Chapter 12:
Wedding Gifts
SITTING IN THE AVID’S COCKPIT, I felt a strange elation, as if power was welling up from deep inside me. The Avid seemed to feel the same way.
“What’s that?”
On the monitor, I noticed a simplified image of the Avid. There was a heart symbol on its chest and a speech bubble inside that.
“‘New function’? Of the Machine Heart?”
The Machine Heart—a mysterious technology from the past that I’d obtained by chance—did exactly what it sounded like: It gave a machine a heart. I’d seen the Avid repair itself and evolve thanks to that tool, and now it had seemingly developed a new function.
I moved the control sticks delicately and pressed the foot pedals, trying to feel out this newly developed feature. The cockpit monitor—which took up the whole wall before me—showed me the Avid’s successors, attacking furiously. Every so often, one of their attacks landed, and the Avid shook. Still, I didn’t let that bother me, calmly reading the explanation of the new function onscreen. It was long, but to summarize…
“I can access these other machines’ AI and bring them under my control…? That’s a pretty damn specific function, but I won’t complain.”
I embraced opportunism. As long as it wouldn’t cause any problems for me personally, it was fine. Maybe the Avid had actually acquired this new power specifically to get us out of this situation. When I thought of it that way, the earnestness of its efforts touched my heart.
“Well, I’d like to capture three of them…but I’ll start with two.”
I tossed away the weapon the Avid held and dispelled its magic circles. Seeing my craft unarmed, the two blade-wielding white mobile knights came in for the kill.
“Predictable. Shows that they don’t have enough experience.”
They’d determined that the Avid had given up the fight, and they were closing in to finish things. The AI-driven craft were willing to bet on this chance at victory, even if it meant being a bit reckless. If I were them, though, I would’ve been warier.
The pair of craft rammed the Avid with their blades, which I blocked with its two large shields. Since these craft were the Avid’s successors, even the blades they wielded were made from rare metals; they pierced my shields easily and even reached the Avid itself.
The two craft accelerated, trying to drive their blades deeper. Pushed back by their power, the Avid’s auxiliary arms groaned; they were at their limit.
I just smiled. “Guess they can’t be wary of a function they have no data on!”
Purging its large shields, the Avid reached out with two arms to grasp the enemy craft’s heads. Normally, that wouldn’t have helped. Positioned so close, all the other craft would have to do was jam their blades directly into the Avid’s chest. Before that could happen, though, the Avid stopped them with its new function.
“Do it, Avid!”
At my command, the Avid began influencing the two craft. Equipped with the Machine Heart, it accessed their AI through its hands while the enemy mobile knights flailed in resistance. The two other mobile knights in the distance had stopped attacking, judging that they would likely hit their allies.
As all this happened, data on the two craft we’d captured popped up on my monitor. Simple representations of them showed there, both with a percentage inside: These percentages started at zero, then shot up at an incredible rate, reaching one hundred in no time.
The two craft stopped moving.
“Well, what’ll happen now?”
As I watched to see what came next, the Avid released the craft. They floated away into space slowly, then rebooted.
Upon restarting, the two craft moved slowly to flank the Avid. Once in position, they deployed magic circles and began attacking the other white mobile knights. Suddenly targeted by their own allies, those craft seemed confused for a moment. They caught on quickly enough, though, and began attacking the pair under the Avid’s control as well.
“You guys change your tune fast. You’re pretty great.”
The remaining two attackers must’ve realized that the Avid had brought their allies under its control. They didn’t move any closer, determining that it would be dangerous to approach, but they didn’t try to flee either.
“They haven’t been ordered to retreat? So, they’re disposable, eh? Me taking them and making good use of ’em should be no problem, then.”
Smiling, I rearmed the Avid. A magic circle appeared above its left hand, and a sheathed sword popped out. The Avid grabbed that sword with its right hand, slowly pulling it from the circle. Even as I did all this, we remained under attack; the craft flanking me deployed their defense fields to protect the Avid, though, so those attacks weren’t an issue.
“You two are good kids,” I told them. “As a reward, I’ll let you see a real Flash.”
The sword I’d drawn from the magic circle was still sheathed; I held it in the Avid’s left hand in a quick-draw stance. Anticipating that I’d use the Flash, the enemy units began to move irregularly to avoid being hit.
