Chapter 8

What is this thing in front of me?

Well, I know it’s the special tempura bowl from Echigo-ya that costs 2,980 yen. I just think 3,000 yen for a bowl of rice is a bit much. After all, you can play "Guardian Troopers" six times with that money.

But that’s not the real issue here.

The greasy man sitting proudly in front of me is none other than the head of our company’s personnel department. Even though he’s a son-in-law, he’s part of the president’s family and ranks pretty high in the company hierarchy. To me, he’s like a god.

The whole thing started because...

Yesterday, my colleagues couldn’t meet their quotas and had to go home because I didn’t wipe their butts for them.

This morning, more than half of them didn’t show up. If you don’t meet your quota, you get thoroughly scolded in front of everyone by our sticky-fingered boss. For someone with a weak mental constitution, it’s an unbearable ordeal.

It’s not uncommon for people to call in sick or disappear without a trace, but this is a collective disappearance on a scale we’ve never seen before.

They’ve definitely fled. It seems the brainwashing as company slaves has worn off all at once. The backbone of a black company is surprisingly fragile.

Now, all the competent people are gone. Ah, but Mr. Tanabe is still here. Could he have been the one to incite the mass escape? The only ones left are temporary workers who are still getting used to the job. There’s no way this project will survive.

Then, my direct superior, who usually shows up late, came in and started lecturing me about management responsibility. When I reminded him who the actual manager was, he flew into a rage, foaming at the mouth and yelling.

Even if you don’t do much work normally, as a manager, you’re supposed to take responsibility in situations like this. Will I get fired? Will that be enough?

Realizing his own job was in danger, my superior might have gone a bit crazy. He kept hyperventilating and hurling insults at me hysterically.

I was already prepared to be fired, so I wasn’t scared at all. No matter how loudly he yelled, it was more comical than frightening.

Seeing my calm demeanor, my superior kept heating up, and the commotion attracted the attention of the executives, turning into an unexpected big fuss...

For some reason, during lunch break, I was called by the head of personnel and invited to go eat.

Echigo-ya is a slightly upscale soba restaurant near the company. The owner is related to our president, and it’s a favorite among the executives.

Since the executives are all part of the president’s family, they can use company funds to eat and drink, which helps with tax evasion and funnels money back to the family.

Now, I’m sitting in a private room at Echigo-ya, staring at the special tempura bowl in front of me, facing the head of personnel.

"You must love the tempura here. It’s on me, so don’t hesitate to eat."

The head of personnel said this, then started eating a shrimp tempura noisily. If it’s on him, I guess it’s fine. I break my chopsticks and start eating.

This is more like a platter of tempura than a bowl. The rice is buried under a mountain of tempura, drenched in tempura sauce.

There’s also a shrimp dumpling, a glass noodle soup, a salad, and a mini soba. It’s quite luxurious, but it feels like a mishmash. Plus, eating across from a greasy old man isn’t exactly pleasant.

"I worked hard when I was young. If you keep working hard, the higher-ups will recognize your efforts."

What is this guy talking about? I’ve been here for five years without a raise and forced to do unpaid overtime.

"You seem to be quite capable, but don’t forget the company’s kindness in nurturing you."

Didn’t the company have a policy of not nurturing employees and only hiring ready-to-go talent? If they had considered employee development, people wouldn’t have fled so easily. Is he really that out of touch, or is he just pretending to be stupid?

I ignore him and keep eating.

The owner of Echigo-ya used to work in sales for a shell company and got a cooking license through an online course. I think he has some talent for cooking.

During banquets, he hires professional chefs, but he usually runs the place alone. There are no other staff around, so he must have worked hard to prepare everything by himself.

The shrimp tempura looks impressive, but the taste is disappointing. The oil temperature was too low, making the batter soggy. The 20-centimeter shrimp is undercooked, almost raw. Is this on purpose? The soggy batter and undercooked shrimp don’t sit well with me. However, it’s not entirely a failure. There might be people who like this kind of taste. The lotus root tempura is crispy and quite delicious, though.

"Our company is a cozy startup. If you grit your teeth and improve our performance, you’ll eventually have a path to management."

I know the executives are all part of the president’s family. I guess it’s cozy for them.

Our company is always in the red for tax purposes. The profits disappear into the pockets of the executives through legal loopholes.

No matter how hard we work, the company is always in the red, and there are no raises or bonuses due to poor performance.

If you want to dangle the carrot of management, at least give us a raise. This pointless talk is making the already mediocre food taste even worse.

I finish most of the tempura and start on the rice. The katsuobushi broth in the tempura sauce is from a famous brand I like. I can tell by the sweetness. It’s more practical than making the broth from scratch, but for 3,000 yen, it’s a bit disappointing.

"The Edo-style shrimp is top-notch in flavor and aroma, isn’t it?"

The head of personnel is very proud. The shrimp was indeed large, but the undercooked tempura was disappointing. I wish it had been cooked properly.

