Sparring

Deep grumbled as he left.

Paraya, who had been smiling and waving her hand, closed the door. She returned to her chair and propped both legs up on the desk.

Her legs were short, so it was hardly a comfortable posture, but if she leaned back against the plush backrest, it was not that uncomfortable either.

Interesting.

If she had to make a suitable comparison, he was close to a frightened cat. No, rather, he was closer to a frightened dog.

“And here I am, living with a mask on so I look gentle in my own way.”

Deep was not the first cadet she had summoned to the chairwoman’s office.

Most cadets lowered their guard when they saw Paraya’s appearance.

But Deep, on the contrary, only heightened his wariness after seeing Paraya’s appearance.

Such cases were exceedingly rare. Rare enough to count on three fingers.

One was Professor Zeke, who had entered the academy quite some time ago, and the other was.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm.”

In any case, there was no other way to describe him but to say he was truly an interesting cadet.

Just when she thought he was sharp, he turned dull; just when she thought he was dull, he proved quick-witted.

“At any rate, he’s undoubtedly a genius.”

What was most important to the Imperial Family?

Some would say the Empire itself, and others would say the citizens of the Empire, but Paraya understood the heart of it.

The most important thing to the Imperial Family, after its own continuation, was talent.

With one outstanding hero, one front line could be maintained.

With two outstanding heroes, the Empire’s peace could be prayed for.

With three outstanding heroes, even the peace of the world could be considered.

“Well, not yet.”

Revan, Saya, and Aron.

Among this year’s first-years, genius heroes of a kind that had not appeared in some time had suddenly emerged all at once.

“And Deep, is it.”

The other cadets did not matter. The problem was Deep.

If one considered only his talent as a pilot, he was probably above Saya and Aron, and the upper limit of his potential growth would approach Revan’s.

The problem was his political talent. It was bleak and disastrous.

In that regard, there was no choice but to make it blatantly obvious that he had a connection to the Imperial Family, so that other nobles could not get their hands on him.

It would be troublesome and take effort, but what could be done?

If there were four outstanding heroes, turning the entire world into the Empire would be nothing at all.

That was precisely why she was deliberately refraining from suppressing the darkness known as Luna.

“All that matters is that none of them rebels or leaves the Empire.”

Among geniuses, there was always one who ended up harboring thoughts against the Empire.

“I didn’t get to rest even once during vacation, and now the semester has started again.”

Nghhh.

Paraya stretched her short body out at length.

When she looked up at the calendar beside her, the month’s schedule came into view.

The club festival.

Normally, it would be nothing particularly noteworthy, but this time, something would be different.

“Ian.”

To think he had touched the core without even being told.

He was truly an amusing and commendable fellow.

***

“Y-you’re going to separate the core from Ailey?”

Ian nodded.

Then he immediately lowered his head and shoveled rice into his mouth.

Apparently, he had something urgent to do after lunch.

In truth, I already knew what that urgent matter was.

The customization of Ailey’s—more precisely, Ailey’s external sensors and internal omnidirectional monitor.

The second semester’s club festival began much sooner than the first semester’s. Probably because there was no joint training.

To be more precise about the schedule.

“We have to finish preparations for the club festival within the next month.”

It was about a month after the start of the second semester.

What Ian had made was an omnidirectional monitor.

It included the sensors on the outside of the Titan, the holographic instrument panel system contained in the omnidirectional monitor, and on top of that, even the holographic visualization of the artificial intelligence.

In other words, he was working on both the hardware and the software at the same time.

I had not felt any discomfort operating it last time, but from Ian’s perspective as the one making adjustments, he must be far, far short on time.

“The best method is to remove the core and finish updating it. Fastest that way.”

“Th-then that means I won’t be able to, to ride Ailey for a whole month?!”

“It might end sooner than expected.”

“If it ends sooner than expected, h-how many weeks would that be?”

“Two to three weeks.”

That was basically the same thing.

Ian shrugged as if it was nothing important, but this was a far more serious problem than he thought.

The higher my rank rose, the more challenges came my way, and the more sparring matches I needed.

The ranking itself was only updated during midterms and finals, but changes in rank were steadily recorded during every test, training exercise, and sparring match.

The reason my rank rose by more than a hundred places in the midterm was probably because I had helped repel Fafnir when it barged in during the exam.

If I steadily sparred throughout this semester and did well on the remaining exams, aiming for a single-digit ranking was entirely possible.

“Doesn’t matter anyway, since I’m the top student.”

“It’s n-not just a matter of benefits.”

The benefits that came from rising in rank were nice, but more than that, I cared about the rank itself.

The fact that I was more outstanding than anyone else.

Just that fact alone was enough to make me feel satisfied.

“That’s true. That’s why I told you first before removing the core.”

