Chapter 11 Let’s design, build and assemble
Translator: Skythewood
Editors: Darkdhaos, Fate Trooper, Chris S, alkin
The plan proposed by the pilot
faculty’s maintenance department-- breaking out of the mould of repairing
Silhouette Knights, they had started the building process of the new machine
model for half a month now. During this period, the school had resumed classes,
and the middle schooler Ernesti had returned to his usual daily life.
The bell announcing the end of
lessons rang, and the classroom that was quiet when class was in session turned
rowdy. The teacher sighed at the sudden change in the students and left after
bidding farewell. The day’s lesson had finished and school was out. The
students who were free from class could spend their time as they pleased. Even
though they could be attacked by Demon beast if they took a step out of the
city, the existence known as students remained the same. It applied to Eru and
the others, too, although their situation was different.
“Eru, Eru! Let’s go practice! Come,
we have to work hard today, too!”
“Alright, alright, you don’t need to
pull so hard, I will go with you.”
Ady couldn’t wait as she pulled
Eru’s hand and Chid followed behind them. They attend classes in middle school
during the day, and head for the pilot faculty’s workshop when school is out.
This was their daily schedule recently.
The workshop was noisy as usual. But
the situation today was different. Eru and the others who were chattering when
they arrived felt the heavy atmosphere. They saw the Boss, who was resting on a
chair and approached him.
“Hello Boss. Why does everyone look
so tired today?”
“Ah, silver boy… nothing much, it’s
just that thing. We made the strand crystal tissue.”
“The thing suggested by Eru?”
“Correct, but… I didn’t expect the
pilot faculty to need a bobbin machine. The clothing faculty’s people insisted that
we do it seriously, and showed us no mercy.”
The Boss’ eyes were out of focus, a
hint of sorrow that couldn’t be described as an achievement. The three of them
almost bursted out laughing when they imagined the muscle bound dwarf using a
bobbin machine; that must have be hilarious.
“Well, thank you for your hard work,
Boss.”
“Thank you, but it was worth it.
Nah, look at this.”
The document the Boss tossed to Eru
listed a lot of numbers, listing the difference when using normal crystal
tissue compared to strand crystal tissue in different situations.
Other than that, there was also
comparison data for different braiding methods. During the strand crystal
tissue creation process, they discovered that using good braiding methods were
more effective than simple braiding.
“When I requested the clothing
faculty to show me the various ways of braiding crystal tissue, they almost
called for a shrink.”
The information they gathered from
their honourable sacrifice was priceless. The best braiding method improved the
maximum power output by one and a half times, the tightly braided tissues went
through repeated stretching tests, displaying a toughness ten times stronger
than before.
“It’s better than we expected. I
thought the output would increase by twenty percent, and the lifespan would be
extended two times…”
“Ha! You are the proposer, but don’t
think we didn’t do anything. Eh, I don’t deny that I am cocky because I
attained actual results. I just wanted to test it out, but the results varied
wildly depending on how it was used. I think the parts that were used casually
have a lot of room for improvement.”
As he spoke, the Boss laughed like
an innocent child. Standing next to Eru, it was hard to tell who was the little
kid. As the two of them were discussing the results, there was a sudden uproar
coming from within the workshop, and someone was shouting for the Boss.
“Boss! The replacement for the arm
tissue had been completed!”
“Oh! I will be right there! … We are
going to test the strand model. Boy, come with us, too.”
“Of course, please let me see it!”
At the edge of the workshop was a
giant figure with some of the armour around the right arm removed, revealing
the crystal tissue underneath. The tissues of the arm were thick, which were
obviously strand crystal tissue.
If the tissue had the same colour as
living beings, it would definitely be a scene that was not for the
faint-hearted. Fortunately, the crystal tissue was murky white. Placed inside the
giant body of the Silhouette Knight, it gave an impression of being a statue.
“Alright-- Step back! We will be
doing test movements! ...Good, please proceed, Helvi!”
“Roger. Proceeding now.”
The students working in the vicinity
dispersed. The pilot, Helvi Öberg entered the machine seated on the repair
dock. The hatch in the chest slowly closed with the sound of compressed air.
They had already investigated the
mana output of the crystal tissue, but this was the first time they were
testing it in an actual machine. The eyes of the students in the area were
sparkling with anticipation, watching with bated breath. The right arm installed
with the strand model gripped a giant metal lump. The Silhouette Knight obeyed
the command to lift its arm, and the crystal tissue could be seen contracting
and bulging through the gaps of the armour.
“Oh… That is amazing.”
“Hee-- it has great strength,
right?”
The metal lump lifted by the unit
required a normal Silhouette Knight to use both hands in order to lift it. But
it accomplished this easily with one hand. The power output of the strand
crystal tissue was incredible. Maybe it was because of the unique nature of the
strand model, or the lack of outer skin, but cracking sounds could be heard.
“Power output increment and
toughness enhancement seem to be proceeding fine.”
“Right, now we can produce a machine that won’t break down easily even if the boy pilots it.”
“Right, now we can produce a machine that won’t break down easily even if the boy pilots it.”
As Eru and the Boss were
passionately discussing the experiment results, a sound was getting louder, and
a noise that didn’t seem to be from the crystal tissue could be heard.
“By the way Boss, do you hear
something? It sounds like… friction.”
“What a coincidence, you heard that,
too? So, I didn’t imagine that… What did you say?”
