episode_0074

I have no intention of going into detail about the past.

Anyway, if I talk about the past, it’ll just end up like, ‘From now on, I’ll tell you a story about how hard I went through,’ and that doesn’t really help the current situation.

I’m only talking about this because there’s something that needs to be pointed out.

“Lavender. Why do you think child soldiers are not allowed in the Universal Century?”

“Uh, that’s right….”

“I’m not giving a lecture or tutoring. You can answer comfortably.”

“…Because you’re too young?”

“Okay. Because he is too young. Sending boys and girls under the age of 20 into battle was something that was treated as a taboo even before humans entered space.”

taboo.

What a disciplined and solid yet fragile word this is at the same time.

“Child soldiers have continued to exist, and they are probably being used as child soldiers by now somewhere in the universe that we are not aware of. There are various reasons. The situation was so desperate that he had to lend the hand of a young boy or girl, or he took the form of a boy or girl to make the other person lose their guard and caused something like a doll terror, or even considering his age, his skills were so outstanding that he could not be left alone.”

“Instructor, what was your situation?”

“Instructor? I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

I lightly shrugged my shoulders.

“I have never been a child soldier.”

“Yes? That’s…”

“Now I am [Trev Cloud], no more, no less.”

Some sharp-witted people would have understood what I meant right away.

“But if I were a child soldier, I would probably have been a case of a combination of various factors, right?”

“Complex…?”

“A 13-year-old boy was caught up in a colony terror attack, and the place he hid in to escape was AS. And the boy used the mock simulator his parents bought him to do AS for fun from a young age, and even made quite a name for himself in mock battles.”

“…Wait a minute.”

Hanae reached for her terminal.

“The instructor said he was 27 years old this year, so if it was a terrorist attack that occurred 14 years ago, it could not have been Greenpeace Colony’s-”

“If I had meant to go into detail, I wouldn’t have said ‘boy’.”

“Ah.”

“I’m just telling the story of a boy who doesn’t officially exist in history. Why are you talking so uncomfortable? Of course, it’s something that shouldn’t be said officially.”

“It’s also a violation of the Galaxy Unit’s oath of secrecy.”

Captain Edmund helped me.

“Basically, members of the Galaxy Unit hide their whereabouts after retirement. However, there are some parts that are particularly confidential and must be kept confidential even within the Galactic Forces.”

“A story that should not even exist as a rumor. If it spreads as a rumor, inspectors from the Galaxy Unit will appear and leave behind evidence saying, ‘Nothing like that happened.’ ”

A story that should not be told anywhere.

“Paladin was a child soldier.”

“…….”

“Okay. There was an ace pilot who had been active since the Greenpeace Colony terrorist suppression incident and was given the call sign ‘Paladin 00’. A boy whose identity everyone was curious about, but who never came forward publicly.”

“I didn’t know either. The Galaxy Unit responded so thoroughly that they had an adult using an android doll act as a substitute.”

“Isn’t it rare that you performed the same mission as the captain in the first place?”

” That’s right. When I tried to sneakily try to make a fool of myself by working together, I saw you immediately pointing it out.”

As Captain Edmund smiled and joked, the atmosphere inside the briefing room softened slightly.

“Still, it is true that if the story you hear here gets out, you could be assassinated.”

Wow, it soon became tense again.

“What the cloud instructor said is simple. Who is the owner of the red moon? Will Lavender Whitely and Fenrir move to the colony? Where is the main body of the world tree Yggdrasil that resides in this colony? Rather than that, the person who will be our enemy reacts more sensitively to the Paladin’s past and secrets.”

“Paladin was a child soldier. Because of a rumor that may not be true…?”

“That’s right.”

He was a child soldier.

This is a serious problem.

“They simply used someone with ace-level talent as a child soldier. This alone is a problem, but they even used an adult as a stand-in for that boy as a weapon.”

“Was the total period of activity 8 years? Considering that I was active as a Genesis Beast rider for almost 3 years during those 8 years, the period when Paladins were actually the main activity was… hehe. If you do the inverse, it comes out simple, right?”

“When I was a middle and high school student… directly in the war…?”

“The situation was too bad not to do that.”

Even if the situation is bad, no one knows anything.

We don’t know, because it was officially recorded that none of that happened.

Even if you tried to hide the parts, such as the Greenpeace Colony terrorist suppression incident that was recorded as a live broadcast, or the Red Moon attack that attracted the attention of the entire universe, you could not hide it.

