The Destruction of the World by Fire Read Online Free Page B

after hanging onto a Monolith, injecting Varanium corrosion fluid,” Kisara muttered.
    “Yes, that is the mystery.”
    Kisara was deep in thought.
    “But…” Rentaro frowned and looked at the Seitenshi. “I don’t know about that, but the ant incident was definitely a diversion.”
    “A diversion?” The Seitenshi’s eyes were panicked, but after a moment turned to deep thought. “Satomi, that’s unthinkable. Stage Ones cannot invade through the Monoliths; Gastrea that cannot enter cannot be used as a diversion.”
    “Lady Seitenshi, do you know about the self-sacrifice of ants? There is a type of ant in South America that plugs up holes in the nest once it gets dark. When they do that, there are always some worker ants left outside who work to plug the hole from the outside. By the next morning, all of those ants are dead. In other words, in order to protect the network of their nest, they carry out their duties as sacrificial pawns.”
    “You think the Model Ants that attacked the self-defense force facilities were acting as such?”
    “That’s the only explanation for it. Even if I allow that the Stage Four could possibly hang on to the Monolith, ultimately, there’s no way that the Stage One would be able to invade.”
    Just by being carriers of the Gastrea virus, the Cursed Children started to feel sick and faint if they approached the Monoliths. Even if the self-defense force had not annihilated the Model Ants, they would have probably died from weakness from the effects of the magnetic field.
    Rentaro continued. “In other words, they charged the Monolith in order to buy time for Aldebaran to grab onto the Monolith and inject Varanium corrosion fluid into it. They knew that they would die.”
    “That’s a very…
systematic
way of acting. They’re being led in a way that hasn’t been seen before.” The Seitenshi groaned as she thought aloud. After a while, she lifted her face. “Satomi, your theory is extremely useful. You truly are amazing. Even though many Gastrea experts have been putting their heads together to figure out why Model Ants would be piercing the Monoliths, you’ve figured it out in a second.”
    “That’s because Satomi is kind of obsessed,” noted Kisara.
    “Ugh, don’t say that…,” Rentaro rebutted.
    The Seitenshi looked at the slouching young man with a curious expression on her face. “Satomi, do you know a lot about insects?”
    “Not just insects, but about animals in general. I mean, I liked Fabre’s
Souvenirs Entomologiques
, and it kind of continued from there…”
    “I see… You didn’t have any friends, so the insects were your friends, right?”
    “Why do people automatically assume I have no friends if I know about bugs?!” Rentaro saw the edge of the Seitenshi’s lips twitch for a second, and he realized something: The mood was so dark she was distracting them with jokes.
    “Lady Seitenshi, what do you want me to do?” Rentaro sighed.
    She quietly lifted her tea to her mouth. The wind chime tinkled, and in that pause, the sound of the air conditioner echoed through the room. “I want you to form an adjuvant, Satomi.”
    “An adjuvant?” He saw Kisara’s body stiffen next to him. Apparently, Kisara knew what that meant. “Kisara, what’s that?” he asked her.
    She looked at him with an expression of shock. “Wait, Satomi, you don’t know what the adjuvant system is? Didn’t you get a lecture on it when you were getting your civil officer license?”
    “I don’t know. I slept through most of the lectures.”
    “I can’t believe you!” Kisara hid her face in her palm. “During emergency operations, the government can make use of civil officers by grouping them—like the self-defense force. An ‘adjuvant’ refers to a team system, with squads composed of civil officers.”
    “Team system? You mean you want me to form a fighting team?”
    “That’s right,” the Seitenshi nodded. “An adjuvant fights under a commander, who is in