"Sergeant Ranford." Sam said greeting the female soldier approaching him.


    "Just Melissa would do." The red haired woman replied with a smile. Holding up a bottle she then added. "Would you like some?"


    "Sure."


    With his cup refilled, Sam returned his gaze to the partying crowd. Things seemed to be going well so far, no problems, no idents. There was no need for him to be on edge any more so he allowed himself to rx.


    "Better than expected, huh?" Melissa remarked as if she read his thoughts.


    "I''m quite impressed." Sam said. "I never expected them to behave themselves."


    "Well, at the end of the day they''re all trained soldiers. If they weren''t disciplined enough to follow the orders of their superiors then they wouldn''t be here in the first ce."


    "I guess you have a point…"


    Taking a sip, Sam began to recall the agreement he made with the Valkyrie fanclub. In order for him to allow the three weapons to make an appearance at the party, Sam had ced some rules the soldiers had to follow; if any of them were to be broken, the party would be thest time the Valkyries would ever show themselves in public.


    The rules were simple. First of all, no autographs. The goal of the event is to make the three weapons feel like they''re a part of the base, that means no celebrity treatment. Second, no swarming. Only a maximum of ten will be allowed to approach each of the Valkyries at the same time, all of which must be selected beforehand.


    As usual, physical contact is strictly prohibited. A few other details were discussed, however as long as those three rules were followed Sam promised to give the Valkyries more freedom in the future allowing them to make contact with the soldiers more often.


    "By the way, Doctor, aren''t you going to answer my question?" Melissa asked, having gulped her the contents of her cup in one go.


    Sam raised an eyebrow as if to say he didn''t understand.


    "I asked you earlier today, remember?" Melissa sighed, shaking her head slightly. "You never told us the reason behind your rules. I understand the no physical contact one, but what about the others?"


    The Valkyries were basically idols, the local goddesses of forty sixth Resistance base. Asking the soldiers to not treat them as such was a bit unreasonable.


    Sam had his reasons, of course, however he didn''t expect the other soldiers to understand.


    "It''s an experiment." Sam said, bringing the ss to his mouth and taking a sip.


    "Ho-oh, guess you aren''t called a doctor for nothing." Melissa said with a giggle. "And? Care to exin what this experiment of yours is about?"


    Sam''s eyes surveyed the surroundings. They fell on Zero Three who was casually chatting with Shizuru and her friends. The smile on her face was unlike anything he had seen before. Zero Five still looked a bit stiff, however she was doing her best to converse with those gathered around her. The biggest surprise was on Nine''s side. At some point Alice had joined her, partaking in the wine tasting as well. Seeing the two beauties surrounded by a bunch of men made him nervous so he quickly took out his phone and sent themander a message saying ''don''t get drunk''.


    A momentter he received a reply. ''Are you underestimating me?''


    Obviously with how much she usually drinks a few cups wouldn''t have much of an effect on her, however Sam couldn''t help but be furious seeing all those horny bastards drooling over his woman.


    Sam let out a sigh, feeling the exhaustion of having someone else he had to look out for.


    "Any problems?" Melissa asked, having noticed his frown.


    "Not really." Sam replied, downing his drink then refilling his ss. "Where were we?"


    "You said something about an experiment."


    "Oh, right…" the strong whiskey was ying with his mind making Sam feel like being a little but more honest than usual. "I''m trying to see if the Valkyries can really live a normal life."


    "... what?" The red haired soldier didn''t seem to understand so Sam went on with the exnation.


    "When you think about it, other than them being weapons created to fight the Cmities, we barely know anything about the Valkyries."


    After finding the secret files Sam had learned a lot more than the average person, however he still felt like his understanding of them is stillcking. "My current goal is to see if they''re capable of living like normal people. That''s why I want everyone to give them a normal treatment."


    "I… think that would be difficult to achieve." Melissamented.


    "Well, the first step is to determine if the soldiers are capable of seeing the differences between the three and normal humans. Beside appearance, of course."


    "Ooh, I think I get it now…"


    The ones being tested today are the soldiers, not the Valkyries. It would take many more interactions to get a more urate result, however today will serve as a good start at the very least.


    "By the way." Sam spoke, turning to the woman beside him with a question. "Since you''re so involved in the whole Valkyrie fanclub thing, am I right to assume that you have contacts in other bases?"


    "Well, obviously." Melissa replies.