The only problem is that it is only the tip of the iceberg of Paladin’s combat records.

“I can’t really say anything from here, so I’ll keep it quiet, but Paladin went through more incredible battles than you might think. What you think…yeah. Although the Battle of the Red Moon was one of the ten most difficult battles in the history of Paladin battles, it is said that battles of similar scale were fought almost once a week.”

Since the age of 13, Paladin has been waging a great war once a week with the fate of the colony at stake.

The Great Kaizoku Air Raid, the Devil Harkon attack due to DC cell division, the runaway space monsters that emerged from the underworld of Mars, the Zycrion colony’s Exisease drop attempted incident, and the three runaway Creation Beasts. A subjugation war or something.

what.

If there was even one defeat or misstep, it would have been a series of major events that would have led to the collapse of the entire universe or the extinction of humanity itself, but since it has all passed, there is no particular problem.

“But let’s put that aside for now and discuss the current problem.”

I again pointed to the briefing materials shining on the backboard.

“Why should the power we currently have be deployed in this way, and why should we operate stronger pilots and AS in the future? It is.”

The reason why I gathered everyone in front of these people and even leaked the Paladin’s top secrets, including the Galaxy Unit’s Paladin.

“Unless we leave Starlight Colony, we have become public enemies of the universe.”

Because if we unite we live, if we disperse we die.

“Assuming there is only Emerald Yggdrasil, the Zodiac 12 Alliance will fight for sovereignty over the Starlight Colony. If the Red Moon was guarding this place, they would have tried to secure the Red Moon itself by subduing the Red Moon.”

It actually did.

“I’m sure you all haven’t forgotten that as soon as we realized Fenrir had appeared, we sent battleships here from all over the universe. Even though a red moon appears and everyone moves so urgently that they lose their minds, you may not remember that time.”

A colony’s fortunes come and go with just one creation tree, but there are as many as three?

“When the three creation trees come together, the entire universe will aim for it. Although there is a red moon, that is not very important considering the fact that it is a colony of three ether buses.”

I will definitely try to have it.

“You will probably be contacted soon. From none other than the Zodiac United Council, via the Universal Public Line. In the name of the Chairman.”

“Chairman….”

“We will take advantage of Starlight Colony’s biggest weakness and pressure it to release the Genesis Beast.”

“…….”

While everyone is puzzled, only Yggdrasil bows his head with a wry smile.

“Weaknesses of the colony. It is….”

[iced coffee.]

As soon as I say it, a woman’s figure appears on the backboard.

[Notify Starlight Colony.]

A white-haired woman.

Blue eyes.

A black suit like mourning clothes.

“The window is…!”

“That’s a sapphire unicorn…!”

It looks no different from a human, and actually has the same cellular structure and genetic code as a human, but its appearance is entirely created through ether.

[As Chairman of the Council of the Twelve Constellations.]

A partner who once walked the battlefield with me.

[To Starlight Colony.]

Although she is the Creation Tree, she is the one with the deepest understanding of humanity among the Creation Trees.

[We are requesting recovery of the debts and bonds accumulated so far by Starlight Colony.]

“…Huh?”

One by one, mouths began to open.

“Wait a minute. What did you just say…?”

[Let’s expect rational and gentlemanly judgment. Colony leader, listen. As long as Starlight Colony has not repaid the debt it has owed to the Federation since its establishment, there will be no bloodshed.]

“Hey, this is it.”

The principal stands up and scratches his head.

“It looks like they are not going to extend the bond maturity. Hahaha.”

Although I laugh jokingly.

“Principal. How much debt do you have?”

“Ah, well. There aren’t many. Han….”

The principal smiled, spreading out five fingers.

“Five thousand trillion?”

“…….”

“Well, it’s not that much, starting from colony construction until now…”

[If you have been using other people’s items on credit, you have to pay them back. is not it?]

As if participating in a conversation, the Chairman of the Zodiac Union unilaterally made a notification.

[Starlight Colony. Let’s see how the debt accumulated over 100 years will be repaid.]

“…….”

[Is this far-fetched? No way. From the beginning of the colony, the money borrowed from the Alliance has not been repaid, but this is actually a gentleman.]

“Ahaha.”

[I borrowed money interest-free for 100 years, even last year.]

“Hahaha.”

Yggdrasil smiled and spread his arms.

“Let’s go together, everyone.”

“…….”

“Why are you doing that? You all eat, sleep, and breathe with the money I borrowed. Hahaha.”

suddenly.

Is it just my mood that makes me want to leave the colony?