02.LITTLE GIRL CALLS THEM b.i.t.c.hES
“Ah, I really ate a lot.”
The one to let out a burp after speaking this was a completely naked girl that exposed her brown skin without any shame. The girl, Bela Heiroh, was sitting at the top of a boulder that was inside a river current. While she waited for her body to dry from swimming at that river, she had been eating her lunch. The machiini she piloted, [Aiandinna], was standing right beside her.
Here was a the river bed that was only a bit away from the Yarke town.
After purchasing the lunch she bought with the money she received from Milan a few moments ago, using her machiini, Bela went to the river bed that was outside the town with the intention to wash her body that was dirtied with the blood of the bandits.
She had laid the clothes she was using on the rock to have them dry. Because she had been using the dirtied clothes for too long, as expected, the stains from the blood of the bandits that had been spilled onto them didn´t look like they would vanish.
“But, it is really nice to be outside the village.”
Bela said while looking at the blue sky.
It has pa.s.sed one week since Bela had left the village she had been born at. Before, Milan thought the information of the doc.u.ments used for the registration in the a.s.sociation that Bela gave to him some time ago were false. However, the fact that Bela had been only raised to be sold as an slave, and was about to be one week ago, was without doubts reality.
At the Laila village, which is located at north from here, her parents were definitely still living there, and there actually were records that a girl named Bela lived there. She didn´t know what happened to the slave merchant and the other slaves that went with him at that time when she had left the village.
A red stone of the necklace hanging by her chest dimly shone.
“Ha… You are very heartless as well. It is almost like me, who killed my friends.”
The red stone Bela had spoke to shone even brighter. It was as if it had become happy. This was part of the machiini´s heart and also the most important part of the machine. It was called the dragon heart stone.
It was common sense in the Ishtaria continent that of those iron giant of three to four meters, the machiini that had sentience, are not to be piloted.
There were some times the machiini would act on its own will and act by itself. This tendency was especially strong for those that hadn´t been born since not many days.
Even when it was about Bela that it was being talked about, originally, she had planned to only hunt a few of the bandit group and get just some pocket money. However, what made it change that into a slaughtering was this machiini´s selfish actions.
“Well, you also seem to be young, so let´s enjoy the battlefields together.”
With an smile unusual to her, Bela gave the dragon heart stone a kiss. It was a young machiini that was still in its growth period. It wasn´t reliable when comparing to a machiini that was rigidly raised to maturity, but there was still a big merit in having it grow up in accordance to her own way. She was looking forward to this machiini´s growth.
“What? In the end you were here, weren´t you?”
“That brat said he saw the guy who piloted that coming here, but is it that little naked guy?”
While Bela was free of care looking at the sky thinking about the future, she heard a voice from behind her.
“Hm?”
When Bela turned her head back, she saw three men walking off from the gaps of the trees that were away from the river bed and walking to her way. As far as their appearances looked, they seemed to be delinquent-like unsuccessful mercenaries.
“That guy… Hey, you are unlucky today.”(TL note: I don´t know if this is really it… ヤツって……おい、ついてねえぞ)
“Is it female? Well, I will make you into a woman. It might be a little bit too narrow though.”
While the men were giving vulgar laughs, without looking like she cared about it in particular, Bela went down the huge rock that she was standing at before. In response to that, the men ran and got in between the machiini and her, surrounding her. They had heard she used a machiini before, and they weren´t stupid to the point of letting her leisurely enter in it. However, it seems it was too hasty of them to decide that the girl in front of their eyes was nothing without her machiini.
“He, what is this? Aren´t you completely naked? Where is the machiini´s dragon heart stone?”
“Hey, look properly. It´s hanging in her neck.”
By the center of her flat chest, the dragon heart stone was hanging, connected to a chain.
“”They don´t look like they have much money, I guess.””
Without feeling any interest in the conversation of the men, she decided to check the men´s clothes. There was no meaning to their talk. It was enough to know that they were going to one-sidedly steal the dragon heart stone, which could be said to be the machiini´s key, and either decide to to kill her or sell her. If there was no place for negotiations from the beginning, then you could only dismiss the idea. Unfortunately, the outside of cities, was a lawless land the demon beasts lorded over where force was everything . It was a place that there was no need to hold back in anything.
“Well then, hand it over.”
Without noticing that Bela had already thought of her next movements, one of the men moved his hand towards Bela. However, right at the next instant, right after a certain sound was made, a loud groan was raised.
“Hya, don´t put your hand on the chest of a woman, you pervert.”
And then, the man that put his hand at Bela´s chest tumbled down. Bela was holding the war hammer that was leaning next to the boulder. And thus, the hand of the man that put it on her chest was twisted in an impossible angle and a red liquid started to gush out.
