Anoseka Volume 1 Chapter 8

This is MTL. So, I cannot guarantee that the translation 100% contextually accurate or appropriate.

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Chapter 08 "Trauma"

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Part 1

A warehouse district in the royal capital.

It is a place where supplies unloaded from a floating island near the royal capital are accumulated, but some of them were crumbling due to old age.

A new warehouse district is being built, and there are opinions that the area should be used for other purposes in the future —— so many warehouses are abandoned.

One of them was a half-abandoned warehouse.

It used to be a brick warehouse, but now it is like a storage area for unnecessary goods.

It was a gang of sky pirates who used it as a hideout for their activities in the royal capital.

The black bandanas have the symbols indicating winged sharks [Winged Shark Sky Pirates], and the sky pirates proudly wrap them around their heads.

In addition to the unwanted goods, there are piles of supplies brought in by the sky pirates.

In the middle of it, there were three armor —— four-meter tall humanoid powered suits, kneeling in a row with cockpit hatches open.

It is the armor of the sky pirates.

Elsewhere, a flag of the pirates depicting a shark with wings hung prominently on the wall.

"I've brought her!"

Four girls in school uniforms appear at such a place.

One of them was restrained with a rope.

When the four show up, the executive who had been gambling around a table in the back of the warehouse leaves his seat.

He is a senior member of the sky pirates and the organizer of the gang in the royal capital.

The tall, slender man has long blond hair that is tied back behind his neck.

Perhaps due to his inadequate lifestyle, his cheeks are skinny and he has dark circles under his eyes.

He was dressed in a shirt and pants, but had a pistol and knife strapped to his waist.

This somewhat creepy guy's name is [Dudley].

He draws his gun and points it at the three girls who brought Marie.

He waves the muzzle to the side and says to carry Marie.

"Good job. Okay, tie her with the rope to the pillar over there."

He was not a stern man, but Dudley's eerie atmosphere frightened the three girls as well.

They tie Marie to a pillar as they are told.

Dudley gives his men a signal so that the girls don't notice him, and they quietly begin to move on.

By the time his men were standing with weapons at all the doorways, they had finished tying up Marie.

The girl who is the leader of the group is frightened and tells Dudley that they want to go home.

"W-Well then, please take care of the rest. We're going back to the academy."

But when they see the sky pirates standing in the doorway, they look confused.

"A-Ano."

As the girls huddled together and trembling, Dudley kept the muzzle of his pistol pointed at them.

He pulls the firing pin of a pistol with a revolving magazine and begins to talk about himself as he is ready to fire at any moment.

Without making eye contact with the three of them, he mumbled.

"—— I was born and raised on a floating island in the countryside, and the lord who ruled it was a bastard. He was a bastard, and he would tax us heavily in order to get money for his women. I got tired of it and ran away from home to the city, but there were no good jobs. I found myself a sky pirate."

Hearing Dudley's story, the three were tilting their heads.

"It isn't our fault, right?" That's what they must be thinking.

Dudley lifts the corner of his mouth and smiles.

"So I did some research. Who was that lord paying tribute to? And I found out that he was paying tribute to his own wife. I was surprised —— after all, we were suffering because of her luxury."

The girls' faces turn pale after being told this much.

The lord of Dudley's hometown imposed heavy taxes so that his wife could live a luxurious life.

It was caused by the current distorted state of the kingdom.

Dudley fires at the feet of the three girls.

"Hih!"

Bang! The three of them fell into a sitting position after the sound of a gunshot.

When Dudley saw the sight, his eyes were bloodshot and he was laughing hysterically.

"It's a masterpiece! I'm a sky pirate and I'm going to make the women that the noblemen fear scream!"

One of the three then stoutly retorts to Dudley.

"Y-You guys are not going to get away with this. We are working under orders from young lady Stephanie. No way you get away——"

"This is an order from the young lady. She wants me to get rid of the three of you."

"——Eh?"

Dudley and the other sky pirates grinned as the three girls gave a look of disbelief.

"She was worried that you guys might betray her, so she said I could do whatever I wanted while I'm at it. So what should we do? Sell them off to some foreign country?"

Hearing that they would be sold to a foreign country, the three of them trembled and hugged each other.

