Chapter 171: The Direction of Happiness (Part 2)
Lady Une ignored Marquis Weridge's words and spoke of her own accord.
"Marquis Weridge, I've come on behalf of Treize Khushrenada. The purpose of my visit today is that there are two or three matters I'd like to report to you."
The marquis extended his hand toward Lady and said,
"Before that, could you give me that rose? I'd like to present it to my granddaughter."
The soldier disguised as an ordinary trooper—Tolle—immediately noticed Relena standing beside the marquis. He already knew that Relena had come to avenge her lover Heero and her father, Darlian, and that her goal was to assassinate Lady Une.
All he needed to do was make sure neither Relena nor Lady got hurt.
It was only then that Lady realized the woman standing next to the marquis was actually Relena. She looked at her in surprise and demanded,
"Relena Darlian, why are you here?"
Relena glanced calmly at Lady before turning to the marquis beside her.
"Grandfather, there's no need for you to ask for that rose for me. I'm not someone suited to carry a rose anyway."
Then she drew a pistol from behind her back, aimed it directly at Lady, and said with fury,
"I came here today to avenge my father. Go to hell!"
The moment she said it, Relena pulled the trigger.
But in that instant, Tolle grabbed Lady and pulled her aside, helping her dodge the bullet. The rose pinned to Lady's chest was shattered to pieces by the passing shot.
Realizing she had missed, Relena immediately turned and ran, trying to escape as the guards moved to pursue her.
Several soldiers raised their guns to shoot, but Tolle stopped them.
"Hold it! Do you intend to cause a disturbance in front of the distinguished guests here? Put your guns away."
Lady shot Tolle a look, then subtly gestured for the soldiers to lower their weapons and pursue Relena instead.
Just as the soldiers were about to chase her, Marquis Weridge stepped in front of them.
"All I can do now is stand here. What that child has shown us—her courage—surpasses anything I can do. Everyone loves that child."
At that moment, the other nobles in the room also stepped forward, surrounding the OZ soldiers.
Seeing these powerful figures block their way, Lady's expression darkened. There was nothing she could do about it, so she ordered the soldiers,
"Let's go. We'll chase her from outside."
Marquis Weridge watched Lady leave, his face filled with quiet hope that Relena would escape safely. He murmured to himself,
"The era ahead will need the kind of courage that child possesses. I must learn from her as well."
However, in a dark alleyway, Relena was soon cornered by several OZ soldiers. Just as they were about to capture her, Noin appeared before them on a motorcycle.
"This young lady is under my protection. That's an order from Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une."
One of the soldiers responded seriously,
"We don't take orders from you, Lieutenant Noin. We—"
Before he could finish, Noin fired and shot the cap clean off his head.
"If you care so much about authority, then know this—I've already received authorization from Lord Treize. Is that sufficient for you?"
"Y-yes, sorry, ma'am! We'll release her immediately!" Terrified both by Treize's name and Noin's marksmanship, the soldiers panicked and scattered.
Noin turned to Relena, who still held her gun defensively, and said,
"You really are reckless… who exactly did you inherit that spirit from, I wonder?"
Relena raised her pistol and asked coldly,
"You're with OZ too, aren't you?"
Smiling, Noin said nothing. Instead, she fired and shot the OZ emblem clean off the discarded cap, then introduced herself.
"I've come specifically to escort you, Miss Relena Peacecraft."
Meanwhile, the soldiers who had fled ran to Lady and reported,
"Lieutenant Colonel Lady Une, Relena Darlian was taken away by Lieutenant Noin. She said she had Lord Treize's authorization."
Hearing that it was Treize's order, Lady could only watch helplessly as Relena was taken away by Noin.
At the same time, OZ had discovered the approximate location of the Arabian base hidden in the desert. They planted numerous time bombs throughout the nearby city, intending to use the explosions to lure out the Deathscythe Gundam, the Sandrock Gundam, and the Maganac Corps.
Fortunately, Quatre and his team uncovered the plot ahead of time. They discovered the bombs and learned the exact detonation schedule.
They quietly evacuated all the city's residents to underground shelters, leaving behind an empty city for OZ to bomb.
They then waited until midnight—12:00 sharp—when the bombs were set to explode, planning a surprise counterattack against the OZ forces.
At the stroke of midnight, the bombs detonated right on schedule. As explosions thundered across the desert, countless Maganacs riding hovercrafts for mobile suits burst out from underground.
They charged straight toward OZ's Tragos units, firing beam rifles and rocket launchers as they advanced.
Although the OZ forces fought back fiercely, the Tragos heavy artillery units were no match for the Maganacs' speed and agility on their hovercrafts.
The Maganacs skillfully dodged cannon fire while counterattacking with beam rifles, taking down the Tragos suits one after another.
The battle quickly turned one-sided. OZ suffered heavy losses, with numerous Tragos units destroyed.
The OZ commander had no choice but to order the heavy Tragos units to retreat and deploy lighter models armed with beam machine guns for close-range combat. A few unlucky Maganacs were shredded into fragments.
However, OZ hadn't anticipated that the desert base had several underground exits. A new Maganac squad suddenly emerged near the retreating Tragos units and annihilated them.
Meanwhile, another Maganac team at the northern exit spotted several OZ transport ships, quickly capturing them to serve as escape transports for the Sandrock Gundam and Deathscythe Gundam.
Inside one of the shuttles, Duo refused to retreat so easily. Piloting the Deathscythe Gundam, he seized a Tragos's cannon and unleashed a fierce barrage on the OZ mobile suits below.