“You want to add what to the custom build?”
Ian’s face twisted into a scowl.
“Yes.”
Well, wasn’t that what engineers did in the first place? Work on things the way the pilot asked, or figure it out on their own even when the pilot didn’t say anything.
“If you make that kind of face again while asking for a custom job, I’ll snap your wrist.”
Ah, right. He’d said it showed on my face.
I wasn’t used to it at all, so I kept forgetting. I’d have to be careful even when I was thinking from now on.
When I sent the build I’d put together from my smartwatch to Ian’s, he turned on a hologram and stared at it. After mulling it over, Ian clicked his tongue and roughly scratched the back of his head.
“Wh-what part do you, do you not like?”
That couldn’t be it. This time, there was almost nothing for him to criticize.
I had excluded nearly all of the purge functions and transformation functions Ian hated. I’d only added the purge function in the bare minimum of places where it was necessary, and honestly, even Ian should be able to accept this much.
There weren’t many parts that deviated from the existing plan, either. If anything, the required budget had gone down significantly compared to when I’d asked for purge functions. There was absolutely nothing that could be a problem.
“I already bought the parts.”
“What?”
Ah, so it wasn’t an issue with the build.
I hadn’t even thought of that.
“Purge work is inconvenient and takes a long time. I hurried the purchases to get the work done quickly.”
So when he got angry last time, it wasn’t just a matter of maintenance. There had also been issues with work time and difficulty.
If Ian, who usually finished his work after a single night, said he had to rush the job, then purge or transformation gimmicks must be quite a burden for an engineer.
Ian turned off the hologram and pressed hard at the space between his brows.
“There isn’t enough budget to apply this.”
Originally, there shouldn’t have been a problem, but now there was.
The sponsorship we’d received from the House of Count Luna was fairly tight. It wasn’t that the count’s house had been stingy; that was probably just the usual level of sponsorship in this world.
It was exactly enough money to customize Ailee once, but not enough to do it twice.
“C-could we sell the parts you bought again at, at secondhand prices…”
“Did you forget what you asked for? I bought parts tailored to Ailee that can purge armor. They’re not general-purpose equipment, so how would I resell them?”
Even if we listed them on the secondhand market, no one would buy them. There wouldn’t be any Titan whose specifications matched Ailee’s exactly.
I pressed at the space between my brows just like Ian. After we sat in silence for a while, my smartwatch suddenly lit up with a flash.
“Ian!”
Ailee shouted through the speaker.
“What.”
“We can do it like with the thruster!”
Right.
If Ian had enough standing to bring a thruster from the Imperial House, then procuring parts for my custom build should be nothing.
Thrusters were extremely expensive products. The most expensive thing in a Titan was the core, and the second was the thruster. If he could bring something like that, then mere parts should be—
“No.”
Ian shook his head.
“Why? You brought a thruster, but this won’t work?”
“Last time, I went into the Imperial House’s hangar and stole it.”
“What?”
So it had been the Marines, not the Imperial House?
No, more importantly. It seemed that even if you were lowborn, as long as you were kin of the Imperial family, you could enter the Imperial hangar. I was a little jealous of that. I wanted to see all those countless Titans.
Titans of the Imperial House. Just how incredible would the quality of the works gathered there be? Even Princess Saya’s Kaiser was enough to make me covet it sometimes. I really wanted to see them at least once.
Why did this feel like cheating? No, of course Ailee was the best.
“To be precise, it’s fine if I return it. But right now, I don’t have the money to buy a replacement thruster. That’s the problem.”
“Th-that doesn’t mean you’ll get, get arrested or anything, right?”
“It’s not theft. The object’s location merely changed, so it’s fine.”
You just said it wasn’t fine, and that was why you couldn’t bring any more.
Ah, damn it. I hated headaches like this. At the time, without a thruster, there hadn’t been any way to even stand a chance, so I’d had no choice but to ask him.
I never imagined it would turn into this.
“F-for now, should we ask Professor S-Sumeragi?”
Because there was only one person who could help us with Titan customization.
***
“I’m afraid that would be a little difficult. Thrusters are expensive, after all. Thrusters from the Imperial House are even more expensive.”
Professor Sumeragi shook her head.
“Can’t we attach the thruster from that heavy-armored Titan, the one rented under my name and now purchased, as a substitute?”
When I looked at Ian, he spoke with his chin propped on his hand.
“Already broken. The chain explosion that started in the damaged thruster pipe damaged the inside of the thruster. Repair costs more.”
“What other solutions did you think of?”
“Manufacturing a thruster ourselves.”
Professor Sumeragi burst out laughing. Ian continued speaking, unconcerned.
“I judged that production would be entirely possible if attempted, but this also ultimately lacks budget. We have no money on hand right now. Requesting additional sponsorship is awkward.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the House of Count Luna.”
Ah.
Professor Sumeragi exhaled briefly, then fell silent. She stared at Ian for a moment before belatedly opening her mouth again.
“Ian, you were from the Southern Alliance Army, weren’t you?”
“Only my mother was from there.”
What was with that way of speaking?
“In any case, Ian must know a certain amount as well. Judging by the Academy’s involvement, it includes keeping mouths shut, doesn’t it?”
“Correct.”
Huh.
Hadn’t I just failed to understand a single word of what seemed like an incredibly important story, plot-wise?
I glanced back and forth between the two of them for a moment, then shook my head.
