LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 30
Thank god I made it in time. Ticia sighed in relief as she and her favorite daughter were staring at each other. It’s really fortunate that I could track her position.
After leaving Clone installation 3, Ticia was wondering what she needed to do first. Either she tried to meet up with Licia and Lidia first or go directly to the Ionian camp to free Mia and Nia. But thanks to her experience, she still reasoned that it would be better to first stop Licia and Lidia from doing what she thought they were gonna do. That is, assaulting the enemy camp. There was a problem, though. She knew where the Ionian’s Republic camp was, but she did not know Licia and Lidia’s position. She would have had a hard time finding her favorite daughter were it not for A-4’s help.
The AI had told her that the communication devices the clone girls had taken were linked to her armored skinsuit integrated communication system, so with a bit of tampering from the AI, Ticia was able to track down her daughter’s position.
Unfortunately, the signal that they gave suddenly splitted into two, and Ticia could guess she was too late, and that her daughters were already within the enemy base. A while later, the two signals separated further as Ticia heard the sound of an explosion in the distance. Something had happened.
Ticia wanted to contact her daughters with the communication device, but her daughters communication devices were weaker than the one she had, so she could not reach them. Instead, she doubled up her pace in hope of reaching her daughters before it was too late.
As she grew closer to the nearest signal, she began to hear gunfire, but those quickly stopped as Ticia finally reached the scene.
From behind the hiding spot she had found, she could see one of her daughters on the ground, bloodied, encircled by Ionian soldiers, who seemed to be ready to kill her.
That was something Ticia could not tolerate, and she nearly jumped into the fray without a care, but restrained herself from doing so at the last moment. She needed a plan, and as luck would have it, she just had the perfect equipment to make the enemy suffer.
And so, Ticia activated the communication device, sending a message to her daughter, before throwing a flashbang. She then proceeded to eradicate her enemies within the confusion, making sure none would survive to tell the tale.
Once done, and having calmed down a bit, Ticia could finally take a closer look at her daughter, who she immediately recognised. It was Licia, her favorite.
“Are you alright, Licia?” She asked her daughter, wanting to make sure she was not hurt, and that the blood on her was only the one of her enemies.
“...Why are you here?” Licia asked back with a stare that told Ticia that her daughter did not particularly welcome her, which she could understand.
That look, it’s one of somebody who does not trust anybody. Ticia thought. She too once had that look, but not anymore. She had learned that even though it is hard to trust somebody, it is necessary sometimes for your own survival. Just like how Rika and I entrusted our back to each other.
And so, Ticia insisted. “I’m here to bring you and your sisters back.”
“And why would we want to go back?” Licia asked back defiantly. “You don’t need to hide it from me, you don’t want us, we’re only a bother to you. So why would you suddenly try to help us?”
“I understand what you’re saying.” Ticia said, surprising Licia, the girl had thought Ticia would deny this, but Ticia instead continued. “You’re right, I took child care too lightly, I thought what I was doing for all of you was the best, but I was wrong, and I hurted you and your sisters. I’m sorry.”
“...What are you trying to say?” Licia asked, not following where this conversation was going. Apologizing? Like this would solve anything! Licia did not believe one bit of Ticia’s apology, and Ticia took notice of it.
“Believe it or not, I’ve thought about our relationship a lot recently.” Ticia began in a sad voice. “The first thing I did wrong was in the way I asked all of you to call me…”
“W-what?”
“Licia, I should never have forced you and your sisters to call me ‘big sis’, after all, just as much as you all think of me as your ‘mother’, I think of you all as my ‘daughters’.” Ticia declared to her favorite daughter, staring at her in the eyes as Licia’s eyes grew big from what she just said.
“I’m sorry, because of my past, I tried to lock that notion away…” Ticia bowed to Licia as a sign of apology.
“...Is this another flick of your mind?” Licia asked, still not believing Ticia’s words, to which Ticia laughed sadly.
“Fufu, perhaps it is, but I can tell you one thing, Licia, this change of mind will stay forever. You and your sisters will always be my daughters in my eyes.”
“...” Licia stared back at her, and Ticia felt that Licia’s shell was slowly opening. She asked again.
“So please, could you forgive me for this once? I’ll tell you everything from now on, and I’ll be there for anything you need. I’ll even spoil you if that’s what you wish.”
They stayed like this for a moment, before Licia finally made up her mind, and rejected Ticia’s plea.
“I… I’m not goi-”
“Licia.”
Before Licia could finish however, Ticia interrupted her. She had felt the presence of people. Seeing Ticia’s serious face, Licia also concentrated on her surroundings, and also felt the presence of other people.
