The size of Bethesda Academy was enormous.
Hangars to accommodate thousands of Titans, warehouses to store spare parts and other supplies. Vast outdoor training grounds. Countless facilities on top of that.
Thanks to that, maglev buses ran through Bethesda Academy. Not only were they fast, but they didn't shake, so you didn't get motion sickness. Their large passenger capacity was another advantage.
The downside was the structure without partitions, where all eyes could focus on you.
"Is that him?"
"He doesn't have a single muscle? That body withstood that level of gravitational acceleration?"
"They said the video wasn't edited, right?"
Even though I was in the corner of the bus, the stares never stopped.
I felt like throwing up. Definitely not motion sickness—I felt like throwing up because of the stares.
Since earlier, I had felt like I was going crazy from the headache. I couldn't tell if the headache was coming from the forehead I had slammed in the morning, or if the slammed forehead hurt because of the headache.
I couldn't understand it at all. I had just gotten thrashed by the Princess—which part of my mock battle was so attention-grabbing?
"A Titan otaku with zero piloting experience showed impossible mobility as if gravitational acceleration didn't exist? That if he had a melee weapon capable of piercing a shield, he could have won?"
Ailey's voice rang out from my smartwatch. I pondered how to refute what Ailey said, but I had nothing to say in rebuttal.
"I lost."
"That's true, but."
But looking at the conclusion, I lost.
From the moment Titan Ailey was impaled on the blade and rolled across the ground, even the mobility that had been my only advantage was caught up to.
I retreated several times and tried shooting, then surrendered just before taking the second hit. The total combat time hadn't even lasted five minutes.
There was nothing I could do. I lacked combat experience, and I was short on fuel. I should have anticipated the fuel shortage; the problem was that I had only expanded the thrusters.
I hadn't gained the upper hand even once during the engagement. My number of effective hits was zero; I had simply performed acrobatic maneuvers. The excuse that I lacked weapons was meaningless.
After a video where I could do nothing was permanently posted on the Academy's official community, I had become a celebrity because of it.
To put it bluntly, it was humiliating.
"The next stop is Lecture Hall 1."
Just as the stares were becoming unbearable, we arrived at the destination and the bus doors opened. I followed behind the cadets getting up from their seats and got off while avoiding attention as much as possible.
Lecture Hall 1 was where the pilot department's major lectures took place. Just following the crowd meant there was no need to find the way.
As soon as I entered the spacious classroom, I lengthened my stride and sat in a corner seat. Fortunately, while the other cadets looked at me, they didn't try to come near.
As I looked around here and there, except for exactly one person looking this way.
"Deep, um, is that..."
"I know."
I was wondering too. I couldn't understand why that person was coming here.
"Did you hit on the Princess?"
"There's no way."
Unlike the black-based cadet uniform, a splendid outfit with golden embroidery on red. The privilege of the Imperial Family that allowed such attire.
Princess Saya Aslan looked exactly at me as she walked over, then grabbed the chair of the seat next to me.
"Commoner."
Princess Saya sat down in the chair. The only thing I could do was bow my head in greeting. The Princess made a strange expression and spoke.
"What nation are you from?"
It was an absurd question. The lower-class special admission was only for Imperial citizens, and commoners couldn't enroll unless it was through the special admission.
"I-I'm from the Empire."
The Princess's eyes widened.
"Do you have a speech impediment? You didn't seem to have any problems during the sortie."
A bit rude.
"Ah, no. I-I get nervous easily."
"I see. So you're from the Empire after all."
I nodded, but it was hard to speak confidently. Even I had a hard time saying where I was from. The only certain thing was that I was a commoner of the Empire.
The Princess brought her face close and whispered.
"I believe you are a spy."
Huh, that's totally not it.
I barely held back the answer that had almost slipped out without thinking. The gazes I felt from the surroundings had been too piercing since earlier. The Princess still kept her face close.
"That piloting skill. As a commoner, it's unthinkable that you'd have no Titan piloting experience. If you lied about your status and enrolled through the lower-class admission to obtain information, that would make sense."
"Th-then wouldn't it have been more advantageous for me to lose without resisting?"
I couldn't let that one go.
The Princess pulled her body back and stared at me with slightly surprised eyes. Soon, the Princess, who had been pondering for a moment, made an expression of both understanding and not understanding at the same time.
"...Ugh. Tell me your name."
