There was no accident.
When I could no longer lift the barbell, Aaron caught it before my arms collapsed. Thanks to that, I didn’t end up getting crushed under it or anything.
Though in the first place, this would have ended just fine if he’d only made me do exactly what I was told and then let me put it down, so there was never any chance of getting crushed under the barbell.
When I stared at him with my face scrunched up, Aaron scratched the back of his head.
“Commoner. You did fine running with sheer willpower, so why can’t you do strength training?”
“Because this isn’t running.”
Running can be done through momentum, but with strength training, the direction of force keeps changing. And it’s not like you can just use recoil to do it, either.
It was never something you could do with willpower in the first place.
“It works just fine for me with willpower. Aren’t you just weak?”
Should I just leave?
Maybe running in the mornings is already enough for this body, and I did something pointless. Especially asking Aaron for help. That was the most pointless thing of all.
Aaron was, fundamentally, a member of the Dike Ducal House who went out onto battlefields. It wasn’t particularly strange for his body to be made of tough stuff from the start.
On top of that, Aaron had a talent anyone could see for repeating something over and over. Some people might call that effort, but effort was also a matter of talent.
Aaron had an optimized body specialized more than anyone else for stat-grinding. He was clearly blessed with natural strength.
Because he had a body like that, he moved based on an overwhelmingly guts-and-grit mindset, and naturally assumed other people could do the same.
Of course, I couldn’t do that. I wanted to, in my heart, but I absolutely couldn’t. I wasn’t tough-boned to begin with.
“I-I’ll just ask someone else to h-help me instead.”
“Well, sure. I guess my method doesn’t suit you. So, do you even have anyone else?”
That was the problem.
Aaron didn’t seem intent on forcing his method on me, either. If there was a problem, it was that I had maybe one option left at most.
“Well, there’s Ian.”
“What about me?”
Gah, you startled me. Speak of the tiger and all that.
When I turned my head, Ian was standing there blankly, looking down at me. He wasn’t even in workout clothes to begin with. He was dressed in some sloppy, casual outfit he’d thrown on.
You could see the mindset that he would come to the gym no matter what he was wearing. Anyone could tell he was a real gym rat.
“What, need a spot? Or need PT? You don’t know anything?”
“I-I do know a l-little.”
Ah, I shouldn’t have said I knew.
Given Ian’s personality, if the other person knew even a little, there was a chance he’d try to destroy them even more thoroughly. I’d forgotten that for a second. I was dead now.
“Are you on a diet plan?”
Huh.
“I asked if you are.”
It was an unexpectedly extremely sensible question.
“N-not yet.”
“If you’re going to work out, diet comes first. Eat plenty in the morning, and don’t look back right now.”
“What?”
Why suddenly behind me?
“Professor Zeke is behind you right now. He wanted to do this himself, but I came instead. Just nod no matter what. If you don’t seem happy with it, next up is Professor Zeke.”
No.
Not Professor Zeke. If Professor Zeke thought I could do it with willpower, he’d definitely keep making me do it. He knew my limits better than I did, so he would surely suck me dry down to the marrow.
Ian, who could at least be reasoned with right now, was several times better.
“Diet, stamina, whatever. If you just put some spirit into it, it works out, doesn’t it?”
“The human body is an organic machine.”
At Aaron’s words, Ian’s face twisted sharply. Aaron flinched and took a step back.
Aaron was absolutely not on the small side, but Ian was even taller than him. On top of that, Aaron had lost a contest of strength to him last time and rolled across the floor. He couldn’t be blamed for shrinking back.
Ian was even more naturally built.
“Pilots tell engineers to customize, adjust, and repair their Titans like hell, but when it comes to maintaining their own bodies…”
“Here, even the engineers lose their temper, not just the pilots.”
“There’s one trait of people who do it like dogs. Diet is fueling. If you drain all the fuel from Icarus and ignite the thrusters with spirit, then I’ll acknowledge it.”
“I’m saying I’m just like that. Do you not understand words?”
“There’s no need to understand something wrong.”
Seeing two grown men fight in front of me made them look like brats, and it was ugly and unpleasant to watch.
Ah, since he said fuel.
“I-Ian.”
“What.”
“Does r-red liquid go into the core too?”
Ian stroked his chin with his hand as though lost in thought.
“Where did you see that?”
I couldn’t explain that.
Everything that happened last night had been buried in my heart along with the money. I couldn’t possibly say that someone’s core had been pierced while fighting Darka.
“I saw it in a v-video. When the core was d-damaged, it flowed out.”
This world was overflowing with video media too, so he’d probably fall for a lie like this.
Ian fell silent for a moment, then soon nodded.
“A liquid that maintains the AI on its own. Even engineers don’t know much about cores.”
Even engineers didn’t know much about cores? Was that possible?
“Why?”
“Most cores themselves are manufactured by the Luna Count House. To prevent technology leaks, repairs and software updates for cores are all handled by the Luna Count House.”
I’d heard the Luna Count House was that influential, but I hadn’t known they were influential to this extent.
In the end, if I was curious, I had no choice but to ask someone affiliated with the Luna Count House.
“Then what about the I-Imperial Family that doesn’t have artificial intelligence?”
“The Imperial Family’s cores are made directly by the Aslan Imperial Family. To begin with, the Aslan Imperial Family and the Luna Count House don’t share technology with each other.”
Aaron knew quite a lot about the Imperial Family’s side too.
