Clack-clack-clack.
Darka clenched his fist. His iron hand struck his palm, ringing with a metallic sound.
I’d thought the outside of his prosthetic arm would at least be covered with artificial skin or something similar, but there was nothing of the sort. It looked rather crude, and it hadn’t even been painted.
The assistive device Professor Zeke had given me must have been quite the luxury item. At least mine had a clean paint job.
“I only smuggled Titans to the Allied Forces for money. That doesn’t mean I belong to them.”
The high-mobility Titan, its core pierced by a bullet, was still gushing red liquid from the core section. It looked like blood spilling out in time with a heartbeat.
“Well, whether it was a simple business relationship or not, we’ll know once we crack open the ledger on this smartwatch.”
It was grotesque. One thing was certain, though: it wasn’t blood. Even up close, there was none of that fishy, unpleasant stench unique to blood. If anything, it smelled faintly sweet.
“Fine. From your perspective, that would be the cleanest way. But if my records of dealing with the Allied Forces are exposed, this won’t end with my expulsion. Do you not know that House Count Sinis is responsible for the southern front’s battle line?”
“You’ve got it backward. House Count Sinis, which is in charge of the southern front, was actually selling Titans to the Allied Forces. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for the Empire if you were completely driven out?”
I’ve smelled this somewhere before.
“You weren’t a commoner? Why are you so well-versed in fronts and politics?”
Ah, I know. It smells like a concentrated vitamin drink.
“Hey, Deep! Stay still for a second! Why do you keep wandering around?”
Because someone had died. I just wanted to keep my mind elsewhere if I could.
Levan seemed to feel nothing after killing a person.
No, perhaps he was focusing even more on the conversation precisely to avoid those feelings.
Thinking that way did seem like interpreting Levan in the most hopeful direction possible, though.
Levan, who had been lost in thought, raised his head.
“All right. If you pay us enough, we’ll say Senior Darka killed these Allied bastards together with us.”
“K-killed? I didn’t k-kill anyone, though.”
The Allied soldier riding the heavily armored Titan was still alive. He just couldn’t get out because the hatch lock had warped after being crushed under Ailey’s weight.
“If we hand him over to the Academy like that, he’ll be tortured, have his information wrung out of him, and then be executed anyway, right?”
Isn’t torture a war crime, so you’re not supposed to do it?
“Th-that’s…”
“Well, that has nothing to do with me. Didn’t they target your core? It’s fine if guys like that die.”
Levan shrugged.
“Anyway, why don’t we get our story straight like that? Deep and I get the Empire’s protection, which is good, and you get to hide the smuggling, which is good too, right?”
“Even if we align our stories to that extent, it does not mean I won’t be suspected.”
“There’s nothing I can do about that part. Weren’t you going to kill him if things went south?”
Darka let out a deep sigh.
Even if we matched our stories, Darka was ultimately in a position where he had no choice but to be suspected.
Unlike something as general-purpose as smoke bombs, Titans that used EMPs were rare. Since it was technology capable of neutralizing the Academy’s radar network, there would undoubtedly be detailed records.
Maybe he would even have to completely remove the EMP from Benjamin, and Darka might have to stop smuggling altogether until graduation.
Common sense said you shouldn’t smuggle in the first place, but in an Empire where scrounging was common sense, who knew? If everyone was secretly smuggling, then this incident would be a pretty big loss for Darka.
As Levan said, it wasn’t something we could do anything about, nor did we have any reason to.
We had been trying to steal, but it was true that the other party had been doing something bad to the Empire.
Darka flicked the fingers of his prosthetic hand as though calculating, then met Levan’s eyes.
“What is the price?”
“Give me money. The equipment I mainly use is all bought from the black market and then customized anyway, so it’s pointless even if you procure something for me.”
Fair enough.
Most of the equipment Levan used consisted of reliable gear with simple structures, with certain special functions added on.
Rather than having Darka procure it himself, it would be better for Levan to have enough money to buy the equipment himself and customize it afterward.
In other words, he was asking for more than the money he needed to buy the equipment.
“I-I…”
What did I need?
First of all, I definitely needed money.
When it came to customization, the only thing above a pilot was money. Nothing was more important than money. But sometimes, there were things you couldn’t obtain without connections.
Smuggled goods.
All sorts of modified parts whose owners had disappeared, but whose tastes remained intact. Once you got your hands on them, there were more than enough items that could be used in all kinds of bizarre ways.
