“Phew! Well, I guess it all turned out all right!” Watt let out a heavy sigh from within Lord Gryphon’s cockpit. “It’s been a while since we’ve done a job that big—good work out there, partner.”
Watt had kept Lord Gryphon deep within his hideaway for a long while, but he’d won without a single malfunction rearing its head. While his foes had been low-class, he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been worried at all.
The enemy had retreated. Just when Watt was wondering what to do next, he noticed there was a commotion outside. Suspicious, he opened up Lord Gryphon’s cockpit, only to see a crowd of people gathered at his feet.
“There he is! There’s Mister Watt!”
“The city’s savior!”
“There’s our knight, right there!”
“Watt! Watt! Watt!”
It wasn’t just the civilians gathered there—there were Steelriders too. As soon as they saw Watt, they erupted into a cheer before beginning to chant his name. It was too much.
“Whaaa?! That’s enough, that’s enough! I just haul cargo, that’s it! I gave up on all that knight business over a decade ago!”
“Sure didn’t look like it from the way you fought back there, mister!”
“Hah hah! So if Watt’s a knight, wouldn’t that make us knights-in-trainin’ since he taught us?”
“You’re a genius...! This just gets better and better!”
They were each still brimming with excitement, with Watt finding himself on the wrong side of their far-too-embarrassing remarks. He’d heard of being drunk on victory, but indeed, there wasn’t much difference in actually being drunk and how they were acting now. No sooner had Watt spoken up to try and put a stop to it than the crowd only bounced back at him even stronger.
Look, I get you’re happy we won, but gimme a break here!
Watt wasn’t cut out for this sort of thing at all. More importantly, there were plenty of others who’d fought for the city besides him. There was no reason for him to be the only one receiving this over-the-top praise.
As Watt was clutching his head thinking just that, the voices around him grew quiet, like the tide pulling away.
The throng of people split cleanly in two, with a dignified figure walking straight through the middle of them. It was Baron Otto Socom—or rather, the company president.
“You’re a truly valiant knight, Sir Watt Sears! On behalf of the city, allow me to extend my thanks to you for your tremendous contributions to our victory!”
“Whaaa?! Oh, c’mon, Otto, not you too!” Watt pleaded. “I’m not a knight or anything like that anymore! You know that better than anybody!”
“Ha ha, that’s right. Well then, I’ll just keep on like I always have. First, there’s much that still needs to be settled. Come with me.”
With Otto immediately back to his usual self, Watt followed his invitation, finally slipping through the wall of people surrounding him. They patted him on the back as he passed through, although Watt didn’t know if it was out of gratitude or excitement.
He sighed, far heavier with exhaustion than when he’d been fighting. “Phew! You really saved me back there, Otto. I just don’t even know where to start with that sorta thing, y’know?”
“So there are things you’re not good at, then.”
“I’m an airhead. There’s only ever been one thing I’m good at, and that’s running wild.”
“Even then, you’d do well to accept their praise without such fuss, Watt,” Otto replied. “You have to understand how everyone feels. You were the one who decided the outcome of the battle, no doubt about it.”
“I’ll try my very best to!”
Otto struggled to contain the urge to burst out laughing. Watt had once been a member of the Royal Knights, having risen all the way to the rank of Top Knight of the Kingdom. There was no shortage of ways he could use his skills. While one might think he’d grown tired of all the praise, he simply seemed truly and wholly uneasy with it. Now that Otto thought back on it, Watt had always been like that, ever since he’d arrived in the city. Despite falling terribly short of what he was capable of, Watt worked hauling cargo while he continued to train up new recruits, despite the fact that it didn’t benefit him one bit.
He really doesn’t know how to handle this sort of thing, does he? Otto thought to himself.
That certainly made things much easier for Otto, however. The fact that they had Watt on their side had been their greatest—and only—saving grace in the trying situation that had befallen them.
Arriving at the company building, the two found Anna and Meddié waiting for them as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Father! Urk!”
“Master! What’d you think of how we— Yowch!”
The girls came bounding over toward Watt like puppies, only for Watt to greet them with his mightiest forehead flick.
“You two have a lot of explaining to do, pullin’ something that reckless!”
“Huh? But master, we gave it our best! We were leading those big lunks along!”
“That wasn’t for the two of you to do! The fact of it is they had you cornered!”
Meddié pouted while Anna clutched her forehead. Even then, the two of them continued to protest.
“I’m sorry for going against your instructions, father,” Anna said. “But there was just no way we could be the only ones just sitting around and twiddling our thumbs!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Watt said back. “You’ve got people like me around to handle all the fightin’.”
Watt had spoken from his experience as both a former royal knight and the former Top Knight of the Kingdom. Listening to him go on from the side, Otto couldn’t squash the sense that Watt must’ve been quite the troublemaker in his days as a knight.
“All that aside, we’ve made it through an attack from the enemy’s main force. But can we really say we’ve won?”
Not a soul present could nod at Otto’s question.
“Those big hunks of metal probably don’t come cheap either, though,” Watt said. “We probably left ’em hurting pretty bad. But it doesn’t matter how many times we win against them—at the end of the day, they’re just a tiny part of it.”
From the perspective of their enemy, all it meant was that one of their plans had collapsed. If they couldn’t do it one way, then they were sure to look for another. They were far removed from solving the root of the problem.
“So to settle this...we’re gonna have to stick our necks straight into Legalisbelm,” Watt said.
The others nodded. It was only after they were standing in the same ring that they could finally fight their foe properly.
“Well, if that’s how it is,” Meddié started in a lively tone, “why don’t we just hide Anna here in Front-Edge City till this whole Legalisbelm thing’s done?”
Otto thought for a moment before slowly shaking his head. “That’s hardly the best move. First and foremost, there’s no guarantee that this attack will be the last. If it were just skirmishes here and there, we may very well be in the right to count on Watt to save the day again. But even then, given that the city will invariably be harmed, our best option moving forward is to avoid that entirely.”
If a battle broke out again, it would be the city and its inhabitants that were hurt the most. In the most recent battle, the Tyrant Rhinos’ rampage had left both numerous destroyed buildings and even casualties in its wake.
Meddié’s expression paled. “You’re...right. I’m sorry. I got a little too carried away since we won.”
“That’s the last thing I want too,” Anna said. “If it seems another battle is at hand, then I’ll just go put a stop to it before it starts.”
“Look, that’s why I’m telling you things’ll only get worse if you just plunge straight in, Anna!” Meddié said.