I think the frozen black tiger shrimp tempura bowl is better, but if I say that, this foodie will probably mock me.

"Well, if you work hard, you’ll be able to eat a decent lunch like this every day. Use today’s meal as motivation and do your best."

I’m disappointed that the head of personnel is just this kind of man. I’ll do my job properly even without his flattery.

If they need to flatter someone like me, the company must be in serious trouble.

---

"Kousetsu, I saw your match yesterday."

When I got to the arcade, Jimmy ran up to me. This place is great; it’s where I really feel alive.

"Yesterday’s match? Was it the Christmas event?"

"Using a humanoid gear for wrestling, what kind of motions do you have registered?"

A humanoid gear is the official name for the robot weapons in "Guardian Troopers."

"Why use a humanoid gear? It should be called a Guardian Trooper, right? It’s in the title."

"But the American title is 'Planet Mercenaries.'"

"Planet, M?"

"Mercenaries means mercenaries. We’re set up as mercenaries."

I guess there’s a story like that. It’s a common setup in these kinds of games, so I never really paid attention.

"The Japanese title was changed because it wouldn’t sell otherwise. I guess it’s a fifty-fifty situation."

"Is this game a Western one?"

"What are you talking about? You can tell from the mecha design."

The mecha design did seem a bit odd, but can you really tell it’s a Western game just by looking? Jimmy is pretty sharp. He’s a designer in training, after all.

Well, as long as it’s fun, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Western game.

---

"Shall we continue the Christmas tournament?"

"Ah, the second round of the tournament is unlocked the day after tomorrow."

What? You’re killing my motivation.

It seems this is to accommodate people who can’t play every day. The tournament is held over a few days for each round. It wouldn’t be fun to lose by default just because you can’t make it to the arcade for a day.

"It’s better to come early on the unlock day and get your matches done. If you’re late, it’ll be hard to find opponents."

I see. Alright, I’ll do my best to escape my mandatory overtime on the unlock day.

---

Anyway, I get into the machine. If the tournament is out of the question, I’ll test the new weapons I got today.

The Sword Breaker and Hand Launcher P. Both are small, so they fit easily on the racks. I tried mounting them on the racks on my thighs, and there’s no interference.

Jimmy mentioned motion registration.

You can register frequently used actions and link them to buttons or commands. It’s like a macro. I don’t like the idea of bringing work into the game, so I’ll stick to direct control.

Even with direct control, the smart AI learns my habits and corrects minor mistakes. It’s much easier to operate now compared to when I first started. The AI seems to judge my intentions based on the situation and my inputs, and it overlooks minor input errors to do what I want. At least, I think so.

The longer I play, the more information is stored, and the AI gets smarter. The information is probably recorded on my pilot card.

At first, I struggled just to hold a weapon, but now I can mount it on the racks almost unconsciously. That’s the key. If you think too much about the steps, it gets confusing.

For shooting, motion registration might be convenient, but for sword fighting, direct control is fine. The main reason is that it’s just too much trouble to register everything.

---

Let’s try the Plasma Launcher first.

The Plasma Launcher is a type of energy gun that fires ball-shaped plasma. There are various types, from pistol-sized to bazooka-like, but they generally have a bad reputation due to their slow speed.

It came from a gacha ticket yesterday and is called the Hand Launcher P. The P probably stands for Plasma.

It looks like a pistol with an unusually thick barrel. It’s debatable whether it’s cool or not. It’s a bit toy-like.

When I fired it, a ball of plasma shot out.

The plasma quickly slowed down, floated in the air for a while, and then disappeared.

With such an unstable trajectory, lock-on is pointless. Compared to this, the wire anchor is much more accurate.

It’s not a weapon you aim with, but the hitbox is wide, so it might be useful for intimidation.

It has high projectile cancellation and decent power. It’s more like a floating mine than a gun.

The downside is the risk of hitting yourself and the relatively long charge time for a single shot.

As a weapon, it’s one of the lightest, so it’s good as a secondary weapon. But I don’t see many opportunities to use it.

---

Next is the Sword Breaker. It looks like an army knife but is classified as a shield. This kind of thing happens in games. There must have been a miscommunication in the development team.

It has low attack power but high durability. It might be useful for deflecting enemy shots.

The main issue is the small hitbox, but it’s acceptable as a backup weapon. I’m glad it’s one of the lightest.

The weapon’s name suggests it has high weapon-breaking capabilities. It seems to significantly reduce the durability of melee weapons. It’s a cheat weapon that can destroy a crab mech’s pincers in an instant.

For me, who fights with swords, it’s a formidable enemy. I need a strategy for when the enemy has a Sword Breaker. Should I carry a beam sword as a backup?

If this keeps up, I’ll end up carrying more and more weapons. My Links is not a heavy-armed type like Sagittarius, so overloading it and reducing mobility would be a bad move.