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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Phew…”
Lea Gilliard sighed.
As she took off the HUD helmet that had covered her entire head, her messy hair flowed down.
Soon, a clear voice was heard over the walkie-talkie.
[Escape confirmed. Good work, Lea.]
It was Charlotte Evergreen.
While Lea Gilliard had turned the Armaments Bureau’s substation into a sea of flames using a remote-controlled drone, she had infiltrated the internal system through Akasha and shut down all the facility’s systems.
The Armaments Bureau, boasted the highest level of security among all the Empire’s military facilities.
However, the opponent was Charlotte, who had been a colonel-level middle manager at the Military Technology Research Institute, a cooperative agency of the Armaments Bureau.
She knew which parts of the security were vulnerable.
In the first place, how could she have stolen equipment from the Armaments Bureau, including the hydrogen bomb?
But the enhanced security was only in the physical aspect, and the security in the electronic world was the same as before.
It wasn’t difficult for Charlotte to pierce through the vulnerabilities and take control of the system.
The reason she could become the project leader of the Oracle Project was because Charlotte herself had talent in electronic and electrical engineering.
Moreover, the Graveyard’s Akasha, which Luthers Edan had developed over dozens of regressions, was also a great help.
Not only was it superior to the performance of the next-generation quantum computer Oracle, which was still a prototype, but it was also much more stable.
It wasn’t for nothing that it was the number one contributor that had protected humanity by Luthers Edan’s side.
[You’re not being tracked, are you?]
Lea Gilliard immediately replied.
[They’ll probably come rushing soon. I’ll evacuate quickly.]
[I’ll move too. The drone’s route might be tracked.]
[Just in case, let’s go silent and meet in the north.]
Lea immediately turned off the power of the walkie-talkie.
Then she started the engine of the huge refrigerated truck and began to navigate through the winding forest road.
Even though Lea looked delicate, she was a non-commissioned officer in charge of logistics and supply in the Graveyard.
The job of supply wasn’t simply sorting and delivering items.
Even to allies surrounded by Titans, even in the middle of a battlefield where shells were falling.
Lea had driven vehicles without hesitation to deliver supplies.
She was the second-best driver in the Graveyard.
For her, the steering wheel of a refrigerated truck was as familiar as a spoon for eating.
She had reached a level where she could drive with her eyes closed.
‘…We used to go driving together sometimes.’
Inside the shaking truck, Lea recalled old memories.
No matter which cycle it was, whenever Lea Gilliard and Luthers Edan felt empty, they would go out for a drive.
Even if it was just a crude off-road tactical vehicle or a military truck.
Nevertheless, it remained a precious memory.
-Later, when the war is over, we might be able to go driving on an open highway instead of a place like this, right?
-I guess so.
-I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll buy a sports car for my first car.
-It doesn’t suit you.
-That’s too much!
-Hehehe, I’m kidding. I think a red sports car would suit you, Lea.
-And if you put on sunglasses with it! You might be a bit sexy. Girl crush!
At the conversation lingering in her mind, Lea looked at the empty passenger seat.
The passenger seat was always empty, but it had never felt as lonely as today.
The war was over, and if she wanted, she could buy a sports car.
But the man who would share all of that with her wasn’t by her side.
A luxurious sports car or expensive sunglasses were just meaningless.
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The place Lea headed to was the now completely uninhabited northern part of the Empire.
About 350 km northeast of the Graveyard, which had been at the forefront of the front line against the Titans.
As it wasn’t far from Borslava, where the war with the Titans had begun, the northern military district of the Empire had literally become a hell on earth.
800,000 soldiers were killed on that front line alone.
After grinding up all the young people in the entire region, they still couldn’t stop them in the end, so it was only natural for the entire region to be devastated.
To the Imperial citizens, the north was still a land of death.
Thanks to that, Charlotte, who had become the most wanted criminal in the Empire’s history, and Lea could hide.
Moreover, the northern command headquarters base, left alone in the middle of a vast wilderness, was the perfect place for the two women, who were former soldiers and still wandering the battlefield.
Arriving at the command building after skillfully avoiding the wreckage of abandoned armored vehicles and tanks.
She parked the truck in the air-raid shelter and pulled out a cart full of food from the cargo compartment.
Most of them were retort foods.
There was nothing better than preserved or instant foods to prepare for unknown situations.
But for today, she wanted to have a proper meal, so there were also packaged foods from a restaurant on the border between the north and the center.
The roughly procured liquor was a bonus.
