Mob No.121: [“Hey, you! The exercise is over! What the hell are you doing on your own!?”]
[“With that, this exercise is now concluded. All personnel are to return to their respective units. Mercenaries, please return to the aircraft carrier.”]
With Lieutenant Colonel Floss’s announcement, the troublesome exercise was finally over—though I doubted we’d be dismissed just like that.
Officially, it’d be either a “celebration” or a “debriefing.” At the very least, there’d be drinks, and we’d be stuck here until morning. No question about it.
If that’s how it was gonna be, I’d just show my face briefly, then slip back to my ship and sleep.
I didn’t want to get hassled by the people I shot down, and dealing with Dashed Denogar would be a pain, too.
Just as I was thinking that and about to head back to the mercenary carrier, a warning alarm blared.
I instinctively jerked the controls, and a beam shot through the space I’d been in just moments ago.
And it wasn’t a training beam—no fake Zapper—this was a real-deal Blaster Cannon shot.
The attack came from a military combat craft, which immediately fired another shot.
They were clearly aiming for me.
A training barrier wouldn’t stop a real beam, and even if I hit them with a training weapon, it wouldn’t do any damage.
On top of that, I’d burned through most of my fuel in the exercise, so I couldn’t keep dodging forever. But retreating to the carrier would be a bad move, too.
[“Hey, you! The exercise is over! What the hell are you doing on your own!?”]
While I was busy evading, the General roared over an open channel at whoever was attacking me.
But my assailant just shouted back:
[“If I—an elite—accept defeat as is, it will stain the honor of the 1st Fleet! Let me cleanse this disgrace myself!”]
Ignoring the General’s words, they kept chasing me, spouting their own twisted reasoning.
[“Corporal Eduardo Nadirs! Cease combat immediately!”]
Someone who seemed to be their direct superior also tried to stop them—but if they wouldn’t listen to the General, why would they listen to their CO?
And unlike me, they probably had a full fuel tank, meaning they could keep this up for a while.
The 1st Fleet had sortied combat crafts, but they were still some distance away.
Luckily, I still had a few Proton Torpedo-style contact flash missiles left. Maybe I could buy some time with those.
Corporal Eduardo Nadirs was dead set on shooting me down right now.
But since he’d probably seen my “Fake-Out Maneuver”, he wouldn’t fall for it easily.
Then again, that might be exactly why he’d take the bait. Worth a shot.
As usual, I went full throttle, luring him directly behind me.
This much was the standard Fake-Out procedure.
But from here, I tweaked it slightly.
Before pulling up, I rotated my ship 180 degrees—
making it look like I was upside-down from his perspective.
Then, the instant the rotation finished, I triggered the usual Fake-Out: firing my attitude-control thrusters at full blast for a split second while cutting the main engines—perfectly timed.
This made my ship flip beneath his, and at that moment, I fired the Proton Torpedo-style missile at his underbelly at normal speed.
Even if it didn’t explode, the impact alone should’ve done some damage.
But Corporal Nadirs had, in fact, seen my Fake-Out before. To dodge, he copied the move instantly.
Impressive—pulling it off after just one glance.
But the direction of his Fake-Out was the standard version, not the modified one I’d just used.
Meaning? The missile I’d fired got sucked straight into his main engine nozzle mid-rotation.
Even if it didn’t explode, it still had propellant and flash charges inside.
More importantly, a dense object hitting at high speed had to cause damage—especially since the main nozzle was directly connected to the engine.
His ship shuddered violently, the missile’s momentum sending it spinning before—after a brief delay—something inside ignited the fuel, causing an explosion.
I’d seen the pilot eject right after impact, and the 1st Fleet’s crafts had already scooped him up. He’d be fine.
After somehow fending off the berserk Corporal Nadirs, I made it back to the mercenary carrier—where everyone (except Dashed Denogar’s crew) cheered my return.
I planned to rest in my ship until morning, but apparently, there was a post-exercise party at a nearby military colony in the Haluitok Sector, and we were heading there directly.
I tried telling Lieutenant Eilred, the handler, that I felt too sick to attend—but he insisted I disembark, citing the colony’s top-notch medical facilities.
Incidentally, both Lieutenant Eilred and Lieutenant Tordel apologized profusely for their subordinate’s outrageous behavior—
and politely requested my attendance as part of their apology.
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And so, I found myself dragged to what would be pure agony for someone like me: a celebration/debriefing combo.
The party was held in a grand hall inside a hotel-like structure within the military colony.
Apparently, this place was meant for royalty, high-ranking nobles, and top brass.
“Now then! Despite some minor incidents, this exercise has concluded successfully. To our mercenary allies—cheers!”
The General, standing on the podium, downed his beer in one go after the toast.
The food was buffet-style, so I grabbed a plate with a bit of roast beef, crackers, and sparkling wine, then hid at the edge of the hall.
My plan? Finish eating, excuse myself to the bathroom, and slip back to my ship.
Luckily, Dashed Denogar was busy bragging about his nonexistent leadership, Rosweise, Seira, and Shiora were swarmed by men, Arthur, Lambert, Levin, and Yurii were surrounded by women, and the soldiers were busy making their own noise. With all that chaos, one guy disappearing wouldn’t even be noticed.
Just as I was about to make my escape—
“Hey. Enjoying yourself?”
—the General caught me.
“Yes. Very much. I was just about to leave.”
“I see, I see. You can go—but first, we need to talk.”
Seems he saw right through my escape attempt.
Then, he spoke:
“About earlier—my apologies for my subordinate’s rampage. That was my failure in oversight. The exercise was already over—hell, even if it weren’t, unauthorized participation is unacceptable. Attacking training gear with live weapons? A court-martial is guaranteed. I’ll face punishment, too. He’s detained in the flagship’s brig now. I truly am sorry.”
He bowed deeply.
This whole exercise was probably meant to weed out guys like that—but I doubt they expected it to go this far.
“In that case, promise you won’t try recruiting me or forcing jobs on me in the future.”
A reasonable demand, right?
Pushing any further might piss him off, so this was enough.
“Understood. I’ll order my men not to recruit you.”
That “my men” bit felt like a loophole, but if it reduced the hassle, I’d take it.
“Oh, right. About your father’s rear-end collision—it might be resolved by the time you get back.”
The General’s next words made my eyes widen.
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