The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 1.2

Holy knights and hieral menaces were guardians of the kingdom who protected the people from Prismers, the strongest magicite beasts. The cheers were a sign of how much people respected them, even adored them.

That was music to Miriela’s ears. “That’s the spirit! I’m really glad I asked you two to participate.” Speaking up, she continued, “Anyway! Those are our teams... And this is the course! Look over at Lake Bolt!”

She pointed at an island in the middle of the lake: Illuminas, a part of Highland which had just recently appeared there. Although Illuminas’s core—its Floating Circle—still remained, it had lost its power and was unable to return to the skies. Now, it was planted in Lake Bolt. It was there where Eris rested inside the Greyfrier sarcophagus.

Splasssshhhh!

Something huge suddenly leaped from the water around Illuminas. A trio of gigantic dragons, of which more than half of each was made up of machinery like a Flygear or Flygear Port.

The mechanical dragons were the mainstay of Illuminas’s defenses, and three of them had shown themselves. They were large, impressively imposing presences, and the crowd responded.

“Ooh! What’s that?!”

“Wow! It looks so cool!”

“Myce and the others are helping out,” Rafinha noted. “Principal Miriela’s really putting everything she can into this.”

It wasn’t just the entire knights’ academy, but the Royal Guards, the Paladins, and even Illuminas’s Highlanders were helping out.

“Yeah, it’s quite the show,” Inglis agreed. “And they’ve even gotten the mechanical dragons working now.”

“Yeah. Myce is doing a great job,” Rafinha said.

“If they’re working that well, maybe I’ll get to fight them soon. I can’t wait.”

“Oh, stop that. Myce finally got them running, and now you want to break them again?”

“Of course not, that would be a waste. I just think I’d be a good test subject for evaluating their performance and identifying potential areas of improvement. And it’d be good training for me, and it’d make Myce’s job easier...”

At least how Inglis pictured it, it would be a win-win situation.

Meltina had her own slightly different view of the problem. “Inglis, Rafinha, you’ve said that dragon meat is delicious...but are those ones edible too?”

“Let’s not go there, Meltina. Those ones aren’t for eating,” Rafinha said.

Leone laughed. “Especially since they just got repaired.”

“But what are they going to be used for, I wonder? This is supposed to be a race of Flygears,” Liselotte pondered.

With perfect timing, Miriela began to explain the rules of the race. “The mechanical dragons will be helping with today’s Flygear race! It will be a relay race, where the five members of each team each have to grab a flag carried by the dragons! Once they return with it, it’s the next member’s turn, and the first team to have all five members retrieve a flag wins!” As she spoke, the dragons showed flags held on their necks and shoulders.

I see, so we pull off one of those and then come back and hand off, Inglis thought.

“But the dragons will be flying around Lake Bolt trying to avoid the participants, and there are obstacles set up to keep them from grasping the flags as well! They’ll have to make it by those to get anywhere near the flags, so it will be a test of everything they’ve practiced!” Miriela continued.

“Sounds fun,” Inglis said. The mechanical dragons might even try to attack her. She really wanted to scrap it out with them.

“Now,” Miriela continued, “attacking the dragons themselves or the other teams is strictly forbidden! However, any other use of Artifacts is fair game, so I hope we see some clever tricks!”

“W-Will I be okay?” Meltina asked, an uneasy look on her face.

“You’ll be fine. It’s good practice, and besides, it’ll be fun, right?” Inglis said.

“Compared to fighting hordes of magicite beasts or a Prismer, sure...” Leone said.

Liselotte turned to her friend. “It might still be more enjoyable than you expect.”

The two had traveled many places and fought many battles since they’d enrolled in the knights’ academy. This was no longer enough to shake them.

“Don’t worry! You’ve practiced plenty! Go for it, Meltina!” Rafinha slapped her on the butt to get her fired up.

“Eeek?! O-Okay. I’ll do my best.”

Meltina hadn’t been chosen to compete just because of favoritism. She had an upper-class Rune just like Rafinha and Liselotte, a distinction which was rare even at the knights’ academy. She didn’t seem to have received any special training as an imperial princess in Venefic, but once at the knights’ academy, she had expressed a desire to strengthen herself in both flesh and spirit, and while her training had only just begun, she was putting her all into it. Inglis expected that Miriela appreciated this attitude and had chosen her for the race in order to bolster her self-confidence.

“And now’s when you try to predict which team will win! Don’t forget to place your bets!” Miriela reminded the crowd.

“All right! I’m all-in on the Paladins!”

“Me too! After all, they’ve got a holy knight and a hieral menace!”

“Me too, me too! Our guardians won’t let us down!”

“Maybe I should put in a little bit on the instructors too...”

Lines quickly formed at the stalls selling the tickets. Rafael and Ripple were immensely popular, so it seemed like most people expected the Paladins to come in first.

“Wow! I knew it! Everyone loves Rafael! Right, Chris?” Rafinha asked proudly.

“You seem pretty happy about that, Rani.”

“Of course I am. He’s my brother!”

Seeing her smile, Inglis was pretty happy too.

Silva smiled and nodded deeply. “I guess that’s only proper. It’s good that everyone understands how wonderful Lady Ripple is.”

“Ha ha ha. See? He’s happy about it too.” Rafinha laughed dryly.

“Rafael and Ripple really are popular. I wonder, if Leon were still a holy knight and here with us, whether he’d receive the same cheers,” Leone pondered, as she looked at the duo, somewhat dazzled.

“Sorry, Leone. I got carried away, didn’t I?” Rafinha asked.

“No, if anything I should apologize! Don’t worry. I was just thinking, if having a holy knight makes everyone so happy, perhaps I could stand in for him...” Leone stroked the special-class Rune which gleamed from the back of her right hand and smiled faintly.

