Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Sugita assumed the young man's sudden reaction was due to the shock of the ruins and didn't take it to heart. He pointed to the riverbank, where a large number of houses had been affected by the battle: "I live there, and my house is probably a mess. But I'm more worried about my factory. If it's convenient for you, could you take me back to the factory?"

Guilt compelled Estend to bow deeply: "Of course, no problem. If the factory needs more manpower, we can help!"

"Hey, I should be thanking you, why are you bowing like that?" Sugita said, somewhat bewildered. "Am I out of touch with the way young people think...?"

Please let us help you!

"Don't do that, oh dear, you're too kind of a young man. But I really do have some difficulty walking right now, so I can only ask you for help."

After helping to confirm the machine's safety, Estend and Samuel took President Sugita back to his ransacked home.

They helped clean the house there, and by the time they returned to the forester's cabin, the sun had already set.

The moon hangs in the willow branches, the wind blows through the forest, and the lights come on in the forest ranger's hut.

This abandoned house naturally had no electricity, but Estend had tinkered with a small solar-powered light bulb in his spare time, and now, the little ball of light, emitting a gentle white glow, was floating up and down by the window.

In the past, Eistend would either chatter about seeing plants native to Earth in various places or talk to himself while organizing intelligence; in short, there would be some noise in the room.

But Estend hasn't said a word since he came back today, I don't know what he's thinking.

Samuel sat quietly on a low stool against the wall, his head slightly bowed.

"You've forgotten what I said: even in battle, we must do everything we can to prevent innocent people from being harmed."

The long silence was broken. Estend, having seemingly prepared his words, said to the person hiding in the shadows, "I know the second mission is important, but that doesn't mean you have to rush into battle the moment you see an Ultra Warrior."

The person opposite looked up.

Estend raised his voice slightly: "And have you forgotten what I said before? 'This is not a testing ground, you can't destroy it at will,' 'Earthlings are not monsters for your teacher to test you on, you can't attack them at will.'"

"I..." Samuel's mind was filled with confusion.

Under Fangte's deliberate guidance, Samuel's fighting style became completely unrestrained. Because he often carried out missions on alien planets, he didn't need to worry about destructive power; because the equipment department was responsible for "maintenance" behind him, he didn't need to worry about himself.

But now Estend tells him that even if he sees the mission target, he can't immediately go up and fight. During the battle, he also has to be careful not to hurt anyone.

Incomprehensible.

But based on his consistent execution skills, Samuel still asked, "Is this also an instruction from the guide?"

Hearing this, Estend felt a surge of anger rush to his head. Commands! Commands! Damn it!

He slammed his hands on the table and stood up, even knocking over the chair behind him.

“This is not an order, not a mission assignment! I’m talking to you, to Samuel!” Estend stepped forward, bent down slightly, placed his hand on Samuel’s shoulder, and looked at him sincerely with his deep brown eyes: “Samuel, we are on Earth now, and I’m telling you how to get along with Earthlings.”

Samuel, still puzzled, replied, "The mission doesn't involve interacting with Earthlings."

"So now you have this task!"

Eistend now desperately wants to find those researchers who built the thinking system and brainwash them one by one. Damn it, damn it! It's all their fault that things turned out this way!

He turned to go back to his chair, but as he reached out to pull the overturned chair back up, he suddenly noticed something was wrong.

By the light, he noticed a dark substance on his palm.

Very finely broken, brown in color.

In just a moment, he realized what he had overlooked—Samuel, as was his habit, would usually stand behind him waiting for orders, but today he was sitting on a low stool.

Estend suddenly turned around and took a few steps to Samuel, tearing open the collar of his coat. The gentle light dutifully illuminated everything: the blood-soaked shirt had turned an oxidized brown.

Estend looked at his fingers again; the parts that had been gripping the fabric were invariably covered in small, hardened clots of blood. It was only because his coat was so dark that he should have noticed. He had previously thought the lingering smell of blood in the ruins was due to the heavy casualties, but it turned out to be from Samuel!

How could anyone be completely unharmed after being exposed to such light!

Estend planned to go out that night to look for bandages or other things that could be used to cover his wounds.

但塞缪尔叫住了他。欢;:迎"进"!入【,!夜;袭";的":月:费.'群;:】:.6;9.4:9.,3:""6!，1:3";5."

"It is expected to recover in ten hours and will not affect combat effectiveness."

The reporting style remains concise and clear.

But Estend only felt that the stuff in his chest was getting heavier.

He roared, barely able to contain himself, "Don't sit here, go rest! Lie down! There won't be any fighting here!"

The small white light bulb, which had been swaying up and down, drifted a little further away, as if it had sensed its owner's anger.

With a long sigh of relief, Estender finally straightened his chair and sat back down behind the table. He opened his terminal and added the search for a pharmacy to his to-do list. Given Samuel's consistently reckless fighting style, he would probably need to do these things in the future.

He placed his finger on the screen and swiped it, whispering, "Does it hurt?"

"……Um."

"If you know it hurts, don't try to tough it out next time. There's no equipment department here."

"Ah."

"Next time, listen to my instructions and don't rush in on your own."

