Chapter 19: About That Combat Outfit
That day, news programs on various networks all covered the same topic.
[Lost Fairies, Eres of the Pure Flame, were almost defeated]
It’s not that she was seriously injured. She had simply been overpowered and forced to her knees in battle against assassins from Delnkeim.
However, Eres was entirely on the defensive, and it was easy to imagine that she would have been defeated if the enemy had not retreated.
It was the first time she had been pushed that far in a head-on fight, causing a major stir online.
The fact that the Lost Fairies were deployed but could not stop Delnkeim’s actions was also a big factor.
This time, Delnkeim’s objective was to steal a device developed by a certain company. Despite the fairy princesses’ defense efforts, the device was taken.
The company had not revealed what kind of device it was.
153: Anonymous Combatant
How should we react to this…?
154: Anonymous Combatant
Should we congratulate hakase?
155: Anonymous Combatant
As Japanese people, “congratulations” doesn’t seem right, does it?
156: Anonymous Combatant
Especially for those of us who know the situation to some extent.
157: hakase
Yeah, well. I’m a bit unsure how to react myself…
158: Anonymous Combatant
I can imagine.
159: Anonymous Combatant
I can’t believe the first ones to corner Lost Fairy-chan weren’t some of my monster or demon soldier, but rather L-ria-chan (seventeen) and her idol trio of combatants…”
160: Anonymous Combatant
By the way, what was that full-body armor the L-ria chan were wearing that looked like a metal superhero outfit?
161: Anonymous Combatant
Right, I know it’s some kind of powered suit hakase made.
I’ve heard the ones inside were L-ria, S-yaka, and I-na.
But I don’t get how they were able to deploy in that state and beat Eres.
162: Anonymous Combatant
It must be an amazing powered suit, but is that new combat gear for officers?
163: hakase
Ah, how can I explain this? Let me start from the beginning.
It started when I was summoned by the leader.
Leader: “Listen Hakase, what do you think about female uniforms?”
Me: “What do I think? Well, we have all our male and female officers wear the same black full-body suit.”
Leader: “Indeed, they are the same. However, there seems to be a bit of an issue.”
Me: “If there’s a malfunction, I’ll address it right away.”
Leader: “No, no functional issues. But there are complaints about the current full-body suit. Particularly from the female officers. Fairly major complaints that can’t be ignored. So I’m leaving it to you!”
Ah, the usual pattern. The leader got sick of dealing with it and dumped it on me, huh?
164: Anonymous Combatant
Here comes another task for hakase!
165: Anonymous Combatant
Even if you know the deal, that Black Leader is still a Black Leader, huh?
166: hakase
Anyway, apparently there were complaints from the female officers.
And then L-ria came to see me.
L-ria: “Thank you for your time today, Deputy Chief hakase.”
Me: “What’s up, L-ria?”
L-ria: “I actually have something to discuss with you. Please take it as the opinion of the female officers rather than just my own.”
Sounds like a big deal.
167: hakase
L-ria: “As you may have already heard, there are issues with the combat officer suits. A number of female officers are dissatisfied with the current ones.”
Me: “Hmm, not to boast, but I took pride in making a top-class gear for officers – shock-resistant, flexible, with magic-powered power-assist. Was there some kind of malfunction?”
L-ria: “No, of course your inventions are wonderful, hakase! But, well…”
She fidgeted shyly.
L-ria: “They’re a bit too tight-fitting, you see. Our, uh, body lines are…quite visible.”
Ah, I see…
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168: Anonymous Combatant
Now that you mention it, Delnkeim’s combat officers used to wear those old-fashioned full-black suits, didn’t they?
169: Anonymous Combatant
Right, they probably had a nice fit but the body lines definitely showed.
170: hakase
I thought I had just made the classic combat officer uniform.
Honestly, the design was straight out of the traditional Delnkeim suit – just changed the materials a bit and added magic-powered power-assist.
But it gives anyone high power levels and defenses strong enough to withstand not just handguns but machine guns and shotguns.
171: Anonymous Combatant
Sounds like gear the regular police would want.
172: Anonymous Combatant
I want one too.
173: hakase
Since the design hasn’t changed, I didn’t expect any new complaints about it.
174: Anonymous Combatant
Companies in this world change uniforms too sometimes.
Like if the company got bigger so they want something more befitting their new scale. Or they want a fresh design appealing to younger people. Simply because trends change.
It’s an era of women’s empowerment now, so anything tailored only for men gets backlash quickly.
The demands for attire change over time.
175: hakase
You’re right. My mistake was thinking “if it worked before, it’ll keep working” out of laziness.
If there are complaints, it’s the developer’s job to improve things.
And so, my new challenge began.
making documentary-style humming sounds
176: Anonymous Combatant
Trying to sound all documentary-ish, huh?
177: Anonymous Combatant
Seems he’s getting nicely assimilated into Japanese culture.
178: hakase
I decided to listen to the female officers’ feedback.
Rather than randomly asking around like a creep, I had L-ria summarize their complaints to some extent.
When she came back to me, she had brought S-yaka and I-na as well.
L-ria: “I asked them to cooperate so the opinions wouldn’t be biased.”
S-yaka: “Thank you for your time, hakase!”
I-na: “Wahh, it’s my first time in hakase’s lab! What’s this, what’s that!?”
Sorry I-na, please don’t mess with too many things, okay?
179: Anonymous Combatant
S-yaka is usually casual but knows to be respectful to superiors, huh?
180: Anonymous Combatant
I-na is just a brat through and through.
181: hakase
So I listened to them again carefully.
They’ve given up on the work attire being cute since it’s a uniform.
But they still don’t like their body lines showing up.
Especially how guys’ eyes tend to be drawn to their chests, which is embarrassing.
If it’s their boyfriend like M-man, they don’t mind the stares. But full-body suits are inherently uncool to begin with.
And when they sweat, the suits cling even more, further drawing unwanted attention.
Seems that covers most of it. For desk work, appearance would take priority over performance.
182: Anonymous Combatant
Hey, some really personal opinions are getting mixed in there.
183: hakase
Once the areas for improvement were clear, coming up with solutions was easy. I immediately got to work on upgrades.
First, full-body armor to conceal the body lines. This would completely hide their figures.
But the added weight meant the conventional power-assist wouldn’t be enough.
So I dispersed smaller power units across the armor for smooth mobility.
That also meant needing a better energy source though.
Using pseudo-fabricated souls would work but be too costly.
And full-body armor lacks flexibility, limiting who could wear it.
I’d love to use magic-conductive variable MG metal but it’s expensive too.
Developing custom compact magic capacitors might be faster than artificial souls.
Ideally, I’d use terrestrial materials and just provide the power myself.
This is turning into quite the interesting project.
184: Anonymous Combatant
His character is changing, his character is changing.
185: Anonymous Combatant
Halvied keeps slipping out occasionally.
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