Magia Ritter
10 a.m. A large number of military personnel had gathered at Andersen Air Force Base, eagerly awaiting the moment. The rumors that Lieutenant General Mikhail Twining would be the first US military personnel to ride Magia Ritter had already spread throughout the base. The PR staffs had also gathered, readying their cameras, holding their breath as they watched for the moment to arrive. Then, a few minutes later, five Magia Ritters slowly walked out of the hangar.
"""Oooohhhhh!!"""
Thunderous applause and cheers echoed across the runway. Four of the Magia Ritters then lined up side by side on the runway, spreading their rear magical thrusters like wings and beginning to emit magical energy from eight multidimensional nozzles.
“Lieutenant General Twining, let’s get started right away. My Magia Ritter will fly ahead, and yours will follow behind. Lu Bu, I’m counting on you.”
"Yes, Master. I, Lu Bu, will fulfill my duty perfectly. My beloved Magia Ritter --- Red Hare, will be pleased as well!"
"Thank you, Lady Tendo.... and I will be in your care, Mr. Lu Bu."
Receiving Misaki’s communication, the Combat Servant Lu Bu laughed heartily, while Twining clung tightly to the auxiliary seat positioned diagonally behind him. Many had entered Magia Ritter cockpit as observers, but aside from Misaki, no other human had ever boarded an operational Magia Ritter.
With the announcement of the first earthling to pilot the Magia Ritter, the military broadcast began its live coverage. The images from a camera connected inside the cockpit were edited in real-time by Combat Servant Hua Tuo, and then sent via wired connection to the military’s relay vehicles. Hua Tuo’s Magia Ritter was equipped with an information gathering and large-scale parallel processing system, so performing such tasks was a piece of cake.
The video was broadcast live across Guam as a special program. To demonstrate the maneuverability of Margia Ritter, Misaki started doing a stunt like Blue Impulse she watched a long time ago. The Magia Ritters flew in beautiful formation, sometimes diving sharply in a corkscrew motion, other times forming a massive loop flying side by side, moving rapidly and impressively.
“....is this even possible? What happened to the G-forces? How could an an airborne object perform infinite maneuvers ignoring inertia?”
Lieutenant General Twining could only be astonished. The Magia Ritter he was riding far exceeded human wisdom. He wondered if such things should even exist in this world.
“If I explain it as an inertia control system, would you understand? Well, Magia Ritter is equipped with such a system, controlled through magic.”
"Can I even pilot this?"
"From Lu Bu to Master Misaki: Lieutenant General Twining says he wants to try piloting Magia Ritter himself.”
Misaki had expected such a request from Lieutenant General Twining. Therefore, she had prepared a plan in advance.
“Roger that. Control the unit on Channel 7. Lu Bu, please give Lieutenant General Twining a brief explanation on how to pilot Magia Ritter.”
“As you command. Then, Lieutenant General Twining, please take the pilot seat.”
“Eh? Y-Yes, I understand....”
Lieutenant General Twining’s heart pounded. Earlier this morning, even though he already knew the answer, he still asked about the possibility of purchasing Magia Ritter for himself. The result was just as he expected, but he was offered a test drive with the condition that he would only be sitting on the auxiliary seat. Then, during the test drive, when he was muttering to himself about piloting Magia Ritter, even that was approved by Misaki Tendou surprisingly.
"Please put your hands on the levers and imagine yourself becoming one with Magia Ritter. The control system will read your 'intentions' and move accordingly. However, since you are not its original pilot, there might be a slight lag in its reaction time."
"L-Like this?"
Following Lu Bu's instructions, Lieutenant General Twining gripped the levers tightly while imagining the Magia Ritter accelerating. Then, after a few seconds delay, the Magia Ritter started accelerating. Just to test it out, he then imagined the Magia Ritter flying in zig-zag and it really did.
"Amazing!! This is really amazing!!"
"To be able to pilot it this smoothly on your first attempt, it's quite impressive."
Lu Bu lightly clapped his hands, praising Twining, but naturally, there was more behind it. The 'Channel 7' that Misaki mentioned before was a code for remote control mode. Twining's brainwaves were read by the control system via the levers, translated them into 'intentions', and then relayed to Pang Tong's Magia Ritter who was on standby on land.
