Chapter 60 – Tranquility Can Wait a Little Longer.

From the day after the god of destruction Restful crumbled to dust in the void, the Seldia Administration Bureau and Syn-Fibra found themselves in the most frenzied period in living memory.

The appearance of an unprecedented mobile weapons platform. The vast quantity of data recovered from its deepest reaches. The machinery of a city that had grown comfortably accustomed to peace was thrown into absolute chaos trying to comprehend the full scope of what had been found and begin processing it.

In the middle of all that, Grain - captain of the vigilante corps - was rushed to the Administration Bureau's central hospital for emergency admission the moment they returned.

The inhuman maneuvering performed aboard Shuel with its limiters fully stripped out, and above all, the direct impact he had absorbed when he threw his machine in front of Arden at the end, had done serious damage to his body. Microscopic internal organ damage. Full-body muscular tearing. His doctor told him flatly that surviving at all was a miracle - and ordered absolute bed rest, with no exceptions, for a minimum of two weeks.

Steshia, whose machine had been destroyed, turned out to have escaped with nothing worse than full-body bruising from the brutal g-forces of the ejection. Everyone was mildly exasperated by her particular brand of resilience and luck. Steshia herself was completely unbothered, and by the following day had already been cleared by her doctor to walk around.

One image had stayed with Letaria - burned into her mind clearly enough that it hadn't faded. Grain, wrapped from head to toe in medical bandages and stabilizing splints, just before being moved to a sealed sterile ward. Looking slightly sheepish. Almost impish.

"...Sorry about this, Milea. I'd have been happier if I could have handled it on my own."

That was all it took. The genius researcher who was always, unfailingly composed reached the end of her fuse in the span of one sentence.

"-- Going off alone without a word - you idiot! Idiot! Idiot idiot idiot! Moron! Absolute and complete moron!!"

All that careful, controlled composure, nowhere to be found. Milea lit into the bedridden Grain with an intensity that made the medical staff hovering nearby hesitant to step between them.

"...Hm. She's always so composed under normal circumstances - but when she's genuinely furious, she runs out of insults very quickly, doesn't she."

Merry, standing next to Letaria, was half exasperated, half smiling.

As for the disciplinary question surrounding Grain's unauthorized solo mission - given the undeniable fact that he had risked his life to prevent a catastrophe for Seldia, and above all, given the depth of trust and goodwill he commanded throughout the corps and the Bureau alike, the senior leadership had quietly decided to "defer any formal action for the time being."

A special recovery team was assembled to collect and analyze the debris and unmanned machine wreckage scattered across the sector where Restful had lain dormant. With the Administration Bureau's full cooperation, Syn-Fibra pushed the work through the night, and several storm-paced days passed.

◆◆◆

...Several days later. The vigilante corps headquarters conference room.

Arranged around a large oval table sat Letaria, Milea, Ethan, Merry, Steshia, Retta, Aland, and more than a dozen other senior corps members.

When everyone was seated, Milea stood at the center of the table and delivered a short statement in a tone that left no room for warmth.

"-- We will now formally determine the vigilante corps' deputy captain."

The air in the room froze.

"The reason should be clear to everyone here."

Milea's gaze moved across the room. The force of it was enough that Ethan and Merry - who had fought alongside her - both developed sudden interest in something on the far wall and looked away.

"Ah, um... Dr. Ichinose. This is somewhat difficult to say, but... aren't you a head researcher at Syn-Fibra? I was under the impression you weren't actually a member of the corps..."

Ethan rubbed the back of his neck and very carefully offered the entirely reasonable point. Milea dismissed it with a glance.

"Silence."

"Oh --" Even Ethan, veteran of a hundred battles, involuntarily hunched his shoulders.

"Leaving everything in Grain's hands alone was precisely what created the conditions for this reckless unilateral action in the first place. I have already taken the matter directly to the Bureau's senior leadership, and I have personally obtained their formal approval for this proposal to expand the corps' command structure."

Milea, who normally laid out arguments with cool detachment, had been running visibly hot for days. Letaria sat beside her and watched in silence. She was not so lacking in situational awareness that she would try to interject on Milea right now.

"In ordinary times, the captain's authority alone is sufficient. But in an emergency like this one, there must be someone capable of supporting the commander and holding authority in their absence."

A small exhale. The familiar composed tone returned as she continued. The assembled members sat in silence, unable to produce a single objection - except for one person who raised their hand with energetic enthusiasm and absolutely no reading of the room.

"Ooh, ooh! I'll do it! I don't mind at all! Deputy Captain Steshia - has a good ring to it, doesn't it!"

The cheerful self-nomination earned Steshia an immediate convergence of looks from Retta, Aland, and every senior member in the room - all of them clearly communicating that the organization would not survive a week. Steshia made a small strangled sound and rapidly made herself smaller.

"My thought was --"

Milea paused and moved her gaze to one end of the oval table.

"At one point, I considered that having Letaria take on this responsibility would be the most rational choice."

"-- Pardon?"

Called out unexpectedly, Letaria's composed face did something undignified.

"But she is, at the end of the day, an outside cooperator - a freelancer. ...Therefore, the selection of a deputy captain will be made from the corps' own long-standing internal members."

Milea's gaze moved again, tracing a deliberate line toward two people.

Ethan. And Merry.

"Ahaha... I had a feeling it would come to this..."

Merry's face pulled into the resigned, pained smile of someone who had given up. Beside her, Ethan let out a long, equally resigned breath.

"If anyone else believes they are better suited and wishes to put themselves forward - or if the captain, when he returns, wishes to revisit the decision - the arrangement can be changed later. But as the emergency structure for the immediate present, I am asking you two to lead the corps as deputy captains."

Milea brought the signed approval document down on the table with something approaching a slam.

Faced with that argument - and above all, with the overwhelming aura of barely-contained fury radiating from behind it - not one person in the conference room said a word against it.