The two looked at each other and the
instant they turned towards the machine-- they heard a crisp bang, and the
right arm literally ‘broke’. The crystal tissue fell off and the arm loosened,
dropping the metal lump onto the ground. But no one cared about that. The
reason was that the armour was sent flying by the snapped crystal tissue,
scattering all over. It’s no joke if you get hit by the armour fragments of
Silhouette Knight, and hellish screams erupted in the workshop.
“Wahhhhh!? Ah, it’s coming this way…!!”
Unfortunately, one of it flew
towards the Boss. Eru stepped before him in the nick of time, drawing his gun
staff, Winchester to repel the fragments. Eru lowered his stance, shooting out a
massive amount of compressed air, deflecting the force of the fragments away.
The fragment made a dull explosive sound, drawing a large arc in the air before
embedding itself in the wall behind them.
The Boss who was in the pilot
faculty was a craftsman, together with the lack of agility of the dwarves, it's
impossible to expect an immediate reaction. He shielded his body and stood
stiffly in place like a statue. After a while, the Boss looked at the fragment
stuck in the wall behind him. After seeing the fragment embedded deep in the
wall, the Boss couldn’t utter a sound. Chid and Ady also maintained their
position with their bayonet staffs out, the place was awkwardly silent.
The Boss returned to his senses in
no time and immediately inspected the machine that exploded. The right hand was
wrecked from the impact and looked terrible. The crystal tissue was scattered
all over the place, even the inner skeleton was visible. Eru timidly asked the Boss,
who was enthusiastically inspecting the right arm:
“... Boss, do tell us what you
think.”
“Ah-- Right there. The crystal
tissue itself is fine, but the base securing it to the structure snapped. The
tissue increased the output too high, so the other parts couldn’t keep up. So,
that’s why. Ara, we really lost to it.”
The Boss who was laughing dryly shut
his mouth shortly after. After meeting Eru’s gaze, the two of them sighed
deeply.
“Normal means wouldn’t work; we
would need to modify the entire body this time.”
Even though the machine was damaged,
miraculously, no one was hurt because it was kept at a distance. The students
who crawled out cautiously sighed as they looked at the wrecked right arm.
Strand crystal tissue still had a way
to go before practical application. Anyway, they have to reevaluate and use new
methods to secure the tissues. It takes time going through the reevaluation
from the beginning, the personnel involved in the designs would be busy for the
foreseeable future.
“Well then Boss, I will leave this
to you… we will go ahead with our training.”
“You take care of ‘that side’ for
now. Okay… Hey, stop standing around!! We are starting over with strengthening
the clamps!!”
He looked a bit down, but the Boss
didn’t give up and threw himself into the work at hand.
Eru left the workshop that was
getting noisy because of the repairs, following Chid and Ady to another corner
of the workshop.
There were no Silhouette Knights there;
instead there were several ‘full body armour’ that had interesting designs. Its
height was big for a human, but it was just two and a half metres, small for a
Silhouette Knight. The head and body were similar to a normal full body armour,
the limbs were exceptionally long, and the ratio was off.
“Hello-- Batson, how are things
going?”
“Oh, Eru. No problem, the
‘Silhouette Gear’ is in top condition today, too. I can vouch for that.”
Batson answered as he flexed the
muscles in his arm. The name for this full body armour was ‘Silhouette Gear’, a
substitute for a Silhouette Knight made through the plans proposed by Eru, it
could be considered as a mini Silhouette Knight.
The row of Silhouette Gears was
being worked on by students other than Batson. From their height, it was
obvious that they were not from the high school department, but middle
schoolers. The main point of the Silhouette Gear design was the ‘miniaturising
and simplification of Silhouette Knights’, so the difficulty level was low,
even middle schoolers, who were aiming to be craftsmen could build it. Batson
being involved was a good example, but he had already made a bunch of weird
stuff because of his acquaintance with Eru.
“Well then, we will work hard for
our training-”
Eru just finished talking when Chid
and Ady replied energetically. Speaking of which, the Silhouette Gear was
something he thought up in order to teach them how to pilot a Silhouette Knight,
and was used to solve the issue of insufficient machines on campus. Chid and
Ady were full of spirit, but so was Eru. For him, even though it was smaller,
piloting a robot still made him happy.
Silhouette Gear was similar to
normal armour; the movements were dictated directly by the user, and needed to
be built to the user’s size. For example, Eru was using a machine that had been
adjusted for a person with small stature to use; Chid and Ady’s machine were
slightly bigger.
Eru stood before the Silhouette Gear
that was kneeling on the ground with the chest armour open, but he didn’t board
it immediately and hugged the torso instead. Seeing Eru smiling with his mouth
open, Chid who was behind couldn’t help saying:
“I know you like it, but no matter
how much love you shower it with, it won’t respond to you.”
“No such thing. If you shower it
with love, it would be obedient to you.”
Chid looked at his Silhouette Gear
in doubt. Is that really true? How could it be? A weird argument flashed across
his mind.
“... No, no way!”
Chid came to his senses when he was
just about to be convinced.
“Ughh, Eru only loves Silhouette Gear.
Sigh, Chid, shut up and board it! Training, we are starting training now!”
“Eh? Oh, alright… Is this my fault…?”
Chid was rushed by Ady who had
already boarded, grumbling slightly as he sat in one of the gears. With the
metal closing shut, the sound of air escaping could be heard, and the full body
armour was enclosed and secured. Chid then grabbed the control inside the
Silhouette Gear’s arm, moving the machine’s limbs directly as he controlled it
with a script at the same time. The Silhouette Gear was designed to be
controlled in the same way as Silhouette Knights for training purposes.