This wasn’t a game story. It was the story of people truly living in this world. I didn’t think it was something I could ask about carelessly, or something where I could simply hear the facts and understand them.
To begin with, neither Ian nor Sumeragi seemed to have any intention of telling me anything.
After thinking for a moment, Sumeragi lifted her head as if something had occurred to her.
“It’s not as if there’s absolutely no way to help.”
“What?”
“Wh-what is it?”
Sumeragi turned on a hologram and rotated the screen toward us. Rows of thrusters from the Academy Market appeared. It was completely different from the screen we usually saw.
A faculty-only purchasing channel.
“I can reserve the purchase of a thruster under my name, and you can quickly earn the money for it.”
If parts were purchased or rented under a professor’s name, they could be obtained more cheaply and more quickly. It was a good method.
But Ian let out a deep breath.
“Thrusters are expensive. It’s difficult to earn that much money in a short time. There’s less than a month left until midterms.”
That was true, too.
“The Engineering Club has no chance to earn money until the club exhibition. On top of that, I’m short on development funds.”
The members of the Engineering Club received funding from the Academy. But if they wanted to make something good enough to sell on the market, that level of funding wasn’t enough.
There was probably a reason all the club members were nobles.
At the same time, Sumeragi moved her hand over the hologram. The screen passed the thrusters, and other parts began to appear.
“Is that so? Then instead of the thruster, you only need to gather enough money to buy the parts you’ll be attaching. Cadet Deep, even if you’re lowborn, you belong to a club where you can earn as much money as you like, don’t you?”
I nodded.
Just as she said, the Employee Club’s circumstances were completely different from the Engineering Club’s.
Not only did it receive funding from the Academy, but its club activities themselves generated profit. The dues its members had to pay were practically nonexistent.
Because the club itself was basically Senior Ayla’s otaku fixation.
“It would probably be impossible for Cadet Deep to earn that money alone. But it would be different if Cadet Ian earned money with you. If the two of you earn money together and are short by a small amount, I’ll support you that much.”
“S-support?”
“You’re both cadets I have expectations for. Besides, first-year engineers who try to make a thruster themselves are rare. I don’t want to let him go, either.”
This was pretty extraordinary. We could purchase parts through a professor and even receive support.
Ian removed the arm he’d been propping his chin on and stood up.
Then he bowed his head to Professor Sumeragi.
“Thank you.”
Uh.
Professor Sumeragi flinched and looked at me. I was just as flustered, so I couldn’t say anything either.
He wasn’t the type to do this.
Ian sat back down and swept his gaze over my and Sumeragi’s expressions. When Sumeragi cleared her throat and composed her face, Ian took out the pen stuck in his breast pocket.
“A club transfer requires a signature.”
“Ah, right. That’s true. It’s the first time I’ve been greeted like this by someone with the eyes of the Imperial House, so I was a little flustered. Please understand.”
When Sumeragi gestured over her smartwatch, a hologram appeared above Ian’s smartwatch. Ian signed in the corner, and the hologram returned to Sumeragi.
“Good. I’ll contact Professor Zeke and handle the necessary procedure, so Cadet Ian, you may go now. I still have something to discuss with Cadet Deep.”
Ian stood up, bowed his head once more, and left. Sumeragi followed Ian with her eyes for a while, then stared at me as soon as the door closed.
“You handle things very thoroughly, don’t you?”
“Y-yes?”
What was this out of nowhere?
As I stood there flustered, Professor Sumeragi smiled and shrugged.
“I did ask you, but I didn’t expect you to bring Cadet Ian after properly creating a reason he’d have to transfer. Please consider my support a reward for that clean handling.”
Ah.
Aah, right. Ah, that was true. Right.
“Ah, uh, yes. Thank y…”
“I’ve received plenty of thanks today. I never thought I’d receive gratitude from a member of the Imperial family.”
I had attended as an observer because Professor Sumeragi had asked me to. I’d seriously forgotten.
“Though it doesn’t seem like you intended for things to turn out this way.”
Ah, my expression.
I dragged a hand down my face. I could feel my cheeks had gone slightly red. Maybe it was because I’d been in the sunlight for a while.
“But after talking with him today, I still found it a shame. If the other cadets’ views of Cadet Ian change a little, I’ll have to consider bringing him back again.”
At the very least, Professor Sumeragi seemed to be favorably disposed toward Ian. That was a relief.
Speaking of being favorably disposed, that reminded me.
“P-Professor Sumeragi?”
“Yes, what is it?”
There was something I’d been curious about for a while.
“Why is Professor Zeke so interested in me?”
The assistive device for my legs was one thing, but even in this week’s lectures, he had shown constant, particular interest in my physical training.
Most of it was helpful, and Professor Zeke seemed to see me not as a lowborn, but more as a cadet who needed a little more help. There shouldn’t be any benefit for him in paying more attention to me.
Of course, that was part of why I’d gone to help when Professor Zeke was fighting alone, so in a way, you could say it was mutual aid.
Still, I was curious.
“It would be better to ask him yourself, but I don’t think Professor Zeke himself will tell you, so I’ll just say it.”
Professor Sumeragi made a strange expression, then shrugged.
“Professor Zeke had another lowborn cadet and disciple. Not you, Cadet Deep.”
Not has. Had.
“Professor Zeke has a great deal you can learn from him as a pilot, so do your best to follow him.”
This world was at war.
It was a fact I hadn’t been able to forget since the engagement with Fafnir.