The people were looking up at the ship, eagerly waiting for it to launch. The craft itself was in the final stage of the process. Koutarou and the others had already moved to the bridge and were making preparations for the launch.
“Master, the auxiliary generators have stabilized, and the main generator has ignited.”
Ruth used the term “ignite,” but the Blue Knight’s generators didn’t emit fire. The main generator was made with special distortion technology, and its power source was a singularity—a black hole. But the image of being powered by fire never disappeared from the minds of Forthorthians. The image of fire was alive and well as a symbol of beginnings and ends.
“Main generator on. It’s finally time...”
Koutarou acknowledged Ruth’s words, partly nervous and partly excited. He had lingering attachments to the old Blue Knight, having overcome several dangerous situations with it. While this ship was newly built, the old AI had been transferred over, so in Koutarou’s mind it was like the original vessel had been revived and powered-up. And that was a welcome sight to him.
“Main generator active. It is stable at twenty percent output,” Ruth reported.
“It’s about time you wake up, Blue Knight! It’s your time to shine!” Clan announced.
With the start of the main generator, the AI started to function. It had been at work nonstop, processing the vast amount of information involved in starting up a new ship. Due to the size of the ship, it took a lot of time, but it managed to finish and activate its speech interface.
“Greetings, Princess Clariossa,” the AI said.
“Are there any errors?” Clan asked.
“Everything is functioning normally. All defective parts from the last startup have been corrected.”
Since today was the launching ceremony, the ship had been reset and restarted, but there had been multiple activation tests before, perfecting the launch procedures until it had reached Clan and the engineers’ standards. While the spaceport unit, Cloak of Emperor, and the massive anti-ship energy sword Signaltin A1 were still incomplete, they had made sure that the other parts were complete.
“Hey, Blue Knight, it’s been a while since we met on the bridge,” Koutarou called out to the AI the same way he always did. Until now, the old AI had been installed in the command room in the palace, but it had finally been installed in the new Blue Knight with enhancements to every part of it. In other words, all of the accumulated data was still usable, and the AI remembered Koutarou.
The AI greeted him as usual. “It is an honor, Your Excellency. This system positively views being installed on a bridge.”
“You’re as stiff as always.” Koutarou sighed. “In times like this, you should just say you’re happy.”
“This system is happy to be able to return,” the AI answered.
“Good work. Can you fly?” Koutarou asked with a smile.
“How far, exactly?”
“Who knows? Until we’re satisfied.” Koutarou laughed. His order was vague, so a brand-new AI would be confused by it.
“Understood. Starting the takeoff process,” the AI replied. “Forming system link... The arms and legs will follow the main ship.”
The Blue Knight’s AI was different. It could read Koutarou’s intentions and take action. Through experience, it had learned that Koutarou was a person who would fulfill his duty and role regardless of what he might say. The AI had already learned how to interpret his unsaid orders. That was why it had been added to the new Blue Knight. Many people felt that it would be a waste to let such experience disappear. The AI’s actions were correct too, as it attempted to launch into orbit where it could merge with the other parts of the ship.
“That kind of irritates me...” Theia pouted. She was getting upset over how Koutarou and the AI got along, and griped to Ruth.
“I know how you feel, Your Highness, but...” Ruth replied with a wry smile.
Koutarou was always straightforward with his demands to Blue Knight. The ship could even read his unvoiced intentions. It felt like there was something special between them, like a conversation between adults. So Theia was a little unhappy about it, and Ruth understood how she felt. But it was an artificial intelligence, and there was no need for Theia to feel that way.
“Hmph...”
Despite the consolation, Theia’s cheeks were still puffed out. Ruth felt it was a shame that Koutarou couldn’t see her expression.
Just then, the bridge shook slightly.
“Launch successful,” the AI reported.
The shaking was due to the ship taking off. However, it was just a minor tremble. Thanks to inertia control technology, it was minimal. Normally, this technology would eliminate any shaking altogether, but it hadn’t been set to maximum because they wanted people to notice the takeoff.
“Arms and legs have also taken off. They are following the main ship,” the AI announced.