“I am starting it…”
He started using the unique organs
common to all beings in this world—the magius circuit domain to construct a
script. The crystal tissue installed inside the gear obeyed the script and the
flowing mana, and started to contract and expand. The gear trembled, and stood
up a moment later. The mana they put in during activation would be used to move
the gear, a machine that directly converted mana into physical movement.
They rode the Silhouette Gear and
noisily walked outside the workshop. After making their way to the training
ground behind, there were already some other guest there.
“Hello, Edgar-senpai. How does it
feel using that?”
“Ahh! Ernesti… Hah! Ke!... You could
tell just by looking, right?”
The pilot cadet belonging to the
pilot faculty, Edgar C. Blanche was piloting a gear that was made for a tall
person. He greeted them as he lifted the legs to walk in large strides. His
movements were rough and seemed to take a lot of effort. He was not as good as
Eru, who could ride the Silhouette Gear like it was second nature, Edgar was
still really serious about it.
“I see, that looks interesting!”
Eru nodded as he watched Edgar.
Edgar stiffened his already serious face and looked up slightly. Eru knew he
had a hard time piloting, but for Eru, ‘the hardship of piloting a robot = a
happy thing’. Because Eru thought that from the bottom of his heart, Eru was
hard to deal with. Edgar understood that and gave up convincing him. Instead,
he crossed his arms and brought something else up.
“Hey Ernesti, I have been thinking
about this. This Silhouette Gear isn’t bad, but I think… It’s too hard to
use!!”
Edgar had a hard time piloting it
because of the control method. Controlling with his actual limbs and script at
the same time wasn’t a problem; the issue was the type of magic used. Piloting
requires high level magic ‘physical boost’, even a top class pilot cadet like
him couldn’t do it well, it’s even worse for normal cadets.
“The necessary controls are too
complicated. The script controlling Silhouette Knights requires less burden
than this… It's not unusable, but definitely not for pilot training. In fact,
everyone had already given up.”
Edgar surveyed the training grounds.
There were just a few others apart from him. Everybody was complaining after
trying it a few times.
“Yes-- you are right. I
underestimated the difficulty level.”
“Then make it up with hard work!
Nah, look at me Senpai, we can do this.”
Edgar looked at Eru, Chid and Ady in
turns and sighed softly. Chid and Ady didn’t care about the high school pilots,
controlling the Silhouette Knight with ease. This was the result of them
learning magic from Eru and training together, but others would only lump them
together with Eru as abnormal people.
“Don’t ask the impossible; this is
not something that could be done in a day or two, right? Really… I know how
weird you guys are. At this point, I won’t say anything more, just don’t expect
normal people to catch up with you guys.”
“Hmm- ugh… it's a pity, but this
can’t be used.”
“That would be true if there are no
improvements. This is a mini version of a Silhouette Knight, right? Then
install a magius engine. That should cut down on the piloting burden
drastically.”
Edgar told Eru his suggestion. It
made sense, if this goes on; it won’t be usable for the high schoolers, although
it's fine for Eru and the others.
“Hmmm- that's the only way… This
would increase the cost, but it can’t be helped, so that’s the only option.”
But this method presented its own
set of problems. The small frame of the Silhouette Gear couldn’t hold the ether
reactor of the Silhouette Knight. The main idea was the miniaturisation of the
machine, but no matter how much of a genius Eru was, he didn’t know the
structure of the magius engine. So this problem couldn’t be resolved
immediately.
“Ke! What a pitiful sight, Edgar! As
the top Knight of the pilot faculty, I didn’t expect you to give up so easily!”
Hearing a voice coming from behind
him, Edgar turned his head. Before him was Dietrich who was slowly walking
towards him in a Silhouette Gear, with movements more refined than Edgar.
“... Di, it’s rare to see you so
fired up.”
Unexpectedly, Dietrich was serious
about learning how to control the Silhouette Gear. His movement was smoother
than Edgar, while Edgar appeared a bit frustrated. Dietrich who was feeling
great about that worked harder. As he was preparing to take a large step--
tragedy struck.
“Hmmp, this level is easy… Eh? What?
This is bad, I can’t stop--!?”
Although his movement was crisper
than Edgar, Dietrich hadn’t mastered it. Because he used too much strength and
made a mistake in the controls, the upper torso cracked loudly and bent at an
impossible angle. Everyone who saw this had an anxious expression.
“Di-senpai? Wah, it’s an emergency,
send Senpai to the ‘infirmary’…”
When the panicking Eru mentioned the
taboo word, Dietrich recovered with amazing spirit. Not just that, he even spun
around gracefully and struck a strange pose, saying curtly:
“I, will definitely not go to the
infirmary! This, this is nothing!! There is absolutely no need!!”
He posed agilely, but his forehead
was sweating profusely. Was this the result of physical or mental injury?
Everyone was stunned and Dietrich walked towards the workshop while laughing in
a loud voice. Edgar who composed himself followed in a hurry.
“... Eh, Senpai seems to be fine.
Let’s start our training.”
After blankly seeing their Senpai
off, Eru and the others finally started their training. Eru was obviously fine,
but the twins could already move around freely. So they raised the difficulty
and conducted something similar to a battle simulation.
“Silhouette Gear has controls
similar to Silhouette Knights, and it's in the form of full control. Control
the movement of the crystal tissue, feel the flow of the mana. Control script.
The two of you can move even faster!”
“As if it’s that simple!!”
Training was done with Chid and Ady
fighting two on one against Eru. Even so, the twins had never won before. They
harboured the determination to get at least one win and launched the attack
with perfect coordination.
