Man, it’s Aaron.
Wow, it’s Icarus.
The closer he got, the clearer Icarus’s form became.
Since Icarus was a heavy-armored model, they’d cleanly skipped the heavy wings.
Instead, it looked like they had taken only the thruster system attached to the wings and developed the thrusters further.
As a result, the thrusters mounted on its back had become insanely oversized.
It strongly gave off the feeling of a prototype made to force the existing heavy-armored Icarus to fly.
Still, if it could fly, size wasn’t much of a problem.
As long as it could fly fast, things like the size of the thrusters didn’t matter.
Icarus wasn’t the only thing that became clearer as he approached.
“You came, huh? You treacherous bastard.”
Aaron was usually on the handsome side.
Damn, that expression was scary as hell.
If I approached like this, he looked like he’d try to kill me.
As I was getting closer, Aaron’s eyes wavered exactly once.
Just once, when he saw me leaning on a cane and one of my legs was a prosthetic.
Ian and Ran hadn’t gone out of their way to show it, but it seemed to have been more of a shock to Aaron.
Even so, his expression turned murderous again.
It was the first time I’d seen Aaron make that kind of face.
Even when I was drawing the Princess’s attention, the most he’d shown was annoyance and jealousy.
No, it wasn’t that Aaron was the problem. I’d never seen an expression like that in my life.
An expression that said he purely, genuinely wanted to kill me.
Just how badly had he wanted to find and kill me to fly straight here from the academy without even a special detachment or the Imperial Guard?
Thanks to that, Icarus was currently caught after having landed from the Titan.
Uh.
Did they really have to go that far?
There was a gun muzzle right beside him, yet he stared straight at me as if he wasn’t even afraid.
And it wasn’t just any muzzle. It was the muzzle of a Liberation Army Titan.
There was a gun muzzle the size of a person right in front of him, and he didn’t even care.
“Try making an excuse.”
“That’s why I came, to make an excuse.”
Actually, there was something more important than an excuse.
“Icarus… it’s mine.”
“You recognize it?”
“It’s definitely nice that they enlarged the thrusters that much, but it’s a little disappointing. If they lowered the mass of the Titan itself, I think they could implement it with wings.”
“That would be nothing more than a copy of Fafnir. The Dyke family’s flying Titan has to be different from that.”
Hmm.
This wasn’t what was really important.
“How did you know I was here?”
How the hell did he know?
It probably wasn’t information he’d heard from the Luna Count family.
In the first place, the Luna Count family wasn’t in a position to pinpoint where I was.
Then had the western front leaked the information?
That was impossible too.
I’d deceived the route until midway through the western front’s drones following me.
Then in the end, there was only one way to know where I was.
“Professor Sieg told me.”
“As expected.”
It was Sieg Pride.
I wasn’t disappointed.
Professor Sieg wasn’t a loose-lipped person.
On the contrary, I should take it as him trusting Aaron.
Professor Sieg was a soldier who had been active on the eastern front.
Naturally, he had to know the Dyke Ducal House that guarded the eastern front well, and he must have stood on the same battlefield as Aaron, who had been active even before coming to the academy.
If Professor Sieg trusted Aaron, then it was right for me to try trusting Aaron too.
“Aaron, before I make my excuse, I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
More than anything, Aaron’s attitude wasn’t entirely hostile.
No, he was trying to kill me.
Still, at the very least, he had the attitude of trying to hear me out.
Then we could talk.
“What rumors are there about me?”
First, I had to know the details before I could make an excuse.
Whether the Luna Count family had spread some rumor about me, or whether he had flown here as soon as he heard from Professor Sieg.
Aaron’s eyes widened, then he let out a sigh with an incredulous expression.
“First, I heard from Professor Sieg that you were alive.”
“And?”
“I heard you were in the south. That’s almost all I heard from Professor Sieg.”
He had only given information that wouldn’t matter even if provided.
Aaron was the type to keep his mouth extremely shut, so he didn’t seem likely to go around talking about even that much.
As long as he didn’t mention the Luna Count family, there was no reason Aaron would be in danger.
“I thought it was strange, but I didn’t pay it much mind. I figured you were participating in some secret operation by the southern Imperial Army. But then a rumor started going around the academy.”
This must be the rumor the Luna Count family started.
“A rumor that you had defected to the Allied Forces.”
Aaron’s face twisted hard.
“…But then this bastard really is in a southern Allied Forces base?”
He clenched his teeth.
If the Allied soldier holding him back so much as let go, he looked ready to rush over and hit me.
Should I just let him hit me once and then talk?
No.
Knowing Aaron’s personality, he would never stop at one punch.
He’d definitely get into mount and rain down merciless ground-and-pound.
“Then shall I try making my excuse now?”
“You called it an excuse.”
See, fuck. That gave me chills.
“Shall I explain myself?”
“Yeah.”
This was a story the listener had to brace himself for too.
From the moment he heard this explanation, Aaron would never be free either.
Professor Sieg probably hadn’t told him out of consideration for Aaron.
But Aaron had gone out of his way to come all the way here and try to be spoon-fed the truth.
“How much do you know about the Luna Count family?”
***
It hadn’t been early when I started talking.
By the time I finished, it was already almost twelve.
Aaron dragged a hand down his face.
“Haah…”
I didn’t know what I should hide, so I just told him everything.
