Here's chapter 4!

I am planning to write side chapter after each of the main battle chapter. If it goes smoothly, that will be the schedule for this story.

Seems like you guys don't like the way I write, but, I write for my desires. So, hope you understand it.

With that, let's get started!

Time: A few days later

Location: Ghirlandaio Fortress. War room

"So Maximilian has gained another absolute victory, huh?" Jaeger casually speaks to Gregor. "That's one thing that might calm you down, you know?"

Of course, the later is not having the same mood. "Calm, you say? We just lost Vasel Bridge to Gallia. What the hell did the infantry do that they let those dogs doing that right under their noses?"

Jaeger just laughs it off. "Relax. It's a surprise to us all, but their way of crossing the river with a tank is fascinating. Gallia sure has some funny tricks under their sleeves, huh?"

"Funny tricks? That's just something a layman would think of. We can't afford to lose to those as lowly as the Militia. This is a taint to Our Grace's authority!" Gregor really wants to slam his hands on the table to express his anger, but decides not to.

Jaeger: "Yeah, yeah. If war's decided by social status, we could have won already. Selvaria, what do you think?" He turns to look at the female general, and sees the record files in her hand. She's reading it without even caring about the conversation between the other generals. "Sel?"

"It's not the time to debate such matters." The girl finally answers. "The problem now is that, Gallia is moving into a counterattack, and they have some helps from unknown sources."

"I agree with the former statement." Maximilian walks into the room, gaining everyone's attention. "Gallia's resistance might be weak now, but we must remove it before it gains stronger." Everyone nods at his statement. Then he focuses on the Valkyria. "But what did you say about unknown sources?"

Selvaria explains: "In the reports of Vasel Bridge battle, a mysterious person has appeared in the middle of them unnoticed and slaughtered them during the fight. That person seemed to be a Darscen, but he wielded a sword during the fight and nothing else. Not only that, outlooks found out that there's a sniper shooting from the other side of the bridge."

Gregor interrupts: "Our soldiers were sneaked up, so their mind must have faltered to give out that wrong statements."

Selvaria: "All of them, even the high officers, said that the directions of the shots were all from there, so there's no mistakes. I'm more concerned about the one with the sword. When did Darscens have a person like him? And there were reports that same person appeared in the time we evaded Bruhl."

"It matters not. He will be eliminated as well." Maximilian interrupts their conversation. "Our first thing to do is to increase our forces at the central front where Gallia resistance is the strongest." All of them then look down at the battlefield map, as the Prince continues: "To do that, we have to secure the supply route from Kloden in the southern part of Gallia. Make sure it's unshakable." He turns to the bald general. "Gregor, you will continue to press northward to restructure our central forces." Receiving a confirmation, he orders next: "Selvaria, we will head to Barious. Jaeger, make haste to Kloden to protect our troops there."

"Roger!" All of the generals salute, and start heading out to carry on their orders. The Prince looks at the map again... then speaks to himself: "A third force in the scene? It could be Atlantic Federation, but the help arrived just when we just infiltrated... I may have to let Selvaria fight sooner than I thought."

Location: Gallia Militia Base, War room

"Thanks to Squad 7's efforts, Vasel Bridge has returned to us." Varrot summarizes the situation. "Because of that, Imperial's army has to pull back and gather in the central of Gallia."

Faldio questions: "So that's where we head next?"

Varrot denies: "That's Gallia's army's job. Our next target is in the south, Kloden Area. More specifically, Kloden Wildwood."

Welkin comments: "I was there taking soil samples last summer. There are multiple valleys and hills, making it hard to get around."

The current squad leaders nod at his statement, as Faldio asks: "Captain, what's our plan here?"

The captain replies: "There's a supply base there, fueling the Empire's invasion. Taking that place will stop their flows of supplies." She then concludes: "All squads, prepare for woodland combat and await orders. Good luck, and dismissed."

The leaders salute and start exiting the room. However, Varrot holds Welkin back: "A word, mister Gunther." The Lieutenant returns to his seat, as Varrot speaks what's in her mind: "It seems that we're going to need something that helps fighting in those forests. We might need to ask for Kuro and Uni's suggestions of upgrading our equipment now. Can you ask them?"

Welkin doesn't really mind about that, but: "Do you think the two will do so, or they're going to fight in the front line like the last time?"

Varrot: "I know they will, but just to be sure that our men don't die in the middle of the fight."

Welkin nods. "I understand."