Chid lifted a great sword and
charged at Eru, using the length of the sword to take the initiative. Eru’s
machine opted to close the distance instead. With the large difference in
agility, it became Chid’s turn to be on defense.
“Oh, no! Eru is pressing in. Ady!”
“Leave it to me! I will break off his
attack!”
Ady shouted, attacking Eru who was
attacking Chid from the side. The machine lifted dual blades just like what its
pilot preferred to use, it attacked continuously like a storm-- but it failed
to even touch Eru, who evaded all the strikes. But even though Ady didn’t gain
any advantage, the two on one situation remained the same. This time, it was
Chid’s turn to attack Eru’s defensive gap when Eru was dodging. The great sword
swung down with terrifying speed and was about to hit.
“Nice teamwork… But!”
With an explosive sound, Eru whose
posture was very low suddenly accelerated. As he piloted the Silhouette Gear,
he used his own power to accelerate with air compression magic. Eru jumped with
a force threatening to heave up the ground, landing behind Ady who was
preparing to change her position. She wanted to escape in a hurry, but was
caught by Eru, who tossed her at Chid, who was swinging his sword down.
“Hmm! Ugh!”
The machines couldn’t stop in time
and collided. Looking at the two people he just beat, Eru nodded with
satisfaction.
“It’s a bit small, but human shaped
weapons are great. Power and drive are flowing out endlessly. How long are you
two planning to lie there, let’s continue!”
“Sigh, don’t you think Eru is even
stricter than the time he was us teaching magic?”
“It’s no coincidence. If it has
anything to do with Silhouette Gear, Eru will become vicious… can’t be helped.
Alright! Let’s have another round.”
They cheered themselves up and
challenged Eru’s machine again.
“It’s fine if you want to train--
but I’m the one who is doing the repairs, so don’t break them…”
The complaints of Batson, who was
watching this scene dissipated into the wind.
As the days got colder, the season
changed from summer to autumn.
The busy days of everyone passed by.
Since Eru proposed the plans for strand crystal tissue and back weapons,
several months had passed. With the continuous efforts of the pilot faculty’s
maintenance team, they finally completed a ‘prototype machine’.
“Ara, we finally reached this
stage…”
The Boss complained, unable to hide
the fatigue in his voice. Some of the students had panda eyes, some were
massaging their shoulders, and all of them gave off a heavy sense of fatigue.
The few months before the completion of the prototype were a living hell.
The one responsible for designs drew
all sorts of plans, and the crafting leader completed every one of them. The
machine took shape after several trials and errors, no wonder they were so
exhausted.
They might be students, but their skills
were at the level of professional craftsmen. But this project was a grueling
challenge. The harsh everyday conditions made them wonder ‘why hasn’t anyone
died’. To reach this stage without losing their motivation, it was due to their
boundless joy in developing new technologies. The evidence was their eyes that
were full of passion despite being worn out.
“Okay, bring it out! Slowly. If you
drop it, it won’t be settled with just a simple beating!!”
Everyone carried the finished
prototype to the trolley, sending it out of the workshop carefully. That thing
was a bit strange. Its body was covered by a minimal layer known as ‘primary
armour’ to protect its interior. Crystal tissue could even be seen from some of
the parts. Only the chest and limbs were covered by outer skin, giving the
impression of ‘incompleteness’.
The prototype was quickly sent to
the pilot faculty’s training ground which had the shape of a circular arena.
After reaching the centre of the training ground, the chest of the prototype
which was lying down was opened, allowing the test pilot Helvi to enter the
pilot seat.
Everyone from the maintenance team
was seated in the audience seats of the arena to observe. In front of them were
giant shields that protected them, a lesson they learned from the accident they
had earlier. It was natural for them to be cautious. Even though they did
several testing for the individual parts, this was the first time the entire
assembled body would be tested. To be safe, they removed some of the larger
auxiliary parts.
“Okay, Helvi, are you ready!?... For
starters, stand up!”
The Boss held a loudhailer and
yelled. With this as the cue, the prototype started to stand up. The
maintenance team members watched its movement closely. The creaking prototype
slowly sat up; its movement stiffer than a normal machine, and was very slow.
The arms braced the body, the legs bent. From afar, the legs that were exerting
strength could be seen bulging. After spending quite some time, the prototype
machine finally stood up.
“It’s standing…!!”
An emotional voice came from
somewhere. When he thought about the efforts they put in to make it stand, the
difficulties they overcame and the sacrifices, that voice was trembling.
Completing this movement that was totally dependent on the power of the leg
tissue, it was evident that the structure of the prototype machine could
withstand the minimum output of the strand crystal tissue.
“Not yet, be careful now… you over
there! Don’t stick your body out! It’s dangerous!! Alright, steady… Helvi, try
walking. Slowly, slowly.”
The head of the prototype machine
moved up and down, expressing understanding. After stopping for a moment, it
decided to walk. Although it was in the centre of the training ground paved
with stone slabs, its footsteps were extremely careful. It seemed to be walking
on a hanging bridge that could break at any time, its speed slower than an ox
driven cart. With the sound of heavy steps and churning muscles, it took quite
a while to make it halfway around the training ground.
“The stabilising components are
still in place, it should be able to hold.”
Because it had no outer skin, they
couldn’t be careless. But at least it didn’t seem like it would break any time
soon. The prototype machine moved to the front of the students of the
maintenance team, and knelt on one knee with an even slower motion. It adopted
the position of a Silhouette Knight on standby and stopped completely. Only
then did the members of the maintenance team sigh in relief. After a moment of
silence, there was an eruption of cheers. This was the moment the walking test
succeeded-- the moment where their past trial and errors bore fruit.
