4.
“What is this?”
These were the first words I uttered as I entered the garage, where I had been told, “Your unit to be received is here,” with high spirits.
By the way, I’ve been consistently calling it a “unit,” but the official name is apparently “magical combat unit.”
The reason I omit the word “magical” is that it reminds me of things like GranZon, but it’s different for other people. It’s because many people want to avoid the fact that the units are made from the corpses of monsters.
tlnote: https://superrobotwars.fandom.com/wiki/Granzon
Well, I don’t want to say “I’m fighting in armor made from monster corpses!” either.
I can understand the desire to abbreviate.
However, while it’s true that almost everything used to be made from monster corpses in the past, nowadays they only use monster corpses for the core parts. These are reinforced with artificial muscles and various machines made of special materials with special processing, and the whole thing is covered in armor, so the corpse parts aren’t that extensive anymore.
But, well, the general image is still strongly that of using monster corpses, so to improve the image even a little, they call them “units.”
As a side note, “monsters” refer to animals that have mutated after being given a certain factor by demons or magical beings.
Although they’re based on animals, there are strange creatures like the Gozuki (Minotaur) with a bull’s head and a human-like lower body, or the Gyuki with a bull-like head and a spider-like lower body. How these came to be is a mystery.
We probably won’t get the correct conclusion unless we ask the demons or magical beings themselves. Conversely, if we could ask, we might understand, but it’s unclear whether they would answer honestly even if we did ask.
Setting aside their manufacturing methods.
The first thing I thought when I learned this information was “confusing.”
First, the Gozuki is a medium-sized monster about 5-6 meters tall, while the Gyuki is a large monster over 20 meters long.
Naturally, the difficulty of defeating the latter is overwhelmingly higher.
There’s a story from a while back where a fully armed battalion set out to defeat a Gyuki, but when they arrived at their destination, they found only a Gozuki and were confused.
Of course they were. Imagine a battalion that prepared thoroughly to defeat a monster over 20 meters long, based on the observer’s report of “The enemy is a gyuki,” only to find a “Gozuki” barely over 6 meters tall at their destination. Anyone would be confused. I would be confused too.
This happened because the observer was from the Ise-Shima region and had remembered the Gozuki (Minotaur) as “gyuki.”
At the time, they were severely scolded with “Don’t make us waste our time when we’re busy!” but now it’s widely known within the military as a funny story.
However, if the reverse had happened, it would have resulted in no laughing matter with serious casualties. So while the military acknowledges that mistakes in the initial report about the enemy’s size or scale are unavoidable, mistakes in the name of the target are not tolerated.
Whether related to this or not, even in the military school entrance exam I took, there were questions like “State the name of this monster” with images of famous monsters.
And I, if I may say so myself, am quite an excellent student. Of course, I had researched the famous ones as prior knowledge before joining the military, and I had covered all the past questions prepared by my dear sister.
Considering all this knowledge, let me say it again.
“What is this?”
Basically, units are made based on monster corpses. So apparently, if you look at the base body – the state before armor is applied – you can tell what monster it was based on.
Well, even that requires a certain level of knowledge from the observer, but even I, who pride myself on having that level of knowledge, couldn’t understand what monster was the base for the unit sitting in front of me.
No, to be precise, it’s not that I can’t understand. I just don’t want to understand. Because, come on, right? How could I possibly want to believe that my personal unit is this monster-like thing with four legs for its lower half and a human-like upper body?
(If I had to guess, maybe Scylla from Greek mythology? But I’ve never heard of such a thing appearing, let alone being defeated. Yet here’s a unit… What’s going on?)
“Of course, this is the unit you’ll be piloting. It’s called a hybrid type. Well, it’s no wonder you don’t know about it since it’s a type that was only adopted this year.”
As I stood there dumbfounded, trying desperately to find something good about the situation, a voice called out to me from the side. Probably, no, definitely someone related to the maintenance of this unit.
“Ah, I-I’m sorry for the late introduction. I’m Keita Kawakami from class 1-A, just enrolled this year. I look forward to working with you!”
Greetings are important. It’s written in the Kojiki too. Moreover, this person is a maintenance engineer. The damage that could result from making enemies of these people who single-handedly handle the maintenance of the units is immeasurable, so I made sure to bow deeply to avoid offending them.
tlnote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kojiki
No matter how grotesque the given machine might be. Even if the given machine is an “experimental model adopted from this year,” he is literally the one holding my life in his hands.
I have no resistance to bowing my head if it’s to protect my own life.
However, whether I’ll get along with him or completely reject him depends on the explanation of this machine!
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
“Ah, I’m sorry for the late introduction. I’m Keita Kawakami from class 1-A, who just enrolled this year. I look forward to working with you!”
“… Nice to meet you too.”
(Hm. For a young person these days, he’s quite well-mannered.)
The mechanic, was actually Takafumi Mogami, the president of Mogami Heavy Industries, evaluated the young Kawakami bowing before him in this way.
In this day and age, with the increasing demand for machine operators and the fact that most people who become operators belong to military families with factions, it’s generally said that those aspiring to be operators are high-minded.
High-minded sounds nice, but in reality, they’re treated as “just selfish,” though it’s better left unsaid.
Takafumi, for his part, tries to understand their circumstances.
These military families have factions. And not only is there conflict between factions, but there’s also competition within factions. In such an environment surrounded by enemies, he understands that they can’t show weakness to anyone but themselves.
(But that doesn’t mean I want to be treated arrogantly all the time.)
He understands, but whether he can tolerate the unpleasant feeling is a completely different matter.
Moreover, Mogami Heavy Industries, which Takafumi runs, has been a company that has developed armaments for machines until now, and is seen as a new company with no track record in machine manufacturing, so it’s not highly evaluated by the military.
Because of this, they had a hard time securing a slot for this practical test with new students.
Given these circumstances, while wondering (what if the student tester turns out to be a disrespectful brat?), the boy who appeared and properly bowed his head in greeting was Keita.
(Well, I can’t forgive him for calling the hybrid type “This thing,” but it’s a new model. Can’t blame a child who just enrolled for not knowing.)
For Takafumi, who had been expecting the worst, Keita’s greeting was a pleasant surprise. Therefore, although Takafumi was slightly offended by the first words, he thought he would adjust the machine according to Keita’s requests unless something major happened.
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