“You…”
Enduring the pain, the man was about to draw the sword that was at his waist with his sound hand. However, that did not happen. The reason for that was because a blow of the war hammer hit him at his head. Having his head splendidly cracked open, the man fell to the ground with his brain matter being thrown out of his head.
“This s.h.i.tty brat!!”
“What did you do!”
The friends of the man that had his head cracked were about to jump at her after seeing that previous spectacle. However, while she jumped back, Bela held the dragon heart stone overhead.
“Kill then, [Aiandinna]!”
“Are you stupid? As if we would let you get into the machiini.”
Without anyone piloting a machiini, it wouldn´t move. It was a common sense that didn´t require you to have experience in piloting it to know. However, Bela laughed at the man´s words.
“Ahm? The one piloting it isn´t me. It´s [Dinna].” (TL note: For those that didn´t notice, it is the nickname of the machiini.) (TL note: Actually, I didn´t notice it until I finished translating the chapter.)
The one to raise a scream was the men that was standing at Bela´s left.
Suddenly, the three meter giant fell from behind the man. The man standing at the right let out a voice similar to a grunt of a pig, and without being able to avoid the giant, he was crushed.
And in the ground, a red flower blossomed. As if the machiini [Aiandinna] had felt that sensation of crushing the man, a silvery steam was spurted out form the pipe at its back as if it had become excited.
“Ah…aah”
The remaining person looked at [Aiandinna], which was still fallen at the ground. He was feeling scared that if he was to give one step forward, he would be crushed as well.
“My Dinna, you know. She prefers to ride rather than being ridden. Men are traitorous b.i.t.c.hes after all.”
Bela laughed at the perplexed man with her “Hyahyahya” laughs. And then, the man that had his view cloudy by fear looked at Bela.
“But either way, you cherry boy without war experience. Foot soldiers can´t be getting close to machiinis to the point of getting crushed by them just by touching. Even if I am a bit away from the machiini, I can still more or less have it move.”
The one standing there was a little child that simply by saying she was young wouldn´t be enough. It was as if she wasn´t feeling the particular smell of the blood that was dying her brown skinned naked body. All this despite being a very young girl.
It was as if those eyes were like those of a warrior that had gone through countless battlefields, and her mouth was twisted into a smile that looked like of a carnivore beast.(TL note:-> ただ首より上
“Well, this don´t matter for you anymore, I guess.”
And the last thing the man had seen was the figure of an old woman laughing overlapping with the figure of that little girl.
——-
“Ah, chilly.”
While saying that, Bela wore some clothes that were which still were wet.
Because the blood stains of the clothes she had been using until know, she had washed the clothes of the man that she had just killed a few moments ago, and was wearing them right now. Because it was still too big for a child despite how many times she would fold it up, she cut about half of it and made the rest into a belt.
Also dismantling their light armor, she separated only the parts that seemed to be of use as a protector and tied them in her belt.
“”I guess they were countryside guys. After using the armor for so long, it becomes useless””(TL note: I don´t know if the translation here is accurate… おのぼりさんだったのかねえ。使い込んだ後がありゃしない)
After looking at the armor wrapped by her body, Bela complained.(TL note: It might at their body rather than hers.)
Those countryside men were now a being washed away by the river. They didn´t have a great amount of money, but she gratefully took it for herself to use later. Even if a corpse had money, there would be nothing to buy that they could make use of other than a coffin, and besides, those guys also wouldn´t be able to order a coffin.
After Bela finished changing clothes, she looked at the machiini [Aiandinna] that was standing behind her.
That machiini had the height of about three meters. Compared to the usual machiinis, it was still small, and it currently had only about one year since it had been made. Bela could see it was a young machiini by looking at it.
And then, the hatch at the chest part of [Aiandinna], which was now in a sitting position, opened. While saying “よっこらしょ”, Bela went in the c.o.c.kpit inside the hatch, took out a safety belt from the seat she was sitting at and set herself up. And then, she lightly pressed the foot pedal with her foot and held the control stick. (TL note: Copy pasted definition: (expression of) effort or strain)
At the same time, the dragon heart stone that was hanging by her chest shone. The needle of the meter that was beside the pilot seat moved, and silvery steam gushed out from the pipe at the back of the machiini.
The machiini, this iron giant, was an machine that would absorb mana from a magic power river called Naagarain that was located at the atmosphere in order to work. Right now, [Aiandinna]´s magic power rotation rate had crossed over the level that could be considered stable. Bela looked at the meters that measured the overall status of the machiini, and deciding that there were no problems, she lightly stepped at the foot pedal, making the machiini start to move.
“”Hmph. It´s easy to handle since it has no conditioned movement. It´s so good it is young.”
And then, while thinking that, Bela started to head back to the town. It had already been three hours since she had gone out of the mercenary a.s.sociation. Soon, it should be the time they finished confirming the reward for the heads.