Chapter 40 - Encounter Part 1

[???: Do you desire strength?]

[Mersa: Yes...]

[???: Do you desire power?]

[Mersa: Yes...]

[???: Then come here...]

A light humanoid figure extended a hand toward her.

Mersa absentmindedly walked toward it...

Step... Step... Step by step...

And she arrived there...

She stretched out her hand...

---

Morning that day...

From afar, from a deserted place...

[My Lord...]

[Please hear me out...]

...

Again...

What was that?

...

[--Kaya--: Right?]

[--Calla--: Now that you mention it...]

[--Lily--: Definitely.]

[--Kaya--: That jawline is definitely Marc's.]

[--Calla--: Right, and the collarbone is also similar.]

[--Lily--: Ragna-nee likes her lord's collarbone, I see...]

[--Calla--: N-no! Please don't misunderstand; remembering every single detail about their lord is a retainer's responsibility!]

[--Kaya & Lily--: ...]

...

Marc slovenly opened his eyes.

[--Marc--: Why is it so noisy this early in the morning?]

Marc wasn’t a morning person.

[--Kaya--: Fufu, we found an interesting detail. It seems like you are becoming more and more similar to your old self.]

[--Marc--: Hm? Really?]

[--Calla--: Yes, m'lord.]

[--Marc--: I see, most probably my dragon blood is acting on its own. I guess... Time to go back to sleep...]

[--Kaya--: !! Shujin-sama! Please do your duties properly! Right now, there is no time for sleep!]

[--Marc--: ... What kind of outrageous torture is this?]

[--Kaya--: Today you should have a serious discussion with those girls.]

[--Marc--: ...]

[--Kaya--: Shujin-sama always postpones things he considers troublesome. Huh. We are doing it today. No excuses.]

[--Marc--: ... They left.]

[--Kaya--: Huh?]

[--Marc--: I just extended my link senses. They are not inside the academy anymore...]

[--Kaya--: Hmm... Then...]

[--Marc--: zZzzZZz...]

[--Kaya--: Shujin-sama!!]

---

The soldiers weren’t too surprised when they saw the two white-haired girls. They were already accustomed to surprises from the trio. They had become so incredible that something like a sub-transformation didn’t shock anyone anymore. For example, Celina was stronger than most UHigh sub-races, so much so that they suspected her of dyeing her hair. Mersa... Better not to speak about that one. Something along the lines of: too much bloodshed, she couldn't wash it off anymore.

But this...

Scary.

So scary...

A group of men was incredibly frightened by the spectacle before them.

A smile...

A group of men was terrified.

Mersa was smiling...

OMG!

The Crimson Ice Queen was smiling while thinking of something.

A War Machine was smiling absentmindedly.

A Killing Machine that had cut down thousands without a shred of emotion was now showing a smile.

Every single soldier gathered on the other side of the room, trying their best to stay low.

They had no idea what was going on, but if by any chance they wished to avoid being used as a guinea pig for the Crimson Ice Queen...

Did she finally break and start finding pleasure in destroying mechs?

Shudder...

[Nova: You guys! Disperse! I know what you're thinking, but it's nothing like that! How can you trample on the feelings of a maiden?]

[???: Maiden?]

A soldier imagined a maiden Mersa... A bedroom scene... There she was, wearing a nightie... Holding...

A bloody knife that had just killed the trespasser.

That’s how the night visit scene ended.

Shudder...

[Nova: YOU!]

[Celina: Sigh, we are supposed to arrive at the HQ and report this officially anyway, so I guess we can tell you guys earlier. Yesterday, Vorst the Golden Knight woke up.]

Silence...

A calm before the storm.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!

[???: Really, Master Sergeant? That’s THAT Golden Knight, right? THE GOLDEN KNIGHT? The Neo-Aris, right?]

[Celina: That’s right, Corporal. That’s why the Second Lieutenant is like that.]

The mystery was solved.

The Corporal was a great engineer from Athena's Institute - Cadet Vera Mina. With efficient scripts and runes left by Marc, operating a single Controlled Bot was possible even for a normal person. But of course, it required an enormous amount of effort. Having achieved the 2nd LCT, Vera Mina highly admired Celina, whose age was not even a fifth of hers.

[Vera: Master Sergeant!! I heard that before that incident, you too were included in the love quartet!]

[Celina: W-wha? N-no, I... Um... *Blush*]

[Vera: Master Sergeant! Fight! I'll be rooting for you!]

Next to her, a man chuckled. From the enormous Bear clan, it was Renves Muir with a Master Sergeant rank. His power level was 2nd MCT, and he was one of the two highest in this special squad. However, he knew that both the Witch Queen and the Red (maybe White now) Commander could still beat him...

