Confidential KADOKAWA / Light novel Combatants will be dispatched! Author: Natsume Akatsuki / Illustrations: Kakao Lanthanum ©2017 Natsume Akatsuki, Kakao·Lanthanum Translated by Kevin Gifford - 1 - - 2 - - 3 - - 4 - - 5 - - 6 - - 7 - - 8 - - 9 - [Table of Contents] Prologue P.011 Chapter 1: Operatives Deployed P.013 - 10 - Prologue “Can I ask you for your birth country one more time?” “Japan. Or Nihon, or Nippon, or whatever you’d like to call it. It’s known by a few different names.” “…I apologize, I’ve never heard of any country called Japan before, so…” “I can’t blame you. It’s a small island nation, far to the east.” “Um… Also, according to your resume, you used to work for the ‘Secret Society of Kisaragi.’ Could you tell me what kind of company this was?” “It’s a secret society, so I can’t, no.” “A-All right… Uh, mmm, so at the bottom of here, under ‘Special Skills,’ you wrote down ‘Pan-Directional Spin Basso’? What’s that?” “It’s my finisher.” “Your…finisher?” - 11 - “Yes. My finisher. I’ve sent countless Heroes to an early grave with it.” “…What do you mean by ‘Heroes,’ exactly?” “My enemies.” “I, I see… I apologize, pelting you with all of these questions. So should I, um, take that to mean that you have fighting experience?” “Sure, you could say that.” “I worked as a combatant before, after all.” - 12 - Chapter 1: Operatives Deployed 1 There is a company out there named Kisaragi. A massive firm, something that’s a household name to everyone on Earth. And I was sitting in one of Kisaragi HQ’s meeting rooms. “All right, #6. Do you understand that?” “Yeah, you get that, #6?” “No, not at all.” The officers greeted my immediate answer with a sigh, as if straining deeply to keep from asking why I was so clueless. “…Let’s go over it one more time. Combatant #6, we are sending you on a spy mission as part of the Secret Society of Kisaragi’s vanguard force. Your mission is to investigate the organisms and ecology in the deployment area. If you find any sentient creatures, gather intelligence on their military strength. We also need you to examine their land and natural resources, to see if it’s valuable enough for us to conquer.” - 13 - “Ah…” That much, I got. This was my job for pretty much every mission up to now. “You’re going to be deployed to an extraterrestrial planet. Do you understand?” “Yeah, you get that?” “I really don’t think so, no.” The two upper officers briefing me flashed confused looks at yet another one of my instant replies. Before me was Astaroth the Frozen, her long, shiny black hair running down to her waist, her beauty enough to send a shiver up anyone’s spine. Next to her was Belial of the Brimstone, her wavy hair a searing shade of red, never afraid to show off the ample bodily assets she was blessed with. Those were the names they gleefully called themselves as they pranced around in their outfits day in and day out, which toed the line between a uniform and a beach swimsuit. Astaroth the Frozen, who had been trying to brief me for a while now, sighed once more. “…What is there not to understand, #6? I’m not saying anything that hard to comprehend, am I? We’re just ordering you on another infiltration run.” - 14 - Belial of the Brimstone nodded her agreement. “I understand my mission, ma’am. What I don’t get is the ‘extraterrestrial’ part. I mean, I’ve been willing to put up with your weird cosplay and the cringeworthy names you’ve given yourselves up to now, but if I’m having two grown women talk to me about going to other planets… I have to draw the line somewhere, you know?” “Th-These are officers’ uniforms! They are not cosplay!” “Cringeworthy?! Is that what you’ve thought about us, #6?!” “No, no,” I said, trying to soothe their agitation. “I’m just saying, you’re always a constant surprise to me, but this is hitting it out of the park. Did you watch some anime where the hero gets thrown into another world and it affected you in some way?” “How, how dare you suggest that!” Astaroth, blue veins appearing on her forehead, patiently continued. “I want you to listen to me, Combatant #6! Right now, at this moment, the Secret Society of Kisaragi is but a few breaths away from conquering the world. You understand that, right?” “Yeah, I guess.” Conquering the world. Yes, that conquering. - 15 - The company I work for has declared itself to be evil cabal, dirtying their hands with all