“...Come out, I know you’re there.” Ticia said, clearly angry at her talking time with Licia being interrupted.
I messed up. She thought. I was too focused on Licia that I did not keep watch of the surroundings.
After a brief silence, people emerged from the bushes. Some of them were people wearing green armored skinsuits: Republican Commandos.
“Seems like we interrupted a pretty touching moment, apologies for this.” The one leading the group, a Republican Commando, said, to which a second one refuted.
“Boss, you’re not sorry at all…”
“I am.” The man insisted for some reason, surprising his subordinates who had never seen the man express apologies to an enemy. The man continued on, as if unperturbed. “So, you said she was your daughter? We just learned something valuable…”
“She seems young to be a mother, though.” Another Republican Commando mumbled, and the one from before answered her.
“Yeah, but if you look at the both of them together, it’s clear that they are related.”
““...”” Ticia and Licia just stared at the intruders, wary of their moves. Ticia kind of felt offended by the comments saying she was too young to be the mother of Licia, but it was true that she was young, and seeing Licia’s current appearance, they appeared more like sisters than a mother and her child.
“Well, it doesn't matter in the end. Our goal is to get those clones back to our base, just like we did with the others.” The boss of the group declared, and both Ticia and Licia reacted to his words.
“So you were the ones who took Mia and Nia…” Ticia mumbled, not hiding her hostility and killing intent behind her voice. The regular soldiers shivered when they met her gaze, but the commandos seemed unaffected.
“Yes, I do believe they were called like that.” The boss said, as if it was not his business.
“...I see, you’re the ones who caused all of this.” Ticia nodded, before putting her helmet on. A fight was about to break out, and Ticia could tell those people were not a bunch she could go easy on. “...Licia, I need you to listen to me on this, those people are more dangerous than the previous ones.”
“Okay…” Licia, who was also on her guard, nodded to Ticia’s words, holding her carbine with more strength. She judged she had to make a temporary truce with Ticia, seeing how serious she was.
“Putting up a fight?” The boss of the enemy group asked. “I would advise you against that, but it looks like nothing I’ll say would change your mind, right?”
He got no answer, but he did not need one, Ticia’s killing intent grew more and more. She was clearly enraged at them. Not only had they interrupted her time with Licia, they were the ones who took Mia and Nia away!
“Catch her!” The boss ordered, and regular soldiers advanced.
“To the right!” Ticia ordered, and Licia immediately obeyed. Both of them made some distance, before Ticia turned and began to shoot with her rifle. “Suppressive fire on them!”
Licia obeyed again, and began shooting with her carbine in burst mode.
The barrage was effective, and the regular soldiers of the Ionian Republic were mowed down.
“Gah!”
“Whoah! Watch out! They’re extremely precise with their shots!” Meanwhile, the commandos who had advanced with the regulars were now dodging laser beams as best as they could.
“I’m doing my best to dodge! But it’s hard to do if we can’t shoot back!”
“Boss, permission to open fire?”
“No!” The boss refused to order his soldiers to open fire for some reason. “Keep up the pace! The closer we are to them the better!”
““Yes boss!”” The commandos obeyed, they believed in their leader’s words, and if he said so, they would do as he says.
“Ugh, just our luck.” Ticia said, frustrated. Her enemies just had to be real elites with true experience. She would not be able to deal with them easily.
But again, looking beside her at her favorite daughter who was just shooting at the enemy without a thought, Ticia could not stand it anymore. She was going to make a big gamble.
“Licia, stay there and stop shooting, I’ll take care of it.” She ordered Licia, who looked at her for a moment, before agreeing.
“...Yes.”
“Good girl.” Ticia said she wanted to pat Licia on the head, but her favorite daughter’s expression held her back, Licia did not seem to have forgiven her yet.
Ticia put her rifle on the ground and took out her pistols instead, and after taking a deep breath, she came out, blasting the enemies with her pistols.
“She’s charging at us!?” One person exclaimed, Ticia was getting closer, and she was shooting every regular soldier she met on the way. Seeing this, the enemy leader ordered his fellow commandos.
“N squad, be ready for close quarters combat!”
““Yes!””
The commandos obeyed, unfolding a wide variety of weapons, going from a single knife to spears with electric current at their tip. The boss, on his side, unfolded a small hammer, which looked like your average tool with one look, but was much deadlier.
In response, Ticia took out a knife, and charged directly at the enemy leader, who blocked her strike with his hammer.
“Ngh, you’re better than I thought.” Ticia mumbled as she fell back a little, dodging the man’s counterattack.
“I’ll take the compliment, you’re not bad either.” The man replied, giving back the praise.