Like Levan’s bazooka, which had directional thrusters and a remote firing function, there were probably plenty of things that could be used strategically.
“A generator.”
Well, I don’t like complicated strategies.
“You were already fast enough. Are you thinking of replacing your generator?”
“S-something like that.”
Among all the equipment and strategies used by every Titan in the world, there was nothing that couldn’t be countered. However, there was one concept that undoubtedly could not be countered.
Speed.
If you could hit without being hit, you beat everything.
My physical condition was gradually improving. Even in the battle just now, I endured high-speed movement. My fingertips were still trembling, but that would probably get better too.
Other Titans mounted their generators on their backs. Ailey, on the other hand, had generators attached to both legs. Thanks to that, with only the main thruster mounted on her back, the slot was empty.
Her back was open. There was no reason not to consider a third generator.
“Ah, a-and also.”
Now that I thought about it, there was one more thing I needed.
“What else?”
Darka’s expression twisted at once. When Levan, a commoner, spoke, he had been dissatisfied but still listened meekly enough, yet the moment I demanded something more, he got irritated first.
Well, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t as if he had the right to refuse anyway.
“H-health supplements, please.”
“What?”
Only belatedly did Darka lower his head.
After staring at my leg for a long while, Darka nodded and patted my shoulder.
“When one side is impaired, one inevitably trains the other. I’ll prepare them for you.”
What the hell.
I haven’t even said anything yet, so don’t accept it on your own and feel some sense of kinship. I don’t need that.
***
Morning 3 km run.
19 minutes 44 seconds.
As soon as I finished my morning run, I washed up, then inhaled an energy bar and a vitamin drink.
They tasted much worse than what I’d been eating before. If what I’d had before tasted like it was packed full of calories, what I was eating now definitely felt like nutrients being forced into me.
Lately, my appetite had also grown a lot. My body was bulking up at a decent pace too. My weight hadn’t increased dramatically, but I’d gained muscle. My 3 km run had also hit the 19-minute range.
I was finally starting to become somewhat human.
What I was eating now were the health supplements Darka had sent. I’d asked for them yesterday evening, and I hadn’t expected them to arrive in less than a day.
I definitely did something bad to Darka, so why am I earning a sense of kinship or sympathy from him? Is it my constitution?
No, my constitution really was that one of my legs was impaired.
“If I want to build muscle faster than this, should I do weight training after all?”
The concept of weight training existed in this world too. The methods were similar as well.
“Yeah, I think that would be good. And wouldn’t it be even better if there were someone who could teach you how to exercise properly?”
Even in a world where prosthetic technology and assistive devices were this advanced, apparently there was no way to build muscle without exercising. It was similar to there being no medicine for muscle soreness.
The one fortunate thing was that I already knew where the Academy gym was.
In the basement of the dormitory building where the cadets stayed, there was a gym any cadet could use for free.
I’d known it existed from the beginning. I simply hadn’t wanted to go. My physical condition had been such a total mess that lifting weights was impossible, and bodyweight exercises could be done without going to the gym.
Above all else, I had absolutely no desire to enter other people’s line of sight. The gym was a space shared with everyone, so there was no way to avoid being seen.
I still hated being looked at, but even so, it was much better than before. People in gyms rarely looked at others, so maybe it would be all right.
Ah.
“Come to think of it, today is Friday.”
“Yeah, it is. It’s the day for simulation sparring!”
“Then I can ask Aaron about it.”
“Ah, right! If it’s Aaron, don’t you think he’d be good at teaching exercise too?”
Even in a cadet uniform that didn’t clearly reveal the contours of the body, it was obvious Aaron had worked out.
Unlike the way he spoke, he had a delicate side, and when I saw him running last time, I was sure he’d be good at exercise too.
There was someone else who definitely seemed like he would work out. The problem was that it was Ian. I absolutely did not want to ask him. I felt like he would end the workout only when I collapsed and seemed about to stop breathing.
“You think so too, Ailey?”
“Yeah, I think it sounds good?”
Right.
Since Ailey said so too, I had no choice but to think it was a good idea.
After the simulation ended, I would ask Aaron and go to the gym with him in the afternoon.
I thought it was a good idea.
It definitely was a good idea.
“One more.”
“Aaron!”
“One more.”
“You clearly said ten!”
“One more.”
“Shiiit, fuuuck! Can’t you count?!”
“One more.”
Goddammit.
This is why gym rats are the worst.