Leading the crowd, Durandal personally welcomed the return of the Holy Lion Knight in the hall where the original evidence 01 was placed.
"Speaker! Excuse me!"
The Holy Lion Knight stood still and saluted, all in one go, and with a sonorous and iron-blooded demeanor.
"It seems that our heroes are even better than before!"
Durandal nodded with satisfaction, and at the same time signaled to the commissioner who led the Holy Lion Knight to leave, he stepped forward and patted the Holy Lion Knight on the shoulder.
"Thank you for your hard work, Kai."
"This is what I should do! There is no such thing as hard work. Speaker! In order to protect the people of PLANT, I should go through fire and water!"
The Holy Lion Knight said solemnly.
Listening to the exchange between the Speaker and the Holy Lion Knight, the people around him couldn't help but nod secretly.
As PLANT and ZAFT jointly promoted, this man who was single-handedly promoted to the status of hero by the Speaker is indeed qualified to hold the title of knight.
"Haha. Okay! Let's not be polite here."
Durandal smiled and did not continue the conversation.
He gestured slightly towards the crowd behind him, and several people in the crowd left, not knowing where they were going.
"Originally, I wanted to have a good talk with Kai, but just now good news came to me. Therefore, I hope Kai can come with me."
"Yes! It's my pleasure! Speaker."
certainly.
The crowd outside the Supreme Council has not dispersed yet.
Therefore, in this situation that was considered risky by security, Durandal was naturally unable to leave from the front, but chose to leave from the underground exit on the other side of the Supreme Council.
When the world outside the window changed from a dark underground garage to a bright city, Durandal adjusted his sitting position slightly and turned to look at the world outside the car.
His eyes gradually focused on the huge orbital elevator standing in the center of the city.
Groups of clouds and fog lingered around it, making the orbital elevator that was related to the operation artery of the entire satellite city extremely hazy.
The light emitted by the rows of elevators rising and falling along the track seemed to come alive in the hazy clouds, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, like small fish causing ripples on the water.
.
According to the April city's weather schedule, this satellite city will usher in a hazy drizzle in the near future.
"Kay. Now that the security situation in the space surrounding PLANT has been stabilized, some civilians in the distant colonial satellites have also sent requests, hoping to move to PLANT, or for ZAFT to send a fleet to support these.
It’s all thanks to you and the First Fleet you led. Therefore, the Supreme Council has made a decision to evaluate and reward your merits.”
Durandal withdrew his gaze from the gradually thickening cloud, looked at the Holy Lion Knight sitting opposite him and said.
"It's a shame. This is not something I can do alone. If possible, I hope that the Supreme Council will pay more attention to the many soldiers who sacrificed to protect PLANT."
With his hands on his thighs, his waist straight, and his posture upright, the Holy Lion Knight did not care about his own merits, but simply cared about the arrangements of his comrades who died in the battle.
"speaker."
Durandal nodded slightly and stared at the mask in front of him.
"Speak! Kai, in the hearts of PLANT citizens, you are the guardian of our PLANT. Therefore, your voice and your words are the voices that our Supreme Council must listen to."
The Holy Lion Knight did not immediately respond to Durandal's words that were almost a promise. Instead, just like Durandal did just now, he turned his head and looked at the world outside the window, looking at the land that kept flying past the window.
city.
"While returning home, I heard some rumors."
"Um."
Durandal clasped his hands together and placed them on his abdomen, pretending to be listening.
"What PLANT currently implements is a material distribution system that prioritizes supplying combat personnel and their family members."
The Holy Lion Knight paused, withdrew his gaze and looked at Durandal.
"Yes. Because of this, our PLANT was able to allow ZAFT to complete the adjustment of its combat power layout in the shortest possible time, and to be the first to complete the strategy of eliminating threats to the surrounding space. Of course, this is also inseparable from ZAFT.
Especially the bloody battles of many soldiers.”
Durandal admitted this straightforwardly.
"That's true. But I discovered that among the First Fleet and the friendly fleets that once assisted the First Fleet in fighting, there were some rumors that they refused to continue to provide supplies to their families on the grounds that soldiers died in battle and their quotas were cleared. I don't know.
Has the Speaker heard such rumors?"
"oh?!"
The eyes hidden by the mask keenly captured Durandal's surprise.
A look of surprise flashed across Durandal's face.
"Is this happening? Kai, please wait a moment."
As he spoke, Durandal raised his hand and pressed a button at his side.
Then, a strange and calm voice sounded.
"Speaker, what are your orders?"