Varrot then drops the formality as she asks: "By the way, how are those two doing?"

Welkin: "Well, they work pretty well with nearly everyone. Though... my squad members are still a bit uneasy around Kuro."

"That's easily expected, if the story of Kuro scaring two of your most hot-headed members has turned into all kinds of rumors. You may leave." Welkin stands up, salutes and walks out of the room...

Time skip to night

Location: Squad 7's homeroom (I don't know what it's called in English-language countries)

"You said you got something for me?" Vyse Inglebard asks when he sees an empty room, except Kuro who's sitting at one of the tables in the room and Uni sitting at the opposite side. When he walks to the man, he sees the mercenary fixing some kind of goggle that looks strikingly similar to his.

"Ah, give me a second." Kuro says, not losing his focus on what he's doing. Then, he puts the screwdriver down and gives it to Vyse. "I'm testing this one a bit. And you are the one being used with this, and what we're heading next is your territory, so here."

Vyse nods, and pockets his own away and puts on the new one. Through its vision, he doesn't see anything changed. "Um... I see no difference."

"Not exactly. Uni, kill the light." And immediately, the room is filled with darkness. Vyse is about to argue when the goggle suddenly moves a bit, then his right eye is filled with green vision... he can see the room now, but everyone's covered in green.

And he is quite shocked. "Hey, I can see the room now! But, everything's in green..."

"Yeah, that's how it's designed." Kuro's voice gets his attention. "I have combined some techs that could help you in combat. The one you're using now is Night Vision, and I guess I don't have to explain it, right?"

"Yeah. I can see in the dark now. Sweet!" Vyse nearly shouts in excitement, but manages to keep his gesture up. "So, is there anything else?" With that, the lights are on again.

Kuro: "Well... let me think of a situation you can... okay, imagine this, you're in a forest, in a midnight stealth mission. Night Vision could give you vision, but it's still up to you to deter where the enemies could be in the grasses, right?" Vyse nods, understanding what Kuro's saying. "Then think that you can deter them... the goggle has the answer."

"Hm..." Vyse starts imagining the situation while closing his eyes. When he gets the picture, he opens his eyes... to see that everything turns blue this time, except Kuro and Uni are covering with all kinds of color. "What the... okay, this one is a bit confusing here."

"Look at the light." Following Kuro's order, he looks up to see the lights being the same with the human. "Okay, look at me and turn your vision back to normal, because it could actually hurt your eyes if you're not used to it." True to his words, he feels a bit nausea now. Once his vision returns to normal, Kuro continues: "What you see is Heat Vision. If there's heat, the vision will turn into red-like color, the rest will be blue. So, if you see a red in the middle of blue, you know there's a living being there. Or a fire."

Vyse comments: "You sure know a lot of technology... but in theory, I could still use Heat Vision at night, right?"

Kuro: "Yes. But, you won't like the side effects, so use wisely. Night Vision won't give that to you."

The Shocktrooper wonders: "Is this how the animals see in the night?"

Kuro chuckles: "Pretty sure they don't. But you can ask Welkin, he might know."

"I might know what?" Just in time for the commander to walk in, along with a few more members of Squad 7.

Kuro: "Ah, it's nothing to worry about. Anyway, how's the meeting?"

Welkin: "Let's wait for the rest to come."

Aika then notices a difference on Vyse's face. "Hey, Vyse. Did you change your goggle?"

Vyse blinks, then remembers, and he takes off the new goggle. "Ah, it's from Kuro. He wants me to test it out for him..."

"Actually I want you to keep it."

Vyse turns back and looks at Kuro with the eyes of 'Are you kidding?' "Are you sure? I mean, it's probably..."

"Nothing to me. I did plan to show you all the tech, but for making it fit with someone, well, I pick you. Its functions will be mass-produced, so don't worry about yours being exclusive. It's just for style point."

Out of excitement, he walks towards Kuro and gives him a bro-hug. "Oh my god! Thank you so much! That's one of the best gifts I could get."

"Don't sweat it. Just be careful with it though. It could give you troubles if you're not careful enough."

After giving Kuro space, he asks back: "Troubles?"

"You can find it for yourself. For now, let's wait a bit before the rest come."

After Welkin gives out a small brief...

Uni: "Fighting in a forest? Should we bring something that's flammable?"

Welkin shakes his head. "We don't have anything that could deal consider damages with fire. And the fight could damage the forest badly already..."

Largo: "She did bring out a good suggestion. Leader, you have anything that could support that idea?"