Recently, she’d been less hostile toward her brother Leon, who had abandoned his post as a holy knight of Karelia to join the Steelblood Front. She no longer seemed so anxious to track down the organization. If anything, Inglis was more concerned with finding them at this point. Perhaps Leone had shifted her focus from capturing Leon and redeeming the Olfa family’s honor to doing what he had not been able to.

“Does that mean you’re thinking of becoming a holy knight?” Liselotte asked.

“Seeing Rafael and Ripple like that, I just thought it might be for the best.”

Now that Leone had a special-class Rune, it was a realistic option for her. “Leone, if you do...” Inglis began.

...Then that would mean accepting the cruel fate that lies before holy knights and hieral menaces.

Inglis shook that off of her mind. “Actually, why don’t we just have fun for now? It’s not like we have chances like this often.”

She should just enjoy Field Day. And not just today, the two more years before her graduation from the knights’ academy as well. There was a lot left for her to experience over those years, and her thoughts may change. Leone was still young. There was no need for her to rush into anything.

As they conversed, Miriela came over to them and spoke. “Everyone, let’s really get into it and give it our best! As you saw, Rafael and Ripple’s team is the most popular, so if anyone else wins, well, that’s how we get our cut...”

In a way, she was having the most fun of them all.

Finally, all betters had finalized their picks, and preparations for the race were complete.

The starting line was on the deck of the Flygear Port being used as a stage, and the competitors had gathered there alongside their Flygears. Nearby, there was a platform to place the flags snatched from the mechanical dragons. In this relay race, members from each team needed to have a member grab a flag from the dragons circling over Lake Bolt and successfully return with it. The next member in line would do the same until all five members had completed this feat. The first team to do so would be the victor.

“Everyone! This is the moment you’ve been waiting for! Preparations for the Flygear race are complete!” Miriela announced to the cheers of the eagerly waiting crowd.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fireworks filled the darkening sky, creating even more excitement. They were launched from the three mechanical dragons waiting over Lake Bolt.

“Ah ha ha! The dragons are setting off fireworks! It’s so pretty!” Rafinha smiled happily.

“That was Miriela’s idea!” Myce said. “She said it would help the people here adjust to them or something! When in Chiral, I guess...”

“Ah, Myce!” Inglis hadn’t even noticed he was here until he came up to them.

“I thought I’d come take a look! I did have to take a little detour, though.” Myce was smiling, holding a pancake with jam from the stall Inglis and the others had worked at. The pancake was wrapped in paper to make it easy to carry.

Inglis chuckled. “Are you having a good time, Myce?”

“Yeah. This is my third pancake! I know I’m eating a bit too much, but surface food is just so delicious!”

Inglis grinned, and Myce happily smiled back. Myce and the Highlanders of Illuminas, which had become an island within Lake Bolt, were under the protection of both Ambassador Theodore and the palace as they worked to repair their home. Since the knights’ academy often went to Lake Bolt for training, she had many opportunities to talk with him, and it seemed he really did enjoy surface cuisine—especially its sweets.

“Three isn’t too much at all!” Rafinha protested. “We each had fifteen or so!”

“Ha ha ha. Well, Rafinha, it’s kind of different for you... Anyway, I’ll be cheering for you! Do your best!” Myce said.

“Sure, leave it to us! We’ll put on a show!” Rafinha pumped her fist.

“Speaking of putting on a show, I don’t suppose I could ask you to have the mechanical dragons go all out against me when it’s my turn? Please?” Inglis asked.

“Well, that would be dangerou— No, I guess it wouldn’t be for you, Inglis,” Myce quickly corrected himself. “But this is supposed to be a race. We just got them fixed! Please don’t break them so soon.”

Inglis laughed at that. “Of course, I wouldn’t want to waste them. If I broke them, I wouldn’t be able to fight them anymore, would I?”

“Ha ha ha...”

“But promise me, next time you’ll let me fight them. It’ll be good for you guys too. Surely, it’ll reveal ways to improve them.”

As Inglis tried to negotiate, Rafinha grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away. “Okay, okay, that’s enough! C’mon, we’re getting started!”

“And now! First pilots, mount your Flygears!” Miriela called out.

“Yes!” Leone, first for the first-years, replied. Second would be Liselotte, third Rafinha, fourth Meltina, and last but not least would be Inglis.

Each of her teammates cheered her on.

“Leone! Do your best!”

“You’ll do great, Leone.”

“I’m counting on you!”

“Please don’t get hurt!”

“Here I go!” Leone responded with a serious expression and a nod.

“Aaaaand... Go!” At Miriela’s signal, six Flygears took off from the Flygear Port at once. At the same time, the mechanical dragons spread out and began circling Lake Bolt.

“Wow! They’re so fast for how big they are!”

“Just catching up with them will be tough!”

The crowd sounded off, and Rafinha, not to be outdone, cheered for Leone. “Leone! Do your best!”

Amid the racket, Leone’s Flygear charged toward the nearest dragon. Of the three, two soared high and fled into the distance, while the third dove and began circling just above the water’s surface. The one near the surface was nearest, hence all six Flygears swarming for it at once. But there were only four flags on it, so this would be a race in which teams could get to the mechanical creatures first. The slower teams would have to chase down dragons which were much farther away, losing significant time. The Flygears themselves were almost identical in performance, and they approached the dragon in a horizontal line, but—

Fwoosh!

With a blasting sound, one Flygear suddenly shot forward, a tail of light gleaming behind it. Its pilot had shot a blast of light backward and accelerated using the recoil. Inglis used Aether Strike sometimes to accomplish the same, but there were only a few people who could do something similar.

“Yua?!” Inglis was in disbelief.

