Chihaya checks out the Allrounder docked at the Wakagawa Garage and heads out.
She makes for the rendezvous point with the Actors who took the job through a different channel.
The recovery job site is located north of the midpoint between the Wakagawa Garage and the Korogeiwa Garage to the west — a route that loops around the Wakagawa Upper Mountain Range from the west.
Somewhere in the wide stretch of forest out there, the destroyed Allrounders and the Rannoid-series Jackalope are apparently waiting.
The team members are already assembled at the rendezvous point.
Besides Chihaya’s Allrounder, two three-person teams have gathered in their respective units, and there’s even a transport vehicle.
Each team was well-balanced.
The civilian Actor team Steamers has a Heavy Rounder-series unit called a Keeper as the lead unit, paired with the Light Rounder-series Cyclone and a Rannoid-series Conductor.
The Cyclone handles reconnaissance with its wide field of vision and strong image processing. The Keeper — thick armor, resistant to signal interference — covers the front line. Behind them, the Conductor provides support via drones. Route the drone footage through the Cyclone and they can extend their reconnaissance range considerably.
The other civilian team, Sankin Transport, is apparently a team that’s mostly handled transport jobs. They have a lead Allrounder to drive the transport vehicle, a Rannoid-series Wild Stag that can enable high-speed communication over long distances by deploying a network of relay nodes, and a Sprinter-series unit called Warabe — a compact, nimble unit standing just one meter tall.
“Sharing the channel password for this job”
The Wild Stag’s Actor reads out the password in a laid-back male voice.
After confirming everyone’s connected, they load their Actanoids into the transport vehicle. Moments like this make you appreciate what it means to be life-sized and humanoid.
“Giant humanoid weapons would never be this easy to move around”
Apparently thinking the same thing, the Keeper’s Actor mutters. Heavy Rounder-series units have short operating times due to battery limitations, so having transport available or not makes a big difference to what they can do.
Once the transport vehicle is rolling, the Actors inside with nothing to do are left to kill time. Unlike the Rannoid-series units deploying relay nodes or running reconnaissance, Chihaya’s Allrounder is pure cargo.
The other Actors chat about conditions across various parts of the New Frontier. Chihaya quietly starts grinding levels in a game.
From the start she’d written off participating in the conversation, so she makes steady progress leveling up her character.
What finally makes Chihaya stop was a question from the Cyclone’s Actor.
“What exactly destroyed the Allrounders in the first place?”
The cause of the damage hadn’t been written in the job description. Just a single line saying unknown.
When no one else seems to have an answer, the Keeper’s Actor speaks up.
“Apparently no one’s sure. The only certainty is that it was combat damage. They got hit during rain, so the footage was degraded — they don’t even know what kind of animal did it. Just be careful.”
“If we recover the black boxes, we should be able to identify the creature.”
The conclusion comes out so matter-of-factly that Chihaya speaks up without thinking.
“an-animals?”
The Keeper’s Actor responds immediately to Chihaya’s voice — filtered through the voice changer to conceal her gender.
“——Animals. It’s not like Actanoids would attack other Actanoids, would they? I Have No Idea What You Are Talking About.”
“right……”
So Chihaya isn’t the only one thinking it was an attacker.
But there’s a Jackalope on-site that’s still mobile. The mystery is why it wasn’t destroyed.
The Conductor changes the subject.
“Why were those Allrounders out this deep in the forest in the first place? Even with a Jackalope along, heading inland with nothing but antiques is suicide. Our team wouldn’t have taken this job without the Wild Stag either.”
Being one of the earliest Actanoids developed, the Allrounder can operate in poor communication conditions to some degree — but even so, going in with nothing but Allrounders is reckless for terrain like this.
The one who answers is the Allrounder driving the transport vehicle.
“Apparently they were surveying unexplored territory for new resources — trying to strike it rich. Unison Human-Machine Technology really wants to set up a supply chain for mineral resources from the New Frontier.”
“And the result is a bunch of wrecked Allrounders and a massive loss. Rough world.”
Tell me about it, Chihaya nods to herself. She’s built up savings, but the hand-to-mouth reality of being an Actor hasn’t really changed.
After that she keeps tuning out the small talk and grinding levels, and just as she finally decides she’s ready to push the story forward, they arrive at the destination.
“We proceed on foot from here. Cautious advance while scouting.”
At the signal, Chihaya unloads the Allrounder from the transport vehicle and pans the main camera around to survey the surroundings.
Dense trees blocking any path for the transport vehicle. No snow, but the undergrowth reaches Actanoid-waist height and swallows the ground entirely. The trees themselves are magnificent, each one evocative of a Yakushima cedar — a landscape grand enough to make the trip feel worthwhile.
“The Actor is already connected to the isolated Jackalope. They’ll activate a transponder, so let’s head straight for rendezvous.”
“Copy.”
With the transponder active, the real threat isn’t wildlife — it’s bandit Actanoids.
The rendezvous is a race against time.
The Conductor, living up to the name, deploys two drones and begins directing them — one sent skyward, one circling the perimeter.
Drones handle obstacle avoidance automatically, though apparently they don’t move very fast on autopilot.
Setup complete, they signal the Jackalope to activate the transponder.
One of the multiple monitors in front of Chihaya — the system screen — displays the transponder data.
“Confirmed. Moving ahead.”
“Taking a drone with you.”
The Warabe, being Sprinter-series and quick on its feet, moves toward the transponder signal immediately, with one of the Conductor’s drones rushing overhead to the site.
Chihaya and the rest follow behind, centered around the Rannoid-series Wild Stag.
At one meter tall, the Warabe disappears the moment it enters the undergrowth. The occasional glimpse through gaps in the brush gets further and further away.
About ten minutes later, the Warabe’s Actor reports in.
“Successful rendezvous with the Jackalope. No enemy presence in the area. Proceed to locate the destroyed Allrounders?”
“Hold position. You’re a bit too far ahead.”
“Copy. Focusing on Jackalope escort.”
It takes another hour after that for Chihaya and the rest to catch up. The Keeper’s Heavy Rounder-series unit is slow on its feet, and obstacles that a compact unit like the Warabe slips past without trouble are a different story for a larger frame.
They eventually make it. The Warabe and Jackalope emerge from the hollow of a tree where they’d been hiding.
“So that leaves the four Allrounders. Apparently they went down in the same spot — can you lead us there?”
The Keeper’s Actor asks, and the Jackalope takes the lead.
Since the Jackalope is a Rannoid-series unit — fragile under fire — they can’t let it push ahead, so the Warabe moves up to scout the route.
“Straight ahead. There’s a small clearing from some fallen trees.”
Whatever had destroyed those Allrounders was somewhere up there, so the Warabe advances carefully, making sure not to get too far from the rest of them.
The clearing in question is a space barely five meters across. Heavy undergrowth — the downed Allrounders are buried in it and nowhere to be seen.
The team splits up to search the area, but it’s the Warabe that finds them.
“Found them. All four——”
Everyone’s main monitor swings to frame the Warabe in response to its voice — and in that instant, the Warabe suddenly topples over.
A column of fire erupts from the undergrowth where the Warabe falls. The battery has ruptured.
The Warabe’s Actor shouts over voice chat.
“Bullet wounds on the destroyed Allrounders! Warabe destroyed. We’re being sniped!”