Other commandos also striked at Ticia, but she managed to dodge them. The problem was however that Ticia could not manage to hit her opponent, each time she tried to do so, she would receive at least three attacks from the ones around her.
“...Wow…” Licia said as she looked at the scene in admiration. Ticia was dodging each blow as if she knew they were coming in advance! The fact that she could hold herself like this against multiple enemies was proof of her skills and experience, and it also showed to Licia how Ticia had gone easy on them when she and her sisters all fought against Ticia. She hated to admit it, but, when it came to skills, she truly wanted to become just like Ticia.
“Ugh, don’t you know how to fight fair?” Ticia said in frustration at her enemies after evading blows from multiple directions.
“Fairness is only for those who have the leeway to do so, and I don’t think I have such leeway against you.” The boss replied back as he made another large swing with his hammer, which Ticia evaded by a hair’s length.
“Hmph, fair enough.” She replied, smiling. Although the situation was dangerous, she began to like the spirit of her enemy.
“However, being multiple against one isn’t always an advantage!” She declared as she striked at the nearest commando, and this time, her blow nearly reached her target’s neck. The tip of her knife was only stopped by the side of the head of a hammer.
“Guh!” The commando froze under the shock of nearly losing his life, only to be awakened by the yell of his superior.
“N3, fall back!”
“Phew, thank you for the help, boss.” The man said as he took some distance, and the fight stopped for a bit, each camp analyzed the other’s next move.
“...It seems you care a lot about your subordinates.” Ticia said, commenting on what had just happened.
“Yes, after entering the commandos, they became my only family.” The man said, shocking his subordinates. “I won’t let one of them die in front of my eyes.”
““Boss…”” It was not everyday that their boss declared such things, even more so when they were on a mission.
“So we’re both fighting to protect our family huh…” Ticia mumbled, and a strange sensation of kinship birthed between them. Both knew they had to fight if they wanted to protect their dearest ones, and there was no way out of it. Or was there? Ticia had an idea.
“…I have a proposition for you.” She suddenly said, breaking the silence.
“A proposition? Entertain me.” The boss said, intrigued by Ticia’s sudden talk.
“How about a one vs one, we’ll both promise not to kill the other’s subordinate if the over win, sounds good?” She said, surprising the commandos and Licia.
“That’s obviously a trap, why would I need to give up on our advantage in numbers when you’re clearly stronger than me?” The man said, before smiling. “But I like it. Alright, let’s do this.”
“Boss!?” The subordinates tried to refute, but the boss stopped them.
“Shut up, I’ve made my decision. N squad, standby.”
The commandos could only obey their superior, they trusted him, even though they were worried. On the other hand, Ticia nodded, smiling.
“Good, then let’s beg-whoa!” She could not finish her phrase as a hammer nearly hit her cleanly on the face, and she dodged by lowering herself.
“You seem a little bit too distracted.” The boss commented, continuing his assault.
“Hehe, that’s because I have the leeway to be now.” Ticia said in a provoking manner, avoiding each hit easily, before striking the enemy.
“Your confidence is what’s going to lead you to your downfall.” The man replied as he blocked Ticia’s knife again and tried to grab her arm, only for Ticia to avoid him and fall back a little.
“Hehe, we’ll see about that.” She replied, smiling. It had been a while since she felt so happy to fight with somebody else. Training her daughters did bring her some joy, but it was not the same feeling as when she trained with Rika. This man, on the other hand, was strong, and while Ticia seemed to deal with him easily, it was not the case.
“Nhg, as expected, you’re strong.” The man said as he avoided another blow from Ticia, he too recognized her as a formidable opponent.
“You shouldn’t have agreed to my proposition.” Ticia said, provoking her enemy again.
“Indeed, that was an error, but I don’t regret it.” The man agreed, seemingly unphased by the provocation.
“Oh? Why so?” Ticia asked, curious of this reaction.
“Because… you never mentioned not doing anything to the other party while the duel was on!” The man suddenly dashed to the right of Ticia, passing behind her.
“What!?” Ticia froze for a second, before realizing what her opponent was trying to do. “No!” She exclaimed as she turned in a panic. The man’s target was not her, but Licia!
“!!!” Licia froze when the man raised his hammer in front of her, read to strike with all his strength. She had gone out of her hideout unconsciously, fascinated by the fight, but her dreamery had been broken by the man. She closed her eyes, knowing she would not be able to move in time. However, instead of feeling a powerful blow on herself…
*crunch*
“Gufu!”
A horrible sound of something hard breaking into pieces, as well as a grunt of pain, was the only thing she heard, and when she opened her eyes, to her shock, somebody had taken the hit for her, and that person was Ticia.
