1842 hours, 27 June 0145...

40 minutes had gone by, and we had devoured every drop of the tonkotsu ramen broth and all the noodles, leaving us full and satisfied.

Scott sank onto the chair and clasped his belly in satisfaction as he let out a sigh.

"Huff… I'm stuffed. Nothing else is better than the after-mission dinner. Just like the after-school dinner."

Just as I was finishing off my glass of iced ocha, Veronica's sudden and piercing inquiry shattered the silence.

"Hey, Tsuyuki. Why don't you open a restaurant with your cooking skills?"

I clinked the empty glass onto the table and responded with a hint of assurance.

"If you don't know, I've worked at two restaurants. Ramen shop and a fancy western. And here are my IDs."

I showed my companions the two IDs of the restaurants where I've worked as a waiter, and they gasped in shock. As he exclaimed in astonishment, Axel couldn't contain his joy.

"Oh wow! I didn't expect you'd have side jobs too!"

Christine sent me a puzzled glance, her eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.

"What was your payment?"

My face broke out into a grin as I explained the details.

"Ramen Shop gave me 600 credits per day and Fancy Western 900 per day. So I got 1500 credits per day."

Everyone glanced at me in amazement at my side job's daily salary. Axel couldn't contain his compliment to me for the second time.

"Oh wow! That's a lot of money! What will you use that money for?"

They wanted to know whether they should be concerned that I was engaging in questionable spending practices, so I had to explain myself.

"Undoubtedly for monthly taxes, weapons upgrades, frame upgrades, and my personal life spending."

As soon as everyone had nodded their heads in agreement, Veronica abruptly nudged me with yet another question.

"Is your job at these restaurants the reason you can cook?"

I then shook my head as I briefly responded.

"No. Way before I'm working at the restaurant, I already love cooking. And cooking has been my passion."

Christine approached my left side as she queried me all of a sudden.

"When did you learn to make this ramen?"

With a hint of melancholy in my voice, I recounted my lovely past and the painful present I had to cope with.

"The former professional cafeteria chef instructed me when I was 16. Sadly, he has passed away two years later."

After everyone had nodded in agreement, I suddenly felt anxious and dared to raise a rather controversial question.

"If I may ask, have you ever felt something is wrong within this company?"

As everyone glanced at me, I could feel their perplexity, until Axel asked me.

"What do you mean by that?"

With a hand gesture, I then broke down the details as clearly as possible.

"I mean, if this company ever hid something that they shouldn't share with the public."

Christine tilted her head as she gave me her questioning look.

"Like, what examples?"

After taking a moment to compose myself, I proceeded to explain once more.

"The operators are always guiding us through the mission. But recently, they had to follow the meeting schedule while ignoring the soldier during the battle. Then what are their priorities if we're in danger while they're busy taking care of the meeting?"

Unexpectedly, Veronica vehemently opposed my argument.

"Unfortunately, you get it wrong. Of course, both Vladimir and Vanessa were monitoring us during their meeting. This was necessary for them to do it quietly."

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With my voice slightly raised, I asked again.

"What the hell are they discussing in that meeting?"

As she spoke of each detail, Veronica punctuated her words with animated hand gestures.

"It's all about the two newly transferred Authonoids. One is from the Vandaarian Mercenary, and one is from the Walrusian Marine Corps. And they were the same new types as you."

In spite of my inquiries, I am still perplexed by the two newly transferred Authonoids that she detailed.

"And who the hell are they?"

"It's classified. Only the higher-ranking commander has the authority to access this information. Unless you directly ask them."

I shook my head slightly in irritation and muttered something under my breath, barely audible. I then cleared my throat and queried again.

"Did you guys still remember the Cleanser Squadron topic last day?"

Once everyone had nodded in agreement, Scott abruptly posed his question.

"Of course. What's wrong with that?"

The air was thick with tension as I demonstrated the Cleanser Squadron's corruption with a hand gesture.

"It may sound like a conspiracy theory, but it has proven correct."

"The Great Pope, Enzio Busso, is preparing to run for governor of Grande Maria. Considering that Grande Maria has slipped into a path of degeneration due to corrupt situations, his objective is to influence thick Christianity in that city and to end it all by any means."

"Running an election is no easy task for Pope Busso due to the arduous efforts required to handle various criminal activities in the city, including mass murders, Ponzi scams, indecent cases, corruption, narcotics, and more."

"According to Pope Busso, to combat crime, he invented an even worse crime: authoritarianism."