Yes, it was Yua. She was the first pilot for the second-years.

“Wow!”

“Amazing! What even was that!”

“I-It’s so fast!”

In the middle of the commotion, Yua broke away and, overtaking the dragon, pulled out a flag. “All right, got one.” She then quickly turned and set herself on a course back to the starting line.

“I-Is that allowed, Principal Miriela?!” Rafinha asked.

“It didn’t break the dragon, and it wasn’t an attack on another team, so it’s okay! Especially because the crowd loved it!” Miriela replied.

With Yua having charged forward to take the first flag, there were three remaining. The dragon hadn’t been able to keep up with her rapid acceleration, but it changed its own course as if to say that the same trick wouldn’t work twice. It had already been flying low, but now it dove further, so low that its feet and tail brushed the surface of the lake. As it did, water splashed up, falling on Leone and the others who pursued it.

“Eeek?! Ah, it’s trying to disrupt us!”

Should they evade and go around, cut straight through, or change their trajectory completely and try to take a flag from another dragon? Each pilot had a decision to make; Leone’s was to cut straight through. But just as she closed the distance and was about to catch up, the spray of water disappeared, as did the dragon. It had completely submerged itself.

“Aw! That’s no fair! It’s escaping underwater!” Rafinha complained.

“It lured her in on purpose!” Liselotte said.

The dragons had entered from beneath the surface to begin with. Of course it was possible for them to escape back to the depths. But this meant that Leone, who was chasing the dragon, was too late. But she unslung her dark greatsword Artifact and aimed it at the dragon underwater. “Then... There!” Its tip extended, plunging into the water and catching only a flag before bringing it back. Leone spun her Flygear around as she grasped the soaking-wet flag.

The crowd cheered. “Oooh?! She extended her sword?!”

“Amazing! I’m glad I get to see this!”

Rafinha was just as elated and shouted, “Good job, Leone!”

“Impressive!” Liselotte said.

“Amazing! Even though the dragon ran away...” Meltina said.

The trio clapped.

Just then, Yua, who had been the first to grasp a flag, returned to the starting point. The second-years had taken first place in the first leg of the race.

“That’s it, Yua!”

“I knew you could do it!”

The second-years welcomed her back excitedly, but Yua herself yawned sleepily.

“Got it. But sorry, I’m already tired.”

“Okay. It’s fine if you sleep, we’ll wake you up at the end.”

“Works for me,” Yua bluntly replied, then sat down and dozed off, snuggling Morris the tiny magicite beast.

“All right, next up! Here I go!” The next pilot took off, shortly after which Leone returned.

“Leone! Good work!” Inglis said.

“Thanks. Sorry, I let Yua get ahead of me!” Leone said.

“Not to worry—I’m next, so you did plenty well enough! And, I’m off!” Liselotte said.

“Go for it, Liselotte!”

Second to fly for the first-years, she took off. There wasn’t much of a lead over the other teams, and they, too, handed off in sequence. As they did, the dragons formed a tightly packed formation and flew farther over Lake Bolt. And as the second-year competitor, in the lead, approached them, one of the dragons turned and shot out lights.

Bang, bang! Baaaang!

With a thunderous roar, those colorful lights exploded into vivid, luminous puffs of smoke—fireworks. The dragon had shot off fireworks to screen itself from its pursuer. Losing its vision, the lead Flygear slowed, allowing Liselotte and the other teams in pursuit to close the gap.

“It’s too bright to go in head-on! I should circle around!” Liselotte said to herself. She tilted the Flygear’s stick control to the side and avoided the fireworks from the dragon. The Flygears following her also ballooned out to each side.

But then, the other two dragons also turned and shot off fireworks to blind the Flygears as they swerved to the side.

Although it was a beautiful display, it was only serving to obstruct her way. “Then, that leaves one other option!” She steered herself above the dragons’ heads. There, no fireworks blocked her path, and her view would clear. Circling above, she then made a sharp drop to grab a flag. She wasn’t the only one with that idea, and several other Flygears had also made it through to above the dragons.

“Fwa ha ha ha! Right there!”

“Instructor Marquez?!”

Marquez, the second pilot for the instructors’ team, overtook Liselotte. She had tried to quickly pull up before dropping her speed at the apex in order to dive, but Marquez inverted his Flygear and arced downward, aiming to grab a flag from the dragons as he passed by. Her own trajectory included deceleration, but he only accelerated; he overtook her the instant her speed dropped. The flight instructor was suitably skilled.

With Marquez in the lead, several Flygears descended all at once, closing in on the dragons. However, the dragons, apparently having anticipated this, scattered.

“Ah! They knew we would do that?!” Inglis commented. The dragons had deliberately not shot off fireworks overhead, instead planning to quickly evade those who would dive in from above.

Liselotte heard a shout of dismay from a competitor nearby. “Agh! Too fast, too fast! I can’t stop!” The Flygear suddenly crashed into the water, sending up a huge spout.

“What?! It baited us in?!” Marquez barked. His arcing motion allowed him to avoid a splash landing, but there seemed to be no way Liselotte’s Flygear would avoid impact. Even a sudden climb wouldn’t be enough to overcome the momentum she’d built up toward the water.

“Then how about this!” Liselotte leaped upward from her Flygear, grasping her trusty halberd Artifact. In midair, she activated its Gift, and with her pale wings, she chased down the dragon and pulled away a flag.

The crowd cheered.

“Wow! She’s flying?!”

“I can’t believe it!”

“Such beautiful wings! They suit her well!”

Liselotte’s Gift meant that even if the dragon suddenly changed direction, it couldn’t escape her. She was the first of the second wave to lay her hands on a flag, and thus, she was now in first place. Returning to her Flygear, which had touched down on the water, she quickly took off again and returned to the rest of her team.

