Rumors that Aizen Arclight was making a new weapon spread in the blink of an eye.
Gilford, who heard the report a little late, stared at the student who was all but his subordinate with an expression that made it seem as if his eyes might pop out at any moment.
“That bastard is making something else besides that monster?!”
“Yes. He said it was to deal with enemies that the Cyclops alone would have difficulty handling, and now he’s even seeking advice from the professors….”
Gilford clutched his head.
The memory of his crushing defeat in the duel he had thought he would naturally win after preparing so much came back to torment him.
‘I’m in this state, and that bastard…!’
Before he knew it, Gilford was grinding his teeth as he swept his gaze over his surroundings.
After he lost the duel he had forced through, pushing himself to rather absurd lengths as a prince of the Kingdom of Vespia, the faction that had gathered around him with the goal of defeating Aizen had fallen apart into thin air.
There was no one left trying to curry favor with him as before, and more and more people thought that his position might worsen at any time.
Conversely, in Aizen’s case, back then many had been jealous that Noel and Mina were with him, but now many were constantly looking for an opportunity, thinking that if they became close to Aizen, they might also have a chance to get close to Noel, Mina, and even Erika, who had recently begun staying with him.
Knowing that his own position was in danger, Gilford had prepared some underhanded schemes to hinder Aizen somehow by using the political means he still had left. But the person in question had gone off to the Phoenix County after the duel, making it impossible to touch him, and on top of that, he had returned after proving brilliant military achievements and the tactical value of the Cyclops there.
‘Because of that, the atmosphere in the royal palace has completely changed…!’
Originally, what the royal palace had supported was the Avatus Count family’s bioweapon, the artificial chimera.
To be precise, it was something pushed forward by royal palace officials and court nobles on their side as part of the Avatus Count family’s plan to extend their influence into the military as well, and support had consequently been concentrated in that direction.
The court mages and several court nobles had protested, saying Aizen should be treated fairly as well, and that if things continued this way, the royal palace would end up committing the sort of technology theft that only street thugs would do, but because they were losing in terms of factional power, their voices had not been loud.
But now, that situation had changed too.
It had been a few weeks since the Margrave of Phoenix had lavished praise on the Cyclops and even expressed his intention to purchase more.
With the margrave effectively taking Aizen’s side, the power balance that had been rapidly tilting was leveled out.
For Gilford, the Avatus Count family, his maternal relatives, had literally entered a state of emergency, but they could not come up with any particular move. They tried to keep him in check somehow, but Aizen had managed to ward them off with his tongue.
Both Gilford and the Avatus Count family had lost the ability to attack for the time being, and Aizen had now become an object of admiration among the nobles.
—“I heard there’s a rumor that the Margrave of Phoenix is thinking of attaching Lady Erika to him altogether. Apparently they even talked about setting up a household or living together or something?”
—“Then Lady Noel is actually… and the saintess too?”
—“The three of them are supposedly in Aizen’s workshop every day. If I even went there to clean, I’d be able to see them every day….”
—“Lord Aizen is the savior of the Alchemy Department!! He bestowed potatoes and saved the stomachs of the poor, so create what he desires and repay him!!”
—“The Alchemy Department lot were already out of their minds, but now they’ve gone even further. …But if I go there, I can see Aizen, right…?”
There were even rumors that after Aizen entered the Alchemy Department, some people were now wondering whether they should change departments, and Gilford’s close aides were going so far as to subtly advise him to send a letter of reconciliation to Aizen and get along with him.
“We no longer have a way to oppose him.”
Gilford naturally had no means, and the atmosphere surrounding the Avatus Count family was uneasy as well.
In order to survive, Gilford had to swallow even a needle if necessary.
“Send someone immediately. After purchasing the Cyclops, I’ll have to try buying that new unit too. Offer any amount. No, I’ll go myself. Where is he?”
With even the power of his maternal family now uncertain, Gilford tried to move personally.
Then one of his aides spoke with a slightly brightened expression.
“The person in question is at the dueling arena today.”
“A duel? With whom?”
“They say it’s a mock battle. So….”
The aide, who had been flipping through the academy newsletter, nodded and spoke.
“His opponent is said to be Professor Reina.”
****
The dueling arena where I had once fought Gilford.
I drove the close-combat technology demonstrator and slowly advanced to the center of the dueling arena.
“It’s been a while since I used this dueling arena.”
Though calling it “a while” was a bit much when I had actually only used it once, it was still the perfect place. It had enough space even for a Cyclops to move, the chance of causing unnecessary destruction was low, and because Gilford had dug the ground far too deeply back then while setting up his traps, repairs still hadn’t been completed.
I checked the sword made for close combat and the temporary shield, then lifted them.