The chest armour of the prototype
machine opened and Helvi appeared. She was probably still nervous as she was
breathing hard and was wiping her sweat.
“Hey, Helvi, how did it feel to
pilot that?”
The Boss who had looked happy after
the successful experiment asked. Helvi replied with a hint of bitterness:
“It was literally a ‘wild horse’.
There was too much energy; just walking took a lot of effort.”
“It’s that bad?”
“Yes, the sensation was completely
different from the other machines I piloted. To be honest, everyone would need
to be retrained.”
“I see… To improve to the stage of
walking was a great achievement, but the piloting system still needs to be
worked on. That would be left for later… Okay, it might not be too agile now,
but since it had no problem walking, all that’s left is to check the other
parts.”
Helvi nodded and returned to the
pilot seat. After the guys in the maintenance confirmed their safety and picked
up their shields, they proceeded to the next phase. Unmodified Silhouette Knights
carried large target boards into the training ground and placed them on the
ground one by one. The Boss made his way to the stone paved training ground and
kept issuing orders to the students around him.
“Alright, bring in the Silhouette
arms! For training use! Put the target board at the corner! And someone get the
silver boy here! He is probably wandering around in his Silhouette Gear anyway;
it's easy to spot him if you search around the vicinity!!”
Around Laihiala Pilot Academy were
some grocery shops and fast food restaurants. The students might not be
financially rich, but with their large numbers, the market was rather big.
Shops that catered to their daily needs congregated around the campus.
Whenever school was out, stalls
sprung out around the roads leading out of the campus. Most of them sold
snacks. During this period, the students who were liberated from class were
attracted like butterflies to honey, swarming to the stalls to eat the snacks.
One of the stalls sold baked fruit pie. The stall owner was baking his pie as
usual when he heard a female student place her order.
“Owner, I want three fruit pies,
with marmalade!”
“Alright-- please wait a moment, it
will be done soon…”
The voice of the owner, who turned
his head to greet his customer, became softer gradually. The reason was simple,
the one before his stall was a full armoured Knight instead of a student. It
wasn’t as tall as a Silhouette Knight, but it still towered over the tent. It
twisted its body and peeked at the stall entrance, looking at the stunned owner
with its tilted head. This awkward atmosphere went on for a while as two
similar Knights came from behind to scold the one that arrived first.
“Hey, Ady, why would anyone buy
things while piloting that?”
“Hmm? Ah, right! Sorry, sir, I must
have frightened you.”
The voice of a young girl came from
the heavily armoured Knight. The owner had not shaken off this ridiculous sight
when the armour suddenly opened and a real female student came out of it,
shocking him.
“Wha, what is this thing!!”
“Ah, owner, the pie is burnt!”
The owner flipped the pie in a hurry
upon hearing that, but several of them had already been burnt. The girl made an
apologetic expression.
“Ah-- sorry, it’s all because of me.
We will buy that burnt one, then.”
“No, even though I was surprised, I
was still the one who burned it. Please don’t mind that.”
The owner put the fruit jam ordered
by the customer into the pie and collected the money at the same time. The
female student said her thanks, got back in the armour and left with the other Knights.
“... The armour used by the Academy
recently is incredible…”
The owner held onto the coins with a
shocked expression, seeing the three Knights off.
“Hmm-- It tastes great-- Marmalade
is the best--”
“I prefer lychee jam.”
“I’m fine with anything that is
sweet--”
Ady, Eru and Chid held their pie in
their hands as they moved the Silhouette Gear. They looked just like armoured Knights,
but they were walking with a snack in hand-- such a strange scene made the
citizens and students give way to them in a panic.
They have been using Silhouette Gear
not just in training, but in their everyday lives as well, recently. As was
seen earlier, it was a hassle to wear this in your daily lives, but they were
not doing this out of convenience. As everyone knows, controlling Silhouette Gear
requires the continuous usage of high level magic and drains a lot of mana.
Magical abilities could only be strengthened with more training. If one wishes
to increase their abilities efficiently, they would have to undergo training
that was rather difficult.
In other words, it was similar to
them jogging while using physical boost magic, training their skills in their
daily lives. By the way, only Eru is piloting it because it is fun.
As they were advancing with noisy
steps, a pilot faculty student chased them from behind. He was sent by the Boss.
“... Okay, the testing of the prototype
machine? Please let us observe!”
After hearing the message he conveyed,
Eru accepted immediately. He even picked the messenger up, not wanting to waste
even one second. The Silhouette Knight which was controlled by Eru using ‘full
control’ had speed that far exceeded a normal man. Eru, who wanted to rush to
the scene immediately, ignored the screams of the student being picked up as he
charged toward the campus with incredible speed.
The closer they got to the training
ground, the more pilot faculty students there were. Unmodified Silhouette Knights
were carrying maintenance parts and materials. The craftsmen and pilots were
doing all sorts of work together. When Eru and company reached the training
ground, they saw a Silhouette Knight without outer skin at the centre of the
stone paved area. It was the ‘prototype machine’ that just finished the walking
test.
“It moved just as planned. It’s
great it didn’t explode after taking a single step.”
“What you are worrying about is too simple…
Are you really taking it off? If you wear this armour, it would be easier to
escape if anything happened, right?”
Eru put down the student who was on
the verge of dying and walked to the Boss’ side after jumping off from the
Silhouette Gear.