“Huh?”

Ran nodded, then opened a small hologram with her smartwatch.

“From the beginning, Ian wasn’t planning to spend a full month on the work. He’s set the period at about three weeks at most. That means you can have at least one sparring match within the week.”

Which meant.

“Before Ian’s work starts in earnest, let’s quickly create a sparring record.”

What appeared was a list of pilots ranked 28th and above.

There had been no changes from the list I had checked after the final exam.

As expected, Ran, the most normal person among us, had a plan.

“For reference, this plan wasn’t started by me, but by Ian.”

Never mind. She was just taking care of Ian after all.

It was the same situation, but once I changed how I thought about it, even what Ran said suddenly seemed somehow less convincing.

No.

No matter how high a pilot’s authority was, it was also natural to protect the convenience of the engineer.

Just as pilots could choose the deployment region for dispatches, engineers could also receive help from pilots for the works they intended to exhibit.

Let’s not be prejudiced.

There was no such thing as a bad sparring match.

“It might feel burdensome to have a sparring match as soon as the semester starts, but…”

“No.”

On the contrary, this was good.

“I wanted to t-try using the customized Ailey.”

I could only be grateful to the Keria Count family.

Thanks to the truly generous sponsorship, Ian and I had been able to plan all sorts of custom builds.

Of course, the one we adopted among them was the simplest and easiest.

In a sense, there were no noticeable changes.

At most, the noticeable part was that all the pipes and such that had been exposed outside the armor had been arranged and moved inside.

Of course, Ailey had been extremely pleased. She said she had become prettier.

To be honest, it didn’t look all that different to me.

If anything, having the external pipes sticking out felt more natural, a bit dangerous-looking, and cool, like the Unit Zero of a Titan of which only twelve had ever been produced.

It was not that my tastes were strange, just that our tastes differed.

In any case, a structure with the pipes exposed outside was not exactly safe, so moving them under the armor was a good thing.

“That’s right! Do you know how bored Deep and I were during vacation? I want to go out already.”

Beep-beep.

Along with the notification sound, Ailey popped up above the smartwatch.

It was a hologram.

By using a slight extension program on the smartwatch, we could now summon Ailey’s hologram through the smartwatch too.

Her size was a little smaller than a handspan. In other words, around Master Grade scale, about one one-hundredth, but her presence was, how should I put it.

“Right, Deep? Let’s go beat them all!”

“Uh, y-yes.”

Even if there were ten of me, I didn’t think we could act like that.

“Well, anyway.”

Ran nodded.

“Whether you win or lose, the important thing is the sparring record itself. If possible, it would be best for Deep to spar with someone among these people who’s easy to face, or someone he knows.”

Someone easy to face or someone I knew.

“Then Aron…”

“And it would be even better if it’s someone you don’t usually spar with.”

Ah.

Ran stared straight into my eyes.

When I turned my head slightly to the side, Ian picked up his tray and stood.

“If you pick someone, I’ll prepare either additional customizations or equipment before the next sparring match.”

This was bad.

Among those ranked 28th and above, there were quite a few people I knew.

Princess Saya, for example, as well as Aron and Rod.

The problem was that all of them were people I had fought at least once before.

The only one I knew without ever having sparred with was Revan, but I did not want to fight Revan.

As anyone could tell at a glance, for someone like me who fought primarily with speed, that kind of multiple-choice trap-setter was a bad matchup.

Regardless of victory or defeat, what mattered was the sparring record itself.

I did not think that sparring with Revan would result in a good enough match to positively affect my ranking, whether I won or lost.

When Ian went to return his tray, Ran stared at me again.

“I’m saying this just in case. I meant that someone you don’t usually spar with would be better than someone you know well.”

“I, I know.”

She meant that bringing in someone I did not know would be best.

It probably was not simply to torment me.

In any case, on the battlefield, one could not always fight only people one knew well. Rather, one usually ended up fighting the unknown.

Ran, in her own way, seemed to have seen and felt many things on the western front.

Otherwise, unlike in the first semester, she would not be expressing her opinion so actively like this.

“There won’t be a problem, right?”

“Y-yes. O-of course not.”

Ran picked up her tray and stood.

I kept my head lowered for a moment, then met Ailey’s eyes.

“Is there really no problem?”

“There are lots of problems.”

I had to go up to someone I did not know well and ask them first to spar with me?

And I had to do it within a week, as soon as possible?

“That’s ridiculous. It’s not like I’m Ailey.”

“Really? Then should I say it for you instead?”

“That wouldn’t work either.”

At the very least, I had to be the one to issue the sparring challenge.

But how on earth was I supposed to do that?

“I wish a pilot to spar with would just drop out of the sky.”

Of course, nothing like that happened in the world.

***

“You, spar with me!”

Huh?