“All right! We’re in first now! Great job, Liselotte!” Rafinha said.

“You’re up next, Rafinha!” Liselotte replied, tagging her in.

“Leave it to me!” Rafinha said as she hopped in the Flygear.

“Do your best, Rani!”

“Sure thing, Chris! Here I go!” The Flygear roared as it flew off over Lake Bolt.

“I-I’m next, aren’t I?” Meltina, already awaiting her turn, seemed nervous.

“You’ll be fine. Just do your best,” Leone reassured her. “Inglis goes last, and she’ll manage somehow, right?”

“Yeah. This kind of thing gets me excited to beat the competition.” Inglis smiled serenely.

“Ha ha ha, I’m just a little worried that you might get too fired up and take down a dragon.” Leone smiled back at her, albeit in a tense manner.

As they spoke, the other teams had returned for their hand-offs. Principal Miriela was the third pilot for the instructors’ team. “All right! Here I goooo!”

Reddas was the next up for the Royal Guard’s team. “All right, good job! Leave the rest to me! Ha ha ha ha!”

Rafinha approached the dragons with the principal and Reddas on her tail. After dispersing before, the dragons had regrouped, now flying low and close near the water’s surface. They were probably planning to dive and escape, this time as a group.

“Then, before they dive!” Rafinha closed in on the dragons at full speed.

Splooosh!

Before she could catch up to them, the three dragons began spraying a tremendous amount of water at her. She recalled they had also sprayed water on Illuminas as it burned, so this must have been one of their civil defense functions. The force of the water was strong enough to hold back Rafinha’s Flygear. Even if she tried to slip around it and close in, the water pressure would hold her off again. It was like a wall of water. There was just too much of it, far beyond what they should have been able to carry; they must have been pumping it up from Lake Bolt before spraying it.

“Ugh, I can’t get close!” Rafinha herself was sopping wet at this point, and she could barely see in front of herself. It looked like no one would be able to get close to the dragons.

“Rani! You’ll catch a cold like that! You need something to dry off with!” Inglis swiftly got a large towel ready for Rafinha.

“Th-They’re so fast!” Meltina’s eyes widened.

“No one’s even going to get close to them at this rate!” Leone said.

“No, someone’s closing in from behind!” Liselotte added.

As she did, another Flygear overtook Rafinha. “If I may go first!” It was Miriela’s. She slowed down a little, but continued moving toward the dragons.

“The principal?!” Rafinha gasped. Miriela’s Flygear was enveloped in a veil of light which repelled the water the dragons sprayed. It must have been coming from the staff Artifact she was brandishing. “Ah! No fair!” If Rafinha had had an Artifact, she might have been able to counter it somehow, but her Shiny Flow had broken during the battle at Illuminas, and she did not have a replacement yet.

“This isn’t good!” Leone said.

“The principal’s overtaking her!” Liselotte said.

“Inglis, is... Is there anything Rafinha can do?! She doesn’t have an Artifact right now...” Meltina murmured, but Inglis did not answer.

For she was not there.

“H-Huh? Where did Inglis go?!” Meltina asked.

Leone looked around. “She’s gone? Where did she run off to?”

“Ah! Look, over there!” Liselotte pointed to just above Rafinha’s Flygear, which was still being held back by the jets of water. Inglis had suddenly appeared there.

“Rani!”

“Huh?! Chris?!”

“Just follow Principal Miriela closely! Use her as a shield!”

“I see! Got it! Thanks, Chris!” Rafinha immediately brought her Flygear directly behind Miriela’s.

“I-Inglis?!” the principal gasped. “You’re not allowed to pilot unless it’s your—”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m copiloting.” Inglis grinned. She wasn’t actually putting her hand on the controls, just giving some advice, so it was fine. The only reason she’d teleported in with her divine feat was so that she could advise Rafinha; her voice wouldn’t have reached her cousin otherwise. Was it worth touching upon the divine for something like that? Well, of course it was worth using it for Rafinha’s sake. Using divine feat ate up the hi-aether she had spent time refining and building up, but she didn’t mind. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Just before she would have plunged into Lake Bolt, Inglis disappeared. A blink of an eye later, she was back aboard the Flygear Port.

“Whoa?!” Leone gasped.

“Inglis?!” Liselotte said.

“Did you just disappear and reappear?!” Meltina asked.

“Rani was in trouble, so... Yeah. She doesn’t have Shiny Flow right now,” Inglis replied.

Rafinha, sticking tight to Miriela’s Flygear, was noticeably closing in on the dragons. However, others could do the same.

“I see! Then, I’ll follow your example, Lady Rafinha!” Reddas said.

But since they were just taking advantage of the situation in the same way as she was, she couldn’t complain.

“Ugh, you’re all just using me as a shield!”

Miriela was not a particularly talented Flygear pilot, and she was not capable of taking the complex evasive actions which would throw Rafinha and Reddas off her tail. As a result, her competitors formed a horizontal line behind her with no real gaps.

“Ah ha ha! They’re all in a line!”

“We’re this far in, and it’s still a dead heat!”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it? More fun to watch that way!”

The crowd, already enthused, was getting more and more into it. Meanwhile, the racers, with only the narrowest of gaps between them, pulled out flags and headed back toward the Flygear Port.

Miriela was the first to return. “A-hem! I trust I’ve made my point, though.”

“Knew you had it! Now it’s my turn to show the students they’ve still got some learning to do!” Rochefort, taking over from her, was likewise the first to take off.

“Meltina! Sorry, they caught up a little bit! It’s your turn now!” Rafinha said.

“O-Okay! I’ll do my best!” Meltina took over from Rafinha, who was the second to return after Miriela.