“Oh, you are here boy. Let’s start,
then.”
“I’m counting on you.”
The strand crystal tissue they
conducted the test with, was made by the Boss and the craftsmen, completed
after many trials and errors. In comparison, the back weapon experiment that
would be done next was different-- not just the basic theory, even the design
was done by Eru. They got Eru here in order to confirm the next phase.
“It looks fine… how complete is this
thing?”
“The turning and aiming was moving
as designed before it was installed. What’s next would probably be zeroing the
sights and optimising the set up.”
“That… zeroing thing, what is that?”
“Oh, eh… it's adjusting the aim to
be as close to the target as possible… I think.”
“Oh, that’s important. No matter
what, all this would have to wait until the experiment is completed.”
Eru replied anxiously after
alighting from the Silhouette Gear. The twins remained in their Silhouette Gears,
which obstructed the work going on behind them unwittingly.
“Okay! Let’s start from installing
the Silhouette arms!!”
After receiving orders from the Boss,
the pilot students holding the Silhouette arms approached the prototype
machine. A structure never seen on a Silhouette Knight before was attached to
the back of the prototype machine. On the place where the shoulder blades of a
human should be, a rugged claw that looked similar to the mechanical arms used
in manufacturing back on earth sprouted from there. Its function was similar to
that too. This was the main structure of the back weapon-- ‘Auxiliary Arm’.
The test movement started from the
installation of the Silhouette arms, and one was used directly without
modification. As the Auxiliary arm had a ‘hand’ that could operate Silhouette
arms, it could be equipped with all sorts of Silhouette arms, making it one of
the machine’s selling point.
The student machines standing behind
the prototype machine handed the Silhouette arms over to the Auxiliary arms.
Although the hand of the Auxiliary arms was simplified, it’s movement was very
smooth as it was made just for holding Silhouette arms and nothing else. Each Auxiliary
arm grabbed a Silhouette arms, pointing it upwards.
“Hmm, the movement of the Auxiliary
arm seems fine.”
Although it required the assistance
of another machine to change its Silhouette arms, the Auxiliary arms were
functioning normally. Helvi, who was piloting the prototype felt a slight tremour
from her back, and confirmed the image on her holo monitor.
“Okay, Silhouette arms load out
completed, testing deploying function now.”
Before taking the role of a
prototype pilot, she had been involved in the development of the back weapon.
She had heard the briefing back then and knew the controls very well.
“Deploying Silhouette arms,
displaying reticle.”
She pulled the lever besides the
control stick, which sends instructions to the magius engine which activates
the tissue in the Auxiliary arms. The auxiliary arms shook slightly and flexed,
lifting the Silhouette arms up slowly. The Auxiliary arms turned from ninety
degrees upright to horizontal, resting on the shoulders of the prototype
machine, facing forward. Seeing that the movement was smoother than expected,
the maintenance department students were in an uproar. They had seen the
structure deploy several times before installation, but seeing it in action
while installed was really moving.
Inside the cockpit, there was a
change on the holo monitor. It usually only displayed the scene outside, but it
had a reticle used for aiming now. A combination of a cross and circle, it was
a simple display. But taking the fact that there wasn’t anything there in the
past, this could be considered a major improvement.
“Aiming… I am going to fire.”
Helvi aimed the reticle on the
targets. Observing from outside, it was clear that the movement of the head was
linked to the direction the Silhouette arms were pointing at. She nervously
held her breath and cautiously squeezed the trigger. The Silhouette arms which
received the command shot out magic bullets immediately. It was firing the
standard flame bullets from the Silhouette arms. The magic bullets emitting red
light flew out and hit the target as if they were sucked in that direction. The
practice use armaments weren’t too powerful, that’s why the target kept its
original shape, but the burn marks of the bullets were obvious. No one expected
the experiment to be perfect, but they still hit the target in the end.
“I thought we would need further
adjustment, but we still managed to hit it.”
“Isn’t that great? Ah, another hit.”
The prototype fired more shots.
There were some that missed, but the overall accuracy rate was 60%. After
finishing, the prototype machine slowly retracted the Silhouette arms, which
was the deployment movement in reverse. The Auxiliary arms folded, keeping the Silhouette
arms vertically on its back.
The testing objective was the deploy
and retract functions, it would be enough if it could fire off shots, so the
results were better than expected.
“Oh… So, this is the back weapon…
This thing might be more powerful than I imagined.”
After witnessing the results, even
the Boss was stroking his beard in praise. The students who were watching the
prototype machine in action congratulated each other passionately. It was
because the strand crystal tissue, back weapon and fire control system-- the
light at the end of developing all these new functions could be seen. When the
things they were after bore fruit, that’s the happiest moment for technicians.
“... Why is everyone so moved?”
The twins who were neither pilots
nor craftsmen couldn’t understand why everybody was so touched. They seemed out
of place amongst the joyous crowd of students. Hearing the doubts of Ady coming
from above his head, Eru replied with a wry smile:
“Because this is the first step
towards a brand new type of Silhouette Knights. Because it is a path paved by
their own hands, that’s why it brought so much joy.”
Ady nimbly crossed her Silhouette Gear’s
arms, and lifted her head after agonising over it for a moment:
“Hmm-- I don’t really understand.
But it’s great when you succeed!”
“You are right, but, Ady…”
Eru hugged his head, unsure of how
to explain this to her clearly.
As the maintenance students were
immersed in the joy of their hard work bearing fruit, there was another group
that stared at the prototype machine in another way.