“N-no…” Licia said in shock, having a hard time believing what she was seeing. Ticia was on the ground, struggling to get up. Her helmet, which was made of a hard metal alloy, had been broken on the side, and she could see droplets of blood slowly dripping down.
“Ugh… You won’t… touch her… under my watch…” Ticia said as she struggled to get up herself. The blow was more severe than she thought, but still, she was relieved she was able to stop it from reaching her favorite daughter.
“Wow, your mother really cares about you, to take such a direct hit from me just to save you, you have a great mother.” The man commented, while looking at Licia, who now had tears in her eyes.
“W-why?” She asked as she began to slowly get closer to Ticia. The question was not for the man, but for Ticia.
“You’ll ask her later.” The man said, stopping her as his subordinates began to come closer. “Right now-Nh?” He was however interrupted suddenly when his communication device came to life.
“Command? Yes, this is N squad, we are currently apprehending the other clo- what?” The man froze as he heard the voice on the over end. “But sir!” He exclaimed, clearly disagreeing with whatever the voice was saying, still, he relented in the end. “...Understood, sir.”
The man then looked at Ticia as she finally managed to stand up. “It seems it’s your lucky day today…”
“Boss?” One of his subordinates asked.
“N squad, direct order from Command! Retreat to the last base and secure the position!” The boss yelled, and the same subordinate asked back.
“What? What about our targets?”
“Forget about them, Command wants us to be there quickly since it’s an emergency, taking prisoners would only slow us down.” The man said, half in frustration, but his words did not really make sense. Ticia and Licia’s value was higher than an order from Command…
“...Roger that, boss.” The subordinate answered, he had understood what his superior was doing. He was sparing Ticia.
As they began to leave, the boss sent a last glance at the duo. Ticia was staring at him with a questioning look, while Licia was only looking at Ticia, not focused on the rest.
“They call me N1 in the military, but my true name is Mark Carwight. If fate wants it, we’ll meet each other again, ‘clone mother’.” He said, before turning and leaving the scene.
“Phuuu…” Ticia let out a long sigh after she confirmed the Ionian soldiers had gone away. I messed up again… She thought, protecting somebody was clearly not her strong point. But at least, she’s fine.
“Are you alright, Licia?” she asked, just to confirm, but Licia was staring at her with a face that was about to cry.
“Wh-why?” The girl asked, making Ticia confused.
“Nh? What do you mean, why?” She asked, wanting to know what Licia was talking about.
“Why are you going this far!” Licia yelled, she began to hit Ticia's armored piece on her stomach lightly, with clearly no strength behind it.
“I don’t understand! You’re only taking care of me and my sisters out of pity, there’s no need for you to go this far for us, so why did you take this hit!?”
“Licia…” Ticia was touched by her daughter’s outburst.
“I hate you, I hate you! Why do you make me feel that way!?” Licia asked, her tears could not stop anymore. “I wanted to make you proud, but you ignored me and favored my sisters! You made me feel jealous of my sisters! So much so that I destroyed our relationship! Then you just gave up on us! And now, you’re announcing you want to fix things!? You want it so much that you deliberately took a blow that could have killed you?! I don’t understand anymore! I’m supposed to hate you… and yet… when I look at you right now… I only feel pain and sadness… Why?”
Ticia did not answer Licia, she instead removed her helmet, although she felt pain from the act. She knew that right now, Licia was not searching for an answer. She was lost and confused, and what she needed right now, more than words, was warmth. That’s why Ticia silently hugged Licia, caressing the girl's back as she cried her heart out.
Look at what I’ve done… To make my daughter cry like this, I’m a bad mother… Ticia thought as she too, let out silent tears of grief. She was the only one responsible for Licia being in such a state, even if Ticinia had declared she was not the sole perpetrator. In her eyes, as the mother, she was the one who hurt her kids.
Never again! She strongly thought as she hugged Licia tightly. I’m never going to hurt my daughters again!
Her determination was once again reaffirmed, she would do everything to protect her daughters, just like she had said she would do the day they were born.
***
After a while, Licia’s sobbing calmed down.
“Are you feeling better now?” Ticia asked to which she received a weak answer.
“Yes…”
“Good, now it’s my turn to talk. I want to tell you a little story.” Ticia said, before reminiscing. This was the best way she found to explain her actions to Licia.
“You see Licia, there was once a small little girl with white hair… That small girl had been abandoned since birth, and ended up in an orphanage, but life was not easy. Because of her hair color, which had never been seen before, every kid in the orphanage ostracized her, bullying her…”
“...But, didn’t the adults help the little girl?” Licia asked, interested in the story Ticia was telling her. At her question, Ticia only laughed weakly.