Could she be... you know. An idiot who's only good at piloting? No way the Imperial Princess would be like that. She probably just cares too much about the Empire.
Surely that's it, really.
"D-Deep."
"I remember."
It wasn't a "you're marked" tone. It was a tone that said she really remembered. The moment the Princess looked like her doubts were cleared and tried to say something else, a sound rang out.
Bam!
As the front door of the classroom opened, the Princess straightened her posture and looked forward. Along with the clicking sound of dress shoes, a relatively familiar face stood at the podium.
Princess Saya flinched when she saw the professor's face.
The classroom belatedly grew noisy.
"It's Captain Zieg of the Eastern Front."
"It's Captain Zieg with 300 kill marks, right? Why is he teaching?"
Wait, how many kill marks?
Zieg, standing at the podium, quietly looked ahead. At his calm gaze, the students began to close their mouths one by one.
Only after complete silence was achieved did Professor Zieg open his mouth.
"I imagine everyone has questions about the fact that I am here. Put those questions aside. As long as I stand here, I am nothing more than a professor of the Academy."
The moment the cadets were about to get rowdy again, Professor Zieg raised his hand. Starting with the quick-witted cadets, silence quickly returned.
"This lecture is to build a pilot's foundation. Many of you may have built a pilot's foundation or experienced actual combat, but you don't meet my standards."
Professor Zieg's eyes clearly turned toward me.
"Moreover, there is a cadet here who hasn't even laid any foundation whatsoever."
That was a snipe. No matter how I thought about it, he was talking about me.
"If anyone among the cadets knows what the most fundamental basis for a pilot is, answer."
Several people immediately began raising their hands. Professor Zieg moved his hands without delay, pointing to them one by one.
"Responsibility."
"No."
"Patriotism!"
"No."
There would be some controversy over this.
"Piloting skill."
"No."
"Theory,"
"No."
Professor Zieg was about to extend his index finger, but paused for a moment, then opened his hand and extended it. At the end of it, Princess Saya was raising her hand.
The Princess spoke with a confident expression.
"Stamina."
"Correct."
A brief round of applause broke out. Professor Zieg quietly waited until the cadets' applause stopped, then took off his suit jacket and draped it over a chair.
The atmosphere instantly grew cold. Not bloodlust or anything like that. Intuitively, several cadets made disgusted expressions. I was the same.
"So today, we will do a stamina test."
Why today of all days.
***
Bethesda Academy values efficiency.
How much so? There's no welcoming ceremony, no commencement address, and not even course registration.
Compared to other academies, lectures start a week earlier, and the curriculum is a week longer. Everything is tailored to efficiently educate the cadets.
That said.
"Hah, hah, huff,"
I hadn't expected them to be so efficient that they'd make us run starting from the first week.
The Academy's athletic field was insanely vast. I couldn't remember how big the school field at my previous school was, but this one felt at least five times larger.
There was no one who hadn't run in their life. The same went for me. But I hadn't run for the past few years. Because one of my legs hadn't worked properly.
Professor Zieg had said something about that. That it was no problem at all.
He had brought an exoskeleton device to assist with walking—I don't know where from. He said it wasn't Academy-issued, but something he bought with his own money.
Thinking about it now, he might have gotten it because he noticed me limping from the first time he saw me.
I would have been grateful if it had ended there, but the problem came after.
"Run more. Run until you can't run anymore."
He said it was fine even if I fell far behind, and essentially fine even if I walked, so just run.
I had already been running for 20 minutes. It was a short time compared to a marathon, but from my perspective of running for the first time in years, I felt like dying.
My limit started from the first lap. My stamina was already bottomed out. While the other cadets were running fine, my speed was almost like walking.
But I wasn't allowed to stop.
My entire body was screaming to stop, but Professor Zieg kept telling me to run from beside me. Not just saying it—he was actually running alongside me.
It wasn't favoritism. He was just running next to the person falling behind at the very back.
The moment I thought it might be better to just collapse here so he'd let me stop, Professor Zieg spoke so only I could hear.
"I heard. That you passed out during the first acceleration in the exam. It wasn't the first time you performed maneuvers beyond what your body could endure. In the end, what you need is a strong body."
That was fine up to there, but the next words sent chills down my spine.
"Don't worry. You're definitely the type of human who can squeeze out one more drop when pushed."
Fuck.
In the end, I had no choice but to run one more lap.
As I lay collapsed on the ground looking up, Professor Zieg's face somehow looked shiny.