Everyone in the private room listened to Felix's fabricated answer and looked up at him, their gazes seeming to say, Captain Griffith, are you trying to fool a child with those words?
Felix met their stares with a faint smile, ignoring them all as he sat there and quietly continued to eat the already-cooked barbecue.
The delicious meat warmed his stomach as it went down.
Seeing that Felix had no intention of replying, the others didn't press the matter. Athrun put his phone back in his pocket, picked up his chopsticks from the table, and placed a piece of meat on the grill.
The moment the meat touched the grill, it let out a sizzling sound.
Just like that, their shared meal in the private room quickly came to an end.
"We'll be taking our leave now!"
Having finished his meal, Felix looked at the group of youngsters—Lacus, Athrun, and the others—and was the first to bid farewell. They looked up at Felix and Heine, nodding and telling them to take care.
After saying their goodbyes, Felix and Heine walked out of the private room.
At the front desk, Felix pocketed the discount coupon the owner had given him, and the two of them left the barbecue restaurant, one after the other.
"Felix, is the person on Athrun's phone really not related to you?" Heine, still unwilling to give up, asked as he walked beside Felix.
At his question, Felix turned to look at him and shook his head.
"There's really no connection!"
"Really?" Heine asked again, still somewhat disbelieving.
Seeing his persistent disbelief, Felix's tone became a bit more firm.
"I'm absolutely certain there's no connection whatsoever!" he said, looking at Heine with a resolute gaze.
Stared at like that, Heine didn't dare to ask any further. Seeing that Heine had quieted down, Felix turned his head forward and continued walking.
Heine followed silently by his side.
The next day.
9:10 AM.
Felix, who was at home in his living room killing time by playing games, received a communication from the Ministry of Defense.
"Chairman!"
Seeing Patrick's face on the screen, Felix raised his hand in a salute. Patrick nodded with his usual expression, grunted in acknowledgment, and then spoke.
"What are you doing?"
"Playing games, killing time!" Felix replied to the question.
Patrick nodded slightly, moving past the topic to address Felix.
"Felix, I want you to go to the MS production factory in Sector Two of December City immediately. Go there and pick up the MS that was custom-built for you."
"An MS custom-built for me?" Felix muttered in confusion.
After a moment, he raised his head, saluted, and replied, "Yes, Chairman!"
Just as the short words left his mouth, Patrick unilaterally ended the communication. Staring at the terminated call, Felix turned off his game, changed out of his loungewear, and put on his White Uniform with Gold Trim before leaving the house.
December City, Sector Two Spaceport.
The shuttle from Sector One came to a steady stop inside the spaceport. The moment the hatch opened, Felix stepped out into the spaceport.
Looking at the spaceport, which was almost identical to the one in Sector One, he didn't linger for even a moment, striding towards the Sector Two elevator.
He took the elevator down into Sector Two and, upon exiting, headed straight for the MS manufacturing factory.
Inside the factory's MS storage warehouse.
Felix was led here by the factory manager. The dark factory was instantly illuminated by lights the moment they entered.
Under the lights, a brand-new MS was parked there.
Looking up at the white MS before him, Felix was stunned.
Holy crap! The Sinanju MS?
"Captain Griffith, this MS was specially built according to your combat habits and intensity. Compared to a standard GINN, we've added more thrusters, giving this MS superior mobility. Furthermore, considering that the increased number of thrusters would lead to higher energy consumption, we designed it with two additional battery packs. Three battery packs will give it much greater endurance, ensuring its sustained mobility."
The factory manager introduced the MS to Felix, specifically pointing to the two cylindrical designs on the MS's back when he mentioned the battery packs.
Listening to the introduction, Felix circled the MS, examining it. As he looked it over, he asked the manager, "When did production on this MS begin?"
"The project for this MS was approved thirty days ago. The design blueprints were completed fifteen days ago, and after fifteen days of construction, production was finally completed today," the manager, walking beside Felix, answered his question.
After hearing his reply, Felix turned to the factory manager with admiration.
"You guys are amazing! To actually complete the production of a specially customized MS in such a short time!"
"You flatter me! There wasn't much difficulty in producing it. If the design bureau had been able to produce the blueprints faster, the construction period could have been shortened by a few more days," the manager replied humbly with a slight smile.
Felix listened to his modest words and smiled without saying anything more. At the same time, he recalled the production of the Freedom and Rebirth nuclear-powered machines from the original story. When he thought about how all the reverse engineering, blueprint design, technological development, and production were completed in about two months, this no longer felt so astonishing.
"What armaments is this MS equipped with?"
"For its armaments, we've equipped it with two improved versions of the MMI-M8A3 Heavy Assault Machine Gun. The improved machine guns have an increased number of barrels and expanded ammunition capacity, further increasing their combat effectiveness. In addition, it is also equipped with two MA-M3 Heavy Swords! Aside from these fixed armaments, this MS can be optionally equipped with any other armament usable by a GINN."
"That's good!"
Hearing that it was still machine guns, Felix couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. But then he remembered that the miniaturization of beam weapons hadn't been achieved yet, so he had no choice but to accept it.
"Oh, right!" the factory manager spoke up again.
Felix turned to look at him, waiting for what he had to say. The manager then said, "Captain Griffith, because we've added more thrusters to this MS, its operation has become more difficult and complicated. Our current operating system isn't a perfect match for it either, which makes piloting this MS even more difficult."
"It's fine. I can handle these things."
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