I put the prototype unit—whose great name I had meant to bestow upon it had fallen through, leaving it saddled with a name full of fantasy sensibility, or rather, one based purely on its appearance—into the warehouse.
When I climbed out of the cockpit and saw Mina calmly waving her hand, I immediately pointed at my sworn enemy.
“Mina, you tricked me, Mina!!”
“Your fault for letting your guard down against a merchant.”
In Mina’s hand, as she spoke with perfect composure, was a crystal orb that recorded images.
Back when we first met, I’d believed she had nothing on her. Where had she been hiding that?
And as she replayed the contents inside it, Mina smiled calmly and said,
“I bought the failed versions and design drafts of the prototype you’re making this time, and in exchange for splitting the profits sixty-forty, I take the trademark rights and naming rights. You were so focused on not losing out on the profits that you got fleeced, weren’t you?”
Thinking back, Mina had only mentioned the first part once and never brought it up again.
In other words, I’d been careless.
There had been a contract later too, but come to think of it, I’d signed it when I was busy in the thick of making the golem.
Noel had been there at the time too, and the reason she hadn’t pointed it out was…
“Because the contract as a whole seemed advantageous to you, so the young lady of the ducal house didn’t say anything, right?”
True, she provided all the support and gave me a large share of the profits.
Looking at the bigger picture, it was a contract where I came out ahead.
It was just that the guilt of failing to properly carry on the soul of the Space Duchy was growing far too heavy.
In the end, it was also true that I’d been stupid, so I sighed and said,
“Fine. It’s my fault for letting my guard down against you.”
When I spoke in a slightly cold tone, Mina came closer just like that.
Then she hugged my arm and grinned.
“In exchange for making you angry, I’ll handle the annoying stuff for you. You just do what you like under my support.”
“Can I change contract partners?”
“There’s one way to make sure you absolutely can’t. Want to hear it?”
“What is it?”
I said it thinking I might as well listen.
Mina grinned and opened her mouth.
“The venerable tradition among nobles, marri—”
“Lord Aizen? Lady Mina?”
When I turned around, Noel was standing there with a smile on her face.
At that, Mina smiled playfully and pulled away.
“Aww. Failed.”
“I don’t know what you were discussing, but if you try anything foolish, I’ll be angry.”
There was a slight shadow over Noel’s smile.
Mina, too, obediently backed down.
“The ducal house is scary, so I should bow out. More importantly, enough joking around. I’ll tell you some good news.”
“Good news?”
I asked a little bluntly.
And Mina immediately held out another set of papers.
“I sold four Cyclopes.”
“Huh? There are four more of those?”
When Noel asked in confusion, Mina shook her head.
Instead, she gave me a look telling me to explain.
“It’s what you’d call reservations. That one is the only actual unit, but honestly, it’s not a structure I can’t make again.”
“You designed it with mass production in mind from the start, didn’t you, Aizen?”
At Mina’s words, I nodded.
“Because that was the royal palace’s condition.”
The reason I had come to this academy in the first place.
Noel thought for a moment before opening her mouth.
“The production of a piloted golem that can be operated by the royal palace, correct?”
“As expected. You knew, befitting a young lady of a ducal house.”
Mina’s smile faded.
“Will that be all right? That’s confidential, so aside from Aizen, no one here should know the details.”
“By now, anyone who would know probably already knows anyway. If the dissatisfied faction in the knight order is acting so openly, that is.”
Saying the kingdom didn’t move as one unified whole either, Noel let out a small sigh.
And I gave a wry smile as I said,
“Can’t I just say there’s no such thing?”
“You’ve been moving far too actively for that. The professors already know as well, so there must have been many things they overlooked within reason. If you ask me, since they lacked the capacity to properly support you, sending Lord Aizen to the academy under the pretext that it was an environment convenient for research was a mistake on the royal family’s part.”
After saying that, Noel gave a slightly mischievous smile.
“Come to think of it, Lord Aizen, you brought a letter stamped with the royal family’s seal, didn’t you? Isn’t the contract itself inside that?”
“You remember.”
Back then, because Noel had recovered it from the golem wreckage, I had been able to get through the hearing safely.
I’d forgotten about it because I was focused on impact-resistance experiments, but the royal family’s contract itself was inside it.
If Noel hadn’t brought it to me, wouldn’t Professor Reina have given me a few hits?
After that, the professors did take that contract away.
“I wonder where that is now.”
“The headmaster should have it. That way, irrelevant people won’t be able to interfere.”
Noel added that there was no chance it would be lost.
She said that people at the level of academy professors had more than enough ties with the royal palace, and they would have discussed it for confirmation.
Carelessly damaging or losing a letter stamped with the royal family’s seal and its contents was apparently a fairly serious act of disloyalty, or something like that.