Dudley points the muzzle at one of the three —— the girl who is the leader.

"No, I'd like to play with one of them first. I wanted to see a noblewoman cry once."

No one is going to stop Dudley's malicious suggestion.

Rather, his men laughed with amusement when they heard it.

That's when it happened.

A light cracking sound is heard, and all eyes turn in that direction.

Marie was supposed to be there, tied to a rope, but she herself had slipped out of the rope.

Running with her small body, then jumping as she approached Dudley.

Marie silently slammed her fist into Dudley.

"Buh!?"

The fist sinks into Dudley's face and blows him away.

It blew the big man several meters off the ground, and Dudley was bumping into a stack of crates.

When the sky pirates look at Marie with their eyes peeled back, the person in question tells them in a loud voice that echoes throughout the warehouse.

"Don't think you can catch me like this! You are a small fry compared to the beasts of the mountains and forests!"

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Part 2

Marie broke out in a cold sweat.

(I screwed up. I was going to run away when I saw an opening, but I ended up punching him out.)

After successfully getting through the rope, Marie was planning to escape on her own.

But when she thought the girls were going to be shot right in front of her —— she unknowingly jumped out and punched Dudley.

Thinking about what to do, Marie immediately runs toward the fallen Dudley.

And before he could get up, she kicked him in the jaw.

Immediately, she grabs the pistol that Dudley was holding and holds him hostage at gunpoint.

"Don't move! Or your comrades will die."

Looking around at the sky pirates in the warehouse, they were lowering their rifles and pistols with bitter looks on their faces.

Marie speaks to the three girls.

"You guys, can you escape?"

When asked by Marie, who has been bullied by them up to now, the three are momentarily startled, but quickly shake their heads.

"I-I can't. Unable to stand, I can't move."

"Get up, whatever it takes! Let's get out of here."

Even for Marie, if she fights against this number, she will lose.

The three desperately get up and try to escape with Marie.

It was at that time.

The bandana Dudley was wearing came off, and incidentally, so did the string that was tying his hair.

"Little girl. I'm gonna make you regret this, definitely."

It was the tough Dudley, unwilling to admit defeat

However, Marie is horrified when she sees Dudley.

Memories of her previous life came flashing back to her.

Overlapping with Dudley was the boyfriend she had in a previous life —— the one who killed her.

Marie's breathing becomes erratic. Cold sweat runs down her body, and her whole body begins to tremble.

Even though she has to get out of there as soon as possible, her body doesn't listen to her.

For Marie now, the person who killed her in a previous life was traumatic —— traumatizing.

One of the girls notices Marie acting strangely and calls out to her.

"A-Are you not running away?"

However, Marie's breathing is ragged and sweat is pouring out strangely.

When Dudley noticed that she seemed unable to reply, he roughly shook Marie off.

"Marie!"

The leader girl shouts, but Marie is unable to stand up after being shaken off.

Marie hugged herself.

(Why am I shaking? Just because he looks like him——why am I scared!)

The face of an ex-boyfriend involved in the last days of her previous life comes to mind.

His face resembled Dudley's, and even his atmosphere was the same.

Dudley picks up his gun and approaches Marie and kicks her.

"Where's your bravado? Damn you, don't think you're going to get away with this by taking advantage of us, do you? I'm going to give you a special kind of hell."

Saying so, Dudley repeatedly kicks at Marie.

Then he stepped on her head.

Marie, who is being stomped on with grinding, can't stop crying.

(You've got to be kidding me! Is this where my life is gonna end? I don't want to——)

Marie could not have predicted that the man who would kill her would be a man much like her ex-boyfriend in a previous life.

What was frustrating was —— her daughter and her parents. And while she couldn't remember her big brother's face or name, she could vividly remember the face of her ex in a previous life when she saw Dudley.

If anything, she would have liked to remember the faces of her loved ones —— her parents, her daughter, and her big brother.

And Marie wishes.

(Help me, onii-chan)

Although she understood that he was not in this world, Marie could not help but ask her big brother for help.

However, that wish may have been granted.

The entrance to the warehouse blows open with a loud bang, and Dudley, who had been stomping on Marie, retreats to his feet.

Dudley, with his pistol at the ready, was pulling the trigger on the smoke generated by the blown entrance.

