Trails with Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 031 – Fufufu, son. It’s the May Field Study④ [B]
The group rented an orbal boat in Raquel, arriving at Bryonia Island in 30 minutes.
Since Rean (or rather, Osbon) was operating the orbal boat, the remaining four were able to enjoy the view of the orbal boat as it ran along the sea surface.
“Uwaah~…… It’s not like I’m swimming, but it really feels like an ocean here.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen such scenery……”
“I guess it’s natural, since you hail from Nord. Hmn~ The sea breeze feels good~”
“Fufu, it makes it feel like we are turning back into children.”
While listening to the happy voices of the four people behind him, Rean thought about the Bryonia Island task on his own.
When they rented the orbal boat, the employee had said that they had already been informed and kindly lent them their boat.
However, that in itself wasn’t the problem.
What Rean was concerned about was that if there really was a rumor on how the island had become the stronghold of jaegers, the employee should have heard of it.
However, the employee only heard that their boat would be rented for the sake of an investigation.
In other words, Rean felt that there was a discrepancy in the information between them and the employee.
“Hey, what do you all think about Musse’s story?”
“You mean, about the stronghold of jaegers?”
“Aah. If there really are people based on the island, it is more likely pirates than jaegers. However, Aurelia-san had personally mentioned jaegers, and since those nobles also did, they are definitely around here somewhere.”
“Certainly, I’ve never heard of jaegers making a stronghold on a solitary island.”
“But our task is to investigate, right? In that case, we have no choice but to go and check it out.”
“If nothing happens, we can just report it as that.”
“……Well, I guess that’s true. We’re almost the——”
Rean’s voice stopped there.
The other four were surprised and asked what was wrong, but Rean silently pointed to the island.
What they saw there was a single ship.
It wasn’t a small boat and it wasn’t a big one either, but it, definitely not a leisure boat or a cruise liner, more like a cargo ship, was parked beside the island.
In other words, someone else was on that island.
“…………Should we park the boat on the other side of the island?”
“No, it would be troublesome if the boat drifted ashore and became stranded. If something were to happen, there is still Rean-san with his Power of Ashen, so I don’t think it would be difficult to escape.”
[“In other words, do you mean that you will release the teleportation ban in the case of an emergency, Miss Emma?”]
Emma nodded at Osbon’s voice.
The Power of Ashen was only a pretense towards Alisa and others.
Emma still kept her identity as a witch a secret, but it was just a matter of time.
Either way, I’ll just wait until Emma reveals it on her own……
Rean accelerated the orbal boat, then parked it while keeping an eye on their surroundings.
There was no one nearby, but he immediately noticed something strange.
This was because, in addition to footprints that seemed to have been made by people, there were also footprints many times larger.
“What is this……?”
“They’re footprints, right?”
“But they’re abnormally large for them to be a human’s……”
“Divine Knight ……”
“Eh?”
As Emma muttered, Rean supplemented it.
“Everyone saw Valimar’s main body during the practical exam, right? These footprints are similar in size to a Divine Knight’s.”
“Then, does that mean there is a Divine Knight on this island?”
“……Emma, contact the professor through ARCUS. There is a possibility I would have to call Valimar’s main body.”
“Yes.”
While Emma was using Arcus, Rean recalled what Beryl had told him before.
There were six other Divine Knights, in addition to Ashen.
Could one of them really be around here? Thought Rean as he proceeded cautiously while raising his vigilance.
I wonder why I feel a chill……
Rean felt an unprecedented level of anxiety but an equal amount of excitement.
It seemed like the power of ogre that resided in his heart had activated on its own.
Every time he took a step, he felt a strange feeling, as if there was something he expected to happen in the path ahead.
Upon seeing how serious Rean’s expression was, Alisa and the others braced themselves, wondering if the opponent was dangerous.
The five traveled along the island and climbed the cobblestone, with their ears picking up the sounds of vibrations.
There were sounds of something huge stomping on the ground, the sounds of explosions, and so on, making it clear that a battle was taking place in the isolated island.
“Rean-san, I have talked to the professor…… please inform me when you are going to summon it.”
Rean nodded at Emma and went ahead to check what was happening.
There, they witnessed a huge knight doll, which wasn’t a Divine Knight but was about 7 arge in size, moving about.
It seemed to be holding a sword and shield, swinging them around, but……
“Is that a Divine Knight? It doesn’t seem as beautiful as Valimar, though……”
“And seeing it moving around like that, is it fighting someone?”
“……I feel a raging wind.”
Ahead in their lines of sight, there were two men dressed in black, next to the knight doll.