As they flew around in front of me, I regulated my breathing. “Wish I could use everything I’ve got, but if I don’t hold back, I won’t be able to capture them. And I need at least one more…”
I wanted three of these craft in total so that Ellen and my two sister apprentices could each have one. Greedy to capture both of the remaining mobile knights, I tried to hold back. I waited for a moment when the two irregularly moving units were both within range, and…
“Flash.”
The moment I muttered that word, my cockpit shook violently. I opened my eyes in surprise, and through my cracked monitor, I saw the two white craft exploding—they’d been cut in half.
“Huh?!”
I definitely couldn’t repurpose them now. I could only remain shocked for a second, though; warnings were blaring in the Avid’s cockpit. I’d ruined not only its joints but its frame as well; it was one step away from blowing up itself.
“Using the Flash once damaged it this badly…?” I sighed, feeling cold sweat drip down my back. I could’ve blown myself up if I’d put even a little more effort into that Flash. “Guess I haven’t used it in a while. Did I make it too strong?”
As I considered where I’d gone wrong, the two craft flanking the Avid grabbed it. They apparently intended to transport us back to the Argos.
“Just when I thought you could withstand the Flash, it’s back to the drawing board,” I mused. “Well, when I get back, I’ll contact Nias—”
As I thought about what to do next, a communications line opened. “Let go of Lord Liam, you piece-of-crap machiiiiines!”
Along with that scream came the Teumessa, kicking one of the white mobile knights away from us. It was Marie.
The Teumessa’s leg crumpled on impact—kicking the Avid’s successor craft away like that had taken a tremendous amount of force.
“Lord Liam, I’ve come to rescue you!” Marie was gearing up to attack the second craft.
I sighed heavily. “I swear, you’ve got to show up and ruin things. I was just starting to reevaluate you too.”
“Huh? Huh?! D-did I do something wrong?!”
I figured that, from Marie’s perspective, it must’ve looked like I’d been captured. I couldn’t blame her for that, but her showing up out of nowhere like this and kicking away one of my precious Avid successors had really brought this battle to a stupid conclusion.
As more of my allies appeared behind Marie, I gave her my orders. “These two craft are already under my control, so there’s no need to attack them. They’ll be wonderful presents—don’t get them even more scratched up.”
“Pr-presents?”
“Yeah…they’re wedding gifts from Calvin. I’m going to give ’em to Ellen and my sister apprentices.”
Marie didn’t know how to react to my sunny mood. “Um, Lord Liam? Those are forbidden weapons that operate independently using AI, aren’t they? I’m not sure that they’re really good gifts… And I don’t think you can really call them wedding gifts if they’re not for Lady Rosetta.”
“You’re pretty argumentative today, aren’t you? Well, whatever. Anyway, what’s our status?”
Sure, since Marie had pointed it out, there was plenty wrong with what I’d said. I’d asked about the state of the battle to change the subject. Marie turned her Teumessa’s head toward Baron Glynn’s planet; I could see the wreckage of destroyed ships floating around it.
“There’s nothing left to do but clean up the remnants of the enemy. Christiana has secured the planet’s surface. Please return to the Argos at once, Lord Liam.”
“Yeah… Guess I won’t be doing any more out here.”
After all, with the Avid like this, I couldn’t fight any further. Once I’d made that call, the Teumessa slid into the spot the craft it kicked away had occupied, and it started carrying the Avid.
Since our craft were touching, our communication line remained open, and Marie spoke to me. “If nothing else unexpected happens, we’ll be able to go right back to our home planet as planned.”
“Guess I was a little reckless this time, huh…?” I’d taken some damage myself, just as Claus and everyone else had warned me I would.
“You rushed things enough to damage your own reputation, after all. The Capital Planet will be in an uproar soon—for more reasons than one.”
The nobles of Calvin’s faction were in for a rude awakening when they realized that the victory they thought they’d grasped had been snatched out from under them. And how would Cleo react to all this? I had the feeling that things would be hectic for a while even after I returned.
“I don’t care about my reputation. Winning’s all that matters. That applies going forward too.”
“Yes, sir!” Marie answered briskly, and we rendezvoused with the Argos, which had moved in to meet us.