I raised the sword, whose edge had been made impossible to sharpen so that it wouldn’t destroy the Cyclops’s armor just in case, and while I was checking the condition of the manipulator on that side, a heavy thudding sound began to come from the opposite side.
Soon, I saw a Cyclops painted in a pale brown color, unlike mine, slowly walk out.
“I haven’t even gotten mine painted yet, but you’ve already painted yours, Professor?”
“I’m the one who bought it for a high price, so is there any reason I shouldn’t receive at least this much service?”
Reina’s voice came through the speaker.
Perhaps because she had piloted it on the way to the Phoenix County before, she handled it quite skillfully and stood across from me.
Then, as if dissatisfied, she raised the weapon in one hand and grumbled.
“By the way, a one-handed axe, huh. You’re not making fun of me, are you?”
“Daggers turned out not to be worth it.”
What I felt while piloting the Cyclops in close combat was that once an opponent was strong enough to engage the Cyclops at close range, a weapon the size of a dagger wasn’t of much help.
Back then, I had made it in dagger form as a test production to try using Heat Metal, but honestly, against huge enemies like one-eyed giants, it only inflicted something like a grazing wound.
It was still useful in that it could make them bleed, but it was quite lacking when it came to dealing a fatal wound.
For now, even if we couldn’t immediately improve portability due to a lack of technology, I was able to persuade Mina to change the design by saying that it would only be useful if we at least carried something like an axe.
Of course, I had done it deliberately for the spirit of the Space Duchy, but Mina had no way of knowing that, so it didn’t matter.
—“Back then, Aizen looked like he was aiming for something, but I just pretended to be fooled.”
—“You let it slide because there was no loss, then.”
For some reason, I could hear Mina and Noel’s conversation through the sound collector, but I decided to ignore it and raised my sword while extending my shield toward Reina.
Reina had also said she was not used to it, but I saw her manipulate the Cyclops and raise the axe.
“You said you’d repair any parts that break during this mock battle for free, right?”
“Of course.”
“And that you’d help make the manual? And that every time a unit is completed, you’d lend it to me so I can test it? All of that is true, right? We made a deal, didn’t we?”
“I don’t make people work for free.”
Even with a battle ahead of us, idle words passed between us.
To begin with, it wasn’t a fight where we would kill or be killed, and we were fighting to collect data, so there was no need to be nervous….
“By the way, if we have a mock battle, that means I can legally beat up a student….”
There might be.
The moment I grew slightly tense—
—“Then, staaart!”
Professor Iserina, who had somehow followed along saying it looked fun, soon gave the signal.
I immediately operated the technology demonstrator, charged forward with the shield in front, and began to hear the voices of the Alchemy Department students who had come here in addition to Mina, Noel, and Erika.
—“It’s moving, it’s moving! A golem applied with a coating that reduces metal friction is moving!”
—“It looks faster than an ordinary Cyclops! Our research was useful!”
As befitting the name technology demonstrator, this golem had the Alchemy Department’s technology applied to it.
One of the technologies Professor Rodelini had dangled before me while claiming it was useless, a coating that reduced friction, had been applied to this unit’s joints.
If we produced it like this, the unit cost would naturally become extremely high, but since this was for experimental purposes, we had to try everything we could for now.
“For close combat, we’ve invested as much as we could possibly think of.”
The Cyclops Reina was operating also charged toward me, but its speed was, by all appearances, inferior to mine.
Since the friction in its joints had been greatly reduced, significantly improving the mobility of the technology demonstrator, it was only natural that my speed was faster than hers.
And then the edgeless sword was swung straight at the head of Reina’s Cyclops.
Despite the fact that Reina’s Cyclops should clearly have been slower, it suddenly ducked its head diagonally, then rammed into me with its shoulder.
“Huh?”
“You’ve underestimated me far too much, Aizen!”
Reina’s spirited voice rang out, and the technology demonstrator toppled backward.
As I quickly activated the backpack and retreated, Reina’s Cyclops swung its axe, and it precisely grazed past the cockpit area of my unit as I was withdrawing.
Of course, the axe also had no sharpened edge, so it wouldn’t have cut me, but it was far too accurate.
“I thought I was going to die!”
“You asked me to do it like a real battle, so I aimed for the direction where this cockpit thing is. I’ll apologize if I surprised you, but….”
Reina’s voice flowed out, and the Cyclops’s mono-eye shone.
“I may look like this, but I am a knight, Aizen. One of the Kingdom’s Five Strongest, and even the bearer of the title Kwaejin. I am a powerhouse who bows to no one.”
Aiming the axe, Reina’s Cyclops slowly walked toward me.
“It would be troublesome if you forgot who I am just because I’m riding inside this unit right now, Aizen.”
Even though I knew I wouldn’t die, the tension made my body go cold.
Even inside a steel giant, a knight was still a knight.