Vyse: "Can we build the one I have instantly?"

Kuro: "Not without a proper blueprint. The one I gave you is modified already. I just fixed to make sure it works again."

Oscar: "Us snipers will have covers but not much views. And if there's fire, we're likely not to get out unscratched."

"How about we separate into two parts?" Everyone quiets down to hear Welkin's plan. "Thanks to Uni and Kuro's helps, our sniper rifles are capable of shooting from further distances. And there are hills for you to station in. I want Uni and miss Wulfstan to lead that group. to 'Wavy, I want you to lead a small group to protect the sniper team. The rest will fight in the front line. Is it okay to you all?"

"Sounds good on paper, mister Gunther." Uni changes to her 'command' mode. "But that's just the surface. The front line guys will definitely face heavy forces. Even with Edelweiss and Lancers, there's a high chance about the soldiers hiding in the bushes."

Vyse: "That's where the Heat Vision works, right?"

Uni nods. "Yes, but one is not enough. And we could mistake people with wildlife, and that thing doesn't distinguish friends from foes."

Vyse scratches his head. "Wow, that many problems? I guess I will stick with Night Vision now unless there's no one helping me."

Alicia then suggests: "How about tomorrow we test it? Maybe we could do something with your new gadget?"

Vyse: "I guess so. I do need to get used to it."

Welkin sees that there's no more matters to add on, so he says: "I guess it's it. Squad dismissed."

Everyone nods and starts heading out to their rooms. Leaving Uni and Kuro behind.

Uni: "You gave him for style points, really?"

"Hey, you know me. Anyway, you had a valid point back then."

"Perks of being the team's most observation girl in the group. But... I guess you have something to deal with that problem?"

Kuro pulls out a round black grenade with red light around it and tosses it up a few times. "Considering we're facing a threat... should we give them the communicators?"

"Maybe after this operation. But... Welkin has it, right?"

"We need to make it be smaller. Wearing such big thing on the head hurts over time."

... "I hope we're not pushing too fast."

"Say that to Tesla Brothers. They built much faster than us."

The next day

Location: The forest behind the Militia Base

"That doesn't work very well." Uni comments as she looks through the scope of her gun. And she's not talking about the goggle Kuro gave Vyse, because it works perfectly and thanks to the man himself having many experiences like them. It's about the bomb Kuro is testing: It has already designed them as allies, so when the bomb detonates, there's no light to show up, so the sniper team can't see the differences.

"So it's a bit of failures?" Oscar asks.

Uni shakes her head. "It doesn't fail so bad. It does tell us that it hasn't showed allies, so it's good to know. If it shows allies, then we're going to have a difficult time determining the battlefield." She then calls Kuro through the earpiece: "The grenade doesn't show the 'enemies', over."

"I know. And I'm thinking about it." Kuro talks back from the front line, as Welkin and Faldio have ordered to stop the training skirmish between Squad 7 and Squad 1.

Welkin walks to him and asks: "Can you use a different bomb?"

"It's not that it doesn't work. I have registered both squads as allies, so changing it temporarily doesn't seem to work. At least allies are not going to show up."

"But, doesn't that mean we're exposed as well?" Faldio asks. "If we can see them, they can see us, right?"

"Not with this one. The blueprint for this is extremely complicated, even I don't comprehend that much. Don't think about it, that's how I do with this one."

Faldio smacks his hand on his head. "Don't tell me you're Welkin with this one?"

"Maybe." Kuro stands up. "I guess we will know the result in the real fight. This bomb is not dangerous at all."

Welkin concludes: "I guess it's it for today. Let's rest for a while before..." Then he hears Kuro grunting. "What's wrong?"

"Let's just say... I have a little rotten luck with paparazzi..."

Location: Randgriz City. In a cafe

"Surely we're gaining attentions." Kuro comments as he mixes the milk inside of his coffee cup with his spoon.

"It's common to see Darscens. It's uncommon to see one not wearing their traditional outfits." Irene Ellet starts writing something that Kuro can't see with his naked eyes. "Anyway, you did promise to let me have interview on you."

"It's more like 'Can I talk to you?' and I agreed. But that's like a opening flag for you reporters, huh?"

Despite perfectly hearing his sarcasm, the reporter can see that the 'Darscen' is having a calm expression. "You look like you have dealt with it before."

"Happens when you travel for a while. So, how much info you want to know?"

