Chapter 10: Armed Gear Spectating

“Now then, next we will distribute virtual currency. This is something like money that can only be exchanged within the academy, and basically, it can be used to upgrade your virtual Frame Gear data. You can also exchange it between individuals, but a history will be kept, and if you engage in acts contrary to public order and morals or school rules, you may face severe punishment. There have been cases where students who proposed match-fixing were expelled, so please be extremely careful.”

Money that can only be used at the academy, huh? Sure enough, I see ‘10000 G’ in my funds. Is ‘G’ the unit? A student sitting near the front raised her hand.

“Um… how can we increase this ‘G’?”

“If you win a [Star Duel], you will receive prize money according to your rank. You can also earn it through volunteer activities within the academy or short-term part-time jobs.”

Nu… I can’t upgrade unless I save up G, and if I can’t upgrade, I can’t win [Duels]? I wonder if earning G will also be a necessary element to climb to the top?

“Other details will be covered in class, but [Star Duels] will be unlocked one month from now. Do not waste your preparation time until then. Next…”

Hmm, hmm. So first-years won’t participate in full-scale [Star Duels] until a month later. Until then, it’s training with Frame Gears and Armed Gears, and preparation time for our virtual units. After that, various explanations continued, such as precautions for living at the ‘Academy’ and how to complete procedures to use facilities, until finally, the orientation ended. From here on out, we’ll be treated as students of the ‘Academy.’ I’ll have to brace myself. Well, now that the orientation is over and I’m free, what should I do? Going straight back to the dorm doesn’t seem like there’s much to do. I mean, maybe I should do some prep study, but… I wonder what Carrol and the others are going to do? I turned around to look at Carrol and Sherry, who should have been behind me, and—

“You there! Why don’t you spend your academy life with the baseball club! Our baseball club welcomes new members!”

Carrol was being accosted by a senpai (?) wearing a very short uniform.

“You there! Are you interested in cheerleading? I’m sure you’d attract the attention of the whole academy!”

Sherry was being approached by someone dressed as a cheerleader, probably another senpai. Looking closely, recruitment for first-years had started here and there. Is this club recruitment? The Babylon Machinist Girls’ Academy is a school for becoming ‘Troopers,’ but it’s also a place to learn general education, culture, knowledge, and social skills. I knew that club activities existed as part of educational activities to foster student autonomy and build new relationships, but…

“Wow, so this is the famous academy club recruitment. I was a little surprised.”

Carrol, having turned down the baseball club recruitment, came over to me. It looks like Sherry turned hers down, too.

“Do you two plan on joining any clubs?”

“No, not for now. I want to focus on my studies first.”

“Carrol is so serious. I’m thinking I might join if I find something interesting. It’s not a bad idea to make connections with upperclassmen.”

Sherry seems inclined to join a club. Well, spending our precious academy life only on studies would be dull. However, as we walk, solicitations from senpais keep coming from left and right without pause. …At Carrol and Sherry. Why aren’t they coming to me? I mean, I get that those two stand out a lot.

“You there! Won’t you join us!? You could be a big star!”

Just as I thought that, a solicitation came my way.

“What club is it?”

“The drama club! You’d be perfect for child roles! If you’d like…”

“Haaah!?”

“Guess not! Bye then!”

When I glared at her, the drama club senpai zoomed away like the wind.

“Oh my, what a waste. I wanted to see Nero play a child role.”

“I’ll scratch you.”

When I held my hand up like a cat’s claw at Sherry’s joke, she laughed and took a step back. Hmph! Just you wait, in a year, I’ll surpass your height! …A year might be impossible. Two years, three years… somehow by graduation. Yeah.

“Since we’re here, why don’t we have lunch at the academy cafeteria?”

“Sounds good. The menu is different from the dorms, right?”

Like Sherry, I decided to go along with Carrol’s suggestion. From what I heard, the dorm menus are based on the local cuisine of the students living there to make it familiar. For Genbu Dormitory, that’s northern cuisine. In comparison, the academy cafeteria is truly international; apparently, you can even eat dishes served in other dorms. I’m a little excited.

“I’ve wanted to try Eashen cuisine at least once.”

“Ah, the food the first Sovereign Duke was said to favor?”

The Divine Nation of Eashen, located in the far east. It is said to be the birthplace of the first Sovereign Duke. It’s only ‘said to be’; no one knows if it’s true. It’s just speculated because he favored Eashen cuisine and had black hair, which is common in Eashen, and because many of his retainers at the time of the country’s founding were from Eashen. Because of that, many people from Brunhild have black hair. I recall the current young Duke also has black hair, but that’s apparently because the Duchess is from Eashen. The current Sovereign Duke has blond hair, so he’s different from those two. Thinking about such things, and looking forward to the Eashen cuisine I had yet to see, I checked the academy map on my smartphone and hurried to the cafeteria with the other two.

“Delish…! I wondered about raw fish, but it’s really delicious…!”

I smacked my lips over the Osashimi lined up in front of me. After agonizing over the menu in the cafeteria, I ordered the Osashimi Set. It’s a set with slices of tuna, sea bream, yellowtail, and salmon, along with freshly cooked rice, tofu miso soup, pickles, and kinpira burdock. They asked if I wanted wasabi or not; apparently, it’s a spicy condiment. When I put just a little on the sashimi and ate it, a sharp spiciness hit me, followed by the sweetness of the fish being brought out. It’s spicy, but it makes the rice go down easy.

“You’re eating that with such relish. Maybe I’ll order that next time.”

Carrol ordered beef stroganoff, and Sherry had omurice. They should have eaten Eashen cuisine since we’re here. There were other dishes I was curious about, like the Tempura Set and Ginger Pork Set, but I’ll order those next time I come.

