The Southern Liberation Army provided us with lodging.
Thanks to that, I had time to wash up and even lie down on a bed for a short while.
Maybe it was because I’d been so tense, but my muscles ached.
Ian, Ran, and Clemens, who had been in the vehicle, went to the infirmary.
Ian seemed to be suffering quite a bit from a mild concussion, while Ran and Clemens weren’t in bad shape.
Of course, Ailey ended up half-hospitalized as well.
All I did was show them Ailey, but they roughly grasped her condition and immediately began administering suppressants.
When it came to anything related to artificial intelligence, they certainly moved fast.
The Southern Liberation Army was definitely a liberation army too.
Only after sending the entire party to the infirmary and getting them admitted did I realize it.
Among our group, I was the only one whose mind was intact and who could still talk.
Thanks to that, my rest didn’t last long.
As soon as I finished dinner, I was called straight to the commander’s office.
“I’m Perez.”
“I’m Deep.”
Perez.
The leader of the Southern Allied Forces.
I’d thought Perez was a man’s name, but apparently that didn’t matter much.
For starters, the Perez in front of me was definitely a woman.
It wasn’t a name I’d heard before.
The Southern Liberation Army had never made a notorious name for itself fighting the Empire.
Naturally, there was little information about their leader.
“You must have some skill, seeing as you broke through that.”
“Until I came from the north to the allied forces, I was the second-ranked student at the Academy.”
“Hmm.”
Perez looked me up and down.
Normally, my expression was easy to read.
But right now, I could read Perez’s expression instead.
This crazy bastard.
That was exactly what her face was saying.
I had nothing to say in rebuttal.
Blowing up a generator with a grenade round and using the blast to get over a wall.
It was a fact that it was insane.
But I pulled it off and survived, didn’t I?
More than anything, I’d already done it once in the west, so it had been easy to think of.
Still, this is the last time I’m launching myself with an explosion.
I absolutely shouldn’t do it a third time.
“You came from the Northern Allied Forces, did you?”
What a relief.
Perez wasn’t the type to speak like a noble.
If she’d spoken in circles while setting some strange atmosphere like Kaya, it would have been seriously exhausting.
“That’s right.”
“We haven’t been able to communicate with the Northern Allied Forces recently. Is it related to that matter?”
“Yes. It probably is.”
It seemed the south had recognized that there was a problem too.
Then this would be quick.
“The Northern Allied Forces abandoned their base and retreated due to a surprise attack by the Imperial Army. The coordinates of the relocated base are here.”
When I took out the device containing the coordinates, Perez immediately took it and inserted it into a device beside her.
“Uh, couldn’t that be a virus?”
“I trust you.”
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
Along with the notification sound, a holographic map of the north appeared.
Perez manipulated the hologram with her fingertips and examined it this way and that before glancing at me.
“I apologize for not immediately recognizing the Titan from the north. We do go north, but it’s extremely rare for anyone from the north to come down this way.”
“It’s fine.”
I almost died, but I didn’t.
No, I’m still a little pissed.
But Perez’s expression didn’t look all that good either.
“There’s a clan that uses white as its representative color. We thought you were their people, so we had no choice but to fire.”
“I understand.”
“If we’d known Ian was in there, we wouldn’t have fired either. No, if we’d recognized it as the Titan from the north, we wouldn’t have fired.”
As expected, it was because of Ian.
“It’s fine.”
It wasn’t like Rob from the midterm team battle, who shot on purpose even though he knew.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
If they cared that much about Ian, Kaya, whom I’d met before, might be in an even higher position than I’d thought.
Then there was no reason for me to press the matter.
Even if I didn’t, they had no choice but to take care of us on their end.
“We’ll provide all the medical facilities you need for the time being. You may also use the lodging for as long as necessary.”
Like this.
“However, one of your companions’ identities wasn’t properly recorded in the Imperial database. What is that doctor-like man?”
She seemed to be talking about Clemens.
She probably wasn’t asking because she didn’t know his name.
“He’s a doctor who escaped from the Luna Count Family.”
“From the Luna Count Family?”
Perez’s eyes widened briefly.
“A researcher? He’ll have plenty to talk about with Kaya.”
“I said he was a doctor. How did you know?”
“Most people who come out of the Luna Count Family are researchers. They’re divided into those whose conscience couldn’t withstand repeated human experimentation, and those who overcame even their conscience.”
Those whose conscience couldn’t withstand it.
Those who overcame even their conscience.
I suppose it was fortunate the one beside me belonged to the former.
Ah, come to think of it.
“Um, I have a request.”
There was one more thing I had to resolve after coming south.
“What is it?”
“A Titan.”
A Titan.
“Understood. We’ll repair the Titan you brought.”
“No.”
“Then a custom job? If necessary, you may use parts from the south.”
“I need to change the frame from the ground up.”
Perez’s eyes widened.
This time, it wasn’t just for a moment.
Customization.
It sounded simple when said briefly, but customization was the process of adjusting a Titan in detail to suit an individual’s needs.
Customization was carried out in many ways, but generally, two things were always observed.
Use the existing frame as is.
Use the existing core as is.
It was something like the ship of Theseus.
The frame and core were the essential foundations of a Titan.
If the frame and core were changed, that Titan became an entirely different Titan.
And that was what I needed.
“You want a new Titan?”
“That’s right.”