I started from my past, when I’d been experimented on by the Luna Count family.
And I ended with how I’d saved Ailee and was currently administering suppressants to her.
Aaron’s expression wasn’t good.
It was a story the listener had to brace himself for too.
The truth was incredibly heavy.
On top of that, this was a truth related to the Empire.
Aaron slowly lifted his head and looked up at Icarus.
“Then there’s a person inside Icarus’s core too?”
“Yes, there’s a person inside the core.”
“Fuck.”
It was closer to a lament than a curse.
Aaron squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.
“We have to tell someone.”
“Who?”
“At the very least, we have to tell Her Highness the Princess. And my father too. With the Dyke Ducal House’s power, we can put a certain amount of pressure on the Luna Count family.”
“Do you think they don’t know?”
Professor Sieg knew too.
The Princess might not know.
But would the imperial family of the Empire not know something even Professor Sieg knew?
Then would the Empire’s major nobles not know?
Just because it was forbidden to pry open the technology, had none of the nobles ever tried?
No, if I were a duke, I would have dismantled the core the moment I received a Titan.
And then I would have learned that there was a person inside the core.
At first, I would have been enraged. Then I would have agonized over it. In the end, I would have accepted it.
For the cost of consuming a mere commoner, the power of a Titan with artificial intelligence was far too strong.
A Titan combining that artificial intelligence with the Empire’s technology was incomparably stronger than the Allied Forces’ Titans.
The Empire needed power, and if someone else was committing atrocities on its behalf to obtain that power, there was no reason to refuse.
If they pretended not to know, if they said they hadn’t known, that was the end of it.
In the end, the Luna Count family’s atrocities were nothing more than an open secret.
A secret that everyone who needed to know already knew, and that those who didn’t know would never be given any way to learn.
“I don’t think Duke Dyke doesn’t know.”
Was that a bit of a low blow at his father?
Just as I was about to apologize, Aaron shook his head.
“No, you’re right. Father certainly knows too.”
Among the nobles I knew, Aaron had the best resilience.
“Even so, we have to move.”
Even after losing, being forced into draws, and being pushed down in the rankings, he hadn’t despaired even once.
“The Empire has to take another step forward. The current core technology is wrong. For people to sacrifice people in order to move one step forward is something only possible in war.”
“The current Empire is at war, though.”
“You said it yourself. The north and south are Liberation Armies. If we resolve the immorality of core technology, the war will be cut in half.”
Aaron clenched his teeth.
“Then the remaining half can be resolved by force.”
That was far too hopeful.
I didn’t bother saying that out loud.
“I have to return before the sun rises. I only notified the academy that I’d be back by tomorrow.”
Ah, I see.
If he was an academy cadet, this was still right in the middle of the semester.
It seemed like midterm season would be coming up soon.
Academy cadet.
Academy?
“Aaron, do you happen to have a spare smart watch?”
“No. But I can get one. Do you need it?”
“It’d be nice to have.”
“I don’t need to come in person, so I’ll have it sent to the southern front base. You’re going to make contact with the Sinis family anyway, aren’t you?”
“Yes, probably.”
Aaron stood up and raised his smart watch.
He hesitated for a moment, then tapped the smart watch.
“Icarus, I’m boarding.”
“Understood.”
Icarus’s core opened, and its hand descended.
Aaron climbed onto Icarus’s palm.
“If I come here next time, I’m going to take the person out of the core.”
“You’re leaving without seeing Ailee?”
“You look at her plenty. If I even see her face, I think I’ll feel more troubled.”
Wooooong.
Aaron climbed into Icarus’s core, and the core closed.
The thrusters ignited like they were having a seizure.
Dust flew like mad, and I couldn’t even keep myself upright.
“Ugh!”
The moment I closed my eyes and opened them again, Icarus was gone.
“Wow, shit.”
The surroundings had become a complete mess.
It wasn’t like I could tell him to come back and clean it up.
Slowly, Southern Liberation Army soldiers emerged from around the area.
After a few sighs were heard, the soldiers began cleaning up the ruined surroundings.
“I’m sorry.”
For some reason, I felt sorry on his behalf.
***
To find my academy account, I had to contact Darka.
The next morning, Perez called for me.
“We received a signal from Darka of Sinis that it’s all right to contact him now. Will you do it?”
“Yes.”
Beep.
The communication connected.
“Mr. Perez. I did say communication was possible, but contacting me at an unscheduled moment like this is dangerous. This had better be a conversation with enough benefit to justify the risk.”
“Hello.”
Darka went quiet.
“Who’s that beside you?”
“It’s me, Deep.”
As expected, he couldn’t recognize me by voice alone.
There was silence on the other side of the communication for a long while.
Then suddenly, with a beep, a hologram turned on.
Darka, meeting my eyes through the hologram, widened his eyes.
“It really is you.”
Soon, Darka’s gaze moved downward.
He was definitely looking at my prosthetic leg.
Darka nodded just like that, then the hologram reached out and patted my shoulder.
“Do you need health supplements again? I’ll prepare them for you.”
What the hell?
I hadn’t even said anything yet, so why was he feeling a sense of kinship again?
I don’t need them.
“I’d like to reactivate my bank account.”
Darka’s expression changed completely.
“If it’s about money, that’s a different story.”
Resilience.
The insane resilience of money.