Rune Troopers: Self-Defense Forces Adventure

In the courtyard, butterflies of unusual colors were dancing and birds were chirping. Flowers resembling hibiscus were in full bloom.

It was a long, quiet, elegant place with no loud noise except the sound of the fountain once the helicopter engines stopped. About ten Argentavis of the Flying Light-Armored Warrior Corps were resting with the wings, but they were well-trained military giant birds and did not trample the flower beds.

Some of these giant birds were curled up gently, sleeping. The sight of Black Hawks and giant birds together amidst the flowers was even somewhat amusing.

“Heh, they’re pretty cute when you look at them like this.” Ichinose, who had been standing guard around the helicopter, approached one of the giant birds without a second thought.

He pulled out his smartphone from his pocket. Activating the camera, he attempted to take a picture of the giant creature. But ……

“What are you doing to my buddy?” A sudden voice startled him, making him jump.

“Wow! I’m sorry, I just wanted to take a quick picture.” Ichinose flinched at the sword of the person who appeared before him.

The man with fiery red hair and eyes as blue as the sea was staring at him. The power of the figure and the strong-willed face made him think for a moment that it was a boy, but from the voice, they seemed to be a girl.

Upon closer inspection, Ichinose found that her bosom, while modest, was that of a teenage woman.

“She is quite a boyish girl,” Ichinose muttered to himself.

She had a sword at her waist that seemed like she was about to pull it out and thrust it at the soldiers. It was not a cosplay sword, but a “real” sword that had been used for a long time and had a sense of intimidation about it.

“Shashin? What is that? Are you trying to place a strange curse on me?” The more suspicious she became, the more she placed her hands on the hips and stared. And then…

“Cuey!”

“What?” Ichinose’s bush hat was taken off.

When he turned around in a panic, he saw a giant bird, which was supposed to be sleeping, holding his bush hat in its beak.

Ichinose desperately tried to get his bush hat back. However, the giant bird had raised its body and its head was at a height that a human could not reach.

“Tail! No, it belongs to someone else!”

“Hah! If I lose official property, I’ll have to write an apology, so give me a break, seriously!”

“Cuey!” With a gesture as if to say, “Give me a break,” the giant bird gave him back his bush hat. Yes, it was a prank…

Ichinose rolled his eyes at the bird, who was smarter than he thought. But the bush hat he picked up was covered in drool, and he was disgusted.

“I’m supposed to wear this ……?” He was at a loss, and the girl laughed at him.

“Ha-ha-ha!”

“What?”

The girl’s face was a little reddish and she did not look very pretty.

“I’m just surprised that my difficult partner likes you so much.” The red-haired girl said pleasantly but somewhat mysteriously.

“She likes me?”

“Yes, very much.” She gently stroked the head of a bird that was rubbing up against her.

Ichinose felt that there was a special bond between them. This was a different world. But it was still a place where human beings with blood in their veins lived.

As he gazed at the scene, the girl suddenly looked up.

“There is a canal with clean spring water over there. You can wash there.”

“What? Oh, thank you.”

“But I don’t want you wandering around alone, so I’ll show you. Follow me.”

Ichinose, who had been so determined earlier, was now completely disarmed and went to wash his soiled hat.

“What are you doing, Ichinose? You shouldn’t bother other people.” A tone sounded over the radio as if someone were scolding a child.

“Excuse me…”

When Ichinose reported to the Team Leader, Sgt. Yaegashi, he saw him waving his hand over there. It seemed that he had seen the whole thing.

Ichinose was nailed to come back as soon as possible and left the unit. He was allowed to leave because he was told it would not be far.

“I didn’t tell you my name. I am Lalona. I’m a Light-Armored Flying Warrior. Welcome to the United Kingdom of Marysea in the Southern Sea.”

The girl walking ahead said without looking back. Ichinose opened his mouth to introduce himself.

“Oh, I’m Ichinose, nice to meet you.” Ichinose did not follow the common practice of military personnel to use their official first names on such occasions.

When he met his classmates who had gone to college on leave after graduating from the Self-Defense Force’s Education Corps, he told them his rank and affiliation, but no one was interested. The girls told him that such talk would only bring the place down.

So from Ichinose’s point of view, he thought he was being clever. He unintentionally treated the girl who claimed to be a soldier as a girl.