[Renves: You will have to face our Crimson Ice Queen. My condolences, Master Sergeant. I’m sure they’ll give you two ranks of posthumous promotion afterward.]

With that, a huge laughter erupted. They had been fighting together for more than two years now, and the sense of camaraderie was strong. Although Mersa was totally unresponsive, both Nova and Celina were quite popular within the crew.

[Vera: Hahahahaha, First Sergeant! I guess you will be sharing the same fate.]

[Nova: What? No! In a battle between women, I won't lose so easily.]

[Renves: Huhu, it all depends on whether our ace will play cleanly or not.]

[Vera: Right. First Sergeant, please remember that everything is permitted in love and war.]

[Nova: Uuuuu...]

A soldier who had previously imagined the bloody night visit scene smiled mischievously. He was a Corporal, in this elite group he was no different from a rookie - Neum Zac.

[Neum: But even in the feminine department, the Second Lieutenant is not lacking at all.]

A psionic disruption appeared out of nowhere, and the offender was flattened against the wall. Mersa had been listening to the entire conversation since the name 'Vorst' was mentioned.

[Mersa: W-wha?! *Blush* But is that t-t-t-true? V-vor-chan will l-l-like me? *Blush level 459*]

[Neum: Whoa... Second Lieutenant! It's crushing, it’s crushing...]

The atmosphere in the spaceship became completely relaxed. They were all happy for them, especially for Mersa, who had regained her old spirit.

---

Sub-race: #@^!#%

Both Mistglan and Claire were looking at the results of Vorst’s aptitude test in silence.

[Mistglan: I kind of understand the Mid-level aptitude, also that the core power remained unchanged at 2nd HST, but...]

[Claire: Sub-race...]

[Mistglan: What the hell is that result?!]

Vorst sat in front of them, tilting his head.

Mistglan turned the holo-monitor toward him.

[Mistglan: I’d prefer Neo-Aris over something like THIS!]

[Claire: Vorst, how do you feel? Any strange changes in your body?]

Inside his soul realm, Marc looked at Lily and Kaya... Both of them looked at each other and seemingly came to an understanding as they both nodded at the same time. Noticing that, he felt at ease.

[--Marc--: Lily.]

[--Lily--: Hehe, I hear and obey.]

[Vorst: Um... Oh! Right, I had a dream...]

[Claire: A dream?]

[Vorst: A very strange dream. There was an enormous lizard-like creature.]

[Claire: A lizard-like creature?]

[Vorst: Yes, I had that dream several times before too. I made my M-Armor resemble that creature.]

[Claire: Oh, why?]

[Vorst: Because it seemed very familiar, and operating the M-Armor was very comfortable.]

A satisfied smile appeared on the teenager’s face as if he remembered a very pleasant experience.

[Claire: I see, by instinct?]

[Vorst: *Nods repetitively.*]

[Claire: I see. Can you tell me a bit more about that dream?]

[Vorst: There were a lot of lizards walking around; several of them even had wings. One of the biggest ones came down and told me: “Our descendant, it’s time for you to wake up...” Then I woke up.]

Hearing this, the two of them looked strangely at the teenager, only to suddenly realize that his mind was supposed to be only at the 11-year-old level.

[Claire: I see... Ok, Vorst, you can go back. Mersa and the rest will return late, so you can meet them tomorrow. Please get some rest.]

The green-eyed boy left.

Silence...

[Mistglan: What kind of sub-transformation is that?]

[Claire:

I think it’s something similar to the legendary Crystal sub-transformation...]

[Mistglan: That caliber?]

[Claire: ... Mist, you’ve been living for less than 800 years, so you do not know about the Forgotten Legends.]

[Mistglan: ... The Forgotten Legends?]

[Claire: ... Five thousand years ago, the first Alien emerged.]

[Mistglan: The Crystal Queen.]

[Claire: That’s right. The Crystal Queen revealed our Crystal descent, that in the past life on Earth began from a part of the Crystal race.]

[Mistglan: Right.]

[Claire: But I also found an old Crystal archive. In fact, there were two ancient races. Crystals and... Dragons.]

[Mistglan: ... Dragons?]

[Claire: An ancient race. From what I gathered, their appearance was very similar to enormous lizard-like creatures. The two races were constantly fighting each other without rest. Then an unknown calamity came, and both of them disappeared without much of a trace. The Crystals planted the Crystal Queen to continue their legacy, the only survivor of the Crystal Race. Have you ever wondered why we aren't Crystals to begin with?]

The Liger turned speechless. He had never thought about that. Pieces of the puzzle in his head started to come together.

[Claire: That’s right. Furthermore, on our mother planet Earth, there were many legends about beings we called Dragons.]

[Mistglan: ... Then we might be of Dragon descent too?]

The Headmistress nodded.

Somehow, Lily’s blatant lie took a realistic turn!