One was a man with bright yellow hair and a cat mouth.
The other was a muscular man with dreadlocks.
They were both wearing sunglasses, dressed in clothes of the same design, and having a friendly chat while being attacked by the knight doll.
Indeed, even though they were being attacked by an opponent of great mass, they acted as if that wasn’t a big deal.
While Group A was at a loss for words, Rean recognised the men’s identities.
“Those two…… they are jaegers. Moreover, they are from Zephyr.”
“Eh?!”
After Fie confessed her identity as a former jaeger, she told him a lot about Zephyr.
Among them, Fie showed Rean the design of their group uniform, which was the symbol of a bird.
Rean wouldn’t mention Fie’s artistic taste here, but the black clothes embroidered with a design that closely resembled Fie’s drawing, and the skill they showed off as they warded off attacks from the knight doll, led Rean to conclude that they were from Zephyr.
“Zephyr?”
“I have heard of them from my father. It’s one of the best jaeger corps on the continent and their name is well-known, even in the military.”
“So they’re the jaegers lurking in Ordis.”
As Rean and the others tried to guess their identities, the battle continued.
Every time something similar to a spear was launched against the knight doll by the man with slit eyes, it caused an explosion, robbing them of their mobility.
Furthermore, the man, with dreadlocks, had a huge device in his right hand, a machine gauntlet, and the knight doll staggered upon receiving a single blow from that.
In addition, traps seemed to have been set up around them. The moment the knight doll’s movements slowed down by the slightest as its steel wires spun around, the man with slit eyes fired bullets from his blade rifle at the opening, causing the joint of the knight doll to collapse, and the man with dreadlocks ran towards the knight doll.
When he swung his fist, unlike before, something like a stake shot out and hit the knight doll. That must also be the gauntlet’s gimmick.
Since it resembled the blade rifle held by the other member, it might be a weapon made by the same person.
Either way, Rean judged that the battle was over, and it had indeed ended just like that.
“N-no way…… how can a sole human win against the Panzer Soldat!”
“You’re getting too excited just because you ride that stuff.”
“It’s true that it had a combat power comparable to a master, but on the other hand, that was all it had. Not only does a tank have a greater amount of firepower, since it’s just a single unit, it’s difficult to utilize its mobility to maximize its performance in this location.”
“Well, I guess the following lecture will continue once you wake up.”
The man with slit eyes threw something similar to a spear, and the bullet from the blade rifle pierced it.
The knight doll got caught in a series of explosions and fell to its knees before it stopped functioning.
The jaegers gave detailed explanations of the battle, and seemed to be there to teach them rather than to be their enemy.
“Perhaps it’s some sort of jaeger training?”
“So that’s the thing Elliot heard of before…… Wait, does that mean the nobles own this Divine Knight?”
“No, that thing isn’t a Divine Knight. It’s too weak to be considered a ‘Great Knight’.”
“……………I think that’s a machine. I have no idea which workshop made them, but I guess it’s some sort of artificial Divine Knight? Look at the destroyed parts. The machinery is exposed.”
“It really is! Then is that an orbal doll? Rean, we found the jaegers anyway, so let’s hurry to return and report………… Rean?”
Rean didn’t respond to Elliot’s voice.
He didn’t have the leisure to respond.
“Haah, haah, haah…………”
Rean gripped his chest so tightly as if he was trying to tear his heart out, along with his clothes.
An abnormal amount of sweat dripped from his face, causing Emma to widen her eyes and put her hand on his shoulder.
“Rean-san, are you okay?”
“A-aah……”
“……I’m concerned about Rean’s unusual state, but I think it’s better to leave before they notice us.”
“Okay. Rean-san, please hold onto my shoulder.”
“Then let’s quickly——”
“Well, well, there’s no need to be in such a rush, right?”
At the sound of that voice, the members of Group A turned around.
There stood the man with slit eyes who moved there without them noticing.
When they turned to the knight doll, the one riding inside was a Territorial Army’s soldier —— the one that the group was familiar with, the noble that insulted Gaius—— was being pulled down by the man with dreadlocks, who was looking in the direction of Group A.
The nobleman seemed to have fainted, still limp, and was being held by the man.
“I guess you are the students who came to Ordis, huh. It must have taken a lot of effort to come all the way here.”
“But since you have seen what just happened here, we’ll have to take some sort of action.”
The men’s intimidating aura intensified.
Sensing a battle was about to take place, Emma, who was holding Rean, opened her ARCUS with determined eyes.
“Come, Valimar!”