Pang Tong's Magia Ritter was equipped with the same system as Hua Tuo's. Using a part of that system, Pang Tong remotely controled Red Hare according to Twining's intentions. Meanwhile, Lu Bu was closely monitoring Twining's movements, so that in case of emergency, he can 'eliminate' him immediately. Of course, Twining and the people watching the live broadcast were unaware of what was actually happening behind the scene. They thought he was really piloting Magia Ritter and were left speechless with emotion.
The sudden Magia Ritter aerial show hosted by Ama no Murakumo was effectively concluded after an hour. Admiral Osman Hayward, commander of the 7th Fleet, who rushed to the air base after receiving the report, could only clench his fists in frustration watching the show ended.
"Damn it! I wanted to ride that, too!"
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The arrival of Magia Ritters was causing quite an uproar in Guam. The mobile weapon that had been causing a stir online and on television news, finally set foot on their small island. Moreover, one of the pilots was Tendo Misaki herself. The islanders were understandably anxious, but thanks to military police public relations vehicles driving around the island reassuring that there was no danger, the initial commotion slowly calmed down. However, there were still people here and there who remained unsettled.
"Damn, the US beat us again!"
"I have already contacted our home country. Even so, why is everything always working out in their favor?"
A British intelligence agent staying on Guam Island as a tourist glared resentfully at the PR vehicles running through the streets. He and his team moved to Guam Island to gather information after Ama no Murakumo declared itself as a country. However, they were not there to gather information about them. That was the mission of the British fleet waiting near Ama no Murakumo's territorial waters, after all. Their mission was to gather information about the US movements regarding Ama no Murakumo. They had predicted that nothing major would happen anytime soon and they could take it easy, but that prediction was completely off the mark.
"We have to investigate the purpose of Misaki Tendo's visit to Guam.... to the US."
"I will gather information at the establishments frequented by the US Marines. I will also contact our local collaborators."
"Hurry up. Prioritize finding out how long Misaki Tendo will stay in Guam. Depending on that, we may need additional personnel to be dispatched here."
The leisurely time was over. No more delicious breakfast and the crystal-clear ocean vacation.
"I will be going now. Other countries' agents in Guam will definitely make their move too, so proceed with caution. Contact me with the emergency code if anything happens."
"Yes, sir."
Just like the British intelligence agents, other countries' agents who were also disguising themselves as tourists in Guam started making their move.
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In a certain hotel room closest to Andersen Air Force Base, two South Korean intelligence agents were filming Magia Ritters slowly approaching from the sky.
"We were the first to arrive, after all."
"Yeah. By now, agents from other countries must be desperately trying to grasp information about Misaki Tendo’s visit. But this time, our country was able to take the initiative in this information war."
"We have received three orders from our home country. What should we do?"
"Three?"
Kim, one of the South Korean intelligence agent, asked his colleague Hwang, who was filming with the camera beside him.
"There are orders from the Blue House, the Ministry of Defense, and also... from the leader of the Future Sovereignty Party."
"Ignore the order from the Future Sovereignty Party. They only think about tripping up their comrades, after all. It's as if they’re the true representatives of South Korea."
"They seem to be fully determined on overthrowing President Choi and take control of the government."
The political core of South Korea was in a turmoil at the moment. But as if not wanting the public to realize it, the current administration came up with various foreign policies to divert attention outward and to gain some popularity. They crushed political parties that were inconvenient for them and effectively control the public.
He did gain some popularity through his foreign policies, but it also increased the tensions with several countries. When that happened, he would ask a third country to be a mediator, or even just shifted the blame to other side. His administration's approval rating had already exceeded the limit for its sustainability, and it wouldn't be surprising if the public exploded at any moment. That was when Ama no Murakumo suddenly appeared. He saw this as a lifeline and immediately began to devise policies towards building a good relationship with them. For the opposition party, and the Ministry of Defense that wanted to obtain the mobile battleship, it was nothing but a hindrance. However, the public he wanted to impress seemed to have different ideas.
“That flying object originates from our country, and belongs to our country, right?"
"There are rumors on the internet, that it's our country's super weapon that Japan stole."
"Seriously? Japan is the worst. I wish they'd quickly become a vassal state of South Korea, the elite country. What's the current government doing?"
The posts written on the internet were gradually becoming the voice of the majority. To make it worse, the Chinese government suddenly declared that Ama no Murakumo belonged to their country. The Choi administration was left helpless. The inspection team sent by the UN Security Council included a South Korean representative, but the escort assigned to him was a member of Chinese special forces, Jiaolong. At this point, it was a bed of needles, and it was too late to do anything.
