"Noir..." "It is the name of an ancient fate." "Two maidens who govern death." "The peace of the newly born, their black hands protect." "Your Excellency, congratulations on your appointment as Minister of Defense." "Ah, it's you, Tanner." "Thanks for coming." "As a representative of the Atride Corporation, I congratulate you." "This is all thanks to you." "Not at all." "We believe it to be a direct result of your innate virtues." "Among the citizens, who consider the president's faction to be the source of their problems," "I hear their hope for you, General Canora, is definitely growing." "Well, we'll leave it at that." "In any case, this is a big step forward for your project as well." "Ulgia now has a true leader and you have gained a fortune." "We are much obliged." "Next year looks like it will be a very fruitful year." "Yes, Sir." "This is a celebration in advance." "Please do enjoy yourselves today." "Thank you very much, Sir." "By next year, this country's population will have been halved." "Hey..." "What is it?" "!" "Hey, Tanner!" "Tanner!" "An international security service." "That is ostensibly what Atride Corporation does." "But they're actually a coup d'etat coordinator." "They find regions with potential for conflict and approach one of the influential parties there." "Then they offer to take care of anything and everything from planning to training soldiers, deploying personnel, and buying weapons." "Quite a business, don't you think?" "Say, did you bring a swimsuit?" "Swimsuit?" "But Your Excellency, we have already invested a colossal sum in this." "There is no turning back now." "Yes, I came to Ulgia intending to do just that." "If you absolutely insist on breaching our contract, we will be forced to disclose the nature of our investment." "If that happens, Your Excellency will be..." "Yes, please carefully reconsider." "Goodbye." "It seems that Canora has completely lost his nerve." "I'm not going to let him cancel." "We've spent three years planning for this project." "The rights to work a mine or two won't make up for that." "Do you suppose the people who killed Tanner and Foster were from the presidential faction after all?" "They don't have to be." "We've done work all over the world." "It wouldn't be surprising for it to be anybody that hates us." "That's part of our business." "Tanner and Foster were unlucky." "But that's all it was!" "There are always noxious pests in filthy places." "We can't be bothered with each and every one of them." "But we'll crush this one!" "We have three targets left." "The president, Hammond, and his men, Burke and Wellman." "What a quiet sea." "Yes..." "It's so beautiful." "It looks like he's waiting for someone." "There are guards in hiding." "Four of them." "No, there are six." "Papa!" "Papa, did you wait long?" "Why did you have to come all the way here uninvited?" "I am here in Ulgia on business." "I'll hear whatever you have to say in New York." "Ulgia or New York, it won't make a difference." "I won't get to see you anyway." "You've always been like that!" "That's why Mama..." "In any case, you're going home on tomorrow's flight." "Can't I stay until the day after tomorrow?" "No!" "I knew it." "You don't even remember." "Remember what?" "The day after tomorrow is my birthday." "You heard me, on tomorrow's flight." "Rosalie Hammond, fifteen years old." "The only daughter of the divorced Hammond couple." "Currently, she lives with her mother, Julia, in New York." "The president sure has it rough." "He's so busy fanning disputes in other countries, he hardly ever sees his daughter." "School..." "When I came to, I was here." "Who am I?" "I am Noir." "Beyond that, I know nothing." "Papa..." "Did I wake you?" "It's okay." "Rosalie..." "I know." "I'll go home on today's flight." "It doesn't matter anymore." "Mama's probably worried by now too." "I made a call to Mama, to tell her that you'll be coming home next week." "I believe it will take a while before we find out who did it." "We are currently in the process of looking into everyone we've ever worked with." "We will make sure the assassin and his client pay for what they did." "Stop the car." "It's open." "Mr. President!" "What's wrong?" "A strange letter arrived at the office." "A strange letter?" "Noir..." "What is that?" "It's the name of an assassin, a top-class one at that." "Then this is from an informant?" "Maybe it's some kind of trap." "But that makes no difference in that this is still a huge clue for us." "There's an Ulgian army base near there." "Immediately make arrangements for them to send troops." "I'll have Canora do at least that much for us." "Understood, Sir." "Ulgian troops." "Over here too." "How did they find us?" "I see." "It's THEM again." "Fine." "You think we can do it?" "She has no weapons!" "There's no one inside either!" "Hey, what are you..." "What's a girl like you doing here?" "Where are you from?" "Where's your passport?" "The roof!" "Retreat!" "They got away?" "!" "The scouting party that was annihilated apparently charged in without waiting to join up with the main force." "We still don't know the details of exactly what happened, but it seems the army is in chaos right now." "You two head to the site right away." "Report back to me in full." "Yes, Sir!" "Damn it, how did it come to this?" "We're just doing business." "We wouldn't have jobs if there weren't any clients." "If you're going to blame someone, blame your own damn government." "It's too late to be complaining." "Let's go." "It's open." "Here."