Ballaster

**Ballaster** is a private paratrooper of the 32nd Division of Mu Expeditionary Force of the Magicaraich Community.

## Personality

Ballaster is a soldier who isn’t afraid of charging in against their enemies, but he is afraid of heights. Having declared, he was originally removed from the parachuting force. Without counting the amount of time needed for training, they were still technically counted as ground troops. However, an incident occurred two days before the operation was carried out.

However, after senior paratrooper Ceta got a fever from food poisoning, the current operation had them cooperating with their allies, with the superpower Mu throwing in an unprecedented amount of troops and firepower. Due to diplomatic concerns, the Magikaraich Community couldn’t let itself underdeliver the amount of personnel requested of them by Mu, and with Ballaster having done several drops beforehand, they ended up choosing him as Ceta’s replacement.

The operation only required him to jump out from a big bird, pull a string, and properly set his direction as he descended to the base, which he had practiced numerous times. With hundreds of other soldiers had already dropped and were now safely at the Valkyries base, it seemed like there wasn’t any particular danger. Still, he was afraid of heights.

## Chronology

### New World War Arc

In the Capture of Valkyries Base, Crown Prince Gra Cabal and several Gra Valkas Imperial Army soldiers escaped from the Valkyries base and climbed up the rocky hill to look at their surroundings. The Valkyries base was engulfed in flames. He turned to look up dozens of medium-sized piston engine aircraft and a hundred wyverns flew in the skies. Furthermore, more than a several thousand giant fire birds flew among them, dropping several parachuted troopers on top of the base. Gra Cabal and several imperial soldiers began to move to try to survive.

Private Ballaster of the 32nd Division trembled in fear of height as he rode on top of a giant fire bird. Three paratroopers led by squad leader Geira were to descend from the fire bird. They jumped out of the bird in order. With his turn to drop, Ballaster committed to his will and jumped from the bird. Due to being dropped at a high altitude, he approached the surface at a slow pace, making it feel as though he were flying. He pulled on a string, opening his parachute, but his squadmates that had jumped before him were still descending. Their squad leader Geira ordered them to open their parachutes simultaneously after 40 seconds. Due to his uncontrollable fear, he counted the seconds too fast as he focused his thoughts on opening his parachute.

His parachute started to get dragged along by the wind. He was supposed to have been on course towards their drop point, but he was getting farther away. His squad leader Geira shouted to him over his comms equipment to change his heading back towards the base, but Ballaster was being swept away towards a direction where he didn’t intend to go.

Naniega, commander of the 1st Dragon Knights Squadron, surveyed his surroundings from his wyvern. Ballaster called requesting support thru his comms equipment as he was alone in the sky. Naniega cursed himself that Ballaster was an amateur, embarrassing the level of skill the soldiers of the Magikaraich Community. He saw that someone had opened their parachute earlier than expected and swept away to the west of the base. Moreover, Naniega sighted some figures on top of a boulder and descended his wyvern down, attacking them with the fireballs.

Having been parachuted down slowly, Ballaster landed in the forest 3km west of the base. The parachute got caught in the branches of the trees, severing the cloth in the process. He ended up breaking one of the equipments entrusted to him. He promptly reported his present situation on his comms equipment. Then he heard from his comms equipment to issue their order to head over to investigate concealed enemies around 600m southwest of his position after their wyverns attacked them. He headed southwest alone, but his hands slightly trembled as he struggled with his fears.

20 minutes later, he pushed his way through the thickets as he advanced through the difficult forest terrain. For a moment there, he heard the sound of someone groaning. He went closer towards the direction of the voice. The smell of grass burning fills his nose. He deduced that it must have been a direct hit from one of their wyvern’s flame balls. He was currently deep in the forest where weeds grew on the surface, but there were patches of grass burning. A single man was groaning as he lay fallen on top of the grass distance away from the patches of grass burning. The burnt corpses of what seemed to be Gra Valkas imperial soldiers lay scattered near the fallen man. He found only one man alive but suffered substantial burns. He couldn’t discern any wounds to the man’s face, but parts of his clothing were severely burnt. Upon closer inspection, Gra Cabal was different from the other soldiers and seemed to be also wearing adornments as a high-ranking person. Ballaster immediately reported the situation through comms equipment while gathering the weapons of the Gra Valkas Empire soldiers. He called in for support where he had found one prisoner of war.

Ballaster and the Magicaraich soldiers immediately transported Gra Cabal, who was a wounded prisoner of war, to the railroad town of Kielseki where Mu’s frontline command was. However, Gra Cabal wounds were much more serious than previously thought, surpassing the capabilities offered by field hospitals and simple recovery magic. They transported him to a hospital in the Mu capital Otaheit. Unable to fully care for the person in that same hospital, Mu had him handed over to Japan, which had better medical technology than any other country participating in the war.

Later, at the conference room in the Magikaraich Community capital Avest, Ballaster was rewarded for his efforts without being punished after capturing crown prince Gra Cabal as a high-ranking prisoner of war.