Well, since he was engaged to someone from there, that made sense.
“And didn’t he say earlier that his arms had completely lost strength? You’re making him bench?”
“His chest got a good meal and is full, but he’s mistaking it for his arms losing strength. Since his chest is all emptied out, I was thinking of making him do back now.”
Meal, back, what?
“Since today’s Friday anyway, we can lightly wreck him all over.”
“Tomorrow, wreck his lower body.”
Seeing two grown men unite in front of me made them look like brats, and it was ugly and unpleasant to watch.
“I-I can’t, though?”
“You can.”
No, I’m saying I can’t.
I can’t.
***
I couldn’t wake up in the morning.
Maybe it was because the workout had been too hard, but I even had a nightmare. It was similar to the nightmare I’d had last time. It simply showed, exactly as it was, the time before I came to this world.
To me, that was a nightmare.
The helplessness that had never even thought of changing soaked into my body as it was. I forced my aching body up and rolled my shoulders once. A crack rang out.
Refreshing. Though my mood was filthy because of the muscle pain.
“You didn’t smash your head in today either!”
“I guess not.”
The suicidal urges were faint now. Sometimes I still wanted to die, but it was hard to tell whether it was the kind of pain that made me feel like dying, or whether I really wanted to die.
If I picked this kind of restriction, shouldn’t I be stronger than Levan?
There was no use regretting it. I was the one who chose it anyway. Maybe Levan also had all sorts of penalties I couldn’t even imagine. They just didn’t show on the outside.
I desperately hoped that was the case.
“What are you doing today?”
“Today?”
I hated weekends.
Anyone who heard that would be horrified, but it was true. I hated weekends.
On weekdays, even if I didn’t have anything planned, I automatically had to get up, attend lectures, review, and naturally ended up studying other things too.
Once the weekend came, I became lazy. I had no choice but to become lazy. There was even a saying that humans weren’t beasts born to labor. Laziness was human nature.
That wasn’t an excuse. It was really true.
“I got curious about something, so I’m going to look into it.”
“Curious about what?”
“Artificial intelligence.”
Artificial intelligence.
Levan had said it. Not to get too close to Karina Luna. That she was one of the triggers for a bad ending.
I didn’t like treating a person like some kind of trigger, but in any case, it was clearly true that Karina Luna was related to the main story.
When I tapped my smartwatch, a hologram appeared. The first thing I pressed inside the hologram was my contacts.
Aside from Ian and Ran, I didn’t have many contacts. Exactly two. I didn’t even have Levan’s contact information.
One was Aaron, and the other was Karina Luna.
After pressing Karina Luna’s name with my fingertip, I tapped message.
What are you doing today? (7:28 AM)
I stared at the message for a while, then after some time, I got out of bed. I stretched wide, threw on clothes roughly, and went outside.
Ailey started recording the distance. After looking around once, I began running along the familiar path.
The reply only came when I had run all three kilometers and it was time to rest.
Let’s record first. 19 minutes and 22 seconds. The fact that I was only getting faster each time without a day of slowing down was pretty encouraging.
You wake up awfully early. (7:43 AM)
Do I?
Later than usual (7:44 AM)
I woke up late. (7:44 AM)
What are you doing today? (7:44 AM)
The reply was late.
Was this what it felt like to wait endlessly for someone else’s reply? If I’d known this was what it was like, I wouldn’t have ignored messages without reading them so much.
This is the first time in my life I’ve received a date request from a commoner. (7:48 AM)
Did she get shot in the head?
Absolutely (7:48 AM)
not. (7:48 AM)
I have a question about artificial intelligence. (7:48 AM)
I thought you’d know the most about it, Senior. (7:49 AM)
Should I add one more thing?
And don’t worry, Senior, you’re not my type. (7:49 AM)
That should reassure her.
You really speak in such an impudent way. (7:49 AM)
Was that not it?
See you in an hour at the cafe where you said you work. (7:50 AM)
I was planning to see Ayla anyway. (7:50 AM)
After giving a suitable reply, I closed the hologram.
I headed straight back to the dorm, washed up, dried my hair roughly, and changed into my cadet uniform. I barely had any decent clothes, so I hardly wore anything besides my cadet uniform in the first place.
Since I had too much time left, I browsed the academy community for a bit, then arrived in front of the cafe ten minutes before the appointment.
“You’re late.”
“What?”
“Isn’t it obvious you should’ve arrived thirty minutes before the appointed time?”
“N-no, it isn’t.”
Karina sharply narrowed one eye.
Was that really something she should be saying when she came in a tracksuit?
“What are you curious about regarding artificial intelligence?”
“Just, various things.”
Karina glanced at me with suspicious eyes.
“Why are you talking so subtly? Are you really trying to hit on me?”
Did she get shot in the head twice? If I were going to date, I’d look for a woman like Ailey. Karina was absolutely not my type.
When I didn’t answer, Karina shrugged and stepped inside the cafe.
“Anyway, fine. Since I’m your senior, I can at least answer what a junior is curious abou—”
“Master, it is not yet opening time. Please wait until 9 o’clock. If we are early, we will open at 8:50.”
Karina, who had opened the door, stepped back again, closed it, and looked at her watch.
8:40.
Of course. We’d made the appointment for 8:50.
Karina stared at her watch, then looked at me and frowned.
“You should have come right on time.”
How damn unsightly.