“Di, what do you think of its
performance?”
It was Edgar and Dietrich--
Silhouette Knight pilots. They looked at the result with much thought.
“Hmm, let me think… First, we will
be at a disadvantage at long distances. We have to use one arm to control the Silhouette
arms, but the opponent could hold a shield. More importantly, it could even use
a large shield with both hands to fight.”
“That’s right, and it could use two Silhouette
arms without taking risks. To make up for the gap when changing weapons, we
would normally use one. It simply doubles the firepower. I don’t want to
imagine getting into a firefight with it.”
“Not bad, to be able to defeat your
adversary more safely. Its functionality is great.”
“You… It’s dependable in a fight
against Demon beast, but we could be facing off against that too.”
Edgar said and as Dietrich was about
to refute, another voice interjected.
“That’s right, how about I defeat
you guys first?”
The two turned their heads and saw
the pilot of the prototype machine Helvi standing there. The experiment has
ended as they were engrossed in their discussion.
“I won’t say that that is
impossible, but the machine is only half finished right?”
“That might be so, but I confirmed
all the main points during the test. It should be done really soon.”
The layout had roughly been done, so
it should be completed in no time. Helvi revealed a resolved smile and her eyes
turned sharp.
“If that is the case, don’t you
think there are things that needs to be done? For example-- letting the
strongest Knight of the faculty who survived the battle with the Behemoth test
his might against this new opponent?”
Edgar’s eyes widened. He, Helvi and
Dietrich were all survivours of the Behemoth Incident, but each of them had a
different view on the matter.
“Eh, you are right; there will be a
need to conduct a mock battle anyway… so, you are talking about me? But Helvi,
aren’t you a survivor of that battle, too?”
“Just barely, it was a coincident
that I survived. Because that ‘boy’ made it in time.”
“Do you feel any regrets about this?”
“Regret over what? I can’t thank him
enough for that. I should say… I am curious about the machine made by that
boy.”
They watched the prototype machine
that was being ferried at the same time.
“I had taken part from the very
start, so I know very well. If I pilot this ‘child’ with its new power, even I
could beat you.”
“...How scary.”
Edgar didn’t look afraid at all,
just a bit troubled. Helvi sighed softly.
“That’s why, after this is done…
Maybe I can fight that giant monster to the very last moment too.”
“Helvi… Is that the reason why you
took on the job of the test pilot?”
“Nah, I just felt that it’s a good
thing for Silhouette Knights to get stronger. We will have an easier time
fighting Demon beasts after all.”
Seeing Helvi smiling cheerfully as
usual, Edgar felt that she was dodging the question.
“Wash your neck and wait for me,
Edgar. I will give you a good beating.”
Edgar sighed softly, seeing Helvi
who was waving her hand. Dietrich patted his shoulder.
“I envy you, Edgar; the first one to
fight the new model.”
“Want to trade places with me? I’m
serious.”
“If you reject her challenge, she
will hate you, right? And, of course, I will use your battle as a reference.”
Even though Edgar was a little
unwilling, he couldn’t hide his curiosity and his determination to win. The two
contradictory feelings made Edgar show a complicated expression.
After completing the structure of
the strand crystal tissue that was the hardest to make, the rest of the work
proceeded smoothly. The workers followed the plan and completed the movement
test with armour on, and experiments like deploying the back weapons while
moving and firing the weapon while moving. They gradually completed each phase.
One month after the walking test, they finally moved from the prototype stage
to the official naming stage. The prototype machine used for technical tests
was dubbed ‘Tellestarle’-- named after the machine it was modified from.
Tellestarle showed itself slowly
from the darkness of the workshop. Its appearance was not much different from
the other student machines. As there would be further customisation in the
future, it looked unrefined compared to the other machines. Only the two Silhouette
arms on its back emphasised its difference from the current models. Tellestarle
walked towards the training ground-- its movement smoother compared to the test
back then, but it still felt a bit unnatural.
Making its way through the training
ground gate, it found another Silhouette Knight waiting there. The Knight
‘Earlecumber’ which was covered in white armour-- It had a simpler appearance
compared to Tellestarle, equipped with the standard sword and shield. But it
was controlled by the pilot recognised as the strongest within the pilot
faculty-- Edgar.
“Okay, Helvi seems to be ready.
Let’s begin then, the mock battle between Tellestarle and Earlecumber!! Show us
the result of the movement test!”
The pilot faculty students who came
in droves to watch the battle cheered after hearing the opening speech. The
mock battle of the new model against the current strongest machine was a highly
anticipated fight.
Helvi stared at the image of
Earlecumber displayed on the holo monitor, focusing herself in the pilot seat
of Tellestarle. No matter how powerful the new model Tellestarle was, she
couldn’t let her guard down. Edgar and Earlecumber fought that Behemoth
directly after all. Even though he didn’t defeat the Behemoth, he was still a
tough warrior who fought on the frontlines until the very last moment.
On the other hand, she and her
partner ‘Trandorches’ lost. Just like she said, it was just a coincidence that
she didn’t die. Trandorches and Earlecumber were machines made by students, so
their performance was about the same. That meant it was the result of the
difference in the skills of the pilots.
But, what about Tellestarle? It
might be an untamed horse that was hard to control, but it had limitless
potential. As the test pilot, Helvi had been with it all the way since its engine
moaned for the first time, so she knew it very well.