"You should have heard what the knight said. Investigate it as quickly as possible. Neither PLANT nor ZAFT will allow the incident of insulting heroes to exist. In addition, a batch of supplies will be urgently deployed. According to the death statistics of the First Fleet,
The list will be unified, and the full quota will be distributed to the family members. Well, you will personally supervise it!"
"yes!"
Before Durandal cut off communication and promised to thoroughly investigate the incident, the Holy Lion Knight spoke first.
"Speaker. Thank you very much!"
"No. This is what I should do. When you are fighting bloody battles on the front line, my duty is to stabilize the rear and provide an environment where you have no worries."
As he spoke, Durandal sighed.
"But this time, it was my dereliction of duty. Kai, if possible, I hope that after the incident is investigated, I can personally apologize to the families of the heroes who were treated inappropriately."
"Yes! I will accompany the Speaker personally."
After that, the whole journey was silent.
Although Durandal still had a lot to say in his heart and wanted to talk to the Holy Lion Knight in front of him, under this little episode, Durandal knew that this was not the best time.
What's more, this little episode is not a bad thing.
When the misty drizzle fell and wet the road to the factory area near the April City Spaceport, Durandal and the Holy Lion Knights arrived at a working warehouse located deep in the factory area.
The feeling of weightlessness brought about by the microgravity environment made the body subconsciously miss the heaviness of the gravity environment. Durandal's brows couldn't help but frown, as if he could not immediately adapt to the slight discomfort caused by the microgravity environment.
.
"It seems that after getting used to the gravity environment, you will feel uncomfortable in the microgravity environment."
Durandal smiled mockingly to himself, then raised his hand to signal the two ZAFT soldiers guarding the large gate in front to open the gate.
"Come here! Kai. There are some things that I need to show you."
Behind the gate, except for Durandal's figure, there was darkness.
But this darkness made the Holy Lion Knight feel familiar.
Yes!
It was a familiar feeling coming from the depths of my memory.
"Ugh!"
In an instant, a stinging pain emerged from the depths of his mind, splitting open the fog like thunder from the sky.
At the moment when the fog dissipated, a dazzling light also expelled the darkness behind Durandal, completely revealing the truth wrapped in the darkness.
Dark gray steel body,
Even in the folded state, they still look like huge steel wings.
As soon as you see this figure for the first time, you will never forget its existence and let the Holy Lion knight call him by his name.
"Freedom, Freedom Gundam!?"
That’s right!
This was during the battle of Yakin Duwei, who became famous in one battle. At the same time, in a stand-alone posture, he completely resisted the legendary machine launched by Genesis - Freedom Gundam!
"Speaker, I remember that the Liberty Gundam was destroyed by Genesis' attack. Isn't that right?"
As the "participant", the Holy Lion Knight was very confused.
"Yes. This is not the Freedom Gundam that Yakin Duwei appeared in the first battle. It was an accidental discovery by ZAFT's technical department while cleaning up past documents."
Durandal smiled, and there seemed to be a trace of pride in his eyes.
"Of course. What was discovered at that time were only partial blueprints. In order to completely recover these incomplete blueprints, our technical department invested a lot of manpower and material resources to succeed, and after the First Fleet returned victoriously
Now, we can finally bring this MS, which is like the patron saint of mankind, back to the world."
Under the gaze of the Holy Lion Knight, Durandal stretched out his finger and pointed at the dark gray steel giant.
"Knight. Although your existence and your reputation have allowed PLANT to be preserved in the face of many crises, no matter how powerful your abilities are, you are still only a human being."
Durandal's eyes moved away from the Iron Giant and fell on the mask of the Holy Lion Knight.
"No matter how powerful a knight is, he always needs a sharp sword, a sword strong enough to kill any strong enemy!"
"And it is the latest crystallization of the cutting-edge technologies possessed by PLANT and ZAFT. It is also the sword that our Supreme Council hopes to place in your hands, and to be controlled by you!"
"Sharp sword? Freedom Gundam?"
The Holy Lion Knight was silent for a moment, then raised his head again and met Durandal's gaze.
"Speaker. This is no longer the Freedom Gundam of Yakin Duwei. If this is the expectation of the Supreme Council, then I prefer to call it protecting freedom. Protecting PLANT and protecting the freedom of all citizens
Gundam!"
"oh?"
Durandal was a little surprised, but he smiled slightly.
"Really? Protecting freedom? Maybe, this is a very good name and a good name that matches it!"
After a pause, Durandal said again.
"This machine is assigned to you. Naturally, it is up to you to decide the name. Kai."