“I’ll figure something out, so take it easy, okay?” Inglis sent her off with a smile.

“Thank you. Here I go!” Meltina rushed to take off, but compared to Rochefort, her control over her Flygear was questionable. She seemed a bit unsteady.

Next up for the Paladins was Ripple. “All right! This is our chance to catch up!” Rather than stepping into the Flygear, she reached for its controls from the outside, brought it up a little off the deck, and then kicked off with all her might. Using a hieral menace’s leg strength to speed up was a subtle yet effective trick.

“Ripple’s fast!” Meltina gasped.

“Caught up to ya!”

Even as Ripple overtook her, Meltina remained focused on the dragons. They were closing formation and heading out farther over Lake Bolt. As the Flygears, with Rochefort in the lead, began to catch up, the dragons formed into a single file, and turned their head to face their pursuers head-on.

“Wh-What’s with that?” Rafinha gasped. “They all clumped up and faced us...”

Her confusion was soon dispelled. The nearer two dragons extended thick tubes backward and connected something. Once this was complete, the entire body of the rearmost dragon shined brightly, and—

Vwooooooom!

They took off at high speed, leaving a trail of light.

“Whoa?! That’s incredibly fast!”

“They can go that fast?!” A stir arose in the crowd. The speeds involved were on an entirely different level than what they’d seen up until now—overwhelmingly faster than the knights’ academy’s Flygears being used for the race.

The dragons, still in a straight line, suddenly cut back through the Flygears piloted by Rochefort, Ripple, and the other racers, breaking through their line. The second-year racer, previously bringing up the rear, was now closest to them.

“Wow, that’s impressive!” Inglis thought that sort of acceleration was quite the sight, and Myce nodded along proudly.

“It’s a high-mobility mode that increases the power output by connecting their thrusters in series! We came up with it just for this race!”

“That’s amazing, Myce. Can you come up with a way for their combat potential to be put together too? It’d be great if you could assemble like a hundred of them and have them a hundred times as strong. I’d love to take that on, if you could.”

“Ha ha ha, I wish it were that easy... And it’s not like we have a hundred of them to begin with.”

“C’mon, Chris, don’t bother Myce!” Rafinha protested.

As she did, the dragons turned around again and rapidly flew farther and farther out over the lake. Even Rochefort and Ripple couldn’t catch the dragons in their high-mobility mode. It was a matter of the Flygears’ inherent performance limits that applied even to them.

“It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to catch them at all!” Liselotte said.

“There has to be some kind of trick,” Inglis observed.

“But what—”

As if to answer Liselotte before she could even finish her question, Rochefort and Ripple broke away from the dragons and moved toward positions on the opposite side of Lake Bolt.

“The dragons take their time turning before moving again, so they’re going to try to catch them after their next maneuver,” Inglis said. “Look at how they move. I think they can only fly that fast in a straight line.”

If the dragons could shake the pilots by the middle of the lake, even if the pilots then swooped in during the opening, the dragons would be ready to go again before they arrived. The pilots would never catch up. So their solution would have to be to lie in wait for the dragons to arrive and take advantage of the opening before they were ready again.

“I knew you’d figure it out, Inglis,” Myce said. “That’s right, it only works in a straight line. Our priority was raw speed.”

“So Mr. Rochefort and Ripple have the right idea!” Rafinha said.

“It won’t do them any good if the dragons don’t come to them, though...” Inglis pointed out.

Meanwhile, though, the other pilots hadn’t observed this and were still trying to chase down the dragons. Meltina was among them.

“Meltina! You’re going to get left behind again!” Rafinha said worriedly, as the dragons turned and connected in line again. But this time, one of the tube connections didn’t quite click. Something had gotten stuck, blocking the connection.

Small metal plates with a faint gleam—no, they were blades in the shape of a bird with spread wings. Four of them, each with an aqua-colored glow, had wedged their way into the connection.

“That’s Meltina’s Artifact!” Rafinha said. Meltina’s rune was upper class, in the shape of a whip. And when she had arrived at the knights’ academy, the Artifact she had been granted had been a whip-sword, composed of many small blades. When Rafinha had first seen it, she had happily remarked that it was a perfect weapon for a queen. It must have been a disconnected part of that whip-sword which had interfered with the dragons’ connection. Meltina was able to disconnect the whip which connected the blades at will. “Good work! She caught the dragons with her Artifact as they passed by, and now she’s keeping them from flying off again!”

“And if she can stop them from doing that, staying close was the right answer!” Inglis added. It wasn’t that Meltina had a worse read on the dragons than Rochefort or Ripple, it was that her read on them had led to a different approach. Her Artifact was well-suited to countering the dragons’ movements, and she had realized that.

“You can do it, Meltina!” Liselotte called out.

Meltina’s Flygear dove toward the dragons as they struggled to form their connection and take off again. For a moment it seemed like she could seize a flag, but the dragons reacted. Dropping low and dipping into the water, they sprayed a volley of water at her just like they had at Rafinha and Miriela. The barrage of streams flew to intercept Meltina. Even Rafinha, a practiced Flygear pilot, had been unable to escape such a deluge; it was far too much to ask of Meltina, who took it head-on.

“Eeeeeek?!”

Her Flygear swayed, and she herself, unable to hold on, was thrown off and fell into the lake.

“Meltina!” Rafinha yelled.

“Sh-She fell! Will she be okay?!” Leone gasped.

“She’s at least treading water, but I’m worried!” Liselotte said.

“She ended up pretty far away from her Flygear,” Inglis pointed out. Because Meltina had been thrown away from her Flygear, she was now quite a distance from it. It would take a while to swim that far.

But Meltina, unwilling to give up, swam as fast as she could, panting. “I can’t be the one holding everyone else back!”