"Well, we just have to do our best. So, what is the Ministry of Defense's order?"
"To capture Magia Ritter and secretly transport it to our home country.... Are they out of their minds!? The Blue House's order is to secretly contact Misaki Tendo and invite her to come to South Korea as a state guest."
"I don't even want to hear what the Future Sovereignty Party said. It's most likely something worthless, after all."
"Alright, now what?"
Their direct superior was the Ministry of National Defense, but above them was President Choi. Not only going against his order, the Ministry of National Defense was disregarding his authority. In that case, there was only one action they could take.
"Unfortunately, the orders didn't reach us due to a technical issue. Therefore, we will continue to monitor the Magia Ritters and observe Misaki Tendo's movements.... I have no intention of continuing to ride the current administration's sinking ship, but I'm not foolish enough to risk my life for my superior's ambition."
"I agree. I'll order room service."
"I'll pass on the meat dishes. I'm tired of eating them."
After that, the South Korean intelligence agents, Kim and Hwang, continued to record Magia Ritters with their camera.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
West coast of Guam, Tumon. I came here to do some shopping at the Micronesia Mall.
Why here? Because the Micronesia Mall has over 120 shops, boutiques, restaurants, and an indoor amusement park.
When I was still working for a black company, Guam seemed to be a popular destination for our company's recreational trip, but only for the higher-ups. For regular employees, we went on 3 days and 2 nights trip to local hot springs inn. But even though it was called recreational, we still had to entertain the higher-ups, so it was like working. In addition, we still had go to work the next day at noon. To make it even worse, the amount of money deducted from our salary and the trip expenses didn't add up. Yet, a colleague who tried to report this to the labor standards office was suddenly transferred, got sick, and resigned, claiming it was voluntary.
That's why I always want to go to Guam at least one. I can freely visit food courts, movie theater, and so on. I also can stay for as long as I want, not just three days....
"Lady Misaki, where should we go first?"
"Let's see.... I want to buy alcohol, cigarettes, and some snacks that might go well with them. We can't make those on board, after all."
"In the plantation section, fresh products are grown, right"
"Sure, we can grow our own vegetables, but anything else would be difficult, isn't it?"
"You can purchase those via Magic Transfer Plant, though."
"You are right, but.... you know, I want to enjoy the experience of shopping itself. Besides, there are many products that are not available on Waltco."
Even within the Waltco Group, there aren't many products outside their partnerships. Plus, since it's American-owned, there are hardly any Japanese products. They don't sell new snacks from Japanese confectionery companies that you see on TV.
"I understand now, Lady Misaki. You can buy as many Waltco Group products as you want via Magic Transfer Plant, but you still want to come all the way to Guam to shop."
"The truth is, I want to go to Japanese shopping centers. Can you understand how starved I am for places like the AEON Mall?"
"Then, let's organize a shopping tour to Japan. I'll adjust the schedule for that."
"Great!"
We were having such a conversation through telepathy. You never knew who might be listening if you spoke carelessly. Surrounded securely on all sides by my escorts, I leisurely indulged in shopping. All the purchased products were stored in Infinite Storage, allowing me to walk around hands-free. While taking a break at the food court, more people started watching us from a distance, but I ignored them.
"Lady Misaki, we are being watched by intelligence agents from six countries, including the UK. How should I handle them?"
"Ignore it. Tell me their directions. I will wave at them."
Gerhilde's surveillance ability was so extensive. After she accurately informed me their locations, I deliberately looked their way, smiled warmly, and waved lightly.
"Their heart rates are rising.... serves them right."
"Well, this is just a courtesy. If it comes to it, I'm ready to fight, but I don't plan to, nor do I think they'll attack us."
"I agree. Except France, there aren't many countries likely to make a move against Lady Misaki at this point."
"Why France?"
"Yesterday, I have received a report from Octa One that Ama no Murakumo had engaged in hostilities with a French oceanographic research vessel. The situation has been dealt appropriately, so please just enjoy your shopping trip."
Huh? This is the first time I heard it. Isn't it super important?
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I was told not to bother Lady Misaki with this incident."
"*sigh*.... Next time, please report to me immediately. I don't want things happening without my knowledge and ending without me knowing."
"Understood. I'll keep that in mind."
I'm starting to feel like going home now. I guess I will contact Octa One later and hear from him directly. That would put my mind at ease a little.