Chapter 153 \nāEh⦠Why do you suddenlyā (Soldier-kun)\n
Whoops, was it too abrupt?
āAh, no, Iām just wondering if itās the ship that my friendās dad is on or if the crews on the drifting ship have enough water and foodā¦ā (Mitsuha)
āMitsuha-chan is kindā¦ā (Soldier-kun)
Easy. Youāre too easy, soldier-kun!
Lightly claps both your hands and put them against your mouth, Kyarun (SFX), then show a concerned-like face, and heās down! I didnāt even show him the ultimate move [Fake tears].
Umu, One of the [48 boy-killing secret arts] that the first-generation Mitchan has passed to me, the Double Knuckle Beam, is Omnipotent! (Note: Japanās Mitchan)
And then, I squeezed every information soldier-kun told me.
Alright, thatās enough for today!
āAh, umm, thank you for the present last timeā¦ā (Soldier-kun)
Oh, now that you mention it, I gave him a present. I felt bad for always taking his time, so I gave him a folding knife as an apologyā¦
āThat item, can I get a few more?ā (Soldier-kun)
Eh?
āā¦ā
āā¦ā¦ā
āā¦ā¦ā¦ā
When I stared at him with a scornful eyes, Soldier-kun shaking his hands in front of his face in a hurry.\n
āN-No, Iāll pay properly for it!ā (Soldier-kun)
And Soldier-kun rushed to explain.
Apparently, when soldier-kun using that knife for a little work, one of the officers who saw it got interested and said [Let me see a little bit], but because there was a possibility that it would be snatched if it went poorly, soldier-kun refused.
And the fleet commander also got interestedā¦
āI was told that he would give me 3 gold coins, but I refused it because it was an important present from Mitsuha-chan. And then he said [Can you get the same thing? Of course, I will pay you]ā¦ā (Soldier-kun)
Ah~ā¦.
The impact was too big huh⦠that Gerber knifeā¦
Well, itās not like they can replicate the technology that has been cultivated over many years by just having one or two products. If someone could do that, by now, knife makers around the world should be able to make knives that are on par with Gerber, Loveless, Buck, Randall, G.Sakai, etc.
Also, knives arenāt the main weapon of war.
āā¦I got it. Iāll try to arrange themā¦ā (Mitsuha)
Perhaps my annoyed expression came out on my face when I was thinking [How troublesome] and makes Soldier-kun tried to pull back his request. Well, itās alright, if itās just knivesā¦
Or rather, the fact that thereās a commander means that the ship which Soldier-kun is on, the Leviathan, is the flagship of the fleet⦠tte, I mean, itās a state-of-the-art ship, so I guess itās natural.
ā¦thatās right!
āBut in return, I would like to ask one requestā¦ā (Mitsuha)
I listened to that unreasonable request of yours, so youāll have to hear my unreasonable request too!
He was wondering why I would ask for such a thing, but he said it wouldnāt be a problem.
Iāll have you know that Itās not the [Itās me] scam.
On the earth, Iām known as [Nanoha], but I donāt want to introduce myself using that name too often, so I try to avoid calling myself by that name. Well, itās okay for others to call me that way though.
And now, Iām calling the diplomat of the country who lent me the air tanker for the air reconnaissance on the new continent last time.
āYes, actually, there is a request again ⦠Well, Iām glad the scholars rejoiced at the gift last time. I was worried that if that creature was the one whoās already exist on the earth. Yes. Right. And I have another request⦠Oh? I can leave everything to you? Thank you very much! Then, I would like to borrow something from the Navyā¦ā (Mitsuha)
Alright, the search fleet has sailed⦠well then, shall we get started?
Transfer!
āI look forward to working with youā (Mitsuha)
āUwaah! Ah, E-excuse meā¦ā (the diplomat)
Well, if youāre waiting in a desolate place and suddenly someone called you from behind, it canāt be helped if youāre surprised. Well, donāt think too deep about it!
And this time, using the diplomatās car, we went to a naval base.
āPlease welcome to our base, Your Royal Highness the Princessā (base commander)
Yup, the royal power is amazing in countries around here. Even the title of a princess from a country in the other world, which they donāt even know, has a great effect.
After the greeting with the base commander, we immediately proceed to the apron area on the runway.
ā¦Right, Naval bases arenāt just ports. This is naval air base. And what parked in the apron isā¦
The aircraft tilted to the left and leveled again after some time.
āKeep steady, 293 degrees!ā (Mitsuha)
āKeeping steady~ā (Pilot-san)
First thing first, letās head towards the search area.
Thereās a chart that is based on the previous aerial image of the Kingdom of Vanel and the coastline around it. Of course, the one who made it was the people of the country who lent me this plane.
Naturally, there are the charts around this area that I got from the captured ships, but we canāt use it because it breaks the groundwork of the previous survey flight. And crews can feel more comfortable with charts they have made than charts with completely different projections, scales, etc. In any case, the terrain doesnāt matter at sea.
On the chart, there is a datum that I got from soldier-kun. Right, in return for getting the knives, I told him something like [I want to know the search center point of the distressed ship].
If this was related to battles, I wouldnāt be able to hear that much and soldier-kun wouldāve refused too. But when it comes to rescue mission in peacetime, itās nothing secretive. Even their adversaries will cooperate if they have to.
So, soldier-kun looks at the charts in the chart room on the stern deck and asks the officers about the distressed shipās position while saying Ā [My friend and the instructor who took care of me are on board], and the officers told him without being suspicious. ā¦And then, he passed the info to me.
Information on the distressed shipās location were sent to all ships, no matter whether they depart for the search or not. They may be sailing nearby for other mission and find the remains by chance. In addition, itās common sense that all ships should have a minimum amount of preparation and precaution, because itās unknown when they will be dispatched to the search operation as additional forces. ā¦ā¦According to the information I heard from Soldier-kun and the old story from my brother.
Anyway, we converted the obtained position details into the azimuth distance for the chart of the earth and then we plotted the coordinates.
longitude latitude? Since I donāt know the size of this planet, so it doesnāt make sense. Anyway, beyond the rescue fleet, advance to the search area!