Chapter 27: Please Let Us Study It!

It had been a couple of days since then.

A lot had happened during that time.

For starters, Lady Elizabeth had become increasingly fixated on Arthur.

Whenever she got the chance, she would shower him with praise, endlessly fawning over him and expressing just how excited she was that he possessed Transcendent-Grade Riki potential.

It had gotten to the point where Arthur had started actively avoiding her whenever he saw her approaching.

His father had even been forced to keep an eye on Elizabeth whenever she visited him during training, ensuring that she didn’t get the opportunity to distract Arthur for too long. ℴℴ𝘮

After all, there were still preparations to be made.

Arthur and his sister would be departing for the Imperial Academy in two days.

They were expected to arrive three days later using hyper-speed.

Even with the Empire’s most advanced transportation technology, the journey would still take three days.

It was yet another indication of just how unimaginably vast the Empire truly was.

Most of Arthur’s gifts had also yet to be placed in his possession.

Before he could use them, they first had to undergo extensive safety and authenticity checks.

The fleet and the Mecha received particular scrutiny.

Lady Elizabeth had been especially fixated on verifying whether every single member of the fleet had truly pledged their loyalty to Arthur.

As far as she was concerned, the fleet was one gigantic trap waiting to happen.

Who knew whether someone aboard it might secretly harbor malicious intentions toward her precious baby boy?

She wasn’t going to allow Arthur anywhere near the fleet until she was absolutely certain it was safe.

Only after every crew member had been thoroughly investigated would she allow him to board the vessel and meet them.

"In all my years serving House Ashbourne, I haven’t quite seen anything like this."

The voice of a middle-aged man echoed throughout the gigantic hangar.

Before him stood a massive Mecha.

The Type-Vanguard.

The machine that had been gifted to Arthur.

The man had bark-brown hair and orange eyes.

He wore a white laboratory coat that was slightly disheveled, as though he had been wearing it for days without bothering to straighten it.

Beside him stood his female assistant, along with several other technicians and researchers.

All of them were gathered around the enormous humanoid Mecha.

The Type-Vanguard.

The middle-aged researcher stared at its exposed internal systems with an expression of pure fascination.

He was practically drooling.

"Unbelievable..."

His orange eyes darted between the various displays.

"The actuator response time is almost instantaneous."

"Look at this."

He pointed toward one of the Mecha’s internal control systems.

"The neural-interface layer isn’t simply transmitting commands to the actuators."

"It’s predicting the pilot’s intended movement before the command is fully formed."

One of the technicians adjusted his glasses.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning the Mecha isn’t waiting for the pilot to tell it what to do."

The researcher grinned.

"It’s anticipating what the pilot wants to do."

He moved toward another section of the machine.

"And the synchronization between the artificial nervous system and the mechanical control network..."

He shook his head in disbelief.

"How is this even possible?"

His assistant leaned closer.

"The synchronization delay?"

"Less than three milliseconds according to our initial measurements."

The researcher laughed excitedly.

"Three milliseconds!"

"That’s ridiculous!"

He began pacing around the Mecha.

"The balance correction system is continuously processing data from the gyroscopic sensors, pressure sensors, visual arrays, and inertial measurement units."

"And it’s doing all of that without introducing noticeable input lag."

He spread out his hands in excitement.

"This is engineering poetry."

Several technicians exchanged amused glances.

They had become accustomed to their director becoming completely obsessed whenever he encountered something extraordinary.

The blonde-haired assistant, however, seemed just as fascinated.

She stared up at the enormous Mecha.

"Do you think Young Master Arthur would let us keep it here while he’s attending the Imperial Academy?"

The researcher slowly turned toward her.

She continued, her eyes practically glowing.

"I mean, he won’t be using it every day while he’s at the academy, right?"

"Perhaps we could ask him."

"I’m afraid that will have to be a no."

The voice suddenly came from behind them.