Seeing that it's time, Ellet starts her questions: "Okay, first: Where are you from? You definitely aren't from Gallia, given your accent. And the girl with you as well."

"Sorry, but I'm not giving that out. I can't let our relatives being in danger."

"Oh? Making enemies during the trip?"

"Something like that."

"Okay then... I guess I will go down to the rumors immediately. Saying that you called the eldest one 'a boy', right?"

"Kind of in a heat of moment."

"That kind of insult sounded like you're older than him. And about you using a sword instead of a gun... but that's your... copy or so?"

"Ah, that... something along the way."

Ellet is now having some doubts that she couldn't actually get much from him. 'His answers are too vague... I thought I could get much from him...maybe I will ask the girl...' "So why did you help specifically Squad 7?"

"It was because of Bruhl events. I was helping the leader and the second-in-command back then."

"Ah, so it's better to be in the squad you know the most? Got it... Relationship with the girl? The other Darscen?"

"... Okay, let me make it clear that, both of us are not Darscens. We might look like them, but we're not."

Now Ellet takes a better look, Kuro's hair is definitely all black, unlike dark blue of Darscens. And his gesture doesn't seem to be... and the girl has red eyes... but: "Maybe you're from a different place of Darscens?"

"Our history doesn't have the name, so I doubt it's the case."

"... Okay then. How long have you known the girl?"

"Her name is Uni, and we have known each other for... years. Don't remember how long."

'Another vague one.' "Are you in a..."

"Nope. She has a girlfriend." Kuro puts down his spoon and starts drinking his coffee.

That makes the reporter blink. 'Girlfriend? But, she's a girl... right?' Then she sees Kuro's expression wrinkle, and he puts even more milk into the coffee. "Not a fan of coffee?"

"All bitter food in general. Spicy as well." The stirring restarts.

That causes Ellet to giggle. "Really? How unexpected for someone like you to not like coffee."

"Wish I just called milk from the start." That causes the giggle to continue. Really? Someone like him liking something so childish? "Hey, don't laugh at my favorite stuffs."

"Really?" Well, it has becoming more interesting now. "How about your personal life, huh? Have you got someone for your life?"

"Not answering that." But she does see pink creeping on his face. She now knows that there IS a way to make him talk.

"Your favorite food?"

"Really... depending on mood."

"... I'm not writing that down. So if you're a traveler, how do you feel about Randgriz? Like anything you have seen before?"

"Quite a few. But every place has their own charms."

"Okay... if you're not a Darscen, then why don't you have a last name? The girl as well?"

"The people from the past had last names, but we decide not to use them nowadays. So that we could call each other without mistaking anyone with the others."

"Hm? Why?"

"Family names were actually common in our places. Think of it like this: you see a group of 10 including your friend, you call their last name, and if it happens to be a common one, at least half of the group would turn at you."

Ellet nearly chokes on her drink. A community where last names are common between individuals? "And the name..."

"Less common, but still can be confused in bigger groups."

"That's... hard to swallow." If she calls a name and ten of them turn to her, it would be so embarrassing.

"Actually it's not that bad. It's very rare for calling many in one, but that could happen if you're organizing a show. Next."

"For real?" She wants to facepalm about just how he could turn around the favor like that. "Ehem... where is your squad heading next?"

"I suppose that one won't be on the paper?" Nod. "Kloden Wildwood."

"The South, huh? It's going to be hard."

"We're working on it." Then a phone ring is heard. Everyone stops a bit to look at where it's from, to see Kuro pulling out a small device, as he puts it on his ears. "Uni, what is it... yeah... Ten minutes or so." He then puts it away... and he notices the stares from everyone, especially Ellet. "What?"

"Did... was that a phone?" The reporter gives out the most possible guess to that thing.

"Yeah. Sorry but the Militia needs me for something. It was a nice talk with you." Kuro stands up and leaves enough money to pay for both drinks, then bows and walks off the cafe.

"Hey wait! Can I..." The reporter tries to call Kuro back, but stops herself as a... dangerous-looking motorbike appears on the road, and Kuro just jumps on it and heads to the Militia Base with extreme high speed. That makes everyone drop their mouths in shock, and luckily Ellet has managed to take a quick shot of what just happened. "... Wow... If this doesn't appear on the front page, then I don't know what will."

Chapter 4 end!

Yeah, I'm not saying his/her story is bad, but the OCs seem to techno-rush a bit fast. Not that I mind.

That's it, for now. Hope you guys enjoy it, and see you in the next chapters!