"Pope Busso effectively instituted a system of constant mass monitoring by mandating that all Grande Maria residents read the Bible every day and night. Exploits the privacy of individuals for divine intentions. Make it illegal for everyone to use even a mild profanity. They have a policy of making their residents attend church every weekend. They have also implemented a more stringent curfew after 2100 hours. And so forth."

"Anyone who disobeys will face immediate transfer to the concentration camp, Volonta Del Cielo (Heaven's Will)."

"Every day and night, the guards at the camp beat the inmates and make them read the Bible aloud. Simultaneously, the guards were carrying out a cruel experiment by injecting a scorching virus into every prisoner as a kind of death penalty. But to further Pope's goals, they even turned the prisoners into their own Authonoids' troops. Under the pretense of purging the heretics, they carried out numerous other torturous procedures.

"As a matter of fact, they have expressed gratitude to Dmitri Montagne, the supreme commander of Gorusia, for supplying the necessary technology, and they were planning to manipulate the election results in favor of Pope Enzio Busso until tomorrow, July 7."

"Given his authority over Grande Maria, Pope Enzio Busso is sure to be victorious. His passion for pouring gasoline into the fire has landed him in hot water, but it has only served to strengthen him."

"If we did nothing, it would be too late for us, and the scorching virus would doom the world."

The heads nodding in unison signaled the collective understanding of my words. As he questioned my reasoning, Joshua's skeptical eyebrows arched.

"I agree with your viewpoint. But Pope Busso is also helping those in need. Crime has been a problem in Grande Maria's city for over a decade, and that has contributed to the city's lack of human resources."

Being an elected official is undoubtedly challenging. But as a result of the Cleanser Squadron's commitment to fighting crime head-on, the city's life expectancy improved. Why? To achieve this, they must do whatever is necessary. You should realize that not everyone could be saved, despite your greatest efforts."

I shot back a sharp rebuttal to his statement by pointing at his sight.

"By burning, ravaging, and slaughtering those they deemed to be heretics, all the while shielding the real heretics who caused actual damage to the innocents' lives."

"Like, look how many so-called heretics he butchered whilst shouting God's name?! Don't you think that's against the 10 commandments themselves?!"

As I spoke, Joshua arched an eyebrow, his face showing growing suspicion.

"Does any of these claims even have solid research to back them up? Or would you simply paraphrase from those tinfoil weirdos?"

I firmly jabbed my finger above the table and declared.

"It doesn't matter to you if Grande Maria's everyday life supports the evidence."

While quarreling with Joshua in the cafeteria, I heard Commander Katoki's booming voice address us.

"Hey kids, what are you doing in here? And what are you discussing?"

Axel calmly responded, his eyes shifting to Commander Katoki.

"Commander Katoki? Oh, we're just having dinner."

With an arched eyebrow, Katoki walked over to our table, his gaze searching for a response as he patted both Axel's and Christine's shoulders and queried with a playful smile.

"What dinner?"

Christine responded with assurance after taking a quick look at Commander Katoki.

"Tsuyuki made us tonkotsu ramen. It's so delicious!"

With a humorous tone, Commander Katoki asked again after pausing to nod.

"Oh, that's interesting. May I have some?"

As I looked around at the empty pots, a little laugh slipped out of my mouth.

"Unfortunately, it's empty."

Upon completion of my explanation, Commander Katoki swiftly nodded before making a startling announcement.

"At roughly 1900 hours today, we will be receiving two transfer Authonoids. And they'll join forces with you."

His announcement took all of us by surprise, jolting us with its suddenness. Scott voiced his astonishment as he posed the question.

"What? They'll arrive sooner than that?"

Commander Katoki gave a firm nod and then responded.

"Gather at my office if you wish to meet them in person."

The cafeteria was electric with anticipation as the students rose from their seats and hurried to Katoki's office to meet the two new Authonoids.

As I moved to join my classmates in leaving the cafeteria, Commander Katoki's sharp tap on my right shoulder sent a jolt of anticipation through me, freezing me in place, bracing for another reprimand.

"Tsuyuki, I wanted to give you some advice."

As I turned around, I saw Katoki staring back at me with slightly dropped eyebrows. My heart raced as I nervously asked a question.

"About Adipati's flash disk?"

Then he whispered some advice into my ear, breaking the stillness.

"Whatever you hear from these people, don't get too involved with it. Or else you'll never come back from the rabbit hole you were digging into."

I spoke without really hearing him out, and my response was blunt.

"I don't care about these rabbit's hole bullshits. Because once I've stared into the abyss, I'll never come back and become one."

Without saying a word, I silently followed everyone else into Commander Katoki's office.