Mr. Pilot (before battle)
This one... It's gotta be this shipping container. And in here should be the LCCB Team Captain...
Pshaw...! I... I really thought I was done for. Sniff, sniff...
……
Name's Pilot. LCCB Preliminary Observation Unit 3 Assistant Manager.
Wait, you're not the Team Leader? But the pirates said they captured the LCCB Team Leader...?
Hey... I'm standing right here... What's up with the obvious disappointment...?
Anyways - thank you for savin' my life! I heard so many stories about y'all. The LCB, huh?
<What kind of stories, I wonder...>
Happy to make your acquaintance, sirs and ladies! I've been a huge fan ever since I joined the company!
... Uhh, why are y'all looking at me like that...?
Long story short, there was a whole mess with this other guy who claimed to be a fan. So... yeah. You gotta understand.
Khm, ahm...
Ohh, and I've a message to deliver to you guys.
Ahem, ahem...
"Hey. I bet you guys are chaotically running around somewhere in U Corp. like headless chickens and messing everything up."
... Time for O.O.F.
W-wait! I'm just delivering the message exactly as she said it, intonations and all!
Watch out~ Don't cha think it might've been better to start with "and I quote"~? And tell us who this 'she' is, too.
Abbreviations and omissions are two completely different things. I'll let this slide, fledgling. Just this once.
Who 'she' is? Well, of course! It's none other than...
Manager Miss Saude herself!
<...!>
Saude... is alive?
M-manager...? Did she get promoted?
She's still in recovery, but After Team arrived just in the nick of time and treated her wounds, saving her life.
... I'm glad it wasn't a posthumous promotion.
Manager Saude wanted to meet all of y'all too, but couldn't make it on account of her bein' on a different mission.
<I'm glad she's okay...>
Is Saude... okay?
'Course! It wasn't the smoothest recovery, but she's now healthy enough to eat some grub and hold a lengthy conversation.
That's great, but I was asking, because...
She lost her partner. Right before her eyes.
......
Oh...
Pilot produced a piece of old, folded paper and began reading from it.
'This is a reminder to all LCCB employees. We, the Before Team, are assigned the paramount task of clearing the path before anyone else does. Every bloodied step, every flesh given becomes another stepping stone for your fellow Limbus Company employees to follow into the future.'
That's the very first line from the new hire training guide we were issued.
And I'm proud of it! I'm proud of the sacrifices we make. Most of my coworkers at LCCB just want to make a quick buck before quitting and say I'm the odd one, though.
You're... proud of sacrifice?
Seriously?
Now now, Ishy~ Whaaat? You want Sardine Whale flavored ice cream? No way, me too! Why don't we head out and get some together~?
Hey, let me go. Let me g - Gah, how are you so strong -
Rodya grabbed Ishmael's arm and began practically dragging her outside.
<Well... just in case she gets into another fight...>
......
I decided to sneakily follow them from a distance.
Ishy, ya gotta stop bringing down the mood like that~ We saved his life, didn't we?
I understand that things are a bit rough right now, but let's be a bit more patient, 'kay~?
Rodion, that back there... that's just indoctrination. They're brainwashing them.
No one wants to admit that they're just throwing themselves into a meat grinder. So they wrap that neatly in the name of self-sacrifice...
I know.
Then why...
People need a way to endure that reality and go on living somehow. Some people live from paycheck to paycheck. Sometimes... they just don't have a choice.
......
Let's hear out our overzealous friend, how 'bout that?
... Don't talk down to me like you're coddling some baby.
We're not that close, Rodion.
But I'll listen, just this once.
... Fine, fine~
Rodya seemed to have noticed that I was following them all along. She signaled me with a quick wink...
... And I was able to return to where the other Sinners were before they did.