front might notice me.
I’d come to be on reasonably decent terms with Joshua, and with Darca too.
But that wasn’t a reason to trust the nobles of the Southern Front.
It was difficult to trust the Southern Front’s nobles completely.
“Ian, I think we can communicate from here.”
On the other hand, I could trust the Southern Liberation Army.
“Trying.”
Because we had Ian.
I didn’t even expect them to treat me well.
But we had Ian.
Ian was the nephew of Kaya, who belonged to the Southern Liberation Army.
I didn’t know exactly what rank Kaya held within the Liberation Army, but it definitely wasn’t a low one.
There were about two reasons for that.
One was what she’d said about the Liberation Army members who had come to the Academy to make a secret deal with Darca Sinis.
She had clearly spoken as if they were her subordinates.
And the other was that Kaya had accompanied Darca Sinis during the club fair.
If she didn’t hold a high position in the Liberation Army, or wasn’t in a research post, there was no way she could have accompanied Darca Sinis like that.
“There are too many communications nearby. Signal bad.”
“There is a chance of eavesdropping, but we can’t help it, so increase the communication output—”
Beeeeeeeeeeep!
“Don’t raise it all at once like that!”
“Raising it slowly is just frustrating and useless.”
“We need to pay as much attention as possible to nearby eavesdropping! We’re the ones breaking into southern communications, so it’s not even encrypted!”
“There is encryption.”
Ah.
Ian had mentioned it.
That he had been contacting the South from time to time.
Of course, if he wanted to contact the Southern Liberation Army from the Academy, encryption was essential.
If he communicated without encryption, he would inevitably be caught by the Academy’s communication network.
A beeping sound came through over the comm.
Looks like it connected.
“I appear.”
Shouldn’t he be saying his name?
Still, nothing had ever gone wrong because of Ian so far.
I decided to just wait quietly.
Ian stayed silent.
He was probably listening to what the other side was saying.
Since the communication was connected through Ian, I couldn’t hear what the other side was saying.
It was like using two radios at the same time.
“What do you mean where, in the South.”
I could only hear Ian’s answers.
“Will explain when I get there. Urgent now. Open gate first. Will explain Titan appearance on the way.”
“Deep.”
Another voice cut in between Ian’s words.
It was Ran.
“Yes?”
“A signal flare will go up soon, so just head straight toward it.”
“Yes, got it.”
“But they’re telling us to be careful on the way.”
Why?
Before I had time to ask, the signal flare went up.
Even in the bright sky, its vivid crimson light was clearly visible.
I accelerated the thrusters toward the signal flare.
I wasn’t the only one accelerating.
“Ah, so that’s why they told us to be careful.”
Clans.
Titans of various colors began appearing one by one through the dust.
“It’s the Liberation Army bastards!”
“Looks like they opened the gate!”
“Let’s go snag ourselves a new Titan!!!”
Aha.
The Southern Liberation Army had enough supplies to provide material support to the North.
That didn’t mean they were keeping those supplies safely.
This was the South, where criminal clans were everywhere.
Having a lot of supplies meant being easy to target.
Thanks to that, I suppose, not a single clan Titan was coming after me.
On the way toward the signal flare, no fights broke out between clans either.
It seemed the ones who needed to be careful weren’t me, but the Southern Liberation Army.
Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!
Uh.
I clutched the vehicle to my chest and rolled across the ground.
“Kyaaaaaak!”
Ran screamed.
It was a relief she screamed.
She’d almost died without even being able to scream.
Bullets scraped across the ground and passed right by.
If they were aiming for Titans, it was the perfect angle to safely smash only the legs and disable them nonlethally, but a vehicle would explode the instant it was hit.
“Ian! Tell them to raise the bullet angle up to the hip joints instead!”
Then I could at least see them coming and dodge.
I ran while increasing the thruster output.
“Ian?”
No answer.
Did he hit his head when we rolled?
That would be bad.
“Tell them to change the angle! People are going to die!”
There was no way they could hear me.
“I-Ian hit his head! The communication is off too!”
“Shit!”
An angle aimed at the legs was fatal to me too.
Unlike ordinary Titans, whose generators were usually installed on their backs, my Titan had its generators in its thighs.
If a round lodged into the generators attached to both thighs, it would explode right there.
There was one method.
Use the clan Titans as shields.
“The princess said this was a bad thing when she saw me do it.”
I grabbed one clan Titan from behind.
“What the hell?!”
I took the dagger at its waist and pulled it free.
“I’ll make good use of this.”
Crunch!
I pierced through the thruster and generator at the same time to stop the Titan from functioning, then used the embedded dagger as a handle to hold the Titan up.
“What the hell is this?!”
Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!
The legs of the Titan I used as a shield were shredded away.
At this rate, not only the armor but even the frame seemed to have been destroyed.