manner of dastardly acts in order to rule the planet. I was no exception—I went under the knife for so-called “cyborg surgery” when I took the job, and they’ve been trundling me off to this or that combat op ever since. This was the Secret Society of Kisaragi—a vast edifice of evil, no longer particularly “secret” but aiming to conquer the world nonetheless. There was no nation that could overwhelm this massive organization in military might. They did their best to resist us with economic sanctions and the like, but their final capitulation was apparently imminent. “So when we’re done taking over the world, what do you think’s going to happen to combatants like you?” I helplessly shook my head at Astaroth’s query. “Um… Once it’s over, we’ll get to rule over them all and enjoy lives of despotic debauchery for the rest of our days?” “Buffoon. We’ll be downsizing bigtime.” “Huh?” Belial and I grunted in harmony at the worlds Astaroth practically spat out. “Downsizing… Wait. What? D’you mean I’m gonna be fired?” “Yep.” - 16 - Silence reigned in the meeting room. “…Come onnnnnn! After all this time, you pick this moment to start screwing with me? You worked me to the bone; you made me go through all these dangerous missions, and when you’re done with me, you’ll toss me out on the street? How cold can you get, woman?! You’re the one who made me do that cyborg surgery! My body’s damaged goods now! What’re you gonna do about it?! At least let me live with you, you bastard! I’ll be a good stay-at-home dad, I promise!” “And what about me?” Belial added, grabbing Astaroth by her uniform. “I’m the combat specialist up in the top brass! Are they gonna let me go, too?!” “Calm down, you two,” the Frozen girl calmly replied. “I, I’ll address the both of you in order, so hands off, #6… Ahh, it’s slipping! Stop it! That’s dangerous! Our officer uniforms expose a lot, you know!” Astaroth took a few steps away from us, grabbing her own body as she panted, a scared, tearful look on her face. “Ugh… Just listen to me, you two! First, Belial. You’re one of our top officers; you’re staying on. We’ll need to maintain at least a minimum of military strength once we’re done conquering the world. But you, Combatant #6…” - 17 - Belial breathed a light sigh of relief. I, on the other hand, gulped. I was a groundling, on the bottom rung of the ladder, and Astaroth must have known it because she was staring me right in the eye. “Unlike Belial here, you are merely a fighter. I say ‘merely,’ but at the same time, you’ve been a member of Kisaragi ever since it began operations. You have an intimate relationship with the officer classes, and at this point, one could almost call you a top officer yourself.” “So could you give me a raise, then? I’ve been here since high school, but I’m still earning the same part-time wage…” “But! If we gave you preferential treatment and neglected the other combatants, our entire chain of command would break down!” Way to dodge the subject. “…But what’re you gonna do, then? Because if you say something like ‘We’ll draw straws to see who gets fired,’ I’m seriously gonna start bashing heads with this cyborg body.” “Y-You buffoon! That’s where that mission I was talking about comes in!” Astaroth, perhaps detecting that I was at least somewhat serious, leaned back a bit as she addressed me, keeping her distance. “So listen, #6,” Belial said. “What we’re saying is: When we’re done - 18 - conquering Earth, we’ll just find someplace new to rule over. This is the first I heard about downsizing, but we’ve been talking about this in the officer meetings for a while now. Once the war’s over, there’s gonna be a lot less work to go around. The focus is gonna shift on governing our conquered lands, so we’re all gonna have to tighten our belts.” “And that’s where that extraterrestrial talk came in? I mean, if you had that kind of tech, I would’ve gone off to some planet filled with big-breasted beauties long ago. Like, wouldn’t you have started with a ship that’d take someone to Mars or Venus first?” The two looked at me like a teacher scolding a problem child. “…We’ll continue this conversation in Lilith’s room,” Astaroth said, face growing more somber as she turned her back to me. “Follow me, #6.” I did so, still confused, as we headed for the laboratory of Lilith the Dark, third and last of the so-called “top brass” in here.