What I needed was a Titan with an optimized frame.
More precisely, a Titan capable of doing everything I needed now.
“I need a high-mobility Titan. Based on a lightweight frame. I’d like Ian to handle the overall design.”
The mass-produced Titan of the Northern Allied Forces I was currently using was also close to a high-mobility Titan with a lightweight frame.
But in the end, it was mass-produced.
Since it was a mass-produced model that had to produce average results no matter who used it, the machine was a little ambiguous in every direction.
It had heavy armor placed over a lightweight frame, giving it a strangely sluggish feel.
On top of that, its shape wasn’t thoroughly calculated for air resistance; it was just blocky and heavy.
The joints creaked a little too, and most importantly, its response speed didn’t suit me.
The Titan’s control system couldn’t keep up with my speed.
Next time, magnetic coating would have to be mandatory.
“Ian? Have you discussed it with him?”
“Yes.”
I hadn’t.
Ian was in the infirmary right now.
We had never discussed anything of the sort.
But he said he’d absolutely never make armor purge, and then he made it for me anyway.
Couldn’t he do at least this much?
Perez wore a strange expression for a moment, then shook her head.
“It would be difficult to help you that far free of charge. We have more leeway than the north, but that doesn’t mean we have a great deal of financial room.”
It was obvious, but a dedicated machine cost quite a lot just to produce.
As for the time needed to make it, that could be reduced by spending money.
The problem was money.
It required an enormous amount of money.
“I’ll just spend all my money.”
And I had money.
It was money I was going to pour into Titan customization anyway.
I could spend it all now.
“How much do you have?”
“Enough.”
“In the hundreds of millions?”
“I think so.”
After the second semester began, the money I spent on customization decreased.
At the time, I considered the completed Ailey to be a finished product, so that was only natural.
I only swapped equipment occasionally; I never changed the Titan’s appearance.
Thanks to that, I saved a tremendous amount of the money I’d been wasting on customization.
But there was a problem.
“I’ll have to find my Academy account first, though.”
Would my Academy bank account still exist?
Contacting Darcha Sinis would be the best option.
It was a little uncomfortable.
I knew how the Luna Count Family operated.
There was a high chance they’d wage a political battle against me.
A commoner from the Academy who appeared on the battlefield as a member of the Northern Allied Forces during the battle in the north.
By now, hadn’t I become known as an Imperial traitor who had defected to the allied forces?
No, perhaps they’d say I’d been with the allied forces from the beginning and was a spy who had disguised myself as a commoner.
The princess would have a fit.
Since I could predict the situation like this, contacting Darcha Sinis felt uncomfortable.
Even if Darcha had a close relationship with the Southern Liberation Army, in the end, he was someone with one foot in the Empire.
“An account, is it. In that case, we’ll have to contact Darcha of the Sinis Family.”
“You have his contact information?”
“I do. Darcha of Sinis is a trading partner, so naturally I have it. Still, it’s fortunate that he’s an Imperial you can at least talk to.”
What a relief.
Truly, what a relief.
I was genuinely relieved she hadn’t said he was impossible to talk to.
I drew in a deep breath, then let it out.
There were nobles who were obviously overflowing with love for the Empire.
The princess, for example. Or the princess. Or the princess.
After that, perhaps Aaron, that princess’s fiancé.
Come to think of it, wouldn’t it be okay to contact Aaron?
He seemed trustworthy to a certain extent.
That contact could wait.
Right now, I didn’t even have a smartwatch, and I had to find his contact information separately.
“I’ll connect you.”
“Yes, then please conne—”
Weeeeeeeeng! Weeeeeeeeng! Weeeeeeeeng!
A siren blared.
Under the red light, Perez pushed the hologram aside and pressed the communication button.
“Situation officer. Report. Is it a clan?”
“Uh, well. I know this sounds strange, but…”
“Report!”
“A flying object has been confirmed overhead!”
Overhead?
It probably wasn’t a clan.
Then was it an Imperial flying drone?
“A flying drone?”
“No, its speed is far higher. This is almost like, uh…”
I already knew what he was about to say.
“Fafnir.”
At my words, Perez’s expression crumpled.
“Is it Fafnir? Have you confirmed it visually?”
“W-we’re confirming it now. Uh, but, it’s not coming from the east. Rather, it’s flying in from the direction of the Imperial center.”
“The Imperial center?”
The Imperial center?
The Empire had a Titan that could fly?
“Ah, we’ve confirmed it visually! It’s not black!”
Then it wasn’t Fafnir.
“That’s… brown? Ivory? Desert-colored…?”
Desert-colored.
“A desert-colored flight-type Titan? Is it a new Imperial model?”
“Icarus.”
There was one.
An Imperial Titan that could fly.
I’d never seen it with my own eyes, but timing-wise, it roughly fit perfectly.
It was enough time for them to buy Fafnir’s wings from me, analyze them, and create a prototype through enormous capital.
“The target is sending a light signal! No intent to attack! It’s requesting permission to land inside the base!”
“Grant permission, but keep the defense turrets aimed at it.”
“Understood!”
It didn’t take long.
Thooom.
A massive desert-colored Titan knelt on one knee in the very center of the base.
The core in its chest opened, and a person raised his head.
“You goddamn traitor to the Empire!!!”
Ah, that shouting voice was kind of nice to hear.
“Come out, Deep!!!”
Almost nostalgic, even.