"What happened!"

No confirmation was given, but it is likely that he fired shots because he thought it was an unusual situation.

——However, the moment Marie looked up, she saw Leon punching Dudley.

When Dudley is punched out, Leon tells the sky pirates.

"I've come to get my acquaintance back. And while I'm at it, why don't I turn you all in to the royal court for a reward."

Riding alone into enemy territory, Leon announced with a laugh.

Marie feels a strange sense of nostalgia at the sight.

For a brief moment, the image of Leon and his brother overlaps, and she mutters in a whisper.

"A-Aniki."

It was a voice that even Leon did not seem to hear, and he turned his gaze toward Marie, not minding.

Seeing Marie, kicked, trampled, and tattered, Leon furrows his brow.

"The nobleman is here. Prepare yourselves, sky pirates."

Holding up a shotgun-like weapon in his left hand, Leon's smile fades and his expression turns serious.

Apparently, he is angry.

"Marie, can you stand up?"

"Eh? Y-Yes."

"I'll handle the rest."

Marie saw her big brother's figure behind Leon's back, who said he would do something about it.

(Why does this guy look like onii-chan?)

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Part 3

I raided the sky pirates' hideout to save Marie, and I had a shotgun made by Luxion.

Luxion, who has vanished from sight, informs me of the enemy's actions.

[There is an enemy holding a rifle diagonally to the right behind you.]

Thump! The bullet fell, intercepted by the energy barrier that Luxion deployed before it could hit me.

When I look at the guy who shoots at me, he is surprised and rolls his eyes.

It's the same for everyone around me, and they pull the trigger at me.

"No matter how many shots you fire, it's the same. You can't reach me —— but my attacks can reach you."

The futuristic black shotgun is fitted with a drum magazine.

It is a shotgun that automatically loads the next round when the trigger is pulled and can fire continuously.

The released shotshell scatters several small bullets from inside.

It is a non-lethal rubber bullet, but it is made of Luxion, which is probably more powerful, and it blows up the sky pirates.

It would not kill them, but it would be powerful enough to cause serious injury.

"Look, if you don't surrender quickly, you'll all end up in the hospital."

As I pointed the muzzle of my gun at the fleeing sky pirates and pulled the trigger, some of them were running toward their armor.

Among them is the man who was kicking Marie.

Marie sees it and grabs my pants with her fingers and pulls them.

"A-Ano, the enemies, ride the armor."

"I know. Luxion."

[No problem.]

The three armor units prepared by the sky pirates get pilots and start to move.

The sky pirates, who had regained their nerve at the sight of the situation, shouted abuse at me.

"You think you've won, brother? Now the tables are turned——Gyaaa"

I shot him with a shotgun without question, and the bullet seemed to hit the man in the face.

He is holding his face with both hands and rolling on the floor in agony.

"Don't make a fuss."

Standing there with a shotgun, is he called Dudley?

The executive man that Luxion had told me about was becoming confident as he rode in his armor.

From an external microphone attached to the armor, Dudley's voice can be heard.

"I'll personally mince the little knight wannabe brat that comes to save the girl."

The armor Dudley rode in had a long-handled axe.

It has more fancy modifications than the other two machines and has lots of thorns on it.

"Piercing modifications have a kind of pirate-like image."

When I muttered my thoughts, Marie hugged me at my feet.

"Don't act like you can't handle it. Hurry up and get out of here!"

"Because I don't have to run away. ——Luxion."

[——Arroganz, it's your turn.]

As Luxion says so, a black armor appears through the wall of the warehouse.

It is not the four-meter class that Dudley and his crew ride in, but the six-meter armor.

The armor, painted gray and black, carries three containers in its backpack.

The three girls, confused by the rapidly changing situation, shouted at the appearance of the thick, rugged armor.

"Isn't it old-fashioned armor!"

"That thing can't beat a slender armor!"

"It's over. I thought the help was coming!"

The reason why they have decided that Arroganz is outdated is because for some time now, the most common type of armor has been the slender, high-mobility type.

Big and sturdy is strong is the old story.

Today, they are considered slow-moving and even weak because they are large targets.

Marie doesn't seem to be familiar with the situation.

"Is that so? You were acting like it was gonna be okay, and now you're bringing in the old one!"