Thinking of it that way, if you said the royal family had been too much, they had been too much; if you said they had been considerate, there were parts where they had been considerate.
‘Honestly, even if they told someone like me, who owns nothing, to keep it safe, how well could I really keep it?’
By the time I came to the academy, aside from the golem, I was practically empty-handed.
That was why they had chosen the method of simply entrusting it to the academy instead.
Thanks to that, even when I needed it or wanted to check it, I ended up unable to present it or look at its contents, but since I remembered what was in it, it probably wouldn’t be a big problem.
“I hate politics.”
It was an issue with all sorts of things tangled up in it.
This incident, too, seemed to have ultimately become a huge commotion because politics had gotten involved.
Noel smiled bitterly.
“It can’t be helped. For better or worse, Lord Aizen, you are in the position of a challenger. To the existing vested interests, and to the newly rising powers as well.”
“For example, there’s the House of Count Abatus. Originally, was it that family’s research the royal palace had its eye on? They received a lot of support too.”
It was a family I was hearing of for the first time, but Noel and Mina were speaking about it naturally.
A slight worry appeared on Noel’s face.
“As for those people, I don’t have a very good impression of them…”
“I don’t like them much either. They’re fussy. Still, if they had stepped forward properly, it might have been dangerous.”
Had I perhaps been in quite a bit of danger beneath the surface?
Just as I began to feel a sense of crisis, Mina once again wore an arrogant smile and said,
“Still, honestly, you were an unknown noble from the countryside that no one had expected, suddenly appearing on the board. In a sense, that’s why their guard was relatively down. Maybe they thought they could make you an ally if push came to shove.”
“For their guard being down, they sure did band together tightly around the prince.”
“…If it’s that obvious, then it’s actually nothing much.”
Noel said quietly.
Just how did Vespia’s political arena work for her to say that was nothing much?
“In any case, the kingdom is preparing for war with the empire, and because they never knew when a traitor might appear inside, until now they probably trusted Lord Aizen while still being unable to fully trust you. But now, the meaning of your existence must have changed completely.”
“Because I produced results.”
I said, looking up at the Cyclops whose mono-eye light had gone out.
“If I make one that incorporates only the feedback from the data obtained in this battle and deliver it, the deal with the royal family will end successfully.”
“Mass production is possible, right?”
Noel asked, so I nodded.
It might look like that, but I had wracked my brain to make it as mass-producible as possible, so of course it was.
To begin with, the soul of the Space Duchy was suited to mass production.
“Shall we start getting back to practical business?”
Mina grinned as she spoke.
“Ultimately, we’ll have to decide after talking with our artisans and technicians, but the point is to make it so Aizen’s golems can be continuously produced at a facility equipped for it. You’ve thought that through too, right?”
“Of course.”
Everything I had made so far had been recorded and kept.
As Mina said, all that remained was to create standardized facilities that technicians could operate.
And that, too, was not impossible, because Mina’s technicians had been involved when making this Cyclops.
They were people who had already worked on the armor plates and frame.
I would have to organize and pass on the remaining fine details, but the framework was already in place.
“For now, all that’s left is facility research, technology transfer, organizing the blueprints, making copies, and tidying everything up.”
“That’s quite a lot left.”
Noel said that, but at this level, there was practically no work left.
The most important thing was ultimately making the golem, and I had made it, hadn’t I?
This much was just cleanup.
“But you’re going to do something else again, aren’t you, Aizen? There’s no way someone like you, with so many things you want to do, would stop at this much.”
“Huh, what more are you going to do? Here?”
“Of course.”
Noel was surprised, but Mina had already guessed.
“That’s just the beginning. There are still plenty of things I want to make.”
Even just off the top of my head, there were countless things.
For now, though, the priority was probably perfecting the Cyclops.
Only once mass production was complete would all the deliverables truly be finished.
“Still, if I’m going to do more, it’d have to be armaments.”
It felt a bit odd to say it now, but the Cyclops was barehanded.
Of course, with that size, just running would make it a considerable weapon, but it was still lacking.
And since the royal palace seemed to want military strength too…
“As expected, I’ll have to make that.”
My thoughts wouldn’t stop, and my body kept itching to move.
I had to start drawing up rough sketches to prepare right away—
—Baaang!
“Excuse me!”
The door went flying.
Noel and Mina were startled and quickly came behind me.
When I looked toward the entrance with a slightly irritated expression at being interrupted, a red-haired woman shouted with a radiant face.
“I am Erika! Erika of House Phoenix!”
The woman, who introduced herself without even being asked, said,
“I’ve come to meet Mr. Aizen, the one who created the Cyclops!”
Her eyes sparkling brightly, she began approaching.