Chapter 113 – Letaria Adeniam, Arden — We Are Off!!

Inside the Syn-Fibra offices, in Milea's lab.

"-- All right, that's the examination finished."

Prompted by Milea's voice, Letaria slowly sat up from the cool examination table.

"Have the examinations been running a little longer than usual lately?"

Letaria asked as she lightly smoothed her hair, and Milea nodded, saying "That's right," while handing her a cup of freshly brewed, warm tea.

"Yes. I've been recording your brainwave patterns in even finer detail than before lately."

"To think my 'magic' might prove useful in this world too... it is such a strange feeling."

Letaria murmured, cradling the steaming cup in both hands, and Milea gave her a soft, gentle smile.

"What are you talking about. That power's already saved you -- saved all of us -- more times than I can count. It really is a remarkable ability."

"W-well... if you say so, then perhaps..."

A little bashful at the straightforward praise, Letaria's cheeks colored faintly as she took a sip of her tea.

--That was the moment it happened.

The communication bracelet on Letaria's left wrist erupted into a shrill, urgent alarm.

"Oh my, what could this be...?"

Letaria tapped the bracelet's control panel, and a holographic emergency notification screen unfolded in the air. Seeing the red warning text displayed there, she caught her breath.

"This is... a distress call from a civilian transport ship...!?"

Hearing Letaria's voice, Milea immediately turned to her own terminal, pulling the information up onto the monitor.

"...The civilian transport ship Sealine. It's under attack by armed raiders in the space near Seldia! What's come through to you is an emergency rescue request sent out to every freelancer registered in the area."

Grasping the situation, Letaria rose to her feet without a moment's hesitation.

"I shall go! We must save them as quickly as possible!"

"Wait, Letaria! It's not just freelancers -- the Seldia corps has already been scrambled too. You don't need to rush there alone--"

"But my Arden outperforms every other machine in speed! If I set out this very instant, would I not reach the scene faster than anyone else!?"

Faced with Letaria's earnest, unwavering gaze, Milea's words caught in her throat, and she fell into a few seconds of thoughtful silence.

"That's... true enough, but pushing to top speed the whole way would send your energy consumption skyrocketing. By the time you arrived, you'd be running into energy problems... -- No, wait. There's still 'that.'"

As if struck by an idea, Milea nodded firmly and gripped Letaria's shoulders.

"Letaria, head to the dock right now and get into Arden. I'll have things ready in no time, just give me a moment!"

"Understood!"

◆

Letaria ran straight for the dock, quickly exchanging greetings with the maintenance crew she'd long since come to know by sight, and climbed into Arden's cockpit without a moment's hesitation.

Each system powered up in sequence, and the deep-purple machine came quietly to life.

"My lady! Heard the news from the chief -- give us just one minute!"

Over the dock's speaker line came the booming voice of Moran, the maintenance crew chief, and Letaria answered him firmly: "Understood!"

An instant later, a large mechanical arm slid down from the dock ceiling, forcefully docking an unfamiliar, massive unit onto each of Arden's shoulders. Mounted there on both shoulders, they looked almost like a set of heavy supplementary armor.

"-- Preparations complete, Letaria! Use 'this,' and be careful out there!"

Milea's voice rang out through the cockpit's comm.

"Understood! Letaria Adeniam, Arden -- we are off!!"

An explosive burst of thruster light lit up the dock in a dazzling flash, and the deep-purple Makina shot forward in a straight line, out into the vast sea of stars.