Chapter 117 – The Responsibility Lies Entirely With Milea!!

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

Having brilliantly taken down the raiders and successfully protected the civilian transport ship Sealine, Letaria had made it safely back to Seldia.

Right now, Letaria was stretched out on the lab's examination table, undergoing her post-battle physical checkup.

Beside her, Milea was handling a persistent call from the PR department, terminal in hand.

"-- You want to put Letaria forward as the face of a PR campaign...? No, I'll have to decline that outright."

Milea's voice carried a quiet, unshakable refusal.

"...Yes, I'm well aware her exploits are drawing attention. But she is currently my own family member, 'Letaria Ichinose.' As her legal guardian, my decision is that this matter is off the table entirely. --That's all."

Milea cut the call off unilaterally and let out a small sigh, just as the vital-check machine chimed its completion tone.

Sitting up from the examination table, Letaria tilted her head slightly and asked.

"Did something happen? You look somewhat troubled."

At her words, Milea's expression flickered into a brief, wry, exasperated smile.

"No, it's nothing important. ...More importantly--"

She lowered her gaze to Letaria's latest data, displayed on the console in her hand.

"Hmph... no abnormalities in the physical data. ...Though it looks like you pulled off some genuinely reckless maneuvers out there?"

Milea's pointed, narrow-eyed stare bore down on her, and Letaria flinched with a visible "eep," her gaze darting off in some unrelated direction. Watching Letaria fidget awkwardly with her fingers, so transparently guilty, Milea's expression softened, and she let out a gentle, indulgent chuckle.

"Well... it was my own decision to have that prototype booster fitted onto you in the first place. I'm truly glad you're safe."

Saying so, Milea perched herself on the edge of the examination table and gently rested a hand on Letaria's head, stroking it softly, the way one might comfort a beloved little sister or daughter.

Letaria closed her eyes, a touch bashful, quietly accepting the comforting warmth -- but then --

(Fufu, just now, she said 'it was my decision to have it fitted,' did she not...!)

Snapping her eyes open, Letaria seized the perfect opening to launch a counterattack, pointing sharply at Milea and puffing out her chest!

"That's right! The responsibility for having me strapped with a booster that dishes out that kind of brutal impact lies entirely with Milea!!"

Nose held high, riding her sudden offensive. But Milea, entirely unshaken, shot back without missing a beat.

"But that thing was meant for 'enabling long-distance cruising' -- not for pulling off reckless maneuvers mid-battle."

"Ugh..."

"Sure, using short instantaneous bursts of it might technically allow for that kind of use... but that was still far too reckless of you, Letaria."

Faced with Milea's flat, narrow-eyed logic, Letaria had no comeback at all, and could only hunch her shoulders and shrink down small.

"...Still, it's also true that those last-ditch maneuvers were exactly what let you take down that large machine while keeping the damage to a minimum. In the end, the fact remains that both the transport ship and the escape pods came through safely."

At Milea's follow-up, as if she'd been waiting for exactly this, Letaria nodded fervently, again and again.

"The freelancers escorting the transport ship had decent skill of their own, but even they couldn't put up a real fight against the raiders' large machine. Thinking about it that way, your and Arden's abilities are exceeding even my own expectations."

Hearing that, Letaria looked up, as if suddenly remembering something.

"That's right! In that moment, the instant I willed 'Dodge!', the boosters responded instantly! Arden truly is a wonderful partner, answering my will so perfectly!"

Letaria spoke with delight, as if boasting about her own dear companion.

"Answering your will... I see..."

At Letaria's words, Milea rested a hand on her chin for a moment, her expression sinking into some deep, thoughtful consideration. ...But she quickly returned to her usual composed expression.

"Oh, that reminds me, Sora was asking for you earlier. Probably some fine-tuning on the pilot suit, I'd imagine -- go by her room later, would you?"

The instant those words left Milea's mouth.

A flood of memories came rushing through Letaria's mind -- the countless "humiliations" (in the form of thorough full-body measurements and range-of-motion tests) she'd endured in Sora's room over time.

"Eh...!"

Whatever confident expression she'd been wearing a moment ago vanished entirely, and Letaria's face twisted into a wonderfully comical grimace.