Glorious Past (before battle)

I've returned.

There was one message in Shrenne's mailbox that was deemed worth reading.

The environment did not permit me to print it out, so I memorized the mail's content.

'I hope you're doing well, Miss Ran. Open parenthesis, star, tear, tear, swung dash, caret, caret... closed parenthesis.'

<Y-You can skip those parts...>

Understood. I will then dispense with punctuation marks that do not appear important.

'I've been trying to figure out if what you said was really true, but that sucker is making it hard.'

'I've been promoted to team manager too, but I wasn't let in... just because I didn't win that silly "best" award.'

'And he's now recruited collaborators from the outside, probably to help with whatever he's plotting.'

'I heard they're from a newly-found company, and I haven't checked what kind of people they are yet. I bet they're all haughty and arrogant just like their client.'

'Still... Still, the plan will proceed as intended.'

'We'll succeed... and return to a glorious past.'

'To tell you the truth, my most dazzling memory was when I first met you after joining the company.'

'But our goal is more ambitious than that.'

'So, let's promise to meet again there.'

'In a past where no technologies existed, allowing everything that existed to shine brighter.'

'There, chickens will freely fly over the meadows, their wings uncut.'

'When a person loses their arm, we'll comfort them...'

'And learn how to live together even if an arm is missing.'

'We may not be able to enjoy sumptuous feasts or conveniences of modern civilization, and we won't have nearly as many resources at our disposal...'

'In that vastness... We'll be free to walk all day.'

'Oh, I'm planning to bring Fixers from the outside for the plan. My juniors have gotten too used to the ampules.'

'If rapid development can only be achieved by means that cause pain and suffering to people...'

'Then I'm willing to give up on all the prosperity it brings'.

'That's all I have to say for now. Yours in haste...'

Star, star, heart heart heart.

You don't have to read all that!

There's a possibility that it may have been a sequence or cipher, so I deemed it reasonable to read it out and let the manager determine its significance rather than mull over whether I should dispense with it and discount the possibility that it may be necessary information.

<Good work...>

How ironic.

I guess it's fortunate for her that she didn't get to see liberation alliance members murdering researchers without mercy...

She probably believed she was working for a noble cause to end violence until the end of her life...

But I agree, it was probably best for her that she died holding onto that belief.