    "Then I have a job for you." Closing his eyes for a moment, Sam took a deep breath. "I want you to gather information on the Valkyries behavior in other bases. Anything about their daily lives and their interactions with the soldiers stationed there."


    "Hmm… well, that wouldn''t be so difficult. The problem would be the authenticity of the information."


    Sam had no idea if the Valkyries in other bases have as little involvement with the rest of the soldiers as the ones in the forty sixth base. Technically there are no written rules preventing the weapons from interacting with everyone else, except for the one about no physical contact. That means there is a chance that things might be different in other ces.


    "Anything will do." Sam said.


    "Well, I hope you know that there is a price for everything." Melissa said with a smile.


    "As long as it''s something I''m capable of." Sam replied with a sigh.


    "Well, considering that this won''t be the only time we will be required to abide by your rules…" Her eyes turning sharp and her voice bing serious, the female soldier stated making m her demands. "You will allow us to hold signing events at a separate asion."


    "Sure." Sam replied curtly. He already had something like that nned for the future. After all he didn''t want to earn the wrath of the whole base by not allowing them to worship their idols.


    "Also, photographs. Handshaking events are a no go, but you must at the very least allow us to take photos with the Valkyries."


    "That…" Sam let out a sigh. "Do the other bases hold those kinds of events?"


    "Obviously. It''s a good way to gather funds." Melissa took out her phone, a couple of secondster she held it up for him to see. "In the case of basesclose to the settlements, such events are held periodically."


    The screen disyed photos of people posing with some of the more famous Valkyries. This was the first time sam heard about something like this, even though he already knew how profitable marketing the Valkyries as idols can be.


    "Well, we can''t really do the same, considering there are no settlements nearby." Sammented, handing the phone back to its owner. "Not to mention, our Valkyries aren''t that famous."


    "Well, we can still hold it for those staying here, and the money could be used to improve the base."


    "... Yeah, we can work with that."


    Sam was about to take another sip but then he noticed that his cup was empty. He thought about refilling it once more but then put it away instead. He was already getting tired, his mouth slowly opening as he was about to yawn, though before he could something pressed against his side freezing him in ce.


    "It''s good to know that you''re willing to cooperate with us." Melissa said, leaning against him with a flushed face. She gulped the contents of her ss all at once then tried to refill it only to notice that the bottle was empty as well.


    "Arent you drinking too much?" Sam asked, casually pushing the female soldier away.


    "Don''t worry, I can handle this much." Ignoring Sam''s attempt to move away, the red head leaned against him once more. As if it wasn''t already clear that she was doing it on purpose, she looked up at him and put on a yful smile.


    "Say, I have yet to thank you for today." bringing her face closer to his, Melissa whispered in a sweet voice. "How about we get a room. I will make sure to show you how grateful I am~?."


    Though the alcohol was already ying with his mind, Sam wasn''t about to make such a mistake, especially when he''s already cheating on his girlfriend.


    "Sorry but I already have someone." Saying that, Sam distanced himself from the female soldier. Thankfully neither Shizuru nor Alice noticed anything, however it appears Zero Five had seen everything and she doesn''t seem too happy about it.


    "Too bad." Melissa said, sighing with a disappointed smile. "I''m always avable, if you ever feel like it."


    Saying that, the red haired woman walked away heading straight for the table with the drinks.


    Sam looked over the crowd once more. He could feel the drowsiness clouding his mind so he decided it was time to get some rest.


    "Guess I will have you do your job." He said, taking his phone out and sending another message to Alice.


    As themander of the base looking after the Valkyries was her duty, not his. Saying that he is going to bed and asking her to look after the three weapons, Sam clicked send and watched as Alice''s expression changed. By the time she started looking for him he had already walked away from the party.


    "Damn, that was way more stressful than I thought." Stretching his limbs, Sam walked in the direction of his room with eyes that threatened to close at any moment. The alcohol didn''t do him any good, clouding his judgment enough for him to leave at a time like this. Normally he wouldn''t have left the Valkyries on their own in such an environment, however he was drunk enough for him to prioritize himself, deciding to be a little selfish and entrust things to someone else so he could get some rest.


    As he walked through the dark with slow steps, Sam lifted his head and looked up at the sky. He watched the stars in silence, noticing that the moon was nowhere to be seen. As he marveled at the beautiful night sky he heard the rustling of leavesing from behind him.


    Naturally he turned around to check, but before his mind could register what he saw he felt a strong impact on his head. The world suddenly went dark. Thest thing he felt was his body falling to the ground.


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