Глава 10

Don't rush me, okay? You standing here with your stern look makes our Medic Operators have to keep peeking at you.

This is an emergency.

Fine, I get it, I'll quit joking.

Every day's been like a battle ever since we entered Victoria. If you hadn't transferred so many operators away beforehand...

Rhodes Island must operate as usual.

We reached this consensus at the first resolutive meeting, Warfarin.

No complaints from me. You made Mon3tr lash me to the side of the ship four years ago...

Hm?

I mean, when you invited me to join Rhodes Island. We agreed I would research Oripathy alongside you, as a doctor.

There wasn't any 'follow the new King of Sarkaz in a fight to win back Kazdel'-type clause in my contract, and switching Kazdel out for Londinium changes nothing.

This goes for a great deal of our operators. I have no intent of forcing any one operator to participate in a mission irrelevant to their long-term goals.

Moreover, no matter the other operations we are forced to take on, we cannot turn a blind eye to the Infected throughout every region.

*Sigh* If it wasn't for our work there, we'd have a few more elite operators to spare for this Londinium trip.

I wonder how Amiya's crew are doing.

Once we reach the vicinity of Londinium, we'll receive word.

Recon group, report situation on both sides!

Received. No threat, copy.

Closure, we can pass through ahead! Keep the engineering team with us!

On it!

Dr.{@nickname}, still got it in you to move? Want my drones to give you a lift?

I'm fine, let's keep going.;......;When were drones capable of that?

Lemme think... huh, I can't actually think of anything wrong with the idea.

Doctor, we just need to walk a little longer. When we're out of this danger zone, then we can ride on our crafts and recuperate a little.

We'll need to send Dr. Kal'tsit a message at some point, too... She must be extremely worried about us.

Wonder if it's going smoothly on the landship's side.;She should be sending us a message too.

That's exactly why she had to stay behind... she can only rendezvous with us once Rhodes Island is safely situated. That's our joint responsibility.

For safety, we can't use any messaging devices on our approach to Londinium.

Any signal might be intercepted by the Duke's force.

No, it might get even worse... Doctor, we can't afford to have Theresis spot us so quickly.

Doctor, just leave this to me.

Ever since we planned to drive into Victoria, Doctor Kal'tsit and you have been busy securing the safety of our route.

I will take charge for the rest of it, just like we've agreed on.

I want a chance for you to catch your breath too... even if it's just mentally.

Doctor, we have to keep going.

Ugh, there are times I think about how we got in over the past months, and it seems too smooth to even believe.

That ragtag bunch of windbags are all together in Londinium right now, and they haven't even noticed us... Kal'tsit, did you use some kind of ancient technique I'm not aware of?

If any Arts truly could render Rhodes Island invisible, believe me, I would've used them over a decade ago.

Haha, I almost forgot. 'Disused industrial mining equipment recovery organization'... is that right?

We've been using that title for passage and permission to park the whole way. Trust Dr.{@nickname} to come up with that.

Dr.{@nickname} tends to have a... unique angle of thought on certain aspects.

And luckily, Closure's personal interests has had her lead the Engineering Department over the past years to develop technologies for using scrap.

Which, in short, renders the title a fine one. With the addition of a few friends' aid, this plan has been successful in execution thus far.

As for what comes next... that lies with Amiya and Vina.

Two left, four right. Indra?

Check.

How's the right side?

Tsk. Someone who thought he was funny had me caught up for a second, but he's over with now.

And Dagda?

I heard steel claws and crossbow bolts mashing into each other.

Enemies left to the rear?

Leave 'em to her.

Hey, there's one hiding right here—!

Now there isn't.

Just missing Dagda...

Vina, listen, it's dead silence behind. I said she could sort it out.

Good. Vanguard group, mission complete.

Notify Amiya immediately: there's no more noble's patrols in the vicinity. They can pass through.

The road ahead is clear. No casualties.

Messaging devices back in operation.

Doctor... we're just about to catch sight of Londinium.

We finally made it here.;......;Now can I catch my breath too?

Hold on, Doctor... Jessica sent a message.

Ah... before we carry out the next step of the plan, we need to send a few operators to run a different mission.

We have two targets to rescue. One's a friend at Blacksteel, and the other is an informant who can help us enter Londinium.