Infiltration

First Objective

"You can't hide from me!" a nosy child's voice said, sniffing continuously.

Shizuka was hiding in an area where extra scraps were stored, but they were more of rejected designs which failed. She parked the truck exactly in front of the area's entrance. Shizuka planned to silently stab the incoming threat directly in their throats, so she hid near the entrance to surprise her targets. She rested her back flat on the wall.

Once the sniffing sound became louder, Shizuka instead flinched and stopped herself once she saw a figure of a cute, oily child with long, messy orange hair. She really is a kid, questioned Shizuka in her thoughts. Moreover, the child already saw Shizuka's figure, but she chose to ignore Shizuka.

"It's in this truck! The coal!"

The obnoxious child rejoiced. Shizuka is irritated due to the fact she was just ignored as if she does not look threatening at all. Not only that, but the child is too noisy for her taste. The child does not seem to have anybody with her. Was she talking to herself all this time, again Shizuka thought.

"Hey! You dropped your scarf! You should wear it at all times, careless one!"

"Excuse me?" replied Shizuka, only to realize the child was referring to the thrown red scarf on the ground. Shizuka thought she can use this to her advantage.

"I-I mean, yes. Forgive me."

"You are forgiven! What's your name? I am the great Caroline! Your big sister!" Caroline asked and then introduced herself, acting that she is superior to Shizuka whom she thought is a fellow Ptolemaic Army soldier.

"I am... Shi."

"Huh... you must be the sister of Sho. Whatev. Help me bring these fragrant coals to my humble abode!"

Shizuka remembers the guy called Sho. He was that annoying guy who hit himself towards her earlier. Shizuka decided to play along with Caroline's ignorance. Shizuka picked up the red scarf on the ground, shook it off from dust then wore it around her neck.

I can't believe I'm putting up with a brat, but she's still a kid after all, Shizuka thought to herself.

Shizuka has a weakness for children. She believes there is a reason why Caroline is working for the Ptolemaic Army. She just cannot bring herself to hurt Caroline.

She got herself back in the truck and drove the truck towards the factory. Surprisingly, it was just beside the scrap dump. Caroline guided her, but she did not really need Caroline's awful guidance.

After that, Shizuka got down from the truck. She made sure she hid the key as she will use the same truck to get out of the base. Caroline was standing in front of her already.

"The smell of coal... Ah... We need a lot of them for fuel and smelting." Caroline explained to Shizuka, but Shizuka did not care.

Shizuka looked around. There are a lot of scraps scattered about in the factory. There are empty and incomplete vehicles.

"Caroline, do you know who your leader in the Engineering department is? I need to have a word with them."

"Huh? You need to have a word with me? What is it?" replied Caroline, scratching her nose for a moment as she spoke.

Shizuka was a bit confused at what she heard. She asked where the leader is, but Caroline did not seem to answer her.

"I was talking about your leader."

"You're talking to the leader! Oh man, you didn't know I am the head? How could you hurt my feelings!?"

Shizuka was dumbfounded upon processing these words. Her jaws dropped behind her mask as she just stared at the little Caroline, the head of the Engineering department. Little she might be, but Caroline is very bright in creating weapons for the army. It was her designs as to why the Ptolemaic Army overpowered the Regular Army in its current state by vastly improving the existing technology from other military groups with only using leftover scraps.