As she did, a Flygear flitted before her, and its pilot grasped her arm and pulled her from the water.

“Mr. Rochefort?!”

“It’s a teacher’s duty to keep you safe, isn’t it? I’m sure no one will have any complaints about this.” His other hand held a flag which he’d grabbed from a dragon. Rochefort carried Meltina to her distant Flygear, and then let her go. “This was just a rescue. It’s up to you what you want to do now.” He flew off toward the Flygear Port, to tag in his team’s next pilot.

“Mr. Rochefort... Thank you!” Meltina crawled up onto her Flygear and looked again toward the dragons. They had stayed close by, continuing to spray water rather than ascend. “Then, I can get to them!”

She grasped the hilt of her whip-sword. The whip which connected its blades glowed aqua as it stretched out, longer and longer. She focused her everything on avoiding the jets of water and bringing it to a dragon’s neck, and thankfully, the part of her blade which had gotten tangled in the connectors merged back even as the part glowing aqua hooked a flag. Retracting it back into arm’s reach, she took the flag into her hand.

“All right! Now I’ve got to get back!” Meltina tried to turn her Flygear and return, but she couldn’t get it to fly straight. Even trying to move forward, its trajectory twisted, snaking back and forth. “Is this from the impact when it crashed?” Her time in the water had put her in last place, and the gap was only widening. Meanwhile, the other teams were switching over to their fifth and final pilots.

“Here you go, Rafael! The rest’s up to you!” Ripple said.

“Of course, Lady Ripple! Chris, Rani! Sorry, but I’m going on ahead!”

“Arles, it’s all you!” Rochefort said.

“Of course, Ross! Leave it to me!” Arles replied.

Rafael took off, followed immediately by Arles.

“Well done! I’ll bring it all home!” Silva said, taking off a moment later.

By the time Meltina, flying unsteadily, made it back, Rafael and Arles were already trying to grab a flag from one of the dragons. Unfortunately, she was far to the back of the pack.

“Meltina! Good job! You tried your hardest!” Rafinha still welcomed her with a smile on her face.

“I... I’m sorry that I took so long...” Meltina seemed dejected, but Inglis rested her hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. Being bad at something is the first step to being pretty good at it. We can still win.”

“Huh?” was all Meltina could say to Inglis’s confidence. The first-years’ team had dropped too far behind. Besides, the Flygear was broken. It was only natural that she’d think they had no chance of winning.

“You’re still going for it, Inglis?” Leone asked.

“You know that thing can’t even fly straight,” Liselotte pointed out.

“I do. So, instead I’ll send it flying.” Inglis, grinning, had already deployed her dragon ice armor. She hoisted up the team’s Flygear.

“Send it flying?!”

Meltina gasped. “You don’t mean—?!”

“Go get ’em, Chris!” Rafinha pumped a fist.

“Yup! I’m off!”

Inglis fixed her sights on the dragons as she soared through the air, Flygear in hand. She calculated a trajectory and speed, and—

Aether Shell!

Inglis’s body glowed a pale blue, characteristic of her aether. She had both the dragon ice armor and Aether Shell active at once, boosting her physical abilities to their peak.

Winding up, she flung the Flygear as hard as she could.

“Haaaah!”

Slammmm!

Following through, she kicked off from the Flygear Port. The shock wave from her foot slamming down made the Flygear Port itself sway.

Rafinha startled. “Eeek! Ch-Chris?!”

“She really just threw the Flygear...” Leone muttered.

“And jumped on it!” Liselotte added.

Meltina looked on in horror. “Wh-Whaaaaat?!”

Rafinha, Leone, and Liselotte had built up some level of resistance to Inglis’s antics, but Meltina’s eyes were wide with astonishment at the scene unfolding before her.

“Oooooh?!”

“She threw the Flygear?! I must be seeing things!”

“No, she really did! She threw it! And now she’s jumping on it! What’s going on?!”

The audience was just as astounded as Meltina was, and their shouts contained more surprise than enthusiasm. This was a Flygear race, so the rules were that you had to ride the Flygear.

However, in Inglis’s mind, if you were riding in it—or on it—there wasn’t anything in the rules concerning how it moved. Therefore, throwing it was fine, she thought. 

Booommmmmm!

With a roar, her Flygear shot out over the lake toward the dragons. They had activated their high-mobility mode, but she met their trajectory and—

“Gotcha!”

As the dragons and her Flygear crossed paths, she reached out her hand and plucked away a flag. It would have been even quicker to crash straight into one, but destroying a dragon was against the rules. Instead, she had to overshoot it a little.

Inglis jumped forward from her Flygear and landed on the lake’s surface while her leap had sent the Flygear plummeting toward the surface. She had made sure to land first and wait at the point where it would fall. Her dragon ice armor had frozen the lake at her feet, giving her a perfect foothold. “All right!” She firmly caught the Flygear as it plunged, then immediately swung it around. Once she went forward, she then had to go back. Of course.

She could see the backs of Rafael and Arles, who had already grabbed flags themselves, but they hadn’t made it to the finish line yet—Silva too, even closer to her. She could still make it. She just had to be careful not to crash into anyone.

“Once more! Haaaaah!” She threw the Flygear as hard as she could, then leaped up into it.

Booommmmmm!

With another blast of sound, the Flygear returned whence it came, kicking up water along the way.

“Whoa?! I-Inglis is going so fast!” Silva gasped.

Looking from her Flygear, Inglis saw his shocked expression for just a moment. She was closing in on Rafael and Arles too.

“Inglis?!”

“Miss Arles, if you’ll pardon me.”

“No, not yet!” Arles jumped from her Flygear and grabbed onto the railing of Inglis’s. The reflexes and decisiveness she displayed jumping over while being passed at such a speed could only have come from a hieral menace.