“Hey, look at this.”

Sherry, who had finished eating first and was looking at her smartphone, showed us the screen. There was a tag called [Arena], with times and names written on it. What is this?

“It’s the schedule for Armed Gear matches. Looks like there are a few matches today. Want to go watch?”

“I’m in.”

I answered Sherry’s invitation immediately. I’ve seen Frame Gear battles, but I haven’t seen an Armed Gear battle yet. If I can watch one, I definitely want to.

“The next match is in thirty minutes. Looks like both are second-year senpais. Having matches on the day of the entrance ceremony… I wonder if it’s meant as a demonstration?”

That’s possible. They might have scheduled matches early to help us understand what Armed Gear battles are like. Frame Gears and Armed Gears are different machines, but fundamentally, Frame Gear technology is used. Since we can’t ride actual Frame Gears, we have to grasp the sense of real combat with Armed Gears. Otherwise, we’d end up going into real battles or the field with a game mindset, which could be fatal. Besides, unlike battles in virtual space, Armed Gear battles have real impact. The clash of power against power, metal against metal. The selling point of Armed Gear matches fought in the arena is the blood-pumping, flesh-dancing excitement. Personally, I prefer Armed Gear battles to Frame Gear battles. Well, if I could fight in a real Frame Gear, I’d definitely choose that, though. Satisfied with our lunch, we headed straight for the arena. According to the map, there are four circular arenas built in the east, west, north, and south of the academy school building. They are facilities anyone can enter, and apparently, students can hold [Star Duels] here if they apply. We’ll probably be fighting there in a month, too. The arena closest to the cafeteria was the East Arena, decorated with a relief of a blue dragon at the entrance. So, the Seiryu Arena, maybe? Entering the arena and proceeding down the passage, we soon came out to the spectator seats. In the center of the mortar-shaped arena, we could see two Armed Gears facing off. A red Armed Gear and a blue Armed Gear. They were similar units, but it was easy to tell which was which. Victory or defeat in an Armed Gear match is decided when an Armed Gear becomes ‘unable to move’ or ‘surrenders.’ Ah, there’s also losing by ‘ring out’ or ‘foul.’ Under the body armor, around the cockpit, there is a magical barrier to ensure the pilot doesn’t get seriously injured. They say that even if the Armed Gear is sliced in two, the pilot won’t die—it’s an incredible technology. Even so, there are injuries from the impact received, so they say there are always recovery magic users on standby at the arena. I heard that a few students collapse from concussions every year. The match begins. Both holding maces and shields, they start slamming those brutal weapons against each other as soon as the match starts. Listening to the sound of maces hitting shields, failing to block, and hitting bodies, I thought, If you get beaten up like that, of course you’d get a concussion… while thinking somewhat irrelevant thoughts. Or rather, the fight between those senpais isn’t really going anywhere. They’re just bashing each other with brute force, and both lack a deciding blow. If it were me, I’d lure them in and sink them with a counter when they jumped in.

“…Technically, Blue is better, but Red seems to have superior machine performance.”

“Heh, you can tell?”

“Even though you said it’s your first time seeing an actual Armed Gear battle, you’re sharp, Nero.”

The two praised me, but anyone could tell that much just by watching. It’s my first time seeing it with my own eyes, but I’ve watched several times on Ether-Vision.

“See, there’s a rabbit mark on the shoulder of the red unit, right? That’s an original sign that the mechanic worked on it themselves, indicating it’s been modified. In other words, these two are a stock unit and a custom unit.”

I see. Like the Achilles that Quun-senpai… or rather, Principal Quun was building, it means it’s a unit that’s been modified in various ways.

“Can you do modifications yourself?”

“You can. If it’s your own unit. We got virtual Frame Gears, but the actual Armed Gears are basically rentals. You can’t modify them unless you save up G or something to buy one.”

You buy Armed Gears!? Wait, you can buy them with G!?

“Is it an academy student perk? If you bought one for real, it would cost at least ten platinum coins. But you can buy it for G equivalent to about two platinum coins, so it’s incredibly cheap.”

Eighty percent off for an Armed Gear!? No, that’s too cheap, isn’t it!? Even in my countryside hometown, that’s an amount I could earn if I worked hard as an adventurer for about a year!?

“That’s not all. If you buy parts with G and assemble it yourself, it gets even cheaper. Actually, buying an Armed Gear assembled by an upperclassman is the quickest way to get a beloved machine cheaply. They’ll do some customization for you, and sometimes they’ll even repair it. Well, some people prefer unmodified stock units because they’re easier to handle. So it might be a good idea to take the elective ‘Magic Engineering’.”

“I’m not good at magic, though…”

It’s not that I can’t use magic. I have four attributes. Fire, Water, Light, and Null. Apparently, this is very rare, and even my master was impressed. But I also apparently have a lot of magic power, and I can’t control it well. During training, I almost burned down a forest or froze a house. ‘Magic Engineering’ requires delicate magic control. Can I do something like that? By the way, noble kids apparently get Armed Gears sent from their parents’ homes. Technically, according to academy rules, pre-modified ones aren’t allowed, and only the same basic units available for rental are permitted, so it ends up being the same thing. But I think whether or not you can modify your own unit is a huge advantage. I wonder if Carrol and Sherry are getting theirs sent from home? I guess I have no choice but to do my best with the school rental. The battle between the red and blue Armed Gears ended in Red’s victory. Honestly, I think it was a sloppy match… But if senpais who have been doing this for a year are like this, maybe I can get pretty far if I try hard? I was thinking such arrogant thoughts, but the next match was a incredibly high-level battle, and I had to retract my previous statement immediately. I guess second-years run the gamut, too… Hubris is bad.