Since the new Blue Knight could be taken apart, there was a rule of sorts for referring to the main ship. The standard was the head and Koutarou was on board, so any parts connected to the head were referred to as the main ship. In other words, if the torso and right arm merged, the three would be called “the main ship.” Since only the head and torso were connected now, they comprised the main ship. Of course, there were exceptions, like if the head was attacked and Koutarou moved to the bridge of another section. In that case, that would be considered the standard for the main ship. Essentially, the rule was that the main ship was wherever Koutarou and the primary crew were.
“How long will it take to reach orbit?” Koutarou asked.
“It is estimated to take thirty minutes,” the AI answered.
“That’s surprisingly long.”
“It would only take a few minutes in a hurry, but the process has been extended to thirty for the sake of the ceremony.”
“That makes sense. I’ll leave it to you,” Koutarou said with a nod.
Since he found himself with some spare time, he got up from his seat—the commander’s seat. Since it was located above all other positions, he walked down to the rest of the bridge. He then made his way to Theia, who was in an operator’s seat. For some reason, she was in a bad mood.
“Mmm...”
“What’s wrong with you?” Koutarou asked, squeezing her cheeks and rubbing them.
“There’s nothing wrong with me! And don’t...” In response, Theia’s anger flared up for a moment, but it was quickly extinguished for some reason. “Never mind. Play to your heart’s content,” she said with a somewhat satisfied smile.
“Hmm?” Koutarou was perplexed, but he continued rubbing her cheeks. What’s with her?
An uncomfortable Koutarou looked over at Ruth in another operator’s seat, and after Ruth glanced at Theia, she made a pleading gesture to Koutarou.
So, something must have happened to put her in a bad mood... All right. Koutarou gained a rough understanding of the situation and removed his hands from Theia’s cheeks.
“Ah...” Theia glanced at Koutarou’s hand with a look of reluctance. However, he wasn’t done yet.
“Let’s go, Theia,” he said. “We have some time to kill.”
“Oh?!” Theia exclaimed.
He picked her up and walked down the stairs. Their friends were gathering a little farther down.
Theia quietly entrusted her body to Koutarou and wrapped her arms around him. Ruth laughed as she saw her lord and knight captain off. From her point of view, Theia hadn’t wrapped her arms around him to avoid falling but rather because she didn’t want to let go of him. And while Ruth couldn’t see her face from where she was, Theia’s expression was no doubt full of joy.
A short moment later, Ruth snapped out of it and got back to her own work. She still had a lot to do, checking the condition of the ship and the process of the ceremony. Once in orbit, the five parts began to align, with the head and torso in the center and the limbs in close proximity to where they connected. When the signal came, the ceremony would continue and the parts would merge.
“It’s finally here!!!”
“It’s time to merge!!!”
Sanae-chan and Sanae-nee were clamoring over the situation. They had a lot of emotional attachments to giant robots, and when it came to merging, their excitement was at its peak. They were glued to the largest hologram, eagerly awaiting the moment.
“I am so sorry about us being so noisy!” Sanae-san, on the other hand, was repeatedly bowing to the people on the bridge. Out of the three, she had the least interest in giant robots. She didn’t hate them, but her consideration for the people around her won out over her excitement. However, she wasn’t able to stop the other two when they were so excited. As such, she was stuck apologizing on their behalf.
“It’s fine,” Koutarou casually said. “Let them do as they please. It’s only us here anyway.”
To him, Sanae had always been like that. And while he’d been surprised by the appearance of another Sanae from a different world, all three of them were very much Sanae. So Koutarou didn’t particularly mind, and the other girls were likely the same.
“Thank you for saying that,” Sanae-san said with a relieved expression, but she didn’t forget to bow one final time.
“The bridge isn’t cramped enough for the two of them making a racket to be a problem,” Koutarou said as he looked around the bridge. He was actually looking forward to the merge as well.
“Not cramped, huh... Hmm...” Kenji muttered and looked around as well.
Noticing that, Koutarou called out to him. “What?”
“It’s nothing, just...I was thinking how the bridge is pretty much the same size as before,” Kenji remarked. He was thinking about the size of the bridge. He figured that since the ship was over twice the size, the bridge would have gotten bigger as well.
Kiriha was the one to answer his question. “That is because the number of people piloting it hasn’t changed, Matsudaira Kenji.”
“Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I guess so,” Kenji said. “Too many people would just make it inconvenient.”