"I’ll undoubtedly be deployed on a couple of missions at the academy, so I’d prefer to have it with me."

Everyone turned toward the entrance.

Arthur was approaching them, dressed in casual attire with his sword resting at his side.

Two floating assault drones hovered beside him, following silently as he walked.

Seraphina accompanied him, walking just one step behind.

The researchers immediately fell silent.

The head researcher stared at Arthur.

Then his expression changed.

His eyes widened.

"Young Master!"

Before anyone could react, the middle-aged researcher suddenly dashed toward Arthur.

He dropped to his knees.

Tears practically streamed down his face.

"Young Master, I beg of you!"

Arthur stopped, an awkward expression appearing on his face.

"...What?"

The researcher clasped his hands together desperately.

"The blueprints and schematics are information only you have access to!"

"But if you allow us to study this Mecha..."

He pointed dramatically toward the Type-Vanguard.

"Our technological capabilities will make a breakthrough!"

"We could make leaps and bounds that would take decades to accomplish otherwise!"

His voice became increasingly emotional.

"Please, Young Master!"

"Just allow us to study it!"

"With this technology, we could make enormous advancements that could directly contribute to the war effort against the Hollow Brood!"

Several researchers behind him nodded vigorously.

The blonde-haired assistant quickly stepped forward and dropped to her knees as well.

"Young Master, I promise we’ll be extremely careful!"

"We won’t modify anything without your permission!"

"We’ll document every component, every system, every piece of technology!"

The head researcher nodded furiously.

"Exactly!"

"We won’t even breathe on it without your permission!"

Arthur sighed, covering his face, then stared at the both of them kneeling before him.

Then he glanced toward the enormous Type-Vanguard.

Arthur stared at the two researchers kneeling before him.

He sighed.

"Would giving you the blueprints and schematics be enough to satisfy you?"

For a moment, there was complete silence.

The head researcher slowly raised his head.

His eyes widened.

"Wait..."

"You really would?"

Arthur looked at him as though the question were strange.

"Why wouldn’t I?"

He glanced toward the Type-Vanguard.

"Anything for the house."

The man’s expression immediately transformed.

A proud smile spread across his face.

"Anything for the house..."

He slowly rose to his feet, placing a hand against his chest.

"I won’t disappoint you, Young Master."

His eyes were practically sparkling with excitement.

Arthur couldn’t help but feel slightly amused by his reaction.

He turned toward him.

"Sir Sinclair."

The researcher immediately straightened.

"Yes, Young Master?"

"I believe you and your team are finished with the security checks."

Sinclair nodded.

"Yes. Everything is in the green."

"Good."

Arthur glanced toward the Type-Vanguard.

"Then I should be allowed to take it for a spin now, no?"

Sinclair’s eyes lit up.

"Most certainly!"

He suddenly turned around.

"Everyone!"

The researchers and technicians immediately looked toward him.

"Get off the machine!"

He pointed toward the Type-Vanguard with an excited expression.

"The Young Master is about to pilot it!"

The technicians immediately scrambled to comply.

Within moments, they began vacating the Mecha’s interior systems and surrounding maintenance platforms.

Arthur watched them with slight amusement before turning toward Seraphina.

She had been quietly observing the entire exchange.

"I thought you came to the hangar to finally meet the members of your new fleet."

Arthur smiled.

"Patience."

He glanced toward the enormous hangar doors.

"It’s always better to save the best for last."

Seraphina followed his gaze.

Far in the distance, hovering high above them within the planet’s atmosphere, was the enormous Fleet Ship.

It was so massive that even from their current position, its silhouette dominated the sky.

Arthur’s eyes briefly lingered on it.

Then—

A translucent system window appeared before his eyes.

〘Fleet Command Data〙

〘Former Commander: Octoria〙

〘Current Position: Vice Commander〙

Arthur’s gaze lingered on the information.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

Soon...

He’d finally get to meet the people who had sworn their allegiance to him.