Lalona turned around and peeked at Ichinose with a curious look on her face. Apparently, she did not need Ichinose’s concern

“What is your affiliation?” Ichinose was asked again, and this time, he gave his name properly.

“Hmm? I’m a Second Lieutenant in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. A sniper.”

“Lieutenant, Second Class, Sniper?” Lalona looked dubious at the unfamiliar word.

“Second Lieutenant, that’s the lowest rank. It means a low-ranking officer.” Ichinose explained.

Hearing this, Lalona rolled her eyes.

“What is it?” She laughed innocently.

“It’s the same as me?”

“Is that so?”

“Oh, yeah. By the way, what do you mean by Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces? Is it some kind of special branch of the army?”

“You can think of it as infantry.” To his response, Lalona tilted her head.

“If you’re an infantryman, why don’t you call yourself an infantryman?”

She asked with a straight face. It was a question to which he was at a loss for an answer.

“Well, that’s because of the circumstances of the Self-Defense Forces…”

The Self-Defense Forces did not use names that were reminiscent of the old Japanese army. The names of the infantry, artillery, and engineers were not associated with the military or soldiers.

For those who did not know the situation of the Self-Defense Forces, it might be very confusing. Ichinose wondered how to explain it. Then…

“Oh, so that’s how it is!” Lalona clapped her hands.

“I heard that some countries change the names of their military units to those of heroes or holy beasts. I’m sorry, please don’t take this the wrong way.”

Lalona seemed to have read too much into it and was seriously apologizing.

“There is nothing special about it, it’s a normal department.” Ichinose decided not to say anything more, thinking that it would be uncivil to dare to correct her. Besides…

(I’ve never met a girl who is so straight like this ……)

For better or worse, he was sure this Lalona girl was pure.

“Oh, here we are!” Lalona urged.

While chatting, they reached the waterway behind the bushes. Ichinose began jabbering and washing his hat as they continued their conversation.

After talking for a while, Lalona suddenly raised her bare voice.

“Another world? You guys are from another world?”

“Oh, it seems that way. Platoon Leader Kuze and his men were going to talk to your Queen right now, but what’s going to happen now?”

“Another world? Or else there wouldn’t be a ship made of iron like that…” When Larona heard that those iron ships were not of this world, she was convinced to some extent, although she did not fully believe it.

She had seen them with his own eyes and felt firsthand the strange and overwhelming presence of that huge fleet of ships.

“This is fine. It’s hot in this country, and it will dry soon.” Meanwhile, Ichinose put on his still-wet bush hat.

“It’s tough. You’ve come to a faraway country…”

“No, it’s hard for you, too, if you put it that way.”

“What?” Lalona was puzzled.

“You’re just a kid. How can you be a soldier?”

“Is it wrong for me to become a Warrior to protect my nation?”

“What? No, because, normally, when you are your age, you go to school.”

“School is a place where only aristocrats and the wealthy can go, you know?”

Ichinose was surprised. In this world, girl soldiers like her seemed to be the norm.

“Besides, I have friends in the Military and a partner as well. You will be provided with three meals a day. In addition, you have the honor of defending your country. It’s a place that was too good for me, a mere hillbilly,” Lalona said happily.

Ichinose felt as if he had seen something incredible. He was so excited that he could not believe what he was seeing.

“I see, well, if she says it’s okay, I guess it’s okay?”

Despite his lack of understanding, Ichinose decided to go back to the helicopter.

“Even so, a bird that can carry people and fly in the sky is amazing.” Ichinose said to Larona as she watched Argentavis rest her wings.

Maybe because she was happy to be told that it was amazing, Larona made her boyish face look like a boy and laughed.

“Hehe, isn’t it? Only the chosen ones can ride it.”

“I’m sure you’re right. Oh, is that one of your friends flying over there?”

Ichinose suddenly spotted something flying from across the ocean and asked, “What? Eh?”

Lalona starred in the direction he pointed. Ichinose had no idea what it was.

At this time of year, commercial Argentavis do not come from across the sea. No one else was on a reconnaissance mission right now. Because the other side of the ocean is ……

“No, no, no way…”

Lalona’s legs trembled and her throat went dry.

“What’s wrong? You don’t know these people?” He looked through the lenses.

“What?” He noticed that the number of things flying from across the sea was tremendous. Not ten or twenty. There were more. And it was ……

“Teh, it’s the Imperial Army!”

She said this with fear plastered on her face, as if squeezing it out.