“Ooh! But leaving your Flygear behind is against the rules.”

“That won’t be a problem! Look behind you!” The long tail which stretched back from the small of Arles’s back had wrapped around her own Flygear and pulled it along. She hadn’t abandoned her Flygear, so she was still obeying the rules.

Inglis chuckled. “Impressive.”

Arles had a modest, humble personality, but the tactics she employed in situations like this were quite bold. Inglis had to assume that it came from Arles’s earnest determination to do whatever she could, and she was honestly quite grateful that Arles was willing to take her on with everything she had.

“I am, after all, a teacher!” Arles insisted.

The Flygear they now shared closed in on Rafael from behind. The addition of Arles had slowed it down a little, but it was still catching up.

“Chris?!” Rafael gasped. “Well, I’ve got my own tricks!” He unsheathed the sword which hung at his belt—the beautiful crimson Dragon Fang, an Artifact beyond all others.

“Gwoooooohhhhn!”

As a dragon’s roar rang out, Rafael was covered head-to-toe in winged crimson armor. The armor both increased his physical capabilities and allowed him to fly. Dragon Fang was not just a sword but an Artifact which boosted its wielder’s overall capabilities. That was something Inglis had used as a reference when she wove the dragon magic which formed her dragon ice armor.

As he let out an energizing shout, Rafael let go of the controls of his Flygear and fell behind it, pushing it forward as he went.

“I’m impressed, Rafael!”

“It’s important to show off what I’ve got every once in a while!”

Inglis’s Flygear along with Arles and her own in tow were decelerating; Rafael, with the power of the Dragon Fang, was accelerating. In the end, the three fell neck-and-neck like an avalanche onto the Flygear Port. Inglis got ahead of them and caught her own Flygear, and as she did, the Port again dipped in the sky.

The crowd erupted in confused cheers.

“Wooow!”

“What a finish! I can’t tell what happened!”

“Wh-Who won?!”

Rafinha laughed. “One throwing, one pulling, and one pushing.”

“And not a single one of them flying their Flygear properly,” Leone added.

“It was certainly a close fight,” Liselotte said.

Meltina stared in awe. “Karelia is an amazing place.”

The four watched, chuckling wryly.

“Principal Miriela! Who was fastest in the end?” Inglis asked eagerly, to which Miriela frowned.

“Well, err... You all came in at once, so who was first is—”

“No, Miriela,” Rafael began. “I lost.”

“Huh? What do you mean, Rafael?”

“Look.” Rafael held out the flag he’d taken from the dragons—or, more precisely, what remained of it. It had been burned to nothing more than a charred stub. It must have been an unintended consequence of using the flames of his Dragon Fang armor.

“The requirement was that I bring back a flag, and it looks like I failed to do so.”

“Ah, I see,” Miriela said. “Then Inglis must have—”

“Sorry, Principal Miriela. Mine’s much the same.” Inglis held forth the frozen, crumbled remains of a flag. She had tucked the flag inside her dragon ice armor, much like Rafael, and thus, she’d also failed to meet the conditions.

“Oh my. Then, it must be you, Miss Arles?”

“Ah, yes. Mine is...” Arles pulled forth an intact flag.

“So Miss Arles was the first to bring back a flag—the winners are the instructors! Congratulations! As instructors at the knights’ academy, myself included, we’ve shown our stuff! Now, a round of applause!” Miriela concluded, to a resonant round of cheers.

“Definitely worth the price of admission!”

“Yeah, that was amazing!”

As the crowd cheered, Inglis, her hands clasped, bowed apologetically to Rafinha and the others. “Sorry, Rani. Sorry, everyone. I failed.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rafinha responded. “At least we had fun. Right, Meltina?”

“Yes! That was incredible! I’m glad you were able to make up for my lost ti— Achoo!”

“Are you okay, Meltina?” Leone asked with concern.

“It’s because she fell into the water and got wet. We need to get her dried off,” Liselotte began, only to be drowned out by Miriela.

“And that concludes this year’s knights’ academy Field Day! Thank you, everyone! Take care on your way home!” She beamed as she gave the closing remarks. Judging from her expression, Field Day had been quite the financial success.

◆◇◆

“Chris! Over here, get this one too!”

“Yeah. That should be enough, right?”

“And this one and that one and that other one and—”

“Got it. This is good training in its own way.” Inglis carried an unusually large stock of materiel into the Flygear dock. She was helping clean up after Field Day.

“Well, having Inglis around certainly makes this a lot easier...” Leone remarked.

“It certainly does,” Liselotte said with a chuckle. Both had an awkward grin on their faces.

Meltina watched with a smile from a little bit away as she sat in her wet clothes by a bonfire on the shore, letting them dry.

A person familiar to her walked over. “Well, Your Highness, how was it? Just an ordinary festival in my opinion, but what did you think?”

“Ah, Mr. Rochefort.”

As a former general of Venefic, he was quite considerate of its former imperial princess and often checked in to see how she was doing. He’d helped her out during the Flygear race as well. “It was fun. Lots of fun. I’ve never experienced anything like it in Venefic.”

“Mm,” Rochefort began. “Well, you certainly were quite the sheltered young lady. We’d only so much as seen your face a few times. I had no idea that your appetite rivaled Inglis’s and Rafinha’s, of all people.”

“Ah ha ha ha. Well, it isn’t like I had many ways to enjoy myself other than meals.” Meltina’s smile held a hint of embarrassment.

“Well, ‘sheltered young lady’ sounds nicer, but it seems more like you were practically a prisoner in the imperial villa. If that’s the case, you should take the time to spread your wings here. You may not have the status of a princess, but instead, you’ve your freedom.”

