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Oh.... I don't connect well with his personality, but it's nice to have a fresh face as skilled as him.

Leave it to Dr. Ansel to have nice things to say about Aak....

All right, even if we didn't have work to do, you can't be chatting it up during work hours. Back to your stations.

Right——

You have something, Ansel?

Well, I have the report. The results aren't exactly stellar.

That's more or less what we expected, though. Let's start preparing the next experiment right away.

Ptilopsis, you go too.

Zzzzzzz.... Oh? Yes, understood.

Aak joining the medical section was a major upset to the order of things. And while there was some unpleasantness, I somehow did not dislike it...

Oh, I wrote, 'I did not dislike it' in this one.

If I recall correctly, there should be more....

Right, here it is.

June 10 \ Light rain

The reconnaissance operators appear to have discovered a vein of Originium ore in a nearby mountain range, and Dr. Kal'tsit has sent a team to investigate.

To be safe, Silence and a few medic operators went along.

Nothing else to do today but wait for test results.

May 15 \ Sunny

Gavial came back from an operation and told us at dinner that she grew so annoyed with the enemy scurrying around that she personally waded into battle and cut them all down.

She seems to have forgotten that she is a medic operator. But she did make it sound appealing.

May 1 \ Cloudy

Today, after interviewing a new medic operator, I talked with Ansel about what we were doing before coming to Rhodes Island.

I couldn't reveal much of the inner workings of Rhine Lab to him due to confidentiality agreements, but it was a meaningful conversation.

Yes, this is it.

In other words, you were also half patient and half researcher at Rhine Lab?

Yes, Silence has had me on a customized course of treatment from then until now.

And Silence herself is Infected, and she has her own course.

Such things are not uncommon at Rhine Lab.

So Rhine Lab does a few things just like Rhodes Island. I always thought of Rhine Lab as a technology company.

Well, it's not a proactive approach to outreach like Rhodes Island's. I can't say more.

But it is safe to assume that Rhine Lab cooperates with Rhodes Island in this area due to a shared outlook.

Indeed.

Then I guess it's my turn.

Hmmm.... There's not much to say. My hometown is in Rim Billiton, and since my family was poor, I never had much access to technology, or really anything new.

After bouncing around a bit, I stumbled on a job listing for Rhodes Island. I put in a resume just to see what would happen, and here I am.

It blew me away when I first got here. I never thought I'd ever get to work in a place like this.

Indeed. I did not think of Rhodes Island as a small land cruiser when Silence first discussed the cooperation agreement.

But I've certainly learned a lot since coming here, and the remuneration is pretty good.

It's a bit of a shame I can't get home to see my family more often though.

Family....

Um, did I say something I shouldn't have?

No. I'm just recalling my family from the database.

Load successful. So that's them. I had forgotten.

...It's hard, not seeing your family.

It isn't.

Huh? It's not?

It's not.

Never mind. Please, continue with your story, Ansel.

Oh, um, okay, I guess I can tell you about Rim Billiton.

Okay.

Ansel spoke a lot about his homeland: the look of the mining town, his family, his sister, why he chose to become a doctor, and other such things.

I don't know why, but it felt a bit distant to me, like a memory of what my parents looked like...

Yes, everyone in the medical section talks about themselves on a regular basis. I am familiar with everyone's past. But for me, it is always a very distant thing.

Until then, I had thought it a very normal feeling.

However, this is a problem that does exist.

Now then, it's time to write today's entry. It may be longer than usual this time.

MM DD \ Overcast

I finally returned to Rhodes Island after a rather long trip.

Although I occasionally travel with small teams, this time there were some additional circumstances that caused some difficulties.

Yes. Difficulties.

Zzzzz....

........Excuse me, Ptilopsis?

.......! Was I sleeping?

Yes, I just need to tell you that we ran into a bit of a situation with the extraction and we need to recalibrate our tools.

Do you need my help?

No, thanks. You've been a great help so far, Ptilopsis. It's a purely manual recalibration. No need to bother you.

The captain just wanted you to know that the calibration may not be done today. If you're bored, there's a Kazimierz village not far from here, you could go for a stroll.

It's the only mobile village in the area. It's not that small, and the scouts say there's a fair on today that might have some fun things.

Of course, if you want to keep resting here, that's fine too.

...Yes. I want to see it.

Sure. Here's a map, and some petty cash for you.

Sorry, we didn't really plan for this situation, so that's all the Kazimierz coinage we have.

Kazimierz... coinage?

Ah, well, while most places accept Lungmen dollars, they're not universal. Especially these villages outside of nomadic cities. They usually only take local currency.

...Yes, that sounds correct. There is some corroborating information in the database.

All right, let's get going.

Oh. Are you going too?

Well, yes. This is a small operation, so we didn't establish a base camp, the main point being we can't use our communications equipment.

That means, when somebody without combat capability wants to head out, she'll need an escort.

Not to mention, we all know your physical condition. You definitely can't be allowed out alone, for your own safety.

This is the first time I have encountered this base camp information. Database update required.

Oh, you didn't know that?

No, I rarely go out.

Oh, err, right. I shouldn't have brought it up, sorry...

Why are you apologizing?

Nothing. Never mind. Let's move out.

In retrospect, he apologized to me because he felt he hadn't properly considered my health and had said something that could have hurt me.

In fact, I didn't think of that at all at the time.

And....

Here, I encountered my first problem——It seems I do not know many things that others take for granted.

No, it's not that I don't know, exactly. These things are in my database, but I have forgotten them because I haven't used them for so long.

Yes. I should adjust the wording.

Then, my second problem.

Kazimierz's scenery is quite different from Columbia's, or the view from the bridge of Rhodes Island. The air is clean, and vegetation plentiful.

Most of the villagers were Kuranta, but there were some of other races as well.

The village fair was much busier than I expected.

After a meeting with a logistics operator in charge of procurement, he showed me around and asked if I would like to buy anything.

I thought perhaps I could bring gifts for everyone in the medical section.

What can I get you, Miss?

Hello, Miss?