“...No, they were far worse than the kids, what children did for fun while not knowing anything, the adults did it for their own distorted enjoyment.”
“That’s horrible…” Licia mumbled, but Ticia continued her story.
“...Fortunately, the girl was in the end kicked out of the orphanage, so she was now a small little kid living in the street.”
“How is that better?” Licia asked, not understanding the point of the story.
“At least there, she was too insignificant for people to care about her… Nobody tried to hit her like the caretakers of the orphanage…”
“But, isn’t it lonely?” Licia asked again, getting more and more curious about this story.
“...It was…” Ticia answered after a small silence. “But the girl continued on, even though she had a hard time speaking because of what she suffered, she managed to find a way to heal from that, and more than that, she found something else…”
“What?”
“She found somebody who treated her better than the others, and was willing to take her in, and the girl was happy.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but it did not last long. That person was not a good one, she only exploited the weakness of the girl to use her to do her bidding. And so, the girl stole, injured, and even killed people who opposed the woman, in the hope that she would be allowed to call her ‘mother’…”
“That’s…horrible…” Licia whispered.
“It is…” Ticia agreed, closing her eyes as she tightened the hug. “But she wasn’t the only one like this, multiple kids were in the same situation as her. When the girl grew older and began to mature, she slowly understood what was happening. She felt betrayed again. Never did she want to hear the word 'mother' again. And before she knew it, she killed that person, as well as the other kids who stood in her way and the many people she had come to know…”
“What… What happened after that?”
“She fled.” Ticia said. “But she knew that people were following her track, so she took the only option she had left: enlisting in the army. There, she would be safe.”
“Was she?” Licia asked, doubting the choice.
“No, but it was still better than before. At least, there, she had three meals a day and a soft bed. Better than anything she had before.”
“But she was still hurt, right?”
“Yes, the girl did not trust anybody. She even tainted her hair black so that nobody would recognize her. But you see, this changed as time passed. The girl met good people.”
“Good people?”
“Yes, comrades who faced the same threats as her on the battlefield, people she could entrust her back to while in a fight. They were not numerous at first, but they grew in number…”
“Wh-who were they?”
“For example, an old general who spent a lot of time on the battlefield, yet was soft to young recruits, or… A young lady who was a junior officer who once bullied the girl, but ended up being saved by the girl later on and would repay her for that…”
“I see… Hey, was this girl… you?” Licia asked, this story seemed too real to be false, and she could tell Ticia was letting out a lot of emotions while telling her this story.
“...” But Ticia did not answer, she instead tightened the hug as she told Licia. “You know, you remind me a lot of that girl. You are very similar to her in personality.”
Another silence reigned, before Ticia finally broke it. “We should go. It’s not safe to stay here.”
“...Yes.” Licia agreed, and Ticia broke the hug, getting up while staggering a little.
“!!!” Licia immediately tried to support her, making Ticia laugh. Licia might not like her, but it seems she at least cared a little about her.
“I’m fine, Licia. '' She said reassuringly, but Licia just shook her head.
“No you’re not!” Licia exclaimed. “You’re bleeding!”
“Oh…” Ticia finally realized she had not treated the wound she just got on the left side of her head. The helmet had neutralized most of the impact, but the hammer was just so much heavier it broke through and still inflicted damage.
“H-heal, wh-what to do for it to heal…” Licia began to look around in a panic, trying to find something to heal Ticia’s wound. This act made Ticia laugh, startling the clone girl.
“W-what? L-listen, I’m not doing this because I forgave you, alright? I absolutely will never, ever forgive you. Hmph!”
“Sure…” Ticia smiled at Licia, who was now pouting after saying words she clearly did not mean.
I never expected her to have a tsundere side… Wait a minute, does this mean I’m a tsundere too?! Uwaah, the revelation…
“Hey, stop smiling! Don’t you have anything to treat yourself to?” Licia broke her train of thought, bringing her back to reality.
“Right, it should be fine with this.” Ticia said as she unhooked something from her belt. It was a spray that could temporarily stop the bleeding and disinfect the wound.
“I’ll do it, so sit and don’t move!” Licia said.
“Eh? But I can do it myself…” Ticia said, tilting her head.
“Just do as I say!” Licia insisted, and Ticia ended up faltering at her favorite daughter's insistence.
“Alright, alright, but we need to move after that.” Ticia said, and Licia nodded, both were in agreement. They still needed to find out where Lidia, Mia and Nia were, and Ticia wanted to hear part of the story from Licia.
And so, she waited patiently as her favorite daughter began to meticulously treat her wound.