“Of course. But more than that, I would like to become stronger. For the sake of everyone who sacrificed themselves to protect me...”

“Mm. You must be talking about that bastard Maxwell’s purge of the moderates. Or maybe, as someone else might describe it, a band of hangers-on in the palace talking up the princess in hopes of boosting their own status.”

“Well...” Meltina looked down.

In terms of sentiment within Venefic, a significant majority supported invasions of Karelia and other neighbors in order to expand its lands. Venefic’s lands were by no means rich, and it had long desired to carve more fertile fields from Karelia. In that context, moderates who sought peace with Karelia would be on the outs.

That was an unavoidable fact. Perhaps it was inevitable, given the flows of political power, that a faction on the outs like the moderates would have coalesced around someone like Meltina who was at odds with the rest of the imperial family.

Meltina was a daughter of the reigning emperor by a concubine, treated coldly by both the children of the previous empress and the family of the current one. Consequently, she lived a life largely confined to a remote villa, with few opportunities to leave.

“Were they forced to become hangers-on because they were moderates, or forced to become moderates because they were hangers-on... Well, it’s only human to have a bit of overlap between your position and your ideology. In any case, it’s better not to worry over it any more than you have to. That’s how you get along in the world.”

“No, Mr. Rochefort. I don’t think what they had to say was wrong. After all, the people here live such happy, cheerful lives... I don’t think it’s right to ruin that, nor would I want to fight against everyone from the knights’ academy. Seeing it for myself, hearing it, I’ve only become more convinced.” Meltina clasped her hands to her chest as she spoke. She was telling the heartfelt truth. “Although, training at the academy is still quite difficult for me...” That, too, was the heartfelt truth. Having never before had any particular special training, it was hard to keep up with the other knights’ academy students just in terms of raw physical strength.

Rafinha appeared out of nowhere. “Meltina!”

“Rafinha?” Meltina began. Had she overheard their conversation?

When Rafinha hugged Meltina tightly the princess from Venefic hastily said, “Ah, don’t! You’ll get yourself wet too.” Her clothes still hadn’t dried completely.

“Don’t worry about that! Listen, Meltina. I don’t know what I can do for you, but we’ll always be friends! If there’s anything I can do to help, just ask, okay?”

“Oh! Thank you, Rafinha.” Someone who could be supportive like this, someone who could give her a hug when she needed it—perhaps that was what Meltina had really wanted the most. “Really, just hearing you say that is enough...” Meltina returned the embrace. She was sorry it would get Rafinha wet, but she needed to wrap her arms around her friend right then.

“Here you two go. Nice and clean, and dry to boot.” Inglis brought some clean, dry blankets and wrapped Rafinha and Meltina in them.

“Thanks, Chris!”

“Thank you, Inglis.”

“You get over here too!” Rafinha tugged at Inglis’s arm.

Inglis gasped. “Ack! C-Cold!”

“Sorry, Inglis, I’m getting you wet, aren’t I?” Meltina apologized.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Rafinha insisted. “It’s warmer this way, and the fire will dry us out nice and quick anyway.”

“Speak for yourself, Rani. And don’t take advantage of the confusion to put your hands in weird places!” Inglis protested after Rafinha had jammed her hands into Inglis’s cleavage.

“But it’s warm there and it feels nice. C’mon, Meltina, you try it too. Aren’t they big?”

“Wow, I already knew they were amazing to look at but they’re even more amazing to touch. I’m a bit jealous.” Impressed, Meltina lifted Inglis’s bust from below.

“I-Isn’t that enough? You can let go any time!” Inglis said.

Undeterred, Rafinha said, “We eat the same, so I wonder why yours are so different. Ah, hey, Leone, why don’t you come over here too? Leone!”

Leone was carrying supplies a little bit away. “Er, I think I’ll have to pass... I know exactly what you’re going to do.” But even though she could avoid Rafinha, there was someone far sneakier.

“Ah, Leone. Rin’s—”

Before Liselotte could finish her sentence, Rin dove into Leone’s chest.

“Eeek! S-Stop that, Rin! You’ll make me drop everything!” 

Bang, bang, ba-ba-bang!

Colorful fireworks burst over Lake Bolt. The explosions of light were mirrored on the lake’s surface, making the scene even more gorgeous and fantastical.

“We’re setting off the leftover fireworks! This is your reward for working so hard! Thanks to you, we earned quite a bit!” Miriela, in a good mood, trailed off, chuckling as she pointed toward the lake. Her smile was anything but innocent, but at least the fireworks were beautiful.

“Wow! They’re so pretty! Chris, Leone, Liselotte, Meltina! Let’s all watch them together next year too!”

To Inglis, Rafinha’s childlike smile was an even more beautiful treasure. She couldn’t help but smile as well. “That’s a great idea, Rani.”

“Of course!” Leone said.

“I simply can’t wait,” Liselotte agreed.

“Yes! It’d be wonderful for all of us to!” Meltina added.

Watching them, Rochefort shrugged his shoulders. “What a racket. Ah, to be young again.”

Arles, joining Rochefort, looked upon the scene with a twinkle in her eye. “But being with Inglis, Rafinha, and the others seems to reassure Her Highness.”

“I guess so. And that kind of makes me— Koff! Gagh!” Rochefort, suddenly overtaken by a cough, fell to his knees.

“Ross?!”

The hand he’d placed over his mouth was covered with fresh blood as another cough tore through him.

“Ross! Ross?! What’s wrong?!” Pale, Arles supported him as he doubled over.

Inglis, Rafinha, and Meltina all gasped and rushed over.

“Huh?! Mr. Rochefort!”

“Are you all right?”

“What’s going on?!”

But Rochefort didn’t reply. He was taken, unconscious, to the knights’ academy nurse’s office.