When Emma operated her ARCUS, it activated Schmidt’s-made Master Quartz, “Geass” .
It was a special product that incorporated the teleportation magic that was developed when Emma was controlling the Magic Knight.
With this, Emma was able to summon the Magic Knight, but it seemed Valimar also learned the trick while being remotely controlled, and while it was impossible if she wasn’t next to Rean …… or to be more precisely, next to Valimar, who dwelled in the Power of Ashen, but it was still a trump card to be able to summon the Divine Knight from Thors.
The energy used for teleportation was borne by Valimar, and for some reason, Osbon could replenish that spiritual power, so it could be used without hesitation.
In fact, the two men from Zephyr widened their eyes when they saw the Ashen Knight that suddenly appeared out of no where and immediately widened their distance.
“Heeh, so that’s the rumored Divine Knight.”
“They seem on a completely different level to the Panzer Soldat just by judging from their appearances… but this looks quite different from the one we knew.”
“Panzer soldat… is that the name of that knight doll? Rather, have you seen another Divine Knight before?!”
“Oops, your mouth slipped, Leo.”
“Fufu, I guess I got a little too excited. I’ll try to clear my name then.”
Said the two members from Zephyr as they readied their weapons.
“You are Leo…… Leonidas. I guess that means the one with slit eyes is Zeno.”
“Ohn? Boy, you know about us.”
“I got some circumstances……”
“Rean-san, I’m counting on you to operate Vali——”
“——Sorry, Emma. That’s impossible.”
“Eh?”
Rean turned to the opposite direction away from where the two members from Zephyr were.
At the same time, the silent Panzer Soldat suddenly became engulfed in flames.
The heat spread far around, all the way to Rean and others, and as the hot wind blew, everyone present was covered in cold sweat.
And before they knew it—— the knight doll known as Panzer Soldat had melted and transformed into a pitiful figure.
“No way……! That great mass of metal turned into that, in the blink of an eye?!”
“What, so you came, Almighty Conflagration.”
“I came to see it because I was interested in it as a toy…… but to think that something unexpected would also appear, this makes me feel really happy.”
The man was right in front of Rean’s line of sight.
Before they knew it, a man with pale yellow hair and a red coat was standing there.
In his right hand, flames burnt fiercely, indicating that he was the unscrupulous person who melted the knight doll.
Contrary to the listless eyes behind his glasses, Rean judged that the man in front of him was more dangerous compared to everything around them.
Emma and others also felt something greater than what they felt from Aurelia or Wallace, so they couldn’t speak properly.
“Heeh, to think you managed to sense me. You’re a very promising kid………… heeh, so you’re also mixed with things. But well, what’s with that weird doll stuck on your left arm? I can’t say that it’s very good. Is that kind of thing popular in school nowadays?”
“——————————Eh?”
[“Hou, so you can see me?”]
“Moreover, it even talked. I guess toys these days are advanced in many ways.”
At that moment, all of the anxiety that Rean had felt suddenly disappeared.
What replaced it was something that felt like it was not out of the ordinary but clearly not supposed to be felt in a place like this.
“What’s your name?”
“Ahn?”
“Could you please tell me your name?”
“I don’t particularly mind… I’m McBurn.”
“My name is Rean Schwarzer.”
“Rean-san……?”
Not only Emma, but everyone present, frowned at Rean’s unexpected behavior.
After introducing himself and calming himself down, Rean took a breath.
What came out next was a sentence with impulsive and violent force.
“McBurn-san.”
“Ah~n?”
“Please be my friend!”
“———————————Hah?”
McBurn looked at Rean with a blank, dumbfounded expression.
Not only him, but everyone present was looking at Rean with the same expression.
Upon hearing the words that were unthinkable to be spoken towards the terrifying flame user who had just melted the Panzer Soldat moments ago, everyone was equally at a loss for words.
Rean Schwarzer, was 17 years old and would turn 18 years old this year.
Because the first being he met who could see Osbon was Celine, he developed a tolerance to accept non-humans without any problem.
His brain hole was too wide, even with a pit in it, such that he was in a state of no return.
Author Note:
It’s everyone’s beloved “Zenbu-san” 1
He was my favorite character to begin with, but after seeing him on Cold Steel IV, I can’t help but think about how I would like to have Zenbu-san getting involved with the group more!
I felt like the ending was rushed so the impact was diminished, but this field study chapter was written with this as its main purpose.
On the other hand, it feels like everyone’s focus is drawn to things like Musse’s intention, Ash, or the Zephyr, and sorry for that.
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