"—— Are you forgetting something?"

The armor that was prepared for me couldn't just be old-fashioned.

Luxion's camera eye flashes.

[Arroganz, show Marie your performance.]

Show it to Marie —— in other words, you want to get rid of Marie's anxiety.

Isn't this guy a little soft on Marie?

Arroganz, under orders from Luxion, glows red in his twin eyes and approaches the sky pirate's armor for a fight.

The guy was Dudley's man, but he showed leeway against Arroganz.

"You idiot! A piece of armor that's just big can't beat my armor in a contest of strength! The old model armor that only has an appearance will be crushed quickly——Eh?"

He's big, so it'll have power, this is not the case.

As for armor, the larger the armor, the more energy is expended to maintain it.

As a result, they often lost more power than smaller armor.

If I were to explain it in terms of a car, it would be the same as putting a regular car engine in a large car, but it would not produce as much power. The mainstream view in this world is that instead of developing such a large engine, it is better to reduce the size of the car body.

Instead, wouldn't it be better to have an even smaller body and more speed and power?

The armor is being developed based on such a design concept.

That is why the big armor of this world tended to be insufficiently powerful to move its massive body.

But the armor that is grappled to Arroganz makes a metallic creaking sound.

He was kneeling and had electrical discharges from various joints.

Dudley and another of his men see this, and swing their weapons down at Arroganz.

"Damn! What's going on!"

"Let go, let go of me!"

Arroganz is swung down by the weapon, but not a scratch is left on the armor.

As it was, it crushed one of Dudley's men with great force, and Arroganz punched out Dudley's other subordinate.

Arroganz forcefully pulls out the head of the armor, which is punched off and crashes into the wall.

The pilot, a sky pirate, appeared out of the cockpit with a look of disbelief on his face.

In the sight of the overwhelming scene, Marie sits down and looks up at Arroganz.

"——Isn't it strong."

Perhaps feeling good about it, Luxion begins to talk a lot.

[This is [Arroganz] that I prepared as Master's exclusive armor. It is a machine that cannot be reproduced with the technology of this world, and its performance is unparalleled. It is equipped with a variety of options, so it can fight in any situation.]

Marie, looking at the boastful Luxion, was curious about the name Arroganz.

"Arroganz? Didn't that mean arrogance?]

[Correct. Marie knows more about things than Master.]

When I heard that, I said, "Eh~!?" and look at Luxion.

I had asked him what the name Arroganz meant, and he said something like, [It's the perfect word for Master.]

"Oi, you didn't tell me, did you? I mean, what do you mean, arrogance? Are you calling me arrogant?"

"Master liked it at first, didn't you?"

"No, I don't mind, though! Still, it pisses me off thinking it's your sarcasm and cynicism."

While arguing with Luxion, Dudley soars into the sky.

In doing so, he smashed through the ceiling of the warehouse, and the debris fell down.

Arroganz covers us protectively and shield us from the debris.

Dudley, who had flown out, give a parting remark.

"That's enough for today! But I've memorized your faces. I'm going to crush you for sure, so be prepared!"

Dudley abandoned his men and ran away.

I let out a small sigh.

"——Don't think you can escape from me. Luxion, you can do it, right?"

[Yes, Master.]

Marie and the others are surprised when Arroganz bends down and opens the cockpit hatch.

After all, there is no pilot.

When I enter the cockpit, Luxion follows me.

Marie stood up and looked puzzled.

"Hey, what about us? There are still sky pirates."

"Over here is okay, you guys get out of the warehouse and evacuate."

"Ani——what are you going to do?"

I think Marie misspoke about something, but there is no point in worrying about it now.

I pointed up.

"I'm going to chase him and catch him."

The hatch closes as it is.

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Part 4

As Arroganz soared, it was the one-eyed robots who arrived at the warehouse after the other.

The floating robots held weapons in their hands.

Then, as they approach the sky pirates, they begin to restrain them.

"What is it? What's going on?"

The three girls who had been bullying Marie sat down and were stunned by the scene before them.

Marie looks up at the sky.

"——What is this? Why do I almost call him aniki?"

There should never have been such a thing as a reunion in a place like this.

While Marie thought so, she felt her heart somewhat burning with joy.