More importantly-- She looked around
the cockpit. The joystick she had gotten used to, the display metre that was
revamped but was still familiar. The seat that fit her just felt familiar to
her. Speaking of which, Tellestarle was built from the wreckage of the Behemoth
incident and modified by students. This machine was constructed from the base
of her half destroyed machine (Trandorches). Naturally, there were structural
differences between the two machines and less than twenty percent of the
original parts were left. Even so, this machine was still the partner she knew
for so long.
“We can fight together again…
alright, we are going, Tellestarle!!”
She stepped on the pedal hard and
shouted the name of her partner that was bestowed with new life. The machine
responded energetically, leading her back to the battlefield.
Previous Chapter | Main Page | Next Chapter
Talk about preemptive attack. The for the erly release
ReplyDeleteFirst...?
ReplyDeleteThird, totally worth it! :D
ReplyDeleteNow we have to wait a week for the epic(hopefully) fight (sometimes you just hate those cliffhangers) . Thanks for the hard work Skythewood.
ReplyDeletesecond.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the chapter. I just finished reading all chaps that came out and within 5 minutes I had new chapter, I feel blessed. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the release!! A bit earlier than usual, cool... But this makes the wait for the next chapter even longer :'( What a dilemma :P
ReplyDeleteMerci! :3
ReplyDeletethanks
ReplyDelete"Because it is a pave pathed by their own hands" should be
ReplyDelete"Because it is a path paved by their own hands"
and Thanks for the release.
So spamming the F5 button does help
ReplyDeleteEarlecumber is supposed to be old machine, but Kurogin is an awesome artist on mechanical!
ReplyDeleteThanks :D
ReplyDeleteAnd thus, MAGIC!SCIENCE marches on...
ReplyDeleteIn anime, prototype machines are usually stronger than their mass production counterparts, but in actuality, they're supposed to be inferior since they still haven't gotten rid of the pre-production kinks and problems that the mass production units no longer have.
Then again, anime mecha prototypes usually counter that by having much higher "limiters", usually implemented for testing new technologies, but would also be useful to activate in a pinch.
tl;dr - who would win? An ace pilot in a well-tuned mass production machine, or a newbie pilot in a highly advanced prototype?
well, there's the fact of the specifics of the mass producted machine are well know and the prototype are still unknow, what lead a uper hand strategic speaking. (sorry for my bad english)
Deleteah and thank you very much for the chapter
Deleteah forgot that a can put my name hehe the 2 post above are mine
Delete10 times out of 10 anime prototypes are "showcase" prototypes, not "test" prototypes. And those ARE better most of the time IRL because all kinks were already got rid off on "test" ones, it was personally fine-tuned by designers AND mass-produced variant often get a cut off on some functions to reduce cost. "Showcase" prototype is there to sell the design so it's best of the best, not half-time-failure like "test" prototypes.
DeleteThanks!!!!
ReplyDelete> Dietrich hadn’t master it.
ReplyDeletemastered
>Since Eru proposed the plans for strand crystal tissue and back weapons, it had been several months.
It has been several months since Eru proposed the plans for strand crystal tissue and back weapons.
or
Since Eru proposed the plans for strand crystal tissue and back weapons, several months has passed.
> some relaxed their shadows
???
> The few months before the completion of the prototype was a living hell.
were
> It’s body
Its body
>In front them
of
>The armor used by the academy recently are incredible
is
>the more pilot faculty students there were
were there
>much trials and errors
many
> the silhouette arms
it might be better to put all instances of weapons as starting with capital letter (Silhouette Arms),
or even call them in all capitals - "ARMS", since right now it is impossible to distinguish between
weapons and arm parts of the robot. In Japanese they have different words for them, right?
> It’s function
Its
> it’s movement
its
>the role of prototype pilot
a prototype pilot
>The auxiliary arms shook slightly and flexed
shouldn't it be a singular "arm"? Does it have two or more of them?
>neither pilots or craftsmen
nor
>so their performance were
was
Thanks, amended.
DeleteThank you for the chapter.
ReplyDeletefinally released yay!
ReplyDeletethanks for translating..
ReplyDeleteThanks~
ReplyDeletethx u so much for the chapter.i can t wait for the next chapter.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your translation.
ReplyDeleteI quite enjoy the series so I'm looking forward to more releases.
But take your time and do it at your own pace!
I'm just glad there are releases.
yeah, i want the next chapter come sooner than later, but is better comming later than not comming, so please do in your own pace and thank you very much for the chapter.
DeleteThanks for the chapter.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to find out how the mock battle goes.
Skythewood, your translations are superb. Thank you very much.
ReplyDeletethanks for the chapter
ReplyDeleteEru .... love u xD
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDelete- Tasear
Welcome back comrades from our shared a coma.
ReplyDelete- Tasear
thanks for the update...
ReplyDeletecan't wait to see him OP
@skythewood or editors
ReplyDeleteSo, the illustration at the top of this chapter shows a different name for the Silhouette Knight than previously used... and I guess there are more illustrations with updated names for the machines.
Can you make a list which names were changed?
What about you, you free to make a list of names that were changed?
DeleteÖhm, I don't know how to take this answer, but are you suggesting that I reread the story so far and make notes of changed names instead of simply asking the people that updated the names?
DeleteYes. Are there a lot of machine names?
DeleteNo, there are not really a lot of machine names, that's why I'm surprised that I didn't get them as answer when I asked.
ReplyDeletethank for the update
ReplyDeleteHere is my notes on the series; http://pastebin.com/BS8y50j9
ReplyDeleteIt includes machine names, character notes and other stuff that was mentioned.
What's v2?
ReplyDeleteThxs for the chapter.
ReplyDelete