----Hiroki Arakawa Viewpoint

Hey, Arakawa.

　After leaving Shingo, who had gone to see Aikawa-san's place, I was walking aimlessly through the base when I was suddenly approached by a voice. When I turned towards the direction of the voice, a woman with a strangely unhappy face was looking at me. I'm sure the woman is a PX clerk selling flowers to Noah's staff, judging by the large cases of flowers lined up around her. But I don't have any idea who calls me by my surname, 'Arakawa'....

''Um, who are you?''

Humph, it's me. It's Yuliya.

　Yuliya?　Don't tell me it's not the Captain, no matter how you look at it, even his body frame is different....... By and large, more than half of that man's face was mechanized, and even his body made a faint mechanical drive sound every time he moved. But the way he folded his arms in a grumpy manner, he didn't even resemble the Captain.

''Is that you, Captain?''

I'm telling you it is. Well, okay, I'm going to close up shop for the day, so come along for a bit. We need to talk about our plans.

　As soon as he said that, the Captain began to clean up the store. As it is not such a large store to begin with, the Captain finished cleaning up in no time at all, and after closing the shutters, he put a Russian scarf called a platoon on his head and looked back at me.

'What are you dumbfounded about?'

'Oh, no.... Why do you run a flower shop?

Because you told me to let you live free.

　Come to think of it, I remember saying something like that. As I recall, when we temporarily handed over Captain and the rest of the Chernobog to the Maritime Self-Defense Force, I said, 'From now on, you're free to live!' I said. But I didn't mean for them to defect to Noah, I just meant for them to go wherever they wanted. These people could have disappeared for the rest of their lives in the chaos.

'So I'm free to live my life. No, I should say 'we'. By the way, being a florist is a profession I admired as a child.

'Okay. So what did you think of trying it?

'It's pretty good stuff. At least it's a lot better than getting a shitty job from a bunch of pigs. Now, we can't stand here and talk for too long, so let's move on.

　I hurriedly chase after the captain as he began to walk without waiting for my reply. I followed the Captain, who was walking at a fairly fast pace, at a short run behind him, and we arrived at the newly added living quarters that had recently been added. When we entered, we found the man who had been with us when we escaped from Russia servicing weapons and playing with an apple he had placed on top of his head, throwing a knife.

'This is our own private living quarters. We have our own anti-intelligence equipment, so we can talk freely.

Thank you for that. But what's more secretive than that?

Really?　I'm sure if you hit it, you'll find a lot of them.

　The place where the Captain had stopped was apparently a private room. When I entered the room as prompted, I was surprised to notice that there were surprisingly many small items on the floor. The room was like a prison cell in the image I had in my mind, but....

Most of my men were surprised when they entered my room. But even I have general sensibilities. I don't like to live in a room like a prison. You just sit here and wait, and I'll make you some tea.

　Could it be that the Captain is surprisingly homely?　I don't think the sofa I'm sitting on now is a cheap one either. It's more like a nice hotel room. As I waited, thinking about such a rude thing, a nice smelling tea was placed in front of me.

Drink. Okay, I'll start by telling you what's been bothering you. You want to know about my new body, don't you?

Yes, sir.

'This body is a complete machine, not the half-baked biological machine we've been used to. They say it was originally intended as a test model for robotics, but I've implanted a brain in it.

　Brain implants, are you kidding me?　Because such technology was still in the theoretical stage.

'Captain, isn't that technology not even Noah's idea of practical use?

Yeah, that's why I took the test. We have a .006% chance of success. It's a success. The medical department was happy to see that I was able to advance the study by 30 years.

'What are you thinking......... That's almost a probability of success, isn't it?

'Humph, I'll tell you why in due time. Here's the thing, Miki invited me to join Noah's PMC division [TMN].

'That's good to hear!　It's an elite unit, for one thing. Probably unlike the army we've been in, we'll be treated accordingly.

　If it's Macho's direct unit, they won't give you stupid orders to die in vain. And since TMN's unit is also a UN special forces unit, I think the captains will find it easy to get to know each other. The most important thing you want to talk to me about is probably to introduce me to Claire and the others. Of course, I'd be happy to help you with that, but the only thing I can think of is to have a meal with you and get you to open up.

What are you talking about?　Of course I said no. We, Chernobog, are now under your command.

..............yes?

We have recovered all the remaining troops left behind in various parts of the country in negotiations with the Russians. The Chernobog, formally known as the 'Prototype Artificial Reinforcement Force Sierpc,' 213 men, will now be yours.

I don't mean...

"Tomorrow, Earth-side time, Miki will officially notify the United Nations. Rejoice, even Miki can't make Noah's soldiers free due to the council system with the military, but you can do as you please with us, the strongest private army in the world. You're the strongest private army group, so to speak.

..........

Of course, we will be participating in the Antarctic invasion under your command. And now, Herr Commander, I know that we have a treaty with nations and corporations that prohibit them from possessing nuclear weapons. Therefore, we are not part of either, and our possession of tactical nuclear weapons is a violation of the treaty.

　The Captain says something boisterous, but I pretend not to hear it. I don't even hear that he wants chemical weapons, which are banned by the treaty, in addition to nuclear weapons. In fact, I don't even want chernobog. Is it just my imagination that I have a feeling that something is definitely going to go wrong?　Or rather, this was the important thing to talk about - or....