Chapter 166 – Right!

With Grain and Letaria gone, Milea's private lab had regained its stillness.

Lit by the bluish-white glow of the holographic monitors, Milea worked her terminal alone, in silence. On the screen were the latest tuning data for Letaria's beloved Arden, and a detailed group of refit data for the machines flown by the members of the Seldia Vigilante Corps.

"This is the first time... that girl has decided to fight of her own firm will..."

Milea's quiet murmur melted into the empty lab.

Come to think of it, the reasons Letaria had stood on the battlefield until now -- many times, driven by her feelings, she had pounded to dust, with her iron fists, the raiders who had brought trouble down on her. She had worked as a freelancer too, but it had basically depended on circumstances.

Even at the time of Restful, it had been an emergency, and above all Letaria had sortied by accepting Milea's request to "please help Grain."

But this time was entirely different.

Forced by no one, of her own will, Letaria had chosen to fight for Seldia, which she had called her home, and to save and stop the girl called Rofi.

"Has she... grown up, I wonder?"

As Milea worked the terminal, a gentle smile mixed with pride and a touch of loneliness spilled across her lips.

"Well then... to answer that girl's feelings, I had better make the final check of Arden perfect...!"

Her expression tightening, Milea began typing into the terminal again, concentrating.

◆◆◆

At the same time, in the Seldia Vigilante Corps' huge hangar, thick with heat.

"Aland, it seems the delivery of the Rasta I requested made it in time."

Grain, coming down the hangar stairs, called to Aland, who was looking up at a brand-new brown machine.

"Yes! I never imagined that I, who had only just lost my machine in the recent battle, would be given another new model so soon. But... is it truly all right for me to ride it?"

Aland asked, still unable to believe it.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. It's good timing for you, having just lost your machine. And besides..."

With that, Grain looked around at the lines of Corps-spec custom Rudes arranged in orderly rows in the dock.

"To prepare for this crisis on the scale of the whole sector, Syn-Fibra has urgently run us through a major combat-enhancement program, boosting thrust, armor, and armament. Our Rudes now have jumped to performance that doesn't fall behind even Syn-Fibra's military machine, the Luzam."

"Wow... that's reassuring!" Aland said.

Hearing Grain's confident words, Steshia, who had been looking over a maintenance arm nearby, popped her head up and spoke.

"Mr. Aland was handed a Rasta too, so I've lost my edge as the only one with the new model~!"

Steshia laughed playfully.

"But now that there are two Rastas, mine has officially become a dedicated machine, the name 'Flode' has come back, and the colors have changed too. It really fires me up!"

Steshia's machine had left its test-unit state, and its color had changed from white to the same yellow base as her old beloved Flode, with the arms painted sky blue.

"Steshia, Aland. Your Rastas, too, are not left in their bare base state -- they've been customized to fit your combat styles. Piloting stability is a bit lower than the base unit, but in return the mobility and firepower should have reached a very high level. I'm counting on you."

"Yes!!"

Hearing their lively replies, Grain turned his eyes to the man standing a little way off, quietly gazing at his own machine -- Ethan.

"Ethan's machine -- Ribast -- I hear it's been given the largest-scale modification yet. It already boasted high performance, but at its current refit values it's apparently no longer within the Rude framework -- 'something else entirely.' Ms. Skaria puffed out her chest and declared, full of confidence, that it's on par with even my Riese."

Hearing that, Ethan shrugged in exasperation and gave a wry smile.

"Dear me... in peacetime, that's a modification level that could get us glared at by the homeland's inspection bureau."

"Given the circumstances this time, we've been granted special leniency. Rest easy."

At Grain's grinning reply, Ethan shrugged once more. "Well, then I'll make full use of it."

Here Grain spun around and called out from the pit of his stomach to all the Corps members in the hangar.

"Everyone! The decisive battle is the day after tomorrow! Until then, drill the behavior and feel of these greatly enhanced machines into your bodies! Let's show the Coroshe lot the true strength of us, the Seldia Vigilante Corps!"

"Yes!!"

At Grain's rousing call, a reply like a battle cry rang out, shaking the whole hangar.

◆◆◆

Having finished all the necessary detailed examinations, Letaria had returned to the room assigned to her.

Her brainwaves and vitals showed no abnormality; her condition had fully recovered, she was told. She took a sip from a glass of the thick, mysteriously garish-colored juice that Milea had handed her just in case.

"...Hm, it is rather good."

It was Milea's special nutrition-packed drink, one the Corps members shrank from in terror as "torture you drink," but Letaria rather liked it and savored it.

For now, resting her body came first.

The stealth work at that cargo station, and the splitting strain and headache that had struck her in the cockpit of the commandeered Caducus--

The Imperative System... that sensation...

There were piles of nagging premonitions and questions swirling in her chest.

But this was no time to be caught up in such things. She had a clear duty: protect her precious comrades and this place, and stop that girl.

Letaria set the glass on the table and resolved, in a small but strong voice.

"Right!"