Chapter 369 - 370: An Open Scheme

Chapter 369: Chapter 370: An Open Scheme

DaCosta swallowed.

He had never imagined the Desert Tiger would come out in person.

The moment Andrew heard the Gold Frame’s broadcast, he made up his mind and personally came to the meeting.

It was practically asking to get killed.

But from Andrew’s point of view, "We can’t beat them anyway, so we might as well just lie flat~"

If you could not beat them, then of course you went along with what they said.

"Yo, we’re here."

Andrew spoke to the Gold Frame through a loudspeaker.

The Gold Frame opened its cockpit.

"Kids?!" Martin DaCosta immediately noticed that there were actually three children inside the Gold Frame.

Two of them wore strange bodysuits, while the remaining one was dressed in a goldfish outfit.

"Ohhh! It’s the big star herself!" Andrew immediately jumped out of the jeep. "Inori-san, I’m a fan!"

[Vaguely remember somebody saying that before.]

[Lacus said it.]

[Yep, I can tell from his eyes. This guy’s a good person.]

[Lololol, I feel like all of Inori’s fans should be good people.]

[From now on, if you want to judge someone’s allegiance, just check whether they’re an Inori fan, right? lol.]

[You guys are ridiculous.]

At that point, Kira carried Inori down from the cockpit.

"Ohhh! You’re the one who played the boy in that MV, right? So you’re actually a girl too!"

It was obvious that Andrew was more than a casual Inori fan. He had watched Inori’s MV and had even recognized Kira.

"Is this one a staff member too?" Andrew looked at Cagalli.

"Uh..."

The corner of Cagalli’s mouth twitched.

She was the princess of Orb, for crying out loud, and this man had just mistaken her for backstage staff?!

She was gonna die of anger!

"Hello, Desert Tiger—Andrew Waldfeld-san."

Kira set Inori down, and Inori greeted him.

"My, my. When I heard Heliopolis had been destroyed, I was worried about you, Inori-san. I never expected I’d actually get to meet you in person. This is wonderful." Andrew smiled. "I didn’t expect you to know me either."

"Mm. I know all my fans."

Even if she did not know them, that was fine. She could simply identify them and compare the result against the official database.

"This is the Desert Tiger?!" Cagalli was stunned.

Kira became wary as well.

"My, my, Inori-san is still wearing her stage outfit. You must have had a rough time escaping Heliopolis. Want to come rest at my place first?"

"No. These are everyday clothes."

After all, they increased attention.

And attention meant a percentage bonus.

"Ohhh!" Andrew was deeply impressed and gave his approval.

"You girls are the refugees from Orb?" Andrew asked again.

Cagalli hurriedly said, "There are still injured refugees aboard the Archangel who need treatment!"

Andrew fell silent. "Of course we can treat the refugees. But you said it yourselves, didn’t you? Orb is a neutral nation."

"Uh..." Cagalli had no idea where he was going with this.

But Kira beside her had already caught on.

"The gold machine belongs to Orb, right?" Andrew asked.

"Of course!" Cagalli said.

"I remember there are also blue and red machines, right?"

Andrew had done quite a bit of intelligence work beforehand and knew some classified information too.

"Yeah." Cagalli still did not understand.

Kira fell silent as well.

"If they’re mobile suits from a neutral nation, then they shouldn’t be helping the Archangel, should they?" Andrew said.

Cagalli finally understood. "You mean you want us to hand over the Astrays?!"

"The Astrays...? No, not that. What I mean is, if they’re machines belonging to a neutral nation, they shouldn’t be appearing on a battlefield between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT. Whether you leave them in a hangar or return to Orb under our escort, that’s entirely up to you."

"Eh?"

That easy?

Cagalli found it hard to believe he was being this kind.

"Is that your condition?" Kira asked.

"Of course, of course," Andrew said. "I’ll arrange treatment for the refugees and even send them back to Orb. If you don’t trust us, you can send someone to accompany them the whole way."

"What if we go back on our word?" Cagalli asked.

Andrew merely shrugged. "Doesn’t matter. At least I’ll have saved those refugees, right?"

"You...!"

[An open scheme.]

[Grass (a type of exclamation), AI really is vulnerable to this kind of move.]

[Think somebody coached him?]

[You can maneuver a principled person by appealing to principle.]

[War doesn’t care about morality. I feel like somebody told this guy how to handle her.]

[Is nobody going to comment on that nickname? Desert Tiger, Desert Fox—this is obviously a reference, right?]

[I remember GBN has a pretty famous German-military-themed team too.]

[The international server role-players are all pretty hardcore. Unlike our server—if people can’t beat you online, they’ll settle it with you offline.]

[Still, ever since GBN changed operators and developers, it’s really been thriving.]

[Can’t be helped. The band series fell off and disgusted everyone, Oshi no Ko’s ending went to hell too, and everybody came back to Gundam.]

[Restore Gundam to its former glory!]

[Who was it that said this guy was a good person?]

[I think this guy is the real powerhouse on ZAFT’s side.]

[Sealing away two Gundam Astrays all by himself. Nice.]

Cagalli thought this was a gentleman’s agreement, so her impression of Andrew was actually quite good. Kira beside her, however, thought about Inori’s situation.

"If this only applies within your jurisdiction," Kira said, "then yes."

"Looks like this one is the decision-maker." Andrew smiled at Kira.

"You’re not planning to leave together?" Andrew asked. "I can send all of you away too."

Kira visibly wavered.

Cagalli, however, was firm. "We’ve already come this far. How can we just leave now?"

—You can’t live your life without loyalty!

"I can arrange for doctors to start treating the refugees first." Andrew continued to show considerable sincerity.

And so they reached a verbal agreement. Andrew immediately went back to prepare a medical team.

"Is it really okay to trust them that easily?" DaCosta was concerned.

"Yeah, it’s fine. We haven’t actually lost anything," Andrew said with a smile. "And we’ve confirmed something very important—the Archangel either has no doctors, no medicine, or neither. They may even be short on supplies."

On top of that, the medical team itself could observe the Archangel from the inside. There was no downside.

Meanwhile, the three returned to the Archangel, and Cagalli immediately asked, "Kira, what are you planning to do?"

"I..." Kira had not decided yet.

Cagalli patted Kira on the shoulder. "Well, you don’t have to decide right now. Leaving together with your friends wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing."

"Mm..."

Kira looked distracted.

"Good work, Kira." At that moment, Kira heard another voice. It was Flay.

But...

"Eh?"

Flay had actually changed into a military uniform.