"Yes."

"...Samuel."

"Yes?"

“Now that you’re on Earth, follow Earthling rules. And…” Estend said, “You are Samuel.”

It is not an "asset" or a "weapon," but the life itself, referred to as "Samuel."

This time Samuel did not reply, only

There was a soft rustling of the night wind passing through the cracks in the window.

Chapter Twenty-Four: What Can Be Done

Samuel rested for a long time.

When Estend went out, he groggily opened his eyes, but was ordered to continue resting, so he obediently lay down until Estend returned.

Estend seemed to be in a good mood. He held two blue and white cards in his hand and excitedly showed them to Samuel: "These are our identification cards! It wasn't for nothing that I went through all that trouble hacking into a bunch of departments' systems. We're finally not unregistered anymore!"

"Black households?"

“It means I can’t do anything, I can’t work, and I have no money to buy things,” Estend handed Samuel a card with “Aiba Yu” written on it. “This is yours. Make sure you keep it safe and don’t lose it. Ah… I wanted to go to the botanical garden. Now I’m all set!”

"Botanical garden?"

Then Samuel heard Estend's tone clearly decline: "It seems we have to pay for tickets. How are we going to pay for them? Should we... go get a job?"

If you want to go to the botanical garden, just go! If the gate is blocked, just fly in. Why do you need to buy a ticket?

Seemingly aware of Samuel's thoughts, Estend said while accessing the network to search for job information, "If you can get in openly, don't sneak around. Samuel, the first step to getting along well with Earthlings is to do as the Romans do and follow their rules."

Samuel nodded seriously: "Yes, the first step, according to Earthling rules."

"Then let's take this first step seriously!" Estend's eyes lit up as he spotted a recruitment message: "Samuel, how's your injury?"

"Recovered well and ready to perform combat missions."

“Ah… no combat missions,” Estend said, feeling a bit overwhelmed by his mission. “Come on, let’s go for the interview. Oh, and you need to get the serum off your clothes.”

"An interview?" Samuel obediently straightened his clothes as a silver light flashed, and the shirt under his coat finally returned to its original white color.

“Hmm, the rescue team interview seems to be for manual labor. We can’t do the other specialized jobs, and... the uniforms are very secure, so we don’t need to come up with excuses for the black mess on your neck. You’re a good fit!” Estend grabbed Samuel and headed out the door: “Let’s go, it’ll be over by 5 o’clock, we can still make it!”

"Everything is fine after the tests. I can just hack into their system and fabricate a report for the final physical exam!"

An hour and a half later, at the rescue team's interview site.

In front of the runway.

Several people, exhausted like dead dogs, sat, lay, or knelt on the ground. A few others, barely maintaining their composure, were still standing. A man in a scarf walked to the side without batting an eye, as if he hadn't just run 3000 meters, but had simply taken a 30-meter stroll.

The examiner, who was timing the test, stared blankly at the time.

The guy who looked somewhat like the scarf-wearing man grabbed him, looking utterly devastated.

"I told you to slow down!" Estend muttered under his breath.

“It’s already very slow,” Samuel said, puzzled.

“You managed to loop them three times, even though you were slow! And, and you should imitate them, you should act like you’re really tired…” Why does this person always need me to explain everything? If I don’t explain, he won’t know anything at all. Estend felt like he was back in the days when he was teaching Fos-001, those were truly nightmarish days of taking care of a baby.

"Is the last group finished?" A middle-aged man who looked somewhat serious walked over. He glanced at the few people on the ground, picked up the roster in his hand, checked each person's results one by one, asked a few questions in a low voice about their test results, and finally crossed out their names one by one.

"Give me another chance!" "I really came with the ideal of saving lives. I will participate in more training in the future and I will definitely not hold anyone back!" The people whose names were crossed out wailed.

"You can go ask the victims if they can be given another chance." The middle-aged man snorted and turned his gaze to the person who was still panting heavily.

The men immediately stood up straight, barely daring to breathe.

The middle-aged man's cold gaze swept over them one by one, and then he walked up to two young men who looked somewhat alike.

He flipped through a few pages of the roster, then looked up and asked, "Aiba Yu, Aiba Kanade?"

“Yes!” Estend stood up straight like the others, and then tugged at Samuel, signaling him to stand up as well.

"Hmm, let me see... The qualification review is fine. Aiba Yu, excellent physical fitness test, excellent equipment test. Aiba Kanade, qualified physical fitness test, qualified equipment test. There are no problems with the information and background." When the middle-aged man looked at them again, he finally put on a smile: "Come back here in three days to participate in the final theoretical test. The questions are very basic, but you still need to prepare."

"Qi Tai," before they could answer, the middle-aged man said to the examiner who was timing the test, "organize the test results, issue the theoretical test admission tickets to those who pass, and don't keep people waiting too long."

“Yes, Captain Hasegawa,” the young man called “Keita” smiled at them, revealing two tiger teeth: “I’ll get your exam admission tickets. You can go to the lobby and wait for a while. We might be colleagues in the future.”

Perhaps infected by the smile of those little tiger teeth, Estend also started to smile.