Then what that defensive turret was firing wasn’t high-explosive rounds, but armor-piercing rounds.
Mass-produced Titans usually had boxy armor, so there was almost no need to worry about armor-piercing rounds ricocheting.
Of course, the same went for my Titan.
If I got hit, it would punch a hole straight through.
“Thanks for the use.”
I didn’t know I’d be saying that in less than three minutes.
I laid the Titan on its side and accelerated forward again.
Drrrrrrrrrt!
The Titans standing ahead collapsed to the ground all at once.
Now that I looked, I understood why they were aiming low.
No matter where they shot, the fallen Titans would end up sprawled on the ground anyway.
If they shot the ground one more time from there, they could finish them off for certain.
It wasn’t for a kind reason like nonlethal suppression.
It meant, if you don’t want to die, don’t come.
Or, if you’re confident, try breaking through.
Once again, I chased after a Titan and stabbed a blade into its back.
“I’ll make good use of this.”
After the armor-piercing rounds pierced through its lower body, I threw it away behind me.
“Thanks for the use.”
Now the number of Titans left could be counted on both hands.
The rest had either given up on breaking through and fled, or collapsed on the ground.
If the pilot manning the defensive turret had eyes, they’d recognize me.
Recognize me?
Wait a second.
Had Ian told them what color the Titan I was riding was?
The muzzle turned toward me.
He hadn’t.
He hadn’t said the Titan’s color, its features, its armaments, nothing.
A Titan whose identity couldn’t be determined, approaching far faster than the others.
If I were the Liberation Army, I’d shoot too.
The open gate was closing.
“Generator overclock.”
Hovering.
Ignite side thrusters and accelerate instantly.
The muzzle lost its target and poured bullets into the ground.
It was an emergency maneuver, nothing more than a stopgap.
The muzzle chased after me once again.
Hovering balance collapse, side thruster burst.
Bend the body backward and railgun.
Kwahaaaaang!
“Kyaaaaaak!”
Ran screamed.
For some reason, I couldn’t hear Clemens.
Did he faint, maybe?
The intense recoil accelerated my body for a moment.
But only for a moment.
I blasted the thrusters and looked forward again.
Could I get in before the gate closed?
Impossible.
Even if I got in, there was a high chance I’d be shot dead by the Titans waiting inside.
There was one.
There was a route.
It was just that, for someone as unlucky as me, it was a route that required far too much luck.
I grabbed the waist of a Titan lying on the ground and rolled.
Drrrrrrrrrt!
After using it as a shield, I threw it forward.
I had already confirmed its core was open and that there was no pilot.
The thrown Titan slammed into the defensive wall.
High.
Too high for a Titan that couldn’t fly to reach.
But if it could fly, even for a moment.
I stepped on the Titan embedded in the wall and leaped upward.
I pulled a grenade from its waist and threw it below.
“As long as both arms are fine.”
Kwaaang!
The grenade exploded.
The generator detonated with it.
My body, caught in the explosion, floated up into the air.
This time, I didn’t hear Ran scream either.
Looks like she fainted.
Since she was feeling my Titan’s acceleration without even a damping device, it made sense that she could faint.
I knew without looking down.
Both feet were smashed, and half of the shins were gone too, but the thighs were fine.
That was enough.
As long as the generators were intact.
“Because I can grab it!”
Clang!
I grabbed the gun barrel with both hands.
My feet were gone.
I could think of it as having less dead weight.
Maintaining as much upward momentum as possible, I blasted the thrusters.
“What the…?”
My eyes met those of the Titan that had been manning the turret.
Deploy sub-arms.
I grabbed the Titan and pressed the railgun’s buttstock against its abdomen.
“This is going to shake a bit.”
“Huh?”
Kwahaaaaang!
I fell at the same time as the recoil.
With a thunderous roar, I dropped right into the middle beyond the defensive wall.
At the same time, the Liberation Army’s Titans raised their gun barrels.
Click.
I drew a standard pistol and placed it against the core of the Titan pinned beneath me.
“Phew…”
Thank goodness.
Taking a hostage had been the right call.
While the other side hesitated instead of firing, I slowly set down the vehicle I had been holding against my chest.
Beep.
“Ian is in here. And I’m Deep.”
The distinctive tearing speaker sound of a mass-produced Titan.
Mass-produced machines had their own charm, but I really did want to pilot a decent Titan in a sufficiently good environment.
“How do we believe that?”
“Take a good look at the Titan. I came from the Northern Allied Forces.”
“The Northern Allied Forces?”
The Titan pinned beneath me reacted first.
Without realizing it, I pressed the pistol hard against its core, then eased the force on the stick.
There was no need to threaten them this much.
As they lowered their muzzles one by one, I put the pistol away too.
“The Northern Allied Forces need help. And so do I.”
Nothing in this world was ever easy.