Chapter 2:
The Hero Enrolled
It was April. The cherry trees lining each side of the road—fitting for an island with so many capital city evacuees—were in full bloom on the day of the Jogen Maneuver Academy entrance ceremony.
The sole Cavalleria training school on the islands, Jogen Maneuver Academy contained both middle and high schools, and, if you were denied entrance, there was almost no chance of becoming a Maneuver Cavalleria.
The young Cavalleria candidates who made it through the intense selection process—400 applicants to a single successful entrant—could be proud of their accomplishments, and ready to test themselves against their fellow elite.
This year, only one hundred students had been accepted. Ten were Division 4. Eighty-nine were Division 3.
The remaining one wasn’t even Division 2. Naturally, this was Okegawa Kuon, Division 1, now thirteen years old.
After the gift of a lecture from the headmaster (“We don’t need a Hero who stands above us all. We must all be heroes!”), the new students assembled on the third training ground. Jogen Academy had quite a bit of land. Of the nine training grounds, this was the largest. It was so large that calling it a “ground” seemed like an understatement. It was more of a prairie. Here, they held recreational mock battles between classes. The matches were ten one-on-one fights. If you lost all your matches, you were immediately expelled. Acceptance to the school was no guarantee you could ever become a Cavalleria. The pruning had already
begun.
As the new students stood in formation, wearing the Division Maneuvers the school had provided, people began whispering.
“Why is there a talentless Division 1 here?”
“That’s beyond embarrassing. It’s downright dangerous.”
“But he passed the entrance test?”
“I hear he’s a relative of the headmaster. This is nepotism.”
“Ugh, screw that guy then.”
They were, of course, talking about Okegawa Kuon.
He stood out for all the wrong reasons. The frame he wore, Soukyu (Mod), was his personal frame. The Division Maneuvers provided by the school couldn’t be piloted by anyone his class. That alone made him stand out, but the fact that he had an AI Device with him was only making it worse. He already had no magic worth using, so why waste any of it on a Guide? Was he an idiot? Was he outright insane? Should they be worried? Kuon could feel the mood gathering around him. Some people were even talking loud enough for him to hear.
Meanwhile, Kuon himself was totally confident. While the DM was operational, En was out of sight, merged with Kuon’s Device. Only he could hear her whispering in his ear.
“Heheheh, you’re the talk of the school, Kuon-sama.”
She didn’t sound worried at all—more like she was enjoying it.
“Can’t blame them. Long as they don’t start throwing rocks.”
“Plenty came flying your way when you started primary school. They went real quiet after the first DM class, though. Shrapnel on your left, above.”
“Got it. Also, really?”
“You beat up the entire class, remember?”
“Oh, that. Not really fair. I only went through thirty of them. Activate Armament ‘Ichi.’”
“You were so much stronger people called you a coward.”
“Had that in my last life, too. Not fazed by it now. And I can’t lay a finger on Master even when she’s not in a DM, so you can’t call me strong.”
“Again with the modesty. That makes it worse, you know!”
“I mean it. In my last life, I’d already beaten her once by the time I was in junior high, and she was wearing a DM at the time.”
“Well, that’s fair. You don’t have the talent this time, so you’ll need a little more mettle to become a Cavalleria.”
“Seven years till the Queen returns… No time at all. First step is to get myself on a student squad.”
“You can say that again… On your right.”
“I see it.”
He deployed his Ultra Magic Hardened Blade to protect his right knee. A moment later, Kuon blocked his opponent’s Blade with his own.
“D-damn it!” the Division 3 student yelped, surprised.
“Mm, sorry,” Kuon said, and his Blade slipped right in, taking out the DM’s Core—its weak point. His opponent’s frame ceased all movement, and a fourth star appeared before Kuon’s eyes.
They were in the midst of a mock battle. Kuon had just finished his fourth match, easily overpowering opponents with far more raw talent than him. He had chatted with En the entire time.
His fifth opponent was decided swiftly. The next student was a Division 4 in an All-Rounder DM that leaned toward ranged combat.
Kuon moved to the designated block. DM tech had advanced over the last thirteen years; rather than display information on a visor, it was now linked directly to the Cavalleria’s magic and displayed in their actual vision. In his field of view were several large cubes that were invisible to the naked eye. These large boxes were the individual match locations.
Kuon’s frame, Soukyu (Mod), was a low-spec frame used for practice, and he’d fine-tuned it to his needs. It could only fly for a few minutes, and very slowly at that—it may as well not be able to fly at all. At best, it allowed him to hover just above the ground. It had minimal armaments as well; just a single small, low-powered rifle, and two Ultra Magic Hardened Blades. He’d tuned the thing for combat, combined with his Machine Fencing, but the difference was negligible. It was far worse than the Nichirin, the most common frame used by Division 2s. It was ridiculous to even consider comparing it to the Getsuei (8-Phase) that Suzuka Hachishiki had worn.
But Kuon was winning in his frame.
His opponent was waiting for him. Spiky hair, beady eyes; he seemed like a hot-headed boy. Kuon raised a hand by way of greeting.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Okegawa Kuon. Division 1.”
“So, you’re the Division 1 everyone’s talking about. Wait…four in a row? Are you super lucky or…?”
His opponent clearly couldn’t believe the stats they were viewing. “They’re all so rude,” En whispered in Kuon’s ear. He just shook his head.
The Division 4 continued without giving his own name, his tone filled with contempt. “Well, your luck ends here, you talentless boy. You’ve avoided getting expelled today, but you’ll live to regret that. The longer you stay here, the more pathetic you’ll feel. Enjoy it while you—”
“Sure sure, but can we get started before someone gets mad? The headmaster can be real scary.”