The gloominess she felt while driving had to be resolved somehow, or it would be unbearable.
She understood why Werner in this cycle had lived so drowned in alcohol.
Because without anesthetizing it with alcohol, the pain felt from the huge hole punched through her heart was too agonizing.
Loneliness.
That word was heavier, stickier, and more painful than expected.
“…”
Lea grabbed her chest that felt like it was being stabbed, then shook her head.
As Charlotte said, she had no right to stand by Luthers’ side.
No matter what the reason was, the fact that Luthers had left them remained unchanged.
Denying it would only make herself more miserable.
Lea respected her lover’s decision.
Instead, as Charlotte said, she intended to clear away the things that blocked or threatened his path with her own hands.
Just as Luthers had done for them all this time.
Rattle rattle rattle.
As she pulled the cart and entered the command building, Charlotte in her underwear was strutting around the huge cavity.
Lea, who confirmed that sight, screamed in surprise as always.
“Eek! Charlotte! I told you not to walk around like that!!”
“…What’s the big deal when there’s no one around?”
“St-still! You startled me. It’s like a pervert.”
“You need someone to see you to be a pervert… And you know, Lea. I just finished the connection.”
“Ah… I see. Then it can’t be helped.”
Lea quickly understood.
If Lea was the action unit roaming outside, Charlotte was the hacker handling Akasha and electronic devices.
After contacting Oracle for the first time, Charlotte, who had regained all her memories, had been secretly diverting military supplies from time to time and bringing them to this northern command.
The equipment installed to remotely access Akasha, albeit limited, was also a precious military item she had taken from the Technical Research Institute.
However, since it wasn’t originally intended to be installed on an old Akasha, the user which was Charlotte had to suffer from high fever.
Since there was no special cooling device, she had to endure alone in a high-temperature sauna for several hours.
Naturally, she had often experienced dehydration, dizziness, and even fainting.
That’s why she walked around in such attire.
To optimize heat dissipation and, if necessary, be able to jump into cold water.
Since the north was a very cold region, just getting out of the device helped to rapidly lower her body temperature.
Of course, even from the perspective of knowing the circumstances….
‘Wow…!’
That instinctive thought was unavoidable.
It wasn’t common to see a beautiful blonde bombshell walking around a closed military base half-naked.
“Dinner?”
“I ate roughly. What about you, Lea?”
“I haven’t yet…”
“Then I’ll go in first. I’m quite tired.”
“Yeah, go in. It must have been a hard day for you.”
“Mmm…”
Charlotte walked to her room, staggering.
It must have been as grueling a day as herself, who had driven for hours.
Lea watched her for a moment, then pulled the cart into the break room used as a kitchen.
Lea extinguished the almost completely burned-out candle and replaced it with a new one.
Electricity was supplied by solar power, so they had to save it as much as possible.
She arranged the stored groceries on the shelf and placed the packaged food and two bottles of liquor on the table.
Lea sat blankly in front of it, staring at the flickering candlelight.
On the very day she had witnessed Luthers smiling happily with another woman.
Ridiculously, she had attempted suicide.
Even though she could accept it with her head.
Even though she rationally thought it was the right thing to do.
Watching that sight in front of her eyes, she felt like she couldn’t live.
A permanent severance from the past.
Even though Lea Gilliard’s time with Luthers Edan in this cycle was only about 5 years.
Now that she had regained all her memories, Lea had lived a life of nearly 50 years, no, almost 100 years with Luthers.
She couldn’t bear the fact that those precious times had instantly become meaningless.
And at that time.
She met Charlotte.
She told her that from now on, it was them who had to protect him, not Luthers.
It was the moment when another goal was presented in the life of Lea, who had lost hope in life.
One month since then.
As Charlotte had said, the Empire harbored tremendous evil, and that evil was ready to devour her beloved lover and everything he had loved at any moment.
They had to stop it.
They had to protect it.
Definitely.
Dedicate your life to the victory of humanity.
Luthers Edan’s responsibility was finally transferred to them.
The end they would face after being abandoned, grieving, and pleading with tears must be, no matter what, after humanity had achieved complete victory.
“But… does it have meaning?”
Lea, who had been blankly staring at the candlelight, muttered.
Naturally, there was no answer in return.
She tore open the packaged food.
The food that had looked warm and delicious when she first saw it had turned cold as if it had never been that way.
Just like her relationship with Luthers.
The loss of a relationship.
Lea just drank the liquor without a word.
Without getting wasted, she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep today either.
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Poor Charlotte and Lea😢😢